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151

OF

BAPTISM

AND THE

LORD'S SUPPER.

T

HE Principles of the Quakers are much objected againft, because they ufe not Water-Baptifm, and the Lord's Supper, fo call'd.

'Tis true the Quakers ufe not the Ceremony of Water-Baptifm, nor do they take what is call'd the Lord's Supper with Bread and Wine, because it does not appear to them by the Scriptures, that Chrift did inftitute or ordain fuch Ceremonies: Christ was indeed himself baptized by John in the River Jordan, and thereby testify'd his Approbation of John's Miffion to baptize, who was fent of God; for 'tis faid, when Jefus came to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him, John forbad him, faying, Mat.3.13, I have Need to be baptized of thee, and comeft thou to 14, 15. me: And Jefus anfwering, faid unto him, fuffer it to be fo Now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteoufnefs. Then be fuffer'd him.

CHRIST alfo was circumcifed and conform'd to the Rites and Ceremonies appointed the Jews by Mofes and a little before his Death, 'tis said, On the first Day of unleaven'd Bread, when the PASSOVER must be killed, be fent Peter and John, 7, 8. faying, Go, and prepare the PASSOVER that we may Now this Paffover-Supper he eat with his

L4

Disciples

Luke 22.

23, 24, 25

26.

Difciples, and we do not find by the Scriptures that he vary'd from the Customary Way of eating it, obferv'd by the Jews; nor that he gave his Difciples any Directions to observe it in a different Manner, or at other Times, than ufual.

BUT fome to prove that Christ instituted and ordain'd a new Supper different from the Paffover, which they call the Lord's Supper, allege the Words of the Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, viz. That the Lord Jefus the fame Night in which he was betray'd, took Bread, and 1 Cor. 9. when he had given Thanks he brake it, and faid, Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you, this do in Remembrance of me: after the fame Manner alfo be took the Cup when he had fupped faying, This Cup is the new Testament in my Blood: this do ye, as oft as you drink it, i n Remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup, ye do fhew the Lord's Death till be come. Now thefe Words of the Apostle are only a Relation of what Christ did and faid when he eat the Supper the Night in which he was betray'd, and it agrees almoft Word for Word with the Relation Luke gives of Christ's eating the Paffover, and fince the other Evangelifts Matthew and Mark call it alfo the Paffover, we fee no Grounds in Scripture any have to think, or conclude, that Christ instituted or ordain'd a New Supper different from that of the Paffover.

WHEN the Evangelift Luke had related that the Disciples did as Jefus commanded them, and made ready the Supper, he says, And when the Hour was come he fat down and the twelve DifciLuke 22. ples with him. And he faid unto them, with Defire I. have defired to EAT THIS PASSOVER with you before I fuffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.

14.

And

And he took the Cup and gave Thanks, and faid, take
this and divide it among your felves. For I say unto
you,
I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine, until
the Kingdom of God fhall come. And he took Bread
and gave Thanks, and brake it and gave unto them
faying, This is my Body which is given for you: this
do in Remembrance of me: Likewife alfo the Cup after
Supper, faying, This Cup is the new Testament in
my Blood, which is fhed for you.

HERE We may obferve, that the Circumftances. of taking the Bread, and the Cup, and giving Thanks, and dividing it among his Difciples, are the very fame which the Apostle related to the Corinthians, fo that we can find no Reason at all, from what the Apostle has faid, to conclude that Christ instituted a new Supper. For tho' the Apostle, when he blames the Corinthians for their irregular Practice in Eating and Drinking when they met together, fays, This is not to eat the Lord's Supper, yet that is no Argument or Proof that what he call'd the Lord's Supper, was a new Inftitution of Chrift's, different from the PassoverSupper. In the Apoftle's Relation or Account of that Supper, which he fays he had receiv'd of the Lord, there is no new Circumstance, no different Time appointed whereby to denominate it a new Inftitution, and it might be call'd the Lord's Supper by the Corinthians and others, inafmuch as Christ their Lord and Mafter did fo folemnly obferve the Paffover with his Difciples, in the fame Night in which he was betray'd. And the Evangelift John relates another Circumstance omitted by the other Evangelifts, which was obferv'd by Christ at that last Supper, and that is, His wafhing of the Disciples Feet, and faying after he had done, Ye call me Mafter and Lord, and ye fay well, for fo I am, if I then your Lord and Mafter have Joh. 13.

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washed your Feet, ye alfo ought to wash one another's Feet. For I have given you an Example, that ye fhould do as I have done to you.

*

Now

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*Befides the Circumstances mention'd by Luke and Fohn, Matthew and Mark take Notice of their finging an Hymn at the Close of the Supper: Now this was alfo a Thing prac tis'd by the fews at the Close of their Paflover-Supper, and is obferv'd to this Day according to Leo Modena, a VenetiHiftory of an Rabbi's Account, for he says,Inftead of the Ceremony the prefent which was formerly obferv'd, of eating the Pafchal Lamb, Jews.Par. as it is written, Exod. xii. where it is particularly faid, 3. Ch. 3. And bey fhall eat the Flesh in that Night, roaft with Fire, and unleavened Bread, and with bitter Herbs fhall they eat it, &c. They have in a Bafon a little Basket, a piece of • Lamb or Kid, and unleavened Cakes and bitter Herbs, as Parfly, Endive or Lettice, and the like, with a little Sawcer of Pickle for Sawce; in memory of the Chalk and Bricks, which their Forefathers wrought in when they were in Egypt And holding Cups of Wine in their Hands, they repeat the Hagada, which contains a Repetition of the Miseries which they fuffer'd, and the Miracles which • God wrought for their Deliverance. Then they praise • God for all the Benefits they have receiv'd, and say the * 113th, and those following Pfalms, which they call Hallell, and then they make an End of those Pfalms, other Praises bich ber ' and Thanksgivings proper to the Day, and fo go to Bed. gin with And M. Pool in his Annotations on these Words of Matthew Hallelujah. ch. xxvi. 30. And when they bad fung an Hymn, they went out F. Simon into the Mount of Olives, fays, That the Jews were wont

They are the Pfalms

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to close their Paffover Supper with finging an Hymn I do not doubt; Nor that they had fome particular Pfalms or • Hymns, which they used at that Time to fing: But whe ther it were any of these, that our Saviour at this Time praifed God with, I cannot tell, much lefs, whether he de。 figned this Praising of God, with particular Relation to the Pafebal-Supper, or HisSupper, which he had now inftituted, or both. Here we fee the Annotator by taking it that Chrift had inftituted a new Supper, is at a Lofs to which he must apply the Hymn that was fung, whereas 'tis evident that all the Tranfactions at that Supper from first to laft, were no other than Jewish Practices, and therefore no new Supper was inftituted.

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Now, neither this Circumftance of washing the Difciples Feet, nor the Circumstances of taking the Bread and the Cup, and giving Thanks, and dividing it, were any other than what were practifed by the Jews when they celebrated the Paffover, if we may credit the learned Godwin, who fays in his Account of their Paffover, ** They

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bleffed the Cup and blessed the Bread, and di'vided it amongst the Guests, and wash'd the • Feet of those that fat at Table. Thus Chrift when Supper was ended, washed his Difciples Feet. Then he that bleffed the Table proceeded to declare that the Paffover was in Respect that the Lord paffed over the Houses of their Fathers in Egypt. Secondly, he held up the bitter Herbs in his Hand. and faid, these bitter Herbs which we eat are in Refpect that the Egyptians made the Lives of our Fathers bitter in Egypt. Thirdly, he held Thirdly, he held up the unleavened Bread in his Hand, and faid, this unleavened Bread which we eat is in Respect that the • Dough of our Fathers had not Time to be leavened, when the Lord appeared unto them, and redeemed them out of the Hand of the Enemy. Hence the Apostle borroweth his Phrase, • As often as ye shall eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye fhall declare or fhew forth the • Lord's Death, 1 Cor. xi. 26.

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By this Account of the Jewish Paffover, it is plain that nothing new or extraordinary was done by Christ at his laft Supper with his Difciples, but what was us'd to be done amongst the Jews, by the Master of the Feaft at the celebrating the Paffover; and we think the Words of Chrift when

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** See Godwin's Mofes and Aaron, Lib. 3. Chap. iv.

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