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XIII.

immediately following my Text, The Bread which we break, fays the Apostle. in the Text, is it not the Cominunion of the Body of Chrift? And then he adds For we being many, are one Bread and one Body, for we are all Partakers of that! one Bread; i, e. As the confecrated Loaf tho' compos'd of many Grains, is one; fo all we who partake of it, tho' we are many Individuals, are united together into one myftical Body, by partaking of the one confecrated Loaf. Whence it plainly ap pears, that the Communion of the Body and Blood of Chrift, fpoken of in the Text, is a Communion of a Number of Chriftians partaking of the fame confe crated Bread. And it is likewife certain that this is moft agreeable to the Defign of the original Institution. For when this Sacrament was firft inftituted, all the Apoftles were prefent at it; and our Lord commanded them all to partake both of the Bread and of the Wine. And from all the Accounts which we have in Scrip ture of the Celebration of this mysterious Act of Worship in the Apoftolical Times,

it

it clearly appears that many joyn'd in it. And it is well known, that for a confiderable Time after the Apoftolical Age, all, the Faithful, i.e. all who had been baptiz'd, except they were in a State of Pennance, were oblig'd conftantly to re ceive the Communion, as often as they were prefent at the publick Service of the Church. The antient Canons are very ftrict and express to this Purpose. Among thofe which go under the Name of Apoftolical Canons, and which are allow'd to be very antient, there is one which runs thus: All thofe of the Faithful who enter into the Church of God, and hear the Scriptures, but do not ftay during Prayer and the Holy Communion, must be fufpended, as Authors of Confufion in the Church. This Canon is repeated with fome Addition by the Council of Antioch, held towards the middle of the fourth Century. All fuch as enter into the Church of God, and hear the Scriptures read, but do not communicate with the People in Prayer, and refufe to partake of the Eucharift, which is a difor

derly

SERM.

XIII.

SERM.

XIII.

and

derly Practice, ought to be caft out of the
Church, till they confefs their Fault,
bring forth Fruits of Repentance, and by
earneftly entreating have obtained Par-
don.
In after Ages, when the
Difcipline of the Church was much re-
lax'd, and the Piety and Zeal of Chrif
tians abated, thefe Canons were neglec-
ted, and many turn'd their Backs upon
the Altar, and went out of the Church
without Communicating. Nay and fome-
times the whole Congregation departed,
and left the Prieft alone. In which Cafe
fome ignorant and injudicious Priefts pro-
ceeded in the Communion-Office, and
partook of the confecrated Elements
alone. And from this Abufe fprung
thofe folitary or private Maffes which
have gain'd an Establishment in the
Church of Rome; and which the Priefts,
because they are well paid for them, ob
ftinately defend; tho' they contradict the
Defign of our Saviour's Inftitution, and
have no Foundation either in Scripture
or Antiquity; and tho' their own Forms
or Offices are fo compos'd as to fuppofe

a

SERM.

a Congregation of Communicants prefent, and without that Suppofition are in many Places or Parts of them downright Non- r

fenfe.

I PROCEED now to the

Fifth and Laft THING obfervable in the Words of the Text, viz. That the Bread in the Holy Eucharift is the Body of Chrift, and the Wine his Blood.

Ir is expreffly afferted in the Text, that the Cup of Bleffing is the Communion of the Blood of Chrift; and the Bread the Communion of the Body of Chrift. And from the Hiftory of the Inftitution we learn, that our blessed Lord himself having bleffed both the Bread and the Cup, declared them to be his Body and Blood. From thefe Scriptural Expreffions and Declarations the Romanifts infer, that the Euchariftical Bread and Wine are by Confecration changed into the Body and Blood of Chrift. But it is ftrange that any, who attentively read and confider the Hiftory of the Inftitution, and the Circumftances there recorded, fhould put this Interpre

tation

XIII.

SERM.

XIII.

tation upon our Saviour's Words. For can any thing be more abfurd and ridiculous than to imagine, that he held himself in his Hand, and gave to every one of his Apóftles his whole Body to eat, when he fat with them alive at the Table all the while they were eating? Could that which he gave them be in a Jiteral Senfe his Body broken, when his Body was not as yet broken? Could that which was in the Cup be literally his Blood fhed, when his Blood was not as yet Thed? Or is it poffible that we fhould now eat his natural Body broken, and drink his natural Blood fhed, while he fits with them intire at the right Hand of God? Can his Blood be fhed, and not fhed at once? Can his Body be in Heaven and upon Earth at the fame Time? Can his intire Body be in a Million of Places, and be given whole to a Million of Communicants in the fame Inftant? Do not our own Senfes affure us that it is Bread, and not Flesh which we eat? That it is Wine, and not Blood which we drink in the Holy Sacrament? Are

a

not