Ex Libris
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A REVIEW
OP THE
DOCTRINE OF THE EUCHARIST
WATERLAND
Pontoon
MACMILLAN AND CO.
PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF
xforfc
A REVIEW
OF THE
DOCTRINE OF THE EUCHARIST
WITH
FOVE CHARGES TO THE CLERGY OF MIDDLESEX
CONNECTED WITH THE SAME SUBJECT
BY
DANIEL WATERLAND, D. D.
Forming parts of Vols. IV. and V. of his Collected "Works
WITH A PREFACE
BY THE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
M.DCCC.LXVIU
PEEFACE.
THIS volume has been issued at the request of
the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, with the
view of placing within the reach of those who may
not be able to procure the collected Works of Dr.
Waterland, and especially of candidates for Holy
Orders, a treatise which was once considered almost
as the text-book of the Church of England on the
subject of the Eucharist, but which, in common
with many of the works of the great Anglican
Divines, has been somewhat cast into the shade
by the lapse of time and the rapid issue of
modern theological literature, and is, there is
reason to fear, far less known at present than it
deserves.
Though suggested probably, on the one hand,
by the publication of Mr. Johnson's 'Unbloody
Sacrifice,' and by Dr. Brett's ' Discourse Concern-
ing the Necessity of Discerning the Lord's Body,'
and, on the other, by the Socinianising tracts of
Bishop Hoadley on the Lord's Supper, and by an
VI PREFACE.
amicable controversy in which the Author had
been engaged with Dr. Zachary Pearce, yet the
'Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist/ as
Bishop Van Mildert has observed, 'has little the
aspect of a polemical work, although so large a
portion of it may be applied as a corrective, or a
preventive, of error. With scarcely any personal
reference to the living authors of his time who
entertained different views of the subject from
that which he supported, Dr. Waterland has so
conducted his train of reasoning and investiga-
tion, as to meet all their diversities of opinion in
their full force ; stating them with candour and
fairness, and controverting them with no less
moderation than ability and decision/
And the three Charges to the Clergy of Mid-
dlesex which defend and supplement his former
treatise, that ' On the Christian Sacrifice' (with
its Appendix in reply to Johnson), that ' On
the Sacramental Part of the Eucharist/ and
that ' On the Distinctions of Sacrifice/ occasioned
though they were by ' Some Remarks on the
Review' by Dr. Brett, are equally devoid of
controversial acrimony, nor are they of merely
local or personal application. They form, together
with the ' Review/ a body of teaching on the
doctrine of the Eucharist, especially with reference
to the various opinions on this vital subject which
have been maintained within our own Church,
PREFACE. Vll
almost equally applicable to all times, and having a
peculiar interest and importance in our own. The
wide and intimate acquaintance which Waterland
possessed, not only with the Christian Fathers but
with the Romish Theologians and the writings of
the foreign Reformers, the perfect fairness with
which he, almost invariably, states and meets the
views and reasoning which he controverts, and the
singular simplicity, clearness, and vigour of his
style, have placed him among the most trust-
worthy and instructive of our own Divines : and
while asserting and defending, as the true doctrine
of the Eucharist, the via media between two ex-
tremes, which, though not excluded by the tolerant
moderation of our Articles and formularies, have
each too facile a tendency to pass into serious
error, he will be found, even by those whom he
does not convince, to leave them in no doubt as
to the meaning of his language and the bearing
of his arguments ; and by others, and especially
by students in divinity, a safe and perspicuous
guide to those tenets on the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper which, as a matter of fact, have
been held by the great majority of the ablest and
most learned Theologians of the Reformed Church
of England.
J. L.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
A Review of the Doctrine of the Eucharist, as laid down in Scripture
and Antiquity ... ... ..... i
An Introduction, first briefly shewing the Design of the Treatise,
and next premising some Considerations : viz.
I. That Scripture is our only Rule 3
II. That for the right understanding of Scripture, it is of great
moment to know what the most eminent Writers before us
have taught, and what they have agreed in ... 3
1. More particularly, Ancients first . . . 5
2. And then Moderns 6
III. That of the two Extremes, Profaneness and Superstition,
the latter is the safest for any one to lean to .8
IV. That it is injuring and degrading the Sacraments to call
them Positive Duties, rather than Religious Rites . . 1 1
1. The Eucharist not merely a Duty, but a sacred Rite,
wherein God bears a Part . . . . . .11
2. That Part of it which is Duty, is not a single Duty,
but more . . . . . . . . 1 3
CHAP. I. Explaining the most noted or most considerable Names
of the Holy Communion . . . . . . . .16
1 . Breaking of Bread . . . . . . . .16
2. Communion . . . . . . . . .18
3. Lord's Supper . . . . . . . . .19
4. Oblation . . . . . . . . . .21
5. Sacrament .......... 26
6. Eucharist .......... 29
7. Sacrifice . . 30
8. Memorial . . ; .- . . ..." .-."-''. 32
9. Passover . . . . . . . .. -. . 34
10. Mass -. 37
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAP. II. Considering the Institution of the Holy Communion,
as recorded by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. Paul 38
It came in the place of the Jewish Passover . . . .41
I. Resembling it in several Circumstances . . -42
2. Deriving its Forms and Phrases from it . . .43
CHAP. III. Concerning the Commemoration of Christ, in the
Holy Communion 46
1. Remembering him as God-Man . . . . . . 48
2. Commemorating him as such . . . '.;--. 54
3. Celebrating his Memorial ... ... ; 58
CHAP. IV. Concerning the Commemoration of the Death of
Christ . . . ... . . . .62
1. As an expiatory Sacrifice . . . . . . 63
2. Which is applied in the Eucharist . . . . 69
CHAP. V. Of the Consecration of the Elements . . " . 74
1. In what sense they are blessed or consecrated ... 74
2. By whom they are blessed . . . . . -77
3. What the Blessing amounts to . . . 79
CHAP. VI. Of Spiritual Feeding according to John vi. . .89
1. The Sense of the Ancients on that head . . . .99
2. The Sentiments of Moderns . . . . . .123
CHAP. VII. Of Sacramental, Symbolical Feeding in the Eucha-
rist ' . . .' . . . 129
1. The Sentiments of the Ancients on that head . . .141
2. The Sentiments of Moderns . . . . . .163
CHAP. VIII. i Cor. x. 16 explained, and vindicated from
misconstruction . . . . . . . . 175
Objections answered ........ 194
CHAP. IX. Remission of Sins conferred in the Eucharist . 210
Proved from Scripture 218
From Antiquity . 220
Judgment of the Reformers, and of the Church of England . 225
Objections removed . 228
CONTENTS. XI
CHAP. X. Sanctifying Grace conferred in the Eucharist
Proved from i Cor. x. 16
Proved from John vi. .......
Proved from Analogy .......
Proved from i Cor. xii. 13.
The Judgment of the Ancients hereupon ....
The Sentiments of Moderns on the same ....
CHAP. XI. The Eucharist considered as a Federal Rite .
Argued from the Nature of Communion ....
From the Custom of drinking Blood in Covenants
From the Words of Institution
From the Analogy between that and Sacrifices, or Sacrificial
Feasts . 289
Objections to Dr. Cudworth's Notion considered and con-
futed .......... 291
CHAP. XII. The Eucharist considered in a Sacrificial View . 306
Some Account of Dr. Grabe's Sentiments .... 307
The Eucharist a spiritual Sacrifice, how . . . .310
The Judgment of the Ancients on that head . . -312
The Judgment of Moderns ....... 349
CHAP. XIII Of the Preparation proper for the Holy Com-
munion . . . . . . . . . -351
1. Baptism . . . . . . . . . .352
2. Competent Knowledge . . . . . . '353
3. Sound Faith 353
4. True Repentance ........ 354
Consisting chiefly in Restitution ..... 358
Readiness to forgive . . . .362
Peaceableness ..... 366
Charity to the Poor .... 366
CHAP. XIV. Of the Obligation to frequent Communion . . 369
How stated in the several Ages of the Church :
First Century , . 371
Second . . 372
Third 374
Fourth 374
Fifth .386
Sixth 389
Seventh 390
Eighth 390
Xll CONTENTS.
PAGE
The Doctrinal Use of the Christian Sacraments considered : in a Charge
delivered to the Middlesex Clergy, May i2th, 1736 . . . 395
The Christian Sacrifice Explained, in a Charge delivered in part to
the Middlesex Clergy at St. Clement-Danes, April the aoth, 1 738.
To which is added an Appendix . . . . . . . 413
The Sacramental Part of the Eucharist Explained, in a Charge deli-
vered in part to the Clergy of Middlesex, at the Easter Visita-
tion, 1739 -4 8 5
Distinctions of Sacrifice ; set forth in a Charge delivered in part to
the Clergy of Middlesex, at the Easter Visitation, 1740 . . 543
A REVIEW OF THE DOCTRINE
OF
THE EUCHAKIST,
AS LAID DOWN IN
SCRIPTURE AND ANTIQUITY.
Ut autem literam sequi, et signa pro rebus quae iis significantur accipere,
servilis infirmitatis est ; ita inutiliter signa interpretari, male vagantis
erroris est.
Augustini de Doct. Christ, lib. iii. cap. 9. p. 49.
ADVERTISEMENT.
IN the latter part of the sixth chapter, I have followed the
common opinion of learned Protestants, (Mr. Bingham, Dr.
Wall, &c.) in relation to Infant Communion, as prevailing in
the fifth century, under a notion of its strict necessity, built
upon John vi. 53. Though I had some scruple about it; as
may appear by my manner of expressing myself, and by the
reference to Thorndike in noteK
Having since looked somewhat deeper into that question, I
think it now just to my readers to advertise them, that I
apprehend that common opinion to be a mistake ; and that
though the practice of giving Communion to children at ten
or at seven years of age (or somewhat sooner) was ancient,
and perhaps general, yet the practice of communicating mere
infants, under a notion of its necessity, and as built upon John
vi, came not in before the eighth or ninth century, never was
general ; or however lasted not long in the West, where it
first began. My reasons for this persuasion are too long to
give here : but I thought this short hint might be proper,
to prevent misconceptions as to that Article.
THE INTRODUCTION.
MY design in this work is to treat of the Sacrament of the Holy
Communion, according to the light which Scripture and right
reason afford, making use of such helps and means for the in-
terpreting Scripture, as God's good providence, in former or
later ages, has furnished us with. The subject is of very great
weight in itself, and of near concern to every Christian ; and
'therefore ought to be studied with a care proportioned to the
importance of it : that so we may govern both ourselves and our
people aright, in a matter of such consequence ; avoiding with
great caution the extremes on both hands, both of excessive
superstition on one hand, and of profane neglect on the other.
We are now visibly under the extreme of neglect ; and therefore
we ought to study by all means possible to inspire our people
with a just respect for this holy institution, and to animate
them to desire earnestly to partake often of it ; and in order
to that, to prepare themselves seriously, to set about it with
reverence and devotion, and with those holy purposes, and
solemn vows, that ought to accompany it a .'
But before I enter upon the main subject, it may not be
improper here to throw in some previous considerations, in
order to prepare my readers for what they will find in this
treatise, that they may the more easily form a true and sound
judgment of the subject-matter of it.
I. The first consideration is, that Scripture alone is our com-
plete rule of faith and manners, 'containing all things necessary
to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be
proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should
be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or
necessary to salvationV
Whatever Scripture contains, either in express words rightly
understood, or by consequence justly deduced, is Scripture
doctrine, and ought to be religiously believed and obeyed ;
allowing only for the different degrees of importance belonging
to different Scripture truths, or Scripture precepts.
II. For the right understanding of Scripture, it is of great
Bp. Burnet on Article XXX f. p. 484. b Article VI.
B 2
4 The Introduction.
moment to know what the most eminent writers or teachers,
ancient and modern, have thought before us on the same
subject ; and more especially to observe what they unanimously
agreed in. For, as they had the same Scriptures before them,
and the same common reason to direct them, and used as much
care and diligence, and were blessed with as great integrity as
any of us now can justly pretend to, their judgment is not to be
slighted, nor their instructions to be despised. The 'responsa
prudentum,' the reports, precedents, and adjudged cases are
allowed to be of considerable weight for determining points of
law : and why should they not be of like weight, ordinarily, for
the determining points of theology? Human law there, and
Divine law here, is properly the authentic rule of action : but
the common reason of mankind is properly the rule of interpre-
tation in both cases : and that common reason shines out the
brightest, and appears in greatest perfection, in the united ver-
dict of the wisest and most excellent men. It is much easier for
one, or for some few fallible interpreters to be deceived, than for
many, other circumstances supposed equal. Nothing less than
very clear Scripture, or as clear reason, ought to weigh any-
thing against the concurring sentiments of the Christian world :
and even in such a case, some fair account ought to be given,
how it came to pass, that such, clear Scripture or clear reason
had hitherto escaped the notice, or missed of the acceptance of
the wisest and best of men.
A very judicious writer of our own has observed, that
'variety of judgments and opinions argueth obscurity in those
things whereabout they differ ; but that which all parts receive
for truth, that which, every one having sifted, is by no one
denied or doubted of, must needs be matter of infallible
certainty .' This he applies to the general doctrine of the Holy
Communion, as being ' instrumentally a cause of the real
participation of Christ, and of life in his body and blood d .'
And it is of this that he says, ' that all sides at length, for
aught he could see, were come to a general agreement : all
approve and acknowledge to be most true, as having nothing in
it but that which the words of Christ are on all sides confessed
to enforce ; nothing but that which the Church of God hath
always thought necessary ; nothing but that which alone is
sufficient for every Christian man to believe concerning the use
and force of this Sacrament : finally, nothing but that wherewith
the writings of all antiquity are consonant, and all Christian
confessions agreeable 6 .' Thus wrote that excellent person in
c Hooker, b. v. p 310. d Compare p. 306. e Page 306.
The Introduction, 5
the year 1597. The Zuinglians by that time had corrected, or
more clearly explained their principles : and Socinus was scarce
yet known on this side the water, or had made no figure
with respect to this subject, or none worth the mentioning,
in opposition to a prescription of fifteen hundred years before
him, and to the united voice of all the churches in his time. It
is a maxim of prudence, as in all other matters, so also in the
interpreting Scripture, to consult with the wise, and to take to
our assistance the most eminent lights we can anywhere find,
either among ancients or moderns. To be a little more par-
ticular, I may here observe something distinctly of each.
i. As to ancients, some lived in the very infancy of the
Church, had personally known our blessed Lord in the flesh, or
conversed with the Apostles, and afterwards governed their
respective churches, as venerable bishops, many years, often
administering the Holy Communion, and at length dying
martyrs. Is it at all likely, that such men as they were should
not understand the true Scripture doctrine concerning the
Sacraments, or that they should affect to delude the people
committed to their charge, with superstitious conceits, or fond
expectations 1 A man must be of a very odd turn of mind, who
can deliberately entertain so unworthy a thought of the apo-
stolical Fathers, or can presume to imagine that he sees deeper
into the use or force of those sacred institutions than those holy
men did. It is reasonable to conceive, that the New Testament
was penned with a very particular view to the capacities of the
first readers or hearers ; not only because it was natural to
adapt the style to the then current language and customs, but
also because much depended upon making the Gospel plain and
intelligible to the first converts, above all that should come
after. If the earliest Christians, after the Apostles, could not
readily understand the religion then taught, how should it be
handed down with advantage to others of later times ] But if the
Scripture doctrine should be supposed comparatively obscure to
those that come after, yet so long as the earlier Christians found
it perfectly clear, and left behind them useful memoirs whereby
we may learn how they understood it, there will be sufficient
security against any dangerous mistakes in succeeding ages, by
looking back to the sense of the most early interpreters. Great
regard therefore ought to be paid to the known sense and
judgment of the apostolical Fathers f . The later Fathers, of the
second, third, and fourth centuries, have their weight also, in
proportion to their known integrity, and abilities, and fame in
f Of this see more in Abp. Wake's Apostolical Fathers, Introd. chap. x.
6 The Introduction.
all the churches ; and more especially in proportion to their early
standing, their nearness to the fountain-head S.
2. As to moderns of best note, they agree with the ancients
in the main things, and may be usefully consulted on the present
subject. Some of them have been eminently skilled in Jewish
antiquities, and others in ecclesiastical. Some have excelled in
criticism and the learned languages : others in clearness of
conception and accuracy of judgment : all are useful in their
several ways, and may suggest many things which upon due
inquiry will be found to be right, and which no single writer,
left to himself, and without consulting them, would ever have
thought on. A man that affects to think by himself will often
fancy he sees that in Scripture which is not there, and will
overlook what there really is : he will run wide in his con-
jectures, criticize in a wrong place, and fall short in most things,
for want of compass, and larger views, or for want of a due
consideration of consequences here or there. Truth is of wide
extent, and is all over uniform and consistent : and it may-
require many eyes to look out, and search round, that every
position advanced may agree with all truths, natural and
revealed, and that no heterogeneous mixture be admitted to
deform and deface the whole system. How often does it happen,
that a man pleases himself with a thought, which strikes him at
first view, and which perhaps he looks upon as demonstration :
and yet further inquiries into other men's labours may at length
convince him that it is mere delusion, justly exploded by the
more knowing and judicious. There are numberless instances
of that kind to be met with among men of letters : which should
make every writer cautious how he presumes too far upon his
own unassisted abilities, and how he opposes his single judg-
ment to the united verdict of wise, great, and good men. It
requires commonly much pains and care to trace a notion quite
through ; to run it up to its first principles, and again to
traverse it to its remotest consequences, and to clear it of all just
objections, in order to be at length rationally satisfied, that it is
sound and good, and consistent throughout. Different churches,
or parties, have their different interpretations of the same texts,
and their different superstructures built upon the same prin-
ciples. They have respectively their several, pleas, pretences,
arguments, solutions, for the maintaining a debate either in the
offensive or defensive way. A subject thus comes to be narrowly
scanned, and minutely viewed on every side ; and so at length a
This argument is considered at large in my Importance of the Doc-
trine of the Trinity Asserted, vol. iii. ch. vii. pp. 601 666.
The Introduction. 7
consistent chain of truth may be wrought out, by a careful hand,
from what the finest wits or ablest heads among the several
contending parties have happily supplied.
But perhaps it may here be asked ; Is then every man obliged
to look deep into religious controversies'? Are not the Scriptures
alone sufficient for any plain and sincere Christian to conduct
himself by, whether as to faith or manners 1 I answer : i. Com-
mon Christians must be content to understand Scripture as they
may, under the help of such guides as Providence has placed
over them, and in the conscientious use of such means as are
proper to their circumstances: which is all that ordinarily can
be required of them. 2. Those who undertake to direct and
guide them are more particularly obliged to search, into religious
controversies, and to ' prove all things' (as far as lies in their
power) in order to lead others in the right way. 3. Those
guides ought, in their inquiries or instructions, to pay a proper
regard and deference to other guides of eminent note, ancient
and modern, and not lightly to contradict them, or vary from
them ; remembering always, that themselves are fallible, and
that new notions (in religion especially) are not comparable,
generally speaking, to the old, proved, and tried. 4. If any
man interpreting Scripture in a new sense, pretends that his
doctrine at least is old, being Scripture doctrine ; he should be
told, that his interpretation however is new, and very suspicious,
because new, and so not likely to be Scripture doctrine. The
novelty of it is itself a strong presumption against it, and such
as nothing can overbalance but very clear and plain reasons on
that side. The judgment of ten thousand interpreters will
always be of considerable weight against the judgment of some
few, who are but interpreters at best, and as fallible as any
other : and it must argue great conceitedness and self-suffi-
ciency, for a man to expect to be heard, or attended to, as a
scripturist, or a textuary, in opposition to the Christian world ;
unless he first fairly considers and confutes what the ablest
writers have pleaded for the received construction, and next as
fairly proves and enforces his own. That there is very great
weight and force in the united voice of the Christian world, is a
point not to be denied by any : and indeed those that affect to
set up new notions are themselves aware of it, and tacitly, at
least, confess the same thing. For they value such authorities
as they are any way able to procure, or even to torture so far as
to make them speak on their side : and they pride themselves
highly in the number of their disciples, (as often as they chance
to succeed,) thinking it a great advantage to their cause, if but
8 The Introduction.
the multitude only, or the vulgar herd, approve and espouse the
same thing with them. Socinus, for instance, while he slighted,
or pretended to slight, the concurring judgment of all churches,
ancient and modern, yet felt a very sensible pleasure in the
applauses of some few individuals, whom he had been able to
deceive : and he looked upon their approbation as a confirming
circumstance that his sentiments were true and right. This
kind of natural logic appears to be common to our whole species :
and there are few, I believe, so sanguine, (unless disordered,)
as to confide entirely in their own judgment, or not to suspect
their own best reasonings, however plausible they may at first
appear, if they have nobody else to concur with them and sup-
port them. Therefore again I conclude as before, that it is of
great moment to know and consider what others have thought
before us, and what the common reason of mankind approves :
and the more numerous or the more considerable the persons
were or are who stand against us in any article, the less
reason, generally, have we to be confident of our own private
persuasions.
I shall only add, that in subjects which have already passed
through many hands, and which have been thoroughly sifted
and considered by the ablest and best heads, in a course of
seventeen hundred years, there appears to be a great deal more
room for judgment than for invention; since little new can now
be thought on that is worth notice: and it is much wiser and
safer to take the most valuable observations of men most eminent
in their several ways, than to advance poor things of our own,
which perhaps are scarce worth the mentioning in comparison.
III. I must further premise, in relation to our present subject,
that as there may be two extremes, viz. of superstition on one
hand, and of profaneness on the other, it appears to be much safer
and better to lean towards the former extreme, than to incline
to the latter. Where there is room for doubt, it is prudent to err
rather on that side which ascribes too much to the Sacrament,
than on that which ascribes too little. i. Because it is
erring on the side of the precepts : for Scripture gives us express
cautions 1 " against paying too little regard to this holy Sacrament,
but never cautions us at all, or however not expressly, against
the contrary extreme. 2. Besides, since we attempt not, and
desire not to carry the respect due to the Sacrament at all higher
than the ancient churches, and the primitive saints and martyrs
have carried the same before, it will be en-ing on the humble,
modest, pious side, if we should happen to run into an extreme,
h i Cor. xi. 27, 29.
The Introduction, 9
after such bright examples. And this again is much safer (for
who would not wish that his lot may be amongst the saints ?)
than it can be to deviate into the contrary extreme of irreverence,
and to come so much the nearer to the faithless and unbelieving,
who have their portion in this life.
It may be pleaded perhaps, that a person does no harm, or
risks no danger, by erring on the lessening side, because God will
certainly perform what he has really promised of the Sacraments
to every worthy receiver, whether believed or no. But then the
question is, how a man can be thought a worthy receiver, who,
without sufficient grounds, disbelieves the promises, much more
if he confidently rejects them, and teaches others also to do so.
Schlictingius pleads in this case, that the effect of the Sacrament
will be the same to every one that receives, though he disbelieves
the doctrine of its being a mean of grace i, or the like : as if he
thought that the outward act of receiving were all, and that the
inward qualification of faith were of no moment. But that was
his great mistake. They Avho disbelieve and openly deny the
inward graces of the Sacrament are unworthy receivers for that
very reason, and ordinarily forfeit all right and title to the
promised graces.
It may be further pleaded, on the same side, that the notion
of the Sacraments, as means of grace, (supposing it erroneous,)
is apt to lead men to rely upon the Sacraments more than upon
their own serious endeavours for the leading a good life, or
to rest in the Sacraments as sufficient without keeping God's
commandments. But this is a suggestion built upon no certain
grounds. For suppose AVC were deceived (as we certainly are
not) in our high conceptions of the use and efficacy of this
Sacrament ; all that follows is, that we may be thereby led to
frequent the Sacrament so much the oftener ; to come to it with
the greater reverence, and to repeat our solemn vows for the
leading a good life, by the assistance of Divine grace, with the
more serious and devout affections. No divines amongst us,
1 'Articulus de coena Domini et necesse est.' Schlicting. adv. Balthas.
baptismo (si vera est vestra sen- Meisn. p. 6. Conf. Socin. de Coena,
tentia, qua coenam Domini et bap- torn. i. p. 767.
tismum media esse statuitis per quae To which Abr. Calovius well an-
Deus spirituales efFectus in animis swers : ' Negare nos, sacramenta
hominum operetur) exprimit quidem talia media esse quae illico efFectus
causam salutis instrumentalem : sed aequatur, etiamsi fides non accedat :
tamen ignoratus aut repudiatus salu- fides autem locum habere nequit
tern non adirnit, dummodo quispiam in iis qui negant et impugnant
coena Domini et baptismo utatur ; directe media salutis divinitus iii-
adhibitis enim istis divinitus ordi- stituta. ' Abr. Calov. contr. Socin.
natis instrumentis effectum sequi torn. i. part 2. p. 251.
io The Introduction.
that I know of, ever teach that the use of the outward Sacrament
is of any avail without inward faith and repentance, or entire
obedience. Our Church at least, and, I think, all Protestant
churches have abundantly guarded against any one's resting in
the bare outward work. The danger therefore on this side is
very slight in comparison. For what if a man should erroneously
suppose that upon his worthy receiving he obtains pardon for
past sins, and grace to prevent future, will not this be an
encouragement to true repentance, without which he can be no
worthy receiver, and to watchfulness also for the time to come,
without which the Divine grace can never have its perfect work]
Not that I would plead for any pious mistake, (were it really a
mistake,) but I am answering an objection ; and shewing, that
there is no comparative force in" it. Were the persuasion I am
pleading for really an error, reason good that it should be
discarded : religion wants not the assistance of pious frauds,
neither can it be served by them. But as we are now supposing
it doubtful on which side the error lies, and are arguing only
upon that supposition, it appears to be a very clear case, that
religion would suffer abundantly more by an error on the left
hand, than by an error on the right ; and that of the two
extremes, profaneness, rather than superstition, is the dangerous
extreme.
Add to this, that corrupt nature generally leans to the
diminishing side, and is more apt to detract from the burden
of religion than to increase the weight ; and therefore the
stronger guard ought to be placed there. Men are but too
inclinable of themselves to take up with low and grovelling
sentiments of Divine things: and so there is the less need of
bending Scripture that way, when the words are fairly capable
of an higher meaning, yea, and require it also, as shall be
shewn in the sequel.
If it should be asked, what temptation any serious Christian
can have to lessen the promises or privileges belonging to the
Sacraments 1 I answer, that pure good-nature and mistaken
humanity may often tempt men to be as easy and indulgent as
possible, in their casuistry, for the relieving of tender consciences,
and for the quieting the scruples of their brethren. The guides of
souls are sometimes apt to be over-officious that way, and much
more than is proper ; like as indulgent parents often ruin their
children by an excessive fondness, considering their present
uneasiness more than their future well-being. When Epicurus
set himself to take off the restraints of religion, no doubt but he
thought he was doing the most humane and the best-natured
The Introduction. n
office imaginable. It had the appearance of it, in some respects,
(though upon the whole it was altogether the reverse,) and that
was his chief temptation to it. It is not improbable that the
same kind of good-nature, ill directed, has tempted many other-
wise learned and valuable guides to be too indulgent casuists,
and to comply too far with the humour of the world. Strict
notions of the Sacraments require as strict observance of the
same Sacraments, which demands the more intense care, and
greater abstraction of thought ; all which is irksome and pain-
ful to flesh and blood : there lies the temptation to low and
diminishing conceptions of the Sacraments, both in clergy and
people.
But are there not temptations likewise to an over-scrupulous
severity 1 Undoubtedly there are. Sometimes education, temper,
prejudice ; sometimes indiscreet zeal, or a spice of enthusiasm :
but in the general, and for the most part, the making religion
bend to the humours and fashions of the world is the sin which
most easily besets us ; and therefore there it is that we ought to
appoint the double guard. To conclude this article, all extremes
are wrong, and it may require some care and good discernment
to observe in every instance the golden mean : but still there
may be greater sin and danger on one side than on the other ;
and I have thought it of some moment to determine thus briefly,
to which of the extremes we may, in our circumstances, most
securely and wisely lean.
IV. There is another consideration very proper to be hinted
here in the entrance, relating to the prejudice often done to our
venerable Sacraments, by representing them under the detracting
or diminishing name of positive duties : as if they were to be
considered as duties only, rather than religious rites in which
God bears a part ; or as if that part which belongs to us, and is
really duty, were a single duty, and not rather a band and cement
of all duties, or a kind of sponsion and security for the present and
future performance of the whole duty of man. How this matter
stands will be seen distinctly in the sequel. But it is proper to hint
something of it here beforehand, lest the reader, by attending
to a false light, should set out under a mistake of the main
question. Let it be previously understood, what it is that we
assert and maintain, for the removing of prejudices, and for the
preventing any wrong suspicion, either of our exalting a bare
external duty above faith, hope, and charity, or of our recom-
mending any single duty in derogation to the rest.
i. In the first place therefore, let it be carefully noted, that it
is not merely a duty of ours, but a sacred rite, (in which God
12 The Introduction.
himself bears a part,) that we are labouring to exalt, or rather
to do justice to. The doctrine of our Church, and of all Chris-
tian churches, early and late, is much the same with what our
Homilies teach us : namely, that ' in the Sacraments God em-
braces us, and offereth himself to be embraced by us ; ' and that
they ' set out to the eyes, and other outward senses, the in-
ward workings of God's free mercy, and seal in our hearts the
promises of God k .'
A learned writer observes and proves, that a sacrament relates
to that which ' flows from God to us ; ' and he adds, that ' it is
a thing neither denied nor forgotten by any, but is evident from
what the Scriptures teach concerning Baptism and the Lord's
Supper 1.' Indeed, the Socinian way is to exclude God, as it
were, out of the Sacraments, and to allow him no part in them,
but to reduce all to a bare human performance, or positive duty :
but we have not so learned Christ. We are so far from thinking
the sacramental transaction to be a bare duty of ours, that we
conceive there is great use and efficacy in a sacrament, even
where the recipient performs no duty at all, nor is capable of
any, as in the case of infants receiving Baptism. It is further
observable, that Baptism is frequently mentioned together with
repentance, in the New Testament, as distinct from it ; though
repentance alone, as it signifies or implies entire obedience, fully
expresses all that is properly and merely duty on our part.
A plain sign that Baptism, as a sacrament, carries more in the
idea of it than the consideration of bare duty, and that it comes
not, in its whole notion, under the head of duties, but of rites,
or contracts, or covenants, solemn transactions between God
and man. God bears his part in it, as well as we ours : and
therefore it is looked upon as distinct from bare duties, and
spoken of accordingly.
I suppose it might be on these and the like considerations,
that some Divines have conceived, that a sacrament, properly,
is rather an application of God to men, than of men to God.
Mr. Scandret, distinguishing a sacrament, according to its pre-
cise formality, from a sacrifice, observes, that it is ' an outward
visible sign of an invisible grace or favour from God to man m .'
k Hoinily on the Common Prayer esse quasi manus Dei quibus is nobis
and Sacraments. offert et confert quod a fide nobis
1 Towerson on the Sacraments, p. petitur et accipitur.' Voss. de Sa-
12. Vossius, to the same purpose, cram. Vi et Effic. p. 252. vol. vi.
says : ' Quemadmodum fides est quasi Opp.
manus nostra, qua nos quaerimus et m Scandret, Sacrifice of the Divine
accipimus : sic verbum et sacramenta Service, p. 54.
The Introduction. 13
And Dr. Eymer takes notice, that, according to our Church
Catechism, ' a sacrament is not supposed, in its most essential
part, an application made by men to God, but one made by
God to man. . . A gracious condescension of God's, by which he
converses with men, and exhibits to them spiritual blessings,
&c. . . God's part is indeed the whole that is strictly and pro-
perly sacramental : the outward and visible signs exhibited
are in effect the voice of God, repeating his promise of that
inward and spiritual favour 11 .' Dr. Towerson long before had
observed, that there is a difficulty as to ' shewing that a sacra-
ment relates equally to that which passeth from us to God,
and that it imports our duty and service .' He conceived no
difficulty at all, as to God's part in a sacrament ; that was
a clear point : but he thought it not so easy to prove, that
the strict and proper sense of the word sacrament includes
man's part at all. However, it is very certain that the whole
transaction, in the case of adults, is between two parties, and
that the application is mutual between God and man. And
this must be acknowledged particularly in the Eucharist, by
as many as do allow of a Consecration-prayer, and do admit
that service to be part of our religious worship, as also to be
a federal rite. But from hence may appear how widely they
mistake who consider a sacrament as a bare human performance,
a discharge of a positive duty on man's part, and nothing more,
throwing out what belongs to God, and what is most strictly
sacramental. It is sinking or dropping the noblest and most
essential part of the idea, and presenting us with a very lame
and insufficient account of the thing. But a more minute
explication of this matter, together with the proofs of what
we maintain, will come in hereafter : all I intended here was
only to give the reader some previous conception of the state
of the main question, that he may understand the more clearly
what we are about.
2. Next, I must observe, that that part in a sacrament which
is really ours, and which, so far as concerns adults, is properly
duty, is yet such a duty as is supposed to comprehend, one way
or other, all duty : for receiving worthily (as shall be shewn in
its place) implies present repentance, a heart turned to God
and to universal obedience, and a serious resolution so to abide
to our life's end. It has been thought somewhat strange, by
those who have imbibed wrong notions of the case, that all
Christian privileges should be supposed to follow a single duty,
11 Eymer, General Representation of Revealed Religion, pp. 286, 287.
Towerson on the Sacraments, p. 12.
14 The Introduction.
when they really belong to the whole system of duties. But
when it is considered, that these privileges are never conceived
to be annexed to this single duty, in any other view, or upon
any other supposition, but as it virtually carries in it (or in the
idea of worthy reception) all duty, the main difficulty will
vanish ; for it may still be true, that those Christian privileges
go along with the whole system of duties, and with nothing
short of it. We never do annex all Christian privileges to
this single duty, but as this duty is conceived, for the time
being, to contain all the rest ; for that we take to be implied
in receiving worthily. Whether we are right in interpreting
worthy reception in so comprehensive a sense, is not now the
question, but may be considered in its place : all I am con-
cerned with here is to ward off a charge of inconsistency, with
respect to our doctrine on this head.
But to shew the weakness of the charge yet more plainly, let
the same objection be urged in a very common case of oaths
to a government, or of subscription to articles, to which many
State-privileges and Church-privileges are ordinarily annexed.
What, may some say, shall all those privileges be given, merely
for the labour of repeating an oath, or of writing a name 1 No,
certainly : the outward work is the least and the lowest part
of what the privileges are intended for, if it be any part
at all, in a strict sense. The privileges are intended for persons
so swearing, or so subscribing, upon a presumption that such
oath carries in it all dutiful allegiance to the sovereign, and
that such subscription carries in it all conformity in faith and
doctrine to the Church established. Of the like nature and
use are our sacramental ties and covenants. They are supposed,
when worthily performed, to carry in them all dutiful allegiance
to God, and a firm attachment to Christ ; a stipulation of a
good conscience, and, in a word, universal righteousness, both
as to faith and manners P : all which is solemnly entered into
for the present, and stipulated for the future, by every sincere
and devout communicant. To be short, repentance, rightly
understood, and a due attendance on the Sacraments, taken
P What Tertullian observes of the audientis intinctio est, metus integer,
sacrament of Baptism is justly ap- deinde quoad Dominum senseris,
plicable to both Sacraments : ' La- fides sana, conscientia semel poeni-
vacrum illud obsignatio est fidei, tentiam amplexata. Ceterum, si ab
quae fides a poenitentiae fide in- aquis peccare desistimus, necessitate,
cipitur et commendatur. Non ideo non sponte innocentiam induimus.'
abluimur ut delinquere desinamus, Tertull. de Poenit. cap. vi. p. 125.
sed quia desiimus, quoniam jam Kigali,
corde loti sumus. Haec enim prima
The Introduction. 15
together, do in our account make up the whole system of
Christian practice for the time being : therefore in annexing
all Gospel-privileges to worthy receiving, we do not annex
them to one duty only, but to all, contained, as it were, or
summed up (by the supposition) in that one. All the mistake
and misconception which some run into on this head, appears
to be owing to their abstracting the outward work from the
inward worthiness supposed to go along with it, and then calling
that a single duty, which at best is but the shell of duty in
itself, and which, in some circumstances, (as when separate
from a good heart,) is no duty at all, but a grievous sin, a
contempt offered to the body and blood of Christ, and highly
provoking to Almighty God.
Thus far I have taken the liberty of premising a few things
in the entrance ; not for the anticipating what I am hereafter to
prove, but for the removing those prejudices which appeared
to lie in the way. And now I proceed, with God's assistance,
to what I intend upon the subject of the Eucharist, otherwise
styled the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or the Holy
Communion.
1 6 The Ancient Names of CH. I.
CHAP. I.
Of tJie most noted or most considerable Names under which the
Holy Communion hath been anciently spoken of.
BEFORE I come directly to treat of the thing, it may be
proper to observe something of the names it has anciently
gone under : which I shall endeavour to range in chronological
order, according to the time when each name may be supposed
to have come up, or first to have grown into vogue.
A. D. 33. Breaking of Bread.
The oldest name given to this holy ceremony, or religious ser-
vice, seems to have been that of ' breaking bread,' taken from what
the disciples saw done by our Lord in the solemnity of the insti-
tution. I choose to set the date according to the time of the first
clear instance a we have of it, rather than according to the time
when St. Luke related it in his history ; because very probably
he followed the style of those who then celebrated it. St. Luke
in his history of the Acts, speaking of the disciples, says : ' They
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayersV The circumstances
of the text plead strongly for interpreting, it of the Holy Commu-
nion : and the Syriac version (which is of great antiquity) renders
it ' breaking of the Eucharist c ;' which is some confirmation
of the same construction. A little lower, in the same chapter,
a I said, first clear instance ; be- yet since it is a disputed construc-
cause though Luke xxiv. 30, 35 tion, and such as cannot be ascer-
has been understood of the Eucha- tained, I call that instance not clear,
rist by some ancients, and more but pass it off as none, because it is
moderns, (Romanists especially,) and doubtful.
I see no absurdity in the interpre- b Acts ii. 42.
tation, nor anything highly im- c The same phrase occurs in the
probable, or that could give just Recognitions, lib. vi. n. 15 : ' Euclia-
advantage to the Romish cause with ristiam frangens cum eis.'
respect to communion in one kind ;
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 17
mention is again made of the disciples, as ' continuing daily in
the temple, and breaking bread from house to house d ;' or
rather ' in a house,' set apart for holy uses 6 .
St. Luke a third time takes notice of the ' breaking of bread :'
where also the Syriac version renders as before, ' breaking of
the Eucharist.' The circumstances confirm it : it was on the
' first day of the week/ and St. Paul is observed to have 'preached
unto them.' St. Paul also himself seems to allude to this
name, when speaking of this Sacrament he says, ' The bread
which we break, is it not the Communion f V &c. They who
would see more concerning this name may consult, besides com-
mentators, the authors referred to at the bottom of the page?. I
may just observe, by the way, that scruples have been raised
against the construction here given ; and some have thought
that the texts might possibly be interpreted either of a love-
feast, or else of a common meal. I think, very hardly, and not
without some violence. However, even Whitby and Wolfius,
who appear to hesitate upon Acts ii. 42, 46, yet are positive
enough with respect to Acts xx. 7, as relating to the Eucharist :
and since there is no ground for scruple, excepting only that the
Romanists make an ill use of this construction, and that may
easily be obviated a better way n , I look upon the construction
here given as sufficiently supported. And it is some confirmation
of it, that Ignatius, of the apostolical times, makes use of the
same phrase of ' breaking bread,' where he is plainly speaking of
this holy Sacrament 1 .
d Acts ii. 46. Our translation in f I Cor. x. 16.
the phrase ' from house to house' f Casauboii. ad Annal. Eccles.
(KOT' olKov) follows Beza, who renders Exerc. xvi. p. 378, alias p. 528.
' domatim, ' and has been found fault Buxtorf de Coena Domini, pp. 312,
with by Scaliger, Mede, Beveridge, 313. Suicer. Thesaur. in voc. KKaais,
and Cave, referred to in Wolfius Cur. p. 105. Julian. Vorstii Philolog.
Crit. pag. 1048. Compare Johnson's Sacr. part. ii. p. 200. Towerson on
Unbloody Sacrifice, vol. ii. p. 98. the Sacraments, p. 166.
e ' Erant autem privata ilia virfpfa u Vid. Casaubon. ad Annal.
loca a Judaeis semper sacris usibus Eccl. Exercit. xvi. n. 48. p.
destinata ; saltern ex quo Daniel 379.
propheta ascendisse in coenaculum ' "Ei/a apron K\uvTes. Ignat. ad
ad orandum diceretur.' Pearson, Ephes. cap. xx. p. 19.
Lect. in Act. Apost. p. 31.
1 8 The Ancient Names of CH. I.
A. D. 57. Communion.
*
The name of Communion has been long famous, and was
undoubtedly taken from St. Paul's account of this Sacrament,
where he teaches that the effect of this service is the Communion
of the body and blood of Christ k . He does not indeed directly
call the Sacrament by that name, as others have done since he
was signifying what the thing is, or what it does, rather than how
it was then called 1 . But as his account gave the first occasion
for the name of Communion, I thought it not amiss to date it
from thence. I find not that this name became frequent in the
earlier centuries : the Canons called apostolical are of doubtful
age. The Roman clergy, in a letter to the clergy of Carthage,
make use of the name Communion in the time of St. Cyprian m ,
that is, about the middle of the third century. But in the age
next following, it became very common, both in the Greek and
Latin Fathers. The Spanish Fathers, in the Council of Elvira,
(A.D. 305), make use of it more than forty times : the Councils
of Aries and of Ancyra (in 314 and 315) made use of the same.
The Council of Nice, in the year 325, speaks of the same Sacra-
ment under the name of Communion 11 , in their thirteenth Canon.
Hilary, about the middle of the same century, styles it sometimes
the Communion of the Holy Body, sometimes the Sacrament of
the Holy Communion, sometimes the Communion of the everlast-
ing Sacraments . A little later in the same century, Basil some-
times has the single word Communion P to denote the Eucharist :
at other times he calls it the Communion of the good Thing, or of
k i Cor. x. 16. Cyprian. Epist. ii. p. 8. Bened.
1 'Non appellat Paulus Coenam ed.
Domini Communionem tanquam pro- n Koivuvtas ird\iv T\>x<i>v. Concil.
prio ejus nomine ; sed vim et effica- Nicaen. can. xiii. p. 330. Harduin.
ciam Sacramenti hujus exprimens, Hilarius Pictavens. pp. 169, 223,
ait earn esse communionem, sive 740. edit. Bened.
participationem corporis Christi.' P Koivtaviav oticoi KaTtx ovrfs > fy>'
Casaubon. Exercit. xvi. n. 47. p. eavruiv f*f.Ta.\a.n$d.vov<nv. fv > AA|oj'-
361. Spia 8e Kal tv Alyvirrcf eicaffTos teal
m ' Si qui in hanc tentationem in- rwv iv \aa> reAoiWcop, &>s M -rb
ciderunt, coeperint apprehendi infir- irXfiarov, ex.fi Koivwv'iav ev T< olicta
mitate, et agant poeiiitentiam facti avrov, /cat ore ftov\tTai fisraAa^Saj'et
sui, et desiderent communionem, 81' tavrov. Basil. Epist. xciii. p.
utique subveniri eis debet ' &c. Apud 187. edit. Bened.; alias Epist. 289.
CH. I. the Holy Communion. 19
the 'Sovereign GoocK I need not descend to lower Fathers,
amongst whom the name became very frequent : Suicer r has col-
lected their testimonies, observing withal the several accounts
which they gave of the name, all reducible to three, i. The Sacra-
ment is so called because of the communion we therein hold with
Christ and with each other. 2. Because we are therein made part-
ners of Christ's kingdom. 3. Because it is a religious banquet,
which we partake of in common with our fellow Christians.
A. D. 57. Lord's Supper.
I am willing to set down the name of Lord's Supper as a
Scripture name, occurring in St. Paul's Epistles 8 ; which appears
to be the most prevailing opinion of learned Protestants. Not
that I take it to be a clear point at all, or so much as capable of
being proved : but I incline rather to those, both ancients and
moderns, who interpret that place of the love-feast, kept in imi-
tation of our Lord's Last Supper, which was previous to the
original Eucharist. Thus much however is certain, that in the
apostolical times the love-feast and the Eucharist, though distinct,
went together, and were nearly allied to each other, and were
both of them celebrated at one meeting. Without some such
supposition as that, it was next to impossible to account for
St. Paul's quick transition, in that chapter, from one to the
other. Whether, therefore, Lord's Supper in that chapter sig-
nifies the love-feast only, or the Eucharist only, or both together,
one thing is clear and unquestionable, that they were both but
different parts of the same solemnity, or different acts of the
same meeting : and there is no occasion to be scrupulously nice
and critical in distinguishing to which of the parts the name
strictly belongs *.
i Kotveevia rov ayadov. Epist. tius inquirere non est opus : sive
Canon, prima ad Amphiloch. p. enim Christianomm Agapae, sive
272. Epist. secuncla, p. 293. ipsa Eucharistia significetur, nil in-
r Suicer. Thesaur. in Koivdivia. terest, dummodo concedatur (quod
Conf. Casaubon. Exercit. xvi. n. iiulla prorsus ratione iiegari potest)
47. p. 361, &c., alias 504, &c. EucharistiaecelebrationemcumAga-
8 i Cor. xi. 20. pis esse conjunctam.' Sam. Basnag.
1 ' Quid rei sit coena haec, accura- Annal. torn. ii. p. 296.
C 2
2O The Ancient Names of CH. i.
Maldonate, the Jesuit, in his Contents upon Matt. xxvi. 26,
took upon him to reproach the Protestants in an unhandsome
manner, for speaking of the Eucharist under the name of a
Supper ; Avhich he thought irreverent, and not wan-anted by
Scripture, antiquity, or sound reason u . The learned Casaubon
some time after appeared in behalf of the Protestants x , and
easily defended them, as to the main thing, against the injurious
charge. Albertinus, long after, searched with all diligence into
ancient precedents and authorities for the name, and produced
them in great abundance y, more than sufficient to confute the
charge of novelty, rashness, or profaneness on that head. The
truth of the matter seems to be. that though there is no clear
proof that the name of Supper is a Scripture name, yet some
Fathers (as high as the fourth century) thought that it was, so
understanding i Cor. xi. 20. And many interpreters of good
note have followed them in it. Indeed it does not appear that
the text was so construed before the latter end of the fourth
century, or that the name of Lord's Supper was much in use as
a name for the Eucharist. Irenaeus once has the name of God's
Supper, but means quite another thing by it z . Tertullian has
the same a for Lord's Table, referring to i Cor. x. 22, not to
i Cor. xi. 20. He has also the phrase of Lord's Banquet b , [or
Lord's Day Banquet,] and Banquet of God c , meaning the love-
feasts then in use, which he elsewhere styles the Supper of
Christians d . But St. Basil very plainly interprets Lord's Supper
in that text of the Eucharist 6 : which even Fronto Ducaeus, in
u ' Calvinistae sine Scripturae auc- c ' Convivium Dei.' Tertull. de
toritate, sine veterum auctorum ex- Virgin. Vel. cap. viii. p. 172.
emplo, sine ratione, nullo judicio, d ' Coena nostra de nomine ratio-
coenam vocant.' Maldouat. p. 556. nem sui ostendit : id vocatur quod
x Casaubon. Exercit. xvi. n. 32. dilectio apud Graecos. ' Tertull.
p. 368, alias 513. Apoll. cap. 39.
y Albertinus de Eucharistia, lib. i. e "na-irep oi>Sev Koivbv cr/ceCos eVwpe-
cap. I. trot 6 \6yos eiffcpepeffOat fls TCI ayia,
1 ' Coena Dei.' Iren. lib. iv. cap. ovrias oi'/Se ra ayta els Kotvbv olitov
36. p. 279. ed. Bened. en-ire A.tVr#o. . . . /U^JTS rbv Koivbv Se'tir-
a 'NonpossumuscoenamDeiedere, vov fv Kn\T]aia eafltetv /cat Trivetv,
et coenam daemoniorum.' Tertullian. /J-^re rb KvpiaKbv Sflirvov fv olnia
de Spect. cap. xiii. p. 79. Ka6v&pttiit. Basil. Regul. Brev. p.
b 'Convivium Dominicum.' Ter- 310, p. 525. ed. Bened., alias 657.
tull. ad Uxor. cap. iv. p. 168. Conf. Theodorit. in i Cor. xi. 20.
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 21
his notes upon the place, confesses ; endeavouring at the same
time to bring off Maldonate as fairly as the matter would bear,
while, in reality, he yields the main thing, with respect to the
Fathers, at least. However, it must be owned that Basil is the
first who directly so interprets the text, and that the Fathers
were not all of a mind about it, and that the appellation of Supper
was not very common till after the fourth century ; and that even
in the later centuries the name of Lord's Supper was a name for
that supper which our Lord made previous to the Eucharist.
The third Council of Carthage (A. D. 418) speaks of 'one day
in the year in which the Lord's Supper was celebrated f :' where
it is plain that Lord's Supper does not mean the Eucharist, but
the supper proper to Maundy-Thursday, kept in imitation of our
Lord's Paschal Supper, previous to the Eucharist. And the like
is mentioned in the Trullan Council (A. D. 683), in their 2Qth
Canon?. So that Lord's Supper was not then become a familiar
name, as now, for the Eucharist, but rather eminently denoted
the supper previous to it ; either our Lord's own, or that which
was afterwards observed by Christians as a memorial of it, being
a kind of love-feast. I shall only add further, that Hilary the
Deacon (A. r>. 380, or nearly) in his comment upon i Cor. xi. seems
to dislike the name of supper 1 ', as applied to the Eucharist, and
therefore could not interpret the text as Basil of that time did.
A. D. 96. Oblation.
The name of oblation may, I think, be fairly carried up as
high as to Clemens of Rome, who upon the lowest computation
wrote his famous Epistle as early as the year 96. The more
common date is 70, or thereabout : but a learned and considerate
writer', who very lately has re-examined the chronology of that
Epistle, has with great appearance of probability brought it down
to A. D. 96 : and there I am willing to rest it.
f Miaj T7jeria$ % (if pas ev fj TO Kvpia- rium Eucharistiae inter coenandum
Kbv Sflirvov firirf^t'irai. Concil. Car- celebratum, non coenam esse : medi-
thag. Can. xliv. p. 567. Bevereg. edit, cina enim spiritalis est, quae cum
s Mias eTTjffiou ^iifpas, tv 77 -rb reverentia degustata, purificat sibi
iivpiaK^v SeiTrvoc fimt\f7rai. Concil. devotmn.' Pseud. Ambros. in loc.
Trull. Can. xxix. p. 188. * Lardner, Credibility of Gospel
k 'Ostendit [Christus] illis myste- Hist, part ii. vol. i. pp. 5062.
22 " The Ancient Names of CH. i.
Clemens speaks of the oblations and sacred functions of the
Church, referring, very probably, to the Eucharistical service k :
neither can he without some violence be interpreted to mean any-
thing else. In another place, he still more plainly refers to the
same, where he says ; ' It would be no small sin in us, should
we cast off those from the episcopal function, who holily and
without blame offer the gifts 1 .' Here he expressly speaks of
gifts offered, (that is, of oblation,) and by sacerdotal hands. The
gifts were brought to the altar, or communion table, by the
people, and were recommended to God's acceptance by the offici-
ating bishop, or presbyter. So there was first a kind of lay
oblation, and next a sacerdotal oblation of the same gifts to God.
Those gifts consisted partly of alms to the poor, and partly of
oblations, properly so called, to the Church ; and out of these last
was usually taken the matter of the Eucharist, the bread and
wine m . The oblation, as I before hinted, was twofold ; hence
the whole service of the Eucharist came to be called the oblation :
and to communicate, or to administer, in Church language, was
to offer. There was a third kind of oblation which came up
afterwards, in the third century : or, to speak more accurately,
the commemoration, which was always a part of the Eucharistical
service, came by degrees to be called an oblation, (but not within
the two first centuries, so far as I can find,) and then commenced
a kind of third oblation : not a new thing, but an old service
under a new name.
k Hdvra rc|ej iroietv 6<f>ti\ofj.fv , . . KOVTO.S ra ScSpo, rijx ftrta-KOTrrjs airo/Bd-
rds re irpoo-Qopas Kal \firovpyeias ^TTI- \tanev. c. xliv. p. 178. Compare
re\f7ffdai . . . ol o$v -rots trpoffrtray- Johnson's Unbl. Sacrifice, part i.
fJ.l"US KCUpOlS TTOlOWTfS TOS TTpO<T<pOpaS pp. 75, 78, &C.
avriav, evTrp6a5eKToi elffi Kal na.K<ipioi. m See Bingham, Eccles. Antiq. b.
Clem. Rom. Ep. c. xl. p. 164. edit. xy. ch. i. sect. I, 2. Deylingius,
Cant. Observ. Miscellan. p. 301. Consti-
"V'itringa, upon these words, allows tut. Apostol. lib. viii. c. 27, 30.
that they refer to the Eucharist. L'Arroque, Hist, of the Eucharist,
'Preceshauddubieintelligunturcum part i. ch. iv. p. 30, &c.
sacris Eucharistiae, quibus Clemens n Of the third oblation, or three-
statas horas, ad exemplum sacrorum fold oblation, see L'Arroque, Hist.
templi, definiri vult.' Vitring. de of the Eucharist, part i. c. 8. Sam.
Vet. Synag. p. 1115. Conf. Basnag. Basnag. Annal. torn. i. p. 371.
Annal. vol. i. p. 371. Pfaffius, Dissert, de Oblat. Vet.
1 'Anapria yap ov fjLiKpa r]fuv corral, Eucharist, pp. 283, 293.
ecic TOVS amtniTTus Kal daicas
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 23
Justin Martyr, though he does not directly call the Eucharist
by the name of oblation, yet he does obliquely, where he says that
the oblation of fine flour, under the law, was a type of the bread
of the Eucharist ; and where he speaks of the Eucharistical ele-
ments as being offered to GodP. Elsewhere he speaks plainly of
the lay offering, brought by the people to the administrator Q: and
I presume he is to be understood of an offering to be presented
to God, by the hands of the Minister, brought to the Minister in
order to be recommended by him to the Divine acceptance.
Irenaeus, of the same century, makes frequent mention of the
oblation of the Eucharist, understanding by it the whole service
as performed by clergy and people, according to their respective
parts or provinces r . He supposes the oblation made to God,
made by the Church, in and by the proper officers : and though
the oblation strictly speaking, according to its primary significa-
tion, means only one part of the service, or two (viz. the people's
bringing their offerings to the altar, and the administrator's
presenting the same to God), yet from this part or parts of the
service, the whole solemnity took the name of the oblation at that
time, and such name became very common and familiar after-
wards. For since the very matter of the Eucharist was taken
out of the oblations received from the people, and solemnly offered
up afterwards to God by the Ministers, it was very natural to
give the name of oblation to the whole solemnity.
Tertullian speaking of the Devil, as imitating the mysteries of
'H rris ffffj.tSd\ces irpoffipopa ... r ' Novi Testament! novam docuit
TiVo? -fiv rov aprov TTJS evxaptffrias. oblationem, quam Ecclesia ab Apo-
Just. Dial. p. 119 Jebb, 22oThirlby. stolis accipiens, in universe mundo
P Hpoff(l>epo/J.evtav avrqi Qvaitav, rov- offert Deo, ei qui alimenta nobis
rt<rrt rov aprov TTJS fvxapio-rias, ft:a ' praestat, primitias suorum munerum'
rov TTorTjpiov 6(j.oi<as rrjs iv^apiffrias. &c. Iren. lib. iv. c. 17. p. 249. edit.
Just. Dial. p. 1 20 Jebb, alias 220. Bened. ' Ecclesiae oblatio, quam
1 "Eireira irpofffpfperai ry irpoe- Dominus docuit offerri in universe
(Tram riav ao'f\tp{ai' &pros teal ifOT^piov mundo, purum sacrificium repertum
u'SaTos Kal Kpd[i.a.ros, ical ovros AaiScbf, est ' &c. ' Non genus oblationum
atvov Kal 56av r$ irarpl &c. reprobatum est : oblationes enim et
"Apros irpoffQeperat, Kal olvos Kal illic, oblationes autem et hie.' p. 250.
uSoip. Kal o irpofffrlas eii^as opo'icas ' Hanc oblationem Ecclesia solam
Kal fvxapHrrlas, O'CTTJ Suva/j-ts avrtf, puram offert fabricator!, offerens ei
avaTre/j.irfi, Kal 6 \abs '?reii!f)rj / u?, Ae- cum gratiarum actione, ex creatura
ytav rb 'A^v. Just. Mart. Apol. i. ejus.' p. 251.
pp. 96, 98.
24 The Ancient Names of CH. i.
the Church, takes notice, among other things, of his instructing
his votaries to baptize and to celebrate the oblation of bread 8 : as
much as to say, that they also had their Eucharist in their way;
oblation being here the name for the whole service. In another
place he uses the single word 'offer, 'for the whole action of admi-
nistering and receiving the Communion * Elsewhere he makes
mention of oblations for the dead ; and at the anniversaries of
the martyrs u : and by oblations he could intend nothing but the
Eucharistical solemnities celebrated on those days*.
We have seen proofs sufficient of the name of oblation for the
two first centuries. But it is observable, that all this time we
meet only with oblation of gifts, or first fruits, or of bread,
wine, or the like : no oblation of Christ's body, or blood, or of
Christ absolutely, as we shall find afterwards. Hence it is, that
some very learned men have thought that, according to the
ancients, the oblation was considered always as previous to con-
secration, and that the elements were offered in order to be con-
secrated y : which indeed is true according to that sense of oblation
which obtained for two centuries and a half ; but a new sense,
or new application of the word, or name, came in soon after, and
so it will here be necessary to distinguish times.
I shall now pass on to Cyprian, to shew how this matter stood,
upon the change of language introduced in his time. We shall
find him plainly speaking of the offering Christ's body and blood 2 .
'Tinguit et ipse quosdam.. .. most ancient Church-writers, not as
celebrat et panis oblationem.' Ter- consecrated, but as presented, and
tull. de Praescript. c. xl. p. 216. offered (whether by the people, as
* ' Ubi ecclesiastic! ordin is non est the custom was, to him that minis-
consessus, et offers, et tinguis, et tered, or by him that ministered, to
sacerdos es tibi solus.' Tertull. de God) to be consecrated.' Thorn-
Exhort. Cast. c. vii. p. 522. Conf. dike, Relig. Assembl. p. 379. 'Con-
de Veland. Virg. c. ix. p. 178. secrationi autem oblationem prae-
u 'Oblationes pro defunctis, pro positam olim fuisse. adeo perspi-
natalitiis annua die facimus.' Ter- cuum ex veterum dictis, liturgiisque
tun, de Coron. c. iii. p. 102. Conf. antiquissimis, maxime Graecis. esse
de Exhort. Cast. c. xi. p. 523. arbitramur, ut nihil clarius esse pos-
T See Bingham, book xxiii. ch. 3. sit.' Pfaff. Fragm. Iren. in praefat.
sect. 12, 13. Deylingius, Observat. * ' Obtulit [Dominus] hoc idem
Miscellan. p. 95. quod Melchisedech obtulerat, id est
y ' It is manifest, that it is called panem et vinum, suum scilicet cor-
an oblation, or sacrifice, in all litur- pus et sanguinem.' Cyprian. Ep.
gies, according to the style of the Ixiii. p. 105. edit. Bened. 'Unde
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 25
This must be understood of an oblation subsequent to consecration,
not in order to it : for Christ's body and blood, -whether real or
symbolical, are holy, and could want no sanctifi cation or consecra-
tion. He further seems to speak of offering Christ himself 8 , in
this Sacrament, unto God, but under the symbols of consecrated
bread and wine. That may be his meaning : and the meaning is
good, when rightly apprehended ; for there was nothing new in
it but the language, or the manner of expression. What the
elder Fathers would have called, and did call, the commemorating
of Christ, or the commemorating his passion, his body broken, or
blood shed ; that Cyprian calls the offering of Christ, or of his
passion, &c., because, in a large sense, even commemorating is
offering, as it is presenting the thing or the person so com-
memorated, in the way of prayer and thanksgiving, before God.
I do not invent this account for the clearing a difficulty, but I take
it from Cyprian himself, whose own words shew that the Eucha-
ristical commemoration was all the while in his mind b , and that
that was all he meant by the oblation which he there speaks of,
using a new name for an old thing. I shall shew in due time,
that the later Fathers who followed Cyprian's language in this
particular, and who admitted this third oblation (as some have
called it) as well as he, yet when they came to explain, inter-
preted it to mean no more than a solemn commemoration, such
as I have mentioned.
I must further observe, that though Cyprian sometimes ad-
vances this new kind of language, yet elsewhere he follows the
more ancient way of speaking, and understands oblation as other
apparet sanguinem Christi non of- 109. ' Quia passionis ejus mentionem
ferri, si desit vinum calici ' &c. p. in sacrificiis omnibus facimus (passio
107. est enim Domini, sacrificium quod
a ' Nam si Jesus Christus Dominus offerimus) nihil aliud quam quod
et Deus noster ipse est summus sa- ille fecit, facere debemus.' p. 109.
cerdos Dei Patris, et sacrificium b ' Calix qui in commemorationem
Patri seipsum primus obtulit, et [alias, commemoration e]e jus offertur.'
hoc fieri in sui commemorationem p. 104. 'Quotiescunqueergo calicem
praecepit, utique ille sacerdos vice in commemorationem Domini et pas-
Christi vere fungitur, qui id quod sionis ejus offerimus, id quod con-
Christus fecit, imitatur, et sic inci- stat Dominum fecisse, faciamus.' p.
piat offerre secundum quod ipsum 109.
Christum videat obtulisse.' Ibid. p.
26 The Ancient Names of CH. I.
Fathers before him. had done. Thus, when he speaks of the sacrifice
offered in the Eucharist by the poor , he means it of the lay obla-
tion which was previous to consecration; as also when he speaks of
the clergy's presenting the oblations of the people d , he is to be
understood of the first and second oblations, both of them previous
to consecration. And when he observes, that an oblation cannot
be sanctified" where the Spirit is not given 6 , he uses the word
oblation for what was antecedent ; and it amounts to the same
as if he had said, that such an oblation could not be consecrated,
could not be made the body and blood of Christ. But enough
hath been said of the name of oblation in this place : the thing
will be more distinctly considered hereafter.
A. D. 104. Sacrament.
The name of Sacrament, as applied to the Eucharist, though
no Scripture name, yet certainly is of great antiquity. The
younger Pliny, in his Letter to the Emperor Trajan, will afford
us a good argument of it, in what he reports of the Christians,
and from the Christians, as meeting on a certain day (the Lord's
Day) and binding themselves by a 'Sacrament' to commit no
wickedness, but to lead good lives f . As Pliny there reported
what the Christians had told him, it is reasonable to judge,
that they had made use of the word Sacrament to him, which
they understood in the Christian sense, however Pliny or Trajan
might take it : and so this testimony will amount to a probable
proof of the use of the name of Sacrament among the Christians
of that time. That the name, as there used, is to be understood
c 'Partem de sacrificio quod pau- quasi Deo dicere secum invicem :
per obtulerit, sumis.' Cypr. de Op. seque sacramento non in scelus ali-
et Eleem. p. 242. quod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne
d ' Qui communicando cum lapsis, latrocinia, ne adulteria committe-
et offerendo oblationes eorum' &c. rent, ne fidem fallerent, ne tleposi-
Ep. xxviii. p. 38. turn appellati abnegarent : quibus
c ' Nee oblatio illic sanctificari pos- peractis, morem sibi discedendi fu-
sit, ubi Spiritus Sanctus non est.' isse, rursusque coeundi ad capien-
Ep. Ixiv. p. 112. dum cibum, promiscuum tamen et
f ' Adfirmabant autem, hanc fuisse innoxium.' Plin. Epist. xcvii. lib.
summani vel culpae suae, vel erroris, x. p. 819. ed. Amstel. Conf. Ter-
quod essent soliti, stato die, ante tullian. Apol. c. ii. pp. 24, 25.
lucem convenire, cannenque Christo Lugd.
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 27
of the Eucharist, is a very clear case, from all the circumstances
of the account. I know not how a late learned and judicious
writer came to understand it of the Sacrament of Baptism". The
generality of the best learned men h interpret it of the Eucharist,
and with very good reason : for the account refers to what the
whole assembly were wont to do, at the same time ; they could
not all come to receive Baptism, though they might to receive
the Eucharist. Then the mention of the Sacrament, as taken in
the 'antelucan' meetings, tallies exactly with Tertullian's account
of the Eucharist, as we shall see presently : besides that the
hint given of the love-feast, as following soon after, confirms the
same thing*.
I go on then to Tertullian, who makes express mention of the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, as received in his time, but with
some difference, as to the circumstances, from the original Eu-
charist of our Lord's own celebrating k . For that (he observes)
was after supper, this before daylight, fasting : in that, the com-
pany helped one another, or every man took his part from the
table 1 ; in this, the Bishop or Presbyter in person gave the bread
and cup to each communicant. But what I have principally to
take notice of here is the use of the phrase, Sacrament of the
Eucharist, conformable to the like phrases, which the same
author makes use of to denote Baptism, calling it the Sacrament
of water 111 , and Sacrament of sanctifi cation 11 . In the same cen-
tury, Cyprian calls the Eucharist the Sacrament of the cup ;
and elsewhere, the Sacrament of the Lord's passion and of our
redemption!'.
B Dr. Wall, Inf. Bapt. part ii. praesidentium sumimus.' Tertull. de
chap. ix. p. 396, third edition. Coron. c. iii. p. 102.
h Vid. Bevereg. Vindic. Can. p. ' Luke xxii. 1 7. See Archbishop
199. Tentzel. Exercit. Select, part. Potter on Ch. G. p. 259, edit. 3rd.
ii. p. 127. Vitringa, de Vet. Syna- m ' Sacramentum aquae.' Tertull.
gog. p. 1116. Renaudotius Liturg. de Bapt. c. i. p. 224. c. xii p.
Orient, torn. i. pp. 5, 6. Bingham, 229.
xv. 7. 8. n ' Sacramentum sanctificationis.'
1 See Bingham, book xv. c. 7. Ibid. c. iv. p. 225.
sect. 8. o 'Sacramentum calicis.' Cyprian.
k ' Eucharistiae Sacramentum, et de Lapsis, p. 189.
in tempore victus, et omnibus man- P 'Sacramentum Dominicae passio-
datum a Domino; etiam antelucanis nis, etredemptionisnostrae.' Cyprian.
coetibus,nec de aliorum manu quam Ep. 63.
28 The Ancient Names of CH. i.
If it should now be asked, in what precise meaning the name
of Sacrament was thus anciently applied to the Eucharist ; as the
word Sacrament is of great latitude, and capable of various sig-
nifications, (some stricter and some larger,) I know of no certain
way of determining the precise meaning of the name, as here
applied, but by considering what was meant by the thing. Gerard
Vossiusl has perhaps given as clear and accurate an account of
the word Sacrament as one shall any where meet with : but after
all, I am of opinion, that it is not the name which can here add
any light to the thing, but the thing itself must be first rightly
understood, in order to settle the true and full import of the
name. When it is applied to Baptism and the Eucharist, it must
be explained by their common nature, being a general name
for such a certain number of ideas as go to make up their general
nature or notion. A collection of those several ideas is put
together in the definition given in our Church Catechism. The
like had been endeavoured before, in our Twenty-fifth Article :
and that is again digested into a more technical form, by Bishop
Burnet in his Exposition 1 ". His definition may be looked upon
as a good summary account of what our Church, and the Pro-
testant churches abroad, and the primitive churches likewise,
believed concerning Baptism and the Eucharist in common : the
particulars of their faith, so far, is therein collected into one large
complex idea, and for conveniency is comprised in the single word
Sacrament. And yet it must be observed, that this word Sacrament,
as applied to those two religious rites, admits of a threefold accep-
tation in Church writers : sometimes denoting barely the outward
sign of each, sometimes the thing signified, and sometimes both
together, the whole action, service, or solemnity s .
The Socinians, observing that the received sense of the word
Sacrament is against their whole scheme, have often expressed
their dislike of it. Smalcius particularly complains of it, as an
unscriptural name, and besides, barbarous Latin, and leading to
superstition and idolatry ; and therefore he moves to have it
<i Vossius de Sacram. Vi et Efficacia. Opp. torn. vi. p. 247, &c.
r Burnet on Art. XXV, pp. 268, 269.
6 Vid. Lamb. Danaeus. Isag. part. iv. lib. 5. p. 441.
CH. I. the Holy Communion. 29
totally laid aside*. He was offended, it seems, at the name, be-
cause it served to keep up the sense of something mysterious, or
mystical, of a sign and somewhat signified, viz. grace &c., to which
he had an aversion. Volkelius, more complaisant with respect to
the name, turns all his resentment upon the thing, flatly denying
that the Eucharist is a Sacrament 11 : his reason is, because it
neither exhibits nor seals any spiritual grace. His master Soci-
nus had intimated as much before*. The sum is, that the strict
sense of the Sacrament, as implying an outward sign of an in-
ward grace, can never suit with their schemes, who allow of no
inward grace at all.
I may here note by the way, that while the Socinians reject the
invisible grace, the Romanists destroy the visible sign, and both
run counter to the true notion of a Sacrament, by their opposite
extremes: from whence it is manifest, of what moment it is to pre-
serve the word Sacrament, and to assert to it its true and full sense.
For though the word, as here applied, is not in Scripture, yet
the notion is there, and the general doctrine is there : and the
throwing that notion, or that general doctrine, under the name of
Sacranient,is nothing more than collecting several Scripture ideas,
or Scripture truths, and binding them up together in a single word,
for the better preserving them, and for the ease and conveniency
of speech. But as to the proof of those doctrines or those truths,
I cannot enter into it now, but must reserve it for a more proper
place, and proceed in the account of ancient names.
A. D. 107. EucJiarist.
Another name, as famous as any, is the name Eucharist, signi-
fying properly thanksgiving or blessing, and fitly denoting this
1 ' Vox sacramenti, in hac signifi- u ' Satis constat nee alteram appel-
catione, bavbara, vel saltern sacris lationeni, nimirum sacramentum cor-
literis incognita est ; ab hominibus poris Christi, veram esse. Si enira
vero otiosis (qui ceremoniis liujus- haec actio ne sacramentum quidem
modi nescio quid praeter sacram est, quo pacto, quaeso, corporis
Scripturamsuperstitiosum.aut etiam Christi sacramentum erit ?' Volkel.
idololatricum ex parte, tribuere non de Ver. Relig. lib. iv. cap. 22. p.
sunt veriti) ad tegendum dolum usur- 678.
pata : praestat igitur aliis nominibus x Socinus de Baptism. Aquae, cap.
appellari in Christi coetu hanc cere- xiv.
moniam.' Smalcius o. Frantz. p. 347.
30 The Ancient Names of CH. i.
holy service, considered as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
I set the date no higher than Ignatius's Epistles, because there
it first certainly occurs : though one can make no doubt of its
having obtained in the apostolical age, when it is considered how
familiarly Ignatius makes use of ity. Some have thought that
St. Paul himself led the way as to this name, i Cor. xiv. 16. But
that construction of the text appears too conjectural to build
upon, and is rejected by the generality of interpreters ; I think,
with good reason, as Estius in particular hath manifested upon
the place. I content myself therefore with running up that
name no higher than Ignatius's time.
After him, Justin Martyr 2 , Irenaeus a , Clemens of Alexandria b ,
Origen c , and others, make familiar use of that name, as is well
known. One may judge how extensive and prevailing that name,
above any other, anciently was, from this consideration, that it
passed not only among the Greeks, but among the Orientalists
also, (as may be seen in the Syriac version before mentioned,)
and likewise among the Latins ; who adopted that very Greek
word into their own language ; as is plain from Tertulliaud and
Cyprian 6 in many places.
A. D. 1 50. Sacrifice.
Justin Martyr is the first I meet with who speaks of the
Eucharist under the name of sacrifice or sacrifices. But he does
it so often, and so familiarly f , that one cannot but conceive, that
y Ignatius, Epist. ad Sinyrn. c. 7> THLGIV ratv tdvaiv irpoatyfpofjifwv avrw
8. ad Philadelph. c. 4. Ovffiuv, Tovretm TOV Itprov TTJS eiixa-
z Justin. M. Apol. 96. Dialog, pp. piffrias, KOI TOV iroTrjpiov o^o'nas TTJS
2 2O, 386. Thirlby. ev^apitrrias, irpo\(yei r&re. Just.
a Irenaeus, pp. 251, 294, 341, 360, Dialog, p. 220, edit. Lond.
ed. Bened. dvvias &s TrapeScaKfv 'iTjaoOs 6
b Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. ii. cap. Xpurrbs ytvevdai, TOVTCO-TIV tvl TTJ
1. p. 178. ed. Oxon. fvxaptffriq TOV Uprou /col TOV irorr)-
c Origen. contr. Gels. lib. viii. sect. piov. Ibid. p. 386.
57. p. 784. ed. Bened. ori fity ovv teal filial ical evx<t-
d Tertullian. pp. IO2, 135, 215, pur-riai, virb TWV d|iax/ yii>6/j.fi/a.i, re-
22O, 562, 570. Kigalt. Aticu p.6va.L (coi tlzpfaroi tlffi rf e<j3
e Cyprian. Tract, pp. 132, 147, 2.3.C. Buariai, no! avr6s <t>i)fJ.i' ravra yap
Ep. pp. 34, 37, 38, 39, 117, Il8, 125, n.6va KOI XpiffTiavo'l irapeAajSoi' irotfty,
190, 191, 223. Ox. edit. nal CTT' a.va.jj.vi}(rti St rrjs Tpo<pr)s avruv
f Ufpl Se ruv iv iravri r6ir<f v<p' ypas re ical vypas. Ibid. p. 387.
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 31
it had been in common use for some time before : and it is the
more likely to have been so, because oblation (which is near akin
to it) certainly was, as we have seen above.
Irenaeus of the same century mentions the sacrifice of the Eu-
charist more than once ", either directly or obliquely. Tertullian,
not many years later, does the like h . Cyprian also speaks of
the sacrifice in the Eucharist, understanding it, in one particular
passage, of the lay oblation i. This is not the place to examine
critically what the ancients meant by the sacrifice or sacrifices
of the Eucharist : it will deserve a distinct chapter in another
part of this work. But, as I before observed of oblation, that,
anciently, it was understood sometimes of the lay offering, the
same I observe now of sacrifice ; and it is plain from Cyprian.
Besides that notion of sacrifice, there was another, and a prin-
cipal one, which was conceived to go along with the Eucharistical
service, and that was the notion of spiritual sacrifice, consisting
of many particulars, as shall be shewn hereafter : and it was
on the account of one or both, that the Eucharist had the name
of sacrifice for the two first centuries. But by the middle of the
third century, if not sooner, it began to be called a sacrifice, on
account of the grand sacrifice represented and commemorated in
it; the sign, as such, now adopting the name of the thing signified.
In short, the memorial at length came to be called a sacrifice, as
well as an oblation : and it had a double claim to be so called ;
partly as it was in itself a spiritual service or sacrifice, and partly
as it was a representation and commemoration of the high tre-
mendous sacrifice of Christ God-man. This last view of it, being
'Ecclesiaeoblatio.quamDominus Tertull. de Orat. c. xiv. pp. 1.35, 136.
docuit offerri in universe murido, pu- ' Aut aacrificium offertur, aut Dei
rum sacrificium reputatum est apud sermoadministratur.' DecultuFem.
Deum' &c. ' Sacrificia in populo, sa- lib. ii. c. n.
criticia et in ecclesia.' Iren. lib. iv. ' 'Locuples, et dives es, et Dorni-
c. 18. p. 250. ' Omni autem loco sacri- nicum celebrare te credis, quae cor-
ficium offeretur ei, et hoc purum." ban omnino non respicis, quae in
Lib. iv. c. 17. p. 249. Dominicum sine sacrificio venis,
11 ' Non putant plerique sacrificio- quae partem de sacrificio quod pau-
rumorationibusinterveniendum. . . . per obtulerit sumis.' Cyprian, de
Accepto corpore Domini et reser- Op. et Eleemos. p. 242. Bened.,
vato, utrumque salvwn est, et par- alias 223.
ticipatio sacrificii, et executio oSicii.'
32 The Ancient Names of CH. I.
of all the most awful and most endearing, came by degrees to be
the most prevailing acceptation of the Christian sacrifice, as held
forth in the Eucharist. But those who styled the Eucharist a
sacrifice on that account, took care, as often as need was, to ex-
plain it off to a memorial of a sacrifice rather than a strict or
proper sacrifice, in that precise view. Cyprian, I think, is the
first who plainly and directly styles the Eucharist a sacrifice in
the commemorative view, and as representing the grand sacrifice^.
Not that there was anything new in the doctrine, but there was
a new application of an old name, which had at the first been
brought in upon other accounts. I shall endeavour to set that
whole matter clear in a chapter below : for the present these few
hints may suffice, and so I pass on.
A. D. 1 50. Commemoration, Memorial. 'Ai/d/u^o-tj, MI/JJ/*?/.
Justin Martyr, if I mistake not, once names the Eucharist a
commemoration or memorial ; where he takes notice, that the
Christians offered up spiritual sacrifices, prayers and lauds, in
the memorial of their food dry and liquid J , that is, in the Eucha-
rist of bread and wine. I know not how otherwise to construe
dvdnvrja-is there, but as a name of the whole service. It was
natural enough, because many of the other names which have been
used to denominate the whole service, (as breaking bread, obla-
tion, sacrifice, and Eucharist,) manifestly took their original from
some noted part of the solemnity, and were at first but partial
conceptions of it. Now since the commemoration or memorial
was always a considerable part of the solemnity, (as the learned
well know,) it is reasonable to suppose, that that also might be
made use of in like manner, as a name for the whole service.
I am aware that our excellent Mr. Mede gives a very different
turn to that passage of Justin, translating it thus : ' In that
thankful remembrance of their food both dry and liquid, wherein
also is commemorated the passion which the Son of God suffered
k ' Passionis ejus raentionein in sa- ' 'ETT' avafj.vf](rei 5e -rfjs rpoQrjs av-
crificiis omnibus facimus : passio est TJOV frpas re teal vypas, tv y /cat rov
enim Domini sacrificium quod offeri- irdQovs & Wiroi/fle 5j' avrov 6 &tbs rov
mus.' Cyprian. Ep. Ixiii. p. 109. &fov nfftvijrcu. Just. Dial. 387.
Bened.
CH. I. the Holy Communion. 33
by himself.' He interprets it of agnizing God as the ' giver of
our food both dry and liquid m .' But that construction must
needs appear harsh and unnatural. Justin nowhere else does
ever speak of the remembrance of our food, but constantly under-
stands the Eucharistical remembrance or commemoration to refer
to Christ only, his incarnation and passion, his body and blood 11 :
nor do I know of any one Father who interprets the memorial of
the bodily food. Besides, it suits not well with our Lord's own
account in his institution of the Sacrament, which speaks of the
remembrance of him, not of the remembrance of our bodily
food. Add to this, that were the sense of the place such
as Mr. Mede imagined, Justin would rather have expressed
it by a thankful remembrance of the Divine goodness in
giving us our food, than by a thankful remembrance of our
food, which appears flat and insipid in comparison. Seeing
then that Mr. Mede's construction of that place in Justin is
far from satisfactory, I choose to acquiesce in the sense which I
before mentioned, till I see a better ; understanding the memo-
rial of food, as equivalent to memorial of Christ's passion, made
by food, viz. by bread and wine. The word also refers not there
to memorial, as if there were two memorials, but to the lauds ;
besides which there was also a memorial of the passion.
Origen has a passage relating to the Eucharistical memorial,
where he appears to denominate the whole service by that emi-
nent part of it . Eusebius styles the Eucharist the memorial
of our Lord's body and blood P, and also simply a memorial :
which he observes to have succeeded in the room of sacrifice <J.
He calls it also the memorial of the sacrifice r , and memorial of
m Mede, Christian Sacrifice, b. ii. propitium facit hominibus Deum.'
ch. 5. p. 460. Orig. in Levit. Horn. xiii. p. 255.
n Vid. Justin Mart. Dial. pp. ed. Bened.
220, 290. P ToC ff<&fj.aros avrov Kal rov a'1/j.a.-
' Si referantur haec ad mysterii ros r^v inr6fj.vn(riv. Euseb. De-
magnitudinem, invenies commemo- monst. Evangel, lib. i. cap. to.
rationem istam habere ingentis pro- p. 27.
pitiationis effectum Si respicias 1 MCTJ/UTJV Kal rifiti 1 irapaSovs, avrl
ad illam commemorationem de qua Ova-las rep < Snji/eK&s irpo<r<j>fpfii/.
dicit Dominus, hoc facite in meam Ibid. p. 38. Cp. Apost. Const, lib. vi.
commemorationem, invenias quod cap. 23.
ista est commemoratio sola, quae r Tovrov Srjra rov dv/j.a,ros r
D
34 The Ancient Names of CH. i.
the grand sacrifice s . I need not descend lower, to fetch in more
authorities for the use of this name : only, I may just give a hint
that all those Fathers who interpreted the name sacrifice, as
applied in such a particular view to the Eucharist, by a memorial
of a sacrifice, may as reasonably be understood to call the Eucha-
rist a memorial, as to call it a sacrifice. Those Fathers were
many, and Chrysostom may be esteemed their chief : who while
he follows the ordinary language in denominating the Eucharist
a sacrifice, (considered in its representative view,) yet intimates
withal, that its more proper appellation, in that view, is a memo-
rial of a sacrifice *. I may further take notice, that St. Austin
comes very near to what I have been speaking of, where he calls
the Eucharist by the name of the sacrament of commemoration,
or sacramental memorial . To conclude this article, let the
reader observe and bear in mind, that the names of oblation and
sacrifice, as applied to the Eucharist in one particular point of
view, do both of them resolve into the name memorial : and so
far they are all three to be looked upon as equivalent names,
bearing the same sense, pointing to the same thing. This obser-
vation will be of use, when we come to consider the Eucharist in
its sacrificial view under a distinct chapter below.
A. D. 249. Passover.
The name of Passover has been anciently given to the Eu-
charist, upon a presumption that as Christ himself succeeded
to the paschal lamb, so the feast of the Eucharist succeeded
in the room of the paschal feast. Christ is our Passover,
as the name stands for the lamb x : the Eucharist is our
MV e'jrl Tpairefyi fKTf\f~iv, Sia <rvfj.p6- in Hebr. cap. x. Hesychius, in
\(av TOV re <ra>,uaTos avrov, teal TOV Levit. p. 31. Eulogius. apud Phot.
(Turnpiov OUHO.TOS. Ibid. p. 30. cod. 280. p. 1609. Fulgentius. de
s T)II> n.vfifi.i)v TOV (JifyaAov OV/JLUTOS. Fide ad Petr. cap. Ix. p. 525.
Ibid. p. 40. Fragm. 618. Oecumenius, in Hebr.
1 Ilpoo-tpfponev /j.ei>, oXA* a.vd^.vT}ffiv x. p. 846. Theophylact. in Hebr.
Trotov/j-eda TOV OOVO.TOV avTov. . . . T^V x. I. p. 971.
aurV Ovcrtav del iroiov/jitv, fM\\6v Te u ' Sacramentum memoriae." Au-
a.vap.vriciiv epyadfjif6a. Qu<ria.s. Chry- gustin. contr. Faust, lib. xx. cap. 21.
sost. in Epist. ad Hebr. cap. x. Horn. p. 348. Compare L'Arroque, Hist, of
17. p. 856. Compare Theodorit. in the Eucharist, part i. chap. 8. pp.
Hebr. viii. 4. p. 433. Pseud-Am- 88, 89.
bros. in Hebr. cap. x. Primasius, * I Cor. v. 7. John i. 29.
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 35
Passover, as that same name stands for the feast, service,
or solemnity.
Origen seems to have led the way ; and therefore I date the
notion from his time : not that he speaks so fully to the point
as some that came after, neither had he precisely the same
ideas of it ; but he taught more confusedly, what others after
him improved and cleared. Origen takes notice, that 'if a
man considers that Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us,
and that he ought to keep the feast by feeding upon the flesh
of the Logos, he may celebrate the Passover all his life long,
passing on to Godwards in thought, word, and deed, abstracted"
from temporal things v.' I give his sense, rather than a literal
rendering. Here we may observe, that the Christian Pass-
over feast, according to him, consists in the eating of the flesh
of the Logos ; which is certainly done in the Eucharist by
every faithful receiver, as Origen everywhere allows : but then
Origen's common doctrine is, that the flesh of the Logos may
be eaten also out of the Eucharist ; for the receiving spiritual
nutriment any way, is with him eating the flesh of Christ 2 .
So that this passage which I have cited from him does not
make the Eucharist, in particular, or solely, to be the Christian
paschal feast : but the taking in spiritual food, be it in that
way or any other, that is the keeping our Passover, according
to his sense of it. Hilary, of the fourth century, seems directly
to give the name of Passover to the Christian Eucharist a .
Nazianzen, a great admirer of Origen, improves the thought,
applying it directly and specially to the Eucharist, in these
words : ' We shall partake of the Passover, which even now
y 'En Se 6 vo-fiffas, on rb ira.ffx.a. z 'Bibereautemdiciinur sanguinem
Tiniav inrfp r]fj.cav erufJTj Xpurrbs, Kal Christi, non solum sacramentorum
XP$) fopTafit> effdlovra rfjs ffapitbs -rov ritu, sed et cum sermones ejus reci-
A.6yov OVK fffriv foe ov iroieT rb irdar- pimus, in quibus vita consistit. Sicut
Xa, oirtp epfj-yvevfrat Sia&ar-fipta., 810- et ipse dicit, Verba quae locutus
fiaivtav a.fl ry \o-ytfffj.y Kal iravrl \6yq sum, spiritus et vita est.' Orig. in
KOI -navy irpd^fi airb rSiv rov j8iou Num. Horn. xvi. p. 334. ed. Bened.
TTp3.yiJia.riav (ir\ -rbv tbv Kal firl TT]V a 'Judas proditor indicatur, sine
ir6\iv avjov ffitffovtv. Orig. contr. quo pascha, accepto calice et fracto
Gels. lib. viii. p. 759. ed. Bened., pane, conficitur. ' Hilar. in Matt,
alias p. 392. cap. xxx. p. 740. ed. Bened.
D 2
36 The Ancient Names of CH. i.
is but a type, though much more plain than the old one : for
I am bold to say, that the legal Passover was an obscurer type
of another typeV
St. Jerome, who was once Nazianzen's scholar, follows him in
the same sentiment, styling the Eucharist the true sacrament of
the Passover, in opposition to the old one . But no one dwells
more upon that thought, or more finely illustrates it, than the
great St. Chrysostom in divers places. He asks why our Lord
celebrated the Passover ] And his answer is, because the old
Passover was the figure of the future one, and it was proper,
after exhibiting the shadow, to bring in the truth also upon the
table d : a little after he says, 'it is our Passover to declare the
Loi-d's death 6 ,' quoting i Cor. xi. 26. And he adds, that who-
ever comes with a pure conscience, celebrates the Passover, as
often as he receives the communion, be it to-day, or to-morrow,
or at any time whatever f . And he has more in the same place,
to the same purpose. In another work he speaks thus : ' When
the sun of righteousness appeared, the shadow disappeared : . . . .
therefore upon the self -same table both the Passovers were
celebrated, the typical and the reals.' A little lower, he calls
the Eucharist the spiritual Passover 11 . Isidorus Pelusiota
afterwards styles it the Divine and true Passover 1 . And
St. Austin observes, that the Jews celebrate their Passover in
a lamb, and we receive ours in the body and blood of the
b Mtra\rfif/6fi.0a Sf TOW Tacrxa vvv d Chrysost. torn. i. Orat. contr.
fj.fv rvvtKus erj, ical t ToD 7raAacoD Jud. 3. P- 610. ed. Bened.
yvfj.v&r(pov rb yap vofJUKov ird<Tx a > e Tldcrxa 8e fan, TO r'bv 6d.va.Tov
ToA.jUa> Kal Ae'-yw, T'tnrov rinros ?iv xarayy f \\eiv. Ibid. p. 6ll.
a/j.v5p6r(pos. Nazianz. Orat. Hi. p. f Tldirxa iriT\e?, K'UV aijfj.fpov, K&C
692. afipiov, /c&v dirortpovv fjLfrdffXfl TTJS
c ' Postquam typicum pascha fue- Kotvtavias. Ibid. p. 612.
rat impletum, et agni cames cum 8 'Ei/ avrfj rrj rpairf^ri fKarepov
apostolis comederat, assumit panem, ylverat traffxa, Kal rb TOV rvwov, nal
qui confortat cor hominis, et ad rb TTJ? a\ri9flas. Chrysost. de Pro-
verum paschae transgreditur sacra- dit. Jud. Horn. i. torn. i. p. 383.
mentum : ut quomodo in praefigura- 'En-' aurf/s rrjs rpatrefos, KOI rb rvTrit(bi>
tione ejus Melchisedec, summi Dei irdcrxa. vrrtpfypa\l/f, Kal rb a\T]6ii'bv
sacerdos, panem et vinum offerens trpo(r(9j]Ke. Ibid,
fecit, ipse quoque veritatem sui cor- h Tb -rrvfVfj.ariKbv ird<rxa. Ibid,
poris et sanguinis repraesentaret.' ' Tb Oelov nal a.XriQiv'bv iroo-^o. Isi-
Hierouym. in Matt. cap. xxvi. p. dor. Pelus. lib. iv. Epist. 162. p.
128. ed. Bened. 504. ed. Paris.
CH. i. the Holy Communion. 37
Lord k . These are authorities sufficient for the name of Passover
as applied to the Eucharist : for like as Baptism is in Scrip-
ture account the Christian circumcision 1 , so is the Eucharist,
in Church account at least, the Christian Passover.
A.D. 385. Mass. Missa.
There is one name more, a Latin name, and proper to the
western churches, which may just deserve mentioning, because of
the warm disputes which have been raised about it ever since
the Reformation. It is the name mass, in Latin missa; ori-
ginally importing nothing more than the dismission of a church
assembly ra . By degrees it came to be used for an assembly, and
for Church service : so easily do words shift their sense, and
adopt new ideas. From signifying Church service in general,
it came at length to denote the Communion service in par-
ticular, and so that most emphatically came to be called the Mass.
St. Ambrose is reasonably supposed to be the earliest writer now
extant who mentions mass in that emphatical sense 11 . Higher
authorities have been pretended : but they are either from the
spurious Decretal Epistles, or from liturgical offices of modern
date in comparison .
So much for the ancient names of the Sacrament : not that
I took upon me to number up all, but those only which appeared
to me most considerable. More may be seen in Hospinian,
Casaubon, Suicer, or Turretin, collected into one view, with their
proper authorities. It is time for me now to proceed directly
to the consideration of the Sacrament itself; in the meanwhile
hoping that my readers will excuse it, if I have hitherto detained
them too long in the preliminaries, intended to open and clear
the way to the main subject.
k 'Aliud est pascha quod adhuc bon. Exercit. xvi. n. 59. p. 418,
Jadaei de ove celebrant, aliud autem alias t;82.
quod nos in corpore et sanguine n ' Missam facere coepi.' Ambros.
Domini accipimus.' Augustin. contr. Epist. 20. ad Marcellin. p. 853. ed.
Lit. Petiliani, lib. ii. cap. 37. Bened.
1 Coloss. ii. n. o Compare Deylingius, Observat.
m Hence Missa Catechumenorum, Miscellan. pp. 262, 272, &c. Bing-
and Missa Fidelium. See Cangius's ham, b. xiii. chap. I.
Glossarium in Missa ; and Casau-
38 The Institution of CH. n.
CHAP. II.
Of the Institution of the Holy Cofrvmunion.
IT will be proper to begin with the institution of this Sacra-
ment by Christ our Lord, as recorded by St. Matthew, St. Mark,
St. Luke, and St. Paul. It is an argument of the great weight
and importance of it, that we have it four times recorded in the
New Testament, only with some slight variations, while what
one or more omit, another supplies. The most complete as well
as shortest view of the whole may be taken by throwing all into
one, in some such manner as here follows :
Matt. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. i Cor. xi.
' The night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed, as they
were eating, or did eat, Jesus took bread, and giving thanks,
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it unto his disciples, and
said ; Take, eat, this is my body, which is given and broken for
you ; do this in remembrance of me. After supper likewise,
having taken the cup, and given thanks, he gave it to them,
saying, Drink ye all of this, for this cup is my blood of the new
covenant, the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you,
for many, for the remission of sins : this do ye, as oft as ye
drink it, in remembrance of me, (and they all drank of it.)
Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of this fruit of
the vine, until that day, when I shall drink it new with you
in the kingdom of my Father, in the kingdom of God. And
when they had sung an hymn, they went out to the mount
of Olives.'
The circumstance of time is the first thing here observable :
it was ' in the night in which he was betrayed P' that our Lord
instituted this holy Sacrament. Our Lord designed it (besides
other uses) for a standing memorial of his passion : and to shew
the more plainly that he did so, or to render it the more affect-
ing, he delayed the institution to the last period of his life.
A more material circumstance is, that he began the institution
p i Cor. x . 23.
CH. ii. the Holy Communion. 39
as they were eating, or after they had been eating: here the
question is, what had they been eating 1 It is commonly sup-
posed the paschal lamb. For St. Matthew in the same chapter
relates, that on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples
came and asked, 'Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee
to eat the Passover ?' And the Lord made answer, that he
would 'keep the Passover with his disciples,' and the disciples
actually prepared the Passover <i. St. Mark reports the same r .
St. Luke confirms it, and adds this further circumstance, that
our Lord, upon his sitting down to supper, said, 'With desire
have I desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer 8 .'
Nevertheless, it seems from St. John's account, that the day of
the legal Passover was not yet come, that it was 'before the
feast of the Passover' that our Lord had his supper 4 ; that
part of Friday, passion- day, was but the preparation 11 of the
paschal feast. These seeming differences have occasioned very
long and intricate disputes between Greeks and Latins, and
among learned men both ancient and modern, which remain
even to this day. I shall not presume to take the place of a
moderator in so nice a debate, but shall be content to report as
much as may serve to give the reader some notion of it, suffi-
cient for my present purpose. There are three several schemes
or opinions in this matter : i. The most ancient and most
prevailing is, that our Lord kept the legal Passover, and on
the same day with the Jews : and those who are in this
sentiment have their probable solutions with respect to St.
John's accounts, while they claim the three other Evangelists
as entirely theirs. 2. The second opinion is, that our Lord
anticipated (for weighty reasons) the time of the Jewish Pass-
over, and so kept his before theirs : or rather, he kept his
Passover at the true legal time, when the Jews (or some at
least of the Jews) postponed theirs illegally. This opinion
has also its difficulties, and the maintainers of it have contrived
some plausible solutions. 3. The third opinion is, that our
Lord kept no Passover properly so called, but had a supper,
i Matt. xxvi. 17, 18, 19. r Mark xiv. 12 16. s Luke xxii. 15.
* John xiii. i, 2. John xix. 14 : compare xviii. 28.
40 The Institution of CH. n.
and afterwards instituted the Eucharist, the mystical or Chris-
tian Passover; called Passover in such a sense as Baptism is
called Circumcision, succeeding in its room. This last opinion
had some patrons of old time, and more of late, and seems to
gain ground. I shall here transcribe what a learned and ju-
dicious writer of our own has lately pleaded in behalf of it,
though it may be thought somewhat prolix. It is in his notes
on Matt. xxvi. i / x .
' Here occurs a question and a difference between the words
of St. John and the other three, concerning the day of the week
on which the Jews kept the Passover that year 4746, A. D. 33.
It is plain by all the four Gospels, that this day on which Christ
did at night eat the Passover (or what some call the Passover)
was Thursday. And one would think by reading the three, that
that was the night on which the Jews did eat their Passover
lamb. But all the texts of St. John are clear, that they did
not eat it till the next night, Friday night, before which night
Christ was crucified and dead, having given up the ghost about
the ninth hour, viz. three of the clock in the afternoon. St. John
does speak of a supper which Christ did eat on Thursday night
with his Apostles, chap. xiii. i, 2, but he does not call it a
Passover supper, but, on the contrary, says it was before the
feast of the Passover, npb TT)S foprrjs TOV Trao-^a : by which, I
think, he means the day before the Passover, or the Passover
eve as we should say. Now this was the same night, and
the same supper which the three do call the Passover, and
Christ's eating the Passover. I mean, it was the night on
which Christ was (a few hours after supper) apprehended ; as
is plain by the last verse of that thirteenth chapter. But the next
day (Friday, on which Christ was crucified) St. John makes
to be the Passover day. He says, (chap, xviii. 28,) the Jews
would not go into the judgment-hall on Friday morning, lest
they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover,
viz. that evening. And, chap. xix. 14, speaking of Friday noon,
he says, it was the preparation of the Passover. Upon the
1 Dr. Wall's Critical Notes on the New Testament, p. 33.
CH. ii. the Holy Communion. 41
whole, John speaks not of eating the Passover at all : nor
indeed do the three speak of his eating any lamb. Among all
the expressions which they use, ' of making ready the Passover ; '
' prepare for thee to eat the Passover ; ' ' with desire have I desired
to eat this Passover with you/ &c., there is no mention of any
lamb carried to the temple to be slain by the Levites, and then
brought to the house and roasted : there is no mention of any
food at the supper beside bread and wine : perhaps there might
be bitter herbs. So that this seems to have been a commemo-
rative supper used by our Saviour instead of the proper paschal
supper, the eating of a lamb ; which should have been the next
night, but that he himself was to be sacrificed before that time
would come. And the difference between St. John and the other
is only a difference in words, and in the names of things : they
call that the Passover, which Christ used instead of it.
' If you say, why then does Mark xiv. 1 2 call Thursday the
first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, and
Luke xxii. 7 the day of unleavened bread when the passover
must be killed ? we must note, that their day, (or mj(Syupo)
was from evening to evening. This Thursday evening was the
beginning of that natural day of twenty -four hours, towards the
end of which the lamb was to be killed : so it is proper in the
Jews' way of calling days to call it that day.' Thus far Dr. Wall.
Deylingius, a learned Lutheran, has more minutely canvassed
the same question, and maintained the same side y. I shall not
take upon me to say positively which of the three opinions is the
best, or clogged with fewest difficulties. If the last of the three
be preferred, then the Eucharist is as properly the Christian
Passover, as Baptism is the Christian Circumcision ; and we have
the authority of our Lord himself, or of his 'disciples, for so
calling it, if they gave that name to the whole transaction. But
whatever hypothesis we follow, there will be proof sufficient that
the Eucharist succeeded in the room of the Passover, like as
Baptism succeeded in the room of Circumcision.
y Deylingius, Observat. Sacr. torn. Lips. 1736, where he again strongly
i. pp. 233 249. Lipsiae, 1720. Com- maintains the same opinion, from
pare his Observations Miscellaneae, p. 239 to p. 248.
43 The Institution of CH. n.
It appears to be well agreed among the learned of all parties,
that the Christian Eucharist succeeded in the place of the Jewish
Passover : and good use has been often made of the observation,
for the explaining the nature of the Eucharist, as well as the
phrase of the institution. Buxtorf has laboured with most
advantage in this argument in his two tracts, (one against Sca-
liger 7 , and the other against Cappellus a ,) and has so exhausted
the subject, especially as to what concerns the forms and phrases,
that he seems to have left but small gleanings for those that
come after him. Yet some additional improvements have been
since thrown in by learned hands b . The resembling circum-
stances common to the Jewish and Christian Passover may be
divided into two kinds : some relating to the things themselves,
some to the phrases and forms made use of here and there. It
may not be improper to present the reader with a brief detail of
those resembling circumstances.
I. Of the first sort are these : i. The Passover was of Divine
appointment, and so is the Eucharist. 2. The Passover was a
sacrament, and so is the Eucharist. 3. The Passover was a
memorial 6 of a great deliverance from temporal bondage ; the
Eucharist is a memorial of a greater deliverance from spiritual
bondage. 4. The Passover prefigured the death of Christ d
before it was accomplished, the Eucharist represents or figures
out our Lord's death now past. 5. The Passover was a kind of
federal rite between God and man, so also is the Eucharist.
6. As no one was to eat of the Passover before he had been
circumcised 6 , so no one is to partake of the Eucharist before he
has been baptized. 7. As the Jews were obliged to come clean
to the Passover f , so are Christians obliged to come well prepared
to the Communion ?. 8. As slight defilements (where there was
no contempt) did not debar a man from the Passover, nor excuse
1 Buxtorf. Dissertat. vi. de Coenae c Exod. xii. 14; xiii. 9. Deut.
Dominicae primae Ritibus et Forma, xvi. 3.
* Vindiciae Exercitat. de Coena d Vid. Vitringa, Observ. Sacr. torn.
Domini adv. Lud. Cappel. p. 338, i. lib. 2. cap. 9. p. 415, &c.
&c. Exod. xii. 43 48.
b Pfaffius de Oblat. vet. Eucharist. f Num. ix. 6.
p. 165. &c. Bucherus, Antiq. Biblicae, i Cor. xi. 27, 28, 29.
p. 360, &c.
CH. ii. the Holy Communion. 43
his neglect of it h , so neither do smaller offences, where there is
an honest heart, either forbid or excuse a man's absenting from
this sacrament. 9. As a total contempt or neglect of the Passover
was crime great enough to render the offender liable to be ' cut
off from Israel V so a total contempt or neglect of the Holy
Communion is in effect to be cut off from Christianity. 10. As
the Passover was to continue as long as the Jewish law should
stand in force, so must the Eucharist abide as long as Chris-
tianity k . I have thrown these articles together in a short
compass for the present, only to give the reader a brief general
view of the analogy between those two Sacraments ; and not
that he should take the truth of every particular for granted,
without further proof, if anything of moment should be hereafter
built upon any of them.
II. The other sort of resembling circumstances concern the
particular forms and phrases made use of in the institution : and
it is in these chiefly that the great masters of Jewish antiquities,
before referred to, have obliged the Christian world. I shall
offer a short summary of these likewise.
1. In the paschal supper, the master of the house took bread
and blessed it in a prayer of thanksgiving to God : and the rule
was, never to begin the blessing till he had the bread in hand,
that so the prayer of benediction directed to God might at the
same time be understood to have relation to the bread, and
might draw down a blessing upon it \ It is obvious to see how
applicable all this is to our Lord's conduct in the first article of
the institution.
2. The breaking of the bread, after benediction, was a cus-
tomary practice in the Jewish feasts m : only in the paschal feast
it is said that the bread was first broken and the benediction
followed n . But whether our Lord varied then, in a slight cir-
cumstance, or the Jews have varied since, may remain a question.
h Num. ix. 10. 2 Chron. xxx. 18. Antiq. Evangel, p. 368, &c. Bux-
' Exod. xii. 15. Num. ix. 13. torf. de Coena Domini, p. 310.
Cp. Bucher. Antiq. p. 402. m Buxtorf. 313. Bucherus, 372.
k i Cor. xi. 26. n Lightfoot, Temple Service, c.
1 See Pfaffius de Oblat. vet. Eu- xiii. sect. 7. p. 964 ; and on Matt,
charist. p. 171, &c. Bucherus, xxvi. 26, p. 259. Piaffius, p. 178.
44 The Institution of CH. 11.
3. The distributing the bread to the company, after the bene-
diction and fraction, was customary among the Jews : and here
likewise our Lord was pleased to adopt the like ceremony.
Several learned men have suggested P, that the words ' This is
my body,' might be illustrated from some old Jewish forms
made use of in the Passover feast; as, This is the bread of
affliction, &c., and, This is the body of the Passover : but Buxtorf
(who best understood these matters), after considering once and
again, constantly rejected the former, and demurred to the other
instance Q, as not pertinent, or not early enough to answer the
purpose : and Bucherus r , who has carefully re-examined the
same, passes the like doubtful judgment ; or rather rejects both
the instances as improper, not being found among the Jewish
rituals, or being too late to come into account. So I pass them
by. Justin Martyr, I cannot tell how, was persuaded, that
Esdras, at a Passover, had said to the Jews, This Passover
(i.e. paschal lamb) is our Saviour and our refuge 8 , and that the
Jews after Christ's time had erased the passage out of the
Septuagint. He was certainly mistaken in his report: but
the words are worth the observing, as discovering what the
Christians in his time thought of the Passover as a type of
Christ, and how they understood paschal phrases, parallel to
' This is my body,' <fcc.
4. The words, ' This do in remembrance of me,' making part
of the institution, are reasonably judged to allude to the ancient
paschal solemnities, in which were several memorials 1 : and the
service itself is more than once called a memorial in the Old
Testament, as before noted.
Buxtorf, 316. Bucherus, 374. lutely rejects one and doubts of the
P See particularly Pfaffius de Ob- other.
lat. p. 179. And Deylingius, (Mis- s Kot e?ire/ 'E<r$pas rip Aaip, TOUTO
cellan. Sacr. p. 228, &c.), who re- rt> fdcr^a 6 <ro>T^p finuv, al ft Kara-
fers to such authors as have es- <f>uy^i rmiav. Justin Mart. Dial. p.
poused the first of the instances, 292. edit. Thirlby. Cp. Wolfius,
after Baronius and Scaliger. i Cor. v. 7.
1 Buxtorf. Dissert, vi. de Coena, p. * ' 'Av djtvTjcm ritus Hebraeorum
301. Dissert. vii.Vindic. pp. 347, 348. redolet : habebant namque Judaei,
r Bucherus, Antiq. Evangel, p. in celebratione agni paschalis, plures
375. Compare Deylingius (Miscel- ejusmodi a.i>afj.vi)ffets et recordati-
lan. Sacr. p. 228, &c.), who abso- ones,' &c. Bucherus, p. 379.
CH. ii. the Holy Communion. 45
5. In the ancient paschal feast, the master of the house was
wont to take cup after cup (to the number of four) into his
hands, consecrating them one after another by a short thanks-
giving ; after which each consecrated cup was called a cup of
blessing. It is judged by the learned in Jewish antiquities",
that the third or fourth cup (Buxtorf is positive for the fourth)
was what our Lord was pleased to sanctify, by taking it into his
hand, and giving thanks over it. It is doubted what the words
'after supper' mean ; whether in the close of the paschal supper, as
some think x , or after they had eaten bread, as others construe y :
but the difference is not of moment, and so I pass on.
6. At the institution of the Passover it was said, ' The blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are ;
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you 2 ,' &c. The blood was the token of the
covenant in that behalf, between God and his people; as circum-
cision before had been a token a also of a like covenant, and called
covenant b as well as token. In the institution of the Communion,
our Lord says, ' This cup is the new covenant in my blood
which is shed for you, for many, for the remission of sins.'
The cup is here by a figure put for wine ; and covenant, accord-
ing to ancient Scripture phrase, is put for token of a covenant ;
and wine, representative of Christ's blood, answers to the blood
of the Passover, typical of the same blood of Christ c : and the
u Pfaffius de Oblat. Euch. p. 173. consecratum, quam versionem se-
Buxtorf. iu Lex. Talmud, pp. 614, quuntur Arabs et Persa. Sic Grae-
616. Dissert, vi. p. 300. Lightfoot cis Sttwvov quideni ISitas coenam,
on Matt. xxvi. 27, p. 259. Buche- sed TraxfAcUs et Karaxpj)<TTiK(as saepe
rus, pp. 380 384. Zornius Opusc. cibum et quodvis epulum connotat ;
Sacr. torn. ii. p. 14, &c. Hooper qua notione Hesiodus dixit ftfiirvov
on Lent, part ii. cap. 3. p. 173. troifiv, comedere, cibum sumere,' &c.
* Lightfoot, pp. 259, 260. Bucher. p. 362.
>' 'Tb juera SfiTrvfiffat [i Cor. xi. z Exod. xii. 13.
25.] noil vertenduin est, post coenam a Gen. xvii. 1 1.
communem, qualis nunquam fuit, b Gen. xvii. 10. 'This is my cove-
sed remote post coenam paschalem : nant,' &c. ; and v. 13, 'my covenant
vel, quod vero similius est, proxime shall be in your flesh, ' &c.
et immediate pos esum panis conse- c 'Deus speciali mandate sacrificia
crati ; cui expos iioni respondet re- et primitias offerendas ordinavit,
censio historica Luc. xxii. 10. wtrav- maxime effusionem sanguinis, ut ab
TCOS KO.} r>> TtoTtipio" /j.tra rb Strnvriffai, initio homines haberent unde effusi-
postquam coinederant, scil. paiiem onis per Christum tacite recordari
46 The Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
remission of sins here, answers to the passing over there, and pre-
serving from plague. These short hints may suffice at present,
just to intimate the analogy between the Jewish Passover and
the Christian Eucharist in the several particulars of moment
here mentioned.
7. At the paschal feast there was an annunciation or declara-
tion d of the great things which God had done for that people :
in like manner, one design of the Eucharist is to make a de-
claration of the mercies of God in Christ, to ' sheAv the Lord's
death till he come.'
8. Lastly, at the close of the paschal supper, they were wont
to sing an hymn 6 of praise : and the like was observed in the
close of the institution of the Christian Eucharist ; as is recorded
in the Gospels.
The many resembling circumstances, real and verbal, which I
have here briefly enumerated, do abundantly shew that this holy
Euchai'ist was in a great measure copied from the paschal feast,
and was intended to supply its place, only heightening the design,
and improving the application. The use of the observation may
appear afterwards, when we come to consider more minutely
either the general intent or the particular parts of this Christian
service.
CHAP. III.
Of the Commemoration or Remembrance of Christ in the
Holy Communion.
SINCE the end or design of anything is always considered as
first in view, antecedent in natural order to the performance, so
the rules of just method require that in treating of this Sacra -
possent. Dan. ix. 24. Heb. ix. et Observant praeterea viri docti vimim
x. Horn. iii. Praeter caeteras obla- rufum, quale in illis regionibus cres-
tiones Deo factas, com memorabilia cebat, ac in primis in coena paschali
sunt sacrificia in festo expiationum. bibebatur, egregiam nobis sanguinis
.... Turn quoque sacrificium agni memoriam relinquere.' Bucher. An-
paschalis, et quotidiani, seu jugis tiq. Evan. p. 389.
sacrificii, attendi debet. Hos igitur d See Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 778.
adritus et oblationes alludit Christus Pfaffius, p. 181.
cum ait, TOVTO ydp tan rb alpa /.LOV e See Lightfoot, vol. ii. pp. 258,
, . ,
rb Tys Katvfjs SioO^KTjs, rb irepl iro\- 260. Pfaffius, p. 181.
Kiev fKX^"6/jifvov fls &(pecriv a/j.apTtuv.
CH. in. in The Holy Communion. 47
ment we should begin with some account of the proximate end
and design of it ; namely, the commemoration or remembrance
of Christ, ' This do in remembrance of me f ;' and particularly of
his death and passion, 'shew the Lord's death till he come?.'
I call it the proximate or immediate end, because the ultimate
end of all is the happiness of man, or, what is coincident there-
with, the glory of God. Our blessed Lord seeks not his own
glory, but the good of his creatures, in all that he appoints them
to do. He is not capable of receiving advantage, or any real
addition to his own glory, by any of our commemorations or ser-
vices : but all these things are graciously appointed for our
present and future benefit ; and we may be confident that Christ,
the Captain of our salvation, would prescribe nothing in a par-
ticular manner, which does not as particularly contribute to
that end. Some Divines, of a refined and elevated way of
thinking, will not allow that God can have any end but himself,
in anything that he does, because he can have no higher : but
then they do not mean that God proposes to himself any increase
of happiness or of essential glory, to which nothing can be added ;
but that, as he is naturally benevolent, and as he takes delight in
his own being and attributes, (the most worthy of his love,) so
he delights in the exercise of his goodness, and chooses it as
worthy of himself, and, in this sense, acts only for himself. In
such a sense as this, our blessed Lord may be said to have acted
for himself, or for his own glory, in what he did for mankind :
but it can in no sense be allowed, that he receives any advantage
by what we say or do ; and therefore the ultimate end (so con-
sidered) of our commemorations or services is the benefit
accruing from thence to ourselves : what they are we shall see in
due time and place. This being premised for clearer conception,
or to prevent mistakes, I now proceed.
The commemoration of our Lord's dying for us includes
two things ; the consideration of him as Lord, and as dying ;
one expressing his personal dignity, the other expressing his
f Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 24, & i Cor. xi. 26. Tbi> 6a.va.-rov rov
25. TOVTO itoieire its -rty ^rjv avd/j.- Kvpiov KaTayj(\\ere &xpis ov tut
48 The Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
meritorious sufferings relative to us. The first of the two may
suffice for the present : the second may be reserved for a
distinct chapter.
I here take for my ground the words of our Lord, ' This do
in remembrance of me.' The Greek words els T^V e^v dvd-
fjLvrja-iv may bear three several renderings (or four) : i. In re-
membrance of me. 2. In commemoration of me. 3. For a
memorial of me, or, for my memorial. They differ not much in
sense, but yet as they do differ, they may deserve a distinct
consideration. The second includes the first ; and the third
includes both the former, not vice versd : so they rise, as it were,
in sense, and are so many distinct gradations, as shall be shewn
presently.
I. I begin with the first and lowest, this do 'in remembrance
of me.' The Socinians, (some of them at least,) not content
with supposing this remembrance or commemoration to be one
considerable end or part of this Sacrament, make it to be the
only end or use of it h ; yea and sometimes go so far as to say
that it constitutes the very nature or essence of this holy rite :
for they interpret the words, ' This is my body,' so as to mean,
this action, this eating and drinking, is the memorial of Christ's
body broken \ &c. Which is overdoing, and neglecting to dis-
tinguish between the thing itself, and the end or design of it ;
between what is done, and for what purpose it is done. We eat
bread and we drink wine in the Sacrament, the symbols of
Christ's body and blood ; and we do so for this reason, among
others, that Christ may be remembered, and the merits of his
passion celebrated. But this I hint by the way only, and pass
h 'Et haecquidem quam explicui- Christ! pro memoriali signo cor-
inus, mortis Christi annuntiatio pro- poris Christ! fracti, et sanguinis
prius est, atque unicus Coenae Domi- fusi sumimus : cornmemorationem
nicae finis,' &c. Volkel.de Coen. Dom. autem, istius sacri ritus finem usum-
p. 687. que esse dicimiis.' Schlichting. contr.
1 'Haec actio frangendi et come- Meisn. p. 761. 'Ritus istius natu-
dendi panem, est corpus, hoc est ram in panis fractione et esu, et e
commemoratio Christi corporis pro poculo potu, perque haec in mortis
nobis fracti.' Smalc. cont. Frantz. Christi representatione qnadam, si-
p. 315. tarn esse dicimus.' Ibid. pp. 785,
'Corpus Christi et sanguinem 786.
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 49
on to what I design. Remembrance of Christ is undoubtedly a
principal end of this Sacrament. It is not declared by the insti-
tution itself, in what view, or under what capacity we are here
to remember him ; but that must be learned from other places
of Scripture, which declare who and what he is : for certainly we
are to remember him in such a light as the Old and New Testa-
ment have represented him in. This appears to be an allowed
principle on all hands : for none think themselves obliged to stop
in the bare words of the institution, without carrying their in-
quiries further into the whole compass of Scripture, when they
see proper. The Socinians themselves will not scruple to allow
that Christ may or ought to be remembered in the Sacrament as
Lord, in their sense, or as Master, or Saviour, or Head, or
Judge, though there is not a word of Lord, or Master, or
Saviour, or Head, or Judge, in the bare form of the institution
as delivered by Christ : but those names or titles are to be
fetched from other places of Scripture. Therefore, I say, it is
allowed by all parties, that we ought to remember Christ, in the
holy Communion, according to what he is, by the Scripture
account of him. This foundation being laid, I go on to the
superstructure : and for the more distinct conception of what
this remembrance implies or contains, I shall take leave to
proceed by several steps or degrees.
i. It is not sufficient to remember Christ merely as a very
great and good man, a wise instructor, and an admirable teacher,
while he lived, received up into celestial bliss and glory
when he died : for all this comes vastly short of what sacred
Writ declares of him ; and is indeed no more (if so much) than
what the Pagans themselves, the Platonists, particularly of the
second and third centuries, were ready to admit. For, being
struck with the fame of his undoubted miracles, and with the
inimitable force of his admirable precepts, holy life, and ex-
emplary death, they could not but revere and honour his
memory ; neither could they refuse to assign him a place among
their chief sages or deities k . And all the plea they had left for
k See this particularly proved in a written by Laurence Mosheim, and
very learned and curious dissertation, lately inserted, with improvements,
E
50 Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
not receiving Christianity was, that his disciples (as was pre-
tended) had revolted, or degenerated, and had not duly observed
the wholesome instructions of their high leader 1. Those Pagan
philosophers therefore, as I said, remembered Christ, in as high
a view as this article amounts to : a Christian remembrance
must go a great deal higher.
2. It is not sufficient to remember Christ merely as an
eminent prophet, or one of the chief prophets, an ambassador
from heaven, and one that received his Gospel from above,
wrought miracles, lived a good life, was deified after death, and
will come again to judge mankind : for all this the Mahometans
themselves (or some sects amongst them) can freely own, and
they pay a suitable regard to his memory on that score m . It is
all vastly below what the Scriptures plainly testify of him, and
therefore does not amount to a Christian remembrance of
him.
3. Neither yet is it sufficient to remember Christ as our Head,
Lord, and Master, to whom we owe such regard as disciples do
to their leader or founder : for all this is no more than what the
Jews justly ascribed to Moses, who was but the servant of
Christ n . And it is no more than what many nominal Christians,
ancient and modern, many half-believers have owned, and what
all but declared apostates or infidels must own. And it comes
not up to what the Scriptures fully and frequently teach, and
therefore does not amount to a due remembrance of him.
into his Latin translation of Cud- praeceptoris sui scitis Christianos
worth, vol. ii. Cp. Euseb. lib. vii. Platonici criminabantur .. ..atque
cap. 1 8. 'Christum, Servatorem nos- castam et sanam ejus disciplinam
trum, virum magnum, divinum, et variis erroribus inquinasse
sapientissimum fuisse non inficia- i. Quod divinis Christum honoribus
bantur, qui egregia et divina plane afficerent ; nee enim a suis id postu-
docuisset, cumque a Judaeis injus- lasse Christum. 2. Quod Deos negli-
tissimo supplicio necatus ftiisset, in gerent, et eorum cultum extinctum
coelum ad Deos commeasset.' Mo- vellent ; Christum enim ipsum a
shem. ibid. p. 23. Hence perhaps it Diis baud alienum fuisse.' Moshem.
was, that the Emperor Alexander ibid. p. 24.
Severus, (of the third century,) along m See Eeland. de Eeligione Mo-
with the images of Apollonius and hammedica, pp. 25, 33, 34, 44, 45,
Orpheus, had others of Abraham 212, 224. David Millius, Dissert.
and Jesus Christ, receiving them as x. de Mohammedismo, pp. 344, 345,
deities. Lamprid. \'it. Severi. 346.
1 'Descivisse scilicet a sanctissimi D Heb. iii. 2 6.
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 51
4. Neither, lastly, is it sufficient to remember Christ as higher
than the angels, or older than the system of the world : for that
is not more than many misbelievers, of former or of later times,
have made no scruple to own, and it is still short of the Scripture
accounts.
For, according to the whole tenor both of Old and New
Testament, Jesus Christ is not merely our Lord, Master, Judge,
&c., but our Divine Lord and Master ; Lord in such a sense as
to be Jehovah and God of Israel, God before the creation, and
by whom all creatures were made ; who ' laid the foundation of
the earth,' and even the 'heavens are the works of his hands P;'
who has a rightful claim to be worshipped and adored, by men,
by angels n, by the whole creation r . 'And no wonder, since he
is described in sacred Writ as 'God with us 8 ,' as Lord God*,
'true God u ,' 'great God x ,' 'mighty Gody,' 'over all, God blessed
for ever 2 .' Such is the Scripture account of our blessed Lord,
and his personal dignity ; and therefore as such we ought to
remember him as often as we think of him, and more particularly
at the Communion table. For since the value of what our Lord
has done or suffered rises in proportion to the dignity of the
person so doing or suffering, it is manifest that we cannot duly
or suitably remember him in the Sacrament, if we entertain not
those high and honourable conceptions of him, which such his
personal dignity demands. If the sending of the only-begotten
Son into the world, to suffer, bleed, and die for us, was really
the highest instance of Divine love which could possibly have
been given : and if we are obliged, in return, to express our
thankfulness in a way suitable thereto : and if such a suitable
return is altogether impracticable without a just sense of the
favour granted : and if no just sense can be had of it, while we
take away the most endearing and enforcing consideration, which
most of all enhances the value of it : if these premises be true,
the conclusion is plain and necessary, that as often as we
John i. i, 2, 3. P Heb. i. 10. The reader who desires to see
1 Heb. i. 6. r Rev. v. 13. these several texts explained, and
s Matt. i. 23. 'Luke i. 16, 17. objections answered, may please to
u i John v. 20. x Tit. ii. 13. compare my Eight Sermons, and
y Isa. ix. 6. z Rom. ix. 5. particularly the sixth.
E 2
52 Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
remember Christ in the Eucharist, we ought to remember him
not barely as a wise man, or a good man, or an eminent prophet,
or chief martyr, or as our particular Master, or Founder, or
Redeemer, but as an almighty Saviour and Deliverer, as the
only -begotten of the Father, 'very God of very God,' of the same
Divine nature, of glory equal, of majesty co-eternal. He that
remembers him in any lower sense than this, in opposition to
this, is not worthy of him ; neither can he be esteemed by sober
and discerning Christians as a worthy partaker of the holy
Communion.
To confirm this reasoning drawn from Scripture texts, I shall
subjoin some human, but very ancient authorities. They are
what all writers, so far as I can perceive, in some degree value,
and think it an honour to have, if they can but contrive any
colourable pretensions to them a : and it is only when disappoint-
ment makes them despair, that they affect to contemn what
they cannot arrive to. Justin Martyr is a very early writer,
born about the year 89, (as appears probable,) and writing with-
in forty or fifty years of the latest Apostle. It is worth the
while to know what so early and so considerable a person
thought of a Christian Sacrament, which he had so often fre-
quented ; especially when he gives us a formal, solemn account
of it, in the name of his Christian brethren, and in an address to
the Emperor. 'This food we call the Eucharist, of which none
are allowed to be partakers but such only as are true believers,
and have been baptized in the laver of regeneration for the
remission of sins, and live according to Christ's precepts. For
we do not take this as common bread and common wine : but
as Jesus Christ our Saviour was made flesh by the Logos of
God, and had real flesh and blood for our salvation, so are we
taught that this food, which the very same Logos blessed by
prayer and thanksgiving, is turned into the nourishment" and
substance of our flesh and blood, and is in some sense the
flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus V I choose to follow
ft See my Importance of the Doc- b Justin Mart. Apol. i. cap. 86.
trine of the Trinity, vol. iii. pp. 655, p. 96. edit. Thirlby. Beeves, vol. i.
656. pp. 1 20, 121.
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 53
Mr. Reeves's translation of this passage, though somewhat
paraphrastical, because he has very well hit off the sense. What
I have to observe upon it, as suitable to my present purpose, is,
that particular notice is twice taken of the incarnation of the
Logos, (that is, of God incarnate, according to Justin's known
doctrine of the Logos being God,) and the Sacrament is not only
supposed to be a commemoration , but a kind of emblem of it by
Justin's account 11 , as the intelligent reader will observe. The
reason is, that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Sacrament
of the passion 6 , and God the Son, by becoming incarnate, first
became passible. All which will be made plainer, by another
passage of the same Justin, in his Dialogue with the Jew f , which
is as follows : ' That prayers and thanksgivings, made by those
who are worthy, are the only sacrifices that are perfect and
well pleasing to God, I also affirm : for these are the only ones
which Christians have been taught to perform even in that,
remembrance [or memorial] of their food both dry and liquid,
wherein also is commemorated the passion which God of God
suffered in his own person, [or for them].' i have no need to
take notice here of more than is to my present purpose. The
words 'God of God' are what I point to, as a proof that the
Divinity of Christ was an important article of the Eucharistical
remembrance. If any should incline to read 'Son of God,' (upon
conjecture, for it is no more,) instead of ' God of God,' in that
place, it will still amount to the same, because Justin always un-
derstood the phrase of ' Son of God' in the highest and strongest
c Eis a.vdu.vr}ffi.v rov re ffiafiaroTrot- Kal eV ava/uvfifffL 8e rrfs rpo(pris avriav
t)o~a(r6ai avrbv 810, rovs Tfiffrevovras ^tjpas re Kal vypas, Iv ft Kal rov irdOovs
tls avrbv Si ovs Kal Tra6r)rbs ytyovf. o irtirovQf 8*' aurov 6 eos rov tov
Justin Mart. Dial. p. 290. j ue / u' /r ? TC "- Justin Mart. Dial. p. 387.
d How this was understood, see A conjectural emendation has been
explained in a Charge on the Doc- offered, directing us to read 61' av-
trinal Use of the Sacraments, p. rovs, 6 vibs rov 0eoD. Mede, Opp. p.
25. 362. Thirlby in loc. I see not why
c Eis avd/j.i'r)o~iv rov irddovs ov ena- o fbs rov eov may not mean the
0ei>. Justin Mart. Dial. p. 220. same with 6 ebs tic rov &eov : per-
f "On juti/ ovv Kal (v^al, nal (vx<*pt- haps &c might have been negligently
ffriat, virb rSiv a|iW ytv6/j.fi>ai, ri\- dropped. The learned editor in-
tiat /jiovai KOI tvdptffroi etcn rw f$ genuously says, 'istud Qfbs admo-
Bvcriat, Kal avrbs <f>ij/ji.i. Tavra, yap clum sane invitus muto, propter
jutfVa Kal Xpicrrtavol irapf\afiov irotfw sequential
54 Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
sense as meaning 'God of God?.' But I see no necessity of
admitting any new conjectural change of 6 06s into 6 vlbs, since
Qfos is very frequently our Lord's title in Justin n , yea, and 6
Qtbs more than once 4 . But I proceed.
I shall subjoin a passage of Origen, containing the like ele-
vated sentiments of the remembrance made in the holy Com-
munion. ' Thou that art come to Christ, (the true High Priest,
who by his blood has reconciled God to thee, and thee to the
Father,) rest not in the blood of the flesh, but consider rather the
blood of the Logos, and hear him declaring, This is my blood
which shall be shed for you, for remission of sins : the initiated
in the mysteries well understand both the flesh and the blood of
God the Word V So I translate the last words, as most agree-
able to Origen's usual phraseology : but if any one chooses rather
to say 'Logos of God,' it comes to the same thing. The sum is,
that the life and soul, as it were, of the Eucharistical remembrance
lies in the due consideration of the Divine dignity of the Person
whose passion we there remember 1 . And indeed every man's
awn reason must convince him that it must be so, if he ever
seriously calls to mind the Scripture accounts of our blessed
Lord, which I have above recited. Hitherto I have confined
myself to the strict notion of remembrance.
II. 1 am next to advance a step further to commemoration,
>vhich is remembrance and somewhat more. For to a bare
:emembering it superadds the notion of extolling, honouring,
elebrating, and so it is collecting all into one complex idea of
K *Os KO! \6yos irptDT&ToKos &v TOV onem peccatorum. Novit qui mys-
9eoC, Kai 8ebs vjrdpxfi' p. 94. Cp. teriis imbutus est, et carnem et san-
jp. 406, 408, 411. guinem Verbi Dei.' Orig. in Levit.
h Justin Mart. pp. 204, 210, 233, Horn. ix. pp. 243, 244, ed. Bened.
250, 261, 263, 265, 273, 291, 303, Cp. Clem. Alex. Paedagog. lib. ii.
328, 408, 409. cap. 2. p. 1 86 : -rbv \6yov tKx^iavov
i Justin Mart. pp. 251, 326, 378. &c.
k "Tu qui ad Christum venisti, ' Great use was afterwards made
(Pontificem verum qui sanguine suo of this consideration in the Nestorian
Deum tibi propitium fecit, et recon- controversy : of which see Cyrill.
cilia vit te Patri) non haereas in san- Alex. Ep. ad Nestor, p. 72. et Ana-
guine camis ; sed disce potius san- them. xi. cum Explanat. p. 156.
guinem Verbi, et audi ipsum tibi Item Apologet. advers. Oriental, pp.
dicentem, quia hie sanguis meus est, 192, 193.
qui pro vobis effundetur in remissi-
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 55
commemorating. This do 'in commemoration of me :' which
is the second rendering of the same words. Some perhaps might
wonder why the Socinians, of all men, should reject the notion of
remembering, and choose that of commemoration, (which is really
higher,) yea, and should strongly insist upon it, and make it a
point. They certainly do so, as may appear from their own
writings m : and what is stranger still, they assign such odd rea-
sons for it, that one would scarce think them in earnest, if we were
to look no further. For what if St. Paul does speak of declaring,
or shewing our Lord's death, may not dvdfjLvrja-ts still signify
remembrance 1 Is it not proper first to remember, and then to
declare ; or to declare it now, in order to remember for the
future ? Why should one exclude the other, when both are con-
sistent, and suit well together 1 And though a person is sup-
posed, before his coming to the holy Communion, to have the
Lord's death in mind, confusely, or in the general, may he not
still want to have it more in mind, and to remember it in par-
ticular, with all its circumstances, upon a close recollection,
assisted by an external solemnity performed before his eyes 1
Besides, if we should not want to call it to mind, yet we may
want to keep it in mind for the future : and who sees not how
serviceable the sacramental solemnity may be for that very pur-
pose 1 Add to this, that it is particulai'ly said with respect to the
mt Apparet,graviter errasseillosqui posuit. ' Socin. de Usu et Fin.
existimarunt verbum ' commemora- Coenae Domini, pp. 4, 5.
tionem,' quod in Graeco est avdfj.i'ijtni', ' Quod nonnulli per 'commemoratio-
mutari debere in ' recordationem : ' nem' in verbis Christi quibus ritum
neque enim dicit Paulus mortem hunc instituit, ' recordationem' intel-
Domini recordamini, sed mortem ligunt, vel hanc pro ilia vocem repo-
Domini annuntiatis, quod profecto iiunt, arbitrantes in eum finem ritum
non recordationem, sed commemora- hunc sacrum esse institutum, ut no-
tionem et praedicationem omnino bis mortem Domini in memoriam re-
significat . . . . non est quod quis ex vocet, in eo manifesto errant ; quum
verbo illo (ava.fj.vriffis') colligat coenam qui ritum hunc sacrum obire recte
Domini in eum finem institutani fu- velit, ac mortem Domini hac ratione
isse, ut nobis suggerat et in memo- annuntiare, eum Christi mortis probe
riam revocet mortem ipsius Domini et semper memorem esse oporteat.'
.... Commemoratio autem ista, et Cracov. Catechism, sect. vi. cap. 4.
praedicatio mortis Christi, id neces- p. 229. Cp. Schlichting. in I Cor.
sario conjunctum habet, ut gratiae xi. 25. et contr. Meisner. pp. 805,
agantur Christo, turn vero Deo, patri 814, 816. "\Yolzogen. in Matt. xxvi.
ejus, cujus mandate animam suam p. 416.
56 Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
Passover, ' Thou shalt sacrifice the passover, &c., that thou mayest
remember the day when thou earnest out of Egypt, all the days
of thy life n .' Which is exactly parallel, so far, to the remem-
brance appointed in the Eucharist. How trifling would it be to
urge, that the Israelites were supposed to remember the day before
their coming to the Passover, and therefore could have no need to
refresh their memories by coming ; or to urge, that because they
ought always to bear it in mind, therefore it could not be one
end or use of the Passover, to remind them of it, or to keep it
in remembrance all their days.
One may judge from hence, that Socinus's pretended reasons
against the notion of remembrance were mere shuffle and pre-
tence, carrying more of art and colouring in them, than of truth
or sincerity : he had a turn to serve in favour of an hypothesis,
and that was all. The turn was this : he had a mind to make
the dvdfju>T)(ris (which is one end, or use, or part of the Sacrament)
to be the whole of the Sacrament, its whole nature and essence, as
I before hinted, and to interpret the words, ' This is my body '
and ' This is my blood,' to mean, this bread and wine, or rather
this action, is an dvdnvrjo-is, a commemoration, and nothing more.
He could not pretend to say, that this material thing, or this
external action, is a remembrance, (which denotes an internal
perception,) and therefore he substitutes commemoration in its
stead, an outward act, and external service, and then resolves the
whole of the Sacrament into that, confounding the end or use of
the thing with the thing itself. This was his fetch ; and so he
hoped to be rid at once of all supposed present graces or benefits
accruing to worthy receivers, making the sign and thing signified
to be all one, and indeed to be sign only.
However, though Socinus had no good views in interpreting
dvdfjiVTjais by commemoration, and was undoubtedly wrong in ex-
cluding remembrance : yet setting aside his foreign fancies, it is
very right to interpret the word by commemoration ; but so as
to include both an inward remembrance of benefits, and an out-
ward celebration of the same, together with devout praises and
n Deut. xvi. 2, 3.
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 57
thanksgivings to Christ our Lord for them, and to all the three
Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity. It is scarce possible for a
considerate devout mind to stop short in a bare remembrance,
(though remembrance is always supposed, and is by this sacred
solemnity reinforced,) but it will of course break out into thank-
ful praises and adorations. We accept therefore of what Socinus
and his brethren so much contend for, that the Greek avafanja-is,
in this case, does amount to a commemoration, and is better ren-
dered by that word than by remembrance : because the word will
bear it, and because the circumstances shew that remembrance
alone, without commemoration superadded, is short of the idea
intended by it.
I may further note, though it is but the natural and obvious
consequence of what I have before said, that this commemoration
must be understood in as high and as full a sense as the remem-
brance spoken of above : we must commemorate our Lord in a
manner suitable to his Divine natm-e and dignity, and according
to what he is by the Scripture accounts. We must commemorate
him as God, purchasing the Church with his own blood . We
must commemorate his passion as St. Paul has done, and in like
words with these : ' Who, being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no repu-
tation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross P.' In another place, the same Apostle, speak-
ing of the ' redemption by the blood ' of Christ, and of his
making ' peace through the blood of the cross,' closes one, and
ushers in the other, with a large account of the supereminent
dignity of his Person, as born before the creation ; adding, that
' all things were created by him, and for him, and by him con-
sist i.' This is the right way of celebrating or commemorating
Acts xx. 28. For the reading P Phil. ii. 6, 7, 8. See my fifth
of the text, see Mill, in loc. and Sermon, vol. ii., Second Defence,
Pearson on the Creed, p. 129, and vol. ii. p. 548, and Third Defence,
Vitringa, Observ. Sacr. torn. i. p. vol. iii. p. 59.
213, and Pfaffius de Var. Lect. p. i Coloss. i. 14 20. Compare my
161. Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 56, &c. 103, &c.
58 Commemoration of Christ CH. in.
his passion, as it is declaring the infinite value of it. To speak of
him only as man, or as a creature, though otherwise in a devout
way, is not honouring, but dishonouring him and his sufferings ;
is not commemorating, hut blaspheming his name. St. Paul, in
another place, going to speak of our Lord's passion, introduces
it with a previous description of his personal dignity: 'appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ; who being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his Person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high r .' But as remarkable a passage as any is that
of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the Apostle, to enhance the
value of Christ's sufferings, expresses himself thus : ' If the blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God 8 1 ' By eternal Spirit, I under-
stand Christ's Divine nature, as the most judicious interpreters
do * : and so from hence it is plain how the merit of Christ's
sufferings rises in proportion to the dignity of the Person; and
it is the Divinity that stamps the value upon the suffering
humanity. And hence also it is that St. John so emphatically
observes, that it is the blood of Jesus Christ his Son (that Son
whom the Apostle everywhere describes under the most lofty
characters, as particularly John i.) which ' cleanseth us from all
sin u .' Such is the Scripture way of commemorating our Lord
and his passion, and such the way of all the ancient churches of
God : be this our pattern, as it ought to be for our commemora-
tions in the holy Communion.
III. But I observed, that there was a third or a fourth ren-
dering of the same words, efc rrjv Ipty avapvriviv : ' for a memorial
of me ;' or, ' for my memorial,' which is more strictly literal. This
rendering is not much different from the two former, but contains
and includes both : for a memorial supposes and takes in both
T Heb. i. 2, 3. s Heb. ix. 13, 14. ' See Bull, Opp. p. 19, and
Wolfius in loc. u i John i. 7.
CH. in. in the Holy Communion. 59
a remembrance and a commemoration. Whether it superadds
anything to them, and makes the idea still larger or fuller, is
the question. If it carries in it any tacit allusion to the sacrifi-
cial memorials of the Old Testament, it may then be conceived
to add to the idea of commemoration the idea of acceptable and
well pleasing, viz. to Almighty God. I build not upon dvap-vrja-is
being twice used in the Septuagint as the name for a sacrificial
memorial x ; for the usual sense of the word, in the same Septua-
gint, is different, having no relation to sacrifice : but thus far may
be justly pleaded, from the nature and reason of the thing, that
the service of the Eucharist (the most proper part of evangelical
worship, and most solemn religious act of the Christian Church)
must be understood to ascend up ' for a memorial before God,' in
as strict a sense, at least, as Cornelius's alms and prayers were
said so to do y ; or as the 'prayers of the saints' go up as sweet
odours, mystical incense z , before God. Indeed, the incense and
sacrificial memorials of the old Testament were mostly typical of
evangelical worship or Christian services, and were acceptable to
God under that view ; and therefore it cannot be doubted but
the true rational incense, viz. Gospel services, rightly performed,
(and among these more especially the Eucharistical service,) are
the acceptable memorials in God's sight. Whether there was
any such allusion intended in the name avd/jivrja-Ls, when our Lord
recommended the observance of the Eucharist as his memorial,
cannot be certainly determined, since the name might carry in it
such an allusion, or might be without it ; but as to the thing,
that such worship rightly performed has the force and value of
any memorial elsewhere mentioned in Scripture (sacrificial or
other) cannot be doubted ; and the rest is not worth disputing,
or would make too large a digression in this place.
Before I dismiss the word di/d/iwjo-tj, it may not be improper to
note, that it occurs but once more in the New Testament, where
St. Paul speaks of the 'commemoration of sins a ,' made once a year,
x Levit. xxiv. 7. Numb. x. 21. 333, &c. Dodwell, Tncensing no
y Acts x. 4. Apostolical Tradition, pp. 36, 37,
z Rev. v. 8; viii. 3, 4. Psalm cxli. 38.
I. Compare Malach. i. n. Vid. a 'Apd/u^cris a-nap-riSm tear' tviav-
^itringa, in Apocalyps. pp. 214, &c. TOV. Heb. x. 3.
60 Commetnoration of Christ CH. in.
under the old Testament, on the great day of expiation ; when
the High Priest was to ' confess all the iniquities of the children
of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins V There
was dvdfivrja-is a/*aprta>/, commemoration of sins : but under the
Gospel it is happily changed into dvdfi.vr)<ris rov Xpia-rov, com-
memoration of Christ. There sins were remembered ; here for-
giveness of sins : a remarkable privilege of the Gospel economy
above the legal. Not but that there was forgiveness also under
the Old Testament, legal and external forgiveness by the law, and
mystical forgiveness under the law, by virtue of the sacrifice of
Christ foreordained, and foreshadowed : but under the Gospel,
forgiveness is clearly and without a figure declared, and for all
sins repented of ; and there is no remembrance of them more c ;
no commemoration of them by legal sacrifices, but instead thereof
a continual commemoration of Christ's sacrifice for the ' remis-
sion of sins,' in the Christian Sacraments. There must indeed
be confession of sins, and forsaking them also under the Gospel
dispensation : but then it is without the burden of ritual expia-
tions and ceremonial atonements : for the many and grievous
sacrifices are all converted into one easy (and to every good man
delightful) commemoration of the all-sufficient sacrifice in the
holy Communion. But I return.
Hitherto I have been considering the Eucharistical commemo-
ration as a memorial before God, which is the highest view of it :
but I must not omit to take notice, that it is a memorial also
before men, in the same sense as the paschal service was. Of
the Passover it is said : ' This day shall be unto you for a
memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord d .' It is
here called a feast to the Lord, and a memorial to the people :
not but that it was a memorial also to the Lord, in the large
sense of memorial before mentioned, (as every pious and grateful
acknowledgment to God for mercies received is). But in the
stricter sense of memorial, it was such only to the people. It is
further said in the same chapter, of the paschal service : ' Ye
shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons
for ever And when your children shall say unto you, What
b Vid. Levit. xvi. 21. c Jer. xxxi. 34. d Exod. xii. 14.
CH. in. -in the Holy Communion. 61
mean you by this service ? ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the
Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of
Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our
houses e .' And in the next chapter f : ' It shall be for a sign unto
thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth,' <fec. In such a sense
as this, the service of the Eucharist is a memorial left to the
Church of Christ, to perpetuate the memory of that great deli-
verance from the bondage of sin and Satan (of which the former
deliverance from Egyptian bondage was but a type) to all
succeeding generations. By this solemn service, besides other
uses, God has admirably provided for the bulk of mankind, that
they may be constantly and visibly reminded of what it so much
concerns them both to know and attend to. It is to the
illiterate instead of books, and answers the purpose better than
a thousand monitors without it might do. Jesus Christ is
hereby 'set forth crucified?,' as it were, before their eyes, in
order to make the stronger impression.
I may further observe, that as all the Passovers, after the first,
were a kind of representations and commemorations of that
original h , so all our Eucharistical Passovers are a sort of com-
memorations of the original Eucharist. Which I the rather take
notice of, because I find an ancient Father, (if we may depend
upon a Fragment,) Hippolytus, who was a disciple of Irenaeus,
representing the thing in that view : for commenting on Prov.
ix. 2, ' Wisdom hath furnished her table,' he writes thus :
' Namely, the promised knowledge of the Holy Trinity ; and also
his precious and undefiled body and blood, which are daily
administered at the mystical and sacred table, sacrificed for a
memorial of that ever memorable and original table of the
mystical Divine Supper 1 .' Upon which words I may remark, by
the way, that here is mention made of the body and blood as
Exod. xii. 24, 26, if. Ka.Teira.yyf \\opf vtjv. Ka! rb Tifjuov KO.I
f Exod. xiii. 9. Compare Deut. axpavrov avrov <rS>na Kal afjta, oirep
xvi. 3. & Gal. iii. I. ev TTJ (ivcrnKfj Kal Of la. Tpairtfyi Kaff
h See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- fKtiffrrjv tir IT f \ofvTM, 0v6fj.fva eis ava-
fice, part n. p. 44. fivrj(Tiv rijs n.tifj.vii<rrov Kal irpdar^s fK.fi-
' Kai ^Toi/ucuraro TTJV favrrjs Tpdnre- J/TJS rov fj.v(niKuv Qfiov Seiirvov. Hip-
fav r^v eiriyi/oifftv TTJS a-yi'a? rpioSos polyt. vol. i. p. 282, ed. Fabric.
62 Commemoration of Christ's Death CH. iv.
sacrificed in the Eucharist twenty or thirty years before Cyprian,
if the Fragment be certainly Hippolytus's, and then it is the
earliest in its kind, though not higher than the third century.
As to his making all succeeding Eucharists memorials of the
first, the notion interferes not with their being memorials also of
our Lord and his passion, as before explained, but all the several
views will hang well together.
Thus far I have been considering the Christian Eucharist as a
remembrance, and a commemoration, and a memorial of Christ
our Lord. I could not avoid intermixing something here and
there of our Lord's death and passion, which have so close an
affinity with the subject of this chapter : nevertheless that article
may require a more distinct consideration, and therefore it may
be proper to have a separate chapter for it.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Commemoration of tlie Death of our Lord made in the
Holy Communion.
IT is not sufficient to commemorate the death of Christ, with-
out considering what his death means, what were the moving
reasons for it, and what its ends and uses. The subtilties of
Socinus and his followers have made this inquiry necessary : for
it is to very little purpose 'to shew the Lord's death till he
come,' by the service of the Eucharist, if we acknowledge not
that Lord which the Scriptures set forth, nor that death which
the New Testament teaches. As to Lord, who and what he is,
I have said what I conceived sufficient, in the preceding chapter :
and now I am to say something of that death which he suffered,
as a willing sacrifice to Divine Justice for the sins of mankind.
It is impossible that a man should come worthily to the holy
Communion, while he perverts the prime ends and uses of the
sacrifice there commemorated, and sets up a righteousness of
his own, independent of it, frustrating the grace of God in
Christ, and making him to have 'died in vainJ.'
3 ' Quidam vero, quomodo aliquan- lunt, et adhuc ignorantes Dei justi-
do Judaei, et Christianos se dici vo- tiam suam volunt constituere, etiam
CH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 63
The death of Christ, by the Scripture account, was properly a
vicarious punishment of sin, a true and proper expiatory sacrifice
for the sins of mankind : and therefore it ought to be remembered
as such, in the memorial we make of it at the Lord's table.
I shall cite some texts, just to give the reader a competent
notion of the Scripture doctrine in this article ; though indeed
the thing is so plain, and so frequently inculcated, from one end
of the Scriptures to the other, that no man (one would think)
who is not previously disposed to deceive himself, or has im-
bibed strong prejudices, could either reject it or miscon-
ceive it.
i. That the sufferings of Christ had the nature of punishments,
rather than of mere calamities, is proved from what is said by
the Prophet Isaiah, as follows : ' He hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all For the
transgression of my people was he stricken When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, &c. He was numbered with
the transgressors, and bare the sins of many V What can all
these words mean, if they amount not to punishment for the
sins of mankind 1 Evasions have been invented, and they have
been often refuted.
To the same purpose we read in the New Testament, that
'he was delivered for our offences 1 ,' that he 'died for all,' was
'made sin for us,' when he 'knew no sin m ;' 'was made a
curse for us n ,' 'died for our sins ,' 'gave himself for our sins*','
' tasted death for every man !,' and the like. To interpret these
and other such texts of dying for our advantage, without relation
to sin and the penalty due to it, is altogether forced and un-
temporibus nostris, temporibus aper- k Isa. liii. 4 12 : cp. Outram de
tae gratiae, &c Quod ait Aposto- Sacrific. pp. 319, &c. 328. I Pet.
lus de lege, hoc DOS istis dicimus de ii. 24. and Outram p. 329, &c.
natura ; si per naturam justitia, ergo ' Rom. iv. 25.
Christus gratis mortuus eat.' Au- m 2 Cor. v. 14; 15, 21. John xi.
gustin. Serai, xiii. in Johan. vi. 50, 51, 52.
Opp. torn. v. pp. 645, 646, edit. " Gal. iii. 13. i Cor. xv. 3.
Bened. p Gal. i. 4. i Heb. ii. 9.
64 Commemoration of Christ's Death CH. iv.
natural, contrary to the custom of language, and to the obvious
import of very plain words.
2. That our blessed Lord was in his death a proper expiatory
sacrifice, (if ever there was any,) is as plain from the New Tes-
tament as words can make it. He gave ' his life a ransom for
many 1 ",' was 'the Lamb of God' which was to 'take away the
sins of the world 8 ,' 'died for the ungodly',' 'gave himself a
ransom for all u ,' once 'suffered for sins, the just for the unjust x ,'
'gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savoury.' ' Christ our Passover was sacrificed
for us z ,' 'offered up himself*,' 'to bear the sins of many**,' has
'put away sin by the sacrifice of himself 6 .' We have been
' redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb with-
out blemish and without spot d .' These are not mere allusions
to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, but they are interpre-
tative of them, declaring their typical nature, as prefiguring
the grand sacrifice, and centering in it : which, besides other
considerations, appears very evidently from the whole design
and tenor of the Epistle to the Hebrews ; signifying, that the
legal sacrifices were allusions to, and prefigurations of, the
grand sacrifice.
3. That from this sacrifice, and by virtue of it, we receive the
benefit of atonement, redemption, propitiation, justification, re-
conciliation, remission, &c., is no less evident from abundance of
places in the New Testament. ' Through our Lord Jesus Christ
we have received the atonement,' and 'we are reconciled to God
by his death 6 .' 'Him God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood f .' 'He is the propitiation for our
sins, for the sins of the whole world g.' ' We are justified by
his blood V 'redeemed to God by his blood',' 'cleansed from all
sin by his blood V 'washed from our sins in his blood 1 ;' and
the robes of the saints are washed and made white only in the
" Matt. xx. 28. s John i. 29. * Rom. v. 6. u i Tim. ii. 6.
* i Pet. iii. 1 8 ; compare ii. 21 ; iv. i. - v Ephes. v. i. * i Cor. v. 7.
a Heb. vii. 27; x: 12; is. 14. b Heb. ix. 28. c Heb. ix. 26;
compare x. 12. d i Pet. i. rg. e Rom. v. 10, u. f Rom. iii. 25.
e i John ii. 2; iv. 10. h Rom. v. 9. ' Rev. v. 9. k r John i. 7.
1 Rev. i. 5.
CH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 65
blood of the Lamb m . By himself he 'purged our sins",' viz.
when he shed his blood upon the cross : and our redemption is
through his blood . He hath reconciled us to God by the cross P,
'in the body of his flesh through death I.' 'God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them 1 ".' His blood was 'shed for many, for the remission
of sins 8 ,' 'and without shedding of blood is no remission f .' It
is this 'blood of sprinkling' that 'speaketh better things than
the blood of Abel u : ' and it is by the 'blood of Jesus ' that men
must enter into 'the holiest v ,' as many as enter. I have thrown
these texts together without note or comment ; for they need
none, they interpret themselves. Let but the reader observe,
with what variety of expression this great truth is inculcated,
that our salvation chiefly stands in the meritorious sufferings of
our Saviour Christ. The consideration whereof made St. Paul
say, ' I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified*:' namely, because this was a most
essential article, the very sum and substance of the Gospel. ' In
these and in a great many more passages that lie spread in all
the parts of the New Testament, it is as plain as words can
make anything, that the death of Christ is proposed to us as
our sacrifice and reconciliation, our atonement and redemption.
So it is not possible for any man, that considers all this, to
imagine that Christ's death was only a confirmation of his
Gospel, a pattern of a holy and patient suffering of death,
and a necessary preparation to his resurrection . . . By this all
the high commendations of his death amount only to this, that
he by dying has given a vast credit and authority to his Gospel,
which was the powerfullest mean possible to redeem us from
sin, and to reconcile us to God. But this is so contrary to
the whole design of the New Testament, and to the true im-
portance of that great variety of phrases, in which this matter
is set out, that at this rate of expounding Scripture we can
m Rev. vii. 14. " Heb. i. 3. Ephesians i. 7 ; compare r Corin-
thians vi. 20 ; Coloas. i. 14. P Eph. ii. 16. ^ Coloss. i. 22.
r 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. s Matt. xxvi. 28. ' Heb. ix. 22. u Heb. xii. 24.
v Heb. x. 19. xi Cor. ii. 2.
66 Commemoration of Christ's Death CH. iv.
never know what we may build upon ; especially when the
great importance of this thing, and of our having right notions
concerning it, is well considered y.'
The least that we can infer from the texts above mentioned is,
that there is some very particular virtue, merit, efficacy, in the
death of Christ, that God's acceptance of sinners, though penitent,
(not perfect,) depended entirely upon it. Common sacrifices
could never ' make the comers thereunto perfect 2 : ' but it was
absolutely necessary that the heavenly things should be purified
with some better sacrifice a . Which is so true, that our Lord is
represented as entering into the holy of holies (that is heaven)
'by his own blood V where 'he ever liveth to make interces-
sion for' those that 'come unto God by him c .' The efficacy
even of his intercession above (great and powerful as he is)
yet depends chiefly upon that circumstance, his having entered
thither by ' his own blood ; ' that is to say, upon the merit of
his death and passion, and the atonement thereby made. His
intercession belongs to his priestly office, and that supposes the
offering before made : for there was a necessity that he should
'have somewhat to offer d ,' and nothing less than himself 6 .
Seeing therefore that, in order to our redemption, Christ suffered
as a piacular victim, (which must be understood to be in our
stead,) and that there was some necessity he should do so, and
that his prevailing intercession at God's right hand now, and to
the end of the world, stands upon that ground, and must do so ;
what can we think less, but that some very momentous reasons
of justice or of government (both which resolve at length into
one) required that so it should be. We are not indeed com-
petent judges of all the reasons or measures of an all-wise God,
with respect to his dealings with his creatures ; neither are we
able to argue, as it were, beforehand, with sufficient certainty,
y Bishop Burnet on Article II. pp. shews wherein principally the virtue
70, 71. z Heb. x. I. a Ib. ix. 23. of his intercession consists.
b Heb. ix. 12. Note, it is not c Heb. vii. 25 ; cp. Rom. viii.
only said that Christ entered into 33,34. Heb. ii. 17; ix. 24. i John
heaven by his own blood, but he is ii. 2. d Heb. viii. 3 ; v. i.
there also considered as the Lamb e Heb. ix. 14, 25, 26, 28 ; corn-
slain : Eev. v. 6. Which further pare i. 3.
CH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 67
about the terms of acceptance, which his wisdom, or his holiness,
or his justice, might demand. But we ought to take careful
heed to what he has said, and what he has done, and to draw
the proper conclusions from both. One thing is plain, from the
terms of the first covenant, made in Paradise, that Divine wisdom
could have admitted man perfectly innocent to perfect happiness,
without the intervention of any sacrifice, or any Mediator : and
it is no less plain, from the terms of the new covenant, that there
was some necessity (fixed in the very reason and nature of things)
that a valuable consideration, atonement, or sacrifice, should be
offered, to make fallen man capable of eternal glory f . The truth
of the thing done proves its necessity, (besides what I have alleged
from express Scripture concerning such necessity,) for it is not
imaginable that so great a thing would have been done upon
earth, and afterwards, as it were, constantly commemorated in
heaven , if there had not been very strong and pressing reasons
for it, and such as made it as necessary, (in the Divine counsels,)
as it was necessary for a God of infinite perfection to be wise and
holy, just and good. When I said constantly commemorated in
heaven, I had an eye to Christ's continual intercession 11 , which is
a kind of commemoration of the sacrifice which he once offered
upon the cross, and is always pleading the merit of. Which
shews still of what exceeding great moment that sacrifice was,
for the reconciling the acceptance of sinful men with the ends of
Divine government, the manifestation of Divine glory, and the
unalterable perfection of the Divine attributes. And if that
f ' Si non fuisset peccatum, non ne- tentionis legalium victimarum ; prior
cesse fuerat Filium Dei agnum fieri, peracta in templo, altera in ipso
nee opus fuerat eum in carne posi- penetrali : Christi prior in terris,
turn jugulari, sed mansisset hoc quod posterior in caelo. Prior tameii ilia
in principle erat, Deus verbum : ve- non sacrificii praeparatio, sed sacrifi-
rum quoniam intravit peccatum in cium : posterior non tarn sacrificium,
hunc niundum, peccati autem neces- quam sacrificii facti commemoratio.'
sitas propitiationem requirit, et pro- Grot, de Satisfact. in fine,
pitiatio non fit nisi per hostiam, h 'Christ is not entered into the
necessarium fuit provideri hostiam holy places made with hands, (which
pro peccato.' Orig. in Num. Horn, are the figures of the true) ; but into
xxiv. p. 362. heaven itself, now to appear in the
' Est ergo duplex, ut legalium presence of God for us.' Heb. ix.
quarundam victimarum, ita Christi 24.
oblatio, prior mactationis, altera os-
F 2
68 Commemoration of Christ's Death CH. iv.
sacrifice is represented and pleaded in heaven by Christ himself,
for remission of sins, that shews that there is an intrinsic virtue,
value, merit in it, for the purposes intended : and it shews
further, how rational and how proper our Eucharistical service
is, as commemorating the same sacrifice here below, which our
Lord himself commemorates above. God may reasonably require
of us this humble acknowledgment, this self-abasement, that after
we have done our best, we are offenders still, though penitent
offenders, and have not done all that we ought to have done ;
and that therefore we can claim nothing in virtue of our own
righteousness considered by itself, separate from the additional
virtue of that all-sufficient sacrifice, which alone can render even
our best services accepted 5 .
If it should be objected, that we have a covenant claim by the
Gospel, and that that covenant was entirely owing to Divine
mercy, and that so we resolve not our right and title into any
strict merits of our OAVII, but into the pure mercy of God, and
that this suffices without any respect to a sacrifice : I say, if
this should be pleaded, I answer that no such covenant claim
appears, separate from all respect to a sacrifice. The covenant
is that persons so and so qualified shall be acceptable in and
through Christ, and by virtue of that very sacrifice which he
entered with into the holy of holies, and by which he now
intercedes and appears for us. Besides, it is not right to think
nor is it modest or pious to say, that in the economy of every
man's salvation, the groundwork only is God's, by settling the
covenant, and the finishing part ours, by performing the con-
ditions ; but the true order or method is for our Lord to be
both the Author and Finisher of the whole. The covenant, or
rather, the covenant charter, was given soon after the fall to
mankind in general, and has been carried on through successive
generations by new stipulating acts in every age : so likewise was
the atonement made (or considered as made) once for all, but
is applied to particulars, or individuals, continually, by means of
Christ's constant abiding intercession. Therefore it is not barely
' See our Xlth Article, with Bishop Burnet's Notes upon it, and Mr.
Welchman's.
CH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 69
our performing the conditions, that finishes our salvation, but it is
our Lord's applying his merits to our performances that finishes
all. Perhaps this whole matter may be more clearly represented
by a distinct enumeration of the several concurring means to the
same end. i. The Divine philanthropy has the first hand in our
salvation, is the primary or principal cause. 2. Our performing
the duties required, faith and repentance, by the aid of Divine
grace, is the conditional cause. 3. The sacrifice of Christ's
death, recommending and rendering acceptable our imperfect
performances, is the meritorious cause. 4. The Divine ordinances,
and more particularly the two Sacraments, (so far as distinct
from conditional,) are the instrumental k causes, in and by which
God applies to men fitly disposed the virtue of that sacrifice.
Let these things be supposed only, at present, for clearer concep-
tion : proofs of everything will appear in due time and place.
By this account may be competently understood the end and
use of commemorating the sacrifice of our Lord's passion in the
holy Communion. It corresponds with the commemoration made
above : it is suing for pardon, in virtue of the same plea that
Christ himself sues in, on our behalf : it is acknowledging our
indispensable need of it, and our dependence upon it ; and con-
fessing all our other righteousness to be as nothing without it.
In a word, it is at once a service of thanksgiving (to Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost) for the sacrifice of our redemption, and a
service also of self-humiliation before God, angels, and men.
If it should be objected here, that shewing forth our Lord's
death, cannot well be understood of shewing to God, who wants
not to have anything shewn to him, all things being naked
before him ; it is obvious to reply, that he permits and com-
mands us, in innumerable instances, to present ourselves and our
addresses before him : and though the very word KarnyyeXXetv,
which St. Paul makes use of in this case 1 , is not elsewhere used
for shewing to God, yet dvayyeXXeiv, a word of like import, is m ;
k I understand 'instrument' here in instruments: which shall be ex-
no other sense, but as deeds of con- plained hereafter,
veyance, or forms of investiture, such ' I Cor. xi. 26. Tbv Odvarov rov
as a ring, a crosier, letters patent, Kvpiov Ka.Ta.Yyf\\tTf.
broad seal, and the like, are called m ' Avayye\\w ffij^epov Kvpi<f rf
jo Commemoration of Christ? s Death CH. iv.
so that there is no just objection to be drawn merely from the
phraseology. As to the reason of the thing, since addresses to
God have always gone along with the representation made in
the Communion, and are part of the commemoration, it must be
understood that we represent what we do represent, to God, as
well as to men.
Having thus despatched what I intended concerning the
remembrance, commemoration, or memorial of our Lord, and
of his passion, made in this Sacrament, I might now proceed to
a new chapter. But there is an incidental point or two to
be discussed, which seem to fall in our way, and which therefore
I shall here briefly consider, before I go further.
i. It has been suggested by some n , that the notion of remem-
brance, or commemoration, in this service, is an argument
against present receiving of benefits in, or by it : Christ and his
benefits are to be remembered or commemorated here ; therefore
neither he nor his benefits are supposed to be actually received
at the time. This is not the place proper for examining the
question about present or actual benefits : but it may be proper,
while we are stating the notion of remembrance, to obviate an
objection drawn from it, in order to clear our way so far. I see
no force at all in the argument, unless it could be proved that
the word remembrance must always be referred to something
past or absent : which is a supposition not warranted by the
customary use of language. ' Remember thy Creator :' does it
follow, that the Creator is not present ] ' Remember the Sabbath
day' (when present, I suppose) 'to keep it holy.' Let remem-
brance signify calling to mind ; may we not call to mind present
0e< fjiov. K.T.\. Deut. xxvi. 3. Cp. modo tribui posse : non enim dici
Psal. xxxviii. 18. possumus eorum recordari quibus
n ' Jam constat homines ibi non tune cum maxime praesentibus fmi-
participare, vel sortiri, vel accipere mur, quum recordatio mere ad prae-
sanguinem Christi : participatio enim, terita . pertineat.' Przipcovius ad
vel sortitio, rei praesentis est ; at I Cor. xi. 20, p. 91.
benedictio, quae hoc loco idem est Archbishop Tillotson, explaining
quod commemoratio, rei praeteritae the Scripture notion of remembrance,
esse solet.' Smalc. contr. Frantz. p. says : ' Remembrance is the actual
331. thought of what we do habitually
' Notandum recordationem rebus know To remember a person, or
vere et realiter praesentibus nullo thing, is to call them to mind upon
CH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 71
benefits, which are invisible, and which easily slip out of our
thoughts, or perhaps rarely occur, being thrust out by sensible
things? Or let it signify keeping in mind; if so, there is no
impropriety in saying, that we keep in mind what is present and
not seen, by the help of what is seen. Let it signify commemo-
rating: may not a man commemorate a benefaction, suppose,
which is in some sense past, but is present also in its abiding
fruits and influences, which are the strongest motives for com-
memorating the same 1 Indeed it would be hard to vindicate
the wisdom of commemorating what is past or absent, were
there not some present benefits resulting from it. I presume,
if a benefaction were wholly lost or sunk, the usual commemo-
ration of it would soon sink with it : the present benefits are
what keep it up. We do not say that Christ's death, or Christ's
crucifixion, is now present; we know it is past: but the benefits
remain ; and while we remember one as past, we call to mind,
or keep in mind, the other also, as present, but invisible, and
therefore easily overlooked. I see no impropriety in this man-
ner of speaking : nor if a person should be exhorted to remem-
ber that he has a soul to be saved, that such an admonition
would imply, that his soul is absent from his body.
2. Another incidental question, like the former, is whether,
from the notion of remembrance in this sacrament, a conclusive
argument may be formed against the corporal presence, and
particularly against transubstantiation 1 Notwithstanding that
we have many clear demonstrations against that strange doc-
trine, yet I should be far from rejecting any additional argument,
provided it were solid and just : but I perceive not of what use
the word remembrance can be in this case, or how any certain
argument can be drawn from it. The words are 'remembrance
of me :' therefore, if any absence can be proved from thence, it
must be the absence of what ME there stands for, that is, of the
all proper and fitting occasions, to I see not why present benefits may
think actually of them, so as to do not thus be remembered, and deserve
that which the remembrance of them to be so, rather than past, or absent,
does require, or prompt us to.' Serm. or distant benefits,
liv. p. 638. fol. edit.
72 Commemoration of Christfs Death CH. iv.
whole person of Christ ; and so it appears as conclusive against
a spiritual presence, as against a corporal one, and proves too
much to prove anything. Surely we may remember Christ, in
strict propriety of expression, and yet believe him to be present
at the same time ; especially considering that he is ' always pre-
sent with his Church, even to the end of the world P,' and that
' where two or three are gathered together in his name, there'
is he ' in the midst of them<i ;' and he has often told us of his
dwelling in good men. So then, since it is not said, remem-
brance of my body, but remembrance of me, and since it is
certain, that one part at least of what ought to be remembered
is present, (not absent,) therefore no argument can be justly
drawn merely from the word remembrance, as necessai-ily infer-
ring the absence of the thing remembered.
But if it had been said, remembrance of my body, or blood,
yet neither so would the argument be conclusive, if we attend
strictly to the Romish persuasion. For they do not assert any
visible presence of Christ's body or blood, but they say, that his
natural body and blood are invisibly, or in a spiritual manner,
present, under the accidents, or visible appearances of bread
and wine. Now what is invisible is so far imperceptible, unless
by the eye of faith, and wants as much to be called to mind as
any absent thing whatsoever. Therefore remembrance, or calling
to mind, might be very proper in this case : for what is out of
sight may easily slip out of mind.
If any particular restrained sense of remembrance should be
thought on, to help out the argument ; there will still remain a
great difficulty, namely, to prove that avanvrja-is, in the words of
the institution, must necessarily be confined to such a restrained
sense : which being utterly uncapable of any certain proof, the
argument built thereupon must of consequence fall to the ground.
Seeing, therefore, that there are two very considerable flaws in
the argument, as proving too much one way, and too little the
other way, it appears not prudent to rest an otherwise clear
clause upon so precarious a bottom, or to give the Romanists a
P Matt, xxviii. 20. i Matt, xviii. 20.
OH. iv. in the Holy Communion. 73
very needless handle for triumph in this article, when we have a
multitude of other arguments, strong and irresistible, against
the corporal or local presence in the holy Communion.
As to the continuance of the Eucharistical service till our Lord
comes, there is a plain reason for it, because the Christian dis-
pensation is bound up in it, and must expire with it. And
there is no necessity of supposing, as some do r , any allusion
to the absence of his body. The text does not say, till his body
appears, but till he come : that is, till he comes to put an end to
this sacramental service, (and to all other services proper to a
state of probation,) and to assign us our reward. The reference
is to the ultimate end, where this and all other probationary
duties, as such, must cease, and to which they now look, expect-
ing to be so crowned and completed : so that if there be an
antithesis intended in the words, it is between present service
and future glory, not between present and absent body.
However, though the argument will not bear in the view
before mentioned, yet it is right and just to argue, that the sign,
or memorial of anything, is not the very thing signified or com-
memorated, but is distinct from it. Bread and wine, the symbols
of Christ's natural body and blood, are not literally that very
natural body and blood ; neither is the sacrament of Christ's
passion literally the passion itself : thus far we may argue justly
against transubstantiation, but supposing at the same time the
strict sense of the word Sacrament to be the true one. The ar-
gument is as good against the Socinians also, only by being
transversed : for the things signified and commemorated are not
the signs or memorials, but something else. And therefore, to
make out the true notion of sacramental signs, there must be
inward and invisible graces as well as outward visible signs : of
which more in the sequel.
Having done with the first and principal end of the Sacrament,
namely, the commemoration of Christ as described in Scripture,
r ' Quia futuri adventus Domini et ob oculos positions praeteriti ejus
mentio sit, palam est, quasi absentia beneficii, donee ipse adveniens desi-
desiderium, et, ut ita dicam, defec- derium hoc nostrum impleat.' Przip-
tum suppleri, hac repraesentatione covius ad i Cor. xi. 24.
74 The Consecration of CH. v.
and of his death according to the true sacrificial notion of it ; I
now proceed to shew how this commemoration is performed, or
by what kind of service it is solemnized, and what is further in-
timated or effected in and by that service.
CHAP. V.
Of the Consecration of the Elements of Bread and Wine in the
Holy Communion.
THE first thing we have to take notice of in the Sacramental
service is the consecration of the elements : ' Jesus took bread
and blessed it s .' 'The cup of blessing which we bless*,' &c.
Here the points to be inquired into are : i. Whether the elements
of bread and wine in the Eucharist are really blessed, consecrated
sanctified, and in what sense. 2. Supposing they are blessed,
&< , by whom or how they are so. 3. What the blessing or
CGi ecration amounts to.
i. The first inquiry is, whether the elements may be justly
said to be blessed or consecrated : for this is a point which I find
disputed by some ; not many, nor very considerable. Smalcius,
a warm man, and who seldom knew any bounds, seems to have
been of opinion, that no proper, no sacerdotal benediction at all
belonged to the bread and cup before receiving, nor indeed after;
but that the communicants, upon receiving the elements, gave
praise to God, and that was all the benediction which St. Paul
speaks of u . So he denies that any benediction at all passed to
the elements. And he asserts besides, that whatever benediction
there was, it was not so much from the administrator, or
officiating minister, as from the communicants themselves : for
which he has a weak pretence from St. Paul's words, ' we bless,'
that is, says he, we communicants do it. Thus far Smalcius.
But the cooler and wiser Socinians go not these lengths. Crellius
8 Matt. xxvi. 26. * I Cor. x. 16. tibus, interpretatur) sed calicem quo
u ' Notandum insuper est, verba sumpto benedicimus : mox enim
Pauli,' calix benedictionis,'non signi- additur, ' quern benedicimus,' nempe
ficare calicem benedictum (ut Frant- omnes qui ad mensam Domini acce-
zius, una cum Pontificiis, aliquid dimus.' Valent. Smal. contr. Frantz.
divinum sibi et suis hac re arrogan- p. 331.
CH. v. the JBread and Wine. 75
expressly allows, that a benediction is conferred upon the cup,
as it is sanctified by thanksgiving, and made a kind of libation
unto God x . He goes further, and distinguishes sacramental
consecration from that of common meals, as amounting to a
sanctification of the elements for high and sacred purposes y.
The Racovian Catechism allows also of a sanctification of the
elements, made by prayer and thanksgiving 2 . Wolzogenius,
afterwards, seems to waver and fluctuate between inclination
and reason, and scarce knows where to fix ; sometimes admitting
a consecration of the elements, and soon after resolving all into
bare giving of thanks to God a . I suppose all his hesitancy was
owing to his not understanding the notion of relative holiness,
(which he might have admitted, as Crellius did, consistently with
his other principles,) or to some apprehension he was under,
lest the admitting of a real sanctification should infer some
secret operation of the Holy Ghost. However, to make Scrip-
ture bend to any preconceived opinions is not treating sacred
Writ with the reverence which belongs to it. St. Paul is express,
that the cup, meaning the wine, is blessed, or sanctified, in the
Eucharist : and if the wine be really sanctified in that solemn
service, no man of tolerable capacity can make any question as
to the bread, whether that be not sanctified also.
It is of small moment to plead that fi/xapia-rflv and cuXoyftj/
are often used promiscuously, and that the former properly
* ' Benedictio autem ista refertur tiarum actione imprimis poculum
primum ad Deum et Christum, et istud, quo ad Christi sanguinis fusi-
in gratiarum actione (uude etiam hie onem repraesentandam utimur, sanc-
ritus antiquitus Eucharistiae nomen tificatur et consecratur.' Crellius,
obtinuit) consistit : sed simul etiam ibid. p. 306.
transit ad calicem, quatenus divini z ' Qui calici huic benedicunt, id
nominis benedictione et gratiarum est, cum gratiarum actione, et nomi-
actione sanctificatur calix iste, et sic nis Domini celebratione sanctificant,'
Domino quodammodo libatur.' Crel- &c. Racov. Catech. sect. vi. c. 4. p.
lius in i Cor. x. 16. Opp. torn. ii. p. 237. edit. 1659.
306. a c y ox benedicendi .... significat
y ' Non tantum earn gratiarum ac- usitatam illam gratiarum actionem,
tionem, quae etiam in vulgari cibo- seu consecrationem panis, &c
rum et potus usu adhibetur, intelligi Calicem benedicere est, Deum pro
arbitramur, qua scilicet gratiae agun- potu, qui est in calice, extollere,
tur pro poculo isto ; sed maxiine earn eique gratias agere.' Wolzog. in
qua gratiae aguntur pro Christi fuso Matt. xxvi. 26. p. 408.
pro nobis sanguine. Hac enim gra-
76 The Consecration of CH. v.
signifies giving thanks, and that bread and wine (for thus do some
trifle) cannot be thanked : for since the words are often used
promiscuously, and since evXoyelv is taken transitively in this
very case by the Apostle b , it is next to self-evident that fi>xa-
pto-Telv, so far as concerns this matter, cannot be taken in a sense
exclusive of that transitive signification of eiXoyeu/ : for to do
that is flatly to contradict the Apostle. No doubt but either
of the words may (as circumstances happen) signify no more
than thanking or praising God ; but here it is manifest, that, in
this rite, both God is praised and the elements blessed : yea
both are done at the same time, and in the self-same act ; and
the Apostle's authority, without anything more, abundantly
proves it. If the reader desires anything further, in so plain a
case, he may please" to consult three very able judges of Biblical
language, or of Greek phrases ; Buxtorf I mean, and Vorstius,
and Casaubon, who have clearly and fully settled the true
meaning of fixapiamlv and fvXoyelv, both in the general, and with
respect to this particular case : I shall refer to the two first of
them, and shall cite a few words from the third d . But to cut
off all pretence drawn from the strict sense of ev^apio-Teiv, as im-
porting barely thanksgiving unto God, it may be observed, that
that word also is often used transitively 6 , as well as fvXoyelv, and
then it imports or includes benediction : so far from truth is it,
that it must necessarily exclude it. I may further add, that the
b I Cor. x. 16. Ti iroriiptov rrjs 517. Cp. p. 533, and Albertin. de
fit\oylas t> ev\oyovfji.ev. Eucharist, lib. i. c. 4. p. 8, &c.
c Buxtorf. de Coena Domini, p. e EiixapierTrjOeWos apTov...tvxapi-
311. Cp. Bucher. Antiq. Evangel. aTtjQtiffavrpo^v. Justin Mart. Apol.
p. 369. Johan.Vorstius de Hebraism, i. p. 96. cp. 98. Tronijpia fvxo-pi<nflv
N. T. part. i. p. 166, &c. .... rov (TIOTTIP'.OV) evxo,piffTr]fj.evov.
d ' Evangelistae et Apostoius Pau- Iren. lib. i. c. 13. p. 60. vSap if t\bv
lus...duobus verbis promiscue utun- fv^apKnovffiv. Clem. Alex. Strom,
tur, ad declarandam Domini actio- i. p. 375-
nem, ev\oye7v, et eu;api<rre?'... Note, that for the expressing this
utraque vox a parte una, totam transitive sense of the Greek word,
Domini actionem designat : nam some have contrived, not improperly,
Christus in eodem actu, et Deum the English word eucharistize, im-
Patrem laudavit, et gratias ei egit, porting thanksgiving towards God,
et hoc amplius panem sanctificavit ; but so as at the same time to ex-
hoc est, consecravit in usum Sacra- press the benediction imparted to
menti,' &c. Casaub. Exercit. xvi. p. the elements in the same act.
CH. v. the Bread and Wine. 77
benedictions used f in the paschal solemnity may be an useful
comment upon the benediction in the Eucharist. There the lay-
ing hand upon the bread, and the taking up the cup, were signi-
ficant intimations of a blessing transferred to the bread and
wine, in virtue of the thanksgiving service at the same time
performed. And by the way, from hence may be understood
what St. Chrysostom observes upon i Cor. x. 16, 'The cup of
blessing which we bless,' &c., on which he thus comments : ' He
called it the cup of blessing, because while we hold it in our
hands, we send up our hymns of praise to God, struck with
admiration and astonishment at the ineffable gift,' &c.S That
circumstance of holding the thing in hand while the prayers or
praises were offering, was supposed to signify the derivation of a
benediction, or consecration upon it. It is not material to dispute,
whether the consecration formerly was performed by thanksgiving,
or by prayer, or by both together : the forms might differ in dif-
ferent churches, or at different times. But the point which we
are now considering is, whether a benediction is really conveyed
to the elements in this service, and whether they are really sanc-
tified, or made holy. That they are so, is plain from the
testimony of St. Paul before recited.
2. As to Smalcius's pretence, before mentioned, concerning
the benediction of the communicants, after their receiving the
elements, it is a groundless fiction, and a violent perverting of
the plain meaning of the text. In the paschal service, the bene-
diction was performed by the master of the feast, (not by the
whole company,) and before distribution : so was it likewise in
the institution of this sacrament by our Lord. And all antiquity
f See above, chap. ii. p. 495. where plainly speaks of prayer be-
8 Tiorlipiov 8e ev\oyias ftcd\e<rev, sides, prayer for the descent of the
eirtiSav aiirb jue-ra Xflpas e^oi/rey, Holy Ghost. "Orav Si Kal rb irvfv/j.a
OTJTias avrbv avvfjLfovfj.fi', 0av/j,dovTS, rb aytov /caAj?, Kal T^V ^pLKw^fffrdrTiv
fKir\rirr6iJ.evoi TTJS cuparov Scupeas. ^TriTeAr? Bvcriav, Kal rov KOIVOV irdvTcav
K.T.A. (rvvfx&s ffpdirT-fjTai SeffirArov, TTOV rd-
Note, though Chrysostom here 1-ofj.fv avrbv, elire /J.QI ; De Sacerdot.
makes mention of hymns only, in lib. vi. c. 4. p. 424. ed. Bened. Corn-
accounting for the name of eulogy, pare Theophyl. on John vi., who
or blessing, yet he did not mean speaks as fully to the same pur-
that hymns only were used at that pose,
time in consecrating, for he else-
78 The Consecration of CH. v.
is consonant, that a sacerdotal blessing was previous to the deli-
vering the sacred symbols 11 , made sacred by that benediction.
And this is confirmed from hence, (as before hinted,) that an
unworthy communicant is guilty of profane irreverence ; viz. to-
wards what is supposed holy, before he receives it. As to St.
Paul's expression, we bless, it means no more than if he had said,
we Christians bless, meaning, by the proper officers. To strain
a common idiom of speech to the utmost rigour is not right :
it might as well be pleaded, that St. Paul must be present
in person at every consecration ; for ordinarily, when a man
says we, he includes himself in the number. It must be owned,
that it depends upon the disposition of every communicant, to
render the previous consecration either salutary or noxious to
himself : and if any man has a mind to call a worthy reception
of the elements, a consecration of them to himself, a secondary
consecration, he may 1 ; for it would not be worth while to hold
a dispute about words. But strictly speaking, it is not within
the power or choice of a communicant, either to consecrate or to
desecrate the symbols, to make the sacrament a common meal, or
otherwise : it is a religious and sacred meal even to the most un-
worthy ; and that is the reason why such are liable to the judg-
ment of God for abusing it : for if it were really a common meal
to them, it would do them no more hurt, than any other ordinary
entertainment. Holy things are fit for holy persons, and will
turn to their nutriment and increase : but to the unholy and
profane, if they presume to come near, the sanctified instruments
do as certainly turn to their detriment and condemnation.
There are proofs of this, in great abundance, quite through the
Old Testament, and I need not point out to the reader what he
may everywhere find.
h Evx<xpiffT'{]ffavTOS Se -rov irpoearw- hominem, non enim indiget sacrificio
TOS, Kal firevtpriHTia'avTos iravrbs TOV Deus : sed conscientia ejus qui offert,
Xaov, ot ica\ov/j,evoi trap' ri/j.7i> SIO.KOVOL sanctificat sacrificium, pura existens,'
$L$6a(nv fK<i(TT(f T<av irap6vT(oi> fj.fra- &c. Iren. lib. iv. c. 18. p. 250.
\apf?v airb TOV evxapiffTydfi/Tos &p-rov, N. B. Here, sanctifying means
Kal otvov, Kal liSaror. Justin Mart, rendering salutary : not that that
p. 96. See Archbishop Potter on alone does it, but it is a condition
Church Government, p. 262, &c. sine qua non.
1 ' Igitur non sacrificia sanctificant
CH. v. the Bread and Wine. 79
One thing more I may note here in passing, for the preventing
cavils or mistakes. When we speak of human benedictions, and
their efficacy, we mean not that they have any real virtue or
efficacy in themselves, or under any consideration but as founded
in Divine promise or contract, and as coming from God by man.
If the prayer of faith saved the sick k , it was not properly the
human prayer that did it, but God did it by or upon such prayer,
pursuant to his promise. In like manner, whatever consecration,
or benediction, or sanctification is imparted in the Sacrament to
things or persons, it is all God's doing ; and the ground of all
stands in the Divine warrant authorizing men to administer the
holy Communion, in the Divine word intimating the effect of it,
and in the Divine promise and covenant, tacit or express 1 , to
send his blessing along with it.
3. The third and most material article of inquiry is, what the
consecration of the elements really amounts to, or what the effect
of it is? To which we answer, thus much at least is certain, that
the bread and wine being 'sanctified by the word of God and
prayer m ,' (according to the Apostle's general rule, applicable
in an eminent manner to this particular case,) do thereby con-
tract a relative holiness, or sanctification, in some degree or other.
What the degree is, is nowhere precisely determined ; but the
measures of it may be competently taken from the ends and uses
of the service, from the near relation it bears to our Lord's
Person, (a Person of infinite dignity,) and from the judgments
denounced against irreverent offenders, and perhaps from some
other considerations to be mentioned as we go along.
For the clearer conception of this matter, we may take a brief
survey of what relative holiness meant under the Old Testament,
k James v. 15. ' is it not the communion,' &c., tan-
1 I say. tacit or express : because tarnount to a Divine promise of
our Lord's declaring, and St. Paul's everything we contend for ? But
declaring what is done in the Eucha- this is not the place to explain that
rist, do amount to a tacit promise whole matter : thus much is evident,
of what shall be done always, that what the word of prayer did
Wherefore the Socinians do but once make the sacramental bread
trifle with us, when they call for and wine to be, that it will always
an express promise. Are not the make it.
words, ' this is my bo.ly,' &c., and m I Tim. iv. 5.
80 The Consecration of CH. v.
and of the various degrees of it. I shall say nothing of the
relative holiness of persons, but of what belonged to inanimate
things, which is most to our present purpose. The court of the
temple was holy n , the temple itself more holy, and the sanctuary,
or holy of holies, was still more so : but the ark of God, laid up
in the sanctuary, appears to have been yet holier than all. The
holiness of the ark was so great, and so tremendous, that many
were struck dead at once, only for presuming to look into it with
eyes impure P: and Uzzah but for touching it (though with a
pious intent to preserve it from falling) was instantly smitten of
God, and died upon the spot<L Whatever God is once pleased
to sanctify by his more peculiar presence, or to claim a more
special property in, or to separate to sacred uses, that is relatively
holy, as having a nearer relation to God ; and it must of course
be treated with a reverence and awe suitable. Be the thing what
it will, be it otherwise ever so mean and contemptible in itself,
yet as soon as God gives it a sacred relation, and, as it were,
seals it with his own signet, it must then be looked upon with
an eye of reverence, and treated with an awful respect, for fear
of trespassing against the Divine majesty, in making that com-
mon which God has sanctified.
T.his notion of relative holiness is a very easy and intelligible
notion : or if it wanted any further illustration, might be illus-
trated from familiar examples in a lower kind, of relative
sacredness accruing to inanimate things by the relation they bear
to earthly majesty. The thrones, or sceptres, or crowns, or
presence-rooms of princes are, in this lower sense, relatively
sacred : and an offence may be committed against the majesty of
the sovereign, by an irreverence offered to what so peculiarly
belong to him. If any one should ask, what is conveyed to the
respective things to make them holy or sacred 1 we might ask,
in our turn, what was conveyed to the ground- which Moses once
stood upon, to make it holy ground 1 "? or what was conveyed to
n I Kings viii. 64. P I Sam. vi. 19.
The Rabbins reckon up ten i 2 Sain. vi. 7. i Chron. xiii. 9,
degrees of such relative holiness. 10.
Vid. Deylingius, Observat. Mis- r Exod. iii. 5.
cellan. p. 546.
CH. v. the Bread and Wine. 81
the gold which the temple was said to sanctify 8 , or what to the
gift when the altar sanctified it* 1 But to answer more directly,
as to things common becoming holy or sacred, I say, a holy or
sacred relation is conveyed to them by their appropriation or
use ; and that suffices. The things are in themselves just what
they before were u : but now they are considered by reasonable
creatures as coming under new and sacred relations, which have
their moral effect ; insomuch that now the honour of the Divine
majesty in one case, or of royal in the other case, becomes deeply
interested in them.
Let us next apply these general principles to the particular
instance of relative holiness supposed to be conveyed to the
symbols of bread and wine by their consecration. They are now
no more common bread and wine, (at least not during this their
sacred application,) but the communicants are to consider the
relation which they bear, and the uses which they serve to. I do
not here say what, because I have no mind to anticipate what
more properly belongs to another head, or to a distinct chapter
hereafter : but in the general I observe, that they contract a
relative holiness v by their consecration, and that is the effect.
Hence it is, that some kinds of irreverence towards these sacred
symbols amount to being 'guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord x ,' the Lord of glory ; and hence also it was that many
of the Corinthians, in the apostolical age, were punished as
severely for offering contempt to this holy solemnity, as others
formerly were for their irreverence towards, the ark of God :
that is to say, they were smitten of God with diseases and
death y.
8 Matt, xxiii. 17. of Nature, ch. i. concerning moral
* Matt, xxiii. 19. entities.
u 'When certain things are said v The ancients therefore frequently
to be holy or sacred, no moral gave the title of holy, holy of the
quality of holiness inheres in the Lord, or even holy of holies, and
things, only an obligation is laid the like, to the sacred elements,
upon men, to treat them in such Testimonies are collected by 8uicer,
a particular manner : and when that torn. i. pp. 56, 62. Albertin. pp.
obligation ceases, they are supposed 345, 346, 376. Grabe, Spicil. torn,
to fall again into promiscuous and i. p. 343.
ordinary use.' Puffendorf, Law * I Cor. xi. 27. y I Cor. xi. 30.
G
82 The Consecration of CHAP.
Enough hath been said for the explaining the general nature
or notion of relative holiness : or if the reader desires more, he
may consult Mr. Mede, who professedly considers the subject
more at large z . Such a relative holiness does undoubtedly belong
to the elements once consecrated. The ancient Fathers are still
more particular in expounding the sacerdotal consecration, and
the Divine sanctification consequent thereupon. Their several
sentiments have been carefully .collected, and useful remarks
added, by the learned Pfaffius a . It may be proper here to give
some brief account of their way of explaining this matter, and
to consider what judgment it may be reasonable to make of it.
Mr. Aubertine has judiciously reduced their sentiments of conse-
cration to three heads, as follows b : i. The power of Christ and
the Holy Spirit, as the principal, or properly efficient cause.
2. Prayers, thanksgivings, benedictions, as the conditional cause,
or instrumental. 3. The words of our Lord, ' This is my body,
this is my blood,' as declarative of what then was, promissory
of what should be always. I shall throw in a few remarks upon
the several heads in their order.
i. As to the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, (in con-
junction with God the Father,) I suppose, the ancients might
infer their joint operations in the Sacraments, partly from the
general doctrine of Scripture relating to their joint concurrence
in promoting man's salvation c , and partly from their being jointly
honoured or worshipped in sacramental services d ; and partly
also from what is .particularly taught in Scripture with respect
1 Mede's Works, pp. 399, &c. and d Baptism in the name of all
823. Dissertationum Triga. Lond. three. Matt, xxviii. 19. As to the
A.D. 1653. Eucharist, Justin Martyr is an early
Pfaffius, Dissert, de Consecra- witness, that the custom was to
tione veterum Encharistica, p. 355. make mention of all the three Per-
Compare 1'Arroque, Hist, of the sons in that service.
Eucharist, part i. ch. 8'. p. 65, &c. "E-Treira irpo<r<pfptTa.i r<v irpof<rr5>Ti
b Albertin. de Eucharist, lib. i. TWI> ftVA^fiy &pros, Kal TroT-fipiov v5a-
C. 7. p. 34. ros, Kal Kp-ifiaros- Kal OVTOS \aBwv,
c Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. John xiv. ali-ov Kal $Aai> rtf irarpl rwv tiXcav,
16, 26. Rom. v. 5, 6. i Cor. xii. 5icb TOV 6v6fj.aros rot) vtov, Kal TOV
4, 5> 6. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22; xiii. 14. VlvfVfjLaros TOV aylov, avairtfiirfi.
Epb.es. i. 17, 21, 22. 2 Thess. ii. 13, Apol. i. p. 96.
14. Tit. iii. 4, 5, 6. i Pet. i. 2.
v. the Bread and Wine. 83
to our Lord's concern in the Eucharist, or the Holy Spirit's. It
is observable that the doctrine of the Fathers, with regard to
consecration, was much the same in relation to the waters of
Baptism, as in relation to the elements in the Eucharist. They
supposed a kind of descent of the Holy Ghost, to sanctify the
waters in one, and the symbols in the other, to the uses intended :
and they seem to have gone upon this general Scripture prin-
ciple, (besides particular texts relating to each sacrament,) that
the Holy Ghost is the immediate fountain of all sanctification.
I believe they were right in the main thing, only not always
accurate in expression. Had they said, that the Holy Ghost came
upon the recipients, in the due use of the sacraments, they had
spoken with greater exactness ; and perhaps it was all that they
really meant. They could not be aware of the disputes which
might arise in after times, nor think themselves obliged to a
philosophical strictness of expression. It was all one with them
to say, in a confuse general way, either that the Holy Ghost
sanctified the ' receivers in the use of the outward symbols,' or
that he 'sanotified the symbols to their use :' for either ex-
pression seemed to amount to the same thing ; though in strict-
ness there is a considerable difference between them. What
Mr. Hooker very judiciously says, of the real presence of Christ
in the Sacrament, appears to be equally applicable to the presence
of the Holy Spirit in the same : 'It is not to be sought for in
the Sacrament, but in the worthy receiver of the Sacrament. . . .
As for the Sacraments, they really exhibit; but for ought we
can gather out of that which is written of them, they are not
really, nor do really contain in themselves, that grace which
with them, or by them, it pleaseth God to bestow 6 .' Not that
I conceive there is any absurdity in supposing a peculiar presence
of the Holy Ghost to inanimate things, any more than in God's
appearing in a burning bush f : but there is no proof of the fact,
e Hooker, Eccl. Polity, b. v. pp. sion, lower down, for citing his
307, 308. Archbishop Cranmer had words. Conf. Sam. Ward, Deter-
said the same thing before, in his miuat. Theolog. p. 62.
preface to his book against Gar- f Exod. iii. 2. Acts vii. 30.
diner : I shall have another occa-
G 2
84 The Consecration of CHAP.
either from direct Scripture, or from that in conjunction with
the reason of the thing. The relative holiness of the elements,
or symbols, as explained above, is very intelligible, without this
other supposition : and as to the rest, it is all more rationally
accounted for (as we shall see hereafter) by the presence of the
Holy Spirit with the worthy receivers, in the use of the symbols,
than by I know not what presence or union with the symbols
themselves S.
2. The second article, mentioned by Albertinus, relates to
prayers, thanksgivings, and benedictions, considered as instru-
mental in consecration. It has been a question, whether the
earlier Fathers (those of the three first centuries) allowed of any
proper prayer, as distinct from thanksgiving, in the Eucharistical
consecration. I think they did, though the point is scarce worth
disputing, since they plainly allowed of a sanctification of the
elements, consequent upon what was done by the officiating
minister. But we may examine a few authorities, and as briefly
as possible.
Justin Martyr, more than once, calls the consecrated elements
by the name of eucharistized food h , which looks as if he thought
that the thanksgiving was the consecration : but yet he com-
monly makes mention both of prayers and thanksgiving *, where
he speaks of the Eucharistical service ; from whence it appears
probable, or certain rather, that consecration, at that time, was
performed by both.
Irenaeus k speaks of the bread as receiving the invocation of
God, and thereby becoming more than common bread. Some
would interpret it of prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost l ;
but, as I apprehend, without sufficient authority. Irenaeus
might mean no more than calling upon God, in any kind of
* Vid. Vossius de Sacrament. Vi ux a P" rn/ai '- Ii>id. p. 96. Evxas (5<uoi-
et Efficacia A.D. 1648. torn. vi. p. ws ol evx<*ptffrla.s. p. 08. Ei/xa.1 /cal
252. de Bapt. Diss. v. p. 174. Har- ei>xap'<rriai. Dial. p. 387.
mon. Evangel. 233. A.D. 1656. k 'O etirb yrjs &pros irpoff\afj.&av6-
* Evxa-piffTTiOfvTos &prov. . . . eu^a- fifvos r^v fKK\ri<nv rov @eov, ovKtn
punriBti-jav rpo<fyfiv. Apol. i. p. Koifbs &pros forlv, a\\' ei/xapitTTia.
96. Iren. lib. ix. c. 18. p. 2 = 1.
' A.Ayci> ff>x^ s Ka ^ ttjftfurrUa. ' Pfaffius in Praefat. ad Fragm.
Apol. i. p. 19. T&s euxJ MM TV Anecdota et in Lib. p. 96.
v. the Bread and Wine. 85
prayer or thanksgiving, or in such as Justin Martyr before him
had referred to. Irenaeus, in the same chapter, twice speaks of
thanksgiving m , as used before or at the consecration : but no-
thing can be certainly inferred from thence, as to his excluding
prayer, and resolving the consecration into bare thanksgiving.
Origen has expressed this whole matter with as much judg-
ment and exactness, as one shall anywhere meet with among
the ancient Fathers. He had been considering our Lord's
words, ' Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man n ;'
upon which he immediately thought with himself, that by parity
of reason, it might as justly be said, that what goes into the
mouth cannot sanctify a man. And yet here he was aware, that
according to the vulgar way of conceiving or speaking, the sa-
cramental elements of bread and wine in the Eucharist were
supposed to sanctify the receiver, having themselves been sanc-
tified before in their consecration. This was true in some sense,
and according to a popular way of speaking ; and therefore could
not be denied by Origen, without wary and proper distinctions.
He allows, in the first place, that the elements were really sanc-
tified ; namely, by the word of God and prayer o : but he denies
that what is so sanctified, sanctifies any person by its own proper
virtue P, or considered according to its matter, which goes in at
the mouth, and is cast off in the draught ; admitting, however,
that the prayer and word (that is, God by them) do enlighten the
mind and sanctify the heart (for that is his meaning) of the
worthy receiver. So he resolves the virtue of the Sacrament into
the sacerdotal consecration, previous to the worthy reception :
and he reckons prayer (strictly so called) as part of the conse-
cration. The sum is, that the sanctification, properly speaking,
m ' Offerens ei cum gratiarum ac- icbi>, et's atyeSpuva e/c/SaAAerat, Kara Sf
tione....Panem in quo gratiae actae rrjv eiriyevofj.fvriv avry fvx^v, Kara
sint.' Iren. p. 251. rfyv ava\oyiav rrjs Trlffras, &<t>f\t/jiot>
n Matt. xv. II. yii/erai, Kal rijs rov vov atnov $iaf}\-
' Ayia(r6fvros \6y<f eov Kal tvrtv- \j/fcas, oputvros firl rb w<t>t\ovv. Kal oi>x
|ei aprov. . . . rb aytatyufvov fipia/j.a Sia r) v\rf rov aprov, a\\' 6 fir' avr flpr/-
\6yov Qfov Kal fi>Tfvtus. Orig. in fi4vos \6yos e<rrlv & w<t>t\wv rbf /ur;
Matt. p. 254. ava^ius rov Kvptov fcrBiovra avrdv. p.
P Ov Tta ifiiip \6yca aytdfi rbv xp<i>- 254.
/j-fvov. p. 253. Kar' avrb (*.ei> rb v\i-
86 The Consecration of ( CHAP.
goes to the person fitly disposed, and is the gift of God, not the
work of the outward elements, though sanctified in a certain
sense, as having been consecrated to holy uses. Thus by carefully
distinguishing upon the case, he removed the difficulty arising
from a common and popular way of expressing it. Nevertheless,
after this% in his latest and most correct work, he did not
scruple to make use of the same popular kind of expression,
observing that the eucharistical bread, by prayer and thanks-
giving, was made a sort of holy, or sanctified body, sanctifying
the worthy receivers r . Where we may note, that lie again takes
in both prayer and thanksgiving, to make the consecration. And
we may observe another thing, by the way, worth the noting,
that by body there, he does not understand our Lord's natural
body, but the sanctified bread, which he elsewhere calls the sym-
bolical and typical body s ; that is to say, representative body, as
distinguished from the real body, or true food of the soul, which
none but the holy partake of, and all that do so are happy.
Origen's doctrine therefore, with respect to this article, lies in
these particulars : i. That the bread and wine, before consecra-
tion, are common food. 2. That after consecration by prayer
and thanksgiving, they become holy, typical, symbolical food,
representative of true food. 3. That unworthy receivers eat of
the symbolical food only, without the true. 4. That worthy
receivers, upon eating the symbolical food, are enlightened and
sanctified from above, and consequently do partake of the true
spiritual food, in the same act. I shall proceed no lower with
the Fathers, under this article, having said as much as I conceive
sufficient for illustrating Mr. Aubertine's second particular.
3. The third will still want some explication : where we are
i The Homilies on St. Matthew n, Kal ayidov TOVS per' vyiovs vpoOf-
are supposed to have been written crecos avrip ^p<afj.evovs. Origen. contr.
in the year of our Lord 244, and Cels. lib. viii. p. 766. edit. Bened.
his book against Celsus A.D. 249. s Tavra /j.tv trtpl TOV TVTTIKOV Kal
Origen died in 253. eru^u/SoAi/coD erco/uaros, TroAAa S 1 tiif Kal
r 'U/j.f7s tie r TOV iravrbs Srj/ui- irtpi UVTOV \fyono TOV \6yov, bs yt-
ovpyy euxapiffTovvTfs, Kal TOVS /J.(T' yore <rop|, Kal a\r]9tv^ /8pw<m, ^v Tiva
evxaptffTias Kal fi>xrjs TTJJ eirl rots 6 <f>aycav irdvTtas tfcreTai fls T^V aliai/a,
<5o0e?<n irpocrayoij.fi>ovs aprovs tffOiof^ei'. ovSevbs Svva/j.fvov <f>av\ov tcrQieiv av-
ff>[jia yevoftfvovs Sia TTJC fvxfyv aytov r^v. Origen. in Matt. p. 254.
v. the Bread and Wine. 87
to consider what effect the words of our Lord, ' This is my body,'
are conceived now to have in the Eucharistical consecration. It
is not meant (as the Romanists are pleased to interpret) that the
pronouncing those words makes the consecration : but the words
then spoken by our blessed Lord are conceived to operate now
as virtually carrying in them a rule, or a promise, for all succeed-
ing ages of the Church, that what was then done when our Lord
himself administered, or consecrated, will be always done in the
celebration of the Eucharist, pursuant to that original. If the
elements were then sanctified or consecrated into representative
symbols of Christ's body and blood, and if the worthy receivers
were then understood to partake of the true spiritual food upon
receiving the symbolical; and if all this was then implied in the
words, ' This is my body,' &c., so it is now. What the Sacrament
then was, in meaning, virtue, and effect, the same it is also at this
day. Such was the way of reasoning which some of the Fathers
made use of ; and it appears to have been perfectly right and
just. It was with this view, or under this light, that they took
upon them to say, that our Lord's words then spoken, were to
have their effect in every consecration after ; namely, as being
directly declaratory of what then was, and virtually promissory
of what should be in like case for all times to come. The same
Lord is our High Priest in heaven, recommending and enforcing
our prayers there, and still constantly ratifying what he once said,
' This is my body,' &c. For, like as the words once spoken,
' Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth,' have their effect
at this day, and in all ages of the world ; so the words of our
Lord, ' This is my body,' though spoken but once by him, stand
in full force and virtue, and will ever do so, in all ages of
the Christian Church. This is the sum of St. Chrysostom's rea-
soning upon this head ; which it may suffice barely to refer to* :
Mr. Pfaffius has collected from him what was most material,
illustrating all with proper remarks ". The use I would further
* Chrysost. Homil. i. de Prodi- Bingham, b. xiv. ch. 3. sect. II. Al-
tione Judae, torn. ii. p. 384. ed. bertin. lib. i. c. 7. p. 33 ; and Covel's
Bened. Account of the Greek Church, pp. 47,
" Pfaffius de Consecratione Vet. 48, 63, &c.
Eucbaristica, p. 389, &c. Compare
88 The Consecration of CHAP.
make of the notion is, to endeavour from hence to explain some
short and obscure hints of the elder Fathers. For example,
Justin Martyr speaks of the elements being eucharistized or
blessed by the prayer of the word that came from him x [God].
Why might not he mean the very same thing that Chrysostom
does, namely, that Christ, our High Priest above, now ratines
what he once said on earth, when he blessed the elements with
his consecration prayers, in the institution of the Eucharist ? It
is he that now sanctifies the symbols, as he then did, and, as it
were, presides over our Eucharistical services, making the bread
to become holy, which before was common, and giving the true
food to as many as are qualified to receive it, along with the
symbolical ; that is, giving himself to dwell in us, as we also in
him. There is another the like obscure hint in Irenaeus, which
may probably be best interpreted after the same way. He sup-
poses the elements to become Christ's body by receiving the
word Y. He throws two considerations into one, and does not
distinguish so accurately as Origen afterwards did, between the
symbolical food and the true food. In strictness, the elements
first become sanctified (in such a sense as inanimate things may)
by consecration pursuant to our Lord's institution, and which our
Lord still ratifies ; and thus they are made the representative
body of Christ : but they are at the same time, to worthy
receivers, made the means of their spiritual union with Christ
himself ; which" Irenaeus points at in what he says of the bread's
receiving the Logos, but should rather have said it of the com-
municants themselves, as receiving the spiritual presence of
Christ, in the worthy use of the sacred symbols. But this
matter must come over again, and be distinctly considered
at large. All I had to do here was, to fix the true notion of
consecration in as clear and distinct a manner as I could. The
sum is, that the consecration of the elements makes them holy
symbols, relatively holy, on account of their relation to what they
ijs \6yov rov Trap av- rbv koyov rov 0eoG, Kal yiverat rj
rov tvxapio~rr]0e'iffav Tpo<pijv. Justin fi>xapiffrla erta/jia Xpiorou, &c. Iren.
Mart. p. 96. Cp. Albertin. p. 31. lib. v. c. 2. p. 294. TrpoaXa^avtiv
> 'Oirort ovv Kal rb Kcfcpa/ucVoi/ iro- rov \6yoi> rov eov, fvxapi<rria ylvt-
rifpiov, Kal d ytyovias Upros eTi8/x Ta ' Tal - Ibid.
vi. the Bread and Wine. 89
represent, or point to, by Divine institution : and it is God that
gives them this holiness by the ministry of the word. The
sanctification of the communicants (which is God's work also) is
of distinct consideration from the former, though they are often
confounded : and to this part belongs what has been improperly
called making the symbols become our Lord's body ; and which
really means making them his body to us ; or more plainly still,
making us partakers of our Lord's broken body and blood shed
at the same time that we receive the holy symbols ; which we
are to explain in the sequel. I shall only remark further here,
what naturally follows from all going before, that the consecra-
tion, or sanctification of the elements in this service, is absolute
and universal for the time being ; and therefore all that commu-
nicate unworthily are chargeable with profaning things holy :
but the sauctification of persons is hypothetical and particular,
depending upon the dispositions which the communicants bring
with them to the Lord's table.
Having done with the consecration of the elements, I should
now proceed to the distribution and manducation. But as there
is a sacramental feeding and a spiritual feeding; and as the
spiritual is the nobler of the two, and of chief concern, and what
the other principally or solely looks to, I conceive it will be
proper to treat of this first : and because the sixth chapter of
St. John contains the doctrine of spiritual feeding, as delivered
by our Lord himself, a twelvemonth, or more, before he insti-
tuted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, I shall make that the
subject of the next chapter.
CHAP. VI.
Of Spiritual Eating and Drinking, as taught in John vi.
THE discourse which our Lord had at Capernaum, about the
eating his flesh and drinking his blood, is very remarkable,
and deserves our closest attention. His strong way of ex-
pressing himself, and his emphatical repeating the same thing,
in the same or in different phrases, are alone sufficient to
persuade us, that some very important mystery, some very
90 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
significant lesson of instruction is contained in what he said
in that chapter, from verse the 27th to verse the 63rd
inclusive.
For the right understanding of that discourse, we must take
our marks from some of the critical parts of it, and from other
explanatory places of Scripture. From verse the 63rd, as well
as from the nature of the thing, we may learn, that the discourse
is mostly mystical, and ought to be spiritually, not literally
understood 2 . 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh pro-
fiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they are life.' I am aware that this text has been variously
interpreted 8 , and that it is not very easy to ascertain the con-
struction, so as not to leave room even for reasonable doubt. I
choose that interpretation which appears most natural, and which
has good countenance from antiquity, and many judicious inter-
preters b ; but the reason of the thing is sufficient to satisfy us,
that a great part of this discourse of our Lord's cannot be
literally interpreted, but must admit of some figurative or
mystical construction.
A surer mark for interpreting our Lord's meaning in this
chapter is the universality of the expressions which he made use
of, both in the affirmative and negative way. ' If any man eat
of this bread he shall live for ever c .' ' Whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life d ,' ' dwelleth in me, and
I in him e .' So far in the affirmative or positive way : the pro-
positions are universal affirmatives, as the schools speak. The
like may be observed in the negative way: 'Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you f .' The sum is : all that feed upon what is here mentioned
have life ; and all that do not feed thereupon have no life.
Hence arises an argument against interpreting the words of
sacramental feeding in the Eucharist. For it is not true that
* Orig. in Levit. Horn. vii. p. nus in Psalm, xcviii.
235. Eusebius de Eccl. Theol. 1. iii. a Vid. Albertin. de Eucharist, p.
c. 12. Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. xvi. 243, &c.
p. 251. Mystag. iv. 321. Chrysos- b Vid. Albertin. p. 244.
torn, in loc. Athanasius ad Scrap. c John vi. 51. d John vi. 54.
Ep. iv. p. 710. ed. Bened. Augusti- e John vi. 56. f John vi. 53.
vi. according to John vi. 91
all who receive the Communion have life, unless we put in the
restriction of ' worthy,' and ' so far.' Much less can it be true,
that all who never have, or never shall receive, have not life ;
unless we make several more restrictions, confining the proposi-
tion to persons living since the time of the institution, and
persons capable, and not destitute of opportunity : making ex-
ceptions for good men of old, and for infants, and for many who
have been or may be invincibly ignorant, or might never have it
in their power to receive the Communion, or to know anything
of it. Now an interpretation which must be clogged with a
multitude of restrictions to make it bear, if at all, is such as
one would not choose (other circumstances being equal) in pre-
ference to what is clogged with fewer, or with none ?.
Should we interpret the words, of faith in Christ, there must
be restrictions in that case also ; viz. to those who have heard
of Christ, and who do not only believe in him, but live according
to his laws. And exceptions must be made for many good men
of old, who either knew nothing of Christ, or very obscurely; as
likewise for infants and idiots ; and perhaps also for many who
are in utter darkness without any fault of theirs : so that
this construction comes not fully up to the universality of the
expressions made use of by our Lord.
But if neither of these can answer in that respect, is there
any other construction that will 1 or what is it ? Yes, there
is one which will completely answer in point of universality,
and it is this : all that shall finally share in the death, passion
and atonement of Christ, are safe; and all that have not a
part therein are lost h . All that are saved owe their salvation
to the salutary passion of Christ : and their partaking thereof
(which is feeding upon his flesh and blood) is their life. On
the other hand, as many as are excluded from sharing therein,
s Cp. Albertin. de Eucharist, pp. passion! Dominicae communican-
234, 235. dum, et suaviter atque utiliter re-
h ' Nisi manducaveritis, inquit, condendurn in memoria, quod pro
carnem Filii hominis, et sanguinem nobis caro ejus crucifixa et vulne-
biberitis, non habebitis vitam in vo- rata sit.' Augustin. de Doctriri.
bis. Facinus, vel flagitium videtur Christian, lib. iii. cap. 16. p. 52.
jubere : figura est ergo, praecipiens torn. iii. Bened.
92 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
and therefore feed not upon the atonement, have no life in
them. Those who are blessed with capacity and opportuni-
ties, must have faith, must have sacraments, must be in cove-
nant, must receive and obey the Gospel, in order to have the
expiation of the death of Christ applied to them : but our Lord's
general doctrine in this chapter seems to abstract from all
particularities, and to resolve into this ; that whether with
faith or without, whether in the sacraments or out of the
sacraments, whether before Christ or since, whether in cove-
nant or out of covenant, whether here or hereafter, no man
ever was, is, or will be accepted, but in and through the
grand propitiation made by the blood of Christ. This I take
to be the main doctrine taught by our Lord in that chapter,
which he delivers so earnestly, and inculcates so strongly, for
the glory of the Divine justice, holiness, goodness, philanthropy ;
and for humbling the pride of sinners, apt to conceive highly
of their own worth ; as also for the convincing all men,
to whom the Gospel should be propounded, of the absolute
necessity of closing in with it, and living up to it. That
general doctrine of salvation by Christ alone, by Christ cruci-
fied, is the great and important doctrine, the burden of both
Testaments ; signified in all the sacrifices and services of the
old law, and fully declared in every page almost of the New
Testament. What doctrine more likely to have been intended
in John vi., if the words will bear it; or if, over and
above, the universality of the expressions appears to require
it? Eating and drinking, by a very easy, common figure,
mean receiving : and what is the thing to be received ]
Christ himself in his whole person : ' I am the bread of
life k .' ' He that eateth me, even he shall live by me l .' But
more particularly he is to be considered as giving his body
to be broken, and as shedding his blood for making an atone-
ment : and so the fruits of his death are what we are to
receive as our spiritual food : his ' flesh is meat indeed,' and
1 So eating and drinking damnation (i Cor. xi. 29) is receiving dam-
nation.
k John vi. 35, 48, 51. ' John vi. 57.
vi. according to John vi. 93
his 'blood is drink indeed 01 .' His passion is our redemption,
and by his death we live. This meat is administered to us by
the hand of God ; while by the hand of faith, ordinarily, we take
it, and in the use of the sacraments n . But God may extraordi-
narily administer the same meat, that is, may apply the same
benefits of Christ's death, and virtue of his atonement, to sub-
jects capable, without any act of theirs ; as to infants, idiots,
&c., who are merely passive in receiving it, but at the same time
offer no obstacle to it.
The xxviiith Article of our Church says, ' that the means
whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the supper
is faith.' That sacrament is supposed to be given to none but
adults ; and to them, not only faith in general, but a true and
right faith, and the same working by love, is indispensably re-
quisite, as an ordinary mean . All which is consonant to what
I have here asserted, and makes no alteration as to the exposition
of John vi., which speaks not principally of what is required in
adult Christians, or of what is requisite to a worthy reception
of the holy Communion, but of what is absolutely necessary at
all times, and to all persons, and in all circumstances, to a happy
resurrection; namely, an interest in, or a participation of, the
atonement made by Christ upon the cross. He that is taken in,
as a sharer in it, is saved : he that is excluded from it, is lost.
Some learned writers have observed that our Lord in that
chapter attributes much to a man's believing in him, or coming
to him, as the means to everlasting life, have conceived that
faith, or doctrine, is what he precisely meant by the bread of
life, and that believing in Christ is the same with the eating
and drinking there spoken of. But the thing to be received is
very distinct from the hand receiving ; therefore faith is not the
m John vi. 55. menta et fides non sunt sibi invicem
n ' Sacramenta sunt media offeren- opponenda.' Gerhard. Loc. Comm.
tia et exhibentia ex parte Dei : fides par. iv. p. 309.
medium recipiens et apprehendens T Hs ovSevl &\\y fj-fraff-^ftv t6v
ex pai'te nostra : quemadmodum eo-rij/, t) rf iriffrtvovri a\ri6rj flvou TCI
igitur manus donans, et manus re- StSiSayfieva. v<j> iipuir.. ..ical oifows
cipiens non sunt opposita sed relata, ftioi-vri wsoXpiar^-n-apeSuKfr. Justin
et subordinata, ita quoque Sacra- Mart. Apol. i. p. 96.
94 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
meat, but the mean. Belief in Christ is the condition required,
the duty commanded : but the bread of life is the reward conse-
quent. Believing is not eating or drinking the fruits of Christ's
passion, but is preparatory to it, as the means to the end P. In
short, faith, ordinarily, is the qualification, or one qualification ;
but the body and blood is the gift itself, and the real inheritance.
The doctrine of Christ, lodged in the soul, is what gives the soul
its proper temperature and fitness to receive the heavenly food :
but the heavenly food is Christ himself, as once crucified, who
has since been glorified. See this argument very clearly and
excellently made out at large by a late learned writer Q. It may
be true, that eating and drinking wisdom is the same with
receiving wisdom : and it is no less true, that eating and drink-
ing flesh and blood is receiving flesh and blood; for eating
means receiving. But where does flesh or blood stand for
wisdom or for doctrine ? What rules of symbolical language are
there that require it, or can ever admit of it 1 There lies the
stress of the whole thing. Flesh, in symbolical language, may
signify riches, goods, possessions r : and blood may signify life :
but Scripture never uses either as a symbol of doctrine. To
conclude then, eating wisdom is receiving wisdom ; but eating
Christ's flesh and blood is receiving life and happiness through
his blood, and, in one word, receiving him ; and that not
merely as the object of our faith, but as the fountain of
our salvation, and our sovereign good, by means of his death
and passion.
To confirm what has been said, let us take in a noted text of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, which appears decisive in this case.
' We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which
* 'Credere in Christum, et edere que unum cum ipso.. ..Itaque, no-
Christum, vel carnem ejus, inter se tione definitioneque aliud est spiri-
tanquam prius et posterius differunt ; tualis manducatio quam credere in
sicuti ad Christum venire et Chris- Christum.' Lamb. Danaeus ApoJog.
turn bibere. Praecedit enim acces- pro Helvet. Eccles. p. 23.
sus et apprehensio, quara sequitur 1 Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
potio, et manducatio : ergo fide p. 393, &c.
Christum prius recipiinus, ut habitet r See Lancaster's Symbolical Dic-
ipse in nobis, fiamusque ipsius vivae tionary, prefixed to his Abridgment
carnis et sanguinis participes, adeo- of Daubuz, p. 45.
vi. according to John vi. 95
serve the tabernacle s .' Whether the Apostle here speaks of
spiritual eating in the sacrament, or out of the sacrament, is not
now the question : hut that he speaks of spiritual eating cannot
reasonably be doubted. And what can the eating there mean,
but the partaking of Christ crucified, participating of the benefits
of his passion 1 That is the proper Christian eating, such as
none but Christians have a clear and covenanted right to. The
Apostle speaks not in that chapter of eating doctrine, but of
eating sacrifice. The references there made to the Jewish sacri-
fices plainly shew, that the Apostle there thought not of eating
the doctrine of the cross, but of eating, that is, partaking of, the
sacrifice or atonement of the cross '. Therefore let this be
taken in, as an additional explication of the eating mentioned in
John vi., so far at least as to shew that it must refer to some
sacrifice, and not to mere doctrines.
I am aware that many interpreters of good note among the
ancients", as well as many learned moderns, have understood
altar in that text directly of the Lord's table, and the eating, of
oral manducation : which construction would make the text less
suitable to my present purpose. But other interpreters v , of
good note also, have understood the altar there mentioned of
the altar in heaven, or of the altar of the cross (both which
resolve at length into one) ; and some have defended that con-
struction with great appearance of reason. Estius, in particular,
after Aquinas and others, has very ingenuously and rationally
maintained it, referring also to John vi. 51, as parallel or similar
to it, and understanding both of spiritual eating, abstracted from
8 Heb. xiii. 10 : compare Rev. u Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theo-
vi. 9. Zornius, Opusc. Sacr. torn, phylact, Primasius, Sedulius, Hay-
ii. p. 542. mo, Remigius, Anselm. ' Plerique
* ' Mihi perspicuum videtur esse, tarn veteres quam recentiores signi-
ararn hie poni pro victima in ara ficari volunt mensam Dominicam.'
Deo oblata. Sensus verborum hie Estius in loc.
est, ut puto : Jesu Christi, qui vera v Chrysostom. in Hebr. Horn. xi.
est pro peccatis hominum victima, p. 807. Cyrill. Alex, de Adorat. lib.
nemo fieri particeps potest, qui in ix. 310. Compare Lightfoot, Opp.
ceremoniis et externis ritibus Ju- torn. ii. part. 2. pp. 1259 1264.
daicis, religionis arcem censet esse Outram de Sacrif. p. 332, &c. Wol-
positam.' Moshem. ad Cudworth. fius, Cur. Crit. in loc.
P- 3-
96 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
sacramental x . In this construction I acquiesce, as most natural
and most agreeable to the whole context : neither am I sensible
of any just objection that can be made to it. The Apostle did
not mean, that they who served the tabernacle had no right
to believe in Christ ; that indeed would be harsh : but he
meant that they who served the tabernacle, not believing in
Christ, or however still adhering too tenaciously to the legal
oblations, had no right or title to partake of the sacrifice or atone-
ment made by Christ. The thought is somewhat similar to
what the same Apostle has elsewhere signified; namely, that
they who affected to be justified by the law, forfeited all benefit
arising from the grace of the Gospel, and Christ could profit
them nothing Y.
But for the clearer perception of spiritual feeding, and for the
preventing confusion of ideas, it will be proper to distinguish
between what it is primarily, and what secondarily ; or between
the thing itself, and the effects, fruits, or consequences of it.
i. Spiritual feeding, in this case, directly and primarily means
no more than the eating and drinking our Lord's body broken,
and blood shed ; that is, partaking of the atonement made by his
death and sufferings : this is the prime thing, the ground and
basis of all the rest. We must first be reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, before we can have a just claim or title to any
thing besides z : therefore the foundation of all our spiritual
privileges is our having a part in that reconcilement ; which, in
strictness, is eating and drinking his flesh and blood in St. John's
phrase, and eating of the altar in St. Paul's. 2. The result,
fruit, or effect of our thus eating his crucified body is a right to
be fellow-heirs with his body glorified : for if we are made par-
takers of his death, we shall be also of his resurrection a . On
this is founded our mystical union with Christ's glorified body,
* ' Hue etiam pertinet, quod cor- on the Sacrament, b. vi. chap. 3. p.
pus Christi, in cruce oblatum, panis 416.
vocatur, fide manducandus. Ut y Gal. v. 2, 3, 4.
Joann. vi. Panis, inquit, quern ego z Coloss. i. 20, 21, 22. Ephes. ii.
dabo, caro mea est, quam ego dabo 13, 16,
pro mundi vita: scilicet, in cruce.' a Rom. v. 9, 10, n. Phil. iii. 10,
Estiusinloc. Compare Bp. Moreton n. Eom. vi. 5 8.
vi. according to John vi. 97
which neither supposes nor infers any local presence : for all the
members of Christ, however distant in place, are thus mystically
united with Christ, and with each other. And it is well known,
that right or property, in any possession, is altogether independent
of local presence, and may as easily be conceived without it as
with it b . 3. Upon such mystical union with the body of Christ
glorified, and making still part of his whole Person, follows a
gracious vital presence of his Divine nature abiding in us, and
dwelling with us c . Upon the same follows the like gracious vital,
presence, and indwelling of the other two Divine Persons d : and
hereupon follow all the spiritual graces, wherewith the true
members of Christ are enriched.
This orderly ranging of ideas may contribute very much towards
the clearing our present subject of the many perplexities with
which it has been embarrassed ; and may further serve to shew
us, where the ancients or moderns have happened to exceed,
either in sentiment or expression, and how far they have done so,
and how they were led into it. The ancients, in their account of
spiritual feeling, have often passed over the direct and immediate
feeding upon Christ considered as crucified, and have gone on to
what is properly the result or consequence of it, namely, to the
mystical union with the body glorified, and what hangs thereupon*
There was no fault in so doing, more than what lies in too quick
a transition, or too confused a blending of ideas.
I am aware that much dispute has been raised by contending
b ' Pro tanta conjunctione asse- possit in caelis ease, ac spiritualiter
renda inter nos et Christum non nobiscum conjungi? Quod idem in
opus praesentia corporali aut sub- matrimonio usu venire intelligimus,
stantiali corporis Christi, quam sta- ubi sancta Scriptura praedicat, virum
tuere multi conantur in Eucharistia. et uxorem unam carnem esse : quod
Nam ea nil plus vel commodi vel non minus verum fateri coguntur
utilitatis habebimus quam si Chris- adversarii cum una conjuges habi-
tuni quoad corpus suo loco sinamus tant, quam si locorum intervallo
in caelis. Videmus enim Christi- nonnunquam disjungantur.' Pet.
anos posse esse invicem membra, et Martyr in i Cor. xii. 12, 13, fol.
quidem conjunctissima, tametsi ali- 178. Cp. Albertin. de Eucharist,
quis eorum degat in Britannia, alius pp. 230, 231.
in Gallia, et alius in Hispania. Quod John vi. 56 ; xv. 4. Matt, xviii.
si de membris ipsis conceditur, cur 20 ; xxviii. ao.
de capite idem fateri erit absurdum, d John xiv. 16, 17, 23. I Cor. iii.
ut hac spiritual! conjuuctione simul 16 ; vi. 19. a Cor. vi. 16.
H
98 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
parties about the sense of the ancients with respect to John vi.
It may be a tedious inquiry to go through : for there is no doing
it to the satisfaction of considering men, without taking every
Father, one by one, and re-examining his sentiments, as they lie
scattered in several places of his writings, and that with some
care and accuracy. It may be of some use to go over that
matter again, after many others, if the reader can but bear with
a little prolixity, which will be here unavoidable. There have
been two extremes in the accounts given of the Fathers, and both
of them owing, as I conceive, to a neglect of proper distinctions.
They who judge that the Fathers in general, or almost uni-
versally, do interpret John vi. of the Eucharist, appear not to
distinguish between interpreting and applying : itwas right to
apply the general doctrine of John vi. to the particular case of
the Eucharist, considered as worthily received ; because the
spiritual feeding there mentioned is the thing signified in the
Eucharist, yea and performed likewise. After we have suffi-
ciently proved, from other Scriptures, that in and by the Eucha-
rist, ordinarily, such spiritual food is conveyed, it is then right to
apply all that our Lord, by St. John, says in the general, to that
particular case : and this indeed the Fathers commonly did. But
such application does not amount to interpreting that chapter of
the Eucharist. For example ; the words, ' except ye eat the
flesh of Christ, &c., you have no life in you,' do not mean
directly, that you have no life without the Eucharist, but that you
have no life without participating of our Lord's passion : never-
theless, since the Eucharist is one way of participating of the
passion, and a very considerable one, it was very pertinent and
proper to urge the doctrine of that chapter, both for the clearer
understanding the beneficial nature of the Eucharist, and for the
exciting Christians to a frequent and devout reception of it.
Such was the use which some early Fathers made of John vL (as
our Church also does at this day, and that very justly,) though
I will not say that some of the later Fathers did not extend it
further : as we shall see in due place.
As to those who, in another extreme, charge the Fathers in
general as interpreting John vi. of digesting doctrines only,
vi. according to JoJm vi. 99
they are more widely mistaken than the former, for want of con-
sidering the tropological way of commenting then in use : which
Avas not properly interpreting, nor so intended 6 , but was the more
frequently made use of in this subject, when there was a mixed
audience ; because it was a rule not to divulge their mysteries
before incompetent hearers, before the uninitiated, that is, the
unbaptized. But let us now take the Fathers in their order, and
consider their real sentiments, so far as we can see into them,
with respect to John vi.
Ignatius never formally cites John vi., but he has been thought
to favour the sacramental interpretation, because he believed the
Eucharist to be a pledge or means of an happy resurrection : for
it is suggested that he could learn that doctrine only from
John vi. f But this appears to be pushing a point too far, and
reasoning inconsequently. Ignatius might very easily have main-
tained his point, from the very words of the institution, to as
many as knew anything of symbolical language : for what can
any one infer less from the being symbolically fed with Christ's
body crucified, but that it gives a title to an inheritance with the
body glorified? Or, if the same Ignatius interpreted i Cor. x. 16
(as he seems to have done) of a mystical union with the body of
Christ , then he had Scripture ground sufficient, without John vi.,
for making the Eucharist a pledge or means of an happy resur-
rection. John vi. may be of excellent use to us for explain-
ing the beneficial nature of the Eucharist, spiritual manducation
being presupposed as the thing signified in that Sacrament : but
it will not be prudent to lessen the real force of other consider-
able texts, only for the sake of resting all upon John vi., which
at length cannot be proved to belong directly or primarily to
the Eucharist.
It seems that Ignatius had John vi. in his eye, or some
e See my Importance of the Doc- & *Ev iroTJipiov, (Is ev<a<rtv rov a'[^.a-
trine of the Trinity asserted, vol. iii. TOS avrov. Ignat. ad Philad. sect,
pp. 649, 692, &c. and Preface to iv. p. 27. Compare Chrysostom on
Sciipture Vindicated, vol. iv. p. I Cor. x. 16, who interprets com-
160. munion there mentioned by eVoxns.
f See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- avrtf 5jct rov &prov rovrov tvw/j.e6a.
fice, part. i. pp. 387, 388.
H 2
ioo Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
phrases of it, in a very noted passage, where he had no thought
of the Eucharist, but of eating the bread of life, after a more
excellent way, in a state of glory. The passage is this : ' I am
alive at this writing, but my desire is to die. My love is cru-
cified, and I have no secular fire left : but there is in me living
water, speaking to me within, and saying, Come to the Father.
I delight not in corruptible food, nor in the entertainments of
this world. The bread of God is what I covet ; heavenly bread,
bread of life, namely, the flesh of Christ Jesus the Son of God,
who in these last times became the Son of David and of Abra-
ham : and I am athirst for the drink of God, namely, his blood,
which is a feast of love that faileth not, and life everlasting.
I have no desire to live any longer among men ; neither shall
I, if you will but consent 11 .'
Here we may take notice of heavenly bread, bread of God,
bread of life, our Lord's own phrases in John vi. And Ignatius
understands them of spiritual food, of feeding upon the flesh of
Christ, the Son of God incarnate. Drink of God, he interprets
in like manner, of the blood of Christ ; which is the noblest feast,
and life eternal. Learned men have disputed whether he intended
what he said of sacramental food, or of celestial ; whether of en-
joying Christ in the Eucharist, or in heaven. To me it appears a
clear point, that he thought not of communicating, but of dying :
and the Eucharist was not the thing which he so earnestly
begged to have, (for who would refuse it ?) but martyrdom,
which the Christians might endeavour to protract, out of an
over-officious care for a life so precious. However, if the reader
is desirous of seeing what has been pleaded on the side of the
Eucharist, he may consult the authors referred to at the bottom 1 ,
h 7.Sov yap ypd<pu vfjuv, tpiav rov a"irfpfj.aros Aa$!5 Kal 'Afipaan' al
diroQavtiv' 6 t/ubs epoas fffravpunai' irifyia tov 0fA.w rb af/ia ainov, 8
Kal owe Hffriv kv 4fj.ol irvp <t>t\6v\ov' tffnv aydirri &<p6apros, Kal aeWaos
vSa-p 8e <av, Kal \a\ovv eV ffJ.ol, fffca- fay. OUK tn 6e\ta Kara av&pdiirovs
6(v fj.oi \tyov Stiipo irpos rbv irarepa. r)v TOVTO 5t etrrai, tav ii/Afts #A^-
Oi/x fySo/jiai rpo<pfj <p6opas, oiiSe fiSovals fffjrf. Ignat. ad Rom. cap. 7? 8.
rov fttov Totirov aprov eov 6f\<a, * Smith. Not. in Ignat. pp. IOI,
uprov ovpavwv, &prov OJTJS, 8s effrtf 102. Grabe, Spicileg. torn. ii. p.
ffapj 'lija-ov XpitrroD, TOV vlov, Tov 229. Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
fuv, TOV yfvojj.tvov iv var4p<f e/c part i. pp. 387, alias 392.
vi. according to John vi. 101
and may compare what others have pleaded on the contrary
side k . 1 see no impropriety in Tgnatius's feeding on the flesh
and blood of Christ in a state of glory 1 , since the figure is easily
understood, and is made use of by others m besides Ignatius.
Our enjoyment in a world to come is entirely founded in the
merits of Christ's passion : and our Lord's intercession for us (as
I have above hinted) stands on the same bottom. Our spiritual
food, both above and below, is the enjoyment of the same Christ,
the Lamb slain. The future feast upon the fruits of his atone-
ment is but the continuation and completion of the present. Only
here it is under symbols, there it will be without them : here it is
remote and imperfect, there it will be proximate and perfect.
It has been strongly averred, that Irenaeus understood John vi.
of the Eucharist ; though he never directly quotes it, nor ever
plainly refers to it : but it is argued, that by the Eucharistical
symbols (according to Irenaeus) we have the principle of a blessed
immortality conveyed to our bodies, for which there is no appear-
ance of proof in Scripture, but in John vi. : therefore here is as
clear proof of his so interpreting that chapter, as if he had cited
it at length 11 . How inconclusive this kind of reasoning is, and
how injurious besides to our main cause, is visible enough, and
has been intimated before, in answer to the like pretence con-
cerning Ignatius. It appears the worse with respect to Irenaeus,
because he manifestly did found his doctrine on i Cor. x. 16, and
expressly quoted it for that very purpose . He judged, as every
sensible man must, that if the Eucharist, according to St. Paul,
k Casaubon. Exercit. xvi. num. n Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
39. Albertinus, de Eucharist, lib. p. 387, alias 392.
ii. c. i. p. 286. Halloixius, Vit. ' Vani autern omnimodo, qui . . .
Ignat. p. 410. Ittigius, Hist. Eccles. carnis salutera negant, et regene-
saec. ii. pp. 169, 170. rationem ejus spernunt, dicentes,
1 A learned writer objects that non earn capacem esse incorrupti-
the ' eating of Christ's flesh in an- bilitatis. Si autem non salvetur
other world, is a way of expression haec, nee Dominus sanguine suo
somewhat unaccountable.' John- redemit nos, neque calix Eucharis-
son's Unbloody Sacr. i. p. 389, alias tiae communicatio sanguinis ejus
394. eat, neque panis quern frangimus,
m Athanashis de Incam. et contr. communicatio corporis ejus est."
Arrian. p. 883. Damascen. torn. i. Iren. lib. v. cap. a. p. 293. ed.
p. 172. Augustin. torn. v. p. 384. Bened.
IO2 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
amounts to a communion, or communication of our Lord's body
and blood to every faithful receiver, that then such receiver, for
the time being, is therein considered as symbolically fed with the
crucified body, and of consequence entitled to be fellow-heir with
the body glorified P. He draws the same conclusion % though
more obscurely, from the words of the institution, 'This is my
body,' &c. And the conclusion is certain, and irresistible, when
the words are rightly understood. Therefore let it not be
thought that we have no appearance of proof, where we have
strong proof; neither let us endeavour to loosen an important
doctrine from its firm pillars, whereon it may stand secure, only
to rest it upon weak supports, which can bear no weight.
Had Irenaeus been aware that John vi. was to be interpreted
directly of the Eucharist, strange that he should not quote that
rather than the other, or, however, along with the other, when he
had so fair an occasion for it. Stranger still, that when he so
frequently and so fully speaks his mind concerning the Eucharist,
and with the greatest reverence imaginable, that he should never
think of John vi. all the time ; that he should never make
any use at all of it for advancing the honour of the Sacrament,
had he supposed that it strictly belonged to it, and was to be
interpreted of it. The silence of a man so knowing in the Scrip-
tures, and so devoutly disposed towards this holy Sacrament, is
a strong presumptive argument (were there nothing else) of
his understanding John vi. very differently from what some have
imagined.
There is one place in Irenaeus which seems to carry some
remote and obscure allusion to John vi. The Logos, the Divine
nature of our Lord, according to him, is the perfect bread of the
Father, and bread of immortality ; and he talks of eating and
drinking the same Logos, or Word 1 ". If he had John vi. then
in his eye, (which is not improbable,) he interpreted it, we see,
P See the argument explained in . . . . &>s virb fj.aa-6ov TTJJ ffapKbs avrov
a Charge, upon the Doctrinal Use rpa<j>fvres .... fOicrdevrfs rpcayftv ical
of the Sacrament, vol. v. p. no, c. iriveiv rbv A.Ayov TOV Qtov, rbv TTJS
i Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 18. p. 251 ; adavaa-ias &pTov, Sirtp earl rb Trvev/j.a
lib. v. cap. 2. p. 294. TOV Trwrpfa. Iren. lib. iv. cap. 38.
r 'O Upros 6 T(\fiot TOV irarpbs p. 284.
vi. according to John vi. 103
not of sacramental manducation, but of spiritual ; not of the
signs, but of the things signified, apart from the signs. Only it is
observable, that while he speaks of our feeding upon the Logos,
he explains it as done through the medium of the flesh : it is
the human nature, by which we are brought to feast upon the
Divine. St. Chrysostom gives the like construction of bread of
life in John vi., interpreting it, so far, of our Lord's Divine
nature 8 . But I proceed.
Our next ancient writer is Clemens of Alexandria, who flour-
ished about A. D. 192. In the first book of his Paedagogue,
chapter vi., he quotes several verses * of our Lord's discourse
in St. John, commenting upon them after a dark, allegorical
way ; so that it is not easy to learn how he understood the
main doctrine of that chapter. I shall take notice of some
of the clearest passages. After speaking of the Church under
the figure or similitude of an infant, brought forth by Christ
with bodily pain, and swaddled in his blood, he proceeds thus :
' The Word is all things to the infant, a father, a mother, a pre-
ceptor, a foster : Eat, says he, my flesh, and drink my blood.
These are the proper aliments which our Lord administers :
he reaches out flesh, and he pours out blood ; and nothing is
wanting for the growth of the infants. O wonderful mystery !
he bids us lay aside the old carnal corruption, together with
the antiquated food, and to partake of the new food of Christ,
receiving him, if possible, so as to lay him up within ourselves
and to inclose our Saviour in our breasts".' There is another
passage, near akin to this, a few pages higher, which runs thus :
' Our Lord, in the Gospel according to St. John, has other-
wise introduced it under symbols, saying, Eat my flesh, and
drink my blood; allegorically signifying the clear liquor of
faith, and of the promise, by both which the Church, like man,
8 Kol irpaTov irep\ rrjs 6e6rr)ro$ yap titfivri 8<a rbv &ebv \6yov apros
O.VTOV Sia\ey{Tcu, Ktytav, ty<l> flfj.i 6 f<rriv. Chrysost. in Joan. Hom. xliv.
&pros TTJS fcoijs. ouSe yap irepl TOV p. 264. torn. viii. ed. Bened.
ffcafj.aros TOVTO rfpqrcu. itfpl yap ^Kf(. e John vi. 32, 33, 51, 53, 54> 55-
vov Trpbs Ttf re\fi \tyti' nal 6 apros u 'O \6yos rci irdvra T(f vijirty,
5e bv eytii 8a><r, TJ ffdp fnov Iffriv. K. r. \. Clem. Paedag. lib. i. cap.
'AAAi Tos vtpl TTJS QfOTijros, K.a.1 6. p. 123. ed. Oxon.
IO4 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
compacted of many members, is watered and nourished, and
is made up or compounded of both ; of faith as the body, and
of hope as the soul, like as our Lord of flesh and blood x .' These
hints appear to be very obscure ones, capable of being turned or
wrested several ways. Some therefore have appealed to these
and the like passages, to prove that Clemens understood John vi.
of doctrines, or spiritual action sY. Others have endeavoured so
to explain them, as to make them suit rather with the Eucha-
rist 2 . Perhaps both may guess wide. In the first passage,
Clemens says nothing of receiving either doctrines or Eucharist,
but of receiving Christ himself : in the second, he does indeed
speak of receiving faith and the promise ; but then he owns
it to be an allegorical or anagogical view of the text ; from
whence one may infer that he intended it not for the primary
sense, or for strict interpretation. The doctrine which Clemens
most clearly expresses, and uniformly abides by, is that Christ
himself is our food and nutriment a : and, particularly, by shed-
ding his blood for us b .
At the end of Clemens, among the ' excerpta Theodoti,' there
is a pretty remarkable passage ; which, though it belongs to a
Valentinian author, may be worth the taking notice of c . Com-
menting on John vi. he interprets the living bread, of the person
of Christ : but as to our Lord's saying, ver. 49, ' The bread which
I will give is my flesh,' he proposes a twofold construction, i .
He understands it of the bread in the Eucharist. 2. Correcting
his first thought, he interprets bread to mean the Church ;
1 'O xvptos iv rip Kar' 'ltaavvt]V b Tpotptvs TJUUV \6yos rb avrov
fvayythitf. K. T. \. Clem. ibid. p. inrep ijfj.cav tx fev afp&i v&fav rrjv
121. a.vBp<airArj)ra. Clem. ibid. p. 124.
y Dr. Whitby, Dr. Claget, Bas- TJ> avrb apa Kal afjuo, Kal -yaAa rov
nage Annal. torn. i. p. 320. itvplov irdOovs Kal SiSacr/caAiaj ffvpfio-
z Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, \ov. p. 127.
part i. p. 255, &c. c 'O GUV &prros, 6 virb rov irarpbs
8 'O Kvpios, ri rpoifii rwv vrfit(a>v. SoOels, 6 vi&s effn, rots taQiftv @ov\o-
Clem. ibid. p. 124. ff rpotyii, rovrfcrri /xcVot?. 6 tie &pros t>v ty& $(>ffa>, <f>rifflv,
Kvpios 'IrjiroCj. Ibid. IHUV 5e avrbs 6 rj ""^fl M u to"riv. tfroi $ rpftpfrai rj
Xpicrris i] rpo<(>^i TO?S vniriois. p. 125. <rop{ 8ja TTJJ (vxapHrrlas, ^ oirtp Kal
&prov avrov ovpaviav 6/40\oyei 6 \6yos. /j.a\\oi>, r) ffa.pl- rb trw/ua avrov tcrriv,
Ibid. iro\\ax<>>s a.\Krijopt1ra.i 6 \6yos, Sirtp i<rr\v ri tKK\r)<rla, &pros ovpd-
Kal ftpte/iia, Kal fl"ap|, Kal rpo<f>^>, Kal fios, ffvvayoay^i fv\oyTjufvrt. Excerpt.
Upros, Kal of/ia, Kal yd\a. p. 126. Theod. apud Clem. p. 971.
vi. according to John vi. 105
having, as I conceive, I Cor. x. 17 in his eye, 'We being many
are one bread, and one body.' Of what weight or authority
a Valentinian gloss ought to be in this case, I pretend not to
say : but this is the first clear precedent we shall meet Avith
in antiquity, for interpreting any part of John vi. directly
of the Eucharist. And it is observable, that it was offered only
in the conjectural way, and another interpretation presently
subjoined as preferable to it.
Tertullian quotes two verses out of John vi. And he inter-
prets the bread there mentioned, not of the sacramental bread,
but of Christ himself ; not of the signs, but of the things signi-
fied. Presently after, he quotes part of the words of the
institution, ' This is my body,' referring to the Eucharist : and
there he does not say that our Lord's body is that bread, (as he
had said before, that Christ, or the Logos, is our bread,) but
that the Lord's body is understood, or considered, in bread : as
much as to say, the Eucharistical bread is by construction that
natural body of Christ which is the true bread. And for this
he refers not to John vi. but to the words of the institution.
Tertullian here joined together the spiritual food mentioned in
John vi. in the abstract way, and the same as conveyed in the
Eucharist; but he did not interpret John vi. of the Eucharist* 3 .
It has been suggested by some 6 , that Tertullian understood
John vi. merely of faith, or doctrine, or spiritual actions : and it
is strenuously denied by others f . The passage upon which the
dispute turns is part of his reply to Marcion ; who took a handle
from the words, 'the flesh profiteth nothing,' to argue against
the resurrection of the body.
' Though he says, " the flesh profiteth nothing," yet the sense
is to be governed by the subject-matter. For because they
d ' Panem nostrum quotidianum et corpus ejus in pane censetur :
da nobis hodie, spiritualiter potius Hoc est corpus meum.' Tertull. de
intelligamus : Christus enim panis Orat. cap. vi. p. 131.
noster est, quia vita Christus, et e Dr. Claget, Dr. Whitby, &c.
vita panis : Ego sum, inquit, panis Compare Basnag. Annal. torn. i. p.
vitae. Joh. vi. 35. Et paulo supra, 320.
v. 33 : Panis est sermo Dei vivi, { Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
qui descendit de caelis. Turn quod part i. p. 358, &c.
io6 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
thought it an hard and intolerable saying, as if he had intended
really to give them his flesh to eat ; therefore in order to resolve
the affair of salvation into the spirit, he premised that " it is the
spirit that quickeneth," and then subjoined, that "the flesh profiteth
nothing ; " namely, towards quickening. He shews also what he
would have them understand by spirit : " the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life," comformable to what
he had said before ; " he that heareth my words, and believeth in
him that sent me, hath everlasting life," &c. Therefore as he
makes the word the quickener, because the word is spirit and
life, he calls the same his flesh, inasmuch as the word was made
flesh; which consequently is to be hungered after for the sake
of life, and to be devoured by the ear, and to be chewed by the
understanding, and digested by faith : for a little before also he
had pronounced the heavenly bread to be his flesh f ,' &c.
All that one can justly gather from this confused passage is
that Tertullian interpreted the bread of life in John vi. of the
Word ; which he sometimes makes to be vocal, and sometimes
substantial, blending the ideas in a very perplexed manner : so
that he is no clear authority for construing John vi. of doctrines,
&c. All that is certain is, that he supposes the Word made
flesh, the Word incarnate, to be the heavenly bread spoken of in
that chapter.
There is another place in Tertullian &, where by flesh and
1 ' Etsi carnem ait nihil prodesse, spiritus et vita sermo, eundem etiam
ex materia dicti dirigendus eat sen- cariiem suam dixit, quia et sermo
sus. Nam quia durum et intolera- caro erat factus : proinde in causam
bilem existimaverunt sermonem ejus, vitae appetendus, et devorandus
quasi vere carnem suam illis eden- auditu, et ruminandus inteliectu, et
dam determinasset ; ut in spiritual fide digerendus ; nam et paulo ante,
disponeret statum salutis, praemisit, carnem suam panem quoque caeles-
" spiritus est quivivificat :" atqueita tern pronuntiarat,' &c. Tertull. de
subjunxit "caro nihil prodest;" advi- Resurr. Carn. cap. xxxvii. p. 347.
vificandum scilicet. Exsequitur etiam ' Panis qu,em ego dedero pro
quid velit intelligi spiritum : "Verba salute mundi, caro mea est. Quod
quae locutus sum vobis, spiritus sunt, si una caro, et una anima, ilia tristis
vita aunt." Sicut et supra, " Qui audit usque ad mortem, et ilia panis pro
sermones meos, et credit in eum qui mundi salute ; salvus est numeru.s
me misit, habet vitam aeternam, et duarum substantiarum, in suo genere
in judicium non veniet, sed transiet distantium, excludeus carneae ani-
de morte in vitam." Itaque sermo- mae unicam speciem.' De Carn.
nem constituens vivificatorem, quia Christi, cap. xiii. p. 319.
vi. according to John vi. 107
bread in John^vi. he very plainly understands, not the sacra-
mental, but natural body of Christ, not doctrine, but literally
flesh ; as indeed our Lord evidently meant it. For as to verses
53> 54? &c., the figure is not in the word ' flesh/ but in the words
( eating and drinking,' as learned men have very justly observed 11 .
But then this is to be so understood, that the eating and drinking
the natural body and blood amount to receiving the fruits of the
blood shed, and body slain ; otherwise there is a figure in the
words ' body and blood,' as put for the fruits of them, if eating
amounts simply to receiving. But I pass on.
Much dispute has been 1 about Origen's construction or con-
structions (for he has more than one) of John vi. The passages
produced in the debate are so many, and the pleadings here and
there so diffuse, that it would be tedious to attend every par-
ticular. I shall endeavour to select a few critical places, from
whence one may competently judge of his sentiments upon the
whole thing.
Origen's general observation relating to that chapter is, that
it must not be literally, but figuratively understood k. He
commonly understands the living bread of the Divine Logos, as
the true nutriment of the soul 1 , the Logos, but considered as
incarnate m . At other times, he allegorizes the flesh of Christ
in a very harsh manner, making it a name for high mysterious
h ' Figura autem non est in carne, manducaveritis carnem meam, et
vera enim Christ! caro ad vitam est biberitis sanguinem meum," occidit
manducanda : superest igitur ut sit haec litera.' Orig. in Levit. Horn,
in manducandi vocabulo, quod a cor- vii. p. 225. ed. Bened.
poris organis, ad facilitates animae > ' Ego sum panis vivus, &c. Qui
figurate transferatur." Albertinus, haec dicebatverbum era t, quo animae
p. 525. ' Caro et sanguis nihil aliud pascuntur Intuearis quomodo
designant quam quod verba prae se Justus semper et sine intermissione
ferunt, ac proinde nee aenigma, nee manducet de pane vivo, et repleat
parabola sunt . . . . At id nullo modo animam suam, ac satiet earn cibo cae-
evincit vocabulum manducandi non lesti, qui est verbuni Dei et sapientia
esse metaphoricum, aut manducati- ejus.' Orig. in Levit. Horn. xvi. p.
onem illam de manducatione spiri- 266. ed. Bened.
tuali non esse intelligendum.' Ibid. m AUTTJ Se ^ativ TJ o\Tj0r)s 0pw<m,
526. <rap \ptffrov, T}TIS \6yos oSffa, yf-
1 See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- yove ffdp- /caret rb tlpti^tvov /cat 6
fice, part i. pp. 360 373. \6yos <rap\ ejfvf-o. Orig. trtpl eu^. p.
k 'Si secundum literam sequaris 244.
hoc ipsum quod dictum est, " nisi
io8 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
doctrines n . All that he should have said, and probably all that
he really meant, was, that the mind is prepared and fitted for
enjoying the fruits of Christ's body and blood, the benefits of his
passion, by those Divine truths, those heavenly contemplations.
He should have distinguished the qualifications for receiving
from the thing to be received. Believing in Christ is not enjoying
him, but it is in order to it : and the doctrine of the atonement
is not the atonement itself, whereon we are to feed. But I return
to our author.
In another place he observes, that the blood of Christ may be
drank, not only in the use of the Sacraments, but by receiving
his words; and he interprets the drinking his blood to mean
the embracing his doctrines . Here again he mistakes the means
for the end, the qualification for the enjoyment, the duty for the
blessing, or reward, just as he did before. However, he is right
in judging, that the Sacraments are not the only means, or
instruments, in and by which God confers his graces, or applies
the atonement, though they are the most considerable.
It should be noted that Origen, in the passage last cited,
was commenting upon Numb, xxiii. 24, ' Drink the blood of
the slain :' and he had a mind to allegorize it, as his way was,
into something evangelical. So he thought first of the blood of
Christ ; and could he have rested there, he need not have looked
beyond the benefits of the grand sacrifice : but it happened that
' slain' was in the plural; and so, to make his allegory hit, he was
necessitated to take in more than one ; therefore he pitched upon
the Apostles to join with Christ, as slain for Christ. The next
thing was to interpret blood in such a sense as might equally fit
n 'Ubi enim mysticus sermo, ubi pp. 359, 360.
dogmaticus et Trinitatis fide repletus ' Bibere autem dicimur sanguinem
proferturet solidus, ubifuturi saeculi, Christi, non solum sacramentorum
araoto velamine literae, legis spiri- ritu, sedet cumsermones ejus recipi-
tualis sacramenta panduntur, ubi mus, in quibus vita consistit, sicut et
spes animae, &c. . .. Haec omnia ipse dicit : Verba quae locutus sum,
carries sunt verbi Dei, quibus qui spiritus et vita est. Est ergo ipse
potest perfecto intellectu vesci, et vulneratus, cujus nos sanguinem bi-
corde purificato, ille vere festivitatis bimus, id est, doctrinae ejus verba
paschae immolat sacrificium, et diem suscipiraus. ' Orig. in Num. Horn,
festum agit cum Deo et angelis xvi. p. 334. Cp. Horn. vii. in Levit.
ejus.' Orig. Horn, in Num. xxiii. p. 225.
vi. according to John vi. 109
both Christ and his Apostles, and so he interpreted it to mean
doctrines : and now the ' blood of the slain' turns out, at length,
doctrines of the slain, and the allegory becomes complete P. I
thought it proper thus briefly to hint how Origen fell into that
odd construction, because he may be looked upon, in a manner,
as the father of it : whatever weight the admired Origen may
justly have as to other cases, he can have but little in this, where
he manifestly trifled.
I shall cite but one passage more from him ; a very remark-
able one, and worth the noting. After having spoken of the
outward sign of the Eucharist, he goes on thus : ' So much for
the typical and symbolical body. But T might also have many
things to say of the Logos himself, who became flesh and true
food, and of which whosoever eats, he shall live for ever, no
wicked man being capable of eating it. For were it possible
for an ill man, as such, to feed upon him who was made flesh,
the Logos, and the living bread, it would not have been written
that whosoever eateth of this bread shall live for ever Q.' Here
we may observe, that Origen interprets the true food, and living
bread, not of doctrines, nor of the sacramental bread, (the typical,
symbolical body,) but of Christ himself, of the Word made flesh :
and as to the eating that true food, he understands it of a vital
union with the Logos, a spiritual participation of Christ. This
is a just construction of John vi., and falls in with that which I
have recommended in this chapter. A learned writer, who had
taken uncommon pains to shew that the Fathers interpreted
John vi. of the Eucharist, was aware that this passage of Origen
was far from favouring his hypothesis, and therefore frankly
declared that he ' could not pretend to understand it r ; '
P ' Sed et illi nihilominus vulnerati TIV a & <pay&v irdvrws tfioTrai tls rlv
sunt, quinobis verbumejuspraedica- alSiva, ovSevbs Swa^tvov <pav\ov 4ff6i-
runt. Ipsorum enim, id est, Aposto- eiv avr-fiv. el yap olov re -f\v en <pav-
loruin ejus verba cum legimus, et \ov /j.fv ovra effdtetif rlv yev6nevov
vitam ex eis consequimur, vuinera- adpica., \6yov fora, /ecu &prov <avra,
torum sanguinem bibimus.' Orig. OVK bv eytypairro, on iras 6 (paywv
ibid. rbv &proi> rovrov ^jfferai *s rbv
H Kcu ravra /uev irepl rov TVWIKOV aluiva. Orig. in Matt. p. 254. ed.
Kol ffVfJi$O\lKOV (TlbfMTOS' TTU\\O. 8' kv Huet.
Kal Tttpl airrov \eyoiro rov \6yov, &y r Johnson'a Unbloody Sacrifice,
ytyovf o-op|, Ktti a.\t}QivT] fipSxris, 1\v part i. p. 373.
I jo Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
observing, however, that it could not at all favour another opinion,
espoused by Dr. Whitby and others ; meaning the doctrinal in-
terpretation. The truth is, that it favours neither, but directly
overthrows both : and had that very ingenious and learned
author being aware of any middle opinion, which would stand
clear of the difficulties of both extremes, it is more than probable
that he would have closed in with it.
Cyprian, who was but a few years later than Origen, comes
next to be considered. The most observable passage, so far as
concerns our present purpose, occurs in his Exposition of the
Lord's Prayer : I have thrown it to the bottom of the page 8 ,
for the learned reader to judge of, and may here save myself
the trouble of translating it. But I shall offer a few remarks
upon it. i. Cyprian, in this passage, does not interpret 'bread
of life' of the Eucharistical bread, but of Christ himself 1 , thrice
over. 2. He seems to give the name of Lord's body in the Eu-
charist to the sacramental bread, as representative and exhibitive
of the natural body. 3. But then a communicant must receive
worthily, must receive 'jure communicationis,' under a just right
to communion, otherwise it is nothing. 4. Therefore it concerns
every one to preserve to himself that right by suitable behaviour,
and not to incur any just forfeiture by misbehaviour. 5. For, if
he incurs just censure, and is justly debarred from communion,
he is shut out from Christ Such is the form and process of
' Panis vitae Christus est : et manifestum est eos vivere qui corpus
panis hie omnium non est, sed noster ejus attingunt et Eucharistiam jure
est. . . . Christus eorum qui corpus communicationis accipiunt, ita con-
ejus contingunt, panis est. Hunc tra tenendum est et orandum, ne
autem panem dari nobis quotidie dum quis abstentus separatur a
postulamus, ne qui in Cbristo sumus, Christi corpore, procul remaneat a
et Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibum salute, comminante ipso et dicente :
salutis accipimus, intercedente aliquo nisi ederitis carnem filii hominis et
graviore delicto, dum abstenti et non biberitis sanguinein ejus, non habe-
communicantes a caelesti pane pro- bitis vitam in vobis. Et ideo panem
hibemur, a Christi corpore separemur, nostrum, id est, Christum, dari nobis
ipso praedicante et monente : Ego quotidie petimus, ut qui in Christo
sum panis vitae, qui de caelo descen- manemus etvivimus, a sanctificatione
di : si quis ederit de meo pane, vivet ejus et corpore non recedamus.'
in aeternum. Panis autem quern ego Cypr. de Orat. Domin. pp. 209, 210.
dedero, caro mea est pro saeculi vita. BO. Bened. ; alias 146, 147.
Quando ergo dicit in aeternum vi- * Compare Albertinus, pp. 377,
vere si quis ederit de ejus pane, ut 378.
vi. according to John vi. in
Cyprian's reasoning : and it must be owned that John vi. is very
pertinently alleged by him, in order to convince every serious
Christian of the necessity of his continuing in a state fit for
the reception of the holy Communion, and not such as shall
disqualify him for it. For since our Lord there lays so great
a stress upon eating his flesh and drinking his blood ; and since
communicating worthily is one way of doing it; and since, if we
are rendered morally unfit for that, we must of course be morally
unfit for all other ways, and so totally debarred from feeding
upon Christ at all, for life and happiness : these things con-
sidered, it is very obvious to perceive that John vi., though not
particularly pointing to the Eucharist, is yet reductively appli-
cable to it, in the way of argumentation, and is of very great force
for the exciting Christians to a reverential regard for it, and to
a solicitous care that they may never, by any fault of theirs,
be debarred from it. In short, though John vi. doth not
directly speak of the Eucharist, yet Christians, in the due use
of that sacrament, do that which is there mentioned, do really
eat his flesh and drink his blood, in the spiritual sense there in-
tended ; therefore Cyprian had good reason to quote part of that
chapter, and to apply the same as pertinent to the Eucharist,
in the way of just inference from it, upon known Christian
principles.
Cyprian elsewhere quotes John vi. 53, ['except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you,'] in order to enforce the necessity of Baptism". Either he
thought that the spiritual feeding, mentioned in St. John, was
common both to Baptism and the Eucharist, and might be in-
differently obtained in either sacrament : or else the turn of his
thought was this, that as there is no life without the Eucharist,
and as Baptism must go before the Eucharist, Baptism must of
course be necessary in order to come at the kingdom of God.
If this last was Cyprian's thought, then indeed he interpreted
u ' Ad regnum Dei nisi baptizatus Nisi ederitis carnem filii hominis et
etrenatusfuerit pervenire non posse, biberitis sanguinem ejus, non babe-
In Evangelic cata Jobannem. Nisi bitis vitam in vobis.' Cypr. Tes-
quis renatus fuerit, &c. Item illic: timon. lib. iii. c. 25. p. 314.
112 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
John vi. directly of the Eucharist : but I incline to understand
him according to the other view first mentioned ; and the
rather because we shall find the same confirmed by the African
Fulgentius, in his turn.
Novatian of the same age appears to understand John vi. of
spiritual manducation at large, feeding upon a right faith (which
of course must take in faith in the merits of Christ's passion)
and conscience undefiled, and an innocency of soul. He refers
to John vi. 27, and immediately after adds, that righteousness
and continence, and the other virtues, are the worship which
God requires : he had before intimated that they were the true,
the holy, and the clean food x . But, I presume, all this was to
be so understood as not to exclude the salutary virtue of Christ's
atonement : only the subject he was then upon led him not to
speak plainly of it. In another work, he understands Christ
himself to be the bread of life, and makes it an argument of his
Divinity 7, referring to John vi. 51. So that if we take the
author's whole sense on this head, Christ or the fruits of his
death, together with our own faith and virtues, are our bread of
life, our spiritual food, as taught in John vi.
We may now come down to the fourth century, where we
shall meet with Eusebius, a writer of considerable note. His
common way is to interpret the bread of life, or heavenly bread,
of Christ himself, of the heavenly Logos become incarnate z . He
understands John vi. of spiritual eating, and intimates that
Judas received the bread from heaven, the nutriment of the
soul : not meaning what he said of Judas's receiving the sacra-
mental bread in the Eucharist ; but, I conceive, his meaning
* 'Cibus, inquam, verus, et sanctus, signavit Deus. Justitia, inquam, et
et mundus est fides recta, immaculata continentia, et reliquis Deus virtu-
conscientia, et innocens anima. Quis- tibus colitur.' Novat. de Cib. Judaic,
quis sic pascitur, Christo convesci- c. v. p. 140. ed. Welchm.
tur : talis epulator conviva est Dei ; * ' Si homo tantummodo Christus,
istae sunt epulae quae angelos pas- quomodo refert, Ego sum panis vitae
cunt; istae sunt mensae quae mar- aeternae, &c. . ..cum neque panis
tyres faciunt.. . . Hinc ilia Christi, vitae homo esse possit, ipse mortalis/
Operaniini autem non escam quae &c. Novat. de Trin. c. xiv. p. 46 ;
perit, sed escam permanentem in cp. c. xvi. p. 54.
vitam aeternam, quam filius ho- z Eusebius in Psalm, pp. 81, 267,
minis vobis dabit; hunc enim Pater 47 1. In Isx p. 586.
vi. according to John vi. 113
was, that Judas had been blessed with heavenly instructions and
Divine graces, though he made an ill use of them. He had
tasted of the heavenly gift, of the blessed influences of the
Divine Logos, but fell away notwithstanding a .
Eusebius, in another place, interprets flesh and blood in
John vi. of our Lord's mystical body and blood, as opposed to
natural b . And when he comes afterwards to explain this mys-
tical body and blood, he interprets the same of words and doc-
trines c , grounding his exposition on John vi. 63, ' The words that
I speak,' &c. A learned author d endeavours to make Eusebius
contradict himself in the same chapter : but he is consistent so
far, which will evidently appear to any one that reads him with
attention. However, I think his interpretation of John vi. to
be forced and wide. It was very odd to make doctrines the
mystical body and blood, and to say, that the doctrines, or
words then spoken, were what our Lord intended afterwards to
' give for the life of the world :' such construction appears
altogether harsh and unnatural. Besides, since Eusebius inter-
preted ' bread of life' of our Lord's Divine nature, he ought
certainly to have understood that bread, which our Lord was to
give, to be the human nature, the natural body and blood. But
my business here is not so much to dispute as to report : and it
is plain enough that Eusebius followed Origen in this matter,
and that both of them favoured the same mystical or allegorical
construction ; whether constantly and uniformly, I need not
say.
Athanasius was contemporary with Eusebius, as a young
man with one grown into years. He occasionally gives us his
thoughts upon John vi. 61, 62, 63, in these words: 'Here he
has made mention of both, as meeting in himself, both flesh and
a 2tW(mos 5e $>v Tt? $i$a(TKd\(p, ov Kal ctf/uaTos. Euseb. Eccles. Theol.
r'bv Koivbv aprov avrip /j-dvov avveff- contr. Marcell. p. 179,
6itv, a\\a Kal TT)S i/'i'X'i* BpfrriKov c "Ciffre aina ilvat TO. p-fi^ara Kal
/u.eTaXa/i/Sat'eij' T)IOUTO' irepl ov f\*ytv TOVS \6yovs avTov, T^}V ffdpKa Kal -rb
6 ffonijf tyw tl/j.t & apros & K TOV at/ua, Siv 6 /uiTe'xw altl, uffavd aprcp
ovpavov Kara&as, Kal fa^v StSovs rots ovpaviy Tpe<p6/j.fvos, TTJS ovpaviov fj.(ff-
av6p<airois. Euseb. in Psalm, p. 171. e|ct fays- Euseb. ibid. p. 180.
b Oil TrepJ fjs avfi\ij<pf (rap/cor Sif\ty- d Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
CTO, irepi Sf TOV /uuffTiKoC vw/j.ar6s re part i. pp. 373j 374-
I
114 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
spirit ; and he has distinguished the spirit from the flesh, that
they believing not only the visible part of him, but the invisible
also, might learn that his discourse was not carnal, but spiritual.
For, how many men must the body have sufficed for food, if it
were to have fed all the world 1 But for that very reason he inti-
mated beforehand the Son of man's ascension into heaven, to draw
them off from corporeal imaginations, and to teach them that the
flesh which he had been speaking of, was to be heavenly meat
from above, and spiritual food, which he would give them : For,
says he, the words which I have spoken, they are spirit and life.
As much as to say, That which outwardly appears, and is to be
given for the salvation of the world, is this flesh which I bear
about me : but this, with the blood thereof, shall be by me
spiritually given for food, spiritually dispensed to every one, for
a preservative unto all, to secure to them a resurrection to life
eternal e .' Thus far he. The observations which I have here-
upon to offer are as follow : i . Our author very justly construes
the flesh which Christ was to give, of his natural body ; and
supposes no figure in the word flesh. 2. He as rightly supposes
some figure to lie in the words ' given for meat,' which he would
have to be spiritually understood. 3. The spiritual, or hidden
meaning, according to our author, is, that the flesh is joined with
spirit, the humanity with the Divinity, and therefore in the giving
his flesh to eat, he at the same time imparts his Divinity with the
happy influences of it. 4. The flesh, or human nature, being all
that was seen, we ought to raise our minds up to the Divinity
united to it, and veiled under it ; and so may we spiritually
feast upon it, and be sealed to a happy resurrection by it.
Such is Athanasius's comment upon John vi., worthy of him-
self, and (like most other things of his) neat, clear, and judicious.
Here is not one word of the Eucharist : neither do I see any
certain grounds to persuade us that he had it in his mind ;
though I am sensible that the generality of the learned do
conceive that he had f . The thought appears juster and
e Athanas. Epist. iv. ad Serapion, pleases, Johnson's Unbloody Sacri-
p. 71- ed. Bened. fice, (part i. pp. 167, 374,) which in-
1 The reader may compare, if he terprets Athanasius of the Eucharist.
vi. according to John vi. 115
finer g, without that supposition, than with it, so that there is no
necessity at all for it. He could hardly understand ' flesh' of
Christ's natural flesh, and still imagine it to be given in the Eu-
charist, unless he had added, virtually, constructionally, or in effect,
which he does not : his construction of ' spiritual' is, that our
Lord's Divine spirit goes along with that natural flesh, to make
it salutary food to us. Besides, to interpret our Lord's giving
his flesh ' for the life of the world,' of his giving it symbolically in
the Eucharist (rather than really on the cross), is too low and too
jejune a sense to be fathered upon a person of his great discern-
ment. Add to this, that he speaks expressly of spiritual man-
ducation, not of oral or corporal, and therefore cannot be under-
stood to interpret John vi. of sacramental eating and drinking b .
My persuasion therefore is, that the passage relates not at all to
the Eucharist, but to our Lord's becoming man, in order to bring
us up to God ; or, in short, to his taking our humanity, and
making an atonement for us, in order to feast us with his
Divinity, and so to raise us up to himself. In another place,
Athanasius distinguishes the bread which is Christ, from the
bread which Christ gives (referring to John vi.), and he resolves
the latter into the flesh of our Lord, but as operating in virtue
of the Holy Spirit. He observes, that we receive that heavenly
bread here, as the firstfruits of what we are to receive hereafter,
inasmuch as we receive the flesh of Christ, which is a quickening
spirit I He had before supposed that Christ had insinuated the
However, it is very certain, that this aliLviov K\-npoi>o/j.ov/j.fv. Athanas.
passage is no way favourable to those Orat. iii. p. 5^4- Cp. Sermo
who would construe John vi. of pre- Major, in Nov. Collect, pp. 6, 7-
cepts or doctrines. de Incarnat. contra Arian. pp. 874,
s He seems to express the same 876.
thought, where, without any view to fc Vid. Chamier, de Eucharist, lib.
the Eucharist, he says : 'As our Lord xi. c. 5. p. 613.
by putting on a body was made man, ' "On ird\ii> 6 Kvptos \tyei trtpl
so are we men made divine by the eavrov, tyui elf^t b &pro$ 6 <av, 6 K
Logos, being assumed through his rov ovpavov Ka.Ta.fids. a\\axov TO
flesh, and so of consequence heirs to Hyiov irvfv/j.a Ka,\e7 &prov ovpdvtov,
eternal life.' 'Us yap 6 Kvpios fvSvff- \eycev rov 6prov i,^iav ri>v sirioixnov
d/4tvos TO (roijua yeyovev &v9piinros' Sbs fifjuv o"l)fj.epov' 5fae yap 7]fj.as tv
OVTWS ^ueTs Ko.1 livOpunroi Tropo rov rjj fi>xrj tv T< vvv alHavi alreiv TOV
\6yov re 6eotroiovfji(6a, irpocrX-rityBevTes tirwvffiov &prov, TovrtffTi T&V jiteX-
5iek -njs ffapKbs avrov, Kal \onrbv o>V \ovra, ov awapxV exi u> ' ^ v T F v ^ v
I 3
Ii6 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
union of the Logos with his humanity, and now here he sup-
poses that a conjunction of the Spirit is insinuated likewise ;
since the Logos and the Spirit are inseparable. But nothing is
here said directly of the Eucharist ; so that it cannot be hence
certainly inferred that Athanasius interpreted John vi. of the
Eucharist, or that he so much as applied it that way : his
thoughts, in both these passages, seem to have been intent upon
quite another thing. A learned man, to make this last passage
look the more favourable to his scheme, renders part of it thus :
' We have the firstfruits of the future repast in this present life,
in the communion of the body of our Lord k :' where the whole
force of the plea lies in the phrase 'communion of the Lord's
body,' and the idea which it is apt to convey to an English reader.
Let but the place be rendered literally, ' partaking of the flesh of
the Lord V and the idea vanishes. It is certain, that flesh there
means natural flesh, not sacramental, or symbolical ; because it is
the firstfruits of the future repast, (which will be real, not sacra-
mental,) and means, according to* our author, partaking of the
Holy Spirit Therefore one would wonder how any attentive
reader should conceive that Athanasius here speaks directly and
positively, or at all, of oral manducation. That he speaks of
spiritual manducation is self-evident : and he might mean it
of spiritual manducation at large ; for he says nothing of the
Eucharist in particular, to confine it to that single form or
instance of it.
Cyril of Jerusalem, in bis Catechetical Lectures to the unini-
tiated, interprets John vi. 64 of good doctrine m . But in what
fafj, rrjs vapKos rov Kvplov jueraAa/u- of the same flesh. Orat. iii. pp. 571,
Pdvovres, Ka.6&s avros the 6 apros 572, 573, 582, 583, 588. Serino
Se t>i> eyu Swffoi, y <rdp| /j.ov la-rlv inrep Major, p. 7. de Incarn. contr.
TTJS rov n6o~fi.ov a>5)?. irvevfj-a, yap fao- Arian. p. 875.
vowvf f) ffdp tffn rov Kvpiov. Athan. m TIfpl Se TTJJ Ka\rjs SiSatTKaXias
de Incarn. p. 883. avros 6 Kvpios \tyti' ra pTj/uora &
k Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, eyw \e\d\i)ica vulv irvtvud tari, Kal
part i. p. 375. <ei) tffnv avrl rov irvevp.a.rtKd. tan.
1 It is a thought which Athanasius .. .. Ta ^uara & iyw \e\d\r]Ka vfj.?v,
dwells much upon, that Christ took Mtv/id turiv 'iva /XT; \a.\iav x fl ^f' av
our flesh upon him, to make himself rovro tlvai vo/j.la~iis, dAAck r^v /coAV
one with us; and that we are par- SiSaffKa\(af. Cyrill.Hierosol.Catech.
takers of him, by being partakers xvi. sect. 13, 14. pp. 250, 251.
vi. according to John vi. 117
he says to the initiated, he applies John vi. 54 to the Eucharist 11 .
To reconcile both places, or both constructions, we may fairly
presume that he supposed our Saviour, in verse the 64th, to
intimate, that what he had said was, in the general, true and
sublime doctrine, but withal spiritual ; and in verse the 54th, to
intimate, that his flesh and blood were to be spiritually fed upon
by the faithful. Thus both parts are consistent : for this doctrine
of spiritual manducation was spiritual doctrine. And Cyril here
applies that very doctrine to the case of the Eucharist, because he
had ground sufficient, from other Scriptures, to conclude, that such
spiritual manducation was a privilege of that sacrament, though
not of that only. So he did not directly interpret John vi. of
the Eucharist, but he so applied it, and that very properly.
Hilary, of that time, undertaking to prove that we are one
with Christ by a closer union than bare will and consent
amount to, draws an argument from the sacrament of the Eu-
charist (as he does likewise in the same place from the sacrament
of Baptism) to prove a real and permanent, but spiritual union
between Christ and his true members. The thread of his argu-
ment is this : In and by the eucharistical food, we spiritually
receive the Word incarnate, and are mystically united with the
natural flesh and blood of Christ, our bodies with his body : and
we are thereby truly and substantially (therefore not in consent
only) united with Christ . To confirm the reality of such union,
he appeals to John vi. 55, 56, 'My flesh is meat indeed ; he that
eateth my flesh, dwelleth in me, and I in him.' It is observable
that he distinguishes the eucharistical food from the food men-
tioned in John vi., for in or by the former we receive the latter,
according to him. Therefore he does not interpret John vi. of
the Eucharist ; but, taking it for an acknowledged principle,
that by the due use of one we come at the other, he pertinently
Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. xxii. camera corporis sui sumimus.' Hilar.
tagog. iv. c. 4. pp. 520, 521. de Trin. lib. viii. sect 13. p. 954. Cp.
1 Si enim vere verbum caro fac- Chrysost. in Joan. Horn. xlvi. pp.
turn est, et vere nos verbum carnem 272, 273. Bened. Cyrill. Alex, de
cibo Dominico sumimus ; quomodo Trin. Dial. i. p. 407. And compare
nonnaturalitermanerein nobis exis- my Charge, vol. v. p. Iil3.
timandus est &c.... vere, sub mysterio
1 1 8 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
accommodates or applies the doctrine of John vi. to the Eu-
charist. In a word, Hilary does not teach that the Eucharist
is that flesh and blood of Christ mentioned in John vi., but that
the flesh and blood there mentioned is received in or by the Eu-
charist, is spiritually or mystically received ; ' sub mysterio,' as
he expresses it P.
Basil says, ' It is good and profitable to communicate daily of
the sacred body and blood of Christ, since he himself plainly says,
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life <!.' He argues justly, because the consideration drawn from
John vi. is and ought to be of great force : not that John vi. speaks
of the outward Sacrament, but of spiritual manducation at large,
and of inward grace ; which, as we learn from other Scriptures,
does ordinarily (where there is no impediment) go along with the
Sacrament. Basil therefore does not interpret John vi. of the
Sacrament, but he applies the general doctrine there taught to
one particular instance whereunto it ordinarily belongs : else-
where he interprets it of spiritual (not oral) manducation of the
flesh of Christ r.
Gregory Nyssen is sometimes cited 8 as one that interprets
John vi. of the Eucharist ; but upon slender presumptions, with-
out any proof. Macarius also is made another voucher r , and
with little or no colour for it. Ambrose is a third u : and yet
P ' Ipse enim ait, caro mea vere est B Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, p.
esca &c...Ipsius Domini professione, 385. It is argued, that Greg. Nys-
et fide nostra, vere caro est, et vere sen must have understood John vi. of
sanguis est : et haec accepta atque the Eucharist, because he made it a
hausta id efEciunt, ut et nos in Chris- pledge of the resurrection ; which is
to, et Christus in nobis sit. ' Ibid, no argument at all, as was observed
sect. 14. p. 956. If any one wants to under Ignatius and Irenaeus.
see the whole argument cleared and * Johnson, p. 385. Vid. Macar.
vindicated, against such as hold the Orat. iv. p. 22.
corporal presence, he may consult Al- N.B. Macarius may as reasonably
bertine,p.4ii,&c.orBishopMoreton, be thought to interpret John iv. 14
pp. 358-374, or Chamitr,p.648, &c. of the Eucharist, as John vi. in that
i To Koivwvilv Sf Kaff fKa.<rr-t]v T?JJ/ place. It is absurd to imagine that
ri/j.fpav, Kal fj.fraXa.fj.fidi'fiv rov ayiov he so interpreted either ; unless he
ffia/jiaros Kal a'1/j.aros rov Xpiffrov, KO,- supposed Moses (whom he there men-
\6v KOI ftrtixpt\ts' avrov ffa$>s \eyov- tions) to have received the Eucharist.
TOS. 6 rpdiiycav fj.ov T^V <rdpKa, Kal u Johnson, ibid. Ambrose there
irivtav /JLOV TO of,uo, !x C^V alt!>viov. plainly distinguishes the sacramental
Basil. Epist. 289. bread from the bread mentioned in
r Basil, in Psalm, xxxiij. 8. John vi.
vi. according to John vi. 119
neither does he speak home to the point, as every careful reader
may soon see. I pass them over for the sake of brevity.
Jerome interprets the heavenly bread of Christ himself, and
calls it angels' food ; intimating thereby that it is eaten in
heaven, but plainly teaching that it was eaten by the Patriarchs
of old, and is now eaten, not only in the Eucharist, but in the
sacrament of Baptism x . From all which it is evident that he
interpreted John vi. of spiritual feeding at large. It is a mis-
take to imagine y that he meant sacramental bread and wine,
where he speaks of the wheat of which the heavenly bread is
made, and of the wine which is Christ's blood z . All he intended
was, that the wheat and the wine, mentioned in the prophecy
of Isaiah, mystically pointed to the real flesh and blood of Christ;
who is himself that wheat which makes the heavenly bread, ac-
cording to his own allusion, where he resembles himself to wheat
falling and bearing much fruit a .
Chrysostom interprets John vi. 51 of Christ's natural body,
not of the sacramental b . Elsewhere, distinguishing between the
bread which is Christ, and the bread which Christ gives, he in-
terprets the former of our Lord's Divine nature c : of the latter
he offers a twofold construction, so as to comprehend both our
Lord's own natural body, and any salutary doctrines, inasmuch as
both of them strengthen the soul d . He takes notice that our
x 'Panisquide caelo descend it cor- z "Triticum quoque de quo panis
pus est Domini, et vinum quod disci- caelestis efficitur, illud est de quo lo-
pulis dedit, sanguis illius est Novi quitur Doniinus, Caro mea vere est
Testament! &c Nee Moyses dedit cibus : rursumque de vino, Et san-
nobis panem verum, sed Dominus guis meus vere est potus.' Hieron.
Jesus : ipse conviva et convivium, in Isa. c. Ixii. p. 462.
ipse comedens et quod comeditur a John xii. 24. Compare Jerome
Hunc panem et Jacob Patriarcha co- in Ose. c. vii. p. 1285.
medere cupiebat, dicens, Si fuerit b 'firep rovrtav rb ffiiov Qtxfev
Dornhius mecum, et dederit mihi af/ua, virtp rovriav T^I/ ff(payijv Kart-
panem ad vescendum &c Quotquot 8f|oro. 6 yap &pros, <t>j]<rlt>, y ffdp
enim in Christobaptizamur, Christum pov etrrlv, fy yd> Siaffw inrtp rrjs TOV
induhnus, et panem comedimus an- KAff^ov fays. Chrysost. de Anathe-
gelorum, et audimus Dominum pre- mate, torn. i. p. 692. ed Bened.
cantem, meus cibus est, ut faciam' Cp. Horn. xlv. in Joan. p. 271.
&c. Hieron. Hedibiae, torn. iv. pp. c Chrysost. in Joan. Horn. xliv.
171, 172. ed. Bened. p. 264; cited above, p. 103. [note 8 .]
y See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- Cp. Horn. xlv. p. 270.
fice, part i. p. 3/6. d "Aprov 5e ^TUJ ret 8<tyjuaTa \tyei
I2O Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
Lord there speaks of spiritual food e , and that by the Eucha-
ristical food we partake of the spiritual, and become really one
with Christ f . The thought is the same with what we have seen
in Hilary before cited : and it proves very evidently, that Chry-
sostom did not understand the food spoken of in John vi. of the
sacramental food, since he makes them as distinct as means and
end, or as the instrumental cause and principal, while he supposes
that by the due use of one we come at the other. I shall not now
give myself the trouble of particularly examining every plea that
has been offered, or every passage that has been alleged , to
make Chrysostom appear favourable to another hypothesis. If
the reader does but bear in mind the proper distinction between
interpreting of the Eucharist, and applying a text or texts to the
Eucharist, he will need no further solution. I shall only observe
further, that no one of the later Fathers has better expressed
the true and full meaning of our Lord in John vi., than
Cyril of Alexandria has done, where he teaches, that ' no soul
can ever attain to freedom from sin, or escape the tyranny of
Satan, or arrive to the city above, but by participating of Christ,
and of his philanthropy h ;' presently after quoting John vi. 53
(together with John viii. 34) in proof of what he had said.
Hitherto we have seen nothing in the Fathers that can be
justly thought clear and determinate in favour of oral manduca-
tion, as directly and primarily intended in John vi. Many, or
most, of them have applied that general doctrine of spiritual
feeding to the particular case of the Eucharist, because we are
spiritually fed therein : but they have not interpreted that
chapter directly of the Eucharist, because it has not one word
of the outward signs or symbols of the spiritual food, but ab-
stracts from all, and rests in the general doctrine of the use and
IvravOa TO. fftaTfjpta, Kal rfy viffnv rrjs rpoQrjs yap TOVTO ylvtrcu, $s
T^I* els aurir, ^ rb (T(afj.a rb eavrov. ix a P^ ffaro - Ibid. p. 272.
aju^Ttpa yap vfvpoi rty tyvxTiv- Chry- s See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri-
sost. in Joan. Horn. xlv. p. 370. fice, part i. p. 384.
e Mefj.v7]Tai rpo<prjs wet^iaTi/cJjr. L Ei ^ 8ia rrjs Xpurrov fjKToxy*
Ibid. p. 271. Hal <f>i\at>0ptairias &c. Cyrill. Alex-
f M^J n&vov Kara r^v aydirriv ytvu' andr. Glaph. in Exod. ii. de Host.
&AAa KUT' avrb rb irpayna, fls Agni, p. 267.
vi. according to John vi. 121
necessity of spiritual nutriment, the blood of Christ, in some shape
or other, to everlasting salvation. Thus stood the case, both in
the Greek and Latin churches, for the first four centuries, or
somewhat more. But about the beginning of the fifth century
arose some confusion. The frequent applying of John vi. to the
Eucharist came at length to make many, among the Latins
especially, interpret it directly of the Eucharist : and now some
thought John vi. 53 as decisive a text for the necessity of the
Eucharist, as John iii. 5 was for the necessity of Baptism.
Hereupon ensued a common practice of giving the Communion
to mere infants. Pope Innocent I. is believed to have been the
first or principal man that brought up such doctrine of the
necessity of communicating infants i : he was made Bishop of
Borne A. D. 402. It appears very probable, that from the time
of his Synodical Epistle, A. D. 417, the doctrine generally ran,
in the Latin churches at least, that 'unless you receive the
Eucharist, you have no life in you.' St. Austin is supposed
to have construed the text in that way, especially from the time
of Pope Innocent k . But in some places of his works he inter-
prets that chapter, or some parts of it, with clearer and better
judgment. Particularly in his Doctrina Christiana, lib. iii.
cap. 1 6, quoted above 1 : and also in another work of his, where
he plainly distinguishes the Sacrament of Christ's body from the
spiritual food mentioned in John vi. m There are two noted
passages of his, where he seems to interpret the living bread of
! See Wall's Hist, of Infant Bap- 3. p. 167. But Thorndike disputes
tism, part ii. ch. 9. p. 441, &c. 3rd it, [Epilog. p. 176, &c. De Jur.
ed. Defence, pp. 36, 384. Bingham, Finiend. p. 285,] with some show of
b. xv. c. 4. sect. 7. Compare Mr. reason.
Pierce's Essay on Infant Communion, l See above, p. 91. [note h .]
who carries it much higher than m 'Panis quotidianus aut pro iis
others, upon suggestions which bear omnibus dictus est quae hujus vitae
a plausible appearance, and are worth necessitatem sustentant, aut pro Sa-
examining by some person of learn- cramento corporis Christi quod quo-
ing and leisure. But in the mean- tidie accipimus, aut pro spiritual!
while, I acquiesce in Dr. Wall's ac- cibo de quo idem Dominus dicit,
count, as one that was well con- Ego sum panis,' &c. August, de
sidered, and which, in my opinion, Sermone Domini in Monte, lib. ii.
cannot be far from the truth. c. 7. Cp. de Civit. Dei, lib. xxi.
k See Wall, ibid. pp. 441, 442, 443. c. 35,
Vosgius, Hist. Pelag. lib. ii, part.
122 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
eating doctrine, of believing only n : but he only seems to do so,
when he really does not. For he intends no more than this,
that faith is the mean whereby we receive that living bread ; it
is the qualification requisite for the reception of it. A man
must have had faith to be healed, as we often read in the Gos-
pels ; and healing certainly followed upon the faith of the person :
and it might be right to say, Believe, and thou art healed : but
yet faith and the cure following were not the same thing, but
very distinct, both in nature and notion P.
It may be proper to go on to Fulgentius of the next age,
A. D. 507, a great admirer and follower of St. Austin, to see
how this matter stood among the Africans in his time. He had
a question put to him, upon a scruple raised from John vi. 53,
concerning the case of such as having been baptized, happened
to be prevented by death from receiving the holy Communion :
and he determined that they were safe, because Baptism exhibits
the body and blood of Christ to faithful recipients, as well as the
Eucharist 9. He strengthens his determination of the case by
the authority of St. Austin, in a long citation from him : and at
length concludes, that receiving Baptism is receiving the body
and blood of Christ, because it is receiving the thing signified in
the other sacrament r . He certainly judged very right : and it
n ' Quid paras dentes, et ven- Calvin. Institut. lib. iv. c. 17. p.
trem ? Crede, et mandueasti. Ore- 280.
dere enim in eum, hoc est manducare P Compare Johnson, Unbloody
panem vivum.' August, in Joan. Sacrifice, part i. p. 377.
tract. 25, 26. ' Augustinus hunc 1 ' In ipso lavacro sanctae re-
cibum tripliciter interpretatur : vide- generations hoc fieri providebit.
licet de propria Domini came,., in- Quid enim agitur sacramento sancti
terdum etiam de Sacramento carnis Baptismatis, nisi ut credentes mem-
hujus; nonnunquam de societate bra Domini nostri Jesu Christi fiant,
fidelium.' Albertin. pp. 691, 699. et ad compagem corporis ejus eccle-
'Non perspexit...ab Augustino siastica unitate pertineant ?...Tunc
ipso, his verbis, fidem ut causam, incipit unusquisque particeps esse
manducationem vero ipsam spiritua- illius unius panis, quando coeperit
lem ut effectum inter se conferri et memor esse illius unius corporis,'
collocari. Alioqui, si credere, et man- &c.
ducare una et eadem res esset ex r ' Unumquemque fidelium cor-
Augustini mente, quid hac oratione poris sanguinisque Dominici partici-
fuerit ineptius ? Crede et manducasti, pern fieri, quando in Baptismate
id est, manducaet manducasti.' Lamb, membruin esse illius corporis Christi
Danaei Apolog. pro Helvet. Eccl. efficitur, nee alienari ab illo panis
p. 1477. Opusc. ed. Genev. Cp. calicisve consortio, etiamsi antequam
vi. according to John vi. 123
is an instance to shew how plain good sense overruled, though it
did not abolish, a wrong interpretation of John vi., and removed,
in some measure, the uneasy scruples arising naturally from the
then prevailing construction. The proper inference from Ful-
gentius's wise and wary resolution of the case is, that John vi.
ought not to be rigorously understood of any particular way of
spiritual feeding, but simply of spiritual feeding, be it in what
way soever : be it by Baptism, or by the Eucharist, or by any
other sacraments, (as under the old law,) or by any kind of
means which divine wisdom shall choose, or has in Scripture
signified.
From this summary view of the ancients it may be observed,
that they varied sometimes in their constructions of John vi.
or of some parts of it : but what prevailed most, and was the
general sentiment wherein they united, was, that Christ himself
is properly and primarily our bread of life, considered as the
Word made flesh, as God incarnate, and dying for us ; and that
whatever else might, in a secondary sense, be called heavenly
bread, (whether sacraments, or doctrines, or any holy service,) it
was considered but as an antepast to the other, or as the same
thing in the main, under a different form of expression.
I shall here throw in a few words concerning the sentiments
of moderns before I close this chapter. Albertinus s will furnish
the reader with a competent list of Schoolmen, and others of
the Roman communion, who have rejected the sacramental inter-
pretation of John vi. A more summary account of the same
may be seen in Archbishop Wake*, in the collection of pam-
phlets written against Popery in a late reign. I know not
whether the authorities of that kind may be looked upon as so
many concessions from that quarter, (though the Romanists,
panem ilium comedat, et calicem 270. in Joan. ix. 6. p. 602.
bibat, de hoc saeculo in imitate cor- 8 Albertinus de Eucharistia, lib. i.
poris Christi constitutus abscedat. c. 30. p. 209.
Sacrament! quippe illius participa- * Discourse of the Eucharist, print-
tione et beneficio non privatur, quan- ed in 1687, p. 20. He numbers up
do ipse hoc quod illud sacramentum thirty in all, thus : two popes, four
significat invenitur.' Fulgent, ibid, cardinals, two archbishops, five bi-
pp. 227, 228. Cp. Cyrill. Alex- shops, the rest doctors and pro-
andr. Glaphyr. in Exod. lib. ii. p. fessors.
124 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
generally, contend earnestly for the sacramental construction,)
because there may be reasons why the more considering Ro-
manists should think it prudent to give another construction,
inasmuch as John vi., if interpreted directly of the Eucharist,
would furnish a strong argument for infant communion, which
they have long laid aside ; and it would be diametrically oppo-
site to a noted principle of theirs, of denying the cup to the
laity. I cannot say how far these two considerations may have
inclined the shrewder men amongst them to reject what I call
the sacramental construction of John vi.
But the Reformers, in general, for very weighty reasons, have
rejected the same : the Lutherans and Calvinists abroad, and our
own most early and most considerable Divines, have concurred
in discarding it. It would be tedious to enter into a particular
recital of authorities ; and so I shall content myself with point-
ing out two or three of the most eminent, who may justly be
allowed to speak for the rest. Archbishop Cranmer stands at
the head of them : he had considered that matter as closely
perhaps as any man before or after him, and determined in the
main as judiciously. He writes thus :
' Whoe ever said or taught before this tyme, that the Sacra-
ment was the cause why Christ said, Yf wee eat not the fleshe
of the Sonne of man, wee have not lyfe in us? The spiritual
eating of his flesh, and drincking of his bloud by faith, by
digesting his death in our myndes, as our only pryce, raunsom,
and redemption from eternal dampnation, is the cause wherfore
Christe sayd, that If wee eat not his fleshe, and drincke not his
bloud, we have not lyfe in us : and If wee eat his fleshe and
drincke his bloud, wee have everlasting lyfe. And if Christ had
never ordeyned the Sacrament, yet should wee have eaten his
fleshe and dronken his bloud, and have had therby everlasting
lyfe, as al the faithful dyd before the Sacrament was ordeyned,
and doe daily, when thei receave not the Sacrament. . . . That
in the vi. of John Christ spake nether of corporall nor sacra-
mental eating of his fleshe, the tyme manifestly sheweth. For
Christ spake of the same present tyme that was then, saying :
The bread which I will give is my fleshe, &c. At whyche tyme
vi. according to Jo/tn vi. 125
the sacramental bread was not yet Christes fleshe : for the
Sacrament was not yet ordeyned ; and yet at that tyme, all
that beleved in Christ did eat his flesh and drincke his bloucl, or
elles thei coulde not have dwelled in Christ, nor Christ in them".
' This symilityde caused oure Saviour to say, My fleshe is very
meate, and my bloud is very drynke. For there is no kynde of
meate that is comfortable to the soule, but only the death of
Christes blessed body ; nor no kynde of drynke that can quenche
her thirst, but only the bloude sheddyng of our Saviour Christ
which was shed for her offences x .
' I mervail here not a litle of Mr Smith's either dulnes or
maliciousnes, that cannot or will not see, that Christ in this
chapter of St. John spake not of sacramental bread, but of
heavenly bread ; nor of his flesh only, but also of his bloud, and
of his Godhead, calling them heavenly bread that giveth ever-
lasting life. So that he spake of himselfe wholly, saying, I am
the bread of life, &c. And nether spake he of common bread,
nor yet of sacramental bread, for nether of them was given
upon the crosse for the lyfe of the world. And there can be
nothing more manifest, than that in this sixth chapter of St.
John, Christ spake not of the Sacrament of his flesh, but of
his very flesh. And that as wel for that the Sacrament was
not then instituted, as also because Christ said not in the future
tense, The bread which I will give shall be my flesh, but in the
present tense, The bread which I will give is my flesh : which
sacramental bread was neither then his flesh, nor was then
instituted for a sacrament, nor was after given for the life of
the world. . . . When he said, The bread which I wil give is my
flesh, &c., he meant nether of the materiall bread, nether of the
accidents of bread, but of his own flesh : which although of itself
it availeth nothinge, yet being in unity of Person joyned unto his
Divinity, it is the same heavenly bread that he gave to death
upon the crosse for the life of the world y.'
u Archbishop Cranmer on the Sa- Jewel, Defence of Apology, p. 306,
crament, p. 22. &c. Answer to Harding, pp. 78, 239,
x Cranmer, p. 41. Cp. Calvin, in 240. Fryth, Answer to More, pp.
Joan. vi. 54. 21, 27.
y Cranmer, p. 450. Compare Bishop
J26 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, CHAP.
Thus far that excellent person has shewn, by convincing rea-
sons drawn from the chapter itself, that John vi. ought not to be
interpreted of the Eucharist. Nevertheless, he very well knew,
and did not forget to observe, that it may properly be applied or
accommodated to the Eucharist, and is of great weight and force
for that very purpose.
'As the bread is outwardlie eaten indeede in the Lordes
Supper, so is the very body of Christ inwardly by faith eaten
indede of all them that come thereto in such sorte as thei ought
to doe ; which eating nourysheth them unto everlasting lyfe.
And this eating hath a warrant signed by Christ himselfe in the
vi. of John, where Christ saith, He that eateth my flesh, and
drincketh my bloud, hath lyfe everlasting z . You be the first
that ever excluded the wordes of Christe from his Supper. And
St. Augustine mente, as well at the Supper, as at all other
tymes, that the eating of Christes flesh is not to be understanded
carnally with our teeth a ,' &c.
The sum then of Archbishop Cranmer's doctrine on this head
is : i. That John vi. is not to be interpreted of oral manducation
in the Sacrament, nor of spiritual manducation as confined to the
Eucharist, but of spiritual manducation at large, in that or any
other sacrament, or out of the Sacraments. 2. That spiritual
manducation, in that chapter, means the feeding upon Christ's
death and passion, as the price of our redemption and salvation.
3. That in so feeding we have a spiritual or mystical union with
his human nature, and by that with his Godhead, to which his
humanity is joined in an unity of Person. 4. That such spiritual
manducation is a privilege belonging to the Eucharist, and
therefore John vi. is not foreign to the Eucharist, but has such
relation to it as the inward thing signified bears to the outward
signs.
To Archbishop Cranmer I may subjoin Peter Martyr, who
about ten years after engaged in the same cause, in a large
Latin treatise printed A.D. 1562. No man has more clearly
shewn, in few words, how far John vi. belongs not to the Eucha-
rist, and how far it does. He considers the general principles
z Cranmer, p. II. a Ibid. p. 35.
vi. according to John vi. 127
there taught as being preparatory to the institution of the
Eucharist, which was to come after. Our Lord in that chapter
gave intimation of spiritual food, with the use and necessity of
it : afterwards, in the institution, he added external symbols, for
the notifying one particular act or instance of spiritual mandu-
cation, to make it the more solemn and the more affecting.
Therefore John vi., though not directly spoken of the Eucharist,
yet is by no means foreign, but rather looks forward towards it,
bears a tacit allusion to it, and serves to reflect light upon it :
for which reason the ancient Fathers are to be commended for
connecting the account of inward grace with the outward sym-
bols, the thing signified with the signs afterwards added, and
so applying the discourse of that chapter to the case of the
Eucharist b .
From what has been observed of these two eminent Reformers,
we may judge how John vi. was understood at that time : not of
doctrines, nor of sacramental feeding, but of spiritual feeding at
large, feeding upon the death and passion of Christ our Lord.
This, I think, has been the prevailing construction of our own
Divines all along : and though it has been much obscured of late
(for half a century, perhaps, or more) by one or other hypothesis,
yet has it never been lost , neither, I suppose, ever will be.
b ' De sexto capite Joannis, an ad Imo Patres illos libenter recipimus,
Eucharistiam pertineat, nos ita re- qui ilia verba ad hoc negotium tran-
spondemus. Sermonem ibi de Sacra- stulerunt. Quid enira aliud sibi vo-
mento coenae non institui ; ibi enim lunt panis et vinum, quae postea
coena cum symbolis non ordinatur. addita sunt in coena, nisi ut magis
Nam nee panis, nee calicis, nee gra- excitemur ad manducationem ilJam
tiarum actionis, nee fractionis, nee corporis et sanguinis Domini, quae
distributions, nee testamenti, nee multis verbis diligentissime tractata
memoriae, nee annuntiationis mortis fuerat in sexto Joannis. Satis ergo
Christimentio ullaeo loco instituitur. apparet quemadmodum nos ista con-
Hue spectabant illi, qui dixerunt jungimus.' Petr. Mart. pp. 114, 115.
illud caput ad Eucharistiam non per- Cp. Chamier, de Eucharist, lib. xi.
tinere, &c. Quoniam res ipsa (id c. 3, &c.
est, corporis et sanguinis Christi c Dean Fogg, in his excellent Com-
spiritualis manducatio et potus) ibi pendium of Divinity, published A.D.
luculenter traditur, ad quara postea 1712, has fully and distinctly ex-
Evangelistae, adfinemhistoriaesuae, pressed the sense of John vi. in two
declarant Christum adjunxisse sym- lines :
bola externa panis et vini, idcirco ' Christus ibi loquitur, non de man-
nos caput illud a Sacramento Eucha- ducatione sacramentali, sed spirituali,
ristae non putamus esse alienum et de pane significato, non signifi-
128 Spiritual Eating and Drinking, fyc. CHAP.
A late very judicious Prelate of our Church, in a sermon on
John vi. 53, has well expressed the sense of our Church in this
matter, in the words here following : ' The body and blood of
Christ are to be understood in such a sense as a soul can be
supposed to feed upon a body, or to receive strength and
nourishment by feeding upon it. But now the body of Christ
can be no otherwise as food for the strengthening and refresh-
ing our souls, than only as the spiritual benefits of that body
and blood, that is to say, the virtue and effects of Christ's
sacrifice upon the cross are communicated to it ; nor is the
soul capable of receiving those benefits otherwise than by faith.
So that the body and blood of Christ, in the sense of our
Church, are only the benefits of Christ's passion ; that is to say,
the pardon of sin, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, and a
nearer union with Christ : and our eating and drinking of that
body and blood, is our being partakers of those benefits ; and
the mouth whereby we thus eat and drink, that is, the means
whereby we are made partakers of those benefits, is our true
and lively faith d .' This account is formed upon our Cate-
chism, and upon the old principles of our first Reformers, and
the next succeeding Divines, before any refined speculations
came in to obscure or perplex a plain notion, and a very im-
portant truth. All I have to observe further upon it, by way of
explanation, is as follows : i . When the learned author says,
that 'the soul is not capable of receiving those benefits other-
wise than by faith,' I understand it of adult Christians, and of
what they are ordinarily capable of : God may extraordinarily
apply the benefits of Christ's passion wherever there is no moral
obstacle, as he pleases. And it should be noted, that, properly
speaking, we do not apply those benefits to ourselves, we only
receive, or (by the help of God's grace) qualify ourselves for
receiving : it is God that applies e , as it is als6 God that justifies ;
cante.' Fogg. Theolog. Specul. Sche- instituted.' Wall, Inf. Bapt. part ii.
ma, p. 309. c. 9. p. 448, 3rd ed.
Dr. Wall says : * The words of our d Archbishop Sharp, vol. vii. serm.
Saviour to the Jews, John vi. 53, do xv. p. 366.
no way appear to belong to the sa- e ' Fides magis proprie dicitur ac-
cramental eating, which was not then cipere et apprehendere, quam vel
vn. Sacramental or Symbolical feeding \ 129
and he does it ordinarily in and by the sacraments to persons
fitly prepared. 2. When it is said, that the body and blood of
Christ, in the sense of our Church, are only the benefits of Christ's
passion, I so understand it, as not to exclude all reference to our
Lord's glorified body now in heaven, with which we maintain a
mystical union, and which is itself one of the benefits consequent
upon our partaking of Christ's passion ; as seems to be intimated
by the author himself, where he reckons a nearer union with
Christ among the benefits. 3. The judicious author rightly makes
faith to be the mouth only, by which we receive, not the meat or
drink which we do receive ; the means only of spiritual nutri-
ment, not the nutriment itself : for the nutriment itself is pardon
and grace coming down from above, flowing from the spiritual
and gracious presence of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
whose temple we are, while we are living members of Christ.
CHAP. VII.
Concerning Sacra/mental or Symbolical Feeding in the
EUCHARIST.
AFTER considering spiritual manducation by itself, inde-
pendent of any particular modes, forms, or circumstances, it
will next be proper to take a view of it, as set forth in a sensible
way, with the additional garniture of signs and symbols. Under
the Old Testament, besides the ordinary sacrifices, the manna
and the waters of the rock were signs and symbols of spiritual
manducation, according to St. Paul's doctrine, where he teaches,
that the ancient Israelites 'did all eat the same spiritual meat,
and did all drink the same spiritual drink f> which Christians
do ; the same with ours as to the spiritual signification of it : so
I understand the place, with many judicious interpreters, both
polliceri, vel praestare. Sed verbum a multis Roman ensibus nobis objici-
Dei et promissio cui fides innititur, tur, quasi crederemus hanc Christi
non vero fides hominum, praesentia praesentiam et communicationem in.
reddit quae promittit ; quernadmo- Sacramento, per nudam fiderutantum
dum inter reforinatos et pontificios effici.' Cosin. Histor. Transubst. c. ii.
aliquot consensum est in Collatione sect. 8. pp. 17, 18.
Sangermani habita 1561. Male eniin f i Cor. x. 3,4.
K
130 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
ancients? and moderns \ As the heavenly meat and drink of the
true Israelites was Christ, according to the Apostle, and Christ
also is ours, the Apostle must be understood to teach that they
fed upon the same heavenly food that we do ; only by different
symbols, and in a fainter light The symbols are there called
spiritual meat and drink, that is, mystical ; for they signified the
true food, which none but the true Israelites were fed with,
while all received the signs. In the New Testament, the bread
and wine of the Eucharist are the appointed symbols of the
spiritual blessings, but under clearer and brighter manifesta-
tions. For proof hereof we must look back to the original
institution of the Sacrament, and particularly' to the words,
' This is my body,' &c., and ' This is my blood,' &c. To under-
take the exposition of them is entering into the most perplexed
and intricate part of the whole subject ; made so by an odd
series of incidents, in a long tract of time, and remaining as
a standing monument of human infirmities : in consideration
whereof, moderns, of all parties, may perhaps see reason not to
bear themselves high above the ancients, in point of wisdom or
sagacity. The plain obvious notion, which nobody almost could
miss of for six or seven centuries, came at length to be obscured
in dark ages, and by degrees to be almost totally lost. It was
no very easy matter to recover it afterwards, or to clear off the
mists at once. Contentions arose, even among the elucidators :
and what was worst of all, after that in every scheme proposed,
at the Reformation, some difficulties remained, which could not
of a sudden be perfectly adjusted, there appeared at length some
enterprising persons, who, either for shortening disputes, or for
other causes, laboured to depreciate the Sacraments themselves,
as if they were scarce worth the contending for : which was
pushing matters to the most dangerous and pernicious extreme
that could be invented. But I pass on.
For the clearer apprehending what that plain and easy notion
f Axistin, Bede, Bertram, and on the Sacrament. Mede, Discourse
others. xliii. p. 325, &c. Bishop Moreton on
h Besides commentators, see Arch- the Sacrament, book v. c. 2. sect. 3.
bishop Cranmer on the Sacrament, p. 314.
p. 86, &c. Bishop Jewel, Treatise
viz. feeding in the Eucharist. 131
was, which I just now spake of, I choose to begin with a famous
passage of St. Bernard, often quoted in this subject, and very
useful to give the readers a good general idea of the symbolical
nature of the Sacraments. He compares them with instruments
of investiture, (into lands, honours, dignities,) which are significant
and emblematical of what they belong to, and are at the same
time means of conveyance 1 . A book, a ring, a crosier, and the
like, have often been made use of as instruments for such pur-
pose. They are not without their significancy in the way of
instructive emblem : but what is most considerable, they are
instruments to convey those rights, privileges, honours, offices,
possessions, which in silent language they point to. Those small
gifts or pledges are as nothing in themselves, but they are highly
valuable with respect to what they are pledges of, and what they
legally and effectively convey : so it is with the signs and symbols
of both Sacraments, and particularly with the elements of bread
and wine in the Eucharist. They are, after consecration, called
by the names of what they are pledges of, and are ordained to
convey ; because they a*e, though not literally, yet in just con-
struction and certain effect, (standing on Divine promise and
Divine acceptance,) the very things which they are called, viz.
the body and blood of Christ to all worthy receivers. In them-
selves they are bread and wine from first to last : but while they
are made use of in the holy service, they are considered, construed,
understood, (pursuant to Divine law, promise, covenant,) as
standing for what they represent and exhibit. Thus, frequently,
in human affairs, things or persons are considered very differently
from what they really are in themselves, by a kind of construction
of law : and they are supposed to be, to all intents and pur-
poses, and in full legal effect, what they are presumed to serve
for, and to supply the place of.
A deed of conveyance, or any like instrument under hand and
seal, is not a real estate, but it conveys one ; and it is in effect
1 'Variae sunt investiturae secun- rebus est, sic et divisiones gratiarum
dum ea quibus investimur : verbi diversis sunt traditae sacramentis. '
gratia, investitur canoiiicus per li- Bernard, de Coen. Domini, serm. i.
brum, abbas per baculum et annulum p. 145.
simul : sicut, inquam, in ejusmodi
K 2
132 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
the estate itself, as the estate goes along with it ; and as the
right, title, and property (which are real acquirements) are, as it
were, bound up in it, and subsist by it k . If any person should
seriously object, in such ja case, that he sees nothing but wax
and parchments, and that he does not apprehend how they can
be of any extraordinary value to him, or how he is made richer
by them ; he might be pitied, I presume, for his unthinking
ignorance or simplicity: but if, in a contrary extreme, he should
be credulous enough to imagine, that the parchments themselves
are really and literally the estate, are so many houses or tenements,
or acres of glebe, inclosed in his cabinet, he could not well be
presumed to be far short of distraction. I leave it to the intel-
ligent reader, to make the application proper to the present
subject. I have supposed, all the while, that the cases are so
far parallel : but whether they really are so must now be the
point of inquiry; for I am sensible that the thing is too im-
portant to be taken for granted.
Come we then directly to consider the words, ' This is my
body,' and ' This is my blood.' What can they, or what do they
mean?
1. They cannot mean, that this bread and this wine are really
and literally that body in the same broken state as it hung upon
the cross, and that blood which was spilled upon the ground
1700 years ago. Neither yet can they mean that this bread
and wine literally and properly are our Lord's glorified body,
which is as far distant from us, as heaven is distant : all sense,
all reason, all Scripture, all antiquity, and sound theology, reclaim
against so wild a thought.
2. Well then, since the words cannot be understood literally,
or with utmost rigour, they must be brought under some figure
k Our very judicious Hooker has as I make myself wholly theirs, so
explained this matter much the same I give them in hand au actual pos-
way, in these words, as spoken by session of all such saving grace as
our Lord : my sacrificed body can yield, and as
' This hallowed food, through the their souls do presently need: this
concurrence of Divine power, is in is to them my body.' Hooker, vol. ii.
verity and truth, unto faithful re- p. 337. Cp. Cosin. Histor. Tran-
ceivers, Snstrumentally a cause of subst. pp. 57, 58.
that mystical participation, whereby
vn. feeding in the Eucharist. ,133
or other, some softening explication, to make them both sense
and truth.
3. But there may be danger of undercommenting, as well as
of interpreting too high : and men may recede so far from the
letter as altogether to dilute the meaning, or break its force.
As nothing but necessity can warrant us in going from the letter
at all, we ought not to go further than such necessity requires.
There appears to be something very solemn and awful in our
Lord's pointed words, ' This is my body,' and ' This is niy blood.'
Had he intended no more than a bare commemoration, or re-
presentation, it might have been sufficient to have said, Eat this
bread broken, and drink this wine poured out, in remembrance
of me and my passion, without declaring in that strong manner
that the bread and wine are his body and blood, at the same
time commanding his Disciples to take them as such. We ought
to look out for some as high and significant a meaning as the
nature of the thing can admit of, in order to answer such em-
phatical words and gestures.
4. Some, receding from the letter, have supposed the words
to mean, this bread and this wine are my body and blood in
power and effect, or in virtue and energy : which is not much
amiss, excepting that it seems to carry in it some obscure con-
ception either of an inherent or infused virtue resting upon the
bare elements, and operating as a mean, which is not the truth
of the case ; excepting also, that it leaves us but a very dark
and confused idea of what the Lord's body or blood means, in
that way of speaking, whether natural or sacramental, or both
in one.
5. It appears more reasonable and more proper to say, that
the bread and wine are the body and blood (viz. the natural
body and blood) in just construction, put upon them by the law-
giver himself, who has so appointed, and who is able to mak_e it
good. The symbols are not the body in power and effect, if those
words mean efficiency : but, suitable dispositions supposed in the
recipient, the delivery of these symbols is, in construction of
Gospel law, and in Divine intention, and therefore in certain
effect or consequence, a delivery of the things signified. If God
134 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
hath been pleased so to order that these outward elements, in
the due use of the Eucharist, shall be imputed to us, and accepted
by him, as pledges of the natural body of our Lord, and that
this constructional intermingling his body and blood with ours,
shall be the same thing in effect with our adhering inseparably to
him, as members or parcels of him ; then those outward symbols
are, though not literally, yet interpretatively, and to all saving
purposes, that very body and blood which they so represent
with effect : they are appointed instead of them \
This notion of the Sacrament, as it is both intelligible and
reasonable, so is it likewise entirely consonant to Scripture
language ; considered first in the general ; next, with respect to
the Jewish sacrifices and sacraments ; then with regard also to
Christian Baptism ; and lastly, with respect to what is elsewhere
taught of the Eucharist. Further, it appears to have been the
ancient notion of all the Christian churches for six centuries or
more ; and was scarce so much as obscured, till very corrupt and
ignorant ages came up; and was never totally lost, though
almost swallowed up for a time by the prevailing growth of
transubstantiation. These particulars I shall now endeavour to
prove distinctly, in the same order as I have named them.
i. I undertake to shew that the interpretation here given is
favoured by the general style or phraseology of Scripture ; which
abounds with examples of such figurative and constructional ex-
pressions, where one thing is mentioned and another understood,
according to the way which I have before intimated. I do not
here refer to such instances as are often produced in this subject ;
as metaphorical locutions, when our Lord is styled a door, a vine,
a star, a sun, a rock, a lamb, a lion, or the like ; which amount
only to so many similitudes couched, every one respectively,
under a single word. Neither do I point to other well known
instances, of seven kine being seven years, and four great beasts
being four kings, and the field being the world, reapers being
angels, and the like : which appertain only to visional or para-
bolical representations, and come not up to the point in hand.
1 Tb irorhpiw tv raftt a"fj.aros {jytia-Qat is the phrase of Victor Antioche-
nus, who wrote about A.D. 401. Vid. Albertin. p. 832.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 135
The examples which we are to seek for, as similar and parallel
to the expressions made use of by our Lord in the institution,
must be those wherein some real thing is in just construction
and certain effect allowed to be another thing.
Moses was a God to Pharaoh m , not literally, but in effect.
The walking tabernacle, or moving ark, being a symbol of the
Divine presence, was considered as God walking 11 among his
people. Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness , or
sinless perfection ; not that it strictly or literally was so, but it
was so accepted in God's account. John the Baptist was Elias P,
not literally, but in just construction. Man and wife are one
flesh 9, not in the utmost strictness of speech, but interpretatively,
or in effect ; they are considered as one. He that is joined to
an harlot is one body r , not literally, but in construction of Divine
law : and he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit 8 , is con-
sidered as so, and with real effect. The Church is our Lord's
body*, interpretatively so. Levi paid tithes in Abraham, not
literally, but constructionally, or as one may say u . Abraham
received his son Isaac from the dead, not really, but in just
construction, and in a figure x . The Apostle tells his new
converts, 'Ye are our epistle,' and the 'epistle of Christy;'
that is to say, instead of an epistle, or equivalent thereto, the
same thing in effect or use. These examples may suffice to
shew, in the general, that Scripture is no stranger to the sym-
bolical or constructional language, expressing one thing by another
thing, considered as equivalent thereto, and amounting to the
same as to real effects or purposes.
2. This will appear still plainer from the sacrificial language
and usage in the Old Testament. Blood, in sacrificial language,
was the life of an animal : and the shedding the blood for sacri-
fice, together with the sprinkling it, were understood to be giving
m Exod. vii. I. r I Cor. vi. 16.
11 Levit. xxvi 11,12. Deut. xxiii. s Ibid. 17.
14. ' Ephes. i. 23. See Spinkes against
Gen. xv. 6. Rom. iv. 3, 9, 22. Transubstant. pp. 29, 30.
Gal. iii. 6. u Hebr. vii. 9.
P Matt. xvii. 12. Mark ix. 13. x Hebr. xi. 19.
1 I Cor. vi. 16. T i Cor. iii. 2, 3.
Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
life for life z . The fumes of some sacrifices were considered as
sweet odours a , grateful to God when sent up with a pure mind.
The altar was considered as God's table 13 : and what was offered
upon it, and consumed by fire, was construed and accepted as
God's meat, bread, food, portion, or mess c . Not that it was
literally so, but it was all one to the supplicants ; with whom
God dealt as kindly, as if it had really been so : it was the same
thing in legal account, was symbolically the same, and therefore
so named. The laying hands upon the head of the victim was,
in construction of Divine law, transferring the legal offences upon
the victim* 1 : more particularly, the people's performing that
ceremony towards the scape-goat was considered as laying their
iniquities upon him, which accordingly the goat was supposed to
bear away with him e ; all which was true in legal account. The
priests, in eating the sin offering of the people, were considered
as eating up their guilt, incorporating it with themselves, and
discharging the people of it f : and the effect answered. But
when the people feasted on the peace offerings, it was symboli-
cally eating peace, and maintaining amity with God : to which
St. Paul alludes in a noted passage g, to be explained hereafter.
From hence it may be observed, by the way, that symbolical
phrases and symbolical services were what the Jews had been
much and long used to, before our Lord's time : which may be
one reason why the Apostles shewed no surprise at what was
said to them in the institution of the Eucharist, nor called for
any explanation.
From the Jewish sacrifices, we may pass on to their sacra-
ments, which, taking the word in a large sense, were many, but
in the stricter sense were but two, namely, Circumcision and the
Passover. With respect to those also, the like figurative and
symbolical language prevailed. We find St. Paul declaring of
the manna and of the waters of old, that they were spiritual
1 Gen. ix. 4. Levit. xvii. 10, n. Numb, xxviii. 2, 24. Ezek. xliv. 7.
a Gen. viii. *i. Exod. xxix. 18, d Levit. i. 4; viii. 14, 15.
et passim. e Levit. xvi. 11, 11.
b Ezek. xli. 22 ; xliv. 16. Mai. i. f Levit. x. 17. Hos. iv. 8.
7, 12. s i Cor. x. 18. Compare Levit.
c Levit. iii. n ; xxi. 6, 8, 17, 21, 22. vii. 1 8, and Ainsworth in loc.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 137
food ; and accordingly he does not scruple, while speaking of the
rock from whence the waters flowed, to say that ' that rock was
Christ V It typified Christ : yea and more than so, the waters
which it yielded, typified the blood and water which should
afterwards flow from our Lord's side, and were to the faithful of
that time spiritual pledges of the benefits of Christ's passion,
like as the sacramental wine is now 1 . This consideration fully
accounts for the strong expression which the Apostle in that
case made use of, ' that rock was Christ :' it was so in effect to
every true Israelite of that time.
Circumcision of the flesh was a symbolical rite, betokening the
true circumcision of the heart ; which was the condition of the
covenant between God and his people, on their part k , and God's
acceptance of the same on his part 1 , to all saving purposes :
therefore circumcision had the name of covenant, and the sign
was called what it literally was not, but what it really and truly
signified, and to the faithful exhibited 111 .
The like may be observed of the Passover, which was feasting
upon a lamb, but was called the Lord's Passover, as looking
backwards, plainly, to the angel's passing over the Hebrews, so
as to preserve them from the plague n then inflicted on the
Egyptians, and mystically looking forwards to God's passing over
the sins of mankind, for the sake of Christ the true paschal
lamb . Such is the customary language of Scripture in those
cases, denominating the signs by the things signified, and at the
same time exhibited in a qualified sense.
3. I proceed to the consideration of Baptism, a sacrament of
the New Testament ; a symbolical rite, full of figure and mys-
tery; representing divers graces, blessings, privileges, and ex-
hibiting the same in the very act : for which reason the Scrip-
ture language concerning it is very strong and emphatical, like
to what our Lord made use of with respect to the Eucharist.
St. Paul does not barely intimate that we ought to be buried
with Christ in Baptism, or that we signify his burial, but he says
h i Cor. x. 4. i Gen. xvii. 7.
' See above, p. 129. m Gen. xvii. 10, 13, 14.
k Deut. x. 16; xxx. 6. Levit.xxvi. n Exod. xii. u, 13, 13.
41. Jerem. iv. 4. Rom. ii. 28, 29. i Cor. v. 7.
138 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
plainly, ' we are buried ; ' and likewise that ' we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death/ and that ' our old man is
crucified,' and that we are ' freed from sin,' and ' dead with
Christ P.' The reason is, because the things there mentioned are
not merely represented, but effectuated always on God's part, if
there be no failure or obstacle on ours. The spiritual graces of
Baptism go along with the ceremony, in the due use of it, and
are supposed by the Apostle to be conveyed at that instant.
i. Actual remission of sinsi. 2. Present sanctification of the
Spirit 1 ". 3. Actual communion with Christ's body, with Christ
our head 3 . 4. A certain title, for the time being, to resurrection
and salvation*. 5. A putting on Christ u . I take the more
notice here of the last article of putting on Christ, as being of
near affinity with feeding upon Christ in the other sacrament.
Both of them express a near conjunction and close intimacy :
but the latter is the stronger figure, and the more affecting
emblem. Christ is, in a qualified sense, our clothing, and our
food ; our baptismal garment, and our eucharistical banquet :
but what enters within us, and is diffused all over us, and
becomes incorporate with us, being considered as a symbol of
Christ, expresses the most intimate union and coalition imagin-
able. Probably this symbol was made choice of for the Eucha-
rist, as it is the top perfection of Christian worship or service.
Baptism is for babes in Christ, this for grown men : Baptism
initiates, while the Eucharist perfects : Baptism begins the
spiritual life, the Eucharist carries on and finishes it. And there-
fore it is that the Eucharist has so frequently been called TO
P Rom. vi. 4, 6, 7, 8. 'Deipsobap- 8 I Cor. xii. 13.
tismo Apostolua, Consepulti, inquit, * Rom. vi. 8, 9. Tit. iii. 5. i Pet.
sumus Christo per baptismum in mor- iii. 21. Coloss. ii. n, 12, 13. Add
tern. Non ait sepulturam significavi- I Cor. xv. 29. For so I understand
mus, sed prorsus ait, consepulti su- ' baptizing for the dead ;' in order to
mus : sacrameutum ergo tantae rei have our dead bodies raised. Vid.
non nisi ejusdem rei vocabulo nuncu- Chrysost. in i Cor. x. Horn, xxiii.
pavit.' August. Ep. 98. ad Boni- p. 389 ; et in i Cor. xv. 29. Horn. xl.
fac. p. 268. ed. Bened. p. 513. ed. Sav. Isidor. Pelus. Epist.
i Acts xxii. 16 ; ii. 38. Coloss. ii. lib. i. Ep. 221. Theodorit. in i Cor.
13. i Cor. vi. ii. xv. 29.
r John iii. 5. Acts ii. 38. I Cor. u Gal. iii. 27. Cp. Wolfius in loc.
xii. 13; vi. ii. Ephes. v. i6. Tit. iii. Deylingius, Obs. Sacr. torn. iii. p.
5. Heb. x. 22. 330.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 139
x , the perfecting service, and the Sacrament of sacraments y ;
or emphatically the Sacrament, which obtains at this day. I may
add that, though Baptism represents the burial and the resurrection
of our Lord, and entitles us to a partnership in both, yet there
is something still more awful and venerable in representing (not
merely his acts or offices, but) his very Person, in part, which
is done in the Eucharist, by the symbols of bread and wine,
representing his body and blood.
From what hath been said under this last article concerning
Baptism, we may observe, that it is not literally going into the
grave with Christ, neither is it literally rising from the dead
with him ; but it is so interpretatively and in certain effect,
proper dispositions supposed on our part : and it is not barely a
representation of a thing, but a real exhibition. So likewise in
the Eucharist : the elements are not literally what they are called,
but they are interpretatively and in effect the same thing with
what they stand for. Such appears to be the true account of
the symbolical phrases of the institution.
4. To this agrees what we meet with further in St. Paul's
account of this Sacrament. It is the Communion of the body
and blood of Christ z . Which expresses communication on the
part of the donor, and participation on the side of the receiver.
There is communication from God, and a participation by us,
of Christ's crucified body directly, and of the body glorified con-
sequentially. Yet this grant and this reception of our- Lord's
body are not to be understood with utmost rigour, but after the
manner of symbolical grants and conveyances ; where the sym-
bols are construed to be, in real and beneficial effect, what they
supply the place of. But of this text I may have occasion to
say more in a distinct chapter, and so may dismiss it for the
present.
x Vid. Casaub. Exercit. xvi. n. 48. guinis Christi in coena Dominica :
p. 411, alias 573. Suicer. Thesaur. nullus enim restat alius modus, quo
torn. ii. p. I2J9. in terns versantes arctius cum
' Conjunctions nostrae cum Christo, Christo, capite nostro, conjungamur.'
cujus instrumenta sunt verbum Dei Casaub. ibid.
et sacramenta, veluti colophonem im- * Tektruv T*A.T^. Pseudo-Dionys.
pouit participatio corpora et san- cap. iii. p. 282. * i Cor. x. 16.
Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
St. Paul, in the same Epistle, speaks of the unworthy receiver,
as ' guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,' and as ' eating
and drinking damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's
body a :' all which is easily and naturally accounted for, upon
the principles before mentioned. Our Lord's body is interpre-
tatively delivered, with all the emoluments thereunto pertaining,
to as many as receive worthily: the same body is interpreta-
tively offered b to as many as receive, though ever so unworthily.
The unworthy receiver, through his own fault, disqualifies him-
Belf from partaking of what is offered, namely, from partaking of
the things signified : which being our Lord's own body and blood,
he is therefore guilty, not only of profaning holy things, (as
even the symbols themselves, when consecrated, are holy,) but
also of slighting and contemning our Lord's own body and blood,
which had been symbolically offered to him c . He incurs the
just judgment of God, for not discerning, that is, not esteeming,
not reverencing, not receiving d the Lord's body when he might,
and when both duty and interest required his most grateful
and most devout acceptance. Nay further, he is guilty of con-
temning the blood of the covenant, and the author of our salvation,
by so profane an use of what so nearly concerns both. This must
a I Cor. xi. 27, 29. both being equally a neglect of the
b 'Credentibus fit corpus vivificum, same thing. There must be more
quia illi panis caelestia et corporis in unworthy reception : it is not
Christi vere sunt participes : aliis merely neglecting the inward grace,
vere tarn nnn recipientibus quam but it is profaning also the outward
non credentibus licet antitypon sit, means.
tamen illis nequaquam est, nee fit d The wicked receive the signs of
corpus Christi.' Cosin. Histor. Eccl. the Lord's body and blood, not the
p. 69. body and blood ; that is, not the
c 'Non idcirco vocat Paulus reos thing signified. So the Fathers dis-
quod ipsum corpus Christi ederint, tinguish commonly on this bead,
neque idcirco illi judicium sibi arces- The testimonies of Origen, Ambrose,
sunt quod sumpserint, sed quod su- Jerome, Chrysostom, Austin, and
mere corpus Domini neglexerint.' others, may be seen collected and
Lamb. Danaeus Apolog. pro Helvet. explained in Albertinu*, pp. 549,
Eccl. p. 30, alias 1479. 586. Sometimes the Fathers do in-
N. B. This account is right as to deed speak less accurately, of the
fact, that the unworthy do not re- unworthy receiving the body and
ceive the Body, but as to guilt in blood, meaning the outward symbols,
approaching the holy table, it is giving the name of the thing signi-
insufficient ; because, by this account, fied to the signs, by a metonymy,
there would be no difference between Compare Moreton, p. 320.
absenting, and unworthy receiving ;
vi i. feeding in the Eucharist. 141
be so, in the very nature of the thing, if we suppose (as we here
do) that the sacramental symbols are interpretatively, or in just
construction, by Divine appointment, the body and blood of
Christ. But this point also must be more minutely considered
in its proper place.
5. I proceed, in the last place, to examine the sentiments of
the ancients on this head : and if they fall in with the account
here given, we can then want nothing to set this matter in the
clearest light, or to fix it beyond all reasonable dispute.
A. D. 107. Ignatius.
Ignatius, occasionally reflecting on some persons who rejected
the use of the Eucharist, delivers his mind as here follows :
'They abstain from the Eucharist and prayer, because they
admit not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ
which suffered for our sins, and which the Father of his good-
ness raised from the dead : they therefore thus gainsaying the
gift of God, die in their disputes e .' It is to be noted, that those
misbelievers (probably the old visionaries, in Greek Docetae)
did not allow that our Lord had any real flesh or blood, con-
ceiving that his birth, passion, and resurrection were all ima-
ginary, were mere show and appearance. Thereupon they rejected
the Eucharist and the prayers thereto belonging, as founded
in the doctrine of our Lord's real humanity. Now, Ignatius
here intimates that the elements of bread and wine in the
Eucharist are, in just construction, the body, or flesh and blood
of Christ as dying, and as raised again : therefore he bore
about him a real body. The Eucharist being representative, and
also iuterpretatively exhibitive of such real flesh and blood, was
itself a standing memorial of the truth of the Church's doctrine
concerning our Lord's real humanity. Ignatius could not ima-
gine that the symbols were literally flesh and blood ; no one was
then weak enough to entertain so wild a thought : but if they
e E&XOpurrfaf KCU irpoo-fvxris air- iroT'Jjp frytiptv' ol olv a.vri\4yovrts Tp
ixovrai, Sia -rb /j.}) 6fj.o\ojf7v tv\a.p- Scapta rov eov, ffv^rjrovvrts airodvl)*
iffriav ffdpKa elvat TOV ffarrrjpos TJ/UWC ffxovffi. Ignat. ad Smyrn. cap. 7.
'ITJCTOV Xptorov, TTJV vitfp auapriiov Vid. Albertin. p. 286, &c.
T,p.;jiiv iraOovffco', *<)v rfj \pi\ff-r6rriri A
143 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
were constructionally or interpretatively so, it was sufficient, being
all that his argument required. The Eucharist, so understood,
supposed a real body of flesh and blood belonging to our blessed
Lord, both as dying and rising again : for, without that suppo-
sition, the Eucharist was no Eucharist at all, a representation of
nothing, or a false representation f ; and that the misbelievers
themselves were very sensible of, and therefore abstained from
it. I may further observe, that Ignatius here supposes not, with
the consubstantiators, a natural body of Christ locally present,
and a sacramental one besides ; but it is all one symbolical body
in the Eucharist, supplying the place of the natural, in real
effect, and to all saving purposes. The Eucharist, that is, the
bread and wine, is (constructionally) the flesh of Jesus, &c. It
is not said, that it is with the flesh, or that one is in, with, or
under the other : so that Mr. Pfaffius had no occasion to triumph
here ?.
That Ignatius admitted of real and beneficial effects will be
plain from another passage : ' Breaking one bread, which is the
medicine of immortality, a preservative that we should not die,
but should live for ever in Jesus Christ V In what sense he
understood the thing so to be, will appear more fully when we
come to other Fathers, somewhat later in the same century. There
is one place more of this apostolical writer worth the reciting:
1 Chrysostom's reasoning, in like beyond all reasonable dispute ; as
case, is here very apposite, in Matt, every impartial reader will find, who
Horn. liii. p. 783. Ei y&p ^ air- will but be at the pains to look into
(Qavm & 'Irjffovs, rivos ovn&o\a TCI him, p. 286, &c.
rf\ov/j.fifa ; ' If Jesus did not really h "Eva &prov KAwiTts, 'As fort <f>dp-
die, what are the eucharistical ele- JUCUCOP aOavcurias, avriSoros TOV ^
ments symbols of?' N. B. The argu- axoBavfiv, oAAa 77 v in 'Irja-ot! Xpurrf
ment did not require or suppose a 8ia ira.vr6s. Ignat. ad. Ephes. cap.
corporal presence : a symbolical one 20. This was no flight, but the
was sufficient to confute the gain- standing doctrine of the author,
sayers, if Chrysostom had any judg- which he expresses without any
ment. Cp. Pseud. Origen. Dialog, figure elsewhere. Epist. ad Sinyrn.
contr. Marcion, p. 853. cap. 7 : ffvvfQfpfv 8e avrots aycurav,
e Pfaffius (p. 263) appears to tri- Iva. KCU cuxtfaaiv. ' It behoves them
umph over Albertinus, with respect to celebrate the feast of the Eucha-
to this passage of Ignatius : but Al- rist, (so I understand aycarav, with
bertinus had very justly explained it, Cotelerius in loc.), that they may
and defended his explication with rise to life.'
great learning and solid judgment,
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 143
' The flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ is but one, and the cup one
unto the unity of his blood'.' He alluded, probably, to i Cor.
x. 1 6, ' communion of the blood of Christ,' and so the meaning is,
for the uniting us to Christ, first, and then, in and through him,
to one another, his one blood being the cement which binds head
and members all together.
A. D. 140. Justin Martyr.
Justin, another early Christian teacher and martyr, comes
next : I shall cite as much from him as may suffice to clear the
point in hand. ' This food we call the Eucharist : which no
one is allowed to partake of, but he that believes our doctrines to
be true, and who has been baptized in the laver of regeneration
for remission of sins, and lives up to what Christ has taught.
For we take not these as common bread and common drink : but
like as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being incarnate by the Word
of God, bore about him both flesh and blood for our salvation ;
so are we taught that this food which is blessed by the prayer of
the Word that came from him [God], and which is changed
into the nourishment of our flesh and blood, is the flesh and
blood of the incarnate Jesus. For the Apostles in their com-
mentaries, called the Gospels, have left it upon record, that Jesus
so commanded them ; for he took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he said, Do this in remembrance of me ; this is my
body : in like manner also he took the cup, and when he had
given thanks, he said, This is my blood k .' Upon this passage of
Justin may be observed as follows : i. That he supposed the
elements to be blessed or sanctified by virtue of the prayer of the
Word or Logos, first made use of in the institution, and remain-
ing in force to this day, in such a sense as I have explained above,
in the chapter of Consecration. 2. That Justin also supposed
the same elements, after consecration, to continue still bread
and wine, only not common bread and wine : for while he says,
1 Mlo 7&p fopl TO" Kvptov r)/j.eav k Justin Martyr. Apol. i. pp. 96,
'iTjcroG XpiiTToD, /cal v irorrjpiov eis 97. ed. Lond. See also above, chap.
tvoKTiv rov atuaros avrov. Ignat. ad iii. p. 503, where part of the same
Philad. cap. 4. passage is cited for another purpose.
144 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
it is not common bread, he supposes it to be bread. 3. That while
he supposes the consecrated elements to be changed into our
bodily nutriment, he could not have a thought of our Lord's
natural body's admitting such a change. 4. That nevertheless he
does maintain that such consecrated food is, in some sense or
other, the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus ; and he quotes
the words of the institution to prove it. 5. He supposes no
other flesh and blood locally present in the Eucharist, but that
very consecrated food which he speaks of; for that is the flesh
and blood. Therefore he affords no colour for imagining two
bodies, natural and sacramental, as locally present together, in
the way of consubstantiation. 6. It remains then, that he could
mean nothing else but the representative or symbolical body of
Christ, answering to the natural, (once upon the cross, and now
in heaven,) as proxies answer to their principals, as authentic
copies or exemplifications to their originals, in use, value, and
legal effect. For, that Justin cannot be understood of a bare
figure, or naked representation, appears from hence, that he sup-
poses a Divine power, the power of the Logos himself, (which
implies his spiritual presence,) to be necessary for making the
elements become such symbolical flesh and blood : whereas, if it
were only a figure, or representation, men might easily make it
themselves by their own power, and would need only the original
commission to warrant their doing it. 7- Though Justin (ad-
dressing himself to Jews or Pagans) does not speak so plainly of
the great Christian privileges or graces conferred in the Eucharist,
as Ignatius, writing to Christians, before him did, yet he has
tacitly insinuated the same things ; as well by mentioning
the previous qualifications requisite for it, as also by observing
that the [symbolical] flesh and blood of Christ are incorporate with
ours : from whence by just inference all the rest follows, as every
grace is implied in such our interpretative union with Christ
crucified or glorified. Besides that our author supposed, as I
before noted, a real spiritual presence of the Divine nature of
our Lord in or with the elements, to make them effectually the
body and blood of Christ : and he carries it so high, as to draw
a comparison from the presence of the Logos to our Lord's
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 145
humanity, whereof the Eucharist is a kind of emblem, though in
a loose general way, faint and imperfect 1 . Thus much however
is common to both : that there is a presence of the Logos with
something corporeal ; a presence with something considered
his body ; and a presence operating in conjunction with that
body for the uniting all his true members together under him
their head. But that such comparisons help to clear the subject
is more than I will say ; being sensible that they are far from
exact, and may want distinctions to make them bear, or other-
wise may be apt to mislead : it is enough, if we can but come at
the true and full sense of the authors.
A.D. 176. Irenaeus.
Irenaeus's doctrine of the Eucharist, so far as concerns this
present chapter, may be understood from the passages here fol-
lowing, together with some explanatory remarks which I mean
to add to them.
' How can they say that the flesh goes to corruption, and never
more partakes of life, when it is fed with the body of our Lord,
and with his blood 1 . . As the terrestrial bread upon receiving the
invocation of God is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist,
consisting of two things, terrestrial and celestial ; so also our
bodies, upon receiving the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible,
having an assurance of a resurrection to all eternity m .' ' But if
this flesh of ours has no title to salvation, then neither did our
Lord redeem us with his own blood, nor is the cup of the Eucha-
rist the communion [communication] of his blood, nor the bread
which we break the communion [communication] of his body.
For it is not blood, if it is not of the veins and flesh, and what-
1 See the Doctrinal Use of the eof, owe trt Kotvbs &pro$ itrrlv, dAA'
Sacraments considered, vol. v. p. tvxapKrria, /c Svo irpayfidruii' trvvea-
114. rrjKvia, tiriyfiov re Kal ovpaviov OVTWS
m Tlios r^v ffdpKa \4yovffiv tls <f>6o- Kal ra (ru/f-MTa TtfuSiv /j.eTa\an/3di>orTa
pav xvpw, /cat (*fy fjitrx ftv T '}* C o '*} s T *)s fvxapurrias fj.f]Keri flfai <p6apT&,
TTJV axb TOV <Tta/j.aTos roii Kvpiov Kal T^V t\tri$a rrjs tls aioovas avaffrdo-eus
rov a'lfj.aros aurov Tpetyofj.fvrjj' ; .... $x ovra - Iren. lib. iv. cap. 1 8. p. 251.
els yctp airb yfis &pros irpocr\a.fj.0av- ed. Bened.
6fj.tvos HKK\T)(TU> [forte MK\rj(ni>] TOV
146 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
ever else makes up the substance of the human frame, such as
the Word was really made n .' A little after, the author adds
this large explanatory passage, worth the noting : ' The crea-
ture of the cup he declared to be his own blood, with which he
imbues our blood ; and the creature of bread he affirmed to be
his own body, out of which our bodies grow up. When there-
fore the mingled cup and the created bread receive the Word of
God, and the Eucharist becomes Christ's body, and by these the
substance of our flesh grows and consists, how can they say, that
the flesh is not capable of the gift of God, (namely, life eternal,)
when it is fed with the body and blood of Christ, and is member
of him 1 To this purpose speaks St. Paul in his Epistle to the
Ephesians, that we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of
his bones, Ephes. v. 30. . . . The flesh is nourished by the cup
which is his blood, and is increased by the bread which is his
body. And like as a branch of the vine put into the ground
brings forth fruit in its season, and a grain of wheat falling into
the ground and there dissolved, riseth again with manifest in-
crease, by the Spirit of God that containeth all things ; and
those afterwards by Divine wisdom serve for the use of man,
and receiving the Logos [Word] of God, become the Eucharist,
which is the body and blood of Christ : so also our bodies being
fed by it, [viz. the Eucharist,] and laid in the ground, and dis-
solving there, shall yet arise in their season, by means of the
Divine Logos vouchsafing them a resurrection to the glory of
God the Father /
From these several passages thus laid together, I take the
liberty to observe : i. That our author had no notion of the
elements being changed, upon consecration, into the natural body
of Christ ; for he supposes them still to remain as the earthly
part, and to be converted into bodily nutriment ; which to affirm
of our Lord's body, crucified or glorified, would be infinitely
n 'Si autem non salvetur haec Sanguis enim non est nisi a venis et
[caro], videlicet nee Dominus san- carnibus, et a reliqua quae secundum
guine suo redemit nos, neque calix hominem est substantia, qua vere
Eucharistiae communicatio sanguinis factum est Verbum Dei.' Iren. lib.
ejus est, neque panis quern fran<ji- v. cap. 2. p. 293.
mus communicatio corporis ejus est. Iren. lib. v. p. 294.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 147
absurd P. 2. Neither does our author at all favour the notion of
Christ's natural body being literally and locally present under or
with the elements : for the heavenly thing supposed to super-
vened in the consecration, and to be present, is not Christ's
natural body, but the Logos, or Divine nature of our Lord, or
the Holy Spirit. Or if he did suppose the heavenly thing to be
Christ's glorified body, yet even that amounts to no more
than saying that our mystical union with his body is made or
strengthened in the Eucharist; not by any local presence of that
body, but as our mystical union with all the true members is
therein perfected, at whatever distance they are : so that whether
we interpret the heavenly part of the Logos, or of the body of
Christ, Irenaeus will not be found to favour the Lutheran notion
of the presence. 3. But least of all does he favour the figurists
or memorialists ; for his doctrine runs directly counter to them
almost in every line. He asserts over and over, that Christ's
body and blood are eaten and drank in the Eucharist, and our
bodies thereby fed ; and not only so, but insured thereby for
a happy resurrection : and the reason he gives is, that our
bodies are thereby made or continued members of Christ's
body, flesh, and bones : and his conclusion is built on this
principle, that members follow the head, or that the parts
go with the whole : which reasoning supposes that the sacred
symbols, though not literally, are yet interpretatively, or con-
structionally, the body and blood r . 4. To make the symbols
P Compare a fragment of Irenaeus, body, which they suppose to be lo-
p. 343, concerning Blandina ; from cally present : or that any feeding
which it is manifest that the Chris- is a pledge of a happy resurrection,
tians despised the Pagans for imagin- since they suppose the feeding com-
ing that Christ's body and blood were nion both to good and bad. Hence
supposed to be literally eaten in the it is, that they can make no sense of
Eucharist : they rejected the thought Irenaeus's argument. See Pfaffius,
with abhorrence. pp. 72, 7.3, 84, 85, 104. Deylingius,
1 1n like manner, Nazianzen makes Obse:v. Miscellan. pp. 75, 76. They
Baptism to consist of two things, might perceive, if they pleased, from
water and the Spirit ; which answers this plain mark, that their scheme
to Irenaeus's earthly and heavenly has a flaw in it, and cannot stand,
parts in the Eucharist. Gregor. Na- The mistake is owing to the want of
zianz. Orat. xi. p. 641. considering the nature of symbolical
r N.B. The Lutherans know not language and symbolical grants. Our
how to allow, in their way, that our bodies are not literally, but symbol-
bodies are so fed with the Lord's ically fed with our Lord's body ;
L 2
148 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
answer in such a view, he supposes the concurrence of a
Divine power to secure the effect, a spiritual presence of the
Logos. 5. One thing only I conceive our author to be inaccu-
rate in, (though perhaps more in expression than real meaning,)
in superinducing the Logos upon the symbols themselves,
rather than upon the recipients, which would have been better.
But in a popular way of speaking, and with respect to the
main thing, they may amount to the same : and it was not
needful to distinguish critically about a mode of speech, while
there was no suspicion of wrong notions being grafted upon it,
as hath since happened. 6. Lastly, I may note that these larger
passages of Irenaeus may serve as good comments upon the
shorter ones of Ignatius before cited : and so Ignatius may lend
antiquity to Irenaeus's sentiments, while Irenaeus's add light and
strength to his.
A.D. 192. Clemens of Alexandria.
This Clemens was a person of infinite reading, and of great
reputation in the Christian Church. His pieces are all of them
learned, though not always so clear as might be wished. In a
very full head, ideas are often crowded, and have not room to be
distinctly ranged. Our author appears to have had elevated
sentiments of the Christian Eucharist, but such as require close
attention to see to the bottom of. He writes thus :
' The blood of the Lord is twofold, the carnal by which we
are redeemed from corruption, and the spiritual by which we
are anointed : to drink the blood of Jesus is to partake of our
Lord's immortality. Moreover, the power of the Word is the
Spirit, as blood is of the flesh. And correspondently, as wine
is mingled with water, so is the Spirit with the man : and as
the mingled cup goes for drink, so the Spirit leads to immor-
tality. Again, the mixture of these two, viz. of the drink and
which in effect is tantamount : there lingius concludes, however it be. (that
lies the whole mystery of the matter ; is, though he can make no consistent
and thereupon hangs Irenaeus's ar- sense of his author,) yet Irenaeus is
gument. Good men are considered in clear for real presence. Not at all in
that action as so fed ; and it will be the Lutheran or the Popish sense ;
imputed to them, and accepted by but only so far as symbolical and
God, as if it literally were so. Dey- effectual amount to real.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 149
of the Logos together, is called the Eucharist, viz. glorious and
excellent grace, whereof those who partake in faith are sanc-
tified, both body and soul. The Father's appointment mysti-
cally tempers man, a Divine mixture, with the Spirit and the
Logos : for, in veiy deed, the Spirit joins himself with the soul
as sustained by him, and the Logos with the flesh, for which the
Logos became flesh s .' What I have to observe of these lines of
Clemens may be comprised in the particulars here following :
i. The first thing to be taken notice of, is the twofold blood
of Christ : by which Clemens understands the natural blood shed
upon the cross, and the spiritual blood exhibited in the Eucha-
rist, namely, spiritual graces, the unction of the Holy Spirit, and
union with the Logos, together with Avhat is consequent there-
upon. As to parallel places of the Fathers, who speak of the
anointing, in the Eucharist, with the blood of Christ through the
Spirit, the reader may consult Mr. Aubertine fc ; or Bishop Fell
in his notes upon Cyprian u . St. Jerome seems to have used the
like distinction with Clemens between the natural and spiritual
body and blood of Christ x . If we would take in all the several
kinds of our Lord's body, or all the notions that have gone under
that name, they amount to these four : i. His natural body,
considered first as mortal, and next as immortal. 2. His typical
s AITTOI/ 8e TO aijua rov Kvplov' rb 8e trap!;, Ty \6ycf 5j' fyv 6 \6yos
/j.(f yap eo-nv avrov ffapKinbv $ rrjs ytyove fftip. Clem. Alex. Paedag.
tpOopas \e\vr p& fitOa' rb Se irvfv/j.ari- lib. ii. c. 2. pp. I77> !7^- Compare
KOC, rovrtffTLv 3i Kt^pia /j.t6a' Kal rovr' Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, part
firrtv TTttiv rb alfta rov 'Irjcrov, TTJS KV- i. p. 188.
ptaxris jueraAa/SeiV a(p6ap<rias. 'Icrxvs * Albertinus de Eucharistia, p.
5e roO \6yov rb trvtvp.a, us af/ua (rap- 380.
K<$S. ' A.va\6y<>>5 roivvv tctpvarcu, 6 u Cyprian. Ep. Ixx. p. 190. Note
^.e*' olvos T<f vSart, ry 8e avOptairtf that the words in that edition are,
rb irvev/Lia. Kal rb fj.tv els iria-riv 'Eucharistia est unde baptizati un-
[leg. ir6ffiv] fixaxf?, rb fcpa/ua 1 rb Se guntur, oleum in altari sanctifica-
(1s afyQapaiav oSrjyei, rb irytvfji.a,' TJ Se turn.' But in the Benedictine edition,
a.fj.<pa7v avBts Kpcuns, irorou re Kal \6- p. 125, the latter part is corrected
you, tvx.apiffrta (ce/cArjTai, x^P iS 6 1ra " / " into ' oleo in altari sanctificato.'
ov/j.evri KOI Ka\rf ^s ol Kara iriffnv x ' Dupliciter vero sanguis Christi
HerahanBdvovres, ayi.doi>rai Kal <ru>/jia et caro intelligitur : vel spiritualis
Kal ^/vx^v rb Bfiov Kpa/j.a, rbv avSpia- ilia atque divina, de qua ipse dixit
Troy, ToO irarptKov 0ouA^/naros irvtv- Joan. vi. 54, 56 ; vel caro, et sanguis,
yuan Kal \6yif ffvyKipvavros HVVTIKUS' quae crucifixa est, et qui militis ef-
Kal yap us a\-rj9ias fj.tv rb irvtvfj.a (pKei- fusus est lancea.' Hieron. in Eph.
urai ry KTT' avrov (pfpofifi/ri tyvxfi' i} c. i. p. 328.
150 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
or symbolical body, viz. the outward sign in the Eucharist.
3. His spiritual body, in or out of the Eucharist, viz. the thing
signified. 4. His mystical body, that is, his Church. But I
proceed.
2. The next observation to be made upon Clemens is, that he
manifestly excludes the natural body of Christ from being lite-
rally or locally present in the Sacrament, admitting only the
spiritual ; which he interprets of the Logos .and of the Holy
Spirit, one conceived more particularly to sanctify the body, and
the other the soul, and both inhabiting the regenerate man.
Which general doctrine, abstracting from the case of the Eucha-
rist, is founded in express Scripture y, and may by just and clear
consequence be applied to the Eucharist, in virtue of the words
of the institution, and of John vi. and other texts, besides the
plain nature and reason of the thing.
3. Another thing to be observed of Clemens is, that as he
plainly rejects any corporal and local presence, so does he as
plainly reject the low notions of the figurists or memorialists :
for no man ever expressed himself more strongly in favour of
spiritual graces conveyed in the Eucharist.
4. It may be further noted, which shews our author's care and
accuracy, that he brings not the Logos and Holy Spirit so much
upon the elements, as upon the persons, viz. the worthy receivers,
to sanctify them both in body and soul. He does indeed speak
of the mixture of the wine and the Logos ; and if he is to
be understood of the personal, and not vocal, Word, he then
supposes the Eucharist to consist of two things, earthly and
heavenly, just as Irenaeus before him did : but even upon that
supposition, he might really mean no more than that the com-
municant received both together, both at the same instant. They
were only so far mixed, as being both administered at the same
time, and to the same person, receiving the one with his mouth,
and the other with his mind, strengthened at once both in body
and in soul z . Clemens, in another place, cites part of the insti-
y John xiv. 16, 17, 23. I Cor. iii. considerantur, tanquam unum aggre-
16, 17 ; vi. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 1 6. gatum, idque ob conjunctam ambo-
z ' Signum signatumque conjunctim rum exhibitionem et participationem
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 151
tution, by memory perhaps, as follows : ' He blessed the wine,
saying, Take, drink ; this is my blood. The blood of the grape
mystically signifies the Word poured forth for many, for the
remission of sins, that holy torrent of gladness a .' Three things
are observable from this passage : one, that the wine of the
Eucharist, after consecration, is still the blood of the grape :
another, that it is called the blood of Christ, or blood of the
Logos, (as Origen also b styles it,) symbolically signifying and
exhibiting the fruits of the passion : lastly, that those fruits are
owing to the union of the Logos with the suffering humanity.
These principles all naturally fall in with the accounts I have
before given.
A.D. 200. Tertullian.
The sentiments of the African Christians, in those early days,
may be probably judged of by Tertullian, a very learned and
acute writer, who thus expresses them : ' Bread is the Word
of the living God, which came down from heaven ; besides
that his body also is understood in bread : This is my body.
Therefore in asking our daily bread, we ask for perpetuity in
Christ, and to be undivided from his body 6 .' Here our author
teaches that the Divine nature of our Lord is our bread, and
likewise that his human nature is our bread also, given us in
or under the symbol of the sacramental bread. So Rigaltius d
interprets the passage, quoting a similar passage of St. Austin :
in usu legitimo. Quam conjunctionem b Orig. in Levit. Horn. ix. p. 243.
vulgo vocant unionem sacramenta- See above, p. 54, and compare Cy
lem, sed non usque adeo convenien- rill. Alex, contra Nestor. 1. v. p.
ter ; cum non signatum cum signo, 123.
sed nobiscum uniatur, eoque potius, c ' Panis est Sermo Dei vivi, qui
minus saltern ambigue, conjunctio descendit de caelis. Turn quod et
pacti debeat nominari.' Vossius, de corpus ejus in pane censetur : Hoc est
Sacram. Vi et Effic. p. 250. Cp. corpusmeum. Itaque petendo panem
Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 544. quotidianum, perpetuitatem postula-
a Kai tv\6yri(riv ye rbv olvov, tlir<\>v, mus in Christo, et individuitatem a
Aa$eTe, ir'ttrf rovr6 jiiou fffrlv rb corpore ejus.' Tertullian. de Orat.
oTua. Af/xa TTJS a/j.Tre\ov rbv \6yov C. vi. pp. 131, 132.
r)>v irtpi iro\\&i> tKxtd/J-tvov fls &(f>ecni> d ' Sic videtur explicari posse : Per
afj.apTi.cav, fvtfipoffvvqs ayiov a\\r]yo- panis sacramentum commendat cor-
ps? 1/a.fj.a. Clem. Paedag. lib. ii. cap. pus suum : quemadmodum Augusti-
2. p. 186. I have altered the com- nus 1. i. Quae^t. Evang. 43. dixit,
mon pointing, for the improving the Per vini sacramentum commendat
sense. sanguinoin suum.' Eigalt. in loc.
152 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
but the reader may compare Albertinus 6 . We can allow the
Romanists here to understand Christ's real and natural body
given in the Sacrament, but mystically, spiritually, and inter-
pretatively given; as a right may be given us to a distant
possession. Tertullian seems to understand body, of the body
glorified, because he speaks of our being undivided from it, and
may best be explained of the mystical union between Christ and
his members, perfected in this Sacrament : which kind of union,
as I have more than once hinted, supposes no local corporal
presence, nor infers any.
Tertullian elsewhere speaks of our bodies as being fed with
the body and blood of Christ, that our souls may be feasted with
God, or may feed upon God f . There I understand body and
blood of Christ, of the sacramental, symbolical body and blood,
that is, of the bread and wine, which literally nourish the body of
man, and symbolically the soul. Signs often bear the names of
the things signified, as Tertullian more than once intimates with
reference to this very case z. And when he says, that Christ
made the bread his own body h , he must be understood of the
symbolical body, (the figure, or symbol of the natural body,)
representing i and exhibiting the thing signified.
But I must observe further, that when Tertullian builds an
argument for the resurrection of the body upon this consideration,
that our bodies are fed with the symbolical body of Christ, (as
I have explained it,) he cannot be understood to mean less than
that the symbolical body is constructionally or interpretatively
the real body ; and so our bodies are literally fed with one, while
mystically and spiritually fed with the other also. Without this
supposition, there is no force at all in his argument for the
e Albertinus de Eucharist, p. 344. ' Panem corpus suum appellans.'
He understands it thus: that bread Tertull. adv. Jud. cap. x. p. 196.
is a name for the sacramental body, contr. Mar. lib. iii. cap. 19. p.
as well as for common bread, and for 408.
spiritual food, i.e. Christ himself. h 'Acceptumpanemetdistributum
1 'Caro cor pore et sanguine Christ! discipulis corpus ilium suum fecit,
vescitur, ut et anima de Deo sagine- Hoc EST COBPUS MEUM dicendo : id
tur : non possunt ergo separari in est, figuracorporismei.' Contr. Marc,
mercede, quas opera conjungit.' Ter- I. iv. cap. 40. p. 458.
tull. de Resur. Carn. cap. viii. p. 330. ' ' Panem quo ipsum corpus suum
Cp. Albertin. p. 340. repraesentat. 1 Contr. Marc. lib. L
vii. feeding in the Eiickarist. 153
resurrection. Our bodies are considered as fed with Christ's
natural body, therefore they are considered as pertaining to, or
mingled with his body; therefore they are in construction one flesh
with him ; therefore, as his body is glorified, so also will ours be,
head and members together. Such is the tour of the argument,
such the chain of ideas that forms it \ Which is confirmed by
what he adds, viz. that soul and body being partners in the work,
will share also in the reward. What is the work 1 The work of
feeding upon Christ : both feast together here upon the same
Lord, therefore both shall enjoy the same Lord hereafter. Which
inference implies that even our bodies are in some sense (namely,
in the mystical and constructional sense) fed with our Lord's
natural body, as crucified, or as glorified. Enough has been
said, to give the reader a competent notion of Tertullian's
doctrine on this head. I shall only take notice further, that the
acute and learned Pfaffius, following the Lutheran hypothesis,
has collected many testimonies seemingly favouring that side,
but then, very ingenuously, has matched them with others which
are directly repugnant to it ; and he has left them facing each
other 1 , unreconciled, irreconcilable. How easily might all have
been set right, had he but considered a very common thing,
called construction of law, or duly attended to the symbolical
language which Scripture and Fathers abound in. To what
purpose is it to cite Fathers in any cause, without reconciling
the evidence 1 Self- contradictory evidence is null or none. But
I proceed.
A.D. 240. Origen.
Bullinger, in his treatise against Casaubon, cites a passage as
Origen's which runs thus : ' He that partakes of the bread, par-
takes also of the Lord's body : for we look not to the objects of
sense lying before us, but we lift up the soul by faith to the body
of the Logos. For he said not, This is the symbol, but This is
fc A collection of other ancient though he does not account for it in
testimonies, so far as concerns that the same way.
argument, may be seen in Johnson, ' Vid. Pfaffius de Consecrat. Vet.
(Unbl. Sacr. part ii p. no, &c.), Euchar. pp. 465, 470, 471.
154 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
the body ; to prevent any one's thinking that it was a type m .'
Albertinus throws off this passage as spurious, and as the pro-
duct of some modern Greek n . Huetius comes after, and blames
him for arbitrarily cutting the knot , as he supposes. But
there would be no great difficulty in untying the knot, were it
certain that the words are Origen's. I will suppose that they
are ; and indeed I see no good reason why they may not. He
seems to have intended nothing more but to raise up vulgar
minds from grovelling apprehensions to heavenly contemplations.
Such exhortations to the populace are frequent in other Fathers.
Origen admits not of naked signs, or mere figures : he was no
Sacramentarian. He thought, very rightly, that the words of
the institution were too strong and emphatical to submit to so
low a meaning. He conceived that, under the symbolical body,
was to be understood the natural body of Christ, the body of the
Logos. If we take in another passage of Origen's, out of one of
his Homilies P, and join it with this, there will then appear a
threefold, elegant gradation in his whole account, as thus : Look
not to the typical body, but raise your minds higher up to the
natural flesh of Christ : yea, and stop not there, but ascend still
higher, from human to Divine, conceiving that flesh as personally
united with the Divine Logos, or as the body of God. All which
is true and sound doctrine, and very proper subject-matter for
Christian exhortations : I need not add, that the whole is ex-
tremely suitable to what I have been maintaining all along in
this chapter.
A.D. 250. Cyprian.
It is frequent with Cyprian to speak of the sacred elements
under the name of our Lord's body and blood. I need not cite
passages to prove what no one who has ever looked into that
author can doubt of : in what sense he so styled them, pursuant
m Kol yao 6 aprov Ai T f'x" TW contr. Casaub. p. 617.
a&ttaros Kvplov jteTaAajtjSavei' ov yap n Albertin. de Eucharist, lib. ii.
irpoffexo/J-f TJJ Qvfffi -ruv alff6i)Tios cap. 3. p. 367.
irpoKetufvwv, aAV avdyonfv T^V ^i>xV Huetii Origeniana, p. 182.
8ia in<rrM M rb TOV \6yov aw/j.a. P 'Non baereas in sanguine carnis,
oil yap flire, rovrA 3<m ffv/j.Bo\ov, sed disce potius sanguinem Verbi, '
oA\a rovr6 imi ffu/j-a' 5i/cTiai$, 'iva. &c. Orig. in Levit. Horn. is. p.
p.)) von'ifo Tts Tviiov (Ifcu. Bulling 243.
vii. feeding in the EucJiarist. 155
to the words of the institution, is the single question. He says,
in a certain place, that our Lord, in the original Eucharist,
offered up bread and wine, viz. his own body and blood q. It
is plain that he thought not of trausubstantiation, since he calls
the elements bread and wine, even after consecration, and sup-
poses besides, that Christ offered the same in substance that Mel-
chizedeck had offered long before the incarnation. Neither could
Cyprian think of consubstantiation, since he admits of no other
body and blood as there present, and literally offered, but the
same individual bread and wine : they were the body and blood.
But how were they such, since they were not so, strictly and
literally? I answer, they were figuratively such, according to our
author : not that the elements were by him supposed to be mere
figures, or memorials, or representations; but what they repre-
sented, that they represented with effect, and so amounted in
just construction and beneficial influence to the same thing. This
was the notion he had of them, as will sufficiently appear from
several clear passages. He supposes the natural blood of Christ
by which- we are redeemed, to be in the cup, in some sense or
other, when the sacred wine is there r : the wine represents it,
stands for it, and is interpretatively the same thing. He could
not well mean less than this, by saying, that the blood is signified
(ostenditur) in the wine, and that it is supposed to be in the cup,
' videtur esse in calice,' is looked upon as being there. Not
literally to be sure, but constructionally, and in effect : for the
effects, according to him, upon every faithful receiver, are remis-
sion of sins 3 , and spiritual strength against the adversary 4 , and
i ' Sacrificium Deo Patri obtulit, ' Epotato sanguine Domini et po-
et obtulit hoc idem quod Melchise- culo ealutari, exponatur memoria
dech obtulerat, id est, panem et veteris hominis, et fiat oblivio con-
vinum, suum scilicet corpus et san- versationis pristinae saecularis, et
guinem.' Cypr. Epist. Ixiii. p. 105. moeatum pectus et triste, quod prius
ed. Bened., alias p. 149. peccatis angentibus premebatur, Di-
r 'Nee potest videri sanguis ejus, vinae indulgentiae laetitia resolva-
quo redempti et vivificati sumus, tur.' Cypr. Ep. Ixiii. p. 107, alias
esse in calice quando vinum desit 153.
calici, quo Christi sanguis ostenditur, * ' Protectionesanguinis et corporis
qui Scripturarum omnium Sacramen- Christ! muniainus ; et cum ad hoc
to ac testimonio praedicatur.' Ep. fiat Eucharistia, ut possit accipienti-
Ixiii. p. 104. bus esse tutela, quos tutos esse con-
Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
life eternal 11 . So far was he from the low and degrading notions
of the figurists in this article ; and yet sufficiently guarded (as I
have before hinted) against another extreme.
There are no more considerable authorities to be met with, so
far as concerns this article, till we come down to the fourth cen-
tury, and so on ; and there they are innumerable : all following
the same tenor of doctrine, all, when rightly understood, teach-
ing the same thing, in the main, with what I have here repre-
sented from their predecessors ; so that I know not whether it
might not be tedious to my readers, to proceed any further in a
recital of this kind. But I may single out one, as it were, by
way of specimen, leaving the rest to be judged of by that . and
that one may be Cyril of Jerusalem, as proper a sample perhaps
as any.
A.D. 348. Cyril of Jerusalem.
I do not know any one writer, among the ancients, who has
given a fuller or clearer, or in the main juster account of the
holy Eucharist, than this the elder Cyril has done ; though he
has often been strangely misconstrued by contending parties.
The true and ancient notions of the Eucharist came now to be
digested into somewhat of a more regular and accurate form,
and the manner of speaking of it became, as it were, fixed and
settled upon rules of art. Cyril expresses himself thus : ' Receive
we [the Eucharist] with all fulness of faith, as the body and
blood of Christ : for, under the type [or symbol] of bread, you
have his body given you, and under the type [or symbol] of
wine, you receive his blood ; that so partaking of the body and
blood of Christ, you may become flesh of his flesh, and blood of
his blood. For, by this means, we carry Christ about us, in as
much as his body and blood is distributed into our members :
thus do we become, according to St. Peter, partakers of the
Divine nature x .' The doctrine here taught is, that in the Eucha-
tra adversarium volumus, munimen- tiamjurecommunicationisaccipiunt.'
to Dominicae saturitatis armemus.' Cypr. de Orat. pp. 209, 210.
Ep. liv. p. 77> a li aa Ep. Ivii. p. * Mera irairTjs 7rA.7jpo<popt'as, ais
117- (TtafjLHTos /cat aVuaros fifra\a/j.0ayca-
u ' Manifestum est eos vivere qui fiev Xf<rroG' ev rinry yap aprov, Si-
corpus ejus attiugunt, et Eucharis- Sorai aoi rb a5>p.a, KO.\ Iv Tinrcp olvou
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 157
rist we receive (not literally, but symbolically) the natural body
and blood of Christ ; just as the priests of old, in eating the
sacrifices symbolically, but effectually, ate up the sins of the
people, or as the faithful Israelites, in eating manna and drink-
ing of the rock, effectually fed upon Christ. The symbolical
body and blood are here supposed by our author to supply the
place of the natural, and to be in construction and beneficial
effect (not substantially) the same thing with it ; and so he
speaks of our becoming by that means one flesh and one blood
with Christ, meaning it in as high a sense, as all the members of
Christ are one body, or as man and wife are one flesh. We
carry Christ about us, as we are mystically united to him. His
body and blood are considered as intermingled with ours y, when
the symbols of them really and strictly are so : for the benefit is
completely the same ; and God accepts of such symbolical union,
making it, to all saving purposes and intents, as effectual as any
the most real could be. Cyril never thought of any presence of
Christ's natural body and blood in the Sacrament, excepting
in mystery and figure, (which he expresses by the word 'type,')
and in real benefits and privileges.
He goes on to observe, that our Lord once told the Jews
(John vi. 54) of eating his flesh, &c. And they not understanding
SlSorai ffoi rb al/j.a. 'Iva yti>7}, p-tra- 272. Cp. in Matt. Horn. Ixxxiii.
ActyS&j' ffttifj.a.Tos Kal a'1/j.aTos XpiaroC, p. 788.
arva-<Toi/j.os Kal awat^os O.VTOV. OUTOI ' To shew the fervour of his affec-
yap Kal xP i<rTO( P^P ' ytv6fif6a. rov tion towards us, he has mingled
crcl>fj.aros avrov Kal rov afytaroy tls himself with us, and diffused his
TO -f)fj.fTfpa avaSiSo/j.fvou jueA.7j. OUTGO, own b >dy into us, that so we may
Kara rbv fj.aK<ipiov Tlfrpov, Oftas KUL- become one thing, as a body joined
vtuvol (pvfffws ytv6/ji.e6a. Cyrill. Hie- with the head.' Cp. Cyril. Alex,
rosol. Mystag. iv. sect. 3. p. 320. In Joan. pp. 365, 862. De Sanct.
ed. Bened. Trin. p. 407. Isidor. Pelus. lib. iii.
y Chrysostom, in like manner, ep. 195. p. 333.
speaks of Christ's intermingling his N.B. Cnrysostom else where speaks
body with ours, in the Eucharist ; as highly of Baptism, and of the min-
but explains it, at length, by the gling with our Lord's body, in that
mystical union therein contracted, or Sacrament also, [in Coloss. Horn. vi.
perfected between Christ the head, p. 201]; all which means nothing but
and us his members avf/j.i^fi' the mystical union. Chamier has dis-
favrbv i]fj.1v, Kal avf<pvpf rb ff<a/j.a cussed this whole matter at large, if
aiiroD els rind.?, 'Iva. '4v TI inrdp(a[j.ei>, the reader desires further satisfac-
Ko.Qa.irfp ffu/j.a Kf<pa\rj (rvvri/j.^tvov. tion. De Eucharist, lib. xi. cap. 8, 9.
Chrysost. in Joan. Horn. xlvi. p. p. 633, &c.
158
Sacramental or Symbolical
CHAP.
that it was spoken spiritually, [but taking the thing literally,]
were offended at it, as if he had been persuading them to devour
his flesh z . Hence it appears further, that our author was no
friend to the gross, literal construction. He proceeds as follows :
' Under the New Testament we have heavenly bread, and a cup
of salvation, sanctifying both body and soul : for as bread
answers to body, so the Logos suits with the soul a .' This
thought may be compared with another of Clemens above, some-
what like, and somewhat different. But both agree in two main
points, that the Eucharist sanctifies the worthy receiver both in
body and soul, and that Christ is properly present in his Divine
nature. Wherefore Cyril had the more reason for pressing his
exhortation afterwards in high and lofty terms : ' Consider them
[the elements] not as mere bread and wine ; for by our Lord's
express declaration, they are the body and blood of Christ.
And though your taste may suggest that to you, [viz. that they
are mere bread and wine,] yet let your faith keep you firm.
Judge not of the thing by your taste, but under a full persuasion
of faith be you undoubtedly assured, that you are vouchsafed the
body and blood of Christ 1 '.' This he said to draw off the minds
apry Kal Tip otv<f' <reofj.a yap Kal ai'/ua
Xpiffrov, Kara SfairoriKTjv rvyx af>fi
airdtyaffiv. El yap Kal TJ afoOnffis ffoi
TOVTO inrof)(i\\fi, aAA" fi irlffris ffe
''E.Kttvoi /j.
T>V Xfyo/
(is TO. 6iri<T(i>, vo/j.i<it>Tes %TI
firl irapKo^aytaf avrovs irporpfirtTat.
Cyril, ibid. p. 321.
Toutte"e, the Benedictine, here
blames our learned Milles for ren-
dering ' quae spiritualiter dicebantur,
non intelligerent,' instead of ' quae
dicebantur, spiritualiter non intelli-
gerent.' The criticism appears too
nice, making a distinction without
a difference ; for the sense is the
same either way. The Capernaites
were here censured for not spiritu-
ally construing what was spiritually
intended ; for taking literally, what
was meant spiritually : which is what
either translation at length resolves
into.
a "Ev rrj Kaivrj 8ia<W)K?, lipros ovpd-
vios, Kal iror-fipiov crcarripiov, \]/vx?l v Ka ^
ff<afj.a ayiafwra' &airep yap & apros
(T(afj.an KaTaAA.7jA.oy, ovrw Kal 6 \6yot
rrj ifuxj? ap/uJSios. Cyril, ibid. p. 231.
rb Ttpay/na. a\\' airb rrjs
ir\rtpo<f>opov avevSidffrtas ffta^aTos Kal
atjuaros Kpiffruv Karat(a6fis. Ibid.
p. 321.
N.B. The first Nicene Council (if
we may credit Gelasius) had words
to the same effect with these of Cy-
ril : not with any intent to declare
the nature or substance of the con-
secrated elements, (which none could
doubt of,) but to engage the atten-
tion to their appointed use, and to
the graces therein signified and con-
veyed. Vid. Gelas. Cyzicen. part 2.
concil. torn. i. p. 427. ed. Hard.
Cp. Albertin. p. 384, &c. Bishop
Moreton has largely explained it, b.
iv. chap. ii. sect. ii. p. 302, &c.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 159
of his audience from low and carnal apprehensions, that so they
might view those mysteries with the eye of faith, and not merely
with the eye of sense ; might look through the outward sign, to
the inward thing signified, and regale their spiritual taste more
than the sensual. This is what Cyril really meant : though
some moderns, coming to read him either with transubstantia-
tiou or consubstantiation in their heads, have amused themselves
with odd constructions of very innocent words.
As to his exhorting his audience not to take the elements for
mere bread and wine, it is just such another kind of address as
he had before made to them, first in relation to the waters of
Baptism, and next with regard to the Chrism. ' Look not to this
laver, as to ordinary water, but (attend) to the grace conferred
with the water c .' Would any sensible man conclude from hence,
that the water was transubstantiated, according to our author,
into some other substance 1 Let us go on to what he says of
the Chrism. ' Have a care of suspecting that this is ordinary
ointment, [or mere ointment] ; for, like as the sacramental
bread, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no more
bare bread, but the body of Christ, so also this holy unguent is
no more bare ointment, nor to be called common, after the invo-
cation ; but it is the grace of Christ and of the Holy Spirit,
endowed with special energy by the presence of his Godhead :
and it is symbolically spread over the forehead and other parts
of the body. So then the body is anointed with the visible
unguent, but the soul is sanctified by the enlivening Spirit d .'
I cite not this, as approving all that Cyril has here said of the
Chrism, (not standing upon Scripture authority,) but to give
light to what he has said of the Eucharist, which he compares
c Mr; is v'SoTi Atro5 irp6ffe^f T<j5 ovS' a>s civ ftiroi -ns K.OIVOV JUT' firi-
Xourpy, a\\a -rfi fjLfra TOV vSaros KX-r\aiv a\\a Xpicrrov x^P" T l Jia Ka ^
SiSo/utV?; x V 1T <- Cyrill. Catech. iii. Trvevp.a.'ros ayiov, irapowla rfjs avrov
p. 40. Vid. Albertin. 429. Cp. Chry- Oe^Tifros fi/fpytriK^v yiv&p.tvov. oirtp
sostom.in Matt. Horn. Ixxxiii. p. 787. ffv/j.f3u\iKcos firl nerdnrov Kal TUV &\-
d 'AAA' '6pa fj.^j unwo^tnjs txtlvo rb \<av ffov xplerat alff0ijTT)pi<av. Kal ry
/j.vpov if/i\bv flvai' Siffirtp yap o &pros (patt'o/j.fvw ftvpy rd ffca/^a xpifrai, rif
rrjs *i>xaprr/as, /uera r^jv 4ir'iK\T)(nv 5t ayicp Kal faiojroia) irvtv/j.ari f) ^v\r]
TOV aylov iri/tvfuaTos, OVK fn apros ayideTat. Mystag. iii. p. 3 1-7.
Airor, aAAa o-Si/j.a Xpitrrov, ovrca KOJ. Cp. Gregor. Nyssen. de Baptism.
r<5 ayiov TOVTO /j.vpov OVK TI \l/t\ov, torn. iii. p. 369.
160 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
with the other, while he supposes the cases parallel. He con-
ceived the elements in one case, and the unguent in the other, to
be exhibitive symbols of spiritual graces, instrumentally convey-
ing what they represent. The bread and wine, according to his
doctrine, are symbolically the body and blood : and by symboli-
cally he means the very same thing which I have otherwise
expressed by saying, that they are the body and blood in just
construction and beneficial effect. What Cyril feared with respect
to Baptism, and the Eucharist, and the Unction, was, that many in
low life (coming perhaps from the plough, the spade, or the pale)
might be dull of apprehension, and look no higher than to what
they saw, felt, or tasted. Upon the like suspicion was grounded
the ancient solemn preface to the Communion Service, called
Sursum Corda by the Latins : wherein the officiating minister
admonished the communicants to lift up their hearts, and they
made answer, We lift them up unto the Lord e .
To make the point we have been upon still plainer, let Cyril
be heard again, as he expresses the thing in a succeeding lecture.
' You hear the Psalmist with divine melody inviting you to the
communion of the holy mysteries, and saying, Taste and see
how gracious the Lord is. Leave it not to the bodily palate to
judge : no, but to faith clear of all doubting. For the tasters
are not commanded to taste bread and wine, but the antitype
[symbol] of the body and blood of Christ f .' Here our author
plainly owns the elements to be types, or symbols (as he had
done also before,) and therefore not the very things whereof they
are symbols ; not literally and strictly, but interpretatively, mys-
tically, and to all saving purposes and intents ; which suffices s.
e "A.vw ras KapSias. Cyril. Mystag. TCU yev<raa6a.i, aAAa avriTvirou craJ/ua-
v. p. 326. Cyprian, de Orat. Domiu. ros Kal afytaros rov Xpio-rov. Mystag.
p. 213, alias 152. Cp. Bingham, b. v. p. 331.
xv. c. 3. sect. 3. Renaudot. Liturg. K Deylingius seems to wonder at
Orient, vol. i. p. 226. Mr. Aubertine and Mr. Claude for
f 'AKOvere rov ^dAAoi/ros, jtsri fit- under-commenting, as he conceives,
\ovs Ofiov irporpfTrofj.fi>ov fytas ts TV with respect to Cyril : Deyling. Ob-
Koivuvlav riav ayiwv nvffrrjp'uev, Kol serv. Miscell. p. 157. But he attempts
Ae-yoj/Tos, ytvaaffQe ical fSere art xP"n~ no * to confute what they had said : it
ffrbs 6 Kvpios. M^7 rtj> \dpvyyi ry <TO>- was wiser to forbear. The utmost
/uaTc tTrirptirere ro Kpinic6v. ouxi. that any one can justly make of the
oAAa TTJ a.vtv5oidffr<f irlffrfi. ytvope- very strongest expressions in Cyril,
voi yap OVK Itprov Kal olvov Kt\fvoi>- can amount only to a mystical union
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 161
It is no marvel, if Mr. Toutte h and other Romanists interpret
Cyril to quite another purpose : but one may justly wonder how
the learned and impartial Dr. Grabe should construe Cyril in
that gross sense, which he mentions under the name of aug-
mentation i. I presume, he read Cyril with an eye to modern
controversy, and did not consider him as speaking to mechanics
and day-labourers : or, he was not aware of the difference there
is betAveen telling men what they are to believe, and what they
ought to attend to, which was Cyril's chief aim. As to believing,
he very well knew that every one would believe his senses^
and take bread to be bread, and wine to be wine, as himself
believed also : but he was afraid of their attending so entirely
to the report of their senses, as to forget the reports of sacred
Writ, which ought to be considered at the same time, and with
closer attention than the other, as being of everlasting concern-
ment. In short, he intended no lecture of faith against eyesight :
but he endeavoured, as much as possible, to draw off their atten-
tion k from the objects of sense to the object of faith, and from
the signs to the things signified.
It has been urged, as of moment, that Cyril compared the
change made in the Eucharist to the miraculous change of water
into wine wrought by our Lord in Cana of Galilee \ It is true
that he did so : but similitudes commonly are no arguments of
anything more than of some general resemblance. There was
power from above in that case, and so is there in this : and it
of Christ's body with the faithful com- (Deyling. Observat. Miscell. Exercit.
muuicaiits, as members of him; which ii. p. 163, &c.) Only I may note, by
is such an union as St. Paul resembles the way, that he has strained some
to that whereby man and wife are one things in favour of the Lutheran prin-
flesh, (Eph. v. 30, 31,) and which un- ciples, and has better confuted the
doubtedly is a moral union, indepen- Romanists than he has established
dent of local presence. his own hypothesis.
h Touttee, Dissert, iii. prefixed to ' Grabe, ad Tren. lib. v. cap. 2. in
his new edition of Cyril, c. ix. p. 204, notis, p. 399. Cp. Deyling. Obser-
&c. The reader may compare Alber- vat. Miscellan. p. 177.
tinus, (p. 422,) who had sufficiently k 'In Sacramentis non quid sint,
obviated everything pleadable on the sed quid ostendant, attenditur ; quo-
side of the Romanists. Compare also niam signa sunt rerum, aliud existen-
Johnson, (Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. tia et aliud significantia.' Augustin.
p. 257,) who has well defended Cyril contr. Max. lib. iii. cap. 22 : cp. de
on this head, and Deylhigius, who in Doct. Christ, cap. 7.
a set discourse has replied to Toutte"e. J Cyril. Mystag. iv. sect. 2. p. 320.
M
1 62 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
may be justly called a supernatural power m ; not upon the ele-
meuts to change their nature, but upon the communicants to add
spiritual strength to their souls. The operation in the Eucharist
is no natural work of any creature, but the supernatural grace
of God's Holy Spirit. Therefore Cyril's thought was not much
amiss, in resembling one supernatural operation to another,
agreeing in the general thing, differing in specialities. In a
large sense of the word miracle, there are miracles of grace, as
well as miracles of nature ; and the same Divine power operates
in both, but in a different way, as the ends and objects are
different.
I shall proceed no further with the Fathers on this head, be-
cause it would be tedious, and in a manner endless. None of
them, that I know of, carried the doctrine higher than this
Cyril did; but most of them, somewhere or other, added par-
ticular guards and explanations". All intended to say, that
the elements keeping their own nature and substance, aiid not
admitting a coalition with any other bodily substance, are sym-
bolically or in mystical construction, the body and blood of Christ ;
being appointed as such by Christ, accepted as such by God the
Father, and made such in effect by the Holy Spirit, to every faith-
ful receiver. So ran the general doctrine from the beginning
and downwards : neither am I aware of any considerable change
m 'Nequequaerituraut con trover- ' Sacramentum corporis et sangui-
titur an panis et vinum supernatural! nis ejus, quod est in pane et calice
virtu te, et omnipotentia divina a com- consecrato, corpus ejus et sanguinera
muni elementorum usu, in sublimi- dicimus : non quod proprie corpus
orem usum et dignitatem transmu- ejus sit panis, et poculum sanguis,
tentur : fatemur enim in Sacramen- sed quod in se mysterium corporis
tis omnino necesse esse, caelestem et ejus sanguinisque contineant. Hinc
Bupernafruralemmutationem superve- et ipse Dominus benedictum panem
nire, nee posse fieri Sacramentum nisi et calicem, quern discipul is tradidit,
per onmipotentiam Dei, cujus solius corpus et sanguinem suum vocavit.
est Sacramenta in ecclesia instituere, Quocirca, sicut Christi fideles, Sacra-
ipsisqne efficaciam tribuere.' Cosin. mentum corporis et sanguinis ejus
Hist. Transubst. cap. iv. p. 35 ; cp. accipientes, corpus et sanguinem
p. 1 24. Compare Johnson, Unbloody Christi recte dicuntur accipere ; sic
Sacrifice, part i. p. 258, alias 261. Al- et ipse Christus Sacramentum adop-
bertin. 855. tionis filiorum cum suscepisset, potuit
n For a specimen, we may take recte dici adoptionem filiorum ac-
notice of Facundus, as late as the cepisse.' Facund. Hermian. lib. ix.
middle of the sixth century, who cap. 5. Cp. Ephraem. Antioch. in
writes thus: Phot. Cod. 229. p. 793.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 163
made in it till the dark ages came on, the eighth, ninth, tenth,
and following centuries . The corruptions which grew up by
degrees, and prevailed more and more till the happy days of
reformation, are very well known P, and need no particular
recital.
Luther first, and afterwards Zuinglius, attempted a reform in
this article : but it was difficult to clear off the thick darkness
all at once ; and so neither of them did it to such perfection as
might have been wished. One threw off transubstantiation very
justly, but yet retained I know not what corporal, local presence,
and therefore did not retrench enough : the other threw off all
corporal and local presence very rightly, but threw off withal
(or too much neglected) the spiritual presence and spiritual
graces : which was retrenching a great deal too much q. It must
however be owned, that apologies have been since made for
Zuinglius, as for one that erred in expression rather than in real
meaning, or that corrected his sentiments on second thoughts r .
And it is certain that his friends and followers, within awhile,
came into the old and true notion of spiritual benefits 8 , and left
the low notion of naked signs and figures to the Anabaptists of
those times ; where they rested, till again revived by the Socin-
ians, who afterwards handed them down to the Eemonstrants.
Calvin came after Zuinglius, and refined upon his scheme,
steering a kind of middle course, between the extremes. He
appears to have set oift right, laying his groundwork with
good judgment : and had he but as carefully built upon it after-
See 1'Arroque, Hist, of the Eu- edit. Bened. A. D. 1215, the doc-
charist, part ii. cap. 12, 13, &c. trine was made an article of faith by
P In the year 787 the second Coun- the Lateran Council, under Innocent
cil of Nice began with a rash deter- the Third. Afterwards, it was re-
mination, that the sacred symbols established in the Trent Council,
are not figures or images at all, but A. D. 1551, and at length in Pope
the very body and blood. About Pius's Creed, A. D. 1 564.
831, Paschasius Radbertus carried it i Vid. Calvin, de Coena Domini,
further, even to transubstantiation, p. 10. et contr. Westphal. pp. 707,
or somewhat very like to it. The 774.
name of transubstantiation is sup- r See Archbishop Wake, Discourse
posed to have come in about A. D. on the Holy Eucharist, p. 83.
1 100, first mentioned by Hildebertus See Hooker, vol. ii. p. 327.
Cenomanensis of that time, p. 689.
M 2
164 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
wards, no fault could have been justly found. In the first edition
of his Institutions, (printed at Basil A. D. 1536,) he writes thus :
'We say that they [the body and blood] are truly and efficaciously
exhibited to us, but not naturally. By which we mean, not that
the very substance of his body, or that the real and natural body
of Christ are there given, but all the benefits which Christ pro-
cured for us in his body. This is that presence of his body
which the nature of a Sacrament requires *.' This came very
near the truth, and the whole truth : only there was an ambiguity,
which he was not aware of, in the words there given ; and so,
for want of a proper distinction, his account was too confused.
He should have said, that the natural body is there given, but
not there present, which is what he really meant. The mystical
union with our Lord's glorified body is there (or in that service)
strengthened, or perfected ; as a right may be given to a distant
possession : and such union as we now speak of, requires no
local presence of Christ's body. Here that great man and illus-
trious reformer was somewhat embroiled, and could never suffi-
ciently extricate himself afterwards. He was well aware, that
to assert only an application of the merit or virtue of Christ's
passion, in the Eucharist, came not fully up to many strong
expressions of the ancient Fathers relating to our union with
the natural and now glorified body : nay, it appeared to fall short
of St. Paul's doctrine, which represents the true disciples of
Christ, as members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones u .
I say, Calvin was well aware of this difficulty, and more especially
after he had been warmly pressed on that head, in his disputes
with the Lutherans. So he found himself to be under a neces-
sity of bringing in the natural body some way or other w , but did
* ' Dicimus vere et efficaciter exhi- w 'Neque enim mortis tantum ac
beri, non autem naturaliter. Quo sci- resurrectionis suae beneficium nobis
licet significamus, non substantiam offert Christus, sed corpus ipsum iu
ipsam corporis, seu verum et naturale quo passus est et resurrexit. Con-
Christi corpus illic dari, sed omnia cludo, realiter, hoc est vere, nobis in
quae in suo corpore nobis beneficia coena dari Chi isti corpus, ut sit ani-
Christus praestitit. Ea est corporis mis nostris in cibum salutarem In-
praesentia quaoi Sacramenti ratio telligo, substantia corporis pasci ani-
postulat.' Calvin. Instit. apud Wake, mas nostras, ut vere unum efficiamur
p- 47- cum eo : vel, quod idem valet, vim
u Ephes. v. 30. ex Christ! carne vivificam in nos per
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 165
it a little confusedly, and out of course. He made it the ground x ,
instead of reckoning it among the fruits : and he supposed the
glorified body to be, as it were, eaten in the Eucharist, when he
should only have said, that it became more perfectly united with
ours : and he further invented an obscure and unintelligible
notion of the virtue of Christ's flesh being brought down from
heaven and diffused all around, by the power of the Holy Spirit v .
All which perplexity seems to have been owing to the wrong
stating of a notion, which yet was true in the main, and which
wanted only to be better adjusted, by a more orderly ranging of
ideas, or by new casting it; which has been done since.
Our Divines, who came after Calvin, had some advantage in
point of time, and a greater still in the rule or method which
they pitched upon, as most proper to proceed by : which was,
not to strike out any new hypothesis or theories by strength of
wit, but to inquire after the old paths, and there to abide. Arch-
bishop Cranmer took this method : he was a judicious man, and
a well-read Divine ; and more particularly in what concerns the
Eucharist. We have the sum of his doctrine in the first page
of his preface.
'Where I use to speake sometymes, (as the olde authours
doo,) that Christe is in the Sacramentes, I meane the same as
they dyd understand the mattier : that is to say, not of Christes
carnall presence in the outwarde Sacrament, but sometymes of
his sacramentall presence ; and sometyme by this woorde sacra-
ment I meane the whole mynistration and receyvynge of the
Sacramentes, eyther of Baptisrne or of the Lordes Supper. And
Spiritum diffundi. quamvis longe a hensibili spiritus virtute ex carnis
nobisdistat, nee raisceatur nobiscum.' Christi substantia in nos diffundi.'
Calvin, in I Cor. xi. 24. p. 392. Cp. Calvin, contr. Westphal. p. 842.
contr. Westphal. pp. 774, 784. cp. 843.
1 Vid. Beza, Orat. apud Placaei 'Corpus quod nequaquam cernis,
Comment, de Stat. Relig. p. 1 12. Bi- spirituale est tibi alimentum. In-
shop Cosin follows the same way of credibilehocvidetur,pasci nos Christ
speaking ; Histor. Transubstan. pp. carne, quae tarn procul a nobis dis-
35- 43' 44) 45- **t? memineiimus, arcanum et miri-
y 'Plus centies occurrit in scriptis ficum esse. Spiritus Sancti opus,
meis, adeo me non rejicere substan- quod intelligentiae tuae modulo me-
tiae nomen, ut ingenue et libere pro- tin sit nefas.' Calvin, in I Cor. xi.
fitear spiritualem vitam, incompre- 24. p. 392.
1 66 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
so the olde writers many tymes dooe say, that Christe and the
Holy Ghoste be present in the Sacramentes ; not meanynge by
that manner of speache, that Christe and the Holy Ghoste be
presente in the water, bread, or wyne, (whiche be only the out-
ward vysyble Sacramentes,) but that in the dewe mynistration
of the Sacramentes, accordynge to Christes ordynance and insti-
tution, Christe and his Holy Spirite be trewly and indede present
by their mighty and sanctifying power, virtue, and grace in all
them that worthily receyve the same. Moreover, when I saye
and repeate many tymes in my booke, that the body of Christ
is present in them that worthyly receave the Sacramente, leaste
any man shulde mystake my woordes, and thynke that I mean,
that although Christe be not corporally in the outward visible
sygnes, yet hee is corporally in the persones that duely receive
them ; this is to advertise the reader, that I meane no suche
thynge : but my meanyng is, that the force, the grace, the virtue,
and benefyte of Christes bodye that was crucifyed for us, and
of his bloudde that was shedde for us, be really and effectually
present with all them that duely receave the Sacramentes. But
all this I understande of his spiritual presence, of the whyche
hee saythe, I wyll bee with you untyll the worldes ende : and,
Wheresoever two or three be gathered together in my name,
there am I in the myddes of them : and, He that eateth my
fleshe, and drynketh my bloude, dwelleth in me, and I in hym.
Nor no more truely is he corporally or really presente in the
due mynistration of the Lordes Supper, than he is in the due
mynistration of Baptisme z .' It is observable, that our judicious
author wisely avoids saying anything of the eating of Christ's
glorified body, for he speaks of the crucified only, and justly ex-
plains the spiritual manducation of it. He drops all mention here
of the mystical union with the body glorified, and so his account
may be thought a little defective as to that particular : but he
frequently takes notice of it in his book, as one of the effects or
1 Cranmer's Answ. to Gardiner, ever in the Scripture it is said that
edit. 1551. In the edition of 1580 Christ, God, or the Holy Ghost is
there is added, to the passage cited, in any man, the same is understood
as follows : ' That is to say, in both spiritually by grace.'
spiritually by grace : and whereso-
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 167
fruits of the spiritual manducation in the Eucharist, which
strengthens and confirms the worthy receivers as members of
Christ's natural body a .
I may spare myself the trouble of reciting the sentiments of
Bishop Ridley, and Bishop Latimer, and Mr. Bradford of that
time, and of Bishop Jewel who came not long after : for they all
agreed, in the main things, with Archbishop Cranmer, who may
therefore be looked upon as 'instar omnium,' while in him we
have all. I shall only take notice how our acutest Divines have,
time after time, hit off the difficulties which were once very
perplexing, by the use of proper distinctions, between the body
crucified and the body glorified ; as likewise between manduca-
tion and union. It will be sufficient to name two of them : one
wrote as early as the days of Queen Elizabeth, and the other as
late as King James the Second.
Dr. William Barlow b , in the year 1601, published a treatise
entitled, A Defence of the Articles of the Protestant Religion ;
which he dedicated to Bancroft, then Bishop of London : he
occasionally says something upon our present subject, which
may be worth the noting, though the style is not the most
commendable.
' Great difference there is (perchance not observed by many)
between our eating of Christ, and our uniting with him c
' i. We eat him as our Passover d ; that as the Israelites
ate the one " mortuum et assum," dead and roasted e , so we him
" crucifixum et passum," dead and slain. And so that speech of
St. Austin is true, we have him here " in pabulo" as he was " in
patibulo," torn and rent : as himself ordained the Sacrament " in
pane fracto," not " integro," the bread broken, not the whole loaf ;
thereby signifying, yea saying, that in doing it we must remember
him, not as living among us, but as dying for us ; " ut in cruce,
non in caelo," as he was crucified, not as he is glorified. Whereby
a Cranmer, pp. 16, 27, 43,44, 161, Bishop of Rochester in 1605, trans-
174, 199. Compare Jewel, Answ. to lated to Lincoln in 1608, died 1613.
Harding, art. v. p. 354, &c. c Barlow's Defence, &c. p. 124,
b The same that published a rela- &c.
tion of the Hampton Court Con- d 2 Cor. v. 7.
ference in 1604, an< l wa ^ made e Exod. xii. 9.
1 68 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
we conclude, first, for his presence, that his body is so far forth
there " quatenus editur," as it is eaten : but his body is eaten
as dead and slain ; so himself appointed it, This is my body,
and stayeth not there, but adds withal, Which is given for you.
And his blood is drunk, not as remaining in his veins, but as
shed : so himself speaketh, This is my blood of the new testa-
ment SHED for many. Now, his body bruised, and his blood
poured out, can no otherwise be present in the Eucharist, but
by a representation thereof in the bread broken, and in the wine
effused, of the one side ; and on the communicant's part, by a
grateful recordation of the benefits, a reverent valuation of the
sacrifice, a faithful application of his merits in his whole passion :
and therefore his presence must be saci*arnental, and our eating
spiritual ; for, " non quod videtur, sed quod creditur, pascit,"
saith St. Austin.
' 2. For the union, we are united to him "ut viventi," as our
living head, " et nos vivificanti," and making us his lively mem-
bers. It is true which Christ saith, that He which eateth my flesh,
abideth in me, and I in him f . Not that this union is first
begun in our participation of that holy Supper, (for none can
truly eat the body of Christ, unless he be first united with him,
and ingrafted into him : " nee vere edit corpus Christi, qui non
est de corpore Christi," saith St. Austin,) because " prima unio,"
(saith Aquinas,) the first union between God and man is begun
in Baptism by one Spirit ?, as the Apostle speaketh, and con-
tinueth, by faith, hope, and charity ; all these the operation of
the same Spirit.
' But if we truly eat the body, and drink the blood of Christ,
then by the power of the Holy Ghost, and faith co-operating, this
union is strengthened, the vigour and effects whereof, after a
true participation, we shall feel within ourselves more forcible
and lively. ... Is not Christ as present in Baptism, as in the
Eucharist 1 for in them both we communicate with him ; bred
anew in the one, fed anew in the other : and yet Christ's real
presence is not challenged for Baptism. If they say : No, because
of the Eucharist it was said, This is my body and blood, not so
1 John vi. 56. I Cor. xii. 13.
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. 169
of Baptism ; I answer : As much, if not more, was spoken by
the Apostle ; They which are baptized have put on Christ h .
Put him on we cannot, unless he be present : and the putting
him on is even the very same which he elsewhere calleth Christ's
dwelling in us \ namely, that in Baptism we are so transformed,
as now not we, but Christ alone doth live within us k ; as near
an unity as may 1 . And in truth St. Austin is out of doxibt,
that in Baptism the true member of Christ " corporis et sanguinis
Domini particeps fit," is partaker of the body and blood of the
Lord m : and therefore no reason withstands, but that he should
be really present in both, or in neithei*.' Thus far Bishop Barlow,
whose words I have here quoted at length, chiefly for the sake
of the distinction (as it is a very good one) between the mandu-
cation and the union; the former relating properly to Christ
considered as crucified and slain, and the latter to Christ con-
sidered as glorified and living for evermore. We eat him as from
the cross ; that is, we partake of the merits of his passion ; and
one of the fruits of his passion is our mystical union with his body
now glorified in heaven. One thing only I think wants correcting
in Barlow's account, that he seems to make the union antecedent
in natural order to the manducation ; which, I conceive, was
needless with respect to his argument, and is besides wrong in
itself, since our reconciliation by the death of Christ is, in
h Gal. iii. 27. Cp. Phot. Amphi- Christ is so really present in both
loch, apud Wolf. Cur. Crit. vol. ult. Sacraments, or in neither. If Christ
p. 737. means whole Christ, he must be as
1 Ephes. iii. 17. N. B. The obser- much present in body, to be put on
vation here urged appears to be per- in Baptism, as to be orally taken in
fectly just, and may be of great use the Eucharist : but who sees not that
for discovering the weakness of the this is straining figurative expressions
pleas made for the real and local pre- to a most extravagant excess ?
sence in the other Sacrament. The k Gal. ii. 20.
learnedBuddseus.forinstance, pleads, * I may here note, that the learned
that the giving of the body cannot Wolfius on Gal. iii. 27 allows, that
be understood without such real pre- the putting on Christ implies 'arctis-
sence of the body ; and that no com- simam communionem,' (p. 740,) the
munion can be without such real closest communion. Now compare
presence : ' Koivtavia inter res quae sibi Buddaeus's argument, or maxim, built
invicem praesentes non sunt, esse upon the word communion, as imply-
nequit.' In>titut. Theol. Dogmat. ing real presence, and then jiidge of
lib. v. cap. i. p. 1094. ^ ie ar g u " the conclusion resulting from the
ment manifestly proves too much ; premises,
proving (as Bar'ow well notes) that m See Fulgentius above, p. 564.
170 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
natural oi'der of conception, prior to all the blessings and privi-
leges arising from it. It is true that Baptism must be before
the Eucharist, and that the mystical union is begun in Baptism :
but then, (as our author himself afterwards very justly observes)
we partake of our Lord's body broken, and blood shed, that is,
of his death and passion, even in Baptism ; and that is the
ground and foundation of all our other Christian privileges.
Another excellent writer, whom I had in my eye, and now
intend to cite, is Dr. Aldrich, who in the year 1687 published a
valuable pamphlet, entitled a Reply to Two Discourses, where,
in a very clear and elegant style, and with great acuteness, he
has hit off the main difficulties relating to the real presence. He
writes thus :
' The natural body of our blessed Saviour comes under a two-
fold consideration in the Eucharist :
' i. As a body dead : under which notion we are said to eat it
in the Sacrament, and to drink the blood as shed ; as appears
by the words of the institution, Take and eat ; this is my body,
which is given or broken for you : drink ye all of this ; for this
is my blood, which is shed for you : in which words, as Mr.
Bradford long ago observed, what God has joined, we are not to
put asunder.
'2. As a glorified body : in which condition it now sits at the
right hand of God, and shall there continue till the restitution
of all things, imparting grace and influence, and all the benefits
purchased by the sacrifice of the dead body, to those that, in
the holy Eucharist most especially, are through faith and the
marvellous operation of the Holy Ghost, incorporated into Christ,
and so united to him, that they dwell in Christ and Christ in
them, they are one with Christ and Christ with them, they are
made members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones ; and by
partaking of the spirit of him their head, receive all the graces
and benefits purchased for them by his bitter death and passion.
'Wherefore it is evident, that since the body broken, and blood
shed, neither do nor can now really exist, they neither can be
really present, nor literally eaten or drank ; nor can we really
receive them, but only the benefits purchased by them. But the
vii. feeding in the Eucharist. iji
body which now exists, whereof we partake, and to which we
are united, is the glorified body : which is therefore verily and
indeed received . . . and by consequence said to be really present,
notwithstanding its local absence ; because a real participation
and union must needs imply a real presence, though they do not
necessarily require a local one. For it is easy to conceive, how
a thing that is locally absent may yet be really received, ... as
we commonly say, a man receives an estate, or inheritance, when
he receives the deeds or conveyances of it. ... The reception is
confessedly real, though the thing itself is not locally or circum-
scriptively present, or literally grasped in the arms of the re-
ceiver The Protestants all agree, that we spiritually eat
Christ's body, and drink his blood ; that we neither eat, nor drink,
nor receive the dead body, nor the blood shed, but only the bene-
fits purchased by them ; that those benefits are derived to us by
virtue of our union and communion with the glorified body 11 ,
and that our partaking of it and union with it is effected by
the mysterious and ineffable operation of the Holy Spirit. . . .
' Now though it be easy, as I said before, to conceive how a
natural substance may be said to be really received, though not
locally present, it is not so easy to conceive it really present,
when at the same time it is locally absent. Therefore the Church
of England has wisely forborne to use the term of " real presence,"
in all the books that are set forth by her authority. We neither
find it recommended in the Liturgy, nor the Articles, nor the
Homilies, nor the Church's, nor Nowell's Catechism. ... So that
if any Church of England man use it, he does more than the
Church directs him : if any reject it, he has the Church's
example to warrant him Yet it must not be denied but the
term may be safely used amongst scholars, and seems to be
grounded upon Scripture itself . . . .
' So much for the use of the word ; which when we of the
Church of England use, we mean thus : A thing may be said to
be really received, which is so consigned to us, that we can really
D How this is to be understood, see above, pp. 96, 97.
Here the author refers to several texts, Matthew xviii. 20 ; xxviii. 20 ;
I Cor. v. 3.
172 Sacramental or Symbolical CHAP.
employ it to all those purposes for which it is useful in itself,
and we have occasion to use it. And a thing thus really received
may be said to be really present, two ways, either physically or
morally, to which we reduce sacramentally. ... In the holy Eu-
charist, the Sacrament is physically, the res sacramenti morally
present ; the elements antecedently and locally ; the very body
consequentially and virtually, but both really present. . . . When
we say that Christ is present ... in the Sacrament, we do not
mean in the elements, but in the celebration This doctrine is
sufficiently removed from what the pamphlet calls Zuinglianism,
(how truly, I will not now inquire,) for we do not hold that we
barely receive the effects and benefits of Christ's body, but we
hold it really present inasmuch as it is really received, and we
actually put in possession of it, though locally absent from us P.'
I have transcribed thus much, because the account is just, and
because the pamphlet and defence of it are not, it may be, com-
monly known. The sum of all is, that sacramental or symbolical
feeding in the Eucharist is feeding upon the body broken and
blood shed, under the signs and symbols of bread and wine : the
result of such feeding, is the strengthening or perfecting our
mystical union with the body glorified ; and so, properly speak-
ing, we feed upon the body as dead, and we receive it into closer
union as living, and both in the Eucharist when duly celebrated.
Nothing now remains, before I close up this chapter, but to
hint very briefly the use of the foregoing principles for the clear-
ing off difficulties, and for the removing the objections raised by
contending parties of various kinds.
i. To the Romanists, who plead warmly for the very body and
blood in the Eucharist, we make answer, that we do receive the
very body and blood in it, and through it, as properly as a
man receives an estate, and becomes possessed of an inheritance
by any deeds or conveyances : and what would they have more ?
Will nothing satisfy, except the wax and parchments be tran-
substantiated into terra firma, or every instrument converted
into arable 1 Surely, that is pushing points too far, and turn-
ing things most serious into perfect ridicule.
P Dr. Aldrich's Reply to Two Discourses, pp. 13 18.
vii. feeding In the Eucharist. 173
2. To the Lutherans, who seem to contend for a mixture of
the visible elements with the body invisible, we have this to
reply, that we readily admit of a symbolical delivery, or convey-
ance, of one by the other ; which effectually answers every good
end and purpose, as it suits also extremely well with the Scrip-
ture phraseology in those cases. And though we admit not, that
our Lord's body is locally present in the Sacrament, or any where
so present but in heaven ; yet so long as it is really united in
one mystical body with ours, or rather is considered as the head
with the members, we think that may suffice ; and we need not
desire any closer alliance, on this side heaven, than such an union
amounts to.
3. To the Calvinists of the ancient stamp, (if any such remained
now,) we might reply, that though we eat not Christ's glorified
body in the Eucharist, yet we really receive it, while we receive
it into closer mystical union than before : and, though we know
nothing of the diffusion of any virtue of Christ's flesh, (which
would not profit,) yet we have the power and presence of his
Godhead with us, and, at the same time, a virtual or mystical
union Avith his body, sufficient to make us, in Divine construction
and Divine acceptance, one with him : ' For we ai - e members of
his body, of his flesh, and of his bones Q.'
4. To the Zuinglian Sacramentarians, old Anabaptists, Soci-
nians, and Remonstrants, who will not admit of any medium
between local corporal presence, and no presence at all as to
beneficial effects, no medium between the natural body itself, and
mere signs and figures ; to them we rejoin, that there is no
necessity of falling in with either extreme ; because there is a
medium, a very just one, and where indeed the truth lies. For
though there is no corporal presence, yet there is a spiritual one,
exhibitive of Divine blessings and graces : and though we eat
not Christ's natural glorified body in the Sacrament, or out of it,
yet our mystical union with that very body is strengthened and
perfected in and through the Sacrament, by the operation of the
Holy Spirit. This appears to be both sense and truth ; and
shall be more largely made out in the sequel.
i Eplies. v. 30,
174 Sacramental feeding in the Eucharist. CHAP.
5. To those who admit not that the natural body of Christ is
in any sense received at all, but imagine that the elements, as
impregnated or animated with the Spirit, are the only body
received, and are made our Lord's body by such union with the
Spirit r ; I say, 'to those we make answer, that the union of the
Spirit with the elements (rather than with the persons) appears
to be a gross notion, and groundless : and if it were admitted, yet
could it not make the elements, in any just sense, our Lord's
body, but the notion would resolve into a kind of impanation of
the Spirit, for the time. Besides that the consequence would be,
that the Lord's body is received by all communicants, worthy or
unworthy s , which is not the truth of the case. Wherefore to
avoid all such needless suppositions and needless perplexities, let
us be content to teach only this plain doctrine ; that we eat
Christ crucified in this Sacrament, as we partake of the merits
of his death : and if we thus have part in his crucified body, we
are thereby ipso facto made partakers of the body glorified ;
that is, we receive our Lord's body into a closer union than
before, and become his members by repeated and stronger ties ;
provided we come worthily to the holy table, and that there is
no just obstacle, on our part, to stop the current of Divine
graces.
I may shut up this account with the excellent words of Arch-
bishop Cranmer, as follows, only put into the modern spelling :
'The first Catholic Christian faith is most plain, clear, and
comfortable, without any difficulty, scruple, or doubt : that is to
say, that our Saviour Christ, although he be sitting in heaven,
r This seems to be Mr. Johnson's stood merely of the essential presence
notion, in the Unbloody Sacrifice, &c. extending equally to all creatures,
part 5. p. 247. And it is very near but of a gracious presence : and if
akin, so far, to that of the modern such gracious presence is vouchsafed
Greek Church, as represented by Mr. to the unworthy as well as worthy,
Claude in his Catholic Doctrine of then the benefits must be common
the Eucharist, part i. book iii. c. 13. to all, and none can eat and drink
p. 218. their own damnation. The funda-
If the elements are supposed to mental error of this hypothesis, (as
be united to, or enriched with the also of the Lutheran and the Romish,)
Spirit, all that receive must of course is the connecting the grace of the
receive the Spirit, and be sanctified Sacrament with the elements, in-
by him. For the presence of the stead of looking for it in the person*
Spirit, in this case, is not to be under- only.
vm. i Cor. x. 16, &c. explained. 175
in equality with his Father, is our life, strength, food, and sus-
tenance ; who by his death delivered us from death, and daily
nourishes and increases us to eternal life. And in token hereof,
he hath prepared bread to be eaten, and wine to be drunk of us
in his holy Supper, to put us in remembrance of his said death,
and of the celestial feeding, nourishing, increasing, and of all the
benefits which we have thereby : which benefits, through faith
and the Holy Ghost, are exhibited and given unto all that
worthily receive the said holy Supper. This the husbandman at
his plough, the weaver at his loom, and the wife at her rock, can
remember, and give thanks unto God for the same : this is the
very doctrine of the Gospel, with the consent Avholly of all the
old ecclesiastical doctors V
My readers, I hope, will excuse it, if in the course of this chapter
I have been obliged sometimes to suppose some things, which are
hereafter to be proved : I could not avoid it, without rendering
the whole intricate and obscure. What relates to spiritual graces
in particular, as conveyed in the Eucharist, shall be distinctly con-
sidered in its place, and the proofs produced at large : but there
was no explaining what sacramental or symbolical feeding means,
(which was the design of this chapter,) without taking some pre-
vious and general notice of the spiritual graces, which are the
food conveyed from heaven, by and under the symbols of bread
and wine in the Eucharist.
CHAP. VIII.
I Cor. x. 1 6, &c. explained, and vindicated from Misconstructions.
ST. PAUL'S doctrine concerning the Eucharist, in the tenth
chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, though but
occasionally delivered, will yet deserve a distinct chapter by
itself, as it is of great moment, and much depends upon a true
and faithful construction of it. It will be proper, in the first
place, to produce the whole passage, but correctly rendered, as
near as may be to the Greek original.
Verse 16. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a
* Cranmer against Gardiner, p. 396. first edit.
.
176 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
communion of the blood of Christ ? the bread which we break, is
it not a communion of the body of Christ ?
17. For since the bread is one, we, being many, are one body:
for we are all partakers of that one bread.
1 8. Behold Israel after the flesh : are not they who eat of the
sacrifices communicants of the altar?
19. What say I then 1 ? that the idol is anything, or that what
is offered in sacrifice to the idol is anything ?
20. But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, and not to God : and I would not have you
become communicants of devils.
2t. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of
devils : you cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the
table of devils.
I have varied a little from the common rendering, partly for
better answering the difference of phrase in the Gi'eek, between
pcTfxfiv and xoivtovtlv, (be they equivalent or otherwise",) and
partly for the better expressing the three communions, here
brought in as corresponding to each other in the analogy ;
namely, tUat of Christ's body and blood in the first place, next,
that of the Jewish altar, and lastly, of devils. Our translation
has, in some measure, obscured the analogy, by choosing, in one
place, the word partakers (though it means the same thing) in-
stead of communicants, and in another place, by saying communion
with devils, instead of saying of devils : KMTCMWVS r>v Satfjioviav,
v. 20. I use the phrase ' communicants of to express the partici-
pating in common of anything : which perhaps is not altogether
agreeable to the strict propriety of the English idiom. But I
could not think of anything better, that would answer the pur-
pose in other respects ; and since I have now intimated what I
mean by it, the phrase, I suppose, may be borne with. But let
us come to the business in hand.
n In strictness, /ueT*'x' signifies standing, the words are sometimes
the taking a part or parcel of any- used promiscuously. Chrysostom,
thing, with others, who have likewise upon the place, takes notice of the
their separate shares or parcels of it : distinction, and makes his use of it,
but Koiv<evtiv is the partaking with for explaining the text, and doing
others, ' in commune,' of the same justice to the suhject.
whole, undivided thing. Notwith-
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 177
Before we can make a just use of St. Paul's doctrine in this
place, as concerning the holy Communion, it will be necessary to
understand the argument which he was then upon, with the
occasion of it. The Christians of Corinth, to whom the Apostle
writes, were encompassed with Pagan idolaters, and were in
great danger of being insidiously drawn in, by specious pretences,
to eat of meats which had been offered up, in the way of sacrifice,
to their idols. Such eating (if Christians were aware that the
meat had been so offered) was, in just construction, participating
in common with the Pagan idolaters, of devils, to whom those
idols or statues belonged. Whereupon St. Paul exhorts his
new converts to beware of such dangerous practice, reminding
them of the grievous judgments of God, which formerly came
upon their forefathers the Israelites, for the sin of idolatry.
' Neither be ye idolaters,' says he, ' as were some of them w :'
and a little lower, 'Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from
idolatry V But because they seemed not yet fully sensible
that such practice of theirs was really idolatry, but they had
several artificial evasions to shift off the charge, (as, that an idol
was nothing in itself, and that they had no design by eating of
such meats to signify any consent of theirs with idolaters, or to
give any countenance to them,) I say, because the new converts
were not readily convinced of the sin and danger of such practice,
the Apostle undertakes to argue the case with them, in a very
friendly, but strong and pressing manner, both upon Jewish and
Christian principles, prefacing what he had to urge with this
handsome compliment to them : ' I speak as to wise men,' (I
appeal to your own good sense and sagacity,) 'judge ye what I
sayy.' Then he proceeds to argue in the way of parallel, or
by parity of reason, from the case of the Christian Eucharist,
and the Jewish feasts upon peace-offerings, in order to infer from
both, that as the Eucharist is interpretatively a participating of
Christ's body and blood, and as the Jewish feasts were participating
of the altar ; so the eating of idol-meats was interpretatively a
participating of devils. To take the Apostle's argument in its
just and full view, we must consider him as bearing in mind
w I Cor. x. 7. * i Cor. x. 14. r i Cor. x. 15.
178 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
two distinct things which he had upon his hands to prove by
one and the same argument : the first was, that eating of the idol-
sacrifices (knowingly) was interpretatively consenting with the
idolaters, or communicating with them, though they might mean
nothing less ; and the second was, that such consenting with
the idolaters was interpretatively, or in effect, participating of
devils. Such heing the case, it could not but appear to be of
very dangerous consequence, knowingly to eat of things offered
to idols.
From this view of the Apostle's argument, I pass on to con-
sider what we may hence infer with respect to his doctrine of the
Eucharist, thus occasionally delivered as the true and well-known
doctrine of Christ. His account of it is briefly expressed, in its
being a communion of Christ's body and blood ; that is to say,
of the body considered as broken, and of the blood considered as
shed ; as is very plain from the terms of the institution : and it
is not improbable that the Apostle here so distinctly mentioned
both, to intimate that they were to be considered as divided and
separate, which was the case at his crucifixion, and not after.
By communion, the Apostle certainly intended a joint communion,
or participating in common with others, as appears by the words
immediately following; ' We being many are oae body,' &c.
Besides that his argument required it, as I have already hinted.
For he was to convince the Corinthians, to whom he wrote, that
eating of idol-meats was interpretatively consenting with idolaters,
and of consequence partaking in common with them, of what they
were supposed to partake of. And I presume, that it was with
this particular view, and to make out his whole argument, con-
sisting of two main points, that the Apostle threw in the words
of verse the ifth. So then, w may thus far construe the Apo-
stle's doctrine of the Eucharist to mean, that Christians feeding
upon the consecrated symbols, in due manner, are supposed
therein to be joint partakers of, or communicants in, Christ's
body and blood, whatever that means, and also to be mystically
united with each other. Now we come to the main point of all,
namely, what that partaking, or that communion, of our Lord's
body and blood strictly or precisely signifies. Moderns have been
viii. Explained and Vindicated, 179
strangely divided about it, (though it was anciently a very plain
thing,) and perhaps it may be thought a piece of respect due to
them, to mention their several interpretations, though we must
reject all but one, as late devices, and more or less foreign to the
Apostle's argument.
1. To say that the communion of our Lord's body and blood
means the receiving his natural flesh and blood into our mouths,
under the forms, accidents, or appearances of bread and wine, is
manifestly a forced and late interpretation ; not heard of for
eight hundred years or more, and, besides, absurd, contradictory,
and impossible. If we may trust to our reason or to our senses,
(and if we may not, what is there that we can trust to 1} the
bread and wine do remain, after consecration, the same in sub-
stance as before, changed only as to their uses, relations, or offices.
Besides, Christ's body broken and blood shed 1700 years ago, are
no more in that capacity, nor ever will be ; and therefore it is
absolutely impossible that they should be literally present in the
Sacrament, or made food to the communicants. To all which
may be added, that the elements, after consecration, are still
expressly called bread and wine in this very place, and therefore
supposed to be what they are called.
2. To say that the communion of our Lord's body and blood
means the receiving his natural flesh and blood into our mouths,
together with the symbols, would be running into the like absurd-
ities with the former. Christ's body as crucified, and blood as
spilled, are no more : his body glorified is as far distant as heaven
and earth, and therefore not present in the Sacrament ; or if it
were, could not properly be eaten, nor be of use if it could, since
the ' flesh profiteth nothing.' Besides, the text speaks not of
two bodies, or bloods, as present in the Sacrament. The symboli-
cal body and blood (bread and wine) are there present : the rest
is present only in a figure, or under certain construction. A
mystical union of Christ's glorified body with our bodies is indeed
intimated in the text, or may, by just consequence, be inferred from
it ; but the direct doctrine of the text relates only to the body as
crucified, and to the blood as shed : and therefore here the proper
distinctions should be made between the eating Christ's dead body,
N 2
480 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
and the uniting with his living body, (as above 2 ,) as also between
the express doctrine of the text, and the consequences deducible
from it by the help of reason, and of other texts compared.
3. To say that the communion here signifies the eating Christ's
glorified body by faith, or with the mind, is not a just interpre-
tation : because whatever is corporeal cannot be literally the food
of the soul ; as also because what is represented and eaten in
the Sacrament is not the body glorified, but the body crucified
and blood shed, which are no more, and which therefore cannot
be received either with mouth or mind, excepting only in a qua-
lified and figurative sense. A mystical union indeed (as before
said) with Christ's glorified body is strengthened or perfected in
the Eucharist : though that is a doctrine rather insinuated, than
expressed here : while certainly collected both from the nature of
the thing, and from divers other texts of the New Testament.
The three constructions hitherto mentioned have been all
owing to too strict and servile an adherence to the letter, with-
out reason, and against reason, and not countenanced by the
ancients rightly understood. There are some other constructions
which are faulty in the contrary extreme, receding too far from
the letter, and degrading the Sacrament into a kind of empty or
fruitless ceremony. There is the less excuse for so doing, con-
sidering how highly the Apostle speaks of the Sacrament, both
in this and the next chapter : for though necessity will justify
our receding from the letter, as far as such necessity extends,
yet reason requires that we adhere to it as closely as we may,
and extremes are always bad. But I proceed to take notice
of some misconstructions in this way of under-commenting.
4. Some interpret communion here to mean no more than a
joint partaking of the outward signs, symbols, or memorials of
Christ's body and blood. But St. Paul must undoubtedly mean
a great deal more, by his emphatical expressions ; and his argu-
ment also requires it, as shall be shewn in due place. He does
not say, that the Service is a commemoration of Christ's body
and blood, but a partaking or communion of them a . So likewise,
1 See above, p. 167, &c. glossae Socini, quandoquidem panem
. * 'S. Apostolus refragatur penitus et poculum eucharisticam dicat esse
vin. Explained and Vindicated. i8l
with respect to the Jews, he does not say that they comme-
morated the altar, but they were partakers of the altar : and the
idolaters whom he speaks of did not barely commemorate devils,
(if they did it at all,) but they were partakers of devils. Besides,
to interpret the communion of a joint partaking of the symbols,
or memorials, is inventing a sense too flat and jejune to be
fathered upon the Apostle ; for indeed it is mere tautology. It
is no more than saying, that partaking of the bread and wine is
partaking of the bread and wine. There is good sense in saying,
that the partaking of one thing is, in just construction, the par-
taking of some other thing : but to make all sign, and nothing
signified, or to reckon the outward signs twice over, dropping
the inward things signified, is unsuitable to the turn of the
whole passage, and entirely defeats the Apostle's argument.
The eating of the sacrifices was not again mere eating of sacri-
fices, but it was, by interpretation, communicating with idolaters :
and communicating with idolaters was not again communicating
with idolaters, but it was, in just construction, partaking of
devils b. Thus we find strong and admirable sense in the
Apostle's discourse : but in the other way all is dull and insipid.
Take we the next parallel instance : the joint partaking of the
Jewish sacrifices was not again the joint partaking of the same
sacrifices ; but it was partaking of the altar, whatever that
means : in like manner, a joint partaking of the symbols or
memorials of bread and wine is not again a joint partaking of
the same symbols or memorials, but of something else (by the
Apostle's argument) which they represent, and call to our mind,
and which in just construction, or in effect, they are. Had
St. Paul meant only, that the bread which we break is the joint
eating of the bread, and the cup which we bless is the joint
communicationem corporis et san- lagius's, well express the sense of
gninis Christi. Ubi subject! loco, . . the Apostle :
panem et poculum benedictionis 'Panisidololatriae daemonum par-
constituit, in praedicato vero, non ticipatio esse monstratur ; . . si cum
eommemorationem, aut memoriale idololatris de uno pane comedimus,
corporis aut sanyuinis Christi, sed unum cum illis corpus efficimur. . ,
communicationem ejusdem ponit.' Non potestis et Dei et daemonum
Calovius de Eucharist, p. 279. esse participes.' Hieronym. Opp.
b The commentaries under the torn., v. p. 995. ed. Bened.
name of Jerome, supposed to be Pe-
1 82 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
drinking of the cup, why should he have changed the terms
l>read and cup into other terms, body and blood, instead of using
the same over again 1 Or if body and blood mean only bread and
cup, then see what sense can be made of Chap. xi. 27, which
must run thus : Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this
cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the bread and cup
of the Lord. It is not using an inspii'ed Apostle with any
proper respect, to put such an odd (not to say ridiculous) sense
upon him. The case is plain, that the four terms, bread, wine,
body, and blood, have severally their respective meanings, and
that the two first express the signs, to which the other two
answer as things signified, and so all is right. Add to this, that
the eating and drinking in the Eucharist, upon the foot of the
other construction, would be rendered insignificant : for the
breaking of the bread, and the pouring out of the wine, would be
sufficient for a bare representation or memorial of our Lord's
death : the feeding thereupon adds nothing to the representation,
but must either signify our receiving something spiritual under
that corporeal symbol, or signify nothing. And it would appear
very strange, if the feeding itself should not be symbolical, some
way or other, as well as the rest ; especially considering that
other places of Scripture (particularly John vi.) do insist very
much upon spiritual feeding, and that the quantity of meat and
drink in the Eucharist has all along been so small, that it might
be difficult to say what use it could be of as a banquet, unless
allowed to be significative or symbolical of some spiritual enter-
tainment received by the communicants c . Upon the whole,
this fourth interpretation must be rejected, as being altogether
low and lame, or rather totally repugnant to all the circum-
stances of text and context.
5. Others therefore, perceiving that there must be both a sign
and a thing signified, (or in other words, a corporal manducation,
and a spiritual one also,) and yet being unwilling to admit of
any present benefits in the Eucharist, have contrived this turn,
c Ato tovro yap otire iro\v \afj.0dv- Concil. Nicaen. in Gelas. Cyzicen.
0/j.fv, a\\' o\iyov, 'Iva yvSififv Sri Labb. et Cossart. torn. ii. p 234.
OVK (
vni. Explained and Vindicated. 183
that the sacramental feeding shall signify spiritual feeding, yea,
and spiritual communion with Christ, before, and in, and after the
Sacrament, but that this spiritual feeding shall mean only the
receiving Christ's doctrine and promises ; or that the Eucharist
shall not import anything then received, (more than at other
times,) but shall be declarative only of what was received before,
or is to be received then, or after. The design of all which is to
evade any pretence of receiving graces from above, in or by this
Sacrament : and this is the scheme which the Socinians com-
monly take into d . Yea, they sometimes scruple not to own,
that under spiritual feeding is contained remission of sins, and
present right to life eternal : but still they will not have it said,
that God conveys or confers these benefits in or by the Sacra-
ment, but that we in the Sacrament do declare and testify that
we are partakers of those benefits e , having brought them with us,
not receiving them there, more than elsewhere.
But these fine-spun notions, being only the inventions of men,
can never be able to stand against the truth of God. St. Paul
does not say, that the Eucharist is a declaration of communion,
but a communion : nor does he say, communion with Chi-ist our
d ' Hinc vero patet usum panis et proinde alanvur et confirmemur, ac
calicis non ideo Christ! corporis et cibo potuque corpora nostra ad vitam
sanguinis communionem dici, quod terrenam et corporalem sustentan-
per istum usum demum communio tur : non quidem quod in hac tantum
ista fiat ; sed quod per eum com- aotione, Christi carnem et sangui-
inunio ac societas ista, quae jam est, nem spiritualiter edamus et bibamus
et esse debet, significetur et de- . . sed quod pia mortis Christi medi-
claretur. ' Crellius in loc. p. 307. tatione, et vera in eum fide id per-
Cp. Socin. Quod Re. Polon. p. 701. ficiatur, ac porro etiam extra hunc
'Hoc ritu testamur nos corpus ritum a nobis fiat, quam diu medi-
Christi pro nobis crucifixum habere tatio ilia ac fides inde concepta in
pro spiritual! animae nostrae cibo, animis nostris viget.' Volkelius, p.
et sanguinem ejusfusum pro salutari 310, alias 687. Cp. Schlicting. cont.
potu, nosque communionem illius Meisner. pp. 751, 788, 789.
habere, et sic ad novum foedus per- e ' Hac ceremonia profitemur nos,
tinere, &c. quae omnia fidem per ea qua dictum est ratione, corpus
charitatem efficacem postulant.' lia- Christi edere, et sanguinem ejus
cov. Cat. p. 242. bibere, et sic eorum bonorum quae
' Panem ilium edendo atque ex po- morte sua cruenta Christus nobis
culo bibendo palam testamur et pro- peperit (h. e. remissionis peccatorum,
fitemur nos corpus Christi fractum et vitae sempiternae, quam spe certa
ac crucifixum pro animae cibo, san- in hoc saeculo veluti praecipimus)
guinem pro potu habere, quo ad esse participes.' Volkelius, p. 312,
vitam spiritualem et sempiternam alias 688.
184 i Corinthians x. i6 } &c. CHAP.
head, (though that indeed is a remote consequence of the other,)
but communion of the body and blood of Christ. In the parallel
instances, eating of idol-meats was not a declaration of what had
been done before, nor a declaration of what was to be done after,
(perhaps it was the first time, and might be the last,) but that
single action was taking part with idolaters, and that amounted
to partaking of devils. It was so with respect to the Jewish
sacrifices, the partaking of them was not merely declaring their
participation of the altar, but it was actual participating at that
very time, and by that very act. St. Paul's words are express,
' are partakers of the altar,' (not proclaimers of it,) and his
argument requires that sense f . Had the Corinthians suspected
that the Apostle was talking of declarations only, virtual decla-
rations, they would soon have replied, that they were ready to
declare to all the world, that they intended no such thing as
communicating with idolaters, or of devils, by their eating of the
idol-meats, and that such express counter-declarations would more
than balance any other. But that would have been protestation
against fact, and would have availed nothing : for St. Paul had
plainly told them what the nature of the action was ; viz. com-
municating with idolaters, and not only so, but partaking of
devils. Therefore, by analogy and parity of reason, the nature
of our eucharistical service is an actual partaking of the death of
Christ with the fruits thereof.
If there were need of any further arguing in so plain a case, I
might add, that such kind of declaring as they speak of, (declar-
ing their spiritual eating,) appears not so modest, or so reverent,
as one might wish, if we consider what they mean by spiritual
meat. They commonly intend by it the whole faith and practice
of a Christian, together with pardon of sins and a right to life
eternal consequent upon it. So then, their coming to the Lord's
table to declare their spiritual feeding, what is it but proclaiming,
before God and man, how righteous, how holy, and how perfect
they are, and what claims they make on that score : which would
be much more like to the boasting of a Pharisee, than to the
f Compare Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, in answer to the same pretence
about declaring, &c. part i. p. 172, alias 175, &c.
vin. Explained and Vindicated. 185
proper penitent behaviour of an humble Christian, appearing
before God. It may be thought, perhaps, that such declara-
tions are of great use, because men will be cautious of telling a
solemn lie in the presence of God, and will of course take care to
be as good as they declare themselves to be&. But it might be
rather suspected, that the effect would be quite contrary, and
such a method of ostentation Avould be much more likely to
harden men in their sins.
However, to soften the matter, they sometimes so explain this
their declaration, as to amount only to a good resolution, or pro-
mise, for the time to come, or a protestation that they look upon
a good life as the proper food of their souls. This indeed is
more modest, but then it is going still further off from the text
of St. Paul than before : for, in this view, the receiving the
Sacrament is neither eating anything spiritual, nor so much as a
declaration of eating, but it is a declaration only of their own
judgment concerning it. Let them therefore turn this matter
which way they please, they will never come up to the true
meaning or force of St. Paul's words. In the meanwhile, we
readily accept, what they are pleased to allow, that pardon of
sins, aud present right to life eternal, ought to be looked upon as
part of the spiritual food : and we think it decent and modest,
as well as just, to believe, that we receive our spiritual food at
the altar, from the hands of Christ, and do not bring it thither
ourselves; especially considering that Christ himself delivered the
corporal food to the disciples, which was the symbol of spiritual.
And though we ought to take care to come properly qualified to
the holy Communion, yet we come not to declare how rich we
were before, but to deplore our poverty, and to beg fresh relief,
and new supplies, from above.
6. Some think it sufficient to say, that the Eucharist imports
our holding communion or fellowship \vith Christ our head. But
this interpretation is low and insufficient, expressing a truth, but
s ' Ideo simul etiam cogitandum ut tails quam priraum evadas, nee
est tibi, ut talis sis qualem te in hoc committendum ut irritum postea sit
ritu profiteris ; nee Deo et Christo hoc aniini tui decretum.' Racov.
mentiaris. Quod si talis nondura Cat. pp. 242, 243.
sis, id saltern omnino constituendum,
1 86 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
not the whole truth. The Apostle's expression is very strong,
communion of, not communion with, and of Christ's body and
blood, not simply of Christ. So in the parallel instances : they
that ate of the idol-meats held communion indeed with the
idolaters, but were partakers of devils, not with devils : and
they that ate of the Jewish sacrifices were partakers of the altar.
Therefore Bishop Patrick well says, with regard to the word com-
munion in this place, ' In its full signification it denotes, not
merely our being made of his (Christ's) society, but our having
a communication of his body and blood to us : so the word
Koivaveat is rendered, Gal. vi. 6, Phil. iv. 15 V In short, the com-
munion here spoken of must either mean merely the outward
profession of Christianity, and then it is an interpretation much
too low, and is liable to most of the objections with that of
the preceding article ; or else it means a vital union with
Christ, as his living members, and then it implies partaking in
his death, resurrection, &c., and coincides with the common con-
struction. The greatest fault therefore of this interpretation is,
that it is loose, general, equivocal ; no explication of the text,
because not determinate, but darker than the text itself, and
therefore fitted only to disguise and perplex the Apostle's
meaning, and to deceive an unwary reader.
7. Having considered, and, as I conceive, confuted the several
wrong constructions of St. Paul's words, it is now time to return
to the true, easy, natural, and ancient * interpretation, before
hinted, and now to be more largely enforced or confirmed. The
Eucharist in its primary intention, and in its certain effect to all
worthy communicants, is a communion of Christ's body broken
and blood shed, that is to say, a present partaking of, or having
a part in our Lord's passion, and the reconcilement therein made,
and the blessed fruits of it. This is plain good sense, and
undeniable truth. ' The body and blood of Christ are verily and
indeed received of the faithful : that is, they have a real part
and portion given them in the death and sufferings of the Lord
Jesus, whose body was broken and blood shed for the remission
h Bishop Patrick's Christian Sacrifice, p. 52.
1 See above, pp. 99, 101, 143.
vni. Explained and Vindicated. 187
of sins. They truly and indeed partake of the virtue of his
bloody sacrifice, whereby he hath obtained eternal redemption for
us V It is observable tha.t St. Paul, (his own best interpreter,)
instead of saying, Ye do shew the Lord's body and blood, broken
and shed, says, ' Ye do shew the Lord's death till he come V
Which makes it plain, that ' body broken and blood shed' are, in
this case, equivalent to the single word ' death' with its fruits ;
and that is the thing signified in our sacramental service. And
if that be the thing signified, it is that which we partake of, or
spiritually receive : and we are in this Sacrament ingrafted, as it
were, into the death of Christ, in much the same sense, and to
the same effect, as in the other Sacrament we are said to be 'bap-
tized into his death m ,' and ' planted together in the likeness of
his death n .' All the difference is that the same thing is repre-
sented and exhibited, here and there, under different signs or
symbols. There we have our right and title to the merits and
benefits of his passion delivered to us under the symbol of water
inclosing us, as a grave incloses a dead body ; here we have the
same right and title again delivered under the symbols of bread
and wine , received by us, and incorporated with us. But of
the analogy of the two Sacraments, I have spoken before P, and
need not repeat. Only let it be remembered, that Baptism does
not only represent our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection,
but exhibits them likewise in their fruits and virtue, and makes
the baptized party, if fitly qualified, partaker of them. And as
there undoubtedly is a near correspondence and analogy between
the two Sacraments, in their general nature, ends, and uses, we
may justly argue from one Sacrament to the other ; and the
argument carries in it, if not the force of demonstration, yet very
considerable weight. There is this further use in it, that it fur-
nishes us with a clear and full answer to the objections made
against the supposition of such and such privileges being con-
ferred by or annexed to a single act of religion : for if they are
k Bishop Patrick's Christian Sacri- 1% bvainaKTov Ovtrias Si' TJJ
fice, p. 53. ^ ijfjifis Tif Xpurrip Koivcavovfj.fi', Kai
I Cor. xi. 20. TUV ira.Ori/j.a.Toiii' Kal rfjs Of6rttros,
m Kom. vi. 3. Gregor. Nazianz. Orat. iii. p. 70.
n Kom. vi. 5. P See above, ch. vii. p. 138.
1 88 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
annexed to or conferred by Baptism, a single act of religion, why
may they not by the Eucharist also, though a single act ? Such
objections either strike at both Sacraments, or can really hurt
neither : or if it be allowed (as indeed it must) that Baptism,
notwithstanding, has such privileges annexed to it, by the
express words of Scripture, it must be allowed that the Eucha-
rist, at least, may have the same. If, for instance, remission of
sins, sanctification of the Spirit, mystical union with Christ,
present right to a resurrection and life eternal, are (as they
certainly are) conferred in and by Baptism, to persons fitly
qualified ; it is in vain to object, in the case of the Eucharist,
that those privileges cannot be annexed to or conferred by a
single act.
But let us return to our positive proofs, that such blessings
are annexed to a due receiving of the Holy Communion. This
passage of St. Paul, rightly considered, is a demonstration of
it, as I have already intimated. The Socinians themselves, as I
have before observed, are obliged to allow, that spiritual mandu-
cation carries with it present remission of sins, and present right
to everlasting life : and they are pleased to allow further, that
in the Sacrament (though they will not say, by the Sacrament)
there may be, or often is, spiritual manducation. Indeed, Smal-
cius seems to hesitate a little upon it, or comes with great
reluctance to it ; but after all is forced to submit to so glaring
a truth. First, he pretends, that we are so far from feeding
spiritually upon Christ in the Eucharist, that we must have done
it before, or we are not worthy to come at alii. Well : why may
we not have done it before, and now much more so ? He is
pleased, soon after, to allow, that spiritual manducation is a kind
of constant perpetual act, or habit, supposed in every good
Clmstian, in the whole course of his life, and in all his actions r .
i ' Diciinus tantuin abesse, ut in r 'Ut manducatio spiritualis cor-
coena Domini corpus Christi come- poris, et bibitio sanguinis Christi est
datur, et sanguis ejus bibatur, ut qui aliquid perpetuum, quod in nobis
antea Christi corpus spiritualiter non inesse debet, sic in omnibus vitae
i n and u caver it, manducatione hac pa- nost? - ae factis considerari poterit et
niscarnali plane indignus sit.' Smalc. debet.' S mule. ibid. p. 340.
contr. Frantz. p. 336.
viu. Explained and Vindicated. 189
Why then not in the sacramental action ? At length, he allows
it, with some reluctance, even in that also s ; as he could not
avoid it by his own principles.
Thus far then we are advanced, even upon the concessions of
adversaries, that there may be (or that there certainly is, to pious
and good Christians) a spiritual feeding in the Eucharist, and
that such spiritual feeding carries in it present remission, and
present right to life eternal *. Where then do we differ ] Per-
haps here ; that we say, by the Sacrament, and they, in the
Sacrament, like as in all other good offices. But we do not say,
that the Sacrament does it by its own virtue : no, it is God only
that grants remission, or spiritual rights, whether in the Sacra-
ment or out of it; and while we assert that he does it in and by
the Eucharist, we do not presume to say, or think, that he does
i; not in Baptism also, or in other religious services. What then
is the point of controversy still remaining 1 It appears to be this
principally, that we assert the very act of communion (in persons
fitly disposed) to be spiritual manducation ; a present receiving
of spiritual blessings and privileges, additional to what was
before : this they deny, alleging that there are no special benefits
annexed to the Eucharist u as such, nothing more conferred
8 'Quia spiritualis manducatio cor- dium : quippe Christi praeceptorum
pt ris Christi perpetuum aliquid est, officiique nostri pars non postrema ;
d:ci quidem potest, tune etiam illam uti qui id facere negligat, non plus
fieri, cum coena Domini celebratur.' juris habeatin Christi corpore, quara
Sinalc. ibid. p. 340. Petrus habiturus erat communio-
Schlictingius carries it higher, or nis cum Christo, si pedes sibi la-
expresses it stronger, though indeed vare volenti praefracte restitisset.'
he afterwards goes off into the de- Schlicting. contr. Meis. p. 750.
darative notion, seeming to pre- * See Volkelius above, p. 183.
f c-r it. n Christian! quia mortem Christi
'Quid igitur est, inquies, Christi commemorant.etproeagratiasagimt,
corporis proprie Koivtavia. ? Commune non praesens beneficiuni requirunt/
jus est, (at ipsa vox indicat) Christi &c. Smalcius, p. 333.
corporis pro nobis fracti, et sic bono- 'Nequaquam in eumfinem hie ritus
rum inde manantium. Sacrum igitur est institutus, ut aliquid ex eo repor-
panem qui frangunt et comedunt, temus, sed ut jam antea acceptum
modo digne id faciant, bonorum isto- beneficium commemoremus.' Volke-
rum participss fiunt ; ut hoc sensu lius de Vera Relig. p. 313, alias 691.
sacri panis fractio, et comestio cor- 'Nou in huncfinem coenam Domini-
poris Christi, communio dicatur per cam constitutam esse, ut ex ejus usu
metonymiam effecti ; quod scilicet aliquemfructumreportemus.' Volke-
communionis istius causa sit et me- lius, ibid. p. 684.
190 I Corinthians x. 16, &e. OHAP.
than what is constantly conferred to good men, at all other
times, and in all other good offices, or common duties x . Now,
in defence of our doctrine, we plead St. Paul's authority, who
asserts, that the Eucharist is actually a communion of Christ's
body and blood : let them shew, that any common service, or any
other service, office, or duty, (except Baptism,) is so ; and then
they will come close to the point. It hath been observed above,
that eating of idol-meats, knowingly, was ipso facto communica-
ting with idolaters, and that communicating with idolaters was
ipso facto partaking of devils, and that the eating of the Jewish
sacrifices was ipso facto partaking of the altar : therefore also
receiving the holy Communion, fit dispositions always supposed,
is ipso facto, (in that very act, and at that present time, by
that act) partaking of the death of Christ, with the fruits or pri-
vileges of it. Since therefore the very nature of the act supposes
it and implies it, (which is more than the nature of every other
act, service, or duty does,) therefore there is some peculiar force,
virtue, and efficacy annexed to the Eucharist, above what is
ordinarily annexed to common duties. Duties, as such, are
conditions only on our part, applications of men to God, and
therefore are not properly instruments in the hand of God for
conveying his graces : but sacraments are applications of God to
men, and therefore are properly his instruments of conveyance,
his appointed means or conduits, in and by which he confers his
graces. Gospel duties are the conditional causes of spiritual
blessings, while Sacraments are properly the instrumental convey-
ances. Neither repentance, nor faith, nor even sacraments, con-
sidered merely as duties, or as acts of ours, are properly channels
of grace, being, as I said, conditions only : but sacraments
considered as applications of God to men are properly channels
* ' Negat Socinus hunc ritum pro- illius causa proprie ritus hie institu-
prie institutum esse ad nostram ali- tus est.' Schlicting. contr. Meisner.
quam singularem utilitatem in ne- p. 791 ; cp. 795.
gotio salutis. Proprie inquam, nam ' Libenter admittimus ritus istiua
alioquin libenter concedimus, hujus observationera inter bona opera num-
ritus observationem non minus ad erandam, et cum illis conjung-
salutem conferre quam reliquorum endam esse.' Schlicting. ibid. p.
praeceptorum executionein : verum 798.
haec utilitas et generalis est, et non
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 191
of spiritual benefit?. This is a distinction which ought carefully
to be heeded, for the right understanding of the difference
between sacraments and duties J.
Preaching of the word is most like to sacraments in the
instrumental capacity ; for by the word also God conveys his
graces. But still inviting, exhorting, or calling men to be recon-
ciled to God, comes not up to signing and sealing the reconcilia-
tion : neither is preparing men for the covenant the same thing
with covenanting. The Eucharist, as hath been noted, is an
actual communion, wherein God gives and man receives at that
instant, or in the very act. Such being the nature and use of
this eucharistical service, in Divine construction, and by Divine
appointment, it is manifest from thence, that it carries in it the
force of a promise, or contract 2 , on God's part, that, fit qualifica-
tions supposed on our part, this service shall never fail of its
effect, but shall be to every worthy receiver like a deed of con-
veyance, instrumentally investing him with the benefits of Christ's
death, for the time being ; and to the end also, if he perseveres
to the end. ' It is no good argument to say, the graces of God
are given to believers out of the Sacrament, ergo, not by or in
the Sacrament: but rather thus; if God's grace overflows some-
times, and goes without his own instruments, much more shall
he give it in the use of them. If God gives pardon without the
Sacrament, then rather also with the Sacrament. For supposing
the Sacraments, in their design and institution, to be nothing
but signs and ceremonies, yet they cannot hinder the work of
God : and therefore holiness in the reception of them will do
more than holiness alone ; for God does nothing in vain. The
i See above, p. ii, &c. debite administrantur, quique ilia
1 ' Verbum Dei quidem comitatur suscipiunt cum ea quam Deus in iis
etiam aliqua Spiritus Dei efficacia... praerequirit dispositione...Ex nullo
Verum efficacia ista a Deo prorsus pacto tenetur Deus verbum virtute
libere dispensatur, et absque ullo sui Spiritus comitari : sacramentis
pacto et promissione Dei, qua Deus autem ex certa Dei pactione, adest
ad hos et illos, potius quam alios, virtus divina, per quam gratiam
ejusmodi gratia donandos, sese ob- quandam salutarem communicant
strinxerit. Cum Sacramentis autem, omnibus illis qui secundum ordinem
ex Dei pacto, conjuncta est vis quae- a Deo positum ilia participant.' Le
dam ilivini Spiritus, per quam agunt Blanc, Thes. p. 676.
infallibiliter in omnibus iis quibus
192 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
Sacraments do something in the hand of God : at least, they are
God's proper and accustomed time of grace : they are his seasons
and our opportunity 8 .'
And now if any one should ask for a catalogue of those
spiritual privileges, which St. Paul in this place has omitted, our
Lord himself may supply that omission by what he has said in
John vi. For, since we have proved, that there is a spiritual
manducation in the Eucharist, with all worthy receivers, it now
follows, of course, that what our Lord says in John vi. of spiri-
tual manducation in the general, is all strictly applicable to this
particular manner of spiritual feeding ; and is the best explica-
tion we can any where have of what it includes or contains. It
contains, I. A title to a happy resurrection : for such as spi-
ritually feed on Christ, Christ will 'raise up at the last dayV
2. A title to eternal life : for our Lord expressly says, 'Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life c .'
3. A mystical union with Christ in his whole Person ; or, more
particularly, a presential union with him in his Divine nature :
' He that eateth my flesh, &c. dwelleth in me, and I in him d .'
4. Iii these are implied (though not directly expressed by our
Lord in that discourse) remission of sins, and sanctification of
the Holy Spirit ; of which I may say more in a proper place.
To return to St. Paul's text, I shall here sum up the true and
the full sense of it, mostly in Mr. Locke's words 6 , with some few
and slight alterations. ' They who drink of the cup of blessing,
which we bless in the Lord's Supper, do they not thereby par-
take of the benefits purchased by Christ's blood shed for them
upon the cross, which they here symbolically drink ] and they
who eat of the bread broken there, do they not partake in the
sacrifice of the body of Christ, and strengthen their union with
him, as members of him their head ? For by eating of that
bread, we, though many in number, are all united, and make
but one body under Christ our head, as many grains of corn
Bishop Taylor's Worthy Com- d John vi. 56, 57.
municant, p. 38. e Locke's Commentary on the
b John vi. 51. Text, p. 181.
John vi. 51, 54, 58.
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 193
are united into one loaf. See how it is among the Jews, who
are outwardly, according to the flesh, by circumcision the people
of God. Among them, they who eat of the sacrifice are par-
takers of God's table, the altar, have fellowship with him, and
share in the benefit of the sacrifice, as if it were offered for
them f . Do not mistake me, as if I hereby said, that the idols
of the Gentiles are gods in reality, or that the things offered
to them change their nature, and are anything really different
from what they were before, so as to affect us in our use of
them ; no, but this I say, that the things which the Gentiles
sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God, and I would
not that you should have fellowship with, and be under the
influence of devils, as they who, by eating of things offered to
them, enter into covenant, alliance, and commerce with them.
You cannot eat and drink with God, as friends at his table in the
Eucharist, and entertain familiarity and friendship with devils,
by eating with them, and partaking of the sacrifices offered to
them.' Such appears to be the force of the whole argument.
But as there is nothing so plain, but that it may be obscured by
misconception, and darkened by artificial colourings, so we need
not wonder if difficulties have been raised against the construc-
tion here given. And because it may sometimes happen, that
very slight pretences on one side, if not particularly answered,
may weigh more with some persons, than the strongest reasons
on the other, I shall here be at the pains to bring together such
objections as I have anywhere met with, and to consider them
one by one.
f Dr. Felling, in his Discourse of hand, in order to the ends for which
the Sacrament, (pp. 116, 117, 118,) the sacrifice was designed: they
well illustrates the case of the Jews, served to make an atonement, they
as partaking of the altar. I shall cite were effectual to their purposes, they
a small part : ' There is an expres- were good to all intents, they were
sion which will make this matter available to the offerers, (as the He-
clear, in Levit. vii. 18, 'neither shall brew Doctors expound the phrase),
it be imputed,' &c. "When those sa- This is the true meaning of being
crificial feasts were regularly cele- partakers of the altar," &c. p. 117.
brated, they were imputed to the In the next page the learned author
guests for their good, they were applies the whole very aptly to the
reckoned advantageous to them, they Eucharist,
were favourably accepted at God's
194 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
Objections answered.
I. Dr. Whitby, whose comments upon this text, I am sorry to
say, appear to be little else than laboured confusion, is pleased
to object as here follows : ' Neither can the sense of the words
be to this effect ; The cup and bread communicate to us the
spiritual effects of Christ's broken body, or his blood shed for us,
though this be in itself a certain truth ; for these spiritual effects
cannot be shared among believers, so that every one shall have a
part of them only, but the same benefits are wholly communi-
cated to every due receiver. See note on ver. 1 6 s.' The learned
author did well to call our doctrine a certain truth : but he had
done better, if he had taken due care to preserve to this text that
true sense, upon which chiefly that certain truth is founded.
His objection against the spiritual effect being shared, appears to
be of no weight : for how do we say they are shared 1 We do
not say that Christ's death is divided into parcels, or is more
than one death, or that his sacrifice is more than one sacrifice, or
that it is shared like a loaf broken into parts, as the objection
supposes : but the many sharers all partake of, and communi-
cate in one undivided thing, the same death, the same sacrifice,
the same atonement, the same Saviour, the same God and Lord :
and here is no dividing or sharing anything, but as the same
common blessing diffuses itself among many divided persons.
And what is there amiss or improper in this notion ? The learned
author himself is forced to allow h , that Kow&via TOV viov avrov,
communion of his Son', and KOIVWVIU rS>v iraBrniaroav, communion of
his sufferings J, and Koivmvia pfra TOV narpbs Kal pera TOV viov UVTOV,
communion with the Father and the Son k , are all so many pro-
per phrases, to express the communion of many in one and the
same thing, where the effects are common to those many. And
he might have added Koivcovla TOV ayiov irvevpaTos, communion of
the Holy Ghost 1 , and Koiva>via TOV ^vo-T^piov, communion of the
mystery m , as two other parallel instances, wherein the same
e Whitby on verse 20, p. 175. k I John i. 3.
h Whitby, p. 173. 1 i Corinthians xiii. 14. Phil. ii. I.
' I Cor. i. 9. i Phil. iii. 10. m Eph. iii. 9.
mi. Explained and Vindicated. 195
undivided blessings are supposed to be communicated to many,
in such a sense as we suppose the undivided blessing, privilege,
atonement of Christ's death to be vouchsafed to worthy commu-
nicants. And therefore there is no occasion for the low thought,
that Koivavia here, with respect to the Eucharist, must signify no
more than the sharing out the consecrated bread and wine among
the communicants : which is resolving all into sign, and dropping
the thing signified ; and is sinking the Apostle's admirable sense
into jejune, insipid tautology ; as I have before observed. The
Socinians themselves deal more justly and ingenuously with
St. Paul's text in this place ; as may sufficiently appear by what
I have qxioted from them in this chapter.
II. The same learned man makes a further attempt to defeat
the true sense of this passage, first, by interpreting the partaking
of the altar, to mean only having communion with God, or own-
ing him as that God from whom they had received mercies ; and
next, by interpreting the partaking of devils so as to exclude
any spiritual influence from devils n . To all which I shall make
answer in the excellent words of Bishop Burnet : 'If the
meaning of their being partakers with devils [he should have
said of devils] imports only their joining themselves in acts of
fellowship with idolaters, then the sin of this would have easily
appeared, without such a reinforcing of the matter. ... St. Paul
seems to carry the argument further :... since those idols were
the instruments, by which the devil kept the world in subjection
to him, all such as did partake in their sacrifices might come
under the effects of that magic, that might be exerted about their
temples or sacrifices ; ...and might justly fear being brought into
a partnership of those magical possessions or temptations that
might be suffered to fall upon such Christians as should associate
themselves in so detestable a service?. In the same sense it was
n See Whitby on the place, pp. illustrated by the following lines of
I 74> I 7S- Tertullian : 'Nemo in castra hos-
Burnet on the 28th Article, p. tium transit, nisi projectis armis
428. suis, nisi destitutis signis et sacra-
P The true meaning of partaking mentis principis sui, nisi pactus
of devils, or of coming under the simul perire...Quale est enim de
influence of devils, is very aptly Ecclesia Dei, in diaboli ecclesiam
O 2
196 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
also said, that the Israelites were partakers of the altar. That is,
that all of them who joined in the acts of that religion, such as
the offering their peace-offerings, (for of those of that kind they
might only eat,) all these were partakers of the altar : that is, of
all the blessings of their religion, of all the expiations, the burnt-
offerings and sin-offerings, that were offered on the altar, for the
sins of the whole congregation.... Thus it appears, that such as
joined in the acts of idolatry became partakers of all that in-
fluence that devils might have over those sacrifices ; and all that
continued in the observances of the Mosaical law, had thereby a
partnership in the expiations of the altar : so likewise all Chris-
tians who receive this Sacrament worthily, have by their so
doing a share in that which is represented by it, the death of
Christ, and the expiation and other benefits that follow it.'
I cannot too often repeat, that St. Paul is not here speaking
of external profession, or of outwardly owning the true God,
(which any hypocrite might do,) but of being real and living
members, and of receiving vital spiritual influences from Christ ;
and his argument rests upon itl. The thing may perhaps be
yet further illustrated from a similar argument, made use of by
the Apostle in a resembling case. ' Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ ? shall I then take the members of
Christ, and make them the members of an harlot ? God forbid.
What 1 know ye not that he who is joined to an harlot is one
body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit r .'
tendere? de caelo, quod aiunt, in illo et inter nos sumus, ...reprobi et
coenum ? ... Cur ergo non hujus- infideles, omnesque ejusmodi, Spiri-
modi etiam daemoniis penetrabiles tus Christi destituti, quamvis sumant
fiant? nam et exemplum accidit, et participant pan em quern frangimus,
Domino teste, ejus inulieris quae et benedictionis calicem, ...non fiunt
theatrum adiit, et inde cum daemonic unum corpus cum Christo et fidelibus,
rediit. Itaque in exorcismo cum one- sicut ipse Apostolus docet, inquiens :
rareturirnrnuudusspiritus.quodausus Qui Spiritum Christi non habet, hie
esset fidelem adgredi ; constanter, non est ejus. Rom. viii. 9. 2 Cor. vi.'
Justissime quidem, inquit, feci, in Albertin. p. 225.
meo enim inveni.' Tertullian. de r i Cor. vi. 15, 16, 17. Compare
Spectac. cap. xxv. xxvi. p. 83. 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15, 16. N. B. The
i ' Loquitur Apostolus de ejusmodi Apostle is plainly speaking, in all
communione corporis et sanguinis the three places, of Christians, con-
Domini, per quam unum corpus cum sidered as true and living members
vin. Explained and Vindicated. 197
Here we may observe, that the argument, in both cases, pro-
ceeds upon the supposition that the Christians whom the Apostle
speaks to are true and living members of Christ 8 , and of conse-
quence actual partakers of all the spiritual benefits of such union :
which union would be entirely broken, and all its privileges for-
feited, by commencing a contrary union, either with devils in
one case, or with harlots in the other. The Apostle is not
speaking of Christians as barely contradicting their outward pro-
fessions, or committing a logical absurdity, but of their acting
inconsistently with their internal blessings or privileges. There
was no natural impossibility of appearing as guests both at God's
table and the table of devils ; it was as easy to be done, as it
was easy for men to be deceitful, false, and wicked : but the
Apostle speaks of a real inconsistency in things ; namely, such as
lies in the being in league with God and the devil at the same
time, and retaining the friendship and participation of both *. All
which shews, that the communicants whom the Apostle speaks
of, were supposed to be true members of Christ, and of the invi-
sible Church, in that very action, and so of consequence, thereby
receiving all such spiritual benefits as that membership implies.
III. It has been thought some objection to this notion of
benefits, that men could not be supposed to receive benefits from
devils ; and therefore the analogy or parallel will not hold, if
St. Paul be interpreted as admitting or asserting benefits in the
Eucharist. In reply to which I observe, i. That St. Paul does
not particularly mention benefits, (though he supposes them all
the time,) but draws both parts of his parallel in general terms,
and terms corresponding : communion of Christ's body and blood
of the internal invisible Church, and * Ou yap dt\ia v/j.a$ KOIVUVOVS 801-
not merely of the external and visible. poviuv yiveaBat, 6 a.w6ffro\os \eytr
'Nee ergo dicendi sunt manducare fad 3t'x adi&ufvcav KO! <f>9ifj,vwv
corpus Christi, quoniam nee in mem- rpo<f>al . . . OVK fij\oyov rpavffrjs 801-
bris computandi sunt ; quia non pos- povitav fj.tr a\a./j.(3d.i>fii>, rovs Betas fj.tr-
sunt esse membra Christi, et membra t\ fiv K0 ^ "fvf vfi.cn iitris Karr)iia/j.t>'ovs
meretricis. ' Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. rpo^s. Clem. Alex. Paed. lib. ii.
xxi. cap. 25. cap. I. pp. 168, 169.
1 'Corpus nostrum, (id est, caro 'Nonpotestis et Dei et daemonum
quae cum sanetimonia perseverat, et esse participes.' Pseudo-Hieronym.
munditia,) membra di.xit esse Christi.' in loc.
Irenaeus, lib. v. cap. 6. p. 300.
198 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
on one side, communion of devils on the other. There the parallel
rests, and there it answers to the greatest exactness : for as on
one hand there are supposed influences, influxes, impressions,
communications from Christ, so on the other hand, there are
likewise supposed influences, influxes, impressions, communica-
tions from devils. The parallel here drawn out by the Apostle
goes no further, and therefore it is strictly just, regular, and
elegant : but the nature of the thing speaks the rest, that the
influxes must be of as contrary a kind, as Christ is opposite
to Belial. 2. St. Paul certainly supposed benefits, and great
ones, belonging to the Lord's table : otherwise his dissuasive
against the table of devils had been very lame and insufficient.
For undoubtedly there were benefits to be expected (temporal
benefits) on the other side, or else there had been no temptation
that way, nor any occasion for such earnestness as the Apostle
uses in the case to dissuade them from it : and if the Apostle
had not supposed some benefits, of the spiritual kind, to be an-
nexed to the Eucharist, much superior to all temporal emolu-
ments, there would have been but very little force in his whole
dissuasive. To be short; the more beneficial we conceive the
Sacrament to be, so much the stronger is the Apostle's argument
for preferring the Lord's table before any other that was incom-
patible with it : and therefore the supposition of benefits in the
Eucharist was by no means foreign to the point in view, or wide
of his purpose, but quite the contrary. For what could be
more pertinent to his design of warning Christians to have no-
thing to do with the table of devils, than the intimating to them
that they would thereby forfeit all the benefits and privileges
they expected from the table of the Lord ? Upon this foot,
and this only, there is force and poignancy in what he says ;
' Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and the table of
devils V
IV. It may perhaps be objected further, that the Pagan
u i Cor. x. 21. I Cor. xi. 27, 29. there be to receive at all? Who
If there were not great benefits on would run the dreadful risk of being
one hand, as there is great clanger on guilty of the body and blood of the
the other, what encouragement could Lord ?
vin. Explained and Vindicated. 199
notion of their sacrificial feasts was no more than this, that their
gods or demons might sometimes condescend to come and feast
with them, and so those feasts imported some kind of society or
alliance with demons, but nothing of influxes, communications,
impressions, &c. To which I answer, that we are not here in-
quiring what the Pagans supposed, but how the Apostle inter-
preted their feastings of that kind. The Pagans believed in
gods, (as they thought,) or good demons ; but the Apostle inter-
prets all of bad angels or devils. And it is further observable,
that he speaks not of partaking with devils of such banquets, but
of partaking, with idolaters, of devils. All the expressions made
use of by the Apostle declare for this meaning. Kou/oWa roO
o-cb^aroy, is partaking of body, not with body. Koivcovia TOV
is partaking of blood, not with blood. Koivavla TOV
, is partaking of the altar, not with the altar. In
like manner, Koivwia T>V batfuoviuv must mean partaking of de-.
vils, not with devils v . For, in truth, the communicants in the
idol-sacrifices were joint partakers, with idolaters, of devils, as
Christian communicants are joint partakers, with Christians, of
Christ. Thus the analogy is duly preserved, and the comparison
answers to the greatest exactness.
I may here briefly take notice, in passing, that what concerns
the communion or participation of devils, has been very minutely
examined among some learned Divines abroad, within these
thirty years last past. Gottofr. Olearius, a learned Lutheran of
Leipsic, opened the subject in a Dissertation on i Cor. x. 21,
printed A. D. 1709; reprinted in 1712. The design was to
explain the Pagan notion of the communion of their demons,
and from thence to illustrate the communion of Christ's body
and blood in the Eucharist, as taught by the Apostle. Some
years after, another learned Lutheran, in a treatise written in
v An ancient writer, of the third est, non est jam Dei, sed idoli : quae-
century, well expresses this matter : dum in cibum sumitur, sumentem
'Quantum enim ad creaturam per- daemonic nutrit, non Deo, convi-
tineat, omnis munda est : sed cum vam ilium simulacro reddendo, non
daemoniis immolata fuerit, inquinata Christo.' Novatian. de Cib. Judaic,
est tarn diu quam diu simulacris cap. 7.
offeratur. Quod mox atque factum
2OO I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
the German language, pursued the same hypothesis, and met
with good acceptance among many. But in the year 1*728,
Mr. Eisner of Utrecht took occasion to animadvert upon it w ,
blaming Olearius for pushing the point too far, in favour of the
Lutheran doctrine concerning the Eucharist, and for maintaining
too gross a notion of sacramental manducation. Others have
endeavoured to defend or palliate Olearius's doctrine, and re-
flect upon Eisner, as too severe or disrespectful in his censure,
and as straining things to the worst sense x . All I shall observe
upon the dispute is, that both sides appear to agree in three
particulars : i. That the idolaters held communion with each
other, by eating of the same sacrifices ; to which answers, in the
analogy, the communion of Christians with each other, by and
in the Eucharist. 2. That the idolaters held communion with
devils by feasting at the table of devils : to which answers o\ir
holding communion with Christ in the Eucharist. 3. That the
devils with whom they so held communion, had thereby some
power or influence over them : to which answer the Divine influ-
ences upon true and worthy communicants in the Eucharist.
V. There is yet another objection worth the considering, be-
cause it seems to strike at the main grounds upon which we have
proceeded in explaining the Apostle's doctrine in this chapter.
It is suggested, that 8mp6viov in that place does not signify
devil y, but either a good demon, or something imaginary, a mere
nonentity : and this is grounded partly upon the consideration
that the Pagans could never intend to sacrifice to devils, and
partly upon St. Paul's allowing an idol to be nothing. The
reader may find this suggestion abundantly confuted, in Whitby
and Wolfius upon this chapter ; and therefore I shall here con-
tent myself with briefly hinting as follows : i. That the word
v, commonly 2 in the New Testament, does signify some
w Eisner. Observat. Sacr. torn. ii. z A late learned writer very acute-
p. 108. ly as well as justly observes, that the
* Wolfius, Curae Cr!t. in I Cor. x. sacred penmen, when speaking their
21. p. 461. Mosheim. in Praefat. ad own sense, and not reporting the
Cudworth de Coena. words of others, do always use the
y See Le Clerc in loc. in his Sup- word Sainiviov in the bad sense. Dr.
plement to Hammond, p. 338. Engl. Warren, part i. p. 75. part ii. p. 7,
edit. See.
vin. Explained and Vindicated. 201
evil spirit, as in the many cases of demoniacs therein mentioned,
besides other instances. 2. That in this place of St. Paul, the
word ought to be so interpreted, in conformity to Deuteronomy
xxxii. 17, which St. Paul appears to have had in his eye, 'They
sacrificed unto devils, not to God ;' which Le Clerc himself
(who raises the objection which I am now answering) interprets
of evil spirits a . 3. That St. Paul speaks not of what the
heathens intended, or had in view, but of the real nature, ten-
dency, or consequence of their idolatry. 4. That though St. Paul
knew that idols, whether understood of statues and images, or
of the deities supposed to reside in them, were really nothing,
(as having either no being b, as many had not, or no divinity c ,
and were not capable of making any physical change in the
meats, which were the good creatures of God; yet he knew
withal, that evil spirits suggested to men those idolatrous prac-
tices, and resided in those images, and assisted in those services,
personating those fictitious deities, and drawing all those adora-
tions, in the last result, to themselves d : therefore St. Paul cautions
the Corinthians against putting themselves into the power and
possession of those evil spirits, which they were not before aware
of e . 5. There can be no sense or no force in St. Paul's argu-
ment, if we interpret his words either of good demons or of mere
nothings : for it would sound very odd to say, I would not have
you partakers of good angels ; or of nothings, that is, no partakers ;
and again, Ye cannot partake of the Lord's table, and the table
of good angels or table of nonentities. Besides that the Apostle
a "EBvffav Soi/xovt'ofs /ecu ov > scilicet, daemones.' Tertull. de Spec-
Deut. xxxii. 17. Vid. Cleric, in loc. tac. cap. x. p. 77.
item in Levit. xvii. 7. Cacodaemoni- 'Non quod idolum sit aliquid,
bus. See also Baruch iv. 7. (ut Apostolus ait,) sed quod quae
b Such as personalized qualities, faciunt, daemoniis faciunt, consisten-
mere abstract ideas ; as mercy, jus- tibus scilicet in consecrationibus idol-
tice, faith, truth, concord, health, orum, sive mortuorum, sive (ut pu-
fortune, &c, tant) deorum. Propterea igitur, quo-
c As sun, moon, stars, &c. niam utraque species idolorum con-
d 'Scimus nihil esse nomina mor- ditionis unius est, dum mortui et dii
tuorum, sicut et ipsa simulacra unum sunt, utraque idololatria ab-
eorum ; sed non ignoramus qui sub stinemus.-.quia non possumus coe-
istis nominibus, institutis simulacris nam Dei edere, et coenam daemoni-
operentur et gaudeant, et divinita- orum.' Tertull. ibid. cap. xiii. p.
tern uientiantur, nequam spiritus 79.
2O3 1 Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
was obviating or refuting that very objection about an idol's being
nothing ; allowing it in a physical sense, but not in a moral one ;
allowing it of the klol considered in itself, but not of what it led
to, and terminated in. Whatever men might think of bare idols,
yet evil spirits, which promoted and accepted that idolatrous
worship, were real beings, and very pernicious, many ways f , to
the worshippers, and to as many as were partners with them,
either formally or in just construction. In this light, the Apostle's
argument is clear and solid, and his sense strong and nervous ;
countenanced also by other Scriptures and the whole stream of
antiquity.
VI. There are yet other objections, of a slighter kind, which
I may here throw together, and briefly answer, that no further
scruple may remain. A learned man very lately ?, in his Latin
Notes upon Cudworth's treatise on the Sacrament, and in his
Preface to the same, has taken a great deal of pains to explain,
(should I say T) or rather to perplex and obscure the Apostle's
argument in this chapter, and to turn it off to a different
meaning from what I have been pleading for. His reason, or
motive, for doing it, appears to be, to make it square the better
with the Lutheran notion of the corporal presence in the Eucha-
rist. He takes it for granted that both good and bad do equally
receive the Lord's body and blood, (which is indeed the natural
and necessary consequence of their other principles,) and there-
fore he cannot admit that the communion here spoken of should
be understood of benefits, lest those benefits also should be
supposed common to both, which is palpably absurd. He frankly
enough discovers where his main scruple lies h ; and then pro-
t Wolfius well distinguishes, in his est, distinguit a Saiuon'oiy. tanquam
Comments on this text, pp. 459, 460. quae vere existant, et ex cultu prae-
' Non tarn hie quaeritur, quid genti- stito fructum percipiant, in perniciem
libus de deastris suis persuasum fue- sacrificantium redundaiitem ; quem-
rit, quam quod illis persuasum esse admodum et ol Qvovrts sacra sua
debuerit, quidve ex rei veritate de faciant ea intentione, ut cum deastris
illis sit judicandum : posterius hoc conjungantur.'
innuit Apostolus, et testatum adeo 8 Joannes Laurentius Moshemius,
facit, cultum ilium superstitiosum et Jenae, 1733.
a mails daemonibus profectum esse, h 'Quidsentiamdeinterpretatione
et in illorum societatem pertrahere hac verborum S. Pauli, itemque de
. . . Apostolus rb fTSw\oi> quod nihil argumento quod ex illis elicit vir doc-
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 203
ceeds to invent reasons, or colours, to support it. He pleads
that St. Paul, in this place, mentions no distinction between
worthy receivers and unworthy, but seems rather to make what
he speaks of common to both ; for he inserts no exception, or
salvo, as he ought to have done, had his words been intended
of receiving benefits i, &c. To which I answer : i . That there
was no occasion for making any express distinction : it was
sufficient to leave it to every one's good sense tacitly to supply.
The Apostle speaks of it according to what it was in the general,
and in God's design, and in its primary intention, and what it
always would be in the event, if not rendered fruitless through
some default of the communicants k : but as the real sacrifice of
Christ's death, with the benefits thereof, was to extend no further
than to persons qualified for it, and not to the impenitent; so
every man's own reason would readily suggest to him, without
a monitor, that the application of that sacrifice could not be of
wider extent than the sacrifice itself. 2. Add to this, that
nothing is more usual in Scripture than to omit such exceptions
as common sense might readily supply ; partly for the sake of
brevity or elegancy, and partly for the avoiding impei-tinence or
offence. How often are the benefits of Baptism spoken of in
general and absolute terms, without any excepting clause with
respect to unworthy partakers. It was needless to insert any ;
for Christians understood the terms of their Baptismal covenant,
tissimus (Cudworthus) ad opinionem Reformatos recepta est, excepisset
suam probandam, in praefatione ape- PaulushauddubiedegeneresCliristia-
riam. . . Hie monuisse satis erit, pre- nos ex illis qui Christi compotes fiunt
mi ab eo vestigia praecipuorum re- in S. Coena, dixissetque : Nostisne
formati coetus doctorum. &c. .. .velle eos homines, in quibus castus est
enim hos notum est, ideo S. Coenam animus et vera fides, corporis et san-
a Servatore nostro potissimum esse guinis Christi compotes fieri?' Mo-
institutam, ut sancti homines, qui ad shem. ibid. p. 31. Cp. Gerhard, et
earn accedunt, cum Christo Servatore Albertin. Respon. p. 225.
suoarctiusconjungantur, etbeneficio- k Chrysostom is very clear on thig
rum hominibus ab eo partorum red- head, in Matt. Horn. Ixxxiii. p. 788.
danturparticipes: nos verorepudiare, Bened. ed. And so indeed are all
qui omnes homines, sive probi sint, the ancients, when rightly under-
sive improbi, corporis et sanguinis stood. None of them ever imagined
Domini vere fieri compotes in S. that the 'res sacramenti,' the thing
Coena statuimus.' Moshem, in Notis signified, was received at all by
ad cap. iv. sect. a. p. 30. the unworthy, either spiritually or
' ' Si vera esset sententia, quae inter orally.
204 i Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
and did not want to be told perpetually, that Simon Magus and
other the like wretches, though baptized, had no part in them.
Many times does St. Paul remind Christians of their bodies being
the members of Christ, or temple of God, or temple of the Holy
Ghost \ making no exception at all for corrupt Christians : he
thought it best to omit invidious exceptions ; not doubting but
that such plain things would be tacitly understood by every one,
without his naming them. Once indeed, after he had told the
Corinthians of Christ being in them, he adds, ' except ye be
reprobates m .' But certainly it was neither necessary nor proper
to be perpetually inculcating an invidious and grating reflection.
The persons whom he wrote to, might not always be dull enough
to want it, or bad enough to deserve it ; a softer kind of address
might be both more acceptable to them, and more effectual to
incite them to all goodness. There is therefore no force at all
in the negative argument drawn from St. Paul's omitting to
make an express exception to the case of unworthy communi-
cants in i Cor. x. 16 ; or however, he abundantly supplied it in
the next chapter, and needed not to do it twice over in the same
Epistle, and within the compass of forty verses.
But the learned Mosheim presently after subjoins another
little plea n , to add weight to the former. He asks, why should
the Apostle so distinctly mention the communion both of the
body and of the blood, if he intended no more than the fruits of
Christ's death ? Might not the single mention of his death or of
its fruits have sufficed 1 To which we might justly answer, by
asking the same question : What occasion could there be, upon
his own principles, for distinctly mentioning both body and blood]
Might not body alone have sufficed, especially considering how
I i Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 15-20. docere voluisset, mortis Christi fruc-
2 Cor. vi. 1 6. turn ad eos pervenire qui S. Coena
m 2 Cor. xiii. 5. fruerentur ? Suffecisset ad bane rem
II ' Deinde vir divines distincte cor- exprimendam, si generatim dixisset :
poris et sanguinis Christi participes minime vos praeterit, in Christi et
fieri dicit eos, qui poculum benedic- mortis ejus couimunionem pervenire,
turn, et panem qui frangitur, accipe- quibus poculum consecratum etpanis
rent in S. Coena. Quid distincta hac fractus in S. Coena exhibetur. Mo-
mentione tarn corporis quam sangui- shein. ibid. p. 31. Cp. Gerhard, et
nis Christi opus fuisset, si hoc tantum Albertin. Respon. p. 225.
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 205
doubtful a point it has been thought, whether a glorified body
has properly any blood in it or no ? The learned author
might better have waved an objection which recoils so strongly
upon his own hypothesis. To answer more directly, we say,
upon our principles, that the distinct mentioning both of the
body and the blood was exceeding proper, and very significant ;
because it shews that our Lord is considered in the Eucharist
according to the state he was in at his crucifixion : for then only
it was, that his body and blood were separate ; one hanging on
the cross, the other spilled upon the ground. That body and that
blood are commemorated in the Eucharist, the body broken, and
the blood shed : therefore St. Paul so distinctly mentioned both,
lest Christians should think (as indeed, in late and dark ages,
Christians have thought) that the words of the institution,
though express for broken body, and blood shed upon earth,
should be interpreted to mean his glorified body in heaven.
St. Paul very justly followed the style of the institution, our
Lord's own style : and by that he shewed, that he was speaking
of the separation of the body and blood, which in reality was the
death of our Lord, or seen only in his death, and consequently
such manner of speaking directly pointed to the death of our
Lord, and to the fruits or benefits arising from it. Mr. Mosheim
goes on to make some slight objections to Dr. Cudworth's just
notion of the pai*takers of the altar, as sharing the benefits or
expiations thereof. It would be tedious to make a particular
reply to every little objection which a pregnant wit can raise,
and therefore I shall only say this : either he must understand
it of a real communion of and with that God, whose altar it
was, and then it implies benefits of course ; or he must under-
stand it only of external declarations or professions, such as
hypoci-ites might make, and then it will be hard to shew how that
agrees Avith the symbol of eating, which means receiving some-
thing, (not giving out declarations,) and is plainly so understood,
not only in John vi., but also in Heb. xiii. 10, where eating of
an altar is spoken of.
Vid.Allix.Dissei-tat.de Sanguine Hist, of the Eucharist, part ii. cap. 6.
D. N. Jesu Christi. Cp. 1'Arroque, p. 268.
2o6 1 Corinthians x. 16, &e. CHAP.
Mr. Mosheim says no more in his Notes : but in his Preface,
written afterwards, he pursues the same argument ; and there he
endeavours to invalidate the other parallel drawn from partaking
of devils. He will not be persuaded? that the idolaters did really
sacrifice to evil spirits : but it is certain they did ; though they
intended quite otherwise. And he will not allow that they were
partakers of devils, because an idol is nothing : which has been
abundantly answered before. I shall only add, that this learned
writer was not perhaps aware, that he has been enforcing the
objection of the idolaters, and labouring to elude St. Paul's answer
to it, in contradiction to the Apostle's clear and express words.
St. Paul granted that an idol physically was nothing, but that
morally and circumstantially it stood in quite another view : for,
though an idol was nothing; yet a devil, under the name or
cover of an idol, was a real thing, and of very dangerous conse-
quence, to make alliance with. But I proceed.
When this learned gentleman comes to propose his own inter-
pretation of the whole passage, he does it in such an intricate
and confused manner, as discovers it at once to be unnatural and
forced. He first breaks the coherence of it, in a very particular
way, and owns that he does so<l. Then he proceeds to speak of
St. Paul's abrupt and rapid manner of writing, and of his omit-
ting many things for an interpreter to supply, (though before he
would not allow him to omit a needless exception, which nobody
almost could miss of,) and of his jumping to a conclusion, before
he had sufficiently opened his premises 1 ". Could one desire a
P ' Nunquam inihi persuaserim, cumque res ipsa testetur, nullam esse
sanctum hominem id sibi velle, pro- cognationem et affinitatem cummati
fan us vere mails geniis, aut deastris 16 et 17 cum consequente comma te
immolare, quae iminolarent : etenim 18, reliquum est, ut constituamus,
haec sententia pugnaret cum eo quod divellendum esse hoc posterius com-
paulo ante largitus erat Corinthiis, ma a prioribus binis, novamque ab
deastrum nihil, aut commentitium eo partem orationis sancti bominis
esse aliquid : si nihil est deaster, inchoandam esse,' &c. Moshem. in
quomodo vere sacrificari potest illi Praefat.
afiquid V Moshem. in Praefat. T 'Praecisam et concitatam esse
i ' Exerceant, quibus placet, inge- inultis in locis S. Pauli disputati-:
mum, experianturque, num demon- onem, et multa interdum ab eo omitti
strare queant haec apta esse inter se, quae interpretis meditatione ac in-
ac cohaerentia ? Quae cum ita sint, genio suppler! debent, quo perfectam
viii. Explained and Vindicated. 207
more sensible or more affecting token of the irresistible strength
of the ancient and prevailing construction than this, that the
acutest wit, joined with uncommon learning, can make no other
sense of the place, but by taking such liberties with sacred Writ,
as are by no means allowable upon any known rules of just and
sober hermeneutics 1 I shall dwell no longer on this learned
gentleman's speculations ; which, I am willing to hope, are not
the sentiments of all the Lutherans. They are confronted, in
part, by the very learned Wolfius, as I observed above : and I
am now going to take notice of the moderate sentiments of
Baron Puffendorff (who was an able divine, as well as a consum-
mate statesman) in his latest treatise, left behind him ready
for the press, written in Latin, and printed in 16958. He
first candidly represents the principles of the Reformed, and
next passes a gentle censure.
' Some say [meaning some of the Reformed] that... we must
not believe the bread and wine to be a naked symbol, but a
communication, or mean by which we come into participation of
the body and blood of Christ, as St. Paul speaks, I Cor. x. 16.
But of what sort that communion or communication is, whether
physical or moral, may be very well gathered from that very
place of St. Paul. By a physical communion, or participation,
must be understood the conjunction of two bodies, as of water
and wine, of meal and sugar : but by a moral one is meant,
such as when anything partakes of the virtue and efficacy of
another, and in that respect is accounted the same with the
other, or is connected with it. As among the Jews, they who
demonstratio formam adipiscatur, ne- exhibere volunt, addere passim quae-
minem in scriptis istis versatum prae- dam debent et interjicere, ad ea plane
terit. Id hoc etiam in loco memi- tollenda quae intelligentiam morari
nisse decet, quo divinus vir, sacro possunt.' Moshem. ibid.
elatus fervore, et incredibili Corin- ' Jus feciale divinum : sive de
thios emendandi studio accensus, ad Consensu et Dissensu Protestantium,
demonstrationis conclusionem pro- exercitatio posthuma. ' Lubecae,
perat potius quam pergit, nee plura 1695.
exprimit verbis quam summa postulat The Divine feudal Law : or Means
necessitas ad vim ejus capiendam. for the uniting of Protestants. Trana-
Quare qui rudiorum captui consulere, lated from the original by Theophilua
et universam argumentationem ejus Dorrington, 1703.
nervis et partibus suis cohaerentem
2o8 I Corinthians x. 16, &c. CHAP.
did eat of the flesh of the victim were made partakers of the
altar ; that is, of the Jewish worship, and of all the benefits
which did accompany that worship. So also, they who did eat
of things sacrificed to idols were partakers of devils ; not for that
they did eat the substance of the devils, but because they
did derive upon themselves the guilt of idolatry. From all
which things we may learn to understand the words of the in-
stitution in this sense This bread eaten by the faithful, in the
ceremony of this Supper, this wine also therein drank by such,
shall have the same virtue and efficacy, as if you should eat the
substance itself of my body, and drink the very substance of my
blood. Or, this bread is put in the stead of the sacrificed flesh,
this wine is in the stead of the sacrificed blood ; whereby the
covenant between God and men, having me for the mediator of
it, is established. Nor indeed are such sort of expressions (im-
porting an equivalence or substitution) uncommon, whether in
holy Scripture or in profane writers. For example : " I have
made God my hope *." Elijah was the " chariots of Israel, and the
horsemen thereof"." "Woman, behold thy son ; son, behold thy
mother x ." " He that doth the will of my Father, the same is my
brother, and sister, and mother y." It is said of the enemies of
the cross of Christ, " that their belly is their god z ." So in Virgil
we have the like phraseology, " Thou shalt be to me the great
Apollo."
' But in articles of faith, it is safer to follow a naked simplicity,
than to indulge the fancy in pursuit of subtilties. And it has
been observed, that while the reins have been left too loose to
human reason, in this article of the Lord's Supper, the other
mysteries also of the Christian religion have be tampered with,
so that by degrees Socinianism is at length sprung up. But if
both sides would but sincerely profess, that in the Lord's Supper
Christ's body and blood are verily and properly eaten and
drank a , and that there is a participation of the benefits by
him purchased, all the controversy remaining is only about the
* Job xxxi. 24. u 2 Kings ii. 12. * John xix. 26, 27.
i Matt. sii. 50. * Phil. iii. 19.
We say, ' Verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful.'
YIII, Explained and Vindicated. 209
manner of eating and drinking, and of the presence" of Christ's
body and blood, which both sides confess to be above the reach
of human capacity : and so they make use of reasonings, where
is no room for reason V So far this very judicious writer, a
moderate Lutheran, and a person of admirable sagacity. I shall
hereupon take the liberty to observe, that if the supposed cor-
poral presence were but softened into corporal union, and that
union understood to be of the mystical or moral kind, (like to
that of man and wife making one flesh, or all true Christians, at
any distance, making one body,) and if this union were reckoned
among the fruits of Christ's death, received by the faithful in the
Eucharist, then would everything of moment be secured on all
sides : and the doctrine of the Eucharist, so stated, would be
found to be altogether intelligible, rational, and scriptural, and
confirmed by the united verdict of all antiquity.
As to Lutherans and Calvinists, however widely they may
appear to differ in words and in names, yet their ideas seem all
to concentre (as often as they come to explain) in what I have
mentioned. The Calvinists, for example, sometimes speak of
eating Christ's body and blood by faith, or by the mind ; and yet
they seem to understand nothing more than a kind of moral,
virtual, spiritual, or mystical union , (such as bodies at a dis-
tance may have,) though perhaps they do not always explain it
so happily as might be wished. On the other hand, the Lu-
therans when pressed to speak plainly, deny every article almost
which they are commonly charged with by their adversaries.
They disown assumption of the elements into the humanity of
Christ d , as likewise augmentation 6 , and impanation f ; yea, and
consubstantiation -, and concomitancy h : and, if it be asked, at
b Puffendorf. Eng. edit. sect. Ixiii. e Pfaffius, p. 451, &c. Buddaeus,
pp. 211, 712, 213. Lat. edit. sect. Miscellan. Sacr. torn. ii. pp. 81,
Ixiii. pp. 227, 228, 229. 82.
c Vid. Albertin. pp. 230, 231. f Pfaffius, p. 453. Buddaeus, ibid.
Pet. Martyr, in i Cor. xii. 12, 13. p. 83. Deylingius, Observ. Miscell.
p. 178. p. 249.
d Vid. Pfaffius, Dissertat. de Con- s Pfaffius, p. 453, &c. Buddaeus,
secrat. Eucharist, p. 449, &c. Bud- idid. p. 84. Deylingius, ibid,
daeus, Miscellan. Sacr. torn. ii. pp. h Pfaffius, ibid. p. 459. Buddaeus,
80, 8 1. ibid. pp. 85, 86.
P
Remission of Shis CHAP.
length, what they admit and abide by, it is a sacramental union > ;
not a corporal presence, but as a body may be present spiritually i.
And now, what is a sacramental union, with a body spiritually
present, .while corporally absent ? Or what ideas can any one
really have under these terms, more than that of a mystical or
moral union, (such as Baron Puffendorf speaks of,) an union as
to virtue and efficacy, and to all saving intents and purposes ?
So far both parties are agreed, and the remaining difference may
seem to lie chiefly in words and names, rather than in ideas,
or real things k . But great allowances should be made for the
prevailing prejudices of education, and for a customary way of
speaking or thinking on any subject.
CHAP. IX.
Of Remission of Sins conferred in tJte EUCHARIST.
THIS is an article which has been hitherto touched upon only
as it fell in my way, but will now require a particular discussion :
and that it may be done the more distinctly and clearly, it will
be proper to take in two or three previous propositions, which
may be of use to prevent misconceptions of what we mean, and
1 Pfaffius, p. 461, &c. Buddaeus, sanguis Christi (modo quern ratio
ibid. p. S'i, &c. comprehendere nequit) uniatur : ut
J 'Quinimoet corporalis praesentia cum illo pane corpus Christi una
negatur, quae tamen ea ratione ad- manducatione sacramentali, et cum
struitur, ut corpus Christi vere, licet illo vino sanguinem Christi una
spiritualiter praesens esse credatur. bibitione sacramentali, in sublimi
Caeterum cum corpus Christi ubique mysterio sumamus, manducemus, et
junctam divinitatem habeat, ea et in bibamus.' Buddaeus, ibid. pp. 86,
sacra coena praesens est ; singulari 87.
tamen et incomprehensibili ratione, k ' Testatur Zanchius, se audivisse
quae omnes imperfectionesexcludit.' quendam non vulgarem Lutheranum
Pfaffius, p. 462. 'Praesentiam realem dicentem, se et alios suos non ita di-
profitemur, carnalem negamus.' Puf- cere corpus Christi a nobis corpo-
fend. sect. 92. raliter manducari, quasi illud Christi
'Unicus itaqtie saltern isque verus corpus os et corpus nostrum attingat
et genuinus praesentiae realis super- (hoc enim falsum esse) sed tantum
est modus, unio sacramentalis ; quae propter sacramentalem unionem, qua
ita comparata est, ut, juxta ipsius id quod proprie conipetit pani, attri-
Servatoris nostri institutionem, pani buitur etiatn quodammodo ipsi cor-
benedicto tanquam medio divinitus pori Christi. In hisce ergo conveni-
ordinato corpus, et vino benedicto mus.' Sam. Ward. Theolog. Deter-
tanquam medio divinitus ordinato minat. p. 113.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 2H
to open the way to what we intend to prove. The previous pro-
positions are : i. That it is God alone who properly confers re-
mission. 2. That he often does it in this life present, as seems good
unto him, on certain occasions, and in sundry degrees. 3. That he
does it particularly in Baptism, in a very eminent degree. These
several points being premised and proved, it will be the easier after-
wards to shew that he does it also in the Eucharist, as likewise to
explain the nature and extent of the remission there conferred.
i. I begin with premising, that God alone properly confers
remission of sins : whatever secondary means or instruments may
be made use of in it, yet it is God that does it. ' "Who can for-
give sins but God only 1 ?' We read, that 'it is God that justi-
fieth m .' Justification of sinners comes to the same with remis-
sion : it is receiving them as just ; which amounts to acquitting,
or absolving them, in the court of heaven. For proof of this, I
refer the reader to Bishop Bull's Harmonia Apostolica n , that I
may not be tedious In a very plain case. The use I intend
of the observation, with respect to our present subject, is,
that if we are said to eat or drink, in the Eucharist, the benefits
of Christ's passion, (among which remission of sins is one,) or if
we are said to apply those benefits, and of consequence that remis-
sion, to ourselves, by faith, &c., all this is to be understood only
of our receiving such remission, and partaking of those benefits,
while it is God that grants and confers, and who also, properly
speaking, applies every benefit of that kind to the faithful com-
municant. And whether he does it by his word or by his ordi-
nances, and by the hands of his ministers, he does it however :
and when such absolution, or remission, is real and true, it is
not an human absolution, but a divine grant, transmitted to us
by the hands of men administering the ordinances of God. God
has sometimes sent his extraordinary grants of that kind by
prophets and other officers extraordinary : and he may do the
like in a fixed and standing method, by his ordinary officers or
ministers duly commissioned thereunto P. But whoever he be that
1 Mark ii. 7. Rom. viii. 33. n Bull, Harmon. Apostol.
Dissert, i. cap i. 2 Sam. xii 13. Compare Eccl us. xlvii. u.
P Matt. xvi. 19 ; xviii. 16, 17, 18. John xx. 22, 23. Acts xxii. 16.
P 2
212 Remission of Sins CHAP.
brings the pardon, or who pursuant to commission notifies it to
the party in solemn form, yet the pardon, if true, is the gift of
God, and it is God alone, or the Spirit of God, that applies it to
the soul, and converts it to spiritual nutriment and increase.
This, I presume, may be looked upon as a ruled point, and needs
not more words to prove it.
2. The next thing I have to premise is, that God often confers
remission, or justification, for the time being, in this life present,
with certain and immediate effect, according to the degree or
extent of it. All remission is not final, nor suspended upon what
may come after : but there is such a thing as present remission,
distinct from the final one, and which may or may not continue
to the end, but is valid for the time being, and is in its own
nature (no cross circumstances intervening) irrevocable. Let us
come to particulars, in proof of the position. Jesus said unto
the sick of the palsy, ' Son, thy sins are forgiven thee 1.' There
was present remission of some kind or other, to some certain
degree, antecedent to the day of judgment, and of force for the
time being. So again, our Lord's words, 'Whose soever sins
ye remit, they are remitted r ,' &c. ; do plainly suppose and imply
a present remission to some degree or other, antecedently to the
great day, and during this present life. ' All that believe,' (viz.
with a faith working by love,) ' are justified 8 ,' &c. The text
speaks plainly of a present justification, or remission : for both
amount to the same, as I have hinted before. St. Paul speaks
of sincere converts, as ' being justified freely by God's grace,
through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ * ; ' and soon
after mentions ' remission of sins past V meaning remission then
present ; as indeed he could not mean anything else. In another
place, he speaks of justification as then actually received, or
obtained : ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ ... by whom we have now
received the atonement \' Elsewhere he says, ' Ye are washed,
ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of our God w .' Again : ' You being dead in
i Mark ii. 5, 9. Luke v. 20. r John xx. 23. Acta xiii. 39.
Bom. iii. 24. u Horn. iii. 25. v Rom. v. I, 11. w I Cor. vi. n.
ix. conferred in the EucJiarist. 213
your sins . . . hath he quickened, . . . having forgiven you all tres-
passes x .' I shall take notice but of one text more: 'I write
unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you y.'
So then, present remission, in some cases or circumstances, may
be justly looked upon as a clear point. Nevertheless, we are to
understand it in a sense consistent with what St. Paul teaches
elsewhere : ' We are made partakers of Christ, (finally,) if we
hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end 2 .'
There is a distinction to be made between present and final justi-
fication : not that one is conditional and the other absolute, (for
both are absolute in their kind, being founded in absolute grants,)
but in one case, the party may live long enough to need a new
grant ; in the other, he is set beyond all danger or doubtfulness.
Present justification amounts to a present right or claim to
heaven upon Gospel terms, and presupposes the performance of
everything stipulated so far, and is therefore absolute for the
time being a . As to future perseverance, because it is future, it
comes not into present account, and so is out of the question, as
to present justification b , or present stipulation. Perseverance is
conditionally stipulated, that is to say, upon the supposition or
condition that we live longer : but the question concerning our
present claim to heaven upon the Gospel terms, turns only upon
what is present, and what serves for the time being. A present
right is not therefore no right, or not certain for the present,
because of its being liable to forfeiture, on such and such suppo-
sitions, afterwards. This I observe here, to remove the prejudices
which some may possibly conceive against the very notion of
present remission, (either in the Sacraments or out of them,)
only because it is not absolute in every view, and upon every
* Coloss. ii. 13. in quo est, ab ipso requiritur, etiamsi
y i John ii. 12. jugis et pia operatic adhuc desit :
1 Heb. iii. 14. proinde ex foedere illo justificatur,
a 'Hie dico, quod notandum est, atque ad omnia foederis ejusdem
quemvis justificatum praestitisse in- beneficia jus habet.' Bull. Resp. ad
tegram foederis Evangelic! conditi- Animad. iii. sect. vi. p. 539.
onem, pro statu in quo est. Quis- b 'Haec conditio jugis operation's
quis fide in Christum Si' a.yain)s in evangelico foedere non absolute
tvfpyovpii>ri praeditus est, is eo mo- requiritur, sed ex hypothesi ; nempe
mento praestitit integram foederis si Deus vitain largitus fuerit.' Bull.
Evangelici conditionem quae, in statu ibid.
214 Remission of Sins CHAP.
supposition, but upon the present view only, or in the circumstances
now present. Indeed, remission of sins is a kind of continued act
of God towards good men, often repeated in this life, and more
and more confirmed the more they improve ; ascertained to them,
against all future chances, at their departure hence, but not finally,
or in the most solemn form conferred, before the day of judgment.
3. I proceed to observe, that such present remission, as I have
hitherto been speaking of, is ordinarily conferred in the Sacra-
ment of Baptism, where there is no obstacle on the part of the
recipient. Even the Baptism of John, upon repentance, instru-
mentally conveyed remission of sins c : much more does the
Baptism of Christ. ' Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God <V This implies
that Water-baptism, ordinarily, is requisite to remission, and
consequently is an ordinary means of conveying it. But there
are other texts more express : ' Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sius
...the promise is . . . to all that are afar off 6 ,' &c. Ananias's
words to Saul are very remarkable; 'Arise, and be baptized, and
wash away thy sins f : ' words too clear and express to be eluded
by any Socinian evasions. And so are those, other words ;
' Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it ; that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word ?.' The same doctrine is again taught by St. Paul, where
he speaks of the ' putting off the body of sins, by the circum-
cision of Christ h ;' by Christian circumcision, that is, by Baptism.
The same thing is implied in our being 'saved by the laver
of regeneration',' and 'saved by Baptism V and having 'hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience k .' It is in vain to plead against
remission of sins in either of the Sacraments, on account of their
being considered in the recipient as single acts : for since it is
certain fact, that such remission is conferred in and by Baptism,
there must be some fallacy in that kind of reasoning, whether
c Mark i. 4. d John iii. 5. h Coloss. ii. 12, 13. See Dr. Wall,
e Acts ii. 38, 39. Hist, of Inf. Bapt. part i. c. 2. De-
f Acts xxii. 16. fence, p. 269, &c.
* Ephes. v. 25, 26. Compare Pear- * Tit. iii. 5. i i Peter iii. 21.
son on the Creed, Article x. p. 556. k Heb. x. 22.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 215
Ave can espy it or not, and it can be of no weight against plain
and certain fact. But I have hinted in my introduction, and
elsewhere \ where the error and misconception of such reasoning
lies : and I shall only add here, that if a king were to send out
his general letters of pardon for all submissive offenders, who,
after renewing their bonds of allegiance, would come and take
out their pardon in certain form, it would be no objection to the
validity of their pardon, as conveyed by such form, that the
submitting to it was but part of the condition, and not the whole,
so long as it presupposes everything besides. I may note also, by
the way, that no just objection can be made against the general
notion of God's conferring pardon by the ministry of men, since it
is certain that he does it in the Sacrament of Baptism, which is
administered by the hands of men commissioned thereunto.
Having thus despatched the three previous propositions, pre-
paratory to what I intend, I now proceed directly to the subject
of the present chapter, which is to shew, that God confers remis-
sion of sins in or by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as
well as by the Sacrament of Baptism. The analogy which
there is between the two Sacraments, considered as Sacraments,
is itself a strong presumption of it ; unless there were some
very good reason to be given why remission should be granted
there, and not here. The once granting of remission is no
argument against repeating and renewing it, time after time,
if there may be any new occasion for it, or if frequent renewals
may add more abundant strength and firmness to what was
before done, either for greater security or greater consolation.
It may be said, perhaps, that Baptism was necessary to give
any person a covenant-right to pardon upon repentance, but that
when a man is once entered into covenant, then repentance alone
suffices, and there is no longer need of submitting to any other
public, solemn form of remission, as an instrument of pardon. I
allow, there is not precisely the same need ; and yet I will not
presume to maintain that there may not be great need, notwith-
standing. It is one thing to say, that remission is given in the
Eucharist, as well as in Baptism ; and another to say, that the
1 See above, ch. viii. pp. i87, 188.
2 1 6 Remission of Sins CHAP.
Eucharist is as necessary to remission, as Baptism. Baptism
may be the first and grand absolution ; and the Eucharist may
be only second to it : the Eucharist may be an instrument of re-
mission, but not the prime or chief instrument. I am aware
that it was St. Austin's doctrine, (and, I think, of the Schools
after him,) that baptismal remission looks not only backwards to
sins past, but forwards also to future transgressions, and has its
federal effect for remission of sins repented of, all our lives long.
But yet that consideration never hindered him, nor others of the
same sentiments with him, from believing, that remission of sins
is granted in and by the Eucharist , as well as by the other
Sacrament. Only, they might think, that Baptism is eminently
and emphatically the Sacrament of remission, and the other, of
spiritual growth ; one is more peculiarly the instrument of justi-
fication, while sanctification is the eminent privilege of the other.
Nevertheless, justification and sanctification, though distinct in
notion, are yet so closely connected in the spiritual life, that they
commonly go together, and so whatever tends to increase either,
increases both. And though it is certainly true, that the Gospel
covenant promises remission upon repentance, yet receiving the
Communion, as it is an article of Christian obedience, is in-
cluded in the notion of repentance, making a part of it, as often
as we may and ought to receive. But besides that, as repentance
alone, without a continual application of the great atonement, is
of no avail upon the foot of the Christian covenant, nor can be
accepted at the throne of grace ; the least that we can say of the
m ' Sic, inquam, hoc accipiendum tia, nisi Baptismus sequeretur, vel
est, ut eodem lavacro regenerationis postea, nisi praecesserit ? ' Augustin.
et verbo sanctificationis, omnia pror- de Nupt. et Concupisc. lib. i. p. 298.
sus mala hominum regeneratorum torn. x. edit. Bened. Conf. Sam.
mundeutur, atque sanentur: non so- Ward. Determ. Theolog. p. 57. Vos-
lum peccata quae omnia nunc remit- sius de Baptism. Disp. vi. p. 277.
tuntur in Baptismo, sed etiam quae Turretin. Institut. Theolog. torn. iii.
posterius humana ignorantia vel in- p. 460, &c. Hes3'chius, of the fifth
firmitate contrahuntur. Non ut Bap- century, expressed it thus : ' Virtus
tisma quotiens peccatur totiens repe- praecedentis baptisuiatw operatur
tatur; sed quiaipso quod semeldatur, et in ea, quae postea acta fuerit,
fit, ut non solum antea, verum etiam poenitentia.' In Levit. lib. ii. p.
postea quoruinlibet peccatorum venia 1 18.
tidelibus impetretur. Quid enim pro- n Vid. Augustin. de Peccat. Mer.
desset vel ante Baptisinum posniten- et Rem. lib. i. cap. 24.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 17
expediency of the Eucharist, in that respect, is, that it amounts
to a public, solemn, certain application of Christ's merits, for the
rendering our repentance acceptable, (which no other service
except Baptism does,) and therefore it is a service carrying in it
the liveliest assurance, and the strongest consolation, with re-
spect to that very remission promised upon our serious repentance.
Baptism once received may perhaps justly be supposed to carry
in it the force of such continued application all our lives after ;
but yet it was not for nothing, that God appointed another Sacra-
ment, supplemental to Baptism, for carrying on the same thing,
or for the more effectual securing the same end. It is further
to be considered, that if the Eucharist includes in it (as shall be
shewn in its place) a renewal of the baptismal covenant, it must
of course be conceived to carry in it a renewal of baptismal re-
mission also : and remission, on God's part, is a kind of con-
tinued act, always growing, always improving, during the several
stages and advances of the Christian life . Besides, if Divine
wisdom, among other reasons, has superadded the solemnity of
Baptism to repentance, in order to fix the repentance more
strongly, and to render it accepted, as also to make the par-
don therein granted the more affecting and memorable ; it is
obvious to perceive how the solemnity of the Eucharist is
fitted to serve the like purposes ; and is therefore the more
likely to have been intended for another public and sensible
application of the merits of Christ's death, and a channel of
remission P, succedaneous to Baptism, in some views, and so far
' Justificatio et sanctificatio sunt P ' By the same reason that it came
actus quidem perpetuus, in quo et to be thought needful to make use
Deus semper donat, et homo semper of sensible means to convey or assure
recipit. Tota itaque vita homo fidelis to mankind God's pardon and grace
poscit remissionem peccatorum, etre- upon their first conversion to Chris-
novationem sui : tota item vita utrum- tianity, by the same, or a greater
que impetrat. Habet ante, sed con- reason, it must be judged to be so,
sequitur turn conservationem turn to make use of the like sensible
incrementum ejus quod habet. Omni- means to convey or assure the same
bus credentibus opus, ut tuna fides grace and pardon, after men have
turn gratia fide percepta foveatur, in any measure forfeited the interest
alatur, augeatur. Omnibus igitur they had in the other,
credentibus et verbi, et sacramento- 'By the same reason again, that
rum adminiculo opus est,' &c. Vos- it came to be thought needful to
sius de Sacr. Vi et Effic. p. 252. exact of us sensible declarations of
2 1 8 Remission of Sins CHAP.
serving instead of a repetition of it. But whether we are right
or wrong in these and the like plausible reasonings upon the
analogy of the two Sacraments, or upon their common, or dis-
tinct uses, yet if we can prove the fact, that the Eucharist really
is an instrument of remission, or a Gospel form of absolution, we
need not then concern ourselves much about the rationale of the
thing: our positive proofs will be sufficient without it. This
then is what I shall now proceed to, following the light of
Scripture and antiquity.
1. That remission of sins is ordinarily conferred in the Eucha-
rist, follows undeniably from the doctrine of i Cor. x. 16, as
explained in the preceding chapter of this work. For if we are
therein partakers of Christ's death, with the fruits thereof ; and
if the atonement be one of those fruits, and indeed the first and
principal ; and if remission follows the atonement, wherever it is
truly applied ; it is manifest from these considerations taken to-
gether, that remission is conferred, or (which comes to the same)
renewed and confirmed, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This
argument is built upon a very clear and allowed maxim, that the
effect must answer to the cause, and the fruits to the stock from
whence they grow 1. Besides, to deny that the Eucharist carries
remission with it seems to make it rather a memorial of the
reconcilement, than an actual participation of it : which is what
the Socinians do indeed teach, but have been confuted (if I may
take leave to say so) in the foregoing chapters.
2. I go on to our Lord's own words in the institution : ' Drink
ye all of this : for this is my blood, the blood of the new cove-
nant, shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins.' Our
Lord here mentions the remission of sins as the effect or fruit of
our renouncing the errors of our rist, into the expediency of- sensible
unconverted state ... by the same, means to testify repentance on man's
or a greater reason, must it be part, for sins committed after Bap-
judged to be so, to exact of us the tism, and for the greater solemnity
like sensible declarations, after we of granting pardon, on God's part,
have, by our disobedience, departed Which appears to be a very just ac-
from, and prevaricated our former count of it, in part, or it is, at least, a
ones.' Towerson on the Sacrament, sufficient answer to objections drawn
p. 158. from the rationale of the thing.
The author here resolves the reason See Dr. Felling's Disc, on the
of granting remission by the Eucha- Sacrament, p. 138, &c.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 219
the blood shed : that very blood shed is what we symbolically
drink in the Eucharist, together with the fruits of it, as hath
been abundantly proved above : therefore we drink remission in
the Eucharist, which is one of those fruits. To enforce the argu-
ment, observe but with what emphasis our Lord says, ' Drink ye
all of this : for this is,' &c. Why such a stress laid upon drink-
ing this blood shed for remission, if they were not to drink
remission in the very act 1 Commemorating will not answer the
purpose : for drinking is the constant symbol of receiving some-
thing in, not of commemorating, which is paying out : and I
have often observed before, that receiving in this instance must,
in the very nature of the act, mean present receiving : therefore
again, the receiving symbolically in the Eucharist that justify-
ing blood of Christ, must of consequence amount to receiving
present remission of sins. Bishop Taylor works up the argument
a little differently, thus : ' The body receives the body of the
mystery, (we eat and drink the symbols with our mouths), but
faith feeds upon the mystery itself, it entertains the grace . . .
which the Spirit of God conveys under that signature. Now,
since the mystery is perfectly and openly expressed to be the
remission of sins, if the soul does the work of the soul, as the
body the work of the body, the soul receives remission of sins, as
the body does the symbols and the Sacrament r .'
The Socinians here object, that the text does not say that the
Eucharist is ordained for remission, but that the blood, the blood
spilled upon the cross, was shed for remission. But it is obvious
to reply, that that blood which was once literally given for
remission, upon the cross, is now every day symbolically and
mystically given in the Eucharist, and given with all its fruits :
therefore remission of sins is given. Such is the nature of sym-
bolical grants, as I have before explained at large : they exhibit
what they represent, convey what they signify, and are in divine
construction and acceptance, though not literally or substantially,
the very thing which they supply the place of. Which is so true
in this case, that the very attributes of the signs and things
r Taylor's Worthy Communicant, p. 51.
22O Remission of Sins CHAP.
signified are reciprocally predicated of each other : the body is
represented as broken s , though that attribute properly belongs
to the bread ; and the cup, by a double figure, is said to be shed
for you *, when, in strictness of speech, that attribute belongs
only to the blood. This is further confirmed from the analogy
which there is between the representative blood in the Eucha-
rist, and the typical blood of the ancient Passover. For as the
blood there was a token of remission, and made instrumental to
remission, so is it also in the symbolical blood of the Eucharist j
and thus everything answers u . The blood likewise of the
ancient sacrifices, prefiguring the blood of Christ, was a token of
a covenant 7 , and conveyed remission, (legal directly, and evan-
gelical indirectly,) and therefore the symbolical blood of the
Eucharist figuring the same blood of Christ, cannot but be
understood to convey remission as effectually, yea and more
effectually than the other, which the very phrases here made
use of, parallel to the former, strongly argue.
I shall only add further, that since there certainly is spiritual
manducation in the Eucharist, as before shewn, and since remis-
sion of sins, by all accounts, and even by the Socinians, is
allowed to be included in spiritual manducation ; it will plainly
follow, that remission of sins is conveyed in and by the Eucha-
rist ; which was to be proved.
Having thus far argued the point from Scripture principles,
I may now proceed to inquire what additional light may be
borrowed from authorities, ancient or modern. I shall draw
together a summary account of what the primitive churches
taught in this article, and shall afterwards consider, very briefly,
the doctrine of our own Church on the same head.
The learned author of the Antiquities of the Christian Church,
having previously observed of Baptism, that it was esteemed the
grand absolution of all, proceeds soon after to take notice of
the absolution granted in the Eucharist, and gives this general
account of it :
I Cor. xi. 24. Exod. xxiv. 8. See Nature and
1 Luke xxii. 20. Obligation of the Christian Sacra-
u See above, ch. ii. p. 45. ments, vol. iv. p. 103.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 221
' It had some relation to penitential discipline, but did not
solely belong to it. For it was given to all baptized persons
who never fell under penitential discipline, as well as to those
who lapsed and were restored to communion : and in both re-
spects, it was called TO T/Xeioi>, the perfection, or consummation,
of a Christian ; there being no higher mystery that an ordinary
Clmstian could partake of. To those who never fell into such
great sins as required a public penance, it was an absolution
from lesser sins, which were called venial, and sins of daily incur-
sion : and to penitents who had lapsed, it was an absolution from
those greater sins for which they were fallen under censure w .'
To this may be added, that the name of e'0d8toi>, ' viaticum,' which
means provision for one's journey into the other world, and
which was frequently given to the Eucharist, in the fourth cen-
tury x , and so on, is a general proof of the sense of the Church
in those times with respect to remission in the holy Communion :
for as that name imports more, so it certainly implies remission
of sins, as part of the idea belonging to it.
After this brief general account, let us come to particulars.
The elder Fathers, of the two first centuries, (so far as I have
observed,) make not express mention of remission of sins in the
Eucharist, though they are explicit enough with respect to Bap-
tism. Their common way, with regard to the Eucharist, was to
pass over remission, and to go higher up to sanctification of the
Spirit, and spiritual or mystical union with Christ, and the con-
sequent right to glory and immortality and eternal life. Perhaps
they might conceive it low and diminutive, in that case, to speak
at all of remission, which was but the initiatory part, and
belonged more peculiarly to the initiatory Sacrament, which in
those times, and in the case of adults, immediately preceded the
other. However that were, we find proofs sufficient from the
writers of the third century Y, that the Eucharist was thought to
be of a propitiatory nature, in virtue of the great sacrifice therein
w Bingham, book xix. c. i. Bingham, book xv. cap. 4. sect. 9.
T Testimonies are collected by Ca- book xviii. cap. 4. sect. 3. Mabillon
saubon, Exercit. N. Hi. p. 415. de Liturg. Gall. p. 85.
y Suicer, in 'E<p<58ioj' ) p. 1290.
222 Remiss-Ion of Sins CHAP.
commemorated : and though the elder Fathers do not directly
say so, they tacitly supposed or insinuated the same thing, by
their standing discipline and by their so often calling the Eucha-
rist a sacrifice well-pleasing to God : besides that the sanctifica-
tion which they do speak of, as conferred in the Eucharist,
implied remission of sins, either as then granted, or at least then
confirmed and established.
Origen is one that speaks plainly of the propitiatory nature of
the Eucharist z ; understanding it in a qualified sense, as being
propitiatory only in virtue of the grand sacrifice, or as all accept-
able services are, in some sense, appeasing and pacificatory.
Cyprian, of the same time, takes notice of the sacramental cup
as relieving the sad and sorrowful heart, before oppressed with
the anguish of sins, and now overjoyed with a sense of the
Divine indulgence a . From which words it is manifest, that it
was God's pardon (not merely the Church's reconciliation) which
was supposed to be conveyed in and by the Eucharist ; which is
furthur evident from the noted story of Dionysius Bishop of
Alexandria his sending the Eucharist to Serapion at the point
of death, and the reflections which he made upon it, as being
instrumental towards the wiping out his sins before his depar-
ture b. Such was the prevailing notion of that time in relation
to remission of sins, as conferred in the Eucharist. ' Some
ancient writers ' (I use the words of Mr. Bingham) ' acknowledge
no other sorts of absolution but only two ; the baptismal absolu-
tion which is antecedent to all penitential discipline, and this of
reconciling public penitents to the communion of the altar :
because this latter comprehends all other ways of absolution, in
the several acts and ceremonies that were used in conferring it c .'
Another very learned writer has made the like observation, in
the words here following : ' They that have with the greatest
1 'Si respicias ad commemoratio- catisangentibuspremebatur, Divinae
nem de qua dicit Dominus, Hoc facite indulgentiae laetitia resolvatur : quod
iiimeamcomniemorationem,invenies, turn demum potest laetificare in Ec-
quodista est commemoratio sola quae clesia Domini bibentem' &c. Cypr.
propitium facit hominibus Deum.' Ep. Ixiii. p. 107, alias 153.
Origen. in Levit. Horn. xiii. p. 255. b Vid. Euseb. E. H. lib. vi. c. 44.
a 'Epotato sanguine Domini, moe- p. 318.
stum pectus ac triste, quod prius pec- c Bingham, book xix. cap. I. sect. 6.
TX. conferred in the Eucfiarist. 223
diligence searched into antiquity, can discover no other rite or
solemnity used upon this occasion, but barely the admitting the
penitents to communion : by this they were entirely acquitted and
absolved from the censure under which their crimes had laid them :
by this their sins were remitted to them, and so they became once
more fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God d .'
For the fourth century, Eusebius may be an evidence to prove
the doctrine of remission in and by the Eucharist, where he
says ; ' We moreover offer the show-bread, while we revive the
salutary memorial and the blood of sprinkling of the Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sins of the world, the purgative of
our souls e .' He seems here to understand the blood of Christ
as making the purgation directly, and the salutary memorial as
doing it indirectly, and in virtue of the other. He speaks plainer
elsewhere, directly saying, that Christians receive remission of
sins in the daily memorial which they celebrate, viz. the memorial
of our Lord's body and blood f .
Cyril of the same century styles the Eucharist the sacrifice of
propitiation?, (in such a sense as I have before hinted with
relation to Origen,) and he supposes it to be offered in order to
render God propitious, which amounts to the same as if he
had said, for remission of sins h .
Ephraem Syrus, of the same age, supposes that the Eucharist
purifies the soul from its spots, that is, from its sins 5 . And
Ambrose J scruples not to ascribe to the bread consecrated
d Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, Demonstr. Evang. lib. ii. c. 10. p. 37.
part ii. p. 210: compare p. 10?, and e Trjs Bvatas iiceivris TOV /Ao<r/uoO.
part i. p. 284, &c. Cp. Morin. de Cyrill. Mystag. v. sect. 8. p. 327.
Poenitent. lib. iv. c. 21, 22. Cp. Deylingius, Observat. Miscellan.
e 'AXA.O Kal TOVS apTovs rfjy irpo- p. 155, &c.
Offfteas irpo<T(f>(po^ff t T)\V au>Tr\piov h Xpicrrbi' fffcpaytair^fvov irpofftpep-
^.v-fi/j.tji' avafairvpovvTfS, r6 Tf TOV oxfv, virtp rcav rifUfTfpaiv ajuaprij/ua-
pa.VTHTij.ov alu.a. TOV a/iifou TOV &fov, Tiav Trpoaifrepo/j.tv, ti\ov/j.ft>oi virtp
TOV TrepifXovTos rfv au.apr(av TOV K<5- avTcav Tf Kal T)u.>v T'bv <pt\dv6p<i)vov
(TU.OV, KaQdprnov TWV rineTfpcav ^/vx^v. f6v. Cyrill. Mystag. v. sect. 10.
Euseb. in Psalm, xci. p. 608. p. 328.
f Aia TTJS tvOtov Kal jutxm/cTjs 8<5a- ' ' Animae accedentes per ilia tre-
<TKa\ias irdvTfs r;juf?s 01 ^| lOvw Trjr menda mysteria macularum purifica-
&q>riv TUIV irpoTfpwv kpafmtf&rtev tionem accipiunt.' Ephr. Syr. de Sa-
fvpdu.t6a . . . ei/cdroij T^V TOV fftafjuiTos cerdotio, p. 3.
avTov Kal TOV aiu-aTos TTJV tr4fuHfft& i 'Ego sum panis vitae ; etiamsi
6trrj/xe'pai iirntXovvTfs, K.T.\. Euseb. quis mortuus fuerit, tamen si panem
224 Remission of Sins CHAP.
remission of sins ; which is to be understood with some allow-
ance for a figurative way of speaking. He speaks indeed of
the living bread, that is, of Christ himself, but considered as
symbolically received in the Eucharist ; which is manifest from
his referring to i Cor. XL 28, 'Let a man examine himself.'
St. Austin appears to have been in the same sentiments
exactly : where speaking of the grand sacrifice, by which alone
true remission k comes, he immediately adds, that all Christians
are invited to drink the blood of it, meaning in the Eucharist.
All the ancient Liturgies are full of the same notion of remis-
sion of sins conferred in this Sacrament. And though they are
mostly spurious, or interpolated, and answer not strictly to the
names which they commonly bear, yet some of them have been
in. use for many centuries upwards in the Greek, Latin, and
Oriental churches, and are a good proof of the universality of a
doctrine for the time they obtained. The Clementine, though
it is not thought to have been ever in public use, is commonly
believed to be the oldest of any now extant : and though, as an
entire collection, it cannot perhaps be justly set higher than the
fifth century, yet it certainly contains many things derived from
earlier times, and among those, probably, the doctrine of eucha-
ristical remission. In that Liturgy prayer is made, that the
Holy Spirit may so bless the elements, that the communicants
may obtain remission of sins \ And in the post-communion,
prayer is again made that the receiving of the Eucharist may
turn to salvation, not condemnation, to the benefit both of
body and soul, to the preserving true piety, and to remission
of sins m .
meum acceperit, vivet in aetcrnum : torn. iii. pp. 516, 517. Cp. Damas-
ille enim accipit qui seipsum probat. cen. de Fid. lib. iv. c. 13. p.
Qui autem accipit, non moritur pec- 271.
catoris morte ; quia panis hie remissio 1 "iva. ol iJ.tTa.\a.&6vTfs avrov...
peccatorum est.' Ambros. de Bene- a<f>(ffas a/j.a.pTrtfj.dTtav rvxtaffi, K.T,\.
diet. Patriarch, c. ix. p. 525. Apostol. Const, lib. viii. c. 12. p.
k ' Illis sacrificiis hoc unum sacri- 407.
ficium significabatur, in quo vera fit m KoJ irapaKa\.fffcaft.fv n^] tls xpifui,
remissio peccatorum. A cujus ta- oA\* ds ffuTrjpiav iifj.lv yfvtffOcu, tis
men sacrificii sanguine non solum w<pe\(tav $VXT)S ical o-oS^oroy, tir <pv-
nemo prohibetur, sed ad bibendum AUKT^ tutrtfieias, tls &c(>f(ni' afiapnuv.
potius omnes exhortantur qui volunt K.T.\. Apost. Constit. lib. viii. c.
habere vitam.' Augustin. in Levit. 14. p. 410.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 225
Conformable to this pattern are the later Liturgies : parti-
cularly that which is called Basil's, according to the Alexandrian
use, in Renaudot's edition n . And another, entitled Gregory's
Liturgy . The same thing is observable in the Liturgies which
go under the names of apostles or evangelists, collected by
Fabricius : as St. James's P, St. Peter's <i, St. Matthew's r , St.
Mark's 8 , and St. John's *. The Liturgy under the name of
Chrysostom, published by Goar, has the like forms u . So also
have the Oriental Liturgies in Renaudotius's Collection, volume
the second, and the Latin ones published by Mabillon ; of which
it would be tedious here to speak more particularly ; as it is also
needless to trouble the reader with more references in a very
clear point. Upon the whole, there appears to have been a
general consent of the Christian churches all along as to the
point of eucharistical remission of sins : which is proved, not
only from the testimonies of single Fathers, but from the ancient
standing discipline of the Church, and from the concurring lan-
guage of all the ancient Liturgies now extant.
As to the judgment of the first Reformers abroad, it is well
known to fall in with the same : or if any doubt should be, let
Luther answer for the Lutherans v , and for the Calvinists
Calvin w .
The judgment of our own Church will easily be proved to
n Basil. Liturg. Alex. pp. 61, 69, peccatomm. Ergo, bibitio ex calice
71 ; apud Renaud. vol. i. Eueharistico applicat, obsignat, et
Gregorii Liturg. pp. 92, 95, 98, confirmat credentibus, promissionem
106. de remissione peccatorum.'. . .Sacra-
P Jacobi Liturg. pp. 38, 41, 68, mentuiii illud ipsum quod signal,
71, 72, 86, 101, in, 113, 120. etiam confert, et exhibet.' Gerhard.
1 Petri Liturg. pp. 175, 195. loc. Comm. de Sacr. Coena, c. xx.
1 Matth Liturg. pp. 216, 245, 248. p. 178.
" Marci Liturg. pp. 261, 299, 315, w ' Christi consilium fuit, corpus
316. suuni sub pane edeudum porrigere in
* Joannis Liturg. p. 203. remission em peccatorum.' Calvin.Ad-
u Goar. Euchol. pp. 77, 80, 82. inonit. ult. adWestphal. p. 950. Cp.
v 'Pertinet hue pulcherrima gra- Instit. lib. iv. c. 17. sect. 42.
datio Lutheri : ' Calix Eucharisticus Lambertus Danaeus cautiously
continetvinum: vinumexhibet Chris- words the doctrine thus : 'Coena Do-
ti sanguinem : sanguis Christi coin- mini . . . est applicatio semel a Christo
plectitur novuin testamentum, quia factae peccatorum nostrorum reniis-
est novi testamenti sanguis : riovum sionis.' Epist. ad Ecjles. Gallican.
testamentum continet remissionem 1498.
226 Remission of Sins CHAP.
concur in the same article, from the known language of our
Communion Office, and Homilies. In our public Service, we
pray, that 'our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body,
and our souls washed through his most precious blood.' The
propositions couched under these words are several: i. That our
bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost 2. That sin defileth
them. 3. That the sacrifice of Christ, removing guilt, (other due
circumstances supposed,) makes them clean. 4. That there is an
application of that sacrifice made in the Eucharist. 5. That
therefore such application ought to be prayed for. So much for
the body. The like, with a little change, may be understood
also of the soul : and the conclusion from both parts is that
guilt is washed away in the Sacrament, duly administered, and
duly received, both from body and soul ; which in other words
amounteth to this, that remission of sins is conferred by the
Eucharist, to all worthy receivers.
In a thanksgiving prayer, of the same Service, we pray that
'we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of sins,'
beseeching the Divine Majesty, not to ' weigh our merits,' but
to 'pardon our offences,' &c. ; which words carry in them a
manifest allusion to that remission of sins which is conceived
ordinarily to pertain to this Sacrament, and is expected from it,
as one of the benefits of it. But considering that all depends
upon our being meet partakers, (whereof God only is the unerring
Judge,) and that it becomes every communicant to think humbly
of himself, leaning to the modest side ; it is very proper to refer
the whole to God's clemency, entreating him to accept of us as
meet partakers, and thereupon to grant us the remission we came
for. For though it is an undoubted truth, that the Eucharist
confers remission to the faithful communicant, yet it is right to
leave the determination of our faithfulness to God the searcher
of hearts, and in the meanwhile to beg forgiveness at his hands.
Add to this, that were we ever so certain that Ave are actually
pardoned upon receiving the Eucharist, yet as remission is a
continued act, and always progressive, (which I before noted,) it
can never be improper to go on with our petitions for it, any
more than to make use of the Lord's Prayer every hour of our
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 227
lives. It was so used anciently, just after plenary remission* :
and in like manner we now make use of it, immediately after
our having received the Communion ; without the least appre-
hension that such usage interferes at all with the principle
which I have been maintaining, as indeed it does not. No-
thing is more frequent in the ancient Liturgies, than to ask
forgiveness immediately after receiving, though the doctrine of
present remission is fully expressed and inculcated in the same
Liturgies Y.
Enough hath been said to shew, that our Communion Office
supposes remission of sins to be conferred in the Eucharist.
The same thing is directly and clearly asserted in our Homilies.
' As to the number of Sacraments, if they should be considered
according to the exact signification of a Sacrament, namely,
for visible signs expressly commanded in the New Testament,
whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgiveness of sins,
and of our holiness, and joining in Christ, there be but two,
namely, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord z .' Here it is not
only supposed that remission is conferred in the Sacrament of
the Eucharist, but that it could not ia strictness be reputed
a Sacrament, if it were not so : so great a stress is there laid on
this principle. Accordingly, afterwards in the same Homily,
absolution is rejected as no Sacrament, having no such pi'omise
of remission annexed and tied to the visible sign : and Orders
also is rejected, because it 'lacks the promise of remission of
* Jerome's remark upon this case, dimitte nobis debita nostra, &c. Non
when Baptism and the Eucharist went humilitatis mendacio, ut tu interpre-
together, and perfect remission was taris; sedpavorefragilitatishumanae,
supposed to have been just granted, suam conscientiam formidantis.' Hie-
is worth noting : ronym. Dialog, adv. Pelag. lib. iii. p.
'De Baptismatis fonte surgentes, 543.
et regenerati in Dominum Salvato- > See the Clementine Liturgy quot-
rem...statim in prinia communione ed above, and compare Fabricius's
corporis Christ! dicunt : et dimitte Collection, pp. 1 20, 333. Bemvudot's,
nobis debita nostra, quae illis fuerant vol. i. p. 51 ; vol. ii. pp. 42, 152, 174,
in Christi confessione dimissa. ... 212,233,253,269,447,634. Mabil-
Quamvis sit hominum perfecta con- Ion's in Mus. Ital. vol. i. p. 281.
versio, et post vitia atque peccata Missal. Gall. p. 331. Liturg. Gallic.
virtutum plena possessio ; numquid p. 300.
possunt sic esse sine vitio, quomodo l Homily ix. of Common Prayer
illi qui statim de Christi fonte pro- and Sacraments, p. 299. Compare
cedunt ? Et tamen jubentur dicere, Cranmer, p. 46.
Q 2
228 Remission of Sins CHAP.
sin.' In another Homily, where the Lord's Supper is particu-
larly treated of, it is observed that therein ' the favourable
mercies of God are sealed, the satisfaction by Christ towards
us confirmed, and the remission of sins established*.'
After these public authentic evidences of the doctrine of our
Church in this particular, it will be needless to add the con-
curring sentiments of our eminent Divines, all along from that
time. But because the point has been sometimes contested,
both abroad and at home, and difficulties have been raised, it
will be but fair and just to the reader, to set before him the
utmost that has been pleaded on the contrary side, and to
suggest, as briefly as may be, the proper solutions of the ap-
pearing difficulties.
Objections removed.
i. It has been objected, that 'the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper is not itself like Baptism, a rite appointed for the
remission of sins ; but it is a commemoration only of the all-
sufficient sacrifice, which was once offered for an eternal ex-
piation 11 .' To which I answer, i. That supposing this Sacrament
were not appointed at all for remission, it does not follow
that it must be appointed only for commemoration ; because it
might be (as it certainly is) appointed in part for sanctification
also. 2. Supposing further, that it is not completely equal to
Baptism in point of remission, yet it does not follow that it may
not confer remission in some measure, or to an inferior degree.
3. It is untruly suggested, that the Eucharist is only a comme-
moration of the all-sufficient sacrifice, since it most certainly is,
as hath been proved, an application of that sacrifice to every
worthy receiver : and since remission of sins is one of the fruits
a Homily on the worthy receiving, niunt, quod fide comprehendunt et
&c. part i. p. 378. The Reformatio percipiunt Christi sacrosanctum cor-
Legum, of the same time, says thus: pus, respectu nostrae salutis ad
' Eucharistia Sacramentum est, in quo crueem fixum, et cruorem pro tol-
cibum ex pane sumunt, et potum ex lendis fusum nostris peccatis, ut
vino, qui convivae sedent in sacra Dei promissa palam ipsa loquun-
Domini mensa : cujus panis inter tur.' De Sacrament, tit. v. c. 4.
illos et vini communicatione, obsig- p. 29.
natur gratia Spiritus Sancti, veniaque b Dr. Clarke's Posth. Sermons,,
peccatorum, ad quam ex eo perve- vol. iv. serra. vi. p. 133.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 229
of that sacrifice, it must, it cannot but be allowed, that the
Eucharist carries remission in it, more or less, and to some
degree or other.
2. A second objection runs thus : ' To imagine that the Lord's
Supper, which is to be repeated perpetually, has such a promise
annexed to it of taking away all past sins, as Baptism had,
which was to be administered but once, is a dangerous and fatal
error, because such an opinion would be plainly an encourage-
ment for men to continue in sin, that the grace of forgiveness
might be perpetually repeated and abound .' In answer hereto,
let but the reader put repentance instead of Lord's Supper,
and then traverse the objection over again in his mind, if it
be only to see whether the very same objection does not plead
as strongly against repeated forgiveness upon repeated repent-
ance, as against the same forgiveness upon repeated communion :
for we never suppose any new forgiveness granted in the com-
munion, but upon new repentance. What then have we to
trust to, if the plain and comfortable Gospel doctrine of forgive-
ness (toties quoties) upon true repentance, shall be represented
as a dangerous and fatal error, and an encouragement to continue
in sins, that grace may abound ] It may be true, that such
merciful doctrine of forgiveness may cany some appearance of
encouragement to sin : so do some other Gospel doctrines ; or
else St. Paul would have had no need to caution us against
' continuing in sin, that grace may abound* 3 :' but nevertheless,
it would not only be great presumption, but a fatal error, to
draw any such inference from the doctrine of repeated forgive-
ness upon repeated repentance. For what would have been the
consequence, supposing that the rule had run, that if a man sins
once, or twice, or a hundred, or a thousand times, and repent as
often, he shall be forgiven 1 ? Would not many have been tempted
to sin on, till they come very near to the utmost verge of for-
giveness, before they would think of repenting to purpose ? And
what scruples might they not raise about the number of sins, or
of repentance 1 And if any man should once go beyond the limits
now supposed to be assigned, what would then remain but black
c Dr. Clarke, ibid. p. 134. d Bom. vi. I, 2.
230 Remission of Sins CHAP.
despair, and a hardened resolution to continue in sin ? Therefore
Divine wisdom has mercifully fixed this matter upon a much
better foot, namely, upon one plain rule, that as often as men
sin, and truly repent, (without limitation, or number,) so often
they shall be forgiven. When evil habits have much and long
prevailed, repentance, however sincere, will hardly be completed
at once : but the ordinary method is, to repent again and
again, after every relapse, till by degrees a man gains the entire
mastery over his appetites and passions. In this way, his
relapses will grow less frequent, and evil habits less prevalent,
and every new repentance will be stronger and stronger, till
at length by God's grace, and his own hearty endeavours,
he gets the victory, and becomes confirmed in all virtue and
godliness. By this we may perceive the use and benefit of
frequent forgiveness upon frequent repentances, in a degree
suitable and proportionate ; that sinners may never want en-
couragement to go on repenting more and more, after their
relapses, and as often sealing their sincere repentances in the
blessed Sacrament, to make them the more solemn and the more
enduring. But, in the meanwhile, let sinners beware how they
tempt the Divine goodness too far, by relapsing : for even
repentance, as depending on Divine grace, is so far in God's
hands, as well as pardon : and they who presume to sin often,
because they may be often forgiven, are in a likely way to come
to an end of forgiveness, before they make an end of sinning,
and to be taken, at length, in their own snare e .
Notwithstanding what I have here said, with respect to eucha-
ristical absolution, I would not be construed to mean, that there
is no difference at all, in point of remission, between Baptism
and the Eucharist : for I am aware that there is some differ-
ence, and perhaps considerable. I shall here draw from the
ancients, and shall endeavour to point out the difference as
e ' Absit ut aliquis ita interpre- idcirco deterior sit quia Deus me-
tetur, quasi eo sibi etiam mine lior est, totiens delinquendo quo-
pateat ad. delinquendum, quia patet tiens ignoscitur. Caeterum, finem
ad poeniteiulum ; et redundantia evadendi habebit, cum offendendi
clementiae caelestis libidinem fa- non habebit.' Tertullian. de Poenit.
ciat humanae temeritatis : nemo c. vii. p. 1 26,
ix. conferred in the E^lchar^st. 231
clearly and exactly as I can. It was understood to lie in three
things chiefly ; the extent of the remission, and the certainty,
and the perfection of it.
Baptism was conceived to amount to a plenary and certain
indulgence for all kinds of sins, were they ever so great ; (as for
instance, the crucifying of our Lord f ;) and of any numher, were
they ever so many, or ever so often repeated, provided only they
were sincerely repented of, and forsaken at the font : they were
from that instant remembered no more 2 , either in God's account
or the Church's. But as to sins committed after Baptism, if of
a grievous kind, (as idolatry, murder, adultery,) or less grievous,
but often repeated, or much aggravated by the circumstances,
they were judged too heinous to be pardoned in the Eucharist,
and the men too vile to be admitted to communion ever after h .
Not that the church presumed to limit the mercies of God, who
searches the hearts, and who could judge of the sincerity of the
repentance of such persons : but Church governors of that time
would not take upon them to promise such persons peace, upon
any professions of repentance whatever, but left them to God
only. In short, though they would have given Baptism to any
the wickedest Pagans whatever, upon proper professions of re-
pentance, yet they would not give the Eucharist to such as had
sinned in like manner after Baptism : which shews that they
made some difference between baptismal remission and the eucha-
ristical one, in respect of certainty and extent. When the severity
of discipline afterwards relaxed a little, and communion was
allowed to all penitents at the hour of death, if not sooner, yet
they did not then pretend to be certain that God would absolve
the persons, like as they judged with respect to baptismal
absolution 5 . Nevertheless, if we distinguish justly upon the two
cases, it does not from hence follow, that they thought of any
proper disparity between the two absolutions in themselves con-
sidered ; but strictly speaking, the disparity was supposed to lie
f Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. iii. s. 15. h See Birigham, book xviii. cap. 4.
p. 47. Cp. Morinus de Poenitent. sect. 4.
lib. iii. c. 2, 3. l See Bingham, book xviii. cap. 4.
s Vid. Theodoret. in Jerem. xxxi. sect. 6. Compare Marshall, Penit.
34. p. 230. Discipl. p. in.
333 Remission of Sins CHAP.
in the different malignity of sins committed before Baptism and
after. The remedies might be conceived of equal force, other
circumstances being equal; but the malady was not the same
in both cases.
Another difference between baptismal and eucharistical remis-
sion was understood to lie here, that the one perfectly wiped out
all past sins ; the other, though it healed them, yet left some
kind of blots or scars behind it J : on account whereof, many who
were admitted to lay communion were yet considered as blemished
in some measure, and not fit to be admitted afterwards to the
sacred offices k . No crimes whatever committed before Baptism,
and left at the font, were thought any bar or blot for the time
to come ; Baptism washed all away : but the case was different
with respect to sins of a scandalous nature committed after
Baptism ; for neither repentance nor the Eucharist was conceived
to wash off all stain. Hence some made a distinction, upon
Psalm xxxii. i, between perfect remission of sin in Baptism, and
the covering it by penance and absolution * ; that is, by the
Eucharist. And others seem to have thought that sins com-
mitted before Baptism were perfectly blotted out, as it were,
from the book of God's remembrance, as if they had never been,
but that sins of any grievous kind committed afterwards, though
pardoned upon repentance, should yet be recited, or purged, at
the great day m : a conjectural presumption, which I will not be
bold to warrant.
However, in the whole, it may be admitted, upon the princi-
ples of reason, Scripture, and antiquity, that the remission in
the Eucharist is not in every respect equal, or similar to the
remission in Baptism, because of the different circumstances :
nevertheless it is certain, in the general, that there is ordinarily
remission in both, as there is ordinarily an application of the
merits of Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice in both.
j Vid. Cyrill. Hieros. Catech. xviii. Eusebius in Psal. xxxi. p. 120; in
sect. 20. p. 295.6(1. Bened. Athanas. Psal. Ixxxiv. p. 525.
ad Serap. Ep. iv. n. 13. p. 705. Gre- m Vid. Clemens Alex. Strom, iv.
gor. Nazianz. Orat. xl. p. 641. num. 24. pp. 633, 634; Strom, vi. p.
k Orig. contr. Gels. lib. iii. sect. 795. Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech. xv. n.
51. p. 482. ed. Bened. 23. pp. 236, 237.
1 Orig. in Psalm, xxxi. p. 645.
ix. conferred in the EucJiarist. 233
I must now further add, that the objection made against
repeated forgiveness, upon repeated repentance in the Eucharist,
would have been of much greater force than it really now is,
were it not that this holy Sacrament appears to have been
appointed as the strongest security against those very abuses
which men are prone to make of the Divine mercy. The tAVO
principal abuses are, first, the putting off repentance from day to
day, fixing no time for it, as it is thought to be left at large, and
to be acceptable at any time ; next, the resting content with a
lame, partial, or unsincere repentance : against both which the
appointment of this holy Sacrament is a kind of standing pro-
vision, the best, it may be, that the nature of the case would
admit of. To those who are apt to procrastinate, or loiter, it is
an awakening call, obliging them the more strongly to fix upon
some certain and determinate time for repentance : and to the
superficial penitents, it is a kind of solemn lecture of sincerity
and carefulness, under pain of being found guilty of trampling
under foot the body and blood of Christ. And while it promises
forgiveness to all that worthily receive, and to none else, it
becomes a strong incitement to break off sins without delay, and
to be particularly watchful and careful for the time to come.
So far is the doctrine of remission in the Eucharist (when justly
stated) from being any encouragement to sin, that it is quite
the reverse, being indeed one of the strongest encouragements to
a good life. But I proceed.
3. Socinus and his followers appear much offended at the
doctrine of remission in the Eucharist, (for fear, I presume, of
admitting any merits of Christ's death,) and they labour all
possible ways to run it down; sometimes misrepresenting it,
sometimes ridiculing it, and sometimes putting on an air of
grave reasoning. Socinus himself was content to throw a
blunt censure upon it, as bordering upon idolatry". An in-
jurious reflection, for which there was no colour; unless he first
" 'Pleriqueipsoruminhiscequidem tiunt, qui earn propterea in sacrifi-
regionibus credunt se, ilia digne ob- cium pro vivis et mortuis transfor-
eunda, suorum peccatorum veniara et inanint, et idolum quoddam ex ea
remissionem consequi : baud valde fecerunt.' Socin. Quod. Regn. Polon,
diversum ab eo quod Papistae sen- p. 701.
234 Remission of Sins CHAP.
wilfully perverted the meaning, and falsely charged the Pro-
testants with the opus operatum.
Smalcius plainly put that false construction upon it, and then
took the handle to ridicule it, as if any remission could be ex-
tracted from the use of such common things as the bare symbols
are . So ridiculous a mistake of the doctrine which he opposed,
either shewed no quickness of apprehension, or no sincerity.
Schlictingius followed the same blunder, and still with greater
levity P : a certain argument, that he had no solid reasons to
produce on that head. The Racovian Catechism of the first
Latin edition, (A.D. 1609,) pleaded, that a man ought to be
sure of his pardon <i in heaven, before he takes the Sacrament,
and therefore could have no more pardon to receive here : that
must be their meaning, if they intended it for an argument.
However, the argument at best is a very lame one. For what-
ever certainty of that nature any man may pretend to, it is
capable of being renewed and reinforced by repeated assurances :
and as we are taught continually to pray for forgiveness, so may
we receive it continually, both in the Word aud Sacraments ; but
more particularly in the Sacraments. In the next edition of that
Catechism, (A.D. 1659,) that trifling plea was struck out, and
another was substituted in its room ; which is to this effect,
that remission cannot be conferred in the Eucharist, because
commemoration only, and not remission, was the end of that rite
by our Lord's account of it r . But here the suggestion is not
true ; for our Lord himself has sufficiently intimated, (as I have
before proved,) that remission of sins is one end of that service,
'Quis enim de sua came, cum fide confirmatum ease oportet.' Ra-
omnibusconcupiscentiis.crucifigenda cov. Catech. c. iii.
cogitet, si usus panis et vini, qui quo- r 'Cum is finis ritus istius usur-
tidie obvius est, possit remissionem pandi sit, ut beneficium a Christo
peccatorum, &c. consequi ?' Smalc. nobis praestitum commemoremus,
contr. Frantz. p. 333. seu annuntiemus, nee ullus alius
P 'O facilem vero et expeditam praeter hunc sit a Christo indicatus
adipiscendae salutis rationem, si tot finis ; apparet, non eo institutum esse
tantaque bona, mica panis, et gutta ut aliquid illic beneficii, aliter quam
vini possis consequi.' Schlicting. quati-nus digne observatus pietatis
contr. Meisner. p. 799. Christianae pars est, a Christo suma-
1 ' Qui vult digne coenae Domini mus.' Racov. Catech. c. iv. sect. 6.
participare, eum de remissione pec- p. 230.
catorum, ex parte Dei, certum ac
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 235
in the very words of the institution s : and if he had not so
plainly said it, the very nature of the act proclaims it, taking in
what St. Paul has taught. There are more ends than one to be
served by the same Sacrament, whether it be of Baptism or
of the Eucharist : and all are consistent, because allied and
subordinate. Not to mention that commemoration itself, rightly
considered, strongly infers and implies present benefits ; as I
have observed above l . Moreover the Socinians themselves are
forced to allow other ends of the Sacrament, over and above the
commemoration of Christ's death : namely, a declaration of their
communion with Christ their head, and with their Christian
brethren ; besides a further declaration of their spiritual feeding
upon Christ, then and at all times, and of their looking upon his
death as the seal of the covenant, and upon his doctrine as the
food of the soul. Now if they think themselves at liberty to
invent as many ends as they please, such as may suit with their
other principles, why are we debarred from admitting such
other ends of the Sacrament as Scripture plainly points out to
us, and the reason also of the thing manifestly requires 1 From
hence then it appears that the Socinian pleas in this case
carry more of artificial management in them than of truth or
sobriety.
However, it is visible from the last citation, that one principal
drift is, to exclude God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and
all Divine influences, out of the Sacrament, and to make nothing
more of it than a performance of man : and in this view they are
content to account it a part of Christian piety. Ruarus, one of
the shrewdest and learnedest of them, disliked their granting so
much, and charged them, in a note of correction", with an incon-
sistency in saying it: because every pious observance contributes,
in some measure, towards remission of sins, and they had before
absolutely denied any benefit at all that way. Schlictingius left
this note of Ruarus without any reply ; though he replied to
Matth. xxvi. 28. ad remissionem peccatorum nobis
* See above, p. 71. prodest : quod tamen in initio quae-
u ' Si pars est Christianae pietatis, stionis hujus, simpliciter negatum
utique ad justificationem, atque ita fuit.' Ruari Notae, p. 27.
236 Remission of Sins CHAP.
several others which went along with it : which shews, either
that he found it impossible to evade the doctrine of remission in
this Sacrament, unless it were at the expense of self-contradic-
tion ; or else, that he was willing, at length, to admit of it, pro-
vided only they may claim remission as their due reward for the
service, and not as indulged them for the merits of Christ's death
and sacrifice therein commemorated. It must be owned, that
Ruarus's hint on that head was acute, and came home to the
purpose : for, as those men supposed all other requisites for
remission to be implied in worthy receiving, and now added this
part of Christian piety to the rest, it must of consequence follow,
that remission of sins is granted upon it, by their own principles.
So then, in the last result, they and we may seem to be nearly
agreed as to the point of remission in or upon this service ; and
the only remaining difference will be about the meritorious cause
of it : and that will resolve into another question, discussed, in
some measure, above ; namely, the question concerning the
value, virtue, and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ.
4. There is an insidious way made use of, by some of our
Socinians, for the undermining the doctrine of remission in the
Eucharist : they depreciate the service, and the preparation
proper to it, making both so slight, that no man could justly
expect so Divine a grant from so contemptible a performance :
' I know not,' says one, ' to what purpose so many superstitious
books are written to teach men to prepare themselves for the
memorial supper, when an honest intention and a reverent per-
formance are sufficient both preparations and qualifications for
and in all Gospel ordinances v . Here is no mention of faith, nor
of repentance from dead works ; without which, undoubtedly,
there can be no remission of sins, whether in the Sacrament or
out of it. The proper answer to this preten.ce will fall under
the head of worthy receiving, in a distinct chapter below. In
the meanwhile, let it be considered, whether they who require
sincere repentance as a necessary qualification for the holy Com-
munion ? or they who labour to defeat that most excellent end
* The Argument of the Unitarians w}tl) th Catholic Church, part i.
p. i? ; printed A. p. 1699.
ix. conferred in the Eucharist. 237
and use of it, do most consult the true interest of religion and
virtue ; which the Socinians would be thought much to befriend
in what they teach on this head.
I intended here to have closed this chapter, till it came into
my mind that we have had some kind of dispute with the
Romanists also, (as well as Socinians,) upon the point of remis-
sion in the Eucharist. For the Romanists, as it seems, being
apprehensive, that if the people be taught to expect pardon from
God in receiving the Communion, they will think they need no
other, and that thereupon masses, and indulgences, and other
absolutions will sink in their value; I say, the Romanists
considering this, have contrived, that venial sins only shall be
pardoned upon reception of the Eucharist, but that mortal sins
shall be remitted another way. Chemnitius, in his Examen, has
taken notice of this matter, and charged it upon them with very
little ceremony w . Bellarmiue, in reply, could not deny the
main charge, as to their confining the eucharistical remission to
venial sins only, or to mortal ones unknown ; but passing over
the secret reasons or motives for the doctrine, he employs all his
wit and learning to give the fairest colours to it x . Gerhard
came after, and defended Chemnitius in that article, confuting
Bellarminey. I perceive not that the learned cardinal, with all
his acuteness, was able to prove anything with respect to the
main question, more than this, (which has been allowed above,)
that Baptism is emphatically, or eminently, the Sacrament of
remission, and the Eucharist of spiritual growth : and while he
is forced to acknoAvledge that venial sins are remitted in the
w ' Remissionem peccatorum gravi- tioribus peccatis. lit igitur satisfac-
orum et mortalium, quae post Baptis- tionis suas et reliquas veniarum nun-
mum commissa sunt, decent quaeren- dinationes retineant acerbedimicant,
dam et impetrandam esse nostra con- in vero usu Eucharistiae non fieri ap-
tritione, confessione, satisfactione, sa- plicationem remissionis peccatorum.'
crificio missae, et aliis modis. Vident Chemnit. Exam. Concil. Trident,
autem totam illam veniarum structu- pare ii. p. 70.
ram collapsuram, si remissio ilia et * Bellarmin. torn. iii. lib. iv. de
reconciliatio quaeratur in corpore et Eucharist, c. 17, iS, 19.
sanguine Christi. Ne tamen nih.il J' Gerhard. Loc. Comm. torn. v. de
tribuant Eucharistiae, loquuntur de Sacr. Coen. c. xx. p. 175, &c. Com-
venialibus, hoc esfc, sicut Jesuitae in- pare Vines, Treatise of the Lord's
terpretantur, de levioribus et minu- Supper, p. 328 ; printed A.D. 1657,
238 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
Eucharist, and unknown mortal ones, as often as necessary 7 , it is
obvious to perceive, that it was not any love of truth, or strength
of argument on that side, which withheld him from granting
more. His strongest plea, which all the rest do in a manner
resolve into, is no more than this ; that as the worthy commu-
nicant is supposed to bring with him true faith and sincere
repentance to the Lord's table, he comes pardoned thither, and
can have no pardon to take out there upon his receiving the
Eucharist. I mention not how the argument recoils upon his
own hypothesis. The true answer is, that the grace of remission,
or justification, is progressive, and may be always improving, as
before noted* : and whatever pardon we may conceive ourselves
to be entitled to before, or to be then in possession of, yet it is
no slight advantage to have the same solemnly renewed, esta-
blished, ratified, and sealed in the -holy Communion, by a formal
application there made of the merits of the grand atonement,
in which only, after our pel-forming the conditions, our remission
stands.
CHAP. X.
Of tJie Sanctifying Grace of the Holy Spirit conferred in tJie
EUCHARIST.
The Greek x<*P ls i the Latin gratia, the English grace, is
a word of some latitude, admitting of various acceptations : I
need not mention all, but such only as are most for our present
1 'Posset etiam dici Eucharistiam Worthy Comm. p. 43. 'The Sacra-
applicare haereditatem, etiam quan- ment ministers pardon, as pardon is
turn ad remissionem peccatorum, sed ministered in this world, by parts.
turn solum cum ea est necessaria; In the usual methods of God, par-
nimirum cum ii qui non indigne ac- don is proportionable to our repent-
cedunt, habent aliqua peccata mor- ance.' p. 52. 'If we find that we in-
talia, quorum tamen conscientiam crease in duty, then we may look
non habent.' Bellarm. ibid. c. xix. p. upon the tradition of the sacramen-
655. tal symbols, as a direct consignation
a See above, p. 217. Bishop Tay- of pardon. Not that it is completed :
lor's doctrine on this head, as it lies for it is a work of time ; it is as long
scattered in distant pages, may be a doing, as repentance is perfecting,
worth noting. 'Justification and ... It is then working : and if we go
sanctification are continued acts : on in duty, God will proceed to finish
they are like the issues of a fountain his methods of grace. &c. . . . And
into its receptacles. God is always this he is pleased, by the Sacrament,
giving, and we are always receiving.' all the way to consign.' p. 74.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 239
purpose. Grace, in the general, signifies favour, mercy, indul-
gence, bounty : in particular, it signifies a gift, and more especi-
ally a spiritual gift, and in a sense yet more restrained, the gift
of sanctification, or of such spiritual aids as may enable a man
both to will and to do according to what God has commanded.
The last which I have named appears to be the most prevailing
acceptation of the word grace at this day, derived from ancient
usage, and common consent, which gives the law to forms of
speech, and to the interpretation thereof. The use of the word
in the New Testament is various, sometimes larger, sometimes
stricter, often doubtful which. I will not be positive, as to
several texts where the word grace occurs, and seemingly in the
strict sense, that they must necessarily be taken according to
such precise meaning, and can bear no larger, or no other con-
struction : as where the ' grace of our Lord Jesus Christ' is
spoken of b ; or where grace, mercy, and peace are implored ; or
grace and peace d ; or where the grace of God is mentioned 6 . In
several texts of that sort, the word grace may be understood in
the stricter sense, but may also admit of the larger : in which,
however, the grace of sanctification must be included among
others. The texts which seem to be most expressive of the
limited sense, now in use, are such as these : ' Great grace was
upon them all f .' ' The grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia 8.' ' My grace is sufficient for theeV Grow in
grace '.' ' Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably J.' ' God giveth grace unto the humble k .' In these
and the like places, the word grace, most probably, signifies
what we now commonly mean by that name : or if any larger
meaning be supposed, yet it is certainly inclusive of the other,
signifying that and more. It is not very material whether we
b Rom. xvi. 20, 24. i Cor. xvi. xx. 24. I Cor. i. 4 ; iii. 10 ; xv. 10.
23. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Gal. vi. 18. Phil. 2 Cor. i. 12 ; vi. i. Ephes. iii. 7.
iv. 23. i Thess.v. 28. 2 Thess. iii. 18. Tit. ii. n. i Pet. iv. 10.
Philem. 25. Revel, xxii. 21. f Acts iv. 33 : compare verse 31.
c i Tim. i. 2. 2 Tim. i. 2. Tit. i. 4. 2 Cor. viii. I.
2 John 3. h 2 Cor. xii. 9.
d I Pet. i. 2. 2 Pet. i. 2. Revel. i 2 Pet. iii. 18.
i. 4. i H b. xii. 28.
e Acts xiii. 43 ; xiv. 26; xv. 40 ; k Jam. iv. 6. i Pet. v. 5.
240 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
understand the word grace, in the New Testament, in the
comprehensive or restrained sense, since it would be disputing
only about words or names. The sanctifying operations of the
Holy Spirit of God upon the minds of men may be abundantly
proved from the New Testament : and so it is of less moment
to inquire what names they go under, while we are certain of
the things. The phrase ' of grace,' or ' sanctifying grace,' is suffi-
ciently warranted by its ancient standing in the Church 1 , so
that I need not dwell longer upon it, but may proceed directly
to shew, that what we commonly call the grace of sanctificatiou
is conferred in the Eucharist.
1. I argue, first, from the participation of Christ's death, with
its fruits, in the Eucharist, according to the doctrine of St. Paul,
I Cor. x. 1 6, insinuated also in the words of the institution, as
explained at large in a chapter above. They who so partake of
Christ, do of course partake of the Spirit of Christ : it cannot be
otherwise upon Christian principles taught in the New Testament.
If any man is Christ's, he has the Spirit of God dwelling in him m .
And this Spirit is the source and fountain of righteousness and
true holiness". And no one can be made an acceptable offering
unto God, but he who is first sanctified by the Holy Spirit .
2. The same thing will be proved, by undeniable consequence,
from our Lord's doctrine of the import of spiritual feeding laid
down in John vi. For since it has been before shewn, that they
who do receive worthily do spiritually feed upon Christ, and are
thereby made partakers of all the privileges thereto belonging,
it plainly follows that they must have Christ dwelling in them P ;
and if Christ, they have the Spirit also of Christ, who is insepa-
rable from him. Therefore the sanctification of the Spirit is
conveyed in the Eucharist, along with the other spiritual bless-
ings, which suppose and imply it, and cannot be understood
without it, upon Scripture principles.
1 See some account of the eccle- Scripta, p. 761, &c. Magdeb. 1735-
siastical use of the word grace, in m Rom. viii. 9. I Cor. vi. 17.
Nelson's Life of Bishop Bull, p. 519, n Rom. viii. 10, 14. I Cor. vi. n.
&c. Vossius, Histor. Pelag. lib. iii. 2 Thess. ii. 13.
par. i. Thes. ii. Joh. Just. Von Einem. Rom. xv. 16.
Select. Animadv. ad Joh. Clerici P John vi. 56.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 241
3. A further argument may be drawn from the known analogy
there is between the two Sacraments, taken together with those
several texts which speak directly of the sanctification of the Spirit
conferred in Baptism^ ; or an argument may be drawn a fortiori,
in this manner : if the putting on Christ (which is done in Baptism)
carries with it a conveyance of the Holy Spirit ; much more does
the eating or drinking Christ, which is done in the Eucharist.
4. But to argue yet more directly, (though indirect arguments,
where the connection is clear and certain, as in this case, are not
the less conclusive,) we may next draw a proof of the same
doctrine from the express words of St. Paul, where he says,
' By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 ".' That is to say, by
one and the same Spirit before spoken of 8 , we Christians (as
many of us as are so more than in name) are in Baptism made
one mystical body of Christ, and have been all made to drink of
the sacramental cup in the Eucharist ; whereby the same Spirit
hath again united us, yet more perfectly, to Christ our head, in
the same mystical body. Such appears to be the natural and
obvious sense of the place : which accordingly has been so
understood by judicious interpreters, ancient * and modern u . I
shall not dissemble it, that several ancient interpreters, as well
as some moderns, have understood the whole text of Baptism
only ; interpreting the former part of the outward washing, and
the latter part of the Spirit accompanying it v . But, it seems,
they did not well consider, that the concurrence of the Spirit in
Baptism had been sufficiently insinuated before in the former
part of the verse ; ' By one Spirit are we all baptized,' &o^
And therefore to interpret Spirit again of the same Sacrament^
appears to border too nearly upon tautology : neither did they
sufficiently reflect, how harsh a figure that of drinking is, if
i John iii. 5. i Cor. vi. n. mond, Locke, Wells. Vitringa, Ob-
Ephes. v. 26. Tit, iii. 5. serv. Sacr, lib. v. cap. 7. pp. 109,
r i Cor. xii. 13, 114.
8 I Cor. xii. 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, II. T Pelagius, under the name of Je-
* Chrysostom. in loc. torn. v. p. rome ; and Hilary the deacon, under
324. ed. Paris. Damascen. in loc. the name of Ambrose : as likewise
Calvin, Beza, Peter Martyr, Theophylact in loc., -and perhaps
Gerhard, Grotius, Gataker, Ham- more.
B
343 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
applied to Baptism ; when putting on the Spirit (as is elsewhere
said of Christ, with respect to that Sacrament w ) might have
been much more proper. They may seem also to have forgot,
or not to have considered, how suitable and pertinent it was
to the Apostle's argument, to refer to both Sacraments in that
place, as I shall now make appear.
It might be highly proper, and much to the purpose, when
the Apostle was mentioning Baptism, as one bond of mystical
union, to take notice also of the Eucharist, as another ; which it
certainly was, according to his own doctrine in the same Epistle*.
Indeed, it might be thought a kind of omission, and in some
measure diminishing the force of his argument in this place, had
he referred but to one Sacrament, when there was just occasion,
or the like occasion, for referring to both. His design was to
set forth the inviolable union of Christians, and to represent the
several ties by which they were bound together. He knew that
the Eucharist was a strong cement of that mystical union, as
well as the other Sacrament ; for he had himself declared as
much, by saying elsewhere, 'We being many are one body, being
all partakers of that one bread.' It was therefore very natural here
again to take notice of the Eucharist, when he was enumerating
the bonds of union, and amongst them particularly the Sacra-
ment of Baptism, which would obviously lead to the mentioning
this other Sacrament. Accordingly, he has briefly and elegantly
made mention of this other, in the words ' made to drink into
one Spirit.' Where made to drink, but in the Eucharist ? He
had formerly signified the mystical union under the emblem of
one loaf: and now he chooses to signify the same again under
the emblem of one cup, (an emblem, wherein Ignatius, within
fifty years after, seems to have followed him 7,) both belonging
to one and the same Eucharist, both referring to one and the
same mystical head. Dr. Claget well argues against the Roman-
ists from this text, as follows : ' St. Paul thought the observation
.of the two institutions of our Saviour (viz. Baptism and the
Communion of the holy table) was a sufficient proof that
w Gal. iii. 27. * I Cor. x. 16, 17.
y *Ey Troriipwv $ tvaxriy -rov <d(j.aros twrov. Ignat. ad Philadelph. cap. 4.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 243
believers were one body : and we have reason to believe, that if
he had known there were other Sacraments he would not have
omitted the mention of them here, where he proves the unity of
the Church by Baptism and communion of the body and
blood of Christ. It is something to our purpose, that St. Paul
owns no more than these, where he industriously proves that
Christians are one body by these z .' If this reasoning be just,
as it appears to be, and if St. Paul knew (as he certainly did
know) that the Eucharist has some share in making Christians
one body, as well as the other Sacrament, it manifestly follows
that he could not well omit the mention of it in this place. I
should take notice, that our very judicious Archbishop Sharpe has
pressed the same argument, in a fuller and still stronger manner,
from the same text a ; and that the Protestants in general have
made the like use of the text in their disputes with the Roman-
ists, against multiplying Sacraments, or against mutilating the
Sacrament of the Eucharist by taking away the cup from it \
So that besides commentators, in great numbers, thus inter-
preting this text, there is the concurring judgment of many or
most Protestant Divines confirming the same construction.
Nevertheless, Socinus, having formed a project to throw off
water-baptism, laboured extremely to elude the interpretation
before mentioned. He considered, that if the latter part of it
were interpreted of the external service of the Eucharist, then
the former part must of course be understood of external Bap-
tism : besides that he was not willing to allow that any inward
grace went along with either Sacrament. Such were his motives
for eluding the true meaning of this text : his pretexts, or
colourings, were as here follow :
i. He pleaded, that partaking of the Eucharist is never once
represented in the New Testament by that particular part of it,
the drinking. He acknowledges that the whole Service is some-
1 Claget, vol. i. Serm. x. p. 263. loco pertendunt, contra substractio-
* Sharpe, vol. vii. Serrn. v. vi. nem calicis in CommunioneRomaiia,)
p. 1 06. &c. Serm. x. p. 230. ac alibi per solam pania fractionem
b 'Nihil obstat quo minus synec- designatur. Acts ii. 42, 46; xx. 7.'
dochice hoc loco potionis ac poculi Maresius, Hydra Socinianismi, torn.
nomine explicetur Eucharistia, (quod iii. p. 835.
Protestantes omnes merito ex hoc
K 2
244 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
times signified by the other part, (the nobler part, in his
judgment,) viz. the eating, or breaking bread ; but that it
should be signified by drinking only, the meaner part of the
Sacrament, he could not be persuaded to allow c .
But he seems to me to have been over delicate in this matter,
and more scrupulous than need required. For, since the whole
Service (as he is forced to confess) may be signified by one part,
while the other is understood; why not by the drinking, as well
as by the eating 1 Or why must the eating be looked upon as
the nobler and better part of the two, in this instance especially,
when the blood of Christ (the most precious blood of Christ, so
much spoken of in the New Testament) is the thing signified d ?
But supposing the eating, or the meat, to be the nobler of the
two, then the New Testament, one would think, has paid a pro-
per respect to it, by denominating the whole from it more than
once ; though taking the liberty to pay some regard also to the
other part, by denominating the whole from it once at least, if no
more. The Apostle might have particular reasons for doing it
here, because, having mentioned washing just before, as belong-
ing to one Sacrament, he might think that drinking would best
answer to it in the other Sacrament, as water and wine are more
analogous than water and bread e . Or since the Apostle had
signified Christian unity before f , under the emblem of sacra-
mental meat, he might choose the rather now to represent the
same unity under the emblem of sacramental drink, being that
there is as properly one cup, as there is one loaf.
2. Socinus and Volkelius further plead, that had the Apostle
intended to speak of the Lord's Supper, he would have used the
c ' Cur quaeso Paulus coenam Do- tingit.' Socin. de Bapt. Aquae, cap.
minicam cum Baptismo collaturus viii. Cp. Volkel. de Ver. Eelig. lib.
potionis tantum mentionem fecisset, vi. cap. 14. p. 684, alias 835.
nonetiam comestionis, sive cibi, quae d It may be noted, that theancients,
praecipua ex duabus quodammodo when they made any distinction, sup-
coenae illius partibus censenda est, et posed the cup, the drinking, to be
cujus solius nomine alicubi tota coena the nobler part of the two, as being
intelligitur, ut I Cor. xi 33. . . . Fre- the finishing and perfecting part,
quentissime in Sacris Literis solius See Salmasius de Transubstantiatione
cibi, aut etiam panis mentione facta, contr. Grot. pp. 280-284.
ipse quoque potus intelligitur : id e Cp. Hoornbeeck, Socin. Confut.
quod, saltern in coena Domini, nun- torn. iii. p. 381.
quam potionis solius nomine fieri con- f i Cor. x. 17.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 245
word iroTi6p.f6a, to denote the time present, not (Troriadrifjifv, which
refers to time past : for the Lord's Supper is what Christians con-
tinually partake of with repeated attendance, and so is never wholly
past or done with, like Baptism, which is but once submitted to?.
Now, in answer to this reasoning, I shall not insist, as I justly
might, upon the known latitude of the aorists, which are indefinite
as to time ; nor upon any enallage of tenses, which is frequent
in tScripture ; but allowing that St. Paul is to be understood of
the time past, in that instance, I say, it is no just objection
against interpreting the text of the Eucharist. The Apostle is
there speaking of the union of Christians as then actually subsist-
ing, and therefore made before he spake of it ; made by Baptism
and the Lord's Supper, considered as previous to that union, and
therefore past. He had nothing to do- with future communions,
so far as his argument was concerned : none but past com-
munions could have any share in making or strengthening that
union, which subsisted before he spake of it. Therefore it
might be proper in both the instances, to make use of a verb of
the preter tense, referring to time past. Communions which are
not, or only will be, or may be, unite nothing, effect nothing in
the mean season, but would have been foreign to the Apostle's
argument, which looked only to what had been done, and had
had its effect already upon the union then subsisting. The
Eucharist in that view was a thing past, as much as Baptism ;
and so the verbs in both instances were rightly chosen, and aptly
answer to each other h : We have been all baptized, and We have
been all made to drink i, &c.
s ' Si Paulus coenam Dominicam in- praeteiitipotius quampraesentis tem-
tellexisset, non verbo praeteriti tern- porisverboexprimisolent: haecvero,
poris " potavimu," sed " potamua" cum et in posterum, qualibet se offer-
praesentis usus fuisset : cum ea coena ente occasione peragenda sit, rectius
non a quolibet Christiano homiue et communi consuetudini loquendi
plane et omniuo jam manducata fue- convenientius praesentis temporis
rit aliquando, sed identidem in pos- verbo effertur.' Volkelius, lib. vi.
tt-rum, ubi facultas detur, manducari cap. 14. p. 68.;, alias 836.
debeat.' Socinus de Bapt. Aquae, h Cp. Hoornbeeck, torn. iii. p. 387.
cap. viii. pp. 88, 89. Maresius Hydra, torn. iii. p. 836.
' Adde quod non '' potavimus," sed ' Tlavrts els ev <njua t^airTiffOrtfietf
" potamus" dixisset, si de coena Do- . . . irdvrts els ev irvev/j.0. (irortvBrintv.
minica locutus fuisset. . . . Actiones As to some few copies here reading
quippe quas semel perfecisse satis est, Tnfyio for irvtvpa, I refer to Dr. Mill,
346 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
3. Socinus and Volkelius further urge, (which looks the most
like an argument of anything they have,) that the Apostle, in
that chapter, refers only to the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and
therefore cannot reasonably be understood either of Baptism or
the Eucharist, which were common to all Christians, and not to
the gifted onlyJ. But it is unfortunate for this objection, that
the Apostle should so emphatically word it twice over, We have
all &c., as it were on purpose to prevent its being understood to
relate to the gifted only. The universality of the Apostle's
expression is a much stronger argument for interpreting him of
the Sacraments, than anything else in the context can be for
understanding the words of the extraordinary gifts : for it is
plain, and is on all hands confessed, that the extraordinary gifts
were not common to all, or to many, but rather peculiar to a few
only in comparison. But to answer more directly to the pretence
drawn from the context, it may be observed, that the design of
the Apostle in that chapter does not only well suit with the
interpretation we contend for, but is better cleared upon that
foot than upon any other. His design was to prevent, as much as
possible, any emulation between the gifted and ungifted brethren.
How does he execute it ? By representing how many things
were common to all, and how far all of them participated of
the Spirit, one way or other, i. They all owned Christ Jesus
for their Lord, which none could do 'but by the Holy Ghost k ;'
therefore they were so far upon a level, with respect to the favour
of the Holy Spirit. 2. Those extraordinary gifts, imparted to a
few, were really intended for the common benefit of the whole
body : they were given to every one of the gifted, to profit others
withal 1 . The same Spirit was present to the whole Church,
to all true members of it, in both Sacraments m ; so that they did
not only reap the benefits of what the gifted men did, but they
who vindicates the present reading, p. 84. 'Paulus isto in loco de variis
But the sense might be the same Spiritus Sancti donis disserit, quibus
either way, because the preceding Deus per Filium suum primam illam
words, ' by one Spirit,' might be ap- Ecclesiara mirum in moduin locuple-
plied to both parts of the sentence. taverat.' Volkelius, lib. vi. cap. 14.
1 'De donis spiritualibus ; ut uni- p. 675, alias 815.
cuique totum caput accurate legenti k i Cor. xii. 3. 1 i Cor. xii. 7.
constare poterit.' Socinus:, cap. viii. m i Cor. xii. 1 3.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 247
had themselves an immediate communion with the self-same
Spirit, in as useful, though not altogether so glaring a way.
4. However pompous those shining gifts might appear, and be
apt to dazzle, yet there were other gifts more excellent n by far
than they, and common to all good Christians ; namely, the gifts
of faith, hope, and charity , from the same Spirit?. Such
appears to be the scope and connection of the Apostle's discourse
in that chapter and the chapter following : and it is so far from
proving that the text which we are now considering belongs not
to the Sacraments, that, on the contrary, it very much confirms
that construction <>,
Enough, I presume, hath been said for the vindicating our
construction of this text against the forced glosses and unnatural
evasions of Socinus and his followers : though some of them,
either more acute or more ingenuous than the rest, have not
scrupled to give up the new construction, so far as to under-
stand the text of both Sacraments r .
The construction of the text being thus far fixed and settled,
it remains now that we draw the just conclusion from it, and so
wind up our argument. If the drinking of the sacramental cup
is drinking into one Spirit, the Spirit of God, then the Eucha-
rist, duly administered and duly received, is a medium by which
we ordinarily partake of the same Spirit, and consequently of
the sanctifying gifts or graces of the Spirit. By this we under-
stand, how he that is joined unto Christ our Lord is one spirit 8
with him : because that Spirit who is essentially one with him
is sacramentally united with us. And as Christ dwelleth in all
those who spiritually feed upon him*, so are all such the temple
of the Holy Ghost" ; and while they are so, they are sanctified
n I Cor. xiL 31. Baptismum tantum, sed ad coenam
i Cor. xiii. 1-13. Domini quoque respici putant :
P That appears to be insinuated by utrumque enim institutum nos tarn
the Apostle there : but elsewhere he ad unitatem et communionem unius
expressly teaches, that all such Chris- corporis Ecclesiae accedere, quam in
tian virtues are the fruits of the Spirit, unitate corporis ejusdem manere tes-
Gal. v. 22. Ephes. v. 9. tatur.' Sam. Przipcovius in loc. p. 93.
1 Compare Clem. Alexandrin. Pae- i Cor. vi. 17.
dag. lib. i. cap. n. pp. 106, 107. e John vi. 56.
T 'Nee ausim multum ab iis dis- u i Cor. iii. 16 ; vi. 19. 2 Cor. vi.
sentire, qui in istis yerbis non ad 1.6. Ephes. ii. 21, 23. i Pet. ii. 5.
248 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
both in body and soul. Such sanctification carries in it all that
the Scripture reckons up among the fruits of the Spirit, as
enriching the soul v ; and likewise all that concerns the immor-
talizing of the body x , and sealing the whole man to future glory v.
All these blessings and privileges are conferred in the Eucharist,
to them who receive worthily ; because the Spirit is conferred in
it, who is the fountain of them all, and whose gracious presence
supposes them.
In confirmation of what hath been advanced upon Scripture
principles, it may now be proper to descend to Fathers, who had
the same Scriptures before them, and whose sentiments, if con-
curring, may be of use to give us the more abundant satisfaction
in the present article. I have occasionally, in the course of these
papers, cited several passages which speak expressly or implicitly
of sanctification, as conferred in or by the Eucharist. I shall
not here repeat the same at full length, but shall throw them
together in a summary way, to serve as hints for recollection.
What has been cited above 2 from Ignatius, Justin, and Irenaeus,
of the beneficial nature of the Sacrament, necessarily infers or
implies the graces of the Holy Spirit.
Clemens of Alexandria, upon another occasion, has been cited,
expressly saying that they who receive the Eucharist with faith
are ' sanctified both in body and soul a .' Tertullian says, that
the body is fed with the body and blood of Christ, that the ' soul
may be replenished with God V In like manner, Origen asserts,
that the Eucharist does sanctify them that ' use it as they
ought c .' The same thing is intimated by Cyprian of that time,
under some variety of expression d . Cyril of Jerusalem ex-
pressly says, that the heavenly bread and salutary cup 'sanctify
both body and soul e .' Gaudentius Brixiensis, M'hom I have not
quoted before, says of the Eucharistical food, that it ' sanctifies
Gal. v. 22. Ephes. v. 9. viii. p. 330. See above, cap. vii. p. 152.
Rom. viii. 10, u. c Origen. in Matt. p. 254. Contr.
2 Cor. i. 22. Ephes. i. 13, 14; iv. 30. Cels. lib. viii. p. 766. See above,
Sea above, pp. 101, 141-147. cap. v. pp. 85, 86.
Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. ii. cap. d Cyprian. Ep. 54, 63. See above,
2. p. 178. See above, cap. vii. p. cap. vii. p. 155.
1 48. e Cyrill. Hieros. Mystag. iv. p. 32 1 .
b Tertullian. de Eesurr. Cam. cap. See above, cap. vii. p. 158.
x. conferred in ihe Eucharist. 249
even them who consecrate it f .' Lastly, Cyril of Alexandria
maintains, that faithful communicants are 'sanctified by being
partakers of the holy flesh and precious blood of Christ, the
Saviour of us all .' These testimonies might suffice to shew
how unanimous the ancients were, in asserting sanctification, as
conferred in the Eucharist.
But for the further confirmation or illustration of this par-
ticular, I shall now proceed to consider what the ancients taught
concerning the descent or illapse of the Holy Spirit upon the
symbols or upon the communicants in this holy solemnity.
Which I the rather choose to do, that I may at the same time
clear up that important article, in some measure, and remove
some common mistakes.
To give the reader a just idea of tke whole thing, it will be
necessary to begin with the Sacrament of Baptism, wherein the
like descent or illapse of the Holy Ghost was expected, and
where the like invocation obtained very early ; sooner,. I con-
ceive, than in the service of the Eucharist, so far as may be
judged from the records now remaining. The form of Baptism,
probably, might give the first handle for it, as it ran in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Or, there appeared suffi-
cient warrant in the New Testament for beseeching God to send
the Holy Spirit, since our Lord had promised that his heavenly
Father would 'give the Holy Spirit to them that would ask
him 11 .' Where could they more properly ask it than in their
Sacramental Offices, in that of Baptism especially, when the
New Testament makes such frequent mention of the Holy Spirit,
as assisting to it, or presiding in it * ? Indeed, we find no express
mention in the New Testament of any ordinary descent or illapse
of the Spirit in either Sacrament, nor any direct precept for a
special invocation of that kind : neither can we be certain of
apostolical practice as to that particular. The custom might
f 'Consecrantes sanctificat conse- Cyrilli et Synod. Alesandr. Epist.
cratus.' Gaudent. Brix. de Exod. ii. apud Binium, vol. ii. p. 210. Cp.
p. 806. Theophil. Alexandrin. Pasch. i. in-
8 'Ayiatyfit 0a neroxot yev6/j.fvot TT)J ter Opp. Hieron. torn. iv. p. 698.
Tt aytas (rapids, Kol rov n^iov a'/jua- k Luke xi. 13.
TOS rov jcd.vruv rjp.wi' <7(er?tpos Xptarov. ' See above, in this chapter, p. 241 .
250 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
commence in the apostolical age, or it might come in later : but
whenever it commenced, it seems to have been grounded upon
such Scripture principles as I have just now hinted.
Tertullian (about A.D. 200) is, I think, the first who speaks
anything plainly and fully to this matter k . He supposes that
ever since 'the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters 1 ,' all waters have been privileged for receiving the Spirit,
and becoming signs and instruments of sanctification, upon prayer
made to God : particularly, in Baptism, after prayer has been
sent up, the Holy Ghost comes down upon the waters, and sanc-
tifies them, yea and gives them a sanctifying quality. But he
supposes the angel of Baptism to be sent beforehand, to prepare
the way for the reception of the Spirit ; which he endeavours
to illustrate from some resembling cases in the New Testament 11 .
After the angel's performing his part upon the waters, the Holy
Spirit descended in person on the parties coming to be baptized,
and rested, as it were, upon the waters?. So writes our author :
and the true meaning or result of all is, that the Holy Spirit, by
his coming, sanctifies the persons in the use of those waters, or
use of that service <J. Allowances must be made for something of
k ' Omnes aquae de pristina originis they sometimes mention, besides the
praerogativasacramentumsanctifica- angel of Baptism, (which means any
tionis consequuntur, invocato Deo: or every angel so employed,) the angel
supervenit enim statim Spiritus de also of prayer, angel of repentance,
caelis, et aquis superest, sanctificans angel of peace, and angel of light, or
eas de semetipso ; et ita sanctificatae the like : such manner of speaking
vim sanctificandi combibunt.' Ter- and thinking was just and innocent,
tullian. de Baptism, cap. iv. p. 225. till the succeeding abuses by angel-
1 Gen. i. 2. worship made it almost necessary for
m Tertull. ibid. cap. vi. ' Angelus wise men to lay it aside.
Baptismi arbiter superventuro Spi- P 'Tune ille sanctissimus Spiritus
ritui Sancto vias dirigit ablutione super emundata et benedicta corpora
delictorum, quam fides impetrat, ob- libens a Patre descendit, super Bap-
signata in Patre, et Filio, et Spiritu tismi aquas, tanquampristinamsedem
Sancto.' p. 226. recognoscens conquiescit, columbae
n John v. 4. Matt. iii. 3. figura dilapsus in Doininum, ut natu-
It is frequent with the ancients ra,'&c. Tertull. ibid, cap.viii. p. 227.
to speak of the offices of angels, which ' Eadem dispositione spiritalis
they supposed to be employed in effectus, terrae, id est, carni nostrae,
ministering to God for the heirs of emergenti de lavacro post vetera de-
salvation, according to Heb. i. 14. licta, columba Sancti Spiritus advo-
And according to their respective lat, pacem Dei adferens, emissa de
offices, they assigned them names, caelis, ubi Ecclesia est area figurata."
having no other rule to go by. So Tertull. ibid. cap. viii. p. 227.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 25 *
oratorical flight and figure, contrived for ornament, and to make
the more lively impression : it would be wrong to conceive, that
every pool, pond, or river, in which any person happened to be
baptized, contracted any abiding holiness from that time for-
wards, or that it was not left open to all common uses as before.
It is evident that Tertullian, where he came to explain his notion,
and, as it were, to correct his looser and less accurate expressions,
did not suppose the waters to be so much as the medium, properly
speaking, of sanctification ; but he conceived the illapse of the
Spirit upon the persons to come afterwards, when the washing
was over and done with r . I shall only note further, with re-
spect to these passages of Tertullian, that it cannot be certainly
concluded from them, that a formal prayer for the descent of the
Holy Spirit was in use at that time : but from his saying that
immediately after invocation of God, such descent followed, and
from his adding afterwards, that in or by the benediction the
Spirit was called and invited 8 , I look upon it as extremely pro-
bable *, that the practice did then obtain, in the African churches,
formally to pray for the descent of the Holy Ghost, either before
the immersion or after, (upon the imposition of hands,) or
perhaps both before and after.
Our next author is Origen, (about A.D. 240,) not that he
directly says anything of the descent of the Spirit in Baptism, or
of any prayer made use of for that purpose : but he occasionally
drops some things which may give light to the present question.
His notion was, that the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to sanc-
tify, operates not at all upon inanimate things, nor upon persons
of obdurate wickedness, but upon those only who are capable of
r ' Eestituitur homo Deo, ad simi- benedictionem advocans et invitans
litudinem ejus qui retro ad imaginem Spiritura Sanctum.' cap. viii. pp. 226,
Dei fuerat. . . . Eecipit enim ilium Dei 227.
Spiritum, quern tune de afflatu ejus * It might be, that upon a benedic-
acceperat, sed post amiserat per delic- tion formed in general terms, Chris-
tum. Non quod in aquis Spiritum tians might expect the illapse of the
Sanctum consequamur, sed in aqua Spirit : but it appears more natural
emun.iati sub angelo, Spiritui Sancto to think, from what Tertullian here
praeparamur.' Ibid. cap. v. vi. p. says, that they directly and formally
226. prayed for it.
8 ' Dehinc manus imponitur, per
2 52 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
receiving his sanctifying influences u . Now from his saying that
the Holy Spirit operates not on things inanimate, it must follow,
that he thought not at that time of any descent of the Holy
Ghost upon the waters of Baptism, but upon the persons only,
those that were worthy. Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, in
the decline of the fourth century, charged his doctrine with that
consequence, and thereupon condemned it, as overturning the con-
secration of the waters of Baptism, supposed to be made by the
coming of the Holy Ghost upon them x . But it is certain that
Origen did admit of a consecration of the water y, though he might
not perhaps explain it in the manner which Theophilus most ap-
proved of, one hundred and fifty years after : and it is his constant
doctrine, that the Baptism of the Spirit goes along with the out-
ward washing, wherever there is no obstacle on the part of the
recipient z . Nay r he scrupled not to admit, that ' the Spirit of
God now moves upon the face of the waters a ' of Baptism, alluding
to Gen. i. 2 ; so that Origen could not be much out of the way
upon this article : but this we may collect from him, that, pro-
perly speaking, the work of the Spirit in Baptism was upon the
persons, when fitly qualified, rather than upon the outward ele-
ment ; and that the Spirit's coming upon the water, and other
the like phrases, ought not to be too rigorously interpreted, but
should be understood with due grains of allowance.
A late learned writer, apologizing for Origen, takes notice,
that Chrysostom was very positive for the illapse of the Spirit on
the outward symbols ; a plain sign that he did not think Origen
u Vid. Origen. irtpl dp*, p. 62. ' (in Matt. p. 254), where the reason is
edit. Bened. Cp. Huetii Origeniana, the same. See also Albertinus, p. 358.
p. 46. Albertin. lib. ii. p. 357. z Vid. Origen. in Matt. pp. 391,
* 'Dicit (Origen es)Spiritum Sane- 416; in Joann. pp. 124, 125.
turn non operari in ea quae inanima a Kat ira\i'yyei>t(rias ovoij.a.^6fjifvov
sunt, nee ad irrationabilia pervenire : Kovrpbv fj.fra avaKaiviaattas yiv6p.tvov
quod adserens, non recogitat aquas TrvevpaTos, TOV Kal vvv 6iri(f>fpo^fvov,
in Baptisinate mysticas adventu tirfiSri trtpl eoD fcrni/, firdvia TOV
Sancti Spiritus consecrari.' Theoph. SSaros, a\\' ov ira.cn /xera rJ> uSaip
Alex. Lib. Paschal, i. p. 698 ; apud tyytvo/j.fvov. Ibid. p. 125.
Hieronym. Opp. torn. iv. edit. Bened. Note, that the Latin version has
y Vid. Origen. in Joann. p. 124. obscured the sense of the passage,
edit. Huet. And compare what he not observing, perhaps, the allusion
says of the eucharistical consecration, to Genesis.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 253
to be guilty of the error charged upon him b . I rather think,
that Chrysostom understood the popular way of expressing the
illapse of the Spirit, in the same qualified sense that Origen
before did ; and that was one reason why he would not come
into the warm measures of Theophilus, Epiphanius, and other
Eustathians c of that time, about the year 400. And whereas it
is suggested by the same learned writer* 1 , that a solemn consecra-
tion of things inanimate to holy uses, without supposing a formal
illapse of the Spirit upon them, is a degrading account of a
venerable mystery, and leaves no difference between the conse-
cration of a church and the consecration of baptismal water,
&c. ; I must take leave to reply, that the conclusion is not
just : for in things so consecrated to holy uses, there will always
be as much difference as there is between more and less sacred,
according as the ends and uses are higher or lower, holier or less
holy. The higher and holier the use is to which anything is
consecrated by proper ministers, so much the more worthy it is,
and so much the nearer and more important relation it bears to
God and religion ; demanding thereupon so much the greater
reverence and more awful regard.
St. Cyprian (A.D, 255) speaks of a sacerdotal cleansing and
sanctification of the baptismal water ; which he supposes to be
wrought by the Holy Spirit 6 , and very frequently makes mention
of it, up and down in his works. But he says nothing from
whence one may certainly collect whether any formal prayer for
the descent was then in use ; neither does he explain in what
sense the Holy Ghost was understood to sanctify the baptismal
waters. Only, as he intimates over and over, that the end and
use of sanctifying the water was to convey spiritual graces to the
persons coming to be baptized in it ; and as it is certain that
those spiritual graces could not reside in or upon the outward
b Johnson, Unbloody Sacrifice, c 'Oportet ergo mundari et sancti-
parti, p. 181, alias 186. ficari aquam prius a sacerdote, ut
c A short account of the odium possit Baptismo suo peccata hominis
raised agiinst Origen may be seen in qui baptizatur abluere Quoinodo
my Second Defence, vol. ii. p. 639, autemmundareet sanctificare aquam
&c., and a larger in Huetius' Orige- potest, qui ipse immundus est, et
niana. apud quern Spiritus Sanctus non est ?'
d Johnson, ibid. p. 182, alias 185. Cyprian. Epist. Ixx. p. 190.
254 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
element ; it is more than probable that he supposed the Spirit
to rest where those spiritual effects rested, that is, upon the
persons only : and then the sanctifying of the waters can mean
no more than the consecrating them to the uses of personal
sanctification. The Spirit made use of them as a symbol, for
conveying his graces ; and in that use consisted their relative
holiness : but the Spirit dwells not properly upon them, but
upon the persons baptized.
When we come down to the fourth century, there we find
plainer evidences of formal prayers offered for the descent of the
Holy Ghost upon the waters of Baptism. Cyril of Jerusalem
(who wrote A.D. 348) speaks to his catechumens thus f : 'The
Holy Ghost is coming to seal your souls : . . . . look not upon
the laver as common water, but to the spiritual grace bestowed
along with it.. ..This common water, upon receiving the in-
vocation of the Holy Spirit, and of Christ, and of the Father,
acquires a virtue of sanctification.' It may be doubted whether
Cyril here refers to the prayer of Consecration or to the form
of Baptism : but it appears most probable that he refers to the
Consecration; as the Benedictine editor has endeavoured to prove
at large, in his notes upon the place. What I have further to
observe upon it is, that Cyril speaks of the water as receiving a
sanctifying virtue. And what does he mean by it 1 He means
what he had just before said, that the outward washing and
the inward graces go together, and are both conferred at once
upon the worthy receiver in the self-same act. The visible sign
is connected, in certain effect, with the invisible grace; and both
are applied, at the same instant, to the same man, jointly con-
curring to the same end and use P. This is the foundation of the
common way of speaking, as if the Spirit and the water were
physically united with each other ; which is not strictly true in
notion, but amounts to the same in moral effect.
{ MAAei tb iri/eujua rb ayiov ffippa- iirlK\i)ffiv \affbv Swaaiv,
yleu> vniav raj fyvxds. ..^ ws vSan iiriKrarai. Cyrill. Hierosol. Catech.
Arr< irp6(Tfxf TV Aovrpy, a\\a rfj iii. sect. 3. pp. 40, 41.
juera rov SSaros StSofjLfrri itvfv/MrtKy Vid. Vossius Harmon. Evangel.
X<ipiri.. . . rb \trbr vSup wev/j.aros lib. iii. cap. 4. p. 233. Opp. torn.
bylov, KJ Xpurrov, Kal irarpbs T)JV vi.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 255
Optatus, an African Bishop, (A.D. 368,) alluding to the name
l\6vs, (a technical name of our Lord,) says ; ' This fish (meaning
Christ) is brought doAvn upon the waters of the font, in Baptism,
by invocation 11 .' I presume this refers to the Consecration
prayer i : and so it imports an expectance of, or petition for, the
divine presence of Christ, to sanctify the person baptized in the
use of the appointed service.
St. Basil, of the same age, (A.D. 374,) speaks of the conjunc-
tion of water and the Spirit in Baptism ; first observing, (in
order to obviate mistakes or invidious constructions,) that the
Church did not mean to prefer water before all other creatures ;
much less to give it a share in the honours due to the Father
and the Son k : but he takes notice, that the water serves to
make out the symbol of a death unto sin, and the Spirit is
the pledge or earnest of life 1 : therefore water and the Spirit go
together in that Sacrament. Then he adds, that as to the grace
supposed to be in the water, it belongs not properly to the water,
but is entirely owing to the presence of the Spirit m . Presence
how, and where ? To the water, or to the persons 1 His next im-
mediate words will decide the question ; for he adds, in the lan-
guage of St. Peter, that ' Baptism is not the putting away the
filth of the flesh, but the stipulation of a good conscience towards
God n .' The Spirit therefore, in his account, must rest upon
the persons, to answer the end. He proceeds, soon after, to
observe how much the Baptism of the Spirit is preferable to
baptizing merely with water ; and he takes notice, that there is
a Baptism, as valuable as any, wherein no water at all is needful,
namely, Baptism in one's own blood, as a martyr for the name of
Christ. Then he closes up the article he was upon in these
h ' Hie est piscis qui in Baptismate, ffofiev. Basil, de Spir. Sanct. cap.
per invocationem, fontalibus undis xv. p. 28. torn. iii. edit. Bened.
inseritur,' &c. Optat. lib. iii. p. J Basil, ibid. p. 29.
6 r . m "n<rTf ff TIS (trrlv iv rqi vfiari
1 See Bingham, Christian Antiq. X^P IS > ^ K >/c T ^ s <pvaf<as tan rov
b. xi. c. 10. sect. i. vol. iv. p. 167, vSaros, a\\' fK TTJS TOV KVfv/j.aros
&C. Oxf. edit. Trapovaias. ov yap t<m rb &a.irTtcrfi.a,
k Kal (Is vStap f}atrTi6(jLf0a, Kal pinrov ffapKos airdBfcris, aAAci ffvvftS'fi-
ouJWprou rii vSwp irdffrjs 6fj.ov TTJJ ffftas ayaffrjs eTTfpcarriiJ.il fls 9f6f,
Kritrtuis irpoTifiiicro/jiev, i) Kal avrif Basil. Ibid. p. 29.
TTJJ irarpbs Kal vlov TI/J.TJS /xra5(6- n i Pet. iii. 21.
256 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
words : ' Not that I say this in order to disparage water-
baptism, but to baffle the reasonings of those who rise up
against the Spirit, and who would blend things together which
are not blended, and compare things together which admit not
of comparison .'
I have laid these things together, as explanatory of what the
ancient Fathers meant by joining the Spirit with the outward
elements in the Sacraments, (for the reason is the same in both,)
and as serving to clear up some of their other more dubious or
less guarded expressions. Here, when an objection was raised by
adversaries! 1 , grounded on nothing but words and names, this
good Father then rejected with abhorrence any such mixture
of the Spirit and the water as the Catholics were maliciously
charged with : and he declared they were a/itwa, not mixed
with each other. At the same time, he insinuated the true
meaning of all to be, that the Spirit and the water so far went
together Q, as to be applied at once to the same man, in the same
service; but that the Spirit properly rested upon the person
baptized, and not upon the outward element. Had the Romanists
been as careful to distinguish in the matter of the Eucharist, as
Basil here was with respect to Baptism, they would have seen
no more reason for adoration of the Host, than Basil could find
for adoration of water. He rejected the latter with the utmost
disdain ; and so should they likewise have rejected the former.
But I proceed.
In the same treatise, the same excellent writer speaks of the
Kal OVK o.QtTu>v rb iv r<p SSari argument, as much as the Spirit. It
pd.KTi.ffna. TO.VTO. \tyw a\\a rovs wasinreplytosuchimpertinentcavils,
\oyiirp.ovs KaPatptav TWV ^iraipofufvuv that Basil took occasion to explain
Kara. TOV Trreu/xaroj, Ka.1 fjuyvvvruv what concerned the water and what
TO. S/ziKTO, Kal irap(iKa6vT(av TO aow- the Spirit in that Sacrament,
ei/coo-ra. Basil, p. 30. i This is clearly expressed by Na-
P As the Catholics had argued zianzen of the same time :
justly for the divinity of the Holy AITT}/ KO.I fj KaBapffis, Si* SSar6s
Ghost, from our being baptized into rt tpr)(d, (cal irvtvfia.Tos, TOV /j.tv Occc-
the Spirit, and sanctified by the Spirit, pijrus re KOI crco/uaTiKcSs \a.nf3avofjif-
the Macedonians, on the other hand, vov, TOV 5e a.ffcafj.a.Tcas Ka.1 adecapTirus
frowardly retorted, that we are bap- (nurpexoj'Tos. Nazianz. Orat. xl. in
tized also tis SS<ap, in, or into water, Baptism, p, 641. Cp. Greg. Nyss.
and sanctified by water ; and there- torn. ii. p. 8ci, de Bapt. Christi.
fore water would be divine, by that
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 257
consecration, or benediction, that passes upon the waters of Bap-
tism, analogous to that of the Eucharist, which he had spoken
of a little before. *' We also bless,' says he, ' the water of
Baptism, and the oil of Chrism, and the person likewise whom
we baptize 1 ".' But yet he understood the difference (as may
appear from what hath been before said) between the rela-
tive holiness thereupon accruing to the water, or the oil, and
the grace of the Spirit accruing to the person baptized. Having
dwelt thus largely upon Basil, who may serve as a key to all
the rest, I shall but touch upon others who came after, con-
tenting myself with a bare recital of their testimonies, as needing
no further comment.
Gregory Nyssen, of the same time, (Basil's younger brother,)
speaking of Baptism, says ; 'It is not the water that confers
this benefit, (for then would it be superior to the whole crea-
tion,) but it is the appointment of God, and the supervening of
the Spirit, mystically advancing to our rescue : however, the
water serves to signify the cleansing 8 .' A little after he ob-
serves, that the Spirit invisible, being called by faith, comes in
a manner ineffable, and blesses both the person and the water :
and the water so blessed purifies and illuminates the man * :
but if the man is not bettered, the water is mere water to him,
destitute of the Spiint u .
St. Ambrose (or whoever is the author) speaks of the descent
r E,v\oyovfj.fV KOU r6 re vSwp rov 8 Tavrrjv 8e rfyv fvfpytffiav oil rb
jSa-irTicr/uaTos, al rb t\aiov TJJI xp' l ~ vSdip xaf"'C 6Ta '- %" 7&p &i> iraffj\s rrjs
crews, /cal irpofffn avrbv rbv /Sair- Krifftos v\^ri\6repov a\\a ecu irpoff-
n6ptvop. Basil, de Sp. Sanct. cap. ray/jut, Kal f; TOV Trvtv/iiaros firi<potrT]-
2 7- P- 55- ffls < f^vffrtKuis ffxofjitvr} irpbs T^V rjfie-
' Cum veteres aiunt sanguinem rfpav t\fv6tpicu>. SScap Se virripfTfi
Christi et Spiritum Sanctum se aquae irpbs ev$fiiv TTJJ KaOdpffeus. Greg.
miscere, populare estloquendi genus; Nyss. in Baptism. Christi, p. 801.
quoditacapere oportetquasidicerent, * nvcv/j.a rb a<pavfs, ir'taTti /coAor-
quando aqua abluimur foris, oculis futvov, OPPTJTWJ Trapa.yiv6ti.fvov . . . fit-
fidei intuendum esse sanguinem et Koytt rb @aim6/j.f>'oi', Kal rb iiSap
spiritum Christi, qui a haec cum aqua rb /Sairrifo^. p. 801. iiSoip ev\oyov-
coucurrunt, haud secus, ac si misce- /ifvov Ka6cupi /col <pwriei rlv &v-
rentur cum aqua.' Voss. de Bapt. Bpcairov. p. 803.
Disp. v. p. 274. Cp. de Saeram. u 'Eirl rovraiv rb vStap vSwp tarlv,
Vi et Effiracia, pp. 252, 253. torn. ovSa/Mov rijs Sscpeas rov ayiov irvfv~
vi. fiaros tirupaveiffns, &c. p. 540.
358 Sanctifying Grace CHAP/
of the Holy Ghost in Baptism * : and also of the presence of
Christ upon the sacerdotal invocation Y. But it is remarkable,
how in one place he distinguishes the descent of the Spirit upon
the water from the descent upon the persons, and, as it were,
corrects an inaccurate expression by one more proper 2 , intimating
what the vulgar way of speaking really and strictly meant. In
another treatise, he mentions the descent of the Holy Ghost in
Baptism, after the sacerdotal invocation a : from whence it is
manifest that some prayer was then used to be offered up for that
purpose, imploring such descent. The book De Sacramentis
is not justly ascribed to St. Ambrose : some think it may have
been compiled not long after him, by some of his chief admirers b ,
others set it later. I shall only take notice of a custom then
prevailing, of praying for the presence of the Son and Holy Ghost,
in their Baptismal Offices ; or sometimes of the whole Trinity c .
I shall descend no lower in this account, (since enough has
been said,) except it be to present the reader with two or three
forms of the invocation made in Baptism, beseeching God to
send the Holy Spirit to sanctify the baptismal waters, or the per-
sons to be baptized. We have not many of those forms remain-
ing, in comparison of what we have with respect to the other
* ' Illis angelus descendebat : tibi b See the Editor's preface fco that
Spiritus Sanctus : illis creatura mo- work. Oudin brings it down to the
vebatur, tibi Christus operatur, ipse eighth century, about 780. See
Dominus creaturae.' Ambros. de Oudin, torn. i. p. 1858. Some attri-
Myster. cap. iv. p. 330. edit. Bened. bute it to Maximus Taurinensis of
' In hunc fontem vis divina descendit.' the fifth. Vid. Fabricius, Bibl. Med.
p. 331 ; cp. 342. et Infim. Latin, lib. xii. p. 191.
y 'Crede ergo adesse Dominum c 'Ubiprimumingreditursacerdos,
Jesum, invocatum precibus sacerdo- exorcismum facit secundum creatu-
tum.' p. 332. ram aquae ; invocatione postea et pre-
1 ' Non utique dubitandum est, cem defert, ut sanctificetur fons, et
quod (Spiritus) superveniens in fon- adsit praesentia Trinitatis aeternae.'
tern, vel super eos qui Baptismum Pseud- Ambros. de Sacram. lib. i. cap.
consequuntur, veritateni regenera- v. p. 353.
tionis operetur.' Ambros. ibid. cap. 'Venit sacerdos, precem dicit ad
ix. p. 342. fontem, invocat Patris nomen, prae-
* ' Quid in hoc typo angelus, nisi sentiam Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.'
descensionem Sancti Spiritus nuncia- Lib. ii. cap. 5. pp. 357, 358.
bat, quae nostris futura temporibus, The reader may see more au-
aquas sacerdotalibus invocata preci- thorities of like kind in Albertin.
bus consecraret ? ' Ambros. de Sp. p. 465.
Sanct. lib. i. cap. 7. p. 618.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 259
Sacrament, less care having been taken to preserve or to collect
them : but we have enough for our purpose. One of them
occurs in the Constitutions; the oldest perhaps that is extant,
though of uncertain date. It runs thus : ' Look down from
heaven, and sanctify this water : give it grace and power, that he
who is baptized therein, according to the command of thy Christ,
may be crucified with him, and die with him, and be buried
with him, and rise again with him to that adoption which comes
by him ; that dying unto sin, he may live unto righteousness d .'
Here indeed no express mention is made of the Holy Ghost the
Sanctifier : but it is implied in the word ' sanctify,' and ' grace,'
and 'power,' or 'virtue.' The blessing, we may note, is craved
upon the water : but as no grace can properly rest there as in
its subject, it is plain what all means, viz. that the persons should
receive the grace of the Holy Ghost in the use of that water ac-
cording to divine appointment ; or that the outward washing and
the inward graces go together 6 . So, in common or customary
speech, when any one prays that God may bless the means
made use of for any person's recovery, nobody understands more
in it than that God may bless the persons in the use of those
means, and crown them with the success desired. We have
another the like form in Pope Gregory's Sacramentarium : which
however in its present state is not altogether so old as that
Pope ; for the Sacramentary is not without interpolations f . The
d KariSe ^| ovpavov, Kal ayiaffov TO nino saeculo Constitutiones quasdam
vSup rovro' Sbs Se X C V" / K0 " 9tfafUf t Apostolicas innotuisse, quae postea
Sxrre rbv pa.TrTi6fi.fi/ov, KO.T' eWoAV circa sextum saeculum ab homine
rov Xpur-rov ffov, avrf crvffravptaBfj- quodam Ariano corruptae fuerint et
vai, &c. Constitut. Apost. lib. vii. interpolatae.' Budd. Isagog. p. 747.
cap. 43. p. 384. Cp. Turner, ch. xxiii. p. 237, &c.
N. B. As to the age of the Con- Fabric. Bibl. Graec. torn. v. p. 33.
stitutions 1 , Mr. Dodwell observes, torn. xi. pp. 7-10.
that there is no evidence for them, c Accordingly, the person baptized
(as we now have them in eight books,) is directed, immediately after to pray
elder than the time of Dionysius for the descent of the Holy Ghost
Exiguus, who was of the sixth cen- upon him. A6s /tot . . . irix vparos ayiov
tury. See Dodwell of Incensing, p. eirj^on-Tjow trpbs K-rfifftv Kal irKtjpo-
164. Ittigius and Buddaeus give the tpoplav TTJS oATjOei'as, Sia rov Xpicrrov
like judgment. Others name the aov. Ibid. cap. xlv. p. 385.
fifth century. * Qf the age of the Gregorian Sa-
' Praef erenda mini reliquis videtur cramentary, see Dodwell of Incense,
sententia Thomae Ittigii, quarto om- p. 218, &c.
S 2
2<5o Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
form runs thus : ' Let the virtue of thy Spirit descend, Lord,
upon the plenitude of this font, and impregnate all the substance
of this water with a regenerating efficacy : here may the spots
of all sins be washed off; here may that nature, formed after thy
image, and now restored to its original purity, be cleansed from
all its former stains ; that every one coming to this Sacrament
of regeneration may be born again to a new infancy of true inno-
cence &.' Hefe we may observe, that the petition is put up for
the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the waters, as usual, for the
benefit of the persons, that they may therein receive remission
of sins, and all other spiritual graces, for restoring original
righteousness lost by the fall of Adam, and for supporting and
sustaining the Christian life.
The Gothic Missal published by Mabillon h , bearing date as
"high as the eighth century *, will furnish us with another form ;
wherein the descent of the Holy Spirit is directly prayed for, to
sanctify the baptismal waters, in order to derive pardon and grace
upon the persons brought to the font k . I shall take notice of
but one more, which occurs in the Gallican Sacramentary, of the
latter end of the eighth century, or thereabout \ There also
prayer is directly and in terms made, that God would send his
Holy Spirit upon the water, in order to the purifying and rege-
nerating the persons coming to Baptism m .
8 ' Descendat, Domine, in bane super earn virtus tua : desuper in-
plenitudinem fontis virtus Spiritus funde Spiritum tuum, sanctum Para-
tui ; totamque hujus aquae substan- clitum, angelum veritatis. Sanctifica,
tiam regenerandi foecundet effectu. Domine, hujus laticis undas, sicut
Hie omnium peccatorum maculae sanctificasti fluenta Jordanis, ut qui
deleantur, bic natura ad imaginem in hunc fontem descenderint, in no-
Dei condita, et ad honorem sui re- mine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus
formata principis, vetustatis cunctis Sancti, et peccatorum veniam, et
squaloribus emundetur, omnis homo Sancti Spiritus infusionem consequi
hoc Sacramentum regenerationis in- mereantur.' Missal. Goth. p. 248.
gressus, in verae inuocentiae novam ' See Mabillon. Muse. Italic, torn,
infant iain reuascatur.' Gregor. Mag. i. in Praefat. ad Sacram. G. p. 275.
Lib. Sacram. p. 73. ed. Bened. Dodwell of Incense, p. 203, &c.
h Mabillon de Liturgia Gallicana, m 'Te Deum Patrem omnipoten-
p. 1 88, &c. tern deprecamur, ut hie Spiritum
' See Mabillon. Praef. sect. is. Sanctum in aquam hanc supermictere
And compare Dodwell of Incense, digneris, ut quoscunque baptizave-
p. 190. rimus in nomine, &c., purificans et
k ' Bsnedic, Domine Deus noster, regenerans accipias eos in numero
hanc creaturam aquae, et descendat sanctorum tuorum, et consumines in
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 261
I hope my readers will not think much of the excursion which
I have here made into the Sacrament of Baptism, with a view to
illustrate what belongs to our present subject of the Eucharist.
For indeed I know of no surer or shorter way of coming at a
just and clear apprehension of what concerns one, than by com-
paring together and duly weighing the circumstances of both.
They are both of them equally Sacraments of the Christian
Church, and have the like promise of the Holy Spirit, founded
in the same merits of Christ's obedience and sufferings : there is
the same reason for a consecration of the outward symbols in
both, the same ground for expecting the presence of the Spirit ;
the same warrant for asking it ; the same rule to go by in the
doing it ; and the like primitive practice to countenance it. If
we proceed upon favourable presumption, that what obtained
universally, without order of councils, in the third or fourth cen-
tury, (and of which there is no memorandum left when it began,)
must be taken for apostolical, then the practice as to either
Sacrament will bear the same date : but if we choose rather,
apart from all conjectures, to set the practice in each no higher
than we have certain evidences of it, from monuments now ex-
tant, then we must date the practice with respect to Baptism no
higher than the third, or however second century, when Tertul-
lian flourished ; and with respect to the Eucharist, no higher
perhaps than the fourth, as we shall see presently .
I am aware, that several very worthy and learned men (and
among the rest Dr. Grabe) have thought of an earlier date than
I have just now mentioned ; and by their united labours and
searches into that question, have enabled those that come after
them to see the more clearly into it. Two very learned writers,
(not to mention more now,) Mr. Pfaffius abroad, and Mr. John-
son at home, have particularly traced that matter with all the
diligence imaginable, and have both of them endeavoured to carry
it up as high as there was any colour for carrying it. One of
Spiritu tuo sancto in vitam aeternam, Pfaffius, p. 37^, &c. Bingham, xv.
in saecula saeculorum.' Sacrament. 3, n. Collier, Keasons, &c. p. 21,
Galilean, p. 124. &c. Deylingius, Observ. Miscell.
n The testimonies of such invoca- p. 196, &c. 344, &c.
tion in the Eucharist are collected by
262 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
them appeals even to Ignatius, as a voucher for the practice ,
because he makes mention of some heretics who ' abstained from
the Eucharist and prayer, as not acknowledging the Eucharist
to be the flesh of Christ Jesus P.' But I cannot see how, by any
ever so distant consequence, we can thence fairly conclude, that
it was the practice of that time to pray for the descent of the
Holy Ghost in the Eucharist : for if the words of the institution
were but used in the prayer of Consecration in those days, that
alone is sufficient to account for all that Ignatius says there,
or anywhere else.
Mr. Pfaffius, more plausibly, endeavours to run up the practice
as high as Irenaeus of the second century. And, indeed, could
he have sufficiently warranted the genuineness of those fragments
which he has obliged the learned world with, under the name of
Ii'enaeus, there could have been no room left for further dispute
on that head 1. But he has not done it ; neither is it, I believe,
possible to be done r . As to his argument drawn from the use
of the word fKK\r}<ns, or eVtVXqo-ts, invocation of God, in Irenaeus's
certainly genuine works 8 , it is too precarious a topic to build a
thing of this moment upon ; because there may be an invocation
of God in prayer, without any praying for the descent of the
Holy Spirit ; and eWKXijo-tj is nothing but a common name for
any kind of invocation in prayer ; as when the three Persons are
named or invoked in the form of Baptism, (for so Origen uses
it r ,) or are otherwise named in the Eucharist ; as they certainly
were by Justin Martyr's account u . No proof therefore hath been
yet given of the practice of praying for the descent of the Holy
Ghost, in the eucharistical service, so early as Irenaeus's days.
Mr. Pfaffius endeavours next w to make it at least as ancient as
the third century ; because the Dialogue against the Marcionites,
Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, Cassiodori Complex, pp. 240, 241.
part i. p. 241, alias 245 ; part ii. p. Iren. pp. 60, 251. edit. Bened.
j8o. Compare Collier, Reasons, &c. Cp. Pfaffius, p. 96, &c.
p. 22. Defence, p. 101, &c. Vindi- * Origen. in Joann. p. 124, et
cation, p. 109, &c. 128, &c. apud Basil, de Spir. Sanct. cap. 29.
P Ignat. Ep. adSmyrn. cap.vii.p. 4. u Justin. Martyr. Apol. i. p. 96.
1 Vid. Fragmenta Irenaei ap. Pfaff. Cp. Cyrill. Hieros. Mystag. i. sect,
p. 27; cp. p. 94, &c. vii. p. 308.
r Vid. Scipio Maffeius in Notis ad w Pfaffius in Praefat.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 263
commonly ascribed to Crigen, or else to Maximus of the same
age, makes mention of the Holy Spirit's coming upon the Eu-
charist^ But besides that there is no mention of any prayer
for such descent, (so that the evidence here comes not up to the
point in question,) I say, besides that, the author of that Dia-
logue, most certainly, was neither Origen, nor Maximus, nor any
of that age, but probably another Adamantius, who lived in the
fourth century, in the time of Constantine ; as the learned
editor in his new edition of Origen has observed at large y. At
last then, we must be content to come down as low as the fourth
century, and indeed towards the middle of it, (when the elder
Cyril wrote,) for clear and undoubted evidence of the practice of
praying for the illapse of the Spirit upon the symbols in the
holy Communion. No doubt but it was used in the Church of
Jerusalem before, for Cyril did not invent it, nor first use it : but
how long before, is the question ; which, for want of higher
records, we cannot now certainly determine. Cyril intimates
part of the very form of the invocation then in use ; and it may
be worth the setting down here for the reader's perusal. 'We
beseech the all-merciful God to send the Holy Ghost upon the
elements, that he may make the bread Christ's body, and the
wine Christ's blood. For whatsoever the Holy Ghost once
touches, that most certainly must be sanctified and changed z .'
That is, as to its uses or offices. Some time after, the Priest
says ; ' Holy are the elements which lie before us, having re-
ceived the illapse of the Holy Spirit : holy also are ye, being
now endowed with the Holy Spirit a .' This was said before
the receiving ; which I note, for the sake of some inferences
to be made from it : i. That the elements are not here made
the conduit of the Holy Spirit, (for the Spirit is supposed to be
x Tb aytov iri/eDjua eiri TTJS tvx&pi- cfip.a Xpi<nov - iravrtas
ffr(as epxercu. Adamantius Dialog, ^turo rb ayiov irvtvfj.a, TOVTO fiytcurrat
sect. ii. p. 826. edit. Bened. /cat jueTa/3e)3A7?Ta{. Cyrill. Mystag. v.
y Delarue in Admonitione praevia, cap. 7. p. 327. Cp. Albertin. 320.
p. 800, &c. a "Ayta Tct Trpo/cei'/*e o, firi<poiTr](nv
z HapaKaXov/jLev rbv <pi\di>0p(airoi' Sffa/uepo ayiov irpfUjUOTOS' aytoi KOU
@fbv, T& ayiov irreC/ua aTro<TT?Ao< fyutTy iri/eu/ttoros aylov Ka.Taui>6ft>Tfs.
tTTi TO irpoKti/j.fva' Iva. iroi4]crri rbv Ta a-yia o$v TO?S ayiois Ka.rd\\r)\a.
juep &prov oriufta. XpiffTov, rbp St olvov Ibid. c. xix. p. 33 1 -
364 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
received by the communicants before them and without them,)
but the service of the Eucharist is the conduit rather, if either
of them properly be so. 2. That the meaning of the prayer for
the illapse of the Spirit is, to invite the Spirit to come down
upon the communicants immediately, or principally, to make
them holy in a sense proper to them, as well as to make the ele-
ments holy in a sense proper to things inanimate: therefore
Cyril adds, ' holy things' then are meet for holy men.' Hence
also came that ancient eucharistical form of ' sancta sanctis,' holy
things for holy men b , made use of previously to the reception of
the sacred symbols. 3. Though the elements are sanctified by
the Holy Ghost, and thereupon become relatively holy, as being
now sacred symbols and representatives of our Lord's body and
blood, yet they are not beneficial to unholy persons, but hurtful,
and therefore are not to them the body and blood of Christ in
real grace, virtue, energy, or effect. 4. Since the persons are
supposed to become holy by the presence of the Holy Spirit, pre-
viously to receiving, in order to reap benefit from it, it is plain
that, as to the request for making the elements Christ's body and
blood, the meaning only is, that they may be so made, not in
themselves, but to the communicants c , considered as holy : for,
* A full account of it may be seen to -become the body and blood of
in Menardus's Notes upon the Grego- Christ to them that communicate,
rian Sacramentary, p. 566. ToutteVs that true sense is so well signified
Notes on Cyril, p. 331. And Bing- and expressed, that the words can-
ham's Eccles. Antiq. book xv. ch. 3. not well be understood otherwise
sect. 31. vol. v. p. 344. Oxf. edit. than to import, not the corporal
c So in the Canon of the Mass, and substance, but the spiritual iise of
in our Communion Service of King them.' Thorndike, Relig. Assemb.
Edward's Prayer-Book of the first p. 369.
edition, the words run, 'That they 'In the book of the holy Commu-
may become to us the body and nion we do not pray absolutely, that
blood of Christ.' Of which Mr. the bread and wine may be made
Thorndike very judiciously com- the body and blood of Christ, but
ments, as here follows : that unto us, in that holy mystery,
' These words " to us," make an they may be so : that is to say, that
abatement in the proper signification we may so worthily receive the
of the body and blood. For the same, that we may be partakers of
elements may be said to become the Christ's body and blood, and that
body and blood of Christ without therewith in spirit and in truth we
addition, in the same true sense in may be spiritually nourished." Arch-
which they are so called in the bishop Cranmer against Gardiner,
Scriptures: but when they are said p. 79. edit. 1580.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 265
were the elements absolutely Christ's body and blood, they would
be so both to the holy and unholy, which they are not. Indeed
both good and bad do receive the consecrated signs, but those
only who are worthy do receive the things signified.
The next oldest form we meet with, after Cyril's, may be that
of the Constitutions, falsely called Apostolical : ' We beseech
thee, God, thou that art above the need of anything, to look
graciously down upon these gifts here lying before thee, and to
accept them favourably for the honour of thy Christ, and to
send thy Holy Spirit upon this sacrifice, the witness of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus ; that he may make this bread
become the body of thy Christ, and this cup become the blood
of thy Christ ; that they who partake thereof may be confirmed
in godliness, may obtain remission of sins, may be delivered
from the devil and his impostures, may be filled with the Holy
Ghost,' &c. d I need not go on to later forms of like kind,
many of which are to be met with in the large Collections of
Liturgies, published by Fabricius, Goar, Renaudot, Mabillon,
and others. The English reader may find a competent number
of the same in a Collection translated by several hands, and
published by the Reverend Dr. Brett, with several very learned
and curious Dissertations upon them, worth the considering^.
All I need do here is to make some general remarks, proper to
give light to the true and full meaning of those liturgic forms,
with respect to the descent or illapse of the Spirit, either upon
the communicants or upon the symbols.
i . It is observable, that the naked symbols, before the Spirit
is supposed to approach, or to make them Christ's body and
blood, are offered up as gifts, and called a sacrifice. I inquire
not now in what sense, designing a distinct chapter for that
A 'Aioi)fj.ft> ffe oncas vntvcas firi- itOTi)piov TOVTO aljtta TOV XptirTov ffov,
fi\tyris lif\ TO VpMf/fMfa 8%>a TO.VTO. 'iva ol /j.fra\al36vTes UVTOV /3e/3cutii0<a(ri
tvdffiAv ffov, av & avfvtitTjs tbs, KCU irpbs fvoffifiav, atyffftws a^aprijjueiTcov
fiiSomjcn?* (if aiiTols els TI/JL^V TOV TVXOXTI, TOV AiaJ&Aov KO.\ TTJS ir\dvris
XpLffrov ffov, leal Ka.Tairt/j.fyr]s rb ayi6v avrov pvarOaiffi, Trvfv/j.a.Tos ay'wv irATj-
ffov Trvtv/J.a firl T)JV Ovffiav TavnjVj T}>V paBwfftv. K. T. \. Const. Apost. lib.
/j.dprvpa Tiav ira6r)iJ.d.T(ov TOV Kvpiov viii. cap. 12. p. 407.
'Ir/ffow, Sircos o-7ro(j>Vj7 T'OV &pToi> TOV- e Brett's Collection of the principal
TOV (Tai^a TOV Xpiarov ffov, KOI TO Liturgies^ printed A. D. 1720.
a66 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
purpose below : but such is the common form and tenor of
most of the other Liturgies, Greek ones especially; St. James's f ,
St. Mark's , St. Basil's h , and St. Gregory's ', as they are called.
2. Next it is observable, from the old Liturgies, that after the
oblation and sacrifice, and after the illapse of the Spirit upon the
symbols, to make them authentic and effective representatives of
our Lord's body and blood, another very solemn prayer was wont
to be put up, pleading to God the merits of Christ's passion, and
beseeching him, for the sake thereof, to be propitious towards
the communicants in particular, and towards the Church in
general. Cyril represents that part of the service thus : ' After
the finishing the spiritual sacrifice, the unbloody service ; over
that sacrifice of propitiation, we beseech God in behalf of the
common peace of the churches ... we offer Christ slain for our
sins, entreating the all-merciful God to be propitious to ourselves
and others V There is such another form of prayer in the
Constitutions 1 : it follows the oblation, and may itself be called,
and often has been called, another oblation. But the proper
name for it is Commemoration of the passion, now made before
God, pleading the merit of the same, in order to obtain the fruits
and benefits of it. This part of the service was very ancient,
and most undoubtedly did obtain, in some shape or other, even
from the beginning ; pursuant to our Lord's command, to make
commemoration of him, and to St. Paul's account of the Eu-
charist, as shewing the Lord's death till his coming again. Such
memorial of the passion is more than once mentioned by Justin
Martyr, and Origen, and Cyprian, and Eusebius, and Chrysostom,
and many more. The meaning of the petition which went
f Jacobi Liturg. apud Fabric, pp. KOIVTJS rHav fKKK^atSsv tlpr)i>ris . . . Xpi-
66. 68, 70, 82, 96. ffrbv ^fftyayicrfievov vittp ruv f)(j.tTfpti>v
s Marci Liturg. apud Fabric, pp. o^iopTTj/xaTou' irpoatytponei', ti\fov-
275, 278, 286, 287. fj-fvoi inrfp avrHov re Kal fi(j.cav (pi\aj/-
h Basil. Liturg. in Renaudot. pp. Bpiairov t:6i>. Cyrill. Mystag. v. pp.
57,6i,68. 3^7.3^8.
' Gregorii Liturg. apud Renaudot. ' Constitut. Apostol. lib. viii. cap.
pp. 90, 94, 95, 105. 13. pp. 408, 409.
k Elra, fj.fTa. rb airapTicrBrjrai T^V m See above, oh. i. pp. 21, 32,
irvfvfj.ariK^v 6v<riai>, r^v avai^aKTov under the name Oblation and Me-
AorpefoJ', tirl TTJS 6vfftas tKflvTjs rov morial.
rbf Qtbv v*fp
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 267
along with it was, that our blessed Saviour, who is our intercessor
and advocate above, might vouchsafe to make those prayers
acceptable at the throne of grace, pleading the interest of his
all-prevailing sacrifice in heaven". The Liturgy in Ambrose
has the like memorial with the former, after the consecration :
and so has the Gallican SacramentaryP. The Greek and Oriental
Liturgies have commonly the same, but not always in the same
order ; sometimes placing the memorial, or annunciation, im-
properly, before the consecration <J, and again, more properly,
after r : which is an argument of the lateness of those Litm-gies,
as we now have them, and of the confused state wherein most
of them are.
3. But the most material point of all is to fix the true mean-
ing of the invocation and illapse of the Spirit, into which the
Greeks commonly resolve the consecration. The Romish Divines
have frequently laid hold of what is said concerning the illapse
of the Spirit, as favourable to their tenet of transubstantiation ;
because the Holy Ghost is said to make the bread the body, and
the wine the blood of Christ. But when it came to be observed,
that the Greeks constantly used that prayer of invocation, for
the descent of the Spirit, after the words of the institution,
(in which the Romanists fix the consecration,) a great difficulty
arose, how to reconcile Greeks and Latins, upon the article of
consecration : for the former placed it in the descent of the
Holy Spirit, and the latter in the words of institution. A solu-
tion at length was thought on, namely, that the descent or illapse
of the Holy Ghost, spoken of in the Greek Liturgies, should not
be understood to make the symbols Christ's body, &c. (being
made such before in consecration, by the words, ' This is my
body,' &c.), but to make the reception of the body and blood
beneficial and salutary to the communicants. Many of the
learned Latins, at the Council of Florence, and after, embraced
n 'Offert se ipse quasi sacerdos, Pseudo-Ambrosias de Sacrament.
ut peccata nostra dimitt-tt : hie in lib. iv. cap. 6.
imagine, ibi in veritate, ubi apud P Sacramentar. Gallican. p. 280.
Patrem pro nobis quasi advocatus q Jacob. Liturg. ap. Fabric, p.
intervenit.' Ambrosias de Offic. 82. Basil. Liturg. pp. 6r. 68.
lib. i. cap. 48. r Jacob. Liturg. p 96.
268 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
the solution with some eagerness. Bessarion also then, and
Arcudius afterwards, (two Latinized Greeks,) set themselves to
defend it, and did it with good learning and judgment 8 . It
appears to be true, that they justly interpreted the intent and
meaning of that invocation, by the beneficial effect of the illapse
of the Spirit upon the communicants in the use of the symbols,
and not by the Spirit's making the symbols absolutely the body
and blood : and we are so far obliged to them, for pleading
unawares on the Protestant side, and thereby giving up the most
plausible colours which all antiquity could afford for the novel
doctrine of transubstantiation f .
It must however be owned, that the later and shrewder Ro-
manists, observing how their friends were caught in their own
snare, have been very solicitous to retract that occasional con-
cession, and to condemn Bessarion, Arcudius, and others, for
giving into it. Lequien is one of those who endeavour to recall
the grant u ; and Renaudot is another x ; and Toutte'e a third y.
They are justly sensible, how their most specious pretences from
the ancients are at once taken from them, and that the Pro-
testant cause is now triumphant, in that article, even upon their
own concessions. Their perceiving it with such concern does not
at all abate the force of what Bessarion, and Arcudius, and
many more of their friends very learnedly and justly pleaded for
the original meaning of that form. All circumstances shew, that
the true and ancient intent of that part of the service was not to
implore any physical change in the elements, no, nor so much as
a physical connection of the Spirit with the elements, but a moral
8 See particularly Arcudius de sima est Protestantium doctrina. . . .
Concord. Eccles. Occident, et Orient. Si haec ad solam fructuosam commu-
1. iii. cap. 33. p. 287, &c. nionera referantur, nulla niagis coin-
* See Dr. Covel's Account of the moda Protestantium causae interpre-
Gr. Church, p. 54, &c. tatio excogitari poterat. Renaudot.
u Lequien in Notis ad Damascen. Liturg. Orient, torn. ii. p. 93.
torn. i. p. 269. v ' Verba haec detorquere ad ef-
* ' Quod aiunt Bessarionis et Arcu- fectus Eucharistiae in nobis postu-
dii imitatores totam orationera referri landos, ecclesiam luculentissimo, an-
ad fructuosam mysterii susceptionem, tiquissimo, et constantissimo tran-
ferri non potest. . . . Unde sequeretur substantiations testimonio privare
nullam esse transmutationem erga in- est.' Toiitte"e Cyrillian. Dissertat.
dignecommunicantes, quaegermanis- iii. p. 238.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 269
change only in the elements, as to relations and uses, and a gra-
cious presence of the Holy Spirit upon the communicants z .
One argument of it may be drawn from the style of the
prayer, 'super nos, et super haec dona a ,' begging the descent upon
the communicants fh'st, and then upon the elements ; that is to
say, upon the communicants in the use of those now holy or con-
secrated symbols. Renaudot would persuade us, that the ' super
nos' relates to the consecrators, or to the officiating clergy b . But
what I have before cited from St. Cyril, as understanding the
descent of the Spirit to be upon the communicants in general, is
a sufficient confutation of every such surmise.
Another argument of what I am here pleading for may be
drawn from the restriction to us, inserted in that form, in several
Liturgies ; particularly in the Gregorian Sacramentary c , and
from thence derived to the Canon of the Mass. I have shewn
the meaning of it before, and need not here repeat.
But the clearest and strongest argument of all may be drawn
from the like form of invocation in the Baptismal Offices ; where
it is certain that it could mean only a moral change of the water
as to use and office, not a physical change of its substance. Why
should the illapse of the Holy Spirit be supposed to work any
greater, or any other change in the elements of the Eucharist,
than in the waters of Baptism d 1
Renaudot, being aware of this difficulty, offers a kind of salvo
for it ; namely, that though the Spirit is invited to come down
upon the waters in Baptism, yet he comes not to change the
waters into Christ's body and blood, but to give regeneration and
remission to the persons. He observes likewise, that when the
Spirit is invoked upon the oil, or chrism, or persons to be
z Vid. Fulgent, ad Monim. lib. ii. omnibus quaesumns benedictam . . .
cap. 9, 10. facere digneris, ut nobis corpus et
" See the Liturgies in Fabricius, sanguis fiat,' &c.
68, 84, 85, 98, 204, 205, 243, 298, d Compare what Mr. Pfaffius has
300 ; or in lienaudotius, torn. i. pp. well urged on this head, p. 76, &c.
16, 31, 46, 48, 68, 105 ; torn. ii. pp. Though it must be said, that his own
118, 143, 313, 325. hypothesis will no more clear this
b Renaudot. Liturg. Orient, torn, article, than the Popish one can ; for
i. p. 340. the invocation in Baptism draws
c 'Quam oblationem tu, Deus, in down nothing but what is spiritual.
270 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
ordained, or whatever else is to be consecrated, it amounts only to
a petition for the grace of the Spirit upon the parties concerned ;
which is quite another thing from changing the symbols in the
Eucharist into the body and blood 6 . But this appears to be
begging the question, or rather to be giving up the main thing :
for what we assert is, that the ancients supposed the like illapse
of the Spirit, and like change wrought in the waters of Baptism,
and in the oil, and chrism, &c., as in the elements of the Eucha-
rist ; and therefore if in those it amounted only to a moral or
spiritual change, it cannot, upon their principles, amount to more
in this. Cyril of Jerusalem, as before quoted, plainly makes
those several cases so far parallel f ; and so does Gregory Nys-
sen s after him : therefore Mr. Renaudot's concessions turn upon
himself, and recoil upon his own hypothesis. It is not indeed
said, that the Holy Ghost in Baptism converts the water into
body and blood ; neither is it said, that the Holy Ghost in the
Eucharist converts the symbols into water of life, or into a
celestial garment ; each Sacrament has its distinguishing style
and title, proper to the symbols of it, and to the resemblance
intended in it. For though they exhibit the same graces, yet
they do it not under the same types, figures, or symbols : and that
e ' Invocatur quoque ut mittat pare Bingham, book si. ch. x. sect. 4.
Spiritual Sanctum super aquas bap- s Gregor. Nyssen. de Baptismo
tismales, ut in illis baptizati accipiant Christi, torn. ii. pp. 801, 802. edit,
regenerationem, omniumque pecca- Paris. 1615. Dr. Covel has observed
torum remissionem : super oleum, et the same at large, with respect to
chrisma, ut gratiam baptizatis novam the later rituals, in his Account of
conferant : super ordinandos, ut ac- the Greek Church, p. 33, &c. And
cipiant sanctimoniam et potestatem though he intended the instances
ad sacra ministeria sancte exercenda : there given only to shew, that such
super oleum infirmorum, ut ejus forms implied no physical change in
unctio prosit infirmis ad salutem ani- the things so consecrated, yet they
mae et corporis. . . . Verum in Eu- really prove more, viz. that the Holy
charistia consecranda, aliud quiddam Spirit was supposed to rest upon the
se petere designant, nempe illapsum persons in the use of the symbols,
efficacem Spiritus Sancti in dona and not upon the symbols themselves,
proposita, ut mutentur et trans- in strictness of speech. I may note
ferantur in corpus et sanguinem also, that in pp. 56, 57, he has fully
Domini : quod de aqua, chrismate, confuted the most specious pretence
oleoque, aliisque Sacramentis, nun- which the Romanists commonly make
quam postulasse orientales repe- from some corrupt copies of Basil's
riuntur.' Renaudot. torn. i. pp. Liturgy, by producing a truer read-
196. 197. ing out of a different copy, near six
f See above, ch. vii. p. 159. Com- hundred years old.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 271
is the sole reason of the different style here and there. There is
the same change wrought in both, and by the same Divine power,
and to the same salutary purposes. There is the same kind of
prayer in both, for the same kind of illapse or presence of the
Spirit, and for the same kind of grace, virtue, and efficacy,
whether upon the symbols or recipients. If we feed upon Christ
in the Eucharist, we put him on in Baptism, which comes to the
same thing in the main. If we are partakers of the spiritual
lamb there, so are we also here. If we drink his blood there, we
are clipped in his blood here, which is tantamount. Nay, we are
partakers of the body and blood in both, according to the prin-
ciples of the ancient writers. Testimonies to that effect have
often been collected by learned Protestants : and therefore, for
the avoiding of prolixity, I choose rather to refer h , than to
repeat. Such being the certain doctrine of the ancients, it is a
vain attempt, to strain any expressions of theirs concerning the
illapse of the Spirit in the Eucharist, beyond what they admitted
in the other Sacrament. The substance of what they taught is
the same with respect to both, only in different phrases, as the
difference of the symbols required : for Baptism is not the Eu-
charist, though it exhibits the same graces, and does the same
thing, and by the same powers, that the Eucharist does.
From the account here given, I may take notice, by the way,
of the wisdom of our first Reformers, who, while they thought of
inserting any prayer at all for the illapse of the Spirit, resolved
to do it equally and indifferently in both the Offices ; as well in
the Office of Baptism ', as in the Office for the Communion k :
h Bishop Moreton on the Sacra- tion of thy holy name. Sanctify this
ment, p. 568, &c. Albertinus, pp. fountain of Baptism,' &c.
223, 426. Bin gham, book xi. chap. k 'Hear us, O merciful Father,
1 6. sect. 4. we beseech thee, and with thy Holy
i In King Edward's first Prayer- Spirit and Word, vouchsafe to bless
Book, A. D. 1549. ' most merciful and sanctify these thy gifts, and
God our Saviour Jesu Christ . . . creatures of bread and wine, that
upon whom, being baptized in the they may be unto us the body and
river of Jordan, the Holy Ghost blood of thy most dearly beloved
came down in the likeness of a dove, Son Jesus Christ.'
send down, we beseech thee, the N. B. If it should be asked, how
same thy Holy Spirit, to assist us, they are so unto us, if they be not
and to be present at this our invoca- first absolutely so 1 Answ. They are
27 2 Sanctifying Grace CIIA.P.
for there is, undoubtedly, as much reason and as great autho-
rity for it with respect to the former, as there is with respect to
the latter. Indeed they were both thrown out afterwards, upon
prudential considerations, and at the instance chiefly of two
learned and judicious foreigners, whom Archbishop Cranmer
called in to assist at the review of our Litui-gy in 1551 1. It
was thought, perhaps, as there was no express Scripture precept,
nor any clear proof of apostolical practice, either for this form or
another, that therefore every church was at liberty in such cases.
It might be considered further, that several centuries probably
had passed, before there were any public written Liturgies at all :
and the Bishops commonly, in and for their respective churches,
had been left to draw up such forms as they judged most proper
to times and circumstances, conformable to the analogy of faith m .
And since an ill use had often been made, by Eomanists, of those
words of the Communion Office, in favour of transubstantiation n ,
(for which there appeared some colour, though colour only, and
owing to misconstruction and wrong iufei*ences,) prudence might
require some alteration, under such circumstances. However,
in our present Offices, we have some remains of the ancient way
of praying for the assistance of the Holy Spirit in both Sacra-
ments. In our Office of Public Baptism, we have the invocation
couched under general expressions : the people are admonished
to call upon God the Father, that the child brought to the
font may be baptized with water ' and the Holy Ghost.' Then
again, ' sanctify him with the Holy Ghost,' and ' give thy
Holy Spirit to this infant : ' and as to the outward element,
' sanctify this water to the mystical washing away of sin.' These
passages, penned in a more reserved, general way, do yet
really contain all that the more ancient invocation in Baptism
amounted to.
said to be so unto us, when the bene- m See Bingham, book i. chap. 19.
ficial effect goes along with them. sect. 17 ; book xiii. chap. 5. sect. I ;
See Cranmer and Thorndike, cited book ii. chap. 6. sect. 2. lienaudot,
above, p. 264. torn. i. p. 9.
1 See Wheatly on the Common- n See Cranmer, p. 325. Dr. Aid-
Prayer, p. 26. Collitr, Vindic. of rich, Reply to two Oxford Discourses,
Keas. and Def. p. 150. pp. 8, 9.
x. conferred in the Eucharist. 273
In our Communion Service, the invocation is more obscurely
intimated under a few, and those general terms : ' Grant that
we receiving these thy creatures of bread and wine . . . may be
partakers of his most precious body and blood .' This was part
of the ancient invocation ; and it expresses the thing formerly
prayed for, without specifying the particular manner, or means,
viz. the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit : though that also
must of course be understood and implied, upon Christian prin-
ciples taught' in Scripture. After all, I see no reason why it may
not be justly thought as modest, and as reverent, to beg of God
the Father the things which we want, understanding that he will
grant them by his Holy Spirit, as to make a formal petition to
him, to send his Holy Spirit upon the elements or upon the
communicants ; unless Scripture had particularly ordered some
such special form, to be made use of in our sacramental solem-
nities, which it has not done P.
It must be owned, that there was something very affecting
and awful in many of the ancient forms, apt to strike the minds
of an assembly, and to raise their devout affections, when pro-
perly executed with a becoming dignity, by grave and venerable
men. Such was that prefatory part in several old Liturgies,
' How dreadful is this season,' &c., made use of just before the
expected coming of the Holy Spirit, in order to prepare every
humble communicant to wait for it with the most pi'ofound
reverence and most exalted devotions. But it may be doubted,
whether such forms are proper at all times and in all circum-
stances ; and whether they might not, in some circumstances,
rather obstruct than further the good ends designed by them.
The more general and reserved method is certainly the less
That is, partakers of the merits tamen in genuinis Apostolorum scrip-
and virtue of the body as crucified, tis ne ypv.' Fabricius, Cod. Apocr.
and blood as spilled ; and partakers Nov. Test. part. iii. in praefatione.
also of the same body considered as ' Nos equidem illam Spiritus Sancti
raised again, and mystically united firi<poirj](jiv neque ad symbolorum
with worthy receivers. consecrationem necessariam, nee exo-
P ' Mirum in hisce, aliisque Orien- randam, nee Graecorum Liturgiam
talium. Liturgiis, consensum videas ea in parte defendendam, aut imi-
circa invocationem Spiritus Sancti, taridamesse arbitramur.' Deylingius,
ut dona faciat corpus et sanguinem Observ. Miscellan. p. 159.
Christi : de hac liturgica invocatione
274 Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
affecting ; but yet it may be, all things considered, the surest way
to keep up the dignity of the Sacraments among the generality,
and to secure the sacred Offices from contempt. But I have
said enough of this matter, which came in only by the way.
While I am speaking of our excellent Liturgy, it may not be
amiss to take notice of another article relating to this head,
wherein it may appear to some short and defective. It is very
certain, that the commemoration, memorial, or annunciation of
our Lord's passion, with an address to God for his propitious
favour thereupon, has been a very ancient, eminent, and solemn
part of the Communion Service. There is now no direct formal
application of that kind in our Offices. There was in King
Edward's Liturgy of 1549, in these words: 'We thy humble
servants do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty
with these thy holy gifts, the memorial which thy Son has willed
us to make, having in remembrance his blessed passion, mighty
resurrection,' &c. Why this part was struck out in the review,
I know not ; unless it was owing to some scruple (which how-
ever was needless) about making the memorial before God, which
at that time might appear to give some umbrage to the Popish
sacrifice, among such as knew not how to distinguish. However
that were, we have still the sum and substance of the primitive
memorial remaining in our present Offices ; not all in a place,
but interspersed here and there in the exhoiiations and prayers.
In a previous exhortation, we read ; ' Above all things ye must
give most humble and hearty thanks to God the Father, &c. for
the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our
Saviour Christ both God and man,' &c. There is the sense and
signification of the ancient memorial, only under a different form.
In the Post-Communion, we beseech God 'to accept our sacrifice
of praise and thanksgiving, and to grant remission of sins to us
and to the whole Church, by the merits and death of Christ Jesus.'
Which words contain the substance of what was anciently the
appendage to the memorial. There was besides, in most of the
old Liturgies % a particular petition added, that the angels might
i See in Fabricius's Collection, 265, 273, and in Renaudot's passim,
pp. 36, 54, 70, 96, 147, 173, 206, 234, Compare Apostol. Constit. lib. viii.
X. conferred in the Eucharist. 2,J$
carry up our prayers to the high altar in heaven ; and this also
was inserted in King Edward's first Liturgy, but struck out at
the first review. As to the altar in heaven, I shall have occasion
to say more in a chapter below, and therefore pass it over here.
As to the notion of angels conveying the prayers of the suppli-
cants to the throne above, I know not whether it had any better
grounds than the authority of the apocryphal book of Tobit r , as
Bucer observed 8 . It seems to have been originally a Jewish
notion *; though a late learned writer chooses rather to derive it
from the Platonic philosophy" : I think, improperly ; for it will
be hard to prove, that Plato was before Tobit, or before the book
bearing his name x . Besides that, the Pagans were more likely
to borrow such things from Jews, than the Jews from them, But
be that as it will, since the notion has no certain warrant in
canonical Scripture, it was prudent to strike it out of our Church
Offices. Upon the whole, though all human compositions must
have their defects, more or less, I am persuaded, that our Com-
munion Service, as it now stands, is as grave, and solemn, and as
judicious, as any other that can be named, be it ancient or
modern. It may want some things which were well inserted in
other Offices ; but then it has well left out several other things,
which most Liturgies are rather burdened with, than benefited.
But I return.
As to the main point now in hand, it is very plain from all
liturgies, and from all kinds of ancient testimonies, that the
Christian world has all along believed, that the Spirit of God is
invisibly present, and operates effectually in both Sacraments; as
well to confer a relative holiness upon the outward symbols, as
to convey the grace of sanctification to the faithful recipients.
Therefore the Socinians stand condemned as to this article, by
all churches, ancient or modern, as well as by Scripture itself, and
the plainest reason : neither have they any plea to offer on that
cap 13, and Pseud- Ainbros. de Sacr. u Eisner, in Grace. Testam. torn.
lib. iv. cap. 6. ii. p. 117.
' Tobit xii. 15. x Of Tobit, see Prideaux's Con-
Bucer. Script. Anglican, p. 473. nection, part i. p. 39. fol. edit. Fa-
1 Cp. Testamentum Levi, in Grab. brie. Bibl. Grace, lib. iii. cap. 29.
Spicileg. torn. i. p. 159. Dupin, Can. of the Old Test. p. 89.
T 2
2J6- Sanctifying Grace CHAP.
side, which carries so much as the face of a direct argument. I
am aware, that they may have something to plead obliquely, while
arguing against the existence, or personality, or divinity of the
Holy Ghost, or against any ordinary operations from above upon
the minds of men, to enlighten or sanctify them : and whatever
they may have to plead in respect to those previous points, will
remotely affect the present question. But it is not my business
here, to run out into those preliminary inquiries, almost foreign
to the particular subject I am upon, and fitter to make distinct
and separate treatises, than to be brought in here. As to direct
arguments, I can think of few or none y at present, unless we
may reckon that for one, which charges our doctrine in this
particular, as making the Sacraments charms and spells; an
objection built upon manifest calumny or misconception, and
looking more like buffoonery than serious argument, especially as
worded by some of that side. One of them Nvrites thus : ' When
St. Austin defined a sacrament to be the outward visible sign of
an inward invisible grace or energy, the good Father should have
considered, that this is a definition of a charm, not of a Gospel
Sacrament : for a charm is a bare outward visible sign, that
which has no natural or real agreement with the effect
They have turned the Gospel Sacraments into charms and
spells z .' The same trifling impei'tinence might as justly be
urged against Naaman's being healed of his leprosy by washing
in Jordan a ; or against Hezekiah's being cured by a lump of
figs b ; or against the blind man's receiving sight by the means
of clay and spittle and washing in the pool of Siloam c . We
place no more virtue in the naked symbols, than in the meanest
instruments whatever, which God may at any time please to make
use of, and sanctify to high and holy purposes. Those instru-
ments in themselves do nothing : it is God that does all, in and
y The "argument drawn against easily may, though near at hand all
present benefits from the word re- the time. Vid. Nourrii Apparat.
membrance has been obviated above, torn. i. p. 41 r.
ch. iv. p. 70. I shitll only hint. ' Trinitarian Scheme of Religion,
further, that remembering, in this pp. 24,25, printed in the year 1692.
case, is not opposed to a tlrng's be- a 2 Kings v. 14.
ing present, but to its being forgot, b 2 Kinjjs xx. 7. Isa. xxxviii. 21.
as spiritual and invisible benefits c John ix. 7.
X. conferred in the Eucharist. 277
through the appointed use of them. He that blasphemes or de-
rides the certain workings of God, or of the Spirit of God, upon
the souls or bodies of men, under the names of charms, spells,
enchantments, or the like, (as the Jews derided our Lord's
miracles.) seems to forget the reverence due to Divine Majesty,
and the respect which we owe to high and holy things. But to
put the kindest and most favourable construction we can upon
the objection as here worded, it is charging St. Austin and all
the primitive churches, and their followers, with what they are
notoriously known, not only never to have taught, but constantly
to have disclaimed. They never do attribute to the bare elements
the works of grace, but constantly ascribe them to the powerful
hand of God, working in or with the elements. If that be
working by charms or spells, let any man tell us, what super-
natural or preternatural works of God are not as justly liable to
the same imputation.
If the purport of the objection be to reject all such Divine
operations as we here suppose upon moral agents, as not con-
sistent with human liberty ; that is a more general question,
previous to what we are now upon, and therefore in a great
measure foreign to the point in hand. It is sufficient to say,
that the general doctrine of grace is so fully established in the
New Testament, that no Christian can consistently reject it. As
to the manner of it, it is not for us to presume to explain it:
but we are certain it is wrought in a moral way, in a way con-
sistent with moral agency and human liberty. We know the
fact : we need no more. If any man will undertake to demon-
strate a priori, that there can be no medium between irresistible
impressions and none at all, or that God cannot sanctify, or
purify, or enlighten the soul of man, in any degree, without
making him a machine, he may perhaps deserve to be heard ;
but in the meanwhile Scripture, express Scripture, will deserve
our attention, and will command the faith of every true disciple
of Christ.
Some perhaps may think it an objection to what has been here
pleaded, that grace is also promised, sometimes to prayer, some-
times to faith, and sometimes to hearing, and therefore is not
278 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
peculiar to the Sacraments : for it has been suggested, that ' the
spiritual eating of Christ is common to all places, as well as to the
Lord's table d .' This I have touched upon before e , and shall only
add here, that we do not confine God's grace to the Sacraments;
neither do we assert any peculiar grace, as appropriate to them
only : but what we assert is, some peculiar degree of the same
graces, or some peculiar certainty, or constancy, as to the effect, in
the due use of those means f . And if the Divine graces, more or
less, go along with all the Divine ordinances, well may they be
supposed to go along with those, which are the most solemn and
most exalted of any, and have also more of a federal nature in
them ; as has been hinted above , and will be proved at large
in the chapter here following.
CHAP. XL
Of tJie federal or covenanting Nature of the Holy EUCHARIST.
IT is the prevailing docti'ine of Divines, that the Service of
the holy Communion carries in it something of a federal nature,
is a kind of covenanting or stipulating act ; not making a new
covenant, but covenanting anew, confirming or renewing the
stipulation before entered into at our Baptism. For the clearing
of this important point, it will be proper, i. To premise some-
thing of covenants in general between God and man. 2. To
specify the ancient forms or methods of contracting under the
Old Testament. 3. To descend to the latter forms of doing the
same thing under the New Testament, by the Sacraments there-
unto belonging, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
i. The Divine goodness and condescension is such, in all his
dealings with mankind, that he considers always what is best
for them, and may most help their infirmities. With these
d Hales's Tracts, p. 57. peculiar! ter adscribi videtur, id inde
e See above, p. 189, &c. est, quod fides, in Sacramentis, hanc
f 'Verbum et Sacramenta in eo gratiam videat clarius, apprehendat
conveniunt, quod ambo gratiam re- fortius, teneat certius.' Voss. de Sa-
generationis offerant et exhibeant : cram. p. 251.
sed quod ncnnunquam Sacramentis See above, p. 191.
xi. as a Covenanting Rile.
gracious views (while he is absolute Lord over them, and might
issue out his sovereign commands to all, without admitting any
mortal to contract for rewards, or to strike any league with
him) he is pleased to enter into covenants with men, giving and
taking assurances, and, as it were, binding both himself and
them, in order to draw them the more strongly to him, and to
engage them to look after their own everlasting happiness. Not
that God thereby divests himself of his right over them, or that
men have a right to refuse the covenant proposed to them, or
would not be justly punishable for such refusal h : for indeed they
are under a previous indispensable obligation to comply ; and
the refusing it would deserve very severe punishment '. But the
entering into covenant produces a closer relation and a stronger
tie, and is much more engaging and attractive many ways, than
naked precepts could be ^ ; as will be evident of itself to any
man that reflects, and I need not enlarge upon it.
In covenants between God and man, there is not, as in com-
mon covenants, an equal and mutual meeting of each other, or a
joint concurrence : but God is the first mover to invite and pro-
pound ; and man comes in after, sooner or later, to accept and
conclude. ' We love God, because he first loved us : ' * Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us V And our
Lord says to his Disciples, ' Ye have not [first] chosen me, but I
have [first] chosen you,' &c. m Another thing observable is, that
there are not here, as in covenants between man and man,
mutual advantages, or benefits reciprocal ; but all the advantage
or benefit, properly so called, accrues to one party only, because
the other is too pei-feet to receive any. Nevertheless, there is
something analogous to benefits, or what may be considered as
such, accruing to the Divine Majesty ; namely, external honour
and glory, and such delight as he is conceived constantly to enjoy
in the exercise of his goodness, wisdom, power, and other his
h See Puflfendorf, Jus feciale Divi- k Vid. Hoornbeeck de Foedere
num, sect. xx. p. 92, &c. Lat. edit. Ecclesiastico, Exercit. Theolosf. torn.
p. 87. Engl. edit. Abp. Potter on iii. p. 640.
Ch. Gov. p. 12, &c. i I John iv. 19, 10.
1 Matt. x. 14, 15 ; xxii. 7- Luke m John xv. 16.
xiv. 21 24.
280 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
attributes or perfections. Neither does this circumstantial differ-
ence, arising from the infinite disparity of the parties contracting,
at all affect the essence of the covenant supposed to be made be-
tween them. For a covenant is, in its general nature, (as Baron
Puffendorf defines it n ,) an union, consent, and agreement of two
wills about the same thing : and if God proposes such and such
terms, and man accepts them, there is then a formal covenant
struck between them. God conditionally offers advantages on
his side ; and man covenants to pay a suitable homage, adora-
tion, and service, as required.
That God has transacted, and does yet daily transact, covenants
with mankind in succession, shall be shewn presently. Only I
may here hint by the way, that many considerable Divines have
supposed also a previous covenant between God the Father and
God the Son, in the affair of man's salvation. There are several
things hinted in holy Scripture, which look like an agreement, or
covenant, that upon our Lord's undertaking to be Mediator, and
performing what belongs to it, a reconciliation should ensue
between God the Father and mankind. The texts, which chiefly
seem to countenance that notion, are collected into one view by
the excellent Puffendorf, to whom, for brevity sake, I choose to
refer the reader P.
2. I proceed to observe, that God has, time after time, trans-
acted covenants with men, and under various formalities. There
was a covenant of life made with man in Paradise, in his state of
innocency l i ; which commonly goes under the name of the first
covenant, or old covenant, and which continued for a very short
space. To that immediately succeeded the second covenant, or
new covenant, called also the covenant of grace, and made with
lapsed man, in and through Christ Jesus. It commenced from
" Puffendorf, Jus fecial. sect. xx. be seen references to a multitude of
Cp. Deylingius, Observ. Sacr. writers, who have considered that
torn. i. pp. 328, 329. Zornius, Opusc. article.
Sacr. torn. ii. p. 240. 1 See this proved and explained by
P Puffendorf, Jus fecial. sect. Bishop Bull, Appendix ad Animad.
xxxvii. p. 144. Lat. p. 129. Engl. xvii , and Discourse concerning the
edit. Cp. Dodwell, Diss. Cyprian, first Covenant, Opp. Posth. vol. iii.
p. 448. Zornius, Opusc. Sacr. torn. p. 1065. &c. Compare Puffendorf,
ii. pp. 240, 241, 242. In Zornius may Jus fecial. sect. xxiv.
XI. as a Covenanting Rile. 281
old time, in the world's infancy, as St. Paul testifies r ; though
not clearly revealed nor fully executed till the days of the
Gospel, but considered as executed from the beginning, so far
forth as to be available for the remission of sin, in all ages, to
men fitly qualified according to the terms of it. Besides these
two eminent and general covenants, God entered into other
inferior or more special covenants, (together with renewals also
of this,) as with Noah s , with Abraham *, with Isaac u , with
Jacob x , with Moses and Aaron v , and with Phinehas z , and their
families after them. The legal covenant, or Sinai covenant, was
made between God and the Israelites, by the hand of Moses .
It was in itself a temporal covenant, containing only temporal
promises : but in its retired, mystical meaning, it figured out
the spiritual covenant before made, and was a shadow of good
things to come* 3 . That external covenant (representing as
through a glass darkly the internal) was often renewed with the
people of the Hebrews : as in the time of Joshua at Sichem c ,
and in the reigns of Asa d and of Ahab e , and of Joash f , Heze-
kiah g, and Josiah h . This I note to obviate a common mistake,
as if, because a covenant has been once granted and fixed on
God's part, it may not be properly said to be regranted, or re-
newed, with a fleeting body of men, as new generations come up.
Indeed it seems highly expedient, that such covenants should be
T Tit. i. 2. ripb \p6vtav a'avtuv, be- ? Exod. vi. 4 7 ; iv. 28. Ecclus.
fore ancient times. Vid. Bull, Opp. xlv. 7, 15.
Posth. vol. ii. p. 591. Cp. Horn. xvi. z Numb. xxv. 12, 13. Here the
25. Coloss. i. 26. i Pet. i. 20. covenant was conditional, (as appears
8 Gen. vi. 18 ; ix. 9-18. In the by the forfeiture of the priesthood
first instance, there was express en- afterwards,) and accepting the priest-
gagement on one side, tacit on the hood was accepting the conditions :
other. See Le Clerc in loc. In the therefore, in this instance, the en-
second, there appears to have been gagement was reciprocal, amounting
no more than simple engagement on to a formal covenant,
one side. But in the instances fol- a Exod. xix. 3 ; xxiv. 8. Deut. v.
lowing, there were mutual or reci- 5. Gal. iii. 19.
procal engagements, tacit or ex- b Heb. viii. 5 ; x. i.
press. c Joshua xxiv. 14 25.
* Gen. xii. 2, 3 ; xv. 18 ; xvii. 2 d 2 Chron. xv. 12, &c.
22. Ecclus. xliv. 20. e I Kings xviii. 39.
u Gen. xvii. 19; xxi. 2; xxvi. 2, 3. f 2 Chron. xxiii. 16, &c. .
Ecclus. xliv. 22. Psalm cv. 9. * i Chron. xxix. 10.
* Gen. xxviii. 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 ; k i Chron. xxxiv. 31, 32. 2 Kings
xxxv. 9, &c. Ecclus. xliv. 23. xxiii. 3.
282 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
renewed frequently, because the men coming up in succession are
new, though God is always the same ; and it is proper that the
contracting parties should make it their own act and deed. The
stipulations, which I have now been speaking of, were between
God and his people collectively considered. But besides these,
there were also standing forms of covenanting between God and
particular persons. Such were sacrifices in general, and such
also were the Sacraments of the old Law, and more especially
Circumcision and the Passover, to which respectively the Chris-
tian Sacraments succeeded.
That sacrifices were federal rites, is a point generally allowed
by the learned, and which I need not here be at the pains to
prove 1 . What I shall more particularly insist on shall be the
Jewish Sacraments previous to ours, the two most eminent, just
before named.
I begin with Circumcision ; which was manifestly a federal
rite, a formal stipulation between God and man ; carrying in it
mutual engagements of blessings on one hand, and service on
the othei*. It is said of Circumcision, ' This is my covenant,'
&c., and 'it shall be a token of the covenant;' and a little
after, ' my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant;' and the ' uncircumcised shall be cut off,' as having
'broken my covenant k .' All which imply that it was a cove-
nanting rite, a contract, or stipulation, passed between two
parties, namely, between God and man. But for the clearer
apprehending of this matter, we may consider in Circumcision,
as in every other sacrament, a sign, and a thing signified, or both
together, as one transaction. If the name be applied to the bare
sign, then Circumcision is not a stipulation, but the token of it ;
and if it be applied to the thing signified, it means the terms of
agreement: but if it be applied to the whole transaction between
both parties, then it is formally the contract or stipulation entered
into here and there. So that according to different views, the
word circumcision may either stand for the sign, token, seal of
1 See Mede, Opp. p. 370. Dodwell, Government, p. 266. Spencer de Leg.
One Altar, &c. c. vii. pp. 145, &c. Hebr. torn. ii. p. 766. edit. Cant.
136, c. Archbishop Potter on Church k Gen. xvii. 9 14.
xi. as a covenanting Rite. 283
the contract, or for the contract itself, passing under those forms.
This observation will be of use hereafter, for the clearer appre-
hension of the two Christian Sacraments ; which in like manner
are either signs and seals of a covenant, or the very acts of cove-
nanting, according as you understand the word sacrament in a
stricter or larger sense. But I pass on. That Circumcision
carried in it a bond of obligation on man's part, is very plain,
since it made a man a 'debtor to the whole law 1 .' And that
it likewise carried in it a correspondent engagement on God's
part, is as plain from God's promises made at the institution of
it m , and from its being styled a 'seal of the righteousness of
faith n : ' that is to say, a kind of instrument, by which God
sealed or assured to the parties his acceptance of such righteous-
ness, as Abraham was accepted in ; and such as was signified
under that outward rite, styled in Scripture the 'circumcision
of the heart .' But it would be tedious to dwell longer upon a
by-point, and one so often discussed by knowing and judicious
Divines P.
The other ordinary Sacrament of the Jewish church was the
Passover. That it was a federal rite, may be strongly argued
from several topics, which I shall barely touch upon in passing.
I. From its being a proper sacrifice; a point now concluded
among the learned 9, and scarce admitting of any further dis-
pute. 2. From its typical and mysterious nature, pointing to
Christ and his sufferings, and the fruits thereof, in many obserr-
able circumstances r , too long to mention in this place. 3. From
1 Gal. v. 3. Timothy's case was 1 Cudworth on the Lord's Supper,
singular, founded on particular cir- ch. ii. Bochart. Hierozoic. torn. ii.
cumstances, and can be no impeach- p. 573. Hottinger in Notis ad Tho.
ment of the general maxim. Goodwin, p. 535. Outram de Sacri-
m Gen. xvii. 7. ficiis, lib. i. c. 13. pp. 146, 147. Re-
n Bom. iv. ii. land, Antiq. Vet. Heb. par. iii. p.
Rom. ii. 29. Compare Deut. x. 378. Bishop Patrick in Exod. xii.
1 6 ; xxx. 6. Jerem. iv. 4. 27. Clericus in Num. ix. 7. Vit-
P Bucer, Script. Anglican, p. 608, ringa, Observ. Sacr. torn. i. p. 295.
&c. Buddaeus, Miscell. Sacr. torn. Deylingius, Obs. Sacr. torn. iii. p.
iii. p. 8, &c. Witsius, Oecon. Foed. 332 ; torn. L p. 287. Moshemius,
p. 700, &c. Towerson on the Sacra- Not. ad Cudworth. pp. 18, 19.
merits, part iv. p. 47, &c. Hoom- r Witsius, Oecon. Foederum, pp.
beeck, Socin. Cp. torn. iii. lib. 3. 722 730. Vitringa, Observ. Sacr.
p. 231, &c. torn. i. lib. 3. cap. 9. p. 415, &c.
284 The Eucharist, considered CHAP.
the case of the other Jewish Sacraments extraordinary, such as
the manna, and the rock, &c., which remitted men to Christ,
and were a kind of spiritual food s to as many as were worthy ;
importing a federal relation to Almighty God, and a communion
with him. 4. From express texts, intimating that the Passover
was intended as a sign, and a token, and a memorial, to keep up
a constant sense of. and regard for, 'the law of the Lord 1 , 1
and for that deliverance, by which God confirmed unto himself
that people to be his 'people for ever u .' So that in that
service were implied the people's engaging to 'keep the law of
God,' and God's engaging to be their God, while they did so ;
which two things taken together make up the formal notion of
a contract, or covenant.
From the Jewish Sacraments we may pass on to the Christian
Sacraments, analogous to them, but exceeding them in several
respects, as being less burdensome, and of clearer signification
and application, and made essential parts of an higher and more
excellent institution. Method requires that I should first say
something of Baptism, the initiating Sacrament, by which a
man ordinarily first enters into covenant with God, becoming a
Christian x . That Baptism is a federal rite, a formal stipulation
between God and the party baptized, might be probably argued
many ways v . But for brevity sake, I shall confine myself to the
consideration of one express text ; which I render thus : ' The
s I Cor. x. i 4. See above, p. necessary as the rest : or, not to
1 29. dispute about words, it is at least
* Exod. xiii. 9, 16. See Felling on part of the terms of acceptance,
the Lord's Supper, pp. 63, 91, 112, and of true Christian obedience, and
253. so of evangelical repentance ; which,
u 2 Sam. vii. 24. according to its full notion, is but
* Some have been willing to sup- another name for evangelical obedi-
pose, that if a man embraces Chris- ence. So that it is in vain to speak
tianity, and fulfils the terms, viz. of Christian repentance or obedience
faith and repentance, he is ipso as entire, without taking in coufor-
facto entered into covenant, with- mity to the Sacraments, which is
out any formal stipulation. But implied in the other, as a part is
Scripture is plain : ' He that believ- included in the whole. Compare
eth and is baptized shall be saved.' Archbishop Potter on Church Go-
Mark xvi. 16. And, ' Except one vernment, pp. 16, 17.
be born of water, &c. he cannot y Vid. Dodwell, Cyprian. Dissertat.
enter into the kingdom of God.' xiii. sect. 42. p. 442, &c. Vossius de
John iii. 5. The stipulation is as Baptism. Disp. iv. Thes. iii. p. 269.
xi. 'as a Covenanting Rite. 285
like figure whereunto Baptism doth now save us ; not the
putting away the filth of the flesh, but the stipulation [r*p&>-
rr](j.d\ of a good conscience to Godward, by the resurrection
of Christ 2 .' Here we have the very doctrine which I am
pleading for, that Baptism is a federal rite, a stipulation with
God. So Beza and Grotius, and other critics of best note*,
interpret the place, and gave very substantial reasons for it,
which I need not here recite. I shall only add, that the ancients
constantly taught, that Baptism was a covenanting rite, a solemn
form of stipulating with God k, the seal of the Lord c ; and that
it succeeded in the room of Circumcision, being therefore called
the Christian circumcision, ' made without hands d ,' or the spiri-
tual cii-cumcision e , as a figure and instrument of it.
Having thus far cleared the way, we may now proceed to the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, the last of the four. And since it
appears that the three former Sacraments were federal rites,
that single consideration affords us a presumptive argument that
this is so likewise. But there are several other considerations,
that more directly prove it ; and these are what I am going to
lay down in their order :
i. That the eucharistical service is a federal service, follows
directly from what has been before proved, that it imports and
implies a real and vital communion between God and every
worthy receiver. For what can communion, in this case, import
less than covenanting ? The least that it implies is a reciprocal
intercourse of blessings on one hand, and homage on the other ;
which, in effect, is the same thing with mutual stipulations f . If
* I Pet. iii. 21. 641. Pseudo-Dionys. Areop. cap. iii.
a They are most of them num- Facund. lib. iv. p. 62. Compare
bered by Wolfius upon the text, Bingham, xi. 6. 7.
who closes in with them. c See Bingham, xi. I. 6.
b Tertullian styles it ' obsignatio d Coloss. ii. n, 12. Basil. Homil.
fidei.' De Poenitent. cap. vi. ' Tes- in Baptism, p. 115. torn. ii. Chry-
tatio fidei, sponsio salutis.' De sost. in Gen. Horn. xl. Cyrill. Alex-
Bapt. cap. vi. ' Anima non lava- andr. in Joan. lib. iv. cap. 7. p.
tione, sed responsione sancitur.' 432.
De Kesur. Cam. cap. xlviii. ' Fidei e Vid. Justin. Mart. Dial. p. 222.
pactio.' De Pudio. cap. ix. Cp. Cyprian. Epist. Ixiv. p. 161.
Basil, de Spir. Sancto, cap. xii. p. f See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri-
24. Gregor. Nazianz. Orat. xl. p. fice, part ii. pp. 27, 103, 104, 105.
a 86 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
it be said, that it is only performing, or executing, on both
sides, what was before stipulated in Baptism, it is obvious to
reply, that such performances, on both sides, carry in them the
strongest assurances of a continuation of the same, and so
amount, in just construction, to a repetition, or renewal, of the
reciprocal engagements.
2. The federal nature of the Eucharist may be further argued
from what learned men have shewn of the customs of divers
nations, in drinking either blood, or wine instead of blood, for the
ratifying of covenants . Such kind of drinking was a noted
federal rite long before the institution of the Eucharist : a con-
sideration which, taken alone, affords a strong presumptive
argument of the federal nature of this Sacrament, but if taken
together with our Lord's own comment upon it, in the words,
' Drink ye all of this, for this is the new covenant,' &c., can leave
but little room for any reasonable dispute about it.
3. But we may argue, still more directly, from our Lord's own
words, ' This cup, or wine, is my blood of the new covenant h ,'
and ' This is the new covenant in my blood 1 .' I render diadr/icrj,
' covenant,' rather than ' testament,' because such appears to be
the constant sense of it in the Septuagint k , as also in the New
Testament, excepting perhaps one place of the Epistle to the
Hebrews J . Indeed, either the name testament, or the name of
covenant, is applicable to the same thing, considered under
different views ; as the new covenant is of a mixed or middle
kind, in some respects federal, and in some testamentary, and,
as it were, a compound of both : for which reason it has been
indifferently and pi-omiscuously called either a federal testament,
Grotius in Matt. xxvi. 26, 27. mentum non voluntatem defuncto-
Spencer. de Leg. Hebr. p. 614. edit, rum sonare, sed pactum viventium."
Cant. Zornius, Bibliothec. Antiqua- Hieron. in Mai. c. ii. 1816. Cp.
ria Exeg. p. 615. Salmas. de Transubstant. p. 541.
11 Matt. xxvi. 28. Mxvk xiv. 24. l Heb. ix. 16, 17. Vid. Wolfius,
1 Luke xxii. 19. I Cor. xi. 25. Grit. Cur. in loc. Towerson on the
k ' Notandum quod brith, verbum Sacraments, part i. p. 14, &c.
Hebraicum, Aquila avvQj\nt\v, id est, ' Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotio
pactum, interpretatur : LXX semper passim ffvfO-fiKi), pactum, foedus.
biaB-fiKfiv, id est, testamentum. Et in LXX saepius Sta&iiKij, testamentum."
plejisque scripturarum locis testa- Montfauc. Lexic. ad Hexapl.
XI. as a Covenanting Rite. 287
or a testamentary covenant, to intimate its compound nature m .
But I take the federal notion of it to be the primary or principal
part of the idea, and to suit best with the then prevailing sense
of the word SiadrjKrj n .
Our Lord's expressions in the institution are plainly federal
expressions ; as will appear by comparing them with other the
like expressions made use of in the Old Testament in federal
solemnities . When God instituted the federal rite of Circum-
cision, he said; 'This is my covenant, which ye shall keepP,'
&c. Therefore, as sure as Circumcision was a federal rite of the
Jewish Church, so sure is it that the Eucharist is a federal
solemnity among Christians. When God struck up a covenant
with the people of the Hebrews, by the sprinkling of blood, the
form ran, ' Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord
hath madeV &c. As much as to say, 'Look upon yourselves
as obliged by these federal solemnities to observe all the com-
mands which I have here delivered.' Accordingly, it is observ-
able, that the people there instantly promised and engaged ' to do
all that the Lord had said, and to be obedient r :' which was
expressing their formal consent, and executing, as it were, their
counterpart in the stipulation 8 . Now as our blessed Lord, in
the institution of the Eucharist, addressed himself to Jews, who
m ' Nostrum foedus cum Deo non See Nature and Obligation of the
purum aut simplex quoddam foedus Christian Sacraments, vol. v. pp. 91,
est, sed habens quidlam mistum ex 102, &c.
foedere et testamento. Cbristus in P AU'TTJ i] 5ia6riKTi, *t\v
maiiu habet id, de quo pactus est Gen. xvii. 10.
cum hominibus Deus, aeternam ni- 1 'iSov rb of/ua TTJJ
mirum haereditatem : quoniam au- SifBero Kvpios, &c. Exod. xxiv. 8.
tern hie non nisi moriendo nobis illud Vid. Patrick in loc. et Bucherus,
jus acquirit, idciroo quod ad Chris- Ant. Evang. ad Matth. xxvi. 28.
turn ipsum attinet, pactum istud pp. 386, 389.
inter Deum et homines initum, spe- * Exod. xxiv. 3, 7- Compare Deut.
ciem quandam testamenti refert, v. 27.
quasi ipse moriens aeterni regni nos Other like instances of express
fecerit haeredes.' Zornius, Opusc. consent on man's part may be seen
Sacr. torn. ii. p. 239. See Twells's in Gen. xxviii. 20, &c. Exod. xix.
Examination of New Text and Ver- 8. Josh. xxiv. 21, 24, 25. 2 Chron.
sion, part ii. p. 64. xv. 14, 15: xxiii. 16 ; xxix. 10 ;
n Vid. Zornius, Opusc. Sacr. torn, xxxiv. 31. Ezr. x. 3. Nehem. ix.
ii- P- 238. 38 ; x. 28, 29, 39.
Exod. xxiv. 8. Gen. xvii. 10.
288 The Eucharist considered CHAP.'
had been accustomed to such federal phrases, it is highly reason-
able to believe, that he intended the phrases in such a sense as
they would be apt to take them in, namely, in a federal sense.
Socinus, to elude this argument, pretends l , that our Lord's
words in that case may mean only, that this sacramental cup, or
wine, is a memorial or commemoration of the blood once shed, and
of the covenant therein founded, or thereby executed. But if we
have hitherto gone upon sure grounds, it will be easy to throw
off those laboured subtilties. For since it is manifest, from the
express doctrine of the Apostle, that the Eucharist is not barely
a memorial, but a communion also of the blood, and of what goes
along with it ; it will undeniably follow, that the same Eucharist
is not merely a memorial of the covenant, going along with the
blood, but a communion also, or participation of it, on man's
side : and if there be a participation on one side, there must be
also a communication on the other side ; and so both parts are
complete. God re-admits us into covenant, and we re-accept,
under this appointed form, under this holy solemnity ; and thus
the mutual league of amity is re-established, the compact re-
newed and confirmed. Every worthy receiver, as often as he
symbolically receives the blood, revives and recruits his interest
in our Lord's passion, and in the covenant thereupon founded ;
he takes new hold of it, and binds himself over to it by more and
stronger ties ; which is what we mean by renewing the baptismal
covenant in this other Sacrament of the holy Eucharist. How
4 ' Hinc apparet, cum ipsum pocu- p. 239. Slichting. in i Cor. xi.
lum novum testamentum esse in suo 25.
sanguine Chri.stus dixisse legitur, Crellius's account is not much
aliud nihil intelligendum esse, quam different, in making it to be a kind
vini ex illo poculo potu, novi testa- of declaration or testification of our
menti quod nobiscum suo sanguine partaking of, or pertaining to the
interveniente pepigit (seu potius sui new covenant. ['Testamentum vero,
sanguinis, qui ad novum testamen- sive foedus novum ideo appellatur,
turn confinnandum fusus fuit) com- quia sit solennis ritus, quo omnes
memoration em fieri Ipsi bibentes, Christian! in perpetuum profited
novum testamentum praedicant et debeant, se ad novum foedus perti-
commemorant : idque secum pactum nere.' Crellii Ethic, p. 352; cp.
fuisse, aliis testantur ac significant. 353.] This is just such anoth r
. . . Sicque sibi persuasum esse indi- evasion, as the interpreting ' corn-
cant.' Socin. de Usu et Fine Coenae munion' by ' a declaration of com-
Doniini, p. 36, alias 759. Oj p. torn, munion,' and admits of the like
i. Cp. Catech. Racov. sect. vi. c. 4. answer. See above, p. 183, &c.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 289
insignificant, unedifying, and comfortless, in comparison, is a
bare commemoration ! It neither ansAvers the force of our
Lord's words, further interpreted by St. Paul, nor the pur-
poses of holiness, nor the nature, ends, or uses of the spiritual
life, nor God's usual methods of dealing with his Church and
people in all former ages.
4. The federal nature of the Eucharist may be further con-
firmed from the very observable analogy, which St. Paul takes
notice of and illustrates 11 , between the Sacrament of the holy
Communion, and the sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles. They
were of a federal nature, by the Apostle's account of them and
so must this be also, if it was in that very view that he formed
the comparison, or parallel. I beg leave here to use the words
of a very judicious and learned Prelate of our Church, who says ;
'In the ancient sacrifices both among Jews and heathens, one
part of the victim was offered upon the altar, and another re-
served to be eaten of those persons in whose name the sacrifice
was made : this was accounted a sort of partaking of God's table,
and was a federal rite, whereby he owned his guests to be in his
favour, and under his protection, as they by offering sacrifices
acknowledged him to be their God v .... The Lord's Supper was
always believed to succeed in the place of sacrifices x Eating the
Lord's Supper was the same rite in the Christian Church with
eating the things offered in sacrifice among the Jews and heathens.
It is an act of communion or fellowship with God, at whose table
we are said to be entertained ; and therefore it is declared to be
inconsistent with eating the Gentile sacrifices, which is an act
of communion with devils, to whom these sacrifices were offered y.'
From these plain and undeniable principles it directly follows,
that the Eucharist is, at the lowest, a federal rite : I say, at the
lowest, because more than that has been proved, as I conceive,
in a former chapter, which treats of i Cor. x. 16.
A late Divine of our Church, in a little piece of his Upon this
subject, has a distinction worth the examining, which I shall here
give the reader in hi? own words : ' The Lord's Supper is not
u i Cor. x. 1 6. v Archb. Potter on Church Government, p. 266.
x Ibid. p. 265. y Ibid. pp. 269, 270.
U
290 TJie Eucharist considered CHAP.
properly the federal rite, or the covenant rite, but the memorial
of it : the death of Christ was the federal rite, and the Lord's
Supper is the memorial of Christ's death. But though the Lord's
Supper is neither a proper sacrifice, nor the great, original, or
primitive federal rite, strictly speaking ; yet being a feast upon
a sacrifice, (or in commemoration of that great sacrifice of the
death of Christ, which was the true and proper federal or cove-
nant rite,) it may be styled a federal rite, in the same sense in
which the Jews' eating of their sacrifices was or might be
esteemed to be such a rite, viz. an open profession of their being
in covenant with God, and having devoted themselves to his
service as his peculiar people 7 .' I said, this distinction was
worth the examining. I judge it not accurate, nor indeed right
upon the whole : but it appears to be well aimed ; and it points
out to us some difficulties which seem to want a clearer solution.
The distinction would have answered better, had it been made
to run between covenant and covenant, (than between federal
rites, proper and improper,) or between covenant considered at
large and particular stipulations. If the death of Christ is
properly a federal rite at all, it is with respect to the covenant
made between God the Father and Christ Jesus, in behalf of
mankind collectively considered, and not with respect to the
several stipulations coming after, and made between God and
particular men. The Eucharist may as properly be said to be
a federal rite with regard to these particular stipulations, as the
death of Christ can be supposed to be with regard to the new
covenant at large. But I much question, whether the death of
Christ ought to be called a federal rite at all ; which appears to
be too low and too diminutive a name for it : especially con-
sidering the ill use which the Socinians have been apt to make
of it. The death of Christ is really the price of our redemption,
the valuable consideration, whereupon the covenant was founded,
and in which it stands. It was submitted to, once for all, and
is never to be repeated ; which sufficiently distinguishes it from
whatever has hitherto passed under the name of a federal rite.
1 Mapletoft's Plain Account of the Lord's Supper, p. 138.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 291
and shews it to be a tiling of much higher consideration. There-
fore, let not the name of federal rite be so improperly applied to
what was no rite at all, nor can ever come under the common
or proper notion of a religious or federal rite. But the sacrifices
and sacraments of the Jewish Church were properly federal
rites : and since the Christian Sacraments are allowed to be
federal rites in as proper a sense as those were, that is sufficient
to our purpose. They were ceremonious observances, made use
of in stipulations between God and man ; and so are these :
not essential to the stipulation 'necessitate medii,' but 'necessitate
praecepti ;' not in themselves, but as required, and made neces-
sary to us by free and voluntary appointment. However, they
are more than an open profession of our being in covenant with
God : they are covenanting rites, or stipulating acts, by which
our stipulation with God either commences, (as in Baptism,) or
is renewed, as in the other Sacrament, which we are now upon.
The author last cited allows the Eucharist to be a feast upon
a sacrifice, and so of consequence a federal feast. This is a
notion which may deserve a more particular consideration in
this place ; and the rather because it was very plausibly ad-
vanced by an eminent Divine of our Church near a hundred
years ago a , and long passed current among divines and critics of
the first rank, both here and abroad, but has been lately dis-
puted by several learned hands, with great acuteness, though
perhaps not with equal solidity. It may be a piece of justice
due to a great man, and to an important cause, to examine
fairly, but as briefly also as may be, the strength of what has
been objected to a prevailing notion, which for some time ap-
peared, and still appears, to carry in it the features of truth.
The notion, in short, is this ; that the Eucharist, considered in
its spiritual and mystical view, is a feast upon a sacrifice, (viz.
the sacrifice once offered upon the cross,) bearing some analogy
to the Jewish sacrificial feasts, which were figures or shadows
of this true spiritual feeding. For as those were banquets upon
typical sacrifices, this is a banquet upon the real sacrifice, to
a Dr. Cud worth, True Notion of the Lord's Supper, A.D. 1642, first edit.
U 2
292 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
which they pointed : and as those banquets were federal directly,
with respect to the legal covenant ; so is this banquet federal
with respect to the evangelical covenant, formerly couched under
the legal one. This, I think, is the sum and substance of
Dr. Cudworth's True Notion of the Lord's Supper. Next let us
examine what has been objected to it.
The first considerable author that appeared against it, was a
learned Divine of our own b , who had an hypothesis to serve, of
which I shall say nothing here, reserving it for the next chapter,
where it shall be examined at large. Most of his objections
against Dr. Cudworth's notion belong to that hypothesis of a
material sacrifice, and therefore may here be passed over. I
shall only take notice of one thing objected, namely, that neither
priests nor people ever feasted on any sacrifices, which they had
not offered before ; therefore Dr. Cudworth's nation suits not
with the ancient sacrificial feasts c . But it is easy to reply, that
one disagreeing circumstance, found among many resembling
ones, is not sufficient to overturn the analogy : besides, in this
very case, the Christian feast, or feastings, upon what was offered
by the true High Priest Christ Jesus, very fitly answer, in the
analogy, to the Jewish feastings upon what had been offered by
their typical priests, or high priest : so that I see no force at all
in the objection.
Another learned wi'iter, some years after, expressed his dislike
of Dr. Cudworth's notion, and argued against it as far as either
wit or learning could supply : I shall here consider his objections :
1. He intimates, as if it were absurd that Christians 'should
feast upon something that is a sacrifice, and not offered d .' But
were not Christ's body and blood offered 1 That is the sacrifice
which Christians feast upon in the Eucharist, according to
Dr. CudAvorth : they feast upon the passion.
2. It is further pleaded, that Dr. Cudworth's notion seems
' much of a piece with that conceit of the Calvinists, that we
receive the natural body of Christ in the Eucharist, though as
b Hickes's Christian Priesthood, c HicV.es, ibid. p. 170.
p. 165. I use the third edition of d Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
I? 11 - part i. p. 338, alias 344.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 293
far distant from us as heaven is from the earth e .' But that
conceit, as it is called, is a very sober truth, if understood of
receiving the natural body into closer mystical uuion, as explained
in a preceding chapter. However, Dr. Cudworth's notion of a
banquet relates not to the body considered as glorified, but to the
body considered as crucified, in which respect only it is eaten ;
so that this objection may be looked upon as foreign.
3. It is further objected by the same learned author, that
' upon this supposition our Saviour made a feast upon the sacri-
fice, before the sacrifice had been offered f .' And why might he
not, especially when the time was so near approaching, and the
sacrifice just going to be offered, that it might well be considered
as a thing done ? This objection however affects only the first
and original Eucharist, not the succeeding ones : and the like
objection might be as justly urged against the original passover,
as differing in its nature and notion from the passovers that
succeeded. It might be pleaded, for instance, that the paschal
feast was no memorial, no passover, because the first passover
(which was the pattern for the following ones) was previous?
to the great transaction commemorated in it, previous to the
passing over the dwellings of the Hebrews. But such kind of
arguing in that Sacrament would be justly rejected as frivolous
or captious, since there was no more difference between the
original passover and the later ones, than the necessary difference
of circumstances required. Such is the case also with respect to
the original Eucharist, and the later Eucharist : the same kind of
prolepsis will equally solve the difficulty, whether here or there.
4. It is objected, that it 'cannot be said that the Eucharist
is a feast on a sacrifice,' unless it be allowed either that the bare
elements are a sacrifice, or else that they are transubstantiated
into the real body h . But a symbolical or spiritual feast upon a
sacrifice (which is all that Dr. Cudworth maintains) may very
well be supposed without either : the sacrificial feast, which we
here plead for, is not a feast of the mouth, but of the mind ; not
e Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, See Exod. xii. 21, &c.
part i. p. 338, alias 344. b Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice.
1 Ibid, part ii. pref. p. 3. part ii. pref. p. 4.
294 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
a bodily banquet, but a banquet of the soul, upon the fruits of the
death of Christ.
5. It is objected, that Christ's crucified body, and blood shed,
are now no more, have no being as such, and therefore there can
be no feast upon them; consequently, it is but an airy notion to
imagine any such feast or sacrifice . To which we may reply,
that though the crucified body, as such, is not, and though the
blood shed is not, yet the fruits remain, and ever will remain, as
a feast for good men here and hereafter : but as to oral mandu-
cation, either of the natural body, or of the 'res sacramenti,'
(whatever it is supposed to be,) and as to a material feast, and
a material sacrifice in the Eucharist, those indeed have been
favourite notions among many, but are not sufficiently supported
by Scripture or antiquity. I meet with nothing more, in the last
learned writer, against Dr. Cudworth's explication of the Lord's
Supper. But I may note, by the way, that whereas it had been
before objected, that the notion was entirely new and singular,
this learned gentleman is so ingenuous as to own, ' that the
ancients did sometimes speak of receiving the Sacrament, as of
a banquet upon what had been first offered to God k / and with
some allusion also to the feasts upon the peace offerings under
the Law \ And I may add, that the ancient testimonies referred
to plainly shew, that those ancients spoke of a banquet upon the
things signified, (not upon the signs only,) and upon the real
sacrifice, not upon the bare memorial : so that Dr. Cudworth's
notion accords well with those ancients.
From our own Divines I may next proceed to some learned
foreigners, of the Lutheran way, who have also, now lately,
expressed some dissatisfaction with respect to Dr. Cudworth's
hypothesis : for though they readily approve of his rejecting any
corporeal or material sacrifice in the Eucharist, yet finding that
his notion is not favourable to local presence and oral manduca-
tion, they also have shewn some inclination to discredit it, or, if
it might be, to confute it.
1 Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, part ii. pref. p. 4.
k Ibid, part i. p. 338, alias 344.
i Ibid. p. 345.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 295
The learned Pfaffius, in the year 1715, made some mention of
Dr. Cudworth's hypothesis ; first, commending it as very inge-
nious, and next labouring to warp it to the Lutheran notion of
a real and local presence m . But at the same time, he took
notice of some objections made to it, (mostly the same which I
have above recited and answered,) and honoured them with his
own approbation n . Besides which, he thought also of a new
objection, which may here deserve considering.
The objection is, that Christ was properly a sin offering,
answering to the Levitical sacrifices of that kind, which were
never feasted upon ; therefore the eucharistical banquet does not
aptly correspond to the sacrificial feasts, which were appropriate
to peace offerings, and belonged not to sin offerings . But the
answer to this is very short and obvious : Christ our Lord was
a sin offering and a peace offering, both in one ; as is plainly
taught by St. Paul P. And if the sacrifice of Christ be considered
in the Eucharist, under its most comfortable, most endearing
view, as a peace offering, (not excluding the other views,) have
we any reason to object against so wise and so kind an institu-
tion ? To represent the sacrifice of Christ merely as a sin offering,
would be representing nothing but the melancholy and dismal
part of it, which had not the sweet odour, the sweet-smelling
savour accompanying it Dr. Cudworth's notion of a sacrificial
feast goes upon the more delightful view, as St. Paul's also
does in the text before referred to : therefore there is no more
room for objecting, in this respect, against our learned author,
than there is for objecting against the blessed Apostle, But
I pass on.
The excellent Buddaeus (in a dissertation written in 1715,
published in 1727) expresses himself with great caution and
m Pfaffius, Dissertat.de Obi. Vet. quale Christus fuit, 2 Cor. v. 21,
Eucharist, p. 199. Hebr. ix. 12) non confici, nee san-
n Pfiiffius, ibid. pp. 170, 171, et guis unquam bibi potuit. Levit.
in Addendis. vi. 30. Dent. xii. 27.' Pfaff. p. 171.
' Nee negari tamen potest, S. P Epb.es. v. 2. Cp. Wolfius in loe.
Euchari.stiam in eo ab epulo sacri- Witsii Miscellan. Sacr. lib. ii. diss.
ficiali diff'erre, quod hoc ex sacrificio 2. pp. 511, 512. Deylingii Obser-
pro peccato (oujus sanguis in sane- vat. Sacr. torn. L pp. 315, S 1 ^-
turn sanctorum inferri debuit, et Outram, de Sacrif. pp. 209 214.
296 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
tenderness concerning Dr. Cudworth's notion of the Lord's
Supper : and all the fault he has to find with it is, that it appears
not favourable to the Lutheran notion of the real presence,
resolving the eucharistical supper (as he supposed) into signs
only and symbols <J. The objection runs in terms too general and
indefinite : for ' real presence' is a phrase of some latitude, and
capable of more senses than one. If a real participation of the
fruits of Christ's passion, together with a real strengthening of
the mystical union of our bodies with Christ's glorified body
(however distant) may suffice, Dr. Cudworth's notion will not be
found defective so far : but if the design of the objection be to
plead for an oral manducation of Christ's natural body, or a local
presence of it, (crucified or glorified,) that stands upon no
authority of Scripture or antiquity, but was condemned long ago
by our Lord himself, in his answer to the Capernaites r .
Another very learned and ingenious Lutheran has taken par-
ticular pains to confute (if it were possible) Dr. Cudworth's True
Notion, in his notes upon the Latin version, and in his preface
to the same, printed A.D. 1733. His great concern is for the
real and local presence : and he represents Dr. Cudworth, not
only as making the elements bare symbols and figures, which
is true, but as making the Lord's Supper itself nothing more
than a memorial B ; which is contrary to truth and fact, and is a
manifest injury done to his very learned author. For how could
Dr. Cudworth be supposed to make the Eucharist a bare memo-
rial, when he professedly contends for a real spiritual banquet,
i 'Haud obscure eo tendit, ut so- institutum consilio putant, ut me-
lum pro signo atque symbolo quo- moria magni sacrificii illius repe-
dam [sacra coena] habeatur, quod tatur et renovetur, quod pro generis
cum praesentia reali corporis ac human! peccatis Christus in cruce
sanguinis Christi consistere nequit.' supremo numini intulit.' Moshem.
Buddaeus, Observ. Sacr. torn. ii. p. in Notis, p. 10 ; confer pp. u,
69. 12.
r John vi. 63. ' Sapiunt haec scholam coetus
8 ' Non obscure hie vir doctissi- illius, qui semetipsum Reformatum
inus significat, eorum sese favere dici vult ; cui quidem s. coena nihil
partibus, qui panem et vinum, qui- est, quam adumbratio beneficiorum
bus frui datur illis qui ad sacrain moi-te et meritis Jesu Christi huma-
coenam accedunt, symbola tantum no generi partorum. . . . Reformat!
et imagines corporis et sanguiuis signis tantum et imaginibus sacri-
Servatoris nostri esse ; ipsum vero ficii potiri suos opinantur in sacra
hoc convivium ritum-esse eo unice coena.' Moshem. in Praef at.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 297
a real feasting upon all the benefits of the grand sacrifice ? Is
partaking of the sacrifice nothing more than commemorating 1
Or is the feast ever the less real, for being spiritual and heavenly,
and reaching both to soul and body ; both to this world and the
world to come 1 It is plain enough that Dr. Cudworth's notion
is no way favourable to the figurists or memorialists, but much
otherwise ; yea more so by far than the notion or notions which
ai-e set up against it. For the certain truth is, (and why should
it be any longer dissembled ?) that none give so great advantage
to the figurists, as those that contend for oral manducation, and
make the sacramental feast common both to worthy and un-
worthy ; and who, in order to bring that about, interpret the
words of the institution, as likewise i Cor. x. 16, &c., so as to
exclude all intimation of benefits. Which is what the figurists
most of all wish for : and if that be once granted them, they
desire nothing further to cany their cause.
But that I may not seem to lay a charge of this nature with-
out sufficient grounds, let it but be considered how the last
learned objector * to Dr. Cudworth's notion, labours to elude all
Scripture proof of benefits, as drawn from i Cor. x. 16, only to
make the sacramental feeding common both to good and bad, (as
his hypothesis requires,) and so at length to resolve the Apostle's
whole sense into this only, that all communicants equally receive
what the Apostle there speaks of, and that the text is not to be
understood of any spiritual union of good men, but of an external
profession, or outward membership u : which, so far, is the very
4 ' Hie monuisse satis erit, premi aliter quam de spiritual! conjuncti-
ab eo vestigia praecipuorum Eefor- one fidelium cum Christo accipiant.
mati coetus doctorum, &c. . . . velle Mihi vero expositio haec neque ver-
enim eos notum est, ideo coenam bis Pauli, neque proposito ejus vide-
a Servatore nostro potissimum esse tur esse cousentaneum . . . generatim
institulam, ut sancti homines, qui et universe tradit, sacram coenam
ad earn accedunt, cum Christo et communionem esse corporis et san-
Servatore suo arctius conjungantur, guinis Christi ; nee Christianorum
et beneficiorum hominibus ab eo aliquem ad sacrum hoc epulum
partorum reddantur participes : nos venientium, cujuscunque demum sit
vero repudiare, quia omnes homines, indolis, ab hac communione exclu-
sive probi sint sive improbi, corporis dit.' Moshem. in Notis, p. 30.
et sanguinis Domini vere fieri com- u ' Cum in sacra coena Christian!
potes in sacra coena statuimus. compotes fiant corporis et sanguinis
Quae quidem eorum sententia hand Domini, testenturque, quoties sacrum
patitur, ut verba sancti hominis ilium cibum sumunt, sese inter se
298 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
same interpretation that the Socinians and other figurists warmly
contend for. It is true, he supposes the Lord's natural body and
blood to be really or locally present, as well as really received,
(which the figurists deny,) but he supposes no spiritual benefits
to be intimated in the text, because he supposes every communi-
cant to receive all that is there spoken of, though the unworthy
can receive no benefits. Thus the force of St. Paul's doctrine in
that place (so far as concerns spiritual benefits) is eluded and
frustrated. And when those prime texts are thus explained
away, what other Scripture texts are there left sufficient to found
the doctrine of spiritual benefits upon ? I know there is a distinc-
tion, by the help of which good men may be presumed to receive
benefits, and bad men detriment from the same things : but the
question now is not whether good men may receive benefits, but
whether these or any other texts positively teach that they
infallibly do. If the words of institution, and those of St. Paul
in i Cor. x., do not teach it, I must frankly profess, that I know
not what other texts can be justly thought to do it without them.
So that in the last result, for the sake of I know not what cor-
poral or local presence, and oral manducation, the most important
article of all, which concerns spiritual benefits, is left to shift for
itself, divested of Scripture proof, and standing only on tradition,
or the courtesy of the common adversaries. The Keformed
churches (strictly so called) have been often, and very invidiously
charged upon this head. But after all, they are the men who
have formerly been, and still are, the true and faithful support-
ers of the doctrine of spiritual benefits in the Eucharist x . They
maintain it in a rational, consistent way, and, as becomes them,
upon a Scripture foot ; grounding that doctrine chiefly on our
Lord's words in the institution, and upon the words of St. Paul,
i Cor. x. 16. If they who participate of Christ's body and blood, in
the sense there intended, are really ingrafted into Christ, and are
vital members of him, and one with him, then indeed the doctrine
of spiritual graces or benefits rests upon firm ground : but if men
conjunctos et unius sacrae civitatis de Coena Domini, c. iii. p. 352,
membra ease.' Moshem. in Praefat. &c., alias p. 202, &c. ; item 405,
* Compare Werenfels. Dissertat. alias 230.
xr. as a Covenanting Rite. 299
may participate of the same, in the sense there spoken of, how-
ever unworthy, and in heart and life" alienated from Christ, and
without any spiritual benefits at all ; then it plainly follows, that
the communion of Christ's body and blood does not, in itself,
imply any benefits at all, neither do those texts, nor perhaps any
other, teach any such doctrine ; but the doctrine must be left to
stand, as it can, either upon bare presumption, or at most upon
the ti'adition of the Church. Let but any man look into the
learned writings of Chemnitius, for example, or Gerhard, to see
how they prove the beneficial nature of this Sacrament ; and
there it will be found, that all, in a manner, resolves into this,
that since Christ's body and blood is there given, all spiritual
graces are by implication therewith given. Eight, if as many as
receive the body and blood, in St. Paul's sense of communion,
receive also the graces. But that they deny : for the unworthy
communicants are supposed to receive the body, without the
graces. Therefore there is no certain connection, in their way,
between the body and the graces : therefore the main argument
of all, on which the doctrine of such graces depends, is defeated ;
and St. Paul's meaning in i Cor. x. amounts only to a com-
memoration of Christ's death, or an outward profession of Christ's
religion, which indeed is what the learned Mosheim (as before
noted) resolves it into. From hence then let the indifferent
readers now judge, whether the learned Cudworth, or his learned
adversary, most favours the memorialists. One admits of bene-
fits, and can prove them by St. Paul's words, justly interpreted ;
the other admits them verbally, but in effect destroys them, by
desti'oying the prime standing proofs upon which they rest.
I thought it of some moment thus previously to remove a
prejudice, wrongfully thrown upon Dr. Cudworth's notion in
particular, and upon the Reformed Divines in general : and
now I proceed to examine what his learned antagonist has
further advanced in the way of argument. He has not indeed
produced any new argument beyond what I have before men-
tioned, and answered ; but he has pitched upon two of them, as
most considerable, endeavouring to reinforce them in more
pompous form.
300 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
1. The first is, that Christ had not yet offered himself a sacrifice,
when he instituted the Eucharist : therefore the original Eucha-
rist was not a feast consequent upon a sacrifice : therefore the
subsequent Eucharists, being undoubtedly of the same kind with
the first, ai*e not feasts upon a sacrifice y. I desire the reader to
look back to the answer before given to the same objection, as
proposed by a learned writer of our own z . All I shall here
further add is, that many learned writers, ancient and modern,
(as I shall have occasion to shew in my next chapter,) have
taught, that Christ did really offer himself as a sacrifice, before
his passion, and in his passion, and after ; and that those three
several acts may be justly looked upon as one continued oblation.
If this hypothesis be admitted, the edge of the objection is
blunted, or broken at once, without more ado : or if it be
rejected, yet the former answer will stand in full force.
2. The second objection is, that the sacrifice of Christ corre-
sponds to the sin offerings of old, (which had no feasts following,)
and not to the peace offerings, Avhich had a . This was before
objected by Pfaffius, and has been answered above 1 '. But I
may here add, that St. Paul himself conceived that the sacrifice
of Christ corresponded, some way or other, to the peace offerings,
as appears by the parallel which he draws (i Cor. x.) between
the peace offerings of the law and the Eucharist under the
Gospel. If St. Paul, notwithstanding that he supposed the
Eucharist to be a representation, memorial, and communion of
our Lord's passion, yet conceived it analogous to the peace
offerings, and to the feasts thereupon ; then certainly Dr. Cud-
worth could not be much out of the way, in maintaining the
same analogy, or in conceiving that the two notions of Christ's
sacrifice, and of a sacrificial banquet, are consistent with each
other, and agree well together. So that it is in vain to argue
against Dr. Cudworth's notion from such topics as equally affect
the Apostle himself. I have before examined this learned
gentleman's account of St. Paul's reasoning in that chapter, and
have shewn where it is defective : but be that as it will, it
y Moshem. in Praefat. l See above, p. 293. Moshem. in Praefat.
b See above, p. 295. c Above, pp. 202 207.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 301
cannot be denied that the Apostle is there speaking of the sacri-
ficial feasts among the Jews, and that he judged the Eucharist
to be a feast of like kind, bearing such resemblance to them, as
was sufficient to support his argument, and to make good his
parallel. So much in answer to the learned Mosheim, in behalf
of our learned countryman.
There is another very eminent Lutheran, who, as late as the
year 1736, has given his judgment of Dr. Cud worth's notion, in
terms of respect, and with his own approbation d , as to the main
of the notion ; referring also to St. Paul, as affording sufficient
warrant for it.
My readers will, I hope, candidly excuse the excursion here
made, in order to do justice to a very great man in the first
place, and next, to the Reformed Divines in general, and at the
same time to a very important article of religion, which concerns
the spiritual benefits conferred in the Eucharist. Upon the whole,
I take leave to say, that the objections raised against the
notion espoused by Dr. Cudworth appear to be rather ingenious
than solid, rather industriously sought, upon foreign considera-
tions, than naturally arising from the subject-matter, and proving
at length, not that there is anything faulty in his notion, but
that there are faults in those other schemes, which stand in op-
position to it, or comport not with it. The favourable reception
which the notion had met with amongst our own Divines all
along, till very lately, and also among very considerable Divines
abroad, (both Lutheran and Reformed 6 ,) is a great commen-
dation of it. Dr. Felling, in his treatise on the Sacramentj has
d ' A sacrificio distingui solet epu- crificium, aut epulum de sacrificio
lum sacrificiale, quale de oblatis olim dicere vellent. Nam Servator par-
et Pagani et Israelitae instituere tern quasi victimae pro nobis ob-
solebant. . . . Et hoc ipsum epulum latae, videlicet corpus et sanguinem
sacrificium interdum appellatur, &c. suum, in hoc epulo nobis comeden-
. . . Cum ejusmodi epu!o sacrificial! dam et bibendum exhibet, cum in-
S. Eucharistia non incommode com- quit : Edite, hoc est corpus meum ;
paraii potest. Praeivit Apostolus Bibite, hie est sanguis meus. Sed
1 Cor. x. 14, et fusius id demon- pontificii non epulum de sacrificio,
stravit Cudworthus in libro de Vera sed sacrificium verum, et proprie
Notione Coenae Dominicae, Lond. dictum, esse contendunt.' Deyling.
1642 et 1676. . . . Nos igitur inter- Observ. Miscellan. p. 294.
cedere nollemus, si adversarii [viz. e See several of them numbered
pontificii] hoc sensu s. coenam aa- up by Mosheim in Praefat.
302 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
made frequent use of it, and has enlarged upon it ; and may
properly be consulted for those parts, wherein Cudworth him-
self may seem to have been rather too concise and sparing of
words.
The notion then being sufficiently fixed and established, we
have nothing now remaining, but to pursue it in its just conse-
quences or inferences, for the supporting the point in hand. If
the Eucharist be indeed a sacrificial feast, in such a sense as hath
been mentioned, it will inevitably follow, that it is also a federal
banquet, carrying in it the force of a compact or stipulation
between God and man. This conclusion or corollary is drawn
out at large by Dr. Cudworth in a distinct chapter f , and still
more largely by other learned and judicious writers S and I
need not repeat. Only because some exceptions are made to
the evidence brought to prove that covenants were anciently
struck and ratified by feasting together, I may briefly consider
those exceptions. To the instance of Isaac so covenanting with
Abimelech h , it is objected, that the covenant was subsequent to
the feast', and therefore there was not a feast upon or after a
covenant, as Dr. Cudworth's notion supposes. But then it must
be observed, that Isaac and Abimelech met together in order to
treat, and they settled the terms either at the feast or before it ;
and what was done after, was no more than executing in form
the things before concluded : besides that the whole may be
considered as but one continued act of covenanting along with a
feast. The next instance is that of Laban's covenanting with
Jacob by a feast k : which is permitted to pass without any
objection. A third is that of the Israelites victualling, and
thereby covenanting with the Gibeonites ! : to which it is ob-
jected, as in the first instance, that the covenant was subsequent m .
But the truth is, the feast and the covenant were one entire
* Cudworth, chap. vi. Bp. Patrick's Christian Sacrifice, p.
R Felling on the Sacrament, chap. 31, &c.
iii. iv. Compare Abp. Potter on h Gen. xxvi. 28 31.
Church Government, p. 266. Vit- > Moshem. in Notis, p. 34.
ringa, Observ. Sacr. torn. iii. p. 113. k Gen. xxxi. 43 55.
Dodwell, One Altar, cap. vii. p. 165. J Josh. ix. 14, 15.
Mede's Christian Sacrifice, p. 370. m Moshem. ibid. p. 34.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 303
transaction, one federal feasting, or festial covenanting. There
are other the like slight exceptions made to other evidences n ;
which might be as easily replied to, were it needful : but I for-
bear, lest I should be tedious to the reader.
The Socinians, in general, are adversaries to this federal doc-
trine, as not consistent with their principles. Yet some of them
unawares (such is the force of truth) have been observed to come
into it, or to drop such expressions as appear tantamount.
Crellius in particular (who was a great refiner of the Socinian
system) scruples not to allow, that as in Circumcision formerly,
so likewise in Baptism and in the Eucharist now, men bind
themselves to the observance of the Divine law, as by a pledge
of their obedience . Which, if admitted, does of course imply a
reciprocal engagement, on God's part, to confer spiritual bless-
ings and privileges : so that this concession does in plain con-
sequence amount to declaring both Sacraments to be federal
rites P.
Socinus, being aware that the ancient sacrifices were federal
rites, and that they were as seals and pledges of a covenant
between God and the people ; and being aware also, that our
Lord, in the institution of the Eucharist, had called the wine the
blood of the covenant ; was distressed for a reason, why the
Eucharist should not be esteemed a federal rite, as well as those
n Moshem. p. 35, &c. catur nostrum illud votum maxi-
' Adde quod Circumcisio sit sig- mum, quo nos vovimus in Christo
num quoddam et tessera totius re- esse mansuros, utique in compage
ligionis Judaicae in lege praescrip- corporis Christi : cujus rei sacra-
tae, ita ut ea suscepta, veluti pignore mentum est, quod unus panis,
se homines legi obstringant, non unum corpus multi sumus.' Aug.
aliter quam Baptismus in Christi Epist. cxlix. p. 509. edit. Bened.
nomine susceptus, vel etiam coenae It was binding themselves by so-
Dominicae usus tessera quaedam est lemn vow or oath to abstain from
et symbolum Christianismi.' Orel- all iniquity, and to adhere to godly
lius in Gal. v. 3. living. Which amounted to a re-
P The sense of the primitive newal of their Baptismal covenant.
Church, with regard to the Eucha- Such a way of covenanting with
rist as a covenanting rite, may be God by solemn vow, or oath, is
learned from the famous passage of not without precedent under the
Pliny quoted above, chap. i. p. 26. Old Testament. Deut. xxix. 12.
To which agrees that passage of 2 Chron. xv. 14. Ezra x. 5. Kehem.
St. Austin : ' Voventur omnia quae x. 29. And so God also covenanted
offeruntur Deo, maxime sancti alta- by oath with men. Isaiah Ixii. 8.
ris oblatio, quo sacrainento praedi-
304 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
sacrifices. At length he thought to account for it by saying,
that to the blood of the sacrifices answers the real blood of Christ
shed upon the cross, and not the wine in the Lord's Supper Q.
The force of his reasoning stands only in the equivocal meaning
of the word ' answers :' for, if he meant it of the antitype answer-
ing to the type, it is true what he says, that our Lord's real blood
answers, in that sense, to the blood of the sacrifices ; and it an-
swers also to the wine, the symbol of it ; but if he meant it (as
he ought to have meant it) of symbol answering to symbol, or of
one typical service answering to another typical service, by way
of analogy ; then it is plain, that the wine in the Eucharist so
answers to the blood of the sacrifices, being that they are repre-
sentations of the same thing, and are federal by the same virtue,
and under the like views, and therefore fitly answer to each
other, as analogous rites.
Dr. Felling refutes the same objection thus : ' Though we
grant what Socinus affirms, that it is not the wine, but the
blood of Christ, which answers to the ancient sacrifices ; yet
since the wine is the representation and communication of
Christ's blood, we must conclude that it communicates those
benefits for which that blood was shed ; and consequently that
it seals that covenant to every faithful communicant in particu-
lar, which the blood of Christ sealed to all mankind in general.
And as it is true that our Saviour's passion did answer those
sacrifices which were offered up of old ; so it is true also, that
this holy banquet doth answer those sacrificial feasts which were
used of old r .' The sum of all is this : the legal sacrifices were
federal rites, binding legal stipulations directly, and indirectly
evangelical stipulations also, shadowed out by the other : the
Gospel Sacraments, which by St. Paul's account (in i Cor. x.)
bear an analogy to those legal sacrifices, do likewise bind in a
way proper to them, and as suits with the Gospel state : there-
fore they do directly fix and ratify evangelical stipulations.
These are properly federal rites of the Gospel state, as the other
were properly federal rites of the legal economy.
i Socin. deUsu et Fine Coenae, p. 46, alias 761.
r Felling on the Lord's Supper, p. 106.
xi. as a Covenanting Rite. 305
It may be asked, why verbal professions, or repeated acknow-
ledgments, may not amount to a renewal of a covenant, as much
as a Sacrament 1 The reason is plain : verbal professions are not
the federal form prescribed ; and besides, at the most, they
amount only to verbal engagements, and that but on one side,
and therefore express no mutual contract. They amount not to
a communion of Christ's body, or a participation of his sacrifice :
they are not the new covenant in Christ's blood : they are not
drinking into one spirit nor pledges of our union in one body, like
as the partaking of one loaf and of one cup is. In short, Sacra-
ments are transactions of two parties, wherein God bears a share
as well as man, and where the visible signs have an insepar-
able conjunction with the invisible graces signified, when duly
administered to persons worthy. Verbal professions, singly
considered, come far short of what has been mentioned, and
therefore cannot be presumed to amount to a renewal of a cove-
nant, like the other.
It may be pleaded perhaps, that repentance is the best renewal
of our covenant, and is more properly so than any Sacrament
can be. But, on the other hand, it is certain, that repentance
is rather a qualification, on our part, for renewing, than a form
or rite of renewal ; and it expresses only what man does, not
what God does at the same time ; and therefore it amounts not
to mutual contract. The terms of a covenant ought to be dis-
tinguished from acts of covenanting, and the things stipulated
from the stipulation itself, or from the federal forms. To be
shoi't, repentance is properly the renewal of the man ; but the
renewal of a covenant is quite another thing, and must include
the reciprocal acts of both parties. It is very wrong to argue,
that any act or performance of one party only can be federal,
like a Sacrament which takes in both, and includes both part
and counterpart. But the aim seems to be, to throw God's part
out of the Sacraments, and then indeed they would not be federal
rites, no, nor Sacraments, in any just sense.
I know of no material objection further, so far as concerns
the present article, and so I proceed to a new chapter.
306 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
CHAP. XII.
The Service of the EUCHARIST considered in a Sacrificial View.
THAT the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in whole or in part,
in a sense proper or improper, is a sacrifice of the Christian
Church, is a point agreed upon among all knowing and sober
divines, Popish, Lutheran, or Reformed. But the Romanists
have so often and so grievously abused the once innocent names
of oblation, sacrifice, propitiation, &c., perverting them to an ill
sense, and grafting false doctrine and false worship upon them,
that the Protestants have been justly jealous of admitting those
names, or scrupulously wary and reserved in the use of them.
The general way, among both Lutheran and Reformed, has
been to reject any proper propitiation, or proper sacrifice in
the Eucharist ; admitting however of some kind of propitiation
in a qualified sense, and of sacrifice also, but of a spiritual kind,
and therefore styled improper, or metaphorical. Nevertheless
Mr. Mede, a very learned and judicious Divine and Protestant,
scrupled not to assert a proper sacrifice in the Eucharist, (as he
termed it,) a material sacrifice, the sacrifice of bread and wine,
analogous to the mincha of the old Law 8 . This doctrine he
delivered in the college chapel, A.D. 1635, which was afterwards
published with improvements, under the title of The Christian
Sacrifice. In the year 1642, the no less learned Dr. Cudworth
printed his well-known treatise on the same subject ; wherein
he as plainly denies any proper or any material sacrifice in the
Eucharist * ; but admits of a symbolical feast upon a sacrifice u ,
that is to say, upon the grand sacrifice itself commemorated
under certain symbols. This appears to have been the prevailing
doctrine of our Divines, both before and since. There can be no
doubt of the current doctrine down to Mr. Mede : and as to
what has most prevailed since, I need only refer to three very
eminent Divines, who wrote in the years 1685, 1686, 1688 x .
8 See Mede's Works, p. 355. ed. 3. Cudworth, ibid. pp. 21, 78.
A.D. 1672. * Dr. Felling on the Sacrament,
* Cudworth's True Notion of the pp. 41 47. Dr. Shar^ e, (afterwards
Lord's Supper, chap. v. p. 77. Archbishop,) vol. vii. Serm. 2. Dr.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 307
In the year 1702, the very pious and learned Dr. Grabe pub-
lished his Irenaeus, and in his notes upon the author fell in
with the sentiments of Mr, Mede, so far as concerns a proper
and material sacrifice in the Eucharist Y : and after him, our
incomparably learned and judicious Bishop Bull, in an English
treatise, gave great countenance to the same z .
Dr. Grabe's declaring for a proper sacrifice in the Eucharist,
and at the same time censuring both Luther and Calvin, by
name, for rejecting it, gave great alarm to the learned Pro-
testants abroad, and excited several of them to re-examine the
question about the eucharistical sacrifice.
The first who appeared was the excellent Buddaeus a , (A. D.
1705,) a Lutheran Divine of established character for learning,
temper, and judgment ; though he happened to betray some
precipitancy in this matter : he appeared much concerned at
what Dr. Grabe had written on this argument, but misappre-
hended him all the time, as was natural for him to do : for,
imagining that Dr. Grabe had maintained a real presence in the
Lutheran sense, and a proper sacrifice besides, the consequence
was self-evident, that such a presence and sacrifice together could
resolve into nothing else but the sacrifice of the mass. Therefore
he treats Dr. Grabe all the way, as one that had asserted the
popish sacrifice : and what confirmed him in the injui'ious sus-
picion was, that some of the Jesuits b (whether ignorantly or
artfully) had boasted of Dr. Grabe as a declared man on their
side, against both Luther and Calvin. However, Buddaeus's
dissertation on the subject is a well-penned performance, and
may be of good service to every careful reader, for the light it
gives into the main question.
In the year 1706, a very learned Calvinist occasionally en-
gaged in the same question about the sacrifice : not with any
Payne's Disc, of the Sacrifice of the Pontificiae, Miscell. Sacr. torn. i.
Mass^ pp. 4254- pp. 363-
>' Grabe in Iren. lib. iv. cap. 32. b Meruoires pour 1'Histoire des
p. 323. edit. Oxon. Sciences, &c. A.D. 1703.
* Bishop Bull's Answer to the c Sam. Basnage, Annal. torn. i.
Bishop of Meaux, pp. 18, 19. pp. 370 374.
a Buddaeua de Origine Missae
X 2
308 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
view to Dr. Grabe, (so far as appears,) but in opposition only to
the Romanists. However, I thought it proper just to make
mention of him here, as falling within the same time, and being
a great master of ecclesiastical antiquity.
Some time after, (A.D. 1709,) Ittigius, a learned Lutheran,
took occasion to pass some strictures upon Dr. Grabe in that
article d : then Deylingius e and Zornius f , learned Lutherans,
and all still pursuing the same mistake which Buddaeus had
fallen into.
But in the year 1715, the acute and candid Pfaffius (a Lu-
theran also) took care to do justice to Dr. Grabe's sentiments,
(though not altogether approving them,) being so fair as to own,
that Dr. Grabe's notion of the eucharistical sacrifice was nothing
akin to the sacrifice of the mass?. Nevertheless others still
went on in the first mistake : and among the rest, the celebrated
Le Clerc h , and a greater man than he, Campegius Vitringa ' ;
and another fine writer \ later than both ; all of them condemn-
ing the doctrine, wrongfully, as popish. But it may be proper
here to take notice, that the learned Deylingius, who had for-
merly charged Dr. Grabe too hastily, has, upon better informa-
tion, retracted that censure, in a book lately published ! : and
the complaint now is, not that Dr. Grabe asserted the sacrifice
of the mass, (which he heartily abhorred,) but that he rejected
the real, local, or corporal presence 111 , such as the Papists or
Lutherans contend for : in which most certainly he judged
right.
But before I close this brief historical view of that contro-
versy, it may not be improper to observe how far the leafned
Pfaffius was inclinable to concur with Dr. Grabe in this article.
He allows that the ancients, by oblation and sacrifice, meant
more than prayer, and that it is even ludicrous to pretend the
d Ittigius, Histor. Eccles. primi h Clerici Histor. Eccl. p. 772.
Saec. p. 204. * "Vitringa in Isa. torn. ii. p. 951.
e Deylingius, Observ. Sacr. torn. k Moshem. A.D. 1733. in Praefat.
i. n. 54. p. 262. ad Cudworth de Coena.
f Zornius, Opuscul. Sacr. torn. i. ' Deylingius, Observat. Miscell.
p. 732. p. 103. A.D. 1736.
e Pfa'fius, Irenaei Fragm. Anec- m Vid. Deylingius, ibid. p. 77.
dot. p. 106 &c., 499.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 309
contrary". He acknowledges that they speak of an oblation of
bread and wine , and that the Eucharist is a sacrifice of praise P,
and propitiatory also in a qualified sober sense <i. In short, he
seems almost to yield up everything that Dr. Grabe had con-
tended for, excepting only the point of a proper or material sacri-
fice : and he looked upon that as resolving at length into a kind
of logomachy, a difference in words or names, arising chiefly from
the difficulty of determining what a sacrifice properly means, and
from the almost insuperable perplexities among learned men,
about the ascertaining any precise definition of it r . I am per-
suaded there is a good deal of truth in what that learned gentle-
man has said, and that a great part of the debate, so warmly
carried on a few years ago, was more about names than things.
As the question arises chiefly out of what was taught by the
ancient Fathers, it will be proper to inquire what they really
meant by the word sacrifice, and in Avhat sense they applied
that name to the Eucharist, in whole or in part. St. Austin,
who well understood both what the Scripture and the Christian
writers before him had taught, defines or describes a true sacri-
fice, in the general, as follows : ' A true sacrifice is any work
done to keep up our league of amity with God, referred to him
as our sovereign good, in whom we may enjoy true felicity 8 .'
I follow his sense, rather than the strict letter, to make it the
clearer to an English reader. St. Austin here judged it neces-
sary for every such good work to be performed with a view to
God, to be referred to his glory ; otherwise it could not with
any propriety be called a sacrifice to him : therefore even works
of mercy done to man, out of compassion, tenderness, or
humanity, though true sacrifices if considered as done with a
view to God, would be no sacrifice at all, if they wanted that
circumstance to recommend them *. From hence we may see
n Pfaffius, Ii-enaei Fragm. Anec- opus quad agitur ut sancta socie-
dot. p. 50. tate inhaereamus Deo, relatum sci-
Ibid. pp. 254 274, 314, 344. licet ad ilium finem boni, quo vera-
P Ibid. pp. 330, 338. citer beati esse possimus.' Augustin.
1 Ibid. pp. 211, 229. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. cap. 6. p. 242.
r Ibid, in Praefat. et pp. 344, 4 ' Misericordia verum sacrificium
345. est. . . . Ipsa misericordia qua hornini
8 ' Verum sacrificium est omne subvenitur, si propter Deum non fit,
310 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
what that Father's general notion of a true sacrifice was. He
takes notice further, that what had been commonly called sacri-
fice, is really nothing more than an outward sign, token, or
symbol of true sacrifice u . The distinction here made may afford
great light as to the meaning of the ancients, where they denomi-
nate the Eucharist a sacrifice, or a true and perfect sacrifice.
They meant, for the most part, that it was true and evangelical
service, as opposed to legal : in that sense, the eucharistical
service was itself true sacrifice, and properly our sacrifice. And
if, over and above, the elements themselves, unconsecrated, were
ever called a sacrifice, or sacrifices, the meaning still was, that
the service was the sacrifice : but when the consecrated elements
had that name, it was only a metonymy of the sign for the thing
signified, as they represent, and in effect exhibit, the grand
sacrifice of the cross.
It is worth observing, that in Scripture style, whatever ex-
hibits any advantage or blessing in larger measure, or in a more
eminent degree, is denominated true, in opposition to other
things which only appear to do the like, or do it but defectively x .
In such a sense as that, the Gospel services are the true sacri-
fices, called also under the Law sacrifices of righteousness y.
I know not how it comes to pass, that moderns generally have
reckoned all the spiritual sacrifices among the nominal, im-
proper, metaphorical sacrifices ; whereas the ancients judged
them to be the truest sacrifices of any, yea, and infinitely more
excellent than the other. If it be said, that external, material,
non est saerificium. . . . Sacrificium signum est.* Ibid. cap. 5.
res divina est,' &c. Augustin. ibid. * See John i. 4, 9, 17; iv. 23,
u ' Illud quod ab omnibus appel- 24 ; vi. 32; xv. I. Luke xvi. n.
latur sacrificium, siguum est veri Heb. viii. 2; ix. n, 24.
sacrificii.' Augustin. ibid. ' Nee > ' Vera sacrificia sunt ejusmodi
quod ab antiquis patribus talia sacri- sacrificia, quae vere id habent quod
ficia facta suut in victim's pecorum caetera habere videntur. Dicuntur
(quod nunc Dei populus legit, non ilia, eodem loquendi modo, sacrificia
facit) aliud intelligendum est, nisi justitiae, id est Ovatm a.\i)9iva\, sacri-
rebus illis eas res fuisae sigmfieatas ficia vera. Intelligitur autem hac
quae aguntur in nubis, in hoc ut phrasi totus cultus Novi Testa-
adhaereamus Deo, et ad eundem menti.' Vitringa de vet. Synag.
finem proximo consulamus. Sacri- p. 65. Cp. ejusd. Observat. Sacr.
ficium ergo visibile, invisibilis sacri- torn. ii. p. 499, et in Isa. t-jm. ii.
ficii sacramentum, id eat, sacrum pp. 56, 733 829.
xii. in a Sacrifcial View. 3 11
symbolical sacrifices had all along engrossed the name of sacri-
fices, and therefore were the only sacrifices properly so called, as
the custom of language is the rule of propriety ; it may be
replied, on the other hand, that spiritual sacrifices really carry
in them all that the other signify or point to, and so, upon the
general reason of all sacrifice, have a just, or a more eminent
title to that name : and this may be thought as good a rule of
propriety, as the custom of language can be. Suppose, for
instance, that sacrifice, in its general nature, means the making
a present to the Divine Majesty, as Plato defines it z ; is not the
presenting him with our prayers, praises, and good works, as
properly making him a present, as the other 1 Therefore if the
general reason or definition of sacrifice suits as properly (yea,
and eminently) with spiritual sacrifices as with any other, I see
not why they should not be esteemed proper sacrifices, as well
as the other. However, since this would amount only to a strife
about words, it is of no great moment, whether spiritual sacrifices
be called proper or improper sacrifices, so long as they are
allowed to be true and excellent, and as much to be preferred
before the other, as substance before shadow, and truth before
sign or figure. The ancients, I think, looked upon the spiritual
sacrifices as true and proper sacrifices, and are so to be under-
stood, whenever they apply the name of sacrifice to the service of
the Eucharist. But to make it a material sacrifice would, in
their account, have been degrading and vilifying it, reducing it
to a legal ceremony, instead of a Gospel service.
The service therefore of the Eucharist, on the foot of ancient
Church language, is both a true and a proper sacrifice, (as I
shall shew presently,) and the noblest that we are capable of
offering, when considered as comprehending under it many true
aiid evangelical sacrifices : i . The sacrifice of alms to the poor,
and oblations to the Church ; which when religiously intended,
and offered through Christ, is a Gospel sacrifice a . Not that the
material offering is a sacrifice to God, for it goes entirely to the
z OvKovf rb Bvfiv, ScaptiffQai tan a Philippians iv. 18. Hebrews xiii.
rots <?<ny. Plato, Euthyphron. p. 16. Compare Acts x. 4. Ecclus.
10. XXXV. 2.
312 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
use of man ; but the service is what God accepts. 2. The
sacrifice of prayer, from a pure heart, is evangelical incensed
3. The sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God the Father,
through Christ Jesus our Lord, is another Gospel sacrifice c . 4. The
sacrifice of a penitent and contrite heart, even under the Law,
(and now much more under the Gospel, when explicitly offered
through Christ,) was a sacrifice of the new covenant d : for the
new covenant commenced from the time of the fall, and obtained
under the Law, but couched under shadows and figures. 5. The
sacrifice of ourselves, our souls and bodies, is another Gospel
sacrifice 6 . 6. The offering up the mystical body of Christ, that
is, his Church, is another Gospel sacrifice f : or rather, it is
coincident with the former ; excepting that there persons are
considered in their single capacity, and here collectively in a
body. I take the thought from St. Austin S, who grounds it
chiefly on i Cor. x. 17, and the texts belonging to the former
article. 7. The offering up of true converts, or sincere penitents,
to God, by their pastors, who have laboured successfully in the
blessed work, is another very acceptable Gospel sacrifice h .
8. The sacrifice of faith and hope, and self-humiliation, in com-
memorating the grand sacrifice, and resting finally upon it,
is another Gospel sacrifice \ and eminently proper to the
Eucharist.
These, I think, are all so many true sacrifices, and may all
meet together in the one great complicated sacrifice of the Eu-
charist. Into some one or more of these may be resolved (as I
conceive) all that the ancients have ever taught of Christian
sacrifices, or of the Eucharist under the name or notion of a true
or proper sacrifice. Let it be supposed however for the present,
b Revel, v. 8 ; viii* 3, 4. Com- f i Cor. x. 1 7.
pare Psalm cxli. 2. Malach. i. n; e Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. x.
iii. 4, 5. Hos. xiv. 2. Acts x. 4. cap. vi. p. 243 ; cap. xx. p. 256.
Ecclua. xxxv. 2. Epist. lix. alias cxlix. p. 509. edit.
c Heb. xiii. 15. i Pet. ii. 5, 9. Bened.
Compare Psalm 1. 14, 15 ; Ixix. 31 ; h Rom. xv. 16. Phil. ii. 17. Com-
cxvi. 1 7. pare Isa. Ixvi. 20, curn Notis Vitring.
d Psalm iv. 5 ; Ii. 17. Isa. i. 16 ; p. 950.
Ivii. 15. i This is not said in any single
e Rom. xii. i. Phil. ii. 17. 2 Tim. text, but may be clearly collected
iv, 6. from many compared.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 313
in order to give the reader the clearer idea beforehand of what
I intend presently to prove. In the meanwhile, supposing this
account to be just, from hence may easily be understood how far
the Eucharist is a commemorative sacrifice, or otherwise. If
that phrase means a spiritual service of ours, commemorating
the sacrifice of the cross, then it is justly styled a sacrifice com-
memorative of a sacrifice, and in that sense a commemorative
sacrifice : but if that phrase points only to the outward ele-
ments representing the sacrifice made by Christ, then it means
a sacrifice commemorated, or a representation and commemo-
ration of a sacrifice k .
From hence likewise may we understand in what sense the
officiating authorized ministers perform the office of proper
evangelical priests in this service. They do it three ways :
1. As commemorating, in solemn form, the same sacrifice here
below, which Christ our High Priest commemorates above.
2. As handing up (if I may so speak) those prayers and those
services of Christians to Christ our Lord, who as High Priest
recommends the same in heaven to God the Father 1 . 3. As
offering up to God all the faithful who are under their care and
ministry, and who are sanctified by the Spirit m . In these three
ways the Christian officers are priests, or liturgs, to very excel-
lent purposes, far above the legal ones, in a sense worth the con-
tending for, and worth the pursuing with the utmost zeal and
assiduity.
Having thus far intimated beforehand what I apprehend to
be in the main, or in the general, a just account of the eucha-
ristical sacrifice, upon the principles laid down in Scripture, as
k ' Nonne semel immolatus est nomina accipiunt. Sicut ergo, se-
Christus in seipso ? Et tamen in cunduin quendam modum, sacra-
sacramento non solum per omnes mentnm corporis Christi corpus
paschae solennitates, sed omni die Christi est, sacramentum sanguinis
populis iminolatur ; nee utique men- Christi sanguis Christi est ; ita
titur qui, interrogatus, eum respon- sacramentum fidei fides est.' Au-
derit immolari. Si enim sacramenta gustin. Epist. ad Bonifacium, xcviii.
quandam similitudinem earum re- alias xxiii. p. 267. ed. Bened.
rum, quarum sacramenta sunt, non ' Revel, viii. 4. Vid. Vitring. in
haberent, omnino sacramenta non loc.
essent : ex hac autem similitudine m Rom. xv. 16.
plerumque etiam ipsarum rerum
314 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
interpreted by the ancients : I shall next proceed to examine
the ancients one by one, in order to see whether this account
tallies with what they have said upon this article.
I shall begin with St. Barnabas, supposed, with some pro-
bability, to have been the author of the Epistle bearing his name,
penned about A.D. 71. This very early writer, taking notice of
the difference between the Law and the Gospel, observes that
Christ had abolished the legal sacrifices, to make way for an
human oblation : which he explains soon after, by an humble
and contrite heart, referring to Psalm li. 17. So by human
oblation, he means the free-will offering of the heart, as opposed
to the yoke of legal observances ; the offering up the whole inner
man, instead of the outward superficial performances of the Law.
Therefore the Christian sacrifice, as here described by our author,
resolves into the 5th article of the account which I have given
above. Mr. Dodwell renders the words of Barnabas thus :
' These things therefore he has evacuated, that the new law of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which is without any yoke of bondage,
might bring in the mystical oblation P.' He conceived the
original Greek words (which are lost) might have been XoytKj)
Xarpet'a, reasonable service : which however is merely conjecture.
But he understood the place of Christians offering themselves,
their souls and bodies, instead of sacrificing beasts. Another
learned man, who had an hypothesis to serve, understands by
human oblation, an offering made with freedom ; and he inter-
prets it of the voluntary oblations made by communicants at the
altar, viz. the lay oblations <J. The interpretation appears some-
what forced, and agrees not well with Barnabas's own explication
superadded, concerning an humble and contrite heart ; unless we
take in both : however, even upon that supposition, the Christian
sacrifice here pointed to will be a spiritual sacrifice, or service,
the sacrifice of charitable benevolence, and will fall under article
' Haec ergo [sacriftcia] vacua liatum Deus non despicit.' Barnab.
fecit, ut nova lex Domini nostri Epist. cap. ii. p. 57.
Jesu Christi, quae sine jugo neces- P Dodwell of Incensing, p. 33 &c.
sitatis est, humanam habeat obla- 1 Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
tionem . . . nobis enim dicit, Sacrifi- parti, p 333, alias 338.
cium Deo, cor tribulatuin, et humi-
xii. in a Sacrijicial Vieiv. 315
the first, above mentioned. There have not been wanting some
who would wrest the passage so far as to make it favour the
sacrifice of the mass : but the learned Pfaffius r has abundantly
confuted every pretence that way, and has also well defended the
common construction ; which Menardus had before admitted,
and which Dodwell also came into, and which I have here
recommended. There is nothing more in Barnabas that relates
at all to our purpose, and so we may pass on to other Christian
writers in order.
Clemens of Rome has been cited in a chapter above 8 , as
speaking of the lay oblations brought to the altar, and of the
sacerdotal oblation afterwards made of the same gifts, previously
to the consecration. No doubt but such lay offerings amounted
to spiritual sacrifice, being acceptable service under the Gospel ;
and they fall under article the first, in the enumeration before
given. I cannot repeat too often, that in such cases the service,
the good work, the duty performed is properly the sacrifice,
according to the definition of sacrifice in St. Austin* above cited,
and according to plain good sense. When Cornelius's prayers
and alms ascended up for a memorial, (a name alluding to the
legal incense,) it was not his money, nor any material gifts, that
ascended, or made the memorial ; but it was the piety, the mercy,
the beneficence, the virtues of the man. Under the Gospel, God
receives no material thing at all, to be consumed and spent in
his own immediate service, and for his honour only : he receives
no blood, no libation, no incense, no burnt offerings, no perfumes,
as before. If he receives alms and oblations, (as in the Eucha-
ristical service,) he receives them not as gifts to himself, to be
consumed in his immediate service, but as gifts to be consecrated
for the use of man, to whom they go. All that is material is
laid out upon man only ; not upon God, as in the Jewish
economy. But God receives, now under the Gospel, our religious
r Pfaffius de Oblat. vet Eucharist, causto Dominicae passions, quod eo
sect. xxii. p. 239, &c. tempore offert quisque pro peccatis
8 See above, chap. i. p. 22. suis, quo ejusdem passionis fide de-
* Omne opus, &c. every good work, dicatur, et Christianorum fidelium
And it is observable that, conform- nomine Baptizatus imbuitur.' Au-
ably to such definition, that Father gustin. ad Roman. Expos, cap. xix.
makes Baptism a sacrifice : ' Holo- col. 937. torn. iii.
3i 6 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
services, our good works, our virtuous exercises, in the name
of Christ, and these are our truly Christian and spiritual sacri-
fices. In this view, the lay oblations, which Clemens refers to,
were Christian sacrifices. So also were the sacerdotal services,
referred to by the same Clemens ; though in a view somewhat
different, and falling under a distinct branch of Gospel sacrifice,
reducible to article the seventh in the foregoing recital. Those
who endeavour to construe Clemens's 7rpo<r<opui and \(irovpyiai
(oblations and sacerdotal ministrations) as favouring the sacrifice
of the mass, run altogether wide of the truth ; as is plain from
one single reason among many u , that all which Clemens speaks
of was previous to the consecration. Those also who plead from
thence for material oblations, as acceptable under the Gospel,
mistake the case: for the material part (as before hinted) goes not
to God, is not considered purely as a gift to him, (like the burnt
offerings or incense under the Law, consumed in his immediate
service,) but as a gift for the use of man ; and so nothing
remains for God to accept of, as given to him, but the spiritual
service ; and even that he accepts not of, unless it really answers
its" name. So that it is plain that the New Testament admits of
none but spiritual sacrifices ; because none else are now properly
given to God, or accepted by him as so given.
Justin Martyr, of the second century, is so clear and so express
upon the subject of Gospel sacrifice, that one need not desire
any fuller light than he will furnish us with. The sum of his
doctrine is, that prayers and praises, and universal obedience,
are the only Christian sacrifices : from whence it most evidently
follows, that whenever he gives the name of oblation, or sacrifice,
to the Eucharist, his whole meaning is, that it is a religious
service comprehending prayers, praises, &c., and therefore has a
just title to the name of Christian oblation and sacrifice. But
let us examine the passages.
He writes thus : 'We have been taught, that God has no need
of any material oblation from men ; well knowing, that he is the
u The reader may see that whole 45 49. Pfaffius de Oblat. vet. Euch.
question discussed at large in Bud- pp. 254 269.
daeus, Miscellan. Sacr. torn. i. pp.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 317
giver of all things : but we are informed, and persuaded, and
do believe, that he accepts those only who copy after his moral
perfections, purity, righteousness, philanthropy x ,' &c. Here we
may observe, that God accepts not, according to our author, any
material oblation at all, considered as a gift to him, nor anything
but what is spiritual, as all religious services, and all virtuous
exercises really are : those are the Gospel oblations according to
Justin, here and everywhere. A few pages after, he takes notice,
' that God has no need of blood, libations, or incense, but that
the Christian manner was, to offer him prayers and thanksgivings
for all the blessings they enjoy, to the utmost of their power :
that the only way of paying him honour suitable, was not to con-
sume by fire what he had given for our sustenance, but to spend
it upon ourselves, and upon the poor, and to render him the
tribute of our grateful hymns and praises y,' &c.
Here we may note how exactly he points out the difference
between other sacrifices (Pagan or Jewish) and the sacrifices of
the Gospel. In those there was something spent, as it were,
immediately upon God, entirely lost, wasted, consumed, because
considered as a gift to God only ; which is the proper notion of
a material sacrifice : but in these, nothing is entirely spent, or
consumed, but all goes to the use of man ; only the praise, the
glory, the tribute of homage and service, that is given to God,
and that he accepts, as a proper sacrifice, and as mo^t suitable to
his Divine Majesty. Not that he needs even these, or can be
benefited by them : but he takes delight in the exercise of his
own philanthropy, which has so much the larger field to move
in, according as his creatures render themselves fit objects of it
by acts of religion and virtue. But I proceed with our author.
i*i/ 1 w w, ^M.WW, ^w-iju-ui/ju-cfufij vvvyj'fjvu I/CT/J-J KU.I TOti TOvyMFVf* Tipou<ptfJtiy } tKtiyifj
/cat OLKo,LO(TvvT]v ) Kal <^)iA.ctt'^pciJ7rtcEi' 5 /cal vxttpi(TTovs OVTO.S 8ta Ao*you irou-
5o-a oie?a 0y eVri. Just. Mart. ?ras /cat vpvovs irtpirew. K.T.\. Just.
Apol. i. p. 14. edit. Lond. Mart. ibid. p. 19.
31 8 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
In another place he expressly teaches, that 'prayers and
thanksgivings, made by them that are worthy, are the only per-
fect and acceptable sacrifices;' adding, that 'those only are
offered in the eucharistical commemoration 2 .' It is observable,
that by the restriction to the worthy, he supposes a good life to
go along with prayers and praises to make them acceptable
sacrifice, conformably to what he had before taught, as above
recited. Indeed, prayers and praises are most directly, imme-
diately, emphatically sacrifice, as a tribute offered to God only :
which is the reason why Justin and other Fathers speak of
them in the first place, as the proper or primary sacrifices of
Christians. Obedience is sacrifice also, as it respects God ; but
it may have another aspect towards ourselves, or other men,
and therefore is not so directly a sacrifice to God alone. This
distinction is well illustrated by a judicious Divine of our
own a , whose words I may here borrow : ' The sacrifice of
obedience is metaphorical : that is, God accepts it as well as if
it had been a sacrifice ; that is, something given to himself :
but the sacrifice of praise is proper, without a metaphor b . The
nature of it accomplished by offering something to God, in
acknowledgment of him. . . . The honour which God receives
from our obedience, differs from that of a sacrifice ; for that is
only of consequence, and by argumentation : that is, it suits
with the nature and will of God ; as we say, good servants are
an honour to their masters, by reflection. But the honour by
sacrifice is of direct and special intendment : it hath no other
use, and is a distinct virtue from all other acts of obedience, and
of a different obligation Though God hath the honour of
z "OTI /j.fv ovv Ka\ tii^al KO.} tvx_api- every spiritual sacrifice a metapho-
ffriatt virb T>V o|ieov yiv6/j.fvat, rt\fiai rical sacrifice : for he admits of
ft.6vai Koi tvapevToi tlffi r<p f<p 6u- prayers and praises, and the like
ff'tat, Kal avr6s <p7?/u. Tavra yap nfoa religious services, as true and pro-
Ko.1 Xpiffnavol irapt\a./3ov iroteiv, KOI per sacrifices. I conceive further,
fir' ava/jLv-fiffet 8e rrjs rpo^fjr avrtav that even obedience, formally con-
i;/)os Tf Kol vpyas. Justin. Dial, sidered as respecting God, and as
p. 387. a tribute offered to him, (though it
a Bishop Lany's Sermon on Heb. has other views besides, in which it
xiii. 15. pp. 30 32. is no sacrifice at all,) is as properly
b Note, this very acute and know- sacrifice as the other : and so judged
ing Divine had not learned to call St. Austin above cited.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 319
obedience and a virtuous life; if we deny him the honour of a
sacrifice besides, we rob him of his due, and a greater sacrilege
we cannot commit. . . . This is robbing God of the service itself,
to which the other, dedicated for his service, are but accessary.'
Thus far Bishop Lany to the point in hand. I return to Justin
Martyr.
We have seen how uniform and constant this early Christian
writer was, with respect to the general doctrine concerning
Gospel sacrifices, as being spiritual sacrifices, and no other.
Nothing more remains, but to consider how to reconcile that
general doctrine with the particular doctrine taught by the same
writer concerning the Eucharist, as a sacrifice. He makes
mention of the legal offering of fine flour, or meal offering, as a
type of the bread of the Eucharist c : and a little after, citing
a noted place of the Prophet Malachi, he interprets the pure
offering, the mincha, or bread-offering there predicted, of the
bread eucharistical, and likewise of wine d , denominating them, as
it seems, the sacrifices offered by us Gentile Christians. Does not
all this look very like the admitting of material sacrifices under
the Gospel 1 And how then could he consistently elsewhere
exclude all material oblations, and admit none but spiritual
sacrifices as belonging to the Christian state 1 Mr. Pfaffius, being
aware of the appearing difficulty, cuts the knot, instead of un-
tying it, and charges the author with saying and unsaying e :
which perhaps was not respectful enough towards his author, nor
prudent for his own cause, unless the case had been desperate,
which he had no reason to suspect, so far as I apprehend. He
undertakes afterwards to sum up Justin's sentiments on this
head, and does it in a manner somewhat perplexed, to this
effect : ' That the New Testament admits of no sacrifices but
prayers, praises, and thanksgivings : but however, if it does
admit of anything corresponding, or similar to the legal obla-
tions, it is that of the oblation of bread and wine in the
c Justin. Mart. Dial. p. 220. tvxapiffrias irpo\fyti r6re. Justin.
d Tltpl 8e rS>v iv itav-rl r6Trcf v<p' ibid.
iifjilav T<av tQvSiv Trpoff<f>fpofj.fviav a.vT(f e Pfaffius de Oblat. vet. Eucharist.
SvaiSiv, TowrtffTi TOV &prov rrjs tvxcipi- pp. 270, 272.
ffrictt, Kal rov Trorijplou o/joiut TTJJ
320 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
Eucharist f .' This is leaving the readers much in the dark, and
his author to shift for sense and consistency. At the best, it is
dismissing the evidence as doubtful, not determinate enough to
give reasonable satisfaction.
Mr. Dodwell's account of Justin in this article is no clearer
than the former. He takes notice, that his Father ' allows no
other sacrifice but that of prayer and Eucharist ;' he should
have said, thanksgiving : and soon after he adds in the same
page ; ' elsewhere he owns no acceptable sacrifice under the
Gospel, but the Eucharist; in opposition to the Jewish sacrifices,
which were consumed by fire, and which were confined to
Jerusalem .' Still, here is no account given how Justin could
reject all material sacrifice, and yet consistently admit of the
Eucharist as a sacrifice, if that be a material and not a spiritual
oblation. The most that Mr. Dodwell's solution can amount to is,
that Justin did not absolutely reject material sacrifices, provided
they were not to be consumed by fire, or provided (as he hints in
another work ) that they are but purely eucharistical. But this
solution will never account for Justin's so expressly and fully ex-
cluding all material oblations, and so particularly restraining the
notion of Gospel sacrifices to prayers, praises, and good works.
Some learned men think that a material sacrifice may yet be
called a rational and spiritual sacrifice J : and therefore, though
the Fathers do expressly reject material sacrifices, they mean
only sacrifices of a certain kind; and though they admit none
but spiritual sacrifices, they might yet tacitly except such
material sacrifices as are spiritual also. But this appears to be
a very harsh solution, and such as would go near to confound
all language. However, most certainly, it ought never to be
admitted, if any clearer or juster solution can be thought on,
as I am persuaded there may.
1 ' Ita nempe secum statuit vir posita, precibusque juxta rnandatum
sanctus, nulla esse in Novo Testa- Christ! Deo oblata, in Sacramentum
mento sacrificia, quam laudes, gra- corporis sanguinisque Dominici con-
tiarum actiones, et. preces ; si quid secrentur.' Pfaffius, ibid. p. 274.
tamen sit quod cum oblationibus s Dodwell of Incensing, p. 46.
Veteris Testament! conferri queat, h Dodwell's Oue Altar, pp. 203,204.
esse panem vinumque Euchanstiae, ' Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, part
quae altari, seu mensae sacrae im- i. p. 18, &c.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 321
Justin's principles, if rightly considered, hang well together,
and are all of a piece. He rejects all material sacrifices abso-
lutely : and though the Eucharist be a sacrifice, according to
him, yet it is not the matter of it, viz. the bread and wine, that
is properly the sacrifice, but it is the service only, and that is a
spiritual sacrifice. Alms are a Gospel sacrifice, according to
St. Paul : not the material alms, but the exercise of charity, that
is the sacrifice. In like manner, the Eucharist is a Gospel
saci-ifice. Not the material symbols, but the service, consisting
of a prayer, praise, contrite hearts, self-humiliation, &c. Well,
but may not the like be said of all the legal sacrifices, that there
also the service was distinct from the matter, and so those also
were spiritual sacrifices 1 No : the circumstances were widely
different. In the legal sacrifices, either the whole or some part
of the offering was directly given to God k, and either consumed
by fire, or poured forth, never returaing to the use of man : and
thereupon was founded the gross notion, of which God by his
Prophets more than once complains 1, as if the Deity had need
of such things, or took delight in them. But now, under the
Gospel, nothing is so given to God, nothing consumed in his
immediate service : we present his gifts and his creatures before
him, and we take them back again for the use of ourselves and
of our brethren. All that we really give up to God as his
tribute, are our thanks, our praises, our acknowledgments, our
homage, our selves, our souls and bodies ; which is all spiritual
sacrifice, purely spiritual : and herein lies the main difference
between the Law and the Gospel m . We have no material
sacrifices at all. The matter of the Eucharist is sacramental, and
the bread and wine are signs : yea, signs of a sacrifice, that is of
k Some have thought the paschal think that the inwards, or fat, was
sacrifice to make an exception, be- to be burnt upon the altar. See
cause it was all to be eaten. But Reland, Antiq. Hebr. p. 383. Dey-
it is certain that one part, viz. the lingius, Observ. Sacr. torn. iii. p.
blood, was to be poured forth, and 332. Cudworth on the Lord's Sup-
sprinkled, 2 Chron. xxx. 16 ; xxxv. per, p. 3. fol. ed.
n, yea and offered unto God, Exod. ' Psalm 1. 12, 13. Isaiah i. n.
xxiii. 18; xxxiv. 25, as belonging Mic. vi. 6, 7.
of right to him t and those who are m See Mr. Lewis's Answer to
best skilled in Jewish antiquities, Unbloody Sacrifice, pp. 2, 5, n.
Y
322 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
the sacrifice of the cross : but as to any sacrifice of ours, it lies
entirely in the service we perform, and in the qualifications or
dispositions which we bring, which are all so much spiritual
oblation, or spiritual sacrifice, and nothing else.
From hence may be perceived how consistent and uniform
this early Father was in his whole doctrine on that head. He
expressed himself very accurately, when, speaking of spiritual
and perfect sacrifices, he said, that they were what Christians
offered over, or upon the eucharistical commemoration n : that is,
they spiritually sacrificed in the service of the Eucharist. They
did not make the material elements their sacrifice, but the signs
only of a greater. Their service they offered up to God as his
tribute ; but the elements they took entirely to themselves. When
he speaks of the sacrifices of bread and wine , he may reasonably
be understood to mean, the spiritual sacrifices of lauds, or of
charity, which went along with the solemn feasting upon the
bread and wine ; and not that the elements themselves were sa-
crifices P. Upon the whole therefore, I take this blessed martyr
to have been consistent throughout in his doctrine of spiritual
sacrifices, as being the only sacrifices prescribed, or allowed by
the Gospel. And if he judged the Eucharist to be (as indeed
he did) a most acceptable sacrifice, it was because he supposed
it to comprise many sacrifices in one ; a right faith, and clean
heart, and devout affections, breaking forth in fervent prayers,
praises, and thanksgivings unto God, and charitable contributions
to the brethren.
n Tavra -yap fj.6va Kal XpiffTtavol xxiv. 7, a type of the Eucharist.
irape\afiov itoiflv Kal fir' ava/j.vfiffft But it is observable, that the show-
8 rrjs rpotyris avriav i)pas re Ka\ bread was not the memorial; but
vypas. Dial. p. 387. the incense burnt upon it, that was
Qvo-ias . . . eVl rfj fvx.apiffTta TOV the memorial, as the text expressly
&PTOV Kal TOV iroTTjplov . . . yivo/jifvas. says. Now it is well known, that
Dial. p. 386. prayers, lauds, &c. are the evan-
npoff^fpof^fvuv avT<f 6v<n>i>, rov- gelical incense, succeeding in the
TfffTi rov &prov TTJS evxapiffTtas Kal room of the legal : therefore, to
TOV iroTypiov. Dial. p. 22O. make everything correspond, the
P It may be suggested (see John- spiritual services of the Eucharist
son, part i. p. 271) that the word are properly our memorial, our in-
avdfivriffis, memorial, was used in cense, and not the material ele-
relation to the show-bread, Levit. ments.
XII. in a Sacrificial View. 323
Athenagoras may come next, who has not much to our pur-
pose : but yet something lie has. He observes, that ' God needs
no blood, nor fat, nor sweet scents of flowers, nor incense, being
himself the most delightful perfume : but the noblest sacrifice
in his sight, is to understand his works and ways, and to lift
up holy hands to him q.' A little after he adds, ' What should
I do Avith burnt offerings, which God has no need of 1 ? But it is
meet to offer him an unbloody sacrifice, and to bring him a
rational service 1 ".' Here we see what the proper Christian sacri-
fices are, namely, the spiritual sacrifices of devout prayers, and
obedience of heart and life. The service is, with this writer, the
sacrifice. He takes notice of God's not needing burnt offerings,
and the like. All material sacrifices considered as gifts to God,
were apt to insinuate some such idea to weak minds : but the
spiritual services do not. In our eucharistical solemnity we
consider not the elements, when presented before God, as pro-
perly our gifts to him, but as his gifts to us s ; which, we pray,
may be consecrated to our spiritual uses. We pay our acknow-
ledgments for them at the same time : and that makes one part,
the smallest part, of our spiritual sacrifice, or service, in that
solemnity. It may be worth noting, that here in Athenagoras
we find the first mention of unbloody sacrifice, which he makes
equivalent to reasonable service : and he applies it not particu-
larly to the Eucharist, but to spiritual sacrifices at large. An
argument, that when it came afterwards to be applied to the
Eucharist, it still carried the same meaning, and was chosen with
a view to the spiritual services contained in it, and not to the
material oblation, or oblations, considered as such.
Irenaeus, of the same time, will afford us still greater light,
with regard to the point in hand. He is very large and diffuse
i iicrio av-rw fj.fyia"rt], &r yivdiffKca- 8 Hence came the usual phrase,
p.fv rls ftTftvf, K. T. \., Kal frra'pwutv so frequent in liturgic Offices, ra
otriovs x f ?P as avTy. Athenag. pp. era K Ttav <rS>v Sdpwv crot irpoff<pfpo-
48, 49. ed. Oxon. ptv, We present unto thee the
r T 8* /uoj 6\oKavTu>ffav, 5>v ^ things that are thine out of thy
Sfirai 6 &t6s ; Kal roi vpoa<f>fpfiv own gifts : that is. by way of
Sfov avai^aK-rov Bvcriav, Ka\ TTJV \oyi- acknowledgment. See the testi-
K.TIV irpoffdyftv \a.rptiav. Athenag. monies collected in Deylingius, Ob-
p. 49. servat. Miscellan. pp. 201, 312.
T 2
334 The Eucharist considered CIJAP.
upon the distinction between the typical sacrifices of the Law *,
and the true sacrifices of the Gospel". He seems to mean by
typical there the same that St. Austin, before cited, meant by
signs. Those external sacrifices were symbols, tokens, pledges of
the true homage, or true sacrifice ; which Irenaeus interprets of
a contrite heart, faith, obedience, righteousness x , &c. referring to
several texts y of the Old Testament and New, which recommend
true goodness as the acceptable sacrifice. He understands the
Gospel incense, spoken of in Malachi 2 , of the prayers of the
saints a , according to Rev. v. 8. He makes mention also of an
altar in heaven, to which the prayers and oblations of the Church
are supposed to ascend, and on which they are conceived to be
offered by our great High Priest to God the Father b . The
thought, very probably, was taken from the golden altar men-
tioned in the Apocalypse c , and represented as bearing the mys-
tical incense. The notion of a mystical altar in heaven became
very frequent in the Christian writers aTter Irenaeus d , and
was in process of time taken into most of the old Liturgies,
Greek, Latin, and Oriental; as is well known to as many as are
at all conversant in them. The notion was not new : for the
Old Testament speaks of prayers, as ' coming up to God's holy
* ' Per sAcrificia autem et reliquas a ' In omni loco incensum offertur
typicaa observantias, putantes propi- nomini meo, et saerificium purum.
tiari Deum, dicebat eis Samuel/ &c. Incensa autem Joannes in Apo-
Iren. lib. iv. cap. 17. p. 247. edit, calypsi orationes esse ait sancto-
Bened. rjun.' Iren. 1. iv. c. 17. p. 249.
u ' Verum saerificium insinuans, b ' Est ergo altare in caelis (illic
quodofferentespropitiabunturDeum, enim preces nostrae et oblationes
ut ab eo vitam percipiant : quemad- diriguntur) et templum ; quemad-
modum alibi ait ; Sacriticium Deo modum Joannes in Apocalypsi ait,
cor tribulatum, odor suavitatis Deo, Et apertum est tenjpium Dei.' Iren.
cor clarificans cum qui plasma vit.' ibid.
Ibid. p. 248. c Rev. viii. 3, 5. Vid. Vitringa
* ' Non sacrificia et bolocausto- in loc. Dodwell on Incensing, pp.
mata quaerebat ab eis Deus, sed 39 44.
fidem, et obedientiarn, et justitiam, d Clemens Alex. p. 209. Origen.
propter illorum salutem.' Ibid. p. Horn, in Joan. xvii. p. 438. Gregor.
249. Nazianz. vol. i. pp. 31, 484, 692.
y i Sam. xv. 22. Psalm 1. 14; Chrysostom. in Heb. Horn. xi. p.
li. 17. Isa. i. 16, 17. Jerem. 807. Cyrill. Alex, de Adorat. lib.
vii. 22, 23. Hos. vi. 6. Philip, iv. ix. p. 310. Apostol. Constitut. lib.
18. viii. cap. 13. Augustin. Serm. 351.
* Malach. i. II. de Poeiiit. p. 1357. torn. v.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 325
dwelling-place, even to heaven 6 :' and the New Testament fol-
lows the same figure of speech, applying it both to prayers and
alms-deeds, in the case of Cornelius f .
Irenaeus, as I have observed, understood the incense, mentioned
in the Prophet, of the evangelical sacrifice of prayer : but then
it is to be further noted, that he distinguished between the in-
cense and the pure offering, and so understood the latter of
something else. He understood it of the alms or oblations that
went along with the prayers ; referring to St. Paul's doctrine, in
Phil. iv. 1 8, which recommends charitable contributions, as 'an
odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to
God;' as also to Proverbs xix. 17, 'He that hath pity upon
the poor lendeth unto the Lord e.' Such were the pure offerings
of the Church, in Irenaeus's account ; and they were spiritual
sacrifices : for it is the service, not the material offering, which
God accepts in such cases, as Irenaeus himself has plainly inti-
mated n . It must be owned that Irenaeus does speak of the
eucharistical oblations under the notion of presents brought to
the altar, offered up to God, for the agnizing him as Creator of
the world, and as the giver of all good things, and for a testimony
of our love and gratitude towards him on that score i. This he
calls a pure sacrifice k , present, offering, and the like : and since
the bread and wine so offered were certainly material, how shall
e 2 Chron. xxx. 27. Compare primitias suorum munerum in Novo
Tobit iii. 16 ; xii. 12. Wisd. ix. 8. Testamento,' &c. Irenaeus, lib. iv.
f Acts x. 4. cap. 17. p. 249.
e Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 18. p. 251. k ' Ecclesiae oblatio, quam Do-
u ' Qui enim nullius indigens est minus docuit offerri in universo
Deus, in se assumit bonas opera- mundo, purum sacrificium reputa-
tiones nostras, ad hoc ut praestet turn est apud Deum, et acceptum
nobis retributionem bonorum &uo- est ei : non quod iridigeat a nobis
rum.' Iren. ibid. p. 251. sacrificium, sed quoniam is qui of-
' ' Suis discipulis dans eonsilium, fert, glorificatur ipse in eo quod
primitias Deo offerre ex suis crea- offert, si acceptetur munus ejus.
turis, non quasi indigenti, sed ut Per munus enim erga regem et
ipsi ncc infructuosi nee ingrati sint, honos et affectio ostenditur : quod
eum qui ex creatura panis est ac- in omni simplicitate et innocentia
cepit, et gratias egit, &c. . . . Novi Dominus volens nos ofFerre, praedi-
Testamenti novam docuit oblatio- cavit, dicens, Cum igitur offers mu-
iiem, quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis nus tuum ad altare,' &c. Irenaeus,
accipiens, in universo mundo offert lib. iv. cap. 1 8. p. 250.
Deo, ei qui alimenta nobis praestat,
326 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
we distinguish the sacrifice he speaks of from a material sacrifice,
or how can we call it a spiritual sacrifice \ A learned foreigner,
being aware of the seeming repugnancy, has endeavoured to re-
concile the author to himself, by saying, that the eucharistical
oblation may still be reckoned a spiritual sacrifice, on account of
the prayers, lauds, and offerings going along with it, which are
spiritual services 1 . Another learned gentleman observes, that
according to Irenaeus, the very life and soul .of the new oblation
rests in the prayers by which it is offered up, and which finish or
perfect the spiritual oblation m . The solution appears to be just,
so far as it goes : but I would take leave to add to it, that the
material offering, in this case, is not properly a present made to
God, though brought before him : for it is not consumed (like a
burnt offering) in God's immediate service, nor any part of it,
but it goes entire to the use of man, not so much as any particle
of it separated for God's portion, as in the legal sacrifices 11 .
Therefore the material offering is not the sacrifice ; but the com-
municant's agnizing the Creator by it ; that is properly sacrifice,
and spiritual sacrifice, of the same nature with lauds. I may
add further, that those eucharistical oblations were, in Irenaeus'e
account, contributions to the Church and to the poor, as is plain
by his referring to Prov. xix. 17, and Phil. iv. 18, which I noted
before : and therefore he looked upon them as evangelical and
spiritual sacrifices, falling under article the first of the recital
given above. For it is not the matter of the contributions which
constitutes the sacrifice, but it is the exercise of benevolence, and
that is spiritual, and what God accepts. Under the Law, God
1 ' Non satis sibi constare videtur merer!.' Buddaeus, Miscellan. Sacr.
Irenaeus, qui de sacrifices spiritu- torn. i. pp. 59, 60.
alibus antea locutus erat, deque m ' Ex quibus patet animam ob-
iis acceperat vaticinium Malachiae, lationis novae, quae in Nov. Test,
quod nunc contra ad oblationes istas juxta Irenaeum fit, et a Christo in-
eucharisticas trahere videtur. At stituta est, esse preces queis dona
bene cuncta se habent, si observe- offeruntur. . . . Accedentibus preci-
mus et ipsam Eucharistiam ratione bus, quibus nomen Dei glorificatur,
precum et gratiarum actionis, quae ipsi gratiae redduntur, donorumque
earn comitari solet, et oblationes sauctificatio expetitur, perficitur uti-
quoque istas, quas cum Eucharistia que spiritualis ilia atque eucharistica
conjungere moris erat, suum itidem oblatio.' Pfaffius in Irenaei Fragm.
locum inter sacrificia spiritualia pro- p. 57. " See above, p. 136.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 32 7
accepted the external sacrifice, the material offering, as to legal
effect : but under the Gospel, he accepts of nothing as to any
salutary effect at all, but the spiritual service. This is the new
oblation, the only one that is any way acceptable under the
Gospel, being made ' in spirit and in truth.'
Some perhaps may object, that such spiritual oblation cannot
justly be called new, since it was mentioned by the Prophets, and
is as old as David at least, who speaks of the sacrifice of a con-
trite heai-t, and the like . All which is very certain, but foreign
to the point in hand. For let it be considered, i. That the new
covenant is really as old as Adam, and yet is justly called new.
2. That though spiritual sacrifices were always the most accept-
able sacrifices, yet God did accept even of material sacrifices,
under the Mosaical economy, as to legal effect ; and so it was a
new thing to put an end to such legal ordinances. 3. That when
spiritual sacrifices obtained (as they all along did) under the
Law, yet they obtained under veils, covers, or symbols ; and so it
was a new thing to accept of them, under the Gospel, stripped of
all their covers and external signatures. 4. The Gospel sacrifices
are offei-ed in, by, and through Christ, expressly and explicitly ;
and so the spiritual sacrifices of the Gospel are offered in a new
way, and under a new form P. These considerations appear
sufficient to justify Irenaeus's calling the Christian oblation a
new oblation : or it may be added, that new light, new force
and new degrees of perfection have been brought in by the
Gospel to every part or branch both of speculative and practical
religion,
I pass on to Clemens of Alexandria. He maintains constantly,
See Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- by him, in Christ's name. Hitherto
fice, part i. p. 264, alias 268. ye have asked nothing in my name
P ' By him we are to offer : it is says our Saviour ; but hereafter his
bin merit and mediation that crowns name will give virtue and efficacy to
the sacrifice. .. .This by him gives all our services: and therefore, to
the characteristical difference of the gain so gracious an advocate with
Christian sacrifice from all others : the Father, our prayers and suppli-
for, otherwise, the sacrifice of praise cations are in the Liturgy offered
was common to all times before and up in his name, concluding always,
under the Law. You find in many by the merits of our Lord Jesus
Psalms a sacrifice of praise and Christ.' Bishop Lany's Sermon on
thanksgiving, but in none of them Heb. xiii. 15. pp. 13, 14.
328 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
under some variety of expression, that spiritual sacrifices are
the only Christian sacrifices. To the question, what sacrifice
is most acceptable to Godl he makes answer, in the words
of the Psalmist, ' a contrite heart.' He goes on to say : ' How
then shall I crown, or anoint, or what incense shall I offer unto
the Lord? A heart that glorifies its Maker is a sacrifice of
sweet odour unto God : these are the garlands, and sacrifices,
and spices and flowers for God 1.' In another place, condemn-
ing the luxury of perfumes, he starts an objection, viz. that
Christ our High Priest may be thought perhaps to offer incense,
or perfumes, above : an objection grounded probably, either upon
what the typical high priest did under the Law r , or upon what
is intimated of Christ himself under the Gospel 3 : to which
Clemens replies, that our Lord offers no such perfume there, but
what he does offer above is the spiritual perfume of charity *.
He alluded, as it seems, to our Lord's philanthropy, in giving
himself a sacrifice for mankind ; unless we choose to understand
it of our Lord's recommending the charity of his saints and ser-
vants at the high altar in heaven. Clemens elsewhere reckons
up meekness, philanthropy, exalted piety, humility, sound know-
ledge, among the acceptable sacrifices u , as they amount to sacri-
ficing the old man, with the lusts and passions : to which he adds
also the offering up our own selves ; thereby glorifying him who
was sacrificed for us. Such were this author's sentiments of the
Christian sacrifices : he looked upon the Church itself as the
altar here below, the collective body of Christians, sending up
the sacrifice of prayer to heaven, with united voices : the best and
holiest sacrifice of all, if sent up in righteousness *. He speaks
slightly of the legal sacrifices, as being symbols only of evan-
gelical righteousness y. He makes the just soul to be a holy
<i Clemens Alex. Paedag. lib. iii. s rb Ovtriaar-fipiov, &c. Clem. Alex.
c. 12. p. 306. Cp. Strom, lib. ii. Paedag. lib. ii. cap. 8. p. 209.
pp. 369, 370. u Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. p. 836.
' Exod. xxx. 7. * Ibid. p. 848.
B Rev. v. 8 ; viii. 3. Cp. Vitring. J At fi.fi> yap Kara rbv v6faov Ovcrlai,
in loc. T^l" Tfpl i>f*as tvo-f&fiav a\\rryopovffi.
TJ TTJS o-xamjj Sf/trbi/ avaQepftv Ibid. p. 849.
TOV Kvpiov, T}}V Trvtvuariti
xn. in a Sacrificial View. 329
altar z : and as to the sacrifice of the Church, it is ' speech ex-
haled from holy souls, while the whole mind is laid open before
God, together with the sacrifice a .' Elsewhere, the sacrifices of
the Christian Gnostic he makes to be prayers, and lauds, and
reading of Scripture, and psalms, and anthems b . Such were
Clemens's general principles, in relation to Gospel sacrifices. He
has not directly applied them to the particular instance of the
Eucharist ; though we may reasonably do it for him, upon probable
presumption. It is manifest that he could not consistently own
it for a sacrifice of ours, in any other view but as a service carry-
ing in it such spiritual sacrifices as he has mentioned : in that
view, it might be upon his principles a noble sacrifice, yea, a
combination of sacrifices.
Tertullian may come next, a very considerable writer, who has
a great deal to our purpose : I shall select what may suffice to
shew his sentiments of the Christian sacrifices. Giving some ac-
count of them to the Pagans, in his famous Apology, he expresses
himself thus : ' I offer unto God a fatter and nobler sacrifice,
which himself hath commanded ; viz. prayer sent out from a
chaste body, an innocent soul, and a sanctified spirit : not
worthless grains of frankincense, the tears of an Arabian tree c ,'
&c. I shall only observe, that if Tertullian had understood the
material elements of the Eucharist to be a sacrifice, how easy
might it have been to retort upon him the worthless grains of
wheat, and the like. But he had no such thought. Prayer and
a good life were his sacrifice : and a noble one they are. In an-
other place of his works, he says ; ' We sacrifice indeed, but it
is with pure prayer, as God has commanded ; for God, the
Creator of the universe, hath no need of any incense, or blood d .'
z Bccubj/ 8t a\r)d}s aytov, T^V 81- Strom, vii. pp. 860, 861.
Kaiav tyvxiiv. p. 848. Cp. Augustin. c ' Offero ei opimam et majorem
de Civit. Dei, lib. x. cap. 4. hostiam, quam ipse mandavit ; ora-
a 'H 0vffia TTjs fKK\7]ffias, \6yos tionem de carne pudica, de anima
oTrb TUV ayldiv tyvx&v avaOv/j.Ka/j.tvot, innocenti, de spiritu sancto profec-
fKKa\vTTTo/j.evris a/j.a rrjs 6v<rias, Kal tarn : non grana thuris unius assifi,
TTJS Siavoias airacrTjs ry Qty. Clem. Arabicae arboris lacrymae,' &c. Ter-
Alex. p. 848. lull. Apol. cap. xxx. p. 277. edit.
b Qvcriat nfv aim?, ei>xai Tt Kal Havercamp.
alvoi, KO.\ irpb TTJJ fffnavfias fvrtv^fis A ' Sacrificamus . . . sed quomodo
5f Kal v^voi, &o. Deus praecepit, pura prece : non
33 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
How obvious might it have been to retort, that God has no need
of bread or wine, had that been the Christian sacrifice : but
Tertullian knew better ; and still he rests it upon pui-e prayer,
that is, prayer together with a good mind. Let us hear him
again : ' That we ought not to offer unto God earthly, but
spiritual sacrifices, we may learn from what is written, The
sacrifice of God is an humble and contrite spirit : and else-
where, Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay
thy vows unto the Most High. So then, the spiritual sacrifices
of praise are here pointed to, and a troubled spirit is declared
to be the acceptable sacrifice unto God e .' What Justin Martyr
rejected as material sacrifice, our author here rejects under the
name of earthly, or terrene. Are not bread and wine both of
them terrene ? Therefore he thought not of them, but of some-
thing spiritual : and he has named what ; viz. lauds and thanks-
givings, and discharge of sacred vows, all from an humble and
contrite heart : these were the acceptable sacrifices, in his ac-
count. He goes on, in the same place, to quote Isaiah against
carnal sacrifices, and Malachi also, to shew that spiritual
sacrifices are established f . In his treatise against Marcion, he
again refers to the Prophet Malachi, interpreting the pure offer-
ing there mentioned, not of any material oblation, but of hearty
prayer from a pure conscience s ; and elsewhere, of giving glory,
and blessing, and lauds, and hymns h . Which, by the way, may
serve for a comment upon Justin and Irenaeus, as to their ap-
plying that passage of Malachi to the Eucharist : they might do
it, because the spiritual sacrifices here mentioned by Tertullian
make a great part of the service. It would have been very
enim egit Deus, conditur universi- cor contribulatum acceptabile sacri-
tatis, odoris, aut sanguinis alicujus.' ficium Deo demonstratur.' Tertull.
Tertull. ad Scap. cap. ii. p. 69. adv. Jud. cap. v. p. 188.
Eigalt. f Tertull. adv. Jud. cap. v. p. 188.
e ' Namque, quod non terrenis * ' Sacrificium munduin : scilicet
sacrifices, sed spiritalibus, Deo li- simplex oratio de conscientia pura.'
tandura sit, ita legimus ut scriptum Tertull. contr. Marc. lib. iv. cap. i.
est, Cor contribulatum et humilia- p. 414.
turn hostia Deo est. Et alibi, Sacri- h ' Sacrificium mundum : gloriae
fica Deo sacrificiurn laudis, et redde scilicet relatio, et benedictio, et laus,
Altissimo vota tua. Sic igitur sacri- et hymni.' Adv. Marc. lib. Ui. cap.
ticia spiritalia laudis designantur, et 22. p. 410.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 331
improper to interpret one part of spiritual service, viz. of prayer,
and the other of a material loaf. In another treatise, Tertullian
numbers up among the acceptable sacrifices, conflicts of soul,
fastings, watchings, and abstemiousness, with their mortifying
appurtenances >. But besides all this, there is, if I mistake not, in
the latter part of his Book of Prayer (published by Muratorius,
A. D. 1713) a large and full description of the eucharistical
sacrifice, which will be worth the transcribing at length. After
recommending the use of psalmody along with prayers, and the
making responses in the public service, he then declares that such
kind of prayer, so saturated with psalmody, is like a well fed
sacrifice : but it is of the spiritual kind, such as succeeded in the
room of all the legal sacrifices. Then referring to Isaiah i.
n, to shew the comparative meanness of the Jewish sacrifices,
and to John iv. 23, for the right understanding the evangelical,
he proceeds thus : ' We are the true worshippers and the
true priests, who worshipping in spirit, do in spirit saci'ifice
prayer, suitable to God and acceptable ; such as he has re-
quired, and such as he has provided for himself. This is what
we ought to bring to God's altar [by way of sacrifice] devoted
from the whole heart, fed with faith, decked with truth, by
innocence made entire, and clean by chastity, crowned with a
feast of charity, attended with a train of good works, amidst
the acclamations of psalms and anthems V The reader will
1 ' Sacrificia Deo grata : conflic- Evangelium docet : Veniet hora, in-
tationes dico animae, jejunia, seras quit, cum veri adoratores adorabunt
et aridas escas, et appendices hujus Patreni in spiritu et veritate ; Deus
officii sordes.' De Resurrect. Carn. enim Spiritus est, et adoratores ita-
cap. viii. p. 330. que tales requirit. Nos sumus veri
k ' Diligentiores in orando subjun- adoratores, et veri sacerdotes, qui
gere in orationibus Alleluia solent, Spiritu orantes, Spiritu sacrificamus
et hoc genus Psalmos, quorum clau- orationem Dei propriam et accepta-
sulis respondeant, qui simul sunt : bilein, quam scilicet requisivit, quam
et est optimum utique institutum sibi prospexit. Hanc de toto corde
omne, quod proponendo et hono- devotain, fide pastam, veritate cura-
rando Deo competit, saturatam ora- tain, innocentia integram, castitate
tionera, velut optimam [opimam] mundam, agape coronatam, cum
hostiam admovere. Haec est enim pompa bonorum operum inter psal-
Lostia spiritalis, quae pristina sa- mos et hymnos deducere ad Dei
crificia delevit. Quo mihi, inquit, altare debemus.' Tertull. de Orat.
multitudinem sacrificiorum vestro- cap. xxvii., xxviii. pp. 52, 53. edit,
rum ? . . . Quae ergo quaesierit Deus, Murator.
332 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
here observe, how the author most elegantly describes the Chris-
tian and spiritual sacrifice of prayer, in phrases borrowed from
material sacrifices ; with an heifer, or bullock in his mind, led up
to the altar to be sacrificed : and his epithets are all chosen, as
the editor has justly observed, so as to answer that figure \ But
what I am principally to note is, that this was really intended
for a description of the eucharistical sacrifice : which is plain
from the circumstances : i. From his speaking of the public
psalmody, as going along with it m , and the responses made
by the assembly. 2. From the mention made of God's altar.
3. And principally, from what he says of the feast of charity,
which is known to have been connected with the service of the
Eucharist, or to have been an appendage to it n , at that time ;
for which reason, that service may very properly be said to have
been crowned with it. These circumstances sufficiently shew,
that Tertullian had the Communion Service in his mind, and
that was the sacrifice which he there chose to describe ; a com-
plicated sacrifice, consisting of many articles, and all of them
spiritual, but all summed up in a right faith, pure worship, and
good life. Such is the Christian sacrifice ; and such we ought
to bring constantly to the Lord's table, to the holy and mystical
altar.
To the same purpose speaks Minucius Felix, not long after
Tertullian. The only gifts proper to be offered to God by Chris-
tians, are Christian services, Christian virtues, according to his
account . To offer him anything else, is throwing him back his
own gifts, not presenting him with anything of ours. What
could Minucius therefore have thought of offering him bread and
1 ' Orationi, quam hostiam spiri- offeram, quas in usum mei protulit,
talem appellat, singula tribmit, quae ut rejiciam ei suum munus ? Ingra-
victimis carneis conveniebant, nimi- turn est : cum sit litabilis hostia
rum ut de toto corde voveatur Deo, bonus animus, et pura mens, et
ut sit pasta, curata, Integra, munda, sincera conscientia. Igitrur, qui in-
corouata.' Muratorius in Notis, p. 53. nocentiam colit, Domino supplicat ;
m ' Quorum clausulis respondeant, qui justitiam, Deo libat ; qui fraudi-
qui Minul sunt.' bus abstinet, propitiat Deum ; qui
n See Bingham, book xv. chap. 7. hominem periculo subripit, opiraam
sect. 7, 8. Suicer. Thesaur. torn. i. victimam caedit. Haec nostra sacri-
p. 26. ficia, haec Dei sacra sunt.' Minuc.
' Hostias et victimas Domino Fel. sect, xxxii. p. 183.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 333
wine, if considered as gifts or sacrifices to God ] It is manifest,
that he must have understood the service, not the elements, to
be the Christian gift, and Christian sacrifice.
Origen falls in with the sentiments of the earlier Fathers, as
to spiritual sacrifices, and their being the only Gospel sacrifices.
Fqr when Celsus had objected to Christians their want of altars,
he replies : ' The objector does not consider, that, with us,
every good man's mind is his altar, from whence truly and
spiritually the incense of perfume is sent up : viz. prayers from
a pure conscience P.' Then he refers to Rev. v. 8, and to
Psalm cxli. 2. A little higher up in the same treatise, he speaks
of Christians presenting their petitions, sacrifices, and supplica-
tions; beseeching Christ, since ( he is the propitiation for our
sins,' to recommend the same, in quality of High Priest, to
the acceptance of God the Father <i. We may here observe,
that the altar which he speaks of is spiritual, as well as the
sacrifice. Had he known of any material altar, or material
sacrifice, (properly so called,) among Christians, this was the
place for him to have named it. It is true, the Lord's table is
often called altar in the ancient monuments, and it is a material
table : and the alms also and oblations made at the same table,
for the use of church and poor, are material, as well as the table.
But the service is spiritual, and that is the sacrifice, there
offei-ed : and therefore the table, considered as an altar, an altar
for spiritual sacrifice, is a mystical, spiritual altar. So if a man
offers his own body as a sacrifice for the name of Christ upon a
scaffold, his body is material, and so is the scaffold also : but
nevertheless, the sacrifice is spiritual, and the scaffold, considered
as an altar, must be a spiritual altar, to make it answer to the
sacrifice, as they are correlates. This I hint by the way, in order
to obviate some wrong constructions, which have been made r of
P OvX opiav, on 0cajj.ol p.4v elffiv a|iowTs ourbi', fAao^tbc ovra. wepl
i}H<.v Tb eicdcrTov rSiv SiKaituv r)yffj.ov- rSiv a/Aa.pricai> fifiiai', irpoffayayfiv $
IKUV, a(f>' ov draTTfjUTrerai a\i]6ws Kal 'A.px<- f p*& T * s fvx&St K d Taj 0u<n'ar,
voTjris ewiSrj dvfj.tdjj.ar a, 01 irpiMTfvxa-l KO.I fas evrfv^fis rj/j.Sii' rf eVl Tram
airb ffuffi^fftcas Kadopas. Origen. 0<p. p. 751.
contra Ce!s. p. 755. r gee Johnson's Unbloody Sacrt-
i 'fit KpiuTov npoff<pfpofj.iv ulna*, fice, part i. p. 30, alias 31.
334 T&e Eucharist considered CHAP.
a material table and material elements. It is true, the table is
material, and the elements also material : but so far as one is
considered or called an altar, it is spiritual and mystical ; and so
far as the other are called a sacrifice, they also are spiritual and
mystical. The holy table is called an altar, with regard to the
spiritual services, that is, sacrifices sent up from it, and so it is a
spiritual altar: then as it bears the symbols of the grand sacrifice
applied in this service, and herein feasted upon by every worthy
communicant, it is a symbolical or mystical table, answering to
the symbolical and mystical banquet. But I pass on.
Cyprian, of that age, speaks as highly of spiritual sacrifices as
any one before or after him. For in an epistle written to the
confessors in prison, and not permitted to communicate there, he
comforts them up in the manner here following : ' Neither your
religion nor faith can suffer by the hard circumstances you are
under, that the priests of God have not the liberty to offer and
celebrate the holy sacrifices. You do celebrate, and you do
offer unto God a sacrifice both precious and glorious, and
which will much avail you towards your obtaining heavenly
reAvards. The holy Scripture says, The sacrifice of God is a
broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart God doth not despise,
Psalm li. 17. This sacrifice you offer to God, this you celebrate
without intermission, day and night, being made victims to
God, and presenting yourselves as such, holy and unblemished,
pursuant to the Apostle's exhortation, where he says, I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies, &c. Rom. xii. i. For this is what pleases God :
and it is this by which our other services are rendered more
worthy, for the engaging the Divine acceptance. This is the
only thing that our devout and dutiful affections can offer under
the name of a return for all his great and salutary blessings :
for so by the Psalmist says the Spirit of God, What shall I
render, &c. Psalm cxvi. 12, 13, 15. Who would not readily
and cheerfully take this cup 8 ?' The remarks here proper
are as follow : i. That the author looked upon the Eucharist as
8 Cyprian, Epist. Ixxvi. p. 232. ed. Oxon., alias Epist. Ixxvii. p. 159.
ed. Bened.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 335
an oblation, or sacrifice, or complication of sacrifices. 2. That
in case of injurious exclusion from it, he conceived that spiritual
sacrifices alone were equivalent to it, or more than equivalent to
the ordinary sacrifices therein offered.- 3. That therefore be
could not suppose any sacrifice offered in the Eucharist to be the
archetypal sacrifice itself, or to be tantamount to it : which I note
chiefly in opposition to Mr. Dodwell, who imagined that the
ancients ' reckoned the Christian Eucharist for the archetypal
sacrifice of Christ upon the cross f :' an assertion, which must
be very much qualified and softened, to make it tolerable. The
Eucharist, considered as a Sacrament, is indeed representative
and exhibitive of the archetypal sacrifice ; not as offered, but as
feasted upon by us, given and applied by God and Christ to every
worthy receiver. Therefore that excellently learned man inad-
vertently here confounded the sacrificial view of the Eucharist
with the sacramental one, and man's part in it with what is
properly God's. What we give to God is our own service, and
ourselves, which is our sacrifice : but the archetypal sacrifice
itself is what no one but Christ himself could offer, whether
really or symbolically. We represent it, we do not offer it in the
Eucharist; but it is there sacrameatally or symbolically to us
exhibited, or applied. 4. It may be noted of Cyprian, that he
judged the devoting our whole selves to God's service and to
God's glory, to be the most acceptable sacrifice which we are
capable of offering : and his preferring the sacrifice of martyrdom
(other circumstances supposed equal) to the ordinary sacrifice of
the Eucharist, was conformable to the standing principles of the
Church, in preferring the baptism of blood to the baptism of
water u .
It remains to be inquired, in how many senses, or upon what
accounts, St. Cyprian styled the Eucharist a sacrifice, i. He
might so style it on account of the lay-offerings therein made,
which were a spiritual sacrificed 2. Next, on account of the
sacerdotal recommendation of the same offerings to the Divine
1 Dodwell of Incense, p. 55.
u Yid. Dodwell. Cyprian. Dissert, xiii. p. 420, &c.
v See above, chap. i. p. 26.
336 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
acceptance x : which was another spiritual sacrifice. 3. On
account of the prayers, lauds, hymns, &c. which went along with
both the former, and were emphatically spiritual sacrifice. 4. On
account of the Christian charity and brotherly love signified by
and exemplified in the service of the Eucharist : for that Cyprian
looked upon as a prime sacrifice of it y. 5. On account of the
grand sacrifice applied by Christ, commemorated and feasted on
by us (not properly offered) in the Eucharist z . Such commemo-
ration is itself a spiritual service, of the same nature with lauds,
and so makes a part of the spiritual sacrifice of the Eucharist.
In these several views, Cyprian might, or probably did, look upon
the Eucharist as a sacrifice, and accordingly so named it.
There is one particular passage in Cyprian, which has been
often pleaded by Romanists in favour of a real sacrificing of
Christ in the Eucharist, and sometimes by Protestants, amongst
ourselves, in favour of a material sacrifice at least, or of a
symbolical offering up of Christ's body and blood to God the
Father. The words of Cyprian run thus : ' If Jesus Christ, our
Lord and God, be the High Priest of God the Father, and
first offered himself a sacrifice to the Father, and commanded
this to be done in commemoration of himself; then that
Priest truly acts in Christ's stead, who imitates what Christ
did, and then offers a true and complete sacrifice in the Church
to God the Father, if he begins so to offer, as he sees Christ to
have offered before a .' From hence it has been pleaded, that
* See above, p. 26. Pope Innocent de Orat. p. 211. edit. Bened., p. 150.
I. clearly expresses both, in these Oxon.
words : 'De nominibus vero recitan- * See above, chap. i. pp. 25, 31.
diw, antequam preces sacerdos faciat, ' Si Jesus Christus, Dominus et
atque eorum oblationes, quorum no- Deus noster, ipse est summus sacer-
inina recitanda sunt, sua oratione dos Dei Patris, et sacrificium Patri
commendet, quam superfluum sit, et seipsum primus obtulit, et hoc fieri
ipse pro tua prudentia recognoscis : in sui commemorationem praecepit ;
ut cujus hostiam nee dum Deo of- utique ille sacerdos vice Christi vere
feras, ejus ante nomen insinues,'&c. fungitur, qui id, quod Christus fecit,
Harduin. Concil. torn. i. p. 997. imitatur, et sacrificium verum et pie-
s' ' Sic nee sacrificium Deus recipit num tune offert in Ecclesia Deo Pa-
dissidentis Sacrificium Deo majus tri, si sic incipiat offerre secundum
est pax nostra et fraterna concordift, quod ipsum Christum videat obtu-
et de imitate Patris et Filii et Spiri- lisse.' Cyprian. Ep. Ixiii. p. 109.
tus Sancti plebs adunata.' Cyprian. And see above, ch. i. p. 25.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 337
Christ offered himself in the Eucharist, and that the Christian
Priests ought to do the same that he did ; that is, to offer, or
sacrifice, Christ himself in this Sacrament. But it is not certain
that Cyprian did mean (as he has not plainly said) that Christ
offered himself in the Eucharist : he might mean only, that
Christ offered himself upon the cross, and that he instituted this
Sacrament as a commemoration of it. As to the words true and
complete sacrifice, he certainly meant no more, than that Christ
offered both bread and wine, and had left it us in charge to do
the same : and this he observed in opposition to some of that
time, who affected to mutilate the Sacrament by leaving out the
wine, and using water instead of it, which was not doing the
same that Christ did.
However, I think it not material to dispute whether Cyprian
ideally intended to teach, that our Lord offered himself in the
Eucharist, since it is certain, that some Fathers of eminent note
in the Church, after his days, did plainly and in terms affirm
it b : and other Fathers admitted of our Lord's offering, or de-
voting himself previously to the passion c . And they are therein
followed by several learned moderns, even among Protestants d ;
who ground the doctrine chiefly on John xvii. 19. A sufficient
answer to the objection (so far as concerns the Komish plea
built thereupon) is given by our incomparable Bishop Jewel, in
these words : 'We deny not but it may well be said, Christ at his
last supper offered up himself unto his Father : albeit, not really
and indeed, but in a figure, or in a mystery ; in such sort as we
say, Christ was offered in the sacrifices of the old Law, and, as
b Hilarius, in Matt. c. xxxi. p. Sacrif. pp. 307, 370. Witsius, Mis-
743. ed. Bened. Arnbrosius, de Mys- cellan. Sacr. torn. i. dissert. 2. not.
ter. Paschae, c. i. Gregor. Nyssen. 87. In Symb. Apost. Exercit. x. p.
de Kesurr. Christi, seu Pasch. i. 147. Whitby on John xvii. 19. Zor-
Hesychius in Levit. pp. 55, 56; cp. nius, Opusc. Sacr. torn. ii. p. 251.
J 69, 376, 540. Cp. Steph. Gobar. Deylingius, Observat. Miscel. p,
apud Phot. Cod. 232. p. 902. Missal. 560. Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
Gotho-Gallican. p. 297. et Mabillon. part i. pp. 6 1 96. part ii. pp. 4 10.
in Praefat. et alibi. N.B. These authors suppose that our
c Chrysostom. in Joan. Horn. Lord devoted himself beforehand,
Ixxxii. 484. Cyril. Alex, de Adorat. gave himself on the cross, presented
lib. x, p. 350. In Joan. lib. iv. c. 2, himself in heaven : one continued
p. 354. oblation in all, but distinguished into
d Mede, Opp. p. 14. Outram de three several parts, views, or stages.
Z
338 The Eucharist considered CHAP,
St. John says, The lamb was slain from the beginning of the
world, as Christ was slain at the table, so was he sacrificed at
the table ; but he was not slain at the table verily and indeed,
but only in a mystery e .' This is a just and full answer to the
Romanists, with whom the good Bishop held the debate. But it
may still be pleaded by those who maintain a material sacrifice,
that this answer affects not them, since they contend only, that
Christ offered the symbols in the Eucharist, and himself under
those symbols, that is, in a mystery ; just as a man offers to
God houses or lands, by presenting a sword, or piece of money,
or pair of gloves, upon the altar of a church, or transfers an
estate by delivery of parchments, and the like : and if Christ
thus symbolically offered himself a sacrifice in the Eucharist,
why may he not be, in like manner, symbolically offered in the
Eucharist at this day f 1 This, I think, is the sum and substance
of what is pleaded by some Protestants in favour of a symboli-
cal sacrifice, as offered in the Eucharist. To which I answer :
i. That no one has any authority or right to offer Christ as a
sacrifice (whether really or symbolically) but Christ himself.
Such a sacrifice is his sacrifice, not ours; offered for us, and not
by us, to God the Father. If Christ in the institution offered
himself under those symbols, (which however does not appear ?,)
he might have a right to do it : we have none, and so can only
commemorate what he did, and by the same symbols. 2. If we
symbolically sacrifice anything in the Eucharist, it is only in
such a sense as St. Austin (hereafter to be quoted) speaks of ;
where he considers the bread and wine as symbols of the united
body of the Church. We may so symbolically offer up, or sacri-
fice ourselves, and that is all : more than that cannot comport
with Scripture, or with the principle of the ancients, that all our
sacrifices are made in and by Christ. He is not the matter or
subject of our sacrifices, but the Mediator of them : we offer not
him, but we offer what we do offer, by him h . 3. If the thing
e Jewel, Answer to Harding, p. S Vid. Sam. Basnag. Annal. torn.
417 ; compare pp. 426, 427. i. pp. 371, 372.
f See Johnson's Collection of Sax on h Heb. xiii. 15. 'Per Jesum Chris-
Laws, &c. praef. p. 57, &c. turn offert Ecclesia. . . . Non recepe-
xn. in a Sacrificial View.
symbolically offered in the Eucharist were Christ himself, then
the offerer or offerers must stand in the place of Christ, and be
as truly the symbols of Christ in their offering capacity, as the
elements are supposed to be in their sacrificial capacity. Then
not only the Priests, but the whole Church, celebrating the
Eucharist, must symbolically represent the person of Christ, and
stand in his stead : a notion which has no countenance in Scrip-
ture or antiquity, but is plainly contradicted by the whole tura
and tenor of all the ancient Liturgies, as well as by the plain
nature and reason of the thing. 4. I may add, lastly, that all
the confusion, in this article, seems to arise from the want of
distinguishing the sacrificial part of the Eucharist from the
sacramental one, as before noted : we do not offer Christ to God
in the Eucharist, but God offers Christ to us, in return for our
offering ourselves. We commemorate the grand sacrifice, but do
not reiterate it ; no not so much as under symbols. But God
applies it by those symbols or pledges : and so, though there is
no symbolical sacrifice of that kind, neither can be, yet there is
a symbolical grant, and a symbolical banquet, which is far better,
and which most effectually answers all purposes. In short, there
is, as the Apostle assures us, a communion of Christ's body and
blood, in the Eucharist, to every worthy receiver. The real and
natural body is, as it were, under symbols and pledges, conveyed
to us here, where the verity is not : but to talk of our sending
the same up thither, under the like pledges, where the verity
itself is, carries no appearance of truth or consistency ; neither
hath it any countenance either in Scripture or antiquity.
I now go on to Lactantius, Avho is supposed to have nourished
about A. D. 318. The Christian sacrifices which he speaks of,
are meekheartedness, innocent life, and good works. He allows
of no sacrifices but of the incorporeal invisible kind, being that
such only are fit for God, who is incorporeal and invisible, to
receive, under the last and most perfect dispensation of the
runt verbum per quod offertur Deo.' Evang. lib. i. c. 10. p. 39. Cp. Au-
Iren. lib. iv. c. 17, 18. pp. 249, 251. gustin. de Civ. Dei, lib. x. c. 20.
ed. Bened. ?$ M irdvTwv irpoa-fyfpeiv Apo.stol. Const, lib. ii. c. 25. pp.
0e<, 5ict rov ira.vT<av a.v<ind.Tov ap^ie- 240, 241.
pe'ais aiiroD StSiSiry/xefla. Euseb. Dem.
Z 2
34-O The Eucharist considered CHAP.
Gospel. He distinguishes between gifts and sacrifices, because
the Pagans had so distinguished : but in the last result, he lays
no stress upon that distinction, indifferently reckoning a good
life, either as a gift or a sacrifice. However, where he seems at
all to distinguish, he chooses to make integrity the gift, and such
an one as shall continue for ever ; while he appropriates the name
of sacrifice, emphatically so used, to lauds, hymns, and the like,
which he supposes are appointed for a time only*.
We may now come down to Eusebius, of the same century, a
man of infinite reading, and particularly conversant in Christian
antiquities. He speaks of ' the venerable sacrifices of Christ's
table, by which officiating, we are taught to offer up to God
supreme, during our whole lives, the unbloody, spiritual, and to
him most acceptable sacrifices, through the High Priest of his,
who is above all k .' For the clearer understanding of what
he meant by ' the unbloody, spiritual sacrifices,' let him explain
himself in the same page, where he says : ' The prophetic oracles
make mention of these incorporeal and spiritual sacrifices : Offer
unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the
Most High.' And again, ' The sacrifice of God is a contrite
spirit V &c. Hence it is manifest, that Eusebius did not mean
by sacrifices the sacred symbols, which are corporeal, but the
spiritual services of prayers, praises, and a contrite heart, as he
expressly mentions. Which will appear still the plainer, by his
quoting, soon after, the noted place of Malachi, and expounding
* Quisquis igitur his omnibus prae- vi. c. 24, 25.
ceptia caelestibus obtemperaverit, hie k To fff/j.va TT}S Xpiffrov rpa.-ir4Qr,s
cultor est veri Dei, cujus sacrificia Ovuara, Si' wv Ka\\ifpovvrfs, TO.S avat-
sunt mansuetudo aniini. et vita in- povs Kal \oyiKas avry T irpo<nr)vf'is
nocens, et actus boni. . . . Duo sunt Ovirlas, Sia navr^s /Si'ou, ry M irdv-
quae offerri debeant, donum et sa- r<av irpocr<peptii' 0% Sia rov Trdv-rtav
crificium : donum in perpetuum, aa- avwdrov apx.itpf<as avrov SeSiSdy-
crificium ad tempus. . . . Deo utrum- /xeflo. Euseb. Dem. Evang. lib. i.
que incorporate offerendum est, quo c. 10. p. 39.
utitur. Donum est integritas animi, ' Tavras 5e ird\iv rciy aff<a/j.drovs
Bacrificium Jaus et hymnus. Si enim Kal vofpcis Bva-'ias TO. vpo<py\TiKa xrjpvr-
Deus non videtur, ergo his rebus coli ret \6yta . . , Bvffov T<? t$ 6vffia.v
debet, quae non videntur. . . . Summus aiVe rrews, Kal aw68os rf in^iffrca TOCJ
igitur colendi Dei ritus est, ex ore tvxds <rov . . . KOI iraA.iv, 6va(a TW &ecf>
justi hominis ad Deum directa lau- irvtv/jLa a\)VTtTpip\i.<vov. Euseb. ibid,
datio.' Lactant. de vero Cultu, lib. p. 39.
xii, in a Sacrificial Yiew. 341
both the incense and pure offering, of prayers and praises. His
comment is worth the reciting : ' We offer therefore to God
supreme the sacrifice of praise : we offer the holy, the venerable
sacrifice, which hath a decorous sanctity : we offer after a new
way, according to the New Testament, the pure sacrifice : for
the sacrifice to God is said to be a contrite spirit 111 .' He goes
on to sum up all in very strong and remarkable words, as here
follows : ' Therefore we offer both sacrifice and incense : first,
celebrating the memorial of the grand sacrifice by those mys-
teries which he has ordained, and presenting our thanksgivings
for our salvation, by devout hymns and prayers. Next, we offer
up ourselves to him, and to the Logos, his High Priest, resting
upon him both with body and soul. Whereupon we endeavour
to preserve to him our bodies pure and untainted from all filthi-
ness, and to bring him minds free from all evil affection and
stain of maliciousness, and take care to honour him by purity of
thought, sincerity of affection, and soundness of principles ; for
these, we are taught, are more acceptable to him than a multitude
of sacrifices, streaming with blood, and smoke, and nidor n .'
This is an admirable description of the eucharistical solemnity,
of the sacrifices contained in it, and of the ends and uses of it,
and likewise of the preparation proper for it. But my present
concern is only with the sacrificial view of it. Eusebius here
takes notice, in the first place, of the grand sacrifice : which is
no sacrifice of ours, but we make a memorial of it ; and that
very memorial is indeed an article of spiritual service, and so of
course makes a part of our own spiritual sacrifice in the Eu-
charist . The rest is made up of such other sacrifices as the
author has there handsomely enumerated. I shall only observe
further of Eusebius, for the cutting off all possible cavils about
vo/j.fv SJjTa roiyapovf T$ eVl I observed above, p. 322, note p,
irav-rtav fif 0v<riav alvffftias' 6vofj.fi' that the legal incense was a memorial,
rb tvQeov Ka\ at/jLvkv Ka.1 tfpoirpeirfs and it was burnt over the show-bread,
ODjua' 6vofj.ev Katvces Kara TTJV Kaiv^v Lev. xxiv. 7- I 11 'ike manner, our
5ia0rj7)i' "rfyv KaOap'av Qvalav Ovffia 8e commemorative service is offered up
Ttf Qtp irvev/Aa ffWTerptfjLutvov (Ipy- to God over the elements, and is
rat. Euseb. ibid. p. 40 ; cp. c. vi. part of our Gospel incense, consist-
pp. 19, 20, 21, et in Psalm, p. 212. ing of prayers, lauds, self-hunrilia-
Euseb. ibid. c. x. p. 40. tion, &c.
342 The Eucharist, considered CHAP.
his meaning, that in another work of his he expressly teaches,
that the unbloody sacrifices will be offered to God, not only in
this life present, but also in the life to come P. Certainly, he
could not intend it of the eucharistic symbols, but of some-
thing else. Cyril of Alexandria has followed him in the same
thought, where he supposes the angels to offer the unbloody
sacrifices 1.
Were I now to go on to other Fathers, down to the sixth
century, or further, it might be tedious to the reader : but they
will all be found constant and uniform in one tenor of doctrine,
rejecting all material, corporeal, terrene, sensible sacrifices, and
admitting none but spiritual, such as I have mentioned. Neither
is there any difference concerning that point between Justin of
the second, and Cyril of the fifth century, but that the latter is
more full and express for the same thing. However, I shall go
on a little further, making choice of a few testimonies, appearing
most considerable either for their weight or their accuracy. I pass
over Hilary and Basil, with bare references to the pages r : but
Gregory Nazianzen may deserve our more especial notice. He
was eminently called the Divine, for his exactness of judgment,
and his consummate knowledge in theology ; and he has some
remarkable passages, very apposite to our present purpose.
About the year 379, putting the case, that possibly, through
the iniquity of the times, he might be driven from the altar, and
debarred the benefit of the Eucharist, he comforts himself thus :
' Will they drive me from the altars 1 But I know, there is
another altar, whereof these visible ones are but the figures,
P Kol 7&p 4v T< irapSvTi fiitf, Kal have added Greg. Nyssen. de Poenit.
ev r<p fj,f\\ovn Be aleavi, TO. \oyiKa p. 1 70. As to this place of Cyril, he
S-l'pa Kal rets ai'oujuaKTas r &f<f Ov- supposes it meant of offering Christ's
alas avairf^iraiv ov Sia\ifj.-n-dvfi 6 5?jAa>- body in heaven. Addend, to part i.
Ofls \a6s. Euseb. in Hesai. xviii. in part ii. p. 266. A strange thought!
p. 427. especially considering that angels are
i Cyrill. Alexandr. de Eecta Fide, supposed by Cyril to be the offerers,
p. 160. N. B. The learned author Compare what Lactantius says above
of Unbloody Sacrifice once thought, of gifts, as continuing for ever, mean-
that mere spiritual sacrifices were ing the tribute of homage, &c., and
never called unbloody : but he found so all is clear.
afterwards that prayers had that epi- r Hilarius, pp. 154, 228, 534, 535.
thet given them by Constantine. edit. Bened. Basil, torn. iii. pp. 52,
Apud Sozom. lib. ii. c. 15. He might 207. edit. Bened.
xix. in a Sacrificial View. 343
&c To that will I present myself, there will I offer the
acceptable services, sacrifice, oblation, and holocausts, preferable
to those now offered, as much as truth is preferable to shadow.
From this altar no one, who has ever so much a mind to
it, shall be able to debar me 8 .' Here we may observe, how
Nazianzen prefers the spiritual sacrifices even before the sacrifice
of the altar, externally considered. A plain argument, that he
did not look upon it as the archetypal sacrifice: for, if he had,
he could never have been so presumptuous or profane, as to
prefer any sacrifice of his own to the sacrifice of Christ. He
looked upon the eucharistical sacrifice, externally considered, and
in its representative, commemorative view, to be no more than
the figure of the archetypal, and a sign of the spiritual sacrifices :
therefore he justly preferred the substance before shadows, and
the real sacrifice of the heart, before the outward symbols * ; the
offering of which was not sacrificing at all, but representing a
sacrifice, or sacrifices.
There is another passage of Nazianzen, worth the reciting ;
and so I shall throw it in here, with some proper remarks upon
it. He had been setting forth the dignity and danger of the
sacerdotal function, which for some time he had studiously
declined ; and among other considerations, he urges one, drawn
from the weighty concern of well-administering the holy Com-
munion, as here follows : ' Knowing that no man is worthy of
the great God, and Sacrifice, and High Priest, who has not first
presented himself a living holy sacrifice unto God, and exhibited
the rational acceptable service, and offered to God the sacrifice
of praise, and the contrite spirit, (which is the only sacrifice that
God, who giveth all things, demands from us back again,) how
8 vffia.ffTt]pi<iiv ttp^ovffiv ; ccAA* oT5a the eucharistical sacrifice began to be
Kal &\\o BvtTta.ffT'fiptoy, ov n'rwoi TCI vvv more and more confined to one par-
&pca/j.eva.' rovrcf.. .Trapaffrriffo/aai, TOV- ticular meaning, and to be under-
rci) 6vo-<a SSKTO., Bvffiav Kal Trpoff<popav stood in a narrow sense, as denoting
Kal 6\oKavTia/j.ara, Kpeirrova rSiis vvv the representation of a sacrifice :
Trpoffa.yofj.evwv, '6cr<a Kptlrrov <TKIO.S a\-fi- otherwise there would have been
Qua. . . . TOVTOV fitv OUK aira(i /j.t TOV no room for Nazianzen's preferring
9v<rtaffT7]piov Tras 6 &ov\6fj.evos. Greg, one to another ; for it would have
Nazianz. Orat. xxviii. p. 484. Cp. been opposing spiritual sacrifice to
Albertinus, p. 474. spiritual, and would not have an-
' -Hence it may be observed, that swered.
344 'Me Eucharist considered CHAP.
shall I dare to offer him the external sacrifice, the antitype of
the great mysteries ? or how shall I take upon me the character
or title of a priest, before I have purified my hands with holy
works u ?' Here it maybe noted, i. That the author distinguishes
very carefully between the external sacrifice in the Eucharist,
and the internal, between the symbolical and the real. 2. That
he did not judge the external sacrifice to be really a sacrifice,
or to be more than nominal, since he opposes it to the real, in-
ternal sacrifices, judging them to be the only sacrifices required.
3. That he judged the external sacrifice to be the sign, symbol, or
figure x of a true sacrifice, (viz. of the grand sacrifice,) improperly
or figuratively called a sacrifice, by a metonymy of the sign for
the thing signified y. 4. That such external, nominal sacrifice
has also the name of oblation z , in the same figurative, metony-
mical way, as it was presenting to God the signs and symbols of
the body broken, and blood shed, and pleading the merits of the
passion there represented. 5. That the name of rational or
spiritual service, borrowed from St. Paul a , is not a name for the
external sacrifice, in our author, but for the internal of prayers,
praises, contrite heart, &c. 6. That the external sacrifice, (being
n Tavra ovv et'Sais ya>, Kal Sri ' Christ is, in some sense, offered
/u.7j5els &ios rov fj.fyd\ov Kal fov, Kal up to God by every communicant in
Oiiparos, Kal 'Apxnpf(os, 3<rm fify irp6- the Sacrament, when he does men-
rtpov f ambit TrapfffTTjffe Tip &ef Ov- tally and internally offer him to God,
ffiav u<rai>, aylav, juqSe edvcre rf e<5 and present, as it were, his bleeding
Gvfflav alvffffois Kal irvtvp.0. owrtTpiju- Saviour to his Father, and desire
Htvov ($v fj.6vov 6 irdvTa Souy airairfi him for his sake to be merciful to
irap' rjfjuav Ovff(av) iruis e/j.f\\ov Bappri- him, and forgive him his sins. This
ffai irpoff<pepftv avry r^v efaOtv, rijv internal oblation of Christ and his
Tcaif (j.tyd\ti>i> nvffrrjpicav avrirvwov ; t) passion is made by every faithful
ircas Upfws a\rifia Kal ovopa viroSve- Christian, &c. . . . The Minister also
a~0ai, irplv otrlots ilpyots Te\fiuirai rets .... does offer, as it were, Jesus
X? "ipas ; Greg. Nazianz. Orat. i. p. Christ and his sacrifice for the people,'
38. &c. Dr. Payne's Discourse on the
* This is intimated by the word Sacrifice of the Mass, A.D. 1688, pp.
avrirvirov. Cp. Orat. xi. p. 187. 52,53. Compare Abp. Sharpe, vol.
Orat. xvii. p. 273. Of which word vii. serm. xi. p. 251, and Deylingius,
see Albertinus, pp. 273 283. Pfaf- Observat. Miscellan. p. 315, and
fius, pp. 131 145. Pfaffius, who says, This no Pro-
s' ~V*id. Suicer. Thesaur. torn. 3. testants deny, pp. 106, 314, 344.
pp. 1423, 1424. The oblation, in this view, is but
z Intimated in the word irpoffQfpfiv. another name for commemoration;
Cp. Cyrill. Hierosol. Myst. v. c. 9. as I have often noted before,
p. 328. * Rom. xii. i. AoyiK^ \arpda,
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 345
the same with the memorial,) if considered as more than vocal,
and making a part of the thanksgiving service, may be justly
reputed a sacrifice of the spiritual kind, falling under the head
of sacrifice of praise. 7. That the spiritual sacrifices, whether
considered as previous qualifications, or present services of priests
and people, were thought to be the only true and proper sacrifices
performed b in the Eucharist : and therefore so far as it is itself
a sacrifice, and not barely a sign of a former sacrifice, it is a
spiritual sacrifice. 8. Those spiritual sacrifices were believed
essential to the Eucharist, considered either as a sacrifice or a
salutary sacrament: for, without such spiritual sacrifices, there
was no sacrifice performed at all, but a representation of a
sacrifice c ; and not of ours, but of our Lord's. And though the
Eucharist would still be a sacrament, (not a sacrifice,) yet it
could not be salutary either to administrator or receiver, for
want of the spiritual sacrifices, to give it life and efficacy ; as is
here sufficiently intimated by Nazianzen.
There is a commentary upon Isaiah, which has been ascribed
to St. Basil by critics of the first rate, but yet is probably
rejected, as none of his, by the last learned editor of Basil's
works; who allows it however to be an useful piece, and as
early as the fourth century, or thereabout. What I mention him
for is, that, instead of all the legal sacrifices, he admits of two
only, under the Gospel ; our Lord's upon the cross, and ours,
which consists in every man's offering his own self d . There is
another author, who has commonly gone under the name of
St. Chrysostom, but is now rejected as spurious, who divides the
sacrifices of the Gospel after the same way : only the latter of
the two he subdivides into nine, and so makes ten in all e , and
all of the spiritual kind. Cyril of Alexandria has a great many
b I say, performed ; there is an- per sacramentum memoriae celebra-
other sacrifice represented, commemo- tur.' Augustin. contr. Faust, lib. sx.
rated, which was performed 1700 c. 21. p. 348. torn. viii. edit. Bened.
years ago upon the cross. d Pseudo-Basil, in Isa. p. 398, &c.
' Hujus sacrificii caro et sanguis, torn. i. edit. Bened.
ante adventum Christi per victimas e Pseudo-Chrysostom.inPsal. xcv.
similitudinum promittebatur : in pas- p. 631. inter spuria, edit. Bened.
sione Christi per ipsam veritatem torn. v.
reddebatur : post ascensum Christi
346 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
things very clear and express to our present purpose* : but there
is one particular passage in his tenth book against Julian, which
is so plain, and so full for spiritual sacrifices, in opposition to all
material or corporeal sacrifices whatsoever, that nothing can be
more so. Comparing the sacrifices of Christians with those of
the Jews, he writes thus : ' We sacrifice now much better than
they of old did : for here descendeth from heaven, not any
sensible fire for a symbol of the ineffable nature but, the Holy
Spirit himself, from the Father by the Son, enlightening the
Church, and receiving our sacrifices, namely, the spiritual and
mental ones. The Israelites offered up to God bullocks and
sheep, turtles and pigeons ; yea, and first fruits of the earth,
fine flour with oil poured upon it, cakes, and frankincense : but
we, discarding all such gross service, are commanded to perform
one that is fine and abstracted, intellectual and spiritual. For
we offer up to God, for a sweetsmelling savour, all kinds of
virtues, faith, hope, charity, righteousness, temperances,' &c.
Here it is to be noted, that Cyril rejects adsolutely all corporeal
sacrifices, and not only the bloody ones of bulls and goats, and the
like. He opposes the Christian mental sacrifices to the sacrifices
of fine flour and cakes, and other such gross and sensible sacrifices.
How could he do this, if he thought the elements of the Eucha-
rist were a sacrifice or sacrifices 1 Are bread and wine at all less
gross, or less sensible, than fine flour, cakes, and oil, and other
fruits of the earth 1 Or have they any other claim to the name
of mental and spiritual sacrifices, than the other also might justly
have ? Therefore it is plain, that Cyril never admitted the
material elements of the Eucharist, as any part of the Christian
sacrifice ; but the spiritual service performed in it, that was the
sacrifice. The material elements were signs and symbols of our
Lord's sacrifice, not the sacrifice itself, nor any sacrifice at all, in
strict propriety of speech : for our own proper sacrifice, as distinct
from our Lord's, are our own services of prayer and praise, of faith,
and of a good life. Such is the constant doctrine of all antiquity.
f Cyril. Alex, contr. Julian, lib. 5x. p. 830.
pp. 307, 308. Comment, in Is. lib. i. Cyrill. Alex, contr. Jul. lib. x.
Orat. i. pp. 14, 15. In Malach. i. n. p. 345.
xii. in a Sacrificial View. 347
I shall close this account with the sentiments of the great
St. Austin. His ti'eatise De Civitate Dei may be called his
masterpiece, being his most learned, most correct, and most
elaborate work ; which lay upon his hands thirteen years, from
413 to 426 : he died in 431. Here then we may expect to find
his maturest sentiments, laid down with the utmost exactness,
relating to the sacrifice of the Eucharist. He comprises all the
Gospel sacrifices under two : one of which is our Lord's own
sacrifice upon the cross ; and the other is the Church's offering
herself. The first of these is represented and participated in the
Eucharist, the latter is executed : this is the sum of his doctrine.
Of the former he observes h , that it succeeded in the room of the
legal sacrifices which prefigured it : of the latter he observes, that
the legal sacrifices were signs or symbols of it *. The legal sacri-
fices were, in a prophetic and propitiatory view, figures of the
former, and in a tropological view, figures of the latter. The
body of Christ he considers as twofold, natural and mystical ;
one of which is represented by us, and exhibited by Christ in the
Eucharist ; the other is offered as a proper spiritual sacrifice k :
and the bread and wine in the Eucharist are considered as
symbols of both. I say, he considers the sacramental elements
not merely as symbols of the natural body, but of the mystical
also, viz. the Church *, represented by the one loaf and the one
h ' Id enim sacrificium successit falsa cesserunt.' Ibid. lib. x. cap. 20.
omnibus sacrificiis Veteris Testa- p. 256. Cp. lib. xix. cap. 23. p. 227.
menti, quae immolabatitur in umbra k ' Hoc est sacrificium Christiano-
futuri.' ' Pro illis omnibus sacrificiia rum, multi unum corpus in Christo :
et oblationibus corpus ejus offertur, quod etiam sacramento altaris, fide-
et participantibus ministratur.' Au- libus noto, frequentat Ecclesia, ubi ei
gust, de Civit Dei, lib. xvii. cap. 21. demonstratur, quod in ea re quam
p. 484. offert ipsa offeratur.' Ibid. lib. x. c.
' ' Per hoc et sacerdos est, et ipse 6. p. 243.
oblatio : cujus rei sacramentum quo- ' Hujus autem praeclarissimum
tidianum esse voluit Ecclesia sacri- atque optimum sacrificium nos ipsi
ficium, quae cum ipsius capitis corpus sumus, hoc est, civitas ejus : cujus
sit, seipsam per ipsum discit offerre. rei mysterium celebramus oblationi-
Hujus veri sacrificii nmltiplicia varia- bus nostris, quae fidelibus notae sunt.'
que signa erant sacrificia prisca sane- Lib. xix. cap. 23. p. 226.
torum, cum ob hoc unum per multa * ' Corpus ergo Christi si vis in-
figuraretur, tanquam verbis multis telligere, Apostolum audi dicentem
res una diceretur, ut sine fastidio fidelibus, Vos estis corpus Christi
multum commendaretur. Huic sum- et membra. Si ergo vos estis corpus
mo veroque sacrificio cuncta sacrificia Christi et membra, mysterium ves-
348 The Eucharist considered CHAP.
Cup : so that by the same symbols we symbolically consign our-
selves over to God, and God consigns Christ, with all the merits
of his death and passion, over to us. At length, his notion of
the eucharistical sacrifice resolves into one compound idea of a
spiritual sacrifice, (wherein the communicants offer up them-
selves,) commemorative of another sacrifice, viz. the grand sacri-
fice. The offering of the body of Christ is a phrase capable
of two meanings ] either to signify the representing the natural
body, or the devoting the mystical body : and both are included
in the eucharistical service. Such appears to be St. Austin's
settled judgment in this article, grounded, as I said, upon
St. Paul's. It is a most ridiculous pretence of Father Harduin,
(which he pursues through many tedious pages m ,) that, according
to St. Austin, Christ's natural body is the sign, and his mystical
body the thing signified in the Eucharist : for nothing is plainer
from St. Austin, than that the bread and wine are the only signs,
and that the things signified by them are both the natural and
the mystical body of Christ, both his flesh and his Church. As
the word ' offer' is a word of some latitude, he supposes both to
be offered in the Eucharist ; one by way of memorial before God,
and the other as a real and spiritual sacrifice unto God.
Having thus traced this matter down through four centuries,
and part of the fifth, I cannot think it of moment to descend
lower, since the earliest are of principal value, and are alone
sufficient. The Fathers were very wise and excellent men, saw
very clearly what many learned moderns have had the misfortune
to overlook, and agreed perfectly well in many points, about
which the moderns have been strangely divided. The Fathers
well understood, that to make Christ's natural body the real
sacrifice of the Eucharist, would not only be absurd in reason,
but highly presumptuous and profane; and that to make the
outward symbols a proper sacrifice, a material sacrifice, would be
trum in mensa Domini positum est, sumus. . . . Recolite enim, quia panis
mysterium Domini accipitis. . . .Ni- non fit de uno grano, sed de multis.'
hil hie de nostro adseramus ; ipsum Augiistiu. serm. cexxix. p. 976. Cp.
Apostolum item audiaraus : cum ergo serm. cclxxii. p. 1103.
de isto Sacramento loqueretur, ait; m Harduin. de Sacramento Al-
TJnus panis, unum corpus, multi taris, cap. x.
xn. in a Sacrificial Vieiv, 349
entirely contrary to Gospel principles, degrading the Christian
sacrifice into a Jewish one, yea, and making it much lower and
meaner than the Jewish, both in value and dignity n . The right
way therefore was, to make the sacrifice spiritual : and it could
be no other upon Gospel principles. Thus both extremes were
avoided, all perplexities removed, and truth and godliness
secured.
So then here I may take leave of the ancients, as to the pre-
sent article. The whole of the matter is well comprised and
clearly expressed in a very few words, by as judicious a Divine
as any our Church has had : ' We offer up our alms ; we offer
up our prayers, our praises, and ourselves : and all these we
offer up in the virtue and consideration of Christ's sacrifice,
represented before us [I would only add, " and before God"] by
way of remembrance or commemoration ; nor can it be proved,
that the ancients did more than this : this whole service was
their Christian sacrifice, and this is ours .' A learned foreigner
has likewise very briefly and justly expressed the nature of the
Christian sacrifice ; whose words I have thrown to the bottom
of the page P, for the learned reader.
I shall now shut up this chapter with two or three short
corollaries, which naturally offer, and may be of some use.
i. The first is, that this sacrificial view of the Eucharist
squares exactly with the federal view before given. For if it be
really a spiritual sacrifice, in or by which every faithful commu-
" How contemptibly the Romanists P ' Oblatio omnis quae fit a creden-
speak of a material sacrifice in that tibussubNovoTestamento, est incru-
view, may be seen in Bishop Morton, enta, et vero castissima, et simplicis-
(p. 438,) who has collected their sen- sima, quia spiritualis. Sive quis se
timents upon it. ipsum, sive trui/uo suum, affectum, om-
Archbishop Sharpe, vol. vii. serm. nesquesuas facilitates et actiones Deo
xi. p. 253. If any one is disposed to offerat ut sacrificium ; sive alia a\i-
trace this matter down, even to the artt, . ministri verbi, qui in nobis con-
dark ages, he will find that most of vertendis laborarunt, nos offerant
the Greek and Latin Liturgies con- Deo ; sive preces, (i/xapicrrias, suppli-
tain the same notion with the Fathers, cationes nostras feramus ad Deum,
of the spiritual sacrifice in the Eucha- ubique eadem ratio : nullus hie fun-
rist. See Covel, Acc.of Gr. Church, ditur sanguis, nihil committitur vio-
pref. p. 47 ; book, pp. 36, 41, 46, 53, lentum ; actio tota est spiritualis, et
67,68, 175. Deyling. Observat. Mis- \oyiicf).' Vitringa in Isa. Ixvi. 21,
cellan. p. 310, &c. p. 951.
35 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
nicant devotes himself entirely to God ; and if the sacerdotal
offering up our Lord's mystical body be (as St. Austin explains
this matter) a sacerdotal devoting all the faithful joining it, to
God's service, and to God's glory : then may we again justly
conclude, that the sacramental service is a federal, as well as a
sacrificial solemnity : because, in this case, the administrator's
devoting the communicants, and their devoting themselves to
God, is tantamount to a solemn renewing former engagements
or covenants made with him, under such symbols as God has
appointed, and promised to ratify on his part.
2. From hence may be understood, how Christians, at large,
are priests unto God <i : for every one that sacrificeth, is so far
a priest. Therefore Justin Martyr represents Christians in
common as so many priests, offering their sacrifices in the Eu-
charist 1 ". And Isidorus, so late as the fifth century, does the
like 8 , reckoning every man a priest, when he offers up his own
body, or himself, a sacrifice unto God, by sacrificing his lusts and
passions. Nevertheless, the proper officers, who minister in holy
things, and who offer up to God both the sacrifices and sacrificers,
are priests in a more eminent and emphatical sense ; as Isidorus
observes in the same place, and as the reason of the thing itself
sufficiently evidences *. I may further note, that as Christians
at large were considered as priests, on account of their offering
spiritual sacrifices, so their consecration to such their priesthood
was supposed to be performed in or by Baptism : or, in other
words, their baptism was their consecration u .
3. A third corollary is, that the Socinians, or others, who
i l Pet. ii. 5, 9. Rev. i. 6; v. 10 ; extema Ecclesiae iro\ireia fundato.'
xx 6. Hunc titulum sibi peculiar! modo
r Justin. Mart. Dial. p. 386. Cp. vindicant.' Vitringa in Isa. Ixvi. 21.
Origen. in Levit. horn. is. p. 236. p. 951. Cp. Vitring. in Apocalyps.
8 Isidorus Pelusiot. lib. iii. ep. 75. p. 335. N.B. This argument is dis-
p. 284. cussed at large by Mr. Dodwell, De
* ' Cum omnes credentes N.T. sint Jure Laico Sacerdotali, and by other
sacerdotes respectu status spiritualis, tracts going along with his.
et juris appropinquandi Deo in sum- u Tertullian. de Monogam. cap.
mo Pontifice Jesu ; ministri verbi, vii. p. 529. Origen. in Levit. horn,
dispensatores mysteriorum Dei, qua- ix. 238. CyrilL Hierosol. Catech.
tenus a Deo elect! sunt, ut circa xviii. cap. 33. p. 301. Ambrosiaster.
sacra publica versentur, respectu de Sacram. lib. iv. cap. i. p. 365. ed.
quodam oeconomico et externo, in Bened.
xiii. the Holy Communion. 351
reject both the sacrificial and federal view, do not only causelessly
depreciate a venerable sacrament and sacrifice, but at the same
time do the greatest disservice imaginable to practical religion.
For as the sacrificial notion of the Eucharist, here explained,
carries in it the most instructive and compendious lesson of
Christian practice, so does the federal notion of the same carry
in it the strongest engagements to bind us for ever to it. The
removing these awakening hints, and the dissolving these sacred
ties, under fair and smooth pretences of supporting practical
Christianity, is betraying great want of judgment or want of
sincerity; because there cannot be a more dangerous or more
fatal way of subverting, by little and little, all true Christian
morality.
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Preparation proper for the HOLY COMMUNION.
IF we have hitherto gone upon sure grounds, with respect to
the nature, ends, and uses of the holy Communion, there can be
no doubt made, but that so sacred and so salutary an institution
ought to be held in great reverence, and to be observed with all
joy and thankfulness, tempered with godly fear. If we consider
it either as a Divine ordinance coeval with Christianity, and per-
fective of it, or as a solemn memorial of God made man, or as an
instrument whereby God vouchsafes to receive us, Christ to dwell
in us, and the Holy Ghost to shed his blessed influences upon us ;
or if we consider it as the noblest part of Christian worship, the
renewing of our covenant with God, the sacrificing of the heart,
and the devoting of the affections, and all that we have, to his
service, and to his glory; or if we further consider it as a badge
of our most ioly profession, and as a band or cement of union?
whereby we abide in Christ, and have fellowship with all the
family of heaven x ; in which soever of these views we contem-
plate this holy ceremony, it must appear to be a matter of
infinite concern to us, and highly deserving our most affectionate
and devout regards. How we ought to express our esteem of it,
1 Heb. xii. 22 24.
352 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
is the next thing to be inquired into : and the general rule here
is, that we take care to do it in such a way, as may best answer
those heavenly and salutary purposes for which this holy
Sacrament was ordained. Our esteem or disesteem of it will be
seen by our conduct ; by our frequenting or not frequenting it,
by our preparing or not preparing for it, as also by our manner
of behaviour at the time of receiving, or after. My present con-
cern is with the preparatory part. There is something of a
preparation of heart, mind, and ways, required for all religious
offices y ; much more for this, which is the flower and perfection
of all : and now the only remaining question is, what preparation
is here requisite, or whereof it consists. The nature and ends of
the institution, laid down above, will be our sure marks of
direction, and cannot mislead us, if carefully attended to. Let
us come to particulars.
i. Baptism, it is well known, must go before the Eucharist,
like as Circumcision was previous to the Passover. A person
must be admitted into covenant first, in order to renew ; must be
initiated, in order to be perfected ; must be born into the Christian
life, before he takes in the additional food proper to support and
increase it. Of this there can be no dispute, and so I need not
say much of it. There is an instance in antiquity, as high as the
third century, of a person who had long been a communicant, and
who afterwards found reason to doubt whether he had been
validly baptized, and thereupon scrupled the coming again to the
Lord's table. His bishop advised him, in that case, (considering
how long he had been a communicant, and honestly all the time,)
to go on without scruple ; not presuming to give him Baptism,
which now seemed to be superseded by the long and frequent use
of this other Sacrament 7 . The case was very particular, and
the resolution, probably, wise and just : both the scruple on one
hand, and the determination on the other, (made with some
y Eccles. v. i, 2. I Sam. vii. 3. rantly should happen to receive the
2 Chron. xxxv. 6. Communion, he should forthwith be
* Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. vii cap. 9. baptized, pursuant to such call of God.
But Timothy, afterwards Bishop of Timoth. Alexandr. Can. I. Hard. p.
the same see, (about A. D. 380,) de- 1192. torn, i,
termined, that if a catechumen igno-
xiii. the Holy Communion. 353
hesitancy, and scarce satisfactory to the party,) shew how acknow-
ledged a principle of the Church it then was, that Baptism is
ordinarily a most essential part of the qualification required for
receiving the holy Communion. Confirmation besides, is highly
expedient a , but Baptism is strictly necessary.
2. A competent knowledge of what the Communion means is
another previous qualification. St. Paul teaches, that a person,
coming to the Lord's table, should examine or approve himself,
and that he should discern the Lord's body b : both which do
suppose a competent knowledge of what the Sacrament means,
and of what it requires . And from thence may be drawn a
very just and weighty argument against infant communion. But
I return to the point in hand. As to the measure of the com-
petent knowledge required for receiving the Communion, it must
of course vary, according to the various opportunities, abilities,
circumstances of the parties concerned ; to be judged of by them-
selves, with the assistance of their proper guides. Great care
was anciently taken in instructing the adults, called catechumens,
in order to Baptism : something of like kind will be always
proper, in such circumstances as ours, for the preparing persons
for the first time of receiving the holy Communion.
3. A sound and right faith, as to the main substance of the
Christian religion, is another previous qualification for this Sa-
crament. For whether we consider it as a renewal of our bap-
tismal profession and covenant, which is engaging to observe the
Gospel terms; or whether we consider it as an instrument of
pardon and grace, and a pledge of the inheritance among the
saints in light ; sound faith must undoubtedly be required, to
answer such ends and uses of it. Scripture has not directly
said so, as there was no occasion for it ; since the very nature of
the thing, taking in Scripture principles, very fully and plainly
declares it. Accordingly, we find, as early almost as we have
any records left, that true and sound faith was very particularly
a See the Rubric at the end of our p. 331.
Order of Confirmation, and the Con- b I Cor. xi. 28, 29
stitutions of Archbishop Peckham, c 'OpQbs fiios, apa. naBfofi TJ? KaQri-
A.D. 1281. Spelm. Concil. torn. ii. KOWTT?. Clem. Alex. Strom, i. p. 318.
A a
354 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
required in those that came to the Lord's table d . Besides a
right faith in the general, a particular belief with respect to the
graces and benefits of a worthy reception of this Sacrament, was
anciently, as well as reasonably, judged to be a previous qualifi-
cation for it, requisite to render it salutary to the recipient. It
would be tedious to produce authorities for it, and therefore I
choose to refer the reader to the collections of that kind already
made to our hands e .
4. Above all things, repentance ought to be looked upon as a
most essential qualification for a due reception of the holy Com-
munion. All the ends and uses of the Sacrament declare it : the
reason of the thing itself loudly proclaims it. For, without that,
what is covenanting but playing the hypocrite? What is devoting
ourselves to God at his table but lying and dissembling ? How is
it possible to hold communion at once with God and Baal, with
Christ and Belial ? Or how can the Spirit of God, and the spirit
that worketh in the children of disobedience, dwell together 1 It
is plain therefore, that repentance, in some degree or other, and
a heart turned to God, is essentially necessary to make the
Sacrament salutary, yea, and to prevent its proving hurtful to
the receiver.
If we look into the ancients, upon this head, we shall find them
with united voice declaring, that repentance is absolutely necessary
to make a worthy receiver. Justin Martyr specifies it among
the previous qualifications, that the communicant shall be one
who 'lives according as Christ has commanded f .' Clemens, of
the same century, intimates, that a good lifeS is requisite to a
due receiving, and to prevent the receiving unworthily in St.
Paul's sense; quoting i Cor. xi. 27, 28. Origen interprets the
same words to mean, that the Sacrament must not be taken
d Kcu Ji rpo<(>)) avrrj KaXftrai trap' Lord's table. Vid. Apostol. Consti-
fjfiiv vx a P I<rT ^ a > ^ s ovStvl a\\y fj.fra- tut. lib. viii. cap. 12. p. 403.
crx^f Q6v ("ff-ri, ff r<$ TTtarfvovn a\7]0rj e Bingham, book xv. c. 8. a. 8.
elvat TO df5i5a.yfj.fva \nr' TI/J.WV. Just. f OVTOIS PIOVVTI us 6 Xpurrbs irap-
Mart. p. 96. Hitherto belongs the eSwKfi'. Justin. Apol. i. p. 96.
noted proclamation anciently made B Clemens Alex. 'Op6bs $ioy, a/uo
by the Deacons, before the Commu- na&fjcrfi TJ? KaOrtKov<rr). Strom, i. p.
nion began : M^ TJS TUV trfpoSA^tav' 318.
Let no misbeliever come to the
xiii. the Holy Communion. 355
with a 'soul defiled and polluted with sin V St. Cyprian also
more than once represents it as receiving unworthily, when a man
comes to the Lord's table, before he has expiated his offences,
confessed his crimes, purged his conscience, and appeased the anger
of God '. All which shews, that he understood the text of St.
Paul, not merely of the manner of behaviour at receiving, but of
the previous qualifications of the receiver. In the same general
way is the Apostle interpreted by the ancient commentators on
that chapter K But because some persons had made a distinction
between being unworthy to receive, and receiving unworthily ; to
cut off all evasion sought for in that nicety, it was replied ; that
if the Apostle had restrained even the worthy from receiving
unworthily, he had much more restrained every unworthy person
from receiving at all ; being that such a one is not capable of
receiving worthily, while he continues such, that is, while he goes
on in his vices 1 . There is scarce any one principle more univer-
sally agreed upon among the ancients, than this, that repentance
and newness of life is a necessary preparation or qualification for
the holy Communion, and is implied in worthy receiving.
It has been pleaded, in abatement, that the Apostle, by his
caution against receiving unworthily, intended only to censure
all irreverent behaviour at the table, and that the censure or
h 'Ne in anima contaminata et corpori ejus et sanguini,' &c. Cypr.
peccatis polluta Dominici corporis de Laps. p. 186. Cp. pp. 19, 20,
Sacramenta percipias. Quicunque 141. edit. Bened.
enim manducaverit, inquit, panem, k Chrysostom. in loc. p. 301, et de
et biberit calicem Domini indigne, Poenit. Horn. vii. p. 326. torn. ii. ed.
reus erit, &c. . . . Cibus iste sanctus Bened. Theodoret, Oecumenius, Da-
non estcommunis omnium, nee cujus- mascene, Theophylact, Pelagius in-
cunque indigiii, sed sanctorum est.' ter Opp. Hieronym , Ambrosiaster,
Origen. in Lev. Horn. xiii. p. 257. Cassiodorus complex, p. 37. Cp.
Cp. in Matt. p. 254. ed. Huet. Gregor. Nyssen. de Perfect. Chris-
1 ' Contumacibus et pervicacibus tian. p. 718.
comminatur et deuuntiat, dicens : ' ' Quidam sane dicunt, quia non
Quicunque ederit panem, aut biberit indignum, sed indigne accipientem
calicem Domini indigne, reus erit revocat a sancto. Si ergo etiam
corporis et sanguinis Domini. Spretis dignus indigne accedens retrahitur,
his omnibus atque contemptis, ante quanto magis indignus, qui non po-
expiata delicta, ante exomologesim test accipere digne ? Unde oportet
factam criminis, ante purgatam con- otiosum cessare a vitiis, ut sanctum
scientiam sacrificio et manu sacerdo- Domini corpus sancte percipiat.' Pe-
tis, ante offensam placatam indignan- lagius in loc.
tis Domini et minantis, vis infertur
A a 2
The Preparation proper for CHAP.
admonition there given concerns rather the manner of receiving,
than the previous qualifications of the receiver. But to this
pretext sufficient replies have been made by the more judicious ".
I may briefly observe, i. That if the Apostle had said nothing
at all of unworthy receiving, yet the reason of the thing would
shew, that the receiving of the Communion with dispositions
repugnant to the end and use of it, is receiving unworthily, and
offering an affront to its author. 2. That the Apostle's reproof
to the Corinthians, in that chapter, was not levelled barely
against an irreverent manner of receiving, but against the ill spirit
and the unchristian temper, with which they came to the Lord's
table : they were contentious, and full of animosities, split into
factions and parties ; and from thence arose all their other dis-
orders. Therefore the Apostle both began and concluded his
admonition P with particular cautions against the spirit of division
then reigning amongst them ; a temper very improper for a feast
of love and amity. 3. There is no reason for restraining the
Apostle's general rules, laid down upon a special occasion, to that
particular case only, especially when the reason of them extends
equally to more. The Apostle says, Whosoever shall receive
unworthily, &c., not confining what he says of it to this way or
that. If it be receiving unworthily, in any ways whatever, his
words are general enough to comprehend them all : and so are
his other words ; Let every one examine himself, and then eat, &c.,
and let him discern, discriminate, esteem, reverence the Lord's
body. Therefore Chrysostom, upon the place 1, highly extols the
wisdom of the Apostle, in making such excellent use of a parti-
cular case, as thereupon to lay down general rules for all cases
of like nature, for the standing use of the Church in all times to
come. Accordingly the judicious Theodoret takes notice, that
the Apostle in verse the 27th, where he speaks of receiving un-
m See Mr. Locke on i Cor. xi. 28. i. n, 12.
Arth. Bury's Constant Communicant, P i Cor. xi. 33, 34.
p. 250, &.c. i Chrysostom in I Cor. xi. Horn.
" Jenkins, Remarks on some xxviii. p. 300, &c. Cp. Damascen.
Books, pp. 140-145. Le Clerc, Bib- in loc. p. 102. Oecumenius, p. 532.
lioth. Chois. torn. xiii. p. 96. Wol- Theophylact, p. 260. Compare Jen-
n'us, Cur. Crit. in I Cor. xi. 28. kins, pp. 142, 143.
" i Cor. xi. 1 8, 19. Compare I Cor.
xiii. the Holy Communion. 357
worthily, obliquely rebuked the ambitious, and the fornicators,
and those also who had eaten of things offered unto idols; and in
short, all that come to the Communion with a guilty conscience 1 ".
4. Let it be considered, whether such as the Apostle forbids us.
to eat with 8 , and whether those whom the Apostle censures as
' partakers of the table of devils V and those whom he elsewhere
describes as making one body with harlots u , could be capable,
while so abiding, of receiving worthily 1 If they could not, then
the general rule of the Apostle, laid down in i Cor. xi. about
receiving unworthily, must be understood to extend further than
to the particular disorders which occasioned it. But if it be
said, that such, so abiding, might notwithstanding receive wor-
thily, then these absurdities will follow ; that persons who are
not fit for Christians to eat with, or who are communicants of
devils ; or who are incapable of being living members of Christ,
or temples of the Holy Ghost, are yet capable of worthily receiving
that symbolical body and blood of Christ, which are appointed to
strengthen our union with him, and which suppose men to be
living members of him, at their coming to receive.
Add to this, that St. Paul himself has elsewhere laid down a
general rule, obliging all Christians to come clean to the Chris-
tian passover, drawn from the consideration of what was pre-
scribed Math respect to the Jewish one x . For if the feast there
mentioned does not directly mean the eucharistical feast, but
the whole Christian life considered as a feast of holiness ; yet
the reason there given will hold more strongly for those particular
seasons when we are actually celebrating the memorial of 'Christ
our passover Lamb,' as ' sacrificed for us.' For, as at all times,
so then more especially, ought we to ' purge out the old leaven,'
and to keep the sacred feast with the ' unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.'
Upon the whole, it must be allowed, that St. Paul's general
rule will 'by parity of reason reach further than the particular
cases there mentioned, and must be understood to exclude all
impenitent offenders. This the Socinians themselves make no
r Theodoret in i Cor. xi. 27. B i Cor. v. n. * i Cor. x. 10, 21.
u i Cor. vi. 15, 16. * i Cor. v. 7, 8.
358 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
scruple to allow y ; as indeed it is so clear a case, that there can
be but very little room left for any reasonable dispute.
It remains still to be considered, what repentance really
means, or wherein it consists. In the general, it means a new
heart, or a serious resolution to amend what we find amiss, to
the utmost of our power, and a deliberate intention to live a life
of holiness 2 for the future; squaring our conduct, as near as
human infirmities will permit, by the unerring rule of God's
commandments. To be more particular, there are four principal
articles, which the ancients, in this case, most insisted upon, as
previous qualifications for receiving the holy Communion ; I
shall consider them one by one, but as briefly as may be.
i. One was, restitution or reparation for any wrongs done to
others in their persons, estate, or good name, to the utmost of
our ability a . This is but common justice, or moral honesty, and
therefore must be looked upon as an essential article of amend-
ment. It would lead me too far, to undertake here to state the
exact rules or measures of it : those may be learned from sound
casuists, who have professedly weighed and considered the sub-
ject b . In ordinary cases, an honest mind will not much need
an instructor, but every well disposed person may be his own
best casuist. All I shall hint is, that for public wrongs public
satisfaction is most proper, as being perhaps the only one that
can sufficiently repair the public injury : but for secret wrongs,
the more secret the reparation is, so much the better, other
circumstances being equal ; because so the wrong is repaired,
and at the same time ill blood prevented, future suspicions
obviated, peace and amity secured.
To this head belongs what our Lord says ; ' If thou bring thy
gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath
y Crellius, Etbic. Christian, lib. iii. let him not come near. In Hebr.
c. 10. p. 354. Slichting. in i Cor. Horn. xvii. p. 585. See also above,
xi. 28. p. 58. Przipcovius in loc. p. 263.
1 The ancient way was to proclaim See Bingham, b. xv. c. 8. sect,
before the service be;}an, ayia TO?* 10.
ayiois. Cyrill. Hierosol. Mystag. v. p. b Bishop Tillotson's Posth. Serm.
331. A form occurring in all the old cxvi. cxvii. p. 82 &c. fol. edit. Pla-
Liturgies, and which Chrysostom in- cete, Christian Ca>ui.-t, or Treatise on
terprets to mean, Et ns OVK itrrlv Conscience, book i. chap 20, 21, 22.
$) irpoari: w, If a man is not holy, Abridgment of Morality.
xni. the Holy Communion. 359
ought against thee ; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go
thy way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and
offer thy gift c .' The Lord's Supper was not instituted when
these words were spoken : nevertheless they are applicable to it,
in a view to the general reason on which the rule stands ; and
they have been often so applied both by ancients and moderns.
Mr. Mede has well proved, that the precept is evangelical d ,
though worded in Jewish terms, suited to the time wherein it
was given. The disciples of our Lord (that is, believers at large,
to whom that Divine sermon was directed e ) were Jews and Chris-
tians both in one, and therefore could not be properly addressed
in any language, but what might competently suit them in such
their double capacity. The like was the case with respect to the
Lord's Prayer, which though a Christian prayer, was yet formed
in such general terms, as might indifferently serve a religious
Jew, at the time when it was given. I say then, that the precept
delivered by our Lord, about the great duty of reparation to be
made to every injured brother, before we offer to God, though an
evangelical precept, was yet so worded as to comport with the
then present circumstances of the persons to whom it was
directed. When circumstances came to be altered, the general
reason still continued the same, and the application of it was
easy and obvious to every capacity.
Irenaeus quotes the text, and adapts it to Christian circum-
stances in a very just and natural way. Gifts he interprets to
mean Christian worship, alms, and oblations : and by altar he
understands the high altar in heaven f . Tertullian, in like man-
ner, accommodates it to the case of Christians coming to offer up
their prayers to God ; intimating, that they ought first to be at
peace with their offended brethren, and to bring with them a
forgiving temper, as they hoped to be forgiven ?. Both parts
are true : but the latter appears foreign with respect t_> this
c Matth. v. 23, 24. Mount, vol. i. serm. ii. iii. p. 27, &c.
d Mede, Disc. xlvi. p. 357, &c. edit. f Jren. lib. iv. cap. 18. pp. 250,
1664. Compare Johnson's Propit. 252. Cp. Pfaffius, pp. 57, 58.
Oblat. p. 19, &c., and Lewis's An- s Tertullian. de Poenitent. cap. xii.
swer to Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 32. p. 147 ; de Orat. cap. x. p. 133 ; et
e See Blair on the Sermon in the contr. Marc. lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 420.
360 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
text, which relates not to pardoning others who have injured us,
but rather to the seeking pardon where we have injured. How-
ever, as the two parts are near allied, it was easy to blend ideas,
and to run both into one; as several other Fathers did. Cyprian
also accommodates the precept to Christian circumstances, inter-
preting the gift of prayers, which ought to be offered with a pacific
temper of mind h . Elsewhere he applies it to the eucharistical
prayers and services . Eusebius and Cyril apply the text much
in the same way k . And Origen interprets the gift to mean
prayer 1 . The Constitutions called Apostolical interpret 'gift'
of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and the precept of enter-
taining no enmity against others, and taking what care we can
that they may have no just ground of complaint against us ni .
Chrysostorn accommodates the precept to the prayers and alms
offered at the holy Communion, which would not be accepted, if
not brought in charity, and with a peaceful mind n . In another
Homily , he presses the point somewhat further, and says many
good things of the care we ought to take to make up differences,
if possible, even with those who without any just cause are our
enemies ; that so we may restore them, and heal their sores,
and gain them over to good will. All which is right, if tempered
with the rules of Christian prudence, and not strained so far, as
to make well disposed and truly peaceable persons stay away
from the Lord's table upon needless scruples; arising either
from the irreconcilable temper of others, or from a want of due
discernment of what is safe, prudent, or proper, under such or
such circumstances. Improper or indiscreet overtures made by
the offended party towards an offender, may often widen the
breach which they mean to heal, and may increase the mischief,
instead of curing it.
Jerome, upon the text, appears rather argute than solid ;
where he comments to this effect, if I understand him : 'It is
h Cyprian, de Oratione, p. 211. "> Constitut. Apostol. lib. ii. cap.
1 Cyprian de Unit. Eccl. p. 198. 53. p. 260.
k Eusebius deVit. Constant, lib. iv. n Chrysostom. in Matt. Horn. xvi.
cap. 41. Cyrill. Hierosol. Mystag. v. p. 217. ed. Bened. torn. vii.
p. 316. Chrysostom. de Simul. Horn. xx.
1 Origen. de Orat. p. 198. p. 206, &c. torn. ii.
xiii. the Holy Communion. 361
not said, if you take anything amiss of your brother, but if your
brother takes anything amiss of you ; to make the terms of
reconciliation so much the harder. So long as we are not able
to pacify the party, I know not whether we ought to offer our
gifts unto God P.' This is straining the point too far, if it means
anything more than the using all safe, prudent, and reasonable
endeavours to remove causeless offences, where a person is
ignorant or froward.
St. Austin, who had a cooler head than Jerome, and was a
more exact casuist, has given the justest and clearest account of
this text that I have met* with ; perhaps with a design to take off
such scruples as Jerome's account might have raised. As to the
gift mentioned, he interprets it of prophecy, that is, doctrine, and
prayers, and hymns, and the like spiritual services i. And as to
the precept, he explains it thus : ' if we call to mind that our
brother has ought against us ; that is, if we have any way injured
him ; for then it is that he has something against us. But, if
he has injured us, then we have something against him : in
which case, there is no occasion to go to him for reconcilement.
You would not ask pardon of the man that has done you an
injury ; it is sufficient that you forgive him, as you desire
forgiveness at God's hands for what you have offended in. We
are to go therefore to be reconciled, when it comes into our
mind, that haply we may have some way injured our brother r .'
The sum then of all is, that if we are certain that we have done
any man an injury in his person, estate, or good name, or that
P 'Non dixit, Si tu liabes illiquid p. 167. edit. Bened. torn. iii.
adversus fratrein tuum, sed, Si frater r 'Siinmentemvenerit.quodaliquid
tuus habet aliquid adversum te ; ut habeat adversum nos frater ; id est,
duriorreconciliationis tibi impoiiatur si nos eum in aliquo laesimus : tune
necessitas. Quamdiu ilium placare eniin ipse habet adversum nos. Nam
non possumus, neseio an consequen- nos adversus ilium habemus, si ille
ter munera nosfcra offeramus Deo.' nos laesit : ubi non opus est pergere
Hieron. in loc. torn. iv. p. 16. edit. adreconciliationem;nonenim veniain
Bened. postulabis abeoqui tibi fecit injuriam,
'i ' Quodlibet enini munus offerimus sed tantum dimittes, sicut tibi dimitti
Deo, sive prophetiam, sive doctrinam, a Domino cupis, quod ipse commi-
sive orationern, sive hymnum, sive seris. Pergendum est ergo ad recon-
psalmum, et si quid tale aliud spiritu- ciliationeni, cum in mentem venerit,
alium donorum animo occurrit,' &c. quod nos forte fratrem in ali quo Jaesi-
Augustin. de Senn. Domini in Mont, mus.' Augustin. ibid.
3^2 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
we have given just cause of offence, it is our duty and business
to make reparation, and to sue first for reconcilement : or if we
are not certain, but probably suspect that we have been guilty
that way, the same rule will still hold in proportion. But if we
have good reason to judge that the person has really injured
us, or has causelessly and captiously taken offence where none
was given, then be it to himself : there is nothing in this text
obliging an innocent person, in such a case, to make the first
step towards reconcilement, or to suspend his offerings on any
such scruple. There may, in some particular circumstances, be
a kind of debt of charity, and Christian condescension, lying
upon the injured party, to endeavour to reclaim and pacify
the offender by soft and healing ways: but as that is a very
nice affair, and the office such as many are not fit for, there
lies no strict obligation in such a case, or at least not upon
Christians at large, but upon those only who are peculiarly fitted
for it. Therefore it falls not properly under the question now
in hand, nor within the precept of the text, which is general,
extending equally to all Christians. From the summary view
here given of what the ancients thought of those words of our
Lord, (besides the clearing an important case of conscience,
which I chiefly aimed at,) it may be noted by the way, that the
gift there mentioned was understood of spiritual saci'ifice only,
and the altar also of course must have been spiritual, white con-
sidered as an altar : which I take notice of as a confirmation
of what hath been advanced in a preceding chapter. But I
proceed.
2. As making restitution for any offences we have committed,
is one necessary article of sacramental preparation, so is a readi-
ness to forgive any offences committed against us another as
necessary an article, and much insisted upon by the ancient
churches 8 . This is a rule laid down by our blessed Lord in his
Gospel, and made an express condition of our own forgiveness,
and left us, for the greater caution, as an article of the Lord's
Prayer to be daily repeated. All the difficulty lies in clearing
and ascertaining the true and full meaning of the forgiveness
* See Bingham, xv. 8. 13.
xin. the Holy Communion. 363
required. Our Lord in one place says, 'If thy brother trespass
against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him ; ' and so
again and again, as often as he repents, forgive *. May we then
revenge ourselves upon an enemy, if he does not repent 1 No,
by no means : vengeance is God's sole right u : man has nothing
to do with it. Even magistrates, who, in some sense, are re-
vengers, or avengers, to execute wrath x , yet, strictly speaking,
are not appointed to dispense vengeance. They do not, they can-
not award punishments in just proportion to demerits, as God
can do : but they are appointed to act for the safety of the State ;
and what they do is a kind of self-defence, in a public capacity,
rather than a dispensing of vengeance. So that even they, pro-
perly speaking, are not commissioned to revenge : much less can
any private persons justly claim any right to it. Forgiveness,
if understood in opposition to revenge, is an unlimited duty,
knows no bounds or measures, is not restrained to any kind or
number of offences, nor to any condition of repenting : but all
offences must be forgiven, in that sense, though not repented of,
though ever so cruelly or so maliciously carried on and persisted
in. Therefore the forgiveness which our Lord speaks of, as
limited to the repentance of the party offending, can mean only
the receiving a person into such a degree of friendship or
intimacy, as he before had : a thing not safe, nor reasonable,
unless he shews some tokens of sorrow for his fault, and some
signs of a sincere intention to do so no m'ore. Forgive him in
such a sense, as to meditate no revenge, to wish him well, and
to pray for him, and even to do him good in a way prudent and
proper : but admit him not into confidence, nor trust yourself
with him, till he repents : for that would be acting too far
against the great law of self-preservation. Only take care, on
the other hand, not to be over distrustful, nor to stand upon the
utmost proofs of his relenting sincerity, but rather risk some
relapses. This, I think, in the general, is a just account of
Gospel-forgiveness y.
t Luke xvii. 3, 4. Matt, xviii. 21, x Eom. xiii. 4.
22, y Compare Abp. Tillotson, Serm.
u Deut. xxxii. 35. Rom. xii. 19. xxxiii. p. 392. vol. i. fol. edit. Tower-
Heb. x. 30. son on the Sacraments, p. 298.
3^4 The f reparation proper for CHAP.
But to prevent all needless scruples, I may explain it a little
further, in some distinct articles : i . Gospel -forgiveness interferes
not with proper discipline, nor the bringing offenders in a legal
way to public justice. An informer may prosecute, a witness
accuse, a jury bring in guilty, a judge condemn, and an execu-
tioner despatch a criminal, without any proper malevolence
towards the party, but in great benevolence towards mankind.
2. Gospel -forgiveness interferes not with a person's prosecuting
his own just rights, in a legal way, against one that has griev-
ously injured him in his estate, person, or good name : for a
man's barely doing himself justice, or recovering a right, is
not taking revenge. A person wrongs me, perhaps, of a con-
siderable sum : I forgive him the wrong, so as to bear him no
malice ; but I forgive him not the debt, because I am no way
obliged to resign my own property or maintenance to an inju-
rious invader. 3. Gospel-forgiveness interferes not with a just
aversion to, or abhorrence of, some very ill men ; liars, suppose,
adulterers, fornicators, extortioners, impostors, blasphemers, or
the like : for such hatred of aversion is a very different thing
from hatred of malevolence, may be without it, and ought to be
so. We cannot love monsters of iniquity with any love of
complacency, neither does God delight in them as such : but
still we may love them with a love of benevolence and compas-
sion, as God also does z . 4. Neither does Gospel-forgiveness
interfere with any proper degrees of love or esteem. A man may
love his enemies in a just degree, and yet love his friends better,
and one friend more than another, in proportion to their worth,
or nearness, or other circumstances. Our Lord loved all his
disciples, even Judas not excepted : but he loved one more
particularly, who was therefore called ' the disciple whom Jesus
loved a ;' and he loved the rest with distinction, and in propor-
tionate degrees. 5. I have before hinted, that Gospel -forgive-
ness interferes not with rejecting enemies from our confidence,
or refusing to admit them into our bosoms. We may wish them
well, pray for them, and do them good ; but still at a proper
1 See Towerson on the Sacraments, pp. 298, 299.
John xiii. 23 : six. 26 ; xx. 2 ; xxi. 7, 20.
xiii. the Holy Communion. 365
distance, such as a just regard for our own safety, or reasons of
peace, piety, and charity may require. 6. I may add, that cases
perhaps may be supposed, where even the duty of praying for
them may be conceived to cease. ' There is a sin unto death :
I do not say that he shall pray for it V But in this case, they
are not to be considered merely as private enemies, but as public
nuisances, and as offending of malicious wickedness, not against
man only, but against God and religion. Indeed, charity forbids
us to pass such a censure, except it be upon very sure grounds ;
which perhaps we can but seldom, if ever, have : but I was
willing to mention this case, for the better clearing up St. Paul's
conduct in this very article. It may deserve our notice, that he
prayed for those who had meanly, and through human infirmity,
deserted him in the day of trial, that the sin might not be ' laid
to their charge c :' in the same breath almost, speaking of Alex-
ander, a wicked apostate, who had most maliciously opposed him
and the Gospel, he says ; ' The Lord reward him according to
his works <V He would not honour him so far, as to pray for
his conversion or forgiveness : or he knew his case to be too
desperate to admit of either. Nevertheless, he left the vengeance
entirely to God, whose right it was ; and he took not upon him
so much as to judge of the precise degree of his demerits, but
committed that also to the unerring judgment of God. I am
aware, that very considerable Divines, ancient and modern,
choose to resolve the case another way, either into prediction by
the Spirit, or into apostolical authority : but I humbly conceive,
that there is no need of either supposition, to reconcile the
seeming difficulty. Only, as I before hinted, an Apostle might
better know the desperate state of such a person, than any one
can ordinarily know at this day ; and so he might proceed upon
surer grounds : on which account, his example is not lightly to
be imitated, or to be drawn into a precedent. Enough, I pre-
sume, has been here said of the nature, measure, and extent of
Gospel-forgiveness, and I may now proceed to a new article of
sacramental preparation.
b i John v. 16. 2 Tim. iv. 16. d 2 Tim. iv. 14.
366 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
3. Another previous qualification, much insisted upon by the
ancients e , was a due regard to Church unity and public peace, in
opposition to schism in the Church or faction in the State. The
reason and the obligation of both is self-evident, and I need not
enlarge upon it. It may be noted, that the Corinthians, whom
St. Paul reproved, were much wanting in this article of pre-
paration ; as appeared by their heats and animosities, their
sidings and contests. They did not duly consider this Sacra-
ment as a symbol of peace, a feast of amity : they did not discern
the Lord's body to be, what it really is, a cement of union, and
a bond of true Christian membership, through the Spirit.
4. A fourth article was mercy and charity towards the poor
brethren f . The equity of which is manifest : and it is a duty
which has been so often and so well explained, both from the
press and the pulpit, that I may here spare myself the trouble
of saying a word more of it.
Having shewn, first, that repentance, at large, is a necessary
part of sacramental preparation, and having shewn also of what
particulars such repentance chiefly consists, {not excluding other
particulars, for repentance means entire obedience,) I may now
add, for the preventing groundless scruples, that allowances are
always supposed for sins of infirmity, sins of daily incursion, such
as are ordinarily consistent with a prevailing love of God and
love of our neighbour. The slighter kind of offences ought
never to be looked upon as any bar to our receiving, but rather
as arguments for receiving, and that frequently, in order to gain
ground of them more and more, and to have them washed off in
the salutary blood of Christ.
As to the length of time to be taken up in preparing, there is
no one certain rule to be given, which can suit all cases or cir-
cumstances : only, when a man has competently adjusted his
accounts with God, (be it sooner, or be it later,) then is he fit to
come, and not till then. There is an habitual, and there is an
actual preparation. The habitual preparation is a good life ; and
the further we are advanced in it, the less need there is of any
e Bingham, xv. 8. II. ' See Bingham, xv. 8. 12.
xiii. the Holy Communion. 367
actual preparation besides : but because men are too apt to
flatter and deceive their own hearts, and to speak peace to them-
selves without sufficient grounds for so doing ; therefore some
actual preparation, self-examination, &c. is generally necessary
even to those who may be habitually good, if it be only to give
them a well grounded assurance that they really are so. How-
ever, the better men are, the less actual preparation may suffice,
and the shorter warning will be needful. Some therefore may
receive as often as they have opportunity, though it were ever so
sudden or unexpected ; and they may turn it to good account
by their pious care and recollection in their closets afterwards.
Others may have a great deal to consider of beforehand, many
offences to correct, many disorders to set right, much to do and
much to undo, before they presume to come to God's altar.
Fault has been sometimes found with the little treatises of
Weekly Preparation, and the like : I think without reason.
They are exceeding useful in their kind ; and even their number
and variety is an advantage, considering that the tastes, tem-
pers, necessities, capacities, and outward circumstances of Chris-
tians, are also manifold and various. It may be happy for them
who need none of those helps : but they that least need them are
not the men, generally, who most despise them. However, they
are not obtruded as things absolutely necessary for all, but as
highly useful to many, and especially upon their first receiving :
though we are none of us perhaps so perfect, as not to want, at
some seasons, some such hints for recollection, or helps to de-
votion. There may be excesses, or there may be defects in such
treatises : what human compositions are without them \ On the
other hand, it should be considered, that there may be excesses
and defects also in the censures or judgments passed upon them :
for human frailties are as much seen to prevail in the work of
judging and censuring, as in anything else whatsoever. In the
general, it is well for common Christians, that they are so
plentifully provided with useful manuals of that kind : they that
are well disposed will make use of them as often as they need
them, and will at all times give God thanks and praises for
them.
368 The Preparation proper for CHAP.
I have said nothing, hitherto, about coining fasting to the
Lord's table, neither need I say much now. The rule was early,
and almost universal S ; a rule of the Church, not a rule of Scrip-
ture, and so a matter of Christian liberty, rather than of strict
command. They that use it as most expressive of Christian
humility and reverence, or as an help to devotion, do well; and
they that forbear it, either on account of infirmity, or for fear of
being indisposed, and rendered less fit to attend the service, are
not to be blamed. No one need be scrupulous concerning this
matter : none should be censorious either way ; either in rashly
charging superstition on one hand, or in charging, as rashly,
irreverence on the other. I shall only observe further, that it
was a weak thing for so great a man as the justly celebrated
Mabillon to draw an argument in favour of the corporal pre-
sence, from the custom of the Church in administering or receiv-
ing this holy Sacrament fasting h . For as the custom, probably,
came in accidentally, either because, in times of persecution.
Christians chose to communicate early in the morning for their
greater safety, or because abuses had been committed in the
previous love feasts ; so was it continued for the like prudential
reasons, and then only came to have different colours put upon
it, when the reasons which first introduced it were, in a manner,
forgotten and sunk. Besides, it was the ancient custom for
both the administrator and receiver of Baptism, to come fasting,
out of reverence to that Sacrament' : which further shews ho\v
slight the argument is, drawn from the custom of fasting before
the Eucharist, as to proving anything of a corporal presence.
If any man, duly considering how sacred those symbols of the
Eucharist are, and to what high and holy purposes they were
ordained, looks upon fasting as a proper token of the reverence
he bears towards things sacred ; he may as well fast upon that
principle, as upon the imaginary notion of a corporal or local
presence.
Bingham, xv. 7. 8. Caspar, lib. i. cap. 6. pp. 60, 61.
Calvoer. Ritual. Eccles. vol. i. p. ' Martene de Antiq. Eccl. Rit.
413, &c. Sam. Basnag. Annal. torn. torn. i. p. 25. The like rule was
ii. p. 295, &c. afterwards made for Confirmation.
h Mabillon de Liturg. Gallican.
xiv. frequent Communion. 369
I have nothing further to add, upon the head of sacramental
preparation : but if any one desires to see this article more
minutely drawn out, in its full length, he will not perhaps easily
find a treatise better fitted to the purpose, than Bishop Taylor's
Worthy Communicant k : to that therefore I refer the reader.
CHAR XIV.
Of the Obligation to frequent Communion.
AS to frequency or constancy in receiving the Sacrament, it
may be justly said in the general, abstracting from particular
circumstances, that a man cannot too often commemorate our
Lord and his passion, nor too often return devout thanks and
praises for the same, nor too often repeat his resolutions of
amendment, nor too often renew his solemn engagements, nor
too often receive pardon of sins, and fresh succours of Divine
grace : and if coming to the Lord's table (prepared or unpre-
pared) were a sure and infallible way to answer those good and
great ends, there could then be no question, but that it would
be both our wisdom and our duty to communicate as often as
opportunities should invite and health permit. But it is cer-
tain, on the other hand, that bare communicating is not the
thing required, but communicating worthily. Here lies the main
stress of all, not to urge frequency of communion so far as to
render this holy Saci-ament hui-tful or fruitless to the parties
concerned ; neither yet to abate so far of the frequency, as to
make a kind of dearth or famine of this so salutary and neces-
sary food. Divines in all ages of the Church (unless we may
except the first, and part of the second) have found some per-
plexity in settling a just mean between the extremes. I do not
mean as to theory, or as to the thing considered in the general
and in the abstract, but with respect to particular persons, cases,
and circumstances ; of which it is very difficult, if not impossible,
to judge with unerring exactness. They determined perhaps
as well and as wisely, upon the fairest presumptions and pro-
babilities, as human sagacity in such dark cases could do : and
k Taylor's Worthy Communicant, chap. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. pp. 79 357.
Bb
37 The Olligation to CHAP.
if they sometimes ran into extremes, either on the right hand or
on the left, their meaning all the while was good, and their con-
duct such as may reasonably claim all candid construction, and
the best natured allowances. One thing is observable, (and I
know not whether one can justly blame them for it,) that, for
the most part, they seemed inclinable to abate of frequency,
rather than of the strictness of preparation or qualification.
They considered, that due dispositions were absolutely necessary
to make the Sacrament salutary, and were therefore chiefly to
be looked to : and they supposed, with good reason, that God
would more easily dispense with the want of the Sacrament than
with the want of the qualifications proper for it. They thought
further, that while a man was content to abstain from the
Lord's table, out of an awful reverence for it, there was good
probability that such a person would, by degrees, be perfectly
reclaimed : but if once a man should set light by those holy
solemnities, and irreverently rush upon them, without awe or
concern, there could be very little hopes of his conversion or
amendment ; because he despised the most sacred bands of alle-
giance towards God, and looked upon them only as common
forms'. Such were the prevailing sentiments of the ablest
Divines and casuists in those ancient times ; as will appear more
fully, when I come to give a brief detail of their resolutions in
this article, which I shall do presently.
But I may first take notice, for the clearer conception of the
whole case, that, since it is allowed on all hands that there can
be no just bar to frequency of Communion but the want of
preparation, which is only such a bar as men may themselves
remove if they please, it concerns them highly to take off the
impediment, as soon as possible, and not to trust to vain hopes
of alleviating one fault by another. It was required under the
Law, that a man should come holy and clean, and well prepared m
to the Passover : but yet his neglecting to be clean (when he
might be clean) was never allowed as a just apology for his stay-
ing away. No : the absenting in that case was an offence great
1 Vid. Isidor. Pelusiot. lib. iii. ep. 364, p. 398, alias 345.
m 2 Chron. xxx. I, &c. ; xxxv. 3 6, &c.
xiv. frequent Communion. 371
enough to deserve the being cut off from God's people n , because
it amounted to a disesteeming, and, in effect, disowning God's
covenant. The danger of misperforming any religious duty is an
argument for fear and caution, but no excuse for neglect : God
insists upon the doing it, and the doing it well also. The proper
duty of the high priest, under the Law, was a very dangerous
employ, requiring the exactest care and profoundest reverence :
nevertheless, there was no declining the service ; neither was
the exactness of the preparation or qualifications any proper
excuse to be pleaded for non-performance. It was no sufficient
plea for the slothful servant, under the Gospel, that he thought
his Master hard to please, and thereupon neglected his bounden
duty P : for the use he ought to have made of that thought was,
to have been so much the more wakeful and diligent in his
Master's service. Therefore, in the case of the holy Communion,
it is to very little purpose to plead the strictness of the self-
examination, or preparation, by way of excuse either for a total,
or for a frequent, or for a long neglect of it. A man may say,
that he comes not to the table, because he is not prepared, and
so far he assigns a good reason : but if he should be further
asked, why he is not prepared, when he may ; there he can only
make some trifling, insufficient excuse, or remain speechless.
But for the further clearing of this important article of fre-
quent Communion, it may be proper to trace the judgment and
practice of the churches of Christ from the beginning, and down-
wards through six or eight centuries ; which I shall endeavour
to do in as plain and few words as the nature of the subject
will admit of.
Century the First.
In the days of the Apostles, Communions were frequent ; either
every day, or at least every Lord's day. Some have probably
enough collected from the history of the Acts, that at Jerusalem,
the mother church, there was a daily Communion 9, and that in
n Exod. xii. 15, 19. Num. ix. 13. P Matt. xxv. 24, &c. Luke xix.
Levit. xvi. 13. Cp. Deyling. 20, &c.
Observ. Sacr. torn. ii. n. 41, p. 493; Acts ii. 42, 46.
torn. iii. n. 46, p. 454, &c.
B b 2
372 The Obligation to CHAP.
other churches the custom was to have weekly Communions at
least, that is to say, upon the Lord's day. But all must be
understood of persons fitly prepared, to appearance at least : for
it is certain, that open fornicators, extortioners, idolaters, and the
like, were not admitted to Communion. Christians were not
allowed to keep company with such delinquents, no not to eat
common meals s ; much less to communicate. St. Paul gave
orders for excommunicating the incestuous Corinthian fc ; and he
admitted him not again, till after a very serious and solemn
repentance, after his being almost swallowed up of grief u . How-
ever, it is observable, that both his exclusion and his readmission
were within the compass of a twelvemonth : for St. Paul's two
Epistles to Corinth are judged to bear date the same year,
namely, A. D. 57. Such are the apostolical precedents for fre-
quent Communion if prepared, and for abstaining if not prepared.
Century tlie Second.
In the next century we have undoubted evidences of weekly
Communions, and particularly on the Lord's day. This is justly
collected from the testimony of the younger Pliny above cited x ,
and is plainly declared by Justin Martyr y, of the same century.
None but true believers and men of good lives were permitted to
receive, as I before observed z from the same excellent writer : so
that frequency of communicating was never urged in derogation
of the preparatory requisites, or to make any abatement in them.
As to public and scandalous offences, in faith or manners, those
the Church could see, and provide against, by debarring the of-
fenders from Communion : and as to secret impediments, they
took what care they could, by permitting or exhorting such as
might be conscious of their own unfitness, to forbear coming to
the altar. There is a remarkable passage to this purpose, in a
learned writer of the second century, which runs thus : ' Some,
after the customary division of the elements, leave it upon the
r Acts xx. 7. * See above, chap. i. p. 26.
8 I Cor. v. II, 12. Cp. 2 John 10. J Tfj TOV fi\lov \ryonivri rintp
* i Cor. v. 5, 13. K.T. \. Just. Mart. Apol. i. p. 97.
u 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7. x See above, chap. xiii. p. 354.
XIV. frequent Communion. 373
consciences of their people, either to take their part, or other-
wise. For the best rule to determine them in their partici-
pation or forbearance, is their own conscience : and the surest
foundation for conscience to proceed upon is a good life, joined
with a competent measure of proficiency in Christian knowledge.
And the best method of coming at the knowledge of the truth,
and a right performance of what is commanded, is to choose
for your direction persons of most approved faith and conduct.
For whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the
Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord : but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of
the bread, and drink of the cup a .' Thus far Clemens. And
from thence we may observe, that there was yet no standing
rule or Canon of the Church, obliging all the faithful to receive
as often as they met for Divine Service ; but Christians were
left at liberty to judge how far they were fitly qualified in know-
ledge, or in godly living : only, it was supposed, that they ought
to be fitly qualified ; and if they were, to receive.
Tertullian, who lived in the close of the same century, takes
notice of some who declined receiving, upon the stationary days,
(Wednesdays and Fridays,) for fear of breaking their fast b .
He blames them for their foolish scruple, and suggests to them
a better way, whereby they might keep both their fast and their
feast. I may observe from it, that he thought it a duty incum-
bent upon all the faithful, to communicate as often as they might;
but the Church had not yet enforced the duty with any Canons,
obliging them under pain of ecclesiastical censure to receive : for,
had that been the case, Tertullian probably would have men-
tioned it ; or rather, there would scarce have been room left
either for their scruples on one hand, or for his charitable advice
on the other. However, from hence perhaps we may date the
first beginnings of that coldness and backwardness in point of
frequent Communion, which grew up apace amongst Christians
afterwards : it is not certain that those persons were sincere in
their pretended scruples ; but they might be willing to shift off
the duty as decently as they could, under the fairest colours.
a Clem. Alex. Strom, i. p. 318. b Tertullian. de Orat. cap. xiv. p. 136.
374 The Obligation to CHAP.
Century the Third.
St. Cyprian, who flourished about the middle of the third
century, mentions daily Communions, as the common practice
of that time c : and he everywhere speaks highly of the use and
benefit of the Sacrament to the worthy receivers : but no man
could be more careful to prevent any one's coming to the Lord's
table, who had committed any of the grievous sins, and had not
yet made full satisfaction to God and the world, by a strict and
solemn repentance.
In this century crept in some superstitious or overcurious
conceits about legal defilements d , as a bar to Communion, or even,
to coming to the Christian assemblies. Such niceties, while they
carried a show of reverence for holy places and things, might
notwithstanding have better been let alone ; having no warrant
in the Gospel of Christ, nor in the practice of the earlier ages of
the Church, so far as appears : neither indeed were they altoge-
ther consistent with the ancient custom of daily Communions of
all the faithful, which had obtained in some churches. One
thing is observable, that during the first three centuries, we meet
with no. Canons made to enforce frequent Communion, scarce so
much as exhortations to it, or any complaints of neglect in that
article : which is an argument that Christians in those times
were not tardy in that respect, but rather forward and pressing,
under an high notion of the privilege and comfort of partaking
of the holy Communion. Therefore the chief care and concern
of Church guides, during the first ages, was rather to inculcate
the necessity of due preparation, than to insist upon frequency,
for which there was less occasion. But times and circumstances
soon came to be altered ; as we shall see presently, upon taking
a view of the following centuries.
Century the Fourth.
In the year 305 (some say, 300, or 303, or 313, or 324) was
held a council of nineteen Bishops, at Eliberis, or Elvira, in
See the whole passage above, drin. Harduin. torn. i. p. 187, &c,
chap. vi. p. no. Bevereg. Pandect, torn. ii. p. 4,
a Vid. Canones Dionys. Alexan- &c.
xiv. frequent Communion. 375
Andalusia, a province of Spain. Among many other Canons, a
rule was then made, not to accept of an offering from one who
did not communicate e . We may judge from hence, that Christ-
ians now began to be remiss, with respect to Communion, and
that such Canon was intended for a gentle rebuke to them ; a
mark of public disfavour, in order to excite and quicken them,
first to prepare, and then to receive. Many perhaps might now
grow cold and careless as to coming to the Lord's table ; either
because they had not a just sense of the use and benefit of it, and
of the obligations they were under to it ; or they loved the world
too well, and were willing to put off their repentance from day to
day, and so of course to stave off that solemn profession which
the holy Sacrament required. The like coldness and backward-
ness appeared in many of that age, even with respect to Baptism f :
for, while they were well-wishers to it, and stood candidates for
it, they yet loved to procrastinate and to feign excuses ; because
delaying Baptism was delaying repentance, which depraved nature
was prone enough to do. The case, very probably, was much
the same with respect to this other Sacrament : and hence arose
that coldness towards it, which the Church guides of those times
wei'e much concerned at, and endeavoured gently to remove.
When those milder applications did not sufficiently answer,
some brisker methods were thought on for the compassing the
same good end. In the year 341, a Council of Antioch decreed,
That all they who came to Church, and heard the holy Scrip-
tures read, and afterwards joined not in prayer with the people,
or turned their backs on the holy Communion, after a disorderly
way, should be cast out of the Church, till such time as they
should make public confession of their fault, and give proofs of
their repentance, and humbly sue to be reconciled .' This rule
e ' Episcopos placuit ab eo, qui torn. iii. p. 216, &c. Compare Bing-
non coramunicat, munera accipere ham, xi. 6, 2, 3, c.
non debere.' Concil. Illiberit. Can. s ndvras rovs ej'<n<Was eir rV e/c-
xxviii. Harduin. 153. K\i\tria.v. Kal riav Itpuv ypa^Siv eucoi'-
f Vid. Basil. Homil. in Sanct. ovras, /u/Jj KoivavovvTas 5e evxys apa,
Bapt. p. 114, &c. edit. Bened. torn, rip \aot, ^ airoTpfirofjifvovs r^v aylav
ii. Gregor. Nazianz. Orat. xl. p. 647, (itT<i\ri\l/ii> rf)s tvxapiffTias, icard nva,
&c. Constit. Apostol. lib. vi. cap. 15. ara(fac, rovrovs a.iro&\-liTovs
Gregor. Nyssen. de Baptism. Opp. rr,s (KKXijffias fois &v
376 The Obligation to' CHAP.
may seem to be a severe rule, on more accounts than one. i. As
it appears to run in general terms, making no express exceptions
for those who, for just causes, best known to themselves, might
sometimes decline receiving. 2. Supposing any person to absent
from the Lord's table, out of reverence to it, (being conscious to
himself of some secret offences,) as it was a rule of the Church to
excommunicate no man but for open and scandalous sins, it
might look hard to excommunicate merely for not receiving con-
stantly; because it was, in effect, extending discipline even to
the most private and concealed offences, or to other impedimenta.
3. Since no one ought to receive but he that sincerely repents ;
and since repentance must be free, or it is really no repentance ;
it appears not right to excommunicate a man, in order to oblige
him to receive, unless it were right also to excommunicate every
one who should delay repentance, or who would not instantly be
persuaded to reform, so far as to be capable of receiving worthily
the holy Communion. This appears not to have been the rule of
the earlier centuries : for they left men at liberty to judge (except
in cases of open scandal) how far they were worthy or otherwise,
and thereupon to choose either to receive or forbear. These or
the like reasons, I presume, have put learned men upon softening
explications, to mitigate the rigour of the Canon. Emanuel
Schelstrate has suggested, that the order then made pointed
chiefly at the Audians, or Quarto- decimans h , who held private
conventicles, but came occasionally to Church, to hear the Scrip-
tures read, and sermons preached, and then departed, in a dis-
orderly and scornful manner, upon some erroneous principles of
their sect, to the great scandal and offence of the more serious
and sober part of the congregation. Schelstrate's account is
favoured by two circumstances : one, that the Canon immediately
preceding most plainly strikes at the Quarto-decimans, though
without naming them ; and the other, that the Canon does not
simply and absolutely censure all non-communicants, but some
only, with this restriction, as doing it KOTO, nva ara^iav, which
fjitvoi Kcd Sttlavrts icapirovs fitravolat, ii. Bevereg. Panel, p. 431.
icai irapa.Ka\((ravT(s rv\^ v SwaOuxri h Vid. Schelstrate de Concil. Anti-
Concil. Antioch. Can. ochen. pp. 179, 222.
xiv. frequent Communion. 377
Dionysius Exiguus renders 'pro quadam intemperantia,' with a
certain rudeness; and Isidorus Mercator renders 'secunclum
aliquam propriam disciplinam,' according to the principles of
their own sect. Now, if such was the case, then the rigour of
the Canon affected not the main body of the faithful, adhering to
the Church, who might be still left to the same discretionary
conscientious liberty as before.
Perhaps the like account may serve for the Apostolical Canons
also, so far as concerns this article : Schelstrate was of that
mind, and applied the same solution to both \ One of the Apo-
stolical Canons orders, ' That if any Bishop, Priest, or Deacon,
or any of the sacerdotal college, does -not communicate when
there is a Communion, [oblation,] he shall be obliged to assign
a reason ; and if it be a just one, he shall be excused : other-
wise he shall be suspended, as giving offence to the people, and
as raising a suspicion upon the administrator, as if he did not
salutarily execute his office 1 *.' The last words put me in mind
of the fourth Canon of the Council of Gangra, held a few years
before the Antiochian : some place it in 324, some in 330; all
agree that it was not later than 340. That Canon decrees,
' That if any one takes exception to a married Presbyter, as
such, thinking it not lawful to receive the Communion at his
hands, let him be anathema 1 .' Whether the Antiochian and
Apostolical Canons might not have some view to that case, in
what they decreed against any one's turning his back on the
Communion, I leave to the learned to consider.
The next Canon called Apostolical makes a like order with
respect to the laity, as the former had done with regard to the
clergy : viz. ' That as many of the faithful as came to Church,
and did not abide all the time of the prayer and Communion,
1 Schelstrate, ibid. p. 222. us n^i vyicas art vtyKavTos. Can.Apo-
k El TIS iirio-Koiros, ^ irpecr/JuTfpoj, stol. vi, alias viii.
v) Sidicovos, $) IK TOV Ka.ra\6yov TOV ' E5f TIS StaKptvotro irtp\ irpcrf$vTf-
lepariKov, irpo<r<popus ytvo/j.4vris, /u^ pov yeyaw^ros, us rfi xprii>at, \ti-
HfTa\d/3oi, T^V al-riav flirdrta' xal lav TovpyJi&avros ouToC, irpofftyopas /j.era-
ffi\oyos rj, crvyyviafjiris rvyxavtrw tl \afj.Bdvfiv, avdOtpa fffrta. Concil.
Se fj.^1 Ae'7j7, a<popita6<i>, u>s alnos Gangrens. Can. iv. Hard. p. 530.
tvnBfls T$ \af, xal vieAvoiav Bevereg. Pand. torn. i. 419.
/card TOV irpofftvtynai'T<is,
The Obligation to CHAP.
should be excommunicated, as guilty of raising disturbance in
the Church m .' It is hard to judge certainly of the parti-
cular drift or purport of such Canons, without a more explicit
knowledge of the then present circumstances : but it is not likely
that they were ever intended to oblige all the faithful to com-
municate as often as they came to Divine Service, or to abridge
them of the reasonable liberty of judging how far they were
prepared for it, and" whether they might not sometimes (provided
it were not customary, so as to amount to contempt) abstain
from it. Balsamon, in his Notes upon the Apostolical Canon
last cited, calls it a very harsh decree n : and so indeed it is, if
interpreted with utmost rigour. But he intimates elsewhere,
that the Greek Church in his time received it with a softening
explication . Schelstrate, as before noted, has suggested another ;
and to both I have taken the liberty to subjoin a third. It is
not reasonable to think, that a modest and sober departure,
before Communion began, (a practice now common, and, I believe,
always in use, more or less,) could be looked upon as a dis-
turbance : but if it was done out of dislike, or contempt, and upon
factious principles, then indeed it would be apt to make great-
disturbance ; and that, very probably, was what the compilers of
those Canons were solicitous to prevent or remedy. But I return.
I proceed in reciting the principles of the fourth century, with
regard to frequent Communion. Basil (about the year 372)
being consulted on this head, declares it good and profitable to
communicate every day ; testifying withal, of the practice of the
ehm-ch of Caesarea, where he was, that they celebrated the
Sacrament four times a week, (on Sunday, Wednesday, Friday,
and Saturday,) besides the saints' days, [festivals of martyrs,] as
often as they occurred P : but he does not say how diligent or
how constant the people were in attending upon it.
m TldvTas TOOJ fiffi6t>ras ITHTTOVS tls n AiopjiTM^s Spi/j.vrar6s tanv. Bal-
rV ayiav @eov lKK\^ffia.v, Kal rcav sum. in loc.
if pav ypa(f>>v aKouocTos, ^ irapanf- Vid. Beveregii Annot. in Apost.
vovrax Se rrj irpo<revxV Ka ^ r ? &y' l t Can. ix. p. 21.
jUTo\^6t, us araiav tfutoiovvras TT? P Basil. Epist. xciii. (alias cclxxxix.)
eKK\i]ffia, a.<(>opieff()ai xpV- Can. Apo- p. 186, ed. Bened. torn. iii. Cp. So-
stol. vii. alias ix. crat. Eccles. Histor. lib. v. cap. 22.
xiv. frequent Communion. 379
Chiysostom, of the same century, somewhat later, will give
us the best light, both with respect to the practice of that age,
and the rules whereby it was conducted. In one place of his
works, he speaks thus : ' Many partake of this sacrifice once a
year, some twice, some oftener. Which of them should we
most approve oH Those that communicate once, or those that
do it often, or those that seldom do it 1 ? Neither the once-comers,
nor the often, nor the seldom, but those that come with a clean
conscience, a pure heart, and a life unblamable, they that are so
qualified should come constantly : but as to them that are not,
once is too much for them. And why so 1 Because they will
only receive to themselves judgment and condemnation, pains
and penalties <i.' Here we may observe how this good Father
pressed upon his hearers the duty of constant Communion, but
under caution of coming fitly prepared : otherwise he thought it
would not be barely fruitless, but hurtful. That was the standing
rule of the Church, the settled principle which they constantly
went upon, with respect to both Sacraments. For, whatever high
notions they might entertain of the use or necessity of Baptism,
yet they never would encourage any person to receive it, before
they believed him well qualified for it ; but would sometimes
keep the catechumens back, for five, or ten, or twenty years, or
even to the hour of death, rather than admit them in a state of
impenitence, or before they had been well disciplined and proved 1 ".
Sacraments were a good superstructure : but the foundation was
first and principally to be looked to, the foundation of repentance
and a good life. Qualifications ought to go before admission :
and service before privileges. But I pass on.
Chrysostom, in another Homily, reproves the non-communi-
cants, and presses frequent Communion in the manner here fol-
lowing : ' In vain stand we at the altar, none come to receive.
I speak not barely to persuade you to receive, but to make
yourselves worthy. You are not worthy [you will say] of the
sacrifice, or not fit to receive ? Then neither are you worthy
of the prayer : do you not hear the Deacon, when he stands up
i Chrysostom. in Heb. Horn. xvii. T See Testimonies referred to in
p. 856, edit. Paris. Bingham, xi. 6. I.
380 The Obligation to CHAP.
and proclaims, As many among you as are under penance, with-
draw ? All that do not communicate, are supposed to be
under penance. If you are of the number of penitents, you
must not receive : for he that does not receive is under
penance. "Why does he [the Deacon] say, All ye that cannot
pray, depart? And why do you, after that, impudently stay?
You are not one of those, you will say, but of those who may
receive. Have you then no regard for that, or do you think
it a slight privilege ? Consider, I beseech you, &c. Every one
that does not partake of the mysteries, is shameless and im-
pudent to stand by all the while. You sing the hymn with
the rest, and you profess yourself one of the worthy, by your
not departing with the unworthy. With what face then can
you presume to stay, and yet not partake of the table? You
plead, you are unworthy : you are therefore unworthy to join
in the prayers, for the Holy Spirit descends, not only in the
offering of the elements, but also in the chanting of the hymns 8 /
Chrysostom here pleads for frequent Communion, in a strong
affecting way, but still loses not sight of the main point, which
was the receiving worthily.
The argument he draws from prayer to Communion has been
sometimes misunderstood, and may here deserve to be set right.
He does not mean that prayer in general requires the same
preparation that the Communion does, or that every one who
may properly be admitted to the former may as properly be
admitted to the latter also. No : that would run directly counter
to the known principles and practice, and standing discipline of
* Chrysost. in Ephes. Horn. iii. pp. Isa. vi. 3.
887, 888. But the first and fourth are the
N. B. The Communion hymns are most ancient : the second and third
by Goar (Euchol. p. 136) distin- are both later than Chrysostom. The
guished into four : three last are but one trisagium in
I. "ffivos a>7Aj)cdj. The angeli- the main, one cherubical, or sera-
pal. 'Glory to God on high,' &c. phical hymn, with some variations,
i. "Ypvos xfpov$i6s. The cherub- additions, and interpolations made
'ical hymn, in Goar, p. 206. at different times. See Bingham,
3. "Tfiifos rpiffdyios. Sanctus Deus, xiv. 2, 3 ; xv. 3, 9, 10. Allix. Dis-
sanctus fortis, &c. sert. de Trisagii Origine. Renaudot.
4. "Tjuvos tirivlitios. The triumphal Liturg. Collect, torn. i. p. 228. torn,
hymn. 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord,'&c. ii. p. 69.
xiv. frequent Communion. 381
the Church in that age : for nothing was more usual than to
admit penitents of the foui'th order, to communion in prayers, for
two, three, four, or sometimes five years, and all the while to
debar them from the holy Communion, as not yet worthy to be
admitted to it 4 . But what Chrysostom meant was, that it was
very absurd, and even downright impudent, for a man to claim
a right to stand by, all the while that the Communion was
administering, and to join in those most sacred and mystical
prayers and hymns, which were proper to it, and at the same
time to pretend that he was not worthy of it : for, if he really
was not worthy to receive, he was not worthy to be present
during that holy solemnity, or to bear a part in the prayers
which peculiarly belonged to it. I know, it has been thought
by persons of good learning, that the fourth order of penitents
(called a-vviordnevoi, consistentes, in English co-standers, or asso-
ciates) were allowed to be present during the whole solemnity,
while prohibited from receiving, and that Sunday after Sunday,
for several years together : which would have been committing
that very absurdity which Chrysostom here so strongly remon-
strates against. But I take that prevailing notion to be all a
mistake, owing to the want of a right understanding the ancient
Canons and ancient phi-ases. Those co-standers were allowed to
communicate in prayers with the faithful". What prayers, is
the question. I suppose the prayers previous to the holy kiss,
previous also to the oblation; which were indeed part of the Missa
fklelium, or Communion Service, (like to our prayer for the Church
militant,) but were not the proper mystical prayers belonging to
the Communion, and of which Chrysostom is to be understood.
The co-standers, being the highest order of penitents, had the
* Concil. Ancyran. Can. 4, 5, 6, catechumens, after the Gospel, or
7, 8, 9, 16, 24. Concil. Nicen. Can. with the penitents soon after, com-
II, 11, 13. Basil. Can. 22, 30, 56, municated in prayer, as appears by
57> 58, 59, 61, 66, 75, 82, 83. Con- the Apostolical Constitutions. Mi;
cil. Carthag. vi. Can. n. Concil. Koivtavfiroxrav 5e fv rrj irpoffevx^,
Trull. Can. 87. oAA" f^fpxevOtaffav /ueroc rrji> avajvo. -
u Ei/x^s 8e novrjs KOivuvriffai. Con- ffiv rov v6fj.ov Kal riOiv irpo<f>tjruf Kal
cil. Ancyr. Can. iv. Koivtavfia'ai x- ra ^> evayyf\lov. lib. ii. cap. 39. The
p\s irpoffcpopas. Ibid. Can. vi. So in Council of Laodicea distinctly men-
the Xicene Canons, and Basil's, '&c. tions what prayers preceded the ob-
All that did not depart with the lation. Can. xix. p. 786, Harduin..
382 The Obligation to CHAP.
privilege to stand in the same place of the Church with the
faithful, and to abide there, after the catechumens and lower
penitents were dismissed ; and they were permitted to commu-
nicate in prayer, till the oblation began, and then they also were
to withdraw. This I collect, as from several other circumstances,
so particularly from hence, that the Deacons just before the
salutation of peace, warned all non-communicants to withdraw x .
The co-stauders must of course have been reckoned of that num-
ber, being forbid to communicate ; and therefore they must have
been obliged to withdraw after the preparatory prayers, and
before the Communion, properly speaking, began. Chrysostom
himself intimates in another Homily, that all non-communicants
were warned to depart y; and that presently after came on the
mystical hymn. About that time the co-standers, as I conceive,
withdrew. Neither, indeed, is it credible, that so knowing a
person as Chrysostom would have represented it as a flaming
absurdity for a non-communicant to be present during the whole
solemnity, had the custom of the Church allowed it in the co-
standers, who were non-communicants.
It may be objected, that Pope Sirieius (about A. D. 385)
allowed or ordered some non -communicants to abide till the whole
service was over z : and Sozomen speaks of the custom of the
western churches, as obliging the penitents to wait all the time
of the Communion Service, in order to receive the Bishop's abso-
lution after it was ended 8 . These are the principal passages
which have led learned men into a persuasion, that the co-standers
were used to be present during the whole solemnity. But they
* 'f.v rfj dfia avatpopa. 6 Siaxovos sost. Homil. de Fil. Prod. torn. ri.
Tpoatpavt't irpb TOV affTfafffiOv' ol CLKOI- p. 375, Paris.
VI!>VI}TOL irepnrar'fia-are. Timoth. Alex. z ' Diximus decernendum, ut sola
Resp. ix. 1 104, Hard. Ol rrjv icpfarp intra ecclesiam fidelibus oratione jun-
tuxV fvxfafvoi, irpof \9fTf. Apost. gantur; Sacris niysteriorum celebri-
Constitut. lib. viii. cap. 12. 'Si quis tatibus, quamvis non mereantur, in-
non communicat, det locum.' Gre- tersint ; a Dominicae autem mensae
gor. M. Dial. lib. ii. cap. 23. convivio segregentur,' &c. Siric.
y Mr) rts TUV KaTTfixov(j.fvu>i>, p-fi TIS Epist. p. 848, Harduin.
TUV fitr) fffOiovTiav, fnij ns riav Ka.TO.ffn6- * H \Tr)pta8t iffr\ j TTJJ TOV &tov \fi~
irwv, pr) ris TOIV p)] Svya-Ufvuv 8td<ra- Tovpyias. Sozom. lib. vii. cap. 1 6,
aOat Tbv pdcrxov iaOi6fj.tvov. . . . H.TI TJ p. 300, edit. Cant.
avd^tos Tjjy ^uxrris 6u<rias, &c. Chry-
XIV. frequent Communion. 383
did not observe, that the preparatory service was called the
service, or the mass, and that the Communion, properly, began
not till that service was ended, and the non-communicants were
withdrawn. Gregory Turonensis, of the sixth century, may help
to clear this matter : he speaks of the Communion's beginning
after the masses or liturgies were ended b . Cyprian, long before,
spake much after the same way c . And even Justin Martyr has
made mention of the common prayers, as ended, before the Com-
munion began, before the holy salutation : and soon after he
takes notice of the subsequent prayers and thanksgivings proper
to the Communion d . Those subsequent prayers were what
Chrysostom spake of, as altogether improper for any to join in,
or to be present at, except the communicants themselves.
A learned writer of our own observes, that 'what in Chry-
sostom's time was reckoned a crime, was presently after ac-
counted a piece of devotion, for the people to stay and hear
the whole solemnity of the service, till the time of communicat-
ing, and then they might depart without partaking of the
Communion : which was plainly a relaxation of the ancient
discipline, and a deviation from the primitive practice 6 .' For
this he refers to the Council of Agde of the year 506, and to the
first Council of Orleans in 5 1 1 . I take not upon me to defend
Avhat was done in later times, but to clear Chrysostom's argu-
ment, as consonant to the principles and practice of that age
with respect to non-communicants, whether co-standers or others.
However, I must observe, with respect even to the Councils of
Agde and Orleans, that no order was made for non-communicants
to stay during the whole solemnity of the Communion : only, they
b ' Ubi peractis solemnibus, ad coepit,'&c. Cyprian, de Laps. p. 132,
sacrosanctum altarium communican- edit. Oxon.
cli gratia accessisset,' &c. Gregor. d "AAArjAous <f>i\-finan a.<rira.ij(j.f8a,
Turon. lib. ix. n. 3, p. 419. ira.vffdfj.evoi Ttav fi/x^f firfira irpoa-
' Cumque expletis missis, populus <ptptTai rtf irpofffreoTt T>V aSe\<pwf
coepisset sacrosanctum corpus Re- &pros, KOI irorfyiov SSoToy, Kal Kpdua-
demptoris accipere.' Greg. Turon. ros. Kal OVTOS \a&iav, alvov Kal $6av
de Mirac. Mattin. lib. ii. cap. 47, ry Trarpl -ruv 8A.au', 5io TOV 6v6naros
p. 1060. Cp. Mabillon de Liturg. TOV vlov, Kal TOV irveu/uaroj TOV ayiov,
Gallican. pp. 35, 36, 51. wwrt^vti. Justin. Mart. Apol. i.
c ' Ubi vero solennibua adimpletis, pp. 95, 96, edit. Thirlb.
calicem diaconus offerre praesentibus e Bingham, xv. 4, 2.
384 The Obligation to CHAP.
were obliged to wait for the Bishop's benediction, (which was
previous f to the most solemn part of the service,) and then to
depart. So that though the dismission of the non-communicants
might perhaps be deferred somewhat later now, than in Chry-
sostom's time, yet dismissed they were before the Communion
properly came on ; and the absurdity which Chrysostom com-
plained of, that of staying out the whole solemnity without
communicating, never was admitted in those days.
The principal use I had in view, by what I have here said,
was to take off a kind of popular plea, which has been sometimes
urged in the name of Chrysostom, that every one who may be
admitted to prayers, ought to be admitted to Communion also ;
and that there is no more reason for absenting from the Com-
munion, on account of unfitness, than there is for absenting from
prayers on the like account : for it is pleaded, that either a man
is fit for both or for neither. Chrysostom never said, or most
certainly never meant any such thing : so that his authority ought
to be out of the question. As to the reason of the case, the plea
can never hold upon that foot. It is true, prayer requires some
preparation ; and a man may pray unworthily, as well as com-
municate unworthily : and his prayer, in such circumstances,
may be vain and fruitless . But yet it is nowhere said, that he
who prays unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the
Lord, or that he shall draw down judgment upon himself by
doing it. Neither is all prayer so sacred and solemn as sacra-
mental prayer, nor is any mere prayer a federal rite, like a
Sacrament : nor does the want of due preparation in prayer
(though a culpable neglect) so directly tend to frustrate the
most sacred ties, and to turn all religion into hypocrisy and form,
as the want of it in the other case does : therefore, the two cases
are by no means parallel, but similar only, and that in great
disproportion. And hence it was (as I before hinted) that the
ancients, while they admitted catechumens to some prayers, pro-
per to them, and the lower degrees of penitents to prayers proper
f Vid. Bona de Reh. Liturg. lib. Ecclesiast. vol. i. p. 713. Bingham,
ii. cap. 16, n. I, 2, p. 664, &c. Ma- xv. 3, 28, 29.
billoii de Liturg. Gallic, lib. i. cap. Prov. xv. 8. Isa. i. 15.
4, n. 14, p. 35. Calvoer. RituaL
xiv. frequent Communion. 385
for them, and the highest order of penitents to some part of the
Communion prayers, as not improper for them ; yet they debarred
even the best of them, sometimes, month after month, or year
after year, as not yet worthy to receive the holy Communion.
I may now proceed somewhat further with Chrysostom. In
another Homily, after he had been speaking of the danger of
receiving unworthily, he adds, 'I speak not this to deter you
from coming, but from coming carelessly. For, as there is danger
in coming carelessly, so there is famine and death in the not
partaking at all of the mystical supper. This table is, as it were,
the sinews of our souls, the girding up of the mind, the support
of our confidence; our hope, our health, our light, our life h .'
Here the eloquent Father seems to make it not so bad to receive
unworthily, as to forbear receiving at all : for he represents the
one as dangerous, the other as fatal. If so, the unworthy non-
communicant would be in a worse condition than the unworthy
communicant ; and it would be safest to receive at all adventures :
and if that were admitted, it would be hard to justify the ancient
discipline with respect to either Sacrament. But here we must
answer with distinction. Supposing the unworthiness equal in
both, there is equally contempt in both cases, but not equal
contempt ; for the unworthy communicant is guilty of a greater
contempt than the other, and is the most profane of the two,
incurring greater damnation. As it were better not to have
known the way of life, than to go counter to it 1 ; so it were
better never to take the Sacrament, than to profane it as con-
stantly as we take it. So then, to neglect it out of contempt is
indeed famine and death : but still the other is more dangerous,
as exposing the person to sorer death and more grievous punish-
ment ; which I take to be Chrysostom's real meaning. Never-
theless, if a man only suspects or doubts within himself, whether
he is fit to receive, it will certainly be his safest way to receive ;
and his humble modesty, if really such, will itself be a commend-
able part of his preparation k . The degrees of unworthiness are
many and various, and no man is strictly worthy : a sincere,
h Chrysostom in I Cor. x, Horn. 2 Pet. ii. 21.
xxv. p. 262. t See Luke xviii. 13, 14.
C C
386 The Obligation to CHAP.
though for the present weak resolution to amend instantly in
every known article of disobedience, seems to be ordinarily a
sufficient security against the danger of receiving unworthily.
Century the Fifth.
The first Council of Toledo, in the year 400, made an order
about those who were observed never to come to Communion, that
they should be admonished for such their habitual and total
neglect, and if they did not reform, should be obliged to submit
to penance 1 . This decree appears very mild and moderate, as
being pointed only against those who constantly absented, and
as prescribing an admonition before the censure ; and at length
excommunicating those only, who had in a manner excommuni-
cated themselves. No doubt but such order might have a veiy
good effect upon those who were barely supine and careless in
that article, otherwise leading innocent lives. But perhaps ex-
hortation or admonition alone might have been sufficient to as
many as were well disposed ; and as to the rest, censure might be
thought too much : for who shall force a man to repent 1 Or
how is it repentance, if it is not free 1 Or what signifies the
coming to the Lord's table in hypocrisy ? These considerations
have their weight : and therefore excommunication in such a
case, so far as it is justifiable, must be maintained upon some
general principle, such as the necessity of removing notorious
offences or scandals, for fear of contagion to the rest, and for fear
of bringing an infamy upon the whole body, by such connivance
as might look too like an allowance of so shameful a neglect.
The general good of the Church, in some cases, ought to overrule
all such considerations as have been before mentioned. For ex-
ample : there are, suppose, ten thousand officiating clergy in a
nation, who may be obliged, by the laws of Church and State, to
administer and to receive the holy 1 Communion, so often, be they
prepared or otherwise. In such a number, some hundreds, it
may be, may officiate and receive, not duly prepared. Let them
1 ' De his qui intrant in ecclesiam, communicant, ad poenitentiam ac-
et deprehenduntur imnquara com- cedant,' &c. Concil. Tolet. i. Can.
uiunicare t admoneantur, ut, si non 13.
xiv. frequent Communion. 387
look to that : the Church is clear so far, because the necessity of
the case and the general good so requires. It would be trifling
here to urge, that it is forcing men to profane the holy Sacra-
ment, or forcing them to repent and amend. That must be
risked upon higher and more weighty considerations : for God's
people must not be deprived of the benefit of the Sacrament in
such cases. Therefore, I observed, that the considerations before
mentioned have their weight ; as indeed they ought to have ; but
so far only, as they are not opposed to other considerations of a
more general nature, and of still greater weight.
The same Council made a strict order, that such of the resi-
dent clergy as came not to the daily prayers and Communion
should be deposed, if they did not reform after admonition 10 .
By this we see that daily Communions were yet kept up in some
churches. Which appears likewise from the testimonies of
Jerome 11 and Austin , of that time. Some Christians of that
age were so scrupulous in that matter, that they thought them-
selves under a strict obligation to communicate, if possible,
every day : others thought otherwise ; and St. Austin was con-
sulted upon the question. It was pleaded on the side of daily
Communion, that every one ought to communicate as often as he
worthily might ; and that if he was not debarred by Church cen-
sures from it, he might be looked upon as worthy, the Church
being judge of that case. On the other side it was pleaded, that
some particular chosen days, when a man might be most recol-
lected, and best prepared, were preferable ; for so the greater
reverence would be shewn towards the Sacrament, and it would
be more likely to answer its end and use. St. Austin did not
care to determine for either, but took a middle way to compro-
m ' Clericus, si intra civitatein fue- corpus accipiant : quod nee repre-
rit, vel in loco quo ecclesia est, aut hendo, nee laudo ; unusquisque enim
castello, aut vico, aut villa, et ad in suo sensu abundat.' Hieron. adv.
ecclesiam ad sacrificium quotidianum Jovin. p. 239. Cp. Ep. lii. ad Lucin.
non accesserit, clericus non habeatur, p. 579, ed. Bened.
si castigatus per satisfaction em ve- ' Alii quotidie communicant cor-
niamab episcopo noluerit promereri.' pori et sanguini Domini, alii certis
Concil. Tolet. i. Can. 5. diebus accipiunt.' Augustin. Epist.
n 'Scio Eomae hanc esse consue- ad Jan. liv. (alias cxviii.) p. 124.
tudinem ut fideles semper Christi torn. ii. edit. Bened.
C C 2
388 The Obligation to CHAP.
mise the dispute ; which was to advise both parties (as they in-
tended the same thing in the main) to shew their reverence to
the Sacrament in their different ways, according to their respec-
tive persuasions. For, says he, ' neither of them really dishon-
ours the Lord's body and blood, while both contend, only in a
different way, who shall do most honour to the blessed Sacrament.
For neither did Zaccheus and the Centurion strive together, or
one prefer himself before the other, when the former gladly
received our Lord into his house, and the latter said, " I am not
worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof :" but both did
honour to our Saviour in their several, or rather, contrary ways ;
both were sinners, and both found mercy. So here, one out of
reverence dares not partake every day : another out of the like
reverence, dares not omit it a single day : all is well, so long as
there is no contempt in either case upon the holy Sacrament P.'
This resolution of St. Austin was most certainly very wise and
just, suitable to the question as there stated, whether a man
should communicate every day, or only upon some select days,
when fittest for it. But had the question been, whether it were
sufficient for persons fitly prepared to communicate once or twice
a year, or the like, he would have said no, but oftener; either
every month, or every week, if opportunity offered. Gennadius,
who lived in the close of the same century, (about A. D. 495,)
determined as cautiously about daily receiving, neither approving
or disapproving it : but weekly receiving he spoke fully up to,
recommending it as highly proper for all that were competently
prepared, that is, for all that were sincerely penitent, and were
not under any prevailing inclination to vicei.
P ' Neuter enim eorum exhonorat ambo peccatis miseri, ambo miseri-
corpus et sanguinem Domini, sed cordiam consecuti. . . . Ille honoran-
saluberrimum sacramentum certatim do non audet quotidie sumere ; et
honorare coritendunt. Neque enim ille honorando non audet ullo die
litigaverunt inter se, aut quisquam praetermittere. Contemptum solum
eorum se alteri praeposuit Zachaeus non vult cibus iste," &c. Augustin.
et ille Centurio, cum alter eorum ibid. p. 125.
gaudens in domum suam susceperit * 'Quotidie Eucharistiae commu-
Dominum. Alter dixerit ; Non sum nionem percipere nee laudo nee
dignus ut intres sub tectum meum : vitupero : omnibus tamen Dominicis
ambo Salvatorem honor! ficantes di- diebus communicandum suadeo et
verso, et quasi contrario, modo ; hortor ; si tamen mens in affectu
xiv. frequent Communion, 389
Century tite Sixth.
In the beginning of this century (about A. D. 506) the
Council of Agde, in Gaul, obliged the laity to receive three times
a year at least, at the three great festivals, Christmas, Easter,
and Whitsuntide r . It is the first precedent of that kind : and
some very pious and serious Christians have wished, that it
never had been set, because it might furnish an handle to many
for imagining that they were under no obligation to greater
frequency. But the Council designed no such inference ; which
at best is but a perverse construction of the thing : only, they
considered, that to oblige all persons to receive weekly was im-
practicable ; and to exhort them to frequency at large, without
specifying any certain times, was doing nothing; and that if
ordinary Christians were left to themselves, they would not,
probably, communicate so often as thrice in the year, nor
twice.
Other Councils, later in the same century, revived the more
ancient rules: the Councils of Braccara and Luca, in Spain,
(A.D. 572,) approved of the collection of old canons drawn up by
Martinus Braccarensis ; among which is the Second Antiochian
canon, above recited, being the eighty-third in this collection B .
Afterwards, the second Council of Macon (A. D. 585) endea-
voured to reinforce weekly communions, obliging both men
and women to communicate every Lord's Day, under pain of
peccandi non sit. Nam habentem r ' Seculares, qui Natali Domini,
adhuc voluntatem peccandi, gravari Pascha, et Pentecosten, non commu-
magis dico Eucharistiae perceptione, nicaverint, Catholici non credantur,
quam purificari. Et ideo quamvis nee inter Catholicos habeantur.' Con-
quis peccato mordeatur, peccandi cil. Agatheng. Can. xviii. p. 1000.
non habeat de caetero voluntatem, Hard.
et communicaturus satisfaciat lacry- 6 It is thus worded : ' Si quis in-
mis et orationibus, et confidens de trat Ecclesiam Dei, et sacras Scrip-
Domini miseratione, qui peccata turas audit, et pro luxuria sua aver-
piae confessioni donare consuevit, tit se a communione sacramenti, et
accedat ad Eucharistiam intrepidus in observandis mysteriis declinat
et securus. Sed hoc de illo dico, constitutam regulam disciplinae, is-
quern capitalia et mortalia peccata turn talem projiciendum de Ecclesia
non gravant.' Gennad. Massil. inter Catholica decernimus,' &c. Concil.
August. Opp. torn. viii. App. p. 78. Braccarens. et Lucens. Can. Ixxxiii.
ed. Bened. Hard. torn. iii. p. 400.
The Obligation to CHAP.
anathema * : which was severe enough, unless we may understand
it only as opposed to absenting in way of scorn or contempt.
Century the Seventh.
I may here take notice, that the Council of Autun, in the year
670 u , revived the above-mentioned canon of the Council of Agde,
about communicating three times a year, at the three great fes-
tivals. In this century, the Greeks used to communicate weekly ;
and such as neglected three weeks together were excommuni-
cated : but in the Church of Rome, the people were left more
to their own liberty x .
Century the Eigltth.
Venerable Bede, in his epistle to Ecgbriht Archbishop of
York, in the year 734, has a passage to our purpose, worth the
noting. He writes thus: 'The teachers... should instruct the
people, how salutary daily communions might be to all kinds
of Christians; a point which the Church of Christ through
Italy, Gaul, Africa, Greece, and the whole East, have much
laboured, as you well know. This solemn service of religion,
and devout sanctification to Godward, is so far sunk almost
among all the laity, by negligence of their teachers; that even
those among them who appear to have a more than ordinary
sense of religion, yet presume not to partake of those holy
mysteries but upon the Nativity, Epiphany, and Easter :
though there are innumerable persons of very innocent and
chaste conversation, boys and girls, young men and maidens,
old men and matrons, who, without the least scruple of doubt,
might well receive every Lord's Day, or over and above, upon
' 'Decernimus, ut omnibus Domi- Can. iv. Hard. torn. iii. p. 461.
nicis diebus, altaris oblatio ab omni- u Concil. Augustodunens. Can.
bus viris et mulieribus offeratur tarn xiv. Hard. torn. iii. p. 1015.
panis quam vini, ut per has immola- * 'Graeci omni Dominica die com-
tiones, et peccatorum fascibus care- municant, sive Clerici sive Laici, et
ant, et cum Abel, vel caeteris justis qui tribus Dominicis non communi-
offerentibus, promereautur ease con- caverint, excommunicantur. Romani
series. Omnes autem qui defini- similiter communicant qui volunt,
tiones nostras per inobedientiam qui autem noluerint, non escommu-
evacuare contendunt, anathemate nicantur.' Theodor. Poenitential.
percellantur.' . Concil. Matiscon. II. p. 46.
xiv. frequent Communion. 391
all the festivals, whether of Apostles or Martyrs ; as you have
seen with your own eyes, in the holy apostolical Church of
Rome y.'
From this remarkable paragraph, we may observe, that even
so late as the eighth century, daily communions were still kept
up, among some of the Clergy at least ; and that all the Christ-
ian Churches, or Church guides of best note, wished to have
the like prevail among the laity, and had laboured that point as
far as they could : but as that was impracticable, hopes however
were conceived, that weekly communions, and more, might yet
take place, if due care were taken ; and that it was in some
measure owing to the remissness of pastors, that communion was
grown so rare and uncommon among the laity of the better sort ;
who neglected the communion, when competently qualified for
it, only for want of opportunity, or for want of being reminded
of it and exhorted to it, or else out of ignorance, supineness, or
the like, more than out of any dislike to it or unfitness for it :
which may also be the case at this very day.
What has been here offered may be sufficient, I conceive, to
give a competent idea of the state of frequent communion, for the
first eight centuries : and I need not go lower ; except it be to
throw in a word or two of what has been done, as to this article,
since the Reformation.
The Lutherans, we are told, by one that declares he is well
assui'ed of it z , do in this particular excel all other Protestants :
y ' . . . quam salutaris sit omni innocentes et castissimae conversa-
Christianorum generi quotidiana Do- tionis pueri et puellae, juvenes et
rninici corporis ac sanguinis percep- virgines, senes et anus, qui absque
tio ; juxta quod Ecclesiam Christi ullo scrupulo controversiae omni die
per Italiam, Galliam, Africam, Grae- Dominico, sive etiam in natalitiis
ciam, ac totum Orientem solerter sanctorum Apostolorum, sive Mar-
agere nosti. Quod videlicet genus tyrum (quomodo ipse in sancta Ro-
religionis ac Deo devotae sanctifica- mana et Apostolica Ecclesia fieri
tionis tarn longe a cunctis pene nos- vidisti) mysteriis caelestibus com-
trae provinciae laicis, per incuriam municare valeant.' Bed. Epist. ad
docentium, quasi prope peregrinum Ecgbert. p. 311, edit. Cant,
abest, ut hi qui inter religiosiores * Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
esse videntur, non nisi in Natali part ii. p. 151. But compare Cal-
Domini, et Epiphania, et Pascha voer, a Lutheran, who gives but an
sacrosanctis mysteriis commuuicare indifferent account of the number of
praesumant ; cum sint innumeri their communicants, being left to
392 The Obligation to CHAP.
for they have a communion every Sunday and holyday throughout
the year. Calvin and Beza, and the French churches, laboured
to restore monthly or weekly communions ; but strictly insisted
upon four times a year, under pain of contempt*. Our own
Church has taken good care about frequent communion, time
after time b . She has been one while charged as doing too little,
and another while charged as doing too much : an argument that
she has competently observed the golden mean. But in com-
plicated cases, where there is no passing any certain judgment,
without a large comprehensive view of a vast variety of circum-
stances, it is impossible to please everybody, or even to satisfy
all the honest and well-deserving. In Queen Elizabeth's time,
Mr. Cartwright managed the charge of remissness against us in
that article : he would have had the generality obliged to com-
municate constantly, (except in cases of infirmity or necessity,)
under pain of ecclesiastical censure, yea, and of civil penalties c .
Dr. Whitgift, on the other hand, pleaded for moderate counsels
and convenient discipline, considering the end and use, and how
it might best be attained d .
It is well known what canons have been since made to enforce
frequent communion 6 : moderate enough, if compared with ancient
canons, or even with those of other Reformed churches. For
no express mention is made of excommunicating for neglect, but
the affair is in a great measure left to the prudential care of the
Diocesan, as is just and proper. Nevertheless, exceptions have
been taken to the severity of those canons : and the charge has
been well answered by our learned Divines f , so that there is no
occasion now to enter into that dispute. However, I am per-
suaded that instruction and exhortation, generally, are the best
their own liberty, and no particular part ii. p. 148.
times strictly insisted on. Calvoer. d Whitgift, Defence of his Answer
de Hit, Eccl. torn, i. p. 758. to the Admonition, p. 530, &c. Com-
* Bingham, French Church's Apo- pare Hooker, book v. sect. 68.
logy, c. xiv. L'Arroque, Conformity e Canons of 1603. Can. 13, 21, 22,
of the Reformed Churches of France, 23, 24, 1 1 2.
p. 346. { Falkner, Libert. Eccl. book i.
b See Wheatly on the Common c. 5. p. 205, &c. Sherlock, Defence
Prayer, p. 326. of Stillingfleet, p. 119. Bingham,
c Cartwright, Reply to Whitgift, French Church's Apol. book iii.
p. 117. Reply to Whitgift's Defence, c. 14.
xiv. frequent Communion. 393
and most effectual methods of promoting frequent communion,
so as to make it answer its true end and use. The most religious
kind of persons will of course communicate as often as they have
opportunity : the impenitent or irreligious will not choose to com-
municate at all ; neither is it fit that they should, because, while
they continue such, it would do them no good, hut harm. There
remain only the supine, careless, and ignorant, but well-disposed,
(such as Bede, before cited, spake of,) who perhaps make up the
main body of Christians : and they are to be dealt with in a
tender, engaging manner, either by exhortations from the pulpit,
or by private instruction, or by putting good books into their
hands. Much probably might be done, in this way, towards re-
viving frequent communions, if suitable care and diligence were
used in it. But I have said enough on this article, and it is now
time to conclude. I once thought of adding a chapter upon the
comportment proper at and after receiving the communion : but
these papers are already drawn out into a length beyond what I
at first suspected ; and I may the more conveniently omit what
relates to the demeanour proper at and after receiving, since it
is well provided for by most of the little manuals which are in
every one's hands, and particularly by Bishop Taylor's Worthy
Communicant, chapter the seventh.
What I have endeavoured all the way, has been to maintain
the dignity of a venerable sacrament, by the light of reason,
Scripture, and antiquity, against unreasonable attempts to de-
preciate or undervalue it. The common methods of subversion
begin with lessening the work of preparation, and then go on to
sink the benefits : the next step in the progress is to reduce the
whole to a bare memorial, a memorial of an absent friend, master,
or chief martyr ; passing over the Divine perfections of our Lord,
and the all-sufficient merits of what he has done and suffered for
us. Now in order to build up again, as others pull down, the
business of these papers has been to shew, that the sacramental
memorial is a memorial of Christ God-man, who died a willing
sacrifice for the sins of mankind ; and that it is not a bare
memorial, or representation of something once done and suffered,
but a real and present exhibition of the graces, comforts, or
394 ffl g Obligation to frequent Communion. CHAP. xiv.
blessings accruing therefrom, to every worthy receiver: that
therefore proper acknowledgments and engagements are expected
from us, and those require suitable preparations and qualifica-
tions, and a deportment thereto corresponding ; in a word, self-
examination and self- approbation beforehand, serious resolutions
of amendment at the time, and a conscientious care afterwards,
to persevere in well-doing to our lives' end.
THE DOCTRINAL USE
OF THE
CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS
CONSIDERED :
IN
A CHARGE
DELIVERED TO THE MIDDLESEX CLERGY,
MAY i2tb, 1736.
A CHARGE
DELIVERED TO THE
MIDDLESEX CLERGY.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
As it hath been customaiy, upon these occasions, to recom-
mend some important point of Christianity ; so I take the
liberty to offer to your thoughts, at this juncture, the consi-
deration of the Christian Sacraments. Not that I can have room,
in a short discourse, to enter into the heart of the subject : but
the time perhaps may permit me to single out some collateral
article, of moderate compass, and to throw in a few incidental
reflections, tending to illustrate the value and dignity of those
Divine ordinances, and to preserve in our minds a just regard
and veneration for them.
When we duly consider the many excellent ends and purposes
for which these holy Sacraments were ordained, or have been
found in fact to serve, through a long succession of ages, we shall
see great reason to adore the Divine wisdom and goodness in the
appointment of them. They are of admirable use many ways ;
either for confirming our faith in the Christian religion at large,
and the prime articles of it ; or for promoting Christian practice
in this world ; or for procuring eternal happiness in a world to
come.
I shall confine my present views to the fh'st particular, the
subserviency of the Sacraments to true and sound faith : which,
though it may be looked upon as a bye-point, and for that reason
hath not been so commonly insisted upon; may yet be of weight
sufficient to deserve some consideration at this time.
398 The doctrinal Use
I. Give me leave then to take notice, in the first place, that
the Sacraments of the Church have all along been, and are to
this clay, standing monuments of the truth of Christianity against
Atheists, Deists, Jews, Turks, Pagans, and all kinds of infidels.
They bear date as early as the Gospel itself ; and have continued,
without interruption, from the days of their Founder. They
proclaim to the world, that there once was such a person as
Christ Jesus ; that he lived, and died, and was buried, and rose
again ; and that he erected a Church, and drew the world after
him, maugre all opposition; (which could never have been
effected without many and great miracles ;) and that he appointed
these ordinances for the preserving and perpetuating the same
Church, till his coming again. The two Sacraments, in this
view, are abiding memorials of Christ and of his religion, and
are of impregnable force against unbelievers, who presume either
to call in question such plain facts, or to charge our most holy
religion, as an invention of men.
II. But besides this general use of the Sacraments against
unbelievers, they have been further of great service all along, for
the supporting of particular doctrines of prime value, against
misbelievers of various kinds ; as may appear by an historical
deduction all the way down from the earliest ages of the Church
to the present times.
No sooner did some misbelieving Christians a of the apostolical
age endeavour to deprave the true Gospel doctrine of God made
man, rejecting our Lord's humanity, but the Sacrament of the
Eucharist, carrying in it so indisputable a reference to our Lord's
veal flesh and blood, bore testimony against them with a force
irresistible. They were so sensible of it, that within a while
they forbore coming either to the holy Communion, or to the
prayers that belonged to it b , merely for the sake of avoiding a
a The Docetae, or Phantasiastae, as weak reasons. Some short ac-
whom in English we may call Vi- count of them may be seen in my
sionaries: men that would not admit Importance, vol. iii. pp. 402, 547,
that our Lord assumed real flesh and or a larger and more distinct one in
blood, but in appearance only; con- Buddaeus's Eccles. Apostol. pp. 550-
sidering him as a walking phantom 570.
or apparition, in order to take off b 'Evxa-piffrias *^ irpotrti/x'S* O.TT-
the scandal of the cross, or for other e'xovrai, Sa rb ^rj 6fju>\oyf!v T^V ux a ~
of the Christian Sacraments. 399
practice contradictory to their principles. However, this was
sufficient intimation to every honest Christian, of the meanest
capacity, that their principles must be false, which obliged them
in consequence to vilify and reject the plain and certain insti-
tutions of Christ. There was no need of entering into the sub-
tilties of argument ; for the thing declared itself, and left no room
for dispute. Such was the valuable use of this Sacrament, at that
time, for supporting truth and detecting error, for the confirming
the faithful in the right way, and for confounding seducers.
III. In the century next following, the Valentinian Gnostics
corrupted the faith of Christ more ways than one, but particu-
larly in pretending that this lower or visible world was not made
by God most high, but by some inferior power or aeon. Here
again the Sacrament of the Eucharist was of signal service for
the confuting such wild doctrine, and for the guarding sincere
Christians against the smooth insinuations of artful disputers.
It was very plain, that the bread and wine in that Sacrament
were presented before God, as his creatures and his gifts ; which
amounted, in just construction, to a recognising him as their
true Creator : and it was absurd to imagine that God should
accept of, and sanctify to heavenly purposes, creatures not his
o\vn c . Besides, our Lord had chosen these creatures of the
lower world to represent his own body and blood, and called them
his body and blood, as being indeed such in Divine construction
and beneficial effect to all worthy receivers : a plain argument
that he looked upon them as his own and his Father's creatures,
and not belonging to any strange creator, with whom neither he
nor his Father had anything to do.
pia-riav a&pita. tivai TOV ffunripos 7ifj.uiv tradicerent.' Eccl. Hist. pp. 568, 569.
'lri<TovXpi<rTvv, &c. Ignat. ad Smyrn. c Tertullian afterwards makes use
c. vii. p. 4. Le Clerc well com- of the same argument, against the
ments upon this passage : ' Quod qui- same error, as espoused by the Mar-
dem convenienter ceterae suae doc- cionites : and he strengthens it fur-
trinae faciebant : cum enim Eucha- ther, by taking in the other Sacra-
ristia sit instituta ad celebrandum ment also. ' Sed ille quidem (Deus
memoriam corporis Christi pro nobis noster) usque nunc nee aquam re-
fracti, et sanguinis eflusi, non pote- probavit Creatoris, qua suos abluit
rat celebrari, ex institute Christi, ab ... nee panem quo ipsum corpus
hominibus qui mortuum non esse suum repraesentat.' Contra Mar-
Christum putabant, nisi sibi ipsi con- cion. lib. i. cap. 14.
400 The doctrinal Use
These arguments, drawn from the holy Eucharist, were tri-
umphantly urged against those false teachers, by an eminent
Father of that time d : who, no doubt, made choice of them as
the most affecting and sensible of any ; being more entertaining
than dry criticisms upon texts, or abstracted reasonings, and
more likely to leave strong and lively impressions upon the
minds of common Christians. At the same time they served
to expose the adversaries to public shame, as appearing
along with others at the holy Communion, while they taught
things directly contrary to the known language of that Sacra-
ment.
IV. The same deceivers, upon some specious pretences, (but
such as no cause can want, that does not want artful pleaders,)
took upon them to reject the doctrine of the resurrection of the
body ; conceiving that the unbodied soul only had any concern
in a life to come 6 . Here again, the Sacrament of the Eucharist
was a kind of armour of proof against the seducers. For as the
consecrated bread and wine were the authentic symbols of
Christ's body and blood, and were, in construction and certain
effect, (though not in substance,) the same with what they stood
for, to all worthy receivers ; it was manifest, that bodies so incor-
porated with the body of Christ must of course be partners with
it in a glorious resurrection. Thus was the Eucharist considered
as a sure and certain pledge to all good men of the future resur-
rection of their bodies, symbolically fed with the body of Christ.
For like as the branches partake of the vine, and the members of
the head, so the bodies of the faithful, being by the Eucharist
incorporate with Christ's glorified body, must of consequence
appertain to it, and be glorified with it. This is the argument
which the Christian Fathers f of those times insisted upon, and
d ' Nostra autem consonans est century, taught this doctrine. Iren.
sententia Eucharistiae, et Eucharis- lib. i. cap. 24. p. 102. Afterwards,
tia rursus confirmat sententiam noa- Cerdo also, and Marcion, lib. i. cap.
tram: offerimus enim ei quae sunt 27. p. 106. The Yalentinian Gnos-
ejus.' Iren. lib. 5v. cap. 18. p. 251. tics also taught the same, lib. v. cap.
edit. Bened. Cp. cap. xxxiii. p. 270. i. p. 292.
Cp. Tertull. contra Marcion. lib. i. f Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes. cap. xx.
cap. 14. p. 19- Iren. lib. iv. cap. 18. p. 251.
? Basilides, probably of the first lib. v. cap. 2. p. 294. Tertull. de
of the Christian Sacraments.
with this they prevailed ; as it was an argument easily
understood e and sensibly felt, (by as many as had any
tender regard for the Sacraments of the Church,) and as it
expressed to the life the inconsistent conduct of the new
teachers, proclaiming them to be self -condemned. Wherefore
they were put in mind over and over, to correct either their
practice or their principles ; and either to come no more to
the holy Communion, or to espouse no more such doctrines
as were contrary to it 1 '.
V. In the same century, or beginning of the next, when the
Marcionites revived the old pretences of the Visionaries, reject-
ing our Lord's humanity ; the Eucharist still served, as before,
to confound the adversaries : for it was impossible to invent any
just reply to this plain argument, that our Lord's appointing
a memorial to be observed, of his body broken and of his blood
shed, must imply, that he really took part of flesh and blood,
and was in substance and in truth what the Sacrament sets
forth in symbols and figures .
Resurr. Carnis, cap. viii. p. 330.
Rigalt. Cp. Athanas. Epist. iv. ad
Scrap, p. 710. ed. Bened.
Notwithstanding the plainness
of the argument, a very learned and
ingenious Lutheran declares, that he
does not understand it, can make no
sense or consequence of it. (Pfaff.
Notae in Iren. Fragm. 84, 85.) I
suppose the reason is, because it
agrees not with the Lutheran notion
of the presence : for indeed, as such
corporal or local presence supposes
Christ's body and blood to be received
by all communicants, both good and
bad, Irenaeus's arguments will by no
means favour that hypothesis, nor
consist with it. His reasoning will
extend only to good men, real mem-
bers of Christ's body, men whose
bodies, by the .Eucharist worthily
received, (perseverance supposed,)
are made abiding members of Christ's
body, flesh, and bones. The argu-
ment, so stated, proves the resurrec-
tion of such persons ; and it is all
that it directly proves : which how-
ever was sufficient against those who
admitted no resurrection of the body,
but denied all. . . N. B. The argument
is of as little force on the hypothesis
of tran substantiation ; as is plain
from what has been hinted of the
other.
h *H TV yv<ai^i]V o.\\a^ir<affa,v, i)
rb irpoafytpeiv TO, tlpr)/j.ti>a ira.pa.iT-
eiffOtuffav . rj^Siv Sf ffiifjuptavos 77 yvta/^r)
rfj (vxapiffrlq, cal ^ fvx.a.purrla, . . .
jSejSaioi rV yvca/tqv. Iren. lib. iv.
cap. 18. p. 251.
1 'Acceptumpanem,etdistributum
discipulis, corpus ilium suum fecit,
Hoc est corpus meum, dicendo ; id
est figura corporis mei. Figura au-
tem noil fuisset, nisi veritatis esset
corpus : ceterum vacua res, quod est
phantasma, figuram capere non pos-
set.' Tertull. adv. Marc. lib. iv. c.
40. p. 458. Cp. Pseud. Orig. Dial,
contr. Marcion. lib. iv. p. 853.
ed. Bened.
Dd
402 The doctrinal Use
VI. When the Encratitae, or Continents, of the second cen-
tury, (so called from their overscrupulous abstemiousness,) had
contracted odd prejudices against the use of wine, as absolutely
unlawful ; the Sacrament of the Eucharist was justly pleaded, as
alone sufficient to correct their groundless surmises k : but
rather than part with a favourite principle, they chose to cele-
brate the Communion in water only, rejecting wine ; and were
from thence styled Aquarians 1 . Which practice of theirs
served however to detect their hypocrisy, and to take off the
sheep's clothing : for nobody could now make it any question,
whether those so seemingly conscientious and self-denying
teachers were really deceivers, when they were found to make
no scruple of violating a holy Sacrament, and running directly
counter to the express commands and known practice of Christ
their Lord.
VII. When the Praxeans, Noetians, and Sabellians, of the
second and third centuries, presumed to innovate in the doctrine
of the Trinity, by reducing the three Persons of the Godhead to
one ; then the Sacrament of Baptism remarkably manifested its
doctrinal force, to the confusion of those misbelievers. There was
no resisting the pointed language of the sacramental form,
which ran distinctly in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost m . It seems, that those men being con-
scious of it, did therefore change our Lord's form, and baptized
in a new one of their own n ; not considering, that that was
plunging deeper than before, and adding iniquitous practice to
ungodly principles. But the case was desperate, and they had
no other way left to make themselves appear consistent men. In
the meanwhile, their carrying matters to such lengths could
not but make their false doctrine the more notorious to all
men, and prevent its stealing upon honest and well disposed
k Vid. Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. ii. m Vid. Tertull. adv. Prax. cap.
cap. 2. p. 186. Strom, lib. i. p. 26, 27. Hippol. ctfntra Noet. cap.
359. xiv. p. 1 6.
1 Epiphan. Haeres. xlvii. 3. Theo- n Vid. Bevereg. Vindic. Can. lib.
dorit. Haeret. Fab. lib. i. cap. 21. ii. cap. 6. p. 252. Bingham, Eccles.
Philastrius, Haer. Ixxvii. p. 146. Antiq. lib. si. cap. 3. p. 7.
Augustinus, Haec. cap. Ixiv.
of the Christian Sacraments. 43
Christians, by ignorance or surprise. Such was the seasonable
use of the Sacrament of Baptism in that instance ; detecting
error, and obstructing its progress, and strongly supporting
the true faith.
VIII. When the Arians, of the fourth century, took upon
them to deprave the doctrine of the Trinity in an opposite
extreme, by rejecting the Deity of our Saviour Christ, ' who is
over all, God blessed for ever ;' then again the same Sacra-
ment of Baptism reclaimed against novelty, and convicted the
misbelievers in the face of the world. It was obvious to every
impartial and considering man, that the form of Baptism ran
equally in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that it
could never be intended to initiate Christ's disciples in the
belief and worship of God and two creatures P. The new teachers
however, in prudence, thought proper to continue the old form
of baptizing, till the Eunomians, their successors, being plainer
men, or being weary of a practice contradictory to their prin-
ciples, resolved at length to set aside the Scripture form, and
to substitute others more agreeable to their sentiments 9. This
was intimation sufficient to every well-disposed Christian to be
upon his guard against the new doctrines, which were found
to drive men to such desperate extremities. For now no man
of ordinary discernment, who had any remains of godliness left
in him, could make it matter of dispute, whether he ought to
follow Eunomius or Christ. .-..**'
There was a further use made of both Sacraments, by way
of argument, in the Arian controversy. For when the Arians
pleaded, that the words 'I and my Father are one' meant no more
than an unity of will or consent, inasmuch as all the faithful were
said to be one with Christ and with each other, on account of
such unity of consent ; the argument was retorted upon them in
Rom. ix. 5. i Epiphan. Haer. Ixxvi. Greg.
P A full account of this argument Nyssen. contr. Eunom. lib. x. p.
may be seen in Bishop Stillingfleet 278. Theodorit. Haeret. Fab. lib. iv.
on the Trinity, ch. ix. or in my cap. 3. Socrates, Eccl. Hist. lib. v.
eighth sermon per tot. vol. ii. or cap. 24. Theodorus, Lect. lib. xi.
in Athanasius, pp. 510, 633. ed. p. 576. ed. Cant.
Bened.
D d 2
4^4 The doctrinal Use
this manner: that as Christ had made himself really one with
us, by taking our flesh and blood upon him in the incarnation ;
so again he had reciprocally made us really one with himself by
the two Sacraments. For in Baptism we put on Christ, and in
the Eucharist we are made partakers of his flesh and blood : and
therefore the union of Christ's disciples with the Head, and with
each other, (though far short of the essential union between
Father and Son,) was more than a bare unity of will or consent ;
being a real, and vital, and substantial union, though withal
mystical and spiritual. Thus Hilary of Poictiers (an eminent
Father of that time) retorted the argument of the adversaries ;
throwing off" their refined subtilties, by one plain and affecting
consideration, drawn from the known doctrine of the Christian
Sacraments r .
IX. About the year 360 rose up the sect of Macedonians,
otherwise called Pneumatomachi, impugners of the Divinity of
the Holy Ghost. They were a kind of Semi-Arians, admitting
the Divinity of the second Person, but rejecting the Divinity of
the third, and in broader terms than the Arians before them
had done. However, the Sacrament of Baptism stood full
in their way, being a lasting monument of the true Divinity
of the third Person as well as of the second : and by that
chiefly were the generality of Christians confirmed in the
ancient faith, and preserved from falling into the snares of
seducers 8 .
X. About the year 370, or a little sooner, the sect of Apolli-
narians began to spread new doctrines, and to make some noise
in the world. Among sundry other wrong tenets, they had this
conceit, that the manhood of our Saviour Christ was converted
into or absorbed in his Godhead. For they imagined, that by
thus resolving two distinct natures into one, they should the more
easily account for the one Person of Christ ; not considering that
the whole economy of man's redemption was founded in the
plain Scripture doctrine of a Saviour both God and man. In
1 Hilarius de Trinit. lib. viii. p. ' See St. Basil on this argument,
951, &c. Cp. Cyrill. Alexandr. de De Spiritu Sancto, cap. 10, 12, 27,
Trin. Dial. i. p. 407. 29.
of the Christian Sacraments, 405
opposition to those dangerous tenets, the learned and eloquent
Chrysostom (A. D. 405, circ.) made use of an argument drawn
from the Sacrament of the Eucharist, to this effect ; that the
representative body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist (sancti-
fied by Divine grace, but not converted into Divine substance)
plainly implied, that the natural body of Christ, though joined
with the Godhead, was not converted into Godhead : for like as
the consecrated bread, though called Christ's body on account
of its sanctification, did not cease to be bread ; so the human
nature of Christ, though dignified with the Divine, did not cease
to be the same human nature which it always was *. We may
call this either an argument or an illustration ; for indeed it is
both under different views. Considered as a similitude, it is an
illustration of a case : but at the same time is an argument to
shew, that the Apollinarians were widely mistaken in imagining
that a change of qualities, circumstances, or names, inferred a
change of nature and substance. Bread was still bread, though
for good reasons dignified with the name of the Lord's body :
and the man Christ was still man, though for good reasons (that
is, on account of a personal union) dignified with the title of
God. Thus the Sacrament of the Eucharist, being a memorial
of the incarnation, and a kind of emblem of it u , was made use
* 'Sicutenim,antequamsanctifice- upon it, the reader may consult, if
tur panis, panem nominamus, Divina he pleases, besides Harduin, Frid.
autem sanctificante gratia, mediante Spanheim. Opp. torn. i. p. 844. .Le
sacerdote, liberatus est quidem ap- Moyne, Varia Sacra, torn. i. p. 530.
pellatione panis, dignus autem ha- Wake's Defence ag. M. de Meaux,
bitus est Dominici corporis appella- printed 1686. Fabricii Bibl. Graec.
tione, etiamsi natura panis in ipso torn. i. p. 433. Le Quien, Dissert,
permansit ; et non duo corpora, sed Damascen. p. 48. et in Notis, p. 270.
unum corpus Filii praedicatur : sic Zornii Opusc. Sacr. torn. i. p. 727.
et hie Divina tv&pva&ai)* (id est, u Vid. Justin. Mart. Dial. p. 290.
inundante) corpori natura, unum Apol. i. p. 96. ed. Thirlby.
Filium, unam Personam, utraque N.B. The Eucharist was anciently
haec fecerunt ; agnoscendum tamen considered as a kind of emblem of
inconfusametindivisibilemrationem, the incarnation, but in a loose
non in una solum natura, sed in general way : for like as there is an
duabus perfectis.' Chrysost. Epist. heavenly part and an earthly part
ad Caesar. Monach. pp. 7, 8. ed. here, so it is also there; and like as
Harduin. Divine grace together with the ele-
As to what concerns this Epistle, ments make the Eucharist, so the
and our debates with the Romanists Divine Logos with the manhood
406 The doctrinal Use
of to explain it, and to confirm the faithful in the ancient belief
of that important article. But I proceed.
XL About the year 410, Pelagius opened the prejudices
which he had for some time privately entertained against the
Church's Doctrine of original sin : but the Sacrament of Bap-
tism" looked him full in the face, and proved one of the most
considerable obstacles to his progress. The prevailing practice
had all along been to baptize infants : and the Church had
understood it to be baptizing them for remission of sin. The
inference was clear and certain, and level to the capacity of
every common Christian. Wherefore this single argument had
weight sufficient to bear down all the abstracted subtilties
and laboured refinements of Pelagius and his associates, and
proved one of the strongest securities to the Christian faith so
far, during that momentous controversy 1 .
XII. About the year 430 appeared the Nestorian heresy :
which, dividing the manhood of our Lord from the Godhead,
made in effect two Persons, or two Christs. Here the Sacra-
ment of the Eucharist was again called in, to compose the
difference, and to settle the point in question. For since the
virtue and efficacy of the representative body was principally
founded in the supposed personal union of the real body with
the Divine nature of our Lord, it would be frustrating or
evacuating all the efficacy of the Eucharist, to divide the man-
hood, in such a sense, from the Godhead y. The argument was
just and weighty, and could not fail of its due effect among
as many as had any tender regard for so divine and comfortable
a Sacrament.
make God incarnate. But then the * A full and distinct account of
analogy or resemblance ought not this whole matter may be seen either
to be strained beyond the intention in Vossius, Hist. Pelagian, lib. ii.
of it : for there is this observable par. i. Thess. v. Opp. torn. vi. p.
difference in the two cases ; that in 603, &c. or in Dr. Wall's Hist, of
one case there is barely a conjunction Infant Baptism, part i. ch. 19.
or concomitance of the two natures, J' Vid. Cyrill. Alex. Epist. ad Nes-
and that to the worthy receivers tor. p. 1290. Anathem. xi. p. 1294.
only : in the other, there is an abso- cum Cyrill. Explan. apud Harduin.
lute, permanent, and personal union. Concil. Cp. Albertin. de Eucharist.
So then the Eucharist is but a faint, p. 754.
imperfect emblem of the other.
of the Christian Sacraments. 407.
XIII. Within twenty years after, came up the Eutychian
heresy ; which, in the contrary extreme, so blended the God-
head and manhood together, as to make but one nature of both,
after the example of the Apollinarians, whom I before mentioned.
The Sacrament of the Eucharist was of eminent service in this
cause also : for if the bread and wine in that Sacrament are
what they have been called, (and as constantly believed to be,)
symbols and figures of Christ's body and blood, then it is certain
that our Lord really put on flesh and blood, and that his human
nature was and is distinct from his Divine. To say, that ' the
Word was made flesh/ or that the flesh was converted into the
Word, in such a sense as to leave no distinct humanity, was as
much as to say, that the Sacraments now make us not ' mem-
bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones z ;' and that the
Eucharist in particular is an insignificant show, or worse, either
not representing the truth of things, or representing a falsehood.
Such was the argument made use of in the Eutychian con-
troversy a : a plainer or stronger there could not be ; nor any
wherein the generality of Christians could think themselves
more deeply concerned.
XIV. Long after this, in the eighth century, endeavours were
employed by many to bring in the worship, or at least the use,
of images into churches. In this case also, the Sacrament of
the Eucharist was seasonably pleaded, for the giving some check
to the growing corruption. The good Fathers of Constantinople,
in the year 754, meeting in council to the number of 338,
argued against images to this effect : that as our Lord had
appointed no visible image of himself, his incarnation, or pas-
sion, but the eucharistical one, and probably intended that for a
most effectual bar, to preclude all appearances of idolatry ; it
would be high presumption in men, without warrant, without
occasion, and against the very design of our Lord in' that Sacra-
ment, to introduce any other kind of images of their own devising b .
z Ephes. v. 30. 836, 867, 868, 874, 886
a The reader may see the ancient b Vid. Acta Concil. Nicaen. se-
testimonies collected and commented cundi, toin. iii. vers. finem.
upon in Albertinus, pp. 802, 835,
40 8 The doctrinal Use
The opposite party, some time after, (A. D. 787,) in the second
Council of Nice, eluded this plain reasoning, by pretending,
falsely, that the sacred symbols are not the image of Christ's
body and blood, but the very body and blood c : and thus they
laid the seeds of that error, which grew up at length by degrees
into the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. For the true
notion of the Eucharist lying cross to their darling schemes,
they choose rather to deprave the Sacrament itself, than to stand
corrected by it. However, all this tends to confirm the main
point, which I have been insisting upon, that the Sacraments,
among other very valuable uses, have for many ages upwards
been the standing barriers against corruptions : though there
are no fences so strong, nor any ramparts so high, but daring
and desultorious wits may either break through them or leap
over them.
XV. I shall add but one example more ; and it shall be of
Faustus Socinus, of the sixteenth century : a person of pregnant
wit and teeming invention ; of moderate learning, but a very
large share of sufficiency. His great ambition was, to strike
out a new system of religion from his own conceits ; though he
happened only to revive (and perhaps very ignorantly) the an-
cient Sabellianism, Photiniauisin, and Pelagianism, with other
exploded heresies. He began with subverting (as far as in him
lay) the true and ancient doctrine of the Trinity, rejecting the
Deity of the second Person, and even the being of the third.
After a thousand subtilties brought to elude plain Scripture, and
after infinite pains taken in so unnatural a war against Heaven,
he was yet sensible, that he should prevail nothing, unless, to-
gether with the doctrine of the Trinity, he could discard the
two Sacraments also, or render them contemptible. Baptism was
a standing monument of the personality and equal Divinity of
c N.B. They might justly have are, in construction and beneficial
said, that the sacred symbols are effect, to worthy receivers, the very
more than a mere image, more than body and blood : but they ought not
meie signs and figures : but they to have asserted what they did, in
should not have denied their being that absolute manner, or in such
images at all. And they might justly crude terms, left without the proper
have said, that the sacred symbols qualifying explanations.
of the Christian Sacraments. 409
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : and the other Sacrament was an
abiding memorial of the merits (though no creature can merit)
of our Lord's obedience and sufferings : and both together were
lasting attestations, all the way down from the very infancy of
the Church, of the secret workings, the heavenly graces and
influences of the Holy Spirit upon the faithful receivers. There-
fore to let the Sacraments stand, as aforetime, was leaving the
ancient faith to grow up again in the Christian world, much
faster than Socinus, with all his subtile explications of Scripture
texts, could bear it down. Being well aware how this matter
was, he fell next upon the Sacraments ; discarding one of them,
in a manner, under pretence that it was needless ; and castrating
the other, with respect to what was most valuable in it, to ren-
der it despicable. It was thought somewhat odd, by some of
his own friends d , that he should labour to throw off Baptism,
and at the same time retain the Eucharist, which appeared to
be comparatively of slighter moment, and less insisted upon in
Scripture. But he well knew what he did j for the form of
Baptism stood most directly in his way. As to the Eucharist,
if he could but reduce it to a bare commemoration of an absent
friend, there would be nothing left in it to create him much
ti-ouble ; but it might look sincere and ingenuous, in that in-
stance at least, to abide by the letter of the text, and to plead
for the perpetuity of an ancient and venerable (now by Tiim
made a nominal) Sacrament. This appears to be the most
natural account of his conduct in the whole affair. For other-
wise it is a very plain case, that a lively imagination like his
might have invented as fair or fairer pretexts for laying aside
the Eucharist e , than for discarding Baptism ; and it might have
been easier to elude some few places of Scripture than many.
But I return.
From the induction of particulars here drawn together, and
laid before you, may be understood, by the way, the true and
d Vid. Ruari Epistolae, vol. ii. p. merits, and tend to the discarding of
-5 1 - both, or neither; as Vossius justly
e Indeed, the same pretences, some remarks, De Baptismo.
of them, equally affect both Sacra-
The doctrinal Use
right notion of the Christian Eucharist, such as obtained from
the beginning, and continued till the dark ages came on, and
longer : but the point which I aimed at was, to illustrate the
use of both the Sacraments considered as fences or barriers,
ordained by Christ, to secure the true faith, and to preclude false
doctrines. Few have ever attempted to corrupt Christianity in
any of its considerable branches, but, first or last, they have
found themselves embarrassed by one or both Sacraments ; and
have been thereby obliged either to desist presently, or to expose
themselves further, by quarrelling with those sacred institu-
tions, which all wise and good men have ever most highly
revered.
I have taken notice, how the most essential articles of the
Christian religion have, in their several turns, (as they happened
to be attacked,) been supported and strengthened by these aux-
iliary means. The doctrine of the visible creation by God most
high : the doctrine of our redemption by Christ, both God and man:
the doctrine of sanctifying grace by the Holy Spirit of God, a
real Person, and also Divine : the doctrines of original sin, and of
our Lord's meritorious sacrifice, and of a future resurrection of
the body : these, and as many others as are contained in these,
have all been eminently preserved and held up by the Christian
Sacraments. The Sacraments therefore are full of excellent
instruction and admonition : they carry creeds and command-
ments, as it were, in the bowels of them : they speak even to
the eyes in silent imagery, and often teach more in dumb show,
with less expense of time and much greater efficacy, than any the
most eloquent discourses could do. The Romanists have some-
times boasted, that images are the laymen's books, wherein the
unlearned may read what it concerns them to know, without
knowing letters. And indeed, if images had been authorized,
or had they not been prohibited books, they might have been
admitted with a better grace. But our Sacraments are the
true books, (or serving as books,) both to learned and un-
learned ; full of lively imagery and instructive emblem ; drawn
by Christ himself, and left as his legacies, for the use of all the
churches.
of the Christian Sacraments. 41 1
Let us then, my Reverend Brethren, be careful to preserve
these sacred deposits with all due reverence and watchfulness ;
inasmuch as they contain treasures of infinite value ; and
Christianity itself appears to be so entirely wrapped up in
them, that, humanly speaking, it must unavoidably stand or
fall with them.
THE
CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE
EXPLAINED,
DELIVERED IN PART TO
ST. CLEMEXT-DANES,
APRIL THE 20th, 1738.
TO WHICH IS ADDED
AN APPENDIX.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
THE Sacrament of the Eucharist has for some time been the
subject of debate amongst us, and appears to be so still, in
some measure ; particularly with regard to the sacrificial part of
it. As it is a federal rite between God and man, so it must be
supposed to carry in it something that God gives to us, and
something also that we give, or pi-esent, to God. These are, as it
were, the two integral parts of that holy ceremony : the former
may properly be called the sacramental part, and the latter, the
sacrificial. Any great mistake concerning either may be of very
ill consequence to the main thing : for if we either mistake the
nature of God's engagements towards us, or the nature of our
engagements towards God, in that sacred solemnity, we so far
defeat the great ends and uses of it, and prejudice ourselves in
so doing.
A question was unhappily raised amongst us, about an hundred
years ago, whether the material elements of the Eucharist were
properly the Christian sacrifice. From thence arose some debate;
which however lasted not long, nor spread very far. But at the
beginning of this present century, the same question was again
brought up, and the debate revived, with some warmth ; and it
is not altogether extinct even at this day.
Those who shall look narrowly into the heart of that dispute
may see reason to judge, that a great part of it was owing to
some confusion of ideas, or ambiguity of terms ; more particularly,
from the want of settling the definitions of sacrifice by certain
niles, such as might satisfy reasonable men on both sides.
How that confusion at first arose may perhaps be learned by
looking back as far as to Bellarmine, about 1590, or however
as far as to the Council of Trent, about thirty years higher.
Before that time things were much clearer, so far as concerned
this article. Nobody almost, doubted but that the old definitions
416 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
of sacrifice were right, and that spiritual sacrifice was true and
proper sacrifice, yea the most proper of any.
' Spiritual sacrifice' is St. Peter's phrase a : and it agrees with
St. Paul's phrase of ' reasonable service b :' and both of them fall in
with our Lord's own phrase, of ' worshipping God in spirit and in
truth c .' It is serving God ' in newness of spirit, not in the oldness
of the letter d :' It is offering him true sacrifice and direct homage,
as opposed to legal and typical, in order to come at true and
direct expiation, without the previous covers or shadows of legal
and typical expiations, which reached only to the purifying of
the flesh, not to the purging of the conscience e . This kind of
sacrifice called spiritual does not mean mental service only, but
takes in mental, vocal, and manual, the service of the heart, mouth,
and hand ; all true and direct service, bodily f service as well as
any other, since we ought to serve God with our bodies as well
as our souls. Such is the nature and quality of what Scripture
and the ancients call spiritual sacrifice, as opposed to the out-
ward letter. Such services have obtained the name of sacrifice
ever since David's time s, warranted by God himself, under the
Old Testament and New. The Jews, before Christ and since h ,
have frequently used the name of sacrifice in the same spiritual
sense. The very Pagans were proud to borrow the same way of
speaking * from Jews and Christians : so that custom of language
has not run altogether on the side of material sacrifice. It may
rather be said, that the custom of Christian language, not
only in the New Testament, but also in the Church writers,
has run on the side of spiritual sacrifice, without giving the
a i Pet. Si. 5. b Rom. xii. i. Justin. Mart. Dial. p. 387.
c John iv. 23. See Dodwell on In- ' PorphyriusdeAbstin.lib.il. sect.
strumental Music, p. 31. Stilling- 34. Cp. Euseb. Praep. Evangel, lib.
fleet, Serm. xxxix. p. 602. Scot, iv. cap. 9-14. xiii. cap. 13. Clem.
vol. iv. Serm. iv. d Rom. vii. 6. Alex. Strom, v. p. 686. ed. Ox.
e Heb. ix. 9, 13, 14. Even Plato, long before Christianity,
f Rom. xii. I. I Cor. vi. 20. had defined sacrifice to mean a pre-
s They are emphatically styled sa- sent to the Divine Majesty; not con-
crificesof God (Psalm li. 17), as being fining it, so far as appears, to ma-
the fittest presents or gifts to him, terial, but leaving it at large, so as
the most acceptable offerings. to comprehend either material or
h Vid. Vitringa de vet. Synag. in spiritual. See my Review, &c. above,
Prolog, pp. 40, 41. Philo passim, p. 311.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 417
least hint that it was not true sacrifice, or not sacrifice properly
so called.
St. Austin's definition of true and Christian sacrifice k is well
known, and need not here be repeated. He spoke the sense of
the churches before him : and the Schools, after him, followed
him in the same. Aquinas, at the head of the Schoolmen, may
here speak for the rest : he determines, that a sacrifice, properly,
is anything performed for God's sole and due honour, in order
to appease him I He plainly makes it a work, or service, not a
material thing : and by that very rule he determined, that the
sacrifice of the cross was a true sacrifice; which expression implies
both proper and acceptable. This notion of sacrifice prevailed in
that century, and in the centuries following, and was admitted
by the early Reformers m ; and even by Romanists also, as low
as the year 1556, or yet lower. Alphonsus a Castro, of that
time, a zealous Romanist, in a famous book (which between 1534
and 1556 had gone through ten or more editions) declared his
full agreement with Calvin, so far as concerned the definition of
true sacrifice, conformable to St. Austin's n . Even Bellarmine
acknowledged, above thirty years after, that some noted Doctor
of the Roman Church still adhered to the same definition . So
that spiritual sacrifice was not yet entirely excluded as improper,
metaphorical, and nominal, among the Romanists themselves ;
k ' Verum sacrificium eat omne turn est, quod passio Christi fuerit
opus quod agitur ut sancta societate verum sacrificium.' Aquin. Summ.
inhaereamus Deo, relatum scilicet par. iii. q. 48.
ad ilium finem boni quo veraciter ra Vid. Melancthon. de Missa,
beati esse possimus.' Augustin. de p. 195. In Malachi, p. 545. torn. ii.
Civit. Dei, lib. x. cap. 6. p. 242. Chemnit. Examen. part. ii. p. 137.
torn. 7. ed. Bened. Compare my "After reciting Austin's definition,
Review, above, p. 309. he proceeds : 'Haec Augustinus, ex
1 Dicendum, quod sacrificium quibus verbis aperte colligitur omhe
proprie dicitur aliquid factum in ho- opus bonum quod Deo offertur, esse
norem proprie Deo debitum ad eum verum sacrificium, et hanc definitio-
placandum. Et inde est quod Augus- nem ipsemet Calvinus admittit . . . ex
tinus dicit, verum sacrificium est, &c. cujus verbis constat, inter nos et
Christus autem, ut ibidem subditur, ilium de veri sacrificii definitione
seipsum obtulit in passionepronobis. convenire." Alphons. a Castro, adv.
Et Loc ipsum opus, quod voluntarie Haeres. lib. x. p. 75. ed. 1=65.
passionem sustinuit, Deo maxime Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap.
acceptum fuit, utpote ex caritate 2. p. 710.
maxime proveniens : unde manifes:
E e
41 8 *The Christian Sacrifice explained.
neither was it hitherto a ruled j>oint amongst them, that material
thing was essential to the nature, notion, or definition of true
and proper sacrifice. How that came about afterwards, we shall
see presently.
The Romanists, wanting arguments to support their mass
sacrifice, thought of this pretence, among others, that either
their mass must be the sacrifice of the Church, or the Church had
really none : and so if the Protestants resolved to throw off the
mass, they would be left without a sacrifice, without an altar,
without a priesthood, and be no longer a Church P. The Pro-
testants had two very just answers to make, which were much
the same with what the primitive Christians had before made to
the Pagans, when the like had been objected to them. The first
was, that Christ himself was the Church's sacrifice 1, considered
in a passive sense, as commemorated, applied, and participated
in the Eucharist. The second was, that they had sacrifices
besides, in the active sense, sacrifices of their own to offer, visibly,
publicly, and by sacerdotal hands, in the Eucharist : which
sacrifices were their prayers, and praises, and commemorations r ;
eucharistic sacrifices, properly, though propitiatory also in a
qualified sense. The Council of Trent, in 1562, endeavoured to
obviate both those answers s : and Bellarmine afterwards under-
took formally to confute them. The Romanists had no way left
but to affirm stoutly, and to endeavour weakly to prove, that
P Alphons. a Castro, lib. x. p. 74. 231, 316, 503. ed. Bened. Hiero-
Cp.Bellarmin.deMissa, lib.i.cap. 20. nym. torn. ii. pp. 186, 250, 254.
Vid. Clem. Alex. pp. 688, 836. torn. iii. pp. 15, 1122, 1420. ed.
ed.Ox. Euseb.Demonstr.Evan.p.38. Bened. Augustin. torn. ii. p. 439.
Augustin. torn. iv. p. 1462. ed. Bened. iv. pp. 14, 473, 455, 527, 498, 1026,
Greg. M. torn. ii. p. 472. ed. Bened. 1113. vii. p. 240. ed. Bened. and
Cyrill. Alex, contr. Jul. lib. ix. compare my Review, chap. xii.
r Justin Martyr, pp. 14, 19, 387, 8 ' Si quis dixerit in missa non
389. ed. Thirlb. Clem. Alex. 686, offerri Deo verum et proprium sacri-
836, 848, 849, 850, 860. ed. Ox. ficium, aut quod offerri non sit aliud
Origen. torn. ii. pp. 210, 311, 191, quam n obis Christum ad manducan-
205, 243, 363, 418, 563. ed. Bened. dum dari, anathema sit. . . . Si quis
Euseb. Dem. Evang. pp. 20, 21, 23. dixerit missae sacrificium tantum
Tertullian, pp. 69, 188, 330. Rigalt. esse laudis etgratiarum actionis, aut
Cyprian. Ep. Ixxvii. p. 159. ed. nudam commemorationem sacrificii
Bened. Hilarius Pictav. pp. 154, in cruce peracti, non autem propitia-
228, 535. Basil, torn. iii. p. 52. torium, anathema sit.' Concil. Trid.
ed. Bened. Chrysost. torn. v. pp. Bess. xxii. can. i, 3.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 419
the two things which the Protestants insisted upon did neither
singly, nor both together, amount to true and proper sacrifice.
Here began all the subtilties and thorny perplexities which have
darkened the subject ever since ; and which must, I conceive, be
thrown off, (together with the new and false definitions, which
came in with them,) if ever we hope to clear the subject effect-
ually, and to set it upon its true and ancient basis.
I shall pass over Bellarmine's trifling exceptions to the Pro-
testant sacrifice, (meaning the grand sacrifice,) considered in the
passive sense. It is self-evident, that while we have Christ, we
want neither sacrifice, altar, nor priest ; for in him we have all :
and if he is the head, and we the body, there is the Church. Had
we no active sacrifice at all, yet so long as we are empowered, by
Divine commission, to convey the blessings * of the great sacrifice
to as many as are worthy, we therein exercise an honourable
priesthood u , and may be said to magnify our office. But waving
that consideration at present, for the sake of brevity, I shall
proceed to examine what Bellarmine has objected to our sacri-
fices considered in the active sense, and to inquire by what kind
of logic he attempted to discard all spiritual sacrifices, under the
notion of improper, metaphorical, nominal sacrifices, or, in short,
no sacrifices.
i. He pleads, that Scripture opposes good works to sacrifice;
as particularly in Hosea vi. 6, 'I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice :' therefore good works are not sacrifice properly so
called x . But St. Austin long before had sufficiently obviated
that pretence, by observing, that Scripture, in such instances,
had only opposed one kind of sacrifice to another kind, symboli-
cal to real, typical to true, shadow to substance y. God rejected
* Blessing was a considerable part retur.' Canus, Loc. Theol. lib. xii.
of the sacerdotal office in the Aaron- cap. 12.
ical priesthood. Numb. vi. 23-27. x Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap.
Deut. x. 8. xxi. 5. 2. p. 710.
u Some of the elder Romanists y ' Per hoc ubi scriptum est, Mise-
acknowledged this to be sufficient, ricordiam volo quam sacrificium, ni-
' Satis est, ut vere et proprie sit hil aliud quam sacrificio sacrificium
sacrificium, quod mors Christi ita praelatum oportet intelligi : quoniarn
nunc ad peccati remissionem appli- illud quod ab omnibus appellatur
cetur, ac si nunc ipse Christus more- sacrificium signum est veri sacrificii.
E e 2
42O The Christian Sacrifice explained.
the sign, which had almost engrossed the name, and pointed out
the thing signified ; which more justly deserved to be called
sacrifice. So it was not opposing sacrifice to no sacrifice, but
legal sacrifice to evangelical. Such was St. Austin's solution of
the objected difficulty : and it appears to be very just and solid,
sufficiently confirmed both by the Old Testament and New.
2. Bellarmine's next pretence is, that in every sacrifice, pro-
perly so called, there must be some sensible thing offered ; because
St. Paul has intimated, that a priest must have somewhat to offer.
Heb. viii. 3 z . But St. Paul says ' somewhat,' not ' some sensible
thing.' And certainly, if a man offers prayers, lauds, good works,
&c. he offers somewhat, yea and somewhat sensible too : for
public prayers, especially, are open to the sense of hearing, and
public performances to more senses than one. Therefore the
service may be the sacrifice, not the material things : and such
service being evangelical, (not legal or typical,) is spiritual
sacrifice.
3. The Cardinal has a third argument about elicit acts ;
which being highly metaphysical and fanciful, I choose rather
to pass it off without further answer, than to offend your ears
with it.
4. A fourth pretence is, that the sacrifice of the Church being
but one, the spiritual sacrifices, which are many, cannot be that
one sacrifice. Here he quotes Austin, Pope Leo, and Chry-
sostom, to prove that the Church's sacrifice is but one, and that
one the Eucharist a . He might have spared the labour, because
the same Fathers assert the sacrifice of the Eucharist to be both
one and many, diversly considered : one complicated sacrifice,
taking in the whole action ; many sacrifices, if distinctly viewed
under the several particulars. And though the Eucharist might
Porro autem misericordia est verum Serm. liii.) that almost all call the
sacrificium.' Augustin. de Civ. Dei, Sacrament, (that is, sign of the body,)
lib. x. cap. 5. the body. ' Paene quidem sacramen-
N. B. In explication of what Aus- turn omnes corpus ejus dicunt.' And
tin says, ' quod ab omnibus,' &c. it yet he did not think that the sign
may be noted, that he did not take was more properly the body, than
the vulgar language for the best, or the body itself, but quite otherwise,
the only rule of propriety: he ob- z Bellarnrn, de Missa, lib. i. cap.
serves elsewhere (de Verb. Dom. 2. p. 711. a Ibid. p. 7 12 -
The Christian Sacrifice explained.
by common use come to be called emphatically, the Sacrifice, as
being most observable, or most excellent, or as comprehending
more sacrifices in one than any other service did, yet it does not
from thence follow that the other less observable or less con-
siderable sacrifices were not properly sacrifices. For has not the
same Eucharist, in vulgar speech, and by custom, come to be
emphatically called, the Sacrament, as if there were no other
Sacrament 1 And yet certain it is, that Baptism is as properly
a Sacrament as the other. Emphatical appellations therefore
are rather marks of the excellency or notoriety of a thing, than
of strict propriety of speech. But I return to Bellarmine.
5. A fifth pretence is, that spiritual sacrifices, being common
both to clergy and laity, require no proper priesthood, and there-
fore cannot be justly esteemed proper sacrifices ; for proper
sacrifice and proper priesthood, being relatives, must stand or
fall together *>. To which it may be answered, that even lay
Christians, considered as offering spiritual sacrifices, are so far
priests, according to the doctrine of the New Testament, con-
firmed by Catholic antiquity 6 . But waving that nicety, (as
some may call it,) yet certainly when spiritual sacrifices are
offered up by priests, divinely commissioned, and in the face of
a Christian congregation, they are then as proper sacrifices as
any other are, or can be : and this is sufficient to our purpose.
Let the Eucharist therefore, duly administered by sacerdotal
officers, be admitted as a sacrifice properly so called, but of the
spiritual kind, and we desire nothing further. If a sacerdotal
oblation of the people's loaf and wine can be thought sufficient
to convert them into proper sacrifices, though they had nothing
at all of a sacrificial nature in them before such oblation ; surely
the like sacerdotal oblation may much more convert the people's
prayers, praises, and devout services (which previously had
something of a sacrificial nature in them) into real and proper
sacrifices, yea the properest of any d . Why then must our spiri-
b Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap. and judicious Bp. Montague.
2. p. 712. 'In lege Christi sunt sacerdotes,
c See my Review, above, p. 350. non tantum ilia laxa significatione,
a This matter is briefly and accu- qua quotquot Jesu Christi sumus
rately expressed by our very learned iiruwpoi, (Christian! nominati,)
42 Z The Christian Sacrifice explained.
tual offerings be set aside as of no account in respect of proper
sacrifice, only to take in other things of much lower account
than they 1 Why should we take in those meaner things at all,
as sacrifices, into our pure offerings, which are much better
without them, and can only be defiled by such an heterogeneous
mixture of legal and evangelical 1 Let the elements be signs (as
they really are) of the sacrifice which we offer, as they are also
signs of the sacrifice whereof we participate : that appears to be
the end and use of them, (and great use it is,) and seems to be
all the honour which God ever intended them. To be plainer,
we ourselves are the sacrifice offered by those 6 symbols; and the
victim of the cross is the sacrifice participated by the same
symbols. But I proceed.
6. It is further argued against spiritual sacrifices, that they
require no proper altar, as all proper sacrifices do : therefore
they are not proper sacrifices f . This argument is faulty, more
ways than one. For, i. It can never be proved, that sacrifices,
and altars are such inseparable relatives, that one may not sub-
sist without the other. An altar seems to be rather a circum-
stance of convenience, or decency, than essential to sacrifice. It
was accidental to the Jewish sacrifices, that they needed altars :
and the reason was not because all sacrifices must have altars,
but because sacrifices of such a kind could not be performed
without them ; otherwise, an altar appears no more necessary
to a sacrifice, considered at large, than a case or a plate, a pix or
a patin, is to a gift, or present. 2. Besides, how will it be
made appear that the table on which our Lord consecrated the
Eucharist, or the cross on which he suffered, was properly and
sumus etiam et dicimur sacerdotes, be offered in the Eucharist. But
sed et ilia magis stricta, qua qui po- then it means only offered to view,
pulo acquisitions praesunt tv vAfjitf or offered to Divine consideration :
0eoO, /col els tbv, Dei sunt et populi that is, represented before God,
pee'irai Habemus autem et altare, angels, and men, and pleaded before
ad quod offerimus oblationes et sacri- God as what we claim to ; not offered
ficia commemorationis, laudationis, again in sacrifice. See Field on the
orationis, nos. nostra, Deo, per sacer- Church, pp. 204, 205. and my Re-
dotem.' Montacut. Orig. torn. ii. view, above, p. 344.
p. 313. f Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap.
e The sacrifice of the cross, or 2. pp. 712, 713.
Christ himself, may also be said to
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 423
previously an altar ? The Cardinal's argument proves too much
to prove anything : for it does not only strike at the spiritual
sacrifices, but at the mass sacrifice too, and even at the sacrifice
of the cross, which had no proper altar S. But if it be said, that
both the table and the cross were proper altars, as being the
seats of proper sacrifices, then whatever is the seat of a spiritual
sacrifice (which we now suppose to be proper) will, by parity of
reason, be a spiritual altar also, and proper in its kind : so then,
take the thing either way, the argument is frivolous, and con-
cludes nothing 11 . I have now run through the Cardinal's sub-
tilties on this head ; excepting that some notice remains to be
taken of his artful contrivance to elude St. Austin's definition
of sacrifice, and therewith all the old definitions which had ob-
tained in the Church for fifteen hundred years before.
7. He pretends, that that Father defined only true sacrifice,
not proper sacrifice ; and that therefore his definition comes not
up to the point in hand : good works may be true sacrifices, in
St. Austin's sense, but they will be improper, metaphorical, or
nominal only, notwithstanding 1 . This is the substance of the
pretext, laid down in its full force, and it will require a clear and
distinct answer. First, I may take notice, that it is very odd,
in this case especially, to make a distinction between true and
proper, and to oppose one to the other. St. Austin, most un-
doubtedly, intended, under the word 'true,' to take in all Christian,
8 Some make the cross itself the 559, 567.
altar, which has been the current h The Lord's table is by the an-
way of speaking from Origen of the cients frequently called an altar, as
third century. Others say, the Di- being the seat of the elements, and
vine nature of our Lord was the so an altar in the same metonymical
altar, grounding it upon Heb. ix. 14. meaning, as the elements were body
Others take in both, in different re- and blood, or the grand sacrifice
spects : but neither of them seems itself. The Lord's table might also
to have been an altar in strict pro- more properly be called an altar, aa
priety of speech, but rather in the being that from which, or at which,
way of analogy, or resemblance, prayers and praises and commemo-
This article has been minutely dis- rations (spiritual sacrifices) were
cussed by Cloppenburg. Opp. vol. i. offered. See my Review, above, pp.
p. 82, &c. Witsius, Miscellan. torn. 333, 334.
i. p. 509. In Symb. Apostol. p. 146. l Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap.
Vitringa, Obs. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. 13. ?. p. 713. Cp. Vasquez, torn. hi.
lib. iv. cap. 15. Deylingius, Obs. p. 507. Suarez, torn. iii. p. 886.
Sacr. torn. ii. p. 393. Miscellan. Bapt. Scortia, p. 18.
424 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
all evangelical, all salutary or acceptable, yea all allowable sacri-
fices : and what can it signify to talk of any proper sacrifice
(Jewish, suppose, or Pagan) as opposed to true, so long as such
proper sacrifice is no sacrifice at all in Christian account, but a
sacrilege rather, or a profanation ? But I answer further, that
there is no reason to imagine that St. Austin did not intend to
include ' proper' under the word ' true.' It would not have been
sufficient to his purpose to have said proper sacrifice, because
Jewish and Pagan sacrifices might come under the same appella-
tion : but he chose the word ' true,' as carrying in it more than
' proper,' and as expressing proper and salutary, or authorized,
both in one. As true religion implies both proper and authorized
religion, and as true worship implies the like ; so true sacrifice
implies both propriety as to the name, and truth as to the
thing k .
The point may be further argued from hence, that the ancient
Fathers did not only call spiritual sacrifices real and true 1 , but they
looked upon them as the best, the noblest, the most perfect sacri-
fices, the most suitable and proper gifts or presents that could be
offered to the Divine Majesty m : and they never dropped any
hints of their being either improper or metaphorical. The
Romanists knew this very well ; and it may be useful to observe
their exquisite subtilty in this argument. For after they have
exploded, with a kind of popular clamour, all that the Fathers
ever called true sacrifice, under the opprobrious name of improper
k In this sense St. Austin called goras, pp. 48, 49. ed. Ox. Clem,
our Lord's Sacrifice true. Contr. Alex. pp. 836, 848, 849, 860. Ter-
Faust. lib. xx. cap. 18. xxii. 17. tullian, Apol. cap. xxx. De Orat.
Contr. advers. Leg. &c. lib. i. cap. cap. 27, 28. Minuc. Felix, sect.
18. xxxii. p. 183. Cyprian. Ep. Ixxvii.
1 Justin. Dial. p. 389. ed. Tbirlb. p. 159. ed. Bened. Lactantius, Epit.
Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 17. p. 248. ed. cap. Iviii. de vero Cultu, lib. vi. cap.
Bened. Origen. torn. ii. p. 362. ed. 24, 25. Eusebius, Demonstr. p. 40.
Bened. Clem. Alex. p. 686. ed. Ox. Hilarius Pictav. p. 154. ed. Bened.
Lactant. Epit. 169, 204, 205. ed. Dav. Basil, torn. iii. p. 207. ed Bened.
Philastrius, Haer. cap. cix. p. 221. Nazianzen. torn. i. pp. 38, 484.
ed. Fabr. Hieronym. in Amos, cap. Chrysostom. torn. v. pp. 20, 231,
v. p. 1420. ed. Bened. Augustin. 316, 503. vii. 216. ed. Bened. Au-
tom. x. pp. 94, 242, 243, 256. ed. gustin. torn. v. p. 268. de Civit. Dei,
Be.ied. Gregor. Magn. Dial. lib. iv. lib. x. cap. 20. lib. xix. cap. 23. Isi-
cap. 59^ p. 472. ed. Bened. dorus Pelus. lib. iii. Ep. 75.
10 Justin. Dial. p. 387. Athena-
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 425
and metaphorical 11 , and have raised an odium against Protestants
for admitting no other, then, (as if they had forgot all that
they had been before doing,) they fetch a round, and come upon
us with the high and emphatical expressions of the Fathers, ask-
ing, how we can be so dull as to understand them of metaphorical,
nominal sacrifices ? Yet we are very certain, that all those high
expressions of the Fathers belonged only to spiritual sacrifices ;
the very same that Bellarmine and the rest discard as improper
and metaphorical.
But they here play fast and loose with us : first, pretending
that the true and noble sacrifices of the ancients did not mean
proper ones, in order to discard the old definitions ; and then
again, (to serve another turn,) pretending that those very sacri-
fices must have been proper, (not metaphorical,) because the
Fathers so highly esteemed them, and spake so honourably of
them. In short, the whole artifice terminates in this, that the
self-same sacrifices as admitted by Protestants shall be called
metaphorical, in order to disgrace the Protestant cause, but shall
be called proper and true as admitted by the Fathers, in order to
keep up some show of agreement in this article with antiquity-
But I return to the Cardinal, whom I left disabling all the old
definitions, in order to introduce a new one of his own, a very
strange one P ; fitted indeed to throw out spiritual sacrifice most
effectually, (which was what he chiefly aimed at,) but at the
same time also overthrowing, undesignedly, both the sacrifice of
the mass and the sacrifice of the cross.
i. As to the sacrifice of the mass, the subject of it is supposed
to be our Lord's natural body, invisible in the Eucharist; and yet,
by the definition, the sacrifice should be ' res sensibilis V some-
n Vide Suarez, torn. iii. pp. 886, calling it a definition of animal.
891, 892, 893, 896. 'Sacrificium eat oblatio externa,
Vide Petavius, Eocl. Dogm. torn, facta soli Deo, qua ad agnitionem
iii. p. 130. humanae infirmitatis, et professi-
P A definition of one kind of sacri- onem Divinae majestatis, a legitimo
fice, (Jewish, as it seems,) rather ministro res aliqua sensibilis et per-
than of sacrifice in general, or of manens, in ritu mystico, consecratur,
Christian in particular. It is giving et transmutatur, ita ut plane destru-
us a species for the genus, like the atur.' Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i;
making a definition of man, and then cap. 2. pp. 7*5; 7 J 7
426 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
thing visible, obvious to one or more of the senses. Again, our
Lord's body is not liable any more to destruction ; and yet, by
the definition, the sacrifice should be destroyed. But I shall
insist no longer upon the Cardinal's inconsistencies in that
article, because he has often been called to account for them by
learned Protestants r .
2. The second article, relating to the sacrifice of the cross, has
been less taken notice of : but it is certain, that Bellarmine's
definition is no more friendly to that than to the other.
If our Lord's soul was any part of his offering, (as Scripture
seems to intimate s , and as the Fathers plainly teach { , and the
reason of the thing persuades,) or if his life was an offering,
which Scripture plainly, and more than once testifies 11 ; then 'res
aliqua sensibilis,' ' some sensible thing' is not the true notion of
proper sacrifice, neither is it essential to the definition of it ;
unless the life which our Lord gave upon the. cross was no proper
sacrifice. Perhaps, in strictness of notion, his 'obedience unto
death v ,' his amazing act of philanthropy, (so highly extolled in
the New Testament,) was properly the acceptable sacrifice. So
Aquinas states that matter, as I before noted : and Bellarmine
was aware of it, in another chapter, wherein he undertakes to
prove, that our Lord's death was a proper sacrifice w . There he
was obliged to say, though he says it coldly, that acts of charity
are ' quoddam sacrificium,' a kind of sacrifice. But the question
was about proper sacrifice, and about our Lord's philanthropy :
was that only 'quoddam sacrificium,' or was it not proper 1 Here
the Cardinal was nonplussed, and had no way to extricate himself,
but by admitting (faintly however and tacitly, as conscious of
self-contradiction) that spiritual sacrifice may be proper sacrifice,
r Joaun. Forbesius, p. 615. Mon- aeus, p. 292. ed. Bened. Hieronym.
tacutius, Orig. torn. ii. pp. 302, 357. torn. ii. part. 2. pp. 167, 173. ed.
Bishop Morton, b. vi. cap. 6. pp. 467, Bened. Fulgentius ad Thrasimund.
468, &c. Hakewill, p. 8. Brevint. lib. iii. Compare Bishop Bilson, Full
Depth and Mystery, &c. pp. 133, Redemption, &c. p. 83, &c.
144. Payne on the Sacrifice of the n Matt. xx. 28. Mark 5.45. John
Mass, p. 70. Bishop Kidder, pp. x. n, 15, 17. xv. 13. i John iii. 16.
316, 415. T Phil. ii. 8. Heb. v. 8.
Isa. liii. 10, ii, 12. Psalm xvi. w Bellarmin. de Missa, lib. i. cap.
10. Luke xxiii. 46. 3. p. 718.
* Clem. Roman, cap. xlix. Iren-
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 427
and is not always metaphorical : otherwise, the very brightest
part of our Lord's own sacrifice, the very flower and perfection
of it, his most stupendous work of philanthropy, must have
been thrown off, under the low and disparaging names of meta-
phorical, improper, nominal sacrifice.
Having seen how the ablest champion of the Romish cause
failed in his attempts against spiritual sacrifices, failed in not
proving his point, failed also in over proving, we may now with
the greater assurance maintain, that the old definitions, which
took in spiritual sacrifice, were true and just, and that the new
ones, arbitrarily introduced, in the decline of the sixteenth
century, are false and wrong ; such as one would expect from
men zealous for a party cause, and disposed to support manifest
errors and absurdities, at any rate whatsoever.
After pointing out the rise of the new definitions, I am next
to observe what their progress was, and what the result or issue
of them. It must, I am afraid, be owned, that our Romish
adversaries were but too successful in spreading mists and dark-
ness all over the subject, in opening a new and wide field of
dispute, thereby drawing the Protestants, more or less, out of
their safe intrenchments ; dividing them also, if not as to their
main sentiments, yet at least as to their modes of expression and
their methods of defence.
How this affair had been fixed amongst us, but a few years
before, may be collected from Archbishop Sandys's judicious
definition of sacrifice x , published in 1585, and contrived to take
in sacrifices both of the material and spiritual kind. Dr. Bilson
also (afterwards Bishop) published his book of Christian Subjec-
tion, the same year; wherein he took occasion to assert, that
the Eucharist is a sacrifice, yea, and a true sacrifice ; but under-
standing it to be of the spiritual kind y. This kind of language
* ' Sacrificing is a voluntary action and so to the end, was and shall be
whereby we worship God, offering more acceptable to God, than the
him somewhat, in token that we bloody and external sacrifices of the
acknowledge him to be the Lord, Jews.' Bilson, p. 696.
and ourselves his servants.' Sandys, ' Neither they nor I ever denied
Serm. xxi. p. 185. the Eucharist to be a sacrifice. The
J ' Malachi speaketh of the true very name enforceth it to be the
sacrifice, which, from the beginning, sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ;
428 Fhe Christian Sacrifice explained.
(the uniform language of antiquity, and of the whole reformation z
for sixty or seventy years,) began to vary in some measure, from
Bellarmine's time, and jnore and more so, both here and abroad.
Some indeed stood by the old definitions and ancient language
concerning the Eucharist : more went off from it ; and so
Protestants became divided, in sounds at least, while they differed
not much in sense. Many finding that they were sufficiently
able to maintain their ground against the Romanists, even upon
the foot of the Romish definitions, never troubled themselves
further to examine how just they were : it was enough, they
thought, that the Romanists could not prove the Eucharist a
time and proper Sacrifice, in their own way of defining ; and the
rest seemed to be only contending about words and names.
Nevertheless the more thoughtful and considerate men saw
what advantage the adversaries might make by aspersing the
Protestants as having no sacrifice properly so called, nor pre-
tending to any : besides that the dignity of a venerable Sacra-
ment would probably suffer much by it ; and the ancient
Fathers, who were very wise men, had never consented (though
as much provoked to it by the Pagan objectors) to lessen the
dignity of their true and real sacrifices by the low and diminutive
names of improper or metaphorical. They always stood to it,
that they had sacrifices, yea and true sacrifices, (of the spiritual a
kind,) the noblest and divinest that could be offered ; while all
which is the true and lively sacrifice nem habet, idque triplici respectu.
of the New Testament. The Lord's i. Quatenus in ea aliquid Deo offeri-
table, in respect of his graces and mus, solennem videlicet gratiamm
mercies there proposed to us, is an actiouem, ex illo Christi praecepto.
heavenly banquet, which we must I Cor. xi. 26.
eat, and not sacrifice : but the duties ' 2. Deinde, quod in ea conferren-
which he requireth at our hands, tur eleemosynae, ex institute fortas-
when we approach his table, are sa- sis Apostoli, I Cor. xvi. 2. Quae
crifices, not sacraments. As namely, eleemosynae vocantur irpoff<popai, ex
to ofler him thanks and praises, faith illo Christi sermone, Matt. xxv. 20.
and obedience, yea our bodies and ' 3. Quod mortis Domini sncrifici-
souls, to be living, holy, and accept- um, ob oculos quodammodo in illis
able sacrifices unto him, which is myateriis positum, veluti renovetur.'
our reasonable service.' Bilson, p. Beza, Quaest. et Respons. p. 105.
699. a See the testimonies in my Re-
1 Beza's account (in 1577) may view, above, chap. xii. To which
serve for a specimen : abundance more may be added. And
' Coena Domini sacrificii ratio- note, that though the epithet ' spiri-
The Christian Sacrifice explained.
other pi-etended sacrifices, all material sacrifices b , were mean,
poor, contemptible things, in comparison. Such, I humbly coa-
ceive, ought to have been our constant, standing reply to the
Romanists, with respect to this article : for we have certainly
as just a plea for it in our case, as the ancient Fathers had in
theirs. However, as I before hinted, Protestant Divines varied
in their language on this head, some abiding by the old definitions,
upon good consideration, others too unwarily departing from
them. So now we are to consider them as divided into two
sorts : and in process of time, as shall be related, sprang up a
third sort, growing, as it were, out of the other two. I shall
say something of each in their order and place, for the further
clearing of the subject.
i. Among those that adhered to the old language, and still
continued to call the Eucharist a true or a proper sacrifice, but
of the spiritual kind, I may first mention Amandus Polanus c ,
tual,' joined, suppose, with 'meat,' or
'drink,' or the like, may denote some
material thing bearing a mystical
signification, yet it has not been
shewn, neither can it be shewn, that
the phrase ' spiritual sacrifice' anci-
ently denoted a material substance
offered as a sacrifice. A sacred re-
gard was had to St. Peter's use of
that phrase, to denote evangelical
services : besides that the Fathers
constantly explained what they
meant by spiritual sacrifices, and
so specified the particulars, as to
leave no room for scruple or eva-
sion, among persons of any reason-
able discernment. So that the put-
ting a new construction upon the
phrase, in order to make some show
of agreement with antiquity, is a
transparent fallacy. It is keeping
their terms, but eluding their mean-
ing. It is teaching novel doctrine
under ancient phrases.
b Express testimonies against ma-
terial sacrifice may be seen in Justin
Martyr, Apol. p. 14. Tertullian, p.
1 88. Rigalt. Origen. in Psalm, pp.
563, 722. ed. Bened. Lactantius,
Epit. cap. Iviii. p. 169. Eusebius,
Praep. Evang. lib. iv. cap. 10. pp.
148, 149. Eusebius, Demonstr.
Evang. pp. 39, 222, 223. Basil, torn,
ii. pp. 402, 403. ed. Bened. Chry-
sostom, torn. i. p. 664. ed. Bened.
Cyrill. Alex, contr. Jul. lib. x. p. 345.
Procopius in Isa. pp. 22, 493.
N.B. It is not possible to recon-
cile those testimonies to the material
scheme : but it is very easy to make
the Fathers consistent throughout,
with themselves, and with each other,
on the spiritual foot, as making the
work, or service, the sacrifice. The
single question then is, whether the
Fathers ought to be so interpreted
as to make them consistent upon the
whole ; or whether some detached
passages, capable of a consistent
meaning, ought to be understood in
a sense repugnant to the uniform
tenor of their writings. The passive
sense is the true key to those pas-
sages.
c ' Coena Domini est sacrificium,
turn eucharisticum, turn propitiate-
rium : eucharisticum quidem pro-
prium, quatenus in ejus usu gratias
Deo agimus quod nos ex servitute,
&c. . . . propitiatorium vero aliquo
43 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
a learned Calvinist, who died in 1610. Our very judicious Dean
Field, (who finished his book of the Church in 1610, and died
in 1616,) he also adhered to the old language, disregarding the
new definitions. He asserted the Eucharist to be, with regard to
the sacrifices of our selves, our praises, &c. a true but spiritual
sacrifice d .
Scharpius, a learned Calvinist, who published his Cursus
Theologicus in 1617, scrupled not to reckon the Eucharist
among the sacrifices strictly and properly so called, but still of
the eucharistical and spiritual kind. He had seen Bellarmine's
affected subtilties on that head, despised them, and in part con-
futed them e .
Bishop Andrews appears to have been a Divine of the same
ancient stamp, in this article. In the year 1592, he discovered
some uneasiness, that many would not allow the Eucharist to be
a sacrifice at all, but a mere sacrament f . Afterwards, in 1610,
he asserted the Lord's Supper to be a sacrifice, of the eucha-
ristical kinds. In 1612, he went so far as to say, that the
Apostle (i Cor. x.) match eth the Eucharist with the sacrifice of
the Jews, and that, by the 'rule of comparisons, they must be
ejusdem generis 11 .' By which he did not mean, as some have
widely mistaken him, that both must be the same kind of sacri-
fice, but that both must be of the sacrificial kind, agreeing in
the same common genus of sacrifice : for he said it in opposi-
tion to those who pretended that the Eucharist was an ordi-
nance merely of the sacramental kind, and not at all of the
sacrificial >.
modo, quatenus unici illius sacrificii Cp. his Posthumous Answer to
vere propitiatorii memoriam in eo Card. Perron, pp. 6, 7-
eerio frequentare jubemur.' Amand. * Besides the argument here drawn
Polan. Symphon. Cathol. cap. xvii. from the consideration of what prin-
p. 275. Cp. p. 855. ciples he was then opposing, (which
d Field, of the Church, pp. 210, is a good rule of construction,) it
220. may further be considered that the
e Scharpius, Curs. Theolog. pp. approved Divines of his time, Mason
1522, 1525, 1539. ed. 2. Genevae. and Spalatensis, rejected with indig-
f Bp. Andrews's Sermons, part ii. nation the thought of any material
p. 35. sacrifice, (vid. Mason de Ministerio
8 Andrews ad Bellarmin. Apolog. Anglican, pp. 575, 599, 618, 551,
Respons. p. 184. 595- Spalatensis, lib. v. pp. 149,
h Bp. Andrews's Sermons, p. 453. 265, 267.) condemned it as absurdity,
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 431
Dr. Buckeridge wrote in 1614. His notion of the eucharistic
sacrifice seems to resolve into a real and proper sacrifice of
Christ's mystical body, the Church, and a metonymical, improper
offering of Christ himself ; offering him in some sort, or in the
way of representation, like as is done in Baptism \ He does not
indeed use the word ' proper,' following the style of the ancients
before ever that word came in : but he apparently means it,
where he speaks of the sacrifice of Christ's mystical body, that
is, of self-sacrifice.
Archbishop Laud speaks of three sacrifices : i. Christ's own
sacrifice, commemorated before God, by the priest alone, in his
breaking the bread, and pouring out the wine. 2. The sacrifice
made by priest and people jointly, the sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving. 3. Self-sacrifice by every communicant 1 . I will
not defend all those distinctions. I think all the three sacrifices
are properly the sacrifices of the Church, or of all the worthy
communicants, recommended or offered up by their priests in
that holy solemnity : the priest is their mouth in doing it, their
conductor, or principal, authorized by God so to be. This great
man said nothing of proper or improper : all the three sacrifices
may be understood to be proper, but spiritual. What he be-
lieved, as to each, is not easy to say. If we explain his comme-
morative sacrifice by Bishop Buckeridge's account of the same
thing, it could be no more than figurative, in that relative view ;
madness, and impiety. So also Bp. Papae in praefat.
Morton, (b. vi. cap. 5. pp.438, 439.) ' In the Eucharist we offer up to
approving what the wiser Romanists God three sacrifices : ' One, by the
had said, condemning the notion in priest only, that is, the commemora-
the like strong terms. tive sacrifice of Christ's death, repre-
k ' De sacrificio cordis contriti . . . sented in bread broken and wine
de sacrificiis item corporis Christi poured out : another, by the priest
mystici (non naturalis) in quo nos- and people jointly ; and that is the
metipsos Deo ofFerimus, satis con- sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
venit. . . . De sacrificio item comme- for all the benefits and graces we
morativo, sive repraesentativo, quo receive by the precious death of
Christus ipse, qui in cruce pro nobis Christ : the third, by every particu-
iminolatus est, per viam repraesen- lar man for himself only, and that
tationis et commemoration is a nobis is the sacrifice of every man's body
etiam quodammodo offerri dicitur, and soul, to serve him in both all
lis non magna est : in Baptismo enim the rest of his life, for this blessing
offertur sacrificium Christi, uti Au- thus bestowed upon him.' Laud's
gustiiius, &c.' Buckeridge de Potest. Conference, sect. xxxv. pp. 305, 306.
432 Ihe Christian Sacrifice explained.
for we cannot properly sacrifice Christ himself ; but the com-
memorative service, being of the same nature with hymns and
praises, may be considered in the absolute view, as a proper
sacrifice of ours, of the eucharistical and spiritual kind ; and
that perhaps was what that great Prelate might have in his
thoughts.
It is certain that Bishop Montague, of that time, understood
the whole action, or memorial service, to be a true and real sacri-
fice of praise m . And as he was a great admirer of antiquity, he
had no regard to the new definitions, but referred the novelists
to St. Austin for correction and better instruction n . The very
learned Dr. Hammond was, undoubtedly, in the same way of
thinking : the whole eucharistical action both of priest and people,
the memorial service jointly performed, that was the sacrifice in
his account . Bishop Taylor P, Archbishop Bramhall % Hamon
I'Estrange 1 ", appear to have been in the like sentiments. Dr.
Patrick, who wrote in 1659, more plainly followed the ancient
way of thinking and speaking, such as had been in use before
the new definitions came in. Duties and set-vices were his sacri-
fice, a spiritual sacrifice 8 . He pleads, that such services justly
deserve the name * ; that even the Pagan Platonists (as well as
Scripture and Fathers) had so used the name of Sacrifice ; and
that the appellation was very proper", taking in not only mental,
or vocal praises, but manual also ; that is, as he expresses it,
the eucharistical actions w . Upon these principles, he tells the
Pap ; sts, that ' we are sacrificers as well as they x :' which was
m Montacut. Origin, torn. ii. pp. blem, p. 137, or English Works, vol.
301-304. Compare his Antidiatribe, ii. p. 550.
pp. 143, 144, where he takes in our P Taylor, Holy Living, &c. ch. iv.
self-sacrifice, calling it the sacrifice sect. 10. Worthy Commun. p. 54.
of Christ's mystical body. 1 Bramhall's Works, pp. 35, 36,
n Montacut. ibid. p. 358. 996.
Hammond, Practical Catechism, " L'Estrange's Alliance, &c. pp.
lib. vi. sect. 4. vol. i. p. 174. Com- 187, 221.
pare View of New Direct, p. 154. Patrick's Mensa Mystica, pp.
and vol. ii. Dispatch, p. 164. vol. 16, 18, 19. ed. 4.
iii. p. 769. The notion of the whole * Ibid. p. 35.
action being the sacrifice, was not u Ibid. pp. 35, 36.
new : it appears in the Fathers of w Ibid. p. 36. ed. 4 : compare p,
old; and Mr. Perkins, who died in 19.
^602, had taught the same. Pro- * Ibid. p. 37: Compare pp. 38, 40.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 433
the right turn, copied from what the ancient Fathers had said
in answer to the like charge of having no sacrifice, and as justly
pleaded by Protestants now, as by Christians then, against their
injurious accusers.
Bishop Lany, after the Restoration, (A. D. 1663,) a very
learned Divine, and of great acumen, scrupled not to call the
whole eucharistical service true and proper sacrifice, proper with-
out a metaphoi-, as being the fittest gift or present that could be
offered to the Divine Majesty y. So little did he regard the
frivolous distinctions of the Trent Council, or the new definitions
invented to support them.
Nine years after appeared Dr. Brevint 2 . He was well read
in the eucharistic sacrifice: no man understood it better; which
may appear sufficiently from two tracts of his upon the subject,
small ones both, but extremely fine. He stood upon the ancient
ground, looked upon evangelical duties as the true oblations and
sacrifices* 1 , resolved the sacrifice of the Eucharist, actively con-
sidered, solely into them b ; and he explained the practical uses
of that doctrine in so clear, so lively, and so affecting a way, that
one shall scarce meet with anything on the subject that can be
justly thought to exceed it, or even to come up to it c . So that
I could heartily join my wishes with a late learned writer, that
that 'excellent little book, entitled, The Christian Sacrament
and Sacrifice, might be reprinted, for the honour of God, and
N.B. I have omitted Mr. Thorndike, and Sacrifice. He was made Dean
because his notion plainly resolves of Lincoln in 1681, and died in
into the passive sense, viz. into the 1695.
grand sacrifice itself, as contained a Brevint, Depth and Myst. p.
in the Eucharist, because represent- 16.
ed, applied, and participated in it. b ' Sincere Christians must have
The Lutherans, generally, resolve it their hands full, at the receiving the
the same way, only differing as to holy Communion, with four distinct
the point of real or local presence, sorts of sacrifices. I. The sacramen-
Vide Brochmand, torn. iii. pp. 2072, tal and commemorative sacrifice of
35 2 - Christ. 2. The real and actual sacri-
y Bishop Lany's Sermon on Heb. fice of themselves. 3. The free-will
xiii. 15. pp. 1 6, 32. Compare my offering of their goods. 4. The peace-
Review, above, p. 318. offering of their praises.' Brevint,
2 In 1672, Dr. Brevint wrote the Christian Sacrifice, no, in.
Depth and Mystery of the Roman c Brevint, Sacram. and Sacrif. sect.
Mass: reprinted 1673. In 1673, he vi. vii. viii. pp. 74-134.
published the Christian Sacrament
Ff
434 Tfa Christian Sacrifice explained.
the benefit of the Church d .' It is worth the noting, how
acutely Dr. Brevint distinguished between the sacramental sacri-
fice of Christ, and the real or actual sacrifice of ourselves. We
cannot properly sacrifice Christ : we can only do it in signs and
figures, that is, improperly, or comniemoratively : but we may
properly offer up ourselves to God ; and that is, in strict pro-
priety of speech, our sacrifice, our spiritual sacrifice. Dr. Brevint
rejected, with disdain, any thought of a material sacrifice, a bread
offering, or a wine offering ; tartly ridiculing the pretences com-
monly made for it e . But I have dwelt long enough upon the
Divines of the first class : who standing upon the old principles,
and disregarding the new definitions, continued to call the Eu-
charist a true sacrifice, or a proper sacrifice, (meaning eucharistical
and spiritual,) or forbore, at least, to call it improper, or meta-
phorical.
2. I may now look back to other Divines, who used a different
language in this article.
At the head of them f stands the celebrated Mr. Hooker, who
wrote in 1597, and who feared not to say, that ' sacrifice is now
no part of the Church ministry,' and that we have, 'properly,
now no sacrifice?.' I presume he meant by proper sacrifice,
propitiatory, according to the sense of the Trent Council, or of
the new definitions. In such a sense as that, he might justly
say, that sacrifice is no part of the Church ministry, or that the
d Dr. Hickes's Christian Priest- f Dr. Rainoldes, in 1584, had in
hood, vol. i. Prefat. Disc. pp. 39, 40. the way of arguing 'ad hominem'
e ' Now among these magnificent shewn, that the Fathers were no
wonders of Christ's law, bread and friends to the mass-sacrifice, con-
wine can be reputed but of little sidered as true and proper, inas-
importance ; which you may find as much as they allowed only of spi-
well or better among the oblations ritual sacrifices, which, in the Ro-
of Aaron, and thus far belonging mish account, were not true or
better to his order ; because he is proper sacrifices. See Rainoldes
often commanded to offer bread, against Harte, pp. 472. 535) 536,
which Priest Melchizedek is. not. 539. That kind of arguing first led
Therefore, if offering bread and wine the way to such sort of language
makes an order, Aaron will be more as Mr. Hooker made use of ; but
certainly a priest after the order was not precisely the same with it,
of Melchizedek, than was either not running in the like absolute
Melchizedek or Christ himself.' Ere- terms.
vint, Depth and Mystery, p. 1 1 6. * Hooker, Eccl. Polity, book v.
See p. 117. ch. 78. sect. 2. Oxf. edit.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 435
Christian Church has no sacrifice. But I commend not the use
of such new language, be the meaning ever so right : the Fathers
never used it h .
Dr. Francis White, in the year 1617, (lie was afterwards
Bishop of Ely,) observed, that the name of sacrifice doth not in
a proper and univocal sense belong to the Eucharist, but in a
large acceptation of the word, and in a figurative meaning;
because it is a representation of the real sacrifice of Christ once
offered upon the cross \ He was so far right, in making a
representation of Christ's sacrifice to be but figuratively that
sacrifice : but he forgot, that the Eucharist contains many spirit-
ual services, which are truly sacrifices in the Scripture language,
and that even the memorial service, though it is but metonymi-
cally Christ's sacrifice, is yet really our sacrifice, our spiritual
sacrifice. From hence, however, may be seen how and by what
degrees Protestant Divines came to leave off calling the Eucharist
a sacrifice, or called it so with the epithet of ' improper' or ' figu-
rative.' It was chiefly owing to a partial conception of it : they
considered it barely in its representative or relative view, and
too hastily concluded, that since it was not the sacrifice repre-
sented, (as the Romanists pretended it was,) it was no sacrifice
at all in propriety of speech.
Spalatensis, of that time, made no scruple of saying, over and
over, that the Eucharist is 'not a true sacrifice V In a certain
place, he expressed himself in such a manner as might be apt
to surprise a man at the first reading : he says, that the name of
true sacrifice was never given to the Eucharist, never thought
on, before the very latest and the most corrupt ages \ But he
meant it, I suppose, according to that sense of true sacrifice,
h Once Clemens Alexandrinus, p. 339.
(Str. vii. p. 836.) and once Arno- k Antonius de Dominis, lib. v.
bius, (lib. vii.) has said, that the c. 6. pp.82, 265, 269, 271, 278.
Christians had no sacrifices ; mean- ' ' Esse verum sacrificium, nun-
ing such as the Pagans had boasted quam ad postrema corrupta saecula
of : but that did not amount to say- invenio, aut dictum, aut cogitatum,
ing, that the Church had no proper aut traditum, aut practicatum in
sacrifices, or properly no sacri- Ecclesia.' Antonius de Dominis,
fice. ibid. p. 281.
1 White, Orthodox Faith and Way,
F f 2
436 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
which the Trent Council and the Popish writers had lately
affixed to the name.
The Divinity chairs in both universities, about that time, con-
curred in denying the Eucharist to be a true, real, or proper
sacrifice : which appears from Dr. Abbot m , afterwards Bishop
of Sarum ; and from Dr. Davenant n , afterwards Bishop of the
same see. Both of them seemed to take their estimate of true
and proper sacrifice from the new definitions ; allowing them for
argument sake, and joining issue with the Komanists upon their
own terms. The like may be said of Mr. Mason, who frequently
allows, or declares, that the Eucharist is not a sacrifice properly
so called . But Dr. Crakanthorp (about A. D. 1624) may serve
for a good comment upon all the rest : for when he denied the
Eucharist to be either a true sacrifice, or a sacrifice properly so
called, he cautiously guarded what he had said, by restraining
it to such a sense as the Trent Council and Komish divines had
affixed to the phrases of true sacrifice, and sacrifice properly so
called P. That restriction, or salvo, was often forgot, and came,
by degrees, to be more and more omitted ; and so the most
prevailing doctrine ran in absolute terms, that the Eucharist is
no true sacrifice, or no proper sacrifice, or in short, no sacrifice.
Bishop Morton, being sensible how much it tended to disparage
the holy Eucharist, and how contradictory it was to ancient
language, to say that the Eucharist is not a true or not a proper
m ' The passion of Christ is the men sortiantur ; quamvis etiam ipsa
sacrifice which we offer : and be- repraesentatio fracti corporis Christi
cause the passion of Christ is not et fusi sanguinis, figurate sacrificium
now really acted, therefore the sa- a veteribus saepenumero vocetur."
crifice which we offer is no true and Davenant. Deterininat. p. 13.
real sacrifice.' Abbot, Counterproof Mason, de Minist. Anglic, pp.
against Dr. Bishop, ch. xiv. p. 364. 549, 550, 551, 555, 627, 628.
N. B. Here was the like partial con- P 'Sacrificium missae non est vere
ception of the thing as I before sacrificium propitiatorium, ut conci-
noted in Dr. White. Hum Tridentinum definit, vestrique
11 ' Nos asserimus, in missa nihil decent ; sed Eucharisticum tantum-
posse nominari aut ostendi quod modo et conimemorativum. . . . Sed
sit sacrificabile, aut quod rationem nee omnino verurn et proprie dic-
et essentiam habeat realis, externi, turn sacrificium in missa ullum est ;
et proprie dicti sacrificii : quamvis non quale Tridentinum concilium
quae adhiberi in eadem solent pre- definlvit, et vestri uno ore profiten-
ces, eleemosynae, gratiarum acti- tur.' Crakanthorp. contr. Spalatens.
ones, spiritualium sacrificiorum no- c. Isxiv. p. 574.
The Christian Sacrifice explained.
437
sacrifice, endeavoured to help the matter by a distinction be-
tween truth of excellency and truth of propriety 1 ; allowing the
Eucharist to be true sacrifice, as to excellency of nature, but not
as to propriety of speech : as if the new definitions were a better
rule of propriety, than all that had prevailed for fifteen hundred
years before. His distinction was a good one, in the main, but
was not justly applied in this particular, where truth of excellency
and truth of propriety are really coincident, and resolve both into
one. However, so the vogue ran, as I have before said, and
so has it been transmitted, through many hands, down to this
day r .
3. Such being the case, there is the less reason to wonder that
a third set of Divines, in process of time, sprang up, as it were,
out of the two former. For some serious men perceiving how
much the ancient and modern language differed in this article,
and that by means of the now prevailing definitions they were
i Morton's Institut. of theSacram.
book vi. chap. 3. p. 415. chap. 7.
sect. i. p. 470.
How much the old notion of sacri-
fice was now wearing out may be
judged from Dr. George Hakewill,
who wrote in 1641, and was other-
wise a learned and judicious writer,
particularly as to this very argu-
ment. He says, ' Commemoration
being an action, cannot, in propriety
of speech, be the thing sacrificed,
which must of necessity be a sub-
stance,' &c. Hakewill, Dissertat.
P- 25-
He rejects Austin s definition, p.
4. And it is too plain from several
places of his work, that the mists
first raised by Bellarmine, and other
Romish divines, hung before his
eyes.
r The Lutheran way of speaking,
in this matter, may be seen in Dey-
lingius, Observat. Miscellan. p. 291.
and in Zeltner. Breviar. Controvers.
cum Eccl. Grace, pp. 231, 251.
The Calvinistical way, in Dallaeus,
cle Cult. Religiosis. pp. 1122, 1126.
L'Arroque, Hist, of the Eucharist,
2 75> & c - Basnage, Annal. torn. 3.
p. 373. all declare it, absolutely, no
true sacrifice : which, though well
meant, is too unguarded, and is dif-
ferent language from that of the
Fathers of the Reformation.
One of our late Divines (a person
of great learning) speaks thus :
' We deny that there is any reason
why the Eucharist should be called
a true sacrifice, and properly so cal-
led, or ought to be so : for when we
call anything a true sacrifice, we
have regard to the formal reason of
a sacrifice, and not to the final.'
Nichols's Additional Notes, p. 51.
printed A.D. 1710.
But what did he make the formal
reason of a sacrifice ? Did he take
it from the new definitions ? Where
there is properly a gift to God, by
way of worship, to honour, or to
please him, there is the foi-mal rea-
son of a sacrifice. Gratulatory sacri-
fice is as properly sacrifice, as the
propitiatory, or expiatory : they are
different species under the same
genus.
438 The Christian Sacrifice explained.
likely to lose their sacrifice ; they thought of reconciling the eu-
charistic sacrifice with the new definitions, by making it a material
sacrifice. Our excellent Mr. Mede, in the year 1635, was chief
in this scheme. The aim was good, to retrieve the Christian
sacrifice, which seemed to be almost sinking ; but the measures
were ill laid : for the only right way, as I conceive, of com-
passing what he intended, would have been to have restored the
old definitions of sacrifice, and so to have set the Eucharist upon
its true, and ancient, that is, spiritual foundation. The endea-
vouring to fix it on a material foot, and to make the elements
themselves a sacrifice, was no more than what had been at-
tempted, about fourscore years before, by the Romanists s , and,
after mature deliberation, had been justly exploded by the
shrewder men *, as Jewish, or meaner than Jewish, and altogether
repugnant to Christian principles. Neither could Mr. Mede
escape the censures of many of that time for what he was
doing; as appears by a letter of Dr. Twisse, written in 1636,
and since printed in Mede's Works u . Mr. Mede forbore how-
ever to print his Christian Sacrifice ; though he published the
appendage to it, concerning the altar, which might give least
offence : the rest appeared not till ten years after his decease,
in the year 1648. There are many good things in it, for which
reason it has generally been mentioned with respect by our best
Divines : but in the point of a material sacrifice, (a sacrifice of
the elements,) he had not many followers. Dr. Heylin, who in
1636 and 1637 had some scheme or schemes of his own w , seems
to have taken into Mr. Mede's in or before 1654, when he pub-
lished his exposition of the Apostles' Creed *.
s Kuard'is Tapper, contr. Luther. 34, 36, 38. Arcudius, pp. 187, 189.
art. 1 8. Caspar. Casalius. De Sacrif. u 'I perceive, the main thing you
lib. i. c. 20. Jansenius, Concord, reached after, was a certain mystery
Evang. p. 905. Gordon. Huntlaeus, concerning a sacrifice ; which the
lib. ix. c. 3. n. I. Papists have miserably transformed;
* Salmeron. torn. ix. tract. 29. but, in your sense, is nowadays be-
p. 224. Maldonate, de Sacr. torn. i. come a mystery to all the Christian
par. 3. p. 334. Bellarmine, pp. 788, world.' Twisse, Ep. 70. Compare
792, 793. Vasquez, torn. iii. p. 527. Mede's Answer, Ep. 71.
Suarez, torn. iii. pp. 886, 905, 906, In his Coal from the Altar, and
910. Gregor. de Valentia, torn, iv. in his Antidotum.
p. 1274. Baptista Scortia. de Missa, * Heyliu on the Creed, p. 240, &c.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 439
There are two fundamental flaws in Mr. Mede's system :
i. One in his endeavouring to fix the notion or definition of a
Christian sacrifice by the rules of the Levitical ; as if typical and
true were the same thing. 2. The other, in not being able to
make out the sacrifice he aimed at, by the very rules which
himself had fixed for it. He observed very justly, that in the
Levitical peace offerings, God had, as it were, his part, portion,
or mess, assigned in the sacrifice y, or feast : (for God was con-
sidered in those feasts, not merely as Convivator, but as Conviva
also ; a necessary circumstance to complete the federal oblation
and federal feast.) But when he came to make out the analogy
between the Jewish and Christian feast, he could find no part or
portion for God in the Eucharist ; where we take all to our-
selves z . There the parallel failed ; the rule would not answer :
therefore the rule was wrong. It would be trifling here to reply,
that a Christian sacrifice is no Jewish one, and is therefore not
to be measured by Jewish rules : for why then shoxild a Christian
sacrifice be made material by Jewish rules ? or why is the defini-
tion of sacrifice measured by the same ? Either uniformly hold
to the rule assigned, or else give it up as no rule ; and then the
Christian sacrifice may be a true and proper sacrifice, (though
spiritual only,) being of a different kind from the Jewish ones.
If, indeed, the Eucharist could be proved to be a material sacri-
fice by any clear text of Old Testament or New, then there
would remain no further room for dispute : but since the point
is chiefly argued from its supposed analogy to other material
y Mede's Christian Sacrifice, book neque offerimus si voramus : et ita
ii. c. 7. pp. 370, 371. dum utrumque facimus, neutrum
z Luther first took notice of the facimus. Quis audivit unquam talia ?
self-contradiction contained in the Omnia sibi pugnantissime contradi-
making the elements a proper sacri- cunt, et invicem sese consumunt :
fice to God in the Eucharist. aut necessario et infallibiliter con-
' Totuna ergo cur nos panem, et cludunt Eucharistiam sacrificium esse
vinum totum comedimus et bibiinus, non posse. Diluant haec, rogo, Lo-
nihil relinquentes Deo ? . . . Dura cor- vanienses et Parisienses.' Luth. de
j.ora nostra et laudes sacrificamus, abrogand. Missa privata, torn. ii.
nihil nobis, sed omnia Deo soli exhi- par. 2. fol. 255. Several answers
bemus, ut stet ratio sacrificii etiam have been thought on, to elude this
spiritualis. Totum nos voramus, et argument, by Romanists and others :
totura offerhnus : hoc est tantum but it is impossible to invent any
dicere ; neque voramus si ofFerimus, that will bear.
44 Tht Christian Sacrifice explained.
sacrifices, (Jewish or Pagan,) and that analogy does not answer,
but fails in the main thing belonging to all material sacrifices,
and which alone should make them appear gifts to God ; it is
plain that the argument has an essential flaw in it, which no
art can cure.
One thing may be pertinently observed of Mr. Mede, that he
confined the sacrifice to the ante-oblation. His was a sacrifice of
the unconsecrated bread and wine a , not of the consecrated : not
of the body and blood. He supposed no new sacrificing act in the
post-oblation, but the representation only of Christ's sacrifice,
made by what had been sacrificed before. So that some late
notions of the eucharistic sacrifice can claim but very little coun-
tenance from Mr. Mede. What we call offering the elements
for consecration, (like as we offer the waters of Baptism,) he called
sacrificing ; which was indeed calling it by a wrong name, and
upon wrong principles : but, in other things, his notion of the
Eucharist was much the same with the common one; and he
went not those strange lengths, those unwarrantable excesses,
which, I am sorry to say, some late schemes manifestly abound
with. But I proceed.
The doctrine of a material sacrifice, first brought hither about
1635, barely subsisted till the Restoration, and afterwards slept,
as it were, for thirty or forty years. But in 1697, two queries
being sent to a learned man b , in these terms, 'Whether there
ought to be a true and real sacrifice in the Church ; and Whether
there is any such thing in the Church of England,' (both which
might very safely have been answered in the affirmative, keeping
to the terms wherein they were stated,) that learned person chose
to alter the terms, true and real, into material, and still answered
in the affirmative : which was going too far. Nevertheless, in
his answer to the queries, he admitted of some spiritual sacrifices,
a ' Thus was there, as it were, a body ; offering wine, but receiving
mutual commerce between God and the mystical blood of Christ Jesus.'
the people ; the people giving unto Mede's Disc. li. p. 293. Comp. Chris-
God, and God again unto his people : tian Sacrif. chap. viii.
the people giving a small thanksgiv- b Dr. Hickes, in Two Discourses,
ing, but receiving a great blessing; p. 51, &c. 61. printed 1732.
offering bread, but receiving the
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 44 x
as being true, and real, and proper sacrifices; which makes it
the more surprising that he should think of any other sacrifice.
For since it is self-evident that truth of excellency goes along
with the spiritual sacrifices, and since he himself had allowed
truth of propriety to go along with the same, or with some of
them at least ; to what purpose could it be to seek out for
another sacrifice, not more proper, but certainly less excellent,
than what we had before 1 It is an tmcontestable maxim, that
the value of a sacrifice can never rise higher than the value of
the sacrificers c ; and therefore if they sacrifice themselves, it is
not possible that they should do more, because in the giving
themselves, they give all that they have to give. What dignity
then, or value, could it add to an evangelical priesthood, or
sacrifice, to present the Divine Majesty with a loaf of bread, or a
chalice of wine 1 or what practical ends or uses could be served
by it 1 ? I shall only observe further, that the same learned
writer, afterwards, took material thing into the very definition
of sacrifice d : but upon the latest correction, he struck it out
again, putting gift instead of it e ; thereby leaving room for
spiritual sacrifice (which undoubtedly is a gift) to be as proper
a sacrifice as any. So that his first and his last thoughts upon
the subject appear to have been conformable so far, in a critical
point, upon which much depends.
Another learned writer (a zealous materialist, if ever there
was one) laid it down for his groundwork, that nothing can
properly be called a sacrifice except some material thing : but to
save himself the trouble of proving it, he was pleased to aver,
that it was given for granted f . It might reasonably be asked,
c Vid. Peter Martyr. Loc. Com- e Hickes's Christian Priesthood,
mun. pp. 753, 895, Field on the vol. i. p. 159. A.D. 1711. 'A sacri-
Church, p. 209. Cornel, a Lapide, fice is a gift brought, and solemnly
in Heb. vii. 7, seema to allow this offered by a priest, ordinary or ex-
maxim, when he says, ' In omni traordinary, according to the rites
sacrificio sacerdos major est sua vie- and observances of any religion, in,
tima quatn offert.' before, at, or upon any place, unto
d Hickes's Christian Priesthood, any God, to honour and worship
p. 74. ed. 2. A.D. 1707. 'A sacrifice him, and thereby to acknowledge
is a material thing solemnly brought, him to be God and Lord.'
or presented, and offered to any God, f Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
according to the rites of any reli- part i. p. 5. ed. J7MJ r P- 6.
gion,' &c. ed. 1724.
44* The Christian Sacrifice explained.
when given, or by whom 1 Not by the penmen of the Old or New
Testament ; not by the Christian Fathers, or Pagan Platonists,
in their times : not by the Schoolmen down to the Reformation,
nor by the Papists themselves, generally, before the Council of
Trent : not by any considerable number of Protestants, till fifty
years after, or more ; never by the Divines of our Church, with-
out contradiction and opposition from other Divines as wise and
as learned as any we have had : not given for granted, even by
Dr. Hickes, of the material side, in 1697 g; no, nor in 1711, as
hath been already hinted. To be short then, that important
point was rather taken than given for granted, by one writer
who wanted a foundation to build a new system upon : and as
the foundation itself was weak, the superstructure, of course,
must fall, however curiously wrought, or aptly compacted, had
it really been so.
But it is time for me now, my Reverend Brethren, to relieve
your patience, by drawing to a conclusion. I have pointed out
(so far as I have been able to judge, upon very serious and dili-
gent inquiry) the original ground and source of all the confusion
which has arisen in this argument. The changing the old defini-
tions for new ones has perplexed us : and now again, the chang-
ing the new ones for the old may set us right. Return we but
to the ancient ideas of spiritual sacrifice, and then all will be clear,
just, and uniform. We need not then be vainly searching for a
sacrifice (as the Romanists have been before us) among texts that
speak nothing of one, from Melchizedek in Genesis down to He-
brews the thirteenth. Our proofs will be found to lie where the
8 His words are : ' Vocal sacri- tian sacrifice (though he called it
fices are commonly called spiritual, material) really meant no more than
... These are true, real sacrifices. . . an oblation of the material elements
and therefore our Saviour is said to for consecration, (which certainly is
have offered them up, Heb. v. 7. no sacrifice,) and a commemorative
and they are expressly called sacri- service performed by the material
fices, Heb. xiii. 15. and i Pet. ii. 5.' elements, an external, manual ser-
Two Disc. p. 53. 'The sacrifice of vice, as opposed to mere mental
praises and prayers unto God ... is or vocal : both which points might
a proper, but spiritual sacrifice.' have been granted him, as not
p. 6 r. amounting to the sacrifice of any
X.B. It appears to me, that Dr. material substance, the point in
Hickes's original scheme of the Chris- question.
The Christian Sacrifice explained. 443
spiritual services lie, and where they are called sacrifices. The
Eucharist contains many of them, and must therefore be a proper
sacrifice, in the strength of those texts, and cannot be otherwise.
Here the primitive Fathers rested that matter; and here may
we rest it, as upon firm ground. Let us not presume to offer
the Almighty any dead sacrifice in the Eucharist ; he does not
offer us empty signs : but as he conveys to us the choicest of his
blessings by those signs, so by the same signs (not sacrifices) ought
we to convey our choicest gifts, the Gospel services, the true
sacrifices, which he has commanded. So will the federal league
of amity be mutually kept up and perfected. Our sacrifices will
then be magnificent, and our priesthood glorious ; our altar high
and heavenly, and our Eucharist a constant lesson of good life ;
every way fitted to draw down from above those inestimable
blessings which we so justly expect from it. Let but the work
or service be esteemed the sacrifice, rather than the material ele-
ments, and then there will be no pretence or colour left for ab-
surdly supposing, that any sacrifice of ours can be expiatory, or
more valuable than ourselves ; or that our hopes of pardon, grace,
and salvation can depend upon any sacrifice extrinsic, save only
the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ. When once those foreign
fictions, or fancies, of other extrinsic sin offerings or expiations
are removed, there will be no error in asserting a proper eucha-
ristic sacrifice ; but many good practical uses will be served
by it.
Under the legal economy, bulls and goats, sheep and turtle-
doves, bread offerings and wine offerings were really sacrifices :
they had legal expiations (shadows of true) annexed to them ; to
intimate, that true expiation then, and always, must depend solely
on the true sacrifice of atonement, the sacrifice of the cross. The
shadows have since disappeared ; and now it is our great Gospel
privilege to have immediate access to the true sacrifice, and to the
true expiations, without the intervention of any legal expiation
or legal sacrifice. To imagine any expiatory sacrifice now to
stand between us and the great sacrifice, is to keep us still at a
distance, when we are allowed to draw near : it is dishonouring
the grace of the Gospel ; and, in short, is a flat contradiction to
The Christian Sacrifice explained.
both Testaments. For the rule of both is, and the very nature
of things shews that so it must be, that all true expiation must
resolve solely, directly, and immediately, into the one true sacri-
fice of expiation, namely, the grand sacrifice. If, indeed, we had
now any legal or typical offences to expiate, then might bread
and wine be to us an expiatory typical sacrifice, as before to the
Jews ; and that would be all. If we look for anything higher,
they have it not in them, neither by their own virtue, nor by any
they can borrow : for it is no more possible that the blood of the
grape, representing Christ's blood, should purge the conscience,
and take away sins now, than that the blood of bulls or of goats,
representing the same blood of Christ, could do it aforetime.
The utmost that any material sacrifices, by virtue of the grand
sacrifice, could ever do, was only to make some legal or temporal
atonement : they cannot do so much now, because the legal
economy is out of doors, and all things are become new. In a
word, our expiations now are either spiritual or none : and there-
fore such of course must our sacrifices also be, either spiritual or
none at all.
THE APPENDIX.
As I have hinted something above a of the strange lengths which
have been run, and of the unwarrantable excesses which some
late systems of the eucharistic sacrifice manifestly abound with ;
it may reasonably be expected that I should here give some
account of what I there intimated. I must own, it is the most
unwelcome part of my employ, and what I least wished to be
concerned in. It can never be any pleasure to a good mind to
be exposing failings, even when there is a necessity for it ; but it
is rather an abatement of the solid satisfaction arising from the
maintaining of the truth, that it cannot ordinarily be done with-
out some kind of rebuke, open or tacit, upon every gainsayer.
When I first engaged in the subject of the Eucharist, I saw
what necessity there was for throwing off the material hypothesis,
(being unscriptural, and uncatholic, and many ways unreasonable,)
lest it should hang like a millstone upon the neck of the main
cause. Nevertheless, I endeavoured to remove that weight with
all imaginable tenderness towards persons, living or dead ; de-
signing only to rectify mistakes, in a manner the most respectful,
so as not to betray the cause of truth. What I could not approve
of, in a late learned writer, I expressed my dislike of, where
necessary, in the softest terms ; scarce noting the deformities of
his system in any explicit way, but wrapping them up in generals,
and throwing the kindest shade over them. But by what has
appeared since, I find, that every degree of tenderness and
every token of respect must be looked upon as nothing, unless I
could have commended the same writer, as a person of sound
judgment b , in the very things wherein he certainly judged amiss,
a Page 440. view, p. 97, and compare pp. I, 121,
b See Dr. Brett's Remarks on Re- 123, 156.
446 Appendix to
and much to the prejudice of those important truths which I had
undertaken to defend. A very particular stress is laid upon that
gentleman's solid learning and judgment in this very question :
he was, it seems, visibly superior in learning and argument to
all opposers c ; insomuch that a most eminent person, in 1716,
had not the courage to contradict him, however disposed to it,
in the article of the sacrifice d . I have no inclination to detract
from that gentleman's talents : though the proper glory of a man
lies not in the possession, hut in the right use of them. Admi-
ration of persons has often been found a false guide in our
searches after truth. Very great men have frequently been
observed to run into great excesses : and I doubt not but to
make it appear that he did so in the article now before us. Men
must, at last, be tried by truth, (which is above everything,)
and not truth by men, or by names e . That I may observe some
method, I shall point out the excesses which that learned
writer appears to have run into, under the heads here follow-
ing :
1. In depreciating spiritual sacrifices beyond what was decent
or just.
2. In overvaluing material sacrifices.
3. In overstraining many things relating to our Lord's sup-
posed sacrifice in the Eucharist.
4. In overturning or undermining the sacrifice of the cross.
5. In the wrong stating our sacrifice in the Eucharist.
c ' Mr. Johnson's books had given pected to favour the doctrine of the
great offence to many in the highest sacrifice, had not the courage to
stations in this Church. Dr. Han- deny it to be one.' Brett, ibid,
cock, Dr. Wise, and Dr. Turner, and The design, I suppose, of that
some others were encouraged to an- eminent person, was not to enter
swer him ; but they were all found into the debate at all, but only to
to be too weak to be any of them, suggest an healing thought, viz. that
or all together, a match for a man since every thing of moment was
of his solid learning and judgment : perfectly secure without the ma-
he was visibly their superior in terial hypothesis, there could be no
learning and argument, and their good reason left for the warmth that
faint essays served but to raise his was shewn in it. A wise reflection :
reputation.' Brett's Remarks on which ought to have been thank-
Review, p. 122. fully received, and seriously at-
d ' This eminent person, whoever tended to.
he was, (for Mr. Johnson does not e See my Importance, &c. Works,
name him,) and who was least ex- vol. iii. p. 667.
the Christian Sacrifice explained. 447
6. In giving erroneous accounts of the Evangelical or Christian
priesthood.
These several heads may furnish out so many distinct chap-
ters : I shall take them in the order as they lie, and shall pro-
ceed as far in them as necessity may seem to require, or my
present leisure may permit; reserving the rest for any future
occasion, according as circumstances may appear.
CHAP. I.
Shewing some Excesses of the new Scheme, in depreciating
spiritual Sacrifices.
I. I MADE mention before of Mr. Johnson's taking it for
granted, that spiritual sacrifice cannot be sacrifice properly so
called *" : which was throwing off a very important question too
negligently, and forbidding it a fair hearing.
II. Elsewhere he maintains, that 'it is impossible in the
nature of things, that prayer and praise without sacrifice' (he
meant material sacrifice) ' can be better than with it ?.' I pass
by the pretence offered in support of this paradox ; because it
is an old one, borrowed from the Romanists : and it was solidly
confuted long ago, by our very learned and judicious Mr. Mason h .
I shall only note further, that the author might as justly have
said, that it is impossible for uncircumcision to be better than
circumcision, because he who receives circumcision as he ought
must of course have the true circumcision of the heart, and both
must needs be better than one.
III. Another the like paradox is, that ' prayer and praise are
absurdly preferred to material sacrifices '.' Much might be said
in confutation of this assertion, both from Scripture and anti-
quity : but I consult brevity ; besides that the bare mentioning
f See above, p. 441. I forgot to Deus nobis redditur propitius." Grot,
take Grotius into my list above ; Vot. pro Pace, p. 670. Cp. 7*5-
who says, ' Eleemosynae et jejunia * Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
et res similes sunt sacrae actiones, et part ii. p. 123.
quidem externae; ideoque cum fiunt h Mason de Min. Anglic, p. 585.
ex fide in Christum, sunt sacrificia i Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
novi foederis, etiam talia per quae part ii. p. 127.
448 Appendix to CHAP.
such things is sufficient to expose them. I shall only ask,
how came material incense to be laid aside, and naked prayer to
be preferred before it, as proper to the saints, under the Gospel M
Incense was symbolical prayer ; prayer is the evangelical incense,
and as much preferable to the other, as truth is to shadow, or
thing signified to the sign or figure of it.
IV. To disparage spiritual sacrifice yet further, he says, 'A
contrite spirit is called a sacrifice by David, though it be no
more than a disposition of mind fitting us for devotion and
humiliation, and may prevail with God when no real [viz. ma-
terial] sacrifice is to be had V An unseemly reflection upon what
are emphatically called the sacrifices of God, in that very place m ,
as vastly preferable to material sacrifices. The Psalmist did not
mean, when material sacrifice was not to be had : for in the verse
immediately preceding he says, ' Thou desirest not sacrifice, else
would I give it : thou delightest not in burnt offering n .' What
could be said plainer, to shew the preference of the spiritual
sacrifices above all other ]
V. The author goes on in the same strain : ' Whatever is now
said of prayer without sacrifice, it is certain, that it is but
mere synagogue worship / It is certain that such prayer is
the worship of the saints, under the Gospel, as I before noted.
But, I presume, this ingenious turn was thought on to anticipate
or to retort the charge of Judaism ; which may justly be ob-
jected to material sacrifices, and frequently has been. It is odd
to speak of public prayer without sacrifice, when such prayer is
itself a Christian sacrifice : but he meant prayer without a mate-
rial sacrifice ; that, in his account, is mere synagogue worship.
He forgot, that it runs in Christ's name.
VI. Another position is, that 'a sacrifice of righteousness
signifies a noble or rich sacrifice, such as it was proper for King
David to offer P.' But learned men have well shewn, that
k Revel, v. 8. Cp. Irenaeus, lib. the sense, (p. 131,) appear so forced
iv. c. 17. p. 249. and unnatural, as not to deserve a
1 Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, serious confutation,
part ii. p. 128. Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
m Psalm li. 17. part ii. p. 128.
n The pretences made for chang- f Johnson, ibid. p. 130.
ing the translation, in order to elude
i. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 449
it signifies true and spiritual sacrifice 1, as opposed to material,
typical, symbolical : and such spiritual sacrifice is really richer
and nobler than an hecatomb. I am aware that something may
be speciously pleaded from Psalm li. 19 : and Mr. Johnson makes
his use of it r . But the learned Vitringa seems to me to have
given a just account of that whole matter s .
VII. To disparage spiritual sacrifices yet more, and to give
the reader as low and contemptible an idea of them as possible,
they are compared with the wood offerings * mentioned in Nehe-
miah u ; the fuel brought for the use of the sacrifices : and it is
thereupon observed, that ' the Jews of old hoped, as well as other
people, by their sweet-scented cane and wood, to render their
sacrifice a more agreeable service w .' A coarse comparison !
Had not the author otherwise bore the character of a grave
and serious writer, one could not have taken this extraordinary
thought to proceed from any reverent regard towards spiritual
sacrifices, the sacrifices of God. However, we may perceive from
hence, that as often as any one should have objected the mean-
ness of a loaf offering, or a wine offering, he was provided with
an answer, and prepared to retort.
VIII. I shall take notice but of one article more, under this
head. It was a famous topic among the Christian Fathers, when
arguing for spiritual sacrifices, that spiritual offerings were most
agreeable to spiritual beings x , such as God, and the souls of men :
the same argument has been as justly urged by learned moderns.
But in order to break the force of it, it is observed, that Por-
phyry of old, and the Quakers of late days, have carried those
reasonings too far, in the spiritualizing way 7. Be it so : may
not wise men know where to stop? Has not external religion
been oftener and more grievously perverted, and carried into
i See Vitringa, de Vet. Synagog. u Nehem. x. 34; xiii. 31.
p. 65. Observat. Sacr. torn. ii. p. w Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
499. in Isa. torn. ii. pp. 56, 733. part ii. p. 225.
829. x Tertullian. de Orat. c. xxvii.
r Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, xxviii. See Review, above, p. 331.
part ii. p. 130. Lactantii Epit. c. Iviii. p. 169. De
5 Vitringa in Isa. torn. ii. p. 733. ver. Cult. lib. vi. c. 24, 25.
1 Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, >' Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifica,
part ii. p. 225. part ii. p. 127.
45 Appendix to CHAP.
extremes ? We know what superstitions and dangerous deceits
arose from the use of material incense in the Eucharist z , by the
making it an offering for sin a : neither have we reason to expect
anything better from the bringing in a material mincha, for the
like purposes, into the Christian Church.
However, this way of depreciating internal religion and spi-
ritual sacrifice is not the way to promote the prime uses, the
practical ends and purposes of the holy Communion. It is
indeed said on the other hand, in the way of apology, that they
' do not at all lessen the value of any internal grace, or the
necessity of a pious life,' but the contrary b . They do not
mean it, I easily believe : but in fact they do it. For every cool,
considering man must see, that those low notions of spiritual
sacrifice (very different from the elevated ideas which Scripture
and Catholic antiquity everywhere inculcate) can have no good
aspect upon practical religion. As to the pretence of ' raising
the dignity of the Sacrament 6 / by a material sacrifice, it is
marvellous that any man of moderate discernment can entertain
such a thought : for the reverse is the certain truth. The dig-
nity of the holy Sacrament must infallibly suffer, if so mean, so
uuprimitive a sacrifice should ever be admitted into it. The
ancients constantly preserved the dignity of the Eucharist, by
supporting the dignity of spiritual sacrifices : if moderns will
submit to learn of them, they will use the same effectual methods,
often proved and tried.
CHAP. II.
Shewing the EXCESSES of the new Scheme, in OVERVALUING
material Sacrifices.
I. IT is alleged, that ' there is more intrinsic value in a loaf
of bread and a flagon of wine, than in all the gold and silver
1 Vid. Renaudotius, Collect. Li- dent. Pontif. ibid. 528. Maysacens.
turg. torn. i. 201. Missal, ibid. 538. Compare, 591,
Jacob. Liturg. pp. 38, 53. ed. 601.
Fabric. Marci Liturg. 261. 273. b Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
Ordo Commun. Renaud. torn. ii. part. i. p. 283, alias p. 288. Brett's
pp. 4, 6, 18, 19. Mozarab. Miss. Remarks on Review, p. 139.
in Martene, torn. i. pp. 470, 498. c Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
Dionys. Missal, ibid. p. 519. Pru- parti, p. 283.
ii. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 451
in the Indies ; because the former will for some time support
our lives, the other cannot do it of itself, but only as by the
consent of men, it has a value set upon it d .' Upon which I
observe, i. That the argument proves too much : for, by the
same argument, a flask of air would have more intrinsic value
O *
than all the rest put together; since air is absolutely necessary
to support life, which none of the rest are. 2. The author
observes elsewhere, that bloody sacrifices, in themselves, are of
the nobler sort e ; that is, have more intrinsic value : and yet
David (a very wise and good man) disdained to offer even such
to God, if they were to cost him nothing f . He measured the
value of the sacrifice by the self-denial, the respect, and the
affection of the offerer, shewn in part by the costliness of the
offering. And indeed, when God did require material sacrifices
at all, he required costly ones, of as many as could afford it.
But what do our bread and wine cost a whole congregation 1 ?
What the communicants, who, perhaps, are not one half of the
whole 1 What does the quota of any single communicant amount
to 1 Besides that, in reality, we give God nothing : we take all
to ourselves, though not all of it provided at our own proper
cost or charge. Was there ever such a sacrifice known or thought
on, either among Jews or Gentiles, since the world stood 1 Or
were the primitive Christians ever charged with anything of
this kind ?
II. It is pretended further, that this material oblation is of
' greater value than ourselves .' Impossible, if we ourselves are
the offerers h : for it is a clear and uncontestable maxim, (as 1
d Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, Qtpoptv croi, we offer,' &c. Christian
part ii. p. 62. Priesth. vol. i. pref. Account, pp.
e Johnson, Propit. Oblat. p. 10. 22, 23.
f 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. The Romanists themselves allowed
B Johnson, Propit. Oblat. p. 107. it, a few years before the Council of
h That we are the offerers (and Trent ; as appears from Alphonsus
not Christ, as the Romanists ab- a Castro. Haeres. lib. x. fol. 214.
surdly pretend) is allowed by Dr. ed. A.D. 1549.
Hickes, who says, ' As the congre- ' Sacerdos, in persona Ecclesiae,
gation offered, so it consecrated and praesentat Deo Patri oblationem
performed the whole eucharistical factam per Filium in ara crucie.'
service, by the ministration of the Cp. Field, p. 210. and Spalatensis,
priest; who therefore always admin- lib. v. c. 6. p. 282.
istered in the plural number . . . irpoer-
Gg 2
452 Appendix to CHA.P.
have hinted above,) that the value of a sacrifice can never rise
higher than the value of the sacrificers. Upon the strength of
which maxim our very learned and judicious Dean Field did not
scruple to intimate, that if a man could be supposed to sacrifice
even Christ our Lord, it would not be so valuable as the sacrifice
of himself'. The same principle is confirmed by the united voices
of the ancients, who always looked upon self-sacrifice as the most
valuable of any k . They had good reason to think so, if either
our Lord's example, or St. Paul's authority \ or the nature of the
thing itself can be of any weight.
III. It is pretended, that the bread and wine are the most
excellent and valuable sacrifice, because ' they are in mystery
and inward power, though not in substance, the body and blood
of Christ, and therefore the most sublime and divine sacrifice
that men or angels can offer m :' they are enriched, replenished,
overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and by such Divine influence
rendered the body and blood in efficacy and virtue, receiving by
the Spirit a life-giving power n .
To which I answer, i. That it is certainly a valuable Sacra-
ment : and what the author here enumerates may shew the value
of what God gives to us, not the value of what we give to him in
it. The Spirit, which is supposed to make all the value, is what
God gives to us in the Eucharist, not what we give to God : for
it cannot be supposed that we sacrifice the Holy Spirit. So that
all that the author has here said, however pertinent to the sacra-
i Field on the Church, p. 209. part. ii. p. 60: compare 67, 141.
k Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. pp.836, n Johnson, ibid. p. 171. Note,
848, 849, 860. Origen, torn. ii. p. That overshadowing is peculiar to
364. ed. Bened. Cyprian, Ep. 76. Baptism : for because it is said, that
p. 232, alias Ep. 77. p. 159. Euseb. a man must be born of water and
Demonst. p. 40. Basil, torn. iii. p. of the Spirit, the Fathers sometimes
207. ed. Bened. Nazianzen, torn. i. followed the figure, in describing
p. 38. Hilarius, p. 154. ed. Bened. the new birth. The Spirit is quasi
Chrysost. torn. v. pp. 20, 231, 316, maritus ; the water is marita, and
503. toia. vii. p. 216. ed. Bened. foecundata, and therefore styled un-
Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. xix. da genitalis. The Holy Ghost over-
c. 23. lib. x. c. 20. ed. Bened. Pro- shadows; the water brings forth;
copius, in Isa. p. 22. Gregor. M. and the holy thing born is the new
Dial. iv. c. 59. Christian. How to adapt the sante
1 Rom. xii. I. Phil. ii. 17. i Tim. figure to the Eucharist, I see not ;
iv. 6. nor how to apply it to the purpose
ra Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, of sacrifice.
ii. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 453
mental part of the Eucharist, is foreign to the sacrificial, and can
add little to the value of it. It is but consecrated bread and
wine still that we are supposed to sacrifice ; unless we take in
Christ's natural body to enrich the sacrifice, which would be
Popeiy ; or else the Divine Spirit, which is worse. 2. Besides,
it is certain, that the baptismal waters are as much enriched,
replenished, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, and have the same
(if not greater) life-giving power, and yet they are no sacrifice at
all. 3. I have before hinted, that no sacrifice which we can
offer can be more valuable than ourselves; and therefore all this
pompous train of words must come to nothing. 4. The notion
of the Spirit's coming upon the elements, to make them abso-
lutely the body, is a gross notion ; arising only from a popular
form of speech , and not consistent with the true and ancient
doctrine, that the unworthy eat not the body nor drink the blood
of Christ in the Eucharist P : neither have they the communion
or fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is not sufficient here to say,
that they do receive the Spirit, but receive no benefit, because
they resist or quench the Spirit : for being ' guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord,' in the very act, (i Cor. xi. 27,) there is
no room to suppose that in that very act they receive motions of
grace : and if they receive none, there are none to be quenched.
Or if, on the contrary, they were certain to receive the kindly
motions of the Spirit in the very act, who should forbid the
unworthy coming to receive motions of grace? This evasion
therefore will not answer the purpose. The Spirit deserts ill men
in their sinful acts: therefore the unworthy do not receive the
Spirit, but the elements only : therefore again, they receive not
the body ; because without the Spirit, the elements, ex hypothesi,
are not the body and blood, but bare elements, having a relative
holiness, because before consecrated, and that is all. 5. If the
bread and wine once consecrated were absolutely the body and
blood, by means of the Spirit, there is no reason why the bap-
See my Review, above, pp. 83, desse quod sumitur, quando gra-
164, 174, 254, 257, 263. tia salutaris in cinerem, sanctitate
P Above, p. 140. ' Ostensum est fugiente, mutetur.' Cyprian, de Laps.
Dominum recedere cum negatur, p. 214. ed. Bened,
nee immerentibus ad salutem pro-
454 Appendix to CHAP.
tismal waters should not be thought Christ's blood absolutely, by
means of the same Spirit. It is certain, from the nature of the
thing, and it is confirmed by the concurring verdict of anti-
quity <*, that we are as properly dipped in the blood of Christ in
Baptism, as we eat the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
Therefore the baptismal water is as valuable as the eucharistical
wine, and as fit to make a sacrifice of; and it is also comme-
morative of the death and passion : consequently the elements
in either Sacrament, being blessed with like privileges, and
having the like dignity, have all of them, in that view, the
same title, and ought all of them to be sacrifices, as much
as any.
IV. It is further pretended, that the consecrated bread and
wine are changed, if not in their substance, yet in their inward
qualities r : which appears to be sound only, without meaning ;
or words without ideas. When water is said to have been mira-
culously changed into wine, the words carry some idea of an
internal change of qualities : but when wine remains wine still,
not changed as to colour, or taste, or smell, or any other perceiv-
able quality, it is hard to say what that inward change means,
or what idea it carries with it. Outward relations, adventitious
uses or offices, are easily understood; and relative holiness
carries some sense in it s : but the inward change, the inhering,
intrinsic holiness, supposed in this case, will not comport either
with true philosophy or sound theology. Whatever it means, or
whatever it is conceived to be, certain it is, that it belongs as
much to the consecrated waters of Baptism* as to the consecrated
elements of the Eucharist : and so let it pass.
V. The most important paradox of all, relating to this head,
is, that the consecrated elements are the substitutes of the body
and blood ; are sacrificed first, and afterwards taken by the com-
municants in lieu of the natural body and blood, or of the
i See my Review, above, p. 271. 20, 85, 91. Johnson's Unbloody
and to the references in the margin Sacrifice, part i. pp. 254, 255, alias
add, Salmasius contr. Grot. pp. 186, pp. 258, 259, 163, 181, 183, 244.
191, 394. and Patrk-k's Full View first ed.
of the Eucharist, p. 82. See my Review, above, p. 80.
r Grabe, Defens. Eccl. pp. 75, 87, 4 Above, pp. 269, 270.
ii. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 455
sacrifice of the cross u . ' The eucharistical bread and wine are made
the most perfect and consummate representatives of the body
and blood . . . They are not only substituted, but they are, by the
power of the Spirit which is communicated to them, . . . made the
lively, efficacious Sacrament of his body and blood. . . . The visible
material substitutes . . . are the bread and wine : and when the
Holy Spirit, which is his invisible representative, communicates
its power and presence to the symbols, which are his visible
representatives, they do thereby become as full and authentic
substitutes, as it is possible for them to be x . The sacramental
body and blood of Christ are substituted instead of the natural,
and are therefore first to be presented to the most worthy party
in the covenant, the infinite grantor of all mercies, and then, in
the next place, to the least worthy persons, or the grantees, the
whole body of Christian people y.' How to make any clear sense
or consistency of these or the like positions, I know not ; but
they seem to be embarrassed with insuperable perplexities, i. The
notion of substitute, as here applied, appears unaccountable. The
sacramental body is supposed to be substituted for the natural,
so as to be exclusively an equivalent for it, made such consum-
mate proxy, substitute, representative, by the power and presence
of the Holy Spirit with it and in it. This is the notion, if I can
understand it. And if this be the notion, it is very different
from the old notion of instruments of investiture, or deeds of
conveyance, supposed to convey instrumentally some other thing 2 ,
but not to be so given in lieu of it, as to exclude it, or supersede
it, or to supply the want of it a . The rights, privileges, honours,
u Johnson, Propit. Oblat. pp. 29, with the Spirit, it would be more
30, 44, 76. properly the body of the Spirit, than
* Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, our Lord's body, from which it is
part i. p. 183, alias p. 186. Compare supposed distinct : and in this way,
p. 344, alias 349, and p. 176, alias the very idea of our mystical union
1 79. with Christ's glorified body would
>' Ibid. Pref. to second edit. be obscured or lost, and we should
z See my Review, above, pp. 131, be but as aliens from his proper
132. body; unless two bodies of Christ
a For were it so, then the inward (not sign and thing, but absolutely
part, or thing signified, would not two bodies, for the sacramental is
be our Lord's bod}', but a fictitious said to be absolutely the body) were
body given in its room : and if made given at once in the Eucharist,
such body absolutely, by an union
456 Appendix to CHAP.
offices, so conveyed, are supposed to go with the pledges, and
not to be made up to the grantee by an equivalent The pledges
(a ring, suppose, or book, or parchment, or staff) are worthless
things in themselves, and are valuable only for what accompanies
them, not for what they really inclose or contain. In a word,
such pledges are not exclusively given in lieu of the things which
they are pledges of, (for then the party would be no richer for
them than the bare pledges amount to,) but such a manner of
delivery is made in lieu of another manner ; and the pledge and
thing go together *>. In the Eucharist, for example, Christ's
crucified body and blood shed (that is, his atonement and sacri-
fice) are spiritually eaten and drank, under the pledges of corpo-
ral refreshment : and even the glorified body is received into
real, but mystical union, under the same symbols. Those sym-
bols, with what they contain, are not substitutes, in the sense of
equivalents for the things, to supersede them ; but they are
instruments to convey them, and to bring them in effect to us.
2. It is not easy to explain how the supposed substitutes can be
any sacrifice at all to God. The elements are not conceived sub-
stitutes of the body and blood, any otherwise than by the power
and presence of the Spirit. The elements, with the Spirit, (not
separate from the Spirit, which alone renders them so valuable,)
are supposed the substitutes. Is the Spirit then sacrificed along
with the elements 1 That is absurd. But if the Spirit makes no
part of the thing sacrificed, the value departs from it, yea, and
b See my Review, above, pp. 131, said to be given in lieu of another
132. N.B. A thing may be said to be thing, in an inclusive or accumu-
given in lieu, or instead of another lative sense ; as when deeds are de-
thing, two ways : I . In a sense ex- livered instead of an estate, which
elusive ; as when a stone, suppose, is given with them and by them,
is given instead of bread, or a ser- Here, in strictness, the deeds are
pent instead of fish : where neither not substitutes or equivalents for
the fish nor the bread are supposed the estate : but one form of deli-
to be given, nor anything equiva- very, which is practicable and easy,
lent. To the same exclusive sense is substituted and accepted, instead
belongs the giving value for kind ; of another form, which the princi-
as money, suppose, instead of house pal thing given is not capable of.
or land : where again neither the In this latter inclusive sense, the
house nor the land is supposed to symbols of the Eucharist may be
be given, but an equivalent in called substitutes, but not in the
money. 2. But one thing is also former.
ii. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 457
the essence of the substitutes ; for the body and blood, that is,
the substitutes, are not sacrificed, but the elements only. If
it be said, that grace or virtue accompanies the elements, in the
presenting them to God, like as in the presenting the same
elements to man ; this again is perfectly unintelligible. We
can understand that pardon and sanctification are presented to
the communicants along with the symbols : but how pardon and
sanctification should be presented, in the way of sacrifice, to God,
is not easy to explain. 3. I must here also observe, that what-
ever those substitutes mean, the baptismal waters have as clear
a claim, in that case, as the eucharistical elements can have :
they are as certainly substituted in the sense of pledges, and in
a sacramental Avay, as the other can be supposed to be. But it
never was the intention of either Sacrament, that we should, in
a sacrificial way, present to God as much or the same that God
gives to us c . I see not the sense or the modesty of pretending
to it. Spirit, pardon, grace, we may be glad to receive ; but
we have no right, no pretence, no power to offer the same
in sacrifice. It is neither practicable nor conceivable ; it is
mere confusion : which confusion arises, partly, from the want
of distinguishing between what is in the elements, from what
comes with them ; and partly, from the not distinguishing
between the sacramental view of the Eucharist and the 'sacri-
ficial ; or between the gifts of God to man, and the gifts of man
to God. The elements are in effect the body to us, because God
gives us the body by and with the elements : but they are not
in effect the body to God ; because we do not give to God the
fruits of the body crucified, or the privileges of the body glorified.
A man must have very confused sentiments, who can argue from
what we receive, in this case, to what we give as a sacrifice.
c Some such confuse notion ap- Brevint takes notice of the like con-
pears more than once in the Pro- fusion in the conception of some Ro-
pitiatory Oblation, pp. 27, 43. Comp. manists upon this article. Depth
Preface to second edit, of Unbloody and Myst. p. 20.
Sacrifice, and Advertisement, p. 498.
458 Appendix to CHAP.
CHAP. III.
Pointing out some EXCESSES in relation to our Lord's supposed
Sacrifice in the Eucharist.
I. IT is pretended, that our blessed Lord offered up his
sacramental body, that is, the consecrated elements, as a material
sacrifice in the Eucharist d . Now, in the first place, I find no
Scripture proof of this position. The Romanists, in support of
the general point of a material or sensible sacrifice, have often
taken their toUr from Melchizedek in Genesis down to Hebrews
xiii. 10. And they have as often been pursued, in like order,
by the best-learned Protestants 6 , and forced out of all their
intrenchments.
The plea from ' hoc facite,' when first set up, was abundantly
answered by a very learned Romanist : I mean the excellent
Picherell f , who wrote about 1562, and died in 1590. Protest-
ants alsos have often confuted it; and the Papists themselves,
several of them, have long ago given it up. The other boasted
plea, drawn from the use of the present tense, in the words of
the institution, has been so often refuted and exposed h, that I
cannot think it needful to call that matter over again, in an age
of so -much light and learning. The fairest pretences from
antiquity have likewise been again and again fully answered,
mostly by the same hands. Wherefore, let that be my apology
for not taking distinct notice of every particular advanced by the
late learned Mr. Johnson ; who has but little of moment, which
had not been completely obviated on one side (as it had been
d Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 444. Albertinus, pp. 498, 509.
part i. pp. 85, 90, 92, edit. 2nd, Morton, b. vi. ch. i. p. 390. Tow-
part ii. pp. i, 3, 6, 7, 178, 246, erson, p. 276. Brevint, Depth and
242, et passim. Myst. p. 128. Payne, p. 9, &c.
9 Chemnitius, Rainoldes, Bilson, Pfaffius, pp. 186, 220, 259, 269.
Hospinian, Duplessis, Mason, Spa- h Picherellus, pp. 62, 138. Spa-
latensis, Montague, Morton, Alber- latensis, p. 278. Mason, p. 614.
tinus, Joan. Forbesius, Brevint, Morton, b. vi. ch. i. p. 394. Alber-
Towerson, Kidder, Payne. tinus, pp. 74, 76, 78, 119. Joan.
f Picherellus, pp. 63, 136. Forbesius, p. 617. Brevint, p. 128.
* Joan. Forbesius, p. 616. Mor- Kidder and Payne. Pfaffius, pp.
naeus, p. 212. Salmasius contr. Grot. 232, 233.
in. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 459
anticipated on the other side) long before he wrote in this cause.
He was indeed a stranger to what had been done ; because he
had resolved and determined from the first so to be, and held to
his resolution all along; as he frankly declared in 1714, and
again in 1724'. I commend not his rule nor his conduct in that
particular. Wise men will be always glad to see what wise men
have said before them, in any point of controversy, and will not
think themselves so perfectly secure against mistaking the sense
either of Scripture or Fathers, as to need no counsellors to assist
them, nor any eyes but their own k . It was not right to imagine,
that in 200 years time, or nearly, (in a question very frequently
canvassed by the best-learned men,) nothing had been thought
on, nothing done, towards clearing the point ; more than what
a single writer might do at once, with a Bible only and some
Fathers before him. I should not wonder if the strongest genius,
walking by such a rule, should commit abundance of mistakes in
the management of a controversy of any considerable compass or
delicacy, such as this is. But I pass on.
It is certainly of some moment, that so learned and judicious
a man as Picherellus (critically skilled in Scripture and Fathers,
and under no bias, except it were to the Romish Church, in
which he lived and died,) should so expressly and fully declare
against our Lord's offering any expiatory sacrifice in the Eucha-
rist l. It is also of some moment, that the current opinion before
the Council of Trent was against the first Eucharist's being
an expiatory sacrifice ; and that the divines of Trent were almost
equally divided upon that question ; and that it was chiefly fear
' ' It was my resolution from the second edit.
beginning, to take my measures k Of the use and necessity of con-
and information from antiquity only, suiting moderns, (as well as an-
and therefore not to look into any cients,) see Review, above, pp. 6
of those books that had been writ- 8. To neglect moderns, in such
ten, either by those of the Church cases, is really nothing else but pre-
of Rome for their corrupted sacri- ferring one modern to all the rest,
fice, or by the Protestants against and claiming to be heard as an in-
it : and I can truly say, I have terprcter of Scripture and Fathers,
most firmly and religiously observed at the same time refusing the favour
this rule, which I at first proposed of an hearing to every interpreter
to myself." Johnson's Unbloody Sa- besides,
orifice, pref. epist. p. 39, first and ' Picherell, p. 134.
460 Appendix to CHAP.
of the consequences, obvious to Protestants, which obliged the
Council to controvert the then current persuasion m . It is not
without its weight, that Jansenius, Bishop of Ghent, who died
fourteen years after, was content to take in spiritual sacrifice, in
order to make out some sacrifice in the first Eucharist n : as to
which he judged very right ; for undoubtedly our Lord so
sacrificed in the Eucharist, and we do it now. But no proof
has been given, nor ever can be given, of our Lord's sacrificing
the elements. He might, yea, and did offer the elements for
consecration, (which is very different from sacrificing, being
done also in Baptism,) or he might present them as signs and
figures of a real sacrifice, being also signs and figures of real
body and blood : but as they were not the real body and blood
which they represented, so neither were they the real sacrifice :
neither can it be made appear that they were any sacrifice
at all.
As the point now in question has not been proved, there is
the less occasion to disprove it. Want of proof is sufficient
reason for rejecting a position, according to the old rule, that
the proof lies upon him that affirms. However, I may, ' ex
abundanti,' throw in one reason against it, which may be as
good as a thousand, because it is decisive. If the elements were
a sacrifice in the first Eucharist, as upon the principles lately
advanced, then they were given for remission of sins ; conse-
quently were a sin offering and an expiatory sacrifice : which is
directly repugnant to the whole tenor of the New Testament,
everywhere ascribing true expiation solely to the death of
Christ. It is in vain to plead, that this other scacrifice expiated
in virtue of what it represented. The blood of bulls and of
m See Jurieu, Hist, of the Coun- diceretur Eucharistia. Igitur cum
cil of Trent, p. 380. gratiarum actio est sacrificium, et
n ' Dicendum est, quod, Christum Sacramentum hoc dicatur et sit Eu-
in Coena et Eucbaristiae instituti- charistia, (quod est gratiarum actio,)
one sacrificium obtulisse, primum consequitur ex Christi actione, et
quidem satis est significatum, cum nomine a Christi actione imposito,
dicitur gratias egisse. Gratiarum Sacramentum hoc esse sacrificium.
actio enim est quoddam sacrificium : Unde in canone dicitur sacrificium
a qua Christi actione Sacramentum laudis : de quo Psalmista, immola
corporis et sanguinis Domini habuit sacrificium laudis/ &c. Jansenius,
nomen illud ab initio Ecclesiae, ut Comm. in Concord. Evang. p. 904.
in. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 461
goats represented Christ's sacrifice, and expiated, so far as they
did expiate, in virtue of it : yet St. Paul plainly teaches, that it
was not possible, in the very nature of the thing, for those
secondary sacrifices to 'take away sins ,' that is, to make true
and spiritual expiation. They might atone (and that in virtue
of the grand atonement) for legal offences, or typical sins, and
might sanctify to the ' purifying of the flesh P,' procuring some
temporal blessings, which were figures and shadows of eternal :
but more than that they could not do. True expiation always
rested immediately and solely in the prime sacrifice. And the
secondary sacrifices could avail no further, by any virtue what-
ever, than to secondary, that is, typical and temporal expiation.
Now, as we have no typical expiation at all under the Gospel,
nor look for any remission but what is spiritual, and ' pertaining
to the conscience Q ;' it is exceeding plain, that the remission of
the Eucharist resolves immediately and entirely into the prime
and grand sacrifice, and not into any supposed elemental sin
offering. Neither indeed is there any such thing under the
Gospel ; it being one of the great Gospel privileges to have
immediate access to the true expiation, and not to be kept,
as it were, at a distance from it, by the intervention of secondary
sacrifices, or secondary expiations r .
Such most certainly is the doctrine of Scripture and of all
antiquity : and our own excellent Liturgy was altogether formed
upon it. Accordingly we never ask remission on account of
any expiatory sacrifice but Christ's alone ; never conclude our
prayers (no, not even in the Communion service) through the sin
offering of the Eucharist, but through Jesus Christ our Lord :
that is, through his merits, solely and immediately, and his
sacrifice, not through any sacrifice of our own : which would be
both superstitious and profane.
If the reader would see the sense of the ancients, with respect
to the words of institution, ' body given and blood shed for
remission of sins,' he may turn to Albertinus 3 , who produces
Heb. x. 4. Albertinus, p. 78. Compare 74,
P Heb. ix. 13. 119. And Bishop Morton, b. i.
'i Heb. ix. 9. part 3. p. 112 ; b. vi. ch. i. p. 394,
r See above, pp. 443, 444. &c. ; ch. viii. p. 475, &e.
462 Appendix to CHAP.
a long list of ancients *-, (besides a multitude of moderns, School-
men and Romanists u ,) all interpreting the words, not of the
sacramental body and blood given in the Eucharist, but of the
real body and blood which were to be given upon the cross. I
may add one more, older than any of them, namely, Tertullian ;
who does not only so interpret the words, but occasionally men-
tions it as a very great absurdity, to interpret the ' body given
for you,' of the ' bread given :' inasmuch as it would amount
to saying, that the bread was to be crucified for us x . These
things considered, we may take leave to conclude, that the no-
tion of Christ's offering the consecrated elements as a sacrifice,
may justly be numbered among the unwarrantable excesses of
some few moderns, who did not well consider what they were
doing.
II. It is pretended further, that such sacrifice of the conse-
crated elements, or sacramental body and blood, was our Lord's
most solemn act of his Melchizedekian priesthood. Indeed, to
make out this Melchizedekian offering, sometimes our Lord's
sacrificing himself along with the symbols is taken in y : but I
wave the consideration of that additional part at present, design-
ing to treat of it separately in the next article. The sacrifice of
the consecrated symbols by itself, must, upon the foot of the new
scheme, be reckoned Melchizedekian ; as well because our eucha-
ristical sacrifice (which is not of the natural body, but of the
sacramental only) is reputed Melchizedekian z , as also because it
is self-evident, that Melchizedek did not sacrifice the natural
* Origen, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Je- faciebat ad vanitatem Marcionis, ut
rome, Pelagius, Theodorit, Fulgen- panis crucifigeretur.' Tertull. contr.
tius, Ferrandus, Primasius, Pseud- Marc. lib. iv. cap. 40. p. 571.
Ambrose, Hesychius, Remigius, Se- y 'The Spirit by which they wrote
dulius, Bede, Isidorus, Claudius directed them ... to represent our
Taurinensis, Haymo, Euthymius, Saviour, as now performing 1 the most
Theophylactus, Anselm. solemn act of his Melchizedekian
u Aquinas, Hugo Cardinalis, Car- priesthood, and therefore as offering
thusianus, Titelmannus, Valentia, his body and blood to God, under
Salmeron, Sk, Jansenius, Cajetan, the symbols of bread and wine.'
Vasquez, Maldonate, Barradas, Sua- Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, part
rez, &c. i. p. 83, alias 86.
r ' Si propterea panem corpus sibi * Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
finxit, quia corporis carebat veritate; part i. p. 317, alias 322.
ergo panem debuit tradere pro nobis :
in. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 463
body of Christ, which was not then in being, but the sacramental
only, if either. If therefore our Lord's sacrifice of himself in
the first Eucharist be taken in to complete the most solemn act,
then it must be said, that he offered two sacrifices in the Eucha-
rist, and both of them Melchizedekian ; of which I shall say
more below, in the place proper for it. Our present concern is
only with the sacrifice of the consecrated elements, considered as
a Melchizedekian sacrifice by itself.
I apprehend that it has not, and that it cannot be proved, that
Melchizedek (so far as his priesthood, or the acts of it are
recorded in Scripture) made any expiatory, or any material
sacrifice at all. His sacerdotal function was described but in
part, to make it the fitter type of part of our Lord's priesthood.
Other parts of our Lord's priesthood were sufficiently typified by
the Aaronical priesthood : but some further type was still want-
ing, to typify what Aaron's priesthood could not do. Aaron's
typified the transient part, the atoning part ; which was to be
performed once for all by our Lord : but the abiding or ever-
lasting part (viz. the distributing the subsequent or permanent
benefits of that atonement) was not provided for in Aaron's
priesthood, considered as typical of our Lord's, but was to be
typified another way ; namely, by the priesthood of Melchizedek,
represented no further in Scripture than the reason of such
type required. Melchizedek therefore was introduced, not as
offering any sacrifice of atonement, (that was to be considered as
previously executed,) but as conveying or applying, instrument-
ally, the subsequent blessings of that atonement. This was part
of the sacerdotal office : and in respect of this part only, Melchi-
zedek was introduced as a priest ; to typify, as I said, the
permanent part of our Lord's priesthood. Types, at the best,
are but imperfect resemblances of their antitypes or archetypes :
and therefore it is no wonder, if our Lord's priesthood (a com-
plicated office) could not sufficiently be represented, whole and
entire, by any single type, but might require several, and of
different kinds, to represent it distinctly, as branched out into
its several distinct particulars.
Whoever well considers in what manner Melchizedek is in-
464 Appendix to CHAP.
troduced in Genesis a , and what is further said of him by the
Psalmist b and by St. Paul c , will easily perceive the truth of
what I say. Melchizedek, therefore, so far as he is brought in
for a type, did not sacrifice at all, (except it were in the spiritual
way of lauds,) but he instrumentally conveyed to Abraham the
blessings of the grand sacrifice ; like as Christian ministers now
do to the children of Abraham, that is, to all the faithful.
The ancient Fathers, who have often been wrongfully appealed
to in this matter, by Papists in general, and by some Protest-
ants, meant no more than what I have here said : though it
would be tedious to enter into a detail of them d . They meant,
that Melchizedek, by a divine instinct 6 , foreseeing the sacrifice
of the cross, offered to God, by way of thanksgiving, a mental,
vocal, manual representation or figuration of it, by the symbols
of bread and wine ; and by the same symbols, instrumentally
conveyed to Abraham the spiritual blessings of it. This I observe
of those Fathers who make the most of what Melchizedek did :
but the Fathers of the first two centuries and a half say nothing
expressly of his offering to God anything, (whether in a spiritual
way or otherwise,) but only of his feasting Abraham and his
family. As to the later Fathers, some of them speak with the
same reserve as the more ancient Fathers did ; others are more
explicit : but none of them, I conceive, went further than what
I have mentioned. Upon the whole therefore, their testimonies
are altogether foreign to the point of sacrificing the elements,
being that they were not considered as sacrifices, but as figures of
a sacrifice, and instruments of a thanksgiving service.
What Mr. Johnson has pleaded in favour of his notion had
been sufficiently obviated by Picherell f , among the Romanists,
a Gen. xiv. 18. dorit, Leo Maguus, Arnobius junior,
b Psalm ex. 4. Caesarius of Aries, Cassiodorus, Pri-
c Heb. v. 6, 10, n; vi. 20; vii. masius, Isidorus Hispalensis, Da-
i 24. mascene, Pseud- Athanasius, Pseudo-
d The ancients referred to on this Cyprianus, Paeud-Ambrosius, Pas-
article are, Clemens Alexandrinus, chasius Radbertus, Oecumenius,
Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Euse- Theophylact, Euthymius, Potho
bius, Julius Firmicus, Epiphanius, Prumiensis ; and perhaps more.
Philastrius, Ambrosius, Chrysostom, e Vid. Euseb. Demonstr. Evang.
Jerome, Pelagius, Austin, Isidorus lib. v. cap. 3. p. 243.
Pelusiota, Cyril of Alexandria, Theo- f Picherell, pp. 116. 135, 333,&c.
in. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 465
long before ; and by many judicious Protestants s after him.
The same has been confuted by the learned Pfaffius h since ; as
also by the reverend and learned Mr. Lewis, in a small tract ',
containing much in a little ; close, clear, and judicious, published
in 1714.
The sum then is, that if our Lord's performances in the first
Eucharist were such as Melchizedek performed, (by the accounts
which Scripture and antiquity give of them,) they amounted only
to a spiritual sacrifice of lauds, a representation of the sacrifice
to be made upon the cross, and a distribution of the benefits and
blessings of that sacrifice to his disciples.
III. It is pretended, that our Lord did not only sacrifice his
sacramental body in the Eucharist, but his natural body besides,
sacrificed both in the same act k . This refinement of the material
scheme was not thought on (so far as appears) before 1714, and
then hardly submitted to, after much reluctance, by the learned
Dr. Hickes ; and not well relished by others on the material side,
whom Mr. Johnson complained of in 1720!. However, the
' strength of the cause' was now made to ' depend in a great
measure,' upon that ' matter of fact,' (as it is called m ,) advanced
without proof, or so much as appearance of proof ; excepting the
precarious argument drawn from the present tense, mentioned
above ; and except another as slight an argument drawn from
John xvii. 20, taken with some obscure testimonies of Fathers ;
which at most prove only that our Lord devoted himself in the
Eucharist or elsewhere, before his passion, to be an expiatory
sacrifice on the cross : not that he sacrificed himself, in the
expiatory sense, before. A person's devoting himself in order to
be such a sacrifice, is not performing the sacrifice, any more than
Jewel, Answ. to Harding, p 42.5. h Pfaffius, pp. 196, 278, 321, 323.
Peter Martyr, Loc. Comm. p. 895. ' Lewis, Answ. to Unbloody Sac-
Bilson, p. 702. Spalatensis, p. 272. rifice, pp. 18-23.
Mason, p. 557. Gul. Forbesius, p. k Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
672, second edit. Jackson, vol. ii. part i. pp. 49, 83, 118, first edit,
p. 955. vol. iii. p. 305, Morton, alias 51, 86, 122, second edit, part ii.
b. vi. Brevint, Depth and Myst. pp. 6-10.
p. 107, &c. 135. Outram, p. 228. ' Johnson, Saxon Laws, pref. p. 56.
Kidder and Payne. Albertinus, pp. m Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
199, 200. part ii. p. 272.
Hh
466 Appendix to CHAP.
engaging to do a thing is actually doing it n . So slender are the
proofs of this new notion. But let us see what self-contradictions
and other absurdities it contains in it, or carries with it.
1. It is supposed to be the most solemn act of the Melchize-
dekian priesthood ; though it is certain that Melchizedek neither
so sacrificed himself, nor our Lord's natural body or blood, not
then existing.
2. It supposes two expiatory sacrifices made by our Lord in
the Eucharist; one of the sacramental body, and the other of
the real : this the author seems to own, thinking he has some
colour for it in Hebrews ix. 23, where St. Paul (lie says) calls'
the offering made by Christ sacrifices, in the plural number .
As to the construction of that text, I am content ^o refer to
commentators, not suspecting that so forced and strange a sense
is at all likely to gain many followers : the hypothesis itself must
be better supported, before any such odd meaning of that text
can be admitted. But what shall we do with those two sacrifices
of our Lord's in the Eucharist 1 They agree not with the words
of institution, ' This is my body :' which should rather have
run, This is my two bodies, my sacramental one, and my natural :
and so likewise the words, ' This is my blood.' Then again,
those two sacrifices, being both expiatory, both given for the ' life
of the world,' there would be two propitiations, two expiations ;
and we shall want to know what was the precise value of this,
and what of that, and whether they differed in value as finite and
infinite ; or whether they were of equal worth.
It is pleaded^ that they were both but one oblation : which is
resembled to a deed of gift, where, by delivery of a parchment,
lands or houses are conveyed ; and it is further likened to a
man's presenting to God houses, &c., by a piece of money, or a
n Of th : s see Dr. Turner's Christ- ficed, had been so hindered by some-
ian Eucharist no Proper Sacrifice, p. thing interposing itself, that he could
19, &c. Field's words in the like not slay the same, he had offered no
case are very applicable here : ' This sacrifice, but endeavoured only so to
proveth not a real sacrifice of Christ, do, so is it here.' Field, p. 207.
.. For his blood is not poured out, Put ' engaged' for 'endeavoured,'
neither is he slain indeed. As in and the argument is much the same,
the time of the old Law, if the priest Johnson's Unbloody Saciifiee,
reaching forth his hand to slay the part ii. pref. p. 5.
beast that was brought to be sacri-
Hi. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 467
pair of gloves P. But this account will not tally, because the
sacramental body is supposed to be a complete substitute %
made so by the Holy Spirit ; which therefore must be a great
deal more than a pledge or earnest of the natural, being itself
absolutely Christ's body, and invested with the like power and
efficacy. So here Avere two sacrifices of li'te power and efficacy,
and therefore of like value, as it seems : there were principal and
proxy, the thing itself and the equivalent, both together, though
they mutually superseded each other r . The first of them seems
to be advanced, in order to make our Lord's two sacrifices look
like one sacrifice ; and the second, to the end that ours, which is
but one of the two, and infinitely slighter, may yet look as con-
siderable to us now, as both his then were to his disciples 9 . But
if the elemental sacrifice be considered only as gloves or parch-
ment in comparison, notwithstanding all its inherent virtues and
enrichings of the Spirit, then it is not a substitute in the sense
contended for, nor of any considerable value ; so that instead of
calling it a substitute or a sacrifice, we may better call it a sign
or figure of our Lord's sacrifice, or at most a pledge, earnest, or
token of our own. I here take it for granted, that our Lord's
elemental sacrifice was at least as good as ours can be supposed
to be : and if even his was but as gloves or parchment, (compa-
ratively speaking,) ours, at this day, can be no more ; and if so,
it does not appear worth the contending for, while we have an in-
finitely better sacrifice to trust to, and to rest our expiation upon.
P Johnson, Saxon Laws, pref. 57. be proved, that Christ offered his
i See above, p. 454. natural body besides, then the rea-
* Ibid. son why the elements are called his
* N. B. As there are two incon- body is quite another reason, viz.
sistent accounts here tacked to- because he offered his natural body
gether, in order to serve two differ- a sacrifice by and under the ele-
ent purposes, so it is observable, ments, as symbols or pledges. See
that different reasons, in different part ii. pref. p. 2. I may note, that
places, have been assigned for call- if the last reason were a true one,
ing the elements the body : for when we could have no pretence now for
they are to be made substitutes, then calling the elements his body ; be-
the reason given for the name of cause it is not our intention to offer,
body is, that they are in power and under the symbols, our Lord's natu-
effect, by the Spirit, the same with ral body as a sacrifice for the sins of
the archetypes, the very body and men : we cannot sacrifice Christ our
blood which they represent. Part Lord.
' PP 177-212. But when it is to
H h 2
468 Appendix to CHAP.
3. There is no more proof made that our Lord in the Eucha-
rist consigned his natural body to be broken, and his natural
blood to be shed, than that he consigned the same to be then
and there eaten and drank. It is allowed, that what was given
for them in the Eucharist, was also given to them ; and what
was given to them, that they received l . If therefore our Lord
then and there gave his natural body and blood for them, they
then and there received the same natural body and blood : but
if he gave them not, no transfer, no sacrifice was yet made of
them. It is argued, ' if the bread and wine were' [in the Eucharist]
' given to God, so were Christ's natural body and blood too u :'
by the same way of reasoning, if the bread and wine were in the
Eucharist given to the disciples, so were Christ's natural body
and blood too.
I know it is denied that Christ gave his natural body, in such
a sense, to the disciples, because of the glaring absurdity ; and
it is pleaded in that case, that our Saviour, in the institution,
' said not one word of his natural body x .' But why then is it
pretended, from the same institution, that he consigned his
natural body to God as a sacrifice y ? If our Lord's silence, as to
his natural body, is an argument that it was not then given to
the Disciples, the same silence is as good an argument to prove
that it was not then given for them to God : or if any words of
the institution prove that the natural body was then given for
them, the same words will equally prove, that it was also then
given to them and received by them ; and orally too, according
to the hypothesis which I am here examining. To be short,
upon the principles advanced to support the material sacrifice,
it most evidently follows, either that the natural body was not
given to God in the first Eucharist ; or if it was, that it was
literally given to the disciples also, and orally received by them.
IV. Another paradox relating to this head is, 'that our Sa-
viour laid down his life, when, by a free act of his will, he did
* Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, Plain Account, p. 41. Johnson, Pro-
p. 87, alias 91. part ii. p. II. pit. Oblat. p. 33.
u Johnson, Saxon Laws, pref. 57. f See Johnson, part i. pp. 64, 83.
x See Brett's Discourse on the part ii. pp. 4, 6, 7, 9, 272, 273.
Eucharist, pref. p. 16. Answer to
in. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 469
give his body and blood to God, in the Eucharist 2 .' Tt might
as justly and with as much propriety be said, that he was cruci-
fied at the table, or died at his last Supper. But the author, I
presume, being sensible, that where our Lord 'laid down his
life,' there he sacrificed himself, and having conceived that the
sacrifice of himself should be performed in the Eucharist, and
there only, he was under a kind of necessity of maintaining,
(pursuant to his other principles,) that our Lord ' laid down his
life' in the Eucharist. The love of Christ towards us is some-
times expressed by his ' laying down his life' for us a ; and
oftener by his ' dying b ' for us : which (besides the general use of
the phrase of ' laying down one's life') is a more special argument
with respect to this case, that the phrases are here equivalent.
Let it be said then, that Christ was crucified, slain, gave up the
ghost, or resigned his spirit in the Eucharist : indeed, they may
any of them be as reasonably asserted, as that he literally sacri-
ficed himself in the Eucharist.
Another learned writer, on the same side, chooses rather to
say, that our Lord 'laid down his life,' when he surrendered
himself to the band of soldiers c ; which was after his last Sup-
per : but if any person would undertake to justify such new con-
struction of the phrase, he should produce some example to shew,
that any one has ever been said to have 'laid down his life'
without dying, or before he died. And yet if any such example
could be produced, it would not fully come up to this particular
case, because our blessed Lord, at the very last moment, when
he resigned his soul, had it in his power to rescue himself from
death, as well as he had power to raise the dead. His life no
man could wrest from him at any time : neither was it taken
till the very instant when he 'laid it down of himself*,' condes-
cending to suspend his Divine power, or the exercise of it. But
I shall have another occasion to say more of this matter under
the following chapter.
z Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, viii. II ; xv. 3. 2 Cor. v. 15.
part ii. p. 69. I Thess. v. 10.
John x. 15, 17, 18. I John iii. c Brett's Answ. to Plain Account,
16. pp. 62, 75.
b Eom. v, 6, 8 ; xiv. 9. i Cor. d John x. l8
47 Appendix to CHAP.
CHAP. IV.
Pointing out some EXCESSES in relation to the SACRIFICE
OF THE CROSS.
THE sacrifice of the cross is so momentous an article of the
Christian religion, that we have great reason to be jealous of any
attempt either to overturn it, or to undermine it. No such
thing was ever formally attempted, that I know of, by any
Divines of our Church, before 1718, when the second part of
Unbloody Sacrifice appeared. The author himself, in his first
part, had owned the sacrifice of the cross more than once 6 , in
words at least ; though he then seems to have scrupled, in some
measure, the use of the phrase, and to have been looking out for
some evasive construction to put upon it. Afterwards, in some
places, he ordered mactation to be read for sacrifice f , or for
oblation : and mactation at length became his usual expression
for what we call the sacrifice of the cross. Let us examine his
reasons or motives for this so important a change in Christian
theology.
i. His first scruple seems to have been what he had hinted in
the first edition of his first part, where he says, ' By sacrificed
on the cross, we must then mean, that he was slain as an expi-
atory victim, and not that he offered himself as a Melchizede-
kian priest ; for he declares that he did this in the Eucharist.
For this, says he, is my body given to God for you ?.' He adds
afterwards, ' It cannot be proved,' that the Melchizedek in Ge-
nesis did offer bloody sacrifice h . This pretence is very slight ;
because it cannot be proved, by anything said in Genesis, or
any other part of Scripture, or by antiquity, universality, and
consent, that Melchizedek sacrificed bread at all, or that he did
e Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, late as 1713, which appears by his
part. i. pp. 12, 66, 68, 95, first edit. Sermon on the Christian Altar, &c.
Propit. Oblat. p. 106. pp. 18, 19. Though he adopted
N.B. Dr. Hickea all along owned Mr. Johnson's new notions in or
the sacrifice of the cross. (Christ, before 1720. Discourse, &c. p. 39.
Priesth. vol. i. p. 165.) So like- f See Johnson, part ii. p 267.
wise Mr. Leslie, and Mr. Scandret, f Ibid. p. 95.
pp. 4, 8, 157. Dr. Brett also, as h Ibid. p. 472.
iv. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 471
anything more (so far as he is brought in for a type) than what
amounted to the prefiguration of the grand sacrifice, and an in-
strumental conveyance of the blessings of it i. However, as it is
certain from Scripture, confirmed by antiquity, universality, and
consent, that our Lord did offer himself a sacrifice on the cross,
and that our Lord was not a priest of any other order but the
order of Melchizedek, it most evidently follows, that such his
sacrifice was so far Melchizedekian, was an act of that priesthood
which was altogether Melchizedekian, and not AaronicalK In
the strictest sense, no material sacrifice, bloody or unbloody, no
active sacrifice at all, (excepting the sacrifice of lauds,) can be
Melchizedekian ; for Melchizedek, as a type, offered nothing but
lauds to God, and blessings to Abraham under visible signs : but
as our Lord's priesthood was entirely Melchizedekian, and con-
tained the atoning as well as benedictory part, it is manifest,
that even the atonement, so considered, was Melchizedekian, as
opposed to Aaronical. In short then, it must not be said that
our Lord's sacrifice was bloody, and therefore not Melchizede-
kian ; but it was Melchizedekian, though bloody ', because it was
our Lord's, who was of no other priestly order but the order
of Melchizedek. It is a poor thought of the Komanists, and it
is well exposed by Dean Brevint m , that bread and wine are
necessary to every act or exercise of the Melchizedekian priest-
hood : for as the notion is founded in error, so it terminates in
absurdity. Our Lord had no bread to offer on the cross : nei-
ther has he any bread or wine to offer in heaven, where he
intercedes as a priest in virtue of his sacrifice once offered, and
blesses as a priest, and 'abideth a priest continually 11 .' But I
proceed.
2. The first and main scruple against the sacrifice of the cross
being thus considered and confuted, there will be less difficulty
' See above, p. 463, &c. ' mention it, since the benedictory
k Heb. vii. u, 13, 14, 16, 17. part of his priesthood was all that
1 N. B. It cannot be reasonably the type intended was concerned in,
doubted but that Melchizedek of- as I before intimated.
fered bloody sacrifices, after the way m Brevint, Depth and Mystery,
of the ancient Patriarchs : only, that &c. pp. 116-118.
part of his priesthood was not men- n Heb. vii. 3.
tioned ; as there was no need to
473 Appendix to CHAP.
with the rest, which are slighter, and which appear to have been
invented purely to wait upon the other. A second scruple is,
that our Lord could not, while alive, offer (unless it were under
symbols) his body and blood, as substantially separated ; because
it appears not that any blood flowed from him till the soldier
pierced him ; but it is probable, that the ' nails so filled the ori-
fices,' that ' no blood could issue thence .' I shall venture to
leave this ingenious speculation with the reader.
3. Against the sacrifice of the cross, it is pleaded, that to sup-
pose it, ' is to render the sacrifice of Christ a bloody one indeed ;
so bloody, as that it cannot be reconciled to purity of any sort,
till killing one's self be esteemed a virtue P.' The same argu-
ment, as lately revived by another gentleman, runs thus : ' He
could not offer himself a sacrifice in any other manner than by
symbols or representatives : for had he in any manner put him-
self to death, he might have been too justly accused of self-
murder q.' Sorry I am, that anything of this kind, though
only in the way of argument, should drop from serious and reli-
gious persons : and I was in some doubt with myself, whether I
could prudently or reverently repeat it, though in order only to
confute it. But who can any longer bear to have that most pre-
cious sacrifice, upon which all our hopes and all our comforts
depend, treated in a manner far from becoming it ? Why must
Christ's laying down his life be so invidiously, so injuriously
called putting himself to death ? To resign his life, or voluntarily
to submit to death, is one thing : to put himself to death is
quite another, differing as active disobedience from passive
obedience. But though he was passively obedient, in submitting
to suffer, bleed, and die for us, it does not therefore follow, that
he exercised no act of offering, or that he made no active sacri-
fice on the cross. It was his own choice to submit to the will
Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, -made for himself a body of bread,
pref. pp. 4, 5. to be sacrificed, because he could
P Ibid, part ii. p. 70. not ofler himself in any other man-
1 Brett's Answ. to Plain Ace. p. ner than by symbols, then was bread
66. One might here make use of given for the life of the world, and
Tertullian's argument against Mar- bread should have been crucified
cion, (cited above, p. 462,) with a for ua.'
very little change. ' If our Lord
IV. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 473
of his enemies, and his choosing so to suffer, so to be passive,
for the honour of God and the salvation of men, was the divinest
act and exercise of true piety and philanthropy. It was active
virtue, as all choice (whether to do or to suffer) is equally active,
an act of the will, and a work r . He thus actively offered on
the cross his body, his blood, his soul, his life to God ; choosing
not to kill, but to be killed ; not to slay, but to be slain : and
by such act of submission and resignation to the will of God, he
made himself a voluntary sacrifice, in his death, for the sins of
mankind. This is the plain doctrine of the Gospel, which every
one that runs may read : and it is confirmed by as early, as
universal, and as constant, a tradition for fifteen centuries or
more, as any point of Christian doctrine whatsoever ; from
Barnabas, Clemens, and Ignatius s , down even to Socinus of the
sixteenth century. It would be tedious to enter into the detail
of authorities ; neither can it, I presume, be necessary. I shall
only hint further, that from the third century and downwards,
' altar of the cross l> has been the current language : one certain
argument, among many, that the sacrifice was supposed to be
made upon the cross. And such also is the language of the
Greek and Oriental liturgies u .
It is very wrong to suggest that our Lord was merely passive
in laying down his life, because nature was spent, and because
he had been half dead before, and the like x ; as if any violence
of death could have wrested his soul from him, the Lord of life,
r Aquinas understood 'active' and torn. ii. part. 2. 167. torn. iii. 384.
'passive' as well as most can pretend ed. Bened. Ambrosius, torn. i. 995,
to : and he scrupled not to call our 1002. torn. ii. 1054. ed. Bened. Chry-
Lord's passive obedience, a work : sostom, torn. ii. 403, 404. ed. Bened.
' Hoc ipsum opus, quod voluntarie in Heb. 839. Augustinus, torn. iv.
passionem sustinuit,' &c. See above, 211, 1565. torn. v. Append. 273.
p. 448. The argument from the torn. viii. 820. Leo Magn. torn. i.
word 'patient,' or 'passive,' in this 251, 261, 264, 267, 276, 293. Quen.
case, is only playing upon an equi- Tenant. Fortunat. Hymn, de Pass.
vocal name, and committing a fal- Christi, p. 695.
lacy. u Jacob. Liturg. p. 35. Fabric.
8 Barnabas, Ep. ch. vii. p. 21. Basil. Liturg. Copt. p. 24. Renaud.
Coteler. Clem. Rom. Epist. i. c. 49. Gregorii Liturg. Copt. 36. 37. cp. 46.
Ignatius ad Ephes. c. ii. Basilii Liturg. Alex. p. 83. Gregorii
6 Orig. torn. ii. p. 220. cp. 187, 83, Liturg. pp. 120, 121, 123. Ordo
362. ed. Bened. Eusebius de Laud. Commun. Syr. Jacob, p. 22.
Constant. 765. ed. Cant. Hieronym. * Johnson, part ii. pp. 69, 70.
474 Appendix to CHAP.
as it may ours. Our older and better divinity may be seen in the
learned and judicious Bishop Bilson, who confirmed the same
both by Scripture and Fathers. It ran thus : ' The conjunction
of the human nature with the Divine, in the person of Christ,
was so fast and sure, that neither sin, death, nor hell, assaulting
our Saviour, could make any separation, no not of his body :
but he himself, of his own accord, must put off his earthly
tabernacle, that dying for a season, he might conquer death for
ever. And so the laying down his life was no imposed punish-
ment, nor forcible invasion of death upon him, but a voluntary
sacrifice for sin, rendered unto God for our sakes 7.' This doc-
trine Bishop Bilson defended against some rigid Calvinists of
his time, who maintained the contrary z for the support of some
other false principles. But I return.
The author of Unbloody Sacrifice, though he had argued be-
fore, several ways, against the sacrifice of the cross, yet retreated
at length to this: 'I do not, nor ever did deny, that Christ
offered himself on the cross; but I declare, I cannot prove it
from Scripture ; so that if it be true, I leave it to be proved by
tradition a .' How hard of belief in this high article, when it is
undeniable that Scripture (taken in the sense of the Fathers of
the first, second, and following centuries) does prove it; and
when, in other cases, he conceived, that 'that man ought to
suspect his own judgment and orthodoxy, whose opinions sink
below the standard of the second age after Christ b .' But we
need not Fathers in this point, nor indeed anything but Scrip-
ture texts, and unprejudiced reason.
The prophet Isaiah represents our Lord as ' wounded for our
transgressions,' and 'bruised for our iniquities,' and 'making
his soul an offering for sin c .' Where but on the cross 1 Not
at his last Supper, where he was neither wounded nor bruised,
except it were in effigy, nor offered his soul, so much as in effigy,
whether \ve interpret it of soul or of life. His ' pouring out his
r Bishop Bilson, Full Redemption, pref. p. 58.
&c. p. 8. b Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice,
* Ibid. p. 229. part i. p. 212, alias 215.
* Johnson, Saxon Laws, vol. i. c Isa. liii. 5, 10.
iv. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 475
soul unto death,' (not his pouring out wine, or pouring out
promises or engagements,) is by the same prophet made the one
thing considerable* 1 .
Where our Loi'd ' bare our sins, ' (a sacrificial phrase,) there
most certainly he made his sacrifice : now St. Peter expressly
tells us, that 'he bare our sins in his own body on the tree 6 ;'
not in his sacramental body, or at the Communion table. Besides
that it is manifest from the same text, that he had not made the
expiatory sacrifice in the Eucharist : for if he had, he could
have had none of our sins to bear in his body on the cross ;
neither indeed would his death have been necessary to our re-
demption, being superseded by the eucharistical remission, and
by the atonement then made.
Where peace was purchased, where redemption and reconcilia-
tion were perfected, there may we look for the sacrifice of peace,
redemption, and reconcilement. Now St. Paul says plainly, that
he ' made peace through the blood of his cross/ (not through the
blood of his holy table, whether sacramental or natural,) 'to
reconcile all things f ,' &c. Again, 'we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son?,' and reconciled 'unto God by the
cross h :' not by the Eucharist of his Son, not by the Communion
table. We were ' redeemed by his blood i ;' and ' made nigh by
the blood of Christ k ,' and ' sanctified also by his blood ! :' not in
the Eucharist, where no blood was shed, except it were in effigy;
neither will such sacramental shedding answer St. Paul's meaning,
where he says, that 'without shedding of blood there is no remis-
sion 111 .' Again, it is said, Christ 'appeared to put away sin by
the SACRIFICE of HIMSELF: and as it is appointed unto men ONCE
TO DIE so Christ was ONCE OFFERED to bear the sins of many 11 ,'
&c. Where it is plain, that he was to put away sin by sacrificing
himself, and that, by dying ; as appears by the similitude imme-
diately following ; ' As it is appointed unto men once to die, so
Christ was once offered,' viz. in his death : otherwise the parallel
d Isa. liii. 12. k Eph. ii. 13.
e i Pet. ii. 24. Compare Isa. liii. ' Heb. xiii. 12, x. 79, ix. 12, 13,
4, 6, 1 1, 12. 14.
f Coloss. i. 20. s Rom. v. 10. ra Heb. ix. 12.
h Eph. ii. 16. ' Revel, v. 9. n Ibid. 27, 28. *
476 Appendix to CHAK
will not answer. It is in vain to say, that the offering was pre-
vious to his bearing our sins : for the prophet Isaiah expounds
his ' making his soul an offering for sin,' by his ' pouring out
his soul unto death .' So that his being offered to bear, must
mean, that he was offered on the cross, where he was to pour out
his soul, that upon the same cross he might bear our sins, &c.
More might be added, but I forbear to proceed further in so
plain a point, so firmly grounded on Scripture, and so fully
established by antiquity, universality, and consent ; consent of
the Christian churches from the beginning down to this day.
4. It was going great lengths, to say, ' I must humbly declare
my opinion, that it is impossible to establish the doctrine of
Christ's body and blood being a real sacrifice, by any other
arguments but those by which we prove the Eucharist to have
been instituted a sacrifice by our blessed Saviour P.' Whatever
might be the fate of this particular much disputed notion of the
eucharistic sacrifice, one thing is certain, and will be readily
allowed by every considerate man, that the general and unques-
tionable doctrine of the real sacrifice ought never to be put upon
a level with it: neither ought it to have been so much as
suggested, that there is any ground for so strange a comparison.
It was obliging Socinians too far, to raise any doubt or question
about the certainty of the sacrifice of the cross : but to throw out
broad innuendoes besides, that it stands upon no better, or no
other foundation, than the material sacrifice, the material and
expiatory sacrifice of the Eucharist ; what is it but betraying the
Christian cause into the hands of the adversaries ] For if they
may reasonably urge, (or cannot reasonably be confuted, if they
do urge,) that such material and expiatory sacrifice is a novelty
of yesterday, scarce thought on before the dark ages of super-
stition, which made use of material incense for like purposes ;
scarce ever seriously maintained by any of the West before the
sixteenth century, and then only by the Romanists ; never
admitted, in either part, by Protestants before the seventeenth
century, nor then by many of them ; never taught (as now
Isa. liii. 10, 12. 54. Unbloody Sacrifice, part. ii.
P Johnson, Saxon Laws, pref. p. pref. pp. i, 2.
iv. the Christian Sacrifice explained. 477
taught) before the eighteenth century, and then by a single
writer only, for some time : I say, if the Socinians may reason-
ably urge the premises, the conclusion which they aim at is
given them into their hands : and so at length this indiscreet
zeal for an imaginary sacrifice of the Eucharist (not capable of
support) can serve only to perplex, darken, or destroy, the real
one of the cross Q.
I thought to go on to two chapters, further, pointing out
more excesses and inconsistencies of the new scheme. There
is one which particularly deserved to be mentioned ; the pre-
carious consequence drawn from our Lord's supposed sacrifice
in the first Eucharist to our sacrifice in the rest, built only upon
this, that we are to do what Christ did r : an argument, which,
if it proves anything, proves that we are to do all that Christ is
supposed to have done by way of sacrifice ; that is, to sacrifice
his sacramental body and his natural also, (which is absurd,)
or else to sacrifice ourselves under symbols, as our Lord sacri-
ficed himself, which will not serve the purpose of the material
scheme. One way the argument proves too much, and the
other way too little ; and so neither way will it answer the end
designed. I am aware, that some will tell us what the argu-
ment shall prove, and what it shall not prove 8 . But who will
i The chief advocate for the new only to this : we are to do what
system says, ' It is no small satisfac- Christ did, so far as serves the new
tion to me, that the sacrifice of the 8} T stem : but we are not to do what
Eucharist, and the personal sacrifice Christ did, so far as disserves it.
of Christ, do rest upon the same 'Do this 'shall be an argument, when
foundation, and stand or fall to- and where it makes for it : 'do this'
gether.' Johnson's Unbloody Sacri- shall be no argument, when or where
fice, partii. pref. pp. i, 2. To which it it makes against it. It is observ-
is sufficient to say, God forbid ! The able, that the words 'this do," in the
personal sacrifice of Christ stands institution, come after the words
upon the rock of ages : the other ' take, eat, this is my body,' and there-
(in his sense of it) is built upon fore manifestly relate, not merely
the sand. to the sacerdotal ministration, but
r Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, to the whole action or actions both
part i. pp. 50, 91, alias 51, 94. of priest and people. The blessing,
Johnson, part ii. p. 10. the breaking, the pouring out, the
s Johnson, part i. pp. 96, 122, distributing, the receiving, the eat-
alias 99, 126. ing, and the drinking, are all com-
Dr. Brett on Liturgies, p. 135. prehended in the words 'this do.'
N. B. The sum of what is pleaded All those actions are shewing forth
on that side, when carefully ex- the Lord's death, (i Cor. xi. 26,) for
amiued, will be found to amount a remembrance or memorial of him.
478 Appendix to
give a disputant leave to draw consequences arbitrarily, not
regulated by the premises, but by an hypothesis, which itself
wants to be regulated by reason and truth 1
I have not here room to enter further into this matter : these
papers are already drawn out into a length beyond what I at
first suspected. I hope my readers will excuse my stopping
short in this fourth chapter, and saving both myself and them
the trouble (perhaps unnecessary trouble) of two more. It is
of use in any controverted points, to observe what exit they are
found to have, when pursued to the utmost. There were suffi-
cient reasons before against a material sacrifice, considered in
its best light, as purely gratulatory, or eucharistical : and there
were more and stronger against the same considered as expi-
atory, or propitiatory ; reasons, I mean, from Scripture and
antiquity, and from the nature of things : but the managers
for the material cause have now lately furnished us with a
new argument against it, by shewing us, that, after all that
can be done for it, it has really no exit, or such as is worse
than none ; while it terminates in various inconsistencies and
incongruities ; and not only so, but is contradictory also to
sound doctrine, particularly to the momentous doctrine of the
sacrifice of the cross.
the Christian Sacrifice explained. 479
A brief Analysis of Mr. Johnson's System, shewing what it
is, and by ivhat Steps he might be led into it.
1. THE first thing in intention, last in execution, was to
prove, that the Gospel ministers are proper priests*
2. Proper priests must have a proper sacrifice : thei'efore
some medium Avas to be thought on, to prove a proper sacri-
fice, particularly in the Eucharist.
3. A prevailing notion, or vulgar prejudice, had spread among
many, for a century or more, that no sacrifice could be proper,
but a material one : therefore pains were to be taken to prove
the Eucharist a material sacrifice.
4. But as material sacrifice carried no appearance of dignity
in it, looking too low and mean for an evangelical priesthood
to stand upon ; therefore ways and means were to be used
to raise some esteem of it : spiritual sacrifice was to be depre-
ciated, and material to be magnified. Hence, as it seems, arose
the thought of enriching the elements with the Spirit ; borrow-
ing from the sacramental part of the Eucharist, to augment and
advance the sacrificial. And now the scheme appeared with a
better face.
5. Nevertheless, if our Lord in the original Eucharist did not
sacrifice the elements, it could not reasonably be supposed that
we do it now, and so things would not tally : therefore it was
found necessary to assert, that he also sacrificed the elements,
as his sacramental body ; and thereupon reasons and authoi-i-
ties were to be searched out for that purpose.
6. Still there was a weighty objection remaining, viz. that
Scripture speaks often of Christ's offering himself, but never
once of his offering in sacrifice the symbols : to remove which
difficulty, it was thought best to say, that he offered himself
in the Eucharist, but by and with the symbols. An after-
thought, and not well comporting with former parts of the
scheme. :
7. But there was still another difficulty, a very great one j
namely, that our Lord, according to the accounts of the New
480 Appendix to
Testament, sacrificed himself but once * : therefore, either he
did it not in the Eucharist, or not upon the cross. To re-
move this difficulty, it seems to have been resolved to give
up the sacrifice of the cross, and to retain only the sacrifice
of the Eucharist : and so the scheme was complete.
Having thus given a sketch of the system in the analytical
way, it may now be easy to throw it into the synthetic, thus :
1. Christ our Lord made a personal sacrifice of himself once ;
either in the Eucharist or on the cross.
2. It cannot be proved to have been on the cross, but there
are divers reasons against the supposition ; therefore it must
have been in the Eucharist.
3. He sacrificed himself in the Eucharist, under symbols,
sacrificing the symbols together with himself : otherwise we
could have no pretence now for sacrificing the same symbols.
4. The Christian Church, after his example, saci'ifices the
symbols, but not him.
5. Therefore the Church has a material sacrifice.
6. Therefore the Church offers a proper sacrifice.
7. Therefore the Gospel ministers are proper priests, sacri-
ficing priests : which was to be proved.
Now my humble opinion upon the whole is, that if the
learned author had taken spiritual sacrifice for his medium,
instead of material, he might not only have avoided many per-
plexities, and no small number of mistakes, but might also have
come at his main point justly and regularly, in conformity with
Scripture and antiquity. He might have proved that Christian
ministers are priests in as high and as proper a sense as any
before them have been, (Christ only excepted,) authorized to
stand and minister between God and his people, and to bless
in God's name, and to execute all other sacerdotal functions,
but in a more spiritual and heavenly way than other priests had
done : which detracts not at all from the propriety of the
Christian priesthood, but adds very much to its value and
excellency, and shews it to be of superior dignity to any real
or pretended priesthood, either of Jews or Pagans.
* Propit. Oblat. p. 97.
the Christian Sacrifice explained. 48 [
A distinct summary View of the several OBLATIONS in tfa
Eucharist, previous to CONSECRATION or subsequent.
What is previous, goes under the name of Ante-oblation : what
is subsequent, falls under the name of Post-oblation.
I. Of the Ante-oblation.
THE ante-oblation has three parts, or three views, as here
follows :
1. There is a presenting to God alms for the poor, and obla-
tions for the use of the Church. The material things are gifts
to men : the benevolent act, or work, is a gift, or sacrifice unto
God. St. Paul points out this distinction where he teaches,
' To do good and to communicate' are ' such sacrifices' as
' God is well pleased with u .' The benevolent services are the
sacrifice ; not the material money, or goods. This distinction
is further confirmed by the common custom of speech ; which
shews what the common ideas are. Alms (that is, alms-deeds)
make an atonement for sin : a true and a proper expression,
understanding atonement in a qualified sense. But who would
say, that money makes an atonement 1 By bounty and charity
God is appeased : the proposition is true, and the expression
proper. But can we say, that by silver and gold God is
appeased ] No, certainly. And why cannot we 1 Because it
would be confounding ideas : for, even in common language,
expressive of the common ideas, the service is the gift to God,
not the material thing.
2. There is in the Eucharist a presenting to God (virtually at
least) an acknowledgment of God's being Creator and Giver of
all good things ; as Irenaeus intimates x . Tertullian extends it
to both Sacraments y : inasmuch as the religious use of water in
u Heb. xiii. 16. The like distinc- tKtlvcp 8e evxapitrrovs OVTO.S Sia \6yov
tion is clearly laid down in Justin iro^Tras KO.\ Suvovs irefnirfiv.
Martyr. Apol. ii. p. 60, ed. Paris, x Iren. lib. iv. cap. 18. p. 251.
1636. Ta vir' litflvov fls 8iaTpo<j>V f Tertull. contr. Marc. lib. i. cap.
yff6/J.ffa, oil irvpl Sairavav, d\\' eat/- 14, 23.
ToTs KO.I roii SeoueVois irpoiTtytpfiv,
I i
482 Appendix to
Baptism carries in it a tacit acknowledgment that water is a
creature of God.
3. There is also a presenting of the elements to God for
consecration : which is common to both Sacraments. For in
Baptism the waters are so presented, and for the same or like
spiritual purposes.
II. Of the Post-OUatwn.
The post -oblation, otherwise called commemoration, may like-
wise be considered under three views, or as containing three
parts.
1. The first is, the offering to view, viz. of God, angels, and
men, under certain symbols, the death, passion, or sacrifice of
Christ. We do the like (not precisely the same) in Baptism
also : for there we represent and commemorate mentally, vocally,
and manually, (in mind, and by mouth, and by significant
actions,) the death and burial of Christ our Lord.
2. The second is, the offering, as it were, to Divine consider-
ation, with our praises and thanksgivings, Christ and his sacri-
fice, pleading the merit of it, in behalf of ourselves and others.
We do something near akin to this in Baptism likewise, plead-
ing the same sacrifice of atonement, with the merits thereof, in
behalf of the persons baptized ; offering the same to Divine con-
sideration.
3. The third is, the offering up Christ's mystical body, the
Church, or ourselves a part of it z , as an holy, lively, reasonable
1 Fulgentius's doctrine on this aliud postulari mihi videtur, nisi ut
head is well worth the noting, as per ' gratiam salutarem in corpore
making the Church to be the sacri- Christi (quod est Ecclesia) caritatis
fice offered, and likewise as inter- unitas jugiter indisrupta servetur. . .
preting the illapse of the Spirit, Dum itaque Ecclesia Spiritum sanc-
conformably, of the Spirit's sancti- turn sibi caelitus postulat mitti, do-
fying that mystical body, viz. the num sibi caritatis et unanimitatis
Church. He flourished about 510, postulat a Deo conferri. Quando
and is of greater antiquity and au- autem congruentius quam ad conse-
thority than most of the Greek, crandum sacrificium corporis Christi
Latin, or Oriental liturgies now sancta Ecclesia (quae corpus est
extant. Christi) Spiritus sancti deposcat ad-
' Quum ergo sancti Spiritus ad veiitum ? quae ipsum caput suum
sanctificandum totius Ecclesiae sa- secundum carnem de Spiritu sancto
crificium postulatur adventus, nihil noverit natum. . . , Hoc ergo factum
the Christian Sacrifice explained.
sacrifice unto God : a sacrifice represented by the outward signs,
and conveyed, as it were, under the symbols of bread and wine.
This third article of the post-oblation is seen also in Baptism :
for we are therein supposed to be dedicated, consecrated, devoted,
through Christ, to God. On which account Baptism has been
looked upon as a kind of sacrifice among the ancients a .
Nevertheless, the Sacrament of the Eucharist has more par-
ticularly obtained the name of sacrifice : partly, on account of
the offerings to church and poor in the ante-oblation, which
are peculiar to that Sacrament ; and partly, on account of the
commemorated sacrifice in the post-oblation. For though Bap-
tism commemorates the death and burial, and indirectly the
grand sacrifice ; yet it does not so precisely, formally, and
directly represent or commemorate the sacrifice of the cross,
as the Eucharist does.
est caritate divina, ut ex ipso Spiritu
corpus illius capitis esset renatum,
de quo ipsum caput est natum. . . .
Haec itaque spiritalis aedificatio cor-
poris Christi, quae fit in caritate,
(cum scilicet secundum B. Petri ser-
monem, lapides vivi aedificantur in
domum spiritalem, in sacerdotium
sanctum, offerentes spiritales hostias,
acceptabiles, Deo per Jesum Christ-
um) nunquam opportunius petitur,
quam quum ab ipso Christi corpore
(quod est Ecclesia) in Sacramento
panis et calicis ipsum Christi corpus
et sanguis offertur. Calix enim
quern bibimus,' &c. i Cor. x. 16, 17.
Fulgent, ad Monim. lib. ii. pp. 34-
37-ed. Paris. Cp. Fragment, p. 641.
a ' Cum venis ad gratiam Bap-
tismi, vitulum obtulisti, quia in
mortem Christi baptizaris.' Origen.
in Levit. Horn. ii. p. 191. ed.
Bened.
"' Holocausto dominicae passionis,
quod eo tempore offert quisque pio
peccatis suis, quo ejusdem passionis
fide dedicatur, et Christian orum fide-
lium nomine baptizatus . imbuitur.'
Augustin. ad Rom. Expos, cap. xix.
p 937. ed. Bened.
' Ipse homo, Dei nomini conse-
cratus, et Deo devotus, in quantum
mundo moritur ut Deo vivat, sacri-
ficium est.' Augustin. de Civit. Dei,
lib. x. cap, 6. p. 242.
I l 2
THE
SACRAMENTAL PART
OF
THE EUCHAKIST
EXPLAINED,
IN
A CHARGE
DELIVERED IN PART TO
THE CLERGY OF MIDDLESEX
At the Easter Visitation, 1739.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
IN a former discourse a , upon the like occasion, I endeavoured
to explain the sacrificial part of the Eucharist more minutely
than I had before done, for the removing of scruples and the
obviating mistakes. I would now do something of like kind
with respect to the sacramental part of the same, so far as
it appears to be affected by the sacrificial; that so both parts
may aptly suit with each other, and hang naturally together.
As truth is uniform, so just notions of one part will of course
tend to preserve just ideas of the other part also : and as error
is apt to lead to error, so any erroneous tenets there, will
naturally bring in erroneous positions here.
It is matter of fact, that for the sake of advancing a new
kind of sacrifice, new doctrines have been offered, time after
time, with regard even to the sacramental part of the Eucharist :
which in truth is as much superior to the sacrificial, as God's
part in that holy rite is superior to man's ; and which there-
fore calls for our more especial caution and circumspection.
Great stress has, by some amongst us since 1702, been laid
upon the invocation and illapse of the Holy Ghost upon the
elements : not barely to make them sacred signs and pledges,
or exhibitive symbols of Christ's body and blood to every
faithful communicant, (which might reasonably be admitted,)
but even to make them the very body, or verily the body of
Christ : not the natural body, but another true body, called
a spiritual body, consisting, as is presumed, of elements changed
in their inward qualities, and replenished either with the Holy
Spirit himself, or with the graces, or virtues, or energies of
a The Christian Sacrifice explained, in the preceding Charge.
488 The Sacramental Part
the Spirit b ; supposed to be intrinsic to them, inherent in them,
permanent with them, and received both by worthy and un-
worthy communicants. It is said, that the ' Holy Spirit being
invited and called down by the prayer of the priest, (according
to the ancients,) descended upon the bread and wine on the
altar, and enriched them with all the virtues and graces with
which the personal body and blood of Christ did abound, and
so made them in this, and perhaps in a yet more mysterious
and incomprehensible manner, to be verily the body and blood
of Christ ; as the Holy Ghost did formerly come upon the
blessed Virgin, and formed in her womb the personal body
and blood of Christ c . That the consecrated symbols are sancti-
fied, and altered, if not in their substance, yet in their internal
qualities, and that the eucharistical symbols themselves are
verily made, in a mysterious manner, the body and blood of our
crucified Saviour d . That this sacramental flesh and blood of
Christ is taken by a corporeal eating and drinking of the
unworthy, as well as worthy, communicants : of these, namely,
to their justification and eternal salvation both of flesh and
b ' Spiritu Sancto, qui, ad invoca- turalem quandam vim infundere.'
tionem sacerdotis descendens, panem Allix. in notis ad Nectarium, p. 429.
sanctificat, et omni divina ac vivifica N.B. The question of inherent vir-
virtute corporis et sanguinis Christi tues had been thoroughly discussed
eundem replet. . . . Ita ut Eucharistia by the best-learned Protestants, and
duabus constet rebus, terrena, quae the notion generally exploded, here
est materia panis, et caelesti, quae and abroad, long before Dr. Grabe
est gratia ac virtus Spiritus Sancti undertook (inadvertently perhaps, or
pani indita. . . . Divina illius virtus however unadvisedly) to revive it.
et gratia pani communicata ac in- [' Grabium cujus ingerium nova-
haerens, uti jam paucis probabo.' rum et portentosarum opinionum
Grabe. Ad Iren. lib. iv. cap. 34. tenax nemini ignotum est.' Dey-
pp. 327, 328. ling. Observat. Miscell. p. 177.
In the same year, Dr. Allix, ' Nee tamen id dissimulamus, ip-
who saw deeper, condemned those sum, antequam ad Anglos abiret,
notions, in very plain terms, while ad ecclesiam Romanam transire om-
speaking of the modern Greeks, nino voluisse, et quidem hanc prae-
whose tenets those are. cipue ob rationem, quod crediderat,
' Ad tales autem miraculosos effec- successionem episcopatus ministerii-
tus, quos jactant tarn Graeci quam que apostolici in ea sola inveniri.'
Latini, credendos, aliquid nobis vide- Pfaffius, p. 500.]
tur deesse, soil. Christi promissip, c Grabe's Defence of the Greek
aut mandatum. De his miraculis Church, p. 88.
fama orta videtur ex absurda qua- d Grabe, ibid. pp. 75, 87. Cp. pp.
dam credulitate, Spiritum Sanctum 20, 35, 90, 91.
in elementorum naturam superna-
of the Eucharist explained. 489
spirit ; but of those to their condemnation and destruction of
soul and body e .'
Whoever looks into Scripture, or genuine antiquity, will there
find but very little ground or colour for these or the like specu-
lations ; which appear rather to have been borrowed from
Damascen of the eighth century, or from the more modern
Greeks, or the Pseudo-primitive liturgies. There was indeed,
as early as the second century, some mention made of the
descent of the Holy Ghost in Baptism f : and there was also
a prevailing notion of some concurrence of the Holy Spirit with
water, to the conception and birth of a Christian; which con-
currence, by way of illustration, or to render the idea of it
more lively and affecting, was sometimes compared to a conjugal
unions. But it was never understood, that such similitudes
were to be scanned with a scrupulous exactness ; or that every
affecting or popular expression should be strained with the
utmost rigour : for that would be using the ancient writers
in much such a way as the Anthropomorphites and others have
interpreted Scripture, contrary to the true meaning and intent
of it. The Fathers very well knew how to distinguish between
a power adsistant to, or concurrent with the element 11 , and
a power infused into it, or lodged in it : and they were well
aware of the difference between the virtue of Baptism (meaning
the whole solemnity, in which God bears a part*) and the
inherent virtue of the consecrated water, which means quite
e Grabe's Defence of the Greek sostora. in Ephes. Horn. xx. p. 147.
Church, p. 87. Leo I. Serm. 23, 24, pp. 155, 160.
N.B. The Leipsic Acts, in their Quesnell. Pseud-Ambros. de Myst.
censure upon that posthumous piece, cap. lix. p. 243. See more testimo-
first published in 1721, have left this nies in Vossius, Opp. torn. vi. pp.
note : 233, 274. Cp. Albertinus, pp. 465,
4 Ex his vero patet, quod licet in 466, and my Appendix, pp. 452, 453.
articulo de coena, alienam a ponti- h AJTT)) coJ rj KaBapffis, Si' ttSaros
ficiorum transubstantiatione senten- rt, 4>i?jul, nal irt>evfj.aros' TOV /jLft> 6to-
tiam habuerit Grabius, tamen in prjTaij KOI ffu/LiaTiKtas \an^avofj.(vov,
eodem ab Anglicana etiam. . .Eccle- TOV 8e affw^drtas nai a.6ttap-firus trvv-
sia haud parum discrepaverit.' Act rpexovrot. Nazianz. Orat. xl. p.
Lips. p. 281. A.D. 1722. 641. Compare Review, above pp.
f See my Review, above pp. 250 257 260.
260. > See my Review, above p. n,
6 Tertullian. de Baptismo. Chry- &c.
49 Tfa Sacramental Part
another thing, and is a late invention of dark and ignorant
ages k .
As to the Eucharist, for the three first centuries, and part
of the fourth, nothing at all was said, so far as appears, of
any descent of the third Person upon the elements 1 ; nothing
of his forming them into Christ's body ; no, nor of his form-
ing the natural body in the womb : but the ancients inter-
preted Luke i. 35, of our Lord's own Divine Spirit, namely,
of the Logos, and supposed that the same Logos formed for
himself a body in the womb m . So little foundation is there,
within the three first and purest ages, for the pretended simili-
tude between the Holy Ghost's forming the natural body in
the womb, and his forming the spiritual body in the Eucharist u .
The similitude made use of anciently with respect to the Eucha-
rist, was that of the incarnation , intended only in a confuse,
general way, and not for any rigorous exactness. For like
as our Lord, in his incarnation, made and fitted for himself
a natural body to dwell in ; so, in regard to the Eucharist,
he has appointed and fitted for himself a symbolical body to
k ' Sacramenta continere grati- tenditur?' p. 406. ed. Colon. 1617.]
am nunquam oliin dictum : itaque J See my Review, above p. 261,
Thomas, parte tertia quaestionis &c.
sexagesimae secundae, articulo ter- m Hennas, lib. iii. Simil. 5. Just,
tio, non potuit altius arcessere quam Apol. i. p. 54. Dial. 354. Irenaeus,
ab Hugone de Sancto Victore.' lib. v. cap. i. p. 293. Clem. Alex.
Chamier. Panstrat. torn. iv. p. 52. p. 654. Tertullian, contr. Prax. cap.
N.B. Hugo flourished about A.D. xxvi. de Cam. Cbristi, p. 18. Hip-
ii 20, [or 1130.] polytus, contr. Noet. cap. iv. p. 9.
[' Hugo de S. Victore dicit, quod cap. xvii. p. 18. Novatian, cap. xix.
Sacramentum ex sanctificatione in- [xxiv.] Cyprian, de Idol. Vanit. p.
visibilem gratiam continet.' Aquin. 228. Lactant. lib. iv. cap. 12. Hila-
par. 3. q. 62. art. 3. p. 138. rius, de Trin. ion, 1044, 1047. Gre-
' Sacramentum est corporale vel gorius Boeticus, apud Ambros. torn,
materiale elementum . . .ex sanctifi- ii. pp. 354, 356, [KaQdirtp yap rb <ru>fj.a.
catione contineiis invisibilem et spi- fxt'iva ^vwrai T<f XpiaT<, ovrta na.1
ritualem gratiam. 1 Hugo de S. Viet, rintis avrif Sta rov &prov TOVTOV evov-
t. iii. de Sacramentis, par. 9. c. i. neOa. Chrysost. in I Cor. Horn. 24.
p. 405. p. 213.]
' Dona enim gratiae spiritualia n [Abp. Cranmer, pp. 338, 340,
quasi quaedam invisibilia antidota 341, 355.]
sunt, quae dum in sacramentis vLsi- Justin. Apol. xcvi. Dial. p. 290.
bilibus, quasi quibusdam vasculis, Compare my Doctrinal Use, &c. p.
homini porriguntur, quid aliud quam 405, and Review, above pp. 144,
ex patenti specie virtus occulta os- 145, and Albertinus, pp. 296, 664.
of the Eucharist explained. 491
concur with, in the distributing his graces and blessings to
the faithful receivers. As to the third Person, his more im-
mediate presence and energy was by the ancients assigned to
Baptism, correspondently to the figure of the conjugal union,
as before hinted : while to the Eucharist was assigned the more
immediate presence and energy of the Logos, as the figure of
the incarnation, made use of in that case, justly required. It
would be a kind of solecism in ancient language, to speak of
the Holy Ghost in this matter, as some late writers have done ;
because it would be confounding the analogy which the truly
ancient Doctors went upon in their doctrine of the two Sacra-
ments. The very learned and judicious Bishop Bull gives a
reasonable account of what was taught concerning the Eucha-
rist in the early, days of Justin and Irenaeus :
' By or upon the sacerdotal benediction, the Spirit of Christ,
or a Divine virtue from Christ, descends upon the elements,
and accompanies them to all worthy communicants : and there-
fore they are said to be, and are, the body and blood of Christ,
the same Divinity which is hypostatically united to the body
of Christ in heaven, being virtually united to the elements of
bread and wine P.' Here it is observable, that by Spirit of
Christ Bishop Bull could not mean the third Person, but the
Logos <i, which only is hypostatically united to the humanity
of Christ ; and that that Spirit is not said to reside in the
elements, but to accompany them, and to the worthy only : so
that the virtual union can amount only to an union of con-
currence, (not of infusion or inherence,) whereby Christ is
P Bull's Answer to the Bishop of upon the bread and wine in the
Meaux, pp. 21, 22. How different Eucharist, p. 22, alias 246. Cp.
Bishop Bull's account is from Dr. Spalatens. 1. v. c. 6. p. 85. Salmas.
Grabe's in his notes on Irenaeus, p. 395.]
will be obvious to every one who 1 How common and familiar such
will be at the pains to compare use of the name Spirit, or Holy Spi-
them : though at the same time rit, anciently was, may be under-
Bishop Bull very respectfully refers stood from the interpretation of Luke
to Dr. Grabe (p. 23) for clearing i. 35, as before mentioned, and from
the point against the Romanists. the testimonies collected to that pur-
[On earth. Which also seems to pose by learned men. Grotius in
be the meaning of all the ancient Marc. ii. 8. Bull. Defens. Fid. Nic.
Liturgies, in which it is prayed, cap. ii. sect. 5. Constant, in Hilar.
that God would send down his Spirit praefat. p. 19.
492
The Sacramental Part
conceived to concur with the elements, in the due use of them
to produce the effects in persons fitly disposed. All which is
true and ancient doctrine.
In the fourth century, some illapse r of the third Person upon
the elements was commonly taught, and that justly, provided it
be but as justly understood. Not so as to make the sacramental
body a compound of element and spirit, after the way of the
modern Greeks ; nor so as to make the third Person the proper
food of the Eucharist, or the ' res Sacramenti ;' for the Logos was
always considered as the food there spiritually given and re-
ceived 8 ; yea it was the incarnate Logos *, and therein stands
our mystical union with Christ as improved and strengthened
in that Sacrament. But the work of the Holy Ghost upon the
elements 11 was to translate or change them from common to
r [The illapse of the second Per-
son was prayed for likewise. ' Sacer-
dotes quoque qui dant baptismum,
et ad Eucharistiam Domini impre-
cantur adventum, faciunt oleum
chrismatis, manum imponunt.' Hie-
ron. in Sophon. iii. p. 1673. ' Crede
adesse Dominum Jesum, invocatum
precibus sacerdotum.' Pseud. Ambr.
de iis qui mysteriis initiantur. c. 5.
But vid. Missal. Gallican. in Pfaffio
383. This relates to baptism.
The whole Trinity sometimes in-
voked. Vid. Justin. Apol. 96. Cyrill.
Mystag. i. t. vii. p. 308. Cp. Pfaf-
fius, 384, 385, 399. '
' Improprie ergo, in Sacramentis
participants, verbo carne vesci dici-
mur, cum carne tantum per verbum
facta vivificante vescamur. Sed nee
ipsam camera proprie sumimus, quae
in pane sanctificato sub sacramento
nobis communicatur.' Salmasius,
contra Grot. p. 156.]
8 Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 38. p. 284.
Clemens Alex. 123, 125, 126, 177,
1 78. Tertullian. de Orat. cap. 6. De
Resurr. Carn. cap. 38. Origen. in
Levit. Horn. xvi. p. 266. in Matt.
p. 254. Novat. cap. 14, 16. Hila-
rius de Trin. lib. viii. p. 954. Na-
zianzen, Orat. iii. p. 70.
* Tertullian. de Resurr. Cam. cap.
37. Origen. in Matt. p. 254. Au-
gustin. in Psal. xxxiii. p. 211. cxx.
p. 1381. Compare Jewel's Answer
to Hard. art. viii. p. 293, and Alber-
tinus, pp. 341, 758.
u [' i. Papists say, the Holy Ghost
transubstantiates the elements.
4 2. Lutherans, that he unites them
with the natural body locally pre-
sent.
* 3. Modern Greeks, that he fills
them with himself, or with his grace
or energy.
'4. Ancients, that he makes them
exhibit! ve symbols of Christ's body
locally absent, and of all the bene-
fits accruing from it, conveying them
to the communicants in the use of
the symbols. They are changed
They have a dignity and pre-eminence
which they had not before They
are not now common bread or com-
mon wine, but the Sacrament of the
body and blood of Christ. A holy
mystery a covenant a testimony
a perfect seal and sufficient war-
rant of God's promises,' &c. Jewel,
Treatise of the Sacraments, p. 274.
ed. 1611.
' Consecratio nullam pani et vino
mutationem inducit nisi ut ex his
fiat per earn sacramentum. Fides
deinde sacramentum digne accipi-
of the Eucharist explained. 493
sacred, from elements to sacraments, from their natural state
and condition to supernatural ends and uses, that they might
become holy signs, certain pledges, or exhibitive symbols of our
Lord's own natural body and blood in a mystical and spiritual
way. Not that any change was presumed, either as to the
substance or the inward qualities of the elements, but only
as to their outward state, condition, uses, or offices. For like
as when a commoner is advanced into a peer, or a subject into
a prince, or an house into a church, or a laic into a priest or
prelate, there is a change of outward state, condition, circum-
stances, and there are new uses and offices, new prerogatives,
new glories, but no change of substance, no, nor of inward
qualities implied : such also is the case (only in a more eminent
degree) with respect to the elements of the Eucharist ; when
they are consecrated by the priest, when they are sanctified
by the Holy Ghost, when they are rendered relatively holy,
when they are transferred from common to sacred x , when they
are exalted from mean and low uses, in comparison, to the
highest and holiest purposes that such poor things could ever
be advanced to. Such a change, or transmutation, as I have
now mentioned, frequently occurs in the primitive writers :
more than this (I am competently assured) will not be found
in any certain and undoubted monuments of Catholic writers,
within the first six centuries 7.
entis facit ut spiritaliter illud perci- \ ' When Gelasius speaks of the
piat : id est, ut spiritali ejus virtuti going of the sacraments into the
cominunicet, et Spiritus Dei parti- divine substance, he meaneth not
ceps existat. Nee huic veritati ob- that the substances of the sacra-
stat, quod Patres saepe Swafj.iv &prov rnents go into the substance of God,
appellent, &c. Non enim intelligunt but that in the action of that mys-
eam esse panis virtutem, aut pani tery, to them that worthily receive
inesse, sed quia cum pane sirnul ac- the sacraments, to them they be
cipitur ab eo qui digne earn accipit.' turned into the Divine substance,
Salmasius, p. 429.] through the working of the Holy
* ' Accedat verbum ad elemen- Ghost, who maketh the godly re-
turn, et fit Sacramentum.' Augus- ceivers to be partakers of the Divine
tin. in Joann. Tract. 80. nature and substance.' Cranmer,
n Compare Jewel's Def. of Apol. 356. cp. 358. N.B. The outward
part ii. pp. 243, 244. Albertinus, pp. change as to relative holiness, be-
425, 509. Cosin. Histor. Transubst. longs to the elements, but the in-
pp. 109, 113, 124. Covel. Account of ward change to the persons only.]
Gr. Church, pp. 47, 53, &c. 67, 68, 72.
494
The Sacramental Part
So long as symbolical language was well remembered and
rightly understood, and men knew how to distinguish between
figure and verity, between signs and things : while due care
and judgment was made use of, to interpret the literal ex-
pressions of Scripture and Fathers literally, and figurative
expressions according to the figure : I say, while these things
were so, there could be no room for imagining any change
in the elements, either as to substance or internal qualities,
nor for supposing that our Lord's words, ' This is my" body,'
were to be otherwise interpreted than those parallel words of
the Apostle, ' that rock was Christ z .' For as the word ' Christ,'
which is the predicate in one proposition, is to be literally
understood, and the trope lies in the verb 'was,' put for 'signified,'
or exhibitively signified ; so the word ' body,' which is the pre-
dicate in the other proposition, is to be literally interpreted
of the natural or personal body of Christ, and the trope lies
in the verb ' is a ,' put for ' represents,' or exhibitively signifies.
And as it would not be right to say that the rock was a spiri-
tual Christ, distinct from the real Christ, making two Christs ;
so neither can it be right to say or conceive that the bread
in the Eucharist is a spiritual body of Christ, making two true
bodies of Christ. But as the rock was a symbol of the one
true Christ, so is the sacramental bread a symbol exhibitive
of the one true body of Christ, viz. the natural or personal
body, given and received in the Eucharist : I say, given and
1 I Cor. x. 4. ' Solet autem res usitata loquendi ratio postulare vi-
quae significat, ejus rei nomine detur, ut symbolis non solum nomina,
quam significat nuncupari. . . . Hinc sed et eorum proprietates, imo effecta
est quod dictum est, petra erat tribuantur." Cosin. Histor. Tran-
Christus. Non enini dixit, petra subst. p. 3.
significat, sed tanquam hoc esset ; a See this proved at large in Cha-
quod utique per substantiam hoc mier's Fanstrat. torn. iv. pp. 528,
non erat, sed per significationem. 529, &-. Albertinus. pp. 525, 526,
Sic et sanguis, quoniam animam 686. Jewel's Def. of Apol. p. 209.
significat in Sacramentis, anima die- Answ. to Hard. pp. 238, 239, 255,
tus est.' Augustin. in Levit. q. Ivii. 267.' Spalatensis, lib. v. cap. 6. n. 73.
p. 516. torn. 3. Cp. Epist. xcviii. 169. Cosin. Histor. Transubstant.
ad Bonifac. p. 268. torn. 2. and my pp. 10, 24, 30, 41, 43, 44. Compare
Review, above chap. 7. pp. 129 my Review, above pp. 105 107,
148. 151, 152, 164.
' Sacramentorum enim natura et
of the Eucharist explained. 495
received spiritually b , but truly and really ; and the more truly,
because spiritually, as the spiritual sense, and not the literal,
is the true sense c .
The ancient notion of this matter might easily be cleared
from Father to Father, through the earlier centuries ; and,
I presume, I have competently done it elsewhere d . Therefore
I shall here content myself with a single passage of Macarius,
of the fourth century, which very briefly, but fully, expresses
what all the rest mean. He observes, ' that bread and wine
are offered in the Church as symbols (or antitypes) of our
Lord's body and blood, and that they who partake of the visible
bread, do spiritually eat the flesh of our Lord 6 .' He is to be
understood of worthy partaking ; as Albertinus has shewn f , and
as reason requires. And when he speaks of the Lord's flesh,
he cannot be understood of any spiritual flesh locally present
in the Eucharist, but of the natural body and blood spiritually
given and received, whereof the sacramental body and blood
are the symbols, or antitypes, in his account. Such was the
doctrine prevailing in his time, and three centuries, at least,
longer P.
But in the declension of the seventh century, some began to
speak very oddly of the elements, as being literally made, by
consecration, the very body and blood of Christ, not images
b [The doctrine of eating spiritu- the old English or Saxon Church
ally was preserved even in Pasch. down to the loth or nth century,
Radbert. Opp. pp. 1567, 1570, 1571, as appears from Aelfric, who thus
1583, 1626.] speaks in his Saxon Homily on
c Compare my Review, above Easter-day :
pp. 170, 273. Jewel's Answer to ' We do now spiritually (ga)"Cllce)
Hard. pp. 238, 241, 251, 256, 292. receive or eat Christ's body, and
Bilson's Christian Subject, p. 631. drink his blood, when we receive
d Review, above chap. 6, and 7. (or eat) with true belief, that holy
"On lv rjj tKK\r)(ria -rrpocrcpepfTai housel (hurel).' p. 3. ed. Lisle.
&pros na.1 o?ios avri-rvirov TTJS aapicbs ' Non sit tameii sacramentum cor-
avrov, Hal cu/uaros, Kal '6ri ot fj.ra- pus ejus in quo passus est pro nobis,
\a.u.fidvovrts K rov fycuvofitvov &prov, nee sanguis ejus quern pro nobis
irvfv[j.a.TiK(as rrjv ffdpKo. rov Kvpiov effudit, sed spiritualiter corpus ejus
eadiov<rt. Macar. Homil. xxvii. p. efficitur et sanguis, sicut manna quod
164. Cp. Albertin. pp. 437, 438, de caelo pluit, et aqua quae de petra
439. fluxit.' Aelfric. Ep. ad Wulstan.
1 Albertinus, p. 440. Wanley. 58. ann. circiter 950 et
? [That .doctrine was preserved in 941.]
496 The Sacramental Part
or antitypes at all h , as used to be taught aforetime. From
thence we may reasonably date all the confusion and perplexity
which has since so clouded and embarrassed the theory of this
Sacrament.
When learning, language, and taste fell to decay, and men
became as much strangers to the sublime of their forefathers,
as to the symbolical majesty of the sacred style, then came up
a lean, dry, sapless kind of theology, mightily degenerated from
the just and elevated sentiments of former ages*. There was
a branch of the Eutychians, who in consequence of their main
principle of a confusion of the two natures of Christ, (making
the human and divine nature one,) thought themselves obliged
to maintain, that the body of Christ was, from the very moment
of his conception, altogether incorruptible. From this error of
theirs they had the Greek name of aphthartodocetae k , and
aphthartistae, d<p0aprt<TTal, and the Latin one of incorruptieolae,
and from one Gaianus, a chief leader amongst them, they had
some of them the name of Gaianites. Against those Gaianites,
one Anastasius (a monk of Mount Sinai about the year 689!)
happened to engage : and amongst other topics of argumenta-
tion, he made choice of one drawn from the Eucharist. He had
h Yet it has been thought, that rebus [quae iis significantur] acci-
\vhile they rejected the names of pere, servilis infirmitatis est.' Au-
' figure,' ' type,' and ' image,' they or gustin. de Doctrin. Christian, lib. iii.
their followers admitted of the names c. 9. p. 49.
of 'symbol 'and 'representation.' See k 'AQOaproSoK-firai. Vide Darna-
Claude, book iv. chap. 10. pp. 341, seen. Haeres. Ixxxiv. p. 107.
344. Which, if true, shews only ' Between 677 and 686. Fabric,
how confused those men were, both Bibl. Graec. vol. ix. pp. 313, [685.
in language and notion. Oudin. t. i. p. 1663.]
[But they seem to have used ' type' [In the nth century arose another
and ' symbol ' promiscuously, and dispute, namely, whether the conse-
to have rejected them both. Owe crated elements were themselves cor-
elirf, Tovr6 tffri rb ffv^o\ov rov ruptible. So that the very premises
(Tcbfj.ar6s nov, Kal rovro rov alfiards on which Anastasius built his argu-
fj.ov, oAAa rovr6 fffn rb ffH-ud pov, ment for the corruptible nature of
Kal rb cupd juou' SiSdffKvv r)fj.as fj^t the thing signified was disputed.
irpbs TT]V tyvffiv 6pav rov TrpoKftfj.tvov, For since our Lord's body was held
oAAa 8ia TTJS ytvo^fv^s wxapiarrlas incorruptible, it was now pretended
eiy ffdpica Kal aTfia neTaf)d\\tff6ai. that the eucharistical body, being
Theodor. Mopsuest. in Possini Ca- the same, was incorruptible also,
tena in Matt. xxvi. 26. p. 350.] Vide Salmasius, p. 344, the natural
' ' Literam sequi, et signa pro consequence of transubstautiation.]
of the Eucharist explained. 497
learned, or might have learned from Catholic teachers, that by
the operation of the Holy Spirit the elements are changed into
the body of Christ, meaning the symbolical body ; that is,
changed into sacraments, or holy signs : and he had learned
also, that the worthy communicants do partake of the natural
body of Christ, the thing signified ; that is, spiritually, mysti-
cally, symbolically, partake of it. These two propositions he
confusedly remembered, or rather ignorantly misunderstood, and
so he blended them both into this one ; that the elements
themselves upon consecration become, not in signification, but
in reality, the natural body of Christ : which amounted to
saying, that, instead of exhibitive signs, they become the very
things signified. Under such confusion of thought, he formed
his argument against the Gaianites m in this manner : ' The
consecrated elements are no types or figures, but they are the
very body and blood of our Lord ; and they are corruptible,
as will appear upon experiment : therefore our Lord's body,
before his resurrection, was also corruptible n ,' which was to
be proved . To confirm his notion that the elements are no
types or figures, but the very body, he pleaded, that our Lord,
in the institution, said not, This is the figure [antitype] of my
body, but ' This is my body P.' An argument by which he
m [ ' Videntur isti homines ere- avrb rt> cru/j.a ai af/ua
didiase omnem panem communem arov rov vlov rov 0eou fj.era\a/j.l3dvo-
esse antitypum corporis Christi, quia /uep, rov ffapKiuOevros Kal -yfvvijdtvros
Christus in pane sacramenta consti- TTJS ayias 6eor6Kov Kal a.fiirap6evov
tuit sui corporis : at post consecrati- Mapioy.
onem, cum desinat esse communis [' Frivolum et ineptum est argu-
panis et simplex, desinere esse anti- mentum : ex re sequeretur imaginem
typum corporis, quia jam sit ipsum cujuslibet rei aut personae iisdem
corpus.' Salinas, pp. 340, 341.] vitiis plane esse obnoxiam ut ipsum
n 'O 6p0d5o|os. flirt /JLOI, irapa.Ka.\S> architypum, vel ipsa res cujus est
... avr^i 7] Koivuvia Kal Bvcr'ta TOV travel- imago. . . . At illi negant panem eu-
yiov crw/j.aros Kal a'tparos Xptcrrov fy charistiae, quern corruptibilem asse-
Tcpoo-(pfpeis Kal /j.fra\a/j.fidi>fis, trai/uo verant, esse avrirvrrov corporis Christi.
Kal alu.a. a.\ti8ivov fffn Xpicrrov, rov Sed quod negant, res ipsa, velint
vlov rov soC, v) 4/tAbs apros cbj o nolint, ostendit.' Salmasius, p. 343.]
Tri-KpaiTK.6ij.tvos Ka-r' olKov, Kal avri-rv- P 'O 6pQ65oos. ovrca ino-Tfvofj.tv, Kal
TTOS rov 0-us/j.aros Xpiffrov, a>s rj 6v<rla ovrtas 6fj.o\oyovfj.(v, Kara rriv <p<av$)v
rov rpdyov fy 'lovoatoi irpoffdyovo-iv ; avrov Xpio-rov . . . rovr6 fiov tffrl rb
'O roiOf/TTJS' /J.TI y4voi.ro TIUM.S flirelv ff!i>u.a.. . . . OVK ffae, rovr6 tan rb avri-
avrirvirov rov o~ta^aros Kpto'Tov r^v rvirov o"(t>varos Kal rov al/j.ar6s u.ov.
a.-yiav KOivoivlav, v) tyiKbv aprov, oAA.' Anastas. Hodeg.c. xxiii. pp.349, 3^0.
Kk
498 The Sacramental Part
might as easily have proved, that the rock in the wilderness
was the very Christ : for St. Paul said not that the rock signi-
fied Christ, or was a symbol of Christ ; but he declared in
express words, that ' that rock was Christ <i.' It is hard to
say what precise ideas that author had of the Sacrament of
the Eucharist, or what he really meant ; , if indeed he went
further than the sound of words. Albertinus conjectures, from
his occasionally mentioning the descent of the Holy Spirit, that
he conceived the consecrated elements to become the very body,
because the same Spirit was imparted to them as to the natural
body of our Lord; a notion not falling in with transubstanti-
ation or con substantiation, but amounting to some kind of im-
panation 1 ". If so, he may be looked upon, according to what
appears, as the first inventor of the spiritual bread-body, or
first founder of that system. But I much question whether
that notion can claim so early a date. Whatever conception
the author had of the elements, as made the very body and
blood of Christ, yet (so far as we may judge from some passages
of another work of the same author, first published by Dr. Allix
in 1682 s ,) he did not conceive that the elements were enriched,
either with the Spirit himself, or with the graces of the Spirit :
N.B. That weak way of reasoning Spiritus qui proprio Domini corpori
has been since fathered upon several et sanguini inest, se pani et vino si-
older writers ; as Origen, Magnes, militer communicat : qui certe mo-
Theodorus Heracleotes, Theodoras nachi hujus conceptus nihil habet
Mopsuestenus, Cyrillus Alexandri- commune cum transubstantiatione,
nus, and others : but those and the aut consubstantiatione, seel impana-
like passages appear to be all ficti- tionis cujusdam, ab aliis post clarius
tious, imposed upon those earlier expositae, speciem quandam habet.'
writers by some later Greeks. See Albertin. p. 906. Cp. Claude, lib.
Albertinus, pp. 367, 420, 769, 770, iv. c. 9. pp. 331 336.
&c. 893. [N.B. After that transubstanti-
[The Greeks that came later, Nice- ation took place, many denied that
phorus, Theodoras Graptus, Samo- the consecrated elements were cor-
nas, Marcus Ephesius, Theophylac- ruptible. This happened in the nth
tus, Miletius, &c., followed the same century, near four hundred years
scent. See Pfaffius, pp. 141, 142. after Anastasius. 1066. Vid. Guit-
And so Pasch. Radbert. in Matth. mund. t. ii. p. 447]
p. 1626.] ' S. Anastasii Sinaitae Anagogi-
i i Cor. x. 4. carum contemplationum in Hexae-
r ' Mens ipsius videtur esse, panem meron, liber xii. hactenus desidera-
et vinum eatenus esse verum Christi tus.' Lond. 1682. Cp. Fabric. Bibl.
corpus et sanguinem, quatenus idem Gr. vol. ix. p. 328.
of tlie Eucharist explained. 499
for he distinguished between the bread from heaven, viz. the
Logos, given to the worthy only, and carrying eternal life with
it, and the earth-born flesh of Christ, viz. the consecrated ele-
ments, common both to worthy and unworthy, and having no
such promise of eternal life annexed to it*, in John vi. 51.
I will not answer for the acuteness, much less for the soundness
of his distinction. He found himself entangled presently, only
by reading a few verses further in the same chapter, where
eternal life is annexed to the eating of the flesh and drinking
the blood, as well as before to the manducation of the bread
from heaven, which he had interpreted of the Divine nature
of Christ. Here he was in straits, and retired in confusion,
leaving his readers in the dark ; but referring them for in-
struction to men more knowing, and more equal to the difficulty
than he pretended to be : only he seemed to aim at some
blind distinction between the earth-born visible flesh u which
the unworthy partake of, and the mystical flesh x which be-
longed to the worthy only, and which it was very difficulty
to make any sense or consistency of, upon his principles. He
had discarded signs as such, and had resolved all into the things
signified, viz. the real flesh and blood of Christ : and now he
* 'O IK rov ovpavov Ka.Ta.fias, TOUT' 709 rov ffu^nros Kal rov a(fj.a,ros TTJS
fffriv 6 @(bs Aoyos' Kal tav ns <pdyri fvx.apto'rias, rov aprov Kal rov ^TOTTJ-
IK rov &prov rovrov, i)<rfrai els rov piov. Anastas. ibid. p. 19.
altava. . . . axovfis iff pi 5<a<f>ofmy /3pco- x Tis 5f Iffrlv T] oA.7j(Mjs ffpwffts TTJS
ffeais' fK rov aprov rov | ovpavov [ivariKrjs o~apKbs rov Xpiffrov, Kal ri
KaraSalvovros rovs faOiovras tlnty rb tv avrrj Kptfirrofj-tvov air6ppriroi> af^ta
fX fl " C u >)l t ' alibviov iiri 5f rys o-apxbs, avrov, Ka.ra.\ifjLTra.vo^fv Tots iKavoirt-
ov rfOr]Kf rovro. . . . Sirrus fterf\ofj.fv pots Kal yvuffriniarfpots, oTs XP^I M Ta "
rSiv u.v<m)p(tav. Ol fj-tv &^ioi fKfivwv StSovcrw. p. 19.
etjro\a/3oi/<ri ToC &prov rov Ka.ra.l3ai- y [ ' L T t quotidie de novo creetur
vovros aid tK rov ovpavov, rovr'' tart infinitis in locis corpus Christ! cor-
TTJS fVoiKTjcreaix Kal ^xAd/u^tws rov ruptibile, cum sanguine pariter cor-
iravayiov irarpbs rrjs 6t6rr)ros rov ruptibili, et separate a proprio cor-
Xpiffrov, tbs ra Oela Kal ovpdvta </>po- pore, ut effusus est ex latere ejus
vovvrts- ol STJ ybtvoi Kal ra yf)iva in cruce, id vero nullo modo credi-
(ppovovvres, rrjs yriyfvovs Kal HOVQS bile dictu est, nee possibile factu. . . .
ffapKbs rov Xpio-rov /j.era\a/j.Bdvouffiv Non mirum est porro Graeculos istos
ToAjurjpij Kal avai<s. Anastas. neotericos doctores in re obscure
Hexaera. lib. xii. p. 18. exponenda, variis semetipsos impli-
u Ov irepl rys opu>/j.(vr)s avroj [fort, casse contradictionibus.' Salraas.
auToC] ffapKbs Kal a'l/jLaros \eyfi' /uTf- pp. 345, 346.]
Aae yap Kal 'louSas, al ~S.ifji.tav & Ma-
K k 2
5QO . The Sacramental Part
wanted a distinction, in order to explain what was received by
the unworthy, and what by the worthy, but found none ; except
it, were this, that the unworthy received the corruptible flesh
and blood of Christ, separate from his Divinity, while the worthy
received both together. This is all the sense I can make of his
notion z : and I pretend not to be certain even of this a . Neither
would I have dwelt so long upon so obscure and unintelligible a
writer, had he not been the first, or among the first, that threw
off the old distinctions between the symbolical and true body,
thereby destroying, in a great measure, the very idea of a Sacra-
ment. Hitherto the new notion of the elements being made
the real body, as opposed to image or figure, had been used
only for the support of true doctrine as to other points. But
it is always wrong policy (to say no worse) to endeavour to sup-
port sound doctrine by any thing unsound, or to defend truth
by any thing but truth. Error, first or last, will infallibly turn
on the side of error, and cannot naturally serve for any other
purpose. So it proved in this case : for the next time that this
new doctrine appeared upon the stage was in the service of
image-worship, then creeping into the Church. They who
2 [See the weakness and incon- of symbolical, viz. the sacrament of
sistency of the notion fully exposed the true body,
in Salmasius, p. 345, &c. 2. He had learned that the natu-
' Isti volunt ex pane, corruptionis ral body is given and received : he
omnia labi obnoxio, confici corpus interpreted it literally, instead of
Christi frangendum, similiter ut in mystically, or spiritually,
cruce ipse fractus est, et multis aliis 3. He had learned that the natu-
praeterea vitiis mucoris, putrefacti- ral body eaten, is considered as cor-
onis, verminationis corrumpendum, mptible, crucified and dead, and not
quae non sensit turn corpus Christi : as glorified : that he retained, and
. . . Quod non solum est aroTrtararof, justly.
sed etiam maxime impium cogitatu. 4. He had learned, that the flesh
Non mirum est porro Graeculos profiteth not, and that the unworthy
istos,' &c. Ibid. pp. 345, 346.] partake not either of the 'Logos,' or
a As errors commonly are the Holy Ghost, but that the worthy
corruption of truth, and retain some partake of both : and those also he
of the original features ; so one may appears to have retained,
see in Anastasius's notion some re- Upon the whole, he blundered
semblances of the ancient doctrines, only in two of the propositions : but
miserably perverted or misunder- those two mistakes, like the flies in
stood. the ointment, marred the composi-
i . He had learned that the Spirit tion, and corrupted his whole system
makes the body of Christ : he inter- of the Eucharist,
preted it of the natural body, instead
of Ike Eucharist explained. 501
opposed that innovation, kept up the ancient principle with
regard to the elements of the Eucharist, as symbols, figures,
images ; pleading that our Lord had left no visible image of
himself, his incarnation, passion, sacrifice, &c. but that of the
Eucharist. In reply to that plea, the innovators remonstrated
against the symbolical nature of the Eucharist, contending that
the consecrated elements were no images, types, or figures, but
the very body and blood of Christ, literally so.
John Damascen, surnamed Mansur, the father of the modern
Greeks, and their great oracle, was in this sentiment ; a very
considerable man otherwise, and worthy of better times b . He
had read the Fathers, who were pointed against him ; which
however signified little to a person already embarked in a wrong
cause : for it is certain, and might be proved by many instances,
that men who have any affection stronger than their love of
truth, will never want evasions against any evidence whatever.
He pretended that the ancients c had called the elements types,
or figures, only before consecration, never after d . A plea noto-
rioxisly false in fact, as all learned men know 6 : and had he
said just the reverse, viz. that the Fathers had never so called
them before consecration, but always after, he had come much
nearer to the truth. The elements, before they are consecrated,
are common things : and it is their consecration only that
renders them figures, signs, symbols, sacraments. To pretend
therefore that they are signs or symbols before consecration, is
making them sacraments before they are sacraments, and carries
a contradiction in the very terms f . If the Fathers have ever
so called them, which is questioned, it could amount only to
b Damascen flourished abcmt A.D. c See Albertinus, pp. 904, 907,
740. Died about A.D. 756. Vid. 911, 912, 915. Jewel's Answer to
Fabric. Bibl. Grace, torn. viii. p. 774. Hard. art. xii. p. 335. Def. of Apol.
c ['Locutiones figurae, imaginis, p. 243. Bilson's Christian Subject,
et antitypi, aliquid mutationis octavo pp. 594, 595- L'Arroque's Hist, of
saeculo apud Graecos accepisse facile the Euch. part ii. p. 213, &c. 368, &c.
conceperim." Simon, not. ad Gabr. [Salmasius de Transubst. contra
Sever. 230.] Grot. pp. 338, 339, &c. Simon, not.
d Damascen. de Rect. Fid. lib. iv. in Gabr. Philadelph. p. 230. Pfaifius
c. 13. pp. 271, 273, edit. Lequ. [Cf. in Iren. Fragm. p. 140.]
Cone. Nicen. ii. Act. vi. p. 370. f [ 'Vid. Jewel, Answer to Hard.
Hard.] p. 335. Salmasius, pp. 341, 445.]
502 The Sacramental Part
some chance expression, contrary to their customary language,
and to be accounted for by the figure called a prolepsis, as done
by way of anticipation.
However, Damascen persisted in his error, that the conse-
crated elements are no type or figure, but the very 'deified
body of our Lord ?.' If you ask, who makes them so ? he
sometimes tells you, the second Person does it, like as he
formed for himself a personal body in the womb h : and some-
times { he says, that the third Person does it, like as he also,
overshadowing the Virgin, formed the same body in the womb k .
Thus he drew together the two constructions of Luke i. 35, one
prevailing principally before the fourth century ', and the other
after m : and he reconciled the two positions handsomely enough,
by observing, that the second Person operates by the third.
But still he was well aware, that whatever person should be
supposed to make the body in the womb, yet nothing could
make that body properly our Lord's body, but our Lord's
assuming it into an union with himself : the forming an human
and a sanctified body would not be making that body Christ's
body : and, for the like reason, the Holy Ghost's so forming
s OVK f<rn rtiiros 6 Upros Kal 6 olvos crat. dist. 2. Paulus Diaconus in
rov (7co/uoToj KO! alfjiaros rov Xpurrov, "Vit. Gregor. I. A.D. 734. Missal.
/j.)] jfvoiro, aXA.' avrb rb ffwpa rov K.V Goth, in Missa Leudegarii A.D. 780.
ptov Tf6tufjLft>oi>. Damascen. de Rect. Steph. Advers. A.D. 1113.]
Fid. lib. iv. c. 13. p. 871. ' See above, p. 490.
h Damascen, ibid. p. 268. m It may be noted, that when
1 [ ' Paulus Diaconus Aquileiensis wef/aa ayiov, in that verse came
A.D. 785. Praescius conditor noster at length to be interpreted of the
infirmitatis nostrae, ea potestate qua third Person, yet Svvunis fyiffrov
cuncta fecit ex nihilo, et corpus sibi continued to be interpreted of the
ex carne semper-virginis, operaute second, namely of the Arf-yos. Atha-
Sancto Spiritu, fabricavit, panem et nasius, Orat. iv. pp. 642, 695. Basil,
vinum aqua mixturn, manente pro- contr. Eunorn. lib. v. p. 318. Am-
pria specie, in carnem et sanguinem bros. de Sp. Sancto, lib. ii. c. 5.
suum, ad catholicam fidein, ob repa- Ruflin. in Symb. p. 20. ed. Oxon.
rationem nostram Sancti Spiritus Philastrius, cap. cl. p. 345. Au-
sanctificatione convertit.' In Vit. gustin. contr. Maxim, lib. iii. c. 15.
Gregorii M. Then Paulus reports a Leo I. Serin, xxi. p. 147. Damas-
pretended miracle of Gregory, to cen, pp. 204, 658. Theophylact in
convert a woman and to confirm loc. [Euseb. in Isai. p. 385. Cyrill.
the doctrine.] Hierosol. Catech. 17. c. 6. p. 266.
k Damascen, ibid. p. 269. Epist. Gregor. Nazianz. Or. 38, et 42.
ad Zachar. Ep. Duarorum, p. 656. Marius Victorin. contr. Arian. 1. i.
[Cp. Pasch. Radb. c. 3. p. 1563. Gregor. Moral. 1. xciii. c. 12. Homil.
iv. 1565. 1588. Gratian. de Conse- in Evang. 33. Beda in loc.]
of the Eucharist explained. 503
and so sanctifying the elements would not be converting them
into, or making them, the body and blood of Christ, but merely
a sanctified body. Therefore Damascen proceeded further to
affirm n , that our Lord makes the elements his body and blood,
by joining his Divinity with them : and it is observable, that
while he thought the grace of the Spirit sufficient for the ele-
ments of oil and water, in Chrism and Baptism, yet he judged
that nothing less than Christ's own Divinity could make the
elements of the Eucharist Christ's body and blood. Had he
thought of this in time, he might have spared his two previous
considerations, about the second and the third Person's forming
or changing the elements into Christ's body, so improperly
brought in ; for it is now plain, by his own account, that the
elements are not made Christ's body, but by Christ's assuming
them into some kind of union with his Divinity ; and all that
was supposed previous could amount only to preparing them,
fitting them, sanctifying them, in order to be made the body
and blood of Christ. It could not amount to so much as form-
ing them, like the body in the womb, though he had pretended
that it did : for the bread and wine want no forming, (like the
body in the womb,) having been formed before, and all along
keeping their original forms. So that at length that pretended
previous change could resolve only into a previous sanctification
by the Spirit, upon his own principles : the Logos was to do
^the rest, by assuming those sanctified elements, and making
them the body and blood of Christ. So confused and inco-
herent was this great man.
But what was worse still, after all these lengths of fancy,
there was yet a difficulty remaining, which was altogether in-
supei-able. The elements were to be made the very deified
body of Christ, like as the personal body, in the womb, had
been made. How could this be, without the like personal
union of the elements with the Divinity \ Here Damascen was
n 2t/ce'ieue r<a eXaioi Kal vSari rriv avrov df^rrjra, Kal iraroirjKfv avra
xipiv TOV irvtvuaros . . . fTrttS^ l=8os treS.uo ai al : ua avrov. Damasc. p.
-roils avdpuTfois &prov fffQiftv, vftaip re 269.
Kal olvov TiVtiv, irvvf^tv^ff avrols rty
504 The Sacramental Part
plunged, and attempted not to get out, excepting only a few
short hints, at that time, or in that work. But in another
work, in the way of a private letter, he did endeavour to sur-
mount the difficulty, by suggesting and enforcing a new piece
of subtilty, that like as a man's body takes in daily additional
matter, and all becomes one and the same body ; so our Lord's
personal body takes in all the new-made bodies of the Eucha-
rist ; and thus, by a kind of growth, or augmentation, all be-
come one and the same personal body of Christ . A marvellous
thought ! But he was wedded to a new scheme, and was in no
disposition to return to the old principles, which might have
eased him of all perplexities. The heart will commonly govern
the head : and it is certain, that any strong passion, set the
wrong way, will soon infatuate even the wisest of men : there-
fore the first part of wisdom is to watch the affections. But I
pass on.
I am aware that the late learned editor of Damascen has
disputed the genuineness of that epistle P. But the external
evidences for it appear to me to outweigh the slight suspicions
drawn from the internal characters. And I am much mistaken,
if any unprejudiced examiner will find that the learned editor
has proved any thing more than a strong desire to fetch off
his author from some palpable absurdities, lest they should
Damascen. Epist. ad Zachar. pp. fected and singular, and ought to
655-659. N.B. There is something bear no weight against the known
of a like thought appearing in a work sentiments and common style of the
ascribed to Gregory Nyssen, Orat. Fathers in general.
Catechet. magn. c. xxxvii. p. 537. [Damascen had hinted this matter
But there are strong suspicions that before, in his book, 1. iv. p. 270, but
that work has been interpolated. It had not explicitly opened his mean-
is certain, that there is, in the close, ing : "fiffirfp (pvcnxcL-s 5<a TTJI ftpuatus
an addition from Theodoras Raithu, & &pros KOI 6 divos no! rb vStup Sia TTJJ
who flourished about A. D. 646. So vofftus tls <ro>/ua xcd a!]ua tov ftrBioirros
that there is no depending upon the icaJ vivovros jueTa/JaAAotrcu, xai y'tvov-
whole work as genuine ; but there rcu t-rtpov auua irapa rb w^rrt^ov a.1-
may be, and probably are interpola- TOV <rufj.a' ovrus 6 TT)S rpoOffffais &pros,
tions in it, perhaps of the seventh or oMs rt oi : 5i-p, Sta TTJS 6nKA.^<ra?j
eighth century, or later. See Alber- KO! twuponriffetas TOV ayiov fvtvfunos,
tinus, p. 487. Fabricius, Bibl. Grace. vvtp<pv<as /ueraTroiotWcu (Is rb uuua.
torn. viii. p. 153. But if Nyssen TQV yipitnov KCL\ al/ia, nal OVK elirl Svo,
really held any such notions, or used oAX' $v KCU rb avr6.~\
any such expressions, they were af- P In Admonitions Praevia, p. 65 2.
of the Eucharist explained. 55
too much impair his credit as to other points. But, however
that be, it is certain that Damascen's system wanted some such
additional succour as that epistle endeavoured to supply : and
whether he did the kind office himself, or some other did it for
him, is of no great moment with respect to the main cause.
One thing we may observe from the whole, that whosoever
once embraces any great absurdity, and resolves to abide by
it, must, if he will be consistent and uniform, proceed to more :
and though to go on is a kind of madness, yet to stop short
betrays more weakness and self-condemnation.
No transubstantiation (such as the Romanists hold) was yet
invented. Damascen's doctrine was far enough from that 1 :
excepting that it migh^t accidentally and gradually lead to it,
as indeed it did, by sapping those ancient principles which
otherwise were sure barriers against it, and by setting men's
minds afloat after new devices.
From Damascen we may pass on to the famous Council of
Constantinople, which consisted of three hundred and thirty-
eight bishops, who assembled under Constantino the Sixth,
surnamed Copronymus, A. D. 754. They, detesting all image-
worship, reestablished the ancient doctrine of the elements being
commemorative and exhibitive types, figures, symbols, or images
of the natural body and blood of Christ ; alleging that the
Eucharist was the only image of Christ's incarnation which
Christ had authorized in his Church r . They speak magnificently
of the consecration, and the effects of it ; the elements thereby
becoming an holy image, and deified, as it were, by grace s : by
which they appear to mean no more than divinely sanctified *,
i Vid. Albertinus, pp. 912, 913. 151; and Albertinus, p. 914; and
L'Arroque's Hist, of Euch. p. 366, Claude, book iv. chap. 10. pp. 347-
&c. Claude against A rnaud, part i. 355.
book 4. chap. 9. p. 338. [And 8 E'IKO>V avrov ayla, o>y Sid nvos
others referred to by Zornius, Histor. ayiaffpov, xdpin 9fov/j.evT}. p. 368.
Eucharist. Infant, p. 457.] * [ ' Consecrare idem est Latinis
r The whole passage may be seen scriptoribus quod deum facere : ut
in the Acts of the second Nicene de illis qui in numerum deorum refe-
Conncil, Act. vi pp. 36^, 369. Har- rebantur, quae est Graecorum O.TTO-
duin, torn. iv. Compare Dr. Covel's 0eWis.' Salmas. de Transubst. pp.
translation of it, and remarks upon 437, 439, 443.]
it; Account of Gr. Church, pp. 150,
506 The Sacramental Part
according to the ordinary use of such phrases, at that time, and
before u : and they themselves explain it by its being made holy,
when before it was common x . And though they speak of the
elements being replenished y, that is, sanctified by the Holy
Ghost, yet they reserve the enlivening or life-giving virtue to
the true and proper body and blood of Christ z ; not to the
elements, the image of them. They distinguish between the
real, natural body, and the relative body, or body by institution
and appointments The meaning of the latter must be deter-
mined by what it is appointed to ; which the Council itself
sufficiently explains : it is appointed to be a true image, and
a most clear memorial of the natural body b : a true image, as
opposed to bare representation, as in a^ picture, not exhibitive
of, or accompanied with true and spiritual benefits : a very clear
memorial, as opposed to the faint shadows and dark intimations
of the legal types or figurations. Some further light perhaps
may be given to the true meaning of those Constantinopolitan
Fathers, by a short passage of the Emperor Copronymus, pre-
served by Nicephorus, who was Patriarch of Constantinople
from 806 to 815. The passage runs thus :
n Vid. Suicer's Thesaur. torn. i. et coli videretur.' Idem, p. 438.
444, 1363, I39 2 I 39 8 - Jewel's Cp. 443.]
Answer to Hard. p. 247. Alber- * Zuovoiif 6avar<p avrov . . . eiic&v
tinus, p. 886. and compare Da- rov faoirotov <r<an.arot avrov . . . avv
mascen. lib. iii. c. 17. p. 339. T$ trorijpica rov faoipopov atnaros TTJS
* TTJS fvxapio~r(as aprov, us euf/evSij irtevpas avrov. Note, that Mr. John-
tlitova TTJS <pvfftKris o-apKbs Sia TTJJ rov son, inadvertently, rendered the last
ayiov Trvtv/uiaros firi<poirrio-fus ayia6- words, ' life-giving cup of the blood
fievov, Ottov ffta/j.a tuSoKrjffe ytveffOai, which [flowed] out of his side,' (Un-
(j.fO'irfvovTos rov v fierfvfft &e rov bloody Sacrifice, p. 195 ;) he should
Kou'ov itpos rb ayiov, rrji/ a.t>a<fx>pa.v have rendered, as Dr. Covel has done,
iroirjfjifvov lepfus. P. 368. [ ' Non ' the cup of the enlivening blood of
enim Svvafj.iv aut virtutem divinam his side : ' which is different, and gives
ex verbis consecrationis inditam esse quite another idea to the main thing,
pani crediderunt, quamvis et spiri- Cp. Theodoret. Dial. ii. p. 85.
turn invocatum, de caelo descendere a "Cloirtp ovv rb Kara <pvffiv rov
dixerunt, et adesse, et praesentia sua Xpiffrov a&aa ayiov, &s QetaQev' ov-
vegetare et implere species elemen- TWS STI\OV Kal rb Oeo-fi ... p. 368.
torum in mensa dominica positas.' For the phrase, fiic&v Kara Oeffiv,
Salmas. p. 443. Cp. 446.] rid. Damascen. torn. i. p. 354.
v [ ' Simulacra consecrari dice- b *A\rjS7) TOV Xpio~rov tiicAva . , , $v
bantur, cum deus cui dedicabantur, avrbs & itport\t<rr}is KOI ebs . . . s
in ea certis carminibus eliciebatur, rinrov Kal avd^vija iv tvapytrrrarrtv rots
ut divinitate sua ilia repleret, et in avrov fjt.vffra.is irapaSfSuiKf. P. 368.
simulacro deus ipse praesens haberi
of the Eucharist explained. 57
' He commanded his holy disciples and apostles to deliver,
by what thing he pleased, a symbol [type] for his body : that
through the sacerdotal ministration we might receive i-eally and
truly, though it be by participation and designation, his very
body .' The meaning, as I apprehend, is, that we partake of
the natural body itself, in a true and reasonable sense, (that is,
symbolically or spiritually,) by receiving what God has insti-
tuted as a symbol and instrument to convey it. Copronymus
does not say, that the elements are really and truly that body:
no, that was the very position of the adverse party. But he
affirms that we truly and really receive that very body, though
symbolically, or by an appointed medium and pledge of it :
which I understand to be exactly the same doctrine that our
Church teaches, viz. that the body and blood of Christ are
' verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the
Lord's Supper d .' This doctrine did not happen to please the
Nicene Fathers, who sat thirty-three years after, in the year
787. It was not sufficient to say, that by or with the elements
we do verily and indeed receive Christ's body and blood, but the
elements themselves must literally be the very body and the very
blood of Christ, and not types or pledges only of it e . Not in-
deed in the sense of Papal transubstantiation, (which was not
then thought on f ,) but in some such sense as Anastasius or
Damascen had before recommended.
Seven years after (viz. A.D. 794) appeared the Caroline books,
moderating in the dispute between the Councils of Constanti-
nople and Nice. The author or authors of them determine that
the Sacrament of our Lord's body and blood goes much beyond
a picture of man's device, in many respects ; which they hand-
c 'E,Kt\(v<Tfv rots ayiois avrov fiaBrj- d See my Review, above pp. 171,
Tais KOI airo<rr6\ois, irapaSovvcu 5' ov 273.
r,pd.(T0ri trpdy/j.aros rinrov els ffw/j.a av- e Of/re 6 Kvpios, oCre ol 'b.ir6<TTO\oi,
rov. "\va 5ia TTJS i'epaTi/d;s o.va.y<ay^s, 7) irarepes eiKoca flirov . . . a\\a avrb
Kav ei K jiieToxfis Kal Btati yli/rjrai, Tb <r>fj.a Kal avrb rb al/j.a. . . . /uera 5
AaySa'/xev aiirb, &s Kvpius Kal a\7)0a>s, rbv ayiafffj.bv ffa/ja nvpdas (cat aifna.
auifjio. avrov. Constantin. Copronym. Xpurrov \fyovTai, Kal tlffl, Kal triffTtv-
in Notis ad Damascen. torn. i. p. 354. ovrai. Concil. Nicen. ii. Act. vi. pp.
As to the ecclesiastical use and sense 370, 371. Harduin, torn. iv.
of the word nvplais, see Albertinus, f Vid. Albertinus, p. 915. Covel,
p. 461. Claude, part ii. p. 76. pp. 151, 152.
508 The Sacramental Part
somely enumerate s : and of that no man can doubt. They
determine further, that the elements are not types of things
future, nor faint shadows, like those under the law, but that
they are truth and substance h ; a sacrament and mystery, com-
memorative of a thing performed, and not prefigurative of a
thing hoped for only, or promised : a sacrament directly and
plainly signifying and exhibiting the true expiation, and not
merely under the dark covers or remote innuendos of legal
expiations. In short, the eucharistical symbols are not prefigu-
rations of things expected, but evidences of things done, and
memorials of mercies and blessings in hand, not in prospect
only. Their whole meaning seems to be, that though the con-
secrated elements are really signs and symbols, (for so much
they intimate in the words sacrament, mystery, and true image,)
and therefore not the very body and blood, as many then taught;
yet they are more than types, or prefigurations, or adumbra-
tions, or even bare memorials, because they exhibit the things
signified, and that not darkly or indirectly, (which even the
Jewish sacraments did*,) but directly and plainly, under the
strongest light, and to greatest advantage. This doctrine is
sound and good, and well guarded, in the main, against both
extremes. Only, it might have been wished, that they had
been less scrupulous about the use of the name figure \ or
* ' Distat Sacramentum Dominici Hoc est corpus meum . . . Cum ergo,
corporis et sanguinis ab imaginibus ut praefati sumus, nee artificum opus,
pictorum arte depictis, &c.' Carel. vera Christi possit imago dici, nee
Magn. lib. ii. p. 278. corporis et sanguinis ejus mysterium,
h ' Nee nobis legis transeuntibus quod in veritate gestuni esse constat,
umbris iruaginarium quod dam indi- non in figura, merito,' &c. Carol,
cium, sed sui sanguinis et corporis Magn. de Imagin. lib. iv. p. 520.
contulit Sacramentum. Non enim Cp. Albertin. pp. 916, 917. Jewel's
sanguinis et corporis Dominici mys- Answer to Harduin, art. xii. pp. 344,
terium imago jam nunc dicendum 345. Bilson's Christian Subject, p.
est, sed veritas ; non umbra, sed cor- 593. Claude, part i. book v. chap. 9.
pus ; non exemplar futurorum, sed pp. 96, 97. L'Arroque, p. 380, &c.
id quod exemplaribus praefiguraba- * ' Idem itaque in mysterio cibus
tur. . . . Jam verus Melchizedech, et potus illorum qui noster, sed sig-
Christus videlicet, rex Justus, rex nificatione idem, non specie : quia
pacis, non pecudum victimas. sed sui idem ipse Christus illis in petra figu-
nobis corporis et sanguinis contulit ratus, nobis in carne manifestatus.'
Sacramentum. Nee ait, Haec est Augustin. in Psal. Ixxvii. p. 816.
imago corporis et sanguinis mei, sed h [ These words were kept in the
of the Eucharist explained. 509
image, (so common and familiar in elder times,) and that they
had given less countenance to the novel and affected phrases
then coming into vogue : for, generally speaking, ancient doc-
trine is best kept up by adhering strictly to ancient language ;
and new phrases at any time, taken up without necessity, have
been observed to lead the way to a new faith.
Hitherto, however, the western parts appear to have retained
just ideas of the holy Eucharist \ But before the end of the
ninth century, the eastern innovations, introduced by Anasta-
sius and Damascen, and established by the Nicene Council,
spread wide and fai', both among Greeks and Latins. When
it was once resolved that the consecrated elements should be
no longer signs or figures at all, but the very body and blood of
Christ, the symbolical language of Scripture and Fathers be-
came neglected, and in a while forgotten ; and the old notion
of a sacrament, as importing a sign and a thing signified, wore
off apace : and now all the care was, how to make out that very
body and blood, by some subtile evasions or newly devised
theories. Many are the wanderings of human invention, after
men have once departed from the right way ; as sufficiently
appeared from the great variety of systems soon set up m , in-
stead of the only ancient and true system : and they were all
but as so many different modifications of one and the same
error, committed in sinking the idea of symbolical grants, and
thereupon confounding figure and verity, exalting signs into
things signified. But let us inquire more particularly what
ways were taken, or could be taken, to make it competently
appear, that the elements once consecrated are no signs, but the
very body and blood of Christ. They are reducible perhaps to
English-Saxon Church two hundred in 801) is an exception, in what he
years later, as appears by Aelfric. says in his Life of Gregory. And
' This mystery is a pledge and a one may reasonably judge that tran-
figure : Christ's body is truth itself : substantiation was then first creep-
tins pledge we do hold mystically, ing in, by their feigning of miracles
until we come to the truth itself, to support the novelty.]
and then there is an end of the m [Vid. Guitmundus, de Verit.
pledge.' Sax. Horn, on Easter-day, Euchar. 1. I. pp. 441, 442. Bibl.
pp. 7. 8.] PP. torn, xviii. 1. 3. p. 460. Al-
1 L Yet Paulus Diaconus (who died gerus, toin. xxi. p. 351.]
510 The Sacramental Part
five, as follows : i. Either the elements must literally become
the same personal body. 2. Or they must literally contain or
inclose the same personal body. 3. Or they must literally be-
come another personal body. 4. Or they must literally contain
another personal body. 5. Or they must literally be or contain
a true and proper body of Christ, distinct and different from a
personal body.
1. As to the first, it was undoubtedly the thing aimed at by
the first innovators ; namely, by Anastasius, and Damascen, and
the Nicene Fathers. And they endeavoured to make it out in
the way of augmentation, as has been related, joining the new-
made body here to the personal body above, so as to make one
personal body of both. Another shorter way of coming at the
point Avas that of transubstantiation, which crept in later, and
which the Latins generally fell into ; for relief, as it seems, to
wearied minds, fluctuating in uncertainties, and not knowing
how or where to rest.
2. As to the second way, which has been called consubstanti-
ation, some think that Paschasius Radbert (about A. D. 831)
took into it n : others conceive that it came in later .
3. As to the third way, some have imagined that our Lord's
Divinity becomes personally united with the elements, as well as
with his own natural body, having in that sense two personal
bodies. This conceit has sometimes gone under the name of
assumption P, as it imports the Deity's assuming the elements
into a personal union ; and sometimes it has been called impa-
nation 1, a name following the analogy of the word incarnation.
n Cosin. Histor. Transubstant. p. Sacr. torn. ii. p. 80. [' Ad hanc ipsis
86. Cp. Albertinus, p. 922. But fanaticam credulitatem praeivere
others interpret him of transubstan- veterum patrum scripta non bene
tiation. SeeCIaude, partii. p. 198, &c. intellecta, et recentiorum de realitate
Hospinian, Histor. Rei Sacram. et praesentia corporis Christi dogma,
[part ii. p. 6. about A. D. 1060.] ' Ex his duobus inonstris tertium
v N. B. Assumption has been also composuerunt de ista hypostatica
a common name for Damascen's unitate panis et divinitatis : quasi
hypothesis, wherein it is supposed divinitas assumpto pane eum faceret
that the Divinity assumes the ele- corpus Christi, non mutata tamen
ments into a personal union, but by nee destructa panis substantial Sal-
the medium of the natural and per- mas. p. 416.]
sonal body. Vid. Pfaffius de Con- I[A.D. 1070, circiter. SicGuitmun-
secrat. p. 450. Buddaeus, Miscell. dus : ' Quae insania est, ut Christum,
of the Eucharist explained. 511
Rupertus Tuitiensis (about A. D. mi) has been believed to
espouse this notion r : and Odo Cameracensis s , who lived about
the same time. It is much the same notion that St. Austin
supposes ignorant children might be apt to conceive, in their
simplicity, at the first hearing of what is said of the elements,
and before they come to know better *. So simple were even
famous Divines grown in the late and dark ages.
4. As 'to the fourth way, those who have supposed some
spiritual and personal body from above, distinct from the natural,
to come upon the elements, and to abide in them and with them,
have had some colour for it from two very ancient passages, one
of Clemens Alexandrinus, and another of Jerome u . But it hath
been abundantly shewn, time after time, by learned and able
men, that that ancient distinction ought not to be understood of
two personal bodies of Christ, but of two distinct views or con-
ut ita dixerim, sua autoritate impa-
nent et invinent ? Christum incaraari
humanae redemptionis ratio expos-
cebat : at impanari vel invinari
Christum nulla expetit ratio.' Bibl.
PP. torn, xviii. p. 461. Unde nova
haec companatio ? Ibid. p. 461. lib.
iii. conf. p. 464. 1130. Algenis, p.
251. torn. xxi. Bibl. PP. p. 260.]
r Vid. Hospinian. p. 7. Albertinus,
pp. 959, 960. Pfaffius de Consecrat.
Euch. pp. 449, 450. Buddaeus, Mis-
cellaii. Sacr. torn. ii. p. 80.
1 'Fac ergo Domine, nostram obla-
tionem adscriptam, ut pretiosum cor-
pus Christ! fiat, Verbo Dei adunata,
et in unitate personae conjuncta.'
Odo. Cameracens. in Sacr. Can.
Exposit. Bibl. PP. torn. vi. p. 360.
[Paris, torn. xii. Colon, t. xxi. Lugd.
p. 2 a i.]
1 ' Infantes si nunquani discant
experhnento, vel suo vel aliorum,
et nunquam illam speciem .rerum
videant, nisi inter celebrationes sa-
cramentorum, cum offertur et datur,
dicaturque illis authoritate gravis-
sima, cujus corpus et sanguis sit,
niliil aliud credent, nisi omnino in
ilia specie Dominum oculis apparu-
isse mortalium, et de latere tali
percusso liquorem ilium omnino flux-
isse.' Augustin. deTrin. lib. iii.c. 10.
p. 803. Conf. Albertin. pp. 648, 649.
n Airrbv Sf rb al/j.a Kvplov rb /nfi>
ydp tff-nv avrov orapKiicbv, ^TTJS <(>6opas
ht\inptap.f6a,' "rb 5e irvevfjiaTiKbv, TOM-
TtffTtv y KsxplffUfQa. Clem. Alex.
Paedag. lib. ii. c. 2. p. 177. Compare
Review, above p. 149.
4 Dupliciter vero sanguis Christi, et
caro intelligitur: vel spiritualis ilia et
divina, de qua ipse dixit Caro mea
vere est cibus ; vel caro et sanguis,
quae crucifixa est, et qui militis
effusus est lancea.' Hieron. in Ephes.
p. 327. Opp. torn. iv. edit. Bened.
Cranmer, b. iv. p. 276. ['Quod
Sacramentum est Augustino,Irenaeo
est res terrena : quod hie res caeles-
tis illi est res sacramenti, sive corpus
Christi Haec res sacramenti et
virtus sacramenti, etiam veritas
sacramenti dicitur, et spiritus, et
gratia nempe spiritalis, et corpus
Christi, spiritale scilicet.' Salinas,
pp. 163, 165. The body considered
as corporally present in heaven, is
'corpus naturale et sensibile,' but
considered as spiritually present in
the Eucharist, is 'corpus spiritale,
intelligibile.']
512 The Sacramental Part
siderations of one and the same natural and personal body x . The
celebrated Bertram, (that is, Ratramn,) of the ninth century, has
been by some supposed to be of the number of those who made
two such bodies of Christ. There is some appearance of it, but,
I think, appearance only: for upon carefully weighing and con-
sidering his real sentiments, it will be found, that he supposed
only a sacramental body received orally, and the natural body
received spiritually in the Eucharist v .
5. There is yet a fifth way, which prevailed with many, as
high as the ninth century ; which was to imagine some kind of
union of our Lord's Divinity with the consecrated elements,
short of personal, but yet presumed sufficient to denominate them
in a true and proper sense (as opposed to symbolical) the Lord's
body and blood. R-emigius 2 , who flourished about the year 890,
conceived, that our Lord's Divinity filling the natural body and
the mystical, viz. the Church, and the consecrated elements, made
all the three to become one body of Christ. It is observable, that
he admits of but one of the three to be Christ's body in the
personal sense : but having a confuse notion of some remote union
of each with the Logos, which was common to them all, he there-
fore called each of them singly a time body of Christ, and all
* Beza de Coena Domini, p. 93. Christi corpus sunt Tamen ilia
Jewel's Answer to Harding, art. 5. caro quam assumpsit, et iste panis,
pp. 248, 249. Albertinus, pp. 315, omiiisque Ecclesia non faciunt tria
395. Rivet in Consult, de Relig. p. corpora Christi, sed unum corpus.'
26. Chamier, torn. iv. p. 695. Spala- Remig. Antissiodorensis (alias Hay-
tensis, lib. v. c. 6. p. 103. mo) in i Cor. x. p. 132. [Conf.
>" Bertram de Corpore et Sanguine ejusdem Remigii Exposit. Missae,
Domini, pp. 16, 24, 36, 40, 96, too, Bibl. PP. torn. xvi. p. 957. sive de
114, 116. edit. Anglo-Latin. Loud, celebratione missae.]
A. D. 1686. ' Sicut caro Christi quam assumpsit
* 'Caro quam Verbum Dei Patris in utero Virginali, verum corpus ejus
assumpsit in utero Virginali, in uui- est, et pio nostra salute occisum, ita
tate suae personae, et panis qui panis quern Christus tradidit discipu-
consecratur in Ecclesia, unum corpus lis suis t quern quoticlie conse-
Christi unt. Sicut enim illo caro crant sacerdotes in Ecclesia, cum
corpus Christi est, ita iste panis virtute Divinitatis quae ilium replet
transit in corpus Christi; nee sunt panem, verum corpus Christi est; nee
duo corpora, sed unum corpus. Di- sunt duo corpora ilia caro quam as-
vinitatis enim plenitudo quae fuit in sumpsit, et iste panis, sed unum
ilia, replet et istum panem, &c verum corpus faciunt Christi.' Id
et sicut ille panis et sanguis in corpus in I Cor. xi. p. 137. Cp. Albertin.
Christi transeuiit, ita omnes qui in p. 938.
Ecclesia digne comedunt illud, unum
of the Ezickarist explained.
conjunctly one true body. The like account may be seen in the
book De Divinis Officiis a , falsely ascribed to Alcuinus of the
eighth century, written probably in the eleventh century or later.
The sum is, that because one of the three is truly Christ's body
in a symbolical sense, and the other truly his body in a mystical
sense, and the third in a true and proper sense ; therefore all the
three are severally a true body of Christ, and together one true
body. Such were the rovings of men bewildered in their ways,
after they had deserted the old paths. It is however worth the
observing, that this author was very solicitous to avoid the
suspicion of making two true bodies of Christ, which Christian
ears could not bear : and further, that he retained so much of
the ancient principles, under clouds of confusion, as to suppose
the Logos to be the heavenly food of the Eucharist, and he re-
solved the formal reason of the name of Lord's body into some
immediate relation to the person of Christ. I do not find that
the third Person's filling the elements with himself, or with his
graces, was hitherto supposed the immediate ground or formal
reason of their having the name of Christ's body : or had it so
been, the element of Baptism, upon the analogy observed by the
ancients, would most certainly have had a better title to the
name. For the Holy Ghost was supposed more immediately to
preside, as it were, in that Sacrament, under the figure of a
conjugal union, as before mentioned : and even as low as Da-
mascen we find, that while the grace of the Spirit was said to
be joined with the oil and the water, the very Divinity of the
second Person was supposed to be joined with the elements of
the Eucharist b .
I am sensible that a great show of authorities has been pro-
duced, in order to persuade us, that, according to the ancients,
the third Person was presumed to make the elements the body
and blood of Christ c . But out of twenty-two authorities, seven-
teen, as I conceive, either must or may be understood of the
second Person d , the \6yos, often called Spirit : and the five
a Pseudo-Alcuinus de Divin. Off. c Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. fp.
cap. 40. p. 287. ed. Hittorp. 187-195.
b See above, pp. 502, 503. d i. Ignatius, t. Justin Martyr.
L 1
514 The Sacramental Part
remaining authorities prove only, that the Holy Ghost 6 makes
the elements sacraments, or sanctified symbols, or an holy body,
fitting them for the uses intended, and preparing the communi-
cants at the same time. The Holy Ghost prepares both the
symbols and the guests : but still it is the Logos, the incarnate
Logos, who is properly the spiritual food or feast, according to
Scripture and all Catholic antiquity ; and that not as residing,
by his Divinity, in the elements, but as adsistant only, or con-
comitant ; and that to the worthy only f . But I pass on.
I have been observing something of the various wanderings
and mazes which thoughtful men fell into, after the change of
doctrine introduced in the seventh century. For from thence
came augmentation, assumption, impanation, composition, con-
substantiation, transubstantiation, local presence, and oral man-
ducation of the ' res sacramenti/ inherent virtues, bread-sacrifice %,
bread -worship, and the like ; all issuing from the same source,
all springing from the same root ; namely, from that ' servilis
infirmitas/ which St. Austin speaks of, the mistaking signs for
things, and figure for verity.
3.1renaeus.4.Clemens Alexandrinus. eo mysterio: cum alii KO.T' a.\\oltaffn>
5. Origen. 6. Cyprian. 7. Athanasiua. earn extitisse dicerent, alii /caret utra.-
8. Julius Firmicus. 9. Nazianzen. Klvnmv, alii Kara irtpiK\a(rn6t>. Huic
10. Epiphanius. 1 1. Gregory Nyssen. postremae pa? est Lutheranoruin
12. Ephrem Syrus. See Albertin. sententia.' Salinas, p. 422.
453- J 3- Gaudentius. 14. Cyrill. ' Non sanctiflcatur ut sit tarn mag-
Alex. See Albertin. 454. 15. Gelasius. num Sacramentum, nisi operante
16. Theodorite. 1 7. Pseud- Ambrose, invisibiliter Spiritu Dei.' Augustin.
[See Cranmer, p. 356 : above, p. 493. de Trin. 1. iii. c. 4.]
Review, above, p. 266, et seqq.] g: [' Ne forte ob hoc censeamur
6 Cyril. Hierosol., Optatus, Chry- indigni, si non satis discernimusiilud,
so.stom, Austin, and Council of Con- nee intelligimus, mysticuui Christi
stantinople. corpus et sanguis quanta polleat dig-
f [' Ei igitur communio spiritus et nitate, quantaque praeemineat vir-
panis, spiritus et vini, quam Patres tute, et discernatur a corporeo gustu,
in his sacramentis fieri dicunt, non ut sit praestantius omni sacrificio
in ipso pane fit, neque in ipso calice, veteris testamenti.' Paschal. Rad-
sed in corde sumentis per fidern.' bert. c. 2. Opp. p. 1559. Algerus, 268.
S:ilmasiu3, p. 429. See below, pp. ' Christi caro est, quae pro mundi
517, 5j8. and compare Pfaffius, pp. vita adhuc hodie offertur.' 555. When
414, 431, 432, 446. bread was once supposed to be liter-
' Ex istis apparet totidem exortas ally that body which was sacrificed,
fuisse haereses circa praesentiam cor- it must of course be thought a sacri-
poris Christi in eucharistia quot olim fice : hence bread- sacrifice.]
fuere circa Verbi incarnationem in
of the Eucharist explained.
The Reformation, as is well known, commenced in the sixteenth
century, and then this high subject came to be reconsidered,
and to be set in a proper light, upon the foundation of Scripture
and antiquity. But disputes arose even among Protestants. For
though the later and grosser corruptions of the Latin Church
were soon thrown off with general consent, yet some of the
older and more refined depravations of the Greeks were not
easily distinguished (in those infant days of criticism) from what
was truly ancient, but had made too deep an impression upon
the minds of many serious persons. The nature of symbolical
grants and constructional conveyances was not so well considered
as might have been wished. Many understood not what eating
could mean, unless it were conceived to be oral and literal :
neither could they suddenly bring their minds to comprehend
how a thing could be said to be given and received at the
supper, without being literally, locally present in the supper, in
the very tokens or pledges of the heavenly things there made
over to every faithful communicant. As if livery and seisin
might not be given and taken by proper instruments : or as if a
ring, a book, a crosier, or other tokens of investiture, might not
convey lands, honours, dignities, without being inwardly enriched
with h , or outwardly converted into the very things themselves
which they so convey. For as any person becomes legally
vested in an estate by the delivering and receiving of deeds,
though he does not literally take the lands and tenements into
h See Review, above, pp. 131, lum : quomodo de consensu contra -
132. ' Sicut sigillum principis vere hentium per traditionem authentic!
est non otiosum, sed efficax, nulla instrumenti confertur haereditas,
tamen sibi indita virtute, sed autho- quomodo etiam ex nummo uno fit
ritate duntaxat principis quasi comi- arrha, quae valet ad solutionem mille
tante : sic Sacramenta, quae in signis nummorum ; sic ex pacto et conven-
et signaculis esse negare nullus po- tione inter Deum et hominem, ad
test etsi nulla in rebus externis dignamsaeramentorum perception em
vi indita agant in animas hominum, gratia divina confertur, et caelestis
aut in gratiam quae in iis quaeritur, haereditatis arrha. Quae est senten-
tamen non desinunt esse instramenta tia non nostrae duntaxat ecclesiae,
efficacia, tanquam o-rj/neTa /cat crtypa-yi- sed et primorum Roman ensium, turn
8fr.' Chamier, torn. iv. p. 57. [See veterum Halensis, Gandavensis, Bo-
below, p. 536. ' Quomodo, dicente naventurae, Scoti ; turn etiam mul-
Bernardo, confertur Canonicatus per torum recentium, Cani, Vasquesii.'
dationem libri, Abbatis praefectura Ward, p. 44.]
per baculum, Episcopatus per annu-
L 1 2
The Sacramental Part
his hands, nor grasp them in his arms ; so may a person, in con-
struction of Divine law, be vested in or possessed of the Lord's
body and blood, and whatever depends thereupon, without literally
receiving the same into his mouth 5 . The notion is a very plain
and easy notion, that one might justly wonder how it came to
pass, that ven Divines of good note should not hit upon it at
first ; or if they did, should slight it k .
Our Divines, as Cranmer, Jewel, Hooker, <fec. (to do them
justice,) understood this matter perfectly well. Neither do I
know of any considerable person amongst our early Reformers
who missed the right thought : unless perhaps we may except
the great Bishop Poynet, in his exile at Strasburg, where he
died A. D. 1556. He drew up his Diallacticon abroad, with a
truly pious and pacific design, hoping to contribute something
towards healing the .then reigning .differences between Lutherans
and Calvinists, upon the subject of the Eucharist. The treatise
was not published till after his death ] : a short preface was
1 ['His body and "blood are by
this Sacrament assured to be no less
ours than his He hath made him-
self all ours. Ours his passions, ours
his merits, ours his victory, ours
his glory. And therefore he giveth
himself and all his in this sacrament
wholly up to us.' Archbishop San-
dys, Serm. xv. p. 134. See Review,
above, p. 126.]
k It is marvellous to observe, how
from the time of Paschasius Radbert,
of the ninth century, down to the
sixteenth, almost the whole Latin
Church were imposed upon them-
selves, or imposed upon others, by
confounding two very distinct pro-
positions with each other, as if they
were the same. [A. D. 890. Ratram
opposed transubstantiation. A.D. 1035
circiter, Berengarius began to oppose
that doctrine : condemned in several
Councils, 1050, 1053, 1055, 1059,
1078, 1079. He died A.D. 1088.]
They saw plainly, both in Scripture
and Fathers, that the natural body
of Christ is the thing signified, and
received by the faithful in the Eu-
charist : that is to say, received with
the elements, spiritually received.
Had they rested there, all had been
right. But by slipping a false con-
sequence, or false comment, upon
true premises, they inadvertently
changed that sound proposition into
this very unsound one : that the
elements literally are that very na-
tural body, locally present, and orally
received by every communicant.
They had lost the idea of a sym-
bolical and constructional reception ;
which requires .neither local presence
nor corporal contact.
[The Anglo-SaxonJChurch retained
the old distinctions till the close of
the loth century, as appears from
Aelfric's Saxon Homily on Easter
Day, .p. 7. He was Abp. of Cant.
993, and died A. D. soo6.J
1 ' Diallacticon vii i boni et literati,
de veri tate, natura, atque substantia
corporis e sanguinis Christi in Eu-
charistia." 1557. First edition, Stras-
burg. 1573. Second edition, Geneva.
At the end of Beza's Opuscula, 1576.
Third edition. At the end of Har-
chius, 1688. Fourth edition, London.
By Dr. Felling.
of tlie Euekaiitt explained. 517
prefixed to it by the editor, supposed to be Sturmius m . I shall
give a brief account of the author's main principles, using the
octavo edition of 1576.
He was a religious admirer of the ancient Fathers : but as
their works were not at that time critically distinguished, he
was often misled, even in the main lines of his hypothesis, by
spurious pieces or passages ; quoting several material things
under the admired names of Cyprian, Ambrose, and Austin,
which belonged not to them, but were some of them as late as
the twelfth century. Many passages of Austin and others stand
only on the credit of Gratian, an author of the twelfth century.
And it is known that the piece De Coena, ascribed to Cyprian,
belongs to Arnaldus, who wrote about A. D. 1162. Under these
disadvantages, it is the less to be wondered at, if the excellent
author did not everywhere hit that ancient truth which he
sincerely sought for.
i. In the first place 11 , he appears to carry the notion of inherent
virtues or graces, as lodged in the elements themselves, much
too far . And he seems to make the conjunction of grace and
m See the French Supplement to talem gratiam, pani ipsi inseparabili-
Bayle's Dictionary, in the article ter adhaerere, sed in ipso corde ipsius
' Poinet. ' accipientis earn unitatem effici per
n [' Invocatio ilia Dei et benedictio fidem : quam qui non praestat, is
non illigat Spiritum pani, nee in- non communicat corpori, sed sacra-
cludit ; sed panem sanctificat, ut mentum, hoe est, nudum signurn
possit ab eo qui fidem habet, et accipit, non virtutem sacrament! :
mundus est, digne et cum efficacia, signum non rem signi percipit.'
non solum sacramentaliter. sed etiam Salmasius, 427. See above, p. 513.
spiritaliter participant Salmaa. p. below, p. 538, and Pfaffius, pp. 414,
428. 431, 432>, 446.]
' Nos non dicimus Sacramenta ' Vim vitae signis externis incl:'-
conferre gratiam per ullam illis in- tarn,' p. 53. 'Virtutem [veri corporis]
ditam aut vim aut qualitatem, sive vitalem conjunctam habet,' p. 79.
naturalem sive supernaturalem, quod 'Virtus ipsius curporis efficax et vivi-
est gratiam conferre per modum fica cum pane et vino conjungitur,'
causae physicae : sed dicuntur ex p. 83. 'Intus abditam et latentein
nostrae Ecclesiae sententia,' &c. naturalem ejusdem corporis proprie-
ty ard, Determ. p. 44. See below, tatem, hoc est, vivificam virtutem,
p. 536. secum trahat.' p. 83. 'Virtutem veri
' Cum patres haec conjuncta esse corporis spiritualem habet,' p. 88.
asserunt, et Sacramentum a sua ' Virtus autem interna, quaevi Divini
virtute minime sejungi dicunt, non Verbi accedit,' p. 118. ' Virtute bene-
intelligunt eum spiritum, sive spiri- dictionismysticaeviminsitam.'p.i 19.
518 The Sacramental Part,
element absolute and physical P. By which means, he found him-
self at length involved in insuperable perplexities upon the
point of adoration of the elements 1, and the communion of the
unworthy r : though he endeavoured to get off from both, as
handsomely as the thing would bear. Our other more cautious
Divines of that time, as Cranmer and Jewel, had no concern
with those perplexities, any more than the ancient Fathers had :
for they avoided the main principle from which those difficulties
arose ; yea, and flatly contradicted it 8 .
2. The very worthy author appears not to have guarded
sufficiently against the notion of two true bodies of Christ,
natural above, and spiritual below, in the Eucharist : which is
what the mild and moderate Cassander, very tenderly, charged
him with; intimating, that he had put the distinction wrong
between body and body, (as if there were two true bodies,) instead
of distinguishing between the different manner of exhibiting or
receiving one and the same natural body 1 . And so far Cassander
P ' Si gratiam et virtutem veri cor-
poris cum pane et vino conjungi cre-
damus, nimium elementis tribuere vi-
debimur.'p. 107. 'Divina virtus abesse
a signo non potest, qua Sacrametitum
est,' p. 112. 'Sacramenta, quarn diu
Sacramenta suit, suain retinere virtu-
tem, nee ab ea posse separari,' p. 114.
i Page 107, &c. r Page 112.
3 See Cranmer's Preface, cited in
Review, above, p. 165, and compare
Review, pp. 83, 254. Bishop Jewel
writes thus : ' We are taught, not to
seek that grace in the sign, but to
assure ourselves by receiving the
sign, that it is given us by the thing
signified It is not the creature
of bread or water, but the soul of
man that receiveth the grace of God.
These corruptible creatures need it
not : we have need of God's grace.
But this is a phrase of speaking. For
the power of God, the grace of God,
the presence of the Trinity, the
Holy Ghost, the gift of God, are
not in the water, but in us : and we
were not ordained because of the
Sacraments; but the Sacraments
were made for our sake.' Jewel's
Treatise of the Sacraments, p. 263.
fol. ed. Compare Def. of Apol. pp.
208, 238. [Compare Cranmer, pp.
34- 56, 5 8 , 74. 141, i7 J > '9 2 ' 2o8 >
211, 212, 327, 413.]
* ' Quae de duplici Christi corpore
(Bertramumsecutus) erudite disserit,
facile aliquos ofiendat, quibus ex ver-
bis Christi persuasum est, et quidem
vere, non aliud corpus in Sacramento
fidelibus dari. quam quod a Christo
pro fidelium salute in mortem tradi-
tum fuit. Quamvis autem hie ilistinc-
tione aliqua opus sit, malim tamen
illam ad moduinpraesentiae et exhibi-
tionis quam ad ipsam rem subjectam,
hoc est, corpus Christi, adhiberi.
Commodius i'aque et ad docendum
accommodatius, et Christi instituto
convenientius, et ad conciliationem
aptius dici videtur, ipsum Christi
corpus pro nobis traditurn, etiam in
Eucharistia fidelibus tradi ; adhibita .
Augustini distinctione : "Ipsum qui-
dem, et non ipsum ; ipsum invisibili-
ter, et non ipsum visibiliter,"' &c.
Ca?sander, Epist. p. 1084. Cp.
of the Encharist explained, 519
judged very rightly, and conformably to the ancients : only as
he chose to distinguish between a visible and invisible manner,
he should rather have expressed it in the terms of literal and
spiritual ; which is the true distinction.
Bishop Cosin u , speaking of Bishop Poynet, represents him
(if there be not some .error of the press) as making that very
distinction which Cassander wished he had made, or which he
suggested, by way of correction as preferable to Poynet's. I
say, Bishop Cosin represents Poynet as doing the very thing
which Cassander required, and mostly in Cassander's own
words, without naming him. Yet it is plain enough, that that
distinction which Cosin ascribes to Poynet was not his, but
Cassander's : wherefore I suspect some error of the press or of
the editor, (as might easily happen in a posthumous piece,) and
that Cosin really wrote 'malim/ not 'maluit/ making Cassander's
censure his own. But of this let the considerate readers of both
judge, as they see cause. Certain however it is, that Bishop
Cosin (with all our other learned and judicious Divines) was
zealous against the notion of two true bodies of Christ x , and very
strongly asserted, yea, and often inculcated, in that small trea-
tise, where he had not much room to spare, that the natural
body is the thing signified, the thing spiritually given and received
by the faithful in the Eucharist. He was well aware, how much
depended upon that momentous principle y ; as well because it
was the safe, the only clue to lead serious Christians through all
the labyrinths of contending parties, as also because it was fixing
Rivet. Animadv. ad Consult, p. 30. habens, et quod in Sacramento est
Apologet. p. 102. [Discuss. Dialysis, corpus mysticum, maluit tamen dis-
p. 78.] Grotii Opp. torn. iii. 621,643, crimen illud ad modum praesentiae
660, 668. [ Here you grant that et exhibitionis, qukm ad ipsam ran
Christ's body was made of bread, subjectam, hoc est, Christ! corpus
And then it must follow, that either verum, accommodari ; quum certissi-
Christ had two bodies (the one made mum sit, non aliud corpus in Sacra-
of flesh of the Virgin Mary, the other mento fidelibus dari nisi quod a
of bread,) or else that the selfsame Christo pro fidelium salute in mortem
body was made of two diverse mat- traditum fuit.' Cosin. Hist. Tran-
ters,and at diverse and sondry times.' subst. p. 10.
Cranmer, 297.] * [See Cranmer, p. 267.]
u ' Licet discrimen ipse cum Patri- >' [See Review, above, pp. 149, 152,
bus agnoscat inter corpus Christi for- 164, 168, 170-173.]
mam humani corporis naturalem
52O The Sacramental Part
the economy of man's salvation upon its true and firm basis,
which is this : that in the Sacraments we are made and con-
tinued members of Christ's body, of his flesh, and of his bones z .
Our union with the Deity rests entirely in our mystical union
with our Lord's humanity, which is personally united with his
Divine nature, which is essentially united with God the Father,
the head and fountain of all. So stands the economy ; which
shews the high importance of the principle before mentioned.
And it is well that Romanists, and Lutherans, and Greeks also,
even the whole East and West, have preserved it, and yet pre-
serve it : though some of them have miserably corrupted it
by the wood, hay, and stubble, which they have built upon it ;
namely, by a local presence, a literal exhibition, and an oral
manducation, with other the like novel additions or defalcations.
But I return.
Twenty years after Poynet, a very learned physician, a German,
building upon the same principles, and being much more sanguine
and self-confident, pursued them to far greater lengths in two
several treatises a , beai'ing different running titles b . His name
was Harchius. It was a vast undertaking for that time. He
set himself at once to oppose Romanists, Lutherans, and Cal-
vinists, (three sects, as he called them c ,) condemning them all
as guilty of great errors in the article of the Eucharist, and pro-
posing a fourth system, wherein they should all unite. He
boasted highly of the Fathers, as full and clear on his side d : he
1 Ephes. v. 3">. b The running title of the first :
a 'De Eucharistiae Mysterio, Dig- 'Concordia de Coena.'
nitate, et Usu : ex unanimi primiti- The running title of the second :
vae Ecclesiae Consensu, ad omnium 'Patrum Consensus de Eucharistia.'
eonim qui Christ! Nomen profiten- N. B. Hospinian says, this last was
tur sedandas Controversias.' Libri printed A. D. 1577. Hospin. Histor.
tres. 4to. Jodoco Harchio, Montense Sacram. part ii. p. 354. Which may
Medico, autore. Wormatiae. 1 573. be true : for I take the date 1576, not
' Orthodoxorum Patrum. . Fides de from the title-page, (which has no
Eucharistia et Sacrifioio universal! date,) but from the end of the preface,
Ecclesiae : ad Pontificiorum et Evan- written in 1576.
gelicorum cognoscendas, dirimeudas- c Harch. Patr. Consens. pp. 183,
que Controversias, proChristi Gloria, 230.
et Ecclesiarum Pace. Per Jodocum d Ibid, idem, pp. 77, 127, 129, 270,
Harchium, Montensem Medicum.' 278.
A.D. 1576. 8vo.
of the Eucharist explained.
filled his two books with quotations of that kind : some geuuine
and some spimous, some ancient and some middle-aged,. some
Greek and some Latin ; many of them misconstrued, more mis-
applied, but all made to serve the system 6 which he had before
formed in his mirkl f . As the attempt was considerable in its
way, and commendable for its good meaning ; and as it may be
of use to know what the system was, and how received, and how
confuted, (for confuted it was by a very able hand,) I shall here
take the pains to draw out the chief lines of it, and next to
exhibit a brief summary of the answer then made to it.
1. He pleads much for an invocation of the Holy Ghost in the
Communion Offices^ ; and he speaks often- of some illapse either
of the second or third Person upon the elements, or else of some
virtue of life, some spiritual and eternal gift, sent down from
above, upon the consecrated bread and wine h .
2. He assei*ts a spiritual and marvellous change thereby made
in the elements, but not destroying either their substance or their
figure : a change of qualities, and a melioration, as it were, of the
substance itself, by the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost and
the supervening of the Logos * : on account of which change, he
talks frequently of the elements as passing into the virtue of
Christ's body and blood k . Sometimes he calls it passing into the
flesh of Christ, or substance of his body : but then he interprets
it to mean, not the personal body or substance, but another
c A brief summary of his system, hoc libro probanda.' Harch. Patr.
in his own words, is as here follows: Consens. p. 93. cp. pp. 68, 79.
' Panis Eucharistiae est corpus r [' Patrum multitudine putavit
quoddam sanctum, consecratione Harchius suum illud commentum
sacerdotum factum divinum ; exis- aperte confirmari ; illis certe non
tens veluti imago, repraesentatio, dissimilis quibus si specillis vindici-
seu sacramentum proprii et animati bus utantur viridia omnia apparent.'
corporis Christi quod in caelo est; Beza, 182. fol. edit.]
impletum a Christo Spiritu Sancto Harch. Patr. Consens. pp. 25,
et Verbo : ut offeratur (mystice) Deo 96,98, 100. Concord, p. 146.
Patri, per ministerium sacerdotum ; h Ibid. Concord, pp. 14, 45, 49,
deinde ut sumatur ab omnibus fide- 79, 92. Patr. Consens. pp. 56, 115,
libus, &c in fide et charitate, 151, 157, 168.
ore et corde, ad remissionem pecca- ' Ibid, idem, pp. 30, &c. 75, 82,
torum in spem resurrectionis et 83, 86, 146. Patr. Consens. pp. 54,
vitae aeternae, simul et ad memoriam 69, 100, 157, 185.
passionis Christi, &c. Haec definitio k Ibid, idem, pp. 32, 35, 39. 45,
vera est et catholica, et a nobis in 47, 53, 74, 79, 105.
522 The Sacramental Part
very like it, or near akin to it in virtue ; which he denominates
a spiritual body, to distinguish it from the natural and personal
body !.
3. He makes this pretended spiritual body sometimes the
body of the Divine Spirit, meaning Christ's own Divine Hypo-
stasis 111 ; sometimes, the body of the Word and Spirit together 11 ;
and sometimes of the Divine essence, or whole Trinity .
4. But as he could not admit of a personal union? between the
Deity and the bread-body, without calling it Christ, and Lord,
and God, he was content to call it a creature, but a most noble
creature 1 ; an image of the natural body, but not full and
adequate ; extremely like it in power and energy, but not per-
fectly equal 1 ": a true, and holy, and Divine, but inanimate figure,
while full of the Word, and of the Spirit, and of grace, and
of life s .
5. He supposed two true bodies of Christ ; one in heaven
above, another in the Eucharist below : one natural, and eaten
by contemplation and faith at all times ; the other spiritual, and
eaten in the Eucharist both with mind and with mouth *. He
conceived them to be so nearly the same thing, that they might
be reckoned as one flesh, but yet considering that there was some
inequality, he rather chose to make them two u .
6. He maintained an infusion of the Divine essence x , or of
Christ y, or of some virtue of Christ's flesh z , into the elements :
1 Harch. Concord, pp. 33, 35, 39., tatis.' Harch. p. 182. Patr. Con-
45> 53> 74> l5- Patr. Consens. p. sens.]
69. i Ibid, idem, pp. 36, 37, 38, 75,
ra Ibid, idem, pp. 15, 16. Patr. 76, 82, 83.
Consens, pp. 28, 42, 47, 69. r Ibid, idem, pp. 36, 38, 53, 54,
n Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 29, 42, 65, 94, 95. Patr. Consens. pp. 68,
46, 48, 53, 69, 98, 114, 128, 180. 79, 91, 117, 250.
Ibid. Concord, pp. 31, 48, 70, 74. Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 68, 76,
Patr. Consens. pp. 91, 167, 172, 182, 85,90,91,92,93, 112,131,147.
183. * Ibid. Concord, pp. 27, 55,70, 81.
P [' Dat ergo nobis Christus in hoc "Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 215,216.
Sacramento duplicem spiritum suum, * Ibid. Concord, pp. 31, 48, 70, 74.
existens verus Elias. Inpanequidem Patr. Consens. pp. 74, 76.
spiritum proprium verbum ipsum et 1 Ibid. Concord, pp. 28, 31, 39, 48.
Dei sapientiam : in vino spiritum qui Patr. Coiisens. pp. 74, 77, 225.
a Patre procedit et Filio : inutroque * Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 128 182,
vero essentiam totius beatae Trini- 209, 215.
of the Eucharist explained. 523
an inhabitation a also, and union b , and mixture with the
same.
7. He once supposed, that the spiritual body in the Eucharist
is not so fully or perfectly Christ's body as every good Christian
is d ; but he appears to have changed his mind afterwards, upon
a supposal that the fulness of the Godhead resides in the ele-
ments, and not ordinarily in good men e .
8. He supposed the spiritual body to be the vicarious substitute
of the natural ; not equal in power or virtue, but approximate f .
9. The spiritual body, not being hypostatically united with the
Divinity ?, has no title in his scheme (as he supposed) to formal
adoration ; but must be reverenced only, or highly venerated h .
10. He supposed the elements to contain within them the
grace of Christ's body, the nature of the Word and Spirit, and
the essential powers of Christ's body in a permanent way, abiding
as long as the elements may serve for food i.
11. He imagined brutes, upon devouring the elements, to
devour them only : but unworthy communicants are supposed to
receive the Deity besides, but as a judge and an avenger ; as a
burning coal, or a consuming fire, not to save, but to destroy
them k .
1 2. He maintained an oral manducation (as of course he must) of
the eternal Word, of the Divine substance, and of essential grace 1 .
13. As to the sacrifice, he was reasonably modest and cautious
in his first piece. He lashed the Romanists on that head, all
the way, and blamed some Protestants, but with tenderness,
a Harch. Concord, pp. 56, 57, 63, Patr. Consens. pp. 52, 53, 54, 65,
68, 74. Patr. Consens. pp. 50, 91. 130, 213, 217, 262.
b Ibid, idem, pp. 15, 57, 71. Patr. ' Ibid, idem, p. 89. Patr. Consens.
Consens. pp. 46, 48, 50, 5*, 68, 70. pp. 64, 8p, 102, 175, 309, 213, 228.
71, 91, 121. k Ibid, idem, pp. 41, 56, 71, 72,
c Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 28, 126, 87. 88. Patr. Consens. pp. 61, 139,
131, 134, i8r, 193, 204. 140, 141, 175, 312.
d Ibid. Concord, pp. 25, 48, 60, 64. ' Ibid, idem, p. 15. Patr. Consens.
e Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 91, 154. pp. 83, 93, 138, 151, 154, 174, 201,
f Ibid, idem, pp. 85, 1 1 3, 1 73, i 74, 2. 1 2.
176. m ' Ke quis puiet in posterum in
K Ibid. Concord, pp. 37, 63, 68, 86, Coena Domini nulluin esse sacrifi-
87, 105. Patr. Consens. pp. 54, 91, cium : quod ab Evangelicis aliquot
126, 173. doleo nimis impudenter negatum,
h Ibid, idem, pp. 59, 60, ic6. aut omissum, neque in catechismis
524 The Sacramental Part
not denying them or others their just commendations 11 . He
speaks handsomely of the first English Liturgy, as coming very
near to the primitive, and particularly admires their form of
consecration, beseeching God to sanctify the gifts with his Holy
tSpirit and Word , He insisted much upon self-sacrifice, and
the sacrifice of alms, and the memorial of our Lord's passion P.
He expressed some contempt of a bread-sacrifice, a sacrifice of
signs and shadows Q. Had he said, signs and shadows of a sacri-
fice, rather than sacrifice of signs, he had said better. However,
he observed, that a sacrifice of bread and wine is never men-
tioned in Scripture, no, nor in the Fathers ; except in such a
qualified sense as Irenaeus speaks of r . He had a particular
fancy, that the elements should first be made food of, and then
sacrificed from within : for so he hoped to avoid all extrinsic
sacrifice, (condemned by Scripture,) and to account the better
for the order of the words of institution s . Besides, it would
suit the more aptly with another fancy of his, viz. that though
the elements were the body of the Logos before manducation, yet
they were not the body of Christ, God-man, till eaten and con-
verted into human flesh *.
14. In his second treatise he altered his notion of the sacrifice
more ways than one : whether disgusted with the Protestants for
slighting his kind offices, or whether further instructed, it is
certain, that he came much nearer to the Popish sacrifice, and
brought severer charges than before, both against Lutherans
and Calvinists, as casting off the visible sacrifice of the Church".
explicatum.' Harch. Concord, p. Patribus; nisi ea ratione offeramus
132. pauem et ejusmodi visibilia, quae Ire-
n 'Legite, O pontificii, Liturgiam naeus vocat creaturas, ut non appa-
Justini, et putabitis institutam fuisse reamus in conspectu Dei aut vacui
a Calvino. Legite et earn quae fertur aut ingrati.' Harch. Concord, p.
Jacobi, et quid, precor, differt ab ea 171.
quam iustituit Lutherus?' Ibid. p. 8 Ibid, idem, pp. 171, 174, 175.
132. l 'Etiamsi panis Eucharistiae sit
Harch. Concord, pp. 145, 146. virtute caro Christi, et realiter corpus
P Ibid, idem, pp. 52, 120, 131, Verbi ante manducationem, tamen ut
J 3 2 > '33> r 38, I39i I43> I47 ^8, fiat actu vera caro, debet prius man-
158, 161, 167, i6S, 171, 176. ducari, et nutritionis lege in carnis
1 Ibid, idem, pp. 120, 139, 143, formam converti.' Harch. Concord.
147. 155. i57 158- p. 80.
r ' De panis et vini hostia nusquam "Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 38, 39,
leges in Scripturis, imo neque in 40, 234, 270, &c. 281, 282, 285.
of the Eucharist, explained. 525
He forgot his former speculations about the sacrifice following
the manducation ; for now he made it go before x . And whereas
formerly he had disowned any propitiatory sacrifice y, content
with gratulatory, after the Protestant way, he now made it
properly propitiatory, inventing a colour for it, viz. that Christ
himself consecrates by the minister, fills the elements with the
Logos and Spirit, is present with them, and offered by himself in
them and with them z .
15. As to our Lord's own sacrifice in the original Eucharist,
he supposed him to have offered up that spiritual body there
made, that compound body of spirit and element : or else per-
haps he offered up his own natural body to the Father, as it
were in effigy, under the symbols of bread and wine a .
1 6. His construction of the words of institution may be worth
the noting as a particularity. He interprets the words, ' This is
my body given for you,' as if our Lord had said, ' This is my
spiritual body, given me by my Father, for your consolation and
conservation V A construction scarce tolerable, if there had
* Harch. Patr. Consens. pp. 79, 2 74, Deo hostiam. ' Harch. Patr. Consens-.
275. p. 232.
y Ibid. Concord, pp. 132, 143, 161. ' Christus spiritualis offerturmente
1 Ibid, idem, pp. 240, 263. ' In hoc et inanu re vera : at Christus homo
pane praesens et oblatus,' p. 264. carneus et animatus otfertur sola
' Hostia offtrtur, et grata est Patri, et mente, per ipsius symbola, panem et
simul propitiatoria : non ex se, sed vinum.' p. 240.
oblata per Christum,' p. 300. ' Quemve non reddet Deo Patri
[Yet he blames the Papists in propitium unigenitus Dei Filius in
strong terms, p. 232 of the same hoc pane praesens et oblatus?' p.
treatise, of 1576. ' Veritatem ipsani 264.]
pro imagine praetendunt, et signum a 'Christus in pane et vino acci-
adorant simpliciter pro signato. Et piens, ut homo, a Patre corpus et
cum corpus Christi (quod est ecclesia sanguinem, Verbi scilicet aeterni et
per eucharistiae panem figurata) de- Spiritus, obtulit ilia eadem Deo Patri
buissent et commtmdasse et obtulisse ad gratiarum actionem, agnoscens
Deo patri, per Christum, ipsum beneficium : vel in pane et vino ob-
Christum Deo patri commendant, tulit, tanquam in symbolis, corpus
et eum pro proprio et novo Ecclesiae suuin proprium, sequent! die cruci-
sacrificio, se in manibus tenere, hie figendum.' Harch. Patr. Consens.
in terra vere carneum, cruentum, pp. 273, 274.
osseumqne, et ore comedere persua- b 'Accipite hocmeum corpus, Di-
dent: parum memores illius Origenis vini mei Spiritus, quod mihi datur
inLeviticumdicentis: jejunansdebes pro vobis a Patre meo, ad vestram
adire pontificem Christum, qui uti- consolationem, justificationem, vivi-
que non in terra quaerendus est, sed ficationem, conservationem. ' Harch.
in caelo, et per ipsum debes offerre Patr. Consens. p. 28. cp. p. 29.
526 The Sacramental Part
not been worse invented for the same words, to serve the like
purposes.
I beg pardon, if I have been tedious in recounting the rovings
of that learned gentleman ; which may have their use, and which
were not so much owing to the weakness of the writer, (for I
much question whether any one else could have performed better
in that way,) as to the weakness of the principle which he had
the misfortune to set out with. Whoever else should take in
hand to enrich the elements, either with what belongs to us, or
with what belongs to God only, could not reasonably expect to
succeed any better than that ingenious writer did. He is to be
commended however for adhering to the sacrifice of the ci'oss c ,
jmd for allowing, that the faithful partake of Christ's body 'extra
coenam d ,' and that the ancient Patriarchs feasted upon the same
spiritual food that we do now e . In other points where he judged
ill, he appears to have intended well : for he certainly had a
warm zeal for God, loved religion, (or what he esteemed such,)
and had firmness enough to submit to a kind of voluntary exile
for it ; as he has left upon record { .
What the Protestants, in general, thought of his first per-
formance, and how coldly they received Ids reconciling scheme ,
he has himself declared in his preface to the second. They were
offended, it seems, with him, for mistaking his talents, and
meddling out of his sphere ; they approved not of his interpos-
ing, without judgment, in theological debates, and admonished
him to return to the business of his own profession. The Ro-
c Harch. Concord, p. 133. ment to bis Dictionary, in the article
d Ibid, idem, pp. 31, 80, 82, 91. 'Harchius. '
Patr. Consens. pp. 142, 228, 229. 'Conabar dissentientes inter se
e Ibid. Patr. Consens. pp. 200, Evangelicos appellatos, (Lutheranos
201, 202. inquam,) et Calvinistas, sive Zuin-
f Harcb. Concord, in dedicatione. glianos, conciliare Sed tantum
Mention also is made of a piece of abest ut ex meis laboribus ullam
his, printed in 1573, with this title : reportarirn gratiam, ut ambobus in
'De Causia Haeresis, proque ejus Ex- sua opinione licet dissimillima hae-
ilio, et Concordia Controversiarum in rentibus, ambo me veluti risui et
Religione, Haereticorum, Pontifici- contemptui habentes, ad medicae
orum, et Poeniteritium, Oratio ad meae professionis arenam indigna-
Deum Patrem.' Gesner, Epit.-p. 515. bundi relegarint.' Harch. Patr. Con-
Thi.s I have at second hand from sens, in praefat.
Mr. Bayle, in the French Supple-
of the Eucharist explained. 527
manists were either silent, or more favourable in their censures,
so far as appears : and he was suspected, by some of the Lxi-
theran way, to incline more to the Popish than to the Protestant
interests h . He was very impatient for some answer, thinking it
a tribute of respect due to himself or to the subject : but he
lived not to see any. Beza was preparing one 1 , which appeared
at length in the year 1580, some time after Harchius's decease.
Beza had been dilatory in that matter, under a serious per-
suasion that such remote and fanciful speculations might best
be left to die of themselves. But being at last overruled by
friends, he submitted to undertake the work ; as he tells us
himself k . He complains frequefftly of the author's laboured
obscurity, and of the difficulty of ascertaining his true and full
meaning 1 . But to prevent any suspicion of unfairness, and to
enable the readers to judge for themselves, he collected a com-
petent number of passages out of Harchius's first treatise, and
prefixed them to his own, filling more than forty pages with
them.
After these preliminaries, he fell directly upon the leading
error of the whole system : which was the making the elements
receptacles either of the eternal Word or Spirit, or of some Divine
power or grace, supposed to be infused into them, inherent in
them, intrinsic to them, and permanent with them. He calls it
a most grievous error, full of impiety m : a notion altogether
unscriptural and absurd n ; yea, and wilder than either consub-
h ' Quomodo pontificii me excepe- (two volumes ) A. D. 1582. Genevae.
rint, vix possum coiijecturis assequi, From p. 148. to p. 186.
contra quos tamen potissimum om- k Beza contr. Harch. p. 4. 8vo. ed.
nia argumentorum meorum tela diri- alias p. 148. fol. ed.
gebantur. . . Verum quomodocunque 'Ibid. pp. 5, 49, 60, 147, 148.
in ea re mecum sentiant aut dissen- edit, prima.
tiant pontificii, relatione tamen post- m ' Teterrimum, et plane cum mani-
modum accepi, me potius pontifi- festa impietate conjunctum errorem,'
cium quam Evangelicum, ab Evan- p. 52. 'Nego igitur et pernego Dei-
gelicisaliquot'essejudicatum. 'Harch. tatem, aut vim ullam Divinam in ipsa
ibid. signa infundi : et impium esse hoc
' 'De Coena Domini, adversus Jo- dogma rursum dico, eo sensu quo
doci Harchii Montensis Dogmata, loquitur et scribit Harchius ; non quo
TheodoriBeKaeResponsio.' Genevae. locuti aunt Patres, quorum senten-
1580. pages 8 vo. 160. Reprinted in tiam penitus depravat.' Beza, p. 71.
folio, among the TractatusTheologici, " Beza, p. 66.
528 The Sacramental Part
stantiation or transubstantiation, which it aimed to correct . He
proceeds to confute it at large, in a strong, masterly way, worthy
of his great abilities. I shall endeavour to give you a taste of
his performance, in a few particulars; though it must be a great
disadvantage to it, to appear as it were in miniature, when the
whole is so close and concise : but it is necessary, in a manner,
to give some kind of summary view of it.
1. He observes, that the system proposed, under colour of
magnifying the signs one way, really lessened and depreciated
them another way, as making them bare memorials of what they
ought spiritually to exhibit, namely, of the natural body, being in
that respect made mere signs, ^bs any picture might beP,) rather
than exhibitive signs. And though he endeavoured, another
way, to give more honour to the signs than really belonged to
them, yet he destroyed the very nature of signs by doing it, and
made quite another thing of them, viz. receptacles of the Divinity,
not exhibitive signs or symbols of the humanity 1 : which, in effect ,
was excluding the thing signified out of the Sacrament, and
seeking salvation independently on Christ's humanity 1 " ; thereby
subverting the economy of man's redemption, which stands in
our mystical union with the human nature of Christ 8 .
2. Beza observes further, at large, that it is manifestly wrong
to interpret 'body given for you,' and 'blood shed,' of anything but
' Harchius magis etiam ineptam Beza, p. 5 1 .
sententiam tuetur : qui ut corporis i ' Quamvis enim postea plus etiam
naturalis localem praesentiam exclu- illis quam nos tribuere videatur, ne-
dat, Deitatem ipsius Verbi ex carne dum ut ilia extenuet : si quis tamen
assumpta in panem Ulapsam, velit rem totam propius inspiciat, com-
intra ipsum panem habitare, adeoque periet omnem signorum rattonem ab
ipsi re ipsa uniri et permisceri,' pp. ipso aboleri : ut qui panem ilium et
66, 67. vinum illud, non corporis illius pro
p 'Docemus Sacrarnentorum signi- nobis traditi, et sanguinis illius pro
ficationem, divinitus institutam, ne- nobis effusi signa, sed ipsius essen-
que nudam esse, qualis est pictarum tialis aeterni Filii Dei conceptacula
imaginum et aliorum ejusmodi vul- esse contendat.' Beza, p. 51.
garium signorum, sed cum ipsa rerum r 'Neque enim nunc quaerimus,
significatarum praebitione conjunc- plus an minus in his vel illis detur,
tarn.' Beza, p. 50. sed an idem detur, id est, ilia ipsa
'Nimium profecto, parce et jejune Christi humanitas. Si hoc negatis.
de isto signorum genere loquitur, ergo extra Christi humanitatem sa-
cum Q3. nvrujL^ffvva. tan turn vocat, quod lutem quaeritis.' Beza, p. 95.
quam pictis imaginibus convenit.' * Vid. Beza, pp. 96, 97, 123, &c.
of the Eucharist, explained. 5 2 9
the natural body and blood signified in the Eucharist, and therein
also mystically or spiritually given and received *.
3. Against inherent graces, virtues, powers, &c. he pleads,
that to suppose pardon-giving, grace-giving, life-giving powers to
be lodged in the elements, is transferring Divine powers from
their proper seat, where only they can reside, to things altogether
incapable of sustaining them or receiving them : in short, it is
communicating to inanimate creatures the incommunicable attri-
butes, properties, or powers of God u .
4. He enforces his plea by observing, that it is attributing
more to the signs, than to the Word of God which makes them
signs, and of which as high things are predicated in Scripture,
but without any supposal of an inherent or intrinsic power infused
into, or lodged in the sounds or syllables x .
5. He enforces it still further by observing, that it is attri-
buting more to the inanimate elements than could be justly
ascribed to the Apostles or others who wrought miracles ; not
by any inherent or intrinsic powers infused into them, but by
the sole power of God extrinsic to them y.
6. He adds, that it is ascribing more to the bread and wine,
the sacramental body, than could be justly ascribed even to our
Lord's own natural body considered in itself, or abstracted from
his Divinity, the only proper seat or subject of such powers z . He
dwells upon this topic, as well to guard it from cavil and mis-
construction, as to imprint it the deeper on the minds of his
readers, being indeed singly sufficient and unanswerable, when
rightly understood. For if even a personal union makes not the
humanity of Christ life-giving in itself, or so as to become the
4 Beza, pp. 67, 68, 69, 70, 89, 90. prium quam ipsa Deltas, ad panem
u ' Spiritualia ac clivina (cujusmodi et vinuin, res inanimatas, transferat,
incorporatio in Christum, et in eodem aut certe cum illis communicet.'
collatum justificationis, sanctifica- Beza, pp. 70, 71: conf. 114, 115,
tionis, et tandem glorificationis, seu 130-136. [Chamier, Panstrat. vol.
vitae aeternae donum) per alium, ut iv. pp. 91, 93. Hooker, book v. n.
ullo modo efficientem causam, si quis 57, 67.]
nobia tribui existimet; aut rerum x Beza, pp. 133, 134, 135.
Divinarum prorsus est imperitus, aut t Ibid. pp. 75, 76, 77, 132, 133,
plane impius : ut qui quod unius Dei 1 34.
est incommunicabiliter, tarn pro- z Ibid. pp. 77, 78, 79, 134.
M in
530 The Sacramental Part
proper seat or subject of such powers 8 , much less can any supposed
union of the Logos or of the Spirit with the elements make
them the subject or seat of life-giving powers b . If it should be
pleaded, that a healing virtue went out of Christ's body c , even
that would not reach the case, were it really fact ; since healing
virtues and grace-giving powers are widely different. But the
texts say not that virtue went out of his body, but out of him, or
from him : neither is it said, that he felt in his body, but that
he knew in himself ; knew that a miraculous operation [Swa/m]
had gone forth from him ; which was said, to intimate that a
miraculous virtue or power really resided in him, as God-man,
but in no man else d .
I return to Beza.
7. He takes occasion to expose the doctrine of an oral man-
ducation of Christ, or of the Spirit, as palpably absurd e .
8. He more particularly exposes the notion of the unworthy 's
receiving the ' res Sacramenti/ the grace of the Sacrament, and
not with any benefit, but to certain destruction. A contradiction
to all the Scripture phrases in that article, phrases of a kind and
gracious import, words of favour, and blessing, and comfort ;
and such as \vill no more admit of a destructive meaning, than
light, or life, or health, or peace, or immortality can admit of it f .
Indeed, Christ is offered both to worthy and unworthy in the
holy Communion : and to the former, who receive him, he is a
life-giver and preserver, while to the latter, who reject him, he
is a judge and avenger. Still Christ received is always health,
" Ata rr t v Tivtaufvyv avrrj wr)v, OUTTJ life-giving. Much less can it be said
[<rap] a>ojroids. Theod. Dial. p. 184. of the elements, which are not so
' Caro Christ! per se vivifica non est, much as hypostatically united, nor
sed vivificandi vim a Spiritu cui can claim any benefit from the rule
juncta est, id est, a Divinitate mutu- of ' communicatio idiomatum,' or
atur.' Albertinus, p. 341 : cp. 758. from the use of personal phrases.
[Sadeel, pp. 145, 203, 421.] c See Mark v. 30. Luke vi. 19;
b N.B. The man Christ (according vlii. 46.
to the rule of ' cormnunicatio idioma- d 'Cognoscens divinum opus a se
turn,' and after the personal way of patratum.' Vid. OleariusinMatt. pp.
speaking) may be said to be God, 275. 276. Wolfius, Cur. Crit. in loc.
Life-giver, &c. But as the human Beza, pp. 86 &c., 100.
nature cannot be said to be the f Ibid. pp. 99, 100, 101, 102, 103,
Divine nature, so neither can it be [172. Rivet, t. ii. 136. Hooker, book
said to be efficiently or properly v. n. 67. Towerson, 245.]
of the Eucharist explained. 53 *
and life, and blessing to the receiver S : and it is Christ rejected,
not Christ received, who becomes to every unworthy communicant
both a judge and a revenger h . This reasoning appears to be just
and solid : and it is worth observing, that, after the latest re-
finements in this article, by the help of a distinction between
external and intei-nal eating > of the same enriched body k , yet the
difficulty remains as before, and cannot be evaded. For unless
the unworthy (who are the external eaters) are supposed exter-
nally and orally to eat both the bread and the grace, they cannot
be said to eat the body, which is supposed to mean and to
consist of both, and is not tlie enriched body, if either be want-
ing. All that can be made out, in that way, is, that the
unworthy eat one part of the pretended spiritual body, and not
the other part ; they eat the gross part, viz. the bread, not the
finer, viz. the grace : which, in other words, is saying, that they
eat not the body ; and therefore the distinction so applied
destroys itself. The plain truth is, that nothing but the sign is
externally eaten, and nothing but the thing signified is eaten
internally : therefore to imagine an external or an internal eating
both of sign and thing, confounded in one, and called a spiritual
body, is joining together incompatible ideas \ But I pass on.
S ' Omnes quidem manum et os af- ibid. p. 103. Cp. Beza contr. Pap-
ferentes symbolarecipiunt.mens vero pum de Unione hypostatica, pp. 1 38,
verafidenonpraeditaremSacramenti 130, 140.
repudiat : ac pr< ande reus non fit " ' Christus igitur ipse, turn in
tails quispiam indigne sumpti corpo- Verbo, turn in Sacramentis, eos qui-
vis et sanguinis Domini, (nisi per dem a quibus sumitur, id est, fideles,
corpus et sanguinem ipsa illoium vivificat: incredulos autem non re-
symbola metonyniia sacramental! ceptus, sed repudiatus judicat.' Beza
intelligas,) sed corporis et sanguinis contr. Papp. p. 140.
Domini contempti, et per incredu- ' [The same distinction was ob-
litatem repudiati Usque adeo served for the same purpose. G. Pas-
conjuncta sunt et connexa vita et chat. Radbert. p. 1568.]
caro Christ!, quoniam caro Filii Dei k See Unbloody Sacrifice, part i.
est, ut neque vitae particeps esse pp. 20^, 351-356.
quisquam extra illius carnis, unici ' ['Duplex est homo, qui comedit,
vinculi nostrae cum vita colligationis, externus et internus : duplex xnan-
participationem possit, neque quis- ducatio, qua comeditur, externa et
quam illius esse particeps, sive in interna : duplex etiam cibus qui
Verbo, sive in Sacramentis, qui ex comeditur, externus et internus :
ea non vivificetur : etqui contrarium externus cibus ab externo homine,
statuunt, Christum dividant : de externa manducatione comeditur :
quibus quid statuendum sit, docet internus ab interne interna manduc.i-
Spiritus Sanctus, i John iv. 3.' Beza, tioneparticipatur.'Salmasrus,p.426."!
M m 2
53 ^ The Sacramental Part
9. Beza takes notice how Havchius's system might lay a
foundation for bread-worship, stronger and firmer than even the
Popish one does, because of the union or mixture of essential
Divinity with the elements, which it introduces and rests upon.
He adds, that it would go near to destroy the 'sursum corda,' the
lifting up of the heart, so much and so justly celebrated by the
ancients. For if the elements really contain such immense
treasures, what need have we to look up to the natural body
above ? Or what have we to do but to look down to those
impanated riches, to the elements ennobled with all graces and
virtues, and replenished with thai very Divinity which makes
the humanity so considerable 11 ?
10. When Beza came to answer on the head of sacrifice, he
appeared to be much concerned at Harchius's unfair and un-
generous dealing, in reviving stale accusations against Protest-
ants, without so much as taking notice of the strong and
repeated replies . He avers solemnly, that the reformed had
been so far from discarding the eucharistical sacrifice, that they
only had most strictly preserved it, or rather retrieved it, fixing
it upon its true and ancient basis. Therefore he resented Har-
chius's misreport, in this article, as a grievous calumny P upon
the Protestant name, since the Protestants had not rejected all
sacrifice, no nor so much as a visible sacrifice in the Eucharist ( J.
This was the turn that Beza gave to that matter ; and it was
the right turn, made use of before by Bucer in 1&(6. For Bucer
was so far from submitting to the injui-ious charge of discarding
the sacrifice, that he retorted that very charge, and justly, upon
the accusers themselves : not merely pleading, in behalf of the
Protestants against the Romanists, that we have, a sacrifice as
well as they, but that we only had kept it, and that they had
lost it, or however had so lamentably depraved or smothered it,
m Beza, pp. 146, 147. i 'Quo sensu veteres Coenam Do-
n Ibid. p. 147. Ibid. p. 152. mini sacrificium vocarint, apertissime
P ' Cum totidem ilia constet a liquet. Ostendat autem Harchius
nobis diligenter fieri, calumniator in ecquid tandem istorum in nostris
eo deprehendetur, quod sacrificium ecclesiis praetermittatur ; et tune a
a nobis sublatum esse dicat. ' Beza, nobis visibile sacrificium abolitum
p. 153. esse clamitet.' Beza, p. 155.
of the Eucharist explained.
533
that what remained of it was next to none r . This he said, and
this he proved, beyond all reasonable contradiction. They must
be very little acquainted with those two excellent men, Bucer and
Beza, who can suspect that they admitted of no sacrifice but
mental or vocal only : for they were firm and constant friends to
the Christian sacrifice, rightly understood ; to external sacrifice s ,
and that principally in the Eucharist, as all the Fathers were.
Had but the Protestant Divines, as many as came after them,
been as careful and accurate as they were in the stating the
main question, and as constant in abiding by it, many intricate
disputes which have since risen might have been happily pre-
vented. For, indeed, the great question between the Komanists
and us*, is not whether the Eucharist be a proper, or a visible, or
an external sacrifice, but whether it be an extrinsic sacrifice or
no ; and whether their Eucharist or ours is that Gospel sacrifice
T ' Demonstrabo haec ipsa veteris
Ecclesiae, et S.Patrum sacrificia nos
vere offerre et sacrificare : vestros vero
sacrificulos ilia cuncta a missis suis
omnique sua administrations aut pro r-
sus renaovisse, aut certe pervertisse,
ut auctoritatibus omnibus S.Patrum
extremae impietatis convincantur et
condemnentur. ' Bucer contr. La-
tom. lib. ii. p. 146.
' Planum faciain in nostris ecelesiis
restituta esse cum genera oinnia sa-
crificiorum et oblationum quae offerre
vetus Ecclesia solita est . . . deinde
ostendam Ecclesiae veteris sacrificia
et oblationes per vestros sacrifices
aut esse omnino sublata, aut penitus
perversa.' Bucer, ibid. p. 246. Cp.
pp. 144, 261.
8 External sacrifice has been owned,
not only by Bucer and Beza, but by
Hooper, Jewel, Bilson, Fulke, Z'an-
chius, Chrastovius, Mornaeus, Schar-
pius, Field, Spalatensis, Montague,
Lany, Patrick, and many more, who
yet admitted none but spiritual sacri-
fice : neither do I know that any of
the old Protestant Divines ever re-
jected external sacrifice, but in the
sense of extrinsic, in which both
Scripture and Fathers reject it.
N. B. Extrinsic sacrifice means
something 'ab extra,' as a goat, a
lamb, a loaf, all extrinsic to us :
intrinsic is what proceeds *ab intus,'
from within ourselves ; as all our
true services do, whether internal
and invisible, or external and visible:
and therefore if all true services are
properly sacrifices, there must of con-
sequence be some visible, external
sacrifices. But we ought carefully
to note, how the ancient writers
used words or phrases. If I mistake
not, Lactantius and Austin rejected
all visible sacrifice, admitting none
but invisible, under the Gospel : but
then they meant by invisible, the
same with intrinsic ; and they call it
invisible with respect to its invisible
source, as it comes from within.
* [' Missa, sicubi a sacerdote cele-
brari solet, neque sacrificium pro-
pitians est, neque laudis aut gratia-
rum actionis, neque Deo accepta aut
probata, sed horribilis et detestabilis
res, de qua Servatoris illud verissime
dici potent. Quod celsum est coram
hominibus, id abominandum est co-
ram Deo.' Cranmer, Defens. Doctrin.
de Sacramento, p. 150.]
534 The Sacramental Part
which our Lord instituted, and which all antiquity acknowledged.
It will be found, upon just inquiry, that our eucharistical
sacrifice is the true one, and that their bread -sacrifice (for it
is really no better, fiction set aside) is as much a corruption,
though not altogether so novel or so dangerous a corruption, as
their bread-worship. But I return.
From the time of Beza's answer, Harchius and his system
have been very little mentioned : both seem to have been almost
buried in oblivion for a hundred and twenty years or more.
Only Mr. Bale takes notice u of some slight mention made of
Harchius, by Rivet, in some letters to Militiere, alias Brachet,
in the last century. Indeed the Romanists, since that time,
have sometimes invidiously and insidiously charged the Protest-
ants as interpreting the words of institution to such a sense as
either to make two personal bodies of Christ, or to imagine some
other fictitious body, substituted as the 'res sacramenti,' instead
of the natural. The Protestants rejected the injurious aspersion
with disdain, resenting it as a great reproach, to be so much as
suspected of any such thing x ; but insisting upon it, in the
strongest manner, that the words, 'this is my body,' and 'this is
my blood,' could not reasonably be interpreted of anything else
but the natural body and blood, represented, and sacramentally
exhibited, in the holy Communion y.
From the accounts now laid before you, my Reverend Bre-
thren, I take the liberty to observe, that some late notions of
the Eucharist appear to be little else but the remains of that
confusion which first began in the decline of the seventh century :
and the fundamental error of all lies in the want of a right
notion of symbolical language, as before hinted. Hence it is
u In the Supplement to Bajle's igitur corpus illud ; id est, solida
Dictionary, or in the last French substantia humanae naturae, quam
edition, in the article Harchius. assumptam in utero Virginis circum-
* Vid: Chamier, Panstrat. torn. iv. tulit in hypostasi sua Verbuin ; quam
pp. 528, 529. cruci affixam, et in sepulchre depo-
> 'Quaeritur ergo, quid sit corpus sitam suscitavit a mortuis.. . . quam
meum, sanguis meus. Nos candide, denique transtulit in caelos, inde
et libere, ac libenter respondemus, reddendam terris postremo adventu. '
Kara TO farov interpretandum, cum Chamier. Panstrat. torn. iv. p. 528.
Hesvchio in Levitici xxii est
of the Eucharist explained. 535
that signs have been supposed either literally to be, or literally to
inclose, the very things signified, viz. the Divine body, or the
Divine graces, virtues, or powers. Beza cleared up what con-
cerned the latter with great acumen and force : and the whole
question has been more mimitely discussed since by several able
hands z ; but more especially by the very acute and learned
Chamier, who has in reality exhausted the question, both
historically and argumentatively, in his disputes against the
Romanists a .
I may note by the way, that the Romanists, from the time
of the Trent Council b , have commonly maintained some kind of
physical efficiency in the outward sacraments, together with in-
herent graces as infused into the elements : though some of their
ablest Divines have scarce known what to make of the Trent
doctrine on that head, but have in a manner given up the thing,
contending merely for words or names. Cardinal Allen, one of
the shrewdest of them, saw the absurdity of the notion, and ex-
posed it : being aware how ridiculous it would be, to imagine
any inherent or intrinsic powers to have been infused into clay
and spittle, into handkerchiefs and aprons, or into St. Peter's
shadow c : neither durst Bellarmine afterwards be at all positive
on that head d . But yet both of them were minded to contrive
z Hooker, book v. chap. 57, 60, sit. Nam si oorporalis esset, nihil
67. Gasp. Laurentius, Defens. Sa- adjuvaret ad spiritualem effectum
deelis, p. 382, &c. Rivet. Cathol. magia quam ipsa natura aquae : et
Orth. torn. ii. p. 5, &c. Vossius de spiritualis qualitas non potest inesse
Sacram. Vi et Efficacia. Le Blanc, in corpore tanquam in subjecto. Sed
Thes p. 253. Preservative against id volunt, hanc esse virtutem Sa-
Popery, vol. ii. tit. 7. p. 32. Alber- cramentorum, ordinari, moveri, ap-
tinus, p. 503. [Davenant, Determ. plica-i, elevari a Deo ad effectum
p 108. Salmasius, p. 429, &c. Ward, spiritualem Christus accipiendo
Determ. p. 62. Spalatensis, 910.] lutum aut salivam, non impressit
Chamier, Panstrat. torn. iv. pp. illis, multo minus umbrae Petri,
51-96. aliquam qualitatem medicam; sed
h ' Si quis dixerit Sacramenta no- utendo, ac applicando, elevavit eas,
vae legis non eontinere gratiam quam ad quascunque sanitates producen-
significant, .... anathema sit.' Con- das: cum ipsae qualitates sana-
cil. Trident, sess. vii. can. 6. tivas actu inhaerentes atque sta-
c ' Noli putare id Patres dicere, biles non haberent.' Alanus de
quasi sit aliqua permanens qualitas a Euchar. p. 130. Compare my Ee-
Deo infusa Sacramento, aut ejus view, abov^e, pp. 275, 276.
materiae, cum ea qualitas neque d ' Non esse controversial!! de
spiritualis, neque corporalis esse pos- modo quo Sacramenta sunt causae,
536 The Sacramental Part
some verbal evasion, whereby to make a show of maintaining
what in reality they had yielded up. They pretended I know
not what Divine movement, raising or enabling the elements to
produce the effect : which was somewhat like the subtilty of
those who, not knowing how to ascribe thought to matter, as
such, either added motion to matter, or had recourse to Divine
omnipotence, to salve the hypothesis. Only there is this difference
between the two cases, that thought is a communicable attribute,
which a creature may have ; but a grace-giving power is incom-
municable, and can reside only in a Divine Being. Gerard Vossius
has well observed 6 , that the evasion before mentioned was a mere
evasion : and indeed it amounts only to so many unmeaning
words, artfully thrown together as a fine-spun covering, to hide
the flaws of a false hypothesis. Be the Divine movement what it
will, it can never shake God's attributes from his essence, or his
incommunicable powers from his nature, so as to transfer or
impart them to a foreign subject. God may co-operate with the
elements, so as to affect the soul, while they affect the body :
but his operations and powers, though assistant or concurrent,
are not inherent or intermingled, but are entirely distinct ; and
are as truly extrinsic to the elements, as the Deity is to the
creature. When and where the elements are duly administered
and received, God does then and there work the effect, pursuant
to his promise and covenant f . The elements are the occasional
an physice, &c et rursum si ratur, et concurrit ad productionem
physice, an per aliquam qualitatem effectus supernaturalis.' Albertinus,
inhaerentem, an per solsvm Dei mo- p. 503.
tionem.' Bellann. lib, ii. cap. i. 'Res ipsa quae unitur nobiscum in
p. 30. conjunotione spiritual!, nequaquam
' Commentum hoc de effectu ab curn illis signis unitur : alioqui sa-
actionis vi orto, nee tamen a vi cramentalis etiam haec unio [unio
interna ejus, cujus actio est, profecto pacti] esset dicenda spiritualis ; quae
merum Kpri<r<pvyfrov est, eademque ipsa quoque signa vivificaret; et
facilitate, qua citra probationem signa ipsa sacramentalia non am-
ullam affertur, etiarn rejici debet.' plius essent instruments, sed ipsa
Vossius de Sacram. Vi et Efficacia, fbrent causa efficiens et formalis :
p 253. [Cp. Davenant, Deterinin. quod est a.8f6\oyov, et naturae Sa-
23. pp. 1 08, 109. Ward, Determ. crarnentorum, atque Spiritus Sancti
pp. 62, 44.] energiae, fideique proprietati omnino
f c Effectum non attingunt proprie, repugnans.' Gasp. Laurent. Index,
sed operari dicuntur, quia ubi sunt, Error. Greg, de Valent. in Opp. Sa-
Deus juxta promissionem suam ope- deel, p. 382. ['Nos non dicimus
of the Eucharist explained. 537
causes, as it were, and he the efficient : this is the whole of that
matter.
If what hath been said may be thought sufficient to vindicate
the received doctrine of this Sacrament, as a sacrament, then the
other notion of it, together with the bread-sacrifice built upon it,
must fall of course : and we may reasonably rest contented with
what our excellent Church has all along taught us, both of the
sacrament and sacrifice : which in truth is no other doctrine but
what the New Testament, and the- Fathers of the Church from
the beginning, and downwards for six whole centuries, have de-
livered : here fix we, and abide. And that the reasonableness of
our so abiding may yet more clearly and more succinctly appear,
I beg leave here to throw in a few pertinent considerations, for a
kind of recapitulation of what I have before said.
i. Let it be considered what pains have been taken some
way or other to enrich and ennoble a bread-sacrifice, in order
to make it bear, or to suit it to a Gospel state, and yet none
of the ways will answer upon a strict trial ; unless we could be
content to rest in words which have no consistent or no deter-
mined ideas. Shall we fill the elements with Divinity, like as
our Lord's personal body is filled S ? A vain thought ! But
supposing it were fact, yet shall we sacrifice the Divine essence,
or any of the Divine persons ? God forbid. Yet Harchius, in
his way, was forced to admit of that absurdity, in order to make
sacramenta conferre gratiam per magnifying the consecrated elements,
unam illis inditam aut vim aut qua- (chiefly since the seventh century,)
litatem (sive naturalem, sive super- are these five :
naturalem) quod est gratiam conferre I . As the Adyos deified,, in a man-
per modum causae physicae : sed ner, the natural body ; so, &c.
ilicuntur, ex nostrae Ecclesiae sen- 2. As the fulness of the Godhead
tentia, efficacia gratiae signa, quia dwelt in Christ's body ; so, &c.
divina virtus hisce sacramentis ad 3. As the Holy Ghost formed the
producendum gratiae effectum, certo body in the womb ; so, &c.
et infallibiliter ex tenore foederis et 4. As the Holy Ghost inhabited
Christi promissione, assistit, ut viz. the man Jesus ; so, &c.
rationem habeant causae sine qua 5. As the burning bush was a
non, vel potius causae instrumenta- shechinah of God ; so, &c.
lis, generaliter dictae, instrumentum All of them novel, and foreign ;
morale vocant.' Sam. Ward, De- and betraying great forgetfulness of
term. p. 44.] symbolical language, or sacramental
B The similitudes made use of for phrases.
53 8 The Sacramental Part
out his pure and unbloody, and propitiatory sacrifice ll : and so
must all they who build upon the same general principles, if
they mean to be consistent with themselves.
Or shall we, to avoid the former absurdity, endeavour only
to enrich the elements with grace-giving or life-giving powers * ?
That would be sacrificing the Divine attributes, as before, only
with the additional absurdity of abstracting them from the
essence, and placing them in a creature, an inanimate creatui-e.
Or shall we call it only the sacrificing of grace and pardon,
first lodged in the elements, and next transferred from them to
us ? But how shall we make sense of it k : and if we could, how
would it answer the purposes intended by it ? It is very certain,
that good Christians are endowed with infused and inherent
graces. Now, supposing that the elements have the same, (which
however is a wild supposition,) yet that could only make the
elements, so far, equal to every good Christian : and still the
good Christian, though equal only in that view, will be as much
a nobler sacrifice than the elements, as man, the living image
of God, is better than a dead loaf. Why then so much earnest-
ness for a dead sacrifice, (were it really any,) in preference to so
many better living ones ? Or what sense or consistency can there
h Harchius, Patr. Consens. pp. sacramental solemnity, in which God
240, 263, 273, 275, 280, 299, 300. bears his part: and then it is no
i [ ' Ea igitur commixtio spiritus more than saying, that God is in the
et panis quam patres in his sacra- Sacraments, as he really is, and ope-
mentis fieri dicunt, non in ipso rates in both, as he really does. It
pane fit, neque in ipso calice, sed in may be justly said, that the abiding
corde sumentis per fidem.' Salmas. virtue of Baptism, (not the inherent
429. See above, pp. 513, 514. virtue of water, which is none,) oper-
Coinpare Pfaffius, 414, 431, 432, ates as long as a man lives. See
446. 'Neither the bread nor the Review, above, p. 216. That is,
water giveth life but only the God applies and continues the graces
might and power of Christ that is in and privileges of that seal, and his
them : and yet not in them reserved, work is sure and lasting. And if
but in the action and ministration : God operated with the consecrated
as is manifest from his (Epiphanius's) elements reserved in the Church, or
words.' Cranmer, p. 327.] in private houses, for many days or
k N.B. Whatever the Fathers may weeks aftt-r ; it was not because the
be conceived to have, looking at all elements retained any inherent vir-
tliat way, is either to be understood tues, but because God is true and
of what is concurrent with the ele- constant to his own covenants or
ments, not inhering in them ; or else, ordinances,
it is to be interpreted of the whole
of the Eucharist explained. 539
be in proclaiming, that such dead sacrifice, and offered by man,
is the most sublime and Divine sacrifice that men or angels can
offer l ; especially considering, that the value of the sacrifice can
never rise higher than the value of the sacrifice!" m 1
Shall we at length say (which appears to be the last refuge)
that the sacred elements are the most perfect and consummate
representatives of the natural body and blood, answering to the
originals as completely, as exemplified copies do to charters, or
to letters patents 1 Such words are easily thrown out : but what
sense do they bear, or what Scripture or Fathers have ever used
them n ? Or to what purpose can it be, to make use of swelling
and magnificent phrases, without any coherent or determinate
ideas'? Besides that even the original body and blood do not
operate efficiently, as the elements are supposed to do, but
meritoriously , and that by means of the Divinity which
personally resided and resides in them : therefore, unless the
elements have the same Divinity personally united with them,
they can be no such consummate proxy as hath been pretended.
Upon the whole, this account must either at length resolve into
a personal union of the elements with the Logos, or amount to
nothing. I have endeavoured to turn and try this matter every
way, in order to guard the more strongly against a common
failing, viz. the resting in a string of unmeaning words, which
really carry in them no certain or no consistent ideas. For so
it is, that false systems generally have been kept up by such as
I Unbloody Sacrifice, part ii. pp. and foreign similitude, and was thus
60,67,141. Compare my Appendix answered:
to Christian Sacrifice Explained, pp. ' Stupenda prorsus est hominis au-
451-453 of this volume. dacia, veteribus tribuentis id de quo
m See my Christian Sacrifice Ex- ne per somnium quidem cogitarunt,
plained, p. 441. Pet. Martyr. Com- Quis enim illorum unquam observa-
ment. ad i Cor. pp. 48, 65. Zan- vit, aut tantillum subinnuit, eucha-
chius, torn. vi. pp. 212, 215, alias ad ristiam hoc sensu antitypum appeb
Ephes. p. 424. Benedict. Aretixis, lari ? Nulius, nemo.' Albert! n us, p.
Loc. Comm. p. 394. Pet. du Moulin, 377: cp. pp, 437, 443,471. [Cp.
Buckler of Faith, p. 416. Anatome Salmas. pp. 26, 27.]
Missae, p. 168. Rivet. Summ. Con- ' Agnoscimus carnem vere vivifU
trov. torn. ii. p. ic8. Arumadv. ad care, quatenus oblafca fiiit Deo. ..
C'assand. p. 38. tanquam causa meritoria, sed non
II Cardinal Perron made use of vivificare corporibus nostris recep-
that vaunting plea, that affected tam.' Rivet, torn. ii. p. 138,
54 The Sacramental Part
intend not to deceive others, but are really deceived themselves :
and it is difficult to persuade them to call over their ideas, or to
examine their terms with due care.
2. To what has been said I shall only add, that it is worth
considering, that many true and sound principles of our own
Church, and of the ancient churches also, (as may be under-
stood from what has been hinted,) must be given up, before we
could admit the bread-sacrifice ; and that when it is brought in,
it can never find rest, till it thrusts out the sacrifice of the cross,
as I have shewn elsewhere r. Some perhaps might modestly
resolve to stop in the midway ; but they would be the less
consistent in doing it : for the natural, necessary, unavoidable
consequence of the other principle, regularly pursued, must at
length terminate in rejecting the cross-sacrifice. If our Eucharist
is a sacrifice of the elements, so was our Lord's also ; or else
ours and his will not tally : and he must have sacrificed himself
at the same time ; or else other accounts will not answer Q.
And if such was the case, the sacrifice of the cross was effectually
precluded, since our Lord was to make a sacrifice of himself but
once r . The sacrifice of the cross cannot, in this way, be con-
sidered as a continuation of the sacrifice of the original Eucharist,
for these reasons : i . The subject-matter could not be the same :
for neither bread nor wine could have any place in the oblation
of the cross. 2. The number could not be one; for in the
original Eucharist are supposed two sacrifices, the elemental
and personal, whereas upon the cross there could be no more
than the personal. 3. The form of the sacrifice could not be the
same, but different as bloody and unbloody. 4. The priesthood
(which is most material) could not be the same : for it is denied
that Christ offered at the cross a Melchizedekian sacrifice 8 , or
P Appendix, chap. iv. p. 4/o> &c. dam, nisi ut dicant (quemadmodum
i Ibid. p. 479. insipidissimus rabula Smythaeus ali-
1 Ibid. pp. 475, 479. quando scripsit, et postea publice
8 ['Si fuit in coeua sacerdos, ut Londini A.D. 1549, *d crucem D.
volunt, juxto ordinein Melchisedech, Pauli recantavit) Christum in cruce
in cruentum offerendo sacrificium, tantum fuisse sacerdotem secundum
qualis in cruce sacerdos fuit, ubi ordinein Aaronis.' Pet. Mart, contr.
sanguis est effusus? Nil deest ad Gardin. p. 60. Cp. FulkeinHeb. vii.
illorum stultitiam ecclesiae propinan- pp. 748, 749. Heskyns (1566), b. i.
of the Eucharist explained. 541
offered as a Melchizedekian priest *. 5. Lastly, the value
could not be the same : for two must be supposed better than
one, if each of them has its respective value ; or if not, why
was not one of them spared ? And a Melchizedekian sacrifice
must be supposed the most honoui'able and the most valuable
of any, and so of course must supersede all other. In short, the
cross- sacrifice, in this way, must either be excluded, or else
grievously disparaged, by being brought in as second, and in-
ferior to the higher sacrifice before made in the Eucharist. Some
learned persons, ancient and modern, have reasonably conceived
three several parts or views of one continued oblation of Christ
our Lord u : but then they have conceived it in quite another
sense, and upon very different principles, nothing at all akin to
the notion of the bread-sacrifice. They might, in their way,
consistently maintain one continued oblation ; which others
cannot, for the reasons just mentioned. Therefore, though it
is a very great error to reject the sacrifice of the cross, yet since
it is but the necessary consequence of the principle before men-
tioned, and is no more than arguing right from wrong premises ;
it seems that the first or greatest fault lies in retaining the
principle, after it is clearly seen what company it must go with,
and what precipices it leads to. I forbear to press these matters
further, and should have been glad to have had no occasion for
pressing them so far. May God give a blessing to what is
sincerely intended for the service of truth and godliness : and
may that Divine Spirit which accompanies the word and sacra-
ments, and dwells in all the faithful, grant us a sound judgment
and a right understanding in all things.
c. 13. p. 28. c. 28 ; p. 70. Vasquez. See Appendix, above, p. 463 &c.,
533. Alanus, 534. Appendix 41, 471.
54, 28.] See Review, above, p. 337.
DISTINCTIONS OF SACRIFICE
SET FORTH IN
A CHARGE
DELIVERED IN PART TO
THE CLERGY OF MIDDLESEX,
At the Easter Visitation, 1740.
Nos panem et vinum, in usu sacrae Coenae, sanctificari concedimus : sacri-
ficari nunquam dabimus. Mason, de Minister. Anglican, p. 575.
REVEREND BRETHREN,
THOUGH I have dwelt some time upon the Christian sacrifice,
perhaps even to a degree of tediousness ; yet considering the
great importance of the subject, I am not willing to dismiss it,
while I see room left for throwing in any further light upon it.
This may be done, as I conceive, by a more minute considera-
tion of the several distinctions, or names of distinction, which
saci-ifice, of one kind or other, has passed under, in Church
writers ; those especially of the earlier times, not neglecting
others of later date.
My design therefore, at present, is to bring together into
one summary view the most noted distinctions, or names of
distinction ; and to explain them one by one, taking in the
authorities proper to illustrate their meaning, or to signify
their use.
I.
The first and most comprehensive division, or distinction of
sacrifice, is into four several kinds, denominated from so many
several kinds of religion ; Patriarchal, Pagan, Mosaic, and
Christian.
i. The Patriarchal sacrifices commenced, very probably, soon
after the fall, and consisted of slain beasts a , prefiguring Christ
to be slain, pursuant to some Divine appointment b . Certain it
is. that Cain and Abel offered sacrifices, and that very early c ;
one, of the fruits of the earth ; and the other, of cattle d . Such
a This hath been probably collect- Demonstr. Evang. lib. i. cap. 10.
ed from Gen. iii. 21. See Patrick p. 35.
and other commentators. c A.M. 130. Bedford's Scripture
b See my first Charge of I73f, Chronol. p. 126.
Works, vol. v. p. 20. Cp. Eusebius, d Gen. iv. 3, 4.
K n
546 Distinctions of Sacrifice : Patriarchal, Pagan,
were the patriarchal sacrifices strictly so called, of the material
and extrinsic kind. No doubt but the good Patriarchs offered
spiritual sacrifices besides : but those were Gospel sacrifices, (as
the Gospel, in some sense, obtained even from the time of the
fall e ,) and therefore I reckon not them as purely patriarchal.
2. The second branch of this division concerns the Pagan
sacrifices ; which appear to have been little else but the patri-
archal, variously corrupted, at different times, and in different
degrees, by superstitious additions or mutilations f .
3. The Mosaical sacrifices were the patriarchal augmented,
regulated, and very minutely diversified, by Divine authority.
4. The Christian sacrifices are what both the patriarchal and
Mosaical, strictly so called, pointed to : they are the things sig-
nified, the truth, the substance, the antitypes or archetypes of
those types, signs, figures, shadows. Christians have a sacrifice
of which they participate, and whereupon they feast, which is no
other than the grand sacrifice itself, whereof the patriarchal and
Jewish sacrifices were types, or prefigurations : and Christians
have sacrifices, which they devoutly offer up as presents? to the
Divine Majesty : those are their spiritual sacrifices, (all reducible
to one, namely, self-sacrifice,) whereof the patriarchal sacrifices
were signs or symbols 11 . So much, in the general, of the first
distinction, or fourfold division : some particulars just hinted
shall be explained in the sequel, in the places proper. I proceed
to a second distinction.
e See my Review, above, p. 280. cal meaning of the younger name
1 ' Tantum interest inter sacrificia 8v<rla, in the Greek, and to vindicate
Paganorum et Hebraeorum, quan- the propriety of the appellation, as
turn interest inter imitationem erran- to spiritual services, the noblest of
tern, et praefigurationem praenunti- all presents to a spiritual Being,
antem.' Augustin. contr. Faust, lib. h Of the difference between a type
xxi. cap. 21. p. 348. Cp. lib. xxii. and a symbol, see Outram de Sacri-
cap. 17. p. 370. ed. Bened. ficiis, p. 203. A type, strictly, is an
8 Note, That the two oldest names image or figure of things future :
of sacrifice are ' mincha' (Gen. iv. 3) but a symbol is an image or figure
and 'corban' (Levit. i. 2), both signi- of things at large, whether past, pre-
fying a gift, or present ; and in that sent, or to come. So that ' symbol ' is
case, a gift to God. This observa- a more general name than ' type ; '
tion may be of use to cut off all though they are sometimes used pro-
fruitless speculations upon the criti- miscuously in ancient writers.
Levitical, Christian : Passive and Active. 547
II.
Sacrifices may be considered either in an active view as
offered, or in a passive view as participated. The Jewish
Passover, or paschal lamb, for instance, might be considered
as a sacrifice offered up to God by the priests, or as a sacri-
fice participated by the people who feasted upon it. The case
is the same, so far, with our Lord's sacrifice : for he is our
Passover, sacrificed for us'. He is the Lamb of God, as he
offered himself up a sacrifice to God : he is our Paschal Lamb,
as we participate of him, and feed upon him k . This distinc-
tion of active and passive sacrifice is not met with among the
ancients, in terms : but it is sufficiently wan-anted by the ideas
of the New Testament, and by the doctrine of the primitive
Churches ; and it is founded in the very reason and nature of
things. To explain this matter, let it be observed, that our
Lord's sacrifice, actively considered, as a proper act of sacri-
ficing, was performed once for all, was one transient act : but
the subject-matter of it, viz. Christ himself, and the virtue of
that sacrifice, are permanent things, to be for ever commemo-
rated, exhibited, participated. Christ entered into heaven with
'his oAvn blood 1 ;' and in virtue of the cross-sacrifice, he
'abideth a priest continually, ever living to make intercession
for us m .' In such a sense his sacrifice abides, and we per-
petually participate of it ; sometimes symbolically, as in the
two Sacraments ; and at other times without symbols, by faith
only and good life. In this sense it is that Christians are said
to 'have an altar whereof to eat n :' and if an altar, they must
have a sacrifice, for the same reason, and in the like sense.
The same thing is intimated by St. Paul, in the comparison
' i Cor. v. 7. tidie in Ecclesia fit. Juxta hoc,
k Ferns, a learned and moderate offerve debemus sacrificium laudis,
Romanist, who died A.D. 1554, ex- item sacrificium justitiae. imo nos
pressed this matter very justly, and ipsos.' Joan. Fer. in Genes, cap.
after the Protestant way. viii. p. 248. A.D. 1550.
' In Ecclesia autem, sacrificium ' Heb. ix. 12.
nostrum est Christus : qui semel qui- m Ibid. vii. 3, 25.
dem seipflum obtulit, memoria tamen n Ibid. xiii. 10. See my Review,
et repraesentatio ejvis eacrificii quo- above, p. 95, &c.
K n 2
548 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
which he draws between the partakers of the Jewish altar
and the Christian communicants : for as the Jews literally
feasted upon the typical sacrifices, so Christians spiritually feast
upon the body and blood of Christ, the true and grand sacrifice.
Therefore Christ's sacrifice is our sacrifice, but in the passive
sense, for us to partake of, not to give unto God. Christ
once gave himself to God for us, and now gives himself to us,
to feast upon, not to sacrifice. This distinction is worth the
noting, for the explaining numerous passages of the Fathers ;
either, where they speak of Christ himself as the Church's sacri-
fice P, or where they consider the grand sacrifice as dispensed ex-
communicated <i in the Eucharist, by and through the symbols,
to as many as are worthy.
But while Scripture and Fathers thus speak of Christ himself,
or of his body and blood, as the sacrifice whereof Christians
partake, that is, of sacrifice in the passive sense, or passive view,
with respect to us the receivers of it ; yet the same Scripture
and Fathers do as plainly and as frequently speak of other
sacrifices belonging to Christians, such as they actively offer
up to God, and present as their own sacrifices, the best they
have to give ; and those are their spiritual sacrifices, of which
I shall say more under a distinct head, in its place. Enough,
I hope, hath been said for the explaining both the meaning
and the use of the distinction between active and passive sacri-
fice, between performing a sacrifice, and participating of what
has been sacrificed. Our religious duties or services are our
only sacrifices in the active view ; and Christ once offered is
our only sacrifice in the passive or receptive view ; as was
i Cor. x. 1.6-21. nobis caro et sanguis Domini, novuin
P See Christian Sacrifice Explained, sacrificiuni.' Augustin.iu Ps. xxxiii.
pp. 418, 419. p. 211. torn. iv.
H ' Memoriam sui ad altare tuum, ' Quod addidit, manducare pauem,
Deus, furi desideravit [Monica] cui etiam ipsum sacrificii genus eleganter
nullius diei intermissione servierat, expressit, de quo dicit sacerdos ipse,
unde sciret dispensari victimam sa- panis quern ego dedero, caro mea
cram, qua deletum est chirographum pro saeculi vita. Ipsum est sacri-
quod erat contrarium nobis.' Au- ficium, non secundum Aaron, sed
gustin. Confess, lib. ix. cap. 13. p. secundum Me'. chizedecli.' Augustin.
170. torn. i. edit. Bened. de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. cap. 5. p.
' Ut jam de cruce commendaretnr 466. torn. rii.
Extrinsic and Intrinsic. 549
formerly well distinguished by a moderate Roman Catholic r ,
who met with hard usage for so freely speaking the truth.
But I pass on.
III.
Another very noted and necessary distinction is between
sacrifice extrinsic and intrinsic. Christians have no extrinsic
sacrifice but Christ ; and that with regard to participation
only, as before hinted : all their other sacrifices, wherein they
themselves are the sacrificers, are of the intrinsic kind, are
' ab intus,' from within the persons themselves ; being either
good thoughts, good words, or good ways, all of them issues
of the heart s . This is ancient and catholic doctrine : for thus
did the primitive Fathers distinguish the Christian sacrifices
from the sacrifices of Jews and Pagans ; which were of the
extrinsic kind, were extraneous to the man, such as sheep, goats,
beeves, fruits, cakes, or the like. What Barnabas says of God's
now requiring an human oblation, instead of the old legal sacri-
fices t, may best be interpreted by this key : it is the man that
God requires as his sacrifice; and he is to give to God, not
things extrinsic, but his whole self, his soul and body, his mind
and heart ".
Origen expresses the distinction in plain and broad terms,
observing that every good man has his sacrifice in himself v :
r ' Rite in missa dicitur a sanctis Jesu Christi, quae sine jugo necessi-
Patribus offerri et sacrificari corpus tatis est, humanam habeat oblati-
Christi. i. Eo sensu quo asserunt onem. . . . Nobis enim dicit, sacri-
Ecclesiam offeree in missa semet- ficium Deo cor tribulatum,' &c.
ipsam et preces. 2. Quia in missa Barnab. Epist. c. ii. p. 55. Compare
repraesentatur et commemoratur my Eeview, above, p. 314.
sacrificium crucis et passionis Christi, u ' Deus non pecudis sanguine, sed
imncupatur sacrificium commemora- hominis pietate placatur.' Lactant.
tivum. 3. Capiendo sacrificium pas- Epist. p. 204.
sive, pro sacrificato, noviter appli- ' Non vult ergo sacrificium truci-
cato nobis, asseritur rite sacrificium dati pecoris, sed vult sacrificium con-
missae ; quia in ea continetur corpus triti cordis.' Augustin. de Civit.
Christi quod fuit vere sacrificatum Dei, lib. x. cap. 5. p. 241. torn. vii.
in unico illo sacrificio crucis.' Joan. v 'Unusquisque nostrum habet in
Barnes. Catholico Roman. Pacific, in se holocaustum suum, et holocausti
Brown. Fascic. torn. ii. p. 849. sui ipse succendit altare, ut semper
8 Prov. iv. 23. ardeat.' Origen. in Levit. Horn. ix.
4 ' Haec ergo [sacrificia] vacua p. 243.
fecit, ut nova lex Domini nostri
550 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
that he sends it up to God from within, from, his own self :
that sons, or daughters, or farms, or cattle, are all of them
extraneous, or extrinsic, to the man : that self-sacrifice is be-
yond all other, as it is copying after the example of Christ x .
Origen was not singular in thus commending self-sacrifice, as
the best of any, and the sum total of all : other ancient Fathers
of the Church have done the like 7. It is a maxim of truth,
aud of common sense, that self-sacrifice is always the best that
any person or persons can offer, because it comprehends them
and all theirs. An angel's self-sacrifice is the most that such
angel can offer, and our Lord's self-sacrifice was the most that
he could offer, and every man's self-sacrifice is the most that
such man can offer. There is a seeming objection to this truth,
drawn from the consideration of an authorized minister's offering
up to God his own people ; who, collectively at least, must be
owned to be better than he. But then it is to be remembered,
that such authorized minister therein acts ' in persona ecclesiae,'
in a public capacity, as an officer of the church z ; and so it is
the whole church which offers what is offered in and through
him. But I return.
To Origen I may subjoin Lactantius, who rejects all extrinsic
sacrifice, everything extraneous to the man ; alleging that God
requires only what comes from within ; from the heart, not from
the chest; offered up by the mind, not by the hand 8 . This
* ' Vota autem Domino offerre an offering, by Divine institution,
nemo potest, nisi qui habet aliquid be made to rise higher than the
in semetipso, et in substantia sua, valae of the man ? No : for if it
quod offerat Deo. . . . Filium offerre, is made the man's property, (and
vel filiam, aut pecus, ant praedium, otherwise he cannot give or sacrifice
hoc totum extra nos est. Semet- it,) the proprietor is still more valu-
ipsum Deo offerre, et iion alieno la- able than the property, as contain-
bore, sed proprio placere, hoc est ing it. Object. 2. Is not the offer-
perfectius et eminentius omnibus ing Christ to view, more valuable
votis : quod qui facit, imitator est than offering ourselves ? No : be-
Christ!.' Origen. in Num. Horn, cause it is service only, and no ser-
xxiv. p. 364. ed. Bened. vice is more valuable than the ser-
y See references to them in Chris- vant himself: besides, such offering
tian Sacrifice Explained, Append, to view is not sacrificing Christ : so
p. 452, above. the objection runs wide of the point.
1 See Christian Sacrifice Explained, a ' Quid igitur ab homine desiderat
Append, p. 452, above. Deus, nisi cultum mentis, qui est
Object. I. May not the value of purus et sanctus? Nam ilia quae
Extrinsic and Intrinsic. 55 l
is not excluding good services, whether external or internal,
whether mental, vocal, or manual : for they are intrinsic to the
person, are as the man himself, amounting to, or resolving into
self-sacrifice. What our Lord says of evil thoughts, words, and
deeds, that they come from within, and out of the heart b , must
be equally true of all good services ; for the reason is the same
in both. This I hint, lest any one should interpret intrinsic
sacrifice of mental service only, exclusive of vocal or manual,
confounding intrinsic sacrifice with internal, which is of different
consideration, and belongs to another head of division, as will
be seen in the sequel. But I proceed to other authorities.
Chrysostom understood the distinction between extrinsic and
intrinsic sacrifice, rejecting the one as Jewish, and recommend-
ing the other as proper to the Gospel : those he says were from
without, these from within c . His disciple Isidore fell in with
the like sentiments, in his reflections on Eom. xii. i, ' Present
your bodies a living sacrifice d ,' &c. St. Austin is very clear and
expressive on the same head : for after rejecting all extrinsic
sacrifice, (actively considered,) he then asks the question, 'What?
have we therefore nothing to offer 1 ? Shall we so come before
God? So hope to appease him?' He answers : 'By all means
offer : you have within you what you are to offer. Look not
abroad for frankincense, but say, In me are thy sacrifices of
praise, O God, which I am to render thee. Seek not abroad
for cattle to slay ; you have within yourself what you should
slay. The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit e .' I may here-
aut digitis fiunt, aut extra hominem torn. xii. Bened. ed.
sunt, inepta, fragilia, ingrata sunt. d Isidor. Pelusiot. lib. iii. Epist.
Hoc est sacrificium verum, non quod 75. p. 284.
ex area, sed quod ex corde prefer- e ' Nihil ergo offeremus ? Sic
tur ; non quod inanu, sed quod mente veniemus ad Deum ? Et unde ilium
libatur. Haec acceptabilis victima, placabimus ? Offer sane : in te habes
quain de seipso animus immolaverit.' quod offeras. Noli extrinsecus thura
Lactant. Epist. cap. Iviii. p. 1 7 2 . Cp. comparare, sed die, In me sunt,
Zen. Veron. in Psal. xliac. Deus, vota tua, quae reddam laudis
b Matt. xv. 1 8, 19. Mark vii. 15, tibi. Noli extrinsecus pecus quod
23. mactes inquirere : habes in te quod
<' 'Eictivai fj.fl> yap ir\ovrov ical Ttav occidas. Sacrificium Deo spiritus
t^vTcav elfflf, a.bra.1 Se aper^s. '?- contribulatus,' &c. Augustin. in
vat ffaOtv, avrai fvSo6ei'. Chrysost. Psal. 1. p. 473. torn. iv. Cp. pp. 14,
in Hcb. cap. vi. Horn. n. p. 115. 364, 527-529.
55$ Distinctions of Sacrifice :
upon remark, that St. Austin would not say in this case, Offer
Christ : for though Christ is our sacrifice to commemorate, or
to feast upon, he is not our sacrifice to offer up in a proper
sacrificial sense. Much less would he say, Sacrifice bread and
wine ; for they are things extrinsic, as much as cattle or frank-
incense, and cannot be the subject-matter of a Gospel sacrifice,
any more than the other. What then was the only sacrifice left
for a Christian actively and properly to offer ? The man himself,
(or his services, which amount to the same thing,) that was still
left : and there St. Austin very justly and very consistently fixed
the Christian sacrifice, (actively considered,) as he always does.
IV.
I pass on to another ancient and useful distinction of sacrifice,
into visible and invisible. A distinction near akin to the former,
or rather resolving into it. Pagan and Jewish sacrifices were
visible ; but the Christian sacrifices were deemed invisible ; not
every way, but in respect of their invisible source, as arising
from within, from the heart or mind, which is seen to God only.
Lactantius argues, that our sacrifices ought to be invisible, that
so they may suit the better with an invisible Deity f . St. Austin
has the same distinction between visible and invisible sacrifices,
meaning by the visible the noted sacrifices of Jews and Pagans,
and by the invisible, the sacrifices made by good Christians only,
the Gospel sacrifices. In one place he observes, that the Jewish
sacrifices, which God's people now read of only, and do not
use, were bigns of the evangelical ; and thereupon lie says, that
' a visible sacrifice is a Sacrament, or holy sign, of an invisible
sacrifice?.' In another place, arguing, 'ex hypothesi,' against
Porphyrius and other Pagans, (whose principle it was, to offer
f ' Si enim Deus non videtur, ergo est, nisi rebus illis eas res fuisse sig-
his rebus coli debet quae non viden- nificatas quae aguntur in nobis, ad
tur.' Lactant. de Ver. Cult. lib. vi. hoc ut inhaereamus Deo, et ad eun-
cap. 215. dem finem proximo consulamus. Sa-
n ' Nee quod ab antiquis Patribus crificium ergo visibile invisibilis sacri-
talia sacrificia facta sunt in victimis ficii Sacramentum, id est, sacrum
pecomm (quae nunc Dei populus signum est.' Augustin. de Civit.
legit, non facit) aliud intelligendum Dei, lib. x. cap. 5. p. 241. torn. vii.
Visible and Invisible. 553
what they called invisible sacrifices to God supreme, and what
they called visible, to inferior deities,) he pleads, that both the
visible and invisible ought to go to the supreme only ; those
being signs of these, and requiring the same direction, to the
same Deity : and hereupon he observes, that the persons them-
selves are, or ought to be, that invisible sacrifice, whereof the
visible are the signs \ St. Austin here builds upon this Chris-
tian maxim, that what some call visible sacrifice, is really no
better than the sign, shell, shadow, of true sacrifice ; and that it
is no more true sacrifice, than articulate sounds are sense, or
words are ideas. Nothing- with him is true sacrifice, or accept-
able sacrifice, or evangelical sacrifice, (for those are so many
phrases reciprocal and tantamount,) but the invisible sacrifice,
the sacrifice of the heart, of the mind, of the man, for the
mind is the man.
One may justly wonder what some Divines, among the Ko-
manists, have meant, who, in order to maintain an extrinsic
sacrifice in the Eucharist, have laid hold of Austin's account of
a visible sacrifice, (that is, of a sign, shell, shadow,) as amounting
to a definition of true or proper sacrifice i. They could not have
contrived a shorter or surer way to depreciate the eucharistical
sacrifice. For since it is manifest, that St. Austin rejected those
called visible sacrifices, as what never were true sacrifices, (in his
sense of true,) even when required under the law, and are not
required at all, under the notion of sacrifice, by the Gospel k , the
advancing of signs now into proper sacrifices is but a kind of
h 'Qui autem putant haec visi- invisibile sacrificium nos ipsi esse
bilia sacrificia Diis aliis congruere, debeinus.' Augustin. ibid. lib. x.
illi vero tanquam invisibili invisi- cap. 19. p. 255.
bilia, et majori majora, meliorique ' ' Sacrificium, proprie dictum, est
meliora, qualia sunt purae mentis, sacrum signum.' Sylvius, torn. iv.
et bonae voluntatis officia ; profecto p. 624. ' Sacrificium est invisibi-
nesciunt haec ita esse signa eorum, lis sacrificii visibile Sacramentum.'
sicut verba sonantia signa sunt re- Bayus, lib. iii. cap. 2. p. 210.
rum. Quocirca, sicut orantes atque k 'Inhujusprophetaeverbisutrum-
laudantes, ad eum dirigimus signifi- quo distinctum est, satisque declara-
caiites voces, cui res ipsas in corde, turn, ilia sacrificia per seipsa non
quas significamus, offerimus, ita sa- requirere Deum, quibus significantur
crificantes non alter! visibile sacri- haec sacrificia quae requirit Deus.'
ficium offerendum esse noverimus, Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. cap.
quam illi cujus in cordibus nostris 5. p. 242.
554 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
will-worship, or sacrilegious usurpation. The sacramental ele-
ments are not that true sacrifice which St. Austin so often speaks
of, but the signs of it 1 ; not that true eucharistical sacrifice which
that Father so magnificently sets forth, but the shadows of it m .
And what can give a man a meaner idea of the eucharistical
oblation and sacerdotal sacrifice, than the placing it in the signs
of true sacrifice, and thereby setting it much lower than the
private but true sacrifice of every single laic of the Church 1 In
short, St. Austin's true sacrifice was really self-sacrifice 11 , the
same with his invisible sacrifice : and his eucharistical sacrifice
was the offering up the collective body of Christians, the whole
Church or city of God . But of this I may say more in a proper
place. All that I shall observe further here is, that St. Austin
never once gives (so far as appears) the name of visible sacrifice
to anything which he esteemed true sacrifice, or Gospel sacrifice,
justly so called. What he said of visible sacrifice, in the two
passages before cited, related purely to the Jewish and Pagan
sacrifices, which he opposed to the invisible, that is, to the
Christian sacrifices. He does indeed sometimes speak of the
Christian sacrifices, as appearing P, or being seen; that is, in such
a sense as things invisible may be said to be seen by their signs,
or reasonably collected and inferred from what appears out-
1 'Quod ab omnibus appellatur sa- inferiorem.' Albertinus, p. 474. The
crificium, signum est veri sacrificii.' reader may compare Unbloody Sacri-
Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. cap. fice, part i. p. 32, if disposed to
5. p. 242. observe what may be said, where no
m Nazianzen expressly teaches the just answer can be given. Alberti-
same thing, where he declares that nus had foreclosed all evasions : and
the outward oblation is but as shadow yet no notice was taken of him.
to truth, in respect of the true and n Augustin. torn. v. p. 268 ; torn,
spiritual sacrifices. vii. pp. 242-244, 256, 260, 569, 609,
OlSa Kal &\\o Qvaiaffr-hpiov, o5 TV- 674; torn. viii. pp. 349, 568; torn. x.
TTO s TO vvv 6pw/j.fva .... rovrif irapa- p. 94. ed. Bened.
(TTri<TOfj.a.i, TOVTW 6v<r<a Se/cra, Ovffiav, Vid. torn. vii. pp. 243, 244, 256,
Kal irpofftyopav, Kal oAo/caur^/iOTO, 260, 569, 674.
Kpe'iTTuva. rSiv vvv irpoffayo[j.ti>aji>, otrca P ' Ibi quippe primum apparuit
Kfttlrrov ffKias TJ a\ri6fia. Nazianz. gacrificium quod nunc a Christianis
Orat. xxviii. p. 484. See my Review, offertur Deo, toto orbe terrarum,'&c.
above, pp. 342-345. Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. xvi. cap.
'Gregorius affirmat oblationem 22. p. 435. torn. vii.
illam quae fit in Eucharistia, esse 'Cum videt sacrificium Christiano-
lunbram ac imaginem oblationuin rum toto orbe terrarum,' &c. Ibid,
nostrarum spiritualium, ac iis longe lib. xvii. cap. 5. p. 465.
Material and Immaterial. 555
warclly. Good works are seen by men, and they are sacrifices :
but they are not seen as good, or as sacrifices, except to God
only, who alone sees the heart. Good Christians are a sacrifice
to God in St. Austin's account, and they are visible, as men :
nevertheless, he calls them an invisible sacrifice, because in their
sacrificial capacity they are seen to God only, the searcher of
hearts. He would not allow that Satan himself could see what
Job did, when he sacrificed unto God : Job was visible, but his
sacrifice was invisible ; because it was true sacrifice, arising from
the hearts. From what hath been noted under this article, it
may sufficiently appear, that the Gospel sacrifices are of the
invisible kind, as contradistinguished from the visible sacrifices
of Jews and Pagans ; and that they have had the name of
invisible, on the same account as they had the name of intrinsic ;
and so both the names resolve into one and the same notion.
By these accounts, the bread and Avine of the Eucharist could
not be considered as Gospel sacrifices, being that they are 'ab
extra,' and open to view ; and as they are not intrinsic, so neither
are they invisible, either in themselves or in their source.
V.
Another, more ancient and more famed distinction of sacrifice,
was into material and immaterial, or corporeal and incorporeal :
the Christian sacrifices were of the immaterial and incorporeal
kind, and as such distinguished from the Jewish and Pagan
sacrifices, which were material and corporeal. This distinction is
as old as Justin Martyr, who rejected the sacrifices of Jews or
Pagans, as material sacrifices. Such material things, he says,
God has no need to receive of us, but that he accepts only of the
men themselves, while copying after the . Divine perfections,
purity, righteousness, philanthropy, and the like 1 ". This was
'i 'Ablatis omnibus, solus remansit mini, in luce viveiitium. Diabolum
Job: sed in illo erant vota laudis latebat, quiaintenebriserat.' August,
quae redderet Deo. In illo plane in Psal. Ivi. pp. 528, 529. torn. iv.
erant: arcam pecfcoris sui fur diabolus r 'AAA' ov 5eecr0ai TTJS irapa avOpdt-
non invaserat. Plenus erat unde sa- irvv UAIKTJS irpoa-ffiopas irpocrti\'fi(f>a.fj.ti'
critical et. Deus videbat in corde rbv fov, ainov Traptxovra iravTO. dpwv-
servi sui cultum suuin gratuitum : res' e/ceiVovs 8e irpotrSexfffOai O.VTOV
placebat illud cor in conspectu Do- p-ovov SeSiSayMefla /cal TreweiVjuefla, Ka.1
55^ Distinctions of Sacrifice :
pleaded in answer to the Pagan charge of impiety, thrown upon
Christians for not using material sacrifices. Justin tacitly admits
the charge as to fact, that the Christians did not use such sacri-
fices ; but in vindication of their conduct in that article, he pleads
that God had no need of material sacrifices : which in his phraseo-
logy, as circumstances shew, amounted to saying, that God did
not require them, but indeed rejected them. This appears very
plainly by his use of the like phrase soon after, with respect to
blood, libations, and incense, which, without all question, Justin
understood to have been absolutely rejected : yet Justin, even in
that case also, pleaded that God had no need of them 8 . He
chose, very probably, that form of speaking, by way of oblique
reproof to the Pagans, for their gross sentiments, in conceiving
that the Deity had need of such offerings. Other Fathers, in
the same cause, made use of the phrase of ' no need,' exactly in
the same way; so as not barely to teach that God is all -sufficient,
but intimating withal, that God had really rejected what he is
there said to have no need of 1 : otherwise their arguments on
that head would have been of no force to justify the conduct of
Christians in their not admitting such or such sacrifices. It is
observable, that in both the places where Justin speaks of the
sacrifices which God has no need of, he uses the phrase in direct
opposition to such sacrifices as God accepts of; which makes it
still plainer, that that phrase, as it there stands, is used as equi-
valent to disallowing, or rejecting. But to clear the matter up
yet further, so as to cut off all evasive pretences or reserves, (as
if Justin had left room for a material sacrifice in some shape or
other,) it is worth noting, that he distinctly points out what is to
be offered to man, and what to God, in the Eucharist : all the
material part, all that God gives for nutriment, is to be offered to
ourselves and to the needy, and to God a*re to be sent up hymns
iriffT(vo/4.(i' rovs ra irpaffffovra ai>T(? See Review, above, p. 317, and Dod-
ayaBa, /j.ipovfj.fi'ovs, ff(a<ppoffuvqi>, KO.\ well of Incense, p. 46.
fitKaioffvvriv, Kal <(,i\av6pa>iriav, Kal l Athenagoras, pp. 48, 49. Clem.
ova olicfla 0ff ta-ri. Just. Mart. Alex. pp. 836, 848. Tertullian ad
Apol. i. p. 14. Compare my Review, Scap. c. ii. p. 69. Arnobius, lib. vi.
above, p. 317. pp. 190, 191. Lactantius, Epit. c.
8 'AvevSerj a.tfj.a.Tui', /ecu airovftuiv, KO! Iviii. pp. Ifi, J? 2 -
v. Just. Mart. Apol.i. p. 19.
Material and Immaterial. 557
and praises u . Justin could never have expressed himself in that
manner, had he thought that any part of that material nutriment
was to be a sacrifice unto God. The words are very emphatical.
We are not to burn it, as the Pagans did : well, what then are
we to do with it 1 May we not irpoa-fopfiv, offer it up as a sacri-
fice ? No ; but we must offer it, in a lower sense, to man. What
then is to be offered up to God ? Nothing 1 Yes, thanks, praises,
hymns, and the like : that is God's tribute, that is a sacrifice fit
for him, and worthy of him. I have dwelt the longer upon this
Father, because of his great antiquity and authority, and because
his sentiments on this head have been sometimes widely mistaken
by contending parties.
I pass on to Lactantius v , who has the same distinction with
Justin, but under the names of corporeal and incorporeal, instead
of material and immaterial : he argues, that since God is incor-
poreal, he ought to have a sacrifice suitable, that is, incorporeal.
Nay, he argues further, that no other kind of sacrifice ought to
be offered him, and that he requires no other w . It is observ-
able, that his incorporeal sacrifices take in mental, vocal, and
manual services ; all good works x , external or internal, coming
u T<5 ra for' ftcdvov (Is Smrpo^V to God, is the same with forbidding
yivoptva, oil wvpl Sairavav, aAA' eat>To7s them to be used as presents, or
icol TO?S 8eo/j.fvots irpocr<pfpfiv, ticfivty considered as presents to the Divine
5e fi/xapiffrovs uvras <5iot \6yov iro/j.iras Majesty.
Ka.1v/j.vovsirffj.irfiv. Just. Mart. Apol. v 'Sicut corporalibus corporalia,
i. p. 19. sic utique incorporali incorporale
Literally thus : sacrificium necessarium est.' Lactant.
' Not to consume by fire the crea- Epit. c. Ixviii. p. 171. 'Duo sunt
tures made for nutriment, but to quae offerri debeant, donum et sa-
offer them to ourselves, and to the crificium Deo utrumque incor-
needy ; and thankfully to send up porale offerendum est, quo utitur.
to him [God] \>y speech, praises Donum est integritas animi, sacri-
and hymns.' ficium, laus et hymnus.' Lactant.
N. B. Mr. Reeves has diluted the Instit. lib. vi. c. 24. Compare my
meaning of this passage by a transla- Review, above, pp. 339, 340.
tion too paraphrastical. It cannot w ' Quid igltur ab nomine deside-
be supposed that Justin meant only, rat Deus, nisi cultum mentis, qui
that such things should not be offered est purus et sanctus ?' See above,
to God by wasting, burning ; for he p. 550.
declares plainly what things are to * 'Hie cultor est veri Dei, cujus
be presented to God, and what to sacrificia sunt mansuetudo animi, et
man : besides that the taking from vita innocens et actus boni.' Lac-
such offerings the very essential tant. Instit. lib. vi. c. 24.
characteristics of all material presents
558 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
from a good mind. Bodily service is performed indeed by the
body, as the instrument : but that service is not a bodily substance,
not a material thing ; as a sheep, a bullock, a cake, a loaf, or a
vessel of wine is. Lactantius's notion of sacrifice includes all
acts of obedience, all true services of the man y ; but it excludes
everything extraneous to the man, from being the subject-matter
of his sacrifice : so that this distinction of corporeal and incorpo-
real, or of material and immaterial, differs only (if it at all differs)
in a mode of conception from the distinction of extrinsic and
intrinsic, before explained.
Eusebius recommends the Christian sacrifices as incorporeal,
in opposition to the corporeal sacrifices of Jews and Pagans 2 .
Basil in like manner observes, that God rejects corporeal sacri-
fices a . Chrysostorn also bears his testimony to the same thing,
and in words of like import, where he speaks of the converted
Jews as relinquishing their corporeal services, upon their em-
bracing Christianity 15 . Cyril, after observing that beeves, sheep,
turtles, pigeons, fruits, fine flour, cakes, incenses, are all discarded
under the Gospel, as too gross to be offered for sacrifice : and that
Christians are commanded to offer up something more fine and
more abstracted, more intellectual and spiritual, namely, meekness,
faith, hope, charity, righteousness, temperance, obedience, dutiful-
ness, praises, and all kinds of virtues, (not a word of bread or of
wine in all this long list,) adds, 'For this sacrifice, as being purest
from matter, is most worthy of the Deity, who is by nature
uncompounded and immaterial c .' To the same purpose writes
i 'Haec sunt opera, haec officia took notice, that the editor had re-
misericordiae ; quae si quis obierit, jected that piece as of doubtful au-
verum et acceptum sacrificium Deo thority, in his preface, torn. i. p. 48.
immolabit.' Lactant. Epit. p. 204. But I have since observed, that in a
Cp. Mimic. Fel. sect. 32. p. 183. in later tome he altered his mind, and
Review, above, p. 332. admitted it as genuine, giving his
z Taurus 5e ira\iv TCJJ affufMTovs reasons, torn. iii. in Vita Basilii, c.
teal fofpas Bvfflas TO. irptxpriTiKa /crjpur- 42. p. I79> & c
Tit \6yta. Euseb. Demonstr. lib. i. c. b Trjv Sia Ovffiwv Kal &\oKavTu/*d.Twt>
IO. p. 39: cp. 35, 36. Origen. in Kal rwv &\\cai> r<av ata^ariKSiv a<f>tvTfs
Psalm, pp. 563, 722. edit. Bened., Otpaitfiav. Chrysost. adv. Judaeos,
and my Review, above, p. 340 Horn. vii. p. 664. torn. i. ed. Bened.
a Tla.paiT(?Tcu TOS ffufiariKas Qvfficu. Cp. ad Roman. Horn. xx. p. 658.
Basil. Comm. in Isa. torn. i. p. 398. torn. x.
edit. Bened. c 'Aiikordri) yap avri) 6vcriar<f Kara
N.B. In Review, above, p. 345, 1 <j>v<nt> air\tp KM duAy vptirovffa 0.
Material and Immaterial. 559
Procopius, of the next succeeding century ; observing that cor-
poreal sacrifice is abolished, and spiritual established d .
Could such writers, after all, believe bread or wine to be the
sacrifice which God accepts 1 Are they finer than fine flour ? Are
they purer than cakes ? Or say that they are : yet are they im-
material, or incorporeal 1 Or if even that were allowed, (which
never can be allowed,) yet are they faith, or hope, or charity, or
good mind, or good life 1 Every way they stand excluded. But
still, colours have been invented, to evade the authorities here
cited : sometimes it is said, that immaterial, or incorporeal, may
not mean perfectly immaterial, but only less gross, or less fecu-
lent 6 . That is not very likely, if we consider that the immateri-
ality or incorporeity of the sacrifice spoken of is understood to
be analogous to God's immateriality or incorporeity, to which it
is compared. But that is not all : for it is further to be con-
sidered, that the immaterial quality of the Christian sacrifices
was commended by the Fathers, in opposition to the Jewish and
Pagan sacrifices. Now had they really meant no more than that
they were less gross, or less dreggy, such an argument could not
have failed to introduce a very doubtful debate between them
and their adversaries, viz. whether the Jewish and Pagan fine
flour and cakes were not as free from dregs as the Christians'
bread ; and whether their libations were not of wine as pure, and
as free from feculency, as any that the Christians could pretend
to. Yet we find nothing recorded, no not so much as a hint
of any such debate : wherefore it is much more reasonable, as
well as more natural to suppose, that those plain Fathers, \vho
were both wise and honest men, understood immaterial and
Cyrill. Alex, contr. Julian, lib. x. p. as all other bodies are allowed to
345. Compare Review, above, p. 346. have ; and that I do not intend it as
Dodwell on Incense, p. 89. a word of the same adequate import
d OVKOVV fdSrj\of us rb <ro>/j.aTiKov with the Greek v\iit6s. For I appre-
t K)3aA>i>, rb irvfvfj.a.'TiKbv ir\-r}povv liray- hend that some of the ancients may
yi AAfTcu. Procop. Gaz. in Isa. pp. 22, have asserted, that the eucharistic
23: cp. p. 493. sacrifice is SiiAos, as well as dfftcJ/taTos;
6 ' When I call the eucharistic but then they did not mean perfectly
sacrifice material, I must here de- immaterial, or without bodily sub-
clare, that I mean nothing by it but stance, but not gross or dreggy.'
that it has such a real corporeal Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. p. 27.
extension, as natural bread and wine,
560 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
incorporeal in the usual and obvious sense of those words. And
indeed the instances which they give to exemplify what they
meant, such as hope, faith, virtue, all immaterial, (and those were
their sacrifices,) demonstrate that they did so. I take no notice
of some slighter evasions which have been offered, for fear of being
tedious, or of giving offence to persons of true discernment.
VI.
I pass on to the famous distinction of bloody and unbloody
sacrifice : a distinction, probably, borrowed from the Pythago-
rean philosophers f by the Christian Fathers of a philosophic
turn, who, by some easy and proper refinements of the idea,
adapted it to Christian purposes. Justin Martyr here seems to
have led the way ; who to the Pagan sacrifices of blood, and to
their libations, opposes the true spiritual praises and thanksgivings
offered up by Christians S. He did not say, unbloody, or spiri-
tual bread and wine, but spiritual praises and thanksgivings.
Athenagoras, of the same age, says, that it is meet to offer an
unbloody sacrifice, and to bring a rational service Q . Had he in-
tended bread and wine by the unbloody sacrifice, this would have
been the place wherein to have mentioned them : but he has not
one word of them. All that he opposes to the sacrifices of blood,
are the knowledge of God's works and ways, the lifting up holy
hands, and the like ; which, according to him, are 6v<ria fteyio-TT).
the noblest sacrifice ; and therefore, undoubtedly, the same that
he i-ecommends under the names of unbloody sacrifice and rational
service '. He had said before, God needs no blood, nor fat, nor
scents, nor incense ; that is, he does not now accept them. What
then does he accept instead of blood, &c. ? Did he say bread or
wine? No: but he tells us of that greatest sacrifice, describing it
as consisting of religious faith, and prayers, and services : those
f Vid. Clem. Alex. pp. 848, 849. ed. Lond.
ed. Ox. h Hpoa-<f>fpfLV Stov afaif^aifTov 6v-
s O5 tv TT> traKiv irapovffiq, /j.)i $6- ffiav, Kal T^V \oyiid]v vpoffdyfiv \a-
ITJTE \(yetv 'Hcrcuav, ^ rovs &\\ovs vpo- rpflav. Athenag. Legat. p. 49.
</>7jTas Bvtrlas a<p' al/j.drcav t) airovfiiav ' See my Review, above, p. 323,
eirl r<5 OvfftaffT'fipioi' a.va(p(ptaQai, oAA* and compare Jewel's Answer to
a\ridivovs iced Kvfv/j.a.riicovs tuvovs Kal Harding, pp. 427, 428.
eixap'orfo^ Just. Mart. Dial. p. 389.
Bloody and Unbloody. 561
God accepts in opposition to blood, &c., wherefore those are what
this Father recommended as unbloody sacrifice in the place now
cited. The case is plain in the author himself, and will, besides,
be abundantly confirmed by other similar passages in the Fathers
that followed, whose testimonies I shall take in their order of
time.
Tertullian, to the bloody sacrifices, opposes pure prayer k : not
a word of pure bread and wine, as a Christian sacrifice in oppo-
sition to the other. But in another place, where he again recom-
mended prayer sent up from a chaste body, an innocent soul,
and a sanctified spirit, he adds, not worthless grains of frankin-
cense, the tears of an Arabian tree, nor two drops of wine 1 . He
must have been very imprudent, not to say worse, in touching
upon so tender an article as the two drops of wine, had he con-
ceived that such in part was the real sacrifice of every Christian
communicant at the holy altar.
Origen m , Lactantius n , Eusebius , Austin?, all state the oppo-
sition in the same way ; not between bloody animals and bloodless
bread or wine, (as they should have done upon the material
scheme,) but between bloody sacrifices and sacrifices of the spi-
ritual kind, such as prayers, praises, and good works. More
particularly, Eusebius joins rational with unbloody, and calls it
unbloody service, not unbloody elements, symbols, and the likefl.
k ' Sacrificamus sed quomodo lari.' Origen. in Num. Hoin. xxiv.
Deus praecepit pura prece: non p. 363.
enim eget Deus, conditor universi- n ' Deus non pecudis sanguine, sed
tatis, odoris, aut sanguinis alicujus.' hominis pietate placatur.' Lactant.
Tertull. ad Scap. c. ii. p. 69. Com- Epit. 204.
pare my Review, above, pp. 329, Ou 5i" eu'juarwj', aAAa 5t' tpycav
330. tvfff&(ai> KaJSapa-v wvo/j.aa'fj.fi'rjv Gvfftav
1 ' Offero ei opimam et majorem T$? M tra.ffiv ava<pepftv @f<p. Euseb.
hostiam ; quam ipse mandavit : ora- Demonstr. Evang. c. vi. p. 19 : cp. pp.
tionem de carr.e pudica, de aiiima 20, 21, 23, 39; in Psal. p. 212.
innocenti, de Spiritu Sancto pro- P ' Non rult ergo sacrifidum truci-
fectam : non grana tlmris unius assis, dati pecoris, sed vult sacrincium con-
Arabicae arboris lacrymas, nee triti cordis.' Augustin. de Civit. Dei,
duasmeri guttas,' &c. Tertull. Apol. lib. x. c. 5. p. 241.
c. xxx. p. 277. Cp. Arnob. lib. vi. * QvcnaffTiipiov avai/j.<av Kal \oyiKav
p. 190. edit. Lugd. Bat. Ovcrtuv. Euseb. Demonstr. Evang.
111 ' Decet enim Deo immolari vie- lib. i. c. 6. p. 20. nvfv/j.a-n Kal a\Tj-
timam cordis, et hostiam contribulati Ofiq, &VO.LIJ.OV Kal KaQapav ajroSiSoi/s
.spiritus, non carniset sanguinis jugu- aiiry \arpfiav. Euseb. ibid. p. 21.
O
563 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
Eusebius further teaches, that the unbloody sacrifices will obtain
in heaven r . From whence it is manifest, that he meant not the
elements by that phrase, but religious services. Neither has there
been produced so much as a single passage from his writings,
where that phrase must mean the material elements, or where it
may not reasonably mean religious acts, services, performances 8 .
Attempts have been made upon a place or two *, to warp them
to another meaning, but so slight, and so easily seen through at
once, that I shall not here trouble you with any particular con-
futation of them. The error lies in confounding the material
things with the religious work ; and the sacrificial instruments
with the sacrificial service ; that is, with the sacrifice itself. But
I proceed.
The Emperor Constantine, in a letter to King Saporis, says,
that Christians are content with unbloody prayers only, in
supplicating God ; and that prayer, free from blood and filth,
together with the sign of the cross, was sufficient for victory u .
Here we have the epithet unbloody directly applied to religious
services, (not to material things ;) so that there is no arguing
from the Pagan application of that epithet to the Christian,
which was widely different, as their sacrifices were different.
It is in vain to plead, that the difference lay only in this, that
the Jews and Pagans used animal sacrifices, and the Christians
bloodless bread and wine : for then, why did not the Fathers
mention unbloody bread and wine, rather than unbloody prayers'?
r See the passage in my Review, 4 See Unbloody Sacrifice, part 5.
above, p. 341. How sacrifices shall p. 21. N. B. Eusebius asks, 'Who
be offered in heaven, or what sacri- but our Saviour ever taught his
fices, see Origen in Num. Horn, xviii. votaries to offer by prayer and an
P-359- ed.Bened. Lactantius, Instit. ineffable theology, these unbloody
lib. vi. c. 24. Augustin. torn. iv. p. and rational sacrifices ?' That is,
474; tom.vii. p. 610. Gregor. Magn. memorial services; which is Euse-
tom. iii. p. 509. ed. Bened. bius's constant notion of the eucha-
Gvfficus avalpots KCU /j.vffriKait ristic sacrifices. Demonstr. Evang.
Ifpovpyicus TO Qewi> i\a.ffKovro. Euseb. pp. 27, 38, 39, 40. Compare my
de Vit. Constant, lib. iv. c. 45. p. 651 . Review, above, p. 3?.
'Avalpovs iced \oyiicas 6v<rias, rat Si n M6vait ti>x.cus avai/JidKrais irpbs
fvX&v Kal airoppJiTov 6(o\oy(as, rots iKtfta.i' @eov apxovvrai . . . airoxp^ai
avrov Bioffwrais ris &riT*Ae?' trapeSta- miry tis viKtjv rb TOV ffravpov <rv/j@o-
Ktv &\\os, 1) /j.6vos 6 rifitrtpos ffwrhp ; \ov . . . nod fvx^iv KaBapav alfidrttiv KCU
Euseb. de Laud. Constant, p. 768. plnrov. Constantin. apud Sozom. lib.
ed.Cant. Cp.Demonstr.lib. i.e. 6, 10. ii. c. 15. p. 63.
Bloody and Unbloody. 563
And why should they so industriously smother the true state of
the competition, (if it were true,) and run off so wide, that
nobody, by their way of speaking, could suspect any other, than
that the opposition entirely lay between bloody victims and
unbloody services of lauds, prayers, and good works 1 For those
are what they directly call sacrifices, and what they expressly
point to, as often as they specify or explain their unbloody
sacrifices.
Cyril of Jerusalem in plain terms characterizes the spiritual
saci'ifice by unbloody service x . Now, as sure as that a service y
is not a substance, and a spiritual sacrifice is not a corporeal
host, so sure is it, that the epithet of unbloody belongs not to
the elements in that passage of Cyril. There may be some
doubt of what Cyril meant by the sacrifice of propitiation, in
the same paragraph : but a wise interpreter will not therefore
depart from what is clear and certain. What I apprehend is,
that Cyril, by spiritual sacrifice and unbloody service, meant
the consecratory service, whereby the elements became symbols
of the real body and blood, symbols of the grand sacrifice.
When the elements were once so constituted exhibitive symbols
of the grand sacrifice, which is the true sacrifice of propitiation,
Cyril scrupled not to give them the name of what they repre-
sented and exhibited, by an usual metonymy of sign for thing :
for, in the very same way, he there also gave them the name
of Christ slain 7 , and of the most tremendous sacrifice a . The
* Mero T}> 0,-no.priaQriva.i T^V irvev/jLa- of it. But the whole context shews,
TIKV Ovfftav, T^V ava(fj.aKTov \aTpflav, that service there really means ser-
tirl rrjs 6v(rias eKeipTjs TOV i\a(rfj.ov ira- vice, the celebration of the paschal
pai(a\ov/j.fv rbv &tl>v vitfp KOIVTIS TUV sacrifice, the keeping that feast.
e/c/c\r)(Tiwj' (lpTivi)s. Cyril. Mystag. v. z Xpurrbv 4ff<payia.<riA.fi'oi' virep TI>
sect. 8. p. 327. Compare Review, ri^.frip<av anapr-nfjidruv jrpoff^tpofj.w,
above, p. 223. tiA.eui;|Uj'Oi virtp avrwv Tf Kal fifiuv
' After that the spiritual sacrifice, -rbv (pt\dv8pcairo)> Qtov. Cyril. Mys-
the unbloody service, is finished, tag. p. 328.
upon that sacrifice of propitiation a TTJJ aylas KO,\ <t>piK<a$tffTd.Tris irpo-
we beseech God in behalf of the /ceijufVjjy Ovtrias. Cyril, ibid. p. 327.
common peace of the churches.' Cp. Ephraem. Syr. de Sacerdot. pp.
y It has been sometimes pleaded, 2, 3. Chrysostom, torn. i. pp. 382,
(Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. p. 24) 383, 424; torn. vii. pp. 272, 310;
that service may import a material torn. ix. p. 176; torn. xi. pp. 217,
thing ; and Exod. xii. 26, 27, is 218. Nazianz. Orat. xvii. p. 273.
appealed to, as affording an example
002
564 Dittinctiom of Sacrifice :
symbols therefore, in a figure, are there called the sacrifice of pro-
pitiation ; but the spiritual sacrifice and unbloody service, spoken
of just before, express that service of ours, that sacrifice which
we actively offer up, in order to the consecrating the elements
into holy symbols, exhibitive of the grand sacrifice to every
faithful i-eceiver b . So that the phrases of spiritual sacrifice and
unbloody service do here retain their usual meaning ; and Cyril
has neatly contrived to insinuate to his readers a just notion
of the two sacrifices of the Eucharist ; the one actively offered,
and the other passively received or participated c .
I pass on to Zeno of Verona, who lived about the same time
with Cyril. He makes use of the same distinction of bloody and
unbloody, while recommending the sacrifices of Christians as
preferable to the animal sacrifices of Jews and Pagans d . By
unbloody sacrifices, he understood clean thoughts and pure
manners, intimating nothing of clean bread or pure wine, as
set in competition with the bloody sacrifices. A strange omis-
sion, had he been at all aware that the elements were the proper
Christian sacrifice.
Nazianzen speaks of his purifying the people at the mystical
table, that is, in the Eucharist, with unbloody and perfect ordi-
nances 6 . From whence it is plain, that he thought not the
b Cyril's whole context will set Spirit efficiently. In a word, tirl
this matter clear. TTJJ Ovvlca fKfivrjs means the same,
napaKa\ov/j.fv rbv <f>i\di>Qpifirov &ebi>, as if it had been said 4*1 TOV ffia/Mros
Tb ayiov TftC/xa f^airo(rrti\at tiri T& ticfivov Kal afyiaros. And indeed, if
itpoK.tiu.fva., Iva, ITOJ^OTJ Tbv /j.fv Uprov Bvfftas had referred to Trvevfj.cn iidii'
ffua. XptcrTov, Tbv 8 olvov of/xa Xpi- Ovaiav next preceding, Cyril, prob-
arov' vajTtas yap ov av t<pd^aiTo rb ably, would have said, iirl ri}y Ovalas
Syiov wvfvfjut, TOVTO rtytaa-rai, Kal /j.t- ravrijs, not 4Kfivris.
Ta;8e'#AijTai. E/Va, /tisra rb avaprt- c See above, p. 547, &c.
ffOyvcu T)IV irvfvfuirn^jv dvffiav, TT;*' d ' Spiritali Deo sacrificium est ne-
&val/j&KTov \arpeiay, 4*1 TTJJ Overtax cessarium spiritale, quod non ex sac-
iiiftinfis TOV iXafffjiov ira.pa.Ka.\ovu.tv, culo, sed ex corde profertur : quod
C.T. \. non bromosis pecudibus, sed sua vis-
Here I understand ^ri TTJS Oufftas simis moiibuscomparatur; quod non
?/cetrr;y to refer to ffp.a and of^ua cruentis manibus, sed sensibus mun-
XpiiTTov, before mentioned. They dis offertur ; quod non jugulatur ut
are that sacrifice of propitiation into pereat, sed, siout Isaac, immolatur
which the elements are supposed to ut vivat.' Zeno Veron. in Psal. xlix.
be 'symbolically changed, by the spi- This I take from Dodwell on In-
riUial sacrifice and unbloody service; cense, pp. 97, 98.
that is, by the consecratory prayers e 'E-ya; -rpatrtfas fivyrtic
and lauds, instrumentally, as by the TTJJ,
Bloody and Unlloody. 565
epithet unbloody to be appropriated to material substance.
And this may help to explain another passage of his, relating
to Julian, Avhom he represents as desecrating his hands by
profane blood, thereby wiping out the consecration he had
received in Baptism, and washing his hands of the unbloody
sacrifice f ; that is, of the consecration received in the eucharis-
tical solemnities. Had this plain sense of the place been
thought on, there would have been no room left for the specu-
lations which some have raised upon that passage ".
There is another noted place of the same Father, where lie
speaks, I think, of the Pagans, set on by Arians, and defiling
the unbloody sacrifices with the blood of men and of victims h .
I see no reason for interpreting unbloody sacrifices, in this
passage, at all differently from the common usage of that phrase
in Church writers of those ancient times. Both the thought
and the expression seem to be near akin to what Optatus uses,
upon a like occasion, in relation to the rudeness and profaneness
of some Donatists ; who had overturned, as he terms it, the
vows and desires of the people, together with the altars 5 . I
suppose, Gregory might as properly and as reasonably say, that
the devotions of the people were polluted in one case, as Optatus
might say, that they were overturned in the other case : the
expressions are alike rhetorical.
Asterius Amasenus, in a work ascribed to Gregory Nyssen,
speaks expressly of incorporeal repentance and unbloody sup-
plication, as obtaining in the Church, in the room of animal
sacrifices k . So that the epithet unbloody, for the first four
'Eyui Ka.6a.(f><a \abv, ov ffoi irpoff- 6v<rtui> a'luaffi xpad'oi'Tfs. Naziarrz.
<pfpu, Orat. xx. p. 348.
'Ei/ TO?S ava'1/j.ois Kal reXe/bis 5<fy- i ' Vota et desideria hominum, cum
fj.acri. ipsis altaribus, evertistis. Iliac ad
Nazianz. Iamb. vol. ii. p. 182. aures Dei ascendere solebat oratio.'
f Kal ras x 6 V as a^ayvl^frat, TTJS Optat. contr. Parmen. lib. vi. p. 289.
avaiuaKTov 6vcr(as a.iroKa.Qaipui', Si' ?is k "Oirfp Se ?)v iSre 6 iWap/cos ij.6-
fi/Afts Xpi(TT<p K0ivtavo\}fj.fv, Kal fiav <?xos, TOVTO v\>v fffrl i] a.ffta/j.aros /j.tra-
Tra9Tjfj.a.T(av, Kal TTJS BtdrriTos. Nazi- ;ueA.eia, Kal o.valfi.a.ros 8e^<ris. Greg,
anz. Orat. i. p. 70. Nyssen. de Poenit. p. 170. That
B See Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. work belongs to Asterius Amasenus
p. 20. of the fourth or fifth century. Vid.
h vffta<rTTftplcav Karopxov/j.(voi, Kal Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. torn, viii. 4 p.
ras avainaKTOvs Bvcrias avOptairoiv Kal 160.
566 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
centuries at least, appears not to have been so much as applied
to the eucharistical elements, much less appropriated.
Some pieces have been quoted on this head 1 , under the
admired names of Athanasius and Chrysostoni, which might
have been worth examining, were they not now known to be
spurious. But Chrysostom, in his undoubted writings, abun-
dantly discovers how he understood the distinction which we
are now upon, by his opposing the bloody antiquated sacrifices,
not to clean elements, but to Christian virtues, lauds, prayers,
and good works . Isidore Pelusiot uses the phrase of unbloody
sacrifice , but without explication ; so that his sense of it must
be determined, either by his general doctrine elsewhere, or by
the constant usage of contemporary writers.
St. Austin opposes to the antiquated bloody victims, the sacri-
fices of praise P. Cyril of Alexandria says that the angels of
heaven offer unbloody sacrifices 9. A very clear passage, by
which we may reasonably interpret his meaning in other pas-
sages 1 not so clear, or left doubtful and undeterminate. I shall
here take notice but of one, which runs thus : ' The table bearing
the shewbread (proposition of loaves) signifies the unbloody
sacrifice, by which we are blessed, while we eat the bread from
heaven, that is, Christ 8 . Here the phrase of unbloody sacrifice
1 Unbloody Sacrifice, part i. p. 20. xiii. p. 457. Epist. ad Nestor, p. 72.
m That ascribed to Athanasius is In Malach. p. 830.
among the spuria of the Benedictine Sq/xaiVei pev TJ Tpdirtfa r^v Trpodt-
edition, torn. ii. p. 241. aiv exovffa TOIV ttpTuv, TQV avai/juiKTov
The other ascribed to Chrysostom Ovtriav SC ?is fv\oyovfj.f0a, rbv &prov
is among the spuria of the Benedic- tff&iovrts r'bv e'| ovpavov, rovrfirri
tine edition, torn. v. p. 630. ~X.ptcrriv. Cyrill. Alex, de Adorat.
n Chrysostom. contra Jud. Horn, in Spirit, lib. xiii. p. 457.
vi. p. 648 ; Horn. vii. pp. 617, 664. N.B. This passage, or part of it,
torn. i. In Psal. iv. p. 20. In Psal. [in Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 20,] is
xlix. p. 231. In Joann. Horn. Ixxiv. strangely rendered thus : 'The table
p. 437. torn. viii. In Heb. Horn. xi. which had the shewbread denotes
pp. 115, 116. torn. xii. the unbloody sacrifice of the bread,
Isidor. Pelusiot. lib. iii. Ep. 75. or loaves.' Here TWV &prw, which
p. 284. belong to irpodtffiv going before, (for
rAugustin. ad Honorat. Epist. cxi. irpoOttriv rwv &PTUV amounts to the
p. 439. torn. ii. same with rovs Sprouv rrjs wpoQeffas,}
1 Cyrill. Alex, de Rect. Fide, p. are separate! from irp66tcnv, and irp6-
160. See my Review, above, pp. Qevtv alone is rendered shewbread,
342, 346. very oddly, that so ruv Upruv may be
* Cyrill. Alex, explicat. Anathem. thrown to avaifi.aKTov Ovarlav, to make
xi. p. 1 56. De Adorat. in Spiritu, lib. an unbloody sacrifice of loaves in the
Bloody and Unbloody. 567
undoubtedly refers to the sacrament of the Eucharist, in and by
which we are blessed, sanctified, &c. It may be a name for
some part of the service, or for the whole solemnity, (as the
whole is often denominated for some eminent part,) but cannot
reasonably be construed as a name for the elements, considered
as a material sacrifice. The bread from heaven, the thing
signified, rather than the signs, would, by Cyril's account, have
the better title to that name. But I apprehend, that the phrase
of unbloody sacrifice in that place, denotes not the heavenly
bread itself, nor the signs, but the memorial service performed
by those signs, which is the usual signification of the phrase.
Upon the whole, I may presume to say, that no clear testimony
hitherto, within the six first centuries, has been produced,
whereby to prove that unbloody sacrifice was ever made a name
for the elements of the Eucharist. If the Fathers had enter-
tained such a notion, no doubt but they could have expressed it,
in words as clear and as full as the Church writers of the eighth*
and following centuries expressed it ; for they wanted no com-
mand of language : but since they never did so express it, but
those later writers are (so far as appears) the first that did so ;
it is reasonable to conclude that such an use of that phrase came
in about the time that transubstantiation (or something very like
it) was creeping in. And it is no great wonder if the signs then
came to be looked upon as the unbloody sacrifice, when they
were believed to be or to contain the very things signified, the
real body and blood that was once sacrificed upon the cross". I
would not be understood, by my tracing the use of the phrase of
Eucharist : notconsidering.thatipTos, the same century, [vid. Oudin. torn. i.
in the apodosis of the comparison, p. 1858], in these words :
follows after, and means, not the ele- ' Offerimus tibi haiic immaculatam
ments, butthe bread from heaven, that hostiam, rationabilem hostiatn, incru-
is, Christ, as Cyril himself interprets, entam hostiam, hunc panem sanctum,
' The Second Council of Nice (A. D. et calicem vitae aeternae.' Pseud-
787) speaks plainly enough : oCrt 6 Ambros. serm. v. In Oudin. torn. i.
Kupios O#T 01 diroffToAof, $) Trarepes, 1904. So the interpolated Sacra -
tln6va fjirov Trjv Sta rov lepecvs Trpoa- mentary of Greg. I., and so other late
<p(pofji.(vriv o.fa.ifj.o.Krov Ova-lav, oAA.' liturgies.
aurb rb trcSfto ol avrb -rb oljua. Con- u See Sacramental Part of the Eu-
cil. Nicaen. ii. Act. vi. pp. 370, 371. charist Explained, in the preceding
So also had Damascen before, torn. i. Charge, pp. 497-514.
p. 272. So likewise Ambrosiaster, of
568 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
unbloody sacrifice in so particular a manner, as if I thought that
much depended upon it : for had the Fathers really denominated
the elements by that name, it would amount only to this, that
as the elements, by a metonymy, have been sometimes called
tremendous sacrifice, often body and blood, or Christ slain, and
the like ; so, by the same metonymy, they have been likewise
called unbloody sacrifice. But as the fact has not been proved,
that the elements were ever so named by the ancient Fathers, I
thought it proper first to consider the fact, and to give what
light I could to it, because it may be of some use to know how
the ancients understood and applied their terms or phrases.
VII.
There was another ancient distinction similar to the former,
though of somewhat less note ; and that was the distinction of
smoky and unsmoky sacrifice. The Jewish and Pagan sacrifices
were of the smoky, fiery kind ; but the Gospel sacrifices were
free from fumes and vapours, and inflamed only with the fire of
the Holy Spirit. It will be of use carefully to examine this
distinction, on two accounts : first, in order to observe whether
the Fathers opposed to the smoky sacrifices, which they rejected,
clean bread and wine, or clean life ; and, next, to see whether
that fire of the Spirit, which they supposed to fall upon the
Christian sacrifice, was conceived to come upon the eucharistical
elements or upon the communicants. By these two marks, we
may as easily and as certainly discern what was or what was not
the Christian sacrifice, in their estimation, as a tree is known by
its fruits, or a face by its lines and features.
i. Let us see then, first, how the Fathers expressed the
distinction, and what it was that they opposed to the smoky
sacrifices of Jews and Pagans.
Justin, according to his way of stating the Christian sacrifice,
in opposition to incensings, among other articles, opposes only
the sacrifice of praise v . Athenagoras does the like w . Irenaeus
v Just. Mart. Apol. i. p. 19. See w Athenag. pp. 48, 49. See above
above, p. 556, and Keview, above, p. 560. Review, above, p. 323.
p. 317, &c.
Smoky and Unsmoky. 569
opposes a contrite heart, and prayers x , upon the strength of
St. John's authority in the Revelationsy. Clemens of Alexandria
opposes to incensings, &c. a sacrifice of the heart, and of speech
exhaled from holy souls, and the like z . Tertullian opposes clean
prayers a . So does OrigenA Lactantius opposes to blood,
fumes, and libations, a good mind, a clean breast, and innocent
life c . Hitherto no one thought of opposing clean bread or pure
wine to the smoky sacrifices.
Eusebius. speaking of Constantine, says; 'To God, the king
of all, he sent up gratulatory prayers, being a kind of unfiery
and unsraoky sacrifices' 1 .' Elsewhere, to blood, smoke, and
nidor, he opposes purity of thought, sincerity of affection, sound-
ness of principles, and the like e . The author of some com-
mentaries under the name of Ambrose, who is supposed to have
collected much from Chrysostom, opposes faith and prayers to
the smoky sacrifices^ Now, if the eucharistical elements had
been the Christian sacrifice, how easy and how natural must it
have been for the Fathers to flourish upon that topic ; the clean-
ness, the pureness, the usefulness of bread and wine, or the
intrinsic value of it, (as some have done since, g) beyond all the
gold and silver of the Indies. Indeed, how could they miss of
it ? Or how could they forbear to employ their finest strokes of
oratory upon it ] Yet they were totally silent on that head.
x Irenaeus, lib. iv. C; if. pp. 248, d TaJ irav-rtav f3a.(rt\ti &e eu^a-
249. ed. Bened. See Review, above, piffrovs cu^ar, Sxrirtp TIVO.S cnrvpovs nal
p. 324, &c. aicdirvovs Bvffias a.i>firt/j.wfTo. Eviseb.
y Revel, v. 8. de Vit. Constant, lib. i. c. 48. p.
z Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. iii.c. 12. 526.
p. 306. Strom, ii. pp. 369, 370. e Euseb. Demonstr. Evang. lib. i.
Strom, vii. p. 848. Compare Review, c. 6. p. 23 ; c. 8. p. 29 ; c. 10. p. 40.
above, p. 328. See Review, above, p. 340.
a Tertull. Apol. c. xxx. p. 277. f 'Nonne altare est caeleste fides
Ad Scap. c. ii. p. 69. See above, nostra, in quo offerhnus quotidie
p. 561, and Review, above, pp. 329, orationesnostras,nihilhabenscarnalis
330. sacrificii quod in cineres resolvatur,
b Origen. contr. Cels. p. 755. See ncc in fumos extenuetur, nee in vapo-
Review, above, p. 333. rationesdiffundatur.' Pseud- Ambros.
' Illic nihil exigitur aliud quam in Heb. viii.
sanguis pecudum, et fumus, et inepta B See Unbloody Sacrifice, part ii.
libatio : hie bona mens, purum pectus, p. 62. Compare my Appendix above,
irmocens vita.' Lactant. Instit. lib.v. p. 450.
e. 19. p. 279..
5 jo Distinctions of Sacrifice :
Say, that their ' disciplina arcani ' in some measure restrained
them from exposing their mysteries to strangers and aliens : yet
that ' disciplina' scarcely commenced so soon as some of these
authorities 11 . Besides that, their mysteries were not unknown
to Julian, for instance, (who had been a Christian reader,) nor to
several other adversaries : and they would not have been silent,
whatever the Christians themselves were. Yet Julian charged
not the Christians with bread sacrifice, but with no sacrifice ',
(excepting Christ's,) and so the general charge used to runJ. I
know but one instance, and that as late as the fifth century,
which looks at all like a charge of bread-sacrifice upon Chris-
tians : and perhaps by that time there might be more colour for
it (though colour only hitherto) than there had formerly been.
It is the instance of Benjamin the Jew, mentioned in Isidore,
who objected, that the Church's oblation appeared new and
strange, with respect to bread's receiving a sanctification, con-
sidering that the law had prescribed bloody sacrifices. Isidore
makes a very obscure reply, telling the Jew, that the law had
prescribed blood and nidors, in the court of the temple without,
but that within there was a table of bread, (meaning the shew-
bread,) which was not exposed to the view of the ancient people k .
It does not appear from this passage, either that Isidore admitted
the bread for a sacrifice, or that Benjamin the Jew (who speaks
only of bread's being a sanctified offering) charged him with it.
But suppose it related to the name of sacrifice, as sometimes
h Vid. Tentzelii Exercitationes : Lactantius, Instit. lib. v. c. 19. Epit.
contr. Schelstrat. part ii. p. 32, &c. pp. 169, 204. Eusebiua, Deraonstr.
Deylingius, Observat. Miscellan. pp. Evang. lib. x.
407, 408. Dallaeus De Cult. Relig. k Koii'V Kal ^tvriv rijv rrjs
pp. 1085, 11131 Calvoer de Hit. p. e<J>Tjs irpofftf>opav iirivtvoriff6a.i,
639. &pro* rbv ayLzauov tvfiriffTv&Ti, rov
' "Vid. Cyrill. Alex, contr. Jul. lib. von.au <u/xacri raj (Wi'aj bp'i&vros.
ix. pp. 307, 308. lib, x. p. 345. edit. ITcSs Se 06 trwopas . . . 8n ra aT,uara
Spanhein. *ol TOS Kviaaas ev rrj auAp, <cal TO?J
i Justin, pp. 14, 19, 387, ed. Lond. vpoffKrjviois TOV aytciffuaros vi^os eVee'-
Athenag.pp. 48, 49. Clem. Alex. pp. \tvtre yivfaOat, TOVS Se &prous ri taa-
36, 369, 370, 688, 836, 848, 860. ce8e'xTo rpd.irt^a,'firwira\aicfadfa,Tos
Minuc. Fel. sect 33. p. 183. Tertull. \ay- >v tls vvdpxft avrbs, 6 TTJV eV rf
Apol. 277, Ad Soap. c. ii. p. 69. v6(ii? Kp\nrro^tin}v KO! vvv 8f5ri\utj.(i>i)i'
Origen. contr. Cels. lib. viii. p, 755- a\'i)S(tai' ^ yvovs. Isidor.Pelus. lib. i.
ed. Bened. Arnobius, lib. vi. p. 189. Ep. 401. p. 104, alias 91,
Smoky and Unsmoky. 571
given to the elements in the passive view, (metonymically called
sacrifice, as representing and exhibiting the grand sacrifice
received or participated in the Eucharist,) it would not concern
the question about the active sacrifices performed in the Eucha-
rist, but the sacrifice received in it, symbolically received ; and
so the instance would be foreign to the point now in hand \ I
shall have occasion to say more of the elements, as denominated
a sacrifice, in the receptive way, and in a metonymical sense, as
I go on, and therefore may pass it over now.
2. Having observed what kind of Christian sacrifices were
constantly opposed to the smoky and fiery sacrifices of Jews and
Pagans, (not pure and clean bread or wine, but pure heart and
life,) I am next to take notice what kind of fire the Christians
acknowledged in their sacrifice, and how they interpreted it.
As Pagans boasted of their culinary fires, which consumed their
sacrifices, Christians, in their turn, spake as highly of the fire
of the Spirit : let us now see in what manner they managed that
topic.
Clemens of Alexandria, opposing the fire of the Spirit to the
gross culinaiy fires, observes, that that spiritual fire does not
sanctify the flesh (of animals), but sinful souls m . The souls
were the sacrifice in his account. Upon the material scheme,
had it been his, he must have said, that the fire does not sanctify
animal flesh, but bread and wine.
Origen supposes every man to have his burnt sacrifice in him-
self, offered from the altar of his heart, which altar he himself
1 I may just take notice of another whereupon Albertine makes this re-
instance, sometimes pretended out of flection :
Origen ; as if he had opposed an ' Quod Bellarminus ambigue vertit
offering to God of bread to the sacri- oblatos, et de oblatione Deo facta in-
fices which Pivgans offered todaemons. telligit, id parthn ex linguae Graecae
See the passage in Review, above, ignorantia, partim ex praejudicio
p. 86. The strength of the objection inepte supponit.' Albertin. p. 362.
lies only in a false rendering of that m <bantv 5' T^ueTs a-yid^eiv rb irvp,
passage in Origen : thematerial words, ou ra Kpta, a.\\a /cot ras afj.aprca\ovs
justly rendered, run thus: 'We eat tyvx<is. Tlvp ov -rra/j.<t>dyov Kal ^avav-
the loaves brought, with thanks- aov, o.\\a. rb ^povi^ov Ktyovrts, rb
giving and prayer over the things $tticvov/j.evov Sta TTJS ^vx^s rrjs Siep-
given.' Bellarmine would translate xoy.4vi]s [f. SexojutVr/s] rb irvp. Clem.
Trpoffa.yoiJifi'ovs&pTovs,' loaves offered,' Alex, Strom, vii. p. 851.
understandingthem as offered to God:
Distinctions of Sacrifice :
fires, and keeps always burning 11 : that is to say, by the fire of
the Spirit within, not by any fire from without, as in the case of
the Jewish and Pagan burnt offerings.
Jerome represents the man, his thoughts, words, and works
sublimated, in a manner, by the fire of the Spirit, and, as it
were, spiritualized into an heavenly composition, so as to become
a most acceptable sacrifice unto God . The persons themselves,
by his account, are the sacrifice ; and upon them the fire of the
Spirit falls : whereas, had the elements been supposed the sacri-
fice, the fire must have fallen there, and the whole turn of the
comparison must have been differently contrived. Austin's
accounts are much the same with Jerome's, Avhile he supposes
the old man to become in a manner extinct, and the sacrifice of
the new man to be lighted up by the fire of the Spirit P.
The most eloquent Chrysostom frequently flourishes upon the
same topic. In one place, elegantly describing the nature and
excellency of self-sacrifice, he proceeds to speak of the fire which
comes upon it, as being of a very new and uncommon kind, such
as subsists not upon wood, or material fuel, but is self-subsisting,
lives of -itself, and gives life to the sacrifice, instead of consuming
it Q. Most certainly he thought not of the material elements :
n ' Unusquisque nostrum habet et imponit in altare fidei, divino
in se holocaustura suum, et holo- igne, id est, Spiritu Sancto, compre-
causti ipse succendit altare, ut sem- hendenda." Augustin. in Psal. iv.
per ardeat.' Origen. in Levit. Horn. p. 14. torn. iv. Cp. torn. v. pp. 973,
ix. p. 243. 976, and Gaudentius Brix. de Exod.
' Ut corpus pinguis literae, quod ii. p. 807.
significatur in lege, et prophetae nu- ' Totos nos divinus ignis absumat,
biluni igne Domini, hoc est, Spiritu et fervor ille totos arripiat. Quis
Sancto (de quo dicit Paulus, Spiritu fervor? De quo dicit Apostolus,
ferventes) in spiritualem et tenuem Spiritu ferventes. Non taiitum
substautiain convertantur Ut per anima nostra absumatur ab illo di-
ignem Spiritus Sancti omnia quae vino igne sapientiae, sed et corpus
cogitamus, loquimur, et facimus, in nostrum, ut mereatur ibi immortali-
spiritualem substantiam convertan- tatem. Sic levetur holocaustum ut
tur, et hujuscemodi Dominus de- absorbeatur mors in victoriam.'
lectatus sacrificiis placabilis fiat.' Augustin. in Psal. 1. p. 474.
Hieronym. in Ezech. xliv. pp. 1021, 1 Katvbs yap OVTOS rrjs 6u<rlas &
I O2 2. pj/uoj' Sib xal 7rctpa8o|os TOV Trvpbs 6
P ' Extincto vel infirmato per rpdiros. Ou5e yap v\tav diirat Kal
poenitentiam vetere homine, sacri- uA?jy inroKti/j.fi>7)s, dAA' avrb Kaff
ficium justitiae, secundum regenera- tavrb $7 rb nvp -rb ij/j.(repov, Kal ovSe
tionem uovi hominis, offeratur Deo ; KaraKaiet rb Upe7ov, oAAi juaAAoy
cum se offert ipsa anima jam abluta, avrb faoTrottt. Chrysostom. in Rom.
Smoky and Unsmoky.
for he excludes all such gross fuel ; neither were the elements
capable of receiving life by the fire of the Spirit. Cyril of
Alexandria reasons on this head exactly the same way, mysti-
cizing the fire, and appropriating it to the persons considered as
the sacrifice r . What the Fathers aimed at in all was, to point
out something in the Christian sacrifices correspondent or analo-
gous to the ordinary sacrificial fires of the Pagans, and to the
holy fire of the Jews, but yet far exceeding both, in purity,
dignity, and energy.
But perhaps it may be here asked, Do not the same Fathers
often speak of the Holy Spii'it's coming upon the eucharistical
elements, as well as upon the persons of the communicants ] It
is very certain that they do ; for they supposed the Holy Ghost
to consecrate, or sanctify, the elements into holy signs, or sacred
symbols, representative and exhibitive of the body and blood of
Christ : not to make holocausts or sacrifices of them, but sacra-
ments only s ; signs of the grand sacrifice, spiritually given and
received in and through them. Therefore the Fathers do not
speak of the fire of the Spirit, as inflaming or warming the ele-
ments ; neither could they with any propriety or aptness do it :
if there be any chance expression seeming to look that way t, it
can be understood only of the gift of the Spirit accompanying
the elements to every worthy communicant. Upon the whole, it
is manifest, that when the Fathers opposed their sacrificial fire
(viz. the fire of the Spirit) to the sacrificial fires of Jews and
Pagans, they supposed it to enlighten, inflame, and spiritualize,
not the elements, but the persons : therefore the persons were
Horn. xx. p. 657. torn. ix. Cp. de Syrus, which has been thought to
Sacerdot. lib. iii. p. 383. torn. i. contain some such meaning : 'Christus
Item de Poenitent. Horn. ix. p. 349. Salvator noster ignem et spiritum
torn. ii. Item de Beat. Philogon. manducandum atque bibendum
Horn. vi. p. 500. torn, i., et in Heb. praestitit nobis carne vestitis, corpus
Horn. xi. pp. 1 15, 1 16. torn. xii. Item, videlicet et sanguinem suum.' Ephr.
torn. i. pp. 648, 671. Syrus/ de Natura Dei Incomprehen-
T Cyrill. Alex, contra Jul. lib. x. sibili,p.682. But ' ignis ' there seems
p. 345. Compare my Review, above, to mean the Logos, received with
p. 346. the Spirit ; received, not by the ele-
3 See Sacramental Part of the ments, but by the persons upon their
Eucharist Explained in the preced- partaking of the elements. Yid.
ing Charge, p. 491, &c. Alberrin. pp. 453, 454. The same is
' There is a passage of Ephrern received in Baptism also.
574 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
the true and acceptable sacrifices, living sacrifices, burning and
shining holocausts.
VIIL
There was another ancient, but less noted, distinction of sacri-
fice, into false and true ; or into untrue and true, which amounts
to the same.
Philastrius, speaking of the Jewish sacrifices, observes, that
they were not perpetual, nor true, nor salutary". That is to
say, that though they had truth of propriety, and were, properly
speaking, sacrifices, yet they had not truth of excellency, as the
Christian sacrifices have. Justin Martyr, long before, had hinted
the same thought T . And so also had Lactantius in opposing
the true sacrifices of Christians to the false ones (though he does
not expressly so call them) of Jews and Pagans *. St. Austin
expresses the distinction of false and true in plain terms;
opposing the true Christian sacrifice, performed in the Eucharist,
to all the false sacrifices of the aliens 7. The context may perhaps
make it somewhat doubtful, whether true sacrifice in that place
refers to the grand sacrifice, or to the eucharistical sacrifice,
since they are both of them mentioned in the same chapter.
But I choose to refer the words to the nearer, rather than to the
more remote antecedent, as most natural, and therefore most
probable : and the commendation there given to the true sacrifice,
by way of preference, runs no higher than what he elsewhere
says of the sacrifice of the Church, offered in the Eucharist.
That sacrifice Austin prefers z , under the name of ' true,' before
the false sacrifices both of Jews and Pagans.
I may just note by the way, that there is another sense of
false sacrifice to be met with in Cyprian, which belongs not to
this place ; for he understood schisinatical sacrifices ; which he
calls false and sacrilegious sacrifices, as offered in opposition to
' Necessitate indocilitatis co- cuncta sacrificia falsa eesserunt.'
gente, sacrificia temporalia. non per- Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. c. 20.
petua, nee vera fuerunt indicta p. 256. Compare my Review, above,
Judaeis, nee salutaria.' Philastr. p. 347.
Haer. cix. p. 111. x 'Hujus antem praeclarissimum
T Just. Mart. Dial. p. 389. atque optimum sacriricium non ipsi
* Laciant. Epit. pp. 169,204,205. sumus : hoc est civitaa ejus ; cujus
y Huic snmmo veroque sacrificio rei mysterium celebramus oblationi-
False and True. Old and New. 575
the true pastors a . The Jewish and Pagan sacrifices were deno-
minated false, in such a sense as we speak of a false diamond, or
false money, meaning counterfeit, figure, imitation : schismatical
sacrifices are called false in such a sense as we say a false title,
a false patent, or the like. But enough of this.
IX.
Hitherto I have been considering such names of distinction as
served to discriminate the Christian sacrifices from the sacrifices
both of Jews and Pagans. I proceed next to some other dis-
tinctions which respected only the Jewish sacrifices as opposed
to the sacrifices of the Gospel. Hereto belongs the distinction
between old and new ; which we meet with first in Irenaeus of
the second century b : who appears to understand the new obla-
tion of the offices of piety and benevolence performed at the
Christian altar . The sum of his doctrine is, that the old sacri-
fices which the law required, and which even then had the
second place only, have now under the Gospel no place at all ;
and that the true sacrifices which then had the first place, have
now the sole place under a new form, with many new and great
improvements. The service, not the elements, are with him the
new oblation d .
bus nostris. Cessaturas enim victi- oblationem, quam Ecclesia ab Apo-
mas, quas in umbra futuri offerebant stolis accipiens, in universe mundo
Judaei : et unum sacrificium Gentes offert Deo, ei qui alimenta nobis
a soils ortu usque ad occasum, sicut praestat, primitias suorum munerum
jam fieri cernimus oblaturas, per in Novo Testamento.' Iren. lib. iv.
Prophetas oracula increpuere divina.' c. 17. p. 249. Compare my Review,
Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. xix. above, pp. 324-326.
cap. 23. torn. vii. The following words of Origen
' Unde et in ipso verissimo et are a good comment upon what is
singular! sacrificio, Domino Deo said by Irenaeus :
nostro agere gratias admonemur.' ' Si quis vel egentibus distribuat,
Augustin. de Spir. et Lit. c. n. vel faciat aliquid boni operis pro
p. 94. torn. x. Cp. de Civit. Dei, mandato, munus obtulit Deo.' Ori-
lib. x. c. 6. p. 243. torn. vii. Et gen. in Num. Horn. xi. p. 311.
contr. Advers. Leg. lib. i. c. 18. Compare Review, above, pp.324, 325.
p. 568. torn. viii. d Irenaeus hath plainlysaid, 'Deus
a ' Dominicae hostiae veritatem in se assumit bonas operationes
per falsa sacrificia profanare.' Cy- nostras.' Iren. lib. iv. c. 18. p. 251.
prian. de Unit. Eccles. ' Sacrilega But where hath he said, ' Deus in se
contra verum sacerdotem sacrificia assumit panem nostrum et vinum
off'erre.' Cyprian. Ep. 69. nostrum,' or ' pecuniam nostram ? '
b ' Novi Testamenti novam docuit Nowhere.
5 7 6 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
Cyprian, after Irenaeus, has the same distinction, under the
terms of 'old' and 'new;' observing, that by the accounts given in
the Old Testament, the old sacrifice was to be abolished to make
way for the new. He refers to Psalm 1. 13, 23 ; Isaiah i. IT,
iv. 6 ; Mai. i. 10. Not that every text there cited directly
asserted so much ; for at the same time that the prophets spake
slightly of the old sacrifices, in comparison, yet God required a
religious observance of them : but since those sacrifices were so
slightly spoken of, even while their use and obligation remained,
that single consideration was sufficient to intimate, that they
were to cease entirely under a more perfect dispensation. So
the Fathers understood that matter ; and therefore those texts
out of the Psalms, and out of the Prophet Isaiah, with others of
like kind, were not foreign, but were conclusive and pertinent,
with respect to the purpose for which they were cited. They
did not only prove that the new were then comparatively better
than the old, but that a new and better dispensation should
admit of no other f but the best. This I hint, to prevent any
one's imagining, because material sacrifices obtained along with
spiritual then, though the spiritual were preferred, that therefore
so it may be now, under the last and most perfect economy,
where the circumstances are widely different. But I return.
Cyprian, among the new sacrifices, reckons the sacrifice of
praise, the sacrifice of righteousness, spiritual incense, that is,
pi-ayers, and the pure offering, whatever it means ?.
Eusebius mentions the new mysteries of the New Testament,
contained in the unbloody and rational sacrifices h . From
e ' Quod sacrificium vetus evacua- of the Blessed Virgin, vol. ii. p. 189.
retur, et novum celebraretur.' Cy- fol. edit,
prian. Testim. lib. i. c. 16. e See the meaning of the pure
f ' Prayer and sacrifice, strictly so offering, mentioned in Malachi, ex-
called, were both acts of worship ; plained by Tertullian and Eusebius,
but prayer more excellent than sacri- cited in Review, above, pp. 330, 340.
fice, because sacrifice was a rite of * 'Efi 5e T< Kvpicfi /j.6vcp Bvcnaffrr,-
prayer, and a rite which God re- piov ava(fj.<nv KO.\ \OJIKWV 8v<niav KOT&
quired no longer than till that most KO.IVCL ftvar-ftpia rris vtas Kal KCUVTJS 5m-
precious sacrifice of the Son of God fl^Kijs. Euseb. Demonstr. Evang. lib.
was offered for us : the merit of i. c. 6. p. 20. vo/j.tv Kaiv&s, Kara
which alone it is, that made the T^V ttaivriv SiaBrixriv. Ibid. cap. 10.
prayers of good men in all ages ac- He explains the meaning of new,
ceptable.' Claget on the Worship lib. i. c. 6. p. 16.
' Literal and Spiritual. 577
whence appears the vanity of arguing, (as some have done 1 ,)
that the new sacrifice, spoken of by the Fathers, could not
mean spiritual sacrifice, which had obtained long before : for it
is certain fact, that the Fathers did so understand and so apply
the name of new sacrifice ; and therefore it is reasoning against
fact, or disputing against the Fathers themselves, to argue in
that way. Besides that the argument may very easily be
retorted, since neither material sacrifice, nor bread sacrifice, nor
wine sacrifice, could be reckoned altogether new : for they ob-
tained under the old, that is, under the Jewish economy k . In
one sense, indeed, they are new, (which is no commendation of
them,) they are new Christianity, having been unknown in the
Church for six whole centuries or more, and not brought in
before the late and dark ages : probably, about the time when
material incense came in, under the notion of a Christian sacri-
fice 1 . But of this I may say more in another article below.
I shall only add here, that St. Austin called the cross-sacrifice,
Christ's body and blood, as participated, the new sacrifice m .
X.
I proceed to another distinction, as considerable as any before
mentioned ; and that is of legal or literal, and spiritual or evan-
gelical. Indeed, the word spiritual may, and sometimes has
been, opposed to material or corporeal ; and so far the distinction
would resolve into article the fifth, before considered under the
names of material and immaterial : but here I consider the
name o"f spiritual under another conception, as opposed to literal
' Bellarmin. de Eucharist, pp. 749, Levit. ii. 4, &c. Numb, xxvii. 13,
751. Compare Unbloody Sacrifice, 14. Compare Brevint on the Mass,
part i. pp. 268, 269. pp. 116, 121. Kidder, p. 93, new
That pretence has been often an- edit. fol.
swered by learned Protestants. Pet. ' See Christian Sacrifice Explain-
Martyr contr. G-ardin. p. 54. Jewel ed, Appendix, p. 450. Compare
against Hard. p. 421. Bilson, p. 696. Dodwell on Incensing, p. 222. Claget
Hospinian, p. 568. Chrastovius de on the Worship of the Blessed Vir-
Missa, lib. i. p. 57* Mason, 585. gin, p. 188. vol. ii. in fol.
Du Moulin. Buckl. 432. Rivet. m ' Ut jam de cruce commendare-
Cathol. 106. Buddaeus, Miscel. Sacr. tur nobis caro et sanguis Domini,
torn. i. p. S4. Deylingius, Miscell. novum sacrificium.' Augustin. in
Sacr. pp. 98, 99. Psalm, xxxiii. p. 211. torn. iv. ed.
k Exod. xxix. 40; v. ii, 12, 13. Bened.
P P
578 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
and legal. The New Testament itself often distinguishes be-
tween the letter and the spirit 11 , that is, between the Law,
which is the outward shell, and the Gospel, the inward kernel.
This distinction may be otherwise expressed by the words carnal
and spiritual : for the word flesh is frequently a Scripture name
for the external and legal economy , as opposed to the spirit,
which is the name for the Gospel, as before hinted. Earthly
and spiritual mean the same with the other P. Typical and
true is but another way of wording the same distinction i be-
tween legal and evangelical, as the Law was a type or prefigura-
tion of Gospel-blessings, and as figure is opposed to truth.
Symbolical and true differs from the other, only as a type
differs from a symbol, or as a particular from a general : for a
type, strictly, is a figure of things future, as before noted ;
whereas a symbol is a figure of things past, present, or to come.
So that both are figures, and as such are opposed to truth, like
as shadows to substance. In short, the Jewish sacrifices were
comparatively literal, carnal, terrene, typical, symbolical ; and
the Christian sacrifices are spiritual and true : such is the im-
port of the present distinction, variously expressed in Scripture
or in Church writers.
St. Peter uses the name of spiritual sacrifice r , in such a sense
as spirit and truth are opposed to type, figure, shadow, symbol,
or emblem : for he understood it in the same way as he under-
stood the Church to be a spiritual house, and the Jewish temple
to have been an emblem or figure of it. So much appears from
St. Peter's context. The Fathers took their hints from the
Apostle : and their notion of spiritual sacrifice appears conform-
able thereto, as being regulated by it, and copied from it ; only
n Rom. ii. 29 ; vii. 6 ; viii. 2 ; 2 Cor. and probably some others.
iii. 6. Compare Christian Sacrifice P Tertullian uses the distinction
Explained, p. 416, and Glassius's of 'terrene' and ' spiritual.'
Philolog; Sacr. p. 1427. Irenaeus particularly uses the
Rom. iv. i. 2 Cor. v. 16. Gal. distinction of 'typical' and 'true, 'lib.
iii. 3; iv. 23, 29. Philipp. iii. 4. iv. cap. 17. Note, that the truth of
Heb. vii. 16. Tertullian expresses a thing, in Scripture phrase, means
the distinction by the words ' carna- the true interpretation of it. Dan.
lia et spiritalia.' Adv. Jud. cap. v. vii. 16.
p. 188. So also Jerome on Malachi ; r i Pet. ii. 5.
Literal and Spiritual. 579
taking in St. Paul's account of reasonable service 8 , and our
Lord's own rule of worship ' in spirit and in truth *,' and the
several other descriptions given in the New Testament of evan-
gelical sacrifice. There were two things pointed to by the legal
sacrifices ; our Lord's sacrifice, and ours ; his propitiating
merits, our qualifying duties or services. The truth of this
matter may best appear by a distinct enumeration of particulars,
as follows :
1. The legal incense pointed to the perfume of Christ's media-
tion u , and at the same time to the prayers of the saints v . In
these it centered, in these it terminated : and thus the material
incense is now spiritualized into the evangelical sacrifice of
prayer.
2. The blood of the ancient sacrifices typically referred to the
blood of Christ ; which none can dispute : but it seems withal,
that it symbolically referred to the blood of martyrs, who sacri-
fice their lives unto God x .
3. The mincha of the Old Testament had a typical aspect to
Christ, as all the sacrifices had : but it seems likewise to have
had a symbolical aspect to the oblation of Christ's mystical body,
the Churchy.
4. The daily sacrifice looked principally to our Lord's con-
tinual intercession : but it appears to have been likewise a kind
of emblem or symbol of Christian faith and service z .
5. The Levitical memorial typified the sweet odour a of
Christ : but in symbolical construction it seems also to have
pointed to prayers and benevolent works *>.
6. Sacrifices in general, typically looking to Christ, are sym-
bolically interpreted of almsdeeds c .
" Bom. xii. i. * John iv. 14. y Rom. xv. 16. Vid. Vitringa in
u Revel, viii. 3, 4. Vid. Vitringa Tea. Ixvi. 20. p. 950.
in loc. Wolfius in loc. Lightfoot, * Philipp. ii. 17. Vid. Vitringa de
vol. ii. p. 1260. Outram, p. 359. vet. Synagog. 1. i. c. 6. pp. 70, 71.
v Revel, v. 8. Vid. Vitringa in Wolfius in loc. Cp. Rom. xii. i.
loc. Dodwell on Incensing, p. 36, a Ephes. v. 2. Cp. DeylingiusV
&c. Outram, p. 357. Observ. Sacr. torn. i. p. 315.
1 Revel, vi. 9. Vid. Vitringa in b Acts x. 4. Phil. iv. 18.
loc. Zornius, Opusc. Sacr. torn. ii. c Heb. xiii. 16. Vid. Wolfius in
PP- 536-361. Biblioth. Antiq. torn. loc.
i. p. 505. Outram, p. 181.
P p 2
580 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
7. The animal sacrifices of the old law, pointing to the grand
sacrifice, appear to have had a secondary, symbolical aspect to
the calves of the lips d .
8. Libations of wine, typifying the blood of Christ, are re-
presented as emblems of pouring forth one's blood in martyr-
dom e .
9. Lastly, the mactation of animals for sacrifice is inter-
preted of mortifying our lusts and passions f .
Thus has the New Testament itself unfolded the mystical in-
tendinent of the Law ; giving us the spirit instead of the letter,
truth for figure, and, in the room of the antiquated signs, the
things themselves signified by them. Upon this principle, the
Fathers of the Church constantly believed and taught, that the
legal sacrifices were not barely typical of the sacrifice of the
cross, but were signs also and symbols of the evangelical sacri-
fices offered up by Christians ; and were to be considered as
semblages to realities, or as shadows to substance, or as flesh to
spirit. It remains only, that we inquire what they understood
the spiritual sacrifice to be ; for as to the legal sacrifices, every
one knows what they were, being so particularly set forth, and
so minutely described in the Old Testament, and referred to
also in the New.
Now as to the spiritual sacrifices, besides what is said of them
in both Testaments 11 , the Fathers have so plainly deciphered
them, and so distinctly enumerated them, that there can be no
reasonable question made as to what sacrifices they intended by
that name. I have elsewhere traced this matter from Father to
Father, through the first four centuries , and I need not repeat
d Hosea xiv. a. Heb. xiii. f5. Oxon. Origen. in Levit. Horn. ii. p.
6 Phil. ii. 17. i Tim. iv. 6. Cp. 191. edit. Bened. Nazianz. Orat.
Deyling. Observat. Sacr. torn. ii. p. xxxviii. p. 484. Chrysostom. in Heb.
547, &c. Zornius, Opusc. Sacr. torn. Horn. xi. pp. 807, 808. Augustin.
ii. p. 48, &c. torn. vii. pp. 241, 242, 255 ; viii. 345,
f Rom. vi. 6. Colosa. iii. 5. See 586 ; x. 94. Pseud-Ambros. in Heb.
Dodwell on Incense, p. 34, and viii. p. 447.
Cranmer against Gardiner, p. 109, h See my Review, above, pp. 311,
alias pp. 422, 423. 312.
8 Irenaeus, lib. iv. c. 7. ed. Bened. ' Ibid. pp. 314-386.
Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. p. 849. ed.
Literal and Spiritual* 581
here : only I may add two or three authorities to the many
before cited, for confirmation.
Origen is very full and express in his accounts of spiritual
sacrifice k . Chrysostom is so minute and particular in specifying
what the spiritual sacrifices are, that nothing can be more so '.
He does it by giving in a catalogue of Christian virtues or
graces : those are the spiritual sacrifices, in his estimation.
When he says, they need no instruments, nor are confined to
place, he is to be understood of the virtuous habits resting in
the mind, and which, if all opportunities of outward exercise
were wanting, would still be spiritual sacrifices ; so that they do
not absolutely need instrument or place, as material sacrifices do.
And when they do need both, as to the outward exercise of those
virtues or religious habits, still it is the inward heart, rather
than the outward work, which is properly the acceptable sacri-
fice. Such is Chrysostom's account of this matter, and such the
concurring sentiments of all antiquity. Great pains have been
taken m to find, if it were possible, some ancient voucher for a
different account of spiritual sacrifice, or for some different ap-
plication of that name : but not a single instance has been
found, nor, I suppose, ever will be.
Bellarmine pretended 11 that Tertullian understood Abel's sa-
crifice of a sheep to have been a spiritual sacrifice. All invention
and misconstruction. Tertullian did not, could not suppose so
wild a thing ; which would have been a flat contradiction to his
known, certain, settled principles everywhere else in his works ,
h ' Immolatio spiritalis est ilia quam torn . xii.
legimus, Immola Deo sacrificium lau- Tf 8e &TTI \ojtKrj \arpeia ; i) irvevfi-
dis,etreddeAltissimovotatua.' Psal. <m/c7) SioKor/a, r; iro\irfia i) Kara
1.14. ' Laudare ergo Deum, et vota Xpunbv . . . rat/ret yap iroiuv, ava-
orationis offerre, immolare est Deo.' Qfpeis \oyiK^v \arpflav. TowrfffTiv,
Origen. in Num. Horn. xi. p. 311. ovStv a,lff6rjr6v. Chrysost. in Rom.
torn. ii. ed. Bened. : cp. pp. 191, 205, Horn. xx. p. 658. torn. ix.
248, 363, 418, 563. m See Unbloody Sacrifice, part i.
1 Ti 8 tffTiv ri Ao-yi/c}) Xctrpeia ; ra pp. 22-27, 6l.
5ia fyvxris, T 5ia Tri/ev/xaroy. Joan. iv. n Bellarmin. de Eucharist, p. 751.
24. "Off a /UT) 5 (IT ai o-WjUeiTOT, 8<r<x i^ Compare Unbloody Sacrifice, part i.
5e?TOJ bpyavuv , ju)j T&itiav, To 8 ianv p. 25.
fTtifiKfia, ffo><t>po<rvvri,4\fT)iJ.offvi>r],ai>ei- See some of the passages collected
KaKia, ij.aKpo0vfj.ia, Tatreivoippoavvri. in Review, above, pp. 329-332.
Chrysostom. in Heb. Horn. xi. p. 1 15.
582 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
and in that very work also which Bellarmine referred to,
Tertullian does not say that Abel's sacrifice was a spiritual
sacrifice, but that Cain, the elder brother, was a type or pre-
figuration of the elder people Israel, and Abel a type or prefigu-
ration of the younger people, the Christian Church ; and that as
their sacrifices were different, (one being of the fruits of the
ground, the other of the flock,) so a difference in the sacrifices of
the two different people was thereby intimated P. Not precisely
the same difference, but a difference : and as to the kind of
difference, Tertullian sufficiently explains it afterwards, when, to
the terrene sacrifices of the elder people, the Jews, he opposes
the spiritual sacrifices of the younger people, the Christians, and
specifies what they are ; namely, the sacrifices of lauds, and of
a contrite heart Q. But some may ask, how then did Tertullian
make out what he pretended ? He made it out thus : that the
Jewish and Christian sacrifices would be different, like as Cain's
and Abel's were, and that one should be rejected, and the other
accepted by God : so far the analogy or similitude holds, and no
further. For if we were to strain it with the utmost rigour, the
Jewish sacrifices ought all to hare been of the fruits of the
ground, which is false in fact ; and the Christian sacrifices ought
to be animal sacrifices, which is manifestly absurd. In short, as
Tertullian has not said, nor could consistently say, that Abel's
sacrifice was a spiritual sacrifice ; so neither can it, by any clear
or just consequence, be concluded that he meant it, or had any
thought of it. But it is further pleaded, that material things
have sometimes the epithet of spiritual or rational superadded ;
P ' Sic et sacrificia terrenarum obla- tensa jam tune in primordio animad -
tionum et spiritualium sacrificiorum vertimus.' Tertull. adv. Jud. cap. v,
praedicata ostendimus. Et quidem p. 187.
a primordio majoris filii, id est, Israel i ' Quod non terrenis sacrificiis, sed
terrena f uisse in Cain praeostensa, et spiritalibus Deo litandum sit, ita legi-
minoris filii Abel, id est, populi nostri, mus ut scriptum est ; Cor contribula-
sacrificia diversa demonstrata. Nam- turn et humiliatum hostia Deo est : et
que major natu Cain de fructu terrae alibi, Sacrifica Deo sacrificium laudis,
obtulit munera Deo, minor vero films et redde Altissimo vota tua. Sic igitur
Abel de fructu ovium suarum. Re- sacrificiaspiritalialaudisdesignantur,
spexitDeus in Abel et in munera ejus, et cor contribulatum acceptabile sa-
in Cain autem et in munera ejus non crificium Deo demonstratur.' Tertull.
respexit. . . . Ex hoc igitur duplicia ibid. cap. v. p. 188.
duorum populorum sacrificia praeos-
Literal and Spiritual. 583
and why then may not a material sacrifice be a spiritual or
rational sacrifice in a just sense of the word 1 I answer : the
question is not, whether the epithet spiritual may not in a just
sense be applied to a material subject ; for it is certain that it
may, and St. Paul r himself more than once so applies it : the
question is not, how the single word spiritual may be applied,
but what the phrase of spiritual sacrifice, according to Scripture
usage, and according to Church usage, signifies. It has not been
shewn, that either the New Testament or the ancient Fathers
ever gave the name of spiritual sacrifice, either to the elements
of the Eucharist, or to any material offerings. Spiritual sacrifice
is a phrase of a determined meaning in the New Testament and
ancient Church writers ; and it is but a vain attempt to look for
any real countenance from them, by retaining the phrase, unless
the ideas which they affixed to it be retained also : for the doc-
trine will be different, though the words or phrases should still
continue the same.
If it should be suggested, after all, that the carnal, earthly,
legal sacrifices meant only such sacrifices as wanted the "inward
service of the heart, and that spiritual sacrifices meant sacrifices
offered from and with the spiritual service of the heart ; it is
obvious to reply, that then the distinction which we are now
upon could not have served the purpose for which it was
brought, could not have shewn the absolute preference due to
the Christian sacrifices above the Jewish. The Jews, as many
as were really good men, joined the sacrifice of the heart with
the material offerings : and if that had been all the meaning
r I Cor. x.'3, 4; xv. 44. something spiritual. Cyprian seems
N. B. The word spiritual some- to denote the elements by the name
times means the same with mystical, of spiritual and heavenly Sacrament,
and may be applied to any material Epist. Ixiii. p. 1 08. But still the
thing considered as a sign of some- phrase of spiritual sacrifice is not
thing spiritual. In such a sense, applied to them (so far as appears)
St. Paul speaks of spiritual (that among Church writers truly ancient :
is, mystical) meat, drink, rock. In for in that phrase spiritual denotes
the like sense, we may, among the not the sign of something else, but
Fathers, meet with the phrases of the very thing signified, like as in the
mystical (or spiritual) oil, or waters, phrase of spiritual house, parallel to
or bread, or cup, or supper, or table, it in the same verse of St. Peter
meaning a material sign or symbol of (i Pet. ii. 5).
584 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
which the Fathers went upon in their disputes with the Jews,
the Jews might have retorted, irresistibly, that their sacrifices
were as truly spiritual as the Christian sacrifices could be, and
more valuable, as having all that spirituality which the Chris-
tians pretended to, and a rich offering besides, of bullocks, sup-
pose, or rams. The Fathers were wiser than to lay themselves
open, and to expose the Christian cause, by any such meaning :
besides that, their own repeated explications of the phrase of
spiritual sacrifice are a flat contradiction to it.
XL
I pass on to another celebrated distinction of sacrifice, into
Aaronical and Melchizedekian ; which served also to distinguish
the Christian sacrifices from the Jewish ones, but in a view
somewhat different from that of the distinction immediately
preceding. For as the distinction of literal and spiritual was
intended chiefly to set forth the superior excellency of what
Christians actively offered by way of sacrifice, so the present dis-
tinction of Aaronical and Melchizedekian was intended chiefly to
set forth the superior excellency of what Christians passively
receive, participate, or feast upon, under the name and notion of
a sacrifice.
Christians have an altar, whereof they partake 8 . And that
altar is Christ our Lord *, who is altar, priest, and sacrifice, all
in one. Under the law, those were different things, because any
one of the legal figures alone could not represent Christ in all
the three several capacities : but in him they are all united. He
performed his sacrifice in the active and transient sense, once for
all, upon the cross : he distributes it daily in the passive and
8 Heb. xiii. 10. See my Review, Relig. p. 1117.
above, p. 93, &c. And compare 'Estergoaltareincaelis(illucenim
Dallaeus de Cult. Lat. Relig. lib. viii. preces nostrae et oblationes dirigun-
cap. 24. p. 1117. Patrick, Mens. tur) et templum ; quemadmodum Jo-
Myst. p. 85. Spanheim. Dub. Evang. annes in Apocalypsi ait, et apertum
torn. ii. p. 843. Mason de Minister, est templurn Dei.' Irenaeus, lib. iv.
Anglic, p. 625. cap. 17. p. 249. Cp. Clem. Alex.
1 Revel, viii. 3, 5. Compare my p. 209. Origen. in Levit. Horn. i. p.
Review, above, p. 324, and Vitringa 186. In Josh. Horn. xvii. p. 438, and
in loc. with Dodwell on Incensing, others referred to in Review, above,
pp. 39-44, and Dallaeus de Cult. Lat. p. 324.
Aaronical and MelchizedeJcian, 585
abiding sense of it, to all his true servants, to every faithful
communicant. His table here below is a secondary altar in two
views ; first, on the score of our own sacrifices of prayers, praises,
souls, and bodies, which we offer up from thence u ; secondly, as
it is the seat of the consecrated elements, that is, of the body
and blood of Christ v , that is, of the grand sacrifice, symbolically
represented and exhibited, and spiritually there received ; re-
ceived by and with the signs bearing the name of the things.
These things premised, we may now find our way opened
towards a right conception of the Melchizedekian sacrifice,
whereof we partake in the Eucharist, and which is infinitely
preferable to all the sacrifices of Aaron, considered barely as
sacrifices : for as to their sacramental capacity, that is of distinct
consideration. For the first two centuries and a half, Mel-
chizedek was considered as giving holy food to Abraham, a
symbol of the true food from heaven, and a prelude to what our
Lord himself should afterwards do in the institution of the
Eucharist x .
About the middle of the third century, Cyprian, considering
our Lord's passion as the sacrifice commemorated and partici-
pated in the Eucharist, (which is a right notion rightly under-
stood,) expressed that commemorative act by the word offer y :
by which he could mean only the presenting to view, or repre-
u 'It is called a table with reference Dei, et quibus vota populi, in membra
to the Lord's Supper, and an altar Christi portata sunt Iliac ad aures
on the score of the sacrifice of praise Deiascendere solebat oratio.' Optat.
and thanksgiving there offered to ibid.
God Almighty.' King Edward's Let- * Mf\x tfff ^ K , Paffi\tvs 2aAV> 6
ter, A.D. 1550, in Collier's Eccl. Hist. 'Ifpevs rov tov fylarov, 6 rbv olvov
vol. ii. p. 304. See Reasons against Ka\ T^V &prov, T^V ayiafffj.frr)v StSovs
Altars in 1559, Ibid. p. 433 ; and rpo<f>Vt ** rvirov euxop'^Tias. Clem,
compare my Christian Sacrifice Ex- Alex. Strom, iv. p. 632. Cp. Ter-
plaihed, p. 423. Dow's Answer to tullian. adv. Judaeos, cap. iii. p. 185.
Burton, p. 116. Contr. Marc. lib. v. p. 472.
v ' Quid enim est altare, nisi sedes y ' Passionis ejus mentionem in sa-
corporis et sanguinis Christi ? Quid crificiis omnibus facimus : passio est
vos offenderat Christus, cujus illic per enim Domini sacrificium quod offeri-
certa momenta corpus et sanguis ha- mus. Calicem in commemorationem
bitabat . . . fregistis etiam calices, san- Domini et passionis ejus offerimus.'
guinis Christi portatores.' Optat. adv. Cyprian, Ep. Ixiii. p. 109. ' Calix qui
Parmen. lib. vi. p. 289. in commemorationem ejus offertur,'
In the other sense or view of an p. 104.
altar, the same author says, 'Altaria
585 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
senting ; as is very evident, since our Lord's passion could be no
otherwise offered, neither could the cross-sacrifice be reiterated.
Christ cannot again be sacrificed, no, not by himself ; much less
by any one else. From hence it may be perceived in how lax a
sense Cyprian used the word offer. Therefore no certain con-
clusion can be drawn from it, in favour of the strict sacrificial
sense of the word, whether he speaks of offering bread and wine 2 ,
or of offering Christ's passion, unless some other circumstances
determine the meaning. Cyprian cannot be understood of our
Lord's sacrificing himself in the Eucharist, because that would
be too high for us to aim at ; nor of his sacrificing the elements,
because that would have been too low a sacrifice for him, at
least, to offer. When he speaks of offering a true and full sacri-
fice a , (meaning bread and wine jointly, and not either singly,)
he understands that bread and wine (which he calls sacrifice, by
the same figure as he often calls them body and blood) to be a
true and full representation or image of the sacrifice of the cross.
So Cyprian himself explains it, viz. by offering (that is, present-
ing) an image of Christ's sacrifice in bread and wine b . The sum
of his doctrine is, that the typical Melchizedek blessed Abraham
in and by bread and wine, considered as symbols, images, figura-
tions of our Lord's passion and sacrifice ; and that the true
Melchizedek so blessed his own disciples in delivering to them
1 ' Quofl Melchizedech sacerdos Dei q. 61. p. 34. torn. vi.
summi fuit, quod panem et vimim * 'Hie sacerdos vice Christi vere
obtulit, quod Abraham beuedixit. . . . fungitur, qui id quod Christus fecit
Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui imitatur ; et sacrificium verum et ple-
sacrificium Deo Patri obtulit, et obtu- num tune offert in Ecclesia Deo Patri,
lit hoc idem quod Melchizedech obtu- si sic incipiat offerre secundum quod
lerat, id est, panem et vinum, suuro ipaum Christum videatobtulisse.' Ep.
scilicet corpus et sanguinem.' p. 105. Ixiii. Compare my Review, above,
Compare St. Austin on the same p. 336.
head : b ' Ut ergo in Genesi per Melchi-
' Ipae est etiam aacerdos noster in zedech sacerdotem benedictio circa
aeternum, secundum ordinem Mel- Abraham possit rite oelebrari, prae-
chizedech, qui aeipsum obtulit holo- cedit ante imago sacrificii Christi, in
caustum pro peccatis nostris, et ejus pane et vino scilicet constituta. Quam
sacrificii similitudinem celebrandam rein perficiens et adimplens Dominus
in suae passionls memoriam commen- panem etcalicemmixtumvinoobtulit,
davit ; ut illud quod Melchizedech et qui est plenitude veritatis, verita-
obtulit, Deo jam per totum terrarum tern praefiguratae imaginis adimple-
orbem in Christi Ecclesia videamus vit. 1 p. 105.
offerri.' Augustin. de Divers. Quaest.
Aaronical and MelcMzedeTcian. 587
the benefits contained in his passion, by the like symbols. We
may go on to Eusebius, who explains this matter more clearly,
and who, besides, more distinctly expresses the difference be-
tween Aaronical and Melchizedekian sacrifices, in these words :
' As he (Melchizedek), being a priest of the Gentiles, nowhere
appears to have used corporeal sacrifices, but blessed Abraham
with wine only and bread ; just in the same manner, first our
Lord and Saviour himself, and then all priests from him, among
all nations, consummating the spiritual hierourgy, according to
the laws of the Church, do represent the mysteries of his body
and of his salutary blood, in bread and wine. Melchizedek fore-
saw these (mysteries) by a divine spirit, and previously made use
of those images of things to come c .' Whereupon we may ob-
serve, i. That Melchizedek, by this account, used no corporeal
sacrifices : therefore he did not sacrifice bread and wine, which
undoubtedly are both corporeal. It is in vain to contend that
he meant bloody, as opposed to unbloody. His word is corpo-
real, not bloody ; and he had used the same word just before,
speaking of corporeal oil, in the common sense of corporeal d.
2. That the Melchizedekian priests, after our Lord, exercise a
spiritual hierourgy, as opposed to corporeal sacrifices before
mentioned : therefore their sacrifices are spiritual ; and therefore,
again, they sacrifice not bread or wine, but they represent or
signify the mysteries of the passion in bread and wine e ; they
perform a memorial service by those symbols, a direct memorial
c flo-Trep yap fKf?i>os 'lepeus IBvwv d O&8 Sia ffKfvacrrov Kal
rvyxavwv, ovSajjiov tyaivtrai Qwriaus i\aiov 4KfXP lffT > ovSe re'Aos e|
ffunariKois Kfxprifitvos, ofvcf 5e p.6vy e/ueX\ TTJS itpoirvvris. Euseb. ibid.
Kal aprtf rbv 'A/Bpaafj. fv\oyuv TOP p. 223.
avrlv 877 rp6irov irpwros fj.fv auros 6 e So Epiphanius on this article.
ScoT^p Kal Kvptos fi/J.iav, eTreiro of | 'O Mt\x icrf t>* avrf [*Apaa;u] airrtvra,
avrov irdvrts i'epfTs oj/o iravra TO. fdvij Kal fe/3a.\fv avrf aprov Kal olvov,
TT}v irvevf^ariK^v firiTe\ovi>Tfs f Kara irporviriav -rlav fj.vcmjpi<av TO, alviyfjLara,
rovs fKKhyo'iaffTiKovs Ottr^ouy, fepoup- avrirvrraTov (Tttifnaros TOV Kvpiov fifj.(ais,
ylav, oivy Kal aprcp, rov re ffit>fj.a- \tyovros, Sri fyci> dpi apros 6 {wit, /cal
Tor avrov Kal trtarrjptou o'/^aroj o-vrirvira rov afytafoy, rav K rrjs ir\(v
aivirrovrai ra yuixm/jpia, rov MeA- pas avrov vvx.dffros Kal ptvffavros tls
X'^sSeK ravra VTC^urri Oeitfi irporf- KaOapffiv rwv K(Koiv<apL(vu>v Kal pavnff-
8fu>priK6TOs, Kal rSiv }i.f\X6vr<#v rais /j.bv, Kal ffterripiav rSiv fi/jLfrtptap fyvx&v.
(Mo-i TrpoicexpweVoii. Euseb. Demon- Epiphan. Panar. Haer. Iv. n. 6. p.
strat. Evang. lib. v. cap. 3. p. 223. 472.
Cp. Theodorit. in Psal. ex. p. 852.
588 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
of the grand sacrifice. 3. That Melchizedek, by a divine spirit,
foresaw the mysteries of the same grand sacrifice, and made a
figuration of it in bread and wine, and by those symbols con-
veyed a blessing to Abraham f , the blessing of the great atone-
ment. Herein lay the superior excellency of Melchizedek's
sacrifice, (that is, figuration of the grand sacrifice,) that it
directly pointed to and exhibited true expiation, while Aaron's
directly conveyed temporal blessings only, and a temporal atone-
ment s. It must indeed be owned, that true expiation was
conveyed under the legal veils to persons fitly qualified : but
those legal sacrifices, in their sacrificial capacity, did nothing of
that kind. What they did of a saving kind was in their saci^a-
mental capacity : for, that they were sacraments, as \vell as
sacrifices, is an allowed principle among knowing Divines of all
principles or persuasions h . Where then was the difference be-
tween the Aaronical sacrifice and Melchizedekian, if both were
sacramental conveyances of the same blessings, and if neither of
them availed anything in their sacrificial capacity, properly
speaking ? The difference lay here, that Melchizedek was con-
sidered as conveying the true expiation directly and plainly, by
the symbols of bread and wine, and not under the dark covers
of a legal expiation, which but remotely and obscurely pointed
to it. He feasted himself and Abraham directly upon the grand
sacrifice itself, as Christian priests do now : Aaron feasted him-
self and his people directly upon nothing but the legal sacrifices,
and the legal, temporal expiations. But this distinction will yet
f So Julius Firmicus of that time : terminum constitutum, ideoque ad
' Melchizedech, rex Salem, etsacerdos obtinendam aeternitatem non potest
summi Dei, revertenti Abrahae, cum proficere . . . Bibimus autem de san-
pane et vino benedictionis obtulit guine Christi, ipso jubente, vitae
gratiam.' Bibl. P. P. torn. iv. p. 114. aeternae cum ipso et per ipsum parti -
ed. 1618. cipes.' Pseudo-Cyprian, de Coena,
8 This matter is clearly expressed p. 113, edit. Bened.
by an author of the twelfth century, h Cudworth on the Sacram. chap,
under the name of Cyprian : ii. p. 23, &c. Gerhard, torn. iv. pp.
' Hoc maximediscerneredebet Chris- 292, 297. Alanus de Eucharist, p.
tiana religio, quod sanguis animalium 502. Chamier, torn. iv. pp. 14, 15.
a sanguine Christi per omnia dif- Vossius de Idololatr. lib. i. cap. 41.
ferens, temporalis tan turn habeat vi- pp. 151, 152. Cloppenburg, Schol.
vificationis effectum, et vita eorum Sacrific. p. 9, &c. Buddaeus, Instit.
finem habeat, et sine ulla revocatione Theolog. p. 687.
Aaronical and MelcMzedekian* 589
be better understood, by some other passages of the Fathers,
which I am going to subjoin in their order.
St. Jerome, more than once, mentions the distinction be-
tween the Aaronical and Melchizedekian sacrifices. He declares,
in one place, that Melchizedek did not (like Aaron) sacrifice
irrational victims, but offered bread and wine, that is, the body
and blood of the Lord i. He does not say, sacrificed bread and
wine, but offered, (a word of some latitude,) and he presently
after interprets them by the body and blood. So that Mel-
chizedek, according to him, offered no sacrifice but the grand
sacrifice : and he could not properly sacrifice that body and
blood, which were not then in being, but he figured it by
symbols k , and therewith conveyed the blessings of it ; feasting
Abraham, not with legal victims, but with Christ himself. This
appears to be his sense of that matter ; which will be further
confirmed by other passages of the same Father. He gives a
kind of summary of the sentiments of Hippolytus, Irenaeus, two
Eusebius's, Apollinaris, and Eustathius, in relation to Mel-
chizedek ; importing, ' that he sacrificed no victims of flesh and
blood, took not the blood of the brute animals upon his right
hand ; but he dedicated a Sacrament in bread and wine, in the
simple and pure sacrifice of Christ V So I point and translate
the sentence ; altering the common punctuation only as to the
placing of a single comma, to make out the sense. As to what
he says of not receiving blood on the right hand, (or right
thumb,) I suppose it alludes to the Levitical rites of conseci'ation
1 'Quod autem ait, Tu es sacerdos mentum : ut quomodo in praefigura-
in aeternum, secundum ordinem Mel- tione ejus Melchizedech, summi Dei
chisedech, mysterium nostrum in sacerdos, panem et vinum offerens
verbo ordinis significatur, nequa- fecerat, ipse quoque veritatem sui
quam per Aaron irrationalibus victi- corporis et sanguinis repraesentaret.'
mis immolandis, sed oblato pane et Hieron. Comment, in Matt. xxvi. p.
vino, id est corpore et sanguine 128. torn. iv. part I.
Domini.' Hieron. Quaest. Hebraic. ' ' Neque carnis et sanguinis vio-
p. 520. torn. ii. ed. Bened. timas immolaverit, et brutorurn san-
k ' Postquam typicum Pascha fu- guinem animalium dextra susceperit,
erat completura, et agni carnes cum sed pane et vino, simplici puroque
Apostolis comederat, assumit panem sacrificio Christi, dedicaverit Sacra-
qui confortat cor hominis, et ad mentum. ' Hieron. Epist. ad Evan-
verum Paschae transgreditur Sacra- gel. p. 571. torn. ii.
590 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
to the priesthood m , which Melchizedek had nothing to do with.
He received his priesthood in some other way, and he exercised
it in a different manner; not by sacrificing animals, but by
dedicating or consecrating a Sacrament n , in or with bread and
wine : that is to say, with the simple and pure sacrifice of Christ
alone, represented and exhibited by and under those symbols.
This appears to be St. Jerome's sense, and his full sense. For
like as he had, in a passage before cited, interpreted bread and
wine by what they are signs of, namely, by body and blood of
the Lord, so here he interprets them by the same thing, under
the equivalent expression of the simple and pure sacrifice of
Christ. And as he had in a second passage, before cited,
interpreted the offering bread and wine of a figuration and
representation of the true body and blood, so he may reasonably
be presumed to mean the same thing here. He calls the sacri-
fice of Christ, thus represented, thus exhibited, simple and pure,
as not blended with any typical sacrifices or legal expiations,
but standing perfectly clear of them, and nakedly viewed in its
own simplicity, free from such legal incumbrances : represented,
indeed, by symbols, but yet so represented as that the things
signified, the body and blood, and the true expiation, are as
plainly, as directly offered to every man's faith and under-
standing, as the signs are to the outward senses, and both are
alike spoken of in plain and clear terms. If it was not alto-
m Exod. xxix. 20. merit in or with Christ's body and
n ' Recurre ad Genesim, et Mel- blood, in such a sense as St. Austin
chizedech regem Salem hujus princi- sajs, ' Mare rubrum . . . passione et
pern invenies civitatis : qui jam turn sanguine Domini consecratum." [In
in typo Christi panem et vinum ob- Psalm. Ixxx.] And, ' Unde rubet Bap-
tulit, et mysterium Christianum in tismus, nisi Christi sanguine conse-
Salvatoris sanguine et corpore dedi- cratus ?' In Joan. Tract, si. That
cavit.' Hieron. ad Marcell. p. 547. is to say, the Sacrament of Baptism
torn. iv. part 2. is made an exhibitive sign of Christ's
N. B. Jerome considered Christ's blood : which is, its consecration, or
body and blood as symbolically con- sanctification, or dedication, to high
tained in the exhibitive signs : and and holy purposes. The blood sig-
no wonder, when in the same Epistle nified, and spiritually exhibited, by
he could write thus : ' Sepulchrum water in one Sacrament, by wine in
Domini quotiescunque ingredimur, the other, gives the holy sanction to
toties jacere in syndone cernimus both Sacraments : for without that,
Salvatorem,' &c. they would be no Sacraments at
I interpret the dedicating a Sacra- all.
Aaronical and MelckizedeJcian. 591
gether so in Melchizedek's sacrament, or figurative sacrifice of
Christ's body and blood, yet certainly it is in ours : and this
consideration renders it vastly preferable to the legal sacrifices ;
though they also darkly were sacraments of the same things,
and were much more valuable in that their sacramental capacity
than in any other.
St. Austin often speaks of this matter. He understood the
Melchizedekian sacrifice, (as opposed to Aaron's,) of sacrifice
passively considered ; not as offered to God, in a proper sense,
but as exhibited to, and received, or participated by men . The
want of observing the difference between a sacrifice considered
as actively offered, and as passively received, has made strange
confusion in what concerns the Melchizedekian sacrifice, spoken of
by the Fathers P. Yet this matter was clearly understood, as
low as the times of Charles the Greats, and much lower: and
even Thomas Aquinas, of the thirteenth century, has given a
just account of it ; rightly distinguishing between the oblation
of a sacrifice and a participation r . To be short, as the sacrifices
o ' Quod ergo addidit, manducare 1 'Jam verus Melchisedech, Chris-
panem, etiam ipsum sacrificii genus tus videlicet, rex Justus, rex pacis,
eleganter expressit. . . . Ipsum eat non pecudum victimas, sed sui nobis
sacrificium, non secundum ordinem corporis et sanguinis contulit Sacra-
Aaron, sed secundum ordinem Mel- mentum.' Carol. Magn. Capit. prolix,
chisedech : qui legit intelligat. . . . lib. iv. cap. 14. p. 520. Cp. Haymo
Quia enim dixerat superius, dedisse Halberst. In Psal. cix. p. 597.
se domui Aaron cibos de victimis Theodulf. de Ordinat. Baptismi, cap.
Veteris Testamenti, ubi ait, Dedi 18. Anselm [sive Herveus Dolensis]
domui patris tui omnia quae sunt in Heb. v. p. 416, et in Heb. vii.
ignis, filiorum Israel in escam. Haec p. 423. Walafrid. Strab. de Reb.
quippe fuerunt sacriticia Judaeorum : Eccl. cap. xvi. p. 674.
ideo hie dixit manducare panem ; r ' In sacerdotio Christi duo pos-
quod est in Novo Testamento sacri- sunt considerari, scilicet ipsa oblatio
ficium Christianorum.' Augustin. de Christi, et participatio ejus. Quan-
Civit. Dei, lib. xvii. cap. 5. pp. 466, turn ad ipsam oblationem, expressius
467. torn. vii. Cp. Ep. 177. p. 626. figurabat sacerdotium Christi sacrifi-
tom. ii. Et in Psal. xxxiii. pp. 210, cium legale per sanguinis effusionem,
211. torn. iv. In Psal. cvi. p. 1211. quam sacerdotium Melchisedech, in
In Psal. cix. p. 1241. torn. iv. De quo sanguis non effundebatur. Sed
Quaest. Octogint. q. Ixi. p. 34. torn, quantum ad participationem hujus
vi. De Civit. Dei, lib. xvii. pp. 435, sacrificii et ejus effectum, expressius
480. Contr. Advers. Leg. pp. 570, praefigurabatur per sacerdotium Mel-
571. torn. viii. chisedech, qui offerebat panem et
p See my Appendix, above, pp. vinmn, significantia, ut Augustinus
462-465, 475. dicit, ecclesiasticam. unitatem, quam
592 . Distinctions of Sacrifice :
of Aaron, in their oblatory view, were no way comparable to the
spiritual Gospel sacrifices, in their intrinsic value, or in regard
to the Divine acceptance ; so neither were the blessings, or the
sacrificial feasts of Aaron and his altars, worthy to be named in
comparison to the spiritual blessings, or spiritual banquet, given
to believers, whether by the typical or the true Melchizedek. If
we interpret what the Fathers say in relation to the Melchi-
zedekian sacrifices, as opposed to the Aaronical, by this key,
.everything, I presume, will be easy and clear : but without it
all is confusion. I know but of one objection to this account,
and that not weighty ; namely, that the Fathers sometimes
speak of Melchizedek as offering something to God, and not
barely as distributing to Abraham and his company. But then
let it be remembered, that the word offer is a word of a large
and lax meaning, importing any kind of presenting, either to
view, (as when Hezekiah spread a letter before the Lord 8 ,) or
for consecration, or the like. And it is further to be noted, that
the Fathers 4 , some of them at least, (a"s Ambrose, Philastrius,
Chrysostom, Austin, and perhaps Eusebius,) understood Mel-
chizedek to have offered a sacrifice of lauds to God, besides his
conveying the grand sacrifice, that is, the blessings and benefits
of it, to Abraham.
XII.
Having thus far observed, by what names of distinction
Christian sacrifices were discriminated from Jewish and Pagan,
constituit participatio Christi : unde Christum, tantum est quodammodo
etiam, in nova lege, verum Christi inter Judaeos et Christianos ; supe-
sacrificium communicatur fidelibus riora etiam et sacrificia. Talia vide-
sub specie panis et vini.' Aquin. licet offeramus sacrificia, quae in illud
part iii. q. 22. art. 6. p. 61. sanctuarium caeleste offerri possunt :
8 a Kings xix. 14. Isa. xxxviii. 14. non jam pecudem etbovem.non san-
' Ambrosius, torn. i. p. 714. edit, guinem et adipem ; omnia haec soluta
Bened. Philastr. Haer. cix. p. 221 ; sunt, et pro eis introductum est ra-
Haer. cxliv. pp. 314, 316. Chrysost. tionabile obsequium. Quid est ration-
adv. Jud. Horn. vii. p. 671. torn. i. abile obsequium ? Quod per animam,
in Heb. pp. 128, 129. torn. xii. Au- quod per spiritum ofFertur. . . . Quid
gustin. contr. Advers. Leg. pp. 570, est Deum in spiritu adorare, nisi
571. torn. vii. Eusebius, Demonstr. in charitate et fide perfecta, et spe
Evang. lib. v. cap. 3. p. 223. indubia, et sanctis animae virtu-
Ambrosiaster well expresses that tibus?' Pseud-Ambros. in Heb. vi.
notion. ' Quantum est inter Aaron et p. 443.
External and Internal; Private and Public. 593
jointly or singly considered, I may pass on to some other notes
of distinction, by which Christian sacrifices, differently circum-
stantiated, were distinguished one from another. Here may
come in the distinction between external and internal sacrifice,
which is of very different consideration from a distinction before
mentioned, between extrinsic and intrinsic.
Origen, mysticizing the two altars which belonged to the
temple, the inner and the outer altar, makes mental prayer or
service to answer to the incense on the one, and vocal prayer to
answer the burnt offerings on the other. Such was his notion
of internal and external sacrifice under the Gospel u . Neither is
it amiss, provided we take in manual service, or good works v ,
into the notion of external sacrifice, to render that branch of
the division complete. But here it is to be noted, that though
mental service alone may make internal sacrifice, yet vocal or
manual alone, without mental, will not make external sacrifice.
Outward service is but the shell and carcase of sacrifice, without
the sacrifice of the heart x . How both the internal and external
sacrifice are performed in the Eucharist, see particularly noted
and explained in Dean Field v .
XIII.
Christian sacrifices may be divided into private and public :
which is a distinction somewhat like to, but not altogether the
same with the former. For though internal sacrifice, as such, is
always secret, yet it may be performed in company with others,
as well as when we are alone : and though external sacrifice, as
u ' Altaria vero duo, id est interius v Good works were always emi-
et exterius, quoniam altare orationis nently reckoned among the Christian
indicium est, illud puto significare sacrifices, as may be seen in Justin,
quod dicit Apostolus, Orabo spiritu, p. 14. Clemens of Alexandria, pp.
orabo et mente. Cum enim corde 836, 848. Chrysostom, torn. v. pp.
oravero, ad altare interius ingredior. 231, 503, and indeed in all the Fa-
. . . Cum autem quis clara voce, et thers. How that is to be understood,
verbis cum sono prolatis, quasi ut see in Review, above, pp, 317, 318.
aedificet audientes, orationem fundit x Vid. Chrysostom. in Rom. Horn,
ad Deum, hie spiritu orat, et offerre xx. p. 657. torn. ix. Origen. torn. ii.
videtur hostiam in altari quod foris p. 363. ed. Bened. Nazianz. Orat. i.
est ad holocaustomata populi consti- p. 38. Gregor. M. Dial. iv. cap. 59.
tutum.' Origen. in Num. Horn. x. J Field on the Church, p. 204 '
P- 303.
594 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
to the outward part, is open to view, may be seen or heard, yet
it may be performed in private as well as in company. Therefore
both external and internal sacrifices may be subdivided into
private and public, accordingly as they are respectively offered
up to God, either from the private closet in retirement, or from
among our brethren met together in the public assemblies for
the same purpose. Private prayer is private sacrifice, and public
prayer is public sacrifice. Good works likewise are sacrifices, if
really and strictly good, if referred to God and his glory : there-
fore when they are done in private, they are private sacrifices :
but if so done as to ' shine before men,' for an example to them,
then they become public sacrifices.
XIV.
Christian sacrifices may be distinguished likewise into lay-
sacrifice and clerical. In a large sense, all good Christians are
sacrificers, and, so far, priests unto God 2 . St. Austin, in few
words, well sets forth both the agreement and the difference ;
observing that all Christians are priests, as they are members of
Christ, members of one and the same High Priest; but that
Bishops and Presbyters are in a more peculiar or emphatical
manner entitled to the name of priests*. So I interpret 'pro-
prie b ;' not to exclude Christian laics from being, properly
speaking, sacrificers, but so only as to exclude them from being
emphatically and eminently such as the clergy are : for though
* Exod. xix. 5, 6. I Pet. ii. 9. et regnabunt cum illo mille annis,
Revel, xx. 6. Just. Mart. Dial. Apoc. xx. 6. -Non utique de soils
p. 386. Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 8. episcopis et presbyteris dictum est,
P-, 237. Tertutlian. de Monogam. qui proprie jam vocantur in ecclesia
cap. vii. p. 529. Origen. in Levit. sacerdotes: sed sicut omnes Christia-
Hom. ix. pp. 236, 238. Cyrill. nos dicimus, propter mysticum chris-
Hierosol. Catech. xviii. c. 33. p. 301. ma, sic omnes sacerdotes, quoniam
Ambros. in Luc. vi. Hieron. contr. membra sunt unius sacerdotis.' Au-
Lucif. p. 290. torn. iv. Augustin. gustin.de Civit. Dei, lib. xx. cap. 10.
torn. viii. pp. 477, 478, 588. Leo p. 588. torn. vii.
Magn. Serm. iii. p. 107. Isidor. *> Compare Whitaker upon that
Pelus. lib. iii. Ep. Ixxv. p. 284. place of St. Austin. Answer to
And compare Review, above, pp. Reynolds, p. 77. Chrastoviua de
35 X > 35 2 - Christian Sacrifice Ex- Opine. Missae, lib. i. cap. n. p. 104.
plained, above, p. 421. Fulke's Defence of Translations,
* ' Erunt sacerdotes Dei et Christi, p. 6 2 .
Lay and Clerical. 595
they are all equally sacrificers, they are not equally adminis-
trators of sacrifice, in a public, and solemn, and authorized way.
The Protestant doctrine, commonly, has run, that clergy and
laity are equally priests : not equally Bishops, Presbyters, or
Deacons, but equally priests, (in the sense of icpfis,) that is,
equally sacrificers . For like as when a senate presents a pe-
tition, by their speaker, to the crown, every member of that
senate is equally a petitioner, though there is but one authorized
officer, one speaker commissioned to prefer the petition in the
name of the whole senate ; so in this other case, the whole body
of Christian people are equally sacrificers, though the clergy
only are commissioned to preside and officiate in a public
character"!. The sacrifice is the common sacrifice of the whole
body, and so the name of sacrificer is also common : but the
leading part, the administration of the sacrifice, is appropriate to
the commissioned officers ; and so also are the names of Bishops,
Presbyters, and Deacons. This is all that any aober Protestants
have meant ; though their expressions have been sometimes
liable to misconstruction, by reason of the latent ambiguity of
words and names. The word priest is equivocal, as denoting
either a presbyter or a sacrificer : and the word sacrificer is still
further equivocal, as meaning either one who barely sacrifices,
or one that administers a sacrifice in a public capacity, as the
head or mouth of an assembly.
Perhaps, after all, some shorter and clearer way might be
thought on, for compromising the debates concerning lay-
priesthood. If 'steward of the mysteries of God 6 ' may be
thought a good general definition of 'sacerdos,' or a title equi-
valent to priest f , then the disputes about the precise meaning
c Cranmer against Gardiner, pp. homines privaii pastorum munus
424, 440. Jewel's Answer to Hard- et officium usurpare.' Sutliff. contr.
ing, Art. xvii. p. 429. Defence of Bellarmin. p. 294.
Apol. p. 576. Pet. Mart. Loc. Comm. e i Cor. iv. i.
p. 788. Hospinian. Histor. Sacram. f ' Aequipollent ista dispensator
part i. pp. 584, 590. mysteriorum Dei, et sacerdos : mys-
d ' Utut omnes offerant preces, teria namque Dei sancta sunt, et
laudes, eleemosynas, et hujusmodi sacerdos dictus est a sacris dandis.'
sacrificia, non taraen eodem modo Chrastovius, Polan. p. 197.
omnes haec offerunt : nee debent
Q q 2
596 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
of Itpfvs, sacrificer, and how far that name is common to clergy
and laity, may be superseded, and the name of priest may be
appropriated in the sense of ambassadors of God, or stewards of
Divine mysteries, to the Bishops only in the first degree, and
to Presbyters in the seconds, or in a third degree to Deacons
also 11 , as some of the ancients have estimated, perhaps not amiss.
There is yet another way of compromising this matter, viz.
by passing over the Greek upevs, sacrificer, and running higher
up to the Hebrew word 'cohen 1 ,' as of the elder house, and
primarily signifying a person of nearest access to God, or a
commissioned agent between God and man. Let but that, or
something of like kind, be the proper notation of priest, and
then it will be a clear case that God's peculiar ambassadors in
ordinary 1 *, solemnly set apart for that office, are more properly
priests than any other persons can be justly presumed to be.
It has been thought that the Aaronical priests were as agents
for men with God, and that the evangelical priests are as agents
for God with men 1 . There may be something in that distinc-
tion : but considering that the evangelical priests do offer up
both the spiritual sacrifices and sacrificers to God ra , as well as
bring God's messages and God's blessings to men, it seems that
their agency looks both ways, and perhaps equally ; and they
appear to be indifferently and reciprocally agents from God to
man, and from man to God.
Some have made it a difficulty to conceive how a priest, being
s Nazianz. Carmin. torn. ii. p. 6. ambassadors or legates extraor-
Eusebius, Demonstr. lib. x. cap. 6. dinary.
Hieron. in Epitaph. Paulae. Optatus, ' ' Prophetaruni et Apostolorum
lib. i. p. 15. Leo I. de Quadrig. erat res Dei apud homines agere,
Serm. x. Sidonius, Ep. xxv. Facun- sacerdotum autem res hominum apud
dus, lib. xii. cap. 3. Cp. Basnag. Deum. Illi Dei legati apud homines,
Annal. torn. ii. p. 652. Hickes's hi hominum patroni apud Deum. .. .
Christian Priesthood, vol. i. p. 36. Ministerium Evangelicum a sacer-
h Optatus, lib.i. p. 15. See Hickes's dotio Aaronico multum differt, idque
Christian Priesthood, vol.i. pp. 36, 37. in eo praecipue cernitur, quod illud
' ' Vox pa genuina sua significa- pro Deo apud homines praecipue
tione notat familiarioris accessus constitutum sit, hoc pro hominibus
amicum.' Vitringa, Observat. Sacr. apud Deum.' Outram de Sacrif. lib.
lib. ii. cap. 2. p. 272. Cp. in Isa. i. cap. 19. pp. 220, 222.
vol. ii. pp. 830, 885, 950, 951. m See my Review, above, pp. 313,
k In ordinary, to distinguish them 351, 352, and compare Vitringa in
from prophets as such, who were Isa. Ixvi. 20. p. 951.
Lay and Clerical. 597
ignorant of what passes in the heart, can be said to present to
God the intrinsic and internal sacrifices of his people. The
truth is, that which the priests offer, they offer in the name or
in the person of the Church, as before noted n : and therefore
what they therein do, is to be considered as the act and deed of
the whole Church, independent of the knowledge, or attention,
or intention, or personal virtues of the officiating ministers.
Their ministration is the outward mean appointed by God, and
by that appointment made the ordinary condition of God's
acceptance. As God accepts not the devotions of the people,
however otherwise sincere or fervent, without the outward
Sacraments, (which are the ordinary instruments of conveyance,
both with respect to our sacrifices and God's graces,) so he
accepts not, ordinarily, of what Christians presume to offer in
a solemn public way, without the external ministration of the
proper officers. And why should not they be supposed as pro-
per instruments to convey the invisible sacrifices of men to God,
as to j convey the invisible graces of God to men ? To suppose
otherwise, would be strangely depreciating the sacerdotal func-
tion, as if that were concerned only in the external part, the
shell and carcase of a sacrifice, and the internal and invisible
part (which, strictly, is the sacrifice) were really presented by
none but the devout worshippers themselves. In this way, the
devout laity (supposing the priests to be unattentive) would be
the only sacrificers, and the priests, as such, would not be
sacrificers at all. But it is certain that the priests, in this case,
are and ought to be considered, as conveying and recommending
all the invisible sacrifices, and therefore are properly sacrificers
in their sacerdotal capacity, yea, and more than sacrificers,
because leaders, conductors, commissioned officers in the public
sacrifice, which must be accepted through them, even when they
themselves (if unworthy) shall not be accepted . But enough
of this.
n See above, p. 550. to the high priesthood above, if Dr.
To enforce this consideration, I Lightfoot judged rightly in the words
may add, that the priesthood below here following :
will thus correspond the more aptly ' Christ is a Priest for ever, still
598 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
XV.
I pass on to another very celebrated distinction of Christian
sacrifices, into gratulatory and propitiatory: though we have
really none of the latter sort but one, and that not properly
ours, but our Lord's, performed once upon the cross, but in
virtue always abiding?.
The word propitiatory is equivocal, capable of a larger or a
stricter sense. In a lax and less proper acceptation, every ser-
vice well pleasing to God is propitiatory. In this view, Baptism
and all our spiritual sacrifices are propitiatory : particularly
almsgiving is said to propitiate in this qualified sense of the
word<i. And the Fathers freq'uently so apply the word, with
respect to any good works 1 ". Tertullian sometimes, and Cyprian
often, speaks of making satisfaction to God by repentance, <kc.
Nevertheless, in the strict and proper sense of propitiation, expia-
tion, or satisfaction, no service, no sacrifice, nor anything else,
ever did or ever could make it, excepting only the all-prevailing
sacrifice of the cross. The sacrifice of Christ from without is
the meritorious cause of propitiation : our own qualifying sacri-
fices from within are the conditional : and the two Sacraments,
ordinarily, are the instrumental. As to the material elements,
offering sacrifice to God; but no accipiuntfidefructumalienisacrincii.'
more himself, but his people's sa- Melancth. Opp. torn. iv. p. 514.
crifice. And that offering is two- ' Unicorn est auteru re ipsa propi-
fold, viz. offering the persons of his tiatorium, videlicet obedientia Filii
people to God, as an acceptable Dei, quae est Xvrpov pro nobis, et
living sacrifice, (Isa. viii. 18,) and meretur nobis recouciliationem.'
offering their services as an accept- Ibid. p. 603. Cp. Cranmer, Opp.
able spiritual sacrifice to God, Rev. Posth. pp. 139-150. Pet. Mart. Loc.
vii. 3.' Lightfoot, torn. ii. p. 1261. Comm. p. 704. Zanchius's Tractat.
P 'SinguliChristianihabentduplex Posth. p. 421.
sacrificium, propi tiatorium et eucha- Philipp. iv. 1 8. Heb. xiii. 16.
risticum: sed alterum habent alie- Ecclus. iii. 30; xxxv. 2.
num, alterum proprium. Alienum r 'Verum sacrificium insinuans,
est propitiatorium a Christo oblatum. quod offerentes propitiabuntur De-
' Singuli sacerdotes habent duplex um.' Iren. lib. iv. cap. 1 7. p. 248.
sacrificium ; propitiatorium et eucha- ' Qui fraudibus abstinet, propitiat
risticum. ... Non habent proprium Deum.' Minuc. Fel. sect, xxxii.
sacrificium propitiatorium, nee pla- p. 183. Cp. Origen. in Levit. Horn,
cant suo sacrificio, sed alieno. Quod xiii. p. 255, cited in Review, above,
tamen neque ipsi offerunt, sed tantum p. 211.
Gmtnlatory and Propitiatory. 599
in either Sacrament, they are neither an extrinsic expiation nor
an intrinsic qualification, and therefore cannot, with any pro-
priety, be called an expiatory or a propitiatory sacrifice, no not
in the lowest sense of propitiatory. Indeed, the religious use of
them is propitiatory, in such a sense as Christian services are
so 8 : therefore our so using them, that is, our service, is the
sacrifice, and not they ; and it is an intrinsic and qualifying
sacrifice, not extrinsic or expiatory. Nothing 'ab intus' can
properly expiate, as is justly observed by a learned writer*: pro-
pitiate it may, but still in such a secondary, subordinate sense
as has been mentioned. The extrinsic legal expiations reached
only to temporals : the intrinsic, under Christ's extrinsic sacri-
fice, were even then the saving sacrifices, and must for ever be
so. Sacraments, as such (not sacrifices), are the rites of appli-
cation : the means and instruments of conveyance and reception,
with respect to the benefits of the great atonement u . The Jewish
sacrifices, considered as Sacraments, and not otherwise, were
such rites. The Eucharist is eminently so now ; and Baptism,
perhaps, yet more eminently, as it was anciently reckoned the
grand absolution, and as life is before nutriment v .
XVI.
There is another distinction of Christian sacrifice, not so
commonly observed, but worth the noting ; and that is, between
s In this sense, propitiatory sacri- but which shews, however, that he
fices are allowed by Protestant Di- aimed at a very different kind of
vines : Cranmer against Gardiner, propitiation and expiation than what
pp. 437, 438. Gulielm. Forbes. Con- Divines allow to intrinsic and spiri-
sider. Modest, p. 694. Joann. tual sacrifices.
Forbes. Opp. torn. i. p. 619. Spala- u How absurd the notion is of
tens. p. 283. Thorndike's Epil. b. iii. applying one expiatory sacrifice by
pp. 42, 46. Payne on the Sacrifice of another expiatory sacrifice, as such,
the Mass, p. 77. Jackson, vol. iii. has been often shewn : particularly
p. 299. Morton on the Eucharist, by Morton, b.vi. cap. u, and SutlifF.
b. vi. pp. 60, 72. cum multis aliis. [adv. Bellarmin. pp. 233, 249, 308]
e Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice, and others ; but by none better than
part i. pp. 299, 300. The use which by Dean Brevint's Depth and Mys-
the learned author intended by that tery of the Rom. Mass, pp. 31-34.
principle, (that nothing ' ab intus' can v See my Review, above, pp.
expiate,) was to introduce another 220, 231-233, and Salmasius (alias
extrinsic, expiatory sacrifice, after Simplicius Verinus) contr. Grot. p.
njiriaf Q A. ver y wrong thought ; 402.
6oo Distinctions of Sacrifice :
sacrifice in a large, general sense, and sacrifice in a more re-
strained, eminent, or emphatical meaning 1 . Our Lord's sacri-
fice, for instance, is eminently the sacrifice, infinitely superior to
all other : not that it is more properly a sacrifice than others
which equally fall within the same general definition, but it is a
more excellent sacrifice : in scholastic terms, ' non magis sacri-
ficium, sed majus : ' not more a sacrifice, but a greater sacrifice.
The like may be observed of our spiritual sacrifices, compared
one with another. All religious duties, all Christian services,
are sacrifices properly so called : but some are more emphati-
cally or more eminently called by that name, because of some
eminent circumstances attending them, which give them the
greater value and dignity. St. Austin makes every religious
act, work, or sei*vice, a sacrifice ?. Nevertheless, he supposed the
work of the Eucharist, the sacrifice there offered, to be emphati-
cally and eminently the sacrifice of the Church : the singular
sacrifice 2 , as being, comparatively, of singular value ; and also
the universal sacrifice a , as comprehending many sacrifices of the
spiritual kind, and taking in the whole redeemed city, the whole
city of God.
Baptism, in St. Austin's account, was a sacrifice of a single
x N. B. Most of Bellannine's quibus significabatur singulars sacri-
arguments to prove that spiritual ficium, quod nunc offert Israel se-
sacrifices are not proper sacrifices, cundum spiritum.' Augustin. contr.
resolve into an equivocation in the Adversar. Leg. et Prophet, lib. i.
word proper; not distinguishing be- cap. 20. p. 570. torn. viii.
tween proper, (that is, special,) as ' Unde et in ipso verissimo et sin-
opposed to large, and proper as op- gulari sacrificio, Domino Deo nostro
posed to metaphorical or figurative, agere gratias admonemur.' Au-
From thence appears the use of the gustin. de Spirit, et Lit. cap. xi.
present distinction. p. 94. torn. x.
y Verum sacrificium est omne a ' Ut tota ipsa redempta civitas,
opus quod agitur ut sancta societate hoc est, congregatio societasque
inhaeremus Deo, relatum scilicet ad sanctorum, universale sacrificium
ilium finem boni, quo veraciter beati offeratur Deo, per sacerdotem mag-
esse possimus.' Augustin. de Civit. num, &c. Hoc est sacrificium
Dei, lib. x. cap. 6. p. 242. See Re- Christianorum, multi unum corpus
view, above, p. 309, and Christian in Christo : quod etiam sacramento
Sacrifice Explained, above, pp. 416, altaris, fidelibus noto, frequentat
417. Ecclesia ; ubi ei demonstratur, quod
z ' Haec quippe Ecclesia est Israel in ea re quam offert, ipsa offeratur.'
secundum spiritum, a quo distingui- Augustin. de Civit. Dei, lib. x.
tur ille Israel secundum carnem, qui cap. 6. p. 243. torn. vii.
serviebat in umbris sacrificiorum,
Ordinary and Extraordinary, 601
person, or of a few in comparison b : the several single good
works of every Christian were so many sacrifices in his estima-
tion, true sacrifices, not nominal or metaphorical : but still the
sacrifice offered in the Eucharist was emphatically the sacrifice
of Christians, being a complicated sacrifice, the joint-worship of
all, and containing many circumstances which gave it a more
eminent right and title to the name of the sacrifice of the
Church c . The Eucharist therefore was emphatically or pecu-
liarly the sacrifice d : that is to say, in a peculiar manner, or
with peculiar circumstances, but not in a peculiar or different
sense of the name sacrifice ; for those things ought to be dis-
tinguished, though they have been often confounded. All the
confusion, in this matter, lies in the equivocalness of terms, and
particularly of the word ' proprie,' properly, which is variously
used, and is subject to various meanings 6 . It may mean proper,
as opposed to improper and metaphorical : or it may mean
proper, as opposed to large or general ; which is the same with
peculiar as to manner and circumstances only, not as to pro-
priety of phrase or diction. All spiritual sacrifices are sacrifices
properly so called, falling under the same general reason and
definition of sacrifice f : nevertheless, the Eucharist is a sacrifice
b See Appendix, above, p. 483, or metaphorical : in Latin, ' proprie
and compare Ambros. torn. i. pp. 214, dictum, et improprie dictum.'
215. Origen. torn. ii. p. 405. ed. 4. Proper or peculiar, as opposed
Bened. Chrysost. in Heb. x. Horn, to large or general: 'proprie, etlato
20. p. 186. torn. xii. ed. Bened. Bede, mode,' or ' largo modo.'
Homil. tom.vii. p. 59. f See Review, above, pp. 310, 311.
c 'Quomodo autem Spiritui Sancto Christian Sacrifice Explained, above,
in pane et vino sacrificium Ecclesiae pp. 416, 417. N.B. The old Protes-
non offertur, quando ipsam Eccle- tant Divines, for the most part,
siam, et templum et sacrificium ipse maintained this point against the
Spiritus habere cognoscitur.' Ful- Romanists, (who first denied it,) that
gentius inter Fragment, p. 641. spiritual sacrifices are proper sacri-
d See Review, above, pp. 3 1 1, 312. fices, that is, properly so called;
Christian Sacrifice Explained, above, which might be particularly proved
pp. 420, 421. Appendix, above, from their standing definitions. See
p. 483. Christian Sacrifice Explained, above,
e The various meanings are these : p. 416. I shall only add here the
T. Proper, as opposed to 'aliene:' testimony of an adversary, who,
in Latin, ' proprium et alienum.' speaking of the Protestants, says,
2. Proper, as opposed to common : 'Putant actum contritionis, lau-
' proprium et commune.' dationis, gratiarum actionis pertinere
3. Proper, as opposed to allusive ad sacrificia proprie dicta, ex Davide,
6o2 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
in a more eminent way ; not more a sacrifice, but a more excel-
lent sacrifice, as I before distinguished in another case. I
thought it necessary to be thus minute and explicit in this
article, for the removing vulgar prejudices, and for the prevent-
ing common mistakes.
XVII.
I shall mention but one distinction more, (if it may be called
a distinction,) and that is, between sacrifice real and nominal,
between sacrifice truly such, and sacrifice in name only. It may
sound oddly, to distinguish sacrifice into sacrifice and no sacri-
fice, which is really the case here ; but it is necessary, for the
preventing confusion, and for the obviating mistakes which fre-
quently arise from a figurative or catachrestical use of names.
This distinction of nominal and real is of large extent, compre-
hending under it several subdivisions ; as instrumental and real,
symbolical and real, verbal and real, and lastly, commemorative
and real : of which in their order, as follows :
I. The first I call instrumental and real, as when the instru-
ment of a sacrifice (whether for brevity or for any other reason)
bears the name of sacrifice or oblation. Thus, for instance,
jewels of gold, chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets,
were called an oblation for the Lord, to make an atonement for
souls, before the Lord , as if they had really been sacrifices :
but it is certain, that those offerings were no more than instru-
Psal. 1. et ex illo D. Augustini, lib. x. true and acceptable services under
cap. 6. Caeterum toto caelo er- the Gospel ; and that material sacri-
rant,' &c. Joan. Puteanus, q. Ixxxiii. fices, however proper, in respect of
Dub. 2. p. 299. A.D. 1624. He goes diction, or use of language, are now
on to argue the point : a bye-point, out of date, and are rejected of God,
which Allen, in 1 5 76, and Bellar- and are therefore so far from being
mine, about twelve or twenty years properly worship, that they are more
after, had insisted upon, for Lhe sake properly sacrilege and profanation,
of perplexing a cause, and for the See my Christian Sacrifice Explained,
turning a reader off from the main above, pp. 415-419, 423. The Romish
point in dispute. For whatever be- sacrifice is neither true nor proper ;
comes of the question about proper but they apply that epithet to a mere
and improper sacrifice, (a strife about fiction and idol of their own.
a name only,) one thing is certain, Numb. xxxi. 50.
that spiritual services are the only
Nominal and Real, 603
ments subservient to sacrifices : and that appears to have been
the ground and foundation of the way of speaking h .
By the like figure of speech, by a metonymy of instrument for
principal, we sometimes find the Fathers giving the name of
sacrifice to the altar-offerings, to the bread and wine ; which
were the instruments of the benevolent acts, as also of the
memorial services, that is, of the real sacrifices. Cyprian',
certainly, so uses the word sacrifice ; and probably Tertullian
before him k ; and others after 1 . Such expressions were very
innocent in ancient times, while Christians were too wise and
too well instructed to make any such gross mistakes as the
ignorance of later times introduced. The Fathers could not
then suspect, that such figures of speech should ever come to
be interpreted with rigour, and up to the letter, while sufficiently
guarded by the well known standing doctrine of spiritual sacri-
fices. 2. By a like figure of speech, the sign or symbol of a
sacrifice often bore the name of sacrifice ; that is to say, by a
metonymy of the sign for the thing signified 01 . Our blessed
Lord had used the like figure in the very institution of the
Eucharist, as it were, giving the names of body and blood to
h 'Aurum offerri diciturad expia- ' 'Dum sacris altaribus nullam
tionem pro animabus. At qui tandem admovent hostiam. Propterea de-
auro aut fiat aut figuretur expiatio, cernimus, ut omnibus Dominicis die-
nisi mediate et instrument! modo ? bus, altaris oblatio ab omnibus viris
Dum scilicet suffimentis sacris, et et mulieribus offeratur tain panis
ignitis subservifc oblationibus : adeo quam vini; ut per has immolationes,
ut nihil hie sit aliud ad expiationem et peccatorum fascibus careant, et
offerri, quam ad usum eorum, quae cum Abel vel caeteris juste offeren-
expiando.' Mede, Dissertat. Triga, tibus promereantur esse consortes.'
p. 28. Concil. Matisc. ii. Can. 4. Cp.
1 'Locuples et dives es, et Domi- Bona. Rer. Liturg. p. 436. A.D. 585.
nicum celebrare te credis, quae cor- Apostol. Constit. lib. ii. cap. 27.
ban omnino non respicis, quae in ' Ille bonus Christianus est, qui . . .
Dominicum sine sacrificio venis, quae oblationem quae offeratur Deo, in
partem de sacrificio quod pauper altari exhibet.' Eligius Novio-
obtulit, sumis ?' Cyprian, de Opere mens. apud Bonam, ibid. p. 436.
et Eleemos. p. 242. ed. Bened. A.D. 640.
k ' De stationum diebus non putant m How usual a figure this is, in
plerique sacrificiorum orationibus in- Scripture itself, with relation especi-
terveniendum, &c. . . . Accepto cor- ally to exhibitive signs, see proved
pore Domini et conservato, utrum- at large, in Review, above, chap. 7.
que salvum est, participatio sacri- pp. 130-141. And compare St. Aus-
ficii, et executio officii.' Tertull. de tin, Epist. xcviii. p. 286. torn. ii. In
Orat. cap. xiv. pp. 135, 136. Levit. q. Ivii. p. 516. torn. iii.
604 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
the elemental signs and symbols of them. And what wonder
is it, if the Fathers, considering that the real body and blood
were a sacrifice upon the cross, should sometimes call the
elements by the name of sacrifice; which was but following
the like figure, and saying the same thing that our Lord had
said, only in equivalent terms ? If any one should doubt of
this solution, with respect to the name of sacrifice, sometimes
(though rarely in comparison) given to the elements j let him
say, what other solution can be justly given for their being
much more frequently called by the name of body and blood ,
yea and of Christ slain, or simply Christ, or Lord, or God, or
the like P. Instances out of antiquity might be here given in
great numbers : but I shall content myself with a single passage
of St. Ambrose, wherein the elements appear to be denominated
Christ, and Christ's body, and sacrifice, all in the compass of a
few lines q, and all by the same metonymy of sign for thing
signified, exhibited, participated. He uses the word offer in a
lax sense, for commemorating, or presenting to Divine conside-
ration : for it cannot be supposed that he thought of literally
sacrificing Christ, either above or below. Indeed, he explains
his sense of that matter elsewhere r , by Christ's presenting him-
self as intercessor above, in virtue of his blood shed, and by
our representing the same thing below, in a kind of imagery,
made of the symbols of bread and wine. Christ's offering himself
n 'Ad summam, regula haec te- Grace. Murator. A.D. I79-
nenda est, Patres quo sensu Intel- ' ' Etsi nunc Christu3 non videtur
lexerunt corpus et sanguinem Christi offerre, tamen ipse offertur in terns,
adesse in coena, panemque esse ipsum quando Christi corpus offertur : imo
corpus Christi, eodem etiam sense- ipse offerre manifestatur in nobis,
runt in coena offerri Christum, coe- cujus sermo sanctificat sacrificium
namque ipsam esse sacrificium hilas- quod offertur.' Ambros. in Psal.
ticum, sed incruentum ; nempe in xxxviii. p. 853.' ed. Bened.
mysterio, in figura, et imagine.' r ' Umbra in lege, imago in Evan-
Zanchius, ad Ephes. v. p. 422. gelio, veritas in caelestibus. Ante
'Pene quidem Sacramentum om- agnus offerebatur, offerebatur vitu-
nes corpus ejus dicunt.' Augustin. lus ; nunc Christus offertur Et
Serm. cccliv. p. 1375. torn. v. offert se ipse quasi sacerdos, ut pec-
P Kol ffv, rd\av, iroA.(/j(ri rtais cata nostra dimittat. Hie in Sma-
fl /j.6ffriv SccS V gi" 16 * ibi in veritate, ubi apud Patrem
A']7 6ap<ra\ftas, 3) Ofbv ayKa\ifffis pro nobis quasi advocatus inter-
Xti'pfffiv, ah Si6pvas ^u&v raQov ; venit.' Ambros. de Offic. lib. ii. cap.
Nazianz. Epigr. p. 151. in Anecd. 48.
Nominal and Real. 605
above, is rather commemorating a sacrifice, than sacrificing 8 :
and our doing the like below, is but an imitation even of that * ;
so far is it from sacrificing either the signs or things. But as
the bread and wine represent the real body and blood, which
were a real sacrifice, so they have the names of body, and blood,
and sacrifices : and there is no more room for arguing, barely
from the name of sacrifice, to real sacrifice in the one case, than
there is for arguing, barely from the names of body and blood,
to real body and blood, (that is to say, to transubstantiation,) in
the other case. The argument proves too much to prove any-
thing.
It may be said perhaps, that the ancients, while they call the
elements body and blood, do yet by some additional words give
us to understand, that they meant not the real body and blood ;
but where do they give us to understand, that when they called
the elements a sacrifice, they did not believe them to be a real
sacrifice u 1 I answer, they do it in hundreds of places : by what
they say of extrinsic and intrinsic sacrifice : by what they say of
visible and invisible : by what they say of material and imma-
terial : by what they teach of bloody and unbloody, of smoky
and unsmoky, of false and true, of old and new, of literal and
spiritual ; and in short, by the whole tenor of their doctrine
concerning spiritual sacrifices, for six whole centuries together.
Could we suppose, that they made the elements themselves a
proper sacrifice, they would be all over perplexity, confusion,
and self-contradiction : but allow only, that they made use of
the same easy and common figure when they called them sacri-
5 Vid. Grotius de Satisfact. in fine, effect, is a celebration of his death,
Compare Review, p. 66. and the applying it to the present
4 ' As Christ is a Priest in heaven and future necessities of the Church,
for ever, and yet does not sacrifice as we are capable, by a ministry like
himself afresh, (nor yet without sa- to his in heaven.' Taylor, Great
crifice could he be a Priest,) but by Exempl. p. 497. Cp. Grotius, Opp.
a daily ministration and intercession torn. iv. pp. 6-20, 643, 660. Field,
represents his sacrifice to God, and pp. 204, 205. Hospinian. Histor.
offers himself as sacrificed ; so he Sacram. p. 580, &c. Bucer. contr.
does upon earth, by the ministry of Latom. pp. 147, 175, 249. Brevint
his servants. He is offered to God : on the Mass, p. 74.
that is, he is, by prayers and the u See Unbloody Sacrifice, part i.
Sacrament, represented or offered p. 455.
up to God as sacrificed ; which, in
6o6
Distinctions of Sacrifice :
fice, as when they called them body and blood, and Christ slain,
or the like x , and then their whole doctrine is consistent, uniform,
and clear, all the way through, and without embarrassments.
But I proceed.
3. To the head of nominal and real, I refer verbal and real.
The Latin name ' sacrificium,' through the unskilfulness of de-
clining ages, came to be used as equivalent to the word ' sacra -
mentum : ' so that when the Church writers of those times called
the elements a sacrifice, they really meant no more than a sacra-
ment, that is, sign of a sacrifice. The idea remained the same
as before ; but there was a change in the terms, a confusion in
words or names. This is plain from the odd definition of sacri-
fice given by the famous Isidore of Seville, about the close of
the sixth century, or beginning of the seventh. He defines
sacrifice by a thing made sacred y ; which is rather the definition
of a sacrament, as denoting an holy sign, or a thing, before
* It may be noted that Vasquez
(who admits not the elements to
be a sacrifice) assigns three reasons
why the Fathers might so call them :
the first of the three is adapted to
the Romish principles : but the
second and third are good.
1. ' Quia sunt materia, quae tran-
sit in id quod in sacrificium oft'er-
tur.
2. ' Quia ipsum Christi corpus vo-
catur panis, et sanguis vinum.
3. ' Quia proponuntur Deo conse-
cranda : latius autem patet oblatio
quam sacrificium.' Vasquez, Opp.
torn. iii. p. 414.
' Alia ratione dici potest panis et
vinum Deo ofierri, si non addatur in
sacrificium : quia hoc ipso quod pro-
ponitur coram Deo consecrandum,
Deo offertur ; latius nim patet ob-
latio quam sacrificium : et hoc modo
explicari possent aliquae orationes
Ecclesiae in officio missae, in quibus
dicitur panis et vinum offerri. vel
illorum propositio dicitur oblatio. 1
Vasquez, ibid.
y ' Sacrificium est . . . omne quod
Deo datur, aut dedicatur, aut conse-
cratur. Sacrificium dictum, quasi
sacrum factum : quia prece mystica
consecratur in memoriam pro nobis
Dominicae passionis : unde hoc, eo
jubente, corpus et sanguinem dici-
mus. Quod dum fit ex fructibus ter-
rae, sanctificatur et fit Sacramentum,
operante invisibiliter Spiritu Dei.'
Isidor. Hispalens. Orig. lib. vi. cap.
19. pp. 142, 143.
This description, or definition,
seems to have prevailed among the
Irish Divines of the seventh and
eighth centuries. See Usher's Re-
lig. of Ancient Irish, chap. iv.
Cangius, under the word 'sacrifi-
cium,' in his Glossary, has brought
no higher authorities for such use
of the name than the seventh cen-
tury ; excepting Patricius, whose
pretended writings are of suspected
credit.
Rabanus of the ninth century,
(De Instit. Cleric, lib. i. cap. 32,)
Honorius of the twelfth, (Gemm.
Anim. cap. 93,) and Alensis of the
thirteenth, (torn. iv. p. 192,) seem
to follow Isidore. As also do seve-
ral of the elder Romanists of the
sixteenth century : such as Fisher,
Tonstall, &c.
Nominal and Real. 607
common, consecrated into an holy symbol : and it will serve as
aptly for the waters of Baptism as for the elements of the
Eucharist. It would be ridiculous to claim Isidore, as making
the elements a sacrifice, in the old or true sense of that name :
his sacrifice was verbal only, not real ; a verbal sacrifice, a real
sacrament. However, in process of time, this change of lan-
guage, this misapplication of a name, might, very probably,
become a snare to many; and might, with several other con-
curring circumstances, during the dark ages, help to bring in
bread-sacrifice. When transubstantiation, or something like it,
was creeping in, one argument pleaded for it ran thus : either
the elements must be the real and natural body and blood, or
else the Christian sacrifices will be meaner than the Jewish
sacrifices were 7 . Which shews, that the bread-sacrifice, or
elemental sacrifice, was then made a principle whereon to build,
and therefore had gained some footing in the Church before
that time. Then, that very consideration which should have
made them look back, to correct their first error, served only,
in those days of ignorance, to lead them on to more and greater.
If an elemental sacrifice is meaner (as it really is) than a Jewish
one, and they were sensible of it, they should have corrected
that false principle by returning to spiritual sacrifice, and then
all had been right : they should have considered the elements
as symbols of Christ's body, natural and mystical, and as instru-
ments of a memorial-service, and so all had been well.
If it should here be objected, that in this way of distinguishing
between the material symbol and spiritual service, even the
Jewish sacrifices might all be distinguished off into services, and
no room left for material sacrifices under the Law, any more
than under the Gospel : I say, if this should be objected, it is
obvious to reply, that the two cases are exceeding wide, and the
circumstances extremely different; for,
i. Material things are frequently called sacrifices under the
Law, and accepted as sweet odour ; but the elements are never
so called under the Gospel, nor accepted of, as sweet odours.
2 Paschas. Radbert de Corp. et Sang. cap. ii. Opp. p. 1559. Al-
gerus, p. 268.
608 DMHctiox* of Sacrifice :
2. Under the Law, God considered the fat and the blood as
his portion, to be separated from man's use ; and he accepted
them as entirely his* : no such thing is appointed with respect
to the elements under the Gospel ; neither does God accept
them, or any part of them as his, or as exempt from man's use.
3. Legal and typical expiations (sure marks of a proper legal
sacrifice) were annexed to the Jewish oblations: but no such
typical and temporal expiations, distinct from the true expiation,
is annexed to the oblation of the elements, to shew them to be a
sacrifice in themselves b .
4. Under the Law, there was need of extrinsic sacrifices, and
extrinsic expiations, to signify, by such shadows, that men must
be saved by an extrinsic sacrifice, to appear in due time;
namely, the grand sacrifice c : but under the Gospel, the true
sacrifice is come, and so that great truth is no longer shadowed,
or darkly insinuated, but openly and fully declared. And we
have now direct immediate access to the true sacrifice, and to
the true expiations : not kept at a distance, as before, by the
intervention of typical sacrifices, or typical expiations : such is
our Gospel privilege d .
5. All sacrifices, properly expiatory, must be something ex-
trinsic, for nothing *ab intus' can expiate, as before noted 6 .
The extrinsic thing, in such a case, is demanded by way of price,
or compensation, for the forfeited life of the man, or in lieu of
it f . Therefore as the Jewish sacrifices were properly expiatory.
See Review, above, pp. 135, 136, ' Spiritaalis effectus est solatia a
and compare Mede's Christian Sacri- reatu interoo, Ac. quam aacrificiaad-
fice. p. 471. Codworth on the Sacra- nmbrant, non praestant. . . . Sed si
ment, chap, v. pp. 89, 90. Johnson's sacrificia adumbrant ac significant
Unbloody Sacrifice, part L p. 238. ablationem reatos aeterni, necesse
part iL p. 77, &e. est ut arabaternatur effectus tempo-
k Eosebhis well observes, that God ralia, per qoem spiritualis ille ef-
accepted of animal sacrifices, while a fectu repraesentetur : is vero est
yet no better sacrifice of expiation ablalio reatus, ratione poenae tern-
could be had ; that is, while the sa- poralis.' Yossius ad Jodie. Ravensp.
crificeof Oiri*t,agiufiedbytheother, p. 86 ; cp. p. 98.
was yet future: but afterwards the * See Christian Sacrifice Explained.
caae was altered, and all such sacri- above, pp. 443, 444. App. pp. 460-46 2.
'Stmm mmn ouBiBtded by the sacrifice * See above, p. 599.
of Christ. VkL Euaeb. Dem. Evang. f Vid. Euseb. Dem. E rang. lib. L
lib. L c. 10. p. 36. c. 10. p. 35.
Nominal and Seal. 609
(though in a legal and temporal way e,) they must of course be
extrinsic to the persons, and they were so : but Christians
owning no expiation at all, save only the true and heavenly
expiation made upon the cross, cannot have any expiatory or
atoning sacrifice besides that They may have, and they have,
intrinsic, gratulatory, and qualifying sacrifices ; and those are
their religious duties and services, and nothing else. Therefore
the reason is plain, why the Jewish sacrifices cannot be dis-
tinguished off, or advanced into spiritual services, nor the Chris-
tian sacrifices sunk into material and extrinsic oblations. But I
return.
4. To the same head, of nominal and real, belongs the dis-
tinction of commemorative and real : which is an old distinction.
Chrysostom observes, that we do not offer, as the Jews formerly
did, one lamb one day, and the next day another, and so on ;
but that we every day offer the same Lamb, which Lamb is
Christ, and consequently the same sacrifice ; or rather, as he
adds, correcting the expression, a commemoration of a sacrifice h .
Thus he distinguishes a commemorative sacrifice from a real one,
or a commemoration of a sacrifice from the sacrifice itself. That
he here understood an expiatory sacrifice is plain, because he
interprets it of Christ himself, our only sacrifice of propitiation.
It may be suggested, that a commemoration of a sacrifice, though
it is not that sacrifice, may yet be a sacrifice, or another sacrifice
notwithstanding : and it may be said, that a symbol of a sacri-
fice may itself also be a distinct sacrifice. Both parts are true :
f Hence arises another irresistible ntv, eu vvr fit* trtpox rpd&aror, aiptur
argument against the notion of the 5e frtpoy, oAA' at} TO avrb, frt
elements being expiatory sacrifices : fii* rrlr fi (hxria . . . efs v<arra\Qv 6
for, if they were so, they should have Xpurrbs . . . oAAaxov Tpo<r4>fp4net>os,
a real and distinct expiation of their \ au/j.d ccrri, KCU ov ToAAa ouftaroL,
own, to adumbrate the true sacrifice ovrta icol ftia Ovvia. . . . owe SAA^r ft/-
as future still : which would amount ffltuf italBaarep 6 'Apx'fp*^* r6rt, o\Aa
to declaring that Christ is not come, rJ)x wr^f a*l roiov/jLff /taAAor 5c
and so would be a flat contradiction ay&iun\<nv /rya(T<Wa iWiaj. Chry-
to Christianity. sost. in Heb. x. Horn. xvii. pp. 168,
h Ti olv : V's xaff l/ca^rr;*' iintpa* 169. torn. xii. edit. Bened. Other
ov irpo<T<pfpoufv ; irpocr<t>epou.(v utv, authorities to the same purpose are
o\A' avdujnjaiv tcoiov^jifvoi TOV daydrov referred to in Eeview, above, p. 34,
ovroD. . . . T^V yap aurbv aJ -rpoffipfpo- and more might be added.
B r
6io Distinctions of Sacrifice :
for a memorial service is a sacrifice 1 , while it is also a com-
memoration of the grand sacrifice ; and the Jewish sacrifices
were sacrifices in themselves, while types of Christ's sacrifice,
and symbols also of ours. But then, let it be observed, that
when Chrysostom here speaks of the real sacrifice in the Eucha-
rist, he does not mean the signs, but the thing signified by them,
namely, Christ himself, the one sacrifice, as he expressly men-
tions : besides, had he intended the elements, he could not have
said, that we have one sacrifice, or always the same sacrifice ;
for he very well knew, that we offer one day one loaf, and
another day another loaf, and so that would have amounted to
the same with one day one sheep, and another day another ; and
the very objection which he was there answering would have re-
turned upon him with all its force.
But will not the same objection lie against offering any sacri-
fices at all, even spiritual sacrifices, so many distinct acts, and
therefore one day one sacrifice, and another day another, and so
on 1 No : for Chrysostom was there speaking only of expiatory
sacrifices, or sin offerings ; as the chapter, which he was com-
menting upon, led him to do : and there is really no sin offering,
or expiatory sacrifice, under the Gospel, but Christ alone ; who
is not properly offered in a sacrificial way, but commemorated
only, in the Eucharist. There may be in the Eucharist gratula-
tory sacrifices, consistently with what is here said by Chrysostom :
* Eusebius observes, that our Lord icol Koytnas, avr$ rt Trpoarivtls Ovfflas
has ordered us a memorial, instead of vpoffQtpfiv 6e$, &c. p. 39. Where I
a sacrifice ; (t.vi\pi}v KO! ^/uli/ irapaSovs, understand by ffffj.va QvfjLara. the syni-
djrt dvaias, -rif 0<p SitivfK&s wpoff<pt- bols, metonymically called victims,
ptiv. Demonstr. lib. i. c. 10. p. 38. as body and blood : and Eusebius
One would think by this, that he had takes notice, that by them (that is, by
excluded a memorial from being a them as symbols and instruments) we
sacrifice. But he does not : for he offer, we perform our unbloody and
presently afterexplainswhathemeans rational sacrifices. He had said be-
by, instead of a sacrifice, adding curl fore, Tovrov Sr/ra OI>(MTOS rrjv
instead of the ancient sacrifices and &c. That is, the memorial of the
burnt offerings. Ibid. p. 38. But as victim, Christ crucified, is performed
to the memorial services, he does as by those symbols ; by consecrating,
plainly call them sacrifices.in the next by breaking, distributing, pouring,
page, as words can do it. eating, and drinking them with de-
Ta fffuva TT}S Xpiffrov -rpairtfrs Ov~ vout hearts, prayers, praises, &c.
/<ara. 81" &v KaA.AtepoCt'Tey.Toj ai<a.iu.ovs
Nominal and Real. 611
but whether the elements or the service, properly, are such
gratulatory sacrifices, he has not determined in this place, not
entering into that question ; though he has sufficiently deter-
mined it elsewhere, by what he constantly teaches with respect
to self-sacrifice, intrinsic sacrifice, and all spiritual services ;
which he called sacrifices without any scruple, and without any
self-correction k .
Some have thought, that the very phrase of commemorative
sacrifice, as applied to the Eucharist, imports, that the Eucharist
is a sacrifice : but that is a very great mistake. It neither
implies it nor contradicts it, but abstracts from it, expressing no
more than this, that the Eucharist is a commemoration of a
sacrifice, namely, of the grand sacrifice. It is a contracted,
compendious form of speech, which, drawn out at full length,
expresses a sacrament commemorative of a sacrifice ; as appears
from Aquinas ', who may be allowed to be a good interpreter of
a scholastic phrase. That sense passed current, and was not
only admitted by Calvin and other Protestants, but contended
for, when the Romanists began to give a new sense and new
turn to it. Cardinal Allen was not pleased with the Schools for
speaking the plain truth m , nor with the Protestants for following
k It has been observed by some, tion of sacrifice. The sacrifices called
that the spiritual sacrifices, among the ' zebachim,' for instance, in Hebrew, or
Fathers, often go under metaphorical 0i><rfaiinGreek,or'hostiae'inLatin,or
names, such as odour of suavity, and 'victimae.'were not therefore sacrifices
the like : and it has been urged, as merely because so called, or because
of moment, that if a sacrifice of the they were of such a particular kind,
heart is not an odour of suavity in a but because they were considered as
proper sense, why must it be thought presents to God, and as expressions
a sacrifice in a proper sense ? The of worship and homage offered to the
argument is wrong, because it proves Divine Majesty,
too much. Our Lord, as a sacrifice, ' ' Sacramentum hoc est commemo-
is called our Passover, and the Lamb rativum Dominicae passionis, quae
of God, and likewise an odour of sua- fuit verum sacrificium, et sic nomi-
vitj 1 , Ephes. v. 2. Might it not there- natur sacrificium.' Aquin. Summ.
fore as well be pleaded against his part iii. qu. 73. art. 4.
sacrifice, that since he is not a lamb, ' Successit autem ei [paschati] in
nor a passover, nor an odour, in a Novo Testamento Eucharistia, sacra-
proper sense, why must he be a sacri- mentum quod est rememorativum
fice in a proper sense ? The truth is, praeteritae passionis, sicut et illud
proper sacrifices may often have meta- erat praefigurativum futurae.' Aquin.
phorical names : but they are proper ibid. art. 5. Cp. Lombard, lib. iv.
sacrifices notwithstanding, if they fall distinct. 12. lit. G.
within the general reason and defini- m Alanus de Eucharistia, p. 551.
6 1 2 Distinctions of Sacrifice :
them in that just sense of the phrase : so he endeavoured to
warp it to a new and foreign meaning 11 . He pleaded that a
commemorative sacrifice may consistently be proper also ; which
was no part of the question. The question was, whether any
certain conclusion could be drawn from the name of sacrifice,
sometimes given to the elements by the ancients, when those
very ancients declared their own meaning in such instances to
be, that the Eucharist, so considered, was a commemoration of a
sacrifice, rather than a sacrifice. But I pass on. The phrase of
commemorative sacrifice, in such a sense as Aquinas used it in,
and as signifying a sacrament commemorative of a sacrifice, has
been admitted by the best learned Protestants all along, without
any scruple. The sum is, that a commemorative sacrifice, in the
relative sense of the phrase, is the same as a nominal sacrifice,
opposed to a real one ; a sign opposed to the thing signified ; a
memorial of a sacrifice, not that sacrifice. Such was the original,
such has been the customary use of the phrase, from the time it
first came in : and the question is not, whether a commemorative
sacrifice may not also, in an absolute view, be a distinct sacrifice ;
but whether that phrase ordinarily had expressed both ? It is
certain, that it had not ; but, among the Schoolmen formerly,
and among the best learned Protestants since, it expressed no
more commonly than a sacramental commemoration or memorial
of a sacrifice, namely of the grand sacrifice. In this sense, our
present most learned Metropolitan admits of it. His words are :
' In the Christian Church, there is only one proper sacrifice,
which our Lord offered upon the cross ; and consequently
Christians cannot partake of any sacrifice in a literal and strict
sense, without allowing transubstantiation.' (p. 262.) The
n 'Majores certe nostri cum Eucha- p. 52. Andrewes, Resp. ad. Bellarm.
ristiae confectionem appellarunt non- p. 184. Spalatensis, lib. v. pp. 82, 83,
nunquam commemorativum sacrifi- 149, 204, 882, 911. Buckeridge, p.
cium . . . non ita dicebant, quod judi- 4. See my Christian Sacrifice, above,
carent haec vocabula non consistere p. 431. Morton, book v. p. 440, alias
cum sacrificio vero, ut propterea non 35, 38. Field, p. 205. Laud, Conf.
esset proprie dictum sacrificium, quia pp. 305, 306. Towerson on the Sa-
esset commemorativum.' Alanus de craments, p. 169. Payne on the Sa-
Eucharistia, p. 547. crifice of the Mass, pp. 49, 51, 53, 75.
Cranmer against Gardiner, book Patrick, Mens. Myst.pp. 15, 16. Ere-
v. p. 435. R.Jacobi Epist. ad Perron, vint on the Mass, p. 23.
Nominal, and Real. 613
Lord's Supper ia ' a commemorative sacrifice, or the memorial
of our Lord offered upon the cross ; which is first dedicated to
God by prayer and thanksgiving, and afterwards eaten by the
faithful,' &c. (p. 267.) When it is said, that Christians cannot
partake of any sacrifice in a literal sense, and that there is but
one proper sacrifice for Christians to partake of; the meaning, I
presume, of those few, chosen words is this : we may indeed
partake of Christ's sacrifice, a proper sacrifice, but not in a
literal sense ; for the participation is spiritual : we may literally
partake of the elements ; but then they are not a proper sacri-
fice, but symbolical, and commemorative P, being that they are
memorial signs of the sacrifice, not the sacrifice itself. There-
fore, upon the whole, we have no sacrifice to partake of in a
literal sense ; for either the sacrifice we partake of is not literal
and proper, or else the participation, at least, is not literal and
proper : so stands the case. And what is this but very plainly
declaring, that the elements are not a proper sacrifice ? Well,
but is it not as plainly declaring, that spiritual sacrifices are no
proper sacrifices, since we have but one proper sacrifice ? No, it
is not declaring any such thing : for, observe the words, Chris-
tians cannot partake of any sacrifice ; it is not said, cannot offei*,
but the thought entirely runs upon a sacrifice of participation <J.
So there is room left to say, that we offer proper sacrifices,
namely, spiritual sacrifices. But will there not also be room left
for saying, that we offer- the elements as a proper sacrifice ?
No : for if they are not a proper sacrifice when participated,
they could not be such when offered r : if the feeding barely
P ' The elements are made the added : ' Hence it is manifest, that'
symbols of his body and blood, the to eat of the Lord's Supper is to
partaking whereof is all one to the partake of the sacrifice of Christ,
receivers, and does as much assure which is there commemorated and
them of the favour of God, as if they represented.' Ibid. p. 264.
should eat and drink the real body Sacrifice is he re taken inthepassive
and blood of Christ offered upon the view, as participated, according to Dr.
cross.' p. 263. ' To eat of the Lord's Cudworth's notion of a symbolical
Supper, is to partake of the sacrifice feast upon a sacrifice. See my Re-
of Christ, which is there commemo- view, above, p. 291, &c.
rated and represented.' Archbishop r Offered here means offered for
Potter on Church Government, p. consecration . : 'To consecrate the
264. Lord's Supper is so constantly called
i Accordingly, these words are wpoo-(pfpfu> in Greek, and 'offerre' in
$ 1 4 Distinctions of Sacrifice:
upon them amounts not to a feast upon a proper sacrifice, they
never were a proper sacrifice at all. The words are so exactly
chosen, as plainly to exclude the elements from being a proper
sacrifice, and at the same time not to exclude our religious ser-
vices from really being so. This, I presume to say, (without his
Grace's leave or knowledge,) appears to be his sense, and his
whole sense ; no way favouring the material hypothesis, but the
contrary ; however some may have misconstrued his words, for
want of considering them with due attention.
As to the name memorial, it may be noted, that it is capable
of a twofold meaning, according as it may be applied. Apply it
to the elements, and so it means a memorial sign, no sacrifice at
all : apply it to the prayers, praises, and eucharistical actions 8 ,
and then it means a memorial service, and is a sacrifice, a
spiritual sacrifice. But it is time to take leave.
I have now run through the most considerable distinctions of
sacrifice, which have fallen within the compass of my observa-
tion ; and I am willing to hope, that the explications here given
may be of use, as spreading some further light upon the subject.
Had the difference lain in words only*, (ideas remaining the
Latin, that it is needless to cite any Pfaffius had said, and that a great
testimonies for them.' Ibid. part of the debate was chiefly about
N.B. The offering for consecration, names. I have since noted, that the
means no more than presenting them original scheme of a principal writer
to God, in order to have them conse- in that cause appeared to me to be
crated into memorial signs, or sym- little more. Christian Sacrifice Ex-
bols of Christ's sacrifice, that is, into plained, above, p. 442. But I was
a commemorative, not real sacrifice. well aware, that some writers had
1 ' Recordatio ergo, seucommemo- carried matters a great deal further,
ratio, ponitur ... in rebus sensibili- Where a road first divides, two tra-
bus. Omnia enim memorialia, seu vellers may almost shake hands ;
monumenta, sunt sensibilia et pa- but if one goes on here, and another
tentia sensui : ac propterea bene- there, as far as the diverging roads
dictio ilia sensibilis, fraotio, distri- will lead them, they may at length
butio, comestio panis sacramentalis, be found at a very wide difference
nobisest memorialepassionis Christ!,' from each other : so it is here. An
&c. Spalatens. p. 83. equivocal word, perhaps, or phrase,
* Pfaffius, in the view he took of in which both parties agree, first
it, and with respect to one learned strikes out two very different ideas ;
writer, looked upon the dispute as a and those two ideas, having their
kind of logomachy, pp. 53, 344, and different trains or connections, do at
pref. p. 7, which I noted in Review, length carry the two parties off,
above, p. 509, adding, that there wide and far from each other, into
was a good deal of truth in what very opposite systems.
Nominal and Real. 615
same,) it would not have deserved one moment's care or thought :
but as this question had been lately managed, it is too plain,
that the true idea both of the sacrament and sacrifice had been
changed into quite another thing ; and that such a change could
not be supported, without making other very considerable changes
in the whole system of theology, and in points of high conse-
quence both to truth and godliness. Wherefore it appeared as
necessary to endeavour, with all Christian mildness, to set these
matters right, as it was to ' contend earnestly for the faith once
delivered unto the saints.'
'Faxit Deus omnipotens, ut uni Christi sacrificio vere inni-
tamur, ac illi rursus rependamus sacrificia nostra gratiarum
actionis, laudis, confessionis nominis sui, verae resipiscentiae ac
poenitentiae, beneficentiae erga proximos, aliorumque omnium
pietatis officiorum : talibus enim sacrifices, exhibebimus nos nee
in Deum ingratos, nee Christi sacrificio indignos u .'
u Cranmer in Collier's Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. Collection of Records, p. 84.
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