as it is vers 12. Worthy is the Lambe that was slaine to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Yea for a full consort let us with every creature in heaven in earth under the earth and in the sea sing as it is in verse 13. Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lambe for ever and ever And so much also of the third grace the last followes which is 4. Love unto Christ in a holy affection of the soule carrying us with full desire to the enioying of him making us to preferre our communion with him before all things that in this world may challenge our dearest respect All those motives that stir up to Thankfulnesse provoke also unto Love the smalnes of our desert the greatnesse of the benefit the gloriousnes of the person al are here in a singular degree and for them Christ deserves our Love in the highest degree that we can possibly shew it in Hence the Church in the Canticles can find no names so fit whereby to call her Spouse Christ Iesus as these Him whom her soule loveth her Beloved and her well beloved It s admirable what pleasures she takes in describing and talking of his rare excellencies here 's her full contentment and the height of her ioy and peace that shee is able to say My welbeloved is mine and I am his Certainely my Brethren were our hearts truly spirituall had our soules tasted how good the Lord Iesus hath beene unto us were our eyes opened to see him at the right hand of God clothed with all beauties of holinesse glory and majesty it could not be but that our sinnes our pleasures all the pompe of this world would be most vile and despicable in our esteeme and nothing but Christ would appeare worthy of our Love Delight and Admiration These are those heavenly graces of chiefe marke that receive life and strength from the death of Christ remembred in this Sacrament And the effect of them all is our obedience in life and conversation that wee should serve him faithfully that hath bought us at so deare a price This is the trial of the truth of all those forenamed graces when our faith works by Love our Repentance is approved by reformation our Thankfulnesse and Love shewne in keeping of his Commandements This is also the end of the death of Christ who hath redeemed us from our vain conversation wherein wee lived in the lusts of the flesh that henceforth wee should live unto him who hath delivered us from the feare of our enemies that wee should serve him in righteousnesse and holinesse all our dayes And thus you see what it is rightly to remember Christ crucified and to shew forth the Lords death in the use of this holy Sacrament even to remember him with beleeving with penitent with thankfull with loving with obedient harts Not to remember him in this sort is to forget hâ—m not to know the vertue of his death in this manner is to bee ignorant of Christ crucified An excellent knowledge but of all most difficult to be put in practice T is an easie thing to turn the story into a tragedy to make a Scenicall representation of the death of Christ as the Papists use to doe on good-Friday or to compile a curious declamation of this subject as Popish Postillers and Preachers doe in their Lenton Sermons I discommend not eloquence in so excellent a subject words cannot be better bestowed than here yet there is an error to be feared lest the tongue onely be imployed where the heart chiefly should bee busied and there is danger also lest such high discourses prove not unlike those of Tragedians made more to breed admiration of the Poet than attention and observation of the fact Thus much I may safely say that the meditation of the death of Christ requires not so much strength of wit and invention as the exercise of all holy and zealous affections of the soule to the increase of pietie and obedience There cannot bee a greater incongruitie than to discourse of so holy a subject with an unhallowed heart to amplifie the indignity of Christs passion and yet not bee moved at all to remorse of conscience for sinne to rayle on Iudas and the Iewes and yet sweare by Christ to descant upon his Bloud and Wounds in passionate discourse and yeâ— to teare these and trample upon that inexecrable blasphemies to talke of Christ and yet not to live as a Christian to relate to others the story of his crucifying by the Iewes and in the meane while by obstinate impiety and prophanenesse to crucifie him againe unto himselfe This is far from being a Preacher and a follower of Christ to such let mee speake in Salvians words a little altered Christum legunt impudici sunt Christum audiunt inebriantâ—r Christum sequuntur rapiunt haec ergo etiam nos qui Christiani dicimur facimus What might one of Mahomeds disciples here say Ecce quales sunt qui Christum câ—lunt see the servants of the crucified God see them luxurious profane intemperate blasphemers scorners of Religion it must needs be wil he then say they haue a bad master that are such evill seruants Si enim bona discerent boni essent and Sancta à Christianis fierent si Christus sancta docuisset Thus whilst some profâ—sse themselves Christians they are a reproach unto Christ a disgrace of the Gospell and shame of all Religion Wherefore I beseech you perswade your selves of this that you never know Christ crucified aright till your hearts can bleed in sorrow for sinne as his bled for satisfaction till your Faith embrace him your soules rejoyce in him your love bee fixed on him till his death have caused the death of sinne in you till then know that you are but ignorant in this great mysterie of Christs sufferings And now you are to goe unto the Sacrament take time and care to thinke of these things so may you goe with comfort and depart thence with profit unto your soules The Apostle after hee hath declared the true institution of the Sacrament and the right end to bee observed in the celebration of it namely The perpetuall commemoration of Christs death in the words before spoken of hee goes forward in the next place to shew the great danger that men run into by perverting this holy institution and abusing of it to wrong ends purposes They commit a great sinne which drawes upon them great judgements both temporall and eternall unlesse by diligent examination of themselves the sinne be prevented and the punishment removed This the Apostle doth from the 27. vers unto the 33. verse The resolution of which words is in briefe thus They containe 1. The sinne of unworthy receiving vers 27. 2. The meanes to avoide this sinne which is due examination of ones selfe before the Sacrament vers 28. 3.
When those externall rites were kept without this spirituall use of them wee know how meanly and contemptibly God speakes of such a mechanicall worship Esa. 1. vers 11. seq He sets forth his displeasure against such services in all termes of dislike and disdaine telling the people That the multitude of their Sacrifices is to no purpose that Hee delights not in the bloud of bullocks and fat of fed beasts that hee requires no such things at their hands that such oblations are vaine and an abomination their solemne feasts and assemblies he cannot away with them that his soule hateth them that they are trouble to him and hee is weary to beare them And wherefore now all this disdaine of such Ceremoniall worship the reason is vers 15. Your hands â—re full of bloud Againe Chap. 66.3 hee sets it out to the full how acceptable such service is to him Hee that killeth an oxe is as if he slew a man hee that sacrificeth a lambe as if he cut off a dogges necke he that offereth an oblation as if hee offered swines bloud he that burneth incense as if he blessed an idoll Nothing can bee spoke with greater scorne and indignation the reason wherof followes in the next words Yea they have chosen their owne waies and their soule delighteth in their abominations So long as they follow this course God detests thhem and all their services Now in the times of the Gospell Christ having reformed the worship of God hath abolished those carnall ordinances and in roome thereof erected a worship of God in Spirit and Truth Wee are to performe a spirituall worship but yet withall some outward bodily observations are required of us now though very few and very easie To fast to bow their knee in prayer to pronounce or heare the Word the administration of the Sacraments in all their outward rites these are externall and bodily exercises which profit little where godlinesse is wanting The Kingdome of God saith the Apostle is not meates and drinkes but righteousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost These things are first acceptable to God and other things for them Outward Ceremoniousnesse is meere hypocrisie where grace and sanctity is not first mover to such observances T is a poore matter to forbeare a meale or twaine and yet take ones fill in sinne till he surfeit to goe softly looke sadly speake faintly and weepe a little too as it were in sorrow for sinne and carry in ones breast a heart unrent unbroken unsofâ—ned by true sense of sinne and worke of grace What profit is it to speake a Sermon or heare a Sermon when onely one mans tongue and the others eares are imployed for that houre when it comes not from the Preachers heart nor pierceth unto the hearers conscience neither the one nor the other intending to practice as they speake or heare To what purpose is it to â—ow the body to God and yet to make ones heart like an iron sinew that 's too stiffe and stout to bend in obedience to Gods Commandements If the tongue goe glibbe the eyes and hands lift up to heaven yet if the thoughts wander the heart and affection lie flat upon the earth will such a prayer be an acceptable Sacrifice What availâ—s it a man to have his face sprinkled with a little cold water but not to have his heart washed from an evill conscience and purged from the uncleannesse of sinnefull corruption to take on him in Baptisme the badge of Christianity yet in his conversation to live like an Infidell in all disobedience to the Lawes of Christ Will it advantage a man any whit that he goes foure or five times a yeere to the holy Sacrament if he be either ignorant of what hee goes about or prophanely carelesse of making good use of what hee knowes If hee remaine still irreligious and impenitent continuing in covetousnesse in swearing in lying in idlenesse in uniust practices to get gaine in common neglect of the exercises of Religion a secret despiser of grace and scoffer at true sincerity with other the like ungodly practices will it helpe or save him that at solemne times hee comes to the Lords Table there eates a bit of bread drinks a little wine heares a few prayers staies till all be done and so away the same man hee came thither No this helpes not but hurts exceedingly having brought upon himselfe the guilt of a fearefull transgression in profaning the holy Sacrament because hee discerneth the Lords Body God who looketh unto the heart and is well pleased in the sincerity thereof regards no Ceremony without obedience but hates such complementall hypocrisie as much as wee doe detest the like dissimulation in a man that vailes bonnet bowes hammes smiles in your face speaks faire and friendly but yet his heart is not with you But we passe from this point having touched upon it heretofore wee come unto the punishment here denounced against unworthy receivers of the Sacrament viz. Damnation He eateth and drinketh damnation to himselfe For these words wee are to enquire what is meant by Damnation in this place and what it is to eate and drinke it Damnation in this place signifies two things 1. That punishment of man in hell fire which wee call eternall damnation 2. Those evills which in this life are inflicted upon transgressors which we call afflictions and temporall iudgment Both these are included in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred Damnation That eternall iudgement in hell fire is hereby meant will be made apparant unto us 1. From the nature of the sinne of profanation of the Sacrament which were it but a small offence did yet deserve the wages of eternall death but being so hainous and horrible a crime as it is viz. Guiltinesse of the Death of Christ it must make him that commits it obnoxious to everlasting condemnation 2. From the quality of the persons that commit this sinâ—e who are partly the wicked that continually profane this Sacrament partly the godly that yet sometimes profane it too Such as bee ungodly unbeleeving persons they without doubt bring themselves in certaine danger not of temporall judgement alone but much more of eternall damnation for their perpetuall abuse of thâ—se sacred mysteries whereof they partake without faith repentance or any amendment of life at all As for the true beleevers they doe sometime come unworthily to this holy Table being now and then overtaken with security and seduced by manifold temptations though otherwise holy and godly men This their negligence deserves also the same punishment though God for Christs sake be pleased to turne from them his everlasting wrath making them only to feele a little part of his displeasure in some temporall afflictions wherewith hee chastiseth them for the amendment of their error Now what temporall judgements are signified by this word Damnation is manifest also by the Text in the verse following where the Apostle mentions sicknesses infirmities and temporall
death as afflictions laid upon the Corinthians for their profane abuse of the Sacrament For this cause many are sicke c. God corrected them to bring them to repentance and amendment of their fault that so leaving their sinne they might escape eternall condemnation This then is the full meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. Eternall and Temporall judgement whereunto all are liable that profane â—he Sacrament in not discerning the Lords Body be they beleevers or unbeleevers godly or wicked Only here is the difference the one sort by this sinne deserve both and have both being punished eternally and temporalâ—y too for the most part But the other deserves both yet feels but one being in mercy chastised with temporall afflictions that comming to repentance they may avoide eternall punishment Wherefore I take it our last Translators have with good reason rendred this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Iudgement but Damnation the highest degree of judgement and that proper punishment which this sin of unworthy receiving doth deserve So that the observation which some here make upon the word that the Apostle here useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby signifying not exitium aeternum but castigationes temporales is not here to be admitted Neither doth the Analysis of this place require it nor yet the use of the word in other places It being apparant that these words are used indifferently in the same signification Having now sâ—ene what is meant by Damnation it is easie to understand what is meant by eating and drinking damnation which is in plaine termes To commit such a sinne in profaning the Sacrament as deserves both eternall and temporall judgement Not that there is in those outward elements of Bread and Wine any destructive and hurtfull quality or that Christ signified by those elements is become of his owne nature a savour of death and cause of damnation unto any but because in the prophane use of those holy things they commit a fearefull sinne whereby Gods wrath is provoked against them to the punishing of them with temporall and eternall plagues The Sacrament is not as poyson which of its nature workes death in the eater but it is the food of life most healthfull and nourishing unto the soule if it be received into an heart duely prepared for iâ— But as the fruits of that tree of knowledge of Good and Evill might be wholesome in it selfe yet Adam did eate his death when hee tasted of it contrary to Gods Commandement so this Table of the Lord which is a feast of choisest delicates for refreshing of the soule when men come rightly prepared thereto becomes the bane and destruction of soules when men present themselves thereat with unbeleeving impenitent and unholy hearts This the Apostle signifies in that word Hee eateth and drinketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to himselfe damnation to teach us that the cause why these things ordained for our good prove hurtfull unto us is not in the things themselves but in mans sinne that unworthily partakes of them That other interpretation He eats damnation to himselfe not unto Others who communicate with him this sits well against the Schismaticall humours of some who thinke our Sacraments and solemne assemblies polluted by the sinne of those that are wicked amongst us and therefore dare not joyne with us in the worship of God for feare of infection but this fits not so well unto the Text wherein Non quis damnationem incurrat sed quis sit huius exitij author indicatur as Beza truly notes upon this place and word From these words thus expounded I deduce this practicall conclusion The profanation of Gods most holy worship deserves eternall and temporall punishment I frame the Conclusion generally touching every part of Gods worshâ—p as well as the Sacrament T is a high dishonour to the very person of Christ when the Sacrament of his Body and Bloud is abused t is also a horrible sinne committed against the majesty of God whensoever we profanely mocke and contemne him in any of those things wherein he would be sanctified and honoured by us And therefore wee may ascend from the particular to the generall and consider how great a sinne it is to profane any one whaâ—soever of the sacred ordinances of Gods service and what punishment they incurre that doe so All offences become greater or lesse according as the person against whom they are committed is of more or lesse dignity Therefore a sinne agâ—inst â—od is greater than a wrong against our Neighbour Further those offences which immediately touch thâ— person offended are more hainous than those that strike him at the rebound Therefore if we compare the sinnes of the first table with the sinnes against the second in the generall wee may judge those sinnes whereby God himselfe is immediately contemned in this worship are greater than those wherein he is despised mediaté secundariò because wee neglect our duety to man But not to enter into an exact comparison about this point this is for certaine That all offences committed in the matter of Gods worship are of a most provoking nature such as he cannot endure without severe punishment inflicted on the offendors Atheisme Infidelitie hatred of God c. bee sinnes the very names whereof be terrible Idolatry Superstition Wil-worship Profane and Negligent worship these have gentler names but be most hatefull sinnes against which Gods wrath and jealousie burnes to see his holinesse and honour trampled in the dust by base and sinnefull wretches A King must needs take it very tenderly to be dis-regarded in those very ceremonies wherein he lookes for speciall honour from his subiects much more must God be offended if when he hath made us for to honor him made orders according to which wee should shew our reverence and subjection wee shall out of our pride devise other wayes of our owne to worship him or out of negligence and profanenesse of spirit doe those things hee hath prescribed we care not how Against this sinne God hath ever revealed from heaven his fierce wrath upon States and Kingdomes as well as private persons by whom he hath beene despised and neglected in his worship Cursed saith Ieremy chap. 48 10 is he that doth the workes of the Lord negligently This was a particular threatning against those that would spare Moab and not execute the full judgement of God upon that people in their utter destruction but kept backe their swords from bloud Notwithstanding the rule is appliable to all particulars whatsoever in Gods service Cursed is he that doth any thing negligently which God sets him about for it is Gods worke who as he is a bountifull rewarder so is he a severe exactor of faithfull service at our hands He will not balke us in our reward and accordingly he lookes wee should not falter with him in our obedience To sleight him in his worship doing matters by halves seeming more
Law to bring them to the Sacrament One would thinke that mens consciences should herein be a Law unto themselves and that there were no necessity to have a Statute for hungry men to eate or for sicke folke to take physicke But here is the intolerable infidelity and irreligion of our times did not feare of Law and shame of the world prevaile more with many than any benefit which they perceiue is to be gotteÌ„ by frequenting the Sacrament they that now come but seldome would come never they have no appetite to this spirituall bread their taste cannot rellish this Angels food and thence the Table of the Lord is contemptible in their eyes and their very soule loatheth this bread of heaven I confesse indeed that persecution is a sharpe spurre to put men on upon the diligent practice of all religious duties and so it was in the Primitive Church that the bitternesse of afflictions gave a sweeter relish to religion Neverthelesse they must needes be ill nurtured that will doe nothing without beating and very strange it is that men should constantly wait upon the service of God when paine and disgrace terrifie them from it and then fal off to neglect it when honour peace and liberty invite them to it And what my brethren had the bloud of Christ a fresher taste in these first ages after it was newly shed had his sacrificed body a more fragrant smell inviting the Saints like birds of prey to flye from far with maruellous swiftnesse unto this dead but yet all-quickning carkasse Hath it now through tract of time lost that swetnesse wherwith hertofore it cheared both God and Man No t is we have lost our senses our faith our zeale our love Christs bloud like the Manna in the Ark putrifies not but endureth for ever to feed us also in these last ages of the world unto everlasting life That fountain which was opened in his side runs yet afresh hath an everlasting vertue to cleanse us from the leprosie of sinne and to coole the heate of a weary soule inflamed with sin and the fire of Gods wrath only if we can be sensible of our thirst and that our hearts can pant after these waterbrooks running amaine unto them for refreshing when wee are furiously chased by our iniquities following us at the heeles Wherfore my beloved brethren let us be admonished henceforward to make conscience of frequenting the Lords Table so often as by fit opportunity wee may enjoy the benefit therof lest our lazie sloathfulnesse be at last punished for a profane contempt of the precious bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ. This be spoken of the first duety in comming to the Sacrament the next followes touching that which is to bee done about the celebration of it Now this is in general A soleme commemoration of the death of Christ expressed in those words Doe this in remembrance of me and in those Yee shew forth the Lords death till he come Which words doe summarily declare what was the end and intent of Christ in instituting this Sacrament and what is the duty which he requires of euery Christian in the solemnizing thereof namely That therin we should make a perpetuall commemoration of his death and passion unto the end of the world till hee come againe to iudgement Now this remembrance of the death of Christ in the Sacrament is to be taken in a double sense 1. In opposition to the outward Elements and Ceremonies in this Sacrament 2. In relation to those spirituall graces of the soule which are to bee exercised in this commemoration In the former must be shewed upon what our hearts thoughts must be fixed in the holy Sacrament namely not on the Elements and actions of the Sacrament but on Christ and his benefits all the desires of our soules must be towards him and to the remembrance of his Name In the latter it will appeare how in what manner our soules must be fixed on Christ namely not in a bare historicall remembrance of his sufferings but in a powerfull and gracious feeling of the vertue of his death working life and holinesse in our soules Of these two points in order and of the first briefly which is this That our thoughts are not to dwel upon the outward elements and actions of the Sacrament but from them to bee raised up to the meditation of Christs sufferings and the benefits we obtaine thereby Doe this in remembrance of mee saith Christ i. e. of my death and your redemption by it not Do this for it own sake looking no further than what is visible to your eies in the outward solemnity Never was any Ceremony legall Euangelicall appointed for its own worth as if either God were pleased or mans soulâ— edified in grace by such carnall observations For God is a Spirit and will alwayes be worshipped in spirit and truth and mans soule is a Spirit of a pure and immortal substance which cannot bee nourishd and maintained in life and strength by any outward fading thing or action but only by that which is proportionable to its owne celestiall and spiritual quality Now this alone is the grace and favour of God the treasurie and store-house wherof is the person of our ever-blessed Mediator Iesus Christ unto whom the ancient church was directed in all Leviticall observations to whom these Evangelicall Sacraments doe still direct us Wherefore you are againe to be admonished those especially of the younger sort That they do attentively observe what that thing is whereabouts all their meditations are to be employed in this sacred businesse Remember that here Christ crucified is all in al in every element in every action When thou seest the Bread and Wine separated by consecration unto this holy use thinke on Christ ordained and fore-appointed by the Father from everlasting unto the accomplishment of our redemption by his bloud-shedding When thou seest the Bread broken and the Wine powred forth thinke on Christ torne and rent in his precious body with stripes and wounds pained even to the death in his most holy soule full of the wrath of God indignation of the Almighty by whom he was smitten for thy sinnes and plagued for thy transgressions When the Minister offers to thee the bread wine think on Christ given unto thee of God freely and giving himselfe unto thee if thou wilt receive him When thou receivest and eatest these elements think on Christ that living Bread that gives life unto thy soule and by his merits preserves it from eternall death Knit thy heart unto him by the band of an holy faith throw thy selfe into his armes stretched out on the Crosse to embrace thee wash thy soule in his bloud that thou maist bee cleane hide thy selfe in the holes and clefts of this rocke from the stormy tempest of Gods wrath that iâ— mâ—y not touch thee put thine hands and thy fingers in his side and the prâ—nt of the nailes and cry out with that
wee diligently the quality of the punishment it selfe for the rule holds true very commonly that God punisheth men in the same kinde wherein they offend Whence it will be easie by the punishment to judge of the sinne If a Land be smitten with a famine of bread is it not because plenty hath bred luxury if with a famine of the Word was it not because it was entertained with disobedience and contempt if with poverty t is because riches bred vice if David defile his neighbours wife so shall Absolom deale with his owne concubines if hee murder Vriah so shall Absolom doe to Amnon and seeke to doe the same to his father Is a man vexed with disobedient children t is likely himselfe was so to his owne parents if friends be unfaithfull to thee hast not thou beene so to thine or hast thou not made flesh thine arme and put more trust in them than God Is disgrace fallen upon thee and wast thou not proud before Doe thy gifts of minde or body decay and is it not because thou art high minded unthankefull to God and scornefull of meaner men In short looke unto the punishment and consider it duely we shall commonly finde that in the same or some other kinde neerly proportionable as we have done in sinning so God hath done to us in punishing 3. Observe advisedly the inditements which at such a time thy conscience shall bring-in against thee Conscience is a faithfull Register and what ever drowsinesse may possesse it in times of peace yet so soone â—s its netled and stung with the feare of approaching judgement or the sense of present smart it growes very clamarous and will give us information touching our estate both true enough and loud enough if wee list to heare and observe what it saith If a storm be toward the sea quickly foretokens it by its working and change of colour And in corrupt bodies the least alteration of the weather breeds a distemper in them So doe all outward change whether felt or feared worke strange alterations in the soule that 's tainted with the guilt of any foule transgressions Then be sinnes that were almost forgotten all mustered up together and brought to a fresh remembrance as if done but yesterday and if wee doe attentively marke what Conscience then pleads against us wee shall heare it ring in our eares such voices as these Loe seest thou not iudgement ready now to take hold on thee for such a sinne at such a time committed And thou beest remembred once thou committedst such a secret abomination now see God punisheth thee for it openly So many yeeres agoe such a villany was done by thee now at last God hath met with thee for it Admirable is the worke of Conscience in this regard and very remarkeable in the brethren of Ioseph They had sold their brother and couâ—ened their father and all was husht up for a long time After they goe downe to Egypt they are roughly used there by their unknowne brother imprisoned as Spies no entreaties nor apologies will serve their turne Now their sinne revives and their brother Ioseph comes into their mindes they cannot keepe it in their traiterous and unmercifull usage of their poore brother swels in their consciences and bursts forth at their tongues they cannot take so much time as till they bee all in private but even in Iosephs presence they must out with it Wee have sinned against our brother c. therefore is this trouble come upon us Gen. 42.21 So Iob in his elder yeares when he fell into those great calamities though a holy and good man yet confesseth that he smarted for the sinnes of his youth Thou writest bitter things against mee and makest mee to possesse the sinnes of my youth saith hee Iob 13.26 Sinne may be soone committed but t is not so soone forgotten God remembers it and Conscience registers it and an hundred yeares after the fact done a man may heare on 't againe to his woe and griefe By these three directions well observed wee may speedily attaine the knowledge of our sinne for which at any time Gods punishing hand lies upon us that so knowing where the disease lyeth we may with speedy successe apply the medicine of Repentance and true Reformation And so much of this point I goe forward For this cause many are weake For the abuse of the Sacrament in not discerning the Lords Body God plagued them in their owne bodies with diseases and death Hence the conclusion is That The abuse of spirituall good things causeth losse of bodily and temporall good things This is agreeable to reason and equity That where the greater good is despised there men should bee punished with deprivation of that good which is lesse in worth but more in their esteeme to the end that by the want of this they might learne to have a better regard unto the other They that abuse spirituall good things will much more abuse corporall good things wherefore God at once both prevents their sinne in these by taking them away and also punisheth their sinne in those by such a deprivation of these Besides it is the nature of sinne as it infects the soule so it hurts the body and all externall good things Adams abuse of the forbidden fruit brought destruction upon his soule and death upon his body and a curse upon all â—he world which God had given him as his patrimony and inheritance· No lesse dangerous is the abuse of the commanded fruit that wee so call Iesus Christ the Tree of Life in the Sacrament They that eate it worthily feed therby both soule and body they tâ—at profanely use it bring destruction upon both Godlinesse saâ—th the Apostle hath the promises of this life and that which is to come and therefore on the contrary Vngodlinesse hath the threatnings of both My sonne let thine heart keepe my commandements saith Salomon Prov. 3.1 If he doe it they shall bring him increase of daies prosperity favour in the sight of God and man health to his navell and marrow unto his bones with abundance unto his barnes and winepresses as it followes in the next verses of that Chapter So on the other side where God is disobeyed his Word and Ordinances despised there nothing thrives well neither for body nor name nor goods but sin like a blasting winde makes all to wither and fade away like a leafe This may lesson us two things 1. That if we would have our bodies and lives to be precious in Gods account we learn our selves to make precious account of his service and holy ordinances If wee contemne the sacred Body and Bloud of Christ and make no reckoning of his death it is but just with God to give up our vile and sinnefull bodies to bee as â—ung for the earth that sicknesse should consume us and the grave have dominion over us No marvell if we be left in bodily weaknesses when we labour not to feele the strengthening power and