1 into the Body and Blood of Chrift. And here I cannot but obferve, that although they were guilty of this great Offence, yet the Apostle, to cure them of it, does not tell them, that they were guilty of the highest Sin imaginable, by coming in a drunken and diforderly Manner to eat and drink God himfelf (as it would have been had it been really fo); or that tho' they thought they received only Bread and Wine, yet that in Truth they were widely mistaken, for there was no Bread and Wine there, fince what they received was really the very Flesh and Blood of God our Saviour. This, no doubt, would have been what St. Paul would have told them, had he been of the fame Opinion that the Church of Rome is now of. No; inftead of that he tells them, over and over again, that what they received was Bread and Wine only, fet apart to a divine and spiritual Ufe; which, therefore, they ought to receive with due Examination, Difcernment, or Confideration; but he does not fay with Adoration; which, if he had thought they ought to have done, he would doubtlefs have told them fo, which would have been the most effectual Way in the World to have convinced them of the Wickednefs of their former brutish and irreverent Practice, and to have prevented their relapfing into the like finful Courfe for the future. To fhew you further that it is not of Neceffity to be underflood, that by the Expreffions, This Bread is my Body, or This Cup or Wine is my Blood, is meant, that the Things are really what they are faid to be; but only that they fignify fignify (are a Sign, a Type, or Symbol of) what they are faid to be; that is, that this Bread fignifies my Body, this Cup fignifies my Blood of the New Teftament; I fhall alledge fome parallel Expreffions in Scripture very appofite to this Cafe: As that in the xxiiid Chapter of the 2d Book of Samuel (n), where David refuses to drink of the Water of Bethlehem, that was brought him by Three of his mighty Men, faying, Is not this the Blood of the Men that went in feopardy of their Lives? Not that he thought it was their Blood, for he faw and knew it was Water; but that if he should drink that Water, which they brake through the Enemies Camp to fetch him, it would be as if he fhould drink fo much of their Blood, which they had expofed to fetch him that Water. Again; although the Hair of the Head and Beard, which the Prophet Ezekiel was commanded by God Almighty to fhave off, to burn, to fmite with a Knife, to fcatter, and to bind up in his Skirts, is faid in as pofitive a Manner of Expreffion to be Jerufalem (0), as that where it is faid, This Bread is my Body, &c. faying, This is Jerufalem; yet no more was thereby intended, than only the prefiguring and representing that under the Expreffions of fuch and fuch Things which were to be done to the Hair, fhould be understood, that the Judgments of Difperfion and the Sword fhould befal that City, and the Inhabitants thereof. And in the New Teftament St. Paul tells the Corinthians (p), that (n) 2 Sam. xxiii. 17. (0) Ezekiel v. 5. G 2 the the Children of Ifrael in the Wilderness, drank of the fpiritual Rock which followed them, and that Rock was Chrift; where it is to be remarked, that the Rock in Horeb is faid pofitively to be Christ; and might, no doubt, with as much Propriety be faid to be as truly and really Chrift, though he was not born till many Generations after the Children of Ifrael came into the Land of Canaan, as the Bread and Wine might be faid to be his Body and Blood, who was then living, and was not crucified till the Day after he had pronounced thofe Words. Further; the Children of Ifrael are faid to drink of the Rock; where the Rock is by a Trope put for the Waters that flowed or gufhed out of it, and followed them in their Journeyings through the Wilderness; in like Manner as the Cup is put for the Wine that was in it. But the more exprefsly to fhew the exact Refemblance of this Type to Chrift, who is a Well of living Water (q), St. Paul tells the Corinthians, that the Children of Ifrael drank of the fpiritual Rock (r) that followed them, which Rock was Chrift; thereby alluding to the spiritual Effufion of the Holy Ghoft, that should be beftowed on fuch Communicants as, with a true, penitent, and lively Faith, Should Spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ, and drink his Blood (s). From all which Paffages out of the Books of Mofes and the Prophets, or the Discourses of our Saviour, and the Writings of his Apostles, it is abundantly evident, that nothing can be gathered (q) John iv. 14. (r) 1 Cor. x. 4• c hortation in the Communion Service. (s) Ex to to fupport the Notion of Tranfubftantiation, by any Declarations or Expreffions in either the Old or New Teftament; which are the only divine Revelations that we can poffibly depend upon. As to what is faid by our Adverfaries of the Romish Communion, That the greater the Difficulty of believing any Doctrine is, the greater is the Faith of those who believe it; and therefore, that their Faith who believe the Doctrine of Tranfubftantiation is much greater, and more meritorious, than any we can pretend to, who refufe to believe Things contrary to cur Senfes : I answer, That the Perfuafion of the Papifts, as to this Point, is not Faith, but a stupid Credulity. Faith is defcribed, by the Apostle to the Hebrews (t), to be, the Subftance (Ground, Confidence, or Affurance) of Things hoped for, the Evidence of Things not feen: It is not faid to be the Evidence of Things contrary to what is feen, there being a very wide Difference between believing, as the Patriarchs (whofe Praises are celebrated in that Chapter) did, Things that were, by fome Way or other, divinely revealed to them fhould certainly come to pass, though they did not then fee them, or know how, or when, they fhould happen (which was, therefore, the Ground of their Hope and Faith): Ifay, there is a very wide Difference between this, and the believing Things contrary to what they faw or felt, &c. which would be believing Things contrary to the Evidence of their Senfes; whereas the Evidence of our Senfes is as much a Principle implanted (t) Heb. xi. 1. 86 A Letter from a Gentleman in us by God, to guide us with relation to fuch Things as are the Objects of our Senfes, as our Faith is with relation to fuch Things as are divinely, or otherwise, revealed to us. Neither is Faith, or Belief, a Principle abfolutely in our Power, which we can take up, or lay down, as we please; for we cannot, though we would never fo fain, really and truly believe Contradiction; we cannot, it is not in our Nature to, believe Impoffibilities. But, fay the Romanifts, we do not pretend that this Tranfubftantiation is poffible any otherwife to be effected than by Miracle; and as God can, and often does, work Miracles, fo he may cause this Change to be miraculously performed, and therefore it may be believed To which I anfwer, It is very true, that God can, and often does, work Miracles; but then it is abfolutely impoffible for Mankind to believe any Thing to be a Miracle, unless their Senfes (which are the only Means they have whereby to judge of a Miracle) tells them that it is one: For, though the Scripture, which is a divine Revelation, tells them, that Miracles are, and may be, wrought by the Power of God, yet, whenever there is any one individual Miracle wrought, Mankind cannot believe, or even fo much as know, any Thing of it, unless the Judgment of their Senfes affure them of it. All the Miracles of Mofes, and of our Saviour, were evidently, though miraculously, wrought; fo that the People, before whom they were wrought, were plainly fenfible they were Miracles, from the Affurance given them thereof by their Senses of Feeling or Seeing,&c. The miraculous Plagues brought |