The general points in which the Churches, which profess the Gospel, agree and differ in the controversy respecting the Lord’s Supper.

They agree in these particulars:

1. That the Lord’s supper, as well as baptism, is a visible pledge and testimony annexed by Christ himself to 436 the promise of grace, chiefly to this end: that he may confirm and strengthen our faith in this promise.

2. That in the true use of the supper, ad well as in all other sacraments, two things are given of God, and secured by us, viz: earthly, external and visible signs, as the bread and wine; and heavenly, internal and invisible gifts, as the true body of Christ, with all his gifts, benefits and heavenly treasures.

3. That in the supper we are made partakers not only of the Spirit of Christ, and his satisfaction, righteousness, virtue, and operation, but also of the very substance and essence of his true body and blood, given for us upon the cross, and shed for us, and that we are fed with the same, unto eternal life; and that Christ declares and makes this known unto us by this visible reception of bread and wine in the supper.

4. That the bread and wine are not changed into the flesh and blood of Christ, but remain true and natural bread and wine that the body and blood of Christ are not enclosed in the bread and wine; and, therefore, the bread and wine are called the body of Christ his body and blood in this sense; that his body and blood are not only signified by these, and set before our eyes, but also because as often as we eat or drink this bread and wine, in the true and lawful use, Christ him self gives us his body and blood to be the meat and drink of eternal life.

5. That without the lawful use, the taking of bread and wine is no sacrament, being nothing more than a vain, empty ceremony and spectacle, such as men abuse to their condemnation.

6. That there is no other lawful use of the supper, except that which Christ instituted and commanded to be observed, viz: that which is in remembrance of him, and which declares his death.

7. That Christ does not command a hypocritical remembrance of himself, and declaration of his death; but such as embraces his sufferings and death, and all the benefits which he has obtained by these in our behalf, by a true faith and with sincere thankfulness.

8. That Christ will dwell in none but such as believe, and in them also who, not through con tempt, but through necessity, cannot come to the Lord’s supper; yea, in all believers, from the beginning of the world to all eternity, even as well, and in the same manner, as he will dwell in them who have observed the Lord’s supper.

They disagree in these particulars:

1 . That one class contends that the words of Christ, This is my body, must be understood literally, which they, however, do not prove; others, again, hold that these words are to be understood sacramentally, according to the declaration of Christ and Paul, and according to the rule by which we are to judge of the truth of any article of our faith.

2. The former class of persons will have the body and blood of Christ essentially present in or with the bread and wine, and so to be eaten, that together with the bread and wine received from the hands of the minister, it enters by the mouth of those who receive them into their bodies; the other class of persons believe that the body of Christ, which in the celebration of the first supper sat at the table with the disciples, now is, and will continue, not on earth but in heaven, until Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead, and yet that we who are on earth notwithstanding, as often as we eat this bread with a true faith are so fed with his body and made to drink of his blood, that we are not only cleansed from our sins through his sufferings and shed blood, but are, also, so united to him and incorporated into his true, essential, human body, by his Spirit dwelling both in him and in us, that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone; and are more firmly and closely united to him, than the members of our body are united with our head, so that we draw and have in, and from him, everlasting life.

3. The first class of persons referred to maintain, that all who come to the Lord’s supper and eat and drink of the bread and wine, whether believers or unbelievers, eat and drink corporally, and with their bodily mouth the flesh and blood of Christ, believers to life and salvation, and unbelievers to damnation and death. The other class of persons believe that unbelievers abuse, indeed, the outward signs to their condemnation, whilst none but the faithful eat and drink by a true faith, and by the Spirit, the body and blood of Christ unto eternal life. [This last paragraph is inserted with slight alterations from the old English translation by Parry.]