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religion_n	church_n	government_n	kingdom_n	3,695	5	5.8013	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53953	A discourse of the sacrament of the Lords Supper wherein the faith of the Catholick Church concerning that mystery is explained, proved, and vindicated, after an intelligible, catachetical, and easie manner / by Edward Pelling ...	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1685 (1685)	Wing P1079; ESTC R22438	166,306	338

and if my Desires now are to Express this my Duty to your Grace alone I know such is my Good Lords Affection to Your Grace that he will not think it a Fault in me or if the World shall think it so will easily pardon it if your Grace will be pleased to forgive my presumption Madam I have no more to add now but to beg that your Grace will favourably accept of my humblest Acknowledgements and to beseech God whose good Providence hath knit both your Graces together that the fortunate Band may prosperously continue neither dissolved nor weakened through the long Succession of many the most happy years That those mutual Affections which are so Eminently between You Both may Vigorously Hold to a good old age and make your Graces equally Examples of the sincerest Love as of Vertue and Piety That your Grace may be a fruitful Mother of a great Race of Noble Children to inherit your Fortunes Honour and Vertue and to perpetuate your Names to the Worlds end That my Young Lord that is now in the Arms of your Love may long live a Blessing to his Parents and to the whole Nation That in the midst of those Uncertainties which the Course of this World makes us subject unto the Goodness of God may ever Rest upon your Graces and on your whole Family That God will vouchsafe to protect guide prosper and preserve you and bless you with all the blessings of heaven and earth which is the sincere and Earnest Prayer of Madam Your Graces most Humble most Obedient and Dutiful Servant and Chaplain EDWARD PELLING THE CONTENTS THe Introduction page 1 Chap. 1. Of the Nature of this Sacrament That it is a sacrifical Feast Sacrifical Feasts used both by Heathens and Jews The Analogy between those Ancient Feasts and This Especially between This and the Paschal Supper The usefulness of this observation against the Socinians p. 9. Chap. 2. Of the Ends of this Sacrament First it is a Memorial of Christs Love proved from Christs own words From its Analogy to other sacrifical Banquets and from the Proctice of the Ancient Church Two inferences the one against Romanists the other against our Dissenters p. 31 Chap. 3. 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 p. 53 Chap. 4. A third end of this Sacrament is to engage us to observe the Laws of that Religion to which it doth belong Proved from the Notion of the new Covenant From the design of of Mysteries in general From its Analogy to Mystical Banquets in particular both among Heathens and Jews especially the Paschal-Supper The sense of the Church touching this matter p. 78 Chap. 5. It is to be a Pledge and a Token of Gods favour Proved from its Analogy to the Antient Feasts both among Heathens and Jews and from the words of St. Paul Two Conclusions p. 104 Chap. 6. Of the blessings we receive by a due use of this Ordinance First we Mystically participate of Christs Body and Bloud What that Mystical participation is Secondly that we receive the Pardon of Sin Proved from the correspondency of this Feast to the Ancient Sacrifical Banquets in general And from its Analogy to those Feasts which were used after Sin-offerings in particular and from the words of Christ at the Institution p. 128 Chap 7. Thirdly We really communicate of Christ Glorified The Doctrine of Transubstantiation condemned as utterly contrary to sence Reason and the Holy Scriptures p. 152 Chap. 8. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation inconsistent with and contrary to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Proved by five Observations touching the common sense of Christians in the most ancient times A short account of the Doctrine of the Church in succeeding Ages till the twelfth Century p. 188 Chap. 9. That though there be no Transubstantiation yet Christs Body is really in the Sacrament A distinction between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body What is meant by his Spiritual Body Why so called That such a Spiritual Body there is And that it is received in and by the Sacrament p. 224 Chap. 10. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Discourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of the Catholick Church Several advantages gained by this Notion p. 252 Chap. 11. Other Blessings which we receive by the Sacrament As the Assistance of the Holy Spirit Proved from the Words of Christ and S. Paul The Confirmation of our Faith An intimate Union with Christ What that Union is explained and proved Lastly a Pledge of an Happy Resurrection p. 275 Chap. 12. Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse p. 306 A DISCOURSE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER The Introduction COnsidering the wretched state this distemper'd Age is in beyond the condition of former Times how many Spirits among us are infected with Atheism how Debauchery of all sorts prevaileth over our Land how negligent and supine some are that talk of Religion how hypocritical others are who make use of Religion only as a Tool to further their Factious and Seditious ends how miserably we are divided into several Parties how each Party struggles for its own preservation as if the pangs of death were come upon all how the interest of our Religion is hereby weakened and its honour blemish't how the Peace of the Kingdom is endanger'd and ho● mischeivous these evils are likely to prove to our establisht Government in Church and State I say considering these things I humbly conceive that the most effectual way to reform and recover us is by all possible and justifiable methods to bring men to a right Christian use of that solemn Ordinance commonly called The Sacrament of the Lords Supper For to this Ordinance Men are bound to come with all gravity and seriousness with minds possest with a deep sense of vertue and true Piety with humble and holy Souls with Spirits that are ingenuous candid and tractable with hearts void of all rancour and baseness and full of Peaceableness Goodness and Charity so that were this Ordinance duly and regularly used and with a real design to do our Souls good by the use of it it would prove a blessed Restorative of the Life of Religion a certain instrument of Concord and Love and a most excellent means of making us all what we should be Good men would be at ease in their thoughts and the evil part of the World would be under a necessity of being brought to Repentance and we should soon find a new heaven and a new earth wherein Righteousness and Peace and whatsoever is desirable by rational Creatures would then dwell among us

been as to the reason and intendments of religious Mysteries Those Mysteries which were used in the Infant-times of Christianity by those lewd Hereticks the Simonians the Nicolaitans the Valentinians the Gnosticks and the rest they were intended by the Authors of them to serve the Ends and to strengthen the interest of their Religion and to train up Proselytes in Conformity to that profession which they were admitted into Those Mysteries that were used of old by Pagans as their Washings their Lustrations their Sacrifices their Sacrifical Banquets their many sorts of Festivals and the like they were designed to no other purpose but to keep men Pagans and to promote Paganism The rites that were anciently observed by the Egyptians by the Athenians and other Greeks by the Romans and by other Nations what were they for but to oblige people to be True to the gods of the Country In like manner those Mysteries which God himself appointed under the Law were intended by him to tye his people fast to himself and to keep them close to the Observation of that Religion which he had directed by his Servant Moses Because the Jews of old were so in love with superstition and Idolatry having lived so long among the Egyptians lest they should turn aside after other Gods the Divine Being was pleased Ritus qui aut ab Haebraeis ad gentes alias venère aut quod credibilius est à Syris Egyptis usurpati correcti sunt ab Haebraeis ab aliis gentibus sine ea emenda tione usurpati Grotius Levit. 1. 9. to correct the Abuses and vitious nature of some Gentile customes and to indulge his own inheritance the use of them that thereby he might oblige them to serve Him and Him only This was the reason why the Jews were interdicted the use of many profane Rites and Mysteries that they might Philo in libro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not forsake the Truth saith Philo but by observing Ceremonies of Gods appointing might go on with stedfastness in Gods way Id. ibid. in lib. de victimis and practise that substantial Religion and inward Holiness of heart which those rites did Adumbrate and point to It was for the same reason that God directed so many sorts of Sacrifices not that he was delighted to see poor Creatures slain or was pleased with the Blood of Calves and Goats but partly that he Sacrificiorum onera operationum oblationum negociosas scrupulositates nemo reprehendat quasi deus talia sibi propriè desideraverit sed illam dei industriam sentiat qua populum pronum in Idololatriam transgressionem ejusmodi efficiis Religioni suae voluit astringere quibus superstitio seculi agebatur ut ab ea avocaret illos sibi jubens fieri quasi desider anti ne simulachris faci endis delinqueret Tertull. adv Marc. lib. 2. vide Origen Hom. in Numer 17. in initio Justin Mart. dial cum Tryph. p. 237 238 292. might prefigure the great Propitiation and Sacrifice upon the Cross and partly that he might secure his peoples Obedience unto himself that he might bind them to the due observance of his own Religion and that he might lay upon them the strictest Engagements to be constant and faithful to the Laws which he had Establisht in his Covenant with them For it hath been the general sense and opinion of Mankind that the religious using of Sacred Mysteries was a visible and Solemn way of Addicting and Devoting themselves to that Relion to which those Mysteries did relate that the communicating in such Mysteries was of an Obligatory nature like a Vow that it was a Consecrating act by vertue whereof they thought themselves bound in the construction of Conscience to stick fast to that Religion which they undertook and into which they were initiated after such a Solemn manner Hence it is that St. Paul said of that Legal Foederal Rite whereby men were initiated into the Jewish Religion Gal. 5. 3. I testifie to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtour to do the whole Law The voluntary and religious susception of that Rite the being matriculated into the Jewish Church by Circumcision did tacitly bring upon the man a burden and Obligation so that he stood bound to observe the whole Law of Moses and to Worship God after the Mosaical manner as much as if he had with his own mouth vowed and stipulated to do so at Mount Sinai The Sccinians themselves understand those Words of St. Paul to this purpose whosoever is Circumcised as Moses Disciple by vertue of that action of his is bound to keep the whole Law For he Vide Crellium in Gal. 5. 3. that subjecteth himself to the Mosaical Law in one thing subjecteth himself in all because the same Law requireth other things as well as this Besides Circumcision is the sign and mark of the whole Jewish Religion which the Law prescribeth so that by undertaking that men oblige and tye themselves to the Law as it were by a Pledge even as Baptism undertaken in the name of Christ and the use of the Lords Supper is saith Crellius a Note and Symbol of Christianity Here the Socinians seem unawares to make an argument against themselves and confess upon the point that the Eucharist is not only a Commemorative but a Foederal Mystery to that it carryeth an obligation along with it and that it is in the Nature of a Pledge And the truth is as men did formerly Plight their Troth to God by the right of Circumcision so do we now Plight our Troth to Christ by the use of both his Sacraments They are binding Mysteries and for that reason I suppose our Saviour made the use of Baptism and the Rite of Eating and Drinking Sacramental because they were mysteries which were well known to the World and which were known both to Jews and Pagans to be engaging and Consecrating mysteries For as the Learned Grotius Grot. in Math. 28. 19. hath rightly observed a Church being then to be congregated and gather'd out of all Nations it was convenient that they should have some Note or mark of their confession the signification whereof should be perspicuous and clear to all men By this means Christs Religion became the more easie the more acceptable and the more obvious both to Jews and Gentiles For they were wont to Baptize too after a Sacred manner they were wont to eat Bread and to drink Wine too in their Temples and places of Publick Worship And things being thus as they plainly saw that Christ Adapted these old mysteries to his own Institution so they could easily gather from their own common Notions how that the great alteration and difference lay here that Christ intended these ancient Rites to new and to better purposes that is to tye and engage all Professors of Christianity to be true to their Profession and carefully to observe the Laws of that Religion of which these

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