them out of the Puddle where they did ly like Beasts without sense of danger or shame and it quickens these rotten Trees for the producing of better Fruit. The first Life being opposite to Condemnation and Eternal Punishment belongs properly to the Blood that hath satisfied divine Justice and so removed Punishment and the second which is opposite to stupid and senseless both falling into sin and lying in it relates properly to the Water that after Propitiation and Pardon washes and sanctifies the sinner These two Lives are the two first Effluxes which proceeded out of Jesus Christ when his Body was pierced and both are inseparable as the Blood and the water were which flowed together out of his side Let none who finds himself clean from the filth and spots of his sin be afraid of Punishment for them I have found a Ransom for him Job 33.24 for the water came not without the Blood But let every one that hath a mind to be safe from Punishment which is taken off by the Blood seek for farther security in the purifying of himself from all the uncleanness of sin which the Water is to wash away for the Blood came not without water Christ came not by Blood alone but by water and Blood 1 Joh. 5.6 9. Over and above these two Lives whereof one consists in Pardon and removal of Punishment the other in Sanctification and enlivens us from dead works so as not thenceforward to deserve it as before there remains besides a third Life which consists in an absolute Redemtion from Death and other miseries This life as to the sure Title and Right is together with the two other purchased by the same Sacrifice but as to the real use and possession it is reserved for us in Heaven and there hid with Christ in God Coloss 3.3 Until it be revealed we appear as if we were dead these two Jewels lying in and being wrapped about with the dark Veils of human Mortality till that Christ becoming unto us actual Redemtion as well as actual Justice and actual Sanctification this third life succeeds to break the Cloud 10. Now the blessed Savior being by his Sacrifice the Author and giver of these three Lives shews himself by this Sacrament to be the preserver of them also and to this purpose sets up a Table by his Altar where he engages most solemnly to feed and nourish our Souls with the constant supply of his Mercies to the very day of eternal Salvation as really as he gives and we receive these Elements of Bread and Wine which are the usual meanes of sustaining mortal Bodies until the end of this short Life My Father worketh hitherto and I work with him Ioh. 95.17 God the father rested indeed upon the seventh day from the work of Creating and God the Son at the same day from the work of Suffering but neither of them will rest till the day of Redemtion from the work of preserving both what the Creation hath produced and what the Passion hath saved In the first Creation here is a Man and a Woman made of the Flesh and as it were of the very wounds of her Husband and there you find a Tree planted to maintain both their life and strength In the Deliverance of Egypt here is a People saved by the Sacrifice of the Passeover and lest so many rescued out of Egypt should faint and starve in the Desert there you see an Angel leading them the way with his Light keeping them cool under the Shadow of his Cloud and feeding them through all their journny with a miraculous sort of Meat Jesus is both in the Original and progress of Salvation the Truth foreshewed by these Figures When he dyed upon the Cross there he fullfilled that which had bin shadowed forth both by the Sleep and wound of Adam and by the killing of paschal Lambs And when he feeds from Heaven with a continual Effusion of Blessing those souls and lives which he hath bin pleased to redeem by the effusion of his own Blood He is the Truth both of the Tree and of the Angel which were appointed the one to maintain Man and the other to keep Israel 11. Christ relates to these four Figures as the Body which fulfils them and the Holy Communion relates to them on the other side as an Antitype that is as one Image may relate to another all to express the same object Upon the breaking the one and powring out the other of these consecrated Elements you see what Christ hath suffered as upon the wound of Adam and the death of the Passeover Abel Enoc and Israel might partly see what he should suffer And upon the nourishing nature of this Bread you see that which others have seen in the Tree of life and in the Angel raining down Manna what He would give But this is the advantage of the Holy Communion above all the ancient Figures Adam with his open Side and all Sacrifices with their Blood did foretel only Christs Passion and the Tree of life with all its fruit and the Angel with all his Food did foretel only his preserving Grace whereas this Sacrament alone represents both his Passion and Preserving and besides these another great Mystery by their mutual dependency What wee take and eat is made of a Substance cut bruised and put to the fire that shews my Saviors Passion and it was used in that manner that it may afford me wholesom food that shewes the Benefit which both he gives and I receive out of this dreadful Passion The Angels enjoy such an immortality and wear such Crowns as cost God nothing but the pain he took to give them ours are more precious and costly then so Our inheritance in Heaven is not less then Akeldamah a Possession bought with Christs Blood In this Sacrament here is Death represented there Life the Life is mine the Death my Saviors and ô blessed Jesus this my Life comes out of thy Death and the Salvation which I hope for is purchased with all the pain and Agonies which Thou didst suffer 12. Here Melchisedek and Aaron wait upon Jesus Christ at this Table as Moses and Elias did on the Mount These two great Priests stand to soreshew what Christ alone is to perform For there is Aaron the Priest with Blood and here Melchisedek with Bread There Aaron breaks sheds and destroies here Melchisedek feeds and blesses Nay both are one in Jesus Christ First Christ appears to Sacrifice upon the Cross as Aaron did at his Altar with Flesh and Blood and as in Melchisedeks case and figure with his own Flesh and his own Blood Then as Aaron did use to enter once every year into the Sanctuary Christ once for all is ascended into Heaven thence to bless us Act. 3.26 And this blessing is the strength the Food and Refreshment which Melchisedek brought in a figure that with the help of these good Things both Abraham and his Followers that is all sincere Christians may
Church in the most sutable manner to work in men a deep impression Therefore as God himself in order to satisfy Moses more fully that his People should not perish nor so much as diminish under the Thraldom of Egypt shewed him a Bush continuing still whole and entire in the midst of a great Fire and in order they might be more firmly perswaded that tho they were in a wilderness they were under Gods protection he made them go all the way under a Cloud that when soever there should happen any staggering in their Belief both Moses and the People might strengthen it Moses by remembring the Bush and the People by minding the Cloud to the same purpose hath Christ ordained some Visible Signes in his Church to compleat her common Faith and to assure this truth to every one who comes to him that he shall be cleansed of his sins as certainly as it is certain he sees some water which is the ordinary means for washing and that he shall be kept up and fed with a supply of all necessary Blessings as certainly and really as it is real and certain he tasts and takes in this Bread and Wine which are the ordinary means for preserving our life and strength 4. Besides because the Sacraments are designed not only to perswade us more strongly of the truth and Being of the Things but also to acquaint us more familiarly and sensibly with their Condition and nature these Sacraments must have in their natural constitution some known Qualities that make them fit for this Sacramental office Such hath the Water for example which was so deservedly chosen for the use of holy Baptism because of the proper virtue it hath of washing the things that are fowl of reviving and refreshing them that are dry and of making fruitful the Barren Hereupon S. Austin saies plainly that unless the holy Sacraments had some such agreement with the Holy Things which they are set up to represent they could not be Sacraments at all Epist 23. ad Bonif. 5. So the blessed Communion is made of two such Elements as can forthwith expose to the sight and sense of all men the true ground of its Sacramental and significative Function This function is twofold the first to represent Christs Sufferings and the second to represent the Blessing and the Benefit which we receive from these Sufferings The first I say to represent Christs Sufferings This Bread and Wine could neither sustain nor refresh me had not their intrinsecal Substance lost its first condition and estate that is if the one had never fallen under the Sickle the threshing the Milstone the Fire and the other under the Hook the Trampling and the Press of bandmen Nor doth the Son of God save me but by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philip. 2.7 emtying himself in a manner for a while of his first glory in Heaven and by losing that second life which he had taken in Bethlehem This Blessed Savior is not a Savior by the strength of all the Miracles which He did about Judea nor by any thing that He could suffer as long as He would keep himself alive when he was made fast to his Cross As the best Harvest is not yet Bread as long as it stands in the Field nor is the best Corn Bread likewise as long as 't is kept whole in the Floor both Corn and Harvest being no more then antecedent Matter for mans Food Jesus living in Galilee Jesus teaching about the Temple Jesus commanding Storms and Waves when he did walk upon the Sea if he had proceeded no further could not have bin the Bread of life it must be Jesus suffering Jesus crucified Jesus dying the grinding Mill and the burning Fire have of this Corn made me this Bread and nothing less then Cross Wounds Death my Lord my God! could of thy dearest Son make my Savior 6. I say secondly this Eucharistical Bread is instituted to represent the Fruit and Benefit which we receive both at the Holy Table and upon all other occasions from Christs Sufferings to wit Maintenance and Improvement of life As without Bread and Wine or somthing answerable to it the strongest Bodies soon decay so without the virtue of the Body and Blood of Christ the best and holiest Souls must infallibly starve and perish The Body of the Lord as it was offered up to God in Sacrifice is the Truth represented by the Passover and as represented to us at the Holy Communion is the Truth and Accomplishment typified by the Manna The one is as it were the Seed and the Original Principle whence we are born and the other as the Bread wherewith we live That is to say as Bread and Wine do not produce but keep up that animal Life which another Cause hath produced so doth our Lord Jesus by a necessary and continual supply of strength and Grace represented by Bread and Wine sustain improve and set sorward that Spiritual Life and new Being which He hath procured us by his Cross 7. For Jesus the second Adams being seiz'd as He hung on the Cross with that deep sleep which God daused to fall upon him gave this new Being to his Church out of that side which at his Passion was opened and the Blood and Water which then gushed out of his Wounds are the true Principles of life by reason of which his spouse the Church may be called Eve that is true and everlasting Liver Before she had this new original out of her Saviors Passion her Husbands sleep she by her old Extraction was a very Daughter of Death and a Mother of such Children as could pretend to no better Inheritance then Curse and Wrath. Ephes 2.2 By the course of Nature our Life is but a sad Progress from Birth to Death and by the course of Gods Justice a sadder Motion such as is that of condemned Persons from Prison to the Place of their Execution But whilst we were daily passing on to that most dreadful Punishment the Son of God lookt on us and took our Condemnation upon himself and under it dyed in our steed Thus by the Death and satisfaction of this Victim Justice gave way to my Release God the Father forgave my Sin and God the Son procured my Life This Grace is the first Purchace of Christs Blood the first Irradiation of Gods mercy and the first Breath of spiritual Life in our Nostrils 8. But alas how soon would this first life vanish away were it not presently followed and supported by a second How soon would the removal of the former be frustrated by the commission of other Sins And since I am no sooner born in sin then dead in it how hard would it be without more help in this corrupted condition to keep dead Lazarus from Rottenness Therefore the Body and Blood of Christ once Sacrificed on the Cross to help this first procures a second Life that preserves whomsoever it saves out of this stupid death in sin it helps
a word Christ and Christians are and must be continually together Where I am there my servant shall be also Ioh. 12.26 But of all these Duties the most fundamental and most indispensable is that of bearing part of his Cross and dying with him in Sacrifice 6. Never did the Son of God intend any more to offer himself for his people without his people Then did the High Preists of the Law to offer themselves for Israel without his Ephod the memoriall of them Christ presented himself to God in this great Temple which is the world at the head of whole Mankind as did the first born of Egypt who also did prefigurate him every one in his house at the head of his family He came as a voluntary victim to the Altar being attended on by his Israel who as it were with their hands laid all their sins upon his head Therefore as it was necessary that they who sought for Attonement should wait upon the Sacrifice and that whosoever would escape the destroyer or other Plagues should keep themselves within that house where either the first born or the Paschal Lamb was destroyed by the same necessity whosoever do pretend to Eternal Salvation must needs appear within that house about that Altar and that Cross whereon this first born of every Creature and this Eternal both Priest and Sacrifice was pleased to Offer up himself 7. By this standing and appearing at the Altar under the Law the sinners indeed did not dye the victim alone being burned and destroyed but because they laid their hands on it when it was dying and fell for prayer and worship on their faces down to the ground when it did fall bleeding to death They were as well as the very victim reputed to Offer up themselves So the truest Christians likewise are neither crucified nor destroyed in that manner that their Master and Savior was yet 1. because they look towards and cast themselves upon his Cross and Sufferings as the only means both of expiating for their Sins and of Salvation for their Souls 2. because of the great and sharp grief which they do suffer who sincerely think on the Son of God thus dying and which is more thus dying only for their sakes which to them is as it was to the Blessed Virgin a sword to pierce their hearts and likewise to pierce and crucifie to death their Sins 3. because their whole Body of Sin being by this Crucifixion really over-mastered and wounded there remains no life in them but what they may and will offer up and dedicate to Gods Service The Savior thus offering himself and the saved so united to him by faith so plunged both into the Communion of and grief for his Sufferings and so resign'd up and consecrated to his Will for the remnant of their life are both accounted before God for one and the same Sacrifice 8. It is the same first by Imputation such as were the first fruits and the Lump Rom. 11.16 The Eares of Corn and the Harvest which were both together involved in and made holy by one Offering Levit. 23.10.11 In this sense Jesus Christ dying upon the Cross was made the first fruits of them that offer themselves to God that they may be sanctified by his death and Sacrifice If one be dead then all are dead as he was made the first fruits of them that sleep that they should be quickned by his Resurrection But secondly as the Lurnp or mass may in some case either lose or not get at all the priviledg and holiness of the first fruits for example a few sheaves of Corn which the Worshippers had offered unto the Lord could by no means sanctify that Harvest which afterwards should be eaten in the Service or in the Temple of an Idol Two real Actions are required to make good this Imputation and to join the Christians to the Sacrifice of Christ their Head 9. The first is that they endeavor to crucify their sinful members as really as Christ himself had his sinless Body crucified So that the feet that before did run to Evil the violent hands that did injure the greedy eyes that did covet and all those members of the Flesh that were weapons of wickedness may by this Cross and Sacrifice be most really bound and in a good measure destroyed as to their Corruption I do glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Galat. 6.14 So Jesus Christ and his whole Church and in this Church every true penitent Sinner being joined all together do make up that compleat Sacrifice which seems to have bin prefigurated by the Sacrifice at the consecration of Aaron Exod. 29.13.14 whereof the kidneyes and the fat about the Inwards were burnt as a sweet smeling Oblation on the Altar but all the Flesh the Skin the Feet the Dung Instruments and Emblems of Sin were thrown and burnt without the Camp For Jesus Christ and his Church so concur together in one Oblation that the blessed Savior contributes all that can go up into Heaven to please and appease God and we on our Part do contribute but what deserves to be removed out of the way the Corruption and smell of sin The Second necessary Condition to the aforesaid Imputation for no imputation either to life or death can be just without some real grounds to support it and to incorporate us into the Sacrifice of Christs Body is a serious resolution of piety and universal consecrating both of our Persons and of all our Actions to God I am crucified with Christ that I may live to God Now it is not I that live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now lead in the Flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.19 This Place must be so rendred according to the distinction of both the Greek Copies and all the Oriental versions And this Act of the Church consecrating her self to God and joining her self so to Christ as to make but one Oblation with him is the Mystery represented by the daily Sacrifice Exod. 29.38 Numb 28.3 10. This Sacrifice did consist of two parts The first and cheifest was the Lamb that did foreshew the Lamb of God and the second was the Meat and drink-Offering made of flower mingled with Oyl and Wine all which being but an Additional thrown on the Lamb morning and evening was counted but for one and the same Sacrifice Those Secondary Oblations so thrown and burnt upon the main Sacrifice signified properly these Offerings which Christians must present to God of themselves of their Goods and of their Praises From this Meat and Drink Offering which was added to more substantial Sacrifices came the Bread and Wine to be used at the celebration of Christs Death Which Bread in the Communion considered as Sacrament signifies the natural but considered as Sacrifice it represents the mystical Body of Christ