Day of their deliverance out of Egypt Thus also for the Posture used at the eating of the Passeover at first it was probably a Standing posture because the Jews were commanded to eat it with their Loyns girded with their shooes on their Feet and with their Staff in their hand But there were proper and peculiar reasons for this Ceremony for it was Significative and in Token of their great Haste and that concerns us no more neither than it concerns us to eat Unleavened Bread which was in token of their Haste also In our Saviours time the Posture was Altered as I shall shew in its due place and 't was neither standing nor sitting as many ignorant mem conceive but a Recumbent and Leaning posture one guest lying along in the bosome of another as St. John lay in our Lords Bosome so making part of a Round or Oval figure And even This posture was of peculiar fignificancy to the Jews too for it was in Token that their Journey and Travels were at an End and that they were possest of the Land of Rest which God had sworn to their Fathers that he would give them So that neither from hence can we gather any thing that bindes us unless it be this that in circumstantial matters we should submit to those innocent usages which either the Laws or Customes of a Nation or the Reason of times have introduced as our Blessed Saviour himself did who took such Customes as they were and observed them as he found them not troubling the World with debates and Controversies about things of nothing So then the Rites used at the Passeover are no Leading Rites to us nor are we to Copy out that pattern any more than we are Commemorate the Jews feast This Sacrament of ours is not a Memorial of the Paschal Supper but of our blessed Redeemers Death and accordingly we are to use such Rituals as are most proper and suitable to the meaning and purpose of this Mystery and most significative unto Us. Considering that it was between Nine and Three of the Clock that our dear Lord was hurried to Golgotha nailed to the Cross and there hung upon four wounds languishing bleeding dying with pangs and throws unspeakable unconceivable it is proper for us to Celebrate about Noon this Blessed Sacrament which is the Memorial of his Great Passion Considering too the Intendments of this Mystery that it serveth as I shall prove as I go along to engage us to be faithful and True to the Redeemer of our Souls and to convey unto us all those benefits which he purchased for us by his Passion as Pardon of Sin the Communication of his Blessed body and Blood the assistance of his Holy Spirit a close Union with him and an assurance of a glorious Immortality and considering also what We are that the Divine Goodness should be thus propitious and kind to us his Unworthy Despicable because Sinful Creatures I appeal to any man of sense and true humility if it be not most proper most becoming us were Laws and Customes altogether silent to receive the blessed instruments and Pledges of the Divine Grace in the Lowlyest in the most Reverent in the most Humble posture and after such a manner as is most expressive of that sense we ought to have of our own Vileness and nothingness and of the Love of Jesus When I who am so unworthy that the Lord should come under my Roof am invited to come so near unto him as to lie as it were not in his Bosome but in his Heart too and to take into my hands the Holy Seals of his dearest Love of his tenderest and everlasting Compassions then be thou Prostrate O my Soul let me then Worship and fall down and Kneel before the Lord my Redeemer and if there be any thing viler than the Dust or any place lower and baser than the Earth let my sinful Body grovel and lie there Thus the Nature and Ends of this Sacrament and the consideration that it serves to Commemorate not what the Jews did at their Paschal Supper but what Christ our true Passeover did in being Sacrificed for us are enough to take any humble man off from that regard which Superstitious Persons have of supposed Jewish postures because we are not to represent and Commemorate their Actions but to shew forth the bitter Passion and Death of the Holy Jesus And this shall suffice to be said as the Use and Improvement of this matter that this Eucharistical solemnity was intended to be a a perpetual and standing Memorial of our Saviours sufferings and Love Do this in Remembrance in Commemoration of me That 's one great End of this sacrifical Banquet CHAP. III. The second End of the Holy Sacrament to be a Covenant-Feast The Ancient and general use of Covenant Feasts That this is such proved from its Analogy to those Ancient Covenant-Feasts among Heathens and Jews and from the Words of Christ at the Institutions Two conclusions BY the leave of the Socinians we will go further and confidently affirm that this Holy Sacrament is intended to another End too viz. that it may be a Federal Rite or a Covenant banquet between God and the Communicants By a Covenant is meant such a Communion Allyance and League with God whereby he claimeth a peculiar right interest and propriety in us as in those who have devoted our selves to his Worship and service and expect good things at his hand And by a Covenant-Banquet is meant such a Religious Feast whereby a League of that nature is contracted or Confirmed This at first may seem somewhat dark to you because the generality of us are not well acquainted with the old Customes of of other Countries especially of the Oriental Nations the right understanding whereof will give us a great deal of light into this matter For the opening of it therefore we must know that it was very usual for People especially in the Eastern parts of the World to make and ratifie Contracts by eating and drinking together Of this the Holy Scriptures give us some plain Exemples For that Feast which Abimelech and Isaac celebrated together Gen. 26. 30. was a Covenant-Feast a token and symbol of Friendship between them Labans eating with Jacob upon an heap of stones Gen. 31. 46. was no other then a Foederal rite The Israelites eating of the Gibeonites Victuals Josh 9. 14. was the contracting of a League with those crafty people which the Israelites were blameable for doing without asking Counsel at the mouth of the Lord for had they first enquired of God they had not been Circumvented as they were into a confederacy with them When David after an upbraiding manner spake of his friends treachery in words which are very appicable to Judas Psal 41. 9. mine own familiar Friend said he in whom I trusted which did eat of my Bread hath lift up his heel against me He meant one that had entred into Covenant with him by a Feast as you
then to eat of the Sacrifices as a Covenant Rite between them and their Gods To all which let me add in the last place that St. Paul calls the eating of those Heathen Sacrifices the having of Fellowship with Devils 1 Cor. 10. 20. The things which the Gentiles Sacrifice they Sacrifice to Devils and not to God and I would not that ye should have Fellowship with Devils Where it is observable what the Apostle saith ver 15. I speak as to Wise men judge ye what I say He knew they could not be so void of common sense as not to understand the meaning of those Mystical Solemnities because all intelligent men in the world knew that they were so many bonds of Friendship and Amity with their Gods 2. This then being so clear I proceed to shew in the second place that those Sacrifical Feasts which were used by the Jews according to the Law were also visible and customary Rites whereby they Covenanted with the true God In Psal 50. 5. saith God gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Hence it appears that the offering a Sacrifice was a Foederal Rite whereby God and his people became One. Upon which account it was that Salt was used in Sacrifices by Gods own direction Levit. 2. 13. Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with Salt with all thine offerings thou shalt offer Salt For all Nations lookt upon Salt as a token of Love a Pledge and Symbol of Peace and Friendship And the reason of it is given by Eustatius as he is cited by Doctor Hammond on St Mark 9. 50. * because as Salt Numa Pompilius deos fruge coli mola salsâ supplicari instituit quam molam ex farre sale aqua composuit sine quâ nullum Sacrificium ratum fieri censuit Alex. ab Alex. genial dier lib. 3. cap. 12 Multi modii salis simul edendi sunt ut amicitiae munus expletum sit Cic. de amicitia Graeci vino madentes oleoperungunt sale qui etiam ante reliquas dapes sal velut Amicitiae symbabolum hospitalibus apponant Alex ab Alex. l. 5. c. 21. being compacted of many drops of Water every one in it self of a Fluid and Unsteady nature becomes one solid body so they that from distant places Conjoyn into a League of Friendship meet together both in place and friendly disposition Hence Dicitur sal faederis dei quod deus exigat tanquam firmissimum faedus ut sal in quavis Mincha adhibeatur alias firma pacta dicuntur pacta salis Numer 18. Hanc cerimoniam à Patribus acceptam etiam Ethnici in suis Sacris observarunt nulla enim Sacra conficiebantur apud eos sine mola Salsâ P. Fagius in Levit. 2. 't is called the Salt of the Covenant Levit 2. 13. ratione Foederis saith Paulus Fagius because it was a Token of that Permanent and firm Covenant which Men made with God by Sacrifice And the Heathens themselves observed this custome of Salting their offerings for the partaking of Salt was an Instrument and Pledge of Amity like a Solemn Oath as He in Origen said which 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. contra Cels lib. 2. pag. 74. Edit Cantab. a wicked and disgraceful thing for any man to violate Sacrificing then being a Covenanting Rite feasting upon the Sacrisice was a Rite of the same Nature Both Solemnities were looked upon but as one and the latter was only the Complement the Close the Finishing os the former And to this purpose Nullum ferê Sacrificium sine aliquo epulo vicissim nullum pâ—nè epulum etiam profanum publicum praesertim sine sacris quibusdam ritibuÌ„s atque cerimoniis fuit celebratum Quin ipsa quoque Sacrificia quid fuerunt aliud quà m quaedam quasi epulae atque convivia secundum illud Poetae Epulis accumbere Divûm Stuckius Sacrific Sacror desorip I understand those words in Psal 50 16. unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy Mouth By taking Gods Covenant into ones Mouth is meant Eating the Signes and Symbols of the Covenant the partaking of those Sacrifical Banquets which were a Token of Gods Covenant As if he had said what have wicked men to do to Feast before me pretending thereby to be in Covenant with me seeing they hate to be reformed This is a Natural and easie explication of that place and it makes it very plain that the Eating of Gods Sacrifices was a Foederal Solemnity And a clear instance of this we have in Exod. 24. where we find the Covenant renewed between God and the Children of Israel they solemnly undertaking and Vowing that they would do all that the Lord had said and would be obedient Upon this burn offerings and peace offerings are Sacrificed upon an Altar built on purpose there for that occasion and then we read that Moses and Aaron with the seventy Nobles of the Children of Israel went up to God and saw his Glory on the Mount and there did Eat and Drink saith the Text ver II. It was a Sacrifical-Feast which they Celebrated in their own names and in the Names of all the Congregation to confirm and ratifie that Covenant which they had openly and universally engaged to keep For want of minding which thing many learned Expositors and the Chaldee Paraphrast himself have been strangely mistaken in their sense of that place of Scripture I doubt not but the Paschal Supper was a Foederal rite too as other the like Sacrifical Feasts were For Moses commanding a memorial of the Passeover in Exod. 13. gave this as one Reason of it ver 9. it shall be a sign unto thee upon thine hand and for a memorial between thine eyes that the Lords Law may be in thy mouth Meaning that the Paschal Solemnity was to be a Token and sign of their Covenant with God to put them in mind of those Obligations they were under to perform the Terms of that Covenant which was sealed with the blood of the Lamb. Nay if the Passeover had not been a very Solemn Foederal Banquet we cannot easily conceive why strangers and uncircumcised persons were forbidden to eat of it For the Law was very strict and express as to that in Exod. 12. No stranger shall Eat thereof but every mans servant that is bought for mony when thou hast Circumcised him then shall he eat thereof a foreigner and hired Servant shall not Eat thereof The reason is plain and obvious because the Paschal Solemnity was a Covenant-rite which did not belong unto those who did not belong to that Covenant which God had made with his pecuculiar People the Children of Israel Having thus made it evident that the Sacrifical Feasts of old were Foederal or Covenant Mysteries and were so esteemed both by Jews and Heathens Satis constat hanc
may observe that the Disciples took the Sacred Elements from Christs own Hands We do not read nor doth it Seem Probable that our Saviour did now partake of either Himself but having broken the Loaf and blessed the Cup he give it to his Disciples Now as the taking of a Pledge brings a Tye and Engagement upon the Receiver and the receiving of Bread and Wine was of old universally thought to carry the most Sacred obligation along with it so the taking of these things at the Hands of Christ was a Visible Rite of Stipulating with him hereby they undertook Solemnly to do whatever he had commanded them hereby they give their Master the most Sacred Securities that they would be True and Faithfull to him whatever should come of it though they should even receive Death for it at the hands of men The Actions which now past between our Lord and his Family were Rites of Covenanting such as were generally used in ancient times in Cases of Contract These were plain Interpreters of their minds and they spake the Sense of the Disciples as plainly as if they had said with their Tongues as the Jews said at Mount Sinai All that the Lord hath spoken we will do and be Obedient For these reasons our Church I am sure looks upon this as a Consecrating Mystery by celebrating whereof every Communicant doth Devote himself wholly to the Service of God in Christ This is manifestly concluded from those words in the Prayer at the Postcaenium Here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our Selves our Souls and Bodies to be a reasonable holy and Lively Sacrifice unto thee And herein the Church of England doth perfectly agree with the Catholick Church of old for Christians in the Primitive times esteemed this Holy Rite as a most Sacred and Strict Tye upon them that they who Live in this world should no longer Live unto themselves but unto Him who died and rose again for them as S. Basil said And that this was the Sense of the Ancient Church will appear by these 3. Arguments 1. From the special Notation and use of the Word Sacrament in the Latine Church The Old Romans Milites jurare solent ideo militiae Sacramenta dicuntur Jurant autem se omnia strenuè facturos c. Veget. de re mil. 1. 2. were wont to call their Military Oath Sacramentum a Sacrament because every Souldier did by that Sacred protestation Vocati sumus ad militam dei vivi jam tunc cum in Sacramenti verba spospondimus Tertull ad Martyr Devotum Deo obsequium Eucharistia resolvit an magis Deo obligat id de Oration plight and Swear Fidelity to his General From the Camp the word was brought into the Church and was used to signifie those two great Mysteries of our Religion Baptism and the Eucharist And the reason of it was because the ancient Christians did believe that by Celebrating these Mysteries they did swear Fealty to the Captain of their Salvation and did Vow that they would manfully sight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and continue Christs faithful Souldiers and servants unto their lives end as our Church excellently expresseth it with allusion to the Military Oath 2. The same appears secondly from the Practice of the ancient Christians who were known even by the confession of their Enemies to use this Sacrament to this End that thereby they might be Seque Sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent c. Plin. Trojano lib. 10. Epist strongly engaged to observe all the Laws of Piety and righteteousness For Pliny a Proconsul in Asia about sixty years after our Lords Ascension writing to Trajan the Emperor about the Christians gave him this account of them that their custome was upon a set day to meet together before Sun rise and to sing Hymns to Christ and to bind themselves by a Sacrament not for any wickedness but that they would not to be guilty of any Thests or Robberies or Adulteries or be false to their words and promises and the like 3. This plainly shews that the sense of the Primitive Church was that Mens taking of the Holy Sacrament is like the taking of a Promissory Oath a taking of the greatest Tyes and Obligations upon them And this thirdly we may suppose was the reason why they were wont to take it every day in those times For those were times of Persecution dangers and death lay every day before them and many provocations did lie in their way to tempt them unto Apostacy It was thought necessary therefore for Christians then to address themselves daily to the Lords Table that their zeal for Christ crucified might not cool but that it might be like the Fire of old upon God's Altar continually Burning and that their Obligations to all manner of active and passive obedience might be every day renewed and strengthned by their constant reception of the blessed Sacrament To conclude this consideration therefore by making it practical As men ought to be very Serious and Sincere when they go to the Holy Table so should they be very Circumspect and watchful over themselves when they depart from it remembring that they have entred Solemnly into the deepest Engagements and have taken Christs whole burden upon them I find Boldacius de Oggio Christiano lib. 2. c. 19. a Story told out of Abulensis concerning Joseph in Egypt that when Potiphars daughter by her Fathers command was going about to salute him Joseph put forth his hand to keep her at a distance and gave this reason for it because a Woman that Worshipped Idols that did eat the Bread and drink the Wine of Idols ought not in any wise to sclute a man that Worshipped the living God and had eaten of Holy Bread This Story indeed is granted to be a Fiction but yet it is of good use to us in two respects 1. It shews what I have already proved that the Authors and Publishers of this tale took it for granted that the communicating of Bread and Wine whether it was before God or before an Idol was a visible Rite of Covenanting with that Deity whose Religion those men profest whether they were Jews or Heathens 2. It argues what I am now upon that such as have Eaten and Drank in the presence of the true God ought to take a most special care that they defile not themselves with any manner of Impurity Not that men should only beware of falling into the embraces of an Egyptian Love I would not be understood so but that every one who participates of this Holy Bread and Cup should arm himself with a sturdy resolution never to commit Willingly that which is really Base and Sinful I would crave leave to deal plainly because we live in a lewd age and many Egyptians are among us and every man hath not either the Conscience
Beneficial to his Church as the eating the body of the Passeover had been unto the Jews it should be all one to us as if we did eat of his very Body His speech may be rightly Paraphrased after this manner Whereas hitherto it hath been customary among people to feast upon the Dead Carcass of a dumb Animal in Token that they were in Covenant with God and were entitled to all the mercies of the Covenant And whereas the Lamb is a Type of me to the intent now that you and the rest of my followers may be assured that you shall have a certain interest in my Sacrifice and shall receive infinite blessings by my death though you are not to feed upon my very natural Flesh Lo instead and in the Room of that I appoint you to Feast after this manner and to look upon it as a feasting upon me and upon my Sacrificed body tho you do not eat of the very identical oblation as hath been usual hitherto and I would have you be satisfied that as often as ye shall eat this bread and drink this Cup ye shall be supposed interpreted and reckoned to participate of me my self Now this I call the Mystical partaking of Christs body and blood because by the celebration of this Mystery we are presumed and reputed to do so we do in effect partake of both by partaking of those things which do represent and are appointed to be taken in the place of both and we are as truly said to partake of our Sacrifice as the Jews were said to partake of theirs when they did eat of their very oblations This is the first and great blessing we receive 2. Hence we conclude in the second place that every Communicant who is rightly prepared and dispos'd hath hereby solid and substantial grounds for his hopes touching the Pardon of his Sins For since by this visible Pledge of Gods Love we gain an interest in the Sacrifice of Christs death since we are reckoned to participate of Christs Body and Blood since we are partakers of the Cross as the Jews were of the Altar it necessarily follows that we have all the Benefits of our Lords Passion and so that we ought to be assured of the Truth and sincerity of Gods promise that he will forgive and blor out all our miscarriages because it was for that end that Christ died But this will more evidently yet appear if we consider 1. The Correspondency of this Feast to the ancient Sacrifical Banquets in general 2. The Analogy of it to those Feasts which were used after Sin-offerings in particular And thirdly if we consider the words of our Saviour at the institution of this Rite 1. First then it is already proved that Gods ordering his people to Feast upon part of their Sacrifices was a sign and Token to them that they were in favour and Covenant with God that they had a Right unto all his promises that their Sacrifices were accepted Kindly and were Imputed unto such as had offered them By the visible Solemnity of Eating and drinking in Gods presence they were assured that now they were in a State of Reconciliation and Peace with him and had a Title to all those mercies which their Sacrifices were intended for Seeing therefore that this Feast is answerable unto those it argues plainly that as the Eating of Sacrifical Feasts was an Evidence unto the Jews that they were benefitted by the oblations and were in Gods Favour so the partaking of this Sacrifical Feast is an evidence unto us Christians that we are Benefitted by Christs Oblation of himself and are in Favour with God also and consequently that we have a Right to his Promise that he will Forgive and Pardon us that being a main part of Gods Covenant one of his Principal Promises an Eminent Blessing and such a Singular Expression of his Favour as every Soul of man is Highly concern'd most earnestly to Hunger and Thirst after 2. But for the further confirmation of this matter we are to note that this is not a Feast upon a Sacrifice at large but a Feast upon a Sacrifice for Sin in Particular you must remember that there were certain Oblations appointed by the Law which were called Sin offerings and Trespass-offerings because they were intended to make an Atonement for all iniquities whatsoever both of the Heart and of the Hand whether they were offences against the First or against the Second Table Of these Sacrifices the People of the Jews were never suffered to eat no nor the Priests themselves sometimes as when it was a whole burnt offering or a Sacrifice of Expiation that was to be burnt without the Camp wich was a Lively Type of Christ wo was Sacrificed without the City Nevertheless these Sacrifices were attended with Other sorts of Oblations which the People were allowed to eat of and their eating thereof was a Pledge and Assurance to them that their Atonement was now made and their Pardon given Why now Christ was made Sin for us that is he was made a Sacrifice for our sins though be knew no Sin And as he was our Sin offering so our eating at the Holy Table is a Token and Argument to us that God is at Peace which us and that our Atonement is made for all our iniquities trangressions and sins Nay we have a far greater Priviledge in this respect than the People of the Jews had for they were not permitted to eat the the flesh of a Sin-offering but we are that is we are permitted to eat of Bread instead of it They were never allowed to Drink the Bloud of any of their Sacrifices but we are that is we are allowed to drink wine instead of Christs Bloud These a Nova est hujus Sacramenti doctrina Scholae Evangelicae hoc primum magisterium protulerunt doctore Christo primùm haec mundo innotuit disciplina ut biberent Sanguinem Christiani c. Autor Serm de Caena Dom. Cipriano ascript are Singular Priviledges to us and so they are Greater Assurances also of our Pardon and Atonement Christ gives us his Body and Bloud too for our plenary Conviction and Consolation touching the Remission of our Sins In this respect our Christian Feast doth far out go all those which they used under the Law For they could participate but of some of their Sacrifices and but of Part of them too we participate even of our Propitiatory Sacrifice nay of our whole propitiation Whereas the Bloud of every Sacrifice was wont to be poured out at the Altar and not so much as one Drop of it was to be tasted of either by the Poeple or Priests behold saith our Saviour to his Disciples you have liberty to participate even of the Bloud of my Sacrifice as this Bread is in the Room of my Body so is this Wine in the place of my Heart Bloud and I give you this particular command and Priviledge that ye Drink of it every one of you
Which a little before he calls five several times Bread and the Bread of Lord. Origen in Matth. cap. 15. Sacramental Bread though Bellarmine doth onely trifle upon the Argument interpreting it of the Corruption of the Species or Accidents onely that is of Nothing or of things without matter and Substance which is as good as nothing The truth is the Learned Jesuite was not able to answer this objection and therefore Bellarm. de Euch lib. 1. cap. 14. he tells men that they should stop their ears at it and say nothing to it But let them endeavour to Shuttle it off what they can it is a most Horrid Conclusion which followeth their Principle of Transubstantiation which renders the Principle it self highly wicked and Blasphemous as well as Unreasonable 3. But yet did the Holy Scriptures say expresly that what we taste and see at the Lords Table is the very natural Flesh and Bloud of Christ we ought rather to disbelieve our senses and reason too than contradict the Word of God But they speak nothing to this purpose but do plainly say and argue the contrary and this is the third thing which we justly blame the Romanists for that they will not suffer the Scripture to determine the point between us though it be a Book which They acknowledge as well as We to contain the Word of God and which one would think should be judged a certain Rule of Faith and of sufficient authority to oblige every Christians Judgement to Acquiesce by Now 1. as touching the Body of Christ the Scripture tells us that it is gone up into Heaven there to abide till the day of final Judgement To this purpose S. John tells us chap. 14. and 16. that Christ spake to his Disciples before his death telling them that he was about to leave them and to depart from them that he was going his way to the Father and was leaving the world Which expressions must necessarily be understood of his Bodily absence that his Humane Nature was to be no longer here below or else the sense would be Impertinent and to no purpose For his design was to Prepare the minds of his followers that they might not be dejected at his departure nor surprized with it And to that end he told them of it before hand and assured them withal that in lieu of his Corporal presence he would give them his Spirit to be with his Church to the end of the world Now to what purpose were these Expressions and Promises if he was to be with them still in Person and if his Body was to be handled by them still at the Sacrament The Poor said he ye have with you always but Me ye have not always Matth. 26. 11. This is contradicted by those of the Church of Rome for they say we have him with us still even in his person though he be not visible to our eyes nay they pretend to have him much better than the Jews had for they saw him and heard him and touched him only but these pretend to eat him too and to take him down into their very Stomachs And S. Peter speaking of him affirmed that he was in Heaven and there was to be until the times of Restitution Act. 3. 21. In respect of his Body he is at the right hand of God in Heaven and thence we look for him saith S. Paul Phil. 3. 20. not in the Sacrament on the Patin or in the Chalice but we look for him from Heaven at the general Resurrection Lord what can a man in his wits collect out of all these Texts but this that though Christ be with us by his Spirit yet he is at such an infinite distance from us in his Humane nature that till the end of all things we cannot have so much as a Glimpse of him unless Heaven be opened to us by a Miracle as it was to S. Stephen Men were as good take the Holy Writers by the Throats and with violent hands keep them from speaking at all as dispute against such plain and Full Evidence touching the absence of our Saviours Natural Body And then secondly as touching that which we take into our hands at the Sacrament the Scripture still calleth it Bread and Wine At the institution our Lord pointed to the contents in the Cup and termed it the fruit of the Vine And so he is said to have taken Bread to have blessed it to have broken it and to have given it to his Disciples requiring them to eat it meaning plainly that which he took into his hands and that was Bread S. Luke calls the Distribution of the Sacrament the breaking of Bread Act. 2. 42. And S. Paul says 't is Bread which we break 1 Cor. 10. 16. that we are Partakers of Bread vers 17. and that as often as we eat of it we eat of Bread 1 Cor. 11. 26. whence it appears that 't is Bread after Consecration as well as before though the Use and Condition of it be changed so that by it the Body of Christ be communicated to us yet the Nature and Substance of it is the same still even Bread as the Scripture calls For 't is an eternal truth that where things are of a Different Nature as bread and flesh are the one cannot be said to be the other with any Propriety of speech as Bertram rightly argued that nothing is more absurd than to call Bertran de Corp. Sang. Dom. bread flesh or wine bloud without a Figure for 't is as absurd as to call a Man an Elephant or a Fish a Scorpion Either then it is not Bread and then the Scripture deceives us or if it be Bread it is not Christs Natural Flesh and then the Church of Rome cousens us and there is the point The utmost that they can pretend from Scripture is that one expression this is my Body and will you not say they believe our Saviour himself Yes we do firmly believe that to be true which our Saviour did mean but the question is what his meaning was Now that those words are not to be taken strictly and according to the first Sound of them will be clear from these following considerations 1. That before men grew Hot and Angry and Magisterial about this matter several Doctors even of the Roman Church could not find that our Saviour meant any thing of Transubstantiation by that Phrase That Doctrine was defined first at the Lateran Council a little above 400. years ago and yet Scotus and Cameracensis who lived after that Council did hold that without the Churches Declaration there is no place of Scripture which forceth men to believe Transubstantiation Nay Bellarmine himself confesseth the thing to be Probable enough which those Bellarm. de Euch. lib. 3. c. 23. Doctors said and by this 't is manifest that in their own opinion Christs words may be allowed to bear a very doubtful sense so that had it not been out of pure respects to the
not Mat. 6. unto you saith he treasure upon Earth willing us thereby rather to set our minds upon Heavenly treasure which ever endureth than upon Earthly treasure which by many sundry occasions perisheth and is taken away from us And yet worldly treasure must needs be had and possessed of some men as the person time and occasion doth serve Likewise Mat. 10. he said When you be brought before Kings and Princes think not what and how you shall answer Not willing us by this Negative that we should negligently and unadvisedly answer we care not what but that we should depend of our Heavenly Father trusting that by his Holy Spirit he will sufficiently instruct us of answer rather than to trust of any answer to be devised by our Wit and study And in the same manner he spake when he said It is not you that speak but it is the Spirit Mat. 10. of God that speaketh within you For the Spirit of God is he that principally putteth godly words into our mouths and yet nevertheless we do speak according to his moving And to be short in all these sentences following that is to say Call no Man your Father upon Earth Let Mat. 23. no Man call you Lord or Master Fear not Mat. 23. them that kill the Body I came not to send Mat. 10. peace upon Earth It is not in me to set Mat. 10. you at my right hand or left hand You shall Mat. 20. not worship the Father neither in this Mount Joh. 4. nor in Jerusalem I take no witness at no Joan. 5. Man My Doctrine is not mine I seek John 7. not mine I seek not my glory In all John 8. these Negatives our Saviour Christ spake not precisely and utterly to deny all the foresaid things but in comparison of them to prefer other things as to prefer our Father and Lord in Heaven above any worldly Father Lord or Master in Earth and his fear above the fear of any Creature and his word and Gospel above all worldly peace Also to prefer spiritual and inward honouring of God in pure heart and mind above local corporal and outward honour and that Christ preferred his Fathers glory above his own Now forasmuch as I have declared at length the Nature and kind of these Negative speeches which be no pure Negatives but by comparison it is easie hereby to make answer to St. John Chrysostome who used this phrase of speech most of any Author For his meaning in his foresaid homily was not that in the Celebration of the Lords Supper is neither Bread nor Wine neither Priest nor the Body of Chist which the Papists themselves must needs confess but his intent was to draw our minds upwards to Heaven that we should not consider so much the Bread Wine Priest and Body of Christ as we should consider his Divinity and Holy Spirit given unto us to our eternal Salvation And therefore in the same place he useth so many times these words think and think not Willing us by those words that we should not fix our thoughts and minds up the bread Wine Priest nor Christs body But to lift up our hearts higher unto his Spirit and Divinity without the which his Body availeth nothing as he said himself It is the spirit that giveth life the Flesh availeth Joan. 6. nothing Thus far he Therefore when you address your selves to the Table of the great God you should be full of lofty and Divine apprehensions of that hidden Treasure of Celestial Grace and Virtue which is then to be tendred unto you how mean soever the Instruments of that Grace are in their own Nature And accordingly you should go with those Holy dispositions and affections with that Reverence dread and awe of God but withal with that forwardness and swiftness of Devotion and with those transports of pleasure and joy as if you were now going to the very gate of Heaven Men should be afraid to use this important and venerable Ordinance with respect to secular and base ends only to satisfie the Laws of the Realm to save their Places their Reputation their mammon It is a most fearful act of presumption a deadly and horrid prophanation an argument of Atheistical or debaucht minds when men dare prostitute a thing of such a sacred Nature to their carnal Lusts and take the Viands of Eternity into their hands and mouths even when the Devil is in their hearts When you prepare for this solemn occasion be in good earnest with God and with your own Souls be as considerate and serious as if you were going to die be as upright in heart as if you were to take the next step to judgment When you see the Holy Table spread call home your thoughts let your minds be as composed and your Meditations be as full of Reverence as if you saw a vision and beheld the food of Angels let down from Heaven in a Sheet when the happy hour is now come that God waits to bless you with the greatest Treasure of his love begrudge not the going to his Table for it but bless God that you may have it for fetching and when you go be as pure in heart as if your lips were touched with a live Coal from off the Altar prostrate your bodies and cast your Souls down to the lowest step of humility and adore the Almighty like those Seraphims in Isaiahs Vision who covered their feet and their Faces with their wings as they cried one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Isa 6. 2 3. When the Bread and Wine are made Sacraments and those blessed Symbols of Grace are reached out unto you think and know that the Lord of Life and Glory is now coming under your roof and great is the Peace of such as receive him with the passionate desires of affectionate Penitents that bathe his feet with their Tears and lodge him in the retirements of a clean innocent and Virgin heart And when you depart let it be with Thanksgivings and Hallelujahs and with all the expressions of grateful Souls enflamed with the Love of Jesus and with a deep sense of your Honour and Felicity that God hath vouchsafed thus to visit you with his goodness that he hath taken you into his Arms that he hath covered your offences that he hath fed you with the true Bread of Life from Heaven that he hath shed his love abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost which is now given unto you that he hath united you to himself by the Communication of the Divine Nature that he hath cast into you the seed of immortality and given you an earnest of a blessed Resurrection and an antepast of Heaven for all these blessings you receive at the hand of God as oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord after a worthy manner and as it becometh Saints