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
ant his quibus sacrum fieret c. Alex. ab Alex. genial dier l. 4. c. 17. the Heathen Festivals were so many standing Monuments of those kindnesses which their supposed Deities had done for them whether they were recoveries from Plagues or deliverances from Tyrants or the building of Cities or victories in War and the like These things they were wont to Commemorate solemnly and to rehearse them at their Sacrifical Banquets in Honour of their Gods adding divers sorts of Hymns and Praises and shewing all manner of thankfulness for them Now this Christian Mystery being a Religious Feast upon a sacrificed Saviour the very Nature and Analogy thereof doth sufficiently shew this to be one purpose and end of it that we should publish declare and commemorate the exceeding riches of Gods Grace by his kindness to us in Jesus Christ and that we should testifie the sense we have of it by all manner of Eucharistical acts and expressions of Affection For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth a great deal more than a bare Commemoration It signifies here such an outward Profession as is attended with inward Heartiness and with the intensest actions of Grateful and Fervent Souls The Apostle speaking of the Mosaical Oblations which were to be once a year upon the Day of expiation saith in Heb. 10. 3. that in those Sacrifices there was yearly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Remembrance of sins He doth not mean a bare acknowledgment of sin but such an acknowledgement as was accompanied with Compunction with Repentance or with solemn Deprecations of Gods Wrath. Paulus Fagius hath noted In Levit. 16. the form of that Confession which the High Priest was wont to use upon that great and solemn day according to the account which the Hebrew Doctors give of it It was saith he a threefold Confession i. e. he confest his own sins and the sins of the Sons of Aaron and the sins of all the Children of Israel and it was to this effect O Lord I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee I beseech thee O Lord forgive the sins the iniquities the prevarications whereby I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee By Sins the Hebrews mean all acts of Ignorance by Iniquities all Presumptuous and willful transgressions and by Prevarications all kinds of Rebellion and Apostacy from God and with this threefold confession a general Fast was to be joyned and the Law required them all to afflict their Souls nothing that Remorse and Anguish of Spirit which Priest and People were to be under at that time and these hearty expressions of Penitence and contrition is that which the Author to the Hebrews calls the Remembrance of Sins Thus should the Commemoration of Christs death for Sin be full of Life and Vigour accompanied with such mortifications of Flesh and Spirit as are undeniable arguments both of that bitter sense we ought to have of our own Vileness and of those ravishing apprehensions of the Divine love which the Commemoration of our Saviours sufferings is apt to beget in us Briefly though the Holy Jesus was about to die when he instituted this Mystery yet his design was to live for ever in the hearts of his Disciples and because nothing is more common among men albeit nothing unbecomes men more than to let the Remembrance of Gods mercies slide away from them and to Bury his favours in Oblivion therefore to help our infirmities Christ ordained a perpetual use of this Holy Banquet that his Fathers and his own Love might be had in everlasting remembrance For nothing serveth more to perpetuate the memory of any signal and remarkeable Event than when Men assemble themselves solemnly to Eat and Drink together by Occasion and upon the Score of that Event This was the ground and Reason of all the fixt Festivals among the old Heathens that by means thereof the memory of those great atchievements which their reputed gods had done might be transmitted and handed down from one generation to another And this was one great reason why the Paschal Supper was instituted that it might be a Memorial unto the Jews Exod. 12. 14 And lest through the negligence of men the deliverance which God at that time wrought should at any time after be forgotten God added this command at the 26 and 27 Verses of that Chapter It shall come to pass when your Children shall say unto you what mean you by this service that ye shall say it is the Sacrifice in memory of the Lords Passeover who passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians It is very observable that the incredulous and stiff necked Jews do now expect to be redeemed again out of all their thraldome by the Messiah just at the self same time of the year when their Fathers were redeemed of Id quod patet ex ipsorum verbis quae apud illorum Cabalistas in hunc modum leguntur in eadem die viz. quintadecima die mensis Nisan scilicet Martis redimendus est Israel in diebus Messiae quemadmodum redempti sunt eo die de quo scribitur in diebus egressionis tuae ex Egypto estendam mirabilia P. Jag. in Exod. 12. Old by God out of the house of Bondage For to this purpose saith my Author we read in the Cabalists In the same day viz. on the fifteenth day of Nisan that is in March the Israelites shall be redeemed in the days of the Messiah as they were formerly redeemed on that day at their departure out of Egypt What those fond people expect still was accomplisht long ago For it was just at that time that the Lord Jesus that immaculate Lamb of God was slain to Redeem all Mankind And as the Passeover-Feast among the Jews was instituted for the Commemoration of one deliverance out of great Bondage so was this Feast now used by us instituted for the Commemoration of another deliverance from a greater and more intollerable servitude that Christ our Redeemer may never be out of our minds tho he be gone into Heaven but that we should most solemnly celebrate a perpetual memory of his infinite Love and unspeakable Condescention Accordingly the ancient Church was wont to be very Prolix in the Prayer of Consecration For Vide Const Apost lib. having made mention first of the Majesty and perfections of God then of the Creation of Angels of Man and of the whole World then of his Providence over Adam over Seth and Enoch over Noah over Abraham over the twelve Patriarchs and over all the Children of Israel and having concluded that part on this wise For all these things glory be to thee Lord God Almighty infinite Hosts of Angels and Archangels worship thee Thrones Dominions Principalities
9. by a wilde Beast or which dyed of it self nay that they were so very Nice in these times that they would not eat any thing not so much as a Sausage that was mixt with Bloud Now to argue hence Can it be credible in the least that they would have made such Apologies for themselves had they believed that they did constantly eat of Christs Natural Flesh and drink of his Natural Bloud in the Sacrament With what faces could they then have pleaded as they did What an Argument would they have given the Heathens against Christianity How soon would the Pagans have given them the Lye What Hypocrites would they have been rendred in pretending that they durst not taste of the flesh and bloud of men no not of Cattle neither if all the while they were Conscious to themselves and were perswaded that they fed daily upon the Flesh and Bloud of Jesus Nor was it possible Tertulian ubi Super. Athenagor leg pro Christianis p. 39. for them to have concealed this matter because the Heathen Inquisitors every day apprehended their Servants who for fear of Torments and Death discover'd the Secrets of their Religion and they would certainly have discovered this too had they been taught by their Pastours that Christs Flesh and Bloud were received at the Sacrament after a Corporal manner And to this purpose serves that memorable and apposite Story of the Confession that was made by Sanctus and Blandina at their Martyrdome in the early times of Christianity The Story is related by Ireneus and though it be not to be found in those Works of his that are extant yet it stands upon record in the Comments of Oecumenius upon S. Peter and Albertinus and others have taken particular notice of it because it is a most evident Testimony in this case The Greeks saith this Author having apprehended Albertin de Euchar. l. 2. c. 3. some Servants that did belong to the Christian Catechumeni and endeavouring by force to understand from them some of the secrets of the Christians those Servants had nothing to tell so as to gratify their Tormentors but this that they had heard their Masters say how that the Divine Communion was the Bloud and and Body of Christ they supposing the meaning to be that it was properly bloud and flesh The Pagans upon this taking it for granted that the Christians celebrated such barbarous Mysteries divulged it presently among the rest of the Greeks and by tortures compelled Sanctus and Blandina the Martyrs to confess the truth Hereupon Blandina presently dealt freely with them and said How can Christians endure the thoughts of doing this the eating of the flesh and drinking of the bloud of Christ seeing that for exercise or Discipline-sake they Refrain from several sorts of flesh that are Lawful to be eaten Now several things are observable from this Relation First that this suggestion was originally grounded upon Hear-say Secondly that these Servants did belong to such Christians as were meer Novices in the faith Candidates as yet for Baptism not instructed well in the nature and meaning of this other Sacrament Thirdly that they did utterly mistake too the sense of their Masters and perhaps were willing to tell a fable for their own Security sake Fourthly that what the Pagans concluded hence was a perfect Calumny and an Unjust charge against the Christian Church And to make this evident to all the World Fifthly the Holy Martyrs argue from a custome that many Christians then had of abstaining from ordinary flesh-meats when they were not bound to such abstinance by any Law of Christ so that 't was impossible for them to conceive that they did eat of the very Flesh of their Saviour much less that they should be so Barbarous as to drink his Bloud in the Sacrament This therefore is enough to make it clear that the old Christians in the Apostolical and most Primitive times did not so much as Dream of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and 't is a most Ridiculous thing for any man to think otherwise 2. It is observable that the Ancients were wont to prove the Truth of our Lords Incarnation from this known and receiv'd principle because the Bread and the Wine at the Sacrament were Tokens and Representations the one of his Body the other of his Bloud Some Hereticks there were of old who would not own that Christ took indeed Humane flesh of the Holy Virgin nor that he really suffered or rose again but they taught their Disciples that all this was nothing but a Shew and Phantasm This Heresie was broached in the days of the Apostles 1 Jo. 4. 3. 2 Jo. 7. and was afterwards propagated in a great many places by that Arch. Heretick Simon the Sorcerer and by Saturninus Basilides Valentinus Marcion and divers more Now against these Hereticks the Catholick Doctors Ignat. Ep. argued from a known Principle of Christianity viz. that the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist were Sacraments Figures and Representations of Christs Body and Bloud This was Tertullians Argument Panis Calicis Sacramento jam in Evangelio prebavimus Corporis Sanguinis Dominici veritatem adversus Phat asma Marcionis Tertull. ad Marc. l. 5. that when Christ took and distributed Bread among his Disciples he made it his Body by saying This is my Body that is the Figure of his Body said Tertullian And hence he concluded that our Lord had indeed a true and real Body because the bread was a Figure of Corpus sum insuistum panem distributum fecit hoc est corpus meum dicendo id est Figura Corporis mei Figura autem non fuisset nisi veritatis esset corpus Caeterum vacua res quod est Phantasma figuram capere non posset Tertull. adv Marcion lib. 4. where note that he calls it Bread when it was distributed after Consecration it For a shadow must be the shadow of some Substance and an Image must be supposed to represent something that is Real In like manner Origen grounded an Argument against those Hereticks upon those words of S. Paul that the Bread and Cup of blessing is the Communication of Christs Body and Bloud whereupon he askes the Question that if Christ was as Quod si ut obloquuntur isti carne distitutus er at exanguis cujusmodi carnis cujus corporis qualis tandem Sanguinis Signa Imagines panem poculum ministravit Origen Dial. 3. where note again that Origen called it Bread when it was administred they said destitute of flesh and bloud of what flesh of what Body of what bloud was that Bread and Cup the Signes and Images which Christ administred Some of those Hereticks foresaw the strength of this Argument and therefore that they might not Confute their own Principle by their Practice that they might not seem to grant the Reality of Christs Humane Body by receiving the Symbol and Sign of it we are told by
his when he became Incarnate so his Nature is United to Ours when we eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud And this we infallibly do when we worthily celebrate this Holy Mystery Though in some cases men may eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud Spiritually and by faith alone without the Sacrament yet we do it much more and more effectually by the Sacrament and consequently we must be supposed to be more nearly United to him by means of this Ordinance then by any other means whatsoever Hence it was as some of the Ancients tell us that Christ appointed the use of such Creatures as are of a Nourishing faculty for so Bread and Sicut cibus materialis forinsecus nutrit corpus vegetat ita etiam verbum Dei intus animam nutrit roborat c. Raban de Serm. proprietate lib. 5. cap. 11. Wine are to shew that as there is a Natural Incorporation of our nourishment into our Flesh so there is a Spiritual Incorporation if I may so speak of Christ into our souls And hence it is that others of them compare the Spirit of Christ which is received by the Sacrament to Leaven representing to us by that Similitude that there is such a Diffusion Cyril Alex. in Joan. l. 4. cap. 17. of Spiritual Virtue throughout the soul as there is of ferment that leaveneth the whole Lump into which it is cast And Id. lib. 10. c. 13. hence it is that S. Cyril also compares the Mixture of Christ's Nature with Ours to the Mixture of wax with wax when several pieces of wax are melted and incorporated together All these Notions and Similitudes and divers more such which we meet with in the writings of the Ancients do shew that by eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud especially at and by the Sacrament we do so participate of his Spirit of his Virtues Influences and Divine Nature as that Christ and we do become One * Quemadmodum intelligit Cyrillus Glaphyr in Genes lib. 7. Christum se in animas immittere per Gratiam virtutem Spiritus sic etiam sensus ipsius est eum corpora ingredi per virtutem corporis sui Eucharistiae communicatam nec ulterius urgendae sunt comparationes quas affert mixtionis scentillae ignis caerae fermenti Albertinus ubi supr pag. 761. And thence followeth the last inestimable blessing that I shall mention a Blessing that we carry with us to the very Grave viz. an Assurance and Pledge of a Glorious Resurrection It is appointed unto man once to dye Heb. 9. 27. This Sentence having past upon our Parents in Paradise Nature it self doth now Execute it upon their Posterity For as none can bring a clean thing out of an Unclean so none can bring an Incorruptible thing out of a Mortal We dye of course Christ that took on him the burden of our sins did not take off this weight from us though he delivered us from all Necessity of tumbling into Hell yet there are wise and great Reasons for which he did not think it fit for him to keep us from falling into the Grave But yet that we may dye in Hope in hope of a joyfull Resurrection as corn is committed to the earth in hope of a good Harvest Christ doth by this Sacrament take Seisure of our Bodies by communicating to us his Own and so uniting us to himself that he may change our vile Body and make it like unto his own Glorious Body according to the mighty Energy whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. 13. Hence it is that the Church in her wisdome hath thought it convenient that men should often receive this Sacrament especially in times of danger distress and Sickness to the end that they may make their peace with God and with their own Consciences and may go out of this world with firm and well grounded hopes both of a plenary Absolution and of an Happy Resurrection For this Sacrament is an Earnest to assure all worthy Communicants that these very Bodies of theirs in which Infirmities and death do now Lodge shall be raised again out of the dust being nourisht as it were out of the veins of our Redeemer These Elements are the Symbols of our Resurrection the Medicine of Immortality the Antitode that keeps us from Final Corruption the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanal Conservatory for a Resurrection to Eternal Life That which hath been spoken already doth make this evident sufficiently 1. For first it is sure that by the Sacrament we receive the Spirit of Christ and since the same Spirit is communicated to Us that dwelleth in Him it must necessarily follow that it shall have the same power over our Flesh which it had over His to raise it up again at the day appointed Thus S. Paul himself argueth Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 2. Secondly seeing the Holy Communion is an instrument of Uniting even our Bodies unto him who is the Head over all so that the members of our Bodies are the very members of Christ and we become as it were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh less cannot follow then that our Bodies shall be made Immortal as His is it being impossible that any thing which is His should perish everlastingly To effect such an Union as is between Christ and his Church it is not necessary nor possible that there should be a confusion or conjunction of bodily Substances It sufficeth that there is a Contact of Spiritual Vertue from the Flesh of Christ Now this Vertue goes along with the Sacrament and is received by every faithful Communicant so that it doth affect even his Body Sanctifying and Appropriating it to the Saviour of our Souls and Bodies both and making our whole man His. And this Union cannot in any wise be dissolved by Death because Death is onely a Separation of the Soul from the Body so that for that time the one loseth all vital activity from the other but neither of them doth or can lose its Title to Christs Protection the Body continueth still related unto its Head as in time of its Life and the Union between Christ and it remaineth entire and so its Right to a glorious Resurrection through Christ is indefeisable In this respect our Condition is very like to the Condition of the Son of God when he himself was in a state of Death He dyed as we do though to purposes infinitely Great and with torments unspeakably Excessive his Spirit was actually sever'd from his Flesh when he gave up the Ghost Nevertheless though his Flesh had no manner of vitality from his Humane Soul being really Separated from it yet it was not separated from the Deity
2. Whence I proceed to the Second Conclusion that if no special Law had been given us for the celebration of this Mystery if no Positive Command had been annexed to its Institutions were we so wholly left to our own Liberty whether we would Receive the Communion or no that we should not sin against God by not receiving we should nevertheless be very much wanting to our selves and sin against our own souls should we Turn our backs upon this great Ordinance as to their shame many Ill men do some that never yet Communicated in all their Life some that Despise it and Hate to do it some that pretend they are Afraid to do it though it be not the Ordinance but their own Wickedness that scares them some that strive against their own Convictions for the sake of this world some that are so supine and Listless that they care not to set about it and some that do it so seldome that they seem Indifferent whether they do it at all or no. To bring all these wretches to a due Sense and Practice of their Duty I would beseech them to Consult their own Best thoughts if they be ever Thoughtful and Seriously to consider what mercies they wilfully Forsake Is it a slight thing is it Nothing to be made a Partaker of that Great Sacrifice for sin which was offered upon the Cross when we daily lye at Gods mercy and stand in need of his Pardon and are utterly Undone if we have it not when we feel in our own Breasts the miserable Effects of our Follies those Twinges and Sores in our Consciences those wounds and gashes in the Spirit which are so full of intolerable Anguish that some have hurryed themselves out of the world on purpose to be rid as they thought of the sense of their Torments when we are sensible how the Judgements of God go abroad in the Earth to Punish men for their Impieties when we have seen so many sad Examples of men who have roared and sometimes Despaired upon their death-beds under the burden of their guilt and when none can tell but that he may be tortured punisht and visited after the same manner these things and the like being considered well what can any man desire so much as to have his iniquities forgiven and then what Fools are they that neglect to receive the Holy Sacrament which is the Seal of our Pardon Is it a mean thing not worth our craving or longing for to be nourisht with the most Blessed Body and Bloud of our Redeemer to receive Vitality and Influences of Grace from him to be Refresht and strengthned with that Divine aliment which hath been the Support of Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and without which our Souls can no more live a Life Spiritual and Divine than our Bodies can continue in plight and strength without Sustenance Is it not a mercy invaluable to have the Guidance Aids and Comforts of Christs Spirit when our Natural Corruptions are so strong when the Enemy of our Souls is so malicious and Buisie when the Temptations we meet with are so Thick and ensnaring when the Common course of Humane Life is such that we walk continually among Dangers and Deaths Lord what a Miserable Creature would man be without the care Assistance and Succours of the Spirit In times of Errors and Delusion to be assisted and kept stedfast by the Spirit of Truth in times of Tryal to be led by that Spirit of Power which helpeth our infirmities in times of Impiety to be guided and governed by the Spirit of Grace and Holiness in times of Affliction and Distress whether they be Publick or Private calamities we groan under then to have the Spirit of Comfort to speak peace to our Consciences to take away the Bitterness of our pottage to sweeten and lighten our Griefs with salutary Breathings from above to Support us in all our sufferings to carry us safe through all Difficulties and at last to lead us into a Serene and Calm world Oh! what an Happiness is this and what Improvident people are thy who neglect an Ordinance that is Productive of this Happiness that is so Beneficial and Useful to all these purposes Again to have such a lively Faith as will not fail us however we may be winnowed sifted and tost to have a vigorous Hope that will keep our Heads up when storm and tempest beat down thousands to be full of those Graces which are sweeter then Nard under our nostrils to be United to him who Loved us and gave himself for us and to have this Testimony within us that we are the very Members of Christ and in the end to Dye with Satisfaction and with a strong Confidence that one day we shall rise again and see the Salvation of God in the Land of the Living these are Felicities than which the Nature of man is not capable of Greater in this Life and I have shew'd you particularly one by one that these are the Blessings wherewith God crowneth every Constant and Devout Communicant Briefly there is no Ordinance of God but what doth carry its Advantages with it where men use it after a Regular and Due manner But all other Ordinances seem to center and meet in this so that it is a certain Instrument of an Holy Life and of that which will be Dear and Valuable to us when all the Gayeties of Life are over I mean a Comfortable Death And so I leave it to the thoughts of every Understanding and Thinking Christian to consider what Unwise as well as Unthankfull men they are who are so willing to go from an Ordinance at which others gather up Life and Immortallity It is no wonder that the world groweth so vain and wicked and that the Souls of men are so Improsperous One great reason is because they have Itching ears but Insensate Hearts that neither Crave for the Influences of Heaven nor care to Receive them though they come down in streams God be merciful unto them but they will one day find what a crime and Folly they are guilty of in forsaking thus the mercies of the Cross and in trampling under their feet the Bloud of the Son of God after this manner Not that their imprudence or unthankfulness is their only sin No there is an addition of impiety too which helps to aggravate it For in this case we are not in our own hands neither are we left to our own liberty and Pleasure The Command of Christ whereby we are obliged to solemnize this Mystery is as plain and as peremptory a command as any other in the whole Bible and if a law from Heaven can make any thing necessary then is this so But I will not now meddle with that consideration There being that and many more which relate more immediately to our practice that I see will cost another just Discourse as of the necessity that is incumbent upon us and of the necessity of preparation also together with the Nature and Extent of that preparation which is requisite and divers other the like matters which deserve to be well considered and to be treated of by themselves in their due order and by degrees Here we will end this Discourse beseeching God to help us to a right understanding and to enable us to keep a good Conscience in all things for Christ Jesus his sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons in the Unity of the God-head be all Glory and Honour and Praise for evermore Amen FINIS
and sent portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord. Now this very custome was observed in the Primitive Church of Christ to be sure in Justin Martyrs time when the holy Sacrament was done For so that very ancient Writer tells us expresly that the distribution and participation of the Holy Bread and Wine being ended the remainders were sent by the Deacons to those Christians the Sick and Infirm that were Just Martyr Apol. 2. absent which Conformity of their with Pagans and Jews in point of practice doth plainly shew that they reckoned this their Solemnity to be Analogous and like to those other which were used by Pagans and all the Jews over world Viz. a Sacrifical Feast But St Pauls discourse doth seem to put the thing beyond all manner of controversie in 1 Cor. 10. where he argues against the lawfulness of participating of Idol-Feasts from that plain Analogy which the Lords Supper beareth thereunto And thus he demonstrates the point First that they who did eat of the Jewish Sacrifices did profess to be in Communion with the God of Israel Behold Israel after the flesh Are not they which eat of the Sacrifices partakers of the Altar ver 18. Secondly that in like manner they who did participate of the Heathen-Sacrifices which had been offered unto Demons did profess to be in Communion and to have fellowship with those Demons ver 20. Thirdly the Apostle infers that the Christian-Feast being the participation of the Body and Blood of Christ as he shew'd ver 16. it is impossible for men to partake of meats offered unto Idols without renouncing Christianity these two things being so utterly incompatible that we cannot drink the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils we cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils ver 21. As the Idol-Feasts were Sacrifical Banquets proper to the Heathens and as the Mosaical-Feasts were Sacrifical Banquets proper to the Jews so this our Feast is a Sacrifical Banquet proper to Christians and we may no more dare to eat of this and the other Feasts too then we may dare now to be Circumcised and turn Pagans after Baptism This is the meaning and argumentation of St. Paul and it plainly shews that there is a great Analogy likeness and resemblance between this and those other mysteries as to the nature thereof though the reasons the uses and respects are far different and utterly irreconcilable It is indeed a Sacrifical Feast as the others of old were but such a one as was instituted for the Disciples of Christ such a one as is intended for our participating of Christ for the tying of us to Christ such a one as immediately Refers to Christ such a one as directly tends to the Worshipping of Christ and of God in Christ But then we must note that of all the Sacrifical Banquets under the Law the Paschal Supper was that which this Christian Feast beareth the greatest Analogy unto This appeareth several ways 1. Because the Holy Jesus is called Our Passeover the Lamb that was slain to this purpose among others that we might Feed on him with all manner of inward Spiritual purity Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast not with old Leaven neither with the Leaven of Malice and wickedness but with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and Truth 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. 2. Because this Banquet was instituted at the close of the Passeover-Supper Dr. Hammonds Annor on Joh. 13. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysoft T. 5. p. 559 edit Sav. when our Saviour and his Disciples had done their meal after he had washed their feet after he sate down the second time and probably before the Traitor Judas was gone out of the Room St. Luke and St. Paul both expressly affirm of the Cup that Christ took it after Supper 3. The material parts of this Christian Feast are the same with what were used at the Paschal Supper excepting such things as were either Typical or of peculiar signification to the Jews For the bitter herbs were in memory of those bitter afflications they endured in Egypt and so they were of Proper and Peculiar use to the Sons of Israel In like manner the Lamb was a figure of Christ to come and the roasting of the Lamb upon a Spit was a representation of * Justin Martyr Dial. cum Tayph pag. 259 edit Par. the Passion of Christ upon the Cross which being accomplished once for all there was no further need of any Figure But the other parts of the Paschal Feast the Bread and Wine Christ continued the the use of them and order'd them to be used still by his Church in all places and to all Ages 4. The manner of celebrating the Paschal Feast was very like to that after which this Banquet was celebrated and that in two respects besides that of distribution 1. First in respect of those Benedictions See Godwyns Antiq. 1. 3. c. 2. which the Jews then offered up to God for creating bread and Wine for their present Festival for their deliverance out of Egypt for the Covenant of Circumcision and for the Law According Christus hoc loco non pro veteri tantum creatione sed pro novâ cujus ergo in bunc orbem venerat preces fudit gratiasque deo egit pro Redemptione humani generis quasi jam peractâ Grot. in Matth. 26. ver 26. unto which our Blessed Saviour consecrated the Materials of this Feast with eyes lifted up blessing God over the Bread and Wine and adding no doubt such other Praises as were Proper for the occasion for the recovery as well as for the Creation of the World and for the Redemption of Mankind which was then in a manner actually accomplisht 2. Secondly in respect of those Solemn Commemorations which did attend the eating of the Passeover For this peculiar Ceremony the Jews used at that time that the Master of the house where the Lamb was eaten did instruct the rest touching that Solemn Mystery and did open unto them the meaning of it declaring unto them that the Lamb before them was called the Passeover because God passed over Godwyns Antiq. lib. 3. cap. 4. the houses of their Fathers in Egypt that the bitter Herbs were in memory of those hard usages whereby the Egyptians made the Lives of their Fathers bitter and that the Unleavened Bread was in token of the great haste their Fathers made out of Egypt by reason of which their Dough was not leavened and this Rite was called Haggadah that is the annunciating the declaring the shewing forth of the Passeover In like manner this Christian Ordinance is a standing Memorial of the Divine Philanthropy at which the Love of God in giving his everlasting Son and the Compassions of Jesus in giving up himself to die for us are solemnly Agnized and the Redemption of the whole World publickly Celebrated
and therefore St. Paul calls it the Annunciation the Declaration or the shewing forth of the Lords death 1 Cor. 11. 26. alluding manifestly to the Haggadah at the Jewish Passeover By this that has been spoken it doth plainly appear that this Holy Solemnity is Analogous and answerable to those Religious Feasts which were used of old and especially to the Paschal Feast which observation will help us not only to understand fully the purport of this Mystery but also to baffle the pretences of those Monsters of Hereticks the Socinians who give a very mean and contemptuous account of the Lords Supper For they take no notice of any strict engagements it lays upon us to an Holy Life they believe not the Sacrament to be a Seal of Gods favour and Grace so far are they from owning this that Socinus had the confidence Multo praestantior sine dubio respectu veteris faederis fuit sanguis ille pecudum quam respectu novi sit panis ille vinum Socin ad Epist Niemojevii to say that the blood of Beasts under the Law was of Greater efficacy and value than the Bread and Wine in this Ordinance They utterly deny that we hereby Receive any thing at the hands of God nor will they indure us to say that Gods Spirit is here given or that our Faith is here increased or that pardon of sin is here tendered or that we receive here any Pledge of a blessed Resurrection and a glorious Immortality No they explode all doctrines of this nature and teach Is finis est vitûs istius usurpandi ut beneficium a Christo nobis praestitum commemoremus seu Annunciemus nec ullus alius Cat. Eccles. Pol. that the proper end for which the Lords Supper was instituted is this that we may Commemorate the Lords Passion Nay Socinus was of opinion In caena Domini ne ipsam quidem mentionem Christi corporis pro nobis traditi sanguinis fusi disertis verbis faciendam necessariam plane esse Socin de usu fine Caenae Dom. that 't is not necessary so much as to make express mention of Christs Body being delivered or of his blood being poured out for us which yet is inconsistent with his own Principle for how can we Commemorate the Death of our Blessed Saviour without making mention of it Briefly these Blasphemous Hereticks look upon this Holy Ordinance only as the memorial Vide Excerpta ex ore Socini in fine disputationis de usu fine caenae Domini of a Friends kindness This is all they will allow and so they conclude that we may Celebrate it either sitting or standing or with our Heads covered or with Water if we will instead of Wine but to kneel or so much as to sigh with eyes lifted up at the Celebration is in their account a kind of Idolatry I confess these ill conclusions do for the most part follow from that unsound Principle that the Supper of the Lord was intended only in Commemoration of him But what reason and ground have they for this Principle Why Non ullus alius praeter hunc a Christo est indicatus finis Cat. Eccl. Pol. because say they at the institution Christ mentioned only this end Do this in remembrance of me But this is not a reason and ground sufficient For the mentioning of one end is not the excluding of others though Christ in express terms had said no more yet it doth not follow that no more was intended The very Analogy which this Feast beareth to other the like Sacrifical Feasts of old and especially to the Paschal Feast is enough to shew us the several Ends of it had our Saviour mentioned no end at all And this is the Reason that I have now taken notice of that Analogy For if such Feasts were commonly reputed to be Covenant-Rites between God and Man then we may reasonably believe that this is to be reputed so too If to eat the body of a roasted Lamb was a Pledge of Gods favour to the Jews then we may infer that to eat Bread instead of Christs body is a pledge of Gods favour to us Christians If the use of other Sacrifical Feasts did entitle the partakers to all those Benefits for which the Sacrifices were offered then we may conclude that the use of this Sacrifical Feast doth entitle the Communicants to all those benefits for which Christ our Sacrifice offered up himself and which he purchased for us Therefore the Socinians do but trifle and are very vain in pretending to teach us the full meaning of this Rite when they take no notice of that correspondence and Analogy which is between this and other ancient Rites of the like nature For this is a principal thing to be taken notice of and we cannot easily conceive what else it was which satisfied the Apostles touching the purport of this Ordinance when it was instituted first For that they presently discerned the meaning of it is clear because we do not find that they desired of our Lord any explanation at all of this mystery In other cases they were very inquisitive and sometimes about matters which we think had little need of explication being obvious to Men of common and ordinary capacities And yet at the institution of this Holy Sacrament tho it containeth some things so difficult and dark to us that they have occasioned Quarrels in all parts of the Christian world yet the Disciples were who ly silent being very sensible what such Sacred Feasts did mean in those days and what the general sense of Mankind was about them They could not but know that by eating of things which bad been offered at the Altar men undertook to observe that Religion to which that sacred Rite did belong and whereof it was a part They could not but know that by such an action they had a right to those benefits which the Sacrifice had been offered up for and so they became very nearly related to God as his Favourites and Family And when they found by our Saviouts discourse that he would offer up himself a Sacrifice for them and heard him now say of the bread in his hands this is my Body they might easily apprehend him to mean that they were to eat of Bread in the Place and Room of his flesh and instead of feeding upon his Natural Body Considering that the Lamb which was drest for the Paschal-Supper was usually called the Body of the Passeover no sooner did Christ call the Loaf His Body but they did instantly conceive it was appointed to be eaten for his Body and in liew of it especially since he had told them before that they were not to feed on him as they were wont to feed upon the Lamb after a carnal and cross manner because the Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6. 63. Hence they saw presently that this institution did very much resemble the Sacrifical Banquets which had been observed of old only it was