The Lord's Supper

Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament?

A. Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

Q. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?

A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

Q. Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup?

A. In the institution of the Lord's Supper: "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." This promise is repeated by Paul in these words: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

Q. Do the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Christ?

A. No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ's blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply a divine sign and assurance of these things, so too the holy bread of the Lord's Supper does not become the body of Christ itself, even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.

Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood, and Paul use the words, a participation in Christ's body and blood?

A. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that just as bread and wine nourish the temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood are the true food and drink of our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit's work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and made satisfaction for our sins.

Q. How does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?

A. The Lord's Supper declares to us that all our sins are completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself accomplished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where he wants us to worship him. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present under the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.

Q. Who should come to the Lord's table?

A. Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life. Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves.

Q. Should those be admitted to the Lord's Supper who show by what they profess and how they live that they are unbelieving and ungodly?

A. No, that would dishonor God's covenant and bring down God's wrath upon the entire congregation. Therefore, according to the instruction of Christ and his apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such people, by the official use of the keys of the kingdom, until they reform their lives.

We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing.

Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.

We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and ingrafted into his family: his church.

Now those who are born again have two lives in them. The one is physical and temporal—they have it from the moment of their first birth, and it is common to all. The other is spiritual and heavenly, and is given them in their second birth; it comes through the Word of the gospel in the communion of the body of Christ; and this life is common to God's elect only. Thus, to support the physical and earthly life God has prescribed for us an appropriate earthly and material bread, which is as common to all as life itself also is. But to maintain the spiritual and heavenly life that belongs to believers he has sent a living bread that came down from heaven: namely Jesus Christ, who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten—that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith.

To represent to us this spiritual and heavenly bread Christ has instituted an earthly and visible bread as the sacrament of his body and wine as the sacrament of his blood. He did this to testify to us that just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink it in our mouths, by which our life is then sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Savior. We receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls.

Now it is certain that Jesus Christ did not prescribe his sacraments for us in vain, since he works in us all he represents by these holy signs, although the manner in which he does it goes beyond our understanding and is incomprehensible to us, just as the operation of God's Spirit is hidden and incomprehensible. Yet we do not go wrong when we say that what is eaten is Christ's own natural body and what is drunk is his own blood—but the manner in which we eat it is not by the mouth but by the Spirit, through faith. In that way Jesus Christ remains always seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven—but he never refrains on that account to communicate himself to us through faith. This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself to us with all his benefits. At that table he makes us enjoy himself as much as the merits of his suffering and death, as he nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of his flesh, and relieves and renews them by the drinking of his blood.

Moreover, though the sacraments and the thing signified are joined together, not all receive both of them. The wicked person certainly takes the sacrament, to his condemnation, but does not receive the truth of the sacrament, just as Judas and Simon the Sorcerer both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who was signified by it. He is communicated only to believers.

Finally, with humility and reverence we receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God's people, as we engage together, with thanksgiving, in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, and as we thus confess our faith and Christian religion. Therefore no one should come to this table without examining himself carefully, lest "by eating this bread and drinking this cup he eat and drink to his own judgment." In short, by the use of this holy sacrament we are moved to a fervent love of God and our neighbors.

Therefore we reject as desecrations of the sacraments all the muddled ideas and damnable inventions that men have added and mixed in with them. And we say that we should be content with the procedure that Christ and the apostles have taught us and speak of these things as they have spoken of them.

1. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of his body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice of himself in his death; the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other, as members of his mystical body.

2. In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to his Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sins of the quick or dead; but only a commemoration of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all: and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God, for the same: so that the popish sacrifice of the Mass (as they call it) is most abominably injurious to Christ's one, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of his elect.

3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to declare his word of institution to the people; to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.

4. Private Masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other, alone; as likewise, the denial of the cup to the people, worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about, for adoration, and the reserving them for any pretended religious use; are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.

5. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that, truly, yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.

6. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense, and reason; overthroweth the nature of the sacrament, and hath been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions; yea, of gross idolatries.

7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements, in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive, and feed upon, Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

8. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament; yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby; but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table; and cannot, without great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto.

Q. Which are the sacraments of the New Testament?

A. The sacraments of the New Testament are, baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

Q. What is the Lord's Supper?

A. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth; and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.

Q. What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?

A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body, of their faith to feed upon him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience; lest, coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

Q. How is the covenant of grace administered under the new testament?

A. Under the new testament, when Christ the substance was exhibited, the same covenant of grace was and still is to be administered in the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper; in which grace and salvation are held forth in more fullness, evidence, and efficacy, to all nations.

Q. How many sacraments hath Christ instituted in his church under the new testament?

A. Under the new testament Christ hath instituted in his church only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Q. What is the Lord's Supper?

A. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of the new testament, wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, his death is showed forth; and they that worthily communicate feed upon his body and blood, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace; have their union and communion with him confirmed; testify and renew their thankfulness, and engagement to God, and their mutual love and fellowship each with other, as members of the same mystical body.

Q. How hath Christ appointed bread and wine to be given and received in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper?

A. Christ hath appointed the ministers of his Word, in the administration of this sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to set apart the bread and wine from common use, by the word of institution, thanksgiving, and prayer; to take and break the bread, and to give both the bread and the wine to the communicants: who are, by the same appointment, to take and eat the bread, and to drink the wine, in thankful remembrance that the body of Christ was broken and given, and his blood shed, for them.

Q. How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord's Supper feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein?

A. As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death.

Q. How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it?

A. They that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation, and fervent prayer.

Q. May one who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation, come to the Lord's Supper?

A. One who doubteth of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof; and in God's account hath it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: in which case (because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labor to have his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's Supper, that he may be further strengthened.

Q. May any who profess the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's Supper, be kept from it?

A. Such as are found to be ignorant or scandalous, notwithstanding their profession of the faith, and desire to come to the Lord's Supper, may and ought to be kept from that sacrament, by the power which Christ hath left in his church, until they receive instruction, and manifest their reformation.

Q. What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the time of the administration of it?

A. It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that, during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord's body, and affectionately meditate on his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces; in judging themselves, and sorrowing for sin; in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding on him by faith, receiving of his fullness, trusting in his merits, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace; in renewing of their covenant with God, and love to all the saints.

Q. What is the duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper?

A. The duty of Christians, after they have received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is seriously to consider how they have behaved themselves therein, and with what success; if they find quickening and comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of it, watch against relapses, fulfill their vows, and encourage themselves to a frequent attendance on that ordinance: but if they find no present benefit, more exactly to review their preparation to, and carriage at, the sacrament; in both which, if they can approve themselves to God and their own consciences, they are to wait for the fruit of it in due time: but, if they see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled, and to attend upon it afterwards with more care and diligence.

Q. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper agree?

A. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper agree, in that the author of both is God; the spiritual part of both is Christ and his benefits; both are seals of the same covenant, are to be dispensed by ministers of the gospel, and by none other; and to be continued in the church of Christ until his second coming.

Q. Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper differ?

A. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper differ, in that baptism is to be administered but once, with water, to be a sign and seal of our regeneration and ingrafting into Christ, and that even to infants; whereas the Lord's Supper is to be administered often, in the elements of bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul, and to confirm our continuance and growth in him, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.

As the fathers under the Law (besides the verity of the sacrifices) had two chief sacraments, to wit, circumcision and the Passover, the despisers and contemners whereof were not reputed for God's people (Gen. 17), so we do acknowledge and confess that we now in the time of the gospel have two sacraments only, instituted by the Lord Jesus and commanded to be used of all those that will be reputed members of His body (Matt. 26, 28), to wit, baptism and the Supper or table of the Lord Jesus called the communion of His body and blood. And these sacraments (as well of the Old as of the New Testament) were instituted of God, not only to make a visible difference betwixt His people and those that were without His league, but also to exercise the faith of His children and by participation of the same sacraments to seal in their hearts the assurance of His promises and of that most blessed conjunction, union and society which the elect have with their head, Christ Jesus.

And thus we utterly damn the vanity of those that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs (Rom. 8). No, we assuredly believe that by baptism we are engrafted in Christ Jesus to be made partakers of His justice by which our sins are covered and remitted (1 Cor. 10). And also that in the Supper rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined with us (John 6) that He becomes the very nourishment and food of our souls. Not that we imagine any transubstantiation of bread in Christ's natural body and of wine in His natural blood (as the papists have perniciously taught and damnably believe), but this union and conjunction which we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus in the right use of the sacraments is wrought by operation of the Holy Ghost, who by true faith carries us above all things that are visible, carnal, and earthly, and makes us to feed upon the body and blood of Christ Jesus which was once broken and shed for us which now is in heaven (Heb. 6, 10) and appears in the presence of His Father for us; and yet notwithstanding the far distance of the place which is betwixt His body now glorified in heaven and us now mortal in this earth, yet we most assuredly believe that the bread that we break is the communion of Christ's body (1 Cor. 10), and the cup which we bless is the communion of His blood. So that we confess and undoubtedly believe that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord's table do so eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus (John 6) that He remains in them and they in Him, yes that they are so made flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones that as the eternal Godhead has given to the flesh of Christ Jesus (which of its own condition and nature was mortal and corruptible) life and immortality (Eph. 5), so does Christ Jesus, His flesh and blood eaten and drunk by us, give to us the same prerogatives (John 6). Which albeit we confess are neither given unto us at that only time neither yet by the proper power and virtue of the sacrament only, yet we affirm that the faithful in the right use of the Lord's table have such conjunction with Christ Jesus as the natural man can not apprehend. Yes and farther we affirm that albeit the faithful oppressed by negligence and manly infirmity do not profit so much as they would in the very instant action of the Supper, yet will it after bring forth fruit as lively seed sown in good ground. For the Holy Spirit (which can never be divided from the right institution of the Lord Jesus) will not frustrate the faithful of the fruit of that mystical action, but all this we say comes by true faith which apprehends Christ Jesus who only makes His sacrament effectual unto us. And, therefore, whosoever slanders us, as that we affirmed or believed sacraments to be only naked and bare signs, do injury unto us and speak against a manifest truth. But this liberally and frankly we must confess, that we make a distinction betwixt Christ Jesus in His natural substance and betwixt the elements in the sacramental signs. So that we will neither worship the signs in place of that which is signified by them, neither yet do we despise and interpret them as unprofitable and vain, but do use them with all reverence, examining ourselves diligently before, that so we do because we are assured by the mouth of the apostle that such as eat of the bread and drink of that cup unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 11).

That sacraments be rightly ministered, we judge two things requisite: the one, that they be ministered by lawful ministers whom we affirm to be only they that are appointed to the preaching of the Word or unto whose mouths God has put some sermon of exhortation, they being men lawfully chosen thereto by some kirk. The other, that they be ministered in such elements and in such sort as God has appointed. Else we affirm that they cease to be right sacraments of Christ Jesus. And therefore it is that we flee the society with the papistical kirk in participation of their sacraments. First, because their ministers are not ministers of Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 6); (yes, which is more horrible) they suffer women, whom the Holy Ghost will not suffer, to teach in the congregation [and] to baptize. And secondly, because they have so adulterated both the one sacrament and the other with their own inventions that no part of Christ's action abides in the original purity. For oil, salt, spittle, and such like in baptism are but men's inventions, adoration, veneration, bearing through streets and towns and keeping of bread in boxes or buists [small boxes] are profanation of Christ's sacraments and no use of the same. For Christ Jesus said, "Take and eat. Do ye this in remembrance of me" (Matt. 26, etc.). By which words and charge He sanctified bread and wine to be the sacrament of His body and blood to the end that the one should be eaten and that all should drink of the other; and not that they should be kept to be worshipped and honored as God, as the papists have done heretofore, who also have committed sacrilege, stealing from the people the one part of the sacrament, to wit, the blessed cup. Moreover that the sacraments are rightly used, it is requisite that the end and cause why the sacraments were instituted be understood and observed, as well of the minister as the receivers. For if the opinion be changed in the receiver, the right use ceases which is most evident by the rejection of the sacrifices as also if the teacher plainly teaches false doctrine (Isa. 1), which were odious and abominable unto God (albeit they were His own ordinance) because that wicked men used them to one other end than God had ordained. The same affirm we of the sacraments (Jer. 7; Isa. 66) in the papistical kirk in which we affirm the whole action of the Lord Jesus to be adulterated, as well in the external form as in the end and opinion. What Christ Jesus did and commanded to be done is evident by three evangelists (Matt. 26) and by St. Paul (1 Cor. 11, etc.). What the priest does at his altar we need not rehearse. The end and cause of Christ's institution and why the selfsame should be used is expressed in these words: "Do ye this in remembrance of Me. As often as ever ye will eat of this bread and drink of this cup, ye will show forth (that is, extol, preach, magnify, and praise) the Lord's death till He come." But to what end and in what opinion the priests say their Masses, let the words of the same, their own doctors and writings witness. To wit, that they as mediators betwixt Christ and His kirk do offer unto God the Father a sacrifice propitiatory for the sins of the quick and the dead. Which doctrine as blasphemous to Christ Jesus and making derogation to the sufficiency of His only sacrifice once offered for purgation of all those that will be sanctified, we utterly abhor, detest, and renounce.

We confess and acknowledge that baptism appertains as well to the infants of the faithful as unto those that be of age and discretion. And so we damn the error of Anabaptists who deny baptism to appertain to children before they have faith and understanding. But the Supper of the Lord, we confess to appertain to such only as be of the household of faith, can try and examine themselves as well in their faith as in their duty towards their neighbors. Such as eat and drink at that holy table without faith or being at dissension and disunion with their brethren do eat unworthily. And, therefore, it is that in our kirks our ministers take public and particular examination of the knowledge and conversation of such as are to be admitted to the table of the Lord Jesus.

God, even from the beginning, added unto the preaching of the Word His sacraments, or sacramental signs, in His church. And this the Holy Scripture plainly testifies. Sacraments are mystical symbols, or holy rites, or sacred actions, ordained of God Himself, consisting of His Word, of outward signs, and of things signified; whereby He keeps in continual memory, and recalls to mind in His church His great benefits bestowed upon man; and whereby He seals up His promises and outwardly represents, and, as it were, offers unto our sight, those things which inwardly He performs unto us, and therewith strengthens and increases our faith through the working of God's Spirit in our hearts; lastly, whereby He separates us from all other people and religions and consecrates and binds us wholly unto Himself, and gives us to understand what He requires of us.

These sacraments are either of the old church or of the new. The sacraments of the old were circumcision and the Pascal Lamb, which was offered up; under which name, reference is made to the sacrifices which were in use from the beginning of the world. The sacraments of the new church are baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Some there are which reckon seven sacraments of the new church, of which number we grant that repentance, matrimony, and the ordination of ministers (we mean not the popish, but the apostolic ordination) are very profitable ordinances of God, but not sacraments. As for confirmation and extreme unction, they are mere devices of men which the church may very well want, without any damage or discommodity at all: and, therefore, we do not have them in our churches because there are certain things in them which we can by no means permit. As for that merchandise which the Roman prelates use in ministering their sacraments, we utterly abhor it.

The author and institutor of all sacraments is not any man, but God alone: for men can by no means ordain sacraments because they belong to the worship of God, and it is not for man to appoint and prescribe a service of God, but to embrace and retain that which is taught unto him by the Lord. Besides the sacramental signs have God's promises annexed to them, which necessarily require faith: now faith rests itself only upon the Word of God; and the Word of God is resembled to writings or letters, the sacraments to seals which the Lord alone sets to His own letters.

And as the Lord is the author of the sacraments, so He continually works in that church, where they are rightly used; so that the faithful, when they receive them of the ministers, do know that the Lord works in His own ordinance, and, therefore, they receive them as from the hand of God: and the minister's faults (if there be any notorious in them) cannot hurt them, seeing they acknowledge the goodness of the sacraments to depend upon the ordinance of the Lord. For which cause they put a difference in the administration of the sacraments, between the Lord Himself and His minister; confessing that the substance of the sacraments is given them of the Lord, and the outward signs by the ministers of the Lord.

But the principal thing which in all the sacraments is offered of the Lord, and chiefly regarded of the godly of all ages (which some have called the substance and matter of the sacraments) is Christ our Savior: that only sacrifice (Heb. 10:12), and that Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world (Rev. 13:8), that rock also, of which all our fathers drank (1 Cor. 10:4) by whom all the elect are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands through the Holy Spirit (Col. 2:11–12) and are washed from all their sins (Rev. 1:5), and are nourished with the very body and blood of Christ unto eternal life (John 6:54).

Now, in respect of that which is the chief thing, and the very matter and substance of the sacraments, the sacraments of both the Testaments are equal. For Christ, the only Mediator and Savior of the faithful, is the chief thing and substance in them both: one and the same God is author of them both: they were given unto both churches as signs and seals of the grace and promises of God; which should call to mind and renew the memory of God's great benefits to them, and should distinguish the faithful from all the religions in the world; lastly, which should be received spiritually by faith, and should bind the receivers unto the church and admonish them of their duty. In these, I say, and such like things, the sacraments of both churches are not unequal, although in the outward signs they are diverse.

And indeed we do yet put a greater difference between them: for ours are more firm and durable as those which are not to be changed to the end of the world. Again, ours testify that the substance and promise is already fulfilled and performed in Christ, whereas the other did only signify that they should be fulfilled. And again ours are more simple and not so painful, not so sumptuous, nor so full of ceremonies. Moreover they belong to a greater people that is dispersed through the face of the whole earth: and because they are more excellent and do by the Spirit of God stir up in us a greater measure of faith, therefore, a more plentiful measure of the Spirit follows them.

But now, since Christ the true Messiah is exhibited unto us and the abundance of grace is poured forth upon the people of the New Testament, the sacraments of the Old Law are surely abrogated and ceased; and in their stead the sacraments of the New Testament are placed: namely, for circumcision, baptism, and for the Pascal Lamb and sacrifices, the Supper of the Lord.

And as in the old church the sacraments consisted of the Word, the sign and the thing signified, so even at this day they are composed, as it were, of the same parts. For the Word of God makes them sacraments, which before were not: for they are consecrated by the Word and declared to be sanctified by Him who first ordained them. To sanctify or consecrate a thing is to dedicate it unto God and unto holy uses; that is, to take it from the common and ordinary use and to appoint it to some holy use. For the signs that are in the sacraments are drawn from common use; things external and visible. As in baptism, the outward sign is the element of water, and that visible washing which is done by the minister. But the thing signified is regeneration and the cleansing from sins. Likewise in the Lord's Supper, the outward sign is bread and wine, taken from things commonly used for meat and drink. But the thing signified is the body of Christ which was given, and His blood which was shed for us, and the communion of the body and blood of the Lord.

Wherefore the water, bread, and wine, considered in their own nature, and out of this holy use and institution of the Lord, are only that which they are called and which we find them to be. But let the Word of God be added to them together with invocation upon His holy name, and the renewing of their first institution and sanctification, and then these signs are consecrated and declared to be sanctified by Christ. For Christ's first institution and consecration of the sacraments stands yet in force in the church of God, in such sort that they which celebrate the sacraments no otherwise than the Lord Himself from the beginning has appointed, have still even to this day, the use and benefit of that first and most excellent consecration. And for this cause in the administration of the sacraments, the very words of Christ are repeated.

And forasmuch as we learn out of the Word of God that these signs were appointed unto another end and use than commonly they are used, therefore, we teach that they now, in this their holy use, take upon them the names of things signified, and are not still called bare water, bread, or wine: but that the water is called "regeneration, and washing of the new birth" (Titus 3:5), and the bread and wine "the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 10:16), or the pledges and sacraments of His body and blood. Not that the signs are turned into the things signified, or cease to be that which in their own nature they are (for then they could not be sacraments which should consist only of the thing signified and have no signs); but, therefore, do the signs bear the names of the things because they are mystical tokens of holy things, and because the signs and the things signified are sacramentally joined together: joined together I say, or united by a mystical signification, and by the purpose and will of Him who first instituted them. For the water, bread, and wine are not common, but holy signs. And He that instituted water in baptism did not institute it with that mind and purpose, that the faithful should only be dipped in the water of baptism; and He which commanded the bread to be eaten and the wine to be drunk in the Supper did not mean that the faithful should only receive bread and wine without any further mystery, as they eat bread at home in their own houses: but that they should spiritually be partakers of the things signified and by faith be truly purged from their sins and be partakers of Christ also.

And, therefore, we cannot allow of them which attribute the consecration of the sacraments to I know not what syllables; to the rehearsal of certain words pronounced by him that is consecrated, and that has an intent of consecrating; or to some other accidental things, which are not left unto us either by the word or by the example of Christ or His apostles. We also dislike the doctrine of those that speak no otherwise of the sacraments than of common signs, not sanctified, nor effectual. We condemn them also, who, because of the invisible things despise the visible and think the signs superfluous because they already enjoy the things themselves: such were the Messalians, as it is recorded. We disapprove their doctrine also who teach that grace and the things signified are to be so tied to and included in the signs, that whosoever outwardly receives the signs must necessarily inwardly participate in the grace and in the things signified, whatever manner of men they may be.

Notwithstanding, as we esteem not the goodness of the sacraments by the worthiness or unworthiness of the ministers, so likewise we do not weigh them by the condition of the recipients. For we know that the goodness of the sacraments depends upon the faithfulness or truth and the mere goodness of God. For even as God's Word remains the true Word of God, wherein not only bare words are uttered when it is preached, but there withal the things signified by the words are offered of God, although the wicked and unbelievers hear and understand the words, yet do not enjoy the things signified because they receive them not by a true faith: even so, the sacraments consisting of the Word, the signs, and the things signified, continue true and perfect sacraments not only because they are holy things, but also that God also offers the things signified; however unbelievers do not receive the things which are offered. This comes to pass not by any fault in God, the author and offerer of them; but by the fault of men, who receive them without faith and unlawfully: "whose unbelief cannot make the truth of God of none effect" (Rom. 3:3).

Now forasmuch as in the beginning, where we showed what the sacraments were, we did also by the way set down to what end they were ordained, it will not be necessary to trouble ourselves with repeating anything which has been already handled. Next, therefore, in order, it remains to speak severally of the sacraments of the new church.

The Supper of the Lord (which is also called the Lord's Table, and the Eucharist, that is, a thanksgiving) is, therefore, commonly called a Supper because it was instituted of Christ in His last Supper, and as yet represents the same, and in it the faithful are spiritually fed and nourished. For the author of the Supper of the Lord is not an angel or man, but the very Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who first of all consecrated it to His church. And the same blessing and consecration still remains among all those who celebrate no other but that very Supper which the Lord instituted; and at that recite the words of the Supper of the Lord, and in all things look unto Christ only by a true faith; at whose hands, as it were, they receive that which they do receive by the ministry of the ministers of the church. The Lord by this sacred rite would have that great benefit to be kept in fresh remembrance which He performed for mankind; to wit, that by giving up His body to death and shedding His blood, He has forgiven us all our sins and redeemed us from eternal death and the power of the devil, and now feeds us with His flesh, and gives us His blood to drink: which things, being apprehended spiritually by a true faith, nourish us to life everlasting. And this so great a benefit is renewed so oft as the Supper is celebrated. For the Lord said, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

By this holy Supper also it is sealed unto us that the very body of Christ was truly given up for us and His blood shed for the remission of our sins, lest our faith might somewhat waver. And this is outwardly represented unto us by the minister in the sacrament after a visible manner, and, as it were, laid before our eyes to be seen, which is inwardly in the soul invisibly performed by the Holy Ghost. Outwardly bread is offered by the minister and the words of the Lord are heard: "Receive, eat, this is my body; take it, and divide it amongst you: drink ye all of this, this is my blood" (Matt. 26:26–28; Luke 22:17–20). Therefore, the faithful receive that which is given by the minister of the Lord and eat the bread of the Lord, and drink of the Lord's cup. But yet, by the working of Christ, through the Holy Ghost, they receive also the flesh and blood of the Lord and feed on them to life everlasting. For the flesh and blood of Christ is true meat and drink unto everlasting life: yes Christ Himself, in that He was delivered for us, and is our Savior, is that special thing and substance of the Supper; and, therefore, we suffer nothing to be put in His place.

But that it may the better and more plainly be understood how the flesh and blood of Christ are the meat and drink of the faithful, and are received by the faithful to life everlasting, we will add moreover these four things.

Eating is of divers sorts: for there is a corporal eating, whereby meat is taken into a man's mouth, chewed with the teeth, and swallowed down into the belly. After this manner did the Capernaites in times past think that they should eat the flesh of the Lord: but they are confuted by Him (John 6:30–63). For as the flesh of Christ cannot be eaten bodily without great wickedness and cruelty, so is it not meat for the belly, as all men do confess. We, therefore, disapprove that canon in the pope's decrees, Ego Berengarius (De Consecrat., dist. 2). For neither did godly antiquity believe, neither yet do we believe that the body of Christ can be eaten corporally and essentially with a bodily mouth.

There is also a spiritual eating of Christ's body; not such a one whereby it may be thought that the very meat is changed into the spirit, but whereby (the Lord's body and blood remaining in their own essence and property) those things are spiritually communicated unto us, not after a corporal, but after a spiritual manner, through the Holy Ghost, who applies and bestows upon us those things (to wit, remission of sins, deliverance and life everlasting) which are prepared for us by the flesh and blood of our Lord, given for us: so that Christ now lives in us and we live in Him; and causes us to apprehend Him by true faith to this end, that He may become unto us such a spiritual meat and drink, that is to say, our life. For even as corporal meat and drink not only refresh and strengthen our bodies, but also keep them in life; even so the flesh of Christ delivered for us and His blood shed for us, do not only refresh and strengthen our souls, but also preserves them alive, not so far as they are corporally eaten and drunken, but so far as they are communicated unto us spiritually by the Spirit of God: the Lord saying, "The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51); also "The flesh (to wit, corporally eaten) profiteth nothing, it is the Spirit which giveth life: and the words which I speak to you, are Spirit and life" (John 6:63).

And as we must by eating receive the meat into our bodies to the end that it may work in us and show its efficacy in us (because, while it is without us, it profits us not at all); even so it is necessary that we receive Christ by faith, that He may be made ours and that He may live in us and we in Him. For He says, "I am the bread of life; He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and He that believeth in me, shall not thirst any more" (John 6:35); and also, "He that eateth me, shall live through me; and He abideth in me, and I in him" (John 6:56).

By all which it appears manifestly that by spiritual meat we do not mean any imaginary thing, but the very body of our Lord Jesus given to us; which yet is received of the faithful not corporally, but spiritually by faith: in which point we do wholly follow the doctrine of our Lord and Savior Christ in the 6th of John. And this eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the Lord is so necessary to salvation that without it no man can be saved. This spiritual eating and drinking is also without the Supper of the Lord; even so often as and where ever a man believes in Christ. To which purpose that sentence of St. Augustine happily belongs: "Why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly? Believe, and thou hast eaten."

Besides that former spiritual eating, there is a sacramental eating of the body of the Lord; whereby the faithful man not only is partaker spiritually and internally of the true body and blood of the Lord; but also by coming to the Table of the Lord outwardly receives the visible sacraments of the body and blood of the Lord. It is true that the faithful man, by believing, before received the food that gives life, and still receives the same, but yet, when he receives the sacrament, he receives something more. For he goes on in continual communication of the body and blood of the Lord, and his faith is daily more and more kindled, more strengthened and refreshed by the spiritual nourishment. For while we live, faith has continual increasings: and he that outwardly receives the sacraments with a true faith, the same not only receives the sign, but also enjoys (as we have said) the thing itself. Moreover the same man obeys the Lord's institution and commandment, and with a joyful mind gives thanks for his and the redemption of all mankind; and makes a faithful remembrance of the Lord's death, and witnesses the same before the church, of which body he is a member. This also is sealed to those which receive the sacrament, that the body of the Lord was given and His blood shed, not only for men in general, but particularly for every faithful communicant whose meat and drink He is, to life everlasting.

But as for him that without faith comes to this holy Table of the Lord, he is made partaker of the sacrament only; but the matter of the sacrament from whence comes life and salvation, he receives not at all and such men do unworthily eat of the Lord's Table. "Now they which do unworthily eat of the Lord's bread and drink of the Lord's cup, they are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and they eat and drink it to their judgment" (1 Cor. 11:26–29). For as they do not approach with true faith, they do despite unto the death of Christ, and, therefore, eat and drink condemnation to themselves.

We do not, therefore, so join the body of the Lord and His blood with the bread and wine, as though we thought that the bread is the body of Christ more than after a sacramental manner; or that the body of Christ lies hidden corporally under the bread, so as it ought to be worshipped under the form of bread; or yet that whoever he is which receives the sign, he receives the thing itself. The body of Christ is in the heavens, at the right hand of His Father: and, therefore, our hearts are to be lifted up on high, and not to be fixed on the bread, neither is the Lord to be worshipped in the bread; though notwithstanding the Lord is not absent from His church when they celebrate the Supper. The sun, being absent from us in the heavens, is yet notwithstanding present among us effectually: how much more Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, though in body He is absent from us in the heavens, yet is present among us, not corporally, but spiritually, by His lively operation; and so as He Himself promised in His last Supper, to be present among us (John 14–16). Whereupon it follows that we have not the Supper without Christ, and yet that we have meanwhile an unbloody and mystical Supper, even as all antiquity called it.

Moreover, we are admonished in the celebration of the Supper of the Lord to be mindful of the body whereof we are made members; and that, therefore, we are at concord with all our brethren that we live holily and not pollute ourselves with wickedness and strange religions; but persevering in the true faith to the end of our life give diligence to excel in holiness of life.

It is, therefore, very requisite that, purposing to come to the Supper of the Lord, we do try ourselves according to the commandment of the apostle: first, with what faith we are endued, whether we believe that Christ is come to save sinners and to call them to repentance, and whether each man believes that he is in the number of them that, being delivered by Christ, are saved; and whether he has purposed to change his wicked life, to live holily, and persevere through God's assistance in true religion and in concord with his brethren, and to give worthy thanks to God for his delivery.

We think that rite, manner, or form of the Supper to be the most simple and excellent which comes nearest to the first institution of the Lord and to the apostles' doctrine: which consists in declaring the Word of God, in godly prayers, in the action itself that the Lord used, and the repeating of it; in the eating of the Lord's body and drinking of His blood; in the wholesome remembrance of the Lord's death and faithful giving of thanks; and in a holy fellowship in the union of the body of the church.

We, therefore, disapprove them which have taken from the faithful one part of the sacrament, to wit, the Lord's cup. For these do very grievously offend against the institution of the Lord, who says, "Drink all of you of this" (Matt. 26:27), which He did not so plainly say of the bread. What manner of mass it was that the fathers used, whether it were tolerable, or intolerable, we do not now dispute. But this we say freely, that the Mass which is now used throughout the Roman Church, which, for brevity's sake, we will not now particularly recite, for many and most just causes is quite abolished out of our churches. Truly we could not like it because of a most wholesome action, they have made a vain spectacle; also because it is made a meritorious matter and is said for money; likewise because in it the priest is said to make the very body of the Lord, and to offer the same really, even for the remission of the sins of the quick and the dead. Add this also; that they do it for the honor, worship, and reverence of the saints in heaven.

Unto the ancient people were given in old time certain ceremonies, as a kind of schooling to those which were kept under the Law, as under a schoolmaster or tutor. But Christ the deliverer, being once come and the Law taken away, we which believe are no more under the Law (Rom. 6:14) and the ceremonies have vanished out of use. And the apostles were so far from retaining them or restoring them in the church of Christ that they witnessed plainly that they would not lay any burden upon the church (Acts 15:28). Wherefore we should seem to bring in and set up Judaism again, if we should multiply ceremonies or rites in the church according to the manner of the old church. And thus we are not of their judgment who would have the church of Christ kept in with many and divers rites as it were with a certain schooling. For if the apostles would not thrust upon the Christian people the ceremonies and rites which were appointed by God, who is there, I pray you, that is well in his wits, that will thrust upon it the inventions devised by man? The greater the heap of ceremonies is in the church, so much the more is taken not only from Christian liberty but also from Christ and from faith in Him; while the people seek those things in ceremonies which they should seek in the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, through faith. Wherefore a few moderate and simple rites that are not contrary to the Word of God are sufficient for the godly.

And in that there is found diversity of rites in the churches, let no man say, therefore, that the churches do not agree. Socrates says, "It is not possible to set down in writing all the ceremonies of the churches, which are throughout cities and countries. No religion doth keep everywhere the same ceremonies, although they admit and receive one and the selfsame doctrine touching them for even they which have one and the selfsame faith, do disagree among themselves about ceremonies." Thus much says Socrates; and we at this day having diversities in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and in certain other things in our churches, yet we do not disagree in doctrine and faith, neither is the unity and society of our churches rent asunder. For the churches have always used their liberty in such rites as being things indifferent, which we also do at this day.

But yet, notwithstanding, we admonish men to take heed that they count not among things indifferent such as indeed are not indifferent; as some count the mass and the use of images in the church for things indifferent. "That is indifferent (said Jerome to Augustine) which is neither good nor evil, so that whether you do it, or do it not, you are never the more just, or unjust thereby." Therefore, when things indifferent are wrested to the confession of faith, they cease to be free: as Paul shows that it is lawful for a man to eat flesh, if no man admonishes him that it was offered to idols (1 Cor. 10:27–28), for then it is unlawful because he that eats it seems to approve idolatry by eating it.

1. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive, and sovereign institution; appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only Lawgiver, to be continued in his church to the end of the world.

2. These holy appointments are to be administered by those only, who are qualified and thereunto called, according to the commission of Christ.

1. The supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed, to be observed in his churches, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance, and showing forth the sacrifice in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers in all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in, and to all duties which they owe to him; and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him, and with each other.

2. In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to his Father, nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sin of the quick or dead; but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all; and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God for the same; so that the popish sacrifice of the Mass (as they call it) is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own only sacrifice the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect.

3. The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed his ministers to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use, and to take and break the bread; to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants.

4. The denial of the cup to the people, worshiping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about for adoration, and reserving them for any pretended religious use, are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance, and to the institution of Christ.

5. The outward elements in this ordinance, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him crucified, as that truly, although in terms used figuratively, they are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance, and nature, they still remain truly, and only bread, and wine, as they were before.

6. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been, and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries.

7. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally, and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ, being then not corporally, or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of believers, in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are to their outward senses.

8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ; so are they unworthy of the Lord's table; and cannot without great sin against him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto: yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves.