that good shepheard of souls that lay down my life for my sheep Thus broken and given thus delivered for you and to you I seal pardon of sins to your hearts I improve grace supply strength feed your souls to life everlasting Broken or Given as if it were all one for this heavenly Bread was given that it might be broken 't was broken that it might be given Christ could not have suffered for us had he not had a body given him for that purpose nor could that body have done us good or furnisht us with spiritual nourishment had it not bin broken Had not Christ dyed we could not be sure of living As it is with the bread it self which is the Symbol of his Body The corn must be first cut down and threshed and winnowed and grownd and sifted kneaded and baked with a hot oven before it can become bread THIS DOE YE These words either have reference to the actions of the Disciples who took the bread which Christ gave them and eat it and so they belong to all Christians in general to the whole company of believers according as the Church doth in more words deliver it Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee feed on him in thy heart with Faith and thanksgiving And so of the Cup afterward 't is said This doe ye as oft as ye drink it i.e. when ever ye drink it drink it in remembrance of me Or to Christ's own actions who broke it and gave it and thus they imply a special charge to the Officers of the Church the Ministers of the Gospel and Preachers of the Word such as also were these Disciples as if he should have said you are Apostles with whom I leave the care of planting Churches and preaching the Gospel whom I trust for the management of the affairs of my Kingdom and duly administring the Sacraments wherefore I charge and require of you that in celebrating this mystery you follow my example and doe no otherwise then you have seen me do before you that it may remain pure to all succeeding ages according to this first institution And hither St. Paul in this case makes his appeal where he discourses of the Holy Supper That which I received that deliver I unto you how the Lord Iesus c. This or Thus This which I have done or thus as I have done now in your company doe ye and all from hence forward that derive authority from you in your several assemblyes take bread and bless it and break it and give it about to those who rightly prepared come to the holy Table and use these words of consecration which I have done to you The Greek is make this hence it is an ordinary phrase amongst the Popish Priests when they perform Mass to say that they doe make the Body of the Lord thinking possibly that the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation is much advantaged by the word of making which in the Greek is indifferently applyed to all manner of actions and the other which signifies to do would have bin very improper and not fit to be us'd in this place THIS DOE YE The word will also in the Latine and Hebrew carry a sense of sacrificing and then 't would intimate that our Saviour's death was our peace-offering whereby God's wrath conceived against sin was atoned and his Iustice satisfied we being cleansed by the sprinkling of his Blood The Papists therefore call the Mass a Sacrifice without Blood and the holy Table strictly and properly without any Metaphor an Altar 'T is true we doe here represent and commemorate the death of Christ and when we come to partake of these Mysteries we may use the Psalmist's words What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord I will Sacrifice unto thee the Sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the Name of the Lord I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people But he having offer'd once a perfect Sacrifice for the taking away of sin and cry'd upon the Cross It is finished and in that he dyed dyes no more 't were absurd to think there needed a repetition of that act which in it self was all-sufficient Christ's Blood being of an infinite value as it immediately follows in the same Psalm Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints A word peculiar to Christ as in the fourth Psalm He hath set apart the holy one for himself and in the 16. Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption meaning Christ. Besides to what purpose is it to ground an unreasonable doctrine upon the nicety of a word which in ordinary plain meaning signifies but this doe so hereafter as ye now doe or do ye in your companies what ye have seen me now do in mine IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. For a memorial of me and a monument of my love who have not spar'd my life for your sakes and with a sense of gratitude to keep up the memory of my bitter death which I as your surety upon your account underwent and the benefit whereof you will receive by believing on me by eating my flesh and drinking my Blood and becoming one with me Or for my remembrance appointed by me to be one of my sacred ordinances to be kept up in the practise of the Church till my second coming in the clouds as ye will see me goe away Wherefore in the mean while to leave behind me a remembrance and to bear up your hearts in Faith that what I have suffered hath bin out of love to you and that those who in following ages shall not see me in the flesh yet may have some further assurance then my bare word I have provided this to be a standing ordinance in the Church whereby I may be remembred to the end of the world LIKEWISE ALSO HE TOOK THE CUP Now follows the other part of this Sacrament to wit the consecration of the Cup for it would not be a compleat meal were there not spiritual drink as well as meat the Blood of Christ being as necessary to quench the thirst as his flesh to satisfie the hunger of a believing soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness But first the Bread and then the Cup. Why because there must be a body broken before there could be blood spilt First bread to strengthen and then wine to refresh the heart Again the Cup last as of great importance for the flesh could have profited nothing without the blood and God is said to have redeem'd his Church with his Blood nor does he onely redeem us with the shedding of his blood but wash us by the sprinkling of it upon our consciences from dead works and preserve his Church spotless till the great day Nay the author to the Hebrews observes
faith applyes that purchase So then we are sav'd by the mercy of the Father by the merit of the Son and by the efficacy of the Spirit This form of Baptism is one of the clearest proofs of Trinity in all Scripture and indeed when our Saviour was Baptiz'd of Iohn all Three did shew themselves present Christ himself whom Iohn did Baptize was the second Person the Spirit descended upon him in the shape of a Dove and the Father spoke out of the Cloud saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased In the Command is set down the rite or outward action i.e. the washing with water The Promise delivers the grace signified and conveyed by the action to wit remission of sins The analogie betwixt the outward sign and the inward grace lyes in this that as Water being powred or sprinkled on the body washes off the filth so the Blood of Christ which was the Fountain open'd for the cleansing of iniquity doth purge the conscience and doe away sin whether original or actual and present us clean without spot in the sight of the Father by the virtue of the Spirit HE THAT BELIEVES AND IS BAPTIZED SHALL BE SAVED Faith is the soul's hand by which a man receives and applyes to himself the benefits purchased by Christ. By Faith we are justified Baptism is the laver of regeneration the seal of the Covenant the conveyance of Grace They are both necessary neither can either of them serve turn by it self There must be an Ordinance to ground Faith upon and there must be a Faith to make the Ordinance effectual For every appointment as the just man doth lives by Faith Faith without Baptism were a bucket without water and Baptism void of Faith were but a well without a bucket to draw up the waters of life He that believes by confessing his sins and professing Faith resolves upon amendment of life and gives himself up to Christ's discipline and then is baptiz'd obliges himself by vow enters into Covenant of strict walking with God He shall be sav'd from his sins the punishments due to them being free as well from the power as from the guilt His nature shall be renewed and by the continual supplyes of grace if he make good use of it he shall be enabled more and more to withstand temptations get ground of his lusts he shall be put into a state of salvation and every day set forward on his way to bliss through the paths of holiness till with Christ at last he arrive at perfection have his grace changed into glory HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT SHALL BE DAMNED This is a threat annexed to the promise which holds good by the law of contraries for if those that believe shall be saved then those that believe not must expect nothing but damnation We must observe that there is not added here any mention of Baptism because unbelief it self is enough to shut the gates of Heaven against any one and send him to Hell wherefore it is not said he that believes not and is not Baptiz'd for the unbeliever whether he be baptiz'd or no is lyable to this sentence If he hath been baptiz'd it will be look'd upon as a formal cheat a cloak to disguise his hypocrisy And if he hath not the very neglect of Baptism serves for an open discovery of his unbelief so that either way he aggravates his sin by being on one side hypocrite on the other profane The meaning of these words then is this But on the contrary whosoever doth not with true Faith entertain my Doctrine and with sure purpose of mind resolve on the keeping my Commands but doth either so far disbelieve Christian Truth that he will not so much as take upon him the outward profession of it or having been baptiz'd is of loose opinions and practises and disparages his profession with foul errors or wicked manners such an one will have no benefit by Christ no share in the salvation wrought by him but brings upon himself the guilt of his own sins and continues still in a state of wrath and perishing in his unbelief will assuredly be cast into everlasting torments If the One Sacrament may be termed the Bosom of the Church by which we are entred and have admittance into the fellowship of the Saints The Other may not without reason be call'd the Churches Breast by which we are nourished to a spiritual growth and are refreshed and fed to life everlasting Of the Lord's SUPPER AFter that our Saviour had sufficiently made known by his Doctrine the will of God concerning man's salvation and proved by many miracles that he was the Son of God that came down from Heaven to the end that having put on our nature he might in our stead satisfy the Law and undergoe the punishments due to us for our sins that we through Faith in him might live It pleased him that he might leave with us the Symbols of his presence for ever and preserve the memory of his sufferings afresh in the mind of the faithful to prefigure his Death by a Sacrament appointing Bread Wine the usual supplyes of life for the representing of his sacred Body which was broken on the Cross and torn with the nails and the spear and his Blood which trickled from his sacred Head by the pricking of the thorns gush'd out of his hands feet when he was nail'd to the tree and brake forth of his side when he was wounded with the launce and plentifully stream'd forth out of every vein of his sacred Body when he was cruelly scourged with whips Now his Body thus broken and his Blood thus shed doe no less feed a believers soul and improve the force of grace then the body is nourished and natures strength repaired by Bread and Wine But this hath a spiritual meaning not that any one doth eat the very flesh of Christ and drink his very blood in a gross manner for that will be as absured to think as 't is savage to doe or that Christ can be receiv'd any other way then by Faith for 't is a point of Faith that the Body of Christ did goe up to Heaven and there is to remain till the last day and 't is contrary to very reason to say that the same Body can at the same time be in several places and to bring to pass contradictions is a thing out of the power of omnipotence it self not to say that it is plain even to our outward senses that the elements of bread and wine doe still remain after consecration the same in substance as well as in colour and accidents as they were before In fine it would indeed be no Sacrament if the signs should change their nature and the thing signified be it self really there for a Sacrament is nothing else but a figure and representation of some thing that is absent exhibiting to the understanding that which cannot be seen with the eye and by
that in the old Law there was no attonement for sin without blood for in the blood lay the life the life of the sinner was to answer for his sin wherefore 't was not so much the flesh of the sacrifice which was partly burnt into ashes partly eaten by the Priest or congregation that appeas'd God's wrath as the blood which was sprinkled round the Altar Nor did the eating of the Passeover which was the type of this Supper secure the Israelites from the destroying Angel but the blood which was struck upon the lintell of the door Nor can the Papists plead the no necessity of administring the Cup because the children of Israel in the celebration of their Passeover and the Priests and people in their sacrifices onely eat of the flesh of the lamb or bullock and not drank the blood but either spilt it or sprinkled it up down For first we have here Christ's express command Drink ye all of it whereas they were bid to the contrary And then which is the main thing Christ's merit as was said before lay most in his blood so that to give our selves an interest in his sufferings we must partake of his blood as well as of his body But why is the Symbol of his precious Blood call'd a Cup whereas that by which his holy Body is represented is plainly termed Bread now bread and cup are not direct opposites nor answer one another but bread and wine This by the Papists own confession must be allowed to be a figure call'd Metonymie of the vessel containing for the liquor contained the Cup for the wine in the cup. Now therefore if the Cup be not really turn'd into the blood of Christ neither is the bread changed into flesh For just as it 's said of the bread This is my Body so he sayes of the Cup This is my Blood And if there be a figure in one place why not in both or can we suppose that our Saviour in a thing of so great concernment would not have spoke properly here too as he did before But the truth on 't is we should on all hands run our selves into a world of absurdities should we take words strictly as they sound and not allow them a fair meaning according to popular use and custom of speaking For by this means we should have cities with wals up to heaven Christ would be turn'd into one rock Peter into another Herod would be Metamorphosed into a fox and Ovid's fables would hardly seem more strange then Scripture But Rhetorick teacheth us the convenience and vulgar custom the necessity of using figures no question but our Saviour made use of the liberty in this sacred Institution Now the ground of this figure whereby the Cup is put for the wine whereas the other part of the Sacrament is properly express'd by the name of bread may be this because bread being of a solid substance is of it self easily laid hold on and taken up with the hands but wine is of a fluid liquid nature so that it cannot be meddled with to any use unless it be first put into some vessel as a cup c. Likewise also These two particles imply partly that Christ did as well appoint the use of wine as of bread to make this holy Supper an entire Sacrament in so much that if either should be taken away the mystery would be maimed and imperfect partly that he did in like manner and after the self same fashion consecrate the Symbol of his precious Blood as he did that of his holy Body using the same actions and almost words for as he took the bread and gave thanks and gave it to his Disciples bidding them eat and telling them that is was his Body which was broken for them and charging them to doe it in remembrance of him Iust so he took the Cup too and gave thanks and gave it amongst them and bid them drink and told them withal that it was his Blood which was shed for them and charged them to do it in remembrance of him Some little difference we may meet with both in the actions and in the words either by adding or leaving out First here is added a more special note of the time when the cup was appointed to wit after Supper which is but generally expressed in the other part to be the night in which he was betrayed And a more punctual command when he sayes Drink ye all of it contenting himself of the bread to have said onely Eat it with a particular declaration of the nature of this Sacrament where he tells them 't was the Blood of the New Testament which he sayes not of his Body and of the use and end for which it was appointed for the remission of sins i.e. for sealing that pardon which he purchased by his blood Besides a precept at least an advice of frequent receiving implyed in those words As oft as ye drink it Then here is left out the action of powring out of the wine which answers the breaking of bread for he broke the breaa but it is not said that he powred out the wine So that it may be supposed the cup was full of wine when he took it Yet the words of consecration doe make out this action also for as he said This is my Body which is broken for you so he saith This is my Blood which is shed for you And lastly he sayes of the bread Take eat but of the wine onely Drink which yet they could not do without taking it Now herein perhaps lay the difference that of the bread being broken into small pieces every one could at once take his part and all partake together at the same time but the cup being not capable of such a partition they handed it to one another the second staying till the first had drunk and so on to the last The Cup to wit being full of wine for so himself sayes afterward that he would drink no more of the fruit of the vine till he drank it new with them in the kingdom of his Father Now wine was the fittest to express the nature and use of the Blood of Christ it being the noblest liquour that which most refreshes the heart of man Give wine as the Proverb saith to the sad in heart that they may forget their misery Wine was used also in the curing of wounds as 't is said of the good Samaritan that taking the man â—hat had lighted amongst thieves into his care he powred wine and oyl into his wounds the wine to search and cleanse as well as the oyl to heal and skin them Christ's Blood hath the same virtue and efficacy to quench the spiritual thirst of a sinner who being scorch'd with his guilt longs for Christ's righteousness as the hart panteth after the water-brooks to cheer the spirits which lye drooping under the sense of sin to supply new strength to a Christian believer that he shall rejoyce
the same nature and essence with the Father begotten of his substance before all time God of God Light of Light very God of very God equal to him in all things as to the God-head Christ as the Son of God had no Mother as the Son of the Virgin no Father who became Man that he might in the flesh satisfy for the sins of the flesh yet continued God that he might appeas the anger of an offended God Man that he might suffer death God that he might overcome it God and Man that he might be a perfect Mediator and might reconcile God to Man by atoning wrath and man to God by destroying sin wherefore he took up humane nature put not of the divine But these two natures were united and as it were married in the one Person of Christ. OUR LORD In respect of God Christ is called the Son which shews his essence in respect of us a Lord which shews his dignitie Now he is our Lord both by right of creation because he made us and by right of redemption because he hath bought us with a price and purchased us with his blood to be a peculiar people We are no longer then our own that we should fulfill the lusts of the flesh But we are Christ's the Lord's to doe his Will and keep his Commands The several Steps by which Christ humbled himself and Divine Love moved towards us are his Conception Birth Passion Crucifixion Death Burial and Descent to Hell The infinite is conceiv'd the everlasting is born the Blessed suffers the King of Heaven is nailed to a Cross the immortal dyes the Immense is buried and the King of Glory goes down to Hell What strange contradictions have our sins put the Son of God upon who to procure our Salvation denyed himself and put on the form of a servant Which was conceived of the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary CONCEIVED That is cloathed with flesh formed and fashioned into bodily parts indued with sense motion and a reasonable soul inlivened cherished produced preserved increased and in one word made man Humane nature being taken up and joyn'd to the Divine OF THE HOLY GHOST Not begotten of his substance for then the third Person should be Father too which is contrary to Faith but by the operation of the holy Spirit the power of the Highest overshadowing her the Virgin without the help of man conceived which is a miracle foretold by the Prophets and fulfill'd in our Messias Behold a Virgin shall conceiv and bring forth a Son now the holy Ghost did separate that most pure mass of flesh blood of which the Body of Christ was to be formed from all corruption of our nature and the stain of sin to which all other the Virgin her self not excepted are lyable who are born after the ordinary way of generation Behold saith David a man after God's own heart I was conceived in sin and in iniquity hath my mother brought me forth Moreover 't was necessary that he should be born without sin who came to die for other's sins and the Lamb of God which was to take away the sins of the world should himself be spotless He could not have been our surety had he been himself a debtour nor satisfied justice for us could the law have charged him with any guilt of his own BORN Having taken upon him a true body being in all things made like unto us sin only excepted flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that he might truely become the Son of Man he observed the lawes and customs of humane nature and after he had continued in the womb the usual time he was at length brought forth into light laid in a manger wrap't in swadling cloaths and attended by the Virgin and bred up passed his child hood in performing obedience to his parents and grew in stature and wisdome OF THE VIRGIN It became God thus to be born not without a miracle Our Faith is full of miracles a Three-One God a God-Man Christ a Virgin-Mother Mary A Virgin she was before her delivery in her delivery and after her delivery for they who are called the brethren of the Lord are after the manner of the Hebrew speech to be understood as Kinsmen She was indeed espoused to Ioseph but she knew no man Her Virginitie dignifies a single life her betrothing justifies the married state It pleased God to choose a woman without the help of man in the business of our salvation for the honour and comfort of that sex that as by the disobedience of the first woman mankind fell so it might be recovered by the birth of the Virgin and Mary might make amends for the miscarriage of Eve MARY For the greater certainty the name of the Royal Maid is expressed she being of the tribe of Iudah of the linage of David the King according to the Prophecies concerning the Messias Yet the Mother of the Lord this Blessed Virgin was very poor to shew that Christ's Kingdom was not of this world and in this were the blind Jewes offended that they looked for outward pomp the glory of an earthly crown little heeding the foretellings of the Prophets wherein Christ is described a man of sorrows to suffer all the punishment due to our sins to wit death and all the miseries of an afflicted life Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried We pass immediately from his birth to his Passion for indeed his whole life from his cradle to the Cross was nothing else but a continual passion being spent in hunger thirst fasting watching and travelling grief reproach and shame and he was therefore sent into the world that he might die and to this end God prepared him a body that he might lay down his life for His. SUFFERED Having undertook our cause he satisfied divine Iustice by undergoing those penalties which God in his word hath threatned to the transgressors of the law He was by the sentence of an earthly Iudge condemned to death that we might be acquitted before the heavenly Father UNDER PONTIUS PILATE In that time wherein Pontius Pilate was Governour of Iudea being set over that Nation by the Roman Emperour when was fulfilled that Prophecie which foretold the coming of the Messias should be when the Scepter was departed from Iudah that is when the Iews should be subject to a forreign power having lost their own government CRUCIFIED Christ being betraid by Iudas forsaken of his disciples apprehended as a malefactor is brought to the judgement hall and having been spit upon and mocked by the souldiers accused by the Priests with the charge of blasphemy persecuted with the hatred of the people crying Crucifie him Crucifie him scourged with whips crowned with thorns and besprinkled with large showers of his innocent blood is at last by Pilate delivered up to the will malice of his enemies who nailing his blessed hands stretched wide open to the Cross
commands partly promises The command hath in it a mission Goe a commission teach and Baptize The promise is that whosoever believeth and is Baptis'd shall be saved GOE YE INTO ALL THE WORLD Christ himself being sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel confin'd his own walk within the bounds of Iewry but at his death the vail of the Temple being rent in twain and the partition wall broken down all other Nations of the world were receiv'd into the covenant of grace and made partakers of that salvation which the Iews put from themselves In order to this the Apostles were furnisht with the gift of tongues to the end that they might discourse with all people in their own language of which they gave a notable essay at the Feast of Pentecost and not long after they had meeting and agreed amongst themselves what quarter of the world every one should take upon him as his Province and accordingly travell'd some one or other of them over all the parts of the known world at least there being yet remaining in several places of the East in Asia as amongst the Chineses and the Indians and of the South in Africk as amongst the Abyssines under the command of Prester Iohn that is the Apostolick Prince c. several monuments of the Apostles preaching Nor are there wanting in America it self footsteps of the Gospel as in the Island of the Holy Cross. AND TEACH ALL NATIONS or preach the Gospell to every Creature Now indeed does the Sun of rightteousness being the light that enlightens every one that comes into the world set forth upon his course and makes his compass from one end of Heaven to the other darting forth the rayes of his heavenly Doctrine to all Nations and diffusing light and heat by the Apostles no otherwise then the Sun in the Firmament makes his passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiack By this means Churches were planted up down Cities and countryes converted to the Faith and the sound of the Gospel went throughout the world What an excellent story would the rest of the Acts of the Apostles have made if they had bin committed to writing or preserved as St. Paul's and Peter's were whereas we have scarce any thing of them but fable and the variety of changes since and ferity of the nations at present makes it almost impossible to find out the truth of their travels acts and strange successes BAPTIZING This hath a double meaning either Teach and Baptize or Teach by Baptizing The former is thus After you have instructed people in the faith and made known to them the Gospel of Christ and acquainted them with the will of God touching their salvation receive them into the Church and washing them with water assure them of the pardon of their sins engage them into a profession of the Christian Faith and of a holy life The later speaketh thus Teach by Baptizing that is to say preach the Gospel to all and whomsoever you shall find willing to renounce their former error to give up themselves to the obedience of the Gospel make them my Disciples which indeed is the importance of the Greek word by dipping or sprinkling them with water by which ceremony as by a peculiar badge my Church which is the company of believers shall be distinguish'd from the rest of the world From both we learn that the administration of the Sacraments doth properly belong to those whose duty it is to preach the Gospel to wit the Ministers of God's Word and that they are to Baptize who are to Teach the Sacraments being but the seals and appendages of the doctrine THEM Men and women and children persons of all conditions sex age whole countryes whole cities whole families according as your preaching shall find success And this no question was the practise of the Apostles at first as hath been of the Church ever since to admit all even little ones as Christ did suffer little children to come to him and the Infants of believers to Baptism for so Circumcision in place of which Baptism came was performed upon children of eight dayes old And why should the sign of the Covenant be denied little babes who are in Covenant with the God of their Fathers who hath promis'd to be our God the God of ours What an unkindness is it that a parent should shut the gate of life against his child and deprive it of the priviledge of a new birth seeing that believers children are born heirs of the promise and have as good title to the spiritual blessing of their Fathers as they have to their temporal estate if the word of God be good evidence What hard-hearted person can look upon it's child no otherwise then a heathen brat then the young one of some brute damm I will not say lamb or kid or calf which God appointed to be offered to him and accepted in the Iewish service And will any one then be backward in bringing his child to the Temple and presenting him to the Lord or fear God's displeasure for so doing O rigid course to pass a sentence of excommunication upon children till they come to years of discretion And why so because they have no faith Suppose they have not The very Baptising a child makes him a Disciple if thou understandest Greek And art afraid of making thy child a Disciple too soon Besides who dares to be so peremptory and void of charity as to deny little ones faith since faith though it do ordinarily come by hearing yet it is a grace infus'd by God into the soul capable of such infusion nay holy writings have left it upon record that some children were sanctified in the womb and that Iohn the Baptist â—eapt in his mother's belly at the entrance of the Virgin Mother layes it down for a general observe that God hath out of the mouths of babes sucklingâ— ordained strength or prepared for himself a strong and solid praise IN THE NAME i.e. by virtue force of a divine command and appointment and by that authority which is deliver'd to the Son by the Father and which through the Spirit I doe also impart to you my Ministers Or into the Name for so the words sound in the Greek i.e. into the profession of Christian Faith and of Gospel-obedience Now the highest point of Christian Doctrine is to believe in God distinguished into three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost OF THE FATHER Who made us and begets us a new by his word and ordinances OF THE SON Who redeemed us and washes away our stains with his Blood AND OF THE HOLY GHOST Who sanctifies us for we are born again of water and the spirit Each Person hath its peculiar operation is severally represented in the holy rite of Baptism For whereas by washing of water is meant the doing away of sin the Father pardons sins the Son purchased the pardon the Spirit by
to run his course as a Giant refresh'd with wine and lastly to wash the defiled conscience and cleans the foul running sores of the soul that it may be fitted for the oyl of the spirit the comforter Besides Christ himself is often compared to a Vine whereof all the faithfull are branches I am the Vine sayes he i and my Father the Husbandman and he is said to have trod the winepress of God's wrath alone for us Yet in case of necessity where wine cannot be had other drinks either natural or made according to the custom of the country may be us'd as water beer c. Now as that bread which came down from heaven was the type of his body so was the water which came out of the rock and follow'd the Israelites through the wilderness an emblem of his Blood for that rock was Christ. He took it He lifted it from the table and held it in his hand either having first powred wine into it out of some bigger vessell or flagon or else with an intent to power wine into it as the word shed forth or powred out doth intimate for the sign was to represent the thing signified AFTER SUPPER At the end of Supper when they had done eating whereas the other part of this Sacrament was appointed in Supper time as they were eating Or else 't is not unlikely that this particle of time may belong as well to the bread as to the cup that the celebration of the whole mystery was not performed till they had made an end of the Paschal Supper into the room and place whereof this was from thence forward to succeed and be of perpetual use in the Church AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS or blessed it For the Apostle calls it The Cup of blessing which we bless i.e. before he appointed it to be a sign of his Blood he sanctified it by the word and prayer and begging a blessing upon it separated it from common use using perhaps the ordinary grace which amongst the Iews the Master of the house did at meals make use of for no question but our Saviour here alludes to their custom who at the end of dinner or supper after thanks was given drank round the whole company that was at table of the grace-cup the Master of the house beginning to the rest HE GAVE IT He set it down amongst them that they might one after another take the cup and drink or perhaps put it into the hand of some one that he might give it about to his fellows TO THEM The Apostles to wit or disciples who at that time stood for the whole Church and consequently to all believers whomsoever that make profession of the Christian Faith SAYING Speaking almost the same words as he used before concerning the bread that he might declare his own purpose in the institution of this mystery and their benefit who should partake of it DRINK YE With Faith receive this Sacrament of my Blood that like your natural drink it being taken into your souls may refresh your souls quicken your graces and keep you to life everlasting ALL OF IT Every one some for the bread was indeed broken into severall portions but the cup could not be so divided wherefore they were to part it among them every one drinking so that there might be left for the rest of the company FOR. That which before was delivered in a declarative way as a bare narration eat this is my Body is here brought in as a reason Drink for this is my Blood Which shews to what end and purpose the cup was appointed and how much it concerns believers to drink of it since by it is conveyed the forgiveness of sins the main virtue and effect of Christ's Blood being spilt THIS To wit this cup which I doe now deliver to you this wine which you are now about to drink or this action of my giving and your drinking the holy Cup. IS MY BLOOD That is doth signifie and represent my Blood and not only so but gives out also and conveyes my Blood and the benefits thereof so that it being receiv'd with Faith shall prove as much to your advantage and doe your souls as much good as if you did really drink my very Blood even as one finds himself refresh'd with wine which he drinks OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Upon Gospel terms and the account of grace whereas formerly in the time of the Old Testament under the Law they were us'd to make atonement for their sins with the blood of bulls and goats now Christ the Son of God was come in the flesh who was the substance that all those shadows belonged to and the truth prefigur'd by those Levitical types all those rites of sacrificing were to have an end when once he had offer'd up a perfect sacrifice blotting out the hand-writing of the Law and sealing a New Covenant of grace in his Blood for the word will bear that sense too and we know 't was the usual custom of making and ratifying Covenants by sacrifice as betwixt God and Abraham Abraham and the King of the Philistins when they strook a league of friendship and possibly that heap of stones which was raised by Iacob and his Father in law Laban and was afterward called Gilead might serve also for that purpose Nay Homer takes notice of it as practis'd amongst the Heathen But the Greek does more properly denote the Testament or last will by which a man doth before his death dispose of his estate bequeath legacies which being ambulatory and uncertain as long as one lives is never valid or of force till the Testator be dead nor could we have bin the better for Christ or have had an effectual enjoyment of his benefits had he not dyed and by his death sealed as well as made the purchase By the New Testament here then is meant the will of God the Father concerning the Salvation of mankind which in former time he had made his people acquainted with by visions and Prophesies and other dark representations but in the fulness of time by sending his own Son made man after our own likeness when the wisdome of the Father dwelt amongst the children of men and the word became flesh gave out a full discovery thereof in the light of the Gospel and the clear manifestations of his grace And that Covenant of grace which by the death of his Son our Mediator who reconcil'd us with the Father he entred into with men being made upon other terms then the Law required which sayes Doe this and live and calls for an exact obedience which therefore it was impossible for men to keep whereas the conditions we are tyed to under the Covenant of grace are repentance only and Faith by which denying our own righteousness we depend upon the merits of a crucified Saviour according as they are propos'd both in the Old Testament the Iust shall live by Faith And