ftanding," Piov. ix. 5, 6. Surely it will be good for
thee to accept of his kind invitation.
" Fear not then, neither be difcouraged, but arife and
be doing : May the Lord be with thee I Bleffed aie
C 25 ]
they which do hunger and thirfl after righteoufners, for
they fliall be filled," Mat. v. 6. " The 'meek Hiall eat,
and be fatisfied : They fhall praife the Lord, that feek
him J your heart iliall live for ever," Pfalm xxii. 26.
REVIEW
O F T H E
History of the Inllitution of the
Lord's Supper.
CHAP I.
Of the Bread.
THE account which the writers of the New Tella-
menthavegivenusof theinlHtution of this firll part
of the Lord's fupper, we have in the following paiTages :
St. Mat. xxvi. 26. yls they ixeve eatitig^'jefus took bread
and biejjed It, and brake it, and gave it to the difciples^
and /aid, take, eat this is my body.
St. Mark xiv. 2 2. y^s they did eat, J ejus took bread,
and blejjed and brake it, and gave to them and Jaid, take,
eat, this is my body.
St. Luke xxii. 19. He took bread, and gave thanks,
and brake it, and gave unto them,Ja\ing, this is my bo-
dy, which is given for you : This do in remembrance of
me.
St. Paul, 1 Cor. xi.23, 24. The Lord Jifus, the fame
night in which he was betrayed, took bread ; and when
he had given thanks, he brake it, and f aid, take, eat, this
is my body, which is broken for you : this do in remem-
brance of me.
[ 27 ]
Thefc pafiages may be thus difpofed in the order of
an harmony :
The Lord Jcfus, the fame night in ivhich he was be-
trayed, as they were eating, took bread; and when he
had hlelfcd it, and given thanks, he brake it, and gave it
to the difci/>/es, and [aid. This it my body which is given
and broken /or you : This do in remembrance of me.
Section I.
The Lord Jcfus the fame night in which he was bet ray '
ed, as they were eating, took bread.
T. The Lord's flipper was inlllluted by our blelTed
Saviour, when he knew that the dreadful hour of his
fufferings was at hand j but a little before he went into
tlie garden, where fuch terrors fet themfelves in array
againit him, that " being in an agony, his fweat was as
it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground,"
Luke x.xii. 44. and not many hours before he was
crucified, and " gave himfelf for us, an offering and a
facrifice to God."
2. This circumftance of the inftitution of this ordi-
nance may lead us to think that our Lord did not com-
mand us to obferve it, merely to difplay bis own autho-
rity, and do honour to himlelf j but from a concern for
our good, and becaufe he knew that the right obfervance
of it would be very much for our advantage.
3. Chrilt had been eating the Pafchal fupper with his
difciples, and it may be, they had a piece of the Lamb
in their mouths, which was to be their laft morfel *, and
were jult about to fwallow it, when he took the bread •,
and if fo, they had reafon to attend to what he was doing j
for they knew that he did not defign it for their ufe in
that fupper, but for fome other purpofe.
4. Tlie breadwhichjefus took, was unleavened; It was
iieceffary that he Ihould make ufe of fuch bread, becaufe
♦ Sec Ainfworth, on Exoil. xji. S.
[ 28 ]
no other was to be found in the houies of the Jews at
that time, Exod. xii. 19. But as we are not under the
fame necefTity ; fo, for all that appears in Scripture, wc
may ufe that which we can moft conveniently come at,
whether it be leavened or unleavened, and whether it
be made of wheat or rye, or any other grain.
5. We do not find that any thing was faid before the
prayer of our Lord to let the difciples know the mean-
ing of his taking the bread ; but it is reafonable to fup-
pofe that he took it in fuch a manner, as to let them fee
that he had forae extraordinary purpofe to ferve by it.
Probably, they were thinking that he dcfigned to make
ufe of it for the conveying to them fome divine inftruc-
tion, as he had done but a little before this, by the wafli-
ing of their feet *.
6 But it may be tliought that the prayer of Chrift,
or however that which he did and faid immediately after
he had ended his prayer, fully fatisfied all, who were
prefent, that his taking of the bread was the feparating
of it from that which was common, and confecrating of
it, or the fetting it apart to a facred ufe.
7. And as this is the meaning of our taking bread for
the Lord's fupper, fo it may be obferved that, as foon
as ever it is fet upon the table, we are to put a difference
between that and common bread. The nature of it is
not indeed altered, either by fetting it upon the tab'e,
or by the minifter's taking it into his hands, or by any
words he may pronovuice over it, no ; it is as much
bread, and the fame bread it was before ; but we are
then to look upon it as holy to the Lord, let apart for
his worihip.
* See Doddridge's haririony on Johnxiii. 4. Sec.
[ ^9 J
S B C T I O N II,
And when he had L/eJ/lil it, and given thanks, he brake
It.
1. St Luke and St. Paul tell us, that Jefus took bread,
and gave thanks, St. Matthew and St. Mark fay that he
blefled it j but they all mean the fame adlion, viz. the
prayer that our Lord made upon thij; occiiJion. And it is
natural to think that as in this, he blelfcd the bread which
he had taken j \o in this alio, he gnve thanks, that is, in
other words, he prayed to God with thankigiving for
his bleflingupon it.
2. Prayer to God with thankfgiving is our reafonable
fervice, and never more necelLiry, and ieafonable, than
when we are entering on thisfolenuioidinahce. No won-
der, therefore, that our Lord ihould heie recommend
it to us by his own example j and from this it follows,
that it mutt certainly be very proper for us to confider
what thofe things are, for which we are here to pray and
give thanks 5 but this may be learnt from the meditations
and ejaculations in the lail part of this book.
3. Ihe breaking of the bread, is taken notice of by
each of the facred writers, who fpeaks of the inftitution of
the Lord's fupper, and tiiey all place it in th*i fame or-
der, viz. jult after his praying to God, with thankfgiving,
for his bleiliug upon it.
4. Our Saviour took, as we may think, but one of
the loaves or cakes which lay upon the table, and he
brake it, not only that he might divide it amon^;li liis
difciples, who were to take and eat of it, and to teach
them to do the fame in after times, in the cele-
bration of this ordinance j but that it might the better
ferve for that which, as we fliall fee, he defigned it for,
viz. to be the fymbol, or figu 01 his broken body. One
of the loaves, while ^vhole and unbroken, might have
ferved for a fymbol of Chriit, " the iread of life." Jjhn
vi. â– ^^. that " bread which came down from heaven,"
C3
r 30 ]
ver, 3:2. But it muft be broken, to be the proper fym-
bol of his body broken for us on the crofs.
It vs next obferved, that our Lord gave his difciples
the bread which he had broken, and commanded them
to take and eat j but that we may fee the leaion of thefe"
things, it will be proper for us to confider, firit, fome of
the words that he fpake as he was puting it into their
hands.
Section III.
Yhis is my body.
1. The Papifts tell us that thefe words are to be taken
literally, and that asfoon as ever they are pronounced by the
priell, if with a proper intention, a fubftantial change is
made of the bread into the natural body of Chriil j that
very body which was born of the Virgin Mary, and
which was nailed to the crofs ; as the like change is
alfo made of tlie wine in the cup, upon the prielVs lay-
ing over it, this cup is my blood j this they call tran-
lubftantiation.
2. But how is it poffible that I fliould look on that
as the body of Chrilt, which I fee, and taile, and feel
to be bread, and which has the Imell, not of tlefli, but
of bread ! Is it faid, " That I mult not give credit to
" my fenfes, but believe the words of our Lord Jefus,"
I may very well afk, " why then ftiould the apollics
" have given credit to their hearing ? might not that
" fingle fenfemore eafilyhave deceived them than all the
" reil of their fenfes ? and if fo, how could they have
" been fatisfied that Chriil faid of the bread, this is my
" body ? BeOdes, if I am not to believe my fenles, how
" can I be fatisfied that there is fuch a book as that we call
" the New Teftament j and that fuch words are to be
" found in it ? or how can I be certain as to any faft
" whatfoever, that is faid to have been done by ano-
'* ther . as for inltance, the miracles faid to have been
" wrought by Jefus, and that grand fafl. in particular,
*' on which Chriflianity is founded, the refurredion
[ 31 ]
" of Chi i ft ? I Cor. XV. 17 . For, if no credit is to be
" given to the fenfes, they who have written of thcle
" tiiin,';s, and who, as they tell us, were eye-witneffts of
" them, I John i. t. might have been deceived, and have
" only fancied that they law them done j or 1 may be
" millaken, and only dream that 1 read of them in their
" writings."
3. But granting that our Lord faid of the bread, this
is niv body, and allowing the truth of the fcripture hif-
tory in all other particulars ; yet we may be very lure
that he did not in the leall deiign to contradict the evi-
dence of lenfe, and that he was tar irom deliring his dif-
ciples to believe that to be his natural body, which, as
far as they could judge of it by their fenfes, was no o-
ther than bread •, becaufe within a few days " fliewing
himfelf alive to them after his palTion, he appealed to
their fenfes, and called on them to make ule of their fen-
fes, in order to their being latisfied that his body was
raifed from the dead, and that they were not deluded by
a ghoft and apparition : For he ipake to them in this
manner, " why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts
arile in your hearts .? behold my hands and my feet, that
that it is I myfelf J handle me, ana fee, for a fpirit has
not ilelh and bones as ye fee me have," Luke xxlv. 38,
39. And agreeably to this, " when he had thus fpoken,
he Ihewed them his hands and his feet,'' ver. 40. and his
lide alfo, Johnxx. 20. And a little after he took the
like method for the convii^lion of St Thomas, who was
not then with the difciples, ver. 27.
4. But is not this ading a very inconliftent part,
for Chrilt, at one time to tell his difciples that that was
his natural body, which to judge of it by their fenles they
could look upon as no other than bread ; and a tew days
after, to defire them to make ufe of their fenles to fitisfy
themfelves that it \Yas a real body, and not a mere gholt,
or phantom, th^it Hood before them '
5. St Luke /peaks of thefe proofs of the refurreftion
of Jefus, that the apollles had from their fenles, as infal-
lible, Ad^ i. 2, 3- A.nd is it not evident to a demon-
llration that our Lord alfo had the famr notion of thefe
pro-ils, 'ince he left it altogetler to the i'enfes ot tlvjfe,
who doubted of it, to give them full fatisfa6tion concern-
[ 32 J
ing it : here, therefore, we may reft the matter, and fay,
" That as the apoilles had infallible proofs from their
fenfes, that Chriit was really riien from the dead, fo we
have infallible proofs, from our fenfes, that that Mhich
we take and eat at his table, is not his body, but bread."
6. Is it faid, " But what account then can be given of
his thus fpeaking of the bread, this is my body >' or
what is the meaning of his words ?" It may be anfwer-
ed, " That the name of a thing is frequently given to
that which is the iign of it. Thus the feven kine, and
feven ears of corn, are faid to be feven years, Gen. xli.
26, 27. And thus circumcifion, had the name of the
covenant, and the fign was called what literally it was
not, but what it really and truly exhibited by divine ap-
pointment *. And the like it is here : our Lord fpeaks-
of the bread as his body ; not becaufe of its being tran-
fubilantiated, or changed into his body ; but becauie he
had appointed it to be thefymbol or token of his body,
and would have us to confider it under this notion, when •
taking and eating of it."
Section IV.
This is my body, ivhich is given and brohcn for you.
I. St Matthew and St Pvlark fay nothing of Chrift's
body being given, and broken \ but as the former c£
thefe things is taken notice of by St Luke, fo the latter
is mentioned by St Paul, and the filence of fome of the
facred writers, as to any thing that is fpoken of by ano-
ther, is no argument againtt it.
2. The body of ourbleffcd Saxiour was firft taken, that it
might be given, and then given, that it might be broken ;
and the meaning is, that he freely confented to the break-
ing of it. His body was broken by the nails, that were
driven through his hands and feet, to faften it to the
crofs \ and by the fpear with Vvhich they pierced his fide.
Firft, " He took upon him the form of a fervant, and was
* See Waterland's review of the Eucharift, Chap. vii.
[ 33 ]
made in the likenefs of men, and then being found in fa-
niion as a man, he humbled hirafelf, and became obedi-
ent unto death, the death of the cioi's," Phil, ii, 5, 6.
So that the bread broken, as fignifying his body broken,
fcts him before us as crucified.
3. Do any objed, " But Chrilt had not been crucified,
" and confequently his body had not been broken, when
" he thus fpake." It may be anfwered, " That his
" words are to be underltood, not in a literal, but figu-
*' rative fenfe, and they are, as if he had faid, " That
" which I do now put into your hands, is no other than
" bread, but I call it my body j becaufe I have appoint-
" ed it to lignify my body ; and becaufe I would have
" you to confider it under this notion, as often as you
" ihall eat it at my table. And having broken this bread,
" to lead your thoughts to the breaking of my body, 1
" now fpeak of itas my body, which is given and bro-
" ken ; becaufe I now appoint it to (ignify my body,
" conlidered as given and broken. You now liear
" me fpeaking to you, and know that I am alive, and
" you cannot but be leniible that my body neither is, nor
*' has been given and broken j but thus I fpeak of it,
" and thus I would have you to confider it both now,
" and whenever in time to come, you (hall oblerve this
" ordinance which I now inftitute."
4. The giving of Chrill's body to be broken, may be
faid to be not only his own aft, but the aft likewife of
God and our father. For all that which our Saviour
did in this, was according to his will. Gal. i. 4. " God
fpared not his own Son, but dilivered him up" to fiift'cr
and to die. Rom. viii. 32. And Chilli oh'ercd a
" facrlfice to God," that very body which he had pre-
pared him, Heb. x. 5. And becaufe " lie humbled liim-
felf, and became obedient to the death of the crofs ;
God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name,
which is above every name •, that at that name of Jelus
every knee (hall bo\s-, Phil. ii. 9. 10.
5. The body of our Lord is all that which he here
fpeaks of as given ; but as God " gave his Son," John ill.
16. lo Chrilt gave hlnifelf, his whole man, " for our fins,"
Gal. i. 4. And although the breaking of his body, is
all that is here taken notice of, )ct this was far from be-
[ 34 ]
ing tlie whole of his fufferings •■, and it is not fit that we
fliould pafs over thofe of his foul.
6. The death of the crofs, was not only a lingering
and painful, but a nnoil ignominious death. It Avas rare-
ly feen that any other than llaves, and the bafefl male-
factors, were punilhed in this manner : Beildes it was
looked upon, in common, as a token of a perfon's being
, under the curfe of God for his fms. Deut. xxi. 23.
Gal. iii. 13. Well therefore, may it be faid, that " God
commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were
yet finners, Chrid tiius died for us." Rom. v. 8. And
well may we look on this as an amazing inrtance of the
grace of our Lord [efus Chrift, that he fhould be wil-
ling for our fakes to fuft'er fuch a death as this. And
yet we may fay that there were other parts of his fuffer-
ings, which were far beyond the pain and lliiame of the
crofs.
7. Thus we may fpeak of what he futTered in the gar-
den, the night in which he was betrayed, when he him-
felf complained to his difciples, " My foul is exceeding
forrowful even unto death," Mat. xxvi. 38. when he
prayed again and again, " Father, if it be poffible, let
this cup pafs from me, " ver. 39, &c. and when, althoagh
an angel appeared to him from heaven to ftrengthen him,
he was in fuch an agony, that " his fweat was as it were
great drops of blood falling down to the groand, Luke
xxii. 44 -J an agony that, had it continued but a little
longer, mull needs have diffolved the earthly houfe of
his tabernacle j and if he had felt fuch a violent per-
turbation and diilrefs of foul as that occafioned, after
his enemies had apprehended him, we cannot conceive
it poffible for him to have behaved with a proper calm-
nefs and comp:)fure of mind under all their infults.
8. But '* when he had offered up prayers and fuppli-
cations, witli itrong crying and tears unto him that was a-
ble to fave him from death," which this agony had well-
nigh brought upon him, "he was heard in that he fear-
ed," Heb V. 7. and his heavenly Father did again fpeak
peace and comfort to him. However, theie is fome
reafon to think, tliat our bleffed Saviour was not wholly
free from all fufferings of this nature, when he was upon
the crofs, but that his forrow and diilrefs of ibul had le-
[ 35 J
turned upon him, though not, it may be, to fo high a
degree. Thus it feems to have been, when he cried
witli a loud voice, faying, My God, my God why halt
thou forlaken me ? Mat. xxvii. 46.
9. They who were crucified with Chrifl, like him,
were " made a fpetlacle to the world, to angels and to
men," i Cor. iv. 9. and might feel as much pain in their
bodies as he fuftered. But what was all this to the " Fa-
ther's biuifing him ?" Ifa. Hii. 10. and to the diltrefl'es
and terrors of his foul ? With an eye to thefe, he might
with reafon be faying, " Is it nothing unto you, all ye
that pafs by ; behold and fee, if there be any forrov/
like unto my furrow, which is done unto me ; where-
with the Lord hath afflicled me, in the day of his fierce
anger r" Lam. i. I2. Thefe forrows and fufterings of
our Saviour are indeed of luch a nature as that they can-
not in any manner be reprefented by the breaking of
the bread : But, as they were the principal part of his
fufferings, it mult be owned to be highly reafonable to
give them even the chief place in our meditations, while
obferving thut rite which feems appointed to lead our
thoughts to this fubjert.
1 3. We mult not tail to take notice of the concern or
intereft that we have in the givingaiidbieakingof Chrilt's
body, and by a parity of reafon in all his fufferings. It
was " given and broken for us. As he gave himlelf for
our fins, that he might deliver us from this preient evil
world,'" Gal i. 4. fo God " fpared not his own Son,
but delivered him up to fuffer aiid die for us all, Rom.
viii. 32. " He was wounded for our trar.fgielTions ; he
was bruifed for our iniquities. The challilement of our
peace was upon him j and with his Itripcs we are heal-
ed. All we like iheep have gone allray : we have turn-
ed every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid
on him tlie ini(iuities of us all," Ifa. liii, 5, 6.
11. " As God lb loved the world tliat he gave his
only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him
Ihould not periQi but have eveilalling life ; and fent not
his Son into tlie world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him, might be faved,"Johniii. 16. 17.
So we may fay, thit Chritt fo loved us, as to give his
body to be broken for us, that whofoever believeth in
. [ 36 ]
him ftiould not perifh, but have everlafting life : and he
fuffered and died, not to condemn us ; but that we
through him might be faved : and it is neceff;uy for e-
very communicant to be fenfible of this ; this he fliould
confider, and with application to himielf, that he may be
encouraged to look to him by faith for all the bleffed
fruits of his fufferings and death*.
Section V.
And game it to the difciples, and /aid, take^ eat,
1. That which our bleffed Saviour had taken, he
brake ; that which he had broken he gave to his difciples^
and that which he gave, they did take, and eat : and
this as wc have feen, {Se£i 3.) was no other than bread.
But forafmuch is he has appointed the broken bread to
fignify his body given and broken for us, we may rea-
fonably confider his giving us this bread as the giving us
his body j and agreeably to this, our taking and eating
it is to fignify our taking and eating his body. So that
while taking the broken bread with our hands, and eat-
ing it with our mouths, we are by ibme aft of our minds
to receive and eat Chrilfs body as given and broken for
us.
2. We may therefore fay of facramcntal eating as is
faid of circumcifion, Rom. ii. 29. " It is that of the heart ;
in the fplrit, and not of the letter; whofe praife is not
of men, but of God." There ought to be a decent and
reverend behaviour in all who do obferve this rite : and
Ashere there is this, we may gain the good opinion of
our fellow communicants. But we have not the leall
* " The fpecial cbjedt of our faith in this ordirancc is the death
" and fufferings of Jefus Chriit; and tlie firft thing tliat we are to
" ;i(n faith upon, v> ith relpeiil to his death, is the perfonal love of
" Ghrift unto our perfons. So faith the apoftle, " Who loved me, and
" iTAYt hiinfelf for aie," Gal. ii. 20. The Lord lift us up above our
" fears, and give us to view by faith, not only the love of Chriit in
" general, but that he perfonalJy loved us, even tliii whole church."'
T>r Ou'Cii's difcourfcs at the Lord's tubie.
[ 37 ]
reafon to think that God will approve and accept of
â– what we do, and that it will be to the advantage of
our fouls, unlefs ive are found in that which this takinj;
and eating; the broken bread is to fignify •, that is, unieis
we take and eat the body of Chritt, as given and bro-
ken for us : And this is to be done no other way than
by faith in him, as having been crucified for us.
^. This language of our Lord, " This is my body,
take, eat •," with that which follows in the inliitution,
" This cup is my blood, drink ye aH of it," is of the
fame kind with that which we have in St Jolin, chap,
vi. " Verily, verily, I lay unto you, except ye eat the
fielh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood ye have no
life in you. Whofo eateth my riefh, and drinketh my
blood, hath eternal life, and I will raife him up at the
lall day ; For my tlefli is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed," ver. 53, 54, ^^. And the only dift'e-
rence between his doftrine in that chapter, and this,
which is reprtfented and inculcated in the lacrament, is
this ; that whereas this ordinance lets the ilifferings and
death of Chvlll before us, as pall, he there fpeaketh of
them, as to come •, telling his hearers, not tliat he had
given, but " would give his llelh for the life of the
world," ver. 51.
4. The Lord's fupper not having not been infiituted
when he fpake in this manner, \\t cannot fuppclie th.it
he had any reference to it j but when at the inicitution
ef this ordinance he made ufe of the like language, we
may rcafonably put the fame conllruAion upon it. As
therefore the words that he then fpake were " fpirit and
and life," ver. 6^. and are to be fpiritually, and rot 1'-
terally underllood ; fo the fiune we are to think of his
wordi in the facrament : For, although it mav be faid
that here, as well as there, he fpeaketh of his natural
body, that very body which was in the nomb of his \ ir-
gin mother, and of his natural blood, thit very blood
whicli circulated in that body, yet eating his body, and
drinking his blood, are figurative exprefiions,
5. There is, indeed, in the literal fenie of the words,
an eating and drinking in the facrament ; but as that
which we put into our mouths is bread and wine, aj,d
not the very body and blood of our Lord, fo bread and
D
[ 38 ]
wine are all that, literally fpeaking, we can be faid to
eat and drink.
But the broken bread which we eat at his table, being
made the figure or lign of his body, confidered as given
and broken for us, and the wine in the cup, which we
there drink being alfo made the figure of his blood, which
he fhed for us, our eating this bread is likewife the fi-
gure of our eating his body, and our drinking the wine
the figure of drinking his blood. But how can we eat