intomb'd her dead Husband in her living body A faithful Soul that is espoused to Christ doth this at the Sacrament Eating and Drinking there of her crucified Saviour by a Spiritual Commessation thus she lives by him and hath him as it were intomb'd in her Heart Therefore whensoever you come to this Heavenly Banquet come with this end that your Soul may receive increase and nourishment in Grace thereby that you may have Christ become one with you as your food doth whereby you thrive and grow But yet you must not think to get any nourishment from the out-side of the Sacrament from the outward Rynd or Bark or Skin of the Ordinance or by feeding on the outward Elements if you rest there This would be to scrape or lick the Dish only or out-side of the Cup to play with the Trencher and let the Meat alone and to go away whole and untoucht from the Table The second end for which this Sacrament was instituted is a solemn Commemoration of Christ and him Crucified or the celebrating a memorial of him in the Church thrâ—ughout all Ages Publick Feasts were usually made for the perserving the memory of some great Benefactor Now this Sacrament of the Passion is a publick Feast for the whole Church of God in all Ages and was it not instituted for to keep a perpetual memory of the Founder of it our dear Lord and infinite Benefactor This will appear by his own words at the first Institution do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22.19 i. e. of me as Crucified and Dying as Saint Paul expresly interprets it 1 Cor. 11.16 For as oft as ye do eat this Bread and Drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords Death till he come and therefore it was purposely ordain'd for the retaining a more special Memory of his Death and Passion For the Sacrament as I premised was a feast upon a Sacrifice and so it was ordain'd by Christ more particularly and specially to commemorate that oblation of himself upon the Cross for the Redemption of the World till he come to Judgment to eternize the memory of his great and infinite love and goodness in dying for us and to transmit it to all succeeding Ages and Generations The Lord hath so done this marvellous work that it ought to be had in everlasting remembrance Therefore in all your addresses to this Sacrament of the Passion come for this end to keep in a thankful and affectionate memory the great and infinite sufferings of Christ for our Sins Remember his Death and Passion through the whole Sacramental Action and that with the most enlarged and enravisht affections and meltings of Heart and the immortal hatred of those sins that put him upon dying for us and the shedding of His most precious blood one drop whereof is of more value than a Mountain of Pearl as big as the whole Earth The third End of the Lords Supper is a solemn renewing of the Baptismal Covenant The Feasts antiently made upon Sacrifices were generally used as I observed before to signifie thereby a Covenanting with God Therefore this Supper of the Lord being in the true notion of it as I said a feast upon the bloody Sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Cross for us it doth clearly insinuate to us that it was appointed to be a mutual stipulation or covenanting betwixt God and his Communicants hence Christ said concerning the Cup This is the New Testament or Covenant in my Blood i. e. the Rite or Solemnity of the New Covenant to declare and signifie the consent of parties thereunto and resolution to perform the duties of it insinuating thereby that as the Legal Sacrifices on which the People did eat were as Rites of an old superannuated Covenant so was this Sacrament a Rite of a New Covenant by using whereof we do testifie our engagements to perform it as God doth his for making us partakers of all the Blessings couched in it So that this Sacrament on Gods part doth signifie a solemn delivery of Jesus Christ his pretious Body and Blood together with remission of sins for which that blessed Body was broken and torn and that Blood spilt and all other fruits of his Death And on our part it signifies a free acceptance thereof and a hearty delivery of our selves up to the intire obedience of him as we ingaged in the New Covenant to do so that consequently one great End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge of our happy participation of the Body and Blood of Christ with remission of Sins Justification Adoption and Title to the Regions of Bliss and all other the inestimable benefits thereof Hence it 's called the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 where the Apostle doth plainly declare than the Sacramental Bread and Cup are assured pledges of our Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ i. e. of the Communication thereof to us if duely received Therefore in all your Addresses to the Lords Table go with this â—cope and End that you may have a part and portion in Christs Body and Blood remission of sins and reconciliation thereby with all other merits of the Blood of the Cross which God hath Covenanted to make over to you And go also with this intent that you may renew the ingagement and declare that you will stand to the terms of the Baptismal Covenant that you will keep firm and constant to that holy League and stand out in a holy War against all the Enemies of Christ and never revolt or go to the Enemies quarters but as a faithful confederate with him will alway fight under his Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue to be on Christs side or of his Religion to your lifes end The fourth End of this Sacrament is to be a pledge and improvement of that love unity and concord that ought to be among Christians Those that did feast upon the Sacrifices antiently as I before hinted did use to enter into a Covenant of friendship among themselves as well as betwixt God and Them And it hath been an universal custom throughout the World to make Covenants or Leagues of Friendship by Eating and Drinking together This blessed Supper of the Lord is really and truly a publick Love-feast and was designed by our Saviour for this end the promoting Love and Union among all his People and to shew that they should all cleave together in one Spirit as they have all been partakers of one Bread 1 Cor. 10.17 If then it was a Love-feast and the feast still remain let not the love be excommunicated CHAP. XXXII Of Habitual Qualifications of the Communicants BEfore you make Addresses to this Heavenly Banquet see that you be habitually such a person as the Master of the Feast our Lord Jesus Christ would have his guests to be Therefore you must set some portion of time apart before the Feast Day to examin your self whether you be such a
not an easie grief or a mourning of the Eye only but it 's a mourning of the heart which is the heart of mourning It 's not superficial tears but the deep sorrow of the heart that will wash away sin I have read a Story that one of the Questions which the Queen of Sheba propounded to King Solomon was this She having brought before him a company of Children both Males and Females all alike apparelled demanded of him which were the Boys and which were the Girls which he thus decided he caused them all to wash in a Bason of Water and observ'd which rubb'd more hard and those he set aside for the Boys and those that washt more tenderly and softly he determined to be the Girls Those that would wash away the filth of sin must not like those of that softer Sex do it easily and tenderly but must exercise a masculine spirit and rub hard like those of the harder and rougher Sex to scour the Soul It 's not to be done by a slight Repentance there must be a great deal of pains taken to cleanse the heart from sin And therefore Repentance is generally mistaken while it is thought to be nothing else but a being sorry for sins committed and a wishing they had not been done Such slight Penitents can be sorry to day and sin again to morrow and yet think they have truly repented 2. Mourning after a godly manner is a grief springing from the bowels of love to God the stronger the stream is the more there is of the fountain and the stronger the sorrow for sin is the more there is of God A true Penitent finds a principle within him that carries him out to a mourning for sin But an unregenerate man is rather forced upon it by some extrinsick motives as fear of Hell than carried to it out of the proper and peculiar inclination of his own heart 3. It 's such a sorrow as changes the heart and life there 's a sanctification of the inward man and a reformation of the outward conversation going along with it This sorrow for sin consumes the sin that bred it as the Worm doth the Wood that bred it 4. It 's accompanied with an universal hatred of sin an utter abhorrency of every iniquity The Dove as they say which hates the Hawk hates every Feather of it A true Penitent so abhors sin that he hates every plume and feather every branch of it he would have the very memory of Amalek blotted out he hath a deadly hatred to the whole tribe of sin the whole stock and kind to every member of that cursed family of sin he hates the very occasions of sin which are only the harbingers and spokes-men of it and will give them no entertainment but thrusts them out of doors He so hates sin that he longs to be rid of it The Apostle cries out as one tied to a dead carcass or tired with the Chains of a grievous bondage O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7.14 He here cries out against the sinfulness of Nature and hates and would be rid of that as well as sinfulness of Life If you mourn only for actual sins you only cleanse the streams and let the spring continue muddy and noisome which will soon send forth new streams of the same nature But further Repentance is not only a mourning for sins past but a fiducial Resolution to forsake all for the future I call it a fiducial Resolution i. e. a Resolution of Faith for it is not an ordinary Resolution that will prove one to be a true Penitent we have very revolting slippery hearts apt to return to sin and therefore had need to take up strong and fiducial Resolutions in the strength of Christ to fortifie our hearts against sin Crazy Timber in a Building must be well Crampt with Iron Bars to keep it from yielding And broken Bones had need of strong filleting to bind them together Take heed that you do not defer your Repentance or adjourn it to another day It 's very dangerous so to do Therefore I desire you with all possible earnestness for the Love of God and of your precious Souls set upon this duty presently Do not say within your self I am young and it's time enough to do it hereafter Remember Death comes riding Post and though sometimes he change Horses first come on one Disease and leaving that after come on another yet oftentimes he doth not change but comes on one single Horse and takes away at the first Sickness and then as you will but have little time to repent so little aptness or disposition thereunto when Sickness hath once arrested you Oh how unfit will you then be to turn to God when you can scarce turn your self in your Bed Let me therefore give you the Counsel that a Rabbin gave one of his Scholars Repent a day before you die and the Scholar thereupon thinking that he should have time enough then he bade him repent to day for thou knowest not but thou mayest be dead to morrow But is not this it may be said a hard painful Life to be every day repenting No when it is done every day it soon grows an easie work The good Huswife that scours her Plate often hath an easier task of it every day than other But is not this a sad and melancholy Life for to be always mourning and repenting No Tears of Repentance saith holy Bernard are sweeter than all worldly Joy Repentance is a most sweet Grace and hath much comfort in it The day of Expiation in the Old Law was a day of mourning yet the Jubilee was always to be proclaimed on that day The day of mourning for sin is a day of Expiation of sin and God then proclaims a Jubilee to the Soul in the pardon of it But further to take off this Objection and to give a fuller Answer thereunto I shall add the next following Advice CHAP. X. Of making Religion a delight MAke Religion your great delight and Recreation Delight your self in the Lord Psal 37.4 Or as the Apostle enjoyns Rejoyce in the Lord alway and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 1 Thes 5.16 Take delight in God himself in his infinite Excellencies and Perfections in his Goodness Love and Mercy in his Word and Works in his Commands and in his Promises in his Ways and in his Heaven which he hath prepared for Souls This and my last Advice for a daily mourning for sin are no way inconsistent but lovingly meet and kiss each other Chrysostom observes that David the great mourner in Israel was also the chief finger in Israel As with one Eye we look down to our sins so we mourn but as with the other Eye i. e. the Eye of Faith we look up to God and his Mercy pardoning sin upon Repentance so we rejoyce Godly sorrow makes pardoning Mercy taste the sweeter and causeth greater joy and
of Christ look by Faith beyond these outward Elements and say Lord thou dost here send me a covered Dish of Royal Cheer from Heaven from thine own Table as to a Beloved Friend or Dear Child Teach me to take off the outward Cover and to see plainly and clearly the rare Delicates that are laid in it Let me so imploy my outward Senses in minding the out-side of the Sacrament so as to raise my Spiritual Senses to see and discern the inside thereof and the Glorious Mysteries couched in it And here exercise further longing desires after those vailed Mysteries and say As the Heart pants after the Water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God my Soul is athirst for God yea even for the Living God When you see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out then you see the lively Spectacle of a Dying Saviour Let then Repentance be renewed Faith Love and Resolutions for New Obedience and Holy Desires also Acted and Elevated in the Soul Represent now to your self in this Mystery what our Lord Jesus endured when he hung upon his painful Bed of Sorrows the Cross and say to your self canst thou look upon a broken Saviour without a broken Heart upon a bleeding Christ without a bleeding Soul Upon a pierced Jesus without a Heart pierced thorow with Godly sorrow for thy Sins that pierced him Doth not every Orifice made by the Nayls the Thorns and the Spear in that pretious tormented and pained Body and every drop of Blood that issued thence call aloud to thee for Repentance of those Sins that caused these Torments I do therefore here Vow and Covenant to take a revenge upon my Sins and give them their mortal wound and cause them to Bleed to Death using them as they used my Dear Lord and Saviour O what Streams of matchless Love were these that flowed from a Dying Saviour laying down his Life for me and do not these call for streamings of Love back again from my Breast towards him O that my Soul may be sprinkled with that Blood which issued from that Fountain of infinite Love O that it may be Bathed in that Blessed Bath set open for Sin and for Uncleanness Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there 's none upon Earth that I can desire besides thee my bleeding Saviour When the Minister comes and delivers to you the Bread or Wine look on him as doing it in Christs Name and here stir up Faith and Love to God Think with admiring Love how God in Christ delivers up himself in Covenant to you offering to be your God your Reconciled Father and Redeemer And believe with Joy and Thankfulness that you hear Christ by the Minister saying to your Faith Take my Body and Blood all the Riches of that Covenant which was Sealed with my Blood all the Blessings coucht in that Blessed Charter of the Gospel When you take these at the Ministers hands then let the Hand of Faith stretch forth it self to reach God and stir up your self to take hold on him and put forth intire Resolutions of New Obedience and say Lord by taking this I do Covenant with thee that I take thee with my whole Heart to be my Lord to be ruled and governed as well as saved by thee and I do here seriously devote my self both Body and Soul to the intire Obedience of thee When you are eating the Bread then lift up your Heart by Faith to God and say I believe Lord that thy flesh is meat indeed thou that didst Dye for me art the Bread of Life that shall nourish my Soul to eternal Life My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips And here by eating this Bread I do Covenant with thee to be thy Servant and Obedient Child for ever And when you are drinking of the Wine or immediately upon it say Lord thy Blood is Drink indeed O that my Soul may tast the refreshings of this Heavenly Wine O stay me with Flagons Comfort me with thy Love which is better than Wine I believe that thy Blood was shed for the Remission of Sins O that I may be washt from all mine in that Holy Laver And that I may hear the soft Voice of thy Spirit whispering to my Soul Daughter be of good Cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee Bless the Lord O my Soul and that is within me bless his Holy Name who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and healeth all thy Diseases When you look upon the Communicants receiving with you exercise Love to the Saints and say where the Carcass is where the Crucified Body of my Saviour is thither will the believing Eagles be gathered together and shall not I be joyned in love with all that Heavenly Flock and Holy Society These Eagles do all feed on Blood the Blood of a Crucified Christ and hath not this a Cementing Virtue to unite Affections These are the Friends of the Bride groom and shall not I make them my Friends Shall not the Beloved of my Saviour be the Beloved Ones of my Soul CHAP. XXXV What is to be done after the Administration is ended VVHEN the solemnity is over go home with a glad heart and a chearful Spirit and say to your self what did Haman go from Esthers Banquet of Wine with a glad Heart glorying in the honour of his being there And shall not I much more rejoyce and glory who have been in the Spouses banqueting House where his Banner over me was love and have been royally entertain'd by the King of Saints with the choicest delicates of Heaven When you are come home retire your self into privacy for a little time and ask your self what your demeanour was at the Lords Table and what happy fruit you have found of your being there What meltings or softnings of Heart What glimpses of Love What cherishing Beams of the Spirit What strength vigor and liveliness of Soul What secret springings and elevations of Spirit What spiritual quicknings and refreshings have you had at that Feast of Fat Things and refined Wines And according as you find it with your Heart upon this short tryal so do you answerably make your addresses unto God If you have found the efficacy of the Ordinance and sweet satisfaction there bless God for it and sing glory to God in the highest and pray earnestly to him that it may abide upon your Soul but if you find no Divine relishes no drops of sweetness but are come away with an earthy and drossy Soul then humble your self before God and labour to find out the Sin that was the obstruction and remove it 3. Be watchful afterwards lest the World or any trifling occasions damp those influences which you found at the Sacrament All persons are most careful of themselves after they come out of a hot Bath lest they shouid take cold When you have been at this Spiritual Bath of the Sacrament be exceeding careful that cold get not info
of any delight in them 5. In this account ask your self what have my Receivings been from God this day what Talents and Mercies have I had from him and how have I laid them out for him what Mercies have I received and what returns have I made for them 10. Close your eyes at night with some thoughts of God and Christ When you are composing your self to sleep commit your self then both Body and Soul into his hands to keep them for you while you sleep as the Child when it goes to Bed gives its Mother what it would have kept safely Or going to Bed you may suitably meditate on Death whose Image and Picture Sleep is Look upon your Bed as upon your Grave think to die as often as you fall asleep Sleep is a short Death and Death is nothing else but a long sleep the Bed is a grave for one night and the grave is a Bed for many Ages We expect to awaken from our Beds and we hope to rise again from our graves If you seriously follow this course every night you will have Jesus Christ lie all night as a bundle of Myrrh betwixt your breasts and will find your heart in a good frame when you awake If you thus rake up the fire over night you will find it in in the morning Solomon's virtuous Woman lets not her Candle go out by night Prov. 31.18 Let your Lamp be well trimm'd your Grace well lighted and put in exercise when you compose your self to rest and like a good Watch-candle you will find it burning when you awake O how many are there that lie down as the Beasts in their Straw without so much as bidding their Souls good night Ejaculations which may be used at night before sleep I Will both lay me down and sleep for thou Lord make stme dwell in safety Psal 4.8 When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov. 3.24 Lord I commit my self both Body and Soul into thy hands who art the keeper of Israel and neither slumbers nor sleeps The Lord is my keeper the Lord is my defence who neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 21.4 5. 11. If there be any interceptions any interruptions or breaches of sleep in the night fill up those vacancies with meditations on some Sermon lately heard or on what you read the day before in the Bible or some other good Book or else with some Parenthetical Ejaculations as devout Souls those spiritual Crickets of the night have used to do Ejaculations that may be used in the Night in breaches of sleep BY night upon my bed I sought him whom my Soul loveth Cant. 3.1 O let me not have occasion to say I sought him but I found him not or to go about as the Spouse there did in a dark night of desertion crying out like a desolate Widdow Saw ye him whom my Soul loveth With my Soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early Isa 26.9 My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips while I remember thee on my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches Psal 63.5 6. O when shall I come and appear in the presence of God in the City of the New Jerusalem which hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God doth lighten it and tke Lamb is the light thereof And there shall be no Night there and they need no Candle neither Light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Rev. 21.23 O when shall my Soul be received into the number of that heavenly Chore that sing for ever Hallelujahs that rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 4.8 I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also my inward thoughts instruct me in the night season Psal 16.7 CHAP. XXIII How to spend the Lord's Day IN general Be a curious spender of your time on the Lord's Day This will be a holy curiosity Let this day be your delight spend it wholly in walking in the Spouses Garden amongst Duties and Ordinances with a sweet and holy pleasure where there is so great variety that you may go like a diligent Bee from one Flower to another from one Duty to another and never take surfeit It 's the whole day that God commans to be sanctified and therefore the whole must be spent in holy exercises Therefore do not think it sufficient for the sanctification thereof that you have been at the Publick Worship in the Assembly unless the whole day were spent there as was antiently done by the Primitive Christians in their Publick Assemblies almost from morning to night On other days of the week Duties call for time but time calls for Duties on the Lord's Day If I were to pass my Judgment on the Religion of any person I would take my measures from the manner of their observation or the Lord's Day 2. Before you go to the Publick Worship spend what time you can in private beside Duty in the Family that so you may be better prepared for the Publick for private Devotion before will be a great means to prevent worldly thoughts and distractions when you are in the Assembly Worldly thoughts and cares do play the part of little Children if they cannot keep the Mother from going abroad they will cry to go along with her and these if they cannot keep you from Church they will strive to go thither with you but solemn preparation before lays a restraint on them gives them a discharge to prevent and hinder their accompanying of you 3. Be a constant diligent and reverent Attendant on the Publick Ordinances and make the best improvement of them for your Soul This is a frequenting the Royal Exchange of Christians and would exceedingly tend to the Souls advantage Christ's presence is most to be found in the Publick Ordinances he walks in the midst of the golden Candlesticks here the whole Assembly with united and concentricated Forces do besiege the Throne of Grace and so their prayers have more power with God Musick in Consort is the most pleasant That is the sweetest Posie that is made of most Flowers The prayers of many smell sweetest with God Besides Affections are more wrought on in publick than in private which some great Naturalists have observed as one of Natures great Mysteries and where Affections are most raised there God usually confers the greater blessing Indeed sometimes it falls out that Christians are more dull under the publick means which may be in Judgment when they either put too much confidence in such places or are fallen to a loathing or slighting of that spiritual food either because they have it so oft or by reason of
what they eat If you have not the light of knowledge so as to see what you eat in the Lords Supper which is the great Mystery of our Religion you do not then discern the Lords Body and so cannot be a worthy Receiver Now as for the Nature of this Holy Sacrament consider both the outside and also the inside of it The outside contains 1. The Sacramental Elements Bread and Wine 2. The Sacramental Rites or Actions The Sacramental Elements are Bread and Wine which being duly Consecrated are plain and visible Representations and Divine Memorials of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ But yet they are not bare Representations thereof they are not meer shadowy Significations and Resemblances For God doth not nourish and feed our Souls with thin and empty Shadows weak and languishing Representations or naked Emblems And therefore we must further look on them as real Pledges and Seals or Instruments of Conveyance of Christ and the fruits of his Death in a Mystical manner to the Faith of his People which comes to pass by Virtue of our Lords Institution whereupon he that duly receives the Elements receives the thing signified by them and vail'd therein As among Men a pledge confirms a contract and a Seal conveys an Estate House or Land by Virtue of the Law of the Land So by Virtue of Christs Institution the Covenant of grace is by the Sacramental Elements confirm'd betwixt God and the worthy Receiver and Jesus Christ with all his benefits truly exhibited and conveyed from God to the believing Communicant though not as through a Conduit Pipe as if they were Locally contained therein yet as an Estate is Conveyed from the Giver by Wax and Seal which is delivered by the Hand of his Messenger or as the Possession of a House is delivered by a Key and of Land by a Sod or Turf And so when Christ saith by the Minister Take This is my Body or my Blood he doth as much as say Take these they are to thee my Body and Blood i. e. real Pledges together with which I give thee my self according as a Man in worldly Matters doth by Pledges give the thing signified thereby as if he that 's about giving possession of a House should give a Key and say Take it here is possession of my House or delivering an Evidence Sealed should say Take this here is my Land And upon this account the Cup is called by the Apostle the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Bread broken the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 where the Apostle signifies to us that the Eating and Drinking of Believers in the Lords Supper is a real Communication in his Meritorious Death and All-sufficient Sacrifice and a true Participation of the Blessed Fruits of the Cross As among the Jews those that did eat of the Sacrifice did partake of the Altar ver 18. that is of the Sacrifice offered upon the Altar So among Christians to Eat and Drink by Faith in the Lords Supper is to be partaker of his Immaculate Sacrifice once for all offered up upon the Altar of the Cross The Covenant is as the Deed that intitles us to all the Riches of Grace and Regions of Glory but the Sacrament is the Instrument that doth Invest us therein The Sacramental Actions or Rites are on the Ministers part 1. The Consecration by Blessing and giving thanks 2. Breaking and Delivering And then on the Communicants part the Actions or Rites are Taking Eating and Drinking The inside of the Sacrament or the Spiritual thing Signified and Couched in the outward Sacrament this is Christ himself as offered up upon Mount Calvary together with the precious Fruits of the Cross which bare better Fruits to us than all the Trees of Paradise did as Olives of Peace and Reconciliation with God Clusters of the Grapes of Canaan Righteousness and Grace Joy and Gladness Life and Salvation The Elements of the Bread and Wine signifie the Body and Blood of Christ with the pretious Fruits thereof and the breaking of the Bread signifies the Crucifying or Sacrificing of Christ And the Delivery of the Bread and Wine Christs Delivering of himself with his Benefits And the Taking Eating and Drinking point forth the Communicants thankful accepting and using that pretious gift Here 's the glory and divinity of the mystery CHAP. XXXI Of the Ends of the Sacrament ENdeavour to understand well the Ends of this Sacrament Now for your more clear and distinct understanding hereof I shall premise this one thing viz. That this Sacrament of the Lords Supper in the true notion of it is a Feast and particularly a Feast upon a Sacrifice or a Feast upon that which was once offered up in Sacrifice to God namely the Body and Blood of Christ which are represented in the outward Elements of Bread and Wine And thus it is parallel unto or bears proportion with the Jewish Feasts under the Law which were made upon those things which they had first offered up in Sacrifice to God for it was an antient custom among the Jews as also generally among the Heathen to link Feasting and Sacrificing together and to Eat of the things which themselves had Sacrificed and so had a Communion therein This they did to signifie a Foederal or Covenanting Rite and solemnity betwixt God and Them as also a Covenanting League of friendship among themselves who did eat thereof This being premised you may more plainly understand the ends of this Sacrament which are these following The first end of this Sacrament is to be nourishment to our inward man or that the Divine Nature in us might thrive The end of a Feast is nourishment This Sacred Feast was instituted to nourish and feed the Soul to strengthen and increase its Graces Hence it 's exprest by Eating and Drinking 1 Cor. 11.24 25. Christ comes to the Soul as Melchisedeck to Abraham with Bread and Wine The very Body and Blood of Christ which were a Sacrifice as they were offered up to God in that one full and sufficient oblation upon the Cross are Meat and Drink for the Souls nourishment as they are offered unto us and set before us in the Dishes of the outward Sacrament and so Christ Crucified is truly and really but Spiritually and Mystically given to us in the Lords Supper to be our Nutriment as he was given for us in the Sacrifice and Oblation upon the Cross to be our propitiation and atonement Christs Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood Drink indeed and do become one with us spiritually for our nourishment as our Bodily Meat and Drink do being turn'd into our substance here there is a kind of Divine Coalition into the same Nature hence our Saviour said He that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6.57 It 's storied of Artemisia that she so dearly loved her Husband Mausolus that after he was dead she took the Ashes of his Urn and mingled them with her Drink and so