mischievous wherein Christian moderation and patience hath not place By doing nothing to serve our own passion or interest but all for God's glory onely and publick benefit And to let our hearts even bleed in pitty over those wicked wretches who dye by the hand of Iustice and abate rather then improve the rigour of the law any farther then is necessary for the terror of evil works Such was Ioshuah's carriage to Achan My son saith he give glory to God who nevertheless was ston'd to death We desire then in this petition that God would blot out all our iniquities and remember our sins no more that he would not impute our sins to us but cover our iniquities that he would pardon all that we have done amiss that he would not deal with us according to our iniquities nor reward us according to our sins But that he would deal bountifully with our souls and of his free grace pardon us that he would accept of what Christ his Son our surety hath done and suffer'd for us to take away the sins of the world that he would look upon his death as a sufficient ransome and a perfect atonement for sin that he would sprinkle us with his blood for justification and cloath us with the robes of his righteousness that as our sins were imputed to him for a shameful and cursed death so his righteousness may be reckon'd to us for glory and immortality That he would nail the hand-writing of the law against us to the Cross and bury our sins in his grave that they may never rise up against us neither to shame us in this world nor to condemn us in the next That he would break the rule and dominion of sin as well as free us from the guilt and punishment of it That he would create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us That he would loose us from the bands of death and quicken us to newness of life killing sin in us by the virtue of his death and raising us by the power of his resurrection who dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification That he would sprinkle our consciences from dead works wash away the stains of our natures of our lives though our sins be as red as crimson make them as white as wool That he would keep us from presumptuous sins cleanse us from our secret sins That he would lay the restraints of his grace upon us that we may not break out into foul enormities That he would mortify our lusts and subdue our corruptions and earthly affections That the pollution of our nature and original uncleanness may be done away by the water of Baptism in the layer of regeneration That he would forgive us all the evil of our doing our neglects in duty the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper age the vain imaginations and the evil concupiscence of our hearts every idle and unsavoury word all our wicked and ungodly deeds whereby we have dishonour'd him injur'd our neighbour or abus'd our selves our own sins and our other folks sins our national and our personal sins our civil our religious sins our rebellions apostasyes and our hypocrisy our righteousness our prayers our charity and our very forgiveness it self all the transgressions and violations of his law and the breaches of his holy commandments sins we have committed knowingly or ignorantly wilfully or weakly deliberately or upon surprise with temptation or without all that we know by our selves and that he knows by us who knows our folly and our frailty and how brutish we are that as his mercy is over all his own works so he would stretch it over all our works That he would be graciously pleased to doe what he requires us to doe to love his enemies and bless his persecutors That he would magnify his mercy in pardoning great sins and not let the mercy of man exceed it that he who is abundant in loving kindness and full of compassion would not come short of his creatures that since he has commanded us if our brother offend seventy seven times we should forgive him he would take pattern from his own command and pardon us our repeated abominations wherewith we provoke him every day that he would work in us the grace of repentance and charity and assure us of the forgiveness of our sins by our readiness to forgive others AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION As it was not enough that God should give unless he would also forgive us so neither will a bare forgiveness serve our turn to quit all that 's past unless we may have his assistance to prevent faults to come so that in the preceeding petition we desire to have our former debts struck of the score in this we beg a stock of grace and the supplyes of the spirit that we may run in debt no more nor fall into any more sin So that we intreat God to deal with us as a tender mother with her little one that 's yet unable to goe alone who takes it up when it catches a fall and holds it when 't is up that it may not fall again There we call'd for pardon here we ask for strength having been often foil'd by the tempter we implore spiritual aid that God would enable us to resist Satan that he may fly from us to withstand evil so that having done all we may stand That belong'd to justification whereby we are reconciled to God this pertains to sanctification whereby we are made like unto God who is both all good and is not tempted of evil AND. The Petitions which concern us have mutual connexion with and dependence upon one another Give us and forgive us and Lead us not but deliver us whereas the others which concern God stand apart and are not so coupled and joyn'd together because they are of themselves intire and compleat and one granted naturally infers the rest every thing that belongs to God being like himself infinite His Name his Kingdom and his Will each in a manner severally including the other two so that his glory is sufficiently provided for if any of them hold good For his name cannot be hallowed unless his Kingdom come and his will be done too And if his Kingdom come his will must needs be done and his name will be hallowed Or if his will be done t is a certain sign his Kingdom is come and his name as sure will again be hallowed But the benefits we crave for our selves are partial and such as God often disjoins gives apart as 't were by piece-meals For many times he bestows bread and an outward estate where he doth not vouchsafe pardon and peace of conscience nor gives grace alway to prevent the commission of future sins where he forgives sins past Some men are rich to their hurt and their fulness of bread is a curse whilest their abundance doth but
himself entertained the Traitour the Thief and the Apostate Iudas All are invited to this heavenly banquet and if any one crowd in having not on his wedding garment he does it at his own peril 'T is the Apostle's rule in this case that a man examine himself and so come He that shall censure his brother as unworthy to share in this divine worship to be sure by his want of charity makes himself unfit to be there and uncapable of the blessing charity being as necessary a qualification as repentance and we are out of charity to suppose that any scandalous liver or notorious offender would venture upon these sacred mysteries without having repented him of his sins since he is told aforehand that by coming unworthily he will but eat and drink damnation to himself delivering himself into Satan's power filling up the measure of his sins and hastning his own destruction as it far'd with Iudas AND SAID Here follow the words of consecration for this too as wel as the common food is sanctified by the word and Prayer It was not enough to have broken and given it unless he had also said Take eat God is wont to instruct all our senses as he requires to have them all exercised in holy things The outward Sign is propos'd to the eye the Word to the ear so that what the eagle-sighted Evangelist saith of the Incarnation of Christ may have here a peculiar place That which we have seen That which we have heard and our hands have handled of the word of life declare we unto you and accordingly it follows TAKE Stretching out the hand of Faith lay hold on life embrace salvation offer'd Take for ye have it not by nature in your selves it is the gift of God through Christ who took upon him the Humane nature that he through it might convey to men the power virtue of the Divine nature He took that he might give we take to enjoy Take it not snatch it take it with reverence and such devotion of mind and body as becomes so great a mystery and this indeed has alwayes been the custom of the Church to use an humble posture upon this occasion and receive kneeling EAT Apply to your souls the benefit of my death feed upon me and be transformed into my likeness that ye may be united to me and I may live in you no otherwise then the meat which we dayly eat is turn'd into juice and blood and intimately adhering to us becomes part of us THIS IS MY BODY This i.e. this bread for though they disagree in gender yet who is so unskil'd in Grammar as not to know that the Relative this may agree either with the former Antecedent bread or with the later body or This mystery and Sacrament This action of my breaking and giving of your taking and eating IS MY BODY Is the representation of my death the assurance of salvation to those that believe as we commonly say of a writing in Law This is my estate i.e. this gives me a title to such a house and land and by a sure conveyance makes me right owner of it as if the house and fields and meadows were really included in the parchment Such a manner of speech is frequently us'd in Scripture as where 't is said the rock was Christ which to take properly and strictly as the words sound were absurd there being no more meant by it then this that the rock was the type and emblem of Christ. So here that the bread is Christ's Body is not to be understood in a gross sense as if that the substance of the bread were changed into the very flesh of Christ but that whosoever doth with faith receive these sacred Symbols doth truly and to all intents partake of the benefits which Christ hath purchas'd for us by his death and is closely united to Christ and grows in grace even as our bodily food being taken in does pass into our nature and give nourishment and increase to all the parts of our body WHICH IS BROKEN or Given The present Tense here is put for the future which shortly shall be broken for Christ was yet not crucified but spoke these words before his Passion Or the whole life of Christ having been nothing else but an enduring of hardship it may be understood not onely of the cross and the nails the scourges and the thorns wherewith his sacred Body was rent and torn but also of hunger and cold fasting and watching grief and pains which he underwent all along from the Cradle to the Cross or in a mystical and Sacramental sense which by this breaking giving of the bread is represented shown forth as broken and given for them For the very actions us'd by our Saviour at this Supper have a spiritual meaning and doe allude to some mystery He took bread and so he took to himself a body that he might become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh and suffer in the flesh the punishment due to us as it is written Burnt offerings and sacrifices thou wouldst not but a body thou hast prepared for me He blessed it i.e. he set it aside from common use in like manner the mass of flesh and blood which he would put on he separated from the defilement of our nature that he might after an extraordinary manner be born of the Blessed Virgin without sin He broke it Iust so was that his body used cut and mangled with cruel whips bruised with blowes and buffets gash'd with a spear pricked with the thorns and bored with nails that we by his stripes might be healed He gave it hanging on the Cross with stretched armes bowed head he seem'd to invite all men to the well of salvation which was open'd in his side for the cleansing of iniquity and the quenching of spiritual thirst laying down his life like the good shepheard for the ransom of souls And his Father gave him so loving the world that he gave his only begotten Son to the death that whosoever believes in him might have everlasting life FOR YOU For your sake upon your account to your benefit for the appeasing God's wrath satisfying his Iustice and obtaining his mercy for the redemption of your souls the purchase of pardon and grace and the assurance of salvation that you by my death may live by my wounds you may be cured and by receiving me thus offered unto you may be received into favour Or in your stead Behold I suffer what you should have suffered I as your Mediator stand betwixt you and God betwixt your sins and his wrath and undergoe the penalty which was due to you my body is torn and mangled and my soul powred out to death not for any thing that I have done amiss for there hath bin no iniquity found in my hand nor guil in my mouth but I am that Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world I am
to our condition and to that station of life whereunto his good providence hath design'd us That he would give us strength of body and vigour of mind perfect health and all natural and moral abilities that may fit us for the discharge of our duties and above all a contented spirit that we may eat our bread with chearfulness and be satisfied with his gracious disposals of us and any condition that he shall in his wisdom cast us into either riches or poverty That he would neither send us so much of the world 's good as to tempt us to wantonness and riot nor so little as to make us repine but assign us such a competent portion that we may find a comfortable subsistence and have where with to doe good to others That we may be enabled to provide things honest and fashionable before all men yet not make provision for the flesh to satisfy the lusts thereof That our food may be wholsome rather then delicious so that in the strength thereof we may do him service That our attire may be decent and comely to cover shame not to show pride and vanity that we may not turn his gifts into wantonness or â—mbezill his talents but imploy them to his glory and others good â— and make us friends of the unrighteous mammon That he would bless our labours and give success to our honest undertakings that we may eat the labour of our hands and it may be well with us That he would procure us faithfull friends diligent servants dutifull children fruitfull seasons and furnish us with all other perquisites that may make our condition comfortable That he would bless the nation with righteous government and honest magistrates indue the nobles with courage the commons with loyalty bless all orders and conditions of persons from the highest to the lowest from him that sitteth on the throne to him that is behind the mill enlarge all that are in distress send us plenty and peace in our dayes crown the year with his goodness and make all his steps toward us drop fatness that we may thankfully acknowledge his benefits and be charitably disposed to those that are in want that we may be tender-hearted compassionate not forget to communicate and distribute and show gratitude to all those whom he has made instruments of good to us who have obliged us by any kindness and pray for them that God would restore seaven-fold into their bosome That he would keep us in an humble constant dependance on him and provide honest courses for us that we may not eat the bread of idleness or tempt his providence with the use of unlawfull means That he would deliver us from dangers and distresses preserve us from rapine and spoil and keep us from distrusts and anxietyes about the things of this life but that we may seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof assuring our selves that then all things else shall be added to us and whatsoever our share be of outward things take the Lord for our portion and our inheritance That he would to this end give us Christ the bread of life and with him all things and that he would with that bread which came down from heaven feed our souls to life everlasting strengthning our graces pardoning our sins and subduing our lusts AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US Pardon is as necessary for our spiritual life as bread for our natural For the soul that sins shall dy In many things we offend all even the righteous falls seven times a day For death came into the world by sin over all mankind but righteousness and life came by Iesus Christ And we have dayly need on 't too for we provoke God every day So then we are to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ that our souls may live And as Christ's flesh is bread indeed so is his blood which he shed for the atonement of wrath and forgiveness of sins drink indeed the water out of that spiritual rock which is Christ. Oh that our souls might thirst for the living God as the wounded hart panteth after the water-brooks OUR TRESPASSES The other Evangelist useth another word debts which comes all to one both signifying sins by a translated sense borrowed from dealings amongst men betwixt creditor and debtor the person suffering the injury and the person doing it For a debtor or trespasser that is not solvent or hath not wherewith to make satisfaction agrees with his adversary puts it to reference comes to composition and by mediation of friends takes up the business that there may be no arrest or inditement or other procedeur in law against him as knowing that he should come by the worst be cast in his fuit and be sent to prison where he must ly by it till he have paid the uttermost farthing which being utterly unable to doe he must never hope to come out but rot in prison The same is the case betwixt God and us we are bound to him by our creation to an observance of his laws or to undergoe the penalty of the breach which is everlasting death But we are fallen short and are unable to discharge that debt nor are we able to answer him one word of a thousand so that there are due to us all the plagues written in his book We have gone astray and done abominably we have broken all his laws and commandments we have been rebellious children from our youth up and the imaginations of our hearts have been evill continually we have neglected our duty in every thing and have not harkned to him to obey his voice so that to us belongs shame and confusion of face for ever Now Christ became our surety took up the business undertook our reconciliation and hath answer'd the law satisfied justice discharg'd our debts cancell'd the obligation and nail'd the hand writing of the law unto his cross making a new covenant of life betwixt God and us upon Gospell-terms of grace and new obedience yet still we are wanting on our part and deal treacherously in our covenant trampling upon his blood and despising so great salvation Nay even the best of Saints have their dayly slips and failings Who is he that can justify himself and if any perfectist say he has no sin he deceives himself and the truth is not in him Our sins All Adam's off-spring the whole race of mankind is tainted Behold saith the holy Prophet a man after God's own heart I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceiv'd me And the Apostle has concluded all under sin so that we are all guilty of original corruption whereby all the faculties of our soul and members of our body are over-spread as with a leprosie from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot beyond the cure of all humane arts and helps Philosophy education
thy beams As God has made the poor his receivers so he has appointed thy debtors and trespassers his assigns What they can't pay thee God strikes off of thy account what thou forgivest them is discharg'd out of God's bill against thee Thus our forgiveness like quit-rent or a legal cheat stands for a hundred times it's value and our enemies prove our greatest friends by injuring us to our happiness and turning our shame into the advantage of our glory by procuring us pardon of our sins whilest we forgive THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US 'T is such an argument as the Centurion used and shews as much charity as his did faith Doe but speak the word sayes he and my servant shall be healed For I also am one in a petty authority and have souldiers under me and say to one Goe and he goes to another Come and he comes to a third Doe this and he doth it So we are taught to plead this request Forgive us our sins for we also forgive offences committed against us We have superiours that oppress us and we bear with patience equals that scorn us and we in honour prefer them inferiours that neglect us and we use them kindly we have hard masters severe teachers base friends abusive companions stubborn children spightfull neighbours unfaithfull servants and yet we return not evill for evill but give place to wrath and according to thy command overcome their evill with our good We bless those that curse us pray for those that wrongfully use us doe all the good we can to those who doe us all manner of ill and endeavour as much as in us lyes to keep peace with all men and readily forgive every one that doth us any unkindness and with our Saviour on the cross pray that our heavenly Father will forgive them too and with the first Christian Martyr that God will not lay what they doe to their charge And will not the Father of mercies do so by us and much more will not he forgive with whom there is forgiveness that he may be feared God would want worshippers no body would fear him were he a cruel God and delighted in the death of a sinner and would accept of no other sacrifice for sin but the soul that commits it He is mercifull and gracious long suffering full of loving kindness and plenteous in redemption as he has express'd himself in the vision of Moses That he may forgive us as we forgive others let us learn of him to forgive to be reviled and not revile again to love our enemies to pass by offences to wink at great faults not to be strict in observing what is done amiss For if God should doe so who would be able to stand for who knows how oft he offends to make a candid interpretation of other mens carriage and judge the best of their actions to put up wrongs at least to put them upon God's account as David said of Shimei God hath sent him to curse me this day and to look upon every enemy thou hast as God's scourge and 't will become a dutifull child to submit to his father's correction though administred by a servant's hand For he appoints the hand as well as the rod. God has severall wayes to chastise his children and punishes some with a malicious tongue to blister their good name to some a marriage bed proves their purgatory or an ill neighbour-hood To others men of violence come with a commission from heaven as God's Takers and seize on all the comforts of their lives and remember amongst all these injuries of men God doth no man wrong and he may take what course he please to reduce a rebell subject to his obedience And lastly how malitious so ever the intentions of men may be God means all this vexation for good and would not apply this strong Physic but that he finds it necessary for the health of thy soul. What little reason hast thou to be offended at any man whom God imployes in the drudgery of his chastisements How much reason hast thou to forgive and thank too any one that doth thee such kind injuries which reclaim thee from thy sins and put thee in a capacity of God's pardon And shall he that is at this pains about thee to fetch thee home to thy Father and bring thee to Heaven be thought to doe thee ill offices and not deserve a pardon for his courteous malice What good shrewd turns are these What friends more beneficial then such foes whose mistaken rage meaning to kill cures by breaking an Impostume of pride or lust whose cruelty while it would drive us from earth would but give us an earlier possession of heaven and banish us into bliss But may one say if this reasoning be good to what purpose are lawes whereby mens persons and properties are secured from wrong To what end courts of judicature where injur'd persons may have right done them Besides that war upon this account will be as unlawfull as murder and if men may not be allowed to preserve their rights by laws and where they are over-power'd to maintain them by arms in a short time they would have nothing to loose for one injury will invite another till they have eaten out their patient entertainer To this I answer 't is true the whole tenor of the Gospell is for self-denyall taking up the cross and bearing chearfully all that an injurious world can put upon us that the great character of a Christian is to be a sufferer and that the scope of this very petition is in short that we should deal with others as we will have God deal with us which is freely to forgive all trespasses that are committed against us without any exception for no other pardon can serve our turn from God's hand any one sin unpardon'd will damn us Yet God has for the preservation of the civil societies of men implanted principles of moral honesty in the minds of men and hath prescribed rules of equity in his word and hath set up his Vicegerents Kings and Magistrates under them to keep good order that no person of loose principles that has debauch'd his notions may disturb others to gratify his own lust but may be made give account to him that beareth not the sword in vain And one may in some cases nay must out of charity to the publick prosecute notorious offenders as traitors murtherers thieves c. least by a patient sufferance of their mischiefs we encourage them in their wickedness and become accessary to the guilt of any other villany they shall commit afterwards As for private wrongs as slanders c. ones own ease would be argument enough to put a supersedeas to Law with an ingenuous man who knows no ill by himself it being generally seen that he that 's over eager to prosecute a scandal justifies it To conclude there can be no offence so hainous no miscarriage so
other recreation to entertain himself with but to set gins and snares to catch souls in it being the design of his implacable spight to see man who by his means fell from Paradise the place of bliss to an accursed earth fall yet lower into the torments of Hell to be a companion to the damned spirits He 'l accompany thee to Church and watch thee into thy closet whatever thou art about hee 's at hand he intermeddles in thy civil affairs in thy religious duties hee 'l bear a part and suggest vain thoughts hee 'l buy and sell with thee nay hee 'l watch and pray with thee Our Saviour himself was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted where after the preparation of a forty dayes fast for the conflict he was to enter the lists and vanquish this grand enemy of our salvation O blessed preparatory Lent O happy encounter when the Captain of our salvation with the buckler of faith and girt with the sword of truth and meekness upon his thigh was pleas'd to meet this spiritual Goliah in the field and combate with him that he might tread him under our feet break his head his strength and his policy and give his flesh to be meaâ— for his people in the wilderness that as the viper's flesh proves an excellent Antidot against the poyson of the viper and is a great restorative to nature which the creature it self would destroy so temptations might turn to advantages and the malice of Satan improve our bliss How little able should we be to resist him who made such fierce assaults on the Son of God himself How little hope can we have to escape being tempted to the fowlest and most horrid sins when he had the impudence to tempt God himself for such was Christ to the fowlest Idolatry to fall down and worship the Divel Oh dreadfull blasphemy Oh outragious confidence O a Divel void of all ingenuity past all shame and fear All these things will I give thee if thou fall down and worship me All these things all which things Base bold feind hast thou any thing to give All too all at a clap false pretender thou hast nothing to bestow of thy own but evil hell and death the wages of sin All that 's good is God's already or if thou hast any thing to give dost know saucy creature who it is thou speakest to wilt thou offer thy maker any thing dost think that hee 'l take any thing at thine hand If he stood in need would he pass by all his creatures canst imagin to accept thy kindness And why feind this unusual bounty so great a present to him thou hatest What wouldst thou have him doe for 't wouldst thou purchase his favour Hast a mind to buy thy peace and compound for pardon spare thy gifts bring thy self repent and beg that thou mayst have leave to fall down at his footstool and worship before the mercy seat canst thou confess and forsake thy sins Thou hast Scripture for 't and thy former discourse shews thee well read in Scripture thou shalt find favour And what an opportunity hast thou The Saviour of the world in thy company who came on purpose to reconcile sinners and save what was lost will be easily intreated to intercede for thee and get admittance for a faln Angel nor is all his charity tyed to faln men thy brother Angels whom thou left'st in heaven trust in him and worship him And why maist not thou hope the day of thy return is coming now that heaven gates are set open to all that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence And thou hast greater reasons to prevail with thee for repentance then miserable men have as knowing the great happiness thou hast parted with and having so long felt the torments of an evil conscience thy own hell and of that hell which thou art heating for others If any man were in thy case who yet is of a shallower understanding and sense then thou art would he not willingly leap out of those flames in which thou fryest would he not gladly be freed from the wrath of God which thou hast for so many ages lain under and which for ever thou must lye under unless thou canst repent And to what end shouldst thou stand out any longer in an enmity to him that overpowers thee to whom thy hatred can doe no hurt who constantly baffles thy counsels defeats thy strengths and has bound thee with everlasting chains one would think this very conflict might sufficiently convince thee how poor thy malice shows and how successless all thy attempts No Repentance is a doctrine to be preached only to men as the good Angels cannot sin so neither can the bad repent The Divel is but enraged with the tidings of salvation and his dispair imboldens him and he is resolv'd to be damn'd for ever He has an inveterate hatred and implacable malice against God which has call'd him forth now unto this defiance He hates the very thoughts of being blessed because he cannot be so out of God's company he hates God as God hates sin with a perfect hatred and would treat with God upon no other terms then this that God would not be Out of hatred to God he hates himself and is contented to foregoe his happiness rather then to acknowledge it and buyes his spight with endless torments If God should reinstate him as he is in heaven and inlarge him from his bonds he would look on the favour as a more painful imprisonment and account heaven his worse hell Though he knows aforehand that nothing he doth against God shall prosper he thinks it success enough of his plots that he has shown a contempt and in this very temptation of Christ nothing pleases him so much as the effrontery of it that he could as his servant Herod after did mock him and set him at nought when he was not suffer'd to doe him any more hurt For what is it he tempts him to that which he could not have impudence to hope would be hearkned to that which he knew was impossible for Christ in his very nature as well as in his will to doe to sin the holy one to commit a sin Oh audacious tempter couldst thou offer to corrupt him who knows no sin with a bribe couldst thou fancy the judge of all the earth could be made doe wickedly for reward when every upright judge scorns to have justice bought many an honest lawyer will not be hired to be an advocate for wrong But oh Divelish impudence what sin He had tempted him before to distrust and then to tempt providence and seeing Scripture as he applyed it would not prevail is not dismayed by a double repulse but that he might go of with a boast seeing he could not with conquest shews himself right Divel and belcheth out a blasphemy big enough to fill the wide mouth of hell He would
a word which doth usually signify the fork or cross upon which stigmatiz'd and branded slaves were executed And then it may signify the mark of the cross that opprobrious servile and accursed death But is resolv'd by most Interpreters to be a metonymical speech and to stand for some great carnal temptation with which the Apostle was fiercely and frequently set upon And so every man hath some peculiar temptation fitted to his temper which being conquer'd adds to his glory It is the whole duty of man his life being a warfare to be alwayes upon his guard to buckle combate with the tempter Strive to enter in at the straight-gate sayes our Saviour a word borrowed from the Olympic games and prizes and signifies five kinds of exercise leaping running hurling darting and wrestling And the whole New Testament is full of Agonistical expressions though the reward proposed to the conqueror in those strifes were but some fading chaplet of flowers but lusts conquer'd gain a crown of glory which will never wither If temptation were not Grace would loose it's exercise and Glory it's improvement Wherefore in the opposite request we desire not to be deliver'd from the temptation it self but FROM EVILL From the evil of temptation for there is a good use of temptations as God orders them We are lyable exposed continually to temptations But God takes out the sting and the venom of them and whilest the wicked fall under the evil the righteous goe free that what is said of God's preservation in time of Epidemical infections that though thousands fall at thy right hand it shall not come near thee is as true in a spiritual sense Evil here may bear the same meaning with temptation thus From the evil one that is from the tempter that enemy And thus 't is said the whole world lyes in the evil one is at his dispose who is the Prince of the world And so our desires would be that God would not himself tempt us but rather deliver us from the tempter But 't is best to take words in the largest sense from evil i.e. from all manner of evil both bodily ghostly both temporal and eternal both of sin and of punishment And thus it will contain in it a whole Letany that God would deliver us from a hard heart and a seared conscience from a reprobate mind corrupt affections from presumptuous sins and contempt of his word from gross miscarriages and secret wickedness from murder and whoredom and every deadly sin from pride vain glory and hypocrisy from envy malice and all uncharitableness from any thing that may prove an occasion of fall from the pomps and vanities of the world from the evil concupiscences of the flesh and from the suggestions of Satan from the influence of lewd examples and from the inticement of evil company and from the foolish counsel of our own will from all opportunities and conveniences of sinning from fire and sword and pestilence and famine from all those curses which are due to us for our sins from all manner of calamities whether in body or mind goods or good name from sudden or untimely death from maims sickness or deformity from ignorance folly and mistakes from unruly passions and disorder'd thoughts from rapine plunder and oppression from war and civil broyls from having too much or too little from being lifted up in prosperity or cast down in adversity from honour and dishonour from shame reproach from meats and drinks from our business and recreation from our enemies from our friends and from our selves in short from every thing so far forth as it may procure us evil To sum up the meaning of the whole Petition together which we have deliver'd by parts we desire of God that he would not only pardon sins past but would furnish us with strength from above to resist temptations hereafter and having had our sins forgiven we may sin no more nor return again to folly that his justifying grace may be accompanied with sanctifying grace which may keep us blameless that we may become temples of the Holy Ghost and he may dwell in our hearts by faith which may quench the fiery darts of the evil one That he would not leave us to our selves at any time but instruct us with his eye and guide us in the way which he shall choose for us That he would not for our many provocations in judgement harden our hearts deliver us up to a reprobate mind and dishonourable affections or upon our frequent refusals of grace offer'd conclude us under a state of impenitence and give us into the power of Satan to be led captive at his will who is the God of this world who rules in the hearts of unbelievers That he would hedge our way about so that the opportunity of sin may be denyed us and that though it easily beset us yet we may not fall into it That he would keep us from presuming on his mercy or despairing of it that so being carried with the full sails of faith as neither to split at that rock and make shipwrack of a good conscience or sink in this gulf and be swallowed up in sadness we may work out our salvation with fear and trembling That he would not bring us into any distress or difficulty which might be too hard for us but would support us in it and give an issue out of it That he would be our sun and our shield our light and our strength to direct and secure our paths that though we are surrounded with temptations yet he ordering our steps our soul may escape as a bird from the snare of the fowler That he would save us from the destroyer that walks to and fro on the earth seeking whom he may devour shorten the tempter's chain and put a hook in his nostrils that neither the divel nor any wicked man or evil thing may have power to hurt us That he would keep us in his wayes least our foot should at any time dash against a stone of offence That he would refrain our foot from every false way and work suffer no vanity to have dominion over us that we may not grow worse under his judgements or his mercies but that all the dispensations of his providence about us may be so improv'd that his fear and love may constrain us and keep us in the walk of our duty That he would preserve us from sin and the shame and punishment which attends it that he would not let the fierceness of his wrath break out upon us nor shower down those many plagues upon our head which our multiplyed rebellions have deserv'd That he would stretch out his loving kindness renew his compassions and never forget to be gracious but deliver us when we call upon him that we may glorify him That he would save us out of the hands of our spiritual enemies as himself hath promis'd that we may serve
the same nature and essence with the Father begotten of his substance before all time God of God Light of Light very God of very God equal to him in all things as to the God-head Christ as the Son of God had no Mother as the Son of the Virgin no Father who became Man that he might in the flesh satisfy for the sins of the flesh yet continued God that he might appeas the anger of an offended God Man that he might suffer death God that he might overcome it God and Man that he might be a perfect Mediator and might reconcile God to Man by atoning wrath and man to God by destroying sin wherefore he took up humane nature put not of the divine But these two natures were united and as it were married in the one Person of Christ. OUR LORD In respect of God Christ is called the Son which shews his essence in respect of us a Lord which shews his dignitie Now he is our Lord both by right of creation because he made us and by right of redemption because he hath bought us with a price and purchased us with his blood to be a peculiar people We are no longer then our own that we should fulfill the lusts of the flesh But we are Christ's the Lord's to doe his Will and keep his Commands The several Steps by which Christ humbled himself and Divine Love moved towards us are his Conception Birth Passion Crucifixion Death Burial and Descent to Hell The infinite is conceiv'd the everlasting is born the Blessed suffers the King of Heaven is nailed to a Cross the immortal dyes the Immense is buried and the King of Glory goes down to Hell What strange contradictions have our sins put the Son of God upon who to procure our Salvation denyed himself and put on the form of a servant Which was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary CONCEIVED That is cloathed with flesh formed and fashioned into bodily parts indued with sense motion and a reasonable soul inlivened cherished produced preserved increased and in one word made man Humane nature being taken up and joyn'd to the Divine OF THE HOLY GHOST Not begotten of his substance for then the third Person should be Father too which is contrary to Faith but by the operation of the holy Spirit the power of the Highest overshadowing her the Virgin without the help of man conceived which is a miracle foretold by the Prophets and fulfill'd in our Messias Behold a Virgin shall conceiv and bring forth a Son now the holy Ghost did separate that most pure mass of flesh blood of which the Body of Christ was to be formed from all corruption of our nature and the stain of sin to which all other the Virgin her self not excepted are lyable who are born after the ordinary way of generation Behold saith David a man after God's own heart I was conceived in sin and in iniquity hath my mother brought me forth Moreover 't was necessary that he should be born without sin who came to die for other's sins and the Lamb of God which was to take away the sins of the world should himself be spotless He could not have been our surety had he been himself a debtour nor satisfied justice for us could the law have charged him with any guilt of his own BORN Having taken upon him a true body being in all things made like unto us sin only excepted flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that he might truely become the Son of Man he observed the lawes and customs of humane nature and after he had continued in the womb the usual time he was at length brought forth into light laid in a manger wrap't in swadling cloaths and attended by the Virgin and bred up passed his child hood in performing obedience to his parents and grew in stature and wisdome OF THE VIRGIN It became God thus to be born not without a miracle Our Faith is full of miracles a Three-One God a God-Man Christ a Virgin-Mother Mary A Virgin she was before her delivery in her delivery and after her delivery for they who are called the brethren of the Lord are after the manner of the Hebrew speech to be understood as Kinsmen She was indeed espoused to Ioseph but she knew no man Her Virginitie dignifies a single life her betrothing justifies the married state It pleased God to choose a woman without the help of man in the business of our salvation for the honour and comfort of that sex that as by the disobedience of the first woman mankind fell so it might be recovered by the birth of the Virgin and Mary might make amends for the miscarriage of Eve MARY For the greater certainty the name of the Royal Maid is expressed she being of the tribe of Iudah of the linage of David the King according to the Prophecies concerning the Messias Yet the Mother of the Lord this Blessed Virgin was very poor to shew that Christ's Kingdom was not of this world and in this were the blind Jewes offended that they looked for outward pomp the glory of an earthly crown little heeding the foretellings of the Prophets wherein Christ is described a man of sorrows to suffer all the punishment due to our sins to wit death and all the miseries of an afflicted life Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried We pass immediately from his birth to his Passion for indeed his whole life from his cradle to the Cross was nothing else but a continual passion being spent in hunger thirst fasting watching and travelling grief reproach and shame and he was therefore sent into the world that he might die and to this end God prepared him a body that he might lay down his life for His. SUFFERED Having undertook our cause he satisfied divine Iustice by undergoing those penalties which God in his word hath threatned to the transgressors of the law He was by the sentence of an earthly Iudge condemned to death that we might be acquitted before the heavenly Father UNDER PONTIUS PILATE In that time wherein Pontius Pilate was Governour of Iudea being set over that Nation by the Roman Emperour when was fulfilled that Prophecie which foretold the coming of the Messias should be when the Scepter was departed from Iudah that is when the Iews should be subject to a forreign power having lost their own government CRUCIFIED Christ being betraid by Iudas forsaken of his disciples apprehended as a malefactor is brought to the judgement hall and having been spit upon and mocked by the souldiers accused by the Priests with the charge of blasphemy persecuted with the hatred of the people crying Crucifie him Crucifie him scourged with whips crowned with thorns and besprinkled with large showers of his innocent blood is at last by Pilate delivered up to the will malice of his enemies who nailing his blessed hands stretched wide open to the Cross
beam and his holy feet closed together to the upright beam of the Cross exposed him naked to publick shame being hung betwixt two theevs in a place without the city at the Feast of Passeover and when he had given up the ghost with many pains and groans a souldier pierced his side with a launce that that saying might have place they shall look on him whom they have pierced DEAD By the separation of soul and body for his body remain'd upon the Cross and his soul return'd immediately to God as himself told the penitent theef This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise He was not born after an ordinary manner neither dyed he a common death for as much as beside the extream pain he suffered whilest he hung with the weight of his body upon the Cross and the great shame to which he lay open he lay under a curse the Law pronouncing him cursed that hangs upon the tree AND BURIED Taken down from the Cross embalm'd with spices wrapped up in fine linnen and laid in a tomb where none had lay'n before by the care and cost of Ioseph of Arimathea And the malice of his enemies persued him beyond death and attended him to his very grave who that he might not rise again as himself had promised rolled a great stone to the mouth of the tomb and clapping on their own seals set a guard to watch him HE DESCENDED INTO HELL That is he went down into the lower-most parts of the earth and for the space of three dayes remain'd in the grave amongst the dead Or as some expound it he suffered the pains of Hell and the wrath of God due to our sins and underwent the curse of the law and terrours of conscience to which we were lyable Others take the words as they sound of the place that he did coveigh himself into the regions of darkness and discovered to the divels and to the wicked spirits the glory of his presence and routing the powers of Hell leading captivity captive and trampling Satan that old serpent the enemy of mankind under his victorious feet according to the first Prophesie of Christ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head And in this sense this article is the beginning of Christ's exaltation The other degrees are his Resurrection his Ascension his Sitting at the right hand of God the Father and his Coming to judgement THE THIRD DAY After that he had lain three dayes in the grave as Ionas who ws the type of the Son of Man continued three days in the whale's belly It being observ'd that on the fourth day the body begins to corrupt which was not to happen to Christ David thus speaking concerning him My flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption Wherefore early in the morning on the third day which was for that reason appointed the Christian Sabbath HE ROSE AGAIN Partly raising himself by his own virtue and divine power as himself saith I lay down my life that I may take it up again I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Partly being raised by God the Father who when his Iustice was fully satisfied released Christ out of the prison of the grave and to that purpose sent his Angels to roll away the stone death having now no more dominion over him who having finisht the work of our redemption rose again for our justification FROM THE DEAD He return'd to life appeared to his Disciples and others several times shewed the wounds which he had received on the Cross and made Thomas who was hard of belief to feel his side that he might know it was a true body And having for fourty dayes together conversed upon earth and given orders to the Apostles how they should goe into all the world and preach the Gospell and plant churches promising them the assistance of the spirit he took his leave of them in this manner as followeth HE ASCENDED In the sight of his Apostles from the top of mount Olivet where he had bin formerly used to spend much of his time in holy retirements and spiritual exercises he lifted up himself from the ground and so mounting upward through the aire was received by a cloud and to the wonder of them all carried aloft out of sight two Angels telling them as they stood gazing that as they had seen him goe away so he should come again INTO HEAVEN The seat of the blessed where God sits on his Throne attended by millions of Angels far above the sphear of the stars the sky to wit the highest heaven For having dispatched the business for which he came down on earth he return'd to the Father by whom he had bin sent to intercede with him in our behalf and make out to us thence the benefit of all those things which he had done and suffer'd for us here And having conquer'd sin and death and broken the power of Hell what remains but that he should as in triumph ride upon the wings of the wind ascend to Heaven as the prize of his glorious conquest AND SITTETH To note that he hath fully accomplished the work of our Salvation he is said at last to sit down that he may as it were rest from his labours For the servant stands or goes whilest he is employ'd and sits not down till his work be done Now Christ put on the form of a servant and came as he saith of himself to wait not to be waited on That he sits also is a token of that authority which the Father hath given him having delivered unto him all power both in heaven and in earth and put all things under his feet So God sits in Heaven to order all things at his pleasure Again to sit sometimes signifies stay he sits there not to return before the end of the world Lastly by this word is expressed the blessed and glorious condition of the Saints in the life to come who shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore to shew the greatness of the dignitie to which Christ according to his humane nature is advanced is added At the right hand of God the Father Almighty The right hand usually expresseth strength and honour power and glory besides to give the right hand is a sign of fellowship and friendship wherefore God calls him the man my fellow Now to speak properly God hath no right hand or left nor any bodily parts but that he may apply himself to our capacities he doth use to speak of himself after the manner of men Becuse earthly Princes are wont to place those at their right hand whom they favour and would shew a particular honour as Solomon entertained his mother The meaning is that God hath raised him to the highest pitch
beneath or that is in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandements III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vain IV. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant nor thy cattell nor thy stranger that is within thy gates For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it V. Honour thy father thy mother that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee VI. Thou shalt not kill VII Thou shalt not commit adultery VIII Thou shalt not steal IX Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife nor his man servant nor his maid-servant nor his ox nor his ass nor any thing that is thy neighbours THE TEN COMMANDEMENTS GOD when he had erected the stately frame of the World and furnished the scene of nature with various kinds of creatures prescribed an order course in which every thing should move for his command doth as well determine the actings of his creatures as it did produce their beings Thus the great wheel of nature keeps an orderly and constant course and as in a watch or some other curious piece of workmanship every small parcel of his work observes the rule of it's motion and is by that principle the workman's hand put into it guided to those ends for which it was made And this is the Law of Creation by which all creatures pay an obedience to their Creatour for as they depend upon his power to Be so 't was fit they should be directed by his wisdom to Act. This is indeed the Law of Nature which God as supreme Soveraign and absolute Lord and proprietour of all things has the sole right of imposing By this the heavenly bodyes dispense their influences and steer their motions which when excentrical are not irregular The Sun knows his place of rising and setting and it must be miracle that either stops him in his wonted rode or puts him back The Moon is constant to her changes and all the stars fixt to their stations nor doe the wandring stars rove out of those bounds which God hath set them The very inconstancy of weather and vicissitude of seasons is order'd by this Law and when any thing in the Elements happens extraordinary as that fire should refuse to burn water deny to drown c. 't is because a more particular warrant hath superseded the general commission which was sign'd at first for the law giver has power to alter his own laws make what exceptions he please which was the ground of Abraham's Faith who though by the general precept forbidden to kill any one yet upon special command thought himself obliged to sacrifice his own and onely Son To this Law are subject the Sea also ebbing and flowing from towards the shore God having appointed it its bounds beyond which it may not go and the Earth with all plants and fruits which grow on the surface of it and stones and minerals in the bowels of it according to the rules of each kind Of this Law a paricular branch is that which we call natural instinct whereby living creatures which are indued with sense and motion and a faculty of propagating their like to wit Birds Beasts Fishes and creeping things are regulated in the managery of their care and converse Hence springs that tender affection which all damms have for their young ones the conjugal fidelity of pairs the rules of order and government amongst societies such as Sheep Bees c. After this manner it pleas'd the faithfull Creatour to provide a Law for the well-being of his creatures without which the universe would have been still a meer Tohu and Bohu void and without form This is that ligament which binds the jarring Elements in a league of amity and sets every thing a work quietly to its own ends so as to preserve the whole and were it not for this all things would run into confusion But man being a creature of a more excellent make and having the imprese of divinity stamp'd upon him being made in the likeness of God was not to be coop'd up within the same measures as his fellow-creatures and be guided to his duty by blind instincts and a reason without him but had a greater latitude as of knowledge so of liberty allow'd him for it was thought fit that he who was to have dominion over the rest and to act Soveraign among other creatures should be intrusted with the government of himself Wherefore he had an understanding a will given him whereby he might see and choose his rule and might determine himself to a generous obedience And these faculties of his were as all things else were that God made at first very good his understanding right and wise his will holy and just of perfect sufficience to lead him to the right and of as perfect an indifference to leave him to the wrong besides his affections pure and free from all disorder Now that man might not pride himself in the reflection upon his own excellencies and that God might from this his Vicegerent and Prince of the Creation have some small acknowledgment of subjection it pleased him to make a command of tryall in a slight matter indeed the eating of an Apple but loaded with a grievous threat In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dy the death The breach of so easy an injunction upon so solemn a denunciation aggravating the ingratitude and the contempt of the offender And see how hard it was to persist in good even for him who before never knew evill How slippery a State Innocence when there is but the least temptation to debauch it How frail a thing the best of men if he be left to himself A toy tempts Adam from his obedience and his happiness together and from Eve's hand which administred the sin he took his death too Then were forfeited all the glorious priviledges of his Creation then were defaced all the resemblances of divine perfections then was his soul as well as body left naked of all graces and virtues his original righteousness turn'd into original sin then were his dayes cut short by
put in execution punish transgressors reward well-doers preserve peace and good order amongst men Protect thy subjects with the Scepter and the Sword be diligent in thy office and know that thou hast a great account to make to him by whom Kings reign who is no respecter of persons Thou shalt not abuse thy power to license thy own lusts and become arbitrary nor oppress thy subjects with unjust taxes and insolent carriage nor yet by a fond clemencie indanger thy Authority and lessen that reverence which is due to thy place Ye People shall receive my Ministers as my messengers and Embassadors from God and obey those that are over you for they watch for your soul 's good and think them worthy of double honour and allowance who both govern and teach the Bishops and overseers of the flock and own them with all fair respect who labour amongst you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very dearly for their works sake and communicate freely to them in temporals who impart to you spirituals ye shall not slight their sacred function with disgraceful terms nor rent the Church with faction and schisms and heap to your selves teachers but submit your selves to all lawful orders constitutions and not be carryed about with every puff of doctrine nor entertain new-fangled opinions and unwarrantable practises in the wayes of my worship and Ecclesiastical Government And ye Pastors shall look to your selves and the whole flock over which the holy Ghost has made you overseers ye shall preach in season out of season ye shall doe all for edification and divide the word aright ye shall admonish exhort reprove and be burning as well as shining lights that ye may in your lives recommend the power of Godliness ye shall not Lord it over your brethren nor doe the work of the Lord carelessly Thou Servant shalt account thy Master worthy of all honour and shalt serve him with fear and trembling with singleness of heart as unto Christ and shalt doe him faithful service And thou Master shalt shew kindness forbearing threatnings knowing that thy Master also is in Heaven and shalt give thy servant comfortable maintenance and shalt not defraud the Labourer of his hire nor keep back thy servant's wages and thou shalt see to their carriage and govern them in my fear that they may become my servants also Ye Wives be subject to your Husbands and see that you reverence them Ye Husbands love your wives as Christ hath loved the Church and cherish them as your own flesh Ye young men rise up before a gray-head and have respect to the face of the aged Hearken to their advice and learn by their example And ye Old men behave your selves with that gravity and wisdom that ye may gain your selves the reverence of the younger sort and be as way-marks for the imitation of posterity In fine ye who have any advantage of learning wisdom honour estate c. or any other excellence above your brethren so imploy it and lay it out to their benefit that you may procure honour to your selves and God may have the glory To conclude whoever thou art carry thy self with honour and respect to every one in whom thou seest any part of God's Image and look on him as thy superiour who hath any gift or ability which thou hast not preferr thy equals pitty and help thy inferiours This Commandement as was said before being plac'd in the middle has an influence both wayes so as to secure both God's Worship and mans Propriety The Magistrates sword must defend the faith though it may not propagate it and if Authority be once trampled upon every one will doe as they did when there was no King in Israel what seemeth good in their own eyes When the hedge of Government is broken down neither Religion nor Law shall bound us all opinions and practises are current and 't will be an Usurper's interest to have the people divided Lives and Liberties Estates and Consciences and all lye open to arbitâ—ary force as a Prize for him that dares be most Villan And this has been England's case in the no less sad then wicked times of Anarchy and confusion when damnable Heresies broke forth numerous sects swarmed up and down when there was an intolerable Toleration of all Religions but the right when we comply'd with illegal powers and were aw'd by Courts of High Injustice when partyes bore rule as false to one another as they were injurious to the publick when our sins grew up and multiplyed with our calamityes and God's judgements and our provocations improv'd one another when our Oaths of Allegiance were eluded with the Solemn cousenage of a League and sinful combination when we were bewilder'd with the witch-crafts of Rebellion and knew not the things which belong'd to our peace but pretended to reform abuses by destroying the offices when with tumults and Libels we drove our Dread Soveraign from his home rais'd a war against him chas'd him as a Partridge over the mountains and offer'd violence to the Lord 's anointed when with undutyful hands we seized his Sacred Person confin'd him to prisons and vex'd his righteous soul when we for 't was our sins did it and we are all Accessary by a villanous mockery of Iustice brought him to his tryal sentenced him and which is more than our posterity will have the heart to believe done though we could find hands to doe it barbarously murder'd our Gracious King at his own Palace-gate adding all the direful circumstances of aggravation to that hellish impiety when ever since our Iosiah's death our great sin has been our punishment we have suffer'd in acting and been constantly exercis'd with unconstancy of wicked changes when Loyalty hath been persecuted as the greatest Crime and many have shorten'd their dayes for their faithfulness to their Prince and after that our Crown Head too was fallen when the Father of our Countrey liv'd in exile and our Mother the Church mourn'd in private and was sed with the bread of tears when Sacred Orders were despised and labourers thrust themselves into the harvest to cut down dignityes and profits root and branch when the Holy Ordinances were dispensed by the Ignorant and Civil Offices administred by the Base when there was no regard had to the Ancient and the Wise to the Noble and the Learned but contempt was powred out upon Princes In short when we have thus rebell'd against King and Priest and cast off Authority to purchase a freedom for schism and mischief what need have we hereafter to pray fervently with the Church Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law But as our Litanyes are requisite to deplore the national breach of this Commandement and deprecate it for the future so are our Thanksgivings due to Almighty God for his wonderful deliverance of us from those great in conveniencies and sins we labour'd under
that good shepheard of souls that lay down my life for my sheep Thus broken and given thus delivered for you and to you I seal pardon of sins to your hearts I improve grace supply strength feed your souls to life everlasting Broken or Given as if it were all one for this heavenly Bread was given that it might be broken 't was broken that it might be given Christ could not have suffered for us had he not had a body given him for that purpose nor could that body have done us good or furnisht us with spiritual nourishment had it not bin broken Had not Christ dyed we could not be sure of living As it is with the bread it self which is the Symbol of his Body The corn must be first cut down and threshed and winnowed and grownd and sifted kneaded and baked with a hot oven before it can become bread THIS DOE YE These words either have reference to the actions of the Disciples who took the bread which Christ gave them and eat it and so they belong to all Christians in general to the whole company of believers according as the Church doth in more words deliver it Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee feed on him in thy heart with Faith and thanksgiving And so of the Cup afterward 't is said This doe ye as oft as ye drink it i.e. when ever ye drink it drink it in remembrance of me Or to Christ's own actions who broke it and gave it and thus they imply a special charge to the Officers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel and Preachers of the Word such as also were these Disciples as if he should have said you are Apostles with whom I leave the care of planting Churches and preaching the Gospel whom I trust for the management of the affairs of my Kingdom and duly administring the Sacraments wherefore I charge and require of you that in celebrating this mystery you follow my example and doe no otherwise then you have seen me do before you that it may remain pure to all succeeding ages according to this first institution And hither St. Paul in this case makes his appeal where he discourses of the Holy Supper That which I received that deliver I unto you how the Lord Iesus c. This or Thus This which I have done or thus as I have done now in your company doe ye and all from hence forward that derive authority from you in your several assemblyes take bread and bless it and break it and give it about to those who rightly prepared come to the holy Table and use these words of consecration which I have done to you The Greek is make this hence it is an ordinary phrase amongst the Popish Priests when they perform Mass to say that they doe make the Body of the Lord thinking possibly that the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation is much advantaged by the word of making which in the Greek is indifferently applyed to all manner of actions and the other which signifies to do would have bin very improper and not fit to be us'd in this place THIS DOE YE The word will also in the Latine and Hebrew carry a sense of sacrificing and then 't would intimate that our Saviour's death was our peace-offering whereby God's wrath conceived against sin was atoned and his Iustice satisfied we being cleansed by the sprinkling of his Blood The Papists therefore call the Mass a Sacrifice without Blood and the holy Table strictly and properly without any Metaphor an Altar 'T is true we doe here represent and commemorate the death of Christ and when we come to partake of these Mysteries we may use the Psalmist's words What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord I will Sacrifice unto thee the Sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people But he having offer'd once a perfect Sacrifice for the taking away of sin and cry'd upon the Cross It is finished and in that he dyed dyes no more 't were absurd to think there needed a repetition of that act which in it self was all-sufficient Christ's Blood being of an infinite value as it immediately follows in the same Psalm Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints A word peculiar to Christ as in the fourth Psalm He hath set apart the holy one for himself and in the 16. Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption meaning Christ. Besides to what purpose is it to ground an unreasonable doctrine upon the nicety of a word which in ordinary plain meaning signifies but this doe so hereafter as ye now doe or do ye in your companies what ye have seen me now do in mine IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. For a memorial of me and a monument of my love who have not spar'd my life for your sakes and with a sense of gratitude to keep up the memory of my bitter death which I as your surety upon your account underwent and the benefit whereof you will receive by believing on me by eating my flesh and drinking my Blood and becoming one with me Or for my remembrance appointed by me to be one of my sacred ordinances to be kept up in the practise of the Church till my second coming in the clouds as ye will see me goe away Wherefore in the mean while to leave behind me a remembrance and to bear up your hearts in Faith that what I have suffered hath bin out of love to you and that those who in following ages shall not see me in the flesh yet may have some further assurance then my bare word I have provided this to be a standing ordinance in the Church whereby I may be remembred to the end of the world LIKEWISE ALSO HE TOOK THE CUP Now follows the other part of this Sacrament to wit the consecration of the Cup for it would not be a compleat meal were there not spiritual drink as well as meat the Blood of Christ being as necessary to quench the thirst as his flesh to satisfie the hunger of a believing soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness But first the Bread and then the Cup. Why because there must be a body broken before there could be blood spilt First bread to strengthen and then wine to refresh the heart Again the Cup last as of great importance for the flesh could have profited nothing without the blood and God is said to have redeem'd his Church with his Blood nor does he onely redeem us with the shedding of his blood but wash us by the sprinkling of it upon our consciences from dead works and preserve his Church spotless till the great day Nay the author to the Hebrews observes
in the New He that believes shall be saved That Covenant of Grace I say is not without good reason styl'd the New Covenant according as God himself promis'd by the Prophet even in the time of the Law that he would make a new Covenant I will be their God sayes he and they shall be my people And seeing that Christ's death hath put an end to the sacrifices formerly us'd for the ratifying of that Covenant though in substance God's Covenant both with the Iews and with the Christians be all one yet in respect of a different administration and a new and clearer dispensation This may well be call'd the New Testament That the Old WHICH IS SHED Truly yet mystically and spiritually in this Sacrament as sure as the wine by which it is represented is now powred out into the cup for your use For it cannot be conceived that when he spake these words he did really bleed it being before his Passion but he having taken our flesh and our blood on no other purpose then to break the one and shed the other for us he speaks of that as already done which was in God's everlasting counsel decreed to be done in which sense he is call'd the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Which is shed then is no more then which is to be shed which shortly will be shed and which partly had already bin shed for Christ spilt not all his Blood at once but at several times as at his Circumcision when he paid the first fruits of it to the Lord in his agony when he swet clots of blood at his scourging when he was cut with whips at his crowning when the thorns pierc'd his sacred head and the scoffs more his heart and lastly at his Passion when the nails fastned his hands and feet to the Cross the launce gored his blessed side so that there gushed out water and blood in such streams that his most holy Soul together with his Blood left him FOR YOU In your stead and to your benefit For I having taken upon me the office of a Mediator betwixt God and men am to undergoe that punishment which was due to to man for sin wherefore because by the decree and Law of God there is no atonement without shedding of blood I also am ready to powr forth mine that you being sprinkled with it may be acquitted from the sentence of the Law and justified in the sight of God Seeing that it will be but just that what I your surety have done and suffer'd in your behalf should satisfie the Iustice of God and discharge you from guilt and the penalty of the Law all one as if you your selves had done and suffer'd it One Evangelist hath it For many or rather Concerning many and then it may be understood of things to wit Sins which Christ's Blood did atone Wrath which it appeased the Law which it satisfied Guilt which it frees from Filth which it washes off and the Ceremonies which it put an end to And to all these purposes was Christ's Blood shed But if it be taken for persons it may have the same meaning as that For you The Greek word frequently importing the whole multitude so the Apostle to the Romans layes the comparison betwixt the old Adam the new that as by one man's disobedience all men became sinners so much more by Christ's obedience should many be made righteous Now the advantage of this comparision would come to nothing were not Christ's death of as universal influence for the justification of mankind as Adam's sin was for the condemnation though indeed the benefit thereof doe redound to none but those who doe with true Faith lay hold upon it i.e. to the elect alone and true believers who yet in respect of the rest that perish in their sins through unbelief cannot be call'd the many For many are call'd but few are chosen And no question but it was Christ's intent to tast death as 't is said for every man none excepted but who would wilfully run into damnation by despising so great salvation And that the many may thus mean the All is clear by other places where a word of the largest extent is us'd to wit the world which cannot in propriety of speech be applyed to signify the Church onely God so loved the world that he gave his Son and Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and is a propitiation not for our sins alone viz. that are believers but for the sins of the whole world also FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS Whereas the Law doth pronounce sentence of death upon those that transgress it for the soul that sinneth shall dye And all men are concluded under sin for there is none righteous no not one and in thy sight shall no flesh be justified It was impossible for one that was meer man either to perform the Law or avoid the punishment had not Christ who was God as well as Man interposed For no man was ever either by gifts of nature or by the supplyes of grace advanc'd to that pitch of perfection that he could perform an exact obedience to all God's commands We have sinned all saith the Apostle and if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Nay supposing one's life never so spotless yet cannot we make amends for that natural uncleanness of original sin which we are born with and which as soon as we live forfeits us to death according to the threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Wherefore what was wanting in us Christ made up with the merits of his obedience who having fulfill'd the Law and being in himself altogether free from guilt became sin for us and was reckon'd amongst transgressours that we might be justified by his blood and sanctified by his spirit Our sins then are by his death done away so that if we lay hold on him by Faith that we may receive the benefit of his death we that are guilty must be acquitted because our surety that was guiltless was condemned we shall live because he dyed we shall escape the wrath which he underwent and our sins must be forforgiven because his innocency was censur'd so that now God stands oblig'd by his faithfulness and justice too to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquity He is but faithful when he keeps his word and performs his part of that Covenant which he made with us in his Son and he is but just when our surety has paid the debt to discharge us Now this Sacrament being a seal of the Covenant doth assure us of that forgiveness and seals to our heart by the sprinkling of blood and the operation of the spirit a pardon of our sins and does withall oblige us to Faith and repentance which are the conditions without