is my Blood which is shed for you This Meditation hath three Points and Obiects I. The body and blood of Iesus Christ in these words My Body My Blood II. The Oblation of this Body and of this Blood in these words Which is broken which is shed III. The Fruit of this oblation intimated in these words Broken For You Shed For Many for the remission of Sinnes In the first of these when you heare Iesus Christ proposing his body and his blood the meditation then required of you is That it being so that we have so expos'd our selues to the wrath and so incurred the indignation and revenge of God by reason of our sinnes and transgressions that the Iustice of God must bee satisfied consequently that either wee must beare Gods wrath and malediction and so for ever stoop and faint vnder the heavie burthen thereof or else that some other thing must bee substituted in our steed and place to satisfie the Iustice of God But nothing could bee found out in the whole world to bee appointed in the place of man and worthily to satisfie for his sinnes From the beginning of the world beasts have beene offered and these Sacrifices of beasts by the sense and feeling which our conscience hath ever given to men of a sufficient valable satisfactiō for sin have been practised in all the whole world In the old Law a man came and put his hands on the head of the beast which was to bee sacrificed as putting her in his place and roome with an intent and hope to discharge and transferre his sinnes on her but contrariwise natural reason sheweth that that could no way appease or satisfie God For Gods Iustice being of it selfe most perfect can no way content it selfe with a payment or satisfaction so vnequall and imperfect to the Debt because all the beasts of the Earth placed and numbred vp together are not equivalent or to bee compared in valew to one man Heer then O here is the Sacrifice or Victime after which without knowing it all the world sighed and respired in offering these Sacrifices and this is the Sacrifice which all others ought to reverence and looke on When therefore you heare Iesus Christ saying This is my Body you must figure and represent him to you as proffering and offering vp to God his Father these admirable words and speeches recited by the Apostle to the Hebrewes Hebr. 10. Thou wilt have no Sacrifice or offering but thou hast given and appropriated mee a body Thou hast taken no delight in Sacrifices And then I haue said heer I am I come And in the beginning of the Booke it is written of mee that I doe thy will O God So heer Christ Iesus comming to present himself in the place and steed of all these Sacrifices which had beene offered vp vnder the Law and which were daily reiterated continued because as the same Apostle said in the same Chapter Ibid. v. 4. That it was impossible that the blood of Buls and Goats should take and wash away Sinnes And therefore my beloved brethren obserue heer the readinesse and favour which the providence of God makes and provides for you of a most conuenient and requisite Victime and Oblation When Isaac was to bee sacrificed there was a Ramme found tyed by the Hornes to a bush to bee sacrificed for him But here O Sinners behold in these words This is my body that great Sacrifice and Oblation which the wonders of Gods divine providence haue addressed and sent you and reioice that heer is the true Sacrifice or Victime which comes to assist and defend you from Gods heauy wrath and Indignation But Iesus Christ as being simply God could not present himselfe in a Sacrifice for men for there wanted a humane Sacrifice because Sinne had beene committed and perpetrated by man wherefore our Saviour Christ tels you This is my body Hee saith not This I am but This is my body therby purposely to conduct and lead you to the mysterie of his Incarnation whereby he is descended from Heaven hath taken and assumed a carnall body and is made man for vs so that conioyntly with these words you at one time see your great Sacrifice taken from Earth and yet descended from heaven Taken from Earth for it is a body descended from Heaven for it is My Body said our Saviour Iesus Christ that is to say of mee true God with the Father Heer therefore is the wonder which you ought to meditate on That nothing being found in all the world no nor in the infinit multitude and infinitie of all Gods Creatures which could be capable to bee our ransome towards God Then loe Iesus Christ himselfe the only Sonne of God descended so low as he made himselfe man and a creature to the end that hee might bee offered vp a Sacrifice for vs Hee whose Essence was wholly simple and spirituall assumed a body and being materiall and carnall Hee who was inuisible to our eyes hath made himselfe conspicuous and visible to vs permitted and suffered himselfe to be beaten tyed and nayled to a Crosse yea to bee runne thorow with a Speare and in a word capable to be sacrificed And heer you may know and find why Iesus Christ holding the Bread said not This is my Divinity but This is my Body That is to say because not his Divine but onely his Humane nature could bee offered vp in Sacrifice The Divinity is well considered but still as offering not as offered according as the Apostle said to the Hebrewes Heb. 9.14 That Iesus Christ offered himselfe vp to God by the eternall Spirit By which means It is not the eternall Spirit which hath beene offered For that which was offered was to die But the body hath been offered by the eternall Spirit And here ariseth vnto vs another wonder to wit that although Christs humane nature be offered neverthelesse it is of as great a price and value as if his Divinity it selfe could have beene offered and the reason hereof is because this his humane nature composed not but one and the same person with the divine nature For this body which was crucified was personally vnited to the eternall Spirit and this miracle or wonder is given you for your meditation in that Iesus Christ holding the bread said not indefinitly This is my Body which is broken for you but This is my Body as if hee said This is a humane Body and yet mine to the end wee might know that this vivifying or quickning flesh that is to say to bee a worthy Ransome for the life of the world Sith it is the flesh of a man who is both God and man In the Leviticall Law Moses sprinkling of blood when God contracted Alliance with the Israelites said This is the blood of the Testament which God hath ordained for you But this blood was the blood of Beasts Now heer in the Sacrament of his Supper is proposed and presented to you
our soules in the participation and receiving thereof But the excellencie of this Sacrament is fully comprised and containd in the very words wereby our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ doth institute it to vs which were a briefe declaration of his owne vse and custome So that as this Sacrament is a short abridgement and epitome of the mysterie of our redemption so the words which Iesus Christ hath pronounced therin containe the most excellent matter and the most necessary meditations of faith and to give but a word for all is the very true Epitome and Compendium of all that which Faith ought to contemplate and behold in Iesus Christ Wherefore Since by the Grace of God wee are heere this day assembled to prepare and dispose our selues for the celebration of the Lords holy Supper Wee have now purposely chosen for our text and meditation the words of Iesus Christ which hee vsed in that Supper not to stay or make you listen to points of Controversie which at the first hearing of the text you may conceive or imagine which is not so requisite for this time and occasion wherein wee have more cause to dispute and reason to fight against the obduratnesse of our owne hearts against our impenitency diffidencie presumption and the like vices and sinnes then against our aduersaries But to represent and shew you what meditations and functions the words of Iesus Christ should produce and propagate in our soules when wee present our selues to his holy Table to receive this Sacrament And although as wee have formerly sayd It be not now my intent or meaning to treat of Controversies yet notwithstanding wee are obliged to deduce and give you the occasion and reason of these words and to shew the cleare and pure sense thereof thereby to cause to slide into your hearts and to distill into your soules the holy doctrine and Instructions which they containe To which end and purpose by Gods assistance we will especially treat insist on three mayne points and generall heads 1. The Reason and Sense of these words 2. The Meditations which these words administer and furnish vs with 3. The Dutie and Functions whereunto they oblige vs. I. Point or Generall Head The words are Take eat this is my body which is broken for you Where first we must know why it was that Iesus Christ spake of eating and why hee proposed this Sacrament vnder the words of Meate and Drinke It is not sufficient to alleadge that Iesus Christ did this occasionally that is to say because hee was at Table as by occasion he found himselfe neer a well and demaunding water to drinke of the Samaritane woman that the spake to her of the grace efficacy of the holy Ghost vnder the names of water and drinke This answere sufficeth when wee demaund why Iesus Christ speaking to the troopes and multitude of people before hee instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist proposed himselfe as bread descended from Heaven and his flesh as meat which gave everlasting and eternall life For it is cleare and apparant that Iesus Christ spake so by occasion answering those troopes and multitudes which asked him for bread and who followed him for earthly meate and for this occasion hee therefore assumed the names of those things to the which hee saw them affected But here where it concernes and depends of the Institution of the Sacrament the answere drawen and derived from the occasion to bee at Table is not sufficient For we may demaund againe why Iesus Christ placed and sate himselfe at Table to institute and celebrate this Sacrament For answere whereof they alleadge and propose three reasons I That Iesus Christ having already instituted Baptisme vnder the similitude of a Birth It was likewise very fit and expedient that hee should institute his holy Supper vnder the similitude of nutriment or nourishment For if the beginning of Grace and of spirituall life had bin propos'd in the first Sacrament by a Birth in comparison of a temporall life It was very requisite and reasonable that the aduancement and progresse of Grace should by the same comparison be proposed by a nourishment in the second Sacrament As then Iesus Christ had in Baptisme given water which is the principall of the generation of corporall things to bee a figure of the Holy Ghost which is the principall and efficient cause of the regeneration of our soules So he instituted the Sacrament of his blessed Supper by those things from whēce we have and receiue our temporall nourishment to wit Bread and Wine thereby to represent vnto vs the life which our soules receiue of his body and blood offered on the Crosse from whence it followes that the word of eating is no more meant or taken of the letter in this Sacrament then that of Birth in the Sacrament of Baptisme and that hee who thinkes or pretends to nourish himself of Iesus Christ by his bodily mouth commits the same errour which Nicodemus did who because Christ spake to him of being borne againe Iohn 3.4 Asked if man when hee were growen old could reenter into his mothers belly and be borne anew II. Reason That our vnion with Iesus Christ being the foundation of the application which is made and given vs by the merits of Christ For the death and passion of Iesus Christ is not applyed or given but to those who are one and the same body with him according as it is sayd that Iesus Christ is the Saviour of his body It is expedient that this vnion should bee represented vnto vs But it cannot more perfectly or lively be represented or figured to vs then by the vnion of meates with our body Sith there is nothing which nature doth more strictly or efficably vnite to our bodies then meates by our eating thereof As then by eating meats doe become our owne proper flesh and bones so wee are taught that by the faith and vertue of Christs holy Spirit wee become one with Iesus Christ and are made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone And againe that as by the vnion of meates we receiue our temporall life so by our vnion with Iesus Christ wee receiue our spirituall and eternall life III Reason That Iesus Christ would institute his holy Supper at the Sacrament of Easter in which Sacrament the Iewes were accustomed to eat a Lambe And indeed Iesus Christ was at the table for the celebration of Easter But at the Sacrament or Passeouer of Easter two things were done and performed first there was a Lambe eaten and after as for a banquet and this is verified and recited by those who have written the Iewes Liturgie the Father of the family tooke bread to wit vnleavened bread which was held course and poore bread and in giving it to every one of his family which were sitting at Table said Take eat this is the bread of misery which our fathers have eaten in Egypt and taking the Cup blessed it with a solemne
thee in the Lord Yet because I am an humble Seruant to Christ both in my desires and affections aswell as I am the shaddow and Echo of my Author in this my translation Therefore I trust in the goodnesse of God and hope in the integritie of mine owne heart that I shall rather right thee then any way wrong him in presuming poorly to gleane after his rich haruest by aduenturing to propose and give thee a word or two of spirituall aduice and directions of mine owne vpon the receiuing of this blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper before I commend this Divine Pourtrait thereof to thee thee to it and you both vnto God When therefore thou resoluest Iam. 4.8 to draw neere vnto God that God may draw neer vnto thee by receiving and partaking of this his blessed Sacrament Thou must in the innocency of thy heart and the purity of thy soule 1 Pet. 5.6 first humble thy selfe vnder the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt thee Iam. 4.10 And cast thy selfe downe before him that hee may lift thee vp 1 Cor. 15.34 Thou must awake to live righteously and resolue to sinne no more but henceforth to become a new man and a new Christian Gal. 3.24 for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof Thou must set thy affections on things which are above and not on things which are on the Earth Phil. 3.20 Anâ— thy conuersation must bee iâ— heaven from whence thoâ— must expect thy Sauiour eveâ— the Lord Iesus Christ Gal. 5.25 Foâ— if thou live in the spirit thoâ— must also walke in the spirit Psal 4.4 Thou must tremble but nâ—… sinne and thou must examinâ— thy selfe vpon thy bed Psal 68 1â— Foâ— God will try thee as siluer iâ— tryed Thou must not deceive thy selfe Galat. 6.7 for God wilâ— not bee mocked Thou musâ— not be hot in thy sinnes anâ— cold and frozen in thy devotion and piety towardâ— God neither must thou seeme now to bee that in thy humility and zeale which thou art not Because Hypocrisie towards God proves treacherie towards our owne soules But runne thou a Contrary Course with thy heart and soule at thy receiving of this great act of thy Saluation this blessed Sacrament for bee thou the death of thy sinnes and then God will assuredly be the life of thy Soule As for those who either vnworthily receiue or carelesly deferre or wilfully contemne the receiving of this blessed Sacrament they doe assuredly spin out the webbe of their owne damnation and so being dead in the Lethargie of their owne securitie and prophanesse they hood-wincked ride post to Hell Consider and remember with thy selfe Ioel. 1.15 That the day of the Lord is at hand 2 Pet. 3.10 And that death and destruction comes from the Lord as a Thiefe in the night That death the grimme Pursivant and Sergeant of the Lord dâ—th neither spare nor pardon any sexe or age but with his fatall Dart and Mace without respect or difference aresteth as well the King as the begger the Priest as the people and the young as the old Wee must not therefore put farre from vs the evill day Amos. 6.3,4,5 nor stretch our selues on our beds of Ivorie nor sing to the sound of the Violl wherby the Prophet meanes all excesse of riot and vnderstandeth all degree of obscene pleasures and beastly voluptuousnesse For if we love God we must honour him and if we will honour him wee must loue him Amos 6.3,4,5 And not wearie him with our sinnes nor presse him downe with their burthen as a Cart is with Sheafes Consider wee againe That as there is but one way forvs to come into the world so that there are a thousand waies to go out of it That we are subiect to as many diseases as sinnes yea and that diseases doe as frequently and as insensibly steale into our bodyes as sinnes doe into our soules That wee are never neerer death then when we think our selues farthest from it and that when we suppose our selues to be strongest in Nature wee commonly are then weakest in Grace As also that a theeuish Impostume a poore Apoplexie a Cut-throat Squinancy or a fierce and furious visitation of the Pestilence doth many times in a moment of time violently snatch vs away from the world and the world from vs yea and which is more to be admired though no lesse to bee pittied That some times in the very twinckling of an Eye we are choaked with a Fly a Kernell of an apple a crumm of bread or a small Fish bone Or else have our braynes dashd out with a fall either from a Horse or a staire O therfore how seriously ought we to ponder in our hearts and how maturely and religiously to consider in our soules how extreame dangerous it is for vs to procrastinate and deferre and consequently how infinitely necessary expedieÌ„t it is for vs frequently to receiue this blessed SacrameÌ„t of the Lords Supper Consider wee further Iam 4.14 That wee cannot tell what shall betyde vs to morrow for that our life is but a Vapour that appeareth for a smal time and then vanisheth away 1 Pet. 1.24 That all flesh is grasse and all the glory of man is as the flower of grasse and that the grasse withereth the flower thereof falleth away Heb. 13.14 That we haue no abiding Citie heere but must therefore seeke one to come which is aboue That as the tree falleth it lyes That there is no sorrowing for our sins in the grave and that after our death there is no place nor hope left vs for a second repentance Heb. 10 31 And that it is a feare full thing to fall into the hands of the living God Armed in this manner with a lively faith towards God and with periect love and Charity towards our neighbour and having freed and cleared those sinfull spots of our hearts and reformed and cleansed those foule affections and imperfections of our soules by our vnfeigned godly repentance and sorow And having now assumed and taken vp a firme resolution ever hereafter Eph. 5.10 to approve and doe that which is pleasing to the Lord And contracted a solemne Covenant betweene God and our souls Eph. 5.11 never any more to have any fellowship with the workes of darkenesse but reprove them and not henceforth to dare to looke back with affection on our forepast deerest and darling sinnes but with infinite hatred detestation of them Then I say let vs follow the aduice of the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let vs goe vp boldly to the Throne of Grace that wee may receive mercy Let vs goe boldly to this table to this pretious banket of the Lords blessed Supper and eat that sacred bread of his body and drinke that heavenly wine of his blood in a strong Confidence and CoÌ„memoration That Christ dyed for vs on the Altar of
chiefe and principall Meditation which wee require of you in this obiect is three things I. Of Christs great debasing and making himselfe as it were nothing II. Of the horror and grievousnesse of sinne as the direct opposition of the perfect sanctity and absolute holinesse of God III. Of the immense love and charity of Iesus Christ towards vs. I speake first of Christs great debasing and esteeming himselfe nothing For if you formerly vnderstand and remember Iesus Christ abased himselfe so low as to cloath and incorporate himselfe with our wretched nature and to make himselfe after the simple semblance of men But here behold him now hee makes himselfe lesse then man as he saith in the Psalmes Psal 22.6 I am a Worme and no man the shame of men and the contempt of the People Behold how he makes himselfe a Sacrifice and assumes and takes on him the condition of Beasts which were slain in the ancient Law for the sinnes of men O Lord Iesus who can sufficiently comprehend the depth of this thy extreame humiliation and making thy selfe as nothing who from the heavenly Throne of thy glory hast been placed in forme of a Victime vpon the Altar of the Crosse And that thou wouldest die yea die a shamefull and most ignominious death for vs according as it is written Gal. 3.13 Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree From this passe wee on to the second thing which is the Consideration of the horrour grieveousnesse yea and the odiousnesse of Sin For I pray you how wicked was it in it selfe and how execrable in the eyes of God that the onely Sonne of God must needs suffer such grievous paines and torments The Law did well shew the odiousnes and abomination of Sin by the Sacrifices and Aspersions of blood which it required for the Expiation thereof But all that is nothing in Comparison of this which the Gospell shewes vs because these Sacrifices and Aspersions of the Law were of Beasts and of the blood of Beasts but heer it is the onely begotten Son of God who hath beene given to death to expiate sinne and to cover the foulnesse and enormitie thereof Behold then O Sinners with astonishment by the greatnesse of the satisfaction the horrour of this sinne and thereby to learne to hate and detest it Nature to shew how grievous and odious sinne was since the fall of Adam became harried over with thorns and briars and changed many of her plants into poysons The aire grew thicke with stormes and was many times infected to punish sinners The Sea impetuously mounted her angry waues and surges and caused infinite shipwrackes Adams owne person and his posterity strayed from his temper and by sicknesse and diseases had drawen the Empire of death into his owne entrailes and bowels mans wisedome was obscured with ignorance and tormented with irregular and extravagant passions and all this befell and hapned to the world for sinne But now behold Heaven who against sinne and to the end and intent to expiate and destroy it delivers vp to death that which it had and held dearest and to reproach and shame that which it held and possest of most glorious For here God the Father of heauen exposeth his sweetest delights to the bitter torments of the Crosse Heere Christ Iesus his onely beloved Son who yeeldeth abandoneth his life and who to destroy sinne so extreamly hee hates it doth voluntarily and willingly destroy himselfe And heere considering and meditating further how odious sinne is to God let vs admire how perfect Gods iustice and sanctitie is let vs say that here it is where this sanctitie manifesteth it selfe at full in her brightest Orient It is in this mysterie that the Seraphims crie Holy holy holy the Eternall of Armies for if he shew forth his righteousnes and sanctitie here below in punishing and ruining some of his creatures by his iudgements how much more doth hee manifest it by the death of his onely beloved Sonne to whom sinne presented it selfe to be punished Come we now to the third mediation which wee require of you wherein we may behold the exreame debasing annihilating of the Son of God to see the immense Loue both of this heauenly Father and Sonne towards vs for that the Son hath beene so grievously handled and tormented for vs. What Abyssus of affection and mercy is this towards man Is there any minde or spirit though angelical which cannot bee ravished and swallowed vp heereat Prophane Infidells and Atheists who are incredulous of the mysteries of the Christian faith Know ye that it shewes you the highest charity and perfectest sanctitie that the heart or wit of man can possibly comprehēd or conceiue And of God bee a soveraigne sanctitie an immense charity and goodnesse as his being cannot bee but all perfection know that the new Testament sheweth God to men and reveales them this vnexpressable and incomprehensible sanctity and charity which is the same that Saint Iohn said 1. Iohn 4.16 God is Love and hee that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him c. That God is Charity and in this is manifested his Charity For that God hath sent his onely Sonne into the world to the end that wee live by him and in this againe is Charity not that we have loved God but because hee hath loved vs and hath given his Sonne to bee a propitiation for our sinnes And heer it is that the new Testament hath many great aduantages and singular benefits and prerogatives above the old one of the Law Seeing that herein God fully discovereth the rich Treasures of his goodnesse In nature we see GODS goodnesse towards man for that for a time hee entertaines and maintaines himselfe in life by the death of Beasts whose flesh serues him for food and sustenance But here God gives and purchaseth to man an eternall life by the death of his onely Sonne Here hee gives to man not his Creatures as in the creation but his onely well beloued Sonne himselfe yea and to sinfull man Wherefore it is that the Apostle affirmes to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 3.18 We all behold as in a Mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and Iesus Christ tels vs That none having ever seene God it is he that hath revealed him to vs. Faithfull brethren in the Lord open the eyes of your vnderstandings and see how God manifesteth himselfe and how he makes himselfe palpably visible to you by this immense Love and Charity which this Sacrament of the Eucharist presenteth and representeth to your eyes If then on these words This is my Body you have meditated on the Love and Charity of Christ humbling himselfe so low as to cloth himselfe with our weake body and nature then meditate on this greater degree of Charity which hath caused him to assume the forme of a servāt for vs which was already exceeding much to him who was the Creator and the King of glory