The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2)Gillespie, George
Religion
The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2)
Gillespie, George
Church of Scotland -- History; Gillespie, George, 1613-1648
Archbishop of Armagh showeth,(711) that the spiritual and inward feeding
upon the body and blood of Christ is to be found out of the sacrament, and
that divers of the fathers do apply the sixth of John to the hearing of
the word also, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Eusebius, as Cæsiriensis, and
others. Basilius Magnus likewise teacheth plainly, that we eat the flesh
of Christ in his word and doctrine. This, I am sure, no man dare deny. The
Bishop, then, must mean by this mystery the sacramental receiving of the
body and blood of Christ. Now, the sacramental receiving of the body and
blood of Christ, is the receiving of the sacramental signs of his body and
blood. And as the Archbishop of Armagh also observeth,(712) the substance
which is outwardly delivered in the sacrament, is not really the body and
blood of Christ. Again he saith,(713) that the bread and wine are not
really the body and blood of Christ, but figuratively and sacramentally.
Thus he opposeth the sacramental presence of the body and blood of Christ
not only to bodily, but also to real presence; and by just analogy,
sacramental receiving of the body and blood of Christ is not only to be
opposed to a receiving of his body and blood into the hands and mouths of
our bodies, but likewise to the real receiving of the same spiritually
into our souls. It remaineth, therefore, that kneeling in due regard of
the sacramental receiving of the body and blood of Christ, must be
expounded to be kneeling in reverence of the sacramental signs of Christ’s
body and blood; and so Perth’s canon, and the Bishop’s commentary upon it,
fall in with the rest of those Formalists cited before, avouching and
defending kneeling for reverence to the sacrament.
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