། ly it is not by Vertue of thefe Words, This is my Body, that that which JESUS CHRIST gave to his Difciples, expreffed by the Word This, was his Body; but rather, it is by bleffing the Bread, or thanksgiving, that the Bread was made the Body of CHRIST, because it was made the Sacrament of it. Whence it follows, that these Words, This is my Body, must be expounded thus, This Bread is my Body; and thefe Words, This Bread is my Body, muft be expounded thus, This Bread is the Sacrament of my Body; which I prove thus. 3. A PROPOSITION must be expounded according to the Nature of the Thing in queftien; for Example, If a Man, pointing at the King's Perfon, fhould fay, This is the King, the Propofition must be expounded thus, This is the King's Perfon; because,the King's Perfon is meant: But if a Man coming into a Painter's Shop, and pointing at the King's Picture, fhould fay, This is the King, the Propofition must be expounded thus, This is the King's Picture; because here his Picture is meant. Even fo if JESUS CHRIST, laying his Hand on his Breaft, had faid, This is my Body, we must without doubt have underftood the Propofition concerning his real Body, and not concerning the Sign or Sacrament of it; because his very Body had been then meant, and not the Sign or Sacrament of it: But JESUS CHRIST being about to inftitute the Eucharift, and to that End having taken Bread, bleffed it, and giving it to his Difciples, with these Words, Take, Eat, This is my Body, it is evident that they must be underflood of the Sacrament of his Body, and the Propofition must be expounded thus, This is the Sacrament of my Body, because here the Sacrament of his Body is meant. And feeing a Sacrament is a visible Sign of an invifible Grace, as the Council of Trent faith, in its fixth Seffion, it is evident that this Propofition, This is my Body, being expounded by this, This is the Sacrament of my Body, may be expounded thus, This is the Sign of my Body; which I confirm thus: 4. IN thefe two Propofitions, This is my Body, This Cup is the new Teftament in my Blood, the Word [is] must be taken in the fame Senfe, becaufe they are alike, having been pronounced upon the fame Matter, viz. the One upon one Part of the Sacrament, and the Other, upon the other Part of it; and becaufe of like Things, we muft give a like Judgment. But in this Propofition, This Cup is the new Teftament, the Word [is] is not taken for a real and tranfubftantiated Being; but for a facramental and fignificative Being: Because neither the Cup, nor that which is in. the Cup, is changed into a Teftament; neither is it really and properly a Teftament, but the Sacrament of the new Teftament. Therefore in this Propofition likewife, This is my Body, the Word [is] is not taken for a real and tranfubftantiated Being; but for a facramental and fignificative Being: and confequently as this Propofition, This Cup is the new Teftament, B 3 muft must be expounded thus; the Wine that is in the Cup, is the Sign and Sacrament of the New Teftament: So this Propofition, This is my Body, must be expounded thus, This Bread is the Sign and Sacrament of my Body. Whence it follows that in one fingle Propofition of JESUS CHRIST in the Inftitution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, viz. This Cup is the New Teftament, there are two Figures, one in the Word Cup, being taken for that which is in the Cup; this is a Figure call'd a Metonymie, whereby the Thing containing, is taken for the Thing contained. The other Figure is, that the Cup is called the New Teftament: This is alfo a Figure called a Metonymie, whereby the Sign is called by the Name of the Thing fignified. And therefore the Romish Doctors are mistaken when they tell us that all that, JESUS CHRIST faid when he inftituted the Eucharift, must be taken literally, and without. a Figure. But withal we must not imagine that JESUS CHRIST fpoke obfcurely, because He fpoke figuratively, thefe Figures and Manners of Speech being commonly and familiarly ufed by all the World. 5. BUT when we fay that these Words, This is my Body, This is my Blood, muft be expounded thus, this Bread is the Sign and Sacrament of my Body, this Wine is the Sign and Sacrament of my Blood, we do not mean that the Bread and Wine are barely and fimply Signs of Chrift's Body and Blood; but we believe that the Bread and Wine in the Eucharift are Signs that do exhibit the Body and and Blood of Chrift to Believers: For when they do, by the Mouth of the Body receive the Bread and Wine of the Eucharift, they do at the fame Time, by the Mouth of the Soul, viz. by Faith, receive the Body of Chrift broken, and his Blood fhed for the Remiffion of their Sins, as fhall be proved in the next Chapter. 6. ADD hereunto this one Argument: When a Man faith that a Thing is fuch, if it be not fuch, during the whole Time, which he employs in faying it is fuch, he makes a falfe Propofition. For Example, When a Man faith that a Wall is white, if it be not white, during the whole Time he employs in faying it is white, he makes a falfe Propofition. But (according to the Romish Doctors) when JESUS CHRIST faid, This is my Body, it was not his Body during the whole Time which he employed in faying, This is my Body; for, they fay, it was his Body afterward only: Therefore according to the Romish Doctors, ! JESUS CHRIST uttered a falfe Propofition: which being blafphemous to affirm, we must lay down this for a Foundation, that that which JESUS CHRIST gave his Difciples, when he faid, This is my Body, was his Body, not only after he had faid it, but also while he was faying it, and before he faid it. And here we have this Advantage of those of the Romish Church, that we believe the Truth of thefe Words of JESUS CHRIST, This is my Body, much better than they do; because they believe it at one time only, viz. after he had faid faid it but we believe it at three feveral Times, viz. before he faid it, when he was faying it, and after he had faid it. But here fome may object that we muft not take the Words of our Lord in too rigorous a Senfe, and that in thefe Words, This is my Body, we must ake the Prefent Tenfe for the next Future, and then the Senfe will be this, This will immediately be my Body. To which I anfwer, that the Romish Doctors will have us take thefe Words, This is my Body, in the Rigour of the literal Senfe, and then the Propofition is evidently falfe. 1 know the Prefent Tenfe may be taken for the next Future, as when Jesus CHRIST faid, I go to my Father, and to your Father; I go to my God, and to your God: that is, I fhall go speedily. But who can be fo bold and ignorant as to affirm that this Speech is without a Figure, feeing all Grammarians know that it is a Figure called Enallage of Time? Therefore the Romish Doctors must confefs, that by their own Doctrine this Prepofition of Jesus CHRIST, This is my Body, is either Falfe or Figurative, and that feeing it is not Falfe, it must be Figurative, and that the Figure must be a Metonymie, whereby the Sign takes the Name of the Thing fignified (as hath already been proved) and not an Enallage of Time. CHAP. |