be we have made either at our repenting of some sin or at our deliverance from some eminent danger or at the recovery out of some greivous sickness or at the receiving some other signal mercy whether for our selves or for our friends I will go into thy house with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Psal 67.13.14 Then and there at the Altar of God must we both discharge all the vows which for some hindrance or other we had not yet the Convenience to fulfil and set afresh from Communion to communion as they did the Shew-loaves from Sabbath to Sabbath all those other Performances which by their nature and our duty can never be fulfilled but with the very end of our daies 8. So shall the new Israel tread on the pious steps of the Old who ever from time to time reiterated either in Mispah or in Gilgal c. that Covenant which the Lord had made with him in Sinai It is true the Lord did not then again repeat the Thunder that once made the Mountains tremble as in our Churches he doth not reiterate that very Passion that made the powers of Heaven mourn and shake Nevertheless as Josuah Asa Josias Jehojadah and other such holy men could from their Master assure the People that the Covenant which they did renew for example in Shechem Jos 24.25 2 Chr. 15.12 and 23.16 was not less powerful either to bless the observers or to destroy the offenders thereof then it was when Moses and the Holy Angels publisht it at the first upon Sinai So now the Ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ having in their hands the sacraments of the Gospel true Seals and Tables of the new Law may both produce and give them out as Evidences that the sacrifice of their Master is not less able to save mens Souls when it is offered to men and Sacramentally offered again to God at the holy Communion then when it was newly offered upon the Cross And this is the reason wherefore all faithful Christians ought then as effectually to reinforce all their Oblations their vows their Contritions and their protestations Men and Brethren what shall we do And God forbid that I should ever glory but in the Cross of my Savior as the Israelites did by protesting upon the like occasions We will obey the Lord our God and the Lord is the God the Lord is the God 1 King 18.39 both Israelites and Christians seconding their Protestation of obedience and their prostrations of Body and resignations of their minds with secondary sacrifices those of Bulls and Rams these of Alms and Pious works 9. By this it is easie to see that our holy Eucharistical Communions are much correspondent to those Feasts that did call the People of Israel together first to appear and prostrate themselves before the Lord with sacrifices for their sin and then to lay upon the Altar that other kind of Sacrifices which they used to call * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace offerings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace Offerings and which were ordained to express both their thankfulness to God and their Charity to men And in this friendly concurrence both of Mysteries and of holy duties that attend them all respects duly observed Moses may still with the same power command both new and old Israel thou shalt keep the feast unto the Lord thy God with a Tribute of a free will offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee And thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God thou and thy Son and thy Daughter the Levite the stranger the Fatherless and the Widdow And you shall not appear before the Lord emty Every man shall give according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee Deut. 16.10 11. 19. The first Christians ever took it and constantly practised it so For whensoever they met at their devotions whereof the Holy Communion was the most ordinary and the most essential part they did make the use of all their Goods to be common among themselves and the distribution of this blessed Sacrament was so constantly attended by the distribution of their Offerings that it is somewhat hard to discern which of the two the Apostolical History intends to signify by the Breaking of bread so often mentioned in the Acts. Some pious and learned men have thought that this largeness and frequency of Offerings which in the primitive times was all the stock they had for pious uses made that Article which immediatly follows that of the Church that is the Communion or Communication of the Saints But however tho this were not the Article of faith there meant yet it was an Act of Piety so frequent and so essential in those daies that St. Luke would place it amongst those other sacred functions that comprehend the whole duty and service of the Church They continued stedfastly in the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the Communion and in breaking of bread and in prayer Act. 2.24 Thus were the primitive Christians literally and punctually such as holy David had prophesied they should be a People that would come and offer themselves with their free will offerings to Christ in the Day of his Power and of that glorious effusion of Graces that like to a Celestial dew would appear wonderful by a thick and sudden producing of subjects and souldiers ready armed for his service Psal 110. 11. For this purpose it was that the Bishops had in their Churches two Tables One of them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. within that space where the Ministers did officiate at the Altar and where were Curtins purposely shut to keep non-Communicants from the sight of and access to the Holy Mysteries The other was where the People could freely come to offer their Gifts part whereof afterwards was brought by the Deacons to the Communion Table Hither were brought the Free will Offerings of the People Bread Wine Oil Wooll sometimes Cloth Silver and any thing els that might be useful to the Church till by express Canons of the Church * Can. 37. Afric those Oblations in kind were limited to such things only as could be emploied about the sacraments and service of the Church and all this was offered up to God by all Christians by way of a daily Sacrifice And when the Christians had offered up to God their Goods the Priest who did receive them did solemnly pray to God that he would be pleased to look on their Oblations as he did once on them of Abel of Noah and of Abraham Out of these Oblations the Elements of the holy Communion were taken forth and presented at the other Table where they were blest by the Bishop or Priest and distributed by him to the People as from God to assure them he had accepted of both their persons
in his Talent or his Didrachm or his Mite according as God daily blosses him and whence he must be sure to take nothing but for a special holy use as if he did take it from Gods Altar 15. It is true indeed that not only this but also any thing else that we have at home is already consecrated since God having given it to us we have given it back again unto God For whensoever we gave him up our own persons all our Goods were involved in this general Consecration and thereby became ipso facto holy Offerings unto the Lord. But as these holy Offerings under the Law were of two sorts some which the Worshipper and his wife and Children might eat some of which it was not lawful for any to eat except the Priests only my meaning is that the truly pious Christian should gather day by day and by little and little both to make his Devotion less burthensom and by a continual application to this work to sanctify the whole course of his life the better a Magazine of holy things of this last kind which may be only emploied to God and his Churches service 16. But at the same instant that the Christian Worshipper shall take the materials of his good works out of this store he must have a great care to draw withal out of the good Treasure of his heart the fire and the Frankincense that is the zeal and the holy thoughts that may improve and raise good moral works to the being of Religious Sacrifices And as without doubt at first he had a care not to lay aside these first fruits in a Corner of his house either negligently or rudely as some do throw their Alms into Beggars hands or as Judas did his thirty Pieces into the Temple so he must not forget himself so much as to take them thence and bestow them on the Body or members of Christ that is the Church and his Neighbor but with such pious Elevations and applications of his mind as may become both that Majesty which he adores and the pious and holy Act that he intends Let him do it whether at his door or in the way or in the Temple it matters not for the hour is long since come that Religious Acts or Worshippings are confined neither to this Mountain nor to Jerusalem Joh. 4.21 wheresoever God gives thee the occasion and power to perform any holy work there he makes holy Ground for thee only this work to be holy and becoming a Worshipper must by all means be don in Spirit and in Truth This Spirit will teach us what Flesh and Blood cannot do both to perceive and consider not an Angel only as the Patriarcks often did but Christ himself in the condition of an afflicted Church for example or of an honest distressed friend and then at such occasions to lay our liberalities with that same mind and thought that a true Worshipper would lay his Oblations upon the Altar where he knows that Christ will most effectually both find it and accept of it Once He received the Gold the Myrrh and the Frankincense which the wise men gave Joseph He did also receive the Goods which Susanna and other Religious Women did put in the hands of his Disciples since that time the Church and all her distressed Members have bin instated by Christ himself most expressly into the Place of these happy Persons and as if they had bin for this purpose created Christs solemn Officers and Angels about the time that he was to suffer and to leave his beloved Disciples he promised them both to accept and account as bestowed on himself these small Offerings which for his sake we should deposite in their hands Mat. 25.40 45. 17. This same spirit and this Actual application is the only means that we can have to raise up good moral works and to make them true Heave-Offerings Without this Elevation what we give may in it self be a good deed to us a considerable-expense and to other men some benefit but to God it is no sacrifice or it is such a sacrifice as sends up no savor above but either like the Oblation of Cain falls all down to Ashes and Dust or like the Alms of Pharises to such a paltry toward as we get perhaps from men Gen. 10. Mat. 6. 18. All these considerations and pious intentions of the Soul which to the Worshipper must be instead of the Sacerdotal Utensils and to the Oblation instead of the fire and Frankincense are much revived and stirred up by the Circumstantial solemnity and Holiness of the blessed Communion Look to the Adoration of the Ancient Israelites I was c. Deut. 26. I Dare appear before the Lord with all my sins and my sorrows It is very just also that I should appear with these few blessings which are mine they are mine by thy favor and having received them of thy hand now do I offer them to thee * 1 Chron. 29.14 Forgive I beseech thee my sins deliver me from my sorrows and accept of this small Blessing Accept of this my sacrifice as thou didst of that of Abel of Abraham and of Noah or rather look in my behalf on that only true Sacrifice whereof here is the Sacrament the Sacrifice of the only unspotted Lamb the Sacrifice of thine own Son of thine only begotten Son of thy Son proceeding from thee to dy for me O let him again come from thee to me let him come now as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and of truth to bless me Amen Amen FINIS INDEX SECTION I. The Importance of well understanding the Nature of this Sacrament Pag. 1. SECTION II. Concerning the Sacrament as it is a Memorial of the Sufferings and Death of Christ p. 4. SECTION III. Of the blessed Sacrament as it stands for a Sign of present Graces p. 19 SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a means of Grace p. 36. SECTION V. Of the Blessed Communion as being a Pledg of the Happiness and Glory to come p. 56. SECTION VI. Of the Holy Eucharist as it implies a Sacrifice And first of the Commemorative Sacrifice p. 71. SECTION VII Concerning the Sacrifices of our own Persons p. 80. SECTION VIII Concerning the Oblation of our Goods and Alms or the Sacrifice of Justice p. p. 106.
pour out all our Grief our Prayers and our Praises before the Lord in so happy a conjuncture The primitive Christians did it so who did as seldom meet to preach or pray without a Communion as did the old Israelites to worship without a Sacrifice On solemn daies especially or upon great Exigencies they ever used this help of Sacramental Oblation as the most powerful Means the Church had to strengthen their Supplications to open the Gates of Heaven and to force in a manner God and his Christ to have compassion on them The People of Israel for the better performance of Prayer and Devotion went up to the Tabernacle and the Temple because besides other Motives both these were Figures of that Body which was to be sacrificed Wherefore Christ calls his Body this Temple Joh. 2.19 and the first Christians went up to their Churches there to meet with these Mysteries which do represent him both as already sacrificed and yet as in some sort offering and giving up himself Those in worshipping ever turned their Eyes their Hearts their hopes towards that Altar and Sacrifice whence the High Priest was to carry the Blood into the Sanctuary and these looking toward the Cross and their crucified Savior there through his Sufferings hope for a way towards Heaven being encouraged to this hope by the very Memorial which they both take to themselves and shew to God of these Sufferings Lastly Jesus our Eternal Priest being from the Cross where he suffered without the Gate gon up into the true Sanctuary which is Heaven there above doth continually present both his Body in true reality and us as Aaron did the twelve Tribes of Israel in a Memorial Exod. 28.29 and on the other side we beneath in the Church present to God his Body and Blood in a Memorial that under this shadow of his Cross and image of his Sacrifice we may present our selves before him in very deed and reality 5. O Lord who seest nothing in me that is truely mine but Dust and Ashes and which is worse sinful flesh and Blood look upon what I have of thee some small Remnant of thine Image some small beginnings of thy Grace and some light sparks of thy Spirit But because all these are defective supply them O Lord with thy mercy and with the Sacrifice of thy Son Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name and thine Anointed give the praise Turn thine Eyes O Merciful Father to the satisfaction and Intercession of thy Son who now sits at thy Right Hand to the Seals of thy Covenant which lye before thee upon this Table and to all the wants and distresses which also thou seest in my heart O Father glorify thy Son whom thou hast sent into this World O Son bless thou this Sacrament which thou hast ordained for thy Church and send with it some influence of that Spirit whom thou hast promised to all Flesh that by the help of these Mercies the World the Church our Flesh and Souls may glorify thee now and ever Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen SECTION VII Concerning the Sacrifice of our own Persons 1. IT is either the Error or the incogitancy of too many Christians which makes them somtimes beleive and oftener live as if under the Gospel there were no other Sacrifice but that of Christ upon the Cross It is very true indeed there is no other nor can there be any other sufficient and proper for this end of satisfiing Gods Justice and expiating our sins I have troden the Winepress alone and of the People there was none with me I looked and there was none to help Esay 63.3.5 In this respect tho the whole Church should in a Body offer up her self as a burnt Sacrifice to God yet could she not contribute more towards the bearing up or bearing away the wrath to come then all those Innocent souls who stood neer Jesus Christ when he gave up the Ghost did towards the darkning of the Sun or the shaking of the whole Earth But that which is not so much as useful much less necessary to this Eternal Sacrifice which alone could redeem Mankind is indispensably both necessary and useful that we may have a share in this Redemtion So that if the Sacrifice of our selves which we ought to offer up to God cannot procure Salvation it is absolutely necessary to receive it 2. As the old Law never introduced Aaron officiating before the Lord without the whole People of Israel represented both by the twelve stones on his Ephod and the two other on his shoulders Exod. 28.12.30 The Gospel most commonly describes Jesus Christ and his Church not only as two Parties that do nothing the one without the other but somtimes also as one Person alone as particularly 1. Cor. 12.12 Christ acts officiates and suffers for his Body in that manner that doth become the Head and the Church imitates and follows all the motions and sufferings of this heavenly and holy Head in such a manner as is possible to its weak Members 3. The main if not the whole Divinity of S. Paul as well in point of faith as of Christian life runs upon this Conformity both of actions and sufferings And that of S. Iohn likewise upon this same Communion The truth is Our Savior had neither Birth nor Death nor Resurrection here on Earth but such as we ought to conform us to as he hath neither Ascention nor Throne nor Everlasting life nor Glory but such as we may also have in Heaven common with him 4. This Conformity or likeness to Christ which as the Hebrewes use to spake is the foundation and Pillar that is the grand Principle of the whole Christian institution relates more directly to our duty about his Sufferings and then to our happiness about his Exaltation And the Communion which is the other great fundamental that S. Iohn hath still in his Mouth points more at this and presupposes that And both make up a full Comment upon the words which our Savior so often commanded his Disciples to follow him thereby signifiing both the Labor and the success of this most Important Journy for without doubt we shall follow him into Heaven if we will follow him here on Earth and we shall have Communion with him in his Glory if we will keep Conformity with him here in his Sufferings 5. These three expressions to Follow to be like or have Conformity and to have Communion which are the most essential Clauses in the charter and charge of christianity are not to be limited to the imitation of Christs Moralls only as when he bids us be Holy as he is Holy c. but they oblige all his Disciples to follow and imitate him likewise as much as in them lies throughout all the other parts of his life and the very functions of his Offices For we must be regenerated in his Birth dye on his Cross be buried in his Grave bear his shame in his Tribulations in
all that it shall be dedicated to the Glory of God and that it shall be surrendred into his hands employed to such uses upon such occasions and times as he will be pleased to appoint 4. Hear then my son as saies the wise man look to they feet when thou entrest into the house of God lest thou offer the Sacrifice of fools Eccles 5.6 It is the Sacrifice as well as the part of a fool to offer the Person without the Goods that attend it as it were the bones without the sinewes and the flesh that cover them It is the same Act of an Impious wretch to mangle and to mutilate either the holy Sacrifice which Jesus hath made to his father or the holy Sacrament which he hath ordained to his Church or that holy Oblation which after his Sacrifice and at his Sacrament he is pleased to require of us And after we have presented it it is an Act not only of great Impiety but of as great a Sacriledg as was that of Ananias to withdraw without leave any part of that Whole which we have devoted to Gods Service 5. It behoves not Israel alone to go forth out of Egypt with all their Children and Cattle and Goods to offer them unto the Lord that he may take either all or such a part as he will be pleased to chuse Exod. 10.25 26. All the Gentiles were likewise to go and give themselves up to Gods service with their Gold their Silver their Dromedaries and their Chariots loden with their cheifest substance The Egyptians with all their wealth Tyre and Sidon with their Merchandise Esay 23.18 and 60.6 7 9. The wise men with their Frankincense their Myrrh and their Gold and so every sinner at his Conversion to God was to consecrate all to Jesus Christ and to the service of his Church From that very moment that by any reall Act of conversion of faith of repentance or of vow we have given up our selves to Christ who hath likewise given himself for us as by virtue of this mutual Communion all what he possesses becomes ours namely his Grace his Immortality his Glory and so he bestowes it upon us according to the times and degrees which he sees best for our Salvation by the same consequence all whatsoever we have doth become his so that he may take it after in what proportion and season soever he shall see best for his Glory The two Asses which he sent for by his disciples that he might ride on them to Jerusalem and the Chamber which he commanded to be ready that he might eat the Passover in it were not so absolutely his as are our lives our Goods c. whensoever the Lord hath need of them Matt. 21.2 3. Luk. 22.11 Those things were his only by the Right of propriety which as to a Soveraign Lord and God is naturally reserved upon any thing which he creates or saves but these are his besides because we with our selves have given them When he calls for the former to deny them were injustice but to deny these latter were a visible Sacriledg all what we are what we can do and what we can give even to the least vessel in our houses being involved and made holy in this one Consecration In that day shall there be upon the very Bridles of the Horses holiness unto the Lord and every pot in Jerusalem and Juda shall be holy unto the Lord. Zechar. 14.20 21. 6. This Consecration whereby the worshipper offers and resigns up all himself and all his Concernments to God if it be well don and duly performed is first as for our Souls and Bodies a Christian Apotheosis if I may use this word which both makes them capable of the Sacrifice and grace of Christ and raises and prefers them to the very nature that is the Condition of holiness and Immortality of God Secondly as to the Consecrated things it is a miraculous priviledg which in the end infinitly multiplies every thing which is thus parted with it blesses the use of it altho it be but presented as long as we can enjoy it and finally exchanges it when we can enjoy it no more for such advantagious returnes as may be conceived to be not such as when water was turned into Wine or dirt into Gold but such as if we conceive a glass of water turned into streams of Everlasting Comsorts the dust of Israel into so many stars of Heaven small Cottages of Clay into Royal Palaces and vain declining shadows into real and Eternal possessions Thou hast bin faithful in a few things I will make thee Ruler over many things c. Matth. 25.21 But if the Law of these Consecrations be not well performed if Levi come to serve Ashtaroth after he hath dedicated himself to God and if the Offerings of the People be employed to profane uses after they have toucht Gods Altar then there are as many and as heavy Curses to be lookt for as on the other side upon a better use there are many and great Blessings to be expected So that upon all considerations both of prudence and of Duty first we must give up all to God next after we have given we must fly all not only as two most odious sins but also as two most terrible mischeifs the Sacriledg in withdrawing at any time when God demands it what hath bin thus consecrated to him and the Profaneness in mispending upon superfluous or worse uses what of it he is pleased to allow to our proper necessities and other lawfull Conveniencies 7. Now tho Christ our blessed Savior by that everlasting and ever same Sacrifice of himself offer himself virtually upon all occasions and we on our side also offer our selves and what is ours with him several other waies besides that of the holy Communion as at our Conversion and first Act of faith in him Christ saies St. Austin a Aug. Evang. Quest l. 2. q. 33. is sacrificed for the salvation of every sinner at the very moment he repents and beleives him to have bin Sacrificed and at our Baptism For every one offers the Sacrifice of the Passion of the Lord at that time that he is consecrated by the faith of this Passion and baptised a Christian saith the same father b August Expos incheat ad Rom. and the Baptism of Christ is the blood of Christ saith another c Chrâ—s Hom. 10. Heir Nevertheless because Christ offers himself for us at the holy Communion in a more solemn and public sacramental way thence it comes that the Memorial of the sacrifice of Christ thereby celebrated takes commonly the Name of the Sacrifice it self as St. Austin d Aug. de Civ c. 5. id â—p 23. ad Bonis â—e Consert Disp 2 hoc â—st explains it often we are then obliged in a more special manner to renew all our Sacrifices all the vows of our Baptism all the first fruits of our Conversion and all the particular promises which it may