for, from the Fourteenth to the One and Twentieth, Religion exterminated and banished Leaven from all Mens Habitations. But here will arife a Question, If Christ made use of Unleavened Bread, Why doth the Church of England ufe Bread with Leaven in it, in the Holy Sacrament? But the reafon of this is,

1. Because the Primitive Church, and the Chriftians that fucceeded the Apoftles, and who could not but know the fenfe of the Apostles in this point, looked upon it as a thing indifferent, whether Leavened or Unleavened Bread were used in the Sacrament; and therefore, in times of Perfecution especially, they made ufe of fuch Bread as they could get, never difputing whether it had Leaven or no Leaven in it. Indeed, about the Year 1053. there arose a great Controverfie betwixt the Greek and Latin Churches, whether Leavened or Unleavened Bread ought to be used in the Eucharift; The Greeks ftand up for the Neceffity of ufing of Leavened, the Latins for using Unleavened Bread, and the Greeks proceed to that Heat in the Difpute, that they afferted, That Unleavened Bread was no Bread at all: But in this they were fo palpably mistaken, that a Child, which had read the Bible, might discover their wilful Error, the Scripture calling both the Leavened and Unleavened Compofition of Meal and Water, by the Name of Bread, Exod. 29. 2. and Judg. 6. 20. What Michael the Patriarch of Conftantinople objects here, that der Bread is derived from a Word, importing eleva tion, or lifting up, and therefore must be fuch Bread which hath received Elevation and Warmth from Salt and Leaven, is a Fancy and a Quibble, rather than an Argument: But this hath been the Custom of the Greeks, ever since they became Strangers to the pri mitive Simplicity of the Gospel, to ftand up for little and inconfiderable Problems of Divinity, as if they were Articles of Faith, and to defend a Ceremony or Circumftance, as hotly as if the whole Frame of Salvation depended upon it.

Vid. Verf. LXX. 1. c. jäpros Kúpes mousa μος ἐν ἐλαίῳ.

2. We

2. We make use of Leavened Bread in the Church of England, because the Substance or Eflence of the Sacrament is not all prejudiced by it; and in things meerly circumstantial, the Church hath not only varied from the first Customs, but may lawfully vary, as fhe fees occafion, as will appear more fully from what we shall hereafter lay down concerning Ceremonies. The rea fon why Christ made ufe of Unleavened Bread, was because there was no other to be had at that time, that which he chiefly intended, was Bread, which feeds and nourishes the Body, thereby to reprefent the fpiritual Nourishment of the Soul, the greater thing intended in this Sacrament; and fince Leavened Bread will do this, as well as Unleavened, we need not be very fcrupulous about it; though if the Chuch thought fit to alter the Custom, ahd ufe Unleavened Bread, I fhould be ready to fubscribe to it, for no other reafon, but because it best represents the Temper a Chriftian ought to have at all times, but more particularly at his approaching to the Lord's Table, viz. Sincerity, and godly Simplicity, to which the Apoftle alludes, 1 Cor. 5. 8. There,fore let us keep the Feast, not with the old Leaven, neither with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness, but with the Unleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth.

II. As it was Unleavened Bread Chrift made ufe of in this Sacrament, fo it was Bread made of Corn, and particularly of that fort, which Bread is usually made of among us, and that's Wheat; for though the Jews, especially the poorer fort, used Barley Cakes, and Barley Bread fometimes; and our Saviour himself took the five Barley Loaves and diftributed them to the Difciples, and the Disciples to the Multitude, John 6. 9. Yet in the Passover wherein they remembred the greatest Deliverance that ever happened to the Jewish Nation, it's probable, they made their Unleavened Cakes of the beft Corn, i, e. Wheat, the rather, because in the Meat-Offerings and Cakes which they offer'd to God, they were commanded to use the finest Wheat Flower, Levit, 2. 12, 45. and

as their Deliverance from Egypt gave them a Title to that Land, one great Bleffing whereof was, their being filled with the finest of the Wheat, Pfal 147. 14. fo it's like they would not in their Paffover, in the Bread they ufed, omit the commemoration of that Mercy; and the fame Bread which Chrift made ufe of in the Paffover, we must suppose he made ufe of in the Inftitution of this Sacrament; This will give us occafion to enquire, whether any other thing Men make use of, inftead of CornBread, may be used in this Holy Sacrament; for it's certain that in fome Countries they have no Corn, and divers Authors tell us, how much the Bread differs in the several parts of the habitual World, according to the Nature of the Soil, and temper of the Inhabitants; The Egyptians heretofore made Bread of Millet, and Milk, and Water, and in fome part of the West-Indies, at this Day, they make Bread of the Roots of certain Trees, which they dry, and powder, and then make up into Pafte, or Bread, and so they do in divers parts of Africa; And as it may be the lots of many Chriftians to be caft upon fuch places, fo the queftion may juftly be ask'd, Whether in the adminiftration of the Lord's Supper, being deftitute of Bread made of Corn, they may, with a safe Confcience, make ufe of any other? And moft Divines answer in the affirmative: For tho' the Canonifts, among the Papifts, will allow nothing to be Bread, but what is made of Corn, yet whatever it is, that nourishes like Bread made of Corn, is Bread to them, who are fo nourish'd by it: And fince the reafon of Chrift's making ufe of Bread in this Sacrament, was to reprefent the Spiritual Nourishment of our Souls, by application of the benefits of his Death, or as we commonly fpeak, by his Body and Blood; Why fhould not any Nation, or People make use of that in the Sacrament, to reprefent this Spiritual Nourishment, which ferves them instead of Bread, and give the fame Nourishment to their Bodies that ordinary Bread doth? Especially where Bread of Wheat, or Rye, or Barley is not to be had: Yet this is not to be applied to other Fruits of the Earth, fuch as

Pears,

Pears, and Apples, and Figs, and Melons, &c. as if they, in cafe of neceffity, might be made use of instead of Bread; for though they nourish too, yet no Nation makes use of them as their Bread: And fince Bread is not only used by Chrift, but by all the Chriftian Churches in all Ages, fomething that hath the Nature and the Name of Bread muft ftill be used in this Holy Sacrament; and all Care imaginable taken, that by making ufe of fomething elfe, Men run not into Profanation of this Ordinance,

4

III. As it was unleaven'd and wheaten Bread, Chrift made use of in the Inftitution of this Holy Sacrament; fo it was also fubftantial Bread, not a Wafer, as is now afed in the Church of Rome. That Chrift ufed fubftantial Bread, no Man ever doubted, that understood what Bread the Jews made ufe of in the Celebration of the Passover, and for a Thousand Years after Chrift, the Church was wholly ignorant of Wafers. It's granted, that the Sacramental Bread was anciently called Host, from the Latin, Hoftia, a Sacrifice, because the Bread represents the Body of Chrift, which was offer'd in Sacrifice for the Sins of the World: (which Name of Hoft the Church of Rome ftill applies at this day, to their Wafers in the Mafs) but then it was fubftantial Bread, or a whole Loaf, they called by that Name. How these Wafers first came in, is explain'd by Honorius Auguftodunenfis. The report goes, faith he, that it was usual in former times for the Minifters of the Church, when the Sacrament of the Altar was to be Celebrated, to fetch a quantity of Meal, or Flower from every Houfe or Family in the place they liv'd in, which Custom is yet obferv'd among the Greeks, and of that to make the Bread, which was to be ufed at the Lord's Table, and diftributed among the Communicants: But after the Church increafed in Number, but decreafed in Holiness, it was order'd for the fake of carnal Men, that thofe, that could, fhould Communicate either every Lord's Day, or every Third Lord's Day, or on the Festivals

de Sacris Coen. Vid. Voff.Difp.19. Dom. Symb.

of the Year. But the People not coming, and there being no need of fo great a Loaf, as formerly, it was thought good, to ufe Wafers in the Form of a larger Peny; and that they might not want a Miftery for these new doings, the People defired, inftead of Flower, to offer every Man a Peny; that thereby they might acknowledge, how their Lord and Mafter was betray'd for Thirty Pieces of Silver. So far he: And it's probable, that from hence came the Eafter Offerings, which as yet are ufual in most Churches of the Nation. And fince these Wafers are the effects of fo great an Abuse, which the wickedness of the Times brought into the Church, it can be no greater encouragement for thofe that would preferve the folemnity of this Mystery, to keep them up, or plead in vindication of them. It's true, the Wafers they ufe this day in the Church of Rome, are made of Flower and Water: But,

1. There is not that Quantity of Flower and Water in them, as is requir'd in fubftantial Bread. Neither, 2. Are they wrought, or bak'd, as common fubftantial Bread is. Neither,

3. When they are made, are they defign'd for any thing but to feal Letters withal: I mean in the ordinary ufe of them, before the Priest doth lay them upon the Altar, which fhews that they are not intended for nourishing Bread, nor have they the right taste or smell, or ftrength of Bread, neither are they commonly fold for Bread, nor doth any Man make ufe of them for his daily Bread, thereby to strengthen his Body: So that they do not answer Chrift's defign, and the Analogy that ought to be betwixt the thing fignifying, and that which is fignified: i. e. They, being no fubftantial Bread, cannot exactly reprefent the fubftantial Nourishment of the Soul, and therefore have been moft juftly rejected by moft Churches, but by that which hath made bold with God himself, with Scripture, and the exprefs Laws of our Saviour, and fubftituted their own Inventions, and Traditions.