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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09965	Foure godly and learned treatises Intituled, I. A remedy against covetousnesse. II. An elegant and lively description of spirituall death and life. III. The doctrine of selfe-deniall. IV. Vpon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. Delivered in sundry sermons, by that late famous preacher, and worthy instrument of Gods glory, Iohn Preston, Doctor of Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinarie to his Majestie; master of Emanuel Colledge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Preston, John, 1587-1628. Three sermons upon the sacrament of the Lords Supper. aut	1633 (1633)	STC 20222; ESTC S115040	185,075	475

thou must get thy heart to a more close a more neere inward conjunction with him thou must labour to have that hardnesse that thou hast contracted as it will bee in a little continuance of time thou must labour I say to have that tooke away and removed to have thy heart softened to have the rust rubbed off thou must labour to have all these things done For thou must know this That though there be not a particular sinne committed yet as we see the outward man is subject to a wasting though there be no wounds though there be no sicknesse though a man be in perfect health and all is well with him and he observe all the rules of dyet yet I say you see the outward man is subject to wasting to fainting to weakenesse and decay and therefore there must be a renewing of dyet and of strength or else it cannot bee able to hold out So it is with the inward man though there bee no particular sinne though a man did keepe some good course in the wayes of godlinesse without running out eminently or evidently yet he is subject to a secret decay so that sometimes hee must have some speciall meate some speciall feast which the Lord hath appointed for that purpose for he doth nothing in vaine And if this Sacrament could be spared that a man might keepe the strength of the inward man without it the Lord would not have put you to this trouble but he seeth it necessary and therefore he hath appointed it to be received and that often that you might feed upon the body and blood of Christ that you might eate his flesh and drinke his blood and gather new strength from it that when there is a decay of grace in your hearts you may goe to this Fountaine and fill the Cisternes againe to recover strength For when a man comes to the Sacrament as hee ought hee gathers a new strength as a man doth from a feast his heart is cheered up as it is with Flagons of wine he is refreshed his hunger and thirst is satisfied That is the desires of his soule that long after Christ after righteousnesse and assurance are quickned and refreshed And this is the third thing Fourthly besides all this First the stirring up of the graces and the acting of the habits Secondly making thy peace and reconciliation with God and remooving of any particular offence that is betwixt God and thee Thirdly this scouring off the rust this remooving the distance betweene God and thee the softning of that hardnesse which thy heart hath contracted this recovering the strength that thou hast wasted There is besides all these a fourth thing required which is that there be an Intention a particular increase of thy will in taking Christ of thy desire to Christ and of every grace that knits thee and Christ together For there are certaine cementing graces certaine glewing graces that joyne Christ and thy soule together as Faith and Love these are the two maine graces there are a great traine of graces that follow them but these are the chiefe and these I say must bee intended For what is the end of the Sacrament Is it not to knit the knot stronger betweene Christ and us to make the union more full and perfect is it not to increase our willingnesse to take and receive Christ for you know all the acts of the soule may be intended Put the case there be a resolved act in the heart and soule of any man whereby he saith thus with himselfe I am resolved to take Christ and to serve and love him for the time of my life yet this resolution of his though it bee perfect and sincere may receive intention when a man is willing to doe any thing truly there may bee degrees added to that will when there is light in a roome when thou bringest in more candles that light may be increased so it may in this so may your faith and love by faith I meane nothing but the resolution of the heart to take Christ I meane not the beleeving part but the taking part the act of the will taking Christ or receiving him which is nothing else but the choise of the will that resolves to take him I do but touch this by the way because it is a point I have handled already at large the thing I ayme at is this I say the glewing graces are these two Faith and love wherby you thus take Christ for your Lord and Saviour Faith is like the part of the compasse that goeth about and doth the worke and love is that cementing grace wherby we are more knit unto the Lord they have both their office and their place You know love is an uniting affection therefore this is the definition of it It is a desire of union with that it loves Now when thou comest to receive the Sacrament or to pray or put up any special request when thou comest to have to do with God to make use of any priviledge thou hast in Christ thy chiefe busines is to intend this faith love at such a time to draw thee neerer to make the union perfect You will say how is this increased and how is it intended I answer Two wayes in the Sacrament one way is the very repetition the very renewing the covenant the very doing it over againe the resolution of taking him for there is a mutuall covenant you know betweene Christ and us it is confirmed to us in the Sacrament hee confirmes his and wee confirme ours as the friendship betweene Ionathan David was increased by the renewing of the covenant or else why was it repeated The very repetition of the act intends the habit the habit is increased by the repetition of the act though it were no more so the renewing of the covenant exerciseth thy faith it sets a work thy faith and thy love when thou comest to receive the Sacrament the very intention is increased but this is not all There is another thing in the Sacrament that much increaseth it and that is a thing I would have you chiefely to take notice of That is the very Sacrament it selfe the elements of bread and wine delivered to thee with the very words of the minister Take and eate this is my body that was broken for thee Take and drinke this is my blood that was shed c. For when these words are spoken to us if wee did consider well of them and thinke thus with our selves These words that the Lord himselfe hath appointed the Minister to speake for therein is the force of them that they are of the Lords owne institution therefore the strength of every Sacrament lies in the institution That is a rule in Divinity the Papists themselves who have added five other Sacraments cannot deny but that every Sacrament must have an immediate institution from Christ himselfe even from his owne mouth or else there is no strength in it so

that even as it is with all things that are symbols of other things as take markes in feilds that stand for the division of severall mens rights take counters th●● stand for Thousands and Hundreds the very essence of these things stands in the very institution of them So in the Sacrament except these words were from the Lords owne mouth that delivered it this very delivering of the bread and wine being a signe to you of the forgivenes of your sinnes except the Lord had thus instituted it there had beene no force in it I say consider they are words that the Minister speaks not in an ordinary course but he is appointed by the Lord himselfe to speak them and now whē these words make a new impression upon thy heart it addes an intention to thy faith and love For example to make it a little more cleare to you that you may understand it distinctly The Lord hath said this he will forgive the sinnes of all those that come unto him hee will forgive them that forsake their sinnes and take Christ Iesus and love and feare him for the time to come The Lord might have suffered it to goe thus in generall that hee hath delivered it unto you and no more But hee thought good to goe further and say thus to mankind It s true I have said it but I will not content my selfe with that but will adde certaine seales and symbolls certaine externall signes that thou shalt see and looke on and I say to thee this covenant have I made with thee and when thou seest the bread and wine delivered by the Minister know this that the thing that thou seest is a witnesse betweene thee and me That as it was said by Laban and Iacob when they made a covenant This stone be witnesse betweene us And God said to Noah when I looke upon the rainebowe it shall bee a signe that I will destroy the earth no more after this manner when the Lord hath said it and hath appointed this outward Symboll that thine eies looke upon I remember the covenant and this as a signe betweene us this shall bind mee to it and him likewise Now when this is done anew it may be every month this is a wondrous great mercy this is a marvellous great helpe if it be rightly understood to strengthen our faith Doth it not helpe us when wee see the Rainebowe which the Lord hath appointed to put him in mind of his covenant I will remember my covenant when I looke on the Bowe in the Cloud it shall confirme me and I will not breake my covenant to destroy the world with a flood So this administration of the Sacrament when the Lord lookes upon it hee cannot but remember his promise and his covenant of pardoning our sinnes And when thou lookest on it thou art assured of it for hee hath said it it shall bee a signe and a witnesse betweene us Now I say that new impression that these words thus contrived and understood and delivered by the Minister make upon the heart intends our faith and love as indeed it is a great matter to have it spoken to us by a Minister of the Gospell sent from Christ from his owne mouth Take and eate this is my body that is broken for you and this is my blood that was shed for you and for many for the remission of sinnes This is the fourth qualification that is required that our faith and love be intended and our union increased that the will resolution and purpose of taking Christ for our Lord receive more degrees that so we may be more fast and firmely united and knit to him which I say is done partly by the repetition on both sides for the very repetition doth it and partly by a new impression that these words take eate c make on the soule Now I adde the last thing which is required still remember the maine thing wee are upon that it is not enough for thee to be in Christ but if thou wilt bee a worthy receiver thou must have these foure qualifications in thee that I have named already Thou must reconcile thy selfe anew thou must rub off the rust from thy soule which it hath gathered thou must recover the distance that is growne betweene God and thee Thou must adde an intending and an increase Thou must adde more degrees to thy faith and love and after all these Fiftly and lastly this is also required which is much for our benefit and comfort namely to put up thy request when thou comest neere to the Lord in the Sacrament Now thou must not onely do this but thou must also make some use of the covenant which the Lord hath made with thee for his part so that thou mayest think this with thy selfe When I come to receive the Sacrament I have but two workes to do one is to recovenant with the Lord to renew my repentance and to set all eaven and the other is to remember the Lords covenant You will say what is the Covenant It 's a Covenant that consists of these three things or points Iustification I will forgive thy sins Sanctification I will make you new hearts and new spirits and the third All things are ours that is I have made you heires of the world heires of all things you have all the promises belonging to you that belong to this life that which is to come this is the Covenant which the Lord hath made Now thou art bound when thou comest to receive the Sacrament not onely to remember this Covenant Doe this saith hee in remembrance of Mee and not barely of me and of my being crucified for thee of all the love that I have shewed unto thee but also in remembrance of the Covenant and of those gracious promises which are the particulars of which that Covenant is the summe and therefore thus a man is to do What hath the Lord vouchsafed mee this favour that I may come to his Table I may come and renew the nuptials and my covenant with him Surely then I will looke about and consider what I want what request I shal put up unto him for there is nothing that is wanting but it is within this Covenant and thou art to put up thy request in a speciall maner whatsoever it be be it concerning things belonging to thy soule to have a strong lust mortified to have thy hard heart softned to have some sin that lies upon thy conscience forgiven to have that forgivenes assured to thee be it any thing that concernes thy particular estate if it be to be delivered from a potent enemy or whatsoever it be put up thy request and that largely open thy mouth wide that is make thy request full feare it not Put the case againe it be somewhat that doth not concerne thee but that it concerneth the Church abroad or the Church at home it is a case that much concernes

to know whether Christ live in you or no or whether you are in an estate of death you must see whether you have these two things which are in every one in whom Christ liveth first see whether you live to him He died that we should not live to our selve but to him alone In morall things the end and principle are all one Before Christ lived in you all you did was from your selves ye were your owne principle and end but Christ living in you there is another end ye eye Christ ye looke to him all that ye doe is done in sinceritie it is done for him and from him But how can Christ be the end of our callings eating drinking and recreations I answer that of every action Christ must be the end yee must doe as a man in a journey though every step he treades he thinkes not of his journeies end yet the generall aime of every step must be for that end and that causeth every step so in all yee doe the generall end must be Christ. Secondly if Christ live in you your hearts cleave to him as to the Principle of life as the child to the dug or the element to its naturall place What ever our life is we cleave to it Some place their life in their credit take away it and they die others in riches take away them and they perish What ever is your god if it be taken away you perish Therefore Iohn 6.68 When Christ demanded of the twelve whether they would likewise goe away Peter makes this answer Lord whither shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life Thirdly ye may know what life ye liue by the food that feedes it Oyle feeds the Lampe fuel the fire If your life be fed with the duties of obedience then yee live If ye keepe my Commandements yee shall live in them saith Christ you shall live in them as in your proper element as the Fish in the water every motion out of it is to death There are two sorts of men to whom this triall doth belong The first are those who have a name they live and yet are dead like the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.1 The second to whom this belongeth are those who are dead indeed The first of these are like the Angels that take bodies and doe actions they are not truly living men though they appeare to be Now the signes that Characterise these dead men from those that are truly living are five taken from the signes of the fained life in the Spirits that have bodies but onely in appearance whereby they are distinguished from bodies that truly live First Angels that take assumed bodies eate and drinke and are not nourished as the Angels that came to Lot and Abraham and had created bodies So these dead men doe all the actions that living men doe they heare they pray they reade but they turne it not into flesh and bloud because there is no life in them they are not the stronger for hearing or any thing they doe they thrive not as those that have the Boulimia they eate and drinke yet they grow not because there is an Atrophy in their bodies We preach to men yet they are the same this yeare as they were the last they have a name to live and yet they live not they turne not the meanes to flesh and nourishment it is a signe of a living man that he growes That which is said of a good wit that it makes use of every thing may be said of grace it turnes all the passages of Gods providence into nourishment stormes as well as faire gales helpe a living man to the haven Affliction prosperity all put him on and helpe him forwards Take one not having this life doe what yee will hee thrives not as an unthrift put him to what trade you will he thrives not hee is still on the losing hand so these men prosperity adversitie helpe them not put any thing to a dead man to doe he doth it not so these men the Word and Sacrament helpes them not because they are dead Secondly the motion of the Spirits that take assumed bodies is not from any inward principall nor from the motion of life within so the actions of men that are not alive are not from the principles of life they are not vitall motions but as in other actions the Wheeles goe as long as the spring is up that moves them so the actions of men that are dead as long as the springs are up and the influence continues they move When they are sicke and apprehend death then they will doe many things but these being gone their goodnesse is ended whilst they deepely apprehend some accident they will be good that being gone and forgotten their goodnesse ends· Many whiles they have good acquaintance and are in good company will be good but when they are gone their goodnesse ceaseth These men have golden outsides they seeme to have the Kings stampe upon their actions yet they are but counterfeit they pay God in counterfeit coine not in currant mony their actions have a forme of religion but yet the power is wanting all they doe is but a meere formality their Prayers their Sabbath keeping are but in shew those actions and duties that have most power and life in them they doe least of all relish they tast them not because they have no life in them In generall all the actions that men wanting life doe they are but dead workes they may bee deceived with them for a time but when death comes they shall finde them to be but dead Remigius a Iudge of Loraigne tells this story that the divell in those parts did use to give money to Witches which did appeare to be good coine seemed to be currant money at first but being laid up a while it then appeared to be nothing but dried leaves so the divell deceives men now he makes them to doe outward actions which have a faire shew but when they need them they then appeare as they are to be nothing but dead leaves because the principle of life is wanting A third propertie of assumed bodies is this that they are taken up onely for a time and then are laid downe againe as the Spirits that take them listed so in these men which seeme to live there is an inconstancy and mutability in their lives they lay downe their religion as occasion serves If that they did was done in respect to God it would bee alwayes the same their company and occasions would not alter it but because it is not done in respect to God therefore as their company and occasions are mutable so is their religion They are as inconstant as Clouds without raine that are quickly scattered like wandring Stars or like the morning dew that is soone dried up The Saints have an inequalitie in their lives yet they never die againe they may be sickly but these men are

will quicken you as the soule doth the body A Christian hath the life of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.21 I live yet not I but Christ lives in me all that I doe Christ doth it in me all that the body doth the soule doth it the body lives not but the soule lives in it After that manner Christ lives in us not a good thought or affection nor any resolution or motion of the soule but comes from Christ being united to Christ by faith he lives in us Ioh. 6.43 he that eates my flesh and drinkes my blood shall live As flesh gives life to the body so the Sonne gives it to the soule To eate the flesh of Christ is to prize him to desire and long after him which is after the spirit of bondage to eate him is to take him to come to him to have him for your God In these two things stands the eating of Christ First in prising him exceedingly so as to part with any thing for him and to take up his Crosse with all losses Secondly in beleving him to be yours and you his this eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ expresseth our relative union with him and then followes our reall union the Spirit immediately gives this he that doth the first shall have the second But how shall we doe to beleeve this I answer yee see the old Adam communicated corruption to all his posterity because they were borne of him so those who are borne of the new Adam that is those who take him and beleeve in him have grace communicated to them by him this new birth makes you as capable of Christ as the other doth of the first Adam why then shall not the second Adam communicate grace as well as the other doth corruption The phylosophers were all deceived in this poynt from whence corruption should come but wee know that it came from Adam and so doth grace come from Christ. To get this life let us seeke it in him let us beleeve more let us be humbled more repent more and take Christ more take him on any condition prize him set him at the highest rate hold him fast As in the actions of mariage those who are to marry will not part upon any condition they take one another for richer for poorer for better for worse after this manner must wee take Christ the more yee take Christ thus the more yee have the Sonne and so yee live more the life of grace All grant that this life comes by the Spirit and there is no way to get the Spirit but by the Sonne Yee must first eate ere yee can bee nourished yee must fixe your eyes on his passion as the wife doth fixe her eyes or her husband yee must seeke this life from the Spirit ultimately but yee must first have the Sonne and then yee have life He must have the Sonne that will have this life he must be ingraf●ed into Christ as the branches are into the roote get Christ and then this life shall abound in you The fourth meanes to get and increase this life is the communion of Saints The mouth of the righteous is a well spring of life Prov. 10.20 they put life into those that have it not and increase it in those in whom it is Ephe. 4.24 Their speeches minister grace to the hearers they edifie them hearing of the word of life and talking of the fountaine of life puts life into men The life of the body doth not communicate it selfe to others it is otherwise in the life of the soule the life of it makes others to live more as Iron sharpens Iron so one holy man doth another See it by the contrary In evill men who are dead there is an aptnesse to dead others their words are as continuall droppings to put out this life their tongues are set on fire of hell Iames. 3.6 The tongue of good men is a cole fetched from the Altar they have fire within them When two lie together they keepe one another warme there is action and redaction which ingender heate so it is in the communion of Saints it is a powerfull meanes to get and increase this life The tongue the example and communion of the righteous is full of life it is powerfull to make men live Gal. 2.14 Paul speaking to Peter saith why compellest thou the Gentiles to live after the manner of the Iewes he used not outward compulsion his example and life was a compulsion The company which wee keepe compells us to doe as they doe Evill company are the Divels snares they doe as brambles keepe us in and fetter us the sutablenesse of evill companions drawes out our secret corruption He that resolves to live this life must resolve to withdraw himselfe from evill company who are a strong temptation unto evill and betake himselfe to the communion of Saints There is a difference betweene leading our selves into temptation and being led into it when you leade your selves into temptation as you doe when as you rush into evill company you are out of the pale of Gods protection If you touch pitch yee cannot but bee defiled with it wherefore make your company good this is an effectuall and powerfull meanes to beget this life in you Saul being among the Prophets changed his spirit and became a Prophet one that goeth fast makes those that goe with him to mend their pace Act. 11.23.24 it is said of Barnabas being a good man and full of the holy Ghost and of faith that he added much people unto the Lord. Which manner of speaking shewes that the speeches of those who are full of faith helpes to breed faith that if men be full of the Spirit they quicken the Spirit Evill company deads men they are the trunkes through which the Divell speakes and this deading is done in an insensible manner and then most of all where it is least perceived Evill company poysons men a man turning his opiaion which company can doe is most of all poysoned when as he thinks that he hath least hurt The last meanes to get and increase this life is that which is mentioned in the text and that is the hearing of the voyce of the Sonne of God this will beget and increase this life that is if when wee speake to your eares hee speake to your hearts then ye live Ye have two teachers the one is he that speakes to you the other is Christ. Heb. 8 1● They shall no more teach one another for they shall all be taught of God There are two sheapheards the one is hee that feeds you the other is the great sheapheard of the sheepe Ther are two great voices the one speaking outwardly to the eare the other when as Christ speakes effectually to the heart When Christ speakes inwardly to the heart then men live and not before This is such a speech as Christ spake to Lazarus Lazarus come forth and he