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A27107 The practice of piety directing a Christian how to walk, that he may please God / amplified by the author Bayly, Lewis, d. 1631. 1695 (1695) Wing B1502; ESTC R29026 286,386 487

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Blood And by the frequent use of this Communion Paul will have us to make a shew of the Lord's death till he come from Heaven and till we as Eagles shall be caught up into the air to meet him who is the blessed Carkase and Life of our Souls Thirdly The spiritual Graces are likewise two the Body of Christ as it was with the feeling of God's anger due to us crucified and his blood as it was in the like sort shed for the remission of their sins They are also in number two but in use one viz. whole Christ with all his benefits offered to all and given indeed to the faithful These are the Three integral parts of this blessed Sacrament the Sign the Word and the Grace The Sign without the Word or the Word without the Sign can do nothing and both conjoyned are unprofitable without the Grace signified but all Three concurring make an effectual Sacrament to a worthy Receiver Some receive the outward Sign without the spiritual Grace as Judas who as Austin saith received the bread of the Lord but not the bread which was the Lord. Some receive the spiritual Grace without the outward Sign as the Saint-Thief on the Cross and innumerable of the faithful who dying desire it but cannot receive it through some external impediments but the worthy Receivers to their comfort receive both in the Lord's-Supper Christ chose Bread and Wine rather than any other Elements to be the outward Signs in this blessed Sacrament first because they are easiest for all sorts to attain unto Secondly to teach us that as man's temporal life is chiefly nourished by bread and cherished by wine so are our Souls by his body and blood sustained and quickned unto eternal Life Christ appointed Wine with the Bread to be the outward Signs in this Sacrament to teach us first that as the perfect nourishment of Man's Body consists both of meat and drink so Christ is unto our Souls not in part but in perfection both salvation and nourishment Secondly that by seeing the Sacramental Wine apart from the Bread we should remember how all his precious blood was spilt out of his blessed body for the remission of our sins The outward signs the Pastor gives in the Church and thou dost eat with the mouth of thy body the spiritual grace Christ reacheth from Heaven and thou must eat it with the mouth of thy Faith 3. Of the Ends for which this holy Sacrament was ordained The excellent and admirable Ends or Fruits for which this blessed Sacrament was ordained are seven Of the first End of the Lord's-Supper 1. To keep Christians in a continual remembrance of that propitiatory sacrifice which Christ once for all offered by his death upon the Cross to reconcile us unto God Do this saith Christ in remembrance of me And saith the Apostle As oft as ye shall eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come And he saith that by this Sacrament and the Preaching of the Word Jesus Christ was so evidently set forth before the eyes of the Galatians as if he had been crucified among them for the whole action representeth Christ's death the breaking of the bread blessed the crucifying of his blessed body and the pouring forth of the sanctifyed wine the shedding of his holy blood Christ was once in himself really offered but as oft as the Sacrament is celebrated so oft is he spiritually offered by the faithful Hence the Lord's Supper is called a propitiatory Sacrifice not properly or really but figuratively because it is a memorial of that propitiatory Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Cross. And to distinguish it from that real Sacrifice the Fathers call it the * unbloody Sacrifice It is also called the Eucharist because that the Church in this Action offereth unto God the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for her Redemption effected by the true and only expiatory Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross. If the sight of Moab's King sacrificing on his walls his own son to move his Gods to rescue his 2 King 3. 27. moved the assailing Kings to such pity that they ceas'd the assault and raised their siege how should the spiritual sight of God the Father sacrificing on the Cross his only begotten Son to save thy soul move thee to love God thy Redeemer and to leave sin that could not in justice be expiated by any meaner ransom Of the second end of the Lord's Supper 2. To confirm our Faith For God by this Sacrament doth signifie and seal unto us from Heaven that according to the promise and new covenant which he hath made in Christ he will truly receive into his grace and mercy all penitent believers who duly receive this holy Sacrament and that for the merits of the death and passion of Christ he will as verily forgive them all their sins as they are made partakers of this Sacrament In this respect the holy Sacrament is called The seal of the new Covenant and remission of sins In our greatest doubts we may therefore receiving this Sacrament undoubtedly say with Samson's Mother If the Lord would kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these Of the third end of the Lord's Supper 3. To be a pledge and symbol of the most near and effectual communion which Christians have with Christ. the Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ that is a most effectual sign and pledge of our Communion with Christ This union is called abiding in us joyning to the Lord dwelling in our hearts and set forth in the holy Scriptures by divers Similes 1. Of the Vine and branches 2. Of the head and body 3. Of the foundation and building 4. Of one Loaf confected of many Grains 5. Of the matrimonial union 'twixt Man and Wife and such like And it is threefold betwixt Christ and Christians The first is natural betwixt our Humane Nature and Christ's Divine Nature in the Person of the Word The second is mystical betwixt our Persons absent from the Lord and the Person of Christ God and Man in one mystical Body The third is celestial betwixt our Persons present with the Lord and the Person of Christ in a body glorified These three Conjunctions depend each upon other For had not our Nature been first Hypostatically united to the Nature of God in the second Person we could never have been united to Christ in a Mystical Body And if we be not in this life though absent united to Christ by a Mystical Union we shall never have Communion of glory with him in his
as the Son or from the Father and the Son as the holy Ghost The Son is the second Person of the glorious Trinity and the only begotten Son of his Fa●●● not by Grace but by Nature having his being of the Father alone and the whole being of his Father by an eternal and incomprehensible generation and with the Father sendeth forth the holy Ghost In respect of his absolute Essence he is of himself but in respect of his Person he is by an eternal generation of his Father For the Essence doth not be get an Essence but the Person of the Fath● begetteth the Person of the Son and 〈◊〉 he is God of God and hath from his F●●ther the beginning of his Person and O●●der but not of Essence and Time The Holy Ghost is the third Person of 〈◊〉 blessed Trinity proceeding and sent fort● equally from both the Father and the Sword● by an eternal and incomprehensible spir●●tion For as the Son receiveth the who divine Essence by generation so the h● Ghost receiveth it wholly by spiration This Order betwixt the three Perso● appears in that the Father begetting mu● in order be before the Son begotten an● the Father and Son before the holy Gh● proceeding from both This Order serves to set forth unto two things First the manner how t● Trinity worketh in their external ac●●ons as that the Father worketh of hi●self by the Son and the holy Ghost t● Son from the Father by the holy Ghos● and holy Ghost from the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Son Secondly To distinguish the 〈◊〉 and immediate beginning from whi● those external and common actions flow Hence it is that forasmuch the Father is the fountain and original the Trinity the beginning of all ext●●nal working the Name of God in re●tion and the title of Creator in ● Creed are given in a special manner to the Father our Redemption to the Son and our Sanctification to the Person of the Holy Ghost as the immediate Agents of those actions And this also is the cause why the Son as he is Mediator referreth all things to the Father not to the Holy Ghost and that the Scripture so often saith that we are reconciled to the Father This divine Order or Oeconomy excepted there is neither first nor last neither superiority nor inferiority among the Three Persons but for nature they are co-essential for dignity co-equal for time co-eternal The whole divine Essence is in every one of the Three Persons but it was incarna●ed only in the Second Person of the Word and not in the Person of the Father or of the holy Ghost for Three Reasons First That God the Father might the rather set forth the greatness of his love to Mankind in giving his first and only begotten Son to be incarnated and to suffer death or Man's salvation Secondly That he who was in his Di●inity the Son of God should be in his Humanity the Son of Man lest the Name ●f Son should pass unto another who by ●is Eternal Nativity was not the Son Thirdly because it was meetest that that person who is the substantial Image of his eternal Father should restore in us the spiritual Image of God which we had lost In the Incarnation the God-head was not turned into the Manhood nor the Manhood into the God-head but the God-head as it is the second Person or Word assumed unto it the Manhood that is the whole nature of man body and soul and all the natural properties and infirmities thereof sin excepted The second person took not upon him the person of man but the nature of man So that the humane nature hath no personal subsistence of its own for then there should be two Persons in Christ but it subsisteth in the Word the second Person For as the soul and body make but one person of Man so the God-head and Manhood make but one Person of Christ. The two Natures of the God-head and Manhood are so really united by a personal union that as they can never be separated asunder so are they never confounded but remain still distinguished by their several and essential properties which they had before they were united As for example the infiniteness of the divine is not communicated to the humane Nature nor the finiteness of the humane to the divine nature Yet by reason of this personal union there is such a communion of the properties of both Natures that that which is proper to the one is sometimes attributed to the other Nature As that God purchased the Church with his own blood And that he will judge the world by that Man whom he hath appointed Hence also it is that tho' the humanity of Christ be a created and therefore a finite and limited Nature and cannot be every where present by actual position or local extension according to his natural being yet because it hath communicated unto it the personal subsistence of the Son of God which is infinite and without limitation and so is united with God that it is no where severed from God the body of Christ in respect of his personal being may rightly be said to be every where 3. The Actions by which the Three Persons be distinguished THe actions are of Two sorts either External respecting the creatures and those are after a sort common to everyone of the three persons or internal respecting the persons only amongst themselves and are altogether incommunicable The External and commu●icable Actions of the Three Persons are these The creation of the World peculiarly belonging to God the Father The redemption of the Church to God the Son And the sanctification of the Elect to God the holy Ghost But because the Father created and still governeth the world by the Son in the holy Ghost therefore these external actions are indifferently in Scripture oftentimes ascribed to each of the Three Persons and therefore called communicable and divided Actions The internal and incommunicable Actions or Properties of the Three Persons are these 1. To beget and that belongeth only to the Father who is neither made created nor begotten of any 2. To be begotten and that belongeth only to the Son who is of the Father alone not made nor created but begotten 3. To proceed from both and that belongeth only to the holy Ghost who is of the Father and the Son neither made nor created nor begotten but proceeding So that when we say that the Divine Essence is in the Father unbegotten in the Son begotten and in the holy Ghost proceeding we make not Three Essences but only shew the divers manners of subsisting by which the same most simple eternal and unbegotten Essence subsisteth in each Person namely that it is not in the Father by generation that it is in the Son communicated from the Father by generation and in the holy Ghost communicated from both the ●ather
every true Mordecai who mourned under the Sackeloth of this corrupt Flesh shall be arrayed with the King 's Royal Apparel and have the Crown Royal set upon his Head that all the World may see how it shall be done to him whom the King of Kings delighteth to honour If now the rising of one Sun makes the morning so glorious how glorious shall that Day be when innumerable Millions of Millions of Bodies of Saints and Angels shall appear more glorious than the brightness of the Sun the Body of Christ in glory surpassing all 4. In Agility whereby our bodies shall be able to ascend and meet the Lord at his glorious coming in the Air as Eagles flying unto their Blessed Carcass To this Agility of the Saints glorious Bodies the Prophet alludes saying They shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as Eagles They shall run and not be weary They shall walk and not faint And to this state may that saying of Wisdom be referred In the time of their Vision they shall shine and run to and fro as sparks amongst the stubble And in respect of these four Qualities Paul calleth the raised bodies of the Elect Spiritual for they shall be spiritual in qualities but the same still in substance And howsoever sin and corruption make a Man in this state of Mortality lower than Angels yet surely when God shall thus crown him with glory and honour I cannot see how Man shall be any thing inferiour to Angels For are they Spirits so is Man also in respect of his Soul yea more than this they shall have also a spiritual body fashioned like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom Man's Nature is exalted by a personal Vnion into the Glory of the Godhead and individual Society of the Blessed Trinity an Honour which he never vouchsafed Angels And in this respect Man hath a Prerogative above them Nay they are but Spirits appointed to be Ministers unto the Elect and as many of them who at the first disdained this Office and would not keep their first standing were for their pride hurried into Hell This lesseneth not the Dignity of Angels but extols the greatness of God's love to Mankind But as for all the Elect who at that second and sudden coming of Christ shall be found quick and living the fire that shall burn up the corruption of the world and the works therein shall in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye overtake them as it finds them either grinding in the Mill of Provision or walking in the Fields of pleasure or lying in the bed of ease and so burning up their dross and corruption of Mortal make them Immortal Bodies and this change shall be unto them instead of Death Then shall the Soul with joyfulness greet her Body saying O well met again my dear Sister How sweet is thy Voice How comely is thy countenance having lain hid so long in the Clefts of the Rocks and in the secret places of the grave thou art indeed an habitation fit not only for me to dwell in but such as the H. Ghost thinks meet to reside in as his Temple for ever The Winter of our affliction is now past the storm of our misery is blown over and gone The Bodies of our Elect Brethren appear more glorious than the Lily-flowers on the Earth the time of singing Hallelujahs is come and the voice of the Trumpet is heard in the Land Thou hast been my Yoke-fellow in the Lord's labours and companion in persecutions and wrongs for Christ and his Gospel sake now shall we enter together into our Master's Joy As thou hast born with me the Cross so shalt thou now wear with me the Crown As thou hast with me sowed plenteously in tears so shalt thou reap with me abundantly in joy O blessed ay blessed be that God! who when yonder Reprobates spent their whole time in Pride fleshly Lusts eating drinking and prophane Vanities gave us grace to join together in watching fasting praying reading the Scriptures keeping his Sabbaths hearing Sermons receiving the holy Communion relieving the Poor exercising in all humility the works of Piety to God and walking conscionably in the Duties of our calling towards Men. Thou shalt anon hear no mention of thy sins for they are remitted and covered but every good work which thou hast done for the Lord's sake shall be rehearsed and rewarded Chear up thy heart for thy Judge is flesh of thy flesh and bone of thy bone Lift up thy head behold these glorious Angels like so many Gabriels flying towards us to tell us That the day of our Redemption is come and to convey us in the Clouds to meet our Redeemer in the Air. Lo they are at hand Arise therefore my Dove my Love my fair One and come away And so like Roes or young Harts they run with Angels towards Christ over the trembling Mountains of Bether 6. Both quick and dead being thus revived and glo●●fied shall forthwith by the ministry of God's holy Angels be gathered from all the quarters and parts of the world and caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall come with him as a part of his glorious Train to judge the Reprobates and evil Angels The twelve Apostles shall sit upon twelve thrones next Christ to judge the twelve Tribes who refused to hear the Gospel preached by their Ministry and all the Saints in● honour and order shall stand next unto them as Judges also to judge the evil Angels and earthly-minded Men. And as every of them received grace in this life to be more zealous of his glory and more faithful in his service than others so shall their glory and reward be greater than others in that Day The place whither they shall be gathered unto Christ and where Christ shall sit in judgment shall be in the Air over the Valley of Jehoshaphat by Mount Olivet near unto Jerusalem Eastward from the Temple as it is probable for four reasons 1. Because the holy Scripture see●s to intimate so much in plain words I wi● gather all Nations into the valley of Jehosha●phat and plead with them there Cause thy mighty one to come down O Lord let the heathen be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there will I sit to judge a● the heathen round about Jehoshaphat signifieth the Lord will judge And this Valley was so called from the great victory which the Lord gave Jehoshaphat and his people over the Ammonites Moabites and inhabitants of Mount Seir. Which victory was a type of the final victory which Christ ●he supream Judge shall give his Elect over ●ll their enemies in that place at the last ●ay as all the Jews interpret it See Zech. ● 4 5. Psalm 51. 1 2 c. all agreeing
estate for evermore Therefore it is termed everlasting life and Christ saith that our joy no man shall take from us All other joys be they never so great have an end Ahasuerus's Feast lasted an hundred and eighty days but he and it and all his joys are gone For mortal man to be assumed to heavenly glory to be associated to Angels to be satiated with an delights and joys but for a time were much but to enjoy them for ever without intermission of end who can hear it and not admire it who can muse of it and not ●e amazed at it All the Saints of Christ as soon as they felt once but a true taste of these eternal joys counted all the riches and pleasures of this life to be but loss and dung in respect of that And therefore with uncessant prayers fastings alms-deeds tears faith and good life they laboured to ascertain themselves of this eternal life and for the love thereof they willingly either sold or parted with all their earthly goods and possessions Christ calleth all Christians Merchants Luke 19. and Eternal Life a precious Pearl which a wise Merchant will purchase tho' it cost him all that he hath Matth. 13. Alexander hearing the report of the great riches of the Eastern Country divided forthwith among his Captains and Soldiers all his Kingdom of Macedonia He phaestion asking him what he meant in so doing Alexander answered That he preferr'd the riches of India whereof he hoped shortly to be master before all that his Father Philip had left him in Macedonia And should not Christians then preferr the eternal riches of Heaven so greatly renowned which they shall enjoy ere long before the corruptible trash of the Earth which lasts but for a season Abraham and Sarah left their own Country and Possessions to look for a City whose builder and maker is God and therefore bought no Land but only a place of Burial David preferred one day in this place before a thousand elsewhere yea to be a door-keeper in the house of God rather than to dwell in the richest Tabernacles of wickedness Elias earnestly besought the Lord to receive his Soul into his Kingdom and went willingly tho in a fiery Chariot thither● St. Paul having once seen Heaven continually desired to be dissolved that he might be with Christ. St. Peter having espied but a glimpse of that eternal glory in the Mount wished ●hat he might dwell there all the days of his life saying Master it is good for us to be here How much better doth Peter now think it to be in Heaven it self Christ a little before his death prayeth his Father to receive him into that excellent Glory And the Apostle witnesseth that for the joy which was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame If a Man did but once see those joys if it were possible he would endure a hundred deaths to enjoy that happiness but one day Saint Augustine saith That he would be content to endure the torments of hell to gain this joy rather than to lose it Ignatius St. Paul's Scholar Being threatned as he was going to suffer with the cruelty of Torments answered with great courage of Faith Fire Gallows Beasts breaking of my bones quartering of my members crushing of my body all the torments of the devil together let them come upon me so I may enjoy my Lord Jesus and his Kingdom The same constancy shewed Polycarp who could not by any terrours of any kind of death be moved to deny Christ in the least measure With the like resolution answered Basil his persecutors when they would terrifie him with death I will never said he fear Death which can do no more than restore me to him that made me If Ruth left her own Country and followed Na●●i her Mother-in-law to go and dwell with her in the land of Canaan which was by a type of Heaven only upon the fame which she heard of the God of Israel though she had no promise of any portion therein how shouldst thou follow thy holy Mother the Chruch to go unto Christ into the heavenly Canaan wherein God hath given thee an eternal inheritance assured by an holy Covena●t made in the word of God signed with the Blood of his Son and sealed with his Spirit and Sacraments this shall be rhine eternal happiness in the Kingdom of Heaven where thy life shall be a communion with the blessed Trinity thy joy the presence of the Lamb thy exercise singing thy ditty hallelujah thy consorts Saints and Angels where youth fl●urisheth that never waxeth old beauty lasteth that never fadeth love aboundeth that never cooleth health continueth that never slacketh and ●ife remaineth that never endeth Meditations directing a Christian how to apply to himself without delay the aforesaid knowledge of God and himself THou seest therefore O Man how wretched and cursed thy state is by corruption of ●●ture without Christ insomuch that whereas the Scriptures do liken wicked men unto Lions Bears Bulls Horses Dogs and such like savage Creatures in their lives it is certain that the condition of an unregenerate man is in his Death more vile than a Dog or the filthiest Creature in the World For the Beast being made but for Man's use when he dieth endeth all his miseries with his death But Man endued with a reasonable and immortal soul made after God's image to serve God when he ends the miseries of this life must account for all his misdeeds and begin to endure these miseries that never shall know end No creature but man is liable to yield at his death an account for his life The brute creatures not having reason shall not be required to make any account for their deeds and good Angels tho' they have reason yet shall they yield no account because they have no sin And as for evil Angels they are without all hope already condemned so that they need not make any further accounts Man only in his death must be God's accountant for his life On the other side thou seest O Man how happy and blessed thy estate is being truly reconciled unto God in Christ in that through the restauration of God's Image and thy restitution into thy soveraignty over other creatures thou art in this life little inferiour to the Angels and shall be in the life to come equal to the Angels Yea in respect of thy Nature exalted by a personal Vnion to the Son of God and by him to the glory of the Trinity superior to the Angels a Fellow-Brother with Angels in spiritual Grace and everlasting Glory Thou hast seen how glorious and perfect God is and how that all thy chief bliss and happiness consisteth in having an eternal Communion with his Majesty Now therefore O impenitent sinner in the bowels of Christ Jesus I intreat thee nay I conjure thee as thou tenderest thy own salvation seriously
heavenly Presence The Mystical Vnion chiefly here meant is wrought betwixt Christ and us by the Spirit of Christ apprehending us and by our faith stirred up by the same Spirit apprehending Christ again Both which St. Paul doth most lively express I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus How can he fall away that holdeth and is so firmly holden This Union he shall best understand in his mind who doth most feel it in his heart But of all other times this Union is best felt and most confirmed when we duly receive the Lord's-Supper For then we shall sensibly feel our hearts knit unto Christ and the desires of our souls drawn by Faith and the Holy Ghost as by the cords of love nearer and nearer to his holiness From this Communion with Christ there follow to the faithful many unspeakable benefits As first Christ took by imputation all their sins and guiltiness upon him to satisfie God's Justice for them and he freely gives by imputation unto us all his righteousness in this life and all his right unto eternal life when this is ended and counteth all the good or ill that is done unto us as done unto his own person Secondly There floweth from Christ's Nature into our Nature united to him the lively spirit and breath of grace which reneweth us to a spiritual life and so sanctifieth our minds wills and affections that we daily grow more and more conformable to the Image of Christ. Thirdly He bestoweth upon them all saving graces necessary to attain eternal life as the sense of God's love the assurance of our election with regeneration justification and grace to do good works till we come to live with him in his heavenly Kingdom This should teach all true Christians to keep themselves as the undefiled members of Christ's holy body and to beware of all uncleanness and filthiness knowing that they live in Christ or rather that Christ liveth in them From this Vnion with Christ sealed unto us by the Lord's-Supper St. Paul draweth arguments to withdraw the Corinthians from the pollution both of Idolatry 1 Cor. 10. 16. and Adultery 1 Cor. 16. 15 16. Lastly From the former Communion 'twixt Christ and Christians there flows another Communion 'twixt Christians among themselves Which is also lively represented by the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper in that the whole Church being many do all communicate of one Bread in that holy action We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one Bread that as the Bread which we eat in the Sacrament is but one tho' it be confected of many Grains so all the faithful tho' they be many yet are they but one mystical body under one head which is Christ. Our Saviour prayed five times in that Prayer which he made after his last Supper that his Disciples might be one to teach us at once how much this Vnity pleaseth him This Vnion betwixt the faithful is so ample that no distance of place can part it so strong that death cannot dissolve it so durable that time cannot wear it out so effectual that it breeds a fervent love betwixt those who never saw one anothers face And this conjunction of Souls is termed the Communion of Saints which Christ effecteth by six special means First by governing them all by one and the same holy Spirit Secondly by enduring them all with one and the same Faith Thirdly by shedding abroad his own love into all their hearts Fourthly by regenerating them all by one and the same Baptism Fifthly by nourishing them all with one and the same spiritual food Sixthly by being one quickning Head of that one body of his Church which he reconciled to God in the body of his flesh Hence it was that the multitude of believers in the Primitive Church were of one heart and of one soul in truth affection and compassion And this should teach Christians to love one another seeing they are all members of the same holy and mystical Body whereof Christ is Head And therefore they should have all a Christian sympathy and fellow feelling to rejoyce one in anothers joy to condole one in anothers grief to bear with one anothers infirmity and mutually to relieve one anothers wants Of the fourth end of the Lord's Supper 4. To feed the Souls of the faithful in the assured hope of life everlasting For this Sacrament is a sign and pledge unto as many as shall receive the same according to Christ's Institution that he will according to his promise by the vertue of his crucified body and blood as verily feed our souls to life eternal as our bodies are by Bread and Wine nourished to this temporal life And to this end Christ in the action of the Sacrament really giveth his very Body and Blood to every faithful Receiver Therefore the Sacrament is called the Communion of the body and blood of the Lord. And Communication is not of things absent but present neither were it the Lord's Supper if the Lord's Body and Blood were not there Christ is verily present in the Sacrament by a double Vnion whereof the first is spiritual 'twixt Christ and the worthy Receiver the second is Sacramental 'twixt the Body and Blood of Christ and the outward signs in the Sacrament The former is wrought by means that the same holy Spirit dwelling in Christ and in the Faithful incorporateth the Faithful as Members unto Christ their Head and so makes them one with Christ and partakers of all the Graces Holiness and eternal Glory which is in him as sure and as verily as they hear the words of the promise and are partakers of the outwards signs of the holy Sacrament Hence it is that the Will of Christ is a true Christians will and the Christians life is Christ who liveth in him Gal. 2. 20. If you look to the things that are united this Union is essential if to the truth of this Union it is real if to the manner how it is wrought it is spiritual It is not our Faith that makes the Body and Blood of Christ to be present but the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him and us Our Father doth but receive and apply unto our Souls those heavenly Graces which are offered in the Sacrament The other being the Sacramental Vnion is not a Physical or Local but a Spiritual conjunction of the earthly signs which are Bread and Wine with the heavenly Graces which are the Body and Blood of Christ in the act of receiving as if by a mutual relation they were but one and the same thing Hence it is that in the same instant of time that the worthy Receiver eateth with his mouth the Bread and Wine of the Lord he eateth also with the mouth of his Faith the very Body and Blood of Christ.