proportion betweene the holy Actions used by Christ in this Sacrament and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it IT followes now that we enquire farther into the nature of this holy Sacrament which will be explained by considering the Analogie fitnesse and similitude betweene the signes and the things signified by them and conferred or exhibited together with them which is Christ the Lord. Now this Analogie or fitnesse as it hath been in some generall manner expres'd in the nature or quality of the elements substantially or physically taken so more expressely and punctually is it propos'd unto us in those holy actions which doe alter in the use and make it a Sacrament And first we finde that Christ tooke the Bread and Wine and blessed it and gave thanks and so consecrated it or set a part unto a holy or solemne use which is the reason why Saint Paul calls it a Cup of blessing so that unto the Church it ceaseth to be that which nature had made it and beginnes to be that unto which the blessing had consecrated it In like manner did the eternall Sonne of God assume into the subsistance of his owne infinite person the whole nature of man the body and the soule by the vertue of which wonderfull union notwithstanding the properties of the divine nature remaine absolutely intransient and uncommunicable unto the humane yet are there shed from that inexhaustible fountaine many high and glorious endowments by which the humanity under this manner of subsistence is annoynted consecrated sealed and set apart for that work of incomprehensible love and power the redemption of the world and secondly as the Bread is taken by us from Christ in the nature of a gift he brake it and gave it to his Disciples so is the humane nature taken by Christ from the Father as a gift from the good pleasure of God Thirdly as the taking of the Bread by Christ did alter only the manner of its being the operation and efficacy the dignity and use but no way at all the element or nature of the Bread Even so the taking of the humane body by Christ did conferre indeed upon it many glorious effects and advance it to an estate farre above its common and ordinary capacity alwayes yet reserving those defects and weaknesses which were required in the aeconomie and dispensation of that great work for which he assumed it but yet he never alterd the essentiall and naturall qualities of the body but kept it still within the measure and limits of the created perfection which the wisdome of God did at first share out unto it Lastly to come neerer unto the Crosse of Christ as hee did by prayer and thanksgiving consecrate their elements unto a holy use so did he immediately before his passion of which this is the Sacrament make that consecratory prayer and thanksgiving which is registred for the perpetuall comfort of his Church The second Action is the breaking of the Bread and powering the Wine into the Cup which doth neerly expresse his crucified Body where the joynts were loosed the sinewes torne the flesh bruized and peirced the skin rent the whole frame violated by that straining and razeing and cutting and stretching and wrentching which was used in the crucifying of it and by the shedding of that pretious blood which stop'd the issue and flux of ours It were infinite and intricare to spin a meditation into a controversie about the extent and nature of Christs passion but certainly whatsoever either Ignominie or Agony his body suffered which two â— conceive to comprize all the generalls of Christ crucified are if not particularly expressed yet typically and sacramentally shaddowed and exhibited in the Bread broken and the Wine powred out The third Action was the giving or delivering of the Bread and Wine which first evidently expresseth the nature and quality of Christ crucified with these benefits which flow from him that they are freely bestowed upon the Church which of it selfe had no interest or claime unto any thing save death Secondly we see the nature of Christs passion that it was a free voluntary and unconstrained passion for though it be true that Iudas did betray him and Pilate deliver him to bee crucified yet none of this was the giving of Christ but the selling of him It was not for us but for mony that Iudas deliver'd him it was not for us but for feare that Pilate deliver'd him but God deliver'd the Sonne and the Sonne deliver'd himselfe with a most mercifull and gracious will to bestow his death upon sinners and not to get but to be himselfe a price The Passion then of Christ was most freely undertaken without which free-will of his own they could never have laid hold on him and his death was a most free and voluntary explication his life was not wrentched nor wrung from him nor snatch'd or torne from him by the bare violence of any forraine Impression but was with a loud voice arguing nature not brought to utter decay most freely surrendred and laid downe by that power which did after reassume it But how then comes it to passe that there lay a necessicie upon Christ of suffring which necessicie may seeme to have enforc'd and constrain'd him to Golgatha in as much as hee himselfe did not only shrinke but even testifie his dislike of what he was to suffer by a redoubled prayer unto his Father that that Cup might passe from him doth not feare make Actions involuntary or at least derogate and detract from the fulnesse of their liberty and Christ did feare how then is it that Christs Passion was most voluntary though attended with necessitie feare and reluctance surely it was most voluntary still and first therefore necessary because voluntary the maine and primitive reason of the necessitie being nothing else but that immutable will which had fore-decreed it Christs death then was necessary by a necessitie of the event which musts needs come to passe after it had once been fore-determined by that most wise will of God which never useth to repent him of his counsells but not by a necessitie of the cause which was most free and voluntary Againe necessary it was in regard of the Scriptures whose truth could not miscarry in regard of the promises made of him which were to be performed in regard of propheticall predictions which were to be fulfilled in regard of typicall prefigurations which were to bee abrogated and seconded with that substance which they did fore-shaddow but no way necessary in opposition to Christs will which was the first mover into which both this necessitie and all the causes of it are to be finally resolv'd And then for the fear and reluctance of Christ noe marvell if he who was in all things like unto us had his share in the same passions and affections like wise though without sin But neither of
yet never properly to bee called the Body of Christ till Taken and Eaten by meanes of which Actions if they bee Actions of Faith that holy Bread and Wine doe as really convey whole Christ with the vitall influences that proceed from him unto the Soule as the hand doth them unto the mouth or the mouth unto the stomacke Otherwise if Christ were really and corporally present with the consecrated Elements severed from the act of faithfull Receiving the wicked should as easily receive him with their teeth as the faithfull in their Soule which to affirme is both absurd and impious Now Christs Presence in this holy Sacrament being a thing of so important consequence and the consideration thereof being very proper to this first end of the Sacrament the exhibiting of Christ for to exhibite a thing is nothing else but to present it or to make it present unto the party to whom it is exhibited It will not be impertinent to make some short digression for setting downe the manner and clearing the trueth of Christs Reall Presence the understanding whereof will depend upon the distinguishing of the severall manners in which Christ may bee said to bee present First then Christ being an infinite Person hath in the vertue of his Godhead an infinite and unlimited Presence whereby hee so filleth all places as that hee is not contained or circumscribed in them which immensity of his making him intimately present with all the Creatures is that whereby they are quickened supported and conserved by him for by him all things consist and hee upholdeth them all by the Word of his power and in him they live and move and have their being But this is not that Presence which in the Sacrament wee affirme because that presupposeth a Presence of Christ in and according to that nature wherein he was the Redeemer of the World which was his humane nature Yet in as much as this his humane nature subsisteth not but in and with the infinitenesse of the second Person there is therefore in the second place by the Lutherans framed another imaginary Presence of Christs humane Body after once the Divinity was pleased to derive glory in fulnesse on it which giveth it a participated ubiquity unto it too by meanes whereof Christ is corporally in or under the Sacrament all Elements But this opinion as it is no way agreeable with the truth of the humane nature of Christ so is it greatly injurious to his Divinity for first though Christs humane nature was in regard of its Production extraordinary and in regard of the sacred union which it had with the Divinity admirable and in regard of communication of glory from the Godhead and of the unction of the Holy Ghost farre above all other names that are named in heaven or earth yet in its nature did it ever retaine the essentiall and primiâ—ive properties of a created substance which is to bee in all manner of perfections finite and so by consequence in place too for glory destroies not nature but exalts it nor exalts it to any farther degrees of Perfection than are compatible to the finitenesse of a Creature who is like unto us in regard of all naturall and essentiall properties but these men give unto Christs Body farre more than his owne divine nature doth for hee glorifies it onely to bee the Head that is the most excellent and first-borne of every Creature but they glorifie it so farre as to make it share in the essentiall properties of the divine nature for as that substance unto whom the intrinsecall unseparated and essentiall properties of a man belong is a man necessarily man being nothing else but a substance so qualified so that being unto which the divine attributes doe belong in that degree of infinitenesse as they doe to the divine Person it selfe must needs bee God and immensity wee know is a proper attribute of the Divinity implying infinitenesse which is Gods owne Prerogative neither can the distinction of ubiquity communicated and originall or essentiall salve the consequence for God is by himselfe so differenced from all the Creatures as that it is not possible any attribute of his should bee participated by any Creature in that manner of infinitenesse as it is in him nay it implies an inevitable contradiction that in a finite nature there should bee roome enough for an infinite attribute We confesse that in as much as the humane nature in Christ is inseparably taken into the subsistence of the omnipresent Sonne of God It is therefore a truth to say That the Sonne of God though filling all places is not yet in any of them separated or asunder from the humane nature may by the vertue of the communication of the properties it is true likewise to say that the Man Christ is in all Places though not in or according to his humane nature But now from the union of the Manhood to the Godhead to argue a coextention or joynt-presence therewith is an inconsequent argument as may appeare in other things The Soule hath a kinde of immensity in her little world being in each part thereof whole and entire and yet it followes not because the Soule is united to the Body that therefore the Body must needs partake of this Omnipresence of the Soule else should the whole body be in the little finger because the Soule unto which it is united is wholly there Againe there is an unseparable union betweene the Sunne and the beame so that it is infallibly true to say the Sunne is no where severed from the beame yet wee know they both occupy a distinct place againe Misleâ—oe is so united to the substance of the Tree out of which it groweth that though of a different nature it subsisteth not but in and by the subsistence of the Tree and yet it hath not that amplitude of place which the Tree hath Letting goe then this opinion there is a third Presence of Christ which is a carnall Physicall locall Presence which wee affirme his humane nature to have onely in Heaven The Papists attribute it to the Sacrament because Christ hath said This is my Body and in matters of fundamentall consequence hee useth no figurative or darke speeches to this wee say that it is a carnall Doctrine and a mistake like that of Nicodemus and of Origen from the Spirit to the letter And for the difficulty it is none to men that have more than onely a carnall eare to heare it for what difficulty is it to say that then the King gives a man an Office when hee hath sealed him such a Paâ—ent in the right whereof that Office belongeth and is conveyed unto him And if Christ bee thus locally in the Sacrament and eaten with the mouth and so conveyed into the stomacke I then demand what becomes of him when and after hee is thus received into the stomacke If hee retire from the accidents out of a man then first accidents shall be left without any substance
onely in holy Scriptures but even in prophane Writers also to call the instrumentall Elements by the name of that Covenant of which they are onely the Sacrifices seales and visible confirmations because of that relation and neere resemblance that is betweene them The second End or Effect of this Sacrament which in order of Nature immediately followeth the former is to obsignate and to encrease the mysticall union of the Church unto Christ their Head for as the same operation which infuseth the reasonable soule which is the first act or principle of life naturall doth also unite it unto the body to the making up of one man so the same Sacrament which doth exhibite Christ unto us who is the first act and originall of life divine doth also unite us together unto the making up of one Church In naturall nourishment the vitall heate being stronger than the resistance of the meat doth macerate concoct and convert that into the substance of the Body but in this spirituall nourishment the vitall Spirit of Christ having a heate invincible by the coldnesse of Nature doth turne us into the same image and quality with it selfe working a fellowship of affections and confederacy of wills and as the body doth from the union of the soule unto it receive strength beauty motion and the like active qualities so also Christ being united unto us by these holy mysteries doth comfort refresh strengthen rule and direct us in all our waies Wee all in the vertue of that Covenant made by God unto the faithfull and to their seed in the first instant of our being doe belong unto Christ that bought us after in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme we are farther admitted and united to him our right unto Christ before was generall from the benefit of the common Covenant but in this Sacrament of Baptisme my right is made personall and I now lay claime unto Christ not onely in the right of his common Promise but by the efficacy of this particular Washing which sealeth and ratifieth the Covenant unto mee Thus is our first union unto Christ wrought by the grace of the Covenant effectively and by the grace of Baptisme where it may bee had Instrumentally the one giving unto Christ the other obsignating and exhibiting that right by a farther admission of us into his Body But now wee must conceive that as there is a union unto Christ so there must as in naturall bodies be after that union a growing up till wee come to our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the measure of the fulnesse of Christ. This growth being an effect of the vitall faculty is more or lesse perfected in us as that is either more or lesse stifled or cherished for as in the soule and body so in Christ and the Church We are not to conceive the union without any latitude but capable of augmentation and liable to sundry diminutions according as are the severall meanes which for either purpose wee apply unto our selves The union of the soule and body though not dissolved is yet by every the least distemper slackned by some violent diseases almost rended asunder so that the body hath sometimes more sometimes lesse hold-fast of the soule so heere wee are in the Covenant and in Baptisme united unto Christ but wee must not forget that in men there is by Nature a roote of bitternesse whence issue those fruites of the flesh a spawne and wombe of actuall corruptions where sinne is daily conceived and brought forth a mare mortuum a lake of death whence continually arise all manner of noysome and infectious lusts by meanes of which our Union to Christ though not dissolved is yet daily weakened and stands in need of continuall confirmation for every sinne doth more or lesse smother and stoppe the principle of life in us so that it cannot worke our growth which we must rise unto with so free and interrupted a course as otherwise it might The Principle of life in a Christian is the very same from whence Christ himselfe according to his created Graces receiveth life and that is the Spirit of Christ a quickning Spirit and a strengthening Spirit Now as that great sinne which is incompatible with faith doth bidde defiance to the good Spirit of God and therefore is more especially called The sinne against the holy Ghost so every sinne doth in its owne manner and measure quench the Spirit that it cannot quicken and grieve the Spirit that it cannot strengthen us in that perfection of degrees as it might otherwise and thus is our union unto Christ daily loosened and slackened by the distempers of sinne for the reestablishing whereof God hath appointed these sacred Mysteries as effectuall instruments where they meet with a qualified subject to produce a more firme and close union of the Soule to Christ and to strengthen our Faith which is the joynt and sinew by which that union is preserved to cure those i wounds and purge those iniquities whose property it is to separate betwixt Christ and us to make us submit our services to knit our wils to conforme our affections and to incorporate our persons into him that so by constant though slow proceedings we might be changed from glory to glory and attaine unto the measure of Christ there where our Faith can no way bee impaired our bodies and soules subject to no decay and by consequence stand in no need of any such viaticums as wee heere use to strengthen us in a journey so much both above the Perfection and against the corruption of our present Nature CHAP. XIV Of three other Ends of the holy Sacrament the fellowship or union of the faithfull the obsignation of the Covenant of Grace and the abrogation of the Passeover NOW as the same nourishment which preserveth the Union betweene the Soule and Body or head and members doth in like manner preserve the Union betweene the members themselves even so this Sacrament is as it were the sinew of the Church whereby the faithfull being all animated by the same Spirit that makes them one with Christ are knit together in a bond of Peace conspiring all in a unity of thoughts and desires having the same common Enemies to withstand the same common Prince to obey the same common rule to direct them the same common way to passe the same common Faith to vindicate and therefore the same mutuall engagements to further and advance the good of each other so that the next immediate effect of this Sacrament is to confirme the Union of all the members of the Church each to other in a Communion of Saints whereby their prayers are the more strengthened and their adversaries the more resisted for as in naturall things Union strengtheneth motions naturall and weakeneth violent so in the Church Union strengtheneth all spirituall motions whether upward as meditations and prayers to God or downeward as
in the glasse of the Sacraments And surely these are in themselves cleer and bright glasses yet we see even in them but darkly in regard of that vapour and steeme which exhaleth from our corrupt nature when we use them and even on these doth our soule look through other darke glasses the windowes of sense But yet at the best they are but glasses whose properties are to present nothing but the pattern the shaddow the type of those things which are in their substance quite behind us and therefore out of sight so then in generall the nature of a Sacrament is to be the representative of a substance the signe of a covenant the seale of a purchase the figure of a body the witnesse of our faith the earnest of our hope the presence of things distant the sight of things absent the taste of things unconceivable and the knowledge of things that are past knowledge CHAP. III. Inferences of Practice from the former observavations HERE then we see first the different state and disposition of the Church here in a state of corruption and therefore in want of water in Baptisme to wash it in a state of infancy and therefore in want of milke in the word to nourish it in a state of weaknesse and therefore in want of bread the body of Christ to strengthen it in a state of sorrow and therefore in want of wine the blood of Christ to comfort it Thus the Church while it is a child it speaks as a child it understands as a child it feeds as a child here a little and there a little one day in the week one houre in the day it is kept fasting and hungry But when it is growne from strength to strength unto a perfect age and unto the fulnesse of the stature of Christ then it shall be satisfied with fatnesse and drink its full of those rivers of pleasures which make glad the City of God It shall keep an eternall Sabbath a continued festivall the Supper of the Lamb shall bee without end or satiety so long as the Bridegroom is with them which shall be for ever they cannot fast Secondly we see here nor see only but even taste and touch how gratious the Lord is in that he is pleased even to unroabe his graces of their naturall lustre to overshaddow his Promises and as it were to obscure his glory that they might be made proportion'd to our dull and earthy senses to lock up so rich mysteries as lie hidden in the Sacraments in a bason of water or a morsell of bread When hee was invisible by reason of that infinite distance between the divine nature and ours hee made himselfe to be seen in the flesh and now that his very flesh is to us againe invisible by reason of that vast distance between his place and ours he hath made even it in a mysticall sense to be seen and tasted in the Sacrament Oh then since God doth thus farre humble himselfe and his graces even unto our senses let not us by an odious ingratitude humble them yet lower even under our feet Let us not trample on the blood of the Covenant by taking it into a noisome sinke into a dirty and earthie heart He that eats Christs in the Sacrament with a foule mouth and receives him into an unclensed and sinfull soule doth all one as if he should sop the bread he eates in dirt or lay up his richest treasures in a sink Thirdly we learn how we should employ all our senses Not only as brute beasts do to fasten them on the earth but to lift them up unto a more heavenly use since God hath made even them the organs instruments of our spirituall nourishment Mix ever with the naturall a heavenly use of thy senses Whatsoever thou seest behold in it his wonder whatsoever thou hearest hear in it his wisedome whatsoever thou tastest taste in it the sweetnesse as well of his love as of the creature If Christ will not dwell in a foul house he will certainly not enter at a foul door Let not those teeth that eat the bread of Angelsgrinde the face of the poor Let not the mouth which doth drink the blood of Christ thirst after the blood of his neighbour Let not that hand which is reached out to receive Christ in the Sacrament be stretched out to injure him in his members Let not those eyes which look on Christ be gazing after vanity Certainly if he will not be one in the same body with a harlot neither will he be seen with the same eyes he is really in the heaven of the greater world and he will be no where else Sacramentally but in the heavenly parts of man the lesser Lastly we see here what manner of conversation we have The church on earth hath but the earnests of glory the earnest of the Spirit and the earnest of the Sacrament that witnessing this signifying both confirming and sealing our adoption But we know not what we shall be our life is yet hid and our inheritance is laid up for us A Prince that is haply bred up in a great distance from his future kingdome in another Realm and that amongst enemies where he suffers one while a danger another a disgrace loaded with dangers and discontents though by the assurance of blood by the warrant of his fathers own hand seal he may be confirmed in the evident right of his succession can hardly yet so much as imagine the honour he shall enjoy nor any more see the gold and lustre of his crown in the print of the wax that confirms it than a man that never saw the Sunne can conceive that brightnesse which dwelleth in it by its picture drawn in some dark colours We are a royall people heirs yea coheirs with Christ but we are in a farre countrey and absent from the Lord in houses ruinous and made of clay in a region of darknesse in a shadow of death in a valley of tears though compassed in with a wall of fire yet do the waves of ungodly men break in upon us though ship'd in a safe Ark the temple of God yet often tos'd almost unto shipwrack and ready with Ionah to be swallowed of a great Leviathan though protected with a guard of holy Angels which pitch their tents about us so that the enemy without cannot enter yet enticed often out and led privily but voluntarily a-away by the enchanting lusts the Dalilahs of our own bosome The kingdome and inheritance we expect is hid from us and we know no more of it but onely this that it passeth knowledge Truly the assurance of it is confirmd by an infallible pattent Gods own promise and that made firm by a seal coloured with that blood and stamped with the image of that body which was the price that bought it What remains then but that where the body is thither the Eagles flie where the treasure is
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
argument of comfort which no temptation could repell Secondly it hath a purging and purifying property The blood of Christ clenseth us from all sinne Thirdly it hath a quickning preserving and strengthning power Christ is our life and our life is hid with Christ u and Christ liveth in us and he hath quickned us together with Christ and we are able to do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us And lastly it hath a joying and delighting property I rejoyce in nothing but in the Crosse of Christ I count all things dung that I may winne Christ and I protest by our rejoycing which we have in Christ. Whether we want Physick to cure us or strong meats to nourish us or sweet meats to delight us Christ is unto us all in all our health our strength our joy Secondly the Sacrament is eaten and drunken to signifie the necessity we stand in of Christ crucified many things there are usuall in the life of man both for delight and profit beautifull and pleasant objects for the eye melody and harmony for the eare ointments and odours for the smell curiosities and luxuriancies of invention for the fancie but there is no faculty of nature that doth so immediately concurre to the support and preservation of the whole man as the sense of Tasting which is as it were the Sluce in-let to life without which we have not so much as a capacity of that delight which other objects of an inferiour and subordinate nature can afford even so many things there are wherein the children of God may and ought to take pleasure and solace even as many as we acknowledge from God for blessing but there is nothing in the world which is the object and principle of our life but only Christ no quality in man which is the Instrument and Organ of our life but onely a lively and operative faith by which only we taste how gracious the Lord is The just shall live by faith and I live by the faith of the Son of God and where the body is thither do the Eagles flye that they may eat and live Thirdly the Sacrament is eaten and drunken to shew unto us the greedy desire which is and ought to be in the hearts of Beleevers towards Christ crucified There is no one faculty in man will so much put to its utmost for procuring satisfaction as this of Tasting if once brought into anguish or straits Because as Death in the generall is most terrible so much more that lingring death which consumes with famine and therefore no power of nature more importunate and clamorous for satisfaction no motive stronger to worke a love and attempt a conquest on any nation than an experience of such excellent commodities as may from thence be obtained for the releeving of this one faculty And therefore Almighty God when he would provoke the people to forsake Egypt and comfort them with the newes of a better Countrey describes it by the plenty that it brought forth I will bring you to a Land which floweth with Milke and Honey And when the people murmured against God in the Wildernesse all that hatred of Egypt which the tyranny of the Land had wrought in them all the toyle and servitude that was redoubled on them was wholly swallowed up by the one consideration of flesh-pots and Onions which they there enjoyed And when by Gods appointment Spies were sent into Canaan to enquire of the goodnesse of the Land their Commission was to bring of the fruit of the Land unto the people that thereby they might be encouraged unto a desire of it And we finde how the Roman Emperours did strictly prohibit the transportation of Wine or Oile or other pleasant commodities unto barbarous Nations left they might prove rather temptations to some mischievous designe than matters of mutuall intercourse and trafique No marvell then if the Sacrament of Christ crucified who was to be the Desire of all Nations the desire of whom was not only to transcend and surpasse but even after a sort to nullifie all other desires be received with that faculty which is the seat of the most eager and importunate desire Fourthly we eat and drink the Sacrament to intimate unto us the conformity of the faithfull unto Christ. As in all the appeties and propensions of naturall things we finde an innate amity betwixt the natures that doe so incline towards or imbrace one another so principally in this maine appetite unto food is there ever found a proportion betweene nature and its nourishment insomuch that young Infants are nourished with that very matter of which their substance consisteth Whatsoever hath repugnant qualities unto nature she is altogether impatient of it and is never quieted till one way or other she disburthen her selfe And thus is it and ought to be betwixt Christ and the faithfull there is a conspiracy of affections motions passions desires a conformity of being in holinesse as well as in nature a similitude participation and communion with Christ in his death sufferings glory All other things in the world are very unsuitable to the desires of faith nor are able to satiate a soule which hath tasted Christ because we finde something in them of a different yea repugnant nature unto that pretious faith by him infus'd no man having tasted old Wine desireth new for he saith the old is better and therefore howsoever the wicked may drinke iniquity like water and role it under their tongue as a sweet thing yet the children of God who have beene sensible of that venimous quality which lurketh in it and have tasted of that bread which came downe from Heaven never thirst any more after the deceitfull pleasures the stolne waters of sinne but no sooner have they unadvisedly tasted of it but presently they feele a warre in their bowels a strugling and rebellion betweene that faith by which they live and that poyson which would smother and extinguish it which by the efficacy of faith whereby we overcome the world is cast out and vomited up in an humble confession and so the faithfull do re-gaine their fellowship with Christ who as he was by his mâ—rits our Saviour unto remission of sins so is he by his holinesse our example and by his Spirit our head unto newnesse of life CHAP. XI Of other Reasons why the Sacrament is eaten and drunken and of the manner of our union and incorporation into Christ. FIfthly wee eat and drinke the Sacrament of Christ crucified to signifie that reall and neere incorporation of the faithfull into Christ their head for the end of eating is the assimulation of our nourishment and the turning of it into our owne nature and substance whatsoever cannot bee assimulated is ejected and thus is it between us and Christ whence it commeth that wee so often read of the Inhabitation 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
stand ingaged in a summe of mony by me ever impossible to be rais'd if it please him to perswade his owne heire to joyne in my obligation and out of that great estate by himselfe conferred on him for that very purpose to lay downe so much as shall cancell the bond and acquit mee doth not only freely forgive my debt but doth moreover commend the abundance of his favour by the manner and circumstances of the forgivenesse Man by nature is a debtor unto God there is a hand-writing against him which was so long to stand in vertue till he was able to offer something in value proportionable to that infinite justice unto which he stood obliged which being by him without the sustaining of an infinite misery utterly unsatisfiable it pleased God to appoint his own co-essentiall and co-eternall Sonne to enter under the same bond of Law for us on whom he bestowed such rich graces as were requisite for the oeconomy of so great a work by the meanes of which humane and created graces concurring with and receiving value from the divine nature meeting hypostatically in one infinite person the debt of mankind was discharg'd and the obligation cancel'd and so as many as were ordained to life effectually deliver'd by this great ransome vertually sufficient and by Gods power applicable unto all but actually beneficiall and by his most wise and just will conferd only upon those who should by the grace of a lively faith apply unto themselves this common Gift So then all our salvation is a gift Christ a gift the knowledge of Christ a gift the faith in Christ a gift repentance by Christ a gift the suffring for Christ a gift the reward of all a gift whatsoever wee have whatsoever we are it is all from God that sheweth mercy Lastly in that Christ gives his Sacrament to be eaten we learne first not only our benefit but our duty the same Christ it is who in eating wee both enjoy and obey hee being as well the Institutor as the substance of the Sacrament If it were but his precept wee owe him our observance but besides it is his body and even selfe-love might move us to obey his precept our mouths have been wide open unto poyson let them not bee shut up against so soveraigne an Antidote Secondly we see how we should use this pretious gift of Christ crucified not to look on but to eat not with a gazing speculative knowledge of him as it were at a distance but with an experimentall and working knowledge none truly knowes Christ but he that feels him Come taste and see saith the Prophet how gracious the Lord is in divine things tasting goes before seeing the union before the vision Christ must first dwell in us before wee can know the love of God that passeth knowledge Thirdly we learne not to sinne against Christ because therein we doe sinne against our selves by offring indignity to the body of Christ which should nourish us and like Swine by trampling under foot that pretious food which preserveth unto life those that with reverence eat it but fatteth unto slaughter those who profanely devoure it Even as the same raine in different grounds serves sometimes to bring on the seed other times to choak and stifle it by the forwardnesse of weeds for as it is the goodnesse of God to bring good out of the worst of things even sinne so is it the malignity of sin and cunning of Satan to pervert the most holy things the word of God yea the very blood of Christ unto evill Lastly we learne how pure we ought to preserve those doores of the soule from filthinesse and intemperance at which so often the Prince of glory himselfe will enter in CHAP. XIII Of the two first ends or effects of the Sacrament namely the exhibition of Christ to the Church and the union of the Church to Christ. Of the reall Presence HAving thus farre spoken of the nature and quality of this holy Sacrament it followes in Order to treate of the Ends or Effects thereof on which depends its necessity and our comfort our Sacraments are nothing else but Euangelicall Types or shadowes of some more perfect substance for as the Legall Sacrifices were the shadowes of Christ expected and wrapped up in a Cloude of Predicting and in the loines of his Predecessors so this new mysticall Sacrifice of the Gospell is a shadow of Christ risen indeed but yet hid from us under the Cloud of those Heavens which shall containe him untill the dissolution of all things for the whole heavens are but as one great cloud which intercept the lustre of that Sunne of Righteousnesse who enlighteneth every one that commeth into the world now shadowes are for the refreshing of us against the lustre of any light unto which the weaknesse of the sense is yet disproportioned as there are many things for their owne smalnesse imperceptible so some for their magnitude doe exceed the power of sense and have a transcendency in them which surpasseth the comprehension of that faculty unto which they properly belong No man can in one simple view looke upon the whole vaste frame of Heaven because he cannot at the same moment receive the species of so spreading and diffused an Object so is it in things Divine some of them are so above the reach of our imperfect faculties as that they swallow up the understanding and make not any immediate impression on the Soule betweene which and their excellency there is no great disproportion Now disproportion useth in all things to arise from a double Cause the one naturall being the limited Constitution of the faculty whereby even in its best sufficiency it is disabled for the perception of too excellent an Object as are the eyes of an Owle in respect of the Sunne The other Accidentall namely by some violation and distemper of the faculty even within the compasse of its owne strength as in sorenesse of eyes in regard of light or lamenesse in regard of motion Great certainly was the mystery of mans Redemption which poted and dazled the eyes of the Angels themselves so that betweene Christ and man there are both these former Disproportions observable For first of all man while he is on the earth a Traveller towards that Glory which yet he never saw and which the tongue of Saint Paul himselfe could not utter is altogether even in his highest pitch of Perfection unqualified to comprehend the excellent mystery of Christ either crucified or much more glorified and therefore our manner of assenting in this life though in regard of the authority on which it is grounded which is Gods owne Word it be most evident and infallible yet in its owne quality it is not so immediate and expresse as is that which is elsewhere reserved for us for hereafter we shall know even as we are knowne by a knowledge of
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
is to be applied in the other Deliverances The second consideration then of sinne was the Guilt of it which is the binding over unto some punishment prescribed in the Law so we have here a double Deliverance from the Guilt of sinne and from the Bondage of the Law First for sinne though it leave still a staine in the soule yet the sting of it is quite removed though wee are not perfectly cleansed from the soile yet are wee soundly healed from the mortalnesse and bruises of it Then for the Law wee are first freed from the Curse of the Law It is not unto us a killing letter nor a word of Death in as much as it is not that rule according unto which wee expect Life Secondly wee are freed from the Exaction of the Law wee are not necessarily bound to the rigorous performance of each jot and title of it a performance unto which is ever annexed Legall Justification but our endeavours though imperfect are accepted our infirmities though sundry are forgiven for his sake who was under both these Bondages of Law for our sakes And as wee are thus delivered from the Guilt of sinne so are wee farther endued with positive Dignities interest and propriety to all the Righteousness of Christ with which wee are clothed as with a garment claime unto all the blessings which the Law inferres upon due obedience performed to it and the comforts which from either of these Title and Prerogatives may ensue And this is the second branch of Deliverance conveyed by the act of Iustification but merited as the rest by the Death of JESUS CHRIST The third consideration of sinne was the Corruption of it from the which likewise wee are by Christ delivered sinne doth not any more rule nor raigne nor lead captive those who are ingrafted into Christ though for their patience triall and exercise sake and that they may still learne to live by faith and to prize mercy the remnants of it doe cleave fast unto our Nature like the sprigges and rootes of Ivie to a Wall which will never out till the Wall bee broken downe and new built againe Sinne is not like the people of Ierico utterly destroied but rather like the Gibeonites it liveth still but in an estate of bondage servitude and decay and besides this wee are inabled to love the Law in our inner man to delight in it to performe a ready and sincere though not an exact and perfect obedience to it we are made partakers of the divine Nature the Graces with which Christ was anointed doe from him streame downe unto his lowest members which of his fulnesse doe all receive and are all renewed after Gods Image in righteousnesse and true holinesse The next part of our Redemption was from the Bondage of Corruption unto the Liberty of Glory which likewise is by Christ performed for us which is a Deliverance from the Consequents of sinne for sinne doth binde over unto punishment even as the perfect obedience of the Law would bring a man unto Glory Now the Punishments due unto sinne are either Temporary or Eternall consisting principally in the oppressions and distresses of Nature for as Sinne is the evill of our working so Punishment is the evill of our being and it includes not onely bodily and spirituall death but all the inchoations and preparatory dispositions thereunto as in the soule doubtings distractions tremblings and terrours of Conscience hardnesse of heart fearefull expectation of the wrath that shall be revealed in the body sicknesse poverty shame infamy which are so many earnests and petty payments of that full debt which will at last bee measured out to all the wicked of the World Even as amongst the Romans their Prelusory fight with dull and blunt weapons were but introductions to their mortall and bloudy games And besides this Deliverance there is in the soule peace and serenity in the body a patient waiting for Redemption and in the whole man the pledges of that eternall glory which shall be reveled of all which the onely meritorious cause is the Death of Christ. This alone is it which hath overcome our death even as one heate cureth one Flux of blood stoppeth another and hath caught Satan as it were by deceit with a baite and a hooke this is it which hath taken away the enmity betweene God and man reconciling us to the Father and by the prayer of that precious Blood hath obtained for us the right of Children this is it which tooke away the guilt of sinne and cancelled the Bond that was in force against us swallowing up the Curse of the Law and humbling Christ unto the forme of a servant that thereby wee might be made free this is it which removeth all both temporall and eternall punishment from the faithfull it having beene a perfect payment of our whole debt for in as much as Christ himselfe said on the Crosse It is finished wee are to conclude that the other worke of Resurrection was not properly an essentiall part of Christs merit but onely a necessary consequent required to make the Passion applicable and valuable to the Church As in coined metals it is the substance of the coine the Gold or Silver onely that buyeth the ware but the Impression of the Kings Image is that which makes that Coine to bee currant and passable it doth not give the value or worth to the Gold but onely the application of that value unto other things even so the Resurrection and Intercession of Christ doe serve to make actuall applications of those merits of his to his Church which yet had their consummation on the Crosse. And if it be heere demanded how it comes to passe if all these consequents of sinne be removed that the faithfull are still subject to all those temporall evils both in life and death which even in the state of Nature they should have undergone wee answere in generall that the faithfull dye in regard of the state but not in regard of the sting of Death they are subject to a dissolution but it is to obtaine a more blessed union even to bee with Christ and though a man may not take the whole World in exchange for his Soule yet he may well take Christ in exchange for his life It is not a losse of our money but traffique and merchandise to part from it for the procuring of such commodities as are more valuable and Saint Paul telles us that to dye is gaine The sting wee know of Death is sinne for sinne is the cause of all inward discomforts for which cause the wicked are often compared to the foaming Sea which is still tossed and unquiet with every winde and the strength of sinne is the Law with the malediction and bondage thereof from the which wee being perfectly delivered by him who was himselfe made under the Law and
the thing remembred And first we must remember Christ with a memory of faith with an applying and assuming memory not onely in the generall that he died but in particular that the reason of his death was my salvation and deliverance from death Pilate and the unbeleeving Iewes shall one day see him whom they have peirced and remember his death Iudas shall see and remember him whom he kissed the Devill shall see and remember him whom he persecuted and in every one of these shall their remembrance produce an effect of horror and trembling because they remember him as their Iudge If our remembrance of the love and mercy of his death not onely testified but exhibited and obsignated unto us were no other than that which the wicked spirits have of his justice and severity it could not be but that wee should as readily beleeve as they do tremble at his death And indeed if wee obserue it the remembrance of Christs death and the faith in it are one and the same thing for what else is faith but a review and reflection of our thoughts upon Christ a multiplied and reiterated assent unto the benefits of him crucified and what is remembrance but the returning of the minde backe unto the same object about the which it had been formerly employed The remembrance of Christ is nothing else but the knowledge of Christ repeated and the knowledge of Christ is all one with the beliefe in him they which are not by faith united unto him are quite ignorant of him And therefore we finde that Saint Peâ—ers second deniall of Christ is by the Evangelists diversly related In some I am none of his in others I know not the man and certainely if the one had been true the other had been true too for all compleate knowledge must have a commensuration to the objects that are knowne and the ends for which they are proposed Now all divine objects besides their truth have together annexed a goodnesse which is applicable to those that know it so that to professe the knowledge of it and yet not know how to apply it to our owne use is indeed therefore to be ignorant of it because there is no other end why it should be knowne then that thereby it might be applyed And therefore in the Scripture phrase a wicked man and a foole are termes equivalent because the right knowledge of divine truths doth ever inferre the love and prosecution of them for every act in the will whether of imbracing or abominating any object is grounded on some precedent Iudgment of the understanding Nothing that by the ultimate dictate of each particular and practicall judgment is proposed as totally and supremely good can possibly bee by the Will refused because therein it must needs resist the impresse of Nature which leads every as well voluntary as necessary Agent unto an infallible pursuite of whatsoever is propos'd unto it as a thing able by the accession of its goodnesse to advance and perfect the nature of the other and therefore whosoever beleeve not in Christ Iesus and his death nor doe imbrace and cling unto it with all the desires of a most ardent affection cannot possibly bee said to know him because however they may have some few broken faint and floating notions of him yet hee is not by this knowledge propos'd unto the Will as its sole and greatest good for then he could not but be embraced but is in good earnest by the practick judgment undervalued and disesteemed in comparison of other things whose goodnesse and convenience unto sensuall and corrupt nature is represented more cleerely Many men may bee able to discourse of the death of Christ after a speculative and scholasticall manner so profoundly as that another who truely beleeves in him shall not be able to understand it and yet this poore soule that desires to know nothing but him that accounts all things else dung in comparison of him that endevours to be made conformable unto him in the communion and fellowship of his sufferings that can in Christs wounds see his safety in Christs stripes his Medicine in Christs anguish his peace in Christs Crosse his triumph doth so much more truely know him as a man that is able safely to guide a ship through all the coasts of the world doth better know the regions and situations of Countries than he who by a dexteritie that way is able to draw most exact and Geographicall descriptions Boyes may bee able to turne to or to repeate severall passages of a Poet or Oratour more readily than a grounded Artist who yet notwithstanding knowes the elegancy and worth of them farre better and a Stage-player can haply expresse with greater life of passion the griefes of a distressed man than hee can himselfe although altogether ignorant of the weight and oppression of them It is not therefore Logicall Historicall Speculative rememhrance of Christ but an experimentall and beleeving remembrance of him which wee are to use in the receiving of these sacred misteries which are not a bare Type and resemblance but a seale also confirming and exhibiting his death unto each beleeving soule Secondly we must remember the death of Christ with a remembrance of thankefulnes for that great love which by it wee enjoy from him certainely he hath no dram of good nature in him who for the greatest benefit that can befall him doth not returne a recompence of remembrance which costs him nothing Our salvation cost Christ a pretious price his owne bloud and shall not we so much as lay up the memory of it in our mindes that wee may have it forth-comming to answer all the objections that can be made against our title to salvation consider with thy selfe the fearefulnes and horror of thy naturall estate wherin thou wert expos'd to the infinite wrath of Almighty God whom thou therfore being both finite and impotent wert no way able to appease subiect to the strokes and terrors not onely of thine owne Conscience a bosome Hell but of that most exact justice which it is as impossible for thee to sustaine with patience as with obedience to satisfy The creatures thine enemies thine owne heart thy witnes thy Creator thy Judge eternity of expreslelesse anguish gnawing of conscience despaire of deliverance whatsoever misery the most searching understanding can but imagine thy sentence for according to his feare so is his wrath from this and much more hath the death of Christ not onely delivered thee but of a cast away an enemy a deplored wretch weltring in thine owne bloud rotting stinking in thine owne grave hath restored thee not only to thine originall interest and patrimony but unto an estate so much more glorious then that could have been by how much the obedience of Christ is more pretious then any thy innocency could possibly have performed Consider the odious filthines of sinne the pertinacious adherence thereof unto thy nature so that nothing
reasonable desires so the confirmation of that happinesse is the solace and security of those that desire it He said the Prophet speaking of Christ shall bee the desire of all Nations in as much as without him that happinesse which all doe naturally desire is but a Meteor and fiction So then wee see that even the light of our inbred reason seconded and directed by Divine truths doth leade us unto a desire of Christ who alone is the Authour and Matter of that Happinesse which is the true though unknowne object of all our naturall desires Now this happines in Christ wee cannot have till we have actuall fruition of him enjoy this blessednes we never can till we are vnited to him no more then a dissected member enjoyes the vitall influences of the soule and Spirits Vnion unto Christ wee cannot have untill it please him by his Spirit as it were to stoope from that Kingdome where now he is and to exhibit himselfe unto those whom it pleaseth him to assume into the unity of his body Other way to enjoy him here we can have none since no man can at his pleasure or power lift up his eyes with Steven to see him or goe up with S. Paul to the third Heavens to injoy him Now it hath pleased the Wisdome of Christ whose honor ever it is to magnifie his power in his creatures weaknes and to borrow noe parcell of glory in his service from those earthly and elementary instruments which he useth in it by no other meanes to exhibite and confirme the virtue of his sacred Body unto us with the life and righteousnes that from it issueth but onely by those poore and ordinary elements of Bread and Wine in his Sacrament unto which therefore he requireth such reverence such hunger and affection as is in reason due to the Hand that reacheth to the Seale that secureth to the food that strengthneth that spirituall life in us without which we cannot possibly reach unto the end of our very naturall and created desires happinesse and tranquillity It behoves us therefore to beware how we give entertainment to any carnall thoughts which goe about to vilifie and undervalew the excellency of so Divine misteries from the outward meannesse of the things themselves Say not like sullen Naaman Is not the Wine in the Vintners Sellar or the Bread of mine owne Table as good as nourishing as is any in the Temple certainly if thou be commanded some great Worke for the procuring of so great a good as there had beene betweene the service and the reward we disproportion so would even reason it selfe have dictated unto us a necessity of obeying rather then of disputing how much rather when he biddeth us only to eat and live True it is that these creatures naturally have no more power to convey CHRIST then wax hath in it selfe to convey a Lordship yet as a small piece of wax when once in the vertue of a humane covenant or contract it is made the instrument to confirme and ratifie such a conveyance is unto the receiver of more consequence then all the wax in the Towne besides and is with the greatest care preserved so these elements though physically the same which are used at our owne Tables yet in the vertue of that holy Consecration whereby they are made the instruâ—ments of exhibiting and the seales of ascertaining Gods Covenant of grace unto us are unto us more valewable then our barnes full of graine or our presses full of grapes and are to be desired with so farre distant an affection from the other that are common as Heaven is above Earth Secondly in that these elements are consecrated and exhibited for confirmation of our Faith wee thence see how the Church hath her degrees of faith her measure the spirit her deficiencyes of grace her languishings ebbings imperfections her decayes blemishes and fals which makes her stand in neede of being perfected builded rooted established in faith and righteousnes all things under the middle region are subject to Winds Thunders Tempests the continuall uncertainties of boysterous wheather whereas in the Heavens there is a perfect uniforme serenity and calmenes so when a Christian comes once to his owne Countrey unto Heaven he then comes unto an estate of peace and security to be filled with the fulnes of GOD where theeves do not breake thorowgh nor steale where neither flesh nor Satan have any admission noe stormes of temptation No Ship-wrack of conscience but where all things are spirituall and peaceable But in this Earth where Satan hath power to goe from place to place to compasse the World to raise his tempests against the Church even the Waves of ungodly men can have no safety from any danger which eyther his subtelty can contrive or his malice provoke or his power execute or his instruments further and therefore wee are here subject to more or fewer degrees of faintnes in our Faith according as our strength to resist the common adversary is lesse or greater As in the naturall so in the mysticall Body though all the parts doe in common pertake of life yet one is more vitall then another the Heart and Head then the Hands and Feete yea the same part is at one time more active and quick then at others One while overgrowne with humors and stiffned with distempers another while free expedite and able for the discharge of any vitall office And this is that which drives us to a necessity of recovering our strength and making up our breaches by this holy Sacrament which should likewise tell us in what humble esteeme wee ought to have our perfectest endowments they being all subject to their faylings and decaies Thirdly in that these mysteries doe knit the faithfull together into the unity of on common body we see what fellow feeling the faithfull should have of each other how they should interest themselves in the seâ—verall states and affections of their fellow members to rejoyce with those that rejoyce and to weepe with those that weepe As we should thinke the same things and so agree in a unity of judgments because all led with one and the same Spirit which is the Spirit of truth so we should all suffer and doe the same things and so all concurre in a unity of affections because all animated by the same Spirit which is the Spirit of love too where there is dissention and disagreement there must needs be a severall Law where the Law is diverse the government differs too and in a different government there must of necessity be a differeÌ„t subjection He then that doth not sympathize with his brother but nourisheth factious and uncharitable thoughts against him doth therin plainly testifie that he is not subject at least totally unto the same prince with him and then we know that there are but two Princes a Prince of peace and a
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
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
excellency and holines of it that the naturall man whose faculties are vitiated by originall and contracted corruption cannot by the strength of his owne naked principles be able to understand it For notwithstanding the gramaticall sense of the words and the logicall coherence and connexion of consequenses may be discerned by the common light of ordinary reason yet our Saviours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conviction and the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demonstration and manifestation of the spirit is a thing surpassing the discovery and comprehension of naturall men And therefore it is called a knowledge which passeth knowledge And this doth plainly appeare upon this ground One principall end we know of the Gospell is To cast downe every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of GOD and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So that untill such time as the light of Evangelicall truth have thus farre prevailed over the conscience certaine it is that the practicall Judgment is not yet fully convinced of it or acquainted with it It is an excellent speech of the Phylosopher that according as every man is himselfe in the Habit of his owne nature such likewise doth the end appeare unto him And therefore naturall men whose inclinations and habit of soule are altogether sensuall and worldly never have a supernaturall good appeare unto them under the formall conceite of an ultimate and most eligible end and therefore their knowledge thereof must needs be imperfect and defective Againe the Scripture every where besides the externall proposing of the object and the materiall and remote disposition of the subject which must be ever a reasonable creature doth require a speciall helpe of the grace of CHRIST to open and molifie and illighten the heart and to proportion the Palate of the practicall Judgment unto the sweetnes and goodnes of supernaturall truthes He it is who openeth the eye to see wonders in the Law giveth an heart to understand and to know GOD teacheth all those which come unto Christ without which teaching they doe not come giveth us an understanding to know him illightneth the understanding to know what is the hope of our calling enableth us to call Iesus Lord and draweth away the Vaile from before our eyes that we may see with open face the Glory of God Againe there is a vast distance and disproportion betweene a supernaturall light and a naturall faculty the one being spirituall the other sensuall and spirituall things must bee spiritually discerned Two great impediments there are whereby the minds of meere naturall men are bound up and disabled from receiving full impressions and passing a right sentence upon spirituall things First the native and originall blindnes of them which is not able to apprehend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heighth and majesty of the things which are taught Secondly That which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdome of the flesh which is enmitie against God For as the appetite of the flesh lusteth against the Spirit so the wisdome of the flesh reasoneth and rebelleth against the Spirit For such ever as are the wayes and Wills of men whereby they worke such likewise would they have the light and the Law to bee which ruleth them in their working And therefore where there is a meeke Spirit and a heart devoted unto the obedience of Christ and a purpose to doe the things which the Gospell requireth there is never any swelling nor resistance against supernaturall truths for as the cleanenesse of the window doth much conduce to the admission of light so doth the cleanenesse of the Conscience to the admission of Truth If any man will doe his will hee shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God and hee will reveale his secrets to them that feare him And yet by all this which hath been spoken wee doe not goe about so to disable Naturall Reason as to leave it no roome at all in matters of supernaturall Assent For though Nature alone bee not able to comprehend Grace yet Grace is able to use Nature and being it selfe a spirituall Eye-salve when it hath healed and rectified Reason it then applyeth it as an Instrument more exactly to discover the connexion and mutuall consequences and joynings of spirituall Doctrines together Besides thus much vigour wee may safely attribute to Naturall Reason alone that by the force of such premises as it selfe can frame the falsenesse vanity and insufficiency unto humane happinesse of all other Religions or Doctrines which are not Christian may by a wise man bee evidently discovered neither have there beene wanting amongst Infidels and Idolaters men of more generous piercing and impartiall judgments who have made bold to confesse the vanity of that polutheisme and corrupt worship which was amongst them Naturall Reason then being notwithstanding any remainders of strength or vigour in it too impotent to discover the certainty of Gods Word and unable alone to present the Gospell as objectum credibile and as the infallible Oracle of God It remaineth that wee consider by what further meanes this may bee effected And in one word there is a three-fold different but subordinate causality requisite to the founding of this Assent The first is ministeriall dispositive and introductory by Ecclesiasticall dispensation which is likewise two-fold First to those that are bred in her bosome and matriculated by Baptisme and so from their infancie trained up to have a reverend and due esteeme of her authority there is her act of Tradition delivering to her children in this age as shee her selfe by a continued succession hath also received this as an indubitate principle to bee rested on that holy Scriptures are the Word of God Secondly If the Church meete with such as are without her bosome and so will not ascribe any thing to her maternall Authority in Testification and Tradition except shee can by strength of argument evince what shee affirmeth shee is not in that case destitute of her Arma praelusoria valid and sufficient arguments to make preparation in mindes not extreamely possessed with prejudice and perversenesse for the entertaining of this principle As first that all Sciences have their Hypotheses and Postulata Certaine principles which are to bee granted and not disputed and that even in lower Sciences and more commensurate to humane reason yet Oportet discentem credere hee must first Beleeve principles for granted and then after some progresse and better proficiency in the study he shall not faile more clearly to perceive the infallibility of them by their owne light That therefore which is granted unto all other Sciences more descending to the reach of humane judgment than Divinity doth cannot without unreasonable pertinacy be denied unto it Especially considering that of all so many millions of men who in all ages have thus been contented to beleeve first upon Ecclesiasticall
some few clusters of Grapes and other Fruits of the Land I meane by the earnest first fruits and pledges of the spirit Secondly by the free promise of Christ who cannot deceive Thus then at last we have discovered the proper ultimate and complete object of faith which is all Divine truth and goodnes unto which there is a right and propriety given to all such as are Christs though not in actuall possession yet in an infallible promise and the Acts by which they entertaine that object assenting adhearing and delighting in it as particularly good By these two to wit the object and the Act. as all other habits of the minde so is this of faith to bee defined So that from these observations I take it wee may conclude that the nature of saving faith admits of some such explications as this Faith is a particular personall applicative and experimentall assent unto all Divine Revelations as true and good not in general onely but unto me arising out of that sweete correspondency which is betweene the soule and from that relish and experience of sweetnes which the soule being raised and illightned by Gods Spirit doth finde in them I have been over teadious in finding out this definition of the nature of faith and therefore brieflie from these grounds let the conscience impartially examine it selfe in such demands as these Doe I finde in my selfe a most willing assent unto the whole compasse of Divine truths not out of constraint nor with griefe reluctancie and trembling of spirit doth Gods Word shine on me not like lightning which pierceth the Eye-lids though they shut themselves against it but doth this finde in my heart a welcome and a willing admittance Am I glad when I finde any Divine truth discovered of which formerly I had been ignorant doe I not of purpose close mine eyes forbeare the meanes of true information stifle and smother Divine principles quench the motions and dictats of Gods Spirit in me am I not ignorant willingly of such things the mention whereof would disquiet me in my bosome sin and the inquiry whereunto would crosse the reserved resolutions and unwarrantable projects which I am peremptory to prosecute am I not so in league with mine owne corruptions that I could hartily wish some Divine truths were not revealed rather then being so they should sting my conscience and disable me from secure enjoying some beloved sinne doe I assent unto all Divine truths as a like pretious and with equall adherence am I as little displeased with the truth of GODS threats as of his promises doe they as powerfully worke upon me to reforme as the other to refresh me doe I beleeve them all not onely in the Thesis or generall but in the Hypothesis and respectively to mine owne particular againe doe I finde my heart fitted unto the goodnes of Divine truth am I forward to embrace with much affection and loving delight whatsoever promises are made unto me doe I finde a spirituall taste and relish in the food of life which having once tasted of I finde my selfe weaned from the love of the World from admiring the honours pursuing the preferments hunting after the applause adoring the glories and selling my soule and liberty for the smiles thereof doe the sweetnes of those promises like the fruits brought by the spies from Canaan so much affect me as that to come to the full possession thereof I am at a point with all other things ready to encounter any Cananite or sinfull lust that shall oppose me to adventure on any difficulties that might deterre me to passe thorow a Sea a Wildernes through fiery Serpents the darts of Satan yea if neede were by the gates of Hell briefly doe I finde in my heart however in it selfe froward and wayward from any good a more then naturall livelinesse and vigor which disposeth me to approve of the word promises and purchases of my salvation as of an unvaluable Jewell so pretious as that all the things in this World are but as dung in comparison to a most fervent expectation and longing after them to a heavenly perswation of my happines by them and Lastly to a sweete delight in them working peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost a love of CHRISTS appearing an endeavour to bee like unto him and a desire above all things to be with him and enjoy him which are all so many secret and pure issues of the spirit of adoption I may from these premises infallibly conclude that I am possessed of a lively faith and thereby of those first fruits which bring with them an assurance of that great harvest of glory in the day of redemption And in the meane time having this wedding garment I may with much confidence approach Gods Table to receive there the renewall of my Patent unto life CHAP. XX. Of the third and last meanes for the triall and demonstration of Faith namely from effects or properties thereof THE last Medium which was assigned for the examination of Faith was the properties or effects of it by which as by stepps we raise our thoughts to the apprehension of Faith it selfe To assigne all the consequences or effects of Faith is a labour as difficult as it would be tedious I decline both and shall therefore touch upon some speciall ones which if present all the rest in there order follow with a voluntary traine And now as in the soule of man there are two kinde of operations one primitive and substantiall which we call the act of information others secondary and subsequent as to understand to will to desire and the like so Faith being as hath been formerly observed in some sort the Actus primus or forme of a Christian I meane that very medium unionis whereby the soule of man is really united to CHRIST hath therefore in it two kinds of operations The first as it were substantiall the other secondary The former of these is that act of vivisication or quickning by which Faith doth make a man to live the life of Christ by knitting him unto Christ as it were with Joynts and Sinews and ingrafting him into the unity of that Vine whose Fruit is Life That which doth quicken is ever of a more excellent nature then that which is quickned now the soule being a spirit and therefore within the compasse of highest created perfection cannot possibly be quickned by any but him who is above all perfection which the Heathen themselves have acknowledged to be God For S. Paul hath observed it out of them that in him we live and move and have our being Now unto life necessary it is that there bee a vnion unto the principall or originall of life which to the soule is God In regard of the essence of God nothing can be seperated from him he being immense and filling all things but yet in regard of his voluntary communication and dispensing of himselfe unto the creature the manner of his
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
interrogation to the Conscience that so the major and minor being contriv'd the light of reason in the soule may make up a practicall syllogisme and so conclude either its fitnesse or indisposition towards these holy mysteries First for the causes of faith not to meddle with that extraordinary cause I meane miracles the ordinary are the word of God and the Spirit of God the Word as the Seed the Spirit as the formative and seminall virtue making it active and effectuall for the Letter profiteth nothing it is the Spirit which quickneth What the formality of that particular action is whereby the Word and Spirit doe implant this heavenly branch of faith in the soule Faith it selfe having in its nature severall distinct degrees some intellectuall of assent some fiduciall of relyance and confidence some of abnegation renouncing and flying out of our selves as insufficient for the contriuance of our owne salvation and so in congruity of reason requiring in the causes producing them severall manners of causalities as I take it not necessary so neither am I able to determine I shall therefore touch upon some pâ—incipall properties of either all which if they concurre not unto the originall production doe certainely to the raduation and establishing of that divine virtue and therefore may justly come within the compasse of those premises from the evidences of which assumed and applied the Conscience is to conclude the truth of its faith in Christ. And first for the word to let passe those properties which are onely the inherent attributes and not any transient operations thereof as its sufficiency perspicuity majesty selfe-Authority and the like let us touch upon those which it carrieth along with it into the Conscience and I shall observe but two Its Light and its Power Even as the Sunne where ever it goes doth still carry with it that brightnesse whereby it discovereth and that Influence whereby it quickneth inferiour bodies First for the Word the properties thereof are first to make manifest and to discover the hidden things of darknesse for whatsoever doth make manifest is light The heart of man naturally is a labyrinth of darknesse his workes workes of darknesse his Prince a Prince of darkenesse whose projects are full of darknesse they are depths devices craftinesse methods The Word of God alone is that light which maketh manifest the secrets of the heart that glasse wherein wee may see both our selves and all the devices of Satan against us discovered And secondly by this act of manifesting doth light distinguish one thing from another In the darke we make no difference of faire or foule of right or wrong waies but all are alike unto us and so while wee continue in the blindnes of our naturall estate wee are not able to perceive the distinction betweene Divine and naturall objects but the Word of God like a touchstone discovereth the differences of truth and falshood good and evill and like fire seperateth the pretious from the vile Secondly light is quickning and a comforting thing The glory of the Saints is an inheritance of light and they are children of light who shall shine as the Sunne in the Firament whereas darknes is both the Title and the Portion of the wicked The times of darknes men make to be the times of their sleeping which is an Image of Death t is in the light onely that men worke And so the Word of GOD is a comforting Word It was Davids delight his hony-Combe And it is a quickning Word too for it is the Word of Life Lastly light doth assist direct and guide us in our waies and so doth the Word of GOD it is a Lanterne to our feete and a light unto our pathes Secondly for the power of the Word it is two fold even as all power is a governing power in respect of that which is under it and a subduing power in respect of that which is against it First the Word hath a governing power in respect of those which are subject to it for which cause it is every where called a Law and a royall that is a commanding Soveraigne Law It beares Dominion in the soule conforming each faculty to it selfe directeth the righteous furnisheth unto good workes raiseth the drooping bindeth the broken comforteth the afflicted reclaimeth the straggling Secondly it subdueth all emnity and opposition discomfiteth Satan beateth downe the strong holdes of sinne t is a Sword to cut off a weapon to subdue a Hammer to breake in peeces whatsoever thought riseth up against it Now then let a mans conscience make but these few demands unto it selfe Hath the light and power of Gods Word discovered it selfe unto mee Have the Scriptures made me knowne unto my selfe have they unlocked those crooked windings of my perverse heart have they manifested unto my soule not onely those sinnes which the light of reason could have discerved but even those privy corruptions which I could not otherwise have knowne have they acquainted me with the devices of Satan wherewith he lieth in waite to deceive have they taught me to distinguish betweene truth and appearances betweene goodnes and shaddowes to finde out the better part the one necessary thing and to adhere unto it am I sensible of the sweetnes and benefits of his holy Word doth it refresh my soule and revive me unto every good worke Is it unto my soule like the hony Combe like pleasant pastures like springs of water like d the Tree of life doe I take it along with me wheresoever I goe to preserve me from stumbling and straggling in this valley of darknes and shaddow of death Againe doe I feele the power of it like a Royall commanding Law bearing rule in my soule Am I willing to submit and resigne my selfe unto the obedience of it doe I not against the cleere and convincing evidence thereof entertaine in my bosome any the least rebellious thought Doe I spare noe Agag noe ruling sinne withdraw noe wedge or babilonish Garment noe gainefull sin make a league with noe Gibeonite noe pretending sinne But doe I suffer it like Ioshua to destroy every Cananite even the sinne which for sweetnes I roled under my tongue doth it batter the Towers of Ierico breake downe the Bul-warkes of the flesh lead into captivity the corruptions of nature mortifie and crucifie the old man in me doth it minister comforts unto me in all the ebbs and droopings of my spirit even above the confluence of all earthly happines and against the combination of all outward discontents and doe I set up a resolution thus alwayes to submit my selfe unto the Regiment thereof In one word doth it convince me of sin in my selfe and so humble me to repent of it of Righteousnes in CHRIST and so raise me to beleeve in it of his spirituall judgment in governing the soules of true beleevers by the power of love and
speciall presence doth much vary unto this speciall union of the creature unto God in vertue whereof the creature is quickned and doth in some sort live the Life of God There is necessarily presupposed some sinew or ligament which may be therefore called the medium and instrument of life This knot in the estate of mans Creation was the obedience of the Law or the covenant of workes which while man did maintaine firme and unshaken he had an evident Communion with God in all those vitall influences which his mercy was pleased to shed downe upon him but once untying this knot and cutting asunder that bond there did immediately ensue a seperation betweene GOD and man and by an infallible consequence death likewise But God being rich in mercy and not willing to plunge his creature into eternall misery found a new meanes to communicate himselfe unto him by appointing a more easie Covenant which should be the second knot of our union unto him onely to beleeve in Christ incarnate who had done that for us which we our selves had formerly undone And this new Covenant is the covenant of faith by which the just doe live But here a man may object that it is harder for one to discerne that hee doth live in Christ then that he beleeves in him and therefore this can be noe good meane by which we may finde out the truth of our Faith To this wee answer that life must be discerned by those tokens which are inseperable from it and they are first a desire of nourishment without which it cannot continue for nature hath imprinted in all things a love of its owne being and preservation and by consequence a prosecution of all such meanes as may preserve and a removeall of all such as may endanger or oppresse it Secondly a conversion of nourishment into the nature of the body Thirdly augmentation growth till we come unto that Stature which our life requires Fourthly participation of influences from the vitall parts the Head the Heart and others with conformity unto the principall mover amongst them for a dead part is ever withered immoveable and disobedient to the other faculties Fiftly a sympathy and communion in paines or delights with the fellow members Lastly a free use of our senses and other faculties by all which we may infallibly conclude that a creature liveth And so it is in Faith It frameth the heart to delight in all such spirituall food as is requisite thereunto Disposing it upon the view at lest upon the taste of any poysonous thing to be pained with it and cast it up The food that nourisheth Faith is as in little Infants of the same quality with that which begat it even the word of life wherein there is sincere Milke and strong meate The poyson which endangereth it is heresie which tainteth the roote of Faith and goeth about to prevert the assent and impiety which blasteth and corrupteth the branches All which the soule of a Faithfull man abhorreth Secondly in Faith there is a conversion likewise the vertue whereof ever there resides where the vitall power is In naturall life the power of altering is in the man and not in the meate and therefore the meate is assimilated to our flesh but in spirituall life the quickning faculty is in the meate and therefore the man is assimilated and transformed into the quality of the meate And indeed the word is not cast into the heart of man as meate into the stomacke to be converted into the corrupt quality of nature but rather as seed into the ground to convert that Earth which is about it into the quality of it selfe Thirdly where Faith is there is some growth in grace wee grow neerer unto Heaven then when we first beleeved an improvement of our knowledge in the mysteries of godlines which like the Sunne shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day An increase of willingnes to obey God in all things and as in the growth of naturall bodies if they be sound and healthy so in this of Faith likewise it is universall and uniforme one part doth not grow and another shrivell neyther doth one part grow too bigge and disproportioned for another the Head doth not increase in knowledge and the Heart decay in love the Heart doth not swell in zeale and the Hand wither in charity but in the nourishment of Faith every grace receives proportionably its habituall confirmation Fourthly by the spirituall life of Faith the faithfull doe partake of such heavenly influences as are from the head shed downe upon the members The influences of Christ in his Church are many and peradventure in many things imperceptible Some principall I conceive to be the influence of his truth and the influence of his power His truth is exhibited in teaching the Church which is illumination his power partly in guiding the Church and partly in defending it that is direction this protection Now in all these doe they who are in Christ according to the measure and proportion of his Spirit certainely communicate They have their eyes more or lesse opened like Paul to see the terrours of God the fearefulnesse of sinne the rottennesse of a spirituall death the pretiousnesse of Christ and his promises the glimpses and rayes of that glory which shall be revealed they have their feete loosned with Lazarus that they can now rise and walke and leape and praise God Lastly they are strengthned and cloathed with the whole armes of God which secureth them against all the malice or force of Satan Fiftly where faith is there is a naturall compassion in all the members of Christ towards each other If sinne be by one member committed the other members are troubled for it because they are all partakers of that Spirit which is grieved with the sinnes of his people If one part bee afflicted the other are interested in the paine because all are united together in one head which is the Fountaine and originall of Sense The members of the Church are not like paralyticke and unjoynted members which cannot move towards the succour of each other Lastly where Faith is there all the faculties are expedite and free in their operations The eye open to see the wonders of Gods Law the eare open to heare his voyce the mouth open to praise his name the arme enlarged towards the reliefe of his servants the whole man tenderly sensible of all pressures and repugnant qualities The secondary effects of faith are amongst sundry others such as these First a love and liking of those spirituall truths which by faith I assent unto For saving Faith being an assent with adherence and delight contrary to that of Divils which is with trembling and horror which delight is a kinde of relish and experience of the goodnesse of those objects wee assent unto It necessarily followes even from the dicate of Nature which instructeth a man to love that which worketh in him delight and comfort that from this
assent must arise an approbation and love of those objects whence doth issue such sweetnesse A second effect is affiance and hope confidently for the present relying on the goodnesse and for the future waiting on the power of God which shall to the full in time performe what hee hath in his Word promised when once the minde of a man is wrought so to assent unto divine promises made in Christ as to acknowledge an interest and propriety unto them and that to bee at last actually performed not by a man who is subject both to unfaithfulnesse in perseverance and to disability in performance of his promises for every man is a lyar either by imposture ready to deceive or by impotencie likely to disappoint the expectations of those who rely upon him but by Almighty God who the better to confirme our faith in him hath both by his Word and Oath engaged his fidelity and is altogether omnipotent to doe what hee hath purposed Impossible it is but from such an assent grounded on the veracity and on the All-sufficiency of God there should result in the minde of a faithfull man a confident dependance on such promises renouncing in the meane time all selfe-dependance as in it selfe utterly impotent and resolving in the midst of Temptations to relie on him to hold fast his mercy and the profession of his Faith without wavering having an eye to the recompence of reward and being assured that he who hath promised will certainely bring it to passe A third effect of Faith is ioy and peace of Conscience for being iustified by faith we have peace with God The minde is by faith and the impression of sweetnesse in Gods Promises composed unto a setled calmenesse and serenity I doe not meane a dead peace an immobility and sleepinesse of Conscience like the rest of a dreaming prisoner but such a peace as a man may by a syllogisme of the practicke judgment upon right examination of his owne interest in Christ safely inferre unto himselfe The wicked often hath an appearance of peace as well as the faithfull but here is the difference Betweene a wicked mans sinne and him there is a Doore shut which will surely one day open for it is but either a doore of Error or the doore of Death for sinne lieth at the doore ready to flye at his throate as soone as it shall finde either his eyes open to see it or his life to let it in upon the soule but betweene a faithfull man and his sinne there is a Corner-stone a Wall of fire through which Satan himselfe cannot breake even the merits of Christ Iesus Briefly the peace which comes from Faith hath these two properties in it tranquility and serenity too otherwise it is but like the calmenesse of the dead Sea whose unmoveablenesse is not Nature but a Curse The last effect which I shall now name of Faith is that generall effect of fructification purifying the heart and disposing it unto holinesse and new obedience which is to bee framed after Gods Law Faith unites us unto Christ being thus united we are quickned by one and the same Spirit having one spirit and soule we must needs agree in the same operations and those operations must necessarily beare conformity unto the same rule and that rule is the Law under which Christ himselfe was for our sakes made So that the rule to examine this effect of Faith by should bee the whole compasse of Gods Law which to enter into were to redouble all this labour past for thy Law saith David is exceeding wide Briefly therefore in all our obedience observe these few rules First The obligatory power which is in the Law depends upon the one and sole authority of the Law-giver who is God He that breakes but one Commandement venturs to violate that authority which by the same Ordination made one equally obligatory with the rest And therefore our obedience must not bee partiall but universall unto the whole Law in as much as it proceeds from that Faith which without indulgence or dispensation yeeldeth assent unto the whole compasse of Divine Truth Secondly as is God so is his Law a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires a universality of the subject as well as of the obedience I meane besides that perfect integrity of Nature which in regard of present inherence is irrecoverably lost in Adam and supplied onely by the imputed righteousnesse and integrity of Christ an inward spirituall sincere obedience of the heart from thence spreading like lines from a Centre unto the whole Circumference of our Nature unto our Words Actions Gestures unto all our parts without crooked mercenary and reserv'd respects wherein men often in stead of the Lord make their ends or their feares their God Lastly remember that in every Law all homogeneall matters to the maine duty which is commanded every sprigge or seed or originall or degree thereof is included as all the severall branches of a Tree are fastned to one and the same stocke And by these rules are wee to examine the truth of our obedience But heere before I draw downe these premises to an Assumption I will but name one caution which is this That Faith as it may bee either habituall or Actuall so it is the cause of these holy actions either habitually by framing and disposing the heart unto them or actually when it is it selfe as it ought ever to bee sound and operative But sometimes Faith so great is the corruption of our nature admits of a decay and languor wherein it lies as it were like fire under ashes raked up and stifled under our corruptions Againe in some there is a weaker in some a stronger Faith according unto which difference there must be a difference in the measure and magnitude of the effects But yet it is infallibly true that all or most of those holy fruits doe in some seasons or other bud forth of that stocke which is quickned by Faith though sometimes in some men lesse discernable by reason of corruptions interposed For it usually thus falleth out that our graces are but like the Army of Gedeon a small handfull whereas our corruptions are like the Midianits which lay on the ground as Grashoppers innumerable But yet in these God crowneth his owne meanest gists with victory and successe So then these things being thus proposed let the conscience without connivence examine it selfe by such interrogatories as these Doe I finde my selfe live by the Faith of the Sonne of GOD who gave himselfe for me Doe I delight in his Word more then my appoynted food never adulterating it with the Leaven or Dreggs of hereticall fancies or dead workes Doth the word of Truth transforme me to the Image of it selfe Crucifying all those corruptions which harboured in me Doe I finde my selfe to grow in all graces universally and uniformely towards God and man not thinking to recompence some defects which my nature drives me unto with
supererogation as I conceive and over performance of such duties as are not so visibly repugnant to my personall corruptions Doe the beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse shining on my soule illighten me with his truth and with his power sway me unto all good Am I heartily affected with all the conditions of Gods Church to mourne or to rejoyce with it even at such times when mine owne particular estate would frame me unto affections of a contrary temper Have I free use of all my spirituall senses to see the light of God to heare his Word to taste his mercies to feele with much tendernes all the wounds and pressures of sinne Doe I love all divine truth not so much because proportionable unto my desires but because conformable unto God Am I resolv'd in all estates to relie on Gods mercy and providence though He should kill me to trust in him Doe I wholy renounce all trust in mine owne worthines or in any concurrences of mine owne naturally towards God Doe I not build eyther my hopes or feares upon the faces of men nor make eyther them or my selfe the rule or end of my desires finally doe I endeavour a universall obedience unto Gods Law in all the whole latitude and extent of it not indulging to my selfe liberty in any knowne sinne Is not my obedience mercenary and hypocriticall but spirituall and sincere Do I not swallow gnats nor stumble at straws not dispense with my selfe for the least of sinns for irregular thoughts for occasions of offence for appearances of evill for the motions of concupiscence for idle words and vaine conversation and whatsover is in the lowest degree forbidden And though in any or all these I may be sometimes overtaken as who is it that can say I have washed my hands in innocency I am cleane from my sinnes Doe I yet relent for it strive and resolue against it in a word doth not mine owne heart condemne me of selfe-deceite of hypocrisie of halting and dissembling in Gods service Then may I safely conclude that I have partaked of the saving efficacy of Faith and am fitly qualified to partake of these holy mysteries whereby this good worke of Faith begun in me may bee strengthned and more perfected against the day of the Lord Jesus In the receiving of which we must use all both inward and outward reverence secret elevations of spirit and comfortable thoughts touching the mercies of God in Christ touching the qualities and benefits of his passion and of our sinnes that caused it and Lastly for the course of our life after wee must pitch upon a constant resolution to abandon all sinne and to keepe a strict hand over all our wayes least turning againe with the Swine to the mire that which should bee the badge of our honor prove the Character of our shame The Persians had a festivall time one day in the yeere which they cald Vitiorum interitum wherein they slew all Serpents and venemous creatures and after that till the revolution of that same day suffred them to swarme againe as fast as ever If we thinke in that manner to destroy our sins and onely one day in the yeere when we celebrate this holy Festivall the evill spirit may hapily depart for a day in policie but surely he will turne againe with seven other spirits make the end of that man worse then his beginning But that ground which drinketh in the raine which commeth of upon it and what raine comparable to a showre of Christs bloud in the Sacrament and bringeth forth herbs meete for the use of him that dressed it receiveth blessings from God A Cup of Blessing heere but Rivers of Blessednesse hereafter in that Paradise which is above where Hee who is in this life the Obiect of our Faith and Hope shall bee the End and Reward of them both for ever FINIS A Summary of the severall Chapters contained in this Booke Chap. 1. MAns Being to be imployed in working that working is directed unto some good which is God that good a free and voluntary reward which we here enjoy onely in the right of a promise the scale of which promise is a Sacrament pag. 1. Chap. 2. Sacraments are earnests and shadowes of our expected glory made unto the senses p. 6. Chap. 3. Inferences of practise from the former observations p. 10. Chap. 4. Whence Sacraments derive their valew and being namely from the Author that instituted them p. 15. Chap. 5. Inferences of practise from the Authour of this Sacrament p. 19. Chap. 6. Of the Circumstances of the institution namely the time and place p. 24. Chap. 7. Of the matter of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine with their Analogy unto Christ. pag. 32. Chap. 8. Practicall inferences from the materialls of the Lords Supper p. 40. Ch. 9. Of the Analogy and proportion betweene the holy actions used by Christ in this Sacrament and Christ himselfe who is the substance of it p. 45. Ch. 10. Of the fourth action with the reasons why the Sacrament is to be eaten and drunken p. 53. Chap. 11. Of other reasons why the Sacrament is eaten and drunken and of the manner of our union and incorporation into Christ. p. 60. Chap. 12. Inferences of Practise from the consideration of the former actions p. 72 Chap. 13. Of the two first ends or effects of the Sacrament namely the exhibition of Christ to the Church and the union of the Church to Christ. Of the reall Presence p. 81. Chap. 14. Of three other ends of this holy Sacrament the fellowship or union of the faithfull the obsignation of the Covenant of Grace and the abrogation of the Passeover p. 102. Chap. 15. The last end of this holy Sacrament namely the Celebration and memory of Christs death A briefe collection of all the benâ—fits which are by his death conveyed on the Church The question touching the quallity of temporall punishments stated p. 116. Chap. 16. Of the manner after which wee are to celebrate the memory of Christs passion p. 137. Chap. 17. Inferences of practise from the severall ends of this holy Sacrament p. 148 Chap. 18. Of the subject who may with best benefit receive the holy Sacrament with the necessary qualification thereunto of the necessity of due preparation p. 170. Chap. 19. Of the forme or manner of examination required which is touching the maine qualification of a worthy receiver faith The demonstration whereof is made first from the causes secondly from the nature of it p. 185. Chap. 20. Of the third and last meanes for the triall and demonstration of Faith namely from effects or properties thereof p. 224. FINIS Perlegi eruditum hunc de S. Eucharistiâ Tractatum dignumquè judico qui typis mandetur R. P. Episâ— Lond. Capell domest April 7. 1638. Tho. Wykes Errata PAg 3. Lin. 18. for naucals r. naturalls p. 21. l. 9. for confounders r. cofounders p. 55. l. 18. for concerne r. preserve p. 82. for poted r.