The Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper, Treatise · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of the Inward thing ſignified or repreſented in this Supper.
I. What is preſented to the Beleever.
NOw we ſhall proceed to open to you what Chriſt preſents unto and ſets before the faithfull in this Supper, and what the faithfull do receive in the right Uſe thereof.
For the firſt, There is here preſented and ſet before you in this Supper,
1. Chriſt himſelf ſacrificed for you, with the fruits and benefits of his death, or of the ſacrifice of himſelf.
2. The New Teſtament or the New Covenant, confirmed and ratified by his Blood, with the contents of that Covenant, viz. Remiſſion of ſins, and other benefits by conſequence flowing from it.
§. 1 1. Here is Chriſt himſelf ſacrificed for you, with the Fruits and Benefits accruing from his death, preſented and ſet before you: The efficacy of his Hooker Eccl. lib. 5. pag. 360.Body and Blood is not all that is here preſented to be received, as is conſiſt by the true Proteſtant Churches of our Confeſſion, but firſt and principally Chriſt himſelf; as the influence of heaven is in plants, beaſts, men, but there is not ſuch a thing only here ſet forth, but a Divine and myſticall Union with Chriſt himſelf; for here is a participation ſaith the Apoſtle, of the Body and Blood of Chriſt, who is exhibited, as really and truly preſent, not oppoſing reall to ſpirituall, but to chimericall or phantaſticall, nor intending his preſence in the Elements, as contained in them, but to the faith of the receiver, who hath union with him. The very Body and Blood of Chriſt, that Body which was faſtened Peter Martyr in 1 Cor. 11. 24. Calvin in 1 Cor. 11. 24, 25.to the Croſs, that Blood which was ſhed was a Sacrifice, as offered up to God, is meat and drink, as offered unto us; and therefore our Divines ſay, that Chriſt is truly and really, but yet ſpiritually, given to us, as he was given for us. This is my Body which is broken for you, given for you, ſaith the Text, and that which was given for you, is given to you: He was given for you in the Sacrifice, he is given to you in the Sacrament, with thoſe bleſſed fruits and benefits that flow from his Death.
§. 2 2. Here is preſented to you the New Teſtament, a Covenant ratified and confirmed in his Blood, with the benefits and priviledges thereof. It is called New, either from the excellency of it, as the word New ſometimes ſignifies, or for the durableneſs and perpetuity of it, as the Apoſtle explains it, Heb. 8. ult. in oppoſition to the Old made with Iſrael, Cameron in Myreth. Matth. 26.which was to determine and vaniſh away as to the form of diſpenſation. This Covenant is, That God will be our God, and we ſhall be his people: That he will forgive our iniquities and remember our ſins no more, &c. and the Blood of Chriſt is the ſanction of this Covenant, for without Blood is no remiſſion; the blood of Chriſt is the Seal which ratifies the truth and validity of this Covenant: The Wine in this Sacrament repreſents that Blood of Chriſt, and is not ſo properly a Seal confirming the Covenant in it ſelf, as conveying the comfort and participation of it unto us; or if you will, it is a Seal of Remiſſion of ſin to us, which is an Article of the Covenant that is ſealed by the Blood of Chriſt, and therefore it is ſaid, This is the blood of the New Teſtament which is ſhed for many, for Remiſsion of ſins.
§. 3 And ſo you have here preſented to your Faith Chriſt himſelf ſacrificed for you, the New Covenant confirmed by Chriſts Blood ſhed for the pardon of ſinnes, which are the higheſt and moſt glorious things of Gods gift to mankinde, who hath in the diſhes of this outward Sacrament ſet before you ſuch good cheer to feed upon, as all Sacrifices under the Law and Feaſts were but the meer ſhadows of. Take heed of thinking meanly of the furniture of this Table: God hath no better proviſion to ſet before a ſinner, than his Sons fleſh and blood, and his Covenant of grace ſealed and confirmed: our Socinian likes not this, that word, My Body broken for you, my Blood ſhed for remiſsion of ſinnes, makes him beſtirre himſelf to turn off the Body broken to the bread, and the Blood ſhed to the wine: and ſo you ſee two extreams, the Papiſt turns bread into Chriſts Body, and wine into Blood; the Socinian on the other hand, that which is ſpoken of the Body puts off upon the bread, and that of the Blood upon the wine, that the death of Chriſt might not be a proper Sacrifice for us.
§. 4. II. What the faithfull do receive in the right Uſe of this Ordinance.
§. 4 What the faithfull do receive in the right Uſe of this Ordinance? and this is eaſily anſwered: For as gueſts at the Table receive the meat and drink ſet before them, ſo having ſeen what God preſents to them, we ſhall eaſily finde what they receive at this Table, and that is,
1. The faithfull communicant receives Chriſt himſelf, or his Body and Blood: Faith is a receiving of Chriſt himſelf, we cannot receive the benefits that come by him without receiving of himſelf; as in Marriage the conſent is, I take thee, not I take thine, and yet this is conſequent, upon that, our union with Chriſt is ſtrengthened and more cloſed; and this union with Chriſt is one of thoſe great myſteries, Eph. 5. 32. reſembled by man and wiſe, who are one fleſh, though a thouſand miles aſunder; and as ſhe is under covert, and free from arreſt of Law for debt, ſo a Beleever by his union with Chriſt is under coverture, and the curſe and condemnation of Gods Law cannot touch him: or as members knit, or branches united to the tree, receive influx of life and ſpirits from the head and root, ſo Beleevers united to Chriſt by his Spirit receive influences and ſpirit and life from him by vertue of their union, I in them, ſaith Chriſt, Joh. 7. 23, 26. The inhabitation of Chriſt in his people, ſeems to be expreſt by their eating and drinking of his Body and Blood ſpiritually, and that inhabitation cannot be without a preſence of him; ſuch as his inhabitation is, ſuch is his preſence, both reall, and yet both ſpirituall, he dwels in our hearts by faith, Eph. 3. 17.
§. 5 2. The faithfull communicant receives the confirmation of that Covenant which is his only comfort. He takes hold of the Covenant by the Seal of it, the Blood of Chriſt, the ſeverall articles whereof, as that God will be our God, and that in Chriſt, he will forgive us all our ſins, &c. are particularly ſealed up for our better evidence and peace and ſecurity, that we may be inabled to make a perſonall and particular claim of the benefits and priviledges of it, which are called The unſearchable riches of Chriſt.
§. 6 And from hence, ver. 12. the receiving of Chriſt himſelf, and of the Covenant made in Chriſt and confirmed in his Blood, doth follow that which is uſually ſaid to be the benefit of this Sacrament, the ſtrengthening, refreſhing, ſuſtentation of the ſoul by thoſe graces, comforts, hopes, which flow by conſequence from Chriſt or the Covenant, ſo that whatſoever a man may expect for bodily ſtrength or reparation from bread and wine, the like he may expect from Chriſt or the Covenant for his ſoul; life maintained, graces quickened, deadneſs enlivened, reſolutions enabled, hope erected, faith ſtrengthened, luſts ſubdued, which follow by conſequence upon our union with Chriſt, and our intereſt in the Covenant, in the ſenſe of which when a Chriſtian walks, he is in a good frame and poſture of ſpirit.