Himself or by his Disciples if no more had bin meant than so as he did in the case of Parables less difficult to understand than this would have bin if it had bin by our Lord proposed as one but proceeds to deliver this profound Mystery to them in more express words using a vehement Asseveration to confirm the truth of it Verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day For my Flesh is truly meat my Blood is truly drink He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father So he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are Dead He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever All which words being used by our Lord to clear the doubt and answer that Question of the Jews How can this man give us his Flesh to eat I cannot imagin how the Real Presence of Christs Body and its Manducation in the Sacrament could have bin more fully Asserted in order to the disposing of his Disciples to believe the Sense of the Reality when he should Institute his blessed Sacrament And so the Fathers interpret this place And do not say that the Manna mentioned in the 58 verse which was miraculously sent from Heaven was a Type of ordinary Bread made by the Hands of Men and set upon the Table which is of a far more Ignoble Nature and less Significant than the Manna which thus came down from Heaven but of the Real Body of Christ in the Sacrament which was the true Bread from Heaven that nourished to Immortality After our Saviour had spoke thus to them many of the Disciples themselves to whom Christ did not think fit as yet to reveal the manner of feeding upon his Body in the Blessed Sacrament thinking that he meant that his Body was to be eaten in a gross manner like the Capernaites cried out this is a hard saying who can hear it To whom as well as to the Jews who before are said to murmur at him because he said I am the Bread which came down from Heaven and that ask how this Man could give them his Flesh to eat our Lord replies doth this offend you and then clears the Doctrins to them as far as he judg'd convenient for the confirmation of such high Mysteries about which they were to exercise a strong and a lively Faith by saying thus v. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before As if he should have said if you do not yet believe that the Son of Man came down from Heaven yet when you see him ascend thither again you will be more ready to believe that it was really God who came down took Flesh and dwelt amongst you which Solution had relation chiefly to the former of the Mysteries viz. his Incarnation but withal insinuates that such as believe not his words touching the holy Sacrament and think it impossible for him to give his Body to be eaten in so many places at once being yet on Earth would be much more Scandalized and Tempted after they saw or knew him to have Ascended into Heaven Therefore to clear the latter Mystery and Solve their doubt who thought like the Capernaites that Christ was to have cut pieces of flesh from his body and to have given them to be eaten or that thought his Body to be that of a mere Man he tells them v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing that is the Flesh which he had told them before that they must eat altho' not in the gross manner without the Spirit profiteth nothing not but that by the Spirit quickning it it profits very much Suitable to that of St. Paul. 1 Cor. 8. 1. Knowledge puffeth up but Charity edifieth that is Knowledge without Charity puffeth up altho' when Chariy is joyned with it to enliven it it edifies and Charity it self edifieth by Knowledge For if these words of Christ were to be taken in the Sense of the Sacramentarians they would derogate no less from his Incarnation Manhood and Death than from the Real Presence of his Body in the Sacrament in all which without doubt the flesh profiteth very much Wherefore our Lord goes on to tell them here that the words which he spake unto them were Spirit and Life therefore not to be understood in the gross carnal Sense before mentioned which some of his Disciples took them in For it is the use of the Scripture to call Mans natural Sense carnal Reasoning and resisting or not reaching to the belief of Supernatural Truths Flesh and Blood as Matth. 16. 17. Flesh and blood revealed not this to thee c. but the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and Life therefore not to be carnally understood But as by the Word of God the World was Created and Nature hath been since often chang'd so there is no doubt but Christ could by it change the Bread into his Body as he did daily by ordinary Natural Nutrition but here in a supernatural way Our Lord therefore said unto them that their Fathers did Eat Manna in the Wilderness which was but a Type of this Heavenly Manna in the Sacrament and yet they did Spiritually feed upon Christ the Messias for it is said 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. That they did all eat the same Spiritual Meat and did all Drink the same Spiritual Drink for they Drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ and yet they are Dead all of them a Temporal some of them an Eternal Death also and those of them which now live the Life Eternal received this Life from the Son of God who hath now given us the Antitype of that Manna which the Children of Israel did eat viz. his own Body in the Sacrament something of a far more excellent nature to feed upon which will be to our Bodies as well as to our Souls the Seed of Immortality the Instrument and Pledge of our Resurrection Ascension and Glorification Yet as our Lord said to his Disciples there are some of you which believe not so we may say still of the Sacramentarians who notwithstanding all that Christ hath said will admit of nothing but Signs and Figures of imaginary vertue whom nevertheless our Saviour hath no further instructed in any such easie Sense as this which might certainly have prevented their relapse as well as that of the Jews his Disciples and which if any such Sense had been to be admitted would most certainly have been given that they will not believe our Lord and therefore they go
deluded Souls it will be necessary to examine the pretended grounds of so false a Doctrin and to lay open the monstrous Absurdity of it ANSWER And yet notwithstanding all this there is a Sect of men in the World so abandon'd and given up by God to the efficacy of delusion as confidently to deny this revealed truth and to impose this strange Negative Article of Faith of theirs That in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at or after Consecration by any person whatsoever under no less penalties than the temporal loss of their Estates and Livelihoods the loss of their Lives the formal renouncing of the Catholic Faith and Religion which is dearer to them than their Lives and consequently Eternal damnation Therefore to undeceive which we hope is possible these deluded Souls it will be necessary to shew the real grounds upon which Transubstantiation is built that so the monstrous absurdity of the contrary Doctrin may be made to appear DISCOURSE And in the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this plain method I. I shall consider the pretended grounds and reasons of the Church of Rome for this Doctrin II. I shall produce our Objections against it And if I can shew that there is no tolerable ground for it and that there are invincible Objections against it then every man is not only in reason excused from believing this Doctrin but hath great cause to believe the contrary FIRST I will consider the pretended grounds and reasons of the Church of Rome for this Doctrin Which must be one or more of these five Either 1st The Authority of Scripture Or 2ly The perpetual belief of this Doctrin in the Christian Church as an evidence that they always understood and interpreted our Saviour's words This is my Body in this Sense Or 3ly The Authority of the present Church to make and declare new Articles of Faith. Or 4ly The absolute necessity of such a change as this in the Sacrament to the comfort and benefit of those who receive this Sacrament Or 5ly To magnifie the power of the Priest in being able to work so great a Miracle 1st They pretend for this Doctrin the Authority of Scripture in those words of our Saviour This is my Body Now to shew the insufficiency of this pretence I shall endeavour to make good these two things 1. That there is no necessity of understanding those words of our Saviour in the sense of Transubstantiation 2. That there is a great deal of reason to understand them otherwise ANSWER In the handling of this Argument I shall proceed in this plain method I. I shall consider the solid grounds and reasons of the Catholic Church for this Doctrin II. I shall weigh the Objections which the Author makes against it And if I can shew that there is a real ground for it and that the Objections against it are weak and inconsiderable then every man is not only in reason obliged to believe it but hath great cause to reject the contrary First I shall consider the solid grounds and reasons of the Catholic Church for this Doctrin Which are at least these five 1st The Authority of Scripture 2ly The perpetual belief of this Doctrin in the Christian Church as an evidence that they always understood and interpreted our Saviours words This is my Body in this Sense Or 3ly The Authority of the Church in every Age to declare propose and exhibit when by misinterpretation of Heretics they are forc'd to it a more explicit Sense of the Ancient Articles of our Faith. Or 4ly The infinite Mercy and condescension of God to operate such a change as this for the comfort and benefit of those who receive this Sacrament Or 5ly The just dignity of the Priest whom God is pleas'd to make use of as his Minister for the working so miraculous a change 1st The Catholic Church hath always grounded the Doctrin of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation upon the Authority of Divine Revelation in these words of our Saviour This is my Body Now to shew the validity of this Proof I shall endeavour to make good these two things I. That there is a necessity of understanding these words of our Saviour in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation From whence it will necessarily follow II. That there is no reason at all for the understanding them otherwise DISCOURSE First That there is no necessity to understand those words of our Saviour in the sense of Transubstantiation If there be any it must be from one of these two Reasons Either because there are no figurative expressions in Scripture which I think no man ever yet said or else because a Sacrament admits of no figures which would be very absurd for any man to say since it is of the very nature of a Sacrament to represent and exhibit some invisible grace and benefit by an outward sign and figure And especially since it cannot be denied but that in the institution of this very Sacrament our Saviour useth figurative expressions and several words which cannot be taken strictly and literally When he gave the Cup he said This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you and for many for the remission of Sins Where first the Cup is put for Wine contained in the Cup or else if the words by literally taken so as to signifie a substantial change it is not of the Wine but of the Cup and that not into the Blood of Christ but into the New Testament or new Covenant in his Blood. Besides that his Blood is said then to be shed and his Body to be broken which was not till his Passion which followed the Institution and first celebration of this Sacrament ANSWER First That there is a necessity of understanding those words of our Saviour in the Sense of the Real Presence or Transubstantiation For these two Reasons 1. Because although there be many figurative expressions in Scripture which all men allow yet this in relation to the Case in hand is not such 2. Although a Sacrament admits of Figures which no man is so absurd as to deny since it is of the very nature of a Sacrament to represent and exhibit some invisible grace and benefit by an outward Sign and Figure Yet the Figure doth not lie where the Author pretends it doth The Rule which men ought to observe in their discourse in relation to Figures is this That a Figure should not be used which the Auditor doth not easily apprehend to be so To compare therefore a Figure which all the World can easily understand to be so with an expression which no man can Construe to be a Figure according to the Rules of human Discourse is very absurd Yet such is the Authors instance from Scripture From whence he alledgeth that when our Saviour gave the Cup he
natural organized and visible Body was then whole and unbroken and its Blood not then shed yet that very Body as broken in the Sacrament was said to be then given for them that very Blood as there poured out was said then to be poured out for the remission of sins Therefore it was a propitiatory Sacrifice although offered before as well as after Christ had suffered to Pay the full Price of our Redemption because its whole nature did consist in the relation which it had to the Sacrifice that was offered up for us upon the Cross from which it received all its vertue It was very possible therefore for our Lords Disciples to understand these words properly because although they plainly saw that what he gave them had the Species of Bread and Wine yet they believed him when he said that it was his Body that was given for them although his Body at the same time gave what was given his Body broken and his Blood poured out for them although they saw him alive at that very time and beheld his Body whole and unpierced because he had plainly told them so who had the Words of eternal Life and could not deceive them and for this reason they could not but understand his words properly Otherwise can we imagin that the Disciples who upon all other occasions were so full of questions and objections if they could have conceiv'd that these words were to be understood in a parabolical or improper Sense would not have desired an Explication of them of our Lord as they did of other Parables which were more easy to be understood than these words in such a Sense nor so much as ask our Saviour how can these things be That they should not tell him we see This to be Bread and That to be Wine and we see thy Body to be distinct from both we see thy Body not broken and thy Blood not shed what therefore should be the meaning of these words or that our Saviour the true Guid and greatest Lover of Souls or any of his Apostles after him should never have given any Explanation of them I have already shewed in answer to the Author that the words of our Lord This is my Body could not according to the Rules of Human Discourse be taken Figuratively so as to Signifie this is a Sign of my Body unless the Apostles had bin before-hand prepared to understand them as so There are no words Recorded by any of the Evangelists to dispose them to believe the words in such a sense nor any indeed that relate to the matter unless it be some sayings of our Lord in the Sixth Chapter of Saint Johns Gospel that were delivered before the Institution of the Eucharist which I shall now consider for the further Clearing of the Point as also those words of Saint Luke This do in remembrance of me used by our Lord at the time of the Institution and prove that none of these expressions do at all favor our Adversaries Figurative Sense but the clean contrary We Read in the Sixth Chapter of Saint John's Gospel that our Saviour had prepared the minds of his Disciples before-hand by two great Miracles both which tended towards the strengthning of their Faith in the Sacred Eucharist the Former being a Figure of this Sacrament since in it he multiplied Five Loaves so as to make them feed five thousand persons altho' the fragments which remained filled twelve baskets and were more in quantity than the five Loaves were at the first so that they needed not to doubt but he could feed as many thousands as he pleas'd with his own precious Body exhibited under the Species of Bread in the blessed Sacrament and yet his Body be still one and the same The latter shewing them that he could Convey his Body how and whither he pleased which made them ask him when they saw him on the other side the Sea without taking Ship at the shore Rabbi when camest thou hither Then he proceeds to instruct them in Three of the greatest Mysteries of Religion 1. His Incarnation or coming down from Heaven and taking Human Flesh upon him from verse 27. where he also gives them a hint of the blessed Sacrament that meat that perisheth not to v. 51. 2. The Real Presence of his Body and Manducation thereof in the Sacrament which wonderful Presence there the Fathers did ever compare to the Incarnation it self from v. 51 to v. 59. 3. The Ascension is mentioned to Prove the two former Mysteries v. 62. Our Saviour having styled himself the Bread of Life towards the beginning of the Discourse of the Incarnation v. 33 and 35. after some Explication made of this Repeats it again twice v. 49 and 51 to inculcate it the better into his Disciples minds And then instructs them how they should be partakers of this Bread not by believing only that the Son of God came down from Heaven and was made Man taking upon him Human Flesh but by feeding upon his Flesh in the Sacrament which being a deep Mystery that they might not doubt of the truth of it he explains to them what he meant when he said v. 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of me he shall live for ever not by telling them that by this Bread is meant the Doctrin which he taught or that by eating this Bread is to be understood the believing of this Doctrin in a Metaphorical or parabolical Sense as the Socinians and Sacramentarians fondly imagin or in like manner as he Explained the Parable of the Sower that Sowed good Seed telling them that the Field is the World the good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom or as when he had said I have meat to eat which ye know not of he explained himself by saying my Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me putting the Predicate in the place of the Subject in the manner before hinted and saying the Bread is my Word or the Doctrin that I teach but quite otherwise he assures them that the Bread that he will give them is his Flesh which he promiseth to give for the life of the world and which by an Elegant Metaphor Christ calleth Bread because it was to afford nourishment to the Soul and Body both in a Spiritual manner in the Sacrament as the ordinary Bread was to nourish the Body in a carnal manner by way of corporeal digestion out of the Sacrament And there is no doubt but the Jews understood our Lord in a proper Sense when they said v. 52. How can this Man give us his flesh to eat Our Saviour did not answer this doubt by telling them as he easily might have done in the Sacramentarian way that no more was meant but believing stedfastly in his Death and applying to themselves the merits of it and which Explication he would have certainly given them then or afterwards by