Vision fruition and possession heere darkly by stooping and captivating our understandings unto those divine Reports which are made in Scripture which is a knowledge of Faith distance and expectation wee doe I say heere bend our understandings to assent unto such truths as doe not transmit any immediate species or irradiation of their owne upon them but there our understandings shall be raised unto a greater capacity and bee made able without a secondary report and conveyance to apprehend clearely those glorious Truths the evidence whereof it did heere submit unto for the infallible credit of God who in his Word had revealed and by his Spirit obsignated the same unto them as the Samaritans knew Christ at first onely by the report of the Woman which was an assent of Faith but after when they saw his Wonders and heard his Words they knew him by himselfe which was an assent of vision Secondly as the Church is heere but a travelling Church therfore cannot possibly have any farther knowledge of that Countrey whither it goes but onely by the Mappes which describe it the Word of God and these few fruites which are sent unto them from it the fruits of the Spirit whereby they have some taste and relish of the World to come so moreover is it even in this estate by being enclosed in a body of sinne which hath a darkning property in it and addes unto the naturall limitednesse of the understanding an accidentall defect and sorenesse much disabled from this very imperfect assent unto Christ the Object of its Faith for as sinne when it wastes the Conscience and beares Rule in the Soule hath a power like Dalila and the Philistines to put out our eyes as Vlysses the eye of his Cyclops with his sweet wine a power to e corrupt Principles to pervert and make crooked the very Rule by which we worke conveying all morall truths to the Soule as some concave glasses use to represent the species of things to the eye not according to their naturall rectitude or beauty but with those wrestings inversions and deformities which by the indisposition thereof they are framed unto so even the least corruptions unto which the best are subject having a naturall antipathy to the evidence and power of divine Truth doe necessarily in some manner distemper our understandings and make such a degree of sorenesse in the faculty as that it cannot but so farre forth bee impatient and unable to beare that glorious lustre which shines immediately in the Lord Christ. So then we see what a great disproportion there is betweene us and Christ immediately presented and from thence wee may observe our necessity and Gods mercy in affoording us the refreshment of a Type and Shadow These Shadowes were to the Church of the Iewes many because their weaknesse in the knowledge of Christ was of necessity more than ours in as much as they were but an infant wee an adult and growne Church and they looked on Christ at a distance wee neare at hand hee being already incarnate unto us they are the Sacraments of his Body and Bloud in the which wee see and receive Christ as weake eies doe the light of the Sunne through some darke Cloud or thicke Grove so then one maine and principall end of this Sacrament is to bee an instrument fitted unto the measure of our present estate for the exhibition or conveyance of Christ with the benefits of his Passion unto the faithfull Soule an end not proper to this mystery alone but common to it with all those Legall Sacraments which were the more thicke shadowes of the Jewish Church for even they in the red Sea did passe through Christ who was their Way in the Manna and Rocke did eate and drinke Christ who was their Life in the Brasen Serpent did behold Christ who was their Saviour in their daily Sacrifices did prefigure Christ who was their Truth in their Passeover did eate Christ by whose Bloud they were sprinkled for howsoever betweene the Legall and Euangelicall Covenant there may be sundry Circumstantiall differences as first in the manner of their Evidence that being obscure this perspicuous to them a Promise onely to us a Gospell Secondly in their extent and compasse that being confined to Iudea this universall to all Creatures Thirdly in the meanes of Ministration that by Priests and Prophets this by the Sonne himselfe and those delegates who were by him enabled and authorised by a solemne Commission and by many excellent endowments for the same service Lastly in the quality of its durance that being mutable and abrogated this to continue untill the consummation of all things yet notwithstanding in substance they agree and though by sundry wayes doe all at last meet in one and the same Christ who like the heart in the middest of the body comming himselfe in person betweene the Legall and Evangelicall Church doth equally convey life and motion to them both even as that light which I see in a starre and that which I receive by the immediate beame of the Sunne doth originally issue from the same Fountaine though conveyed with a different lustre and by a severall meanes So then wee see the end of all Sacraments made after the second Covenant for Sacraments there were even in Paradise before the Fall namely to exhibite Christ with those benefits which hee bestoweth on his Church unto each beleeving Soule but after a more especiall manner is Christ exhibited in the Lords Supper because his pretence is there more notable for as by Faith wee have the evidence so by the Sacrament wee have the presence of things farthest distant and absent from us A man that looketh on the light through a shadow doth truely and really receive the selfe same light which would in the openest and clearest Sun-shine appeare unto him though after a different manner there shall wee see him as Iob speakes with these selfe same eyes here with a spirituall eye after a mysticall manner so then in this Sacrament wee doe most willingly acknowledge a Reall True and Perfect Presence of Christ not in with or under the Elements considered absolutely in themselves but with that relative habitude and respect which they have unto the immediate use whereunto they are consecrated nor yet so doe wee acknowledge any such carnall transelementation of the materials in this Sacrament as if the Body or Bloud of Christ were by the vertue of Consecration and by way of a locall substitution in the place of the Bread and Wine in but are truly and really by them though in nature different conveyed into the Soules of those who by Faith receive Him And therefore Christ first said Take Eate and then This is my Body to intimate unto us as learned Hooker observeth that the Sacrament however by Consecration it be changed from common unto holy Bread and separated from common unto a divine use is
yet never properly to bee called the Body of Christ till Taken and Eaten by meanes of which Actions if they bee Actions of Faith that holy Bread and Wine doe as really convey whole Christ with the vitall influences that proceed from him unto the Soule as the hand doth them unto the mouth or the mouth unto the stomacke Otherwise if Christ were really and corporally present with the consecrated Elements severed from the act of faithfull Receiving the wicked should as easily receive him with their teeth as the faithfull in their Soule which to affirme is both absurd and impious Now Christs Presence in this holy Sacrament being a thing of so important consequence and the consideration thereof being very proper to this first end of the Sacrament the exhibiting of Christ for to exhibite a thing is nothing else but to present it or to make it present unto the party to whom it is exhibited It will not be impertinent to make some short digression for setting downe the manner and clearing the trueth of Christs Reall Presence the understanding whereof will depend upon the distinguishing of the severall manners in which Christ may bee said to bee present First then Christ being an infinite Person hath in the vertue of his Godhead an infinite and unlimited Presence whereby hee so filleth all places as that hee is not contained or circumscribed in them which immensity of his making him intimately present with all the Creatures is that whereby they are quickened supported and conserved by him for by him all things consist and hee upholdeth them all by the Word of his power and in him they live and move and have their being But this is not that Presence which in the Sacrament wee affirme because that presupposeth a Presence of Christ in and according to that nature wherein he was the Redeemer of the World which was his humane nature Yet in as much as this his humane nature subsisteth not but in and with the infinitenesse of the second Person there is therefore in the second place by the Lutherans framed another imaginary Presence of Christs humane Body after once the Divinity was pleased to derive glory in fulnesse on it which giveth it a participated ubiquity unto it too by meanes whereof Christ is corporally in or under the Sacrament all Elements But this opinion as it is no way agreeable with the truth of the humane nature of Christ so is it greatly injurious to his Divinity for first though Christs humane nature was in regard of its Production extraordinary and in regard of the sacred union which it had with the Divinity admirable and in regard of communication of glory from the Godhead and of the unction of the Holy Ghost farre above all other names that are named in heaven or earth yet in its nature did it ever retaine the essentiall and primiâ—ive properties of a created substance which is to bee in all manner of perfections finite and so by consequence in place too for glory destroies not nature but exalts it nor exalts it to any farther degrees of Perfection than are compatible to the finitenesse of a Creature who is like unto us in regard of all naturall and essentiall properties but these men give unto Christs Body farre more than his owne divine nature doth for hee glorifies it onely to bee the Head that is the most excellent and first-borne of every Creature but they glorifie it so farre as to make it share in the essentiall properties of the divine nature for as that substance unto whom the intrinsecall unseparated and essentiall properties of a man belong is a man necessarily man being nothing else but a substance so qualified so that being unto which the divine attributes doe belong in that degree of infinitenesse as they doe to the divine Person it selfe must needs bee God and immensity wee know is a proper attribute of the Divinity implying infinitenesse which is Gods owne Prerogative neither can the distinction of ubiquity communicated and originall or essentiall salve the consequence for God is by himselfe so differenced from all the Creatures as that it is not possible any attribute of his should bee participated by any Creature in that manner of infinitenesse as it is in him nay it implies an inevitable contradiction that in a finite nature there should bee roome enough for an infinite attribute We confesse that in as much as the humane nature in Christ is inseparably taken into the subsistence of the omnipresent Sonne of God It is therefore a truth to say That the Sonne of God though filling all places is not yet in any of them separated or asunder from the humane nature may by the vertue of the communication of the properties it is true likewise to say that the Man Christ is in all Places though not in or according to his humane nature But now from the union of the Manhood to the Godhead to argue a coextention or joynt-presence therewith is an inconsequent argument as may appeare in other things The Soule hath a kinde of immensity in her little world being in each part thereof whole and entire and yet it followes not because the Soule is united to the Body that therefore the Body must needs partake of this Omnipresence of the Soule else should the whole body be in the little finger because the Soule unto which it is united is wholly there Againe there is an unseparable union betweene the Sunne and the beame so that it is infallibly true to say the Sunne is no where severed from the beame yet wee know they both occupy a distinct place againe Misleâ—oe is so united to the substance of the Tree out of which it groweth that though of a different nature it subsisteth not but in and by the subsistence of the Tree and yet it hath not that amplitude of place which the Tree hath Letting goe then this opinion there is a third Presence of Christ which is a carnall Physicall locall Presence which wee affirme his humane nature to have onely in Heaven The Papists attribute it to the Sacrament because Christ hath said This is my Body and in matters of fundamentall consequence hee useth no figurative or darke speeches to this wee say that it is a carnall Doctrine and a mistake like that of Nicodemus and of Origen from the Spirit to the letter And for the difficulty it is none to men that have more than onely a carnall eare to heare it for what difficulty is it to say that then the King gives a man an Office when hee hath sealed him such a Paâ—ent in the right whereof that Office belongeth and is conveyed unto him And if Christ bee thus locally in the Sacrament and eaten with the mouth and so conveyed into the stomacke I then demand what becomes of him when and after hee is thus received into the stomacke If hee retire from the accidents out of a man then first accidents shall be left without any substance
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
spatious and great roome and so it should bee for it was a great Supper the Supper of a King The Disciples were then the type representative of the whole Catholick Church which was now by them to be begotten unto God and therfore the Chamber must needs be a resemblance and Modell of the whole world throughout which the sound of Christs name and the memory of his passion should in his Supper be celebrated untill the end of all things and then no marvell if it were a great Chamber Lastly it was ready spread fitted trimmed and prepared So sacred a mysterie as this may not be exhibited in an unfitted or uncleane place much lesse received into a corrupt and unprepared soule The body of Christ was never to see corruption and therefore it will never be mix'd with corruption It lay first in a cleane womb it was after buried in a virgin Sepulcher it then was taken into the brightest heavens and it still resides in molten and purifide hearts He that had the purity of a Dove will never take up the loding of a Crow Here then we see from these circumstances with what reverence and preparation with what affection and high esteeme we should receive these sacred mysteries The gift of a dying friend though of contemptible value is yet greatly prized for the memory of the donor for though the thing it selfe be small yet is it the pledge of a great love The words of a dying man though formerly vile and vaine are for the most part serious and grave how much more pretious was the gift of Christ who is the Almoner of Almighty God and whose only businesse it was to give gifts unto men how much more sacred were his last words who all his life time spake as never man spake The very presence of a dying man estamps on the mind an affection of feare and awe much more should the words and gifts of him who was dead and is alive againe Certainly he hath a flinty soule whom love as strong as death and death the work of that love cannot melt into a sympathie of affection In summe the Time of this Sacrament was a time of passion let not us be stupid it was a time of passeover let not our soules be unsprinkled it was a time of unleavened bread let not our doctrine of it be adulterated with the leaven of heresie not our soules in receiving tainted with the leaven of malice it was the time of betraying Christ let not our hands againe play the Iudas by delivering him unto jewish and sinfull soules which will crucifie againe unto themselves the Lord of glory let not us take that pretious blood into our hands rather to shed it than to drink it and by receiving the body of Christ unworthily make it as the sop was to Iudas even an harbenger to provide roome for Satan Againe the place of the Sacrament was a high Roome let not our soules lie sinking in a dungeon of sin it was a great roome let not our soules be straightned in the entertaining of Christ it was a trimmed roome let not oursoules be sluttish and uncleane when then the King of glory should enter in but as the Author of those mysteries was holy by a fulnesse of grace the elements holy by his blessing the tyme holy by his ordination and the place holy by his presence so let us by the receiving of them bee transformed as it were into their nature and bee holy by that union unto Christ of which they are as well the instrumentall meanes whereby it is increased as the seales and pledges whereby it is confirm'd CHAP. VII Of the matter of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine with their Analogie unto Christ. WEE have considered the Author or efficient of this Sacrament and those circumstances which were annexed unto its Institution we may now a little consider the essentiall parts of it and first the elements or matter of which it conconsisteth consecrated bread wine it neither stood with the outwad poverrty of Christ nor with the benefit of the Church to institute such sumptuous and gaudy elements as might possesse too much the sense of the beholder and too little resemble the quality of the Saviour And therefore he choose his Sacraments rather for the fitnesse than the beauty of them as respecting more the end than the splendor or riches of his Table and intended rather to manifest his divine power in altering poore elements unto a pretious use than to exhibit any carnall pompe in such delicious fare as did not agree with the spiritualnesse of his Kingdome Though he be contented out of tendernesse toward our weaknesse to stoop unto our senses yet he will not cocker them as in his reall and naturall body so in his representative the Sacrament a sensuall or carnall eye sees not either forme or beauty for which it may bee desired Pictures ought to resemble their originalls and the Sacrament wee know is the picture or type of him who was a man of sorrow and this picture was drawne when the day of Gods fierce wrath was upon him and can we then expect from it any satisfaction or pleasure to the senses this body was naked on the Crosse it were incongruous to have the Sacrament of it pompous on the Table As it was the will of the Father which Christ both glorifies and admires to reveale unto babes what hee hath hidden from the wise so is it here his wisedome to communicate by the meanest Instruments what he hath denied unto the choisest delicates to feed his Daniels rather with poâ—lse than with all the dainties on the Kings table And if we observe it divine miracles take ever the poorest meanest subjects to manifest themselves on If he want an army to protect his Church flies frogs and catterpillers and lamps and pitchers c. shall be the strongest souldiers and weapons he useth the lame and the blind the dumb and the dead water clay these are materialls for his power even where thou seest the instruments of God weakest there expect and admire the more abundant manifestation of his greatnesse wisedome undervalue not then the Bread and Wine in this holy Sacrament which doe better resemble the benefits of Christ crucified than any other the choisest delicateâ— Bread and Wine the element is double to encrease the comfort of the faithfull that by two things wherin it is impossible for God to deceive wee might have strong consolation who have laid hold upon him The dreame is doubled said Iosâ—ph to Pharoah because the thing is certaine and surely here the element is doubled too that the grace may be the more certaine No marvell then if those men who deny unto the people the certainty of grace deny unto them likewise these double elements so fit is it that they which preached but a halfe comfort should administer
likewise but a half Sacrament Secondly Bread and Wine In the Passeover there was blood shed but there was none drunken yea that flesh which was eaten was but once a yeare They who had all in types had yet their types as it were imperfect In the fulnesse of time came Christ and with or â—in Christ came the fulnesse of grace and of his fulnesse doe we receive in the Gospell which the Jewes only expected in the promise that they without us might not be made perfect these things have I spoken saith Christ that your joy might be full the fulnesse of our Sacrament notes also the fullnesse of our Salvation and of his sacrifice who is able perfectly to save those that come unto God by him Thirdly Bread and Wine common vulgar obvious food wine with water being the only knowne drinke with them in those hot Countries amongst the Jewes a lamb was to bee slaine a more chargeable and costly Sacrament not so easie for the poore to procure And therefore in the Sacrifice of first fruits the poore were dispenc'd with and for a Lamb offred a pair of pigeons Christ now hath broken down that partition wall that wall of inclosure which made the Church as a garden with hedges and made only the rich the people of the Jewes capable of Gods Covenants and Sacraments now that Gods Table hath crumms as well as flesh the Dogs the Gentiles eat of it too the poorest in the world is admitted to it even as the poorest that are do shift for bread though they are not able to provide flesh Then the Church was a fountaine sealed up but in Christ there was a fountaine opened for transgressions and for sinnes Fourthly Bread and Wine Bread to strengthen and Wine to comfort All temporall benefits are in divine Dialect called Bread it being the staffe of life and the want of which though in a confluence of all other blessings causeth famine in a Land See here the abundant sufficiency of Christs passion It is the universall food of the whole Church which sanctifieth all other blessings without which they have no relish nor comfort in them Sinne and the corrupt nature of man hath a venemous quality in it to turne all other good things into poyson unlesse corrected by this antitode this Bread of life that came downe from heaven And well may it be called a bread of life in as much as in it resides a power of trans-elementation that whereas other nourishments doe themselves turne into the substance of the receiver this quite otherwise transformes and affirmilates the soule unto the Image of it selfe whatsoever faintnesse we are in if we hunger after Christ hee can refresh us whatsoever feares oppresse us if like men opprest with feare we thirst gaspe after his blood it will comfort us whatsoever weaknesse either our sinnes or suffrings have brought us to the staffe of this bread will support us whatsoever sorrowes of mind or coldnesse of affection doe any way surprize us this wine or rather this bloud in which only is true life will with great efficacy quicken us If wee want power wee have the power of Christs Crosse if victory we have the victory of his Crosse if Triumph we have the triumph of his Crosse if peace we have the peace of his Crosse if wisdome we have the wisdome of his Crosse. Thus is Christ crucified a Treasure to his Church full of all sufficient provision both for necessitie and delight Fiftly Bread and Wine both of parts homogeneall and alike each part of Bread bread each part of Wine wine no crumme in the one no drop in the other differing from the quality of the whole O the admirable nature of Christs blood to reduce the affections and the whole man to one uniforme and spirituall nature with it selfe In so much that when we shall come to the perfect fruition of Christs glorious Body our very bodyes likewise shall be spirituall bodies spirituall in an uniformity of glory though not of nature with the soule Sinnes commonly are jarring and contentious one affection struggles in the same soule with another for mastery ambition fights with malice and pride with covetousnesse the head plots against the heart and the heart swells against the head reason and appetite will and passion soule body set the whole frame of nature in a continuall combustion like an unjoynted or broken arme one faculty moves contrary to the government or attraction of another and so as in a confluence of contrary streames and winds the soule is whirld about in a maze of intestine contentions But when once we become conformable unto Christs death it presently makes of two one and so worketh peace it slayeth that hatred and warre in the members and reduceth all unto that primitive harmony unto that uniforme spiritualnesse which changeth us all into the same Image from glory to glory Sixtly Bread and Wine as they are homogeneall so are they united together and wrought out of divers particular graines and grapes into one whole lump or vessell and therefore Bread and blood even amongst the Heathen were used for emblemes of leagues friendship and Mariage the greatest of all unions See the wonderfull effiâ—acy of Christ crucified to sodder as it were and joynt all his members into one body by love as they are united unto him by faith They are built up as living stones through him who is the chiefe corner stone elect and pretious unto one Temple they are all united by love by the bond or sinewes of peace unto him who is the head and transfuseth through them all the same vitall nourishment they are all the flock of Christ reduc'd unto one fold by that one chiefe Shepheard of their soules who came to gather those that wandred either from him in life or from one another in affection Lastly Bread and Wine sever'd and asunder that to be eaten this to be drunken that in a loafe this in a Cup It is not the bloud of of Christ running in his veynes but shed on his members that doth nourish his Church Impious therefore is their practice who powre Christs blood as it were into his body againe and shut up his wounds when they deny the Cup unto the people under pretence that Christs Body being received the blood by way of concomitancy is received together with it and so seale up that pretious Fountaine which he had opened and make a monopoly of Christs sacred wounds as if his blood had been shed only for the Priest and not as well for the people or as if the Church had power to withhold that from the people of Christ which himselfe had given them CHAP. VIII Practicall inferenâ—es from the materials of the Lords Supper HEre then we see first in as much as these
proportion betweene the holy Actions used by Christ in this Sacrament and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it IT followes now that we enquire farther into the nature of this holy Sacrament which will be explained by considering the Analogie fitnesse and similitude betweene the signes and the things signified by them and conferred or exhibited together with them which is Christ the Lord. Now this Analogie or fitnesse as it hath been in some generall manner expres'd in the nature or quality of the elements substantially or physically taken so more expressely and punctually is it propos'd unto us in those holy actions which doe alter in the use and make it a Sacrament And first we finde that Christ tooke the Bread and Wine and blessed it and gave thanks and so consecrated it or set a part unto a holy or solemne use which is the reason why Saint Paul calls it a Cup of blessing so that unto the Church it ceaseth to be that which nature had made it and beginnes to be that unto which the blessing had consecrated it In like manner did the eternall Sonne of God assume into the subsistance of his owne infinite person the whole nature of man the body and the soule by the vertue of which wonderfull union notwithstanding the properties of the divine nature remaine absolutely intransient and uncommunicable unto the humane yet are there shed from that inexhaustible fountaine many high and glorious endowments by which the humanity under this manner of subsistence is annoynted consecrated sealed and set apart for that work of incomprehensible love and power the redemption of the world and secondly as the Bread is taken by us from Christ in the nature of a gift he brake it and gave it to his Disciples so is the humane nature taken by Christ from the Father as a gift from the good pleasure of God Thirdly as the taking of the Bread by Christ did alter only the manner of its being the operation and efficacy the dignity and use but no way at all the element or nature of the Bread Even so the taking of the humane body by Christ did conferre indeed upon it many glorious effects and advance it to an estate farre above its common and ordinary capacity alwayes yet reserving those defects and weaknesses which were required in the aeconomie and dispensation of that great work for which he assumed it but yet he never alterd the essentiall and naturall qualities of the body but kept it still within the measure and limits of the created perfection which the wisdome of God did at first share out unto it Lastly to come neerer unto the Crosse of Christ as hee did by prayer and thanksgiving consecrate their elements unto a holy use so did he immediately before his passion of which this is the Sacrament make that consecratory prayer and thanksgiving which is registred for the perpetuall comfort of his Church The second Action is the breaking of the Bread and powering the Wine into the Cup which doth neerly expresse his crucified Body where the joynts were loosed the sinewes torne the flesh bruized and peirced the skin rent the whole frame violated by that straining and razeing and cutting and stretching and wrentching which was used in the crucifying of it and by the shedding of that pretious blood which stop'd the issue and flux of ours It were infinite and intricare to spin a meditation into a controversie about the extent and nature of Christs passion but certainly whatsoever either Ignominie or Agony his body suffered which two â— conceive to comprize all the generalls of Christ crucified are if not particularly expressed yet typically and sacramentally shaddowed and exhibited in the Bread broken and the Wine powred out The third Action was the giving or delivering of the Bread and Wine which first evidently expresseth the nature and quality of Christ crucified with these benefits which flow from him that they are freely bestowed upon the Church which of it selfe had no interest or claime unto any thing save death Secondly we see the nature of Christs passion that it was a free voluntary and unconstrained passion for though it be true that Iudas did betray him and Pilate deliver him to bee crucified yet none of this was the giving of Christ but the selling of him It was not for us but for mony that Iudas deliver'd him it was not for us but for feare that Pilate deliver'd him but God deliver'd the Sonne and the Sonne deliver'd himselfe with a most mercifull and gracious will to bestow his death upon sinners and not to get but to be himselfe a price The Passion then of Christ was most freely undertaken without which free-will of his own they could never have laid hold on him and his death was a most free and voluntary explication his life was not wrentched nor wrung from him nor snatch'd or torne from him by the bare violence of any forraine Impression but was with a loud voice arguing nature not brought to utter decay most freely surrendred and laid downe by that power which did after reassume it But how then comes it to passe that there lay a necessicie upon Christ of suffring which necessicie may seeme to have enforc'd and constrain'd him to Golgatha in as much as hee himselfe did not only shrinke but even testifie his dislike of what he was to suffer by a redoubled prayer unto his Father that that Cup might passe from him doth not feare make Actions involuntary or at least derogate and detract from the fulnesse of their liberty and Christ did feare how then is it that Christs Passion was most voluntary though attended with necessitie feare and reluctance surely it was most voluntary still and first therefore necessary because voluntary the maine and primitive reason of the necessitie being nothing else but that immutable will which had fore-decreed it Christs death then was necessary by a necessitie of the event which musts needs come to passe after it had once been fore-determined by that most wise will of God which never useth to repent him of his counsells but not by a necessitie of the cause which was most free and voluntary Againe necessary it was in regard of the Scriptures whose truth could not miscarry in regard of the promises made of him which were to be performed in regard of propheticall predictions which were to be fulfilled in regard of typicall prefigurations which were to bee abrogated and seconded with that substance which they did fore-shaddow but no way necessary in opposition to Christs will which was the first mover into which both this necessitie and all the causes of it are to be finally resolv'd And then for the fear and reluctance of Christ noe marvell if he who was in all things like unto us had his share in the same passions and affections like wise though without sin But neither of
manifest his glory or more gratiously imprint his Image so also in the union of Christ unto us we may observe something generall whereby he is united to the whole mankind and something speciall whereby he is united unto his Church and that after a double manner either common unto the whole visible assemblie of the Christians or peculiar and proper unto that invisible company who are the immediate members of his misticall body First then all man kind may be said to be in Christ in as much as in the mistery of his incarnation hee tooke on him the selfe same nature which maketh us to be men and wherby hee is as properly man as any of us subject to the same infermities liable and naked to the same dangers temptations moved by the same Passion obedient to the same lawes with us with this only difference that all this was in him sinlesse and voluntary in us sinfull and necessary Secondly besides this there is a farther union of Christ unto all the Professors of his truth in knowledge and explicite faith which is by a farther operation infusing into them the light of truth and some generall graces that which make them serviceable for his Church even as the root of a tree will sometimes so farre enliven the branches as shall suffice unto the bringing forth of leaves though it supply not juyce enough for solid fruit for whatsoever graces the outwad professors of Christianity do receive they have it all derived on them from Christ who is the dispencer of his Fathers bounty and who inlightneth every man that commeth into the World Thirdly there is a more speciall and neere union of Christ to the faithfull set forth by the resemblances of building ingrasture members marriage and other the like similitudes in the Scriptures whereby Christ is made unto us the Originall and well-spring of all spirituall life and motion of all fulnesse and fructification Even as in naturall generation the soule is no sooner infus'd and united but presently there is sense and vegetation derived on the body so in spirituall new birth as soone as Christ is formed in us as the Apostle speakes then presently are we quickned by him and all the operations of a spirituall life sense of sin vegetation and growth in faith understanding and knowledge of the mysterie of godlinesse taste and relish of eternall life begin to shew themselves in us We are in Christ by grace even as by nature we were in Adam Now as from Adam there is a perpetuall transfusion of Originall sin on all his posterity because we were all then not only represented by his person but contained in his loynes so from Christ who on the Crosse did represent the Church of God and in whom we are is there by a most speciall influence transfus'd on the Church some measure of those graces those vitall motions that incorruption purity and holinesse which was given to him without measure that he alone might be the Author and Originall of eternall salvation the consecrated Prince of glory to the Church from which consecration of Christ and sanctification of the Church the Apostle inferres a union betweene Christ and the Church for he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are of one And all this both union or association with Christ and communion in those heavenly graces which by spirituall influence from him are shed forth upon all his members is brought to passe by this meanes originally because Christ and we do both partake of one and the selfe-same spirit which spirit conveighs to the faithfull whatsoever in Christ is communicable unto them For as the members naturall of man are all conserv'd in the integrity and unity of one body by that reasonable soule which animates enlivens and actuates them by one simple and undivided information without which they would presently fall asunder and moulder into dust even so the members of Christ are all firmely united unto him and from him receive all vitall motions by meanes of that common Spirit which in Christ above measure in us according unto the dispensation of Gods good will worketh one and the selfe-same life and grace so that by it we are all as really compacted into one mysticall body as if we had all but one common soule And this is that which we beleeve touching our fellowship with the Sonne as S. Iohn cals it the cleere and ample apprehension whereof is left unto that place where both our union and likenesse to him and our knowledge of him shall be made perfect Sixtly we eat and drink the Sacrament of Christs Passion that thereby we may expresse that more closse and sensible pleasure which the faithfull enjoy in receiving of him For there is not any one sense whose pleasure is more constant and expresse than this of Tasting the reasons whereof are manifest For first it followes by the consequence of opposites that that faculty when fully satisfied must needs be sensible of the greatest pleasure whose penury defect brings the extreamest anguish on nature For the evill of any thing being nothing else but an obliquity and aberration from that proper good to which it is oppos'd It must needs follow that the greater the extent and degrees of an evill are the more large must the measure of that good be in the distance from which that evill consisteth Now it is manifest that the evill of no senses is so oppressive and terrible unto nature as are those which violate the taste and touch which later is ever annexed to the former no ugly spectacles for the eyes no howles or shrikings for the eare no stench or infection of aire for the smell so distastefull through all which the anguish of a famine would not make a man adventure to purchase any food though affected even with noisome qualities Secondly the pleasure which nature takes in any good thing is caused by the union thereof to the faculty by meanes whereof it is enjoyed so that the greater the union is the more necessarily is the pleasure of the thing united Now there is not any faculty whose object is more closely united unto it than this of Tasting in Seeing or Hearing or Smelling there may be a farre distance betweene us and the things that do so affect us but no tasting without an immediate application of the object to the faculty Other objects satisfie though without me but meats never content nor benefit till they be taken in Even so is it with Christ and the faithfull many things there are which affect them with pleasure but they are without and at a distance onely Christ it is who by being and dwelling in them deligheth them Lastly we eat and drink the Sacrament of Christ crucified that therein we may learne to admire the wisdome of Gods mercy who by the same manner of actions doth restore us to life
doe eat and drink the Lord himselfe And therefore the Church hath both at first and since most devoutly imitated our blessed Saviour in consecrating both these mysteries and their owne soules by thanksgiving and prayer before ever they received the elements from the hands of the Deacons that so that same pure Wine that immaculate Blood might be put into pure and untainted vessels even into sanctified and holy hearts lest otherwise the wine should be spilt and the vessells perish And indeed the Sacrament is ignorantly and fruitlessely received if we doe not therin devote consecrate and set apart our selves unto Gods service for what is a Sacrament but a visible oath wherin wee doe in consideration of Christs mercies unto us vow eternall alleigeance and service unto him against all those powers and lusts which warre against the soule and to make our members weapons of righteousnesse unto him Secondly as Christ brake the bread before he gave it so must our hearts before they be offered up to God for a reasonable sacrifice be humbled and bruised with the apprehension of their owne demerits for a Broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise shall wee have adamantine and unbended soules under the weight of those sins which brake the very Rock of our salvation and made the dead stones of the Temple to rend in sunder Was his body broken to let out his blood and shall not our soules be broken to let it in Was the Head wounded and shall the Ulcers and Impostumes remaine unlanced Would not God in the Law accept of any but pushed and dissected and burned sacrifices was his Temple built of none but cut and hewed stones and shall we think to have no Sword of the Spirit divide us no Hammer of the Word break us none of our drosse and stubble burned up none of our flesh beaten downe none of our old man crucified and cut off from us and yet be still living sacrifices and living stones in his Temple Whence did David call on God but out of the pit and the deepe waters when his bones were broken could not rejoyce Certainly we come unto God either as unto a Physitian or as to a Judge wee must needs bring soules either full of sores to be cured or full of sins to be condemned Againe in that this Rock of ours was broken we know whither to flie in case of tempest and oppression even unto the holes of the Rock for succor To disclaime our owne sufficiency to disavow any confidence in our owne strength to flie from Church treasures and supererrogations and to lay hold on him in whom were the treasures the fulnes of all grace of which fulnesse we all receive to forsake the private Lampes of the wisest Virgins the Saints and Angels which have not light enough to shine into anothers house and to have recourse only unto the Sonne of righteousnesse the light not of a House but of the World who inlightneth every man that commeth into it Think when thou seest these Elements broken that even then thou applyest thy lips unto his bleeding wounds and doest from thence suck salvation That even then with Thomas thy hand is in his side from whence thou mayest pluck out those words of life My God my God that even then thou seest in each wound a mouth open and in that mouth the blood as a visible prayer to intercede with God the Father for thee and to solicite him with stronger cries for salvation than did Abels for revenge Let not any sins though never so bloody so numberlesse deterre thee from this pretious Fountaine If it be the glory of Christs blood to wash away sinne then is it his greatest glory to wash away the greatest sins Thy sinne indeed is the object of Gods hate but the misery which sinne brings upon thee is the object of his pitty O when a poore distressed soule that for many yeares together hath securely weltered in a sinck of numberlesse and noisome lusts and hath even beene environed with a Hell of wickednesse shall at last having received a wound from the sword of Gods Spirit an eye to see and a heart to feele and tremble at the terrors of â—ods judgements shall then I say flie out of himselfe smite upon his thigâ— cast away his rags crouch and crawle unto the throne of grace solicite Gods mercy with strong cries for one drop of that blood which is never cast away when powred into sinfull and sorrowfull soules how think we will the bowels of Christ turne within him How will he hasten to meet such an humbled soule to embrace him in those armes which were stretched on the Crosse for him and to open unto him that inexhausted Fountaine which even delighteth to mix it â—elfe with the teares of sinners Certainly if it were possible for any one of Christs wounds to be more pretious than the rest even that should be opened wide and powred out into the soule of such a penitent Yea if it might possibly be that the sins of all the World could be even throng'd into the conscience of one man and the whole guilt of them made proper and personall unto him yet if such a man could bee brought to sue for grace in the mediation of Christs broken body there would thence issue balme enough to cure blood enough to wash and to drowne them all Only let not us sin because grace abounds let not us make work for the blood of Christ and go about by crimson and presumptuous sins as it were to pose Gods mercy The blood of Christ if spilt and trampled under foot will certainly cry so much lowder than Abels for vengeance by how much it is the more pretious It may be as well upon us as in us As the vertue and benefit of Christs blood is in those that imbrace it unto life and happinesse so is the guilt of it upon those that despise it unto wretchednesse and condemnation Thirdly in that Christ gave and delivered these mysteries unto the Church we likewise must learne not to ingrosse our selves or our owne gifts but freely to dedicate them all unto the honour of that God and benefit of that Church unto which he gave both himselfe and them Even nature hath made men to stand in need of each other and therefore hath imprinted in them a naturall inclination unto fellowship and society in one common City by Christ we are all made of one City of one houshold yea of one Church of one Temple He hath made us members of one body animated by one and the same Spirit stones of one entire building united on one and the same foundation branches of one undivided stock quickned by one and the same root and therefore requires from us all a mutuall support succour sustentation and nourishment of each
at all under them to sustaine them and which is if any thing can bee yet more absurd bare accidents should nourish bee assimulated and augment a substance for it is plaine that a man might bee nourished by the Bread yea the Priest by intemperate excesse made drunke with the consecrated Wine unto which detestable effects wee cannot imagine that God by a more especiall concurrence and miracle would enable the bare accidents of Bread and Wine But if Christ stay and doe corporally unite himselfe to the Receiver then I see not how all they that receive the Sacrament being physically and substantially united to Christs Body have not likewise a naturall union to his Person too that being no where separated from this which is blasphemous to affirme Secondly how Christs Body may not bee said to have a double subsistence Infinite in the second Person and Finite in all those with whom he is Incorporated Leaving then this as a fleshly conceit wee come to a fourth Presence of Christ which is by Energy and power thus where two or three bee gathered together in his Name Christ is in the middest of them by the powerfull working of his holy Spirit even as the Sunne is present to the Earth in as much as by its influence and benignity it heateth and quickeneth it For all manner of operation is by some manner of Contact betweene the Agent and the Patient which cannot bee without some manner of presence too but the last manner of Presence is a Sacramentall Relative mysticall Presence Understand it thus The King is in his Court or Presence-chamber onely locally and physically but representatively he is wheresoever his Chancellour or subordinate Judges are in as much as whatsoever they in a Legall and judiciall course doe determine is accompted by him as his owne personall act as being an effect of that power which though in them as the instruments doth yet originally reside no where but in his owne Person just so Christ is locally in Heaven which must containe him till the restitution of all things yet having instituted these Elements for the supply as it were of his absence hee is accompted present with them in as much as they which receive them with that reverend and faithfull affection as they would Christ himselfe doe together with them receive him too really and truly though not carnally or physically but after a mysticall and spirituall manner A reall Presence of Christ wee acknowledge but not a locall or physicall for Presence reall that being a metaphysicall terme is not opposed unto a meere physicall or locall absence or distance but is opposed to a false imaginary phantasticke presence for if reall presence may bee understood of nothing but a carnall and locall presence then that speech of Christ Where two or three bee gathered together in my Name there am I in the middest of them cannot have any reall Trueth in it because Christ is not locally in the middest of them This reall Presence being thus explained may bee thus proved The maine end of the Sacrament as shall be shewed is to unite the faithfull unto Christ to which union there must of necessity be a Presence of Christ by meanes of the Sacrament which is the instrument of that union Such then as the union is such must needs bee the presence too since Presence is therefore only necessary that by meanes thereof that union may be effected Now united unto Christ we are not carnally or physically as the meat is to the body but after a mysticall manner by joynts and sinewes not fleshly but spirituall even as the faithfull are united to each other in one mysticall Body of Christ into one holy spirituall Building into one fruitfull olive into a holy but mysticall marriage with Christ. Now what Presence fitter for a Spirituall union than a spirituall presence Certainly to confine Christ unto the narrow compasse of a piece of Bread to squeeze and contract his Body into so strait a roome and to grinde him betweene our teeth is to humble him though now glorified lower than hee humbled himselfe hee himselfe to the forme of a servant but this to the condition of a monster That Presence then of Christ which in the Sacrament wee acknowledge is not any grosse Presence of circumscription as if Christ Jesus in Body lay hid under the accidents of Bread and Wine as if hee who was wont to use the senses for witnesse and proofe of his Presence did now hide from them yea deceive them under the appearances of that which hee is not but it is a spirituall Presence of energie power and concomitancy with the Element by which Christ doth appoint that by and with these mysteries though not in or from them his sacred Body should bee conveyed into the faithfull Soule and such a Presence of Christ in power though absence in flesh as it is most compatible with the properties of a humane Body so doth it most make for the demonstration of his power who can without any necessity of a fleshly Presence send as great influence from his sacred Body on the Church as if hee should descend visibly amongst us Neither can any man shew any enforcing reason why unto the reall exhibition and reception of Christ crucified there should any more physicall Presence of his bee required than there is of the Sunne unto the eye for receiving his light or of the roote unto the utmost branches for receiving of vitall sappe or of the head unto the feete for the receiving of sense or of the land and purchase made over by a sealed Deed for receiving the Lordship or lastly to use an instance from the Jesuites owne Doctrine out of Aristotle of a finall Cause in an actuall existence to effect its power and causality on the the will for if the finall Cause doe truely and really produce its effect though it have not any materiall grosse Presence but onely an intellectuall Presence to the apprehension why may not Christ whose sacred Body however it bee not substantially coextended as I may so speake in regard of ubiquity with the Godhead yet is in regard of its cooperation force efficacy unlimited by any place or subject it having neither spheare of activity nor stint of merit nor bounds of efficacy nor necessary subject of application beyond which the vertue of it growes faint and uneffectuall why may not hee I say really unite himselfe unto his Church by a spirituall Presence to the faithfull Soule without any such grosse and carnall descent or rehumiliation of his glorified Body unto an ignoble and prodigious forme So then to conclude this digression and the first End of this Sacrament together when Christ saith This is my Body wee are not otherwise to understand it than those other Sacramentall speeches of the same nature I am the Bread of Life Christ was that rocke and the like it being a common thing not
onely in holy Scriptures but even in prophane Writers also to call the instrumentall Elements by the name of that Covenant of which they are onely the Sacrifices seales and visible confirmations because of that relation and neere resemblance that is betweene them The second End or Effect of this Sacrament which in order of Nature immediately followeth the former is to obsignate and to encrease the mysticall union of the Church unto Christ their Head for as the same operation which infuseth the reasonable soule which is the first act or principle of life naturall doth also unite it unto the body to the making up of one man so the same Sacrament which doth exhibite Christ unto us who is the first act and originall of life divine doth also unite us together unto the making up of one Church In naturall nourishment the vitall heate being stronger than the resistance of the meat doth macerate concoct and convert that into the substance of the Body but in this spirituall nourishment the vitall Spirit of Christ having a heate invincible by the coldnesse of Nature doth turne us into the same image and quality with it selfe working a fellowship of affections and confederacy of wills and as the body doth from the union of the soule unto it receive strength beauty motion and the like active qualities so also Christ being united unto us by these holy mysteries doth comfort refresh strengthen rule and direct us in all our waies Wee all in the vertue of that Covenant made by God unto the faithfull and to their seed in the first instant of our being doe belong unto Christ that bought us after in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme we are farther admitted and united to him our right unto Christ before was generall from the benefit of the common Covenant but in this Sacrament of Baptisme my right is made personall and I now lay claime unto Christ not onely in the right of his common Promise but by the efficacy of this particular Washing which sealeth and ratifieth the Covenant unto mee Thus is our first union unto Christ wrought by the grace of the Covenant effectively and by the grace of Baptisme where it may bee had Instrumentally the one giving unto Christ the other obsignating and exhibiting that right by a farther admission of us into his Body But now wee must conceive that as there is a union unto Christ so there must as in naturall bodies be after that union a growing up till wee come to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the measure of the fulnesse of Christ. This growth being an effect of the vitall faculty is more or lesse perfected in us as that is either more or lesse stifled or cherished for as in the soule and body so in Christ and the Church We are not to conceive the union without any latitude but capable of augmentation and liable to sundry diminutions according as are the severall meanes which for either purpose wee apply unto our selves The union of the soule and body though not dissolved is yet by every the least distemper slackned by some violent diseases almost rended asunder so that the body hath sometimes more sometimes lesse hold-fast of the soule so heere wee are in the Covenant and in Baptisme united unto Christ but wee must not forget that in men there is by Nature a roote of bitternesse whence issue those fruites of the flesh a spawne and wombe of actuall corruptions where sinne is daily conceived and brought forth a mare mortuum a lake of death whence continually arise all manner of noysome and infectious lusts by meanes of which our Union to Christ though not dissolved is yet daily weakened and stands in need of continuall confirmation for every sinne doth more or lesse smother and stoppe the principle of life in us so that it cannot worke our growth which we must rise unto with so free and interrupted a course as otherwise it might The Principle of life in a Christian is the very same from whence Christ himselfe according to his created Graces receiveth life and that is the Spirit of Christ a quickning Spirit and a strengthening Spirit Now as that great sinne which is incompatible with faith doth bidde defiance to the good Spirit of God and therefore is more especially called The sinne against the holy Ghost so every sinne doth in its owne manner and measure quench the Spirit that it cannot quicken and grieve the Spirit that it cannot strengthen us in that perfection of degrees as it might otherwise and thus is our union unto Christ daily loosened and slackened by the distempers of sinne for the reestablishing whereof God hath appointed these sacred Mysteries as effectuall instruments where they meet with a qualified subject to produce a more firme and close union of the Soule to Christ and to strengthen our Faith which is the joynt and sinew by which that union is preserved to cure those i wounds and purge those iniquities whose property it is to separate betwixt Christ and us to make us submit our services to knit our wils to conforme our affections and to incorporate our persons into him that so by constant though slow proceedings we might be changed from glory to glory and attaine unto the measure of Christ there where our Faith can no way bee impaired our bodies and soules subject to no decay and by consequence stand in no need of any such viaticums as wee heere use to strengthen us in a journey so much both above the Perfection and against the corruption of our present Nature CHAP. XIV Of three other Ends of the holy Sacrament the fellowship or union of the faithfull the obsignation of the Covenant of Grace and the abrogation of the Passeover NOW as the same nourishment which preserveth the Union betweene the Soule and Body or head and members doth in like manner preserve the Union betweene the members themselves even so this Sacrament is as it were the sinew of the Church whereby the faithfull being all animated by the same Spirit that makes them one with Christ are knit together in a bond of Peace conspiring all in a unity of thoughts and desires having the same common Enemies to withstand the same common Prince to obey the same common rule to direct them the same common way to passe the same common Faith to vindicate and therefore the same mutuall engagements to further and advance the good of each other so that the next immediate effect of this Sacrament is to confirme the Union of all the members of the Church each to other in a Communion of Saints whereby their prayers are the more strengthened and their adversaries the more resisted for as in naturall things Union strengtheneth motions naturall and weakeneth violent so in the Church Union strengtheneth all spirituall motions whether upward as meditations and prayers to God or downeward as
sympathy and good workes towards our weake Brethren and it hindereth all violent motions the strength of sinne the darts of Satan the provocations of the World the Judgements of God or whatever evill may bee by the flesh either committed or deserved And this Union of the faithfull is both in the Elements and appellations and in the ancient ceremonies and in the very act of eating and drinking most significantly represented First for the Elements they are such as though naturally their parts were separated in severall graines and grapes yet are they by the art of man moulded together and made up into one artificiall body consisting of divers homogeneous parts men by Nature are disjoynted not more in being than in affections and desires each from other every one being his owne end and not any way affected with that tendernesse of Communion or bowels of love which in Christ wee recover but now Christ hath redeemed us from this estate of enmity and drawing us all to the pursuite of one common end and thereunto enabling us by one uniforme rule his holy Word and by one vitall Principle his holy Spirit wee are by the meanes of this holy Sacrament after the same manner reunited into one spirituall Body as the Elements though originally severall are into one artificiall masse And for the same reason as I conceive was the holy Passeover in the Law commanded to bee one whole Lambe and eaten in one Family and not to have one bone of it broken to signifie that there should bee all unity and no Schisme or rupture in the Church which is Christs Body Secondly for the appellations of this Sacrament it is commonly called The Lords Supper which word though with us it import nothing but an ordinary course and time of eating yet in other Language it expresseth that which the other appellation retaines Communion or fellowship and lastly it was called by the Ancients Synaxis a collection gathering together or assembling of the faithfull namely into that unity which Christ by his merits purchased by his prayer obtained and by his Spirit wrought in them so great hath ever beene the Wisedome of Gods Spirit and of his Church which is ruled by it to impose on divine institutions such names as might expresse their vertue and our duty as Adams Sacrament was called the Tree of Life the Iewes Sacraments the Covenant and the Passeover and with the Christians Baptisme is called Regeneration and the Lords Supper Communion that by the names we might bee put in minde of the power of the things themselves Thirdly for the Ceremonies and Customes annexed unto this Sacrament in the Primitive times notwithstanding for superstitious abuses some of them have beene abolished yet in their owne originall use they did signifie this uniting and knitting quality which the Sacraments have in it whereby the faithfull are made one with Christ by faith and amongst themselves by love And first they had a custome of mixing Water with the Wine as there came Water and Blood out of Christs side which however it might have a naturall reason because of the heate of the country and custome of those Southerne parts where the use was to correct the heate of Wine with Water yet was it by the Christians usâ—d not without a mysticall and allegoricall sense to expresse the mixture whereof this Sacrament is an effectuall instrument of all the People who have faith to receive it with Christs Blood Water being by the Holy Ghost himselfe interpreted for People and Nations Secondly at the receiving of this holy Sacrament their custome was to kisse one another with an holy kisse or a kisse of love as a testification of mutuall dearenesse it proceeding from the exiliency of the spirits and readinesse of Nature to meet and unite it selfe unto the thingâ— beloved for love is nothing else but a delightfull affection arising from an attractive power in the goodnesse of some excellent Object unto which it endeavoureth to cleave and to unite it selfe and therefore it was an argument of hellish hypocrisie in Iudas and an imitation of his father the Divell who transformeth himselfe into an Angell of Light for the enlargement of his kingdome to use this holy symbole of love for the instrument of a hatred so much the more devilish than any by how much the object of it was the more divine Thirdly after the celebration of the divine Mysteries the Christians to testifie their mutuall love to each other did eate in common together which Feasts from that which they did signifie as the use of God and his Church is to proportion names and things were called love-feasts to testifie unto the very Heathen how dearely they were knit together Fourthly after receiving of these holy mysteries there were extraordinary oblations and collections for refreshing Christs poore members who either for his Name or under his hand did suffer with patience the calamities of this present life expecting the glory which should be revealed unto them those did they make the Treasures of the Church their bowels the hordes and repositaries of their piety and such as were orphanes or widowes or aged or sicke or in bonds condemned to Mine-pits or to the Islands or desolate places or darke Dungeons the usuall punishments in those times with all these were they not ashamed in this holy worke to acknowledge a unity of condition a fellowship and equality in the spirituall Privileges of the same Head a mutuall relation of fellow-members in the same common Body unto which if any had greater right than other they certainly were the men who were conformed unto their Head in suffering and did goe to their Kingdome through the same path of blood which he had before besprinckled for them Lastly it was the custome in any solemne testimoniall of Peace to receive and exhibite this holy Sacrament as the seale and earnest of that union which the parties whom it did concerne had betweene themselves Such hath ever beene the care of the holy Church in all the customes and ceremoniall accessions whether of decency or charity which have beene by it appointed in this holy Sacrament that by them and in them all the concinnation of the Body of Christ the fellowship sympathy and unity of his members might be both signified and professed that as wee have all but one Sacrament which is the Food of life so wee should have but one Soule which is the Spirit of life and from thence but one heart and one minde thinking and loving and pursuing all the same things through the same way by the same rule to the same end And for this reason amongst others I take it it is that our Church doth require in the Receiving of these Mysteries a uniformity in all her Members even in matters that are of themselves indifferent that in the Sacrament of unity there might not appeare any breach or
Schisme but that as at all times so much more then wee should all thinke and speake and doe the same things least the manner should oppose the substance of the celebration Lastly if we consider the very act of eating and drinking even therein is expressed the fellowship and the union of the faithfull to each other for even by Nature are men directed to expresse their affections or reconcilements to others in feasts and invitations where even publique Enemies have condescended to termes of fairenesse and plausibility for which cause it is noted for one of the Acts of Tyrants whereby to dissociate the mindes of their Subjects and so to breake them when they are asunder whom all together they could not bend to interdict invitations and mutuall hospitalities whereby the body politicke is as well preserved as the naturall and the love of men as much nourished as their bodies And therefore where Ioseph did love most there was the messe doubled and the nationall hatred betweene the Iewes and Aegyptians springing from the diversity of Religions whose worke it is to knit and fasten the affections of men was no way better expressed than by their mutuall abominating the tables of each other So that in all these circumstances we find how the union of the faithfull unto each other is in this holy Sacrament both signified and confirmed whereby however they may in regard of temporall relations stand at great distance even as great as is betweene the Palace and the Prison yet in Christ they are all fellow-members of the same common Body and fellow-heires of the same common Kingdome and spirituall stones of the same common Church which is a name of unity and Peace They have one Father who deriveth on them an equall Nobility one Lord who equally governeth them one spirit who equally quickneth them one Baptisme which equally regenerateth them one faith which equally warrants their inheritance to them and lastly one sinew and bond of love which equally interesteth them in the joyes and griefes of each other so that as in all other so principally in this divine friendship of Christs Church there is an equality and uniformity be the outward distances how great soever Another principall End or Effect of this holy Supper is to signifie and obsignate unto the Soule of each Beleever his personall claime and title unto the new Covenant of Grace We are in a state of corruption sinne though it have received by Christ a wound of which it cannot recover yet as beasts commonly in the pangs of death use most violently to struggle and often to fasten their teeth more eagerly and fiercely where they light so sinne here that body of death that besieging encompassing evill that Cananite that lieth in our members being continually heartened by our arch enemy Satan however subdued by Israel doth yet never cease to goad and pricke us in the eyes that we might not looke up to our future Possession is ever raising up steemes of corruption to intercept the lustre of that glory which wee expect is ever suggesting unto the Beleever matter of diffidence and anxiety that his hopes hitherto have beene ungrounded his Faith presumptuous his claime to Christ deceitfull his propriety uncertaine if not quite desperate till at last the faithfull Soule lies gasping and panting for breath under the buffets of this messenger of Satan And for this cause it hath pleased our good God who hath promised never to faile nor forsake us that wee might not be swallowed up with griefe to renew often our right and exhibite with his owne hands for what is done by his Officers is by him done that sacred Body with the efficacy of it unto us that wee might fore-enjoy the promised Inheritance and put not into our chests or coffers which may haply by casualities miscarry but into our very bowels into our substance and soule the pledges of our Salvation that wee might at this spirituall Altar see Christ as it were crucified before our eyes clinge unto his Crosse and graspe it in our armes sucke in his Blood and with it salvation put in our hands with Thomas not out of diâ—â—idence but out of faith into his side and fasten our tongues in his sacred wounds that being all over dyed with his Bloud wee may use boldnesse and approach to the Throne of Grace lifting up unto heaven in faith and confidence of acceptance those eyes and hands which have seene and handled him opening wide that mouth which hath received him and crying aloud with that tongue which having tasted the Bread of Life hath from thence both strength and arguments for prayer to move God for mercy this then is a singular benefit of this Sacrament the often repetition and celebration whereof is as it were the renewing or rather the confirming with more and more seales our Patent of life that by so many things in the smallest whereof it is impossible for God to lye wee might have strong consolation who have our refuge to lay hold on him who in these holy Mysteries is set before us for the Sacrament is not onely a Signe to represent but a Seale to exhibite that which it represents In the Signe wee see in the seale wee receive him In the Signe wee have the image in the seale the benefit of Christs Body for the nature of a Signe is to discover and represent that which in it selfe is obscure or absent as words are called signes and symboles of our invisible thoughts but the property of a Seale is to ratifie and â—o establish that which might otherwise bee uneffectuall for which cause some have called the Sacrament by the name of a Ring which men use in sealing those writings unto which they annexe their trust and credit And as the Sacrament is a Signe and Seale from God to us representing and exhibiting his benefits so should it bee a signe and seale from us to God a signe to separate us from sinners a seale to oblige us to all performances of faith and thankfulnesse on our part required Another End and Effect of this holy Sacrament was to abrogate the Passeover and testifie the alteration of those former Types which were not the commemorations but the predictions of Christs Passion and for this cause our blessed Saviour did celebrate both those Suppers at the same time but the new Supper after the other and in the evening whereby was figured the fulnesse of time that thereby the presence of the substance might evacuate the shadow even as the Sunne doth with his lustre take away all those lesser and substituted lights which were used for no other purpose but to supply the defect which there was of him The Passeover however in the nature of a sacrifice it did prefigure Christ yet in the nature of a Solemnity and annuall commemoration it did
Prince of darkenes Nature is in all her operations uniforme and constant unto her selfe one Tree cannot naturally bring forth Grapes and Figgs out of the same Fountaine cannot issue bitter water and sweete the selfe same vitall faculty of feeling which is in one member of the body is in all because all are animated with that soule which doth not confine it selfe unto any one The Church of God is a Tree planted by the same hand a Garden watred from the same Fountaine a body quickned by the same Spirit the members of it are all brethren begotten by one Father of mercy generated by one Seede of the Word delivered g from one wombe of ignorance fed with one bread of Life employd in one Heavenly calling brought up in one House-hold of the Church travellers in one way of grace heires to one Kingdome of glory and when they agree in so many unities should they then admit any fraction or disunion in their minds from Adam unto the last man that shall tread on the Earth is the Church of GOD but one continued and perfected body and therefore we finde that as in the body the head is affected with the grievances of the feete though there be a great distance of place betweene them so the holymen of God have mourned and been exceedingly touched with the afflictions of the Church even in after Ages though betweene them did interveane a great distance of time Certainly then if the Church of God lie in distresse and we stretch our selves on beds of Juory if she mourne in sack-cloath and we riot in soft rayment if the wild Bore of the Forrest breake in upon her and we send not out one prayer to drive him away if there bee cleanenesse of teeth in the poore and our teeth grinde them still if their bowells be empty of food and ours still empty of compassion if the wrath of God bee enflamed against his people and our zeale remaine still as frozen our charity as cold our affections as benum'd our compassion as stupid as it ever was In aword if Sion lye in the dust and wee hang not up our Harpes nor pray for her peace as wee can conclude nothing but that we are unnaturall members so can wee expect nothing but the curse of Meroz who went not out to helpe the Lord. Fourthly in that this Sacrament is Gods Instrument to ratifie and make sure our claime unto his Covenant we learne First therein to admire and adore the unspeakeable love of God who is pleased not onely to make but to confirme his promises unto the Church As God so his truth whether of judgments or promises are all in themselves immutable and infallible in their event yet notwithstanding as the Sunne though in it selfe of a most uniforme light and magnitude yet by reason of the great distance and of the variety of mists and vapours through which the raies are diffus'd it often seemeth in both properties to varie so the promises of God however in themselves of a fixed and unmoveable certainty yet passing through the various tempers of our minds one while serene and cleere another while by the steeme of passions and temptations of Satan foggie and distemperd doe appeare under an inconstant shape And for this cause as the Sunne doth it selfe dispell those vapours w ch did hinder the right percâ—â—tion of it so the grace of God together with and by the holy Sacrament communicated doth rectifie the minde and compose those diffident affections w ch did before intercept the efficacie and evidence thereof God made a Covenant with our fathers and not accounting that enough hee confirmed it by an oath that by 2. immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to ly they might have strong consolation who have had refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before them The strength wee see of the consolation depends upon the stability of the covenant And is Gods covenant made more firme by an oath than by a promise The truth of God is as his nature without variablenesse or shadow of changing and can it then bee made more immutable Certainly as to infinitenes in regard of extension so unto immutabillity in regard of firmenes can there not bee any accession of degrees or parts All immutability being noâ—thing else but an exclusion of whatsoever might possibly occur to make the thing variable and uncertaine So then the Oath of God doth no more adde to the certainty of his word then doe mens oathes and protestations to the truth of what they affirme but because wee consist of an earthly and dull temper therefore God when he speakes unto us doth ingeminate his compellations O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord. So weake is our sight so diffident our nature as that it seemes to want the evidence of what it sees peradventure God may repent him of his promise as he did sometime of his Creature Why should not the Covenant of grace bee as mutable as was that of gwords God promised to establish Sion for ever and yet Sion the City of the great God is fallen was not Shilo beloved and did not God forsake it had Comah beene as the signet of his hand had hee not yet beene cast away was not Ierusalem a Vine of Gods planting and hath not the wild Boare long since rooted it up was not Israel the naturall Olive that did partake of the fat and sweetnesse of the roote and is yea cut off and wrath come upon it to the uttermost Though God be most immutable may he not yet alter his promise did the abrogation of Ceremonies prove any way a change in him who was as well the erector as the dissolver of them Though the Sunne be fastned to his owne Spheare yet may hee bee moved by another Orbe What if Gods promise barely considered proceed from his Antecedent and simple will of benevolence towards the Creature but the stability and certainty of his promise in the event depend on a second resolution of his consequent will which presupposeth the good use of mine owne liberty may not I then abuse my free will and so frustrate unto my selfe the benefit of Gods promise Is not my will mutable though Gods bee not may not I sinke and fall though the place on which I stand be firme may not I let goe my hold though the thing which I handle bee it selfe fast what if all this while I have beene in a Dreame mistaking mine owne private fancies and misperswasions for the dictates of Gods Spirit mistaking Satan who useth to transforme himselfe for an Angell of light God hath promised it is true but hath hee promised unto mee did hee ever say unto mee Simon Simon or Saul Saul Or Samuel Samuel Or if hee did must he needs performe his promise to me who am not able to fulfill my conditions unto him Thus
as unto men floating upon the Sea or unto distempered braines the land and house though immoveable seeme to reele and totter or as unto weake eyes every thing seemes double so the promises of God however built on a sure foundation his Counsell and Fore-knowledge yet unto men prepossest with their owne private distempers doe they seeme unstable and fraile unto a weake eye of faith Gods Covenant to bee if I may so speake double to have a tongue and a tongue a promise and a promise that is a various and uncertaine promise And for this cause notwithstanding diffident and distrustfull men doe indeed deserve what they suspect and are worthy to suffer what they unworthily doe feare doth God yet in compassion towards our fraitly condescend to confirme his promises by an Oath to engage the truth of his own essence for performance to seale the Patent which he hath given with his own blood and to exhibite that seale unto us so often as with faith wee approach unto the Communion of these holy mysteries And who can sufficiently admire the riches of this mercy which makes the very weakenesses and imperfections of his Church occasions of redoubling his promises unto it Secondly in that this Sacrament is the instrumentall cause of confirming our faith from this possibility yea facility of obtaining we must conclude the necessity of using so great a benefit wherein wee procure the strengthning of our graces the calmeing of our consciences and the experience of Gods favour in the naturall body there being a continuall activity and conflict betweene the heate and the moisture of the body and by that meanes a wasting depassion and decay of nature it is kept in a perpetuall necessity of succouring it selfe by food so in the spirituall man there being in this present estate an unreconcileable enmity betweene the spirit and the flesh there is in either part a propension towards such outward food whereby each in its distresses may be releeved The flesh pursues all such objects as may content and cherish the desires thereof which the Apostle calleth the provisions of lust The Spirit of the contrary side strengthens it selfe by those divine helps which the wisedome of God had appointed to conferre grace and to settle the heart in a firme perswasion of its owne peace And amongst these instruments this holy Sacrament is one of the principall which is indeed nothing else but a visible oath wherein Christ giveth us a tast of his benefits and engageth his owne sacred body for the accomplishing of them which supporteth our tottering faith and reduceth the soule unto a more setled tranquility Fifthly In that in this one all other Types were abrogated and nullified wee learne to admire and glorifie the love of God who hath set us at liberty from the thraldome of Ceremonies from the costlinesse and difficulty of his Service with which his owne chosen people were held in bondage under the Pedagogie and governement of Schoole-masters the ceremoniall and judiciall Law as so many notes of distinctions charactristicall differences or wall of separation betweene Iew and Gentile untill the comming of the Messias which was the time of the reformation of all things wherein the Gentiles were by his death to bee ingrafted into the same stocke and made partakers of the same juyce and fatnesse the shadowes to bee removed the ordinances to bee canceld the Law to bee abolished for The Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ Grace in opposition to the Curse of the Morall Law Truth in opposition to the figures and resemblances of the Ceremoniall Law The Iewes in Gods service were bound unto one place and unto one forme no Temple or ministration of Sacrifices without Ierusalem nor without expresse prescription no use of Creatures without difference of common and uncleane wheras unto us all places are lawfull and pure all things lawfull and pure every Country a Canaan and every City a Ierusalem and every Oratory a Temple It is not an ordinance but a Prayer which sanctifieth and maketh good unto our use every creature of God But yet though we under the Gospell are thus set at liberty from all manner ordinances which are not of intrinsecall eternall and unvariable necessity yet may this liberty in regard of the nature of things indifferent bee made a necessity in respect of the use of them We may not thinke that our liberty is a licentious and unbounded liberty as if CHRIST had been the Author of confusion to leave every man in the externall carriages of his worship unto the conduct of his private fancy This were to have our liberty for a cloake of naughtines and as an occasion to the flesh but we must alwayes limite it by those generall and morall rules of piety loyalty charity and sobriety Use all things we may indifferently without subjection or bondage unto the thing but not without subjection unto GOD and superiors Use them we may but with temperatnes and moderation use them we may but with respect to Gods glory use them we may but with submission to authority use them we may but with avoyding of scandall Christian liberty consisteth in the inward freedome of the conscience whose onely bond is a necessity of Doctrine not in outward conformity or observances onely whose bond is a necessity of obedience and subordination unto higher powers which obeying though wee become thereby subject unto some humane or Ecclesiasticall ordinances the conscience yet remaines uncurbed and at liberty Secondly we have hereby a great encouragement to serve our God in spirit and in truth being delivered from all those burdensome accessions which unto the inward worship were added in the legall observances In spirit in opposition unto the Carnall in truth in opposition unto the Typicall ceremonies The services of the Iewes were celebrated in the bloud and smoake of unreasonable creatures but ours in the Gospell must be a spirituall a reasonable service of him for as in the Word of God the letter profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickneth so in the worship of God likewise the Knee the Lip the Eye the Hand alone profiteth not at all it is the spirit that worshippeth It is not a macerated body but a contrite soule which he respecteth if there be palenes in the face but bloud in the heart if whitenes in the Eye but blacknes in the soule if a drooping countenance but an unbended conscience if a knee bowing downe in the Temple of God and thoughts rising up against the grace of God the head like a Bul-rush and the heart like an Adamant in a word if there bee but a bodily and unquickned service a schisme in the same worshipper betweene his outward and his inward man he that is not a God of the dead but of the living hee that accompteth in the leviticall Law carcases as
with the love of his death without this thou maist be guilty of his body thou canst not be a partaker of it guilty thou art because thou didst reach out thy hand with a purpose to receive Christ into a polluted soule though he withdrew himselfe from thee Even as Mutius Sevola was guilty of Porsena's bloud though it was not him but another whom the Dagger wounded because the error of the hand cannot remove the malice of the heart CHAP. XVIII Of the subject who may with benefit receive the holy Sacrament with the necessary qualifications thereunto of the necessity of due preparation WE have hitherto handled the Sacrament it selfe wee are now breifly to consider the subject whom it concerneth in whom we will observe such qualifications as may fit and predispose him for the comfortable receiving and proper interest in these holy mysteries Sacraments since the time that Satan hath had a Kingdome in the World have been ever notes and Characters whereby to distinguish the Church of God from the Ethnick and unbeleeving part of men so that they being not common unto all mankinde some subject unto whom the right and propriety of them belongeth must bee found out GOD at the first created man upright framed him after his owne Image and endowed him with gifts of nature able to preserve him entire in that estate wherein he was created And because it was repugnant to the essentiall freedome wherein he was made to necessitate him by any outward constraint unto an immutable estate of integrity he therefore so framed him that it might be within the free liberty of his owne will to cleave to him or to decline from him Man being thus framed abused this native freedome and committed sinne and thereby in the very same instant became really and properly dead For as he was dead iudicially in regard of a temporall and eternall death both which were now already pronounced though not executed on him so was he dead actually and really in regard of that spirituall death which consisteth in a separation of the soule from God and in an absolute immobility unto Divine operations But mans sinne did not nullifie Gods power He that made him a glorious creature when he was nothing could as easily renew and rectifie him when he fell away Being dead true it is that active concurrence unto his owne restitution he could have none but yet still the same passive obedience and capacity which was in the red Clay of which Adams body was fashioned unto that divine Image which God breathed into it the same had man being now fallen unto the restitution of those heavenly benefits and habituall graces which then hee lost save that in the clay there was onely a passive obedience but in man fallen there is an active rebellion crossing resistance and withstanding of Gods good worke in him More certainely than this hee cannot have because howsoever in regard of naturall and reasonable operations hee bee more selfe-moving than clay yet in regard of spirituall graces hee is full as dead Even as a man though more excellent then a beast is yet as truely and equally not an Angell as a beast is So then thus farre wee see all mankinde doe agree in an equallity of Creation in a universallity of descrtion in a capacity of restitution God made the world that therein hee might commuicate his goodnesse unto the creature and unto every creature in that proportion as the nature of it is capable of And man being one of the most excellent creatures is amongst the rest capable of these two principall attributes holinesse and happinesse which two God out of his most secret Counsell and eternall mercy conferreth on whom he had chosen and made accepted in Christ the beloved shutting the rest either out of the compasse as Heathen or at least out of the inward priviledges and benefits of that Covenant which hee hath established with mankind as hypocrites and licentious Christians Now as in the first Creation of man God did into the unformed lumpe of clay infuse by his power the breath of life and so made man so in the regeneration of a Christian doth hee in the naturall man who is dead in sinne breathe a principle of spirituall life the first Act as it were and the originall of all supernaturall motions whereby hee is constituted in the first being of a member of Christ. And this first Act is faith the soule of a Christian that whereby we live in Christ so that till wee have faith wee are dead and out of him And as faith is the principle next under the Holy-Ghost of all spirituall life here so is Baptisme the Sacrament of that life which accompanied and raised by the Spirit of grace is unto the Church though not the cause yet the meanes in and by which this grace is conveyed unto the soule Now as Adam after once life was infus'd into him was presently to preserve it by the eating of the fruites in the Garden where God had placed him because of that continuall depashion of his radicall moysture by vitaâ—l heat which made Nature to stand in need of succours and supplies from outward nourishment so after man is once regenerated and made alive hee is to preserve that faith which quickneth him by such food as is provided by God for that purpose it being otherwise of it selfe subject to continuall languishings and decayes And this life is thus continued and preserved amongst other meanes by the grace of this holy Eucharist which conveyes unto us that true food of life the body and bloud of Christ crucified So then in as much as the Sacrament of Christs supper is not the Sacrament of regeneration but of sustentation and nourishment and in as much as no dead thing is capable of being nourished augmentation being a vegetative and vitall act and lastly in as much as the principle of this spirituall life is faith and the Sacrament of it Baptisme It followeth evidently that no man is a subject quallified for the holy communion of Christs body who hath not beene before partaker of faith and Baptisme In Heaven where all things shall bee perfected and renewed our soules shall be in as little neede of this Sacrament as our bodies of nourishment But this being a state of imperfection subject to decayes and still capable of further augmentation wee are therefore by these holy mysteries to preserve the life which by faith and Baptisme wee have received without which life as the Sacrament doth conferre and confirme nothing so doe we receive nothing neither but the bare elements Christ is now in Heaven no eye sharpe enough to see him no arme long enough to reach him but onely faith The Sacrament is but the seale of a Covenant and Covenants essentially include conditions and the condition on our part is faith no faith no Covenant no Covenant no Seale no Seale no Sacrament Christ and Beliall will not lodge together
turne that into Judgment which was intended for mercy What this danger of being guilty of Christs blood is I will not stand long to explaine Briefly to be guilty of the body and bloud of Christ is to offer some notable contempt and indignity unto the sufferings of Christ to sinne against the price of our redemption and to vilifie and set at nought the pretious bloud of the new covenant as if it were a common and profane thing when men out of ignorant sensuall secure presumptuous formalizing inconsiderate and profane affections approach unto Christs Table to Communicate of him To be guilty of bloud is in some sort or other to shed it and to joyne with the Crucifiers of CHRIST A sinne which as it drove Iudas to dispaire and to end with himselfe who had begunne with his Master so doth it to this day lie with the heaviest curse that ever that people indured on the off-spring of those wicked Iewes whose imprecation it was His bloud be on us and on our children As Christ on the Crosse was in regard of himselfe offered up unto the Father but in regard of Pilat and the Iewes crucified so is his bloud in the Sacrament by the faithfull received by the wicked shed and spilt on the ground when not discerning or differencing the Lords body from other ordinary Food they rush irreverendly to the participation of it For a man may be guilty of the blood of Christ though he receive it not at all as a man may of murther though he hit not the party against whom his Weapon was directed It is not the event but the purpose which specifies the sinne The anger of a Dog is as great when he barkes at the Moone which is above his malice as when at a man whom he may easily bite The malice of the apostate who shot up Darts against Heaven was no lesse then if he had hit the body of Christ at whom he shot If that which is done unto the Apostles of Christ is done unto him because they are his Ambassadores and if that which is done unto the poore and distressed flocke of Christ is done unto him because they are his members then surely that which is done unto the Sacrament of Christ must needs be done unto him too in as much as it is his representation and Image For a man may be guilty of treason by offering indignity to the Picture Coyne Garment or Seale of a Prince The dishonour that is done to the Image it being a relative thing doth ever reflect on the originall it selfe And therefore the Romans when they would dishonor any man would shew some disgrace to the statues that had bin erected to his honour by demolissing breaking downe and dragging them in the Dirt. Againe a man may be guilty of the bloud of Christ by reaching forth his hand to receive it having noe right unto it A sacriledge it is to lay hold wrongfully on the Lords inheritance or on any thing consecrated to the maintenance of his worship and service but this certainly by so much the greater by how much the Lords body is more pretious then his portion To counterfeit right of inheritance unto some Kingdome hath beene ever amongst men unfortunate and Capitall We know how ill it is succeeded with the counterfeit Nero amongst the Romans and that forged Duke of Yorke in the time of Henry the seventh And surely no lesse succesfull can their insolence be who having by reason of their unworthy approach noe clayme nor interest unto the benefits of Christs body doe yet usurpe it and take the Kingdome of Heaven as it were by rapine and presumptuous violence Certainly if Christ will not have the wicked to take his Word much lesse his body into their mouths If the Raine that falleth to the ground returnes not empty but according to the quality of the ground on which it falls maks it fruitfull eyther in Herbs meete for the use of men that dressed it or in Thornes and Briars that are neere unto cursing impossible it is that the blood of Christ in his Sacrament should be uneffectuall whether for a blessing unto the faithfull or for a curse to those that unworthâ—ly receive it So then necessary it is that before the Communication of these sacred mysteries a man prepare himselfe by some previous devotions and for this cause wee finde our Saviour Christ washing his Disciples Feet that is cleansing their earthly and humane affections before his institution of this Sacrament And we finde Ioseph of Arimathea wrapping his dead Body in a cleane linnen Garment and putting it into a new Tombe never yet defiled with rottennes and corruption And can we imagine that he that endured not an uncleane grave or shrowd will enter into a sinfull and unprepared Soule The everlasting Dores must first bee lifted up before the King of Glory will enter in CHAP. XIX Of the forme or manner of Examination required which is touching the maine quallification of a worthy receiver Faith The demonstration whereof is made first from the causes secondly from the nature of it HAving thus discovered the necessity of preparation and that standing in the examination and triall of a mans Conscience it followeth that wee conclude with setting downe very compendiously the manner of this examination onely naming some principall particulars The maine querie is whether I am a fit guest to approach Gods Table and to share in the fellowship of his sufferings The suffrings of Christ are not exposed unto the rapine and violence of each bold intruder but he who was first the Author is for ever the despenser of them And as in the dispensation of his miracles for the most part so of his sufferings likewise there is either a question premised beleevest thou or a condition included bee it unto thee as thou beleevest But a man may bee alive and yet unfit to eate nor capable of any nourishment by reason of some dangerous diseases which weaken the stomacke and trouble it with an apepsie or difficulty of concoction And so faith may sometimes in the Habit lye smothered and almost stifled with some spirituall lethargie binding up the vitall faculties from their proper motions And therefore our faith must be an operative and expedite faith not stupified with any knowne and practised course of sinne which doth ever weaken our appetite unto grace they being things unconsistent The matter then wee see of this triall must bee that vitall quallification which predisposeth a man for the receiving of these holy mysteries and that is faith To enter into such a discourse of faith as the condition of that subject would require were a labour beyond the length of a short meditation and unto the present purpose impertinent Wee will therefore onely take some generallities about the causes nature properties or effects of faith which are the usuall mediums of producing assents and propose them by way of
beauty of his graces and so constraine and perswade me to be obedient unto it These are those good premises out of which I may infallibly conclude that I have had the beginnings the seeds of Faith shed a abroad in my heart which will certainly be further quickned by that holy spirit who is the next and principall producer of it The operations of this holy spirit being as numberlesse as all the holy actions of the Faithfull cannot therefore all possibly be set downe I shall touch at some few which are of principall and obvious observation First of all the spirit is a spirit of liberty and a spirit of prayer It takes away the bondage and feare wherein we naturally are for feare makes us runne from God as from a punishing and revenging Iudge never any man in danger fledde thither for succour whence the danger issued feare is so farre from this that it betrayeth and suspecteth those very assistances which reason offereth and it enableth us to have accesse and recourse unto God himselfe whom our sins had provoked and in our prayers like Aron and Hurr it supporteth our hands that they doe not faint nor fall It raiseth the soule unto divine and unutterable petitions and it melteth the heart into sights and groanes that cannot be expressed Secondly the holy Ghost is compared unto a witnesse whose proper worke it is to reveale and affirme some truth which is called in question There is in a mans bosome by reason of that enmity and rebellion betwixt the flesh and the spirit and by meanes of Satans suggestions sundry dialogues and conflicts wherein Satan questioneth the title wee pretend to salvation In this case the Spirit of a man as one cannot choose but do when his whole estate is made ambiguous staggereth droopeth and is much distressed till at last the Spirit of God by the light of the Word the Testimonie of Conscience and the sensible motions of inward grace layeth open our title and helpeth us to reade the evidence of it and thus recomposeth our troubled thoughts Thirdly the Spirit of God is compared to a Seale the worke of a Seale is first to make a siampe and impression in some other matter secondly by that means to difference and distinguish it from all other things And so the Spirit of God doth fashion the hearts of his people unto a conformity with Christ framing in it holy impressions and renewing the decayed Image of God therein and thereby separateth them from sinners maketh them of a distinct common-wealth under a distinct governement that whereas before they were subject to the same Prince Lawes and desires with the world being now called out they are new men and have another character upon them Secondly a Seale doth obsignate and ratifie some Covenant Grant or conveyance to the person unto whom it belongeth It is used amongst men for confirming their mutuall trust in each other And so certainely doth the Spirit of God pre-affect the soule with an evident taste of that glory which in the Day of Redemption shall be actually conferd upon it and therefore it is called an hansell earnest and first fruit of life Fourthly the Spirit of God is compared to an oyntment now the properties of oyntments are first to supple to asswage tumors in the body and so doth the Spirit of God mollifie the hardnesse of mans heart and worke it to a sensible tendernes and quicke apprehension of every sinne Secondly oyntments doe open and penetrate those places unto which they are applied and so the Unction which the faithfull have teacheth them all things and openeth their eyes to see the wonders of Gods Law and the beauty of his graces In vaine are all outward sounds or Sermons unlesse this Spirit be within to teach us Thirdly oyntments doe refresh and lighten nature because as they make way for the emission of all noxious humours so likewise for the free passage and translation of all vitall spirits which doe enliven and comfort And so the Spirit of God is a Spirit of consolation and a spirit of life hee is the comforter of his Church Lastly oyntments in the Leviticall Law and in the state of the Iewes were for consecration and sequestration of things unto some holy use As Christ is said to bee annoynted by his Father unto the oeconomy of that great worke the redemption of the world and thus doth the holy-Ghost annoint us to be a Royall Priest-hood a holy Nation a people set at liberty Fifthly and lastly I finde the holy Ghost compared unto fire whose properties are first to bee of a very active and working nature which stands never still but is ever doing something and so the Spirit of God and his graces are all operative in the hearts of the faithfull they set all where they come on worke Secondly the nature and proper motion of fire is to ascend other motions whatever it hath arise from some outward and accidentall restraint limiting the nature of it and so the Spirit of God ever raiseth up the affections from earth fastneth the eye of Faith upon Eternity ravisheth the soule with a servent longing to bee with the Lord and to bee admitted unto the fruition of those pretious joyes which heere it suspireth after as soone as ever men have chosen Christ to bee their Head then presently ascendunt de Terra they goe up out of the Land Hos. 1. 11. and have their conversation above where Christ is Thirdly fire doth inflame and transforme every thing that is combustible into the nature of it selfe and so the Spirit of God filleth the soule with a divine fervour and zeale which purgeth away the corruptions and drosse of the flesh with the spirit of judgment and with the Spirit of burning Fourthly fire hath a purifying and cleansing property to draw away all noxious or infectious vapors out of the Ayre to separate all soyle and drosse from mettalls and the like and so doth the Spirit of God clense the heart and in heavenly sighes and repentant teares cause to expire all those steemes of corruptions those noysome and infectious lusts which fight against the soule Fifthly fire hath a penetrating and insinuating quallity whereby it creepeth into all the pores of a combustible body and in like manner the holy Spirit of God doth penetrate the heart though full of insensible and inscrutible windings doth search the reines doth pry into the closest nookes and inmost corners of the soule there discovering and working out those secret corruptions which did deceive and defile us Lastly fire doth illighten and by that meanes communicates the comforts of it selfe unto others and so the Spirit being a Spirit of truth doth illuminate the understanding and doth dispose it likewise to discover its light unto others who stand in need of it for this is the nature of Gods grace that when Christ hath manifested himselfe to the soule of one
man it setteth him on worke to manifest Christ unto others as Andrew to Simon Iohn 1. 41. and the Woman of Samaria to the men of the City Ioh. 4. 29. and Mary Magdalen to the Disciples Ioh. 20. 17. It is like Oyntment poured forth which cannot be concealed Proverb 27. 16. Wee cannot saith the Apostle but speake the things which we have heard and seene Acts 4. 20. And they who feared the Lord in the Prophet spake often to one another Mal. 3. 16. These propositions being thus set downe let the conscience assume them to it selfe in such demands as these Doe I finde in my selfe a Freedome from that spirit of feare and bondage which maketh a man like Adam to fly from the presence of GOD in his Word doe I finde my selfe able with affiance and firme hope to fly unto God as unto an Alter of refuge in time of trouble and to call upon his Name and this not onely with an outward battology and lipp-labour but by the spirit to cry Abba Father doth the testimony of Gods Spirit settle and compose such doubtings in me as usually arise out of the Warre betweene Flesh and Faith doe I finde a change and transformation in me from the vanity of my old conversation unto the Image of Christ and of that originall Justice wherein I was created doe I finde my selfe distinguished and taken out from the World by Heavenly mindednes and raised affections by renouncing the delights abandoning the corruptions suppresing the motions of secular and carnall thoughts solacing my soule not with perishable and unconstant contentments but with that blessed hope of a City made without hands immortall undefiled and that fadeth not away doe I finde in my heart an habituall tendernes and aptnes to bleed and relent at the danger of any sinne though mainly crossing my carnall delights and whatever plots and contrivances I might lay for furthering mine owne secular ends if by indirectnes sinfull engagements and unwarrantable courses I could advance them doe I finde my selfe in reading or hearing Gods Word inwardly wrought upon to admire the Wisdome assent unto the truth acknowledge the holines and submit my selfe unto the obedience of it doe I in my ordinary and best composed thoughts preferre the tranquility of a good conscience and the comforts of Gods Spirit before all out-side and glittering happines notwithstanding any discouragements that may bee incident to a concionable conversation Lastly are the graces of God operative and stirring in my soule Is my conversation more heavenly my zeale more fervent my corruptions more discovered each faculty in its severall Sphere more transformed into the same Image with Christ Iesus Are all these things in me or in defect of any doe the desires and longings of my soule after them appeare to be sincere and unfeigned by my daily imploying all my strength and improving each advantage to further my proficiencie in them Then I have an evident and infallible token that having thus farre partaked of the spirit of Life and by consequence of Faith whereby our soules are fastned unto Christ I may with comfort approach unto this holy Table wherein that life which I have received may be further nourished and confirmed to me The second medium formerly proposed for the tryall of Faith was the nature and essence of it To finde out the formall nature of Faith we must first consider that all Faith is not a saving Faith For there is a Faith that worketh a trembling as in the Divels and there is a Faith which worketh life and peace as in those that are justified Faith in generall is an assent of the reasonable soule unto revealed truths Now every medium or in ducement to an assent is drawne eyther from the light which the obejct it selfe proposeth to the faculty and this the blessed Apostle contradistinguisheth from faith by the name of light or else it is drawne from the authority and Authenticalnes of a narrator upon whose report while we relie without any evidence of the thing it selfe the assent which we produce is an assent of faith or credence The Samaritans did first assent unto the miracles of CHRIST by the report of the woman and this was faith but afterwards they assented because themselves had heard him speake and this was sight Now both those assents have annexed unto them either evidence and infallibility or onely probability admitting degrees of feare and suspition That faith is a certaine assent and Certitudine rei in regard of the object even above the evidence of demonstrative conclusions is on all hands confest because howsoever qantum ad certitudinem mentis in regard of our weakenes and distrust wee are often subject to stagger yet in the thing it selfe it dependeth upon the infallibility of Gods owne Word which hath said it and by consequence is neerer unto him who is the Fountaine of all truth and therefore doth more share in the properties of truth which are certainty and infallibility then any thing proved by meere naturall reasons and the assent produced by it is differenced from suspition hesitancie or dubitation in the opinion of Schoole-men themselves Now then in as much as we are bound to yeild an evident assent unto the Articles of our christian Faith both intellectuall in regard of the truth and fiduciall in regard of the goodnes of them respectively to our owne benefit and salvation Necessary it is that the understanding be convinced of those two things First that GOD is of infallible Authority and cannot lie nor deceive which thing is a principle unto which the light of nature doth willingly assent And secondly that this Authority which in Faith I thus relie upon is indeede and infallibly Gods owne Authority The meanes whereby I come to know that may be eyther extroardinary as revelation such as was made to prophets concerning future events or else ordinary and common to all the Faithfull For discovery of them we must againe rightly distinguish the double Act of Faith First that Act whereby wee assent unto the generall truth of the object in it selfe secondly that Act whereby we rest perswaded of the goodnes thereof unto us in particular with respect unto both with these doth a double question arise First touching the meanes whereby a beleever comes to know that the testimony and authority within the promises and truths of Scripture hee relieth upon are certainly and infallibly Gods owne Authority Which question is all one with that how a Christian man may infallibly be assured ita ut non possit subesse falsum that the holy Scriptures are the very dictates of Almighty God For the resolution whereof in a very few words wee must first agree that as noe created understanding could ever have invented the mystery of the Gospell it being the counsell of Gods owne bosome and containing such manifold wisdomes as the Angels are astonished at So it being dictated and revealed by Almighty God such is the deepnes