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CHA P. I.

Of the Infiitution of the LORD'S

SUPPER.

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HERE never was a Nation, civiliz❜d to any tolerable Degree, but admitted fome Kind of outward Ceremony, fome particular vifible Rite or Sign, in order to distinguish their Religion from all others; and, no doubt, many good Reasons might be alledg'd for their fo doing t. Our bleffed Saviour, who lay in the Bofom of the Father,

† All Mankind have looked upon fuch vifible Rites as effential to Religion; or at least very proper to preserve and heighten Devotion:

Segniùs irritant Animos demiffa per aurem,
Quam quæ funt Oculis fubjecta fidelibus.

Hor. de Arte Poeticâ. But instead of thofe ridiculous and cruel Ceremonies, practifed by the Heathens; instead of that Yoke which the Jews were not able to bear (and which feems to have been given to them, not because of any Value in the Rites themselves, but to keep them employed, to hinder them from more hurtful Work, efpecially Idolatry, to which they were so ad-. dicted; I fay,) instead of those many burthenfome Obfervances, our Saviour has thought fit to prescribe but two Ceremonies, very plain, and very easy to be observed; not encumbred with any gaudy Trappings of Superftition, but

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Father, and was Wisdom itself, thought proper to adopt and fanctify this Custom by feparating his Followers from the rest of Mankind, not only by an inward Belief of what he had done and fuffered for them, but also by two pofitive Inftitutions peculiar to his Religion, viz. Baptifm and the Lord's Supper.

It is not my Design to speak exprefly to the Firft of thefe, but only of the Latter, and of that as plainly as I can.

In order the better to come at the End and Defign of this bleffed Sacrament, it will be proper to begin with the Inftitution itself, as recorded by the Authors of the New Teftament: And here it is to be obferved, that this Institution is recorded by them four feveral Times, which is a certain Proof of its Weight and Importance; and that tho' fome flight Variations occur, yet they all agree in the Main, and what is omitted by one, is fupplied by another. The moft compleat, as well as shortest View of the Whole, may be taken by throwing all the Accounts into one, in fome fuch Manner as here follows:

"The Lord Jefus, in the fame Night that "he was betrayed, took Bread, and giving

habited with Modefty and Decency; and infinitely more proper to encourage Virtue and Morality, than thofe prefcribed by any other Religion in the World : --- Let me add farther, that Bread and Wine and Water, which are the external Signs of both Sacraments, have had always a Place in the religious Inftitutions of every Nation.

† John i, 18.

Waterland's Review of the---Eucharift, p. 58.

"Thanks

"Thanks bleffed it*, and brake it, and gave "it to his Difciples, faving, Take eat, this 66 is my Body which is given for you: Do this "in Remembrance of me. Likewife, after "Supper, he took the Cup, and when he "had

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The Words to blefs, and to give Thanks are indifferently ufed by the facred Writers, who have written concerning the Inftitution of this Sacrament. St Matthew, St Mark, and St Paul 1 Cor. x. 16, mention the firft Word, St Luke and St Paul 1 Cor. xi. 24, the other; and indeed both Expreffions come to the fame, fince the Bleffing or confecrating of the Elements is made by Prayer, and giving Thanks. is by this Bleffing, that they are confecrated to a religious Ufe, and thereby feparated from ordinary Food. It has indeed been urged, that the Words fhould not be rendered Be bieffed it, but blessed GOD; but, in my Opinion, this is meer Cavil: The Words of the two first Evangelifts, strictly render'd, are these : As they were eating, Jefus having taken Bread, and having bleed, brake and gave to his Difciples. Now it is very plain, that the natural and obvious Construction of them leads us to fuppofe that the Action of Bleffing muft terminate on the Bread, forafmuch as there is no other Object expreffed, to which it can be referred. Our Saviour is faid here to have taken Bread, and 'tis allowed by all, that what he took he brake, and gave to his Difciples; fo that, in plain Conftruction, what he took and brake and gave, he bleffed also. There is certainly no Impropriety in the Nature of the Thing, in fetting afide Bread from its common Ufe to an holy and religious Purpose, neither is there any Novelty in the Expreffion to oblige us to depart from this plain Rendering: For that is the Meaning of the Word bleffed. Gen. ii. 3, Exod. xx. 11, wherein God is faid to have bleffed the feventh Day, by feparating it from the other Days, to be religiously obferved: Thus it is faid of Samuel, That be doth bless the Sacrifice, 1 Sam. ix. 13, and of our blessed Saviour, that he took the five Loaves and the two Fishes, and looking up to Heaven be bleffed THE M, Luke ix, 16. And indeed we may well prefume it was this Bleffing upon the Loaves, which caused them, beyond their natural Virtue, to feed fo many Thousands.

Some have groundlesly pretended, that the whole of the Confecration confifts in every particular Communicant's Appropriation to himself of the Bread and Wine to the Remembrance of Chrift. It must be owned, that it depends

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had given Thanks, he gave it to them, faying, Drink ye ALL of this, for this is my "Blood of the new Covenant, which is fhed <for you and for many, for the Remiffion of "Sins: Do this, as oft as you drink it, in "Remembrance of me.*"

The Circumftance of Time, is here very obfervable: It was the very Night in which he was betray'd, that our Lord inftituted this holy Sacrament. Our Saviour waited till the Eve of his Crucifixion before he prescribed it, intending, by this venerable Rite, to close a Life which had been hitherto always employed in the Inftruction and Edification of Mankind, and which he was going to offer up as a Sacrifice upon the Difpofition of every Communicant to render the previous Confecration either falutary or noxious to himfelf. And if any Man chufes to call a worthy Reception of the Elements a Confecration of them to himself, he may; for it would not be worth while to hold a Difpute about Words: But strictly speaking, it is not within the Power or Choice of a Communicant to confecrate the holy Symbols (which is done by the proper Person in the publick Office of the Church) nor to defecrate them in any fuch Manner as to make the Sacrament a common Meal; for a facred and religious Meal it certainly must be, however abused by the most Unworthy; And that is the Reason that fuch are liable to the Judgment of God for abufing it; (fee bereafter Chap. 3) for had it been really a common Meal to the Corinthians, it would have done them no more Hurt than any other ordinary Entertainment.

† Our Saviour, speaking of the Cup, adds all, which he did not to the Bread, most probably to guard Chriftians against the grand Corruption which he forefaw would happen in the Church of Rome, of denying the Cup to the Laity, and even to the Priests themfelves, who do not officiate; which laft Practice I think effectually destroys her Pretence, that the Difciples received the Cup merely because they were Priests: elfe why does the not give it to all the Priests, whether they officiate or not?

* Matth. xxvi, 26, 27, 28. Mark xiv, 22, 23, 24. Luke xxii, 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi, 23, 24, 25.

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to God, in order to obtain for them an eternal Redemption. So critical a Conjuncture was exceedingly proper fenfibly to affect the Hearts of his then dull Difciples; and was, perhaps, for that Reason, pitched upon for the first Celebration of the Eucharift.

Another Thing to be here obferved, is that our Saviour had been juft eating the Passover *. Now it seems to be a common Opinion among the Learned of all Parties, that the Eucharift fucceeded in the Place of the Paffover, and good Ufe may be made of this Obfervation, to explain the Nature of the Eucharift, as well as the Phrases of the Inftitution. There is certainly a great Refemblance between both Ordinances: And among the many Inftances which might be brought in Proof of it, I fhall confine myfelf to fuch only as may give Light to the Subject.

Now, not to infift upon a great Number of refembling Circumftances which might be

* It has been a great Difpute among the Learned, whe ther our Saviour kept the legal Paffover, and on the fame Day with the Jews; or whether he did not anticipate the Time, forefeeing that he was to die before that Solemnity or whether rather he had a common Supper only (before the Day of unleavened Bread began) in Imitation of the Jewish Paffover: It would carry me beyond the Defign of this Treatife to enumerate the feveral Reasons on which each Side maintains its Opinion: The laft, which, at firft Sight, feems to be contrary to what three of the Evangelifts have faid on this Matter, but which is pretended to be founded on the Words of St John (who fays, it was BEFORE the Feast of the Paffover, John xiii, 1) has been lately very strongly supported, and the Account of all the Evangelifts very plausibly reconciled thereto, by F. Calmet. See Differtation fur la derniere Pâque de J. C. à la Tête du Comment. fur St Math. See allo Wall on Math. xxvi. 27.

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