cheerfully go on their way notwithstanding their own weakness and all the dangers of their life Thus here is a double Blessing which I wait for both what Aaron shewed by his Blood and what Melchisedek shewed by his Bread 13. Author of my Salvation and of these Mysteries which express it bestow on me these two Blessings which this Sacrament shews together Grace for Grace Mercy and strength to keep Mercy Hosanna O Son of David save and preserve Save me that I may not fall under the hand of the Destroyer and preserve me that after this Salvation I never fall by my own hand But keep and set forward in me notwithstanding all mine Infirmities the work of thy faithful Mercies Grant that I may not increase my Guilt by my abusing of what thou gavest My Savior my Preserver give me alwaies what thou givest once Create a new heart within me but bless and keep what Thou createst and increase more and more what Thou plantest O Son of God and Tree of Life feed with thy sap this tender Branch which without thee cannot but wither and strengthen in thee a bruised Reed which without thee cannot but fall Father of everlasting Compassions forsake not in the Wilderness a feeble Israelite whom thou hast brought a little way out of Egypt And let not this poor Soul of mine which thou hast blessed with some desires and helped a while with some tendency towards an Eternal Salvation ever faint and fall from the right way The Angel in the Wilderness could undoubtedly rain as much Manna as the Paschal Lambs could shed Blood Jesu the Truth both of those Lambs and of that Angel Thou art as able to perfect me with thy Blessings out of thy Throne as thou wert to redeem me by thy Sacrifice on thy Cross Jesu Author Object and Truth of this which by thine appointment I am bidden now to take perform in me by thy sufferings what Thou dost exhibit Eternal Life by this thy Body broken give also Nourishment and maintenance thereby to this same Life for this is the Bread of Heaven Amen SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a Means of Grace 1. HItherto we have considered this holy Sacrament first as a standing Memorial of that Passion wherein Christ Jesus once offered himself up to God as Sacrifice and secondly as a sign of that nutritive and corroborative Grace the true Efflux of that Sacrifice by which sign he daily offers himself to us under the notion of Meat For his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 And I ingeniously confess that the most general use of the blessed Communion runs upon these two Notions and that these two main Resemblances between the Bread and Christs Body which qualify the consecrated Bread and the consecrated Wine in the same manner to bear the Character of a Sacrament do likewise sufficiently qualify it to bear another honor which it enjoys of being called the Lords Body However it is most certain that when the Fathers call it so which Christ himself taught them to do they justify both His and their speech upon the account of resemblance and of this commerce most usual between Representations and objects represented of enterchanging their own names Read the 23. Epist of St. Austin ad Bonif. 2. So for example in the Prophetic Visions and Dreams which most commonly were nothing else then extemporary Sacraments of Things then revealed by God those are most constantly said to be these The 7 Ears of Corn are 7 years by the interpretation of Joseph Gen. 41.26 The seven Stars are seven Angels in the Revelation of St. John 1.20 The Sower is the Son of Man The Tares are the wicked The Harvest is the end of the World in the Parables of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.37.38.39 If by chance we meet with Pictures that represent the Tabernacle or the Ornaments of Aaron we usually say pointing at some of these Figures This is the outward Court this is the Sanctuary here is the brazen Altar and there you see the Plate of pure Gold that none was allowed to wear except the High Priest of Israel just as walking in the Palaces and Galleries of great Persons we say without thinking to speak improperly that we have seen the 12. Sibyls the 12. Cesars the Temple of Ephesus c. that is the Representations of all these Now 't is certain that no Visions nor Images have ever bin more intended for this end of Representing then the true Sacraments have bin therefore it were most unreasonable to think that these sacred Images should want that Priviledg which all other altho casual and profane are allowed to have viz. to take the name of their Objects Nay since the Paschal Lamb the Circumcision and the Baptism have it for one is called the Passover the other the Covenant and the other the Burial of Christ why should the Holy Communion be without it Besides it is not conceivable that Christ who had yet in his hands that Paschal Bread which was called by the Jews the Bread of Affliction which their Fathers did eat in Egypt because it was the Memorial of it may not be understood after the same manner when a moment after He calls it his Body 3. Nevertheless altho the literal and immediate sense of these Words This is my Body comes to no more as Tertullian and S. Augustin with many more have in express terms declared it and as all ancient liturgies must needs understand it whensoever they call the Eucharist Type Image or figure for the proper and immediate use of Images is to represent Things If they chance also to have them in themselves or to convey them over to others it is upon another account as being vessels or utensiles c. which office is extrinsecal to Sacraments Nevertheless I say the end of the blessed Communion the exigency and pious desire of Communicants and the strength of other Places of Scripture require a great deal more in the Eucharist then a meer Memorial or Representation 4. 1. The proper end of the holy Communion which is to make us partakers of Christ in another manner and degree when with faith and repentance wee take and tast those holy Mysteries then when with the like dispositions wee do hear the Holy Gospel 2. The Exigency and honest desire of Communicants who seek no more for a bare Representation or Remembrance of Christ crucified at this Holy Table then Mary and other devout women did for winding Sheets or Napkins about his Grave I want and seek my Savior himself and I watch for all the opportunities of coming to his Sacrament for the same purpose that once made S. Peter and S. Iohn run so fast to his Sepulcher because I hope to find Him there 3. Lastly the full sense and importance of other Places in Scripture which allow the Holy Communion a much greater Vertue then is that of representing only The Cup
we do Act. 2.37 He shall fall amazed at that Stroke of Divine Justice that being offended but by Men could not be sanctified nor appeased but by the sufferings and death of God How dreadful is this Place how deep and holy is this Mystery Then he will fall again to worshipping not less amazed at then thankful for those inconceavable Mercies of God the Father who so gave up his only Son and for the Mercies of God the Son who thus gave himself up for us 11. My Lord and my God! I behold here in this Bread made of a Substance that was cut down beaten ground and bruised by men all the heavy Blows and Plagues and Pains which my Savior did suffer from the hands of his Murtherers I behold in this Bread dryed up and baked and burnt at the Fire the fiery wrath also which he suffered for me from above and from the hand of his own Father My God my God why hast thou thus forsaken him the violence of wicked men first hath made him a Martyr then the Fire of Heaven hath made him a Burnt sacrifice and under both these Sufferings lo he is become to me the Bread of Life Let us then go to take and eat it For tho the Instruments that bruised him be broken to pieces and the direful Flames that burned him be quite put out yet this Bread which is the Body of the Lord continues new The Spears and Swords that slew and the Burnings that compleated the Sacrifices are many years since scattered and spent but the strength and sweet smell of the Oblation is still fragrant the Blood still warm the words still fresh and the Lamb still standing as slain * Rev. 5.6 Any other Bread by duration will alter and any other Sacrifice will lose its strength but Thou most Eternal victime offered up to God through the Eternal Spirit by an everlasting Priest and by an Order which can never be changed Thou remainest alwaies the same and as thy years shall never fail they shall never lose nor abate any thing of thy saving strength and mercy help O help me also that they abate nothing of my Faith Help me to grieve for the sense of my sins and for that of thy pains as those good Souls did who saw thee suffer †Luke 23.27 Let not my heart burn with less Zeal to follow and serve thee now when this Bread is broken at this Table then did the hearts of thy Disciples when thou didst break it in Emaus * Luke 24.32 O Rock of Israel Rock of Salvation Rock struck and cleft for me let those two streams of Blood and Water which once gushed out of thy side †Joh. 19.34 when the Curse of the Law and the Rod of Moses had opened it bring down with them Salvation and Holiness into my Soul tho far distant from the Mountain where thou didst receive that deadly Blow And let not my Soul less thirst after them at this distance then if I stood upon Horeb whence sprung this water and near the very Cleft of that Rock the very Wounds of my Savior whence gushed out this Sacred Blood All the distance of Times and Countries how great soever which is between Adam and me doth not keep his Sin or his Punishment any more from pursuing and reaching me then if I had bin born in his house and notwithstanding this distance we sin and dye after his Image as if we were immediatly sprung from his Loines Second Adam Adam descended powerful from above let thy Blood reach as far and come as freely both to save and to sanctify as the Blood of my first Father did both to destroy and defile me Blessed Jesu who revivest by this Sacrament the Memory of thy Sacrifice quicken and strengthen my faith also dispose my mind prepare my heart and then bless this thine Ordinance If I but touch in that manner I ought to do the Hem of his Garment the Garment of his Passion virtue will proceed out of Him it shall be done according to my Faith and my poor Soul shall be made whole Amen SECTION III. Of the blessed Sacrament as it stands for a Sign of present Graces 1. THe second Face of the blessed Communion looks towards the present Graces that attend the right use of it first as a Figure whereby God represents secondly as a moral Instrument whereby he is pleased to convey them unto the Church First I say it marks and signifies these present Graces For being of its own nature a Sacrament that is a sign of an Invisible Grace it must principally stand to signify and lead us to greater Blessings 2. It is the ordinary way of God when He either promises or bestowes on men any considerable Blessing to confirm his word and his Gift with the addition of some Signs For this I need not to alledg other Evidences then the Rainbow the Burning Bush Abrahams Furnace Gideons Fleece the Cloud the Ark c. which for those times were Sacraments of great Things God commonly sent no Prophets without giving them as it were a Sacramental Equippage which could represent in some degree the Message they had to deliver witness the Hairy Mantels the rent Garments the Iron Yoakes the Hornes some times some kinds of life or Gesture wherein men might see before hand the Charges and sad Predictions which they were to hear soon after Our Savior did observe this same method when he laid his hands on Children when he breathed upon his Disciples when he bad them to anoint the Sick and when he cursed the Fig-tree All men by a naturall instinct do somwhat like this when they second their Expressions with some signs and motions of their Body tho they think of no Mysteries So that you hardly can hear any man being somwhat earnest and serious upon any matter whether of Request or complaint Submission or Excuses but you may see him at the same time either bowing the knee or joining his hands or uncovering his head which Acts are in a manner civil and natural Sacraments to confirm his Expression 3. The truth is such is the disposition of most men that how strongly soever they be perswaded of the Truth which they hear yet will they be far better wrought upon towards their own perswasion when they see some signs of this Truth And tho a true Israelire doubts not at all of the presence of his God nor a faithfull Disciple of the promise given him that he shall receive the Holy Ghost when Moses and Christ have once passed their Word for these two Things yet will their Faith be much strengthned when one sees the Ark and the Cloud which were the Sacrament of that and when the other receives the Breath which was the Sacrament of this Now the Mystery of the Cross and of the Salvation that followes it is of that high and important nature as might justly oblige the Son of God to propose them to his
pass away and the power which the other hath to take and enjoy what is given him Now Christ and his Estate his Happiness and his Glory his Eternity and his Heaven are not Things that may be moved more easily then the Mountains or the Earth and therefore not to be disposed of in any other real manner then great immoveable Estates are Therefore the Kingdom of Israel was once conferred upon David with some drops of that Sacred Oil which Samuel poured on his head 1 Sam. 16.13 The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is in full value and Heaven with all its fulness is in sure Title instated on true Christians by those small portions which they receive at the Blessed Communion the Minister of Christ having as to this effect as much power from his Master for what he acts as any Prophet or any Angel ever had for what they did 9. Hence it appears what crime it is not to discern the Lords Body It is to do worse then Esau did who sold his Birthright for a trifle it is to value at the same rate the Anointing of a Prophet and the composition of a Perfumer it is to take the Lords Body for a despicable Morsel of Bread In a word 't is to perform the action of a Beast that devours but the gross and earthy Matter of this Sacrament and have nothing of a Christian or rational creature who elevates his Soul to that Body which by Christs institution it represents and to the Price of that Body which it promises For since the proper essence of Sacred signs or Sacraments consists not in what they are in their nature but in what they signify by divine institution hence it happens infallibly that when the Sacraments are abused the injury must needs light not upon them in their own natural Being Bread Wine and Water which upon this account are not at all considerable but upon the Holy mysteries the Body and Blood of Christ himself who is the main object of their formal Being that is their Signification And therefore the Apostle speaks most exactly when he saies that whosoever eats of this Bread unworthily doth not discern or doth not sanctify but uses as a common and profane thing the very Body of Jesus Christ 11. In this profane want of Discerning 't is hard to say whether the Sin or the Punishment be the greater For the sin is abominable since not the Bread but Christ himself suffers the wrong the Bread being not here concerned at all nor more abused by the Villain that abuses the Sacrament then is the Earth the water or any other common matter of human Bodies by the Murtherer that kills a Man or then are Brass and Marble by the Rebels who pull down their Princes Statues or then Parchment Paper and Ink by that unnatural Son who tears and tramples upon the Deeds and the last will of his Father Only there is this difference that in these last Instances the Outrage proceeds but from the Earth the Brass the Marble the Paper and other such common Matter to the Man King or Fathers persons who should have bin considered and who alone suffer the wrong whereas in abusing the blessed Sacraments the sin flys a great deal higher namely to the very Face of Jesus Christ for whose Body and Blood they stand So that as the Holy Communion is not exposed in the Church under the notion of Bread and Wine the faithful Communicants do appear there to receive Christ and the faithless to abuse Him 11. But if this Attemt is impious the Punishment that attends it is most dreadful It is a very sad mischance when Dogs or Apes tear like lose paper all to fitters the Titles and assurances of a good Estate and who would not pitty that wretch who in his mad Passion had thrown into the sea the very Keyes which were given him to Justify the Propriety of vast Treasures in such Houses as these keyes might open Blind Villains you cannot discern either among these Papers the Original Deeds of your Estate or among all these Instruments the keyes that might both assure and give you admittance to immense Riches Whensoever you eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup thus unworthily unhappy men you do not discern the Pledges of your Salvation nay most Impious as you are you neither discern nor will honor the Body and Blood of your Savior which would bring salvation to you At once both impious and unhappy men you despise and cast away from you both the Salvation and the Savior 12. Lord Jesu who hast ordained this Mystery for a Communion of thy Body for a Means of advancement and proficiency in Holiness and for an infallible Pledg of Eternal Salvation which thou hast purchased by thy Body and which thou preparest thy People to receive by this Proficiency in Holiness now Lord in mercy look on me help my unbelief increase my Faith and order the Soul of thy Servant who is to take these Holy Things Then since thou thy self originally givest them tho not immediatly but by the ministry of thy Disciples * Joh. 4.1 2. In giving them bless them also and bless them whilst I receive them that they may be efficacious to settle me in the Communion of thy Sufferings which they exhibit and shew forth to feed me with that living Bread which they present and to sanctify me for that eternal Happiness which they promise O Lord thou knowest my simpleness my Growning is not hid from thee look on a poor Sinner at thy Table as thou didst on him who hung by thy Cross O Lord my God remember me now when thou art come into thy Kingdom * Luke 23.42 Amen 13. Eternal Priest who art gon up on high there to receive Gifts for men fill my Heart I beseech thee with blessings out of thy holy Seat as now thou fillest my Mouth with the Holy Things of thy Church and so dispose me by thy Grace to eat both spiritually and really the Flesh of that Sacrifice which thou didst offer without the Gate and which this Sacrament sets before me here in thy Courts that thence I may be admitted into that Holyest Sanctuary which thy Sacrifice hath opened and which this Sacrament invites me to This is the Bread which the Lord hath prepared for his Children and which he sends me now by the hand of one of his Angels O that in the strength of this Meat I may walk as Elijah did my fourty daies or as Israel my fourty years and come at last to that Holy Mountain where without the help of any Bread or the Ministry of any Angels I shall see my God face to face Eternal and blessed and blessing Spirit of God bless me now and help me to drink so worthily of this fruit of the Vine that I may drink it new in the Kingdom of my Father Amen SECTION VI. Of the Holy Eucharist as it implies a Sacrifice And first of the Commememorative
of Blessing which wee bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ 1. Cor. 10.16 For whether the word which wee render Communion be taken in an active sense as 't is often for Communication the holy Eucharist is a Means of communicating the Blood of Christ or tho we take it but in a neuter and intransitive sense yet the holy Eucharist will be still a Mystery wherein one way or other true Christians shall find not a Commemoration or Representation only but a Communion also with the Blood so represented and remembred 5. The reall Efficacy which the Holy Communion hath to convey Grace and Blessing on the true Christian Receiver is evidently demonstrated by the opposite Efficacy it hath to convey a Curse and Destruction on the Profane Whosoever sayes S. Paul eats of this Bread unworthily eats damnation to himself Now certainly this would be as much to think unworthily as to eat unworthily of this holy Bread to think it might be really pernicious when it is abused but not really blissful and saving in its right use and that this Bread which we eat of should be an effectual Communion to procure death but meerly Sacramental only to shew and not to procure Salvation S. Paul sets out the Character of the unworthy Communicant by not discerning the Lords Body and thereby declares him guilty of the very Body and Blood of Christ That is to say that whosoever offers to abuse this Sacrament plunges himself into their Crime who have abused Christ himself and that that Villain goes hand in hand with Judas with Pilate with both Jews and Romans who murthered Him What therefore can be thought of those good Souls who approach to this Sacrament with faith humility and a trembling Reverence but that they will return home as much Justified and full of grace after their Devout as the other shall full loaded with Damnation after their impious usage and that God will be as merciful in reckoning those among the Righteous Mary Joseph Nicodemus as He is Just against these when upon this account he shuts up their Souls with the Sinners that in very deed crucified him And God forbid that the Body of Christ who came to save not destroy should not diffuse as much of its Savor of life for the life and Salvation of Devout Souls as it doth of its Savor of Death for the Death of the Impious 2 Cor. 2.16 6. The manner of this real Communication and Conveyance is the great unfathomable Mystery which the Holy Fathers have ever admired and which therefore we neither need nor do take upon us to explain The Shepherds think themselves happy with the Message brought to them by an Angel This day is born to you a Savior Luke 2.11 tho they know nothing of the way of his most miraculous Birth and the honest Israelites ought not to receive Manna less thankfully as they do not less effectually tho they know neither of what matter nor by what means the Heavens the Air or the Clouds can thus every morning shed about their Tents this strange Meat I must not wonder if the waies of the Lord be unknown to me in his Miracles since they are so very often in his most ordinary works And if David tho a Prophet cannot think upon that natural virtue which makes Bones and Veins every day out of that feed that is apparently nothing like to all these parts of Mans body but he cries out I have bin strangely and wonderfully made Ps 139.13 Who am I to pretend to a clear understanding of that hidden and incomprehensible wisdom wherewith God is pleased to make out of Water or Wine or Bread in themselves weak Elements strong and supernatural Organs for Mens Souls and salvation 7. It is true indeed that Bread Wine and Water can without much ado come up so high as to become a Sacrament to signify since the Act of signifying depends meerly on Institution Yet this Institution such as may make a Sacrament must needs proceed both from a Divine and an almighty Origine Divine I say to give a Sacred Character and Almighty withal to justify and maintain it For example after the Flood no man or Angel had authority to make of the Rainbow a Mystery that should signify the worlds preservation from Drowning and if either Men or Angels had taken on them that Liberty none of them had the power to make it true that is to make it a standing infallible Evidence that the world shall never perish by water So in the Church neither Apostles nor Bishops have any more Right to confer either upon the water of Baptism or upon the Bread and Wine of the Holy Communion a Sacramental or representative Office then they have power to make good their Representation by conferring the Blessings promised by it And it is specially to this purpose that most of the Expressions and Epiphonemas of the holy Doctors are to be understood when they stand somtimes amazed at the infinit Power of God either in the Institution or the use of these Mysteries God alone being able to raise water or Blood or any Thing else to the Order of Sacraments But to raise them a step higher that is to the Dignity of standing for true Means and Instruments which may convey on us those Graces which by their proper institution they represent there is the Finger of God indeed and there is a fitter matter for Mens admiration then Mens knowledg 8. Here then I come to Gods Altar with a full perswasion that these words This is my Body promise me more then a figure that this holy Banquet is not a Representation made of outward shews without substance and that it is not so dangerous a Mystery but that the Religious use of it may convey to me at the least as many and as great Blessings as the profane abuse of it may throw on the Abuser Plagues and Curses But how these Mysteries become in my behalf the supernatural Instruments of such Blessings it is enough for me to admire One thing I know as said the blind man after he had received his sight S. Joh. 9.25 he laid Clay upon mine Eyes and behold I see He hath blessed and given me this Bread and my Soul received Comfort I verily believe that Clay hath nothing in it self that could have wrought such a Miracle as Israel never saw the like And I know as much of this Bread that it is not such a Jewel as may contain in its substance or impart from it self to others Grace Holiness and Salvation which is the juice and the substance of Christs Body Only I am perfectly satisfied that 't is the constant way of God to produce his greatest Works at the presence tho not by the virtue of the most useless Instruments At the very stroke of a Rod He parted once in two the red Sea At the blowing some Trumpets He tumbled down massy strong walls At some few washings in Jordan he
only to charge it with all its sins Nevertheless as under the Law the Lamb and the Oblation added to it did join in one Sacrifice because both were offered upon one Altar and consumed by one fire so under the Gospel Christ and his People are accounted for one Oblation when both in their own proper way are consecrated by the same Cross and are in some manner alike obedient to death For we have bin planted together in the likeness of his death knowing this that our Old Man is dead c. Rom. 6.5 6. 18. By this likeness or conformity of Sufferings Christ is dead once to satisfie the rigor of the Law and so must Christians destroy their sins and mortifie themselves that they may observe hereafter the Righteousness of the Gospel Christ during that terrible storm that made him weep and cry aloud Matt. 27.46.50 Luk. 23.46 Heb. 5.7 did suffer such a heavy punishment as might satisfy Gods Justice And his Mystical Body must every day both undertake and suffer such fatherly Corrections as may overmaster their own sins In a word the Holy Savior was willing to be crucified because this dismal execution was indispensably necessary to turn away the wrath to come and his true members must be willing to crucifie themselves with him because this Discipline is as indispensably necessary to destroy in them by degrees that inward corruption which would bring back again this wrath 19. O Father of Mercies I beseech thee both by the merits of thy Son who now intercedes in Heaven awd by that bloody Sacrifice which he hath offered on the Cross whereof thou seest the Sacrament upon This Table this Day be pleased to receive me into the Communion of his Sufferings and hereafter into the Communion of his Glory Cast not away from thee in displeasure the Elevation of these hands which I will fasten to his Cross so far as they may not offend and which I do now stretch before thee with a true desire that hereafter they may serve thee neither despise the Sacrifice of a poor Soul which also his Cross hath wounded with the sense of her misery and by this wound laies it open both to pour out her own prayers and to gasp after thy mercies O God and Father bestow on me such a measure of that Spirit through which thy Son offered himself * Heb. 9.14 as may sanctifie for ever the Body and Soul which now I offer and may likewise help me to perform the service which I do promise A Spirit of Contrition that I may sufficiently detest those sins which did deliver my God to death then a spirit of Holiness that I may never be temted to them any more then a crucified man can be temted O let this crucified Body which I present to thee for such never be untied from his Cross either to fall to those viclences that have peirced my Saviors hands or to fly up to those vanities that have crowned his head with Thorns or to follow unjust pleasures that have filled his dear Soul with greif that have filled his Entrails with Gall. Arm and Rod of the Lord who in thine Anger didst revenge all these sins upon my Savior in thy mercy correct and destroy them also in me So my God accept of a heart that sheds now before thee its Tears as a poor Victim does its blood and that raises up unto thee all its desires its thoughts its zeal as a Burnt offering doth its flames Finally since my Sacrifice can be neither holy nor accepted being alone Accept of it O Father as it is an Oblation supported by that Sacrifice which alone is able to please thee Receive it clothed with the Righteousness of thy Son and made acceptable with that holy Perfume that rises from of his Altar And grant that He who sanctifies and they who are by him sanctified may be joined in one Passion and may enjoy hereafter with thee the same Glory Our Father which art in Heaven c. SECTION VIII Concerning the Oblation of our Goods and Alms or the Sacrifice of Justice 1. IT is an express and often repeated Law of God by Moses and no where repeated by Christ that no worshipper shall presume to appear before him with emty hands Sincere Christians must have them full at the receiving of the holy Communion with four distinct sorts of Sacrifices 1. The Sacramental and commemorative Sacrifice of Christ 2. The real and Actual Sacrifice of themselves 3. The free will Offering of their Goods 4. The Peace Offering of their Praises 2. The first as representing the Sacrifice offered on the Cross is the ground of the three others especially of the second which must no more be separated from it then Parts are from the Whole or the Body from its Head These two are so close coupled together that St. Austin * Aug. apud Fulg. de Bapt. Aethiop c. ult more then once by the Body of Christ in the holy Communion understands Christs mystical Body which is the Church And St. Cyprian * St. Cypr. l. 2. Ep. 3. saies expressly that Christ and his People are contained and united together in the Holy Cup that being represented by the Wine this represented by the Water so that Christ is not there without his People nor the People without their Savior 3. The Third and fourth which are the Sacrifices of our Goods and of our Praises are appendages following after the second that is the Sacrifice of our own selves by as natural a consequence as the fruits and leaves follow the Tree and as what we have or what we can must needs come after what we are All the world know how that blemisht and lame Sacrifices were abominable under the Law and certainly Bodies without heads souls without their faculties and Persons without their proper Duties are not better under the Gospel Such mutilated Sacrifices cannot suit with that of Christ which was perfectly whole and entire Therefore as when we once offer our selves to God our Souls and Bodies become attending Sacrifices on the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ so must by the same equity all our Goods and Services by way of seconddary Oblations attend the Sacrifice of our Persons And as the Lamb in the daily Sacrifice was never offered without its Meat Oblation nor this meat Oblation without its incense its Wine its Oil So the Eternal Son and Lamb of God who was pleased to offer himself for me must neither be offered without me nor whensoever I offer up my self both by him and with him must I appear as a dry and unsavory Meat offering without juice without sweet smell without all the holy dispositions of readiness and joy to obey and please my God in all good works whereof the Incense the Wine and the Oil were under the Law sacred Emblemes In a word whensoever we offer our selves we offer by the self same Act all that we have all that we can and so consequently we do engage for
all that it shall be dedicated to the Glory of God and that it shall be surrendred into his hands employed to such uses upon such occasions and times as he will be pleased to appoint 4. Hear then my son as saies the wise man look to they feet when thou entrest into the house of God lest thou offer the Sacrifice of fools Eccles 5.6 It is the Sacrifice as well as the part of a fool to offer the Person without the Goods that attend it as it were the bones without the sinewes and the flesh that cover them It is the same Act of an Impious wretch to mangle and to mutilate either the holy Sacrifice which Jesus hath made to his father or the holy Sacrament which he hath ordained to his Church or that holy Oblation which after his Sacrifice and at his Sacrament he is pleased to require of us And after we have presented it it is an Act not only of great Impiety but of as great a Sacriledg as was that of Ananias to withdraw without leave any part of that Whole which we have devoted to Gods Service 5. It behoves not Israel alone to go forth out of Egypt with all their Children and Cattle and Goods to offer them unto the Lord that he may take either all or such a part as he will be pleased to chuse Exod. 10.25 26. All the Gentiles were likewise to go and give themselves up to Gods service with their Gold their Silver their Dromedaries and their Chariots loden with their cheifest substance The Egyptians with all their wealth Tyre and Sidon with their Merchandise Esay 23.18 and 60.6 7 9. The wise men with their Frankincense their Myrrh and their Gold and so every sinner at his Conversion to God was to consecrate all to Jesus Christ and to the service of his Church From that very moment that by any reall Act of conversion of faith of repentance or of vow we have given up our selves to Christ who hath likewise given himself for us as by virtue of this mutual Communion all what he possesses becomes ours namely his Grace his Immortality his Glory and so he bestowes it upon us according to the times and degrees which he sees best for our Salvation by the same consequence all whatsoever we have doth become his so that he may take it after in what proportion and season soever he shall see best for his Glory The two Asses which he sent for by his disciples that he might ride on them to Jerusalem and the Chamber which he commanded to be ready that he might eat the Passover in it were not so absolutely his as are our lives our Goods c. whensoever the Lord hath need of them Matt. 21.2 3. Luk. 22.11 Those things were his only by the Right of propriety which as to a Soveraign Lord and God is naturally reserved upon any thing which he creates or saves but these are his besides because we with our selves have given them When he calls for the former to deny them were injustice but to deny these latter were a visible Sacriledg all what we are what we can do and what we can give even to the least vessel in our houses being involved and made holy in this one Consecration In that day shall there be upon the very Bridles of the Horses holiness unto the Lord and every pot in Jerusalem and Juda shall be holy unto the Lord. Zechar. 14.20 21. 6. This Consecration whereby the worshipper offers and resigns up all himself and all his Concernments to God if it be well don and duly performed is first as for our Souls and Bodies a Christian Apotheosis if I may use this word which both makes them capable of the Sacrifice and grace of Christ and raises and prefers them to the very nature that is the Condition of holiness and Immortality of God Secondly as to the Consecrated things it is a miraculous priviledg which in the end infinitly multiplies every thing which is thus parted with it blesses the use of it altho it be but presented as long as we can enjoy it and finally exchanges it when we can enjoy it no more for such advantagious returnes as may be conceived to be not such as when water was turned into Wine or dirt into Gold but such as if we conceive a glass of water turned into streams of Everlasting Comsorts the dust of Israel into so many stars of Heaven small Cottages of Clay into Royal Palaces and vain declining shadows into real and Eternal possessions Thou hast bin faithful in a few things I will make thee Ruler over many things c. Matth. 25.21 But if the Law of these Consecrations be not well performed if Levi come to serve Ashtaroth after he hath dedicated himself to God and if the Offerings of the People be employed to profane uses after they have toucht Gods Altar then there are as many and as heavy Curses to be lookt for as on the other side upon a better use there are many and great Blessings to be expected So that upon all considerations both of prudence and of Duty first we must give up all to God next after we have given we must fly all not only as two most odious sins but also as two most terrible mischeifs the Sacriledg in withdrawing at any time when God demands it what hath bin thus consecrated to him and the Profaneness in mispending upon superfluous or worse uses what of it he is pleased to allow to our proper necessities and other lawfull Conveniencies 7. Now tho Christ our blessed Savior by that everlasting and ever same Sacrifice of himself offer himself virtually upon all occasions and we on our side also offer our selves and what is ours with him several other waies besides that of the holy Communion as at our Conversion and first Act of faith in him Christ saies St. Austin a Aug. Evang. Quest l. 2. q. 33. is sacrificed for the salvation of every sinner at the very moment he repents and beleives him to have bin Sacrificed and at our Baptism For every one offers the Sacrifice of the Passion of the Lord at that time that he is consecrated by the faith of this Passion and baptised a Christian saith the same father b August Expos incheat ad Rom. and the Baptism of Christ is the blood of Christ saith another c Chrâ—s Hom. 10. Heir Nevertheless because Christ offers himself for us at the holy Communion in a more solemn and public sacramental way thence it comes that the Memorial of the sacrifice of Christ thereby celebrated takes commonly the Name of the Sacrifice it self as St. Austin d Aug. de Civ c. 5. id â—p 23. ad Bonis â—e Consert Disp 2 hoc â—st explains it often we are then obliged in a more special manner to renew all our Sacrifices all the vows of our Baptism all the first fruits of our Conversion and all the particular promises which it may