Discourse Concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Section 1
Menſa Myſtica.
THe Sacraments being not unfitly called by an ancient Writer,foreign. Dionyſ. cop. 3. Eccleſ hierarch. The Garments that are caſt about our Saviour; and it being the profeſſion of Divines, to labour to ſee the naked face of truth; it is moſt worthy our pains, to open and reveal thoſe ſecrets that lie hid and vailed under ſymbols and ſenſible things.
And to ſay the truth, theſe Veſtments are ſo thin and tranſparent, that the truth doth ſhine through them, and ſhew it ſelf to well-prepared minds. They are but like to thoſe thin clouds wherein the Sun is ſometimes wrapped, which render its body the more viſible to our weak and trembling eyes.
I cannot pretend to have converſed much with barefac'd truth, yet having been drawn to publiſh a few thoughts concerning Baptiſm, I ſhall now further endeavour to unfold thoſe myſteries that lie hid under the coverings of bread broken, and wine poured out, in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, that men may not (Ixion-like) embrace a meer cloud inſtead of God himſelf.
My ſight is not ſo ſharp as to diſcern the very fleſh and blood of Chriſt in thoſe forms and ſhapes of bread and wine; no more could that Eagleeyed Author I mentioned, though he thought he could ſee as far as the coeleſtial Hierarchy, which will appear to any one that ſhall be at the pains to read him. Yet I am ſo far from thinking that they are meer ſigns of what Chriſt did for us, or onelyonly repreſentations of the benefits we receive by him, but am perſwaded that they exhibit our Lord himſelf unto believing minds, and put them into a ſurer poſſeſſion of him.
The truth commonly lies between two extreams, and being a peaceable thing, cannot join it ſelf with either of the directly oppoſite parties. And therefore I ſhall ſeek for her in a middle path, not bidding ſuch a defiance to the corporeal preſence, as to deny the real; nor ſo ſubverting the fancy of a miraculous changed into a coeleſtial ſubſtance, as to level theſe things into meer ſhadows.