man finds himself named in Gods promise but to all Believers in general Now as it was necessary that the Divine Grace should be first purchased for all at large and then some means used for the conveyance of this purchase to every individual Believer so is it necessary that besides the confirmation and sealing of the promises by Christs Death to all in general there should be another obsignation to the Soul of every person in particular that gives up himself to him that died for him because otherwise every ones mind would fluctuate in endless doubtings and uncertainties Now we say that this obsignation is transacted at this Covenant-Feast And how so Why here every particular Communicant that is duly prepared receives the Seal when he receives the Elements which are the Tokens and Pledges upon the Divine favour In that I am admitted to participate here of the Sacrifice of the Cross it is an evident sign and strong argument to me that that Sacrifice shall be imputed to me shall be available and effectual for me as the Sacrifice was imputed to the Jews was available and effectual for the Jews and was declared to be so when they were admitted to partake of the Peace-offerings and to feast upon them as we do here upon Bread and Wine CHAP. VI. Of the blessings we receive by a due use of this Ordinance First we Mystically participate of Christs Body and Blood 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 HAving thus discoursed of the Nature and Ends of this Sacrament I proceed next according to the usual method to discourse of the Blessings which it brings us by our due Reception of it 1. And first it is the joynt Confession of all the Christian Churches in the world for I do not reckon upon the Blasphemous Socinians that we do hereby receive the Body and Blood of our Redeemer This I mention in the first place and must take the greater care and pains to clear because the proof hereof will strongly and evidently prove the conveyance of divers other blessings hereafter to be mentioned in their order Now we are said to partake of Christs Body and Blood in a twofold sense that is after a Mystical and after a real manner 1. In a Mystical sense we do partake here of our Saviours Body as it was Broken and of his Blood as it was shed for us upon the Cross that is our Feasting together at the Holy Table is by interpretation a feeding upon our Crucified Jesus in the account of God and construction of the Gospel We are reputed and esteemed to partake of that Sacrifice which he offered up and so are entitled to all those mercies which that Sacrifice was offered up for For the opening of this matter we must remember how Mankind were wont of old to participate of those things which they had first offered up in Sacrifice as the Jews for instance were wont to participate of their Peace-offerings and of the Paschal Lamb. Now this Feast being Analogous and answerable to those according to the Vulgar course and the Ordinary manner of Feasting Christians must have fed upon Their Sacrifice that is upon Christs own Natural Flesh as Jews and Gentiles were wont to seed upon their Oblations But considering that this would have been an * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cyril Alexand in Catena Thomae in Luc. 22. vide e◠ad Calofyr Item Theophylact in Marc 14. Inhumane way of feasting and considering that one and the same Body could not have served 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas in illud quicunque dixerit verbum c. for all Christians in all Ages and considering too that the feeding upon Christs very Flesh was not necessary in it self but that the ends and purposes of this Feast might be very well answer'd by our feeding upon something else in the Place of Christ therefore at the institution of this Ordinance he appointed us the use of Bread and Wine instead of giving us his very Body and Blood which he gave to God as a Sacrifice for us These Creatures are the Symbols and Representations of his Body and Blood they are substituted in the place and room of them and the manducation of the one and the drinking of the other is to all intents as valid and effectual to us as if we did actually partake of those things which they do represent and in lieu of which they are appointed This I take to be part of the meaning of our Saviours words this is my Body and this is my Blood As if he had said this Bread is instead of my Flesh and this Wine is in the Room of my blood This is a Natural and an easie interpretation 't is fair and rational and full of sense and 't would serve to silence a great many controversies among Christians were it but admitted would they put in but this one word instead and understand our Saviour to mean this is instead of that in the place and room of it Nor do I see any reason in the World against this interpretation For all men know that the Jews were wont to speak after a concise manner meaning something which they did not fully express of which there are a thousand instances and examples in Holy Writ and why may we not allow that our Saviour spake now as other Jews did nay as he himself did at other times after a short concise manner saying of the Bread this is my Body but intending thus much This is instead of my Body The Analogy of this Feast to other Sacrifical Banquets doth plainly and infallibly argue that our Saviours words are thus to be interpreted because we feed here upon Bread instead of eating the very Flesh of our Sacrifice And I am confirmed in this opinion by an observation that Bishop Taylor of the real presence Sect. 4. in fine And Dr. Hammond in his Annot on Matth. 26. 26. hath been made by two learned Doctors of our Church who have noted that the Lamb for the Paschal Supper being drest and set upon the Table the Jews were wont to call it the Body of the Passeover and the Body of the Paschal Lamb. If this be so it is reasonable to believe that our Saviour alluded to a Jewish Phrase that was ready at hand when he said this is my Body or this is in the room of me the true Passeover When he took the Bread into his Holy hands and told his Disciples that that was his Body he gave them to understand that they were not to expect to eat of his very Natural Flesh as they were wont to eat of the Flesh of a Lamb but instead of that they were to eat Bread which should be as
Kindness and gratious Intentions towards them for this is matter of Faith and Hope which are the things we must necessarily go upon in all our addresses unto the Father of mercies but yet the fruit of eating and drinking here is Joy and Peace to every honest hearted Communicant because his Faith and Hope is hereby much the stronger and built upon more sure and certain grounds 'T is true also that a mans pardon is begun before he doth make his appraoches that is if he makes his approaches regularly and like a good Christian for he must repent first of all his transgressions and that doth dispose him for Gods mercy and makes him meet to be a Partaker of it We must not presume to go to the Lords Table with guilt about us or while we are Reeking in our Sins but Repentance must wipe our defilements off because Christs Body and Bloud is not food for Swine As the Paschal Lamb was not to be eaten but by persons that were pure and clean according to the Sanctifications of the Law so this Christian Passeover Feast is not to be celebrated but by such persons as are purged by Repenance which is the Sanctification of the Gospel Yet all this not withstanding the Blessed Sacrament is an Ordinance of very great concernment and comfort to the cleanest Communicant for though he hath Repented long ago and though upon his having done so he hath great Reason to Hope that he is Reconciled unto God yet this Reconciliation is as yet but imperfect in comparison A man is not fully perfectly and finally pardoned till he hath Ended his Life well While we Live we are still Transacting our business with Heaven but do not finish our work till we dye My Pardon is Inchoa ted upon my Repentance 't is compleatd and irrevocable upon my Perseverance unto the End but t is Confirm'd to me upon my due Eating and Drinking at this Solemnity Hereby all former Grants are Ratified and Sealed anew so that now we have a fair Evidence to shew for our discharge and such an Evidence as will be valid and hold in the day of Judgement if we be not so Foolish as to Cancel the Deed our selves and render our Title to a blessed Eternity Null and void by returning again with the dog to his vomit A Release you know may pass between Parties onely by the Consent and Promise of the Injured Person but when once it is committed to Deed the act is then Confirmed and the Seal which is affixt to the Deed makes that Sure in Law with before was onely Parol or by Promise In like manner though our forgiveness be Inchoated and Begun upon our Repentance yet it is Continued Ratified and Ascertain'd unto us upon our Participation so that he who was justified is justified still and his Justification is more certain certitudine Subjecti than it was before that is a Sincere Commu nicant hath better Hopes to comfort himsurer grounds to go upon more to shew and say for himself more to plead against the clamours of his Conscience more and better Reasons to be Quiet in his mind than when he was barely a Penitent To say the Truth if he doth not Backslide and Revolt he hath a certain Title to the Kingdom of Heaven Upon this account 't is every mans Interest to Communicate often The longer he lives the Older he grows the more he draws towards his grave still he should be the more intent upon this Duty that his Peace and Comfort may still receive the more Additions and that his Assurances may be the more and more strong so that by the blessing of God he may at last use such expressions as S. Paul did which I am sure no Non-Communicant in the world can with such Reason use I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith hence forth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness 2. Tim. 4. 7. 8. CHAP. VII Thirdly We really communicate of Christ Glorified The Doctrine of Transubstantiation condemned as utterly contrary to sence Reason and the Holy Scriptures BEsides that participation of Christ Crucified which is Mystical by Interpretation and Construction as I have shew'd already there is also at this Ordinance a participation of Christ Glorified So 't is Exprest in the Prayer of Consecration which is Real by our being actually made partakers of his most Blessed Body and Bloud This is manifestely the Doctrine of our Church that the Body and Bloud of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper and that our Souls are strengthened and Refreshed by the Body and Bloud of Christ as our Bodies are by the Bread and Wine Now our Bodies receive nourishment by our actual receiving the very Substances of Bread and Wine and so according to the Comparison our Souls also do receive strengh and Comfort by actually receiving and participating of the very Nature of Christ After the same manner was the Faith of the Church of England delivered in the beginning of the Reformation by that truly Learned and Great man Arch-Bishop Cranmer in that Admirable Book of his called a Defence of the true and Catholick Doctrine of the Sacrament wherein he doth often use Fol. 32 33 73 100. Et alibi fol. 42 76 84. that Similitude That as the Bread and Wine Corporally comfort and feed our Bodies so doth Christ with his Flesh and Bloud spiritually comfort and feed our Souls and he positively affirms that by the Communion we receive spiritual food and supernatural nourishment from Heaven of the very true Body and Bloud of our Saviour Christ that our Souls by faith do eat his very body and drink his Bloud though spiritually Sucking out of the same everlasting Life and that the Hearts of them that receive the Sacraments are secretly inwardly and Spiritually Transformed renew'd fed comforted and nourisht with Christs Flesh and Bloud through his most holy Spirit the same Flesh and Bloud still remaining in Heaven So that according to the sense of the Church of England not onely the Sacrifice of Christs Death is in the account of God Sacramently Imputed unto us for the Pardon of sin but moreover the very Glorified Jesus now Living and sitting in Heaven is in the Reality of the thing Actually Communicated unto us from above and verily received by us in the Sacrament And the outward Elements of Bread and Wine are not onely Signes and Tokens much less Empty Tokens and Bare Signs of Christs Body and Bloud but are also the Means and Instruments of bringing the whole Christ to us so that his Flesh and Bloud do Really but after a Spiritual and wonderfull manner go along with the Bread and Wine to Sustain and Refresh the Soul as They do the Body I know very well that I am now entring upon the Tenderest point concerning this Sacrament perhaps upon the Nicest speculation in the whole Body of Divinity
at those who are pleased to talk as if the Fathers believed Transubstantiation Yet nevertheless they all with one mouth confessed the Body of Christ to be in the Sacrament and so do we now but in that sense which the Ancient Church meant they believed the presence of Christ spiritual Body and after a spiritual manner and that is our Faith also and we cannot be condemned for Hereticks but the old Catholick Church must lye under the Anathema too 3. This account serves for ever to break the neck of their pretences who to defend their new Doctrine of Transubstantiation and other pestilent Errors which are built upon it do stifly urge the literal and strict construction of those words this is my Body and this is my Bloud supposing that it passeth the skill of the Protestants to give a better Interpretation whereas this account gives such a fair such an Intelligible such a Rational such a Catholick explication of the thing that the Romanists themselves if they would consider it well may look upon their Construction not only a very absurd but as a very needless one too 4. This account may serve to reconcile and make up those differences which are between some Reformed Churches about this matter For whereas 't is granted by us on all hands that the Elements retain still their own Nature and Substance even after Consecration and yet the Lutheran Churches hold that Christs Real and Substantial Body is delivered together a long with the Elements methinks this should not be enough to maintain a breach if men were considerate and candid and would not insist too much upon Phrases For if by Christ real and substantial Body be meant as I believe the old Lutherans did mean the real and as they may be called in some * For the Ancients themselves used the words Nature Substance c. to this sense as is well observed by the Judicious Author of the Diallacticon commended by Lavater in his Historia Sacrament Cum agitur de Sacramentis mentionem faciunt Patres Naturae Substantiae non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est non ut Philosophi naturales loquuntur sed ut homines de Divinis rebus disserentes Gratiae Virtuti Efficacitati Naturae Substantiaeque nomen impertientes nimirum Sacramenti natura id postulante Diallact .. pag. 63. Edit Anno 1557. Est autem virtus corporis Christi efficax vivifica quae per gratiam Mysticam benedictionem cum pane vino conjungitur vino conjungitur variis nominibus appeilatur quum res eadem sit Ab Augustino Corpus intelligibile invisible spirituale Ab Hieronimo Caro Divina Spiritualis Ab Irenaeo Res Caelestis Ab Ambrosio Esca Spiritualis Corpus Divini Spiritus Ab aliis aliud simile quippiam Et hoc multo etiam magis efficit ut hoc Sacramentum dignissimum sit veri Corporis Sanguinis nomenclaturâ quum non solum extrinsecus figuram imaginem ejus prae se ferat verùm etiam intus abditam lâ—â—entem naturalem ejusdem corporis proprietatem hoe est vivificam virtutem secum trahat ut ham non inanis figura aut absentis omnino rei signum existimari posset sed ipsum Corpus Domini Divinum quidem Spirituale sed presens gratia plenum virtute potens efficacitate Ibid. pag. 56. 57. sense the Substantial Virtues and Influences of Christs Body I do not see but all Reformed Churches in the World mightshake hands and be Friends as to this matter 5. This account serves to the clear meaning of several Doctors of our own who are wont to say that Christ is present in the Sacrament and received in and by the Sacrament and that really but yet Spiritually Mystically Sacramentally Effectually Virtually and the like all which expressions otherwise hard to be understood are very Intelligible if we do but take this notion along with us that the Virtues and Influences which flow from Christ are by the due use of this Sacrament actually really and effectually dispensed CHAP. XI 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 THis then being a Fixt principle that by means of the Holy Bread and Wine we do really participate of Christs Body and Bloud divers other Blessings do necessarily follow which depend upon this as upon the Prime and Fundamental Blessing And as I have shewed already that pardon of Sin is the effect of our feeding upon Christ in a Mystical sence so I am to shew you next that there are more Blessings which accrue to us by our Communicating of Christ after that real and spiritual manner which has been explained now And the next is this that hereby we receive such large supplies and measures of Christs Spirit as are suitable to our necessities Our condition by nature is so miserable that we are not sufficient of our selves no not to think any thing that is good as of our selves therefore unless we receive supernatural aids and assistances from Heaven it is impossible for us to make our selves meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Without me ye can do nothing as our Saviour told his Disciples Joh. 15. 5. without the communications of his Holy Spirit 't is in vain to conceive that either we can have our fruit unto Holiness or reap in the end everlasting life For this reason he there compares himself unto a vine and us unto the branches because as the branches cannot bear fruit of themselves except they abide in the Vine so neither can we except we abide in Christ That spiritual assistance which is derived from Christ unto every particular Christian is like that vital Sap which is conveyed from the Root unto every particular Twig And by means of his vital Spirit it is that we thrive and grow and bring forth fruit unto perfection Hence Christ is called our Life because he is the Authour of that quickning Principle whereby we live unto righteousness and from Him it is that the whole Body of the Church by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and being knit together increaseth with the increase of God Col. 2. 19. Now this Heavenly assistance this quickning Principle this Divine Nutriment is given to every Soul by the Mysterious and Gracious Energy of the Spirit and by the due celebration of the Eucharist the assistances of the Spirit are the more plentiful and his Irrigations are the more abundant a dew is then increased into a showre and every thirsty Communicant is largely refresht with distillations from above as the parched ground in Summer is refresht with Rain This appears two ways first because as hath been proved by this Blessed Mystery we are
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
which is a word derived from an Hebrew Radix that Rab. Levi Ben Gersom Salomon Iarchi Kimchi and others cited by Dr. Outram de Sacrificiis lib. 1. c. 11. signifies to draw near because the Oblations were brought to Gods Altar and the Offerers themselves were thereby brought very nigh unto God And for the same reason divers Hebrew Doctors thought that Peace-offerings were so called because by means thereof Peace and Concord was procured and by the eating of them Confirmed between God and those who presented them Their using of one Common Table was a Token that they were in Gods Grace and Favour that Sacrifical Feast was a Symbol of Friendship between God and all the Communicants And upon the same grounds it was also that at the eating of the Peace-offerings they were wont to rojoyce before the Lord to sing Psalms and Hymns unto him signifying that they Abarbanel loc laud. were at peace with God and that God was at peace with them whereas at the Sacrificing of sin-offerings the People did use to express their Grief and Heaviness such as become Penitents abstaining from all Banquets especially those Sacrifical Banquets which their sins had occasioned for it was not fit for De hostiis Pacificis licebat post effusum sanguinem privatis qui obtulerant eorumque uxoribus liberis epulari in signum amâ—citiae cum deo Id in oblatione simulae non licebat quia id inter privilegia erat Sacerdotalia nec in victim is pro peccato delicto ne de culpa Laetarentur Grot. in Levit. 3. 1. them to rejoyce for their iniquities when the Priests did eat of their sin-offerings as they were wont to rejoyce for Gods Friendship and Kindness to them which they were assured of when they were suffered to eat themselves of their peace-offerings as the learned Grotius hath rightly observed Once more as in general the Sacrifical Feasts among the Jews were Pledges of Gods singular love to them so was the Passeover-Feast in particular The Socinians cannot deny but that at its first institution it was a visible Sign to the Jews that God would be so favourable and Gracious to them as to deliver them out of all their distresses in Egypt for Moses told them in express terms to that purpose Those Idolaters the Egyptians thought themselves sure of the good will of their Gods when they had the Priviledge to Banquet before them Therefore God himself to confirm his own people in the belief of his promise and to make them sure of it that he would infallibly redeem them with a strong hand notwithstanding all the discouragements and difficulties they saw before them ordered them to kill in each house a Lamb and to feast upon it and to be assured thereby that he would certainly deliver them even tho the Egyptians should be never so enraged to see that Creature killed which they thought it unlawful and abominable for men to slay and eat of so that as the Rainbow was a sign of Gods Covenant with Noah and as circumcision was a Token of Gods Covenant with Abraham for so the Scripture calls it expresly not only the Seal of Abrahams righteousness as the Socinians would have it but a Token of Gods Covenant too with Abraham Gen. 17. 11. even so the Passeover Feast was now a sign and Token of his Covenant with Abrahams Children In after ages it continued to be a Pledge still of the Divine favour to them and for that reason it was that no stranger no uncircumcised Man no unclean person could partake of it because being as yet out of Gods favour they were uncapable of receiving the Token the Pledge the Earnest of his Love and Goodness Seeing then that the feasting upon Sacrifices was thought by all mankind to be a Pledge and argument that Heaven was propitious to them Seeing that the feasting upon peace-offerings in general and upon the Paschal-Lamb in particular was concluded by the Jews to be a Pledge and argument of Gods special love to them above all other Nations it evidently followeth that this our feasting upon Christ our Sacrifice this our Eating of Bread instead of his Natural Flesh this our Christian Sacrifical Banquet being Analogous and answerable to the Sacrifical Banquets of Old ought also to be looked upon as those were to be a Token Pledge and Seal of Gods favour goodness and grace to us though the Scriptures had not told us any thing to that effect in express terms But in my opinion St. Paul hath said enough to this purpose if men will but attentively listen to what he saith in 1 Cor. 10. where part of his business is to shew how unlawful it is for Christians to Eat of things that are offered unto Idols And this he doth by shewing the incongruity and inconsistency of the thing and the Evil effects of it because every professor of Christianity doth hereby make himself a most wretched Bankrupt and undoes all his interest in Christ and throws away an inestimable stock and Treasure of Blessings by his sitting at meat in the Idols Temple To make this out he shews in few words what those Blessings are The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion Though some Socinians interpret those words as if by the Communion of Christs Body and blood was meant the making and causing us to be of that Society or Church which belongs to Christs Body and Blood which is a very Trissing and far fetch interpretation as Slichtingius in 1 Cor. 10. 16. Yet in the Socinian Catechism they own and confess that such as ducly Celebrate this Rite do Communicate of Christs Body and Blood that is say they of all those good things which Christ hath brought tous by his Death though they trifle again in saying that this Rite is not any cause but only an Attestation of that Communion of the Body of Christ ver 16. were part of the Apostles meaning is this that by rightly receiving the Symbols of Christs Body and Blood we have a share in all those Blessings for which his Body was broken and his Blood was shed We have a Title Claim and Right thereby to all the Mercies of the new Covenant we receive the Vertues and wonderful effects of his Passion and so we are understood in a Mystical sense to participate of Christs Body and Blood 'T is true we do here partake of Christ not mystically only but really too we participate not only of his Bruised and Crucified but also of his most Blessed and Glorified Body as I shall shew at large hereafter in its proper place But that is not to our purpose now Though we do Communicate of Christ now while he is in Heaven yet in the place before quoted St. Paul doth directly point to those blessings which by means of this Sacrament accrue to us from his sufferings on the
Declaration of their Church probably they would have been contented that those words at the Institution should have born such a construction as would not have shook the Reason of men so notoriously 2. If we frame notions of things just according to the clink of a Phrase we must needs entertain very strange apprehensions of our Saviour himself because he is usually called a Lamb a Lyon a Shepherd a Rock a Door a Way a Vine and the like 3. As Christ saith here This is my Body so in Job 6. he saith also that he is the Bread of life and that his Flesh is Meat and his Bloud Drink He speaks as plainty and positively in the one place as he doth in the other Now if men affirm that the bread is changed into Christs Flesh because Christ saith positively This is my Body they have equally the same reason to affirm that Christs Flesh is turned into Bread and his Bloud into Drink because he said as positively My Flesh is meat indeed and my Bloud Drink indeed A latitude must be allowed to be as to the sense of those expressions or else men must fall into a Labyrinth of absurdities and contradictions which they can never wind themselves out of by the help of any clue 4. If we observe what our Saviour said to the Capernaites upon the like occasion we cannot but conclude that his meaning at both times was mystical The story we have in the 6th of S. John verily verily saith our Lord except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you vers 53. This seem'd a very Harsh expression because they conceived as the Romanists do now that Christ intended his Flesh should be torn in pieces with their Teeth and that his Natural bloud should be suckt out of his veins with their mouths The bare apprehension of this matter turn'd their stomachs so that they were scandaliz'd presently and fell off from him Therefore to rectifie their mistakes he expounded himself telling them that they were not to understand him in a literal and carnal sense no the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life vers 63. meaning that he spake Mystically and that they were to interpret So that place was understood by the Ancients his words after a Spiritual manner and of a Spiritual and Divine way of feeding upon him and so we feed upon Christ who laughd at the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and so all good Christians fed upon him for many hundreds of years before that Doctrine was dreamt of or thrown about to debauch and intoxicate the world CHAP. VIII The Doctrine of Transubstantion inconsistent with and contrary to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Proved by five Observations touching the common sense of Christian in the most ancient times A short account of the Doctrine of the Church in succeeding Ages till the twelfth Century 3. 'T Is true the Papists are wont to crack of Tradition and Antiquity as if all the ancient Fathers of the Catholick Church were on their side And nothing hath prevailed more with ordinary people to turn or continue Papists than an opinion that Transubstantiation was all along the Faith of the Christian Church I confess I wonder much that common people will pretend to be judges in this case when they understand little of Greek or Latine much less have skill to tell which of the Books that are ascribed to the Fathers are Genuine and which are supposititious But alass they are taught by their leaders to believe any thing and to talk by Rote like a sort of men among our selves who are readily perswaded to act any thing that is for the Cause for the Cause for their darling and dearly beloved Cause though they venture their Necks and their very Souls for an evil cause sake Therefore to clear this matter fully we will once for all try the point by unquestionable authorities and examine particularly what the sense of the Christian Church was chiefly in the Primitive times and ex abundanti in the times following And I am fouly mistaken if we do not find upon the whole enquiry that Tradition which the Romanists brag of so much is plainly against them for above a thousand years In the prosecution of this thing I beg leave to go a little out of the common rode not to trouble my self with an endless fatigue of collecting a world of sentences out of the Fathers a course which tho it be proper enough for a Disputant yet may be liable to a great many Cavils I shall rather chuse to argue from some observations that may be made upon those Controversies the Ancient Church had with Infidels and Hereticks which will evidently shew the sense of the Ancient Christians as to the point under our hands for this is certain that we can never better learn the sense of the Ancient Church than out of their Disputations especially when they go upon the same grounds and use the same way of Argumentation 1. Now first it is easie to observe what the sense of the Ancient Church was as to the eating of Humane Flesh and the drinking of Bloud The Pagans were wont for a long time to throw this in the teeth of the Primitive Christians that they celebrated Thyestean banquets and stories ran about that at their sacred Assemblies they killed a Child and then junketed together upon the tragical dish The Christians granted that the feasting upon Humane Flesh and Bloud was a most Barbarous and Flagitious crime but they proved themselves Innocent they abominated the very thoughts of any such detestable practice and in all their Apologies they declared their utter Abhorrence thereof so Justin Martyr in the Age next to the Apostles then Tatian after him Athenagoras and Theophilus Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Apolog. 2. Tatian Orat. cont Graec. P. 162. Athenagor legat pro Christian P. 4. 35 36. c. Theophil ad Autol. lib. 3 P. 119. 126. Tertullian Apologet. cap. 9. Origen cont Cels l. 6. P. 302. Minut. Felix in Octavio the Patriarch of Antioch After these Tertullian after him Origen and after him Minutus Faelix For an hundred years together were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theop. ad Autolyc the Primitive Christians busie in vindicating themselves from that Atheistical and Savage Practice as Theophilus calls it of eating mans flesh And to make this evidently appear the ancient Christians did appeal to their very Enemies who could not but know that some Christians were wont to refrain from all flesh whatsoever that none of them would taste of that which was strangled or which was destroyed Tantum ab Humano sanguine cavemus ut nec edulium pecorum in cibis sanguinem noverimus Minut. Felix P. 34. Denique inter tentament a Christianorum botulos cruore distentos admovetis certissimi scilicet illicitum esse penes illos c. Tertull. Apol. c.
Ignatius the Martyr who lived in the Apostolical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. S. Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrnaeos age that they would not receive the Sacrament because they would not Confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour which suffered for our Sins and which was raised again by the goodness of the Father Undoubtedly the Holy Martyr meant that they would not own the Bread to be the Sign and Figure of Christs Body as all Catholicks then believed For the Question was whether our Saviour lived and dyed and rose again in a true Humane Body The Church proved that he did so because he appointed bread to be the Figure of his Body But had they believed the Doctrine of Transubstantiation it would have proved that Christ had a Body which was made of meal not of the substance of the Virgin a Body which did not suffer upon the Cross nor Rise again but it would never have proved that which the Catholicks contented for and so they would have Lost the Question in hand and made Si propterea Corpus sibi finxit quia corporis carebat veritate ergo panem debuit tradere pro nobis Faciebat ad vanitatem Marcionis ut panis cruâ—ifigeretur Tertull. adv Marcion lib 4. themselves Ridiculous to their Adversaries Seeing then the Church in those times believed the bread to be the Figure and Image of Christs Body as Tertullian and Origen affirmed and S. Ignatius meant it is Nonsence to conceive that they believed it to be his very Natural Flesh For how can it be the Figure of a thing and the very real thing too How can I call this the Picture of Christ if I believe it to be Christ himself How can I say it is the Image Nemo potest ipse sibiâ— Imago sui esse Ambros de Fide lib. 1. Neque ipse sibi quisquam imago Hilar. Imago corporis non potest esse ipsum divinum Corpus Concil Nicaen 2. Actione 6. Pignus imago alterius rei sunt id est non adse sed ad aliud aspiciunt Bertram de Corp. Sang. Christi of his Flesh if it be the very Same This doth evidently shew that the Ancient Church did not in the least imagine that the bread is turnd into his very natural Body 3. It is observable that the Primitive Christians aknowledged two distinct Natures in the Sacrament meaning the material Element and that blessed Spiritual thing which goes along with it Thus we are told by Ireneus who was but one remove from the Apostles that the bread which is of the Earth after the calling upon God is no longer || E terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans terrena caelesti Iren. adv Haer. l. 4. c. 34. Common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things an Earthly and an Heavenly thing Thus also Origen doth distinguish the Typical and Symbolical body of Christ meaning the †Materia Panis Orig. in Matth. c. 25. Haec quidem de Typico Symbolicoque corpore Multa porro de ipso verbo dici possunt quod factum est caro verus cibus Ibid. Bread from his True Humane Nature which he calls the Word that was made Flesh the true Food of life So likewise * Nec panem reprobavit Christus quo ipsum corpus suum representavit Tertull. adv Marcion l. 1. Tertullian doth distinguish the Bread which represents Christs Body from the Body it self which is represented by it In like manner the Author of the book de Caena Domini ascribed to S. Cyprian doth distinguish between the bodily Substance of the Holy Viands and that Divine Virtue which is present with them Lastly S. Austin Hoc est quod dicimus hoc modis omnibus approbare contendimus Sacrificium scilicet Ecclesiae duobus confici duobus constare visibili Elementorum specie invisibili Domini nostri Jesu Christi carne sanguine Sacramento Re Sacramenti id est Corpore Christi August apud Gratian. de Consecratione distinct 2. c. 48. as he is quoted by the Collector of the Decrees is positive and plain that the Sacrifice of the Church is made up of two things consisteth of two things the visible Substance of the Elements for that is the meaning of the word species among the Ancients and the Invisible Flesh and Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament or the thing Communicated by the Sacrament namely the Body of Christ To which purpose S. Austin speaks himself up and down in many places of his Writings By this it doth appear that the Christian Doctors for the Quia omnis res illarum rerum naturam veritatem in se continet ex quibus conficitur Id. Ibid. first 400. years acknowledged two distinct and real natures to make up the Eucharist for every thing contains in it the Nature and Truth of those things whereof it doth consist saith S. Augustin which they could not have acknowledged had they conceived the Nature and Substance of the Elements to be turned into the Nature and Substance of Christs Body and Bloud Transubstantiation implyes the total Destruction of the Earthly Nature and Substance which is utterly repugnant to the sense of the Ancients of whom we confidently affirm that as with one mouth they still called it Bread even when 't is broken distributed and received so they distinguisht it still from that which is Represented by the Bread And so true is this that the Whereas in the genuine Epistle of Ignatius ad Philadelph it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Interpolator renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. very Interpolator of Ignatius and the Ancient Interpreter of his Epistles speaking of the Eucharist say There is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus and one Bloud which was shed for us and there is one Bread or Loaf which is broken for all Which Observation makes it clear that the Bread and Christs Flesh were believed to be two distinct Natures and so that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation was not thought of in that age wherein that Interpolator and Interpreter did live whensoever that was 4. For the further clearing of this thing yet it is observable in the fourth place of the Primitive Fathers that they Resembled the Union of those two Natures in the Sacrament to the Union of the Two Natures in our Saviours Person To this purpose Justin Martyr discoursing of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning the words of Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Eucharist saith we do not receive those things as common bread or common drink but as Jesus Christ our Saviour was by the word of God made Flesh and had Flesh and Bloud for our salvation so we believe that Food which is blessed by Prayer and by
the same heresies and even he draws one of his Arguments from the blessed Eucharist likewse and he is as Positive as can be that the Body of Christ meaning the Symbolical Body as Origen In Photii Biblioth cod 229. called it that is the Bread which is received by the Faithful doth not depart out of its sensible Substance and Nature and yet remaines undivided from the Spiritual Grace and to clear his meaning fully he shews in the very next words that the Elements in the Eucharist are no more changed than the water is in Baptism which Remaineth still water after Sanctification Thus these four Great men S. Chrysostome Theodoret Gelasius and Ephraim delivered the Sense of the Catholick Church in their times and if you add them to the forementioned Fathers who lived in the Primitive times before them it will be manifest beyond exception that for above 500 years together after Christ the Christian Doctors did no more believe the Elements in the Sacrament to be Transubstantiated into Christ's Flesh and Bloud than they did believe the Manhood of Christ himself to be Transubstantiated into his God-head or his God-head to be abolisht and turned into his Humanity Now the sense of Christians in those ages ought to satisfie the minds of Christians in these for certainly the faith of Christ was never more clearly more Learnedly more solidly maintained than in the first five Centuries and one reason of it as I conceive was this because Heresies of all sorts were then so very thick and Numerous the Providence of God permitting it so to be that the zeal of good men might be exercised continually whereby it came to pass that the Doctors of the Church were industrious and learned and the true faith was throughly sifted and establisht for so it is ever that as evil manners in the State are the occasion of good Laws so evil Doctrines in the Church are the occasion of Sound and Excellent Definitions I do not wonder if in the following ages we have not such great Plenty of witnesses to appeal to They were times wherein learning did much Decay and mens Industry and zeal were much abated for want of those Incentives which had formerly been like goads in the sides of the holy Fathers and I remember what Boniface the Martyr said of the times he lived in that whereas Golden Priests were formerly forced to use wooden Chalices Then wooden Priests did use Chalices of Gold And yet we may well be Astonisht at their Monstrous confidence who tell us that Transubstantiation was believed in those declining times If it had been so indeed the Argument from it would have Signified nothing because there can be no Prescription against truth and the sense of some in latter ages ought not carry the cause against the general Judgement of the Primitive and best times But in good earnest upon the strictest search I can make I do not find any grounds for the credit of the present Romish Doctrine either in * Unus idemque secundum humanam substantiam absens caelo cum esset in terra dereliquens terram cum ascendisset in caelum Secundum divinam verò immensamque substantiam nec caelum dimittens cum de caelo descendit nec terram deserens cum ad caelum ascendit c. Fulgent ad Trasimud l. 2. c. 17. Fulgentius or in Christi sanguis non jam in manus infidelium sed in or a fidelium funditur Gregor apud Gratian. de Consec dist 2. c. 73. Mysterium est quod aliud videtur aliud intelligitur Quod videtur speciem habet corporalem quod intelligitur fructum babet spiritualem sed cum Mysterium sit unde corpus sanguis Christi dicitur Consulens ommipotens Deus infirmitati nostrae qui non habemus usum comedere carnem crudam Sanguinem bibere facit ut in pristina remaneant forma illa duo munera est in veritate Corpus Christe Sanguis Id. in Glossa ex Alcuino ibdi Gregory the Great who lived in the sixth Century or in * Christus in caelum ascendens discessit quidem carne sed presens est majestate c. Isid Hisp Sentent lib. 1. Sacrificium dictum quasi sacrum factum quia prece mystica consecratur in memoriam pro nobis Dominicae passionis Unde hoc eo jubente corpus Christi sanginem dicimus quod dum fit ex Fructibus terrae sanctificatur fit Sacramentum operante invisibiliter Spititu Dei Id. Origin lib. 6. c. 19. Isidore Hispalensis who flourisht in the seventh or in venerable Finitis veteris Paschae solenniis quae in commemorationem antiquae de Egypto liberation is agebantur transit in novum quod in suae redemptionis memoriam Ecclesia frequent are desiderat ut videlicet pro agni carne sanguine suae carnis sanguinisque Sacramentum in panis ac vini figura substituens c Beda in Luc. 22. Panis ac Vini Creatura in Sacramentum carnis sanguinis Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur sicque corpus sanguis illius non infidelium manibus ad perniciem ipsorum funditur occiditur sed fidelium ore sumitur asl salutem Id. Homil. de Sanctis Bede who was in the eighth Age no not in Damascen himself neither tho he be brought forth by the Romanists as a Champion on their side The Learned Arch Bishop Cranmer hath drawn up the sense of Damascen into this sum that the Bread and Wine are not so changed into the flesh and bloud of Christ that they be made one Nature but they remain still distinct in Nature so that the Bread in it self is not his flesh nor the Wine his blood but unto them that worthily eat and drink the bread and Wine to them the bread and Wine be his flesh and blood that is to say by things natural and which they be accustomed unto they be exalted unto things above Nature For the Sacramental bread and Wine are not bare and naked figures but so Pithy and effectuous that whosoever worthily eateth them eateth spiritually Christs flesh and blood Wherefore saith the Holy Martyr they that gather out of Damascen either the natural presence of Christs body in the Sacraments of bread and Wine or the Adoration of the outward and visible Sacrament or that after Consecration there remaineth no bread nor Wine nor other substance but only the substance of the body and Blood of Christ either they understand not Damascen or else of wilful frowardness they will not understand him which rather seemeth to be true by such collections as they have unjustly gathered and noted out of him For Damascen saith plainly that as a burning coal is not wood only but fire and wood joyned together so the bread of the Communion is not bread only but bread joyned to the Divinity He that desires further satisfaction as to this may peruse the whole vindication of Damascen in the
so much of Tradition They that had the management of the Belgick Index were somewhat more modest for they profest they would use all arts to Extenuate and excuse Bertrams errors and to put some convenient sense to them or by some device or other tell a lye for him and they were content that his Book should be mutilated and some things purged and taken away from it this I say was more modest usage then what poor Beriram received at the hands of the Other Censors and yet this was very dishonest too and a plain Sign of a very weak cause that needed such disingenuous Artifices So they might have dealt with Amalarius too the Archbishop of Triers in the same age who trod in the steps of S. Austin affirming Amalar. de Ecclesii Offic. l. 3. c. 25. the Elements to represent Christs Body and Bloud as Signes of things and that the Priest offereth up Bread and Wine instead of Christ and that the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament are in the Place and Room of Christ Body and Bloud T is true Paschasius Rabertus who lived at the same time differed much in his opinion from these great men though it be hard to tell what his opinion was so very Inconsistent was the man with himself as it usually happens to Heady Opiniators especially when they are on the wrong side and will be venturing upon new discoveries This is allowed that Paschasius had a Notion by himself but I think if it be searcht well into it will be found to come nearer to the Lutheran Doctrine of Consubstantiation Paschas de Euchar. c. 41. 13. then to the Romish Conceit For since he affirm'd as Rabanus did that Christ is not to be torn with mens teeth that because it was necessary for Christ to be in heaven he lest us this Sacrament to be the visible Figure and Character of his Flesh and Bloud that we drink of Christ Spiritually and that we eat his Spiritual Flesh and the like whether do these Expression and Notions tend but to destroy the fancy of eating Christs Natural Body after a gross manner as the Doctrine of Transubstantiation doth import In the 10th Century we meet with Theo-phylact who spake of the Sacrament in a Lofty strain as many others before him did and used the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express the Mutation of the Elements Which Expression the Romanists greedily catcht hold of as if he intended the changing of things out of one Substance into another But this is very wide of Theophylacts meaning who plainly intended not a Real Essential change of the Substance and Nature of the Bread and Wine but a Mystical and Sacramental change of their Quality and Condition so that upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Justin Martyr Apolog. 2 -Qui est e terrâ Panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistie ex duabus rebus constans c. Iren. adv Har. l. 4. c. 34. Consecration they are no longer Common things as Justin Martyr and Ireneus said of old but the Elements of Divine things unto us so that thereby the Divine body of Christ is communicated to every Holy Soul The learned Cranmer explains him rightly that as hot and burning Iron is Iron still so Defenc. lib. 3. the Sacramental bread and Wine remain bread and Wine still tho to every worthy Communicant they be turned into the Virtue of Christs flesh and blood And that this was the sense of Theophylact is clear from his own words that the kind or substance of Bread remaining and continuing a Transelementation is made in Theophylact in Marc. 14. to the Virtue of Christs Flesh which notion I shall explain hereaster In the mean time I desire the Reader to note once for all that the Romanists to support their new Doctrine of Transubstantiation have grosly abused the ancient Writers of the Church by rendring the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Species as if they signified no more then shew and appearance And this they call the accidents of the Bread and Wine which they grant to remain but without the Natural substance or essence of them so that mens senses are cousened as to the things which they see Whereas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Greeks signifieth not the appearance or shew but the sort and kind of a thing and when it relates to things of matter as Bread and Wine it signifies the Essence or substance of those things And thus the words form likeness and fashion are used by St. Paul himself in the second of Philippians at the seventh Verse where speaking of our Saviour he saith that he took upon him the form of a Servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 2. 7. and was made in the likeness of Men being found in fashion as a Man Meaning that he was really in a servile Condition and a Man in substance essence and Nature In like manner the word species among the Latines signifies the sort the kind the substance of the thing and being spoken of the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament it signifies the very natural Essence or matter not barely the appearance of the Elements And this is the true meaning of Theophylact in this place where he saith that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth preserve the kind the Essence the substance of the Bread and Wine but doth Transelementate or change them into the Virtue of Flesh and Blood However we grant that this expression of Theophylacts gave occasion though wrongfully to the School men in after Ages to lose their time in enquiring after the manner of that change which is consest to be in the Elements But even they were divided in their opinions so that the poin was not agreed upon for some time after Theophylact. For until the controversie arose about Berengarius which was towards the end of the eleventh Century it was matter of Dispute some being of one opinion and some of another They were only agreed in this that Christ is really present in the Sacrament but they could not tell how But Berengarius raised a dust which blinded other mens eyes and his own too His true Crime seems to me to have been this not that he erroneously disputed about the manner of Christs presence but that he denied him to So his Schooll-fellow Adelmannus chargeth him in an Epistle to him which Is yet extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum wherein speaking of the Novel Doctrine which was reported to have been spread abroad by him he saith hoc est ut illorum dictis utar non esse verum corpùs Christi neque verum sanguinem sed figuram quandam similitudinem be present at all in the Sacrament affirming not only that the Elements were Bread and Wine but that they were bare bread and Wine and nothing else which was the opinion of those who in the beginning of the reformation
Communicants do indeed receive Christs very Body and Bloud by receiving the Elements and that Christs Body and Bloud are verily tendred and offer'd even to the unworthy though they receive them not For were it not thus I would gladly understand how it cometh to pass that unworthy receiving brings upon a mans Soul some peculiar and extraordinary Guilt If it be a special sin as S. Pauls words argues it to be against the Body and Bloud of our Lord it must follow that the Body and Bloud of our Lord are there For a sin is of a peculiar nature and consideration when it is acted against an Object that is more peculiarly Interested and Concern'd so the sin against the Holy Ghost seems strictly and and properly to be a malicious resisting and reproaching of the Truth in spight of those Miracles which are wrought by the Holy Ghost for the Confirmation of the Truth A man is then said to be peculiarly guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost because in the working of Miracles the Holy Ghost is concern'd and interested after a peculiar manner To this purpose it is observable that when our Saviour spoke of this sin it was after some Miracle that he had done and by occasion of the Jews reproaching it as if it had been done not by the Power and Spirit of God but by Beelzebub It was especially a sin against the Holy Ghost because in the Miracle the Holy Ghost was specially concern'd Even so here unworthy receiving makes a man guilty of a sin against our Lords Body and Bloud because his Body and Bloud are peculiarly Interested in the Sacrament Evil men strike at Christ then after a most sinful sort because his Body and Bloud are present there after a singular manner and therefore doth the sin bring an extraordinary guilt because it is the doing despight to the very Body and Bloud of Him who made himself an offering for us For these and the like reasons the Catholik Church of Christ hath in all ages believed a real presence of his Body and Bloud in the Sacrament nor do I know any one Doctrine of Christianity which hath come unto us with less Contradiction then this came down from the very days of the Apostles even to the times of Berengarius And so true is this that the Learned know well that the Ancients grounded their Faith of our real Union with Christ upon this Principle because his very Body and Bloud are really communicated to us by our receiving the Eucharist As they believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Chrys in 1 Cor. 10. 16. vide Iren. multos alios a Supernatural Union between the Natures in Christ so they believed a Mystical Union between all the Faithful and Christ and this they concluded because they believed a Sacramental Union between Christ and those Creatures of Bread and Wine whereby we receive Christ S. Hilary calls our Conjunction Hilar. de Trinit lib. 8. with Christ a Natural conjunction because as Our Nature was before united to his by his Incarnation so now his Nature is United to Ours by the Communion Our Church calls it the Communion of the Body and Bloud of the Lord in a marvellous Incorporation and S. Austin himself Homily of the Sacram 1. Part. used the same Expression and all the Ancients acknowledged this real Union to be wrought by means of that Real S. August Ep. ad Iren. Communion of our Saviours very Body and Bloud at and by the Holy Sacrament For the Opening now of this great Mystery I shall shew these Five things 1. That we are to distinguish between Christs Natural and his Spiritual Body 2. What is meant by his Spiritual Body 3. Why it is so called 4. That Christ hath a Spiritual Body indeed 5. That this Spiritual Body is received by us in the Sacrament 1. We are to distinguish Christs Spiritual from his Natural Body not as if he had two different Bodies but because that One and the same Body of his is to be considered after a different manner Now this is S. Pauls own distinction 1 Cor. 15. 44. There is a Natural or Animal Body and there is a Spiritual Body The Apostle there treats of that Exalted state our bodies shall be in after the Resurrection how they shall be delivered from all Mortality and Corruption and shall be the everlasting Temples of the Divine Spirit and shall shine with light like the Stars and shall be like Angelical Substances and Spirits in Comparison and all this because our Saviour is risen and gone before us into heaven and there remaines in a Glorious Body as 't is called Philip. 3. 21. Now this Body of Christ may be considered either in respect of its own Natural Substance as it consisteth of Flesh Bones and Bloud and other Constituent and Perfective parts of humane nature and in this sense no man can partake of the Lords Body Or else it may be considered with respect to his Divinity as that is united to it as it is clothed with infinite Majestie as it is replenisht with the Presence and energy of the God-head as it casteth live Influences upon his Church by virtue of the God-head dwelling in it and filleth all things with Spiritual rayes and emanations of his Grace In this respect our Lord is called a Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. the first man Adam was made a living soul the last Adam was made a Quickning Spirit because he giveth life to every Humble and Obedient heart here below and through his Humane Nature dispenseth to every one the Vertues of his Passion and in this respect every good Christian participates of Christs Body that is of the Spiritualities of his glorious Body The Ancient Christians acknowledged and insisted much upon this distinction between the Natural and the Spiritual body of Christ confessing the one to be in the Sacrament but not the other There is Saith Clemens Alexandrinus a Twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. l. 2. in mitio Blond of our Lord there is his Fleshly Bloud whereby we were redeemed from destruction and there is his Spiritual Bloud whereby we are now Anointed and this is to drink the Bloud of Jesus to be made partakers of our Lords Incorruption In like manner Origen Shewing that even in the New Testament there is a letter which killeth if men do not understand that which is said after a Spiritual Si enim secundum liberam sequaris hoc ipsum quod dictum est nisi manducaveretis carnem mean biberitis Sanguinem meum occider haec litera Orig. in Lev. 10. Homilt manner instanceth in that Phrase of eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud for saith he if you understand this according to the sound and clink of the Expression it is a killing letter S. Jerome also tells us that the Bloud and Flesh of Christ is to be Duplicitur verè sanguis Christi caro intelligitur
can we understand it but of that spiritual Energy and Virtue wherewith the Element is indued Epiphan in Anaceph and which efficaciously worketh by the power of Christ upon the soul of every worthy Communicant When Epiphanius speaketh so positively and so home that the Bread in the Eucharist and the Water in Baptism have their Virtue from Christ that 't is not the Bread it self that is efficacious but 't is the Virtue of the Bread wherewith Christ indues it and that the Bread indeed is Food but 't is the Virtue in it which serveth for vivification what can any man desire more plain more emphatical more full when St. Ambrose saith if the Book be his that we take Ambros de Sacram. lib. 6. c. the Sacrament as the Similitude of Christs body but do really receive the Grace and Virtue of Christs Nature 't is plain that he means those spiritual influences which are derived from him When St. Chrysostom Chrysostom Hom. 50. in Matth. to shew what benefits we have by receiving of Christ shews the benefits which they had who touched but the Hem of his garment undoubtedly he meant that we receive these benefits as they did by virtue which goeth out of him When St. Austin so often speaks of not the outward Symbols only but chiefly of the thing in the Sacrament of the Virtue of the Sacrament and of our eating and drinking even to the participation of the Spirit and saith that the Truth and virtue of Christs body is diffused every where what can any reasonable man suppose him to mean but that though Christ be in Heaven in his Body yet he is with us by his spirit and blesseth us all with his Spiritual influences but especially when we Celebrate the memory of his Passion When St. Cyril of Alexandria so frequently affirmeth that the Glorified Body of Christ is vivisick and makes the Sacrament vivisick too and saith that God condescending to our weakness Carene Thomae in Luc. 22. sendeth the Virtue of Life into the Bread and Wine that are before us turning them into the Energy or efficacy of his own flesh so that a quickning principle may be in us the sense is so plain and satisfactory that I will presume to say were St. Cyril alone allowed to be judge in this case there would hardly be any â—â—â—â—â—oversie at all in the Christian World about the blessed Sacrament unless it were this who should receive it oftnest and with the great est reverence This Divine and spiritual virtue derived from Christ and conveyed into the Sacrament is that which Theodoret means by that Grace which he saith Gratian. de Consecdist 2. c. 28. is added to the Nature of the Elements This is that too which Pope Leo and the Synod of Rome meant by the virtue of Theophyl in Marc. 14 Hugo de Mysteriis Eccles cap. 7. Gelas de duab Nat. in Christo this heavenly food that which Theophylact meant by the Virtue of Christs Flesh and Blood that which Hugo de St. Victore meant by the efficacy of the Sacrament by the spiritual Grace and by Christs spiritual Flesh that which Pope Gelasius meant by that Divine thing in the Eucharist whereby we are made partakers of the Divine Nature that which Beriram Bertram de Corp. Sang. de Domini meant by the invisible Bread the Power of the Divine word the Virtue of Christs Body and blood the invisible efficacy the spiritual flesh and blood of our Saviour and abundance of expressions more to the same purpose in his admirable Book to Carolus Calvus 'T is that too which Isidore Hispalensis meant Isidor Hispal de Eccl. Offis by the Divine Virtue which worketh salvation under the cover of earthly things That which Haymo meant by the grace of Haymo in Cor. 11. Sanctification whereby he saith the Plenitude of the Deity and the Divinity of Paschas Ratbert de Euchar. the Eternal Word filleth the Elements That which Paschasius Ratbertus himself meant by the Spiritual Flesh of Christ that vital Portion which every good Communicant receives of the fullness of Christs Divinity Lastly 't is that which Panis iste quem Dominus Discipulis porrigebat non effigie sed leg seu natura mutatus omni potentia Verbi factus est caro Et sicut in persona Christi Humanitas videbatur latebat Divinitas ita Sacramento visibili ineffabiliter Divina se infundit Essentia c. Pseudo-Cyprian de Caen. Dom. Et Superius lumen in inferiora diffusum claritatis suae plentitudine a fine usque ad finem attingens totum apud se manens totum se omnibus commodat caloris illius identitas ita corpori assidet ut a capite non recedat Id. ib. the Pseudo Cyprian meant by that Divine Vertue which he acknowledged to be in the Sacrament that Supersubstantial Bread as he calls it that Divine Essence and Majesty which accompany the Elements that effect of Eternal Life and that Latent Spirit whereof every devout and well disposed Christian doth participate I have not time to look into every particular Church-Writer but this I will presume to affirm that where any of the Ancients do harp upon Christs presence in the Sacrament they mean his presence by his Grace and Virtue and where they speak intelligibly and distinctly of this matter they speak plainly to this purpose intending by the body and bloud of Christ which we receive neither more nor less then those efficacious Virtues which are derived to his Church from his glorified Humanity this they call his Body and Bloud especially when they call it by way of distinction the spiritual Body and the spiritual Bloud of our Blessed Redeemer And this account is the rather to be received by us for several good Reasons 1. Because it makes this great Mystery very easie to be understood so that without any straining of our wits or forcing of Scripture we may readily and clearly conceive how we are said to Communicate of Christs Body and Bloud For do but conceive a notion of Christs spiritual Body and the account is very short and the matter is very intelligible 2. It shews the sense of the Catholick Church in former Ages to be the same with ours now For Christians did ever acknowledge two different things in this Mystery the outward sign and the inward Grace and accordingly they did every set a different Price upon these two things valuing most of all the spiritual Grace but yet Honouring the Element for the Grace sake Many times indeed they called the bread Christs Body because it signifies and represents and exhibits it but usually they called the Elements the Types the Antitypes the Figures the Images the Signs of our Lords Body and Bloud so the Author of the Constitutions Pseudo Dionysius Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Theodoret Eusebius Chrysostom Origen Cyril Basil Macarius Jerome Gregory Nazianzen and divers more so that we may well laugh
Cross And to convince us that we do hereby receive many such blessings and that we are entitled to the Love and favour of God in particular which is the Fountain and Original of all other blessings to convince us of this I say he draws a parallel between this sacrifical feast of Ours and those others which were used among the Jews Behold Israel after the Flesh saith he Are not they which Eat of the sacrifices partakers Clarius in Loc. of the Altar that is do they not partake of the Vertue of those Sacrifices which are offered upon the Altar His plain meaning is that the Jews did partake of those effects which by the Sacrifices were procured their feasting upon the Sacrifices was a Token and Pledge to them that their desires were answered that what they had offered and sacrificed for was granted them that their oblations returned into their own bosome that they had the Benefit of them and were entitled to those blessings which they were intended for There is an expression which will make this matter clear in Lev. 7. 18. If any of the Flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offerings be eaten at all on the third day it shall not be accepted neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it When those sacrifical Feasts were regularly Celebrated they were imputed to the guests for their Good they were reckoned advantagious to them they were favourably accepted at Gods hand in order to the Ends for which the Sacrifice was designed they served to make an Atonement they were effectual to their purposes they were good to all intents they were available to the Offerers as the Hebrew Aynsworth in Lev. 7. 18. Doctors expound the Phrase This is the true meaning of being Partakers of the Altar in St. Pauls Language when by eating duely of the Sacrifices of the Altar they turned to a good Account and Men were Profited Benefited and Blest by so doing being in Communion with God whose Altar it was and receiving the Pledges of his favour which was obtained by the things that were offered upon the Altar Was the Grace of God to be beg'd and sought for by an Holocaust why eating of the Oblations which were annext to it was a Pledge to assure them that their Prayer was heard and that God would be gracious unto them Was the Wrath of God to be appeased by a sin-offering Why the feeding upon those oblations which attended it was appointed as a Pledge to certifie them that an Atonement was made Were peace-offerings presented that people might be delivered from dangers and ill changes and that God would give them Peace Prosperity and Plenty and continue his goodness to them Why the Feasting upon the Peace offerings was intended as a Pledge to satisfie them that Gods good providence and care of them should not be wanting as long as they would not be wanting to themselves Thus they were partakers of the Altar by being assured of the effects of their offerings To return now to our Apostles argument As the Jews were partakers of Gods Altar so are we partakers of the Lords Table Their sacrifical feasts were intended as Pledges of Gods manifold mercies to them And this Christian feast is intended as a Pledg of Gods manifold Mercies to us but to better purposes and in an higher degree God Covenanted with them for things temporal with us he Covenants for spiritual and Heavenly things chiefly Christ our Sacrifice was slain to purge our very Consciences from sin to endue us with the Holy Ghost and with power from on high to deliver us from the danger of Eternal Damnation to make us sure of Heaven and to make God and us one And this our sacrifical Feast is intended as a Pledge to certifie and assure us that his friendship and dearest love shall never fail us if we be but true friends to our own Souls Thus we partake and Communicate of our Saviours Body that was Crucified and of the streams of that Blood he shed for us by receiving at this Sacrament the vertues and effects of his Passion as the Jews received the Vertues and effects of their Sacrifices This Sacrament is a Token to us that Christs Sacrifice is imputed to us in a comfortable sense that is here God assures all faithful Communicants and as it were sets his Seal to it that Christs offering up himself shall infallibly turn to a good account to them that it is an effectual Atonement on their behalf that it shall be available for them to all intents and purposes and that tho' they do not eat of the very flesh of our Sacrifice as the Jews did of their Peace-oflerings but of Bread in the Room of it yet it shall be all one to them in effect and that they shall ever be the Blessed of the Lord. I have been the more prolix and exact in this matter that I might clear and vindicate the Doctrine of the Church of England In her Catechism whose Notion of a Sacrament in general is this that it is an outward and visible sign ordained as a means whereby we receive and as a pledge to assure us of an inward and spiritual grace And of this Sacrament in particular she saith that Christ hath instituted and ordained these Holy Exhortation at the Communion Second Prayer after the Communion Mysteries as pledges of his Love and that God doth assure as thereby of his Favour and goodness towards us For it is senseless to imagine that Christ should intend the Absolution of so many Mosaical Rites because they would be useless and insignificant or of very small account under the Gospel and yet should institute himself another Ceremony that would be of very mean and inconsiderable importance For such would this Mystery be were it no more than what the Socinians would have it a memorial only of Christs sufferings by using which we profess our Faith in him For the Scriptures are a memorial of Christ and that not of his Passion only but of his Nativity of his Sanctity of his Life of his Doctrine and of his Miracles and every Chapter in the Gospel doth more or less annunciate and shew forth his Love And Men have many various ways of declaring and professing themselves his Disciples tho this Sacrament were not used at all We publish our Faith daily by repeating our Creed The Ancients were wont to do it by using frequently the sign of the Cross signifying to all Unbelievers that they were not ashamed of a Crucified Jesus The Holy Martyrs shew'd their Faith by their Constancy unto death and every good man in the World shews his faith by a Life of Obedience to his Masters Laws so that were the Doctrine of the Socinians allowed this great Ordinance would soon become an useless and worthless thing and our Lords Wisdome in appointing it would not only be questioned but even traduced and blasphemed were not this Christian Feast believed to be intended for
Nor am I insensible how wary and Cautious Divines are what they say and how they unfold their thoughts of this matter Indeed it is that which requires of us a great deal of Consideration and Pains aswell to Conceive a Right notion of it as to Express it so as to make it Intelligible to others But not withstanding the Difficulty of the thing it being so very Usefull and Necessary for the Satisfaction of every mans mind I shall take upon me to discourse of it at large but without trangressing I hope the due bounds of Modesty and Truth To clear my way as I go from one foul mistake we are to note that Christ is not so present in the Sacrament as to be eaten after a Carnal and Gross manner neither are the Elements so changed by any act of Consecration as to be turned out of one substance into another out of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Substance of our Lords Natural Flesh and Bloud This indeed is the Faith of the whole Roman Church and they have Invented the word Transubstantiation to signifie and Express their Faith and it implyeth these three things 1. That the Nature and Matter of the Elements vanisheth away 2. That the Accidents thereof as they call it meaning the Colour the Smell the Taste the Quantity of the Elements do all remain without their Proper and Natural suject 3. That Christ's Natural Body supplyeth the room of Bread and that this Bloud is in the Place of Wine Now I might pass over this with quick dispatch by referring you to a great many Learned and Unanswerable Books which have been written against this Monstrous Error to say no worse of it but to save you the charge and pains of so much travel I desire you 1. To Consider in general that there are four things which are Infallibly able to satisfie a mans Judgement as to the Truth or Falsity of any thing whatsoever viz. The Use of our Senses the Suffrage of Right Reason the Authority of Divine Revelation and the help of Tradition And if men will pertinaciously contend for a proposition in spight of the Concurrent Evidence which is given against it by all these Demonstrative mediums which ought and are enough to Convince every man they were as good tell us plainly that they are Resolved to be Infidels or Scepticks or to believe no more than what they themselves please for stronger arguments than these four can never be offered to any Now thus stands the case between Us and the Romanists they dispute for their beloved Doctrine of Transubstantiation and to maintain the Controversie they appeal to the Definitious of their own Church that is they will be Parties and Judges too We plead against their Doctrine that 't is contrary to every Test which should govern Rational Creatures in their Sentiments And though the very Mentioning of this palpable Error be enough to Expose it to Scorn and Laughter yet for the further discovery thereof observe in particular 1. How it contradicted the Testimony of our very Senses We cannot conceive but that God gave us our Senses as helps to inform our Understanding nor can it be supposed with any Colour of Truth that all men should be Constantly deceived in the perpetual use of their Senses when their Faculties are Good and the Object of their Sense is Adequate and Proper this would be as Ridiculous and Absurd as to say that none of us yet ever saw the light tho our eyes be open and the Sun every day Appears Now that which we contend for is as clear to our Sense as the Sun is at high Noon For we see it we smell it we taste it we feel it by Four of our Senses we find what we receive at the Communion to be Bread and Wine and why should we fancy our selves deceived in this case more then S. Thomas was when he put his finger into our Saviorus Side why should not we be satisfied by so many of our Senses that it is Bread and Wine when He was convinced by his bare Touch that it was his Lord and his God Upon two accounts it is impossible for Considering men to think that a Fallacy can be put upon us in this matter For 1. should we Suppose the Omnipotent power of God could turn Bread into Flesh the Species of Bread remaining still yet it would not at all answer that great End for which Miracles have been ever wrought and therefore it is not Reasonable for us to believe that God would do it It would be indeed the Greatest of all Miracles and infinitely beyond that which our Saviour Himself did when he turned Water into Wine for there the Colour the Taste the Smell the Operation of Water was changed as well as the Substance And as it is not in the least probable that every the Meanest Priest should every day do a Greater Miracle than ever our Lord himself did so it is not in the least Credible that God Himself would do a Miracle but to convince men of Some Necessary and Important Truth Should he do a Miracle for no other end but onely to shew his Power of necessity it must must be Seen it must be shewed in some sensible instance for otherwise it could not be a Demonstration of his Omnipotence But God never yet did any Miracle for the Miracle-sake but that thereby he might Attest the Truth of some Doctrine and might Convince men of Something which they could not well be convinced of but by Gods setting his own Seal to it after that manner For which reason all Miracles have been still Apparent and Open to the Senses and 't is Necessary they should be so because they would be of no Use were they not perceived neither could they prove any thing unless they themselves were Manifest And if we reckon up all the Miracles that ever were done in the world from the days of Moses to the times of the Gospel we shall find that instead of being Concealed and Hid from men they have been always Exposed and made Plain to mens Senses Now this doth utterly baffle the groundless pretence of Transubstantiation for that Doctrine supposeth God to do the Highest Miracle that ever was done to no Necessary purpose neither to edifie Us not to shew Himself and how can we think that he will make Wonders and his Power Cheap and with an Almighty hand alter the Course and Nature of things so as not to Glorifie himself nor to do Us Good by so doing This would be a Miracle that could not in any wise serve the Ends of all Miracles and it becomes us not to believe that the All-good and All wise God will deceive four of our Senses at once to no End at all since it hath been all along the method of his Providence to satisfie All our Senses for the Best purposes But this is not all there is secondly a Worse thing behind yet The Romanists by crying down the
Credit of our Senses give Atheistical Spirits and all that are Enemies to our Religion advantage and Arguments to Discredit all the Doctrines of Christianity and therefore their Hypothesis is so far from being Believed that it is to be Condemned as Impious and Scandalous in the Highest degree For if when our Senses tell us this is Bread and this is Wine we may not Trust our Senses Ill men will presently draw thence this Natural Conclusion that they have no Reason to give credit to any Article of the Christian Creed especially if the Church of Rome be Infallible in this definition that mens Judgements must not be governed by what they See or feel The credibility of the whole Gospel dependeth Originally upon the Testimony of Sense and we therefore believe the Evangelical tidings to be True because we believe they were Preached by the most Holy Jesus and were Attested by God himself who by working wonders Confirmed the Doctrines which were taught by his Eternal Son Now if men over-rule the Evidence which is given by Sense I would fain know how the Subtilest Romanist can prove that there was such a one as Christ in the world or that he was not a meer Phantasm as some Hereticks thought of old Or how can they make it credible upon Sufficient grounds that Christ Preached some of those things which the Papists themselves believe or that he Confirmed his Doctrine by Miracles They must at last come to this that competent witnesses heard him deliver those Doctrines and saw his works and to all this any Infidel may answer that according to their Principle mens Senses may be Deceived and if we may not believe our Own eyes as they say we must not what reason is there to believe the Senses of Others and if All may be mistaken how can it be made appear that the History of the Gospel is not a Dream a Fancy a Fable as one of the Popes did upon a time call it The Holy Apostles proved the Truth of Christs Religion by the certainty of their Senses So S. John 1. Jo. 1. 1 2 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have Handled of the word of Life for the Life was made Manifest and we have seen it and bear witness c. that which we have Seen and Heard declare we unto you The Expressions are ingeminated to shew the Truth and Certainty of Christs being in the Flesh and this certainty is proved by the Testimony of their Senses which undeniably argues that such a Testimony is to be taken when the Organs of Sensation are rightly disposed and the Object is suitable to the Faculty Briefly the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is the fundamental Article upon which many others do depend for if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching in vain and your faith is also vain 1. Cor. 15. 14. Now Christ himself appealed to the Senses of his Disciples to Convince them that he was Risen indeed As they were frighted at his appearance and fancied that it was a Ghost to Satisfie them to the Full Behold said he my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see me have S. Luke 24. 39. Now if they had reason to conclude that it was their Master indeed because they heard saw and handled him why may not we aswell believe and conclude that this is Bread and Wine indeed when we see and taste and smell and feel it to be so The Apostles had the Testimony but of Three Senses we have the Testimony of Four and if our Senses must not be believed then not theirs neither and then what becomes of our Christian Religion 2. Methinks all thoughtful men should mistrust that cause which to secure it self from the danger of a Shock blinds their eyes and befools them into such absolute Bondage that they must be obliged to believe that snow is Ink and that Ice is fire But besides this secondly nothing can be more contrary to Reason than the doctrine of Transubstantiation The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord saith Solomon Prov. 20. 27. and 't is senseless to imagine that when God set up this luminary in our hearts his meaning was that we should mind it no more than as if we lived in utter darkness or that it should be less useful to us than the light of a Glow worm Now first this is a certain principle of Reason that a man can have but one body and so we are to conclude that Christ himself had no more But if that which he gave to his Disciples was his very Natural Body consisting of so many organical parts then had he more Bodies than one even as many as there were Morsels because it is supposed that every Disciple received the body of Christ entirely Now this is an imagination which the greatest Hereticks yet never durst to defend Some indeed held of old that Christ had no real Body at all but only an imaginary and Phantastick being which was a delusion of mens senses so the followers of Simon Magus the Marciouites and others did falsly maintain But that he had more than one natural Body properly so called none did ever affirm And yet this is the consequence of the Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation For either his Natural body is not in the Wafer at all or else it is not there wholly and entirely or else it must be supposed to be multiplied proportionably to the number of the consecrated Wafers And hence it must follow of necessity that as at the institution of this Sacrament Christ had some Bodies which were not Crucified for the Supper was before the Passion and that body which every Apostle did eat was never Crucified so still that Christ hath an indefinite number of Bodies even as many as there are Communicants in the whole World And then where shall we find that one man Christ Jesus that St. Paul speaks of Rom. 5. 15. the gift of grace hath abounded unto many by one man Jesus Christ Again Secondly these are certain and Eternal principles of Reason that one and the same body can be but in one and the same Place at once as my body cannot be here and at the Indies in the same moment for then it would be one Body and yet not one at the same time it is certain by reason that a body must have Parts divisible and distinct the one from another as every humane Body hath a Leg distinct from the arm and the head distinct from the trunk for else it would be a body and not a body A body must be Circumscribed and limited to a determinate space proportionable to its dimensions for else it would be a finite and yet an infinite substance A body cannot be broken into pieces and yet remain entire for then it
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
to mean purposes but his office is by kindly and gracious operations to renew mens minds and to bring their hearts still more and more to such a temper and frame as is suitable to the Laws of the Gospel So that our drinking of the Spirit at the Holy Communion must necessary have this effect that those good things are establisht which were wrought in us before by the Spirits Energy Noâ— is this any more than what Devout Communicants find to be true by their own experience their minds are then fixt upon things of Heaven their sense of Christs Love is then strong their affections to him are then warm their hope in him is then lively and comfortable their Charity to others is then great and their whole Soul is full of the most ravishing Pleasures so that were men careful not to stifle or resist the Spirit but to keep themselves so well disposed all their time as they are when they go from the Lords Table it would be impossible either for their salvation to be insecure or for their minds to be uneasie And yet Faustus Socinus will by no means allow our Faith to be at all Confirm'd by the use of the Lords Supper He looks upon that Holy Rite as a work of our own as he is pleas'd to call it as an ordinary thing that we do among one another in Commemoration of the Lords Death but not as a Mystery whereby we receive any benefit any advantage from God But though the Heretick be so admired as a great man of sense and reason yet he trifles altogether and talks Impertinently and Idly upon this as he doth Sophistically upon the Rest of his own notions For why doth not the celebration of this Mystery confirm our Faith Why saith Socinus the distribution of the bread and wine cannot do it because they are mean things which testifie Nec enim panis ille fractus a nobis comestus vinumque in poculum infusum a nobis epotum oftendunt nobis aut suadent vere Christi Corpus pro nobis fractum fuisse c. Socin de usu S. Caen. nothing which shew no reasons for our Faith nor contain any thing that perswadeth us to believe that Christs Body was Broken or that his Bloud was shed for us Now the Heretick and his followers in this argument do first mistake the Question for we do not say that the bare distribution of the Elements is the thing which serveth to help and strengthen our faith but that this is done by the whole action Now the whole Action containeth Prayers and praises a rehearsal of the Institution and a declaration of Christs Passion as well as a division of the Creatures of Bread and Wine All these things come under the Notion of the Eucharist and each of them ministreth to the confirmation of our faith especially since they all concur in the same Action because they were appointed by Christ himself to be done in Commemoration of his death and consequently do suppose and argue that he died indeed 2. So that Secondly these men are false and deceitful in this their way of reasoning that the Sacrament is no Proof of our Lords Passion For 1. St. Paul saith plainly that as often as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup we do shew forth the Lords Death 1 Cor. Nec oftendunt nobis aut suadent c ubi supr 11. 26. which in express terms contradicteth the Doctrine of Socinus This is an outward Testimony for my faith to rely up on 2. The Holy Spirit is given as hath Nonne ad credendum Evangelio Spiritus sancti interiore dono opus est Non Catech Sect. 6. cap. 6. been proved with the Bread and Wine and by his secret operation I am perswaded to believe the Article of Christs Passion to be true That 's an inward Confirmation of my Faith though I suppose the Socinians may not value that because they allow not Faith to be the effect of the Spirits operation 3. Considering that this Ordinance was instituted by Christ himself as a memorial of his death and that he hath appointed us the use of it for that reason and upon that account this is evidence and proof enough to convince me that he suffered and died of a truth The Divine institution and command together with the meaning End and Design of it this is that which we ought Quid insulsius quam si quis ita argumentaretur nos panem istum frangimus comedimus idque ut praedicemus Christum corpus Sanguinem suum pro nobis tradidisse Igi ur verum est ita Christum fecisse Socin in Append ad scriptum de Caena Dom. particularly and carefully to regard and then if I argue thus we eat Bread and drink Wine by the Divine appointment and institution that we may declare that Christ gave his Body and blood for us and therefore it is very true that Christ did so this is no absurd argumentation as that wicked Impostor had the confidence to say it is rather a very rational and clear way of reasoning for why should I believe that Christ would command me to commemorate that which is an untruth It is a plain argument that Christ did dye because he hath required us to Celebrate this Mystery in memory of his Passion and consequently it is true that the Celebration of this mystery is for the confirmation of our faith The meaning and signification of this Mystery is the thing which we are principally to consider and to illustrate this matter briefly by two familiar instances let us consider that common Phaenomenon in the air which we call the Rainbow If you ask a Philosopher about it he will tell you that t is nothing but a Meteor the Natural effect of such and such Natural causes but the Christian will tell you that it is a Token of that promise which God made of old unto Noah and therefore when we see the Rainbow we may assuredly believe that tho the World was once drowned with a Flood it shall never be destroyed by Waters again Thus the signification and meaning of that thing is for the Confirmation of our Faith tho' there be not groundse nough for this perswasion from the Nature of the thing it self 2. Again let us consider that ancient Mystery the Passeover Supper the eating of a Lamb with bitter Herbs to the ignorant Pagan might seem but an Ordinary meal or perhaps a silly because unpleasant Ceremony but to the Jews it was a Rite of great signification because it was a memorial of Gods Mercy to their Fathers in delivering them out of Egypt and therefore God commanded even their Posterity to keep it with all diligence and solemnity Now let me ask the Socinian was not this memorial thus instituted thus appointed sufficient grounds for all the Jews in after-ages to believe that the History of that deliverance was true Nay are not all the Jews in the
but remained perfectly United to it by a Substantial Conjunction and by reason of that Conjunction it was restored to life after so many hours In like manner when we give up the Ghost the Body parteth with the Soul and during this state hath no manner of sensation or Motion having lost the Natural Principle of Both but yet it is not separated from Christ though it Corrupteth in the Grave while its Mate is in the enjoyment of Bliss yet it is still United to its Lord by a Mystical Conjunction and by reason of that Union it shall be reunited to the soul in Gods good time that Both may have their Partnership in the fruition of an endless Life 3. This consideration were it duely weighed would be of very great Use and Comfort to good men when they are going out of this world But there is besides a third thing to be considered viz. that as we are united to Christ so Christs Nature is also communicated to Us by means of this Sacrament which doth further conclude an Assurance of an Happy Resurrection This Nature thus communicated is as it were a Spark of the Divine Nature which gives the Body a Disposition and Aptitude to Rise again like that Vital Principle in wheat that makes it Apt to spring out of the earth again when 't is committed to the ground though it hath been laid up a long time in the Granary S. Cyril calls Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a living Body and so corpus vitae in some of the Latines as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. Living Body meaning the Virtue of it or his Spiritual Body the Quickning Seed that is in us For Christ by Divine Influences from his body giveth vitality to our mortal Bodies by that vivifick Virtue which is communicated by the Bread it entreth into the bodies of the Faithful though it be Substantially absent And hence he argues that if the dead in our Saviours time were raised to Life onely by being touched with his Holy Body out of which there went Virtue certainly the vital 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cyril in Joan. lib. 4. cap. 14. Blessing must be much more abundant which we receive who even Taste and Communicate of it because it transforms Communicants into its own Blessed Condition that is into Immortality In like manner Ireneus proved the Certainty of a Resurrection from the Virtue and efficacy of this Sacrament supposing it a thing very Unreasonable to deny that Flesh to be capable of Incorruption which is nourished with This is plainly the meaning and force of those words of Irenaeus Quomodo dicunt Haeretici carnem in corruptionem scilicet finalem devenire non percipere vitam quae a corpore Domini sanguine alitur Quemadmodum qui est e terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebas constans terrena caelisti sic corpora nostra percipientia Eucharistiam jam non sunt corruptibilia spem Resurrectionis habentia Adv. Haeres lib. 4. cap. 34. Quando mixtus calix fractus panis percipit verbum Dei fit Eucharistia sanguinis corporis Christi ex quibus augetur consistit carnis nostrae substantia quomodo negant carnem capacem esse donationis Dei quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur membrum ejus est Id. lib. 5. cap. 2. that Bread which carrieth with it the vital Virtues of the Flesh of our Lord because those Virtues turn to the advantage of that Body as well as of the soul by reason that our Flesh being United to the Flesh of Christ by the Spirit is by the Eucharist Prepared and Disposed for and made capable of the gift of God which is eternal Life But to conclude this point besides these arguments drawn from the Reason of the thing it self and from the sense and suffrage of Antiquity our Saviours own words are abundantly demonstrative of this matter in S. Jo. 6. The bread of God is be with cometh down from heaven and giveth Life unto the world I am that bread of Life Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye for ever I am the Living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall Live for ever and the bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the world Who so eateth my Flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day for my Flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me These words are so plain that they need no Explication if by eating the Bread the Meat the Flesh here spoken of we understand not of Believing the Doctrines of Christianity as some most Absurdly imagine nor of eating the very Substance of Christs Body as others most Ridiculously conceive but our partaking and communicating of the Virtues of his Flesh and Bloud which is the genuine and Catholick construction Now by a right use of this Holy Sacrament we do this effectually and consequently may be assured that as we are blest with the Spirit and Life and Communion of Christ in this world by so doing so we have an undoubted Title to a Life of Glory and Immortality in the next CHAP. XII Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse I Have now done with the Speculative or Doctrinal part of this Subject having after a plain Didactical manner delivered and asserted the true Catholick Faith concerning this Sacrament and from the consideration of those blessings which it brings with it I shall briefly draw these following Inferences and so conclude the whole matter 1. That we are not to rate this Mystery according to its Face and Outward Appearance nor judge of its efficacy and Dignity by the Elements For though our Senses do infallibly assure us that it is Bread and Wine yet our Faith ought to assure us too that it is not Common bread or Bare Wine but something more By the word and Prayer and by the Secret but effectual operation of the Holy Ghost there is besides the Natural and true Substance of the materials an Addition of Grace which is chrefly und principally to be considered by us And this is that Change of the Elements which the Catholick Church ever did believe meaning not a change of their Nature but of their Use of their Quality of their Condition As when we say such a man is turned a Christian or such a Christian is turned a Minister or such a Fabrick is turned into a Church our meaning is not that