concerning this Matter, is more than obvious; who, as in most other
Things they have done, for want of a true spiritual Understanding,
have sought to tie this _Supper_ of the Lord to that Ceremony used
by Christ before his Death, of _breaking Bread_ and _drinking Wine_
with his Disciples. [Sidenote: _Man is not tied to the Ceremony of
_breaking Bread_ and _drinking Wine_ which Christ did use with his
Disciples, this only was a Shadow._] And though they for the most Part
agree generally in this, yet how do they contend and debate one against
another! How strangely are they pinched, pained, and straitened to make
the spiritual Mystery agree to that Ceremony! And what monstrous and
wild Opinions and Conceptions have they invented, to inclose or affix
the Body of Christ to their _Bread_ and _Wine_? From which Opinion not
only the greatest, and fiercest, and most hurtful Contests, both among
the Professors of Christianity in general, and among _Protestants_ in
particular, have arisen; [Sidenote: _What makes the Christian Religion
hateful to the _Jews_, _Turks_, and _Heathens.] but also such
Absurdities, irrational and blasphemous Consequences have ensued, as
make the Christian Religion odious and hateful to _Jews_, _Turks_, and
_Heathens_. The Professors of Christianity do chiefly divide in this
Matter into three Opinions.
[Sidenote: _The _Papists_ Faith of Christ’s Flesh._] The _First_ is of
those that say, _The Substance of the Bread is transubstantiated into
the very Substance of that same Body, Flesh, and Blood of_ Christ,
_which was born of the Virgin_ Mary, _and crucified by the_ Jews; so
that after the _Words of Consecration_, as they call them, _it is no
more Bread, but the Body of_ Christ.
[Sidenote: _The _Lutherans_ Faith._] The _Second_ is of such who say,
_The Substance of the Bread remains, but that also that Body is in, and
with, and under the Bread_; so that _both the Substance of Bread, and
of the Body, Flesh, and Blood of _Christ_, is there also_.
[Sidenote: _The _Calvinists_ Faith._] The _Third_ is of those, that,
denying both these, do affirm, _That the Body of _Christ_ is not
there corporally or substantially, but yet that it is really and
sacramentally received by the Faithful in the Use of Bread and Wine_;
but how or what Way it is there, _they know not, nor can they tell;
only we must believe it is there, yet so that it is only properly in
Heaven_.
It is not my Design to enter into a Refutation of these several
Opinions; for each of their Authors and Assertors have sufficiently
refuted one another, and are all of them no less strong both from
Scripture and Reason in refuting each their contrary Parties Opinion,
than they are weak in establishing their own. For I often have
seriously observed, in reading their respective Writings, and so it
may be have others, that all of them do notably, in so far as they
refute the contrary Opinions; but that they are mightily pained, when
they come to confirm and plead for their own. Hence I necessarily
must conclude, that none of them had attained to the Truth and
Substance of this _Mystery_. Let us see if _Calvin_,[129] after he
had refuted the two former Opinions, be more successful in what he
affirms and asserts for the Truth of his Opinion, who, after he hath
much laboured in overturning and refuting the two former Opinions,
plainly confesseth, that he knows not what to affirm instead of them.
[Sidenote: J. Calvin_’s faith of Christ’s Flesh and Blood uncertain._]
For after he has spoken much, and at last concluded, _That the Body
of Christ is there, and that the Saints must needs partake thereof_,
at last he lands in these Words, _Sect. 32_. “But if it be asked me
how it is? I shall not be ashamed to confess, that it is a Secret too
high for me to comprehend in my Spirit, or explain in Words.” Here he
deals very ingenuously; and yet who would have thought that such a
Man would have been brought to this Streight in the Confirming of his
Opinion? considering that a little before, in the same Chapter, _Sect.
15._ he accuseth the School-men among the _Papists_, and I confess
truly, [Sidenote: _The like the _Papists.] _In that they neither
understand nor explain to others how Christ is in the Eucharist_,
which shortly after he confesseth himself he cannot do. If then the
School-men among the _Papists_ do neither understand nor yet explain to
others their Doctrine in this Matter, nor _Calvin_ can comprehend it
in his Spirit, which I judge is as much as not to understand it, nor
express it in Words, and then surely he cannot explain it to others,
then no Certainty is to be had from either of them. There have been
great Endeavours used for Reconcilement in this Matter, both betwixt
_Papists_ and _Lutherans_, _Lutherans_ and _Calvinists_, yea, and
_Calvinists_ and _Papists_, but all to no Purpose; and many Forms and
Manners of Expressions drawn up, to which all might yield; which in the
End proved in vain, seeing every one understood them, and interpreted
them in their own Way; and so they did thereby but equivocate and
deceive one another. The Reason of all this Contention is, because
they had not a clear Understanding of the _Mystery_, and were doting
about _Shadows_ and _Externals_. For both the Ground and Matter of
their _Contest_ lies in Things extrinsick from, and unnecessary to,
the main Matter. [Sidenote: _Satan busies People in _outward Signs_,
_Shadows_, and _Forms_, whilst they neglect the _Substance.] And
this hath been often the Policy of _Satan_, to busy People, and amuse
them with outward Signs, Shadows, and Forms, making them contend about
that, while in the mean Time the _Substance_ is neglected; yea, and
in contending for these Shadows he stirs them up to the Practice of
Malice, Heat, Revenge, and other Vices, by which he establisheth his
Kingdom of Darkness among them, and ruins the Life of Christianity. For
there have been more Animosities and Heats about this one Particular,
and more Bloodshed and Contention, than about any other. [Sidenote:
_What hath been hurtful to the_ Reformation.] And surely they are
little acquainted with the State of _Protestant Affairs_, who know
not that their Contentions about this have been more hurtful to the
_Reformation_ than all the Opposition they met with from their common
Adversaries. [Sidenote: _Two _Errors_ the Ground of the Contention
about the _Supper.] Now all those uncertain and absurd Opinions,
and the Contentions therefrom arising, have proceeded from their all
agreeing in two general Errors concerning this Thing; which being
denied and receded from, as they are by us, there would be an easy Way
made for _Reconciliation_, and we should all meet in one spiritual and
true Understanding of this _Mystery_: And as the Contentions, so would
also the Absurdities which follow from all the three fore-mentioned
Opinions, cease and fall to the Ground.
[129] Inst. Lib. 4. Cap. 17.
The _First_ of these _Errors_ is, In making the Communion or
Participation of the Body, Flesh, and Blood of Christ to relate to that
outward Body, Vessel, or Temple, that was born of the Virgin _Mary_,
and walked and suffered in _Judea_; whereas it should relate to the
Spiritual Body, Flesh, and Blood of Christ, even that _heavenly_ and
_celestial Light_ and _Life_, which was the Food and Nourishment of the
Regenerate in all Ages, as we have already proved.
The _Second Error_ is, In tying this Participation of the Body and
Blood of Christ to that Ceremony used by him with his Disciples in the
Breaking of Bread, _&c._ as if it had only a Relation thereto, or were
only enjoyed in the Use of that Ceremony, which it neither hath nor is.
For this is that Bread which Christ in his Prayer teaches to call for,
terming it [Greek: ton arton ton epiousion: τον αρτον τον επιουσιον],
i. e. the _Super-substantial Bread_, as the Greek hath it, and which
the Soul partakes of, without any Relation or necessary Respect to this
Ceremony, as shall be hereafter proved more at Length.
These _two Errors_ being thus laid aside, and the Contentions arising
therefrom buried, all are agreed in the main Positions, _viz._ _First_,
[Sidenote: Believers Souls _do really feed upon the Flesh and Blood of_
Christ.] That the _Body, Flesh, and Blood of Christ is necessary for
the nourishing of the Soul_. _Secondly_, That the _Souls of Believers
do really and truly partake and feed upon the Body, Flesh, and Blood
of Christ_. But while Men are not content with the Spirituality of
this _Mystery_, going in their own Wills, and according to their own
Inventions, to strain and wrest the Scriptures to tie this spiritual
Communion of the Flesh and Blood of Christ to outward Bread and
Wine, and such like carnal Ordinances, no Wonder if by their carnal
Apprehensions they run into Confusion. But because it hath been
generally supposed that the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ
had some special Relation to the Ceremony of _breaking Bread_, I shall
first refute that Opinion, and then proceed to consider the Nature and
Use of that _Ceremony_, and whether it be now _necessary_ to continue;
answering the Reasons and Objections of such as plead its Continuance
as a necessary and standing Ordinance of Jesus Christ.
§. V. [Sidenote: I.] _First_, It must be understood that I speak of a
necessary and peculiar Relation otherwise than in a general Respect:
For inasmuch as our Communion with Christ is and ought to be our
greatest and chiefest Work, we ought to do all other Things with a
Respect to God, and our Fellowship with him; [Sidenote: _That the
Communion of the _Body_ and _Blood_ of _Christ_ has no special Relation
to the Ceremony of _breaking Bread_, neither by Nature nor Precept._]
but a special and necessary Respect or Relation is such as where the
two Things are so tied and united together, either _of their own
Nature_, or _by the Command of God_, that the one cannot be enjoyed, or
at least is not, except very extraordinarily, without the other. Thus
_Salvation_ hath a necessary Respect to _Holiness_, because _without
Holiness no Man shall see God_; and the _Eating of the Flesh and Blood
of_ Christ hath a necessary Respect to our having Life, because if we
_eat not his Flesh, and drink not his Blood_, we cannot have _Life_;
and our _feeling of God’s Presence_ hath a necessary Respect to our
being found meeting in his Name by divine Precept, because he has
promised, _Where two or three are met together in his Name, he will
be in the Midst of them_. In like Manner our receiving _Benefits_ and
_Blessings from God_ has a necessary Respect to our _Prayer_, because
if _we ask_, he hath promised _we shall receive_. Now the Communion or
Participation of the _Flesh and Blood of Christ_ hath no such necessary
Relation to the _breaking of Bread_ and _drinking of Wine_; for if it
had any such necessary Relation, it would either be from the _Nature of
the Thing_, or from some _divine Precept_; but we shall shew it is from
neither: Therefore, _&c._
_First_, It is not from the _Nature of it_; because to partake of the
Flesh and Blood of Christ is a spiritual Exercise, and all confess that
it is by the Soul and Spirit that we become real Partakers of it, as
it is the Soul, and not the Body, that is nourished by it. But to eat
Bread and drink Wine is a natural Act, which in itself adds nothing
to the Soul, neither has any Thing that is spiritual in it; because
the most carnal Man that is can as fully, as perfectly, and as wholly
eat Bread and drink Wine as the most spiritual. _Secondly_, Their
Relation is not _by Nature_, else they would infer one another; but all
acknowledge that many eat of the Bread and drink of the Wine, even that
which they say is _consecrate_ and _transubstantiate into the very Body
of Christ_, who notwithstanding have not Life eternal, have not Christ
dwelling in them, nor do live by him, as all do who truly partake of
the Flesh and Blood of Christ without the Use of this Ceremony, as all
the _Patriarchs_ and _Prophets_ did before this Ordinance, as they
account it, was instituted. [Sidenote: _The Patriarchs and Prophets,
without this Ceremony’s Use, were true Partakers of Christ’s Flesh and
Blood._] Neither was there any Thing under the Law that had any direct
or necessary Relation hereunto; though to partake of the Flesh and
Blood of Christ in all Ages was indispensably necessary to Salvation.
[Sidenote: _The Paschal _Lamb_ its End._] For as for the _Paschal
Lamb_, the whole End of it is signified particularly, _Exod._ xiii. 8,
9. to wit, _That the_ Jews _might thereby be kept in Remembrance of
their Deliverance out of_ Egypt.
_Secondly_, It hath not Relation by _divine Precept_; for if it had,
it would be mentioned in that which our Adversaries account the
Institution of it, or else in the Practice of it by the Saints recorded
in Scripture; but so it is not. For as to the _Institution_, or rather
_Narration_, of Christ’s Practice in this Matter, we have it recorded
by the Evangelists _Matthew_, _Mark_, and _Luke_.[130] In the first two
there is only an Account of the Matter of Fact, to wit, _That _Christ_
brake Bread, and gave it to his Disciples to eat, saying, This is my
Body; and blessing the Cup, he gave it them to drink, saying, This is
my Blood_; but nothing of any Desire to them to do it. In the last,
after the _Bread_ (but before the _Blessing_, or giving them the
_Wine_) he bids them _do it in Remembrance of him_. [Sidenote: _The
_Institution_ of the _Supper_, or Narration of _Christ’s Practice_
therein._] What we are to think of this Practice of Christ shall be
spoken of hereafter. But what necessary Relation hath all this to the
Believers partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ? The End of this
for which they were to do it, if at all, is to _remember_ Christ;
which the Apostle yet more particularly expresses, 1 _Cor._ xi. 26.
_to shew forth the Lord’s Death_; but to _remember the Lord_, or
_declare his Death_, which are the special and particular Ends annexed
to the Use of this Ceremony, is not at all to partake of the Flesh and
Blood of Christ; neither have they any more necessary Relation to it
than any other two different spiritual Duties. For though they that
partake of the _Flesh and Blood of_ Christ cannot but remember him,
yet the Lord and his Death may be remembered, as none can deny, where
his Flesh and Blood is not truly partaken of. So that since the very
particular and express End of this Ceremony may be witnessed, to wit,
the Remembrance of the Lord’s Death, and yet the Flesh and Blood of
Christ not partaken of, it cannot have had any necessary Relation to
it, else the Partaking thereof would have been the End of it, and could
not have been attained without this Participation. But on the contrary,
we may well infer hence, that since the positive End of this Ceremony
is not the Partaking of the Flesh and Blood of Christ, and that whoever
partakes of the Flesh and Blood of Christ cannot but remember him, that
therefore such need not this Ceremony to put them in Remembrance of him.
[130] Matt. 26. 17. Mark 14. 22. Luke 22. 19.
[Sidenote: Object.] But if it be said, _That _Jesus Christ_ calls the
Bread here his _Body_, and the Wine his _Blood_, therefore he seems to
have had a special Relation to his Disciples partaking of his Flesh and
Blood in the Use of this Thing_;
[Sidenote: _Answ._] I _answer_, His calling the Bread his _Body_, and
the Wine his _Blood_, would yet infer no such Thing; though it is not
denied but that Jesus Christ, in all Things he did, yea, and from
the Use of all natural Things, took Occasion to raise the Minds of
his Disciples and Hearers to Spirituals. [Sidenote: _The Woman of_
Samaria, John 4. 14.] Hence from the Woman of _Samaria_ her drawing
_Water_, he took Occasion to tell her of that _living Water_, which
_whoso drinketh of shall never thirst_; which indeed is all one with
his _Blood_ here spoken of; [Sidenote: _The _Well_, the _Loaves_, the
_Bread_ and _Wine_, Christ takes Occasion from, to shew the _inward
Feeling.] yet it will not follow that _that Well_ or _Water_ had
any necessary Relation to the _living Water_, or the _living Water_
to it, _&c._ So Christ takes Occasion, from the _Jews_ following him
for the _Loaves_, to tell them of this _spiritual Bread_ and _Flesh_
of his Body, which was more necessary for them to feed upon; it will
not therefore follow that their following him for the _Loaves_ had any
necessary Relation thereunto. So also Christ here, being at Supper with
his Disciples, takes Occasion, from the _Bread_ and _Wine_ which was
before them, to signify unto them, That as that _Bread_ which he brake
unto them, and that _Wine_ which he blessed and gave unto them, did
contribute to the Preserving and Nourishing of their Bodies, so was he
also to give his _Body_ and shed his _Blood_ for the _Salvation_ of
their _Souls_. And therefore the very End proposed in this Ceremony to
those that observe it is, to be a _Memorial of his Death_.
But if it be said, _That the Apostle, _1 Cor. x. 16._ calls the Bread
which he brake the Communion of the Body of Christ, and the Cup the
Communion of his Blood_;
I do most willingly subscribe unto it; but do deny that this is
understood of the outward Bread, neither can it be evinced, but the
contrary is manifest from the Context: For the Apostle in this Chapter
speaks not one Word of that Ceremony; for having in the Beginning
of it shewn them how the _Jews_ of old were made Partakers of the
_spiritual Food_ and _Water_, which was Christ, and how several of
them, through _Disobedience_ and _Idolatry_, fell from that good
Condition, he exhorts them, by the Example of those _Jews_ whom God
destroyed of old, to flee those Evils; shewing them that they, to wit,
the _Corinthians_, are likewise Partakers of the _Body and Blood_ of
Christ; of which Communion they would rob themselves if they did Evil,
because _they could not drink of the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of
Devils, and partake of the Lord’s Table and the Table of Devils_, Ver.
21. which shews that he understands not here the using of outward Bread
and Wine; because those that do drink the _Cup of Devils_, and eat of
the _Table of Devils_, yea, the wickedest of Men, may partake of the
outward Bread and outward Wine. [Sidenote: _The wickedest may take the
outward Bread and Wine._] For there the Apostle calls the Bread _one_,
Ver. 17. and he saith, _We being many, are one Bread, and one Body; for
we are all Partakers of that one Bread_. Now if the Bread be _one_, it
cannot be the _outward_, or the _inward_ would be excluded; whereas it
cannot be denied but that it is the Partaking of the _inward Bread_,
and not the _outward_, that makes the Saints truly _one Body_ and _one
Bread_. And whereas they say, That the _one Bread_ here comprehendeth
both the _outward_ and _inward_, by Virtue of the _sacramental Union_;
[Sidenote: _The _sacramental Union_ pretended, a _Figment.] that
indeed is to affirm, but not to prove. As for that _Figment_ of a
_sacramental Union_, I find not such a Thing in all the _Scripture_,
especially in the _New Testament_; nor is there any Thing can give a
Rise for such a Thing in this Chapter, where the Apostle, as is above
observed, is not at all treating of that _Ceremony_, but only, from the
Excellency of that Privilege which the _Corinthians_ had, as believing
Christians, _to partake of the Flesh and Blood_ of Christ, dehorts them
from _Idolatry_, and partaking of the Sacrifices offered to _Idols_, so
as thereby to offend or hurt their weak Brethren.
[Sidenote: Object.] But that which they most of all _cry out_ for in
this Matter, and are always _urging_, is from 1 _Cor._ xi. where the
Apostle is particularly treating of this Matter, and therefore, from
some Words here, they have the greatest Appearance of Truth for their
Assertion, as Ver. 27. where he calls the _Cup_ the _Cup of the Lord_;
and saith, _That they who eat of it and drink it unworthily, are
guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord_; and Ver. 29. _Eat and drink
their own Damnation_; intimating hence, that this hath an immediate or
necessary Relation to the Body, Flesh, and Blood of Christ.
[Sidenote: _Answ._] Though this at first View may catch the Unwary
Reader, yet being well considered, it doth no Ways evince the Matter
in Controversy. As for the _Corinthians_ being in the Use of this
Ceremony, why they were so, and how that obliges not Christians now to
the same, shall be spoken of hereafter: It suffices at this Time to
consider that they were in the Use of it. _Secondly_, That in the Use
of it they were guilty of and committed divers Abuses. _Thirdly_, That
the Apostle here is giving them Directions how they may do it aright,
in shewing them the right and proper Use and End of it.