ant his quibus sacrum fieret c. Alex. ab Alex. genial dier l. 4. c. 17. the Heathen Festivals were so many standing Monuments of those kindnesses which their supposed Deities had done for them whether they were recoveries from Plagues or deliverances from Tyrants or the building of Cities or victories in War and the like These things they were wont to Commemorate solemnly and to rehearse them at their Sacrifical Banquets in Honour of their Gods adding divers sorts of Hymns and Praises and shewing all manner of thankfulness for them Now this Christian Mystery being a Religious Feast upon a sacrificed Saviour the very Nature and Analogy thereof doth sufficiently shew this to be one purpose and end of it that we should publish declare and commemorate the exceeding riches of Gods Grace by his kindness to us in Jesus Christ and that we should testifie the sense we have of it by all manner of Eucharistical acts and expressions of Affection For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth a great deal more than a bare Commemoration It signifies here such an outward Profession as is attended with inward Heartiness and with the intensest actions of Grateful and Fervent Souls The Apostle speaking of the Mosaical Oblations which were to be once a year upon the Day of expiation saith in Heb. 10. 3. that in those Sacrifices there was yearly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Remembrance of sins He doth not mean a bare acknowledgment of sin but such an acknowledgement as was accompanied with Compunction with Repentance or with solemn Deprecations of Gods Wrath. Paulus Fagius hath noted In Levit. 16. the form of that Confession which the High Priest was wont to use upon that great and solemn day according to the account which the Hebrew Doctors give of it It was saith he a threefold Confession i. e. he confest his own sins and the sins of the Sons of Aaron and the sins of all the Children of Israel and it was to this effect O Lord I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee I beseech thee O Lord forgive the sins the iniquities the prevarications whereby I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee By Sins the Hebrews mean all acts of Ignorance by Iniquities all Presumptuous and willful transgressions and by Prevarications all kinds of Rebellion and Apostacy from God and with this threefold confession a general Fast was to be joyned and the Law required them all to afflict their Souls nothing that Remorse and Anguish of Spirit which Priest and People were to be under at that time and these hearty expressions of Penitence and contrition is that which the Author to the Hebrews calls the Remembrance of Sins Thus should the Commemoration of Christs death for Sin be full of Life and Vigour accompanied with such mortifications of Flesh and Spirit as are undeniable arguments both of that bitter sense we ought to have of our own Vileness and of those ravishing apprehensions of the Divine love which the Commemoration of our Saviours sufferings is apt to beget in us Briefly though the Holy Jesus was about to die when he instituted this Mystery yet his design was to live for ever in the hearts of his Disciples and because nothing is more common among men albeit nothing unbecomes men more than to let the Remembrance of Gods mercies slide away from them and to Bury his favours in Oblivion therefore to help our infirmities Christ ordained a perpetual use of this Holy Banquet that his Fathers and his own Love might be had in everlasting remembrance For nothing serveth more to perpetuate the memory of any signal and remarkeable Event than when Men assemble themselves solemnly to Eat and Drink together by Occasion and upon the Score of that Event This was the ground and Reason of all the fixt Festivals among the old Heathens that by means thereof the memory of those great atchievements which their reputed gods had done might be transmitted and handed down from one generation to another And this was one great reason why the Paschal Supper was instituted that it might be a Memorial unto the Jews Exod. 12. 14 And lest through the negligence of men the deliverance which God at that time wrought should at any time after be forgotten God added this command at the 26 and 27 Verses of that Chapter It shall come to pass when your Children shall say unto you what mean you by this service that ye shall say it is the Sacrifice in memory of the Lords Passeover who passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians It is very observable that the incredulous and stiff necked Jews do now expect to be redeemed again out of all their thraldome by the Messiah just at the self same time of the year when their Fathers were redeemed of Id quod patet ex ipsorum verbis quae apud illorum Cabalistas in hunc modum leguntur in eadem die viz. quintadecima die mensis Nisan scilicet Martis redimendus est Israel in diebus Messiae quemadmodum redempti sunt eo die de quo scribitur in diebus egressionis tuae ex Egypto estendam mirabilia P. Jag. in Exod. 12. Old by God out of the house of Bondage For to this purpose saith my Author we read in the Cabalists In the same day viz. on the fifteenth day of Nisan that is in March the Israelites shall be redeemed in the days of the Messiah as they were formerly redeemed on that day at their departure out of Egypt What those fond people expect still was accomplisht long ago For it was just at that time that the Lord Jesus that immaculate Lamb of God was slain to Redeem all Mankind And as the Passeover-Feast among the Jews was instituted for the Commemoration of one deliverance out of great Bondage so was this Feast now used by us instituted for the Commemoration of another deliverance from a greater and more intollerable servitude that Christ our Redeemer may never be out of our minds tho he be gone into Heaven but that we should most solemnly celebrate a perpetual memory of his infinite Love and unspeakable Condescention Accordingly the ancient Church was wont to be very Prolix in the Prayer of Consecration For Vide Const Apost lib. having made mention first of the Majesty and perfections of God then of the Creation of Angels of Man and of the whole World then of his Providence over Adam over Seth and Enoch over Noah over Abraham over the twelve Patriarchs and over all the Children of Israel and having concluded that part on this wise For all these things glory be to thee Lord God Almighty infinite Hosts of Angels and Archangels worship thee Thrones Dominions Principalities
may observe that the Disciples took the Sacred Elements from Christs own Hands We do not read nor doth it Seem Probable that our Saviour did now partake of either Himself but having broken the Loaf and blessed the Cup he give it to his Disciples Now as the taking of a Pledge brings a Tye and Engagement upon the Receiver and the receiving of Bread and Wine was of old universally thought to carry the most Sacred obligation along with it so the taking of these things at the Hands of Christ was a Visible Rite of Stipulating with him hereby they undertook Solemnly to do whatever he had commanded them hereby they give their Master the most Sacred Securities that they would be True and Faithfull to him whatever should come of it though they should even receive Death for it at the hands of men The Actions which now past between our Lord and his Family were Rites of Covenanting such as were generally used in ancient times in Cases of Contract These were plain Interpreters of their minds and they spake the Sense of the Disciples as plainly as if they had said with their Tongues as the Jews said at Mount Sinai All that the Lord hath spoken we will do and be Obedient For these reasons our Church I am sure looks upon this as a Consecrating Mystery by celebrating whereof every Communicant doth Devote himself wholly to the Service of God in Christ This is manifestly concluded from those words in the Prayer at the Postcaenium Here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our Selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and Lively Sacrifice unto thee And herein the Church of England doth perfectly agree with the Catholick Church of old for Christians in the Primitive times esteemed this Holy Rite as a most Sacred and Strict Tye upon them that they who Live in this world should no longer Live unto themselves but unto Him who died and rose again for them as S. Basil said And that this was the Sense of the Ancient Church will appear by these 3. Arguments 1. From the special Notation and use of the Word Sacrament in the Latine Church The Old Romans Milites jurare solent ideo militiae Sacramenta dicuntur Jurant autem se omnia strenuè facturos c. Veget. de re mil. 1. 2. were wont to call their Military Oath Sacramentum a Sacrament because every Souldier did by that Sacred protestation Vocati sumus ad militam dei vivi jam tunc cum in Sacramenti verba spospondimus Tertull ad Martyr Devotum Deo obsequium Eucharistia resolvit an magis Deo obligat id de Oration plight and Swear Fidelity to his General From the Camp the word was brought into the Church and was used to signifie those two great Mysteries of our Religion Baptism and the Eucharist And the reason of it was because the ancient Christians did believe that by Celebrating these Mysteries they did swear Fealty to the Captain of their Salvation and did Vow that they would manfully sight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and continue Christs faithful Souldiers and servants unto their lives end as our Church excellently expresseth it with allusion to the Military Oath 2. The same appears secondly from the Practice of the ancient Christians who were known even by the confession of their Enemies to use this Sacrament to this End that thereby they might be Seque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent c. Plin. Trojano lib. 10. Epist strongly engaged to observe all the Laws of Piety and righteteousness For Pliny a Proconsul in Asia about sixty years after our Lords Ascension writing to Trajan the Emperor about the Christians gave him this account of them that their custome was upon a set day to meet together before Sun rise and to sing Hymns to Christ and to bind themselves by a Sacrament not for any wickedness but that they would not to be guilty of any Thests or Robberies or Adulteries or be false to their words and promises and the like 3. This plainly shews that the sense of the Primitive Church was that Mens taking of the Holy Sacrament is like the taking of a Promissory Oath a taking of the greatest Tyes and Obligations upon them And this thirdly we may suppose was the reason why they were wont to take it every day in those times For those were times of Persecution dangers and death lay every day before them and many provocations did lie in their way to tempt them unto Apostacy It was thought necessary therefore for Christians then to address themselves daily to the Lords Table that their zeal for Christ crucified might not cool but that it might be like the Fire of old upon God's Altar continually Burning and that their Obligations to all manner of active and passive obedience might be every day renewed and strengthned by their constant reception of the blessed Sacrament To conclude this consideration therefore by making it practical As men ought to be very Serious and Sincere when they go to the Holy Table so should they be very Circumspect and watchful over themselves when they depart from it remembring that they have entred Solemnly into the deepest Engagements and have taken Christs whole burden upon them I find Boldacius de Oggio Christiano lib. 2. c. 19. a Story told out of Abulensis concerning Joseph in Egypt that when Potiphars daughter by her Fathers command was going about to salute him Joseph put forth his hand to keep her at a distance and gave this reason for it because a Woman that Worshipped Idols that did eat the Bread and drink the Wine of Idols ought not in any wise to sclute a man that Worshipped the living God and had eaten of Holy Bread This Story indeed is granted to be a Fiction but yet it is of good use to us in two respects 1. It shews what I have already proved that the Authors and Publishers of this tale took it for granted that the communicating of Bread and Wine whether it was before God or before an Idol was a visible Rite of Covenanting with that Deity whose Religion those men profest whether they were Jews or Heathens 2. It argues what I am now upon that such as have Eaten and Drank in the presence of the true God ought to take a most special care that they defile not themselves with any manner of Impurity Not that men should only beware of falling into the embraces of an Egyptian Love I would not be understood so but that every one who participates of this Holy Bread and Cup should arm himself with a sturdy resolution never to commit Willingly that which is really Base and Sinful I would crave leave to deal plainly because we live in a lewd age and many Egyptians are among us and every man hath not either the Conscience
recte est redditum Armachan not in Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes Num. 42. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or Altar-place because it is there or should be there before the Lords Table that we present to the Divine Majesty of God all our Christian Sacrifices and perform the Offertory as I shall hereafter shew at large that all Christians were wont to do in the Primitive and Apostolical times of the Church But to call the Sacrament a Sacrifice or the Holy Table an Alter upon presumption that Christ is really Sacrificed and in his Natural Body offered up there is a Solaecism in Divinity and that which is utterly against the sense of the Ancient Doctors of the Christian Church For though in many Liturgies and other Ancient Books we often find mention to be made of Oblations and Sacrifices at the Celebration of the Holy Sacrament yet this is meant of those sacrifices and Offerings which I have now spoken of and which all Reformed Churches allow of and particularly the Ancients point to those Liberal Gifts which Christians in those times brought with them to the Church to be presented and offered up to God on the Holy Table as an humble acknowledgement that the whole Earth was the Lords and as a Grateful Recognition of his Right to all of his Dominion over all and of his propriety in all the possessions they did enjoy To this purpose I shall note a passage or two out of that very ancient Writer Irenaeus Oblations in general are not forbidden us says he there 1. 4 c. 34. are oblations under the Law and there are Oblations under the Gospel there were Sacrifices among the Jews and there are Sacrifices in the Church And again Our Lord incouraging his Disciples to offer unto God the first Fruits of his Creatures not for that God hath any 1. 4. c. 32. in fine need thereof but that they might shew themselves neither unfruitful nor unthankful he took that Bread which was made of his Creatures and gave thanks saying this is my body and he likewise acknowledged the Cup consisting of the Creature which we use to be his Blood and thus he taught the New Oblation of the new Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles offers throughtout the world unto God And elsewhere speaking of the same thing c. 34. in initio he saith that the Oblation of the Church which our Lord taught and appointed to be offered through all the World is accounted a pure Sacrifice with God If any of the Fathers have spoken as if Christ was offered up in the Holy Sacrament they are to be understood as speaking figuratively and improperly because the Signs and Symbols of Christs Body and Blood are presented upon the Table Their meaning was and they said so when they spake strictly and distinctly that they offered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb dem Evang 1. I. c. 10. a Memorial instead of a Sacrifice as Eusebius said And to instance in no more nothing can be more plain then what S. Chrysostome hath said upon this subject viz. That though we offer every day yet we do but make a Commemoration of Christs Death that this that is done now is in Remembrance of that which was done before Hom. 17. in Heb. that we offer not another nor a different Sacrifice as the Jewish High Priest did but still one and the same or rather saith he we perform the Remembrance of a Sacrifice which is the very same that Justin Dial. cum Tryph. pag. 260. Martyr affirmed of our using the Bread in the Sacrament that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Memory of that Passion which Christ was pleased to undergo for us Men and for our salvation I have noted all this to shew how grosly the Romanists are deceived in that which many poor wretches among them take to be a main part of Religion tho I am afraid their Crafty Guides tell them so for their own Interest and Advantage For do but take away the Doctrine of Christ being really Sacrificed under the species of Bread and Wine and their Masses for Quick and Dead must go away next then the Doctrine of Purgatory must down too then the Practice of praying for souls supposed to be in Torments there must down also and then the conceit of Absolutions and Indulgences and divers other Lucrative Arts whereby the Knavish Priests cheat ignorant and Easie People out of their Mony till in the end by taking away first one shore and then another the old rotten House drops down upon their Heads which hath been held up hitherto by this Artificial Prop among others that our blessed Saviour is Really and Truly offered up a Sacrifice for all men in this Mystery whereas indeed it is not a Sacrificing of him but a Representation and memorial of the great Sacrifice upon the Cross 2. That which I would note in the second place is that this Blessed Sacrament was intended to be not a Memorial of the Passeover-Supper which Christ Celebrated the same Night that he was betray'd but a Commemoration of his Passion and Death on the day following This indeed is very obvious and easie to be observed And yet for want of minding this thing well many weak people among our selves have been unfortunately lead aside into wrong and superstitious conceits about some Circumstances which relate to this solemnity Because the Passeover was eaten at Night therefore some conclude that this Sacrament ought not to be solemniz'd at any other time And because our Saviour and his Disciples did as they suppose eat the Passeover Sitting therefore these men infer that it is not lawful for us to receive this Sacrament in a Kneeling posture They would have us to be guided by those Usages and Rites which were observed at the Paschal-Feast as if the Customes then were presidents to govern and direct us now and as if this Feast of ours were not only Analagous unto but also a Representation and Memorial of that Festival among the Jews But all this is nothing but a Rope of sand and any man may find it so that will but consider the thing rightly For this being a sacrifical Banquet at which we do Commemorate the intollerable sufferings and infinite Love of the Son of God such Rituals are to be observed now as are most Congruous and suitable to the Nature and Ends of this Mystery As for the Passeover-Supper it is ceased and out of doors long ago together with those observances which were belonging and appendant to it and we have nothing to do with them because they were grounded upon special rea sons and were of proper use and of peculiar significancy to the Jews Thus the Time of its Celebration was to be at Night because it was in the Night time that the Lord smote the first born of the Egyptians and passed over the houses of the Israelites and this concerns us no more than it concerns us to Celebrate the very
Day of their deliverance out of Egypt Thus also for the Posture used at the eating of the Passeover at first it was probably a Standing posture because the Jews were commanded to eat it with their Loyns girded with their shooes on their Feet and with their Staff in their hand But there were proper and peculiar reasons for this Ceremony for it was Significative and in Token of their great Haste and that concerns us no more neither than it concerns us to eat Unleavened Bread which was in token of their Haste also In our Saviours time the Posture was Altered as I shall shew in its due place and 't was neither standing nor sitting as many ignorant mem conceive but a Recumbent and Leaning posture one guest lying along in the bosome of another as St. John lay in our Lords Bosome so making part of a Round or Oval figure And even This posture was of peculiar fignificancy to the Jews too for it was in Token that their Journey and Travels were at an End and that they were possest of the Land of Rest which God had sworn to their Fathers that he would give them So that neither from hence can we gather any thing that bindes us unless it be this that in circumstantial matters we should submit to those innocent usages which either the Laws or Customes of a Nation or the Reason of times have introduced as our Blessed Saviour himself did who took such Customes as they were and observed them as he found them not troubling the World with debates and Controversies about things of nothing So then the Rites used at the Passeover are no Leading Rites to us nor are we to Copy out that pattern any more than we are Commemorate the Jews feast This Sacrament of ours is not a Memorial of the Paschal Supper but of our blessed Redeemers Death and accordingly we are to use such Rituals as are most proper and suitable to the meaning and purpose of this Mystery and most significative unto Us. Considering that it was between Nine and Three of the Clock that our dear Lord was hurried to Golgotha nailed to the Cross and there hung upon four wounds languishing bleeding dying with pangs and throws unspeakable unconceivable it is proper for us to Celebrate about Noon this Blessed Sacrament which is the Memorial of his Great Passion Considering too the Intendments of this Mystery that it serveth as I shall prove as I go along to engage us to be faithful and True to the Redeemer of our Souls and to convey unto us all those benefits which he purchased for us by his Passion as Pardon of Sin the Communication of his Blessed body and Blood the assistance of his Holy Spirit a close Union with him and an assurance of a glorious Immortality and considering also what We are that the Divine Goodness should be thus propitious and kind to us his Unworthy Despicable because Sinful Creatures I appeal to any man of sense and true humility if it be not most proper most becoming us were Laws and Customes altogether silent to receive the blessed instruments and Pledges of the Divine Grace in the Lowlyest in the most Reverent in the most Humble posture and after such a manner as is most expressive of that sense we ought to have of our own Vileness and nothingness and of the Love of Jesus When I who am so unworthy that the Lord should come under my Roof am invited to come so near unto him as to lie as it were not in his Bosome but in his Heart too and to take into my hands the Holy Seals of his dearest Love of his tenderest and everlasting Compassions then be thou Prostrate O my Soul let me then Worship and fall down and Kneel before the Lord my Redeemer and if there be any thing viler than the Dust or any place lower and baser than the Earth let my sinful Body grovel and lie there Thus the Nature and Ends of this Sacrament and the consideration that it serves to Commemorate not what the Jews did at their Paschal Supper but what Christ our true Passeover did in being Sacrificed for us are enough to take any humble man off from that regard which Superstitious Persons have of supposed Jewish postures because we are not to represent and Commemorate their Actions but to shew forth the bitter Passion and Death of the Holy Jesus And this shall suffice to be said as the Use and Improvement of this matter that this Eucharistical solemnity was intended to be a a perpetual and standing Memorial of our Saviours sufferings and Love Do this in Remembrance in Commemoration of me That 's one great End of this sacrifical Banquet CHAP. III. The second End of the Holy Sacrament to be a Covenant-Feast The Ancient and general use of Covenant Feasts That this is such proved from its Analogy to those Ancient Covenant-Feasts among Heathens and Jews and from the Words of Christ at the Institutions Two conclusions BY the leave of the Socinians we will go further and confidently affirm that this Holy Sacrament is intended to another End too viz. that it may be a Federal Rite or a Covenant banquet between God and the Communicants By a Covenant is meant such a Communion Allyance and League with God whereby he claimeth a peculiar right interest and propriety in us as in those who have devoted our selves to his Worship and service and expect good things at his hand And by a Covenant-Banquet is meant such a Religious Feast whereby a League of that nature is contracted or Confirmed This at first may seem somewhat dark to you because the generality of us are not well acquainted with the old Customes of of other Countries especially of the Oriental Nations the right understanding whereof will give us a great deal of light into this matter For the opening of it therefore we must know that it was very usual for People especially in the Eastern parts of the World to make and ratifie Contracts by eating and drinking together Of this the Holy Scriptures give us some plain Exemples For that Feast which Abimelech and Isaac celebrated together Gen. 26. 30. was a Covenant-Feast a token and symbol of Friendship between them Labans eating with Jacob upon an heap of stones Gen. 31. 46. was no other then a Foederal rite The Israelites eating of the Gibeonites Victuals Josh 9. 14. was the contracting of a League with those crafty people which the Israelites were blameable for doing without asking Counsel at the mouth of the Lord for had they first enquired of God they had not been Circumvented as they were into a confederacy with them When David after an upbraiding manner spake of his friends treachery in words which are very appicable to Judas Psal 41. 9. mine own familiar Friend said he in whom I trusted which did eat of my Bread hath lift up his heel against me He meant one that had entred into Covenant with him by a Feast as you