Discourses on Divers Texts of Scripture, Treatise

Discourses on Divers Texts of Scripture · Treatise

THE Christian Sacrifice.

MALACHI 1. 11.

Abortu solis usque ad occasum, magnum erit nomen meum in Gentibus, & in omni loco offeretur Incensum Nomini meo, & Munus purum; quia magnum erit nomen meum in gentibus, dicit Dominus exercituum.

THIS place of Scripture, howsoever now in a manner silenced and forgotten, was once, and that in the eldest and purest times of the Church, a Text of eminent note, and familiarly known to every Christian, being alledged by their Pastours and Teachers, as an express & undoubted Prophesie of the Christian Sacrifice or solemne worship in the Eucharist, taught by our blessed Saviour unto his Disciples to be observed of all, that p. 472should beleeve in his Name: And this so generally Mal. 1. 11.Mal 1:11and grantedly, as could never have been, at least so early, unlesse they had learned thus to apply it by tradition from the Apostles.

For, in the age immediately succeeding them, being the second 100 year after Christ, we find it alledged to this purpose by Iustin Martyr, and Irenaeus, the Pillars of that Age: The former of them flourishing within little more then 30 years after the death of S. Iohn, and the latter a Disciple of Polycarp S. Iohns Scholar. In the Age following, or third Seculum it is alledged by Tertullian, Zeno Veronensis, and Cyprian: In the fourth Seculum by Eusebius, Chrysostome, Hierome, and Augustine, and in the after ages by whom not? Nor is it alledged by them, as some singular opinion or private conceit of their own, but as the received Tradition of the Church; whence in some Liturgies, (as that of the Church of Alexandria, commonly called the Liturgy of S. Mark) it is inserted into the Hymne, or Preface, which begins Dignum & justum est, the conclusion of the Hymne or Laud there being, Gratias agentes offerimus rationalem & incruentam, foreign, seu, oblationem hanc, quam offerunt tibi Domine, omnes Gentes, ab ortu solis ad occasum, quoniam magnum Nomen tuum in omnibus Gentibus, & in omni loco incensum offertur Nomini tuo, & sacrificium purum.

Thus you see the antiquity of Tradition, for the meaning and application of this Prophecy.

But for the Christian Sacrifice it self, whereunto it is applied, what the ancient Church understood thereby, what, and wherein the nature of this Sacrifice consisted, p. 473is a point, though most needfull to be known, yet, beyond belief obscure, intricate, and perplext. He that shall make tryall, will finde I say true. A reverend and learned Prelate of ours acknowledges as much: Apud veteres Patres (saith he) (ut quod res est liberè fateamur) de sacrificio corporis Christi in Eucharistia incruento, frequens est mentio, quae dici vix potest quantopere quorundam, alioqui doctorum hominum, ingenia exercuerit, torserit, vexaverit. The reason of this obscurity hath grown partly from the changing of the notion of the Church thereabout in following times; partly by the violence of the controversies of this last Age; whilest each party finding the knot, and studying not so much the right way of untying it, as how to give the least advantage to the adverse party, have infinitely intangled the same, and made it more indissoluble then before.

I have acquainted my self long with this Argument, and spent many a thought thereabout; using the best means I could conceive to be inform'd. Namely, Not so much to relye upon the opinions of modern writers, as to peruse and compare the passages of the Ancients themselves, and their Forms of Liturgies, out of which I was assur'd the truth might be learned, if I were but able to understand them.

What I have found and learned, I desire to give an account of in this place, as I shall have occasion; the Argument being such as befits no other Auditorie, but the Schools of the Prophets. Nor will the discourse be unprofitable for such, as mean to be acquainted with the writings of the Fathers and Antiquities p. 474of the Church: there being nothing in them so like to stumble the reader as this.

To come then to the matter: where I will chalk out my discourse in this order.

First, I shall premise, as the ground thereof, a Definition of the Christian sacrifice, as the ancient Church meant it.

Secondly, Explain the meaning of my Text, by application thereto.

Thirdly, Prove each part of the Definition, I shall give; by the Testimonies of the Fathers, Councels, and Liturgies of the first and best Ages, interlacing therewith such passages, as may make for the better understanding either of the Testimonies I bring, or of the matter it self, for which they are brought.

SECTION 1.

TO begin with the first; The definition of the Christian sacrifice; under which name first know, That the ancient Church understood not, as many suppose, the meer Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, but the whole sacred Action or solemn Service of the Church assembled, whereof this sacred Mysterie was then a prime and principall part, and as it were the Pearl or Jewel of this Ring; no publike service of the Church being without it. This observed and remembred, I define the Christian sacrifice, ex mente antiquae Ecclesiae, in this manner:

An oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer to God p. 475the Father through Jesus Christ, and his Sacrifice commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine, wherewith God had first been agniz'd. So that this sacrifice as you see hath a double object, or matter; First, Praise and Prayer, which you may call Sacrificium quod. Secondly, The commemoration of Christs sacrifice on the Crosse, which is Sacrificium quo, the sacrifice whereby the other is accepted. For all the Prayers, Thansgivings, and Devotions of a Christian, are tendred up unto God in the name of Jesus Christ crucified. According whereunto, we are wont to conclude our Prayers with Through Iesus Christ our Lord. And this is the specification, whereby the worship of a Christian is distinguisht from that of the Jew. Now that which we in all our Prayers and Thanksgivings do vocally, when we say Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum, the ancient Church, in her publick and solemn Service, did visibly, by representing him according as he commanded, in the symbols of his Body and Blood: For there he is commemorated and received by us for the same end, for which he was given and suffered for us; that through him we receiving forgivenesse of our sins, God our Father might accept our service and hear our prayers we make unto him.

What time then so fit and seasonable to commend our devotions unto God, as when the Lamb of God lies slain upon the Holy Table, and we receive visibly, though mystically, those gracious Pledges of his blessed Body and Blood? This was that sacrifice of the ancient Church, the Fathers so much ring in our ears. The sacrifice of praise and p. 476prayer through Jesus Christ, mystically represented in the Creatures of Bread and Wine.

But yet, there is one thing more my definition intimates, when I say through the sacrifice of Iesus Christ commemorated in the Creatures of Bread and Wine, wherewith God had first been agniz'd. The Body and Blood of Christ were not made of common Bread and common Wine, but of Bread and Wine first sanctified, by being offer'd and set before God as a present to agnize him the Lord and giver of all: according to that, Domini est terra & plenitudo ejus. And, Let no man appear before the Lord emptie. Therefore as this sacrifice consisted of two parts, as I told you, of Praise and Prayer, which in respect of the other I call sacrificium quod: and of the commemoration of Christ crucified, which I call sacrificium quo: so the symbols of Bread and Wine traversed both; being first presented as symbols of Praise and Thanksgiving to agnize God the Lord of the creature, in the sacrificum quod: Then by invocation of the Holy Ghost, made the symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ, in the sacrificium quo. So that the whole service throughout consisted of a reasonable part, and of a materiall part; as of a Soul and a Body of which I shall speak more fully hereafter; when I come to prove this I have said, by the testimonies of the Ancients.

p. 477SECTION 2.

ANd this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold, the Gentiles should one day offer unto God; In omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo & Mincha purum, quoniam magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus, dicit Dominus exercituum. Which words I am now, according to the order I propounded, to explicate and apply to my Definition.

Know therefore, that the Prophet, in the foregoing Words, upbraids the Jews with despising and disesteeming their God; forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice, not the best, but the lame, the torn and the sick; as though he had not been the great King, Creator, and Lord of the whole World; but some petty god, and of an inferior rank, for whom any thing were good enough. If I be a Father, where is mine honour? If I be Dominus, where is my fear? saith the Lord of Hosts unto you, O Priests that despise my name! and ye say wherein have we despised it? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar, and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The Table of the Lord is contemptible; or, not so much to be regarded: that is, you think so; as appears by the basenesse of your offering: For the Present shewes what esteem the giver hath of him he honoureth therewith. But you offer that to me, which ye would not think fit to offer to your Prorex, or Governour, under the King of Persia: which shewes you▪ have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts, and that you beleeve not, I am He that I am; because you see duplicate page p. 476duplicate page p. 477p. 478me acknowledged of no other Nation, but yours; and that ye have been subdued by the Gentiles, and brought into this miserable and despicable condition, wherein you now are; you imagine me to be some Topicall god, and as of small jurisdiction, so of little power. But know, that howsoever I now seem to be but the Lord of a poor Nation; yet the days are coming, When from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place, incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the Heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts; it follows, though you have prophaned it, in that ye say, the Table of the Lord is contemptible; whereas I am a great King, and my Name shall be dreadfull among the Heathen.

This is the dependence and coherence of the words. Now to apply them: Incense (as the Scripture it self tels) notes the Prayers of the Saints. It was also that, wherewith the remembrance was made in the sacrifices, or God put in minde: Mincha which we turn Munus, is oblatio farrea, an offering made of meal or flower baked, or fryed, or dryed, or parched corn. We, in our English, when we make distinction call it a meat-offering; but might call it a bread-offering, of which the Libamen, or the drink-offering, being an indivisible concomitant, both are implyed under the name Mincha, where it alone is named.

The Application then is easie; Incense here notes the rationall part of our Christian sacrifice, which is Prayer, Thanksgiving, and Commemoration: Mincha the materiall part thereof, which is oblatio farrea, or a present of Bread and Wine.

p. 479BUT this Mincha is characterised, in the Text, with an attribute not to be overpast; Mincha purum: in omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo & Mincha purum; The meat-offering, which the Gentiles should one day present the God of Israel with, should be munus purum, or as the Septuagint foreign; Let us learn if we can, what this Purity is, and wherein it consisteth, or in what respect the Gentiles oblation is so styled. Some of the Fathers take this Pure offering, to be an offering, that is purely or spiritually offered: The old sacrifices both of the Jew and Gentile, were offered modo corporali, by slaughter, fire, and incense: but this of Christians should be offered onelyonly foreign, as Iustin Martyr expresses it; whence it is usually called foreign, a reasonable and unbloody sacrifice; namely, of the **foreign &c. Const. in Orat. ad Sanctor. coet. c. 12.manner of offering it; Not that there was no materiall thing used therein, as some mistake, (for we know there was Bread and Wine) but because it is offered unto God immaterially or foreign onelyonly; which the Fathers in the first Councell of Nice call foreign, to be sacrificed without sacrificing rites: This sense of Pure sacrifice is followed by Tertullian, as may appear by his words ad Scapulam; where speaking of the Christian Liturgie, Sacrificamus (saith he) pro Imperatore, sed quomodo praecepit Deus, pura prece; Non enim eget Deus, Conditor Vniversitatis, odoris aut sanguinis alicujus. Also in his third Book against Marcion, cap. 22. In omni loco offertur incensum Nomini meo—& sacrificium mundum; that is, (saith he) gloriae relatio, benedictio, & hymni, which he presently cals munditias sacrificiorum: The p. 480same way go some others: But this sense, though it fitly serves to difference our Christian sacrifice, from the old sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles, and the thing it self be most true; yet, I cannot see how it can agree with the context of our Prophet, where the word Incense (though I confesse mystically understood) is expressed together with Munus purum: For it would make the literall sense of our Prophet to be this; In every place Incense is offered to my Name, and an offering without Incense. And yet this would be the literall meaning, if Pure here signified without Incense.

Let us hear therefore a second Interpretation, of this Puritie of the Christian Mincha, more agreeable to the dependence of the words; and that is a conscientia offerentis, from the disposition and affection of the offerer, according to that of the Apostle, Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving, is nothing pure, but even their minde and conscience is defiled: They professe they know God, but in their works they deny him. The Jews offering was prophane and polluted, because it proceeded not out of a due beleef, and a conscience throughly perswaded of the greatnesse of their God; that he was the Creator and Lord of the whole earth, but rather some petty and particular god, like the gods of other Nations: But the Gentiles, who should see him not onelyonly the God of one Nation, but universally acknowledged over all the earth, should have no such reason to doubt, but firmly beleeve him to be the Great God, Creator of heaven and earth, and worship him as such, and so p. 481their offering be a pure offering, not polluted with unbelief. And it is to be observed, that all the ancient Christian Liturgies begin with this acknowledgement: For the summe of the Eucharisticall Doxologie, when the Bread and Wine is first presented before God, is comprehended in that of the Apocalypse, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glorie, honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

And to this way of interpreting the purity of the Christian sacrifice; to wit, from the conscience, and affection of the offerers, the Fathers mostly bend: Irenaeus, lib. 4. cap. 34. Sacrificia non sanctificant hominem (non enim indiget Deus sacrificio) sed conscientia ejus, qui offert, sanctificat sacrificium, pura existens. Quoniam igitur cum simplicitate Ecclesia offert, justè munus ejus purum sacrificium apud Deum deputatum est. And a little after, Oportet enim nos oblationem Deo facere, & in omnibus gratos inveniri fabricatori Deo, insententia pura & fide sine hypocrisi, &c. Neither is Tertullian, whom I alledged before for the other interpretation, averse from this; for in his fourth Book Con. Marc. c. 1. Sacrificium mundum, that is, saith he, simplex oratio de conscientia pura. But this conscientious purity they seem to restrain, at least chiefly, to freedom from malice; as that singular puritie whereby this Christian sacrifice is differenced from that of the Jew; because none can offer it, but he that is in charity with his brother; according to that in the Gospel, When thou bringest thy gift unto the Altar, and remembrest thy brother hath ought against thee—go first and be, &c. And therefore p. 482in the beginning of this Christian service, the Deacon was anciently wont to cry, foreign, Let no man have ought against his brother; and then followed osculum sanctum, the kisse of reconciliation. Thus the Fathers of the first Councell of Nice, took Sacrificium purum, as appears Can. 5. where they expound foreign, that which is offered omni simultate deposita.

But according to this exposition, the puritie of the Christian sacrifice will not be opposite to the pollution of the Iewish, in the same kinde, as it would, if more generally taken, but in another kinde, and so the sense stands thus: You will not offer me a pure offering, but the Gentiles one day shall, and that with a puritie of another manner of stamp, then that my Law requires of you. And thus I have told you the two wayes, according to which the ancients understood this puritie; and I prefer the latter, as I think they did.

But there is a third Interpretation, were it backt by their Authority, (which I confesse it is not) which I would prefer before them both: and I think, you will wonder with me, they should be so silent therein: Namely, that the title of Puritie is given to the Christian Mincha, in respect of Christ whom it signifies, and represents; who is a sacrifice without all spot, blemish, and imperfection. This the Antithesis of this sacrifice, to that of the Jews, might seem to imply: For the Jews are charged with offering polluted Bread▪ upon Gods Altar; whereby what is meant the words following tell us: If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evill? And if you offer p. 483the lame and sick, is it not evill? And in the end of the Chapter, Cursed be the deceiver, who hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing. Now, if the sacrifice of the Gentiles be called pure, in opposition to this; is it not so called, in respect of that most perfect, unblemisht, and unvaluable sacrifice it represents, Iesus Christ the Lamb of God? I leave it to your consideration.

SECTION 3.

HAving absolved the two first things I propounded; given you a definition of the Christian sacrifice; and explained the words of my Text: I come to the third, and longest part of my task, to prove each particular contained in my Definition, by the testimonies and authorities of the Fathers, and writers of the first Ages of the Church. The Particulars I am to prove are in number six.

First, That this Christian service is an Oblation, and expressed under that Notion by the utmost Antiquity.

Secondly, That it is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer.

Thirdly, An Oblation through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine.

Fourthly, That this Commemoration of Christ, according to the style of the ancient Church, is also a Sacrifice.

Fiftly, That the Body and Blood of Christ, in this p. 484mysticall Service, was made of Bread and Wine; which had first been offered unto God, to agnize him the Lord of the Creature.

Sixtly, That this Sacrifice was placed in Commemoration onelyonly of Christs sacrifice upon the Crosse, and not in a reall offering of his Body and Blood anew.

When I shall have proved all these by sufficient Authority, I hope you will give me leave to conclude my Definition for true; That the Christian sacrifice, ex mente antique Ecclesiae, was, An Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer to God the Father, through Iesus Christ and his sacrifice, Commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine, wherewith God had first been agnized.

SECT. I.

LEt us begin then with the first: That this Christian service is an Oblation, and under that 2.Notion expressed by all Antiquitie. The names whereby the Ancient Church called this Service are, foreign, (i. Oblatio, Sacrificium) foreign, (a word if rightly understood of aequipollent sense) foreign; Sacrificium Mediatoris, sacrificium Altaris, Sacrificium precis, sacrificium Corporis & sanguints Christi. It would be infinite to note all the Places and Authors, where and by whom it is thus called. The four last are S. Augustins; foreign and foreign are to be found p. 485with Iustin Martyr, and Irenaeus; whose antiquitie is the Age next the Apostles. But, you will say, the Fathers even so early had swarved from the style of the Apostolick Age, during which these kinde of terms were not used; as appears, by that we finde them not any where in their Epistles and writings: But what if the contrary may be evinced? that this language was used even while the Apostles yet lived: For grant they are neither found in the Acts of the Apostles, nor in S. Paul and S. Peters writings; yet this proves not they were not used in the Apostles times, no more then that foreign, was not; whose case in this point is the same with the other. But to confine the Apostles Age, within the limits of Saint Pauls and S. Peters lines, is a generall mistake: For the Apostles Aage ended not till S. Iohns death Anno Christi 99. and so lasted as long within a year or thereabouts, after S. Paul and S. Peters suffering, as it was from our Saviours Ascension to their Deaths; that is, one and thirty years. And this too for the most part, was after the Excidium of Ierusalem; in which time, it is likely the Church received no little improvement in Ecclesiasticall Rites, and Expressions; both because it was the time of her greatest increase, and because, whilest the Iews Polity stood, her Polity, for its full establishment, stood in some sort suspended. This appears by S. Iohns writings, which are the onelyonly Scripture written after that time, and in which we finde two Ecclesiastick terms of foreign, for the Deitie of Christ; and foreign, for the first day of the week; neither of both seeming to have been in use in S. Paul and S. Peters time; and p. 486why may we not beleeve the like happened in others, and by name in these now questioned?

Which, that I may not seem onelyonly to guesse, I think, I can prove by two witnesses, which then lived; the one Clemens, he whose name, S. Paul says, was written in the Book of life; and the other Ignatius. Clemens in his undoubted Epistle ad Corinthios (a long time missing, but now of late come again to light;) In this Epistle the word foreign is three times used of the Christian service, pag. 52. Debemus omnia (saith he) rite & ordine facere, quae Dominus nos per agere jussit, foreign, praestitutis temporibus Oblationes & foreign obire: And a little after; Qui igitur praefinitis temporibus oblationes suas faciunt, accepti & beati sunt, Domini enim mandata sequentes, non aberrant. The other, Ignatius in his Epistle Ad Smyrnenses, hath both foreign and foreign; Non licet (saith he) absque Episcopo foreign; where foreign he cals, in a stricter sense, the first part of this sacred and mysticall Service; to wit, the Thanksgiving, wherein the Bread and the Wine, as I told you, were offered unto God, to agnize his Dominion. foreign, he cals the mysticall Commemoration of Christs Body and Blood; and foreign the receiving, and participation of the same. For foreign and foreign are sometimes used for the whole Action, and sometimes thus distinguished: Of this Epistle the learned doubt not; but if any one do, I suppose they will grant, that Theodoret had his genuine Epistles. Let them hear then a passage which he, in his third Dialogue, cites out of p. 487the Epistles of Ignatius, against some Hereticks; Eucharistias & oblationes non admittunt, quod non confiteantur Eucharistiam esse carnem Servatoris nostri Iesu Christi, quae passa est pro peccatis nostris. Here you see oblationes & Eucharistias exegetically join together. And so, I think, I have proved these terms of foreign and foreign, to have been in use in the Church, in the latter part of the Apostles Age.

But what if one of them, namely foreign, were used sooner even in S. Pauls and S. Peters time? In the first Epistle of Peter 2. 5. You are (saith he, speaking to the Body of the Church) a holy Priesthood, to offer foreign to God by Iesus Christ. In the Epistle to the Heb. 13. 15. By him (that is, through Christ our Altar) let us offer foreign, the Sacrifice of praise to God continually. Why should I not think, S. Paul and S. Peter speak here, of the solemn and publick Service of Christians, wherein the Passion of Christ was commemorated? I am sure the Fathers frequently call this sacrifice foreign. And in some ancient Liturgies, immediately before the Consecration, the Church gives thanks unto God for choosing them, to be an holy Priesthood to offer sacrifices unto him, as it were alluding to S. Peter. Thus you see, first or last, or both, the words foreign and foreign, were no strangers to the Apostles Age.

I will now make but one Quaere, and answer it, and so conclude this point: Whether these words were used (seeing they were used) properly, or improperly (foreign) of the subject we speak of. I answer briefly. This Christian service, as we have defined p. 488it, is an Oblation properly; for wheresoever any thing is tendred or pretended unto God, there is truly and properly an Oblation; be it spirituall or visible, it matters not. For oblatio is the Genus; And Irenaeus tels me here, Non Genus oblationum reprobatum est; oblationes enim & illic, oblationes autem & hîc; sacrificia in populo, sacrificia & in Ecclesia, sed species immutata est tantùm. But as for foreign, or Sacrifice, according to its prime signification, it signifies a slaughter-offering as in the Hebrew, so in Greek, of foreign, macto. As the Angel in the Acts sayes to S. Peter, foreign, Peter, kill and eat. Now we in our Christian sacrifice, slay no offering, but commemorate him onelyonly that was slain, and offered upon the Crosse. Therefore our Service is called foreign, improperly, and metaphorically. But if foreign be synecdochically taken, for an offering in generall, as it is, both in the New Testament and elsewhere, then the Christian sacrifice is as truely called foreign as foreign, or foreign.

SECT. II.

NOw I come to the second particular contained in my Definition; to prove that the Christian sacrifice according to the meaning of the ancient Church is an Oblation of Thanksgiving and Prayer.

My first Author shall be Iustin Martyr in his Dialogue p. 489with Tryphon the Jew; where, to the evasion of the Jews, labouring to bereave the Christians of this Text (by saying it was meant of the Prayers which the dispersed Jews at that time offered unto God in all places, where they lived among the Gentiles; which Sacrifices, though they wanted the materiall Rite, yet were more acceptable unto God, in regard of their sincerity, then those prophaned ones at Jerusalem; and not that here was meant any Sacrifice which the Gentiles should offer to the God of Israel; to this evasion) Iustin replies, Supplicationes, & gratiarum actiones, quae à dignis peraguntur, solas perfectas esse, & Deo charas foreign, ipse quo que affirmaverim; Has verò solas facere Christiani traditione acceperunt. If you ask, where, and how? he tels you, Nempe in commemoratione Alimoniae suae aridae juxtà & liquide, in qua & passionis, quam per seipsum pertulit Dei filius, memoria celebratur: It is a description of the Eucharist, wherein, as I have already told you, the Bread and Wine were first presented unto God, as the Primitiae to agnize him, the Giver of our food, both dry and liquid; and then consecrated to be the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ.

My next Author shall be Tertullian ad Scap. in the place before alledged, Sacrificamus (saith he) pro salute Imperatoris;—sed, quomodo praecepit Deus, purâ prece: Non enim eget Deus, Conditor Vniversitatis, odoris & sanguinis alicujus: Haec enim Daemoniorum pabula sunt. The Gentiles so thought, that their Gods were refreshed and nourisht with the smell and savour of their Sacrifices: Besides, in his third Book contra Marcionem cap. 22. In omni loco sacrificium nomini meo p. 490offertur, & sacrificium mundum, (to wit, saith he) Glori… relatio, benedictio & hymni; And Lib. 4. ca 1. Sacrificium mundum, scilicet simplex oratio de conscientia pura.

Thirdly, Clemens Alexandrinus Lib. 7. Stromat. foreign. We (Christians) honour God by Prayer; foreign. And this we send up unto him, as the best and holiest sacrifice, honouring him by that most sacred Word, whereby we receive knowledge; that is, by Christ. Again, foreign. The sacrifice of the Church is an oration exhaled from sanctified souls: He speaks not of the private Prayer of every Christian, but the publick Prayer of the Church, as a Body, as will be evident to him that reads the place, and appears by the words quoted; foreign, The Sacrifice of the Church; and foreign, exhaled, not from a sanctified soul, but, from sanctified souls. For to private prayer was not given this title of the Christian Sacrifice, but unto the publick, which the Church offered unto God, when She presented her self before him, as one Body in Christ, by the mysticall communion of his Body and Blood.

This my next Author, Cyprian, will make plain in his 16 Epist. ad Mosen & Maximum. Nos quidem (saith he) vestri diobus & noctibus memores, & quando in sacrificiis precem cum pluribus facimus, & cum in secessu privatis precibus oramus; where we see the sacrifice of prayer to be, cum precem cum pluribus facimus; and distinguisht from that we do, cum in se…essu privatis precibus oramus.

p. 491These Authorities are all within the first three hundred years: to which I will adde one of the fourth; Optatus Milevitanus Lib. 6. contra Parmenianum, where he thus expostulates with the Donatists for breaking and defacing the Altars of the Catholicks: Quid est enim tam sacrilegum (saith he) quam Altaria Dei (in quibus & vos aliquando obtulistis) frangere, radere, removere? in quibus Vota▪ opuli, & membra Christi portata sunt; quo Deus omnipot…ns invocatus sit. Gather hence what parts the Christian Sacrifice consisted of; Vota populi, are the Prayers of the Church, Membra Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, which the Prayers were offered with; both of them upon the Altar; For it is worthy your notice, that the ancient Church had no other place whereat she offered her publick Prayers and Orizons, but that, whereon the memory of the Body and Blood of Christ was celebrated; that as they were joyned in their Use, so might they not be severed in their Place.

According to which use, and agreeable to this passage of Optatus, speaks the Councell of Rhemes, commanding the Table of Christ to be reverenced and honoured, Quia Corpus Domini …bi consecratur, & sanguis ejus hauritur; Preces quoque & Vota populi in conspectu Dei à Sacerdote offeruntur.

Furthermore, that the Christian Sacrifice was an Oblation of Prayer, and consisted in Invocation, is also another way to be evinc'd; Namely, because the Fathers, when they speak thereof, use the terms of Prayer, Oblation, and Sacrifice promiscuously, and interchangeably one for the other, as words importing the same thing.

p. 492Tertullian Exhort. ad Cast. disswading a Widower from marrying again, because it would be uncomely in the Sacrifice of the Church, to make mention (as the manner then was) of more Wives then one, speaks thus; Etiam repete apud Deum pro cujus spiritu postules; pro qua oblationes annuas reddas; stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot uxoribus, quot illas oratione commemoras; & offerres pro duabus, & commemorabis illas duas per Sacerdotem de monogamia, ob pristinum de virginitate sancitum, circundatum virginibus & univiris; & ascendet sacrificium tuum cum libera fronte? Here postulatio and oblatio; oratio and offerre; oratio and sacrificium are interchangeably put one for the other. So also in his Book De Oratione, are Oratio and Sacrificium; where he speaks of the kisse of Peace, and Reconcilement, used at the Eucharist; Quae oratio (saith he) cum divortio sancti osculi integra? quale sacrificium, à quo sine pace receditur?

Augustine De Civit. Dei Lib. 8. cap. 27. speaking of the honour of Martyrs; Nec Martyribus (saith he) sacrificia constituimus—quis audivit aliquando fidelem stantem ad Altare (etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris) ad Dei honorem cultúm que constructum, dicere in Precibus; Offero tibi sacrificium, Petre, vel Paule, &c. Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces, and Preces put for Sacrificium.

And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius, a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop, who, by the affliction of his cattell, and servants, perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits, Rogavit nostros (saith S. Austin) me absente, Presbyteros, ut aliquis corum illò p. 493pergeret, cujus orationibus cederent; Perrexit unus, obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi, orans, quantum potuit, ut cessaret illa vexatio; Deo protinùs miserante cessavit. The Priest was intreated to pray there, he went, and offered sacrifice and so prayed.

For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers, by way of distinction, called foreign, Sacrificium laudis; that is, of Confession and Invocation of God; to difference it from those of Blood and Incense. Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarios Legis & Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis, ex quo Deus Deorum l…cutus vocavit terram à solis ortu us que ad occasum; Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis, ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa, diebus omnibus immolatur; and elsewhere. And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so frequent as I shall not need to quote any of them.

Now this joining of the Prayers of the Church, with the mysticall commemoration of Christ in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, was no after-Invention of the Fathers, but took its originall from the Apostles times, and the very beginning of Christianity: For so we reade of the first beleevers Acts 11. 24. that they were foreign which the Vulgar Latine turns, Erant autem perseverantes in doctrina Apostolorum, & communicatione fractionis panis, & orationibus; But the Syriack, Perseverantes erant in doctrina Apostolorum, & communicabant in Precatione, & fractione Eucharistiae; hoc est, Assidui erant in audiendis Apostolis, & sacrificio Christiano celebrando. Both which Translations teach us, p. 494that foreign, and foreign, Breaking of Bread, and Prayers, are to be referred to foreign, as the Exegesis thereof; namely, that this Communion of the Church, consisted in the breaking of Bread and Prayers; and so the conjunction, foreign, to be exegetically taken, as if the Greek were rendred thus, Erant perseverantes in (audienda) doctrina Apostolorum, & in communicatione; videlicet fractione panis, & orationibus: And who knows not that the Synaxis of the ancient Christians, consisted of these three parts, Of hearing the Word of God; of Prayers; and commemoration of Christ in the Eucharist? Our Translation therefore here is not so right, which refers foreign to foreign, and translates it, The fellowship of the Apostles.

The Antiquity also of this conjunction we speak of, appears out of Ignatius, in his Epistles to the Ephesians, where speaking of the damage which Schismaticks incurre, by dividing themselves from the communion of the Church, he utters it in this manner: Let no man (saith he) deceive himself; unlesse a man be within the Altar, he is deprived of the Bread of God: And if the prayer of one or two be of that force, as to set Christ in the midst of them, how much more shall the joynt prayer of the Bishop and whole Church, sent up unto God, prevail with him, to grant us all our requests in Christ? These words of Ignatius directly imply, that the Altar was the place, as of the Bread of God, so of the publick Prayers of the Church; and that they were so nearly linked together, that he that was not within the Altar, (that is, who should be divided therefrom) had no benefit of either.

p. 495SECT. III.

THE second Particular thus proved, the third comes next in place, which is, That this oblation of thanksgiving and Prayer was made through Iesus Christ commemorated in the creatures of Bread and Wine: Namely, they beleeve, that our blessed Saviour ordained this Sacrament of his Body and Blood, as a Rite to blesse and invocate his Father by, in stead of the manifold and bloody Sacrifices of the Law; For that those bloody Sacrifices of the Law were Rites to invocate God by, is a truth, though not so vulgarly known, yet undeniable; and may, on the Gentiles behalf, be proved out of Homer and other Authors; **Sec 1. Sam. 7. 9. Ezra 6. 10. Psal. 116. 13. Prov. 15. 8. Baruch. I. 10. 11. 1 Mac. 12. 11. 2 Chron. 7. 1….1 Sam 7:9Ezra 6:10Ps 116:13Prov 15:8Bar 1:10Bar 1:111 Macc 12:112 Chr 7:1on the Jews, by that speech of Saul, 1 Sam. 13. 12. when Samuel expostulated with him, for having offered a burnt-offering; I said, saith he, The Philistims will come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord; I forced my self therefore, and offered a burnt-offering: upon which place Kimchi notes, that foreign, (hoc est) Per manus holocaustorum precatio eorum, ut plurimùm, vel preces suas, ut plurimùm per holocausta Deo offerebant. The same is likewise true of their Hymns & Doxologies, as is to be seen 2 Chro. 29. 27. and by the words of the Chaldee Paraphrast Ionathan, upon Exod. 38. 8. concerning the women that assembled at the doore of the Tabernacle. Stabant (saith he) mulieres quae veniebant ad orandum, in Porta Tabernaculi p. 496juxta oblationem elevationis suae, & laudabant, & confitebantur, deinde revertebantur ad viros suos, & pariebant filios justos.

It is further confirmed for Invocation in generall, by that which the Scripture so often reports of Abraham and Isaak, That they built Altars where they called upon the Name of the Lord: The Altar was a place for Sacrifice.

In stead therefore of the slaying of Beasts, and burning of Incense, whereby they called upon the Name of God in the Old Testament; the Fathers, I say, beleeved our Saviour ordained this Sacrament of Bread and Wine, as a Rite whereby to give thanks, and make supplication to his Father in his Name.

The mystery of which Rite they took to be this; That as Christ by presenting his Death and satisfaction to his Father, continually intercedes for us in Heaven; so the Church on Earth semblably, approaches the Throne of Grace, by representing Christ unto his Father, in these holy Mysteries of his Death and Passion. Veteres enim (saith Cassander) in hoc mystico sacrificio, non tam peractae semel in cruce oblationis, cujus hic memoria celebratur, quam perpetui Sacerdotii & jugis sacrificii, quod in Coelis sempiternus Sacerdos offert, rationem habuerunt; cujus hic Imago per solennes Ministrorum preces exprimitur.

This a Reverend and famous Divine of blessed memory, once of this Society, and interr'd in this place, saw more clearly, or exprest more plainly, then any other Reformed Writer I have yet seen; in his Demonstratio Problematis, and title de Sacrificio Missae: where he speaks thus: Veteres Coenam Domini, sen totam p. 497coenae actionem & formulam, vocarunt Sacrificium; tum aliis de causis, tum quia est commemoratio, adeóque repraesentatio Deo Patri, sacrificii Christi in cruce immolati: He goes on, Hoc modo fideles, etiam inter orandum, Christum offerunt Deo Patri victimam, dum scilicet mente affectúque ad sacrificium ejus unicum feruntur, ut Deum sibi habeant faciántque propitium: that which every Christian doth mentally and vocally, when he commends his prayers to God the Father, through Jesus Christ; making mention of his death and satisfaction: that in the publick service of the Church, was done by that Rite, which our Saviour commanded to be used in Commemoration of him.

These things thus explained, Let us now see, by what testimonies and authorities, it may be proved, the ancient Church had this meaning. I will begin with Saint Ambrose, because his testimony is punctuall to our explication. Offic. lib. 1.^mo cap. 48.^o Ante (saith he) Agnus offerebatur; offerebatur & vitulus; nunc Christus offertur, sed offertur quasi homo, quasi recipiens passionem, & offert se ipse quasi sacerdos, ut peccata nostra dimittat; hic in imagine, ibi in Veritate, ubi apud Patrem pro nobis quasi advocatus intervenit. And in his Missa or Liturgie after the confractorium, the Priest prayes in this manner; Ipsius praeceptum est Domine quod agimus, in cujus nunc te praesentia postulamus; Da sacrificio Authorem suum, ut impleatur fides rei in sublimitate mysterii; ut sicuti veritatem coelestis sacrificii exequimur, sic veritatem Dominici corporis & sanguinis hauriamus.

An Author, which Cassander in his Consultations p. 498quotes without name, expresses this mystery fully; Non imptè à nobis (saith he) Christus occiditur; sed piè sacrificatur; & hoc modo mortem Domini annunciamus donecveniat: hoc …nim hîc per eum humiliter agimus in terris, quod pro nobis ipse potenter (sicut filius pro sua reverentia exaudiendus) agit in Coelis; ubi apud Patrem pro nobis quasi advocatus intervenit; cui est pro nobis intervenire, carnem quam pro nobis & de nobis sumpsit, Deo Patri quodammodo pro nobis ingerere.

My next Author shall be Eusebius; Demonstrat. Euangel. lib. 1. cap. 10. where mentioning that of the 23 Psalm, Thou hast prepared a Table before me, &c. Thou anointest my head with oyl: Palam, saith he, in his mysticam significat unctionem: foreign: veneranda mensae Christi sacrificia; (he means the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ) foreign, hoc est, per quae litantes, aut propitiantes, supremo Deo rationales, incruentas, eique suaves victimas, in tota vita per eminentissimum ipsius Pontificem, offerre edocti sumus. Here Eusebius affirms, that Christians are taught to offer unto God reasonable and unbloody sacrifices; that is, Prayer and Thanksgiving: foreign propitiating, or finding favor with God, through the venerable mysteries of Christs Table; For foreign is, litare, propitiare, or placare Numen, votum impetrare, foreign, gratum facere.

Next I produce Cyrill of Ierusalem (or more likely Iohn his successour) Author of those five Catecheses Mystagogicae; In the last of which, relating and expounding the meaning of that, which was said or done in the celebration of the Eucharist, according p. 499to the use of his time, amongst other things he sayes thus; Post absolutum spiritale illud sacrificium & incruentum cultum, after the thanksgiving and invocation of the Holy Ghost, upon the Bread and Wine, to make it the Body and Blood of Christ (of which he was speaking before) was done, foreign, Super illa propitiationis hostia obsecramus Deum **1 Mac. 12. 11.1 Macc 12:11pro communi Ecclestarum pace, pro tranquillitate mundi, pro Regibus, pro militibus, pro socils, pro aegrotis & afflictis, & in summa, pro omnibus iis qui egent auxilio; And this is the manner of the Greek Liturgies, immediately upon the consecration of the Dona, to be the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ, and the commemoration thereon of his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, **foreign: Dionys. Areop. Ep. ad …emoph. Therapeutam.to offer to the Divine Majestie, as it were over the Lamb of God then lying upon the Table, their supplications and prayers, **foreign. Euseb. de Vita Constant. lib. 4. c. 45.for the whole state of Christs Church and all sorts and degrees therein, together with all other their suits and requests; and that ever and anon interposing the word foreign we offer unto thee, for these and these; that is, we commemorate Christ, in this mysticall Rite for them. This Prayer therefore our Author Cyrill in the place aforequoted cals foreign, supplicationem sancti & tremendi praejacentis sacrificii; and saith, that it is a most powerfull prayer, as that wherein we offer unto the Divine Majesty, foreign; Christ that was once p. 500slain for our sins foreign, propitiating the mercifull God, for our selves and others we pray for.

And this is that, if I mistake not, which Tertullian means lib. de oratione cap. 11. where he sayes of the Christians, that they did Dominicâ passione modulari, & orare: Nos vero (inquit) non attollimus tantum manus, sed etiam expandimus; & Dominicâ passione modulantes, & orantes confitemur Christs; id est, Christum. According to the dialect of the Scripture; Confitemur Domino, for Confitemur Dominum; For by commemorating Christ, and offering our prayers to the Father in his Name, we confesse and acknowledge him, to be our Mediator; so Eusebius de Laude Const. cals it, foreign, To send up Prayers in his Name to the God of all.

The same with Tertullian, means Saint Austin, describing the Christian sacrifice to be; immolare Deo in Corpore Christi sacrificium Laudis, lib. 1. contra Adversarios Legis & Prophetarum: cap. 20. Ecclesia (saith he) immolat Deo, in Corpore Christi, sacrificium Laudis, ex quo Deus Deorum locutus vo avit terram, à Solis ortu usque ad occasum, Psalm. 40.

Lastly, that the representation of the Body and Blood of Christ in this Christian service, was intended and used as a Rite, whereby to finde grace and favour with God, when the Church addressed her self unto him, (which is that I undertook to prove,) is apparent by a saying of Origen Hom. 13. in Levit. where treating of the shewbread, which was continually set before the Lord with incense, for a memoriall p. 501of the children of Israel; that is, to put God in minde of them: he makes it in this respect to have been a lively figure of the Christians Eucharist; For, saith he, Ista est commemoratio sola, quae propitium facit Deum hominibus.

All these testimonies have been expresse for our purpose: That the Thanksgiving and Prayers of the Church in the Christian sacrifice, were offered unto the Divine Majestie through Christ commemorated in the Symbols of Bread and Wine, as by a Medium whereby to finde acceptance.

There is, besides these, an usuall expression of the Fathers, when they speak of the Eucharist; which though it be not direct and punctuall, as the former, yet, I verely beleeve, it aymed at the same Mysterie. Namely, when they say, that in this Sacrifice they offer Praise and Prayer to God the Father, through Iesus Christ, the great High-priest. I will quote an Example or two; Clemens, or the Author of the Constitutions, lib. 2. cap. 29. Vos hodie (saith he) ô Episcopi, estis populo vestro sacerdotes & Levitae:—assistentes ad Altare Domini & Dei nostri, foreign, per Iesum Christum, magnum Pontificem.

The same Clemens in a more undoubted writing of his, to wit, his Epist. ad Corinthios, quoting that of the 50. Psalm after the Septuagint, foreign; the sacrifice of Praise shall glorifie me; foreign;—and there is the way wherein I shall shew to him that sacrificeth the salvation of God. This is the way saith Clemens, that is, the sacrifice of Praise is the way, foreign p. 502foreign, wherein we have found our salvation, Iesus Christ, the High-priest of all our offerings. The Fathers are wont to expound this place, of the Eucharist; and therefore I doubt not, but Clemens means of the same, and tels us that in this Sacrifice Christ the High-priest of our offerings is found; that is, represented and commemorated.

In the same style speaks Iust. Mar. Dial: cum Tryphone. Ne unum quidem est genus Mortalium, sive Graecorum, sive Barbarorum, sive quocunque nomine appellantur—inter quos per nomen cruci fixi Iesu foreign, Patri & fabricatori omnium non fiant. He is speaking of the Christian sacrifice, & our Text in Malachi; In omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo, where by Nomen Dei he understands Christ, through whom, in this Sacrifice, our devotions are offered. So doth Ireneus, and others; Iren. lib. 4. cap. 33. Quod est aliud Nomen, quod in Gentibus glorificatur, quàm quod est Domini nostri, per quem glorificatur Pater, & glorificatur homo:—quoniam ergo Nomen filii proprium Patris est & in Deo omnipotente per Iesum Christum offert Ecclesia, bene ait secundum utraque, Et in omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo, & sacrificium purum.

Now how this Incense and Sacrifice, which the Prophet saith the Gentiles should offer to the Name of God, may be expounded, Offered by the Name of God, to wit, by Christ, Origen lib. 8. contra Cels. will inform us; Vnum Deum (saith he) & unum ejus filium, ac verbum imaginemque, quantum possumus, supplicationibus & honoribus veneramur; offerentes Deo p. 503universorum preces per suum unigenitum; Cui prius eas adhibemus, rogantes ut ipse, qui est propitiator pro peccatis nostris, dignetur tanquam Pontifex preces nostras & sacrificia & intercessiones offerre Deo super omnia. That, which we offer to the Father by Christ, we offer first to Christ; that he, as our High-priest, might present it to his Father. More passages hath Origen in the same Books of this kinde.

But I will not weary you too much in this rugged way; out of this which we have hitherto discoursed and proved, may be understood the meaning and reason of that Decree of the third Councell of Carthage and Hippo. Vt nemo in Precibus, vel Patrem pro Filio, vel Filium pro Patre, nominet. Et cum Altari assistitur, semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio. The reason; because the Father is properly the Object, foreign to whom; the Son onelyonly, foreign, by whom, in this Mysticall service; and therefore, to direct here our Prayers and Thanksgivings to the Son, were to pervert the order of the Mystery, which is, as hath been proved, An oblation of Praise and Prayer to God the Father, through the Intercession of Iesus Christ, represented in the Symbols of Bread and Wine.

p. 504SECT. IV.

THe fourth particular propounded was this; That the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, or Lords Supper is a Sacrifice, according to the style of the ancient Church.

It is one thing to say, that the Lords Supper is a Sacrifice, and another to say, that Christ is properly sacrificed therein. These are not the same; for there may be a Sacrifice, which is a representation of another, and yet a Sacrifice too: And such is this of the New Testament, a Sacrifice wherein another Sacrifice, that of Christs death upon the Crosse, is commemorated: Thus the Papists gain nothing by this Notion of Antiquity, and our asserting the same; For their tenet is, that Christ in this Sacrifice is really and properly sacrificed; which we shall shew in due time that the Ancients never meant.

To begin with this: As in the Old Testament the name of Sacrifice was otherwhile given to the whole action in which the Rite was used; sometimes to the Rite alone: so in the Notion and Language of the ancient Church, sometimes the whole Action or Christian service (wherein the Lords Supper was a part) is comprehended under that name; sometimes the Rite of the sacred Supper it self, is so termed, and truly, as you shall now hear.

The resolution of this Point, depends altogether p. 505upon the true Definition of a Sacrifice, as it is distinguished from all other Offerings. Which, though it be so necessary, that all disputation without it, is vain; yet shall we not finde, that either party interessed in this question, hath been so exact therein, as were to be wished. This appears by the differing Definitions, given and confuted by Divines on both sides; the reason of which defect is, because neither are deduced from the Notion of Scripture, but built upon other conceptions: Let us see therefore, if it may be learned out of Scripture, what that is which the Scripture, in a strict and speciall sense, cals a Sacrifice.

Every Sacrifice is an oblation or offering: but every offering is not a Sacrifice, in that strict and proper acception we seek. For Tithes, First-fruits Heavofferings in the Law, and whatsoever indeed is consecrated unto God, are oblations or offerings; but none of them Sacrifices, nor ever so called in the Old Testament: What offerings are then called so? I answer, Burnt-offerings, Sin-offerings, Trespasse-offerings, and peace-offerings. These, and no other, are called by that name.

Out of these therefore must we pick the true and proper ratio of a Sacrifice: It is true indeed, that these Sacrifices were offerings of beasts, of beeves, of sheep, of goats, of fowls; but the ratio of any thing consists not in the matter thereof; As the gowns we wear, are still the same kinde of apparel, though made of differing stuffs: These Sacrifices also were slain, and offered by fire and incense: But neither is the modus of any thing the ratio or essentiall form p. 506thereof. That therefore may have the nature and formale of a Sacrifice which consists of another matter, and is offered after another and differing manner; Those we call Sacraments of the Old Testament, Circumcision and the Passeover, were by effusion of blood; ours are not, and yet we esteem them neverthelesse true Sacraments; and so it may be here.

To hold you therefore no longer in suspence, a Sacrifice, I think should be defined thus; An offering, whereby the offerer is made partaker of his Gods Table, in token of Covenant, and friendship with him, &c. more explicately thus: An offering unto the Divine Majesty, of that which is given for the food of man; that the offerer partaking thereof, might, as by way of pledge, be certified of his acceptation into Covenant, and fellowship with his God, by eating and drinking at his Table. S. Augustin comes toward this Notion, when he defines a Sacrifice (though in a larger sense) opus quod Deo nuncupamus, reddimus, & dedicamus, hoc fine, ut sanctâ societate ipsi adhaereamus; for to have society and fellowship with God, what is it else, but to be in league and covenant with him?

In a word, a Sacrifice is oblatio foederalis; for the true and right understanding whereof, we must know, that it was the universall custome of mankinde, and still remains in use, to contract covenants and make leagues of friendship, by eating and drinking together. When Isaac made a covenant with Abimelec the King of Gerar, the Text saith, He made him and those that were with him, a feast, and they did eat, and drink, p. 507and rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another, Gen. 28. When Iacob made covenant with Laban, after they had sworn together, he made him a feast, and called his brethren to eat Bread, Gen. 31. When David made a league with Abner, upon his promise to bring all Israel unto him, David made Abner and the men that came with him a feast, 2 Sam. 3. **Vide eti am Ios 9. 14. 15. Psa. 41. 10. Vir pacis meae in quo fidebam; qu… comedibat panem meum.Josh 9:14Josh 9:15Ps 41:10Hence in the Hebrew tongue, a covenant is called foreign of foreign, to eat; as if they should say, an eating; which derivation is so naturall, that it deserves to be preferred, before that from the other signification of the same verb, which is eligere. And this will suffice for the custome of the Hebrews.

Now for the Gentiles, Herodotus tels us, the Persians were wont to contract leagues of friendship, inter vinum, & Epulas, in a full feast, whereat their wives, children and friends were present. The like Tacitus reports of the Germans: Amongst the Greeks and other Nations, they eat bread and salt together. Unto which comes neer that ceremonie, somewhere used at weddings; that the Brdegroom, when he comes home from Church, takes a piece of cake, tasts it, then gives it to his Bride to taste it likewise; as a token of a covenant made between them. The Emperour of Russia at this day, when he would shew extraordinary grace and favour unto any, sends him bread and salt from his Table: And when he invited Baron Sigismond the Emperour Ferdinands Ambassador, he did it in this form; Sigismunde comedes sal & panem nostrum nobiscum. Hence that Symbol of Pythagoras foreign, Break no bread, is interpreted by Erasmus, and others, to mean, Break p. 508no friendship: Moreover the AEgyptians, Thracians, and Lybians in speciall, are said to have used to make Vid. Turcicum ritum apud Busbequium, Epist. 1. 11.leagues, and contract friendship, by presenting a cup of wine one to another; which custome we finde still in use amongst our Western Nations; and what is our To pledge, but to take as a pledge of league and friendship? Yea it is a rule in Law, that if a man drink to him, against whom he hath an accusation of slander, or other verball injurie, he loses his Action, because it is supposed he is reconciled with him.

Such now, as were these covenant-feastings and eatings and drinkings, in token of league and amity between men and men; such are Sacrifices between man and his God; Epulae foederales, wherein God deigneth to entertain man, to eat and drink with or before him, in token of favour and reconcilement. For so it becomes the condition of the parties, that he which hath offended the other, and seeks for favour, and forgivenesse, should be entertained by him, to whom he is obnoxious; and not è contra, that is, that God should be the Convivator, and man the Conviva. To which end, the Viands for this sacred Epulum, were first to be offered unto God, and so made his, that he might entertain the offerer, and not the offerer him. For we are to observe, that what the fire consumed was accounted as, and called by himself, the meat of his fire-offerings; the rest was for his guests, which they were partakers of, either by themselves, as in all the peace-offerings, or by their proxies, the Priests, as in the rest; to wit, the Holocausts, the sin and trespasse-offerings. The reason of which difference was, I suppose, because the one p. 509was ad impetrandum, or renovandum foedus; where therefore a Mediator was needfull; the other, to wit, the peace-offerings, ad confirmandum & consignandum, onelyonly: wherein therefore they addressed themselves before the Divine Majesty with greater confidence. If any shall object, that the Holocaust was wholly burnt, and consumed, and so no body partaker thereof; I answer, it is true, the beast, which was slain, was wholly burnt, and so all of it, as it were Gods Messe. But there was **Levit. 23. 13, 18. Num. 8. 8. & 15. 24. & 28. 20, 28, 31. & 29. 6, 11 19.Lev 23:13Lev 23:18Num 8:8Num 15:24Num 28:20Num 28:28Num 28:31Num 29:6Num 29:11a meat-offering, and drink-offering annexed thereunto, as a part of the holy feast; of which a handfull onelyonly was burnt for a memoriall, the remainder was for the **Lev. 7. 9.Lev 7:9Priests to eat in the holy place; Besides, burnt-offerings were regularly accompanied with peace-offerings (as you shall finde them in Scripture ordinarily joined together,) now in these the people that offered had the greatest share. In a word, that those who offered sacrifice, both among Jews and Gentiles, were partakers of the same, is a thing to be taken for granted; as appears by the warning God gave the Israelites, Exod. 34. That they should make no covenants … …e inhabitants of the land; lest when they went a …g after their gods, and offered a sacrifice unto the… …ey might call them, and they also eat of their sacrifice. And by that Psal. 106. They joined themselves to Baal-Peor, and eat the sacrifices of the dead. By that of S. Paul; Hebr. 13. We have an Altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve at the Tabernacle; So that of this, there needs be no question.

It remains onelyonly, we prove that these sacred Epulae, were Epulae foederales; and so our Definition will p. 510stand good: Now this will appear, first in generall, by that expression of Scripture, wherein the covenant, which God makes with Man, is expressed by eating and drinking at his Table, Luk. 13. Those, to whom the Lord opens not, plead for themselves: We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets, &c. Cap. 22. Our Saviours tels his disciples; I appoint you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed me; that ye may eat, and drink at my Table in my Kingdom. Apoc. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock; If any man hear my voyce, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and sup with him and he with me: But these passages, you will say, shew rather how fitly sacrifices might be feasts of amity between God and men, then prove they were so indeed: Hear therefore such proofs, as I think come home to the point.

First, Every sacrifice, saith our Saviour, Mark 9. is salted with salt. This salt is called Levit. 2. The salt of the Covenant of God; that is, a Symbol of the perpetuity thereof. Now if the salt, which seasoned the sacrifice, were sal foederis Dei: what was the sacrifice it self, but Epulum foederis?

Secondly, Moses cals the blood of the burntofferings and peace-offerings, wherewith he sprinkled the children of Israel, when they received the Law, the blood of the Covenam, which the Lord had made with them: This is, saith he, the Blood of the Covenant, which the Lord hath made with you.

Thirdly, and above all, this may most evidently be evinced, out of the 40. Psalm; the whole Argument whereof is concerning sacrifices: There God p. 511saith, Gather my Saints together unto me, which make covenant with me by sacrifice, foreign. And vers. 16. of the sacrifices of the wicked, and such as amend not their lives; VntoUnto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes foreign, and take my Covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, &c. Statutes here, are Rites and Ordinances, and particularly those of Sacrifice, which who so bringeth unto God, and thereby supplicates and cals upon his Name, is said, to take the covenant of God in his mouth; Forasmuch as to invocate God with this Rite, was to do it by way of commemoration of his Covenant, and to say, Remember Lord thy Covenant, and for thy Covenants sake, Lord hear my prayer and supplication. For what hath man to do with God, to beg any favour at his hands, unlesse he be in Covenant with him? whereby appears the reason, why mankinde, from the beginning of the world, used to approach their God, by this Rite of sacrificing; that is, ritu foederali.

I adde in this last place, for a farther confirmation; That, when God was to make a Covenant with Abraham, Gen. 15. he commanded him to offer him a Sacrifice; Offer unto me (saith he, so it should be turned) a heifer, a she-goat, and aram, each of three years old, a turtle Dove, and a young pigeon; All which he offered accordingly, and divided them in the midst, laying each piece or moity one against the other; and, when the sun went down, God in the likenesse of a smoaking furnace, and burning lamp past between the pieces, and so, as the Text sayes, made a Covenant with Abraham, saying, VntoUnto thy seed will I give this p. 512land, &c. By which Rite, of passing through the parts, God condescended to the manner of men; And note here, that the Gentiles, and Jews likewise, in their more solemn covenants between men and men, (which were made under pain of curse or execration) used this Rite of Sacrifice, whereby men covenanted with their God, as it were to make their God both a witnesse, and a party with them. And here the Jews cut the Sacrifice in sunder, and past between the parts thereof; as God did here with Abraham: which was as much, as if they had said, Thus let me be divided, and cut in pieces, if I violate the oath, I have now made in the presence of my God. The Gentiles, besides other ceremonies, used not to eat at all of these sacrifices, but to fling them into the sea, or bury them in the earth; as if they had said, If I break Covenant, thus let me be excluded from all amity and favour with my God; as I am now from eating of his Sacrifice. Hence came those phrases; secare foedus, in the Hebrew; of ferire, percutere & icere foedus; in Latine: of foreign, in Homer, à feriendis, percutiendis, & secandis sacrificiis in foederibus sanciendis; Though this manner of speech may be also derived from their ordinary Epula foederales, wherein they killed beasts, which the Ancients in their ordinary diet did not.

Having thus seen what is the nature of a Sacrifice, and wherein the ratio thereof consisteth, it will not be hard to judge, whether the ancient Christians did rightly, in giving the Eucharist that name, or not: For that the Lords supper is Epulum foederale, we all grant, and our Saviour expresly affirms it of the Cup in the p. 513stitution; foreign, This Cup is the Rite of the new Covenant in my Blood, which is powred out for many, for the remission of sins; evidently implying, that the bloody sacrifices of the Law, with their meat and drink-offerings, were Rites of an old covenant, and that this succeeded them as the rite of the **Eusebius (Demonst. Euang. lib. 9.) vinum mysticum sacrosanctae Eucharistia vocat foreign. Casaub. exerc. ad Ann. 32. N. 26.new. That, that was contracted with the blood of beevs, sheep, and goats; but this founded in the blood of Christ: This parallel is so plain, as I think none will deny it. There is nothing then remains to make this sacred Epulum, a full sacrifice, but that the Viands thereof should be first offered unto God, that he may be the Convivator, we the Convivae or the guests.

SECT. V.

MY last task was to prove, that the rite of the Lords Supper is indeed a Sacrifice, not in a Metaphoricall but a proper sense; and this, if the nature of Sacrifice be truly defined, is no whit repugnant to the reformed Religion.

To evidence which I shewed, that a Sacrifice was nothing else but a Sacred-feast, wherein God mystically entertained man at his own Table, in token of amity and friendship with him: which that he might p. 514do, the Viands of that feast were first made Gods by oblation, and so eaten of, not as of Mans, but Gods provision.

There is nothing then wanting to make this sacred Epulum, of which we speak, full out a Sacrifice, but that we shew, that the Viands thereof were in like manner first offered unto God; that so being his, he might be the Convivator, man the Conviva, or the guest: And this the ancient Church was wont to do; this they beleeved our blessed Saviour himself did, when, at the institution of this holy Rite, he took the Bread and the Cup into his sacred hands, and looking up to heaven gave thanks and blessed: And, after his example, they first offered the Bread and Wine unto God, to agnize him the Lord of the Creature, and then received them from him again in a Banquet, as the Symbols of the Body and Blood of his Son. This is that, I am now to prove out of the testimonies of Antiquity, not long after, but next unto the Apostles times, when it is not likely the Church had altered the form they left her, for the celebration of this Mystery.

I will begin with Irenaeus, as the most full and copious in this point; He, in his fourth Book cap. xxxii, speaks thus; Dominus Discipulis suis dans consilium Primitias Deo offerre ex suis Creaturis, non quasi indigenti, sed ut ipsi nec infructuosi, nec ingrati sint▪ eum, qui ex Creatura est panis, accepit, & gratias egit; dicens, Hoc est corpus meum; & Calicem similiter, qul ex Creatura est, quae est secundum nos, suum sanguinem con fessus est; & Novo Testamento novam docuit oblationem, quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accipiens offert Deo, ei p. 515qui alimenta nobis praestat, primitias suorum munerum in Novo Testamento.

And Cap. xxxiii. Igitur Ecclesiae oblatio, quam Dominus docuit offerri in universo mundo, purum sacrificium reputatum est apud Deum; & acceptum est ei; non quod indigeat à nobis sacrificium, sed quoniam is qui offert glorificatur ipse in eo quod offert, si acceptetur munus ejus: Per munus enim erga Regem honos & aff…ctio ostenditur. He alludes to that in the first of Malachi, I am a great King, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Ibid. Oportet nos oblationem Deo facere, & omnibus gratos inveniri Fabricatori Deo, Primitias earum, quae sunt ejus, Creaturarum offerentes; & hanc oblationem Ecclesia sola puram offert Fabricatori, offerens ei cum gratiarum Actione ex Creatura ejus.

In the same place, Offerimus autem ei, non quasi indigenti, sed gratias agentes Dominationi ejus, & sanctificantes creaturam. He alludes again to that in this Chapter of Malachi, Si Dominus sum, ubi est timor meus, O sacerdotes, qui offertis super Altare meum panem pollutum?

My next witnesse shall be Iustin Martyr, in time elder then Irenaeus; He in his Dialogue with Tryphon, (the place defore alledged) telling the Jew, that the Sacrifices of Christians are Supplications and giving of Thanks; Has vero solas (saith he) facere Christiani traditione acceperunt, in commemoratione Alimoniae suae, aridae juxta & liquidae; in that thankfull remembrance of their food both dry and liquid; in qua & passionis quam pertulit per se ipsum Dei filius, memoria celebratur: Here is a twofold commemoration witnessed to be made in the Eucharist; The first, as he speaks, of p. 516our food dry and liquid; that is, of our meat and drink by agnizing God, and recording him the Creator, and giver thereof: The second, of the passion of Christ the Son of God, in one and the same food. And again in the same Dialogue, Panem Eucharistiae in commemorationem passionis suae Christus fieri tradidit (foreign, &c.) ut simùl gratias ageremus Deo, cum ob id, quod mundum, cum omnibus in eo Creaturis, hominis gratia condiderit, tum etiam, quod ab omni in qua fuimus miseria nos liberarit, Principatusque ac potestates perfectâ dissolutione dissolverit, per eum qui de consilio & voluntate ejus factus est patibilis. To which he immediately subjoins the Text, and applies it to the Eucharist. Thus Iustin Martyr.

My third witnesse is Origen in his VIII. Book Contra Cels. Celsus (saith he) thinks it seemly we should be thankfull to Daemons and to offer them foreign, but we think him to live most comely foreign, that remembers, who is the Creator: unto whom we Christians are carefull not to be unthankfull, with whose benefits we are filled and whose Creatures we are; foreign; that is, And we have also a Symbol of our thanksgiving unto God, the Bread which is called foreign: Where note, that the Eucharisticall Bread is said to be a Symbol, not onelyonly of the Body and Blood of Christ, but a Symbol of that Thanksgiving, which we render to the Creator through him.

Again, in the same Book, where Celsus likewise would have mankinde thankfull unto Daemons, as those to whom the charge of things here upon earth p. 517is committed, and to offer unto them, foreign, Primitias & supplicationes. Origen thus takes him up. Celsus Deum nesciens, foreign persolvat Daemonibus; nos mundi Creatori placere studentes (or gratum facientes, Gr. foreign) Panes, cum gratiarum actione & precibus pro datis, oblatos comedimus, Corpus sanctum quoddam per precationem factos. Mark here, Bread offered unto God, with Prayer and Thanksgiving pro datis, for that he hath given us, and then by prayer made a holy Body, and so eaten.

Thus much out of Fathers, all of them within lesse then two hundred and fifty years, after Christ; and lesse then one hundred and fifty, after the death of Saint Iohn.

The same appears in the forms of the ancient Vide etiam Can. Apostol. II. (al. III.) Can. XL. Synod. Carthag. Can. VII. Edicti Theophili Alexandrini apud Balsamon.Liturgie, as in that of Clemens, where the Priest in the name of the whole Church assembled speaks thus: foreign, Offerimus tibi Regi & Deo, secundum ejus (id est, Christi) ordinationem, foreign, hunc panem & hoc poculum, gratias tibi agentes, eo quòd nos (he speaks of the whole Church) dignos fecisti astistere in conspectu tuo, & fungi sacerdotio tibi. Rogamusque te, ut benignè aspicere digneris super haec dona, proposita in conspectu tuo; Tu qui nullo indiges Deus, & complaceas tibi in ipsis, in honorem Christi tui, &c.

Again, Pro dono oblato Domino Deo oremus, ut bonus Deus suscipiat illud, per intercessionem Christi sui in coeleste Altare suum in odorem suavitatis.

p. 518Yea, in the Canon of the **In Ordine Romano, dimissu Ca techamenis. Rubrica habet; Postea incipiunt cantores cantare offertorium, & populus dat oblationes suas, id est, panem & Vinum; & offerunt cum Fanonibus, id est, velis candidis; primò malculi, deinde Foeminae, novissimè Sacerdotes & Diaconi; sed solum panem, & hoc ante Altare: Tunc acciplens Archidiaconus à subdiaconis oblat…s, ponic tantas super Altare, quantae possunt populo sufficere ad communionem. Videatur Theod. in hist. de Theodosio offerente, foreign, &c. l. 4. c. 17. Consule Cyprian. de Op. & Eleemos.—Quae in Dominic…m sine sacrificio venis; quae partem de Sacrificio, quod pauper obtulit, sumis: August, de Temp. Serm. CCLI. Oblationes quae in Altaria consecrantur offerte; Erubescere debet homo idoneu, si de aliena oblatione communicaverit.Roman Church, though the Rite be not used, yet the words remain still; as when the Priest, long before the Consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ, prays, Te clementissime Pater, per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum supplices rogamus, ut accepta habeas, & benedicas haec dona, haecmunera; and other like passages, which now they wrest to a new found oblation of the Body and Blood of Christ, which the ancient Church knew not of.

But, of all others, this Rite is most strongly confirmed, by that wont of the Ancient Fathers, to confute the Hereticks of those first times (who held the Creator of the world, to be some inferiour deity, and not the Father of Christ) out of the Eucharist: For, say they, unlesse the Father of Christ be the Creator of the world, why is the Creature offered unto him, in the Eucharist, as if he were? would he be agnized the Author, and Lord of that he is not?

Here Ireneus, Adversus Haeres. lib. 4. cap. 34. Haereticorum Synagogae (saith he) non offerunt Eucharisticam oblationem quàm Dominus offerri docuit; Alterum enim, praeter fabricatorem, dicentes Patrem, ideo, quae secundum nos Creaturae sunt, offerentes ei cupidum alieni ostendunt eum, & aliena concupiscentem: and a little p. 519after, Quomodo autem constabit eis, eum panem, in quo gratiae actae sunt, Corpus esse Domini sui, & Calicem sanguinis ejus, si non ipsum Fabricatoris mundi filium dicant; id est, verbum ejus per quod lignum fructificat, & defluunt fontes, & terra dat primum quidem gramen, post deinde spicam, deinde plenum triticum in spica?

From the same ground Tertullian argues against Marcion; contra Marc. lib. 1. cap. 24. Non putem (saith he) impudentiorem, quam qui in aliena aqua alii Deo tinguitur; ad alienum Coelum alii Deo expanditur; in aliena terra alii Deo sternitur; super alienum panem alii Deo gratiarum actionibus fungitur; de alienis bonis ab alium Deum nomine ele…mosynae & dilectionis operatur.

Origen against the same Heretick useth the same Argument; Dialog. Advers. Marc. 3. paulo ante finem. Dominus aspiciens in coelum gratias agit: Ecquid non agit conditori gratias? cum panem accepisset, & poculum, & benedixisset, quid? alterine pro Creaturis conditoris benedicit? an potius illi qui effecit & exhibuit?

Lastly, this oblation of the Bread and Wine is implyed in S. Pauls parallel of the Lords Supper, and the Sacrifices of the Gentiles: You cannot (saith he) be partakers of the Table of the Lord, and the Table of Divels; namely, because they imply contrary Covenants, incompatible one with the other. A sacrifice, as I told you, being Epulum foederale; Now here the Table of Divels is so called, because it consisted of Viands offered to Divels, (so S. Paul expresly tels us) whereby those that eat thereof, eat of the Divels meat; Ergo, The Table of the Lord is likewise called his Table, not because the Lord ordained it, but because it consisted of Viands offered unto him.

p. 520Having thus, as I think, sufficiently proved what I took in hand, I think it not amisse, to answer two questions, which this discourse may beget. The first is, How the Ancients could gather out of the Institution, that our Saviour did as hath been shewed? I answer, they beleeved, that he did as the Jews were wont to do; But they did thus. How will you say doth this appear? I answer, it may appear from this, The Passeover was a Sacrifice, and therefore the Viands here, as in all other holy Feasts, were first offered unto God. Now the Bread and Wine, which our Saviour took when he blessed and gave thanks, was the Mincha or meat-offering of the Passeover: If then he did as the Jews used to do, he agnized his Father and blessed him, by oblation of these his Creatures unto him, using the like or the same form of words, Benedictus tu Domine Deus noster, Rex mundi, qui producis panem è terra; And over the Wine; Benedictus tu Domine Deus noster, Rex mundi, qui creasti fructum vitis: Moreover the Church ab initio applied that precept of our Saviour, Mat. 4. 23. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, &c. to the Eucharist; for they beleeved, that he would not enact a new law concerning legall Sacrifices, which he was presently to abolish; but that it had reference to that oblation, which was to continue under the Gospel.

The other question is: If all this be so, how is not our celebration of the Eucharist defective, where no such oblation is used? I answer, this concerns not us alone, but all the Churches of the West of the Roman communion, who, as in other things they have depraved this mystery, and swarved from the primitive p. 521pattern therof, so have they for many Ages disused this oblation of Bread and Wine, and brought in, in lieu thereof▪ a reall and hypostaticall oblation of Christ himself; This blasphemous oblation, we have taken away, and justly, but not reduced again that expresse and formall use of the other: Howsoever, though we do it not with a set ceremony, and form of words; yet in deed and effect we do it, so often as we set the Bread and Wine upon the Holy-Table: For whatsoever we set upon Gods Table, is ipso facto dedicated, and offered unto him: According to that of our Saviour Mat. 23. foreign, The Altar sanctifies the gift; that is, consecrates it unto God, and appropriates it to his use: In which respect, it were much to be wisht, that this were more solemnly done, then it is usuall; namely, not untill the time of the administration, and by the hand of the Minister, in the name and sight of the whole congregation, standing up, and shewing some signe of due and lowly reverence, according, as the Deacon was wont to admonish the people in Ancient Liturgies, foreign: erecti ad Dominum, cum timore & tremore stemus oblaturi.

SECT. VI.

THe sixt, and last thing to bee proved was, That Christ is offered in this Sacrifice commemoratively onelyonly and not otherwise. Though the Eucharist be a Sacrifice (that is, an p. 522Oblation) wherein the offerer banquets with his God, yet is Christ in this Sacrifice no otherwise offered, then by way of commemoration onelyonly, of his Sacrifice once offered upon the Crosse; as a learned Prelate of ours hath lately written, objectivè onelyonly, not subjectivè. And this is that, which our Saviour himself said, when he ordained this sacred Rite, foreign; This do in commemoration of me.

But this commemoration is to be made to God his Father, and is not a bare remembring or putting our selves in minde onelyonly, (as is commonly supposed) but a putting of God in minde; For every Sacrifice is directed unto God, and the Oblation therein, whatsoever it be, hath him for its Object, and not man. If therefore the Eucharist be Sacrificium Christi commemorativum, as ours grant, then must the commemoration therein be made unto God: and if Christ therein be offered objectivè, that is, as the object of the commemoration there made, (as that learned Bishop speaks) if the commemoration of him, be an oblation of him, whom is this oblation, that is, commemoration, made unto, but God?

Well then, Christ is offered in this sacred Supper, not hypostatically, as the Papists would have him, (for so he was but once offered) but commemoratively only, that is, by this sacred Rite of Bread and Wine, we represent, and inculcate his blessed Passion to his Father; we put him in minde thereof, by setting the Monuments thereof before him; we testifie our own mindefulnesse thereof unto his sacred Majesty, that so he would, for his sake, according to the tenour of his Covenant, in time be favourable and propitious unto us miserable sinners.

p. 523That this, and no other offering of Christ in the blessed Eucharist, the Ancient Church ever meant, or intended, I am now to shew, by authenticall testimonies.

First, by the constant form of all the Liturgies; in which, after the reciting of the words of Institution, is subjoyned, foreign, commemorantes, or commemorando offerimus.

Clemens, foreign, &c. foreign, &c. That is, commemorantes igitur Passionem ejus, & mortem, nec non ex mortuis resurrectionem atque in coelos ascensionem—offerimus tibi Regi Deo hunc panem & hunc caliem; Mark here, commemorantes offerimus, that is, offerimus commemorando; Commemorando autem apud Deum, cui offerimus. This is the tenour of all the Greek Liturgies, save that some, in stead of offerimus tibi hunc Panem & hunc calicem, have foreign, offerimus tibi tremendum hoc, & incruentum sacrisicium; as that of Jerusalem (called S. Iames his Liturgie.) Others, foreign, as that of S. Chrysostome: Others foreign, tua ex tuis, as that of Basil; and of Alexandria (called Saint Marks:) but all foreign, commemorantes offerimus.

In the same form runs the Ordo Romanus, Memores Domine nos servi tui, sed & Plebs tua sancta Christi Filii tui Domini Dei nostri, tum beatae Passionis, nec non ab inferis resurrectionis, sed & in Coelum gloriosae ascensionis, Offerimus praeclarae Majestati tuae, de tuis donis ac datis, hostiam puram, sanctam, hostiam immaculatam, p. 524panem sanctum vita aeternae & calicem salutis perpetuae; note here also memores offerimus.

Which Ivo Carnotensis explains thus; memores offerimus Majestatituae, (id est, saith he, oblatam commemoramus per haec dona visibilia) hostiam puram—sanotam, immaculatam, &c. Et hanc veri sacrificii commemorationem postulat sacerdos ita Deo Patri fore acceptam, sicut accepta fuerunt munera Abel, &c. Thus he.

Memores therefore, in the Latin Canon, is commemorantes, which the Greek expresses better foreign, of the sense whereof that we may not doubt, hear the explication of that great Councel of Ephesus in this manner. Annunciantes Mortem unigeniti Filii Dei, Iesu Christi, & resurrectionem ejus atque in coelum ascensionem pariter confitentes, incruentum in Ecclesiis celebramus sacrificii cultum.

foreign therefore is Annunciantes & confitentes. But unto whom should we confesse, but unto God? To him therefore, and not unto our selves is that foreign to be made, which Christ commended to his Church, when he said, Do this foreign, for my commemoration, or in remembrance of me.

In the Councell of Ephesus, Cyril of Alexandria was chief Actor and President; and it is to be noted, that the Liturgie of the Church of Alexandria (usually called S. Marks) hath in stead of foreign the self-same words, Annunciantes & confitentes, which I now quoted out of the Councel for an explication of the same: which argues, as I take it, Cyrill to have been the penman of the Decrees of the Councell, and the Liturgie of his Church to have then run in this form.

I shall need alledge no more of the Latine Liturgies; p. 525there is no materiall difference amongst them: So that, if you know the form of one, you know of all: I will adde onelyonly out of S. Ambrose an Explication following those words, of the Institution, Do this in remembrance of me; exprest in this manner, Mandans & dicens ad eos, Quotiescunque hoc feceritis, toties commemorationem mei facietis, Mortem meam praedicabitis, resurrectionem meam annuntiabitis, adventum sperabitis donec iterum adveniam.

This may suffice for Liturgies▪ Now let us hear the Fathers speak.

I quoted heretofore a passage out of Iustin Martyr, affirming a twofold foreign, to be made in the Eucharist; The one of our food, dry and liquid, (as he speaks) that is, of our meat and drink, by agnizing, and recording him the Lord and giver of the same: The other an foreign in the same food foreign, of the passion of the Son of God: The first of these commemorations is made unto God; for to whom else should we tender our thankfulnesse for the Creature? Ergo, The second commemoration of the Passion of the Son of God, is made to him likewise.

My next Father is Origen, Homily 13. In Lev. c. 24. where comparing the Eucharist to the Shew-bread which was every Sabbath set for a Memoriall before the Lord: Ista est, saith he, meaning the Eucharist, commemoratio sola, quae propitium facit Deum hominibus. Where note, that both this commemoration is made unto God, as that of the Shew-bread was; and that the end thereof is to make him propitious to men: According to that of S. Augustin l. 9. c. 13. Illa quae in coena Christus exhibet, Fides accepta interponit p. 526inter peccata nostra & iram Dei, tanquam satisfactionem & propitiationem.

My next witnesse is Eusebius Demonst. Evan. li. 1. cap. 10. Post omnia, saith he, speaking of Christ, mirabilem quandam victimam sacrificiúmque eximium Patri suo operatus, pro nostra omnium salute obtulit foreign, Memoriam nobistradens loco sacrificii Deo continuè offerendam. And again toward the end of that Chapter having cited this place of Malachi, which I have chosen for my Text, and alluding thereunto, Incendimus, saith he, propheticum illud Thymia…a—sacrificamus & incendimus aliàs quidem memoriam magni illius sacrificii, secundum mysteria ab ipso tradita, celebrantes, Eucharistiamque pro salute nostra religiosis hymnis & precibus Deo offerentes; aliàs nosmetipsos totos ei consecrantes, ejusque Pontifici verbo corpore animo que dicantes.

But above all other, S. Chrysostome speaks so full and home to the point, as nothing can be more; to wit, Hom. 17. in Epist. ad Hebraeos, upon these words cap. 9. v. 26. But now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself: Quid vero, saith he, nos nonne quotidie offerimus? He answers, Offerimus quidem, sed mortem ejus commemorando, & ipsa una est hostia, non multae: Quomodo una est, non multae? Quoniam semel fuit oblata; Illa illata fuit in sancta sanctorum, hoc est, illius figura & ipsa illius [veritas:] And a little after, Pontifex illo noster est, qui hostiam illam obtulit, quae nos mundat. Illam nunc quoque offerimus, quae tunc fuit oblata, nec consumi potest. Hoc foreign, Hoc in commemorationem fit illius, quae tunc fiebat. Hoc enim p. 527facite, inquit, foreign. Non aliam hostiam, sicut pontifex [Iudaicus,] sed eandem semper facimus, vel potius sacrificii Memoriam operamur; Graecè, foreign; what can be more exprest then this is? Primatius is short, but no lesse to the purpose. Offerunt quidem, saith he, Sacerdotes nostri, sed ad recordationem mortis ejus, in 10. cap. ad Hebraeos. S. Augustin cals it Memoriale sacrificium in his Book against Faustus.

In a word, the Sacrifice of Christians is nothing but that one Sacrifice of Christ once offered upon the Crosse, again and again commemorated; which is elegantly exprest by those words of S. Andrew, recorded in the History of his Passion, written by the Presbyters of Achaia: where AEgeas the proconsull requiring of him to sacrifice to Idols, he is said to have answered thus; Omnipotenti Deo, qui unus & verus est, ego omni Die sacrifico, non thuris fumum, nec taurorum mugientium carnes, nec hircorum sanguinem: sed immaculatum agnum quotidiè in Altari crueis sacrifico; cujus carnes postquam omnis populus credentium manducaverit, & ejus sanguinem biberit, Agnus qui sacrificatus est integer perseverat & vivus. This Riddle though AEgeas the Proconsull were not able to unfold, I make no question but you are: And here I conclude.

FINIS.

End of the text · Joseph Mede, Discourses on Divers Texts of Scripture (1642)