as consecrated unto God were apt to represent Christ sanctified and set apart to be our Saviour and deliverer The bread was fit to signifie his body and the Wine his blood the bread broken his body crucified the Wine powred out his blood shed and both separated and given a part did resemble his death the virtue of both to preserve life the vertue and power of Christ dying to give us eternal life The eating of the one and drinking of the other our participation of Christ for remission of our sins and our Eternal Salvation The actions in the use of these Elements are either common to both joyntly or § XIV proper to them severally The common are 1. Blessing 2. Giving 3. Taking 1. Blessing which some call Consecration was by Word and Prayer For as other Meats are sanctified by Word and Prayer 1 Tim. 4. 5. so these were blessed and sanctifyed in a peculiar manner by Word and Prayer The Prayer was 1. A Thanksgiving 2. A Petition A Thanksgiving for the Bread and Wine as Blessings of God given us for the preservation of our bodily life and for Christ the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven The Petition was for a Blessing upon our use of these Elements in this Sacrament for our Spiritual Comfort and Happiness It 's written that our Saviour gave thanks and blessed But what form of words He used is not related by any of the Evangelists Therefore we are not bound in this act of Consecration to any set-form of words yet our words must be such as are agreeable to the Scriptures and proper to this Sacrament The Prayers used in most Liturgies are such and agree not onely with the Scriptures but are suitable to the Sacrament The next common act is Giving and that some make to be twofold 1. A giving to God as Grenaeus and some others at least seem to intimate an offering of the Bread and Cup to God though it 's certain that the whole Service taken together and being a part of Divine Worship is an Offering made to God 2. A giving of both unto the People who are called Communicants The 3d Action is the taking the Elements given The Actions proper are 1. The Breaking of the Bread and the Powring out the Wine 2. The Eating of the Bread and Drinking of the Cup. The first is fit to signifie the Death and Sacrifice of Christ. The second the participation of the benefit thereof by Faith These Actions may be orderly distinguished into 1. The Acts of the Party Administring which are 1. The Blessing 2. The Breaking 3. The Giving And 2. The Acts of the Communicants which are 1. Taking 2. Eating 3. Drinking They are reducible to Three 1. Consecration 2. Distribution 3. Participation The words are the last § XV and they concern either the Participation as Take Eat Drink or the things participated and they are concerning 1. The Bread 2. The Cup. In both we may observe 1. The great Work of Redemption 2. The Covenant both which are represented by the Elements and the use of them The Redemption is signifyed by the words My Body broken and My Blood shed For these inform us that Christ dyed and offered Himself a Sacrifice unto God offended by the sin of Man to propitiate Him by satisfying His Justice and meriting His Favour This was the Foundation of the Covenant and Man's Salvation For it made Sin Pardonable and Man Save-able That His Body was broken and being broken was given it informs us that He suffered Death and offered Himself dying That this Offering was propitiatory it 's implyed in that Bloud was shed for Remission In the words of the Covenant we have 1. The Promise 2. The Precept 1. The Promise in the words This is my Body broken and given for you and This is the New Covenant in my Blood which was shed for the Remission of Sin For though remission of sins and Salvation were merited and purchased by Christ's Death and Sacrifice and so trusted in his hands yet they are conveyed in the Covenant by a Promise or Grant Yet the Word is turned A Testament and if we follow that metaphor that which is called a Promise is a Bequest Yet though the Expressions may be different yet the thing is the same and informs us That it is the Purpose and Will of God for and in consideration of the Death of Christ suffered for our sins to give man remission and eternal life And this His Will He hath signified in His Promise whereby He hath bound Himself upon certain tearms unto sinful Man Upon which tearms Man may challenge them as due unto him And whereas we read in Luke and Paul This is the New Testament or Covenant in my Blood and in Matthew and Mark This is my Blood of the New Testament You must understand 1. That the words are taken out of Exod. 24. 8. 2. That Matthew and Mark follow the Hebrew and Septuagint more expresly then Luke and Paul 3. That the Sense of both is the same For to be a Covenant in the Blood of Christ is to be a Covenant confirmed by the Bloud of Christ and to be the Bloud of the Covenant is to be the Bloud whereby the Covenant is made firm and so both teach us that by the Death of Christ the Covenant of Grace was made for ever unalterable as you heard before out of Heb. 9. 15 16 17. And the Covenant was sounded upon Christ's Death 4. That this Covenant is called the New Covenant to distinguish it from the Covenant of Works and that Covenant that was made and confirmed with Israel Exod. 24. 8. 5. That as Christ's Bloud did merit so the New Covenant did convey the Benefits merited by the Death of Christ. This is the Promise The Precept is in these words Do this in remembrance of me That is As I dyed for thee gave my Body for thee shed my Blood for thee So eat thou this Bread drink thou this Cup in remembrance of my Death suffered willingly out of the greatest love for thee This Remembrance must be practical And as the thing remembred is Christ's Death for our Sins it requires 1. A Confession of our sins a Sense of them an Hatred a Desire to be pardoned and Purpose to forsake them 2. A Belief that Christ dyed for the expiation of those sins and that His Sacrifice was accepted of God as a sufficient Satisfaction 3. An acknowledgment of God's wonderful Love and the great benefit of Redemption and desire to be for ever Thankful Thus far the Rites § XVI wherein the Elements were chosen in Excellent Wisdom the Actions ordered in an admirable manner the words though few yet very comprehensive of much and weighty matter expressing the mystical and hidden part concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God the Glorious Work of Redemption the Blessed Covenant of Grace wherein we have the Laws and Constitutions of this Glorious Kingdom whereof we discourse The
is here Virtually and Really present by his Spirit in this Sacrament as in all other his Ordinances and in a speciall manner and the same powerfull and comfortable to the worthy receiver The Papists have put a difference between the Sacrifice of the Masse § XVII and the Sacrament of the Eucharist and for the former Service they have their direction from the Missal for the Later from the Rituall Yet Christ did but institute a Sacrament and not a Sacrifice and in the same the bread and wine is commanded to be used in blessing the giving and receiving of both and not the offering of the body and blood of Christ for that offering was once made never to be made again And whereas they do affirm that the Sacrifice of the Masse is properly a Sacrifice Propitiatory for the Sins of the living and the dead and the same with that Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Crosse it cannot be true neither can it be credible to any rationall unprejudiced person For a Sacrifice properly so taken especially ilasticall or propitiatory is essentially bloody as wherein the thing Sacrificed is first slain then offered But the Sacrifice of the Crosse as they themselves confesse is INCRUENTUM unbloody and therein is no death of the thing Sacrificed Neither can it be the same with that which Christ offered upon the Crosse For to that it was essential that Christ's body should be broken and the blood shed and offered unto God without spot by the eternall Spirit and without this Death and offering it could not have bin this Sacrifice at all and this Sacrifice was but offered once and once offered was never to be offered again For once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 10. 14. So that we have here but one Sacrifice and the same once offered yet of eternall vertue If this Sacrifice of the Masse were the same which they affirm with the Sacrifice upon the Crosse it must needs be granted that it is propitiatory But they confesse 1. That it is incruentum 2. That it is not Expiatorium Redemptorium 3. That it 's only Commemoratorium Applicatorium By the First they grant that it 's not essentially the same By the Second that it 's not effectively the same By the Third that it 's only a Commemoration and a meanes of the Application of the same And if they would lay aside the Sacrifice of the Masse and acknowledge the Sacrifice of the Crosse and celebrate the Sacrament as it was instituted by Christ We should easily grant that therein there is a Commemoration of Christ's death and Sacrifice once offered and that this Sacrament is a meanes whereby that Sacrifice is applied Before I conclude this Doctrine of the Sacraments § XVIII I will examine 1. Who have power and right to administer them 2. To whom they may lawfully be administred 3. Whether they are to be administred according to humane judgment which is fallible or divine judgment which is infallible For the first of these Who have power to administer That 's easily and briefly determined For they who are trusted with the word and have Commmission to preach the Gospel they have power to administer these Sacraments This in respect of Baptism appears in the mission of the Apostles into all Nations For by that Commission they who must teach must baptize And we never read of any Commission given to any others either to baptize or administer the Lords supper And the constant practice of the universall Church so far as known to us hath bin conformable to this Commission What may be done in case of necessity which God not man hath brought us unto is another thing For in such cases God dispenseth with many things required in his own Institution As for the second question § XIX To whom may they be administred The answer in generall is 1. They may be administred to such as have a right unto them who are Christ's disciples and may be judged fit to be members of the Church visible and in the number of Christians 2. We must distinguish between the subjects who have a right to the actuall participation of Baptism and such as have aright to the actual participation of the Lords supper 3. Of such as may be subjects capable of Baptism some are Adulti and these if they be disciples and manifest themselves to be such they no doubt may be baptized But all the controversy in our unhappy dayes is Whether Infants of Christians and believing Parents may be baptized or no In this controversy I shall deliver my knowledge and judgment as briefly as may be 1. Infants as Infants and Children of Turks Pagans unbelieving Jews are not capable of Baptism neither as Infants nor Infants of such Parents 2. Infants as Infants and considered Physically as distinct persons from their Parents are not capable of or have any right to Baptism 3. The Infants of Christian Parents so considered as distinct persons from their Christian Parents as Christians have no right unto it 4. The Infants of Christian and believâ—ng Parents considered as one person with them as Christians and believers have right to Baptism For if they be one person with them as Christians they must needs have some kind of right to Baptism as their Parents have 5. They have not this right from them by Nature nor humane Laws for so they only receive their humane nature from them as their Parents have humane nature and this naturally and if their Parents be free or noble by humane Laws they derive freedom or nobility 6. That they derive this right from their Parents as Christians it 's from Gods free mercy and gracious ordination which includes the Children in Covenant with the Parents 7. Children are one person with their parents both by the Law of God and the Laws of Men and that in many things and especially in Obligations in Priviledges in rewards and punishments By the Laws of men in civill matters we know that SUI HEREDES as the Civilians call them derive a right unto their Parents estate though there be no Testament or if a Testament and the same they be excluded because the Law grounded upon nature considers them as one person with their Parents or next kindred deceased If the Father be a subject of a free State and so bound to subjection unto the Laws the Son born of him as a subject of that State is bound to the Lawes and derives that obligation from his Father as one person with him neiâ—her is it materiall whether the Father was a subject naturall or naturaliz'd If the Father dye indebted and the Heir enter upon the estate by vertue of that Will He by the civill Law falls under the same obligation as one with the Father and is bound to discharge the debts Paul was born a Roman Act. 22. 28. and all the Priviledges of a Roman he had by birth
mortifie corruption the very root of sin in us The death of Christ should be the death of sin in us and the remembrance of his sufferings should break our hearts humble us and separate us from sin That Christ should die and we should live and his death should be our life was often signified by the ancient Sacrifices wherein the bloud and death of the thing sacrificed was a kind of expiation of the sin of man Man sins and Beasts suffer to signifie that there must be a far better Sacrifice to purge away the sin of Man and purifie his Conscience Therefore Order requires that we consider the death of the Cross so willingly suffered as a Sacrifice And if it was a Sacrifice as no doubt it was we must observe 1. The Priest 2. The thing offered 3. The Party in whom it was offered 4. The Parties to be sanctified by this Offering The Priest is CHRIST The Sacrifice HIMSELF The Party to whom it was offered GOD. The Parties to be sanctified SINFVL MEN for whom He suffered That Christ was a Priest the Apostle proves Heb. 5. 6. For there he first describes a Priest to be a Mediatour between God and Man in matters of Religion and in his Offerings and Prayers represents the People In blessing of the People He represents God though of this He saith nothing in that Chapter yet in the 7th in Melchizedeck blessing and tithing Abraham he implies that in both these Acts a Priest represents God And because a Priesthood is an Office and a Priest and Officer in Religion and things pertaining to God he informs us that very one cannot be a Priest but one taken from amongst men and ordained for men And as an Officer is made by the Will and Commission of the Supream Power and must not presume upon and usurp the Office therefore Christ did not glorifie himself but was chosen called ordained a Priest and that immediatly by God And his Commission he finds in Psal. 2. 7. 110. 4. And his Priesthood was powerful most excellent personal immutable made so by Oath and Eternal and he himself holy without sin He must minister in the Heavenly Tabernacle and his Ministery must be Spiritual and himself the Mediatour of the New Testament to procure and dispose of the Spiritual and Eternal Blessings promised in the same Amongst many other Services to be performed by a Priest one and a principal was Sacrifice and in the Levitical Service that of Expiation yearly offered on the 10th day of the 7th Month was most eminent and this the Apostle singles out as the most excellent Sacrifice to typifie the death of Christ as far more excellent then that Sacrifice of the Levitical High-Priest Chap. 9. Therefore the death of Christ was a Sacrifice Ilastical and Propitiatory His willing-suffering of death was the Offering the Thing offered was Himself For he offered himself without spot The Party to whom he offered himself was God considered 1. As Law-giver offended 2. As Judge who had power to refuse or accept the Offering and upon the same accepted to pardon sin and give Eternal Life The Parties to be sanctified by this Offering were sinful and guilty Persons acknowledging Christ alone to be the Priest and this Death the full and onely expiation of sin and resting in the same alone So that this Sacrifice so was offered unto God and this Offering was an Act of Christ as a Priest and in particular it was an Act of Obedience to that great and transcendent Command of His Heavenly Father that He should suffer death for the sin of Man and the intention of it was to take away and expiate the sin of Man and in this respect it 's said that by His own blood He entred in once into the Holy Place and obtained Eternal Redemption or Remission Christ entred two several times into Heaven 1. Immediately upon His Death when His Soul separated from His Body was received into Paradise 2. When He was risen He ascended both Soul and Body as immortal into the Heaven of Heavens where He doth and shall continue until the time of the Restitution of all things The first entrance seems to be that which obtained Eternal Redemption For as the High-Priest presently upon the slaying of the Sacrifice takes the blood and enters into the Holy Place and appears before the Mâ—rcy-Seat and when that was done the expiation of the sins of the People was finished So Christ being slain and dying upon the Cross His Soul enters the Holy Place of Heaven as separated from the Body and so presented himself before the Throne of the Eternal Judge as having suffered death as God commanded humbly demands that which God had promised and so speeds For He obtained Eternal Redemption And lest this Death of Christ should seem to be an ordinary thing The Sun was darkened the Earth did tremble the Rocks were torn asunder the Veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottome and all this to signifie that the Great High-Priest was entered by His Death and blood into the Holy Place of Heaven and had obtained Eternal Remission the great Encounter between the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness was past and Christ obtained the Victory and the sin of Man was now punished in the Surety and Hostage of Mankind and the greatest Execution in the World was ended and by the same an entrance was made into the place of Glory After that it hath been made evident § IV that this Suffering of Christ was an Act of Obediâ—nce unto the Death of the Cross and a Sacriâ—ice â—he next thing in the second place to be inquired is what the effects of this Sacrifice were And they are of two sorts 1. Immediate 2. Mediate Immediate are reduced to two The First is called satisfaction The Second Merit And both these in respect of man are called Propitiation yet the immediate effect in respect of Christ is Merit and onely Merit In respect of man it 's written That God set forth Christ the Propitiation for our sins by Faith through His Blood Rom. 3. 25. And He is the Propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole World 1 Joh. 2. 2. And that God did manifest His love in sending His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 10. To be a Propitiation is to make God offended propitious unto guilty Man This Propitiation therefore in respect of sin which is also called Redemption may be truly said to be Satisfaction made to the Supream Judge offended so as to free the party guilty from the obligation unto punishment Neither need we scruple the word Satisfaction as not found in Scripture for it 's expresly used by our Translators Numb 35. 31. Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murtherer that is guilty of death c. The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned by the Septuagâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
whom he hated overthrowing him set his Dagger to his Breast and told him that he would kill him unless he would renounce and forswear God which when this surprized fearful man had done that bloody man presently killed him saying This is a noble Revenge which doth not onely deprive the Body of Temporal Life but brings also the Immortal Soul to endless flames Bodin de Rep. Lib. 5. Cap. 6. 3. The Body of Man as well as his Soul was redeemed and bought by the blood of Christ is or should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost is capable of immortal glory and man was made in the Image of God So that to destroy the body of Man and take away this life unjustly and without Warrant from God must needs be an offence against God the Father in whose Image Man was made against the Son who redeemed him against the Holy Ghost whose Temple he is and against man himself his Neighbour his Brother his Fellow-member in Christ. And for Christians to murder Christians must needs be heynous seeing we profess our selves Christians and Fellow-members in Christ and thereby we engage our selves to the highest degree of love of all other people in the World To murder a Christian is not onely a sinne against God-Greatour but also and that directly against God-Redeemer which is an high aggravation 4. The life of man once destroyed cannot be restored neither can any satisfaction sufficient be made either to God or Man for the same for life is inestimable and cannot be ransomed by all the Gold and Silver in the World 5. This sin is the most destructive of Humane Society so that if God should not forbid it restrain it or punish it no man could live in safety and the Earth in a short time would be unpeopled and wholly desolate 6. God hath given a strict charge that no murtherer should live and woe unto them that shal protect or abber or endeavour to save any man whose hand is embrued in innocent bloud 7. Murderers are the children of the Devil in a special manner for he was a murtherer from the beginning 8. The Judgments of God upon this sin are severe many signal and his detestation there of very great This appears by the many strange and supernatural Discoveries of secret murthers by the strange and extraordinary Judgments upon bloudy persons For sometimes He punisheth them by Retaliation in the same kind and sometimes by the same persons that employed them in the murther of others sometimes by some fearful Vengeance executed in the same place where they had shed the bloud of others sometimes in the same time as the same Day and Moneth wherein they had murthered others that man might take notice hear and fear For this Sin God sometimes punisheth not onely the Persons guilty but Families whole Nations and Kingdoms God's own people in Covenant with him must suffer for the innocent blood shed by Manasses and neither his Repentance nor good Josiah's serious and zealous Reformation could avert the judgment Blood is a crying Sin and calls aloud for Vengeance and God the Judge of all the World must needs hear and will make Inquisition and manifest his indignation If David a man after God's own heart will slay innocent Uriah with the Sword of the children of Ammon the Sword shall not depart from his own house One Son shall murther another and his own child that came out of his own bowels shall not onely seek his Crown but thirst after his Bloud The innocent bloud of Christ lies heavy upon the Jews for these 1600 years Cain's horrour of Conscience was dreadful and Judas his torment intollerableâ— and why Both had shed innocent bloud Therefore we must not murder Yet all this must be understood of the effusion of innocent bloud § X without warrant from God Otherwise Abraham could not have been guiltless in that he purposed to sacrifice his innocent Son Isaack David's just wars had been unjust Joshua's severity against the Canaanite to whom he gave no quarter had been cruelty Saul's destruction of Amaleck in not sparing man woman nor child could not have been warrantable Moses by the Levites slays 3000 of his Brethrâ—n in one day and Phinehas takes away the life of two guilty Persons without Formality of Law and judicial process and yet both were innocent neither chargeable with bloud because they did it justly In this respect the punishment of Blasphemers Idolaters and capital Offenders is lawful and warrantable no ways contrary to this Law Some explain and enlarge this Commandement so as to include the murder of Souls as here prohibited But the Commandement doth not extend so far It 's true that we may conclude from hence that if murther of the Body much more the murder of the Soul must needs be an heynous sin The Devil is the murderer of Souls by tempting men to sin and so are all his Agents who by false Doctrine evil Example Perswasions Commands Exhortation incline men to believe Lyes and disobey their God And such as shall not endeavour the Conversion and Salvation of others cannot be excused But these things are not proper to this Commandement which was given for the preservation of man's bodily life Yet we may argue that if it be so heynous a crime to kill the Body it 's farre more heynous to murder the Soul CHAP. XIII The Seventh Commandment THis Commandement is expresly Negative § I and a Prohibition and implicitly affirmative and a Precept The Sin expresly forbidden is Adultery And this presupposeth Marriage which was instituted by God and to be observed by man in the state of Innocency before any sin entred into the World by man For God having first created man the Male after that create's the Woman of a Rib of Man Female The man was so made that he was fit to beget the Woman was so made as that she was fit to conceive bear bring forth nurse children For this was the reason why God made them Male and Female because by them thus different in Sex he intended to propagate all Mankind of one bloud The Woman being created was brought to Man and given unto him by God and he took her with her consent as flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone and they twain became one flesh And God commanded this order to be observed unto the end of the World This was the first institution of this sacred society So that the first and principal efficient of Marriage was God instituting it the Subordinate is the mutual consent of the parties For Marriage is a contract or covenant This is the general nature of it and as the matter is one man and one Woman free from all former obligation that may hinder it so the form and chief essence is in the special nature of the contract whereby they mutually bind themselves one unto another so as to become one flesh for term of life of both the parties The end is propagation mutual
second thing that follows is the confirmation of the continuance of this Covenant and that is in these words This is my Body c. This is the New Covenant or Testament in my Blood c. The thing confirmed is the continuance of the Covenant of Grace in the Bloud of Christ. The Confirmation and so the Solemn Engagement is two-fold 1. On God's part 2. On Man's part 1. On God's part by giving the Blessed Bread and Cup to be eaten and drunken 2. On Man's part by taking and eating the Blessed Bread and drinking the Blessed Cup. By Giving God doth testifie and assure man that He continues the same firm in the Covenant and is ready to give a further increase of Graces and a greater measure of Mercy for the merit of Christ dying and upon the same tearms the Covenant was made and confirmed at first For the Condition then was not onely to begin but continue Faith and Obedience and God by this Sacrament doth renew His Promise that man may renew his Faith Man presupposed to continue in this Covenant doth solemnly by receiving and eating this Bread in remembrance of the Body of Christ broken and offered and by receiving and drinking the Cup in remembrance of the bloud of Christ testifie and engage himself to continue in thta Covenant expecting Remission and Eternal Life upon no other tearms but Faith in Christ dying for him Yet because a Mist is cast upon these words This is my Body This is my Blood I must clear them that this Confirmation may be the more evident To this end I must shew 1. What is meant by THIS 2. How THIS Whatsoever it be may be said to be the Body of Christ And how the second THIS may be affirmed to be the Bloud of Christ. By THIS in the former place is meant Bread the blessed and consecrated Bread For 1. It was Bread that Christ took 2. It was Bread Christ blessed 3. It was Bread Christ broke 4. It was Bread Christ gave 5. It was Bread which Christ cmomanded them to take and eat 6. The Apostle calls this Bread three several times 1 Cor. 11. 26 27 28. But How is this Bread Christ's Body It 's not the Body of Christ by Transsubâ—antiation nor Consubstantiation For both these are contrary to Reason to Sense to the Nature of all Religious Rites and Sacraments to all Miracles For there never was Miracle that did delude the Senses For the Water turned miraculously into Wine appeared to be Wine and tasted as Wine and was Wine indeed as it appeared That many of the Fathers seem to affirm it to be the Body of Christ is nothing for as many call it Bread and a Sign and Figure of Christ's Body To this purpose you may read the Learned Dr. Crakenthorpe against Spalatensis in the Controversie of Transubstantiation where ye shall find a multitude of Councels and Fathers exactly quoted to this purpose The word Transubstantiation was not known till latter times The thing signified by it cannot be certainly defined For the greatest School-men and subtilest Wits differ amongst themselves both in the Definitions and the Explication of their Definitions Besides there is some reason to think many of them do not believe it For some of them amongst us have refused to take it upon their Salvation that after a due Consecration according to their Rules any such change of the Elements is made But suppose the change and that it 's certain to what end doth it serve For it 's confessed that wicked men may receive the Body of Christ in the Eucharist and yet be damned neither doth it profit any man who receives it without Faith THIS therefore that is said to be Christ's Body is Bread and at the first Institution it must needs be so for then Christ's Body was not broken neither did Christ then give it The second Question therefore is How Bread may be said to be Christ's Body if not really and by Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation or some such way The Answer is That it 's His Body 1. By Representation because it 's a Sign and Figure of his Body as many of the Ancients expresly affirm and if any of these say it 's Christ's Body in proper sense as they of the Church of Rome would make us believe they do then they must needs contradict themselves And this is proper to all Religious Rites to signifie something invisible and many times the name of the thing signifyed is given to the Sign it self As Circumcision is said to be a token of the Covenant Gen. 17. 2. and afterwards it is called the Covenant My Covenant shall be in your flesh ver 13. whereas it was the token of the Covenant that was in their flesh The reason of this expression is the similitude and agreement between the sign and the thing signifyed In this respect Christ calleth His Flesh Bread not that it was Bread but because it was like to Bread And that place of John the 6th where He calls Himself and His Flesh Bread is alleadged to proveâ—t is change yet if the Expression and Predication were proper that place might prove that Christ's Body was changed into Bread and not Bread into His Body as will easily appear to any Intelligent and impartial Reader Yet to be a bare Sign is not all but to be a Sign so by Divine Institution as to confirm the Promise of the Covenant and assure the worthy Receiver that as certainly as He gives him that Bread so certainly will God give him the benefits merited by the Death of Christ. By this time we may understand what is signifyed by these words This is my Body But what is meant by the latter words This is the Covenant in my Blood and This is my Blood of the Covenant For the sense of these there can be no doubt but by THIS is meant 1. The Cup For 1. Christ took the Cup. 2. Said This Cup is the New Testament or Covenant 3. It 's called three times by St. Paul the Cup. 2. By cup is meant the Wine in the Cup. 3. This Wine blessed and consecrated according to Christs institution This Cup is said to be the new testament that is the sign whereby it 's confirmed in this Sacrament and as it were a pledge given by God and received by man of remission of sin merited by the blood of Christ and for his sake promised to us Whereas Mathew and Mark relate that Christ said This is my blood it 's meant that the Wine in the Cup was a token and sign of his blood given and received to confirm the new Testament or Covenant Thus Circumcision was a Sign and Seal of the Righteousnesse of faith to Abraham as this Cup is a sign to signify and a Seal to confirm the righteousnesse of faith and remission of sins in the blood of Christ. As for the real presence of Christ in this Sacrament it 's certain that his glorifyed body is in Heaven Yet he
just Judge and that is either by their own righteousnesses and perfect obedience or by the mercy of this eternall Judge propitiated pardoning their disobedience upon a certain condition By the former way the Blessed Angels were but man cannot be justifiable or justified 3. It 's man as a Believer For though every man that 's justifiable and justified is a sinner and may be so considered specificative as the School-men speak yet as a sinner for maliter et reduplicative he cannot be justifiable For then every sinner should be justified Therefore it is so often said that man a sinner is justified by Faith 4. To be a Believer so as to be justifiable presupposeth Christ 1. As Propitiatour and Intercessour 2. Faith in him as such It 1. Presupposeth Christ who Christ is what his person natures with the union and distinction of them and his offices be Who sent him and upon what inward motive and to what end he was sent what his work was what the immediate effects and the mediate of the redemption applied were you have heard before and all these things must be understood believed and remembred But the principall thing here to be considered is how Christ made God propitious and placable and how he procures actuall remission That which made God propitious and mercifull to sinfull man was his great Sacrifice That which obtaines actuall remission is his intercession Both these are proper acts of him as Priest and Mediatour For mediatour and Priest the Apostle takes to be the same as if you consider you may observe Heb. 7. 25. 8. 6. 9. 15. He may be called a Mediatour Nuntius inter Deum hominem A messenger between God and Man as Moses was between the Lord and Israel as a third person really and essentially distinct from both Gal. 3. 19. So Christ never was Or he may be a Mediatour participating in nature with both being God with God and Man with Man But though it 's true that Christ may be called Mediatour in these two respects yet where doth the Scripture call him so in either way The man Christ Jesus is the one mediatour between God and Man as giving himself a ransome for all that is as a Priest 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. That He as Priest is the propitiation for our sins through his blood is expresse Scripture Rom. 3. 25. For by his own blood entring once into the holy place he obtained eternal Redemption or Remission for ever Heb. 9. 12. For as the High Priest in the Sacrifice of the great and generall expiation when the Sacrifice was slain enters with the blood thereof into the holiest place and presents and sprinkles it before the throne of God and then comes out again So Christ having suffered and shed his blood being slain presently enters into the Holy place of Heaven and presents his soul as separated from his body and so himself as having suffered and so the propitiation and the eternal expiation was made And to signifie this instantly the Vail of the Earthly Sanctuary was rent from top to bottome that men might know that the great High Priest was entred the eternall Sacrary of Heaven to appear before the Tribunall of the great Judge This Sacrifice was truly propitiatory and by the eternall spirit being offered without spot to God had power to purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God in the Heavenly Temple to confirme the everlasting Covenant to consecrate the Sanctified for ever Heb. 9. 14 15. 10. 14. And He that knew no sin was made sin that is a Sacrifice for sin for us that we might be the righteousnesse of God through him 2 Cor. 5. â—1 He knew no sin for he was holy and without sin in his Conception Birth Life Death And perfectly obeyed all the Commandements of God Otherwise he could not have offered himself without spot Heb. 9. 14. Nor have been an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour as he was Ephes. 5. 2. Without this purity this sacrifice could have had no expiatory and redemptory power So that we might be Redeemed from our vain conversation with his blood as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1. 19. And as without this spotlesse purity He could not have offered this spotlesse Sacrifice so though He was pure yet without this sacrifice and death He could not have bin a propitiation for sinfull man So that purity and death must both concur to satisfie Gods justice and make sin pardonable Yet sinne can never be actually pardoned nor immediately pardonable to any particular person except this propitiation is made and accepted be pleaded in Heaven by him that was consecrated by Death constituted upon the Resurrection and confirmed upon his Assension to be the High Universal and Eternall Priest in Heaven after the order of Melchizedeck For if we have sinned as who hath not we must have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for ours sins c. 1 John 2. 1 2. This Christ and Son of God is King and Prophet yet neither as King or Prophet doth He either make propitiation or intercession but only as a Priest and after His first service of sacrifice was finished and He made immortall and set at His Fathers right hand He begins this second service of His Priest-hood and shall continue it till all His Saints be fully justified for ever And oh How happy are they that have Him Advocate in the Heavenly Court Though Christ hath done all things § III to make sin pardonable and is ever ready to procure actuall pardon this yet is not sufficient except the sinner to be pardoned doth believe in him both as propitiating and pleading his propitiation And here it 's to be noted that He makes intercession in Heaven only for penitent and believing sinners for whom alone His intercession is effectuall For though He died for man as a sinner to make his sin pardonable yet He pleads only for a sinner believing to obtain actuall pardon He ever liveth to make intercession for such as come to God by Him Heb. 7. 25. Where we must observe 1. That the place speaketh of Christ as a Priest 2. Such a Priest as having offered the great Sacrifice of expiation is risen again and entered into the Temple of Heaven 3. Such a Priest as hath obtained an unalterable Priest-hood confirmed to him by the Solemn Oath of the eternall God 4. Such a Priest as is immortall and ever liveth 5. This Priest doth make perpetuall intercession 6. Those for whom he makes intercession are such as come to God by Him 7. To come to God is to present our selvs before His Throne of grace and sue for pardon and Salvation 8. To come to God by Him is to sue for these in His Name by Faith in Him For otherwise there is no accesse for guilty persons to the Throne of grace Therefore is He
we are Heirs according to express Scripture Rom. 8. 17. It differs from Reconciliation because God may love us as his Servants and yet not as Sons and Heirs Therefore it 's a further degree of God's love and special favour For we may be His Subjects and yet not of His Houshold and Family We may be of His Family as Servants and Friends yet not as Sons and Heirs in the highest Rank and Degree of Dignity in His Family And we must here take special notice 1 That God by one act doth justifie regenerate reconcile and adopt For though we may distinguish them and conceive of them under several notions yet we must not separate them For though God might have separated some of them yet He doth not 2 That Justification Regeneration Reconciliation are not distinct and different Titles but one and the same Title unto Everlasting Life which God doth give us by these in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we are justifyed by His Grace that we should be Heirs according to the hope of Eternal Life Tit. 3. 7. Where Justification gives right unto Eternal Life And Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead unto an Inheritance c. 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Where Regeneration is said to give right unto glory And again If Children that is adopted then Heirs joint-Heirs with Christ. Where Adoption is said to be the Title unto this Heavenly Inheritance Rom. 8. 17. The like may be said of Reconciliation For having Peace with God by Jesus Christ our Lord by whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand we rejoyce in the Hope of Glory Rom. 5. 2. How Faith and these may be the Title shall be known hereafter The second thing to be considered § IV and observed is the nature of Adoption This actively considered in general is a gracious act of God in Christ But in particular it 's such an act as whereby we are made of no Sons Sons and Heirs of God with Christ of glory Where we must acknowledge that by Nature we are not Sons For according to the Laws of men such as are adopted are different from Natural Sons which are Sons necessarily but these are made Sons freely by an act of free grace For Adoption is a free Election and always makes a person who is not a Child to be a Child By Nature indeed we are the Sons and heires of Wrath or rather Slaves to sin and Satan By sin we lost our â—iliation and our right to the inheritance of eternal life and this was a very sad condition and an heavy judgment of God This is our condition before Adoption But presently upon our Adoption we who were no Sons are Sons of God and heires of an eternall Kingdom and being washed in Christs blood are as Sons advanced to the dignity of Kings and Priests unto ouâ— God for ever Yet we are not heires severally and apart from but joyntly with Christ and of the same estate in our measure but in his right For as one with him and members of his body as he is a Son and heir so we must needs be Sons and heirs with Him In the third place § V The parties who are adopted are Believers in Christ for as by faith in him we are justified regenerated reconciâ—ed so by the same faith we are adopted For as many as received Christ he give them the priviledge or dignity to be the Sons of God even to them that Believe on his name Joh. 1. 12. You have heard often before that faith is the Title to justification by vertue of Christs merit and Gods promise But the immediate title to eternall glory is justification in regeneration reconciliation and Adoption For thoâ—gh by faith we have a remote and mediate right to glory yet the immediate subjects of this right to glory are the justified regenerate reconciled and adopted Saints and Sons of God For though God give this inheritance of glory unto Believers yet he gives it to Believers as justified regenerated and adopted This faith is fixed on Christ as meriting and interceding for this adoption For such as believe in his name are made the Sons of God Joh. 1. 12. And as God predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his Will Ephes 1. 5. So he also by him according to this Pedestination by him before time adopts us by him in time The fourth thing to be considered § VI is the estate and condition of these adopted Sons of God which is imperfect in this life and onely begun For it was a great and transcendent love of God that we should now in this life be called the Sons of God and have not onely the name but the thing it self And though now in this life we be the Sons of God it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Ioh. 3. 1 2. And now we have the first fruits of the Spirit and we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our bodyes Rom. 8. 23. Where by the Redemption of our bodyes is understood the Resurrection when our Adoption shall be perfect And this is our great comfort for the present that we not onely are but certainly know that we are the Sons of God For the Spirit it self beareth witnesse with or rather to our Spirits that we are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. And we are assured and have good security that in due time when we shall be at full age and past our minority we shall have â—ull enjoyment of the inheritance For we have the first fruits now ibid. 23. and are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the Redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory Ephes. 1. 13 14. Where the Redemption may be the Resurrection and it 's the Redemption of Acquisition because upon the same we shall have full possession Great is the happinesse joy and comfort of the Adopted Sons of God For 1. By Adoption we are not onely freed from the slavery of sin but the bondage and servitude of the Law now in the times of the Gospel We have not received the Spirit of Bondage to fear again as it was under the Law Rom. 8. 15. We are not now under Tutours and Governours nor in Bondage unâ—er the Elements of the World that is the Ceremonial Law Galat. 4. 3 4. 2. We have the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 6. We cry and pray and we pray unto God as a Father and that with greatest confidence For what may not Children expect from a Father such a Father
ariseth from their voluntary consent expressed and no wayes else so that they may be properly called Cor-rei In this there is a great inequality between the partyes covenanting For the one is the Lord and King and the other Subjects and they as Subjects are not onely under his power but bound by his laws before they voluntarily oblige themselves and if they never promised obedience yet they are bound to do it and must be judged by the Laws given them 2. That Gods word and promise is firm and inviolable for ever without any solemn rite added to confirm it yet because mans weaknesse is great God was willing not onely by promise to oblige himself to man but also by solemn rites yea and an Oath wherein he pledged his eternall Diety to confirm his promise and all this to strengthen his weak saith and give him full assurance For God being willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of his Counsel confirm'd it by an Oath Heb. 6. 27. 3. That the thing that is confirmed both by solemn rites and his Oath is his promise 4. That because as mans infirmity and inconstancy was great therefore God thought it good to require of him a voluntary engagement and a solemn confirmation to subject himself to his power and to obey his Laws that the more freely and deeply he had engaged himself the more carefull he might be to be faithfull and obedient to his everlasting good and the thing confirmed by man is his voluntary engagement of subjection and obedience 5. That the thing whereunto man engageth himself in Baptism is that he will be a Loyal and obedient subject unto God his redeemer in Christ The thing whereunto God obligeth himself is to be his God and admit him a Subject of his blessed Kingdom 6. That though the engagement be distinct from the performance yet if it be sincere there is a beginning of performance though that performance is not the thing confirmed but the thing for which the confirmation is made 7. There is a great difference as between the making and confirming of a covenant and the keeping of it so likewise between the solemn admission into the visible Church and the mysticall which consists of real Saints and loyal Subjects What kind of profession and promise is required in the party to be baptized may be considered afterwards By all this we may easily understand that it we will expect any benefit by our Baptism we must have a speciall care to perform our promise confirmed by this solemn rite For these Sacraments are special and distinct laws added to all the rest for this end to engage man more strongly to observe them And Baptism is a kind of naturalizing of such as are baptized The Second Sacrament § XII is the Eucharist or that which we call the Communion or Supper of the Lord. It 's called the Eucharist because a Sacrament of thanksgiving for the great benefit of Redemption by Christ The Communion because in it we being many partake of one sacred bread and the same cup It 's called the Lords Supper because it was instituted at the last Supper that Christ as morall did eat with his Disciples Yet there may be other reasons of these names given and are given by others This Sacrament hath many other names a Catalogue or enumeration of the greatest part of them you may read in Casauboâ—s exercitation 16. of his Apparatus This Eucharist is a Sacrament of the Gospel wherein by the use of Bread and Wine according to our Saviours institution in remembrance of his death and passion the continuance in the covenant is confirmed This Sacrament was instituted immediately by Christ in the night wherein he was betrayed and succeeded the Passeover which was to cease For then Christ the true Paschal Lamb was exhibited and ready to be slaine The Passeover did signifie Christ to come and after Christs resurrection this Sacrament did signifie him not onely come but slain already and it is to continue to the end of the World for the perpetual memory of his sacrifice For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we shew forth Christs death untill his comming again 1 Cor. 11. 26. This death of Christ represented in this Sacrament was the accomplishment of the Passeover and of all propitiatory Sacrifices and sin-offerings And this Sacrament is the abridgment of all Sacrificial feasts and especially such as were used for the confirmation of leagues and covenants It was resembled in a more lively manner by that Sacrifice mentioned Exod. 24. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Where 1. Moses informs the people of all the words of the Lord and all his judgments 2. The people promise obedience This was the league and Covenant 3. Moses builds an Altar and 12. Pillars according to the 12. Tribes to signifie that they were all engaged in it 4. There were offered by 12 young men representing the 12 Tribes burnt offerings and peace offerings of Oxen to the Lord. 5. Moses took half the blood and put it in basons and half the blood he sprinkled upon the Altar which signified God one and the principall party covenanting 6. He takes the book of the Covenant and reads the precepts and promises of God in the audience of the people and they again engage to observe the Law 7. Moses took the blood of the Covenant and sprinkled it on the people saying Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning these Words In all this somethings are remarkable 1. That the thing that was confirmed was the covenant it self 2. That this Covenant was not onely made but solemnly confirmed on Gods side by half the blood sprinkled upon the Altar by the other half of the blood sprinkled upon the people it was established on their part 3. That to the Rite were added words and the words are taken up by our blessed Saviour in this Sacrament 4. That though a Sanction of a law be taken for the confirmation of it by promises of reward and threatnings of punishments which are indeed essentiall parts of Gods laws yet this was a true and proper sanction not onely of the precepts but the promises and the threats of God and the promises of the partyes covenanting with God and it was by blood and a solemn rite with words In the definition we may observe § XIII 1. The rite 2. The confirmation In the rite three things 1. The Elements or things sensible 2. The actions 3. The words For I take rite in a large sense to include the words The Elements as they use to call them are Bread and Wine which were then ready on the Passeover Table These were very fit both to signifie the body and blood of Christ and the eating and drinking of them a spirituall Sacrificiall feast Yet this they did not by nature but by the divine institution though by nature they were apt to resemble such things These