Melchizedeck unto Abraham as a part perhaps of the blessing of that High Priest and as a signification of that Sacrament which God would have Abrahams seed to feed upon when the true High Priest after that great mans order should come And fifthly It is not to be forgotten that they do best answer to some things whereunto Christ is compared in the holy Scriptures For he is called the Vine and every branch that is in him must bring forth fruit as he doth which may hereby be represented And he is called the Bread of life which came down from Heaven as the Manna in the Wilderness who is to support our souls as the staff of bread doth our bodies Sixthly But it is most to be remarked that these were part of the Passeover-Supper when Christ as Cyril of Alexandria speaks was typically eaten in Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For first It is acknowledged by all that the Bread was blessed and the Cup also and so went round to all the guests And the forms of Benediction are still extant in some of the Hebrew Authors And secondly The whole Feast after the Passeover-night was called the Feast of unleavened Bread And thirdly It is the opinion I observe of some that our Saviour at the time of instituting this Sacrament Grot. did eat onely the Bread and the bitter Herbs but not the Lamb of the Passeover For it is not said in the Evangelists that his Disciples killed the Passeover for him but onely that they made ready the Passeover which might be nothing else but that bread of affliction and the herbs which were attended with the cup of kindness that used to pass among them For our Saviour died at the time the Passeover-Lamb was offered being indeed the Lamb of God himself And therefore S. John saith Chap. 13.1 That the Supper was before the Feast of the Passeover and he calls it eating of the Passeover because this was a great part of it a principal portion of this Feast And this part was all that they could partake of who at any time could not come to Jerusalem where only the Lamb was to be eaten being first offered at the Temple But supposing this to be doubtful yet there is no question but that this Lamb was a Type of Christ and that Bread and Wine was a part of their Supper And upon search I believe we shall find that the Lamb of the Passeover was the only Sacrifice which the people did wholly eat its blood being poured out at the Altar and it doth the better set forth Christ who gives himself wholly to us To which fourthly may be added that as the Paschal-Lamb did represent him so the manner of its killing was very conformable to Christs death upon the Cross which may make it more reasonable to borrow from the Supper resemblances of him For they hung the Lamb upon nails much what as Butchers now do a Sheep which they have killed and then fley'd off its skin that it might be dressed While it hung in this posture it was just like the scituation of Christs body upon the Cross as Buxtorf hath observed out of the Talmud whose hands were so spread and leggs so stretched out as the Lamb was 5. Unto which I may add That the Law of Moses was not to be wholly destroyed but to be changed and altered by Christ So the Apostle teacheth us to speak in Heb. 7.12 And the malice of St. Stephen's accusers could prompt them to say no worse of him then that he preached Jesus should change the customs which Moses delivered Act. 6.14 Circumcision is commanded under the title of an everlasting Covenant and it is not so much abolished as improved into a better Sacrament and seal of greater blessings to Mankind The Sabbath-day likewise was to be a commemoration of Gods rest from all his works on the seventh day and of his deliverance of them out of Egypt and it is not cancelled but changed into another day which contains the former and something else even a remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead that he might enter into his rest So we may conceive that this great Feast of the Passeover was not quite done away but gave place to a better Feast which is in memory of a greater deliverance than that from the thraldom of Egypt and the iron Furnace In this the Jewish Christians might still commemorate their ancient mercies as well as if they had eaten of the flesh of their Lamb. Yea because there was in it such a clear representation of Christs sufferings especially in its first Institution when the blood was sprinkled on the door-posts part of it was thought fit still to remain viz. the Bread and Wine which they used to eat and drink in memory of that mercy with solemn forms of thanksgiving unto God And lastly The Bread and Wine was more fit then the flesh to be retained because now that Christ is come all Sacrifices are to cease and no more blood is to be shed for fin This I say may be a good reason why Bread and Wine only are used because they are unbloody things and after the killing of the Lamb of God there is to be no more life offered for our offences This Feast our Saviour did first of all celebrate with his twelve Disciples §. 3. And it was but fit that he should do so that he might the better answer to the Type in Exod. 29. where we read that Aaron the High Priest with his sons was to eat the breast and shoulder of the Ram of consecration whereby he was sanctified to officiate in the Priesthood Even so our Lord being to be offered up in Sacrifice and thereby to be consecrated an high Priest did institute this Supper that together with his Disciples he might as much as is possible feast with them upon that Sacrifice And seeing our Saviours Sacrifice answered both to the Paschal Lamb and the propitiatory Sacrifice on the day of Expiation it will be no wonder if it were so compleat as to have reference to this also The time when it was first instituted was in the night when he was betrayed for at the Even they celebrated the Passeover which makes some I suppose to keep the memory of Christs death in the close of the day But if they think that they must exactly follow that precedent they should do it after Supper And I rather think that the manner of receiving about noon is most agreeable to the true pattern For we do not remember the Supper of the Lord but his Sacrifice on the Cross And therefore as the Jews feasted at Even because they came out of Aegypt at that time so should we feast about Noon because our Lords death began between nine and twelve and ended about three of the Clock as you will clearly see by comparing the relation of S. Mark and S. John together It is said John 19.14 that it was about
food of the foulest and prophanest mouths And by using a multitude of Ceremonies they are in danger to take the mind off from all substantial exercises The Ancients I am sure understood not the new language of the Transubstantiation of the Bread and Wine into the Flesh and Blood of Christ And though they would suborn those worthies to speak against their mind and conscience on their side yet we find that they call the bread and wine figures or symboles of Christs body and blood Dionysius the Areopagite or that ancient Writer who passeth under his name calls them most frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In Cap. 3. Eccles Hierach Symboles Images Antitypes sensible things received instead of things intelligible And Maximus in his Scholion upon him interpreting what a Symbole is in his Language saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. A sensible thing which we partake of instead of a spiritual as for example Bread and Wine in stead of the immaterial divine nourishment and gladness And so Macarius calls it Homil. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The figure and representation of his Flesh and Blood and saith That he who partakes of the visible Bread doth spiritually eat the Flesh of our Lord. And he that will may repair to Theodoret who lived in later times and he shall tell him That they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mystical representations and that their nature is not changed no more than the flesh of Christ ceases to be flesh now that it is in the Heavens And in his Comment upon the 1 Corinth 11.26 he saith Dialog 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle uses these words Till he come because there will be no need of Symboles of his Body when his Body it self shall appear The name of Antiquity makes a great sound in their mouths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore let the Reader remember that there are many ancient Errors as well as Truths If they have followed the Ancients in their Novel Doctrines they are rather the Old Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vide Irenaeum l. 1. c. 9. than the Fathers of the Church For it hath been well observed by some of our Divines that Marcus a Magician is noted by Irenaeus for counterfeiting to consecrate in an Eucharistial manner Cups of Water mixed with Wine to a strange purpose He extended saith he the Words of invocation to a very great length and then he made the liquor in the Cup seem of a purple or bloody colour His followers believed that the divine Grace did drop down some of its own blood into the Cup at his request And all that were present were very greedy to taste of this Cup that the same Grace which he called down might showre it self upon them likewise I can little doubt but that this Cup over which he gave thanks was a counterfeit of that which the sound Christians drunk of from whom these men were apostatized And that he might gain greater applause by his followers he would make them believe that he was more devout than any and could give them more than the Christians pretended to do even the very blood of Christ it self which the Romanists now boast they have and therein excel us But we are content with what holy men then enjoyed and let them take heed that they follow not worse examples I am sure Theodoret in his second Dialogue brings in a wild conceited man speaking the same things that they do Cap. 24. The affirmation of that Phantastick is this That Christs humane Nature is swallowed up in the Divine His Argument for it is this As the Elements or Symbols or the Lords Body and Blood are one thing before the Invocation of the Priest but after Invocation are changed and made another so the Lords Body after his ascension is changed into a divine substance though before it was not Hereupon the Father saith You are caught in your onw net for the Symbols do not go out of their proper nature but remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the former substance wherein they were Let the Reader then judge with whom they speak and who are the Masters of our language and assertions And let him take heed how he leaves our Communion where he hath the holy Bread and the Cup both whereas they something like the Manichees of old will not let the people drink of the Cup. But let them believe as much as they will so they will but quietly suffer us to believe as we see cause Let them practise as they please if it will do them any good we doubt not but we believe and practise enough to the receiving of as great benefits as they can enjoy I confess I cannot be angry with them for believing more than I can do but I desire they would not be angry at us but rather pity us that we cannot extend our faith so far If a man will say that Snow is nothing but frozen milk which drops from the skies much good may it do him with his conceit only let him not impose the same belief on others who intend not to trouble him for his fancy And if they will believe that wine is the very Blood of Christ I desire not that they should suffer the least harm for this opinion but let them not damn us because we will not put out our eyes and deny our taste and abandon our reason and the holy Scripture to the novel fancies and interpretations that they obtrude upon us I know that if a mans soul be not made of solid reason but consists of weak and credulous principles they will fearfully astonish it with the dismal names of Heresie and Schisme and such like bugbear words which every one applies as he pleases But considerate souls are grown wiser than to be affrighted out of their wits by the noise of words the great engine of this Age and they know that damnation doth not depend upon mens mouths for if it did I know not who should go to Heaven We cannot be so blind as not to see that every party arrogates to it self the glorious names of Christ and the Holy Ghost and if we would be led by sounds we must believe no body knows how many Christs The name of Heretick Schismatick yea and of Antichrist and Babylon signifie but little to us who hear them every day so carelesly applied that we are assured men know not what they say Neither will we be amazed with sad relations of the miserable ends of those who have contemned their Sacraments for we do not allow that any man should irreverently behave himself towards any of Christs institutions though there be something of mans invention mixed with it And we can repay their stories of the contempt of this Sacrament as among them administred with as sad and true relations concerning those who have despised that which in scorn and pride they are pleased to call Calvins Supper
heavenly spirit We must remember Christ therefore as Nehemiah desires God to remember him by doing good or as we remember our Creator by a true subjection of all our faculties to his soveraign will Then we remember him as we ought when we get him formed in our hearts and have a more living image of him left in our minds when it stirs and is busie in our souls and awakens all other images and calls up all divine truths that are within us to send them forth upon their several imployments into our lives Now for the fuller understanding of this matter you must know that the Paschal Supper which is called by Greg. Naz. very elegantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more obscure type of this type was instituted for a remembrance and was a Feast of commemoration as will soon appear if you look but a while into the particulars of it And first you must observe that the very day of the Passeover was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a memorial of their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt as you may read Exod. 12.14 and therefore they are bid Exod. 13.3 to remember this day in which they came out of Egypt out of the house of bondage c. Thence it was that they were commanded to eat the Lamb with bitter herbs Exod. 12.8 for a remembrance of their hard bondage in Egypt which made their lives bitter unto them Exod. 1.14 So was the unleavened bread the bread of affliction in remembrance that they brought their bread out of Egypt unleavened Exod. 12.34 and were there in great servitude Exod. 13.3 so that their soul was even dried and parched in them The later Jews have added the charóseth which is a thick sawce in memory of the clay and morter which they wrought in and they use red wine for a remembrance that Pharaoh shed the blood of their children To which may be added that God required there should be a rehearsal to their children of what the Lord had done for them that so this feast might be for a sign upon their hand and for a memorial between their eyes to all posterity as you may see Exod. 13.8 9. And thence it is that the Jews call that section of the Law or the Lesson which they read that night the Haggádah annunciation or shewing forth because they commemorated and predicated both their hard services and Gods wonderful salvation and the praises that were due to him for so great a mercy It is easie now to apply all this to our present purpose if we do but consider that this likewise is a holy feast Whence it is called the Lords Supper not only because he appointed it 1 Cor. 11.20 but because he was the end of its celebration and an entertainment at the table of the Lord. 1 Cor. 10.21 This Feast our Saviour first keeping with his Apostles who were Jews he makes part of the Passeover-chear to be the provision of it For he takes the bread and wine which used to go about in that Supper through the whole family to signifie his broken body and his blood which was to be shed Now this was to be in commemoration of a deliverance wrought by him from a greater tyranny then the Israelites were under which made all the world to groan and was ready to thrust us all below into the Devils fiery furnace And therefore as it is said Exod. 13.8 thou shalt shew thy son in that day saying This is done c. So the Apostle in a manifest allusion to that phrase saith 1 Cer. 11.26 that when we eat this bread and drink this cup we do shew forth the Lords death until he come So that we may conclude that in this feast in honour of Christ we are to make a rehearsal of his famous acts to proclaim his mighty deeds to speak of the glorious honour of his Majesty and of his wondrous works and to indeavour that one generation may praise his works to another Psl 146.3 4 c. and declare his mighty acts that they may speak of the glory of his Kingdom and talk of his power And indeed it should seem that the memory of a thing is by nothing so sensibly preserved and so deeply ingraven in mens minds as by feasts and festival joys For it hath been the way of all the world to send to posterity the memory of their benefactors or famous persons by instituting of such solemn times wherein men did assemble together and by the joys and pleasures of them more imprint the kindnesses and noble atchievements of such Worthies in their minds So we find among the Greeks their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in honour of Aeacus their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in honour of Ajax and in latter times their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such like in remembrance of the merits of such persons and how highly they deserved of the places where their feasts were celebrated In like sort the Jews had their feasts in memory of some great and rare passage of divine providence though not of any particular persons lest they should be tempted to worship them as their Saviours according as the custom of the heathen was But all worship being due to our Lord and Saviour he thought fit in like manner to appoint this feast to be as a Passeover unto us a holy solemnity that should call us together and assemble us in one body that we might be more sensibly impressed with him and that all generations might call him blessed and he might never be forgotten to the worlds end Now of two things it is a remembrance and two ways we do commemorate or remember them I. It is instituted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. c. for a remembrance that he was imbodied for those that believe on him and became passible for their sakes The bread and the wine are in token that he had a true body and that the word was made flesh For thence Tertullian and Irenaeus do confute Marcion who denied the truth of Christs flesh and made his body to be a phantastical thing because then real bread and wine could not be a figure of it and so Theodoret saith out of Ignatius Dialog 3. that some Simon and Menander I think did not admit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thanksgivings and offerings viz. of bread and wine in this Sacrament because they did not confess that it was the flesh of our Saviour Now with what affection we should call to mind this love that God would appear to us not by an Angel in a bright cloud not in a body of pure air but by his Son in our own flesh I leave your own hearts to tell you Methink we should wish that all the world could hear us proclaim this love and that even the fields and forests i. e. the most desolate and heathenish places might resound our joyful acclamations to him We should wish to feel something of extasie and
else we shall do nothing at the Lords Supper but what we might do at any other time as well If it be onely beleeving and meer spiritual eating that here is exercised then we may feed so without this food And when Christ commands so frequently Do this in remembrance of me it would be no more sence then if he had said Do this which yet you may do without doing this This eating and drinking therefore must be a profession of our faith a covenanting solemnly with God and a receiving and giving of those pledges of love which we cannot have any where else V. And indeed the old Christians did so sacredly bind themselves hereby to their Saviour that Heathens were ready to suspect them of dangerous combinations and such conspiracies as might prove mischievous to the Commonwealth From which imputation whilest Pliny doth acquit them L. 10. Epist. 97. he likewise instructs us for what end they met together at this feast They assemble themselves saith he in a Letter to Trajan the Emperor before day break and sing a Hymn to Christ as if he were God and then they do sacramento se obstringere bind themselves with a Sacrament or Oath not that they will do mischief to any but that they will not rob or steal nor commit adultery nor falsifie their words nor deny their trust c. And then after they have eat together they depart to their own homes Of more then this they protested to him he should never find them guilty and this was the crime of Christians in those first ages to engage themselves to commit no crime which they bound themselves unto by this Sacrament of Christs body and blood The Greek Christians at this day Christop Angelus rit Eccles Graec. when they take the bread or cup into their hands make this profession Lord I will not give thee a kiss like Judas but I do confess unto thee like the poor thief and beseech thee to remember me when thy Kingdom comes If we do touch the body of Christ with traitorous lips and embrace him with a false heart we stain our souls with the guilt of that blood which can onely wash them from all their other sins And therefore we must come unfeignedly to bewail our neglects and to settle our former resolutions of strict obedience It is grown even to a Proverb as Joseph Accosta relates among the poor Indians that have entertained the faith De procur Ind. Sal. L. 6. that Qui eucharistiam semel susceperit nullum amplius crimen debet committere He must never be guilty more of any crime who hath once received the Eucharist And if they chance to commit any they bewail it with such a sorrow and compunction that he saith he hath not found such faith no not in Israel But it would be very sad if we should be sent to school as far as India There are I make no doubt many pious souls among our selves that look upon it as a blessed opportunity to knit their hearts in greater love to God and that are more afflicted for an evil thought after such engagements then other are for a base and unworthy action Whensoever therefore we come to celebrate the memory of Christs death in this manner we must remember with our selves that we are assembled for to renew our baptismal vow and league and in the devoutest manner to addict our selves to a more constant love and service of the Lord Jesus We must look upon this feast to which we are admitted as a disclaiming of all enmity to him and a profession of our continuing a hearty friendship so as never to do any hostile act against him And thence indeed it is called a Sacrament according to Tertullian and others with him because we here take an Oath to continue Christs faithfull Souldiers and never to do any thing against his Crown and dignity as long as there remains any breath in our bodies We do repeat our Oath of Allegiance and swear fealty again to him or as we ordinarily speak we take the Sacrament upon it that we will be Christs faithfull servants and Souldiers against the Devil World and Flesh and never flie from his service Every act of sin then after such promises is not onely treason but perjury not onely the breaking of our faith but of our Oath yea not onely the violation of a simple Oath but of Oath upon Oath which we ought more to dread then we do to break our bones We esteem it an impiety of a high nature for a Minister to give a cup of poyson into a mans hand instead of the blood of Christ and we do deservedly abhorre that Priest that poysoned Pope Victor the 3d. Venenum sub specie sacramenti dedit vertens calicem vitae in calicem mortis with the Sacrament and him that poysoned Henry the 7th Emp. turning as Nauclerus his phrase is the cup of life into the cup of death But whilest our hearts swell in indignation at such a crime let us consider with our selves what a treasonable act it is to poyson our souls with our own hands and by a base treachery to God to swallow down curses and woes into our selves Better were it for us to be choaked with the bread of life or to feel the venome of Asps boiling in our veins after the holy cup then to take an Oath which we take small care to keep then to go on in a course of sin after such sacred professions of our duty and service unto Christ We are amazed to hear that men can touch the Gospels before a Magistrate and kiss the book or lift up their hand to Heaven and yet make good never a word that they swear We are apt to think that either these men have no souls or that they do not value them at the price of a rotten nut O let our very flesh then tremble to think that we should lay our hand upon the body of Christ and take it into our very mouths and solemnly swear unto him and yet not be faithfull in his Covenant nor heartily indeavour to perform our promises unto him For there is no forsworn person hath such a black soul as he whose soul is fouled even by the blood of Christ himself which washes the souls of others The world cannot but shrink at the thoughts of that fearful act of one of the Popes who making a League with Caesar and the French King divided the bread of the Sacrament into three parts with this saying scarce tollerable As the holy Trinity is but one God so let the union indure between us three confederates and yet he was the first that broke it and started from the agreement Far be it from us then after this action wherein we joyn our selves to God and unite our hearts to fear his Name and become as it were one with him to rescind our Covenants or stand again at tearms of defiance But let us have a care
Conclusion would be as certain as either that therefore I am pardoned But seeing the first Proposition is grounded on a fallible judgment and it is possible I may deceive my self therefore I cannot make a conclusion of equal certainty with the second proposition but That I am pardoned will be no stronger then this That I beleeve Yet notwithstanding if a man find no cause to suspect his own reality he may have a belief of his pardon free from doubting and may rest well satisfied that he is in a good estate because nothing appears to the contrary but that he sincerely doth the Will of Christ Though he attains unto this perswasion not by a direct but a reflex act of faith i. e. not meerly by a belief of Gods Word which no where saith that I am pardoned but by a serious examination of himself according to the tenor of the Word yet seeing he discerns a conformity between himself and it he may have a very good and strong though not infallible assurance that his sinnes are blotted out and shall not be imputed to him Whensoever then we approach to the Lords Table we should come with a belief that God makes over unto us the greatest blessings if we receive them as he requires Now all that he requires is That we would love and obey him as we said in the former Chapter when we heartily engage to this we have hereby a conveyance made to us of all that Heaven contains which is included in this phrase forgiveness of sinne For you may observe that in Scripture-stile the taking away of Gods Wrath is the doing of some favour His kindnesses are not meer negatives or removals of evil but when he forgives sinne and inflicts not the punishment he conferres the contrary blessing and restores us to the inheritance CHAP. V. THE distance being taken away between God and us this Sacrament must be considered as a means of our nearer union with our Lord Christ He doth not onely embrace us when we come to his Table but he likewise knits and joins us to himself He not onely ties us with Cords of Love and binds us to his service by favours and blessings conferred on us but in some sort he makes us one with him and takes us into a nearer conjunction then before we enjoyed And who would not desire to be infolded in his arms Who would not repose himself in his bosome but who durst have presumed to entertain a thought of being married unto him and becoming one with him And yet who would refuse such a favour now that it is offered to us but they that neither know him nor themselves This Covenant into which we enter is a Marriage-Covenant and our Lord promises to be as a Husband to us and we chuse him as the best beloved of our souls It is none of the common friendships which we contract with him by eating and drinking at his Table but the rarest and highest that can be imagined and we are to look upon this as a Marriage-Feast What this union then with Christ is it need not be disputed we may be sure that it is such an one as is between a man and his wise the Vine and the Branches the Head and the Members the Building and the Foundation as hereafter will more fully appear yea far beyond all sorts of union whether moral natural or artificial which the world affords example of That which I am to shew is That by these Sacramental Pledges of his Love and this communion with Christ our Lord we are faster tied unto him and the Ligaments are made more strong and indissoluble between us This will be manifest upon these considerations I. Seeing we do after a sort eat Christs flesh and drink his Blood we must needs thereby be incorporated further with him I dispute not now in what sence we eat and drink his body and blood but so far as we grant that we do that so far the other is likewise done Our union is of the same kind and degree with our communion and participation And therefore when the Apostle speaks of a communion with them 1 Cor. 10.16 that adhaesion and cleaving to Christ signifies That in some sort we are made one with him So Chrysostome observes That the Apostle useth not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is participation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communion because he would shew the near conjunction that is between us and that we are knit and united to him by this partaking of him So likewise Oecumenius upon the place observes That Christs blood uniteth us to him as our Head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our receiving of it And indeed as it is contrary to all analogy of speech to call the Bread and Wine by the Name of Christs Body and Blood if they be not at all so in like manner it is incongruous to use the phrase of eating and drinking if there be no union between us and that which we eat and drink II. Faith and Love bearing a great part in this holy action and Christ being by them embraced it must needs be a means of our nearer union For union you know begins in our consent unto him and therefore the stronger that grows and with the greater dearness of affection that is expressed the stronger and closer our union to him becomes Now Faith and Love which are our consent receive here a great encrease of strength by the most intense operation of them which is apt to perfect and compleat them No man comes aright hither that doth not from the bottom of his heart as you have seen put himself into the will of Christ to be moved and governed at his pleasure He must run into Christs heart to have no motion but according as that beats so that his whole life should be put to a pulse answering to the heart of Christ And so Cyril brings in Christ calling upon men and saying I am the bread of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. in myst Caen. take me in as a leaven to diffuse it self through your whole mass Be you even leavened with me that every bit of you may taste of me This can be effected by nothing else but a hearty conjunction of our wills with Christs We must put our selves wholly out of our own power as the wife doth when she gives her self to her husband and the more we can get out of our selves so as to have no proper will of our own the more we become one with him When we feel not our selves to be any thing at all nor to have any interest different from that of his then we and he are made perfectly one or rather we are not but he is All. Now this abolition of propriety and self is much promoted by the remembrance of Christs death and his unvaluable love whereby we become dead and are even snatched and ravished from our selves Whatsoever other unions there may be they all wait
Ch ysost Theophâ—l Or if we understand the Apostles words of the spirit received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after Baptisme but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper whereby he further waters so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1 Cor. 3.6 7 8. that which he hath planted yet still it will be true that at this time good Christians do receive larger irrigations from that fountain of life that they may shoot up to a greater height and bring forth more fruit For this spirit is always needfull being that which maintains our life and it is given in the use of those means that God hath instiruted for increase in grace of which means this holy feast being one of the chief that life-giving spirit must be conceived to lay faster hold of us and knit us more unto our head It is the vis vicaria of the Lord Jesus that power which supplies his place here in the world by which he is present to our souls Now when shall we conceive it more present then when we remember him whose spirit it is and when he doth exhibit himself unto us under these shadows of bread and wine These are tokens of his presence and represent him to us the spirit is that whereby he is present and therefore here it must be again conferred on us Here it doth take a stronger seizure of us here it possesses it self more fully of all our faculties here it gives us more sensible touches from our head and makes us feel more vital influences descending thence unto us and so it being the bond of union must needs strengthen and confirm us in an inseparable conjunction with him Christ doth not descend locally unto us that we may feed on him but as the Sun toucheth us by his beams without removing out of its sphaere so Christ comes down upon us by the power of the holy Ghost moving by its heavenly vertue in our hearts though he remain above And this vertue coming from our Head the man Christ Jesus it doth both quicken us to his service and tie us to him and likewise we are said to partake of his body and blood because we sensibly feel the vertue and efficacy of them in our selves And do not wonder that I say we are more strongly united to Christ hereby for unson is not to be conceved without all latitude but to be looked on as capable of increase or diminution and as that which may grow loose and slack or be made more perfect and compact As it is with the foul and body so it is between Christ and his members Though the soul be not quite unloosed from the body yet by sickness the bonds may become rotten or by fasting they may grow weak and feeble so that it may have but a slender hold of its companion and a little violence may snap them asunder Even so though our souls be tied to Christ yet by our daily infirmities or the frequent incursions of our enemies or by long abstaining from this holy food and other negligences we shall find a kind of loosness in our souls and that we are going off from Christ and tending to a dissolution unless we gird up the loyns of our mind and be vigilant and sober watching unto all holy duties And therefore as in the former case we must betake our selves to our physick and food and good exercise for the making the bonds sound and strong so in this we must have recourse to the holy feast we are speaking of which is both meat and medicine and we must stir up the grace that is in us and beg more of the Spirit of God that may strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die To receive the Spirit not by measure is the priviledg of none but our head We that receive from his fullness have not our portion all at once Phil. 1.19 but must daily look for a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ And so the Apostle saith Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and we must grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ Which shews that we may be made one with him in a more excellent manner then when we were first born because the Spirit of Christ grows unto a greater strength within us as we receive more of heavenly nutriment into our souls And this is all that is meant by the real presence of Christ in this Sacrament which the Church speaks of and believes as it is one reason likewise of the change which is so much noised because by his power these things become effectual to so great purposes when they are holily received Our Lord doth call these signs by the name of the things they signifie because in a spiritual manner his body and blood are present to us viz. by the communication of that to us which they did purchase for us From the sacred humanity of Christ life and spirit is derived unto us as motion is from the head unto the members And the power of the Godhead doth diffuse the vertue or operation of the humane nature to the enlivening the hearts of men that rightly receive the Sacramental pledges Manna is called spiritual bread and water that came out of the rock is named spiritual dirnk 1 Cor. 10.3 4. and the rock is said to be Christ because they did signifie him and were tokens of his presence and therefore much more may this bread and wine be called his body and blood and spoken of as if they were himself because they do more lively represent him and he had annexed his presence more powerfully to them Or as one of the Ancients saith they are called his body and blood not because they are properly so sed quod in se mysterium corporis ejus sanguinis contineant but because they contain in them the mystery of his body and blood And this as I said is all the change that we are to understand in them according as Theodoret doth excellently express it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog 1. Christ saith he calls them by the name of the things they represent not changing the nature but adding grace unto the nature And what that grace is I have already told you in this Chapter So that the real presence is not to be sought in the bread and wine but in those that receive them according as Learned Hooker speaks For Christ saith first Take and eat and then after that This is my body Before we take and eat it is not the body of Christ unto us but when we take and eat as we ought then he gives us his whole self and puts us into possession of all such faving graces as his facrificed body can yield and our fouls do then need The change is in our souls and not in the Sacrament we are though not Transubstantiated into another body yet Metamorphosed and transformed into
with power Rom. 15.13 Fill me with all joy and peace in believing Let me abound in hope Ephes 3 17. Let me be rooted and grounded in love If I have found favour in thine eyes let me be filled with the holy Ghost How sayst thou that thou lovest me if I have no more love unto thee no more life from thee and if I be so barren and unfruitfull in good Works O my Lord I take the boldness lovingly to complain to thee and expostulate with thee Why am I so dull and cold in thy service why am I so unwilling to execute thy commands why am I so weak and unable against the enemies assaults If thou be with me who can be against me Surely the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 Through thee I shall do valiantly thou shalt tread down all my enemies Psal 60.12 Psal 57.2 It is the Lord that performeth all things for me I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Phil. 4.13 Psal 20.5 I will rejoice in thy salvation and in the Name of my God will I set up my Banners Lord I believe Mark 9.24 help thou my unbelief When we have done these things with the best devotion we can it will be a great refreshment to the soul if we turn it a little towards those who are the friends of your Lord. And therefore VI. Sixthly When we see him give the same Bread to others let us renew Acts of Love unto our Brethren Let us think that we being many are but one body and that we are made members one of another Let us ardently therefore embrace them in our armes let us clasp about them as our friends let us love one another with a pure heart fervently If we feel not the flame hot enough let us stir up in our minds again the remembrance of the dear love of our Lord and that will make us burn in affection to each other That will utterly put out all the sparks of envy anger or malice which are already buried that they may never any more revive to glow in our souls That will teach us a perfect remedy against all such distempered motions Let us but resolve that our thoughts shall dwell in the fide of Christ and Hell can never shoot any of its fires unto us If ever any of those black and dark passions begin to reek let us but presently enter into his wounds and they will all be extinguished When we feel but the loving warmth of his heart all our anger will turn into love and all our enemies will find us friends Let us resolve therefore now that we remember his love to enemies that we will never bear any hatred more Let us resolve now that we see how he distributes himself to us all that we will never contemn nor despise the meanest Brother that the eye shall not say to the foot I have no need of thee that one member shall not strike another that we will live in all peace and love bearing one anothers infirmities kindly accepting of reproofs doing all the good we can to soul and body that all men may know us to be Christs Disciples That we may do thus let every man think as seriously as he can within himself Did Christ dye only for me Was his body broken for my sake alone Are not other persons as dear unto him as my self Have we not all eaten of the same Loaf Are we not about to drink of the same Cup How shall I hate those whom my Beloved loves How shall I envy those to whom he is so liberal How shall I offend one of these for whom Christ dyed How shall I deny my self to him to whom my Lord hath given himself O my soul hast not thou espoused the same loves with thy blessed Lord Must not all his friends and relations be thy kindred Now he is not ashamed to call them brethren And therefore let them lye in my bosome let my soul cleave unto them let us keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Such heavenly Aspirations and Affections as these would be as a sweet perfume in our souls that would make our Lord to like of his habitation the better they would be as the fragrant Oyntment poured on the head of Aaron Psal 133 2. that would invite him to more ardent embraces and give him the greater contentment in us For so you read him saying in the Cant. 4.10 How fair is thy Love my Sister my Spouse how much better is thy love than Wine and the smell of thy Oyntments than Spices She had said cap. 1.3 That his Name was an Oyntment poured forth the savour of which made all Virgin souls in love with him and now he saith the very same of her That he was much enamoured of her love yea even ravished as it is in the verse before and that nothing was so beautifull or sweet unto him as that love Now by the mention of the Oyntments to which the Psalmist compares the unity of Brethren it should seem the Bridegroom commends not only her love to him but to all his not only to the head but the whole body And therefore he compares her presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Pamph. v. 12. to a Garden because as one of the Ancients speaks she did bring forth all the fruits of the spirit which are Love Joy Peace and the rest of their kindred And to a Garden enclosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. because guarded against the enemy by the hedge and fence of the Commandments the summe of which is love to God and to one another VII Seventhly When we receive the Cup it is fit that we should again admire the wonderfull love of God that he would purchase us to himself by his own bloud And we should consider the great and inestimable value of this bloud Acts 20.28 that could make expiation and give God full satisfaction for such a world of offences The infinite virtue likewise as well as value of this sacrifice should be taken into our thoughts which lasts for ever and is now as fresh and full of efficacy as if the blood were newly shed upon the Cross Heb. 12.10 For so the Apostle saith This man after he had once offered for sinne for ever sate down on the right hand of God And that you may wonder more at the excellency of this Offering Consider how many sinnes you have committed and then guesse how many the sinnes are which have been committed by all men that have been are and shall be in the World and yet that this one Sacrifice is sufficient in Gods account to take away all being of an everlasting force and power And the better again to conceive of this admirable thing compare it with the sacrifices of old One sacrifice could
both of God and Man from you which is grounded upon a better foundation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Severus imperator gravis vir nominis sâ—i dicitur Lamprid. I verily believe that you will endeavour to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks call them persons of your own name And as the Apostle prays for his Thessalonians 1 Thes 3.12 13. you will encrease and abound in love one toward another and towards all men to the end that you may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints Let me speak to you and all others once more in the words of another Apostle 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitifull be courteous But what need I insist so long on this who find you so full of love towards me It is a delightfull Subject and therefore you will pardon my vehemence in it But though it be delightfull yet I will refrain my self from enumerating my particular obligations because I know Sir that you do not do your kindnesses that they should be talkt of And for you Madam who carries kindness in both your names I know also that you love to be concealed and that your love should have none to speak of it but it self and therefore I shall forbear to say how much at least to me you answer the double remembrance you have in them It will be more acceptable I know to you both if I turn this address to you into a Prayer to God that he would do all this and much more for you And to that God of Peace from whom all good comes I humbly bow my knees that he would make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Hebr. 13.21 to whom be glory for ever and ever The more particular petitions that concern you I shall put up alone and ever remain what I am much engaged to be Your affectionate Friend and Servant Si. Patrick From your house at Batersea January 27. 1659 60 THE INTRODUCTION Shewing 1. That God manifests himself to our sense 2. That Bread and Wine are fit things for the representing our Lord to us 3. The first reason of the celebration of this Supper and the fittest time for us to do this that Christ commands us 4. Which is but a reiteration of what is done in Baptism 5. As may be seen by what I have briefly writ on that subject 6. And if we will extend this thing further we may lose all The Papists in danger of this who speak not the language of the ancient Church 7. The design of this present discourse 8. The alledging of some Heathen Customes and Principles need be no offence to any but may be an help if they please GOd who is simple and removed far from all sense considering the weakness of mans soul and how unable he is to conceive of things spiritual purely and nakedly in themselves and yet having a mind to be better known unto us and to make himself more manifest then ever was pleased in his infinite goodness to dwell in flesh and appear here in the person of his Son who was made like to Man to shew what God is in our nature This Son of his being to die and part with his life for great ends and purposes which he would not have us to forget was pleased to take the same course to convey to our minds spiritual notions by outward and sensible signs and to impress on our hearts what he hath done and suffered by a visible representation of it in bodily things and not onely by a plain description of it in the Gospel He knew very well that a Picture and Image of a thing doth more affect us than an Historical Narration and that the more lively and express that Image is the more lively motions it makes within us A dead Corpse is but the shadow of a man and yet we find that our souls are more assaulted and all our passions stirred by the sight of the face of a dead friend then by all the reports that are brought us of his death And long after his Corpse is mouldred in the Grave if we see a Child of his that hath his exact features manners and carriage it renews a fresh remembrance in us of that person and stirs up the Images that are in our mind more powerfully then we can do our selves by reflections upon them But though God was willing to teach us by outward and sensible representations Sect. 2. yet he thought it both unsafe and likewise unfit and no ways conducing to the spiritual ends he intended in the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud that we should have a picture of Christ or an Image of him set before our eyes There is too much of sense in the Tragical and Theatrical representations which are made by some Papists of Christs sufferings The outward actions are in danger not onely to take place of all spiritual affections but quite to thrust them out The eye and the ear are so fully possessed that their objects work by their own natural strength and not by the souls considering and meditating powers Our Saviour therefore that he might both help the soul and leave it something for to do in making of its own thoughts and forming its own apprehensions and resentments hath given us onely Bread and Wine as remembrances of him in which we see so much as to awaken our souls but not so much as to keep them awake without themselves They show Christ to our sences but more to our minds that so both may be employed but the mind may do most by the help of the senses And indeed these are very fit things upon other reasons to serve our Saviours design because First of all They are similiar bodies and not consisting of Heterogenious parts i. e. their parts are not of different kinds as the parts of our flesh are The flesh of a man is composed of veins and arteries and nerves and blood and muscles and divers skins but every part of Bread and Wine is like the other and hath nothing in it different from its neighbour Every piece of the one and every drop of the other doth as much represent what is intended as any other part doth and all the parts together make one body of the very same sort And yet secondly The parts of these bodies are easily separated one from another which makes them more fit to be communicated and divided among a great many who all notwithstanding do receive as it were the very same thing And thirdly They are constantly used at all feasts and never omitted whereas other things have their seasons and cannot do continual service at our Tables To which you may add fourthly That they were brought by
give some brief touches upon those things §. 5. which you can without trouble inlarge in your own thoughts Which is one reason why I shall spare my self any long pains about them and hold another course in this following Treatise For our part we do here profess our selves of the Religion that Christ hath instituted and taught us as you will see more largely in the ensuing Book We do at once in this Feast both shew our gladness and assure him of our affections Sin is here represented so unto us that it cannot but make our wounds bleed afresh The remembrance of Christs death doth pierce our hearts again with godly sorrow and revives the smart and pain which the sense of sin hath created in our souls Faith likewise here is as greedy of its food as an hungry mouth is of its meat And Obedience is hereby confirmed because we receive lively nourishment into our souls which will make us strong to execute the will of our Lord. Our suffering also with Christ we profess more lively than by Water even by Blood it self When our Saviour saith in the sixth of S. John That we must eat of his flesh he means we must receive himself and digest his Doctrine but seeing the word flesh in Scripture-phrase signifies very frequently weakness and meanness he intends that we must receive him so as to partake with him in his poor low and suffering condition And this we do most notably protest that we will when we receive the signs of his broken body For the Bread broken doth not only argue it to be fit for food but that first we must be slain and mortified and likewise receive such strength that if he call us unto death we must undergo it We own hereby the Covenant of sufferings and feed upon a dead Saviour Which makes Theophylact give this as a reason why Christ gave thanks when he brake the bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That so we might receive Martyrdom thankfully It is a feast which we partake of and yet signifies sufferings But let it not seem strange for we must count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Neither doth it less signifie and seal on Gods part being a manifest token of his great and inexpressible love in giving of his own Son to death even to the cursed death of the Cross for us Here he takes us not only under his wings as I said he doth in Baptism but he takes us into his armes He takes us to himself and he gives himself wholly unto us And then for Remission of sins it is manifest to be the purchase of his blood and so must needs further here be assured to all good souls And it is the very thing that is expressed in the Institution of this Sacrament This is my blood of the New Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sins And there are not so many spirits contained in the Wine as there are lively influences of Gods good Spirit hereby conveyed to pious hearts We have assurance likewise given by these things That he will not take his holy Spirit from us but that he will let it always diffuse it self through all our powers And as for the Resurrection from the dead We being made as it were of his flesh and of his bone and incorporated into him he can lose none of his members but all that eat of his flesh and drink of his blood as they ought shall be raised again at the last day We eat of the tree of life which will make us live for ever and we receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Ephes as Ignatius speaks an Antidote against death a Medicine to preserve us from corruption This the ancient Christians thought to be so fully assured to us in the Eucharist that this is one of the Arguments whereby Irenaeus confutes the Valentinians who denied the rising again of the Body after it is dead How can that flesh be corrupted L. 4. adv haeres cap. 34. and not live again which is nourished by the Body and Bloud of the Lord Either let them change their mind or else abstain from this Offering For as the Bread which is of the Earth perceiving the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of something earthly and something heavenly Even so our bodies perceiving this Eucharist are not now corruptible but have the hopes of a Resurrection L. 5. cap. 2. Thus he who hath more to the same purpose in another Book Herein likewise God gives us a foretaste of Heaven and the joys to come as will be made more manifest in the following Discourse And thus far we may grant the Bread and Wine of Melchizedeck to have been Sacramental that they were given to Abraham as earnests for to secure him of the Land flowing with milk and honey By this Banquet or Entertainment which the Royal Priest made him he took Livery of Seisin as our Lawyers speak of the promised Land And in that very place it is most likely where God intended the Mother-City of the Kingdom should be was this conveyance made to Abraham's seed This Bread and Wine were most certain evidences that his Posterity should eat of the fruit of that Land wherein now he was a stranger And just in the same manner doth God give unto faithful souls this blessed Bread and Wine as an Antepast of his eternal love and hereby they do begin to taste of the heavenly Feast that they shall celebrate above They have herein a right made them unto Heaven and a kind of delivery of possession which shall shortly be compleated by an actual enjoyment They that would more than such things as these in this Sacrament Sect. 6. are in danger to have nothing at all as they should have While they think that Christ is received coporally by them they may neglect the spiritual eating and while they chew him as it were between their teeth their Souls may feel but little of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—nap in vita Jambl. For just as it is with those that would paint a beautifull person while they think to add something of their own to the face thereby to make him look better than he is they spoil the comeliness of the Picture and miss both of his face and likewise of his true beauty So it is with the modern Church of Rome which would make Religion seem as fair and beautifull yea as gaudy and trim as their fancies can devise but by adding their own inventions and novel fashions they quite spoil both true Religion and the beauty of it which they study to adorn Whilest they think to offer a proper Sacrifice they many times offer none at all And whilst they think it is a Sacrifice both for quick and dead they rely so much upon it that it proves to be for neither By making it flesh and blood and bones they make Christ the
and Communion V. Annot. of Rhemists in 1 Cor. 11.34 The memorable story which B. Morton relates may quit scores with them for all of this kind L. 2. cap. 2. of his Protestants Appeal There was in S. Johns Colledge in Cambridge Dr. Whittaker being then Master one Booth a Batchellor or Arts and an excellent Schollar who in the time of his seducement by the Papists had taken the Sacramental Bread which he received because he would not be discovered but yet reserved without eating of it and in contempt had thrown it over a Wall By the remembrance of this sin afterward when his eyes were opened he was driven into so great remorse and anguish of soul that not long after he threw himself down headlong over the Battlements of the Chappel and within four and twenty hours died whereof there were many witnesses Instit of the Sacrament l. 2. cap. 2. seci 6 Yea this right Reverend Person saith in another Book that he saw this thing which now from him I have related And it may put some in mind of what befel the Donatists who casting of it to Dogs they grew mad and tare their own Masters in pieces as unknown Persons But if they will persist to damn all those that are not of their way we will say to them as Diogenes did to an Heathenish Priest that would perswade him to be of his order that so he might be happy in the other world Wouldst thou have me believe that Epaminondas and other brave men were miserable and thou who art but an Ass and dost nothing worthy shall be happy because thou art a Priest Is it credible that they who exercise all piety towards the Father Son and holy Ghost and are ready to sacrifice their lives rather than consent to the least sin against them shall be miserable and that God will accept men meerly for being of their Communion We know upon what easie terms men may go to Heaven as they believe and they shall never perswade us that they whose hearts are full of God and have his Image shining fairly in their souls shall be the companions of the Devils and accursed spirits when as they imagine men of soul lives may get possession of Paradise and live with Saints And yet let all Protestants take heed how they do irreverently behave themselves in participation of these holy mysteries lest we give them occasion to say that we have nothing but common bread and wine empty of all Sacrament Let us as humbly and meekly address our selves to the Table of the Lord as they can do who believe the very substance of Christs body and blood is there And indeed it is but natural to approach with a great deal of reverence and devotion unless we be of a make different from other men who use to be affected with every thing that doth but relate unto that which is dear unto them L. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Man in Achilles Tatius who found a Treasure in the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He did honour to the place where it was found he built an Altar he offered Sacrifice he crowned that piece of earth Such a passion of love it was I believe that made the Ancient Christians do honour to the very day of our Saviours Sufferings to use the sign of the Cross on which he suffered to look towards the place where he was crucified and buried and much more should it make us highly to value the signs of his body and blood and in a serious reverent manner receive them as the sweetest tokens of his love I have said the more of this here Sect. 7. because I shall not fill the ensuing Treatise with any Disputes And because I intended it should be a Practical Discourse I have waved the Controversie concerning the Persons who are fit for to receive Let it be sufficient here to say with Justin Martyr Apolog. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. We suffer none to partake of it but him who believes the things that we teach to be true and that is washed in Baptism for the Remission of sins and regeneration and that lives so as Christ hath delivered unto us He therefore that is baptized and instructed in the faith of Christ and professes to live accordingly and doth nothing that is destructive to this profession ought not to be rejected from our Communion But as of the Passeover a stranger or an uncircumcised Person though an Israelite might not eat so neither may an unbaptized Person or one that doth not profess our Religion partake of this Supper And as they were to cast out then all unleavened Bread so are we to keep the Feast perpetually and to purge our selves of the old leaven that we may become a new Lump And that we may be well instructed in our duty I have shown in the following Treatise First What is the end of this holy action Secondly With what Preparations we must approach to the performance of it And Thirdly What affections will best become us when we are performing it Fourthly How we should behave our selves afterward And Lastly What Benefits we shall reap thereby And because I know the great quarrels are about the lives of men which is the last thing in Justins words I have said something in the end of the Discourse which may tend to the satisfying of us who are those wicked persons that are to be excluded If in the first part of this Treatise I have interspersed a little of the Heathen learning Sect. 3. and endeavoured sometimes to illustrate things out of their customes it need not seem a wonder to any considering person And let me make a brief Apology for it and so put an end to this Preface I can very easily demonstrate that no small part of the Heathenish Mythology and Divinity was fetcht from the Hebrew stories and practices As the Greek Poet saith of the Cretians that they were always liars V. Euseb l 10 prepar Evang Clem. Alex. l. 1. strom so I may say of the Greeks themselves that they were always thieves Though they bragged that all Learning came from them yet in truth they were but like the Crow as Tatianus his expression of them is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not adorned with their own Feathers but with those they had stoln from their neighbours That worthy Author hath well observed toward the later end of his Oration against the Greeks that they drew their Dogmata or assertions though unskilfully from the Fountain of holy Writings and having busie and inquisitive minds whatsoever they found in Moses or other Divine Philosophers they endeavoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to set another stamp upon it and make it pass for their own And this they did for two reasons as he saith first that they might seem to others to have brought forth some new thing that was not known before And secondly That what they did not understand
to go out of our selves when we think of him For II. Just Mart. Ib. It was instituted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in commemoration of his passion and sufferings for us As the bread and wine do commemorate the truth of his body so do bread broken and wine poured out commemorate the truth of his sufferings for us which those phantastical people in the first times did no less deny And the bread and wine being given to us severally not both together do clearly tell us that he was really dead his vital blood being separated from his body and his veins and heart being emptied of it This is that miracle of love which the Apostle saith we should shew forth till he come this is that famous act which never ennobled the story of any person that the Lord would purchase enemies by his own blood yea by the blood of the Cross reconcile them to himself The thoughts of this is able to wound a heart of marble with love and to turn a rock into a fountain of tears and to unloose the tongue of the dumb that they may speak the honour of his Name and shew forth his praise And therefore because this was such a singular instance of love and because it contains in it so many secrets which we should have before our eyes it is the chief thing that we are to make a remembrance of But as I said before there are two parts of this Commemoration and it cannot be contained within the bounds of this world but we must make it reach as far as Heaven For 1. We do shew it forth and declare it unto men which is sufficiently clear by all that hath been said We do publish and annunciate unto all that he is the Saviour of the world and that he hath died for us and purchased blessings thereby beyond the estimate and account of humane thought And further the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may import that we do extol praedicate magnifie and highly lift up in our praises this great benefit so that all may come to the knowledge of it as far as is in our powers to procure This commemoration the Minister chiefly makes unto the people and all the people together with him to all that are present so that all may wonder at his love When our Saviour therefore saith Do this in remembrance of me the meaning is do this in remembrance that I dwelt in flesh in memory of what I suffered in memory of the infinite price of my blood which I shed for you in memory of the victory that I have obtained by it over the enemies and tyrants of your souls in memory of the immortal glory that I have purchased for you celebrate this feast in memory of all these things and when I am dead let me alway live in your heart Tell them one to another in a solemn manner and declare them in the face of my Church Let all ages know these things as long as the world shall last that as the benefit is of infinite merit so may the acknowledgement be an eternal memorial Be so careful in doing this that when I come again I may find you so doing 2. We do shew forth the Lords death unto God and commemorate before him the great things he hath done for us We keep it as it were in his memory and plead before him the Sacrifice of his Son which we shew unto him humbly requiring that grace and pardon with all other benefits of it may be bestowed on us And as the Minister doth most powerfully pray in the virtue of Christs sacrifice when he represents it unto God so do the people also when they shew unto him what his Son hath suffered Every man may say Behold O Lord the bleeding wounds of thy own Son remember how his body was broken for us think upon his precious blood which was shed in our behalf Let us die if he have not made a full satisfaction We desire not to be pardoned if he have not paid our debt But canst thou behold him and not be well pleased with us Canst thou look on his body and blood which we represent to thee and turn thy face from us Hast thou not set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood O Lord then suffer us sinful creatures to plead with thee Let us prevail in the virtue of his sacrifice for the graces and blessings that we need and hide not thy self from us unless thou canst hide thy self from thy Son too whom we bring with us unto thee In this sort may we take the boldness to speak to God and together with a representation of Christ we may represent our own wants and we may be confident that when God sees his Son when we hold up him as it were between his anger and our souls he will take some pity and have mercy upon us Just as a poor man pleading with a King commemorates to him the worthy deeds of some of his Ancestors or makes mention of the name of some high Favourite for whose sake he desires his Petition may be granted So it is with us when we come before God to request mercy of him we can hope to prevail for nothing but through the Name of our Lord whom we can never mention with so much advantage as when we solemnly commemorate his sufferings and deservings For then we pray and do something else also which God hath commanded so that there is the united force of many acceptable things to make us prevalent And hence I suppose it is that Isid Pelus calls the Sacramental bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 1. Epist. 123. the shew-bread as we render it which we set before God as that stood alway before his face in the time of the Law that God looking upon it might remember his people Israel for good It will not be unprofitable to add That this was one reason why the Ancients called this action a Sacrifice which the Romanists now so much urge because it doth represent the Sacrifice which Christ once offered It is a figure of his death which we commemorate unto which the Apostle Paul as a Learned man conceives hath a reference L'Emptreur when he saith to the Galatians Gal. 3.1 That Jesus Christ was set forth evidently before their eyes crucified among them They saw as it were his Sacrifice on the Cross it was so lively figured in this Sacrament And it is very plain that Chrysostome understood no more Hom. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c when as he thus speaks upon the Epistle to the Hebrews What then do not we offer every day yet we offer by making a commemoration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his death And we do not make another sacrifice every day but alway the same or rather a remembrance of a sacrifice Such an unbloody Sacrifice which is only rememorative and in representation we all acknowledge And if that would content
to observe this Vow far more religiously then we do an Oath to any mortal man which yet no person of credit and conscience would break for all the world CHAP. IV. TO all those that are thus faithfully in Covenant with him this Sacrament is a further sign and seal of remission of sin For the Law of Covenants doth require that where one party doth profess friendship and ingage to fidelity the other person in the agreement should make assurance of his love and confirm his promises And therefore when we come with hearts full of love to renew our friendship with God we may beleeve that he doth embrace us also with the dearest affection and giveth us greater testimonies that he hath cancelled all the bonds wherein we stood indebted to him Bonds able to break the whole world if payment were exacted Debts which all men and Angels cannot possibly discharge which yet he is so willing to acquit us of that he hath appointed this holy action for that end that we may have more pledges of his love and more assurance that we are not bound over to eternal punishment Well may we run into the armes of Christ where we expect to receive such favours It is no wonder if we be forward to tye our selves fast to God as I said in the last Chapter when he binds himself as fast to us We need not stand so much upon it to promise even to die for him when it is but the way to life We may be glad to lie in the wounds of Christ when we find a cure there for our sins A crucified Saviour should be most dear unto us and we should most joyfully kiss his cross seeing we hope thereby to have our iniquities crossed out and stand no longer upon our account Methinks all that hear of such a Covenant of Grace should be desirous to enter into it and so they would if they had not as trifling conceits of the evil of sin as they have of the worth of their souls And all that are in that Covenant should be glad of an opportunity to reiterate it that they may have stronger grounds whereon to hope for pardon And it is to be acknowledged to the singular mercy of God that we can never come to profess any love to him but he will return back a great deal more to us and that when we give thanks to him he will give us more cause to thank him Now for the full clearing of this thing I shall propound but these three considerations I. That our Saviour in the institution of this Sacrament doth tell us what was a great end of it when he saith Mâ—th 26.28 Luk 22.20 This cup is the new Testament in my blood or this is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins In which speech you must note that the word This doth stand for the action of giving and receiving not for that which is given and received in and by it For the Cup or the Blood cannot be a Testament or Covenant but the giving and receiving of the cup or blood is and therefore by This is the new Testament c. must be meant this action is a Covenant between you and me made in the blood of the Lamb for the forgiveness of your sins The Doing of this doth necessarily presuppose a Covenant of Grace which God hath made and which we own in Christs blood but besides it doth import a profession both on Gods part and on ours who do receive of performing and making good that which we are respectively bound unto so that God doth there tender all that which he promiseth in the Gospel comwe by receiving do bind our selves as you have seen to all the Gospel and mands Now this is the great thing that God promiseth in his Covenant I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more This Action therefore is appointed by him not onely to be a symbol of his sufferings which did ratifie the Covenant of forgiveness but to be an exhibition of himself for to put us in possession of the great thing purchased by his blood which was pardon to all penitent sinners The blood of the Paschal Lamb as Chrysostom observes was shed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Matth. 26. for the saving of the first-born of Israel but Christs blood who is our Passeover was shed for the remission of the sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the whole world Now though the shedding of the blood and sprinkling of it on the door posts were the cause of the deliverance yet their eating of the Lamb was that which did entitle them to it and gave them a right to that salvation So though the blood of Jesus shed upon the tree be that which procures the pardon and be the price of our redemption yet that remission is solemnly exhibited and given unto us or as we speak applied to our persons by the eating of this bread and drinking of this cup which are as effectual as Deed or Instrument for the conveying of this mercy unto us We may see this well explained to our hands by an ancient Author The Sacrament saith Bernard is a sacred sign or secret Serm. de Coena as may be illustrated by a common example If I give a Ring to a friend it hath no other significancy but that I love him but if I give him a Ring ad investiendum de haereditate aliqua thereby to invest him in the right of some inheritance then it is both a Ring and a sign also In like manner though Bread and Wine set before us do denote nothing more then the kindness of a friend that would refresh us yet given and taken as a religious rite and in token of a Covenant they are turned into another thing and are both Bread and Wine and likewise the instrument of a conveyance And this is the change which the Ancients mention of the Bread and Wine into the body and blood of Christ a change not in the substance but in the accidents not in their nature but in their use not in any natural quality but in their significancy application and divine efficacy As when the wax is imprinted and made a seal or silver stamped and made a coin they remain the same in substance and yet are changed in regard of their use and value also So it is with the bread and wine when they are offered unto God and delivered by him again to us and received as a representation of the Lord Jesus they continue what they were if we look onely at their matter but are changed by Gods appointment into divine things if we respect the end to which they are applied which is to make over to us the blessing of the Covenant viz. remission of sins This is all that Theodoret means by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmutation and Cyril by his 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 change of one thing into another and Nyssen by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translation or Theophylact by his great word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transelementation For that this last word doth not amount to a change of one substance into another we may be clearly satisfied from himself who as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread is transelementated into Christs body so likewise affirms that we are transelementated into Christ Now as by this later expression he can intend no more but our mystical incorporation with him so by the former nothing else is to be understood but the conversion of the bread to no other use so that in effect it is made the body of Christ In short he that hath the picture of a King in his Chamber hath but a bare sign which may make him think of him and no more but he that hath the Kings great Seal which confirms him in the possession of all the land he injoyes hath his picture and something else that comes along with it which instates him in a real good And though the wax affixed to the writing be the same for substance with that which is in a mans shop yet for vertue as it is made use of it is much different and far better then all the wax that a whole County can afford Even so it is in this case before us Bread broken and Wine poured out are but bare signs of Christs sufferings if we consider them nakedly in themselves but if we look on them as a foederal rite and as they are given to us and eaten and drunken by us in remembrance of the death of Christ so they are seals and further confirmations of Gods great love towards us And though they are still the same for substance with the most common Bread and Wine which we use at our Meals yet in regard of the use to which now they are converted they become Sacred and of great vertue to convey unto us the things expressed in the Covenant which are of more worth then all the World II. It is further manifest that we are hereby confirmed in the state of pardon and forgiveness because we do here put forth the most solemn act of Charity and Forgiveness to all our enemies For it is a Feast of Love as you shall see afterwards and this is the very condition upon which our forgiveness depends that we forgive others Matt. 6.14 15. and therefore when we here pray for all men and put away all enmity out of our hearts never to return any more God is engaged to express himself to us as a friend and to let fall all differences that have been between him and us I know that we are never to harbour any hatred in our hearts and that we cannot pray successfully at any time unless we lift up pure hands without wrath and I likewise wish the Doctrines of Love were most frequently and severely pressed and practised but yet there is no time when we do more narrowly search our selves to find out the reliques of that sowre leaven and when we are more powerfully moved to extinguish even the least spark or seeds of fire that are in our souls then when we consider Christs death and remember how he prayed for his Enemies upon the Cross And therefore I conceive that upon this account the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood may be a means of assuring our pardon and strengthning of our title to Forgiveness But notwithstanding I consider with my self that this duty of pardoning others is not so peculiar to this Sacrament but that it may and must be done as I said at all other times and for that cause I shall pass it by and proceed to that which I would have most of all observed for the understanding of this part of my Discourse and that is this III. This eating and drinking is a feast upon a sin-offering and therefore is a greater pledg of remission of sin That you may conceive of this aright it must be remembred That though the people of Israel used to feast upon their peace-offerings which were made at the Altar as hath been said already yet they were not admitted to eat of any else The whole Burnt-offerings indeed had Peace-offerings attending alway upon them and so they did partake of the Altar when they were offered by eating of the latter but of the former none tasted but God himself The Offerings for sinne as you have seen were the portion of the Priests and the people were excluded from them unless you will say that they eat by them as their substitutes and mediators But now you must further note That though the Priests were to eat of the sin-offering for particular persons yet of the sacrifice made for the sinne of the whole Congregation whose blood was carried into the holy place the Priests themselves might not eat and so consequently nor the people by them but they were to burn its flesh without the Camp And whether it were upon the day of general atonement Lev. 16.27 or at any other time when the whole Congregation had committed a sin through ignorance Lev. 4.13.21 Lev. 6.30 that an offering was to be made for them they were not permitted to have the least share of it Now Christ made his soul an offering for sinne Isa 53.10 and such an offering that with his blood he entred into the holy place and suffered without the Camp and therefore was most illustriously set forth by that sacrifice which was for the whole Congregation According then to the Law none was to feed upon the Sacrifice and yet our Lord hath indulged unto us the priviledg of feasting upon this great Sacrifice of Propitiation according as the very words of the Institution of this Sacrament do intimate when our Saviour saith Mark 14.24 This is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. which is like to the Sacrifice on the great Day of Atonement which was not made for one person but for the whole Congregation and of this I give you leave to drink This was a favour never granted to the World before and besides what the Law of Moses speaks it is remarkable what is delivered by Porphyry as the sence of all the Heathen Divines in the World L. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Divines consent in this That it is not lawfull to touch so much as a bit of those Sacrifices which are for the averting of wrath Though it was never lawfull you know to eat the blood of any Sacrifice whether Peace-offering or other but it was to be poured out at the Altar and though the flesh of those that were offered for sin by the Laws of all people were not to be tasted yet we may drink the blood of the Sacrifice yea of this great Sacrifice for all the people and we may eat the flesh of it by the command of
and attend upon this which lays the foundation of them Yea by this faith and love our hearts are more inlarged the vessels of our souls are rendred more capable and the Temple of Christ is much more amplified to receive more of Gods presence And that is the next thing III. The holy Spirit is here conferred on us in larger measures which is the very bond and ligament that ties us to him For this union is not onely such a moral union as is between husband and wife which is made by love or between King and Subjects which is made by Laws but such a natural union as is between head and members the vine and branches which is made by one spirit or life dwelling in the whole For the understanding of this which I shall insist on longer then therest you must consider these things 1. That our union with Christ is set forth by many things in Scripture or in St. Chrysostom's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He unites us to himself after many patterns I think there is not a better collection of them then we meet with in him He is the head faith he we are the body Hom. 8. in 1. ad Cor. He is the foundation we are the building He is the vine we are the branches He is the bridegroom we are the bride He is the sheepherd we are the sheep He is the way we are the travellers We are the Temple and he is the inhabitant He is the first-born we his brethren He is the Heir we the coheirs He is the life we are the living c. all these thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do shew an union and such an one that will not admit the least thing to come between them 2. Observe that the highest and closest union is that which is made by one spirit and life moving in the whole And therefore I take notice that the Scripture delights most frequently to use the two first examples of a body and a building and those that are nearest to these Now because a building hath no life but yet by its firmness and strength doth notably set forth the firmness of the union that is between Christ and his people therefore the Apostle puts both these together and calls Christ a living stone and those that come to him lively or living stones which are built up a spiritual house or temple where they offer spiritual sacrifices unto God 1 Pet. 2.4 5. That union therefore is most perfect which is made by life though others may be of great est strength and therefore the Apostle applies it even to things without life that he might the better shew that the union between Christ and his members by one life is in strength more like the solidness of a Temple then any other thing whose parts are so cemented as that they would last as long as the world 3. We must observe That things at the greatest distance may be united by one spirit of life actuating them both and so may Christ and we though we enjoy not his bodily presence It is truly noted by a most Rev. A. usher Person that the formal reason of the union that is made between the parts of our body consists not in their continuity and touching of each other but in the animation of them by one and the same spirit which ties them all together If the spirit withdraw it self from any part so that it be mortified it presently remains as if it were not of the body though its parts still touch the next member to it And so we see in trees if any branch be deprived of the vegetative spirit it drops from the tree as now no more belonging to it On the other side you see the toes have an union with the head though at a distance not onely by the intervening of many parts that reach from them unto it but by the soul that is present in the farthest member and gives the head as speedy notice of what is done in the remotest part as if it were the next door to the brain And this it doth without the assistance of the neighbouring parts that should whisper the grief of the toes from one to the other till the head hear but without the least trouble to any of them which do not feel their pain If you should suppose therefore our body to be as high as the Heavens and the head of it to touch the throne of God and the feet to stand upon his footstool the earth no sooner could the head think of moving a toe but presently it would stir and no sooner could any pain befall the most distant part then the head would be advised of it Which must be by vertue of that spirit which is conceived alike present to every part and therefore that must be taken likewise to be the reason of that union which is among them all Just so may you apprehend the union to be between Christ our head and us his members Although in regard of his corporal presence he be in the Heavens which must receive him untill the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3.21 yet he is here with us always even to the end of the world Mat. 28.20 in regard of his holy Spirit working in us By this he is sensible of all our needs and by the vital influences of it in every part he joyns the whole body fitly together so that he and it make one Christ according as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12.12 As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of tha◠one body being many are one body so also is Christ And that this union is wrought by the Spirit which every true Christian hath dwelling in him Cor. 6. 7. Rom. 8.9 the next verse ver 13. will tell you we are all baptized into one body by one spirit c. Which will lead me to the fourth thing for which all this was said 4. We receive of this Spirit when we worthily communicate at the Supper of the Lord according as the Apostle in that 13th verse is thought to say We have been all made to drink into one spirit i. e. we have all reason to agree well together for there is but one spirit that animates the whole body of us which we receive at the Table of the Lord when we drink the cup of blessing One Christian doth not drink out of the same cup a spirit of peace and another Christian a spirit of contention but as Chrysostome expounds it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We all come to be initiated in the same secrets we all enjoy the same Table and though he doth not say as it follows in him that we eat the same body and drink the same blood yet since he makes mention of the spirit he saith both For in both we are watered with one and the same spirit even as trees saith he are watered out of one and the same fountain V.
another likeness by the offering up of our bodies to God which is a piece of this service Rom. 12.1 2. And so some observe that all other meat is received as it is in it self and no otherwise but this meat is divers as it is received Other meat affecteth and altereth the taste but here the taste altereth the meat For if it be worthily received it is the body and blood of Christ if unworthily it is but bare bread and wine But yet this must be cautiously understood when we thus speak for his presence is with the bread though not in it Though it be onely in us yet it comes with it unto us if we will receive him because else we shall not know how unworthy persons are said to be guilty of his body and blood 1 Cor. 11.27 if he be not present with his body and blood to work in mens souls This likewise is to be further observed for the better under standing of it that the Devil who loves to imitate God that he may the better cozen and cheat doth seldom manifest his power to any great purpose but when he is called by some of his own ceremonies and sacraments that he hath appointed This doth but tell us that Christ is then most powerfully present when we use his rites which he hath instituted and hallowed as special remembrances of his love and testimonies of our love unto him So that we may come hither and expect that we shall feel more at such a time and in the use of such means then at or in others because he hath made them his body and blood in such sort as I have declared Other union then this by Christs spirit I know no use of though we should believe that which we do not understand I can conceive great things concerning the power of Christs humane nature and it is not for us to tell how far it may extend its influences through the inhabitation of the Deity That it is brighter then the Sun Saint Paul saw when the Lord appeared to him Acts 26.13 And as the Sun we see communicates his beams a vast way and twists it self about us by silver threads of light though seated in the Heavens so may we conceive that the sacred humanity of Christ doth tie us to it self by cords of love and now embrace us in its outstretched armes after a more affectionate manner when we come to remember him But to what purposes this should serve I do not well understand and without the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us the flesh can profit nothing at all though never so glorious and therefore I lay aside such thoughts and content my self to know that they that are joyned or cleave to the Lord 1 Cor. 6.17 are one spirit 5. Now from this secret union that is here made between Christ and our persons it comes to pass that this Sacrament hath been accounted an earnest and pledg of the resurrection For nothing that is made one with Christ can die and be lost but he will raise it up again at the last day His spirit can find out all their dust after a thousand changes it can gather all their dispersons and renuite their scattered crums and knead them again into a goodly body And this it will do 1 Cor. 6.19 for their very bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost therefore he will quicken their mortal bodies Rom. 8.11 by his Spirit that dwelleth in them Hence it was that Cyril so earnestly invited guests to this feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying Come eat the bread that renews your natures drink the wine that is the smile and cheer of immortality Eat the bread that purges away the ancient bitterness drink the wine that asswages the pain of our old sore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the very restorative of nature an healing plaister for the bitings of the Serpent a powerfull antidote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ainst all his poyson he hath infused into us And so several of the elder times speak not without reason for seeing our Lord gives to these things the name of his body and blood we need not fear to attribute to them the vertues and efficacy of his death which we know was the restorer of life We should think therefore when we go to the Table of the Lord that we go to joyn our selves more closely to our head and to unite our hearts more firmly to the fountain of our life That we go to receive of his holy Spirit which like wine running through our veins should diffuse it self into all the vital powers of our souls and make us more able and strong active and quick ready and forward in the service of our Saviour We should think that hereby we may get greater victories over our enemies if we do not betray our succours that we may more compleat our conquests if we use the power that is sent unto us We should look upon this bread as the bread of life and conceive that we take the cup of immortality into our hands and that the next draught may be in the Kingdom of God when our bodies shall be raised to feast at the eternal supper of the Lamb. For this is but a just consequence of forgiveness of sins which the former Chapter treated of that our bodies should live again which became mortal through sin And therefore as Christ here seals unto us the one so he likewise wise assures us of the other and gives unto us the earnest of the Spirit What joy then must these thoughts needs create in our souls What better chear can we desire What greater dainties would we taste then this holy feast affords or what cause would we have of thanksgiving more then hath been named If we desire a consort in our thanksgivings and to have an harmony of souls while we sing his praises if we would hear some voice besides our own that might fill up our joys and lift them to a greater height That is not wanting neither as the next Chapter shall declare For here is an union of minds begot and a sweet consent of hearts is the result of this entertainment CHAP. VI. AS this Sacrament is a means of uniting us to our Lord by faith so likewise of uniting us to our brethren by love It knits us not onely to our head but all the members also thereby are more indeared unto each other We enter here into a strict league of friendship with them as well as into a Covenant with God For all true Christians are not onely of the Family of God but his children and nearest relations so that we cannot profess any love unto the father of them all but we must at the same time embrace his whole progeny as bearing his character and having in them those very things which we love in him When we take the bridegroom we
love from us and he hath made our Brethren to be his proxies and receivers he hath transferred the debt that is owing him unto them that we may do them those kindnesses for his sake which we cannot do immediately unto him It is worthy our notice that the first person that ever received this holy Sacrament was in all likelihood St. John the beloved Disciple he that lay in Jesus his breast and is therefore called by some Greek Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he in the bosome whose heart was so full of love to the Brethren that he breathes little else in one whole discourse which he left to his little children And you may observe also that immediately after this Supper spoken of Joh. 13. our Saviour entertains his Disciples the rest of that night till he went into the garden with those heavenly discourses which you read in the 14 15 16 17 Chapters of the same Gospel A great part of which contain the Commandment of brotherly love of living in peace and being one with each other even as He and his Father are one which may well suggest to our meditations that one intent of this heavenly repast is to breed in us a kind of coelestial charity and make us all like that Disciple who first had the favour to taste of it IV. This Supper is the more significant of Christian charity and peace that is to be between all the guests because they all eat of one loaf as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 10.17 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render one bread more properly may be translated one loaf of which all the company do partake and thereby are made one body members of the same Christ and members one of another As the flour though consisting of many little parts is mingled and knealed into one loaf so are all Christians united and compacted into one body by partaking of that one and the same individual loaf And therefore we may by the way take notice that the bread provided for our Communions though never so great ought to be but one loaf and likewise that all should communicate if it may be at the same time and not one part of a Congregation to day and the other at the next meeting for this doth not so well signifie the union that is among all Christians who live together in the same society And to render this contesseration the more manifest Joseph de Vicecom L. 2. de Mâ—ssae rit cap. 10. in some ages of the Church though but in some particular places every family that did receive offered a quantity of flower with which the communion-Communion-bread was made This mixture of one mans meal with anothers and the combination of all the particles in one paste did well denote that they were but one body of men mingled together by such a common affection that they were made one lump and did lose themselves in one another not knowing any difference between each other And indeed there never was any society of men so strongly united and kneaded together as the first body of Christians were Though their union may well be represented by the little Atomes of flower all glewed together in a loaf yet the strength of their union may be better compared to the stones of a Temple so cemented that the hand of man is of no force so much as to move them And to such stones the Apostle St. Peter compares them when he saith 1 Ep. Cap. 2.5 that as lively stones they are built up a spiritual house c. Living stones they were because they were so many souls or hearts joyned together into a spiritual temple making one great heart beating with the same love and because likewise they had all drunk into the same spirit of life Act. 2.32 which was the common vinculum tie or bond that thus united them together and made this one bread to be like the strength of stones rather then bread As the little particles of meal were by the help of water wrought into one paste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 12.13 so were all particular Christians by this spirit wherewithall they were watered formed into one spiritual body to be no more many but one V. The ancient Christians likewise had many significant customs and practises whereby they did notably express at this feast the love which was among them The most remarkable of which are these 1. There was the Holy Kiss wherewith they saluted each other as a token of the dear affection wherewith they embraced and of their desire that their souls might pass as it were into each others bodies There are many places of Scripture which mention this kiss as Rom. 16.16 1 Cor. 16.20 c. and the best Writers near the times of our Saviour tell us it was used to be given at the holy Communion as the fittest season to express such an innocent and sincere love When we have done prayers saith Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. 2. c. we salute each other with a kiss and then immediately the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Minister takes the bread and wine from the hand of those that offer them c. At this feast then they did salute one another and when they fasted De Orat. cap. 14. it began to be a custom saith Tertullian that after prayers they should forbear the kiss of peace quod est signaculum perfectionis which is the sign or seal of perfection i.e. of love and charity I suppose he means which is called by the Apostle the bond of perfectness That it was a custom among the Jews to salute with a kiss at their prayers is the affirmation of Drusius In Generosia but a greater man then he was saith that he finds no such thing in all their writings and shews that in all likelihood he was deceived by mistaking the word Tiphluth for Tepilloth the former of which signifies foolishness and the latter prayers Buxtorf Lex Tal. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so he observes that it is said in the great Bereschit upon those wvrds Gen. 29.11 every kiss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to folly i. e. a wanton kiss except those three to which one adds a fourth First The kiss of homage such as Samuel gave to Saul 1 Sam. 10.1 and such I may add as we are bid to give to the Son of God Psal 2.12 Secondly The kiss of meeting such as Aaron gave to Moses Exod. 4.27 Thirdly The kiss of departure such as Orphah gave to her mother Ruth 1.14 And fourthly The kiss of kindred such as Jacob here gave to Rachel because she was his Cousin VVe must seek therefore for no other reason of this kiss but that it was a sign of kindness and love by the custom of all the world and therefore it is called the kiss of charity 1 Pet. 5.13 And for this cause saith Chrysostome the Apostle bids the Corinthians
And as you see a Mountebank commends his Medicines his Balsomes and Pomanders with so many amplifications and lyes and arts of insinuation that he cheats poor silly people So doth the Devil puff up the ambitious mans mind and swells a Mole-hill into a Mountain and he tickles the wanton fancy with promises of ravishment in an empty pleasure and to the covetous heart he saith Thou canst not tell the contentment that so many baggs of Gold or such a fair Lordship would give thy heart And there is no man but he labours to cast a mist before his eyes and to dazzle him with some glittering appearance in the midst of which he hopes to work his ends upon him Now the light of faith strikes through all those painted shows and an hearty belief of the truth of the Gospel which the holy Eucharist still encreaseth makes all these shadows flye away It will not let us be deceived as was our Mother Eve with specious pretences but saith Avant thou Impostor away you lying vanities Tell me not these Tales For his Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Psal 119.111 And there is no less power in this holy food to enervate a second of his Arts which is to affright us with the noise of danger and mischief that shall seem greater than all the pleasures of goodness if we will not be perswaded but that it is pleasurable He puts strange vizards upon all things and makes them look as ugly and fouly as he can that so he may make us flye from the troubles of a mortified life He labours to make us believe that there is nothing but sadness in Gods wayes and it begins perhaps to make us melancholly with the very thoughts of it And if this will not do he will stir up enes mies against us to discourage us our own friends perhaps shall cast us off or the fire of persecution shall burn against us But now the Hope of the glory of God will make us rejoyce even in the midst of tribulations Here we embrace also a crucified Saviour and there is no better Livery than a Garment rent and torn a Body wounded and abused if need should be for Christs sake There is nothing can affright a soul that dwells in the wounds of its Saviour as in the holes of a Rock Nothing will seem difficult to a heart that is filled with expectations to dwell for ever in his embraces in the Heavens And now how is the world and the flesh confounded when they see good men rejoyce and triumph in the midst of all miseries and discouragements How do the Devils howle to see their stratagems so unsuccessfull that even Paines are accounted Pleasures and Losses are accounted Gains and Torments are turned into Joyes and Prisons are the Gate-houses of Paradises The Devil you will say will study to be revenged on such men and will not cease to vent his malice against such souls And seeing he knows not how to do them harm but by makeing of them sin he will try if like a Serpent he can insinuate but a part of himself at any little hole He will perswade them to self-indulgence in some small crime that so he may bring them to all the rest or he will labour to draw them if it may be within the verge of sin into an infections place into the society of a temptation hoping that by little degrees and preambles he may make way for sin to enter But the love of God which is here much inflamed will make the soul of such a quick scent that it may easily perceive his wiles Love doth extraordinarily enlighten the soul by its flames and will make it more discerning of the least spot that is in it self and of the least danger that is without And the more pure and white the soul grows by love the sooner will any speck of filth be espied upon it The more full of light it is the more imperfections will it take notice of which before were unobserved as in the beams of the Sun we see a thousand little attomes or motes which before were not discerned By all this which in your own meditation may be enlarged you see what strength it affords To which you may add if you please that as the Devil hath baits for every pallate and can humour every mans taste and comply with all complexions and dispositions So is the holy Sacrament an Heavenly Manna which tastes as every man wishes and as the Author of the Book of Wisdom speaks doth serve to the appetite of the eater Wiâ—â— 16.20 21. and tempers it self to every mans likeing being able to give them all content Thirdly I fficacia ad medicinam But this Bread and Wine being spiritually received are not onely food and meat but Physick and Medicine also They are means to preserve health where it is and to restore it where it is decayed Though this may seem more doubtfull then the two former and you may ask how Bread-and-Wine do signifie any thing of this nature yet I shall show you that is denoted by them in Christs intention more then any thing else For the bread as you have seen doth not represent the Body and flesh of Christ barely and in general as it is the food of the soul but in a more especial manner as the flesh of a Sacrifice and that a Sacrifice for our sin whereby it becomes not only our meat but our medicine also The food we eat is in remembrance that Christ died for sin and so it is healing to our souls and killing to our sins it purges away our iniquities and purifies our hearts And so Christs Blood is here considered as the Blood of the Cross the Blood of Atonement and propitiation for us and therefore we do not receive as hath been said bare Bread and Wine but Bread broken and Wine poured out And here you may take notice of the reason why Christ did institute Bread and Wine rather then flesh to represent himself by unto us Not because flesh was used by the Jews in their Sacrifices for so were Bread and Wine nor onely because this was the common food and nourishment for the body for so was flesh also But it is likely Christ chooses things without life wherein there was no Blood viz. Bread and Wine because he would shew that no Creature was any more to lose its life for the sin of men and that no more Bloud was to be shed for expiation of it The Passeover which we may call a Sacrament of the Old Testament was bloudy to denote Christs Bloud that should be shed but now that it is shed the Sacrament which represents it as already done is without any bloudy thing He is shown to us as one that hath died by this broken bread and wine effused and he shows us likewise that there shall be no more Death no more blood shed for us a
full Atonement being made because it is onely bread and onely Wine These things then having such a special reference to Christs Death the worthy receiving of them must needs be of great force 1. As an Antidote to take away the poyson and killing-power of sin The Blood of Christ doth wash away our guilt and takes off all obligation unto punishment and the consideration that Christ hath died for us expels the poyson from the heart which would make us faint and die It heals the wounds that sin hath made and takes away the anger of the sore it asswages the rage and heat of that sting which the fiery Serpent had sent unto us and suffers not the venome to undo us The pardon indeed is granted to us by vertue of the Covenant of grace when we unfeignedly repent and believe i. e. when we are converted unto God but now likewise it is further sealed to such persons That which was confirmed before by the Blood of Christ is now in a sensible manner applied to us and ratified by the representations of that Blood In the use of these things likewise we receive an increase of Piety and get more full victories over our sins and thereby feel more the virtue of the Antidote and have a sense of our pardon made as lively as if there was a new act of grace passed to settle it more surely upon us 2. It is of a Cathartical virtue also and hath in it a force to purge and cleanse our souls from their impurities As it takes away the killing-power of sin against us so it kills sin in us By our abiding in the Wounds of Christ sin is wounded and slain If any of you saith St. Bernard do not feel so frequently the sharp motions of anger envy or luxury c Gratias agat corpori saâ—guini Domini c. Let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord and let him praise the power of this Sacrament The blood of Christ quenches the fire of anger the heart-burnings of malice and envy the feavourish heats of lust the raging thirst after sensual pleasures Consider what thou art Dost thou delight in drink Here is a draught to quench thy thirst Art thou a glutton Here is a morfel that will make thee say Lord evermore give us this Bread Art thou worldly-minded Here is Christ dying to the world and leaving the world who will carry thee away with him in his armes Art thou fearfull to suffer any thing for Christ Drink the Cup of the blood of Christ that thou mayst be able to shed thy own bloud for Christ Calicem sanguinis Christi bibas ut possis propter Christum sanguinem sundere Cypt. Give saith Cyprian the Cup of Christ to those who are to drink of the Cup of Martyrdome Art thou affraid of the power of the Devil Christ O man comes here to take possession of thee And as he upon the Cross spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them so mayst thou do also in this Sacrament of the Cross Art thou affraid of growing cold and dead in good duties Thou drinkest of Jesus that is full of spirit and will warm and enliven thy heart Whatsoever sin thou hast unmortified bring it hither and nail it unto the Cross of Christ till it be stark dead And unto whatsoever good thou wouldst be animated shew thy Lord thy desire to it and shew him his bloud to move him to bestow it Onely remember that it works not as Physick doth in a natural but in a spiritual manner It works as a Sacrament and requires thy inward rational and spiritual operations and then thou wilt find the profit of it to be greater then all that I have said Some of the old Heathen represented plenty and worldly happiness by a man with bread in one hand and a Cup in the other and a Crown of Poppy about his head which signified sleep and emptiness of care and trouble in the midst of abundance That man thou maist be for by this bread and Wine is exhibited to thee all plenty of grace and blessing of peace and comfort Thou maist lay down thy self in peace and sleep quietly not in the lap of the world and carnal security but in the bosome of our Lord folacing thy self in his love and saying Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine encreased Psal 4.7 Let me say therefore to every holy and well-disposed Soul in the words of St. Ambrose Venias venias ad cibum Christi adcibum c. Come come to the food of Christ to the food of the Lords Body to the banquet of the Sacrament to the Cup wherewith the affections of the faithfull are inebriated and made drunken That thou maist put off the cares of the world the snares of the Devil and the fears of Death and that thou maist put on the comforts of God the delights of Peace the joys of Pardon more sweet than all the Pleasures of a Paradise And thou O Lord our God who dost provide food for all Creatures and hast given all Creatures to be food for Man and feedest not onely his body but his soul also and givest him for his soul not onely the holy Word but the blessed Body and Blood of thy Son Do thou cause all our hearts to burn with desires after thee who art so full of love to us Make every Christian soul to rellish and savour the things of God Prepare every one by a full digestion of thy Heavenly Word to receive likewise this divine nourishment of their Souls Stir up all their hunger after this Feast Excite all their longing-appetites after this Heavenly Manna And let this be the voice and hearty language of every one that reads this Book Give us good Lord Give us evermore this food Amen most gracious God for Jesus Christ his sake Amen CHAP. XIX AS the Sun and the showres make those Plants more tall and beautifull which have any living roots in the earth but on the contrary do putrifie and dry up those whose roots are dead So it is with this Sacrament which renders their souls more fair and flourishing who receive it rooted in love but those are more dried and hardned by it and tend more to corruption who have no life at all in them whereby to convert it into their nourishment Or as you see it is in corporal nutriment those meats which give a plentifull increase to sound bodies do more weaken and infeeble those whose stomacks are corrupt and the higher and fuller the nutriment is the more corruption doth it breed in those that are infirm and not apt to receive it So it is in this sacred spiritual repast the greater and more large stock of spirits and strength it is apt to afford to a soul that fits it self to receive it the more distempers and weaknesses doth it leave in the spirit of him that cares not what he does
Supper c. i. e. Your very coming together signifies love but it doth not work it for whereas you should have a common Table as our Lords was you make it your own pleasure and exclude the poor from it But I will tell you what the Lord delivered to me that he in the night he was betrayed entertained not onely his holy Disciples but even the Traitor Judas that wicked enemy of his at his Table and how dare you therefore refuse the poor and exclude them from your Feasts Or thus If the Lord gave both to poor and rich his Body and Blood darest thou separate any from thy table and cast a scorn upon them If he gave thanks who delivered and divided his own Body shalt not thou thankfully and with the greatest joy make the poor thy companions and guests at the things that are given from him to thee c. I tell you once more ver 27. that whosoever eats and drinks in this unworthy and base fashion contemning the poor for whose sakes you meet together he is guilty of Christs Body and Blood and doth the greatest dishonour unto them by handling them with such impure hauds And at last ver 33.34 he adviseth them that they would stay one for another and if through hunger they could not well expect long he bids them eat at home and not come together for condemnation Upon which words the same Author thus glosseth You come together to the Supper for love and if that be in your hearts you had better take a refection at home then by casting a contempt upon your brethren shew that you have no love at all It is very likely also That first from these Feasts they sent portions to those that were absent to testifie their love unto them and so afterward as is most certain the custom grew to send from the Eucharist some of the blessed bread to those that could not come unto their assemblies So Justin saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they carry away some part to those that are not present Which I suppose arose in imitation of the Jewwish manners who in their Feasts sent portions one to another that they might more express their friendship which they desired to continue The Heathens likewise were not strangers to this custome as one example out of many will bear sufficient witness When Agesilaus offered his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. in vita Agesilaus sacrifices for glad tydings of a victory he sent pieces of the flesh to his friends that he might make them partakers in his joyes All which I mention onely for this end that we may see how desirous they were in the beginning of our Religion to keep up a mutual charity as the greatest honour of it which made them omit no custom that had been obliging among the Jews if it might help to promote the love and unity of the Church 3. Then they had their collections for the poor which ensued their participation of Christs Body and Blood This the Apostle mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc 1 Cor. 16.1 2. when he bids them on the first day of the week when the mysteries were celebrated to lay by something for the use of distressed Christians which was the practice of other Churches And Justin Martyr's words may be a good Comment upon that Text when he saith After these things i. e. receiving the Sacrament we alway remember one another of them and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They that have Apolog. 2. do help those that want every man giveing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as he himself thinks fit to do And that which is gathered is laid in the hands of the President i. e. the chief Minister wherewith he helps the Orphans and Widows relieves those that are sick or in prison and those that travel and all strangers and to be short he is the Curator of all that are in need You may perceive likewise by the Apostles words that their charity was no less large then the world and that it was not impaled in a particular Church but did stretch its hands to the farthest parts by sending relief to Jerusalem from whence the Gospel came unto them But besides these there were other offerings as we call them at this day which the people brought both for the celebrating of the Eucharist and the maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel These gifts as an Adversary confesseth were called Sacrifices Dionys Petav. diatrib in Syness cap. 3. though coming from the hands of the people Whence it is that Cyprian chides the rich people that they threw nothing into the Corban and came into Gods house sine sacrificio L. de Opere Eleemos without a sacrifice yea did eat part of that sacrifice which the poor had offered With these sacrifices the Apostle saith that God is well pleased and they that did offer them did it to testifie their love to God who had given them such good things and their love to their Brethren who they desired should share with them in Gods blessings They were both a piece off Gods worship and gave glory to him Psal 96.8 It was accounted a favour to be admitted to the offertory i. e. to have their money accepted which they gave to the poor And it was a punishment to communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without offering as a perfect communion was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communión with offering Petavius Ib. Epist ad Diog. and likewise a piece of great charity that made others glorifie his Name By these and all other wayes they expressed such an affection that it was the talk of the Heathens and that whereby they were known by all men to be his Disciples And therefore when Diogenetus sent to Justin Martyr to know something more particularly concerning the Christian way he enquires not onely what God they trust in and how they worship him and what makes them contemn the world and despise death c. but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was that their dear affection which they did bear unto each other This was more famed in the world then the noble band of lovers that died at each others side and were ready to receive those wounds into their own bodies which were dealt to their companions For they did not onely impart their goods but their own selves and were prepared to lay down their lives for the Brethren And if the relief they bestowed on each other were like incense and sacrifices to God Phil. 4.18 then the giving of themselves was something like the love of Christ and too great a charity to be resembled to any thing but his sacrifice 4. And there was another thing that was sometime in use which testified their love to all Christians throughout the World One Church sent a loaf of bread to another as a token of their consent in faith and their consort in affection which they that did
receive might consecrate if they thought good and use at the ministration of the Sacrament and thereby testifie their union with the rest of the body of Christ that were distant from them Aug. Epist 31. So Paulinus wrote to St. Aug. Panem unum quem unanimitatis indicio misimus charitati tuae rogamus ut accipiendo benedicas i. e. That loaf of bread which I sent to your kindness as a token of our unanimity I beseech you to receive and bless Such wayes did those holy men study and devise to engage themselves to each other and represent the brotherly kindness that was between them Beside all this the present Greek Church and I know not how ancient such a custom is do in express words when they are at the Communion profess charity to all men even to their enemies and make a solemn declaration of the love that is in their hearts before the whole Assembly of Gods people De rit Eccles Gr. cap. 24. For so Christoph Angelus relates That when they go up to the holy man for to receive they turn themselves first to the West and then to the South and next to the North and say to the brethren that stand on all sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians we pray you pardon us all our offences either in word or deed And they all answer again when they are thus spoken unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brother God grant thee his pardon This Petition they make unto the Company upon their knees and seldom were any so wicked as to dismiss them unpardon-d if they did then were they themselves excluded from communion We must think then when we approach to this heavenly banquet that we are about to remember the dearest love that ever was and to engage our selves in the greatest affection and strictest friendship that can be in any hearts unto each other VVe must think that we enter into a mutual covenant with our brethren by eating of the same bread and drinking of the same cup. And we must resolve never to fall out any more much less to hate malign or do despight and injuries to one another but to live more then ever in the peace of God by a brotherly unity and affection Let us think it as unnatural after such an union to fall out as for the hands to scratch the face or any one member to beat and tear the other inpieces And if there be any thing hitherto treated of in this discourse which men cannot or will not understand to be meant by this Sacrament yet let us all apprehend that it is a bond of charity and doth engage us not to quarrel about such things For it is a great policie of the Devil to make that a bone of contention which should be the Bread of Love and Peace It was intended to be a contesseration and union of Christian Societies to God and with one another but mens evil taking of it as One well saith divides us from God and the evil understanding of it divides us one from another Thus much notwithstanding the weakest mind may conceive that it is a feast of love and it is not weakness but wilfulness nor shortness of understanding but perversness of heart that makes men senseless in this particular And therefore let us use one another as friends and think our hands and tongues and our very hearts are bound with cords of Love which we cannot break without apparent violence to our selves Remember always that a Rupture in this Sacred Bond of Brotherly Love doth disunite us likewise from our Lord himself For there are not two cups whereof we drink at his Supper the one containing the Love of Christ the other the Love of our Brethren but we drink both at one draught and engage to both at one breath So that he who unties the one knot at the same time dissolves the other according as the beloved Disciple speaks He that loves not 1 John 4.8 knows not God for God is love Conclusion WHen I consider all these admirable uses of this holy food I do not wonder if some devout persons in the elder times out of an excess of love did by their daily bread which we petition for in the Lords Prayer understand this divine bread and so out of a spiritual hunger and a forwardness of affection did eat of it every day For you see that herein we commemorate both to God and man the death of Christ we publish it to the world and plead it with God in our own behalf and others Then this we have nothing more prevalent so that our hearts begin while we are commemorating of it to burn with heavenly fires and our tongues here tast such things that make them sing the praises of Angels We seal Indentures between God and us We give entertainment to our Lord Christ and let him into our hearts yea we profess to all the world that we are of his Religion and Communion We are confirmed likewise in his favour he opens unto us his very heart he lets us into his secrets and knits us unto himself with a more inseparable affection We likewise associate our selves with the Disciples of our Lord and make a firmer League of a holy friendship with them All which may well make us say with the Disciples Lord evermore give us this bread But though it be so desirable to feed alwayes on such sweetness yet you cannot but discern that this is a business that requires the greatest intention of our mind and the strongest affections of our heart and layes the most weighty engagements upon us for our eternal good and therefore must be well understood and solemnly performed in our approaches to it For which cause before I direct your Addresses to this Table which is the next thing to be done having opened to you the secrets of it I will observe to you these two things for a conclusion of this part of my discourse The one to quicken your appetite that you may feed heartily The other to guide your minds that you may not feed upon shadows 1. This must needs be the most nourishing and strengthning food of all others that a Christian hath because there are so many ends and purposes to which it serves It feeds all our Graces at once as you shall hereafter see and it sends a nourishment and that most plentifull and copious to every part It encreases our love to God and our love to man which is the sum of all our duty It engageth us in the most sacred bands by the dying of Christ by his dearest love by all the blessings which he hath bestowed to do that duty and faithfully perform it It is a little Epitome of the whole Gospel for it shews what God will do for us and what we most do for him and it affords strength unto us for to do it And therefore it is called the New-Testament or Covenant in his blood because here the whole New Covenant