First, They tell us that it is not certain that the apostles were sitting when they received this sacrament from Christ, and that adhuc sub judice lis est. Yet let us see what they have to say against the certainty hereof.
Bishop Lindsey objecteth, that, between their eating of the paschal supper and the administration of the sacrament to the disciples, five acts intervened: 1. The taking of the bread; 2. The thanksgiving; 3. The breaking; 4. The precept, “Take ye, eat ye;” 5. The word, whereby the element was made the sacrament. In which time, saith he, the gesture of sitting might have been changed.
Ans. It is first of all to be noted, that the apostles were sitting at the instant when Christ took the bread, for it is said that he took bread whilst they did eat; that is (as Maldonat[1223] rightly expoundeth it), Antequam surgerent, antequam mensae et ciborum reliquiae removerentur; and so we use to say that men are dining or supping so long as they sit at table and the meat is not removed from before them. To Christ's ministering of the eucharistical supper together with the preceding supper, Christians had respect when they celebrated the Lord's supper together with the love-feasts. Probabile est eos ad Christi exemplum respexisse, qui eucharistiam inter coenandum instituit, saith Pareus.[1224] But of this we need say no [pg 1-403] more; for the Bishop himself hath here acknowledged no less than that they were sitting at that time when Christ took the bread. Only he saith, that there were five acts which intervened before the administration of the sacrament to the disciples (whereof the taking of the bread was the first), and that in this while the gesture of sitting might have been changed; which is as much as to say, when he took the bread they were sitting, but they might have changed this gesture, either in the time of taking the bread, or in the time of thanksgiving, or in the time of breaking the bread, or whilst he said, “Take ye, eat ye,” or lastly, in the time of pronouncing those words, “This is my body” (for this is the word whereby, in the Bishop's judgment, the element was made the sacrament, as we shall see afterward).
Now but, by his leave, we will reduce his five acts to three; for thus speaketh the text, “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed it and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body,” Matt. xxvi. 26; Mark xiv. 22. Whence it is manifest, that the giving of the bread to the disciples, which no man, I suppose, will deny to have been the administration of it, went before the two last acts which the Bishop reckoneth out. Nothing, therefore, is left to him but to say, that their gesture of sitting might have been changed, either in the taking or in the blessing, or in the breaking, or else between the taking and the blessing, or between the blessing and the breaking; yet doth the text knit all the three together by such a contiguity and connection as showeth unto us that they did all make up but one continued action, which could not admit any interruption.
Sect. 2. I saw a prelate sit down to his breakfast, and, as he did eat, he took some cups, and, having called for more, he said, he thanked God that he was never given to his belly; and with that he made a promise to one in the company, which he brake within two days after. Would any man question whether or not the prelate was sitting when he made this promise, forasmuch as between his sitting down to meat and the making of the promise there intervened his taking of some cups, his calling for more, and his pronouncing of these words, I thank God that I was never given to my belly? Yet might one far more easily imagine a change of the [pg 1-404] prelate's gesture than any such change of the apostles' gesture in that holy action whereof we speak. Because the text setteth down such a continued, entire, unbroken, and uninterrupted action, therefore Calvin gathereth out of the text that the apostles did both take and eat the sacramental bread whilst they were sitting. Non legimus, saith he,[1225] prostratos adorasse, sed ut erant discumbentes accepisse et manducasse. Christus, saith Martyr,[1226] eucharistiam apostolis una secum sedentibus aut discumbentibus distribuit. G. J. Vossius[1227] puts it out of doubt that Christ was still sitting at the giving of the bread to the apostles. And that the apostles were still sitting when they received the bread, Hospinian[1228] thinks it no less certain. They made no doubt of the certainty hereof who composed that old verse which we find in Aquinas:[1229]—
Rex sedet in coena, turba cinctus duodena;
Se tenet in manibus; se cibat ipse cibus.
Papists also put it out of controversy; for Bellarmine acknowledgeth[1230] that the apostles could not externally adore Christ by prostrating themselves in the last supper, quando recumbere cum eo illis necesse erat; where we see he could guess nothing of the change of their gesture. Intelligendum est, saith Jansenius,[1231] dominum in novissima hac coena, discubuisse et sedisse ante et post comestum agnum. Dr Stella sticketh not to say,[1232] distribuit salvator mundi panem discumbentibus.
Sect. 3. But now having heard Bishop Lindsey, let us hear what Paybody[1233] will say. He taketh him to another subterfuge, and tells us, that though we read that Christ took bread whilst they did eat, yet can it not be concluded hence that he took bread whilst they did sit; because, saith he, “as they did eat,” is expounded by Luke (chap. xxii. 20) and Paul (1 Cor. xi. 25) to be after they had done eating, or after supper. Thus is their languages divided. Bishop Lindsey did yield to us, that when Christ took bread they were sitting; and his conjecture was, that this gesture of sitting [pg 1-405] might have been changed after the taking of the bread. Paybody saw that he had done with the argument if he should grant that they were sitting when Christ took bread, therefore he calleth that in question. Vulcan's own gimmers could not make his answer and the Bishop's to stick together.
But let us examine the ground which Paybody takes for his opinion. He would prove from Luke and Paul, that when Matthew and Mark say, “As they were eating, Jesus took bread,” the meaning is only this, After supper, Jesus took bread; importing, that Christ's taking of bread did not make up one continued action with their eating, and that therefore their gesture of sitting might have been changed between their eating of the preceding supper and his taking of the sacramental bread.