Credit of our Senses give Atheistical Spirits and all that are Enemies to our Religion advantage and Arguments to Discredit all the Doctrines of Christianity and therefore their Hypothesis is so far from being Believed that it is to be Condemned as Impious and Scandalous in the Highest degree For if when our Senses tell us this is Bread and this is Wine we may not Trust our Senses Ill men will presently draw thence this Natural Conclusion that they have no Reason to give credit to any Article of the Christian Creed especially if the Church of Rome be Infallible in this definition that mens Judgements must not be governed by what they See or feel The credibility of the whole Gospel dependeth Originally upon the Testimony of Sense and we therefore believe the Evangelical tidings to be True because we believe they were Preached by the most Holy Jesus and were Attested by God himself who by working wonders Confirmed the Doctrines which were taught by his Eternal Son Now if men over-rule the Evidence which is given by Sense I would fain know how the Subtilest Romanist can prove that there was such a one as Christ in the world or that he was not a meer Phantasm as some Hereticks thought of old Or how can they make it credible upon Sufficient grounds that Christ Preached some of those things which the Papists themselves believe or that he Confirmed his Doctrine by Miracles They must at last come to this that competent witnesses heard him deliver those Doctrines and saw his works and to all this any Infidel may answer that according to their Principle mens Senses may be Deceived and if we may not believe our Own eyes as they say we must not what reason is there to believe the Senses of Others and if All may be mistaken how can it be made appear that the History of the Gospel is not a Dream a Fancy a Fable as one of the Popes did upon a time call it The Holy Apostles proved the Truth of Christs Religion by the certainty of their Senses So S. John 1. Jo. 1. 1 2 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our Eyes which we have looked upon and our Hands have Handled of the word of Life for the Life was made Manifest and we have seen it and bear witness c. that which we have Seen and Heard declare we unto you The Expressions are ingeminated to shew the Truth and Certainty of Christs being in the Flesh and this certainty is proved by the Testimony of their Senses which undeniably argues that such a Testimony is to be taken when the Organs of Sensation are rightly disposed and the Object is suitable to the Faculty Briefly the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is the fundamental Article upon which many others do depend for if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching in vain and your faith is also vain 1. Cor. 15. 14. Now Christ himself appealed to the Senses of his Disciples to Convince them that he was Risen indeed As they were frighted at his appearance and fancied that it was a Ghost to Satisfie them to the Full Behold said he my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see me have S. Luke 24. 39. Now if they had reason to conclude that it was their Master indeed because they heard saw and handled him why may not we aswell believe and conclude that this is Bread and Wine indeed when we see and taste and smell and feel it to be so The Apostles had the Testimony but of Three Senses we have the Testimony of Four and if our Senses must not be believed then not theirs neither and then what becomes of our Christian Religion 2. Methinks all thoughtful men should mistrust that cause which to secure it self from the danger of a Shock blinds their eyes and befools them into such absolute Bondage that they must be obliged to believe that snow is Ink and that Ice is fire But besides this secondly nothing can be more contrary to Reason than the doctrine of Transubstantiation The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord saith Solomon Prov. 20. 27. and 't is senseless to imagine that when God set up this luminary in our hearts his meaning was that we should mind it no more than as if we lived in utter darkness or that it should be less useful to us than the light of a Glow worm Now first this is a certain principle of Reason that a man can have but one body and so we are to conclude that Christ himself had no more But if that which he gave to his Disciples was his very Natural Body consisting of so many organical parts then had he more Bodies than one even as many as there were Morsels because it is supposed that every Disciple received the body of Christ entirely Now this is an imagination which the greatest Hereticks yet never durst to defend Some indeed held of old that Christ had no real Body at all but only an imaginary and Phantastick being which was a delusion of mens senses so the followers of Simon Magus the Marciouites and others did falsly maintain But that he had more than one natural Body properly so called none did ever affirm And yet this is the consequence of the Romish Doctrine of Transubstantiation For either his Natural body is not in the Wafer at all or else it is not there wholly and entirely or else it must be supposed to be multiplied proportionably to the number of the consecrated Wafers And hence it must follow of necessity that as at the institution of this Sacrament Christ had some Bodies which were not Crucified for the Supper was before the Passion and that body which every Apostle did eat was never Crucified so still that Christ hath an indefinite number of Bodies even as many as there are Communicants in the whole World And then where shall we find that one man Christ Jesus that St. Paul speaks of Rom. 5. 15. the gift of grace hath abounded unto many by one man Jesus Christ Again Secondly these are certain and Eternal principles of Reason that one and the same body can be but in one and the same Place at once as my body cannot be here and at the Indies in the same moment for then it would be one Body and yet not one at the same time it is certain by reason that a body must have Parts divisible and distinct the one from another as every humane Body hath a Leg distinct from the arm and the head distinct from the trunk for else it would be a body and not a body A body must be Circumscribed and limited to a determinate space proportionable to its dimensions for else it would be a finite and yet an infinite substance A body cannot be broken into pieces and yet remain entire for then it
though no such thing hath been allowed hitherto at any Sacrifical Solemnity Which shews that our whole Sacrifice is fully imputed to every worthy Communicant for his forgiveness Dr. Patricks Menfa Myst cap. 4. 5. 3. and as a Learned Man hath well observed that we are fully justified by Christ from all those things which we could not be justified from by the Law of Moses 3. Thus the Analogy of this Sacrifical Banquet doth prove that every worthy partaker thereof hath the strongest and most substantial reasons to hope in God firmly and to depend upon Gods goodness and promise for his Pardon But thirdly the words of our Saviour himself do seem to argue this beyond all manner of controversie though the Socinians endeavour to Evade the force of them For speaking of the Cup he said expresly Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood of the new Covenant which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins Though it be granted what the Socinians object that those words for the Remission of Sins do immediately relate to the shedding of Christs Blood which was spoken of just before yet they endeavour in vain to Lud. Wolzogenius in Loc. conclude thence that they have no reference to the drinking of the Cup. Nor have they reason enough to affirm that Remission of sins is the fruit of Christs Passion only but not the effect of our drinking because he said not drink ye all for the Remission of Sins but drink ye of the Wine that represents my Blood which is shed for the Remission of sins For since our forgiveness is the certain immediate and necessary consequence of his sufferings it will undeniably follow that it we participate of his Blood as I have shew'd we do we must be supposed to partake also of that which is the inseparable effect of his Blood shedding That which brings the cause must also bring the effect which is the Natural result of it The same action which makes us partakers of the Sacrifice it self must likewise make us partakers of the fruit and Benefit of the Sacrifice So that it matters not how our Saviour exprest the thing as long as he exprest it enough Since he first tells us that his Blood was for our Remission and then bids us to Drink of that Blood and then assures us that our drinking thus of Wine is in effect the drinking of his very Blood we have all the reason in the World to believe that by our thus drinking we obtain Remission and that our Lord commanded us to drink in Order thereunto The truth is Pardon of sin is the Blessed fruit both of Christs dying and of our receiving Of the former as the meritorious Cause that purchased pardon for all in general Of the latter as the ordinary instrument that conveys the pardon to every Holy Soul in particular The shedding of Christs Blood did procure and ratifie Gods promise of Grace to all Mankind and the receiving of this Wine which is the Symbol of that Blood is the Seal of that promise to all worthy Communicants when Christ was slain upon the Cross he obtained this favour of God that all Men were then put into a salvable condition into a Capacity of forgiveness into a way whereby they might be pardoned actually and fully if they would not be wanting to themselves perfect Peace and reconciliation was then merited and it was merited for all that should accept of it whether Jews or Gentiles bond or free for he tasted Death for every Man Heb. 2. 9. He died for all that were dead 2 Cor. 5. 14. Thus far the Scripture speaketh in general terms but it saith nothing of Me or of Thee as to our particular Persons We find not our names there much less can we find our Names in the book of Eternity All that we can do is to judge of our selves by examining our state by fair probabilities and rational Collection And to strengthen our hopes and to establish every mans humble confidence this Ordinance was appointed that as offen as we eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord after a worthy manner we may be comfortably and reasonably well perswaded that our sins and transgressions are done away For that pardon is by this Ordinance applyed to every one in particular which before was bought for all universally and any man that is but satisfied of the truth of his Faith and of the sincerity of his Repentance may go away from the Holy Table well satisfied to that he now stands fair in the eye and favour of God and so shall stand still if he doth but hold up his goings in Gods ways so that his footsteps do not slide back into Sin and Perdition I hope that by this time I have fully proved and illustrated this matter But yet before I let it go I would note this one thing that our Saviour spake expresly of the Remission of our sins when he spake of the administration of the Cup. Neither of the three Evangelists who have recorded the History of the institution of this Mystery nor St. Paul who hath repeated it takes any notice of that expression when our Lord spake of the distribution of the Bread Indeed it is not to be doubted but our Saviours Body was broken for our forgiveness nor do I doubt but his meaning was so when he said this is my body which is given for you that is for your Atonement and Pardon but that particular expression touching the Remission of Sin was used by him for ought we know only in reference to the Drinking of the Wine Hence I infer that for the Peace of a Mans Conscience and for the satisfaction of his mind that he is in an hopeful state of Salvation it is necessary for him to receive the Sacrament in both kinds Seeing forgiveness of sin is the effect of the whole Ordinance seeing our Saviour seems to have a particular and special regard to our drinking of the Cup and seeing he gives us this reason for it because it is the Sacrament of his blood that is for our Remission I say seeing that the thing standeth thus I cannot see what substantial and solid grounds men can have to be confident of their Pardon if they participate not of the Wine as well as of the Bread If the thing were not prejudicial to the Peace of mens Souls yet it would be impossible to Vindicate the Church of Rome from the guilt of Impiety Sacriledge and Innovation for Denying the Cup to all the Lay-People of her Communion For the Holy Jesus himself administred both the Bread and the Wine to his Disciples and as He had done he commanded them to do also nay as if he then fore-saw and was minded to prevent that abuse which hath lately crept into the Roman Church he Positively commanded his Disciples when he reached out the Cup to them that they should All drink of it and his Reason was this because his Bloud of
would be whole and not whole These and the like are everlasting and certain principles which all men that will obey common reason must agree in and they are taught us both in Christian and Heathen Philosophy as common Notions and Maxims as fixt and clear as that one and one makes two So that to contradict these principles is to tell Mankind that they are all mad-men and fools that are not able to tell their Fingers And yet these principles are contradicted by the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is made up of I know not how many impossibilites which we can no more reconcile to reason than we can prove that the same proposition is both true and false in the same respect and that man who believes that Doctrine must believe the grossest and most palpable contradictions For according to this rate these monstrous Absardities will follow that Christs Humane flesh is Circumscribed in Heaven as every body must be confined to a certain place and yet at the same time is in millions of places here on Earth and yet one Body still That it is whole and yet is broken That it is divided and yet is entire that it is entire in every Wafer and yet if you break those Wafers into a thousand particles that the body of Christ is one still and whole in every the least particle That tho there be feet and hands and head and many other constituent and integral parts in Christs body and tho all these parts are the one without the other and by the other and distinct from the other yet that all are so jumbled and crowded together into a point that whosoever eateth but a piece that is no bigger than a Pins point eateth all and every part of Christs body And many more such contradictions there are so wild so irrational so inconsistent with common sense that 't is as tiresome to count them up as to tell the number of the Stars Further yet Thirdly we find by experience that what we eat and drink at the Communion doth serve for Nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Quomodo dicunt carnem in corruptionem devenire non percipere vitam que a corpore Domini Sanguine alitur Subaud Symbolico Irer adv Haeres l. 4. c. 34. * it recruites the spirits and helps to repair the expences of Nature and they tell us of King Lewis that he lived 40 days together onely by the food which he had from the Holy Table and without question any man may sustain himself a Considerable time onely by the use of the Sacred Viands provided he receive a Convenient Quantity Now we desire a Rational answer to this Inquiry what is it that nourisheth a man in this case If they say it is Christs Body and Bloud Naturally understood and Corporally taken it is Blasphemy for then it may feed a Reprobate aswell as a Saint and a Jew aswell as a Christian nay what if some Unclean Beast should happen to light on it The Consequences thereof would be such are as enough to strike the Heart of any good Christian with Horrour but to hear them mentioned If they say it is the Species the Accidents of Bread and Wine that nourisheth without the Substance of either it is down right Non-sense And they were as good say that a Body can be sustained with a shaddow or that a man may Live upon a shew which is not so much as Air or that he may be fed by Dreaming specially if he Dream as Pharaoh's Baker did of three Baskets upon his Head full of all manner of Meats or that he may Quench his Thirst and Refresh his Spirits only by Looking upon Grapes nay though he mistake Paint for Reality as those Birds did which flew to the Picture of a Vine which Zeuxes had drawn supposing that they were Natural and Real Clusters Either they must grant that to be Bread and Wine which they feel in their Stomachs and find Refreshment and Strength from or else they must say we Trust too much to Sense and Reason and then they cannot blame us but by allowing sense and Reason to be on our side a Crime which I wish all Romanists were guilty of in every Particular To all which I add in the 4th Place that the outward parts of the Sacrament are Subject to many Alterations and Changes which without Loathsomness and Abhorrence we cannot conceive to be incident to the Blessed Body and Bloud of our Redeemer the Lord of Glory The solid part is torn in pieces with our Teeth and if men have stronger Stomachs than the Capernaites who could not away with the thoughts of eating Humane Flesh or if they can endure to go beyond the Cannibals who were wont to eat their Enemies Flesh only yet we have Reason to wonder how they can rellish the thoughts of out going the most Barbarous Pagans who ever had more Reverence and Veneration for that they Worshipt than to Devour such things as they took to be Deities Yet thus the Romanists do not stick to do for which reason Averroes would not become a Christian but when he saw some of that denomination to Eat that which they Adored as their God he cryed out with Indignation Let my Soul rather venture its Lot and take its portion with the old Philosophers Again the Bread may grow Mouldy may Corrupt may bread Worms and stink for which cause Hesychius tells us of some Christians formerly Hesych in Levit. that their custome was to Burn the Remaining Surplusage of the Sacrament Nay it may be stoln away by a Mouse as sometimes it hath been since People came to be so Superstitious as to Reserve it and to secure it from the like chance and from the Vermines teeth the Romanists are wont to keep it shut up close in a Pix So also the Liquid part in the Cup may Intoxicate the Brain being immoderately taken it may be prickt and become Eager through negligence and many accidents more 't is Subject unto which without abomination we cannot conceive can happen to the Holy Bloud of our Saviour Nay both the outward Elements may be Bellarm. de Euch. lib. 3. c. 24. mixed with Poyson and Peter Martyr well objected against the Papists neither doth Cardinal Bellarmine positively deny the truth of the Stories that Pope Victor the 3d. and the Emperour Henry the 7th were both of them poysoned with the Sacrament In a word our Saviour himself hath told us S. Matth. 15. 17. that whatsoever entreth in at the mouth goeth into the Belly and is cast out into the Draught Origen doth positively affirm the same thing of the Quod si quickquid ingreditur in os in ventrem abit in secessum ejicitur ille cibus qui Sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem juxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in secessum ejicitur Et haec quidem de Typico Symbolicoque corpore
the same heresies and even he draws one of his Arguments from the blessed Eucharist likewse and he is as Positive as can be that the Body of Christ meaning the Symbolical Body as Origen In Photii Biblioth cod 229. called it that is the Bread which is received by the Faithful doth not depart out of its sensible Substance and Nature and yet remaines undivided from the Spiritual Grace and to clear his meaning fully he shews in the very next words that the Elements in the Eucharist are no more changed than the water is in Baptism which Remaineth still water after Sanctification Thus these four Great men S. Chrysostome Theodoret Gelasius and Ephraim delivered the Sense of the Catholick Church in their times and if you add them to the forementioned Fathers who lived in the Primitive times before them it will be manifest beyond exception that for above 500 years together after Christ the Christian Doctors did no more believe the Elements in the Sacrament to be Transubstantiated into Christ's Flesh and Bloud than they did believe the Manhood of Christ himself to be Transubstantiated into his God-head or his God-head to be abolisht and turned into his Humanity Now the sense of Christians in those ages ought to satisfie the minds of Christians in these for certainly the faith of Christ was never more clearly more Learnedly more solidly maintained than in the first five Centuries and one reason of it as I conceive was this because Heresies of all sorts were then so very thick and Numerous the Providence of God permitting it so to be that the zeal of good men might be exercised continually whereby it came to pass that the Doctors of the Church were industrious and learned and the true faith was throughly sifted and establisht for so it is ever that as evil manners in the State are the occasion of good Laws so evil Doctrines in the Church are the occasion of Sound and Excellent Definitions I do not wonder if in the following ages we have not such great Plenty of witnesses to appeal to They were times wherein learning did much Decay and mens Industry and zeal were much abated for want of those Incentives which had formerly been like goads in the sides of the holy Fathers and I remember what Boniface the Martyr said of the times he lived in that whereas Golden Priests were formerly forced to use wooden Chalices Then wooden Priests did use Chalices of Gold And yet we may well be Astonisht at their Monstrous confidence who tell us that Transubstantiation was believed in those declining times If it had been so indeed the Argument from it would have Signified nothing because there can be no Prescription against truth and the sense of some in latter ages ought not carry the cause against the general Judgement of the Primitive and best times But in good earnest upon the strictest search I can make I do not find any grounds for the credit of the present Romish Doctrine either in * Unus idemque secundum humanam substantiam absens caelo cum esset in terra dereliquens terram cum ascendisset in caelum Secundum divinam verò immensamque substantiam nec caelum dimittens cum de caelo descendit nec terram deserens cum ad caelum ascendit c. Fulgent ad Trasimud l. 2. c. 17. Fulgentius or in Christi sanguis non jam in manus infidelium sed in or a fidelium funditur Gregor apud Gratian. de Consec dist 2. c. 73. Mysterium est quod aliud videtur aliud intelligitur Quod videtur speciem habet corporalem quod intelligitur fructum babet spiritualem sed cum Mysterium sit unde corpus sanguis Christi dicitur Consulens ommipotens Deus infirmitati nostrae qui non habemus usum comedere carnem crudam Sanguinem bibere facit ut in pristina remaneant forma illa duo munera est in veritate Corpus Christe Sanguis Id. in Glossa ex Alcuino ibdi Gregory the Great who lived in the sixth Century or in * Christus in caelum ascendens discessit quidem carne sed presens est majestate c. Isid Hisp Sentent lib. 1. Sacrificium dictum quasi sacrum factum quia prece mystica consecratur in memoriam pro nobis Dominicae passionis Unde hoc eo jubente corpus Christi sanginem dicimus quod dum fit ex Fructibus terrae sanctificatur fit Sacramentum operante invisibiliter Spititu Dei Id. Origin lib. 6. c. 19. Isidore Hispalensis who flourisht in the seventh or in venerable Finitis veteris Paschae solenniis quae in commemorationem antiquae de Egypto liberation is agebantur transit in novum quod in suae redemptionis memoriam Ecclesia frequent are desiderat ut videlicet pro agni carne sanguine suae carnis sanguinisque Sacramentum in panis ac vini figura substituens c Beda in Luc. 22. Panis ac Vini Creatura in Sacramentum carnis sanguinis Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur sicque corpus sanguis illius non infidelium manibus ad perniciem ipsorum funditur occiditur sed fidelium ore sumitur asl salutem Id. Homil. de Sanctis Bede who was in the eighth Age no not in Damascen himself neither tho he be brought forth by the Romanists as a Champion on their side The Learned Arch Bishop Cranmer hath drawn up the sense of Damascen into this sum that the Bread and Wine are not so changed into the flesh and bloud of Christ that they be made one Nature but they remain still distinct in Nature so that the Bread in it self is not his flesh nor the Wine his blood but unto them that worthily eat and drink the bread and Wine to them the bread and Wine be his flesh and blood that is to say by things natural and which they be accustomed unto they be exalted unto things above Nature For the Sacramental bread and Wine are not bare and naked figures but so Pithy and effectuous that whosoever worthily eateth them eateth spiritually Christs flesh and blood Wherefore saith the Holy Martyr they that gather out of Damascen either the natural presence of Christs body in the Sacraments of bread and Wine or the Adoration of the outward and visible Sacrament or that after Consecration there remaineth no bread nor Wine nor other substance but only the substance of the body and Blood of Christ either they understand not Damascen or else of wilful frowardness they will not understand him which rather seemeth to be true by such collections as they have unjustly gathered and noted out of him For Damascen saith plainly that as a burning coal is not wood only but fire and wood joyned together so the bread of the Communion is not bread only but bread joyned to the Divinity He that desires further satisfaction as to this may peruse the whole vindication of Damascen in the
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
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