The Buckler of the Faith, Part 2 · Article 35 · Subpart 12
How and in what sence the holy Supper may be called a Sacrifice.
Sect. 14 The holy Scriptures call almes, prayers, an humble and contrite heart, martyrdome, the ministerie of the Gospell,Phil. 4.18. Heb. 13.16. Psal. 51.19. 2. Tim. 4.6. Rom. 15.16. and generally all kinds of good workes, sacrifices.
1 But there are two particular reasons why the holy Supper may be called a sacrifice. First, because that Sacrament was instituted to declare the death of our Lord, vntill he comes againe, 1. Cor. 11.26. In that sence the holy Supper may be called a sacrifice, because it representeth the sacrifice of the death of our Lord: as the manner is, that signes and representations ordinarily hauehave the names of that which they signifie.
2 It may be said, that in the holy Supper we offer Iesus Christ vntounto God, in as we pray much as vntounto God that he would receiue the sacrifice of his death for a satisfaction for our sinnes.
3 Thirdly, the holy Supper is a sacrifice of thanksgiuing for the benefites which God hath bestowed vponupon vsus; specially for the benefit of our redemption by Iesus Christ.
4 The ancient Church had a particular reason to call the holy Supper a sacrifice: for then the custome and manner was, that eueryevery communicant brought gifts and presents which they set vponupon the table, whereof one part was employed for the holy Supper, the rest was for the nourishment of the poore: and those presents were called sacrifices and oblations. Saint Cyprian in the ninth Epistle of his first booke commandeth Priests, that receiuing the offerings of the people which contributed, they should not depart from the altar nor from the sacrifice. And in his Sermon of Almes, he saith, Thou rich woman, which thinkest to celebrate the Supper of the Lord, which hast no care to bring an offering, which comest to the Supper of the Lord without a sacrifice, which takest part of the sacrifice which the poore hauehave offered. Reade Theodoretus in the third booke of his Historie, chap. 12. and lib. 4. cap. 19. For these causes the ancient Fathers ordinarily called that Sacrament a sacrifice. Which they did the rather, because that thereby they brough… infidels and Pagans to Christian religion: for their opinion was that a religion without sacrifices was no religion: as by the reproches that Pagans gaue to Christians it appeareth. For Origen in his fourth booke against Celsus, faith, that Christians had neither altars, images, nor temples. And in the Dialogue of Minutius Foelix, the Pagan Caecilius saith, Cur nullas aras habenti Christiani, nulla templa, nulla nota simulacra? How cometh it that the Christians hauehave no altars, temples, nor images that are seene? And in the beginning of the 7. booke of Arnobius, Quid ergo? Sacrificia censetis nulla omnino esse facienda? Resp. Nulla.the Pagans faid, Do you thinke that no sacrifices are to be made? Whereunto the Christians answered and said, No, none at all.
Therefore, there are two sorts of sacrifices, the one propitiatorie for our redemption, the other the Eucharisticall or sacrifice of thanksgiuing. The holy Supper is a propitiatory sacrifice significantly and in commemoration, in the same manner that the cup is the Testament, that the bread is the body of Christ, that circumcision was the couenant of God, and that the rocke from whence water issued foorth was Christ, as the Scripture saith. But to speake properly, the holy Supper is a sacrifice of thanksgiuing, & as it is said in the Canon of the Masse, Sacrificium laudis, a sacrifice of praise. Therefore the ancient Fathers called it Eucharist, that is, a thansgiuing.
You must not thinke it strange that one selfe same action should be called a Sacrament and a sacrifice. Albeit there is as much difference betweene a Sacrament and a sacrifice, as betweene giuing, and taking or receiuing; for you may obserue both these in the Lords holy Supper, which is a Sacrament, because therein God giueth and communicateth his graces vntounto vsus; and a sacrifice, because therein we offer praise and thanksgiuing vntounto him.