heavenly spirit We must remember Christ therefore as Nehemiah desires God to remember him by doing good or as we remember our Creator by a true subjection of all our faculties to his soveraign will Then we remember him as we ought when we get him formed in our hearts and have a more living image of him left in our minds when it stirs and is busie in our souls and awakens all other images and calls up all divine truths that are within us to send them forth upon their several imployments into our lives Now for the fuller understanding of this matter you must know that the Paschal Supper which is called by Greg. Naz. very elegantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more obscure type of this type was instituted for a remembrance and was a Feast of commemoration as will soon appear if you look but a while into the particulars of it And first you must observe that the very day of the Passeover was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a memorial of their miraculous deliverance out of Egypt as you may read Exod. 12.14 and therefore they are bid Exod. 13.3 to remember this day in which they came out of Egypt out of the house of bondage c. Thence it was that they were commanded to eat the Lamb with bitter herbs Exod. 12.8 for a remembrance of their hard bondage in Egypt which made their lives bitter unto them Exod. 1.14 So was the unleavened bread the bread of affliction in remembrance that they brought their bread out of Egypt unleavened Exod. 12.34 and were there in great servitude Exod. 13.3 so that their soul was even dried and parched in them The later Jews have added the charóseth which is a thick sawce in memory of the clay and morter which they wrought in and they use red wine for a remembrance that Pharaoh shed the blood of their children To which may be added that God required there should be a rehearsal to their children of what the Lord had done for them that so this feast might be for a sign upon their hand and for a memorial between their eyes to all posterity as you may see Exod. 13.8 9. And thence it is that the Jews call that section of the Law or the Lesson which they read that night the Haggádah annunciation or shewing forth because they commemorated and predicated both their hard services and Gods wonderful salvation and the praises that were due to him for so great a mercy It is easie now to apply all this to our present purpose if we do but consider that this likewise is a holy feast Whence it is called the Lords Supper not only because he appointed it 1 Cor. 11.20 but because he was the end of its celebration and an entertainment at the table of the Lord. 1 Cor. 10.21 This Feast our Saviour first keeping with his Apostles who were Jews he makes part of the Passeover-chear to be the provision of it For he takes the bread and wine which used to go about in that Supper through the whole family to signifie his broken body and his blood which was to be shed Now this was to be in commemoration of a deliverance wrought by him from a greater tyranny then the Israelites were under which made all the world to groan and was ready to thrust us all below into the Devils fiery furnace And therefore as it is said Exod. 13.8 thou shalt shew thy son in that day saying This is done c. So the Apostle in a manifest allusion to that phrase saith 1 Cer. 11.26 that when we eat this bread and drink this cup we do shew forth the Lords death until he come So that we may conclude that in this feast in honour of Christ we are to make a rehearsal of his famous acts to proclaim his mighty deeds to speak of the glorious honour of his Majesty and of his wondrous works and to indeavour that one generation may praise his works to another Psl 146.3 4 c. and declare his mighty acts that they may speak of the glory of his Kingdom and talk of his power And indeed it should seem that the memory of a thing is by nothing so sensibly preserved and so deeply ingraven in mens minds as by feasts and festival joys For it hath been the way of all the world to send to posterity the memory of their benefactors or famous persons by instituting of such solemn times wherein men did assemble together and by the joys and pleasures of them more imprint the kindnesses and noble atchievements of such Worthies in their minds So we find among the Greeks their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in honour of Aeacus their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in honour of Ajax and in latter times their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such like in remembrance of the merits of such persons and how highly they deserved of the places where their feasts were celebrated In like sort the Jews had their feasts in memory of some great and rare passage of divine providence though not of any particular persons lest they should be tempted to worship them as their Saviours according as the custom of the heathen was But all worship being due to our Lord and Saviour he thought fit in like manner to appoint this feast to be as a Passeover unto us a holy solemnity that should call us together and assemble us in one body that we might be more sensibly impressed with him and that all generations might call him blessed and he might never be forgotten to the worlds end Now of two things it is a remembrance and two ways we do commemorate or remember them I. It is instituted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. c. for a remembrance that he was imbodied for those that believe on him and became passible for their sakes The bread and the wine are in token that he had a true body and that the word was made flesh For thence Tertullian and Irenaeus do confute Marcion who denied the truth of Christs flesh and made his body to be a phantastical thing because then real bread and wine could not be a figure of it and so Theodoret saith out of Ignatius Dialog 3. that some Simon and Menander I think did not admit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thanksgivings and offerings viz. of bread and wine in this Sacrament because they did not confess that it was the flesh of our Saviour Now with what affection we should call to mind this love that God would appear to us not by an Angel in a bright cloud not in a body of pure air but by his Son in our own flesh I leave your own hearts to tell you Methink we should wish that all the world could hear us proclaim this love and that even the fields and forests i. e. the most desolate and heathenish places might resound our joyful acclamations to him We should wish to feel something of extasie and
full Atonement being made because it is onely bread and onely Wine These things then having such a special reference to Christs Death the worthy receiving of them must needs be of great force 1. As an Antidote to take away the poyson and killing-power of sin The Blood of Christ doth wash away our guilt and takes off all obligation unto punishment and the consideration that Christ hath died for us expels the poyson from the heart which would make us faint and die It heals the wounds that sin hath made and takes away the anger of the sore it asswages the rage and heat of that sting which the fiery Serpent had sent unto us and suffers not the venome to undo us The pardon indeed is granted to us by vertue of the Covenant of grace when we unfeignedly repent and believe i. e. when we are converted unto God but now likewise it is further sealed to such persons That which was confirmed before by the Blood of Christ is now in a sensible manner applied to us and ratified by the representations of that Blood In the use of these things likewise we receive an increase of Piety and get more full victories over our sins and thereby feel more the virtue of the Antidote and have a sense of our pardon made as lively as if there was a new act of grace passed to settle it more surely upon us 2. It is of a Cathartical virtue also and hath in it a force to purge and cleanse our souls from their impurities As it takes away the killing-power of sin against us so it kills sin in us By our abiding in the Wounds of Christ sin is wounded and slain If any of you saith St. Bernard do not feel so frequently the sharp motions of anger envy or luxury c Gratias agat corpori saâ—guini Domini c. Let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord and let him praise the power of this Sacrament The blood of Christ quenches the fire of anger the heart-burnings of malice and envy the feavourish heats of lust the raging thirst after sensual pleasures Consider what thou art Dost thou delight in drink Here is a draught to quench thy thirst Art thou a glutton Here is a morfel that will make thee say Lord evermore give us this Bread Art thou worldly-minded Here is Christ dying to the world and leaving the world who will carry thee away with him in his armes Art thou fearfull to suffer any thing for Christ Drink the Cup of the blood of Christ that thou mayst be able to shed thy own bloud for Christ Calicem sanguinis Christi bibas ut possis propter Christum sanguinem sundere Cypt. Give saith Cyprian the Cup of Christ to those who are to drink of the Cup of Martyrdome Art thou affraid of the power of the Devil Christ O man comes here to take possession of thee And as he upon the Cross spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them so mayst thou do also in this Sacrament of the Cross Art thou affraid of growing cold and dead in good duties Thou drinkest of Jesus that is full of spirit and will warm and enliven thy heart Whatsoever sin thou hast unmortified bring it hither and nail it unto the Cross of Christ till it be stark dead And unto whatsoever good thou wouldst be animated shew thy Lord thy desire to it and shew him his bloud to move him to bestow it Onely remember that it works not as Physick doth in a natural but in a spiritual manner It works as a Sacrament and requires thy inward rational and spiritual operations and then thou wilt find the profit of it to be greater then all that I have said Some of the old Heathen represented plenty and worldly happiness by a man with bread in one hand and a Cup in the other and a Crown of Poppy about his head which signified sleep and emptiness of care and trouble in the midst of abundance That man thou maist be for by this bread and Wine is exhibited to thee all plenty of grace and blessing of peace and comfort Thou maist lay down thy self in peace and sleep quietly not in the lap of the world and carnal security but in the bosome of our Lord folacing thy self in his love and saying Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine encreased Psal 4.7 Let me say therefore to every holy and well-disposed Soul in the words of St. Ambrose Venias venias ad cibum Christi adcibum c. Come come to the food of Christ to the food of the Lords Body to the banquet of the Sacrament to the Cup wherewith the affections of the faithfull are inebriated and made drunken That thou maist put off the cares of the world the snares of the Devil and the fears of Death and that thou maist put on the comforts of God the delights of Peace the joys of Pardon more sweet than all the Pleasures of a Paradise And thou O Lord our God who dost provide food for all Creatures and hast given all Creatures to be food for Man and feedest not onely his body but his soul also and givest him for his soul not onely the holy Word but the blessed Body and Blood of thy Son Do thou cause all our hearts to burn with desires after thee who art so full of love to us Make every Christian soul to rellish and savour the things of God Prepare every one by a full digestion of thy Heavenly Word to receive likewise this divine nourishment of their Souls Stir up all their hunger after this Feast Excite all their longing-appetites after this Heavenly Manna And let this be the voice and hearty language of every one that reads this Book Give us good Lord Give us evermore this food Amen most gracious God for Jesus Christ his sake Amen CHAP. XIX AS the Sun and the showres make those Plants more tall and beautifull which have any living roots in the earth but on the contrary do putrifie and dry up those whose roots are dead So it is with this Sacrament which renders their souls more fair and flourishing who receive it rooted in love but those are more dried and hardned by it and tend more to corruption who have no life at all in them whereby to convert it into their nourishment Or as you see it is in corporal nutriment those meats which give a plentifull increase to sound bodies do more weaken and infeeble those whose stomacks are corrupt and the higher and fuller the nutriment is the more corruption doth it breed in those that are infirm and not apt to receive it So it is in this sacred spiritual repast the greater and more large stock of spirits and strength it is apt to afford to a soul that fits it self to receive it the more distempers and weaknesses doth it leave in the spirit of him that cares not what he does
Melchizedeck unto Abraham as a part perhaps of the blessing of that High Priest and as a signification of that Sacrament which God would have Abrahams seed to feed upon when the true High Priest after that great mans order should come And fifthly It is not to be forgotten that they do best answer to some things whereunto Christ is compared in the holy Scriptures For he is called the Vine and every branch that is in him must bring forth fruit as he doth which may hereby be represented And he is called the Bread of life which came down from Heaven as the Manna in the Wilderness who is to support our souls as the staff of bread doth our bodies Sixthly But it is most to be remarked that these were part of the Passeover-Supper when Christ as Cyril of Alexandria speaks was typically eaten in Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For first It is acknowledged by all that the Bread was blessed and the Cup also and so went round to all the guests And the forms of Benediction are still extant in some of the Hebrew Authors And secondly The whole Feast after the Passeover-night was called the Feast of unleavened Bread And thirdly It is the opinion I observe of some that our Saviour at the time of instituting this Sacrament Grot. did eat onely the Bread and the bitter Herbs but not the Lamb of the Passeover For it is not said in the Evangelists that his Disciples killed the Passeover for him but onely that they made ready the Passeover which might be nothing else but that bread of affliction and the herbs which were attended with the cup of kindness that used to pass among them For our Saviour died at the time the Passeover-Lamb was offered being indeed the Lamb of God himself And therefore S. John saith Chap. 13.1 That the Supper was before the Feast of the Passeover and he calls it eating of the Passeover because this was a great part of it a principal portion of this Feast And this part was all that they could partake of who at any time could not come to Jerusalem where only the Lamb was to be eaten being first offered at the Temple But supposing this to be doubtful yet there is no question but that this Lamb was a Type of Christ and that Bread and Wine was a part of their Supper And upon search I believe we shall find that the Lamb of the Passeover was the only Sacrifice which the people did wholly eat its blood being poured out at the Altar and it doth the better set forth Christ who gives himself wholly to us To which fourthly may be added that as the Paschal-Lamb did represent him so the manner of its killing was very conformable to Christs death upon the Cross which may make it more reasonable to borrow from the Supper resemblances of him For they hung the Lamb upon nails much what as Butchers now do a Sheep which they have killed and then fley'd off its skin that it might be dressed While it hung in this posture it was just like the scituation of Christs body upon the Cross as Buxtorf hath observed out of the Talmud whose hands were so spread and leggs so stretched out as the Lamb was 5. Unto which I may add That the Law of Moses was not to be wholly destroyed but to be changed and altered by Christ So the Apostle teacheth us to speak in Heb. 7.12 And the malice of St. Stephen's accusers could prompt them to say no worse of him then that he preached Jesus should change the customs which Moses delivered Act. 6.14 Circumcision is commanded under the title of an everlasting Covenant and it is not so much abolished as improved into a better Sacrament and seal of greater blessings to Mankind The Sabbath-day likewise was to be a commemoration of Gods rest from all his works on the seventh day and of his deliverance of them out of Egypt and it is not cancelled but changed into another day which contains the former and something else even a remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead that he might enter into his rest So we may conceive that this great Feast of the Passeover was not quite done away but gave place to a better Feast which is in memory of a greater deliverance than that from the thraldom of Egypt and the iron Furnace In this the Jewish Christians might still commemorate their ancient mercies as well as if they had eaten of the flesh of their Lamb. Yea because there was in it such a clear representation of Christs sufferings especially in its first Institution when the blood was sprinkled on the door-posts part of it was thought fit still to remain viz. the Bread and Wine which they used to eat and drink in memory of that mercy with solemn forms of thanksgiving unto God And lastly The Bread and Wine was more fit then the flesh to be retained because now that Christ is come all Sacrifices are to cease and no more blood is to be shed for fin This I say may be a good reason why Bread and Wine only are used because they are unbloody things and after the killing of the Lamb of God there is to be no more life offered for our offences This Feast our Saviour did first of all celebrate with his twelve Disciples §. 3. And it was but fit that he should do so that he might the better answer to the Type in Exod. 29. where we read that Aaron the High Priest with his sons was to eat the breast and shoulder of the Ram of consecration whereby he was sanctified to officiate in the Priesthood Even so our Lord being to be offered up in Sacrifice and thereby to be consecrated an high Priest did institute this Supper that together with his Disciples he might as much as is possible feast with them upon that Sacrifice And seeing our Saviours Sacrifice answered both to the Paschal Lamb and the propitiatory Sacrifice on the day of Expiation it will be no wonder if it were so compleat as to have reference to this also The time when it was first instituted was in the night when he was betrayed for at the Even they celebrated the Passeover which makes some I suppose to keep the memory of Christs death in the close of the day But if they think that they must exactly follow that precedent they should do it after Supper And I rather think that the manner of receiving about noon is most agreeable to the true pattern For we do not remember the Supper of the Lord but his Sacrifice on the Cross And therefore as the Jews feasted at Even because they came out of Aegypt at that time so should we feast about Noon because our Lords death began between nine and twelve and ended about three of the Clock as you will clearly see by comparing the relation of S. Mark and S. John together It is said John 19.14 that it was about
give some brief touches upon those things §. 5. which you can without trouble inlarge in your own thoughts Which is one reason why I shall spare my self any long pains about them and hold another course in this following Treatise For our part we do here profess our selves of the Religion that Christ hath instituted and taught us as you will see more largely in the ensuing Book We do at once in this Feast both shew our gladness and assure him of our affections Sin is here represented so unto us that it cannot but make our wounds bleed afresh The remembrance of Christs death doth pierce our hearts again with godly sorrow and revives the smart and pain which the sense of sin hath created in our souls Faith likewise here is as greedy of its food as an hungry mouth is of its meat And Obedience is hereby confirmed because we receive lively nourishment into our souls which will make us strong to execute the will of our Lord. Our suffering also with Christ we profess more lively than by Water even by Blood it self When our Saviour saith in the sixth of S. John That we must eat of his flesh he means we must receive himself and digest his Doctrine but seeing the word flesh in Scripture-phrase signifies very frequently weakness and meanness he intends that we must receive him so as to partake with him in his poor low and suffering condition And this we do most notably protest that we will when we receive the signs of his broken body For the Bread broken doth not only argue it to be fit for food but that first we must be slain and mortified and likewise receive such strength that if he call us unto death we must undergo it We own hereby the Covenant of sufferings and feed upon a dead Saviour Which makes Theophylact give this as a reason why Christ gave thanks when he brake the bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That so we might receive Martyrdom thankfully It is a feast which we partake of and yet signifies sufferings But let it not seem strange for we must count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Neither doth it less signifie and seal on Gods part being a manifest token of his great and inexpressible love in giving of his own Son to death even to the cursed death of the Cross for us Here he takes us not only under his wings as I said he doth in Baptism but he takes us into his armes He takes us to himself and he gives himself wholly unto us And then for Remission of sins it is manifest to be the purchase of his blood and so must needs further here be assured to all good souls And it is the very thing that is expressed in the Institution of this Sacrament This is my blood of the New Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sins And there are not so many spirits contained in the Wine as there are lively influences of Gods good Spirit hereby conveyed to pious hearts We have assurance likewise given by these things That he will not take his holy Spirit from us but that he will let it always diffuse it self through all our powers And as for the Resurrection from the dead We being made as it were of his flesh and of his bone and incorporated into him he can lose none of his members but all that eat of his flesh and drink of his blood as they ought shall be raised again at the last day We eat of the tree of life which will make us live for ever and we receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Ephes as Ignatius speaks an Antidote against death a Medicine to preserve us from corruption This the ancient Christians thought to be so fully assured to us in the Eucharist that this is one of the Arguments whereby Irenaeus confutes the Valentinians who denied the rising again of the Body after it is dead How can that flesh be corrupted L. 4. adv haeres cap. 34. and not live again which is nourished by the Body and Bloud of the Lord Either let them change their mind or else abstain from this Offering For as the Bread which is of the Earth perceiving the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of something earthly and something heavenly Even so our bodies perceiving this Eucharist are not now corruptible but have the hopes of a Resurrection L. 5. cap. 2. Thus he who hath more to the same purpose in another Book Herein likewise God gives us a foretaste of Heaven and the joys to come as will be made more manifest in the following Discourse And thus far we may grant the Bread and Wine of Melchizedeck to have been Sacramental that they were given to Abraham as earnests for to secure him of the Land flowing with milk and honey By this Banquet or Entertainment which the Royal Priest made him he took Livery of Seisin as our Lawyers speak of the promised Land And in that very place it is most likely where God intended the Mother-City of the Kingdom should be was this conveyance made to Abraham's seed This Bread and Wine were most certain evidences that his Posterity should eat of the fruit of that Land wherein now he was a stranger And just in the same manner doth God give unto faithful souls this blessed Bread and Wine as an Antepast of his eternal love and hereby they do begin to taste of the heavenly Feast that they shall celebrate above They have herein a right made them unto Heaven and a kind of delivery of possession which shall shortly be compleated by an actual enjoyment They that would more than such things as these in this Sacrament Sect. 6. are in danger to have nothing at all as they should have While they think that Christ is received coporally by them they may neglect the spiritual eating and while they chew him as it were between their teeth their Souls may feel but little of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—nap in vita Jambl. For just as it is with those that would paint a beautifull person while they think to add something of their own to the face thereby to make him look better than he is they spoil the comeliness of the Picture and miss both of his face and likewise of his true beauty So it is with the modern Church of Rome which would make Religion seem as fair and beautifull yea as gaudy and trim as their fancies can devise but by adding their own inventions and novel fashions they quite spoil both true Religion and the beauty of it which they study to adorn Whilest they think to offer a proper Sacrifice they many times offer none at all And whilst they think it is a Sacrifice both for quick and dead they rely so much upon it that it proves to be for neither By making it flesh and blood and bones they make Christ the
same Epistle acquaints us with it when he saith 1 Cor. 14. v. 16 17. When thou shalt bl-ss (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. with the spirit i. e. in an unknown tongue how shall he that is unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing he knows not what thou sayest From these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shalt bless and giving thanks Beza thinks that he touches upon the Lords Supper So the L. Mr. Thorndike also for they are the very same words which are used concerning that action of our Saviour when he first celebrated this feast as you may see Mat. 26.26 27. And besides the Apostle seems in that Chapter to direct the Corinthians how to handle the whole divine service so that it might be to edification Now having spoken concerning Prayer and singing of Psalms ver 14.15 and instructing them afterward concerning teaching and interpreting of Scripture ver 19 26. in all likelihood he here tells them how to behave themselves to the same profiting of others in the Supper of the Lord at which there were many rudenesses committed by the people And that which he teacheth them So Juctâ—n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to give thanks in a known tongue that so all the people when the Minister comes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever and ever as Chrysostome speaks might assent with their wishes and say Amen From whence we may collect that giving of thanks is so considerable a part of this service that in the Apostles stile it involves the whole of it VI. It may further be observed that all Churches in the world have always used divine praises in this commemoration and if we may believe ancient Records such as are very conformable to the Jewish benedictions at the Passeover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Blessed art thou O Lord our God the King of the world who hast produced bread out of the earth and blessed art thou c. who hast created the fruit of the vine And afterward Let us bless him wâ—o hath fed us with his own and by whose goodness we live c. For so we reade in Justin Martyr and others Apolog 2. Constit Apost that in their times the Church used to praise God for all things and particularly for those gifts of bread and wine and so for Jesus Christ his Death Passion Resurrection and Ascension beseeching the Father of the whole world to accept of the offering they made to him And in after ages Cyril of Hierusalem saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We make mention of the Heaven the Earth the Sea and all the Creatures reasonable and unreasonable of the Angels Archangels and powers of Heaven praising God and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath c. These do very much correspond with those Hebrew formes which perhaps they were willing in part to imitate for the greater satisfaction of the Jewish Christians who constituted part of their assemblies One thing more seems to be very clear that from the Hallel of the Jews it was that some ancient Christians used in the 50 days after Easter to sing and ingemminate Hallelujahs in their assemblies ut autem Halâ—iujah per illos solos quinquaâ— ginta dies in Ecclesia cantetur non usqucquaque observatur c. Epist 120. as a remembrance of that great Hymn which the Prince of the Church and his Apostles sung after this supper This St. Aug. takes notice of but saith that in his days those Hallelujahs used to be sung at other times also From all which we may discern a farther reason why they called this Sacrament by the name of a Sacrifice Ia isto autâ—m sacrificio gratiarum â—ctio commemoâ—atio est carnis Christi quam pro 〈◊〉 obtulit Fuâ—g de side 1 Pet. 2.5 because they did offer unto God thanksgiving as the Psalmist speaks Psal 50. â—4 which is one of the spiritual sacrifices which every Christian is consecrated to bring unto him It is confessedly true that there never was any festival instituted by any people of the world but one part of it was a reverend acknowledgment of God and a thanksgiving to him for his benefits And there never was any solemn feast either among Jews Persians Greeks Aegyptians or Romans without some sacrifice to their Gods Christians therefore are not without their sacrifice also when they keep this feast and such an one as is very befitting God and which no rational man can deny to deserve the name L. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Porphyry disputing against the eating or sacrificing of beasts unto God denies that thereupon any ill consequence could be grounded as if he denied all sacrifices to him No saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we likewise sacrifice as well as others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only we will sacrifice according as is most meet And there he assigns to every Deity its proper homage and acknowledgment belonging to it saying that to the great God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He above all we sacrifice nothing but pure thoughts and speak not so much as a word of him But to those that are the off-spring of God the coelestial inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we give Hymns and praises which are the conceptions and expresses of our mind and so he proceeds to the more petty tributes paid to lesser Gods According then to this Heathen Divine the praises of God may well pass for the most proper sacrifice and he makes account that there is none better but onely silent adorations A soul breathing forth it self out of an ardent affection in holy Hymns is more acceptable to God then the richest gumms or the sweetest wood that can fume upon his Altars But a whole soul full of pure thoughts too great to come out of the mouth and more clear then to be embodied in words is transcendent to all oblations But yet I would not be so mistaken as if I thought the Christian thanksgiving consisted only in inward thoughts and outward words For there are Eucharistical actions also whereby we perform a most delightsome sacrifice unto God We must not when we come to God appear before him empty but we are to consecrate and offer unto him some of our temporal goods for the relief of those that are in want which may cause many thanksgivings to be sent up by them to God 2 Cor. 9.11 12. It hath been said before that our whole selves ought to be offered as an holocaust to God and our love should be so great as to spend our souls and bodies in his service now in token that we mean so to do we must give something that is ours unto him for to be imployed to his uses We are to give God an earnest of our sincere and intire devotion to him by parting with something that we call ours and transferring it to him Of this the
else we shall do nothing at the Lords Supper but what we might do at any other time as well If it be onely beleeving and meer spiritual eating that here is exercised then we may feed so without this food And when Christ commands so frequently Do this in remembrance of me it would be no more sence then if he had said Do this which yet you may do without doing this This eating and drinking therefore must be a profession of our faith a covenanting solemnly with God and a receiving and giving of those pledges of love which we cannot have any where else V. And indeed the old Christians did so sacredly bind themselves hereby to their Saviour that Heathens were ready to suspect them of dangerous combinations and such conspiracies as might prove mischievous to the Commonwealth From which imputation whilest Pliny doth acquit them L. 10. Epist. 97. he likewise instructs us for what end they met together at this feast They assemble themselves saith he in a Letter to Trajan the Emperor before day break and sing a Hymn to Christ as if he were God and then they do sacramento se obstringere bind themselves with a Sacrament or Oath not that they will do mischief to any but that they will not rob or steal nor commit adultery nor falsifie their words nor deny their trust c. And then after they have eat together they depart to their own homes Of more then this they protested to him he should never find them guilty and this was the crime of Christians in those first ages to engage themselves to commit no crime which they bound themselves unto by this Sacrament of Christs body and blood The Greek Christians at this day Christop Angelus rit Eccles Graec. when they take the bread or cup into their hands make this profession Lord I will not give thee a kiss like Judas but I do confess unto thee like the poor thief and beseech thee to remember me when thy Kingdom comes If we do touch the body of Christ with traitorous lips and embrace him with a false heart we stain our souls with the guilt of that blood which can onely wash them from all their other sins And therefore we must come unfeignedly to bewail our neglects and to settle our former resolutions of strict obedience It is grown even to a Proverb as Joseph Accosta relates among the poor Indians that have entertained the faith De procur Ind. Sal. L. 6. that Qui eucharistiam semel susceperit nullum amplius crimen debet committere He must never be guilty more of any crime who hath once received the Eucharist And if they chance to commit any they bewail it with such a sorrow and compunction that he saith he hath not found such faith no not in Israel But it would be very sad if we should be sent to school as far as India There are I make no doubt many pious souls among our selves that look upon it as a blessed opportunity to knit their hearts in greater love to God and that are more afflicted for an evil thought after such engagements then other are for a base and unworthy action Whensoever therefore we come to celebrate the memory of Christs death in this manner we must remember with our selves that we are assembled for to renew our baptismal vow and league and in the devoutest manner to addict our selves to a more constant love and service of the Lord Jesus We must look upon this feast to which we are admitted as a disclaiming of all enmity to him and a profession of our continuing a hearty friendship so as never to do any hostile act against him And thence indeed it is called a Sacrament according to Tertullian and others with him because we here take an Oath to continue Christs faithfull Souldiers and never to do any thing against his Crown and dignity as long as there remains any breath in our bodies We do repeat our Oath of Allegiance and swear fealty again to him or as we ordinarily speak we take the Sacrament upon it that we will be Christs faithfull servants and Souldiers against the Devil World and Flesh and never flie from his service Every act of sin then after such promises is not onely treason but perjury not onely the breaking of our faith but of our Oath yea not onely the violation of a simple Oath but of Oath upon Oath which we ought more to dread then we do to break our bones We esteem it an impiety of a high nature for a Minister to give a cup of poyson into a mans hand instead of the blood of Christ and we do deservedly abhorre that Priest that poysoned Pope Victor the 3d. Venenum sub specie sacramenti dedit vertens calicem vitae in calicem mortis with the Sacrament and him that poysoned Henry the 7th Emp. turning as Nauclerus his phrase is the cup of life into the cup of death But whilest our hearts swell in indignation at such a crime let us consider with our selves what a treasonable act it is to poyson our souls with our own hands and by a base treachery to God to swallow down curses and woes into our selves Better were it for us to be choaked with the bread of life or to feel the venome of Asps boiling in our veins after the holy cup then to take an Oath which we take small care to keep then to go on in a course of sin after such sacred professions of our duty and service unto Christ We are amazed to hear that men can touch the Gospels before a Magistrate and kiss the book or lift up their hand to Heaven and yet make good never a word that they swear We are apt to think that either these men have no souls or that they do not value them at the price of a rotten nut O let our very flesh then tremble to think that we should lay our hand upon the body of Christ and take it into our very mouths and solemnly swear unto him and yet not be faithfull in his Covenant nor heartily indeavour to perform our promises unto him For there is no forsworn person hath such a black soul as he whose soul is fouled even by the blood of Christ himself which washes the souls of others The world cannot but shrink at the thoughts of that fearful act of one of the Popes who making a League with Caesar and the French King divided the bread of the Sacrament into three parts with this saying scarce tollerable As the holy Trinity is but one God so let the union indure between us three confederates and yet he was the first that broke it and started from the agreement Far be it from us then after this action wherein we joyn our selves to God and unite our hearts to fear his Name and become as it were one with him to rescind our Covenants or stand again at tearms of defiance But let us have a care
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 change of one thing into another and Nyssen by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translation or Theophylact by his great word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transelementation For that this last word doth not amount to a change of one substance into another we may be clearly satisfied from himself who as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread is transelementated into Christs body so likewise affirms that we are transelementated into Christ Now as by this later expression he can intend no more but our mystical incorporation with him so by the former nothing else is to be understood but the conversion of the bread to no other use so that in effect it is made the body of Christ In short he that hath the picture of a King in his Chamber hath but a bare sign which may make him think of him and no more but he that hath the Kings great Seal which confirms him in the possession of all the land he injoyes hath his picture and something else that comes along with it which instates him in a real good And though the wax affixed to the writing be the same for substance with that which is in a mans shop yet for vertue as it is made use of it is much different and far better then all the wax that a whole County can afford Even so it is in this case before us Bread broken and Wine poured out are but bare signs of Christs sufferings if we consider them nakedly in themselves but if we look on them as a foederal rite and as they are given to us and eaten and drunken by us in remembrance of the death of Christ so they are seals and further confirmations of Gods great love towards us And though they are still the same for substance with the most common Bread and Wine which we use at our Meals yet in regard of the use to which now they are converted they become Sacred and of great vertue to convey unto us the things expressed in the Covenant which are of more worth then all the World II. It is further manifest that we are hereby confirmed in the state of pardon and forgiveness because we do here put forth the most solemn act of Charity and Forgiveness to all our enemies For it is a Feast of Love as you shall see afterwards and this is the very condition upon which our forgiveness depends that we forgive others Matt. 6.14 15. and therefore when we here pray for all men and put away all enmity out of our hearts never to return any more God is engaged to express himself to us as a friend and to let fall all differences that have been between him and us I know that we are never to harbour any hatred in our hearts and that we cannot pray successfully at any time unless we lift up pure hands without wrath and I likewise wish the Doctrines of Love were most frequently and severely pressed and practised but yet there is no time when we do more narrowly search our selves to find out the reliques of that sowre leaven and when we are more powerfully moved to extinguish even the least spark or seeds of fire that are in our souls then when we consider Christs death and remember how he prayed for his Enemies upon the Cross And therefore I conceive that upon this account the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood may be a means of assuring our pardon and strengthning of our title to Forgiveness But notwithstanding I consider with my self that this duty of pardoning others is not so peculiar to this Sacrament but that it may and must be done as I said at all other times and for that cause I shall pass it by and proceed to that which I would have most of all observed for the understanding of this part of my Discourse and that is this III. This eating and drinking is a feast upon a sin-offering and therefore is a greater pledg of remission of sin That you may conceive of this aright it must be remembred That though the people of Israel used to feast upon their peace-offerings which were made at the Altar as hath been said already yet they were not admitted to eat of any else The whole Burnt-offerings indeed had Peace-offerings attending alway upon them and so they did partake of the Altar when they were offered by eating of the latter but of the former none tasted but God himself The Offerings for sinne as you have seen were the portion of the Priests and the people were excluded from them unless you will say that they eat by them as their substitutes and mediators But now you must further note That though the Priests were to eat of the sin-offering for particular persons yet of the sacrifice made for the sinne of the whole Congregation whose blood was carried into the holy place the Priests themselves might not eat and so consequently nor the people by them but they were to burn its flesh without the Camp And whether it were upon the day of general atonement Lev. 16.27 or at any other time when the whole Congregation had committed a sin through ignorance Lev. 4.13.21 Lev. 6.30 that an offering was to be made for them they were not permitted to have the least share of it Now Christ made his soul an offering for sinne Isa 53.10 and such an offering that with his blood he entred into the holy place and suffered without the Camp and therefore was most illustriously set forth by that sacrifice which was for the whole Congregation According then to the Law none was to feed upon the Sacrifice and yet our Lord hath indulged unto us the priviledg of feasting upon this great Sacrifice of Propitiation according as the very words of the Institution of this Sacrament do intimate when our Saviour saith Mark 14.24 This is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. which is like to the Sacrifice on the great Day of Atonement which was not made for one person but for the whole Congregation and of this I give you leave to drink This was a favour never granted to the World before and besides what the Law of Moses speaks it is remarkable what is delivered by Porphyry as the sence of all the Heathen Divines in the World L. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Divines consent in this That it is not lawfull to touch so much as a bit of those Sacrifices which are for the averting of wrath Though it was never lawfull you know to eat the blood of any Sacrifice whether Peace-offering or other but it was to be poured out at the Altar and though the flesh of those that were offered for sin by the Laws of all people were not to be tasted yet we may drink the blood of the Sacrifice yea of this great Sacrifice for all the people and we may eat the flesh of it by the command of
another likeness by the offering up of our bodies to God which is a piece of this service Rom. 12.1 2. And so some observe that all other meat is received as it is in it self and no otherwise but this meat is divers as it is received Other meat affecteth and altereth the taste but here the taste altereth the meat For if it be worthily received it is the body and blood of Christ if unworthily it is but bare bread and wine But yet this must be cautiously understood when we thus speak for his presence is with the bread though not in it Though it be onely in us yet it comes with it unto us if we will receive him because else we shall not know how unworthy persons are said to be guilty of his body and blood 1 Cor. 11.27 if he be not present with his body and blood to work in mens souls This likewise is to be further observed for the better under standing of it that the Devil who loves to imitate God that he may the better cozen and cheat doth seldom manifest his power to any great purpose but when he is called by some of his own ceremonies and sacraments that he hath appointed This doth but tell us that Christ is then most powerfully present when we use his rites which he hath instituted and hallowed as special remembrances of his love and testimonies of our love unto him So that we may come hither and expect that we shall feel more at such a time and in the use of such means then at or in others because he hath made them his body and blood in such sort as I have declared Other union then this by Christs spirit I know no use of though we should believe that which we do not understand I can conceive great things concerning the power of Christs humane nature and it is not for us to tell how far it may extend its influences through the inhabitation of the Deity That it is brighter then the Sun Saint Paul saw when the Lord appeared to him Acts 26.13 And as the Sun we see communicates his beams a vast way and twists it self about us by silver threads of light though seated in the Heavens so may we conceive that the sacred humanity of Christ doth tie us to it self by cords of love and now embrace us in its outstretched armes after a more affectionate manner when we come to remember him But to what purposes this should serve I do not well understand and without the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us the flesh can profit nothing at all though never so glorious and therefore I lay aside such thoughts and content my self to know that they that are joyned or cleave to the Lord 1 Cor. 6.17 are one spirit 5. Now from this secret union that is here made between Christ and our persons it comes to pass that this Sacrament hath been accounted an earnest and pledg of the resurrection For nothing that is made one with Christ can die and be lost but he will raise it up again at the last day His spirit can find out all their dust after a thousand changes it can gather all their dispersons and renuite their scattered crums and knead them again into a goodly body And this it will do 1 Cor. 6.19 for their very bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost therefore he will quicken their mortal bodies Rom. 8.11 by his Spirit that dwelleth in them Hence it was that Cyril so earnestly invited guests to this feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying Come eat the bread that renews your natures drink the wine that is the smile and cheer of immortality Eat the bread that purges away the ancient bitterness drink the wine that asswages the pain of our old sore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the very restorative of nature an healing plaister for the bitings of the Serpent a powerfull antidote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ainst all his poyson he hath infused into us And so several of the elder times speak not without reason for seeing our Lord gives to these things the name of his body and blood we need not fear to attribute to them the vertues and efficacy of his death which we know was the restorer of life We should think therefore when we go to the Table of the Lord that we go to joyn our selves more closely to our head and to unite our hearts more firmly to the fountain of our life That we go to receive of his holy Spirit which like wine running through our veins should diffuse it self into all the vital powers of our souls and make us more able and strong active and quick ready and forward in the service of our Saviour We should think that hereby we may get greater victories over our enemies if we do not betray our succours that we may more compleat our conquests if we use the power that is sent unto us We should look upon this bread as the bread of life and conceive that we take the cup of immortality into our hands and that the next draught may be in the Kingdom of God when our bodies shall be raised to feast at the eternal supper of the Lamb. For this is but a just consequence of forgiveness of sins which the former Chapter treated of that our bodies should live again which became mortal through sin And therefore as Christ here seals unto us the one so he likewise wise assures us of the other and gives unto us the earnest of the Spirit What joy then must these thoughts needs create in our souls What better chear can we desire What greater dainties would we taste then this holy feast affords or what cause would we have of thanksgiving more then hath been named If we desire a consort in our thanksgivings and to have an harmony of souls while we sing his praises if we would hear some voice besides our own that might fill up our joys and lift them to a greater height That is not wanting neither as the next Chapter shall declare For here is an union of minds begot and a sweet consent of hearts is the result of this entertainment CHAP. VI. AS this Sacrament is a means of uniting us to our Lord by faith so likewise of uniting us to our brethren by love It knits us not onely to our head but all the members also thereby are more indeared unto each other We enter here into a strict league of friendship with them as well as into a Covenant with God For all true Christians are not onely of the Family of God but his children and nearest relations so that we cannot profess any love unto the father of them all but we must at the same time embrace his whole progeny as bearing his character and having in them those very things which we love in him When we take the bridegroom we
receive might consecrate if they thought good and use at the ministration of the Sacrament and thereby testifie their union with the rest of the body of Christ that were distant from them Aug. Epist 31. So Paulinus wrote to St. Aug. Panem unum quem unanimitatis indicio misimus charitati tuae rogamus ut accipiendo benedicas i. e. That loaf of bread which I sent to your kindness as a token of our unanimity I beseech you to receive and bless Such wayes did those holy men study and devise to engage themselves to each other and represent the brotherly kindness that was between them Beside all this the present Greek Church and I know not how ancient such a custom is do in express words when they are at the Communion profess charity to all men even to their enemies and make a solemn declaration of the love that is in their hearts before the whole Assembly of Gods people De rit Eccles Gr. cap. 24. For so Christoph Angelus relates That when they go up to the holy man for to receive they turn themselves first to the West and then to the South and next to the North and say to the brethren that stand on all sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christians we pray you pardon us all our offences either in word or deed And they all answer again when they are thus spoken unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brother God grant thee his pardon This Petition they make unto the Company upon their knees and seldom were any so wicked as to dismiss them unpardon-d if they did then were they themselves excluded from communion We must think then when we approach to this heavenly banquet that we are about to remember the dearest love that ever was and to engage our selves in the greatest affection and strictest friendship that can be in any hearts unto each other VVe must think that we enter into a mutual covenant with our brethren by eating of the same bread and drinking of the same cup. And we must resolve never to fall out any more much less to hate malign or do despight and injuries to one another but to live more then ever in the peace of God by a brotherly unity and affection Let us think it as unnatural after such an union to fall out as for the hands to scratch the face or any one member to beat and tear the other inpieces And if there be any thing hitherto treated of in this discourse which men cannot or will not understand to be meant by this Sacrament yet let us all apprehend that it is a bond of charity and doth engage us not to quarrel about such things For it is a great policie of the Devil to make that a bone of contention which should be the Bread of Love and Peace It was intended to be a contesseration and union of Christian Societies to God and with one another but mens evil taking of it as One well saith divides us from God and the evil understanding of it divides us one from another Thus much notwithstanding the weakest mind may conceive that it is a feast of love and it is not weakness but wilfulness nor shortness of understanding but perversness of heart that makes men senseless in this particular And therefore let us use one another as friends and think our hands and tongues and our very hearts are bound with cords of Love which we cannot break without apparent violence to our selves Remember always that a Rupture in this Sacred Bond of Brotherly Love doth disunite us likewise from our Lord himself For there are not two cups whereof we drink at his Supper the one containing the Love of Christ the other the Love of our Brethren but we drink both at one draught and engage to both at one breath So that he who unties the one knot at the same time dissolves the other according as the beloved Disciple speaks He that loves not 1 John 4.8 knows not God for God is love Conclusion WHen I consider all these admirable uses of this holy food I do not wonder if some devout persons in the elder times out of an excess of love did by their daily bread which we petition for in the Lords Prayer understand this divine bread and so out of a spiritual hunger and a forwardness of affection did eat of it every day For you see that herein we commemorate both to God and man the death of Christ we publish it to the world and plead it with God in our own behalf and others Then this we have nothing more prevalent so that our hearts begin while we are commemorating of it to burn with heavenly fires and our tongues here tast such things that make them sing the praises of Angels We seal Indentures between God and us We give entertainment to our Lord Christ and let him into our hearts yea we profess to all the world that we are of his Religion and Communion We are confirmed likewise in his favour he opens unto us his very heart he lets us into his secrets and knits us unto himself with a more inseparable affection We likewise associate our selves with the Disciples of our Lord and make a firmer League of a holy friendship with them All which may well make us say with the Disciples Lord evermore give us this bread But though it be so desirable to feed alwayes on such sweetness yet you cannot but discern that this is a business that requires the greatest intention of our mind and the strongest affections of our heart and layes the most weighty engagements upon us for our eternal good and therefore must be well understood and solemnly performed in our approaches to it For which cause before I direct your Addresses to this Table which is the next thing to be done having opened to you the secrets of it I will observe to you these two things for a conclusion of this part of my discourse The one to quicken your appetite that you may feed heartily The other to guide your minds that you may not feed upon shadows 1. This must needs be the most nourishing and strengthning food of all others that a Christian hath because there are so many ends and purposes to which it serves It feeds all our Graces at once as you shall hereafter see and it sends a nourishment and that most plentifull and copious to every part It encreases our love to God and our love to man which is the sum of all our duty It engageth us in the most sacred bands by the dying of Christ by his dearest love by all the blessings which he hath bestowed to do that duty and faithfully perform it It is a little Epitome of the whole Gospel for it shews what God will do for us and what we most do for him and it affords strength unto us for to do it And therefore it is called the New-Testament or Covenant in his blood because here the whole New Covenant
secrets and to know the pleasures of his heart for they are so still and calm that they cannot be perceived where there is any storm And indeed there can be no thoughts more fit for our preparation then these of forgiveness because we call our selves now to account for our offences against God and alas 〈◊〉 they are so great that they may well drown the remembrance of all offences that others have given us and wash them out of our thoughts as if they had never been Seeing then you go to beg pardon of God when you remember his Sonnes blood if you have offended any man first go and lay your selves at his feet and so approach to take hold of Christ and kiss his feet in an humble acknowledgment of your offences Say to every one of your passions and corrupt affections Come forth for I am resolved you shall be slain Methinks you should begin to dye at the very thoughts of a dying Saviour Methinks you should swoon away at the very sight of yonder blood that you should not stay till you come to the Cross of Christ but give up the ghost before you see but the image of his death Do you not feel the power of his death afar off Do not his pierced sides strike to your heart before you behold them Oh you bloody things What have you done What wounds have you made in the body of my Lord Do not think to live any longer oh you bloody things Nay never struggle nor resist for I have vowed you in sacrifice unto him Lay therefore your necks quietly upon the block and prepare your selves for death which is approaching Ask your evil hearts if they be not affrighted Wonder that they should hold up their faces Tell them that these are but the Addresses to their Execution and protest folemnly That none of these vile desires shall live a day longer and then they will begin to grow pale sick and languishing before you come to the Altar and there the slaughter will be more easie In particular say to thy self O my soul wipe out the remembrance of all offences that any have done unto thee let not one tittle of them remain but be blotted out Thy fellow-servant hath affronted and contemned thee but thou hast oftner contemned thy God thy Lord and Master himself V. Ch ysoft Orat. 60. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what equality is there between a fellow-servant and thy Master Perhaps he hath been insolent towards thee once or twice when he was provoked or wronged by thee and thou behavest thy self basely towards thy Lord every day though he be so far from wronging thee that he is thy continual benefactor O my soul do but collect with thy self how oft thou offendest in one day yea but in one duty What sloth is there in thy Prayers With what strange irreverence and disregard dost thou stand before God when thou speakest to him Never did a servant speak so carelesly to his Master nor a Souldier to his Commander Yea when thou speakest to a friend thou mindest what thou sayest but when thou art treating with the Lord about so many sins and art begging of him pardon and forgiveness thou art too often like a man asleep and though thy knees be upon the ground yet thy mind is in the Market or in the Fields and thy tongue blatters thou knowest not what Away then all you angry thoughts stay not to aggravate offences Be gone as clearly out of my heart as I desire my Lord to remember my sins no more If we could bring our hearts thus bleeding to his holy Table if the execution were begun before we came to him then would our anger and malice our love of pleasures and all other worldly affections receive a deadly and incurable wound from our Saviours hand when we did receive him VII As a most necessary Instrument to all these the Apostle directs us to examine our selves This is indeed a daily duty but now should be adverted with a greater intention and ardency of affection when we are about these sacred things We should examine our selves even about our neglects in the review of our selves about the coldness of our prayers the smallness of our sorrows the weakness of our services and our daily unavoidable infirmities We should make more deep reflections into our selves now that we are at more leisure and have so solemnly designed more time from other employments we should open a greater vent for our tears and cut a larger passage for our sorrow and affect our heart more deeply with our needs and the certainty of supply and so raise our souls to a greater height of humility of desire and of confidence altogether Our Saviour seems to intimate that before our approaches to God in any holy duty it is a fit and proper time to call our selves to an account for the trespasses we are guilty of when he saith Mat. 5.23 24. If therefore thou bring the gift to the Altar and remember that thy Brother c. It should seem by this expression that this is a season of remembring and calling things to mind that are past and gone which must be done by an examination of our selves And you may consider thus much to quicken you to this duty that the better we know our selves and our own wants the more hungry we shall be and the more knowledge we have of our own sincerity with the greater comfort and sweetness shall we eat Now we know both the one and the other by self-examination For this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render examine hath two meanings which are to prove and try and to approve after trial So that in brief I may thus state the whole business of examination We are to use an every-day-oversight over our selves And this general and daily examination is nothing else but such a caution and diligence in all our actions through the whole frame of our life that our own Conscience may approve them upon examination as accordant with the will of God Or more briefly it is a Christian care to do every thing so that God and our own Conscience may allow of it And it must needs consist of two parts First A Consideration of what is our duty to do of what is lawfull and what unlawfull of what is expedient and what inconvenient Socrates used always to say to every thing that presented it self to his mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what art thou and whence comest thou or as the Watchmen use to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew me your ticket let me see your Pass that I may know you are a friend Arrian L. 3. cap. 12. or an information of our selves upon due advice and search what is incumbent upon us as our duty through our whole life Then secondly This fore-handed examination must be followed with a serious consideration of what we have done and whether we behave our selves according to the Rule which we
under the load of sin when he beheld Christ groaning upon the Cross for it whose heart could remain unbroken when he saw his body broken for us who could withhold his eyes from tears when he saw the Wounds of Christ weeping blood for us Behold O Lord would such a mans soul answer unto him I am sorry that my sins have liv'd so long It was sore against my will that there should be any of them now to kill fain would I have had their lives but they are hitherto overstrong for me O do thou strike my soul through with a sense of thy sufferings and they will not be able to endure thy hand Do thou transfix me first with a sense of my baseness and then with a sense of thy love and sure they cannot but die when they feel thy pains I am resolved not to carry away one of them alive If they had a thousand lives they should lose them all that my soul may live to thee How it would delight our Lord to hear such language in mens hearts it is not for me to express nor can you imagine how you should please him better and draw him more powerfully into your armes then by such discourse within your selves Nor can you ever think to get the victory over your sins and bring them under your hatred and displeasure if such a sight as Christ crucified before your eyes be not able to effect it Never will they be killed if they can outlive the sight of a bleeding Saviour Never shall we get them under our power if they can escape with their lives when we remember so solemnly his accursed death III. When we see him that ministers come to give the bread unto us let us employ our selves in these three Acts of Devotion First It will well become a soul to sink into a very deep humility and to abase it self in the sense of its own unworthiness When thou seest that Christ is coming as it were towards thy house Run forth to meet him at the door before he come in and entertain him with an act of reverence worship and humble obeysance to him Say Lord I am not worthy that thou should'st come under my Roof I deserve not the crumbs that fall from thy Table Say as Ruth to Boaz Ruth 2.10 after she had bowed her self to the ground Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldst take knowledg of me seeing I am a stranger How comes it that my Lord should cast his eye upon me What am I that he should visit me and come to marry himself unto me And when thou hast depressed thy self a while at his feet Then Secondly Rise a little up again and mix some Acts of love with this humility Think of the infinite love of God that would give his own Son think of the infinite love of Christ that would so graciously come to save us and would leave us these remembrances and tokens of his love Wish that thou hadst a thousand hearts to correspond with so great a love Say within thy self Oh Lord What am I that thou shouldest command me for to love thee What compare between me and thee that thou shouldest so much desire to make me a visit and give to me an embracement Whence comes it that thou who art in Heaven among them who know so well how to love and serve thee wilt vouchsafe to descend to me who know little else but how to offend thee Is it possible O Lord that thou canst not content thy self to be without me Did thy meer love draw thee down from Heaven for my sake Dost thou still give thy self unto me as if thou couldst never be mine enough Who can abide the heat of this love Who can feel thy heart and not be burnt up There is none can dwell in such flames without being consumed No soul that can abide in the body if a great sense of this love do long abide We must therefore entreat our gracious Lord that he would stay for the full measure of our love till he hath made us able to do nothing else but love him And thirdly Let us turn our Love into desire Let us beseech him to fill us with his holy Spirit and to dwell in us by all his divine graces Say Lord since thou art pleased to come and offer thy self unto me My soul thirsteth for thee even as the thirsty Land I humbly stretch out my hands unto thee Psal 143.6 I open my mouth wide that thou mayest fill me O satisfie my soul with thy likeness O let me taste that the Lord is gracious And you may be assured that the Lord loves a soul that lies in such a posture ready to receive him that gasps and longs after him and saith in its heart Whom have I in Heaven but thee Psal 73.25 and there is none on earth besides thee Stir up thy appetite therefore and come to him as a chased Hart to the streams of water as an hungry man unto a Feast as a Bride unto her Wedding a thousand times desired Labour to feel something like to those longings that so thou mayst taste and savour his love the more and it may leave a sweeter gust and relish upon thy soul and thy mouth may praise him afterward with joyfull lips IV. When we take the Bread into our hands it is seasonable time to do that Act which I told you was one end of this Sacrament viz. Commemorate and shew forth or declare the Death of Christ unto God the Father Let us represent before him the sacrifice of atonement that Christ hath made let us commemorate the pains which he indured let us intreat him that we may enjoy all the purchase of his Blood that all people may reap the fruit of his Passion and that for the sake of his bloudy sacrifice he will turn away all his anger and displeasure and be reconciled unto us Themistocles they say not knowing how to mitigate and atone the wrath of King Admetus and avert his fury from him snatcht up the Kings Son and held him up in his armes between himself and death and so prevailed for a pardon and quenched the fire that was breaking out against him And this the Molossians of whom he was King held to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch in Themist the most effectual way of supplication and which of all others could not be resisted or denied Of far greater prevalency is this Act the holding up as it were the Son of God in our hands and representing to the Father the broken body and the Bloud of his onely begotten Let us set this between the heat of Gods anger and our souls let us desire he would have regard to his dearly beloved and the Lord cannot turn back our Prayers that press and importune him with such a mighty argument Say therefore to him Behold O Lord the sacrifice of the everlasting Covenant behold we lay before thee the Lamb
that takes away the sins of the World Is not thy soul in him well pleased Is not his Body as really in the Heavens as the signs of it are here in our hands Hear good Lord the cry of his Wounds Let us prevail with thee through the virtue of his sacrifice Let us feel yea let all the World feel the power of his intercession Deny us not O Lord seeing we bring thy Son with us Hear thy Son O Lord though thou wilt not hear us and let us let all others know that he lives and was dead and that he is alive for evermore Amen And secondly It is a seasonable time to profess our selves Christians and that we will take up our Cross and follow after him This taking of the bread we should look upon as a receiving the yoke of Christ upon our neck and laying his Cross upon our shoulder if he think fit We embrace a crucified Jesus and we are not to expect to live in pleasures unless they be spiritual nor to rejoice with the world but to endure affliction and account it all joy when we fall into manifold temptations Protest therefore unto him that thou lovest him as thou seest him stript and naked bruised and wounded slain and dead and that thou art contented to take joyfully the spoiling of thy goods to be pleased with pains and to count death the way to life V. When we eat it is a fit season to put forth these two acts of faith 1. Let us express our hearty consent that Christ shall dwell within us that we will be ruled by his Laws and governed by his Spirit that he shall be the alone King of our souls and the Lord of all our faculties and that we will have no other Master but onely him to give commands within us Eating I told you is a foederal rite and therefore when we have swallowed this bread we should think that we have surrendred all up into his hands and put him into full power over our souls And we should think also that we have given him the possession of our souls for ever and engaged never to change our Master For eating is more receiving then taking a thing with our hands It is as it were the incorporating of the thing with the substance of our bodies and making it a part of our selves that it may last as long as we So should we meditate that we receive the Lord Jesus never to be separated from his service for ever to adhere unto him as our Prince and Captain as our Head and Husband wheresoever his Commands will lead us And as we open our hearts thus to receive him so let us now fold him in our arms and embrace him with a most cordial affection Let the fire burn now and make us boyl up yea even run over with love to him Now is the time not onely to give our selves to him but to make a sacrifice of our selves as a whole burnt-offering unto God Now should we lay our selves on the Altar of the Lord to be offered up intirely to him who made his soul an offering for sin That there may not only be a representative but a real sacrifice at this Feast unto Heaven i.e. that we may not only shew forth the sacrifice of Christ and represent it before God but we our selves may offer up our souls and bodies unto him and send them up in flames of love as so many Holocausts to be consumed and spent in the service of our God Then let us wish for the flames of a Seraphim in the love of God for the cheerfulness and speed of a Cherubim in the service of God and for the voice of an Angel that we may sing the praises of God Let us like our choice so well and think that we are so beholden to him that we may give our selves to him as to begin to leap for joy that we have parted with our selves and are become his And as a token that we give our selves and all we have to God we should now think upon those offerings we intend to make for the poor members of Jesus Christ and desire the Lord to accept of our gifts which we present him withall as earnests of our selves which we have consecrated unto him And perhaps now our hearts may be stirred with so great compassion and our bowels may be so feelingly moved that our Charity may overflow the banks that we had set it and the fire that is within us may require a fatter and larger offering then we designed But howsoever we cannot but deal our bread to the hungry with a more cheerfull hand and give our Almes with a freer heart when we have received the Bread of Life into our hands and hearts and felt what the huge Charity of our Lord was toward us most miserable and wretched Creatures 2. A second Act of faith which we should now exercise is this Let us really believe that all the blessings of the New Covenant are made over to us by this giving and receiving of his sacred body Let thy soul say My beloved is mine as I am his Be confident and well assured that if thou wast hearty in the former act of saith thou shalt as certainly receive pardon and grace and strength and salvation as thy mouth thou art sure eateth the holy Bread The former Act was a receiving him as our Lord and this as our Saviour Think therefore that now Christ dwelleth in thee and thou in him that as he must be Master of the house so thou shalt partake of all his riches of all his honour and pleasure And so begin to ransack his treasures desire him to spread before thee his inestimable riches pray him to shew thee if it be but a little glimpse of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints And what joy will this create in thy soul when thou thinkest that thou and Christ are one that thou art united to his most precious Body and shall certainly receive all the benefits of his Death and Passion O what ravishment should it be unto us to believe that sin shall not have dominion over us that the Blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all unrighteousness that the flames of Hell shall never touch us that death is swallowed up in victory that the grave is buried in the Wounds of our Saviour that we are sealed with the mark of God and consigned to a blessed immortality and shall inherit the joys of our Lord With what boldness now may we renew our requests to him and importunately plead with him for a supply of all our wants We may put up stronger cries now that we conceive he is in us and intreat him since it is his pleasure to be so familiar with us that we may be filled with all the fulness of God O my Lord may a soul say if thou lovest me so much fulfill in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness 2 Thes 1.11 and the work of faith
take away but one offence among the Jews and that meerly against a carnall Commandment yet this though but one can take away all offences even against the eternall Law of God And the strength of a Sacrifice under the Law continued no longer than just while it was offered but was to be repeated again in case of a new offence but the bloud of Jesus endures for ever Heb 10.14 and by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified We that live at sixteen hundred years distance from that sacrifice may be as much expiated and receive as great benefit by it as they that saw him upon the Altar or as he that put his fingers into his wounds and thrust his hand into his side For the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all and he bare the sinnes not only of that generation but of all succeeding Ages Think then now that the Cup is in thy hands now that thou drinkest of his bloud that thou mayest receive as reall effects of his sacrifice as if thou hadst been permitted to have laid thy hands on his head and put all thy sins upon him as Aaron did upon the head of the Beast that was offered for the Congregation of Israel And so let thy thoughts slide to a second Meditation which is hereon depending 2. And consider with thy self how firm that Covenant is which is made with us in the bloud of Jesus and how certainly God will perform whatsoever his Sonne hath promised It is called the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 which doth intimate that he sealed the Covenant with his Bloud that he died to assert the truth of all that he said he took it upon his death that he was sent of God and as he sealed to it by his death so God did seal to it by his resurrection which two put together are the grand proofs which we have to shew for the truth of the Gospel And then we may be confident that the mercy of the Lord endures for ever for the seal of the Covenant is everlasting and never fails The first Covenant was made by bloud as you may see Exod. 24.7 8. yea there is such an affinity between these words sanctio and sanguis that in all likelihood their nearness arise from hence because by bloud all establishments and sanctions were wont to be made But the Bloud of that Covenant vanished away and never rose again and so in time did the Covenant it self as the Apostle tells us Heb. 8.13 And therefore the Lord sealed the new Compact by a better bloud which is quickned again to an eternall life to assure us that the mercies of it shall never cease Here therefore thy soul may again plead with God that he would put his Laws into thy heart and write them in thy mind and that thy sins and iniquities he would remember no more which is the sum of the Covenant as it there follows in the Apostles discourse Heb. 10.16 17. Thou mayest grow confident and rejoyce in God thy salvation thou mayest desire him to remember that it is the precious Bloud of his Sonne which thou remembrest thou mayest tell him that is not the bloud of Bulls and Goats that thou pleadest but of Jesus the Lamb of God without spot and blemish Thou mayest ask him if he do not see that Bloud in the Heavens if he be not more pleased with it than with the bloud of the Cattle upon a thousand Hills Say Lord is the Bloud of Jesus dead Doth it not cry as loud in thine ears as ever Hast thou not made him a Priest after the power of an endless life yea hast thou not sworn and is it not impossible that thou shouldst repent Then I humbly crave that a poor sinner which hath nothing to offer thee may be accepted by that offering Then let me live by his Life as so many already have done Let me know that thou art well pleased with sinners through him Let me know that I have found favour in thine eyes Let all the Prayers that I have now made be graciously accepted Remember all my offerings and accept of my sacrifice of Prayers and Praises Yea remember his bloud when I do not actually remember it and when I am silent and do not pray let that prevail for blessings upon me Psalm 21. Doth not the King joy in thy strength Hast thou not given him his hearts desire and not withholden the request of his lips Thou hast set a Crown of pure Gold upon his head He asked Life of thee and thou gavest it him even length of dayes for ever and ever His Glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most blessed for ever Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance And therefore since he lives let us live also Since thou hast heard him hear us also for his sake Send us help out of thy Sanctuary and strengthen us out of Sion Grant us according to our heart and fulfill all our petitions Save Lord let the King hear us when we call 3. Meditate likewise what danger there is in not standing to that Covenant that is here confirmed by bloud between God and us They used when they made Covenants by bloud to cut the Beast in sunder and both parties passed between the two halfs as you may see Jer. 34.18 19. Which custome was as old as Abrahams time as Gen. 15.10 17 18. will inform you This passing of both parties between the parts of the Beast was as much as a wish that so it might befall him that should break the Covenant which was made between them Now when we behold the Bloud of the Son of God poured out and his Body broken and so a Covenant stricken between God and us by his receiving him into Heaven and our drinking of his bloud and eating of his Body here on Earth we should think what the danger will be of not being stedfast in his Covenant God will require his Sonnes bloud at our hands The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall cut him in sunder and give him his portion with the Hypocrites Mat. 24.50 51. I have often thought that he alludes to that custome of cutting the Beast in twain and that the meaning is All persons that are deceitfull and false Luk. 12.46 or as St. Lukes phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbelievers unfaithfull souls all that break their faith with Christ and violate his Covenant they shall be cut in two as the word signifies they shall have such an execution done upon them as was done upon the Beast of old and receive such a horrible doom as is fit for perjured persons They shall be broken in pieces as his Son was broken Yea he will fall upon them as
spend some time in strengthning of our purposes and confirming our resolutions of a more holy obedience that so there may be some fruit seen of this day in many others that follow till the solemnity shall return again Let us labour to fix and plant the meditations we have had so strongly in our mind that they may shoot their Roots to the bottome of our hearts nothing may be able to pluck them up Let us possess our hearts so much with those perswasions that when a temptation comes and knocks at our door we may readily and naturally say Cease your importunity for Christ dwells here and I cannot open to you Ego non sum ego I am not he that I was before the property of the house is quite changed and though I was not long ago a common Inne to entertain all comers yet now I am become the sole habitation of my Lord. Let us make our souls so sensible that he is in us and united to us that we may readily think on every occasion in this manner How is it fit that I should treat my gracious Lord who hath taken his abode within me Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Harlot Shall I over-charge that body with loads of meat and drink where he hath chosen for to reside Shall I force him out of his house by any impunities Shall I offend him by the smell of any noisome breath out of my mouth Shall I displease him by any unhandsome thought Shall I be so greedy of the World that I shall forget to retire to converse with my dearest Saviour Shall I so perplex my self in business as to omit to pray to meditate to sing praise to him No I am not at my own dispose I have sworn Psal 119.106 I will perform it That I will keep thy righteous Judgements And to provoke every one the more to do his endeavour thus to strengthen his resolution let these two things be seriously considered First The more carefully we walk with God the less labour we shall find to prepare our selves against the next Communion with the less pains shall we dress up our souls to come to another Feast There will be some relish of the former food left in our hearts and we shall be though not in the next yet in no very remote disposition to perform the same acts again Secondly Every return to finne after these Engagements makes it more intollerable and more highly displeasing to God and our Saviour After a man hath seriously considered how hatefull it is in its own nature after he hath resolved against it and solemnly covenanted to avoid it the sinne is more black and deadly a greater wrong to him that we have taken to lodge in our souls than Annas and Caiphas and the Scribes did him when they put him to death If this truth were setled upon mens hearts sinne would find colder entertainment with them than it doth and they would not have such kindness for that which fastens a more odious Character upon them than they can put on the very worst of the Jews the murtherers of our Lord. And yet I shall more than say that sinners now do greater injury to him than did the Sanhedrin if you will but grant this one Principle which is clearly proved by one of our own Writers Dr. Jackson The Rule whereby we must measure the greatness of a wrong done is the opposition which it hath in it to the Will of him that is wronged And so the more opposite any act or practise is to the will or liking of the party that is displeased and wronged the greater are we to account the injury and offence which is done to him Now all men that live in sin and especially those who lick up their vomit after they have received Jesus Christ the Lord do those things which Christ is more unwilling they should do than he was to suffer all the indignities of the Jewes and all the torments that the Roman Laws could inflict He was willing to dye by their hands rather than inconvenience should fall upon us viz. That sinne should reign over us and Satan keep possession in us He was so unwilling that this should be our condition that he rather chused to dye that he might cast the Devil out and destroy all his works and restore us to liberty again Now if any man hold on Satans side and seek to keep him in his Throne if any will maintain and uphold his Works and stand in the defence of his Cause he doth a thing more displeasing and grievous unto Christ than his Death and Passion was He was not troubled so much to dye as he is to see thee live in sin for he dyed that thou mightest cease to sin And therefore have a care what thou dost unless thou wilt be worse than a Jew and wound him more than he did who lanced his side and be a greater and more dangerous Enemy to him than they that complotted his death And consider if sin be so displeasing to him so much against his will that he was willing to suffer any torment rather than it should live how canst thou think that he will stay with thee if thou again offendest him and makest no conscience to watch over thy wayes and avoid all temptations and shun all occasions of sinne How can he endure thou shouldst lodge Harlots together with him That thou shouldst let this world in to be his Compeere and divide thy heart with him No he is the High and holy One he expects to be treated honourably and like unto himself that we should keep the house clean and sweet that we should live righteously soberly and godlily And then as he hath come to us so he will abide with us and will manifest himself to our souls acquaint us with more of the secrets of his Religion and the delights that are in his holy life For so he saith to his Disciples He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him which he repeats over again verse 23. If a man love me he will keep my words And my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him I speak the more of this because there are too many that approach with a fair behaviour and forward devotion to the holy Table who soon after take the liberty to run upon a new score of sin hoping shortly to humble themselves and to wipe all off again Many that live in secret covetousness and earthly mindedness in neglect of their families and disregard to all their Brethren many that fall back into heart-burnings and evil surmisings if not into open quarrels and contentions who need to be awakened to look into themselves They are like to the waters in Sicily which Ach.
And as you see a Mountebank commends his Medicines his Balsomes and Pomanders with so many amplifications and lyes and arts of insinuation that he cheats poor silly people So doth the Devil puff up the ambitious mans mind and swells a Mole-hill into a Mountain and he tickles the wanton fancy with promises of ravishment in an empty pleasure and to the covetous heart he saith Thou canst not tell the contentment that so many baggs of Gold or such a fair Lordship would give thy heart And there is no man but he labours to cast a mist before his eyes and to dazzle him with some glittering appearance in the midst of which he hopes to work his ends upon him Now the light of faith strikes through all those painted shows and an hearty belief of the truth of the Gospel which the holy Eucharist still encreaseth makes all these shadows flye away It will not let us be deceived as was our Mother Eve with specious pretences but saith Avant thou Impostor away you lying vanities Tell me not these Tales For his Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Psal 119.111 And there is no less power in this holy food to enervate a second of his Arts which is to affright us with the noise of danger and mischief that shall seem greater than all the pleasures of goodness if we will not be perswaded but that it is pleasurable He puts strange vizards upon all things and makes them look as ugly and fouly as he can that so he may make us flye from the troubles of a mortified life He labours to make us believe that there is nothing but sadness in Gods wayes and it begins perhaps to make us melancholly with the very thoughts of it And if this will not do he will stir up enes mies against us to discourage us our own friends perhaps shall cast us off or the fire of persecution shall burn against us But now the Hope of the glory of God will make us rejoyce even in the midst of tribulations Here we embrace also a crucified Saviour and there is no better Livery than a Garment rent and torn a Body wounded and abused if need should be for Christs sake There is nothing can affright a soul that dwells in the wounds of its Saviour as in the holes of a Rock Nothing will seem difficult to a heart that is filled with expectations to dwell for ever in his embraces in the Heavens And now how is the world and the flesh confounded when they see good men rejoyce and triumph in the midst of all miseries and discouragements How do the Devils howle to see their stratagems so unsuccessfull that even Paines are accounted Pleasures and Losses are accounted Gains and Torments are turned into Joyes and Prisons are the Gate-houses of Paradises The Devil you will say will study to be revenged on such men and will not cease to vent his malice against such souls And seeing he knows not how to do them harm but by makeing of them sin he will try if like a Serpent he can insinuate but a part of himself at any little hole He will perswade them to self-indulgence in some small crime that so he may bring them to all the rest or he will labour to draw them if it may be within the verge of sin into an infections place into the society of a temptation hoping that by little degrees and preambles he may make way for sin to enter But the love of God which is here much inflamed will make the soul of such a quick scent that it may easily perceive his wiles Love doth extraordinarily enlighten the soul by its flames and will make it more discerning of the least spot that is in it self and of the least danger that is without And the more pure and white the soul grows by love the sooner will any speck of filth be espied upon it The more full of light it is the more imperfections will it take notice of which before were unobserved as in the beams of the Sun we see a thousand little attomes or motes which before were not discerned By all this which in your own meditation may be enlarged you see what strength it affords To which you may add if you please that as the Devil hath baits for every pallate and can humour every mans taste and comply with all complexions and dispositions So is the holy Sacrament an Heavenly Manna which tastes as every man wishes and as the Author of the Book of Wisdom speaks doth serve to the appetite of the eater Wiâ—â— 16.20 21. and tempers it self to every mans likeing being able to give them all content Thirdly I fficacia ad medicinam But this Bread and Wine being spiritually received are not onely food and meat but Physick and Medicine also They are means to preserve health where it is and to restore it where it is decayed Though this may seem more doubtfull then the two former and you may ask how Bread-and-Wine do signifie any thing of this nature yet I shall show you that is denoted by them in Christs intention more then any thing else For the bread as you have seen doth not represent the Body and flesh of Christ barely and in general as it is the food of the soul but in a more especial manner as the flesh of a Sacrifice and that a Sacrifice for our sin whereby it becomes not only our meat but our medicine also The food we eat is in remembrance that Christ died for sin and so it is healing to our souls and killing to our sins it purges away our iniquities and purifies our hearts And so Christs Blood is here considered as the Blood of the Cross the Blood of Atonement and propitiation for us and therefore we do not receive as hath been said bare Bread and Wine but Bread broken and Wine poured out And here you may take notice of the reason why Christ did institute Bread and Wine rather then flesh to represent himself by unto us Not because flesh was used by the Jews in their Sacrifices for so were Bread and Wine nor onely because this was the common food and nourishment for the body for so was flesh also But it is likely Christ chooses things without life wherein there was no Blood viz. Bread and Wine because he would shew that no Creature was any more to lose its life for the sin of men and that no more Bloud was to be shed for expiation of it The Passeover which we may call a Sacrament of the Old Testament was bloudy to denote Christs Bloud that should be shed but now that it is shed the Sacrament which represents it as already done is without any bloudy thing He is shown to us as one that hath died by this broken bread and wine effused and he shows us likewise that there shall be no more Death no more blood shed for us a
so he may but have it Let me wish therefore every man to approve himself to be a sincere Christian and so let him eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup for as the benefits are great if we use it aright so are the dangers great if we mind not what we do Presume not to draw nigh hither in your dirty garments Let not your souls stand in Gods presence all nasty and filthy Lay not unwashen hands upon his Table and let not your feet tread in his holy place unless they walk in the ways of his Commandments Let not him whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness of blasphemies and revilings of corrupt and rotten Communication dare to put this bread into his mouth Let not him that sits with the drunkard and delights in strong drink be so bold as to take this Cup into his hand Let not the covetous Miser that huggs his Mammon be so fearless as to come to the Feast of charity Let not the heart that is filled with wrath and hatred and uncharitableness presume to sit down at this Feast of love Let not that hand stretch forth it self to receive the Body and Bloud of Christ which is dipt in Blood or defiled with unlawfull gain Let every man that works iniquity and lives in the neglect of any-known duty or is not carefull to know it fear and stand in awe and keep at a distance and instantly flie from his sin which must thus make him avoid the presence of the Lord and the society of the faithfull Yea let not the most holy person dare to draw near to God in this duty till he hath trimmed and dressed up his Soul till he hath snuffed his Lamp and made it burn more clearly till he hath excited those affections in his heart which are most proper to this action till he hath considered what he is about to do and hath put himself in a meet disposition to be so familiar with God For 1. Though he hath some goodness in him that comes unprepared to the Lords Table yet he is guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. So the Apostle saith the Corinthians were 1 Cor. 11.27 29. who professed the faith of Christ because cause they did not discern the Lords Body nor minded for what ends they did communicate He offers a great disrespect to the body and bloud of Christ and is guilty of irreverence to it who makes not solemn and serious addresses to him and comes with no mote purity and cleanness into the presence of the King then he would take care of in the presence of an ordinary man He makes as if Christ was his fellow and that a man may come as rudely into his company as if he was coming into his own house and sitting at his own board 2. A good man that eats unpreparedly and without foregoing consideration may eat and drink damnation to himself 1 Cor. 11.29 i. e. he may bring upon himself bodily judgments when he minds not seriously the religious ends of this eating and drinking For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be understood as it relates to the believing Corinthians as is manifest from v. 30. For this cause many were weak and others sick and others were dead The cause he speaks of was their unworthy eating and drinking i. e. their maintaining pride and contempt of their poor brethren their uncharitableness and want of love even when they were doing this sacred action This caused God to scourge them and inflict some punishments upon their bodies that he might awaken and save their souls Every sin may be the cause of diseases but this in particular is noted as the Author of those diseases that rage amongo Christians Take heed then how thou comest void of humility or brotherly kindness or not attendingl what thou art there to do He that drinks thus unworthily may have a poison run through his veins The Wine may breed the Stone in his kidneys or bladder and the Gout in his joynts An Ague or Feaver may have commission to invade his Bloudd Or if none of these fall upon him it may bring a curfe upon his goods or relations or good name Every time thou receivest and art not a man that examines thy self for any thing thou canst tell thou killests a Child or beast thou blastest thy Corn or callest for Worms and Catterpillars upon thy fruit And if we go on and will not amend in this thing whereas God doth now plague us with many sicknesses he may in a short time send the Pestilence and sweep us away with the besome of destruction he may depopulate our Parishes and leave but a few Concommicants 3. As for a wicked prophane person that approaches hither with some slight intentions to leave his sin in which perhaps he the last week lived He is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord in another sense He is a kind of murtherer of the Lord of life He makes his Wounds bleed afresh and he pierces his sides with a greater cruelty then the Roman Souldier he grieves and wounds him more then the Jems that wrung his bloud out of his sacred Body For he brings that before him which he hates more then he did death more then the Nails and the Cross He pricks him with that which is sorer to him then the Spear which was thrust into his side He knows he should do better when they did they knew not what O how doth it trouble the heart of our Lord to see men lay that in their bosome and cherish its life which was the cause of his death Yea how grievous must it be unto him to see them do this even when they come to commemorate his Death This sin of unworthy receiving doth strike above the rest to his heart seeing all his pains cannot make them leave their sins It is as if a Child should kiss the bloody knife which killed his Father When he comes to make a solemn declamation against the Authors of his Death and pretends to take vengeance upon them as villains for such an unpardonable fact As if a Roman should have run into the enemies Camp having made a large commendation of that act of Decius in dying for his Countrey And there is one sin that seems more manifestly than others to open the closed Wounds of Christ that is hatred and enmity in our hearts which I doubt few of the common fort are free of He that comes with his heart full of passion and anger and rage against his Brother what doth he but rend and tear the body of Christ in pieces He separates and divides as much as he can one part of it from another and in a most formal manner kills him afresh in his members who are called his Body Whosoever hates his brother is a murtherer whosoever divides one man from another he doth what he can to rend the body of Christ and to destroy that which is
thou lovest him nor will any sin which he afterward commits be imputed to thy neglect nor will the sin of his receiving unworthily be laid to thy charge because thou didst what thou couldst to prevent it It can only be matter of thy compassion and sorrow but not thy burden and trouble that another doth not do his duty when thou hast done thine And all Gods Servants in all ages of the Church have received comfort in such mixed communions and have patiently waited till Christs course was taken with men for their reformation And it is to be feared that such objectors seek for too much comfort in outward things and discomfort themselves in their own fancies Whereas their true comfort lyes in doing of their duty faithfully to God and to their Brethren and in the mercy of God in Christ And if they look for other comfort they will be deceived for the net of the Gospel brings both good and bad to the shore and where there is Wheat there are Tares many times also Let no man therefore plead this or that in excuse for his not coming to the Lords Table but resolve hereafter carefully to perform so necessary a duty Let the sinner quit his state of sin and death and so come and eat of the Bread of life Let the ignorant come into the School of Christ and proceed till they come to the highest form to the upper room where this Feast is prepared Let those that are in enmity with their Neighbours also come let them only first go and be reconciled to their Brethren and so let them offer their gift Let those that have a multitude of worldly employments come only let them leave them as Abraham did his Asses at the bottome of the Mount and so let them ascend to Heaven in their thoughts and converse with God Let the weak come that they may grow in strength and let the strong come that they may not grow weak Let them who have fears come that their hearts may be setled by the acts of a more lively faith and let them come who have hopes that they may rise to greater degrees of an humble confidence Let those who have leisure accept of this invitation because they have no excuse and let those who have but little leisure entertain it also that they may the more sanctifie their business and employments let the sad and sorrowfull approach that their hearts may be filled with the joys of the Lord and let those that rejoyce in the Lord alwayes approach that their joy may be full Do not send your excuses when you are called but resolve that a necessity lyes upon you unless you will be guilty of the foulest neglect of your duty and the greatest disrespect to Gods love If any man can be content to stay away after all these entreaties on to come but seldome when he may be so welcome Let him consider what a wrong he offers to his own soul how he robs it of its food and nourishment and how he pineth the most noble and excellent Creature in the world And let him consider what an affront it is to God to despise the choisest of his chear the most costly provision made by the expense of his Sons Bloud and the most kind and gracious invitations to it O foolish people and unwise do we thus requite the Lord do we thus slight the dying of our Saviour are we no more affected with his singular love Is this to commemorate the death of Christ to come once or twice in a year to this Feast The Lord have mercy upon us and help us How are we degenerated from the primitive practise how cold is our love to God and to his Son grown Unless we blow it up by a frequent remembrance of Christ it is to be feared it will quite go out The ashes and dust of this world will bury all the remaining sparks of it which are not yet extinguished Let Christ I beseech you see that you love him by taking all occasions to come to him by binding your selves faster with the cords of his love to all obedience and dutifulness toward him And let me but tell you these two truths and I shall put an end to this Discourse The way to have reformed us would not have been to leave off Communions but to make them more frequent Nor secondly To unite and consolidate Parishes but to make more Pastors in greater Parishes that by more personal instruction men might be better fitted for frequent Communion But so it is that zeal oft-times hath too much passion in it and too little knowledge The good Lord pardon us and be gracious unto us FINIS