them out of the Puddle where they did ly like Beasts without sense of danger or shame and it quickens these rotten Trees for the producing of better Fruit. The first Life being opposite to Condemnation and Eternal Punishment belongs properly to the Blood that hath satisfied divine Justice and so removed Punishment and the second which is opposite to stupid and senseless both falling into sin and lying in it relates properly to the Water that after Propitiation and Pardon washes and sanctifies the sinner These two Lives are the two first Effluxes which proceeded out of Jesus Christ when his Body was pierced and both are inseparable as the Blood and the water were which flowed together out of his side Let none who finds himself clean from the filth and spots of his sin be afraid of Punishment for them I have found a Ransom for him Job 33.24 for the water came not without the Blood But let every one that hath a mind to be safe from Punishment which is taken off by the Blood seek for farther security in the purifying of himself from all the uncleanness of sin which the Water is to wash away for the Blood came not without water Christ came not by Blood alone but by water and Blood 1 Joh. 5.6 9. Over and above these two Lives whereof one consists in Pardon and removal of Punishment the other in Sanctification and enlivens us from dead works so as not thenceforward to deserve it as before there remains besides a third Life which consists in an absolute Redemtion from Death and other miseries This life as to the sure Title and Right is together with the two other purchased by the same Sacrifice but as to the real use and possession it is reserved for us in Heaven and there hid with Christ in God Coloss 3.3 Until it be revealed we appear as if we were dead these two Jewels lying in and being wrapped about with the dark Veils of human Mortality till that Christ becoming unto us actual Redemtion as well as actual Justice and actual Sanctification this third life succeeds to break the Cloud 10. Now the blessed Savior being by his Sacrifice the Author and giver of these three Lives shews himself by this Sacrament to be the preserver of them also and to this purpose sets up a Table by his Altar where he engages most solemnly to feed and nourish our Souls with the constant supply of his Mercies to the very day of eternal Salvation as really as he gives and we receive these Elements of Bread and Wine which are the usual meanes of sustaining mortal Bodies until the end of this short Life My Father worketh hitherto and I work with him Ioh. 95.17 God the father rested indeed upon the seventh day from the work of Creating and God the Son at the same day from the work of Suffering but neither of them will rest till the day of Redemtion from the work of preserving both what the Creation hath produced and what the Passion hath saved In the first Creation here is a Man and a Woman made of the Flesh and as it were of the very wounds of her Husband and there you find a Tree planted to maintain both their life and strength In the Deliverance of Egypt here is a People saved by the Sacrifice of the Passeover and lest so many rescued out of Egypt should faint and starve in the Desert there you see an Angel leading them the way with his Light keeping them cool under the Shadow of his Cloud and feeding them through all their journny with a miraculous sort of Meat Jesus is both in the Original and progress of Salvation the Truth foreshewed by these Figures When he dyed upon the Cross there he fullfilled that which had bin shadowed forth both by the Sleep and wound of Adam and by the killing of paschal Lambs And when he feeds from Heaven with a continual Effusion of Blessing those souls and lives which he hath bin pleased to redeem by the effusion of his own Blood He is the Truth both of the Tree and of the Angel which were appointed the one to maintain Man and the other to keep Israel 11. Christ relates to these four Figures as the Body which fulfils them and the Holy Communion relates to them on the other side as an Antitype that is as one Image may relate to another all to express the same object Upon the breaking the one and powring out the other of these consecrated Elements you see what Christ hath suffered as upon the wound of Adam and the death of the Passeover Abel Enoc and Israel might partly see what he should suffer And upon the nourishing nature of this Bread you see that which others have seen in the Tree of life and in the Angel raining down Manna what He would give But this is the advantage of the Holy Communion above all the ancient Figures Adam with his open Side and all Sacrifices with their Blood did foretel only Christs Passion and the Tree of life with all its fruit and the Angel with all his Food did foretel only his preserving Grace whereas this Sacrament alone represents both his Passion and Preserving and besides these another great Mystery by their mutual dependency What wee take and eat is made of a Substance cut bruised and put to the fire that shews my Saviors Passion and it was used in that manner that it may afford me wholesom food that shewes the Benefit which both he gives and I receive out of this dreadful Passion The Angels enjoy such an immortality and wear such Crowns as cost God nothing but the pain he took to give them ours are more precious and costly then so Our inheritance in Heaven is not less then Akeldamah a Possession bought with Christs Blood In this Sacrament here is Death represented there Life the Life is mine the Death my Saviors and ô blessed Jesus this my Life comes out of thy Death and the Salvation which I hope for is purchased with all the pain and Agonies which Thou didst suffer 12. Here Melchisedek and Aaron wait upon Jesus Christ at this Table as Moses and Elias did on the Mount These two great Priests stand to soreshew what Christ alone is to perform For there is Aaron the Priest with Blood and here Melchisedek with Bread There Aaron breaks sheds and destroies here Melchisedek feeds and blesses Nay both are one in Jesus Christ First Christ appears to Sacrifice upon the Cross as Aaron did at his Altar with Flesh and Blood and as in Melchisedeks case and figure with his own Flesh and his own Blood Then as Aaron did use to enter once every year into the Sanctuary Christ once for all is ascended into Heaven thence to bless us Act. 3.26 And this blessing is the strength the Food and Refreshment which Melchisedek brought in a figure that with the help of these good Things both Abraham and his Followers that is all sincere Christians may
Church in the most sutable manner to work in men a deep impression Therefore as God himself in order to satisfy Moses more fully that his People should not perish nor so much as diminish under the Thraldom of Egypt shewed him a Bush continuing still whole and entire in the midst of a great Fire and in order they might be more firmly perswaded that tho they were in a wilderness they were under Gods protection he made them go all the way under a Cloud that when soever there should happen any staggering in their Belief both Moses and the People might strengthen it Moses by remembring the Bush and the People by minding the Cloud to the same purpose hath Christ ordained some Visible Signes in his Church to compleat her common Faith and to assure this truth to every one who comes to him that he shall be cleansed of his sins as certainly as it is certain he sees some water which is the ordinary means for washing and that he shall be kept up and fed with a supply of all necessary Blessings as certainly and really as it is real and certain he tasts and takes in this Bread and Wine which are the ordinary means for preserving our life and strength 4. Besides because the Sacraments are designed not only to perswade us more strongly of the truth and Being of the Things but also to acquaint us more familiarly and sensibly with their Condition and nature these Sacraments must have in their natural constitution some known Qualities that make them fit for this Sacramental office Such hath the Water for example which was so deservedly chosen for the use of holy Baptism because of the proper virtue it hath of washing the things that are fowl of reviving and refreshing them that are dry and of making fruitful the Barren Hereupon S. Austin saies plainly that unless the holy Sacraments had some such agreement with the Holy Things which they are set up to represent they could not be Sacraments at all Epist 23. ad Bonif. 5. So the blessed Communion is made of two such Elements as can forthwith expose to the sight and sense of all men the true ground of its Sacramental and significative Function This function is twofold the first to represent Christs Sufferings and the second to represent the Blessing and the Benefit which we receive from these Sufferings The first I say to represent Christs Sufferings This Bread and Wine could neither sustain nor refresh me had not their intrinsecal Substance lost its first condition and estate that is if the one had never fallen under the Sickle the threshing the Milstone the Fire and the other under the Hook the Trampling and the Press of bandmen Nor doth the Son of God save me but by * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philip. 2.7 emtying himself in a manner for a while of his first glory in Heaven and by losing that second life which he had taken in Bethlehem This Blessed Savior is not a Savior by the strength of all the Miracles which He did about Judea nor by any thing that He could suffer as long as He would keep himself alive when he was made fast to his Cross As the best Harvest is not yet Bread as long as it stands in the Field nor is the best Corn Bread likewise as long as 't is kept whole in the Floor both Corn and Harvest being no more then antecedent Matter for mans Food Jesus living in Galilee Jesus teaching about the Temple Jesus commanding Storms and Waves when he did walk upon the Sea if he had proceeded no further could not have bin the Bread of life it must be Jesus suffering Jesus crucified Jesus dying the grinding Mill and the burning Fire have of this Corn made me this Bread and nothing less then Cross Wounds Death my Lord my God! could of thy dearest Son make my Savior 6. I say secondly this Eucharistical Bread is instituted to represent the Fruit and Benefit which we receive both at the Holy Table and upon all other occasions from Christs Sufferings to wit Maintenance and Improvement of life As without Bread and Wine or somthing answerable to it the strongest Bodies soon decay so without the virtue of the Body and Blood of Christ the best and holiest Souls must infallibly starve and perish The Body of the Lord as it was offered up to God in Sacrifice is the Truth represented by the Passover and as represented to us at the Holy Communion is the Truth and Accomplishment typified by the Manna The one is as it were the Seed and the Original Principle whence we are born and the other as the Bread wherewith we live That is to say as Bread and Wine do not produce but keep up that animal Life which another Cause hath produced so doth our Lord Jesus by a necessary and continual supply of strength and Grace represented by Bread and Wine sustain improve and set sorward that Spiritual Life and new Being which He hath procured us by his Cross 7. For Jesus the second Adams being seiz'd as He hung on the Cross with that deep sleep which God daused to fall upon him gave this new Being to his Church out of that side which at his Passion was opened and the Blood and Water which then gushed out of his Wounds are the true Principles of life by reason of which his spouse the Church may be called Eve that is true and everlasting Liver Before she had this new original out of her Saviors Passion her Husbands sleep she by her old Extraction was a very Daughter of Death and a Mother of such Children as could pretend to no better Inheritance then Curse and Wrath. Ephes 2.2 By the course of Nature our Life is but a sad Progress from Birth to Death and by the course of Gods Justice a sadder Motion such as is that of condemned Persons from Prison to the Place of their Execution But whilst we were daily passing on to that most dreadful Punishment the Son of God lookt on us and took our Condemnation upon himself and under it dyed in our steed Thus by the Death and satisfaction of this Victim Justice gave way to my Release God the Father forgave my Sin and God the Son procured my Life This Grace is the first Purchace of Christs Blood the first Irradiation of Gods mercy and the first Breath of spiritual Life in our Nostrils 8. But alas how soon would this first life vanish away were it not presently followed and supported by a second How soon would the removal of the former be frustrated by the commission of other Sins And since I am no sooner born in sin then dead in it how hard would it be without more help in this corrupted condition to keep dead Lazarus from Rottenness Therefore the Body and Blood of Christ once Sacrificed on the Cross to help this first procures a second Life that preserves whomsoever it saves out of this stupid death in sin it helps
cheerfully go on their way notwithstanding their own weakness and all the dangers of their life Thus here is a double Blessing which I wait for both what Aaron shewed by his Blood and what Melchisedek shewed by his Bread 13. Author of my Salvation and of these Mysteries which express it bestow on me these two Blessings which this Sacrament shews together Grace for Grace Mercy and strength to keep Mercy Hosanna O Son of David save and preserve Save me that I may not fall under the hand of the Destroyer and preserve me that after this Salvation I never fall by my own hand But keep and set forward in me notwithstanding all mine Infirmities the work of thy faithful Mercies Grant that I may not increase my Guilt by my abusing of what thou gavest My Savior my Preserver give me alwaies what thou givest once Create a new heart within me but bless and keep what Thou createst and increase more and more what Thou plantest O Son of God and Tree of Life feed with thy sap this tender Branch which without thee cannot but wither and strengthen in thee a bruised Reed which without thee cannot but fall Father of everlasting Compassions forsake not in the Wilderness a feeble Israelite whom thou hast brought a little way out of Egypt And let not this poor Soul of mine which thou hast blessed with some desires and helped a while with some tendency towards an Eternal Salvation ever faint and fall from the right way The Angel in the Wilderness could undoubtedly rain as much Manna as the Paschal Lambs could shed Blood Jesu the Truth both of those Lambs and of that Angel Thou art as able to perfect me with thy Blessings out of thy Throne as thou wert to redeem me by thy Sacrifice on thy Cross Jesu Author Object and Truth of this which by thine appointment I am bidden now to take perform in me by thy sufferings what Thou dost exhibit Eternal Life by this thy Body broken give also Nourishment and maintenance thereby to this same Life for this is the Bread of Heaven Amen SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a Means of Grace 1. HItherto we have considered this holy Sacrament first as a standing Memorial of that Passion wherein Christ Jesus once offered himself up to God as Sacrifice and secondly as a sign of that nutritive and corroborative Grace the true Efflux of that Sacrifice by which sign he daily offers himself to us under the notion of Meat For his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 And I ingeniously confess that the most general use of the blessed Communion runs upon these two Notions and that these two main Resemblances between the Bread and Christs Body which qualify the consecrated Bread and the consecrated Wine in the same manner to bear the Character of a Sacrament do likewise sufficiently qualify it to bear another honor which it enjoys of being called the Lords Body However it is most certain that when the Fathers call it so which Christ himself taught them to do they justify both His and their speech upon the account of resemblance and of this commerce most usual between Representations and objects represented of enterchanging their own names Read the 23. Epist of St. Austin ad Bonif. 2. So for example in the Prophetic Visions and Dreams which most commonly were nothing else then extemporary Sacraments of Things then revealed by God those are most constantly said to be these The 7 Ears of Corn are 7 years by the interpretation of Joseph Gen. 41.26 The seven Stars are seven Angels in the Revelation of St. John 1.20 The Sower is the Son of Man The Tares are the wicked The Harvest is the end of the World in the Parables of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.37.38.39 If by chance we meet with Pictures that represent the Tabernacle or the Ornaments of Aaron we usually say pointing at some of these Figures This is the outward Court this is the Sanctuary here is the brazen Altar and there you see the Plate of pure Gold that none was allowed to wear except the High Priest of Israel just as walking in the Palaces and Galleries of great Persons we say without thinking to speak improperly that we have seen the 12. Sibyls the 12. Cesars the Temple of Ephesus c. that is the Representations of all these Now 't is certain that no Visions nor Images have ever bin more intended for this end of Representing then the true Sacraments have bin therefore it were most unreasonable to think that these sacred Images should want that Priviledg which all other altho casual and profane are allowed to have viz. to take the name of their Objects Nay since the Paschal Lamb the Circumcision and the Baptism have it for one is called the Passover the other the Covenant and the other the Burial of Christ why should the Holy Communion be without it Besides it is not conceivable that Christ who had yet in his hands that Paschal Bread which was called by the Jews the Bread of Affliction which their Fathers did eat in Egypt because it was the Memorial of it may not be understood after the same manner when a moment after He calls it his Body 3. Nevertheless altho the literal and immediate sense of these Words This is my Body comes to no more as Tertullian and S. Augustin with many more have in express terms declared it and as all ancient liturgies must needs understand it whensoever they call the Eucharist Type Image or figure for the proper and immediate use of Images is to represent Things If they chance also to have them in themselves or to convey them over to others it is upon another account as being vessels or utensiles c. which office is extrinsecal to Sacraments Nevertheless I say the end of the blessed Communion the exigency and pious desire of Communicants and the strength of other Places of Scripture require a great deal more in the Eucharist then a meer Memorial or Representation 4. 1. The proper end of the holy Communion which is to make us partakers of Christ in another manner and degree when with faith and repentance wee take and tast those holy Mysteries then when with the like dispositions wee do hear the Holy Gospel 2. The Exigency and honest desire of Communicants who seek no more for a bare Representation or Remembrance of Christ crucified at this Holy Table then Mary and other devout women did for winding Sheets or Napkins about his Grave I want and seek my Savior himself and I watch for all the opportunities of coming to his Sacrament for the same purpose that once made S. Peter and S. Iohn run so fast to his Sepulcher because I hope to find Him there 3. Lastly the full sense and importance of other Places in Scripture which allow the Holy Communion a much greater Vertue then is that of representing only The Cup