rbab's dream to him, Gen. 41. 26. fays the feven good Kine are feven Years, and the feven good Ears of Corn are seven Years, that is, they fignified or reprefented feven Years of Plenty; and fo Pharoah understood him, and fo would any Man of fenfe understand the like Expreffions; nor do I believe that any fenfible Man who had never heard of Tranfubftantiation being grounded upon thefe Words of our Saviour, this is my Body, would upon reading the Inftitution of the Sacrament in the Gofpel ever have imagin'd any fuch thing to be meant by our Saviour in thofe Words; but would have understood his meaning to have been this Bread fignifies my Body, this Cup fignifies my Blood, and this which you fee me now do, do ye hereafter for a Memorial of me: But furely it would never have entred into any Man's mind to have thought that our Saviour did literally hold himself in his hand, and give away himself for himself with his own hands. Or whether we compare these Words of our 'Saviour with the ancient Form of the Paffover ufed by the Jews from Ezra's time, as (#) Jufin Martyr tells us, τῦτο τὸ πόχα ο σωτήρ ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ καταφυγὴ ἡμῶν, this Palover is our Saviour and our Refuge: Not that they believed the Pafcal Lamb to be fubftantially changed either into God their Saviour who delivered them out of the Land of Egypt, or into the Meffias the Saviour whom they expected, and who was fignified by it: But this Lamb which they did eat did represent to them and put them in mind

(D) Dialog.cum Tryp, P, 207, Edit, Parif. 1639.

of

of that Salvation which God wrought for their Fathers in Egypt, when by the flaying of a Lamb and fprinkling the Blood of it upon Their Doors their Firft-born were paffed over and fpared; and did likewife forefhew the Salvation of the Meffias, the Lamb of God that was to take away the Sins of the World.

And nothing is more common in all Languages than to give the Name of the thing fignified to the Sign, as the Delivery of a Deed or Writing under Hand and Seat is call'd a Conveyance or making over of fuch an Eftate, and it is really fo; not the delivery of meer Wax and Parchment, but the conveyance of a real Eftate, as truly and really to all effects and purposes of Law, as if the very material Houfes and Lands themselves could be and were actually delivered into my hands: In like manner the Names of the things themselves made over to us in the new Covenant of the Gospel between God and Man, are given to the Signs or Seals of that Covenant. By Baptifm Chriftians are faid to be made partakers of the Holy Ghoft, Heb. 6. 4. And by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper we are faid to communicate or to be madepartakers of the Body of Chrift which was broken, and of his Blood which was fhed for us, that is, of the real Benefits of his Death and Paffion. And thus St. Paul fpeaks of this Sacrament, 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of Blessing which we blefs, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Cbrift? the Bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Chrift? But ftill it is Bread, and he ftill calls it. fo; V. 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body;

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Body; for we are partakers of that one Bread. The Church of Rome might, if they pleafed, as well argue from hence that all Chriftians are fubftantially changed first into Bread, and then into the natural Body of Chrift by their participation of the Sacrament, because they are faid thereby to be one Bread and one Body. And the fame Apostle in the next Chapter, after he had spoken of the Confecration of the Elements ftill calls them the Bread and the Cup, in three verses together. As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup, v. 26. Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily, v. 27. But let a Man examine himself, and fo let him eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup, v. 28. And our Saviour himself, when he had faid this is my Blood of the New Teftament, immediately adds, (o) but I fay unto you, I will not benceforth drink of this fruit of the Vine, until I drink it new with you, in my Father's Kingdom, that is, not till after his Refurre&tion, which was the first step of his Exaltation into the Kingdom given him by his Father, when the Scripture tells us he did eat and drink with his Difciples. But that which I obferve from our Saviour's Words is, that after the confecration of the Cup, and the delivering of it to his Difciples to drink of it, he tells them that he would thenceforth drink no more of that Fruit of the Vine, which he had now drank with them, till after his Refurrection. From whence it is plain that it was the Fruit of the Vine, real

(0) Matth. 26, 29.

Wine,

Wine, which our Saviour drank of, and communicated to his Difciples in the Sacrament.

Belides, if we confider that he celebrated this Sacrament before his Paffion, it is impof fible these Words should be understood literally of the natural Body and Blood of Chrift; be caufe it was his Body broken, and bis Blood fbed which he gave to his Difciples, which if we understand literally of his natural Body broken and his Blood fhed, then thefe Words,this is my Body which is broken, and this is my Blood which is fhed, could not be true, because his Body was then whole and unbroken, and his Blood not then fhed; nor could it be a Propitiatory Sacrifice (as they affirm this Sacrament to be) unless they will fay that Propitiation was made before Chrift fuffer'd: And it is Jikewife impoffible that the Difciples fhould understand thefe Words literally, because they not only plainly faw that what he gave them was Bread and Wine, but they faw likewife as plainly that it was not his Body which was given, but his Body which gave that which was given; not his Body broken and his Blood feed, because they faw him alive at that very time, and beheld his Body whole and unpierc'd; and therefore they could not understand thefe Words literally: If they did, can we imagine that the Difciples, who upon all other occafions were fo full of Questions and Objections, fhould make no difficulty of this matter? nor fo much as ask our Saviour, how can these things be? that they should not tell him, we fee this to be Bread and that to be Wine, and we feethy Body

Body to be diftinct from both; we fee thy Body not broken, and thy Blood not thed.

From all which it must needs be very evident, to any Man that will impartially confi der things, how little reason there is to underftand thofe Words of our Saviour, this is my Body, and this is my Blood, in the fenfe of Tranfubftantiation; nay on the contrary, that there is very great reafon and an evident neceflity to understand them otherwise. I pro'ceed to thew,

aldy, That this Do&rine is not grounded upon the perpetual belief of the Chriftian Church, which the Church of Rome vainly pretends as an Evidence that the Church did always underItand and interpret our Saviour's Words in this Senfe.

To manifeft the groundiefnefs of this prerence, I fhall, 1. fhew by plain teftimony of the Fathers in feveral Ages, that this Doctrine was not the Belief of the ancient Chriftian Church. 2. I fhall fhew the time and occafion of its coming in, and by what degrees it grew up and was establish'd, in the Roman Church. 3. I fhall answer their great pretended DemonItration, that this always was and must have been the conftant Belief of the Christian Church.

1. I fhall fhew by plain Teftimonies of the Fathers in feveral Ages, for above five hundred years after Chrift, that this Doctrine was not the Belief of the ancient Chriftian Church. I deny not but that the Fathers do,and that with great reafon, very much magnifiethe wonderfal Mystery and Efficacy of this Sacrament, and

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