liar qualities not belonging to other flesh, it is necessary the priest should call down his very body crucified upon the cross into the bread; which must be transubstantiated thereinto, or consubstantiated therewith, so that Christ himself may be really and corporally present in the elements. It would become those who pretend to stickle so strenuously for the letter, to recollect that text which teaches, that the letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive; and indeed this letter has killed its thousands.

But let us observe how well they do adhere to the letter in the form of the institution, comparing the Evangelists with Saint Paul's account of it to the Corinthians: Christ says, This is my body which is broken, This is my blood which is shed; the priest says, This is his body which is whole, entire, and unbroken, containing the mass of blood unshed within it. Christ says, Drink ye all of this: the priest says, I will drink this myself; so there is none to be had for the communicant. Oh! but all things are possible with God; he who could make the same body exist in a thousand places at once, can make the same mass of blood exist at once unshed in the wafer, and shed in the cup; so that the lay communicant, has already had the blood together with the body. Very well, but then he has eaten, not drank it neither, since here are two same bloods, has he had that which was shed: both which particulars were ordained in the letter of the institu

tion.

But these absurdities are now pretty well gotten rid of, I believe, among the thoughtful in all countries, but certainly among the generality in our own: yet I am afraid the expressions employed in the Catechism leave a notion in some people of something divine infused into the elements, from thence entering into the substance of the Soul, which is nourished thereby, as our bodies are by the bread and wine. But they may please to remember, the Church declares them an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. But the reception of grace is not an accession or alteration of substance, no more than the acquisition of a new virtue, a language, a science, or accomplishment, which are only habits of the mind; and a sign is the same to the senses, as a figure to the understanding.

The Scripture abounds in figures, oftentimes of that kind called by the writers on rhetoric, enigmas or riddles, on purpose to set us upon a diligent exercise of our judgment, without which hearing we shall hear and not understand, and seeing we shall see but not perceive. The Jews had many far-fetched figures current among them, which seem uncouth and mysterious to us: but this was too dark even for them, for they boggled at it, saying, How

can this man give us his flesh to eat? Yet it is not more harsh than that used with the Samaritan woman, to whom Jesus declared that the drink he should give would prove a fountain of living waters in the belly but it would sound very strange in our ears to talk of a man's carrying a fountain about with him in his belly. Therefore in the interpretation of figures, how remote soever the allusion lies, we must pursue it on till we find it terminate in something consistent with common sense, reason, and human nature.

Nor need we want a clue to lead us among the allusions frequently drawn from eating, and things relative thereto, as well in our familiar as serious discourses: mothers, say they love their children so well they could eat them; mischief is said to be nuts to some folks; we talk of a thirst of knowledge, a glutton of books, cramming down divinity, of digesting what we read, of a meagre and starveling style, of crudities in expressions: of the marrow, nerves, and sinews, to which Tully adds, the blood and complexion of a discourse, of feeding the thoughts on a subject, feasting them on a pleasurable reflection, receiving the cordial of comfort, imbibing opinions, swallowing the tenets of a party or particular person; and many more figures of the like sort, taken from the same fund. Now it is not unlikely, the Jews might carry their allusion a little further remote, and where we should express ourselves by swallowing the doctrines, they might talk of eating the man himself.

And that the deglutition was of this sort appears manifest, because our Church, and I believe all Churches, hold that Christ is eaten effectually, so as to prove nourishment, by none but the faithful: but the faith here spoken of, operates only during the celebration, therefore the nourishment we receive is taken in then, not after the elements are down in our stomachs. Yet our Church although disavowing the corporal, maintains the real presence of the body and blood of Christ; which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper. Which restriction to the faithful shows, what kind of body is really present, namely, that which is discernible only by the eye of faith, not by any of the bodily senses: for whatever body and blood, and whatever supernatural virtue or nutritive faculty, the priest has infused into the bread, are verily and indeed taken and received by the unfaithful. So that the real presence here is the same with that of God in places where two or three are gathered together in his name: if there be a man among them, who did not gather in his name, who looks upon the Church services as an idle, insignificant parade, but must come to qualify himself for a place upon the test act; to him God is no more present at the

communion-table, than the gaming-table, notwithstanding that he remarks, and will in proper time remember, his behavior at both places.

It was necessary to be express concerning the real presence, because else a handle might have been taken for apprehending the ceremony a mere form which might be complied with or let alone, an imaginary transaction without any real effect. And the verily and indeed taking of what before was called an inward and spiritual grace, must denote that the devout communicant does actually receive the benefits understood in the Gospel by the figure. of eating the flesh, and drinking the blood of Christ, that is, the confirming our trust and faith in his name, the quickening our remembrance of all he has done and suffered for us: which will naturally help to strengthen our disposition to virtuous and good actions, refresh our languid hopes in the administration of Providence, and rekindle our cooling Charity towards our fellow-crea

tures.

7. If we consider what it is the Church requires of them who come to the Lord's Supper, we shall find it to be nothing more than to examine themselves, whether they already possess in some measure the very things they expect to receive more completely by coming thither: so that the sacred rite infuses no new grace or virtue into us, but gives us a powerful lift in the progress we had begun before. Therefore the right preparation for this Sacrament is made by calling over in our serious thoughts whatever dispositions of mind, and courses of practice may prove most beneficial to our spiritual interest, and summoning up a hearty resolution to pursue them: we shall be able to do this very imperfectly, but if we exert our endeavors, not in a fright and a flurry, but with a calm, steady determination, we shall find ourselves strongly assisted therein by the visible signs and pledges ordained by Christ himself, and so far as representation can go, delivered by Christ himself to us in our persons.

One of the requisites mentioned being repentance of former sins, some good women hold it necessary to afflict and humble_themselves for a week beforehand by way of preparation: I have shown in the last Chapter, that humiliation and a thorough scrutiny into our failings may be performed without making it a melancholy task. It is like the work of a country, upon whom some calamity has befallen, preparing a list of their distresses to lay before the prince for relief; which I suppose they would go about with alacrity, and yet with exactness. However, if any have such a constitution of mind, as that they cannot bring themselves to hearty repentance without a great deal of sighing and groaning, I

have nothing to say against it: only let them throw aside their sorrows when they approach the sacred table, for they are to bring thither a lively sense of God's mercies, with a thankful remembrance of their Redemption; but the voice of thanksgiving is the voice of joy, and melancholy is utterly incompatible with liveliness. We are told indeed that upon some occasions the most acceptable prayer is, God be merciful to me a sinner, which carries an air of dejection and distress; but for a Eucharist, which by the very name requires a cheerful and hopeful spirit, it will be a more suitable ejaculation to say, Assuredly, O God, thou wilt be merciful to me a sinner.

There are those of scrupulous consciences, who terrify themselves strangely at the danger of receiving unworthily, warned against in the eleventh of the first Epistle to the Corinthians. I would recommend to such, to read over Mr. Locke's paraphrase and notes upon that passage; where they will find it relates wholly to a perverse custom, crept in amongst the Corinthians, of each man bringing his own dinner with him to Church: the rich gormandized upon their dainties without suffering the poor toads, who had nothing to bring but a few crumbs of bread and cheese, to partake with them. But there being no such custom thought of now, we cannot run a hazard of the judgments there denounced. by St. Paul.

And the manner wherein he directed, and this Sacrament is constantly administered among us, may convince us of the intrinsic equality among mankind: for bread from the same loaf, and wine from the same cup are distributed, the same spiritual nourishment afforded, the same signs and pledges of love delivered in representation by Christ himself, to all, without distinction of noble and honorable, rich and mighty, learned and sagacious, reverend and secular; but the poor, the simple, and the ignorant, are admitted to the same mess at the Lord's table, the same hopes and the same promises: so that though our conditions in this life are very various in all respects, yet the spirits of men are by nature homogeneous and similar, without other difference than what they make themselves by their respective manner of conduct.

But the expression which gives the greatest disturbance is that of not discerning the Lord's body, which though Mr. Locke has shown ought to have been translated in another manner, and so this text has no relation to the matter causing this disturbance, yet it is apparent from the nature of the thing, as explained above, that such discernment is the act whereby the body and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received: therefore more or less spiritual nourishment is taken in, and the Sacrament more or

less worthily received, in proportion to the strength or faintness of the discernment.

Yet the damage is barely negative, the non-discernment, if owing to inability, being not a wickedness committed, but only a loss of advantage that might have accrued so that if any with all their efforts cannot raise so full a discernment as they wish, or as others do, or as they have done themselves at other times, they need not affright themselves upon that account; for should they not discern at all, they would not be the worse, but only never the better than if they had forborne to communicate. Nevertheless, it is dangerous thus to receive unworthily, or approach when under an utter indisposition of mind to discern the Lord's body; lest it should grow into a habit, whereby they will be utterly debarred the benefits intended to be conveyed by this sacred rite.

CHAP. XXIV.

DISCIPLINE.

MATTERS of Discipline belong to Ecclesiastical polity, a different science from those of Religion or Philosophy, as respecting rather the outward forms and rules of behavior in society, than the inward sentiments or manners: it takes in the consideration of what is practicable and suitable together with what is right in theory, and builds as much upon knowledge of the world, as up-. on that nature of things which is the object of contemplation in the elect. Yet reason upon observation of that nature of things, may discern, that some rule and discipline in religious matters is necessary for order and convenience sake: for a certain portion of our time having been appointed to be kept holy by divine command, sacred rites having been ordained by Christ himself, public assemblies, places of worship, provisions to be made therein, persons to officiate thereat, having in the foregoing Chapters been shown instrumental to the substantials of Religion; all these things. could not be commodiously supplied without established regulations. prevailing among a religious community.

It may be fancied, the people might fall into such regulations of themselves upon view of their expedience, without aid of authority to interfere: which in this case being human authority, will always be liable to error, and in fact has proved more mischievous than serviceable to Religion in former times. I shall