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
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
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
vel Spiritualis illa atque Divina de qua ipse dixit caro mea vere est cibus sanguis meus verè est potus vel caro sanguis quae Crucifixa est qui militis effusus est lancea S. Hierom. Comment in Ep. ad Ephes cap 1. understood in a twofold sense either for the Spiritual and Divine Flesh and Bloud of which our Lord said my Flesh is meat indeed and my Bloud is drink indeed or for that Flesh and Bloud which was Crucified and which was poured out by the Souldiers Spear So doth S. Austin distinguish the Invisible the Intelligible the Spiritual Gratian. de Consecr dist 2. cap. 148. Flesh and Bloud of Christ from that Visible that Palpable Body of his which is full of Grace and of the Divine Majestie This he calls strictly and properly the Body of Christ Donec seculum finiatur sursum est Dominus sed tamen hic etiam nobiscum est veritas Domini Corpus enim Domini in quo resurrexit unto loco esse oportet Veritas autem ejus ubique diffusa est Id. cap. 144. Quaere whether it should not be read Virtus instead of veritas Whereas in some Ancient Authors and specially in S. Austin there is mention made of Veritas Domini and Veritas corporis Dominici c. I mistrust that those Expressions are corrupt and that we should read Virtus Domini and Virtus corporis c. Albertinus observed a corruption in a passage of S. Cyril Translated out of Greek into Latin by Thomas Aquinas in the Catena There 't is thus Influit Deus oblatis vim vitae convertens ea in veritatem propriae carnis whereas it should have been rendred in virtutem propriae carnis for 't is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at Albertinus shews out of Victor Antiochenus his Comment upon S. Mark preserved in the Kings Library at Paris Albertin de Sacr. Euchar. lib. 2. pag. 752. Here was a Palpable Trick so there might be in other such instances for ought we know the other he calls the truth of his Body meaning the Virtue of it and saith positively that till the end of the world the Lord is in heaven above nevertheless that the truth of the Lord is with us here below For that Body of Christ wherein he arose is necessarily to be in one place but the truth or Virtue thereof is diffused every where St. Ambrose speaking of that Body which is received in the Eucharist calls it the Spiritual S. Ambros de Mister c. 9. Body of Christ the Body of a Divine Spirit and this I confidently affirm of all the Ancients who have either purposely interpreted or occasionally quoted those words of Christ in the sixth of S. John that they all understand him to speak of our feeding upon him after a Spiritual manner and of Spiritual food of Spiritual Flesh of Spiritual Bloud which he doth give us from Heaven to eat and drink of Secretly and Undiscernably always distinguishing this Spritual Body not onely from the Substance of the Holy Elements but also from that Natural Body of Christ which he took of the Substance of the Holy Virgin 2. This then being manifest that our Saviour hath a Spiritual body of which and of which alone we do participate I am now in the next place to shew what that spiritual Body is Now by his spiritual body we mean the spiritual virtues of his glorified Body those Heavenly streams of Grace which flow from him those vital Powers which we receive into our Bosoms through him those Divine operations which our poor Souls depend upon him for those Coelestial and admirable influences which are derived to his whole Church from his Throne of Glory For the right understanding of this matter we must consider 1. That the Body of Christ is filled not only with the habitual Graces of the Holy Spirit where with he was anointed above his Brethren but filled too even with the Majesty of the God head so that in him all the fullness of the God-head dwelleth bodily that is really substantially and fully Col. 2. 9. 2. We must consider that of his fullness all we do now receive plentifully and Grace upon Grace as St. John tells us Jo. 1. 16. So that tho Christ be in Heaven above all Principalities and Powers and there is to remain until the restitution of all things yet is he unto every one of us the Source and principle of Life Virtue goeth out of him even now still he imparteth himself to us after an ineffable but effectual manner and the meanest Soul in his Church is no more hid from the Emanations of his Grace than the least Plant in a Garden is hid from the influence of the Sun Hence it is that we are said to be made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Because we do partake of those Divine Graces and Influences which flowing from Him do transform and shapen Us into his own likeness And this is that anointing which St. John speaks of 1. Jo. 2. 20. Ye have an unction from the Holy one meaning that plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit through the Man Christ Jesus whereby the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts For Christ himself hath received the Spirit without measure and is anointed with the Oyl of gladness above his Brethren but this is like the Oyntment which was upon Aaron it was poured out upon his Head but it ran down even to the skirts of his cloathing and perfumed his whole Body So doth the Spirit of Christ descend from Him upon Us in streams of bliss and joy and every drop of comfort which falleth upon our hearts is a distillation from him whom God hath made the head of his Church At present I do only suppose what shall be shew'd by and by that every faithful Christian doth derive Virtues from the Blessed Jesus which do relieve and operate upon our Souls as those Virtues did upon the Bodies of such as were healed and relieved by him in the days of his Flesh For St. Luke tells us Luk. 6. 19. that there went Virtue out of him so that he healed them all And when that poor Woman had been healed of her bloody issue only by touching our Saviours Cloathes he himself said that virtue had gone out of him Mark 5. 30. which Story is related by St. Luke too who adds also that Jesus perceived that Virtue was gone out of him Luc. 8. 46. And if such wonders were wrought by the Virtues of his body in his state of Servitude and Humiliation we may well believe that he now casteth upon every member of his Church more Abundant Virtues and influences since his body now is infinitely Glorious and Vivifick by reason that the Divinity which was hid in him before abideth in it in its greatest plenitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes 3. Now these spiritual Virtues we
quis dixerit verbum contra filium c. Tom. 1. P. 979. Edit Par. into Heaven that he might draw off their minds from Gross and Carnal Apprehensions and that they might thenceforth know that the Flesh he speak of was to be Food from above Heavenly and Spiritual nourishment that he S. Cyril Alex. in Joan. lib. 4. c. 22. was to give them And this was no more impossible for him to do than it was impossible for him to fly through the air he could as easily make his Body Spiritual and vital as he could make an Heavenly of an Earthly Substance especially since he was God which he put them in mind of by telling them that he was in Heaven before 2. But to clear the matter fully he Id. 16. c. 23. Interpreted himself to them vers 63. It is the Spirit that Quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing meaning as S. Cyril excellently understands it that though his Flesh considered in it self could not quicken any thing as standing in need it self of a quickning principle yet considering the Mystery of the Incarnation and how the Word dwelleth in the Flesh we are to conclude that even the Body of Christ hath a quickning Faculty being united to that Word which giveth life to all For the corruptible Nature of Man did not degrade the Word by being joyned unto it but became it self exalted into a far better condition so that though it Quickneth not of it self yet it doth by the Energy and Operation of the Word the Spirit or Deity of Christ the plenitude whereof dwelleth in our Saviours Flesh bodily and so maketh it Vivisick This truth being laid down that our Lords Body is full of Vital virtue by being united to the Godhead it followeth very plainly that we must not think of eating the Natural and Heavenly Substance of our Lords Body after a Bodily manner with our mouths But of receiving into our Hearts and Souls the Spiritual Virtues of his glorified Flesh with a lively Faith the words that I speak Ubi supra unto you they are Spirit and they are Life saith Christ meaning thus much according to Athanasius that my Body which is given for the World shall be given for food to be ministred to every one after a Spiritual manner his words are Spiritual and to be spiritually understood as S. Cyril S. Chrysostom and the rest all say that is to be interpreted of that Spirit which is Life and which giveth life and of those Spiritual Influences which come from Christs Heavenly Body by the virtue energy and operation of that Eternal vivifick Word which abideth in it From this whole discourse of our Saviour especially as it is explained by those two great Luminaries of the Church S. Cyril and Athanasius we are to conceive that the Humane Nature of Christ being taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril in Joan. lib. 4. c. 24. into God at his Incarnation and being vested with the Glories of Heaven upon his Ascension is so full of the Energy of the Divine Spirit that it is become a Spiritual Body Not that it hath lost the Nature of Flesh but because it is Hypostatically united to the Godhead by reason of which Union it is endued with an enlivening Quid est eundem nisi quia eum quem etiam nos S. Aug. Tom. 10. Hom. 27. Power and the Man Christ Jesus that Quickning Spirit doth through his Glorified Humanity dispense those Spiritual Virtues which are the proper Food and Nutriment of the Soul and are fitly called Christs Spiritual Body Christs Spiritual Flesh and Bloud This may be further illustrated yet by considering what S. Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. how that our Fathers in the wilderness did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same Spiritual drink meaning that they had the same Spiritual meat and drink with us For they drank of that Spiritual Rock that went with them and that Rock was Christ And how did they eat and drink of Christ but by receiving from him those Graces and Vertues which have all along been the Portion and Sustenance of the Faithful For Christ was with all Believers under the Law before his manifestation in the Flesh they were continually under his care and Providence their Souls lived by his Divine Influence as their Bodies were supported with Manna and were refresht by waters out of the Rock Now these were Figures of good things to come that when Christ the true Manna should descend from Heaven and should be smitten upon the Cross as the Rock which prefigur'd him was smitten with Moses Rod he would ever be life and aliment to those that should believe on his Name and that that Body of his which was to be smitten as the Rock was should send forth such abundant salutary streams of Living waters as would Quench the thirst of every true Israelite to all Eternity And this real but Ineffable presence of Christs Grace and Virtues is that which the Doctors of the Christian Church meant when they speak with such ravishment of the Presence of the Holy Jesus with us poor mortals in this vale of misery They entertain'd not any mean and nauseous conceits of the presence of Christs Natural Body whether in or out of the Sacrament but they were taken up with Noble and Lofty speculations and they fixt their minds upon the Divine and Mysterious consideration of those Beatifying streams of Grace which spring from Christ the Fountain of everlasting life and are conveyed unto his Church through his Humanity by the efficacious operation of his Divine Spirit The Anciens considered that the eating of Christ Natural Flesh and the drinking of his Natural Bloud were the thing possible and consistent with Humanity could not be profitable could not be to any purpose in comparison of those vital and operative Virtues which flow from Christ and Quicken all that are capable and apt to be quickned and therefore their meditations soared high they listed up their own minds to Heaven instead of bringing down Christ upon the Earth they minded and spake of the real presence of his Spiritual Body only And when we find some of them to speak as if the Nature and Substance of Christ were exhibited to us we should consider what they themselves meant by those and the like expressions For they spake like Divines that were full of Lofty and Seraphick notions and were forced to speak of Mysteries in a high strain giving the Elements in the Sacrament becoming and honourable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril ubi Supr Names but intending by the Flesh and Bloud of Christ the Virtue the Grace the Spirituallities and Efficacy of his Humane Nature as it is Quickned and made quickning to us by the Power of the Eternal Word in conjunction with it As S. Austin says Secundam Majestatem suam secundum providentiam secundum Ineffabilem Invisibilem Gratiam impletur quod ab
Body of Christ that is doth it not work this in Us that our bodies participate of the Immortality and glory of our Head This is the meaning saith he that the participation of the Bread and Cup of the Lord hath this effect that our souls and Bodies are thereby made conformable and Like to the soul and Body of our Redeemer We eat Id. in 1. ad Cor. cap. 11. and drink even to the participation of Christs Spirit so that we are the members of his Body and are enlivened by his Spirit Indeed Anselm was but a late Writer in comparison for he lived in the 11th Century But in this he spake the sense of the Ancient Doctors of the Catholick Church whose faith it was that Christs Humane nature by being united to the Deity hath a Quickning faculty so that all true believers do receive Quickning Virtues from him specially by a due use of the blessed Eucharist That this was the Catholick faith appears by one pregnant instance which hath not been taken notice of by many Writers upon this Subject A little above 400 years after our Saviour Nestorius the Heretick taught that the Divinity and Humanity of our Lord was not united in one person Upon this a General Council met at Ephesus and unanimously condemned this Heresie S. Cyril of Alexandria was a great man at the Council and had a great hand in the condemnation of Nestorius and one Reason he gave to justifie their proceedings was this because Nestorius by that his Doctrine made void the Virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Ephes of the Sacrament And how did they conclude so why this was the principle of S. Cyril and the rest of them that the Body of Christ is Vivifick and that the Souls of Communicants live by receiving Vital Virtue from it Now if as Nestorius said the Divinity and Humanity of Christ be not United it is impossible for his Flesh to yield any Life because no flesh quickneth of it self neither can Christs flesh Quicken but by the power of the Word Seeing therefore that Heretick denyed the Union between the Word and the Flesh of Christ it would follow of necessity that the Body of Christ is not vivifick and consequently that we receive no vital virtue from it at the Sacrament which Doctrine being contrary to the Common Faith the Author of it Nestorius and his followers were very justly Anathematiz'd Whosoever reads the History of that Council with indifferency of judgement may easily perceive that the sence of the Church at that time was that at the Holy Communion men receive Divine and heavenly Virtues from our Saviours glorified Humanity so that we live by Him through the Communication of his Virtues as he himself lived by the Father through the Communication of his Nature And I am sufficiently satisfied that this was the faith of the Catholick Church both before that Councel and also for many ages after it Thus when St. Ignatius intimates that the Eucharist is the Flesh of Christ 't is clear to me that he meant Christs spiritual Flesh as Clemens Alexandrinus and St. Jerome expresly called it meaning the Spiritual Virtue of his flesh by reason of its Hypostatical Union with the Deity When Ireneus said that the Eucharist consisteth of two things the Earthly and the Heavenly thing 't is plain that by the Heavenly thing he meant not Christs solid Natural Body but that Heavenly Grace and Virtue which goeth along with the Sacrament When Justin Martyr compared the Mystery of the Eucharist with the Mystery of the Incarnation I cannot doubt but he meant that as in the one there was a Personal union between Humanity and Divinity so in the other there is a Sacramental Union between Bread and Spirit when the Pseudo Dionysius affirms De Eccl. Hier. c. 3. that by the Sacrament we Communicate of the Divine things of Christ 't is but fair to understand him to speak of those Divine Virtues and influences wherewith the Holy Jesus doth bless every humble and devout heart When Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. 2. c. 2. distinguisheth the spiritual Blood of Christ from that which is fleshly and moreover saith that by drinking the bloud of Jesus is meant the being made partaker of the Lords Incorruption any man may see that he spake of the Spiritual Virtues of Christs Blood whereby we are purified sanctified and fitted for a blessed Immortality When Theodotus affirmed that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodot in fine oper Clem. Alex. pag. 800. the power of the Spirit the Bread is changed into a spiritual virtue his plain meaning was that there is a change not of the substance but of the quality of the Bread so that by the manducation thereof spiritual Virtue is given to the worthy Receiver When Origen speaking of the Bread calls it the Typycal and Symbolical Body of Christ or the figure and Type In Matth. 15. of it and then presently mentions by way of distinction the Word it self which was made flesh and is the true food which whosoever eateth shall live for ever it is most reasonable to understand him to speak of that vital and Divine virtue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril Catech. m yst-8 which goes along with the symbol and is derived from the Word which is the suitable food of the Soul as bread is of the Body When Athanasius understands by the flesh of Athanas in illud quicunque dixerit verbum c. Christ that Heavenly food from above that spiritual Alimony which Christ gives us from Heaven what else could he mean but those Divine and Caelestial Virtues whereby he strengthneth and refresheth every craving Soul tho in the substance of his Natural body he be absent from us When according to Julius Fermicus Ipse ut Majestatis suae substantiam credentibus tradens ait nisi edevitis carnem filiis hominis c. Jul. Firmic de Errore Profan Gent. in Bibliotheca Patrum the receiving the substance of Christs Majesty is the very same thing with the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his Blood what can he mean by the substance of Christs Majesty but those substantial and Divine influences which come from his Throne of Glory whereby we are made partakers of the Divine Nature as St. Peter Si ergo nos naturaliter secundum carnem per eum vivimus id est Naturam carnis suae adepti c. Hilar. de Trin. lib. 8. speaks or as St. Hilary expresseth it whereby we are made partakers of the Nature of his Flesh glorified when St. Cyril of Jerusalem saith of the Bread as he did of the Oyntment which was used in those days that after St. Cyril Cateeh 3. Invocation it is not any common or inconsiderable thing but the gift of Christ and of the Holy Spirit made efficacious by the presence of his God-head how
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
World now by eating of bitter Herbs only certified and convinced and confirm'd in their Faith touching the truth of that deliverance It cannot be denied but that story was made undoubtedly credible by that Mystery because that Mystery was instituted and appointed by God himself upon that occasion so that from that rite any man might conclude that the matter of Fact to which it did relate was beyond all controversie true Why this Christian Rite is of the like signification and use to us as the Paschal Solemnity was to them Though to unbelievers and Hereticks it may seem a thing of a very mean Nature yet considering the reason of its institution and designation it serveth very much to comfort the Hearts and to strengthen the Faith of such as look into it well For it is the memorial of our spiritual deliverance by that Holy Lamb of God which took away the Sins of the World and because we are commanded by him who is the way the truth and the Life to Celebrate this memorial to that End and under that Notion we may be assured that the thing whereof it is a memorial was most certainly True we are hereby certified that Christ our Passeover was Sacrificed for our sins indeed and so our Faith is Confirmed by this Mystery that with Christ there is Plenteous Redemption for us all if we will but quit our bondage and accept of that deliverance which he hath purchased for us by the effusion of his most sacred blood Our Souls being thus establisht by a well grounded Faith another invaluable blessing accrues unto us still For hereby we are closely and if we our selves do not dissolve the band inseparably United to the Lover and Redeemer of our Souls the same Holy Spirit which strengthens our Faith making us also partakers of Christs Nature so that we dwell in him and he in us we are one with him and he with us Exhortat before the Communion as our Church teacheth I confess this is an abstruce speculation and that which many Divines have laboured hard to open to our understanding though all of them have not laboured with equal success Some call it a personal and Mystical Union that is between Christ and every true Believer and in some sense they call it rightly so for this personal Union as some fanciful Men talk of it is such a Mystical business indeed that it is an unaccountable and unintelligible Notion Others calls it and with more Reason and clearness a Moral and political Union and I wish that some in this Age were not so peevish as to be angry at every word that comes not out of their own Mint nor clinks according to their own fancy but would be so charitable and Candid as to give one another grains of allowance considering the unavoidable weaknesses of our Nature for many times 't is hard for us to Conceive of things rightly and sometimes 't is much harder for us to express and utter our Conceptions Now for the due understanding of this matter I conceive that there is a four-fold Union which relateth most to our present business 1. Such an Union as is between the Foundation of a Fabrick and the superstructure which are made one House by being fastned together with the same pins and Cement 2. Such as is between Husband and Wife who become one Flesh by being knit together by the same consent and Love 3. Such as is between a King and his Subjects who become one Society by being linked together by the same Laws 4. Such as is between a root and the boughs which become one Tree by being nourisht with the same moisture and between the head and the Members which are made one Body by being animated with the same Soul Now our Union unto Christ beareth a Resemblance and similitude with all these though it be above them all and it increaseth in degrees according as we grow more and more perfect Then are we one with Christ when we heartily believe his Doctrines when we love him and set our affections upon him when we submit to his Government and obey his Laws when we put our selves out of our own power and resign up our selves to his command and when our own wills are entirely Subject and Conformable to his This is that Moral Union whereby we are fastned to him as to the Foundation and corner Stone of his Church whereby we are Joyned to him as to the Foundation and corner Stone of his Church whereby we are Joyned to him as to the Bridegroom of our souls and whereby we are Related to him as to our Sovereign Head and Lord. Upon no other Terms but these will he own us to be his and when men talk after that wilde and Iewd rate as if Christ were all theirs though they be of an Unchristian Temper and live in open Disobedience to the Laws of Christianity 't is the same thing as if they should say that such may be the Sons of God as are not led by the Spirit of God which is contrary to what S. Paul teacheth us Rom. 8. 14. But yet there seems to be besides this Moral Union a Closer Band between Christ and his Church and that which is the efficient Cause of our abundant Love and Obedience to him and this I call as some of the Ancients did an Union of Nature For as our Humane Nature dwelleth in Christ by means of that Hypostatical Union of our Flesh in his Person so doth Christs Divine Nature dwell in Us by means of a Mystical Union of his Spirit with our Souls The same Spirit which is in him is Communicated to Us also and by Virtue of that Communication we are transformed into his Image his Nature is Graffed in Ours so that we are of a New Constitution and mould and every Lively Member of his Church by Participating of his Spirit is of the same mind with him of the same Temper frame and Disposition that is Holy Humble Heavenly-minded Just Pure Good Charitable Compassionate Kinde and Obedient as he himself was To do men of Learning right they who dispute about Christs being a Political Head do not at all Deny but plainly Own his being an Influential Head too Nor can any thing be more clear then that we derive Influences from him as every member Dr. Sherlocks defence of his Book against Owen pag. 505. in ones Body deriveth Influences from the Head so that we are animated with the Life of Christ there is as it were one and the same Soul in Him and in his Church for he that is joyned unto the Lord is One Spirit 1. Cor. 6. 17. I am the S. Aug. in loc Vine thy are the Branches saith our Saviour Jo. 15. 5. The Vine and the Branches are of One and the same Nature the same Vital Humour which is in the Root is Transmited and Communicated to every living Twig and for that reason did our Saviour use that Similitude to shew that as
his when he became Incarnate so his Nature is United to Ours when we eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud And this we infallibly do when we worthily celebrate this Holy Mystery Though in some cases men may eat his Flesh and drink his Bloud Spiritually and by faith alone without the Sacrament yet we do it much more and more effectually by the Sacrament and consequently we must be supposed to be more nearly United to him by means of this Ordinance then by any other means whatsoever Hence it was as some of the Ancients tell us that Christ appointed the use of such Creatures as are of a Nourishing faculty for so Bread and Sicut cibus materialis forinsecus nutrit corpus vegetat ita etiam verbum Dei intus animam nutrit roborat c. Raban de Serm. proprietate lib. 5. cap. 11. Wine are to shew that as there is a Natural Incorporation of our nourishment into our Flesh so there is a Spiritual Incorporation if I may so speak of Christ into our souls And hence it is that others of them compare the Spirit of Christ which is received by the Sacrament to Leaven representing to us by that Similitude that there is such a Diffusion Cyril Alex. in Joan. l. 4. cap. 17. of Spiritual Virtue throughout the soul as there is of ferment that leaveneth the whole Lump into which it is cast And Id. lib. 10. c. 13. hence it is that S. Cyril also compares the Mixture of Christ's Nature with Ours to the Mixture of wax with wax when several pieces of wax are melted and incorporated together All these Notions and Similitudes and divers more such which we meet with in the writings of the Ancients do shew that by eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Bloud especially at and by the Sacrament we do so participate of his Spirit of his Virtues Influences and Divine Nature as that Christ and we do become One * Quemadmodum intelligit Cyrillus Glaphyr in Genes lib. 7. Christum se in animas immittere per Gratiam virtutem Spiritus sic etiam sensus ipsius est eum corpora ingredi per virtutem corporis sui Eucharistiae communicatam nec ulterius urgendae sunt comparationes quas affert mixtionis scentillae ignis caerae fermenti Albertinus ubi supr pag. 761. And thence followeth the last inestimable blessing that I shall mention a Blessing that we carry with us to the very Grave viz. an Assurance and Pledge of a Glorious Resurrection It is appointed unto man once to dye Heb. 9. 27. This Sentence having past upon our Parents in Paradise Nature it self doth now Execute it upon their Posterity For as none can bring a clean thing out of an Unclean so none can bring an Incorruptible thing out of a Mortal We dye of course Christ that took on him the burden of our sins did not take off this weight from us though he delivered us from all Necessity of tumbling into Hell yet there are wise and great Reasons for which he did not think it fit for him to keep us from falling into the Grave But yet that we may dye in Hope in hope of a joyfull Resurrection as corn is committed to the earth in hope of a good Harvest Christ doth by this Sacrament take Seisure of our Bodies by communicating to us his Own and so uniting us to himself that he may change our vile Body and make it like unto his own Glorious Body according to the mighty Energy whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. 13. Hence it is that the Church in her wisdome hath thought it convenient that men should often receive this Sacrament especially in times of danger distress and Sickness to the end that they may make their peace with God and with their own Consciences and may go out of this world with firm and well grounded hopes both of a plenary Absolution and of an Happy Resurrection For this Sacrament is an Earnest to assure all worthy Communicants that these very Bodies of theirs in which Infirmities and death do now Lodge shall be raised again out of the dust being nourisht as it were out of the veins of our Redeemer These Elements are the Symbols of our Resurrection the Medicine of Immortality the Antitode that keeps us from Final Corruption the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Ep ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanal Conservatory for a Resurrection to Eternal Life That which hath been spoken already doth make this evident sufficiently 1. For first it is sure that by the Sacrament we receive the Spirit of Christ and since the same Spirit is communicated to Us that dwelleth in Him it must necessarily follow that it shall have the same power over our Flesh which it had over His to raise it up again at the day appointed Thus S. Paul himself argueth Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you 2. Secondly seeing the Holy Communion is an instrument of Uniting even our Bodies unto him who is the Head over all so that the members of our Bodies are the very members of Christ and we become as it were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh less cannot follow then that our Bodies shall be made Immortal as His is it being impossible that any thing which is His should perish everlastingly To effect such an Union as is between Christ and his Church it is not necessary nor possible that there should be a confusion or conjunction of bodily Substances It sufficeth that there is a Contact of Spiritual Vertue from the Flesh of Christ Now this Vertue goes along with the Sacrament and is received by every faithful Communicant so that it doth affect even his Body Sanctifying and Appropriating it to the Saviour of our Souls and Bodies both and making our whole man His. And this Union cannot in any wise be dissolved by Death because Death is onely a Separation of the Soul from the Body so that for that time the one loseth all vital activity from the other but neither of them doth or can lose its Title to Christs Protection the Body continueth still related unto its Head as in time of its Life and the Union between Christ and it remaineth entire and so its Right to a glorious Resurrection through Christ is indefeisable In this respect our Condition is very like to the Condition of the Son of God when he himself was in a state of Death He dyed as we do though to purposes infinitely Great and with torments unspeakably Excessive his Spirit was actually sever'd from his Flesh when he gave up the Ghost Nevertheless though his Flesh had no manner of vitality from his Humane Soul being really Separated from it yet it was not separated from the Deity
2. Whence I proceed to the Second Conclusion that if no special Law had been given us for the celebration of this Mystery if no Positive Command had been annexed to its Institutions were we so wholly left to our own Liberty whether we would Receive the Communion or no that we should not sin against God by not receiving we should nevertheless be very much wanting to our selves and sin against our own souls should we Turn our backs upon this great Ordinance as to their shame many Ill men do some that never yet Communicated in all their Life some that Despise it and Hate to do it some that pretend they are Afraid to do it though it be not the Ordinance but their own Wickedness that scares them some that strive against their own Convictions for the sake of this world some that are so supine and Listless that they care not to set about it and some that do it so seldome that they seem Indifferent whether they do it at all or no. To bring all these wretches to a due Sense and Practice of their Duty I would beseech them to Consult their own Best thoughts if they be ever Thoughtful and Seriously to consider what mercies they wilfully Forsake Is it a slight thing is it Nothing to be made a Partaker of that Great Sacrifice for sin which was offered upon the Cross when we daily lye at Gods mercy and stand in need of his Pardon and are utterly Undone if we have it not when we feel in our own Breasts the miserable Effects of our Follies those Twinges and Sores in our Consciences those wounds and gashes in the Spirit which are so full of intolerable Anguish that some have hurryed themselves out of the world on purpose to be rid as they thought of the sense of their Torments when we are sensible how the Judgements of God go abroad in the Earth to Punish men for their Impieties when we have seen so many sad Examples of men who have roared and sometimes Despaired upon their death-beds under the burden of their guilt and when none can tell but that he may be tortured punisht and visited after the same manner these things and the like being considered well what can any man desire so much as to have his iniquities forgiven and then what Fools are they that neglect to receive the Holy Sacrament which is the Seal of our Pardon Is it a mean thing not worth our craving or longing for to be nourisht with the most Blessed Body and Bloud of our Redeemer to receive Vitality and Influences of Grace from him to be Refresht and strengthned with that Divine aliment which hath been the Support of Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and without which our Souls can no more live a Life Spiritual and Divine than our Bodies can continue in plight and strength without Sustenance Is it not a mercy invaluable to have the Guidance Aids and Comforts of Christs Spirit when our Natural Corruptions are so strong when the Enemy of our Souls is so malicious and Buisie when the Temptations we meet with are so Thick and ensnaring when the Common course of Humane Life is such that we walk continually among Dangers and Deaths Lord what a Miserable Creature would man be without the care Assistance and Succours of the Spirit In times of Errors and Delusion to be assisted and kept stedfast by the Spirit of Truth in times of Tryal to be led by that Spirit of Power which helpeth our infirmities in times of Impiety to be guided and governed by the Spirit of Grace and Holiness in times of Affliction and Distress whether they be Publick or Private calamities we groan under then to have the Spirit of Comfort to speak peace to our Consciences to take away the Bitterness of our pottage to sweeten and lighten our Griefs with salutary Breathings from above to Support us in all our sufferings to carry us safe through all Difficulties and at last to lead us into a Serene and Calm world Oh! what an Happiness is this and what Improvident people are thy who neglect an Ordinance that is Productive of this Happiness that is so Beneficial and Useful to all these purposes Again to have such a lively Faith as will not fail us however we may be winnowed sifted and tost to have a vigorous Hope that will keep our Heads up when storm and tempest beat down thousands to be full of those Graces which are sweeter then Nard under our nostrils to be United to him who Loved us and gave himself for us and to have this Testimony within us that we are the very Members of Christ and in the end to Dye with Satisfaction and with a strong Confidence that one day we shall rise again and see the Salvation of God in the Land of the Living these are Felicities than which the Nature of man is not capable of Greater in this Life and I have shew'd you particularly one by one that these are the Blessings wherewith God crowneth every Constant and Devout Communicant Briefly there is no Ordinance of God but what doth carry its Advantages with it where men use it after a Regular and Due manner But all other Ordinances seem to center and meet in this so that it is a certain Instrument of an Holy Life and of that which will be Dear and Valuable to us when all the Gayeties of Life are over I mean a Comfortable Death And so I leave it to the thoughts of every Understanding and Thinking Christian to consider what Unwise as well as Unthankfull men they are who are so willing to go from an Ordinance at which others gather up Life and Immortallity It is no wonder that the world groweth so vain and wicked and that the Souls of men are so Improsperous One great reason is because they have Itching ears but Insensate Hearts that neither Crave for the Influences of Heaven nor care to Receive them though they come down in streams God be merciful unto them but they will one day find what a crime and Folly they are guilty of in forsaking thus the mercies of the Cross and in trampling under their feet the Bloud of the Son of God after this manner Not that their imprudence or unthankfulness is their only sin No there is an addition of impiety too which helps to aggravate it For in this case we are not in our own hands neither are we left to our own liberty and Pleasure The Command of Christ whereby we are obliged to solemnize this Mystery is as plain and as peremptory a command as any other in the whole Bible and if a law from Heaven can make any thing necessary then is this so But I will not now meddle with that consideration There being that and many more which relate more immediately to our practice that I see will cost another just Discourse as of the necessity that is incumbent upon us and of the necessity of preparation also together with the Nature and Extent of that preparation which is requisite and divers other the like matters which deserve to be well considered and to be treated of by themselves in their due order and by degrees Here we will end this Discourse beseeching God to help us to a right understanding and to enable us to keep a good Conscience in all things for Christ Jesus his sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons in the Unity of the God-head be all Glory and Honour and Praise for evermore Amen FINIS
and if my Desires now are to Express this my Duty to your Grace alone I know such is my Good Lords Affection to Your Grace that he will not think it a Fault in me or if the World shall think it so will easily pardon it if your Grace will be pleased to forgive my presumption Madam I have no more to add now but to beg that your Grace will favourably accept of my humblest Acknowledgements and to beseech God whose good Providence hath knit both your Graces together that the fortunate Band may prosperously continue neither dissolved nor weakened through the long Succession of many the most happy years That those mutual Affections which are so Eminently between You Both may Vigorously Hold to a good old age and make your Graces equally Examples of the sincerest Love as of Vertue and Piety That your Grace may be a fruitful Mother of a great Race of Noble Children to inherit your Fortunes Honour and Vertue and to perpetuate your Names to the Worlds end That my Young Lord that is now in the Arms of your Love may long live a Blessing to his Parents and to the whole Nation That in the midst of those Uncertainties which the Course of this World makes us subject unto the Goodness of God may ever Rest upon your Graces and on your whole Family That God will vouchsafe to protect guide prosper and preserve you and bless you with all the blessings of heaven and earth which is the sincere and Earnest Prayer of Madam Your Graces most Humble most Obedient and Dutiful Servant and Chaplain EDWARD PELLING THE CONTENTS THe Introduction page 1 Chap. 1. Of the Nature of this Sacrament That it is a sacrifical Feast Sacrifical Feasts used both by Heathens and Jews The Analogy between those Ancient Feasts and This Especially between This and the Paschal Supper The usefulness of this observation against the Socinians p. 9. Chap. 2. Of the Ends of this Sacrament First it is a Memorial of Christs Love proved from Christs own words From its Analogy to other sacrifical Banquets and from the Proctice of the Ancient Church Two inferences the one against Romanists the other against our Dissenters p. 31 Chap. 3. The second end of the Holy Sacrament to be a Covenant Feast The Ancient and general use of Covenant-Feasts That this is such proved from its Analogy to those Ancient Covenant-Feasts among Heathens and Jews and from the Words of Christ at the Institutions Two conclusions p. 53 Chap. 4. A third end of this Sacrament is to engage us to observe the Laws of that Religion to which it doth belong Proved from the Notion of the new Covenant From the design of of Mysteries in general From its Analogy to Mystical Banquets in particular both among Heathens and Jews especially the Paschal-Supper The sense of the Church touching this matter p. 78 Chap. 5. It is to be a Pledge and a Token of Gods favour Proved from its Analogy to the Antient Feasts both among Heathens and Jews and from the words of St. Paul Two Conclusions p. 104 Chap. 6. Of the blessings we receive by a due use of this Ordinance First we Mystically participate of Christs Body and Bloud What that Mystical participation is Secondly that we receive the Pardon of Sin Proved from the correspondency of this Feast to the Ancient Sacrifical Banquets in general And from its Analogy to those Feasts which were used after Sin-offerings in particular and from the words of Christ at the Institution p. 128 Chap 7. Thirdly We really communicate of Christ Glorified The Doctrine of Transubstantiation condemned as utterly contrary to sence Reason and the Holy Scriptures p. 152 Chap. 8. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation inconsistent with and contrary to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church Proved by five Observations touching the common sense of Christians in the most ancient times A short account of the Doctrine of the Church in succeeding Ages till the twelfth Century p. 188 Chap. 9. That though there be no Transubstantiation yet Christs Body is really in the Sacrament A distinction between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body What is meant by his Spiritual Body Why so called That such a Spiritual Body there is And that it is received in and by the Sacrament p. 224 Chap. 10. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Discourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of the Catholick Church Several advantages gained by this Notion p. 252 Chap. 11. Other Blessings which we receive by the Sacrament As the Assistance of the Holy Spirit Proved from the Words of Christ and S. Paul The Confirmation of our Faith An intimate Union with Christ What that Union is explained and proved Lastly a Pledge of an Happy Resurrection p. 275 Chap. 12. Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse p. 306 A DISCOURSE OF THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SUPPER The Introduction COnsidering the wretched state this distemper'd Age is in beyond the condition of former Times how many Spirits among us are infected with Atheism how Debauchery of all sorts prevaileth over our Land how negligent and supine some are that talk of Religion how hypocritical others are who make use of Religion only as a Tool to further their Factious and Seditious ends how miserably we are divided into several Parties how each Party struggles for its own preservation as if the pangs of death were come upon all how the interest of our Religion is hereby weakened and its honour blemish't how the Peace of the Kingdom is endanger'd and hoâ— mischeivous these evils are likely to prove to our establisht Government in Church and State I say considering these things I humbly conceive that the most effectual way to reform and recover us is by all possible and justifiable methods to bring men to a right Christian use of that solemn Ordinance commonly called The Sacrament of the Lords Supper For to this Ordinance Men are bound to come with all gravity and seriousness with minds possest with a deep sense of vertue and true Piety with humble and holy Souls with Spirits that are ingenuous candid and tractable with hearts void of all rancour and baseness and full of Peaceableness Goodness and Charity so that were this Ordinance duly and regularly used and with a real design to do our Souls good by the use of it it would prove a blessed Restorative of the Life of Religion a certain instrument of Concord and Love and a most excellent means of making us all what we should be Good men would be at ease in their thoughts and the evil part of the World would be under a necessity of being brought to Repentance and we should soon find a new heaven and a new earth wherein Righteousness and Peace and whatsoever is desirable by rational Creatures would then dwell among us
ant his quibus sacrum fieret c. Alex. ab Alex. genial dier l. 4. c. 17. the Heathen Festivals were so many standing Monuments of those kindnesses which their supposed Deities had done for them whether they were recoveries from Plagues or deliverances from Tyrants or the building of Cities or victories in War and the like These things they were wont to Commemorate solemnly and to rehearse them at their Sacrifical Banquets in Honour of their Gods adding divers sorts of Hymns and Praises and shewing all manner of thankfulness for them Now this Christian Mystery being a Religious Feast upon a sacrificed Saviour the very Nature and Analogy thereof doth sufficiently shew this to be one purpose and end of it that we should publish declare and commemorate the exceeding riches of Gods Grace by his kindness to us in Jesus Christ and that we should testifie the sense we have of it by all manner of Eucharistical acts and expressions of Affection For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth a great deal more than a bare Commemoration It signifies here such an outward Profession as is attended with inward Heartiness and with the intensest actions of Grateful and Fervent Souls The Apostle speaking of the Mosaical Oblations which were to be once a year upon the Day of expiation saith in Heb. 10. 3. that in those Sacrifices there was yearly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Remembrance of sins He doth not mean a bare acknowledgment of sin but such an acknowledgement as was accompanied with Compunction with Repentance or with solemn Deprecations of Gods Wrath. Paulus Fagius hath noted In Levit. 16. the form of that Confession which the High Priest was wont to use upon that great and solemn day according to the account which the Hebrew Doctors give of it It was saith he a threefold Confession i. e. he confest his own sins and the sins of the Sons of Aaron and the sins of all the Children of Israel and it was to this effect O Lord I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee I beseech thee O Lord forgive the sins the iniquities the prevarications whereby I and my house and the sons of Aaron and all thy people the house of Israel have sinned have done iniquity have prevaricated before thee By Sins the Hebrews mean all acts of Ignorance by Iniquities all Presumptuous and willful transgressions and by Prevarications all kinds of Rebellion and Apostacy from God and with this threefold confession a general Fast was to be joyned and the Law required them all to afflict their Souls nothing that Remorse and Anguish of Spirit which Priest and People were to be under at that time and these hearty expressions of Penitence and contrition is that which the Author to the Hebrews calls the Remembrance of Sins Thus should the Commemoration of Christs death for Sin be full of Life and Vigour accompanied with such mortifications of Flesh and Spirit as are undeniable arguments both of that bitter sense we ought to have of our own Vileness and of those ravishing apprehensions of the Divine love which the Commemoration of our Saviours sufferings is apt to beget in us Briefly though the Holy Jesus was about to die when he instituted this Mystery yet his design was to live for ever in the hearts of his Disciples and because nothing is more common among men albeit nothing unbecomes men more than to let the Remembrance of Gods mercies slide away from them and to Bury his favours in Oblivion therefore to help our infirmities Christ ordained a perpetual use of this Holy Banquet that his Fathers and his own Love might be had in everlasting remembrance For nothing serveth more to perpetuate the memory of any signal and remarkeable Event than when Men assemble themselves solemnly to Eat and Drink together by Occasion and upon the Score of that Event This was the ground and Reason of all the fixt Festivals among the old Heathens that by means thereof the memory of those great atchievements which their reputed gods had done might be transmitted and handed down from one generation to another And this was one great reason why the Paschal Supper was instituted that it might be a Memorial unto the Jews Exod. 12. 14 And lest through the negligence of men the deliverance which God at that time wrought should at any time after be forgotten God added this command at the 26 and 27 Verses of that Chapter It shall come to pass when your Children shall say unto you what mean you by this service that ye shall say it is the Sacrifice in memory of the Lords Passeover who passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians It is very observable that the incredulous and stiff necked Jews do now expect to be redeemed again out of all their thraldome by the Messiah just at the self same time of the year when their Fathers were redeemed of Id quod patet ex ipsorum verbis quae apud illorum Cabalistas in hunc modum leguntur in eadem die viz. quintadecima die mensis Nisan scilicet Martis redimendus est Israel in diebus Messiae quemadmodum redempti sunt eo die de quo scribitur in diebus egressionis tuae ex Egypto estendam mirabilia P. Jag. in Exod. 12. Old by God out of the house of Bondage For to this purpose saith my Author we read in the Cabalists In the same day viz. on the fifteenth day of Nisan that is in March the Israelites shall be redeemed in the days of the Messiah as they were formerly redeemed on that day at their departure out of Egypt What those fond people expect still was accomplisht long ago For it was just at that time that the Lord Jesus that immaculate Lamb of God was slain to Redeem all Mankind And as the Passeover-Feast among the Jews was instituted for the Commemoration of one deliverance out of great Bondage so was this Feast now used by us instituted for the Commemoration of another deliverance from a greater and more intollerable servitude that Christ our Redeemer may never be out of our minds tho he be gone into Heaven but that we should most solemnly celebrate a perpetual memory of his infinite Love and unspeakable Condescention Accordingly the ancient Church was wont to be very Prolix in the Prayer of Consecration For Vide Const Apost lib. having made mention first of the Majesty and perfections of God then of the Creation of Angels of Man and of the whole World then of his Providence over Adam over Seth and Enoch over Noah over Abraham over the twelve Patriarchs and over all the Children of Israel and having concluded that part on this wise For all these things glory be to thee Lord God Almighty infinite Hosts of Angels and Archangels worship thee Thrones Dominions Principalities
Powers and innumerable Armies of Heavenly Spirits the Cherubim and six-winged Seraphim with thousands of thousands of Angels and Archangels that continually cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth Heaven and earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee unto everlasting Ages Then the Church was wont to go on to make mention of the Holy and only begotten Son of God of his love to Mankind of his Incarnation and Birth of a Virgin of his Life Laws Miracles and Humility of his Passion Crucifixon Death Burial Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said they we being mindful of and commemorating his sufferings do give thee thanks according to his command who in the night when he was betrayed took bread into his Holy hands and looking up to Heaven to thee his God and Father brake it and gave it to his Disciples and so forth This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our blessed Redeemer meant and spake of not a Cold faint heartless speaking of that Love of his which was stronger than the most Torturing Agonies and than Death it self but such a Devout commemoration as is attended with Solemnity with admiration with active and vigorous Affections with the meltings and dissolutions of the hardest hearts with such Divine Raptures Extasies and Flights of mind as if our Souls had dropt their mantles of Flesh and were entred into Heaven to bear their parts in that Quire of Blessed Spirits above This was one End and reason for which the Holy Jesus appointed the use of this Mysterious Evangelical Banquet And before I let this point go out of my hands there are two things which I would note from this consideration 1. First that at this Blessed Sacrament there is not any New Sacrificing or offering up of Christ to expiate Sin but only a Commemoration of his Death a Memorial of that One Sacrifice which he offered unto his Father when he offered up himself upon the Cross for us The Romanists are strongly perswaded that as the substance of Christs Natural Body is really in the Host so he is really truly and literally Sacrificed there as a Propitiatory Oblation both for the living and the Dead too But 't is a modest censure to say for 't is the the least we can say of this conceit that 't is a very fond and groundless fancy because neither from our Saviours words at the Institution nor from St. Pauls Repeating the Story nor from the Nature and Analogy of this Feast can we gather any thing that gives Colour to this Principle it being apparent every way that Christ intended this Mystery not that he should suffer in it a fresh or be Sacrificed in it afresh but that we should thereby Commemorate and shew forth his Passion in Golgotha Indeed in some cases the same thing may be said to be a Commemoration of a Sacrifice and a true Sacrifice also as the Paschal Lamb at Jerusalem was truly a Sacrifice and a Memorial too of the Lamb that was sacrificed in Egypt But it cannot be said to be so in this case because 't is Contradictory to the Apostles argumentation in Heb. 10 where he shews that Christs Sacrificing of himself had this Prerogative this dignity above all Legal Oblations that it needed not as the others did any Repeating whereas the Sacrifices under the Law were offered year by year continually and every Priest stood Ministring and offering oftentimes the same Sacrifices Christ our High Priest offered one perfect Sacrifice for sins for ever and so sate down on the right hand of God by that one offering of himself having perfected for ever them that are sanctified and having sanctified them through the offering of his own Body once for all So that unless we will give the Apostle the Lie we cannot affirm any Propitiatory Sacrifice to be in this Mystery 'T is true this blessed Sacrament is called a Sacrifice or rather the whole Action and Rite is called so and it is so in some sense even as Prayer is called a * Vid. Tertull. p. 187. H. 104. Sacrifice Psal 141. 2. and as Praises are called a Sacrifice Heb. 13. 15. and as Righieousness and a broken Spirit are called Sacrifices Psal 51. 17. and as Almsdeeds are called Sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. and as the devoting our selves to the service of God is called the presenting of our Bodies a Living Sacrifice Rom. 12. 1. For at this Holy Sacrament we are bound to do all this to bless Gods Name therefore 't is called the Eucharist from our Praises and Thanksgivings to implore Gods goodness to offer up to him the Oblation of Penitent Hearts to present him with some of our Worldly substance to vow obedience to his Laws and to offer unto him our selves our Souls and Bodies as a reasonable Holy and lively Sacrifice as we profess in that excellent Prayer after the Communion It is Hence and upon these accounts not from any real Sacrificing of Christ but from the offering up of our Devotion of our selves and of our Goods that the Celebration of this Mystery is called a Sacrifice And hence it is too that the Lords Table is called an Altar as it was called in the * So Can. Apost 3. So S. Cyprian every where calls the Lords Table And so doth Tertullian Nonne solenior â—â—it statio tua si ad Aram dei steteris de Orat cap. 14. And I Suppose the ancient Christians took occasion of speaking thus from those words of our Saviour Matth. 5. 23 24. if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee c. which words doâ— certainly relate to those Oblations which Christ intended should be made and in the Apostolical times were made in the Church Ancient times of Christianity but that some weak men now love to quarrel with words and the Place too where the Table stood was called the || So the Author de Eccles. Hierarch c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he means the Sacrarium or Holy place where the Table stands And to the same purpose the word is used by Ignatius in those expressions of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Ephes And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. ad Tralles Where he urgeth that necessity which people are under to joyn with the Bishop and the rest of the Clergy in the Publick Prayers of the Church For Anciently Prayer was made in the Chancel at the Holy Table as 't is insinuated Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes And by Tertullian Exhort ad Castit cap. 10. Si Spiritus reus apud se sit conscientia erubescit quomodo audebit Orationem dicere ad Altare Hence Bishop Usher notes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifie the same thing that is the Altar-place Unde in Polycarpi ad Philippenses Ignatio ad Tarsenses tribut â Epistold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a vulgato Latino interprete Sacrarium Dei
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
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
receive from Christ are called his Body his flesh and Blood upon these three accounts 1. First because they have the like Natural Properties which Flesh and blood hath and tend to the like Ends and Purposes to which flesh and blood serveth For as this helpeth to corroborate and animate our Bodies so do these Divine Virtues help to strengthen and enliven our Souls In which respect Christ Panis est esca sanguis vita caro substantia panis propter nutrimenti congruentiam sanguis propter vivificationis efficientiam caro propter assumptae humanitatis proprietatem Panis iste communis in carnem sanguinem mutatus procurat vitam incrementum corporibus ideoque ex consueto rerum effectu fidei nostrae adjuta infirmitas sensibili argumento edocta est visibilibus Sacramentis in esse vitae eterne effectum c. Author de Can. Domini Cyprian is to us meat indeed and drink indeed for these Spiritual Influences which spring from him are as Flesh to feed and as Bloud to preserve our Spirits to Life everlasting 2. These Spiritual Virtues do issue immediately from Christs Humane Nature and therefore when we receive them we are truly said to participate of Christs Body For the Body of Christ by being united to the Deity is become a Quickning Body This S. Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Cyril Alex. in Joan. l. 4. of Alexandria teacheth us that the Son of God is by Nature Life as being begotten of the Living Father yet nevertheless that his Holy Body is Vivifick too as being joyned and United after an ineffable manner to the Word which Quickneth all things This S. Cyril of all the Ancient Doctors I know of hath given the Fullest the Clearest the most Substantial account of this matter though what he says is very agreeable to the sense of the Rest who by Christs Real Presence in the Sacrament understood nothing else but the Presence of those Heavenly Virtues and Influences which are called his Body because they are the Distillations and Effects of his Glorified Humane Nature For as a Learned Doctor of our own Church hath confidently affirmed though the Divine Nature be the Prime Fountain of life to Dr. Jaekt son vol. 3. l. 2. c. 3. all and an inexhaustible Fountain in it self yet a Fountain it is whereof we cannot drink save as it is derived to us through the Humane Nature of Christ And though God the Father doth convey unto us many inestimable blessings yet he conveys them only through his Son and not only through him as our Advocate or Intercessor but through him as our Mediator that is through his Humanity as the Organ or Conduit So that we are as truly said to partake of Christs Body when we partake of these Blessings as we can be said to partake of a Spring when we drink of the Waters which stream and flow from it 3. Besides nothing is more usual among Mankind than to give the Denomination of things to the Virtue and efficacy of those things So we are said to be warmed with the Fire when we onely feel its Heat and to have the benefit of the Sun when we are comforted onely with its Rayes Which Two Similitudes I make use of the rather not onely because they serve to illustrate the matter in hand but also because S. Chrysostome calls that Heavenly thing we receive at Sacrament Spiritual Fire and because the Holy Scripture it self calls our Ad Pop. Antioch Hom. 60. Saviour the Sun of Righteousness And as it is not Improper to say that the Sun though it be at a vaste distance from us reacheth every corner of the Earth so that in the Fields in our Houses in our Closest Retirements we feel it and nothing is hid from it from the moss upon the wall to the Vegetables that are wrapped up in the bosome of the earth when yet all these are cherisht not by the Sun it self but by its Beans onely so it is not a Paradox to believe that the Sun of Righteousness casteth his Influences from above and quickens his Church and every part thereof so that every heart that is not quite Dead in Trespasses and Sins Ecclesia corpus Christi effecta obsequitur capiti suo superius lumen in inferior a diffusum claritatis suae plenitudinae a fine usque ad finem attingens totum apud se manens totum se omnibus commodat caloris illius identitas it a corpori assidet uta capite non recedat Panis itaque hic azymus cibus verus sincerus per speciem Sacramentum nos tactu Sanctificat c. De Caena Dom. opusc S. Cypriano ascript like a Rotten Root Receives the benefit of his Operations neither is it any Impropriety of speech to say that our hearts are wrought upon by the Body of Christ that we are Partakers of his Body that we are enlivened and comforted by his very Body when we receive those Spiritual Virtues which are darted from that Glorified Body of his which is in Heaven 4. By this time I hope it doth appear how necessary the distinction is between Christs Natural and Spiritual Body and what is meant by that Spiritual Body and why it is so called I proceed next to shew that He hath indeed such a Spiritual Body wherewith he really quickneth and strengthneth every faithful Christian For the clearing hereof we must observe our Saviours discourse which the Jews in the sixth chapter of S Johns Gospel by occasion of their speaking of the Miracle of the Manna he told them that he would give his followers the true Bread from Heaven that his Flesh which he would give for the life of the World should be that Heavenly Bread that his Flesh should be meat indeed and his Bloud drink indeed and that it was necessary for every one who hoped for life to eat that Flesh and to drink that Bloud of his To conceive as the Socinians and some other modern Writers do that by his Flesh is meant his Doctrine only and that by eating his Flesh and drinking his Bloud is meant the Believing of his Doctrine and no more to me seems a forced a foreign and very weak Notion and an inexcusable act of Singularity For all the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Churches do with one mouth interpret our Saviours discourse of that Spiritual Communication of his Flesh and Bloud wherewith every good Christian is blest Now that our Saviour might make this credible and easie to his Auditors that his Flesh and Bloud should be meat and drink to the Souls of his Disciples he opens the matter to them these two ways 1. By intimating to them that he was to Ascend up in his Body into Heaven vers 62. what if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before For this reason saith Athanasius he put them in mind of his Ascension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas in illud si
eo dictum est Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi Secundum carnem vero quod verbum assumpsit secundum id quod de Virgine natus est secundum id quod a Hudaeis prebensus est quod ligno confixus quod de cruce depositus quod linteis involutus quod in sepulchro conditus quod in resurrectione manifestatus non semper habebitis vobiscum S. Aug. Tractat. 50. in John plainly in respect of that Body which was assumed by the Word which was born of the Virgin which was apprehended by the Jews which was nailed to the Tree which was taken down from the Cross and was wrapped up and laid in the Sepulchre in respect of that Body we have him not with us but in respect of his Majesty in respect of his Providence in respect of his Ineffable and invincible Grace that promise of his is fulfilled lo I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the world And speaking of the Eucharist he doth distinguish between Nam nos bodie accipimus visibilem cibum used aliud est Sacramentum aliud virtus Sacramenti S. Aug. Tractat. 26. in John Usque ad Spiritûs participationem manducemus bibamus Id Tract 27. the Sacrament it self and the virtue of the Sacrament calling that the Grace of Christ which is not consumed with our Teeth and the participation of the Spirit This is that which S. Austin elsewhere calls the Intelligible the Invisible the Spiritual Body of Christ that which Ireneus calls the Heavenly thing that which Clement and Jerome call the spiritual Flesh and Bloud of the Lord That which Pseudo-Cyprian calls the Divine Virtue the Divine Essence the Divine Majesty the participation of the Spirit the drink which flowes and streams from that Spiritual Rock Christ Jesus That which S. Ambrose calls the spiritual Aliment and the Body of a Divine Spirit that which others call the Lords Immortality his Divine Body the Truth of his Body the Nutriment of the Inward Man the vital Pulment of the Incarnate Deity and divers other expressions we meet with in old Authors signifying the wonderful vertues of Christs Glorified Humanity whereof every Faithful Soul is made Partaker S. Ifidore Pelusiot conceived that the roasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Pelus Ep. 219. l. 1. of the Paschal Lamb with Fire did Typically fignifie that Christ the true Pasleover was to unite the Fire of the Divine Essence to his Flesh to be eaten of us That 's his Experssion and it shews his opinion that we receive the virtue of his Divine through his Humane Nature Among modern Foreign Writers none seems to me to have explained this thing better than the moderate and Judicious Author of the Diallacticon Eucharistiae a Book written about 130. years ago to compose all controversies Hoc corpus hunc sanguinem carnem hanc substantiam corporis non communi more nec ut humana ratio dictat accipi oportet sed it a nominari existimari credi propter eximios quosdam effectus virtutes proprietates conjunctas quae corpori sanguini Christi natura in sunt nempe quod Pascat animas nostras vivificet simul corpora ad resurrectionem immortalitatem praeparet Dialact pag. 33. 34. Non hic cogitandûm est nos crudas bominis carnes comedere vel sanguinem bibere Sed verba spiritalia esse spiritualiter intelligenda carnem quidem sanguinem nominari sed de Spiritu Vita idest vivifica dominicae carnis virtute debere intellagi c. Ibid. pag. 25. Quia figur a veri corporis panis est jure Corpus appellatur quia virtutem ejusdem vitalem conjunctam habet multo magis tum vero maxime quod utrumque complectitur Ibid. pag 54. Panis Domini Corpus Christi est quia gratiam virtutem ejus vitalem conjunctam habet Quod outem haec non commentitia aut nuper nata sententia est sed ab antiquis recepta approbata Scriptoribus claris ipsorum testimoniis confirmabimus Ibid. pag. 57. about the Sacrament and he too goes altogether this way shewing that that Body of Christ which is present with us is his spiritual Body and that we communicate thereof by deriving Efficacy Power and Vital Virtue from the Body of the Lord. And this account I am the better pleased and satisfied with because it was a Notion that was en tertained and really asserted by a very Learned Doctor of our own Church with Dr. Jack vol. 3. p. 325. Seq whose words I shall conclude this consideration we must not collect saith he that Christs Body because comprehended within the Heavens can exercise no real operation upon our Bodies or Souls here on Earth or that the live Influence of his Glorified Humane Nature may not be diffused through the World as he shall be pleased to dispense it no we must not take upon us to limit or bound the Efficacy of Christs Body upon the Bodies or Souls which he hath taken into his Protection there are Influences of Life which his Humane Nature doth distill from his Heavenly Throne And the Sacramental Bread is called his Body and the Sacramental Wine his Bloud as for other reasons so especially for this because the Virtue and Influence of his most Bloudy Sacrifice is most plentifully and most effectually distilled from Heaven unto the worthy Receivers and many more things he saith to the same effect By this account we may easily undergand the meaning of the sixth chapter of S. John which hath so puzled many Learned Interpreters and we may fairly give the reason of the Sentence of our Lords Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Bloud ye have no life in you For the Principle of life comes from our Lords Glorified Humanity and unless we receive into our Souls the vital Virtue which distilleth from it we can be in no other than a dead Condition I do not mean that 't is impossible to have life without receiving the Sacrament no there is that which Divines call a Sacramental and Spiritual receiving of Christ and a Spiritual receiving only when men eat and drink after a right manner they receive both the Sacrament and also the thing or virtue of the Sacrament but yet men may derive and by Faith do derive virtue from Christ without the Sacrament if they do not abstain through negligence or the love of sin and the like The Grace of God is not tyed to Sacraments so but that God may dispense it as he pleaseth nor are we to conceive that the Blessed Body of Christ doth quicken none but at the Communion CHAP. X. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Viscourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of
made partakers of the Nature of Christ and consequently it must be granted that we partake thereby of the Spirit of Christ For considering that the fullness of the Deity dwelleth in him considering that he hath received the Spirit without measure and considering that of his Fullness we receive by this Ordinance according to our capacities and wants we must conclude that we receive of his Spirit whatever the Socinians affirm to the contrary Secondly S. Paul hath put the thing out of doubt if we will but observe his meaning in 1 Cor. 12. 13. where he saith that by one Spirit we are all Baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one Spirit The Apostles design there is to perswade Christians to Unity and Love and he useth this as an argument because they have all received one Spirit first at their Baptism and afterwards at the Lords Supper there they all drink of one Spirit or as some conceive it should be read they are all drenched For the Socinians themselves grant a Redundancy in that Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idque redundat utrumque Hebraea Phrasi Slichtingius in 1 Cor. 12. 13. with one and the same Spirit quasi potionati Spiritu as S. Jeromes expression is by receiving very liberal These Pharses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Chrysost in Locum And Clemens Alex. reards it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cannot favour the fancy of the Socinians who understand the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in reference to our Spiritual washing in Baptism for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plainly relates to our drinking at the other Sacrament and to our receiving of the Spirit by it measures of the Spirit at the Sacrament To drink the Spirit and to drink into the Spirit are Phrases here of the same importance they signifie the receiving of the Spirit in a very plentiful measure and S. Pauls expression doth constrain us to believe that we receive the Spirit plentifully by drinking of the Sacramental Cup. Indeed this must not be understood so as if the Holy Spirit were first given us at the Lords Table For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His nor is he fit to be a Communicant For every one ought to use this Ordinance being well prepared with a lively Faith towards God with sincere Repentance from dead works and with unfeigned Charity to all Mankind as shall be shewn hereafter and these virtues are wrought in us by the Spirit of Christ who divideth to every man severally as he pleaseth and as every one needs The meaning therefore is that by eating and drinking after a worthy manner great Additions are still made to our former stock Here is an Improvement of every Talent of Grace which was put into our hands before Here that Holy seed which was sown in our hearts by Baptism is nourisht and made very fruitful by fresh Influences from Heaven For as the Spirit is given us by measure so is it given by degrees too and every Ordinance of God brings a portion of the Spirit if our hearts be but ready and our bosomes be but open to receive it But at this Ordinance men receive a double portion so that to him that hath much more is given and Quotiescunque bibis remissionem peccatorum accipis inebriaris Spiritu Sancto Ambros de Sacram. l. 5. c. 3. he hath more abundantly and by drinking duely of the sacred Chalice we are inebriated with the Holy Ghost as S. Ambrose said if the Books de Sacramentis be his And if we may have leave to guess at the reasons why our blessed Saviour was pleased to continue the use of bread and wine at this Mystery which he himself instituted instead of the Passeover we may conjecture this reason to have been one that they might signifie that variety and abundance of Grace which he gives us by our worthy eating and drinking of these Elements For bread and wine are the most principal and most substantial sorts of nutriment the one serves to strengthen mans heart the other to make it glad Ps 104. 15. Now the designation of these two things to this Sacred use intimates that plentiful Assistance and Recruit which is by this Holy Rite given unto all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity They have not only so much as is necessary for their support but such a portion of the Spirit too as is productive of chearfulness and pleasure in the ways of Religion This was eminently verified in the case of the Primitive Christians who had this Mystery in such great esteem and were fitted by it for the sharpest afflictions that could be brought upon them They had not only the tongues but the hearts of Saints and Religion was not matter of their discourse but of their practice They overcame the World and were more than Conquerours their constancy was as firm as the Rocks their Prayers went up daily as the Incense their Zeal was like the fire upon Gods Altar that went not out their Charity was as active as the Flames and as large as the World their Love of Christ was so vigorous and fervent that they sang in Prisons and rejoyced in their torments and at the very stake and I cannot so well impute the reason of this to any other thing as to their frequent and religious use of this blessed Sacrament I am sure they themselves believed that the Holy Ghost did both Sanctify those things which were to be distributed at the Communion and did also enter into the heart of every Faithful Receiver Hence it was that they thought it the greatest punishment that could be inflicted upon them in this world to be deprived of the Sacrament concluding that they were thereby cut off from all fellowship with God Hence it was that Penitents were wont to beg the Prayers of good Christians upon their knees at the Church-doors and were content to undergo any the severest Penance that they might have the liberty to go to the Altar of God again And hence it was too that on all occasions especially in times of danger or distress they flocked together in crowds and throngs to the Holy Table because this was the most certain and the most effectual course they could take to arm themselves so with the Spirit of God that they might persevere in well doing and endure all their conflicts and agonies as it became the Hearty Disciples of a crucified Jesus It being clear therefore that large measures of the Spirit are given by this Ordinance this conclusion will serve as a principle to infer another viz. that those Divine Graces wherewith our Souls are endued are hereby increased and strengthned and particularly that our Faith in Christ is very much Confirm'd at and by this Ordinance For the Spirit of God is never given to vain or
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
there is a Substantial but an Accidental So Philo saith of Cajus Caesar when he changed the Temple of God at Jerusalem into a Temple bearing his own Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. lib. de legatione noted by Eusebius Eccles Hist 2. cap. 6. mutation an alternation of the state Condition and Quality of the man or the thing but not of the Substance or Nature for the Convert is a man still but something more that is a Servant of Christ and the Minister is a Christian man still but something more that is an Ambassadour of the Gospel and the Fabrick is an House still but something more that is the House of God In like manner when St. Chrysostome and the rest of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Prodit Judae Tom. 5. p. 559. say that upon repeating the words of Institution the things which lye before us on the Holy Table are Changed the meaning clearly is not that their Nature or Substance is Destroyed but that the Condition of them is altered so that they are Bread and Wine still but something more that is they are now become Sacraments the vehicles of Grace the means and Instruments whereby the Spiritual Body and Bloud of Christ are conveyed and communicated to us Upon this account when we go to the Holy Communion we should think we go as indeed we do to an Ordinance of the greatest Consideration and Consequence we should value it highly for that Divine stamp which the Holy Jesus hath set upon it we should prize it according to the Purport and Ends for which it was first instituted and we should regard not so much the things themselves which we eat and drink as the Institution of the thing together with the Power and Blessing of God which doth attend it Men that do not look into the Inside of this heavenly Mystery but judge according to Appearance are apt to entertain mean and low thoughts of it because they see none but a weak and Sinful man that Ministreth and nothing but the Common Creatures of Bread and Wine that are distributed But when we present our selves before the Lords Table we should Lift up our Hearts and Raise our Thoughts above those things which are obvious to the Sense we should bear in our Hence that very Ancient Admonition extant in S. Cyprian de Orat. Dom. and in divers Ancient Liturgies Sursum corda Lift up your hearts minds the Truth the Goodness and the Power of God and consider that it is the Usual method of his Providence to bring the Greatest Ends about by the use of such means as to our thinking are the most Unlikely and incompetent for those purposes Thus it was as to his choice of Persons in the beginning of Christianity he employed such men for the great work of the Ministry as in the esteem of the world were of the least and Meanest consideration One a Publican another a Tent-maker many that were Fishermen few that were Learned none that were Noble or that bore a great Figure in the world and yet by these weak these contemptible Instruments I mean weak in themselves and Contemptible in the account of others by these instruments were Philosophers Princes Kingdomes and infinite numbers of Jews and Idolaters Captivated and brought in obedience to the Faith of the Son of God we have this Treasure of the Gospel in Earthen vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of Us saith the Apostle 2. Cor. 4. 7. Thus it hath been Gods method too as to his choice of things He hath been wont to use the most Ordinary the most Contemptible means to effect his purposes of Grace and Mercy that he might shew the greatness of his own Power and convince the world that nothing is so mean but that it shall be serviceable and effective of Noble ends as long as it is the hand of an Almighty Agent What was Circumcision that it should be the Seal of Abrahams Righteousness and a sure Token of Gods Covenant with him and his whole Issue what was the noise of a few Rams-horns that it should tumble down the walls of Jericho or a Cake of barly bread that it should be seen to overturn the Tents of the Midianites or a Brasen Serpent that the sight of it should cure the wounds of the Israelites or a little lump of Figs that it should presently heal Hezekiah what was a manger that it should be the Cradle of the Lord of Glory or a Cross that it should be the Altar for the great Propitiatory Sacrifice to be offered up upon it what was St. Peters Shadow that it should restore the sick and cast Unclean Spirits out of their Holds and Possessions nay what is a little Water that it should Cleanse and Sanctifie all our souls and make Baptized persons the Vessels of Election And yet S. Paul calls it the Washing of Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. And the operations of Christs Spirit are so effectual by Baptisme that to every Faithful man it becomes the instrument of Salvation And why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should bless the use of the Bread and Wine or make it productive of those Spiritual Benefits which have been afore-mentioned Our Faith ought not to stumble at this we should not look upon the Elements but upon the Institution not take an estimate of this Ordinance by the Creatures we receive but by the Divine Benediction that cometh down upon them For when Christ Blessed the Bread and the Cup and commanded the use of them he intended that this Mystery should ever be successful and effectual to every Soul that should be rightly Disposed 'T is S. Chrysostoms observation S. Chrys ubi Supr that when God blessed his Creatures in the beginning and commanded them to be Fruitful and Multiply that word though it was given so long ago yet 't is powerfull still and will be powerful to the worlds end and by Virtue thereof the least grain of mustard seed groweth up to a great plant In like manner that Blessing wherewith the Son of God blessed the bread and Wine at the Institution of this Solemnity ceaseth not now but is as effectual as ever so that they are still the Instruments of Our growth in Grace as they were to the Disciples in the beginning not indeed by any Natural Causality that is in them but by the good Pleasure and Blessing of God and by the Operation of the Holy Ghost For the workings of the Spirit though they be Mysterious and Secret yet are they certain and True and at this Heavenly Solemnity the work of the Spirit is done So that we must draw our minds off from the things which are below which are before us which we see and taste of and Fix our thoughts upon the Spiritual Body and Bloud of Christ which are as it were wrapped up in them and as the Ancients were wont to admonish we
not Mat. 6. unto you saith he treasure upon Earth willing us thereby rather to set our minds upon Heavenly treasure which ever endureth than upon Earthly treasure which by many sundry occasions perisheth and is taken away from us And yet worldly treasure must needs be had and possessed of some men as the person time and occasion doth serve Likewise Mat. 10. he said When you be brought before Kings and Princes think not what and how you shall answer Not willing us by this Negative that we should negligently and unadvisedly answer we care not what but that we should depend of our Heavenly Father trusting that by his Holy Spirit he will sufficiently instruct us of answer rather than to trust of any answer to be devised by our Wit and study And in the same manner he spake when he said It is not you that speak but it is the Spirit Mat. 10. of God that speaketh within you For the Spirit of God is he that principally putteth godly words into our mouths and yet nevertheless we do speak according to his moving And to be short in all these sentences following that is to say Call no Man your Father upon Earth Let Mat. 23. no Man call you Lord or Master Fear not Mat. 23. them that kill the Body I came not to send Mat. 10. peace upon Earth It is not in me to set Mat. 10. you at my right hand or left hand You shall Mat. 20. not worship the Father neither in this Mount Joh. 4. nor in Jerusalem I take no witness at no Joan. 5. Man My Doctrine is not mine I seek John 7. not mine I seek not my glory In all John 8. these Negatives our Saviour Christ spake not precisely and utterly to deny all the foresaid things but in comparison of them to prefer other things as to prefer our Father and Lord in Heaven above any worldly Father Lord or Master in Earth and his fear above the fear of any Creature and his word and Gospel above all worldly peace Also to prefer spiritual and inward honouring of God in pure heart and mind above local corporal and outward honour and that Christ preferred his Fathers glory above his own Now forasmuch as I have declared at length the Nature and kind of these Negative speeches which be no pure Negatives but by comparison it is easie hereby to make answer to St. John Chrysostome who used this phrase of speech most of any Author For his meaning in his foresaid homily was not that in the Celebration of the Lords Supper is neither Bread nor Wine neither Priest nor the Body of Chist which the Papists themselves must needs confess but his intent was to draw our minds upwards to Heaven that we should not consider so much the Bread Wine Priest and Body of Christ as we should consider his Divinity and Holy Spirit given unto us to our eternal Salvation And therefore in the same place he useth so many times these words think and think not Willing us by those words that we should not fix our thoughts and minds up the bread Wine Priest nor Christs body But to lift up our hearts higher unto his Spirit and Divinity without the which his Body availeth nothing as he said himself It is the spirit that giveth life the Flesh availeth Joan. 6. nothing Thus far he Therefore when you address your selves to the Table of the great God you should be full of lofty and Divine apprehensions of that hidden Treasure of Celestial Grace and Virtue which is then to be tendred unto you how mean soever the Instruments of that Grace are in their own Nature And accordingly you should go with those Holy dispositions and affections with that Reverence dread and awe of God but withal with that forwardness and swiftness of Devotion and with those transports of pleasure and joy as if you were now going to the very gate of Heaven Men should be afraid to use this important and venerable Ordinance with respect to secular and base ends only to satisfie the Laws of the Realm to save their Places their Reputation their mammon It is a most fearful act of presumption a deadly and horrid prophanation an argument of Atheistical or debaucht minds when men dare prostitute a thing of such a sacred Nature to their carnal Lusts and take the Viands of Eternity into their hands and mouths even when the Devil is in their hearts When you prepare for this solemn occasion be in good earnest with God and with your own Souls be as considerate and serious as if you were going to die be as upright in heart as if you were to take the next step to judgment When you see the Holy Table spread call home your thoughts let your minds be as composed and your Meditations be as full of Reverence as if you saw a vision and beheld the food of Angels let down from Heaven in a Sheet when the happy hour is now come that God waits to bless you with the greatest Treasure of his love begrudge not the going to his Table for it but bless God that you may have it for fetching and when you go be as pure in heart as if your lips were touched with a live Coal from off the Altar prostrate your bodies and cast your Souls down to the lowest step of humility and adore the Almighty like those Seraphims in Isaiahs Vision who covered their feet and their Faces with their wings as they cried one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Isa 6. 2 3. When the Bread and Wine are made Sacraments and those blessed Symbols of Grace are reached out unto you think and know that the Lord of Life and Glory is now coming under your roof and great is the Peace of such as receive him with the passionate desires of affectionate Penitents that bathe his feet with their Tears and lodge him in the retirements of a clean innocent and Virgin heart And when you depart let it be with Thanksgivings and Hallelujahs and with all the expressions of grateful Souls enflamed with the Love of Jesus and with a deep sense of your Honour and Felicity that God hath vouchsafed thus to visit you with his goodness that he hath taken you into his Arms that he hath covered your offences that he hath fed you with the true Bread of Life from Heaven that he hath shed his love abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost which is now given unto you that he hath united you to himself by the Communication of the Divine Nature that he hath cast into you the seed of immortality and given you an earnest of a blessed Resurrection and an antepast of Heaven for all these blessings you receive at the hand of God as oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord after a worthy manner and as it becometh Saints