his Intercession is now in Body though a Body of Glory Now from hence you may perceive what I drive at viz. That there was great Reason that Christ should say This is my Body This is my Blood because the Body of Christ the Flesh and Blood of Christ was that which was visibly and sensibly active and was to be so throughout the whole Work of our Redemption for Forasmuch as the Children Heb. 2. 14 17. were Partakers of Flesh and Blood he himself took part of the same that c. And it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his Brethren The holy Humane Soul and Spirit of Christ was the principal Agent the Body Flesh and Blood of Christ was the Theatre upon which All was made publick the Tube and Channel through which All is convey'd therefore the whole Humane Nature is express'd by Flesh and Blood the Representation of it and the Communication of it is so given in the Doctrine and therefore so in the Lord's Supper The Body Flesh and Blood of Christ and all his Action Point 2 and Suffering in it were as so many Preparations that he may be spiritually eaten applied to and communicated with by the Souls of Believers of which his Death is the most comprehensive and principal as that in which center not only his Incarnation Circumcision Baptism Holy Life Prayers in the Days of his Flesh but even his Resurrection Ascension Intercession at the Right-hand of God and therefore as the Doctrine of the Communion of his Body styles his John 6. 51. Death the giving his Flesh for the Life of the World so the Sacrament of it in the Lord's Supper calls it his Body given for us and the Remembrance of his Death and the whole Application by Faith is call'd Eating in both And proportionably in sense Christ was sent in the Likeness Rom. 8. 3. of sinful Flesh that he might condemn Sin in the Flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us We put off the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ we Col. 2. 11. are buried in his Baptism we rise in his Resurrection and Rom. 6. 4. know the Power of it Phil. 3. 10. We sit in Heavenly Places in him He makes Intercession for us and so saves to the uttermost Heb. 7. 25. And his Death is in all Senses communicated to us All which are in other Words the very same thing with giving us his Flesh te eat and his Blood to drink The humane Nature of Christ call'd his Body his Flesh Point 3 and his Blood and all his Actions and Sufferings in it were so many Rests and Repositories of the Divine Nature Power Efficacy and Virtue of Jesus Christ filling them with infinite saving Virtue and Effect in their Communication to the Senses of Believers in Jesus Christ For in all the Action and Sufferings of Christ the Son of God was immediately Active the Divine Power and Spirit was always present and Active in all as a supreme Spirit and Soul The Incarnation of Christ was a sensible fleshly and bodily Thing But there was a Manifestation of Divinity in it The Power of the most High over-shadowed the Virgin and Rom. 8. 2. Christ was Conceiv'd as we daily Profess by the Holy Ghost The Law of the Spirit of Life purified the Humane Nature of Christ to the highest Elevation of Purity The Circumcision of Christ was a Divine Circumcision made without Col. 2. 11. Hands by the immediate Action of the Divine Spirit for if ours were so much more His the original of it The Baptism of Christ was full of a Divine Presence The Spirit rested like a Dove upon Him This is my beloved Son c. Matt. 3. 18. Philip. 3. 9. His Obedience and Righteousness was the Righteousness of God In his Death he offer'd Himself by the Eternal Spirit Heb. 9. 14. His Blood is called the Blood of God He Rose by the Spirit Acts 20. 28. of Holiness which Justified Him He is made higher than the Heavens in his Intercession And this is of supreme Consideration in all the Communications of Christ in all our Eating and Drinking his Flesh and his Blood as may be seen in that excellent Discourse John 6. to which the Lord's Supper is a parallel Representation As the Living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father v. 57. even so he that eateth me shall live by me For his Flesh eaten is the Conduit of divine Life It is the Spirit viz. the Divine Nature that quickneth The Flesh profiteth nothing v. 63. The Words that I speak unto you are Spirit and they are Life that is by the Vertue and Presence of the Divinity of which they were spoken for by Power he is declar'd to be Rom. 1. 4. the Son of God viz. by the Power of the Divinity He was 2 Cor. 13. 4. put to death through weakness but he liveth by the Power of 1 Pet. 3. 18. God He was put to death in the Flesh quickned by the Spirit If any Man therefore considers the Actions of Jesus Christ in the Flesh and does not consider the Divine Nature in them he does not consider that which our Saviour says Quickens He only considers that which our Saviour saith Profits nothing From hence therefore it is plainly first to be understood that it is most impossible Material or Bodily should by it self do any thing to that which is Spiritual Immaterial Intellectual as is the Soul of Man The Sun though so glorious a Body can do nothing to Man's Soul immediately and suppose the Body of Christ as much higher in Glory than any thing we know in Nature as the Sun excells a Turf of Earth yet this very glorious Body can do nothing to our Souls to our Spirits It can do nothing in these great Negotiations of Peace with God Purification of our Consciences Sanctification This is so acknowledg'd a thing that you know as many as know any thing of Transubstantiation as it is held in the Roman Persuasion That they themselves confess That if a Man Eat that very transubstantiated Body and Drink that very transubstantiated Blood of Christ though it is as they suppose the Body and Blood of Christ in the most fleshly sensible Presence we can imagine yet it does a wicked Man no good a Man who hath not Faith and Repentance And it is very true it must needs be so because it is a material thing and cannot act so as to act upon spiritual and immaterial Things on the other side it can do no hurt to these immaterial Beings But if it did operate after the manner of material Things upon material I cannot conceive how it should miss the best Effect seeing it is infinitely prepar'd to do good in that very Case of presupposed Evil of Sin but when it is spiritual and requires spiritual Preparation to receive it or else it
and putting them in their mind together with the Remission of their Sins So that as there needs no other offering than that one offering so needs it not to be daily offered for it was once for all offer'd and he is now at the Right-hand of God interceeding upon that one offering once offer'd by the Blood of which he entred into the Holiest to appear before God for us and from whence he cannot be mov'd till the Time he expects of his Enemies being made his Footstool Heb. 8. 6. compar'd with c. 9. 12. 24. c. 10. 13. c. 2. And thus I have made good the first Point of this Head viz. Of the spiritual Efficacies that flow from the Humane Nature of Christ express'd by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ as in Union with the Son of God I come now to the second to shew that in regard of the Eternity of the Son of God these Efficacies cannot be hindered nor prejudic'd in Point of Time The Divine Person of Christ being unchangeable and eternal there 's no distance of Time occurs to him or can encounter his Divine Efficacy Before Abraham was saith Christ I am How could it be that Christ that was born so many hundred years after Abraham could be before Abraham were it not in regard of the Eternity of the Divine Person communicated to the Humanity and predating the Great Powers and Efficacies of God manifested in Flesh before the Incarnation Upon this Account Christ is call'd the Lamb slain before the Foundation of the World because the Divine Person anticipated the Efficacy of the Death of the Lamb ordain'd before the Foundation of the World much earlier than his Manifestation which was not till the last Times Christ was not abridg'd nor forestall'd in Time because he did not actually dye till about four thousand Years after the Fall of Man for the Divine Person Jesus Christ never had a Yesterday nor can have a To morrow but is always in a To day the same for ever In this very Point of Eating the Flesh and Drinking the Blood of Christ when the Jews were so disgusted with the Doctrine Christ to ease their Thoughts proposes his Eternity to their Consideration and shews the mighty spiritualizing Power of the Divine Nature by it What saith he if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before though he was as Man the Son of not Fifty Years by many as the Jews observ'd to him yet he was in Heaven as the Son of God calling his Humanity that was not actually till his Incarnation as if it were And as it is thus in regard of Time past so in regard of Time to come he saith Lo I am with you to the End of the World 3. In respect to Place we shall find very great Expressions of the Divine Vbiquity and Omnipresence of the Son of God extending the Manhood to all Spiritual Effects without any Limitation or Confinement within Place though yet it be according to its natural Presence determin'd to Place even as the Incarnation it self was to the Fullness of Time Our Saviour discoursing with Nicodemus upon the Point of Regeneration John 3. 13. tells him No Man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man who is in Heaven Observe it Christ was in his Body upon Earth His being the Son of Man was that to which his Body was proper yet saith he The Son of Man that now discourses thee upon Earth This Son of Man is now in Heaven How could this be but only because no space does hinder or straiten the spiritual Efficacy of the Divinity or confine its Presence even as it is united to the Humanity By all this you may see Christ was in Heaven while he was upon Earth and he was in Heaven before he was Incarnate for He came down from Heaven and all this by the Unchangeableness and the Omnipresence of the Action of the Divinity united to the Humane Nature and then as to his being now upon Earth although the Heavens contain him Consider what the Apostle saith He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things so that Christ by his Divine Power fills all things and the Church which is his Body in his Humane Nature on Earth is the Fullness of him who filleth All in All even he that was Raised up from the Dead is he that fills All in All. And the Church on Earth is his Fullness though Christ is in Heaven either receiving his Fullness or as he is pleas'd to account himself Full by his Union to it Upon these Accounts The Humane Nature of Christ as it is united to the Divinity though it self be Finite yet in the Extensive Power of the Divinity spiritually applying it to the Salvation of his Church hath the Nature of Infinite both as to Time and Place it is always it is every where filling All in All Yesterday to day the same for ever For if the Soul of Man can improve the Senses and Faculties of the Body in representing to it self in a Map Places at greatest Distances from the Body and the Mind can thereby in some sense convey it self thither while the Body remains in the same place If we can by Writing converse one with another at greatest distance How much more can the Divine Nature of the Son of God extend the Humane in the Spirituality of all its Use and Effects in an Infinite manner so that it can convey and dispose them unlimitedly as it pleases and this may well be call'd his Body and Blood in very real though mystical sense It remains yet as to the clearing this Point of Christ giving his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink to shew That as there is such a rich Communicativeness on the part of Christ giving his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink so there are Receiving Powers and Faculties of Man's Soul prepared and fitted by Grace that may be properly and truly said in a spiritual Sense to Eat and to Drink as Christ is said to Give Now unto this the Understanding Will Conscience Memory Imagination and Affection with the active and executive Powers of the whole Man are prepar'd even to receive spiritually the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ however at a bodily distance viz. by Understanding Faith close inward Application holy Affection obediential self-Resignation all which are this Intellectual spiritual Eating and Drinking the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ And to all this there is no Notion or Resemblance more significant or expressive than spiritual Transubstantiation as shall be more fully discours'd under the two following Heads And so having thus far discuss'd the first Head I go forward to the second to shew That there is a clear Passage and Transition from Christ giving his Flesh to eat as it stands thus in the whole Doctrine of the Gospel to those Words Take Eat this is my Body when he
Faculties and of Religion by it and the greatest danger of Idolatry against the Precept of the Apostle Paul upon the very Discourse of the Lord's Supper a Prophecy I am persuaded of Future Danger as well as an Admonition Dearly Beloved viz. Christians flee from Idolatry the Idolatry which 1 Cor. 10. 14. turns the Cup of the Lord and the Table of the Lord into a Cup and Table of what I am afraid to name for the Devil is the Author of all Idolatry It is likewise against the prophetical Farewel of the Apostle John after declaring the True God and Eternal Life Little Children Keep your selves from Idols 1 Ep. John c. ult v. ult When therefore There is so little Gain at the cost of such a miraculous Power suppos'd on God's part of so prodigious a Faith on ours and so great a danger what but a strange Servitude to a Church calling it self Infallible can subject us to such an undesirable Opinion 2. It should raise us to high Thoughts of the Redemption of Christ thus nearly uniting it self to and incorporating it self within us Although it is matter of Faith yet it is so abundantly assur'd to that Faculty of our Minds to Know and to be assur'd to that Faculty of our Minds to Know and to be assur'd by so high a Revelation that if we pursue it by that Power that Faculty sanctified actually to believe in Christ and that we come to live by that Faith of the Son of God it will be even as certain as sensible as Life it self 3. We should lift up our Souls and Hearts to Christ in the Heavens on the Right-hand of God Interceeding for us for there he still eats the Passover and drinks of that very same Fruit of the Vine with us as it is new and fulfill'd in his Fathers Kingdom there he continually applies it to our Hearts as the great Testator and Risen surviving Surety Executor or Mediator of his own Testament 4. It should oblige us to a continual Appretiation and high value of the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and joyning the Lord's Supper if it could be to every Lord's Day Lordly Supper Lordly Day to which it is coupled in so peculiar and unparallel'd only to themselves a New-Testament-Expression For though it hath a constant and undividable Annexion to that New Testament of which Christ hath made it a visible Sum altho' it is always preach'd with the Gospel and is as it were administred in that Preaching yet because the whole Gospel is present and sensibly preach'd in that Sacrament also we should embrace both within our most conscientious Observation And the very Ordinance it self is undoubtedly the most ordinary means of a superadditional Assurance and Conveyance of the Gospel-Efficacy into our Hearts and therefore by no means to be neglected 5. It persuades us to an earnest Care and Caution against violating the great Ordinances of the Gospel preach'd in both the Word of God and in the Lord's Supper for it is the Offer of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to be Eaten and Drunk and if we neglect and refuse or unworthily partake we are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord we do not discern and take due notice of the Lord's Body so it becomes a savor of Death unto Death in the Word and of Judgment to Condemnation if we persevere so to do in the Lord's Supper because it is a degree of that great Sin of Apostacy treading under foot the Son of God counting the Blood of the Covenant a common thing doing Injury to the Spirit of Grace Crucifying him a-fresh and putting him to an open Shame And when by the ordinary Profession of Jesus Christ being Born and Baptiz'd into the only Holy Religion in the World Educated in it we are caught in its Net and under the Bond of the Covenant the Gospel is Preach'd to us whether we will or no and the Lord's Supper goes along with it whether we Hear or whether we forbear whether we Receive or whether we forbear we must know we shall know the Gospel in its Preaching in the Lord's Supper inseparable from it hath been among us We are All Baptiz'd in the Cloud and in the Sea of the Gospel Ministry every way surrounding us We All Eat the same spiritual Meat and 1 Cor. 10. 1. Drink the same spiritual Drink and that is Christ. The Bread broken among us the Cup of Blessing bless'd among us encloses us though in regard of Unbelief and Impenitency we Eat and Drink Judgment to our selves and with many of us God is not well pleased and our Carkasses will fall notwithstanding this Manna this Water of the Rock vouchsaf'd to us if we Repent not There is therefore no way of avoiding the Gospel-Penalty but by Receiving the Lord Jesus aright and walking in him No Abatement of our Danger as to the Lord's Supper but by giving no Sleep to our Eyes nor Slumber to our Eye-lids till we have brought our selves into an approved state for it Refusal of the Gospel in its Preaching in the Lord's Supper will not be so Tollerable as Sodom's Judgment There is no Safety any way but in Eating and Drinking Christ so that we may live for ever else we can have no life in us 6. Seeing all the Gospel and Lord's Supper hath such relation to the Last Day to the Table of Christ in his Kingdom in his Glory and to Eating and Drinking then in his Presence let us lift up our Heads our Thoughts our Desires our Prayers to it Although these Ordinances ought to be all our Delights on Earth yet they are but the State below a State of the Delay and Patience of Christ for his Kingdom A shewing forth the Lord's Death till he come Then