were properly called Sacramentaries and which is the opinion of those black-mouth'd Hereticks the Socinians now This was an Heterodox conceit indeed that was utterly against the Faith of the Catholick Church from the beginning and out of hatreed and detestation of this foul Error the Bishop of Rome and others presently fell into another extreme as foul as that as usually men do when they are in Heat and Passion Then the Doctrine not so much of Christs real as of his corporal presence was laid upon the Anvil and Lancfranck and Guitmund Berengarius his Enemies See the Confession which was extorted from Beren garius at Rome and which he afterwards retracted in Gratian de Consec dist 2. c. 24. fell a hammering at it and then they would not be satisfyed with this which yet had satisfied Christians for above a thousand years that Christs Divine Body is verily communicated after a Spiritual manner to the faithful But they would needs have it that his Natural Body is actually eaten with mens mouths and handled with their hands However this was the sense but of a few men as yet and all men were yet at liberty to opine and dispute as long as they did it Modestly For Fulbertus was against the new opinion and at the second Synod at Rome against Berengarius under Gregory the seventh Anno 1079 they did declare that there was great variety of opinions about the Body Habitus est Sermo de Corpore Sanguine Domini nostri multis haec nonnullis alia sentientibus and Bloud of Christ in the Sacrament as may be seen in the Acts of that Synod and Adelmannus though he blamed Berengarius yet was he against Lancfranck not owning that Conceit of Christs Corporal presence Lancfranck maintain'd it here in England and he was the first man that planted that weed in this Island but all men were not of his opinion here though he was a man of great Authority and in Foreign parts the point continued disputable for a long time for S. Bernard who lived in the twelfth Century current was of another opinion and Peter Lombard who was fifty years after him found it to be a moot point even in his days and he tells us himself what various opinions there were about it then so that for a matter of 1200. years together P. Lomb. Sentent l. 4. dist 11. the Doctrine of Transubstantation you see was not determin'd In the Primitive times and for some Centuries after it was not thought of In later ages it was but dreamt of and when men began to talk of it they talked as if they were asleep and they declared their several opinions as men tell their Dreams 't was no Article of Faith no not in the Church of Rome till the Lateran Council Anno 1215. nay some Learned men are of opinion that it was Vide Mr. Thorndike of the Laws of the Church p. 37 Bish Taylor of the Real Pres p. 267. not determined then neither but some time after But let that rest for me I will enquire after it no further now since we have found it already a child of Fancy and an upstart too that was Begotten of Late and brought into the World by the midwifry of time but cannot derive its Pedigree from any of the Holy Fathers we must lay the Brat at the Church of Romes door it is their own and since they are so fond of it without any sense or reason let them keep it if they please so they keep it to themselves though we wish it had been an Abortive or had dyed a Chrisom specially since it hath cost so much Christian Bloud to Foster and Breed it up CHAP. IX That though there be no Transubstantiation yet Christs Body is really in the Sacrament A distinction between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body What is meant by his Spiritual Body Why so called That such a Spipiritual there is And that it is received in and by the Sacrament TO proceed though there be no grounds in the World for the opinion of Transubstantiation yet we must not conceive that Christ is not verily really and of a truth in the Sacrament he may be really present though there be no reason to believe that he is present after a Corporal manner For two different Substances and Natures may be joyned and go together though they remain distinct in themselves and in their properties as the Soul and Flesh of a man are united in the same Person and as the Humanity and Divinity of Christ were united together in the same Lord. Though we should suppose that Pillar to have been a real cloud which went before the Israelites yet it will not follow that God was not in it though we shoiuld suppose those shapes to have been true Bodies wherein the Spirits of God were wont to appear to the old Patriarchs yet this doth not argue that Angelical Substances were not present in them though we should suppose that to have been a real Dove which lighted on our Saviour and that to have been real Fire which sate upon his Apostles yet this will not argue but that the Holy Ghost was in both In like manner though we grant the Elements in the Eucharist to be Substantially and really Bread and Wine yet it will not follow by any means that Christ is not present in the Sacrament it is easy to conceive it possible for it to be Bread still and Christs Body too and to be wine still and Christs Bloud too There may be an union of these two things though we do not suppose the Nature of the one to be destroyed or turned into the nature of the other And that this is not only possible but is certainly so de facto the Scripture doth strongly oblige us to believe For 1. S. Paul tells us that the administration of the Sacrament is the Communion of Christs Body and Bloud 1 Cor. 10 16. which words are to be understood not only of that foederal Vid. S. Chrysostâ—n 1 Cor. 10. 16. Communion which we have thereby with Christ but moreover of that real Comunication which we have of him so that by drinking of the Wine we participate of Christs Bloud which streamed out of his side and which he gives us here as well as he shed it on the Cross and by eating of the Bread we do not only Partake of his Body but also obtain thereby a close Conjunction and Coherence with him whose Body it is we are united to him by the Bread even as our Flesh is united to Christ himself as S. Chrysostom affirms which doth plainly argue the real presence and communication of his Body and Bloud 2. Again whereas S. Paul saith I Cor. II. 27. Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord he doth seem manifestly to conclude that Christs Body and Bloud is really in the Eucharist that all worthy
A DISCOURSE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE Lords Super. WHEREIN THE FAITH OF THE CATHOLICK CHVRCH Concerning that Mystery Is explained proved and vindicated after an intelligible Catachetical and Easie Manner By EDWARD PELLING Chaplain to His Grace the Duke of SOMERSET LONDON Printed for B. Griffin and Sam. Keble at the Turks Head in Fleet-Street and Dan. Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple Bar and Jac. Tonson at the Judges head in Chancery lane 1685. To Her Grace THE Most Noble and most Vertuous LADY ELIZABETH Lady Dutchess of Somerset May it please your Grace IF there be any room for Books amidst our common and deep sorrows for the death of that excellent and most beloved Prince the late King Charles the Second of ever blessed Memory I am willing to hope that this little piece may not be altogether unwelcome to the World because the subject of it is of standing and most necessary use especially in Times when we are most apt to recollect our selves and can find no such solid and substantial Comfort as at Gods Altar And since I have presumed upon your leave to prefix your great Name to this following discourse I am in all justice and duty bound to give your Grace an account of this undertaking Among many great Calamities which were the effects of the late intestine War this was one That the Holy Communion was in some places so sparingly used in some so wholly neglected in most so little consider'd that we seemed to be in danger of quite losing a main part of Christianity The unity of the Church being broken variety of pernicious opinions about the Sacrament was introduced to disparage and abolish it which took such Root in peoples minds that for these five and twenty years last past it hath been a matter of no small difficulty to restore it to its due Esteem and Observation in some tolerable measure Controversies either with Papists or with other Sectaries took up the greatest part of Mens time and pains And tho' some Books of Devotion have been written upon this subject yet 't was impossible to conceive how this Mystery could be restored to its right use till Men were throughly informed of its Nature and Ends which popular Men in the late times seemed to have very little understood or very superficially to have looked into Therefore to serve the World in this particular divers have lately laboured hard but none seem to have done it with greater solidity or better success then that excellent Divine and Truly good Man Dr. Symon Patrick now Dean of Peterbourgh to whom even the learned part of the World is much indebted for his pains upon this Subject which indeed have been so aboundant that to write after him may be thought to be only the doing of the same thing over again which was better done before However considering how scandalously great the Ignorance and mistakes of many People are still concerning this matter and finding that the Government hath been awakened at the sense of those dangers which Church and State both are in by reason of mens straglings from this weighty Ordinance I thought it necessary for me in the execution of my Office to bestow some considerable time upon the Subject of the Sacrament to treat of it purposely and as fully as I could and to accommodate my self to the Apprehensions of those that are of the most vulgar and ordinary understandings by discoursing upon this Theme after a plain Catechetical manner This could not well be done but by going over the whole and by discoursing first of the Notional or Doctrinal part in the prosecution whereof as I thought it proper for me to observe the same instructive Method which others had taken so I thought it necessary to look narrowly into two things especially which the the Generality of men have not throughly examined and searched into First to look into the nature and use those Ancient Sacrifical Banquets which some few Writers of late have very luckily taken notice of For in regard that this Christian Feast doth bear a great Resemblance to those Feasts which all Mankind did anciently celebrate upon part of their Sacrifices I did conceive that to give a plain and full account of them would be the best way both to open the meaning of this Feast and to remove many great Errours which divers Opinionators especially the Socinians do entertain concerning this Mystery who have corrupted and debauched the minds of of men by those mean and unsound Notions which they have vended abroad in the World Secondly 't was necessary to look into the genuine meaning of the Real Presence of Christs Body and Bloud in the Sacrament For in this point abundance of poor people are at a loss being not able to understand it so fully and clearly as they ought And having to do in that particular with the Romanists who are wont to cheat men into the sin of Apostacy by urging those words of our Saviour This is my Body and this is my Bloud it was absolutely requisite for me to give such a fair account of the meaning of those expressions as might consist with the Faith of the Catholick Church and serve to satisfie the minds of men fully and clearly For tho enough hath been saidagainst Transubstantiation and most people among us are convinced of the falsehood and absurdity of that Doctrine yet it requires a great deal of pains to open and unfold the right Faith concerning the real presence so as to render it intelligible and clear because it is an easier matter to overthrow an Error than to establish a Truth And altho in the explication of this matter I have adventur'd more than many of our Divines have done yet am I sure that I have followed herein the sense of the Ancient Church which is enough to justifie and bear me out however I am not so vain a person as to pretend to be mine own Judge in this or any other case And now Madam since these papers are committed to the Press if any shall wonder at the publication of them I hope no man will think it strange that I presume to lay them at Your Graces feet and entitle them to your Noble Patronage if they will but consider that there are no Expressions of Dutifulness and Honour due from the Lowest Servant to so great a Personage but Your Grace may lay just claim to them from me It may perhaps be matter of some discourse that I should offer this to your Grace singly without begging the Patronage of him too who is your Noble Husband and my Natural Master and Lord. And I confess I can hardly think what to say to the World that in the Dedication of a little Book I do not joyn Both your Graces together who are Blessed by God in Interest and Affection and Religion and in all respects Undivided The truth is his Grace hath often given me the Honour to address my self to him after this manner
and if my Desires now are to Express this my Duty to your Grace alone I know such is my Good Lords Affection to Your Grace that he will not think it a Fault in me or if the World shall think it so will easily pardon it if your Grace will be pleased to forgive my presumption Madam I have no more to add now but to beg that your Grace will favourably accept of my humblest Acknowledgements and to beseech God whose good Providence hath knit both your Graces together that the fortunate Band may prosperously continue neither dissolved nor weakened through the long Succession of many the most happy years That those mutual Affections which are so Eminently between You Both may Vigorously Hold to a good old age and make your Graces equally Examples of the sincerest Love as of Vertue and Piety That your Grace may be a fruitful Mother of a great Race of Noble Children to inherit your Fortunes Honour and Vertue and to perpetuate your Names to the Worlds end That my Young Lord that is now in the Arms of your Love may long live a Blessing to his Parents and to the whole Nation That in the midst of those Uncertainties which the Course of this World makes us subject unto the Goodness of God may ever Rest upon your Graces and on your whole Family That God will vouchsafe to protect guide prosper and preserve you and bless you with all the blessings of heaven and earth which is the sincere and Earnest Prayer of Madam Your Graces most Humble most Obedient and Dutiful Servant and Chaplain EDWARD PELLING THE CONTENTS THe Introduction page 1 Chap. 1. Of the Nature of this Sacrament That it is a sacrifical Feast Sacrifical Feasts used both by Heathens and Jews The Analogy between those Ancient Feasts and This Especially between This and the Paschal Supper The usefulness of this observation against the Socinians p. 9. Chap. 2. Of the Ends of this Sacrament First it is a Memorial of Christs Love proved from Christs own words From its Analogy to other sacrifical Banquets and from the Proctice of the Ancient Church Two inferences the one against Romanists the other against our Dissenters p. 31 Chap. 3. The second end of the Holy Sacrament to be a Covenant Feast The Ancient and general use of Covenant-Feasts That this is such proved from its Analogy to those Ancient Covenant-Feasts among Heathens and Jews and from the Words of Christ at the Institutions Two conclusions p. 53 Chap. 4. A third end of this Sacrament is to engage us to observe the Laws of that Religion to which it doth belong Proved from the Notion of the new Covenant From the design of of Mysteries in general From its Analogy to Mystical Banquets in particular both among Heathens and Jews especially the Paschal-Supper The sense of the Church touching this matter p. 78 Chap. 5. It is to be a Pledge and a Token of Gods favour Proved from its Analogy to the Antient Feasts both among Heathens and Jews and from the words of St. Paul Two Conclusions p. 104 Chap. 6. Of the blessings we receive by a due use of this Ordinance First we Mystically participate of Christs Body and Bloud What that Mystical participation is Secondly that we receive the Pardon of Sin Proved from the correspondency of this Feast to the Ancient Sacrifical Banquets in general And from its Analogy to those Feasts which were used after Sin-offerings in particular and from the words of Christ at the Institution p. 128 Chap 7. Thirdly We really communicate of Christ Glorified The Doctrine of Transubstantiation condemned as utterly contrary to sence Reason and the Holy Scriptures p. 152 Chap. 8. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation inconsistent with and contrary to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Proved by five Observations touching the common sense of Christians in the most ancient times A short account of the Doctrine of the Church in succeeding Ages till the twelfth Century p. 188 Chap. 9. That though there be no Transubstantiation yet Christs Body is really in the Sacrament A distinction between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body What is meant by his Spiritual Body Why so called That such a Spiritual Body there is And that it is received in and by the Sacrament p. 224 Chap. 10. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Discourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of the Catholick Church Several advantages gained by this Notion p. 252 Chap. 11. Other Blessings which we receive by the Sacrament As the Assistance of the Holy Spirit Proved from the Words of Christ and S. Paul The Confirmation of our Faith An intimate Union with Christ What that Union is explained and proved Lastly a Pledge of an Happy Resurrection p. 275 Chap. 12. Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse p. 306 A DISCOURSE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER The Introduction COnsidering the wretched state this distemper'd Age is in beyond the condition of former Times how many Spirits among us are infected with Atheism how Debauchery of all sorts prevaileth over our Land how negligent and supine some are that talk of Religion how hypocritical others are who make use of Religion only as a Tool to further their Factious and Seditious ends how miserably we are divided into several Parties how each Party struggles for its own preservation as if the pangs of death were come upon all how the interest of our Religion is hereby weakened and its honour blemish't how the Peace of the Kingdom is endanger'd and hoâ— mischeivous these evils are likely to prove to our establisht Government in Church and State I say considering these things I humbly conceive that the most effectual way to reform and recover us is by all possible and justifiable methods to bring men to a right Christian use of that solemn Ordinance commonly called The Sacrament of the Lords Supper For to this Ordinance Men are bound to come with all gravity and seriousness with minds possest with a deep sense of vertue and true Piety with humble and holy Souls with Spirits that are ingenuous candid and tractable with hearts void of all rancour and baseness and full of Peaceableness Goodness and Charity so that were this Ordinance duly and regularly used and with a real design to do our Souls good by the use of it it would prove a blessed Restorative of the Life of Religion a certain instrument of Concord and Love and a most excellent means of making us all what we should be Good men would be at ease in their thoughts and the evil part of the World would be under a necessity of being brought to Repentance and we should soon find a new heaven and a new earth wherein Righteousness and Peace and whatsoever is desirable by rational Creatures would then dwell among us
or the Courage of a Joseph Some have an unlucky and ill Art of shrinking the great Catalogue of sins into a very little number so that if they be not common Swearers or Drunkards or Whoremongers they are in their own account the very Babes of Grace though their Souls are as black as an Ethiope nay as Hell it self with all other kinds of Villany I do not find that every formal professor of Religion makes any great account of injustice and dishonesty nor that they are so afraid of premeditated Perjuries as of an ex tempore-Oath nor that they stick half so much in point of Blood-sted and Rebellion as in point of common decency nor that their foreheads are as tender as they pretend their Consciences are nor that their Stomachs are so queamish but an hundred Camels will go down with them more glib than one little Gnat. Nay we are come to that shameful pass now that wickedness must be Sanctified too and the Brand of a Reprobate is become the mark of a Saint so that to be forsworn is to be sober and conscientions to be Perfidious is to be a Zealot to be a Rebel is to be a Stickler for the Faith to be a Schismatick is to be a precious vessel of Election and to be any thing or nothing is to be moderate and Prudent I beseech every well meaning Christian not to suffer himself to be Imposed upon in things of such vast concernment but before he go to the Sacrament to ask his Conscience seriously whether disobedience and Rebellion and Hypocrisie and self Love and indifferency in Religion be not sins in the account of God as well as other Crimes And let such as intend to be Communicants take care first to be sincere and uniform Penitents and resolve stedfastly to keep those Vows which they are understood to make so Solemnly before Gods Table It is a fearful thing to lay ones hand upon the Holy Evangelists and then to be Perjured But the wickedness is far greater to lay ones hand as it were upon Christs Body and then to be a Traitor and to take Judas his morsel into ones Mouth with the Devil in his Heart is the ready way to be as he was a Son of Perdition By receiving the Holy Sacrament you give up your selves to the Holy Jesus and are no longer your own do not desecrate that which you offer up and hallow unto the Redeemer of your Souls after such a Solemn manner when you are solicited unto any sin be it against the First or against the second Table remember I beseech you as the Story saith of Joseph that you have eaten of Holy Bread and consider as he did when he was sollicited by his wanton Mistriss how shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God Men that have a True sense of Religion are always very Circumspect especially upon a Sacrament-day they dare not leave their Devotion at the Church-doors but carry the sense of what they have done along with them home and are afraid to pollute and stain those Garments which they have just washed Why thus circumspect ought men to be every day though they be not every day Communicants for they are lasting tyes and obligations which we take upon us at the Sacrament No shifts no pretences no equivocations no secular concernments or advantages no not the very fear and danger of Death can be enough to set us free from those Engagements which this heavenly Ordinance brings us under We are bought with a price and this Sacrament is a commemoration of your Redemption Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 6. 20. CHAP. V. It is to be a Pledge and a Token of Gods favour Proved from its Analogy to the Ancients Feasts both among Heathens and Jews and from the words of St. Paul Two Conclusions BEsides these Ends already mentioned there is another yet for which this blessed Ordinance was appointed viz. that it may be a Token and Pledge and as it were a Seal to assure every devout and honest-hearted Communicant of the Divine Grace and Sunt qui omnino credant caenam Domini nobis testari Dei erga nos benevolentiam Hoc nullo modo verum esse potest Socin de usu fine S. Caenae Vehementer fallunter illis qui Coenam Domini visibile verbum appellant quo Deus suas promissiones obsignat Wolzogen Comment in Matth. 26. 26. vide Cateches Racov. caetera scripta Sociniana favour Socinus and his followers will by no means allow this and the reason which they bring for their Singular opinion in this point is this because Christ at the institution of this Ordinance made no mention at all of any such end 'T is true our Saviour did not mention it in plain and express terms but this is no argument against us because neither did he mention that we read of the necessity of self-examination before the Celebration of this Ordinance nor perhaps had we had any Scripture proof for our Duty in that particular if St. Paul had not told it us occasionally and by chance and by reason of some abuses which had crept into the Corinthian Church Nevertheless the Reason of this our Duty may be gathered easily from the consideration of the very Nature and Analogy of this Christian Feast And so may our Doctrine touching this End of it also For seeing this is a Covenant-solemnity as I have shew'd from our Saviours own words it is rational for us to conclude that here there is an Obsignation between both parties as on our part so on Gods part also And seeing this Mystery is answerable to other the like Mysteries of old which were vulgarly known over the World it is fit for us to judge that it was intended also for such answerable Ends and purposes as were vulgarly known too Indeed I do not wonder that the Socinians deny the vertue and efficacy of this Sacrament seeing they deny the satisfaction made upon the Cross and the propitiatory Virtue of Christs own blood But we may well wonder that Socinus should have the confidence to say that the blood of Beasts formerly was far better that is much more efficacious in respect of the Old Covenant Socin in disput contr Niemojev than this Bread and Wine now is in respect of the New for though we grant what Socinus affirms that 't is not the Wine but the Blood of Christ which answers the Blood of the ancient Sacrifices yet seeing the Wine is the Representation and Communication of Christs Blood we must conclude that it Communicates those benefits for which that Blood was shed and consequently that it seals that Covenant to every faithful Communicant in particular which the Blood of Christ sealed to all Mankind in general And as it is true that our Saviours Passion did answer those Sacrifices which were offered up of old so it is true also that this
Kindness and gratious Intentions towards them for this is matter of Faith and Hope which are the things we must necessarily go upon in all our addresses unto the Father of mercies but yet the fruit of eating and drinking here is Joy and Peace to every honest hearted Communicant because his Faith and Hope is hereby much the stronger and built upon more sure and certain grounds 'T is true also that a mans pardon is begun before he doth make his appraoches that is if he makes his approaches regularly and like a good Christian for he must repent first of all his transgressions and that doth dispose him for Gods mercy and makes him meet to be a Partaker of it We must not presume to go to the Lords Table with guilt about us or while we are Reeking in our Sins but Repentance must wipe our defilements off because Christs Body and Bloud is not food for Swine As the Paschal Lamb was not to be eaten but by persons that were pure and clean according to the Sanctifications of the Law so this Christian Passeover Feast is not to be celebrated but by such persons as are purged by Repenance which is the Sanctification of the Gospel Yet all this not withstanding the Blessed Sacrament is an Ordinance of very great concernment and comfort to the cleanest Communicant for though he hath Repented long ago and though upon his having done so he hath great Reason to Hope that he is Reconciled unto God yet this Reconciliation is as yet but imperfect in comparison A man is not fully perfectly and finally pardoned till he hath Ended his Life well While we Live we are still Transacting our business with Heaven but do not finish our work till we dye My Pardon is Inchoa ted upon my Repentance 't is compleatd and irrevocable upon my Perseverance unto the End but t is Confirm'd to me upon my due Eating and Drinking at this Solemnity Hereby all former Grants are Ratified and Sealed anew so that now we have a fair Evidence to shew for our discharge and such an Evidence as will be valid and hold in the day of Judgement if we be not so Foolish as to Cancel the Deed our selves and render our Title to a blessed Eternity Null and void by returning again with the dog to his vomit A Release you know may pass between Parties onely by the Consent and Promise of the Injured Person but when once it is committed to Deed the act is then Confirmed and the Seal which is affixt to the Deed makes that Sure in Law with before was onely Parol or by Promise In like manner though our forgiveness be Inchoated and Begun upon our Repentance yet it is Continued Ratified and Ascertain'd unto us upon our Participation so that he who was justified is justified still and his Justification is more certain certitudine Subjecti than it was before that is a Sincere Commu nicant hath better Hopes to comfort himsurer grounds to go upon more to shew and say for himself more to plead against the clamours of his Conscience more and better Reasons to be Quiet in his mind than when he was barely a Penitent To say the Truth if he doth not Backslide and Revolt he hath a certain Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Upon this account 't is every mans Interest to Communicate often The longer he lives the Older he grows the more he draws towards his grave still he should be the more intent upon this Duty that his Peace and Comfort may still receive the more Additions and that his Assurances may be the more and more strong so that by the blessing of God he may at last use such expressions as S. Paul did which I am sure no Non-Communicant in the world can with such Reason use I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith hence forth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8. CHAP. VII Thirdly We really communicate of Christ Glorified The Doctrine of Transubstantiation condemned as utterly contrary to sence Reason and the Holy Scriptures BEsides that participation of Christ Crucified which is Mystical by Interpretation and Construction as I have shew'd already there is also at this Ordinance a participation of Christ Glorified So 't is Exprest in the Prayer of Consecration which is Real by our being actually made partakers of his most Blessed Body and Bloud This is manifestely the Doctrine of our Church that the Body and Bloud of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper and that our Souls are strengthened and Refreshed by the Body and Bloud of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine Now our Bodies receive nourishment by our actual receiving the very Substances of Bread and Wine and so according to the Comparison our Souls also do receive strengh and Comfort by actually receiving and participating of the very Nature of Christ After the same manner was the Faith of the Church of England delivered in the beginning of the Reformation by that truly Learned and Great man Arch-Bishop Cranmer in that Admirable Book of his called a Defence of the true and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament wherein he doth often use Fol. 32 33 73 100. Et alibi fol. 42 76 84. that Similitude That as the Bread and Wine Corporally comfort and feed our Bodies so doth Christ with his Flesh and Bloud spiritually comfort and feed our Souls and he positively affirms that by the Communion we receive spiritual food and supernatural nourishment from Heaven of the very true Body and Bloud of our Saviour Christ that our Souls by faith do eat his very body and drink his Bloud though spiritually Sucking out of the same everlasting Life and that the Hearts of them that receive the Sacraments are secretly inwardly and Spiritually Transformed renew'd fed comforted and nourisht with Christs Flesh and Bloud through his most holy Spirit the same Flesh and Bloud still remaining in Heaven So that according to the sense of the Church of England not onely the Sacrifice of Christs Death is in the account of God Sacramently Imputed unto us for the Pardon of sin but moreover the very Glorified Jesus now Living and sitting in Heaven is in the Reality of the thing Actually Communicated unto us from above and verily received by us in the Sacrament And the outward Elements of Bread and Wine are not onely Signes and Tokens much less Empty Tokens and Bare Signs of Christs Body and Bloud but are also the Means and Instruments of bringing the whole Christ to us so that his Flesh and Bloud do Really but after a Spiritual and wonderfull manner go along with the Bread and Wine to Sustain and Refresh the Soul as They do the Body I know very well that I am now entring upon the Tenderest point concerning this Sacrament perhaps upon the Nicest speculation in the whole Body of Divinity
Nor am I insensible how wary and Cautious Divines are what they say and how they unfold their thoughts of this matter Indeed it is that which requires of us a great deal of Consideration and Pains aswell to Conceive a Right notion of it as to Express it so as to make it Intelligible to others But not withstanding the Difficulty of the thing it being so very Usefull and Necessary for the Satisfaction of every mans mind I shall take upon me to discourse of it at large but without trangressing I hope the due bounds of Modesty and Truth To clear my way as I go from one foul mistake we are to note that Christ is not so present in the Sacrament as to be eaten after a Carnal and Gross manner neither are the Elements so changed by any act of Consecration as to be turned out of one substance into another out of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Substance of our Lords Natural Flesh and Bloud This indeed is the Faith of the whole Roman Church and they have Invented the word Transubstantiation to signifie and Express their Faith and it implyeth these three things 1. That the Nature and Matter of the Elements vanisheth away 2. That the Accidents thereof as they call it meaning the Colour the Smell the Taste the Quantity of the Elements do all remain without their Proper and Natural suject 3. That Christ's Natural Body supplyeth the room of Bread and that this Bloud is in the Place of Wine Now I might pass over this with quick dispatch by referring you to a great many Learned and Unanswerable Books which have been written against this Monstrous Error to say no worse of it but to save you the charge and pains of so much travel I desire you 1. To Consider in general that there are four things which are Infallibly able to satisfie a mans Judgement as to the Truth or Falsity of any thing whatsoever viz. The Use of our Senses the Suffrage of Right Reason the Authority of Divine Revelation and the help of Tradition And if men will pertinaciously contend for a proposition in spight of the Concurrent Evidence which is given against it by all these Demonstrative mediums which ought and are enough to Convince every man they were as good tell us plainly that they are Resolved to be Infidels or Scepticks or to believe no more than what they themselves please for stronger arguments than these four can never be offered to any Now thus stands the case between Us and the Romanists they dispute for their beloved Doctrine of Transubstantiation and to maintain the Controversie they appeal to the Definitious of their own Church that is they will be Parties and Judges too We plead against their Doctrine that 't is contrary to every Test which should govern Rational Creatures in their Sentiments And though the very Mentioning of this palpable Error be enough to Expose it to Scorn and Laughter yet for the further discovery thereof observe in particular 1. How it contradicted the Testimony of our very Senses We cannot conceive but that God gave us our Senses as helps to inform our Understanding nor can it be supposed with any Colour of Truth that all men should be Constantly deceived in the perpetual use of their Senses when their Faculties are Good and the Object of their Sense is Adequate and Proper this would be as Ridiculous and Absurd as to say that none of us yet ever saw the light tho our eyes be open and the Sun every day Appears Now that which we contend for is as clear to our Sense as the Sun is at high Noon For we see it we smell it we taste it we feel it by Four of our Senses we find what we receive at the Communion to be Bread and Wine and why should we fancy our selves deceived in this case more then S. Thomas was when he put his finger into our Saviorus Side why should not we be satisfied by so many of our Senses that it is Bread and Wine when He was convinced by his bare Touch that it was his Lord and his God Upon two accounts it is impossible for Considering men to think that a Fallacy can be put upon us in this matter For 1. should we Suppose the Omnipotent power of God could turn Bread into Flesh the Species of Bread remaining still yet it would not at all answer that great End for which Miracles have been ever wrought and therefore it is not Reasonable for us to believe that God would do it It would be indeed the Greatest of all Miracles and infinitely beyond that which our Saviour Himself did when he turned Water into Wine for there the Colour the Taste the Smell the Operation of Water was changed as well as the Substance And as it is not in the least probable that every the Meanest Priest should every day do a Greater Miracle than ever our Lord himself did so it is not in the least Credible that God Himself would do a Miracle but to convince men of Some Necessary and Important Truth Should he do a Miracle for no other end but onely to shew his Power of necessity it must must be Seen it must be shewed in some sensible instance for otherwise it could not be a Demonstration of his Omnipotence But God never yet did any Miracle for the Miracle-sake but that thereby he might Attest the Truth of some Doctrine and might Convince men of Something which they could not well be convinced of but by Gods setting his own Seal to it after that manner For which reason all Miracles have been still Apparent and Open to the Senses and 't is Necessary they should be so because they would be of no Use were they not perceived neither could they prove any thing unless they themselves were Manifest And if we reckon up all the Miracles that ever were done in the world from the days of Moses to the times of the Gospel we shall find that instead of being Concealed and Hid from men they have been always Exposed and made Plain to mens Senses Now this doth utterly baffle the groundless pretence of Transubstantiation for that Doctrine supposeth God to do the Highest Miracle that ever was done to no Necessary purpose neither to edifie Us not to shew Himself and how can we think that he will make Wonders and his Power Cheap and with an Almighty hand alter the Course and Nature of things so as not to Glorifie himself nor to do Us Good by so doing This would be a Miracle that could not in any wise serve the Ends of all Miracles and it becomes us not to believe that the All-good and All wise God will deceive four of our Senses at once to no End at all since it hath been all along the method of his Providence to satisfie All our Senses for the Best purposes But this is not all there is secondly a Worse thing behind yet The Romanists by crying down the
Which a little before he calls five several times Bread and the Bread of Lord. Origen in Matth. cap. 15. Sacramental Bread though Bellarmine doth onely trifle upon the Argument interpreting it of the Corruption of the Species or Accidents onely that is of Nothing or of things without matter and Substance which is as good as nothing The truth is the Learned Jesuite was not able to answer this objection and therefore Bellarm. de Euch lib. 1. cap. 14. he tells men that they should stop their ears at it and say nothing to it But let them endeavour to Shuttle it off what they can it is a most Horrid Conclusion which followeth their Principle of Transubstantiation which renders the Principle it self highly wicked and Blasphemous as well as Unreasonable 3. But yet did the Holy Scriptures say expresly that what we taste and see at the Lords Table is the very natural Flesh and Bloud of Christ we ought rather to disbelieve our senses and reason too than contradict the Word of God But they speak nothing to this purpose but do plainly say and argue the contrary and this is the third thing which we justly blame the Romanists for that they will not suffer the Scripture to determine the point between us though it be a Book which They acknowledge as well as We to contain the Word of God and which one would think should be judged a certain Rule of Faith and of sufficient authority to oblige every Christians Judgement to Acquiesce by Now 1. as touching the Body of Christ the Scripture tells us that it is gone up into Heaven there to abide till the day of final Judgement To this purpose S. John tells us chap. 14. and 16. that Christ spake to his Disciples before his death telling them that he was about to leave them and to depart from them that he was going his way to the Father and was leaving the world Which expressions must necessarily be understood of his Bodily absence that his Humane Nature was to be no longer here below or else the sense would be Impertinent and to no purpose For his design was to Prepare the minds of his followers that they might not be dejected at his departure nor surprized with it And to that end he told them of it before hand and assured them withal that in lieu of his Corporal presence he would give them his Spirit to be with his Church to the end of the world Now to what purpose were these Expressions and Promises if he was to be with them still in Person and if his Body was to be handled by them still at the Sacrament The Poor said he ye have with you always but Me ye have not always Matth. 26. 11. This is contradicted by those of the Church of Rome for they say we have him with us still even in his person though he be not visible to our eyes nay they pretend to have him much better than the Jews had for they saw him and heard him and touched him only but these pretend to eat him too and to take him down into their very Stomachs And S. Peter speaking of him affirmed that he was in Heaven and there was to be until the times of Restitution Act. 3. 21. In respect of his Body he is at the right hand of God in Heaven and thence we look for him saith S. Paul Phil. 3. 20. not in the Sacrament on the Patin or in the Chalice but we look for him from Heaven at the general Resurrection Lord what can a man in his wits collect out of all these Texts but this that though Christ be with us by his Spirit yet he is at such an infinite distance from us in his Humane nature that till the end of all things we cannot have so much as a Glimpse of him unless Heaven be opened to us by a Miracle as it was to S. Stephen Men were as good take the Holy Writers by the Throats and with violent hands keep them from speaking at all as dispute against such plain and Full Evidence touching the absence of our Saviours Natural Body And then secondly as touching that which we take into our hands at the Sacrament the Scripture still calleth it Bread and Wine At the institution our Lord pointed to the contents in the Cup and termed it the fruit of the Vine And so he is said to have taken Bread to have blessed it to have broken it and to have given it to his Disciples requiring them to eat it meaning plainly that which he took into his hands and that was Bread S. Luke calls the Distribution of the Sacrament the breaking of Bread Act. 2. 42. And S. Paul says 't is Bread which we break 1 Cor. 10. 16. that we are Partakers of Bread vers 17. and that as often as we eat of it we eat of Bread 1 Cor. 11. 26. whence it appears that 't is Bread after Consecration as well as before though the Use and Condition of it be changed so that by it the Body of Christ be communicated to us yet the Nature and Substance of it is the same still even Bread as the Scripture calls For 't is an eternal truth that where things are of a Different Nature as bread and flesh are the one cannot be said to be the other with any Propriety of speech as Bertram rightly argued that nothing is more absurd than to call Bertran de Corp. Sang. Dom. bread flesh or wine bloud without a Figure for 't is as absurd as to call a Man an Elephant or a Fish a Scorpion Either then it is not Bread and then the Scripture deceives us or if it be Bread it is not Christs Natural Flesh and then the Church of Rome cousens us and there is the point The utmost that they can pretend from Scripture is that one expression this is my Body and will you not say they believe our Saviour himself Yes we do firmly believe that to be true which our Saviour did mean but the question is what his meaning was Now that those words are not to be taken strictly and according to the first Sound of them will be clear from these following considerations 1. That before men grew Hot and Angry and Magisterial about this matter several Doctors even of the Roman Church could not find that our Saviour meant any thing of Transubstantiation by that Phrase That Doctrine was defined first at the Lateran Council a little above 400. years ago and yet Scotus and Cameracensis who lived after that Council did hold that without the Churches Declaration there is no place of Scripture which forceth men to believe Transubstantiation Nay Bellarmine himself confesseth the thing to be Probable enough which those Bellarm. de Euch. lib. 3. c. 23. Doctors said and by this 't is manifest that in their own opinion Christs words may be allowed to bear a very doubtful sense so that had it not been out of pure respects to the
Declaration of their Church probably they would have been contented that those words at the Institution should have born such a construction as would not have shook the Reason of men so notoriously 2. If we frame notions of things just according to the clink of a Phrase we must needs entertain very strange apprehensions of our Saviour himself because he is usually called a Lamb a Lyon a Shepherd a Rock a Door a Way a Vine and the like 3. As Christ saith here This is my Body so in Job 6. he saith also that he is the Bread of life and that his Flesh is Meat and his Bloud Drink He speaks as plainty and positively in the one place as he doth in the other Now if men affirm that the bread is changed into Christs Flesh because Christ saith positively This is my Body they have equally the same reason to affirm that Christs Flesh is turned into Bread and his Bloud into Drink because he said as positively My Flesh is meat indeed and my Bloud Drink indeed A latitude must be allowed to be as to the sense of those expressions or else men must fall into a Labyrinth of absurdities and contradictions which they can never wind themselves out of by the help of any clue 4. If we observe what our Saviour said to the Capernaites upon the like occasion we cannot but conclude that his meaning at both times was mystical The story we have in the 6th of S. John verily verily saith our Lord except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you vers 53. This seem'd a very Harsh expression because they conceived as the Romanists do now that Christ intended his Flesh should be torn in pieces with their Teeth and that his Natural bloud should be suckt out of his veins with their mouths The bare apprehension of this matter turn'd their stomachs so that they were scandaliz'd presently and fell off from him Therefore to rectifie their mistakes he expounded himself telling them that they were not to understand him in a literal and carnal sense no the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life vers 63. meaning that he spake Mystically and that they were to interpret So that place was understood by the Ancients his words after a Spiritual manner and of a Spiritual and Divine way of feeding upon him and so we feed upon Christ who laughd at the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and so all good Christians fed upon him for many hundreds of years before that Doctrine was dreamt of or thrown about to debauch and intoxicate the world CHAP. VIII The Doctrine of Transubstantion inconsistent with and contrary to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Proved by five Observations touching the common sense of Christian in the most ancient times A short account of the Doctrine of the Church in succeeding Ages till the twelfth Century 3. 'T Is true the Papists are wont to crack of Tradition and Antiquity as if all the ancient Fathers of the Catholick Church were on their side And nothing hath prevailed more with ordinary people to turn or continue Papists than an opinion that Transubstantiation was all along the Faith of the Christian Church I confess I wonder much that common people will pretend to be judges in this case when they understand little of Greek or Latine much less have skill to tell which of the Books that are ascribed to the Fathers are Genuine and which are supposititious But alass they are taught by their leaders to believe any thing and to talk by Rote like a sort of men among our selves who are readily perswaded to act any thing that is for the Cause for the Cause for their darling and dearly beloved Cause though they venture their Necks and their very Souls for an evil cause sake Therefore to clear this matter fully we will once for all try the point by unquestionable authorities and examine particularly what the sense of the Christian Church was chiefly in the Primitive times and ex abundanti in the times following And I am fouly mistaken if we do not find upon the whole enquiry that Tradition which the Romanists brag of so much is plainly against them for above a thousand years In the prosecution of this thing I beg leave to go a little out of the common rode not to trouble my self with an endless fatigue of collecting a world of sentences out of the Fathers a course which tho it be proper enough for a Disputant yet may be liable to a great many Cavils I shall rather chuse to argue from some observations that may be made upon those Controversies the Ancient Church had with Infidels and Hereticks which will evidently shew the sense of the Ancient Christians as to the point under our hands for this is certain that we can never better learn the sense of the Ancient Church than out of their Disputations especially when they go upon the same grounds and use the same way of Argumentation 1. Now first it is easie to observe what the sense of the Ancient Church was as to the eating of Humane Flesh and the drinking of Bloud The Pagans were wont for a long time to throw this in the teeth of the Primitive Christians that they celebrated Thyestean banquets and stories ran about that at their sacred Assemblies they killed a Child and then junketed together upon the tragical dish The Christians granted that the feasting upon Humane Flesh and Bloud was a most Barbarous and Flagitious crime but they proved themselves Innocent they abominated the very thoughts of any such detestable practice and in all their Apologies they declared their utter Abhorrence thereof so Justin Martyr in the Age next to the Apostles then Tatian after him Athenagoras and Theophilus Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Apolog. 2. Tatian Orat. cont Graec. P. 162. Athenagor legat pro Christian P. 4. 35 36. c. Theophil ad Autol. lib. 3 P. 119. 126. Tertullian Apologet. cap. 9. Origen cont Cels l. 6. P. 302. Minut. Felix in Octavio the Patriarch of Antioch After these Tertullian after him Origen and after him Minutus Faelix For an hundred years together were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theop. ad Autolyc the Primitive Christians busie in vindicating themselves from that Atheistical and Savage Practice as Theophilus calls it of eating mans flesh And to make this evidently appear the ancient Christians did appeal to their very Enemies who could not but know that some Christians were wont to refrain from all flesh whatsoever that none of them would taste of that which was strangled or which was destroyed Tantum ab Humano sanguine cavemus ut nec edulium pecorum in cibis sanguinem noverimus Minut. Felix P. 34. Denique inter tentament a Christianorum botulos cruore distentos admovetis certissimi scilicet illicitum esse penes illos c. Tertull. Apol. c.
Ignatius the Martyr who lived in the Apostolical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrnaeos age that they would not receive the Sacrament because they would not Confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour which suffered for our Sins and which was raised again by the goodness of the Father Undoubtedly the Holy Martyr meant that they would not own the Bread to be the Sign and Figure of Christs Body as all Catholicks then believed For the Question was whether our Saviour lived and dyed and rose again in a true Humane Body The Church proved that he did so because he appointed bread to be the Figure of his Body But had they believed the Doctrine of Transubstantiation it would have proved that Christ had a Body which was made of meal not of the substance of the Virgin a Body which did not suffer upon the Cross nor Rise again but it would never have proved that which the Catholicks contented for and so they would have Lost the Question in hand and made Si propterea Corpus sibi finxit quia corporis carebat veritate ergo panem debuit tradere pro nobis Faciebat ad vanitatem Marcionis ut panis cruâ—ifigeretur Tertull. adv Marcion lib 4. themselves Ridiculous to their Adversaries Seeing then the Church in those times believed the bread to be the Figure and Image of Christs Body as Tertullian and Origen affirmed and S. Ignatius meant it is Nonsence to conceive that they believed it to be his very Natural Flesh For how can it be the Figure of a thing and the very real thing too How can I call this the Picture of Christ if I believe it to be Christ himself How can I say it is the Image Nemo potest ipse sibiâ— Imago sui esse Ambros de Fide lib. 1. Neque ipse sibi quisquam imago Hilar. Imago corporis non potest esse ipsum divinum Corpus Concil Nicaen 2. Actione 6. Pignus imago alterius rei sunt id est non adse sed ad aliud aspiciunt Bertram de Corp. Sang. Christi of his Flesh if it be the very Same This doth evidently shew that the Ancient Church did not in the least imagine that the bread is turnd into his very natural Body 3. It is observable that the Primitive Christians aknowledged two distinct Natures in the Sacrament meaning the material Element and that blessed Spiritual thing which goes along with it Thus we are told by Ireneus who was but one remove from the Apostles that the bread which is of the Earth after the calling upon God is no longer || E terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena caelesti Iren. adv Haer. l. 4. c. 34. Common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things an Earthly and an Heavenly thing Thus also Origen doth distinguish the Typical and Symbolical body of Christ meaning the †Materia Panis Orig. in Matth. c. 25. Haec quidem de Typico Symbolicoque corpore Multa porro de ipso verbo dici possunt quod factum est caro verus cibus Ibid. Bread from his True Humane Nature which he calls the Word that was made Flesh the true Food of life So likewise * Nec panem reprobavit Christus quo ipsum corpus suum representavit Tertull. adv Marcion l. 1. Tertullian doth distinguish the Bread which represents Christs Body from the Body it self which is represented by it In like manner the Author of the book de Caena Domini ascribed to S. Cyprian doth distinguish between the bodily Substance of the Holy Viands and that Divine Virtue which is present with them Lastly S. Austin Hoc est quod dicimus hoc modis omnibus approbare contendimus Sacrificium scilicet Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili Elementorum specie invisibili Domini nostri Jesu Christi carne sanguine Sacramento Re Sacramenti id est Corpore Christi August apud Gratian. de Consecratione distinct 2. c. 48. as he is quoted by the Collector of the Decrees is positive and plain that the Sacrifice of the Church is made up of two things consisteth of two things the visible Substance of the Elements for that is the meaning of the word species among the Ancients and the Invisible Flesh and Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament or the thing Communicated by the Sacrament namely the Body of Christ To which purpose S. Austin speaks himself up and down in many places of his Writings By this it doth appear that the Christian Doctors for the Quia omnis res illarum rerum naturam veritatem in se continet ex quibus conficitur Id. Ibid. first 400. years acknowledged two distinct and real natures to make up the Eucharist for every thing contains in it the Nature and Truth of those things whereof it doth consist saith S. Augustin which they could not have acknowledged had they conceived the Nature and Substance of the Elements to be turned into the Nature and Substance of Christs Body and Bloud Transubstantiation implyes the total Destruction of the Earthly Nature and Substance which is utterly repugnant to the sense of the Ancients of whom we confidently affirm that as with one mouth they still called it Bread even when 't is broken distributed and received so they distinguisht it still from that which is Represented by the Bread And so true is this that the Whereas in the genuine Epistle of Ignatius ad Philadelph it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Interpolator renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. very Interpolator of Ignatius and the Ancient Interpreter of his Epistles speaking of the Eucharist say There is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus and one Bloud which was shed for us and there is one Bread or Loaf which is broken for all Which Observation makes it clear that the Bread and Christs Flesh were believed to be two distinct Natures and so that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation was not thought of in that age wherein that Interpolator and Interpreter did live whensoever that was 4. For the further clearing of this thing yet it is observable in the fourth place of the Primitive Fathers that they Resembled the Union of those two Natures in the Sacrament to the Union of the Two Natures in our Saviours Person To this purpose Justin Martyr discoursing of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the words of Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Eucharist saith we do not receive those things as common bread or common drink but as Jesus Christ our Saviour was by the word of God made Flesh and had Flesh and Bloud for our salvation so we believe that Food which is blessed by Prayer and by
the same heresies and even he draws one of his Arguments from the blessed Eucharist likewse and he is as Positive as can be that the Body of Christ meaning the Symbolical Body as Origen In Photii Biblioth cod 229. called it that is the Bread which is received by the Faithful doth not depart out of its sensible Substance and Nature and yet remaines undivided from the Spiritual Grace and to clear his meaning fully he shews in the very next words that the Elements in the Eucharist are no more changed than the water is in Baptism which Remaineth still water after Sanctification Thus these four Great men S. Chrysostome Theodoret Gelasius and Ephraim delivered the Sense of the Catholick Church in their times and if you add them to the forementioned Fathers who lived in the Primitive times before them it will be manifest beyond exception that for above 500 years together after Christ the Christian Doctors did no more believe the Elements in the Sacrament to be Transubstantiated into Christ's Flesh and Bloud than they did believe the Manhood of Christ himself to be Transubstantiated into his God-head or his God-head to be abolisht and turned into his Humanity Now the sense of Christians in those ages ought to satisfie the minds of Christians in these for certainly the faith of Christ was never more clearly more Learnedly more solidly maintained than in the first five Centuries and one reason of it as I conceive was this because Heresies of all sorts were then so very thick and Numerous the Providence of God permitting it so to be that the zeal of good men might be exercised continually whereby it came to pass that the Doctors of the Church were industrious and learned and the true faith was throughly sifted and establisht for so it is ever that as evil manners in the State are the occasion of good Laws so evil Doctrines in the Church are the occasion of Sound and Excellent Definitions I do not wonder if in the following ages we have not such great Plenty of witnesses to appeal to They were times wherein learning did much Decay and mens Industry and zeal were much abated for want of those Incentives which had formerly been like goads in the sides of the holy Fathers and I remember what Boniface the Martyr said of the times he lived in that whereas Golden Priests were formerly forced to use wooden Chalices Then wooden Priests did use Chalices of Gold And yet we may well be Astonisht at their Monstrous confidence who tell us that Transubstantiation was believed in those declining times If it had been so indeed the Argument from it would have Signified nothing because there can be no Prescription against truth and the sense of some in latter ages ought not carry the cause against the general Judgement of the Primitive and best times But in good earnest upon the strictest search I can make I do not find any grounds for the credit of the present Romish Doctrine either in * Unus idemque secundum humanam substantiam absens caelo cum esset in terra dereliquens terram cum ascendisset in caelum Secundum divinam verò immensamque substantiam nec caelum dimittens cum de caelo descendit nec terram deserens cum ad caelum ascendit c. Fulgent ad Trasimud l. 2. c. 17. Fulgentius or in Christi sanguis non jam in manus infidelium sed in or a fidelium funditur Gregor apud Gratian. de Consec dist 2. c. 73. Mysterium est quod aliud videtur aliud intelligitur Quod videtur speciem habet corporalem quod intelligitur fructum babet spiritualem sed cum Mysterium sit unde corpus sanguis Christi dicitur Consulens ommipotens Deus infirmitati nostrae qui non habemus usum comedere carnem crudam Sanguinem bibere facit ut in pristina remaneant forma illa duo munera est in veritate Corpus Christe Sanguis Id. in Glossa ex Alcuino ibdi Gregory the Great who lived in the sixth Century or in * Christus in caelum ascendens discessit quidem carne sed presens est majestate c. Isid Hisp Sentent lib. 1. Sacrificium dictum quasi sacrum factum quia prece mystica consecratur in memoriam pro nobis Dominicae passionis Unde hoc eo jubente corpus Christi sanginem dicimus quod dum fit ex Fructibus terrae sanctificatur fit Sacramentum operante invisibiliter Spititu Dei Id. Origin lib. 6. c. 19. Isidore Hispalensis who flourisht in the seventh or in venerable Finitis veteris Paschae solenniis quae in commemorationem antiquae de Egypto liberation is agebantur transit in novum quod in suae redemptionis memoriam Ecclesia frequent are desiderat ut videlicet pro agni carne sanguine suae carnis sanguinisque Sacramentum in panis ac vini figura substituens c Beda in Luc. 22. Panis ac Vini Creatura in Sacramentum carnis sanguinis Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur sicque corpus sanguis illius non infidelium manibus ad perniciem ipsorum funditur occiditur sed fidelium ore sumitur asl salutem Id. Homil. de Sanctis Bede who was in the eighth Age no not in Damascen himself neither tho he be brought forth by the Romanists as a Champion on their side The Learned Arch Bishop Cranmer hath drawn up the sense of Damascen into this sum that the Bread and Wine are not so changed into the flesh and bloud of Christ that they be made one Nature but they remain still distinct in Nature so that the Bread in it self is not his flesh nor the Wine his blood but unto them that worthily eat and drink the bread and Wine to them the bread and Wine be his flesh and blood that is to say by things natural and which they be accustomed unto they be exalted unto things above Nature For the Sacramental bread and Wine are not bare and naked figures but so Pithy and effectuous that whosoever worthily eateth them eateth spiritually Christs flesh and blood Wherefore saith the Holy Martyr they that gather out of Damascen either the natural presence of Christs body in the Sacraments of bread and Wine or the Adoration of the outward and visible Sacrament or that after Consecration there remaineth no bread nor Wine nor other substance but only the substance of the body and Blood of Christ either they understand not Damascen or else of wilful frowardness they will not understand him which rather seemeth to be true by such collections as they have unjustly gathered and noted out of him For Damascen saith plainly that as a burning coal is not wood only but fire and wood joyned together so the bread of the Communion is not bread only but bread joyned to the Divinity He that desires further satisfaction as to this may peruse the whole vindication of Damascen in the
so much of Tradition They that had the management of the Belgick Index were somewhat more modest for they profest they would use all arts to Extenuate and excuse Bertrams errors and to put some convenient sense to them or by some device or other tell a lye for him and they were content that his Book should be mutilated and some things purged and taken away from it this I say was more modest usage then what poor Beriram received at the hands of the Other Censors and yet this was very dishonest too and a plain Sign of a very weak cause that needed such disingenuous Artifices So they might have dealt with Amalarius too the Archbishop of Triers in the same age who trod in the steps of S. Austin affirming Amalar. de Ecclesii Offic. l. 3. c. 25. the Elements to represent Christs Body and Bloud as Signes of things and that the Priest offereth up Bread and Wine instead of Christ and that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are in the Place and Room of Christ Body and Bloud T is true Paschasius Rabertus who lived at the same time differed much in his opinion from these great men though it be hard to tell what his opinion was so very Inconsistent was the man with himself as it usually happens to Heady Opiniators especially when they are on the wrong side and will be venturing upon new discoveries This is allowed that Paschasius had a Notion by himself but I think if it be searcht well into it will be found to come nearer to the Lutheran Doctrine of Consubstantiation Paschas de Euchar. c. 41. 13. then to the Romish Conceit For since he affirm'd as Rabanus did that Christ is not to be torn with mens teeth that because it was necessary for Christ to be in heaven he lest us this Sacrament to be the visible Figure and Character of his Flesh and Bloud that we drink of Christ Spiritually and that we eat his Spiritual Flesh and the like whether do these Expression and Notions tend but to destroy the fancy of eating Christs Natural Body after a gross manner as the Doctrine of Transubstantiation doth import In the 10th Century we meet with Theo-phylact who spake of the Sacrament in a Lofty strain as many others before him did and used the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Mutation of the Elements Which Expression the Romanists greedily catcht hold of as if he intended the changing of things out of one Substance into another But this is very wide of Theophylacts meaning who plainly intended not a Real Essential change of the Substance and Nature of the Bread and Wine but a Mystical and Sacramental change of their Quality and Condition so that upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Justin Martyr Apolog. 2 -Qui est e terrâ Panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistie ex duabus rebus constans c. Iren. adv Har. l. 4. c. 34. Consecration they are no longer Common things as Justin Martyr and Ireneus said of old but the Elements of Divine things unto us so that thereby the Divine body of Christ is communicated to every Holy Soul The learned Cranmer explains him rightly that as hot and burning Iron is Iron still so Defenc. lib. 3. the Sacramental bread and Wine remain bread and Wine still tho to every worthy Communicant they be turned into the Virtue of Christs flesh and blood And that this was the sense of Theophylact is clear from his own words that the kind or substance of Bread remaining and continuing a Transelementation is made in Theophylact in Marc. 14. to the Virtue of Christs Flesh which notion I shall explain hereaster In the mean time I desire the Reader to note once for all that the Romanists to support their new Doctrine of Transubstantiation have grosly abused the ancient Writers of the Church by rendring the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Species as if they signified no more then shew and appearance And this they call the accidents of the Bread and Wine which they grant to remain but without the Natural substance or essence of them so that mens senses are cousened as to the things which they see Whereas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks signifieth not the appearance or shew but the sort and kind of a thing and when it relates to things of matter as Bread and Wine it signifies the Essence or substance of those things And thus the words form likeness and fashion are used by St. Paul himself in the second of Philippians at the seventh Verse where speaking of our Saviour he saith that he took upon him the form of a Servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 2. 7. and was made in the likeness of Men being found in fashion as a Man Meaning that he was really in a servile Condition and a Man in substance essence and Nature In like manner the word species among the Latines signifies the sort the kind the substance of the thing and being spoken of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament it signifies the very natural Essence or matter not barely the appearance of the Elements And this is the true meaning of Theophylact in this place where he saith that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth preserve the kind the Essence the substance of the Bread and Wine but doth Transelementate or change them into the Virtue of Flesh and Blood However we grant that this expression of Theophylacts gave occasion though wrongfully to the School men in after Ages to lose their time in enquiring after the manner of that change which is consest to be in the Elements But even they were divided in their opinions so that the poin was not agreed upon for some time after Theophylact. For until the controversie arose about Berengarius which was towards the end of the eleventh Century it was matter of Dispute some being of one opinion and some of another They were only agreed in this that Christ is really present in the Sacrament but they could not tell how But Berengarius raised a dust which blinded other mens eyes and his own too His true Crime seems to me to have been this not that he erroneously disputed about the manner of Christs presence but that he denied him to So his Schooll-fellow Adelmannus chargeth him in an Epistle to him which Is yet extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum wherein speaking of the Novel Doctrine which was reported to have been spread abroad by him he saith hoc est ut illorum dictis utar non esse verum corpùs Christi neque verum sanguinem sed figuram quandam similitudinem be present at all in the Sacrament affirming not only that the Elements were Bread and Wine but that they were bare bread and Wine and nothing else which was the opinion of those who in the beginning of the reformation
Communicants do indeed receive Christs very Body and Bloud by receiving the Elements and that Christs Body and Bloud are verily tendred and offer'd even to the unworthy though they receive them not For were it not thus I would gladly understand how it cometh to pass that unworthy receiving brings upon a mans Soul some peculiar and extraordinary Guilt If it be a special sin as S. Pauls words argues it to be against the Body and Bloud of our Lord it must follow that the Body and Bloud of our Lord are there For a sin is of a peculiar nature and consideration when it is acted against an Object that is more peculiarly Interested and Concern'd so the sin against the Holy Ghost seems strictly and and properly to be a malicious resisting and reproaching of the Truth in spight of those Miracles which are wrought by the Holy Ghost for the Confirmation of the Truth A man is then said to be peculiarly guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost because in the working of Miracles the Holy Ghost is concern'd and interested after a peculiar manner To this purpose it is observable that when our Saviour spoke of this sin it was after some Miracle that he had done and by occasion of the Jews reproaching it as if it had been done not by the Power and Spirit of God but by Beelzebub It was especially a sin against the Holy Ghost because in the Miracle the Holy Ghost was specially concern'd Even so here unworthy receiving makes a man guilty of a sin against our Lords Body and Bloud because his Body and Bloud are peculiarly Interested in the Sacrament Evil men strike at Christ then after a most sinful sort because his Body and Bloud are present there after a singular manner and therefore doth the sin bring an extraordinary guilt because it is the doing despight to the very Body and Bloud of Him who made himself an offering for us For these and the like reasons the Catholik Church of Christ hath in all ages believed a real presence of his Body and Bloud in the Sacrament nor do I know any one Doctrine of Christianity which hath come unto us with less Contradiction then this came down from the very days of the Apostles even to the times of Berengarius And so true is this that the Learned know well that the Ancients grounded their Faith of our real Union with Christ upon this Principle because his very Body and Bloud are really communicated to us by our receiving the Eucharist As they believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys in 1 Cor. 10. 16. vide Iren. multos alios a Supernatural Union between the Natures in Christ so they believed a Mystical Union between all the Faithful and Christ and this they concluded because they believed a Sacramental Union between Christ and those Creatures of Bread and Wine whereby we receive Christ S. Hilary calls our Conjunction Hilar. de Trinit lib. 8. with Christ a Natural conjunction because as Our Nature was before united to his by his Incarnation so now his Nature is United to Ours by the Communion Our Church calls it the Communion of the Body and Bloud of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation and S. Austin himself Homily of the Sacram 1. Part. used the same Expression and all the Ancients acknowledged this real Union to be wrought by means of that Real S. August Ep. ad Iren. Communion of our Saviours very Body and Bloud at and by the Holy Sacrament For the Opening now of this great Mystery I shall shew these Five things 1. That we are to distinguish between Christs Natural and his Spiritual Body 2. What is meant by his Spiritual Body 3. Why it is so called 4. That Christ hath a Spiritual Body indeed 5. That this Spiritual Body is received by us in the Sacrament 1. We are to distinguish Christs Spiritual from his Natural Body not as if he had two different Bodies but because that One and the same Body of his is to be considered after a different manner Now this is S. Pauls own distinction 1 Cor. 15. 44. There is a Natural or Animal Body and there is a Spiritual Body The Apostle there treats of that Exalted state our bodies shall be in after the Resurrection how they shall be delivered from all Mortality and Corruption and shall be the everlasting Temples of the Divine Spirit and shall shine with light like the Stars and shall be like Angelical Substances and Spirits in Comparison and all this because our Saviour is risen and gone before us into heaven and there remaines in a Glorious Body as 't is called Philip. 3. 21. Now this Body of Christ may be considered either in respect of its own Natural Substance as it consisteth of Flesh Bones and Bloud and other Constituent and Perfective parts of humane nature and in this sense no man can partake of the Lords Body Or else it may be considered with respect to his Divinity as that is united to it as it is clothed with infinite Majestie as it is replenisht with the Presence and energy of the God-head as it casteth live Influences upon his Church by virtue of the God-head dwelling in it and filleth all things with Spiritual rayes and emanations of his Grace In this respect our Lord is called a Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a Quickning Spirit because he giveth life to every Humble and Obedient heart here below and through his Humane Nature dispenseth to every one the Vertues of his Passion and in this respect every good Christian participates of Christs Body that is of the Spiritualities of his glorious Body The Ancient Christians acknowledged and insisted much upon this distinction between the Natural and the Spiritual body of Christ confessing the one to be in the Sacrament but not the other There is Saith Clemens Alexandrinus a Twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. l. 2. in mitio Blond of our Lord there is his Fleshly Bloud whereby we were redeemed from destruction and there is his Spiritual Bloud whereby we are now Anointed and this is to drink the Bloud of Jesus to be made partakers of our Lords Incorruption In like manner Origen Shewing that even in the New Testament there is a letter which killeth if men do not understand that which is said after a Spiritual Si enim secundum liberam sequaris hoc ipsum quod dictum est nisi manducaveretis carnem mean biberitis Sanguinem meum occider haec litera Orig. in Lev. 10. Homilt manner instanceth in that Phrase of eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud for saith he if you understand this according to the sound and clink of the Expression it is a killing letter S. Jerome also tells us that the Bloud and Flesh of Christ is to be Duplicitur verè sanguis Christi caro intelligitur
at those who are pleased to talk as if the Fathers believed Transubstantiation Yet nevertheless they all with one mouth confessed the Body of Christ to be in the Sacrament and so do we now but in that sense which the Ancient Church meant they believed the presence of Christ spiritual Body and after a spiritual manner and that is our Faith also and we cannot be condemned for Hereticks but the old Catholick Church must lye under the Anathema too 3. This account serves for ever to break the neck of their pretences who to defend their new Doctrine of Transubstantiation and other pestilent Errors which are built upon it do stifly urge the literal and strict construction of those words this is my Body and this is my Bloud supposing that it passeth the skill of the Protestants to give a better Interpretation whereas this account gives such a fair such an Intelligible such a Rational such a Catholick explication of the thing that the Romanists themselves if they would consider it well may look upon their Construction not only a very absurd but as a very needless one too 4. This account may serve to reconcile and make up those differences which are between some Reformed Churches about this matter For whereas 't is granted by us on all hands that the Elements retain still their own Nature and Substance even after Consecration and yet the Lutheran Churches hold that Christs Real and Substantial Body is delivered together a long with the Elements methinks this should not be enough to maintain a breach if men were considerate and candid and would not insist too much upon Phrases For if by Christ real and substantial Body be meant as I believe the old Lutherans did mean the real and as they may be called in some * For the Ancients themselves used the words Nature Substance c. to this sense as is well observed by the Judicious Author of the Diallacticon commended by Lavater in his Historia Sacrament Cum agitur de Sacramentis mentionem faciunt Patres Naturae Substantiae non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est non ut Philosophi naturales loquuntur sed ut homines de Divinis rebus disserentes Gratiae Virtuti Efficacitati Naturae Substantiaeque nomen impertientes nimirum Sacramenti natura id postulante Diallact .. pag. 63. Edit Anno 1557. Est autem virtus corporis Christi efficax vivifica quae per gratiam Mysticam benedictionem cum pane vino conjungitur vino conjungitur variis nominibus appeilatur quum res eadem sit Ab Augustino Corpus intelligibile invisible spirituale Ab Hieronimo Caro Divina Spiritualis Ab Irenaeo Res Caelestis Ab Ambrosio Esca Spiritualis Corpus Divini Spiritus Ab aliis aliud simile quippiam Et hoc multo etiam magis efficit ut hoc Sacramentum dignissimum sit veri Corporis Sanguinis nomenclaturâ quum non solum extrinsecus figuram imaginem ejus prae se ferat verùm etiam intus abditam lâ—â—entem naturalem ejusdem corporis proprietatem hoe est vivificam virtutem secum trahat ut ham non inanis figura aut absentis omnino rei signum existimari posset sed ipsum Corpus Domini Divinum quidem Spirituale sed presens gratia plenum virtute potens efficacitate Ibid. pag. 56. 57. sense the Substantial Virtues and Influences of Christs Body I do not see but all Reformed Churches in the World mightshake hands and be Friends as to this matter 5. This account serves to the clear meaning of several Doctors of our own who are wont to say that Christ is present in the Sacrament and received in and by the Sacrament and that really but yet Spiritually Mystically Sacramentally Effectually Virtually and the like all which expressions otherwise hard to be understood are very Intelligible if we do but take this notion along with us that the Virtues and Influences which flow from Christ are by the due use of this Sacrament actually really and effectually dispensed CHAP. XI Other Blessings which we receive by the Sacrament As the Assistance of the Holy Spirit Proved from the Words of Christ and S. Paul The Confirmation of our Faith An intimate Union with Christ What that Union is explained and Proved Lastly a Pledge of an Happy Resurrection THis then being a Fixt principle that by means of the Holy Bread and Wine we do really participate of Christs Body and Bloud divers other Blessings do necessarily follow which depend upon this as upon the Prime and Fundamental Blessing And as I have shewed already that pardon of Sin is the effect of our feeding upon Christ in a Mystical sence so I am to shew you next that there are more Blessings which accrue to us by our Communicating of Christ after that real and spiritual manner which has been explained now And the next is this that hereby we receive such large supplies and measures of Christs Spirit as are suitable to our necessities Our condition by nature is so miserable that we are not sufficient of our selves no not to think any thing that is good as of our selves therefore unless we receive supernatural aids and assistances from Heaven it is impossible for us to make our selves meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Without me ye can do nothing as our Saviour told his Disciples Joh. 15. 5. without the communications of his Holy Spirit 't is in vain to conceive that either we can have our fruit unto Holiness or reap in the end everlasting life For this reason he there compares himself unto a vine and us unto the branches because as the branches cannot bear fruit of themselves except they abide in the Vine so neither can we except we abide in Christ That spiritual assistance which is derived from Christ unto every particular Christian is like that vital Sap which is conveyed from the Root unto every particular Twig And by means of his vital Spirit it is that we thrive and grow and bring forth fruit unto perfection Hence Christ is called our Life because he is the Authour of that quickning Principle whereby we live unto righteousness and from Him it is that the whole Body of the Church by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and being knit together increaseth with the increase of God Col. 2. 19. Now this Heavenly assistance this quickning Principle this Divine Nutriment is given to every Soul by the Mysterious and Gracious Energy of the Spirit and by the due celebration of the Eucharist the assistances of the Spirit are the more plentiful and his Irrigations are the more abundant a dew is then increased into a showre and every thirsty Communicant is largely refresht with distillations from above as the parched ground in Summer is refresht with Rain This appears two ways first because as hath been proved by this Blessed Mystery we are