Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A60427
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Transusbstantiation examin'd and confuted in two sermons on the Lord's Supper / preach'd in the reign of Queen Elizabeth by H. Smith, sometime preacher at St. Clement Danes.
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Smith, Henry, 1550?-1591.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing S4049; ESTC R37565
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40,777
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47
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Christ have any such body judg you Here they stand like a Fool which cannot tell on his tale Nabuchadnezzar dreamed a dream and knew not what it meant Beside I ask them to whom Christ spake when he said This is my Body S. Mark saith he spake to them that is to his Disciples well then if these words This is my Body were not spoken to the Signs but to the Persons not to the Bread and Wine but to the Receivers as the words which follow Do this in remembrance of me If these words were not spoken to the Bread and Wine then it is plain that they do not change the nature of the Bread and Wine If the nature of them be not altered then the substance remaineth and then we receive no other substance with them because two substances cannot be in one place What then is there nothing in the Sacrament but Bread and Wine like an hungry nunscion Nay we say not that the Sacrament is nothing but a bare sign or that you receive no more than you see for Christ saith that it is his body and Paul saith that it is the Communion of Christ's body and blood Therefore there is more in sacramental bread then in common bread though the nature be not changed yet the use is changed it doth not onely nourish the body as it did before but also it bringeth a bread with it which nourisheth the Soul for as sure as we receive bread so sure we receive Christ not onely the benefits of Christ but Christ although not in a Popish manner yet we are so joyned and united unto him even as though we were but one body with him As the Spouse doth not marry with the Lands and Goods but with the Man himself and being partaker of him is made partaker of them so the Faithful do not onely marry with Christ's benefits but with Christ himself and being partakers of him they are made partakers of his benefits for Christ may not in any wise be divided from his benefits no more than the Sun from his light It is said The Father gave us his Son and so the Son giveth us himself For as the bread is a sign of his body so the giving of the bread is a sign of the giving of his body Thus he lieth before us like a Pellican which letteth her young ones suck her blood so that we may say the Lord invited us to Supper and he himself was our Meat But if you ask how this is I must answer It is a Mystery but if I could tell it it were no Mystery Yet as it is said when three Men walked in the midst of the Furnace One like the Son of God walked amongst them So when the Faithful receive the Bread and Wine one like the Son of God seemeth to come unto them which fills them with peace and joy and grace that they marvel what it was which they received besides bread and wine For example thou makest a bargain with thy Neighbour for House or Land and receivest in earnest a piece of gold that which thou receivest is but a piece of gold but now it is a sign of thy bargain and if thou keep not touch with him happily it will clasp thee for all that thou art worth so that which thou receivest is bread but this bread is a sign of another matter which passeth bread Again thou hast an Obligation in thy hand and I ask thee what hast thou there and thou sayest I have here an hundred pounds why say I there is nothing but paper ink wax Oh but by this saist thou I will recover an hundreth pounds and that is as good So beloved this is as good that under these signs you receive the vertue of Christ's body and blood by Faith as if you did eat his body and drink his blood indeed which is horrible to think that any should devour their God thinking thereby to worship him never nay Heretick nor Idolater conceived so grossely of their GOD before the Papist We read of a People which did eat Men but never of any People which did eat their God. All the Apostles say that it was needful that Christ should take our flesh but no Apostle saith that it is needful that we should take Christ's flesh for all the blessings of Christ are apprehended by Faith and nothing fit to apprehend him whom we see not but Faith and therefore one of their own Pillers said Believe and thou hast eaten Faith doth more in Religion than the mouth or else we might say with the Woman Blessed are the breasts which gave thee suck and so none should be blessed but Mary but Mary was not blessed because Christ was in her body but because Christ was in her heart and least this should seem incredible unto you because Mary is called blessed among Women when Christ heard the Woman say Blessed are the breasts which gave thee suck he replyed unto her Blessed are they which hear the word of God and keep it these are my Brethrea and Sisters and Mother saith Christ as though the rest were no kin to him in Heaven though they were kin in Earth Thus if Christ were in thy body and thou shouldest say as this Woman Blessed is the body that hath thee in it nay would Christ say Blessed is the heart that hath me in it If Mary were no whit better for having Christ in her arms nor for having him in her body how much better art thou for having him in thy belly where thou canst not see him Must the Sun needs come to us or else cannot his heat and light profit us nay it doth us more good because it is so far off so this Sun is gone from us that he might give more light unto us which made him say It is good for you that I go from you therefore away with this carnal eating of spiritual things Many daughters have done vertuously but thou saith Salomon surpassest them all So many Hereticks have spoken absurdly but this surpasseth them all that Christ most be applied like physick as though his Blood could not profit us unless we did drink it and swallow it as a potion Is this the Papists union with Christ Is this the manner whereby we are made one Flesh with Christ to eat his flesh nay when he took our flesh unto him and was made Man then we were united to him in the flesh and not now Christ took our flesh we take not his flesh but belive that he took ours therefore if you would know whether Christ's Body be in the Sacrament I say unto you as Christ said unto Thomas touch feel and see In visible things God hath appointed our eyes to be judges for as the spirit discerneth spiritual objects so sense discerneth sensible objects As Christ taught Thomas to judge of his Body so may we and so should they therefore if you cannot see his
Transubstantiation EXAMIN'D and CONFUTED IN TWO SERMONS ON The Lords Supper Preach'd in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth By H. Smith sometime Preacher at St. Clement Danes Licensed June the 12th 1688. LONDON Printed by J. Wallis and are to be sold by most Booksellers 1688. THE FIRST SERMON ON THE Lord's Supper 1 Cor. xi 23 24. The Lord Jesus in the night that he was betrayed took Bread And when he had given thanks he brake it and said take eat this is my Body which is broken for you this do ye in remembrance of me THE Word and the Sacraments are the two Breasts wherewith our Mother doth nurse us Seeing every one receiveth and few understand what they receive I thought it the necessariest Doctrine to Preach of the Sacrament which is a witness of Gods promises a remembrance of Christs death and a seal of our adoption therefore Christ hath not instituted this Sacrament for a fashion in his Church to touch and feel and see as wee gaze upon pictures in the Windows but as the Woman which had the bloody issue touching the hem of Christs garment drew vertue from himself because she believed so Christ would that we touching these signs should draw vertue from himself that is all the graces which these signs represent Therefore as the Levites under the Law were bound to prepare their brethren before they came to the Passeover So preachers of the Gospel should prepare their brethren before they come to the Supper of the Lord. For which purpose I have chosen this place to the Corinthians which is the clearest and fullest declaration of this Sacrament in all the Scripture The Lord Jesus in the night c. The summe of all these words is the Institution and use of the Lords Supper First Paul sheweth the Author of it the Lord Jesus then the time when it was instituted in the night that he was betrayed then the manner how he did institute it he took Bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and gave unto his Disciphes c. then the end why he did institute it for a remembrance of his Death Touching the Author he which is signified by it was the Author of it The Lord Jesus hath bid us to supper I am not worthy sayth John to loose his shoe so we are not worthy to waite at his trancher and yet he will have us to sit at his Table To him belongeth the power to ordain Sacraments in his Church because he fulfilled the Sacraments of the Law. When Christ came the Passeover ceased because he is our Passeover that is the Lamb by whose blood we are saved When Christ came Circumcision ceased because he is our circumcision that is the purifier and clenser of our sins Now these two Sacraments are fulfilled he hath appointed two other Sacraments for them in stead of the paschal Lamb which the Jews did eat he hath given us another Lamb to eat which John calleth the Lamb of God that is himself upon whom all do feed whosoever do receive this Sacrament with an assured faith that Christ died to possess them of life The breaking of the Bread doth signify the wounding of the Body the powring out of the Wine doth signify the shedding of his Blood. The eating of the Bread and drinking of the Wine doth signify that his Flesh and Blood do nourish in us life eternal as the Bread and Wine do nourish the life present In stead of Circumcision which began at Abraham he hath ordained Baptisme which began at John a more lively representation of the true Circumcision of the Heart because it representeth unto us the blood of Christ which washeth our souls as the water in Baptism washeth our bodies Touching the time in the night saith Paul therefore this Sacrament is called the Lord's Supper because it was instituted at night when they used to sup But what night Even that night saith Paul when he was betraied that night which he should have cursed as Job did the day of his birth if he had suffered against his will that night when he should have thought to destroy men as men conspired to destroy him That night saith Paul this Sacrament of grace and peace and life began Even that night when we betraied him Many nights did he spend in watching and praying for us and is there a night now for us to betray him That was a dark night when men went about to put out the Sun which brought them light Who can but wonder to see how Christ and they for whom Christ came were occupied at one time when they devised mischief against him and sought all means to destroy him then he consulted how to save them and instituted the same night this blessed Sacrament to convey all his graces and blessings unto them Even that night when they betraied him The reason why this action was deferred until night is because that was the time appointed by the Law to eat the pass-over which was like a Predecessor of this Sacrament The reason why he deferr'd it untill his last night was because the passeover could not be ended before the fulness of time and the true paschal Lamb were come to be slain in stead of the other Therefore how fitly did Christ end the Pass-over which was a sign of his sufferings so presently before his suffering And beside how sweetly did he confirm his Disciples faith when as they should see that the next day performed before their eyes which over night both in the Pass-over and in the Sacrament was so lively resembled unto them if any man from this do gather that we ought to eat the Lords supper at night as Christ did he must understand that we have not the same cause to do so which Christ had because of the Passover And therefore the Church which hath discretion of times and places hath altered both the time and the place using the Temples in stead of the chamber and the morning in stead of the evening for indifferent things are ruled by order and decency Touching the manner He took Bread and when he had geven thanks he brake it and gave it unto them He would not eat it not break it before he had given thanks to God. What need he which was God give thanks to God but to shew us what we should do when we eat our selves In all things give thanks saith Paul whereby we declare that all things come from God but the wicked believe easier that God doth take than that he doth give and therefore they never pray heartily unto him for any thing nor feelingly thank him for it For which the Lord complaineth saying I have loved you yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us Shewing that we are worse then the Ox which knoweth his feeder And if that we acknowledg all things from God yet we do like Lot Is it not a little one saith he