This work, The Whole Duty of Man, was published in London in either 1658 or 1659.  Although it author is unknown it was widely used as a devotional manual for those who were to receive Holy Communion.  It has been suggested that the author could have been Richard Allestree, John Fell or Henry Hammond (More and Cross, 1935: 458).  The work encourages the prospective communicant to express deep sorrow for sin during the preparation for reception and at the time of receiving.  The following quotation is of interest in assessing the view of this work in regard to the Eucharist.  The quotation says;

“When thou art at the Holy Table, first humble thyself in an unfeigned acknowledgment of thy great unworthiness to be admitted there; and to that purpose remember again between God and thine own soul some of thy greatest and foulest sins, thy breaches of former vows made at that Table, especially since thy last receiving.  Then meditate on those bitter sufferings of Christ which are set out in the Sacrament.  When thou seest the bread broken, remember how His blessed Body was torn with nails upon the Cross; when thou seest the wine poured out, remember how his precious Blood was spilt there.” (The Whole Duty of Man, cited in More and Cross, 1935: 459).

This passage links the body and blood of Christ with the bread and wine of the Eucharist, associating the breaking of the bread with the breaking of Christ’s body and the pouring out of the wine with the pouring out of Christ’s blood on the cross.  The sign and the signified are linked, but there is no suggestion that the fleshy body and the actual blood of Christ are present in the Eucharist. 

In another passage the work says:

“When thou art about to receive the Consecrated Bread and Wine, remember that God now offers to seal to thee that New Covenant made with mankind in His Son.  For since He gives that His Son in the Sacrament, He gives with Him all the benefits of that Covenant, to wit, pardon of sins, sanctifying grace, and a title to an eternal inheritance.  And here be astonished at the infinite goodness of God Who reaches out to thee so precious a treasure. … And therefore settle in thy soul the most serious purpose of obedience, and then with all possible devotion join with the Minister in that short but excellent prayer, used at the instant of giving the Sacrament, ‘The body of our Lord, etc.’” (The Whole Duty of Man, cited in More and Cross, 1935: 460).

Moderate realism is expressed in this passage.  The consecrated bread and wine are associated with the presence of Christ in the Eucharist as a seal of the new covenant and as the means by which the benefits of Christ are given.  The author states that it is God who reaches out to those who receive in the Eucharist, thereby once again associating the bread and wine with the gift of God.  The final sentence refers to the words of administration, which is used at the ‘instant of giving’.  Here the words are realist in tone.  The bread is delivered to the communicant as the words ‘The body of our Lord …’ are said.  There is no sense of immoderate realism, rather there is clear linking of the sign with the signified, in the form of moderate realism.