them out of the Puddle where they did ly like Beasts without sense of danger or shame and it quickens these rotten Trees for the producing of better Fruit. The first Life being opposite to Condemnation and Eternal Punishment belongs properly to the Blood that hath satisfied divine Justice and so removed Punishment and the second which is opposite to stupid and senseless both falling into sin and lying in it relates properly to the Water that after Propitiation and Pardon washes and sanctifies the sinner These two Lives are the two first Effluxes which proceeded out of Jesus Christ when his Body was pierced and both are inseparable as the Blood and the water were which flowed together out of his side Let none who finds himself clean from the filth and spots of his sin be afraid of Punishment for them I have found a Ransom for him Job 33.24 for the water came not without the Blood But let every one that hath a mind to be safe from Punishment which is taken off by the Blood seek for farther security in the purifying of himself from all the uncleanness of sin which the Water is to wash away for the Blood came not without water Christ came not by Blood alone but by water and Blood 1 Joh. 5.6 9. Over and above these two Lives whereof one consists in Pardon and removal of Punishment the other in Sanctification and enlivens us from dead works so as not thenceforward to deserve it as before there remains besides a third Life which consists in an absolute Redemtion from Death and other miseries This life as to the sure Title and Right is together with the two other purchased by the same Sacrifice but as to the real use and possession it is reserved for us in Heaven and there hid with Christ in God Coloss 3.3 Until it be revealed we appear as if we were dead these two Jewels lying in and being wrapped about with the dark Veils of human Mortality till that Christ becoming unto us actual Redemtion as well as actual Justice and actual Sanctification this third life succeeds to break the Cloud 10. Now the blessed Savior being by his Sacrifice the Author and giver of these three Lives shews himself by this Sacrament to be the preserver of them also and to this purpose sets up a Table by his Altar where he engages most solemnly to feed and nourish our Souls with the constant supply of his Mercies to the very day of eternal Salvation as really as he gives and we receive these Elements of Bread and Wine which are the usual meanes of sustaining mortal Bodies until the end of this short Life My Father worketh hitherto and I work with him Ioh. 95.17 God the father rested indeed upon the seventh day from the work of Creating and God the Son at the same day from the work of Suffering but neither of them will rest till the day of Redemtion from the work of preserving both what the Creation hath produced and what the Passion hath saved In the first Creation here is a Man and a Woman made of the Flesh and as it were of the very wounds of her Husband and there you find a Tree planted to maintain both their life and strength In the Deliverance of Egypt here is a People saved by the Sacrifice of the Passeover and lest so many rescued out of Egypt should faint and starve in the Desert there you see an Angel leading them the way with his Light keeping them cool under the Shadow of his Cloud and feeding them through all their journny with a miraculous sort of Meat Jesus is both in the Original and progress of Salvation the Truth foreshewed by these Figures When he dyed upon the Cross there he fullfilled that which had bin shadowed forth both by the Sleep and wound of Adam and by the killing of paschal Lambs And when he feeds from Heaven with a continual Effusion of Blessing those souls and lives which he hath bin pleased to redeem by the effusion of his own Blood He is the Truth both of the Tree and of the Angel which were appointed the one to maintain Man and the other to keep Israel 11. Christ relates to these four Figures as the Body which fulfils them and the Holy Communion relates to them on the other side as an Antitype that is as one Image may relate to another all to express the same object Upon the breaking the one and powring out the other of these consecrated Elements you see what Christ hath suffered as upon the wound of Adam and the death of the Passeover Abel Enoc and Israel might partly see what he should suffer And upon the nourishing nature of this Bread you see that which others have seen in the Tree of life and in the Angel raining down Manna what He would give But this is the advantage of the Holy Communion above all the ancient Figures Adam with his open Side and all Sacrifices with their Blood did foretel only Christs Passion and the Tree of life with all its fruit and the Angel with all his Food did foretel only his preserving Grace whereas this Sacrament alone represents both his Passion and Preserving and besides these another great Mystery by their mutual dependency What wee take and eat is made of a Substance cut bruised and put to the fire that shews my Saviors Passion and it was used in that manner that it may afford me wholesom food that shewes the Benefit which both he gives and I receive out of this dreadful Passion The Angels enjoy such an immortality and wear such Crowns as cost God nothing but the pain he took to give them ours are more precious and costly then so Our inheritance in Heaven is not less then Akeldamah a Possession bought with Christs Blood In this Sacrament here is Death represented there Life the Life is mine the Death my Saviors and ô blessed Jesus this my Life comes out of thy Death and the Salvation which I hope for is purchased with all the pain and Agonies which Thou didst suffer 12. Here Melchisedek and Aaron wait upon Jesus Christ at this Table as Moses and Elias did on the Mount These two great Priests stand to soreshew what Christ alone is to perform For there is Aaron the Priest with Blood and here Melchisedek with Bread There Aaron breaks sheds and destroies here Melchisedek feeds and blesses Nay both are one in Jesus Christ First Christ appears to Sacrifice upon the Cross as Aaron did at his Altar with Flesh and Blood and as in Melchisedeks case and figure with his own Flesh and his own Blood Then as Aaron did use to enter once every year into the Sanctuary Christ once for all is ascended into Heaven thence to bless us Act. 3.26 And this blessing is the strength the Food and Refreshment which Melchisedek brought in a figure that with the help of these good Things both Abraham and his Followers that is all sincere Christians may
cheerfully go on their way notwithstanding their own weakness and all the dangers of their life Thus here is a double Blessing which I wait for both what Aaron shewed by his Blood and what Melchisedek shewed by his Bread 13. Author of my Salvation and of these Mysteries which express it bestow on me these two Blessings which this Sacrament shews together Grace for Grace Mercy and strength to keep Mercy Hosanna O Son of David save and preserve Save me that I may not fall under the hand of the Destroyer and preserve me that after this Salvation I never fall by my own hand But keep and set forward in me notwithstanding all mine Infirmities the work of thy faithful Mercies Grant that I may not increase my Guilt by my abusing of what thou gavest My Savior my Preserver give me alwaies what thou givest once Create a new heart within me but bless and keep what Thou createst and increase more and more what Thou plantest O Son of God and Tree of Life feed with thy sap this tender Branch which without thee cannot but wither and strengthen in thee a bruised Reed which without thee cannot but fall Father of everlasting Compassions forsake not in the Wilderness a feeble Israelite whom thou hast brought a little way out of Egypt And let not this poor Soul of mine which thou hast blessed with some desires and helped a while with some tendency towards an Eternal Salvation ever faint and fall from the right way The Angel in the Wilderness could undoubtedly rain as much Manna as the Paschal Lambs could shed Blood Jesu the Truth both of those Lambs and of that Angel Thou art as able to perfect me with thy Blessings out of thy Throne as thou wert to redeem me by thy Sacrifice on thy Cross Jesu Author Object and Truth of this which by thine appointment I am bidden now to take perform in me by thy sufferings what Thou dost exhibit Eternal Life by this thy Body broken give also Nourishment and maintenance thereby to this same Life for this is the Bread of Heaven Amen SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a Means of Grace 1. HItherto we have considered this holy Sacrament first as a standing Memorial of that Passion wherein Christ Jesus once offered himself up to God as Sacrifice and secondly as a sign of that nutritive and corroborative Grace the true Efflux of that Sacrifice by which sign he daily offers himself to us under the notion of Meat For his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 And I ingeniously confess that the most general use of the blessed Communion runs upon these two Notions and that these two main Resemblances between the Bread and Christs Body which qualify the consecrated Bread and the consecrated Wine in the same manner to bear the Character of a Sacrament do likewise sufficiently qualify it to bear another honor which it enjoys of being called the Lords Body However it is most certain that when the Fathers call it so which Christ himself taught them to do they justify both His and their speech upon the account of resemblance and of this commerce most usual between Representations and objects represented of enterchanging their own names Read the 23. Epist of St. Austin ad Bonif. 2. So for example in the Prophetic Visions and Dreams which most commonly were nothing else then extemporary Sacraments of Things then revealed by God those are most constantly said to be these The 7 Ears of Corn are 7 years by the interpretation of Joseph Gen. 41.26 The seven Stars are seven Angels in the Revelation of St. John 1.20 The Sower is the Son of Man The Tares are the wicked The Harvest is the end of the World in the Parables of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.37.38.39 If by chance we meet with Pictures that represent the Tabernacle or the Ornaments of Aaron we usually say pointing at some of these Figures This is the outward Court this is the Sanctuary here is the brazen Altar and there you see the Plate of pure Gold that none was allowed to wear except the High Priest of Israel just as walking in the Palaces and Galleries of great Persons we say without thinking to speak improperly that we have seen the 12. Sibyls the 12. Cesars the Temple of Ephesus c. that is the Representations of all these Now 't is certain that no Visions nor Images have ever bin more intended for this end of Representing then the true Sacraments have bin therefore it were most unreasonable to think that these sacred Images should want that Priviledg which all other altho casual and profane are allowed to have viz. to take the name of their Objects Nay since the Paschal Lamb the Circumcision and the Baptism have it for one is called the Passover the other the Covenant and the other the Burial of Christ why should the Holy Communion be without it Besides it is not conceivable that Christ who had yet in his hands that Paschal Bread which was called by the Jews the Bread of Affliction which their Fathers did eat in Egypt because it was the Memorial of it may not be understood after the same manner when a moment after He calls it his Body 3. Nevertheless altho the literal and immediate sense of these Words This is my Body comes to no more as Tertullian and S. Augustin with many more have in express terms declared it and as all ancient liturgies must needs understand it whensoever they call the Eucharist Type Image or figure for the proper and immediate use of Images is to represent Things If they chance also to have them in themselves or to convey them over to others it is upon another account as being vessels or utensiles c. which office is extrinsecal to Sacraments Nevertheless I say the end of the blessed Communion the exigency and pious desire of Communicants and the strength of other Places of Scripture require a great deal more in the Eucharist then a meer Memorial or Representation 4. 1. The proper end of the holy Communion which is to make us partakers of Christ in another manner and degree when with faith and repentance wee take and tast those holy Mysteries then when with the like dispositions wee do hear the Holy Gospel 2. The Exigency and honest desire of Communicants who seek no more for a bare Representation or Remembrance of Christ crucified at this Holy Table then Mary and other devout women did for winding Sheets or Napkins about his Grave I want and seek my Savior himself and I watch for all the opportunities of coming to his Sacrament for the same purpose that once made S. Peter and S. Iohn run so fast to his Sepulcher because I hope to find Him there 3. Lastly the full sense and importance of other Places in Scripture which allow the Holy Communion a much greater Vertue then is that of representing only The Cup
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
THE CHRISTIAN Sacrament and Sacrifice By way of Discourse MEDITATION PRAYER Upon THE NATURE PARTS and Blessings OF THE Holy Communion By DAN BREVINT D. D At the THEATER in OXFORD Anno Dom. 1673. The CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT Sacrifice At the THEATER in OXFORD To The RIGHT HONOURABLE The Lady ELIZABETH CARTERET THis is one of the many Tracts which I made at Paris on several Subjects at the instance of those two Incomparable Princesses who there for many years continually emploied me in their service What use they were pleased to make of them your Ladyship knows best being often admitted with some other Persons of Quality to their privat Devotions Therefore when I present you with these Papers I but repeat and ratify their gift and by this public Address pay that respect which I owe besides what is due upon other accounts to that singular Esteem and Kindness which they ever had for your Ladiship Those great and holy Souls had no desire more earnest then to contemplate and embrace Christian religion in its original beauty see it freed from the Encombrance which ordinary Controversies most commonly throw upon it And really tho they did understand all these Scholastic points as well or better then their Teachers especially the Princess of Turenne whose clear and quick Apprehension and neat and unartificial eloquence were wonderful yet they cared so little for them that they deplored very often the unhappy necessity that had filled the Church with such weapons and had so flanck't about to use here their expression Jerusalem with Bastions that one could hardly see the Temple I can assure you Madam that upon this account the holy Communion which is as the tree of life in the Paradise of God the most generous plant in his Vineyard of the Church hath bin the worst dealt with For as it was most despitefully treated by Popery the Protestants did spend most of their care this way to secure it whereby it could not be well expected that men thus taken up in raising fences in planting thorns and quicksets against wild Bores could have much time to dress and improve better plants Then came from Germany Anabaptists and from other parts Socinians who pretend that the best way of pruning luxuriant excrescencies is to cut up by the roots Here then Madam while the Romanists having made havock of the Vineyard and laid it wast the fatness of the ground brought forth that poisonous wild vine of the Roman-Mass and others left nothing but dead sapless branches and dry leaves the emty figures of fanatic Heretics I make it my endeavor to rescue it out of the hands of such Husbandmen and to restore all back again both to the full meaning and institution of Christ who is the Planter as well as the Master of the Vineyard and to the Practice of the Holy Fathers who for several hundreds of years dressed it and made it bear excellent fruit So here I take no more notice of either Papists or Sectaries no nor Protestants neither then as if the former had never appeared in the world to trouble and spoil the Church of God nor the latter to assert and redress it The holy Sacrament being thus set at liberty and enlarged to its full extent will appear presently attended with all its Duties and Blessings as the Ladder of Jacob did with ascending and descending Angels This may be soon perceived by any one who will but take the trouble to read this Book so he do it with some attention and distinctly in parcels a caution which I desire may be adverted to Chronicles or eloquent Discourses may best please when they are cursorily run over But Mysteries must be studied or they cannot be well understood and God knows how much more is here required at our hands besides bare understanding Therefore I have added to the Discours that refers to the advancing the mind in knowledg Meditation and Prayer the two usual attendants on devotion which being joined together are the only probable means of dealing succesfully with holy things and of attaining by the use to the true end of this Sacrament which aims at nothing less then a mutual Communion between us and Christ even here on earth while we seem to be absent from him and withall at such a reciprocal correspondency between God and his Church as may both open our hearts toward him in holy Duties and Performances and open his hand and bowels toward us in all necessary Mercies I know Madam that for the confirming of all this I need but appeal to your own experience And t is partly on this account that without so much as asking leave I have made bold to put your Name before this Book because it having bin first written for the peculiar use of two Persons whom God had sanctifyed in all respects much above the rate of these Times it seems to claim a special Title to their acceptation and reading who intimately knew the worth of those Princesses and walk after their steps at so neer a distance as your Ladiship doth to whom I am MADAM A most Humble and Faithful Servant DAN BREVINT Durham Jan. 24. 1673. THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENT and Sacrifice By way of Discourse MEDITATION and PRAYER upon THE NATURE PARTS and Blessings Of the Holy Communion SECTION I. The Importance of well understanding the Nature of this Sacrament 1. THe Sacrament instituted by Christ at the eve of his Passion which S. Paul calls the Lords Supper is without controversie one of the greatest Mysteries of Godliness and the most solemn Festival of the Christian Religion The holy Table or Altar which presents this sacred Banquet may as well as the old Tabernacle take to it self the title of * Meeting since there the People must appear to Worship God and there certainly God is present to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tabernacle for appointed time meeting meet and to bless his People At the Place and during the whole Act of this Meeting with God the Christian Communicants are in a special manner invited to offer up to God their Souls their Bodies their Goods their Vows their Praises and whatsoever they can give and God on the other side offers to us the Body and Blood of his Son and all those other Blessings withal that will assuredly follow this sacred Gift For this must be granted then the holy Communion is not only a Sacrament that the Worshipper is to come to for no other purpose then to receive nor a Sacrifice only where he should have nothing els to do but to give but it is as the great Solemnity of the ancient Passover was whereof it hath taken the place a great Mystery consisting both of Sacrament and Sacrifice that is of the Religious Service which the People owe to God and of the full Salvation which God is pleased to promise his People 2. It may by this appear how far it concerns every Christian not to err in a Point that makes the
or such other remarkable Places where God had appeared to them and who doubts but the very sight of Bethlehem of the Mount of Olives of Calvary c. which Christ honored with his Presence when he was born when he suffered and when he went up to Heaven did heat the primitive Christians with considerable Flames of Zeal besides that usuall Faith and Knowledg which they had got by their reading But when these Signs and Monuments besides their ordinary use bear withal as it were on their Face the glorious Character of their Institution from above and with this Institution the most express Design that God hath thereby to revive in a manner and to expose as full to all our senses his Passion and sufferings as if they had still there true Being as they have still the same vertue a discreet and pious Beholder must needs look on these Ordinances with these three degrees of Devotion 5. The first is when he considers those great and dreadful Passages which this Sacrament sets before him I doe observe on this Altar some what very like the Sacrifice and Passion of my Savior For thus the Bread of life was broken thus the Lamb of God was slain thus his most precious Blood was shed And when I look upon the Minister who by speciall order from God his Master distributes this Bread and this wine I conceive that thus verily God himself hath both given once his Son to dye and gives still the virtue of his Death to bless and to save every Soul that comes unfaignedly to him 6. The second is an Act of Adoration and Reverence when he looks upon that good Hand that hath consecrated for the use of the Church the Memorial of these great Things I cannot without some degree of devotion look on any Object that in any wise puts me in mind of the Sufferings of my Savior and if I did perceive but any Cloud somewhat like them altho it were but casual I would not neglect the Accident that had caused that Resemblance But since the good hand of my God hath purposely contrived it thus to set before me what I see and since by his special Appointment these Representatives are brought in hither for this Church and among all the rest for me I must mind what Israel did when the Cloud filled the Tabernacle I will not fail to worship God assoon as I perceive these Sacraments and Gospel-Clouds appearing in the Sanctuary Here I worship neither Sacrament nor Tabernacle but I will observe the manner that Moses David and all Israel have taught me to receive poor Elements with after the Institution of God hath once raised them to the estate of great Mysteries Neither the Ark nor any Clouds were ever adored in Israel tho some brutish Heathen sometimes thought so but sure it is the Ark was considered quite otherwise then a Chest and the Cloud then a Vapor assoon as God had hallowed them both to be the Signs of his presence Therefore as the former People did never see the Temple or the Cloud but that presently at that sight they used to throw themselves on their faces I will never behold these better and surer Sacraments of the glorious Mercies of God but as soon as I see them used in the Church to that holy purpose that Christ hath consecrated them to I will not fail both to remember my Savior who consecrated these Sacraments and to worship also my Savior whom these Sacraments do represent And God forbid that when I am able I should not receive them as my Savior himself was pleased to receive his own Baptism with Devotion and Prayer Luk. 3.21 7. The third which is the Crown and the compleating of the two other is such a vigorous and intense Act of Faith as may correspond to the great End which our Savior aimed at when He instituted this Sacrament The main Intention of Christ was not here to propose a bare Image of his Passion once suffered in order to a bare Remembrance but over and above to enrich this Memorial with such an effectual and real Presence of continuing Atonement and strength as may both evidently set forth Christ himself crucified before our eyes Gal. 3.1 and invite us to his Sacrifice not as done and gone many years since but as to expiating grace and mercy still lasting still new still the same that it was when it was first offered for us 8. All those Sacrifices under the Law which had both their use and their strength limited some to a year some to a Month some to a day were not less powerful at the last then they were at the first moment of their proper Duration and they who lived or dyed within the twelfth month of the year after the Feast of Propitiations had as much benefit from that anniversary Sacrifice as they who were upon the place and at the very day when the high Priest did offer it Upon the like but infinitly better reason the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ being appointed by God the Father for a Propitiation that should continue throughout all Ages to the Worlds end and withal being everlasting by the Priviledg of its own Order which is an unchangeable Priesthood Heb. 7.24 and by his worth who offered it that is the Blessed Son of God and by the Power of the Spirit by whom it was offered which is the eternal Spirit Hebr. 9.14 all kinds of Eternity thus concurring together to the Sacrifice upon the Cross it must in all respects stand everlasting and Eternal and the same yesterday to day and for ever Hebr. 13.8 9. Therefore this Sacrifice being such the holy Communion is ordained of Christ to set it out to us as such that is as effectual now at this holy Table as it was then at the very Cross and by the same proportion the Act of worthy Receivers besides Remembrance and Worship must needs be this first to elevate their Faith and stretch their very Souls up to the Mount with the blessed Virgin who stood nearest the Sacrifice or at the least with the Disciples who lookt on it at some distance and then look up to the Victim to Jesus the Everlasting Mediator of the Everlasting Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks yet and craves for better things Pardon and Blessing then Abels did Hebr. 12.24 Here Faith must be as true a subsistence of those things past which we believe as 't is of those other things yet to come which we hope for Heb. 11.1 10. At the approach therefore of this great Mystery and by the help of this strong Faith the worthy Communicant being prostrated at the Lords Table as at the very foot of his Cross shall with earnest sorrow confess and lament all his Sins which were the nails and spears that pierced our Savior We our selves most chiefly not Pilate nor the Jewes for he would not have dyed for such alone we have crucifyed that Just one Men and Brethren what shall
his holy Seat For then it was the kindness of the Lord towards his first People as certainly He hath no less mercy for the second virtually to diffuse the Propitiation and strength of Holy Things from his Palace into their Tents and to bless them both inherently with all the Graces and imputatively with all the Right which could be conferred on them whose fault 't is not if they cannot either eat the Passover nearer the Temple or wait upon Christ at his Cross 13. Thus this great and Holy Mystery extends and communicates the Death of the Lord both as offering himself to God and as giving himself to Men. As he offered himself to God it enters me both into that mysterial Body which is reputed as dead with Christ and into their Society priviledg and Communion for whom He was pleased to dye it sets me among the precious stones of Aarons Ephod Exod. 28. close to the Breast and on the very shoulders of that Eternal Priest whilst he offers up himself and intercedes for his spiritual Isiael and by this means it conveyes to me the Communion of his Sufferings Philip 3.10 whence will infallibly proceed another Communion in all his Graces and Glories Under the second notion as He offers himself to Men the holy Eucharist is after the Sacrifice for sin the true Festival and Sacrifice of Peace offerings and the Table purposely set up to receive those Mercies that are sent down from the Altar Take and eat this is my Body which was broken for you And this is the Blood that was shed for you 14. Here then I wait at the Lords Table that both shews me what an Apostle who had Heaven for his School had the greatest mind to see and learn and offers me the richest Gift that a Saint can receive on Earth the Lord Jesus crucified Amen Jesu my Lord and my God give me all this which Thou showest and grant withal that I may both devoutly take and faithfully keep what Thou art pleased to give Bless this thine own Ordinance and make it of a true Sign an effectual Means of thy Grace then bless and sanctify my Heart also and make it a fit Temple for thy Mercies Certainly Thou wilt deal with me in these thy Mysteries O God of Truth according to thy faithfulness but dispose also my heart so towards the right using of them that I may safely wish it may be don according to my Faith O Father which art in Heaven here I offer up to thee my Soul and thou offerest to me thy Son The Oblation which I make is alas an unclean habitation to receive the Holy One of Israel and a Tent infected with Leprosy therein to Lodg the Saint of the Lord. Come in nevertheless come in high and Eternal Priest but wash thy house at thy coming Let no ill savor of the grave no more then that of Lazarus keep thee so far from the Sepulcher and from the vile condition wherein I ly but that thy power with thy Voice and thy Blood with thy Sacrament may reach to me to raise me up And let none of those uncleannesses that after the Law of Moses did defile them who came too near keep off the great Saint of the Lord from touching and healing me Evil Spirits enter somtimes into swept houses to make them foul * Matth. 12. But O Holy and hallowing Spirit of God draw nigh unto my Soul which of it self is foul already to make it clean I am a poor sinful and unless thou help a lost person but yet such as I am sinful and lost I wait for thy Salvation Come in O Lord with thy Salvation to a dying Man to make him whole to a sinner tyed hand and foot with the bonds of iniquity to release him to one who confesses his sins to absolve him Finally come in my Savior as thou didst to the Publican both to make me better and to save me O let this day Salvation come to this House Amen SECTION V. Of the Blessed Communion as being a Pledg of the Happiness and Glory to come 1. THe blessed Communion opens such a treasure of Blessings on the two sides which look towards the past or present Time as I have considered it as it may very well take up both all the eyes of Cherubins in beholding the Mysteries and all the hands of the numerous Israelites in gathering up all the Manna that it contains yet it hath one other side or prospect more which goes beyond the two former as much as the future Blessings exceed the present and as the Glory which we hope for exceeds the small degree of grace which we possess The blessed Communion which is a speciall Instrument ordained of Christ both to present a new as to our use his Passion and to convey on us the present Graces which flow out of this Passion doth there withall assure us likewise of all the Happiness to come whereof the received Graces are a hopeful Earnest and this Sacrament under this third notion is a certain Pledg 2. Now tho what is given before hand for Earnest and what is engaged by way of Pledg come all to one in point of Validity and obligingness yet they quite differ many times both in their use and in their intrinsecal value Whence it comes to pass that Earnests may be allowed upon account for part of the Payment which is promised whereas Pledges are recalled and taken back as the Seal and Staff of Juda once were Gen. 38. Thus for example zeal Charity and these degrees of Holiness which God bestowes at the use of holy Sacraments will remain still ours in Heaven and there make part of our Happiness whereas the Sacraments themselves shall be kept back and shall not appear more in Heaven then did the Cloudy Pillar in Canaan or do now the shadows of the Law under the time of the Gospel Certainly we shall have no need either of these sacred Images of Christ when we shall see him face to face or of these Pledges to assure us of that Glory which is to be revealed when we shall actually possess it But till that day the holy Communion hath this third use namely of being a Pledg and an assurance from the Lord that in his good time he will crown us with Everlasting Happiness 3. Our blessed Savior pointed at it when He said to his Disciple the Holy Cup being in his hand that he would drink no more of that Fruit till he should drink it new in the Kingdom of his Father Luk. 22.18 In the reall purpose of God his Church and Heaven go both together That being the way that leads to this as the Holy Place to the Holyest and both Holy Place and Holyest come to this one Thing which Christ calls the Kingdom of God Let them not whom He hath invited to eat and drink at Abrahams Table trouble themselves about the Room where our blessed Savior will feed them for tho it were but
that is his Church For we that are many saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.17 are one Bread To this purpose the holy Martyr Ignatius Epist Rom. being ready to be offered up by Martyrdom said he was the wheat of God which was to be ground by Beasts teeth Soon after the Church added Oyl and Frankincense to Bread and Wine to make up the whole Meat Offering which consisted of these four Things The truth is all what we can offer upon our own account is but such an Oblation as this Meat and Drink offering of Moses was that cannot be presented but by the virtue and merits of Jesus Christ who supports it and that can never ascend up to Heaven but along with the sacred smoke of that great Burnt Sacrifice which is to carry it up thither For on the one side our own persons our works or any thing else that may be ours are by themselves but weak unsubstantial kinds of Offerings which cannot be presented unto God otherwise but as these Additional Oblations which from themselves fall to the ground unless a more solid Sacrifice do sustain them And on the other side this solid and fundamental Sacrifice upholds saves and sanctifies but those persons and things that according to the Law of Moses his Meat Offerings are thrown into this his fire are hallowed upon his Altar and are together with him consecrated to God by him 11. For this cause it is that as soon as the Prophet had preached the coming of this Everlasting Sacrifice and the propitiation and happiness which it would spread over all the world he foretels at the same time that the Apostles and their successors whom he designs by expressions proper to that Oeconomy under which he did live should bring the Nations from all parts of the Earth as an Offering unto the Lord. Esay 66. And to the same purpose St. Paul himself speaks of his Evangelical Office as of a Sacrificing Priesthood and of the Gentiles whom he did convert to Christ as of so many Sacrifices which he presented to the Lord. I exercise saies he in the Gospel a holy Sacerdotal Priesthood for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both that the Oblation of the Gentiles may be acceptable being sanctified by the holy spirit Rom. 15.16 Hence proceeds that Method which he observes most constantly never to preach the Faith in Jesus Christ without inviting presently the Beleivers to Offer up unto God either their Bodies and Souls as Rom. 12. or their works of holiness of Praise of Charity c. as every where else And these are the Spiritual Offerings which every true Christian must join to cast upon the fundamental Sacrifice of Christ Jesus 12. We know indeed that the universal Assembly of Christians could never meet at the same time or place either to follow Christ in a Body when he went to offer himself for them or to fall upon their faces and prostrate themselves to the ground when he bowed his head under their Sins Providence that scatters men up and down throughout all places and times of the world permitting no possibility of such a general meeting But the Sacrifice of Christ tho it was confined to few hours and to a small parcel of Ground as to the Suffering yet being everlasting infinit and still the same as as to the sufficiency and virtue of it coextends it self most perfectly to all both times and places when and where those scattered members will ever come to Offer up themselves to God with their head And besides this the second part of his Sacerdotal Office which consists in interceding continuing still in the very Act till the worlds end They that could not embrace his Cross and join with him at that same time that he Offer'd himself may do it every day and humble themselves like poor victims loaden with sins and miseries at the same time that now he continues still actually interceding So in all Places at all times and upon any emergencies whensoever the Beleivers will present themselves unto God both with and by his Son Jesus they may still receive the favor of acceptation and that real efflux of saving Odor from Christ which was represented by that typical holiness which the additional Oblation did receive from the principal Sacrifice when it was adjoined to it Whereas it is most certain that all the Merit and blood of Christ shall no more save Men that will not draw neer and join themselves to conformity and Communion of his Death then the continual and other burning Sacrifices were ever able to consecrate that meat that Wine that Oyl and that Frankincense which were not brought nor burned upon the the same Altar with them 13. Now tho all men be called to this conformity and Communion in the Sufferings of Christ from the time of those sufferings until there be no times at all and altho the daies of our present life have all the priviledg which these seven feast daies once had when every one might gird his loins eat his unleavened bread and kill his own Bullock as the Priest did Sacrifice the Paschal Lamb which Bullock was superadded to the Paschal Lamb that both might better suffice for the 7 Festival daies besides its other ritual and figurative importance as a Sacrifice it is certain nevertheless that there are two more special and extraordinary daies wherein Christians are invited by more urgent and proper Circumstances to present their Souls and Bodies by way of Second Offering upon the Sacrifice of their Savior The first is past and that was when the Savior offered himself to death when Heaven and Earth Temple and Graves shook at the blow that killed him when pious Souls either stood immoveable as the blessed Virgin hard by his Cross or in a manner crucified themselves beating their breasts as the Daughters of Jerusalem and when every Disciple might by the very conjuncture of all the things he saw be moved to say as Thomas let us go and let us dy with him Joh. 11.16 The other time most favorable and proper next to that of his real Passion is that of the holy Communion which as it hath bin * Gelas Cyzic part 2. cap. 31. explained is a Sacramental Passion where tho the Body be broken and the blood shed but by way of representative Mystery yet both are as effectually and as truly offered for our own use if we go to it worthily as when that holy and divine Lamb did offer himself the first time 14. Therefore whensoever Christians approach to this dreadful Mystery and to the Lamb of God lying and sacrificed as some say that the holy Nicene Council speaks upon the holy Table it concerns their main interest in point of Salvation as well as in other duties to take a special care not to lame and deprive the grand Sacrifice of its own due Attendance But to behave themselves in that manner that as both the principal and additional Sacrifices were consumed by the
and offerings and that instead of the Bread and Wine which they had offered upon his Altar as either the first fruits or the Representatives of all their Goods he was pleased to return to them not simple Bread and simple Wine but such Blessed Bread and Wine as were both the sacred Mysteries of the Body and Blood of his Son and an infallible surety of all Things depending thereon This is the reason why because primitive Christians never received those holy Mysteries but after they had made their Offerings and because those very Mysteries which they received were commonly taken as to the matter from that Bread and Wine which they had before Offered The Holy fathers for instance S. Ireneus * Iren. l. 4. c. 30 34. Et alibi passim who then had no occasion to be so exact or cautious as to distinguish precisely the Nature of two sacred Offices which went constantly together do not scruple to speak of the blessed Communion promiscuously as Sacrament or Sacrifice 12. Now to bring all this more home The Law of Antient Israel the practise of the Primitive Church and the very equity of the thing it self do sufficiently testify that we ought not in these more then in the former Ages to appear before the Lord with emty hands that it is not more fit for worshippers now then it was then to present their persons without their Goods as it were trees without their sap and fruit and that these same Nations which in the prediction of Esay were at their first coming to bring and consecrate both themselves and their Gold unto the Lord must not be now less liberal when by their Sacrifice they appear to renew the vowes of their former Consecration as surely God is not upon the same occasions less merciful when by his holy Sacrament he renews unto them the Covenant of his saving Grace Therefore he that comes rich is bound to appear before his Savior with his hands full of such free Will offerings as he may take out of his abundance as did in Israel the husbandman out of a plentiful harvest when the Lord had blessed his field He that is less able must offer out of what he can either get by his labor or spare by his Parcimony as the poor widow did when she offered her Mite In a word every one whether he be rich or poor is to lay down at the Offerings of God according as the same God hath either blessed or spared him 1. Cor. 16.2 13. The quantity of these Oblations whether extraordinary as upon a Communion Day or more ordinary as upon other daily occasions is wholy left to the discretion of the Christian worshipper And whereas God by his Law did deal with the Israelites as fathers do with Children in an ago unfit to guide itself prescribing to them the measure the time and the manner of every thing which they were either to do or to give our Savior hath by the Gospel freed all Christians from this punctual Pedagogy leaving them as men able to give an account of themselves both to their own Judgment and to the direction of his spirit But if this different way of the Gospel discharges Christians now adaies from the subjection of doing punctually and litterally every thing which the ancient Israel were to observe it certainly obliges them to do more as to the matter and to do it in a better manner And God forbid that this honor and liberty which he vouchsafes us above what he did to the Jews should be taken by us either as a permission or as an occasion of being worse Therefore God in former times did give special Laws to his People for every thing they were to do in point either of Piety or Charity for example they were to give the Tenth part of whatsoever they could gather out of their feilds their Trees and their flocks besides another Tenth part every third year that is a Thirtieth part every year and what ever could grow of it self during the vacancy of every seventh year They were bound moreover to many other charitable waies of helping the poor as to lend them mony without taking either use or pawn and to leave in their fields and Vineyards so much of their Corn and fruits behind as could recompence the labor and diligence of many honest Neighbors who at the end of the year had no other Harvest then this Gleaning And altho all this was Charity yet it was among the People of Israel called Justice because it was commanded by Law and that they were obliged to pay these Almes as strictly as any other Debt Here then a downright Christian will do well to take notice of what all these charges may come to and what proportion they will bear with the Estate and revenue that God blesses him with that so he may contribute towards works of Piety and Charity not only so much but more and if not in the very same yet in as good a kind as the Jews did So that he may go beyond them in Charity whom the Gospel commands us to exceed in all other virtues as we exceed them in Blessings 14. The time of these oblations is not more limited then their measure At first S. Paul had appointed the first day of the week that is the Lords day for the gathering of those Charitable assistances and as he calls them Acceptable Sacrifices 1. Cor. 16.2 Phil. 4.18 which were to be sent to the poor Brethren of Jerusalem because even from that time that day was in a more special manner consecrated to the solemn Ministry of Prayers of Preaching and of Communion Now tho the danger of Profaneness which then was less to be feared hath in our daies made the use of this Sacrament much less Common then that of Preaching and Prayer Nevertheless since by these two holy exercises both God speaks to us and we to him this should be warning enough not to presume to appear before him without a Gift And that we may both bear up the more easily the expenses of this weekly Sacrifice and diffuse more universally the sweet savor thereof into all the parts of our life it would be a piece of holy prudence to take care that every day should both bear some part of the burthen and have some share of the holiness And that by a daily attending to this service the Rich be still industrious to defalk some larger portions of his abundance the poor to steal some thing out of his necessaries and the middle conditioned man to spare what he can out of all his competence But specially when the good Providence le ts fall into our hand some considerable advantages then let him that will grow rich in God look upon those temporal occasions as a propitious time of Harvest whereof he must be sure to reserve the first fruits to God and let him have a place in his house like the Treasury in the Temple where he may daily cast