that without, or before, his pofitive Inftitution, No Reafon could appear, to oblige Chriftians to this particular Rite; and that there cannot Now be Any obligation upon Us, to the confcientious Obfervation of it, but from His Will, and His Inftitution. II. All Pofitive Duties, or Duties made fuch by Inftitution alone, depend entirely upon the Will and Declaration of the Perfon who institutes or ordains them, with refpect to the Real Design and End of them; and confequently, to the due Manner of performing them. For, there being no other Foundation for them, with regard to Us, but the Will of the Inftitutors; this Will muft of neceffity be our Sole Direction, both as to our understanding their true Intent, and practifing them accordingly because We can have no other Direction in this fort of Duties, unless We will have recourfe to Mere Invention; which makes Them Our Own Inftitutions, and not the Inftitutions of Those who first appointed them. III. Ic B 2 III. It is plain, therefore, that the Nature, the Defign, and the Due Manner of partaking, of the Lord's Supper, muft of neceffity depend upon what Jefus Chrift, who inftituted it, hath declared about it.. This follows from the two foregoing Propofitions. This Duty is made fuch by Christ's Inftitution only: that is, It is a Pofitive Duty, to which we are obliged by his Will alone. All Duties of this fort cannot be known but from the Will of Those who appoint them. And therefore, as He appointed this Duty; His Will alone is to Direct Us in the Knowledge and Practice of it. IV. It cannot be doubted that He himself sufficiently declared, to his first and immediate Followers, the whole of what He defigned fhould be understood by it, or implied in it. For, this being a pofitive Inftitution, depending entirely upon his Will; and not defigned to contain any thing in it, but what He himself fhould please to affix to it; it muft muft follow that He declared his Mind about it, 'fully and plainly because otherwise, He must be supposed to inftitute a Duty, of which no one could have any notion with out his Inftitution; and at the fame time not to instruct his Followers fufficiently what that Duty was to be. V. It is of fniall Importance, therefore, to Chriftians, to know what the many Writers upon this Subject, fince the time of the Evangelifts and Apo¬· fles, have affirmed. Much lefs can' it be the Duty of Chriftians to be guided by what Any Perfons, by their own Authority, or from their own Imaginations, may teach concerning this Duty. The reason is plain: Because, in the matter' of an Inftituted Duty, (or, a Duty made fo by the pofitive Will of any perfon,) no one can be a Judge, but the Inftitutor himself, of what He defigned should be contained in it; and because, fuppofing Him not to have spoken his mind plainly about it, it is impoffible that any other perfon, (to whom the Inftitutor himself never reveled his defign) fhould B 3 should make up that defect. All that is added therefore, to Chrift's Inftitution, as a neceffary part of it, ought to be esteemed only as the Invention of Those who add it: and the more there is added; (let i be done with never fo much Solemnity, and never fo great pretenfes to Authority;) the lefs there is remaining of the Simplicity of the Inftitution, as Chrift himself left it. I am the more follicitous to obferve this, and to imprefs it upon the minds of Chrif tians, because it is the only thing that can either prevent, or cure, the mistakes and uneafineffes of Many fincere Chriftians, upon this Subject it being very certain, that they are owing to the Accounts given of this Religious Duty, in many Books of Devotion; and not to the Original Account of it, laid down in the New Teftament; and therefore, that nothing can remedy this Evil for the future, but perfuading Chriftians to have recourfe to Jefus Chrift, and to Those to whom He himself declared what his Defign was in this Inftitution. VI. The Paffages in the New Teftament, which relate to this Duty, and They They alone, are the Original Accounts of the Nature and End of this Inftitution; and the only Authentic Declarations, upon which We of later ages can fafely depend: being written by the Immediate Followers of our Lord; Those who were Witneffes Themfelves to the Inftitution; or were inftructed in it, either by Those who were fo, or by Chrift himself; and confent in delivering down one and the fame Account of this Religious Duty. Whatever was truly neceffary at firft, towards a right Understanding of this Inftitu tion, was without doubt contained in the first and earliest Accounts of it. Otherwife, It must be said that the very firft Chriftians, who were called upon to perform this Duty, and who actually did perform it very frequently, were not fully inftructed by the Apoftles in it. Whatever is necessary for Us of later ages to know of this Duty, muft be contained in the Earliest Accounts of It, tranfmitted to Us; Otherwise, it must be fuppofed that Thofe who could beft inform Us of the full Intent and End of It, |