penalties, to taste blood by the Law of Moses, of which not only they themselves, but Christ also had been a strict observer? They expressed not the slightest surprise or reluctance when Christ delivered to them the bread and wine, which could not have been the case, had they conceived themselves commanded to eat the real body and drink the real blood of their Lord and Master. The bread and wine must have been considered by them as symbolical; and indeed the whole transaction. was evidently figurative in all its parts; it was instituted, as was just now observed, when the Jews, by killing the paschal lamb commemorated their deliverance from Egyptian bondage by the hand of Moses, which was typical of the deliverance of all mankind from the bondage of sin by the death of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and as the occasion was typical, so likewise were the words used by our Saviour: "This is my body which is broken, and this is my blood which is shed." But his body was not yet broken, nor was his blood yet shed; and therefore the breaking of the bread, and the pouring out of the wine, were then figurative of what was about to happen, as they are now figurative of what has actually happened. He also said, "This cup is the Ii 4 new દે new testament in my blood (k);" which words could not be meant in a literal sense; the cup could not be changed into a covenant, though it might be a representation or memorial of it. Our Saviour called the wine, after it was consecrated, the fruit of the vine (1),” which implied that no change had taken place in its real nature. Since then the words, "This is my body, and this is my blood," upon which the Papists pretend to support this doctrine, were manifestly used in a figurative sense, and must have been so understood by the Apostles, to whom they were originally addressed, we may safely pronounce that TRANSUBSTANTIATION, (OR THE CHANGE OF THE SUBSTANCE OF BREAD AND WINE) IN THE SUPPER OF THE LORD, CANNOT BE PROVED BY HOLY WRIT. That the early Christians understood our Saviour's words in a figurative sense, appears from the writings of more than twenty fathers, without a single authority on the opposite side; I shall quote only two of the numerous passages which might be adduced upon this subject, the one from a Greek, and the other from a Latin father. Origen says, that "the understanding our Saviour's words, of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, according to the letter, (k) 1 Cor c 11. v. 25. (7) Matt. c. 26. v. 29. is is a letter that kills (m)." Augustine, in laying down rules for judging of the figurative expressions of Scripture, cites these words, Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in you, which," says he, seems to command a crime and a horrid action, and therefore it is a figure commanding us to communicate in the passion of our Lord, and to lay up in our memory with delight and profit, that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us (n)." To these authorities I will add that of Pope Gelasius, who lived at the end of the fifth century; "The Sacraments of the body and blood of Christ," says he, "are a divine thing, for which reason we become by them partakers of the divine nature: and yet the substance of bread and wine does not cease to exist, and the image and likeness of the body and blood of Christ are celebrated in holy mysteries (o)." As a farther proof of the sentiments of the early Christians upon this point, I shall observe that the fathers constantly call the consecrated elements, the figures, the signs, the symbols, the types and antitypes, the commemoration, the representation, the mysteries, and (m) Hom. 7. in Levit. (n) Lib. 3. cap. 16. de Doct. Christ. and the sacraments of the body and blood of Christ; which expressions plainly shew that they did not consider the bread and wine as changed into the very substance of Christ's body and blood. BUT IT IS REPUGNANT TO THE PLAIN WORDS OF SCRIPTURE; for St. Paul says, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come (p):" that therefore, which is eaten in the eucharist, is still bread. This text may of itself be considered as decisive against the doctrine of transubstantiation; and the expression, "Ye do shew the Lord's death till he come," is another proof that the institution was figurative of the death of Christ. OVERTHROWETH THE NATURE OF A SACRAMENT: for the nature of a sacrament is to be a sign or representation, whereas the doctrine of transubstantiation supposes that the real body and blood of Christ are eaten and drunk in the eucharist. AND HATH GIVEN OCCASION TO MANY SUPERSTITIONS: This might be expected; for those who supposed that the bread and wine were by consecration changed into the body and blood of Christ, would naturally fall into superstitious practices (p) 1 Cor. c. 11. v. 26. practices concerning them; and accordingly we find that the Papists lift up the host with the most pompous solemnities, and "add, (as archbishop Secker expresses it,) idolatrous practice to erroneous belief, worshipping on their knees a bit of bread for the Son of God." It is the custom of our church to kneel at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; but we do it not to acknowledge any corporal presence of Christ, but to worship him who is every where present, the invisible God. We consider kneeling as a posture well suited to those prayers and praises which we then offer up to our heavenly Father, and as expressive of that piety and humility which are essential to the worthy receiving of this holy sacrament. In the primitive church it was received by the communicants sometimes standing, and sometimes kneeling; but there is no trace in any antient writer of its having ever been received sitting. The Papists also applied the consecrated wafer to the cure of diseases; put the wafers into the mouths of the communicants, lest a single crumb should fall to the ground; burnt what remained to ashes for the same reason, and were guilty of several other superstitious practices, which are enumerated in the last member of this article. THE BODY OF CHRIST IS GIVEN, TAKEN, AND |