words Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine Which said he first of all tasted of it himself and then reach'd it out to all that sate with him Presently after he took a Loaf of Bread and holding it with both his hands consecrated it in these words Blessed be thou O Lord our God who bringest Food out of the Earth Which said he brake it and after he had eaten a piece of it himself gave the like to each that sate with him Thus that Learned Man informs us that the Father of the Family did at their sitting down at their more solemn Feasts As after the Feast was over that he or some other person to whom he committed it taking a second time a Cup full of Wine into both his hands prayed Let us bless him who hath fed us of his own and by whose goodness we live Passing on from thence to other Blessings and Prayers and particularly to bless God for the Food which he had afforded to them all and for all the Benefits bestow'd either on their Fathers or themselves and to pray unto him in like manner for the state of their Nation for the restoring of Jerusalem for the coming of Elias and the Messiah and particularly for their Domesticks and Kindred After which the same person began as before Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who createst the Fruit of the Vine and thereupon again drank a little of the Wine himself and then gave it in order to his Guests Now as it is easie to guess by the likeness there is between our Sacrament and this Usance that our Sacrament or rather the Author thereof took his Pattern from thence if that Usance be ancienter than the Sacrament it self So there is just ground to believe it was both from what we find in St. Luke's account of Christ's celebration of the Passover and this Sacrament and from the manner wherewith this Sacrament was celebrated in the first Ages of Christianity For St. Luke in his account of the former Solemnities takes notice of our Saviour's taking a Cup giving thanks over it and distributing it among his Disciples (d) Luke 22.17 18. with this farther Remark that he said he would not drink any more of the fruit of the vine the particular title here us'd until the kingdom of God should come And the Ancients in their mention of the celebration of the Lord's Supper speak of the Symbols thereof as alike intended for memorials of their thankfulness to God for the Blessings of this World as well as for the Blessing of their Redemption For thus Justin Martyr first affirms the Bread of the Eucharist to have been given by our Saviour to us (e) Dial. cum Tryph. pag. 260. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we might at the same time give thanks to God for having made the World with all things in it for the sake of Man and for delivering us from the evil in which we sometime were by him whom he made passible for us As Irenaeus (f) Adv. haeres lib. 4. c. 32. Sed suis discipulis dans consilium primitias deo offerre ex suis creaturis non quasi indigenti sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi nec ingrati sint eum qui ex creatura panis est accepit gratias egit dicens Hoc est corpus meum Et calicem similiter qui est ex ea creatura quae est secundum nos suum sanguinem confessus est novi Testamenti novam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens in universo mundo offert deo ei qui alimenta nobis praestat primitias suorum munerum in novo Testamento in like manner that Christ giving his Disciples counsel to offer to God the First-fruits of his Creatures not as to one that wanted them but that they themselves might not be ungrateful or unfruitful he took Bread and gave thanks saying This is my Body And the Cup in like manner which is of that Creature which is according to us he confessed to be his Blood and taught a new oblation of the New Testament Which Oblation the Church receiving from the Apostles offers in all the World to God even to him who gives us Food the First-fruits of his Gifts in the New Testament Agreeable hereto is that of Origen though not so clearly express'd as the former passages were For these Reasons saith he (g) Contr. Cels lib. 8. p. 399. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Celsus who knows not God pay the testimonies of his thanks to Devils even for the Benefits of this World But we being desirous to please the maker of the Vniverse eat even those Loaves which are offered with Thanksgiving and Prayer over the things bestow'd upon us being now made by Prayer a certain Holy Body and one which sanctifies those who use it with a good intention Plainly intimating by the opposition he there makes between Celsus's paying the testimonies of his thanks to Devils for the Benefits of this World and our eating of the Eucharistical Bread with respect to the maker of the Vniverse that the Christians of old ate of it with regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof as well as with respect to the redemption of it by the Body of his Son Now from whence I pray considering the no intimation there is of any such thing in the Institution of Christ or Saint Paul's rehearsal of it from whence I say that regard to the Creation of the World and the Benefits thereof but from those Thanksgivings which from old descended to them from the Jews together with the Institution of Christ And which being so will prove the Usance before remembred not to have been the Usance of the latter Jews only but of those who were as old as our Saviour's time and that Passover which he celebrated among them Add hereunto what is apparent from the Ancient Liturgies of the Church the Prayers of the Eucharist descending to such Intercessions for all sorts of men as the Prayers of the Jews over their Eucharist appear to have done For these are a yet farther proof of the Antiquity of that Jewish Service and that our Saviour copied his own Institution by it What use these Observations may be of will be more fit to declare elsewhere neither shall I therefore at this time set my self to the investigation of it At present I desire only it may be remembred that in this Exemplar of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper both the one and the other Element thereof were consecrated with Thanksgivings and the Bread of it though consecrated in the mass or lump was yet carefully broken off from it in order to a distribution of it That as the Cup as well as the Bread had a place in that Eucharist so it was alike distributed among the Communicants yea distributed at the end as well as at
this Sacrament with the declarations of the Antient Fathers concerning them God be thanked we of the Church of England are under no such necessity of either slightly passing over or any way perverting the Story of this Holy Sacrament And therefore being now by the order of my discourse to entreat of the Institution of it I will set down the Story thereof in the words of those that first deliver'd it and bound my Observations by them Mat. 26. Mark 14. Luke 22. 1 Cor. 11. 26. And as they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the disciples and said Take Eat This is my body 22. And as they did eat Jesus took Bread and blessed and brake it and gave to them and said Take Eat This is my body 19. And he took Bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying This is my body which is given for you This do in remembrance of me 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread    24. And when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take Eat This is my body which is broken for you This do in remembrance of me 27. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it 23. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them and they all drank of it 20. Likewise also the cup after Supper saying 25. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins 24. And he said unto them This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you This cup is the New Testament in my blood This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me 29. But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom 25. Verily I say unto you I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day I drink it new in the kingdom of God   Now the first thing I shall take notice of in the History of this Sacrament is the Time of the Institution of it Which we learn from St. Paul to have been the same night in which he was betray'd from the context of the several Evangelists at the Celebration of the Feast of the Passover or rather toward the close of it It being whilst they were yet eating that two of them affirm that he took the Bread of it and bless'd and brake and gave it but so near the conclusion of that Feast that St. Luke and St. Paul tell us that it was after Supper before he took the Cup and gave thanks over it and gave it to his Disciples And though I do not pretend to affirm neither do I know any sober Man that doth that there is any obligation upon us for celebrating it after Supper or any other Meal Our Saviour's celebrating it then being in compliance with those Jews whose Institution he now transcrib'd and reform'd and probably also to intimate its succeeding to that solemnity Tho I acknowledg it to have been an antient usage * Tert. de Cor. cap. 3 in the Church to celebrate it at their Meetings before day and where it was not so soon yet before †Aug. Epist 119. ad Janu. their eating of any thing else as that too out of respect to that Sacrament Yet I see as little reason to grant that there is any more of religion in receiving it fasting than what the custom of the Church or the Laws of decency give it It being not otherwise to be thought that our Saviour would have instituted it at Supper time or rather presently after it And much less that St. Paul would have given it in command to the Corinthians (a) 1 Cor. 11.34 that if any Man hungred he should eat at home before he came to the participation of it and of those Agapae that attended it From the Time of the Institution pass we to the Institution it self and the several things done and said in it Where the first thing I am to take notice of is Christ's taking Bread to wit into his hands and probably from off that table on which it was plac'd Agreeably to that usance of the Jews which he fram'd his own Eucharist by and where as was before * Part 1. observ'd the Father of the Family held it in both his hands whil'st he us'd the words of Consecration or Blessing over it However he so took it to be sure as to separate it from what other Bread then was upon the Table as which the word took in the most simple notion of it will oblige us to believe This importing the choice of some particular Bread from out the rest and leaving the other to the ordinary uses of it Now the Bread which our Saviour thus took was either some whole Loaf of Bread answerably to the former usance or at least some larger but entire piece of one as appears by the breaking of it into several pieces answerably to the several persons that were to partake of it And it was also agreeably to the time when it was made use of unleavened Bread as the Latines have truly observ'd against the Greeks It being upon the first day of the feast of unleavened Bread as three of the Evangelists †Mat. 26.17 Mark 14.12 Luke 22.7 have observ'd that that Passover which immediately preceded this Sacrament was celebrated and consequently that this Sacrament also was But why it should be so far urged against the Greeks as to make it the matter of a quarrel is a very unaccountable thing unless there were somewhat either in the words or in the rites of the Institution which directed to the use of unleavened Bread only For leavened or unleavened matters not after the taking away of that Law which made the difference And much less where the present Law requires only (a) 1 Cor. 5.8 the laying aside of the leaven of malice and wickedness and keeping our Passover feast with the unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth It followeth in the Story And Jesus took Bread and blessed as St. Matthew and St. Mark deliver it or as St. Luke and St. Paul after him gave thanks A thing which will require a more accurate consideration because of the momentousness thereof It being to that Blessing or Thanksgiving probably that we are to assign that both change in it and effects of it which are afterwards attributed to it That therefore we may the better understand this whether Blessing or Thanksgiving we will consider
Covenant which was shed for many for the remission of fins but St. Luke and St. Paul as the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood which was shed for them For which cause I will consider the thing here affirmed under each of these notions and first as Christ's Blood of the New Testament or Covenant which I conceive to be the clearest and most proper declaration of it Because it appears even by that St. Paul who makes use of the other expression that the Blood of Christ is the principal thing signified by it even in that very Chapter where he entitles it the New Testament in his Blood For not only doth he before (i) 1 Cor. 10.16 entitle the Cup the Communion of his Blood as he doth the Bread in the same verse the Communion of his Body but immediately after the words of the Institution declare him who eateth that Bread and drinketh that Cup with due preparation to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come as him who eateth and drinketh unworthily to be guilty of his Body and Bloody The Blood of Christ therefore being the thing principally signified and consequently the principal thing predicated of the Cup by the one and the other reason would that we should enquire what our Saviour meant by it that is to say whether that Blood which now ran in his Veins and was shortly after to be shed or only a memorial of it A Question which will soon be voided not only by what I have before said concerning the Notion of Christ's Body but by the Adjuncts of that very Blood whereof we speak The Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as appears by a Text of the Author to the Hebrews (k) Heb. 9.14 c. and by what I have elsewhere (l) Expl. of the Sacrament in general Part 2. discours'd upon it being no other than that Blood which the Mediator of it shed at his Death For that Author tells us that neither that nor any other Testament or Covenant can be firm without it And the Blood that was shed for remission of Sins the very same It being by means of the same Death that the Redemption of Sins against the First Testament or Covenant is procur'd which is but another Name for the Remission of them And I shall only add for the better explanation of those words even the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant that as of old God would not enter nor did enter into the First Covenant with the Israelites till he was aton'd and they sprinkled by the Blood of their Sacrifices So neither would he enter into the New till he was first aton'd and we sprinkled by the Blood of the Sacrifice of his Son and that Blood therefore conformably to what was said of the Blood of the First Covenant stiled the Blood of the New There will be no great difficulty after what I have said of the Blood of the New Testament or Covenant as to the meaning of that New Testament or Covenant in Christ's Blood which St. Luke and St. Paul bring in our Saviour as affirming the Cup to be Because thereby must consequently be meant that New Covenant which was brought about by the Bloud of his Cross even that by which the same Saint Paul elsewhere (m) Col. 1.20 tells us that Christ made Peace between us and God Which will consequently leave nothing more to us to enquire into upon this Head than the importance of that is which joyns the subject and the foregoing predicates together and how the Cup of this Sacrament was and is his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and how the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood For the understanding whereof though it may suffice to remit my Reader to what I before said upon the account of the Bread's being Christ's Body because that mutatis mutandis may be apply'd to the Particle Is here Yet I shall add ex abundanti that there cannot well be any doubt of its being taken figuratively here either in the one or the other predication concerning it Because the Cup of this Sacrament cannot literally and properly be both his Blood of the New Testament or Covenant and the New Testament or Covenant in it which yet in some or other of the Sacred Writers it is affirm'd to be Which as it will make it so much the more reasonable to allow of that figurative Sense here which we have attributed to the same Particle Is in This is my Body So consequently make it reasonable to understand by This is my Blood of the New Testament which answers directly to the other This is a Sign and a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance as well as the Bread is of my Body And indeed as the Cup or rather the Wine of it may well pass for a Sign of that Blood as for other Reasons so for that effusion which is attributed to it So that it is both a Memorial and a Means of its conveyance is evident from St. Paul's bringing in our Saviour subjoining the words Do this as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me to the Story of the Cup and elsewhere representing the same Cup as the Communion of his Blood This I take to be a fair account of the Particle Is as it is made use of to connect the Cup and Christ's Blood of the New Tescament or Covenant And it will be no less easie to give as clear an account of it as it is made use of to connect the same Cup and the New Testament or Covenant in his Blood That Cup representing to us God's exhibiting together with it Christ's Blood and the Merits of it and our receiving that Blood and the Merits of it with that thankfulness which doth become us and a Mind resolv'd to walk worthy of those Benefits we receive by it I will conclude this long Discourse concerning the Institution of this Sacrament when I have lightly animadverted upon that which St. Matthew and St. Mark bring in our Saviour subjoining to all he had said concerning the Elements thereof To wit that he would not any more drink of this Fruit of the Vine for so St. Matthew expresseth it until he should drink it new with them in his Father's Kingdom For though it should be granted what Grotius contends for out of St. Luke that these words were spoken just before the Institution of this Sacrament and only plac'd here upon the account of Christ's being again to speak of the Cup Yet thus much must be granted to St. Matthew and St. Mark 's placing it here that it was the Fruit of the Vine that our Saviour gave them and they accordingly drank of even in this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper There being no more reason nor so much neither considering that that is the immediate Antecedent to deny this Fruit of the Vine's referring to what our Saviour gave his Disciples and they all drank of than there would be to deny