A SERMON OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER Proving that there is therein no proper sacrifice now offered Together with the disapproving of sundry passages in 2. Bookes set forth by Dr. Pocklington the one called Altare Christianum the other Sunday no Sabbath Formerly printed with Licence BY WILLIAM BRAY Dr. of Divinity Now published by Command LONDON Printed by T. and R. C. for Henry Seile and are to be sold at his shop in Fleetstreete over against St. Dunstans-Church 1641. A SERMON OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SVPPER 1 COR. 11.26 For as oft as ye cate this Bread and drinke this Cup yee doe shew the Lords Death till hee come THe Prophets are Comments upon the Law in the Old Testament and the Epistles upon the Gospels in the New My Text is part of the Epistles and it Comments upon that command of our Saviour to his Disciples Doe this in Remembrance of me Which is a part of the Gospell of the Institution of the Holy Communion For that command is repeated in the 25. Verse of this Chapter and then followes my Text immediately as a Comment upon that Command a Glosse upon that Evangelicall Law For as oft as ye eate this Bread and drinke this Cup ye doe shew the Lords Death till he come And if you observe it well my Text as a cleere and full Comment explaines all the doubts and difficulties of that Text in the Gospell Doe this in remembrance of me For first there 's no time exprest when this is to be done or celebrated so the doubt is First concerning the frequency of Celebrating whether once or more then once This doubt the Comment cleeres in the first words of my Text As oft so it is to be done againe and againe and that often A second doubt is concerning the duration of this blessed Sacrament How long whether temporary or perpetuall this the Comment likewise cleeres in the last words of my Text Till he come so it is to continue in the Church till our Saviours second comming Againe it is not cleere in the Gospell whither these words are to be referr'd Do this for they are mentioned onely in Saint Luke * 22 S. Luke 19. and they are mentioned after the Institution and Consecration of the Bread onely and not of the Cup so the doubt here is Whether they referre to the Bread alone or to both Bread and Cup but the Comment here directs you to referre them to both For as oft as ye eate this Bread and drinke this Cup too saith the Text ye doe indicatively or doe ye imperatively that is doe both and doe this in both Besides we doe not understand out of the Gospel the latitude of this Command Doe this what it comprehends within it whether the action of the Receiver onely or of the Minister onely or both that is Totam Sacramentalem actionem the whole Sacramentall action here 's another doubt And here againe we must have recourse to the Comment in my Text for direction and that expounds it of both First Doe this that is eate this Bread and drinke this Cup here 's the action of the receiver in expresse termes But that 's not all for what our blessed Saviour did by way of Preparation before his Disciples Communicated I meane not for all Circumstances but for Essentials as taking and blessing the Bread and the Cup and the like that must the Ministers of Christ in all ages also doe by vertue of this Command Doe this And this is cleere also in the Comment of my Text though not expressely as the action of the Receiver yet by evident consequence and that from the Emphasis of the Greeke Articles before the Bread and Cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Bread and this Cup for without the action of the Minister in taking and blessing the elements the Receivers may indeed eate and drinke common bread and wine but they cannot bee so well assured that they eate and drinke this Sacramentall Bread and Wine so call'd here by way of Eminence and speciall reference Yet farther my Text doth cleerely expound the end of that command of our Saviour Doe this in remembrance of me First in remembrance that is nor a bare and naked remembrance lockt up onely within the closet of our owne memories but such a remembrance as is withall a Remembrancer of it to and with others a Commemoration whereby in a joynt Communion together wee proclaime and shew forth our Saviours Love As oft as ye eate this Bread and drinke this Cup ye doe or shall shew forth saith my Text. Lastly in remembrance of me saith the Command in the Gospell of me that is not so much of my Incarnation life miracles doctrine resurrection ascension as especially and expressely of my death and Passion ye doe shew the Lords Death saith the Comment in my Text. I have done with the For in the beginning of my Text which connects it with the verse precedent whereof it is a comment and a confirmation as you see To draw neerer to the Text it selfe wherein you may observe these two generall parts Our service to God in the use of this blessed Sacrament in the former part As oft as yee eate this Bread and drinke this Cup And the meaning of this service or the Res Sacramenti the thing signifyed by it in the latter part Ye doe shew the Lords Death till he come 12. Exod 26.27 In the 12. of Exodus God enjoynes the people of Israel that when their children should aske them concerning the Passeover What meane you by this Service that they should say It is the Sacrifice of the Lords Passeover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses In the like manner Saint Paul having receiv'd it of the Lord delivers unto us the meaning of this Service of the Evangelicall Passeover It is the Memoriall of our Saviours Sacrifice offered upon the Crosse once for all which we celebrate in remembrance of him to shew forth his bitter death and Passion But to proceed in the first generall part which is the Service we are to performe to God in the use of this blessed Sacrament you have these three particulars contained 1. The parts of this Sacrament 2. The Sacramentall actions 3. The circumstances of those actions 1. The parts of this Sacrament and they are two Res terrena et Res Coelestis as * Iren. lib. 4. aduersus haeres cap. 34. Irenaeus cals them the Earthy and the Heavenly part The earthy part is here exprest bread and wine the heavenly part is the body and blood of Christ here imported in the Articles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Bread and This Cup which hath an Emphaticall reference to the verses immediately precedent where it is said of the bread and cup after our Saviours blessing them that This is my Body which is broken for you and this Cup is
the New Testament in my Blood This Bread and This Cup that do Sacramentally exhibite the Body and Blood of our Saviour are here specially design'd 2. Ye have The Sacramentall actions and they are in like manner two Eating and Drinking answerable to the parts of the Sacrament eating this Bread and drinking this Cup. First wee must Eate It is not enough to purpose or desire to be Guests at this heavenly Table neither may wee be present onely as spectators and beholders to see and to gaze but we must tast and eat Secondly wee must Drinke the Cup too as well as Eat the Bread these two are joyn'd together by Christ in the Institution and they may not be sever'd by Man without manifest impiety 3. The Circumstances of the actions which make the third particular in this first generall they are likewise two The first is of Time Baptisme is to bee received once onely but this blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper often both out of a gratefull obedience to our Saviour and out of a carefull regard of our owne spirituall advantage by it As oft as yee eate this Bread and drinke this Cup. It is not barely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how oft soever which implyes a frequency The second circumstance is of the Persons Communicating Ye First Ye in the plurall number for this Holy Sacrament is a Communion may not be received by one alone Ye againe that are Members of the Church Ye are to eat of this Bread and drinke of this Cup. For he that is not entred into the mysticall body of the Church by Baptisme is no fit subject as yet to partake of these high and holy mysteries And these are the severals in the first generall part of the Text to wit the Service of the Communion In the second generall part which is the Meaning of this service ye have three particulars likewise each of them sutable to the three particulars in the former part of the Text wherein you have the speciall meaning of each part of the service declared First ye have the meaning of the Sacramentall bread and cup to wit the death of Christ Secondly ye have the meaning of our eating this Bread and drinking this Cup namely the shewing forth of Christs death Thirdly ye have the meaning of our often eating this Bread and drinking this Cup to wit the perpetuation of our Saviours memory so long as he is corporally absent from us here on Earth even till he come againe in his glorious presence to judge the quicke and the dead As oft as yee eat this Bread and drinke this Cup yee doe shew the Lords Death till be come Here 's a large field of matter I can but gather here and there an eare of corne as I passe along without making any long stay upon any particular I begin first with the Parts of this Holy Sacrament which is the first particular under the first generall and first with the Earthy part or outward Elements which are Bread and Wine The outward senses of Man are the windowes or gates of the soule nothing enters into the soule but by them wee understand nothing we know nothing whilst wee are here in the body but the eare or the eye or some one or more of the senses present it first to the soule and the more senses there are that present a matter to the soule the soule understands it the more cleerely and beleeves it the more strongly even as the opening of many windows le ts in the more light into the house God knowes our mould in this and considers it graciously and accordingly he vouchsafes not onely to instruct and perswade us by the Eare in the hearing of his word but by the Eye Taste Touch in the outward elements of this Sacrament which we may see handle and taste for our further instruction and confirmation If any man therefore presuming upon I know not what spirituall Revelations and Seraphicall raptures shall neglect the hearing of Gods Word for his instruction or if any other resting in the bare hearing of the Eare shall neglect this blessed Sacrament wherein God farther manifests himself to the faithfull Soule by the doore of the rest of the senses if there be any such presuming spirits they very much forget themselves that they are yet in the body Yea they forget God too and his gracious condescent herein to our corporeall weaknesse who best knows whereof wee are made and how best to consider it That there is an earthy and sensible part in the Sacrament therefore ye see great reason for it But what is the reason of the choice of Bread and Wine to be the sensible part in this Sacrament Was not the killing of the Paschall Lamb and the striking of the blood therof upon the lintell and side-posts of the doore a more sensible and cleere Resemblance of the shedding of the blood of the immaculate Lambe of God Why then was the Passeover abrogated and Bread and Wine in the place thereof substituted as the sensible part of this Sacrament To omit many other most proper Analogies and aptitudes in the Elements of Bread and Wine serving for this purpose I will only give you an account of this change thus in briefe The Old Testament you know is abrogated I meane in regard of the manner of Administration of it by the Leviticall and Ceremoniall Law and the New is now in force the Testator himselfe having confirmed it by his owne precious Death and Blood-shedding Hence the shedding of the blood of the Paschall Lambe is justly ceas'd For after so soveraigne an expiation by the Blood of Christ himselfe no shedding of blood is now necessary Heb. 9. 10. ch as the Apostle argues in the Epistle to the Hebrewes and hence this Sacrament of the New Testament in the breaking of the Bread and powring forth of the Wine most fitly succeeds in the place thereof as being the most apt and vive expression of blood already shed without new blood-shedding Besides though our heavenly Father knowes that even under the New Testament we have need of these outward and sensible things and that for the strengthening of our Faith whilst we are here in the body and therefore as ye read but now God in his infinite Wisedome and Goodnesse to us hath instituted Sacraments for us in the New Testament as well as in the Old which consist of an outward and sensible as well as an heavenly and spirituall part Yet there is a very observable difference of degrees at least betwixt the Sacraments and Services of the Old and New Testament even in this regard Those of the Law and Old Testament were more sensible and earthy but these of the Gospel and New Testament more pure and spirituall the Law being as it were the body to the Gospel and the Gospel being the spirit and life of the Law Thus the Passeover which was a more crasse and corporeall Sacrament
to frequent receiving And I would to God there were no need of such an Exhortation but alas it 's too usuall for many to make excuses for absenting themselves from the Lords Table * â— Luke 14. as the unworthy guests in the Gospell did I will briefly shew the vanity of these Excuses and so passe over this circumstance And I will go no farther for Evidence against them than to the Grounds already laid You have read that this Blessed Sacrament is Heavenly Food for our Nourishment A Holy Feast to mainetaine Love and Vnity amongst Christians A Spirituall Banquet for Delight and Soveraigne Physicke for the Soule First then an unworthy guest pleades multiplicity of worldly businesse and therefore hee cannot come so frequently to the Sacrament But hee should consider that this Sacrament is Heavenly Meate for his Nourishment and as Meate hinders not our Businesse so neither must our Businesse hinder our Meate in the seasons of it whether for Soule or Body A Second is not in charity with his Neighbour and therefore hee holds himselfe excus'd which is Excusatio accusatione digna as Salvian speakes in a like Case an aggravation no excuse thus to cover one sinne with another This man considers not that the Communion is a Holy Feast instituted by our Blessed Saviour to mainetaine Love and Amity amongst Christians A Third alledges he findes no rellish in this Manna and this discourages him But Oh! taste and see how gracious the Lord is prepare thy Taste aright before thou commest and thou shalt find this blessed Sacrament to be an Heavenly Banquet for Delight such Delight as is most glorious and unspeakeable in comparison whereof all that is called Delight here below is but meere anity and vexation of spirit * Hanc Dei gratiam recolens qui de Sacro caline bibit amplius sitit ad Deum vivum erigens desiderium ita singulari fame ille uno appetitu teneturut deinceps fellea peccatorum horreat pocula omnis sapor delectamentorum carnalium fit ei quasirancidum radensque palatum acutae mordacita tis acetum S. Cypr. de Coena Domini sect 17. A Fourth and last pretends his manifold sins the sense whereof deterres him from often approaches to this Holy Table But if he account sinne a disease indeed and desire unfeignedly to be cured why does he neglect the Remedy which is by Faith and Repentance to prepare himselfe for this blessed Sacrament The whole have no need of the Physitian but the sicke saith our blessed Saviour * Mat. 9.12 This man considers not the vertue of this Sacrament in such as are so prepared That through the Grace of Christ it is with these preparations a soveraigne Physicke against all Diseases of the Soule The second circumstance is of the Persons Yee First Yee in the plurall number for this Holy Sacrament is a Communion and therefore may not bee received by one alone as the name it selfe imports A Communion that is a Common union of Ministers and People together Thus much Cassander one that liv'd and dy'd in the Communion of the Roman Church acknowledges That it cannot be properly call'd a Communion unlesse there be a Plurality of Communicants * Communio proprie ditinon pâ—test tisiplures participent c. CassaÌ„ Consultat de solitariiâ— missis The private Masses therefore in the Roman Church where the Priest Communicates without the People are rather excommunications of the People then Communions as Goulartius wittily calls them in his Notes upon Saint Cyprians Tract on the Lords Prayer * Vid. Calvin lib. 4 Instit c. 18 § 7. Aditus missis privatis est patefactus quae Excomunicationem quandam magis reservent quam coÌ„munitatemillam à Domino institutam c. Concil Trident. Ses. 22. cap. 6. I am not ignoraÌ„t that the Councel of Trent * Vid. Calvin lib. 4 Instit c. 18 § 7. Aditus missis privatis est patefactus quae Excomunicationem quandam magis reservent quam coÌ„munitatemillam à Domino institutam c. Concil Trident. Ses. 22. cap. 6. wishes that the people would coÌ„munic ate alwayes with the Priest and acknowledges it to be the more profitable for the peoples soules but this blanches the matter only but mends it not the private Masse is a bitter Almond still for all the blanching so long as the people are not injoyn'd to Communicate with the Priest Nay so long as the Priest is by that Church allowd nay injoyn'd to celebrate though without distribution to the people Ye again that are Members of the Church by Baptisme Ye and Ye onely must eate this Bread and drinke this Cup. For the Grace which we have by the Holy Eucharist doth not begin but continue life No man therefore receaveth this Sacrament before Baptisme because no dead thing is capable of nourishment That which groweth must first live saith Reverend Hooker in his fift Booke of Ecclesiasticall * 5 Lib Ecc le polit §. 67. init Policie Besides wee must first bee receav'd as members into Christs Family before we may be admitted to his Table The Childrens bread must not be given to strangers But I hasten to the second Generall and main part of my Text which is the Meaning of this service of the Holy Communion in the last words Yee doe shew forth the Lords death till hee come The principall verbe which beares the waight of this part of the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Translation renders it most fitly Ye shew forth which expresseth the latitude of the word and the meaning of the Sacrament more fully then Annuntiate in the Latine which properly is but a verball declaration Now in this Sacrament Christs death is shewne forth three wayes especially First by way of Representation and Resemblance so signes and figures of things doe shew forth the things that are represented and resembled by them Secondly by way of Evidence and Confirmation so the Testators seale set to a Testament and his delivery of it as his deed doth shew it to bee his Will and Testament Thirdly and lastly by way of Commemoration or memoriall so a feast appointed in remembrance of a Benefactor doth shew forth his benefits to us Therefore Beza translates the verbe here Commemoratis yee Commemorate Christs death Now as oft as wee cate this Bread and drinke this Cup wee doe all these wayes shew forth the Lord's death both in the end and meaning of the service and wee ought to doe it in obedience and duty for so the verbe here used may be taken either Jndicatively Ye do or Imperatively Doe yee or Ye ought to doe and so I shall follow it First Then we doe shew forth Christ's death in the Sacrament by way of representation and resemblance and that not naked without attendance but solemnly accompany'd with the causes and effects of it Christ and Christ Crucified is here evidently set forth before our eyes * Neque tamen
come to the Holy Table of the Lord to shew forth his Death with a thankfull Commemoration what else is this but to stand laughing under our Saviour's Crosse as it were to make ourselves merry with his Agonies and to triumph prophanely in his bitter sufferings with the wicked Souldiers it is to crucifie him afresh and to put him again to an open shame In stead of an honourable and gratefull shewing forth of his death This were to make ourselves guiltie of his death Guiltie of the bodie and blood of our Lord as the Apostle speaks Wherefore that wee may shew forth the Lord's Death as wee ought Let us first set up the Crosse of Christ in our owne hearts Let us fasten ourselves to it and conforme ourselves there to the sufferings of our Head Let us willingly suffer shame and ignominie in the due acknowledgment of our sins Let us suffer pain in a true sorrrw and Compunction of soule for them Let the Remembrance of them be as Thorns in our Temples and as a Spear at our very hearts Let us so subdue and chasten our Flesh and Revenge our selves upon Our selves as the Scripture * 2 Cor. 7.11 speaks by severe and strict Mortification that the Old Man may languish and die daily in us And let us so Compose and settle our Desires and Affections even as men that are hanging upon the Crosse with our Blessed Saviour and ready to depart this World Let us make our peace with God and all the World Let us wean our selves from the Earth which wee are leaving and set our Affections on Heaven and the things above whither wee are going Let us no longer make provision for the Flesh to fulfill it in the Lusts thereof * 13. Rom. 14 But let us put on the Lord Iesus Christ and thus shew forth the Lords Death till hee come And at his Comming wee shall by his Infinite Mercie Live and Raigne with Him for ever in the Kingdome of his Glorie Thus you have the Orthodox interpretation of these words the true and onely way of shewing forth Christ's Death in this Sacrament according to the Doctrine of the Church of England and of approv'd Antiquitie But the Church of Rome not content with this way doth in the Councell of Trent * Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 3. denounce an Anathema against all those that will acknowledge no other sacrifice in the Eucharist then by way of Remembrance and Commemoration of that one onely true and proper Sacrifice of Christ's Bodie and Bloud offer'd upon the the Altar of his Crosse once for all And therfore if you wil believe her she wil tel you of a more excellent way of shewing forth Christ's Death in the Sacrament to wit by way of Iteration or a new and daily Oblation of the very Same naturall Bodie and Blood which was offer'd unto Death upon the Crosse onely with this Difference in the Manner of the Offering That Christ's Bodie upon the Crosse was offer'd after a bloodie but here upon their Altars after an unbloody Manner And from this Fountaine of Corrupt Doctrine there flow divers streames of very dangerous Errours I 'le instance but in two for our present purpose First upon this Ground they define this Sacrisice in the Eucharist to be a true proper and propitiatorie Sacrifice to be every way equall with the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse and their Altars to be as true and proper Altars which doubtlesse is a very high derogation from Christ and his Sacrifice let them mince and excuse it the best they can Secondly From hence they teach most perilously that the same Adoration which is due to Christ is due to this Sacrament And certainly to give that Adoration which is due to Christ to any of the Creatures can amount to no lesse then Idolatry Neither will Bellarmine's evasion which hee uses * Lib. 4 de Euchar cap 29. §. Sed haec mera calumnia est c. acquit the Papists of Idolatrie herein though hee pleads not Guiltie because they hold not the Consecrated Bread and Wine to be any longer Bread and Wine but to be transubstantiated into the very naturall bodie and blood of Christ so he pleads they worship not the bread but Christ alone But a false perswasion as we have proved this to be in the former part of the Sermon hath not the power either to nullifie a sin or to alter the species of it either to make a sin no sin or to be any other then it is in the kind of it The most charitable Construction that can be made in this Case is That perhaps to Men so perswaded as some of the Romanists are their Adoration of the Sacrament is not in them wilfull Idolatrie yet in it self Idolatrie still for all their perswasion However for our selves that by the infinite blessing of God to us are better taught and perswaded for us I say not to renounce and detest this Abomination of the Popish Adoration of the Sacrament would be most wilfull Idolatrie without the least cloak for our sin For mine owne part therefore as becomes a true Protestant of the Reformed Church of England I doe here solemnly protest against all Popish Errours and in speciall against the manifold and dangerous errours in the Doctrine and Practice of the Popish Masse against their pretended Oblation of the very naturall bodie and bloud of Christ against their Propitiatorie sacrifice in that intended Oblation and theirs or any other sort of men their true proper Altars and against their Idolatrous Adoration of the Sacrament and acknowledge onely one true and proper Sacrifice and Altar that is the Sacrifice of Christ himself offer'd uppon the Altar of the Crosse once for all And give me leave here also solemnly to professe my Opinion concerning the Lord's day and the sanctification of it I hold that according to God's holy will and pleasure the Lord's day ought to be celebrated both in Publike and in Private in the Church and out of the Church in the Forenoon and in the Afternoon by hearing the Word of God read and taught by Publike Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments by holy Meditations Private Prayer Reading and calling to Mind what we have read or heard by work 's of Charitie to our Neighbour and the like And I hold it to be our Dutie in speciall that are God's Ministers to teach exhort and incourage the People by all means to such a sanctification of the Lord's day And for mine owne part I heartily honour a conscientious man who hath a Carefull Regard to yield Obedience to all Gods Commandements as far as humane frailtie will permit I honour such a man the more the more strict hee is in a Religious Observation of the Lord's day And further I hold that this great Holyday which we Christians now celebrate upon the first day of the Week though the Scripture and so the Proper name of it be the Lord's Day yet
and Drinking of this Cup. First we must Eate this Bread There is a fourefold benefit which wee receive by our bodily Eating Nourishment Society Delight and Physicke You know there is a Meale for Nourishment a Feast for Society a Banquet for Delight and a Medicine for Physicke This fourefold benefit wee receive to our soules in a farre more eminent manner by this Sacramentall Eating and for this fourefold benefits sake we must taste and eate this Sacrament and we shall find it if we prepare our selves aright before we eate it to be through the Grace of Christ First Coelestis Refectio an Heavenly Repast to nourish us up to eternall Life Secondly Sacrum Convivium a holy Feast to mainetaine the mysticall society betwixt Christ and his members and to be a bond of Love and Vnity amongst Christians Thirdly Spirituale Epulum * Cal. lib. 4. Instit c. 17. sect 1. a spirituall Banquet for inward and unspeakeable Delight Fourthly and lastly to be Medicina animae as * Medicina enim spiritualis est quae cum reverentia degustata purificat sibi devotum Ambr. tom 5. Oper. in Epist ad Cor. cap. 11. Saint Ambrose calls it i. e. to them that are rightly prepared and through the grace of Christ Soveraigne Physicke for the Soule Secondly wee must Drinke the Sacramentall Cup as well as Eate the Bread For as oft as ye eate this Bread and drinke this Cup too saith the Text. They are joyned together in the Text and they may not be severed in our Practice And that for these three reasons First propter Perfectionem Repraesentationis that in this Sacrament there may be a perfect resemblance and representation of Christs Passion on the Crosse for there the Blood was severed from the Body and therefore here to keepe the resemblance perfect the Wine which resembles the Blood must bee taken severally from the Bread which resembles the Body Secondly propter Perfectionem Refectionis That the Lords Supper may bee perfect Nourishment to us For as in bodily sustenance Meate doth not nourish well without Drinke a Meale cannot be perfect without Meate and Drinke So is it likewise in this spirituall Refection wee must Eate and Drinke too else no perfect nourishment to the Soule Vtrumque enim est de perfectione hujus Sacramenti For both Eating and Drinking too are required to the perfection of this Sacrament So much Aquinas * Aquin. Com. in 1 Cor. 11.26 himselfe a prime Schooleman amongst the Papists acknowledges in his Comment on my Text and hee gives these two forenamed reasons for his acknowledgement So that by his owne confession the Church of Rome however she may be more indulgent to her Clergy yet shee is very scanty to the People and halfes out to them but an imperfect Sacrament Thirdly I will adde a third and maine reason for this Sacramentall Action and that is propter perfectionem Obedientiae that our Obedience may be perfect for you see we have Christs Command for both drinking the Cup as well as eating the Bread not onely his Practice as in administring it after Supper but we have his practice and command too for sub utraque specie for the Communion in both Kindes which makes this obligatory to us though not the other according to that excellent rule of Saint Cyprian * S. Cypr. lib. 2 ep 3. quae Christus fecit docuit sunt perpetuae observationis what Christ both did and also taught or commanded must be perpetually observed in the Church The boldnesse therefore of the Councell of Constance was very great in declaring the administring of the Communion in both Kindes to the People to be no more obligatory to us then the administring of it after Supper but their presumption is much more intolerable in establishing the Romish halfe communion with a non obstante in terminis to the Institution of Christ as you may read in the 13. Session of that Councell * Tom. 7. concil edit per Bin. I have done with the Sacramentall actions The third and last particular in the first generall concernes the circumstances of these actions And the first circumstance is of Time As oft Semel nascimur saepius vero alimur we are borne but once into the world and so we receive Baptisme but once which is the Sacrament of our New-birth But we stand in need of often Nourishment and therefore wee are often to receive the Lords Supper which is the Sacrament of our spirituall Nourishment and growth in Christ Accordingly if wee looke into Church story wee shall finde that the first and best ages of the Church and as many of the after ages as desired to conforme to those first and best were all of them for frequent Communions In the times of the Apostles * Acts 20.7 we read of a Communion once every weeke upon the first Day of the weeke which is the Lords Day In the times next to the Apostles Saint Cyprian * Eucheristiam quotidie ad cibumsalutis accipimuâ— S. Cyp. de Orat. Dominica tells us of an every-dayes Communion Every day the Christians lookt for Death in those times of violent persecution and therfore every day they would be provided of this Viaticum In Saint Augustines time which was 400 yeares after Christ some Churches communicated every day some onely upon the Saturday and the Lords day others onely upon the Lords day as we read in his 118. Epistle After that Devotion decaying the Communion was administred generally onely thrice in the yeare at the three great Feasts of Easter Whitsontide and Christ mas and of later yeares under Pope Innocent the Third in the Lateran Councell propter iniquitatis abundantiam refrigescente charitate multorum so * Aquin. Sum. par 3. q. 80. Art 10. ad quintum Aquinas himselfe renders the reason of it By reason of the abounding of Iniquity the Charity and Devotion of many waxing cold in the Roman Church the people were upon this bound onely to receive once in the yeare to wit at Easter But the Liturgy of the Church of England to reforme us neerer to the Piety of the Ancient Church of Christ though it sets not downe a generall Rule to bind every particular Person to Communicate more then Thrice in the yeare which was done no doubt upon most prudent Considerations Because the variety of Cases in regard of the different understandings and imployments of particular persons in regard of the different Capaciousnesse and Receipt of Places and Parishes and divers other Circumstances considerable make the prescribing of a certaine Rule for Particulars in this kinde fittest for private advice and resolution upon due preparation of every Communicant Yet in the Rubricke after the Communion a Communion is enjoyned every Sunday at the least in Cathedrall and Collegiate Churches except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary And in the first Exhortation before the Communion all the People are most pathetically moved and exhorted
diffitemur quin ita nobis monstraturillic Christi immolatio ut crucis spectaculum pene ob oculos statuatur qualiter in oculis Galatorum Christum suisse crucisixum dicit Aposte dum illis propositacrucis predicatio suerat Calvin l. 4. Jnllit c. 18 § 11 For first The Ministers setting apart the Bread and Wine upon the Holy Table and Consecrating them represents God the Fathers unspeakeable Love to mankind in setting apart and sending his only begotten Son into the World to dye for us here 's the prime cause of his death Againe the breaking of the Bread that resembles the brusing of our Saviours body the Agonies of his soule for our iniquities and the powring forth of the Wine and the distribution of the Bread and Wine severally and apart doth most aptly resemble the shedding of his most precious bloud and the severing of it from his Body on the Crosse wherein consisted the very Passion And lastly the Effects and Operations of Bread and VVine upon the Bodies of men they doe most Lively resemble the Effects and Operations of the death of Christ upon the Soule To the sound and healthfull body Bread satisfies Hunger and strengthens life And Wine makes glad the heart of man saith the Psalmist * Psa 104.15 But on the contrary to a foule or feverish body wine is turned into poyfon and there is nothing surfets the body more suddenly nor more dangerously then bread according to the Aphorisme Hippo. Aphor. l. 7. Aphor. 62 Si quis febricitanti cibum dederit quem sano exhibet valenti Robur aegrotanti morbus fit In like manner the death of Christ applyed to the faithfull and devout soule satisfies his spirituall hunger strengthens the life of grace in him fills him with joy unspeakable and most glorious It is to him the savour of life unto life but to the unbeleever and impenitent that wilfully perishes It becomes the savour of death unto death * 2 Cor. 2.16 vid. S. Cypr de coena Domini §. 7. Let our soules goe along here and meditate of these and the like Analogies in the time of receaving Hoc age doe this And this is the first sence of shewing forth Christs death in the Sacrament In this Sacrament wee doe not onely make a bare shew of Christs death by way of representation and resemblance but we shew it forth also by way of evidence and confirmation For this Sacramentall Cup is the New Testament in Christs Bloud And all the promises in the Gospell which are the Legacies of the New Testament and Benefits of Christs death are in the right use of this Sacrament conveyed and assur'd to us In this Sacrament Christ sets his Scale to his Testament and delivers it particularly into every worthy Communicants hand and every such Communicant receaves it to his soules comfort from God as his deed and gift and hereof hee may assure himselfe as verily as hee receaves the outward Elements of Bread and VVine to his bodily nourishment And though a fraile and mortall man be the Minister and Jnstrument to convey this assurance to you yet what he doth herein he doth it in the Name of Christ by Commission from Christ and in Christ's stead So that it is Christ's Act and deed and the Assurance is Authentically and Originally from Him who is Jnvisibilis Sacerdos the Invisible High Priest John 4 v. ◠2 In the 4 of Saint Iohn wee read that Christ Baptized more then Iohn though Iesus himselfe Baptized not saith the Text but only His Disciples If therefore Baptisme be our Saviours Act In and by the Ministery of His Disciples which He never administred by Himselfe how much more is this Blessed Sacrament His Act and Deed by the hands of his Ministers which He Jnstituted Consecrated and Administred Himselfe in His own person And as much Comfort and Assurance may Yee reape from it now by the hands of Christs Ministers as if Ye should receive it from Christ's owne Blessed hands as the Disciples did Onely as yee desire to enjoy the Comfort of it be carefull to observe Theophylact's Counsell which he gives upon this very Ground in his Comment on my Text Eo affectu debetis esse imbuti Yee ought to be so well disposed when yee come to receive the Eucharist as yee your-selves thinke yee should and could have beene if with the Disciples yee had enjoy'd the happy presence of our Saviour at his last Supper and had taken this Blessed Sacrament at the first Institution of it from our Saviours owne hands Yee ought to aspire after it now that yee may bee affected with the same heavenly Devotion and humble Reverence with the same fervent Charity and hearty thankefulnes toward our blessed Saviour considering it is the same Holy Supper and no other and the very same Death which wee now shew forth and unto the worlds end as then at the first Institution and Ordination of it Thirdly and lastly we doe in this Sacrament shew forth Christs Death by way of Memoriall and Commemoration Do this in remembrance of Mee saith our Saviour * 22. S. Luk. 19. And for this end mainly was this Sacrament instituted by our blessed Saviour And from this main end of it this Sacrament is and hath been in all Ages of the Church called by the name of the Eucharist as being a sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God in Remembrance of our Saviours Death and Passion And accordingly our Church exhorts and practices in the service of the Communion * The last Exhortation before the Communion and the first Prayer after the Communion Above all things we must here give humble and heartie Thanks to God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost for the Redemption of the World by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ both God and Man who did humble himselfe to the Death upon the Crosse for us miserable sinners And to the end wee should always remember the exceeding great Love of our Master and only Saviour thus dying for us he hath instituted and ordain'd these holy Mysteries To Him therefore with the Father and the Holy Ghost Let us give as we are most bounden continuall Thanks And that this our Thansgiving may be acceptable to God let us first conform ourselves to our blessed Saviour in his Death and Passions let us die to sin and live to Christ Consider we therefore the worke we have in hand and the end of our comming as often as wee come to Celebrate the Holy Eucharist We come here to Commemorate the Death and Passion of our Saviour for our sins and it would ill beseem us then to solemnize the Funerals of our Lord and Master not having on our mourning Garments without suitable sorrow and suffering in our owne souls Should we suffer sin to live in us which cost our Saviour his Life and make that our Delight which caused his Death and that at the very time when wee