Holy Entertainment being fitly provided and brought on the Table some part of the Bread and so of the Wine was I suppose taken up by the President or Chief of the company were he Apostle Bishop or Presbyter and bless'd in an extraordinary form expressing the reason of the Thanks then offer'd together with a Prayer that the Holy Ghost would sanctifie the Offering as Gifts brought to the Altar were esteem'd to be and sanctifie it particularly to that purpose for which it was prepar'd that the Bread might effectually represent the Flesh or Body for which it stood This Bread and Wine so offer'd and bless'd by the officiating President as if it had been wav'd at the Altar was the more Holy and Sacramental Part of which they communicated as of the Body and Blood of the Lord while the rest of the Oblation which was less holy as being consecrated only by vertue of the other like the remaining nine parts of the Bread of a Thanks-Offering serv'd together with other Provisions for the furnishing of the Supper at which they then fed And so when afterwards the Sacrament and Supper were divided about the time I presume when the Legal Sacrifices were going to cease the Christian Eucharistical Oblation as the Primitive Church speaks began then more distinctly to appear and was made after Morning-Prayer just as extraordinary Sacrifices with the Jews were offer'd after the Morning daily Sacrifice And then as under the Law what of the Eucharistical Sacrifice was offer'd at the Altar the Muram belong'd to the Priest so that part which had been offer'd by the Christian Priest being more especially sacred and his Portion was eaten in the Morning Sacramentally from his Hands the Congregation being as it were his Family while the other Residual Part was kept for the provision of the Love-Feast to be held in the Evening its accustom'd time Now as these solemn Suppers call'd by the name of Love or Charity were in imitation of those Sacrificial Feasts held by the Jews so were they of a like Name For if those of the Jews were not stiled Love-Feasts as possibly they might be yet they were plainly Peace-Feasts being made of Peace-Offerings of the most perfect kind and being Symbols and Pledges of Peace both in Heaven and Earth the Offerer and his Guests partaking in some degree of the Table of God and rejoycing together in mutual Good-will and Amity So did the Present partake of both parts of the Oblation in the Ancient Church agreeably to the practice of the Jews And when they sent Portions to the Absent they acted likewise according to their Custom We know that the Lay-Jews sent of their part (b) Neh. 8.10 and I know not whether the Priests might not so do of their share neither is it much material For tho' the Christian's Eucharist was an imitation of the Jewish yet it was not necessary that it should be bound to the niceness of all the Mosaick Rules Tho' therefore a Sacrifice by Moses's Law was not to be offer'd by night as all legal Acts were to be done by the Jews in the day and so the general practice of Christians was to celebrate the Eucharist in it yet they might think themselves at liberty to solemnize it before day whensoever any particular reason should require them so to do for to their Lord the Day and Night were both alike Likewise tho' the Eucharistical Bread was no more to be kept till next day than the Flesh by the Jewish Rituals as being not to be niggardly sav'd but all of it spent that night in a cheerful liberality and in this it was like their Manna yet the Christians might not think it unlawful in some cases to suffer some part of their Eucharist to be left unto another day For they had already invited all to their Feast who were capable of it and they had not been sparing in their distribution as far as was meet However even in this particular they observ'd something of the Levitical Precept burning still what should remain at last unspent And those of Jerusalem if we understand their Hesychius (c) Comm. in Levit. 8.3 with some kept very precisely to the Eucharistical Ordinance burning all that was left of each day's Communion as it is too order'd by our Church to be immediately divided among the Communicants a Rubrick intended to prevent the Papal Superstition but answerable withal to the nature of the Sacrament Now to all this I have nothing to add but only to take notice that the mixture of Water with the Sacramental Wine of which the Ancients speak was done too after the manner of the Jews and in their opinion did not make it less proper for a Cup of Thanksgiving For they likewise do not think (c) Maim de Solenn Pasch c. 7 §. 9. they celebrate their Paschal Supper duly with pure Wine but mix it with Water that they may the more freely drink the four Cups and also for the better Tast and their greater Pleasure § V. IT sufficiently appears I presume that the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord was understood by the ancient Christians to be in the nature of an Eucharistical not of a Propitiatory Sacrifice with the Jews But further That this kind of Sacrifice only should remain when all the rest should cease this also is consonant to the Tradition of the Jews as Kimchi tells us For upon this Saying of the Prophet (a) Jer. 33.11 That there should be heard again in Jerusalem the Voice of Joy and the Voice of Gladness the Voice of the Bridegroom and the Voice of the Bride the Voice of them that shall say Praise the Lord of Hosts for the Lord is good and his Mercy endureth for ever and of them that shall bring the Sacrifice of Praise or Thanks into the House of the Lord he comments on the last words in this manner The Prophet says not that they shall bring Sin-Offerings or Trespass-Offerings because in that day there would be no Wicked nor Sinners among them for as he before b told them they should all know the Lord. (c) Jer. 31.34 And so have our Masters of blessed memory told us That in the time to come all Sacrifices should cease except the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving This Saying of the Masters of Israel is a great Truth and better understood by Christians who know the Lord and themselves so well as to know that the Sacrifices for Sin are not ceas'd by the ceasing of Sin but superseded by the Sacrifice made for them by their Lord and High-Priest and that the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving they are thenceforth to make is the Commemoration their Lord has instituted for that their most gracious Redemption This is the Sacrifice of that New Covenant of which the Prophet there speaks and which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews from him alledges (c) Hebr. 8.8 And to this Sacrifice the same Author I suppose refers
Disorders before spoke of were not only disus'd but forbid The Sacramental Action as hath been said was celebrated after the Morning Prayer beginning with the Oblation of Bread and Wine and the Wine we may observe by the by was ordinarily mix'd with Water For those Creatures they bless'd God the Father through Jesus Christ and then after some Prayers and Hymns He is invok'd to send down his Holy Spirit on the offer'd Bread and Wine to sanctifie it and that it may become to the Worthy Receivers the Body and Blood of his Son m after which it was distributed by the Deacons to the People and sent also to the Absent f § II. This was the Christian Practice undoubtedly in the Primitive Church nor does it want a Jewish Pattern Our Saviour as it hath been premis'd (a) 〈…〉 took occasion from the Paschal Memorial of the Redemption of Israel out of their Egyptian Slavery to institute a commemoration of a new and far greater Deliverance of all Mankind from the enteral Bondage of Satan and â—lell And whereas it has been observ'd (b) 〈…〉 that the first Paschal Lamb of the 〈◊〉 was a Sacrifice of a mix'd extraâ—â—dinary nature being in part Propiâ—â—â—tory in part Federal and partly â—â—charistical It is likewise manifest that the Sacrifice of our Saviour was also of an eminent extraordinary kind It was a Sacrifice for Sin taken in the most strict acception being perfectly Expiatory It was also Federal for in that Blood the New Testament or Covenant was made and in that same respect it was in some sort an Offering of Peace obtaining not only Pardon but Favour for Men. And further as the succeeding Paschal Sacrifices tho' commemoratory of the First yet vary'd something from it being chiefly of an Eucharistical nature and not perform'd with the same Ceremony for neither was the Blood sprinkl'd upon the Doors of the Offerers neither was the Lamb eaten with their Staves in their Hand and in a travelling posture (c) Maim de Sacrif Pasch cap. sect ult so it is not to be wonder'd if the succeeding Commemorations of our Lord's Sacrifice tho' it was chiefly Expiatory were Eucharistical and differing also from the manner in which the first was celebrated by our Lord himself Now such a Change in the nature of the Commemoration from that of the Original Sacrifice tho' not express'd in the words of the Institution may yet be the better admitted if we find cause to suppose it because our Saviour instituting the Memorial of the Action before it was done by himself or so much as understood by the Apostles may therefore be presum'd neither to have held his Supper exactly and altogether in the same manner in which that Sacrament was afterwards to be nor clearly to have express'd its Nature but to have left the more particular Directions for it and Explanation of it to the supervening Instructions of the Holy Spirit Tho' therefore the Lord's Supper was erected out of a Paschal Supper yet the Apostles as it has appear'd did not understand it to be confin'd to that time of the year only or to the use of Unleaven'd Bread neither did they think their Duty discharg'd by an Annual Celebration of it And so in the judgment of their Disciples the Christians of the next Generation it is still more manifest that the one Supper succeeded the other not in its strict but in its general nature and as it was of the Eucharistical kind a solemn Festival kept in Thanks for a great Deliverance and for a most beneficial and gracious Covenant that as our Deliverance was not Temporary belonging to the present Age only and from an Enemy once slain but was to extend to each Person of all Generations to come and to be perpetually afforded against our continual spiritual Enemies so neither should its Recognition be restrain'd to one Season but offer'd unto our God throughout the whole Year as the Sacrifices of Praise and Thanks were us'd to be offer'd by the Jews with very frequent and solemn Devotion This therefore seems to have been the Construction of the Primitive Christians That the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood answer'd to the Jewish Sacrifices of Thanks and that this Correspondence may the better appear we shall do well to recollect a little the nature and manner of such Oblations § III. THE nature of a Peace-Offering in general is well known It was the Oblation of a Sacrifice some certain parts of which were burnt on the Altar others belong'd to the Priests and the rest was return'd to be eaten by the Offerer To this Sacrifice a Meat-offering and Drink-offering were join'd and by it the Offerer pray'd for future Prosperity or thank'd for that he enjoy'd (a) Abarban Exordium Com in Levit. Edente de Viel p. 330 332. In the more solemn kind of Peace-offerings that of Thanks the Bread of the Meat-offering is expresly requir'd and particulariz'd (b) Lev. 7.13 Maim de Cult Div. Tr. 5. cap. 9. §. 17 18. and it consisted half of Unleaven'd and half of Leaven'd Bread tho' Leaven (c) Lev. 2.11 Maim de Cult Div. 4.5.1 was not so grateful to the Altar as ever to be offer'd for a Meat-offering upon it The Unleaven'd half was made into thirty Cakes each ten dress'd a several way and the Leaven'd half into ten The tenth of all that is four Cakes of the several sorts together with the Breast and Shoulder and Inwards were wav'd by the Priest in the Hands of the Offerer before the Lord. Of that Bread so wav'd some was burnt on the Altar with the Inwards and the rest with the Breast and Shoulder all which together was call'd Muram the Separated or Elevated (c2) Maim ut supra §. 12. Rab. Sal. in Exod. 29.27 Portion remain'd to be eat by the Priest and his Domesticks who joyn'd his Thanks to God with the Offerers while He likewise and his Family and Friends feasted before God on the other Nine parts with the Flesh of the Sacrifice remaining to him Portions of which he sent too abroad to his Acquaintance and to the Poor Now this Bread so offer'd being very singular for a Sacrifice by reason part of it was Leaven'd was particularly call'd the Bread of Thanksgiving d and in one case recorded in Scripture e the Bread is suppos'd by the Jews to have stood for the Living Sacrifice and to have supply'd its place And besides it is there conceiv'd that Leaven'd Bread alone was us'd as being the principal part of the Eucharistical Offering and fittest to represent the whole Now the great Entertainments as was now said of the Jews were made of their Peace-offerings on those they feasted together with their Friends at home and of those they made Presents to the absent The Invitation the False Woman makes to the Young-Man in the Proverbs (f) Prov. 7.14 is That she has a Peace-offering at home And with his Sacrifice Jethro entertain'd
might the Christians think fit to keep up a yearly memory of that their Sacrifice whose offering was once made and never to be reiterated but its efficacy is to endure for ever they likewise observing this Solemnity not with any Ritual Form but with such eternal Duties of Penitence and Supplication as are always incumbent upon us miserable Sinners which the Justice of God will perpetually require and his Goodness in our Saviour accept § III. THERE seems therefore to be reason enough from the nature of the Thing from that Mysterious Suffering of our Lord and the consequent Practise of his Primitive Servants to found the continued Solemnity of the Passion Day upon its correspondence with the Levitical Day of Propitiation Neither is it to be expected that I should justify the Parallel by producing any like Opinion of the first Christians to that we have seen of the Jews concerning the Necessity and Merit of the Observation of the Day when the one was observ'd only as Proper and Expedient though in the judgment probably of those who had the Spirit of God and the other as Positively commanded by God Himself And yet so far did the first Christians seem to regard the vertue of a Jewish Expiation Day in their Practise about their own that they still determin'd the ordinary stated Period of the Penances of ejected Brethren with the Penitence of Good Friday and the following Saturday both which were the Days of our Lord's Passion as if by that their Conversion was consummated and the Pardon of the Church intirely gain'd And when they readmitted Penitents on Maundy Thursday as was the Antient Usage of the Church of Rome and it may be of all others they did not therefore depart from this their Parallel with the Expiation Day but rather confirm'd it For the Jews as we have seen (g) Rep. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. on the Eve of their Expiation relax their Sentences of Excommunication and admit all to the Office of the next Day and for the same reason the Christians might admit their Excommunicates to the Offices of both Passion Days and even those whom they did not afterwards suffer to continue in their Communion The office of the Passion Day or Days I mean which consisted in Confession and Supplication for it is very probable that in the earlier times the Reconcil'd Penitents were not admitted to the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood until Easter-Day The Supper likewise which was us'd to be held solemnly on that Thursday though it is said to be in Imitation only of our Lord's Supper yet it may also have proceeded from the Practise of the Jews on their Expiation Eve which we mention'd above For they in the Conclusion of their Penitential Preparation towards the Propitiation Day do always make a Solemn Supper and think it as much their Duty to eat well on that Evening as on the Sabbath that being in their Opinion a Duty of the Afternoon as strict Fasting is the Duty of the following Day So agreeable was the Supper of Passion Thursday to the Supper of the Jews on the Eve of their Expiation and more agreeable than to the last Supper of our Blessed Lord which if we go by Jewish Custom was held after Night and in their reckoning therefore rather on the Friday than on the Thursday Agreeable I say as to the time for as to the Freedom of Eating I suppose it differ'd much from that Jewish Meal But those Asiaticks (h) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 3. who differ'd from the other Churches both in their observing the 14th day with the Jews whatever day of the Week it should be and also in breaking off their Fast that day might possibly in this point have as much follow'd the Custom of the Jews for one Season as they did their Calculation for the other For those of Asia seem to be of the Opinion of which their Followers in Epiphanius (i) Part 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. lit m. certainly were and which many other Churches have also embrac'd that our Saviour suffer'd on the 15th day of Nisan neither is it likely that they did not Fast on that day notwithstanding they are said to have broke it off before for such a neglect no doubt could not have been pass'd over unobserv'd by their Adversaries and would have drawn upon them the censure of Victor more than either of the other differences and besides we know their now mention'd Followers did actually so fast i I suppose therefore that their Breaking off the Fast was not a Determination of it but an Interruption by such a Supper and that this their Meal was Formal and Full and in the nature of a Feast and so reputed whereas the Supper if any of the rest of the Christians was a sparing refreshment and such as in comparison with the other Meal did not seem to Discontinue the Abstinence of the Season as since it has not been thought to do To these lesser particulars by which some indications of a Propitiation Day may appear I shall lastly add another Custom to be read in the Ordo Romanus their custom of striking of Fire and lighting up their Candles very solemnly in the Evening of the same Passion Thursday For whatever other reason it may have had for its institution it does also very well correspond with the Usage of the Jews who take as we have observ'd very particular care to have their Candles ready against their Propitiation Eve with which that night their Synagogues are more than ordinarily enlightned And thus I have offer'd to shew the Resemblance our Passion-Day bears to the Jew's Expiation Day both in it self and some Rites of the Day immediately preceeding it I am now to go higher and to consider at large the whole Previous Season call'd commonly Lent how well it agrees with the like Preparatory Season of the Jews before their Day of Expiation CHAP. IV. § I. A Penitential Season with the Jews Preparatory to their Expiation Day some certain Days next before it kept Vniformly by All More also generally though in various numbers and Forty by many but the First of the Forty Vniversally observ'd § II. Forty Days a solemn space of Penitence in the Jewish Discipline § III. The Christian Lent compar'd with the Jewish § I. THAT the Jews had an Antepaschal Season if not of a Fortnight yet of a Week and particularly that the Sabbath of that Week was call'd the Great Sabbath we have observ'd before (a) P. 1. Ch. 5. §. 3. whence appear'd a Conformity between them and the Christians those especially who reckon'd by the days of the Month and not of the Week in point of Holy Time though the Devotions of the one were generally Festival and of the others altogether Penitential But when we once suppose the Day of our Lord's Passion to have been the Day of Expiation and come to consider the Preparatory time that usher'd in this solemn Day we then begin to
actual partaking of the other be render'd in all Points of Privilege a perfect Israelite being admitted up to the Altar and entirely taken in under the Holy Wings The Pattern I now spoke of upon which they found this Proceeding is the course that was taken with the Children of Israel before Mount Sinai upon their Receiving of the Law (o) Mai. Issur Biah 13.2 3. They are suppos'd to have been all already Circumcis'd the House of Levi all along in Egypt and the Rest before the First Passover and now being come to the Mount they were Interrogated by Moses concerning their Obedience to the Covenant offer'd them (p) c. 19. Exod. 5. to which when they had agreed they were then directed to Sanctifie themselves and to wash their Clothes (q) v. 8. their whole Bodies upon which the Decalogue and some other Precepts were deliver'd them And then after another Stipulation made by the People both Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings were Sacrific'd (r) Exod. 24. â— with the Blood of which themselves and the Book of the Covenant were sprinkled And lastly afterwards the Elders in their Name were admitted to come nearer to the sight of God and when they returned they eat of the Peace-Offerings (Å¿) Aben Ezra in loâ—um given them as it were from the Table of God § III. THIS was the manner of Initiation into the Jews Religion And when our Blessed Saviour was pleas'd to Ordain a New Covenant though he set aside Circumcision as belonging to one Sex and not agreeable to his general Design with whom there was to be neither Male nor Female no more than Jew or Greek Yet he retained Baptism for the same use and commanded the Apostles to admit the Converts to his Religion by that Ceremony Go teach says he or make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them (t) Matth. 28.19 And accordingly the Baptiz'd Christian was esteem'd thenceforth to be born again by that Water (u) Joh. 3. for so Nicodemus who was a Master in Israel ought to have understood our Master and Baptism is also stil'd the Washing of Regeneration (x) 1 Pet. 1.23 And with such a regard St. Paul might say (y) 2 Cor. 5.16 thenceforth he knew no man after the flesh whatever Kindred he might have had with him as a Hebrew of the Hebrews no not if he had so known Christ himself as some might then pretend to do For he that is in Christ is a new Creature and old things are past away And as the new Man and new born Babes are spoke in the Phrase of the Jews of the Baptiz'd so in respect to the Interrogatory us'd in that Office after their Example the Answer of a good Conscience towards God is mention'd we find together with the washing by Water or the putting away of the filth of the flesh (z) 1 Pet. 3.23 And lastly the Christian Proselytes by being baptiz'd were likewise render'd capable of receiving the Holy Ghost or as the Jews would speak of being over-shadowed by the Wings of the Divine Majesty and from that also they were in a State of Holiness and to be call'd the Saints of God So plainly does what the Scripture speaks concerning the Sacrament of Baptism discover to us that our Saviour was pleas'd to take it up from the Jewish Church to use it to the like purpose and to assign to it the same effect not varying so much as the Phrase This Accommodation in the general is manifest I say from the Scripture where Baptism is simply mention'd and without such Circumstances as might have attended it though not express'd But in the next Age we shall find it accompanied with such Rituals as may answer those other particulars of that Jewish Sacrament which we have set down above and are to remember in their proper place (a) Ch. 6. CHAP. III. § I. The Nature of the Paschal Sacrifice and the Description the Jewish Traditions give of that Supper § II. Agreeable to the History in the Gospels of our Lord 's Supper and to the Nature of it I Come next to the other Sacrament of our Lord's Supper which He was pleas'd to institute at a Paschal Supper and to borrow thence its Provision the Bread and Wine § I. THE Paschal Lamb was a Sacrifice of a peculiar compounded Nature (a) Exod. 12. As it was to be roasted with Fire it had something of a Burnt-Offering and might seem to be expiatory as it was then when the Blood of it was sprinkled upon their Doors at the first Institution By the same Blood it was federal also the Children of Israel entering by it into a New Covenant And as it was to be eaten all that night or burnt with fire and none left to the morning so it seem'd to be as an Offering for Thanksgiving (b) Leâ— 7.15 Now answerable to the kind of the Sacrifice was the Supper for which it was prepar'd It was a Festival Entertainment for Joy of the great Deliverance but it was to be eat with unleavened Bread and with bitter Herbs (c) 8. as Memorials of their former Afflictions And the manner of this Supper was thus as Maimonides pretends to tell (d) Tract de Solemnitat Pasch eodem de Veil interprete Cap. 8. In the first place They mingled a Cup of Wine to every one of the Company and the Master of the Family praising God the Creatour of the Fruit of the Vine in the ordinary Form which they use at other Meals He and they all drank beginning so and consecrating the Paschal Action which they were going now to celebrate For so too they us'd to consecrate and separate other sacred Actions from the common Actions of Life the Solemnity of the Sabbath for Example beginning it with a Cup of Wine at the Supper of the first Evening and concluding it with another at the close of the next Day And now after they had wash'd with a Common Prayer us'd at other Washings the Table was set furnish'd with bitter and sweet Herbs unleavened Bread a Sauce red like Brick and the Body of the Lamb for that is their manner of Expression together with the Flesh of the solemn Peace-Offering which was to be offer'd on some day of the Feast (e) Deut. 16.2 and was commonly sacrifc'd on this Day in the Morning (f) Maim de Sacr. Pasch cap. 10. §. 12 13. to help out the Supper When the Table was so set the Master blessing God for having created the Fruits of the Earth in the ordinary Form and as at other times they use to do took of the bitter Herbs about the Quantity of an Olive and dipping them in the red Sauce eat of them and distributed as much to each of the rest After this the Table was to be remov'd a little way from him to give Occasion and Space for the Questions suppos'd in Exodus (g) Exod. 12.26 about the Particularities of this Supper And in
De Coron cap. 3. Aquam adituri ibidem sed aliquanto prius in Ecclesia sub Antistitis manu contestamur nos Renuntiare Diabolo Pompae Angelis ejus Debinc ter Mergitamur amplius aliquid Respondentes quam Dominus in Evangelis determinavit Inde suscepti Lactis Mellis concordiam praegustamus ex eaque die Lavacro quotidiano per totam hebdomadem abstinemus i Tertull. de Baptismo cap. 7. Exinde egressi de Lavacro perungimur benedicta Vnctione de pristina Disciplina quâ Vngi Oleo de cornu in Sacerdotium solebant This Vnction is express'd antecedently to the Milk and Honey in the Enumeration the same Author makes lib. 1. advers Marc. cap. 14. Nec aquam reprobavit Creatoris qua suos abluit nec Olenm quo suos ungit nec Mellis Lactis societatem qua suos Infamat nec Panem qno ipsum Corpus suum repraesentat k Tertull. de Resurr Carnis cap. 8. Scilicet Caro eluitur ut Anima emaculetur Caro ungitur ut Anima consecretur Caro Signatur ut Anima muniatur Caro manus impositione adumbratur ut Anima Spiritu illuminetur Caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut Anima de Deo saginetur And that this Sign was made on the Forehead he elsewhere tells in the comparison he makes De Praeser Haer. cap. 40. Mithra signat illic in Fronte Milites suos l When the Priest in our Office of Baptism signing the Child with the Sign of the Cross on the Forehead receives it into the Congregation of Christ's Church for that Sign might also have been made in the Ancient Church with Water only according ording to that of the 22d Chapter of the 7th Book of the Apost Constit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m De Baptism cap. 8. Dehinc manus imponitur per Benedictionem advocans invitans Spiritum Sanctum § III. b Constit Apost lib. 2. cap. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m This place in the Wall and as it were beyond the Floor of the Synagogue seems to be at least as the Gate p entering into the Court of the Priests from whence the Law is suppos'd to be fetch'd if it be not as a Desk or Ducan of that Court of which see Lightf Temple-S cap. 23. by which name if I mistake not the Jews now call the space rail'd in before their Ark or Heical m 2 This last Particular is imply'd by Maimonidess in the place last cited and affirm'd by Buxtorf in his Syn. Jud. cap. 10. an Author very exact and so esteem'd by the ablest Judges however the Jews may have given themselves the liberty to vary from it as they do also in other disposals of the Synagogue which Maimonides gives us and the Author of Ceseph Misna would reconcile § IV. b Lampridius de Alex. Severo Vbi aliquos voluisset vel Rectores Provinciis dare vel Praepositos facere vel Procuratores ordinare Nomina eorum proponebat hortans populum ut siquis quid haberet criminis probaret dicebatque grave esse cum id Christiani Judaei facerent in Praedicandis Sacerdotibus qui ordinandi sunt non fieri in Provinciarum Rectoribue quibue Fortunâ— hominum committerentur Capita CHAP. VII § I. Several Particulars practis'd in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the Primitive Christians which vary'd from those of the Paschal Supper § II. These speak Our Lord's Supper to have succeeded the Paschal in its general nature as a Memorial of Thanks § III. The Description of a Jewish Offering of Praise and Thanks with the Feasting upon it § IV. The Christian Eucharist answer'd to it and in what manner § V. A Tradition of the Jews That in the days of the Messiah only the Eucharistical Sacrifice should remain § I. THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper has plainly appear'd (a) Ch. 3. to be rais'd by our Saviour from a Paschal Supper and from that Original it might have been expected that it should have been afterwards celebrated at that time of the year only and in a Night-meal and with Vnleaven'd Bread and if the First Christians shall be found to have vary'd in these particulars it may perhaps seem a harder task to reconcile such a different practice with the Usage of the Jews Now such a Difference there was in the Practice of the succeeding Christians In the Scripture it self (b) Act. 2.42 the Breaking of Bread in the Apostle's Fellowship and with Prayers daily repeated is suppos'd to be done as an Office of that Sacramental Communion Neither is it necessary that I should bring any Proofs from the next 〈◊〉 for such a frequent celebration of it And that it was not administer'd with Vnleaven'd Bread would 〈◊〉 from its continual administration ou◠〈◊〉 the Paschal Season and through â—â—â—rest of the year But it is besideâ— known that the Greek Church has always us'd Leaven'd Bread on that occasion and the Latins too are confess'd by the ingenious Jesuite Sirmondus (c) 〈…〉 Azâ—â—◠〈◊〉 Opâ—â—â—â— to have so done in the beginning tho' their Variation since to the contrary Usage has much contributed to the widening of the Schism between those two Churches This Sacrament of our Lord's Supper was known too in a little time by another Name and was stil'd the Eucharist That is the common Name of it in Tertullian d so it is call'd by Irenaeus e and before him about the year 140 Justin Martyr speaking of the Sacramental Bread and Wine says f And this Food is call'd by us the Eucharist and in the same fence is the Word frequently us'd by Ignatius g in the very beginning of this Age. And as it had this Name very early so it also chang'd the Hour of its Celebration very early as I presume Tertullian remarks the Change in these words The Sacrament says he d of the Eucharist which our Lord order'd at the time of Meals and to all Persons indifferently we receive even in our Assemblies before Day and from the hands of none but the Presidents Likewise in Justin Martyr's Description in the place above-cited this Sacrament appears to have been then celebrated at Morning Prayer And then when the Sacramental part of the Lord's Supper was taken in the Morning it was divided from the other Refectory part for the same Disorders I suppose which the Apostle St. Paul had blam'd in the Corinthians (h) 1 Cor. 11.20 and this remain'd in its place and continued to be a Supper at which the Assembly met again and feasted together with great sobriety as before God These Suppers where all Christians the Poor as well as the Rich were admitted and entertain'd were call'd Love-Feasts They are expresly own'd in Tertullian's Apology i are distinctly mention'd in Ignatius k and probably so to be understood in St. Jude (l) Jude 12. vers And these for some time continued in the Church but were afterwards not so frequent and at last for the
Aaron and the Elders of Israel who eat Bread with him before God (g) R. Sâ—â— Aben Ezra â—n Ex. 28. â—â— And so Solomon at the dedication of the Temple feasted the whole People with those many thousands of Sheep and Oxen which he offer'd to the Lord (h) 1 Kin. 8.63 These Feasts after the building of the Temple were necessarily held at Jerusalem and not elsewhere But it may be rationally suppos'd and I propose it conjecturally as I before have offer'd a like guess concerning the Passover (i) Ch. 3. §. 1. that the Jews of remote dispersions standing the Temple for under its destruction they are not to rejoyce did heretofore upon glad occasions tho' they would not pretend to the formality of an Eucharistical Supper yet make-some such Festival Entertainments to which they call'd their Friends to rejoyce with them before God giving him Thanks not only for what they then eat and drank but mentioning at the same time his other gracious Favours which had been the cause of their present meeting and which they recognis'd in proper Benedictions and Hymns over the Bread and Wine And Bread and Wine I therefore suppose to have been us'd in this Case for the expression of their Thanks not only because we find that the Leaven'd Eucharistical Bread did in the above-alledg'd case stand for the whole Sacrifice or that some part of the Unleaven'd Paschal Bread does now represent the Flesh of the Lamb k or that in Jethro's Sacrificial Feast the eating of Bread is particularly mention'd or lastly that Bread and Wine were given in the High Priest Melchisedeck's entertainment of Abraham which in probability was Eucharistical for his Victory but because those Creatures of God are still taken by the Jews in all their Repasts for a special occasion of his Honour and Worship as we might have observ'd before and shall straight see further Such Entertainments of which we have been speaking especially those of Jerusalem were we doubt not very solemn being dedicated to the honour of God and tho' the particular Ceremonies are not told us yet how those Feasts were kept we may well enough conjecture from the description we have already (l) The same §. as afore given of a Paschal compar'd with this that follows of an Ordinary Supper At an ordinary Meal where there are more than three the Priest or Rabbin or Chief Person takes the Bread half cuts it and blesses it lifting it up at the Name of God then eats a piece of it himself giving likewise to the rest who eat also After he takes the Cup and the rest having their Cups likewise he elevating the Wine says the Benediction over it and they all drink And so when he has said the 23d Psalm they proceed to eat and drink as they please And when they have done the principal person and the others take again their Cups in their Hands and after he has given Thanks and pray'd they all drink and conclude (m) Buxt Syn. Jud. â—â—p 12. The Jews have too a more solemn Meal the Supper of the Sabbath Eve but little differing from the other only here because they then begin the Sabbath and such separations of Initiatory Dedications as well as Conclusional Separations are made with Wine they therefore invert the Order and the Master or Rabbin first takes the Cup repeating the first Verses of the second Chapter of Genesis and saying over it a Benediction Proper for the Sabbath which then begins and after that uncovering the Bread which was cover'd as if it had not been there when the Cup was taken first and which consists of two Loaves he blesses it in the ordinary form c. (n) Ibid. cap. 15. Now hence as we may by comparing discover what the additional Ceremonies were in the Paschal Supper above those of any more ordinary Meal so something between those we may judge to have been us'd in the other Peace-offering Feasts and particularly the Eucharistical As for instance we may presume that the Bread and Wine of a Thanksgiving were taken and elevated by the Priest or Rabbin if present or by the Master of the Family with some peculiar Benediction to which might be subjoyn'd a proper Hymn that when they eat they both began the Meal with the Flesh and Bread of the Sacrifice or at other times with a piece of the Bread representing the Sacrifice and also ended it and that then with some of that Wine they gave Thanks recontinuing their Eucharistical Hymne and so concluding At such Feasts some particular Ceremony they certainly had and something like this in probability it was It appears also by the Divine Worship they pay at their less-solemn Repasts that at these extraordinary ones their Devotion to God must have been as great as their Hospitality to Men. And if their common Tables are always esteem'd by them as Altars particularly when after Meals they return Thanks for then they remove their Knives from off them on that Consideration (m) Buxt Syn. Jud. c. 12. we cannot think but that those Tables then when they were furnish'd from the Altar or imitated one so furnish'd were judg'd more especially to represent it § IV. SUCH were the Sacrifices and Feasts of Thanksgiving and to these I suppose our Saviour had respect in the institution of his Feast and was so understood by the Apostles and by the Christians that immediately succeeded them That it was so understood and How I am now going further to explain And first That the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper came into the place of a Sacrifice of Thanks this may seem probable from several Considerations to be suggested from what has been premis'd For 1st the Name which the Ancients gave this Sacrament seems to speak them of the same opinion For they not only speak of it as of a Sacrifice and Oblation at large but call it determinately and expresly the Eucharist that is the Thanks or Praise-offeriâ—g as by its proper Name the Sacramâ—ntal Bread and Wine being as much known by that stile with Christians as the Bread of the Eucharist or Praise was with the Jews (a) 〈…〉 2dly The Leaven'd Bread they always chose to use as it evidently declares that there was no further regard to the Paschal Sacrifice so it seems to import a just correspondence with those of the Eucharistical kind in which Leaven'd Bread was singularly requir'd And lastly the Bread which was to represent and in some manner to become the Body of our Lord did not unfitly succeed in the place of that Bread of Thanks which had been made use of before to stand for the Flesh of an Eucharistical Sacrifice and to make up the whole even in Jerusalem it self if it did not sometimes in places more remote according to the Conjecture now mention'd Now as this Feast of our Lord was Eucharistical so we suppose it was celebrated in a suitable manner The Bread and Wine chiefly design'd for the
had before said the same thing (d) Iren. Lib. 3. Cap. 3. where he names the Succession of the Bishops of Rome down to Eleutherius of his own time the twelfth from the Apostles presupposing the same succession of such single Persons in all the Apostolick Churches and giving it as a Truth in matter of Fact on which he might found the Truth of the Catholick Doctrine and which the Hereticks themselves could not gainsay This plain Testimony of so Learn'd and Venerable a Person at no longer a distance from the Apostles seems unexceptionable but for the Church of Smyrna it is absolutely Unquestionable For there he speaks almost from his own personal Knowledge having himself been acquainted with Polycarp who was immediately ordain'd by the Apostles And as sure as this Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna so plain it is there that Anicetus was of Rome in his time and from their very Conference together reported by this Irenaeus as we have seen (e) Part 1. Ch. 1. §. 4. it also evidently appears that such Bishops had been always there presiding of whom we know as many are mention'd in that place on occasion of the Paschal Dispute as reach'd up to the very beginning of the Second Century Neither need I dissemble that those Bishops are stil'd Presbyters in the place last mention'd since they are known to be Presbyters of the more eminent Degree and to be the same single Persons with the same superiour Character the same distinction still remaining between them and the inferiour Presbyters § II. I might well be content with the Evidence Tertullian and Irenaeus give for the Apostolical Distinction between the Bishop and the other Presbyters and may therefore presume that what I have further to say of the same nature from Ignatius will not fail to be credited For how unreasonable it is to suspect his Writings for the peculiar Dignity he attributes to Bishops and that is the greatest Argument of Suspicion they have has already appear'd from the little I have produc'd as the Reader may find both that and all the lesser Cavils at large and unanswerably refuted by our Bishop Pearson (a) Vind. Ignat. This Ignatius Bishop of Antioch being in his Journey through Asia the less to his Martyrdom at Rome about the year 116 at farthest (b) Dodw. Diss in Ir. 1. sect 17. wrote several Letters to the adjacent Cities thanking the Churches there for their Christian Courtesie to him which they had shew'd by their Messengers and express'd by other Tokens of Fraternal Love and taking at the same time occasion to make them some effectual return and confirm them in the Faith and Discipline of Christ These Letters as all others even the Apostolical would be much better understood by us if we distinctly knew the particular Circumstances of those Churches to which no doubt he speaks very properly tho' we now out of the same words can make but a general and sometimes a very ordinary sence But however something of the Circumstances of those Times and of his Intention in those Letters appears thro' them And as his Design seems to be to fortifie them against the Fears of the present Persecution and to warn them of the dangerous Heresies sprung from Simon Magus and then prevailing so he manifests a particular care against Schism and for the preserving the Government of the Church Before this time the Divisions of the Church of Corinth about their Governors had occasion'd a Letter from the Church of Rome by Clemens's Hand and now in Asia when St. John himself the surviving Apostle was dead and the supreme controuling Authority was extinct it is very likely that the Orders before establish'd were in some danger of being subverted by the Ambition and Unruliness of such whom the Spirit by St. Paul had expresly foretold to Timothy the Bishop of their capital City (c) 1 Tim. 4.1 Now that such Attempts were then made upon the Authority of Church-Officers and to the confusion of their Distinction may be gather'd from this Ignatius as it also appears from his manner of Expression that such a Distinction was no novel thing and of modern erection nor was it of slight concern In this view as we may suppose he tells the Ephesians That they ought to glorifie Jesus Christ who had glorified them to be of one mind and to say the same thing and to be subject to the Bishop and to the Presbytery that they may be wholly sanctified You ought says he to concur with your Bishop as you do for your Presbytery is as consonant to him as strings to an Instrument And let no Man be deceiv'd he that is not within the Altar falls short of the Bread of God and he that does not come to the Assembly is Proud and it is written God resisteth the Proud d Let us not then resist the Bishop that we may be subject to God And the more modest and condescending your Bishop is the more he is to be reverenc'd for he is to be look'd on as the Lord himself And lastly he speaks of their Concurrence with Christ that they may obey the Bishop and the Presbytery with an undistracted Mind breaking that one Bread which is the Medicine for Immortality the Antidote against Death This it seems was necessary to be said on this subject to the Ephesians amongst whom as amongst the other Asiatick Churches to whom he writes the Peace of the Church which St. John's presence had hitherto secur'd began to be disturb'd Whereas therefore in his letter to the Roman Church whose zeal in this case was so well known he makes no mention of their obedience to spiritual Governours in all his other letters to the Asiaticks he enlarges much on the same Topick and was it seems oblig'd to press that Duty even upon the Smyrneans where Polycarp himself was Bishop He does it after this manner Fly Divisions as the beginning or cause of Evils All of you follow the Bishop as Christ Jesus the Father and follow the Presbytery as the Apostles and reverence the Deacons as the Commandment or Mandatories e of God Let no one do any thing appertaining to the Church without the Bishop Let that be esteem'd a good Eucharist which is under the Administration of the Bishop or such as He shall appoint Where the Bishop appears there let the People be as where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholick Church It is not lawful without the Bishop neither to Baptize nor keep the Love-Feast but what He approves that is it which is acceptable to God So to the Philadelphians after Exhortation to Unity under the Bishop he adds Take care therefore to use one Eucharist For there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ one Cup wherein his Blood is united one Altar as there is one Bishop with the Presbytery and my Fellow Servants the Deacons As also in that to the Magnesians he directs Endeavour to do all things in the Vnanimity of God
another after in that Posture (p) Maim ut supra Cap. 4. §. 16. 6. So the custom he taxes q of publishing their Fasting by their declining the fraternal Kiss seems to speak them to have thought the time of Fasting to be a time of Mourning and in which they were not to salute nor be saluted 7. But where he finds fault with those that pray'd too loud and advises to use a low Voice r he agrees with the Masters of the Jews who order the Prayers to be said by each but with a Voice audible only to his own Ears (ſ) Maim Ibid. Cap. 5. §. 9. 8. And when speaking of the Christian manner of Lifting up their Hands at Prayer he reproaches the Jews with the contrary Posture as not daring to lift them up imbrewed as they were with the blood of our Lord t he truly reports the present Jewish Custom us'd I suppose since the Desolation of their Holy City of holding their Hands down as well as their Eyes and crossing them over their Breast (u) Maim Cap. codem §. 3. but it still remains undeny'd that their Gesture was different before and the same which the first Christians continued 9. Lastly What Tertullian in another place informs concerning the Devotion of Wednesdays and Fridays we have already seen (x) Part. I. Ch. 4. §. 3. that it succeeded that of Mundays and Thursdays 10. But what he intimates of Praying towards the East y we are now going to consider as it is with other Rites more expresly deliver'd in Origen § II. This most Learned Christian Writer Origen as he was very knowing in the Affairs of the Jews to which others were great Strangers so he seems to have some Respect to their Practice though he would not vouch it for Authority when he discourses in his Treatise of Prayer concerning that Christian Office There he proposes (a) Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oxon. pag. 127. to speak of the Requisites to it the due Disposition of Mind and Posture of Body the Place the Direction of the Face and the Time to which he afterwards adds the Method and Parts of it such things as are us'd all of them to be consider'd on the same subject by the Masters of the Jews And first for their solemn Prayer they strictly require a right Preparation and Disposition of Mind that their Heart be free from the Thoughts and Cares of the World and wholly Directed towards God to which end they are order'd to sit some time before as has been now remark'd And Buxtorf adds (b) Syn. Jud. Cap. 10. that they are to enter into the Synagogue with Fear and Reverence which they express in some words of the Psalms and when they rise from their Seats they Bowing towards the Ark reinforce their Attention with a preparatory Prayer and then begin Secondly As to the ordinary Figure and Posture of the Body the Jews now also prescribe standing (c) Maim de Prec 5.2 and heretofore us'd what Origen commends the Erection of their Hands and Eyes as we have now observ'd upon Tertullian Thirdly As Origen advises d that even in a Private House the Room chose for that Duty should be none of those that serve for the less Honourable uses of the Family such a Caution do the Jews likewise observe (e) Maim Ibid. ◠9 Fourthly When He directs (e 2) Orig. ut supra p. 133. the Face of the Person that Prays towards the East even though there should be no Window in the Room on that side according to the antient Custom mention'd before him by his Master Clemens Alexandrinus (f) Clem. Strom. 7. Edit Paris p. 724. and by Tertullian and which had obtain'd I presume from the Beginning of Christianity being in their judgment countenanc'd by those Expressions of Scripture that our Saviour was the East for so they understood what we render the Branch g that He was the Day-spring from on high that visited us (h) Luke 1.78 and that hereafter he shall come as the Lightning from the East (i) Matth. 24.27 in this also the Christians will be found to correspond with their Predecessors the Jews For that they turn'd themselves to some one certain Point was according to the Custom of the Jews who are suppos'd (k) Maim de Prec 1.12 ever since the Erection of the Sanctuary by Moses to have turn'd themselves towards it at their Prayers and ever since the Building of the Temple at Jerusalem have been oblig'd both to look towards that place and if they are within Walls to open a Window on that side (l) Maim Ibid. Cap. 5. §. 3 6. The Line too in which the Christians placed themselves that between the East and the West though it continued not to be the standing line of Direction to the Jews in their Devotion yet however it has been always esteem'd Sacred with them and in that Position some things therefore are not to be done by them (m) Maim de Cult Div. Tract 1. Cap. 7. §. 9. Buxt S. Jud. Cap. 8. a Respect they give as they say by reason of the like situation of the Temple if it was not rather for a much more antient reason Now in that Line it is not to be wonder'd if we consider not the worship of the Sun that the place of his Rising was always held the chiefest Point and should in the Primitive Languages be styl'd the Part of the World before us as most regarded and that the Northern should thence be call'd the Left and the Southward the Right n But besides this Natural consideration there seems also to have been some antient Religious Respect had to that Point and that afterward the Face of the Temple was therefore turned that way For the Jews themselves suppose by Tradition that Adam was formed by his Creator in that situation and that his Eyes were first open'd towards the East o And as to the Temple although the Worshippers who stood before it look'd towards the West as those who yet were to see the Dayspring from on High by Reflection only from that Building yet the Temple it self fac'd the East as directly looking for Him who was to come thence and that way therefore might the Christians turn as being themselves Temples of God (p) 1 Cor. 3.16 17. and professing immediately to expect his Second Coming § III. Fifthly The Times of Daily Prayer our Author had determin'd in the former part of his Treatise (a) Page 36. to be the Morning and Evening and between them Midday and Midnight In the Morning also the so call'd Apostolical Constitutions direct to assemble in the Church before they go about any Business and likewise to return in the Evening (b) Lib. 2. Cap. 36 59 62. Now the Jews also have their Daily Prayers in the Place of their Daily Sacrifices (c) Maim de Pr. 1 5 6 7. Their Morning Prayers take place from the time when the
and that of our Lord's Pâ—â—sion and Secondly between the Seasons that Precede both the one and the other of those Radical Fasts CHAP. II. § I. The Sacrificial Performance on the Jewish Expiation Day § II. Compar'd with that of our Saviour on His Passion Day § I. THE Day of Expiation or Attonement is with the Jews a very Great Day injoin'd by God under a very severe Sanction and observ'd by them always with a suitable Care It was appointed on the Tenth Day of their Seventh Month just six Months after the day of the Caption of the Paschal Lamb or Kid of the Goats and the Duties of it were Peculiar partly Sacrificial to be perform'd by the High Priest partly Devotional incumbent on the People The Sacrificial Office proper to the Day was proper to the High Priest (a) For this and the whole Section see Levit. 16. and he only and on that day only was allow'd to enter within the Vail into the Holy of Holies Besides the Propitiation he was then to make for himself and his House He was to make an attonement for the People of the Congregation and that was done by two Kids of the Goats for a Sin-Offering These two Goats were to be alike according to the Tradition both by the Jews (b) Maim de Cult Div. Tract 8. Cap. 5. §. 14. and by Barnabas (c) For this and what follows from Barnabas see Repart 1. Ch. 11. §. 2. lit d. and to be presented before the Lord at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation There the High Priest cast Lots upon them one Lot for the Lord and the other Lot for the Scape Goat for Azazel suppos'd by some to be Satan d and the heads of both of them he bound about with two narrow pieces of Scarlet (e) Maim Ibid. 8.3.4 With the blood of that which was offer'd to the Lord he enter'd into the House and within the Vail to sprinkle it before the Mercy Seat and while he was in the House no one else was to be there no not in the space between the Altar and the House as the Rabbins say (f) Maim Ibid. 6.3.3 On the other Goat he laid both his hands and confess'd over him all the Iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their Transgressions in all their Sins in a Form the Misnah pretends to give (g) Codex Joma Sheringhami c. 6.2 putting them on the Head of the Goat and then he deliver'd him bearing all those Iniquities and Accurs'd as the Traditions of Barnabas call him into the hand of a Fit Man Ready and Bold I suppose h or an Executioner who was to be a Stranger not an Israelite says Maimonides (i) 〈◊〉 p. 8â— 7 to be carried into the Wilderness The People therefore spitting upon him and Goading him on as Barnabas tells us they were bid to do and the Misnah says (k) Joma 6.4 there were those who were ready to pluck him by the hair and cry Away be gone though they were kept off from so doing by the contrivance of a narrow passage In this manner he was lead into the land not inhabited to a Rock call'd Zuk l where his Leader they say i dividing the Piece of Scarlet put half of it on some point of the Rock on a Thorn m says Barnabas and ty'd again the other half between the Horns of the Goat and so push'd him down headlong to be broke to pieces by the Fall § II. Such an Annual Expiation Day was appointed for the Jews and its Sacrifice whereby the Attonement was made for the Sins of that Year was so Perform'd There was in like manner a certain Day appointed to come in its due time when an Attonement should be made for the Sins of the whole World not of one Nation only or of one Year or Age by a Priest supereminently High and with a Sacrifice truly singular and extraordinary and of it self deserving to be accepted The Day of our Saviours Passion every good Christian believes to have been the Day of the Expiation of Mankind And that he in that Sacrificial Action was both the Priest and the Sacrifice the whole Tenor of the Epistle to the Hebrews positively avows He is there said to be a merciful and faithful High Priest making Reconciliation for the Sins of the People (a) Hebr. 2.17 the High Priest of our Profession (b) 3.1 our Great High Priest who is pass'd into the Heavens (c) 4.14 Call'd of God as was Aaron after the Order of Melchisedech (d) 5.4 10. invested with an Vnchangeable Priesthood (e) 7.24 a High-Priest who is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens (f) 8.1 And this High Priest was of necessity to have something to offer says the Apostle (g) 8.3 He therefore enter'd once into the Holy Place not by the Blood of Goats and of Calves but by his own Blood having obtain'd eternal Redemption for us (h) 12. and thorough the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God (i) 14. For Christ is not enter'd into the Holy Places made with hands which are the Figures of the True but into Heaven it self now to appear in the Presence of God for us Nor yet was He to offer himself often as the High Priest entreth into the Holy Place every year with the blood of others but now once in the end of the World hath he appear'd to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of Himself being once offer'd to bear the Sins of many (k) 9.24 So are we sanctified thorough the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all (l) 10.10 who after he had once offer'd one Sacrifice for Sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God (m) 12. For by one Offering He hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified (n) 14. Thus exactly adequate is the Correspondence between the Propitiations of the Old and New Covenant as it stands propos'd to us by the Divine Writer to the Hebrews Our Saviour is asserted to have been the High Priest and on his Passion Day to have officiated for us to have offer'd the Sacrifice of Himself to have bore our Sins in his own Body and with his own Blood to have enter'd into the Holy Place not made with hands and to have appear'd as before the Mercy Seat in the Presence of God Thus much of the Analogy the Apostle has expresly laid down and it may very naturally be carried further The Author therefore of the Epistle ascrib'd to Barnabas (o) Barn Ep. Cap. 7. and Tertullian after him (p) See Repartit 1. Chap. 11. §. 3. lit e. have both took notice that the two Kids of the Goats were chosen alike in as much as both of them were equal representatives of our Blessed Lord and that he was as that clean unspotted one which was offer'd to God and whose Blood was carried
and Ceremonies borrowed thence For why should not their Expiation Day be imitated by our Passion Day when our Sundays and Wednesdays and Fridays and the old Stationary Days our Easter and our Pentecost are all after the like Example And if we have followed the Jews in their Methods of Humiliation and ways of Abstinence and Penance why not in the Solemnity of a Season for such Duties And now if this Derivation I have propos'd might be taken for granted I might then observe against the Followers of Socinus that an Anniversary and very Remarkable Testimony has been all along given by the whole Church of God to the Expiatory Sacrifice of our Blessed Lord as possibly the Discontinuance of that antient and laudable Practice may have given too much way to the late Revival and Modern Increase of that Great Error in Belief But I will not offer to found a Truth so Sacred and which is otherwise so well grounded upon any Conjecture however Probable it may appear § II. But though I do not after all affirm positively that the first Christians had this Correspondence in their View at the Institution of that Holy Time for I shall leave it as Probable only and to the Judgment of the Readerâ— yet this I think I may securely assert that such a Respect if they had it was very Just and Proper and that the same Consideration is a very good reason for the Continuance of the Observation by all True and Orthodox Christians For our Saviour's Passion the Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the whole World and of all Ages was indeed once offer'd in the fullness of time and by Him never to be Repeated but eternally therefore to be Commemorated by the Believing Redeem'd part of Mankind in all their Generations to come And if the Resurrection of our Lord was always thought fit to be recognis'd with a Weekly and therefore certainly with an Annual Solemnity his Death also as surely as it was fixt in Time and known to have come to pass the Friday before so as necessarily did it demand its Anniversary also if not Weekly Memorial For though his Resurrection indeed was exceedingly Glorious and Triumphant yet his Passion was no doubt much the more Mighty and more Remarkable Work in as much as the Death of the Eternal Son of God was far more Wondrous than his Rising from it and it was yet more Wonderful that he should submit to the Ineffable Condescension for our sakes For the cause of his Passion it was our Saviour tells us that he came into the World (a) John 18.37 as if all the Discourses remember'd in the Gospel were but as Prefaces to it and all the Miracles of his Life serv'd only to signalise it In was â—he Basiâ— and Ground work of the Church on which our Salvation stands a mighty Foundation and deeply laid Had we therefore no constant Need of this Expiation of our Lord for our repeated continual Transgressions and had we been absolutely Innocent ever since our first Regeneration by Baptism yet the Death in which we were Baptis'd and by which we had been once Redeem'd could not have fail'd of a pious and grateful Commemoration once at least in the Year and this Day if any other would have had its place in the Christian Calendar In that Case indeed the Day would have been kept Eâ—charistically and as the Sacrament of our Lord's Death is now to be Celebrated in a sad and astonishing Remembrance of his bitter Passion intermixt tho' and temper'd with Joy and thanks for the Propitiation it made But though our Intervening Offences have necessarily chang'd the manner of the Celebration and turn'd our Joy into Mourning yet the Commemoration it self is far from being superseded by them and is rather inforc'd by greater reason for we are now to be call'd to the Remembrance of our Sins as well as of our Lord's Passion And if we now countercharge the Supposition and as before we regarded only the Death of our Lord abstractly from our Sins after Baptism so here we regard those only and take no notice of any Anniversary of the Passion yet even the separate consideration of those Sins might well have challeng'd to them some One Day in the Year wherein after an extraordinary manner we should confess and lament their guilt humbly beseech their Pardon and intreat the Benefit of that Expiation for them For though the Sacrifices for Sin have ceas'd by that one Propitiation of Our Saviour yet by deplorable Experience we know that our Sins cease not they are generally as numerous and frequent as they were before the Covenant and much more heinous having now become exceeding Sinful as committed against greater Light and higher Obligations If therefore we will understand our selves aright Confession of Sins and Supplication for Forgiveness continue to be the daily Duty of Christians as well as of Jews make a no less Proper and Necessary Part of our ordinary Publick Devotions and are still as fit to be the express Business and peculiar Office of some Extraordinary Time And if such an Appointment should be made by the Governours of the Church that we should meet together for this Purpose annually on a solemn Day to take the more publick Shame to our selves and to give the greater Glory to God no Good Christian sure would refuse to concur in so common and necessary a Work but as he is ready to meet and celebrate any other Fast indicted on the occasion of Temporary Calamities so he would never decline to join in a Humiliation assign'd for much more weighty spiritual reasons for the saving of Immortal Souls and averting of Eternal Vengeance He only that is without Sin might seem unconcern'd in such an Order but he then would not not be without Charity and would be in this also like our Saviour that he would condescend to humble himself for the Sins of his Brethren And were there now such a General and Solemn Christian Fast to be appointed and were we to find it a proper Season it could not undoubtedly be more congruously plac'd in the whole Circle of the Year than on the Day of our Lord's Passion were there any such day already observ'd For as all the Refuge of our Supplications must be in that Expiation and by it only God can be intreated so a lively Remembrance of that Death would best give us the due sence of the Guilt and Demerit of all Sins but most bitterly reproach us with our own those Bold and Ungrateful Transgressions of a most Gracious Covenant that was seal'd in such Precious Blood So fitly and naturally do both those Duties of Celebrating the Memory of our Lord's Death and Mourning for our own Sins concur on the same Day the Recognition of that our Expiation and the Affliction of our Souls being as closely join'd together by Eternal Reason as ever they were by the Law of Moses the Duties also heightning each other our Humiliation increas'd by