his when he became Incarnate so his Nature is United to Ours when we eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud And this we infallibly do when we worthily celebrate this Holy Mystery Though in some cases men may eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud Spiritually and by faith alone without the Sacrament yet we do it much more and more effectually by the Sacrament and consequently we must be supposed to be more nearly United to him by means of this Ordinance then by any other means whatsoever Hence it was as some of the Ancients tell us that Christ appointed the use of such Creatures as are of a Nourishing faculty for so Bread and Sicut cibus materialis forinsecus nutrit corpus vegetat ita etiam verbum Dei intus animam nutrit roborat c. Raban de Serm. proprietate lib. 5. cap. 11. Wine are to shew that as there is a Natural Incorporation of our nourishment into our Flesh so there is a Spiritual Incorporation if I may so speak of Christ into our souls And hence it is that others of them compare the Spirit of Christ which is received by the Sacrament to Leaven representing to us by that Similitude that there is such a Diffusion Cyril Alex. in Joan. l. 4. cap. 17. of Spiritual Virtue throughout the soul as there is of ferment that leaveneth the whole Lump into which it is cast And Id. lib. 10. c. 13. hence it is that S. Cyril also compares the Mixture of Christ's Nature with Ours to the Mixture of wax with wax when several pieces of wax are melted and incorporated together All these Notions and Similitudes and divers more such which we meet with in the writings of the Ancients do shew that by eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud especially at and by the Sacrament we do so participate of his Spirit of his Virtues Influences and Divine Nature as that Christ and we do become One * Quemadmodum intelligit Cyrillus Glaphyr in Genes lib. 7. Christum se in animas immittere per Gratiam virtutem Spiritus sic etiam sensus ipsius est eum corpora ingredi per virtutem corporis sui Eucharistiae communicatam nec ulterius urgendae sunt comparationes quas affert mixtionis scentillae ignis caerae fermenti Albertinus ubi supr pag. 761. And thence followeth the last inestimable blessing that I shall mention a Blessing that we carry with us to the very Grave viz. an Assurance and Pledge of a Glorious Resurrection It is appointed unto man once to dye Heb. 9. 27. This Sentence having past upon our Parents in Paradise Nature it self doth now Execute it upon their Posterity For as none can bring a clean thing out of an Unclean so none can bring an Incorruptible thing out of a Mortal We dye of course Christ that took on him the burden of our sins did not take off this weight from us though he delivered us from all Necessity of tumbling into Hell yet there are wise and great Reasons for which he did not think it fit for him to keep us from falling into the Grave But yet that we may dye in Hope in hope of a joyfull Resurrection as corn is committed to the earth in hope of a good Harvest Christ doth by this Sacrament take Seisure of our Bodies by communicating to us his Own and so uniting us to himself that he may change our vile Body and make it like unto his own Glorious Body according to the mighty Energy whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. 13. Hence it is that the Church in her wisdome hath thought it convenient that men should often receive this Sacrament especially in times of danger distress and Sickness to the end that they may make their peace with God and with their own Consciences and may go out of this world with firm and well grounded hopes both of a plenary Absolution and of an Happy Resurrection For this Sacrament is an Earnest to assure all worthy Communicants that these very Bodies of theirs in which Infirmities and death do now Lodge shall be raised again out of the dust being nourisht as it were out of the veins of our Redeemer These Elements are the Symbols of our Resurrection the Medicine of Immortality the Antitode that keeps us from Final Corruption the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanal Conservatory for a Resurrection to Eternal Life That which hath been spoken already doth make this evident sufficiently 1. For first it is sure that by the Sacrament we receive the Spirit of Christ and since the same Spirit is communicated to Us that dwelleth in Him it must necessarily follow that it shall have the same power over our Flesh which it had over His to raise it up again at the day appointed Thus S. Paul himself argueth Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 2. Secondly seeing the Holy Communion is an instrument of Uniting even our Bodies unto him who is the Head over all so that the members of our Bodies are the very members of Christ and we become as it were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh less cannot follow then that our Bodies shall be made Immortal as His is it being impossible that any thing which is His should perish everlastingly To effect such an Union as is between Christ and his Church it is not necessary nor possible that there should be a confusion or conjunction of bodily Substances It sufficeth that there is a Contact of Spiritual Vertue from the Flesh of Christ Now this Vertue goes along with the Sacrament and is received by every faithful Communicant so that it doth affect even his Body Sanctifying and Appropriating it to the Saviour of our Souls and Bodies both and making our whole man His. And this Union cannot in any wise be dissolved by Death because Death is onely a Separation of the Soul from the Body so that for that time the one loseth all vital activity from the other but neither of them doth or can lose its Title to Christs Protection the Body continueth still related unto its Head as in time of its Life and the Union between Christ and it remaineth entire and so its Right to a glorious Resurrection through Christ is indefeisable In this respect our Condition is very like to the Condition of the Son of God when he himself was in a state of Death He dyed as we do though to purposes infinitely Great and with torments unspeakably Excessive his Spirit was actually sever'd from his Flesh when he gave up the Ghost Nevertheless though his Flesh had no manner of vitality from his Humane Soul being really Separated from it yet it was not separated from the Deity
and therefore St. Paul calls it the Annunciation the Declaration or the shewing forth of the Lords death 1 Cor. 11. 26. alluding manifestly to the Haggadah at the Jewish Passeover By this that has been spoken it doth plainly appear that this Holy Solemnity is Analogous and answerable to those Religious Feasts which were used of old and especially to the Paschal Feast which observation will help us not only to understand fully the purport of this Mystery but also to baffle the pretences of those Monsters of Hereticks the Socinians who give a very mean and contemptuous account of the Lords Supper For they take no notice of any strict engagements it lays upon us to an Holy Life they believe not the Sacrament to be a Seal of Gods favour and Grace so far are they from owning this that Socinus had the confidence Multo praestantior sine dubio respectu veteris faederis fuit sanguis ille pecudum quam respectu novi sit panis ille vinum Socin ad Epist Niemojevii to say that the blood of Beasts under the Law was of Greater efficacy and value than the Bread and Wine in this Ordinance They utterly deny that we hereby Receive any thing at the hands of God nor will they indure us to say that Gods Spirit is here given or that our Faith is here increased or that pardon of sin is here tendered or that we receive here any Pledge of a blessed Resurrection and a glorious Immortality No they explode all doctrines of this nature and teach Is finis est vitûs istius usurpandi ut beneficium a Christo nobis praestitum commemoremus seu Annunciemus nec ullus alius Cat. Eccles. Pol. that the proper end for which the Lords Supper was instituted is this that we may Commemorate the Lords Passion Nay Socinus was of opinion In caena Domini ne ipsam quidem mentionem Christi corporis pro nobis traditi sanguinis fusi disertis verbis faciendam necessariam plane esse Socin de usu fine Caenae Dom. that 't is not necessary so much as to make express mention of Christs Body being delivered or of his blood being poured out for us which yet is inconsistent with his own Principle for how can we Commemorate the Death of our Blessed Saviour without making mention of it Briefly these Blasphemous Hereticks look upon this Holy Ordinance only as the memorial Vide Excerpta ex ore Socini in fine disputationis de usu fine caenae Domini of a Friends kindness This is all they will allow and so they conclude that we may Celebrate it either sitting or standing or with our Heads covered or with Water if we will instead of Wine but to kneel or so much as to sigh with eyes lifted up at the Celebration is in their account a kind of Idolatry I confess these ill conclusions do for the most part follow from that unsound Principle that the Supper of the Lord was intended only in Commemoration of him But what reason and ground have they for this Principle Why Non ullus alius praeter hunc a Christo est indicatus finis Cat. Eccl. Pol. because say they at the institution Christ mentioned only this end Do this in remembrance of me But this is not a reason and ground sufficient For the mentioning of one end is not the excluding of others though Christ in express terms had said no more yet it doth not follow that no more was intended The very Analogy which this Feast beareth to other the like Sacrifical Feasts of old and especially to the Paschal Feast is enough to shew us the several Ends of it had our Saviour mentioned no end at all And this is the Reason that I have now taken notice of that Analogy For if such Feasts were commonly reputed to be Covenant-Rites between God and Man then we may reasonably believe that this is to be reputed so too If to eat the body of a roasted Lamb was a Pledge of Gods favour to the Jews then we may infer that to eat Bread instead of Christs body is a pledge of Gods favour to us Christians If the use of other Sacrifical Feasts did entitle the partakers to all those Benefits for which the Sacrifices were offered then we may conclude that the use of this Sacrifical Feast doth entitle the Communicants to all those benefits for which Christ our Sacrifice offered up himself and which he purchased for us Therefore the Socinians do but trifle and are very vain in pretending to teach us the full meaning of this Rite when they take no notice of that correspondence and Analogy which is between this and other ancient Rites of the like nature For this is a principal thing to be taken notice of and we cannot easily conceive what else it was which satisfied the Apostles touching the purport of this Ordinance when it was instituted first For that they presently discerned the meaning of it is clear because we do not find that they desired of our Lord any explanation at all of this mystery In other cases they were very inquisitive and sometimes about matters which we think had little need of explication being obvious to Men of common and ordinary capacities And yet at the institution of this Holy Sacrament tho it containeth some things so difficult and dark to us that they have occasioned Quarrels in all parts of the Christian world yet the Disciples were who ly silent being very sensible what such Sacred Feasts did mean in those days and what the general sense of Mankind was about them They could not but know that by eating of things which bad been offered at the Altar men undertook to observe that Religion to which that sacred Rite did belong and whereof it was a part They could not but know that by such an action they had a right to those benefits which the Sacrifice had been offered up for and so they became very nearly related to God as his Favourites and Family And when they found by our Saviouts discourse that he would offer up himself a Sacrifice for them and heard him now say of the bread in his hands this is my Body they might easily apprehend him to mean that they were to eat of Bread in the Place and Room of his flesh and instead of feeding upon his Natural Body Considering that the Lamb which was drest for the Paschal-Supper was usually called the Body of the Passeover no sooner did Christ call the Loaf His Body but they did instantly conceive it was appointed to be eaten for his Body and in liew of it especially since he had told them before that they were not to feed on him as they were wont to feed upon the Lamb after a carnal and cross manner because the Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6. 63. Hence they saw presently that this institution did very much resemble the Sacrifical Banquets which had been observed of old only it was
Powers and innumerable Armies of Heavenly Spirits the Cherubim and six-winged Seraphim with thousands of thousands of Angels and Archangels that continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee unto everlasting Ages Then the Church was wont to go on to make mention of the Holy and only begotten Son of God of his love to Mankind of his Incarnation and Birth of a Virgin of his Life Laws Miracles and Humility of his Passion Crucifixon Death Burial Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said they we being mindful of and commemorating his sufferings do give thee thanks according to his command who in the night when he was betrayed took bread into his Holy hands and looking up to Heaven to thee his God and Father brake it and gave it to his Disciples and so forth This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our blessed Redeemer meant and spake of not a Cold faint heartless speaking of that Love of his which was stronger than the most Torturing Agonies and than Death it self but such a Devout commemoration as is attended with Solemnity with admiration with active and vigorous Affections with the meltings and dissolutions of the hardest hearts with such Divine Raptures Extasies and Flights of mind as if our Souls had dropt their mantles of Flesh and were entred into Heaven to bear their parts in that Quire of Blessed Spirits above This was one End and reason for which the Holy Jesus appointed the use of this Mysterious Evangelical Banquet And before I let this point go out of my hands there are two things which I would note from this consideration 1. First that at this Blessed Sacrament there is not any New Sacrificing or offering up of Christ to expiate Sin but only a Commemoration of his Death a Memorial of that One Sacrifice which he offered unto his Father when he offered up himself upon the Cross for us The Romanists are strongly perswaded that as the substance of Christs Natural Body is really in the Host so he is really truly and literally Sacrificed there as a Propitiatory Oblation both for the living and the Dead too But 't is a modest censure to say for 't is the the least we can say of this conceit that 't is a very fond and groundless fancy because neither from our Saviours words at the Institution nor from St. Pauls Repeating the Story nor from the Nature and Analogy of this Feast can we gather any thing that gives Colour to this Principle it being apparent every way that Christ intended this Mystery not that he should suffer in it a fresh or be Sacrificed in it afresh but that we should thereby Commemorate and shew forth his Passion in Golgotha Indeed in some cases the same thing may be said to be a Commemoration of a Sacrifice and a true Sacrifice also as the Paschal Lamb at Jerusalem was truly a Sacrifice and a Memorial too of the Lamb that was sacrificed in Egypt But it cannot be said to be so in this case because 't is Contradictory to the Apostles argumentation in Heb. 10 where he shews that Christs Sacrificing of himself had this Prerogative this dignity above all Legal Oblations that it needed not as the others did any Repeating whereas the Sacrifices under the Law were offered year by year continually and every Priest stood Ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices Christ our High Priest offered one perfect Sacrifice for sins for ever and so sate down on the right hand of God by that one offering of himself having perfected for ever them that are sanctified and having sanctified them through the offering of his own Body once for all So that unless we will give the Apostle the Lie we cannot affirm any Propitiatory Sacrifice to be in this Mystery 'T is true this blessed Sacrament is called a Sacrifice or rather the whole Action and Rite is called so and it is so in some sense even as Prayer is called a * Vid. Tertull. p. 187. H. 104. Sacrifice Psal 141. 2. and as Praises are called a Sacrifice Heb. 13. 15. and as Righieousness and a broken Spirit are called Sacrifices Psal 51. 17. and as Almsdeeds are called Sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. and as the devoting our selves to the service of God is called the presenting of our Bodies a Living Sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. For at this Holy Sacrament we are bound to do all this to bless Gods Name therefore 't is called the Eucharist from our Praises and Thanksgivings to implore Gods goodness to offer up to him the Oblation of Penitent Hearts to present him with some of our Worldly substance to vow obedience to his Laws and to offer unto him our selves our Souls and Bodies as a reasonable Holy and lively Sacrifice as we profess in that excellent Prayer after the Communion It is Hence and upon these accounts not from any real Sacrificing of Christ but from the offering up of our Devotion of our selves and of our Goods that the Celebration of this Mystery is called a Sacrifice And hence it is too that the Lords Table is called an Altar as it was called in the * So Can. Apost 3. So S. Cyprian every where calls the Lords Table And so doth Tertullian Nonne solenior â—â—it statio tua si ad Aram dei steteris de Orat cap. 14. And I Suppose the ancient Christians took occasion of speaking thus from those words of our Saviour Matth. 5. 23 24. if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee c. which words doâ— certainly relate to those Oblations which Christ intended should be made and in the Apostolical times were made in the Church Ancient times of Christianity but that some weak men now love to quarrel with words and the Place too where the Table stood was called the || So the Author de Eccles. Hierarch c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he means the Sacrarium or Holy place where the Table stands And to the same purpose the word is used by Ignatius in those expressions of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Ephes And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Tralles Where he urgeth that necessity which people are under to joyn with the Bishop and the rest of the Clergy in the Publick Prayers of the Church For Anciently Prayer was made in the Chancel at the Holy Table as 't is insinuated Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes And by Tertullian Exhort ad Castit cap. 10. Si Spiritus reus apud se sit conscientia erubescit quomodo audebit Orationem dicere ad Altare Hence Bishop Usher notes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifie the same thing that is the Altar-place Unde in Polycarpi ad Philippenses Ignatio ad Tarsenses tribut â Epistold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vulgato Latino interprete Sacrarium Dei
which is a word derived from an Hebrew Radix that Rab. Levi Ben Gersom Salomon Iarchi Kimchi and others cited by Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis lib. 1. c. 11. signifies to draw near because the Oblations were brought to Gods Altar and the Offerers themselves were thereby brought very nigh unto God And for the same reason divers Hebrew Doctors thought that Peace-offerings were so called because by means thereof Peace and Concord was procured and by the eating of them Confirmed between God and those who presented them Their using of one Common Table was a Token that they were in Gods Grace and Favour that Sacrifical Feast was a Symbol of Friendship between God and all the Communicants And upon the same grounds it was also that at the eating of the Peace-offerings they were wont to rojoyce before the Lord to sing Psalms and Hymns unto him signifying that they Abarbanel loc laud. were at peace with God and that God was at peace with them whereas at the Sacrificing of sin-offerings the People did use to express their Grief and Heaviness such as become Penitents abstaining from all Banquets especially those Sacrifical Banquets which their sins had occasioned for it was not fit for De hostiis Pacificis licebat post effusum sanguinem privatis qui obtulerant eorumque uxoribus liberis epulari in signum amâ—citiae cum deo Id in oblatione simulae non licebat quia id inter privilegia erat Sacerdotalia nec in victim is pro peccato delicto ne de culpa Laetarentur Grot. in Levit. 3. 1. them to rejoyce for their iniquities when the Priests did eat of their sin-offerings as they were wont to rejoyce for Gods Friendship and Kindness to them which they were assured of when they were suffered to eat themselves of their peace-offerings as the learned Grotius hath rightly observed Once more as in general the Sacrifical Feasts among the Jews were Pledges of Gods singular love to them so was the Passeover-Feast in particular The Socinians cannot deny but that at its first institution it was a visible Sign to the Jews that God would be so favourable and Gracious to them as to deliver them out of all their distresses in Egypt for Moses told them in express terms to that purpose Those Idolaters the Egyptians thought themselves sure of the good will of their Gods when they had the Priviledge to Banquet before them Therefore God himself to confirm his own people in the belief of his promise and to make them sure of it that he would infallibly redeem them with a strong hand notwithstanding all the discouragements and difficulties they saw before them ordered them to kill in each house a Lamb and to feast upon it and to be assured thereby that he would certainly deliver them even tho the Egyptians should be never so enraged to see that Creature killed which they thought it unlawful and abominable for men to slay and eat of so that as the Rainbow was a sign of Gods Covenant with Noah and as circumcision was a Token of Gods Covenant with Abraham for so the Scripture calls it expresly not only the Seal of Abrahams righteousness as the Socinians would have it but a Token of Gods Covenant too with Abraham Gen. 17. 11. even so the Passeover Feast was now a sign and Token of his Covenant with Abrahams Children In after ages it continued to be a Pledge still of the Divine favour to them and for that reason it was that no stranger no uncircumcised Man no unclean person could partake of it because being as yet out of Gods favour they were uncapable of receiving the Token the Pledge the Earnest of his Love and Goodness Seeing then that the feasting upon Sacrifices was thought by all mankind to be a Pledge and argument that Heaven was propitious to them Seeing that the feasting upon peace-offerings in general and upon the Paschal-Lamb in particular was concluded by the Jews to be a Pledge and argument of Gods special love to them above all other Nations it evidently followeth that this our feasting upon Christ our Sacrifice this our Eating of Bread instead of his Natural Flesh this our Christian Sacrifical Banquet being Analogous and answerable to the Sacrifical Banquets of Old ought also to be looked upon as those were to be a Token Pledge and Seal of Gods favour goodness and grace to us though the Scriptures had not told us any thing to that effect in express terms But in my opinion St. Paul hath said enough to this purpose if men will but attentively listen to what he saith in 1 Cor. 10. where part of his business is to shew how unlawful it is for Christians to Eat of things that are offered unto Idols And this he doth by shewing the incongruity and inconsistency of the thing and the Evil effects of it because every professor of Christianity doth hereby make himself a most wretched Bankrupt and undoes all his interest in Christ and throws away an inestimable stock and Treasure of Blessings by his sitting at meat in the Idols Temple To make this out he shews in few words what those Blessings are The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion Though some Socinians interpret those words as if by the Communion of Christs Body and blood was meant the making and causing us to be of that Society or Church which belongs to Christs Body and Blood which is a very Trissing and far fetch interpretation as Slichtingius in 1 Cor. 10. 16. Yet in the Socinian Catechism they own and confess that such as ducly Celebrate this Rite do Communicate of Christs Body and Blood that is say they of all those good things which Christ hath brought tous by his Death though they trifle again in saying that this Rite is not any cause but only an Attestation of that Communion of the Body of Christ ver 16. were part of the Apostles meaning is this that by rightly receiving the Symbols of Christs Body and Blood we have a share in all those Blessings for which his Body was broken and his Blood was shed We have a Title Claim and Right thereby to all the Mercies of the new Covenant we receive the Vertues and wonderful effects of his Passion and so we are understood in a Mystical sense to participate of Christs Body and Blood 'T is true we do here partake of Christ not mystically only but really too we participate not only of his Bruised and Crucified but also of his most Blessed and Glorified Body as I shall shew at large hereafter in its proper place But that is not to our purpose now Though we do Communicate of Christ now while he is in Heaven yet in the place before quoted St. Paul doth directly point to those blessings which by means of this Sacrament accrue to us from his sufferings on the
man finds himself named in Gods promise but to all Believers in general Now as it was necessary that the Divine Grace should be first purchased for all at large and then some means used for the conveyance of this purchase to every individual Believer so is it necessary that besides the confirmation and sealing of the promises by Christs Death to all in general there should be another obsignation to the Soul of every person in particular that gives up himself to him that died for him because otherwise every ones mind would fluctuate in endless doubtings and uncertainties Now we say that this obsignation is transacted at this Covenant-Feast And how so Why here every particular Communicant that is duly prepared receives the Seal when he receives the Elements which are the Tokens and Pledges upon the Divine favour In that I am admitted to participate here of the Sacrifice of the Cross it is an evident sign and strong argument to me that that Sacrifice shall be imputed to me shall be available and effectual for me as the Sacrifice was imputed to the Jews was available and effectual for the Jews and was declared to be so when they were admitted to partake of the Peace-offerings and to feast upon them as we do here upon Bread and Wine CHAP. VI. Of the blessings we receive by a due use of this Ordinance First we Mystically participate of Christs Body and Blood What that Mystical participation is Secondly that we receive the Pardon of Sin Proved from the correspondency of this Feast to the Ancient Sacrifical Banquets in general And from its Analogy to those Feasts which were used after Sin-offerings in particular and from the words of Christ at the Institution HAving thus discoursed of the Nature and Ends of this Sacrament I proceed next according to the usual method to discourse of the Blessings which it brings us by our due Reception of it 1. And first it is the joynt Confession of all the Christian Churches in the world for I do not reckon upon the Blasphemous Socinians that we do hereby receive the Body and Blood of our Redeemer This I mention in the first place and must take the greater care and pains to clear because the proof hereof will strongly and evidently prove the conveyance of divers other blessings hereafter to be mentioned in their order Now we are said to partake of Christs Body and Blood in a twofold sense that is after a Mystical and after a real manner 1. In a Mystical sense we do partake here of our Saviours Body as it was Broken and of his Blood as it was shed for us upon the Cross that is our Feasting together at the Holy Table is by interpretation a feeding upon our Crucified Jesus in the account of God and construction of the Gospel We are reputed and esteemed to partake of that Sacrifice which he offered up and so are entitled to all those mercies which that Sacrifice was offered up for For the opening of this matter we must remember how Mankind were wont of old to participate of those things which they had first offered up in Sacrifice as the Jews for instance were wont to participate of their Peace-offerings and of the Paschal Lamb. Now this Feast being Analogous and answerable to those according to the Vulgar course and the Ordinary manner of Feasting Christians must have fed upon Their Sacrifice that is upon Christs own Natural Flesh as Jews and Gentiles were wont to seed upon their Oblations But considering that this would have been an * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cyril Alexand in Catena Thomae in Luc. 22. vide e◠ad Calofyr Item Theophylact in Marc 14. Inhumane way of feasting and considering that one and the same Body could not have served 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas in illud quicunque dixerit verbum c. for all Christians in all Ages and considering too that the feeding upon Christs very Flesh was not necessary in it self but that the ends and purposes of this Feast might be very well answer'd by our feeding upon something else in the Place of Christ therefore at the institution of this Ordinance he appointed us the use of Bread and Wine instead of giving us his very Body and Blood which he gave to God as a Sacrifice for us These Creatures are the Symbols and Representations of his Body and Blood they are substituted in the place and room of them and the manducation of the one and the drinking of the other is to all intents as valid and effectual to us as if we did actually partake of those things which they do represent and in lieu of which they are appointed This I take to be part of the meaning of our Saviours words this is my Body and this is my Blood As if he had said this Bread is instead of my Flesh and this Wine is in the Room of my blood This is a Natural and an easie interpretation 't is fair and rational and full of sense and 't would serve to silence a great many controversies among Christians were it but admitted would they put in but this one word instead and understand our Saviour to mean this is instead of that in the place and room of it Nor do I see any reason in the World against this interpretation For all men know that the Jews were wont to speak after a concise manner meaning something which they did not fully express of which there are a thousand instances and examples in Holy Writ and why may we not allow that our Saviour spake now as other Jews did nay as he himself did at other times after a short concise manner saying of the Bread this is my Body but intending thus much This is instead of my Body The Analogy of this Feast to other Sacrifical Banquets doth plainly and infallibly argue that our Saviours words are thus to be interpreted because we feed here upon Bread instead of eating the very Flesh of our Sacrifice And I am confirmed in this opinion by an observation that Bishop Taylor of the real presence Sect. 4. in fine And Dr. Hammond in his Annot on Matth. 26. 26. hath been made by two learned Doctors of our Church who have noted that the Lamb for the Paschal Supper being drest and set upon the Table the Jews were wont to call it the Body of the Passeover and the Body of the Paschal Lamb. If this be so it is reasonable to believe that our Saviour alluded to a Jewish Phrase that was ready at hand when he said this is my Body or this is in the room of me the true Passeover When he took the Bread into his Holy hands and told his Disciples that that was his Body he gave them to understand that they were not to expect to eat of his very Natural Flesh as they were wont to eat of the Flesh of a Lamb but instead of that they were to eat Bread which should be as
Which a little before he calls five several times Bread and the Bread of Lord. Origen in Matth. cap. 15. Sacramental Bread though Bellarmine doth onely trifle upon the Argument interpreting it of the Corruption of the Species or Accidents onely that is of Nothing or of things without matter and Substance which is as good as nothing The truth is the Learned Jesuite was not able to answer this objection and therefore Bellarm. de Euch lib. 1. cap. 14. he tells men that they should stop their ears at it and say nothing to it But let them endeavour to Shuttle it off what they can it is a most Horrid Conclusion which followeth their Principle of Transubstantiation which renders the Principle it self highly wicked and Blasphemous as well as Unreasonable 3. But yet did the Holy Scriptures say expresly that what we taste and see at the Lords Table is the very natural Flesh and Bloud of Christ we ought rather to disbelieve our senses and reason too than contradict the Word of God But they speak nothing to this purpose but do plainly say and argue the contrary and this is the third thing which we justly blame the Romanists for that they will not suffer the Scripture to determine the point between us though it be a Book which They acknowledge as well as We to contain the Word of God and which one would think should be judged a certain Rule of Faith and of sufficient authority to oblige every Christians Judgement to Acquiesce by Now 1. as touching the Body of Christ the Scripture tells us that it is gone up into Heaven there to abide till the day of final Judgement To this purpose S. John tells us chap. 14. and 16. that Christ spake to his Disciples before his death telling them that he was about to leave them and to depart from them that he was going his way to the Father and was leaving the world Which expressions must necessarily be understood of his Bodily absence that his Humane Nature was to be no longer here below or else the sense would be Impertinent and to no purpose For his design was to Prepare the minds of his followers that they might not be dejected at his departure nor surprized with it And to that end he told them of it before hand and assured them withal that in lieu of his Corporal presence he would give them his Spirit to be with his Church to the end of the world Now to what purpose were these Expressions and Promises if he was to be with them still in Person and if his Body was to be handled by them still at the Sacrament The Poor said he ye have with you always but Me ye have not always Matth. 26. 11. This is contradicted by those of the Church of Rome for they say we have him with us still even in his person though he be not visible to our eyes nay they pretend to have him much better than the Jews had for they saw him and heard him and touched him only but these pretend to eat him too and to take him down into their very Stomachs And S. Peter speaking of him affirmed that he was in Heaven and there was to be until the times of Restitution Act. 3. 21. In respect of his Body he is at the right hand of God in Heaven and thence we look for him saith S. Paul Phil. 3. 20. not in the Sacrament on the Patin or in the Chalice but we look for him from Heaven at the general Resurrection Lord what can a man in his wits collect out of all these Texts but this that though Christ be with us by his Spirit yet he is at such an infinite distance from us in his Humane nature that till the end of all things we cannot have so much as a Glimpse of him unless Heaven be opened to us by a Miracle as it was to S. Stephen Men were as good take the Holy Writers by the Throats and with violent hands keep them from speaking at all as dispute against such plain and Full Evidence touching the absence of our Saviours Natural Body And then secondly as touching that which we take into our hands at the Sacrament the Scripture still calleth it Bread and Wine At the institution our Lord pointed to the contents in the Cup and termed it the fruit of the Vine And so he is said to have taken Bread to have blessed it to have broken it and to have given it to his Disciples requiring them to eat it meaning plainly that which he took into his hands and that was Bread S. Luke calls the Distribution of the Sacrament the breaking of Bread Act. 2. 42. And S. Paul says 't is Bread which we break 1 Cor. 10. 16. that we are Partakers of Bread vers 17. and that as often as we eat of it we eat of Bread 1 Cor. 11. 26. whence it appears that 't is Bread after Consecration as well as before though the Use and Condition of it be changed so that by it the Body of Christ be communicated to us yet the Nature and Substance of it is the same still even Bread as the Scripture calls For 't is an eternal truth that where things are of a Different Nature as bread and flesh are the one cannot be said to be the other with any Propriety of speech as Bertram rightly argued that nothing is more absurd than to call Bertran de Corp. Sang. Dom. bread flesh or wine bloud without a Figure for 't is as absurd as to call a Man an Elephant or a Fish a Scorpion Either then it is not Bread and then the Scripture deceives us or if it be Bread it is not Christs Natural Flesh and then the Church of Rome cousens us and there is the point The utmost that they can pretend from Scripture is that one expression this is my Body and will you not say they believe our Saviour himself Yes we do firmly believe that to be true which our Saviour did mean but the question is what his meaning was Now that those words are not to be taken strictly and according to the first Sound of them will be clear from these following considerations 1. That before men grew Hot and Angry and Magisterial about this matter several Doctors even of the Roman Church could not find that our Saviour meant any thing of Transubstantiation by that Phrase That Doctrine was defined first at the Lateran Council a little above 400. years ago and yet Scotus and Cameracensis who lived after that Council did hold that without the Churches Declaration there is no place of Scripture which forceth men to believe Transubstantiation Nay Bellarmine himself confesseth the thing to be Probable enough which those Bellarm. de Euch. lib. 3. c. 23. Doctors said and by this 't is manifest that in their own opinion Christs words may be allowed to bear a very doubtful sense so that had it not been out of pure respects to the
the Catholick Church Several advantages gained by this Notion 5. BUt yet the celebration of the Communion is the Ordinary standing and effectual means to make us partakers of Christs Virtues and Spirit And this is the last thing I shall shew for the conclusion of this whole point that the spiritual Body of Christ which in some measure is given in general to all faithful Christians is effectually certainly and abundantly given particularly to all Devout and Faithful Communicants And here to touch a little upon the Effects of the Ancient Sacrifical Banquets which have been spoken of before It is observable that those Mysteries were not things of an empty nature to those that communicated thereof but were attended with the operation and efficacy either of Divine or Diabolical Powers 1. That great care and Reverence which was required of the Jew under pain of death for the due celebration of the Paschal Supper was a clear argument that God himself intended to be with them at the time after a more Peculiar manner and to scatter his Heavenly Blessings among them The intent of that and other Religious Mysteries was that the Souls of Gods People might be united to the Divine Nature and might be Inspired by the Divine Mind as Abarbanal tells us To this purpose the Learned Masius observes Abarbanal Exord in Levit. in fine that some Hebrew Doctors believed so great a Mystery to have been in the Paschal Sacrifice as that thereby God did after some sort first of all Communicate his Divinity unto Men. And he cites a passage in a Book of Rabbi Judas where he saith that by means of the Passeover God did Masius Comment in Josh c. 5. p. 89. take men into such close Communion with himself that by his Divine Power they did abide in him as the week of a candle abideth in the Light and that this was mystically signified by those words Levit. 11. 45. I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the Land of Egypt to be your God meaning as that Rabbi interprets it that I might impart unto you mine own Divinity Where the same Author also takes notice of a saying in Philo that by the Passeover was signified the passing of our mortal and corruptible nature into God that is the changing and raising of it into the Divine Nature And for the understanding of these Mysterious That 's the true reading not withstanding what we find in the margent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Sacr. Abel Cain notions Masius refers us particularly to the sixth chapter of S. John as if God under the Law did bless men with such Spiritual Influences and Divine virtues at the Passoever as Christ doth now bless Communicants with at the Eucharist to be meat and drink indeed to the Souls of his Disciples 2. As the Jews did partake of God at the Paschal Supper so did the Heathens partake of Divels at their Sacrifical Banquets That there were Demoniacks of old people that were inspired by Divels and possest with Divels is out Etiam de corpuribus nostro imperio excedunt inviti doâ—entes Tertull. Apolog. c. 23. de Daemonibus of all controversie for the Ancient Christians were commonly wont to force them out of men and to put them to a great deal of Torment The Divel had many opportunities and ways of getting this power over people God permitting it so to be in vengeance for their wickednesses So Tertullian tells a story of a Christian woman that going to see an Heathen Tertull. de Spect. c. 10. Play return'd possest with the Divel and when the Exorcist demanded of the Demon how he durst meddle with one of the faithful his answer was that he found her in his Dominions But never did these Infernal Spirits take greater advantage over men nor seize them more effectually than when they did Sacrifice unto them and did eat of their Sacrifices in their Temples Then these Demons did sometimes appear unto them as they did to Julian sometimes Theodor. Ecol Hist l. 3. c. 3. they possest them so that they were besides their senses and become mad and furious as those who were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sorsan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Galen quoted by Casaubon of Enthusiasme chapt 1. celebrated the Orgia or the Mysteries of Bacchus otherwise called Omophagia from their eating of Raw-flesh whereby they grew quite Frantick yet past for men that where Divinely inspired full of the Arnob. adv Genr. lib. 5. Numen and Majesty of God Sometimes the Divels drove them into such a violent furor that they whipt and scourged one Herodot l. 2. another as the old Egyptians were wont to do when they had done Sacrificing Vide Lucian de Dea Syria nay that they would cut their Arms and other parts of their Bodies as those Lucian speaks of like the worshippers of 1. Kings 18. Baal those Demoniacks that did usually cut themselves with knives and Lances till Vid. Lucian ubi Supr the Bloud gushed out upon them Sometimes the Divels did Influence them so that they were full of Poetical strains could * So the Enthei Sacerdotes mentioned by several Authors Pleni mixti Deo vates Minut. Fael And such was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Pythia vates like that Phythoniffa 1. Sam. 2 8. called by the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Gyrald-Hist Deor. Syntagm 7. pag. 222. deliver Oracles and by the help of the Demons within them could foretel things to come could Divine and presage events after they had Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to banquet upon the Sacrifices which had been sent to the Oracle for the asking his advice Eurip. in Electra p. 835. eaten of the Sacrificess Out of many Writers it Dr. Cudworths True Notion appears that the old Heathen by means of their Sacrifical Idol feasts contracted such fellowship and intimacy with the Powers of hell that they hardly ever wanted their Assistance And a learned Doctor of our Church tells us out of one of the Rabbies that the Amient Chaldeans were wont to eat Flesh and Drink Bloud with their Idols because they had thereby such Communication with Demons that they familiarly conversed with them and told them what would happen in process of time Which he also confirms out of another Rabbi who saith that by this kind of Communion with Divels at their Tables the Chaldeans were able to Prophesie and foretell things to come To all which I shall onely add that those lewd Hereticks who used Inchantments and Magical Arts as many of them did in the Primitive times of Christianity did learn to deal with Divels and taught others to deal and to be possest with Divels also by means of those Mysteries which they used in Imitation of the holy Eucharist that was used by the Catholicks and to this purpose