to mean purposes but his office is by kindly and gracious operations to renew mens minds and to bring their hearts still more and more to such a temper and frame as is suitable to the Laws of the Gospel So that our drinking of the Spirit at the Holy Communion must necessary have this effect that those good things are establisht which were wrought in us before by the Spirits Energy Noâ— is this any more than what Devout Communicants find to be true by their own experience their minds are then fixt upon things of Heaven their sense of Christs Love is then strong their affections to him are then warm their hope in him is then lively and comfortable their Charity to others is then great and their whole Soul is full of the most ravishing Pleasures so that were men careful not to stifle or resist the Spirit but to keep themselves so well disposed all their time as they are when they go from the Lords Table it would be impossible either for their salvation to be insecure or for their minds to be uneasie And yet Faustus Socinus will by no means allow our Faith to be at all Confirm'd by the use of the Lords Supper He looks upon that Holy Rite as a work of our own as he is pleas'd to call it as an ordinary thing that we do among one another in Commemoration of the Lords Death but not as a Mystery whereby we receive any benefit any advantage from God But though the Heretick be so admired as a great man of sense and reason yet he trifles altogether and talks Impertinently and Idly upon this as he doth Sophistically upon the Rest of his own notions For why doth not the celebration of this Mystery confirm our Faith Why saith Socinus the distribution of the bread and wine cannot do it because they are mean things which testifie Nec enim panis ille fractus a nobis comestus vinumque in poculum infusum a nobis epotum oftendunt nobis aut suadent vere Christi Corpus pro nobis fractum fuisse c. Socin de usu S. Caen. nothing which shew no reasons for our Faith nor contain any thing that perswadeth us to believe that Christs Body was Broken or that his Bloud was shed for us Now the Heretick and his followers in this argument do first mistake the Question for we do not say that the bare distribution of the Elements is the thing which serveth to help and strengthen our faith but that this is done by the whole action Now the whole Action containeth Prayers and praises a rehearsal of the Institution and a declaration of Christs Passion as well as a division of the Creatures of Bread and Wine All these things come under the Notion of the Eucharist and each of them ministreth to the confirmation of our faith especially since they all concur in the same Action because they were appointed by Christ himself to be done in Commemoration of his death and consequently do suppose and argue that he died indeed 2. So that Secondly these men are false and deceitful in this their way of reasoning that the Sacrament is no Proof of our Lords Passion For 1. St. Paul saith plainly that as often as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup we do shew forth the Lords Death 1 Cor. Nec oftendunt nobis aut suadent c ubi supr 11. 26. which in express terms contradicteth the Doctrine of Socinus This is an outward Testimony for my faith to rely up on 2. The Holy Spirit is given as hath Nonne ad credendum Evangelio Spiritus sancti interiore dono opus est Non Catech Sect. 6. cap. 6. been proved with the Bread and Wine and by his secret operation I am perswaded to believe the Article of Christs Passion to be true That 's an inward Confirmation of my Faith though I suppose the Socinians may not value that because they allow not Faith to be the effect of the Spirits operation 3. Considering that this Ordinance was instituted by Christ himself as a memorial of his death and that he hath appointed us the use of it for that reason and upon that account this is evidence and proof enough to convince me that he suffered and died of a truth The Divine institution and command together with the meaning End and Design of it this is that which we ought Quid insulsius quam si quis ita argumentaretur nos panem istum frangimus comedimus idque ut praedicemus Christum corpus Sanguinem suum pro nobis tradidisse Igi ur verum est ita Christum fecisse Socin in Append ad scriptum de Caena Dom. particularly and carefully to regard and then if I argue thus we eat Bread and drink Wine by the Divine appointment and institution that we may declare that Christ gave his Body and blood for us and therefore it is very true that Christ did so this is no absurd argumentation as that wicked Impostor had the confidence to say it is rather a very rational and clear way of reasoning for why should I believe that Christ would command me to commemorate that which is an untruth It is a plain argument that Christ did dye because he hath required us to Celebrate this Mystery in memory of his Passion and consequently it is true that the Celebration of this mystery is for the confirmation of our faith The meaning and signification of this Mystery is the thing which we are principally to consider and to illustrate this matter briefly by two familiar instances let us consider that common Phaenomenon in the air which we call the Rainbow If you ask a Philosopher about it he will tell you that t is nothing but a Meteor the Natural effect of such and such Natural causes but the Christian will tell you that it is a Token of that promise which God made of old unto Noah and therefore when we see the Rainbow we may assuredly believe that tho the World was once drowned with a Flood it shall never be destroyed by Waters again Thus the signification and meaning of that thing is for the Confirmation of our Faith tho' there be not groundse nough for this perswasion from the Nature of the thing it self 2. Again let us consider that ancient Mystery the Passeover Supper the eating of a Lamb with bitter Herbs to the ignorant Pagan might seem but an Ordinary meal or perhaps a silly because unpleasant Ceremony but to the Jews it was a Rite of great signification because it was a memorial of Gods Mercy to their Fathers in delivering them out of Egypt and therefore God commanded even their Posterity to keep it with all diligence and solemnity Now let me ask the Socinian was not this memorial thus instituted thus appointed sufficient grounds for all the Jews in after-ages to believe that the History of that deliverance was true Nay are not all the Jews in the
of a more Noble importance and signification and so they troubled not the Lord with enquiries being sufficiently satisfied of the Nature and meaning of such solemnities And this we may suppose to have been the Reason too why we find so few directions in the Scriptures of the New Testament about preparing our selves for a worthy eating of this Blessed Sacrament For there is little or nothing said upon this Subject setting aside what Saint Paul once occasionally said of self examination in 1 Cor. 11. 28. For the thing was not so very needful because such directions might easily be drawn even from the consideration of the Nature and ends of this Holy Banquet and men already had great impressions and apprehensions of their duty in order to a due celebration of those Solemnities to which this Mystery was Parallel and Analogous With what Religion did the very Heathens prepare themselves by washing their Bodies and by abstaining from worldly and Carnal Pleasures before they addressed themselves to the Tables of their Gods And with what care and curiosity did the Jews pick every Crum of Leaven out of their houses and use other observances before they presumed to eat of the Passeover The very resemblance and Analogy between this Mystery and that is enough to minister directions about preparing and purifying our Spirits in order to it and whatsoever is necessary in that point may be easily gathered and concluded from the consideration of the Purport and reason of this Holy Rite All which is lost by mens taking no notice of that Analogy which it bears to other Sacrifical Feasts and therefore it is no wonder that the Socinians speak so coldly of this matter and that they are as superficial and slight about the business of preparation as they are slovenly Rude and irreverent at the Celebration of this Mystery These things being laid down as the Foundation and Ground-work of what I have to say upon this subject the task I have undertaken will be attended with the fewer difficulties the true notion of this Sacrament will be the more readily conceived the great errors about it will be the more easily removed the truths concerning it will be settled with the greater firmness and solidity and every thing will be apprehended I hope with the greater perspicuity and clearness which is the thing that I much aim at in this whole matter The sum briefly is this that this Christian Rite is a Sacrifical Banquet which beareth some proportionable likeness to those Sacrifical Banquets which were Religiously Celebrated of Old by the generality of mankind So that as Jews and Heathens were wont to feed upon a Sacrificed Beast so we Christians do feed upon a Sacrificed Redeemer after a Corporeal manner we feed upon the Figure of him that is we partake of Bread instead of that his Flesh which is his Natural Body but after a Spiritual manner we feed upon him Himself that is we partake of his Virtues and Divine nature which is his Spiritual Body CHAP. II. Of the Ends of this Sacrament First it is a Memorial of Christs Love proved from Christs own words From its Analogy to other Sacrifical Banquets and from the Practice of the Ancient Church Two inferences the one against Romanists the other against our Dissenters THe Nature of this Mystery being unfolded proceed we in the next place to consider the Ends and Purposes for which it was appointed 1. Now one great End is readily granted on all hands only some differ a little about rendring the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the expression in the Original 1. Some render it Recordatio as if this solemnity was intended to put men in mind of Christs passion and to bring his Love to their remembrance Nor have the Socinians sufficient reason Nisi quis antequam illuc accedat non modo rectè mortis Christi meminerit sed ejus efficaciam fructumjam interiore animo gustet ac sentiat indignus planè est qui eò accedat Socin ubi Supra to quarrel with this interpretation because as they argue men ought to remember the Lords Passion before they come to the Lords Supper 'T is true we ought to do so and 't is as true that this solemnity is a proper means to excite us to do so to engage us to sequester some time for antecedent Meditations to consider of the Divine goodness and of our own unworthiness before hand to view the several parts of our Saviours Life and sufferings and to observe the greatness of his love throughout the whole that we may come to the Holy Table with souls possest with a deep sense of God mercies and with hearts full of zeal of thankfulness of repentance and of Devotion which we are apt at other times not to be so solicitously careful of At the institution of the Passeover the Jews were commanded to take the Lamb into their houses on the tenth day of Nisan and to Keep it up until the fourteenth of the same Month Exod. 12. And one reason which the Jews give of this is that in those four days by having the Lamb under their eye they Paul Fagius in Exod 12. might be stirred up to continual considerations and conferences of their Redemption out of Egypt for which reason they have a Tradition on among them that during those four days the Lamb was tyed by a bed-side And thus do the thoughts of this Christian Feast when it is near at hand very much serve to excite men to the most serious considerations of the Redemption of all Mankind by that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World And besides the breaking of the Bread and the pouring forth of the Wine together with the mention that then is made of our Lords death do abundantly serve to imprint in our minds a memory of the Passion after a most lively end efficacious manner so that it is not in any wise an Unfit or Improper way of speaking to say that this Sacrament is unto us a Remembrancer of our Duty 2. But secondly the generality of Divines render the Word as the Socinians do Commemoratio meaning that this Mystery was appointed as a Test of mens constancy that to the Worlds end they might publickly Profess their Faith in a crucified Redeemer by shewing forth their dear Lords death and by constantly celebrating the memorial of his bitter but meritorious Passion I shew'd before how the Jews were wont at their Paschal Supper to commemorate and express the joyful sense they had of the deliverance of their Nation from the Brick-Kilms and the Cruelties of the Egyptians In like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysoft in Pascha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non solum inter Sacrificia sed etiam in conviviis in omnibus solennitatibus antiquorum erant sermones de rebus ab illis diis gestis Nat. Com. mythol l. 1. c. 1. Inter vescendum laudes diis canere assuer
so were their Vows too not Verbal onely but Real and Conspicuous Part of their Oblations they committed to the Fire to Honour their Creator and part they fed upon themselves to testifie their own Obedience From the Altar where they had offered up Gods Creatures they went to the Table to offer up Themselves a Living Sacrifice unto God Their Actions were more Significant though more Silent Expressions than their words For by eating of Gods meat they declared to the world that they were and would be Gods Vassals As Friends Pledge mutual Fidelity by Feasting together as a Bride Professeth her Subjection and Troth to her Husband by eating of a Cake and as Servants declare their Relation and obligations to their Master by feeding constantly at his Table so did the Saints of old own their Engagements and Duty to God by partaking of his Sacrifices When Jews and Proselytes feasted upon a Sacrificed Lamb at the Passeover they did by that Action Engage their Services to God according to that way of worship with was establisht then For this Reason it was that no Uncircumcised Persons could be Communicants at that Banquet because they were out of the Covenant and so could not be supposed capable of Sealing that Covenant with God which they had not Undertaken or entred into They who were the Children of faithful Abraham had indeed a Right to participate but yet the Mystery was such as that it did call upon them to answer the Ends of that Covenant which they were interessed in The careful purging of all Leaven out of their houses did put them in mind of that inward Purity and Sincerity of Heart which the Covenant of God did require The Sight of a Sacrificed roasted Lamb did teach them to believe in the Messiah that was to be slain for their Redemption from sin and Eternal Death The Haggada I spake of before or the Repeating and Publishing the History of their deliverance out of Egypt shew'd them the Reason and Ground of those particular Obligations to God which the whole Nation of the Jews did lye under Moreover by their Prayers and Thanksgivings at that Solemnity they Own'd their obligations and Profest that as that Infinitely Good and Powerful Being was their God so they would be his Ideo nos confiteri laudare celebrare extollere colere benedicere Tenemur c. Vide Buxtorf Synag cap. 13. People And so even the Modern Jews are wont to acknowledge at the Passeover we are Bound to confess to praise to celebrate to extoll to worship and to Bless God because he did such Wonders for us and our Fathers when he Redeemed us into Liberty out of Servitude Accordingly they durst not put an End to that Faederal Solemnity P. Fagius in Deut. 8. nor depart till they had Exprest their Thankfullness after a large manner For so Paulus Burgensis tells us that the Paschal Lamb being all eaten the Jews were wont anciently to Sing Seven of Davids Psalms which thy called if I mistake not the Great Hallelujah from the 112 to the 119th which 't is thought was the very Hymn which the Evangelist meant when he noted of our B. Saviour that having Sung an Hymn with his Disciples he went out into the Mount of Olives Matth. 26. 30. Thus the celebration of the Passeover-Supper Grot. in 26. Matth. as also Dr. Hammond who distinguishes between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a Tye upon the Jews and thereby they Profest Universal Obedience to the Mosaical Institution In like manner the celebration of the Lords Supper is a Tye upon Christians and thereby we profess Universal Obedience to the Evangelical Institution Hence we may suppose it was that the use of the Paschal-Solemnity thencesorth ceased utterly and for ever so that not so much as that Comemorative Passeover was used any more which the Learned Grotius and others speak of and which consisted of Unleavened bread and Bitter Hrebs onely For Christ having fullfilled all Legal Righteousness and having now Buryed Moses honourably before he dyed himself he presently instituted another Rite thereby Signifying that now all obligations of obedience to the Jewish Religion ceased and that his Church from that time onwards was to observe another way and that this Rite was intended as an Engagement upon them to do so For though or Saviour did not tell his Disciples so much in Express terms yet we may be easily satisfied that this was part of his meaning if we carefully observe these three things 1. If we observe the Analogy of this Feast the thing which I have Laboured to clear as the Hypothesis of these Discourses For it plainly answers those Sacrifical Feasts which were used by Mankind in general and it chiefly answers the Paschal Feast which was used by the Jews in Particular Now since That and the Rest were Covenant-Banquets that laid Tyes and obligations upon all such as did observe them it is reasonable to conclude that this Christian Banquet is a Faederal Solemnity that Layeth Tyes and Obligations upon the Observers of it also as it is Analogous to the Like Banquets in its Nature so we must Suppose it to be Analogous in its use and Signification likewise 2. We may observe too that Christ instituted this Rite presently after he had washed the feet of his Disciples Servitia aequè ac Proselyti sacris imtiabantur faeminae Lotione mares autem circumcisione pariter Lotime Lud. de veil in Mosen Maiemond de Sac. paschali pag. 6. 28. It was the custome of the Jews to initiate Strangers into their Religion not only Women but Men also though they were Circumcised by washing their Bodies with Water and that Absolution was an Engagement upon them to observe the Religion of the Jews Our Blessed Lord being willing to make the best use of those customes which others used and understood did not only order his Disciples to initiate Proselytes by washing them likewise but he did it Himself now Though he did not Baptize any as John did by washing all their Bodies in a River yet he washed his Disciples Feet which was Tantamount And thereby he did not only set before them a wonderful pattern of Humility by that humble ministration of his own but he did also after a Ritual manner formally admit them into that Religion which he had instructed them in before and by that Ceremony they came to have a part in him i. e to have a great interest and share in him and to be very nearly related to him as we may gather from those words of his to Peter If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me Jo. 13. 8. Now considering that presently after that action he returned to the Table again and proceeded to the institution of this Feast 't is rational to Judge that he intended it as a another Tye and as a further Obligation upon his Proselytes to be true to that Religion which he had now so Solemnly entred them into 3. We
Cross And to convince us that we do hereby receive many such blessings and that we are entitled to the Love and favour of God in particular which is the Fountain and Original of all other blessings to convince us of this I say he draws a parallel between this sacrifical feast of Ours and those others which were used among the Jews Behold Israel after the Flesh saith he Are not they which Eat of the sacrifices partakers Clarius in Loc. of the Altar that is do they not partake of the Vertue of those Sacrifices which are offered upon the Altar His plain meaning is that the Jews did partake of those effects which by the Sacrifices were procured their feasting upon the Sacrifices was a Token and Pledge to them that their desires were answered that what they had offered and sacrificed for was granted them that their oblations returned into their own bosome that they had the Benefit of them and were entitled to those blessings which they were intended for There is an expression which will make this matter clear in Lev. 7. 18. If any of the Flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings be eaten at all on the third day it shall not be accepted neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it When those sacrifical Feasts were regularly Celebrated they were imputed to the guests for their Good they were reckoned advantagious to them they were favourably accepted at Gods hand in order to the Ends for which the Sacrifice was designed they served to make an Atonement they were effectual to their purposes they were good to all intents they were available to the Offerers as the Hebrew Aynsworth in Lev. 7. 18. Doctors expound the Phrase This is the true meaning of being Partakers of the Altar in St. Pauls Language when by eating duely of the Sacrifices of the Altar they turned to a good Account and Men were Profited Benefited and Blest by so doing being in Communion with God whose Altar it was and receiving the Pledges of his favour which was obtained by the things that were offered upon the Altar Was the Grace of God to be beg'd and sought for by an Holocaust why eating of the Oblations which were annext to it was a Pledge to assure them that their Prayer was heard and that God would be gracious unto them Was the Wrath of God to be appeased by a sin-offering Why the feeding upon those oblations which attended it was appointed as a Pledge to certifie them that an Atonement was made Were peace-offerings presented that people might be delivered from dangers and ill changes and that God would give them Peace Prosperity and Plenty and continue his goodness to them Why the Feasting upon the Peace offerings was intended as a Pledge to satisfie them that Gods good providence and care of them should not be wanting as long as they would not be wanting to themselves Thus they were partakers of the Altar by being assured of the effects of their offerings To return now to our Apostles argument As the Jews were partakers of Gods Altar so are we partakers of the Lords Table Their sacrifical feasts were intended as Pledges of Gods manifold mercies to them And this Christian feast is intended as a Pledg of Gods manifold Mercies to us but to better purposes and in an higher degree God Covenanted with them for things temporal with us he Covenants for spiritual and Heavenly things chiefly Christ our Sacrifice was slain to purge our very Consciences from sin to endue us with the Holy Ghost and with power from on high to deliver us from the danger of Eternal Damnation to make us sure of Heaven and to make God and us one And this our sacrifical Feast is intended as a Pledge to certifie and assure us that his friendship and dearest love shall never fail us if we be but true friends to our own Souls Thus we partake and Communicate of our Saviours Body that was Crucified and of the streams of that Blood he shed for us by receiving at this Sacrament the vertues and effects of his Passion as the Jews received the Vertues and effects of their Sacrifices This Sacrament is a Token to us that Christs Sacrifice is imputed to us in a comfortable sense that is here God assures all faithful Communicants and as it were sets his Seal to it that Christs offering up himself shall infallibly turn to a good account to them that it is an effectual Atonement on their behalf that it shall be available for them to all intents and purposes and that tho' they do not eat of the very flesh of our Sacrifice as the Jews did of their Peace-oflerings but of Bread in the Room of it yet it shall be all one to them in effect and that they shall ever be the Blessed of the Lord. I have been the more prolix and exact in this matter that I might clear and vindicate the Doctrine of the Church of England In her Catechism whose Notion of a Sacrament in general is this that it is an outward and visible sign ordained as a means whereby we receive and as a pledge to assure us of an inward and spiritual grace And of this Sacrament in particular she saith that Christ hath instituted and ordained these Holy Exhortation at the Communion Second Prayer after the Communion Mysteries as pledges of his Love and that God doth assure as thereby of his Favour and goodness towards us For it is senseless to imagine that Christ should intend the Absolution of so many Mosaical Rites because they would be useless and insignificant or of very small account under the Gospel and yet should institute himself another Ceremony that would be of very mean and inconsiderable importance For such would this Mystery be were it no more than what the Socinians would have it a memorial only of Christs sufferings by using which we profess our Faith in him For the Scriptures are a memorial of Christ and that not of his Passion only but of his Nativity of his Sanctity of his Life of his Doctrine and of his Miracles and every Chapter in the Gospel doth more or less annunciate and shew forth his Love And Men have many various ways of declaring and professing themselves his Disciples tho this Sacrament were not used at all We publish our Faith daily by repeating our Creed The Ancients were wont to do it by using frequently the sign of the Cross signifying to all Unbelievers that they were not ashamed of a Crucified Jesus The Holy Martyrs shew'd their Faith by their Constancy unto death and every good man in the World shews his faith by a Life of Obedience to his Masters Laws so that were the Doctrine of the Socinians allowed this great Ordinance would soon become an useless and worthless thing and our Lords Wisdome in appointing it would not only be questioned but even traduced and blasphemed were not this Christian Feast believed to be intended for