Jesus Christ in the Supper SINCE Jesus Christ speaks of a Testament whose last seal is the Eucharist a Christian ought to learn what this Testament is for to know the importance of the seal which we see put to it and principally it is necessary to have regard to that which Jesus Christ said thereof when he instituted the Supper For he advertiseth us that this Testament is New that is to say succeeds another which is abolished by this latter Moreover that this Testament is with the Blood of the Testator that is to say that he died in this last Will. Now I omit to shew why he would make a second Testament and if there wanted any thing in the first it will suffice to observe thence that the first Testament was of no force in comparison of the second For a Testament hath no vertue during the life of the Testator nor can it send forth its effect unless the death of the Testator intervene Hebrews 9. v. 16 17. So that the Old Testament had no force in its time because that Jesus Christ was not yet dead But the Testament which we have at this day hath been made efficatious by the death of the Testator Some Jew who cannot perswade himself that God would abolish the first Covenant by a second that which nevertheless he ought to have learned of Jeremiah 31. v. 31 c. will tell us that this will make us doubt whether or no there shall be yet a third But this is no reason For the Covenant of God was conceived in form of a Testament or of a donation by reason of Death Now the Testator being once dead there is no place for another Testament The last Will wherein he died remaines irrevocable for ever Finally there is this thing extraordinary that death permitting none to be executor of his own Testament Jesus Christ contrarily is come from death to life for to execute his forasmuch as none was capable of this charge For he is risen again for our justification Rom. 4. v. 25. CHAP. XIIII The sixth Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ MY Blood saith he is shed for the remission of sins We know that his death ought to be bloody according to the Maxime which says that there is no remission of sins made without effusion of blood Hebrewes 9. Now we demand not here why this remission could not be obtained otherwise that is to say why it behoved that the death of our Saviour should not onely be violent but also be marked with blood Nevertheless that which I have to observe thereupon deserves to be considered Death which is the wages of sin began by effusion of blood The first that ever died which was Abel died of a bloody death As then the blood of man hath been the first fruits of death so also was it the conclusion and destruction of it Death began by blood and ended by blood Between this first blood which was shed upon the Earth and the Blood of the Son of God there is a very remarkable opposition touched by the Apostle to the Hebrewes Chapter 12. to wit that the Blood of Sprinkling which is that of Jesus Christ speaks better things then that of Abel For this cried out for the the punishment of sin but the other cries for the remission of sins It is also observable that the same man who died first of all is also the first in the holy History who had sacrificed with blood For he was the first that offered the flesh and fat of living Creatures Genesis 4. 4. So the first who felt death brought forth by sin is also the first who offered the bloody Oblation whereby we should be delivered from sin which is the sting of death Finally The Jews who think it strange that the Blood of a Man is our Expiation have nevertheless an imagination which cannot subsist but upon this principle That there must be an humane Sacrifice to wipe away the sins of man They beleeve that God will give them grace in contemplation of the obedience of Isaac who exposed himself voluntarily to be sacrificed And they have prayers wherein they alledge the merit of this Sacrifice as a foundation of the Redemption which they expect Now as for the offering of this Patriarch if it had been capable to expiate the sins of his Off-spring even of those who live at this day why after this Sacrifice of Isaac should there be yet need of so many expiatory Sacrifices To what purpose hath the Law which is since given imposed upon them Sacrifices for the obtaining of pardon But to speak no more of it Isaac was not sacrificed in effect and his blood was not shed in this Oblation Which shews that it is not expiatory For without an actual effusion of blood no remission of sins at all is made The Law tells them that it is blood which makes expiation for the Soul Lev. 17. CHAP. XV. The seventh Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ THE Institution of this Sacrament is comprised in few words whereof not one is vain For Jesus Christ hath said nothing which contains not some great point Now above all things he shewes what is the vertue and dignity of the Blood which he presents unto us and this in four divers respects to wit 1. That it is his own Blood the Blood of the Son of God 2. That it is the Blood of the New Covenant 3. That this Blood purchases unto us remission of sins 4. That this Blood is shed for many As for this last amongst many other matters therein contained I think that our Lord would yet touch upon a difference also between the Blood of the Old Testament and that of the New In the Old Testament the Blood of the Sacrifice was sometimes employed only for the expiation of one man among the people who had need of a particular sacrifice Now this Sacrifice which was offred but for one man alone was many wayes inferiour to that which was offred for many that is to say for the Multitude or for all the Church Principally in this that the Blood shed in Sacrifice for one man alone never came into the Holy Place But that did which was shed for the multitude Jesus Christ therefore advertiseth us that his Blood was shed for many for the Multitude to the end that we might know that his Blood hath penetrated the Holy Places and hath opened them Hebr. 9. v. 12. And in this also is the New Testament more excellent than the Old For the Blood of the Old Testament did not alwayes enter within the Holy Place Moreover the Blood of the Old Testament which was shed for one man alone was not sufficient even to Expiate legally all the sins of such a man but onely a particular offence for which by name there wholly needed a Sacrifice On the contrary the Blood of the New Testament was not onely shed for many men but hath also Expiated universally all the sins of
every one of them So that if one of my sins hath been Expiated in this Blood all my other sins have there their Expiation also for it is generall and entire So then the termes of the Institution if wee know how to weigh them cause us to know that Jesus Christ hath sounded all the profundities of the Old Testament and drawes from thence those points which shew the excellency and advantages of the New by comparing them together CHAP. XVI The eighth Consideration upon the words of the holy Supper I Intend not to reiterate that which hath been so much written how the Bread is the Body of Christ but onely to observe something upon a question which is common enough viz. Why our Lord did not ordain Flesh rather than Bread for to represent his Body For it seems that this Symbole should be more analogick and significative According to the saying of many it is forasmuch as Flesh hath served in old time in the Sacrifices and in the Passeover and that it behoves that the Sacraments of the Christian Church should be of other Elements than those that have served under the Law But this answer is ill grounded for 1. The Bread and Wine were also used in Sacrifices There was by name an Oblation of Bread and Wine Numb 15. not to speak of the Shew-bread and of the Offerings of Cakes 2. The Element of Water served for Legall purifications Under the Law there was nothing so ordinary as the washing with Water to signifie the clensing of the Soul Yet neverthelesse God would that Baptism should be with Water 3. The contrary is rather true and this is that also which some ancient Fathers say of it That in this action Jesus Christ useth Bread and Wine because that these Elements had already been used under the Law to represent his Body and his Blood And this to the end we should know that it is the same Christ represented by the same signes But why then hath not the Flesh of living Creatures as well place in the Sacrament of the Eucharist sith it hath represented Christ in that of the Passeover and in so many kinds of Sacrifices We say indeed that Christ hath rather chosen Bread because it is the most common and the most nourishing food and so most proper to represent his Body But this excludes not other reasons which we may give thereof Moreover the Eucharist represents not the Body of Jesus Christ simply as nourishment but also as dead Now some may say which neverthelesse is not without contradiction that the Death of Christ was in Old time more ocularly represented by the killing of a Lamb than at this day by the breaking of Bread So it is this is the point I am to handle that Jesus Christ instituting signs of his Dead Body and of his Blood shed did choose things without life and Elements wherein there was no Blood Whereby he would shew that after him no creature should any more lose his life for the sins of man and that no other Blood should be shed in Expiation For the Sacraments of the Old Testament were Bloody to denote the Blood which was to be shed by the death of Christ But this effusion being made the Sacraments which represent it as done and accomplished are without effusion of Blood to shew that there shall be no more Blood shed for sins Hence it is wee have no more a Sacrament which requires the killing of any creature but Signes wherein death doth not intervene as being of themselves without life and of another substance than of Flesh and Blood CHAP. XVII The ninth Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ MEn principally the common people do naturally love Similitudes because they are drawn from things perceptible to the senses or otherwise common and easie to be conceived But similitudes represent not the essence of a subject and doe not say what a thing is but what it resembles So our Lord would not tell us simply that his Body had resemblance unto Bread nor onely that the Bread is a Seal unto us of the Communion of his Body but also hath shewed us the causes and qualities of this Communion These words To eat the Body of Jesus Christ signifie not onely to take it for the Sustenance of our Souls as we take food for the nourishment of our Bodyes This Similitude if we specifie no more teacheth us but very generally the nature of this Communion and doth not set forth the entire sense of the words of Jesus Christ For in the Eucharist our Lord doth not propound himself as Flesh in generall but as Flesh sacrifised for our sins which is a point of great consequence in this matter I have already said that the word Eating is attributed to the Cōmunion of the body of Christ which is as much as to say that this Communion is in substance that which was in Figure the eating of Sacrifices of the Manna of the Passeover c. And namely that in this Communion we have that which the Law forbad us to wit the eating of the Flesh offred for our sins They who content themselves with the generall similitudes between the Food of the Body and the nourishment of the Soul attain not unto the specifick difference of the subject of the Eucharist But I have yet somewhat to say of an abuse which is committed in the deduction of this Similitude For as many omit that which is contained in the words of the holy Supper so there are some I speak even of Orthodox Divines who adde thereto something of their own CHAP. XVIII The tenth Consideration upon the words of Jesus Christ in the Supper WEe know that wee ought not to carry a Similitude beyond its end For when two divers things are compared to one another it is never in all and through all but onely in some regard When for example our Lord in St. Matth. 13. v. 46. compares the kingdome of Heaven to a Pearl of great price his intention is but to express the greatness of the value and richness of the Gospell Now he that would under pretence of this word Pearl dispute philosophically of all the kinds and proprieties of Pearls search of what matter they are made and how they are formed and subtilly fit all this to the kingdome of Heaven would surpasse the bounds wherein Jesus Christ hath confined the similitude For he doth not in all qualities compare the kingdome of Heaven to a Pearl but onely in the price or esteem which men have of it Notwithstanding there are few found among those who expound the Scriptures who keep themselves within these limits There are even of those who regard no measure when they handle a comparison If our Saviour say that he is a Vine they will name all sorts of Vines and their differences and tell you what territory is proper to them when they are to bee planted how they are to be pruned and kept Also what are the parts of
is the washing with water such is eating and drinking Forasmuch as they are actions invariable and perpetuall Jesus Christ hath chosen them for Signes to the end that our Sacraments should not be subject to change and that the time might not make us forget a form CHAP. VII That our Saviour hath not prefixed any time for the Celebration of the Supper THe Passover could not be Celebrated but at a set time of the year But Jesus Christ substituting the Supper to the Passover advertiseth us that without distinction of time as often as we shall take this Bread and this Cup in remembrance of him we shall receive the Supper of the Lord. It is to be noted that the difference of Times of Places and of Persons to which God hath restrained the most notable Ceremonies of the Old Testament tended to the end which we have named to wit to facilitate their abrogation For he tyed the Sacrifices to one place alone whose possession comming to destruction all the Sacrifices ought to cease And consequently bound the Priestly office to one family alone which comming to be extinguish'd of it self as races are destroyed in time there ought to be no more a Priest The which is also come to passe For if at this day the the Jewes should recover and build again the Temple they would find no Priest according to the Law forasmuch as their Tribes having been confounded there is none left who can term himself of the family of Aaron Touching the distinction of times without speaking of Confusions which have since happened by the ignorance of the course of the heavens and of the continuall retrogradation of the Equinox the Jewes have lost the knowledge of the year of Jubilee one of the great points of the Law and know not how any more to find it But the Sacraments of the Christian Church were not subject to this inconvenience nor to divers others which followed the Mosaicall Ceremonies Our Baptism is not fixed to the eighth day nor our Lords Supper to the full Moon or to the Spring time or unto the Sabbath it self If some Christians should be under those Climats where one day dures many moneths and the night as long they would there have no week nor Sabbath day and nevertheless might celebrate the Supper of the Lord and his resurrection as well as wee upon Easter day CHAP. VIII Why Jesus Christ is represented unto us in the Supper as he was on the Cross and not as he is in heaven also why hee hath not Instituted a Sacrament which should represent him in his glory as he hath ordained two which represent him dead ALL the Sacraments speak of Death As for Baptism it is said that wee are baptized in the death of Christ Rom. 6. v. 3 4. As for the Supper Wee shew thereby the Lords death 1 Cor. 11. 26. And both were Instituted when Jesus Christ was yet mortall For no Sacrament was established by Jesus Christ glorified but onely he confirmed those which he had Instituted before his death Wee know then that in the Supper Jesus Christ is exhibited unto us as dead and not as glorified Now this serves to shew the falsity of the corporeall presence for which there is so much dispute For if the body of Jesus Christ be in the Host he is not there living sith that he is in this action as dead It makes us also see the nakedness of that which is called Concomitance and of the unbloody Sacrifice For the Blood of Jesus Christ is presented unto us as separate from his body This likewise makes unprofitable the exception whereby it is maintained that a glorious body may be corporally in divers places at one and the same time For were it so the body of Jesus Christ is not exhibited unto us as glorious nor yet as living but as dead as broken and his blood as shed Let this be said by the way For Orthodox divines have made these reasons of force enough But it may be demanded why Jesus Christ is represented unto us as dead and not glorified Is it there spoken of his Death and not rather of his Resurrection Why had he rather Institute a memoriall of his ignomious humiliation than of his glorious exaltation Why have we no Sacrament which represents unto us his body glorious as we have two which represent him dead For it is very true that the consideration of his humiliation excludes not that of his exaltation on the contrary it leads us to it But properly and formally the Body of Jesus Christ is not represented nor considered in the Supper but as dead brokē This question is easie to be resolved The Sacraments are Instituted in favour of men And the end of a Sacrament is to assure us of our good and salvation So in the Supper the intention of Jesus Christ was thereby to seal and ratifie that which concerns us not that which concerns himself And for this reason he presents himself in this action inasmuch as he procured the glory of others not so much as he possesseth his own Now it is by his death that he hath procured our glory True it is that his exaltation is also our Salvation But he hath received this Glory both for us and for himself whereas his Death was wholly for us Moreover it is by vertue of his Death that his Glorification is profitable unto us For that he hath taken possession of the heavens in our name and that he intercedes for us at the right hand of God all this comes from the merit of his Blood Heb. 9. v. 12. Furthermore Jesus Christ doth give himself unto us in the Eucharist inasmuch as he was delivered up for us Luke 22 v 19 20 Now it was in his Death that he was delivered So that he gives himself unto us as Dead Finally he would leave us a remembrance of the love which he bare us Now the greatest effect wherein this love appeared was that he gave himself to Death for us It is for this cause that he represents unto us rather his Death than his Exaltation From thence it is that in the Supper although wee ought to lift our hearts up to heaven where he is now living in full Majesty nevertheless his body broken and his blood shed are the proper and formall object of our contemplation And the act of our mind consists in this that we there consider his Death past rather than his present Glory This will furnish an answer for the following question CHAP. IX Why in the Supper Jesus Christ instituted not more illustrious Signes and why they are not miraculous THere is none of us who hath not this thought when he sees that this Sacrament as well as Baptism consists in such abject matters Our eye is astonish't to see nothing more glorious The Bow in the heaven which God made Noah to see for assurance that from thence-forth there should no more an universall deluge appear The Pillar of fire and
small fault And we ought not to flatter our selves with this pernicious Maxim of the vulgar viz. wee have no need of so much knowledge But on the other side a Christian who strives to instruct himself more and more ought not to think that these omissions which he is forced to make up doe deprive him of the saving Communion of the Sacrament Not without cause doth the scripture give us to know that even the Apostles themselves when Jesus Christ gave them the Eucharist with his own hands were defiled with notable errours Luke 22. v. 24. And it is certain that we know more of the mystery of this Sacrament and understand better the grounds of this doctrine and the causes of the death of Christ Jesus than his disciples did when they were admitted to that first supper CHAP. II. Why doth not the reading of the Passion of Jesus Christ move us so much as the reading of many other histories of the Scripture WEE know that the Remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ which wee declare in the Supper ought not to be naked and idle or to remain in the Brain It must descend into the heart and stir up the affections Now there is nothing which ought to move us equally with the Passion of the son of God and the least of his anguishes ought to be more sensible unto us than those of all men together Neverthelesse if wee read that sad preparation of Abraham going to sacrifize his son or the pitifull words of Jacob when they told him that some beast had devoured Joseph or the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians yea how they handled that miserable King Zedekias wee are touched more lively and these stories will draw more teares from our eyes than the history of the suffrings of Jesus Christ And as there are tears of joy they will sooner fall from our eyes in reading how Joseph met with his brothers and of the cry which he cast forth when he made himself known unto them than in hearing of Christ comming forth of the sepulchre and the joy which his Disciples had to see him risen again Yet so it is that neither the knife which was to cut Jsaacks throat nor the bloody coat of Joseph nor the desolations and crying in the streets of Jerusalem are not to us of such importance as the suffrings of the son of God And his Resurrection is more considerable to us than the exaltation of Joseph For to resolve this question wee have divers things to consider First the suffrings of those who were but men doe easily move us because there is nothing more naturall than to have a fellow-feeling in the Calamities of those who are like us but the griefes of Jesus Christ present themselves unto us in a person which cannot be the object of any commiseration or naturall commotion For wee think of God himself suffring in form of a servant This is the reason wherefore he forbad the tears of those who bewailed him as a man whose affliction is pittied or the losse of whom is much lamented Luke 23. v. 28. Whereupon it is that the history of the Passion is not written in a pittifull and pathetick style as the Lamentations of Jeremiah or the complaint of David over Saul and Jonathan or the ulcers of Job or the sad solitude of the Jsraelites by the Rivers of Babylon For the Gospell doth not propound unto us a spectacle of human calamity but a point of higher consideration Moreover this condoling which hath place in other subjects is found either excluded or swallowed up in this here by more noble and more spirituall motions as are the horrour of our sins which have crucified the Prince of glory the terrour of that dreadfull severity which God hath displayed upon his own Son the admiration of his incomparable wisedome who could joyn his Mercy with his Justice the unspeakable joy of salvation which is derived from thence unto us and the ardent Love which wee bear towards the Father who hath given his Son and towards the Son who hath given himself to death for us For these are the true resentments which wee ought to have of the suffrings of Jesus Christ Now the subject of the spirituall resentments is not naturally perceptible of our affections but is a stranger unto them Therefore it is that they are not moved towards it but as they are drawn unto it by the finger of God And even this is the cause they are not carried thither with so full a vigour and so much readiness as towards those objects whereto they are enclineable of themselves Moreover the spirituall affections although they are strong and vehement are not so easy to be moved and to be felt For forasmuch as they lodge as it were in the center of the Soul they are far from the sensitive faculty which is the source of tears so that they come not thither so soon nor so easily That which I have yet to say belongs to the question following CHAP. III. From whence comes it that the Superstitious are sometimes more moved with the Death of Jesus Christ than true Christians WEE see sometimes Idolaters who having but very little understanding in the mysteries of redemption will weep at the reciting of the Passion of Jesus Christ And neverthelesse a well-instructed Christian and who prizes the Suffrings of his Saviour a great deal more than they that are ignorant will very hardly be moved with it This difference proceeds hence that the Superstitious have before their faces the Passion of Jesus Christ as a tragicall accident which doth easily touch those hearts that are endued with any humanity But the Christian contemplates it with another eye than that wherewith we regard the Calamities of other men The one brings thereunto an humane Commiseration which tears doe naturally follow But the other finds there the subject of many spirituall affections whereof our heart is not so easily susceptible because they proceed not from flesh and blood And the means of framing them to it consist rather in instructions and doctrines whereby wee must handle this matter than in the oratoricall representations of those who reduce it into a Tragedy Moreover it is not an assured proof that he bears most Love towards Jesus Christ that shal have shed most tears for him For oftentimes they proceed as soon frō a tender-heartednes which is more naturall to some than others as from the abundance of piety Many who never wept for the love of Christ nevertheless suffered Martyrdome for the love of him Such a one could not give him so much as one Tear who gave him all his Blood CHAP. IV. Off the vehemency of the thoughts and of the attention required in the action of the Communion And of the weaknesse of the humane spirit herein I doe not here refute those who for want of well understanding our Doctrine think that the spirituall Communion of the Body or Christ consists onely in thought of imagination
of the 70 Interpreters I Touch not here the passages of the Old Testament which are related in the New with some difference as being so found in the Translation of the Septuagint which the Apostles have retained in many places The particulars and questions which may be moved thereupon have passed the examination of the learned Wee will observe onely for a pattern that the word Prophet the word Church and divers others are come from the Seventy who have employed them in the Greek Traslation of the Old Testnament from whence they are passed into the New Terms of the Divinity and Discipline of the Jews THE names of Paradise and of Gehenna are not in the Old Testament in the sense which they have in the New viz. to denote the places of Joy and Torment after this life Neither doe wee there read these words The world to come The day of Judgment The second death The bosome of Abraham and others which are come from the Judaicall school which had put them into use against the Sadduces denying the immortality of souls and the points which presuppose it Now Jesus Christ hath sanctified these terms and would have them inserted into the New Testament The Jews before the comming of the Messias were wont in their prayers to pray for the Comming of the kingdom of God Jesus Christ also hath put this Petition into the prayer which he hath taught us The same Jews speaking of this Kingdom of the Messias which they expected called it the Kingdom of Heaven Now they had drawn this phrase from hence that in Daniel this Kingdom was represented under the figure of Starrs Chap. 8. v. 10. And on the contrary the Empires of this world were set forth under the form of earthly beasts This name of the Kingdom of Heaven as used among the Jews is also frequent in the mouth of the Son of God Terms from the Morality of the Greeks THis is very remarkable the word VERTUE inasmuch as it signifieth the habit of good manners is not found in the Old Testament For the Hebrews have no term which answers precisely to this here The Greek word which hath the same signification is used in the New Testament yet very seldom for reasons whose consideration belongs to another discourse Likewise we have the particular names of many Vertues as also of many Vices which are not read in the Old Testament Such are the words of Temperance of Chastity and divers others which also come from the Morall of the Greeks Even from thence is come the word of Almes which is not also in the Old Testament The Hebrews express it by a more generall name For instead of Almes they say Justice From thence comes it that the Syriack translating these words of S. Matthew 6. Give not your Almes before men hath translated do not your Justice before men Terms particular to the New Testament I Will give but one example among many The habitation of the most blessed is called the. Third Heaven 2 Cor. 12. This name is not given to it in the Old Testament The holy tongue wherein Moses and the Prophers have written naming the Heavens expresseth them in the duall number as if it should be said the two Heavens The name of the third is come up thereupon only since that Jesus Christ is entred therein I omit other contemplations which may be brought hitherto Finally all the writers of the New Testament have also every one his style and particular terms whereof it is not necessary to speak at this time Now as of all these expressions whereof we have seen the Originals some carry the proper sense and naturall to the terms and others are drawn by a figure to a quite divers signification so we ought also to see the matters where-from the figurative speeches are extracted CHAP. II. The Figurative speeches which are in the New Testament are taken from five divers sorts of matters THe way which we have here held above is almost the same which conducts us hither Every phrase which bears a Figure in the New Testament is drawn from some of these subjects here mentioned or from many of them viz. 1. Either from things which are of the generall knowledge and common to the most part of men 2. Or from matters of the Old Testament as Washings Sacrifices c. 3. Or from Customs Conditions and other things particular to the people of the Jews when Jesus Christ and the Apostles were in the world 4. Or from the Customs of those of the Eastern people Greeks and other nations with whom the Church of God hath conversed heretofore 5. Or even from the proper matters of the New Testament the one taking the name of the other The New Testament contains then five Orders or Categories of figurative terms whereof wee must give some examples I. Examples of the first Order Hence comes the similitude of the Sower of Leven of Occupying c. The Apostles are called the Salt of the Earth God is called Light Jesus Christ is named the Vine the Dove The Holy Ghost is designed by the name of Water of Fire II. Examples of the second Order Jesus Christ is called the Tree of Life the Manna Rev. 2. The first fruits of those that sleep 1 Cor. 15. Alms is called an Offering of a sweet smelling savour Phil. 4. by a tearm borrowed from the perfumes that were used upon the Altar of Incense In this ranck are many allusions Jesus Christ in St. Luke 19. v. 42. upbraided Jerusalem that they knew not the things which belonged to their peace that it was hid from their eyes The agreement which is found in these words is not visible to any except those who know that Jerusalem in the language of the Old Testament signifies vision of peace For these words mean that quite contrary to her name she saw not her peace that Jersulalem was not in Jerusalem Some Hebraisms may be referd hither In the 13. of Leviticus when the Law would say that the Priest shall pronounce him clean who was healed of the Leprosy it saith that the Priest shall cleanse him and when it would say That the Priest shall declare such a one defiled with a Leprosy it saith the Priest shall defile him So Jesus Christ saith that his Disciples shall pardon or retain sins that is to say shall pronounce that they are pardoned or retained III. Examples of the third Order The Parable of the Virgins of the Children fitting in the market-places and divers others taken from the Customs of the Jews The Degrees of punishments used among them viz. Of Judgement of the Counsell and of Hell fire are named for to represent the difference of pains whereunto God condemneth sinners Matthew 5. Our Saviour saith that one Iota or one Jod of the Law that is to say the least article of it shall not pass away without being accomplished This word is taken from the Alphabet of the Hebrews whereof the least letter of all is
Application of Jesus Christ in these two divers regards should still represent it This Application was truly figured also by the Circumcision whereto Baptism succeeded But we have seen that our Sacraments ought not to have any more any thing bloody Moreover as I said Our Saviour seems to have regard to this point that all holy things those which the Law made communicable to every one of the people were applied personally unto him in the one or in the other of these two actions onely viz. either in their Washings or in their Sacred Banquets To these two sorts of actions wherein consists all the participation of holy things answer Baptism and the Eucharist If we contemplate there but a resemblance between the Water the Bread and the Wine of the one part and the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ of the other this consideration is too wandring and generall and doth not observe distinctly enough the intention of our Saviour Wee know that the Communion of Jesus Christ is represented in Scripture under the Similitude of divers â—onjunctions as of the Head with the Members of the Vine with the Branches of the Husband with the Wife of the foundation with the edifice of the Clothing with the Body of Washing and of Nourishment But it is a question to know why among so many similitudes our Saviour would choose these two viz. that of Washing and that of Nourishment rather than any other whereof to make the Sacraments of the New Testament I believe therefore we must seek the reason in the correspondence which they have with these two actions of the Old Testament wherein only lyes the personall application of holy things which the Law distributed to the people To Conclude I shall adde touching the Water of Baptism that which I said touching the Bread and the Wine of the Eucharist Many Divines dispute Philosophically of the proprieties of Water by reason whereof our Saviour would it should serve for Baptism For say they as Water or watery matter is the principall of all naturall production so the Holy Ghost represented by Water is the principall of our regeneration Also as Water doth fructifie the Earth and make it fit to bear fruit so the Holy Spirit bedewing our Souls makes us capable to bring forth the fruit of good works Moreover as Water doth quench the thirst so the Holy Ghost doth quench the thirst of earthly things To which is referd that which our Saviour saith in St. John 7. If any one Thirst Let him come unto mee and drink But certainly they who thrust 〈◊〉 Similitudes into Baptism are extravagant in divers kinds Water is used in Baptism inasmuch as it washeth and cleanseth not as it refresheth nor as it allayes the thirst being drank Otherwise wee ought to consider it as drink and confound the Baptism and the Eucharist Water is not considered in Baptism but as Washing The other proprieties which it may have are our of the Sacramentall analogy If this Element should have yet more qualities proper to represent the Blood of Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit they are not of the Sacrament and it is not for us to place them there FINIS AN Epitome of this Treatise comprised in these Aphorismes following I. MAny are learned in the Controversie of the Eucharist who nevertheless have not Knowledge enough of the grounds and mysteries of this Sacrament II. Many Treatises of Devotion which have the vogue among the people namely touching the holy Supper serve rather to foment ignorance than to augment instruction III. They are ridiculous who endeavouring to specifie all the particular Causes of the Circumstances of the Passion give us Allegories for Reasons and Metaphors for Mysteries IV. This ordinary Phrase the Altar of the Crosse is improper and subject to evill Consequences V. The Historicall representation whereby we call to mind a Man nayled to the Crosse is not this Act whereby Jesus Christ is made present to ours Souls VI. The Reason why Jesus Christ invites us to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood is understood of very few viz. why wee ought to drink his Blood forasmuch as it is the Blood of the New Testament why from the Oblation of his Body we conclude the eating of it VII The Reason consists of Maxims opposite to those of the Old Testament For the Law contained certain Ordinances which prohibited that which Jesus Christ commands us in the Eucharist VIII Jesus Christ invites us to drink his Blood for the same reason which forbids us to eat blood For the Law saith Ye shall eat no blood because it is shed for the remission of sins Jesus Christ saith Drink ye this Blood because it is shed for the remission of sins IX It is a Maxim of the Old Testament that none can eat of that which hath bin offered for him for remission of sins But Jesus Christ commands us to eat his Body given for our sin X. In the Old Testament the Priests were to eat the Sacrifice which they offered for the sins of other men But Jesus Christ hath transferr'd this Rite to sinners themselves XI The Communion to which Jesus Christ invites us is marked with the names of two acts whereof one is repugnant to the Ceremoniall Law viz. to eat that which hath bin sacrifised for our sins the other contrary to the Law of Nature viz. to eat the flesh of man XII God had ordained that we should not eat of any Blood untill the Blood of Christ should be shed XIII The Law forbidding Sinners to eat the Sacrifice of their Expiation shewed that the true Sacrifice was not yet exhibited nor their Expiation accomplished XIV In the Old Testament the Eating of the Expiatory Sacrifice was a Sacerdotall Act required for Expiation But at this day this Eating is an effect of Expiation already made XV. In the Scripture the more a phrase is remote from the ordinary Rules of the Language of men the more mysterious it is XVI The Communion of the Body of Christ is represented by the act of Eating not simply by similitude but to retain the Term of this Testamentary Clause which Jesus Christ hath revoked in this Sacrament which forbad man to eat the Sacrifice of his Expiation And this speech means That the Communion of the Body of Christ is in effect that which the eating of Sacrifices was in Figure XVII In the Life Naturall man and his meat are different Kinds but in the Life Spirituall man and his nourishment ought to be of the same kind XVIII The Old Testament had no force in comparison of the New because the Testator was not yet dead XIX Whereas death permits not any man to be Executor of his own Will Jesus Christ is risen again to execute his XX. He who dyed first of all men dyed of a bloody death The death of Jesus Christ was signed with blood XXI The first Blood which was shed on Earth and the Blood of Jesus Christ are opposite one to the