proportion betweene the holy Actions used by Christ in this Sacrament and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it IT followes now that we enquire farther into the nature of this holy Sacrament which will be explained by considering the Analogie fitnesse and similitude betweene the signes and the things signified by them and conferred or exhibited together with them which is Christ the Lord. Now this Analogie or fitnesse as it hath been in some generall manner expres'd in the nature or quality of the elements substantially or physically taken so more expressely and punctually is it propos'd unto us in those holy actions which doe alter in the use and make it a Sacrament And first we finde that Christ tooke the Bread and Wine and blessed it and gave thanks and so consecrated it or set a part unto a holy or solemne use which is the reason why Saint Paul calls it a Cup of blessing so that unto the Church it ceaseth to be that which nature had made it and beginnes to be that unto which the blessing had consecrated it In like manner did the eternall Sonne of God assume into the subsistance of his owne infinite person the whole nature of man the body and the soule by the vertue of which wonderfull union notwithstanding the properties of the divine nature remaine absolutely intransient and uncommunicable unto the humane yet are there shed from that inexhaustible fountaine many high and glorious endowments by which the humanity under this manner of subsistence is annoynted consecrated sealed and set apart for that work of incomprehensible love and power the redemption of the world and secondly as the Bread is taken by us from Christ in the nature of a gift he brake it and gave it to his Disciples so is the humane nature taken by Christ from the Father as a gift from the good pleasure of God Thirdly as the taking of the Bread by Christ did alter only the manner of its being the operation and efficacy the dignity and use but no way at all the element or nature of the Bread Even so the taking of the humane body by Christ did conferre indeed upon it many glorious effects and advance it to an estate farre above its common and ordinary capacity alwayes yet reserving those defects and weaknesses which were required in the aeconomie and dispensation of that great work for which he assumed it but yet he never alterd the essentiall and naturall qualities of the body but kept it still within the measure and limits of the created perfection which the wisdome of God did at first share out unto it Lastly to come neerer unto the Crosse of Christ as hee did by prayer and thanksgiving consecrate their elements unto a holy use so did he immediately before his passion of which this is the Sacrament make that consecratory prayer and thanksgiving which is registred for the perpetuall comfort of his Church The second Action is the breaking of the Bread and powering the Wine into the Cup which doth neerly expresse his crucified Body where the joynts were loosed the sinewes torne the flesh bruized and peirced the skin rent the whole frame violated by that straining and razeing and cutting and stretching and wrentching which was used in the crucifying of it and by the shedding of that pretious blood which stop'd the issue and flux of ours It were infinite and intricare to spin a meditation into a controversie about the extent and nature of Christs passion but certainly whatsoever either Ignominie or Agony his body suffered which two â— conceive to comprize all the generalls of Christ crucified are if not particularly expressed yet typically and sacramentally shaddowed and exhibited in the Bread broken and the Wine powred out The third Action was the giving or delivering of the Bread and Wine which first evidently expresseth the nature and quality of Christ crucified with these benefits which flow from him that they are freely bestowed upon the Church which of it selfe had no interest or claime unto any thing save death Secondly we see the nature of Christs passion that it was a free voluntary and unconstrained passion for though it be true that Iudas did betray him and Pilate deliver him to bee crucified yet none of this was the giving of Christ but the selling of him It was not for us but for mony that Iudas deliver'd him it was not for us but for feare that Pilate deliver'd him but God deliver'd the Sonne and the Sonne deliver'd himselfe with a most mercifull and gracious will to bestow his death upon sinners and not to get but to be himselfe a price The Passion then of Christ was most freely undertaken without which free-will of his own they could never have laid hold on him and his death was a most free and voluntary explication his life was not wrentched nor wrung from him nor snatch'd or torne from him by the bare violence of any forraine Impression but was with a loud voice arguing nature not brought to utter decay most freely surrendred and laid downe by that power which did after reassume it But how then comes it to passe that there lay a necessicie upon Christ of suffring which necessicie may seeme to have enforc'd and constrain'd him to Golgatha in as much as hee himselfe did not only shrinke but even testifie his dislike of what he was to suffer by a redoubled prayer unto his Father that that Cup might passe from him doth not feare make Actions involuntary or at least derogate and detract from the fulnesse of their liberty and Christ did feare how then is it that Christs Passion was most voluntary though attended with necessitie feare and reluctance surely it was most voluntary still and first therefore necessary because voluntary the maine and primitive reason of the necessitie being nothing else but that immutable will which had fore-decreed it Christs death then was necessary by a necessitie of the event which musts needs come to passe after it had once been fore-determined by that most wise will of God which never useth to repent him of his counsells but not by a necessitie of the cause which was most free and voluntary Againe necessary it was in regard of the Scriptures whose truth could not miscarry in regard of the promises made of him which were to be performed in regard of propheticall predictions which were to be fulfilled in regard of typicall prefigurations which were to bee abrogated and seconded with that substance which they did fore-shaddow but no way necessary in opposition to Christs will which was the first mover into which both this necessitie and all the causes of it are to be finally resolv'd And then for the fear and reluctance of Christ noe marvell if he who was in all things like unto us had his share in the same passions and affections like wise though without sin But neither of
yet never properly to bee called the Body of Christ till Taken and Eaten by meanes of which Actions if they bee Actions of Faith that holy Bread and Wine doe as really convey whole Christ with the vitall influences that proceed from him unto the Soule as the hand doth them unto the mouth or the mouth unto the stomacke Otherwise if Christ were really and corporally present with the consecrated Elements severed from the act of faithfull Receiving the wicked should as easily receive him with their teeth as the faithfull in their Soule which to affirme is both absurd and impious Now Christs Presence in this holy Sacrament being a thing of so important consequence and the consideration thereof being very proper to this first end of the Sacrament the exhibiting of Christ for to exhibite a thing is nothing else but to present it or to make it present unto the party to whom it is exhibited It will not be impertinent to make some short digression for setting downe the manner and clearing the trueth of Christs Reall Presence the understanding whereof will depend upon the distinguishing of the severall manners in which Christ may bee said to bee present First then Christ being an infinite Person hath in the vertue of his Godhead an infinite and unlimited Presence whereby hee so filleth all places as that hee is not contained or circumscribed in them which immensity of his making him intimately present with all the Creatures is that whereby they are quickened supported and conserved by him for by him all things consist and hee upholdeth them all by the Word of his power and in him they live and move and have their being But this is not that Presence which in the Sacrament wee affirme because that presupposeth a Presence of Christ in and according to that nature wherein he was the Redeemer of the World which was his humane nature Yet in as much as this his humane nature subsisteth not but in and with the infinitenesse of the second Person there is therefore in the second place by the Lutherans framed another imaginary Presence of Christs humane Body after once the Divinity was pleased to derive glory in fulnesse on it which giveth it a participated ubiquity unto it too by meanes whereof Christ is corporally in or under the Sacrament all Elements But this opinion as it is no way agreeable with the truth of the humane nature of Christ so is it greatly injurious to his Divinity for first though Christs humane nature was in regard of its Production extraordinary and in regard of the sacred union which it had with the Divinity admirable and in regard of communication of glory from the Godhead and of the unction of the Holy Ghost farre above all other names that are named in heaven or earth yet in its nature did it ever retaine the essentiall and primiâ—ive properties of a created substance which is to bee in all manner of perfections finite and so by consequence in place too for glory destroies not nature but exalts it nor exalts it to any farther degrees of Perfection than are compatible to the finitenesse of a Creature who is like unto us in regard of all naturall and essentiall properties but these men give unto Christs Body farre more than his owne divine nature doth for hee glorifies it onely to bee the Head that is the most excellent and first-borne of every Creature but they glorifie it so farre as to make it share in the essentiall properties of the divine nature for as that substance unto whom the intrinsecall unseparated and essentiall properties of a man belong is a man necessarily man being nothing else but a substance so qualified so that being unto which the divine attributes doe belong in that degree of infinitenesse as they doe to the divine Person it selfe must needs bee God and immensity wee know is a proper attribute of the Divinity implying infinitenesse which is Gods owne Prerogative neither can the distinction of ubiquity communicated and originall or essentiall salve the consequence for God is by himselfe so differenced from all the Creatures as that it is not possible any attribute of his should bee participated by any Creature in that manner of infinitenesse as it is in him nay it implies an inevitable contradiction that in a finite nature there should bee roome enough for an infinite attribute We confesse that in as much as the humane nature in Christ is inseparably taken into the subsistence of the omnipresent Sonne of God It is therefore a truth to say That the Sonne of God though filling all places is not yet in any of them separated or asunder from the humane nature may by the vertue of the communication of the properties it is true likewise to say that the Man Christ is in all Places though not in or according to his humane nature But now from the union of the Manhood to the Godhead to argue a coextention or joynt-presence therewith is an inconsequent argument as may appeare in other things The Soule hath a kinde of immensity in her little world being in each part thereof whole and entire and yet it followes not because the Soule is united to the Body that therefore the Body must needs partake of this Omnipresence of the Soule else should the whole body be in the little finger because the Soule unto which it is united is wholly there Againe there is an unseparable union betweene the Sunne and the beame so that it is infallibly true to say the Sunne is no where severed from the beame yet wee know they both occupy a distinct place againe Misleâ—oe is so united to the substance of the Tree out of which it groweth that though of a different nature it subsisteth not but in and by the subsistence of the Tree and yet it hath not that amplitude of place which the Tree hath Letting goe then this opinion there is a third Presence of Christ which is a carnall Physicall locall Presence which wee affirme his humane nature to have onely in Heaven The Papists attribute it to the Sacrament because Christ hath said This is my Body and in matters of fundamentall consequence hee useth no figurative or darke speeches to this wee say that it is a carnall Doctrine and a mistake like that of Nicodemus and of Origen from the Spirit to the letter And for the difficulty it is none to men that have more than onely a carnall eare to heare it for what difficulty is it to say that then the King gives a man an Office when hee hath sealed him such a Paâ—ent in the right whereof that Office belongeth and is conveyed unto him And if Christ bee thus locally in the Sacrament and eaten with the mouth and so conveyed into the stomacke I then demand what becomes of him when and after hee is thus received into the stomacke If hee retire from the accidents out of a man then first accidents shall be left without any substance
onely in holy Scriptures but even in prophane Writers also to call the instrumentall Elements by the name of that Covenant of which they are onely the Sacrifices seales and visible confirmations because of that relation and neere resemblance that is betweene them The second End or Effect of this Sacrament which in order of Nature immediately followeth the former is to obsignate and to encrease the mysticall union of the Church unto Christ their Head for as the same operation which infuseth the reasonable soule which is the first act or principle of life naturall doth also unite it unto the body to the making up of one man so the same Sacrament which doth exhibite Christ unto us who is the first act and originall of life divine doth also unite us together unto the making up of one Church In naturall nourishment the vitall heate being stronger than the resistance of the meat doth macerate concoct and convert that into the substance of the Body but in this spirituall nourishment the vitall Spirit of Christ having a heate invincible by the coldnesse of Nature doth turne us into the same image and quality with it selfe working a fellowship of affections and confederacy of wills and as the body doth from the union of the soule unto it receive strength beauty motion and the like active qualities so also Christ being united unto us by these holy mysteries doth comfort refresh strengthen rule and direct us in all our waies Wee all in the vertue of that Covenant made by God unto the faithfull and to their seed in the first instant of our being doe belong unto Christ that bought us after in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme we are farther admitted and united to him our right unto Christ before was generall from the benefit of the common Covenant but in this Sacrament of Baptisme my right is made personall and I now lay claime unto Christ not onely in the right of his common Promise but by the efficacy of this particular Washing which sealeth and ratifieth the Covenant unto mee Thus is our first union unto Christ wrought by the grace of the Covenant effectively and by the grace of Baptisme where it may bee had Instrumentally the one giving unto Christ the other obsignating and exhibiting that right by a farther admission of us into his Body But now wee must conceive that as there is a union unto Christ so there must as in naturall bodies be after that union a growing up till wee come to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the measure of the fulnesse of Christ. This growth being an effect of the vitall faculty is more or lesse perfected in us as that is either more or lesse stifled or cherished for as in the soule and body so in Christ and the Church We are not to conceive the union without any latitude but capable of augmentation and liable to sundry diminutions according as are the severall meanes which for either purpose wee apply unto our selves The union of the soule and body though not dissolved is yet by every the least distemper slackned by some violent diseases almost rended asunder so that the body hath sometimes more sometimes lesse hold-fast of the soule so heere wee are in the Covenant and in Baptisme united unto Christ but wee must not forget that in men there is by Nature a roote of bitternesse whence issue those fruites of the flesh a spawne and wombe of actuall corruptions where sinne is daily conceived and brought forth a mare mortuum a lake of death whence continually arise all manner of noysome and infectious lusts by meanes of which our Union to Christ though not dissolved is yet daily weakened and stands in need of continuall confirmation for every sinne doth more or lesse smother and stoppe the principle of life in us so that it cannot worke our growth which we must rise unto with so free and interrupted a course as otherwise it might The Principle of life in a Christian is the very same from whence Christ himselfe according to his created Graces receiveth life and that is the Spirit of Christ a quickning Spirit and a strengthening Spirit Now as that great sinne which is incompatible with faith doth bidde defiance to the good Spirit of God and therefore is more especially called The sinne against the holy Ghost so every sinne doth in its owne manner and measure quench the Spirit that it cannot quicken and grieve the Spirit that it cannot strengthen us in that perfection of degrees as it might otherwise and thus is our union unto Christ daily loosened and slackened by the distempers of sinne for the reestablishing whereof God hath appointed these sacred Mysteries as effectuall instruments where they meet with a qualified subject to produce a more firme and close union of the Soule to Christ and to strengthen our Faith which is the joynt and sinew by which that union is preserved to cure those i wounds and purge those iniquities whose property it is to separate betwixt Christ and us to make us submit our services to knit our wils to conforme our affections and to incorporate our persons into him that so by constant though slow proceedings we might be changed from glory to glory and attaine unto the measure of Christ there where our Faith can no way bee impaired our bodies and soules subject to no decay and by consequence stand in no need of any such viaticums as wee heere use to strengthen us in a journey so much both above the Perfection and against the corruption of our present Nature CHAP. XIV Of three other Ends of the holy Sacrament the fellowship or union of the faithfull the obsignation of the Covenant of Grace and the abrogation of the Passeover NOW as the same nourishment which preserveth the Union betweene the Soule and Body or head and members doth in like manner preserve the Union betweene the members themselves even so this Sacrament is as it were the sinew of the Church whereby the faithfull being all animated by the same Spirit that makes them one with Christ are knit together in a bond of Peace conspiring all in a unity of thoughts and desires having the same common Enemies to withstand the same common Prince to obey the same common rule to direct them the same common way to passe the same common Faith to vindicate and therefore the same mutuall engagements to further and advance the good of each other so that the next immediate effect of this Sacrament is to confirme the Union of all the members of the Church each to other in a Communion of Saints whereby their prayers are the more strengthened and their adversaries the more resisted for as in naturall things Union strengtheneth motions naturall and weakeneth violent so in the Church Union strengtheneth all spirituall motions whether upward as meditations and prayers to God or downeward as
spatious and great roome and so it should bee for it was a great Supper the Supper of a King The Disciples were then the type representative of the whole Catholick Church which was now by them to be begotten unto God and therfore the Chamber must needs be a resemblance and Modell of the whole world throughout which the sound of Christs name and the memory of his passion should in his Supper be celebrated untill the end of all things and then no marvell if it were a great Chamber Lastly it was ready spread fitted trimmed and prepared So sacred a mysterie as this may not be exhibited in an unfitted or uncleane place much lesse received into a corrupt and unprepared soule The body of Christ was never to see corruption and therefore it will never be mix'd with corruption It lay first in a cleane womb it was after buried in a virgin Sepulcher it then was taken into the brightest heavens and it still resides in molten and purifide hearts He that had the purity of a Dove will never take up the loding of a Crow Here then we see from these circumstances with what reverence and preparation with what affection and high esteeme we should receive these sacred mysteries The gift of a dying friend though of contemptible value is yet greatly prized for the memory of the donor for though the thing it selfe be small yet is it the pledge of a great love The words of a dying man though formerly vile and vaine are for the most part serious and grave how much more pretious was the gift of Christ who is the Almoner of Almighty God and whose only businesse it was to give gifts unto men how much more sacred were his last words who all his life time spake as never man spake The very presence of a dying man estamps on the mind an affection of feare and awe much more should the words and gifts of him who was dead and is alive againe Certainly he hath a flinty soule whom love as strong as death and death the work of that love cannot melt into a sympathie of affection In summe the Time of this Sacrament was a time of passion let not us be stupid it was a time of passeover let not our soules be unsprinkled it was a time of unleavened bread let not our doctrine of it be adulterated with the leaven of heresie not our soules in receiving tainted with the leaven of malice it was the time of betraying Christ let not our hands againe play the Iudas by delivering him unto jewish and sinfull soules which will crucifie againe unto themselves the Lord of glory let not us take that pretious blood into our hands rather to shed it than to drink it and by receiving the body of Christ unworthily make it as the sop was to Iudas even an harbenger to provide roome for Satan Againe the place of the Sacrament was a high Roome let not our soules lie sinking in a dungeon of sin it was a great roome let not our soules be straightned in the entertaining of Christ it was a trimmed roome let not oursoules be sluttish and uncleane when then the King of glory should enter in but as the Author of those mysteries was holy by a fulnesse of grace the elements holy by his blessing the tyme holy by his ordination and the place holy by his presence so let us by the receiving of them bee transformed as it were into their nature and bee holy by that union unto Christ of which they are as well the instrumentall meanes whereby it is increased as the seales and pledges whereby it is confirm'd CHAP. VII Of the matter of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine with their Analogie unto Christ. WEE have considered the Author or efficient of this Sacrament and those circumstances which were annexed unto its Institution we may now a little consider the essentiall parts of it and first the elements or matter of which it conconsisteth consecrated bread wine it neither stood with the outwad poverrty of Christ nor with the benefit of the Church to institute such sumptuous and gaudy elements as might possesse too much the sense of the beholder and too little resemble the quality of the Saviour And therefore he choose his Sacraments rather for the fitnesse than the beauty of them as respecting more the end than the splendor or riches of his Table and intended rather to manifest his divine power in altering poore elements unto a pretious use than to exhibit any carnall pompe in such delicious fare as did not agree with the spiritualnesse of his Kingdome Though he be contented out of tendernesse toward our weaknesse to stoop unto our senses yet he will not cocker them as in his reall and naturall body so in his representative the Sacrament a sensuall or carnall eye sees not either forme or beauty for which it may bee desired Pictures ought to resemble their originalls and the Sacrament wee know is the picture or type of him who was a man of sorrow and this picture was drawne when the day of Gods fierce wrath was upon him and can we then expect from it any satisfaction or pleasure to the senses this body was naked on the Crosse it were incongruous to have the Sacrament of it pompous on the Table As it was the will of the Father which Christ both glorifies and admires to reveale unto babes what hee hath hidden from the wise so is it here his wisedome to communicate by the meanest Instruments what he hath denied unto the choisest delicates to feed his Daniels rather with poâ—lse than with all the dainties on the Kings table And if we observe it divine miracles take ever the poorest meanest subjects to manifest themselves on If he want an army to protect his Church flies frogs and catterpillers and lamps and pitchers c. shall be the strongest souldiers and weapons he useth the lame and the blind the dumb and the dead water clay these are materialls for his power even where thou seest the instruments of God weakest there expect and admire the more abundant manifestation of his greatnesse wisedome undervalue not then the Bread and Wine in this holy Sacrament which doe better resemble the benefits of Christ crucified than any other the choisest delicateâ— Bread and Wine the element is double to encrease the comfort of the faithfull that by two things wherin it is impossible for God to deceive wee might have strong consolation who have laid hold upon him The dreame is doubled said Iosâ—ph to Pharoah because the thing is certaine and surely here the element is doubled too that the grace may be the more certaine No marvell then if those men who deny unto the people the certainty of grace deny unto them likewise these double elements so fit is it that they which preached but a halfe comfort should administer
Elements are so necessary and beneficiall to that life of man with what appetite we should approach these holy mysteries even with hungry and thirsty soules longing for the sweetnesse of Christ crucified Wheresoever God hath bestowed a vitall being hee hath also afforded nourishment to sustaine it and an inclination and attractive faculty in the subject towards its nourishment Even the new-borne Babe by the impression of nature is moved to use the breasts before he knowes them Now we which were dead in sinnes hath Christ quickned and hath infused into us a vitall principle even that faith by which the just do live which being instilled into us Christ beginneth to be formed in the soule and the whole man to be made conformable unto him Then are the parts organced and fitted for their severall workes there is an eye with Stephen to see Christ an eare with Mary to heare him a mouth with Peter to confesse him a hand with Thomas to touch him an arme with Simeon to imbrace him feet with his Disciples to follow him a heart to entertaine him and bowels of affection to love him All the members are weapons of righteousnesse and thus is the new man the new creature perfected Now hee that left not himselfe amongst the Heathen without a witnesse but filled even their hearts with food and gladnesse hath not certainly left his owne chosen without nourishment such as may preserve them in that estate which he hath thus framed them unto As therefore new Infants are fed with the same nourishment and substance of which they consist so the same Christ crucified is as the cause and matter of our new birth so the food which sustaineth and preserveth us in it unto whose body and blood there must needs be as proportionable an appetite in a new Christian as there is unto Milke in a new Infant it being more nourishable then Milke and faith more vitall to desire it then nature And all this so much the rather because he himselfe did begin unto us in a more bitter Cup. Did he on his Crosse drink Gall and Vinegar for me and that also made infinitely more biâ—ter by my sinnes and shalâ— not I at his Table drink Wine for my selfe made infinitely sweeter with the blood which it conveighs Did hee drink a Cup of bitternesse and wrath and shal not I drink the Cup of blessing Did he eat the bread of affliction and shall not I eat the bread of life Did he suffer his Passion and shall not I enjoy it Did he stretch out his hands on the Crosse and shall mine be withered and shrunken towards his Table Certainly it is a presumption that he is not only sick but desperate who refuseth that nourishment which is both food to strengthen and Physick to recover him Secondly the benefit of Christ being so obvious as the commons and so sufficient as the properties of these Elements declare we see how little we should be dismaid at any either inward weaknesses and bruses of minde or outward dangers and assaults of enemies having so powerfull a remedy so neere unto us how little we ought to trust in any thing within our selves whose sufficiency and nourishment is from without There is no created substance in the world but receives perfection from some other things how much more must Man who hath lost his owne native integrity go out of himselfe to procure a better estate which in vaine he might have done for ever had not God first if I may so speak gone out of himselfe humbling the Divine Nature unto a personall union with the humane And now having such an Immanuel as is with us not only by assuming us unto himselfe in his incarnation but by communicating himselfe to us in these sacred Mysteries whatsoever weaknesses dismayes us his body is bread to strengthen us whatsoever waves or tempests rise against us his wounds are holes to hide and shelter us what though sinne be poyson have we not here the bread of Christ for an Antidote What though it be red as Skarlet is not his blood of a deeper colour What though the Darts of Satan continually wound us is not the issue of his wounds the balme for ours Let me be fed all my dayes with bread of affliction and water of affliction I have another bread another Cup to sweeten both Let Satan tempt mee to despaire of life I have in these visible and common Elements the Author of life made the food of life unto me let who will perswade me to trust a little in my owne righteousnesse to spie out some gaspings and faint reliques of life in my selfe I receive in these signes an all-sufficient Saviour and I will seeke for nothing in my selfe when I have so much in him Lastly we see here both from the example of Christ who is the patterne of unity and from the Sacrament of Christ which is the Symboll of unity what a conspiracy of affections ought to be in us both betweene our owne and towards our fellow-members Thinke not that thou hast worthily received these holy mysteries till thou finde the image of that unity which is in them conveighed by them into thy soule As the breaking of the bread is the Sacrament of Christs Passion so the aggregation of many graines into one masse should be a Sacrament of the Churches unity What is the reason that the bread and the Church should be both called in the Scripture by the same name The bread is the body of Christ and the Church is the body of Christ too Is it not because as the bread is one Loafe out of diverse cornes so the Church is one body out of diverse Beleevers that the representative this the mysticall body of the same Christ. Even as the Word and the Spirit and the faithfull are in the Scripture all called by the same name of seed because of that assimulating vertue whereby the one received doth transforme the other into the similitude and nature of it selfe If the beames of the Sunne though divided and distinct from one another have yet a unity in the same nature of light because all pertake of one native and originall splendor if the limbes of a Tree though all severall and spreading different wayes yet have a unity in the same fruits because all are incorporated into one stock or root if the streames of a River though running diverse wayes doe yet all agree in a unity of sweetnesse and cleerenesse because all issuing from the same pure Fountaine why then should not the Church of Christ though of severall and divided qualities and conditions agree in a unity of truth and love Christ being the Sunne whence they all receive their light the Vine into which they are all ingrafted and the Fountain that is opened unto them all for transgressions and for sins CHAP. IX Of the Analogy and
manifest his glory or more gratiously imprint his Image so also in the union of Christ unto us we may observe something generall whereby he is united to the whole mankind and something speciall whereby he is united unto his Church and that after a double manner either common unto the whole visible assemblie of the Christians or peculiar and proper unto that invisible company who are the immediate members of his misticall body First then all man kind may be said to be in Christ in as much as in the mistery of his incarnation hee tooke on him the selfe same nature which maketh us to be men and wherby hee is as properly man as any of us subject to the same infermities liable and naked to the same dangers temptations moved by the same Passion obedient to the same lawes with us with this only difference that all this was in him sinlesse and voluntary in us sinfull and necessary Secondly besides this there is a farther union of Christ unto all the Professors of his truth in knowledge and explicite faith which is by a farther operation infusing into them the light of truth and some generall graces that which make them serviceable for his Church even as the root of a tree will sometimes so farre enliven the branches as shall suffice unto the bringing forth of leaves though it supply not juyce enough for solid fruit for whatsoever graces the outwad professors of Christianity do receive they have it all derived on them from Christ who is the dispencer of his Fathers bounty and who inlightneth every man that commeth into the World Thirdly there is a more speciall and neere union of Christ to the faithfull set forth by the resemblances of building ingrasture members marriage and other the like similitudes in the Scriptures whereby Christ is made unto us the Originall and well-spring of all spirituall life and motion of all fulnesse and fructification Even as in naturall generation the soule is no sooner infus'd and united but presently there is sense and vegetation derived on the body so in spirituall new birth as soone as Christ is formed in us as the Apostle speakes then presently are we quickned by him and all the operations of a spirituall life sense of sin vegetation and growth in faith understanding and knowledge of the mysterie of godlinesse taste and relish of eternall life begin to shew themselves in us We are in Christ by grace even as by nature we were in Adam Now as from Adam there is a perpetuall transfusion of Originall sin on all his posterity because we were all then not only represented by his person but contained in his loynes so from Christ who on the Crosse did represent the Church of God and in whom we are is there by a most speciall influence transfus'd on the Church some measure of those graces those vitall motions that incorruption purity and holinesse which was given to him without measure that he alone might be the Author and Originall of eternall salvation the consecrated Prince of glory to the Church from which consecration of Christ and sanctification of the Church the Apostle inferres a union betweene Christ and the Church for he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are of one And all this both union or association with Christ and communion in those heavenly graces which by spirituall influence from him are shed forth upon all his members is brought to passe by this meanes originally because Christ and we do both partake of one and the selfe-same spirit which spirit conveighs to the faithfull whatsoever in Christ is communicable unto them For as the members naturall of man are all conserv'd in the integrity and unity of one body by that reasonable soule which animates enlivens and actuates them by one simple and undivided information without which they would presently fall asunder and moulder into dust even so the members of Christ are all firmely united unto him and from him receive all vitall motions by meanes of that common Spirit which in Christ above measure in us according unto the dispensation of Gods good will worketh one and the selfe-same life and grace so that by it we are all as really compacted into one mysticall body as if we had all but one common soule And this is that which we beleeve touching our fellowship with the Sonne as S. Iohn cals it the cleere and ample apprehension whereof is left unto that place where both our union and likenesse to him and our knowledge of him shall be made perfect Sixtly we eat and drink the Sacrament of Christs Passion that thereby we may expresse that more closse and sensible pleasure which the faithfull enjoy in receiving of him For there is not any one sense whose pleasure is more constant and expresse than this of Tasting the reasons whereof are manifest For first it followes by the consequence of opposites that that faculty when fully satisfied must needs be sensible of the greatest pleasure whose penury defect brings the extreamest anguish on nature For the evill of any thing being nothing else but an obliquity and aberration from that proper good to which it is oppos'd It must needs follow that the greater the extent and degrees of an evill are the more large must the measure of that good be in the distance from which that evill consisteth Now it is manifest that the evill of no senses is so oppressive and terrible unto nature as are those which violate the taste and touch which later is ever annexed to the former no ugly spectacles for the eyes no howles or shrikings for the eare no stench or infection of aire for the smell so distastefull through all which the anguish of a famine would not make a man adventure to purchase any food though affected even with noisome qualities Secondly the pleasure which nature takes in any good thing is caused by the union thereof to the faculty by meanes whereof it is enjoyed so that the greater the union is the more necessarily is the pleasure of the thing united Now there is not any faculty whose object is more closely united unto it than this of Tasting in Seeing or Hearing or Smelling there may be a farre distance betweene us and the things that do so affect us but no tasting without an immediate application of the object to the faculty Other objects satisfie though without me but meats never content nor benefit till they be taken in Even so is it with Christ and the faithfull many things there are which affect them with pleasure but they are without and at a distance onely Christ it is who by being and dwelling in them deligheth them Lastly we eat and drink the Sacrament of Christ crucified that therein we may learne to admire the wisdome of Gods mercy who by the same manner of actions doth restore us to life
stand ingaged in a summe of mony by me ever impossible to be rais'd if it please him to perswade his owne heire to joyne in my obligation and out of that great estate by himselfe conferred on him for that very purpose to lay downe so much as shall cancell the bond and acquit mee doth not only freely forgive my debt but doth moreover commend the abundance of his favour by the manner and circumstances of the forgivenesse Man by nature is a debtor unto God there is a hand-writing against him which was so long to stand in vertue till he was able to offer something in value proportionable to that infinite justice unto which he stood obliged which being by him without the sustaining of an infinite misery utterly unsatisfiable it pleased God to appoint his own co-essentiall and co-eternall Sonne to enter under the same bond of Law for us on whom he bestowed such rich graces as were requisite for the oeconomy of so great a work by the meanes of which humane and created graces concurring with and receiving value from the divine nature meeting hypostatically in one infinite person the debt of mankind was discharg'd and the obligation cancel'd and so as many as were ordained to life effectually deliver'd by this great ransome vertually sufficient and by Gods power applicable unto all but actually beneficiall and by his most wise and just will conferd only upon those who should by the grace of a lively faith apply unto themselves this common Gift So then all our salvation is a gift Christ a gift the knowledge of Christ a gift the faith in Christ a gift repentance by Christ a gift the suffring for Christ a gift the reward of all a gift whatsoever wee have whatsoever we are it is all from God that sheweth mercy Lastly in that Christ gives his Sacrament to be eaten we learne first not only our benefit but our duty the same Christ it is who in eating wee both enjoy and obey hee being as well the Institutor as the substance of the Sacrament If it were but his precept wee owe him our observance but besides it is his body and even selfe-love might move us to obey his precept our mouths have been wide open unto poyson let them not bee shut up against so soveraigne an Antidote Secondly we see how we should use this pretious gift of Christ crucified not to look on but to eat not with a gazing speculative knowledge of him as it were at a distance but with an experimentall and working knowledge none truly knowes Christ but he that feels him Come taste and see saith the Prophet how gracious the Lord is in divine things tasting goes before seeing the union before the vision Christ must first dwell in us before wee can know the love of God that passeth knowledge Thirdly we learne not to sinne against Christ because therein we doe sinne against our selves by offring indignity to the body of Christ which should nourish us and like Swine by trampling under foot that pretious food which preserveth unto life those that with reverence eat it but fatteth unto slaughter those who profanely devoure it Even as the same raine in different grounds serves sometimes to bring on the seed other times to choak and stifle it by the forwardnesse of weeds for as it is the goodnesse of God to bring good out of the worst of things even sinne so is it the malignity of sin and cunning of Satan to pervert the most holy things the word of God yea the very blood of Christ unto evill Lastly we learne how pure we ought to preserve those doores of the soule from filthinesse and intemperance at which so often the Prince of glory himselfe will enter in CHAP. XIII Of the two first ends or effects of the Sacrament namely the exhibition of Christ to the Church and the union of the Church to Christ. Of the reall Presence HAving thus farre spoken of the nature and quality of this holy Sacrament it followes in Order to treate of the Ends or Effects thereof on which depends its necessity and our comfort our Sacraments are nothing else but Euangelicall Types or shadowes of some more perfect substance for as the Legall Sacrifices were the shadowes of Christ expected and wrapped up in a Cloude of Predicting and in the loines of his Predecessors so this new mysticall Sacrifice of the Gospell is a shadow of Christ risen indeed but yet hid from us under the Cloud of those Heavens which shall containe him untill the dissolution of all things for the whole heavens are but as one great cloud which intercept the lustre of that Sunne of Righteousnesse who enlighteneth every one that commeth into the world now shadowes are for the refreshing of us against the lustre of any light unto which the weaknesse of the sense is yet disproportioned as there are many things for their owne smalnesse imperceptible so some for their magnitude doe exceed the power of sense and have a transcendency in them which surpasseth the comprehension of that faculty unto which they properly belong No man can in one simple view looke upon the whole vaste frame of Heaven because he cannot at the same moment receive the species of so spreading and diffused an Object so is it in things Divine some of them are so above the reach of our imperfect faculties as that they swallow up the understanding and make not any immediate impression on the Soule betweene which and their excellency there is no great disproportion Now disproportion useth in all things to arise from a double Cause the one naturall being the limited Constitution of the faculty whereby even in its best sufficiency it is disabled for the perception of too excellent an Object as are the eyes of an Owle in respect of the Sunne The other Accidentall namely by some violation and distemper of the faculty even within the compasse of its owne strength as in sorenesse of eyes in regard of light or lamenesse in regard of motion Great certainly was the mystery of mans Redemption which poted and dazled the eyes of the Angels themselves so that betweene Christ and man there are both these former Disproportions observable For first of all man while he is on the earth a Traveller towards that Glory which yet he never saw and which the tongue of Saint Paul himselfe could not utter is altogether even in his highest pitch of Perfection unqualified to comprehend the excellent mystery of Christ either crucified or much more glorified and therefore our manner of assenting in this life though in regard of the authority on which it is grounded which is Gods owne Word it be most evident and infallible yet in its owne quality it is not so immediate and expresse as is that which is elsewhere reserved for us for hereafter we shall know even as we are knowne by a knowledge of
is to be applied in the other Deliverances The second consideration then of sinne was the Guilt of it which is the binding over unto some punishment prescribed in the Law so we have here a double Deliverance from the Guilt of sinne and from the Bondage of the Law First for sinne though it leave still a staine in the soule yet the sting of it is quite removed though wee are not perfectly cleansed from the soile yet are wee soundly healed from the mortalnesse and bruises of it Then for the Law wee are first freed from the Curse of the Law It is not unto us a killing letter nor a word of Death in as much as it is not that rule according unto which wee expect Life Secondly wee are freed from the Exaction of the Law wee are not necessarily bound to the rigorous performance of each jot and title of it a performance unto which is ever annexed Legall Justification but our endeavours though imperfect are accepted our infirmities though sundry are forgiven for his sake who was under both these Bondages of Law for our sakes And as wee are thus delivered from the Guilt of sinne so are wee farther endued with positive Dignities interest and propriety to all the Righteousness of Christ with which wee are clothed as with a garment claime unto all the blessings which the Law inferres upon due obedience performed to it and the comforts which from either of these Title and Prerogatives may ensue And this is the second branch of Deliverance conveyed by the act of Iustification but merited as the rest by the Death of JESUS CHRIST The third consideration of sinne was the Corruption of it from the which likewise wee are by Christ delivered sinne doth not any more rule nor raigne nor lead captive those who are ingrafted into Christ though for their patience triall and exercise sake and that they may still learne to live by faith and to prize mercy the remnants of it doe cleave fast unto our Nature like the sprigges and rootes of Ivie to a Wall which will never out till the Wall bee broken downe and new built againe Sinne is not like the people of Ierico utterly destroied but rather like the Gibeonites it liveth still but in an estate of bondage servitude and decay and besides this wee are inabled to love the Law in our inner man to delight in it to performe a ready and sincere though not an exact and perfect obedience to it we are made partakers of the divine Nature the Graces with which Christ was anointed doe from him streame downe unto his lowest members which of his fulnesse doe all receive and are all renewed after Gods Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse The next part of our Redemption was from the Bondage of Corruption unto the Liberty of Glory which likewise is by Christ performed for us which is a Deliverance from the Consequents of sinne for sinne doth binde over unto punishment even as the perfect obedience of the Law would bring a man unto Glory Now the Punishments due unto sinne are either Temporary or Eternall consisting principally in the oppressions and distresses of Nature for as Sinne is the evill of our working so Punishment is the evill of our being and it includes not onely bodily and spirituall death but all the inchoations and preparatory dispositions thereunto as in the soule doubtings distractions tremblings and terrours of Conscience hardnesse of heart fearefull expectation of the wrath that shall be revealed in the body sicknesse poverty shame infamy which are so many earnests and petty payments of that full debt which will at last bee measured out to all the wicked of the World Even as amongst the Romans their Prelusory fight with dull and blunt weapons were but introductions to their mortall and bloudy games And besides this Deliverance there is in the soule peace and serenity in the body a patient waiting for Redemption and in the whole man the pledges of that eternall glory which shall be reveled of all which the onely meritorious cause is the Death of Christ. This alone is it which hath overcome our death even as one heate cureth one Flux of blood stoppeth another and hath caught Satan as it were by deceit with a baite and a hooke this is it which hath taken away the enmity betweene God and man reconciling us to the Father and by the prayer of that precious Blood hath obtained for us the right of Children this is it which tooke away the guilt of sinne and cancelled the Bond that was in force against us swallowing up the Curse of the Law and humbling Christ unto the forme of a servant that thereby wee might be made free this is it which removeth all both temporall and eternall punishment from the faithfull it having beene a perfect payment of our whole debt for in as much as Christ himselfe said on the Crosse It is finished wee are to conclude that the other worke of Resurrection was not properly an essentiall part of Christs merit but onely a necessary consequent required to make the Passion applicable and valuable to the Church As in coined metals it is the substance of the coine the Gold or Silver onely that buyeth the ware but the Impression of the Kings Image is that which makes that Coine to bee currant and passable it doth not give the value or worth to the Gold but onely the application of that value unto other things even so the Resurrection and Intercession of Christ doe serve to make actuall applications of those merits of his to his Church which yet had their consummation on the Crosse. And if it be heere demanded how it comes to passe if all these consequents of sinne be removed that the faithfull are still subject to all those temporall evils both in life and death which even in the state of Nature they should have undergone wee answere in generall that the faithfull dye in regard of the state but not in regard of the sting of Death they are subject to a dissolution but it is to obtaine a more blessed union even to bee with Christ and though a man may not take the whole World in exchange for his Soule yet he may well take Christ in exchange for his life It is not a losse of our money but traffique and merchandise to part from it for the procuring of such commodities as are more valuable and Saint Paul telles us that to dye is gaine The sting wee know of Death is sinne for sinne is the cause of all inward discomforts for which cause the wicked are often compared to the foaming Sea which is still tossed and unquiet with every winde and the strength of sinne is the Law with the malediction and bondage thereof from the which wee being perfectly delivered by him who was himselfe made under the Law and