render that Wound incurable which if wise impartial and charitable Men had the handling of might be heal'd up with great Facility III. It was indeed a Rule in the Rubrick of the Passover Exod. 12. 46. That a Bone of the Paschal Lamb should not be broken but that Type doth not interfere with Christ's Breaking the Sacramental Bread For though the Paschal Lamb represented the Lamb of God which was to die for the Sins of the World yet that particular Rite had relation only to that Providence in the Scene of Christ's Passion in which Care was taken that his Legs should not be broken as those of Malefactors commonly were as St. John expresly explains it Joh. 19. 21. And this shews the wonderful Exactness of Providence that both foretold and fulfilled that Particular in our great Redeemer's Funeral And though he was numbred with the Transgressors yet in many Things his Usage was different from theirs to let the World see that a special Dispensation attended him and that in the midst of all his Misery an unknown Hand restrain'd the unruly Wills of Men and made them against their Intent and Design correspond with God's Prescience and Determination This was so minute a Circumstance that one would have thought it deserved no Cognisance or Prediction But as inconsiderable as it appears to vulgar Eyes God knew it was of Consequence and hereby he taught future Ages at once to admire the Treasures of his Wisdom and his Care of his only begotten Son who though he condescended to die so ignominious a Death yet was to enjoy this Privilege above other Malefactors that even Infidels might see he was no common Creature So that this Rite in the Passover must be stretched no farther than it was at first intended and if so it clashes not with Christ's Breaking the Bread for other Designs and Purposes The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. SInce Christ broke the Bread and the Act is so significant the Church of Rome is certainly in the wrong who neglects this Breaking and gives the Wafer whole But we need not wonder at their Neglect of this Practice in their Rituals who have made bold with the one half of the Sacrament and deprived the Laity of an Essential Part of it viz. The Cup whereof we shall have occasion to speak more largely in the Sequel Men who are resolved to establish their Errours into which Ignorance first led them must be bold and daring and since the Word of God doth contradict them invent and erect an Authority equal with that of God and set up an Infallible Chair to bear the World in hand that they can do nothing that is unlawful and while Oral Tradition that Nose of Wax which you may turn and set which way you list is pretended there is no Doctrine so absurd but may be water'd from that impure Spring And who can question it when the Laity are kept ignorant of the Word of the Living God and the Scriptures as much forbidden as the Tree of Life was to Adam lest he should eat thereof and live II. As Christ broke the Bread so it is justly supposed that he did eat of it himself for this was the Custom among the Jews for the Master of the Family who broke the Bread to eat of it himself And though he had no need of it and the Mercy intended by this Sacrament was intended altogether for the Benefit of his Disciples and Followers yet as he was baptized to shew a good Example and that he might be in all Things like unto his Brethren so he did eat of the Sacramental Bread thereby to encourage all Christians to come and participate of that blessed Symbol And we may add he did it to shew that those that did eat worthily had Communion with him and that he would be in them and they in him as those who are admitted to eat of the same Meat the Prince himself eats of are supposed to be his Favourites But if Christ did eat of the consecrated Bread himself the Doctrine of Transubstantiation that Idol of the Church of Rome falls to the Ground For from hence it will follow that Christ did eat and devour himself which as it is absurd so it wants very little of being ridiculous III. See here what Reflections thou art to make when thou seest the holy Bread broken before thine Eyes in this Sacrament This thou must not look upon as an empty Ceremony but thy Soul must flee away to Gethsemane walk about Golgotha take a Turn on the Mount of Olives and stand still a while on Moriah and behold how the innocent Isaac is bound upon the Altar how the Son of God hangs on the infamous Tree a Spectacle to Angels and to Men And here the Tremendous Object must arrest thy Thoughts and infuse such Reflections See here my Sins what Work ye have made what Injury ye have done The Son of the Living God could not be quiet for you in Heaven ye pulled him down from the Mansions of Glory ye afflicted persecuted broke him here on Earth and left him not till ye had kill'd and murther'd him How shall I be reveng'd upon you How shall I testifie my Concernedness at the Sufferings of the Lord Jesus How shall I convince the holy Angels that stand about me that I condole with him Pride and Desire of Vain-Glory thou shalt die Envy and Malice thou shalt live no longer in my Soul Wrath and Anger thou shalt be dispatch'd Hypocrisie and Covetousness thou shalt be broke to pieces Intemperance and Luxury thou shalt breath thy last I 'll harbour no Murtherers in my Bosom no such Traitors shall lodge in my House O Blessed Master Shall I see thy Head broke with Thorns and not cry out O that my Head were Water and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears Shall I see thy Face broke with Grief and not blush at my daring Sins that broke it thus Break stubborn Heart Break my perverse and ungovernable Will Break my head-strong Passions O Jesu break these Cockatrices Eggs and let all the Poyson evaporate then then thy Servant shall be whole IV. Hear this thou broken thou contrite Penitent Hear this thou distressed Soul that art broken with a Sense of Sin who feelest the Burthen heavy and bowest under it Behold the Rock that was broken for thee and of the Waters that flow from it drink yea drink abundantly This Water is cordial thou needest not be afraid of Intemperance here Hide thy self in the Holes in the Clests of this Rock hither flee for Refuge When Devils haunt thee when Temptations follow thee when Despair like the Avenger of Blood is at thy Heels run into this City of Refuge save thy self in this Zoar here fear no Storm no Waves no Tempest here all travelling and weary Souls find Rest here Devils have no Power for they are conquered their Dominion is taken away their Empire broken here is Balm of Gilead here lives the Physician whose Blood
Deacon's Hand or whether they took it out of the Dish into which the sacred Bread was broken with their own Hands is not very material to determine Though whatever Passages there may be in Clemenâ— of Alexandria and St. Cyprian which seem to import that the Communicants did take the broken Bread out of the Dish yet most of the Ancients do agree that the consecrated Elements were taken from the Hands of Ecclesiastical Persons And though among the Jews the Master of the Family that broke the Bread did not always give it into the Hands of every Guest but having broken it laid it upon the Table and every one took a Piece yet the Practice of the Christian Church for Six Hundred Years at least after Christ sufficiently shews how the holy Apostles took it whom we may suppose the first Churches did imitate And as the Disciples took it from Christ's Hands so the Communicants afterward took it from the Apostles and their Successors Hands which Practice continues this Day in most Churches of the Protestants that call themselves Reformed I say in most for in some and particularly those of the United Provinces the Communicants take it out of the Dish after it is broken by the Minister It was Ignorance and Superstition that brought in a contrary Custom And from hence rose that Canon in the Council of Antisiodorum celebrated about the Year after Christ 613. That Women must not take the Eucharist with their bare Hands but in a Linen Cloth which they called Dominicale Soon after as Folly and Superstition increased some began to take the consecrated Bread in little Vessels of Gold or of some other Metal against whom the Sixth Council of Constantinople about the Year of our Lord 676. made a Canon and forbad them to do so for the future but to put their Hands cross-wise and so to receive it The Pretence in receiving the holy Bread in some Thing besides their bare Hands was that they might not defile the Body of Christ with their Hands as if touching it with baser Things than their own Hands would be more acceptable to God For as Solomon tells us a living Dog is better than a dead Lion so we may with far greater Reason say That a living Hand is infinitely better than all the dead Things which are made either of Gold or Silver or Brass or any other Mineral But though these Abuses crept in so early yet the Custom of receiving the holy Bread with their Hands continued in abundance of Churches till the latter end of the Ninth Century by which Time it began to be customary in the Western Church to put the Eucharist into the Mouths of the Communicants as it is practised this Day in the Roman Church as also among the Lutheran Protestants It is confessed that a Canon was made in a Council of Roan about the Year of our Lord 685. That the Eucharist should for the future by the Priest be put into the Mouth of the Communicant whether Woman or Lay-man Yet there are sufficient Testimonies extant that assure us that this Canon was not observ'd every where till about the latter end of the Ninth Century In a Word As Superstition grew and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation began to prevail so this ancient Rite of taking the Eucharist with the Hand was abolished and the Priests of the Church of Rome would not so much as suffer Lay-men to touch the Sacramental Bread with the Tip of their Fingers pretending that it was only given by Christ into the Hands of Priests an Absurdity so great that by the same Rule it would follow that the Laity must be totally excluded from the Sacrament because at the first Institution it was received by none but Priests Nay to that heighth of Folly did Men arise by degrees not only Papists but many also that professed the Purity of the Gospel that it was counted a great Profanation of the Eucharist if the People did any way touch the sacred Bread and therefore great Care was and is still taken even at this Day that the Bread be put exactly upon the Tongue of the Communicant that he may not touch it so much as with his Teeth So that under a pretence of Religion Men are made to forbear that which true Religion commands to be done And what an Injury is it to the People to hinder them from touching and taking the holy Bread in their Hands when Christ laid down his Life for them as well as for the Priests Did the Priests receive greater Benefit by Christ's Death than the People Or were some peculiar Advantages consigned to them by his Death over and above what is intended for the Laity If this could be proved there might be some Colour for this Pretence But when all equally share in his Mercies why should not all take the Bread in their Hands whereby they remember the Benefits of his Death Are the Priest's Hands holier or cleaner than the People's Would to God they were so not only in this Sacrament but in all Things But after all what can be more weak or silly than to imagine that the holy Bread is defiled more by the Hands and Teeth than by the Tongue or Bowels or Stomach which receive it Is not the Tongue a Member of the Body as well as the Hand Or are the Bowels into which the Bread is received purer than the Hand If it be said that by the Hands great Sins are usually committed I would fain know whether greater Sins are not daily committed with the Tongue than with the Hand So impertinent is this Plea that it deserves no Argument or Answer In the Greek Church the Custom of taking the holy Bread with the Hand was kept up for many Hundred Years till of late they have got a way of mingling the holy Wine with the Bread in a Spoon whence the Communicants do take it II. As we are commanded to take the holy Bread with our Hands which makes it no indifferent Thing so we cannot suppose that Christ would command it without intending some Mystery in that Action and if it be lawful to guess we may piously believe that by that Taking he intended these following Things 1. It puts us in mind with what Alacrity we should accept of the unspeakable Gift viz. The Mercy of Reconciliation by the Death of Christ Jesus As we readily stretch forth our Hands to receive a Present that is pleasing to us so ought we to accept of what a merciful God doth so freely and so frankly bestow upon us Accept of it You will say Who can be supposed to refuse it Will a Malefactor scruple to accept of his Prince's Pardon Or If a King put a Treasure into a poor Prisoner's Hands will he scorn it or withdraw his Hand 'T is true Men are willing enough to accept of a Saviour so they may have him upon their own Terms If he will give them leave to do what they please and
they can expect but little Favour of him that knowing their Master's Will will not do it and being convinced that he hath given this general Rule Drink ye all of this prefer their own Fancies and would rather break his Command than either acknowledge themselves in an error or return to the Truth which they have forsaken IV. That which gave occasion to this Sacrilege in the Church of Rome was partly the pride of the Clergy who by receiving in both kinds would needs distinguish them selves from the Laity partly the Asservation or keeping of the consecrated Bread in some Houses practised by inconsiderate People in ancient times partly the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the Roman Clergy perceiving that the People would never receive this absurd Doctrine if they did not make them believe that in the Waâ—er they received Christ's Blood as well as his Body thereupon denied them the Cup partly some frivolous pretences as that in some places Wine could not be had others were abstemious and naturally hated Wine some had long Beards and might spill the Holy Wine upon them and some had the Palsie in their Hands whereby they might let the Cup fall c. Pretences which the Primitive Church did not so much as dream of It is certain that this Sacrament is a Feast and as any ordinary Feast would look strange if no drink were given to the Guests so the Sacrament in the Roman Church loses the name of a Spiritual Feast by their denying the Cup to the Laity And one may justly wonder how in that Church they can understand the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel of the Holy Sacrament since it is expresly added v. 53. Except ye drink the Blood of the Son of Man you have no Life in you This very place did so much pinch Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope by the name of Pius II. that when the Bohemians and Taborites demanded the Cup in the Sacrament upon that saying of Christ he had no other way to extricate himself but by alledging that in that Chapter Christ did not speak of the Sacrament at all but only of Spiritually Eating and Drinking in general viz. by Faith or practical Belief of his Doctrine And this Opinion not a few of the Romanists are forc'd to espouse yet the generality of them understand it of the Sacrament and how the People can content themselves under such a threatning if that be the sense I cannot comprehend And though some of them plead that there is a difference betwixt the Institution and a Precept and though Christ instituted this Sacrament in both kinds yet he did not command it to be received in both kinds yet who sees not the weakness of this Exception since Christ hath commanded us to use and administer this Sacrament as he hath used it and expresly adds a Command concerning the Cup Drink ye all of this And though in Luk 24. 30. Christ is said to be known of the Disciples by his breaking of Bread yet from hence it follows not that by that breaking of Bread is meant the Eucharist nor if we granted that the Eucharist is to be understood there that therefore they had no Wine since the whole action is commonly expressed by breaking of Bread as Act 2 42. And if this were granted it would follow that Christ consecrated only in one kind which they of the Church of Rome themselves will not allow But they that from such expressions would infer that Bread only was used in the Eucharist betray their stupid ignorance of the Customs and Expressions used among the Jews who commonly called any Meal whatsoever where all sorts of Food and Drink were used by the Name of breaking Bread and to break Bread with a Man was as much as to Dine or to Sup with him And so the Grecians from the other part of a Meal called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Drinking together as the Jews call a Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mishteh or Drinking though Meat as well as Drink was set upon the Table What some alledge out of Nicephorus concerning a Woman in St. Chrysostom's time infected with the Heresie of Macedonius who coming to receive the Communion substituted or took common Bread instead of the Sacramental Bread which thereupon by a Miracacle was turned into a Stone and would infer from thence that the Laity at that time received the Bread only is altogether insignificant for not to mention that that Story may justly be suspected of Falshood since St. Chrysostome himself makes no mention of it it 's evident from his Writings that the Laity in his time received the Communion in both kinds and if such a Miracle had been wrought before she received the Cup how doth it follow from thence that none of the other Communicants which were present did receive the Cup God might by that Miracle shew and discover to her her unworthy receiving whereby being frighted she might be afraid of receiving the other part of the Sacrament yet still that doth not make it out that the Communion was in those days received only in one kind And besides what would the practice of a particular Church signifie if it contradicted both the practice of Christ and of all other Churches That the Sacramental Bread was carried home kept and preserved by some in Boxes at their own Houses which in case of necessity or imminent danger they made use of we deny not but the practice of particular Persons is no Law no Prescription and the Papists themselves will not allow Lay-men to keep the consecrated Wafer in their Houses and to communicate without a Priest So that this practice of particular Persons neither infers the lawfulness of it nor the lawfulness of communicating in one kind The Primitive Churches were very much against this keeping of the consecrated Bread or carrying of it home for in St. Jerom's after the Communion if any of the consecrated Bread were left the Communicants divided and eat it up Nicephorus assures us that it was the custom of the Church of Constantinople for many years together that if after the Communion much Bread were left more than the Ministers present could eat the Boys that were Fasting were called from their School and had liberty given them to eat it up In Hesycheus's time it was customary if after the Communion any Bread remained to burn it And in the Council of Caesar Augusta about the Year of Christ 513. it was decreed that if any did not eat all the Bread in the Eucharist that was given him but did carry it home he should stand Exmunicated for ever So that whatever the practice of some particular persons was the Church we see protested against it and abrogated it partly because there was no example for this keeping of the Bread at home in the Gospel partly because it might as afterward it did give occasion to many Superstitions as indeed the asservation of the consecrated Waser in
in the Church under whose Government they live to revenge themselves many times will poison the Doctrine make Proselites and resolve to become great by doing mischief since they cannot be so by lawful means To such persons we owe the Heresies of Marcion of Novatus of Arius of the Donatists and others and it 's no more than what St. Paul hath told us long ago for the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears 2 Tim. 4. 3. And to this purpose St. Peter 2 Pet. 2. 1 2 3. But there were false Prophets also among the people even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many shall follow their pernicious way by reason of whom the Truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make Merchandize of you c. III. Nor hath the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper fared better than other Religious Institutions for this in all Ages hath had its share in the abuses of foolish Men and while they forgot to fix their Eyes upon the Spiritual Nature and design of it have entertained gross and carnal apprehensions concerning it The Corinthians very early abated in their esteem and reverence of it as appears from the latter part of 1 Cor. 11. The Pepuziani and Collyridianes Hereticks suffer'd their Women to administer this Holy Sacrament The Ebionites used Water instead of Wine in imitation of the Athenian and Heathenish Sacrifices which were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sober and without Wine The Montanists Cataphrygians and Gnosticks proceeded to that tremendous barbarity in this Sacrament that they took a Child of a year old and pricked it with Pins and Needles and drew a considerable quantity of Blood from it which Blood they mingled with the Meal or Flower of which they made the Sacramental Bread The Child if it dyed after these Torments was counted a Martyr if it survived them they gave it the respect and veneration of a Priest and all these horrid practices came merely from hence because they stupidly thought that real Blood was necessary in this Ordinance Some other Villanies they committed which modesty bids me to conceal The Artotyritae another sort of Hereticks made use of Bread and Cheese in this Sacrament and to this they were led by a fancy that because the first Inhabitants in the World offered to God the First Fruits of the Earth and particularly the Milk of their Sheep and Kine they were obliged to do so too The Messaliani made this Sacrament an indifferent thing and gave out that it neither promoted nor hindred Man's Salvation an Error which the Quakers have taken up at this day Nor were they only profess'd Hereticks that committed these abuses but the Popes of Rome by degrees brought in abundance of needless Ceremonies whereby this Plain and Heavenly Ordinance was very much corrupted Pope Alexander about the Year of Christ 115 ordered what was indifferent before that Wine should be mixt with Water in this Sacrament and that no other Bread should be used but unleaven'd Bread that Holy Water mingled with Salt should be consecrated before the Eucharist that the Communicants after they had receiv'd might be sprinkled with it Sixtus about the Year 125 ordered that no Nun or Women should touch the Holy Vessels or the Cloth of the Communion Table Hyginus about the Year 140 enjoyn'd that the Sacrament of the Eucharist should ever be used and celebrated at the Dedication of Churches Soter about the Year 163 that no Bishop or Priest should taste of any thing before the Communion but abstain from all manner of Food before they administred or received Urban about the Year 230 ordained that no other Vessels should be used at the Communion but either Golden or Silver ones if the Church were poor then Pewter should be made use of Felix about the Year 277 ordered that the Eucharist should be celebrated no where but in a consecrated place Sylvester who lived about the Year 324 gave command that the Altars on which the Sacrament was celebrated should be of Stone Syricius about the Year 383 that no married Priest should celebrate or administer the Eucharist Innocent about the Year 410 gave order that the Names of those who had given Alms at the Communion should be rehears'd and proclaim'd in the Church at the celebration of this Mystery and that even Infants should be brought to communicate in this Sacrament Zosimus his Successor enjoyn'd that the Deacons while the Sacrament was administring should have their Hands covered with a Linen Cloth Thus Superstition came in by degrees and while the People were taught an external Veneration of the Sacrament they neglected the fruits of Repentance which the Worthy receiving should have produced in them There was an ancient Custom in the Christian Church at the Communion to rehearse the Names of Martyrs and their Glorious Actions and the Miracles they had wrought both alive and dead from hence by degrees crept in the unhappy practice of Invocation of Saints and Martyrs in the Eucharist and this being once allowed of the Doctrine of Purgatory beginning to spread about St. Austin's time and more universally about the time of Gregory the Great Men fell into an Opinion that by the Eucharist their Names that were gone into Purgatory being rehears'd their Souls might be delivered out of Purgatory some thought that even the Souls of the Damned were in some measure reliev'd by this unbloody Sacrifice And nothing is more common at this day in the Church of Rome than to say Masses for Souls in Purgatory a Doctrine they prove from the infirmities errors and corrupt opinions of some of the Fathers but which the Scripture doth not speak the least syllable of Into such abuses hath the World run by deviating from the simplicity of the Gospel And that which must be matter of grief and sorrow to all good Men is that this Sacrament which was intended as the Bond of Peace is made the Ball of Contention and the Engine of Division the motive to Hatred and the fire of Wrath and Animosities For this the Lutherans write Invectives against the Calvinists and the Papists against both and that which should have united all Men's Hearts makes them hate one another mortally and no other reason can be assigned for it but Mens Pride and Passion and their other Vices Who doth not tremble that reads the History of the Gunpowder-Treason in which the Sacrament was without a Metaphor made the Covenant of Blood and the Conspirators united by it to be bold and resolute in this Enterprize Not to mention other abuses of sensual and carnal Men too frequent among us that can engage themselves in this Ordinance to follow their Master's steps and notwithstanding these Engagements live like Swine
take him for their Saviour whether he will or no Though he hath protested that he will say to those who would not do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven I know you not depart from me ye Workers of Iniquity yet these very Persons will lay hold on him and will be saved by him in despight of him and therefore do not only assemble with other Christians under the Cross at the holy Table and there pretend to take him to their Comfort as well as the best of them but on their Death-beds too after they have abused him by their carnal and sensual Lives lived like his Enemies lean upon him depend upon him lay hold on his Merits support themselves with his Sufferings and stay themselves on him as if they were resolved he should not shake them off This is a Rudeness that admits of no Excuse Not but that he is ready enough to refresh those that lay hold on him as they should do but where Men's Hearts remain unsanctified unholy unresolved to walk in the Light as he was in the Light unaffected with the Love of God untouch'd with a Sense of Sin there to hope and be confident they shall be saved by his Merits is to make Christ a Patron of their Sins and an Encourager of Hypocrisie and to charge him with a Lye as if contrary to what he hath so often affirmed asserted repeated and confirmed by Miracles too not those that have followed him in the Regeneration but those whose Hearts and Lives were never changed shall sit upon Thrones when the Son of Man shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory Mat. 19. 28. III. From hence it is evident that to take Christ for our highest and chiefest Good a Man must believe there is something to be got by him which the World cannot give and beyond all that the World can afford And this Belief must not be slight or superficial but a Belief that considers the Consequence and Importance of this Truth not a Belief of Speculation but a Belief that rouzes the Soul from her Slumber A Man that doth not heartily believe that the greatest the best the choicest Satisfaction flows from the Possession of this Treasure will never labour or toil or put himself to Trouble to get Possession of it So that if ever we take the Lord Jesus according to the Rules laid down in the preceding Discourse so as to accept of him upon his Terms to appropriate him to our selves and to hold him fast we must sit down and in cool Blood consider whether that Bliss and Happiness is to be found in him which the Scripture speaks of and to weigh that Happiness how far it transcends all other Felicities and Comforts of this World end not to rest till we are fully persuaded of the Truth and Reality of it And this Persuasion will in a manner force and compel us to take him so as with the Merchant in the Gospel to sell all we have for that inestimable Pearl The PRAYER O Jesu My All my Sun my Light and the Glory of my Soul Who hast taken upon thee the Form of a Servant that I might be taken into the Number of the Kings and Princes of the other World I have too long entertain'd my self with the Pleasures and Vanities of the World and the uncertain Shadows and Images of Carnal Satisfactions I see I see there is that in thee which counter-balances and out-weighs all that the World can call rich and excellent and beautiful They that enjoy thee walk in Light and the Darkness trouble them not O take my Soul and reform it Take my Will and rectifie it Take my Understanding and eradiate it with thy Beams Take my Affections and inflame them O let me not take Shadows any longer for Realities Take me into thy School and teach me Teach me how I may be thy Disciple Teach me how I may be satisfied with thee alone Teach me how I shall take thee for my Head my Governor and the Regent of my Soul Take care of this poor miserable Sinner Take thou the Government of my Heart It is thine thou hast bought thou hast redeemed it thou hast paid the Ransom Take me Captive by thy Love Free me from the Prison of my Corruptions that I may be fit to be taken into the Number of such as have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb and stand for ever before the Throne of God and serve him Night and Day in his Temple Amen CHAP. XI Of these Words This is my Body whether they import a Transubstantion or Consubstantiation and how the Bread is Christ's Body and how Christ's Body may and is to be eaten The CONTENTS Transubstantiation a new and monstrous Doctrine The Fate that attended Berengarius for denying it The Impossibility of it shewn in several Particulars Consubstantiation an Opinion as groundless as the former The History of it The Arguments the Lutheran Churches make use of confuted The true Sense of these Words THIS IS MY BODY What it is to eat Christ's Body Many Rhetorical Expressions in the Fathers concerning this holy Sacrament which are not to be taken literally The same Expressions made use of still but to be understood according to the Analogy of Faith The same Way that Man was lost the same Way he must recover The crucified Body of Christ represented in this Sacrament a Motive to many excellent Duties The Prayer I. THIS IS MY BODY What Stirs and Differences these few Words have caused in the Christian World especially since the Eighth Century is unknown to none that is versed in Ecclesiastical History The Modern Church of Rome as they place Consecration in these Words so to establish Transubstantiation they take Sanctuary at this Expression Transubstantiation a Word not known till the Year of our Lord 1112 when Stephen Bishop of Autun first invented it and afterwards confirm'd by Pope Innocent III. in the Lateran Council in the Year 1215 is at this Day the Darling Doctrine of the Church of Rome A Word first brought in by Passion and Ignorance defended afterwards with blind Zeal and at last established and turned into an Article of Faith by the pack'd Council of Trent A Word which long ago would have been banish'd and rejected but that it happen'd to be owned by Men who will rather hazard all than acknowledge themselves in an Errour A Word which that corrupted Church at this Day fights for and anathematizes curses and damns to the Pit of Hell all that dissent from their Sense and Meaning in that barbarous Expression What they mean by Transubstantiation is sufficiently known viz. A Conversion or Change of the whole Substance of Bread in this Sacrament into the Substance of Christ's Natural Body immediately upon the Priest's speaking these Words This is my Body as soon as the last Syllable am in the Latin Words Hoc enim est Corpus meum is pronounced by the Priest If
any be desirous of a full Account of this monstrous Doctrine the best Way to know iâ— is to view the Recantation Pope Nicholas forced Berengarius to subscribe in the Year of our Lord 1059. which was this I Berengarius an unworthy Deacon of the Church of St. Maurice of Anjou knowing the True and Apostolick Faith do renounce and abjure all Heresiâ—s and that particularly for which I have hitherto been infamous and which teaches That the Bread and Wine which are set upon the Altar are only a Sacrament after Consecration or a Representation and not the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and that they cannot sensually but only in a Sacramental or Representative Way be handled by the Priest and broken and bruised by the Teeth of the Faithful But I do consent to the Holy Roman Church and to the Apostolick See and profess with my Lips and Heart that I hold that Faith concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Table which our Lord and Pope Nicholas and this Holy Synod have by Evangelical and Apostolical Authority commanded to be held and prescribed to me viz. That the Bread and Wine which are place upon the Altar after Consecration are not only a Sacrament but the very Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and are sensually and not only Sacramentally but in truth handled by the Hands of the Priest and broken and bruised by the Teeth of the Faithful And hereunto I swear by the Holy and Individual Trinity and by these Holy Gospels This was the gross and absurd Doctrine of the Church of Rome in that Age so absurd that even their Champions who came after were afraid of it being sensible that Christ's glorified Body could not be handled and bruised and ground with the Teeth Which made the Glossator in Gratian reciting this Recantation adds If you do not take these Words in a sound Sense you will fall into greater Heresie than Berengarius Yet the Gentlemen of this Church are past blushing and though there be nothing more inconsistent with the common Principles of Mankind than this Transubstantiation yet they are resolved to maintain that with Noise and Clamour which they cannot do with Reason and Argument and though as they explain this Doctrine it be rather an Annihilation of the Bread or Substitution of Christ's Body than a Transubstantiation yet a Transubstantion it must be And that the Vulgar may not stumble at it abundance of Miracles are invented to support it How St. Anthony of Padua's Horse forsook his Oats to do Obeysance to the Body of Christ or the Wafer after it was Transubstantiated And how others have seen the Wafer bleed when by Jews and Infidels it hath been prick'd And how others have seen a Child appear to them instead of the Wafer How upon St. Gregory's Prayers the Wafer hath been changed into substantial Bloody Flesh How a Protestant denying Transubstantiation and saying that a Spider deserves as much Reverence and Adoration as the Wafer in the Sacrament they being both God's Creatures an huge black Spider immediately spun her self down from the Ceiling into his Mouth c. And these Miracles Bellarmine brings for Proofs and Arguments But to examine the Do rine it self how impossible it is that these Words should infer such a Conversion is evident from hence 1. Because no Reason can be given why these Words This is my Body should infer such a Change any more than the Words Take eat For the one as well as the other were spoken by Christ at the same Time and in one Breath 2. 'T is impossible that these Words should infer any such Change of the Bread into real and substantial Flesh For it would follow that Christ had spoken what was false and the Disciples that were present and to whom he spoke these Words might have easily convinced themselves of the contrary That before Christ's Ascension into Heaven they had no very Metaphysical Understandings nor very quick Apprehensions any one may guess that hath but read the Evangelical History They that had been present at so many Miracles Christ wrought and convinced themselves of the Reality of them by their Senses that if there had a Miracle been wrought in this Sacrament they would without Dispute have examined it by their Senses and having seen no real Conversion or Change of the Bread before them into his Natural Body would have disputed Christ's Assertion and given him an Account of the Reason of their Unbelief For they had seen the Miracle of his changing Water into Wine and convinced themselves by their Taste and Eye-sight that there was a real Change wrought and therefore if such a miraculous Change had been wrought here and they could not have perceived it by any of their Senses can any Man imagine they would have been silent aud not contradicted it There cannot be a greater Miracle than to change Bread into Flesh And if the Bread which was before the Disciples upon the Table had been changed into Christ's Body and they had perceived no such Thing by any of their Senses they would have been amazed more than the Virgin Mary at the Message the Angel brought her of conceiving without the Knowledge of a Man They saw Christ sitting at the Table they saw the Bread in his Hand they saw the Bread after Consecration they saw his Body and that Bread were different Things they did not see him vanish out of their Sight Christ continued to be as he was and so did the Bread and therefore could not but take these Words to be spoken in a spiritual Sense There was never any Miracle wrought but what was intended to convince the Senses of Men and they could either taste or see or smell or feel or hear it Nay the Design of a Miracle is clearly lost if it convinces not the Senses for the Design is to surprize or rather to persuade Men into Belief by their seeing that which they cannot but conclude is wrought by the Finger of God Except the Senses are convinced the Miracle is wrought in vain And that so great a Miracle as changing Bread into Christ's Natural Body should be wrought and no Creature be able to perceive it by their Senses is a Thing so absurd that it destroys the Nature of a Miracle Thomas one of the Twelve who was so difficult in believing Christ's being risen that he would not give Credit to Eye-witnesses and his Fellow-Disciples that had seen him except he put his Finger in the very Marks of his Nails and thrust his Hand into his Side how would he have believed this Transubstantiation if he had not seen the least Appearance of it or seen the Bread continue Bread and Christ continue sitting at the Table as he had done before Not to mention that if we must not believe our Senses what Assurance have we of our Religion the Stress whereof must be laid upon Christ's Resurrection and the Apostles and others seeing him
risen after he had been dead And how can any Man be sure there are such Words in the Bible as This is my Body if he may not believe his Eye-sight 3. This is my Body differs very much from This is Transubstantiated or Changed into my Body or Let it be changed into my Body This is my Body speaks what is already in Being not what may or shall be effective of something else To be and to be changed into a Thing are quite different Expressions And he that says a Thing is or hath a Being cannot be therefore supposed necessarily to say that it is changed or transubstantiated or shall be so for a Thing may be several Ways besides being changed That of which Christ affirms that it is his Body was the Bread he took in his Hand or that which he broke and that may be said to be his Body several Ways without being changed or transubstantiated into his Body Which very Thing hath made the wiser and more judicious Papists confess that these Words do not necessarily infer a Transubstantiation without the Decree Order and Explication of the Church upon which they chiefly build their Doctrine and Assertion And how ridiculous this Explication of their Church is any common Capacity may perceive that doth but understand Grammar and the ordinary Way of speaking in all Countries and Languages whatsoever For What can be more common than to say Such a Man is a Fox and Such a Person is a Lion and Such a Neighbour is a Beast and Such a Boy is a Tyger But doth any Man of common Sense infer from thence that such a Person is transubstantiated into a Fox or Lion or Tyger 'T is true God can do all Things but his Power is one Thing and his Will another and to believe he will do that which he hath no where said or promised to do is notorious Presumption And though we are not presently to reject a Thing because our Reason cannot comprehend it yet it is fit that what we cannot comprehend with our Reason we should be sufficiently assured of that God hath revealed it Such as is the Mystery of the Trinity the Incarnation of our Lord and the future Resurrection c. And if we had but as good Ground for Transubstantiation as we have for these Mysteries not only God's express Revelation but the constant Doctrine of the Church no wise Man would dispute it Transubstantiation is a Thing which neither the Scripture nor the Primitive Church did ever acknowledge And there being nothing in the Word of God to establish it and being besides contrary to all Sense and Reason we must be first given up to believe a Lye as some 〈◊〉 it seems are 2 Thess. 2. 11. before we can give 〈◊〉 unto it It were endless to repeat here all the Contradictions and Absurdities that this Doctrine may be charged with for Mice and Vermine will eat the consecrated Wafer if it lies in their Way It destroys not only the Nature of Christ's Body but a principal Article of our Belief too which saith That Christ is ascended and sitteth at the Right Hand of God whom the Heavens must receive until the Time of the Restitution of all Things Act. 3. 21. Not to mention that the Apostle calls the Bread in the Sacrament even after Consecration Bread still 1 Cor. 11. And that this Doctrine crosses the Nature of a Sacrament and is confuted by Christ's saying Do this in remembrance of me which supposes that he is absent as to his Body which was crucified c. Nor will that Place Joh. is 55. My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed do any great Service to our Adversaries in this Controversie For if it be Meat indeed how doth that infer that the Bread must needs be transubstantiated into his Flesh since his Flesh may be Meat indeed several Ways For to all true Believers that take Comfort in his Death and are released from Sin and the Snares of the Devil by his Flesh that was nailed to the Cross he may be truly said to be Meat indeed and Drink indeed because their Souls are comforted by the Remembrance of it and preserved to Eternal Life and though he be only spiritual Meat to them yet he is so indeed and really and in a very good Sense As we say of a comfortable Word spoken to a troubled Conscience That that Word is Meat and Drink to it indeed and doth it more Good than all the Meat and Drink in the World would have done And that all that Discourse John 6. is to be understood of Spiritual Meat and Drink whereby the Soul receives comfort and refreshment Christ himself hath declared Joh. 6 63. II. As these words This is my Body do not infer a Transubstantiation so neither do they import a Consubstantiation a word as hard as the former and which hath been taken up by the Lutheran Protestants to express their Opinion that Christ's Glorified Body is in with and under the Element of the Bread in the Holy Sacrament or hid under it a Doctrine which they ground upon the Ubiquity of Christ's Body or being every where and in all places which Priviledge they fancy was communicated to Christ's Human Nature by its being joyn'd with the Divine a thing so irrational that hereby they confound the Divine Nature with the Human And to say that Christ had a Body which as all other Bodies must have Dimensions heighth and breadth and depth and length and yet to make that Body every where present is a conclusion so weak that I am apt to believe that if it had not been pitch'd upon by Luther in a heat or passion he would never have embraced it For indeed this was the infirmity of that excellent Man who tho' otherwise very much mortified in his desires after the Riches Honours and Glories of the World yet could not endure to be contradicted nor yield to another Man's Opinion tho' much sounder because himself was not the first inventer of it And by what I can see from History this was one great reason why he differ'd from Zwinglius in the point of the Holy Sacrament and embraced Consubstantiation which implies as is said already that the Body of Christ is hid under the substance of the Bread a Point that transported him into very great passion which made him afterward upon his Death-bed deplore That he had been too hot in his Controversie He that gave the first hint of this Opinion was John Gerson Chancellor of Paris who about the time of the Council of Constance not being able to digest the absolute Doctrine of Transubstantiation and finding that Assertion to be full of Blasphemy and Idolatry found out this expedient as he thought That Christ as he was a Creature and had a Body finite could not be at one and the same time in divers places yet being united to the Divine Nature in one Person the Human Nature by that conjunction had
Blood is for the healing of Mens Souls or what a Vine is to Men on Earth the same am I to my living Members and what an Husbandman doth to his Vineyard the same doth my Father to the Branches that shoot forth from me or to my Followers 2. This is my Body i. e This Bread is my Body as the roasted Lamb is the great Festival of the Jews was the Passover i. e. The Memorial of it This Sacrament of the Lords Supper being instituted immediately after the celebration of the Passover as hath been often hinted the Disciples of our Lord being acquainted with that way of speaking could not wonder at Christ's expression for thus the Jews used to say of the Paschal Lamb This is the Passover as we may read Exod. 12. 11. And there was not any so rude among them but understood by this phrase that by eating that Lamb they were to remember the Angels passing by the Houses of the Israelites in Egypt to save them from Destruction This Sense they imbibed with their Mothers Milk and when the Father instructed his Children he told them that by these words This Lamb is the Passover was meant nothing else but this Lamb is the Memorial or puts us in mind of the Passover for so God had himself explain'd it Exod. 12. 26 27. So that our Saviour in saying of the Bread he broke This is my Body brought in no new way of speaking but what the Disciples and all the Jews were already sufficiently acquainted with in Sacramental Discourses which makes Christ add immediately to shew that he meant no more by it but a Memorial Do this in remembrance of me i. e. As the Lamb put the Jews in mind of the destroying Angel's passing over their Houses so the Bread in this Ordinance puts you in mind of my Body that shall be nailed to the Tree of the Cross for the Life of the World and tells you how by that Sacrifice offer'd for your Souls ye shall escape the Everlasting Wrath of God and the burning Lake prepared for the Devil and his Angels as they did the Destruction prepared for Pharaoh and his People 3. That Christ's Church is often called his Body none can be ignorant that peruses these passages Col. 1. 18. Ephes. 5. 23 Ephes. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 1 Cor. 12. 27. And though that Sense we have already alledgâ—d be the principal thing aim'd at in these words This is my Body yet to shew how little need there is to have recourse either to Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation rather than run into such absurdities we might very well say that the Bread is an Emblem or Adumbration of Christ's Body i. e. of Christ's Church For as that Bread is made up of many Particles so Christ's Church of many Members and as those various Crums are closely united to th' other so the various Members ought to be link'd together in Love and Charity according to the Royal Law given by our Master Joh. 13. 34. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another But this we add to shew rather what little temptation there is to run our selves into inextricable difficulties in the explication of these words than to express the immediate intent of this expression All Churches agree in 't That Christ's Crucified Body is meant here only the difference is how the Bread is Christ's Body and how Christ's Body is present in the Sacrament we say it is there spiritually as the Bread is a Symbol a Figure a Sign a Representation and a Memorial of Christ's Body which was offer'd for the Sins of the World and this Interpretation is so easie so intelligible so agreeable to Sacramental expressions and to the Analogy of Faith that one would think it should be impossible for Men to contradict it except they were resolv'd to defend an Opinion right or wrong merely because it is their interest to do so The Romanists indeed have of late years endeavour'd very much to perswade the World that the Greek Church in the Levant is of their Opinion in the Sacrament but not to mention the rudeness and ignorance of those poor Churches which scarce understand the Principles of their own Faith if the Protestants had but taken the same pains with the Modern Greeks that the Popish Missioners do i. e. bribed and paid them for their assent and consent to their Faith they would have been Protestants in this Article of the Sacrament as some of them are Papists at this present Cyril who was Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1622 where-ever he imbibed his Doctrine certainly was not for Transubstantiation and though by the endeavours of the Jesuits he was afterwards strangled yet that doth not make him an Heretick And though several Synods have been held by the Greeks of late years which have establish'd Transubstantiation yet it 's sufficiently known that it hath been by instigation of those of the Roman Communion who spare no cost that they may bring them to say as they do However such Greeks as are not yet corrupted by the Roman Emissaries are so far from believing Transubstantiation that they know not what it is and as a late ingenious Travellr hath observed wonder any Man should think them such Beasts as to believe such an Absurdity But what doth it signifie whether the Modern Greeks who are sunk into gross Ignorance and Barbarism be of our Opinion or no 'T is sufficient that the ancient Greek Church is and hath been of the same Belief with us The Churches of the Levant at this Day as Learning is become a very scarce Commodity among them so their Opinion in a controverted Point is of no great Consequence Where they can give Proof of an uninterrupted Succession of their Doctrine it may be of importance else not The Church of the Aethiopians or Habessines as they have for many Centuries continued in the honest Simplicity of their Doctrine so their Testimony in this Point of the Eucharist may be of some use and by what appears they seem to joyn with us in this Sacrament For though they pray in their Liturgy That the Holy Ghost may descend and come and shine upon the Bread that it may become the Body of Christ and that the Taste of the Cup may be changed and become the Blood of Christ yet by what one of their own Priests confessed they believe no other Change but a mysterious or representative one or a Change of the use of the Bread whereby from common it becomes sacred And so much appears from the Exposition they give of the Words used by Christ for they say expresly This Bread is my Body and This Cup is my Blood IV. From what hath been said 't is easie to conclude what it is to eat Christ's Body in this holy Sacrament 1. It is to contemplate Christ's crucified Body and the Cause and Reasons of that Crucifixion to view all this with our warmest Thoughts to make
obtained and did obtain that Prerogative that in the Lords Supper only and at no time else it had the priviledge to be in many places at once About 150 years after him one James Faber of Stapula enlarged this Privilege of Christ's Human Nature and what Gerson had restrain'd only to the Sacrament he extended to the whole World and made Christ's Human Nature as extensive as his Divinity Luther afterward exceeding fond of this Opinion establish'd it in the Churches of Saxony insomuch that he averâ—'d Christ's Body was as much in a Baker's Shop as in the Eucharist only in the Shop he did not desire to be taken and worshipp'd because he had not tyed himself to a Shop by any word of Promise Nay that his Body was in the very Rope wherewith Judas hang'd himself and went through doors that were lock'd and through the very Stone that was laid upon his Sepulchre A strange fancy For certainly Christ's Body was Crucified at Jerusalem and not in all places of the World and when he fate at Table with his Disciples he did not sit at the same time at Rome or in the East-Indies How near this Doctrine approaches to the errors of the Marcionites and Manichaeans of old who taught that Christ had no real or substantial Body but only a Bodily Shape and that when he was felt and found to have Flesh and Bones it was only by special Dispensation how near this Doctrine I say approaches these Errors condemn'd by the Antient Church I will not determine It cannot be denied that Luther was not always the same and sometimes he seem'd to deny what he asserted before But still those among the Lutherans that are for this Ubiquity make him the Great Patron of their Doctrine And though some of them give out that they do not assert the Ubiquity of Christ's Body so much as his Omnipresence yet it will be a hard matter to shew how Ubiquity and Omnipresence differ Some pretend that the fore-mention'd expressions were not Luther's expressions but foisted in by some that would fain take Sanctuary at his Books for the defence of their Opinions But the composers of the History of the Augsburg Confession are ashamed of this Conceit and the Elector of Saxony when in the Year 1574. he came to examine the thing found that it was only an idle report and that in the Edition of Luther's Works there was no variation used from his own words and expressions And if Luther writes in some places against this Ubiquity of Christ's Body it 's an argument that he ought not to be believ'd in other Books where he asserts it Thus came in Consubstantiation and this Opinion the Lutheran Churches do at this time follow and maintain very eagerly And though in all other Points they differ very little from the Protestants of the Reformation for with us they protest against Popish Invocation of Saints Religious Worship of Images Human Satisfactions Indulgences Purgatory Worship of Relicks Prayers in an unknown Tongue Merit of Works Transubstantiation Adoration of the Sacrament Sacrifice of the Mass Monarchy of the Pope pretences of Infallibility and blind Obedience to the decisions of Councils c. Yet this Point they do so stifly and so uncharitably maintain that the greatest part of them refuse communion with us upon this account which as it is an error so we believe it is no fundamental one especially since all this while they are against Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Sacrament and though in the point of their Consubstantiation they ground themselves much upon that saying of Christ Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always even into the end of the World Yet this is easily answer'd For 1. From hence it doth not follow that he will always vouchsafe them his Bodily Presence for he was after this receiv'd into Heaven and therefore could not be present with his Body at that time 2. What he promises here he made good when he sent the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Truth upon them Which Spirit though not as to his miraculous Gifts yet as to his saving Graces is with all true Believers to the end of the World So that 3. His being always with them must be understood of his Power and Virtue and Influence which would be with them and with the Churches they should Plant unto the end of the World as the Sun is in Heaven and with his Virtue and Influence cherishes this lower World And thus far we agree with them that Christ is present in the Holy Sacrament by his Power and Influence and Gracious Assistances which sincere Believers feel in their worthy Receiving But from hence it can never be made out that his Body therefore is hid under the Bread in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist III. In what sense the Bread in this Sacrament is the Body of Christ we may easily guess if we explain Scripture by Scripture and compare this expression with others not unlike it 1. This is my Body i.e. This is a significant Emblem or Sign or Figure of my Body Or this Bread thus broken represents my Body that shall be Crucified for the Sins of the World Thus not only Rabanus Maurus Erigena Bruno Berengarius and other wise Men understood it in the Ninth and Eleventh Centuries but most of the Fathers that lived before Pasâ—â—sius or before 800 Years after Christ. So that This is my Body is as much as this Bread is representative of my Body As Bread is proper Food for your Bodies so my Crucified Body is proper Food for your precious and immortal Souls As Bread strengthens your Bodies so shall the Comforts and Benefits of my Crucified Body support and fortifie your inward Man As Bread nourishes your mortal Bodies so shall the Love and Charity express'd in my giving my Body to be Crucified for your Sins nourish your better part and a sense of that Love cause a reciprocal Love and Charity in your Souls As Bread unites with your Bodies and turns into the substance of your Bodies So my Crucified Body or Faith in me who give my self for you shall be a means of my being one with you and of your being one with me And this interpretation is conformable to the sense of parallel places I am the door of the sheep saith our Saviour Joh. 10. 9. i.e. As the Door opens and being open'd the Sheep are let into the Fold so I am he by whose Light and Influence Men are admitted into the number of God's Children or by my Gospel they get admittance to God's marvellous Light by this they are let into the knowledge of the greatest Mysteries and by believing in me Men have access to the greatest Felicity So Joh. 15. 1. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman i. e. As the Vine hath Branches so I have Disciples As the Branches are nourish'd by the Vine so are my Disciples by me As the Vine yields an excellent Juice so my
his Heart for if that be as it should be it is indifferent what Matter the Cup is made of in the Administration of this Ordinance As to the Figure Form or Shape of the Cup Christ made use of Tradition saith It was a Cup with two Handles holding a Quart of Wine 'T is true the Jews in their Passover made use of such a Measure which was therefore called Robiit or a Fourth Part and Christ might possibly accommodate himself to that Custom the rather because it was a Cup that all the Disciples drank of according to Christ's Order Drink ye all of it yet this is still conjectural only and therefore the Christian Churches are in this Case left to their Prudence and Discretion Tertullian tells us and he lived about the Beginning of the Third Century that in his Days there was engraven on the sacred Chalice the Figure of a Shepherd carrying a Lamb upon his Shoulders an Emblem either of the Parable Luk. 15. 4 5. or of the Son of God who walked through the Wilderness of this World to seek those which were lost and having found them brought them back to the Fold again and to his Father's House But see how soon an innocent Custom draws on more dangerous Practices In process of time the holy Cup in the Sacrament began to be adorned with various Images and Inscriptions Such was the Cup which Remigius Archbishop of Rhemes who died in the Year 535. bequeathed to his Church with this Inscription Out of this Cup the People drink Life and Happiness through the Blood of Christ Jesus As Superstition afterward increased instead of Silver Cups the People made use of the Monks invented little Silver Pipes through which the People were to suck the holy Wine out of the Cup the Priest made use of which is the Reason why in the Rules of the Carthusian Monks this among the rest was one That they shall have nothing of Silver in their Colleges save only a Silver Chalice and Silver Pipes through which the Lay-men are to suck the Blood of Christ. These Things are hinted here to shew how necessary it is to keep up to the Primitive Institution of this Sacrament for if once Men presume to deviate from that Simplicity they know not where to stop and they will be tempted to hancker after new Devices and Inventions every Day III. That Christ gave the Cup to his Disciples as well as the Bread is evident from the Institution And the Reasons were these 1. To shew that this part of the Sacrament is of the same worth and value with the other and that we are to esteem the sacred Cup as highly as we do the Bread for as the former represented his broken Body so this his spilt and flowing Blood Nay if there be any Preeminence in the one above the other it must be ascribed to the Cup or the Blood of Christ represented by the Wine in the Cup for upon the Blood of the Son of God the weight of Redemption lies according to what the Apostle tells us Heb. 9. 11 12. But Christ being become an High-Priest of good Things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with Hands that is not of this Building neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood he enter'd in once into the Holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us And Without shedding of Blood there is no Remission as it is Vers. 22. And this shews how miserably the poor People are deluded in the Modern Church of Rome in that they are denied the Cup in this Ordinance for hereby they are deprived of that which should afford them the greatest Comfort and assure them of the Remission of their Sins For if the great Stress of Redemption must be laid on the Blood of Christ and they are deprived of that part of the Sacrament which properly and immediately represents his Blood which was shed for the Remission of their Sins it must necessarily follow that they are intolerably cheated And what Assurance can they have from this Sacrament that their Sins are or will be pardoned when they receive not that which must assure them of it So that the Laity in that Church are left in a most uncomfortable Condition Nor will it avail much to say that the People believe that they receive the Blood in the Bread for it is not Fancy or Imagination that will do any good here Christ certainly did not think so which made him appoint a distinct Symbol for his Blood and but that they are not to believe their own Senses in that Church their Eyes and Tongues might convince them that they do not remember the shedding of Christ's Blood for the Remission of their Sins by drinking of the Wine designed for that purpose For 2. Christ in giving the Cup to his Disciples as well as the Bread intimated thereby that those who received the one should receive the other also This hath been the Sense of the Christian Church for many Hundred Years after Christ The Greek from the Apostles Days to this Hour hath inferred and doth infer so much and even the Latin Church for above a Thousand Years was of the same Opinion 'T is true in the Church of Rome the Priest drinks of the consecrated Cup as well as eats the consecrated Wafer But what have the poor Sheep the Lay-men done that they must be excluded from the Cup The Apostles 't is granted were Priests but they received not the holy Sacrament as Priests but as Believers Christ at that time was the Priest that administred the holy Symbols to them and Children can tell that according to this way of arguing the People ought not to receive the holy Bread because the Apostles were Priests when they received it However to do even an Enemy right the Church of Rome is ingenuous enough in their maintaining of this Sacrilege for the Council of Constance expresly tells us That though Christ gave the Sacrament to his Disciples in both kinds and though in the Primitive Church this Sacrament was received by the Faithful in both Kinds yet notwithstanding all this the Fathers of that Council think it fit to abrogate that Custom and threaten the Priest with Excommunication that shall offer to give the consecrated Wine or Cup to the Common People And I confess this is plain Dealing but in the worst Sense as Men do justifie their Sins and boast of their Iniquities And with what Conscience any Person can be of that Church that doth assert and defend and obliges her Members to comply with such manifest contrariety to the Doctrine of Christ I know not This I know that Obedience to the Precepts of the Gospel is a commanded Duty and they are excluded from Christ's Favour and Friendship that will not keep his Words and all pretences of Love are rejected as Pageantry where obedience to his Commands is not the product of that Love and consequently
it it must stand and last as long as those assaults do last The Apostle therefore makes mention of sincere Christians that will be alive at Christ's coming to Judgment 1 Thess. 4. 17. And consequently the Church will last till then and if the Church is to last to the Worlds end the Marks of that Church must last as long It 's true Holiness of life is one Mark but that 's not all the Marks the Christ's Church must have The Sacraments are Marks too and Marks whereby it may be better known than by Holiness not but that Holiness is the principal Ornament of the Church but as those that are to joyn themselves unto the Church are generally more inquisitive after the Constitutions and Ordinances of it and the means whereby that Holiness is effected than after any thing else so this Sacrament being part of those means and therefore one of the necessary Marks it must last to the end of the World as much as the Church it self and as long as there is any probability of Mens joyning themselves to the Church and by this means Holiness of Life is signally promoted as experience sufficiently witnesses As Christians in general so the Church of Christ or the respective Societies of Christians professing Christ's Doctrine and imitation of his life are compared to a City set on a Hill and which cannot be hid Mat. 5. 14. Not that Christ's Church must always appear outwardly Magnificent and Glorious thereby to attract the Eyes of Spectators no but that the purity of Doctrine and sound Preaching of the Word and the due administration of the Holy Sacraments together with innocence of Life must make it visible and this it may be under the greatest persecution and when a severe Tempest falls upon her by these Marks she may still be known and if these are her Marks these Marks must last as long as the Church it self III. The term therefore to which this Holy Sacrament is to last even Chrst's coming to Judgment may very justly be taken into consideration in receiving of the Blessed Eucharist I hinted so much Ch. 1. Fa. 9. But must upon this occasion enlarge upon it For 1. This consideration will help to encourage us to Patience under reproaches Injuries and Mens unrighteous dealing with us It serves to quiet the Soul to think that Christ knows my Sufferings aud the Injuries that are done me and sees my Integrity and Innocence and will clear me in the last day before the whole World What need I resent such an affront when the Son of God takes notice of it and if I am patient under it will in that great day plead my Cause set the Sinners Transgression if he repents not before his Eyes and confound him not that I am to wish that confusion of the offender but my consideration that Christ will actually do it may promote my contentedness under that affliction What need I revile my Persecutors when he for whose sake I endure that persecution will sufficiently vindicate me in that day for it is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to those that trouble you saith St. Paul 2. Thes. 1. 6 7 8. This Judge will at last discover how Men were mistaken in us how unjust there Censures were what sinister Constructions they put upon our Actions how malicious their Slanders were how unjust the Punishments they inflicted on us how inhuman how contrary to Charity all their ill Lauguage was He shall bring forth our Righteousness as the Light and our Judgment as the Noon-day Psal 37. 6. and this consideration must needs be very effectual to promote Patience 2. This Consideration will help to increase our confidence and arm us against distrust and diffidence for if the powers of darkness would fright us from laying hold on Christ's Merits because he will be a very severe Judge in the last day the timerous Christian may answer thus True he will be my Judge but he hath promised to be a Father too to those that fear him He 'll be my Judge Indeed but he is a Judge of my Flesh and of my Bone and who will have regard to my infirmities He 'll be my Judge but he is my Head withal who will be tender of his Members He 'll be my Judge but he is a merciful High Priest withal who will be my Advocate and answer the Objections I cannot confute I will cling to his Precepts I will not wickedly depart form him I will express my Love to him in Holy Obedience I will dread his Judgments and make his Mercy a motive to Purification I will not give place to the Devil I will fight against his Temptations I will stand upon my watch I will not lie asleep in the Bed of Sin I will get up if I chance to fall I will rise again when I am overtaken in a fault I will accuse my self and beg his pardon I will endeavour to walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith I am called with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering I will not take part against him with his Enemies This is the work I have resolved upon according to this Rule I will walk and such a Soul I know this Gracious Judge will not cast away nor condemn what inadvertencies I may run into I will not justifie but strive against them and I doubt not but his Cross will cover them while my Heart is sincere and my Soul is ever toward him This Judge will absolve me he will deal favourably with me as with a person whom he hath redeemed I will look upon the Promises and apply them He hath promised that he will not take away his kindness utterly from such as love him while I live I will love him and I question not but as severe as he is to the obstinate and untractable he will visit me with everlasting kindness The Preceding Considerations improved and reduced to Practise I. O Let us admire the Goodness of God and his marvellous care of our everlasting welfare He sees how slippery our Natures are how fickle how mutable how changeable how apt to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered to them and therefore he ties us in Bonds in Covenants and in Sacraments of of Virtue whereof the Lord's Supper is the strongest the greatest and most Sacred and therefore the best defensative and guard against the encroachments of Temptations insomuch that he who can break through this Mound and will not be kept in by Arguments drawn from the Death of Christ but in despight of the Blood of the Covenant he hath drunk and sealed his Promise with will plunge himself into known sins that Man's case is desperate that Man is truly resolved to be miserable and will die though the Lord Jesus call to him from the Cross Live in thy Blood live He that can Swear and Vow to God in this Sacrament vow upon the Body and Blood of Christ that he 'll be Drunk no more and Swear no more
than by thy Will and Precepts Give me understanding that I may do that which is most agreeable to thy holy Nature and the interest of my immortal Soul O let thy Grace awaken my Reason that I may exercise my self for the future more in things Spirtual and invisible Thy Gospel is so true The Miracles recorded there so convincing the Doctrine so weighty the beauty of Holiness so charming thy promises so gracious thy threatnings so terrible thy Laws so equitable that I wonder at my backwardness to offer unto thee my reasonable service Thou art my Father how reasonable is it that I should love thee Tâ—ou art my Master how reasonable is it that I should obey thee Thy Rewards are infinite how reasonable is it that I should contend earnestly to get them Lord thou knowest my weakness and the stubbornness of my Heart O adjure me by the mercies of God to present unto thee my Soul and Body as a living Sacrifice that whether I live or die I may live and die in the Lord Jesus Amen CHAP. XXX Of the Ceremony or Posture of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS Want of Charity the great Cause of Men's separating from a Church sound in her Doctrines and Morals in point of Ceremonies Essential Things in the first Institution of this Sacrament must be separated from Circumstantial The Posture Christ used was not Sitting but Leaning or Lying on one Side No Churches ever used that Posture Several Reasons why Kneeling is the most proper Posture in Receiving The Prayer I. IT is observed by Eusebius that when Polycarp the famous Bishop of Smyrna came to Rome though he differed from Anicetus the Bishop of that See in Points of Ceremony and Customs he had received from St. John yet they communicated together and did not think it Christian-like to break Communion for any Difference in Things of that Nature An excellent Temper and which I could wish had been observed by our Dissenting Brethren who have been over-scrupulous about the Posture of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament 'T is a lamentable thing to see how Men divide and separate one from another in Religion upon the Account of little External Formalities and neglect the Substance for a Circumstance and the great Duty of Charity because the Ornaments and Decencies of a Church are not modell'd according to their Humour What Account can such Men give of themselves to God who leave a Church by their own Confession sound in Doctrines and Morals for a few External Things which are not agreeable to their Fancy Is this a Cause worth suffering for And can they imagine that God will reward them for neglecting a greater Duty for a less Into what Passion and Bitterness have some been transported that they have even ventured to call this Kneeling at the Communion Idolatry and Superstition When the Children of Reuben Josh. 22. 27. protested that the Altar they had erected was not for Sacrifice or Burnt-Offering but only as a Witness that they were part of the Tribes of Israel the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel acquiesced and were satisfied Our Church protests publickly against any Intent of Paying Adoration by this Ceremony to the Consecrated Elements which would make it Idolatry and yet so dis-ingenuous are some that notwithstanding this Protestation they fill both their own and other People's Heads with Fears that Popery and Idolatry may be hid under that fair Outside In which Proceedings there is so little Charity and Ingenuity that it is a Shame Men should pretend to Conscience and shew so little of it in their Censures II. That which hath betrayed too many into these uncharitable Verdicts hath been their not distinguishing betwixt the Essentials and Circumstantials of this Sacrament betwixt things barely related and commanded And while they have thought themselves obliged to keep exactly to every occasional Action or Gesture used by Christ but not commanded in this Sacrament they have led themselves and others into very palpable Mistakes and Delusions And yet when all is done even these Persons that plead against Kneeling at this Sacrament under a Pretence of keeping close to the Letter of Christ's Actions do at the same time neglect several Circumstances observed in the first Institution for it was celebrated in an Upper Room administred only to Twelve to Men and not to Women and at Night c. None of which Circumstances are observed by these Men. And if one Circumstance may be neglected why may not another such as Sitting be forborn That Christ and his Disciples sate at this Sacrament is the common Allegation and we render the Greek Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by He sate down And the Reason why we render it so is because Sitting comes nearer to the Posture Christ used than Standing or Kneeling But any Man that is no Stranger either to Greek or to the Custom of the Jews must needs know that these Words do properly import Leaning or Inclining or Lying on one Side And this the Jews express by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sitting by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making a great Difference betwixt these two This Leaning or Lying the Jews used at their Passover Whether they borrowed this Rite or Posture from the Grecians Romans and Persians who used to Sup in that Posture I will not determine But the manner was this they lean'd or lay on their Left Side upon little Beds made for that purpose called in their Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mittoth by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and each Bed held three Persons The Law had commanded Standing at the Eating of the Passover but the Church looked upon that Posture as Servile accommodated only to those Times when they were in Egypt and therefore changed it into the Posture of Leaning which they thought was a Badge of Liberty Nor doth Christ find fault with their Church for making this Alteration in a commanded Posture for himself practised it knowing that Circumstantial Things are left to the Discretion of the Governors of Churches to keep or abolish them as they shall see convenient And this was so universally believed by all Churches of the Christian World that none I could ever hear or read of hath kept to the posture of Leaning or Lying on one Side in the Use of this Holy Sacrament which they would not have presumed to do if this Posture had been Essential to the Receiving of the Sacrament And whereas it is commonly said that this was a Table-posture to which Sitting succeeded still this shews that Men have varied from the Posture Christ used And since he hath commanded no Posture all Churches are at their liberty to order what Posture they think fit and he is a contentious Man that opposes it What Posture the Primitive Church used at the Receiving of the Sacrament Antiquity hath not left upon Record That they stood at their Publick Prayers on Sundays and on other