the thing signified as the bread Christs body the wine is called Christs bloud The Rock was Christ Circumcision called the Covenant The Lamb called the Passeover and in common speech When we look on a Picture we say This is Casar this is Augustus this is Hercules nothing more ordinary In the Sacrament this similitude is a similitude of proportionality saith Bonaventure consisting of four termes You are most of you Arithmeticians and you have a golden Rule called The Rule of Three becaUse three terms being given the fourth is given and this sets forth to you the Analogy of a Sacrament in four termes As water in Baptisme washes the body so the Spirit by his grace or the bloud of Christ cleanseth the soul As the bread and wine nourish and refresh the body so the body and bloud of Christ nourisheth and refresheth the soul As by the hand we take and with our mouth we eat and drink the bread and wine so by faith we receive the body and bloud of Jesus Christ If you destroy the similitude you destroy the Sacrament as the Papists do by their Transubstantiation for they destroy the Analogy Thus the accidents of Bread and Wine or the Species doe not nourish the Body say we Nor the very Body and Bloud of Christ doth not passe into bodily nourishment say they for it was horrible to imagine it therefore there is no resemblance the similitude is destroyed and so the Sacrament § 3 Thirdly It is a most true most firm and golden Rule That a Sacrament out of the Use appointed Chamiâ—r de Luchar l. 7. c. 4. §. 11. l. 8. c. 3 Forbes Hist. Theol p. 550. by God hath not the nature of nor is any more a Sacrament It is not a Sacrament extra usum out of the actual Use There must not onely be Bread and Wine but Blessing and Taking and Eating and Drinking or else to us there is no Sacrament The Bread and Wine upon the Table are no Sacrament but the eating and drinking of Bread and Wine As in Baptism the water is no Sacrament but the washing with water is The Papists confesse this of every Sacrament and of Baptism but not of the Lords Supper which for Transubstantiation-sake which troubles the whole Scaene they hold to be a perfect Sacrament by consecration whether it be received by the Communicant yea or no and this is the Doctrine of their Schoolmen and Aquin. part 3. Qu. 80. aliis Scholasticis all others of their confession We appeal to the Text Take Eat This is my body It 's so being taken and eaten and not otherwise The remains of Bread and Wine are no Sacrament it is the Use which gives the Reason and nature of a Sacrament and when and where the Use is not the Sacrament is not It 's true in our vulgar speech we call it the Sacrament as on the Table as the beast might be called a Sacrifice before it was slain being destin'd and appointed thereunto 1 Sam. 13. 9 Whitak deâ— acram p 621 624 c. as Whitaker saith but it is no Sacrifice till slain and offer'd nor was the Lamb a Passeover but as it was eaten and rosted so a meer stone is a stone wheresoever it be but not a boundary but in the Use and an earnest is money but not an earnest except taken upon agreement Bread and Wine are Elements but not a Sacrament till all the Rites and Actions be Observed which God hath appointed viz. in the participation and Use 1 Cor. 10. 16 17 18. The Cup of blessing and the bread are the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ being partaken and received not else There is some kinde of Argument urged against this Rule from the reservation of the Bread especially and of the Wine which is read of in Antiquity and that was either private reservation when the Communicant carried home the Bread and kept it in his chest for his private Use to eat of privately or else it was by the Ministers to give to lapsed Christians in time of extremity or sicknesse that were debarred of publick participation The first is mentioned Cypr. de lapsis by ancient Authours and by some commended as Ambrose de obitu Satyr Nazian Epitaph pro sor This is excUsed by Jewell against Harding As in time Forbes Hist. Theol. p. 553. Col. 1. of persecution when Christians might be deprived of the publick Ordinance and by others on other grounds Burgess of knealing The other hath one onely example in true Antiquity and that is Serapions case EUseb Histor lib. 6. cap. 34. and is excUsed by Chemnitius as if Chem. de coena Examen p. 93. it was to oppose the Novatian opinion of not restoring the lapsed though penitent unto the Communion of the Sacrament Of both these I see no clear warrant in the Institution of Christ and therefore say with Cyprian Non quod aliquis ante nos c. We are not to look what any hath done before us but what he did and commanded that was before all even Jesus Christ § 4 Fourthly It is the peoples right to receive the Cup as well as the Bread Drink ye all of it Matth. 26. 27. Moulin Buckler p. 529. They all drank of it Mark 14. 23. As often as ye eat this bread and drink of this Cup saith Paul 1 Cor. 11. 26. Nothing more plain and yet whether it be the ambition of the Priests that would exalt themselves above the people or whether it be the fruit of Transubstantiation or both this Cup is taken from the people in the Romane Churches but it was not taken away by publick Decree till the Council of Constance Anno 1416. since which time there was great petitioning to the Council of Trent for the Cup but Chem. Exam. de coena p. 134 135. Concil Trid. Sess 6. they referr'd it to the Pope in whose hands it lies and it seems will lie till God put another cup into his hand to drink And so you see that that Council of Constance that burnt John Husse and Jerome did let out the bloud of good Christians and shut up the bloud of Christ from them I conclude Let us follow that which is simplest and purest according to Christs Institution and neither superstitiously reserve nor impiously mutilate the holy Ordinance CHAP. VIII Of the Real Presence NOw I draw on to the Anatomy of the viscera the entrails and inwards of this Ordinance under the outside whereof if you take off the cover you shall finde such cheer as never was in any other feast This is my body saith Christ which is broken for you saith Paul Which is given for you saith Mat. 26 26 27 28 Mark 14. 22 24. Luk. 22. 20. Luke This Cup is the New Testament in my bloud saith Paul Which is shed for you saith Luke Or as Matthew and Mark This is my bloud of the New Testament which is
First The Lord Jesus is Authour the Mediatour of the new Covenant the Testator of the new Testament appoints the seal of that Covenant and ratifies that Testament with his bloud He is the Lord to whom is committed the Soveraignty and Government of his Church therefore he makes Officers Laws and Ordinances The Lords day and the Lords Supper are particularly in Scripture called by Rev. 1. 10. 1 Cor. 11. his name The Lords The Lords day ex illius resurrectione festivitatem suam habere coepit took its festivity Epist 119. from his Resurrection as Austin The Lords Supper is the memorial of his death so his death and resurrection a Supper and a day to memorize them As he is Lord so his Laws binde whatsoever they be though Abraham be commanded to kill his sonne for the Laws of God have not their obligation from the quality of the Law but from the authority of the Lord the Law-giver As he is Jesus a Saviour so his Laws are benefits and liberties tending to salvation as the Laws of your City are freedoms and your freedoms laws so you obey them â—s Laws enjoy them as freedoms they are our benefit and our duty His invitation is to a Supper it 's the invitation of a Lord it 's the Supper of a Saviour § 2 Secondly There must be institution of a Sacrament The elements are cyphers till the institution make them figures Institution is as necessary to a Sacrament as superscription is to money for it is created 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things that did not appear Sacraments are of that rank of things Quae nihil sunt sine institutione saith Chamier they were bread and wine Chamier de Euchar. l. 7. c. 10 indeed before but they were nothing to that relation which Christ put upon them a seal of a thousand a year is made of a peny-worth of wax What was a piece of brasse to the healing of a mortal sting Nothing till God put an Use upon it that all that lookt to it being bitten should be healed § 3 Thirdly There must be a divine institution to make a Sacrament The Legatee doth not seal the will but the Testatour the Granter seals the Deed not the Grantee the Delinquent seals not the pardon but the Keeper of the seal Sola divina institutio facit Sacramentum Montac origin part 1. pag. 73. saith a learned man Take that away and it ceaseth to be a Sacrament The Supream Power only can coyn money in other its câ—pitâ—l All the whole Church together cannot make a Sacrament then it should be the Churches Supper not the Lords and it is theirs to eat but not to make Ejus est signa Synopsis de coena §. 7. gratiae addere cujus est gratiamtribuere He may adde the signs of grace that can give the grace There is a four-fold word requisite to a Sacrament 1. A word of institution which appoints the matter and form 2. A word of Sanctification or blessing to set them apart from common Use 3. A word of Promise of some good to the Communicant and so we have here a promise of the Lords body and bloud The promises of Sacraments as is well Observed by the Centuriators are vestitae Centur. mag ceâ—t 1. promissiones cloathed promises He that believes shall be saved is a naked promise He that eats this bread c. shall have Christ as a cloathed promise 4. A word of Command as we have the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Buckler Prâ—t evidence in Baptism so hoc facite here as a learned man Let the Word be added to the Element and you have a Sacrament Austin § 4 Fourthly It 's the institution that gives the nature and efficacy to a Sacrament He that mints the money sets the value and price upon it A Sacrament is an outward and visible signe but it is not a natural but a voluntary sign nor yet a bare signe as the picture of Hercules is a signe of Hercules and no more we must not make the Sacraments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empty names empty figures empty representations that resemble and signifie something and no more as the Sacrament was a crucifix and the Supper painted resemblances of meat and drink this is a hungry feast he must have his stomack in his eye that is fed with it but the Sacraments are signacula symbola seals and pledges or instruments offering exhibiting and making present to our faith the very benefits which they signifie the very body and bloud of Christ is not only represented but presente to a believer and brought home to his soul yet they are not natural instruments Montac orig part 1. p. 67. in which the inward grace is contained as in a vessel as the Romish Praesentialists and Schoolmen dream like plaisters which have in themselves a virtue or power to heal a wound or a medicine to expell poison but they are moral and voluntary means or instruments serving to the purpose ex destinatione by appointment as the brazen Serpent to heal the sting Bernard hath writ upon it As saith he in vestitures and possessions Bernard de câ—â—â—â—a and assurances do pass by the staff and ring Annulus non valet qnicquam haereditas est quam quaerebam The ring avails little I seek the inheritance that is confirmed and convey'd by it so we say the Lands Inheritance c. do passe by the great Seal for so I come to have and hold and they are mine by it Thus the Sacrament is a seal of confirmation and conveyance of the inward grace to the hand or faith of a believing soul And as really as the estate doth passe by the Seal into your right and possession not by any inward work or power of the Seal in it self but by the Use it 's of in sealing and conveying so really is Christ and all his tReasure passed over unto you that receive him by faith not in respect of any worthiness or vertue in the very outward Sacrament but in and by the Use it 's of by Christs appointment to seal confirm and convey that excellent place speaks my minde fully 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of blessing which we bless Is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The Bread which we break Is it not the Communion of the body of Christ He saith not barely representation as a signe but communion or participation as a conveying seal I declare this to you becaUse some believe too much and think the outward Sacrament works I know not how like a plaister by some vertue contained in them that is opere operato as they barbarously speak and others believe-too little as if they were meer and empty signs and resemblances of Christs body and bloud as if a woman should receive a ring meerly becaUse the picture of her beloved is engraven on it and not as a ring of espousals really sealing and confirming the contract and assuring
the winde blow and seasonably antidotes the hearts before the bitter cup that they may stand fast though for fear they runaway 5. That when we iterate this Sacrament our hearts may be prickt with remembrance of this dismal night Chrysost in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom that he might exceedingly prick us for a wounded heart is a good preparative to the receiving of a wounded Saviour He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities Isa 53. 5. Let a man survey this night how his blessed Saviour was for him betray'd into the hands of bloudy men This right he was plunged into most dolefull sorrows He was amazed and loaden with grief exceeding sorrowfull in a wofull agony sweating like drops of bloud running down to the ground without any comfort from any man his chief Disciples could not pray with him all fled and ran away from him betray'd by one of his own denied by another sending forth loud cries and tears God smit the Shepherd scatter'd the flock an Angel from heaven strengthening him an Angel that had not the benefit of Redemption by him but not a man for whose Redemption this was Oh the dark eclypse that now seized on this Sunne of righteousness Who can express the anguish and dolour of this night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though he was a very stone saith Chrysostom it would melt him wound him Therefore I exhort you all when you come to this Sacrament bring this night with you bring this night with you in which he was betray'd It is a night of Observation to be remembred as was said of the first Passeover in Aegypt Exod. 12. 42. so it may be said of the night of this first Supper read read again or get some body to read to you this History related by Matthew or St Luke and water your meditations with sorrowfull tears not as he that wept when he read the History of Dido in the Poet out of an imaginary compassion but as beholding in this glass both your sins and your redemption This do in remembrance of him CHAP. VI. Of the outwards of this Ordinance of the Supper 1 COR. 11. 23 24 25. He took bread and when he had given thanks c. § 1 IN the Sacrament of Baptism there is but one outward element water in this of the Supper two bread and wine which though they distinctly signifie the one the body the other the bloud of Christ yet becaUse they set forth one nourishment of the body by bread and drink of the soul by the body and bloud of Christ and make but one commemoration of Christ and his death This do in remembrance of me vers 24. Drink it in remembrance of me vers 25. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords death vers 26. Therefore as several dishes are but one Supper so these several signs are the parts of one Sacrament To avoid tautology and coincidency I mean to open the parts distinctly and yet to take together element with element rule with rule action with action as fitly yoked together joyntly and so be as soon at the end of the one as of the other which course of handling that word in Luke 22. 20. whom of all the Evangelists Paul doth nearliest agree with and vers 25. of this Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likewise or After the same manner points me unto and if there be any word in the three Evangelists that write the History of the institution whereof one that is Matthew was present at the action that may serve for the beautifying or clearing of any point as we go along we shall take it also into the contexture of our Discourse The Method and order is to handle 1. The outward Ordinance of this Supper 2. The inward thing signified or represented 3. The mandate or command Do this 4. The end For remembrance of me § 2 The outward Ordinance is properly called the Sacrament the inward kernel or thing signified is called Res Sacramenti the thing of the Sacrament for the Sacrament is the outward visible sign and therefore it is very absurdly said of Bellarmine and other Lib. â— de Euch. cap. 24. Papists who have lest nothing but accidents and shadow of bread and wine that Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is the figure and remembrance of himself as if one should say that the King is the picture or image of himself for as Dr Whitaker Observes The De Sacram. pag. 616. body and bloud of Christ is no Sacrament but the thing it self whereof the Sacrament is taken As the contract is no ring but that whereof the ring is a pledge The Covenant is no Seal but that whereof the Seal is though in vulgar speech when we take the Sacrament and the thing of the Sacrament in complexion we Use to say that the Sacrament consists of two parts Terrena and coelesti as Irenaeus saith an earthly Iren. l. 4. c. 34. Whitak de Sacram. 626. and a heavenly an outward and an inward a visible and an invisible Ut duae naturae in Christo. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper or the outward Ordinance consists 1. Of materials or elements bread and wine 2. Of rituals or actions about those elements and they are 1. The Rites Used by Christ or some other in his name He took bread he blessed c. 2. The Actions of the Communicants They take and eat they take and drink And so ye have a Sacrament consisting of several elements and sundry outward rites and actions all concurring to the essence or integrity of this Sacrament §. 3. Of the Elements Bread and Wine § 3 I begin with the Elements and they are 1. Two viz. Bread and Wine Our Melchisedech entertains the children of Abraham as that Melchisedech did Abraham himself Gen. 18. â—8 He brought forth to him bread and wine Christ did not take these two by accident becaUse he found them then on the Table but by choice and election for their Use in signifying The old Church of Israel had a Table-Sacrament the Passeover and Christ will have the Gospel-Church to have a Table-Sacrament too this Supper but as before Christ their Sacrifices and Sacraments were all bloudy So when Christ the substance of all Sacrifices and Sacraments hath suffer'd the Sacraments of the Gospel and Sacrifices are unbloudy Many Divines shew the conveniency of Bread and Wine to be the materials of this Sacrament Vide J nsen Harm p. 626. and some with too much fancy The representation of his Body broken and of his Blood shed The participation of his Body and Blood for soul-strength and soul-refreshment could not be better shadowed forth than by the staff of Bread and chearfull Wine which as they are the most common so the most necessary and prime materials that are Used at our tables answering both our appetites of hunger and thirst weakness is strengthened by bread
hope erected faith strengthened lusts subdued which follow by consequence upon our union with Christ and our interest in the Covenant in the sense of which when a Christian walks he is in a good frame and posture of spirit CHAP. X. A four-fold Exhortation from the premises FRom what hath been said upon this point I would possess you with four things § 1 I. That you hold fast and stick to the true sense and right meaning of these words This is my Body This is the Blood of the New Testament which hath been so perplexed and depraved by superstition and the vanity of humane inventions especially since the rise of the Schoolmen whose itch of Disputation hath bred such a scab that there hath been left no soundness in the place which hath been tortured with such Convulsions Distortions and Absurdities that the sense which to a chast and simple ear is easie and smooth hath been raveld into knots inextricable and this Text of all other hath suffered infinite injuries and been made the stage of impudent fooleries which have brought and buried out of sight the true meaning of them and made our Saviour that Used to speak vulgarly and easily to delude the senses amUse the Reason nonplus the faith of sober Beleevers And though it be truly said The sense of Scripture is the Scripture and that the right understanding of these words carries you in a right line to the nature Use and benefit of this Or inance yet let me say this more to you as English men That the true meaning of them hath been conveyed to you by the blood of your own Martyrs who in Q Mary her daies were most of them put to the test upon the point of Reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament and bare witness against it and I do beleeve that if Popery do ever make another attempt upon you it will play upon you with his battery at this place §. 2. Extreams about Christs Reall presence and the middle way held by the Churches of our Profession § 2 The Churches of our Confession have warily and justly avoided the extreams on both sides 1. The first extream is that which some did fear in Zuinglius and others at first and yet is unjustly charged upon us by many viz. That the Sacraments are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked signes empty figures and shadows meerly representing the death of Christ as the Picture of Hercules resembles and represents Hercules which we disclaim and leave it to Socinianizing spirits and other Levellers of Divinity for we are taught that Sacramentall signes are more than meer representing signes being Seals which do confirm and make over unto us the spirituall benefit which they represent and exhibit also they are signs which God commands us to Use and in their right Use he conferres upon us the benefit as the Seal passes a Right to the Estate promised and conveyed as the Apostle saith Rom. 4. 11. He received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of faith and 1 Cor. 10. 16. 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 not representation only but communion or participation also for the picture of a loaf of bread feeds not the hungry nor doth the Ivy-bush refresh the weary and therefore there is not only a representation of the body of Christ broken by the breaking of the bread but Take and eat and drink which denotes participation of the body and blood of Christ 2. The other extream is twofold 1. That the very body and blood of Christ is as it were moulded up with the bread and wine or hidden under them which is the sense of the Consubstantiatists or Lutheran Churches and this though it be too gross an opinion yet is not liable to so many monsters and incompresensible absurdities as the other which is 2. That the bread and wine cease to be and are evoided being turned or change the substance of them into the very substance of the flesh and blood of Christ which is hidden under the species or outward accidents of bread and wine a monstrous Paradox holden stifly by the Transubstantiatists or Papists The middle way holden by the Churches of our Confession is That the outward Elements do represent as Signes and exhibit as Seales and morall Instruments to the faith of the receiver the very Body and Blood of Christ sacrificed as spirituall repast for our souls and spiritually given and taken but that they continue not as incorporated with them nor are converted into the very naturall Body of Christ as locally or corporally there to be received by the mouth of the receiver We hold a difference or change of bread and wine blessed but it is a change of signification not of substance a relative change not reall a change in regard of Use and esteem not of their naturall substance as the wax now a Seal to a Conveyance is wax still but not a Seal not of that value till now all the Rhetoricall flowers Used by the Ancients reach no further if they do we cannot keep them company We hold that the Body and Blood of Christ is really that is truly exhibited and present to the faith of the receiver and we might express the reall presence as reall is opposed to imaginary or chimericall were it not for caption and mis-understanding none of ours denies the Body of Christ to be really though spiritually eaten by a Beleever nay it is immotum axioma whatsoever is eaten in that it is Forbes p. 53◠eaten it must be present no man can eat a thing that 's absent but the presence with or under the Elements is one thing and the presence to the soul and faith of a Beleever is another We know no union of Christs Body with bread and Wine but with his members which is reall and mysticall not reall and corporall therefore Christ saith Take eat before he say This is my Body as if it were his Body to their faith not as in the outward Element §. 3. Arguments for the Protestants sense of the words This is my Body § 3 For attestation of this sense many Arguments may be mustred up together 1. Compare one part of this Sacrament with the other This cup is the New Testament in my Blood that is by Metonymy the Seal of the New Testament but not the New Testament it self so This is my Body that is the Signe and Seal of it but not it self 2. Compare the one Sacrament of the Gospel with the other In Baptism the water is water without reall alteration so here the bread is bread the wine is wine not changed into flesh or blood 3. Compare the Sacraments of the Old Testament with the New Circumcision is the Covenant becaUse the Sign or Seal of it the Lamb is the Passeover becaUse the memoriall or sign of it so the bread
the Apostles did not herein vary for they sung a Hymn at the close as Matth. 26. 30. which example I need not stand to improve against the Anti-psalmists of this age There are severall pertinent meditations that may fully take up the time of the action with great advantage and benefit to our souls as namely 1. The dreadfulness of Gods justice which with a terrible stroak did smite the great Shepherd for our sins the least dram of it would have sunk us to all eternity 2. The cursed nature of sinne that so exasperates the holy God and makes such a breach between God and the creature as can never be made up but by the broken body of the Lord of Glory 3. What it cost to redeem a soul a mass of gold as big as the whole earth not valuable with one drop of this blood 4. What an infinite love broke forth that God rather than let our souls be lost would send his eternall Son and make him sin for us 5. What a great work it is to reconcile a sinner to his God all names of men and Angels are nothing to it all their sufferings would not pay a penny of this debt which is not dissolved by any blood but of the Lord of Glory 6. That God would not only pardon sin by giving forth a generall pardon as a King pardons rebels but so pardon as might even melt the hardest heart and for ever humble and silence and satisfie it by the love of God and the sufficiency of that Sacrifice whose vertue extends to thousands and lasts alwaies 7. That the gratious Covenant of God made with all that beleeeve in Christ is sealed and ratified with such blood as there needs no doubt of the validity of the Covenant though one man bad as many sins on him as all the world 8. That Gods way of saving man by a Mediatour the death of a Mediatour doth oblige man to be the thankfullest creature in the world Angels that sin'd not have need of no Mediatour Angels that sin'd have none man that sin'd and therefore needs one hath one given to him The man Christ Jesus 9. That as God gave Christ for you so he gives him to you that he that was your Sacrifice offered up to God might in this Sacrament be offered unto you as meat and drink as spirituall repast that as we live by Christ so we may live upon him being entertained as confederates to feast with God upon the Sacrifice offered up unto him It is a fruitfull field of Meditation through which ye may walk the time of celebration and then breathe out your Meditations in a Song of praise as the close and musick of this heavenly Feast Concerning which Hymn wherewith the Jews did usually close the coenam apolyticam or dimissory Supper calling it the Hallel from the first word of it Hallelujah you may consult not only the Jewish Writers but our Learned men Cameron Myroth in Matth. 16. 30. Drusius in Matth. 26. 30. Hugo Broughton in Dan. pag. 46. beside Paulus Burgensis Gerard Harm Fol. 178. col 3. who do also point out to us the 113. 114. Psalms as that Hymn for though some others do rather conceive it a new Hymn composed by our Saviour Grotius in Matth. 26. and the 17 Chapter of St John to be it we finde no Reason to go with them in that opinion both becaUse our Saviour did not easily vary from the Rite or Custom received nor could the Disciples have sung with him in consort except we imagine such a praelection of it to them as is Used by us now a daies which will not be proved CHAP. XIII How much it concerneth Ministers to Teach and all to Learn the true meaning of this Ordinance 1 COR. 11. 26 27. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the death of the Lord untill he come Wherefore whosoever doth eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord c. VVHen this Ordinance of the Supper is suitable to the Institution and the Communicant is suitable to the Ordinance then all is right Of the former I have acquitted my self by setting forth the nature Use end of this Sacrament according to our Lords Institution recited by the Evangelists and by St Paul in this place § 1 Now I am to proceed unto the later which is to render the Communicant suitable to the Ordinance of which our Saviour did not in the Institution directly speak but the Apostle in this place speaks more fully and directly unto than in any other place is found the abUses and distempers of the Corinthians leading him most properly to it and though in Popish Churches the grand errour and abUse lies in the unsutableness of their Mass to the Institution yet in Reformed Churches who endeavour to imitate the pattern in the Mount the common sin lies in the unsutableness of the Communicant to the Ordinance and so the point of worship stands between us and the Papists much alike as it stood between the Samaritans and the Jews of old The Samaritans Used a false worship Ye worship ye know not what Joh. 4. 22. The Jews had a true worship but were carnall and for the most part formall worshippers The Feast is prepared drest and ordered according to the Institution of Christ Now the guests are to be surveyed and tried whether they come worthily or unworthily by the test or ticket of the Apostles Doctrine following to the end of the Chapter of which I shall say this in generall 1. That the Apostles Doctrine in this place is properly calculated for the rectifying the abUses and unworthiness of the Corinthians as ye may see at the 33 34 verses but so also most other Scriptures occasionally written are of generall Use their latitude is greater than their particular direction 2. That the Apostle spends the most of his Doctrine upon eating and drinking unworthily setting home the sin and danger of it for the occasion viz. the sinne of the Corinthians required it and yet doubtless the point of worthiness should in order of nature be first stated before unworthiness can be understood for how should I know sinne except first I knew a law of duty how a crooked line except I know what is straight and therefore to attent consideration the Apostle will be found to begin there as I shall shew you afterwards 3. That the Apostle in setting home the sinne and danger of eating and drinking unworthily speaks thunder and lightning in very pertinent but yet new and unusuall phrases which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have no brother in any other part of Scripture as guilty of the body and blood of the Lord eating and drinking judgement or damnation c. full of terrour and fit for compunction These of the 26 verse are the words of St Paul who having recited what Christ did and said at the first celebration and institution of this Sacrament goes about to set
childe may receive a Ring as well as a Gyant and the least Candle points upwards as well as the greatest Torch Great Masters of Families as the Prodigal Observed allow the meanest of their domestick servants to come to the Tables end and eat of their bread Many sinnes many backslidings if there be contrition and godly sorrow serve for bitter herbs to eat the Passeover with Many wants and weaknesses may be accompanied with vehement desires hunger and thirst Low graces may occasion low hearts when God makes the disease a preparative why should we refUse the medicine If we set the pitch of this fitnesse too low in some empty formes of Religion or some eminent works and moral vertues or some conceited perfections which feed our pride we shall take in many that have nothing of Christ in them Gospel-qualifications are most sutable to a Gospel Ordinance We are not prepared for Christ by ostentation of works but sense of misery The sense of unworthinesse is our worthinesse A little vessel that is empty will receive more than a great one that is full A broken Christ requires a broken heart To be rich and full and righteous in the Gospel-Dictionary doe signifie Obstructions and impediments of our happinesse where the naked are cloathed the hungry are fed the ungodly are justified the weary are refresht the sick are healed the stung with fiery Serpents are recovered the returning lost childe is feasted and they that thirst do buy wine and milk without money and without price And hence it follows That no unregenerate man that lies dead in trespasses and sinnes without a seed a spark of Gospel-grace having no initials of true Repentance and Faith in Christ can be in capacity to eat and drink the Body and Bloud of Christ worthily and with effect for such a one is a stranger to the Covenant and uncircumcised and therefore expresly debar'd this Passeover Exod. 12. 43. Where there is no life there can be no reception of nourishment He that is void of the Condition of the Covenant cannot receive the benefit nor eat the Supper that wants the Wedding-Garment This is a severe point and disclaims the greatest part of men from eating and drinking worthily becaUse they have no ticket of grace renewing or regenerating they are not Disciples indeed they are branches in Christ by externall ingraffing John 15. 2. but have not the life of Christ in them They that are not in the body of Christ do not eat his body saith Austin They that are not members of him do not spiritually feed on him Panem Domin they do eat as Judas not Panem Dominum Ego hoc axtoma teneo saith Calvin that without the Spirit Christ is not received in this Sacrament The Papists go no lesse Catholici omnes saith Vasquez all agree in this That it 's necessary for a worthy Communicant to be in the state of grace and sanctification and therefore howsoever any person be furnisht with endowments of nature and education famous for eminent works and vertues adorned with civil and fair conversation yet without something of Christ some work of the Spirit some seed of Regeneration he cannot eat and drink worthily and with effect And this Doctrine is the rather requisite to be taught becaUse men may flatter themselves in that they have past the test are admitted with approbation to this Table and allowed the liberty thereof for all this may be and yet your case no better than Sauls that would needs be honoured before the people than Judas's who was not thrust out from the Sacrament than his who was let in by the servants to the feast but cast out by the King for want of his Wedding-garment You enjoy a priviledge to eat and drink but what judgement and condemnation to your selves Oh consider it The Lord of this feast will come to view his guests he will turn out some that the servants let in he will say Friend How camest thou in hither He answered not Lord I was called in I was admitted in by thy servants No He was dumb he had nothing to plead he had not a Wedding-garment For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly Rom. 2. penult §. 6. What is requisite to our Receiving Worthily § 6 The actual exercise of our graces is requisite to our eating and drinking worthily The instrument must be in tune before-hand as I shew'd you in the former but now the strings are stricken now they make their musick The activity and imploiment of our faith and affections is now required and our graces must be on their wheels now the sails are spread to catch the gale which sweetly breathes from this holy Ordinance for here it 's said Take Eat Take and drink and as the eye the hand the mouth are now in actual imploiment as to the Sacrament or outward part so faith which is the eye hand mouth of the soul and all the affections are to be actually imploy'd as to the inward thing the body and bloud of Christ Not the having of an eye but looking up to the brazen Serpent healed the biting It 's not enough to have faith but we must believe Now that the Sacrament is in Use now must our graces be in Use too Now that God actually offers and presents Christs body and bloud to my faith Now let the hand of faith go forth and take Christ in Awake my faith and see the atonement of my sins in the broken body of my Saviour Awake repentance and hear the strong cries and see the dolefull agony of him that bears our chastisement Awake my memory and call to minde that Aegypt wherein I was and the bloud of the Passeover which removed the destroying Angel from my soul Awake all that is within me to blesse and praise the Lord. Oh let this Crosse crucifie my lusts and passions Let this death stay my reigning sins as Joshua did the Kings of Canaan Now let the Altar smoak with the Sacrifice of a loving heart inflamed with holy fire of Gods love to me Now the wax is warm Oh let the Seal be stamped fair that I may see the impression alwayes after Now that God shews forth to methe death of his Sonne for me let me shew forth that death of Christ to God again as that which I stick unto and abide by for my righteousnesse and peace with God Alas if my graces be now asleep they are next a kin to dead We might have sweet we might have fruitfull Sacraments had we but lively graces Graces upon their wing not lying sullen and benum'd with cold therefore blow up your graces as the Apostle his phrase is blow the smothering fire the embers into a flame by pertinent meditation Be ye lift up ye everlasting doors that this King of glory may come in And that I may speak to the comfort of a godly soul Let grace run forth at what tap it will so there be but vent whether at the uppermost of
and demonstrate We know that in all Sacraments there is Analogy or proportion and so in this the elements broken bread and wine pouned forth or the body and bloud of Christ the actions of Taking Eating and Drinking the outward elements doe denote the acts of a Communicants soul receiving and feeding upon Christ and such acts there must be to answer unto the outward actions So as if you tell me of any sensible object it 's easie to shew what sense it belongs unto for if it be light or colour it belongs to the eye if it be any sound it belongs to the ear c. So this Sacrament being survey'd and studied it is not hard to finde what graces are to be set on work accordingly And this Rule that I may not guesse at randome I shall follow in the ensuing Discourse First It 's necessary that the Communicant have knowledge of the Nature Use and End of this Sacrament and that is demonstrate thus Here are outward elements and actions which do signifie some other thing as namely the body and bloud of Christ as himself expounds it offer'd by God unto and to be received by the Communicant and therefore there must be knowledge to discern and understand this mystery that 's hidden under a visible out-side to wit the Sacrifice of Christs body which is represented and the confirmation of the Gospel-Covenant by his bloud for without this knowledge a man comes blinde-fold eats and drinks as a bruit takes the dish for the meat and is no otherwise refresht than a thirsty man would be by eating and sucking a sign-post which doth but signifie that there is wine within It was a childes Question Exod. 12. 26. What mean you by this service And I would our ignorant people would so play the childe for they do but eat the shell and gnaw the bone of the outward service becaUse they know not the meaning of it So the carnall Jew knew not the meaning of the Rites and Types then Used nor saw both Law and Gospel in their Sacrifices both which they were full of I confesse the knowledge of this Sacrament draws with it the knowledge of our lost estate as Passeover is not understood without Egypt in sinne and misery For where Christ appears bloudy there sinne must needs appear deadly and those fundamentals and grounds of Christianity which are but the A. B. C. of Religion must be knowne but it is not the knowledge of a Scholar but the knowledge of a Christian which we plead for so much as may serve to look into the entrails of this Sacrament and may lead on the affections to value prize thirst after Jesus Christ whom if we see not we cannot desire or love Visus est prima amor is linea fight is the first line of love nor can we believe in him untill we see John 6. 40. Whosoever see the Sonne and believes in him shall have everlasting life I should not charge a poor Christian with any great rate of knowledge for the quality is more to be regarded than the quantity If he know both sinne and Christ by taste as well as by sight if he have a distinguishing and favoury knowledge of the things of the Spirit and there be as it is in embers a great heat though but little light then is it good though not great I know that Questions demodo in all points of Divinity are hard to answer It 's well if we can answer a Question aere I may know what sinne is and yet not tell how it enters and comes at first into my soul The Apostles took Christ at this time for their Saviour and Lord the true Messiah but how he should execute all the parts of his Office they did not clearly understand and yet did at and drink with him at his Table § 3 Secondly This is not all but it is first as light was at the Creation the first creature but all the world was not made when light was He is not wholly fitted that hath knowledge there must be a Christ-receiving or a Christ-taking faith and this is shown thus God offers the body and bloud of his Sonne which was shed for the remission of sinne and saith Take ye Eat ye Drink ye and that inward act which answers to this outward action whereby we do receive Christ that is exhibited we call faith when Christ is tender'd to us in the Word we believe ex-promisso when offer'd in the Supper we believe ex pignore There we have a promise here a pawn or pledge This faith is the taking hand which goes forth to the offering-hand of God This taking eating drinking are but faith appropriating and applying Christ You say you believe What believe you That God offers Christ to your faith What 's a poor man the richer for believing that one offers him a shilling What 's a condemned man the better for believing that a pardon is offer'd to him This is but a faith of the truth of the offer But doe ye receive Christ offered Do you close in with Christ Do you take him into you Here is the best Covenant sealed with the best blood that ever was You believe this to be a truth but come not in to this Covenant that saith doth but serve to your just condemnation It is the Christ-receiving not the truth acknowledging saith that brings salvation to you If men did but know what saving saith is we should have either more or fewer believers more for they would renounce that superficial thing cahed faith and buy gold tried in the fire Fewer for they would not count themselves to believe by that faith which they have A woman may believe a man to be rich and honourable and reall in his suit yet that belief doth not make a marriage but actual consent to take him for a husband For saith gives as well as takes it gives a man up to Christ as well as takes Christ to be a Saviour It is not true faith that blows hot and cold out of the same mouth and cries Hosanna to Christ a Saviour but yet I will not have him reigne over me This Sacrament presents Christ to faith thus It presents Christ himself his body and bloud not the benefits of Christ apart and abstract but Christ himself It presents Christ for intimate union with us as the nourishment is to the body It presents him really as the bread and wine is really taken and received It presents him crucified and suffering as if he was now dving and bleeding in whom faith findes reconciliation remission justification and redemption so is it acted and exercised in this Ordinance § 4 Thirdly The third grace that is freshly revived and set on work in this Sacrament is Repentance and that appears thus Here is represented Goes Justice against our sinne in bruising his own Sonne with fore and dreadfull breaches made upon him and this Justice is mixt with goodnesse in transferring and laying upon the Sacrifice
his and so bindes himself and doth as it were seal a counterpart to God again and not onely so but comes into a claim of all the riches and legacies of the Will or Covenant becaUse he hath accepted and here declares his acceptance of the Covenant The Seal is indeed properly of that which is Gods part of the Covenant to perform and give and is no more but offer'd untill we subscribe and set our hands to it and then it 's compleat and the benefits may be claimed as the benefit of any conditional promise may be when the condition is performed And least you should stumble at that word I must let you know That the Will accepting and submitting to the conditions is the performance of the conditions required and so the gracious God that might pro imperio require duty and allegiance of his creature condescends to us to enter into a Covenant of Grace with us and vouchsafes us the honour of coming into Covenant with him that so he might settle and maintain a communion and correspondence between himself and his people and there might be a mutual bond of engagement each to other which is solemnly professed as often as we meet with God in this Sacrament becaUse we are so apt to disbelieve and waver about his promises and to halt and decline from our obligations to him And this is the second combination of action according to that which is to be remembred at every sealing day the Sacrament is a sealing day Deut. 26. 17. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes c. And the Lord hath avouched thee to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee So much for the first What is here done §. 6. What is here Received by the Worthy Communicant § 6 2. I come to the second What is here received and I do not mean to say what every believer doth sensibly receive but what God hath appointed by this Sacrament to convey and what may be received by a believer in the right Use of it not alwayes to his own sense but according to the nature of this Ordinance I will not say that which some affirm but it is Apocryphal of the Manna which the Israelites did eat that it had the taste that every man desired But this I may say that as Calvin of himself When I have Instit l. 4. c. 17. §. 7. said all I have said but little the tongue is overcome yea the minde is overwhelmed I say then in one word 1. Christ is here received the body and bloud of Christ into intimate Union as the nourishment of our souls What is more ours than the meat we eat What is more nearly joyn'd to us than that which becomes part of our selves The Scripture by the language it Useth hath even overcome our apprehensions A man may eat the fruit that hath no interest in the Tree but here the believing eater grows into the Tree he that drinks drinks the fountain he comes to a closer Union with the conduit-pipe of all grace the flesh of Jesus Christ You know the best meat and drink doth you no good except it be made your own nor is Christ of worth except he be ours he is as if he were not Tolle meum tolle Deum we must be happy by a Christ within us Know you not that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. There was a croud toucht Christ but vertue went out of him to none but one that toucht him by faith So there is a throng about the Table but none receive Christ but those that by faith take and eat his crucified body If Christ himself be here received what spiritual grace is there that is not in him It is somewhat a grosse conceit to ask How Christ in heaven and a believer on earth can be united For man and wife are one flesh though a thousand miles asunder And we know that as the Apostle saith Col. 2. 19. there are bands and joynts whereby the Head and every Member the root and every branch are united and they in this mystical union are Spirit and faith He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. And so according to that strange expression We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5. 30 A phrase which signifies that the humane nature of Christ is the root of this Union but not to be exagitated by too subtill curiosity becaUse mysticall 2. A believer in Christ may here receive remission of sinne not veniall onely as Papists teach but deadly and mortall Oh but we may not come with such sinnes Yes with repentance and remorse for them We may bring our sinnes to the head of our Sacrifice and put them thereupon by Bellarm. de Euch l. 4 c 18. confession Bellarmine resolves all the difference between Papists and Protestants about the effect of this Sacrament into this That the Papists deny the Protestants hold remission of sinne to be given here and the Papists do it in favour of their Sacrament of Pennance that one Sacrament may not rob another but Scripture tels us Matth. 26. 28. This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for remission of sinne Shed for remission that 's true saith Bellarmine not given in the Sacrament a meer evasion for we drink the bloud that was shed even that which confirmes the New Testament which promises remission of sinne The great Argument wherein he triumphs before the victory is That a believer hath remission of sinnes before he comes viz by his faith in Christ and that 's true Nemo cibum Christi accipit nisi actu sanatus but in this Sacrament the pardon passes Obsignante sigillo before a believer is pardon'd by the Covenant and here that pardon is seal'd and sealed it cannot be except it be before for the pardon of forgiven sinnes is seal'd as Abraham received the signe of circumcision the seale of the righteousnesse of faith which he had before Rom. 4. 11. And this is needfull for reliefe of our doubts and fears and waverings For this is the great Question of anxiety which troubles the soul Are my sinnes pardon'd Are my sins blotted out And God hath saith Chemnitius instituted this Sacrament for solution of this Question to the weak faith Ecce signum Behold the Seal believe upon the Word believe upon the Seal of God Luther gathers it by a gradation The Cup is put for the Wine the Wine signifies the bloud the bloud is the bloud of the New Testament Matth. 26. 28. The New Testament containes the gracious pardon of sinne to a believer And if remission of sinne be an Article of the Covenant the Seale must reach it Therefore all that have wounded their souls with grievous sinnes be wounded again with sorrow put off the purpose of sinning bring repentance and faith touch the hemme of
Christ receive here the pardon of sin Question not the Seal or truth of it 3. That I may not divide into further particulars there is by this Sacrament a communication of a greater proportion of Gospel-Spirit For we have been all made to drinke into one Spirit 2 Cor. 12. 13. which Spirit plentifully bestows his severall fruits and graces for the growing up of a member into Christ the Head in all things Ephes 4. 15. from whence we have not onely those Auxilia actualia actual influences and aids of delight comfort evidence sweet tastes powerfull motions and impressions which Vasquez cals grace sacramental and saith That Gratia Sacramentalis non est gratia habitualis sed auxilia quaedam actualia which I conceive is an errour For though a man have a sweet taste and transient delight in meat or wine yet there is also a permanent and abiding nourishment proceeding from that he eats or drinks So here the very habituall graces are nourisht strengthened excited It may be a man at present doth not feele that strength he doth receive nor is sensible of the intention of his graces For the same Vasquez saith Intentionem habituum infusorum sub experimento humano cadere non posse And it 's true at present time But the growth of grace manifests it selfe in time We doe not see our selves or others grow but that we are growne is plaine enough nor doe we see how much the light incReases by every step of the Sunne rising higher for our growth is graduall and by imperceptible instances and degrees when power of resisting temptations mortifie lusts which before were too hard for us doth appear we may see our growth as we see our shadowes are shortened but how much in a minute we see not and may say That the graces which this Ordinance requires and excites are thereby strengthened and enlarged and therefore the Rule is good What Grace thou wouldest have strengthened by this Ordinance that doe thou set on work and exercise in it for that is Sowing to the Spirit as the Apostle cals it And I make no Question but a believer shall finde the benefit of this Sacrament in his obedience also for the fuller the Vessell is the faster it will runne out at the tap If the habits incRease the fruit of obedience will be proportionable We mend a barren Tree at the root sweeten the sap there and the Tree is more fruitfull When Jacob had seen the sweet vision in Bethel then he lifted up his feet Genes 29. 1. it put mettle into him So much for this Point the Benefit of this Sacrament which being dis-Used as at this time is a great losse to the improvement of Christians though they see it not The Christians in persecuting times when a storme was coming then were they most diligent to frequent this Table to lay in store for a hard Winter and fortifie their resolutions And let this Benefit be a Motive to the Use of Preparation which was the Reason I have handled it in this place for there is no Promise no Benefit to one that comes to this Table unworthily CHAP. XXIX The Sinfulness of Eating and Drinking Vnworthily § 1 I Have said concerning eating this Bread and drinking of this Cup of the Lord worthily Now I come to the other branch The eating and drinking unworthily What that is hath been sufficiently opened already The Antithesis or opposition between worthily and unworthily is such as if you know the one you know both as he that knows what a right line is knows what is a crooked or oblique Worthily to eat is in such manner as is answerable and suitable to the nature end and Use of the Ordinance and unworthily to eat is contrary that is without a sacramental or Supper-disposition and otherwise then is fit that these holy mysteries be handled and intreated as I have before proved The Point I shall take up is this § 2 To eat the bread and drink the Cup of the Lord unworthily is a sinne of an high Nature and of consequence dangerous It is a fearfull sinne and attended with fearfull effect It is of a high nature as appears by that peculiar guilt which is contracted he shall be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord it is of fearfull consequence He eats and drinks judgement to himself Thou seest saith Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In loc what a terrible word the Apostle speaks speaks nay thunders so as may awake the secure soul into a trembling The example of Nadab and Abihu their being made Sacrifices themselves was enough to give warning to all after them against offering of strange fire and was the occasion of that excellent Rule which God gave at that time to be observed in all our near approaches to him I will be sanctified of all that come nigh me Lev. 10. 3. There are four things to be open'd 1. The sin it self viz. Eating and drinking unworthily 2. The caUse of the sinne Not discerning the Lords body 3. The aggravation of the sinne by the object and peculiar nature of it viz. A guiltinesse of the body and bloud of Christ 4. The danger that attends or follows upon it He eats and drinks judgement to himself § 3 1. The sinne is Eating and drinking unworthily and it is a peculiar sinne or transgression of the Law of this Ordinance One may do what the Law requires and yet sinne grievously if the manner of doing be vicious and corrupt Men may be content if the matter by their Law required be done whether with a good will or an evil but God is not so who values the disposition of heart when the thing in command sometimes is not done so he hearkned to Hezekiah his prayer for them that prepared their heart to seek God though not legally purified 2 Chron. 31. 19. and is highly displeas'd when the command Do this is Observed but it is done unworthily and therefore they say he is pleased with benè not meerly with bonum The Ordinance it self is the Index or Touchstone of unworthinesse Here is Christ offer'd and presented to thee and thou hast no faith Christ broken bleeding for sinne and thou hast no repentance Christ for spiritual nourishment and thou hast no appetite The Covenant is sealed and thou art no confederate strengthening and refreshing grace convey'd and thou art a dead man Communion of Christs body and bloud and thou art no member in Union with him How unsatiable art thou to the Ordinance and therefore eatest and drinkest unworthily § 4 This word unworthily may he taken two wayes Privative and Contrary Taken privatively it is as much as not worthily not suitably to the Nature and Use of the Ordinance Taken contrarily it is as much as wickedly so we say a man deals unworthily that is basely unjustly injuriously In the first sense He that hath no spiritual grace and therefore cannot exercise it or he that hath some but doth not exercise
3. This paschal Lamb must be killed the bloud taken into a basin sprinkled with hysop shall be on every door the flesh rosted with fire not eaten raw or boyl'd in water the head the legs the inwards Exod. 12. 7 8 9 22. and this may set forth unto us the unutterable sufferings of Christ both in his soul and body which the Scripture sets out to the life with such an emphasis of words I mean especially those of his soul scorched with the sense of Gods extream wrath which are exprest by words extraordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sweating like drops of bloud with expression of strong cries and tears Oh man thou understandest not the sufferings of this Passeover rosted with fire forbidden to be boyl'd in scalding water for that expresses not the sufferings in extremity and what is all this for Even to make Christ more pleasant meat to thee which if thou feed upon and with a bunch of hysop sprinkle this bloud applying it by faith eating this rosted flesh and drinking this bloud poured forth it will feast thy soul and secure thee from the wrath of God which is the next 4. The destroying Angel seeing this blood on the door posts passes over the hoUse goes and kils the Aegyptians first-born and executes Gods last plague upon them in the mean time the Israelites were safe within the protection of blood Exod. 12. 12 13. and here is the safety of those Israelites Believers that have applied by faith the blood of Jesus Christ when God shall let loose his last and final plagues upon the world they shall be safe Hell and wrath and condemnation shall not touch them When I see the blood saith he I 'le pass over you Exod. 12. 13 23. nothing else will save you God looks at nothing but the blood of Christ upon you Happy they that before God ride his circuit of destruction to make a cry in all Aegypt are gotten under the Sanctuary of blood for then the plague shall not be upon you when I smite the Land of Aegypt Exod. 12. 13. 5. After the Israelites had been secured from the stroke of that dismall night then presently they march away are hired by the Aegyptians to be gone the four hundred and thirty years were out and God being punctual in his times finishes their captivity that hour and begins to fulfill his promises that he had made to them of bringing them to their promised Land Exod. 12. 31 32 33 c. 41 42. and here we see that when a soul hath long lien in the base bondage under sinne and the devil and comes to take hold of Christ and is sprinkled with his blood and enters Covenant with God in Christ then is he set free from his bondage and then he goes out of Aegypt and then all the promises begin to open upon him and he sets upon his heavenly journey and no Pharaoh can hinder him any longer All the sweet promises of peace and comfort and hope begin to be made good to him for they are all Yea and Amen in Christ the Devil and all his power and instruments cannot hold him the blood is upon him from that hour he is a free-man to own no Lord but God and yet still he hath a Wilderness to go thorow but he is miraculously carried as Israel was thorow it but this must not be expected that they should eat the Passeover and stay in Aegypt still they must go out of their bondage that are sprinkled with this blood by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent out thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water saith he in a like case Zech. 9. 11. and haply this Type is yet to be fulfilled in the Gospel Churches whom the Lord will deliver out of the hands of their oppressing tyrants Pope or Turk not by the Sword but Ordinances of his Covenant and then if they shall pursue a people under blood as Pharaoh did there will be a red Sea to swallow them horse and man And so much for the Passeover as referring to Christ our Sacrifice for that it doth so is plain by this That which is said of the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12. 46. is expresly applied to and fulfilled in Christ John 19. 36. So much for the Passeover as a Sacrifice or as the figure of our Sacrifice and theirs Christ Jesus § 8 Now we proceed to consider it as a Sacrament not ours but theirs nor yet a figure of our Sacrament in Considered as a Sacrament propriety though often so called in transitu and much contended for by Papists For what Jew could ever have found out our Supper figured in that Passeover and in what propriety can our Sacrament be the Sacrament of another Christ is the res Sacramenti of theirs and ours there they meet as the inward Circumcision and Regeneration is the thing of their Circumcision and our Baptism but that one Sacrament should be the figure of another is absurd and void of Reason As two pictures of one man are both resemblances of that one man but one is not the picture of another and yet becaUse the Passeover hath the common nature of a Sacrament doth set forth the same Christ as our Supper and that the Apostle draws an Argument from it to perswade Gospel-Christians to holiness Therefore we shall consider what significancy there is in it for though the signs be not ours yet the significancy is § 9 First The Passeover or Paschal Lamb as killed and rosted and the blood sprinkled was a Sacrifice The signification of the Passeover as eaten by the Israelites and feasted upon it was a Sacrament and in after-times both by Jewish Records and by Scripture I conceive it appears 2 Chro. 35. 11. Ezra 6 20. that the Levites killed the Paschals the Priests sprinkled the bloud on the Altar and then they took the Lamb to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Families or Chambers in Jerusalem and there did eat it so in our Supper there is a Sacrifice slain and offer'd up for atonement and that is Christ his body and bloud and then there is an eating and drinking of this Sacrifice in the Sacrament of bread and wine as in many Sacrifices of the Law there was first an offering up to God and then a feasting on the remainder we have a true Sacrifice Christ offer'd up to God for us we have a true Sacrament as that Sacrifice is eaten and drunk by us the oblation belongs to God to propitiate and redeem the communication belongs to us to be refresht and nourisht their eating the Passeover was no Sacrifice but a Sacrament our eating and drinking bread and wine is no Sacrifice but a Sacrament their killing and rosting of the Lamb made it eatable Christ his sacrificing of himself for us renders him fit nourishment to us Had he not been a Sacrifice offer'd up for us what profit had there been in eating and drinking sacramentally and spiritually that body
and bloud This consideration is of special remark you feast upon a sacrifice you live you feed upon a sacrifice tolle Sacrificium tolle Sacramentum the mouth eats the Sacrament the eye of faith discerns the sacrifice Christ is the sacrifice the Sacrament no sacrifice but the commemoration and communication of a sacrifice and here the Reason must be Observed why God did institute their Passeover and our answerable Sacrament to consist in meat and drink eating and drinking and I conceive thus that it being the most proper way to partake of a sacrifice for how else can it be Therefore we eat and drink in way of participation of our sacrifice Hence the phrase Living upon Heb. 13. 10. the Altar eating of the Altar and thus if we carry our eye to the earthly part in the Supper and to the heavenly part that is to the Sacrament and the sacrifice represented and feed upon the sacrifice represented as well as the Sacrament representing we then discern the Lords body This is the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de hoc plus intra 2. Their Passeover was instituted as an Ordinance for ever for a memorial of their Deliverance in Aegypt and their eduction out of it a commemoration it was and to be Observed for ever that is in all succeeding generations whiles their Polity and Religion stood Exod. 12. 14 24 42. and therefore we read in Jewish Writers and there is some foot-step or original of it Exod. 26. 27. What mean you by this service that in every company of Passeover-communicants there was some one that rehearsed and made commemoration Haggadah shet pesuch the history Buxtorf Chal. Lexic of the Passeover and so God that would have the sacrifice of Christ for our sinne that greatest work of his and our deliverance thereby from worse then Aegypt or destroying Angel to be Observed and kept in minde by a lasting trophy or monument viz our Supper The Apostle in allusion to their custome Useth a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 26. Ye do shew As often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords death till he come or ye do commemorate and with affection and thanksgiving set it forth and as theirs was for ever till Christs first coming so ours is for ever till his second coming so long as their Church continued they were charged with this Ordinance so long as the Gospel-Church continues they are charged with this and therefore neither of the Doctrine of the Gospel nor of the Sacraments shall there be any removal or alteration till Christ come 3. Their Passeover in Aegypt was eaten in their several Families or societies A Lamb for a hoUse except it were too little Exod. 12. 3 4. and in after times when this was repeal'd Deut. 16. 6 7. and was confined to the place that God should chUse and so to Jerusalem then though the Lamb might be slain in the holy Court and the bloud sprinkled on the Altar yet they did carry it home to their hired chambers and there did eat in companies not less then ten in a fraternity Joseph de bello lib. 7. cap. 17. nor above twenty but no man alone Solum epulari non licet saith Joseph Christ and his company made one society so though Christ be our Sacrifice once offer'd up upon the cross a sacrifice to God yet doth our Supper bring him home to us into our Churches and into our souls There is an application of him to be made the bloud sprinkled on our doors the Paschal brought home to our own hoUse Take ye Eat ye Drink ye God comes to particulars with us and the application of the sacrifice is the life of the Sacrament we must eat and drink at home in our own souls Christ comes home to us and yet this Supper ought as the Passeover to be eaten in societies I know no Reason for one alone there must be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a company for it is a communion one makes not a communion The Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 20. When you come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a meeting v. 33 34. when you come together tarry one for another hence it hath been anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meeting a Congregation It 's Gods Ordinance saith a learned man that the Lords Hildersam Joh. 4 p. 122. Supper be administred in publick Assemblies How can there be a Communicant without a Communion sed de hoc infra not that the wals of a Church do make it a communion but a meeting of believers 4. Their Passeover was eaten with unlevened bread and sowre or bitter herbs Exod. 12. 8. There are many circumstances and ceremonies found in the Jewish Authors about the searching out of all leven yea with candles at noon-day and an execration of all leven if any should remain unfound and the bitter herbs were in constant Use the unlevened bread remembred them what haste they went out of Aegypt in Exod. 12. 34. and the bitter herbs what affliction and bondage they had suffer'd and further they saw not The Apostle interprets leven malice and wickedness unlevened bread sincerity and truth 1 Cor. 5. 8. and so it teaches us how Christ is to be received by us and what manner of persons they must be that apply and receive Jesus Christ They must remember their bondage under sinne not with delight but bitterness and feel the sowr taste of their former wayes as sinners contrite and broken bitter herbs are good sauce for the paschal Lamb sinne felt sets an edge on the stomack as vinegar Christ relishes well to such a soul When thou comest to eat his Supper bring thy own sauce with thee bitter herbs and refresh on thy self the memory of thy old wayes and former lusts that 's the sauce the bread is unleavened bread you cannot eat the Lamb and leaven togegether a secure hypocrite a filthy swine not purged from sinne to think to have Christ and his sinne too to be pardon'd and not purged to be saved and not sanctified Away and never think to eat this Lamb with leaven'd bread come with bitter herbs thou maist contrition for sinne but come not with and in thy sins for that 's eating with leaven'd bread therefore search it out and let thy sinnes be searcht out as with a candle and let them be execrable to thee that God may see thy hatred of them and thy loathing of thy self for them 5. Their Passeover in Aegypt was to be eaten with loyns girded in procinctu shoes on feet and staff in hand and ye shall eat in haste Exod. 12. 11. and therefore standing as ready to be instantly on their march to leave the Land of Aegypt and go to seek their promised countrey which signifies to us that we must receive Christ and his bloud with intention and purpose to leave the dominions of Pharaoh the Kingdom service and bondage of sinne and the Devil and
himself 2. The New Testament or the New Covenant confirmed and ratified by his Blood with the contents of that Covenant viz. Remission of sins and other benefits by consequence flowing from it § 1 1. Here is Christ himself sacrificed for you with the Fruits and Benefits accruing from his death presented and set before you The efficacy of his Hooker Eccl. lib. 5. pag. 360. Body and Blood is not all that is here presented to be received as is consist by the true Protestant Churches of our Confession but first and principally Christ himself as the influence of heaven is in plants beasts men but there is not such a thing only here set forth but a Divine and mysticall Union with Christ himself for here is a participation saith the Apostle of the Body and Blood of Christ who is exhibited as really and truly present not opposing reall to spirituall but to chimericall or phantasticall nor intending his presence in the Elements as contained in them but to the faith of the receiver who hath union with him The very Body and Blood of Christ that Body which was fastened Peter Martyr in 1 Cor. 11. 24. Calvin in 1 Cor. 11. 24 25. to the Cross that Blood which was shed was a Sacrifice as offered up to God is meat and drink as offered unto us and therefore our Divines say that Christ is truly and really but yet spiritually given to us as he was given for us This is my Body which is broken for you given for you saith the Text and that which was given for you is given to you He was given for you in the Sacrifice he is given to you in the Sacrament with those blessed fruits and benefits that flow from his Death § 2 2. Here is presented to you the New Testament a Covenant ratified and confirmed in his Blood with the benefits and priviledges thereof It is called New either from the excellency of it as the word New sometimes signifies or for the durableness and perpetuity of it as the Apostle explains it Heb. 8. ult in opposition to the Old made with Israel Cameron in Myreth Matth. 26. which was to determine and vanish away as to the form of dispensation This Covenant is That God will be our God and we shall be his people That he will forgive our iniquities and remember our sins no more c. and the Blood of Christ is the sanction of this Covenant for without Blood is no remission the blood of Christ is the Seal which ratifies the truth and validity of this Covenant The Wine in this Sacrament represents that Blood of Christ and is not so properly a Seal confirming the Covenant in it self as conveying the comfort and participation of it unto us or if you will it is a Seal of Remission of sin to us which is an Article of the Covenant that is sealed by the Blood of Christ and therefore it is said This is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for Remission of sins § 3 And so you have here presented to your Faith Christ himself sacrificed for you the New Covenant confirmed by Christs Blood shed for the pardon of sinnes which are the highest and most glorious things of Gods gift to mankinde who hath in the dishes of this outward Sacrament set before you such good cheer to feed upon as all Sacrifices under the Law and Feasts were but the meer shadows of Take heed of thinking meanly of the furniture of this Table God hath no better provision to set before a sinner than his Sons flesh and blood and his Covenant of grace sealed and confirmed our Socinian likes not this that word My Body broken for you my Blood shed for remission of sinnes makes him bestirre himself to turn off the Body broken to the bread and the Blood shed to the wine and so you see two extreams the Papist turns bread into Christs Body and wine into Blood the Socinian on the other hand that which is spoken of the Body puts off upon the bread and that of the Blood upon the wine that the death of Christ might not be a proper Sacrifice for us §. 4. II. What the faithfull do receive in the right Use of this Ordinance § 4 What the faithfull do receive in the right Use of this Ordinance and this is easily answered For as guests at the Table receive the meat and drink set before them so having seen what God presents to them we shall easily finde what they receive at this Table and that is 1. The faithfull communicant receives Christ himself or his Body and Blood Faith is a receiving of Christ himself we cannot receive the benefits that come by him without receiving of himself as in Marriage the consent is I take thee not I take thine and yet this is consequent upon that our union with Christ is strengthened and more closed and this union with Christ is one of those great mysteries Eph. 5. 32. resembled by man and wise who are one flesh though a thousand miles asunder and as she is under covert and free from arrest of Law for debt so a Beleever by his union with Christ is under coverture and the curse and condemnation of Gods Law cannot touch him or as members knit or branches united to the tree receive influx of life and spirits from the head and root so Beleevers united to Christ by his Spirit receive influences and spirit and life from him by vertue of their union I in them saith Christ Joh. 7. 23 26. The inhabitation of Christ in his people seems to be exprest by their eating and drinking of his Body and Blood spiritually and that inhabitation cannot be without a presence of him such as his inhabitation is such is his presence both reall and yet both spirituall he dwels in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. § 5 2. The faithfull communicant receives the confirmation of that Covenant which is his only comfort He takes hold of the Covenant by the Seal of it the Blood of Christ the severall articles whereof as that God will be our God and that in Christ he will forgive us all our sins c. are particularly sealed up for our better evidence and peace and security that we may be inabled to make a personall and particular claim of the benefits and priviledges of it which are called The unsearchable riches of Christ § 6 And from hence ver 12. the receiving of Christ himself and of the Covenant made in Christ and confirmed in his Blood doth follow that which is usually said to be the benefit of this Sacrament the strengthening refreshing sustentation of the soul by those graces comforts hopes which flow by consequence from Christ or the Covenant so that whatsoever a man may expect for bodily strength or reparation from bread and wine the like he may expect from Christ or the Covenant for his soul life maintained graces quickened deadness enlivened resolutions enabled
allude to the Haggada as it was called by the Jewish custom at the Passeover and that was a set and solemn declaration or annunciation of the Lords passing over the hoUses sprinkled with blood of their slavery and hard bondage in Aegypt and their deliverance thence teaching us in this our Gospel-Passeover to shew forth our hard bondage under sinne and the Lords justice passing over all the souls sprinkled with this blood and thereby delivering us from our spirituall Aegypt § 3 The Use of this Point is to call upon all Communicants hoc agere to be intent upon and taken up with this employment Shew ye forth the Lords death this must be your actuall exercise at the time of eating and drinking the death of Christ must fill your eyes your ears your lips your thoughts If any of you could see Christ dying the sight would wholly take you up and you come as near to see him dying as an Ordinance can bring you in a representation If any where that Psal 2. 11. takes place here Rejoyce with trembling Tremble for you see the weight of sinne upon the Lord Christ and the severity and wrathfull indignation of God against sinne both those terrours cannot be seen in a clearer glass than the death of the Lord Rejoyce for the love that delivers up Christ is unparallel'd and the death of the Lord is succedaneous a Sacrifice death the Sacrifice bears the sinne and takes it off you there is a nunc dimitiis for all you that take Christ in your arms I would not be thinking of the joys of heaven the second coming of Christ absolutely and abstractly considered but shewing forth his death As in prayer good thoughts if impertinent are distractions and to be whipt for vagrants so here If my heart present to me the anger and terrible wrath of a just and holy God I shew the Lords death If the Law take me by the throat and say Pay that thou owest I shew the Lords death If conscience ask me what I have to shew for pardon of sin and peace with God I shew the Lords death Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It s Christ that died CHAP. XV. The Lords Supper is an iterable Ordinance THe third Point is taken up from the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as often as ye eat this bread c. Doct. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is an iterable Ordinance which is to be repeated Our Saviour gives a hint of this in those words This do for a remembrance of me and the Apostle from him For as often c. The word often is sometimes opposed to seldom and sometimes to once as Heb. 9. 25 26. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the High priest entreth into the holy place every year For then he must have often suffered since the foundation of the world The Sacrifice of Christ or the offering of him up was but once Heb. 9. 26. The Sacrament of his body and bloud is often as a memorial of that Sacrifice and the comparison Used in that place is this As man dies but once so Christ also As in the Sacraments of the Jews the first of them Circumcision was but once nor indeed could be but the Passeover often once every year and Christ was but once circumcised but kept the Passeover often So in the Sacraments of the New Testament Baptism is but once Christ was but once baptized but the Supper often which though Christ celebrated but once yet he gave order for the repetition of it I will not now take up the discussion why Baptism but once the Supper often the Scripture gives us no hint for the repetition of the one but it doth for the other and the old saying is plausible Semel nascimur saepius pascimur we are but once born but we are often nourisht God did more punctually and precisely under the Law prescribe the times of their Sacraments the eighth day for circumcision such a day of such a moneth yearly for the Passeover as he also did the times and place and other circumstances of his worship for the people were more servile then and the worship more outward but under the Gospel circumstances are at more liberty and spiritualnesse more call'd for and therefore in this Sacrament for instance we have nothing for how often but we have for how worthily as a learned man Observes and therefore under correction it was not so right Muscul de coena Lib 4. distinct 13. Qu. 5. that when as Durand saith The primitive devotion of communicating every day was grown so cool that it came to be commanded on the three great festivals whereof Easter was by Innocent the first made Anno 1200. of the Quorum I might instance nearer home enjoyning all to it at that time For of this Chrysostom had complained long before that at those times the people either of custome or by Law crouded in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who as well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the custome saith he O the partiality of men The truth is I finde that in times of persecution threatning Christians either to arm themselves or in fear of being scatter'd and dispers'd took every occasion to celebrate the Supper and Justin Martyr signifies that their solemn meetings on the Lords dayes were accompanied with this feast and that the Question how often is propounded in Austine and Chrysostom and Austin perswades and exhorts every Lords-day Austin Eccles Dogm cap. 53. Chrysost hom 13. heb Gerard. Harm cap. 171. if the heart be prepared and Chrysostom saith that a pure conscience may come as often as it will but for a wicked man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once is too often and to conclude if the necessity of our infirmities the great benefit the honour of this memorial may be heard to speak we shall come to this Rule That frequency beget not a customary formality or fastidious satiety as Manna did nor seldomnesse beget forgetfulnesse or superstitiousnesse extraordinarinesse and under this caution I leave the determination of the times unto the Church CHAP. XVI Of the Continuance of this and other Gospel-Ordinances in the Church THe fourth point ariseth from the last words Untill he come and it is this This Ordinance and so all Gospel-ordinances are to continue in force in the Churches untill Christ come and this point cleaves into two parts § 1 First The Lord Christ will come again he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10. 37. He that shall come he shall appear the second time Heb. 9. 28. as in the old Church of Israel there was a glorious Temple then a captivity that followed after the captivity a second Temple and then Christ came So in Gospel-Churches there was first a glorious Virgin primitive Church then followed a captivity under Antichrist and that captivity shall be followed with a second Temple a Reformed Church and then Christ shall come again but as
high praises or at the lower of melting humblings If the fire flame rise high thou hast more comfort If it smoak God will not quench-it and that 's some comfort Some have a finer taste and relish their meat with higher gust and more delight than others and yet others be nourisht as well as much as they So haply some receive Christ with greater delectation and yet thy soul may be nourisht as well as theirs CHAP. XXIV That a Godly man may receive the Sacrament unworthily HAving shown you the qualifications of a worthy Communicant before-hand and that the actual exercise of grace is requisite at present for receiving worthily I make this Observation § 1 That a man who is in a state of grace and so godly may yet receive the Lords Supper unworthily and without effect not for want of habitual fitnesse or qualification but for want of the actual exercise of grace at present or becaUse of some distempers which overtake and surprise him in the act of communicating This Point it may be at first sight looks strangely but upon consideration will be found too true For if we look back to the Passeover we finde that an Israelite circumcised and so qualified to eat the Passeover yea a true Israelite might be unclean at the present time and so uncapable of keeping it And we have at home in this Text an example and a proof of this Point These Corinthians are looked upon as and supposed to be and no doubt some of them were godly and regenerate persons who yet contracted epidemical judgements upon them Many sick weak c. and that for a sinne they little thought of their undue and unfit coming to the Lords Table they are distinguisht from the world vers 32 Of whom it s said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 30. For this caUse you are judged of the Lord and chastened and hence the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is contended to import only temporal judgement in this place I confesse this Point is controverted and disputed and more abroad than at home amongst us Vasquez seems to me to hold That it is enough that a man be in a state of grace and that every godly man receives worthily or else should sinne mortally But it is no new Doctrine with us That a regenerate man may sinne mortally as they speak or commit a sinne meritorious of condemnation We must not lessen regenerate mens sinnes which in divers respects are the greater becaUse the person is regenerate Even they that are babes in Christ may be-carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 3. 3. And therefore Cajetan on the other side requires actual Devotion as necessary to the fruit of this Sacrament and his Argument is BecaUse the Sacrament works according to the manner of its signification And therefore as meat and drink to the end they may nourish do require that we cooperate by some act of life to receive and digest them so there is necessary some act of inward grace to meet with and receive this spiritual food that it may nourish and refresh us and I hold the Argument good and firm Nor do I finde any priviledge of a regenerate man that he cannot commit this sinne He may be under a spiritual Apoplexy or stupidity as David for a time seems to have been He may be overgrown with a crust a coldnesse a security and so unfit by disease though not by death Chrysostome saw this truth when he speaks of some that may not eat becaUse not initiated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others though they be members yet are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unclean It 's true It is proper to the godly to receive worthily but it 's proper Soli sed non semper only they do so but not they alwayes and therefore I turn my speech to you and desire that you be not render'd secure and negligent by this false principle that a regenerate man cannot receive the Sacrament unworthily for this is the ready way to fall into that sinne which you imagine your selves free from by taking you off from that self-examination that trimming of your Lamps that purging out of the old Leaven that blowing up of your Graces into act which is so requisite unto your meeting with your Lord in this Ordinance I know that for the most part those do charge themselves with this sinne of receiving unworthily that have least caUse The worthiest Communicants are to their own eye the worst They never acted their graces lively at the Sacrament They never felt the present delights and fatnesse of this Ordinance They have been alwayes incumbred with doubts with fears and distempers and have often gone away with more anguish of spirit than they came and a world of such complaints there are and I confesse it is not ordinary that gracious persons do stand in good opinion with themselves but yet Jacobs going away halting from God was not an argument that he had not prevail'd Sick people may be nourisht and strengthen'd with that meat which they cannot taste or relish in their mouth Grace is more apt to see sinne than it self for the eye doth not see it self and the more it grows in light the more tender in sense In spirituals it is true But I shall speak a Paradox Those diseases we feel and are sick of seldome prove mortal that is when the affections melt with sorrow and not the conscience amazed with horrour though I would not nourish complaints against my self yet I had rather have the sense of Paul Rom. 7. wherein he complains of himself than his confidence when he said I verily thought I ought to do c. and I think a proud confidence both a greater caUse and signe of unworthy receiving than humble fear and sense of imperfection for even this is a grace to be exercised at the Lords Table CHAP. XXV Of the Graces which are to be exercised and set on work in the Use of this Sacrament § 1 THe Graces which are to be exercised and set on work in the Use of this Sacrament are pointed at and taught us by the Ordinance it self For when the Apostle bids every man to examine himself he should leave us in a wildernesse and wide world for he tels us not of what but that the Ordinance it self is the Rule of this examination and doth bespeak those graces which make us fit to come unto it This is the way that Chemnitius goes whereby to finde what those graces are which inable us to receive the benefit and effect here to be expected And to me it seems an excellent way For hereby the Communicant as I have often said is made suitable to the Ordinance and the examination is kept within its bounds So that if any should quarrel and say You require such things of us as you have no warrant for You lay burdens of your own invention we appeal to the Ordinance it self and require nor more nor lesse than may be deduced from it