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from the paschal feast, and was intended to supply its place, only heightening the design, and improving the application. The use of the observation may appear afterwards, when we come to consider more minutely either the general intent or the particular parts of this Christian

service.

CHAP. III.

Of the Commemoration or Remembrance of Christ in the Holy Communion.

SINCE the end or design of any thing is always considered as first in view, antecedent in natural order to the performance, so the rules of just method require, that in treating of this Sacrament we should begin with some account of the proximate end and design of it; namely, the commemoration or remembrance of Christ, "This do in re"membrance of mef;" and particularly of his death and passion," shew the Lord's death till he comes." I call it the proximate or immediate end, because the ultimate end of all is the happiness of man, or, what is coincident therewith, the glory of God. Our blessed Lord seeks not his own glory, but the good of his creatures, in all that he appoints them to do. He is not capable of receiving advantage, or any real addition to his own glory, by any of our commemorations or services: but all these things are graciously appointed for our present and future benefit; and we may be confident that Christ, the Captain of our salvation, would prescribe nothing in a particular manner, which does not as particularly contribute to that end. Some Divines, of a refined and elevated way of thinking, will not allow that God can have any end but himself, in any thing that he does, because he can have no higher : but then they do not mean that God proposes to himself any increase of happiness or of essential glory, to which

f Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. Τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. 3. 1 Cor. xi. 26, Τὸν θάνατον τοῦ κυρία καταγγέλλετε ἄχρις οὗ ἂν ἔλθῃ.

nothing can be added; but that, as he is naturally benevolent, and as he takes delight in his own being and attributes, (the most worthy of his love,) so he delights in the exercise of his goodness, and chooses it as worthy of himself, and, in this sense, acts only for himself. In such a sense as this, our blessed Lord may be said to have acted for himself, or for his own glory, in what he did for mankind: but it can in no sense be allowed, that he receives any advantage by what we say or do; and therefore the ultimate end (so considered) of our commemorations or services is the benefit accruing from thence to ourselves: what they are we shall see in due time and place. This being premised for clearer conception, or to prevent mistakes, I now proceed.

The commemoration of our Lord's dying for us includes two things; the consideration of him as Lord, and as dying; one expressing his personal dignity, the other expressing his meritorious sufferings relative to us. The first of the two may suffice for the present: the second may be reserved for a distinct chapter.

I here take for my ground the words of our Lord; "This do in remembrance of me." The Greek words eis τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν may bear three several renderings (or four). 1. In remembrance of me. 2. In commemoration of me. 3. For a memorial of me, or, for my memorial. They differ not much in sense, but yet as they do differ, they may deserve a distinct consideration. The second includes the first; and the third includes both the former, not vice versa: so they rise, as it were, in sense, and are so many distinct gradations, as shall be shown presently.

I. I begin with the first and lowest, this do "in remem"brance of me." The Socinians, (some of them at least,) not content with supposing this remembrance or commemoration to be one considerable end or part of this Sacrament, make it to be the only end or use of ith; yea and sometimes go so far as to say, that it constitutes the very na

Et hæc quidem quam explicuimus, mortis Christi annuntiatio proprius est, atque unicus Cœnæ Dominicæ finis &c. Volkel, de Con. Dom. p. 687.

ture or essence of this holy rite: for they interpret the words, "this is my body," so as to mean, this action, this eating and drinking, is the memorial of Christ's body broken i, &c. Which is overdoing, and neglecting to distinguish between the thing itself, and the end or design of it; between what is done, and for what purpose it is done. We eat bread and we drink wine in the Sacrament, the symbols of Christ's body and blood; and we do so for this reason, among others, that Christ may be remembered, and the merits of his passion celebrated. But this I hint by the way only, and pass on to what I design. Remembrance of Christ is undoubtedly a principal end of this Sacrament. It is not declared by the institution itself, in what view, or under what capacity we are here to remember him; but that must be learned from other places of Scripture, which declare who and what he is for certainly we are to remember him in such a light as the Old and New Testament have represented him in. This appears to be an allowed principle on all hands: for none think themselves obliged to stop in the bare words of the institution, without carrying their inquiries farther into the whole compass of Scripture, when they see proper. The Socinians themselves will not scruple to allow that Christ may or ought to be remembered in the Sacrament as Lord, in their sense, or as Master, or Saviour, or Head, or Judge, though there is not a word of Lord, or Master, or Saviour, or Head, or Judge, in the bare form of the institution as delivered by Christ: but those names or titles are to be fetched from other places of Scripture. Therefore, I say, it is allowed by all parties, that we ought to remember Christ, in the holy Communion, according to what he is,

i Hæc actio frangendi et comedendi panem, est corpus, hoc est commemoratio Christi corporis pro nobis fracti. Smalc. cont. Frantz. p. 315.

Corpus Christi et sanguinem Christi pro memoriali signo corporis Christi fracti, et sanguinis fusi sumimus: commemorationem autem, istius sacri ritus finem usumque esse dicimus. Schlinting. contr. Meisn. p. 761. Ritus istius naturam in panis fractione et esu, et e poculo potu, perque hæc in mortis Christi representatione quadam, sitam esse dicimus. Ibid. p. 785, 786.

by the Scripture account of him. This foundation being laid, I go on to the superstructure: and for the more distinct conception of what this remembrance implies or contains, I shall take leave to proceed by several steps or degrees.

1. It is not sufficient to remember Christ merely as a very great and good man, a wise instructor, and an admirable teacher, while he lived, received up into celestial bliss and glory when he died: for all this comes vastly short of what sacred Writ declares of him; and is indeed no more (if so much) than what the Pagans themselves, the Platonists, particularly of the second and third centuries, were ready to admit. For, being struck with the fame of his undoubted miracles, and with the inimitable force of his admirable precepts, holy life, and exemplary death, they could not but revere and honour his memory; neither could they refuse to assign him a place among their chief sages or deities k. And all the plea they had left for not receiving Christianity was, that his disciples (as was pretended) had revolted, or degenerated, and had not duly observed the wholesome instructions of their high leader'. Those Pagan philosophers therefore, as Í said, remembered Christ, in as high a view as this article amounts to a Christian remembrance must go a great deal higher.

* See this particularly proved in a very learned and curious dissertation, written by Laurence Mosheim, and lately inserted, with improvements, into his Latin translation of Cudworth, vol. ii. Confer. Euseb. lib. vii. cap. 18. Christum, Servatorem nostrum, virum magnum, divinum, et sapientissimum fuisse non inficiabantur, qui egregia et divina plane docuisset, cumque a Judæis injustissimo supplicio necatus fuisset, in cœlum ad Deos commeasset. Moshem. ibid. p. 23. Hence perhaps it was, that the Emperor Alex. Severus, (of the third century,) along with the images of Apollonius and Orpheus, had others of Abraham and Jesus Christ, receiving them as deities. Lamprid. Vit. Severi.

1 Descivisse scilicet a sanctissimi præceptoris sui scitis Christianos Platonici criminabantur- -atque castam et sanam ejus disciplinam variis erroribus inquinasse.1. Quod divinis Christum honoribus afficerent; nec enim a suis id postulasse Christum. 2. Quod Deos negligerent, et eorum cultum extinctum vellent; Christum enim ipsum a Diis haud alienum fuisse. Moshem. ibid. p. 24.

2. It is not sufficient to remember Christ merely as an eminent prophet, or one of the chief prophets, an ambassador from heaven, and one that received his Gospel from above, wrought miracles, lived a good life, was deified after death, and will come again to judge mankind: for all this the Mahometans themselves (or some sects amongst them) can freely own, and they pay a suitable regard to his memory on that score m. It is all vastly below what the Scriptures plainly testify of him, and therefore does not amount to a Christian remembrance of him.

3. Neither yet is it sufficient to remember Christ as our Head, Lord, and Master, to whom we owe such regard as disciples do to their leader or founder: for all this is no more than what the Jews justly ascribed to Moses, who was but the servant of Christ". And it is no more than what many nominal Christians, ancient and modern, many half-believers have owned, and what all but declared apostates or infidels must own. And it comes not up to what the Scriptures fully and frequently teach, and therefore does not amount to a due remembrance of him.

4. Neither, lastly, is it sufficient to remember Christ as higher than the angels, or older than the system of the world for that is not more than many misbelievers, of former or of later times, have made no scruple to own, and it is still short of the Scripture accounts.

For, according to the whole tenor both of Old and New Testament, Jesus Christ is not merely our Lord, Master, Judge, &c. but our Divine Lord and Master; Lord in such a sense as to be Jehovah and God of Israel, God before the creation, and by whom all creatures were made; who "laid the foundation of the earth," and even the "heavens are the works of his hands P;" who has a rightful claim to be worshipped and adored, by men, by angels, by the "whole creation." And no wonder,

m See Reland. de Religione Mohammedica, p. 25, 33, 34, 44, 45, 212, 224. David Millius. Dissert. x. de Mohammedismo, p. 344, 345, 346.

n Heb. iii. 2—6.

9 Heb. i. 6.

• John i. 1,2,3.
Rev. v. 13.

P Heb. i. 10.

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