the truth of that Observation of his either as to the variety of mens conceits concerning a Sacrament or that mixt nature of a Sacrament to which he entitles the variety of the other But neither the one nor the other will hinder us from discovering under what head of things to place it which is that we are first of all to intend For whether we consider a Sacrament as to Christ or to our selves as a means in his hands to profit us or in ours to declare our piety toward him Whether again we consider it in the hands of Christ as a means whereby he signifies and seals his own graces or as a means whereby he conveys as well as either signifies or seals them Yet still it will be found to be in the number of relative things or such whose very being consists in the respect they bear unto another Because whatever it may be in it self yet it is not considered as such but with respect to that Grace of Christ which it so signifies or seals or exhibits or with respect to that piety which it is intended on our part to declare But so the Scriptures themselves will oblige us to consider a Sacrament as is evident from what they teach concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are if not the only yet the most undoubted Sacraments of our Religion For agreeably thereto they prompt us to consider the water of Baptism (b) 1 Pet. 3.21 not as putting away the filth of the Flesh which is the proper consideration of water as such but as washing us from (c) Act. 22.16 our sins and purifying those consciences (d) 1 Pet. 3.21 wherein they are As on the other fide the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper not as intended to satisfie (e) 1 Cor. 11.34 our hunger but as (f) Matt. 26.26 c. the body and blood of Christ or rather the communication (g) 1 Cor. 10.16 of it For well may we look upon those things as relative ones which we are not only forbidden to consider in their natural properties but prompted to attribute to them the properties of others yea to consider in the same notion with them I say secondly that as a Sacrament is a relative thing and that therefore to be reputed as the remote Genus of it so it is of the number of those relative ones which are signs or representations of what they so relate unto As is evident in part from what we were before taught concerning the water of Baptism and will be yet more when I come to shew the Analogy there is between the elements of each Sacrament and that to which they do relate For if the water of Baptism though not to be considered as to any proper purification yet is to be considered under the notion of a Laver (h) Tit. 3 5. and accordingly as washing (i) Act. 22.16 those who are sprinkled with it from their sins then ought it to be look'd upon under the notion of a sign of that to which it doth so relate Because whatever force the Baptismal water may have toward the doing away our sins yet it cannot be supposed because sin is no corporal spot to wash us from them And that term of washing therefore attributed to it upon the account of the Analogy there is between the property of water considered in its own nature and that of the same water as consecrated into a Sacrament Which will consequently make the water of Baptism and by proportion thereto the elements of other Sacraments not only to have a relation to something of another nature but also to be a sign or representation of it I say nothing at present of a Sacrament's being a means of conveying something to us as well as a sign of it and a pledge to assure us of it as well as either Partly because that which hath the nature of a sign may also be made use of as a means of conveyance and a pledge And partly because the first intention of a Sacrament is to signifie that of which it is so and that therefore by which it comes to do so more commodiously assigned as the Genus of it And I shall only add that forasmuch as a sign is nothing else than that which offers it self to the senses and that of which it is a sign to the understanding Forasmuch therefore as it must be subjected in some sensible being and if it be also a formal sign or that which represents the thing of which it is so in such a being as is apparent to the eyes Forasmuch lastly as Baptism and the Lord's Supper which are at least the most considerable Sacraments of our Religion are subjected in such sensible yea visible beings It cannot but be deemed reasonable for the more clear declaring of the nature of a Sacrament to represent it as our Catechism doth as an outward and visible one That therefore being to be looked upon as the Genus of a Sacrament or that general head of things under which we are to conceive of it Enquire we in the next place after the essential attributes thereof and by which it will not only be more perfectly known what it is but also be more clearly discriminated from those things which are of the same general nature Now as the essence of a relative thing consists in the relation it bears to another and that relative thing therefore whereof we speak in the relation which it bears to that of which it is a sign So the essential attributes of a Sacrament cannot therefore be better learned than by the knowledge of those things to which it doth relate the manner of its relation to them and the foundation of it I. In the general I observe that that to which a Sacrament relates must be something Sacred or Divine as both the term of Sacrament and the known nature of Baptism and the Lord's Supper perswade Which is the rather to be remarked to distinguish it from such signs as relate to civil matters and particularly from the purely military Sacrament For though even that had a relation to God as whose name it did invoke and to whose truth and justice it did appeal yet it referr'd to God rather as a witness of what it affirmed than as to the object of it For the object of a Military Sacrament was no other than the being faithful to those Generals under which the Souldiers that took that Sacrament were I observe more particularly that as that may be termed Sacred or Divine which hath God either for its principle or object and accordingly flows from him to us or passeth from as to him so a Sacrament relates both to the one and the other and ought to be looked upon as such That a Sacrament relates to that which flows from God to us is a thing neither denyed nor forgotten by any and is evident from what the Scriptures teach concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper Witness
Disciples and requiring them to take and eat of it The words This is my body next taken into consideration and more particularly and minutely explain'd Where is shewn at large that by the word This must be meant This Bread and that there is nothing in the gender of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hinder it That by body must be meant that body which Christ now carried about him and was shortly after to suffer in and that the sigurativeness of the proposition lies in the word is Vpon occasion whereof is also shewn that that word is oftentime figuratively taken that it ought to be so taken here and that accordingly it imports the Bread to be a sign and a memorial and a means of partaking of Christ's body This part of the Institution concluded with an explication of the words which is given or broken for you and a more ample one of Christ's commanding his Disciples to do this in remembrance of him Where the precept Do this is shewn to refer to what Christ had before done or enjoyned them to do And they enjoyn'd so to do to renew in themselves a grateful remembrance of Christ's death or prompt other Men to the like remembrance of it That part of the Institution which respects the Cup more succinctly handled and enquiry made among other things into the declaration which our Saviour makes concerning its being his Blood of the New Testament or the New Testament in it Where is shewn What that is which our Saviour affirms to be so what is meant by his Blood of the New Testament or The New Testament in it and how the Cup or rather the Wine of it was that Blood of his or the New Testament in it pag. 173. The Contents of the Fourth Part. Of the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper BRead and Wine ordinarily the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper and the Heresie of the Aquarii upon that account enquir'd into and censur'd The kind of Bread and Wine enjoin'd in the next place examin'd and a more particular Enquiry thereupon Whether the Wine ought to be mix'd with Water and what was the Ground of the Antients Practice in this Affair The same Elements consider'd again with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the Vsage that Body and Blood of his receiv'd when he was subjected unto Death or as to the Benefit that was intended and accru'd to us by them In the former of which Notions they become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred and by the separate administration of them In the latter by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us Of the Obligation the Faithful are under to receive the Sacrament in both kinds and a resolution of those Arguments that are commonly alleg'd to justifie the Romish Churches depriving them of the Cup. pag. 197. The Contents of the Fifth Part. Of the inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it THE inward Part of the Lord's Supper or the thing signified by it is either what is signified on the part of God and Christ or on the part of the Receiver of it The former of these brought under Consideration and shewn to be the Body and Blood of Christ not as they were at or before the Institution of this Sacrament or as they now are but as they were at the time of his Crucifixion as moreover then offered up unto God and offer'd up to him also as a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World The Consequences of that Assertion briefly noted both as to the presence of that Body and Blood in the Sacrament and our perception of them The things signified on the part of the Receiver in the next place consider'd and these shewn to be First a thankful Remembrance of the Body and Blood of Christ consider'd as before described Secondly our Communion with those who partake with us of that Body and Blood Thirdly a Resolution to live and act as becomes those that are partakers of them The two latter of these more particularly insisted on and that Communion and Resolution not only shewn from the Scripture to be signified on the part of the Receiver but confirmed by the Doctrine and Practice of the Antient Church pag. 213. The Contents of the sixth Part. What farther relation the Sign of the Lord's Supper hath to the Body and Blood of Christ THE outward Part or Sign of this Sacrament consider'd with a more particular regard to the Body and Blood of Christ and Enquiry accordingly made what farther relation it beareth to it That it is a Means whereby we receive the same as well as a Sign thereof shewn from the Doctrine of our Church and that Doctrine confirm'd by Saint Paul's entitling it the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood and by his affirming Men to be made to drink into one Spirit by partaking of the Cup of it Enquiry next made what kind of Means this Sign of the Lord's Supper is how it conveys to us the Body and Blood of Christ and how we receive them by it To each of which Answer is made from the Doctrine of our Church and that Answer farther confirm'd by the Doctrine of the Scripture The sum of which is that this Sign of the Lord's Supper is so far forth a Mean spiritual and heavenly That it conveys the Body and Blood of Christ to us by prompting us to reflect as the Institution requires upon that Body and Blood of his and by prompting God who hath annex'd them to the due use of the Sign to bestow that Body and Blood upon us In fine that we receive them by the Sign thereof when we take occasion from thence to reflect upon that Body and Blood of Christ which it was intended to represent and particularly with Faith in them What Benefits we receive by Christ's Body and Blood in the next place enquir'd and as they are resolv'd by our Catechism to be the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul so Enquiry thereupon made what is meant by the strengthening and refreshing of the Soul what Evidence there is of Christ's Body and Blood being intended for it and how they effect it The Sign of the Lord's Supper a Pledge to assure us of Christ's Body and Blood as well as a Means whereby we receive them pag. 219. The Contents of the Seventh Part. Of Transubstantiation THE Doctrine of Transubstantiation briefly deduc'd from the Council of Trent and digested into four capital Assertions Whereof the first is that the whole substance of the Bread is chang'd into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood The grounds of this Assertion examin'd both as to the possibility and actual being of such a change What is alledgâ—d for the former of these from the substantial changes mention'd in the Scripture of no force in this
consider it as a Feast a Supper-feast or a Supper-feast of the Lord Because intended as a Communion of that Body and Blood by which we are to be nourished to eternal life instituted at first at Supper time and both instituted by and intended for a Commemoration of our Lord. Next to the name of the Lord's Supper reckon we that of the Eucharist or Thanksgiving for so the word Eucharist imports A name thought to have been given to it in the time of the Writel of the New Testament but however following close after it For thus they are wont to interpret what we find in St. Paul (g) 1 Cor. 14.16 17. where he disputes against praying in an unknown tongue Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy Eucharist or giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest For thou verily givest thanks or celebratest the Eucharist well but the other is not edified Where we have not only the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are made use of to denote what our Saviour did to the Elements of this Sacrament but an intimation of that Amen which we shall understand afterwards from Justin Martyr to be return'd to the office of it However that be most certain it is that this name of Eucharist followed presently upon those times as appears by the familiar use of it in Ignatius's Epistles For thus he tells us in one place (h) Ep. ad Smyrn pag. 5. ed Voss That certain hereticks abstain'd from the Eucharist and prayer because they confess'd not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ And presently after (i) ib. pag. 6. Let that Eucharist be accounted firm which is under the Bishop or to whom he shall commit it As without whom as it follows it is not lawful to Baptize or celebrate a Love-feast but only what he shall approve In fine saith the same Ignatius elsewhere (k) Ep. ad Phil. pag. 40. endeavour therefore to use one Eucharist For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Cup for the union of his Blood Agreeable hereto that I may not now descend any lower was the language of Justin Martyr's time as may appear from these following testimonies Where he doth not only shew this to have been the name of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper but acquaints us with the reasons of their so denominating it After prayers saith he (l) Apol. 2. pag. 97. are done we salute one another Then is offer'd to him who presides over the Brethren Bread and a cup of Water and Wine Which he taking sendeth forth praise and glory to the Father of the Vniverse through the name of the Son and Holy Ghost and maketh a large Thanksgiving unto God for that we have been made worthy of these things by him Having thus completed the prayers and Thanksgiving all the people present signifie their Assent to it by an Amen which in the Hebrew Tongue is as much as So be it After that the President hath thus given thanks and the people answer'd Amen they who among us are called Deacons give to every one that is present of that Bread and Wine and Water over which thanks hath been given and carry it to those that are absent And this Food saith he is among us called the Eucharist to wit because of the Thanksgivings before remembred To the like purpose doth the same Father discourse elsewhere (m) Dial. cum Tryph. Jud. pag. 259 c. speaking still of the same Sacrament of the Lord's Supper And that offering of fine flowre which was delivered to be offered for those that were cleansed from the Leprosy was a type of the Bread of the Eucharist which Jesus Christ our Lord commanded us to celebrate in remembrance of that passion which he suffered for those that are cleansed in their Souls from all the wickedness of Men That we might at the same time give thanks or keep an Eucharist to God both for his having made the World and all things in it for the sake of man and for his having delivered us from that wickedness in which we sometime were and having perfectly dissolv'd Principalities and Powers by him who was made passible according to his will From which places it is evident that as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper had at that time the title of the Eucharist or Thanksgiving so it receiv'd its name from those Thanksgivings which were us'd over the Elements thereof and which what they were I shall in another place have a more fit occasion to enquire All I desire to observe at present is that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper receiving one of its most noted names from those Thanksgivings that were us'd over the Elements thereof we are in reason to think that those Thanksgivings contribute in a great measure to that saving nature and efficacy they put on I may not forget to add because that seems as antient as any that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was also known by the name of breaking of Bread Not only the Syriack version but reason also obliging us so to understand St. Luke where he tells us that the first Converts of the Apostles (n) Acts 2.42 continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in prayer As again of the Disciples of Ephesus (o) Acts 20.7 that they came together on the first day of the week to break Bread For what other breaking of Bread can we understand there where it is joyn'd with the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and prayers and moreover made the special business of the Assemblies of that day which was from the beginning set apart for the honour and service of Almighty God Agreeable hereto was the language of Ignatius's time as appears by this following testimony He describing those (p) ep ad Ephes pag. 29. who communicate with the Bishop and his Presbytery in the exercises of Religion as breaking that one Bread which is the medicine of immortality an antidote against death and a means of living in Jesus Christ for ever And it had no doubt its original from the Hebrews manner of speaking who as I have elsewhere (q) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer in the words Give us this day out daily Bread shewn under the title of Bread comprehended the whole of their entertainments and from the breaking of the Bread of the Eucharist's being one special ceremony about it and intended as St. Paul remarks (r) 1 Cor. 11.24 to signifie the Breaking of Christ's body After which if any Man can think fit to make use of such like passages to justifie a Communion in one kind he may as well hope to shew that even the Feasts of the Hebrews for of such I have shew'n (ſ) Expl. of the Lord's Prayer ubi supra the word Bread to
its relating to that Cup which he took into his hands and blessed Which if we should there would be no proof either here or elsewhere of the Fruit of the Vine's being one of the Symbols of this Sacrament PART IV. Of the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper The Contents Bread and Wine ordinarily the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper and the Heresie of the Aquarii upon that account enquir'd into and censur'd The kind of Bread and Wine enjoin'd in the next place examin'd and a more particular Enquiry thereupon Whether the Wine ought to be mix'd with Water and what was the Ground of the Antients Practice in this Affair The same Elements consider'd again with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the Vsage that Body and Blood of his receiv'd when he was subjected unto Death or as to the Benefit that was intended and accru'd to us by them In the former of which Notions they become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred and by the separate administration of them In the latter by the use they are of to nourish and refresh us Of the Obligation the Faithful are under to receive the Sacrament in both kinds and a resolution of those Arguments that are commonly alledg'd to justifie the Romish Churches depriving them of the Cup. THE way being thus plain'd to the Consideration of the present Sacrament and if I mistake not such a Foundation also laid as may support a better Fabrick than I am likely to superstruct upon it I will now pass on to a more particular handling of it in the method before observ'd in the Sacrament of Baptism as well as in the Sacraments in general In order whereunto I will enquire I. What is the outward Part or Sign of the Lord's Supper II. What is the inward Part or thing signified by it III. What farther relation beside that of a Sign the outward part or Sign hath to the inward part or thing signified IV. What is the Foundation of those Relations V. How and to whom this Sacrament ought to be administred VI. How it ought to be receiv'd I. That which comes first to be enquir'd is what is the outward part Question What is the outward part or Sign of the Lord's Supper Answer Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be receiv'd or Sign of the Lord's Supper which our Catechism declares to be Bread and Wine which the Lord hath commanded to be receiv'd For my more advantageous handling of which Answer I will again enquire 1. What Evidence there is of Bread and Wine being the outward part or Sign of the Lord's Supper 2. What kind of Bread and Wine we ought to make use of in it 3. Wherein the Bread and Wine were intended as a Sign 4. What Evidence there is of Christ's commanding us to receive them 1. That Bread and Wine are the outward part or Sign of the Lord's Supper is so evident from the Story of the Institution and the account I have already given of it that it would be but lost labour to go about to prove it It may suffice here to add that as Bread and Wine were the Matter of that Jewish Eucharist which in all probability was the Pattern of the Christian one So the Practice of the Church of God hath been always conformable to it neither have any Persons willingly varied from it I will not say that have not been branded for Hereticks but that have not also been look'd upon as either stupidly ignorant or blotches of the Church rather than any part of it Of which nature were those Aquarii mention'd by St. Augustin * De haeres c. 6. Ed. Dan. and before him written against by St. Cyprian †Ad Caecil Ep. 63. that offer'd Water in the Cup of the Sacrament instead of that which all the Church doth Whether that they condemn'd the Creation of God as several of the ancient Hereticks did and accordingly abstain'd wholly from Wine as well as from some other things Or as I rather think for the most part by way of exercise upon and mortification of themselves of which sort of Abstinences out of the Sacrament there are frequent Instances in the Antient Christians Little considering that Obedience is much better than such Sacrifices though they were otherwise of far greater worth than they will be found upon examination to be For if St. Paul * 1 Tim. 5.23 could admonish Timothy even for his Stomach's sake and his often Infirmities not to drink any longer Water but to use a little Wine I doubt he would not have heard with any patience of his or other Men's abstaining wholly from the Cup of the Sacrament or using Water instead of it out of a Principle of mortification and self-denial I do not say the same as to the outward part or Sign of the Lord's Supper where one of those Elements is not to be had or at least not without much difficulty as to be sure in many places the Wine of the Sacrament is not For as I find by Cassander (a) Liturg. c. 14. that the Armenians in India where Wine is not to be had do beforehand steep dried Grapes in Water and the next day press out the Juice of them for the use of the Sacrament So I do not see but where neither the one nor the other is to be had Men may lawfully make use of other generous Liquors for the same purpose I do not say only upon the account of Necessity to which all positive Laws must yield but because as I shall afterwards shew they are equally fitted to represent to us those things for which the Fruit of the Vine was here ordain'd Only let not Men make a Necessity where there is none nor think themselves excus'd in the use of other Liquors where the Fruit of the Vine though not the Product of their own Countrey yet may well enough be had from abroad For where our Saviour hath annex'd a Blessing to the use of such and such Creatures I do not see how we can expect it without where we have not a just Necessity to excuse it how convenient soever those other Creatures are which we substitute in the room of them 2. But because question may be made what kind of Bread and Wine we ought to make use of in this Sacrament as well as whether Bread and Wine be the ordinary Matter or Sign of it Therefore I shall admonish as to the former of these that I see little reason to doubt but that the Bread of the place we live in may suffice provided it be of the better and more nutritive sort or at least as good as we are in a capacity to provide For our Saviour having not prescrib'd any thing as to the Grane whereof it is to be made and all sorts of Bread being in their Nature sufficiently fitted for those
For even the elements of our Eucharist though appointed by Christ as the Sacrament of his Body and Blood yet are not always us'd as such But only when they are by God's Priests set apart for that purpose and his spiritual Benediction and Grace invoked on them I will conclude what I have to say concerning the Being of the former Sacraments when I have added thereto their being ordained by God and Christ for the gracious purposes before remembred Of the former whereof as we cannot reasonably doubt because nothing less than a Divine Institution could make them the conveyers of Christ's Graces so as little of the latter if we consider what hath been elsewhere (e) Expl. of the Creed in the words Our Lord. said concerning Christ's governing even then and the Apostles exhorting the Corinthians immediately after (f) 1 Cor. 10.9 not to tempt Christ as the Israelites did and were destroy'd by Serpents for it For as it is not to be imagin'd how the Israelites could tempt Christ unless they had been even then under his conduct So if Christ had the conduct of them there is as little doubt of his being the Institutor of their Sacraments because that was a considerable part of it II. There being therefore no doubt of the Being of Sacraments among the Jews which was the first thing we proposed to consider Enquire we in the next place what those their Sacraments were and which we shall find to be either Extraordinary or Ordinary Extraordinary those which were just before recited even their being baptized in the Cloud and in the Sea and their partaking of Manna and of the Water of the Rock Manna being no doubt the spiritual meat St. Paul speaks of both because their then only repast and the bread (g) Exod. 16.4 that came down from Heaven As the water of the Rock their spiritual Drink and so yet more plainly declared by him And I have the rather given to them the name of Extraordinary Sacraments because as they had them only during their passage through the Wilderness so they had them too when their ordinary Sacraments ceased which is the proper season for extraordinary ones As will appear if we can shew what I shall by and by endeavour that Circumcision and the Passover were their ordinary ones It being certain from the Book of Joshua (h) Josh 5.5 that from the time of the Israelites going out of Aegypt till their coming to Gilgal none of the Israelites were circumcised and as certain too from the same place (i) Josh 5.10 that they had not till then any Passover That as it is the first time wherein the observation of it is mention'd after their coming out of Aegypt so being the first time also wherein they were in a capacity to observe it because not till then furnished or at least not ordinarily with that earthly Bread wherewith their Passover was required to be observ'd From those their Extraordinary Sacraments therefore pass we to their Ordinary ones and which as I have already intimated to be Circumcision and the Passover so I must now manifest to be so but it must be by other Arguments than are commonly alledged for it For as for what is alledged from St. Paul's representing the Circumcision of Abraham (k) Tom. 4.11 as a Seal of that righteousness which he had being yet uncircumcised it seems to me to make nothing at all for it Because as was before (l) Supra Part II. shewn rather intended to denote God's approbation of his particular Righteousness than any declaration of the nature of the thing it self But as therefore I cannot see what can be argued from thence toward proving Circumcision to have been a Sacrament So I shall chuse rather to evince it from the Institution of it as where if any where the design thereof is most clearly set down Now the first thing observable from thence is that Circumcision was a Sign as our Sacraments are and so far therefore of the nature of them For this saith God shall be a sign or token (m) Gen. 17.10 of the Covenant between me and you That is to say as was before (n) Gen. 17.7 express'd between God on the one hand and Abraham and his Seed on the other It is alike observable secondly that as Circumcision was a sign yea a sign of that Covenant which God then propos'd between himself and the foremention'd persons So it was such a sign too as was also of the Essence of it and till the passing whereof it was not to be look'd upon as struck Which I gather not only from its being stil'd a Covenant (o) Gen. 17.10 as well as a sign of it yea more often a Covenant than the other but from God's affirming it to be that Covenant which ought to be kept (p) Ibid. between him and them and accordingly representing the neglecters of it as those which had broken * Gen. 17.14 his Covenant From whence as it will follow that it had a more intimate relation to the Covenant than that of a bare sign or token So it must be either that which was to strike the Covenant between them and so make it actually such as to those persons that receiv'd it or one of those things which were to be observ'd after the Covenant was struck between them and for which it was enter'd into But as it appears from those words of God which usher in the mention of this Covenant that the thing so agreed upon was a matter of much more weight even their walking before God and being perfect So we are therefore in reason to resolve Circumcision to be that which was to strike the Covenant between God and them and make it actually such as to those persons that receiv'd it From whence as it will follow farther because striking the Covenant between God and them that it ensur'd to those that receiv'd it the future Blessings of it and so might not unreasonably be represented as a Seal or a Pledge of them So that it put them into actual possession of such Blessings as were presently to be bestow'd if there were really any such and accordingly was no less a means of conveying them Which will consequently leave nothing more to enqui e than whether that Covenant assur'd the same Blessings with the Christian and whether any of those Blessings were to be immediately bestow'd by vertue of it For if that Covenant assur'd the same Blessings with the Christian then had the sign thereof relation to the same inward Graces with ours and so far forth therefore agreed with them And if any of those Blessings were to be immediately bestow'd it was also a conveyer of them and so yet more perfectly the same Now that that Covenant of which Circumcision was a sign assur'd the same Blessings with the Christian seems to me to be sufficiently evident from it's being affirmed (q) Gen. 17.7 to import that God
first Religious Rite after Baptism and because of all the Five best deserving the name of a Sacrament A Rite which as our Church receives and enjoyns so the more sober sort of Protestants allow to have been an Institution of the Apostles and such as is of signal use to those who were baptiz'd in their Infancy by that examination which is to precede it and those solemn Prayers that do attend it But as the thing it self doth not appear to me to have been instituted by Christ which even by the Doctrine of the Trent Council (t) Ibid. is made a Character of a Sacrament so there is yet less appearance of its having any outward sign to which the blessings thereof may be supposed to have been annex'd which is of the very Essence of a Sacrament That which was at first administred by a bare Imposition of hands and afterwards by the addition of the Chrism coming at length to be perform'd by the sole ceremony of Unction as the practice of the Greek and Latine Church declares Of which variation what account can be given but that the Church it self did at first look upon the Rites of Confirmation as arbitrary and consequently not of the same nature with the signs of Baptism and the Lord's Supper For whatever additions or variations came afterwards to be made in these the Water of the one and the Bread and Wine in the other were ever preserved in them The next supposed Sacrament is that of Penance or rather because the form thereof is by themselves (u) Conc. Trid. Sess 14. c. 13. made to consist in Ego absolvo te c. the Sacrament of Absolution An Institution which we willingly acknowledge to be an Institution of Christ and which our Church moreover confesseth (w) Hom. of Com. Pray and Sacr. to have the promise of the forgiveness of sins But differs from a Sacrament in this that it hath not that promise annexed and tyed to the usual visible sign thereof even Imposition of hands For for the use of any such visible sign in it we find no Command and much less any declaration from Christ that it should not be available unless it were convey'd by it or made to depend upon the usage of it But it may be much more may be said for that which they call the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction because affirmed by the Council of Trent (x) Sess 14. can 1. to have been instituted by our Lord and published to the World by St. James And I no way doubt that when our Saviour sent forth his Disciples by two and two (y) Mark 6.7 c. he gave them power to anoint sick persons as well as to cast out unclean Spirits and it may be too commanded them for that time to make use of that particular ceremony toward the healing of them I as little doubt for the mention that is made of it in St. James (z) James 5.14 that the same ceremony of Unction was continued in the Church and perhaps prescrib'd by other Apostles as well as by him to the Governours of the Church But it doth not appear to me to have been intended by Christ for perpetual use and much less for those purposes for which it is alledged For if it were intended by Christ for perpetual use how came the same Christ to promise to those that believe that if they only laid hands * Mark 16.18 on the sick they should recover How came he to give his Apostles power to cure diseases by the use of that only ceremony as in the case of Publius †Act. 28.8 by taking infirm people by the hand * Act. 3.5 yea by their bare (a) Act. 9.34 word This being to give encouragement to the neglect of his own Commands if the ceremony of Unction were to be look'd upon as such Though granting that Ceremony to have been intended for perpetual use what appearance is there of its having been intended for the purposes of a Sacrament yea to procure in an especial manner the forgiveness of sins For all that St. Mark says concerning the Apostles anointing with Oyl is that they thereby healed (b) Mark 6.13 those they did so anoint Yea it is if not the only yet the principal thing St. James assures to those whom he enjoyn'd the use of it As it appears by his ushering it in as an application to be made to sick persons his promising that that Prayer which went along with it should save the sick and procure God's raising of them in fine by his exhorting men to confess their faults one to another that they might be healed For these things shew plainly that if the healing of sick persons was not the only thing intended yet it was at least the principal one But so the Church it self appears to have understood this ceremony as is evident among other things from that Prayer which did accompany it That as Cassander (c) Consult de Artic. Rel. c. ubi de Unctione infirm agit informs us being I anoint thee with the holy Oyl in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost imploring the mercy of that one Lord and our God that all the griefs and incommodities of thy body being driven away there may be recovered in thee vertue or strength and health that so being cured by the operation of this mysterie and this Vnction of the Sacred Oyl and our prayer through the vertue of the Sacred Trinity thou mayest deserve to receive thy antient yea more robust health through our Lord. Which though it do not so directly oppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeks because design'd against Corporal (d) See Ricdut Pres State of the Greek Church c. 12. as well as Spiritual evils yet doth perfectly overthrow the Extreme Vnction of the Papists as which is so far from designing the recovery of the sick person that it is not allow'd to be administred to any who seem not perfectly desperate One only passage there is in St. James which may seem to give this Ceremony of anointing a higher and a far better design even his affirming that that prayer which did accompany it should procure for the sick person also that if he had committed sins (e) James 5.15 they should be forgiven him But beside that St. James doth not attribute that forgiveness to the ceremony of Unction but to the prayer that attended or followed it The design of the Elders visitation of the Sick being no doubt to procure as well their Spiritual as Corporal health it is not unreasonable to think that that very Prayer which they made over them did not only aim at God's accompanying the former ceremony with the blessing for which it was intended but extend farther to the imploring for them all those spiritual blessings which they wanted and particularly perfect remission and forgiveness Which if it did as is but reasonable to believe that Oyl cannot
and the like Ceremonies were intended The use such things are of to procure respect to those Institutions to which they are annexed And the nature of that Religion with whose Offices they are intermixed That I alledge as one ground of this and the like Ceremonies the very nature of those Men for whose edification they were intended is their being composed of Flesh as well as Spirit and consequently the need they stand in of such sensible helps to awaken their understandings to consider and their affections to embrace what they were designed to represent For being so fram'd it is not easie to believe that if there were not somewhat in all actions of moment to affect Men's sense they would intend them as they ought or be duly affected with them Of which yet if any doubt be made we have the constant practice of the World to justifie it because rarely if ever suffering that which was such though there wanted not words to express their meaning to pass without some visible solemnities Thus as Mr. Hooker (i) Eccl. Pol. li. 4. §. 1. did long since observe Abraham proceeded with his Servant because not only obliging him to take a Wife for his Son out of his Kindred but to accompany that Oath of his with the putting of his Hand (k) Gen. 24. 2-9 under his Master's Thigh And thus too Israel made Joseph swear (l) Gen. 47.29 that he would not bury him in Egypt Both of them as is not unlikely from some received custom of that time because as they say (m) Vatabl. in Gen. 24.2 yet observed in some of the Eastern parts and as a token of the homage the Party swearing ow'd to those to whom they swore and of their readiness to execute it in the thing sworn to by them In like manner as the same Mr. Hooker (n) Vbi supra hath also observ'd it was an Ancient manner in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging for the Man who refus'd to redeem to pluck off his Shoe and (o) Ruth 4.7 give it to him that would As among the Romans when they made any Man Free not only to declare before the Magistrate that they intended to make him such but to strike him on the Cheek to turn him round and have his Hair shav'd off the Magistrate after that touching him with a White Rod and bestowing a Cap and a White Garment on him Of which and infinite other instances that might be produced what account can be given but that Men have generally thought such solemnities but requisite to imprint the things to which they were annexed upon the minds of those that were concern'd and procure a due estimate thereof But so it appears that they themselves were in a great measure perswaded who shew'd themselves the greatest Enemies of the Ceremonies of the Church Because obliging those that took their solemn League and Covenant to swear to the Contents thereof with their hands lift up to the most High God as is expressed in the very entrance of it For why that Ceremony of lifting up of the hands especially in a Covenant that was intended to beat down the supposed superstition of the Church of England were it not that they themselves found it in a manner necessary to awaken the minds of Men to intend the Religion of it But beside that humane nature doth by the very contexture of it require such kind of solemnities to awaken their minds and affections It is not a little to be considered of what use they are to procure respect to those Institutions to which they have been at any time annexed For may not Men observe that usefulness in the solemnities of all civil affairs and particularly in those solemnities which are observ'd in Courts of Judicature Doth not the very raising high of those Benches on which the Judges sit admonish Men of their Superiority over them Do not those Robes whereby they are differenced from other Men draw the Eyes of the Vulgar to them yea mind them of that greater difference there is between the Judges and themselves as to that power wherewith they are also invested Have not the same persons therefore whatever clamour hath been rais'd against things of that nature kept up them and the like solemnities among them Have they not done it in those very instances which have been scrupled at in the Church For how superstitious a thing in a Bishop or other Clergy Man hath the use of that Cap been which these earthly Gods the Judges and when they are about their great Master's work do not only not scruple at but diligently retain As knowing that such marks of distinction do naturally lead Men to consider those persons or things to which they are apply'd as of a peculiar nature and accordingly if they deserve it to respect them And if such be the usefulness of external solemnities in other matters why should they be excluded from our Religion Nay why should they not considering the momentousness thereof be rather applied to it Especially if we consider thirdly the nature of that Religion with whose Offices they are intermixed by us For though that do more peculiarly call us to the intending of spiritual things Though it do loudly proclaim the abrogation of the Ceremonial Law of Moses and not obscurely condemn the substituting of any the like burdensome one Yet as it no where condemns such a number of Ceremonies as may serve the better to lead Men to the contemplation and regard of spiritual things so it gives a sufficient countenance to them by the Sacraments I am now upon and by those other usances which were in vogue with the first Professors of it For how can that Religion be look'd upon as an enemy to Ceremonies which requires Men to be initiated into it by the water and immersion of Baptism Yea to keep up their interest in it by partaking of the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist those signs of our Saviour's Crucified Body and of the spiritual benefits we reap by it And though we do not find that our Saviour instituted any other Ceremonies or at least not with a design of giving them the same lasting obligation Yet as we find our Saviour giving command to his Disciples when he first sent them out to Preach to shake off the dust of their Feet (p) Mark 6.11 against those that would not hear them as a testimony of their contempt of God's word and of their own resolution not to have to do with them in the like kind which was a kind of Excommunication of them So we find that Paul and Barnabas though under no obligation from the former command because but a temporary one shook off the dust of their feet (q) Acts 13.51 against those Jews of Antioch that rejected and expelled them as the same S. Paul after that when the Jews of Corinth opposed themselves and blasphem'd shaking his raiment at them (r) Acts 18.6 as a testimony of
Sacramental Purposes to which they are to be appli'd it is a needless superstition to be sollicitous about the kind of it or indeed about any thing else of that nature farther than the Laws of Decency or the general Nature of the Sacrament may seem to exact of us The same is to be said and for the same reasons as to the kind of the Wine though the Wines of Palestine were generally Red (b) Psal 75.8 Prov. 23.31 Isa 27.2 63.2 for which cause it is not improbable that they were stiled the Bloud (c) Deut. 32.14 of the Grape and those therefore the most apt to represent the Blood of our Saviour For whatever the Colour thereof may be they may serve by the Liquidness thereof and the pouring of them from one Vessel to another to denote the shedding of his Blood which is all that the Institution obligeth us to reflect upon Upon which account I shall in this place confine my self to enquire whether it ought to be mix'd with Water or no as which seems to me to be the only material Enquiry in this Affair And here indeed they who think it enough to make use of pure Wine may seem to be hardly press'd whether we do consider the Antiquity of the contrary Usance or the Reason which is alledged for it For it appears from Justin Martyr (d) Apol. 2. p. 97. to have been carefully practis'd in his time And it appears too not only to have been pleaded for by St. Cyprian * Ad Caecil Ep. 63. even where he disputes against the foremention'd Aquarii but to such a degree also as to represent the Sacrament as imperfect without it The mixture of Wine and Water being as he saith (e) Quando autem in calice aqua vino miscetur Christo populus adunatur credentium plebs ei in quem credidit copulatur conjungitur Quae copulatio conjunctio aquae vini sic miscetur in calice domini ut commixtio illa non possit ab invicem separari Nam si vinum tantùm quis offerat sanguis Christi incipit esse sine nobis si vero aqua sit sola plebs incipit esse sine Christo Quando autem utrumque miscetur adunatione confusâ sibi invicem copulatur tunc Sacramentum spiritale coeleste perficitur intended to signifie the conjunction of Christ and his People and that we can therefore in the sanctifying of the Lord's Cup no more offer Wine alone than we may presume to offer Water only These things to those that have a regard to Antiquity cannot but appear very considerable and I must needs say they weigh so much with me as to believe that the Wine of the Sacrament might have been from the beginning diluted with Water yea that that very Wine might which our Saviour consecrated into it But this rather with respect to the Custom of the Eastern Country and the generousness of their Wines which might be but needful to be temper'd where the same Liquor was to be the Entertainment of their Love-Feasts as well as the Matter of a Sacrament than out of any regard to the Sacrament it self or that particular Mystery in it which St. Cyprian thought to be intended Because there is not any the least hint either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of such a mixture or Mystery but rather an intimation of Christ's employing only the Fruit of the Vine and his having a regard to the sole Properties thereof and of that Blood of his which he shed for our Redemption If there were from the beginning any Mystery in such a mixture it may most probably be thought to have been intended to make so much the more lively a Representation to us of that Blood which it was designed to remember and which we learn from St. John (f) Joh. 19.34 to have issued from his side attended with Water and accordingly particularly remarked by him Upon which account though I cannot press a mixture of Wine and Water as necessary yet neither can I condemn it or those Churches which upon that reason think fit to retain it and enjoin on their respective Members the due observation of it 3. But because there neither is nor can well be a more material Enquiry than wherein the Bread and Wine of this Sacrament were intended as a Sign Therefore it may not be amiss to pass on to the resolution of it and employ all requisite diligence in it For my more orderly performance whereof I will consider those Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood whether as to the usage that Body and Bloud of his receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us or as to the Benefit that was intended and accrued to us by them If we consider the Elements of Bread and Wine with respect to Christ's Body and Blood as to the usage they receiv'd when he was subjected to Death for us So we shall find them again to be a Sign of that Body and Blood by what is done to them before they come to be administred or by the separate administration of them when they are For in the former of these Notions the Bread manifestly became a Sign of Christ's Body by our Saviour's breaking of it For which cause as was before observ'd St. Paul in his rehearsal of the Institution attributes that breaking to Christ's Body and describes its crucifixion by it And not improbably the Wine of the Sacrament became a Sign of Christ's Blood by its being poured out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he took and blessed and gave to his Disciples There being not otherwise any thing in it to represent the shedding of Christ's Blood which it appears by the several Evangelists that our Saviour had a particular respect unto Neither will it suffice to say though it be true enough that we do not read either in the Evangelists or St. Paul of our Saviour's before pouring the Wine of the Sacrament out of some other Vessel into that Cup which he made use of for that purpose and consequently cannot with equal assurance make the Wine to be a Sign of Christ's Blood by any such effusion of it For whether we read of it or no such an Effusion must of necessity precede the use of a Cup being not to keep Wine in but to drink out of after it hath receiv'd it by effusion from another and that effusion therefore and the particular mention there is of the effusion of that Blood which is acknowledg'd to be signified by the Wine no unreasonable intimation of that Effusion's being one of those things wherein the Wine of the Sacrament was intended as a Sign or Representation of the other By these means the Bread and Wine become a Sign of Christ's Body and Blood as to what is done to them before they come to be administred And we shall find them in like manner to be a Sign of the same Body and
in the Eucharist yet they specifie nothing as to the modus of it and much less intimate any thing concerning their being under the Species thereof That that Body and Blood which is the fourth Capital Assertion in this Matter are truly really and substantially under the Sacramental Species shewn to be as groundless and Evidence made of the contrary by such Arguments from Sense and Reason as are moreover confirmed to us by the Authority of Revelation Some brief Reflections in the close upon the Worship of Christ in the Sacrament and more large ones upon what the Romanists advance concerning the real eating of him in it Where is shewn that that which they call a real eating is a very improper one that it is however of no necessity or use toward our spiritual nourishment by him and not only no way confirm'd by the discourse of our Saviour in the sixth of St. John's Gospel but abundantly confuted by it BUT because whatever Sacramental Relations our Church may content it self with yet it is certain that that which calls it self Catholick hath advanc'd one of a far different nature and those of Luther's Institution another before I pass any farther I will examine both the one and the other the grounds upon which they are built and the supposed Reasonableness thereof That which I intend to examine here is the relation which the Church of Rome advanceth by which as the Council of Trent * Sess 13. c. 4. instructeth us the whole substance of the Bread is changed into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood There remaining no more after that †Can. 2. of the Bread and Wine saving only the Species thereof and the Body and Blood of Christ together with his Soul and Divinity coming in the place of those Elements and truly really and substantially * Can. 1.3 contained under the Species of them By which means the same Christ comes to be worshipped with divine Worship in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (a) Can. 6. and to be really (b) Can. 8. eaten in it as well as either Spiritually or Sacramentally Now as such Assertions as these had need to be well prov'd because apparently contrary to Sense and Reason So especially such of them as are the Foundations of Transubstantiation which are these following ones 1. That the whole substance of the Bread is changed into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood 2. That those Substances of Bread and Wine are so changed into the substances of Christ's Body and Blood as to retain nothing of what they were before save only the Species thereof 3. That the true Body and true Blood of Christ together with his Soul and Divinity are under the Species of those Elements 4. That they are truly really and substantially contain'd in or under them Which four Assertions I will consider in their order and after I have examin'd the grounds upon which they stand oppose proper Arguments to them 1. That which is first to be consider'd is that the whole substance of the Bread is chang'd into the substance of Christ's Body and the whole substance of the Wine into the substance of his Blood An Assertion which though it require as substantial a Proof yet hath nothing of moment to support it whether as to the Possibility or actual Existence of it For though the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament make mention of substantial changes and from which therefore we may infer a Possibility of the like For thus we read of Moses's Rod being changed by the Divine Power (c) Exod. 4.3 into a Serpent and from a Serpent again (d) Exod. 4.4 into a Rod of Lot's Wife being turn'd (e) Gen. 19.26 into a Pillar of Salt and of Water (f) Joh. 2.9 into Wine Yet is there no appearance of their being chang'd into things that had an actual Existence at the instant when they were chang'd into them which is the change that Transubstantiation imports If there be any change of that Nature to make out the Possibility of this it must be that which is made of the Nourishment we receive into the substance of our Body and Blood But beside that this is a change by augmentation and must consequently be either preceded by an impairing of Christ's glorious Body which is not so consistent with that estate or make it in time grow into a monstrous one It is a change which will not do the Business of Transubstantiation even to bring whole and entire Christ (g) Conc. Trid. Sess 13. cap. 3. under either Species A change by augmentation being a change of the Object of it not into the whole substance of that into which it is chang'd but only into a part of it But it may be there is better proof of the actual being of the change we speak of than there is in any thing else of the possibility thereof As indeed such a stupendous change as this ought to be without Example Be it so But let us at least see so clear and express a Proof that our Faith may acquiesce in it if our Reason cannot let us see it affirm'd by him to whom so great a change is ascrib'd And neither are we without one if the words This is my Body and This is my Blood may pass for such a Proof as they have been hitherto represented to us I will not now say because I have elsewhere shewn it (h) Parts 3-8 that there is much more reason to believe that they ought to be figuratively taken and cannot therefore be any ground for such a change as is sought to be established by them I shall choose rather for once to allow that they may be literally taken and leave it to those that can to inferr such a change from them For whether by the word This in This is my Body be meant the Bread before spoken of As indeed how the change of the substance of the Bread into the substance of Christ's Body can be proved from those words which profess not to speak of that Bread is as hard to conceive as Transubstantiation it self But whether I say be thereby meant the Bread before spoken of or The thing which I now give you there is no appearance in the proposition of any substantial change and much less of such a substantial change as is intended to be inferred from them All that the words profess to say supposing them to mean Bread by the Particle This is that one thing is the other but in what manner or by what kind of change they do not in the least pretend to affirm And if the Text do not determine either where is that clear and express proof of such a substantial change as they profess to speak of Or where our either stupidity or infidelity for not being convinced by it But it