Melchizedeck unto Abraham as a part perhaps of the blessing of that High Priest and as a signification of that Sacrament which God would have Abrahams seed to feed upon when the true High Priest after that great mans order should come And fifthly It is not to be forgotten that they do best answer to some things whereunto Christ is compared in the holy Scriptures For he is called the Vine and every branch that is in him must bring forth fruit as he doth which may hereby be represented And he is called the Bread of life which came down from Heaven as the Manna in the Wilderness who is to support our souls as the staff of bread doth our bodies Sixthly But it is most to be remarked that these were part of the Passeover-Supper when Christ as Cyril of Alexandria speaks was typically eaten in Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For first It is acknowledged by all that the Bread was blessed and the Cup also and so went round to all the guests And the forms of Benediction are still extant in some of the Hebrew Authors And secondly The whole Feast after the Passeover-night was called the Feast of unleavened Bread And thirdly It is the opinion I observe of some that our Saviour at the time of instituting this Sacrament Grot. did eat onely the Bread and the bitter Herbs but not the Lamb of the Passeover For it is not said in the Evangelists that his Disciples killed the Passeover for him but onely that they made ready the Passeover which might be nothing else but that bread of affliction and the herbs which were attended with the cup of kindness that used to pass among them For our Saviour died at the time the Passeover-Lamb was offered being indeed the Lamb of God himself And therefore S. John saith Chap. 13.1 That the Supper was before the Feast of the Passeover and he calls it eating of the Passeover because this was a great part of it a principal portion of this Feast And this part was all that they could partake of who at any time could not come to Jerusalem where only the Lamb was to be eaten being first offered at the Temple But supposing this to be doubtful yet there is no question but that this Lamb was a Type of Christ and that Bread and Wine was a part of their Supper And upon search I believe we shall find that the Lamb of the Passeover was the only Sacrifice which the people did wholly eat its blood being poured out at the Altar and it doth the better set forth Christ who gives himself wholly to us To which fourthly may be added that as the Paschal-Lamb did represent him so the manner of its killing was very conformable to Christs death upon the Cross which may make it more reasonable to borrow from the Supper resemblances of him For they hung the Lamb upon nails much what as Butchers now do a Sheep which they have killed and then fley'd off its skin that it might be dressed While it hung in this posture it was just like the scituation of Christs body upon the Cross as Buxtorf hath observed out of the Talmud whose hands were so spread and leggs so stretched out as the Lamb was 5. Unto which I may add That the Law of Moses was not to be wholly destroyed but to be changed and altered by Christ So the Apostle teacheth us to speak in Heb. 7.12 And the malice of St. Stephen's accusers could prompt them to say no worse of him then that he preached Jesus should change the customs which Moses delivered Act. 6.14 Circumcision is commanded under the title of an everlasting Covenant and it is not so much abolished as improved into a better Sacrament and seal of greater blessings to Mankind The Sabbath-day likewise was to be a commemoration of Gods rest from all his works on the seventh day and of his deliverance of them out of Egypt and it is not cancelled but changed into another day which contains the former and something else even a remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead that he might enter into his rest So we may conceive that this great Feast of the Passeover was not quite done away but gave place to a better Feast which is in memory of a greater deliverance than that from the thraldom of Egypt and the iron Furnace In this the Jewish Christians might still commemorate their ancient mercies as well as if they had eaten of the flesh of their Lamb. Yea because there was in it such a clear representation of Christs sufferings especially in its first Institution when the blood was sprinkled on the door-posts part of it was thought fit still to remain viz. the Bread and Wine which they used to eat and drink in memory of that mercy with solemn forms of thanksgiving unto God And lastly The Bread and Wine was more fit then the flesh to be retained because now that Christ is come all Sacrifices are to cease and no more blood is to be shed for fin This I say may be a good reason why Bread and Wine only are used because they are unbloody things and after the killing of the Lamb of God there is to be no more life offered for our offences This Feast our Saviour did first of all celebrate with his twelve Disciples §. 3. And it was but fit that he should do so that he might the better answer to the Type in Exod. 29. where we read that Aaron the High Priest with his sons was to eat the breast and shoulder of the Ram of consecration whereby he was sanctified to officiate in the Priesthood Even so our Lord being to be offered up in Sacrifice and thereby to be consecrated an high Priest did institute this Supper that together with his Disciples he might as much as is possible feast with them upon that Sacrifice And seeing our Saviours Sacrifice answered both to the Paschal Lamb and the propitiatory Sacrifice on the day of Expiation it will be no wonder if it were so compleat as to have reference to this also The time when it was first instituted was in the night when he was betrayed for at the Even they celebrated the Passeover which makes some I suppose to keep the memory of Christs death in the close of the day But if they think that they must exactly follow that precedent they should do it after Supper And I rather think that the manner of receiving about noon is most agreeable to the true pattern For we do not remember the Supper of the Lord but his Sacrifice on the Cross And therefore as the Jews feasted at Even because they came out of Aegypt at that time so should we feast about Noon because our Lords death began between nine and twelve and ended about three of the Clock as you will clearly see by comparing the relation of S. Mark and S. John together It is said John 19.14 that it was about
the Blood he sprinkled on the Altar which represented God and the other half he sprinkled on the people ver 6 7 8. as a token of the Covenant between them But for compleating of the Compact the chief of the people went up nearer to God and saw that bright appearance and did eat and drink ver 11. which sure must be understood of their feasting upon the Peace-offerings which had been sacrificed unto God whereby they professed to own that Covenant he had given to them Not long after this people made to themselves other gods and offered not onely burnt-offerings but also peace-offerings to them Exod. 32.6 and then sate down to eat and driuk and rose up to play i. e. to be wanton and commit uncleanness with each other Now that this was an associating of themselves with the Egyptian gods we may learn from the Apostle who reciting of this passage and speaking of their Idolatry makes no mention at all of their sacrificing to these new gods but onely of this eating c. which did conclude the Ceremony as if the Idolatry did formally consist in this and that hereby they did devote themselves to that strange Worship Neither be you Idolators saith he 1 Cor. 10.8 as were some of them as it is written the people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play By which words you may see the Apostle makes account that this eating and drinking of the sacrifices was a renouncing of the Covenant of their God and joyning of themselves to idols Now because it was the manner as it seems of some of the Corinthians still to feast in the Idols Temples and perhaps in the Temple of Venus famous in that City which makes the Apostle add those words ver 8. Neither commit fornication as some c. He tells them that this was a plain forsaking of Christ and utterly incompatible with his Profession For the vouching of which assertion he reminds them what the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord doth import viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 participation or communion of the Body and Blood of Christ ver 16 17. which is as much as to say it is a profession that we as one body partaking of one bread do hold communion with Christ and adhere unto him as our Lord and Head and that to his Worship and Service we do consecrate our selves For just as Israel by eating of the sacrifices partake of or have communion with the Altar ver 18. i. e. profess to be of that Religion and adhere to that way of Worship So it is with Christians when they eat of the Body and Blood of the crucified Saviour which was offered for us And therefore by a likeness of Reason he concludes That to partake of the Table of Devils and eat of things sacrificed to them was to profess to have communion with those impure spirits and thereby to desecrate themselves it being impossible for them at once to be devoted to things so quite contrary as Christ and the Devil ver 20 21. From all which discourse we may thus reason That this holy Sacrament is a Feast upon the Sacrifice which Christ offered as the Jewish Feasts were made with the flesh of those sacrifices which they offered to God For the Apostle makes the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ ver 16. parrallel to eating of the sacrifices ver 18. And therefore it is a rite whereby we solemnly addict our selves to the service and Worship of Christ and take upon our selves strict engagements to be faithfull in that Covenant that is between us which is the thing that was to be proved As Israel joined themselves to God by feasting in his house of the Sacrifices so we joyn our selves to Christ by feasting in the place of his Worship and at his Table upon the remembrances of his body and blood And our obligations to cleave unto him do as much excel all other tyes in their sacredness strength and vertue as the Sacrifice of Christ excels the Sacrifice of a Beast or the eating and drinking of his Body and Blood is beyond all participation of the meat of the ancient Altars Yea it is supposed that we are the friends of God before we come hither and that we are not in any willing uncleanness else we should be shut out from partaking of this offering And therefore our approach to his Table is but more strongly to tye the knot and to bind us in deeper promises to continue friendship with him If more can be said then this I may add that the eating of this sacrifice is a solemn Oath that we will be true and loyal to him For even Heathens themselves did use by sacrifice to bind themselves in Oaths From whence it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies that sacrifice which was slain when they made a covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. and in regard of its relation to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred the Oath-sacrifice And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut this sacrifice in Homers phrase is to make a Covenant which it is likely may be taken from the Hebrew custome mentioned Jer. 34.18 And to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the warm intrails of the beast was the greatest Oath that could be made When we lay our hands therefore upon the body of Christ that was sacrificed for us and much more when we eat of it we do solemnly take our Oaths that we will be his faithfull foederates and rather die then shrink from those duties to which we bind our selves IV. If there be any that look upon eating and drinking of this bread and wine onely as symbols of beleeving in Jesus Christ the matter draws to the same point for faith is the condition of the Covenant of Grace and comprehends in its signification all that God requires So some of the Ancients expound those words Joh. 6. ver 54. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life to signifie thus much He that is made partaker of my wisdom through my incarnation and sensible life among men shall be saved For flesh and blood saith Basil he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist 141. ad Caesar all the mystery of his incarnation and conversation here in the flesh amongst us together with his doctrine which he hath taught us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. by which the soul is nourished and fitted for the sight of coelestial things and therefore eating and drinking of these must denote embracing of all Christ so as to be conform to him and to his doctrine If then we take the body and blood of Christ in this Supper represented to us to signifie the same and eating and drinking to be onely believing yet you may easily see to how much we are engaged if we do really believe But it is manifest to me that eating and drinking here must comprehend more then it doth in St. John for
demand more of us then we will give of our own good will unto our God Shall not love engage us faster then any other bands Hath not God given unto us the principal and requires nothing back again but a little small pittance for his poor Alas my soul we are too much behind-hand with him already and have run too far in arrears For how many years have we lived in the world and given nothing considerable unto his uses we are so much indebted that way that we had need now to be more open-handed and make satisfaction for our unjustice But then what shall we give him for himself and for his Son if we be so much bound unto him for these temporal things O my soul once more consider what gift we shall present our Lord withall Are not thy first thoughts below the proportion of his love Is it not too little that thou hast consecrated to his service Come my Soul and open thy heart it is to a good friend even unto thy God never stand upon it but double the summe and for every peny thou first thought of write down two for God hath prospered us beyond all our thoughts Or if we have not thriven perhaps it is because we gave no more Let us try therefore this way of thriving by offering liberally unto God and see how he will improve our goods for us And I wish heartily that men would try not onely for their souls sake but for the good of their bodies and the welfare that I wish unto their posterities For there is no such sure way of enlarging or preserving an estate as doing good with it and giving out of it to those that need By this means we do not so much leave God in trust for our children as make him become their debtor who will pay them back again with large use and advantage I would not have writ so many lines of this subject if I did not fear that mens Charity comes from them by drops and those drops likewise are expressed by accident and chance rather then by any advised thoughts And therefore I desire that this part of our Religion may be made more serious and have a deeper foundation in our hearts so that we should study what sum of money God may justly expect from us to whom he hath given so much Now a fitter time there cannot be to meditate of this then before our approaches to the solemn remembrance of Gods bounty and liberality towards us VI. We are likewise to endeavour that all the passions and affections of our souls may be quieted and stilled We must take some pains with them that they may be so mortified and deadned to the world that then they may not be too quick and lively and hinder our Meditations of heavenly things For this as you have seen is a spiritual banquet and the food gives no nourishment but what we receive by meditation by serious thoughts and affections which can find no place but onely in still and quiet souls When the body feasts a great part of the good Cheer is pleasant discourse and innocent mirth and there is no welcome unless there be some noise But the soul feasts in silence it eats its morsels in a deep and calm thought its pleasure is in conference with its self and God and all the sound is onely the voice of thanksgiving in hymns or Psalms of Praises to God into which at last it breaks and utters its self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Dost not thou know saith Chrysostome that thy soul ought to be big with a calm at that season when thou goest so near unto God There is need of a great deal of peace and tranquility and there should be no tumults of anger and such like passions since thou thinkest of the God of Love The Sun of Righteousness shines so hot upon thee that thou shouldest be as smooth and fair as the face of the water in the brightest day Thou shouldest labour that there may not be a wrinkle upon thy brow that all thy storms may be so husht and lay'd as if thou heard'st thy Saviours voice saying Peace be still And therefore all holy men have taken an especial care when they were going to the Table of the Lord to renew their acts of forgiveness and passing by all injuries and offences to reconcile themselves perfectly to their Brethren and repair any wrong that they could possibly conceive themselves to have done to others which before they had not observed I have in the beginning of this Discourse prevented all mistakes so that none can reasonably think that he may harbour malice in his heart and bear a grudge in his mind unto his neighbour with sufficient safety at other times so he do but discharge all these black passions when he approaches unto God And my meaning now is That seeing we come to this Feast that we may more encrease our love we ought to search if there be but any spark of anger that lies buried in our souls and take care that it be perfectly quenched And seeing there will be many occasions of differences among Neighbours that we ought now to consider if there were any heats in the management of them and if any seeds of fire yet remain that they may utterly be extinguished and never break forth again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys Orat. 60. ad Pop. Antioch Vid. etiam Hom. 3. in Epist ad Ephes Dare a man touch this holy Sacrifice with unwashen hands How dare he then approach with an unwashed and polluted soul Now there is nothing that doth more soot and black a soul then an abideing anger which causeth the holy Spirit to flie away and as I may say driveth it out of its lodging as fire doth us to seek some other habitation Valerius Maximus tell us Cui praeter cognatus affines nemo interponebatur L. 2. c. 1. Sect. 8. that there was a solemn Feast appointed by their Ancestors which they called Charistia to which none but those that were of kin or had some affinity were permitted to approach I am sure to the Eucharistia the Sacrament of Love and Peace none shall be welcome but those that are the friends and kindred of Christ and are allied to each other in a brotherly affection We must all as you have seen already come hither as children to feast with our Father and if there be any displeasure in our hearts to one another he cannot be well pleased nor give us such an entertainment as we expect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Procâ—â—s in Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. l. 5. which Heiasius saith is in some editions of the LXX in Isa 24.16 Remember that then which Clemens Alex. saith he found in some Gospel My mysteries or secrets are to me and the children of my Family Unless you be the children of Peace think not to penetrate into his
of a thousand Masters which will teach us all decent carriage and beseeming expressions to the person whom we love You need not tell one that is in Love what he shall say or how he shall make his Addresses c. but Love it self is his Tutor which is full of wit and invention which forms it self into apt expressions and puts on becomeing gestures and turns it self into all arts of insinuation I have read in an Anonymous Author That he knew some Religious persons who all the while they were at this feast did nothing else but only cry with heart and tongue I love thee O my Jesus truly I love thee O my Jesus reiterating this above an hundred times and professing that they found a singular comfort and consolation in these throbs and beatings of love in their heart unto him It seems their love taught them that their Lord would be best pleased if they threw themselves into his arms as it were and told him that they were so full of love that they could not hold and yet were so inebriated that they could not tell what to say but only that they loved him But he saith he knew others that would say nothing but endeavoured to keep their soul from all thoughts whatsoever that they might hear the voice of Christ within them when all their affections were husht and still It should seem that their Love taught them that it would be best to be so modest as to let their Lord speak first or rather speak all and they sit and hearken to his sweet voice within them alluring them to himself Thus Love guides every man according to the temper and complexion of his soul to make his Addresses in that manner which will be most pleasing to his Saviour and breed most contentment to himself But this very love that is thus quick and sharp and knows how to tell its mind and obtain its end is of that nature that it will enquire of others if they can afford it any assistance that may polish and refine it to a higher degree of purity And as you have seen in the former discourse That holiness consists of several actions of our life very different and various so it is here to be considered that love delights to break forth in several acts and the soul finds vent for it self in divers manners according as the objects presented do open a passage and make their way into our heart Now it will be but fit that when we come to remember the great love of our Lord we should let the expressions of our love be as various as we can and suffer our souls to burst out as many wayes as there are occasions offered When there is an holy fervour inkindled in them let them exhale in sundry thoughts and divers breathings of a devout affection that they may send up a perfume of many spices unto Heaven Only if we feel our hearts exhale and evaporate in one thought or desire more than another with such a freedome and pleasure as though they had a mind to spend themselves in that alone let us not stop the passage of those sweet odours nor quench that ardency of our spirits by turning them to any other thing But rather let us help it forward till we find it grow weak and languishing and then it will be most profitable and pleasant also to open some other port at which the soul may sally forth upon a new object and be encountred with fresh delights And truly considering that I have already led you by the hand as far as the Table of the Lord methinks I might leave you there to your own Meditations upon that matter which I have prepared to your thoughts Those minds that are impregnated with good motions should be all ready methinks to teem forth themselves into most proper Meditations at the sight of their dearest Lord without any further directions But yet I consider again that the strongest Army for want of Order and good Discipline may do but little service and that a throng of thoughts if they be not well ranged and disposed may thrust themselves forward to the disturbance and hindrance of each other And therefore I shall endeavour to set those thoughts which I conceive will be in all good minds in their right place that they may issue forth and second each other to our greatest advantage and the doing of us most acceptable service CHAP. XIV IT will be well becoming Christian Piety to welcome the day that brings our Saviour so near unto us with acts of joy and thanksgiving for the approach of so great a blessing And since one night may breed too great a damp and chilness upon our spirits it will be very wholesome to renew those thoughts and affections that we left there when we went to bed and so go to the House of God in a sense of our unworthiness to entertain so glorious a Person and in a sense of sinne which is the cause of that unworthiness together with a joy in our souls and praises upon our tongues that he will forgive them humbly desiring of the Lord that he will accept of us for his habitation and that he will come and enlarge our souls by a holy love to him and longing after him that there may be room for his Sacred Majesty and a place clean and dressed for to receive him And then when the time comes that this holy service begins we must put on such affections as are most agreeable to the several parts of the action As first We must solemnly and devoutly joyn with the Minister in those Confessions Prayers and Thanksgivings which he thinks fit to use And Secondly When he invites us in Christs Name to come and receive him let us adore the goodness of God that will call us to his own Table and let us compose our selves to a thankfull reverence that we may receive this Heavenly Food And Thirdly We ought diligently to attend unto those Exhortations and Perswasions which he shall use and to endeavour that our hearts may be affected with them But these are such things as you can easily instruct your selves about and therefore I will apply my Discourse to more particular considerations I. When you see the Minister stand at the Table of the Lord to consecrate the Bread and Wine by Prayer and the words of Christs Institution then send up an act of wonder and admiration that the Son of God should become the food of souls by dying for us Then these words so anciently used Sursam Corda Lift up your hearts should sound in all our ears and our souls should spread their wings that by the divine inspirations they may be mounted unto Heaven in adoring thoughts Nothing more becomes this Sacred Mystery than such a dumb admiration and the love of our Lord is not better praised by any thing than loquacissimo illo silentio as Erasmus his phrase is by that most talkative silence When the apprehensions
that takes away the sins of the World Is not thy soul in him well pleased Is not his Body as really in the Heavens as the signs of it are here in our hands Hear good Lord the cry of his Wounds Let us prevail with thee through the virtue of his sacrifice Let us feel yea let all the World feel the power of his intercession Deny us not O Lord seeing we bring thy Son with us Hear thy Son O Lord though thou wilt not hear us and let us let all others know that he lives and was dead and that he is alive for evermore Amen And secondly It is a seasonable time to profess our selves Christians and that we will take up our Cross and follow after him This taking of the bread we should look upon as a receiving the yoke of Christ upon our neck and laying his Cross upon our shoulder if he think fit We embrace a crucified Jesus and we are not to expect to live in pleasures unless they be spiritual nor to rejoice with the world but to endure affliction and account it all joy when we fall into manifold temptations Protest therefore unto him that thou lovest him as thou seest him stript and naked bruised and wounded slain and dead and that thou art contented to take joyfully the spoiling of thy goods to be pleased with pains and to count death the way to life V. When we eat it is a fit season to put forth these two acts of faith 1. Let us express our hearty consent that Christ shall dwell within us that we will be ruled by his Laws and governed by his Spirit that he shall be the alone King of our souls and the Lord of all our faculties and that we will have no other Master but onely him to give commands within us Eating I told you is a foederal rite and therefore when we have swallowed this bread we should think that we have surrendred all up into his hands and put him into full power over our souls And we should think also that we have given him the possession of our souls for ever and engaged never to change our Master For eating is more receiving then taking a thing with our hands It is as it were the incorporating of the thing with the substance of our bodies and making it a part of our selves that it may last as long as we So should we meditate that we receive the Lord Jesus never to be separated from his service for ever to adhere unto him as our Prince and Captain as our Head and Husband wheresoever his Commands will lead us And as we open our hearts thus to receive him so let us now fold him in our arms and embrace him with a most cordial affection Let the fire burn now and make us boyl up yea even run over with love to him Now is the time not onely to give our selves to him but to make a sacrifice of our selves as a whole burnt-offering unto God Now should we lay our selves on the Altar of the Lord to be offered up intirely to him who made his soul an offering for sin That there may not only be a representative but a real sacrifice at this Feast unto Heaven i.e. that we may not only shew forth the sacrifice of Christ and represent it before God but we our selves may offer up our souls and bodies unto him and send them up in flames of love as so many Holocausts to be consumed and spent in the service of our God Then let us wish for the flames of a Seraphim in the love of God for the cheerfulness and speed of a Cherubim in the service of God and for the voice of an Angel that we may sing the praises of God Let us like our choice so well and think that we are so beholden to him that we may give our selves to him as to begin to leap for joy that we have parted with our selves and are become his And as a token that we give our selves and all we have to God we should now think upon those offerings we intend to make for the poor members of Jesus Christ and desire the Lord to accept of our gifts which we present him withall as earnests of our selves which we have consecrated unto him And perhaps now our hearts may be stirred with so great compassion and our bowels may be so feelingly moved that our Charity may overflow the banks that we had set it and the fire that is within us may require a fatter and larger offering then we designed But howsoever we cannot but deal our bread to the hungry with a more cheerfull hand and give our Almes with a freer heart when we have received the Bread of Life into our hands and hearts and felt what the huge Charity of our Lord was toward us most miserable and wretched Creatures 2. A second Act of faith which we should now exercise is this Let us really believe that all the blessings of the New Covenant are made over to us by this giving and receiving of his sacred body Let thy soul say My beloved is mine as I am his Be confident and well assured that if thou wast hearty in the former act of saith thou shalt as certainly receive pardon and grace and strength and salvation as thy mouth thou art sure eateth the holy Bread The former Act was a receiving him as our Lord and this as our Saviour Think therefore that now Christ dwelleth in thee and thou in him that as he must be Master of the house so thou shalt partake of all his riches of all his honour and pleasure And so begin to ransack his treasures desire him to spread before thee his inestimable riches pray him to shew thee if it be but a little glimpse of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints And what joy will this create in thy soul when thou thinkest that thou and Christ are one that thou art united to his most precious Body and shall certainly receive all the benefits of his Death and Passion O what ravishment should it be unto us to believe that sin shall not have dominion over us that the Blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all unrighteousness that the flames of Hell shall never touch us that death is swallowed up in victory that the grave is buried in the Wounds of our Saviour that we are sealed with the mark of God and consigned to a blessed immortality and shall inherit the joys of our Lord With what boldness now may we renew our requests to him and importunately plead with him for a supply of all our wants We may put up stronger cries now that we conceive he is in us and intreat him since it is his pleasure to be so familiar with us that we may be filled with all the fulness of God O my Lord may a soul say if thou lovest me so much fulfill in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness 2 Thes 1.11 and the work of faith