Secondly, the Divine Word, is the Word of Christ's Institution; pronounced with prayers and blessings by ab lawful Minister. The Bread and Wine without the Word are nothing, but as they were before: but when the Word cometh to those Elements, then they are made a Sacrament: and God is present with his own ordinance, and ready to perform whatsoever he doth promise. The Divine Words of blessing do not change or annihilate the *substance of the Bread and Wine: (for if their substance did not remain, it could be no Sacrament:) but it changeth them in use and in name: For, that which was before but common Bread and Wine to nourish mens Bodies; is after the blessing destinated to an holy use, for the feeding of the Souls of Christians. And where before they were called but Bread and Wine; they are now called by the name of those holy things which they signify, The Body and Blood of Christ; the better to draw our minds from those outward Elements to the Heavenly Graces, which by the sight of our bodies they represent to the spiritual eyes of our Faith. Neither did ⟨p. 312⟩Christ direct these words,3 This is my body This is my blood, to the Bread and Wine; but to his Disciples, as appears by the words going before, Take ye, eat ye, Neither is the Bread his Body, but in the same sense that the Cup is the New Testament, viz. by a Sacramental Metonymy. And Mark notes plainly, that the words This is my Blood, &c. were not pronounced by our Saviour, till after that all his Disciples had drunk of the Cup. Mark 14. 23, 24. And afterwards, in respect of the natural substance thereof, he calls that the fruit of the Vine, which in respect of the spiritual signification thereof, he had before termed his Blood, verse 25. after the manner of terming all Sacraments. And Christ bids us not to make him, but to do this in remembrance of him; and he bids us eat not simply his Body, but his Body as it was then broken, and his Blood shed. Which S. Paul expounds to be but the Communion of Christ's Body and thec Communion of his Blood; that is, an effectual Pledge that we are […] of Christ, and of all the Merits of his Body and Blood. And by the frequent use of this Communion, Paul will have us tod make a show of the Lord's death till he come efrom Heaven, and till we, asf Eagles, shall be caught up into the air, to meet him who is the blessed Carcass and Life of our Souls.
Secondly, the Divine Word, is the Word of Christ's Institution; pronounced with prayers and blessings by ab lawful Minister. The Bread and Wine without the Word are nothing, but as they were before: but when the Word cometh to those Elements, then they are made a Sacrament: and God is present with his own ordinance, and ready to perform whatsoever he doth promise. The Divine Words of blessing do not change or annihilate the *substance of the Bread and Wine: (for if their substance did not remain, it could be no Sacrament:) but it changeth them in use and in name: For, that which was before but common Bread and Wine to nourish mens Bodies; is after the blessing destinated to an holy use, for the feeding of the Souls of Christians. And where before they were called but Bread and Wine; they are now called by the name of those holy things which they signifie, The Body and Blood of Christ; the better to draw our minds from those outward Elements to the Heavenly Graces, which by the sight of our bodies they represent to the spiritual eyes of our Faith. Neither did ⟨p. 312⟩Christ direct these words,3 This is my body This is my blood, to the Bread and Wine; but to his Disciples, as appears by the words going before, Take ye, eat ye, Neither is the Bread his Body, but in the same sense that the Cup is the New Testament, viz. by a Sacramental Metonymie. And Mark notes plainly, that the words This is my Blood, &c. were not pronounced by our Saviour, till after that all his Disciples had drunk of the Cup. Mark 14. 23, 24. And afterwards, in respect of the natural substance thereof, he calls that the fruit of the Vine, which in respect of the spiritual signification thereof, he had before termed his Blood, verse 25. after the manner of terming all Sacraments. And Christ bids us not to make him, but to do this in remembrance of him; and he bids us eat not simply his Body, but his Body as it was then broken, and his Blood shed. Which S. Paul expounds to be but the Communion of Christ's Body and thec Communion of his Blood; that is, an effectual Pledge that we are 〈…〉 of Christ, and of all the Merits of his Body and Blood. And by the frequent use of this Communion, Paul will have us tod
- bHeb. 5. 4. Num. 16. 40. 1 Cor. 10. 16. Eucaristiae Sacramentum non de aliorum manu quàm praesidentium sumimus Tert. l de Coron. c. 3.
- *qui est à terra panis percipiens vocationem Domini, non jam communis panis est, sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebus constans, terrena & coel•sti. Iren. lib. 4. cap. 34 Per Sacramentum corporis & sanguinis Domini divinae •fficimur consortes naturae & tamen esse non desinit substantia vel natura panis & vini. Gelasius contra Eu•yc.
- 3Christus visibilia symbola, corporis & sanguinis appellatione honoravit, non naturam mutans, sed gratiam naturae adjiciens Theodoret. Dial. 1.
- c1 Cor. 10. 16.
- d1 Cor. 11. 26
- eAct. 3. 21. Act. 1. 11.
- fMat. 24. 27, 28.
