Life for the better looks as it were for a new Sacrifice for Sin and since he will not be purged from his known Sins by the Blood of Jesus which hath been already spilt if he hath any hopes of being purified from his Sin in order to the obtaining of Eternal Happiness seems to desire a more effectual Death of that great Mediator which may against his Will drag him away from his sinful courses and thereby would have Christ suffer and be kill'd again and consequently makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 4. He that Eats and Drinks unworthily kills the Lord Jesus You will say This is impossible Christ being in Heaven and incapable of any such Act of Violence No more could Saul if you understand it according to the Letter persecute him after he was glorified yet the voice that came to him in his way to Damascus said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. â— 4. The same may be said of an unworthy Receiver he cannot strictly speaking kill the Lord Jesus yet being unwilling to venture upon a change of Life under all the Abjurations of a bleeding Redeemer that stubborness is Death to Christ as God said to the Jews Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorssh Heart So may the Saviour of the World cry to the Communicant that comes to remember his Death and will not die to his known Sins Thou piercest thou woundest thou killest me by thy obstinate and refractory temper as we say of a tender Father that the ill course his disobedient Son takes is death to him because it is as grievous to him as if one should attempt to take away his Life The unworthy Receiver by being loth to conform to the Rules of the Gospel in his Practices even while he beholds as it were Christ Crucified for his Sins does an Act so unworthy so disrespectful so injurious that it is as much as if he made attempts upon his Life nay he kills the preventing Grace Christ affords him and slays the good motions whereby Christ lives in him Christ is said to be in us as we are Christians and the unworthy Receiver being desirous and willing to maintain and keep his darling Sins doth thereby drive Christ out of his Heart and kill him in his own Soul for Christ and Love to a sinful Life are inconsistent and incompatible things These destroy his Life in the Soul and therefore in this Sense also the unworthy Receiver makes himself guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. 5. He that eats and drinks unworthily consents to the Murther the Jews were guilty of when they killed the Lord of Life and approves of that barbarous and inhumane Act and therefore is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. He is supposed to consent to that Murther that is not sorry for if And how can he be sorry for it that is not sorry for his Sins which were the principal Cause of it The unworthy Receiver being supposed to be one that doth not heartily shake hands with a sinful Life and is loth so to renounce his known Sins as to tear them from his Heart we cannot imagine that he is heartily sorry for them for his Sorrow hath not those Effects which Godly Sorrow is said to have 2 Cor. 7. 11. For this same thing when ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what Carefulness it wrought in you Yea what clearing of your selves Yea what Indignation against Sin Yea what Fear i. e. of offending God! Yea what vehement Desire Yea what Zeal Yea what Revenge The Tree is known by its Fruits And if Sorrow for Sin must be discovered by such Effects and these Effects appear not in the Communicant as he cannot be thought to eat and drink worthily so in not being sorry for his Sins he doth not appear sorry for the Murther the Jews committed upon the Body of our Saviour his Sins being the Cause of that Murther And doth not this look like Consent or Approbation of that Murther You will say How can any Man be sorry for Christ's Death when that Death is our greatest Comfort and what Consolations the pious Soul feels it feels by virtue of that Death Shall a Man be sorry for that which God had ordain'd appointed and design'd for the Relief and Redress of our Misery If Christ had not died we had been ever wretched and unhappy and must have looked for no Friendship from above and therefore to charge Men with being guilty of his Death because they are not sorry for it seems to be both against Scripture and Reason Is any Man sorry for a Treasure he finds in the Field Or sorry for an Estate that falls to him by the Decease of a Relation Or sorry for an Act of Oblivion which a gracious Prince imparts to Offenders whereof himself is the Principal But to this the Answer is very easie for the Benefit of Christ's Death and the Mercy God intended Mankind by it must be carefully distinguished from the Instrumental Causes whereby Christ was brought to his Death which were partly our Sins and the barbarous Cruelty of the Jews The Benefit that came by the Death of Christ a Christian most certainly ought not to be sorry for but hath reason to rejoyce in Day and Night But that he was so inhumanely murther'd by the Jews and that our Sins were such abominable things in the Sight of God that to expiate them God was moved to give up his own Son to the lawless Rage of those cruel Enemies this requires our Grief and Sorrow That the Jews did commit a very heinous Sin in crucifying Christ is evident from St. Peter's Discourse or Sermon to the Murtherers Act. 3. 17 18 19. For though God hath decreed that Death as an Expedient to reconcile Man to himself and decreed not to hinder the Jews in pursuing their wicked Designs and Purposes but to make that Death an Antidote against Everlasting Death yet that doth not excuse the Jews from the Guilt of Sin in killing of him whose Cruelty God was resolved to turn to the Good of all true Penitents and sincere Believers nor a Christian from an hearty Sorrow that his Sins were the deserving Cause of it So that a Christian may at once rejoyce in Christ's Death and be sorry for it rejoyce in the unspeakable Mercies procured by it and be sorry that those stubborn Wretches did with that Cruelty dispatch him or rather that his Sins did arm those desperate Sinners to put the Lord of Life to death for the Jews could have had no power to murther him but that the Sins of Mankind crying aloud for Vengeance enabled them and gave them Strength and ministred Occasion to do it So that he that is not heartily sorry for his Sins is not heartily sorry that the Jews did murther him and therefore the unworthy Receiver not being heartily sorry for the Sins he hath lived in consents to that Murther of the Jews and upon
than by thy Will and Precepts Give me understanding that I may do that which is most agreeable to thy holy Nature and the interest of my immortal Soul O let thy Grace awaken my Reason that I may exercise my self for the future more in things Spirtual and invisible Thy Gospel is so true The Miracles recorded there so convincing the Doctrine so weighty the beauty of Holiness so charming thy promises so gracious thy threatnings so terrible thy Laws so equitable that I wonder at my backwardness to offer unto thee my reasonable service Thou art my Father how reasonable is it that I should love thee Tâ—ou art my Master how reasonable is it that I should obey thee Thy Rewards are infinite how reasonable is it that I should contend earnestly to get them Lord thou knowest my weakness and the stubbornness of my Heart O adjure me by the mercies of God to present unto thee my Soul and Body as a living Sacrifice that whether I live or die I may live and die in the Lord Jesus Amen CHAP. XXX Of the Ceremony or Posture of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS Want of Charity the great Cause of Men's separating from a Church sound in her Doctrines and Morals in point of Ceremonies Essential Things in the first Institution of this Sacrament must be separated from Circumstantial The Posture Christ used was not Sitting but Leaning or Lying on one Side No Churches ever used that Posture Several Reasons why Kneeling is the most proper Posture in Receiving The Prayer I. IT is observed by Eusebius that when Polycarp the famous Bishop of Smyrna came to Rome though he differed from Anicetus the Bishop of that See in Points of Ceremony and Customs he had received from St. John yet they communicated together and did not think it Christian-like to break Communion for any Difference in Things of that Nature An excellent Temper and which I could wish had been observed by our Dissenting Brethren who have been over-scrupulous about the Posture of Kneeling at the Holy Sacrament 'T is a lamentable thing to see how Men divide and separate one from another in Religion upon the Account of little External Formalities and neglect the Substance for a Circumstance and the great Duty of Charity because the Ornaments and Decencies of a Church are not modell'd according to their Humour What Account can such Men give of themselves to God who leave a Church by their own Confession sound in Doctrines and Morals for a few External Things which are not agreeable to their Fancy Is this a Cause worth suffering for And can they imagine that God will reward them for neglecting a greater Duty for a less Into what Passion and Bitterness have some been transported that they have even ventured to call this Kneeling at the Communion Idolatry and Superstition When the Children of Reuben Josh. 22. 27. protested that the Altar they had erected was not for Sacrifice or Burnt-Offering but only as a Witness that they were part of the Tribes of Israel the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel acquiesced and were satisfied Our Church protests publickly against any Intent of Paying Adoration by this Ceremony to the Consecrated Elements which would make it Idolatry and yet so dis-ingenuous are some that notwithstanding this Protestation they fill both their own and other People's Heads with Fears that Popery and Idolatry may be hid under that fair Outside In which Proceedings there is so little Charity and Ingenuity that it is a Shame Men should pretend to Conscience and shew so little of it in their Censures II. That which hath betrayed too many into these uncharitable Verdicts hath been their not distinguishing betwixt the Essentials and Circumstantials of this Sacrament betwixt things barely related and commanded And while they have thought themselves obliged to keep exactly to every occasional Action or Gesture used by Christ but not commanded in this Sacrament they have led themselves and others into very palpable Mistakes and Delusions And yet when all is done even these Persons that plead against Kneeling at this Sacrament under a Pretence of keeping close to the Letter of Christ's Actions do at the same time neglect several Circumstances observed in the first Institution for it was celebrated in an Upper Room administred only to Twelve to Men and not to Women and at Night c. None of which Circumstances are observed by these Men. And if one Circumstance may be neglected why may not another such as Sitting be forborn That Christ and his Disciples sate at this Sacrament is the common Allegation and we render the Greek Words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by He sate down And the Reason why we render it so is because Sitting comes nearer to the Posture Christ used than Standing or Kneeling But any Man that is no Stranger either to Greek or to the Custom of the Jews must needs know that these Words do properly import Leaning or Inclining or Lying on one Side And this the Jews express by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sitting by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making a great Difference betwixt these two This Leaning or Lying the Jews used at their Passover Whether they borrowed this Rite or Posture from the Grecians Romans and Persians who used to Sup in that Posture I will not determine But the manner was this they lean'd or lay on their Left Side upon little Beds made for that purpose called in their Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mittoth by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and each Bed held three Persons The Law had commanded Standing at the Eating of the Passover but the Church looked upon that Posture as Servile accommodated only to those Times when they were in Egypt and therefore changed it into the Posture of Leaning which they thought was a Badge of Liberty Nor doth Christ find fault with their Church for making this Alteration in a commanded Posture for himself practised it knowing that Circumstantial Things are left to the Discretion of the Governors of Churches to keep or abolish them as they shall see convenient And this was so universally believed by all Churches of the Christian World that none I could ever hear or read of hath kept to the posture of Leaning or Lying on one Side in the Use of this Holy Sacrament which they would not have presumed to do if this Posture had been Essential to the Receiving of the Sacrament And whereas it is commonly said that this was a Table-posture to which Sitting succeeded still this shews that Men have varied from the Posture Christ used And since he hath commanded no Posture all Churches are at their liberty to order what Posture they think fit and he is a contentious Man that opposes it What Posture the Primitive Church used at the Receiving of the Sacrament Antiquity hath not left upon Record That they stood at their Publick Prayers on Sundays and on other
I might be advanc'd to bliss I see what a costly thing my Salvation is since to purchase it the Son of God did die Yet how light do I make of Heaven O God what moved thee to love me thus And shall I think any thing to dear to part with for thy sake Into what Labyrinths do I run my self while I am mine own Keeper Thou hast paid dear for thy right to rule and govern me and shall I after all be loath to be govern'd by so Gracious a Master Here I make an offering of my Heart if thou wilt but vouchsafe to accept of it it is a Present unworthy of thy Greatness and Majesty yet thou art pleased to require no other sacrifice Hence forward speak Lord and thy Servant will hear and when the Characters of thy Mercy wear out or decay in my unconstant Soul Lord write them there afresh write them with the Blood of Christ that they may be everlasting and may be an Eternal fence to me against the suggestions and persuasions of thine Enemies 3. Conversing with the Holy Angels after we have eaten requires imitation of them in their Praises and Obedience Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearken to the voice of his word saith the Psalmist Psal. 103. 20. Praise and Obedience are inseparable Virtues the one without the other makes dull Musick in the Ears of God Let no Man think that because Angels are invisible Spirits and afar off there is no conversing with them He that doth their work is their Companion their Brother and their Familiar with such they love to be such persons they love to visit and he that doth so may be as confident they are on his right hand as if he saw them for God hath said so Psal. 34. 7. and therefore it must be true whether our carnal eyes behold them or no. Praising is not only to offer up a Psalm or Hymn after we have eaten but living in a sense of the love of God and he that doth so cannot but be obedient and faithful to him that hath so signally manifested his mercy in his Misery The PRAYER O Thon who art the Bread of Life who canst feed Souls and nourish Spirits into Immortal Life who hast food the World knows not of and by secret influences canst enrich and enlighten those that wait at the Pool for the stirring of the Waters O bring my mind in frame O teach me to eat in this Sacrament of thy Love to the satisfying my Soul Make the food of sin odious and bitter to me I have fed too long on that stolen Bread Open mine Eyes that I may see how miserable I am if I do not relish what thou hast set before me Thou hast given me a Soul and thou would'st have it thrive In this Sacrament is that which shall strengthen my Heart I want only a mighty hunger and thirst O thou who hast given me an Appetite after the meat which perishes give me a Holy greediness after that which endures to everlasting life O let the Benefits of thy death prove life to my Spirit Raise it above this dull and Corruptible Flesh that it may triumph over its base desires Bring thou back my Captivity and let my Chains fall off Let the Liberty of thy Children which consists in a chearful going on from virtue to virtue be my delight and ornament so shall the King take pleasure in my Beauty and my Soul shall rejoyce in Thee for ever Amen CHAP V. Of the various abuses of this Holy Sacrament The CONTENTS The most Sacred things in all ages have been abused Instances drawn from the brazen Serpent Gideon's Ephod and the Love-Feasts of the Primitive Christians Abuses of Holy things rise from several causes The Lords Supper hath undergone the same fate The Holier any thing is that is abused the greater is the Crime A great abuse of this Holy Sacrament is to fancy that like a spell it will Charm sin out of our Souls without strong endeavours The abuses committed in this Sacrament no just Temptation to neglect the use of it The Prayer I. THere is nothing so sacred or holy but hath been and may still be abused by sensual Men. Moses Numb 21. 8. by God's special Appointment erects a fiery Serpent or a Serpent of Polished Brass shining bright as Fire a symbol of God's Presence and Power to heal the tormented Israelites who had been stung by fiery Serpents insomuch that if any of the persons thus stung look'd upon the Figure he actually recovered So remarkable a History depending upon this brazen Serpent it was laid up for a Monument yet in process of time this became an object of Idolatry which moved Hezekiah to break it in pieces and call it Nehushtan 2 Kings 18. 4. The very same happen'd to Gideon's Ephod Judg. 8. 27. a thing innocently enough contrived and in all probability piously intended as a standing testimony to future Ages what a signal Victory God had given his People over the barbarous Midianites yet after his Death when with his Life his Power and Authority over the bruitish People were gone they went a whoring after it i. e. fell to worship it an accident which proved the ruine of Gideon's Family and of thousands besides in Israel What could be more innocent than the Love-Feasts in the Primitive Church Mention is made of them Jud. vers 12. They were Feasts made in the Oratories or places where the Primitive Christians used to assemble for the Celebration of Divine Worship and at the charge of such as were well to pass or richer than the rest to these the poorer sort were invited and sat down at the Table with the rich ate with them and carried the Leavings or Fragments home and this being done with great expressions of Love and managed with singular Meekness Charity and Humility with brotherly Familiarity and with holy Discourses without Excess or Intemperance and all sanctified by Prayers and Psalms and reading the Holy Scriptures the Apostles both permitted and encouraged these pious Collations and after them their Hearts being thus impregnated with Charity they applied themselves to the Use and Celebration of the Eucharist That which gave occasion to these Love-Feasts was either Christ's eating the Passover with his Disciples immediately before the Communion or the custom of the Jews who used to eat and drink together in some Chamber or Building adjoyning to the Temple when they offered their Sacrifices or which is more probable from the antient custom of the Grecians who having brought rich Guifts they intended for their Gods to the Temple converted them into Feasts of Charity to which the Poor as well as the Rich sat down and all ate together no respect of Persons being observed at that time which Practice not a few Christians being lately crept out of the darkness of Heathenism it 's like retained changing only the Object of their Worship and doing that to
and Devils Nor need we wonder why God suffers these abuses for the permits them as he doth other sins to let Men see at last that their Condemnation is just Besides this makes those who use this Ordinance in pursuance of the right end of its Institution more glorious in God's Eyes for this hath still been the Privilege of the true Church of God to flourish like a Lilly among Thorns and what the Apostle saith of Heresie in general is most true of these Abuses There must be such things in the World that those which are approved may be made manifest 1 Cor. 11. 19. The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. THE holier any thing is that is abused the greater is the Crime When Belshazar Dan. 5. 1. was resolved to be drunk had he made himself a Beast by drinking out of common Cups though the sin had been great and against Nature yet it might have passed unpunished here as other Villanies are but when nothing would serve his turn but to drink his Reason and his Wits away out of the Bowls of the Sanctuary and to add Profanation of the Vessels of the Lord's House to all his Crimes this allarmed the Divine Vengeance immediately and rather than not shew his Displeasure God thought himself obliged to be at the Charge of a Miracle which caused the fatal Hand upon the Wall and the King's Overthrow followed within a few hours after And if the Abuse of consecrated Vessels raised so great a Storm what must the abuse of consecrated Reason and Duties and Mercies do Sirs your Reason is a consecrated thing God hath set it apart for his use that you should consider and contrive how to get a share among the Blessed hereafter if you abuse it and will let it serve you for no other end but to teach you how you may grow rich and great and fill your Bellies with hid Treasures will not God visit for these things and will not his Soul be avenged on such Persons Your signal Mercies and Deliverances are consecrated things God hath set them apart to put you in mind of your Gratitude to teach you Submission to his Will and to walk humbly with your God if after these you are careless and live as regardless of your Duty as you did before will not God reckon with you one day for such abuses Should a poor Man take the Cordial you send him and fling it upon a Dunghil how would you resent it and can God like it do you think to see how like Mad-men you tear off the Cloaths he gives you to cover your Nakedness to see you live the reverse of his Designs to see you fight against him with his Mercies and as it was in the Case of the Daughter Jerusalem Ezech. 16-17 to see you take the fair Jewels of Gold and of Silver he hath given you and make to your selves Images of Men and commit fornication with them II. One great abuse of this Holy Sacrament is to fancy that like a spell it will charm sin out of your mortal Bodies so that you need be at no trouble to mortifie it The Sacrament indeed confers Grace but it is objectively as it contains very great Motives to a lively Faith and Hope and Charity and it confers Grace too as a cause without which Grace would not be convey'd because God hath promised in this Ordinance to be present and as the Dew of Hermon or as the Dew descends on the Mountains of Sion so here the Lord commands his Blessing even life for evermore But still it doth not confer Grace Physically as if the mere use of it would make you Favourites of Heaven and Children of his Love It 's Physick indeed which will work a Cure but then the Person that makes use of it must be qualified for it must be sensible that he is sick and willing to be cured of his Spiritual Diseases and then God will look upon him as a Father and manifest himself to him look upon him as a kind Physitian and make the Medicine effectual to him look upon him as a Friend and take him into his bosom and say to him as it is Es. 49. 8. In an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of Salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee and cause thee to inherit the desolate Heritages III. The abuses committed by some in this Sacrament must not tempt us to neglect the use of it If the abuse that others have been guilty of were a sufficient excuse to stay away we might as well argue that Meat and Drink and Cloaths and Books and Learning may not be used because ill Men have perverted the harmless design of them We should count that Man a fool that should resolve because a Man of such a Profession hath cheated him therefore he will never deal with a Man of that Profession again or because such a Person who pretended to strictness of Religion hath plaid the knave with him therefore he will never trust a Religious Man again The same absurdity would he commit that from the abuse that others have run into in the Holy Communion should resolve to abstain from it for this would be as much as to resolve to be mad because others are and have been so God hath furnish'd us with Faculties and Powers to discern the Dross from the Silver and the Tin from the purer Mettal and we have his Word to guide us in distinguishing the use from the abuse and as the temperate Man still drinks Wine though thousands in the World still pervert the use of that Creature so a good Christian can see no rational discouragement from coming to this Table though some have made it their bane and turned it into their own destruction The PRAYER O Most Gracious God who hast given us thine Ordinances for our Comfort and Edification and directed us how to use them to thy Glory Give me an Understanding Heart and a pure Mind that they may be a savour of Life unto Life to me Let me not touch these Holy things with unclean Hands but purifie my Soul and cleanse it from that filthiness which doth so easily beset it that I may be fit for thy Divine and Glorious Influences Lord without thee I can do nothing thou art the Vine and I the Branch convey thy Celestial Juice into this withered Branch that I may revive and bring forth much fruit and have my Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. VI. Of Receiving the Lord's Supper Fasting and how far it is Necessary The CONTENTS It is a thing not absolutely necessary to receive the Lord's Supper fasting Several Reasons to prove the Assertion Yet to receive it Fasting is a thing very conventent because it quickens Devotion and is an Act agreeable to the mortifying Prospect of Christ's Death and warranted by the Practice of the Universal Church Total Abstinence from Food that Morning
obtained and did obtain that Prerogative that in the Lords Supper only and at no time else it had the priviledge to be in many places at once About 150 years after him one James Faber of Stapula enlarged this Privilege of Christ's Human Nature and what Gerson had restrain'd only to the Sacrament he extended to the whole World and made Christ's Human Nature as extensive as his Divinity Luther afterward exceeding fond of this Opinion establish'd it in the Churches of Saxony insomuch that he averâ—'d Christ's Body was as much in a Baker's Shop as in the Eucharist only in the Shop he did not desire to be taken and worshipp'd because he had not tyed himself to a Shop by any word of Promise Nay that his Body was in the very Rope wherewith Judas hang'd himself and went through doors that were lock'd and through the very Stone that was laid upon his Sepulchre A strange fancy For certainly Christ's Body was Crucified at Jerusalem and not in all places of the World and when he fate at Table with his Disciples he did not sit at the same time at Rome or in the East-Indies How near this Doctrine approaches to the errors of the Marcionites and Manichaeans of old who taught that Christ had no real or substantial Body but only a Bodily Shape and that when he was felt and found to have Flesh and Bones it was only by special Dispensation how near this Doctrine I say approaches these Errors condemn'd by the Antient Church I will not determine It cannot be denied that Luther was not always the same and sometimes he seem'd to deny what he asserted before But still those among the Lutherans that are for this Ubiquity make him the Great Patron of their Doctrine And though some of them give out that they do not assert the Ubiquity of Christ's Body so much as his Omnipresence yet it will be a hard matter to shew how Ubiquity and Omnipresence differ Some pretend that the fore-mention'd expressions were not Luther's expressions but foisted in by some that would fain take Sanctuary at his Books for the defence of their Opinions But the composers of the History of the Augsburg Confession are ashamed of this Conceit and the Elector of Saxony when in the Year 1574. he came to examine the thing found that it was only an idle report and that in the Edition of Luther's Works there was no variation used from his own words and expressions And if Luther writes in some places against this Ubiquity of Christ's Body it 's an argument that he ought not to be believ'd in other Books where he asserts it Thus came in Consubstantiation and this Opinion the Lutheran Churches do at this time follow and maintain very eagerly And though in all other Points they differ very little from the Protestants of the Reformation for with us they protest against Popish Invocation of Saints Religious Worship of Images Human Satisfactions Indulgences Purgatory Worship of Relicks Prayers in an unknown Tongue Merit of Works Transubstantiation Adoration of the Sacrament Sacrifice of the Mass Monarchy of the Pope pretences of Infallibility and blind Obedience to the decisions of Councils c. Yet this Point they do so stifly and so uncharitably maintain that the greatest part of them refuse communion with us upon this account which as it is an error so we believe it is no fundamental one especially since all this while they are against Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Sacrament and though in the point of their Consubstantiation they ground themselves much upon that saying of Christ Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you always even into the end of the World Yet this is easily answer'd For 1. From hence it doth not follow that he will always vouchsafe them his Bodily Presence for he was after this receiv'd into Heaven and therefore could not be present with his Body at that time 2. What he promises here he made good when he sent the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Truth upon them Which Spirit though not as to his miraculous Gifts yet as to his saving Graces is with all true Believers to the end of the World So that 3. His being always with them must be understood of his Power and Virtue and Influence which would be with them and with the Churches they should Plant unto the end of the World as the Sun is in Heaven and with his Virtue and Influence cherishes this lower World And thus far we agree with them that Christ is present in the Holy Sacrament by his Power and Influence and Gracious Assistances which sincere Believers feel in their worthy Receiving But from hence it can never be made out that his Body therefore is hid under the Bread in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist III. In what sense the Bread in this Sacrament is the Body of Christ we may easily guess if we explain Scripture by Scripture and compare this expression with others not unlike it 1. This is my Body i.e. This is a significant Emblem or Sign or Figure of my Body Or this Bread thus broken represents my Body that shall be Crucified for the Sins of the World Thus not only Rabanus Maurus Erigena Bruno Berengarius and other wise Men understood it in the Ninth and Eleventh Centuries but most of the Fathers that lived before Pasâ—â—sius or before 800 Years after Christ. So that This is my Body is as much as this Bread is representative of my Body As Bread is proper Food for your Bodies so my Crucified Body is proper Food for your precious and immortal Souls As Bread strengthens your Bodies so shall the Comforts and Benefits of my Crucified Body support and fortifie your inward Man As Bread nourishes your mortal Bodies so shall the Love and Charity express'd in my giving my Body to be Crucified for your Sins nourish your better part and a sense of that Love cause a reciprocal Love and Charity in your Souls As Bread unites with your Bodies and turns into the substance of your Bodies So my Crucified Body or Faith in me who give my self for you shall be a means of my being one with you and of your being one with me And this interpretation is conformable to the sense of parallel places I am the door of the sheep saith our Saviour Joh. 10. 9. i.e. As the Door opens and being open'd the Sheep are let into the Fold so I am he by whose Light and Influence Men are admitted into the number of God's Children or by my Gospel they get admittance to God's marvellous Light by this they are let into the knowledge of the greatest Mysteries and by believing in me Men have access to the greatest Felicity So Joh. 15. 1. I am the true Vine and my Father is the Husbandman i. e. As the Vine hath Branches so I have Disciples As the Branches are nourish'd by the Vine so are my Disciples by me As the Vine yields an excellent Juice so my
Repentance What Danger in doing the Will of God What Danger in performing our Duty What Danger in serious Endeavours to cleanse our selves that we may be pure even as God is pure What Danger in eating and drinking with a Lively Faith in the Promises of the Gospel What Danger in making the Love of God and the serious Contemplation of it a Motive and Occasion to grow in Grace If there be any Danger it is in the Unworthy Eating and Drinking at this holy Table and in that indeed there is as much Danger as there is in cutting our selves with Knives and Lances or in running a Sword into our Bowels And who but a Mad-man will do so There is nothing so good nothing so safe nothing so sound nothing so innocent but Men may corrupt it by their evil Inclinations So they may abuse God's Name and Day and Word and Ordinances and the Duty of Prayer and the Ministry and what not Unworthy Eating and Drinking is a sinful Eating and Drinking Let Men separate the Sinfulness from the Duty let them pare away that poysonous Rind and there is no Danger and you may eat and drink at this Table with as little Danger as you eat and drink at home there is no Danger here but what you make your selves The Danger rises not from the Eucharist but from your Hearts That which makes it dangerous is your Love to Forbidden Fruit while you eat and drink here This you harbour this you cherish and that makes your feeding dangerous But cast out that old Leaven and you may feed as peaceably as contentedly as securely as Children under their Father's Wings as People that sit under their own Vine and under their own Fig-tree The PRAYER O Jesu whom I see coming toward me in this Sacrament not with Balm and Myrrhe and Spices hut with that which is infinitely better even with the Balsom of thy Blood to anoint me to wash me and to make me whole to make this blind Creature see and this lame Man to walk this Dumb to speak this Deaf to hear and to dignifie this Beggar even me the weakest in thy Flock the poorest in thy House the meanest person in thy Spiritual Kingdom What shall I say of this Mercy What can I think of it Thou art both the Giver and the Gift the Feeder and the Food the Guest and the Feast the Offerer and the Oblation O deal with me after thine infinite Goodness I have deserved to be left to be forsaken to be rejected to be cast away from thy Presence But O! let not this miserable Beggar go away from thy Door without an Alms scatter thy Bounty and let me gather it The poorer I am the greater Object I am of thy Pity I bring my Heart to thee to reform it I come to offer my Soul to thee be thou intreated to renew it by thy Holy Spirit Bring me to a more lively and nearer conjunction with thy self that I may become a living Member incorporated into thy Mystical Body and may live not longer by mine own Spirit but by Thine which is the Spirit of my Spirit the Soul of my Soul and the very Life of my Life Thou art my Sun from whose Beams I must receive the Light of Grace Thou art my Fountain from which I must draw Living Water Thou art the Root from which I must receive Sap of increase Thou art my Head from which I must receive Life and Being O! let me feel the force of this Sacrament in my Soul Power against Sin and Satan and ability to serve thee Corroborate my Spirit that I may obtain Victory put off the anxious Cares of the World and put on Joy flowing from Remission and pardon of my Sins I am sensible that Thy Table is the strength of my Soul the Sinews of my Mind the Band of my Confidence my Health my Light and my Recovery Being sprinkled with thy Blood I shall be able to turn to fight the Armies of Aliens the Armies of my Spiritual Enemies and prevail against them and go on from Virtue to Virtue till I shall Hunger and Thirst no more in thy Everlasting Kingdom Amen Amen CHAP. XIX Of Bodily Sickness Weakness and untimely Death which is sometimes by way of Judgment inflicted on Unworthy Receivers of this Blessed Sacrament The CONTENTS Sickness and Weakness and Death are either Corporal or Spiritual Some Reasons laid down why God makes use of Sickness and Weakness of Body to Chastize the Unworthy Receiver How a Person may know whether the Sickness and Weakness of Body that is upon him comes upon him for his Unworthy Receiving How Sickness and Weakness of Body and an untimely Death can be said to be inflicted for Unworthy Receiving when we see that even the most worthy Receivers sicken and dye and sometimes suddenly and before their time and when it is evident that these are effects of Natural Causes The time of Adversity a time of serious Consideration The Soul that loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity hath no reason to be troubled when Sickness or Affliction comes as if it came for Unworthy Receiving Worthy Receiving the best Preparative for Death Those that neglect coming have reason to fear that all the Miseries which befal them come upon them for their neglect The Prayer I. HAving told you in the foregoing Chapter that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgment doth import both Temporal Judgment and Damnation and shewn how the unworthy Receiver makes himself liable to exemplary Temporal Judgments in general it 's fit I should in the next place in imitation of St. Paul speak of the particular Temporal Judgments the unworthy Communicant pulls upon himself whereof one is Bodily Sicckness Weakness and untimely Death for thus we read 1 Cor. 11. 30. For this cause i.e. upon the account of this unworthy Eating and Drinking many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep as if he had said This your unworthy Receiving brings Sickness Weakness and a preternatural and unusual Sleep upon you This must needs be meant here for ordinary Sleep or the usual Rest of the Body can be no punishment and to tell you that by Sleep in Scripture is frequently understood Death or separation of the Soul from the Body or dissolution of this natural Life were to tell you what all Men know that have but look'd into the Bible nor can any be ignorant that these Phrases are often used in a Spiritual Sense for Spiritual Weakness and Sickness and Death which will oblige me to take both significations into consideration And that God did in the Primitive Ages of Christianity inflict and visit unworthy Communicants with weakness and sickness of Body and with an untimely Death sometimes especially if they continued impenitent thereby to put them in mind of their Offences and to exhort them to amendment of Life all Interpreters agree and the same Temporal Judgments an unworthy Receiver hath reason to fear and look for at this
day insomuch that if many a Man's sickness and weakness of Body and not living out halfe his days were throughly examin'd and look'd into it would be found to proceed in a great measure from this Cause even his unworthy Receiving of the Holy Symbols II. If we enquire into the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness and weakness of Body to lash the unworthy Receiver in this Life we must conclude that considering how all Afflictions and Judgments of this Life are curative and intended to work a change in the Offender for the better the Reasons why God makes use of Sickness particularly in punishing the unworthy Receiver are these following 1. Sickness weakens the Flesh abates and lessens its violent desires whereby it comes to pass that the Spiritual part gets from under the slavery it lay enthrall'd in while the Flesh prevail'd and puts the Sinner upon serious Thoughts for now it gets leave to exercise its Authority which before was over-aw'd and crush'd and oppress'd by the usurping Tyrant and thereby occasions terror and consternation in the whole Man about his unworthy Receiving While the Flesh is predominant and bears Rule Faith and Reason are mere prisoners and whatever they suggest is not hearken'd to The Flesh still baffles their Arguments and admits of nothing but what pleads in favour of its brutish Appetite Sickness coming and weakning the Flesh and rendring all the delights of the World insipid and unsavoury the Soul recovers her freedom and is now at liberty to think of her former Life to survey the Actions of her past Practices and among other Errors to reflect upon her unworthy Receiving to aggravate this particular Offence and thereby to incline the sinner's Eyes and Heaâ—t to penitential Tears for now the Man having no hurry of business no noise of vain company no external Gayeties no Musick of sensual Pleasures to call him away from minding the things that belong to the happiness of his Soul he is more at leisure to ruminate upon what he hath been doing and the dreadfulness of his Sin viz. feeding irreverently at this Table and not discerning that the Body of the Son of God was offered to his Soul and if any thing will melt or turn him this is very likely to effect it 2. Sickness puts the unworthy Receiver in mind of Death for he that falls sick knows not but his Illness may end in Death and there are few Men but are of this opinion when once they take their Bed fear that they shall or may dye makes them seek out for proper Helps and Remedies send for Physicians if they be able and sometimes for Divines too think of making their Wills set their House in order and after all leave nothing untried whereby they may prevent the stroak of Death Sickness being of that nature and having this influence on men may therefore be suppos'd to put the unworthy Receiver in mind of his Death and as it puts him in mind of Death so if he have any sense of Religion left it minds him also of an approaching Judgment and suggests to him that for ought he knows he will shortly be in another World be summon'd to give an account of his Life to God and appear before the Judge of Quick and Dead even before Christ Jesus the Son of God whose Death hath had no influence upon his Life whose Blood he hath trampled under foot whose Sufferings he hath not much thought of whose Love hath made no great impression upon him whose Charity hath wrought in him no considerable tenderness to his Neighbour whose Presence in the Sacrament he hath undervalued and whose entreaties to become Wise unto Salvation and meek and humble and serious and blameless he hath stopt his Ears against and how little Mercy he must expect of that Judge whom to please he hath not been much concern'd This Kindness Sickness may be supposed to do to the unworthy Communicant viz. to put him in mind of his Death and future account and the Judge whose Body and Blood he hath profan'd and his anger and indignation against such Profanation and what can be supposed more effectual to promote Repentance and Godly Sorrow and new Resolutions to awake from the Dead that Christ may give him Life And therefore God makes use sometimes of Bodily Sickness to afflict the unworthy Communicant But where Death seizes on the unworthy Commnicant either before he can bethink himself or before a previous lingring Sickness hath melted and wrought his Heart into a Spiritual Life there the Man's case is deplorable indeed for to think that God will accept of his Death as a Satisfaction for his Sin and save him however is to make a new Divinity and to erect Principles which the Scripture knows nothing of 'T is true in some Cases where God cuts off a young Man in 〈◊〉 Flower of his Age a young Man I mean whose Liâ—e hath been blameless attended with holy Fears and a Conscientious Behaviour at home and abroad his untimely Death may be said to be a Temporal Affliction for some accidental Miscarriages and single Inadvertencies such as never swelled into an Habit or setled Approbation by which Affliction he is saved and freed from the greater Condemnation according to the Apostle's Rule 1 Cor. 11. 32. But when we are judged i e. with Temporal Judgments such as Sickness Weakness and Untimely Death whereof he had spoken Vers. 30. we are chasten'd of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World In this Case i.e. in Accidental Miscarriages God may be said to accept of the lesser for the greater Judgment upon his Account who died and rose again for those who hear his Voice But where the Sin is habitual rooted in the Heart hath invaded the Complexion and is allowed of and thought harmless and void of Hurt there an Untimely Death is no Security against Condemnation no Shelter against the Wrath to come How far it may abate or qualifie the future Indignation I am not able to say but it is no Deletory no Fortisication no Charm against that Storm III. But here a Difficulty will arise How a Person may know that the Sickness or Weakness of Body that is upon him comes upon him for his unworthy Receiving To which I answer 1. There is not a more ready Way to know it than by ransacking our Life and particularly our publick Devotions If in our present Sickness we find upon Examination that when we came formerly to the Supper of the Lord we came without any sincere Intent Desire or Resolution to be wrought into Love and Obedience to Christ Jesus by the Sight of his Cross and Death and Charity that we came and went away unconcerned unmoved untouched at this Medicamentum Immortalitatis this Physick of Immortality as St. Dennis calls it or that we thought that the Blessings promised to the Faithful and to those who strive and fight the good Fight would fall to our share and
Blood is for the healing of Mens Souls or what a Vine is to Men on Earth the same am I to my living Members and what an Husbandman doth to his Vineyard the same doth my Father to the Branches that shoot forth from me or to my Followers 2. This is my Body i. e This Bread is my Body as the roasted Lamb is the great Festival of the Jews was the Passover i. e. The Memorial of it This Sacrament of the Lords Supper being instituted immediately after the celebration of the Passover as hath been often hinted the Disciples of our Lord being acquainted with that way of speaking could not wonder at Christ's expression for thus the Jews used to say of the Paschal Lamb This is the Passover as we may read Exod. 12. 11. And there was not any so rude among them but understood by this phrase that by eating that Lamb they were to remember the Angels passing by the Houses of the Israelites in Egypt to save them from Destruction This Sense they imbibed with their Mothers Milk and when the Father instructed his Children he told them that by these words This Lamb is the Passover was meant nothing else but this Lamb is the Memorial or puts us in mind of the Passover for so God had himself explain'd it Exod. 12. 26 27. So that our Saviour in saying of the Bread he broke This is my Body brought in no new way of speaking but what the Disciples and all the Jews were already sufficiently acquainted with in Sacramental Discourses which makes Christ add immediately to shew that he meant no more by it but a Memorial Do this in remembrance of me i. e. As the Lamb put the Jews in mind of the destroying Angel's passing over their Houses so the Bread in this Ordinance puts you in mind of my Body that shall be nailed to the Tree of the Cross for the Life of the World and tells you how by that Sacrifice offer'd for your Souls ye shall escape the Everlasting Wrath of God and the burning Lake prepared for the Devil and his Angels as they did the Destruction prepared for Pharaoh and his People 3. That Christ's Church is often called his Body none can be ignorant that peruses these passages Col. 1. 18. Ephes. 5. 23 Ephes. 4. 12. 1 Cor. 10. 16. 1 Cor. 12. 27. And though that Sense we have already alledgâ—d be the principal thing aim'd at in these words This is my Body yet to shew how little need there is to have recourse either to Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation rather than run into such absurdities we might very well say that the Bread is an Emblem or Adumbration of Christ's Body i. e. of Christ's Church For as that Bread is made up of many Particles so Christ's Church of many Members and as those various Crums are closely united to th' other so the various Members ought to be link'd together in Love and Charity according to the Royal Law given by our Master Joh. 13. 34. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another But this we add to shew rather what little temptation there is to run our selves into inextricable difficulties in the explication of these words than to express the immediate intent of this expression All Churches agree in 't That Christ's Crucified Body is meant here only the difference is how the Bread is Christ's Body and how Christ's Body is present in the Sacrament we say it is there spiritually as the Bread is a Symbol a Figure a Sign a Representation and a Memorial of Christ's Body which was offer'd for the Sins of the World and this Interpretation is so easie so intelligible so agreeable to Sacramental expressions and to the Analogy of Faith that one would think it should be impossible for Men to contradict it except they were resolv'd to defend an Opinion right or wrong merely because it is their interest to do so The Romanists indeed have of late years endeavour'd very much to perswade the World that the Greek Church in the Levant is of their Opinion in the Sacrament but not to mention the rudeness and ignorance of those poor Churches which scarce understand the Principles of their own Faith if the Protestants had but taken the same pains with the Modern Greeks that the Popish Missioners do i. e. bribed and paid them for their assent and consent to their Faith they would have been Protestants in this Article of the Sacrament as some of them are Papists at this present Cyril who was Patriarch of Constantinople in the year 1622 where-ever he imbibed his Doctrine certainly was not for Transubstantiation and though by the endeavours of the Jesuits he was afterwards strangled yet that doth not make him an Heretick And though several Synods have been held by the Greeks of late years which have establish'd Transubstantiation yet it 's sufficiently known that it hath been by instigation of those of the Roman Communion who spare no cost that they may bring them to say as they do However such Greeks as are not yet corrupted by the Roman Emissaries are so far from believing Transubstantiation that they know not what it is and as a late ingenious Travellr hath observed wonder any Man should think them such Beasts as to believe such an Absurdity But what doth it signifie whether the Modern Greeks who are sunk into gross Ignorance and Barbarism be of our Opinion or no 'T is sufficient that the ancient Greek Church is and hath been of the same Belief with us The Churches of the Levant at this Day as Learning is become a very scarce Commodity among them so their Opinion in a controverted Point is of no great Consequence Where they can give Proof of an uninterrupted Succession of their Doctrine it may be of importance else not The Church of the Aethiopians or Habessines as they have for many Centuries continued in the honest Simplicity of their Doctrine so their Testimony in this Point of the Eucharist may be of some use and by what appears they seem to joyn with us in this Sacrament For though they pray in their Liturgy That the Holy Ghost may descend and come and shine upon the Bread that it may become the Body of Christ and that the Taste of the Cup may be changed and become the Blood of Christ yet by what one of their own Priests confessed they believe no other Change but a mysterious or representative one or a Change of the use of the Bread whereby from common it becomes sacred And so much appears from the Exposition they give of the Words used by Christ for they say expresly This Bread is my Body and This Cup is my Blood IV. From what hath been said 't is easie to conclude what it is to eat Christ's Body in this holy Sacrament 1. It is to contemplate Christ's crucified Body and the Cause and Reasons of that Crucifixion to view all this with our warmest Thoughts to make
will keep God in his Eye that he may not sin against him that he may do what is just and righteous in his sight and that at Night he may reap Comfort from a Review of his Actions of the Day Lawful Business is consistent with watching against Temptations and keeping our selves unspotted from the Pollutions of the World and this St. James calls Pure Religion Jam. 1. 27. And if this pure Religion be joyned with our Business I do not see how our lawful Business if we mind it the Day or Week before can make us unworthy Receivers 3. No Man hath so much lawful Business but if he pleases he may find time to retire and enter into his Closet and walk with God Where a Man pretends that his lawful Business allows him no time for Devotion 't is to be feared he either tells a Lye or he manages his lawful Business very ill or imitates the carnal Sort of Mankind who when they have spent the whole Day or the greatest part of the Day in Fooleries and needless Business give out they have no time and can find no time for God's Service A Conscientious Man if he be really so will take heed how he conforms to the World in this particular and if he manages his Affairs with discretion I question not but he will find time to ask his Heart what it is that is nearest to him whether God or the World what his chief Aim or Design is whether to be rich or to be good And as he will find time to ask himself such Questions so he will find time for pious Exercises whereby his Soul may be brought to a serious Sense of the Mystery proposed in this holy Sacrament and if he do so his lawful Worldly Business the Day or Week before as it need not discourage him from coming to this holy Table so it need not fill his Head with Doubts and Fears that coming to it having been engaged in much Business the Day before will make him an unworthy Communicant 6. Worldly Crosses Troubles and Disappointments do not make a Man an unworthy Receiver I do not deny but Crosses and Troubles of the World if they fill the Mind with Torments and mistrustful Cares if they depress the Understanding make it lie groveling on the Earth and mind little else but Second Causes if they possess the Soul with despairing Thoughts drive it into Discontent draw it away from Heaven render the Promises of God insipid to her and do so far prevail with her that the future Joys and the Bliss of the other World are insignificant things to her these Effects do not look very amiable in the sight of God are no very tempting Objects to the Son of God the Master of this Spiritual Feast and are so far from being Allurements of his Blessing that they are like to procure his Curse But I consider Worldly Crosses as abstracted from all these Abuses and as such they cannot make a Person eat and drink unworthily 1. Because What were the Communicants under the first Persecutions of the Church but so many afflicted distressed troubled and evil-entreated Christians Their Crosses were great their Afflictions heavy and their Pressures grievous they were in daily danger of losing not only their nearest Relatives but their Lands Houses Possessions they were hunted pursued driven from their Dwellings the Heathens were set against them the Jews were their Enemies they were reproached they were made Spectacles to Angels and to Men they were tormented they were committed to Wild Beasts they were harassed beaten bruised they were wrongfully accused of Treason of Sedition of Atheism of murthering their Children of promiscuous Copulations and of other Crimes they were hated branded with odious Names they were charged with being the Causes of Plagues Inundations Famine c. Yet nothing of these discouraged them from coming to this Table they came to it to chuse and thought themselves the fitter to approach because they were made conformable to Christ in his Afflictions 2. A Man may have such Crosses and yet be very Conscientious 'T is far from being impossible to be afflicted and yet good miserable and yet serious destitute and yet religious hated and yet a Lover of God In the midst of the greatest Troubles a Man may put his Confidence in God praise him for his Goodness rejoyce in him because he hath promised him Eternal Life keep his Tongue from Evil and his Lips from speaking Guile take occasion from his Troubles to consider the Emptiness of Sublunary Comforts the Permanency of Spiritual Consolations the Sweetness of God's Favour the Beauty of God's Providences the Wisdom of his Dispensations the Happiness of Lazarus in the midst of all his Sores and Boyls the Designs of God to make him humble and patient and to fit him for Eternal Happiness And where a Person makes this use of his Afflictions there is nothing can dispose him better for receiving the holy Communion 3. This Sacrament is an excellent Help to bear our Troubles and Misfortunes with a contented and chearful Mind For here the Lord Jesus is represented to us as dumb under all Reproaches unmoved at all the bitter Language that is given him silent under the Rage of Enemies meekâ—under the foulest Accusations giving his Back to the Smiter and not opening his Mouth under the Scorns and Derisions of his Adversaries contented under all his Losses courageous under all the Calumnies that False Witnesses invent against him satisfied with the Will of God bearing his Cross without murmuring answering calmly to his Oppressors patient under his Scourges ready to do good to those that came to apprehend him And is not this a powerful Motive to bear what Providence thinks fit to inflict upon us And therefore Crosses and Worldly Troubles separated from the ill Management of them cannot make a Person an unworthy Receiver Where Men storm and fret and burn with Revenge under an Affliction will be their own Carvers will be vindicated their own way that way that Flesh and Blood suggests and will rid themselves of their Trouble by unlawful Means these indeed if they receive they eat and drink unworthily But that is not a necessary Effect of the Affliction but a Product rather of their Wickedness and Carnality which instead of being cherished must be cut off and mortified 7. A Man's having formerly received unworthily and coming again afterwards to the holy Sacrament with a great Sense and Abhorrency of his former unworthy Receiving doth not make him an unworthy Receiver For 1. If it did we might as well say that he who hath sinned grievously cannot safely venture on a true Repentance To have done ill is no Bar to a sincere Return but a Motive to it and though the Sin be never so great yet if he can so order and manage his Remorse that it may be hearty kindly and attended with a real and universal Change of Life and Love to Goodness he hath no reason to despair of
be conveyed to us in this Ordinance without a due Contrition and Endeavours to tread in our Master's Steps we may easily infer that we were unworthy Receivers and that among other Causes of our Sickness this is one and the principal too even our unworthy and irreverent Feeding at the Lord's Table 2. Is any sick among you Let him send for the Elders of the Church saith St. James Chap. 5. Vers. 14. In the Primitive Church the sick Person especially he that was doubtful of his Spiritual Condition sent for Seven Ministers or Presbyters of the Church as so many Physicians to consult about the State of his Soul before whom he faithfully spread his Case giving them as candid an Account of himself as he could and so left it to them to judge and give Sentence in his Cause And this also is a very rational Way to come to a satisfactory Knowledge whether the present Sickness proceed from unworthy Communicating or not And therefore he that falls sick after he hath been at the Lord's Table let him send for a faithful Guide and Director and impartially signifie and reveal to him the Constitution of his Soul what it hath been and what it is and the Actions of his Life the manner of his Worship in publick and private and how and which way he used to address himself to God what his Thoughts and Preparations were when he used to go to the Table of the Lord what he felt after Receiving whether it left an Awe upon his Spirit a Fear desiring his own Soul what his Design was in Receiving and how far he closed with God And a pious judicious Divine may be very helpful to the sick Person to direct instruct and inform him whether the Sickness be an Effect of his unworthy Receiving or not And lest any should cavil here and object What matter is it whether a Man know the Occasion of his Sickness and what it was that brought it upon him I shall offer by way of Answer these few Particulars 1. If there were nothing but Curiosity in the Case something might be said for a Man's being so inquisitive In Natural Causes of Distempers Men think no Curiosity great enough and if either we our selves or Children or Relations fall sick common Curiosity tempts us to ask the Physician what he thinks the Cause of our Illness is nay if the Cause be unknown both to our selves and others we have very often the Curiosity to have the Body of a Friend or Child open'd to know the Cause And why People should not be as curious in Spiritual Things as they are in Natural I know no Reason The Providences of God and his Designs in the various Accidents that befall us certainly deserve our Curiosity and Inquisitiveness much more than things of an inferior Nature Nor is it impossible to find out the particular Cause why God sends such a Sickness upon certain Persons when himself hath declared in his Word in what Cases and upon what Provocations he will send it 2. If the Sickness be found to be a Consequence or Effect of unworthy Receiving this helps to strengthen our Faith in the Promises and Threatnings of God and finding that what the Apostle hath said so many Hundred Years agone comes to pass still this is a very strong Argument that he spake by the Spirit of God and a Motive to admire the Veracity of God and Encouragement to believe the other Promises and Threatnings of the Word of God Nothing is a greater Confirmation of Faith than Experience and he that hath seen the things the Scripture speaks very frequently accomplished hath enough to turn his Faith into a full Assurance 3. If the unworthy Receiver knows that it is his Sin committed in the holy Sacrament that hath brought the present Sickness upon him if after that he recovers and escapes it will be an Obligation upon him to come to it with greater Circumspection For he that hath suffered in the Flesh saith St. Peter hath ceased from Sin 1 Pet. 4. 1. And therefore having suffered for his unworthy Receiving that Suffering will make him weary of his Sin which he cannot be except he comes for the future and draws near with a pure Heart holding fast the Profession of the Faith without wavering as it is said Heb. 10. 22 23. But IV. While we are discoursing of this particular Judgment another Doubt arises viz. How Sickness of the Body and an untimely Death can be said to be inflicted for unworthy Receiving when we see even the most worthy Receivers sicken and grow weak and die young many times in the Prime and Flower of their Age And nothing is more vulgarly known than that Sickness and Death are nothiâ—g but the Product of Natural Causes I answer 1. Though even very excellent Christians who may be supposed to have been very penitent and worthy Receivers ever since they frequented the Ordinances of God with any Sense and Understanding though even such do sicken and many times die suddenly and in the midst of their Race yet that proceeds from other Causes And these Accidents are either Trials of their Faith and Patience or Preparatives for Heaven or Preservatives from Sin or Occasions to glorifie God or Opportunities to promote the Honour of Religion or Chastisements for some rash and imprudent Actions to prevent their being condemned with the World According to which Rule we are to judge of the untimely Death of that Prophet 1 Reg. 13. 24. who cried against the Altar of Bethel A good Man no doubt but being persuaded by the crafty old Prophet who pretended a Counter-Inspiration he went back and ate Bread in the place against which he was warned for which imprudent Act a Lion found him and slew him And such was the Death of Uzzah 2 Sam. 6. 7. who out of a good intent put forth his Hand to uphold the Ark that was in danger of falling the Oxen that drew the Cart shaking it For which God struck him dead upon the place And this was the Case of Josiah a Man noted for his singular Piety yet going up rashly against Pharaoh Necho was killed in Battel though according to the Course of Nature he might have lived many Years longer Thus God chastised the impremeditated Errours of his Servants in this Life that they might not fall a Prey to the greater Condemnation hereafter One and the same Effect may have very different Causes and the Reasons of Things that happen in the World are various The same thing may be a Mercy to one which is a Judgment to another as the Pillar of a Cloud Exod. 14. 19 20. was Darkness to the Egyptians and Light to the Israelites And the Meat sent to Elijah was a Character of God's Love whereas that sent to the Israelites upon their murmuring was a Fore-runner of his Wrath and Anger And this may be applied to Sickness and Untimely Death In the unworthy Receiver it is a Punishment in the Worthy a
and Sicknesses laid down in several Particulars The Prayer I. AS Corporal so even Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death proves too frequently an Effect of Eating and Drinking unworthily at this Table Nay these Spiritual Sicknesses are more common than the other 'T is true they cause no Pain no Aches no Torments in the Bowels they are not felt as the Pleurisie or Cholick or Twisting of the Guts but they are Sicknesses still And because we find such Things and God manifests his Anger often against unworthy Receiving by such Symptoms we have reason to believe the Apostle aimed at these as well as at Bodily Diseases when he avers For this Cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 'T is true there is not a more proper Medicine for all the Diseases of the Soul than this holy Sacrament To which purpose Albertus Magnus saith very appositely If in the Eucharist in the Remembrance of our Saviour's Passion we reflect on his Humility it will free us from the Infection of Pride If we think of his wonderful Charity we shall be delivered from the Evil of Envy If we consider with what Alacrity he went to die for us and to offer himself in Sacrifice for us it will be an Antidote against Weariness of his Service and Backwardness to Devotion If we ponder his Bounty and how liberally he gives us himself and all he hath we shall be rid of Covetousness If we lay his Meekness and Patience to heart it will be an excellent Remedy against Wrath and Anger If we remember how frugal his Supper was and how far from Pomp and Ostentation and how mean the Food was he made use of it will check our Gluttony and Voracity And if we cast our Eyes on the bitter Herbs he eat the Emblem of his bitter Passion we shall not be troubled much with Luxury And to this purpose was the Saying of Innocent III. That the Mystery of the Cross frees us from the reigning Power of Sin and the Mystery of the Eucharist from a Desire of Sin And if the Woman in the Gospel was cured of her Infirmity by touching but the Hem of Christ's Garment what Virtue may we suppose in his whole Body if it be touched by a lively Faith in this Ordinance If God hath given to the Fat of Vipers Virtue to expel Poyson shall not we think there is greater Virtue in Christ's crucified Body to cure the Diseases of the Soul If he gave Virtue to the Tree of Life in Paradise to prolong Age and to procure Perpetuity of Duration shall not Christ's Flesh represented by the Symbols here confer Life and Health and Salvation much more If he have given some Minerals Virtue to disperse Fumes and Vapours shall not we believe there is greater Virtue in the Incarnate Son of God to disperse the Clouds and Fogs that molest and annoy the Soul This cannot be denied and we may rationally believe that this Sacrament is intended by God to cure all the Distempers of the Soul But if that Medicine be not used as it ought the Soul instead of growing stronger becomes more weakly more sickly and draws nigh unto the Gates of Death II. What this Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death is will not be very difficult to discover If you mind the Apostle's Expression there is a Gradation in the Judgment he speaks of Weakness is a lower Degree of Misery than Sickness and Sickness a lower Degree than Death The first Act of God's Displeasure against Receiving unworthily is to inflict Weakness if that works no Reformation then Sickness and if this doth not make the Sinner rise then Spiritual Death 1. Spiritual Weakness And this may be said to consist in these following Particulars 1. In the Loss of Lively Apprehensions of Spiritual Things which were formerly vouchsafed to the unworthy Receiver Even Men that are Hypocrites in Religion and whose Hearts were never throughly changed have sometimes Flashes of Heaven or Hell coming either from without or from within Ahab certainly had a very great Sense of God's Displeasure and a Sight of Divine Vengeance surprized his Mind when he rent his Clothes and put Sack-cloth upon his Flesh and fasted and lay in Sack-cloth and went softly 1 King 21. 27. And some of us may have known some Persons who have been given to Drinking or Swearing or Lying or Uncleanness or Quarrelling when their Office or Employment or Station in the World or some such External Cause and Motive have put them upon Receiving the Holy Sacrament before they have come to this Table they have had some very serious Thoughts and you might observe in them a Demureness of Behaviour some Apprehensions of the Necessity of Repentance and sometimes their Hearts have been so touched that even a few Tears have dropped from their Eyes as a Testimony of their being moved at the Thoughts of Christ's Death and Passion but the Sacrament being over their Devotion hath been at an end too and they have returned to their old Sins which made them unworthy Receivers because this shews they were not heartily resolved when they came to this Table to subdue their Corruptions Their lively Apprehensions of Spiritual Things they formerly had have thereupon grown dark and decayed become languid and faint and no Foot-step of them hath been left Those Flashes of good Thoughts though short and transitory had they been improved would have signally strengthen'd their Souls and encouraged their practical Love to Christ Jesus But being careless and regardless of that Improvement God justly lets those lively Apprehensions decay and thence comes their Spiritual Weakness God could uphold those lively Apprehensions but they having no Love to them God by a secret Judgment lets them wear out And then What can be the Issue but Spiritual Weakness 2. Irresoluteness to resist Temptations is another Symptom of this Spiritual Weakness When the Soul is either unresolved whether it shall resist such known Temptations or not or resist them but faintly it is a Sign the Powers of the Soul are shaken and the Plague is begun in the Heart By Temptations I mean such Temptations as are agreeable to our sinful Temper and Inclination or such as our Calling and Employment makes us subject to He that observes and takes a View of such Sinners as Receive unworthily cannot but spy in them a very feeble and irresolute Resistance of such Temptations For notwithstanding whatever Resolutions they made before Receiving whatever Prayers and Supplications for God's Grace and Assistance they offered and put up before yet after they have been at this Table the old Temptations return even the same dear Friends that enticed and persuaded them to sin before their Resistance is very weak and they know not well what they shall do whether they shall displease their own and other Men's vain Desires or no. Perhaps some little horror or kind of damp the Sacrament for the present leaves upon their Minds hath so much force
none but general Gifts so even these upon his Abuse and misemploying of them are gradually removed as Men take meat and victuals away from insolent Beggars that throw their Gift upon a Dunghil and as a charitable Pension is withdrawn when we find that the Party which enjoy'd it spends it in Ale-houses and Taverns or in Play 2. By a gradual permitting the Devil to exercise his Power and Jurisdiction upon them God doth not very frequently suffer the Enemy to fly upon the Offender with all his force or to ruin him at once but he lengthens his Chain by degrees to see whether the Sinner will yet give himself leave to think and attempt to be freed from that intolerable Yoak and Slavery but that tenderness and patience of Almighty God becoming fruitless and ineffectual the Judge gives the Executioner greater liberty to darken his Mind to pervert his Will and to sear his Conscience Time was when but one Devil was permitted to Tyrannize over him but if instead of being angry and displeas'd at that single foe the unworthy Communicant embraces and makes him his friend then that Devil takes with him seven other Spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that Man is worse than the first saith Christ Matth. 12. 45. Nor is there any thing of injustice in these proceedings of God For 1. It is nothing but Lex Talionis a just Retaliation a Rule whereby God ordinarily governs himself in the execution of his Judgements Hâ—s 6. 4. He tells Judah and Ephraim Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it passes away The Judgment therefore is made proportionable Hos. 13. 3. Therefore they shall be as the Morning Cloud and as the early Dew that passes away so here the Sin is spiritual the Judgment is so too The unworthy Receiver wrongs his own Soul and in his Soul the marks of God's Wrath appear 2. God in this case doth no more than what we our selves do and think our selves very reasonable and just for doing so A Father reduces his spend-thrift Son to a smaller Allowance and the ground that will not bear any thing after a world of Toil we Dung and Dig and Manure no more In this manner and for Reasons â—ike these God withdraws his Holy Spirit from the unworthy Receiver 3. As the Devil is God's Minister of Justice his Jaylor and Hangman so he may justly make use of him to judge and lash the unworthy Receiver the rather because he wilfully hearkens to the base suggestions of his sworn Enemy and who finds fault with a Prince or Magistrate for sending an Executioner to behead or hang those that have committed Treason or conspired against their lawful Sovereign 4. That God doth gradually send this Spiritual Judgment upon unworthy Receivers this speaks his Goodness Compassion and Patience and shews how loth he is to give up Ephraim how loth he is to deliver up Israel to the rage of the Enemy how loth he is to make them as Admah and to set them as Zeboim so that there is Charity mingled with the Justice and in the midst of his Anger he remembers Mercy IV. And this will give us occasion to enquire which of these two Judgments is greater the Temporal or the Spiritual And here if we consider the mischief done by them we must conclude and assert that the Spiritual is greater For 1. Pain and sickness of Body may yet bring a Man or drive a Man to a true Repentance and a sight of the Errors of his ways as we proved in the foregoing Chapter but this Spiritual Weakness makes the way and passage to Repentance more difficult and the more any thing doth hinder a Man from Repentance the more dangerous it is Spiritual Weakness Sickness and Death supposes that the faculties which should be chiefly employed in the product of Repentance are out of order and violated such as the Understanding the Will and the Affections Bodily Sickness very often puts these into a new fermentation and a strong desire after Spiritual Things But when the very Tools whereby the Soul is to work are blunt and their edge rebated or are become rusty and useless the work is very likely to be left undone If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness saith our Saviour Matth. 5. 23. 2. The Spiritual Judgment is the more dangerous because it is less perceiv'd and taken notice of than Bodily sickness If a Man feel the smart and pain of his Wounds and Sores they oblige him to seek out for a Physician for Remedy for Counsel and Advice and so we find it is for the most part with all Diseases of the Body which cause anguish and grief and great inconvenience and disorder in the Body yet among these various distempers some there are where the poison creeps along in the secret parts and Men perceive it not till it seizes upon the Vitals invades the very Heart and tolls the Bell for Death and these we count the most dangerous Of this nature is Spiritual sickness and weakness It leaves the Body in the same temper it found it in causes no prickings in the Back no stitches in the side no disturbance in the Head It lets Men eat and drink and sleep and walk and do their business and as to the outward Man they feel no inconvenience which makes them think that they have nothing of a distemper about them that all is safe and they ail nothing For this Spiritual sickness cannot be perceiv'd without Thinking and Self-examination which being neglected Men feel it not whence it comes to pass that it spreads insensibly in the dark while Men are asleep and by degrees corrupts the Soul till all its goodness be consumed and consequently this Spiritual Judgment is greater than the Corporal 3. The Spiritual Judgment is a sign of God's greater anger too and though it will not enter into the thoughts of a sensual Man that it is so or that any thing can be a sign of God's Anger but what relates to losses and disappointments and crosses in the outward Man and in the World yet enlighten'd Souls have ever look'd upon Spiritual sickness and Death as a sign of God's heavier wrath and indignation because in this case God doth as it were let Men alone leaves them to themselves and his not punishing of them with Bodily troubles looks like an aversion from their Persons and so much we may guess from what we read Hos. 4. 14 17. The Preceding Considerations reduced into farther Practice I IF Christ and his Apostles press Eating and Drinking worthily at this Table it is because they would have our Souls be in perfect health and they are then in perfect health when they rejoyce in the Lord always Thomas Aquinas upon that saying Cant. 1. 13. A bundle of Myrrhe is my well-beloved unto me observes that as Myrrhe preserves Bodies from
said she was voluntarily poor and we love Gold and Silver he was humble and lowly but we affect Dominion and Greatness he was always in Affliction we hunt for Carnal Pleasures The wisest Person living could not have spoken greater sense and if Christ's Actions were intended for Patterns it will naturally follow that as he entirely resign'd himself to his Father's Will before he went to dye so it 's very fit that his Disciples when they come to remember his Death in a most solemn manner in the Sacrament should follow him in that Self-resignation the rather because like him we resolve in this Sacrament and promise for the Glory set before us to run with patience the Race which is set before us for which this Self-resignation is absolutely necessary as will appear more fully from the following Paragraph 2. Without this Sel-resignation one great End for which we pretend to come to this Sacrament is not to be obtain'd which is to learn to imitate Christ Jesus in his Patience under all sorts of Sufferings which can never be done without a holy Self-resignation He that doth not resign his Will to God's Will in all things must necessarily fall into discontents when any trouble doth surprize him especially if it be of the greater sort for he will either look altogether upon the second Causes whereby his misery comes which will make him quarrel with the Dog at the Stone thrown at him or he will imagine that he might have prevented it and that it was nothing but his own carelesness and imprudence that caused it and that will make him fret and fume or he will fancy that he hath not deserved such an Affliction and that will make him repine or he will compare his present afflicted State with the more happy condition of his Neighbors and that will occasion great murmurings and complaints or he will do little but pore upon his wretchedness and that will fill him with melancholic Thoughts or he will measure his Felicity by Worldly Prosperity and that will unavoidably bring the Sorrow of the World upon him but a Person that hath resign'd his Will to the Will of God can think nothing strange This one thing that his Affliction is the Will of God will hush and quiet all compose his Thoughts lenifie the bitterness and grievousness of his wounds lessen his grief cause chearfulness in his Soul fortifie his Mind and make him say with David I was dumb I open'd not my mouth because thou didst it Psal. 39. 9. not to mention the Sweetness our Souls would taste and be sensible of in this Holy Sacrament if they came with this Self-resignation to the Will of God for this would be a preparative for greater Gifts for larger Effusions of the Holy Ghost and richer Communications of inward Comforts The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. GOD Jer. 18. 2. doth very fitly compare himself to a Potter who by the motion of his Wheel and the activity of his Hand gives the Clay what form and shape he pleases and the reason why he makes use of that similitude is because himself formed Man of the Clay of the Earth and from hence it 's very easie to infer that if we suffered our selves to be managed by his powerful hand as easily as the Clay doth by the Potters we might become most beautiful Vessels Nothing in Nature resists the Will of God The Heavens readily conform to his pleasure and all the Stars move and shine by his Order and Appointment the whole Creation doth exactly and punctually submit to his Law and Night and Day do not make a false step in obeying the Constitutions of the great Architect if they should what confusion would the whole Universe fall into So our Will if it suffer it self to be entirely Govern'd by the Divine every Member and every part in this little World Man wou'd move in excellent harmony their motions wou'd be circular and orderly for nothing causes greater confusion in the Frame than when we are loth to leave our selves to his Conduct This is the way to arm our selves against all danger This abates their force and enfeebles their violence when they come This checks our needless Curiosity and while we enquire for what reasons God sends such things upon us this one answers all Objections It is the Will of God II. We see here by what standard we are to measure Christian perfection even by this Self-resignation of our Wills to God's Will The more we advance in this the more perfect we are and though an absolute perfection is not to be obtained in this life yet to come as near that absolute Conformity and Self-resignation which shall be in Heaven as we can is counted Christian Perfection even on this side Heaven It was therefore wisely said by Alphonso King of Arragon when one of his Familiars ask'd him Who it was that he counted the happiest Man His Answer was Him who receives all things whether sad or pleasant as coming from a kind and wise Father's hand with an even mind And we are told of a Man that had the Power of Miracles conferr'd upon him and being ask'd of his Friend How he came by that Power He Said He knew not except God should like one thing in him which was that he was never lifted up by Prosperity nor cast down by Adversity and whatever happen'd to him still he look'd higher to the Origin and Spring from whence it came and that ever day he made it his business to desire nothing but what God desires and all his Prayers tended that way that God's Will might be entirely fulfilled and accomplished in him Even the Heathen Philosophers placed Perfection in following God i. e. in a chearful submission to every thing that God would have done and therefore we have a notable address of the Heathen Epictetus to his great Creator an address fit to be imitated by every Christian. Great God saith he use me henceforward according to thy pleasure I am altogether of thy mind It is indifferent to me how thou dealest with me I refuse nothing if thou seest it good for me Lead me where thou thinkest it convenient Cloath me in what Garment thou pleasest whether it be whole or torn either shall be welcome Whether thou wilt have me bear the Office of a Magistrate or lead a private Life whether thou wilt have me stay in mine own Country or let me be driven into exile whether thou wilt have me rich or poor In all this by my equanimity I will justifie thee before Men. This Prayer from the mouth of an Heathen is astonishing and the rather because we see few Christians arrive to this Self-resignation that have far greater helps and had we no express Command for this Self-resignation in the Bible yet that general Precept of considering and doing whatever things are true and just and honest and lovely and of a good report would oblige us to imitate the very Heathen
serious Reflections on his Death and Agonies and the Bitterness of his Passion It being spoken to our Souls not to our Bodies to take and eat this Body the Soul hath no other Way to feed upon it but by a pathetick Consideration of the Particulars of that Death and the End and Design of God in it and the Comforts and the Benefits that thereby redound to Mankind and such a Consideration as affects our Souls touches them to the quick and puts them on serious Enquiries into our wretched State and makes them break forth into Flames of Love so that though Christ's Body was crucified above Sixteen Hundred Years agone yet a pious Soul can eat it at this Day swallow the Charity which appears in it with her Thoughts consider who it is that is so wonderfully concerned for her Safety look upon him whom her Sins have pierced and take a View of that Man of Sorrows who was bruised for her Iniquities and wounded for her Transgressions and admire the Miracles that are to be seen in all this 2. To eat Christ's Body is to apply the Benefits of his Death and Passion to our Souls and to rejoyce in them as our greatest Treasure As he that eats with his Bodily Organs applies the Food he takes with his Hands to his Mouth and Body and converts it into Blood and Substance so the pious Soul is pleased with this Spiritual Meat is refreshed by it and applies the Benefits of that crucified Body to her self and with the Thoughts of Peace and Pardon and Salvation which are the Blessings that drop from that Tree arms her self against the Assaults of the Devil and the Terrours of Death and believing without wavering that those Mercies were purchased for her in particular and that she hath a Right and Title to them stands up in the evil Day and in the midst of Temptations boldly cries with the Apostle Who is he that condemns It is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. 3. To make this crucified Body a Persuasive and Motive to Holiness and Obedience To conclude from thence that if he gave himself for us to redeem us from all Iniquity then we must not frustrate his Expectation nor cling to that Iniquity which he came to free us from And if he died to purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous for good Works then we must not defile our selves after that nor wallow in the Mire any more with the Swine but cleanse our Minds from carnal covetous and lustful Thoughts our Wills from Perversenes and Stubbornness our Affections from Fondness of this present World and our Hands from Uncleanness His zealous Love to us must make us zealous for his Glory to him we must consecrate our selves and to be holy as he is holy must be the Business of our Lives and so to love him as to keep his Commandments must henceforward be looked upon as our bounden Duty He truly eats this crucified Body upon whom this Crucifixion hath that Power as to crucifie in him his known Lusts and Passions and to engage him to purifie himself from all Filthiness both of Soul and Body The Preceding Considerations reduced to Practice I. IN all Writings both Ancient and Modern about this holy Sacrament there are various Rhetorical Expressions used which we must not understand literally but as Flowers strowed upon the Herse of our Blessed Redeemer and as Ornaments of Speech to represent the Greatness of the Mystery There is nothing more common among the Fathers than to call the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper the Body and Blood of Christ and the Cup the Vessel in which Christ's Blood is contained And many times Christ is said to stand at the Altar and all the holy Angels waiting at the Table that Christ offers his Body to be bruised by the People's Teeth and dyes them red with his Blood that the Elements are changed and become the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus and that after Prayer and Thanksgiving they are no more what they were before and a Thousand such Expressions besides From which the Church of Rome presently infers that they believed a Transubstantiation or a Conversion of the Elements into the Substance of Christ's Body and Blood than which nothing can be more absurd For if a Man compare these Saying of the Ancients with other Passages in their Writings it plainly appears that they meant no more than that the Elements are representative of all this and that the Expressions they use are nothing but Rhetorical Flourishes to raise the People's Affections and to render their Devotions brisk lively servent affectionate and vigorous We do the same at this Day when we tell you that you come to feast with Christ that in this Sacrament he is crucified before you Eyes that you may see his Blood run down that you hear him groan under the Burthen of your Sins that you see here his Body hanging on the Cross that you are to stand under the Tree and catch the precious Gore as Balsam for your Souls All which is true in a spiritual Sense and we do it to make you more attentive and set this Passion out in such lively Characters that your Souls may be touch'd and enliven'd and as Things represented in brighter Colours strike the Senses more so we speak of these Things as if they were visible and perceptible to the outward Eyes that your Souls may more chearfully feed on the Kernel that lies in those Shells and with greater Life embrace the glorious Benefits which come to you by that precious Sacrifice II. By the same Way that Man was lost by the same Way he must recover He was undone by eating He must be made whole again by eating By eating he died By eating he must come to Life again That Day thou eatest of this Tree thou shalt surely die saith God And the same saith God of this holy Sacrament That Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely live The Fruit in Paradise became a Savour of Death unto Death unto him The holy Bread in this Sacrament becomes a Savour of Life unto Life unto him That Eating brought him into Slavery This gives him a Title to the glorious Liberty of God's Children In eating that Fruit he thought to be like God and made himself worse than the Beasts that perish By eating of this Bread he is enabled to become like unto the Son of God by being changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory That Eating made him sick This is Health to his Navel and Maerrow to his Bones Prov. 3. 8. That brought the Plague This delivers from it That filled him with Wounds and Bruises and putrifying Sores This makes his Flesh come again like unto the Flesh of a little Child In a Word By eating God's Favour was forfeited By eating it is regained Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King for the Lord takes pleasure in his People he will