Veneer on Article XXVIII: Of the Lord's Supper

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HE Lord’s Supper is, indeed, a Sign of that mutual Love, and intimate Fellowship that is, or ought to be among Chriilians. For we being many are ciw Breads and one Body for we are all Partakers of that one Bread i Cor x. 17. Relation is one of the ftrongeft Obli- gations to Friendihip -, and by this Text ‘tis declared, that by receiving the Lord’s Supper we are made Members one of another. But it chiefly serves to point out to us the Sacrifice and Death of Chriil, as an Atonement for our Sins, which it really exhibits to all such as worthily par- take of the Sacred Elements of Bread and Wine, as appears from the following Places of Scripture j Mat. xxvi. 26, 27, 28. And as they were eating, Jesus took Bread and hie [fed it and brake it and ganje it to the Difciplesj and [aid, ake eat ; this is my Body. And he took the Cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them fyi’g- Brink ye all of it : For this is my Bkod of the New Stefiament which is Jhed for 771 any for the Remif- fion of Sins, And Luke xxii. 19, 20. And he took Bread, and gave hanks and brake it, and gave unto them, saying., his is my Body ‘which is given for you •, this do in Kememhrance of me. Likewise also the Cup after Supper, fay- ing, his Cup is the New “ejiament in my Bloody which isfljcdfor yotu

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of BleJJiJig wbicb we hlefs^ is it not the Com- munion of the Blood of Christ ? And the Bread which ‘we hreak^ is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ ? i Cor. x. i6.

.”We receive not the Lord’s Supper, faith ” Justin Martyr as Common Bread or Com- ’ mon Drink. But as our Saviour Jesus Christ ’ was by the Word of God made Flesh, and ” laid down both his Flesh and his Blood for out * Salvation ; fo we have learned that this Food ” which hath been fanclified by the Word of ” Prayer and Thanksgiving, and by the Con- *’ vernon of which our Blood and Flesh are ” nourilhed, is the Flefli and Blood of that fame ” Jesus who was made Flesh […] The Bread ’ which is from the Earth, faith Irenceus re- ’ ceiving the Divine Invocation, is now no ’ longer Common Bread, but the Eucharist or * Sacrament, confifting oi two Things the ” one Earthly, the other Heavenly §. ”

By Tfanfubftantiation,- is meant a Change of the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Sub- fiance of Christ’s Flesh and Blood, not in a Figurative but Real Manner. A Notion the mofl abiiird of any in the World, if any Credit be to be given to our Reason and Senses. ‘Tis likewise contradided by the Scripture, which

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• calls the Elements that Bread and that Cup even after Confecration, i Cor. xi. 28. And even by the very Canon of the Mass, in which ‘tis prayed, that the Eucharist or Sacrament may become to us the Body and Blood of Christ, a plain Intimation that it is not fo in itself, in the Sense which I am now opposing.

Moreover, this Dodrine of Tranfubftan- tiation overthrows the Nature of a Sacrament ; for nothing can be a Sacrament, or a Sign of itlelf And finally, it hath given Occasion to much Superstition ; to lifting up of the Sacra- ment, and carrying of it about, and indeed to worshipping of it, which is no less than Idolatry.

It cannot be denied, but that the Fathers do, and that with great Reason, very much magnify the wonderful Mystery and Efficacy of this Sacrament, and frequently speak of a great Supernatural Change made by the Divine Bene- diction ; w^hich we alio readily acknowledge. They fay, indeed, that the Elements of Bread and Wine, do by the Divine Bleffing become to us the Body and Blood of Christ.-‘^But they _ likewise fay, that the Names of the Things fignified are given to the Si’igns , that the Bread and Wine do still remain in their proper Nature and Substance, and that they are turned into the Substance of our Bodies j that the Body of Christ in the Sacrament is not his Natural Body, but the Sign and Figure of it ; not that Body which was crucified, nor that Blood which w^as filed upon the Crois , and that it is impious to understand the eating of the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drinking his Blood literally.

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follows, ” When the Greeks had taken

” fome Servants of the Christian Catedni?7ieni ” (that is, such as had not been admitted to ’ the Sacrament) and afterwards urged them by ” Violence to tell them fome of the Secrets of the ” Christians , these Servants having nothing to ’ fay that might gratify those who offered ” Violence to them, except only, that they had ” heard from their Masters, that the Divine ” Communion was the Blood and Body of ” Christ ; they, thinking that it was really ” Blood and Flesh, declared as much to those that ” queflioned them. The Greeks taking this as if ” it were really done by the Chriflians, dif- covered it to others of the Greeks’ who here- ” upon put Sancius and Bland.ma to the Torture ” to make them confess it. To whom Blan- ” dina boldly anf,vered, How would they en- ” dure to Ao this, who by way of Exercise (or ” Abstinence) do not eat that Flesh which may ”-’ be lawfully eaten f. ” ” The Bread which our Saviour took, faith ‘Tertidlian and di- ftributed to his Disciples, he made his own Body, saying, his is my Body:, that is, ” the Image and Figure of my Bodv. But it * could Dot have been the Figure of his Body, ” if there had not been a true and real Body .”

S. CTPKIAN hath a whole Epiflle to Caecilli’.s against those who gave the Communion in Water only, without Wine mingled with it ; and his main Argument against them is this,

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Ap.t.xxviii. That the Blood of Christ, with which we are yy redeemed and quickened, cannot seem to be in the Cup, when there is no Wine in the Cup by which the Blood of Chrifl is represented X. So that if there be any Tranfubftantiation, it is of Blood into Wine, and not of Wine into Blood ; and since the Blood is represented by the Wine, the Wine cannot be the Blood itself, fmce no- thing can be a Sign or Representation of itself

The Body of Chrifl: therefore is given, taken, and eaten in the Lord’s Supper, after an Heavenly and Spiritual Manner only : Which agrees with St. Anguftines way of explaining ohn vi. 57. In his Treatise de Do5Irina Chriftiana he lays down several Rules for the right Understanding of Scripture. Among Others he lays down this : ” If, lays he, the ’ Speech be a Precept forbidding fome heinous ” Wickednels or Crime, or commanding us to ” do Good, it is not Figurative ; but if it seem ” to command any heinous Wickednefs or ’ Crime, or to forbid that which is profitable ’ and beneficial to others, it is Figurative. ” For Example, Except ye eat the Vlejlo of the ’ Son of Man and drink his Bloody ye have no • Life in you : This seems to command a ’ heinous Wickednefs and Crime , therefore it is ” a Figure commanding us to communicate ” of the Pailion of our Lord • and with De- light and Advantage to lay up in our Me° ’ m.ory, that his Flesh was crucified and wounded for us *. ”

See N<?T57£/ii Cat. p. 1 5-0. Jnve/‘s Def. Apol. Part II. c. 15. div. I. and Reply, Art- 5-, 10, 2j-, 26. Rubrick after the Communion Service. Mason de Min. Angl. Book V. c. 6, Tillotfon’s Difcourfe against Tranfubruntiation.

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The Mean whereby the Body of Christ is Art.xxviii. received and eaten in the Lord’s Supper, is V’YN, Faith. For since our Saviour hath said, John vi. 53. Except: ye eat the Flejh of the Son of Man, and drink his Bloody ye have no Life in you: And since he faith, ver. 47. that he that belienjeth on him hath everlajiing Life 3 ‘tis manifest that Faith is the Mean whereby the Body of Christ is eaten 4. i,

As to the last Sentence of this Article, which relates to referving, carrying about, lift- ing up, and worshipping the Lord’s Supper; ‘tis true, as the Article afferts, that all this is no Part of Christ’s Ordinance, who, when he in- ftituted the Lord’s Supper, said, ake eat drink ’ h tit not keep carry ah out &c.

(I See Jewell Def. Apol. Part II. c. 15-. div, i. and Reply, Art. VII, VIII, IX.

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Notes

• Apol, I. c. 85. § Adver. Haer. lib. 4. c. 34,
• : Epifb. 65. * Lib. 3. c. 16.
• : See Homily on the Sacrament. Part I. Nowelli Cat. p. 77, ij-o. Jewel’s Def. Apol. Part II. c. 15. div. i. Bilfon of Christian Subjedlion. Part IV. p. 5-82, (^c,