Chapter 34. Of the Lord's Supper.
WILLIAM PERKINS
Chapter 34. Of the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a Sacrament with which, in the signs of bread and wine, those who are ingrafted into Christ are in him daily, in a spiritual manner, nourished to eternal life. 1Cor 11.23-25; Rom 6.5.
The proportion of the parts of the Lord's Supper, is in this way.
The Elements of bread and wine are signs and seals of the body and blood of Christ.
The action of the Minister is a note of God's action.
The Minister's action is fourfold:
The first is his taking the bread and wine into his own hands. This seals the action of God the Father, by which from all eternity he separated and elected his
Son to perform the duty of a Mediator between God and man. Joh 6.27, For the Father has sealed him.
The first is his taking the bread and wine into his own hands. This seals the action of the Father, by which He, from all eternity, separated and elected his
Son to perform the duty of a Mediator between God and man. Joh 6.27, For the Father has sealed Him.
The second is his blessing of it, by which he — reciting the promises and prayer conceived to that end
— actually separates the bread and wine received, from their common to a holy use. This seals that action of God by which, in the fulness of time, He sent Christ to perform the office of a Mediator, to which he was foreordained.
The third is the breaking of the bread, and pouring out of the wine. This seals the passion of Christ, by which he was truly on the cross, both in soul and body, bruised for our transgressions.
A GOLDEN CHAIN
The fourth is by his distributing the bread and wine into the hands of the communicants. This seals the action of God, offering Christ to all, even to hypocrites, but giving him indeed to the faithful for the daily increase of their faith, and repentance.
The action of the receiver is double.
The first is taking the bread and wine in his hand.
This seals a spiritual action of the receiver; namely, his apprehension of Christ by the hand of faith, Joh 1.12.
The second is eating the bread, and drinking the wine, to the nourishment of his body. This seals his application of Christ by faith, that the feeling of his true union and communion with Christ, may be increased daily. 1Cor 10.16, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
The Sacramental Relation in the Lord's Supper is in this manner:
The union of the sign and the thing si gnified.
Things sensibl e 1. Brea d2.
Wine Things spiritua l 1.
Christ's body 2.
Christ's blood To take bread and wine in his hands To seal Christ, to bear the office of a Me diator, Joh 6.27
WILLIAM PERKINS
To cons ecrate the bread and wind by repeati ng the promis e, and prayers made for that end To send Christ to be a Mediat or, for which he was sealed from all eternit y.
Ministe r To break bread and pour out wine The exe crable passion of Christ, and eff usion of his blood God To give the bread and wine into the receive r's hands The sen sible and ext ernal actions To offer Christ to all, even to hypocri tes, but to give him only to the true Ch ristians The spi ritual and int ernal actions To take the bread and cup in his hand To appr ehend Christ by faith
A GOLDEN CHAIN
Christi an rece iver Christi an rece iver To apply Christ to hims elf, that true union and co mmuni on with Christ may be increas ed To eat the bread and drink the wine, for the nourish ment of his body
which teaches that the bread is turned into the very body of Christ, and the wine into his blood, is truly a fable. The reasons why are these:
That doctrine of Transubstantiation, I. In the first institution of the Supper, which was before Christ's passion, the body of Christ was then eaten as already crucified. Now, how the body of Christ crucified should be eaten in a corporal manner, not yet being crucified himself, it is impossible to imagine.
II. The bread, after its consecration, is distributed into parts. But the whole body of Christ is received by every singular communicant.
III. The bread is the communion of Christ's body; therefore it is not his actual body.
IV. By this means, the body of Christ should not only be made of the substance of the Virgin Mary, but also of the baker's bread.
V. Let the bread and wine be kept for a time, and the bread will mold, and the wine turn into vinegar after its consecration. From this we may conclude that there remained the substance of bread and wine.
WILLIAM PERKINS
VI. This opinion quite overthrows the sacramental union; namely, the relation that exists between the sign and the thing signified.
The same may be said of the Lutheran's Consubstantiation, by which they would convey to men that there is a coexistence, by which the body of Christ is either in, or with, or about the bread. Against this, these reasons may suffice:
I. The whole action of the Supper is done in remembrance of Christ; now, what need is there, if the body of Christ is really present?
II. Act 3.21, Whom the heavens may contain, until the time that all things are restored.
III. This is an essential property of every magnitude, and therefore of the body of Christ: to be in one place, and circumscribed or compassed by one place.
IV. If Christ's body were eaten corporally, the wicked as well as the faithful would be partakers of the flesh of Christ; rather, to eat his flesh is to believe in him, and to have eternal life.
V. It would be very absurd to think that Christ sitting among his Disciples, took his own body with his own hands, and gave it wholly to each of his Disciples.
Those who will, in a holy way, prepare themselves to celebrate the Lord's Supper, must have, First, a knowledge of God and of man's fall; and of the promised restoration into the Covenant by Christ.
1Cor 11.26, So often as you eat this bread, and drink of this cup, you show the death of the Lord till He comes; verse 29, and discern His body.
Secondly, true faith in Christ. For every man receives so much: as he believes, so he receives. Heb
4.2, For the Gospel was preached to us, as also to them.
But the word that they heard did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Furthermore, true repentance from their sins. Isa 66.3, He that kills a bullock, as if he slew a man: he that sacrifices a sheep, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that
A GOLDEN CHAIN
offers an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that remembers incense, as if he blessed an idol.
Indeed, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. Psa 26.6, I wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, and so come before Your altar.
Thirdly, renewed faith and repentance, for daily and new sins committed upon infirmities. This is because every new sin requires a new act, both of repentance and faith; and this renovation must be seen by the reconciliation of ourselves to our neighbours, for injuries and wrongs. Mat 5.23-24, If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go. First be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. If you can come furnished with these things, do not abstain from the Lord's table, because of your many infirmities.
If being thus prepared, you feel that you have a corrupt and rebellious heart, know this: that you are well-disposed to the Lord's table, when you are deeply touched with a sense of your crooked disposition. Luk
4.18, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me, that I should preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me, that I should heal the broken-hearted, that I should preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, that I should set at liberty those who are bruised. Mat 15.24,
He answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The Lord's Supper is a medicine to the diseased and languishing soul. And therefore men must seek to purify and heal their hearts in it, as well as to bring pure and sound hearts to it.
If you feel in yourself some great defect and lack of faith, pray to God earnestly, that He will grant to increase it. Mar 9.24, The father of the child, crying with tears, said, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
WILLIAM PERKINS
If you cannot do this yourself, use the aid of the faithful, who may carry you by their faith, as men carried the one sick of the palsy upon their shoulders, and laid him before Christ. Mar 2.3-5.
If you do not come furnished in this way to the Lord's table, then you shall be judged guilty of the body and blood of Christ — just as he is guilty of high treason, who counterfeits or clips the Prince's coin.
1Cor 11.27, He that eats this bread, and drinks this cup unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of Christ.
But those who do not feel themselves penitent, may not come to the Lord's table without repentance, lest they eat and drink their own damnation; nor may they defer repentance when they come, lest they procure final destruction for themselves.