IV. Our Behaviour in it And in the V. After we have received and during the whole course of our Lives especially the Time betwixt different Celebrations To which shall be added Prayers Meditations and Hymns suited to the several Parts of this Holy Office CHAP. I. Of the Nature of the Sacrament § I. THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper may be thus described 'T is a Memorial and Representation of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ instituted by Christ himself in the room of the Jewish Passover wherein by the breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine we renew our Covenant with God praising him for all his Goodness and testify our Union with all good Men and whereby the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § II. 'T is a Memorial of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ. I confess the whole Sacred Action has been stiled by the Fathers as well as by some Excellent Persons of our own Church the Christian Sacrifice the unbloody Sacrifice and is indeed such in the same Sense that Prayer and Praise whereof it is in a great measure compos'd are styled under the Gospel spiritual Sacrifices Nay it comes yet nearer to the Nature of the old Eucharistical and other Sacrifices because 't is an Oblation of something visible namely Bread and Wine to be consum'd to God's Honor which are then offer'd when the Minister places them on the Christian Altar or Holy Table as was done more solemnly by lifting them up in the antient Church immediately after which in the Prayer for the Church Militant he beseeches God to receive our Oblations as well as Alms and Prayers which may relate to the Bread and Wine newly offered But since it has no shedding of Blood therein which has been thought essential to a proper Sacrifice * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 macto facio is used in the same Sense and that the shedding of our Saviour's Blood is only Sacramentally represented in it and not actually and properly poured forth as it was upon the Cross whereon he was once offered to take away Sin and since the Sacrament is a Memorial of that one Oblation of Christ and 't is contrary to the Nature of a Memorial or Remembrance of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ to be the same with that Sacrifice it remembers for these Reasons we cannot own any such proper propitiatory attoning Sacrifice * Homily of the Sacrament Part 1. We must take heed lest of the Memory it be made a Sacrifice exactly as Eusebius who says our Saviour left us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Sacrament as the Romanists do believe any more than we can think with them that 't is available both for quick and dead of neither of which we find any Footsteps in the Holy Scriptures Suffice it therefore that we believe it a Sacrifice in the highest Sense that Prayer and Praise are so call'd in the New Testament because it requires and is compos'd of the most exalted Acts of both that we believe it an Offering or Dedication of the Bread and Wine to the sacred use as well as we therein offer our selves anew to God and that we believe the whole Action a Memorial a Commemoration and Representation of the inestimable Sacrifice of the Death of Christ whereby alone we expect Life and Salvation § III. First 'T is a ' Memorial or Commemoration of Christ's Death and of the Sacrifice which he thereby offer'd for us That is by this sacred Action we record and keep it in mind till he come again to Iudgment And that according to his own Command as St. Luke * St. Luk. 22. 19. 1 Cor. 11. 24 25. relates it of the Bread and St. Paul both of the Bread and Wine This do in remembrance of me As forgetfulness of God's Goodness and Ingratitude for it must needs have been great occasions of the fall of Man so that very fall renders us still more forgetful and ungrateful Mankind will therefore have always need enough of Helps to their Memory in religious Matters And some of these God has appointed wherever there has been a revealed Religion Thus the Sacrifice of the Passover was instituted for a Remembrance of what the Israelites suffered in Egypt and of God's wonderful Mercy in delivering them from it as well as to typify or shadow forth unto them Christ himself our great Passover The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was in like manner instituted That we might keep in memory that which Christ suffered for us and delivered to us such a sensible Sign and remarkable solemn Action being much more likely to preserve a lively impression of it than if it had been only barely recorded in History Now this Commemoration may be considered either with respect to our selves or with respect to God as it respects our selves we not only therein commemorate God's Love in general to Mankind in giving his Son and our Saviour's Love in giving himself a Ransom for all Men to bring them into a Capacity of Salvation on their Faith and Obedience but yet farther the actual Application of his meritorious Sacrifice to our selves on our performing the Conditions of his Covenant and his infinite Goodness in making us partakers of his Holy Word and Sacraments and thereby calling us to this State of Salvation and preserving us in it As this Commemoration relates to God we do also in the Communion present a Memorial of a sweet Savour before him and beseech him for the sake of his dear Son and by his Agonies and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion and precious Death to have Mercy upon us and grant us the Remission of our Sins and all other Benefits of his Sufferings Not that God is either ignorant of our Wants or unwilling to relieve us or forgetful of us But we must be sensible of these things our selves and of God's Power to help us and seek for Relief in those ways he has appointed And well may we more solemnly commemorate our Saviour's Sacrifice in this Sacrament when we do the same in some degree even in our daily Prayers and ask all for his sake and in a Sense offer him anew to his Father applying his Attonement and pleading his Merits and trusting in his Intercession and Meditation Nor ought we to forget that the antient Liturgies did not only commemorate our Saviour's Death in the Sacrament but likewise his Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven § IV. Secondly But there is not only a Commemoration but a Representation too of our Saviour's Death in the Holy Communion 'T is not a bare Remembrance of it 't is a lively Scheme and Figure of what he endur'd As oft as ye eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup says the Apostle ye do shew forth or rather by way of Command shew ye forth the Lord's Death till he come Declare it proclaim it tell the People what great things he has done Whence
ridiculous Consequences That our Saviour did eat his own Body and gave it to his Disciples to eat making Christians the worst of Cannibals to eat their God a thousand times over * Eoquem tam amentem esse putas qui illud quo vescatur credat Deum esse Tully de natura Deorum implying penetration of dimensions contradicting the very Nature of a Body which cannot be in two places at the same time †Rubrick after Communion much less in Earth and Heaven contradicting our Saviour's own Words that we should not have him always ‖ St. Mat. 26. 11. that is his Body with us tho' in his Divinity his Spirit his Power his Graces he 's with the Church to the End of the World * St. Mat. 28. 20. contrary to the End of the Institution which was to be a Memorial of his Body broken and Blood shed for us contrary to the Words of the Apostle †1 Cor. 11. 26 27 28. who calls it Bread and Wine after Consecration thrice in one Chapter ‖ Vide supra For which Reasons and many others that might be alledged our Church declares in her Twenty Eighth Article of the Lord's Supper That Transubstantiation or the Change of the Substance of the Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved in Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthroweth the Nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions § XIV But how is it then called the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and in what Sense is he present there and how are the faithful said therein to eat his Body and drink his Blood both by the antient Fathers and by our own Church and most other Protestants of all denominations * Lutherans Calvin Beza Assemb Catechism great and less Cranmer Ridley Communion Service English Tigur Liturg. c. That this is true in some Sense is evident from Holy Scripture it self as well as from the Consent of all Christian Churches Our Saviour said This is my Body and this is my Blood And the Apostle * 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of Blessing is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread of the Body of Christ And to the same purpose in the next Chapter Thus our fore-mentioned Article That the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ and the Cup of Blessing a partaking of the Blood of Christ. And in the Catechism that the inward part or thing signified in the sacrament is The Body and Blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper And the like in several places in the Communion-Office From all which it appears how little Reason our Adversaries have to brand us for Sacramentarians or such as deny the Body and Blood of Christ in a sound Sense to be received in the Lord's Supper § XV. But what Sense that is we come now to enquire First The Symbols the very Bread and Wine are in a figurative typical and sacramental Sense the Body and Blood of our Saviour They are more than a bare or ordinary Figure they do really and actually from their Institution represent and exhibit Christ's Death unto us as did the Paschal Lamb the delivery of the Iews out of Egypt This our Church affirms in her Homily of the Sacrament Part I. That we must be sure to hold that in the Supper of the Lord there is no vain Ceremony no untrue Figure of a thing absent but the Bread and Cup of the Lord the Memory of Christ the Annunciation of his Death c. § XVI But there 's yet more in it for 2. There is in the Blessed Sacrament a real spiritual presence of the Body and Blood of our Saviour to every faithful Receiver Christ as to his Divinity is every where and more effectually and graciously present to his own Institutions and will make his Promise good to be with his Church to the End of the World * St. Mat. 28. 20. and doubtless is so in this Sacrament as well as in the other of Baptism and herein he conveys all the real Benefits obtained by his Sufferings to every faithful Receiver His Natural Body is in Heaven where it will remain till he comes to Iudgment He is spiritually present in the Sacrament present by Faith to our Spirits The fore-mentioned Homily tells us that in the Supper of the Lord we are not only to hold that there is a Memory of Christ's Death but that there is likewise the Communion of his Body and Blood in a marvellous Incorporation wrought in the Souls of the faithful And again If God hath purified our hearts by Faith we do at this Table receive not only the outward Sacrament but the spiritual thing also not the Figure but the Truth not the Shadow only but the Body And to the same purpose our Learned Bishop Iewell That not the naked Figure and bare Sign and Token only but Christ's Body and Blood are verily and indeed given unto us in the Sacrament we verily eat it and drink it and live by it and thereby Christ dwells in us and we in him Yet he goes on ' We say not that the Substance of Bread and Wine is done away or that Christ's Body is fleshly present in the Sacrament but we lift up our hearts to Heaven there to feed on him Tho' by the way What need would there have been of the Sursum Corda or Invitation to the People in the Primitive Church to lift up their Hearts to Christ in Heaven if whole Christ God and Man were actually present upon the Altar § XVII But neither the Apostles nor the Primitive Church nor our Church of England ever held that the Sacrament was so much as in this latter Sense the Body and Blood of Christ to all that received but only to the faithful Receivers For those who received unworthily the Apostle tells us they were guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord therefore surely they did not properly communicate of his Body and Blood which he that does has eternal Life nay they did eat and drink their own Iudgment or Condemnation not discerning the Lords Body And to the same purpose is that famous saying of one of the Fathers That the Wicked do only press with their Teeth the Sacrament or outward Sign of the Lords Body but do not really communicate in it Neither did the Fathers ever think that we were to eat the Flesh of Christ in a gross carnal Capernaitical sense whatever high Expressions they may have sometime used concerning this Mystery wherein they may have been followed by devout modern Writers Hear one for all 'T is St. Augustine de Doctrinâ Christianâ Lib. 3. Cap. 16. where in his Rules for interpreting Scripture he instances in that Text which has been so much controverted of late years the 6th of
and Blood and thereby assures us of his Favour and Goodness to us and renews his Covenant with us and gives us leave to do the same with him § XXII But we confirm this Covenant by a most solemn Oath as well as a Feast in this Holy Communion for it partakes of both The very Word Sacrament originally signified that Military Oath which Soldiers took to their General to bear Faith and true Allegiance to him to obey his Commands In the Lords Supper we swear Fealty and Homage to the great King of Earth and Heaven and as well as in Baptism engage to be his faithful Servants and Soldiers to our Lives end Which Oath as all others does imply an Imprecation as did the ancient Sacrifices used at the Ratification of Leagues wherein the Beast being cut in pieces the Parties agreeing went between them wishing that their Blood might be so poured out and they themselves cut in pieces if they ever brake their Vow and Covenant To which the breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine does answer in the Communion as it may farther signifie that we resolve to be faithful even to the Death to our great Lord and Master and if there be occasion are ready to shed our Blood for him as he did for us The Commemoration whereof is indeed the main End of the Sacrament and the principal Notion wherein we are to represent it to our Minds but there are subordinate Ends and other useful Notions under which we may consider it in order to profit by it Among which is § XXIII The next thing in our Description of this Sacrament That we therein praise God for all his Goodness As much as this is included in that very ancient name of it the Eucharist which is used in the Scripture for giving of Thanks in general ‖ Eph. 5. 4. but applied to this most solemn Act of Thanksgiving in the blessed Sacrament not only by the earliest Ecclesiastical Writers but even by an ancient Version of the New Testament For the Syriac retains the Word Eucharist both in the 2d of the Acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. In both of which places what we render breaking of Bread is with them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breaking the Eucharist And a Word of the same Original is used both by the Apostle and the Evangelists in the Description of its Institution †1 Cor. 11. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Luke 22. 19. and where our Saviour is said to give thanks over the Bread by St. Luke and St. Paul and to bless it by St. Matthew ‖ St. Mat. 26. 26. the same thing is intended for he blest and praised God for his Gifts and by that Thanksgiving did sanctifie the Bread both derive God's Blessing upon it and set it apart to a sacred use to be the thankful Memory of his own Death till he come to Judgment And accordingly in this Sacrament the Church does render most solemn Thanks and Praise to God the Father for his inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of his dear Son and to Christ himself who gave his Body to be broken and his precious Blood to be shed for us as well as for all the Benefits of his Passion especially the Pardon of our Sins and Eternal Life § XXIV The next thing to be taken notice of in this Sacrament is That we do therein testifie and express our unfeigned Union with all our Christian Brethren with all those that bear the Image of the Heavenly This was doubtless one great end of its Institution that thereby all the followers of our Saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble Bands and that all men might know them for his true Disciples by their Loving one another * St. Iohn 13. 35. and thus the Apostle argues The Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread where he hints at the Mystical Union between Christ and his Church and of all the Members thereof one with another ‖ 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. Feasting in common has been always esteemed both a Token of Amity and Friendship and the way to increase and preserve it In the Holy Communion we may be said to renew our Covenant with one another †Pliny ad confaederandam disciplinam coetus Chrianorum as well as with God and seem yet further even to imprecate his Wrath upon our selves if we break that sacred Band. And to the same purpose were the Agapae or Love-Feasts among the Christians both in the Apostles times and a Century or two after * Vid. Tertul. Apol c. 39. p. 105. And the frequent reception of the Communion must needs render Christians more charitable and increase a holy Love among them because without this Charity they know they ought not to communicate as the too general neglect of this Sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that Grace amongst us For the partaking of this Divine Feast and the consideration of Christs wonderful Love to us in laying down his Life for us even when we were Enemies must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us and with a pure heart servently to love one another § XXV Hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the Reception of the Holy Sacrament To commemorate and represent the Sacrifice of our Saviours Death according to his Institution by eating of Bread and drinking of Wine therein renewing our Covenant with God praising him for his Goodness and testifying and exercising our Unity and Charity towards all our Christian Brethren § XXVI I proceed in the last place to that which we are to receive from God in the conscientious discharge of our Duty and devout Reception of this Holy Communion Which is contained in the last part of our Description That thereby all the Benefits of our Saviour's Death are sealed and applyed to every faithful Receiver § XXVII The Sacraments are Seals of God's Covenant with us The Apostle expresly affirms it of Circumcision * Rom. 4. 11. Galat. 3. 14. as it was a Sign of the Evangelical Covenant made with Abraham and all his faithful Children that is all that should believe in God as he did In the room whereof Baptism was introduced by our Saviour as another Seal of the same Covenant and means our Initiation into it And one Sacrament being a Seal it follows by parity of Reason that the other must be so also The Holy Symbols when duly received do exhibit and convey unto us divine Virtue and assistance and all the inestimable Benefits which were purchas'd for us and reached out unto us
this Representation of Christ's Death in the Sacrament has a respect to others to whom we are to declare it as well as it relates like the Commemoration before-mention'd to our selves and to God We do by this proclaim unto Men and Angels the manifold Wisdom and Goodness of God and the Kindness and Condescention of our ever blessed Redeemer and in a manner preach the Gospel to every Creature while we here represent so considerable a part of it as our Saviour's Death and own that we are not asham'd of his Cross but rather Glory in it § V. We represent it also to our selves that is we do by this sacred significant and lively Action fix it more deeply in our Affections and Memories The Bread represents our Saviour's Body who is the true Bread of Life that came down from Heaven The Wine his Blood The Breaking of the Bread the Torments he endur'd on the Cross and the Wounding of his sacred Body as the pouring out of the Wine is a most lively Figure of the shedding his most precious Blood But of this more hereafter § VI. But in the last place we also represent our Saviour's Death to God the Father in the Holy Communion This we do by those Actions which he himself has appointed as means of supplicating him and obtaining his Favour Beseeching our heavenly Father who of his tender Mercy did give his only Son Jesus Christ to suffer Death upon the Cross for our Redemption that we duly receiving the Holy Mysteries according to our Lord Jesus Christ's Holy Institution in remembrance of his Death and Passion may be Partakers of his most blessed Body and Blood The Priest neither makes nor offers the real natural Body of Christ in the Holy Communion but he makes his spiritual or sacramental Body and therein represents his natural Body as well as he also represents what he really suffer'd for us in the verity of that Body this he represents to God as well as to us and every devout Communicant should faithfully joyn in the Representation § VII The next thing observable in our Description of the Holy Communion is That 't was instituted by Christ in the room of the Iewish Passover This as it gives great Light into the Nature of it and the most weighty Controversies concerning it so the Matter of Fact it self is too evident to be doubted or denied and of too great moment to be lightly pass'd over As will appear if we consider the Time the Form the End of the Institution of this Sacrament compared with that of the Passover and the Expressions of Iohn the Baptist and the Apostles relating to the Communion it self or to our Saviour who ordained it The Time of its first Institution and Celebration was the Night of the Paschal Supper immediately after Supper We are told by * Buxtorf Synag cap. 13. p. 302. de Paschat celebrando Fagius in Exod. 12. learned Men that the old Iews had a very antient Tradition amongst them that the Messias should come to redeem them the very same Night in which God brought them out of Egypt the Night of the Passover whereon they also say that God vouchsafed to the old Patriarchs and holy Men most or all of those famous Blessings and Deliverances which we read of in the sacred Writings which is no obscure Indication that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to succeed the Paschal Supper § VIII The manner of their celebrating the Passover also proves the same For the Master of the House took Bread and brake it and gave it to those about him and said This is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers did eat in Egypt * Buxtorf ubi supra that is the Memorial of that Bread in the same Sense that our Saviour said This is my Body after he had taken Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to his Disciples as the Iews also call'd the Passover The Body of the Paschal Lamb. And in like manner the Cap. The Master of the Feast took it after Supper and when he had given Thanks gave it to the rest and said This is the Fruit of the Vine and the Blood of the Grape This was the third Cup which they drank at the Passover and call'd it The Cup of Blessing * Lightfoot Vol. II. p. 260. All the Company drank of it the sick as well as the healthy †Buxtorf p. 296. Thus our Savior after Supper took the Cup this third Cup and when he had given Thanks gave it to his Disciples and said Drink ye All of this for this is my Blood of the New Testament New Covenant or this Cup is the New Testament New Covenant in my Blood * St. Mat. 26. 28. St. Luk. 22. 20. As Moses said when he sprinkled all the People with Blood †Heb. 9. 20. Exod. 24. 8. This is the Blood of the Covenant which God made with you it was not only the Seal of the New Covenant but likewise the Sanction of it And 't is remarkable that our Saviour calls it the Fruit of the Vine as did the Master of the Feast at the Passover And so the Apostle calls the Sacramental Cup the Cup of Blessing § IX There 's yet another thing remarkable in the Passover which our Saviour retain'd in his Sacrament and that is the Hymn or great Hallel which the Iews always sung at this Festival and still continue to use it in that shadow of the Passover which they yet retain * Buxtorf ubi supr Patrick in 113 Psalm It consisted of six Psalms from the 113 to the 118. inclusively wherein were mentioned as their Rabbins teach 1. Their Deliverance from Egypt 2. The Division of the Red Sea 3. The Giving of the Law 4. The Resurrection from the Dead And 5. The Sorrows of the Messias †Lightfoot Vol. II. p. 354. 'T is expresly said that our Saviour and his Apostles sung a Hymn after they had eaten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they all doubtless joyn'd in it as was the Custom of their Country-men which they could not have done had it not been a Form well known unto them And what more proper than those Psalms already mentioned which shows the Lawfulness of singing in the Christian Church and of the whole Congregations joyning in it some think Iudas not being here excepted ‖ Lightfoot and that in a set Form out of the Psalms of David which have made a great part of the Liturgy of the Church for near Three Thousand Years Nor was this Sacrament ever celebrated without singing by any regular Christians St. Chrysostom on Heb. 10. says of those of his Time That in the Sacrament they did offer Thanksgiving for their Salvation by devout Hymns and Prayers to God And before him Pliny's famous Letter mentions the Christians as jointly singing Hymns to Christ And Tertullian in his Apology has left it on Record that it was
by the Death of a Redeemer as Justification or actual Pardon of our Sins the reinstating us in God's Favour and assuring us that he is reconciled to us and that we are accounted righteous before him as well as Sanctification or actual Strength and Grace to conquer our Sins and to obey his Commands 'T is true the beginnings of these are conferred in Baptism we are so far regenerate therein as to be grafted into the Body of Christs Church and to partake of its Privileges by the operation of his Holy Spirit within us who will never be wanting to us or forsake us unless we our selves do put a Bar to the Divine Assistance by confirm'd ill Habits and by a wicked Life But since the Divine Image which we there recovered is very often obscured again by the Temptations of the World and the Devil and the remains of Sin within us there is need enough of our being renewed again by Repentance nor has God here left us without Hope or Comfort but notwithstanding the Dream of the old Novatians has appointed a Remedy even for those who sin after Baptism and that is this other Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord wherein as we renew our Covenant with him we receive new Strength to obey his Commands as hath been the constant Faith of all good Christians in all Ages we therein obtain not only the strengthning but likewise the refreshing of our Souls as the Catechism expresses it which includes Divine Consolation and Ioy in believing and such Peace as passes all Understanding § XXVIII But may some here object Where is this Blessedness you speak of Where are these Promises in Holy Scripture of such wonderful assistance in this Sacrament In answer This Holy Communion is the Substance of all other Christian Duties to which so many Blessings are promised throughout the whole Gospel or else why do we perform them of Faith and Repentance and Thanksgiving and Holy Vows and Prayer and Praise and Confession and Adoration and consequently it must share in all their Blessings and Benefits 'T is a Memorial or Commemoration of our Saviour's Love and Sufferings and if God has promised in the old Law that in every place where there is a Memorial of his Name he will meet and bless his People * Exod. 20. 24. much more may we expect it under the Gospel If our Saviour has so solemnly promised that where two or three are gathered together in his Name there he will be in the midst of 'em and bless 'em much more will he be so at this great Synaxis this more general and solemn Assembly of Christians to celebrate his Name and record his Praises †Thus Ignatius in Epist. ad Ephes. If the Prayer of one or two be of so great force that it brings Christ among them how much more will the unanimous Prayers of the Bishop and the whole Church ascending to God prevail with him to grant all they desire He has not commanded us to seek his Face in vain nor is it in vain to do this in Remembrance of him The shewing forth the Lord's Death cannot be without exceeding Comfort to those who have reason to hope they have a share in it 'T is a big Expression The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 't is surely far more than an empty Figure 'T is not a little matter to eat the Lords Supper to partake of the Table of the Lord wherein if he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks Damnation surely he that does it worthily must eat and drink Salvation No less can be intended in our Communion of Christ's Body and Blood than the eternal Son of God's uniting himself by his Spirit to our Souls in this Holy Sacrament and even by his own Divine Nature whereby he in a sense and in some degree makes us Partakers thereof and communicates unto us all the Blessings he has obtained for us by this Heavenly Food nourishing up our Souls to everlasting Life Giving us herein the Earnest and Pledge of our Immortality as well as the means of it and assuring us that because he lives we shall live also which is the meaning of those Expressions Dwelling in Christ and Christ in us and being one with Christ and Christ with us and of the Ministers praying in the very delivery of the Elements That the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ may preserve our Bodies and Souls to Everlasting Life according to our Saviour's own Words He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him he shall live by me he shall never die he hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day And whether or no these Expressions were then precisely meant of the Sacrament which they might well be by Anticipation and Prophesie though it were not then actually instituted for he speaks in the same place of his Death in the same manner they are yet certainly true of the partaking of Christs Sacramental Body and Blood and feeding on him in our Hearts by Faith with Thanksgiving § XXIX Which brings to the close of our Description that all these Benefits are conferred in the Sacrament only on the faithful Receiver For none but such are properly Partakers of the Body and Blood of the Lord. If Iudas did outwardly partake of this Sacrament as our Church seems to have thought he did †See the Exhortation Lest after the taking of the Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you as he entred into Judas Satan did but the sooner enter into him because he received with a Heart full of Treachery Covetousness and Malice I take Faith here in the largest Sense for a practical assent to the whole Scheme of the Gospel and consequently a ready and firm Belief of its Revelations Threatnings and Promises accompanied with sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to obey its Commands Tho' the more peculiar object of Faith in this Sacrament must be the Merits of our Saviour and that Pardon which he purchased for us by his own Blood But of these hereafter more at large under those Qualifications which are requisite to those who would partake worthily and profitably of this Holy Communion CHAP. II. Of the perpetual Obligation that lies upon adult Christians to communicate and even to frequent Communion § I. WHerein I shall first prove in general the indispensible Obligation which our Saviour has laid upon us to receive this Sacrament 2. The Extent of it it reaches all adult Christians 3. It s Duration 't is perpetual it lasts till the End of the World 4. That we ought to receive it frequently And in the 5th and last place I shall answer those Objections which are brought either against receiving the Communion in general or against frequently receiving it § II. 1st Of the Obligation in general to receive And one would wonder how any who are called Christians and do but remember the Reason of
VI. But our Obligation to receive will appear yet stronger if we consider the great Sin we are guilty of in neglecting it and the heavy punishment we may expect for the same Whatever our pretences are for it we do hereby in effect slight the Inviter and Invitation as well as that divine Feast that Heavenly Food which he has provided saying in our Hearts and by our Actions as Israel of the Manna Our Soul loaths this light Bread We separate from our Brethren and are guilty of a partial Schism We are disobedient to the just Laws of our Country both Civil and Ecclesiastical We discourage our Pastors by the thinness of the Appearance on these occasions We neglect the means which God has appointed to strengthen us in Virtue We are unthankful as well as disobedient and too like those in the Gospel who slighted the repeated Invitations of the King who sent out his Messengers to call 'em to the Marriage but they would not come St. Matt. 22. 2 3 c. for which he justly declared that those who were bidden were not worthy v. 8 there are unworthy Non-Communicants as well as unworthy Communicants and that none of them should taste of his Feast nor was this all for he sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers and burnt up their City v. 7. Which Parable tho' it seems to relate more immediately to the Iews whose City and Nation were destroyed for rejecting the Gospel yet those must likewise be included in it by parity of Reason who refuse to obey that Gospel which they pretend to receive and will not come to this Marriage-Supper of the Lamb tho' so often and so kindly invited but neglect it either for the most part or even for all their Lives upon how frivolous Pretences we shall see hereafter and it is accordingly applied to such by our Church in the Exhortation which is appointed to be read when the Minister perceives the People backward to come to the Communion § VII Next as to the Extent of this Obligation It reaches all adult Persons who have been baptised This was carried so high by the antient Church that they thought the Communion was absolutely necessary to Salvation and therefore gave it to Infants as soon as baptised as do the Greeks to this day wherein tho' I think 'em mistaken it shews their Opinion of the universality of its Obligation and the necessity of receiving it The Apostle says of the Iews in the Wilderness 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. That they did all eat of the same spiritual Meat and did all drink of the same spiritual Drink and much more ought all Christians to do so who have a much more spiritual Religion The Passover was enjoyn'd to all the Congregation and even to every Man's Servant that was circumcised with this severe Sanction that the Man who neglected it without a lawful Excuse That Soul should be cut off from among his People * Numb 9. 14. Our Lord said to all his Disciples Take eat and particularly of the Cup Drink ye all of this his infallible Spirit foreseeing that some would deny it to the Laity in after-Ages and it 's said in St. Mark they all drank of it St. Paul stiles it the Communion because all Christians did partake of it as appears from that Expression * 1 Cor. 10. 17. we are all partakers of that one Bread and in the next Chapter he fairly implys that the main End of all regular Christians meeting together in publick was to eat the Lord's Body And all that believed at the first planting of the Gospel Chap. 11. v. 20. continued stedfastly in the Apostle's Doctrine and in the Communion * Acts 2. 42. as it ought to be translated †Vid. Mede of the Christian Sacrifice whose outward part consisted in the breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine as the inward in Prayer and Thanksgiving To this agrees Antiquity For the Primitive Christians allowed no such thing as coming to the publick Assemblies and going away without receiving which none did unless the Catechumens and Excommunicate there being a very antient Canon ‖ Can. IX among those which are called the Apostles that forbids any such disorderly practice on pain of Excommunication Our own Church reckons all Persons who are of years of Discretion as Communicants which has been also the Opinion of the wisest and most learned among our dissenting Brethren The Covenant we all enter'd into at Baptism must be renewed by us in the Lord's Supper unless there be any such as do repent the making it or as have never broke it And the same might be made appear from the Nature of the Sacrament insisted on at large in the first Chapter § VIII And its Duration is as perpetual as its Obligation is universal The Passover was to be kept by the Iews for a Memorial for ever Exod. 12. 14. throughout all their Generations This for ever lasted till the end of the Jewish Age or World and the Passover is to be observed till the end of the visible World the Consummation of all things The Institution it self being without any Term and Christ having commanded his Followers to do this in Remembrance of him they must still continue doing it unless he fixes a Term or gives them a dispensation for the doing it But the Nature of it proves that it still remains for a Remembrance implys absence and the Reason of the Remembrance lasts as long as the absence continues and since Christ will not be with us as to his corporeal presence till the Time of the Restitution of all things or the end of the World we must till then remember him in this Holy Sacrament § IX Which is as evident from Scripture as 't is from Reason As oft as ye eat of this Bread shew ye forth the Lord's Death till he come 1 Cor. 11. 26. namely till his second coming to judge the World in which sense that Expression is generally used in Scripture especially by this Apostle Thus he tells us That at the last day those which are alive and remain till the coming of the Lord shall not prevent those which are asleep * 1 Thess. 4. 15. which whole Description evidently relates to the last Iudgment And our Saviour uses that Expression in the same Sense in relation to St. Iohn who himself interprets that Phrase if I will that he carry till I come by that other that that Disciple should not die Now it 's evident that what St. Paul here declared was by express Command and Revelation and that he committed no more to Writing than he had before in the Name of Christ delivered to the Churches For thus he himself assures them I received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you c. †1 Cor. 11. 23. whence he goes on to give an exact Account of the Institution of this Sacrament § X. But further None will deny that we must
this Sacrament the solemn Seal of God's Covenant with us and of the Nature of that Covenant which he has made with us by his Son is presupposed in every Communicant Tho' where any are ignorant of these first Principles they may find some account of them in the first Chapter of this Manual Nor ought any to presume to receive without they have such knowledge however an equal clearness in these Matters cannot be expected nor is it required from all sorts of People but a Man shall be accepted according to what he hath if he has made the best of his Opportunities of Knowledge And after all a Person that is truely humbled for some degrees of ignorance in these and other spiritual Matters is in a much safer Condition than those whom Knowledge puffs up without either Humility or Charity § IV. A competent Knowledge being presupposed of the Nature of these Holy Mysteries there will not need much proof that some actual Preparation is highly requisite before we receive them 'T is true the Preparation of Man's Heart in this as well as all other Cases is from the Lord But none are so weak as not to know their own Endeavours are also necessary we must judge our selves if we would not be judged of the Lord. We must purify our selves before we eat the Passover for he that presumes to eat it in his uncleanness that is without repenting of his Sins that Soul shall be cut off from among his People We ought to be cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary and if we have done our Endeavours the good Lord will pardon what is unavoidably wanting Iosiah commanded the Levites to prepare and sanctify themselves and to prepare their Brethren against that famous Passover which was kept in his time And if Preparation was so necessary for the Jewish Passover we cannot think it altogether needless when we are to partake of this Christian Feast which we ought to keep neither with the Old Leaven of Judaism or Heathenism or an open notorious wicked Life neither with the as dangerous Leaven of malice and hypocrisie but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth Without such preparation we may eat and drink unworthily kindle God's Wrath against us and provoke him to plague us with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of Death § V. But a great part of this Preparation as has been said consists in Examination For how can we know how Accounts are between Heaven and us unless we look into them What our Debts are What Mercies we receive What we still want and which the best way to obtain them What Sins we are to confess and to fight against Where we are to plant our Batteries Where to expect an Assault What the best methods of Defence What Auxiliaries we want and where to obtain them This the Apostle strictly commands every Man to do to examine or prove himself and so to come to the Holy Table not to come without Examination or to stay away on pretence of not being examined Something indeed of this Nature is the Practice of every good Christian every Day of his Life as it has been even of moral Heathens to examine his Conscience before he sleeps what Sins he has that day committed and by what Steps he fell into them and penitently and earnestly to implore Forgiveness for what 's past and Grace for the future to do better And 't is not easie to imagine how any Man should be a very good Christian without it whereas whoever does constantly and carefully practise it for which he may find excellent Rules and Directions among the Devotions annexed to the Whole Duty of Man and for want of that there are some Questions added at the End of this Treatise must needs make a more than ordinary Progress in Christianity and will more especially find a wonderful advantage therein as to the easiness of his actual Examination and Preparation for the Communion § VI. Which actual Preparation and Examination immediately before we receceive are highly requisite because they may make up for defects in the habitual as being more exact and more solemn than our daily Inquisition into the State of our Minds And this may be done with very great Advantage by setting apart some one day in the Week before the Communion where a Person is at his own disposal and his necessary Affairs will permit him entirely for this great Concern in order to search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. This would be near the End of the Week because otherwise the Impression made by it may be apt to wear away again before the Sacrament or at least not to be so deep and lively as at less distance Nor might it be so convenient to put it off to the very last Day of the Week lest something or other should intervene and hinder it But for those who have not really leisure for such a solemn Preparation or in the case of an accidental Communion which could not be foreseen if they are before habitually prepared we have already seen the Opinion of our best Divines that they ought not to reject such an Opportunity for want of a more solemn actual Preparation However he who has but a little time ought to do his diligence to give of that Little A Servant or labouring Man may at least redeem an Hour or two either in Mornings or Evenings for this great Work which they can do for their worldly Interest on any extraordinary Occasion Few have so much Business but they can find time for their Diversions many for their Sins and are our Souls only not worth a few Hours which he who bought them so dearly assures us are more worth than all the World Besides most of the following Directions may be observed while a Person is employed in many sorts of Work especially in the Fields and concerns of Husbandry And for many Tradesmen they have yet greater leisure which one would think should be much better filled up this way than in a shameful Idleness or in what is yet worse the reading ill Books and profane and immoral Plays which scarce ever fail of rendring the mind not only weak and trivial but even averse to Piety and unfit for all the Offices of a Holy Life For those who are really straitned as to time there will be particular Directions for Examination and for their Ease the following Rules are abbreviated But this is not the case of so many Persons as plead that Excuse since we shall frequently hear Men complain that their Time lies upon their Hands and they know not how to employ it And for such as these and all those who can command so much time as to go through them the larger Directions which now follow are chiefly intended § VII When the Day approaches whereon we expect one happy Opportunity more to meet our Saviour at his own Table whose Invitation by his Ministers we are to receive with the
the highest Thankfulness and Love For how can a Rebel be fit for Pardon if he is not thankful when 't is offered him 'T is therefore necessary that we should so long so seriously remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us even before we come to the Solemn Sacramental Commemoration of it till our Hearts burn within us as did the two Disciples that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our Saviour and that he may make himself known unto us as he did unto them in breaking of Bread St. Luke 24. 32. But we must take care that this Remembrance have a future lasting influence on our Lives Ill Men may remember Christ's Death but it 's certain that whatever they may pretend they do it presumptuously not thankfully because it is not productive of a Holy Life It makes them nothing better but rather encourages them to go on in their Sins whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned Obedience And to make us both obedient and thankful one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what Evils Christ has saved us by his Death no less than the Power of Sin the Wrath of God and everlasting Misery And what Benefits he has obtained for us by it the Pardon of Sin the Favour of God Grace to serve him and eternal Happiness some of which are actually conveyed as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed Sacrament to every penitent faithful grateful Receiver § XV. The last thing necessary to a worthy Communicant is Charity To be in Charity with all Men. When we bring our Gift to the Altar we must be first reconciled to our Brother We must offer it and sincerely desire and endeavour it and if he refuses to be reconciled the Fault is on his side nor ought another's Crime to keep us from our Duty and Happiness This Charity must also show it self in an universal Love to Mankind wishing praying for endeavouring and as much as in us lies promoting their temporal and spiritual Welfare But especially this Holy Love is to be acted and exercised towards all Christians and particularly towards those with whom we communicate not forgetting the Poor whom we are to relieve as well at the Offering which ought not to be neglected at the Sacrament as any other way that lies in our Power The exercise of this Divine Grace is more eminently necessary when we approach to this blessed Feast because 't was one great End of its Institution it being designed to increase Christian Unity and Holy Love among the Faithful who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things who Feast and make a Covenant with each other as well as with the great Inviter and being many are hereby made one Body and one Bread 1 Cor. 10. 17. We are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither whether we heartily forgive our Enemies and are ready to render Good for Evil Whether we feel this Divine Flame in our Hearts and dearly love all those that bear the Image of the heavenly And in order to produce in us both parts of this Grace one would think we should need do no more than consider seriously how many Talents our Lord has forgiven us how much he has done and suffered for us even while we were his Enemies and that we are all Members of one Body whereof Christ is the Head § XVII And thus have we finished what relates to our Preparation for the Sacrament and those several Graces concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it Repentance attended by good Resolves Faith Thankfulness and Charity Not that we should forbear to come thither if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection but where we find any of them weak and languid we must strengthen the things that remain and be humbled for our Imperfections and endeavour earnestly after higher degrees of Grace and consider the means appointed to encrease them especially the Holy Sacrament wherein they are to be all exercised and renewed as will appear in the next Chapter And in the mean time most humbly and devoutly to fall upon our Knees and in the following or any better Forms * See the excellent Devotions added to the Whole Duty of Man or those in the Christian Sacrifice of Prayer thus address our selves to the Giver of all good things for a Supply of our Necessities A Confession when we are Preparing for the Communion ALmighty and most merciful Father who mayst for my Sins be most justly displeased with me for ever cast me off from thy presence and condemn me to Everlasting Misery I am ashamed O Lord and blush to lift up my Face unto thee for all my misdeeds are before thee and my most secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance I was shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin by Nature dead in trespasses and sins averse to Good and violently inclined to Evil ignorant of God and an Enemy to him in a lost and undone Condition and utterly unable to help and to deliver my self And I have added to this Original Sin many hainous actual Trangressions Here let the Penitent repeat those Sins whereof on the former Examination he has found himself guilty The Remembrance of all which I desire may be most grievous as their burden is most intolerable unto me for I have done all these abominations with many aggravating Circumstances which have highly encreased the Guilt of them without regard to thy tender Mercies or to thy terrible Judgments or to my own repeated Vows and Resolves of Repentance and Obedience O make me to abhor them and my self for them and to repent in Dust and Ashes I know that my sorrow for them is no satisfaction to thy offended Justice yet since thou dost require it of me to render me capable of thy Mercy work in me I beseech thee by thy Holy Spirit such a true and unfeigned Remorse for them that I may entirely forsake them and come Pure and Holy to thy Heavenly Feast O God be merciful to me a Sinner who cry unto thee in an acceptable Time and in the Day of Salvation O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and One God have mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Father of Heaven who didst send thine Only Son out of thy Bosom to tast Death for every Man that we might not die eternally accept his Attonement accept his Intercession and be reconciled unto me thro' his Blood In my Father's House is Bread enough and to spare O let me not perish with Hunger O Son of David have mercy on me and if thou canst do any thing since thou canst do all things help me By thine Agony and bloody Sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy precious Death and Burial Good Lord deliver me I desire not to be saved from the Guilt of my Sins only or
as well as backward in remembrance of his Death and he who eats and drinks with the Drunken will soon be apt to say My Lord delays his coming tho' to such he himself has said That he will come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and will cut him in sunder and divide him his portion with the Hypocrites The frequent Reflection on our latter End will also mightily confirm us in our holy Purposes of Obedience the time of our own particular Iudgment or at least of our passing into our unchangeable Eternity which we should often meditate upon and Discourse concerning it with our Fellow Christians instead of those impertinencies and worse which make up so great a part of common Conversation And those who thus speak often one to another and remind each other of their Duty need not be much concerned tho' they are despised for it by ill Men since the Lord himself will hearken and hear and remember them for it when he comes in Vengeance to destroy the Ungodly Malac. 3. 16. 4. 1 2. § VII In the next place we would do well to consider that the Sacrament is appointed for our perfection in Grace as well as Conquest over our Sins 'T is not enough merely to escape the Pollutions of the World but we must also aspire towards Perfection to be strong Men in Christ. We are all called to be Saints to Glory as well as to Vertue and why should we then be content with the lowest measures He that thinks he 'll be just good enough to be saved if he does not miss of that must not however expect much Comfort Nay not to go forward is to go backward in the way to Heaven We are obliged by the Sacrament to do all we can for him who has done so much for us Always to abound in the work of the Lord since when we have done our best we shall be so far from Supererrogation However as Health and Strength are infallible Signs of Life so we shall obtain this great Advantage by stronger Degrees of Grace that we may be better satisfied of the Truth and Sincerity thereof Consider that this would render God's Service much more easie and delightful to us But this must cost us constant Pains and Labour for Sloth is the greatest Obstruction to our growing in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ and is commonly the last Enemy in this World that is destroyed in a Christian. Conquer that and all is done Shake off that Ague of the Soul remember your Vows call for Strength believe and all things are possible Give Diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for he that does these things shall never fall and the higher we rise in Piety here the shorter Steps we shall have to Heaven and it 's very probable the higher Degrees of Glory among those many different mansions in our Father's House § VIII In the last place when we are called again by God's Providence to another Sacrament which happy Opportunity we will be careful never to neglect let us in our Preparation and Examination impartially enquire how we have performed those Vows we made in the last and how we have profited by it To rejoyce and bless God if well to be humbled if otherwise and the greater the Defect the deeper the Humiliation I speak here of lesser Infirmities rather than of presumptuous scandalous Sins the Habits whereof while unreformed and unrepented do utterly exclude from the Sacrament as well as from Heaven Nor ought we by any means to be ungrateful if we find that thro' God's Grace preventing us that we might be willing and assisting us when we were willing we may have obtained any Advantage against our Spiritual Enemies If any Sin be weaker any Vertue stronger whether Patience or Humility or Resignation or Devotion for which we are again to approach full of Gratitude to the Holy Table to offer the Sacrifice of Praise and take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord. These things if we observe and do thro' the whole Course of our Lives we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour but an abundant Entrance shall be ministred unto us into his Everlasting Kingdom To whom be Glory in the Church throughout all Ages Amen! Questions for the Evening 1. WHAT Mercies have I received this Day Answers of Prayer Deliverance from Evil common or extraordinary Blessings 2. What Sin have I committed What Duty omitted 3. What have I done endeavoured or designed for God's Glory or the Good of my Neighbour or have I lost any Opportunity for either 4. With what Success have I encounter'd those Sins to which my Circumstances or Constitution most incline me Passion Sloth Impurity Intemperance Vanity c. 5. How have I improved my Time this Day Am I any wiser or better than I was the last Have I thought of Death and Judgment 6. Have I Pray'd and How And the same of Meditation and Reading 7. What Mercy do I want for Soul or Body my Self or Relations that I may now ask it 8. Have I remembred my Promises made at the last Sacrament and how have I performed them Questions for the Morning 1 DID I Read and Pray Meditate and Examine my self last Night and in what manner 2. Did I think of God last and first 3. What Sin have I committed in Thought Word or Deed What Duty omitted since Evening 4. What Occasions may I probably have this Day of serving God or my Neighbour 5. To what Temptations am I like to be exposed 6. What Mercies have I received What do I want Short Directions for those who are really straightned for Time and cannot go through the larger Methods of Examination already given 1. BE sure this be more than a pretended Necessity as in the case of indispensible and unavoidable Business or the like since the more conscientious and exact you are in your Preparation and Examination Note That this Sheet is to be plac'd after Page 186. you may generally speaking expect the greater Advantage by the Sacrament Turtle-Doves or young Pigeons were not accepted of Old unless where the Presenter could not reach a more costly Sacrifice 2. This being taken Care of never indulge any ill grounded Scruples so far as to suffer them to hinder you from coming to this Divine Banquet See what has been already said on this Head both from Authority and Reason in Answer to the Objections against Receiving 3. It can scarce be supposed but you may redeem some time on the Morning of the Lord's Day when you may retire from the World and 1. Use the Prayers here at Preparation or any other that is proper for that Occasion 2. Consider the Nature of the Sacrament and your Happiness in having one Opportunity more of partaking in it 3. Examine your Conscience by the Ten Commandments