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
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
shew forth such an Heavenly light of holinesse puritie majesty authority efficacy mercy wisedome comfort perfection in one word such an unsearchable Treasurie of internall mysteries as that now the soule is as fully able by the native light of the Scriptures to distinguish their Divine originall and authenticalnesse from any other meere humane writings as the eye is to observe the difference betweene a beame of the Sunne and a blaze of a Candle The second question is how the Soule comes to bee setled in this perswasion that the goodnesse of these truths founded on the Authority of God doe particularly belong unto it Whereunto I answere in one word That this ariseth from a two-fold Testimonie grounded upon a preceding worke of Gods Spirit For first the Spirit of God putteth his feare into the hearts of his servants and purgeth their consciences by applying the bloud of Christ unto them from dead workes wish affections strongly and very sensibly altering the constitution of the minde must needs notably manifest themselves unto the soule when by any reflex act shee shall set her selfe to looke inward upon her owne operations This being thus wrought by the grace of God thereupon there ensueth a twofold Testimonie The first of a mans owne spirit as wee see in the examples of Iob David Hezekiah Nehemiah Saul and others namely That hee desireth to feare Gods name to keepe a conscience void of offence to walke in all integrity towards God and men from which and the like personall qualifications arise joy in the holy-Ghost peace of conscience and experience of sweetnes in the fellowship with the Father and his Sonne Secondly the Testimony of the holy Spirit bearing witnes to the sincerity of those affections and to the evidence and truth of those perswasions which himselfe by his grace stirred up So then first the Spirit of God writeth the Law in the heart upon obedience whereunto ariseth the Testimony of a mans owne spirit And then he writeth the promises in the heart and by them ratifieth and confirmeth a mans hops and joyes unto him I understand not all this which hath been spoken generally of all assents unto objects Divine which I take it in regard of their evidence firmnes and stability doe much differ according unto the divers tempers of those hearts in which they reside but principally unto the cheife of those assents which are proper unto saving Faith For assent as I said in generall is common unto Divils with men and therefore to make up the creature of true Faith There is required some differencing property whereby it may be constituted in the entire essence of saving Faith In each sense we may observe that unto the generall faculty whereby it is able to perceive objects proportioned to it there is annexed ever another property whereby according to the severall nature of the objects proposed it is apt to delight or be ill affected with it for example our eare apprehendeth all sounds in common but according as is the Harmony or discord of the sound it is apt to take pleasure or offence at it Our taste reacheth unto whatsoever is the object of it but yet some things there are which grievously offend the Palate others which as much delight it and so it is in Divine assents Some things in some subjects bring along with them tremblings horrors fearefull expectations aversation of minde unwilling to admit or be pursued with the evidence of Divine truths as it is in Divils and despayring sinners Other assents on the contrary doe beget serenity of minde a sweete complacency delight adherence and comfort Into the hearts of some men doth the Truth of GOD shine like Lightning with a penetrating and amasing brightnes in others like the Sunne with comfortable and refreshing Beames For understanding whereof wee are to observe that in matters practicall and Divine and so in all others though not in an equall measure the truth of them is ever mutually embraced and as it were insolded in their goodnes for as truth doth not delight the understanding unlesse it be a good truth that is such as unto the understanding beares a relation of convenience whence arise diversities in mens studies because all men are not alike affected with all kindes of truth so good doth noe way affect the will unlesse it be a true and reall good Otherwise it proves but like the banquet of a dreaming man which leaves him as hungry and empty as when he lay downe Goodnes then added unto truth doth together with the assent generate a kinde of rest and delight in the heart on which it shineth Now goodnes Morall or Divine hath a double relation A relation unto that originall in dependency on and propinquitie whereunto it consilleth and a relation unto that faculty or subject wherein it resideth and whereunto it is proposed Good in the former sense is that which beares in it a proportion unto the Fountaine of good for every thing is in it selfe so farre good as it resembles that originall which is the author and patterne of it and that is GOD. In the second sense that is good which beares a conveniency and fitnes to the minde which entertaines it good I meane not alwayes in nature but in apprehension All Divine truths are in themselves essentially good but yet they worke not alwaies delight and comforts in the minds of men untill proportioned and fitted unto the faculty that receives them As the Sunne is it in it selfe equally light the water in a Fountaine of it selfe equally sweete but according unto the severall Temper of the eye which perceiveth the one and of the vessell through which the other passeth they may prove to be offensive and distastfull But now further when the faculty is thus fitted to receive a good it is not the generality of that good which pleaseth neyther but the particular propriety and interest thereunto Wealth and honor as it is in it selfe good so is it likewise in the apprehension of most men yet we see men are apt to be griev'd at it in others and to looke on it with an evill eye nothing makes them to delight in it but possession and propriety unto it I speake here onely of such Divine good things as are by God appointed to make happy his creature namely our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ his Obedience Satisfaction Resurrection Ascension Intercession Glory and whatever elce it is of which he hath been unto his Church the Author Purchaser conveyer and Foundation Now unto these as unto other good things there is a double right belonging by free donation from him unto the Church a right of propriety unto the thing and a right of possession in the thing This latter is that which here in Earth the Church suspireth and longeth after that other onely it is which here we have and that confirmed unto us by a double Title The first as the Land of Cannan was confirmed unto the Israelits by
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
by which we fell from it Satan and Death did first assault our eare and then tooke possession of us by the mouth Christ and faith chose no other gates to make a re-entry and dispossesse them Thus as skilfull Physitians doe often cure a body by the same meanes which did first distemper it quench heats with heat and stop one flux of blood by opening another so Christ that he may quell Satan at his owne weapons doth by the same instruments and actions restore us unto our primitive estate by which he had hurried us downe from it That those mouthes which were at first open to let in death may now much more be open not only to receive but to praise him who is made unto us the Author and Prince of life CHAP. XII Inferences of Practice from the consideration of the former Actions THESE are all the holy actions we finde to have been by Christ and his Apostles celebrated in the great mystery of this Supper all other humane accessions and superstructions that are by the policy of Satan and that carnall affection which ever laboureth to reduce Gods service unto an outward and pompous gaudinesse foisted into the substance of so divine a work are all of them that straw and stubble which hee who is a consuming fire will at last purge away Impotent Christ was not that he could not nor malignant that hee would not appoint nor improvident that he could not foresee the needfulnesse of such actions which are by some proposed not as matter of ornament comelinesse and ceremony a thing left ever arbitrary to the Church but are obtruded on consciences swayed with superstitious pompousnesse for matters substantiall and necessary to be observed As if God who in the first Creation of the world from nothing did immediately after the work produc'd cease from all manner of further Creations did in the second creation of the world from sinne not finish the work himselfe but leave it imperfect to be by another consummated and finished Certainly whatsoever humane Inventions doe claime direct proper and immediate subscription of Conscience and doe propose themselves as essentiall or integrall or any way necessary parts of divine mysteries they doe not onely rob God of his honour and intrude on his Soveraignty but they doe farther lay on him the aspersion of an imperfect Saviour who standeth in need of the Churches concurrence to consummate the work which he had begunne Away then with those Actions of elevation adoration oblation circumgestation mimâ—call gestures silent whisperings and other the like incroachments in the supposed proper and reall sacrifice of Christ in the Masse wherein I see not how they avoyd the guilt of Saint Pauls fearfull observation To crucifie againe the Lord of glory and put him unto an open shame In which things as in sundry others they do nothing else but imitate the carnall ordinances of the Jewes and the Heathenish will-worship of the Ethnicks who thought rather by the motions of their bodies than by the affections of their hearts to wind into the opinion and good liking of their Gods Certainly affectation of Pomp Ceremony and such other humane superstructions on the divine institution I alwaies except Ecclesiasticall observances which being imposed for order and used with decencie Paucity and indifferencie are not lawfull only but with respect to the Authority which requires them obligatory also I say all other pompous accumulations unto the substance of Christs Sacramentr are by Tertullian made the characters and presumptions of an Idolatrous service True it is indeed that the Ancients make mention out of that fervour of Love and Piety towards so sacred mysteries of Adoration at them and of carrying the remainders of them unto the absent Christians but as in other things so here likewise wee finde it most true that things by devout men begunne piously and continued with zeale doe after when they light in the handling of men otherwise qualified degenerate into superstition the forme purpose end and reason of their observation being utterly neglected It being the contrivance of Satan to raise his Temple after the same forme and with the same materialls whereof â—ods consisteth to pretend the practice of the Saints for the enforcement of his owne Projects to transforme himselfe into an Angel of light that hee may the easier mislead unstable and wandring soules and to retaine at least a forme of Godlinesse that he may with lesse clamor and reluctancy with-draw the substance And as in many other things so hath hee herein likewise abus'd the Piety of the best men unto the furtherance of his owne ends That Adoration which they in and at the mysteries did exhibit unto Christ himselfe as indeed they could not choose a better time to worship him in he impiously derives upon the creature and makes it now to bee done not so much at as unto the elements making them as well the terme and object as occasion of that worship which is due only to the Lord of the Sacrament That carrying about and reserving of the Eucharist which the primitive Christians used for the benefit of those who either by sicknesse or by persecutions were with-held from the meetings of the Christians as in those dayes many were is by him now turned into an Idolatrous circumgestation that at the sight of the Bread the people might direct unto it that worship which is due only to the person whose passion it representeth but whose honour it neither challengeth nor knoweth and certainly if wee veiw the whole fabrick either of Gentilisme or Heresie we shall observe the methods and contrivances of Satan most often to drive at this point that either under pretence of divine truth or under imitation of divine Institutions retaining the same materiall Actions which God requires or with the godly have piously or upon temporary reasons observed he may convay into the hearts of men his owne poyson and imprint an opinion of holinesse towards his owne devices for howsoever his power and tyranny have done much mischiefe to Gods Church yet his master-peece is that cunning and deceit which the Scriptures so often takes notice of Secondly we see here what maner of men wee ought to be in imitation of these blessed Actions that we may be conformable unto the death of Christ. First as he when hee took these elements did consecrate them unto a holy use so we when we receive them should first consecrate our selves with thanksgiving and prayer unto a holy life For if not only amongst Christians but even amongst Heathens themselves it hath been by the Law of nature receiv'd for a religious custome not to eat their ordinary food without blessing and prayer with how much more fervency of prayer should we call upon the name of the Lord when we take this Cup of salvation this bread of life wherein we doe not only taste how gratious the Lord is but
other a kind of trafique and continuall intelligence from part to part a union of members by the supply of nerves and joynts that so each may be serviceable unto the whole The eye seeth not for it self but for the body and therefore if the eye be simple the whole body is full of light for the light of the body is the eye Nay God in each creature imprinteth a love of community which is that whereby one thing doth as it were bestow it selfe on another farre above the private and domestick love whereby it labours the preservation and advancement of it selfe from which generall charity and feeling of communion it comes to passe that if by any casualty the whole body of the Universe be like to suffer any rupture or deformity as in the danger of a vacuum which is the coÌ„tumely of nature each particular creature is taught to relinquish his owne naturall motion and to prevent the publike reproach even by forsaking and forgetting of themselves Agreeable unto which noble impresse of nature was that Heroicall resolution of Pompey when the safety of his countrey depended on an expedition dangerous to his own particular It is not said he necessary for me to live It is necessary that I goe And more honourable that of â—odrus to dedicate his owne life as a sacrifice for his Countries victory But yet more honourable that of the blessed Apostle I count not my life deare unto my selfe that I may finish the Ministry which I have received of the Lord But lastly most admirable was that of the same blessed Paul and Moses whose feeling of Community transported them not only beyond the feare but even into a conditionall desire of their owne destruction In mans first Creation what was that great endowment of originall righteousnesse but such a harmony of all mans faculties as that there was no Schisme in the Body no part unsubordinated or unjoynted from the rest but did each conspire with other unto the service of the whole and with the whole unto the service of God and what was the immediate effect of that great fall of man but the breaking and unjoynting of his faculties the rebellion of his members each towards other whereby every faculty seeketh the satisfaction of it selfe without any respect unto the Common Good And as it bred in man an Enmity to himselfe so to his neighbour likewise So long as Adam remained upright his judgement of Evah was a judgement of unity Bone of bone no sooner comes sinne but we heare him upbraid God with the woman that thou gavest mee termes of dislike and enmity For the removall whereof wee must imitate this great example of Christ our head whose sufferings are not only our merit but our example who denying himselfe his owne naturall will and life bestowed himselfe on us that we likewise might not seek every man his owne but every man the good of another bestowing our selves on the service and benefit of the Church and so grow up and bee built up together in love which is the concinnation or perfecting of the Saints Secondly in that Christ gave this Sacrament and did thereby testifie his most willing obedience unto a cursed death we likewise should in all our respects back unto him break through all obstacles of selfe-love or any temptations of Satan and the world and though contrary to the bent of our owne desires to the propension of our owne corrupt hearts most willingly render our obedience unto him and make him the Lord of all our thoughts First for our understandings we should offer them as free and voluntary sacrifices ready not only to yeeld unto truth out of constraint but out of willingnesse and love to embrace it not only for the evidence but for the Author and goodnesse of it and thus to resigne our judgements into Gods hands to be though never so much against its owne naturall and carnall prejudices inform'd and captivated unto all kind of saving knowledge even to the extirpating of all those presumptions prepossessions and principles of corruption which use to smother and adulterate divine truth for there is naturally in the mindes of men though otherwise eagerly pursuing knowledge a kind of dread and shrinking from the evidence of divine truthes as each facultie avoydeth too excellent an object a voluntary and affected ignorance lest knowing the truth they should cease to hate it a facultie of making doubts touching the meaning and extent of such truths whose evidence would crosse the corruptions of our practice and then a frameing of arguments and presumptions for that part which is most favourable and flattering unto nature a certaine private prejudice against the lustre of the most strict and practicall principles a humour of cavilling and disputing about those parts of Gods will which bring with theÌ„ a more strait obligation on the conscience a withdrawing the thoughts from acquainting themselves with the more spirituall parts of divine truth under pretence of more important imployments about scholasticall and sublime speculations All which do evidently prove that there is not in the understanding that willingnesse to give up it selfe unto God which there was in Christ to bestow himselfe unto us Secondly for our wills and affections wee should be ready to crosse bend them against all the noyse of corrupt delights to cut out our right eye our right hand to be crucified to the world to be disposed of by Gods providence cheerfully in any course whether of passive obedience to have a minde submiting unto it rejoyceing in it or of active obedience to obey him contrary to the streame current of our naturall desires though it be to offer unto him our Isaack our closest and choysest affection though to shake of the child that hangeth about our neck to stop our eare to the voice of her that bare us to throw the wife out of our bosome when they shall tempt us to neglect God to spit out the sweetest sinne that lies under our tongue briefly to take under Christs banners the Roman oath to goe and doe where and whatsoever our great Captaine commanded neither for feare of death or dread of enemy to forsake service or resigne weapon till death shall extort it Lastly in that Christ gave his Sacrament and therin himselfe the Author and finisher of our salvation we learne how to esteeme of our salvation namely as of a free and unmeritted gift Christ was sold by Iudas but he was given by God and that in the absolute nature of a gift without so much as suit or request on our part for him True it is that if man had persisted in the state of his created integrity he might after an improper manner bee said to have meritted the glory which he was after to enjoy in as much as he was to obtaine it in
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
Prince of darkenes Nature is in all her operations uniforme and constant unto her selfe one Tree cannot naturally bring forth Grapes and Figgs out of the same Fountaine cannot issue bitter water and sweete the selfe same vitall faculty of feeling which is in one member of the body is in all because all are animated with that soule which doth not confine it selfe unto any one The Church of God is a Tree planted by the same hand a Garden watred from the same Fountaine a body quickned by the same Spirit the members of it are all brethren begotten by one Father of mercy generated by one Seede of the Word delivered g from one wombe of ignorance fed with one bread of Life employd in one Heavenly calling brought up in one House-hold of the Church travellers in one way of grace heires to one Kingdome of glory and when they agree in so many unities should they then admit any fraction or disunion in their minds from Adam unto the last man that shall tread on the Earth is the Church of GOD but one continued and perfected body and therefore we finde that as in the body the head is affected with the grievances of the feete though there be a great distance of place betweene them so the holymen of God have mourned and been exceedingly touched with the afflictions of the Church even in after Ages though betweene them did interveane a great distance of time Certainly then if the Church of God lie in distresse and we stretch our selves on beds of Juory if she mourne in sack-cloath and we riot in soft rayment if the wild Bore of the Forrest breake in upon her and we send not out one prayer to drive him away if there bee cleanenesse of teeth in the poore and our teeth grinde them still if their bowells be empty of food and ours still empty of compassion if the wrath of God bee enflamed against his people and our zeale remaine still as frozen our charity as cold our affections as benum'd our compassion as stupid as it ever was In aword if Sion lye in the dust and wee hang not up our Harpes nor pray for her peace as wee can conclude nothing but that we are unnaturall members so can wee expect nothing but the curse of Meroz who went not out to helpe the Lord. Fourthly in that this Sacrament is Gods Instrument to ratifie and make sure our claime unto his Covenant we learne First therein to admire and adore the unspeakeable love of God who is pleased not onely to make but to confirme his promises unto the Church As God so his truth whether of judgments or promises are all in themselves immutable and infallible in their event yet notwithstanding as the Sunne though in it selfe of a most uniforme light and magnitude yet by reason of the great distance and of the variety of mists and vapours through which the raies are diffus'd it often seemeth in both properties to varie so the promises of God however in themselves of a fixed and unmoveable certainty yet passing through the various tempers of our minds one while serene and cleere another while by the steeme of passions and temptations of Satan foggie and distemperd doe appeare under an inconstant shape And for this cause as the Sunne doth it selfe dispell those vapours w ch did hinder the right percâ—â—tion of it so the grace of God together with and by the holy Sacrament communicated doth rectifie the minde and compose those diffident affections w ch did before intercept the efficacie and evidence thereof God made a Covenant with our fathers and not accounting that enough hee confirmed it by an oath that by 2. immutable things wherein it was impossible for God to ly they might have strong consolation who have had refuge to lay hold on the hope that is set before them The strength wee see of the consolation depends upon the stability of the covenant And is Gods covenant made more firme by an oath than by a promise The truth of God is as his nature without variablenesse or shadow of changing and can it then bee made more immutable Certainly as to infinitenes in regard of extension so unto immutabillity in regard of firmenes can there not bee any accession of degrees or parts All immutability being noâ—thing else but an exclusion of whatsoever might possibly occur to make the thing variable and uncertaine So then the Oath of God doth no more adde to the certainty of his word then doe mens oathes and protestations to the truth of what they affirme but because wee consist of an earthly and dull temper therefore God when he speakes unto us doth ingeminate his compellations O Earth Earth Earth heare the word of the Lord. So weake is our sight so diffident our nature as that it seemes to want the evidence of what it sees peradventure God may repent him of his promise as he did sometime of his Creature Why should not the Covenant of grace bee as mutable as was that of gwords God promised to establish Sion for ever and yet Sion the City of the great God is fallen was not Shilo beloved and did not God forsake it had Comah beene as the signet of his hand had hee not yet beene cast away was not Ierusalem a Vine of Gods planting and hath not the wild Boare long since rooted it up was not Israel the naturall Olive that did partake of the fat and sweetnesse of the roote and is yea cut off and wrath come upon it to the uttermost Though God be most immutable may he not yet alter his promise did the abrogation of Ceremonies prove any way a change in him who was as well the erector as the dissolver of them Though the Sunne be fastned to his owne Spheare yet may hee bee moved by another Orbe What if Gods promise barely considered proceed from his Antecedent and simple will of benevolence towards the Creature but the stability and certainty of his promise in the event depend on a second resolution of his consequent will which presupposeth the good use of mine owne liberty may not I then abuse my free will and so frustrate unto my selfe the benefit of Gods promise Is not my will mutable though Gods bee not may not I sinke and fall though the place on which I stand be firme may not I let goe my hold though the thing which I handle bee it selfe fast what if all this while I have beene in a Dreame mistaking mine owne private fancies and misperswasions for the dictates of Gods Spirit mistaking Satan who useth to transforme himselfe for an Angell of light God hath promised it is true but hath hee promised unto mee did hee ever say unto mee Simon Simon or Saul Saul Or Samuel Samuel Or if hee did must he needs performe his promise to me who am not able to fulfill my conditions unto him Thus
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
beauty of his graces and so constraine and perswade me to be obedient unto it These are those good premises out of which I may infallibly conclude that I have had the beginnings the seeds of Faith shed a abroad in my heart which will certainly be further quickned by that holy spirit who is the next and principall producer of it The operations of this holy spirit being as numberlesse as all the holy actions of the Faithfull cannot therefore all possibly be set downe I shall touch at some few which are of principall and obvious observation First of all the spirit is a spirit of liberty and a spirit of prayer It takes away the bondage and feare wherein we naturally are for feare makes us runne from God as from a punishing and revenging Iudge never any man in danger fledde thither for succour whence the danger issued feare is so farre from this that it betrayeth and suspecteth those very assistances which reason offereth and it enableth us to have accesse and recourse unto God himselfe whom our sins had provoked and in our prayers like Aron and Hurr it supporteth our hands that they doe not faint nor fall It raiseth the soule unto divine and unutterable petitions and it melteth the heart into sights and groanes that cannot be expressed Secondly the holy Ghost is compared unto a witnesse whose proper worke it is to reveale and affirme some truth which is called in question There is in a mans bosome by reason of that enmity and rebellion betwixt the flesh and the spirit and by meanes of Satans suggestions sundry dialogues and conflicts wherein Satan questioneth the title wee pretend to salvation In this case the Spirit of a man as one cannot choose but do when his whole estate is made ambiguous staggereth droopeth and is much distressed till at last the Spirit of God by the light of the Word the Testimonie of Conscience and the sensible motions of inward grace layeth open our title and helpeth us to reade the evidence of it and thus recomposeth our troubled thoughts Thirdly the Spirit of God is compared to a Seale the worke of a Seale is first to make a siampe and impression in some other matter secondly by that means to difference and distinguish it from all other things And so the Spirit of God doth fashion the hearts of his people unto a conformity with Christ framing in it holy impressions and renewing the decayed Image of God therein and thereby separateth them from sinners maketh them of a distinct common-wealth under a distinct governement that whereas before they were subject to the same Prince Lawes and desires with the world being now called out they are new men and have another character upon them Secondly a Seale doth obsignate and ratifie some Covenant Grant or conveyance to the person unto whom it belongeth It is used amongst men for confirming their mutuall trust in each other And so certainely doth the Spirit of God pre-affect the soule with an evident taste of that glory which in the Day of Redemption shall be actually conferd upon it and therefore it is called an hansell earnest and first fruit of life Fourthly the Spirit of God is compared to an oyntment now the properties of oyntments are first to supple to asswage tumors in the body and so doth the Spirit of God mollifie the hardnesse of mans heart and worke it to a sensible tendernes and quicke apprehension of every sinne Secondly oyntments doe open and penetrate those places unto which they are applied and so the Unction which the faithfull have teacheth them all things and openeth their eyes to see the wonders of Gods Law and the beauty of his graces In vaine are all outward sounds or Sermons unlesse this Spirit be within to teach us Thirdly oyntments doe refresh and lighten nature because as they make way for the emission of all noxious humours so likewise for the free passage and translation of all vitall spirits which doe enliven and comfort And so the Spirit of God is a Spirit of consolation and a spirit of life hee is the comforter of his Church Lastly oyntments in the Leviticall Law and in the state of the Iewes were for consecration and sequestration of things unto some holy use As Christ is said to bee annoynted by his Father unto the oeconomy of that great worke the redemption of the world and thus doth the holy-Ghost annoint us to be a Royall Priest-hood a holy Nation a people set at liberty Fifthly and lastly I finde the holy Ghost compared unto fire whose properties are first to bee of a very active and working nature which stands never still but is ever doing something and so the Spirit of God and his graces are all operative in the hearts of the faithfull they set all where they come on worke Secondly the nature and proper motion of fire is to ascend other motions whatever it hath arise from some outward and accidentall restraint limiting the nature of it and so the Spirit of God ever raiseth up the affections from earth fastneth the eye of Faith upon Eternity ravisheth the soule with a servent longing to bee with the Lord and to bee admitted unto the fruition of those pretious joyes which heere it suspireth after as soone as ever men have chosen Christ to bee their Head then presently ascendunt de Terra they goe up out of the Land Hos. 1. 11. and have their conversation above where Christ is Thirdly fire doth inflame and transforme every thing that is combustible into the nature of it selfe and so the Spirit of God filleth the soule with a divine fervour and zeale which purgeth away the corruptions and drosse of the flesh with the spirit of judgment and with the Spirit of burning Fourthly fire hath a purifying and cleansing property to draw away all noxious or infectious vapors out of the Ayre to separate all soyle and drosse from mettalls and the like and so doth the Spirit of God clense the heart and in heavenly sighes and repentant teares cause to expire all those steemes of corruptions those noysome and infectious lusts which fight against the soule Fifthly fire hath a penetrating and insinuating quallity whereby it creepeth into all the pores of a combustible body and in like manner the holy Spirit of God doth penetrate the heart though full of insensible and inscrutible windings doth search the reines doth pry into the closest nookes and inmost corners of the soule there discovering and working out those secret corruptions which did deceive and defile us Lastly fire doth illighten and by that meanes communicates the comforts of it selfe unto others and so the Spirit being a Spirit of truth doth illuminate the understanding and doth dispose it likewise to discover its light unto others who stand in need of it for this is the nature of Gods grace that when Christ hath manifested himselfe to the soule of one
man it setteth him on worke to manifest Christ unto others as Andrew to Simon Iohn 1. 41. and the Woman of Samaria to the men of the City Ioh. 4. 29. and Mary Magdalen to the Disciples Ioh. 20. 17. It is like Oyntment poured forth which cannot be concealed Proverb 27. 16. Wee cannot saith the Apostle but speake the things which we have heard and seene Acts 4. 20. And they who feared the Lord in the Prophet spake often to one another Mal. 3. 16. These propositions being thus set downe let the conscience assume them to it selfe in such demands as these Doe I finde in my selfe a Freedome from that spirit of feare and bondage which maketh a man like Adam to fly from the presence of GOD in his Word doe I finde my selfe able with affiance and firme hope to fly unto God as unto an Alter of refuge in time of trouble and to call upon his Name and this not onely with an outward battology and lipp-labour but by the spirit to cry Abba Father doth the testimony of Gods Spirit settle and compose such doubtings in me as usually arise out of the Warre betweene Flesh and Faith doe I finde a change and transformation in me from the vanity of my old conversation unto the Image of Christ and of that originall Justice wherein I was created doe I finde my selfe distinguished and taken out from the World by Heavenly mindednes and raised affections by renouncing the delights abandoning the corruptions suppresing the motions of secular and carnall thoughts solacing my soule not with perishable and unconstant contentments but with that blessed hope of a City made without hands immortall undefiled and that fadeth not away doe I finde in my heart an habituall tendernes and aptnes to bleed and relent at the danger of any sinne though mainly crossing my carnall delights and whatever plots and contrivances I might lay for furthering mine owne secular ends if by indirectnes sinfull engagements and unwarrantable courses I could advance them doe I finde my selfe in reading or hearing Gods Word inwardly wrought upon to admire the Wisdome assent unto the truth acknowledge the holines and submit my selfe unto the obedience of it doe I in my ordinary and best composed thoughts preferre the tranquility of a good conscience and the comforts of Gods Spirit before all out-side and glittering happines notwithstanding any discouragements that may bee incident to a concionable conversation Lastly are the graces of God operative and stirring in my soule Is my conversation more heavenly my zeale more fervent my corruptions more discovered each faculty in its severall Sphere more transformed into the same Image with Christ Iesus Are all these things in me or in defect of any doe the desires and longings of my soule after them appeare to be sincere and unfeigned by my daily imploying all my strength and improving each advantage to further my proficiencie in them Then I have an evident and infallible token that having thus farre partaked of the spirit of Life and by consequence of Faith whereby our soules are fastned unto Christ I may with comfort approach unto this holy Table wherein that life which I have received may be further nourished and confirmed to me The second medium formerly proposed for the tryall of Faith was the nature and essence of it To finde out the formall nature of Faith we must first consider that all Faith is not a saving Faith For there is a Faith that worketh a trembling as in the Divels and there is a Faith which worketh life and peace as in those that are justified Faith in generall is an assent of the reasonable soule unto revealed truths Now every medium or in ducement to an assent is drawne eyther from the light which the obejct it selfe proposeth to the faculty and this the blessed Apostle contradistinguisheth from faith by the name of light or else it is drawne from the authority and Authenticalnes of a narrator upon whose report while we relie without any evidence of the thing it selfe the assent which we produce is an assent of faith or credence The Samaritans did first assent unto the miracles of CHRIST by the report of the woman and this was faith but afterwards they assented because themselves had heard him speake and this was sight Now both those assents have annexed unto them either evidence and infallibility or onely probability admitting degrees of feare and suspition That faith is a certaine assent and Certitudine rei in regard of the object even above the evidence of demonstrative conclusions is on all hands confest because howsoever qantum ad certitudinem mentis in regard of our weakenes and distrust wee are often subject to stagger yet in the thing it selfe it dependeth upon the infallibility of Gods owne Word which hath said it and by consequence is neerer unto him who is the Fountaine of all truth and therefore doth more share in the properties of truth which are certainty and infallibility then any thing proved by meere naturall reasons and the assent produced by it is differenced from suspition hesitancie or dubitation in the opinion of Schoole-men themselves Now then in as much as we are bound to yeild an evident assent unto the Articles of our christian Faith both intellectuall in regard of the truth and fiduciall in regard of the goodnes of them respectively to our owne benefit and salvation Necessary it is that the understanding be convinced of those two things First that GOD is of infallible Authority and cannot lie nor deceive which thing is a principle unto which the light of nature doth willingly assent And secondly that this Authority which in Faith I thus relie upon is indeede and infallibly Gods owne Authority The meanes whereby I come to know that may be eyther extroardinary as revelation such as was made to prophets concerning future events or else ordinary and common to all the Faithfull For discovery of them we must againe rightly distinguish the double Act of Faith First that Act whereby wee assent unto the generall truth of the object in it selfe secondly that Act whereby we rest perswaded of the goodnes thereof unto us in particular with respect unto both with these doth a double question arise First touching the meanes whereby a beleever comes to know that the testimony and authority within the promises and truths of Scripture hee relieth upon are certainly and infallibly Gods owne Authority Which question is all one with that how a Christian man may infallibly be assured ita ut non possit subesse falsum that the holy Scriptures are the very dictates of Almighty God For the resolution whereof in a very few words wee must first agree that as noe created understanding could ever have invented the mystery of the Gospell it being the counsell of Gods owne bosome and containing such manifold wisdomes as the Angels are astonished at So it being dictated and revealed by Almighty God such is the deepnes
Tradition and suggestion there hath not in any age been enough to make up a number who upon inducements of argument and debate have forsaken the Scriptures at the last which is a strong presumption that they all who persisted in the embracing of them did after triall and further acquaintance by certaine taste and experience finde the Testimony and tradition of the Church to bee therein faithfull and certaine Secondly That man being made by God and subject to his will and owing unto him worship and obedience which in reason ought to bee prescribed by none other than by him to whom it is to bee performed that therefore requisite and congruous it is that the Will of God should bee made knowne unto his Creature in such a manner and by such meanes as that hee shall not without his owne willfull neglect mistake it in as much as Law is the rule of obedience and promulgation the force of Law Thirdly that no other Rule or Religion can bee assigned either of Pagans or Mahumetans which may not manifestly by the strength of right reason bee justly disproved as not proceeding from God either by the latenesse of its originall or the shortnesse of its continuance or the vanity and brutishnesse of its rules or the contradictions within it selfe or by some other apparent imperfection And for that of the Iewes notwithstanding it had its originall from Divine ordination yet from thence likewise it may bee made appeare out of those Scriptures which they confesse to have received its period and abrogation God promising that as hee had the first time shaken the Mount in the publication of the Law and first founding of the Mosaicall Pedagogie so he would once againe shake both the Earth and the Heaven in the promulgation of the Gospell To say nothing that force of reason will easily conclude that with such a God as the old Scriptures set forth the Lord to be the bloud of Bulls and Goates could not possibly make expiation for sinne but must necessarily relate to some greater sacrifice which is in the Gospell revealed And besides whereas the Lord was wont for the greatest sinnes of that people namely Idolatry and pollution of his worship to chastice them notwithstanding with more tolerable punishments their two greatest captivities having beene that of Egypt which was not much above two hundred yeares and that of Babylon which was but seventie yet now when they hate Idolatry as much as ever their fathers loved it they have lien under wrath to the uttermost under the heaviest judgment of dispersion contempt and basenesse and that for fifteene hundred yeeres together a reason whereof can bee no other given than that fearefull imprecation which hath derived the staine of the bloud of Christ upon the children of those that shed it unto this day Fourthly the prevailing of the Gospell by the ministery of but a few and those unarmed impotent and despised men and that too against all the opposition which power wit or malice could call up making it appeare that Christ was to rule in the midst of enemies When Lucian Porphyrie Libanius and Iulian by their wits Nero Severus Diocletian and other Tyrants by their swords the whole world by their scorne malice and contempt and all the arts which Satan could suggest laboured the suppression and extinguishing of it The prevaling I say of the Gospell by such meanes against such power in the midst of such contempt and danger and that over such persons as were by long custome and tradition from their fathers trained up in a Religion extreamely contrary to the truth and very favourable to all vitious dispositions and upon such conditions to deny themselves to hate the world and the flesh to suffer joyfully the losse of credit friends peace quiet goods liberties life and all for the name of a crucified Saviour whom their eyes never saw and whom their eares daily heard to bee blasphemed such a prevailing as this must needs prove the originall of the Gospell to bee divine for had not God favoured it as much as men hated it impossible it must needs have been for it to have continued Fifthly that the doctrines therein delivered were confirmed by miracles and divine operations And certaine it is that God would not in so wonderfull a manner have honoured the figments of men pretending his Name and Authority to the countenancing of their owne inventions And for the Historicall Truth of those miracles they were not in those Ages when the Church in her Apologies did glory of them and when if faigned they migh most easily have been disproved nor yet by those enemies who marvailously maligned and persecuted Christian Religion ever gain saied Lastly That were it not so that omne mendacium est pellucidum and hath ever something in it to bewray it selfe yet it could not bee operaepretium for them to lie in publishing a Doctrine whereby they got nothing but shame stripes imprisonment persecution Torments Death Especially since the holinesse of their lives their humility in denying all glory to themselves and ascribing all to God must needs make it appeare to any reasonable man that they did not lay any project for their owne glory which they purposely disclaymed refused to receive from the hands of such as offered it yea and registred their owne infirmities upon perpetuall Records With these and many other the like arguments is the Church furnished to prepare the mindes of men swayed with but ordinary ingenuity and respect to common Reason at the least to looke further and make some sad inquiry into the Doctrine of the Gospell There being therein especially promises of good things made without monie or price of incomprehensible value and of eternall continuance But now though a Philosopher may make a very learned discourse to a blinde man of colours yet it cannot bee that any formall and adaequate notion of them should bee fashioned in his minde till such time as the faculty bee restored and then all that preceeding Lecture being compared with what hee afterward actually seeth in the things themselves doth marvailously settle and satisfie his minde So though the Church by these and the like inducements doth prepare the minds of men to assent to divine Authority in the Scriptures yet till the naturall ineptitude and disposition of the soule be healed and it raised to a capacity of supernaturall light the worke is no whit brought to maturity Two things therefore doe yet remaine after this ministry and manuduction of the Church First an Act of the Grace of Gods Spirit healing the understanding and opening the eye that it may see wonders in the Law writing the Law in the heart and so making it a fit receptacle for so great a light Secondly the subject being thus by the outward motives from the Church prepared and by the inward Grace of God repaired then lastly the object it selfe being proposed and being maturely considerd by reason thus guided and thus assisted doth then
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.