Discourse Concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Section 1 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
FIrſt then this holy rite of eating bread broken, and drinking wine poured out, is a ſolemn commemoration of Chriſt, according as he himſelf ſaith to all his Apoſtles, Luk. 22.19. and particularly to St. Paul, who twice makes mention of this command,1 Cor. 11.24, 25. Do this in remembrance (or for a remembrance) of me. His meaning is not, that we ſhould hereby call him to mind (for we are never to forget him) but rather that we ſhould keep him in mind, and endeavour to perpetuate his Name in the world, and propagate the memory of him and his benefits to the lateſt poſterity. Now this is done by making a ſolemn rehearſal of his famous Acts, and declaring the ineſtimable mable greatneſs of his royal love. For foreign doth not ſignifie barely recordatio, recording or regiſtring of his favours in our mind; but commemoratio, a ſolemn declaration that we do well bear them in our hearts, and will continue the memory, and ſpread the fame of him as far, and as long as ever we are able.
I hope that none will conceive ſo little to be meant by this word, remember or commemorate, as a naked mention of his Name with our mouthes, or a dead image of him in our minds. For all theſe words, to know, believe, meditate, remember, and the like, are hearty words, and full of life. Though they ſeem to ſpeak only actions of the mind, yet in holy language they include in their comprehenſion the affections of the heart. Cold, pale thoughts which have no feeling of themſelves, nor leave any footſteps or memorials behind them, are as good as none at all. And therefore I underſtand hereby a very warm ſence in the ſoul, which begets and ſtirs up ſuch motions in the heart as the conceived object is apt for to raiſe.
Suppoſe you have been in deep love with any perſon, and have loſt the half of your ſelves, when you remember the death of that friend, the image of him is ready to rob you of your lives, and make all the blood retire to your heart, as if death were about to ſurprize the main Fort of life. But on the contrary, if you think of that perſon as alive, the remembrance of him makes your ſpirits for to dance, and the blood to run into your cheeks, and ſmiles to ſit on your forehead, and breeds a pleaſance in your whole man. Juſt ſo would our Saviour be remembred by you, that the thoughts of him may even kill you with grief, and tranſport you with love, and captivate your wills, and ingage all your affections, that they may be at his command, and iſſued forth at his pleaſure. As you think of a friend, of a father, of a wife or a husband, or any one that hath got the poſſeſſion of your heart, ſo think of him.
By which examples you may ſee, that I intend not a natural paſſion, and a ſenſual commotion in the ſoul, but a well-grounded affection.
When we read a true Hiſtory, or a Romance, we are apt to ſide with ſome perſons in the ſtory; and when we meet with a Duel, we favour one of the Combatants, and are ſenſible of his wounds, and ſorry for his fall, as on the contrary we are glad he comes off a conquerour and wins the field. So may a man when he thinks of Chriſt and his Tragedy, conceive a natural hatred and indignation at the treachery of Judas, and the vile malice of the Phariſees, and be much moved to ſee him uſed in ſuch an unworthy manner; it may be fetch ſighs from his heart, and tears from his eyes, and put him into ſuch a huge paſſion as if he ſuffered with him. But if all this have non effect in his life, and produce no anſwerable fruits afterward, it is no more than a natural motion, and is void of the divine and heavenly ſpirit.
We muſt remember Chriſt therefore, as Nehemiah deſires God to remember him, by doing good: or as we remember our Creator, by a true ſubjection of all our faculties to his ſoveraign will.
Then we remember him as we ought, when we get him formed in our hearts, and have a more living image of him left in our minds; when it ſtirs and is buſie in our ſouls, and awakens all other images, and calls up all divine truths that are within us, to ſend them forth upon their ſeveral imployments into our lives.
Now for the fuller underſtanding of this matter, you muſt know that the Paſchal Supper (which is called by Greg. Naz. very elegantly, foreign, a more obſcure type of this type) was inſtituted for a remembrance, and was a Feaſt of commemoration, as will ſoon appear if you look but a while into the particulars of it. And firſt you muſt obſerve that the very day of the Paſſeover was foreign for a memorial of their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt, as you may read Exod. 12.14. and therefore they are bid, Exod. 13.3. to remember this day in which they came out of Egypt, out of the houſe of bondage, &c. Thence it was that they were commanded to eat the Lamb with bitter herbs (Exod. 12.8.) for a remembrance of their hard bondage in Egypt, which made their lives bitter unto them, Exod. 1.14. So was the unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, in remembrance that they brought their bread out of Egypt unleavened (Exod. 12.34.) and were there in great ſervitude (Exod. 13.3.) ſo that their ſoul was even dried and parched in them. The later Jews have added the charóſeth, which is a thick ſawce, in memory of the clay and morter which they wrought in; and they uſe red wine for a remembrance that Pharaoh ſhed the blood of their children. To which may be added, that God required there ſhould be a rehearſal to their children of what the Lord had done for them, that ſo this feaſt might be for a ſign upon their hand, and for a memorial between their eyes to all poſterity, as you may ſee, Exod. 13.8, 9. And thence it is that the Jews call that ſection of the Law, or the Leſſon which they read that night, the Haggádah, annunciation or ſhewing forth, becauſe they commemorated and predicated both their hard ſervices, and Gods wonderful ſalvation, and the praiſes that were due to him for ſo great a mercy.
It is eaſie now to apply all this to our preſent purpoſe, if we do but conſider that this likewiſe is a holy feaſt. Whence it is called the Lords Supper (not only becauſe he appointed it,1 Cor. 11.20. but becauſe he was the end of its celebration) and an entertainment at the table of the Lord.1 Cor. 10.21.
This Feaſt our Saviour firſt keeping with his Apoſtles who were Jews, he makes part of the Paſſeover-chear to be the proviſion of it. For he takes the bread and wine, which uſed to go about in that Supper through the whole family, to ſignifie his broken body, and his blood which was to be ſhed. Now this was to be in commemoration of a deliverance wrought by him, from a greater tyranny then the Iſraelites were under, which made all the world to groan, and was ready to thruſt us all below into the Devils fiery furnace. And therefore, as it is ſaid, Exod. 13.8. thou ſhalt ſhew thy ſon in that day, ſaying, This is done, &c. So the Apoſtle (in a manifeſt alluſion to that phraſe) ſaith,1 Cer. 11.26. that when we eat this bread, and drink this cup, we do ſhew forth the Lords death until he come. So that we may conclude, that in this feaſt in honour of Chriſt, we are to make a rehearſal of his famous acts, to proclaim his mighty deeds, to ſpeak of the glorious honour of his Majeſty, and of his wondrous works, and to indeavour that one generation may praiſe his works to another,Pſl. 146.3, 4, &c. and declare his mighty acts, that they may ſpeak of the glory of his Kingdom, and talk of his power.
And indeed it ſhould ſeem, that the memory of a thing is by nothing ſo ſenſibly preſerved, and ſo deeply ingraven in mens minds, as by feaſts and feſtival joys. For it hath been the way of all the world, to ſend to poſterity the memory of their benefactors or famous perſons, by inſtituting of ſuch ſolemn times, wherein men did aſſemble together, and by the joys and pleaſures of them, more imprint the kindneſſes and noble atchievements of ſuch Worthies in their minds. So we find among the Greeks their foreign in honour of Aeacus, their foreign in honour of Ajax, and in latter times their foreign, and ſuch like, in remembrance of the merits of ſuch perſons. and how highly they deſerved of the places where their feaſts were celebrated. In like ſort the Jews had their feaſts in memory of ſome great and rare paſſage of divine providence, though not of any particular perſons, leſt they ſhould be tempted to worſhip them as their Saviours, according as the cuſtom of the heathen was. But all worſhip being due to our Lord and Saviour, he thought fit in like manner to appoint this feaſt to be as a Paſſeover unto us, a holy ſolemnity that ſhould call us together and aſſemble us in one body, that we might be more ſenſibly impreſſed with him, and that all generations might call him bleſſed, and he might never be forgotten to the worlds end.
Now of two things it is a remembrance, and two ways we do commemorate or remember them;
I. It is inſtituted foreign,Juſtin Martyr Dialog. cum Tryph. &c. for a remembrance that he was imbodied for thoſe that believe on him, and became paſſible for their ſakes. The bread and the wine are in token that he had a true body, and that the word was made fleſh. For thence Tertullian and Irenaeus do confute Marcion, who denied the truth of Chriſts fleſh, and made his body to be a phantaſtical thing; becauſe then real bread and wine could not be a figure of it: and ſo Theodoret ſaith out of Ignatius, Dialog. 3.that ſome (Simon and Menander I think) did not admit foreign, thankſgivings and offerings, (viz. of bread and wine in this Sacrament) becauſe they did not confeſs that it was the fleſh of our Saviour.
Now with what affection we ſhould call to mind this love, that God would appear to us not by an Angel in a bright cloud, not in a body of pure air, but by his Son in our own fleſh, I leave your own hearts to tell you. Methink, we ſhould wiſh that all the world could hear us proclaim this love; and that even the fields and foreſts, i. e. the moſt deſolate and heatheniſh places might reſound our joyful acclamations to him. We ſhould wiſh to feel ſomething of extaſie, and to go out of our ſelves, when we think of him. For
II.Juſt. Mart. Ib. It was inſtituted foreign, in commemoration of his paſſion and ſufferings for us. As the bread and wine do commemorate the truth of his body; ſo do bread broken and wine poured out, commemorate the truth of his ſufferings for us, which thoſe phantaſtical people in the firſt times did no leſs deny. And the bread and wine being given to us ſeverally, not both together, do clearly tell us that he was really dead, his vital blood being ſeparated from his body, and his veins and heart being emptied of it. This is that miracle of love which the Apoſtle ſaith we ſhould ſhew forth till he come: this is that famous act which never ennobled the ſtory of any perſon, that the Lord would purchaſe enemies by his own blood; yea by the blood of the Croſs reconcile them to himſelf. The thoughts of this is able to wound a heart of marble with love, and to turn a rock into a fountain of tears, and to unlooſe the tongue of the dumb, that they may ſpeak the honour of his Name, and ſhew forth his praiſe. And therefore becauſe this was ſuch a ſingular inſtance of love, and becauſe it contains in it ſo many ſecrets (which we ſhould have before our eyes) it is the chief thing that we are to make a remembrance of.
But, as I ſaid before, there are two parts of this Commemoration, and it cannot be contained within the bounds of this world, but we muſt make it reach as far as Heaven. For,
1. We do ſhew it forth and declare it unto men, which is ſufficiently clear by all that hath been ſaid. We do publiſh and annunciate unto all that he is the Saviour of the world, and that he hath died for us, and purchaſed bleſſings thereby beyond the eſtimate and account of humane thought. And further the word foreign may import, that we do extol, praedicate, magnifie, and highly lift up in our praiſes this great benefit, ſo that all may come to the knowledge of it, as far as is in our powers to procure. This commemoration the Miniſter chiefly makes unto the people, and all the people together with him to all that are preſent, ſo that all may wonder at his love.
When our Saviour therefore ſaith, Do this in remembrance of me, the meaning is, do this in remembrance that I dwelt in fleſh, in memory of what I ſuffered, in memory of the infinite price of my blood which I ſhed for you, in memory of the victory that I have obtained by it over the enemies and tyrants of your ſouls; in memory of the immortal glory that I have purchaſed for you: celebrate this feaſt in memory of all theſe things, and when I am dead, let me alway live in your heart. Tell them one to another in a ſolemn manner, and declare them in the face of my Church. Let all ages know theſe things as long as the world ſhall laſt; that as the benefit is of infinite merit, ſo may the acknowledgement be an eternal memorial. Be ſo careful in doing this, that when I come again I may find you ſo doing.
2. We do ſhew forth the Lords death unto God, and commemorate before him the great things he hath done for us. We keep it (as it were) in his memory, and plead before him the Sacrifice of his Son, which we ſhew unto him, humbly requiring that grace and pardon, with all other benefits of it, may be beſtowed on us. And as the Miniſter doth moſt powerfully pray in the virtue of Chriſts ſacrifice when he repreſents it unto God; ſo do the people alſo, when they ſhew unto him what his Son hath ſuffered. Every man may ſay, Behold, O Lord, the bleeding wounds of thy own Son; remember how his body was broken for us, think upon his precious blood which was ſhed in our behalf. Let us die, if he have not made a full ſatiſfaction. We deſire not to be pardoned if he have not paid our debt. But canſt thou behold him and not be well pleaſed with us? Canſt thou look on his body and blood which we repreſent to thee, and turn thy face from us? Haſt thou not ſet him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood? O Lord then ſuffer us ſinful creatures to plead with thee. Let us prevail in the virtue of his ſacrifice for the graces and bleſſings that we need; and hide not thy ſelf from us, unleſs thou canſt hide thy ſelf from thy Son too, whom we bring with us unto thee. In this ſort may we take the boldneſs to ſpeak to God, and together with a repreſentation of Chriſt, we may repreſent our own wants, and we may be confident, that when God ſees his Son, when we hold up him (as it were) between his anger and our ſouls, he will take ſome pity, and have mercy upon us. Juſt as a poor man, pleading with a King, commemorates to him the worthy deeds of ſome of his Anceſtors, or makes mention of the name of ſome high Favourite, for whoſe ſake he deſires his Petition may be granted. So it is with us when we come before God to requeſt mercy of him; we can hope to prevail for nothing, but through the Name of our Lord, whom we can never mention with ſo much advantage, as when we ſolemnly commemorate his ſufferings and deſervings. For then we pray and do ſomething elſe alſo which God hath commanded; ſo that there is the united force of many acceptable things to make us prevalent. And hence I ſuppoſe it is, that Iſid. Peluſ. calls the Sacramental bread foreign,L. 1. Epist. 123. the ſhew-bread (as we render it) which we ſet before God, as that ſtood alway before his face in the time of the Law, that God looking upon it, might remember his people Iſrael for good.
It will not be unprofitable to add, That this was one reaſon why the Ancients called this action a Sacrifice (which the Romaniſts now ſo much urge) becauſe it doth repreſent the Sacrifice which Chriſt once offered. It is a figure of his death which we commemorate, unto which the Apoſtle Paul (as a Learned man conceives) hath a reference,L'Emptreur. when he ſaith to the Galatians, Gal. 3.1.That Jeſus Chriſt was ſet forth evidently before their eyes, crucified among them. They ſaw (as it were) his Sacrifice on the Croſs, it was ſo lively figured in this Sacrament. And it is very plain, that Chryſoſtome underſtood no more,Hom. 27. foreign, &c when as he thus ſpeaks, upon the Epiſtle to the Hebrews; What then? do not we offer every day? yet, we offer by making a commemoration (foreign) of his death. And we do not make another ſacrifice every day, but alway the ſame, or rather a remembrance of a ſacrifice. Such an unbloody Sacrifice, which is only rememorative, and in repreſentation, we all acknowledge. And if that would content them, we make no ſcruple to uſe Euſebius his words, who ſaith it is a remembrance inſtead of a ſacrifice aL. 1. Demonſ. Evang. foreign.: and in another place, We ſacrifice a remembrance of the great ſacrifice bforeign.. And ſo every Chriſtian is a Prieſt or a Sacrifice when he comes to the table of the Lord. For as our Lord ſaith to his Apoſtles, Luke 22.19. Do this in remembrance of me; ſo he ſaith to every private Chriſtian the ſame words, 1 Cor. 11.24. onelyonly there is this difference, that Do this, &c. in St. Luke, doth manifeſtly referre to thoſe words before, To take bread, give thanks, and give to others (which is only the Miniſters work;) but in St. Paul, Do this, &c. referres to, Take eat, which immediately precedes, and this is to be done by all. So that both the one and the other, in their ſeveral kinds, do commemorate Chriſt, and repreſent him to the Father.
And that it is onelyonly a memorial of a Sacrifice, and not a Propitiatory Sacrifice, the Arguments of a Divine in the Council of Trent will prove,Hiſt. Cone. Trent. in ſpite of all oppoſers: Our Saviour, ſaith he, did not offer ſacrifice when he inſtituted this Sacrament, for then the oblation of the Croſs would have been ſuperfluous, becauſe mankind would have been redeemed by that of the Supper which went before. Beſides (ſaith he) the Sacrament of the Altar (as he calls it) was inſtituted by Chriſt for a memorial of that which he offered on the Croſs; now there cannot be a memorial but of a thing paſt; therefore the Euchariſt could not be a ſacrifice before the oblation of Chriſt on the Croſs, but ſhewed what we were afterward to do. From hence we argue, That if it was not ſo then, neither is it ſo now. We do nothing but what Chriſt then did; and therefore if he offered no ſacrifice, neither do we, but onelyonly commemorate that ſacrifice which he was then about to offer. Therefore a Portugal Divine in that Aſſembly made a ſpeech to prove that it could not be demonſtrated out of the Scripture,Georg. de Ataide. that this Sacrament is a ſacrifice, but onelyonly out of the ancient Fathers; and he anſwered all the arguments to the contrary ſo ſtrongly, and the Proteſtants arguments afterwards ſo weakly, that the moſt intelligent were of opinion, that he did not ſatisfie himſelf. But of this perhaps too much, unleſs the ſtate of things among us plead my excuſe.
I will add but this one thing more, and ſo put an end to this Chapter. That it may be called a Sacrifice, becauſe with the Action we do offer Prayers to God for all good things.Epiſt. 59. ad Paulinum. And ſo St. Auguſtin expounds that place in 1 Tim. 2.1. concerning the Petitions put up at the Lords Supper. By Supplications he underſtands the Petitions put up before the bread and wine be bleſſed. By Prayers he underſtands thoſe whereby they are bleſſed and ſanctified, and made ready to be given to the people. By Interceſſions he underſtands the prayers made for the people when they do partake, (for then the Miniſter, as if he were a kind of Advocate, doth offer them to God, and commit them to his hand) after which follow the foreign giveings of thanks, which are made by all, for that and all other mercies that the good God beſtoweth on us. Whatſoever becomes of this interpretation, we need not fear to call the whole action by the name of a Sacrifice, ſeeing part of it is an Oblation to God of hearty prayers; and it is not unuſual for that to be ſaid of a whole that is exactly true but of one part. But methinks it much unbecomes Chriſtians to quarrel about Names, eſpecially about the name of that which ſhould end all quarrels; and therefore I only intended to ſhew how this word may be uſed (if we pleaſe) without danger, and how the ancient Church did underſtand it.