The Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper, Treatise · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Why Chriſt deferr'd the instituting of this Supper, untill the night in which he was betrayed.
THat Chriſt could have ordained this Supper before this time there is no doubt, but why he deferr'd it to this night in which he was betrayed, foreign, Chryſoſt. in loc.ſaith Chryſoſtom, was not without ſome Reaſon; and the Lord himſelf intimates as much, Luke 22. 15. With deſire I have deſired to eat this Paſſeover with you, before I ſuffer: Which Reaſons are divers, and may be ordered to two heads:
1. Why he inſtituted it at the cloſe of the Supper, for after Supper he took the Cup, v. 24.
2. Why he inſtituted and celebrated it a few hours (if hours) before he was betrayed.
§. 1 Firſt, Being ordained at or at the end of the Paſſeover and Supper annexed, which ſome call coena juſta Grotius.or apolytica, the dimiſſory Supper it muſt of neceſſity be at night, for the Paſſeover was eaten at the beginning or fore-part of the night, therefore Chriſt was neceſsitate legis adactus, ſaith Peter Martyr, moved by In locum.neceſſity of the Law to do it in the night, and after Supper, as ſubſtituting it in the place and room of the Paſſeover (as Paraeus) which he firſt fulfilled, and then abrogated it, and he abrogated it as one that did not impugn it, for it was an Ordinance of God, and therefore he did not tear it down, as ſome old hangings off the wall, but he did fulfill it by Obſerving it, and decently laid it in the grave by placing in its room the memorial of an infinitely greater, and more largely extending mercy, than the deliverance from Aegypt was: So that when he whom that roſted and ſlain Lamb did type out, was as the true Paſſeover ſlain and ſacrificed, then it was time the body being preſent to draw a curtain over the picture, and in ſtead of that commemoration Uſed at the Paſſeover, when they broke the bread, and diſtributed it, ſaying, This is the bread of affliction, which our Fathers ſuffered in Aegypt, to put a new memorial upon it, This is my body broken for you; This is my bloud ſhed for you, and as that continued in the Church till the body came which that ſhadow repreſented; ſo ſhall this continue in the Church, till the perſon come alive, which is here repreſented dying, and then an end of this too
2. At the end of the paſchal Supper, to ſhew that Janſen. Harm. p. 105.in this Sacrament there is no bodily repaſt intended, for they had already ſupped, but a ſpiritual refection of the ſoul. The roſted Lamb might afford the gueſts a belly-full; ſo the Religion, and Ordinances, and Promiſes in the Law were more outward and bodily, but this Sacrament of the Goſpel is an after Supper modicum, full of ſpiritual ſignification, but not ſo ſtuffie for outward matter, that we may prepare, not (as Auſtin ſaith) our months, but our faith, and expect to ſatisfie not the hunger and thirſt of the body, as they might, but the hunger and thirſt of the ſoul, which in this little model may finde enough and overmeaſure: The Temple-ſervice among the Jews was an Heb. 9. 1, 10. Rom. 2. penult.outward Religion, and as their Ordinances were outward, ſo they generally were Jews outwardly; we wonder that they ſo little ſaw and taſted the marrow and kernel of them, and ſtuck in the rinde feeding on the cruſt of moſt Ordinances, as if a man ſhould think the cloth would heal the ſore, and not the plaiſter ſpread upon it; but if we take eſtimate of them by our ſelves, we ſhall finde that moſt of us ſhould have been as they in that caſe, for God having ordained for us outward Sacraments, for number few, for Obſervation eaſie, for ſignification excellent, as Auſtin ſpeaks, Epiſt. 118.we are for the general, but outward in them, & though we be clearlier taught what is within them, yet we are in the Uſe of them, but outwardly reverent as they, and do not ſpiritually and inwardly enjoy the kernell of them, which the Apoſtle took notice of, when he ſaid, Not diſcerning the Lords body, and ſo they are ſeals indeed, but rather ſeals of a Letter, which ſhut it up, than ſeals of a Deed or Covenant conveying the Eſtate to us.
3. Though it be not a Reaſon why this Ordinance was appointed after the Paſſeover-Supper, yet I may Obſerve it to you in this place, that hence it is called The Lords Supper, from the Author it's called the Lords, and from the Time it's called a Supper, being celebrated in the night, and at the cloſe of Supper. Some later Maldonat. in Mat. 26. 26. Eſtius in 1 Cor. 11. 20.Jeſuites do tax the novelty of the name, and affirm, Nullus in Scripturâ locus, &c. No place of Scripture cals it ſo; for the term in this Chapter refers, ſay they, to the foreign, or Feaſts of Love, Uſed with it, they may ſay as well, that Lords Table (1 Cor. 10. 21.) refers to them too, which we believe not; it is a ſpiritual feaſt, that which Matthew cals a dinner, Matth. 22. 4. is called by Luke a Supper, Luk. 14. 16. but we call it the Lords Supper, though it be received in the morning, or any other time of day, with reference to the time of the firſt inſtitution, as the Paſſeover in after-times was called the Paſſeover, not becaUſe there was any deſtroying Angel paſt over their hoUſes every year, but in reſpect of the firſt Paſſeover in Aegypt, and in memory of that, wherein there was a paſſing over the Iſraelites hoUſes, and a deſtroying of the Aegyptians firſt-born. I could name to you many other names, that this Sacrament bears in Scripture and ancient Authours, farre more ancient then their Miſſa, which is but once found in Ambroſe, and in none before him, or the Sacrament of the Altar, as they call it, but I inſiſt not now on names. He that will may ſee them in Caſaub. Exercit. 16.
§. 2 Secondly, Why the Lord Jeſus ordained it a very little before he was betrayed.
1. He now ſeals his will, which men Uſe to do Paraeus in loc.when they are in ſight of death. This is the New Teſtament (ſaith he) in my bloud; when men make their Wils, they bequeath their body to the earth. Chriſt bequeaths his body and bloud to us; He beſtows his body natural on his body myſtical, the Church; The Teſtatour is Chriſt, Heb. 9. 16. The Legacy beſtowed is himſelf, and all ſpiritual benefits with him, My body and bloud; The heirs are, all believers, Diſciples; The Executours for the outward part are thoſe to whom he ſaith, Hoc facite, do this, execute this my Will; The Witneſſes are the Evangeliſts, and Saint Paul; Here is a perfect ſealing then of a Teſtament, which is of force by the death of the Teſtatour, and nothing muſt be added or taken away, for it is a Will ſealed and Gal. 3. 15.publiſht.
2. To leave it as his ultimum vale, or laſt memorial Aug. Epiſt. 118of precious reliſh and eſteem; when men are going, then they give memorial gifts unto their friends, then they give their pictures, Keep this for me, Remember me, when you ſee me not; When men are dying, then they pull their ring off their finger, and leave it with their beloved; Oh what impreſſion have the verba morientis, the word of a dying man! As if a man, ſaith Chryſoſtome, ſhould ſay to children, Theſe were your fathers dying words, This was his laſt charge, This he ſpoke and died, and there is nothing that is remembred with more awe, more affection than the laſt words, the laſt gift of dying friends.
3. To teſtifie his deareſt love to his Church and people, that when death was in ſight, and all the unſpeakable ſorrows, ſhame and ſuffering, were now ready to invade him, when injuries from men were ready to load him, and the juſtice of God upon ſinne to be demonſtrated on him, all theſe did not make him forget his love; His love to his poor people overtop'd all; He loved them to the end, Joh. 13. 2. and expreſt it at the laſt, and when he was in expectation of utmoſt ſorrow, he forgets not his love to his.
4. To fortifie his Diſciples againſt temptations, which were now ruſhing in upon them, when they ſhould preſently ſee their Lord led away as a priſoner to be arraigned, and themſelves ſcattered and diſcouraged. Peter denying, bloudy enemies inſulting, then to fortifie their hearts, Let not your hearts be troubled, Joh. 1…. 1. He adminiſters this Sacrament to ſtrengthen the Union and Communion between him and them, and to tie them to him ſo faſt, that the gates of hell might not prevail againſt them, that their faith might not fail, though it fainted, as was ſaid to Peter, and though they fall, yet they might not utterly be caſt down, as the Pſalmiſt ſaith; They had before eaten the body, which they after ſaw broken, and drunk the bloud which they after ſaw ſhed; The broken body was not theirs that broke it; The bloud ſhed was not theirs that ſhed it, but it was theirs that had before eaten it, and drunk it; ſo God underprops his weak ſervants before the winde blow, and ſeaſonably antidotes the hearts before the bitter cup, that they may ſtand faſt, though for fear they runaway.
5. That when we iterate this Sacrament our hearts may be prickt with remembrance of this diſmal night, Chryſoſt in loc.foreign, ſaith Chryſostom, that he might exceedingly prick us; for a wounded heart is a good preparative to the receiving of a wounded Saviour, He was wounded for our tranſgreſsions, he was bruiſed for our iniquities, Iſa. 53. 5. Let a man ſurvey this night how his bleſſed Saviour was for him betray'd into the hands of bloudy men; This right he was plunged into moſt dolefull ſorrows; He was amazed and loaden with grief, exceeding ſorrowfull, in a wofull agony, ſweating like drops of bloud, running down to the ground without any comfort from any man; his chief Diſciples could not pray with him, all fled and ran away from him, betray'd by one of his own, denied by another, ſending forth loud cries and tears; God ſmit the Shepherd, ſcatter'd the flock, an Angel from heaven ſtrengthening him, an Angel that had not the benefit of Redemption by him, but not a man for whoſe Redemption this was: Oh the dark eclypſe that now ſeized on this Sunne of righteouſneſs! Who can expreſs the anguiſh and dolour of this night, foreign, though he was a very ſtone, ſaith Chryſoſtom, it would melt him, wound him? Therefore I exhort you all, when you come to this Sacrament, bring this night with you, bring this night with you in which he was betray'd: It is a night of Obſervation to be remembred, as was ſaid of the firſt Paſſeover in Aegypt, Exod. 12. 42. ſo it may be ſaid of the night of this firſt Supper, read, read again, or get ſome body to read to you, this Hiſtory related by Matthew or St Luke, and water your meditations with ſorrowfull tears, not as he that wept when he read the Hiſtory of Dido in the Poet, out of an imaginary compaſſion, but as beholding in this glaſs both your ſins, and your redemption. This do in remembrance of him.