grace it doth the quality of that work whereby we reach unto our desired Good doth alter likewise Now fourthly wee must farther observe that between our working which is the motion towards our Good and our fruition or resting in it there is a distance or succession of time so that while we are in our estate of working we doe not enjoy God by any full reall presence or possession but only by a right of a Covenant and Promise which makes the Apostle say that in this life we live by faith and not by sight Now Promises or Covenants require to have annexed unto them Evidence and certaintie so farre as may secure the party that relyes upon them which in humane â—ontracts is done by giving our words and setting to our seales for confirmation And now lastly in as much as that Dutie on condition whereof God maketh this Promise of himselfe unto us is the work of the whole man the Evidence and Confirmation of the Promise is by God made unto the whole man likewise and to each facultie of man which it pleaseth him in mercy the rather to doe because of that dependance of our soules on the inferiour and subordinate powers and of that necessary connexion which there is betweene the inward reason and the outward senses God then presupposing ever the performance of conditions on our part doth secure hâ—s Church and give evidence for the discharge of his covenant and promise first to the soule alone by the testimony of his Spirit which is both the seale and the witnesse of Gods Covenant and secondly both to the soule and to the senses by that double bond his word written or preached and his seale visibly exhibited to the eye and taste but especially unto the taste in which objects are more really and with lesse fallibilitie united to the faculty in which there appeareth a more exquisite fruition of delight in these good things which are pleasing and lastly in which the mysticall union of the Church to its head unto the making up of one body is more naturally exprest And these seales annexed unto the word or patent of Gods Promise have been ever proposd unto the Church in all its estates and are nothing else but that which we call a Sacrament So that as the testimony of the Spirit is an invisible seale and earnest to the soule so is the Sacrament a visible seale and earnest to the sense both after a severall manner ratifying and confirming the infallible expectation of that future Reward which as well the senses as the soule shall in Gods presence really enjoy after they have fulfilled the service which God requireth CHAP. II. Sacraments are earnests and shaddowes of our expected glory made unto the senses THE Promises and word of grace with the Sacraments are all but as so many sealed Deeds to make over unto all successions of the Church so long as they continue legitimate children and observe the Lawes on their part required an infallible claime and title unto that Good which is not yet revealed unto that inheritance which is as yet laid up unto that life which is hid with God and was never yet fully opened or let shine upon the earth Even in Paradise there was a Sacrament a tree of life inded it was but there was but one whereas Adam was to eat of all the fruits in the Garden He was there but to taste sometimes of life it was not to bee his perpetuall and only food We read of a Tree of life in the beginning of the Bible and of a tree of life in the end too that was in Adams Paradise on earth this in Saint Iohns Paradise in heaven But that did beare but the first fruits of life the earnest of an after fulnesse This bare life in abundance for it bare twelve manner of fruits and that every moneth which shewes both the compleatnesse and eternity of that glory which wee expect And as the Tree of Paradise was but a Sacrament of life in heaven so Paradise it selfe was but a Sacrament of heaven Certainly Adam was placed amongst the dark and shady trees of the Garden that he might in an Embleme acknowledge that he was as yet but in the shadow of life the substance whereof he was elsewhere to receive Even when the Church was pure it was not perfect it had an age of infancy when it had a state of innocence Glory was not communicated unto Adam himselfe without the vaile of a Sacrament the light of God did not shine on Paradise with a spreading and immediate ray even there it was mixed with shadowes and represented only in a Sacramentall reflex not in its owne direct and proper brightnesse The Israelites in the wildernesse had light indeed but it was in a cloud and they had the presence of God in the Ark but it was under severall coverings and they had the light of God shining on the face of Moses but it was under the vaile and Moses himselfe did see God but it was in a cloud so uncapable is the Church while encompassed with a body of sinne to see the lustre of that glory which is expected Certainly as the Sonne of God did admirably humble himselfe in his hypostaticall union unto a visible flesh so doth he still with equall wonder and lowlinesse humble himselfe in a Sacramentall union unto visible Elements Strange it is that that mercy which is so wonderfull that the Angels desire to look into it so unconceiveable as that it hath not entred into the thought of man of such height and lenghth and breadth and depth as passeth knowledge should yet be made the object of our lowest faculties That that which is hid from the wise and prudent in mans little world his mind and spirit should bee revealed unto the babes his senses It were almost a contradiction in any thing save Gods mercy to bee so deep as that no thought can fadome it and yet so obvious that each eye may see it Handle mee and see for a spirituall substance hath not flesh was sometimes the argument of Christ and yet handle and see take and eat for a spirituall grace is conveyed by flesh is the Sacrament of Christ. So humble is his mercy that since we cannot raise our understandings to the comprehension of divine mysteries he will bring downe and submit those mysteries to the apprehension of our senses Hereafter our bodies shall be over-clothed with a spirituall glory by a reall union unto Christ in his kingdome mean time that spirituall glory which wee grone after is here over-clothed with weak and visible elements by a Sacramentall union at his Table Then shall sense be exalted and made a fit subject of glory here is glory humbled and made a fit object of sense Then shall wee see as wee are seen face to face here wee see but as in glasse darkly in the glasse of the creature in the glasse of the word
but the incarnation and bloud of the Sonne of God the Creator of the World could wash it out consider the Justice and undispensable severity of our God against sinne which would not spare the life of his owne Sonne nor be satisfied without a Sacrifice of infinite and coequall vertue with it selfe consider that it was thy sinne which were thy associates with Iudas and Pilate and the Iewes to crucify him It was thy Hypocrisy which was the kisse that betraid him thy covetousnes the thornes that crowned him thy oppression and cruelty the nayles and Speares that peirced him thy Idolatry and superstition the knee that mocked him thy contempt of religion the spittle that defiled him thy anger and bitternes the gall and vâ—negar that distasted him thy Crimson and redoubled sins the Purple that dishonord him in a word thou wert the Iew that kild him Canst thou then have so many members as weapons wherewith to crucify thy Saviour and hast thou not a heart wherein to recognize and a tongue wherewith to celebrate the benefits of that bloud which thy sinnes had powred out The fire is queâ—ched by that water which by its heate was caused to runne over and shall not any of thy sins be put out by the over-flowing of that pretious bloud which thy sinnes caused to run out of his sacred Bodie Lastly consider the immensitie of Gods mercie and the unutterable treasures of his grace which neither the provocations of thy sinne nor the infinite exactnes of his owne justice could any way overcome or constraine to dispise the worke of his owne hands or nor to compassionate the wretchednes of his creature though it cost the Humiliation of the Sonne of God and the exinanition of his Sacred person to performe it Lay together all those considerations and certainly they are able even to melt a heart of Adamant into thoughts of continuall thankfulnes towards so bountifull a Redeemer Thirdly wee must remember the death of CHRIST with a Remembrance of Obedience even the commands of God should be sufficient to inforce our obedience It is not the manner of Law-makers to use insinuations and plausible provokements but peremptory and resolute injunctions upon paine of penalty but our God deales not onely as a Lord but as a Father he hath delivered us from the penalty and now rather invites then compels us to obedience least by persisting in sinne we should make voyd unto our selves the benefit of Christs death yea should crucify him a fresh and so bring upon our selves not the benefit but the guilt of his bloud Is it nothing thinke we that Christ should die in vaine and take upon him the dishonor and shame of a servant to no purpose and disobedience as much as in it lyes doth nullify and make voyd the death of Christ Is it nothing that that sacred Bloud of the covenant should bee shed onely to be troden and trampled under foote as a vile thing and certainely he that celebrates the memory of Christs death in this holy Sacrament with a willfully polluted soule doth not commemorate the Sacrifice but share in the slaughter of him and receives that pretious blood not according to the institution of Christ to drinke it but with the purpose of Iudas and the Iewes to shed it on the ground a cruelty so much more detestable then Caines was by how much the blood of Christ is more pretious than that of Abel In the phrase of Scripture sinning against God and forgetting of him or casting of him behinde our backe or bidding him depart from us or not having him before our eies are all of equall signification neither is any thing cald remembrance in divine dialect which doth not frame the soule unto affections befitting the quality of the object that is remembred He is not said to see a pit though before his eyes who by Starre-gazing or other thoughts falls into it nor hee to remember Christ though presented to all his senses at 〈◊〉 who makes no regard of his presence Divine knowledge being practicall requires advertence and consideration an essicacious pondering of the consequences of good or evill and thereby a proportionable governement of our severall courses which who so neglecteth may bee properly said to forget or to bee ignorant of what was before him though not out of blindnesse yet out of inconsideratenesse as not applying close unto himselfe the obiect represented which if truely remembred would infallibly frame the minde unto a ready obedience and conformitie thereunto Lastly Wee must remember the Death of Christ with Prayer unto God for as by faith wee apply to our selves so by prayer wee represent unto God the Father that his death as the merit and meanes of reconciliation with him as prayer is animated by the Death of Christ which alone is that character that addes currantnesse unto them so is the Death of Christ not to bee celebrated without Prayer wherein wee doe with confidence implore Gods acceptance of that sacrifice for us in which alone hee is well-pleased Open thine eyes unto the supplication of thy servants to hearken unto all for which they shall call unto thee was the Prayer of Salomon in the consecration of the Temple What doth God hearken with his eyes unto the prayers of his people Hath not hee that made the eare an eare himselfe but must be faine to make use of another faculty unto a different worke Certainely unlesse the eye of God be first open to looke on the bloud of his Sonne and on the persons of his Saints bathed and sprinkled therewith his eares can never be open unto their prayers Prayer doth put God in minde of his Covenant and Covenants are not to bee presented without seales now the seale of our Covenant is the blood of Christ no Testament is of force but by the death of the Testator whensoever therefore wee present unto God the truth of his owne free Covenant in our prayers let us not forget to shew him his owne seale too by which wee are confirmed in our hope therein Thus are wee to celebrate the death of Christ and in these regards is this holy worke called by the Antients an unbloody sacrifice in a mysticall and spirituall sense because in this worke is a confluence of all such holy duties as are in the Scripture called spirituall sacrifices and in the same sence was the Lords Table ofttimes by them called an Altar as that was which the Reubenites erected on the other side of Iordan not for any proper sacrifice but to bee a patterne and memoriall of that whereon sacrifice was offered CHAP. XVII Inferences of Practice from the severall ends of this holy Sacrament HEere then in as much as these sacred Elements are instituted to present and exhibit Christ unto the faithfull soule wee may inferre with what affection wee ought to approach unto him and what reverent estimation to have of them Happinesse as it is the scope of all
uncleane things as being in the neerest disposition to rottennes and putrefaction will never smell any sweete savor in such services What have I to doe saith God with your Sacrifices and my soule hateth your new Moones and your appointed feasts My Sacrifices and my Sabboths they were by originall institution but your carnall observance of them hath made them yours Even the Heathen Idols themselves did require rather the truth of an inward then the pompe of an outward worship and therefore they forbad all profane people any accesse to their services And God certainly will not be content with lesse then the Divill Sixtly in that by these frequent ceremonies we are led unto the celebration of Christs death and the benefits thereby arising unto mankinde we may hence observe the naturall deadnes and stupidity of mans memory in the things of his salvation It is a wonder how a man should forget his Redeemer that ransomed him with the price of his owne bloud to whom he oweth whatsoever he either is or hath him whom each good thing we injoy leadeth unto to the acknowledgment of Looke where we will he is still not onely in us but before us The wisdome of our minds the goodness of our natures the purposes of our wills and desires the calmenes of our consciences the hope and expectation of our soules and bodies the liberty from law and sinne what ever it is in or about us which we either know or admire or enjoy or expect he is the Treasury whence they were taken the fulnes whence they were received the head which transferreth the hand which bestoweth them we are on all sides compassed and even hedged in with his blessings so that in this sense we may acknowledge a kind of ubiquity of Christs body in as much as it is every where even visible and palpable in those benefits which flow from it And yet we like men that looke on the River Nilus and gaze wonderously on the Streames remaine still ignorant of the head and Originall from whence they issue Thus as there is betweene bloud and Poyson such a naturall antipathy as makes them to shrinke in and retire at the presence of each other so though each good thing we enjoy serve to present that pretious blood which was the price of it unto our soules yet there is in us so much venome of sinne as makes us still to remove our thoughts from so pure an object As in the knowledge of things many men are of so narrow understandings that they are not able to raise them unto consideration of the causes of such things whose effects they are haply better acquainted with then wiser men it being the worke of a discursive head to discover the secret knittings obscure dependances of naturall things on each other so in matters of practice in Divinity many men commonly are so fastned unto the present goods which they enjoy and so full with them that they either have noe roome or noe leisure or rather indeed no power nor will to lift up their minds from the streames unto the Fountaine or by a holy logick to resolve them into the death of Christ from whence if they issue not they are but fallacies and sophisticall good things and what ever happines we expect in or from them will prove a non sequitur at the last Remember and know CHRIST indeed such men may and do in some sort sometimes to dishonor him at best but to discourse of him But as the Phylosopher speakes of intemperate men who sin not out of a full purpose uncontroled swinge of vitious resolutions but with checks of judgement and reluctancy of reason that they are but halfe vitious which yet is indeed but an halfe-truth So certainly they who though they doe not quite forget Christ or cast him behinde their backe doe yet remember him onely with a speculative contemplation of the nature and generall efficacy of his death without particular application of it unto their owne persons and practices have but a halfe and halting knowledge of him Certainely a meere Schoole-man who is able exactly to dispute of Christ and his passion is as farre from the length and breadth and depth and heigth of Christ crucified from the requisite dimensions of a Christian as a meere Surveiour or Architect who hath onely the practise of measuring land or timber is from the learning of a Geometrician For as Mathematicks being a speculative Science cannot possibly bee compris'd in the narrow compasse of a practicall Art so neither can the knowledge of Christ being a saving and practick knowledge be compleat when it floats only in the discourses of a speculative braine And therefore Christ at the last day will say unto many men who thought themselves great Clerks and of his neere acquaintance even such as did preach him and doe wonders in his name that hee never knew them and that is an argument that they likewise never knew him neither For as no man can see the Sunne but by the benefit of that light which from the Sunne shineth on him so no man can know Christ but those on whom Christ first shineth and whom he vouch safeth to know Mary Magdalen could not say Rabboni to Christ till Christ first had said Mary to her And therefore that we may not faile to remēber Christ aright it pleaseth him to institute this holy Sacrament as the image of his crucified body whereby wee might as truely have Christs death presented unto us as if he had beene crucified before our eyes Secondly we see here who they are who in the Sacrament receive Christ even such as remember his death with a recognition of faith thankefulnesse and obedience Others receive onely the Elements but not the Sacrament As when the King seales a pardon to a condemned malefactour the messenger that is sent with it receives nothing from the King but paper written and sealed but the malefactor unto whom onely it is a gift receives it as it were a resurrection Certainely there is a staffe as well of Sacramentall as of common bread the staffe of common bread is the blessing of the Lord the staffe of the Sacramentall is the body of the Lord and as the wicked which never looke up in thankfulnes unto God doe often receive the bread without the blessing so here the element without the body they receive indeed as it is fit uncleane Birds should doe nothing but the carcasse of a Sacrament the body of Christ being the soule of the Bread and his bloud the life of the Wine His body is not now any more capable of dishonour it is a glorified body and therefore will not enter into an earthy and uncleane soule As it is corporally in Heaven so it will be spiritually and sacramentally in noe place but a heavenly soule Thinke not that thou hast received Christ till thou hast effectually remembred seriously meditated and been religiously affected and inflamed