on earth in his Sacrament gives vs the first tastes and relishes because the peace and ioy of conscience and the refreshing and replenishing of the soule in God is a true beginning and a shining ray of the delights and felicities of heaven wherfore faithfull Christian reioyce thou at these beginnings in hope of that happy heavenly accoÌ„plishment which is promised thee and through the eyes of thy faith behold cheerefully and ioyfully the tree of eternall life which is in the Paradice of God and the hidden Manna the bread of Angels which thy Lord and Saviour prepares for thee and behold the fulnesse and satiety which is prepared for thee in the sacred and glorious face of God whereof David in the times of the thickest and obscurest shaddowes said Psal 16.11 In thy presence O Lord is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And againe in another place Psal 65.4 O how blessed is hee whom thou choosest and causest to come vnto thee he shall dwell in thy courts and shall bee satisfied with the pleasures of thine house and of thine holy Temple and likewise in another Psal 36.8 They shall bee satisfied with the fatnesse of thine house and thou shalt give them drinke out of the River of thy pleasures Contemne therefore O Christian all earthly pleasures in Comparison of those heavenly delights which passe all vnderstanding because by this blessed Sacrament thou art inuited and called to the wedding banquet of the Lambe where thou halt sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob and where thou shalt be satisfied and ravished with God And these my beloâ—ed brethren are the meditations and functions which God requires of vs condignely and worthily to receiue the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper and to entertaine vs religiously piously in the expectaÌ„ce of his comming as this Sacrament was purposly instituted to declare and foretell vs his death and the inestimable benefits which issue and proceed thereof vnto vs vntill he come Let vs therefore examine and prooue our selues if wee are of this holy dispositioÌ„ for feare lest eating this Bread or drinking this Wine vnworthily wee thereby make our selues guiltie of the Lords body and blood and consequently eat and drinke our owne damnation And if wee find not this holy sanctified disposition in our hearts let vs then effectually endeavor to produce enkindle it in vs by the often reading and meditating of the sacred Bible the divine Oracles and written Word of God as also by frequent incessant Prayer For this Word of God I say is the Looking glasse wherin opeÌ„ly beholding the glorie of the Lord face to face 1. Cor. 3.18 wee are transformed and changed into the same Image from glory to glory as saith the Apostle I say likewise by Prayer because the Lord most benignly and graciously conferres and giues wisdome to all those who seeke it of him and hath promised his holy spirit to all those who with humble contrit hearts demand it of him And let vs possesse and retain this consolation amidst the defects and imperfections which we feele in our hearts that if we are discontented or sorrowfull if we are afflicted heavie laden that yet notwithstanding Christ wil not reiect vs because he saith Come vnto me all yee that are heavie laden Or if we hunger thirst after righteousnesse for this hunger and thirst is a desire of Gods grace proceeding from a liuely and sensible feeling of our sinnes he promiseth to replenish and satisfie vs. May it therefore please thee O our blessed Lord and Saviour to call vs to this sacred Banquet to send vs thy holy Spirit and giue decent and religious dispositions and because hee now knockes at the doore of our hearts by his holy Word giue vs grace that we may open it vnto him in the obedience of our faith to the end Revel 3. that hee may sup with vs and we with him and that he himselfe may be both our Hoast and our Banquet Amen A Prayer to prepare our selues before we receiue the holy Supper of the Lord. O God how shall I present my selfe before thee being a wretched creature defiled polluted with sin If the Angels who haue never sinned overvaile and cover their faces wheÌ„ they appeare before thy holinesse how much greater ought my astonishment and confusion bee who am guiltie of so many foule faults transgressions and likewise my griefe and sorrow sith thy wrath reveales it self from heaven against sin and that on every side we see the effects therof Nature is afflicted and troubled and our bodies are already possessed of diseases and death and therfore what greater punishment may our soules attend and expect and if in this life thy wrath and indignation be thus manifested what will it be when we shal appeare before thy Tribunal and that thou pronounce a sharp and heavie sentence against vs but O Lord in this feareful amazement here ariseth vp to vs newes of grace and matter of comfort and consolation Thou hast had compassion of mankind thou hast sent thine only Son here below to reconcile and expiate our sinnes the earth had nothing for the saluation of man the Angels who have no part of righteousnesse or of life but for themselues could not resist thine anger but in stooping and sincking downe vnder the burthen therof But O Lord thou hast opened thine owne bosome from wheÌ„ce alone could come saluation and from it thou hast sent thine only Sonne to cloth himselfe with our nature and to suffer therein the punishment due to our sinnes and fully to satisfie thy Iustice for all our transgressions so that we haue redemptioÌ„ by his blood to wit remission of sins according to the riches and treasure of thy mercy and we heare this thy Son to pronounce these sweet pleasing words in his Gospel Come to me all ye that are oppressed and heauy laden and I will refresh and comfort you Overloaden then as I am with the heavie burthen of my sinnes I come to discharge disburthen them on thy crosse because he hath borne our sinnes in his body on the wood therof And wherfore should not I fully beleeue it sith this soveraigne loue immense goodnes was worthy of thee and that not onely by thy Testament but also by this Sacrament of thy blessed Supper thou givest mee this redemption and placest it as it were before mine eyes For wherfore serveth this great Sacrament but to represent to my soule by faith this great sacrifice of Christs body which he hath given presented thee on the Crosse So because I see my ransome and redemption have I not therefore iust cause O my God to reioyce and comfort my self in thee that ransome I say which thine owne selfe hast freely given me A divine ransom of a most inestimable price and value because it is the body of thine only begotten Son true God together with thee
please to take vp and embrace this saying of the blessed Apostle Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and also holynesse without which no man shall see God and againe to the same purpose Ephe. 4.15 Let vs fellow the truth in loue and in all things grow vp in him who is the Head to wit Iesus Christ To call our religion in questioÌ„ is to doubt therof and to halt betweene two opinions in matters of saith is with the Luke-warme Laodicean to be of neither I know wee are commanded by the Apostle To make our election sure and taught by the Prophet Hosh 4.14 That the people who doe not vnderstand shall fall I likewise know that curiositie in matters of Faith and Religion is dangerous and that for being too curious in prying into the sacred secrets of God it is a fatall Rocke whereon some excellent iudgements have suffered Shipwracke wilfully and a world of weake wits ignorantly That Gods vnrevealed mysteries and purposes are as secret as sacred and as occult and abstruse as they are divine and that wee are positively told and taught by the Prophet Isa 40.28 That there is no searching out of Gods vnderstanding VVherefore as I envy no man for his religion so I prayse and blesse my Redeemer I am not so wretchedly instructed in piety as to deny mine to the world much lesse to dare to desemble it to God It shall suffice mee that I had rather beleeue the truth then quarell with it and farre sooner and with more alacritie and promptitude to embrace and follow it then to contend or contest against it As therefore wee cannot beleeue in God before wee first know him So wee cannot perfectly know this Sacrament of his blessed Supper except we first beleeve in it and in the pure truth and naked vertue and integritie thereof I am not therefore of the vnion or communion of those vncatholique Romanists who are carnall and not spirituall eaters of this blessed Sacrament and who tye their implicite faith onely to the bare letter not to the true sense and to the sight not to the figure or commemoration which this heavenly mysterie infoldeth and containes VVho can dispense with their consciences yea with their soules rather to eat their God then to obey him and daily to teare his blessed body in peeces with them teach as they doe hourly with their sinnes and who rely on their own poore wretched merits rather then on Christs rich promises or on the inestimable treasor of his blessed death and passion premised and prefigured vnto vs in the bread and wine of his sacred Supper But for my part I really and confidently beleeue that Christs owne words Take eat and drinke this in remembrance of me doth make this Sacrament of his holy Supper to bee a mysticall not a corporall a spirituall and not a carnall sacrifice But to leave Controversie and contention to those who love them in and about this divine doctrine of this Sacrament of the Lords Supper and to come to that which more neerly and narrowly concearnes our edification to Christ and sanctification by Christ I ioyfully affirme and averre That it hath bene a great part and degree of my earthly selicity to have heard many excellent Sermons and seene and read many comfortable Tracts vpon this sacred Supper of the Lord aswell on this side as beyond the seas and preached and written aswell by the Samts of God abroad as by our owne English Saints and Seruants of the Lord here at homâ—… who have most painfulâ—… and industriously travellâ—… heerein with much truâ—… glory to God with infiniâ—… prayse and honour to theâ—… selues and with a world oâ— consolation and happinesâ—… to their Christian Auditorâ— and Readers have piously chalked them out the truâ— and safe way to Heaven and most divinely pointed and shewed them the righteous path-way and glorious narrow way to God And now by Gods providence and mercy meeting very lately with a Sermon of that heavenly nature preached on Easter day last to the famous and flourishing assembly of the Protestants in the reformned Church of Paris at Charenton vpon these words of our Lord and Saviour in the blessed Sacrament of his last Supper This is my body By the learned and reverend Seruant of the Lord Monsieur Iohn Mestrezat the first Pastor and minister of that great and godly congregation and the worthy Successor of that famous divine Monsr P. Du. Moulins the great light of his time and Ornament of his Church I say I no sooner seriously perused and religiously considered it but finding it to bee pend in an elegant excellent phrase and digested and cast into a most spirituall order aâ—… method at last after â— short parlie with my soulâ—… and a little reluctation wiâ—… my resolutions God nâ—… only suggested but coÌ„maâ—ded me to teach it to speaâ— English and especially foâ— these two reasons and considerations I. That the translatioâ— thereof infinitly tended tâ— Gods honour and glory aâ— being a perfect and a promising way to draw many soules to God aswell by their seeing and knowing of it as by practising and putting into execution that sacred discipline and doctrine which it containes II For that the Author and Preacher of it is so worthy a Minister of Gods word as Saint Paul wished and counselled his beloved titus to bee to wit Titus 2.7 That his life is a Patterne and example of good workes and of vncorrupt doctrine gravitie and integritie for to my knowledge as also to all others who know him or his endowments and abilities he is so learned and of so meeke and Saint-like a conuersation that it is a disputable question whether his doctrine doe more crowne and grace his life or his life his doctrine And that thorefore it might well stand with Gods pleasure as it doth referre and conduce to his honour that the reading heereof might refresh and profit some Christians heere in England as well as the preaching thereof hath done many in France As also that as at my residence in Paris I have taken singular delight and comfort to have often heard him preach so consequently that others might doe the like here by visibly reading or tacitly seeing and hearing him preach in this his Sermon or Divine Pourtrait which so lively yea so truly at life representeth the Sacrament of the Lords blessed Supper vnto vs I being as confident of this truth as of this presumption That as in most of his Sermons hee excelleth and surpasseth others so in this that hee hath infinitly both surpassed and exceld himselfe And although Christian Reader I have formerly in this my Preface expressed and signified to thee that this little yet most excellent Sermon of his doth most sweetly shew thee the sure the righteous way to heaven and to God and with a happines peraduenture beyond expectation hath most fully performed and most diuinely acted thee that part whereunto I will referre and commend
the Crosse and for the free reconciliation and full satisfaction and redemption of our sinnes And having thus filled our hearts with sacred Ioy and replenished our soules with spirituall and heavenly gladnesse by receining of this most blessed Sacrament we must then have an infinite watchfull eye over our hearts and place a most strong and religious guard over our soules that wee doe not hencefoorth once presume to hearken to sin or so much as give way or dare to consent to looke or listen after the treacherous lures and temptations of the world the flesh or the devill and so to fall backe into a spirituall relapse of sinne which is ten thousand times worse and infinitly more dangerous and pernitious then that of any Corporall disease whatsoever For it is a wofull yea a wretched misery which leaues vs no hope of better fortunes nor place for worse 2 Pet. 2.22 If with the Dogge wee returne to our owne vomit and with the Sow that wee againe wallow in the filthie mire of our former beastly sinnes and transgressions For then our end will bee farre worse then our beginning Hos 4.7 Then God will change our glory into shame And then wee shall make our selues guilty of the body and blood of Christ which without his all saving grace and mercy is the high way to endlesse perdition and the true way to eternall damnation No No farre be such vngodly and rebellious thoughts from our hearts and such vnspirituall treason against God from our soules And let vs who are the seed of Abraham by nature and the Sonnes of God by Grace Hos 10.12 still breake vp the fallow ground of our hearts with a holy repentance and sorrow for our sinnes and with a constant and inuiolable resolution never to sinne more and as therefore we have received Christ Jesus by faith Collos 2.6 So let vs walke in him Thes 1.11 and walke worthy of him who now calles vs to his Kingdome of glory and which is more who in a spirituall Contract Hos 2.19 hath vnited and maried vs to himselfe in righteousnesse In which regard and consideration because wee are so highly beloued of God and so infinitly honored with the name of Christians wherein wee ought more to insult and triumph then in all things else which are vnder Christ Let vs I say forsake the stincking garlicke and vnions of Egypt I meane our old beastly sinnes and transgressions and for ever hencefoorth smell to the sweet Roses and Lilies of Heaven the delectable love and promises of our Saviour Christ Iesus vnto vs which are so sweetly watred with his pretious blood and so odoriferously perfumed not with fragarant odors or costly spices of Arabia but with the rich myrrh of Gods sacred mercy and with the sweet and pretious frankincense of his divine fauour and loving countenande towards vs. Psal 134.2 Let vs I say lift vp our hands to his holy Sanctuary prayse the Lord Ier. 31.3 for that he loves vs with an everlasting love and that by the blessed death and passion of his Sonne Christ Psal 68.20 hee is become our God and the God that saveth vs The which If we religiously constantly performe Ier. 31.12 Then our soules shall bee as a watred Garden and wee shall know no more sorrow Then wee shall be as the Hos 14.6 Dew vnto Israel and God will make vs grow as Lilies will fasten our roots as the trees of Lebanon Then 2 Cor. 3.18 wee shall see God face to face in his Kingdome of glory and there both live and raigne with him eternally 1 Tim 4.8 And then hee will crowne vs with a Crowne of righteousnesse which hee hath reserued and layd vp for his elect Children and Seruants Of which blessed number I beseech thee O God who art our Creator and Reedeemer for thy promise sake for thy Sions sake and for thy Sonne Christ Iesus his sake to make vs Amen Thy Christian Friend IOHN REYNOLDS THE DIVINE POVRTRAIT OR A TRVE AND liuely Representation of the blessed Sacrament of the LORDS SVPPER With our due Preparation how to receiue it worthily Vpon these words of our Saviour This is my Bodie c. THe Sacrament of the * Eucharist Lords Supper because of its excellencie hath bin and is worthily tearmed a Mysterie for this Sacrament collecteth and gathereth together all that the new Testament hath of most admirable and most excellent and discovereth vnto vs the Treasures of Wisedome and Intelligence which are hidden in Iesus Christ And truely that which men and Angels themselues have most to admire in this new Testament are especially two things The one is the meanes whereby Saluation hath beene purchased and procured to poore sinners The other the meanes wherby this Saluation being first merited procured and given to them by Iesus Christ is afterwards applyed and administred to them In the first is seene the height and depth the length and bredth of Gods mercy in sending here below on Earth his onely Sonne in the forme of sinfull flesh and for exposing him to the shamefull death of the Crosse for sinfull Creatures and conioyntly therewith is likewise seene the infinit vertue of Christs blood to redeeme and expiate the sinnes of the world and to obtaine eternall life and glory for those who were dangerously ingulphed and almost lost in the death and misery thereof In the second is remarked and seene that by the means of faith repentance wretched sinners are so vnited to the Sonne of God as if they were composed of that body whereof hee is the head and they the members and by this Communion are made Partakers of all the graces and benefits which Iesus Christ hath deserued and purchased for them Now this blessed Sacrament of the Lords holy Supper which is as visible as his Sacred written Gospell and Divine Testament produceth and exposeth to vs thâ—se two efficable points and considerations One way the bread broken and wine filled out presenteth to our eyes the first To wit the body of Iesus Christ broken and his blood shed and spilt on the Crosse for the remission of mens sinnes And on the other part mans action in taking and eating this bread and drinking this wine denoteth and sheweth vs the interiour action of the soule who being hungry and thirsty hath iustly her recourse to this body and blood offered vp to God on the Crosse and there findes her peace and societie vniting her selfe by faith vnto Iesus Christ the Head spring and fountaine of righteousnesse and life Wherefore one way to contemplate the wonders of God towards vs and the other our duties towards him that hereby wee may partake worthily of this blessed Sacrament It is needlesse for vs to extend the eyes of our vnderstandings any farther then to this very same Sacrament which in it selfe will furnish vs with all things needfull and requisite for the pertinent disposition of
the blood of God according as the Apostle sayth in the Actes Actes 20.28 That God hath purchased the Church by his blood And behold my brethren to what a degree of glory of the Gospell caries you in the New Testament above his faithfull Seruants of the old wherefore here revoke to your mind and memory these passages of Pauls Epistle to the Galathians Gal. 4.4,5 God sent foorth his Sonne made of a Woman and made vnder the Law And writing to the Romanes againe likewise said Rom. 8.3 God sending his owne Sonne in the Similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh And before were passe to the Meditation of the ensuing words I pray obserue heere againe with mee in these This is my Body the cleare refutation of all which Superstition and humane Inuentions propose of the intercession and meditation of Saints and of their suffering for the expiation of the â—emporall paine of our sinnes which pretended sufferings and satisfactions are partly the treasure whereof the Bishop of Rome drawes his Indulgences and Pardons which makes that the Saints are a peece and part of our Sacrifice But Iesus Christ hath designed it and the price of our deliverance in these words This is my Body for hee said not This is a part of my Body and part of the bodyes of Saints who shall suffer for you If our Aduersaries consider that the Sacrament of the Lords Supper presenteth and exposeth to our eyes our Price and Ransome as some of the Ancients for that cause and reason tearme the Sacrament our Price and if they likewise consider that this Sacrament proposeth not to vs the bodies of men but the body of Christ they shall find that there is no other price for our Ransome and Redemption but this body And although these people which say That this Sacrament of the Lords Supper is the Abridgement of the mysteries of the Gospell doe they accuse it of Imperfection not to have proposed or given it all our Price and Ransome And those who daily make and create the body of Christ and who pretend daily to offer him wherefore doe they not content themselues But heer let them vnderstand and hearken to the thundring words of the Apostle writing to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided hath Paul beene crucified for you I affirme that the Bread of this holy Supper sheweth vs also a Communion of the faithfull with Iesus Christ for as the same Apostle writes againe to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.17 Wee who are many are one Bread and one Body But it is a Communion with Iesus Christ To receive and not To give To receive I say of Iesus Christ the expiation and remission of our sinnes and not to give or conferre it to other mens merits A Communion to bee freed bought and vivified or quickned by him and not to free buy and vivifie with him The second Obiect of our Meditation is the Oblation of this body in these words Which is broken This is my Blood which is shed In the words This is my body you have seene Christ Iesus made capable to be this Sacrifice but in these latter words you see him actually to be a Sacrifice and here is given you to meditate and contemplate first the Immolation and then the Oblation of the Sacrifice The Sacrifice is a soveraigne honour given and yeelded to God which consists in an extreame vnmaking and dissolution of the Creature which dissolution and vnmaking is not nor cannot be extreame except by the destroying of the thing which is offered wherefore all things heretofore which were offered vp in Sacrifice to God were first to be destroyed For it is one thing to bee offered simply and another thing to be offered vp in Sacrifice As for example The Sacrificators the Levites and the first borne of Israel were offered vp to God But how not offered vp in Sacrifice because they still remained living All things then offered in Sacrifice ought firs to be destroyed if they were liquid or wet things without life they were to bee shed If solide things without life they were to be burnt Or if living things they were to bee killed and for witnesse and Testimony of a true death there must needs bee an effusion of the Beasts blood because blood being the seat of the Beasts life the separation of blood from the flesh shewed and figured the separation of life from the body and consequently an entire death And in the expiatory and propitiatory Sacrifices this was the more requisite and needfull for that these Sacrifices were satisfactions for typicall and carnall sinne But the absolute satisfaction and expiation for sinne must consist in the death and destruction of the thing offered because the Apostle peremptorily and truely tels vs Rom. 6.33 That the wages of Sinne is death from whence you first see wherefore it was that of necessity Christ must die For the wages of Sinne being death it must needs follow that he who placed himselfe an Vndertaker for Sinners must vndergoe the punishment ordained for Sinne Secondly from hence you likewise see wherefore it was that the blood of Christ was shed in his death and separated from his body to wit thereby to expresse and shew the truth of the death and expiation of Sinne as the Apostle to the Hebrewes proves by legall figures that Iesus Christ must die and shed his blood in Sacrifice because saith hee Heb. 9.22 That according to the Law all things are purged and purified by blood and without the effusion of blood there is no remission So Iesus Christ by shedding his blood hath accomplished the figures of the Law and given vs this Consolation that the Ransome and expiation of our sinnes is entire and perfect And hence as it were in passing you learne two things I. That it is impossible that there is any propitiatory Sacrifice without blood and consequently impossible that the Masse wherein there is neither death nor effusion of blood be a propitiatory Sacrifice for sinnes as our Aduersaries call it II In the Lords Supper It was needfull that the body and blood of Iesus Christ was represented to vs distinctly and severally for that there were two signes to wit The Bread broken and the Wine filld out which was the Reason why Iesus Christ did not only say This is my Body broken but also takes the Cup and said This is my blood which is shed Because without effusion of blood there could be no remission of sinne From whence it followes That the taking and cutting away of the Cup in the Lords Supper which shewes the blood of Christ to bee separated from his body takes away from the mysterie of that sacred Supper it 's plenitude power perfection depriving it of the signe of the Condition requisite for the expiation of sinnes to wit the effusion of blood But this is told you but cursorily and as it were in passing Now the
chiefe and principall Meditation which wee require of you in this obiect is three things I. Of Christs great debasing and making himselfe as it were nothing II. Of the horror and grievousnesse of sinne as the direct opposition of the perfect sanctity and absolute holinesse of God III. Of the immense love and charity of Iesus Christ towards vs. I speake first of Christs great debasing and esteeming himselfe nothing For if you formerly vnderstand and remember Iesus Christ abased himselfe so low as to cloath and incorporate himselfe with our wretched nature and to make himselfe after the simple semblance of men But here behold him now hee makes himselfe lesse then man as he saith in the Psalmes Psal 22.6 I am a Worme and no man the shame of men and the contempt of the People Behold how he makes himselfe a Sacrifice and assumes and takes on him the condition of Beasts which were slain in the ancient Law for the sinnes of men O Lord Iesus who can sufficiently comprehend the depth of this thy extreame humiliation and making thy selfe as nothing who from the heavenly Throne of thy glory hast been placed in forme of a Victime vpon the Altar of the Crosse And that thou wouldest die yea die a shamefull and most ignominious death for vs according as it is written Gal. 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree From this passe wee on to the second thing which is the Consideration of the horrour grieveousnesse yea and the odiousnesse of Sin For I pray you how wicked was it in it selfe and how execrable in the eyes of God that the onely Sonne of God must needs suffer such grievous paines and torments The Law did well shew the odiousnes and abomination of Sin by the Sacrifices and Aspersions of blood which it required for the Expiation thereof But all that is nothing in Comparison of this which the Gospell shewes vs because these Sacrifices and Aspersions of the Law were of Beasts and of the blood of Beasts but heer it is the onely begotten Son of God who hath beene given to death to expiate sinne and to cover the foulnesse and enormitie thereof Behold then O Sinners with astonishment by the greatnesse of the satisfaction the horrour of this sinne and thereby to learne to hate and detest it Nature to shew how grievous and odious sinne was since the fall of Adam became harried over with thorns and briars and changed many of her plants into poysons The aire grew thicke with stormes and was many times infected to punish sinners The Sea impetuously mounted her angry waues and surges and caused infinite shipwrackes Adams owne person and his posterity strayed from his temper and by sicknesse and diseases had drawen the Empire of death into his owne entrailes and bowels mans wisedome was obscured with ignorance and tormented with irregular and extravagant passions and all this befell and hapned to the world for sinne But now behold Heaven who against sinne and to the end and intent to expiate and destroy it delivers vp to death that which it had and held dearest and to reproach and shame that which it held and possest of most glorious For here God the Father of heauen exposeth his sweetest delights to the bitter torments of the Crosse Heere Christ Iesus his onely beloved Son who yeeldeth abandoneth his life and who to destroy sinne so extreamly hee hates it doth voluntarily and willingly destroy himselfe And heere considering and meditating further how odious sinne is to God let vs admire how perfect Gods iustice and sanctitie is let vs say that here it is where this sanctitie manifesteth it selfe at full in her brightest Orient It is in this mysterie that the Seraphims crie Holy holy holy the Eternall of Armies for if he shew forth his righteousnes and sanctitie here below in punishing and ruining some of his creatures by his iudgements how much more doth hee manifest it by the death of his onely beloved Sonne to whom sinne presented it selfe to be punished Come we now to the third mediation which wee require of you wherein we may behold the exreame debasing annihilating of the Son of God to see the immense Loue both of this heauenly Father and Sonne towards vs for that the Son hath beene so grievously handled and tormented for vs. What Abyssus of affection and mercy is this towards man Is there any minde or spirit though angelical which cannot bee ravished and swallowed vp heereat Prophane Infidells and Atheists who are incredulous of the mysteries of the Christian faith Know ye that it shewes you the highest charity and perfectest sanctitie that the heart or wit of man can possibly comprehēd or conceiue And of God bee a soveraigne sanctitie an immense charity and goodnesse as his being cannot bee but all perfection know that the new Testament sheweth God to men and reveales them this vnexpressable and incomprehensible sanctity and charity which is the same that Saint Iohn said 1. Iohn 4.16 God is Love and hee that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him c. That God is Charity and in this is manifested his Charity For that God hath sent his onely Sonne into the world to the end that wee live by him and in this againe is Charity not that we have loved God but because hee hath loved vs and hath given his Sonne to bee a propitiation for our sinnes And heer it is that the new Testament hath many great aduantages and singular benefits and prerogatives above the old one of the Law Seeing that herein God fully discovereth the rich Treasures of his goodnesse In nature we see GODS goodnesse towards man for that for a time hee entertaines and maintaines himselfe in life by the death of Beasts whose flesh serues him for food and sustenance But here God gives and purchaseth to man an eternall life by the death of his onely Sonne Here hee gives to man not his Creatures as in the creation but his onely well beloued Sonne himselfe yea and to sinfull man Wherefore it is that the Apostle affirmes to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 3.18 We all behold as in a Mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and Iesus Christ tels vs That none having ever seene God it is he that hath revealed him to vs. Faithfull brethren in the Lord open the eyes of your vnderstandings and see how God manifesteth himselfe and how he makes himselfe palpably visible to you by this immense Love and Charity which this Sacrament of the Eucharist presenteth and representeth to your eyes If then on these words This is my Body you have meditated on the Love and Charity of Christ humbling himselfe so low as to cloth himselfe with our weake body and nature then meditate on this greater degree of Charity which hath caused him to assume the forme of a servāt for vs which was already exceeding much to him who was the Creator and the King of glory
but also to expose himselfe to death in this forme and shape of a Seruant yea to the shamefull death of the Crosse which is the very meditation of the Apostle to the Philippians Philip. 2.6,7,8 Iesus Christ being in the forme of God thought it no robberie to make himselfe equall to God But he made himselfe of no Reputation and tooke on him the forme of a Seruant and was made like vnto man and found in the shape of a man who humbled himselfe and became came obedient to death yea to the death of the Crosse And the same Apostle ravished in this meditation saith in another place Rom. 8.32 Who spared not his owne Sonne for vs but gaue him for vs all to death Hee saith not simply that he hath given him but that he hath not spared him as if he should have said hee made no difficulty to expose him for vs to extreame paine and torments A degree of Charity which the Angels themselues cannot sufficiently comprehēd and therefore the Apostle postle requireth in vs the Spirit of wisedome and revelation to wit that the eyes of our vnderstanding bee so illuminated Ephes 3.13 that wee may know what is the length breadth height and depth of this love of God towards vs. In a word vpon this obiect let vs briefly collect and consider against our adversaries of the Church of Rome That in this holy Supper and Communion the body of Iesus Christ is not simply proposed as vnderstanding it to bee a body nor the blood as taking it for blood but the body as vnderstanding it to be broken and the blood as taking it to bee spilt Because in that consisteth all the merit of our salvation and all the cause of our life From whence it followes That the action wherewith wee receiue the body and blood of Christ cannot choose but bee spirituall to wit an action of the soule and no way of the body because the bodie cannot bee taken as vnderstood broken nor the blood as meant shed except by Faith For those forepast and betided things on the crosse that is to say the breaking of the body and the effusion of blood cannot bee giuen or presented to the soule but by the meditation of Faith The third obiect of our Meditation is the fruit and benefit of this obligation which were received by Christs body and blood in these words Broken for you Shed for many for the remission of sinnes And heere two considerations againe present them to vs I. Of the persons for whome Iesus Christ is offered II. The profit and benefit which it brings them Of the persons vnderstanding that he offereth himselfe for wretched and sinfull creatures who in regard of his excellent being are nothing but dust and ashes and as it were formed but yesterday but which is more for creatures infected with sinne guilty of rebellion against him and professed enemies of his divine maiestie both in their thoughts and wicked workes and actions which the consideration of the Apostle to the Colossians thus expresseth Col. 1.21 You which in times past were strangers and enemies because your minds were set in evill workes he now also hath reconciled in that body of his flesh to make you holy and vnblameable and without fault in his sight And also writing to the Romans saith Rom. 5.6,7,8 For Christ when we were yet of no strength at his time dyed for the vngodly adding againe farther doutblesse one will scarse die for a righteous man but yet for a good man but God setteth out his love to vs seeing that whiles we were yet Sinners Christ died for The other consideration proceeds from the profit and benefit which it brings vs and Iesus Christ defines it whē he saith that it is for the remission of sins And this is the profit and benefit which to expresse the Prophets aleage that our sinnes have beene throwen into the bottome of the Sea and that God remembreth them no more and that as farre distant as the East is from the West so farre from him the Lord hath cast away our sinnes and the figures vnder the Law to wit that of the Goat Hazazel teaching that our sinnes have beene caried into a desert and vnhabitable Countrey never to returne more in Gods sight and Presence Which beleeving wee see all evils as they are paines and torments to have lost their being in the faithfull righteous man yea and that death it selfe is swollen vp in victory and the Law with his curses which were as a contrary obligation is quite rased out defaced by the blood of the Sonne of God cleare abolished cancelled and fastened to his Crosse as the Apostle teacheth to the Colosians Col. 2.14 Likewise Sathan who performed nothing but as the Executioner of Gods iustice against Sinners by this alone death found all his power to be vanquished and overthrowen as the Apostle sheweth vs in the same Chapter of the same Epistle to the Colossians in these words Col. 2.15 Christ hath spoyled the Principalities and Powers and hath made a shew of them openly and hath triumphed over them on the Crosse But besides that our enemies and afflictions are taken away and defaced by this oblation of Iesus Christ so likewise all sorts of profits and benefits are put in place thereof as many promses as there are they are so many Yeas and Amens in Christ Iesus life is given which is a new spirituall and divine life by regeneration and the new heavenly Sanctuary is opened vnto vs Heb. 10.19 for there wee have leave and liberty to enter by the blood of Christ and therefore it is that the earthly vaile of the Templerent in peeces at his death The Kingdome of God is given vnto vs and wee are made children and heires to possesse and enioy all the goods and treasures of God as the Apostle saith Gal. 4.6,7 That Iesus Christ having beene made subiect vnder the Law hath redeemed vs from the Law to the end that wee should receive the adoption of children and that if wee are children wee are also heires of God by Christ Iohn 17.11 yea God himselfe is given to vs in his Sonne to the end that wee be in him and he in vs 1. Cor. 1. and likewise that one day he be all things in all III. Poynt or generall Head These are the Meditations which the words of Iesus Christ in his Supper requireth of vs And now come wee to see the acts functions which these Meditations ought to produce in our hearts the which likewise result and descend from these words of Iesus Christ These actes and functions are fiue to wit I. The feeling of our misery and a godly sorrow for having sinned II. The beliefe and assurance of the remission of our sinnes III. The sanctification of the soule and particularly of Loue and Charitie towards our neighbour IIII. Our consolation and patience in afflictions V. Our hope of heavenly felicitie