is they signifie these things I 'le add but one instance more and that is in Gal. 4.24 These i. e. Abrahams two wives are the two Covenants the meaning is they signifie the two Covenants Now when these passages of Scripture and many others more cannot be understood but by a Metonymy figuratively why should our Saviours words This is my body only be excepted from this general way of interpretation and have another interpretation assixed unto them which is contrary both to Scripture and to Sense to Reason and to the Interpretation of the Ancient Fathers To Scripture because the Scripture tells us that Christs Body is ascended up into Heaven and that the Heavens must receive him until the times of restitution of all things i. e. the day of Judgment Act. 1.9 and 3.21 And if it must be in Heaven as the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 3.21 do plainly signifie then he cannot be here on Earth too and this argument our Saviour himself doth elsewhere make good Joh. 6.62 For whereas when our Saviour preached at Capernaum and told them except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you ibid. verse 53. the hearers were offended at it and said not only how can this man give us his flesh to eat but also this is an hard saying who can hear it Our Saviour to take away this offence and to give them the true meaning of his words saith thus unto them ibid. verse 62. what and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before As if he should have said when ye shall see my Body to be ascended up into Heaven then I hope you will understand that I speak not of this carnal eating of my flesh that ye dream of for my Body will be then in Heaven and there must continue And this Argument holds good against the carnal eating of Christs Body in the Sacrament also though our Saviour doth not speak thereof in that place so contrary to Scripture is this interpretation of our Saviours words And contrary it is to Sense For that which we receive with our hands at the Lords Table it is not flesh but bread bread to our sight bread to our feeling and bread to our taste contrary to reason it is also and that in two respects 1. In that if the words were literally meant our Saviour then at the Institution when he took the bread and uttered the words had his own body in his hand and so he had there two bodies one sitting at the table and the other in his hand upon the table and this is not very reasonable Secondly In that if at the administration the flesh of Christ in the very substance were there it would stand us in no stead for it is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour saith Joh. 6.63 My flesh is meat indeed ibid. ver 55. And why then doth our Saviour say here the flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour doth not contradict himself and thereby it is plain his meaning is that the carnal Capernaitical eating of his flesh such as the Capernacies there thought he spake of was of no use at all And lastly Contrary it is to the interpretation of the Ancient Fathers I 'le mention but two or three very breifly Turt lib. 4. against Marcion thus speaks Christus acceptum panem distributum discipulis corpus suum illum fecit hoc est corpus meum dicendo i.e. figura corporis mei Bread taken and distributed to his Disciples he made his body by saying This is my body that is the figure of my body Saint Ambrose to the same purpose doth use the same word figura Figura est corporis sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi l. 4. de sacramentis cap. 5. and Saint Aug. on the third Psal saith Dominus Judam ad hibuit ad convivium in quo corporis sanguinis sui figuram discipulis commendavit tradidit That is The Lord entertained Judas at the feast wherein he commended and gave to his Disciples the figure of his body and blood These three to add no more do agree in this particular and they all use the same word figura whereby they signified that the bread is nor turned into to the Body of Christ but was a sign or figure of his Body though called by the name thereof It is the language of the Holy Ghost to give to the sign the name of the thing signified so it is here in the Text the Ordinance of the Circumcision is called the Covenant which was but a sign of the Covenant He gave him the Covenant of Circumcision One thing more there is to be observed from this title the Covenant of Circumcision which I will touch but briefly and it is this That the Almighty God in his Sacraments doth make a Covenant with his people Circumcision was a Sacrament for there was a sign and a thing signified as before was shewed and therein God entered into Covenant with Abraham and his Seed The Passover was a Sacrament and thereby there was a Covenant made between God and his people The Israelites when Hezekiah sent abroad a Proclamation exhorting the people to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover which had some years formerly been neglected he thus bespeaks them Now be not stiff-necked as your Fathers were but yeild your selves unto the Lord in the Original it is thus expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is give the hand unto the Lord and so it is rendred in the Margent of our Bibles 2 Chr. 30.8 Now to give the hand ye know is a circumstance and sign of entring into Covenant and by this expression is intimated that by keeping the Passeover they made a Covenant with the Lord. The like is to be said of our Sacrament of Baptism for the Apostle Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.21 in respect of the inward part of it doth calliit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that word though it be by divers diverfly rendred as by our translation an answer by the vulgar Latin Interrogatio yet it is generally conceived that the Apostle doth therein allude unto the questions and answers that were made at the baptizing of people converted to Christianity Such as Dost thou believe I do believe c which had their beginning and use even in the Apostles time as may be collected from Acts 8.37 And therefore by some the word is rendred stipulatio that is a Covenant a Bargain or an Agreement between two one asking the question and the other answering Such a thing is Baptism a Covenant between God and us and though those questions and answers were omitted yet this Covenant is included and contained in the very words which by our Saviour are appointed to be used at the Sacrament of Baptism that is To Baptize in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth.
procure as bitter words against their Minister as Zipporah's were against her Husband But to pass by this here we may take notice that St. Stephen doth call this Ordinance the Covenant of Circumcision and so it is also called in that place forementioned Gen. 17.10 The Lord there thus speaking This is my Covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee every man-child among you shall be circumcised Circumcision both there and here is called the Covenant when indeed and in truth it was but the Sign of the Covenant The Covenant was this as it is plainly set down Gen. 17.7 The Lord there saying unto Abraham I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee This was the Covenant on the Lords part that he would be a God unto Abraham and his Seed and in the same words was included the Covenant on Abrahams part that Abraham and his Seed should take the Lord to be their God and should worship him serve and obey him as their God This was the Covenant and of this Covenant Circumcision was instituted to be the Sign and so it is plainly declared Gen. 17.11 Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a token of the Covenant between me and you and so the Apostle speaks of it Rom. 4.11 Saying of Abraham He received the Sign of Circumcision i.e. He received Circumcision which was a Sign It is the usual language of the Holy Ghost in Sacramental speeches to give to the sign the name of the thing signified The Jews had two principal Sacraments but more they had less Principals and the truth of this holds in both sorts Their two principal and ordinary Sacraments were Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb. Concerning the former it hath been already shewed yea may see it also concerning the latter If ye look into Exod. 12.11 ye shall find these words concerning the Paschal Lamb Thus ye shall eat it with your loins girded your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand and ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lords Passover The Passover was the Act of the Angel passing over the Houses of the Israelites when he smote all the first-born in the Land of Egypt and yet the Lamb ye see is called by the name of the Passover The like we may say of other of their Sacraments I will instance but in one and that is the Rock out of which when Moses had smitten it with his Rod water came forth for the relief and refreshing of the Israelites in the Wilderness Num. 20.11 And this Rock Saint Paul saith was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 No man will say that Saint Paul meant the Rock was Christ in regard of the substance but only by signification and so Saint Augustine interprets it Petra erat Christus quia significabat Christum Epist 102. ad Euod Neither is this kind of Metonymy and Figure used only in Sacramental Speeches but in those Speeches also wherein there is no Mystery of Religion contained as in the interpretation of Pharaohs Dream Gen. 41. Pharaoh in his Dream saw seven fat-fleshed Kine come out of the River and after them seven other lean-fleshed Kine Verse 2. Joseph in his interpretation thereof doth thus speak unto Pharaoh Verse 26 27. The seven good Kine are seven years and the seven thin Kine are seven years The meaning is the seven Kine of the one sort and the other do signifie seven years the name of the thing signified being attributed to the Sign which ye see is a usual kind of speaking both in the Old and New Testament And this may stop the mouths of the Papists about their Transubstantiation who because our Saviour at the Institution of the Lords Supper taking Bread in his Hand said This is my Body do therefore think that the substance of Bread at the Sacrament must needs be turned into the Substance of our Saviours Body But seeing other Sacramental Speeches are Figuratively understood Why should we conceive that our Saviours Words are not so to be understood also A real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament we acknowledg for the Body and Blood of Christ according to our Church-Catechism are verily and indeed taken and received of the Faithful in the Lords Supper verily and indeed that is really yet not carnally but Sacramentally not Corporally but Spiritually For otherwise how could Believers eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood before his Flesh had any existence or being in the World The Apostle doth tell us that the believing Israelites in the Wilderness did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink that we do and that is none other but the Body and Blood of Christ and yet Christ was not then incarnate 1 Cor. 10.3 4. Their Manna was the Body of Christ and their water out of the Rock was the Blood of Christ not in substance but in signification they did signifie the Body and Blood of Christ And surely in all reason those Propositions and Sentences of Scripture that are incongruous to reason when they are taken in a proper sence but suitable to reason in a figurative sence in all reason I say they ought to be taken Figuratively And this the Holy Ghost himself doth teach us For when Saint John had seen seven Golden Candlesticks And in the midst of the seven Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man Rev. 1 12 13. who had also in his right hand seven Stars vers 16. the Lord himself doth expound the meaning thereof ver 20. in these words The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden Candlesticks The seven stars are the Angels that is the Bishops of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven Churches So in these two Propositions The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches the Lord saith there is a mystery that is they are not literally but mistically or figuratively to be understood Multitude of such speeches we find in Scripture which cannot possibly be otherwise understood as when Joseph interpreted Pharaohs Butler and his Bakers Dreams The three branches saith he are three days Gen. 40.12 And again vers 18. The three Baskets are three days that is they signifie three days So Isa 5.7 The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of a Isrel that is doth signifie the House of Israel So likewise These bones are the whole House of Israel that is they signifie the house of Israel Ezek. 37.11 Look upon our Saviours parable Mat. 13.37 I will mention but a branch or two of it The field is the world the tears are the Children of the wicked ones the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the Angels that
we be his Friends indeed Our Saviour shews us the way Joh. 15.14 Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you But this we shall touch again in the next point to which therefore I come and shall but briefly touch it The fourth and last thing observable in the Text is to whom this token of Gods love was given He gave Him that is Abraham as appears in the foregoing verses of the Chapter Abraham as Saint James tells us was called the friend of God Jam. 2.23 two places there be in the Old Testiment where Abraham is called Gods Friend that is 2 Chro. 20.7 and Jsa 41.8 To him was this Covenant of Circumcision given so Gods special gifts are for his special friends The Preacher Eccles. 2.26 divides the world into two sorts of people and then he shews what gifts the Lord doth give to them both God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledg and joy but to the Sinner he giveth travel togather and to heap up c. Wisdom and knowledg in this world and joy with the righteous in the world to come as some expound the words are Gods special gifts and these he giveth not to all but to the men that are good in his sight that is such as he accounts his friends The favorites of an earthly Prince as they do alwaies injoy more of the princes favour so do they alwaies partake more of his bounty and the special tokens of his inward affections are vouchsafed unto them which are denied to others especially to those that rebel against him just so it is with the Almighty and his friends or favorites He give you but an instance or two One is that of our Saviour to his disciples whom he esteemed his friends Mat. 13.11 It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to them that is to those that are not his friends it is not given The other is that Prayer of the Psalmist Psa 106.4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people he doth acknowledg there that God hath a special savour for some more then for others and out of that favour he doth bestow upon them special gifts health and wealth and riches and honour and the like he doth bestow many times upon those that are not his friends but those things that tend to the happiness of the Soul as wisdom and knowledg and the Mysteries of the kingdom and newness of heart here signified by the Covenant of Circumcision these are Gods special blessings and these ye see are only for his special friends And if we would have them and surely of all things in the world they are most desirable as appears by that prayer of the Psalmist forementioned Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people If I say we would desire to have them we must become his friends be we therefore such as Abraham was and then we shall not miss of them Such as Abraham was why what a one was he why sure in Abraham if we would be like him there are many things that we must take notice of 1. In his carriage towards God 2. In his carriage towards his neighbours 3. In his carriage towards his own family 1. In his carriage towards God we may observe that wheresoever he came he built an Altar such care he had of the Worship and Service of God as Gen. 12.7 8. and 13.18 c. Whatsoever God commanded he was ready to obey though it were never so against flesh and blood when he was called out of his Country from his kindred and from his Fathers house he obeyed and went forth not knowing whether he went Heb. 11.8 when he was commanded to take his Son his only Son Isaac whom he loved and to offer him up for a burnt-offering he went about it without gain-saying shewing thereby both his readiness to obey and also to part with any thing though never so dear unto him for Gods sake he had faith and confidence in God and doubted not of his promises even then when unto human reason there seemed little hope of them as that he should have a Son when he was an hundred years old and his Wife not onely ninety but naturally barren Rom. 4.18 19 20. And that in Isaac his seed should be called and that all Nations should be blessed in him though he had a command to offer him up for a Burnt Offering Heb. 11.17 18 19. 2. In his carriage towards his Neighbour for there ye may see his Justice his Mercy and his Love of Peace His Justice in paying Tythes where they were due Melchisedeck was the Priest of the most High God and Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings gave him the Tenth part of all Heb. 7.1 2. His Mercy in that he prayed to the Almighty God that he would be pleased to spare the Inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah with the three other Cities of the Plain Gen. 18.23 c. And in that when they were oppressed and carried Captive he armed his Trained Servants and rescued them Gen. 14. And for his Love to Peace when there was like to be a difference between him and Lot he was contented to part with his own right rather than that there should be any strife between them For though he were the elder man and Lots Uncle and though the Land of Canaan was given to him and not to Lot yet he gives Lot his choice and wishes him to go into which part of the Land he pleased that so there might be no danger of contention between them Gen. 13.9 3. In his carriage towards his own Family for though Abraham were a great man so great that the Children of Heth said unto him Thou art a mighty Prince amongst us Gen. 23.5 6. Yet he did not count it a work beneath himself to have care of his Family both Children and Servants and to teach and instruct them in the ways of Piety and Godliness I know him saith the Lord that he will command his Children and houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.19 These are the things that are eminent in Abraham and in these things if we imitate him as we shall be sure by doing the works of Abraham that we are the Children of Abraham Joh. 8.39 So we may hope God will reckon us his friends and take us into Covenant with him and be our God as he was and is the God of Abraham and that he will bestow upon us the choicest of his blessings and bring us to sit down at length with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Which God of his mercy grant us through the merits of his Son Amen FINIS A Catalogue of some Sermons c. printed for Henry Brome since the dreadful Fire of London to 1676. A Guide to Eternity by John Bona useful for Families and fit to be given at Funerals Dean W. Lloyd's Sermon before the King about Miracles 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of John Lord Bishop of Chester 6 d. His Sermon before the King in Lent 1673. 6 d. The Seasonable Discourse against Popery in quarto 6 d. The Defence of it quarto 6 d. The Difference betwixt the Church and Court of Rome in quarto 6 d. The Papists Apology to the Parliament answered 6 d. Mr. Naylor's Commemoration Sermon for the Honorable Col. Cavendish 6 d. Mr. Sayers Sermon at the Assizes at Reading 6 d. Mr. Tho. Tanner's Sermon to the scattered Members of the Church 6 d. Mr. Stanhop's four Sermons on several Occasions octavo bound 1 s. 6 d. Papal Tyranny as it was exercised over England for some Ages with two Sermons on the fifth of November by Dr. Du Moulin in quarto 1 s. 6 d. His Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Turner Dean of Canterbury 6 d Bishop Lany's last Sermon preached before the King against Comprehension Principals and Duties of Natural Religion By John Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester Mr Farindon's 130 Sermons in Folio in three Vol. Mr. Standish's Sermon preached before the King an White-Hall September 26. 1675.