Church in the most sutable manner to work in men a deep impression Therefore as God himself in order to satisfy Moses more fully that his People should not perish nor so much as diminish under the Thraldom of Egypt shewed him a Bush continuing still whole and entire in the midst of a great Fire and in order they might be more firmly perswaded that tho they were in a wilderness they were under Gods protection he made them go all the way under a Cloud that when soever there should happen any staggering in their Belief both Moses and the People might strengthen it Moses by remembring the Bush and the People by minding the Cloud to the same purpose hath Christ ordained some Visible Signes in his Church to compleat her common Faith and to assure this truth to every one who comes to him that he shall be cleansed of his sins as certainly as it is certain he sees some water which is the ordinary means for washing and that he shall be kept up and fed with a supply of all necessary Blessings as certainly and really as it is real and certain he tasts and takes in this Bread and Wine which are the ordinary means for preserving our life and strength 4. Besides because the Sacraments are designed not only to perswade us more strongly of the truth and Being of the Things but also to acquaint us more familiarly and sensibly with their Condition and nature these Sacraments must have in their natural constitution some known Qualities that make them fit for this Sacramental office Such hath the Water for example which was so deservedly chosen for the use of holy Baptism because of the proper virtue it hath of washing the things that are fowl of reviving and refreshing them that are dry and of making fruitful the Barren Hereupon S. Austin saies plainly that unless the holy Sacraments had some such agreement with the Holy Things which they are set up to represent they could not be Sacraments at all Epist 23. ad Bonif. 5. So the blessed Communion is made of two such Elements as can forthwith expose to the sight and sense of all men the true ground of its Sacramental and significative Function This function is twofold the first to represent Christs Sufferings and the second to represent the Blessing and the Benefit which we receive from these Sufferings The first I say to represent Christs Sufferings This Bread and Wine could neither sustain nor refresh me had not their intrinsecal Substance lost its first condition and estate that is if the one had never fallen under the Sickle the threshing the Milstone the Fire and the other under the Hook the Trampling and the Press of bandmen Nor doth the Son of God save me but by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philip. 2.7 emtying himself in a manner for a while of his first glory in Heaven and by losing that second life which he had taken in Bethlehem This Blessed Savior is not a Savior by the strength of all the Miracles which He did about Judea nor by any thing that He could suffer as long as He would keep himself alive when he was made fast to his Cross As the best Harvest is not yet Bread as long as it stands in the Field nor is the best Corn Bread likewise as long as 't is kept whole in the Floor both Corn and Harvest being no more then antecedent Matter for mans Food Jesus living in Galilee Jesus teaching about the Temple Jesus commanding Storms and Waves when he did walk upon the Sea if he had proceeded no further could not have bin the Bread of life it must be Jesus suffering Jesus crucified Jesus dying the grinding Mill and the burning Fire have of this Corn made me this Bread and nothing less then Cross Wounds Death my Lord my God! could of thy dearest Son make my Savior 6. I say secondly this Eucharistical Bread is instituted to represent the Fruit and Benefit which we receive both at the Holy Table and upon all other occasions from Christs Sufferings to wit Maintenance and Improvement of life As without Bread and Wine or somthing answerable to it the strongest Bodies soon decay so without the virtue of the Body and Blood of Christ the best and holiest Souls must infallibly starve and perish The Body of the Lord as it was offered up to God in Sacrifice is the Truth represented by the Passover and as represented to us at the Holy Communion is the Truth and Accomplishment typified by the Manna The one is as it were the Seed and the Original Principle whence we are born and the other as the Bread wherewith we live That is to say as Bread and Wine do not produce but keep up that animal Life which another Cause hath produced so doth our Lord Jesus by a necessary and continual supply of strength and Grace represented by Bread and Wine sustain improve and set sorward that Spiritual Life and new Being which He hath procured us by his Cross 7. For Jesus the second Adams being seiz'd as He hung on the Cross with that deep sleep which God daused to fall upon him gave this new Being to his Church out of that side which at his Passion was opened and the Blood and Water which then gushed out of his Wounds are the true Principles of life by reason of which his spouse the Church may be called Eve that is true and everlasting Liver Before she had this new original out of her Saviors Passion her Husbands sleep she by her old Extraction was a very Daughter of Death and a Mother of such Children as could pretend to no better Inheritance then Curse and Wrath. Ephes 2.2 By the course of Nature our Life is but a sad Progress from Birth to Death and by the course of Gods Justice a sadder Motion such as is that of condemned Persons from Prison to the Place of their Execution But whilst we were daily passing on to that most dreadful Punishment the Son of God lookt on us and took our Condemnation upon himself and under it dyed in our steed Thus by the Death and satisfaction of this Victim Justice gave way to my Release God the Father forgave my Sin and God the Son procured my Life This Grace is the first Purchace of Christs Blood the first Irradiation of Gods mercy and the first Breath of spiritual Life in our Nostrils 8. But alas how soon would this first life vanish away were it not presently followed and supported by a second How soon would the removal of the former be frustrated by the commission of other Sins And since I am no sooner born in sin then dead in it how hard would it be without more help in this corrupted condition to keep dead Lazarus from Rottenness Therefore the Body and Blood of Christ once Sacrificed on the Cross to help this first procures a second Life that preserves whomsoever it saves out of this stupid death in sin it helps
pass away and the power which the other hath to take and enjoy what is given him Now Christ and his Estate his Happiness and his Glory his Eternity and his Heaven are not Things that may be moved more easily then the Mountains or the Earth and therefore not to be disposed of in any other real manner then great immoveable Estates are Therefore the Kingdom of Israel was once conferred upon David with some drops of that Sacred Oil which Samuel poured on his head 1 Sam. 16.13 The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is in full value and Heaven with all its fulness is in sure Title instated on true Christians by those small portions which they receive at the Blessed Communion the Minister of Christ having as to this effect as much power from his Master for what he acts as any Prophet or any Angel ever had for what they did 9. Hence it appears what crime it is not to discern the Lords Body It is to do worse then Esau did who sold his Birthright for a trifle it is to value at the same rate the Anointing of a Prophet and the composition of a Perfumer it is to take the Lords Body for a despicable Morsel of Bread In a word 't is to perform the action of a Beast that devours but the gross and earthy Matter of this Sacrament and have nothing of a Christian or rational creature who elevates his Soul to that Body which by Christs institution it represents and to the Price of that Body which it promises For since the proper essence of Sacred signs or Sacraments consists not in what they are in their nature but in what they signify by divine institution hence it happens infallibly that when the Sacraments are abused the injury must needs light not upon them in their own natural Being Bread Wine and Water which upon this account are not at all considerable but upon the Holy mysteries the Body and Blood of Christ himself who is the main object of their formal Being that is their Signification And therefore the Apostle speaks most exactly when he saies that whosoever eats of this Bread unworthily doth not discern or doth not sanctify but uses as a common and profane thing the very Body of Jesus Christ 11. In this profane want of Discerning 't is hard to say whether the Sin or the Punishment be the greater For the sin is abominable since not the Bread but Christ himself suffers the wrong the Bread being not here concerned at all nor more abused by the Villain that abuses the Sacrament then is the Earth the water or any other common matter of human Bodies by the Murtherer that kills a Man or then are Brass and Marble by the Rebels who pull down their Princes Statues or then Parchment Paper and Ink by that unnatural Son who tears and tramples upon the Deeds and the last will of his Father Only there is this difference that in these last Instances the Outrage proceeds but from the Earth the Brass the Marble the Paper and other such common Matter to the Man King or Fathers persons who should have bin considered and who alone suffer the wrong whereas in abusing the blessed Sacraments the sin flys a great deal higher namely to the very Face of Jesus Christ for whose Body and Blood they stand So that as the Holy Communion is not exposed in the Church under the notion of Bread and Wine the faithful Communicants do appear there to receive Christ and the faithless to abuse Him 11. But if this Attemt is impious the Punishment that attends it is most dreadful It is a very sad mischance when Dogs or Apes tear like lose paper all to fitters the Titles and assurances of a good Estate and who would not pitty that wretch who in his mad Passion had thrown into the sea the very Keyes which were given him to Justify the Propriety of vast Treasures in such Houses as these keyes might open Blind Villains you cannot discern either among these Papers the Original Deeds of your Estate or among all these Instruments the keyes that might both assure and give you admittance to immense Riches Whensoever you eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup thus unworthily unhappy men you do not discern the Pledges of your Salvation nay most Impious as you are you neither discern nor will honor the Body and Blood of your Savior which would bring salvation to you At once both impious and unhappy men you despise and cast away from you both the Salvation and the Savior 12. Lord Jesu who hast ordained this Mystery for a Communion of thy Body for a Means of advancement and proficiency in Holiness and for an infallible Pledg of Eternal Salvation which thou hast purchased by thy Body and which thou preparest thy People to receive by this Proficiency in Holiness now Lord in mercy look on me help my unbelief increase my Faith and order the Soul of thy Servant who is to take these Holy Things Then since thou thy self originally givest them tho not immediatly but by the ministry of thy Disciples * Joh. 4.1 2. In giving them bless them also and bless them whilst I receive them that they may be efficacious to settle me in the Communion of thy Sufferings which they exhibit and shew forth to feed me with that living Bread which they present and to sanctify me for that eternal Happiness which they promise O Lord thou knowest my simpleness my Growning is not hid from thee look on a poor Sinner at thy Table as thou didst on him who hung by thy Cross O Lord my God remember me now when thou art come into thy Kingdom * Luke 23.42 Amen 13. Eternal Priest who art gon up on high there to receive Gifts for men fill my Heart I beseech thee with blessings out of thy holy Seat as now thou fillest my Mouth with the Holy Things of thy Church and so dispose me by thy Grace to eat both spiritually and really the Flesh of that Sacrifice which thou didst offer without the Gate and which this Sacrament sets before me here in thy Courts that thence I may be admitted into that Holyest Sanctuary which thy Sacrifice hath opened and which this Sacrament invites me to This is the Bread which the Lord hath prepared for his Children and which he sends me now by the hand of one of his Angels O that in the strength of this Meat I may walk as Elijah did my fourty daies or as Israel my fourty years and come at last to that Holy Mountain where without the help of any Bread or the Ministry of any Angels I shall see my God face to face Eternal and blessed and blessing Spirit of God bless me now and help me to drink so worthily of this fruit of the Vine that I may drink it new in the Kingdom of my Father Amen SECTION VI. Of the Holy Eucharist as it implies a Sacrifice And first of the Commememorative
cheerfully go on their way notwithstanding their own weakness and all the dangers of their life Thus here is a double Blessing which I wait for both what Aaron shewed by his Blood and what Melchisedek shewed by his Bread 13. Author of my Salvation and of these Mysteries which express it bestow on me these two Blessings which this Sacrament shews together Grace for Grace Mercy and strength to keep Mercy Hosanna O Son of David save and preserve Save me that I may not fall under the hand of the Destroyer and preserve me that after this Salvation I never fall by my own hand But keep and set forward in me notwithstanding all mine Infirmities the work of thy faithful Mercies Grant that I may not increase my Guilt by my abusing of what thou gavest My Savior my Preserver give me alwaies what thou givest once Create a new heart within me but bless and keep what Thou createst and increase more and more what Thou plantest O Son of God and Tree of Life feed with thy sap this tender Branch which without thee cannot but wither and strengthen in thee a bruised Reed which without thee cannot but fall Father of everlasting Compassions forsake not in the Wilderness a feeble Israelite whom thou hast brought a little way out of Egypt And let not this poor Soul of mine which thou hast blessed with some desires and helped a while with some tendency towards an Eternal Salvation ever faint and fall from the right way The Angel in the Wilderness could undoubtedly rain as much Manna as the Paschal Lambs could shed Blood Jesu the Truth both of those Lambs and of that Angel Thou art as able to perfect me with thy Blessings out of thy Throne as thou wert to redeem me by thy Sacrifice on thy Cross Jesu Author Object and Truth of this which by thine appointment I am bidden now to take perform in me by thy sufferings what Thou dost exhibit Eternal Life by this thy Body broken give also Nourishment and maintenance thereby to this same Life for this is the Bread of Heaven Amen SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a Means of Grace 1. HItherto we have considered this holy Sacrament first as a standing Memorial of that Passion wherein Christ Jesus once offered himself up to God as Sacrifice and secondly as a sign of that nutritive and corroborative Grace the true Efflux of that Sacrifice by which sign he daily offers himself to us under the notion of Meat For his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 And I ingeniously confess that the most general use of the blessed Communion runs upon these two Notions and that these two main Resemblances between the Bread and Christs Body which qualify the consecrated Bread and the consecrated Wine in the same manner to bear the Character of a Sacrament do likewise sufficiently qualify it to bear another honor which it enjoys of being called the Lords Body However it is most certain that when the Fathers call it so which Christ himself taught them to do they justify both His and their speech upon the account of resemblance and of this commerce most usual between Representations and objects represented of enterchanging their own names Read the 23. Epist of St. Austin ad Bonif. 2. So for example in the Prophetic Visions and Dreams which most commonly were nothing else then extemporary Sacraments of Things then revealed by God those are most constantly said to be these The 7 Ears of Corn are 7 years by the interpretation of Joseph Gen. 41.26 The seven Stars are seven Angels in the Revelation of St. John 1.20 The Sower is the Son of Man The Tares are the wicked The Harvest is the end of the World in the Parables of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.37.38.39 If by chance we meet with Pictures that represent the Tabernacle or the Ornaments of Aaron we usually say pointing at some of these Figures This is the outward Court this is the Sanctuary here is the brazen Altar and there you see the Plate of pure Gold that none was allowed to wear except the High Priest of Israel just as walking in the Palaces and Galleries of great Persons we say without thinking to speak improperly that we have seen the 12. Sibyls the 12. Cesars the Temple of Ephesus c. that is the Representations of all these Now 't is certain that no Visions nor Images have ever bin more intended for this end of Representing then the true Sacraments have bin therefore it were most unreasonable to think that these sacred Images should want that Priviledg which all other altho casual and profane are allowed to have viz. to take the name of their Objects Nay since the Paschal Lamb the Circumcision and the Baptism have it for one is called the Passover the other the Covenant and the other the Burial of Christ why should the Holy Communion be without it Besides it is not conceivable that Christ who had yet in his hands that Paschal Bread which was called by the Jews the Bread of Affliction which their Fathers did eat in Egypt because it was the Memorial of it may not be understood after the same manner when a moment after He calls it his Body 3. Nevertheless altho the literal and immediate sense of these Words This is my Body comes to no more as Tertullian and S. Augustin with many more have in express terms declared it and as all ancient liturgies must needs understand it whensoever they call the Eucharist Type Image or figure for the proper and immediate use of Images is to represent Things If they chance also to have them in themselves or to convey them over to others it is upon another account as being vessels or utensiles c. which office is extrinsecal to Sacraments Nevertheless I say the end of the blessed Communion the exigency and pious desire of Communicants and the strength of other Places of Scripture require a great deal more in the Eucharist then a meer Memorial or Representation 4. 1. The proper end of the holy Communion which is to make us partakers of Christ in another manner and degree when with faith and repentance wee take and tast those holy Mysteries then when with the like dispositions wee do hear the Holy Gospel 2. The Exigency and honest desire of Communicants who seek no more for a bare Representation or Remembrance of Christ crucified at this Holy Table then Mary and other devout women did for winding Sheets or Napkins about his Grave I want and seek my Savior himself and I watch for all the opportunities of coming to his Sacrament for the same purpose that once made S. Peter and S. Iohn run so fast to his Sepulcher because I hope to find Him there 3. Lastly the full sense and importance of other Places in Scripture which allow the Holy Communion a much greater Vertue then is that of representing only The Cup
his holy Seat For then it was the kindness of the Lord towards his first People as certainly He hath no less mercy for the second virtually to diffuse the Propitiation and strength of Holy Things from his Palace into their Tents and to bless them both inherently with all the Graces and imputatively with all the Right which could be conferred on them whose fault 't is not if they cannot either eat the Passover nearer the Temple or wait upon Christ at his Cross 13. Thus this great and Holy Mystery extends and communicates the Death of the Lord both as offering himself to God and as giving himself to Men. As he offered himself to God it enters me both into that mysterial Body which is reputed as dead with Christ and into their Society priviledg and Communion for whom He was pleased to dye it sets me among the precious stones of Aarons Ephod Exod. 28. close to the Breast and on the very shoulders of that Eternal Priest whilst he offers up himself and intercedes for his spiritual Isiael and by this means it conveyes to me the Communion of his Sufferings Philip 3.10 whence will infallibly proceed another Communion in all his Graces and Glories Under the second notion as He offers himself to Men the holy Eucharist is after the Sacrifice for sin the true Festival and Sacrifice of Peace offerings and the Table purposely set up to receive those Mercies that are sent down from the Altar Take and eat this is my Body which was broken for you And this is the Blood that was shed for you 14. Here then I wait at the Lords Table that both shews me what an Apostle who had Heaven for his School had the greatest mind to see and learn and offers me the richest Gift that a Saint can receive on Earth the Lord Jesus crucified Amen Jesu my Lord and my God give me all this which Thou showest and grant withal that I may both devoutly take and faithfully keep what Thou art pleased to give Bless this thine own Ordinance and make it of a true Sign an effectual Means of thy Grace then bless and sanctify my Heart also and make it a fit Temple for thy Mercies Certainly Thou wilt deal with me in these thy Mysteries O God of Truth according to thy faithfulness but dispose also my heart so towards the right using of them that I may safely wish it may be don according to my Faith O Father which art in Heaven here I offer up to thee my Soul and thou offerest to me thy Son The Oblation which I make is alas an unclean habitation to receive the Holy One of Israel and a Tent infected with Leprosy therein to Lodg the Saint of the Lord. Come in nevertheless come in high and Eternal Priest but wash thy house at thy coming Let no ill savor of the grave no more then that of Lazarus keep thee so far from the Sepulcher and from the vile condition wherein I ly but that thy power with thy Voice and thy Blood with thy Sacrament may reach to me to raise me up And let none of those uncleannesses that after the Law of Moses did defile them who came too near keep off the great Saint of the Lord from touching and healing me Evil Spirits enter somtimes into swept houses to make them foul * Matth. 12. But O Holy and hallowing Spirit of God draw nigh unto my Soul which of it self is foul already to make it clean I am a poor sinful and unless thou help a lost person but yet such as I am sinful and lost I wait for thy Salvation Come in O Lord with thy Salvation to a dying Man to make him whole to a sinner tyed hand and foot with the bonds of iniquity to release him to one who confesses his sins to absolve him Finally come in my Savior as thou didst to the Publican both to make me better and to save me O let this day Salvation come to this House Amen SECTION V. Of the Blessed Communion as being a Pledg of the Happiness and Glory to come 1. THe blessed Communion opens such a treasure of Blessings on the two sides which look towards the past or present Time as I have considered it as it may very well take up both all the eyes of Cherubins in beholding the Mysteries and all the hands of the numerous Israelites in gathering up all the Manna that it contains yet it hath one other side or prospect more which goes beyond the two former as much as the future Blessings exceed the present and as the Glory which we hope for exceeds the small degree of grace which we possess The blessed Communion which is a speciall Instrument ordained of Christ both to present a new as to our use his Passion and to convey on us the present Graces which flow out of this Passion doth there withall assure us likewise of all the Happiness to come whereof the received Graces are a hopeful Earnest and this Sacrament under this third notion is a certain Pledg 2. Now tho what is given before hand for Earnest and what is engaged by way of Pledg come all to one in point of Validity and obligingness yet they quite differ many times both in their use and in their intrinsecal value Whence it comes to pass that Earnests may be allowed upon account for part of the Payment which is promised whereas Pledges are recalled and taken back as the Seal and Staff of Juda once were Gen. 38. Thus for example zeal Charity and these degrees of Holiness which God bestowes at the use of holy Sacraments will remain still ours in Heaven and there make part of our Happiness whereas the Sacraments themselves shall be kept back and shall not appear more in Heaven then did the Cloudy Pillar in Canaan or do now the shadows of the Law under the time of the Gospel Certainly we shall have no need either of these sacred Images of Christ when we shall see him face to face or of these Pledges to assure us of that Glory which is to be revealed when we shall actually possess it But till that day the holy Communion hath this third use namely of being a Pledg and an assurance from the Lord that in his good time he will crown us with Everlasting Happiness 3. Our blessed Savior pointed at it when He said to his Disciple the Holy Cup being in his hand that he would drink no more of that Fruit till he should drink it new in the Kingdom of his Father Luk. 22.18 In the reall purpose of God his Church and Heaven go both together That being the way that leads to this as the Holy Place to the Holyest and both Holy Place and Holyest come to this one Thing which Christ calls the Kingdom of God Let them not whom He hath invited to eat and drink at Abrahams Table trouble themselves about the Room where our blessed Savior will feed them for tho it were but
pour out all our Grief our Prayers and our Praises before the Lord in so happy a conjuncture The primitive Christians did it so who did as seldom meet to preach or pray without a Communion as did the old Israelites to worship without a Sacrifice On solemn daies especially or upon great Exigencies they ever used this help of Sacramental Oblation as the most powerful Means the Church had to strengthen their Supplications to open the Gates of Heaven and to force in a manner God and his Christ to have compassion on them The People of Israel for the better performance of Prayer and Devotion went up to the Tabernacle and the Temple because besides other Motives both these were Figures of that Body which was to be sacrificed Wherefore Christ calls his Body this Temple Joh. 2.19 and the first Christians went up to their Churches there to meet with these Mysteries which do represent him both as already sacrificed and yet as in some sort offering and giving up himself Those in worshipping ever turned their Eyes their Hearts their hopes towards that Altar and Sacrifice whence the High Priest was to carry the Blood into the Sanctuary and these looking toward the Cross and their crucified Savior there through his Sufferings hope for a way towards Heaven being encouraged to this hope by the very Memorial which they both take to themselves and shew to God of these Sufferings Lastly Jesus our Eternal Priest being from the Cross where he suffered without the Gate gon up into the true Sanctuary which is Heaven there above doth continually present both his Body in true reality and us as Aaron did the twelve Tribes of Israel in a Memorial Exod. 28.29 and on the other side we beneath in the Church present to God his Body and Blood in a Memorial that under this shadow of his Cross and image of his Sacrifice we may present our selves before him in very deed and reality 5. O Lord who seest nothing in me that is truely mine but Dust and Ashes and which is worse sinful flesh and Blood look upon what I have of thee some small Remnant of thine Image some small beginnings of thy Grace and some light sparks of thy Spirit But because all these are defective supply them O Lord with thy mercy and with the Sacrifice of thy Son Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name and thine Anointed give the praise Turn thine Eyes O Merciful Father to the satisfaction and Intercession of thy Son who now sits at thy Right Hand to the Seals of thy Covenant which lye before thee upon this Table and to all the wants and distresses which also thou seest in my heart O Father glorify thy Son whom thou hast sent into this World O Son bless thou this Sacrament which thou hast ordained for thy Church and send with it some influence of that Spirit whom thou hast promised to all Flesh that by the help of these Mercies the World the Church our Flesh and Souls may glorify thee now and ever Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen SECTION VII Concerning the Sacrifice of our own Persons 1. IT is either the Error or the incogitancy of too many Christians which makes them somtimes beleive and oftener live as if under the Gospel there were no other Sacrifice but that of Christ upon the Cross It is very true indeed there is no other nor can there be any other sufficient and proper for this end of satisfiing Gods Justice and expiating our sins I have troden the Winepress alone and of the People there was none with me I looked and there was none to help Esay 63.3.5 In this respect tho the whole Church should in a Body offer up her self as a burnt Sacrifice to God yet could she not contribute more towards the bearing up or bearing away the wrath to come then all those Innocent souls who stood neer Jesus Christ when he gave up the Ghost did towards the darkning of the Sun or the shaking of the whole Earth But that which is not so much as useful much less necessary to this Eternal Sacrifice which alone could redeem Mankind is indispensably both necessary and useful that we may have a share in this Redemtion So that if the Sacrifice of our selves which we ought to offer up to God cannot procure Salvation it is absolutely necessary to receive it 2. As the old Law never introduced Aaron officiating before the Lord without the whole People of Israel represented both by the twelve stones on his Ephod and the two other on his shoulders Exod. 28.12.30 The Gospel most commonly describes Jesus Christ and his Church not only as two Parties that do nothing the one without the other but somtimes also as one Person alone as particularly 1. Cor. 12.12 Christ acts officiates and suffers for his Body in that manner that doth become the Head and the Church imitates and follows all the motions and sufferings of this heavenly and holy Head in such a manner as is possible to its weak Members 3. The main if not the whole Divinity of S. Paul as well in point of faith as of Christian life runs upon this Conformity both of actions and sufferings And that of S. Iohn likewise upon this same Communion The truth is Our Savior had neither Birth nor Death nor Resurrection here on Earth but such as we ought to conform us to as he hath neither Ascention nor Throne nor Everlasting life nor Glory but such as we may also have in Heaven common with him 4. This Conformity or likeness to Christ which as the Hebrewes use to spake is the foundation and Pillar that is the grand Principle of the whole Christian institution relates more directly to our duty about his Sufferings and then to our happiness about his Exaltation And the Communion which is the other great fundamental that S. Iohn hath still in his Mouth points more at this and presupposes that And both make up a full Comment upon the words which our Savior so often commanded his Disciples to follow him thereby signifiing both the Labor and the success of this most Important Journy for without doubt we shall follow him into Heaven if we will follow him here on Earth and we shall have Communion with him in his Glory if we will keep Conformity with him here in his Sufferings 5. These three expressions to Follow to be like or have Conformity and to have Communion which are the most essential Clauses in the charter and charge of christianity are not to be limited to the imitation of Christs Moralls only as when he bids us be Holy as he is Holy c. but they oblige all his Disciples to follow and imitate him likewise as much as in them lies throughout all the other parts of his life and the very functions of his Offices For we must be regenerated in his Birth dye on his Cross be buried in his Grave bear his shame in his Tribulations in
we do Act. 2.37 He shall fall amazed at that Stroke of Divine Justice that being offended but by Men could not be sanctified nor appeased but by the sufferings and death of God How dreadful is this Place how deep and holy is this Mystery Then he will fall again to worshipping not less amazed at then thankful for those inconceavable Mercies of God the Father who so gave up his only Son and for the Mercies of God the Son who thus gave himself up for us 11. My Lord and my God! I behold here in this Bread made of a Substance that was cut down beaten ground and bruised by men all the heavy Blows and Plagues and Pains which my Savior did suffer from the hands of his Murtherers I behold in this Bread dryed up and baked and burnt at the Fire the fiery wrath also which he suffered for me from above and from the hand of his own Father My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken him the violence of wicked men first hath made him a Martyr then the Fire of Heaven hath made him a Burnt sacrifice and under both these Sufferings lo he is become to me the Bread of Life Let us then go to take and eat it For tho the Instruments that bruised him be broken to pieces and the direful Flames that burned him be quite put out yet this Bread which is the Body of the Lord continues new The Spears and Swords that slew and the Burnings that compleated the Sacrifices are many years since scattered and spent but the strength and sweet smell of the Oblation is still fragrant the Blood still warm the words still fresh and the Lamb still standing as slain * Rev. 5.6 Any other Bread by duration will alter and any other Sacrifice will lose its strength but Thou most Eternal victime offered up to God through the Eternal Spirit by an everlasting Priest and by an Order which can never be changed Thou remainest alwaies the same and as thy years shall never fail they shall never lose nor abate any thing of thy saving strength and mercy help O help me also that they abate nothing of my Faith Help me to grieve for the sense of my sins and for that of thy pains as those good Souls did who saw thee suffer †Luke 23.27 Let not my heart burn with less Zeal to follow and serve thee now when this Bread is broken at this Table then did the hearts of thy Disciples when thou didst break it in Emaus * Luke 24.32 O Rock of Israel Rock of Salvation Rock struck and cleft for me let those two streams of Blood and Water which once gushed out of thy side †Joh. 19.34 when the Curse of the Law and the Rod of Moses had opened it bring down with them Salvation and Holiness into my Soul tho far distant from the Mountain where thou didst receive that deadly Blow And let not my Soul less thirst after them at this distance then if I stood upon Horeb whence sprung this water and near the very Cleft of that Rock the very Wounds of my Savior whence gushed out this Sacred Blood All the distance of Times and Countries how great soever which is between Adam and me doth not keep his Sin or his Punishment any more from pursuing and reaching me then if I had bin born in his house and notwithstanding this distance we sin and dye after his Image as if we were immediatly sprung from his Loines Second Adam Adam descended powerful from above let thy Blood reach as far and come as freely both to save and to sanctify as the Blood of my first Father did both to destroy and defile me Blessed Jesu who revivest by this Sacrament the Memory of thy Sacrifice quicken and strengthen my faith also dispose my mind prepare my heart and then bless this thine Ordinance If I but touch in that manner I ought to do the Hem of his Garment the Garment of his Passion virtue will proceed out of Him it shall be done according to my Faith and my poor Soul shall be made whole Amen SECTION III. Of the blessed Sacrament as it stands for a Sign of present Graces 1. THe second Face of the blessed Communion looks towards the present Graces that attend the right use of it first as a Figure whereby God represents secondly as a moral Instrument whereby he is pleased to convey them unto the Church First I say it marks and signifies these present Graces For being of its own nature a Sacrament that is a sign of an Invisible Grace it must principally stand to signify and lead us to greater Blessings 2. It is the ordinary way of God when He either promises or bestowes on men any considerable Blessing to confirm his word and his Gift with the addition of some Signs For this I need not to alledg other Evidences then the Rainbow the Burning Bush Abrahams Furnace Gideons Fleece the Cloud the Ark c. which for those times were Sacraments of great Things God commonly sent no Prophets without giving them as it were a Sacramental Equippage which could represent in some degree the Message they had to deliver witness the Hairy Mantels the rent Garments the Iron Yoakes the Hornes some times some kinds of life or Gesture wherein men might see before hand the Charges and sad Predictions which they were to hear soon after Our Savior did observe this same method when he laid his hands on Children when he breathed upon his Disciples when he bad them to anoint the Sick and when he cursed the Fig-tree All men by a naturall instinct do somwhat like this when they second their Expressions with some signs and motions of their Body tho they think of no Mysteries So that you hardly can hear any man being somwhat earnest and serious upon any matter whether of Request or complaint Submission or Excuses but you may see him at the same time either bowing the knee or joining his hands or uncovering his head which Acts are in a manner civil and natural Sacraments to confirm his Expression 3. The truth is such is the disposition of most men that how strongly soever they be perswaded of the Truth which they hear yet will they be far better wrought upon towards their own perswasion when they see some signs of this Truth And tho a true Israelire doubts not at all of the presence of his God nor a faithfull Disciple of the promise given him that he shall receive the Holy Ghost when Moses and Christ have once passed their Word for these two Things yet will their Faith be much strengthned when one sees the Ark and the Cloud which were the Sacrament of that and when the other receives the Breath which was the Sacrament of this Now the Mystery of the Cross and of the Salvation that followes it is of that high and important nature as might justly oblige the Son of God to propose them to his