is to be applied in the other Deliverances The second consideration then of sinne was the Guilt of it which is the binding over unto some punishment prescribed in the Law so we have here a double Deliverance from the Guilt of sinne and from the Bondage of the Law First for sinne though it leave still a staine in the soule yet the sting of it is quite removed though wee are not perfectly cleansed from the soile yet are wee soundly healed from the mortalnesse and bruises of it Then for the Law wee are first freed from the Curse of the Law It is not unto us a killing letter nor a word of Death in as much as it is not that rule according unto which wee expect Life Secondly wee are freed from the Exaction of the Law wee are not necessarily bound to the rigorous performance of each jot and title of it a performance unto which is ever annexed Legall Justification but our endeavours though imperfect are accepted our infirmities though sundry are forgiven for his sake who was under both these Bondages of Law for our sakes And as wee are thus delivered from the Guilt of sinne so are wee farther endued with positive Dignities interest and propriety to all the Righteousness of Christ with which wee are clothed as with a garment claime unto all the blessings which the Law inferres upon due obedience performed to it and the comforts which from either of these Title and Prerogatives may ensue And this is the second branch of Deliverance conveyed by the act of Iustification but merited as the rest by the Death of JESUS CHRIST The third consideration of sinne was the Corruption of it from the which likewise wee are by Christ delivered sinne doth not any more rule nor raigne nor lead captive those who are ingrafted into Christ though for their patience triall and exercise sake and that they may still learne to live by faith and to prize mercy the remnants of it doe cleave fast unto our Nature like the sprigges and rootes of Ivie to a Wall which will never out till the Wall bee broken downe and new built againe Sinne is not like the people of Ierico utterly destroied but rather like the Gibeonites it liveth still but in an estate of bondage servitude and decay and besides this wee are inabled to love the Law in our inner man to delight in it to performe a ready and sincere though not an exact and perfect obedience to it we are made partakers of the divine Nature the Graces with which Christ was anointed doe from him streame downe unto his lowest members which of his fulnesse doe all receive and are all renewed after Gods Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse The next part of our Redemption was from the Bondage of Corruption unto the Liberty of Glory which likewise is by Christ performed for us which is a Deliverance from the Consequents of sinne for sinne doth binde over unto punishment even as the perfect obedience of the Law would bring a man unto Glory Now the Punishments due unto sinne are either Temporary or Eternall consisting principally in the oppressions and distresses of Nature for as Sinne is the evill of our working so Punishment is the evill of our being and it includes not onely bodily and spirituall death but all the inchoations and preparatory dispositions thereunto as in the soule doubtings distractions tremblings and terrours of Conscience hardnesse of heart fearefull expectation of the wrath that shall be revealed in the body sicknesse poverty shame infamy which are so many earnests and petty payments of that full debt which will at last bee measured out to all the wicked of the World Even as amongst the Romans their Prelusory fight with dull and blunt weapons were but introductions to their mortall and bloudy games And besides this Deliverance there is in the soule peace and serenity in the body a patient waiting for Redemption and in the whole man the pledges of that eternall glory which shall be reveled of all which the onely meritorious cause is the Death of Christ. This alone is it which hath overcome our death even as one heate cureth one Flux of blood stoppeth another and hath caught Satan as it were by deceit with a baite and a hooke this is it which hath taken away the enmity betweene God and man reconciling us to the Father and by the prayer of that precious Blood hath obtained for us the right of Children this is it which tooke away the guilt of sinne and cancelled the Bond that was in force against us swallowing up the Curse of the Law and humbling Christ unto the forme of a servant that thereby wee might be made free this is it which removeth all both temporall and eternall punishment from the faithfull it having beene a perfect payment of our whole debt for in as much as Christ himselfe said on the Crosse It is finished wee are to conclude that the other worke of Resurrection was not properly an essentiall part of Christs merit but onely a necessary consequent required to make the Passion applicable and valuable to the Church As in coined metals it is the substance of the coine the Gold or Silver onely that buyeth the ware but the Impression of the Kings Image is that which makes that Coine to bee currant and passable it doth not give the value or worth to the Gold but onely the application of that value unto other things even so the Resurrection and Intercession of Christ doe serve to make actuall applications of those merits of his to his Church which yet had their consummation on the Crosse. And if it be heere demanded how it comes to passe if all these consequents of sinne be removed that the faithfull are still subject to all those temporall evils both in life and death which even in the state of Nature they should have undergone wee answere in generall that the faithfull dye in regard of the state but not in regard of the sting of Death they are subject to a dissolution but it is to obtaine a more blessed union even to bee with Christ and though a man may not take the whole World in exchange for his Soule yet he may well take Christ in exchange for his life It is not a losse of our money but traffique and merchandise to part from it for the procuring of such commodities as are more valuable and Saint Paul telles us that to dye is gaine The sting wee know of Death is sinne for sinne is the cause of all inward discomforts for which cause the wicked are often compared to the foaming Sea which is still tossed and unquiet with every winde and the strength of sinne is the Law with the malediction and bondage thereof from the which wee being perfectly delivered by him who was himselfe made under the Law and
by that meanes became a perfect and sufficient Saviour wee are in like manner delivered from the penalty of Death for weaken sinne by destroying the Law which is the strength of it and Death cannot possibly sting To examine this point though by way of digression something farther will not bee altogether impertinent because it serves to magnifie the power of Christs Passion The evils which wee speake of are the violations of the nature and person of a man and that evill may bee considered two waies either physically as it oppresseth and burdeneth Nature working some violence on the primitive integrity thereof and by consequence imprinting an affection of sorrow in the minde and so it may bee called paine or else morally and legally with respect unto the motive cause in the Patient Sinne or to the originall efficient cause in the Agent Iustice and so it may be called punishment Punishment being some evill inflicted on a subject for transgressing some Law commanded him by his Law-maker there is ther unto requisite something on the part of the Commander something on the part of the Subject and something on the part of the Evill inflicted In the Commander there must bee first a will unto which the actions of the Subject must conforme and that signified in the nature of a Law Secondly there must bee a Iustice which will And thirdly a Power which can punish the transgressours of that Law In the Subject there must be first Reason and Free-will I meane originally for a Law proceeding from Justice presupposeth a power of obedience to command impossibilites is both absurd and tyrannous befitting Pharaoh and not God Secondly there must bee a Debt and Obligation whereby hee is bound unto the fulfilling of that Law And lastly the Conditions of this Obligation being broken there must be a Forfeiture Guilt and Demerit following the violation of that Law Lastly in the Evill it selfe inflicted there is required first something absolute namely a destructive Power some way or other oppressing and disquieting Nature for as sinne is a violation offered from man to the Law so punishment must bee a violation retorted from the Law to man Secondly there must bee something Relative which may respect first the authour of the evill whose Justice being by mans sinne provoked is by his owne power and according to the sentence of his owne Law to bee executed Secondly it may respect the end for which it is inflicted it is not the torment of the Creature whom as a Creature God loveth neither is it the pleasing of the Devill whom as a Devill God hateth but onely the Satisfaction of Gods Justice and the Manifestation of his Wrath. These things being thus premised wee will againe make a double Consideration of Punishment either it may be taken improperly and incompletely for whatsoever oppressive evill doth so draw its originall in a Reasonable Creature from Sinne as that if there were not an habitation of sinne there should be no roome for such an evill as in the man that was borne blinde though sinne were not the cause of the blindenesse yet it was that which made roome for the blindenesse or it may bee taken properly and perfectly and then I take it to admit of some such Description as this Punishment is an evill or pressure of Nature proceeding from a Law-giver just and powerfull and inflicted on a Reasonable Creature for the disobedience and breach of that Law unto the performance whereof it was originally by the naturall faculty of free-will enabled whereby there is intended a Declaration of Wrath and Satisfaction of Justice Now then I take it wee may with conformity unto the Scriptures and with the Analogy of Faith set downe these Conclusions First consider Punishments as they are dolours and paines and as they are impressions contrary to the integrity of Nature so the temporall evils of the godly are punishments because they worke the very same manner of naturall effects in them which they doe in other men Secondly take Punishments improperly for those evils of Nature which doe occasionally follow sinne and unto which sinne hath originally opened an entrance which declare how God stands affected towards sinne with a minde purposing the rooting out and destroying of it in this sense likewise may the afflictions of the godly bee called Punishments as God is said to have beene exceeding angry with Aaron But now these evils though inflicted on the godly because of their sinnes as were the death of the child to David the tempest to Ionah and the like yet are they not evils inflicted for the Revenge of sin which is yet the right Nature of a proper Punishment so saith the Lord Vengeance is mine I will repay it but they are evils by the Wisedome of God and love towards his Saints inflicted for the overthrow of sinne for weakening the violence and abating the outrageousnesse of our naturall corruptions As then in the godly sinne may be said to be and not to bee in a diverse sense so saith Saint Iohn in one place If wee say wee have no sinne wee deceive our selves and yet in another Hee that is borne of God sinneth not It is not in them in regard of its Condemnation although it bee in them in regard of its inhabitation though even that also as daily dying and crucified even so punishments or consequents of sinne may be said to be in the godly or not to be in them in a different sense They are not in them in regard of their sting and curse as they are proper Revenges for sinne although they be in them in regard of their state substance and painefulnesse untill such time as they shall put on an eternall Triumph over Death the last enemy that must be overcome Lastly I conclude that the temporall evils which doe befall the godly are not formally or properly punishments nor effects of divine malediction or vengeance towards the persons of the godly who having obtained in Christ a plenary reconciliation with the Father can be by him respected with no other affection however in manner of appearance it may seeme otherwise than with an affection of love and free grace The reasons for this position are these first Punishment with what mitigation soever qualified is in suo formali in the nature of it a thing Legall namely the execution of the Law for divine Law is ever the square and rule of that Justice of which punishment is the effect and work Now all those on whom the execution of the Law doth take any effect may truly bee said to be so farre under the Law in regard of the sting and curse thereof for the curse of the Law is nothing else but the evill which the Law pronounceth to bee inflicted so that every branch and sprigge of that evill must needes beare in it some part of the nature of a Curse even as every part of water hath in it the nature of water but all the godly
immediately respect the temporall deliverance of that People out of Egypt by the sprinkling of their doores with blood which was it selfe but a shadow of our freedome from Satan so that their Sacrament was but the Type of a Type and therefore must needs have so much the weaker and more obscure reference unto Christ even as those draughts doe lesse resemble the face of a man which are taken from a former piece or that light the brightnesse of its originall which shines weakly through a second or third reflexion Besides this small light which shined from the Passeover on the people of the Iewes and by which they were something though darkly enabled to behold Christ was but like the light in a house or family which could not shine beyond the narrow compasse of that small people and therefore it was to bee eaten in such a family to signifie as I conceive that the Church was then but as a handfull or houshold in respect of that fulnesse of the Gentiles which was to follow Now then the Church being to enlarge its borders and to bee coextended with the World it stood in need of a greater light even that Sunne of Righteousnesse who was now to be as well the light to lighten the Gentiles as he had beene formerly the Glory of his People Israel And therefore we may observe that this second Sacrament was not to bee eaten in a private separated Family but the Church was to come together and to stay one for another that in the confluence of the People and the publikenesse of the action the encrease and amplitude of the Church might be expressed Besides the Gentiles were uninterested in that temporall Deliverance of the Iewes from Pharaoh it being a particular and nationall benefit and therefore the commemoration thereof in the Paschall Lambe could not by them who in the loines of their ancestours had not beene there delivered be literally and with reflexion on themselves celebrated Requisite therefore in this respect also it was in as much as the partition wall was broken downe and both Iew and Gentile were incorporated into one head that nationall and particular relations ceasing such a Sacrament might bee reinstituted wherein the universall restoring of all mankinde might bee represented And certainely for a man at mid-day to shut his windowes from the communion of the generall light and to use onely private lampes of his owne as it is towards men madnesse so it is impiety and Schisme in Religion There is betweene the Gospell and the Legall Ceremonies as I observed the same proportion of difference as is betweene houshold Tapers and the common Sun-shine as in regard of the amplitude of their light and of the extent of their light so in the duration of it likewise for as Lampes within a small time doe of themselves expire and perish whereas the light of the Sunne doth never waste it selfe even so Iewish rites were by Gods institution perishable and temporary during that infancy of the Church wherein it was not able to looke on a brighter object but when in the fulnesse of time the Church was growne unto a firmer sense then in the death of Christ did those Types likewise die and were together with the sinnes of the World cancelled upon the Crosse. Amongst the Persians it was a solemne observation to nullifie for a time the force of their Lawes and to extinguish those fires which they were wont idolatrously to adore upon the death of their King as if by him both their policy and Religion had beene animated even so at the death of our blessed Saviour were all those Legall Ordinances those holy fires which were wont to send up the sweet savour of incense and sacrifices unto heaven abolished he who before had substituted them in his roome and by an effectuall influence from himselfe made them temporary instruments of that propitiation which it was impossible for them in their owne natures to have effected being himselfe come to finish that worke which was by them onely foreshadowed but not begunne much lesse accomplished CHAP. XV. The last End of this holy Sacrament namely the Celebration and Memory of Christs Death A briefe Collection of all the benefits which are by his Death conveyed on the Church The Question touching the quality of temporall Punishments stated THe last and most expresse End of this holy Sacrament is to celebrate the Memory of Christs Death and Passion which was that unvaluable price of our double Redemption Redemption from Hell and Redemption unto Glory Great Deliverances as they have mooved the Church unto anniversary celebrations of them which Christ himselfe hath beene pleased to honour with his owne Presence so have they drawne even heathen men also not onely to solemnize the Festivals and deifie the memories of those unto whose inventions they owed the good things which they enjoy but farther to honour even brute creatures themselves with solemne triumphs and memorials nay beasts have not beene forgetfull of those unto whom they owe any way their life and safety how much more then doth it become Christians to celebrate with an eternall memory the Author of their Redemption a worke beyond all that ever the Sunne saw yea a worke whose lustre darkened the Sunne it selfe and which the Angels cannot comprehend matters circumstantiall as Time and Place and matters Typicall and representative as Ceremonies Sacrifices and Sacraments as they receive their particular advancement and sanctification from those workes which they immediately respect so are they not by us to be solemnely celebrated without continued memories of those workes which doe so dignifie them All places naturally being but severall parcels of the same common aire and earth are of an equall worth But when it pleaseth God in any place to bestow a more especiall ray of his Presence and to sanctifie any Temple unto his owne service as it is then by that extraordinary Presence of his made a holy and consecrated Place so are wee when wee enter into it to looke unto our feete to pull off our shooes to have an eye unto him that filleth it with his Presence or otherwise if wee enter into it as into a common place wee shall offer nothing but the sacrifice of fooles All Times are naturally equall as being distinguished by the same constant and uniforme motion of the heavens yet notwithstanding when God shall by any notable and extraordinary worke of his honour and sanctifie some certaine daies as hee did the Jewish Sabbath with respect to the Creation and our Lords day by raising up Christ from the dead as they are by this wonderfull worke of his severed from the ranke of common times so are wee ever when wee come unto them not to passe them over without the memory of that worke which had so advanced them otherwise to solemnize a day without reference unto the cause of its
proportion betweene the holy Actions used by Christ in this Sacrament and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it IT followes now that we enquire farther into the nature of this holy Sacrament which will be explained by considering the Analogie fitnesse and similitude betweene the signes and the things signified by them and conferred or exhibited together with them which is Christ the Lord. Now this Analogie or fitnesse as it hath been in some generall manner expres'd in the nature or quality of the elements substantially or physically taken so more expressely and punctually is it propos'd unto us in those holy actions which doe alter in the use and make it a Sacrament And first we finde that Christ tooke the Bread and Wine and blessed it and gave thanks and so consecrated it or set a part unto a holy or solemne use which is the reason why Saint Paul calls it a Cup of blessing so that unto the Church it ceaseth to be that which nature had made it and beginnes to be that unto which the blessing had consecrated it In like manner did the eternall Sonne of God assume into the subsistance of his owne infinite person the whole nature of man the body and the soule by the vertue of which wonderfull union notwithstanding the properties of the divine nature remaine absolutely intransient and uncommunicable unto the humane yet are there shed from that inexhaustible fountaine many high and glorious endowments by which the humanity under this manner of subsistence is annoynted consecrated sealed and set apart for that work of incomprehensible love and power the redemption of the world and secondly as the Bread is taken by us from Christ in the nature of a gift he brake it and gave it to his Disciples so is the humane nature taken by Christ from the Father as a gift from the good pleasure of God Thirdly as the taking of the Bread by Christ did alter only the manner of its being the operation and efficacy the dignity and use but no way at all the element or nature of the Bread Even so the taking of the humane body by Christ did conferre indeed upon it many glorious effects and advance it to an estate farre above its common and ordinary capacity alwayes yet reserving those defects and weaknesses which were required in the aeconomie and dispensation of that great work for which he assumed it but yet he never alterd the essentiall and naturall qualities of the body but kept it still within the measure and limits of the created perfection which the wisdome of God did at first share out unto it Lastly to come neerer unto the Crosse of Christ as hee did by prayer and thanksgiving consecrate their elements unto a holy use so did he immediately before his passion of which this is the Sacrament make that consecratory prayer and thanksgiving which is registred for the perpetuall comfort of his Church The second Action is the breaking of the Bread and powering the Wine into the Cup which doth neerly expresse his crucified Body where the joynts were loosed the sinewes torne the flesh bruized and peirced the skin rent the whole frame violated by that straining and razeing and cutting and stretching and wrentching which was used in the crucifying of it and by the shedding of that pretious blood which stop'd the issue and flux of ours It were infinite and intricare to spin a meditation into a controversie about the extent and nature of Christs passion but certainly whatsoever either Ignominie or Agony his body suffered which two â— conceive to comprize all the generalls of Christ crucified are if not particularly expressed yet typically and sacramentally shaddowed and exhibited in the Bread broken and the Wine powred out The third Action was the giving or delivering of the Bread and Wine which first evidently expresseth the nature and quality of Christ crucified with these benefits which flow from him that they are freely bestowed upon the Church which of it selfe had no interest or claime unto any thing save death Secondly we see the nature of Christs passion that it was a free voluntary and unconstrained passion for though it be true that Iudas did betray him and Pilate deliver him to bee crucified yet none of this was the giving of Christ but the selling of him It was not for us but for mony that Iudas deliver'd him it was not for us but for feare that Pilate deliver'd him but God deliver'd the Sonne and the Sonne deliver'd himselfe with a most mercifull and gracious will to bestow his death upon sinners and not to get but to be himselfe a price The Passion then of Christ was most freely undertaken without which free-will of his own they could never have laid hold on him and his death was a most free and voluntary explication his life was not wrentched nor wrung from him nor snatch'd or torne from him by the bare violence of any forraine Impression but was with a loud voice arguing nature not brought to utter decay most freely surrendred and laid downe by that power which did after reassume it But how then comes it to passe that there lay a necessicie upon Christ of suffring which necessicie may seeme to have enforc'd and constrain'd him to Golgatha in as much as hee himselfe did not only shrinke but even testifie his dislike of what he was to suffer by a redoubled prayer unto his Father that that Cup might passe from him doth not feare make Actions involuntary or at least derogate and detract from the fulnesse of their liberty and Christ did feare how then is it that Christs Passion was most voluntary though attended with necessitie feare and reluctance surely it was most voluntary still and first therefore necessary because voluntary the maine and primitive reason of the necessitie being nothing else but that immutable will which had fore-decreed it Christs death then was necessary by a necessitie of the event which musts needs come to passe after it had once been fore-determined by that most wise will of God which never useth to repent him of his counsells but not by a necessitie of the cause which was most free and voluntary Againe necessary it was in regard of the Scriptures whose truth could not miscarry in regard of the promises made of him which were to be performed in regard of propheticall predictions which were to be fulfilled in regard of typicall prefigurations which were to bee abrogated and seconded with that substance which they did fore-shaddow but no way necessary in opposition to Christs will which was the first mover into which both this necessitie and all the causes of it are to be finally resolv'd And then for the fear and reluctance of Christ noe marvell if he who was in all things like unto us had his share in the same passions and affections like wise though without sin But neither of
onely in holy Scriptures but even in prophane Writers also to call the instrumentall Elements by the name of that Covenant of which they are onely the Sacrifices seales and visible confirmations because of that relation and neere resemblance that is betweene them The second End or Effect of this Sacrament which in order of Nature immediately followeth the former is to obsignate and to encrease the mysticall union of the Church unto Christ their Head for as the same operation which infuseth the reasonable soule which is the first act or principle of life naturall doth also unite it unto the body to the making up of one man so the same Sacrament which doth exhibite Christ unto us who is the first act and originall of life divine doth also unite us together unto the making up of one Church In naturall nourishment the vitall heate being stronger than the resistance of the meat doth macerate concoct and convert that into the substance of the Body but in this spirituall nourishment the vitall Spirit of Christ having a heate invincible by the coldnesse of Nature doth turne us into the same image and quality with it selfe working a fellowship of affections and confederacy of wills and as the body doth from the union of the soule unto it receive strength beauty motion and the like active qualities so also Christ being united unto us by these holy mysteries doth comfort refresh strengthen rule and direct us in all our waies Wee all in the vertue of that Covenant made by God unto the faithfull and to their seed in the first instant of our being doe belong unto Christ that bought us after in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme we are farther admitted and united to him our right unto Christ before was generall from the benefit of the common Covenant but in this Sacrament of Baptisme my right is made personall and I now lay claime unto Christ not onely in the right of his common Promise but by the efficacy of this particular Washing which sealeth and ratifieth the Covenant unto mee Thus is our first union unto Christ wrought by the grace of the Covenant effectively and by the grace of Baptisme where it may bee had Instrumentally the one giving unto Christ the other obsignating and exhibiting that right by a farther admission of us into his Body But now wee must conceive that as there is a union unto Christ so there must as in naturall bodies be after that union a growing up till wee come to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the measure of the fulnesse of Christ. This growth being an effect of the vitall faculty is more or lesse perfected in us as that is either more or lesse stifled or cherished for as in the soule and body so in Christ and the Church We are not to conceive the union without any latitude but capable of augmentation and liable to sundry diminutions according as are the severall meanes which for either purpose wee apply unto our selves The union of the soule and body though not dissolved is yet by every the least distemper slackned by some violent diseases almost rended asunder so that the body hath sometimes more sometimes lesse hold-fast of the soule so heere wee are in the Covenant and in Baptisme united unto Christ but wee must not forget that in men there is by Nature a roote of bitternesse whence issue those fruites of the flesh a spawne and wombe of actuall corruptions where sinne is daily conceived and brought forth a mare mortuum a lake of death whence continually arise all manner of noysome and infectious lusts by meanes of which our Union to Christ though not dissolved is yet daily weakened and stands in need of continuall confirmation for every sinne doth more or lesse smother and stoppe the principle of life in us so that it cannot worke our growth which we must rise unto with so free and interrupted a course as otherwise it might The Principle of life in a Christian is the very same from whence Christ himselfe according to his created Graces receiveth life and that is the Spirit of Christ a quickning Spirit and a strengthening Spirit Now as that great sinne which is incompatible with faith doth bidde defiance to the good Spirit of God and therefore is more especially called The sinne against the holy Ghost so every sinne doth in its owne manner and measure quench the Spirit that it cannot quicken and grieve the Spirit that it cannot strengthen us in that perfection of degrees as it might otherwise and thus is our union unto Christ daily loosened and slackened by the distempers of sinne for the reestablishing whereof God hath appointed these sacred Mysteries as effectuall instruments where they meet with a qualified subject to produce a more firme and close union of the Soule to Christ and to strengthen our Faith which is the joynt and sinew by which that union is preserved to cure those i wounds and purge those iniquities whose property it is to separate betwixt Christ and us to make us submit our services to knit our wils to conforme our affections and to incorporate our persons into him that so by constant though slow proceedings we might be changed from glory to glory and attaine unto the measure of Christ there where our Faith can no way bee impaired our bodies and soules subject to no decay and by consequence stand in no need of any such viaticums as wee heere use to strengthen us in a journey so much both above the Perfection and against the corruption of our present Nature CHAP. XIV Of three other Ends of the holy Sacrament the fellowship or union of the faithfull the obsignation of the Covenant of Grace and the abrogation of the Passeover NOW as the same nourishment which preserveth the Union betweene the Soule and Body or head and members doth in like manner preserve the Union betweene the members themselves even so this Sacrament is as it were the sinew of the Church whereby the faithfull being all animated by the same Spirit that makes them one with Christ are knit together in a bond of Peace conspiring all in a unity of thoughts and desires having the same common Enemies to withstand the same common Prince to obey the same common rule to direct them the same common way to passe the same common Faith to vindicate and therefore the same mutuall engagements to further and advance the good of each other so that the next immediate effect of this Sacrament is to confirme the Union of all the members of the Church each to other in a Communion of Saints whereby their prayers are the more strengthened and their adversaries the more resisted for as in naturall things Union strengtheneth motions naturall and weakeneth violent so in the Church Union strengtheneth all spirituall motions whether upward as meditations and prayers to God or downeward as
Schisme but that as at all times so much more then wee should all thinke and speake and doe the same things least the manner should oppose the substance of the celebration Lastly if we consider the very act of eating and drinking even therein is expressed the fellowship and the union of the faithfull to each other for even by Nature are men directed to expresse their affections or reconcilements to others in feasts and invitations where even publique Enemies have condescended to termes of fairenesse and plausibility for which cause it is noted for one of the Acts of Tyrants whereby to dissociate the mindes of their Subjects and so to breake them when they are asunder whom all together they could not bend to interdict invitations and mutuall hospitalities whereby the body politicke is as well preserved as the naturall and the love of men as much nourished as their bodies And therefore where Ioseph did love most there was the messe doubled and the nationall hatred betweene the Iewes and Aegyptians springing from the diversity of Religions whose worke it is to knit and fasten the affections of men was no way better expressed than by their mutuall abominating the tables of each other So that in all these circumstances we find how the union of the faithfull unto each other is in this holy Sacrament both signified and confirmed whereby however they may in regard of temporall relations stand at great distance even as great as is betweene the Palace and the Prison yet in Christ they are all fellow-members of the same common Body and fellow-heires of the same common Kingdome and spirituall stones of the same common Church which is a name of unity and Peace They have one Father who deriveth on them an equall Nobility one Lord who equally governeth them one spirit who equally quickneth them one Baptisme which equally regenerateth them one faith which equally warrants their inheritance to them and lastly one sinew and bond of love which equally interesteth them in the joyes and griefes of each other so that as in all other so principally in this divine friendship of Christs Church there is an equality and uniformity be the outward distances how great soever Another principall End or Effect of this holy Supper is to signifie and obsignate unto the Soule of each Beleever his personall claime and title unto the new Covenant of Grace We are in a state of corruption sinne though it have received by Christ a wound of which it cannot recover yet as beasts commonly in the pangs of death use most violently to struggle and often to fasten their teeth more eagerly and fiercely where they light so sinne here that body of death that besieging encompassing evill that Cananite that lieth in our members being continually heartened by our arch enemy Satan however subdued by Israel doth yet never cease to goad and pricke us in the eyes that we might not looke up to our future Possession is ever raising up steemes of corruption to intercept the lustre of that glory which wee expect is ever suggesting unto the Beleever matter of diffidence and anxiety that his hopes hitherto have beene ungrounded his Faith presumptuous his claime to Christ deceitfull his propriety uncertaine if not quite desperate till at last the faithfull Soule lies gasping and panting for breath under the buffets of this messenger of Satan And for this cause it hath pleased our good God who hath promised never to faile nor forsake us that wee might not be swallowed up with griefe to renew often our right and exhibite with his owne hands for what is done by his Officers is by him done that sacred Body with the efficacy of it unto us that wee might fore-enjoy the promised Inheritance and put not into our chests or coffers which may haply by casualities miscarry but into our very bowels into our substance and soule the pledges of our Salvation that wee might at this spirituall Altar see Christ as it were crucified before our eyes clinge unto his Crosse and graspe it in our armes sucke in his Blood and with it salvation put in our hands with Thomas not out of diâ—â—idence but out of faith into his side and fasten our tongues in his sacred wounds that being all over dyed with his Bloud wee may use boldnesse and approach to the Throne of Grace lifting up unto heaven in faith and confidence of acceptance those eyes and hands which have seene and handled him opening wide that mouth which hath received him and crying aloud with that tongue which having tasted the Bread of Life hath from thence both strength and arguments for prayer to move God for mercy this then is a singular benefit of this Sacrament the often repetition and celebration whereof is as it were the renewing or rather the confirming with more and more seales our Patent of life that by so many things in the smallest whereof it is impossible for God to lye wee might have strong consolation who have our refuge to lay hold on him who in these holy Mysteries is set before us for the Sacrament is not onely a Signe to represent but a Seale to exhibite that which it represents In the Signe wee see in the seale wee receive him In the Signe wee have the image in the seale the benefit of Christs Body for the nature of a Signe is to discover and represent that which in it selfe is obscure or absent as words are called signes and symboles of our invisible thoughts but the property of a Seale is to ratifie and â—o establish that which might otherwise bee uneffectuall for which cause some have called the Sacrament by the name of a Ring which men use in sealing those writings unto which they annexe their trust and credit And as the Sacrament is a Signe and Seale from God to us representing and exhibiting his benefits so should it bee a signe and seale from us to God a signe to separate us from sinners a seale to oblige us to all performances of faith and thankfulnesse on our part required Another End and Effect of this holy Sacrament was to abrogate the Passeover and testifie the alteration of those former Types which were not the commemorations but the predictions of Christs Passion and for this cause our blessed Saviour did celebrate both those Suppers at the same time but the new Supper after the other and in the evening whereby was figured the fulnesse of time that thereby the presence of the substance might evacuate the shadow even as the Sunne doth with his lustre take away all those lesser and substituted lights which were used for no other purpose but to supply the defect which there was of him The Passeover however in the nature of a sacrifice it did prefigure Christ yet in the nature of a Solemnity and annuall commemoration it did
reason is because wheresoever Nature hath left a capacity of receiving farther perfection from some other thing there she hath imprinted an appetite to that thing and there is such a sympathy betweene the faculties of Nature that the indigence of one sets all the rest on motion to supply it Now what thing was there ever more beneficiall unto mankinde than the Death of Christ in comparison whereof all other things are as drosse and dung The name and fruite and hope of a Christian would be all but shadowes if Christ had not dyed By his humility are wee exalted by his curse are wee blessed by his bondage are wee made free by his stripes are wee healed we who were vessels of dishonour had all our miseries emptied into him in whom dwelled the fulnesse of the Godhead Whatsoever evils hee suffered ours was the propriety to them but the paine was his all that Ignominy and Agony which was unworthy so honourable a Person as Christ was necessary for so vile a sinner as man Infinite it is and indeed impossible to take a full view of all the benefits of Christ Death yet because the remembrance of Christs Death heere is nothing else but a recordation of those unvaluable blessings which by meanes of it were together with his holy Bloud shed downe upon the Church I will touch a little upon the principall of them That Christ Jesus is unto his Church the Authour and Originall of all spirituall Life the deliverer that should come out of Sion that should set at liberty his People spoile Principalities and Powers lead Captivity captive take from the strong man all his armour and divide the spoiles is a Trueth so clearely written with a Sun-beame that no Craconian Heretique daâ—e deny it Let us then see by what meanes he doth all this and wee will not heere speake of that worke whereby Christ having formerly purchased the Right doth afterwards conferre and actually apply the benefit and interest of that right unto his members which is the worke of his quickening Spirit but onely of those meanes which hee used to procure the right it selfe and that was in generall Christs Merit The whole conversation of Christ on the earth was nothing else but a continued merit proceeding from a double estate an estate of Ignominy and Passion procuring and an estate of Exaltation and honour applying his benefits The Passion of Christ was his Death whereby I understand not that last act onely of expiration but the whole space betweene that and his Nativity wherein being subject to the Law of Death and to all those naturall infirmities which were the Harbingers of Death hee might in that whole space bee as truly called A man of Death as Adam was a dead man in the vertue of the Curse that very day beyond which notwithstanding hee lived many hundred yeares that which we call Death being nothing else but the consummation of it The estate of exaltation is the Resurrection of Christ whereby the efficacy of that merit which was on the Crosse consummated is publikely declared and his Intercession wherein it is proposed and presented unto God the Father as an eternall Price and Prayer in the behalfe of his Church Now the Benefits which by this merit of Christs we receive are of severall kindes Some are Privative consisting in an immunity from all those evils which wee were formerly subject unto whether of sinne or punishment others are Positive including in them a right and interest unto all the Prerogatives of the sonnes of God The one is called an Expiation Satisfaction Redemption or Deliverance The other a Purchase and free Donation of some excellent blessing Redemption thus distinguished is either a Redemption of Grace from the bondage and tyranny of Sinne or a Redemption of Glory from the bondage of Corruption and both these have their parts and latitudes for the first In Sinne we may consider three things The state or masse of sinne the Guilt or damnablenesse of sinne and the Corruption staine or deformity of sinne The state of sinne is a state of deadnesse or immobility in Nature towards any good the understanding is dead and disabled for any spirituall perception the will is dead and disabled for any holy propension the affections are dead and disabled for any pursute the body dead and disabled for any obedient Ministery and the whole man dead and by consequence disabled for any sense of its owne death And as it is a state of death so it is a state of enmity too and therefore in this state wee are the objects of Gods hatred and detestation so then the first part of our Deliverance respects us as we are in this state of death and enmity and it is as I said before a double Deliverance negative by removing us out of this estate and positive by constituting us in another which is an estate of life and reconcilement First the understanding is delivered from the bondage of ignorance vanity worldly wisedome misperswasions carnall principles and the like and is after removall of this darknesse and vaile opened to see and acknowledge both its owne Darkenesse and the evidence of that Light which shines upon it Our wils and affections are delivered from that disability of embracing or pursuing of divine Objects and from that love of darknesse and prosecution of evill which is naturally in them and after this are wrought unto a sorrow and sense of their former estate to a desire and love of Salvation and of the meanes thereof with a resolution to make use of them and the whole man is delivered from the estate of Death and enmity unto an estate of Life and Reconciliation by being adopted for the sonnes of God of these Deliverances Christ is the Authour who worketh them as I observed by a double Causality the one that whereby he meriteth them the other that whereby hee conveyeth and transfuseth that which hee had merited This conveying cause is our Vocation wrought by the Spirit of Christ effectively by the Word of Life and Gospell of Regeneration instrumentally by meanes of both which this latter as the seed that other as the formative vertue that doth vegetate and quicken the seed are wee from dead men engrafted into Christ and of enemies made sonnes and Coheires with Christ but the meritorious cause of all this was that Price which Christ laid downe whereby he did ransome us from the estate of Death and purchase for us the Adoption of sonnes for every Ransome and Purchase which are the two acts of our Redemption are procured by the lâ—ying downe of some Price valuable to the thing ransomed and purchased Now this Price was the precious Blood of Christ and the laying downe or payment of this Bloud was the powring it out of his sacred Body and the exhibiting of it unto his Father in a passive obedience and this
but the incarnation and bloud of the Sonne of God the Creator of the World could wash it out consider the Justice and undispensable severity of our God against sinne which would not spare the life of his owne Sonne nor be satisfied without a Sacrifice of infinite and coequall vertue with it selfe consider that it was thy sinne which were thy associates with Iudas and Pilate and the Iewes to crucify him It was thy Hypocrisy which was the kisse that betraid him thy covetousnes the thornes that crowned him thy oppression and cruelty the nayles and Speares that peirced him thy Idolatry and superstition the knee that mocked him thy contempt of religion the spittle that defiled him thy anger and bitternes the gall and vâ—negar that distasted him thy Crimson and redoubled sins the Purple that dishonord him in a word thou wert the Iew that kild him Canst thou then have so many members as weapons wherewith to crucify thy Saviour and hast thou not a heart wherein to recognize and a tongue wherewith to celebrate the benefits of that bloud which thy sinnes had powred out The fire is queâ—ched by that water which by its heate was caused to runne over and shall not any of thy sins be put out by the over-flowing of that pretious bloud which thy sinnes caused to run out of his sacred Bodie Lastly consider the immensitie of Gods mercie and the unutterable treasures of his grace which neither the provocations of thy sinne nor the infinite exactnes of his owne justice could any way overcome or constraine to dispise the worke of his owne hands or nor to compassionate the wretchednes of his creature though it cost the Humiliation of the Sonne of God and the exinanition of his Sacred person to performe it Lay together all those considerations and certainly they are able even to melt a heart of Adamant into thoughts of continuall thankfulnes towards so bountifull a Redeemer Thirdly wee must remember the death of CHRIST with a Remembrance of Obedience even the commands of God should be sufficient to inforce our obedience It is not the manner of Law-makers to use insinuations and plausible provokements but peremptory and resolute injunctions upon paine of penalty but our God deales not onely as a Lord but as a Father he hath delivered us from the penalty and now rather invites then compels us to obedience least by persisting in sinne we should make voyd unto our selves the benefit of Christs death yea should crucify him a fresh and so bring upon our selves not the benefit but the guilt of his bloud Is it nothing thinke we that Christ should die in vaine and take upon him the dishonor and shame of a servant to no purpose and disobedience as much as in it lyes doth nullify and make voyd the death of Christ Is it nothing that that sacred Bloud of the covenant should bee shed onely to be troden and trampled under foote as a vile thing and certainely he that celebrates the memory of Christs death in this holy Sacrament with a willfully polluted soule doth not commemorate the Sacrifice but share in the slaughter of him and receives that pretious blood not according to the institution of Christ to drinke it but with the purpose of Iudas and the Iewes to shed it on the ground a cruelty so much more detestable then Caines was by how much the blood of Christ is more pretious than that of Abel In the phrase of Scripture sinning against God and forgetting of him or casting of him behinde our backe or bidding him depart from us or not having him before our eies are all of equall signification neither is any thing cald remembrance in divine dialect which doth not frame the soule unto affections befitting the quality of the object that is remembred He is not said to see a pit though before his eyes who by Starre-gazing or other thoughts falls into it nor hee to remember Christ though presented to all his senses at 〈◊〉 who makes no regard of his presence Divine knowledge being practicall requires advertence and consideration an essicacious pondering of the consequences of good or evill and thereby a proportionable governement of our severall courses which who so neglecteth may bee properly said to forget or to bee ignorant of what was before him though not out of blindnesse yet out of inconsideratenesse as not applying close unto himselfe the obiect represented which if truely remembred would infallibly frame the minde unto a ready obedience and conformitie thereunto Lastly Wee must remember the Death of Christ with Prayer unto God for as by faith wee apply to our selves so by prayer wee represent unto God the Father that his death as the merit and meanes of reconciliation with him as prayer is animated by the Death of Christ which alone is that character that addes currantnesse unto them so is the Death of Christ not to bee celebrated without Prayer wherein wee doe with confidence implore Gods acceptance of that sacrifice for us in which alone hee is well-pleased Open thine eyes unto the supplication of thy servants to hearken unto all for which they shall call unto thee was the Prayer of Salomon in the consecration of the Temple What doth God hearken with his eyes unto the prayers of his people Hath not hee that made the eare an eare himselfe but must be faine to make use of another faculty unto a different worke Certainely unlesse the eye of God be first open to looke on the bloud of his Sonne and on the persons of his Saints bathed and sprinkled therewith his eares can never be open unto their prayers Prayer doth put God in minde of his Covenant and Covenants are not to bee presented without seales now the seale of our Covenant is the blood of Christ no Testament is of force but by the death of the Testator whensoever therefore wee present unto God the truth of his owne free Covenant in our prayers let us not forget to shew him his owne seale too by which wee are confirmed in our hope therein Thus are wee to celebrate the death of Christ and in these regards is this holy worke called by the Antients an unbloody sacrifice in a mysticall and spirituall sense because in this worke is a confluence of all such holy duties as are in the Scripture called spirituall sacrifices and in the same sence was the Lords Table ofttimes by them called an Altar as that was which the Reubenites erected on the other side of Iordan not for any proper sacrifice but to bee a patterne and memoriall of that whereon sacrifice was offered CHAP. XVII Inferences of Practice from the severall ends of this holy Sacrament HEere then in as much as these sacred Elements are instituted to present and exhibit Christ unto the faithfull soule wee may inferre with what affection wee ought to approach unto him and what reverent estimation to have of them Happinesse as it is the scope of all
with the love of his death without this thou maist be guilty of his body thou canst not be a partaker of it guilty thou art because thou didst reach out thy hand with a purpose to receive Christ into a polluted soule though he withdrew himselfe from thee Even as Mutius Sevola was guilty of Porsena's bloud though it was not him but another whom the Dagger wounded because the error of the hand cannot remove the malice of the heart CHAP. XVIII Of the subject who may with benefit receive the holy Sacrament with the necessary qualifications thereunto of the necessity of due preparation WE have hitherto handled the Sacrament it selfe wee are now breifly to consider the subject whom it concerneth in whom we will observe such qualifications as may fit and predispose him for the comfortable receiving and proper interest in these holy mysteries Sacraments since the time that Satan hath had a Kingdome in the World have been ever notes and Characters whereby to distinguish the Church of God from the Ethnick and unbeleeving part of men so that they being not common unto all mankinde some subject unto whom the right and propriety of them belongeth must bee found out GOD at the first created man upright framed him after his owne Image and endowed him with gifts of nature able to preserve him entire in that estate wherein he was created And because it was repugnant to the essentiall freedome wherein he was made to necessitate him by any outward constraint unto an immutable estate of integrity he therefore so framed him that it might be within the free liberty of his owne will to cleave to him or to decline from him Man being thus framed abused this native freedome and committed sinne and thereby in the very same instant became really and properly dead For as he was dead iudicially in regard of a temporall and eternall death both which were now already pronounced though not executed on him so was he dead actually and really in regard of that spirituall death which consisteth in a separation of the soule from God and in an absolute immobility unto Divine operations But mans sinne did not nullifie Gods power He that made him a glorious creature when he was nothing could as easily renew and rectifie him when he fell away Being dead true it is that active concurrence unto his owne restitution he could have none but yet still the same passive obedience and capacity which was in the red Clay of which Adams body was fashioned unto that divine Image which God breathed into it the same had man being now fallen unto the restitution of those heavenly benefits and habituall graces which then hee lost save that in the clay there was onely a passive obedience but in man fallen there is an active rebellion crossing resistance and withstanding of Gods good worke in him More certainely than this hee cannot have because howsoever in regard of naturall and reasonable operations hee bee more selfe-moving than clay yet in regard of spirituall graces hee is full as dead Even as a man though more excellent then a beast is yet as truely and equally not an Angell as a beast is So then thus farre wee see all mankinde doe agree in an equallity of Creation in a universallity of descrtion in a capacity of restitution God made the world that therein hee might commuicate his goodnesse unto the creature and unto every creature in that proportion as the nature of it is capable of And man being one of the most excellent creatures is amongst the rest capable of these two principall attributes holinesse and happinesse which two God out of his most secret Counsell and eternall mercy conferreth on whom he had chosen and made accepted in Christ the beloved shutting the rest either out of the compasse as Heathen or at least out of the inward priviledges and benefits of that Covenant which hee hath established with mankind as hypocrites and licentious Christians Now as in the first Creation of man God did into the unformed lumpe of clay infuse by his power the breath of life and so made man so in the regeneration of a Christian doth hee in the naturall man who is dead in sinne breathe a principle of spirituall life the first Act as it were and the originall of all supernaturall motions whereby hee is constituted in the first being of a member of Christ. And this first Act is faith the soule of a Christian that whereby we live in Christ so that till wee have faith wee are dead and out of him And as faith is the principle next under the Holy-Ghost of all spirituall life here so is Baptisme the Sacrament of that life which accompanied and raised by the Spirit of grace is unto the Church though not the cause yet the meanes in and by which this grace is conveyed unto the soule Now as Adam after once life was infus'd into him was presently to preserve it by the eating of the fruites in the Garden where God had placed him because of that continuall depashion of his radicall moysture by vitaâ—l heat which made Nature to stand in need of succours and supplies from outward nourishment so after man is once regenerated and made alive hee is to preserve that faith which quickneth him by such food as is provided by God for that purpose it being otherwise of it selfe subject to continuall languishings and decayes And this life is thus continued and preserved amongst other meanes by the grace of this holy Eucharist which conveyes unto us that true food of life the body and bloud of Christ crucified So then in as much as the Sacrament of Christs supper is not the Sacrament of regeneration but of sustentation and nourishment and in as much as no dead thing is capable of being nourished augmentation being a vegetative and vitall act and lastly in as much as the principle of this spirituall life is faith and the Sacrament of it Baptisme It followeth evidently that no man is a subject quallified for the holy communion of Christs body who hath not beene before partaker of faith and Baptisme In Heaven where all things shall bee perfected and renewed our soules shall be in as little neede of this Sacrament as our bodies of nourishment But this being a state of imperfection subject to decayes and still capable of further augmentation wee are therefore by these holy mysteries to preserve the life which by faith and Baptisme wee have received without which life as the Sacrament doth conferre and confirme nothing so doe we receive nothing neither but the bare elements Christ is now in Heaven no eye sharpe enough to see him no arme long enough to reach him but onely faith The Sacrament is but the seale of a Covenant and Covenants essentially include conditions and the condition on our part is faith no faith no Covenant no Covenant no Seale no Seale no Sacrament Christ and Beliall will not lodge together
assent must arise an approbation and love of those objects whence doth issue such sweetnesse A second effect is affiance and hope confidently for the present relying on the goodnesse and for the future waiting on the power of God which shall to the full in time performe what hee hath in his Word promised when once the minde of a man is wrought so to assent unto divine promises made in Christ as to acknowledge an interest and propriety unto them and that to bee at last actually performed not by a man who is subject both to unfaithfulnesse in perseverance and to disability in performance of his promises for every man is a lyar either by imposture ready to deceive or by impotencie likely to disappoint the expectations of those who rely upon him but by Almighty God who the better to confirme our faith in him hath both by his Word and Oath engaged his fidelity and is altogether omnipotent to doe what hee hath purposed Impossible it is but from such an assent grounded on the veracity and on the All-sufficiency of God there should result in the minde of a faithfull man a confident dependance on such promises renouncing in the meane time all selfe-dependance as in it selfe utterly impotent and resolving in the midst of Temptations to relie on him to hold fast his mercy and the profession of his Faith without wavering having an eye to the recompence of reward and being assured that he who hath promised will certainely bring it to passe A third effect of Faith is ioy and peace of Conscience for being iustified by faith we have peace with God The minde is by faith and the impression of sweetnesse in Gods Promises composed unto a setled calmenesse and serenity I doe not meane a dead peace an immobility and sleepinesse of Conscience like the rest of a dreaming prisoner but such a peace as a man may by a syllogisme of the practicke judgment upon right examination of his owne interest in Christ safely inferre unto himselfe The wicked often hath an appearance of peace as well as the faithfull but here is the difference Betweene a wicked mans sinne and him there is a Doore shut which will surely one day open for it is but either a doore of Error or the doore of Death for sinne lieth at the doore ready to flye at his throate as soone as it shall finde either his eyes open to see it or his life to let it in upon the soule but betweene a faithfull man and his sinne there is a Corner-stone a Wall of fire through which Satan himselfe cannot breake even the merits of Christ Iesus Briefly the peace which comes from Faith hath these two properties in it tranquility and serenity too otherwise it is but like the calmenesse of the dead Sea whose unmoveablenesse is not Nature but a Curse The last effect which I shall now name of Faith is that generall effect of fructification purifying the heart and disposing it unto holinesse and new obedience which is to bee framed after Gods Law Faith unites us unto Christ being thus united we are quickned by one and the same Spirit having one spirit and soule we must needs agree in the same operations and those operations must necessarily beare conformity unto the same rule and that rule is the Law under which Christ himselfe was for our sakes made So that the rule to examine this effect of Faith by should bee the whole compasse of Gods Law which to enter into were to redouble all this labour past for thy Law saith David is exceeding wide Briefly therefore in all our obedience observe these few rules First The obligatory power which is in the Law depends upon the one and sole authority of the Law-giver who is God He that breakes but one Commandement venturs to violate that authority which by the same Ordination made one equally obligatory with the rest And therefore our obedience must not bee partiall but universall unto the whole Law in as much as it proceeds from that Faith which without indulgence or dispensation yeeldeth assent unto the whole compasse of Divine Truth Secondly as is God so is his Law a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires a universality of the subject as well as of the obedience I meane besides that perfect integrity of Nature which in regard of present inherence is irrecoverably lost in Adam and supplied onely by the imputed righteousnesse and integrity of Christ an inward spirituall sincere obedience of the heart from thence spreading like lines from a Centre unto the whole Circumference of our Nature unto our Words Actions Gestures unto all our parts without crooked mercenary and reserv'd respects wherein men often in stead of the Lord make their ends or their feares their God Lastly remember that in every Law all homogeneall matters to the maine duty which is commanded every sprigge or seed or originall or degree thereof is included as all the severall branches of a Tree are fastned to one and the same stocke And by these rules are wee to examine the truth of our obedience But heere before I draw downe these premises to an Assumption I will but name one caution which is this That Faith as it may bee either habituall or Actuall so it is the cause of these holy actions either habitually by framing and disposing the heart unto them or actually when it is it selfe as it ought ever to bee sound and operative But sometimes Faith so great is the corruption of our nature admits of a decay and languor wherein it lies as it were like fire under ashes raked up and stifled under our corruptions Againe in some there is a weaker in some a stronger Faith according unto which difference there must be a difference in the measure and magnitude of the effects But yet it is infallibly true that all or most of those holy fruits doe in some seasons or other bud forth of that stocke which is quickned by Faith though sometimes in some men lesse discernable by reason of corruptions interposed For it usually thus falleth out that our graces are but like the Army of Gedeon a small handfull whereas our corruptions are like the Midianits which lay on the ground as Grashoppers innumerable But yet in these God crowneth his owne meanest gists with victory and successe So then these things being thus proposed let the conscience without connivence examine it selfe by such interrogatories as these Doe I finde my selfe live by the Faith of the Sonne of GOD who gave himselfe for me Doe I delight in his Word more then my appoynted food never adulterating it with the Leaven or Dreggs of hereticall fancies or dead workes Doth the word of Truth transforme me to the Image of it selfe Crucifying all those corruptions which harboured in me Doe I finde my selfe to grow in all graces universally and uniformely towards God and man not thinking to recompence some defects which my nature drives me unto with
these did any way derogate from the most free Sacrifice which hee himselfe offered once for all in asmuch as there was an absolute submission of the inferiour to the higher will and the inferiour it selfe shrunk not at the obedience but at the pain To explaine this more cleerly consider in Christ a double Will or rather a double respect of the same Will First the naturall Will of Christ whereby hee could but wish well unto himselfe and grone after the conservation of that being whose anguish and dissolution did now approach whereby he could not upon the immediate burden of the sinne of man and the wrath of God but feare and notwithstanding the assistance of Angells drop downe a sweat as full of wonder as it was of torment great drops of blood and then no marvell if we here Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me But then again consider not the naturall but the mercifull will of Christ by which he intended to appease the wrath of an offended by any other unsatisfiable God the removall of an unsupportable curse the redemption of his own and yet his fellow creaturs the giving them accesse unto a father who was before a consuming fire in a word the finishing of that great work which the Angles desire to looke into and then wee finde that hee did freely lay downe his life and most willingly embraced what hee most naturally did abhorre As if Christ had said if wee may venture to paraphrase his sacred words Father thou hast united mee to such a nature whose Created and Essentiall property it is to shrink from any thing that may destroy it and therefore if it be thy Will let this Cupp passe from mee But yet I know that thou hast likewise annoynted mee to fullfill the eternall Decree of thy love and to the performance of such an office the dispensation wherof requires the dissolution of my assumed nature and therefore not as I but as thou wilt So then both the desire of preservation was a naturall desire and the offring up of his Body was a free-will offring And indeed the light of nature hath required a kind of willingnesse even in the Heathens bruit Sacrifices And therefore the beast was led and not haled to the Altar and the struggling of it or flying and breaking from the Altar or bellowing and crying was ever counted ominous and unhappy Now our Saviour Christs willingnesse to offer up himselfe is herein declared in that hee opened not his mouth in that he suffred such a death wherein hee first did beare the Crosse before it bore him in that hee dehorted the women that followed after him to weepe or expresse any passion of willingnesse for his death Thus did hee in his passion and still doth in his Sacrament really perfectly and most willingly give himselfe unto his Church In somuch as that the Oyle of that unction which consecrated him unto that bitter worke is called an Oyle of gladnesse So then Christ freely offreth both in himselfe Originally and in his Sacraments Instrumentally all grace sufficient for nurishment unto life to as many as reach forth to receive or entertaine it CHAP. X. Of the fourth Action with the reasons why the Sacrament is to be eaten and drunken THe fourth and last Action made mention of in this Sacrament is the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine after wee have taken them from the hands of Christ to signifie unto us that Christ crucified is the life and food of a Christian that receiveth him Here are the degrees of faith first we take Christ and then we eat him There are none that finde any nourishment or relish in the blood of Christ but those who have received him and so have an interest propriety and title to him He must first be ours before we can taste any sweetnesse in him ours first in possession and claime and after ours in fruition and comfort For all manner of sweetnesse is a consequent and effect of some propriety which we have unto the good thing which causeth it unto the which the neerer our interest is the greater is the sweetnesse that we finde in it In naturall things we may observe how nothing will be kindly nourished in any other place or meanes than those unto which nature hath given it a primitive right and symthy Fishes perish in the aire and Spice-trees dye and wither in these colder Countries because Nature had denyed them any claime or propriety unto such places We are all branches and Christ is a Vine now no branch receiveth juyce or nourishment unlesse first it be inserted into the stock If we are not first ingrafted into Christ and so receive the right of branches we cannot expect any nourishment from him As the name which was written in that white Stone was knowne unto him only that had it so in these mysteries which have the impresse and character of Christs Passion on them Christ is knowne and enjoyed onely by those who first take him and so have a hold and right unto him But why is it that Christ in this Sacrament should be eaten and drunken Cannot the benefit of his Passion be as well conveighed by the eye as by the mouth It was the joy of Abraham that he saw Christs day the comfort of Simeon that hee had seene Gods salvation the support of Stephen that hee saw Christ in his kingdome the faith of Thomas that he saw his resurrection and why is it not enough that wee see the passion of Christ in this Sacrament wherein he is crucified before our eyes Certainly if wee looke into the Scriptures wee shall find nothing more common than the Analogie and resemblance betwixt spirituall grace and naturall food Hence it is that we so often read of Manna from Heaven Water from the Rock Trees in Paradise Apples and Flagons for Christs Spouse Wisdomes feast and the marriage feast of hungring and thirsting and sucking of marrow and fatnesse and Milke and Honey and infinite the like expressions of divine grace the reasons whereof are many and important First to signifie the benefit we receive by Christ crucified exhibited unto us in his last Supper by that Analogie and similitude which is betwixt him and those things we eat and drink Now meates are all either Physicall common or costly either for the restoring or for the supporting or for the delighting of nature and they have all some of those excellent properties of good which Aristotle hath observed either to conserve nature entire or to restore it when it hath beene violated or to prevent diseases ere they creep upon it And all these benefits do the faithfull receive by Christ. First his body and blood is an Antidote against all infections of sin or feare of death When he said Feare not it is I. It was an
argument of comfort which no temptation could repell Secondly it hath a purging and purifying property The blood of Christ clenseth us from all sinne Thirdly it hath a quickning preserving and strengthning power Christ is our life and our life is hid with Christ u and Christ liveth in us and he hath quickned us together with Christ and we are able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us And lastly it hath a joying and delighting property I rejoyce in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ I count all things dung that I may winne Christ and I protest by our rejoycing which we have in Christ. Whether we want Physick to cure us or strong meats to nourish us or sweet meats to delight us Christ is unto us all in all our health our strength our joy Secondly the Sacrament is eaten and drunken to signifie the necessity we stand in of Christ crucified many things there are usuall in the life of man both for delight and profit beautifull and pleasant objects for the eye melody and harmony for the eare ointments and odours for the smell curiosities and luxuriancies of invention for the fancie but there is no faculty of nature that doth so immediately concurre to the support and preservation of the whole man as the sense of Tasting which is as it were the Sluce in-let to life without which we have not so much as a capacity of that delight which other objects of an inferiour and subordinate nature can afford even so many things there are wherein the children of God may and ought to take pleasure and solace even as many as we acknowledge from God for blessing but there is nothing in the world which is the object and principle of our life but only Christ no quality in man which is the Instrument and Organ of our life but onely a lively and operative faith by which only we taste how gracious the Lord is The just shall live by faith and I live by the faith of the Son of God and where the body is thither do the Eagles flye that they may eat and live Thirdly the Sacrament is eaten and drunken to shew unto us the greedy desire which is and ought to be in the hearts of Beleevers towards Christ crucified There is no one faculty in man will so much put to its utmost for procuring satisfaction as this of Tasting if once brought into anguish or straits Because as Death in the generall is most terrible so much more that lingring death which consumes with famine and therefore no power of nature more importunate and clamorous for satisfaction no motive stronger to worke a love and attempt a conquest on any nation than an experience of such excellent commodities as may from thence be obtained for the releeving of this one faculty And therefore Almighty God when he would provoke the people to forsake Egypt and comfort them with the newes of a better Countrey describes it by the plenty that it brought forth I will bring you to a Land which floweth with Milke and Honey And when the people murmured against God in the Wildernesse all that hatred of Egypt which the tyranny of the Land had wrought in them all the toyle and servitude that was redoubled on them was wholly swallowed up by the one consideration of flesh-pots and Onions which they there enjoyed And when by Gods appointment Spies were sent into Canaan to enquire of the goodnesse of the Land their Commission was to bring of the fruit of the Land unto the people that thereby they might be encouraged unto a desire of it And we finde how the Roman Emperours did strictly prohibit the transportation of Wine or Oile or other pleasant commodities unto barbarous Nations left they might prove rather temptations to some mischievous designe than matters of mutuall intercourse and trafique No marvell then if the Sacrament of Christ crucified who was to be the Desire of all Nations the desire of whom was not only to transcend and surpasse but even after a sort to nullifie all other desires be received with that faculty which is the seat of the most eager and importunate desire Fourthly we eat and drink the Sacrament to intimate unto us the conformity of the faithfull unto Christ. As in all the appeties and propensions of naturall things we finde an innate amity betwixt the natures that doe so incline towards or imbrace one another so principally in this maine appetite unto food is there ever found a proportion betweene nature and its nourishment insomuch that young Infants are nourished with that very matter of which their substance consisteth Whatsoever hath repugnant qualities unto nature she is altogether impatient of it and is never quieted till one way or other she disburthen her selfe And thus is it and ought to be betwixt Christ and the faithfull there is a conspiracy of affections motions passions desires a conformity of being in holinesse as well as in nature a similitude participation and communion with Christ in his death sufferings glory All other things in the world are very unsuitable to the desires of faith nor are able to satiate a soule which hath tasted Christ because we finde something in them of a different yea repugnant nature unto that pretious faith by him infus'd no man having tasted old Wine desireth new for he saith the old is better and therefore howsoever the wicked may drinke iniquity like water and role it under their tongue as a sweet thing yet the children of God who have beene sensible of that venimous quality which lurketh in it and have tasted of that bread which came downe from Heaven never thirst any more after the deceitfull pleasures the stolne waters of sinne but no sooner have they unadvisedly tasted of it but presently they feele a warre in their bowels a strugling and rebellion betweene that faith by which they live and that poyson which would smother and extinguish it which by the efficacy of faith whereby we overcome the world is cast out and vomited up in an humble confession and so the faithfull do re-gaine their fellowship with Christ who as he was by his mâ—rits our Saviour unto remission of sins so is he by his holinesse our example and by his Spirit our head unto newnesse of life CHAP. XI Of other Reasons why the Sacrament is eaten and drunken and of the manner of our union and incorporation into Christ. FIfthly wee eat and drinke the Sacrament of Christ crucified to signifie that reall and neere incorporation of the faithfull into Christ their head for the end of eating is the assimulation of our nourishment and the turning of it into our owne nature and substance whatsoever cannot bee assimulated is ejected and thus is it between us and Christ whence it commeth that wee so often read of the Inhabitation of