William Law · 7 of 14

A DEMONSTRATION of the Gross and Fundamental Errors · Part 6

[Dem-209] He is able to prove, that the sacrament is not a commemorative sacrifice, because it is the Supper of the Lord; just as another by the same skill in words, might prove, that the Lamb of God is not the tree of life, or the bread that came down from heaven, because of the great difference there is between a tree, bread, and a lamb.

[Dem-210] Now the reason why our savior is described under this vast variety of characters, is this, because no one phrase or particular form of expression can truly describe him to us; therefore that is to be done as well as it can, by different and seemingly contrary characters.

[Dem-211] Thus he is called the seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head, in another aspect the Lamb of God, in another the desire of all nations, in another the son of man, in another the brightness of his Father's glory, in another the bread that came down from heaven, in another the tree of life, the Alpha and Omega. Now it is the exceeding difference, and even literal contrariety of these expressions, that makes them proper and useful to us; and we have the more true knowledge of our savior because of these characters, which, considered in themselves, seem to have no agreement with each other.

[Dem-212] Thus the Lamb of God, and the bread of life, are characters of our savior, that have no connection with each other, and yet they teach us the greatest truths concerning our savior, because they are thus without connection, and so unrelated to each other.

[Dem-213] It is just thus with the sacrament; the different and seemingly incoherent characters and expressions by which it is signified to us, help us to know more truth of it, merely because of their difference, than could be taught us by such expressions as had a literal agreement and connection with each other.

[Dem-214] Do you therefore reject this author's wisdom of words which he proposes to you, and be content to be devout without it. Be glad to know, that as the nature, office, and condition of our savior could not be made known to us, but by a variety of different names and titles ascribed to him; so the nature and end and effects of this holy sacrament could not be made known to us, but by a variety of different names and titles ascribed to it; that in one respect it is a propitiatory sacrifice, in another a commemorative sacrifice; in one respect it is the seal and renewal of the covenant between God and man, in another the food of immortality, the life of the soul, the bread that came down from heaven, the tree of life; that in one respect it is the holy eucharist, in another the holy communion.

[Dem-215] And be assured, that he who tries to set these expressions at variance with each other, and would persuade you that if one is a true account of the sacrament, the others cannot be so, is as vain a disputer of this world, as he that would persuade you, that if our savior be the seed of the woman, he cannot be essentially the Son of God; or if he be the Lamb of God, he cannot be the bread of life.

[Dem-216] The reason why this sacrament is said in one respect to be a propitiatory, or commemorative sacrifice, is only this, because you there offer, present, and plead before God, such things as are by Christ himself said to be his body and blood given for you: but if that which is thus offered, presented, and pleaded before God, is offered, presented, and pleaded before him only for this reason, because it signifies and represents both to God, and angels, and men, the great sacrifice for all the world, is there not sufficient reason to consider this service as truly a sacrifice? Or even supposing, that the calling the service a sacrifice, is no more according to a certain literal exactness of some critics, that when our savior says of himself, "I am the resurrection"; or that a quibbler in words may be able to object as much against it, as against our savior's saying of himself, "I am the resurrection and the life," have you any reason to dislike it on that account, or to wish that such little critics might find more of their empty, superficial, worthless niceties in the language of the church, than in the language of scripture?

[Dem-217] The miserable use which this author makes of this kind of learning may be sufficiently seen by the following instances: "To say," says he, "that this communion is the actual partaking of all the benefits of Christ's body broken and blood shed for us, or of his living and dying for our good, has this peculiar absurdity in it, that in this rite, which was instituted for the remembrance of Christ, it destroys that very notion of remembrance, which is the essence of it. The great design of this institution is to call to mind the remembrance of Christ, and to commemorate the benefits accruing to Christians from it. To make it therefore the actual partaking of these benefits, is altering the nature of it, as much as actual partaking of anything is different from remembering it." {Page 158.} Many other passages like this are to be found in this author.

[Dem-218] Now to see the truth and sense of this doctrine in its proper light: Let it be supposed, that our savior, after the institution, had thus added, "Observe well what it is that I have taught you to understand and do by this rite: I have indeed said, This is my body which is given for you; but the meaning of my institution does not lie in these words, nor are you to think that I am any way present in that which I call my body, or that you are to present, and show, and plead it before God as my body, which is given for you; for this is not my intent, though I thus speak. I have also said, This is my blood which is shed for the remission of sins, and have ordered you to say so of it before God, and angels, and men in the church; but what I have taught has nothing to do with this institution, nor is it to be any part of it; there is no remission of sins to be thought of in it, or pleaded by it. I have also bid you to eat that which I have declared to be my body, and to drink that which I have declared to be my blood; but you must not therefore imagine, that you receive anything of me, or of my nature, into yourselves, or that I am a principle of life to you. For though I thus speak so fully and plainly of eating my very body and blood, yet nothing is meant of any real partaking of anything from me. For this is no part of my institution, nor is it appointed for you to receive anything from me, nor for me to communicate anything to you. And to prevent your apprehension of anything of this kind, and to secure you from the dangerous error of supposing that any benefits and blessings are received by your receiving my body and blood; I have added, Do this in remembrance of me; which words sufficiently show, that neither me, nor the benefits of me, as your savior, can here be received, because that which is appointed here to be remembered, cannot, without great absurdity, be supposed to be present. Had I indeed said, Do this in acknowledgement of me, or of that salvation which is received through me; or had I said, Do this as an act of faith in me as your savior, then indeed you must have believed that there were great benefits and blessings presented to you by this institution; for ye could not by faith appeal to this my body and blood, without the actual partaking of my benefits and blessings, both as I am the atonement for your sins, and a principle of life to you: but as I have chosen the word remembrance, you must see that it is only an act of your memory that is required of you; for this is the great point in this institution, perform but this and you have performed all that the nature and end of this institution requires of you. Take care therefore that you keep strictly to this bare act of the memory, and that you don't add anything to it; for the essence of this institution consists in this simple act of the memory. But above all, take heed of such faith, devotion, and desire of me, as may lead you to hope or believe that you partake of my benefits by the partaking of this holy rite; for such a faith and hope are so inconsistent with this institution, that they would destroy the very nature and essence of it, which is to be the remembrance of my benefits, and therefore cannot possibly be the actual partaking of them. Nor can you think of partaking of them by this holy institution, but by making it an institution of your own, directly contrary to that which I designed it to be."

[Dem-219] Everyone, I believe, must at first sight perceive, that to put this paraphrase upon the sacrament into the mouth of our savior, would be profaneness and blasphemy; and yet everyone must plainly see, that profane and blasphemous as it would be, there is not a thought or word in it, but what is strictly according to this author's doctrine.

[Dem-220] Secondly, let it be supposed that instead of "Do this in remembrance of me," our savior had said, Do this as a means of partaking of all my benefits to mankind: this author's criticism would prove it absurd to make the sacrament even than an actual partaking of those benefits. For he must say, that the great design of it, was to be a means of partaking of those benefits. To make it therefore the actual partaking of those benefits, is altering the nature of it, as much as actual partaking of anything is different from the means of partaking of it. Such is his wisdom of words!

[Dem-221] Thirdly, if it were true, that the actual partaking of Christ's benefits was not only not intended by, but also inconsistent with the right observance of this institution, so as to destroy its essence, and alter its nature, if such actual partaking was thought of by it; then it would follow, that no good Christian ought to observe this institution, or act according to the nature and intent of it.

[Dem-222] For it is as unlawful and even atheistical for any Christian to think himself not an actual partaker of the benefits and blessings of Christ, as to think himself not an actual partaker of the benefits and blessings of a God and providence. "Without me," says our blessed Lord, "ye can do nothing." {John 15:5.} But, according to this author, we not only can, but must do all that is done in this sacrament without him, and must look upon the sacrament as instituted for this very end, to keep up a sense and belief of our being without him, and to assure us, that we are not actual partakers of him, that he is not present with us, nor acting in us. Again, saith our blessed Lord, "Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

[Dem-223] But, according to this author, he that would rightly perform this institution, must, every time he performs it, come out of Christ as perfectly as he can, and make himself as separate from Christ, as the withered branch that is separated from the vine; that having no actual possession of the benefits and blessings of Christ, he may be qualified to do this in remembrance of them.

[Dem-224] Further, no one can believe in Christ, love Christ, adore him, and hope and trust in him, without being an actual partaker of the benefits of Christ by so doing; if therefore to the due observation of the sacrament, and to preserve its nature and essence, there must be no actual partaking of the benefits of Christ allowed in it, or by it; then it must be performed without faith or love of Christ, and without any devotion towards him, or adoration of him; for if these accompany that which we do in the sacrament, and attend our reception of it, the benefits of Christ must be actually received by it.

[Dem-225] Fourthly, to see still more of the absurdity and impiety of this author's observation on the remembrance in the sacrament, we need only apply it to this parallel text of scripture, "Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth." {Eccles.xii.1.} For, according to our author, he that would not alter and destroy the nature and essence of this duty of remembering God, must not pretend, or hope, or believe, that by the observance of this duty, he is made an actual partaker or sharer of the goodness, perfections, and attributes of his creator, or of anything that belongs to his creator, or that can be remembered of him: because so long as he keeps strictly to the true nature of this duty, and continues to remember his creator, so long every thing, or attribute, or perfection that belongs to his creator, must be considered as at a distance from him, as unenjoyed and unpossessed by him, because that which is to be remembered, cannot be present. And therefore the command to remember our creator, is, according to this doctrine, a command to look upon our creator as at a distance and far from us, and is inconsistent with our believing, that "in him we live, move, and have our being"; because we cannot remember a creator so present with us, and of whose perfections we are actual partakers.

[Dem-226] If therefore this author has found out the right way of remembering God as our redeemer, he ought to have told us, that the same way of remembering God as our creator was wrong, and tended to atheism. For to remember God as absent, is but a very little way from atheism.

[Dem-227] Lastly, if, as this author teaches, the actual partaking of the benefits of Christ's living and dying for us, by means of this sacrament, is an absurdity that cannot be supposed, without destroying the nature and essence of the sacrament, for this reason, because that which is possessed as present, and actually partaken of, cannot be remembered; then it follows, that no man can fully perform this duty, that is, make it a remembrance of all the benefits of Christ, but he that is actually dispossessed of all of them. Because he cannot remember all, if any of them are then present with him, and enjoyed by him.

[Dem-228] Secondly, it follows, that he who daily grows in the gifts and graces of Christ, and in whom Christ is every day more and more formed, must, in proportion as the strength, and spirit, and power of Christ is revealed in him, daily be less qualified to do perfectly that which is to be done in the sacrament; because being daily more and more possessed of the benefits and blessings of Christ, he has every day less and less to commemorate in and by the sacrament.

[Dem-229] Thirdly, it follows, that he who falls from his state of grace in Christ, who becomes every day more and more empty and destitute of his gifts and graces, who daily loses something of the sense and taste of the heavenly gifts, and the powers of the world to come, and finds himself less animated, assisted and strengthened by the power and spirit of Christ, must in proportion, as he becomes every day more earthly, sensual, carnal, blind and weak, and wretched, and dead, and fallen from Christ, be more and more qualified to do that which, according to this author, is to be done in the sacrament; for losing every day something of the benefits of Christ, and being daily less a partaker of them, he is daily qualified to commemorate more of them, and so to perform that which is to be performed in this sacrament in a more perfect manner.

[Dem-230] Again, the apostle saith, "Know ye not that Christ Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobates"? {2 Cor.xiii.5.} But this author must say, Know ye not that Christ Jesus is not in you, nor can be in you, if the sacrament is to be observed in remembrance of him? For how can ye without absurdity commemorate that which is not absent from you?

[Dem-231] Lastly, he who can say with the apostle, "the life that I now live is not mine, but Christ that liveth in me," is utterly incapable of remembering Christ in the sacrament; for he cannot commemorate an absent Christ, and therefore cannot commemorate him, till Christ has done living in him.

[Dem-232] But there is no end of exposing all the impious consequences of this author's learned account of the word remembrance. Which, monstrous as it is, is only founded upon a little criticism, that the word remembrance can only signify an act of the memory upon something that is absent. And yet it is certain that it does not, cannot signify so, when you are to remember your creator, and therefore need not signify so, when you are to remember your redeemer. And if you do but suppose it possible, that "Do this in remembrance of me," may only signify, do this in regard of me, as your act of faith in me; then all this extraordinary doctrine of the impossibility and absurdity of partaking of the benefits of Christ by partaking of the sacrament, has not so much as one of his quibbles to support it.

[Dem-233] Further, this author's absurd interpretation of the word remembrance in the sacrament is founded on this gross error, that the things to be remembered, are things done and past, and therefore only capable of being remembered by an act of the memory. This he expressly says in many places. Thus, "They," says he, "could not do the actions here named, in remembrance of anything which was not done and past." {Page 30.} And in other places, that the "benefits cannot be present that are to be commemorated."

[Dem-234] And therefore the whole support of this arguing is founded on this error, that the things to be remembered, are done and past. Which is an error, that he could not have fallen into, if he had but moderately understood the nature either of the Jewish or Christian religion.

[Dem-235] Now that which is to be remembered in the sacrament is Christ, or the benefits and blessings of Christ as the savior of mankind; but neither Christ, nor his benefits and blessings have the nature of things done, or gone, and past, but are always present, always in being, always doing, and never done.

[Dem-236] "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever," always was, now is, and ever will be present as the savior of the world. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and therefore equally present in and through all from the beginning to the end. "Behold," saith he, "I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him." {Rev.iii.20.} Thus he stood at the door of Adam's heart, as near as he stood to the apostles'; and thus he stands, and will stand knocking at the door of every man's heart, till time shall be no more. Happy he that does not consider this Christ as absent, and is only for such a Supper of the Lord, as will not admit of his presence.

[Dem-237] The benefits and blessings of Christ as the savior of mankind, began with the first promise of a seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head; they have continued with this promise, they are the benefits of every age, they will never be at an end, till all that was implied in the promise shall have its full completion in the utter destruction of the serpent. Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and the first sacrifice of the first man, and every sacrifice since, that hath been accepted of God, has been made solely acceptable through the benefits and blessings of Christ.

[Dem-238] All the shadows and types, sacrifices and ceremonies of the Jewish religion were only so many ways of applying the benefits of Jesus Christ to that people. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever," is the same in and through all ages; he was the savior of Adam, the patriarchs, and the Jews, just as he is our savior. His body and blood, offered in their sacrifices, was their atonement, as it is ours, offered upon the cross. His flesh and blood was meat and drink, or a principle of life to them, as it is to us.

[Dem-239] Jesus Christ was theirs, as he is ours; he was the life, and substance, and spirit of the Law, as he is the life, and substance, and spirit of the gospel; only with this difference, that then Christ was covered, and received under more outward figures and ceremonies than he is now; we do that more openly, which was then done more covertly by the Israel of God.

[Dem-240] His atonement for our sins is not a transitory thing, that began and ended with his passion and death, but it began with the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world; for he was the Lamb of God slain in all their types and sacrifices through every age, till he became the real expiatory sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world.

[Dem-241] When he died upon the cross, his atonement did not then become a thing that was over, or past, and done, that was only to be remembered by an act of the memory, but continued increasing in its power and virtue.

[Dem-242] As Christ by his death put an end to nothing in religion but types and prefiguration; so by his death he put an end to nothing of his atonement, but that which was typical and prefigurative of it. And as he arose from the grave with greater power and strength, and became instead of a meek and suffering Lamb, a powerful conqueror over death, a royal priest over the house of God, so his atonement went on increasing in strength and virtue.

[Dem-243] His atonement was so far from being a thing done and past, when his blood was shed upon the cross, that it was shed for this very end, that he might for ever do that in the reality, which the high priest did in the type, when with the blood of the sacrifice he entered once a year into the holiest of all, to make the highest atonement for the people.

[Dem-244] Thus Christ, to perform, and to continue for ever the most powerful way of atoning for us, by his own blood he entered once into the holy place--now to appear in the presence of God for us. {Heb.ix.24.} Where he continueth for ever, and hath an unchangeable priesthood; {Heb.vii.24} and therefore our atonement is never done and past, but is just as perpetual and unchangeable as his priesthood. For he can be no longer a priest, than while he maketh an atonement and intercession for us. And from this his unchangeable priesthood, the apostle thus argues, "wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, who come unto God by him, {Heb.vii.25} seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us."

[Dem-245] But if he is "able to save them to the uttermost, who come unto God by him"; then his atonement is not something done and past, but always in being, always present, always doing, and always presenting itself everywhere, and to every man; and if he is ever living to make intercession for us, then we have a propitiation that never ceases, that is as near to us as it was to the apostles, and will be as present to those that shall be born two thousand years after Christ, as it was to those who stood by his cross when he died. Agreeable to this, St. John saith, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins." He does not say, we have had an advocate with the Father, nor that Christ was our propitiation some time ago, but that he is the propitiation for our sins.

[Dem-246] And indeed Jesus Christ is the atonement for our sins, in that same unlimited universal and omnipresent manner, in which he is the life and light of the world. And as he is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and is not an actual present light to some, and a distant unpossessed light to others, only to be remembered by an act of their memory; so he is the atonement for every man that cometh into the world, and is not an actual, present atonement to some, and a distant atonement to others, only to be remembered by an act of their memory; but is an atonement actually and really present to all, as he is a light actually and really present to all, and every man that cometh into the world.

[Dem-247] Therefore this author's account of the remembrance in the sacrament, has not only those absurdities in it demonstrated above, but is also solely founded upon this grossest of all errors, that the benefits and blessings of Christ, as the savior of mankind, are something done and past; which is an error that no one could have fallen into, that had but a common knowledge of the first and plainest principles either of the Jewish or Christian religion. For both these religions are founded upon this great truth, and suppose it in every part, that the benefits and blessings of Christ were always in being, always doing, always present in and to every age, as well before as since the incarnation and death of Christ.

[Dem-248] And as this author has been forced to assent, they were things absent, done, and past, in order to make the sacrament to consist of an action of the memory upon those absent things; so seeing it is an undeniable truth, that they are not things absent, done, and past, but are as actually present, as ever they were, or ever could be, it follows, according to his own principles, that the remembrance spoken of in the sacrament, cannot possibly signify only an action of the memory, but must necessarily signify such faith and acknowledgement of Christ, as when we are bid to remember our creator, or believe in God.

[Dem-249] Further, this author proceeds thus: "To say that the communion is the actual partaking of all the benefits of Christ's living and dying for us, is to put that upon one single act of obedience, which is by our blessed Lord made to depend upon the whole system of all virtues united." {Page 58.} And again, "Such a doctrine as this would, in my opinion, be not only inconsistent with the plainest declarations of the gospel, but directly contradictory and destructive to the main design of it." {Page 144.}

[Dem-250] What this author calls here a single act, and a single instance of obedience, is true only of his own sacrament, which consists only of a single action of the memory cast upon Christ at a certain instant of time, and to which single action, this author expressly says, that no prayer is necessary, {Page 160.} not even necessary to attend upon it, either as going before, or following after it. That in its own proper and peculiar nature, it has nothing to do with prayer or devotion of any kind, can have no perfection from it, nor be in any degree imperfect as to its nature and essence, for want of any prayer, because its essence is entirely distinct from prayer.

[Dem-251] And therefore all prayers, thanksgivings and devotions, are to be considered as things distinct from this sacrament, that have no relation to the peculiar nature and proper essence of it. {Page 173.}

[Dem-252] Hence it is plain, that we do not overcharge this author, when we say, that he places the whole nature of the sacrament in a bare single action of the memory. For if, as he says, no kind of prayer, devotion or thanksgiving, is of the essence of this sacrament, or can be an essential part of it; then it has all its perfection within itself, as it is a bare act of the memory, and cannot, as to its own proper nature or essence, have anything added to it by prayer, or taken from it by the want of prayer. Hence it is also undeniable, that this author's sacrament is not so much as a bare act of religion, nor can have any more religion in it, than if it was the act of a parrot. For no act can be a religious act, but so far, and in such degree, as it is an act of faith, and love, and devotion to God. But this author's sacrament will not, as it is a sacrament, allow faith, or love, or devotion to be any part of it, therefore it cannot be so much as a bare act of religion.