The Contrariety of POPERY TO THE Blessed Word of GOD Wherein may be seen that the DOCTRINE and PRACTICE OF THE Church of Rome Are not consistent with the SACRED ORACLES OF THE Old and New Testament Very fit now to be seriously minded by all Good PROTESTANTS when we have such Warnings of the Approach of Popery Written by DIGBY BULL M. A. and late Rector of Sheldon in Warwick-shire LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall 1695. I. The Fundamental Doctrine of the Romish Church That the blessed Apostle St. Peter was the Head and Governour of all the Apostles and of all the Church is not consistent with the sacred Scriptures but is flat contrary to them THIS grand Position of the Church of Rome whereupon all their pretended Power and Authority is built is altogether groundless and false and not consistent with the blessed Word of God as we may see by a multitude of places First We may see That the places of Scripture which are urged upon this account have no force at all to prove that St. Peter was the Universal Head and Governour of the Apostles and of the Church Great Matters are spoken of St. Peter but nothing at all that will prove this Matt. 16.18 Saith our blessed Lord to him Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it But this doth not prove that St. Peter was to be the sole Foundation of the Church and it is clear by other places of Scripture that this is not the meaning of this place For in this Similitude wherein the Church is compared to a Building Jesus Christ our blessed Lord is the sole and only Foundation and none can pretend to be a Foundation in such a high manner as he is so And this the Apostle St. Paul hath plainly taught us 1 Cor. 3.11 For other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Here when some were pretending to be of Paul and some of Apollos the Apostle doth positively affirm That Christ Jesus is the Foundation upon which the Christian Church was to be built and neither Paul nor Apollos nor Cephas or Peter are to stand in competition with him in this respect And when the Foundation is attributed to the Apostles they are mentioned together and Christ is called the chief Corner-stone Ephes 2.20 saith St. Paul And are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone And in St. John's holy Jerusalem the Apostles are all equally concerned Rev. 21.14 And the Wall of the City had twelve Foundations saith he and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. The Apostles we see are all concerned in the Foundation of the Christian Church and it was to be built upon them all as Ministers in this Spiritual Building and in respect of the Doctrine and Foundation of Christ which they laid and St. Peter alone is not the Foundation of the Christian Church And not only St. Peter but others also are mentioned as Pillars of the Church Gal. 2.9 saith St. Paul And when James Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me James and John here are accounted as Pillars of the Church as well as Cephas that is Peter It is plain we see that St. Peter was not appointed to be the sole Foundation of the Christian Church and that nothing can be fairly urged from these words of our Saviour to him to prove him to be the Universal Head of the Church Again our blessed Saviour promiseth to St. Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and power of binding and loosing Mat. 16.19 And I will give unto thee saith he to Peter the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here we see that very great Power indeed is promised to St. Peter but yet this doth not at all prove him to be the Universal Head over all the Church For this seems not to be an actual Grant of this Power but only a Promise and the actual conferring of this Power doth clear this matter That it was not granted to St. Peter alone but to all the Apostles This may be clearly seen by these places Matt. 18.18 Verily I say unto you saith our Lord whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Here the Power of Binding and Loosing the same Power that St. Peter was to have is as firmly ratified and confirmed to all the Apostles as it is to St. Peter and he could pretend to no Power above his fellow Apostles And after our Saviour's Resurrection immediately before his ascension to Heaven when he most solemnly invested the Apostles with this Power he equally gave it to them all Joh. 20.21 23. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained Here we see this Power is actually and solemnly settled upon them all And the Commission is large bearing a correspondence with that which God the Father gave him As my Father hath sent me even so send I you in the plural number And the Commission is Universal Whos 's soever sins ye remit This great Power then we see plainly is actually settled upon them all and none hath a greater share of it than his Fellows And when St. Peter said unto our blessed Saviour in behalf of himself and his Fellows Matt. 19 27 28. Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore Our Saviour returned this answer And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And saith he Luke 22.29 30 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me That ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Here we see that it is equally granted to them all to sit upon Thrones and to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel And these places are understood to respect the Power that they were to have to govern Christ's Church here upon Earth after his departure to Heaven It is clear then that our blessed Saviour gave and left St. Peter no more Power and Authority than he did the rest of the holy Apostles Again the Care of Christ's Flock is
Matt. 15.14 Let them alone saith our Lord they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch With blind Guides we see we may go to the Pit of Destruction And what will it profit us to have their company there to encrease our sorrow that we were so miserably deluded by them The Prophet that came to Bethel was slain by a Lion for returning back contrary to the Word of the Lord and yet the Prophet that brought him back pretended that he had an express Order from God to bring him back again 1 King 13.15 But notwithstanding this he was slain for his Disobedience So dangerous a thing we see it is for men to go contrary to the sacred Word of God through the vain persuasions of deluding men And Ahab perished and lost his life at Ramoth Gilead notwithstanding his false Prophets bid him go and prosper 1 Kin. 22. This Practice of the Romish Church to require poor Souls to believe what they please without any ground out of the Word of God is not agreeable with the sacred Scriptures we see and is fit for none but such as have abandoned and cast off all care of their Immortal Souls and are altogether regardless what becomes of them in another World Their keeping the sacred Scriptures in an unknown Tongue from the common People that they may not read them and practise the things therein contained And their imposing a blind Belief upon their Proselytes and Members requiring them to believe without Ground and Examination are both we see flat contrary to the blessed Word God and very sinful IV. Their performing their Worship and Divine Service in an unknown Tongue which the common People do not understand is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures Such blind Service and Devotion is not fit for Men that are endowed with Reason and Understanding to use towards Almighty God who are to serve him with a reasonable and hearty Service And such vain Service and Babbling is not agreeable to the Word of God Eccl. 5.1 saith the Preacher Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil And sure to serve God with such a blind Worship and Service can be no better than the sacrifice of Fools when Men neither consider nor so much as understand whether the things which they utter or join in are good or evil We are to serve God in Spirit as our Lord hath taught us Jo. 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth But this can be no spiritual service sure when Men neither regard nor understand what they say or say Amen to This can be no better than pure Lip-service if it may be allowed to be so much which God complaineth of as a thing not pleasing and acceptable to him without the heart Matt. 15.7 8 saith our Saviour Ye hypocrites well did Esaias prophesie of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me And this is all that such blind Devotions can arrive to viz. to honour God with Lip and Mouth if they do so much And our Prayers and Devotions are to have a good influence upon our selves and to work good upon us That when we beg pardon for our sins we thereby should be made more sensible of our own vileness and unworthiness and the hainousness of our sins that we may be the more deterred from committing the like That in deprecating of Evil and praying for Good we may be made the more sensible of our own needs and wants and of the tender love and care and Fatherly affection that God hath for us and that he is full of Mercy and prone and forward both to give and forgive and that we by his example should be drawn to do the like And that in returning him Praise and Thanksgiving we might see how infinitely we are bound and obliged to him and thereby be moved to a greater sense of gratitude and to have our hearts more inflamed with love towards him again But such blind Devotions as are used in the Popish Church cannot well have such good influences upon our selves nor be so beneficial for the bettering of our Lives A devout performing of our Services to God with the heart and understanding will tend much to the working of good motions and desires and affections in us but such cannot well be affected by such a blind way of Worship God is to be loved with all the heart and mind and understanding Matt. 22.37 And so we may be sure that he is to be worshipped and served and not in such a manner as the Papists make the common People to worship him in an unknown Tongue which they understand not And this is clearly against the Doctrine of St. Paul to use an unknown Tongue in the worship of God which the common People understand not This he sheweth ought not to be done 1 Cor. 14.2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue saith he speaketh not unto men but unto God for no man understandeth him This he sheweth to be of no use to Men when they understand not the Language And ver 7 And even things without life giving sound whether pipe or harp except they give a distinction in the sounds how shall it be known what is piped or harped For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to the battel So likewise you except ye utter by the tongue words easie to be understood how shall it be known what is spoken There is an absolute necessity that what is spoken in the Congregation should be understood of the People And ver 11. Therefore saith he if I know not the meaning of the voice I shall be unto him that speaketh a Barbarian and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian unto me Here the Apostle sheweth how useless and insignificant a strange Tongue is to such as understand it not and that there can be no communion in such a case And ver 14 15. For if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful What is it then I will pray with spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also The Spirit of him that prayeth in a strange Tongue may be well affected but the Understanding will be altogether unfruitful and to such as understand him not the speaker will be but a Barbarian and they will not know whether he blesseth or curseth And we are to worship and serve God with all the powers and faculties of our Souls and this we cannot do in an unknown Tongue Ver. 16. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of
Subjects are strictly commanded to be subject and obedient to their lawful Governors and are like to perish if they rise up against them And to command them to rebel and rise up against their lawful Governors is to command them to break these sacred Commands of the Gospel and to do that for which they are like to perish and be damned Rebellion Perjury and Murder are very great and black Crimes and for such are men like to go to the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone as St. John shews Rev. 21.8 Murderers and all Lyars are to have their part therein and perjured Persons may be reckoned in the front of Lyars To command men to do these things is to command men to do things which are extraordinary sinful and wicked and to be the great Firebrands of the world And yet such is the Practice of the Church of Rome to do these things flat contrary to the clear Commands of the Gospel of Christ and to the destroying of whole multitudes of men both here and hereafter too XV. Their debasing and vilifying of the blessed Word of God as obscure and dangerous and insufficient and productive of Errors and Heresies And their making their oral Traditions of as great Authority as the Word of God and letting them take place of it is sinful enough and inconsistent with the sacred Scriptures We are to believe that the Wisdom and Goodness of God hath taken sufficient care that the Canon of the sacred Scriptures should be perfect and compleat and that there should be no defect in them And we are to believe that they are plain and clear enough to direct all men to eternal Life that will diligently read them and hear them read and preached and carefully practise what they are taught therein And this is St. Paul's testimony of them 2 Tim. 3.15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation thro' faith which is in Christ Jesus These sacred Writings will furnish all men with sufficient Instructions for Salvation And saith he ver 16 All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works St. Paul doth here shew that the sacred Scriptures are sufficient to make men perfect and thorowly furnished with Instructions to all good works Tho' some places in them are somewhat dark and difficult to be understood yet such as will carefully mind these sacred Writings may there clearly see their duty and what they are to do that they may obtain eternal Life and there are no Instructions compararable to them And we may see that oral Traditions ought not to be had in as great a veneration as the sacred Word of God and be made of as great Authority For this would be little less than adding to the Word of God to make such Traditions as sacred and of as great Authority as it And this we are commanded not to do Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you And Deut. 12.32 What thing soever I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Thus strictly did God command that nothing should be added to or diminished from his sacred Word and Commandments And the Jews are sharply rebuked by our blessed Lord for making void the Commands of God by their Traditions Matt. 15.3 But he answered and said unto them Why do you also transgress the Commandment of God by your tradition For God commanded saying Honor thy father and mother and he that curseth father or mother let him dye the death But ye say whosoever shall say to his father or his mother It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honor not his father or his mother he shall be free Thus have ye made the Commandment of God of none effect by your Tradition And saith he Mar. 7.7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men For laying aside the Commandment of God ye hold the tradition of men The Jews are sharply rebuked for setting up their Traditions so high and making the Word of God void by them and yet they pleaded as much for their Traditions as the Church of Rome can for her's And here we see how vain a thing it is for men to pretend to serve God while they teach for doctrines the commandments of men and follow their own vain traditions and make them of equal authority with the Word of God and prefer them before it And saith St. Paul to Titus Tit. 1.13 Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the Faith not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth The Commandments of men if they once come to vie with the sacred Word of God are utterly to be rejected By these places and what hath been said before we may see that it is great wickedness to set up any thing in competition with the sacred Word of God The Practice of the Church of Rome in undervaluing the blessed Word of God and setting up of Traditions in competition with it and preferring them before it is repugnant to the sacred Scriptures and a very great Crime XVI Lastly the bloody Cruelty of the Romish Church is not at all consistent with the Gospel of Christ The bloody Wars that have been raised by the Papists against the Protestants and such as refused the Communion of the Romish Church upon the account of Religion the cruel Inquisitions that have been set up in the Popish Countries the merciless Massacres that have been committed and perpetrated by them and the horrid and hellish Burnings that they have used towards the Protestants are not at all agreeable to the sacred Scriptures The Persecutions of the Romish Church exceed all the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors and more Christian Blood hath been shed by Papists than ever was shed by the Heathen Emperors But such bloody Cruelty and such treacherous Murdering and destroying of men by thousands is not at all agreeable to the Gospel of the blessed Jesus the Prince of Peace that came to save mens Lives and not to destroy them When Solomon's Temple was built it was built without the noise of hammers and axes and iron tools 1 King 6.7 And the Gospel was introduced without the noise and use of iron-weapons Our blessed Saviour and his Apostles practised no such Cruelty and commanded no such thing to be practised by Christians but the quite contrary Our Saviour gave no positive command to his Disciples to take up the Sword as I conceive by those Words Luk. 22.36 And suffered St. Peter to cut off Malcus's ear ver 50 only that
body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Here we are plainly taught that it is still bread when it is eaten And our Saviour calls the wine the fruit of the vine Matt. 26.29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom Our Lord here shews us that this was the fruit of the vine and wine when he drank it And our eyes and hands and mouth do testify to us that the bread and wine in the Sacrament are bread and wine when we eat and drink them and it would be nonsense and madness to think that our blessed Saviour eat his own body and drank his own blood and gave them also to his Disciples that they might eat and drink them too We are taught that there is but one Christ and that he cannot be divided Ephes 4.5 6. One Lord saith the Apostle one faith one baptism one God and Father of all And 1 Cor. 1.13 saith he Is Christ divided Hereby shewing that he cannot be divided And Christ is the only begotten Son of God and is but one Joh. 3.16 But according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church that will have Christ to be wholely in every bit of the consecrated bread there will be millions of Christs directly contrary to the sacred Scriptures We are also taught that Christ is in heaven at the right hand of God and that he is to abide there till he shall come to judge the World at the last day Acts 1.11 This same Jesus said the Angels which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven And till we see him come in this visible and glorious manner we are to know that he is not bodily present here upon earth And saith the Apostle Act. 3.20 And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things And he tells us that he is at the right hand of God Rom. 8.34 And there we are to know that he is to abide until these times of restitution when and not before God will send him again to judge the World And therefore it is plain that Christ cannot be bodily present in such a multitude of places here upon earth at one time as the Papists would have him to be contrary to these places of Scripture and contrary to all the reason and understanding of man We are taught that Christ's body is glorified and spiritualized and made incorruptible Phil. 3.20 For our conversation saith the Apostle is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body And saith he again 1 Cor. 15.42 So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body Our bodies are to be made glorious bodies like Christ's body and our bodies are to be made spiritual and incorruptible bodies which shews that Christ's body is such And he is to return no more to corruption as the Apostle saith Acts 13.34 And how then can the glorified and spiritual and incorruptible body of Christ be eaten by men and return to corruption again This Doctrine of the Church of Rome we see is flat contrary to the sacred Scriptures and to all the sense and reason and understanding of man And as for those Words of our Saviour Matt. 26.26 This is my body We may see that this is a very common and ordinary way of speaking to call things by the names of those that they signify and represent The Paschal Lamb is called the Lord's Passover Exod. 12.11 And ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord 's Passover This was to signify and to be a Sacrament of the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites when he saw the blood of this Lamb upon the Door-posts and not suffering the destroying Angel to enter into them but the Lamb was still flesh as is said ver 8 and could not be the Lord 's passing over the houses of the Israelites but only as a Sacrament and Rite to signify this Action of passing over them and shewing them Mercy when the Egyptians were destroyed Pharaoh's kine are said to be years of time Gen. 41.26 The seven good kine are seven years And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine that came up after them are seven years But these kine could not be years of time any otherwise than that they signified so many years of plenty and so many years of scarcity that were to come The bones which Ezekiel saw are said to be the whole House of Israel Ezek. 37.11 Then he said unto me Son of man these bones are the whole House of Israel behold they say our bones are dryed But here we see that no more is meant hereby but that this vision of bones was to represent and signify the House of Israel By these and many more Instances we may see that this is a common way of speaking And hereby it is plain that by these words This is my body we are to understand that this bread was to be a Sacrament and Signification of his Body For we see and are taught by the sacred Scriptures that it is bread still as I have shewed Again our Saviour saith that he is a door John 10.7 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation here as upon those other words of his But how ridiculous would a man make himself that should from hence affirm That Christ after he spake these words was turned into a perfect door and that his body was no more flesh and bones but changed into as real a door as ever moved upon hinges Our Saviour saith that he is a vine Joh. 15.1 And men may as well argue for a Transubstantiation from hence as from the other place and say that Christ after these words was no more a man but was then changed into as real a vine as ever grew in the ground and bore grapes But to talk after such a vain and whimsical manner as this is more fit for mad and distracted persons than for such as pretend to Sobriety and Understanding VIII Their worshipping of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is contrary to the Word of God and gross Idolatry We see that the Bread and Wine are bread and wine still after Consecration tho' they be consecrated and set apart to a sacred use And our Saviour and his Apostles have given us no Command nor Example to worship them And this is to make them Idols and is contrary to a multitude of places in the sacred Scriptures This is flat contrary
to the great Commandment Exod. 20.3 Thou shalt have no other Gods before me For this is to make and have a multitude of Gods before him And saith Moses Deut. 11.28 And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other Gods which ye have not known And Deut. 28.14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left to go after other Gods to serve them But here is a new Breed of God's brought up and which is a deplorable thing by such as pretend to be the Disciples of the blessed Jesus who came to teach us to worship and serve God alone in spirit and truth God hath declared that he will not give his glory to another Isa 42.8 And therefore we must not give his Glory and sacred Rights to the consecrated Elements in the Lord's Supper Our blessed Saviour hath told us that we must worship and serve God only in a Religious manner Matt. 4.10 and Luk. 4.8 And therefore we must be careful to keep this great Commandment and not be so profane as to fall down and worship the bread that we eat St. Paul chargeth this upon the Heathen as a grievous Crime Rom. 1.25 That they changed the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen And we must not now run into the like Crime when we have so clear a Light shining before us For if we do we shall be greater sinners in so doing than the Heathens were By these and many other places we may see that this is contrary to the blessed Word of God and gross Idolatry to fall down and worship the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament and to make Idols of them From all such Idols must we keep our selves as St. John hath commanded us 1 Joh. 5.21 if we would not have our part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone wherein we are told that Idolaters shall have their part Rev. 21.8 IX Their pretending to sacrifice and offer up Christ to God the Father for the Quick and Dead is not agreeable to the sacred Word of God We are taught in the sacred Scriptures That Christ hath offered up himself once for all and hath purchased Eternal Redemption for us and that there is no need that he should be offered up again for our Salvation Heb. 9.12 saith the Apostle But by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us And ver 25 26. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high Priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And ver 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Christ was not to offer himself often as the high Priest offered every year but one offering was sufficient and by it hath he put away our sins and obtained eternal Redemption for us and there is no more need of his suffering again And saith the Apostle Heb. 10.10 By the which Will we are sanctified thro' the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And ver 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God And ver 14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified By one offering hath our Saviour perfected and compleated his work of our Redemption and there is now no more need of his being offered again and it is but a vain thing to pretend to more offerings of him and to pretend that the Bread is his real Body We are taught that Christ is to dye no more and therefore he cannot be sacrificed and offered up to God the Father in the Mass-service Rom. 6.9 10 saith the Apostle Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he dyed he dyed unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Christ we see is no more to dye and return under the power and dominion of death again and therefore it is a great piece of vanity and wickedness to pretend to sacrifice and offer him up to God the Father for the sins of men We are redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins Heb. 9.22 And how then can the Mass-sacrifices signify any thing It was a very sinful Crime in those that put the Son of God to death And how then can it be deemed an acceptable service to God in those that pretend to act it over again This is a grand piece of impiety for men to pretend that they have such Power over the blessed Son of God as to sacrifice and offer him up here at their own pleasure whenas we are assured by the sacred Scriptures the word of Truth That Christ is in Heaven at the right hand of God X. Their keeping the Cup in the Sacrament from the Lay-people is not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures Our blessed Saviour gave the Cup in the Sacrament to all and commanded that all his Disciples should drink of it Matt. 26.27 And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it Here our Saviour commandeth that all his Disciples should drink of the Cup and his Command is as positive and clear as well can be And Luk. 22.17 And he took the Cup and gave thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves This we see is no less to be divided among them all than the bread was And St. Mark tells us that they all drank of it Mar. 14.23 And he took the Cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them And they all drank of it This is the plain and positive Command of our Saviour that all without any exception should drink of the Cup in the Sacrament and this we see all his Disciples did And St. Paul doth plainly shew that all are to drink of it that partake of the bread 1 Cor. 11.26 For as aften as ye shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. This we see is the Apostle's command that every one after due examination should both eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup The keeping the Cup in the Sacrament from Lay-persons we see is flat contrary to the positive and express Command