fpoken of, whereby we have that Life which JESUS CHRIST hath purchased for us by his Death; it is evident that a Spiritual eating and drinking is there fpoken of, and not a Corporal.

5. FROM what hath been faid it appears, that when JESUS CHRIST faith, my Flesh is Meat indeed, &c. the Figure falls upon the Word [Meat] which is taken,not for a Corporal but a Spiritual Meat. The Reafon whereof is, that Corporal Food is that which is appointed for the Nourishment of the Body; as Spiritual Food is that which is appointed for the Nourishment of the Soul: So that though Corporal Food be taken by the Mouth of the Body, yet that only doth not make it to be Corporal Food, except it be taken for the Nourifhment of the Body; otherwife Poison, Medicine, or a Bullet, &c. which a Man fhould fwallow, would be Corporal Food: which is abfurd to affirm. But the Flesh of Chrift, (which is pretended to be eaten in the Eucharift by the Mouth of the Body) is not appointed for the Nourifhment of the Body; because that Food which is appointed for the Nourifhment of the Body,is changed into the Subftance of the Body. But the Body of Chrift is not changed into the Subftance of our Body. Therefore the Flesh of Chrift is not a Corporal Food; but his Flefh broken, and his Blood fhed on the Crofs, is a Spiritual Food, which nourifheth the Souls of thofe, who (by a true and lively Faith) do embrace this Flesh broken, and this Blood shed: That

is, who do wholly reft and rely on the Merit of his Death and Paffions for obtaining Mercy from GOD. And certainly, fince that the Life which JESUS CHRIST gives us by his Death, is Spiritual; that the Nourishment is Spiritual; that the eating his Body, and drinking his Blood, is Spiritual; as hath been prov ed: It follows, that his Flesh must be Spiritual Meat, and his Blood must be Spiritual Drink. And this Flesh of Christ is incomparably better, and more truly Meat indeed, in Regard to its Effects, than Corporal Food can be: Because it doth better and more perfectly nourish the Souls of Believers, than Corporal Food doth their Bodies: This being corruptible Food, which gives temporal Life only; but that Spiritual and incorruptible Food, which gives Life eternal.

6. I CONCLUDE this Chapter with this Con fideration: When a Doctrine is propofed, which is pretended to be Divine, and that Paffages of Holy Scripture are alledged for the Proof of it; (if it oppofeth, or feems to oppofe Senfe and Reason, and to include a Contradiction; and that a more fuitable and rational Senfe can be found out for thofe Paffages, fo that all thefe Inconveniences and Contradi&tions may be avoided:) There is nothing more juft, than that we should embrace that probable and rational Senfe; and reject that Doctrine which oppofeth Senfe and Reason, and feems to imply Contradictions: But the Doctrine of the real Prefence of the Manhood of JESUS CHRIST in the Hoft,and the Tranfubftantiation

of the Bread into his Body, is repugnant to Sense and Reason, and feems to include divers Contradictions; viz. that a Human Body is in a Point, without any local Extenfion: That a Body may be in divers Places at one and the fame Time:that the Bread and Wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Chrift, which were before,&c. that Accidents may be without a Subject, &e. and the Paffages that are impertinently alledged to prove fuch a Prefence, and fuch a Change, have a Senfe very commodious and very rational, for avoiding all thefe Contradictions; as appears in this and the former Chapter, where I have very rationally expounded thofe two Paffages which the Romish Doctors impertinently make ufe of for this Subject. Therefore they ought to embrace that commodious and rational Senfe which we have given them; and to reject the Doctrine of the real Prefence of the Body of JESUS CHRIST in the Hoft, and the Doctrine of Tranfubftantiation.

СНАР.

I.

CHA P. III

Against TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

T

of is this.

RANSUBSTANTIATION is the fub- ftantial Converfion of the Bread> and Wine into the Body and Blood of Chrift; which I destroy by di- : vers Arguments, the firft where

IN every fubftantial Converfion, that Thing into which another converted; is always newly produced. For Example: When Seed is converted into an Animal'; that Animal is newly produced. When JESUS CHRIST turned the Water into Wine, the Wine wasnewly produced, &c. But the Body and Blood of Christ cannot be newly produced in the Sacrament of the Eucharift. Therefore the Bread and Wine are not fubftantially convert ed into the Body and Blood of Chrift, in the Sacrament of the Eucharift. The fecond Propofition, (viz. that the Body and Blood of Chrift cannot be newly produced) I prove thus, That which is newly produced receives a new Being: Because to produce a Thing, and to give it a Being, is one and the fame. But. the Body and Blood of Chrift cannot receive a new Being, which I prove thus: A Man cannot receive that which he hath, while he. hath it; and therefore he cannot receive av Being, while he hath a Being. For as it is impoffible to take away a Being from that which hath no Being; fo it is impoffible to C. 3

give

give a Being, to that which hath a Being already. And as you cannot kill a dead Man, fo you cannot give Life to one that is Living. But the Body and Blood of Chrift have, and always will have a Being: Therefore they cannot receive one, and confequently cannot be produced in the Eucharist.

2. My fecond ARGUMENT is this: In every fubftantial Converfion, that Thing which is converted into another, is deftroyed. For Example; When the Water was turned into Wine, the Water was deftroyed. But in the Sacrament of the Eucharift, the Bread and Wine are not deftroyed by the Confecration: Which I prove thus. In the Celebration of the Eucharift,there is breaking, giving, eating and drinking after the Confecration, as appears by the very Practice of our Adverfaries, who (after Confecration) break the Hoft,and divide it into three Parts, giving nothing to the Communicants but confecrated Hofts, and Eat and Drink nothing but what was confecrated. But the Scripture faith that, in the Celebration of the Eucharift, Bread is broken; that Bread and Wine are given; and that Bread is eaten, and Wine drank, as appears by these following Paffages. St. Paul, 1 Cor. 10. faith, The Bread which we brake is it not the Communion of the Body of Chrift? And in 1 Cor. xi. St Matt. xxvi. St. Mark xiv. and St. Luke xxii. it is faid that Jefus Chrift took Bread, brake it, and gave it: And in St. Mark xiv. and St. Matt. xxvi. JESUS CHRIST (after he had

ticipated of the Sacrament of the Eucharift)