for you as St. Luke Yet as they all say enough to shew that this Sacrament of Bread and Wine was intended for a Representation of our Saviour's Passion and the violence that was then offer'd to his crucified Body so they do thereby sufficiently intimate that the breaking of the Bread was intended as a Representation of it There being nothing in the Bread to represent this to us but only the breaking of it This however is evident that our Saviour brake that Bread which he before took and blessed And that Rite of breaking was afterwards look'd upon as so considerable that it gave Name to the Sacrament it self and the whole of it from that one Rite entituled The breaking of Bread Our Saviour having thus taken and blessed and broken Bread for thus far to be sure we have Bread whatever we have beside he proceeds to give it to his Disciples For so the three Evangelists assure us Not that the Original of those Evangelists hath any thing in it to express the thing given but that it speaks of his giving somewhat to them and which considering the connexion of this Act of Christ with the former ones cannot reasonably be understood of any other than the Bread which he had before taken and blessed and broken And though St. Paul take no notice of this Gift of our Saviour's in the rehearsal he makes of this his Institution Yet he sufficiently intimates it when he brings him in saying Take Eat This is my Body c. His willing them to take and eat implying his parting with it that they might partake of it This however is manifest from the Evangelists that what our Saviour before took and blessed and brake he gave to his Disciples and I suppose to each of the Disciples in particular and by reaching it forth unto them The former being the manner of that Eucharist by which he fram'd his own Both the one and the other the Ancient Practice of the Church whether by the Hands of him that blessed it or of those Deacons that ministred to him I will not spend time in animadverting upon the words Take Eat which he us'd with the giving of the Bread It may suffice to say as to the former of these that as it is and always was the manner of Guests to take or receive into their hands or in some plate which they held in them what was given to them by another so the Antients knew no other taking or receiving of this Bread than that which was performed by them As little need to be said concerning that eating which our Saviour subjoin'd to the Command of taking or receiving what he gave them Unless there could be any doubt of that 's being Bread which was now to be eaten by them For as what it is to eat Bread is sufficiently known even after we have put it into our mouths to chew it there and transmit it from thence into our Stomachs for the nourishment of our Bodies So that it was Bread which they were commanded to eat St. Paul plainly shews in the words (m) 1 Cor. 11.26 27. which he subjoins to the Institution of this Sacrament He affirming the worthy Receiver of the Eucharist to eat Bread as well as the most unworthy one To go on therefore to those words which our Saviour subjoyn'd to his Precept of taking and eating even those most noted ones This is my Body Words which the wanton Wits of Men have transform'd into many shapes and those too no less monstrous than what they design'd to inferr from them Whereas if they were consider'd without any sinister Affections they would as Aretius long since observ'd (n) Com. in Mat. 26.26 Quomodo autem verae sint propositiones illae Panis est corpus Christi Vinum est sanguis Christi anxie disputatum est Res tamen sint affectibus simplicem habet intellectum Verae sunt ut aliae sacramentales loquutiones Agnus est transitus Circumcisio est foedus sacrificia sunt remissio peccatorum Baptismus est ablutio peccatorum In quibus nemo est tam stupidus ut nodos sibi quaerat Sed ut symbola sacramentalia hae res nominatae accipiuntur Ita judicandum de his propositionibus etiam puto have receiv'd a plain and simple Vnderstanding and which Men would otherwise no more have bogled at than at other Speeches of the like nature For this is my Body and This is my Blood are true as other sacramental Speeches are A Lamb is the Passover Circumcision is a Covenant Sacrifices are the remission of Sins and Baptism the washing away of them In which no Man is so stupid as to seek to entangle himself or go about to create Scruples to other Men. For these things are taken as sacramental Symbols and so I suppose we ought to judge of the former Propositions also Only because there is no one particle in the words This is my Body which hath not among prejudiced Men ministred matter for Dispute I will be so much the more minute in my Explication of them and first of the word This. This is my Body Now that which unprejudiced Men would undoubtedly think to be intended by the word This was the Bread before spoken of and which our Saviour is said to have taken blessed broken and given to his Disciples with a design they should take and eat of it Partly because that was the thing manifestly intended all along and therefore by the common Rules of Construction to be understood also here And partly because the demonstrative Particle This must by the natural importance of it be thought to point out something certain and apparent to them which hitherto nothing but the Bread of the Sacrament was Thus I say unprejudiced Men would be apt to think of the word This though they had nothing to direct them but the words of the Institution How much more then if they should reflect upon what St. Paul (o) 1 Cor. 11.26 27. subjoyneth to and inferreth from them in the account he gives us of that Affair For as often saith he as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lord's Death till he come And again Wherefore whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. For it appearing from the words of the Institution that the word This referrs to that which was given them to eat which St. Paul affirmeth to be Bread it must consequently be thought to denote not this Being or Substance in common or individuum vagum or the like but this Bread as St. Paul doth twice express it Conformable hereto whether the Romanists will or no is their own Opinion of the Bread's being transubstantiated by the words Hoc est corpus meum and that Transubstantiation not effected till the last Syllable of meum is pronounc'd For if that Transubstantiation be not effected till then it must
other words Yet is not that essence or being to be adapted to the nature of that to which it is affixt Now wherein consists the essence or being of such a relative thing as a sacred sign but in the relation which it bears to the thing signified and consequently in its signifying that which it is appointed to mark out And if the essence or being of a sign consists in the relation which it bears to the thing signified may it not as such be said to be that thing which it is intended to signifie For who if ask'd concerning this or that Picture as for instance the Picture of Alexander or Julius Caesar would describe it by a piece of Paper or Cloath or Wood so and so Painted but as such or such a person who did such admirable things in the World Nay who is there that when he sees this or that Picture though he knows them to be but inanimate things doth so much as ask What it is but Who So naturally and almost necessarily do Men take the very being of such a thing to consist in its relation to the person it represents and accordingly do as naturally express themselves in that manner concerning it And if that be the case as to other signs why not in like manner as to this Sacred sign of Christ's Body the Bread Especially if as I shall by and by shew it hath a yet nearer relation to it In order whereunto I will now proceed to shew 3. What the word Is imports in that figurative sense whereof we speak And here in the first place it is easie to observe that the word Is imports that to which it is attributed even the Bread of the Sacrament to be a sign of that Body of Christ which it is affirmed to be Which I do not only affirm upon account of the notion that all Men have of it but upon account of the likeness there is between the Bread broken and the Mortifying of our Saviour's Body and upon account also of the same Body's being affirmed by St. Paul in his History of the Institution to be broken for us There being otherwise no ground for that expression as to the Body of Christ but that the breaking of the Bread was intended to signifie or represent the injury that was offer'd to Christ's Body and consequently that that Bread was so far forth intended as a sign of it Which is no more than the Romanists themselves and particularly Estius have said in this affair and therefore I shall not need to insist upon it I say secondly that as the word Is imports that to which it is attributed to be a sign of Christ's Body so also to be such a sign in particular as was intended to bring Christ's Body and the Crucifixion of it to our own Minds or the Minds of others or in a word to be a memorial of it The former being evident from our Saviour's enjoyning his Disciples presently upon these words to do what he had now taught them in remembrance of himself The latter from St. Paul's telling his Corinthians that as often as they ate that bread and drank that cup they did shew the Lord's death till he came I say thirdly and lastly that the word Is doth likewise import that to which it is attributed to be a means of our partaking of the Body of Christ as well as a sign or a memorial of it Which we shall the less need to doubt when St. Paul (a) 1 Cor. 10.16 doth in express terms represent the Bread which is broken in the Sacrament as the Communion or Communication of the Body of Christ and the Cup of Blessing which is blessed in it as the Communion of his Blood Now if a sign even where it is hardly such may be said to be that which it signifies How much more such a sign as is also by the Institution of Christ a means of its conveyance and of which whosoever doth worthily partake shall as verily partake together with it of the Body of Christ and of the Benefits that accrue to us thereby I may not forget to add what St. Luke and St. Paul have added to the words This is my Body even This is my Body which is given for you as the former which is broken for you as the latter Both to the same purpose though in different expressions even to mark out to us more clearly how we are to consider that Body that is to say as a crucified one The giving of Christ or his Body being sometime express'd by giving him for our sins (b) Gal. 1.4 and at other times by giving him (c) Tit. 2.10 to redeem us from them which we know by the same Scripture to have been compassed by his death As indeed under what other notion can we conceive the giving of his Body when it is not only consider'd apart from his Blood but that Blood afterward affirm'd to be shed for the remission of sins and accordingly so requir'd to be consider'd here The expression of St. Paul which is broken for you is yet more clear because more manifestly pointing out the violence that was offer'd to Christ's Body With this farther advantage as was before said that it doth not obscurely intimate the breaking of the Bread to have been intended to represent what was done unto his Body and under what notion we are to consider it Though to put it farther out of doubt St. Paul after his account of the History of the Institution affirms both the one and the other Element of this Sacrament to relate to our Saviour's Death and consequently to respect his Body as mortist'd as well as his Blood as shed He relling his Corinthians that he that did eat that Bread as well as he that drank that Cup did thereby shew forth the Lord's Death till he came Only if it be enquir'd why our Saviour should even then represent his Body as broken or given when it was not to be so till the day after the Institution of this Sacrament I answer partly because it was very shortly to be so but more especially because he intended what he now enjoyn'd as a prescription for the time after his Death as his willing his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him doth manifestly imply That importing the thing to be remembred to be past and gone as which otherwise could not be capable of being remembred It follows both in St. Luke and St. Paul Do this and Do this in remembrance of me Words which the Romish Church hath pick'd strange matters out of even no less as was before observ'd out of Baronius than the Priesthood of the A postles as which was collated upon them by these words and the Sacrifice of the Mass For then also saith that Author the Apostles when the Lord commanded them to do the very same thing in remembrance of him were made Priests and that very Sacrifice which they should offer was ordain'd By what Alchymie the
Apostles Priesthood and the Sacrifice of the Mass are endeavour'd to be extracted out of these words must be consider'd in another place where such kind of questions will be more fit to be debated At present it may suffice to say that as it doth not appear from the Institution that our Saviour made any other Offering of his Body in the Symbol of Bread than what he did to his Disciples nor indeed how he could unless he meant both to prevent and vacate the future Offering of himself upon the Cross by which yet as the Author to the Hebrews (d) Heb. 10.14 instructs us he perfected for ever them that are sanctified So it can much less therefore appear how the doing what Christ had before done or taught them to do could make the Apostles Priests or the Celebration of this Sacrament to be a Sacrifice All that can be fairly deduced from the words Do this and Do this in remembrance of me is that they should for the future take Bread bless it and break it and when they had done so both eat of it themselves and give it to others to eat of in remembrance of him and of his Death Or if we should think that the words Do this ought to have a nearer Antecedent that they should take and eat what had been before taken and blessed and broken and given to them by the Consecrator of it in remembrance of him That as it is the thing and the only thing just before enjoyn'd upon the Disciples For what he saith concerning the thing given them being his Body doth rather point out what regard they ought to have in the eating of it to that Body of which it was a Symbol than any new injunction or precept concerning it so it is the thing and the only thing therefore which he immediately referr'd to when he said This do in remembrance of me Which St. Paul doth yet more clearly insinuate when immediately after the History of the Institution and which he closeth in each Element with This Do in remembrance of me he adds as by way of explication of that passage For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come This I take to be a clear and natural account of what Christ enjoyn'd the Disciples to do and not any intimation at all either of the Apostles Priesthood or of the Sacrifice of the Mass And what he adds concerning their doing what he now enjoyn'd them in remembrance of him agrees as well to it because as appears from the words but now quoted they were to eat of that Bread as well as drink of that Cup with reference to him and to his Death or as St. Paul expresseth it to shew it forth Which will consequently leave nothing more to be consider'd upon this Head than what our Saviour means by in remembrance of him Do this in remembrance of me Now as there cannot well be any doubt concerning the Object of this Remembrance partly because Christ doth here represent himself as the Object of it and partly because he represents himself throughout this whole Sacrament as giving himself to Death for us and consequently he to be consider'd as such in our remembrance of him So I shall therefore need only to enquire what that remembrance of him doth import and how the thing enjoyned to be done serves to the exciting of it Now there are two things again which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or remembrance signifies and which we shall find upon enquiry that it signifies also here The recalling that to our own mind which is the Object of it or recalling it to the mind of others The former of these as it is the most simple and obvious notion of the word so no doubt principally intended here if Christ's giving his Body to death for us be the thing wherein we are to remember him because we are requir'd to take and eat the Bread exhibited to us as a Symbol thereof But therefore as we are to understand by doing what we do in remembrance of him and of his Death or as the Greek (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would perhaps be more commodiously rendred for the remembrance of him of our celebrating this Holy Sacrament so the better to recall him and his Death to our own Minds So it is alike evident from what St. Paul subjoins as a kind of Comment upon these words that we ought to do the same thing to recall it to the Minds of others and prompt them to reflect upon it St. Paul declaring thereupon that as often as we eat that Bread and drink that Cup we do shew forth or declare or preach his Death till he come Only as it is not to be thought that our Saviour would have instituted this Sacrament simply to bring the thing signified by it to our own or others Minds but to stir up in them and us affections sutable to the thing remembred So we are consequently to think because the thing signified by it was Christ's giving his Body to Death for us and for our Salvation that it was design'd to stir up us and other Men to remember his Death and the benefits thereof with a thankful Mind with a Mind sensible of so great a favour and ready to express that sense of its by all the ways it can possibly devise This I take to be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or remembrance for which our Saviour requir'd his Disciples to do as he himself had before directed and enjoyn'd them And how well fitted that whole Ceremony is to excite such a remembrance in us and others will appear if we consider that remembrance either as a simple remembrance of Christ's Death and the Benefits thereof or as also a grateful one For it serves to the former of these by the representation it makes to our Eyes of the violence that was offer'd to his Crucified Body and by the known Laws and ends of the Institution of it And it serves in like manner to the latter of them by representing that Death of his to our Eyes not in bloody and cruel Rites as the ill usage of some of the Heathen Deities were sometime represented but in the innocent and useful and comfortable Elements of Bread and Wine and which whilst the Partakers thereof reflect upon they cannot but at the same time read in them the both usefulness and comfortableness as to themselves of that Body and Blood which they were intended to represent and be thereby excited to a joyful and thankful remembrance of them both and of the benefits that accrue to them thereby An account being thus given of the Bread of this Sacrament and of all that was said or done about it It remains that I entreat of the other Element thereof represented to us by the three Evangelists and St. Paul under the name of the Cup. Whether it were that they could not otherwise well express what
Covenant which was shed for many for the remission of fins but St. Luke and St. Paul as the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood which was shed for them For which cause I will consider the thing here affirmed under each of these notions and first as Christ's Blood of the New Testament or Covenant which I conceive to be the clearest and most proper declaration of it Because it appears even by that St. Paul who makes use of the other expression that the Blood of Christ is the principal thing signified by it even in that very Chapter where he entitles it the New Testament in his Blood For not only doth he before (i) 1 Cor. 10.16 entitle the Cup the Communion of his Blood as he doth the Bread in the same verse the Communion of his Body but immediately after the words of the Institution declare him who eateth that Bread and drinketh that Cup with due preparation to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come as him who eateth and drinketh unworthily to be guilty of his Body and Bloody The Blood of Christ therefore being the thing principally signified and consequently the principal thing predicated of the Cup by the one and the other reason would that we should enquire what our Saviour meant by it that is to say whether that Blood which now ran in his Veins and was shortly after to be shed or only a memorial of it A Question which will soon be voided not only by what I have before said concerning the Notion of Christ's Body but by the Adjuncts of that very Blood whereof we speak The Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as appears by a Text of the Author to the Hebrews (k) Heb. 9.14 c. and by what I have elsewhere (l) Expl. of the Sacrament in general Part 2. discours'd upon it being no other than that Blood which the Mediator of it shed at his Death For that Author tells us that neither that nor any other Testament or Covenant can be firm without it And the Blood that was shed for remission of Sins the very same It being by means of the same Death that the Redemption of Sins against the First Testament or Covenant is procur'd which is but another Name for the Remission of them And I shall only add for the better explanation of those words even the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant that as of old God would not enter nor did enter into the First Covenant with the Israelites till he was aton'd and they sprinkled by the Blood of their Sacrifices So neither would he enter into the New till he was first aton'd and we sprinkled by the Blood of the Sacrifice of his Son and that Blood therefore conformably to what was said of the Blood of the First Covenant stiled the Blood of the New There will be no great difficulty after what I have said of the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as to the meaning of that New Testament or Covenant in Christ's Blood which St. Luke and St. Paul bring in our Saviour as affirming the Cup to be Because thereby must consequently be meant that New Covenant which was brought about by the Bloud of his Cross even that by which the same Saint Paul elsewhere (m) Col. 1.20 tells us that Christ made Peace between us and God Which will consequently leave nothing more to us to enquire into upon this Head than the importance of that is which joyns the subject and the foregoing predicates together and how the Cup of this Sacrament was and is his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and how the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood For the understanding whereof though it may suffice to remit my Reader to what I before said upon the account of the Bread's being Christ's Body because that mutatis mutandis may be apply'd to the Particle Is here Yet I shall add ex abundanti that there cannot well be any doubt of its being taken figuratively here either in the one or the other predication concerning it Because the Cup of this Sacrament cannot literally and properly be both his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and the New Testament or Covenant in it which yet in some or other of the Sacred Writers it is affirm'd to be Which as it will make it so much the more reasonable to allow of that figurative Sense here which we have attributed to the same Particle Is in This is my Body So consequently make it reasonable to understand by This is my Blood of the New Testament which answers directly to the other This is a Sign and a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance as well as the Bread is of my Body And indeed as the Cup or rather the Wine of it may well pass for a Sign of that Blood as for other Reasons so for that effusion which is attributed to it So that it is both a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance is evident from St. Paul's bringing in our Saviour subjoining the words Do this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me to the Story of the Cup and elsewhere representing the same Cup as the Communion of his Blood This I take to be a fair account of the Particle Is as it is made use of to connect the Cup and Christ's Blood of the New Tescament or Covenant And it will be no less easie to give as clear an account of it as it is made use of to connect the same Cup and the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood That Cup representing to us God's exhibiting together with it Christ's Blood and the Merits of it and our receiving that Blood and the Merits of it with that thankfulness which doth become us and a Mind resolv'd to walk worthy of those Benefits we receive by it I will conclude this long Discourse concerning the Institution of this Sacrament when I have lightly animadverted upon that which St. Matthew and St. Mark bring in our Saviour subjoining to all he had said concerning the Elements thereof To wit that he would not any more drink of this Fruit of the Vine for so St. Matthew expresseth it until he should drink it new with them in his Father's Kingdom For though it should be granted what Grotius contends for out of St. Luke that these words were spoken just before the Institution of this Sacrament and only plac'd here upon the account of Christ's being again to speak of the Cup Yet thus much must be granted to St. Matthew and St. Mark 's placing it here that it was the Fruit of the Vine that our Saviour gave them and they accordingly drank of even in this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper There being no more reason nor so much neither considering that that is the immediate Antecedent to deny this Fruit of the Vine's referring to what our Saviour gave his Disciples and they all drank of than there would be to deny
necessity nor ever was of any Man 's receiving the Cup whether he be Priest or private Person Consecrater of the Bread and it or only a simple Communicant Then every one too that heretofore did or now doth receive in both kinds doth in one and the same Eucharist receive the Blood twice once in the Species of Bread and again in the Species of Wine In fine by the same Rule and their affirming whole Christ to be contained under either Species Hoc est corpus meum may be as proper to make a Transubstantiation of the Cup as it is a Transubstantiation of the Bread The two former whereof render our Saviour's injunction concerning the receit of the Cup perfectly unnecessary The last gives us occasion to wonder why our Saviour who to be sure affected no change of Phrase did not make use of the same Hoc est corpus meum to make an alteration of the Cup especially when if he had it might have so aptly hinted to us the sufficiency of one only Species to possess us of his Body and Blood These I take to be the natural Consequences of making Hoc est corpus meum to signifie at all times This is my Body and Blood and by vertue thereof to possess the Receivers of that over which they are pronounc'd of whole and entire Christ And if on the other side they with whom we have to do make those words to signifie so only where the Sacrament is administred but in one kind and only to those to whom it is so administred they must consequently make the very same words Hoc est corpus meum to signifie one thing to the Lay-man who receives but in one kind and another to the Priest that consecrates and receives in both Which beside that it will make the signification of those words to be arbitrary and according as the Priest shall intend them will make them vary from the signification they had in the Institution of Christ which is and ought to be the Pattern of all Our Saviour as he both instituted and distributed the Sacrament in both kinds so to be sure making the words Hoc est corpus meum to signifie only This is my Body apart from my Blood as which latter he both appointed a distinct Element for and as they love to speak converted that distinct Element into by words equally fitted for such a Conversion I think I shall not need to say much to shew the Bread of the Sacrament not to be converted into Christ's Body and Blood by the force of the words This is my Body and This is my Blood as if the latter extended to the Species of the former as well as to its own proper Sacrament even the Liquor of the Cup Both because those words are not appli'd even by themselves to the Bread but to the Cup and cannot therefore in reason be thought to have any operation upon the former And because our Saviour in that Eucharist which he consecrated for his Disciples gave them the Bread of it to eat before he proceeded to the Consecration of the Cup and before therefore it could be suppos'd to receive any influence from those words This is my Blood as which were not till some time after pronounced by him One only Device remains to bring Christ's Blood as well as Body under the Species of Bread called by the Schoolmen Concomitancy but ought rather by the Romanists explication of it and indeed by the words natural connexion before us'd by the Council of Trent to be termed a real Vnion By vertue of which if Christ's Blood and Body are brought together under the Species of Bread Christ's Body in the Sacrament even that which the words Hoc est corpus meum produc'd is no more that Body which was broken upon the Cross at least consider'd as such for that to be sure was separated from his Blood but his Body entire and perfect And then farewell not only to the natural signification of Hoc est corpus meum and quod pro vobis frangitur but to the Sacrifice of Christ's Body in the Eucharist which yet they have hitherto so contended for as not to think it to be such only by a Figure or Memorial of it Such reason is there to believe how confidently soever the contrary is affirm'd that Christ's Body and Blood are not contain'd under the single Species of Bread And yet if that could be prov'd it would not therefore follow that it were an indifferent thing whether we receiv'd the Cup or no. For the design of the several Species and our receit of them (u) 1 Cor. 11.26 being to shew forth to others the Lord's Death as well as to possess our selves of his Body and Blood If that be not to be compass'd without the receit of the Cup it will make the use of it to be so far necessary what ever we may gain by the Bread alone He satisfying not his Duty who complies with one end of any thing to the neglect of another as that too which tends apparently to the Honour of the Institutor as to be sure the Commemoration of our Saviour's Death and Passion doth Now that the Death of our Saviour cannot be otherwise shewn forth or at least not as he himself represented it without the receit of the Cup as well as Bread may appear from his own representing his Death as a thing effected by the shedding or pouring out of his Blood For so it is in the several Evangelists as well as by the breaking of his Body Blood shed or poured out of a Body being not to be represented in a Sacrament but by a Species at least distinct from the Species of that Body nor we therefore in a capacity so to represent or shew it forth by our receiving but by the receit of such a distinct one Add hereunto that as it is agreed among all Men that the Death which we are to represent or shew forth hath the nature of a Sacrifice and the Eucharist it self for that reason represented by the Romanists as such So it is alike certain and agreed that there is nothing more considerable in the Sacrifice of Christ's Death than the shedding of his Blood as to which he himself peculiarly attributes the Remission of Sins Which Sacrifice therefore whosoever will shew forth as to that particular by the receit of the Sacrament of it he must do it by the receit of such a Symbol as may represent the Blood of Christ as separated from his Body which nothing but a Symbol distinct from that of the Body can and therefore neither because there is no other here but that Cup whereof we speak I may not forget to represent as a fourth Pretence because suggested by the Council of Trent (w) Sess 21. cap. 2. that the receit of the Cup is not of the substance of the Sacrament and may therefore by the Church be either granted or deny'd as it shall seem most expedient to
her But as if any thing be of the substance of the Sacrament the doing of that must be which tends most apparently to set forth the Sacrifice of Christ's Death upon the Cross as which was one great end of its Institution and the most clearly expressed in it So nothing doth or can tend more apparently to the setting forth of that than Men's partaking of that Cup which was by our Saviour himself intended to represent the Blood of that Sacrifice of his as poured out for our Expiation and Remission PART V. Of the inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it The Contents The inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it is either what is signified on the part of God and Christ or on the part of the Receiver of it The former of these brought under Consideration and shewn to be the Body and Blood of Christ not as they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or as they now are but as thâ—y were at the time of his Crucifixion as moreover then offered up unto God and offer'd up to him also as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World The Consequences of that Assertion briefly noted both as to the presence of that Body and Blood in the Sacrament and our perception of them The things signified on the part of the Receiver in the next place consider'd and these shewn to be First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before described Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us of that Body and Blood Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them The two latter of these more particularly insisted on and that Communion and Resolution not only shewn from the Scripture to be signified on the part of the Receiver but confirmed by the Doctrine and Practice of the Antient Church II. THE outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper being thus accounted for Question What is the inward part or thing signified and that shewn to be no other than Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be receiv'd Reason would as well as the Method before laid down that I should entreat of the inward part thereof or the thing signified by it Answer The Body and Blood of Crhist which are verily and indeed taken and received by the Faithful in the Lord's Supper Which on the part of God and Christ is that Christ's Body and Blood As on our part a thankful Remembrance of them our Communion with those who partake with us thereof and a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them That which our Catechism obligeth us especially to consider is that which is signified on the part of God and Christ and which accordingly it declares to be that Christ's Body and Blood A thing which consider'd in the general admits of no dispute because the plain Assertion of the Scripture as well as the Acknowledgment of all sorts of Men however otherwise divided about the Sacrament thereof or the presence of that Body and Blood in it They all agreeing as they must that the Body of Christ is that which is signified by one of its Signs and the Blood of Christ which is signified by the other But as it is not so well agreed under what Notion we are to consider that Body and Blood nor for ought that I have observ'd much attended to which is it may be the principal Cause of all the Controversie in this Particular So I shall therefore for the farther clearing of the thing or things signified by this Sacrament enquire under what Notion we ought to consider them which if we have a due regard to the words of the Institution will not be so difficult to unfold For from thence it will appear first that we ought to consider Christ's Body and Blood here not in the state wherein they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or in that more happy one to which they are now arriv'd but as they were at the time of our Saviour's Crucifixion To wit the one as given to Death or broken and the other as shed for us Which St. Paul farther confirms when he tells his Corinthians * 1 Cor. 11.26 that as often as they ate the Bread of this Sacrament and drank the Cup of it they did shew forth the Lord's death till he came The consequent whereof will be secondly because that Death of Christ is represented by the Scriptures as a Sacrifice that we ought to look upon that Body and Blood of Christ which we have said to be signified by this Sacrament as offer'd unto God by him and as such to be consider'd in it Which they of all Men have the least reason to refuse who do not only affirm †Conc. Trid. Sess 22. cap. 1. with us that this Sacrament was intended for a Memorial of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross but that the Body and Blood of Christ is even now * Ibid. offer'd up to God in it under the respective Species thereof It is as little to be doubted thirdly That as we ought to consider the Body and Blood of Christ here as offer'd up to God for us so we ought to consider them as offer'd up as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of those Persons for whom it is offer'd Which is not only evident from the words of the Institution because representing the Cup of this Sacrament as the Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins but abundantly confirm'd by the suffrage of those Men with whom we have most to do in this Affair They not only representing the Sacrifice of the Mass as they are pleas'd to call this Sacrament as one and the same Sacrifice with that which our Saviour offer'd upon the Cross but as a truly propitiatory one (a) Ib. cap. 2. and which accordingly is of force for the sins of the quick and the dead and tends to the remission of them Of what use these Considerations are will more fully appear when I come to entreat of that relation which the outward Signs of this Sacrament have to the inward part thereof or the things signified by them At present it may suffice briefly to note that the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as broken and shed upon the Cross having now no Existence in the World nor any more capable of having such an Existence than that which is past can be recall'd They cannot be substantially present either to the Sacramental Elements or to the Person that receiveth them nor be substantially eaten and drunken by him that eats and drinks the other That they must therefore be present to the Sacramental Elements in a Figure or Mystery and to the Receiver by their respective Vertue and Efficacy That being as was before said to be consider'd as offer'd up to
that Doctrine savours at all of Popery because the signification we give to the breaking of the Bread is of a quite different nature from what the Papists suggest and indeed no other than the Institution it self offers to us For we no more than the Lutherans believe that the Host ought to be broken into just three parts or for the reasons that are given by them for it so I see as little how our Doctrine ministers to Socinianism even in the point that is now before us Because though we declare the breaking of the Bread to have been intended for a representation of our Saviour's crucified Body yet we do not believe as they do that that was the sole intendment of that and other the usances of the present Sacrament but that as Christ meant we should shew forth by them what he suffered in his Body so we should also thereby be made partakers of it and of the Benefits thereof 2. But not any longer to insist upon the breaking of the Bread because as I suppose sufficiently clear'd Let us go on to enquire because a Question of far greater moment whether he who administers this Sacrament is oblig'd by the words of the Institution or otherwise to make an Offering to God of Christ's Body and Blood as well as to make a tender of the Sacrament thereof to Men The Council of Trent as is well known avowing that to be the importance of the words Do this in remembrance of me and that the Apostles were by the same words appointed Priests to offer them For my more advantageous resolution whereof I will shew 1. What they who advance this Offering declare concerning it 2. The vanity of those Grounds upon which it is built and 3. Oppose proper Arguments to it 1. That which the Council of Trent teacheth concerning this pretended Offering is that it hath for the matter of it the Body and Blood of Christ (h) Sess 22. cap. 1 2. Can. 3. or rather Christ himself under the Species of Bread and Wine That the Offering which is made of it is no simple tender of it to the Father but the offering of it up by way of a Sacrifice and accordingly he himself sacrificed or slain in it but after an unbloody manner That this Sacrifice is not only an Eucharistical or Commemorative Sacrifice but a truly propitiatory one for quick and dead and by which God is so far appeas'd as to grant Pardon and Grace to the one and a Refrigerium to the other 2. How well these things agree either with one another or with that Sacrifice which Christ made of himself upon the Cross shall then be considered when I come to oppose proper Arguments to it My present Business shall be to examine the Grounds upon which it is built and shew the vanity thereof Where again I will insist upon no other Grounds than what the same Council of Trent offers for it and which therefore those of the Roman Communion must think themselves obliged either to stand or fall by Now that which the Council of Trent principally founds it self upon in this Affair is on the one hand the conversion of the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament into the Body and Blood of Christ as without which there could be no Pretence for the offering of them up under the Species of the other And on the other hand those known words of Christ to his Apostles and their Successors Do this in remembrance of me These words as that Council tells us having been always understood and declar'd by the Catholick Church as a Command of Christ to them to offer up his Body and Blood But as enough hath been said already (i) Part 7. to shew the unsoundness of the former of these grounds and that therefore no just foundation of the offering of Christ's Body and Blood in the present Sacrament So we shall find there is as little solidity in that supposed Command of Christ to his Apostles and their Successors in the words Do this in remembrance of me For neither can those words be fairly drawn to signifie the offering up of Christ's Body and Blood neither doth it appear whatever is pretended that the Catholick Church hath had that understanding of them That the words themselves cannot be fairly drawn to signifie the offering up of Christ's Body and Blood will appear if we consider them either as referring to the several things before spoken of and particularly to what he himself had done or enjoined them to do or as referring only to that Body and Blood which immediately precede them and in which sense they are suppos'd to signifie the sacrificing or offering of them If we consider the words Do this in remembrance of me as referring to the several things before spoken of even those which Christ himself had done or enjoined them to do So there is no appearance of their being a Command to the Apostles or their Successors to offer up his Body and Blood unless there had been any precedent mention of Christ's offering them up himself or any kind of intimation of his enjoining them to do it The latter of which two as it is not to by affirm'd by those who make the words Do this in remembrance of me to be those which constituted both the Sacrifice and the offerers of it So I see as little reason for the affirming of the former how confidently soever the Church of Rome advanceth it For what mention can we expect for instance of Christ's offering up his Body under the Species of Bread when till he had spoken the words This is my Body which was not till he had done all appertaining to that Element there was no such thing under the Species of Bread for Christ to offer up because not to be till those words had pass'd upon it But it may be there is more force in the words Do this as referring to that Body and Blood which immediately precede them in which sense they are suppos'd to signifie the sacrificing or offering of them And so no doubt there is or they will be found to have little force in them But what if we should say first that there is as little appearance of their referring to the words Body and Blood as what St. Paul subjoineth to them and the very Canon of the Mass perswades For St. Paul inferring upon those words that as oft as they ate that Bread and drank that Cup they did shew forth the Lord's death till he came And again that whosoever should eat that Bread and drink that Cup of the Lord unworthily should be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord He doth not obscurely intimate that when our Saviour said with relation to each Element Do this in remembrance of me his meaning was that they should do what he had before enjoin'd them concerning each in remembrance of himself and particularly that they should eat and drink them with that design Which they of all Men
as a means whereby we receive the same and as a pledge to assure us thereof Question How many parts are there in a Sacrament Answer Two the outward visible sign and the inward spiritual grace Question What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism Answer Water wherein the person is baptized In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Question What is the inward and spiritual grace Answer A death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness for being by nature born in sin and the children of wrath we are hereby made the children of grace Question What is required of persons to be baptized Answer Repentance whereby they forsake sin and Faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament Question Why then are Infants baptized when by reason of their tender age they cannot perform them Answer Because they promise them both by their Sureties which promise when they come to age themselves are bound to perform Question Why was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ordained Answer For the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the benefits which we receive thereby Question What is the outward part or sign of the Lord's Supper Answer Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received Question What is the inward part or thing signified Answer The body and blood of Christ which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper Question What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby Answer The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood of Christ as our bodies are by the bread and wine Question What is required of them who come to the Lord's Supper Answer To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new life have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his death and be in charity with all men OF THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM In Pursuance of an EXPLICATION OF THE CATECHISM OF THE Church of England BY GABRIEL TOWERSON D.D. and Rector of Welwynne in Hartfordshire Imprimatur Ex Aedib Lamb. Apr. 10. 1686. Jo. Battely RRmo P. ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domesticis LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII TO THE Right Reverend FATHER in GOD FRANCIS Lord Bishop of ELY AND LORD ALMONER TO His Majesty My Lord YOUR Lordship 's favourable acceptance of my Discourse of the Sacraments in General with the desire I have if it may be to put an end to the whole hath prompted me to make the more hast to present your Lordship and the World with this of Baptism in particular Two things there are in it which I thought my self most concern'd to clear and which therefore I have employ'd all requisite diligence on the Doctrine of Original Sin and Infant-Baptism The former being in my opinion the foundation of Christianity the latter of our interest in it For if there be no such thing as Original Sin I do not see but some persons heretofore might and may here after live with such exactness as not at all to stand in need of a Saviour And I see as little if Infant-Baptism be null what interest any of us can have in him according to the ordinary dispensation of the Gospel who have for the most part been baptized in our Infancy or at least have been baptized by those that were Throughout the whole Treatise I have endeavour'd to retrive the antient notion of Baptism to shew what advantages are annexed to it and what duties it either involves or obligeth to To either of which if I have given any light or strength I shall hope I have done some small service to the Church and which your Lordship in particular will take in good part from Your Lordship's Most Obliged Most Obedient and Most humble Servant GABRIEL TOWERSON Wellwyne Aug. 23. 1686. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Of the Rite of Baptism among the Heathen and the Jews THe Heathen themselves not without the knowledge of another World and of the insufficiency of natural Religion to bring them to the happiness thereof Occasion taken by them from thence to enquire after other ways of obtaining it and by the Devil to suggest the mysteries of their respective Deities as the only proper means of compassing it Those mysteries every where initiated into by the Rite of Baptism partly through Men's consciousness of their past sins and which they judged it but meet they should be some way purged from and partly through the policy of the Devil who thereby thought to procure the greater veneration to them That as it was a Rite which was in use among God's own people so naturally apt to represent to Mens minds their passing from a sinful to a holy Estate Of what Service the Heathens use of this Rite is toward the commendation of the Christians Baptism and a transition from thence to the use of it among the Jews Which is not only prov'd at large out of the Jewish Writings and several particulars of that Baptism remark'd but that usage farther confirm'd by several concurring proofs such as is in particular the no appearance there is otherwise of any initiation of the Jewish Women the Baptizing of the whole Nation in the Cloud and in the Sea and a remarkable allusion to it in our Saviour's Discourse to Nicodemus The silence of the Old Testament concerning that Rite shewn to be of no force because though it take notice of the first Jews being under the Cloud and passing through the Red Sea yet it takes no notice at all of their being Baptized in them or of their Eating and Drinking that spiritual Repast whereof S. Paul speaketh The Baptism of Christians copied by our Saviour from that of the Jews and may therefore where it appears not that he hath made an alteration receive an elucidation from it pag. 1. The Contents of the Second Part. Of the Baptism of the Christians and the Institution of it THe Institution of the Christian Baptism more antient than the Command for it in S. Matthew 28.19 though not as to the generality of the World nor it may be as to the like explicit Profession of the Trinity As is made appear from Christ or his Disciples baptizing in Judea not long after his own Baptism by S. John Enquiry thereupon made whether it were not yet more antient yea as antient as Christ's execution of his Prophetical Office Which is rendred probable from our Saviours making Disciples before and the equal reason there appears to have been for his making them after the same manner with those of Judea From Christ's representing to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again of water and the spirit which is shewn at large to be meant of a true and proper Baptism As
consider it as a Feast a Supper-feast or a Supper-feast of the Lord Because intended as a Communion of that Body and Blood by which we are to be nourished to eternal life instituted at first at Supper time and both instituted by and intended for a Commemoration of our Lord. Next to the name of the Lord's Supper reckon we that of the Eucharist or Thanksgiving for so the word Eucharist imports A name thought to have been given to it in the time of the Writel of the New Testament but however following close after it For thus they are wont to interpret what we find in St. Paul (g) 1 Cor. 14.16 17. where he disputes against praying in an unknown tongue Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy Eucharist or giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks or celebratest the Eucharist well but the other is not edified Where we have not only the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are made use of to denote what our Saviour did to the Elements of this Sacrament but an intimation of that Amen which we shall understand afterwards from Justin Martyr to be return'd to the office of it However that be most certain it is that this name of Eucharist followed presently upon those times as appears by the familiar use of it in Ignatius's Epistles For thus he tells us in one place (h) Ep. ad Smyrn pag. 5. ed Voss That certain hereticks abstain'd from the Eucharist and prayer because they confess'd not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ And presently after (i) ib. pag. 6. Let that Eucharist be accounted firm which is under the Bishop or to whom he shall commit it As without whom as it follows it is not lawful to Baptize or celebrate a Love-feast but only what he shall approve In fine saith the same Ignatius elsewhere (k) Ep. ad Phil. pag. 40. endeavour therefore to use one Eucharist For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Cup for the union of his Blood Agreeable hereto that I may not now descend any lower was the language of Justin Martyr's time as may appear from these following testimonies Where he doth not only shew this to have been the name of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper but acquaints us with the reasons of their so denominating it After prayers saith he (l) Apol. 2. pag. 97. are done we salute one another Then is offer'd to him who presides over the Brethren Bread and a cup of Water and Wine Which he taking sendeth forth praise and glory to the Father of the Vniverse through the name of the Son and Holy Ghost and maketh a large Thanksgiving unto God for that we have been made worthy of these things by him Having thus completed the prayers and Thanksgiving all the people present signifie their Assent to it by an Amen which in the Hebrew Tongue is as much as So be it After that the President hath thus given thanks and the people answer'd Amen they who among us are called Deacons give to every one that is present of that Bread and Wine and Water over which thanks hath been given and carry it to those that are absent And this Food saith he is among us called the Eucharist to wit because of the Thanksgivings before remembred To the like purpose doth the same Father discourse elsewhere (m) Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. pag. 259 c. speaking still of the same Sacrament of the Lord's Supper And that offering of fine flowre which was delivered to be offered for those that were cleansed from the Leprosy was a type of the Bread of the Eucharist which Jesus Christ our Lord commanded us to celebrate in remembrance of that passion which he suffered for those that are cleansed in their Souls from all the wickedness of Men That we might at the same time give thanks or keep an Eucharist to God both for his having made the World and all things in it for the sake of man and for his having delivered us from that wickedness in which we sometime were and having perfectly dissolv'd Principalities and Powers by him who was made passible according to his will From which places it is evident that as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had at that time the title of the Eucharist or Thanksgiving so it receiv'd its name from those Thanksgivings which were us'd over the Elements thereof and which what they were I shall in another place have a more fit occasion to enquire All I desire to observe at present is that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper receiving one of its most noted names from those Thanksgivings that were us'd over the Elements thereof we are in reason to think that those Thanksgivings contribute in a great measure to that saving nature and efficacy they put on I may not forget to add because that seems as antient as any that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was also known by the name of breaking of Bread Not only the Syriack version but reason also obliging us so to understand St. Luke where he tells us that the first Converts of the Apostles (n) Acts 2.42 continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in prayer As again of the Disciples of Ephesus (o) Acts 20.7 that they came together on the first day of the week to break Bread For what other breaking of Bread can we understand there where it is joyn'd with the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and prayers and moreover made the special business of the Assemblies of that day which was from the beginning set apart for the honour and service of Almighty God Agreeable hereto was the language of Ignatius's time as appears by this following testimony He describing those (p) ep ad Ephes pag. 29. who communicate with the Bishop and his Presbytery in the exercises of Religion as breaking that one Bread which is the medicine of immortality an antidote against death and a means of living in Jesus Christ for ever And it had no doubt its original from the Hebrews manner of speaking who as I have elsewhere (q) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer in the words Give us this day out daily Bread shewn under the title of Bread comprehended the whole of their entertainments and from the breaking of the Bread of the Eucharist's being one special ceremony about it and intended as St. Paul remarks (r) 1 Cor. 11.24 to signifie the Breaking of Christ's body After which if any Man can think fit to make use of such like passages to justifie a Communion in one kind he may as well hope to shew that even the Feasts of the Hebrews for of such I have shew'n (ſ) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer ubi supra the word Bread to
that distinct profession of the Trinity which Baptism was intended to declare but the appearance there is of the Churches using a threefold immersion from the beginning For not to mention any other proofs Tertullian who flourished within an hundred years after the last of the Apostles doth not only mention the threefold immersion as a thing in use in his time but as a thing which was derived to them from * Tert. de Coronâ c. 3. Ergo quaeramus an Traditio nisi scripta non debeat recipi Plant negabimus recipiendam si nulla exempla praejudicent aliarum observationum quas sine ullius scripturae instrumento solius traditionis titulo exinde consuetudinis Patrocinio vindicamus Denique ut à Baptismo ingrediar Aquam adituri ibidem sed aliquanto prius in Ecclesiâ sub Antistitis manu contestamur nos renunciare Diabolo pompae angelis ejus Dehinc ter mergitamur amplius aliquid respondentes quà m Dominus in Evangelio determinavit Item adv Praxeam c. 26. Tradition and which considering the time wherein he liv'd cannot well fall short of an Apostolical one And thus much certainly ought to be allow'd to this and other testimonies that in or near the Apostolical Age the more fully to express that distinction of persons into the Faith of which Christ commanded to baptize Men were with the command or allowance of those who presided in the Church plunged into the Baptismal Water at the mention of each person's name But as that threefold immersion cannot be collected from the command of Christ because simply enjoyning to baptize into the Faith of the Trinity and which one immersion may declare as well as a threefold one As there is as little appearance of such a threefold immersion from the account we have in the Scripture of the administration of it So it is but reasonable to think that as ancient as it was yet it was postnate to the single one and had its rise from some Men's beginning to call the Doctrine of the Trinity in question as we find by Tertullian they did very early and the better to colour their own errour as well as to overthrow the other admonishing Men from S. Paul that Baptism was peculiarly intended to baptize Men into Christ's death For beside that they who consider the primitive face of Christianity will need no other proof than that to perswade them to believe that the more simple any Rite is so much the more ancient it ought to be thought to be That Apostolick Canon †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 50. which commands the deposing of him who should not use a threefold immersion but a single one doth not so much as preferr the threefold immersion to the single one simply and absolutely considered but as opposed to that single one which was made use of to baptize Men into the death of our Lord and not into the Faith of the Trinity Thereby not only not condemning the single immersion considered in it self but also intimating the triple one to have been rather instituted at first to obviate that heretical opinion And if this were the rise of the triple Immersion as is probable enough from the premises The single one abstracting from any command of the Church to the contrary will at least be as lawful as that and nothing therefore left to us to enquire but what is to be thought of those additions which were anciently made or continue as yet in being in the outward solemnities of Baptism 4. As touching the additions which were anciently made in this particular and concerning which they who desire an account may meet with an ample one in Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity (f) Part 1. c. 10. They were either such as they thought more peculiarly warranted to them by an Apostolical Tradition of which nature till better information I must needs think the triple Immersion to have been or such as were brought into the Church by those who presided in it the more effectually to declare the intention of that Sacrament to which they were added by it Which they thought they might most assuredly do if they made use of such farther Rites as did represent yet more to their senses what that Sacrament was intended to declare And indeed as that way of Instruction was in part warranted by the Sacraments themselves because professing by sensible things to teach Men Spiritual ones As it became yet more necessary by the grosness of the Vulgar sort and that infinity of Ceremonies to which they had been before accustomed So that which afterwards made them faulty was either the exceeding multitude thereof and which experience assures us doth rather obscure yea overwhelm the thing signified by them than help toward the declaration of it or their advancing by degrees into the same repute or necessity with the signs of Christ's own Institution Which is so true that they came in fine to be represented as means and conveyers of Grace as well as significative thereof Thereby making them Sacraments rather than appendages of such and which whosoever goes about to do must necessarily usurp the place of God and Christ as to whom alone it doth belong because the only givers of Spiritual Graces to make any ceremony the conveyer of them But as that Church whose Catechism I explain hath been so far from multiplying Rites in Baptism that she hath contented her self with one single one even the Sign of the Cross So she hath so explain'd her own meaning in it both in that form of words (g) In the Office of Bapt. wherewith she appointeth it to be made and in a Canon (h) Can. 30. devised expresly for that purpose that it will not be easie for considerate Men to believe that she represents it as a Sacrament or indeed that she may not require the conformity of her Children to it Only because they who separate from the Church have made the injunction of that Ceremony one of the particular reasons of their separation and occasion may well be taken from thence to shew the ground both of that and others which are as yet retained in the Church of England I will set my self to consider the exceptions that have been made against it and return a particular answer to them Now there are three sorts of charges which are brought against this Ceremony and which therefore it will be necessary to consider It s being a Ceremony and so Iess agreeable to a spiritual and substantial Religion It s being an addition to the Institution of Christ and therefore implying something of imperfection in that As lastly its being a relique of Popery or giving too much countenance to the errors of it The first of these is certainly one of the most unreasonable charges that were ever advanced against our Church by the Adversaries thereof As will appear if we consider the nature of those for whose edification that
of what he hath so purchas'd The belief of these and the like Articles of our Faith being as manifestly presuppos'd to the belief of those Promises which in this place we are required to intend III. That which will it may be more concern us to enquire is what our Catechism means by a stedfast belief of them For my more orderly resolution whereof I will enquire first what it means by belief and then by a stedfast one Now by belief may be meant either a simple assent of the mind and in which fense there is no doubt it is oftentimes taken in Christian Writers Or there may be meant also a belief with affiance and such as beside the assent of the mind or understanding to them doth also connote a trust in them or in God because of them By vertue of which as I have elsewhere discours'd (k) Expl. of the Decal Com. 1. Part 3. concerning the grace of trust the heart or will is prompted to desire as well as assent to the matter of the divine promises and acquiesce in those for the obtaining of it And indeed if we may judge any thing by our Homilies to which the Articles (l) Art 11. of our Church do also particularly referr us in the point of justifying Faith this latter belief must be here intended Because a belief which hath for its end the remission of sins in Baptism and consequently a justifying one For the right and true Christian Faith saith one of our (m) Homily of Salvation Part 3. Homilies is not only to believe that the Holy Scripture and all the forecited Articles of our Faith are true but also to have a sure trust and confidence in God's merciful promises to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ And it is not only saith another (n) Hom. of Faith the common belief of the Articles of our Faith but it is also a sure trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and a stedfast hope of all good things to be receiv'd at God's hands In fine saith the same (o) Ibid. Homily the very sure lively Christian faith is not only to believe all things of God which are contained in holy Scripture but also to have an earnest trust and confidence in God c. Which suppos'd as we may because we can have no more Authentick interpretation of it to be the sense of the belief here intended it will not be difficult to shew what our Catechism means by a stedfast one For considering the belief of these Promises as an Assent of the mind to them so a stedfast belief will imply that which is free from all doubts and which the mind of man gives to those Promises without any the least fear of there being any Collusion in them Which the mind of man may well give considering whose those Promises are and that they have both God and Christ for the Authors of them On the other side if we consider the belief intended as including in it also an affiance or trust and by vertue of which the heart or will is prompted to desire as well as believe the matter of those Promises and acquiesce in those Promises for the attaining of it So this stedfast belief will also imply such a one as is firmly rooted in the heart or will and can no more be rooted out of it by the force of temptations than the other by doubts or scruples And indeed as I do not see how any other belief than that can answer such glorious promises as are made to us in the Sacrament of Baptism so I see as little reason to doubt IV. What evidence there is of that being the Faith or belief which is pre-requir'd by Christianity to the receiving of it For though S. Luke may seem to intimate by the account he gives of the Baptism of the Samaritans (p) Acts 8.12 that they were baptiz'd upon a simple belief of what Philip preach'd concerning the things of the Kingdom of God Yet he doth much more clearly intimate afterward that Christianity requir'd another sort of belief and such as was accompani'd with an adherence of the will unto them He making it the condition of the Eunuch's Baptism afterward that he should believe with all his heart (q) Acts 8.37 Which is an expression that in the language of the Scripture referrs rather to the will and affections than to the understanding but however cannot well be thought not to include them there where the believing with all the heart is requir'd And indeed as I do not see considering the Doctrine of our First Reformers why this notion of Faith should be so exploded as it seems to me lately to have been As I do much less see why men should so boyle at that Justification which was wont to be attributed in an especial manner to it So if I live to finish the work I am now upon I will in a Comment upon the Epistle to the Philippians which I have almost gather'd sufficient materials for endeavour to clear both the one and the other that men may neither take occasion from thence to discard good works as unnecessary nor yet stay themselves upon any other than the promises of Christ and on which the holiest men upon earth when they have been approaching near God's tribunal have found themselves oblig'd to cast themselves In the mean time a little to repress the youthful heats of those who can hardly forbear smiling at such antiquated notions I will set before them the advice which was order'd to be given to sick persons when good works to be sure were not without their just repute It is among the Interrogatories which are said (r) Field of the Church Append. to the 3d. Book p. 303. to have been prescrib'd by Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury and particularly after that which prompts the Priest to ask Dost thou believe that thou canst not be sav'd but by the death of Christ and the sick persons Answer that he did so Go too therefore as the Priest was taught to proceed and whilst thy soul remaineth in thee place thy confidence in this death alone and in no other thing commit thy self wholly to it cover thy self wholly with it immerse fix and wrap thy self wholly in it And if the Lord God will judge thee say I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy judgment otherwise I contend not with thee And if he say that thou art a sinner say Lord I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sins If he say to thee thou hast deserv'd damnation say Lord I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my evil deserts and I offer the same death for that merit which I ought to have had and have not If he continue as yet to say that he is angry with thee say Lord I oppose the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me
Sacramental Purposes to which they are to be appli'd it is a needless superstition to be sollicitous about the kind of it or indeed about any thing else of that nature farther than the Laws of Decency or the general Nature of the Sacrament may seem to exact of us The same is to be said and for the same reasons as to the kind of the Wine though the Wines of Palestine were generally Red (b) Psal 75.8 Prov. 23.31 Isa 27.2 63.2 for which cause it is not improbable that they were stiled the Bloud (c) Deut. 32.14 of the Grape and those therefore the most apt to represent the Blood of our Saviour For whatever the Colour thereof may be they may serve by the Liquidness thereof and the pouring of them from one Vessel to another to denote the shedding of his Blood which is all that the Institution obligeth us to reflect upon Upon which account I shall in this place confine my self to enquire whether it ought to be mix'd with Water or no as which seems to me to be the only material Enquiry in this Affair And here indeed they who think it enough to make use of pure Wine may seem to be hardly press'd whether we do consider the Antiquity of the contrary Usance or the Reason which is alledged for it For it appears from Justin Martyr (d) Apol. 2. p. 97. to have been carefully practis'd in his time And it appears too not only to have been pleaded for by St. Cyprian * Ad Caecil Ep. 63. even where he disputes against the foremention'd Aquarii but to such a degree also as to represent the Sacrament as imperfect without it The mixture of Wine and Water being as he saith (e) Quando autem in calice aqua vino miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur Quae copulatio conjunctio aquae vini sic miscetur in calice domini ut commixtio illa non possit ab invicem separari Nam si vinum tantùm quis offerat sanguis Christi incipit esse sine nobis si vero aqua sit sola plebs incipit esse sine Christo Quando autem utrumque miscetur adunatione confusâ sibi invicem copulatur tunc Sacramentum spiritale coeleste perficitur intended to signifie the conjunction of Christ and his People and that we can therefore in the sanctifying of the Lord's Cup no more offer Wine alone than we may presume to offer Water only These things to those that have a regard to Antiquity cannot but appear very considerable and I must needs say they weigh so much with me as to believe that the Wine of the Sacrament might have been from the beginning diluted with Water yea that that very Wine might which our Saviour consecrated into it But this rather with respect to the Custom of the Eastern Country and the generousness of their Wines which might be but needful to be temper'd where the same Liquor was to be the Entertainment of their Love-Feasts as well as the Matter of a Sacrament than out of any regard to the Sacrament it self or that particular Mystery in it which St. Cyprian thought to be intended Because there is not any the least hint either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of such a mixture or Mystery but rather an intimation of Christ's employing only the Fruit of the Vine and his having a regard to the sole Properties thereof and of that Blood of his which he shed for our Redemption If there were from the beginning any Mystery in such a mixture it may most probably be thought to have been intended to make so much the more lively a Representation to us of that Blood which it was designed to remember and which we learn from St. John (f) Joh. 19.34 to have issued from his side attended with Water and accordingly particularly remarked by him Upon which account though I cannot press a mixture of Wine and Water as necessary yet neither can I condemn it or those Churches which upon that reason think fit to retain it and enjoin on their respective Members the due observation of it 3. But because there neither is nor can well be a more material Enquiry than wherein the Bread and Wine of this Sacrament were intended as a Sign Therefore it may not be amiss to pass on to the resolution of it and employ all requisite diligence in it For my more orderly performance whereof I will consider those Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the usage that Body and Bloud of his receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us or as to the Benefit that was intended and accrued to us by them If we consider the Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood as to the usage they receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us So we shall find them again to be a Sign of that Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred or by the separate administration of them when they are For in the former of these Notions the Bread manifestly became a Sign of Christ's Body by our Saviour's breaking of it For which cause as was before observ'd St. Paul in his rehearsal of the Institution attributes that breaking to Christ's Body and describes its crucifixion by it And not improbably the Wine of the Sacrament became a Sign of Christ's Blood by its being poured out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he took and blessed and gave to his Disciples There being not otherwise any thing in it to represent the shedding of Christ's Blood which it appears by the several Evangelists that our Saviour had a particular respect unto Neither will it suffice to say though it be true enough that we do not read either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of our Saviour's before pouring the Wine of the Sacrament out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he made use of for that purpose and consequently cannot with equal assurance make the Wine to be a Sign of Christ's Blood by any such effusion of it For whether we read of it or no such an Effusion must of necessity precede the use of a Cup being not to keep Wine in but to drink out of after it hath receiv'd it by effusion from another and that effusion therefore and the particular mention there is of the effusion of that Blood which is acknowledg'd to be signified by the Wine no unreasonable intimation of that Effusion's being one of those things wherein the Wine of the Sacrament was intended as a Sign or Representation of the other By these means the Bread and Wine become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood as to what is done to them before they come to be administred And we shall find them in like manner to be a Sign of the same Body and
Death of our Lord and Saviour as well as shew it forth to other Men. If therefore the Communion of Infants receive any relief it must be from those Arguments that are alledg'd in its behalf and which accordingly I come now to consider And first it is alledg'd that the Sacraments of the Gospel are the great Chanels of the Grace of God Which is willingly granted if it be understood as to those Persons for whom they were intended But whether this in particular was intended for Infants is a thing which for the Reasons before mentioned may very well be made a Question but ought however to be otherwise made appear Which it will hardly be by alledging as it is in the second place that that Grace doth always descend upon them that do not hinder it Because if God require some positive qualifications in him that receives the Sacrament the not putting a bar to the Grace of it will not suffice the Party for the receiving of it There was therefore but need of adding thirdly that to Baptism there are many acts of predisposition requir'd as well as to the Communion and yet the Church who very well understands the obligation of those Precepts supposeth no Children to be obliged to those predispositions to either but fits every Commandment to a capable subject The meaning of which Argument setting aside what is there said of the Church is that if the want of such Dispositions as are prerequir'd to Baptism do not hinder Infants from being admitted to it neither ought the want of the like predispositions to the Communion to debar them of that or hinder us from believing that our Saviour did intend it for them And I willingly grant there would be the same reason for both if there were the like presumption of God's dispensing with his own Law in both and admitting Infants notwithstanding those wants to the participation of the Lord's Supper as there is for his admission of them to Baptism Which that there is not will appear as from the Arguments I have elsewhere produc'd for the Baptizing of them so from the necessity there is of the one above what there can be of the other For whereas there is a necessity of Baptism to bring Infants out of their natural estate and give them a title to his Kingdom For except a Man be born again saith our Saviour (a) Joh. 3.5 of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven There cannot be the like necessity of their receiving the Lord's Supper because before delivered from that their natural estate and entitled to his heavenly Kingdom Whereas again the Grace of Baptism ordinarily speaking is absolutely necessary so that no one can without that be presum'd to be in a salvable estate The Lord's Supper may seem to be only conditionally so and on supposition (b) See Part 1. of our falling into new Errors and so needing a new Remedy against them and a new assurance against the guilt of them Which new Errors falling not upon an Infant estate neither can there be any such need of that either Remedy or Assurance and therefore neither of that second Sacrament which was intended to convey them Though therefore God should admit Infants to Baptism without the previous dispositions of it because of the necessity of that Sacrament Yet there is not the like Reason to presume because there is no such necessity of the Sacrament it self of his so admitting them to the Lord's Supper and therefore neither for arguing from the administration of Baptism to Infants that we may as well administer to them the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper also It is alledged fourthly That whereas in a Sacrament there is something done on God's part and something on ours what belongeth to us obligeth us then when we can hear and understand but not before but what is on God's part is always ready to them that can receive it Which Allegation is indeed true but no way pertinent to the matter in hand unless it could be prov'd which hath not as yet been that this Sacrament belongs to Infants either as to its Obligations or Graces It is alledged fifthly and with as little pertinency That though Infants cannot come alone to Christ yet the Church their Mother can bring them in her Arms. For though the Church can bring them in her Arms yet she will bring them with little effect if she bring them to other Sacraments than Christ hath appointed for them It is alledged sixthly That they who are capable of the Grace of a Sacrament may also receive the Sign and therefore the same Grace being convey'd to them in one Sacrament may also be imparted to them in the other But as I do not see how Infants are capable of the Grace of the Lord's Supper because intended to supply those defects which the neglect of the former hath occasioned So I see as little what need or expectation there is of their receiving that Grace by a second Sacrament which hath been already imparted to them by a former It is alledged seventhly That as Infants can be born again without their own consent so they may be fed by the hands of others and what begins without their own actual choice may be renewed without their own actual desire Both parts of which Allegation suppose that Infants stand in need of Spiritual Supplies which I for my part see no necessity to grant nor indeed any reason to believe Because till they come to years they are out of the reach of those temptations which occasion our spiritual decays It is alledged eighthly That if upon pretence of figurative Speeches Allegories and Allusions and the Injunction of certain Dispositions the holy Communion be deny'd to Infants there may be cause enough to fear that a gap may be opened upon equal pretence to deny them Baptism The latter part of which Argument as I have already return'd a sufficient Answer to so I shall leave it to those who trade in figurative Speeches and Allegories and Allusions to answer to the former It is alledged ninthly which looks somewhat more like an Argument than many of the former That since the Jewish Infants being circumcised is used as an Argument that they might be baptiz'd their eating of the Paschal Lamb may also be a competent Warrant to eat of that Sacrament in which also as in the other the sacrificed Lamb is represented as offer'd and slain for them But as the Parallel is not so clear in the Scripture between the Paschal Lamb and the Lord's Supper as it is between Circumcision and Baptism and we therefore not to argue with the same freedom from the Paschal Lamb to the Lord's Supper as we do from Circumcision to Baptism So it is much farther from being clear that the Jewish Infants partook of the Paschal Lamb which is that upon which the present Argument proceeds For all that is said in the Book of Exodus is that it was
those two Sacraments which he had before intreated of and which he affirms in the next words the guilt of that sin in Children to be loosed by concerning which the Scripture affirms that no one is free from it though his Life be but of a days continuance PART XI How the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ought to be receiv'd The Contents The receit of this Sacrament suppos'd by the present Question and that therefore first established against the Doctrine of those who make the supposed Sacrifice thereof to be of use to them who partake not Sacramentally of it Enquiry next made How we ought to prepare our selves for it how to demean our selves at the celebration of it and in what Posture to receive it The preparation taken notice of by our Catechism the Examination of our selves whether we truly repent us of our sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life c. and the both necessity and means of that Examination accordingly declar'd The examination of our Repentance more particularly insisted upon and that shewn to be most advantageously made by enquiring how we have gain'd upon those sins which we profess to repent of and particularly upon our most prevailing ones which how they are to be discover'd is therefore enquir'd into and the marks whereby they are to be known assigned and explain'd A transition from thence to the examination of the stedfastness of our Purposes to lead a new Life of our Faith in God through Christ our remembrance of his Death and Charity Where the necessity of that Examination is evinced and the means whereby we may come to know whether we have those Qualifications in us discover'd and declar'd How we ought to demean our selves at the celebration of this Sacrament in the next place enquir'd into and that shewn to be by intending that Service wherewith it is celebrated and suiting our Affections to the several parts of it The whole concluded with enquiring in what posture of Body this Sacrament ought to be receiv'd Where is shewn first that the Antients so far as we can judge by their Writings receiv'd in a posture of Adoration and particularly in the posture of standing Secondly that several of the Reformed Churches receive in that or the like posture and that those that do not do not condemn those that do Thirdly that there is nothing in the Example of Christ and his Disciples at the first Celebration of this Supper to oblige us to receive it sitting nor yet in what is alledg'd from the suitableness of that Posture to a Feast and consequently to the present one This as it is a Feast of a different nature from common ones and therefore not to receive Laws from them so the receit thereof intended to express the grateful resentment we have of the great Blessing of our Redemption and stir up other Men to the like resentment of it Neither of which can so advantageously be done as by receiving the Symbols of this Sacrament in such a posture of Body as shews the regard we have for him who is the Author of it VI. THE sixth and last Question proposed to be discoursed of Question What is requir'd of them who come to the Lord's Supper Answer To examin themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins stedfastly purposing to lead a new Life have a lively Faith in God's mercy through Christ with a thankful remembrance of his Death and be in charity with all men is How this Sacrament ought to be receiv'd Which Question I have proposed in those terms partly that it may come so much the nearer to the last Question of our own Catechism and partly because there is no one sort of Men that doth expresly deny that it ought to be receiv'd by all that are qualified for it as well as administred by those who are the proper Stewards of it For though the Socinians out of a belief of Baptism's being proper only to Jewish or Gentile Converts have thrown off that Sacrament altogether and which is more have represented the shewing forth of Christ's Death as the only design of this yet they have thought fit to retain the use of it as a thing enjoin'd by our Lord himself Though the Tridentine Fathers have also in a great measure transform'd this Sacrament into a thing of another nature and accordingly pointed out other ways for Men to receive benefit by it beside their communicating at it Yet they have declar'd an Anathema (a) Sess 13. Can. 9. against any one that shall deny all and singular the faithful People of Christ to be oblig'd when they come to years of discretion to communicate every year at least at Easter according to the Precept of holy Mother the Church Only because those Fathers seem to found even that single Communion upon the Precept of the Church or at least do not represent it as enjoin'd by any Divine Law And because though they elsewhere profess to wish that they who assist at their several Masses did also Sacramentally communicate at them for their receiving greater benefit by them (b) Sess 22. cap. 6. yet they represent even those where the Priest alone Communicates as common to them that do not I think it not amiss to premise something concerning the obligation of the Faithful to receive this Sacrament as well as to assist at the celebration of it and examine what those Fathers alledge for their loosing the Faithful from it That the Faithful are under an obligation of receiving this Sacrament as well as of assisting at the celebration of it is so evident from the words of the Institution that I know not how our Saviour could have more expresly enjoin'd it For Take Eat saith he concerning the Bread of it And Drink ye all of it saith the same Jesus concerning the Cup With this farther Reason as we learn from the Hoc est enim corpus meum and Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei in the Roman Missal because the one is his Body and the other as certainly the Cup of his Blood as that Missal expresseth it So that if a Command with so substantial a Reason annex'd may be concluded to be obligatory the receit of this Sacrament is And we can no more be freed from doing it than we can be freed from believing that it is Christ's Body and Blood that is tender'd to us or believing it than we may reject so signal a Blessing as that is which was either broken or shed for our Redemption For what is this but as the Author to the Hebrews speaks (c) Heb. 10.28 29. to despise not Moses's Law but one the transgression whereof is worthy of a sorer punishment yea to tread under foot the Son of God and count the Blood of the Covenant wherewith we are sanctified an unholy thing and as such contemptuously to reject it Neither will it avail to say as possibly it may be that they cannot be look'd upon as despisers