The worthy communicant, or, A discourse of the nature, effects, and blessings consequent to the worthy receiving of the Lords Supper and of all the duties required in order to a worthy preparation : together with the cases of conscience occurring in the duty of him that ministers, and of him that communicates : to which are added, devotions fitted to every part of the ministration / by Jeremy Taylor ...

The next enquiry is,

What is the use of faith in this Sacrament? It is tied but to little duty, and a few plain articles; what then is the use and advantages of it? To what graces does it minister, and what effect does it produce? To this the answer is easie, but yet such as introduces a further enquiry. Faith indeed is not curious but material: and therefore in the contemplation of this mysterious Sacrament and its Symbols, we are more to regard their signifi∣cation than their matter; their holy imployment than their natural usuage, what they are by grace than what they are by nature; what they signifie rather than what they are defin'd. Faith con∣siders not how they nourish the body, but how they support and exalt the soul: that they are Sa∣cramental not that they are also nutritive; that

they are made holy to purposes of Religion,* 1.1 not that they are salutary to offices of nature; that is, what they are to the spirit, not what they are to sense and disputation. For to faith Christ is pre∣sent; by faith we eat his flesh, and by faith we drink his blood; that is, we communicate not as men, but as faithful and believers; the meaning, and the duty, and the effect of which are now to be inquired.

1. It signifies that Christ is not present in the Sacrament corporally; or naturally, but spiritu∣ally; for thus the carnal and spiritual sense are op∣posed. So St. Chrysostom upon those words of Christ; the flesh profiteth nothing:

what is it to understand carnally?

To understand them simply and plain∣ly as they are spoken. For they are not to be judged as they seem, but all mysteries are to be considered with internal eyes, that is, spiritually. For the carnal sense does not penetrate to the understand∣ing of so great a secret, saith St. Cyprian. For there∣fore we are not devourers of flesh, because we understand these things spiritually. So Theophilaect.

2. Since the spiritual sense excludes the natural and proper, it remains that the expression which is natural be in the sense figurative and improper; and if the holy Sacrament were not a figure, it could neither be a sign nor a Sacrament. But there∣fore it is called the body and blood of Christ be∣cause it is the figure of them; as St. Austin largely discourses;* 1.2 [

••or so when good Friday draws neer,

we say to morrow or the next day is the pas∣sion of our Lord; although that passion was but once, and that many ages since: and upon the Lords day, we say, to day our blessed Lord arose from the dead although so many years be passed since; and why is no man so foolish as to reprove us of falshood, but be∣cause on these dayes is the similitude of those things which were done so long since. Was not Christ once sacrificed? and yet he is sa∣crificed still on the solemnities of Easter, and every day in the Communions of the people; neither does he say false, who being asked, shall say that he is sacrificed; for if the Sa∣craments had not a similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments, they would be no Sacraments at all. But most commonly, by their similitudes things receive their names.

* 1.3] Thus Tertullian expresses this mystery. This is, my body, that is, the figure of my body; and St. Gregory Nazianzen calls the Passeover, be∣cause it antedated the Lords Supper, a figure of a figure.

3. But St. Austin added well; The body of Christ is truth and figure too. The holy Sacra∣ment is not only called the Lords body and blood, for the figure, similitude and Sacramen∣tality; but for the real exhibition and ministra∣tion of it. For it is truly called the body of Christ, because there is joyned with it the vital power, vertue and efficacy of the body; and therefore it is called by St. Austin,* 1.4 the intelligi∣ble, the invisible, the spiritual body; by St. Hierom▪ the Divine and spiritual flesh; the celestial thing, by St. Irenaeus; the spiritual food: and the body of

the divine Spirit,* 1.5 by St. Ambrose: for by this means it can very pro∣perly be called the body and blood of Christ; since it hath not only the figure of his death ex∣ternally, but internally it hath hidden and secret the proper and divine effect, the life-giving pow∣er of his body; so that though it be a figure, yet it is not meerly so; not only the sign and memori∣al of him that is absent, but it bears along with it the very body of the Lord, that is, the efficacy and divine vertue of it. Thus our blessed Saviour said of John the Baptist, that Elias is already come, because he came in the power and spirit of Elias. As John was Elias, so is the holy Sacrament the body and blood of Christ, because it hath the pow∣er and spirit of the body of Christ. And therefore the ancient Doctors of the Church in their Ser∣mons of these divine Mysteries, use the word Na∣ture and Substance, not understanding these words in the natural or Philosophical, but a Theological, in a sense proper to the Schools of Christians; by Substance meaning the power of the substance; by Nature, the gracious effect of his natural body: the nature and use and mysteriousnesse of Sacra∣ments so allowing them to speak, and so requiring us to understand.

4. And now to this spiritual food must be sitted a spiritual manner of reception; and this is the work of faith; that spiritual blessings may invest the spirit, and be conveyed by proportioned instru∣ments, lest the Sacrament be like a treasure in a dead hand, or musick in the grave. But this I chuse rather to represent in the words of the Fathers of

the Church than mine own. [

We see (saith St. Epiphanius) what our Saviour took into his hands, as the Gospel says,* 1.6 he arose at supper and took this, an•• when he had given thanks, he said, This is my body; and we see it is not equal, nor like to it, neither to the invisible Deity, nor to the flesh: for this is of a round form, without sense: but by grace he would say, This is mine; and every one hath faith in this saying: For he that doth not believe this to be true as he hath said, he is fallen from grace and salvation. But that which we have heard, that we believe; that it is his.] And again, [The bread indeed is our food; but the virtue which is in it, is that which gives us life: by faith and efficacy, by hope and the perfection of the Mysteries, and by the title of sanctification, it should be made to us the perfection of sal∣vation.* 1.7] For these words are spirit and life; and the flesh pierces not into the understand∣ing of this depth, unlesse faith come.] * 1.8 But then, [The bread is food, the blood is life, the flesh is substance, the body is the Church] For the body is in∣deed shewn, it is slain, and gi∣ven for the nourishment of the world, that it may be spiritu∣ally distributed to every one, and be made to every one the conservatory of them to the resurrection of eternal life,* 1.9] saith St. Athanasius. Therefore because Christ said, This is my body, let us not at all doubt, but believe, and receive it with the eye of the soul; for no∣thing sensible is delivered us; but by sensible

things he gives us insensible or spiritual,] so St. Chrysostom:* 1.10 [For Christ would not that they who partake of the divine Mysteries should at∣tend to the nature of the things which are seen, but let them (by faith) believe the change that is made by grace.* 1.11 [For according to the substance of the creatures, it remains after consecration the same it did before: But it is changed inwardly by the powerful vertue of the holy Spirit; and faith sees it,* 1.12 it feeds the soul, and ministers the sub∣stance of eternal life: for now faith sees it all whatsoever it is.

From these excellent words we are confirmed in these two things. 1. That the divine Mysteries are of very great efficacy and benefit to our souls. 2. That Faith is the great instrument in conveying these blessings to us.* 1.13 For as St. Cyprian affirms, the Sacraments of themselves cannot be without their own vertue; and the divine Majesty does at no hand absent it self from the Mysteries.] But then unless by faith we believe all this that Christ said, there is nothing remaining but the outward Sym∣bols, and the sense of flesh and blood, which pro∣fits nothing. But to believe in Christ, is to eat the flesh of Christ.* 1.14 I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall not hunger; that is, he shall be filled with Christ: and he that believeth in me shall not thirst: coming to Christ, and believing in him, is the same thing: that is, he that believes Christs Words and obeys his Commandments; he that owns Christ for his Law-giver and his Master, for his Lord and his Redeemer; he who lays down his sins in the grave of Jesus, and lays down himself at the foot of the Crosse, and his cares at the door of the Temple, and his sorrows at the Throne of

Grace; he who comes to Christ to be instructed, to be commanded, to be relieved, and to be com∣forted; to this person Christ gives his body and blood, that is food from heaven. And then the bread of life, and the body of Christ, and eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, are nothing else but mysterious and Sacramental expressions of this great excellency; that whoever does this, shall partake of all the benefits of the Crosse of Christ, where his body was broken, and his blood was poured forth for the remission of our sins, and the salvation of the world. But still that I may use the expression of St. Ambrose,* 1.15 Christ is handled by faith, he is seen by faith, he is not touched by the body, he is not comprehended by the eyes.

5. But all the inquiry is not yet past: For thus we rightly understand the mysterious Propositions; but thus we do not fully understand the mysterious Sacrament. For since coming to Christ in all the ad∣dresses of Christian Religion, that is, in all the mini∣steries of faith, is eating of the body and drinking the blood of Christ, what does faith in the recep∣tion of the blessed Sacrament that it does not do without it? Of this I have already given an ac∣count * 1.16: But here I am to add, That in the holy Communion all the graces of a Christian, all the mysteries of the Religion are summ'd up as in a di∣vine compendium; and whatsoever moral or my∣sterious is done without, is by a worthy Commu∣nicant done more excellently in this divine Sacra∣ment: for here we continue the confession of our faith which we made in Baptism; here we perform in our own persons what then was undertaken for us by another; here that is made explicit which was but implicit before; what then was in the root,

is now come to a full year; what was at first done in mystery alone, is now done in mystery and mo∣ral actions and vertuous excellencies together: here we do not only here the words of Christ, but we obey them; we believe with the heart, and here we confesse with the mouth, and we act with the hand, and incline the head, and bow the knee, and give our heart in sacrifice: here we come to Christ, and Christ comes to us; here we represent the death of Christ as he would have us represent it, and remember him as he commanded us to remem∣ber him; here we give him thanks, and here we give him our selves; here we defie all the works of darknesse, and hither we come to be invested with a robe of light, by being joined to the Son of Righteousnesse, to live in his eyes; and to walk by his brightnesse, and to be refreshed with his warmth, and directed by his spirit, and united to his glories. So that if we can receive Christs body and drink his blood out of the Sacrament, much more can we do it in the Sacrament: For this is the chief of all the Christian Mysteries, and the union of all Christian Blessings, and the investiture of all Christian Rights, and the exhibition of the Char∣ter of all Christian Promises, and the exercise of all Christian Duties. Here is the exercise of our faith, and acts of obedience, and the confirmation of our hope, and the increase of our charity. So that although God be gracious in every dispensati∣on, yet he is bountiful in this: although we serve God in every vertue, yet in the worthy reception of this divine Sacrament there must be a conjuga∣tion of vertues, and therefore we serve him more: we drink deep of his loving kindnesse in every effu∣sion of it; but in this we are inebriated: he al∣ways fills our cup, but here it runs over.

Notes

• * 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Chrysost. homil. 2. in 2 Tim. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Idem & S. Cyril. in defens. anathem. idem asse∣rit.

  In Johan. hom. 46. vide etiam August. in Psal. 98.
• * 1.2

  Epist. 23. ad Boni∣fac. vide eundem contr. Adimantum cap. 12. Non dubitavit dicere Dominus hoc est corpus meum, cum signum daret corporis sui. Dicitur item ab Origene & Chrysostomo; in cap. 26. Mat. homil. 83. Typus & Sym∣bolum: ab eodem Origene, S. Basilio, & S. Ambrosio, & aliis; exem∣plum exemplar, & imago.
• * 1.3

  Contr. Marcion. lib. 4.
• * 1.4

  Laus fidei est cre∣derequod non vides. Aug.
• * 1.5

  Immortalitatis alimonia datur, à communibus cibis differens, corporalis sub∣stantiae retinens speciem, sed virtutis Divinae invisibi∣li efficientiaâ probans adesse praesentiam. S. Cyprian de coena Dom.
• * 1.6

  In Ancho∣rato.
• * 1.7

  Autor lib. de coenâ Dom. Fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum. St. Gregor.
• * 1.8

  Arcanum coeli Dominus pro tempore celatUt sic nostra fides ad ju∣stitiam doceatur,Et fidei major merces ex∣inde sequatur.Petr. Blesens.
• * 1.9

  de peccat. in Spir. S.
• * 1.10

  S. Chry∣sost. ubi suprà in Mat. 26.
• * 1.11

  Theodo∣ret. dial. 1.
• * 1.12

  Bertram de corp. & sang. Domini.
• * 1.13

  ubi supra.
• * 1.14

  John 6.35.
• * 1.15

  in Lucam lib. 6. c. 8.
• * 1.16

  Chap. 1. Sect. 2.