Meditations on the Lords Supper, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
Of the Analogy and proportion betweene the holy Actions used by Christ in this Sacrament, and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it.
IT followes now, that we enquire farther into the nature of this holy Sacrament, which will be explained by considering the Analogie, fitnesse, and similitude betweene the signes, and the things signified by them, and conferred or exhibited together with them, which is Christ the Lord. Now, this Analogie or fitnesse as it hath been in some generall manner expres'd in the nature or quality of the elements substantially or physically taken; so more expressely and punctually is it propos'd unto us in those holy aCypri. de Caen. Tertul. cont. marc. lib. 1. c. 23.actions which doe alter in the use, and make it a Sacrament. And first we finde that Christ tooke the Bread and Wine, and blessed it, and gave thanks, and so consecrated it, or set a part unto a holy or solemne use,Matth. 26. 16. Luke 22. 19. 1 Cor. 10. 16 which is the reason why Saint Paul calls it a Cup of blessing; so that unto the Church it ceaseth cAmbros. lib. de iis qui initiantur c. 9. & de Sacramentis l. 1. c. 5. & l. 4. c. 4. lustin Martyr in Apolog. 2.to be that which nature had made it, and beginnes to be that unto which the blessing had consecrated it: In like manner did the eternall Sonne of God assume into the subsistance of his owne infinite person, the whole nature of man, the body and the soule, by the vertue of which wonderfull union notwithstanding the properties of the divine nature, remaine absolutely intransient and uncommunicable unto the humane; yet are there shed from that inexhaustible fountaine many high and glorious endowments, by which the humanity under this manner of subsistence is dEsay 61. 1. Luke 4. 18.annoynted,Heb. 1. 9.consecrated,eIohn 6. 23. sealed, and set apart for that work of incomprehensible love and power, the redemption of the world: and secondly as the Bread is taken by us from Christ in the nature of a gift, he brake it and gave it to his Disciples; so is the humane nature taken by Christ from the Father as a giftfMatt. 11. 27. Matth. 28. 18▪ Philip. 2. 9. Iohn 5. 26., from the good pleasure of God. Thirdly, as the taking of the Bread by Christ did alter only the manner of its being, the operation, and efficacy, the dignity and use, but no way at all the element or nature of the Bread. Even so the taking of the humane body by Christ did conferre indeed upon it many glorious effects, and advance it to an estate farre above its common and ordinary capacity (alwayes yet reserving those defects and weaknesses which were required in the aeconomie, and dispensation of that great work for which he assumed it) but yet he never alterd the essentiall and naturall qualities of the body, but kept it still within the measure and limits of the created perfection which the wisdome of God did at first share out unto it. Lastly, to (come neerer unto the Crosse of Christ) as hee did by prayer and thanksgiving consecrate their elements unto a holy use; so did he immediately before his passion (of which this is the Sacrament) make that consecratorygIohn 17. prayer and thanksgiving which is registred for the perpetuall comfort of his Church.
The second Action is the breaking of the Bread, and powering the Wine into the Cup, which doth neerly expresse his crucified Body; wherehPsal▪ …2. 14. the joynts were loosed, the sinewes torne, the flesh bruized and peirced, the skin rent, the whole frame violated by that straining and razeing and cutting, and stretching, and wrentching, which was used in the crucifying of it, and by theiSangui… … de…u…â ven…là revocamus. Tertul. Cont. Gnost. c. 5. shedding of that pretious blood which stop'd the issue and flux of ours. It were infinite and intricare to spin a meditation into a controversie, about the extent and nature of Christs passion: but certainly, whatsoever either Ignominie, or Agony his body suffered (which two … conceive to comprize all the generalls of Christ crucified) are if not particularly expressed, yet typically and sacramentally shaddowed and exhibited in the Bread broken, and the Wine powred out.
The third Action was the giving, or delivering of the Bread and Wine: which first, evidently expresseth the nature and quality of Christ crucified, with these benefits which flow from him, that they are freely bestowed upon the Church, which of it selfe had no interest or claime unto any thing save death. Secondly, we see the nature of Christs passion, that it was a free, voluntary, and unconstrained passion, for though it be true that Iudas aAugust. Vid. Tom. 8. in Psa. 93. & Tom. 9. tract. 7. in epist. Iohanis.did betray him, and Pilate deliver him to bee crucified: yet none of this was the giving of Christ, but the selling of him. It was not for us, but for mony that Iudas deliver'd him, it was not for us, but for feare that Pilate deliver'd him:bRom. 8. 32. Acts 2. 23. Gal. 4. 4. but God deliver'd the Sonne, and the Sonne deliver'd himselfe with a most mercifull and gracious will to bestow his death upon sinners, and not to get, but to be himselfe a price. The Passion then of Christ was most freely undertaken cGal. 2. 20.(without which free-will of his own, they coulddEphes. 5. 12. Phil. 2. 7. Iohn 19. 11. never have laid hold on him) and his death was a most free and voluntary explication, his life was not wrentched nor wrung from him, nor snatch'd or torne from him by the bare violence of any forraine Impression; but was with a loud voice (arguing nature not brought to utter decay) most freelyeIohn 10. 11. 17. 18. Augustin, Tom, 9. tractat. 31. in Iohan. & tract. 47. & de tri…itate l. 3. cap. 13. Tertul. in Apolog. cap. 21. Cyprian de c…na Dom. non necessitate, sed obedientia …rgetur ad mortem, & lib. de dup. martyr. surrendred andfHeb. 8. 3. Mark. 8. 31. Luk, 24. 7. 26. 46. laid downe by that power which did after reassume it. But how then comes it to passe that there lay a necessicie gMatth. 26. 39upon Christ of suffring, which necessicie may seeme to have enforc'd and constrain'd him to Golgatha, in as much as hee himselfe did not only shrinke, but even testifie his dislike of what he was to suffer by a redoubled prayerhAristot. Eth, lib. 3. cap. 1. unto his Father that that Cup might passe from him? doth not feareiHeb. 5. 7. make Actions involuntary, or at least derogate and detract from the fulnesse of their liberty? and Christ did fearekAct. 2. 33., how then is it that Christs Passion was most voluntary though attended with necessitie, feare, and reluctance? surely it was most voluntary still, and first therefore necessary because voluntary, the maine and primitive reason of the necessitie, being nothing else but that immutable will which had fore-decreed it. Christs death then was necessary by a necessitie of the event, which musts needs come to passe after it had once beenlActs 2. 23. fore-determined by that most wise will of God, which never useth to repent him of his counsells; but not by a necessitie of the cause, which was most free and voluntary. Againe, necessary it was in regard of the Scriptures, whose truth could not miscarry, in regard of the promises made of him, which were to be performed, in regard of propheticall predictions which were to be fulfilled, in regard of typicall prefigurations, which were to bee abrogated, and seconded with that substance which they did fore-shaddow, but no way necessary in opposition to Christs will, which was the first mover into which both this necessitie and all the causes of it are to be finally resolv'd.
And then for the fear and reluctance of Christ, noe marvell if he who was in all things like unto us, had his share in the same passions and affections like wise though without sin. But neither of these did any way derogate from the most free Sacrifice which hee himselfemHeb. 9. 14. offered once for all, in asmuch as there was an absolute submission of the inferiour to the higher will, and the inferiour it selfe, shrunk not at the obedience, but at the pain. To explaine this more cleerly, considernVid. Hooker l. 5. sect. 48. and D…ctor field of the Church lib. 1. c. 18. in Christ a double Will, or rather a double respect of the same Will. First the naturall Will of Christ, whereby hee could but wish well unto himselfe, and grone after the conservation of that being, whose anguish and dissolution did now approach; whereby he could not upon the immediate burdenoHeb. 5. 7. of the sinne of man, and the wrath of God butoHeb. 5. 7. feare,pMatth. 26. 39 and notwithstanding the assistance of AngellsqLuk. 22. 43. drop downe a sweatrLuk. 22. 44., as full of wonder as it was of torment, great drops of blood, and then no marvell if we here, Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me. But then again consider not the naturall, but the mercifull will of Christ by which he intended to appease the wrath of an offended, & by any other unsatisfiable God; the removall of an unsupportable curse, the redemption, of his own, and yet his fellow creaturs, the giving them accesse unto a father, who was before a consuming fire, in a word, the finishing of that great work which the Angles desire to looke into, and then wee finde that hee did freely lay downe his life and most willingly embraced what hee most naturally did abhorre. As if Christ had said (if wee may venture to paraphrase his sacred words) Father thou hast united mee to such a nature whose Created and Essentiall property it is to shrink from any thing that may destroy it, and therefore if it be thy Will let this Cupp passe from mee: But yet I know that thou hast likewise annoynted mee to fullfill the eternall Decree of thy love, and to the performance of such an office the dispensation wherof requires the dissolution of my assumed nature, and therefore not as I, but as thou wilt. So then both the desire of preservation was a naturall desire, and the offring up of his Body was a free-will offring. And indeed the light of nature hath required a kind of willingnesse, even in the Heathens bruit Sacrifices. And therefore the beastsf Macrob. Satur. lib. 3. c. 5. Plin… lib. 8. c. 45. su…t. in … alba. c. 19. Valer. max. l. 1. c. 6. Plutarch. sympos. l. 8. c. 8. was led, and not haled to the Altar; and the struggling of it, or flying and breaking from the Altar, or bellowing and crying was ever counted ominous and unhappy. Now our Saviour Christs willingnesse to offer up himselfe is herein declared, in that hee openedbPet. not his mouth; in that he suffred such a death wherein hee first did bearecIohn 19. 17. the Crosse before it bore him, in that hee dehorteddLuke 23. 28. the women that followed after him to weepe or expresse any passion of willingnesse for his death. Thus did hee in his passion, and still doth in his Sacrament really, perfectly, and most willingly give himselfe unto his Church. In somuch as that the Oyle of that unction which consecrated him unto that bitter worke, is called an OyleeHeb. 1. 9. of gladnesse. So then Christ freely offreth both in himselfe Originally, and in his Sacraments Instrumentally, all grace sufficient for nurishment unto life, to as many as reach forth to receive or entertaine it.