Though we receive Christ really and truly yet not corporally and carnally but spiritually We take not his flesh and bloud into our mouths and stomacks as we do the Bread and Wine but into our souls by faith through the Spirit of God whereby we dwell in him and he in us And thus we may receive him though he be in Heaven and we here for Faith goes as it were from Earth to Heaven and there fastens on him and the Spirit on the other side descends down from the head still to supply us with more and more of that fulness which is in Jesus Christ for us 16. Quest Declare more particularly those benefits of the death of Christ which we receive in this Sacrament Answ They are principally and plainly these Forgiveness of sin Strength to do God service And to overcome our spiritual Enemies the Devil the World and the flesh And nourishment for our souls to eternal life 17. Quest How doth it appear that forgiveness of sin is to be expected and enjoyed in the holy use of this Sacrament Answ Because I see the Wine on the Lords Table which shews that if I receive as I ought I receive the Bloud of Christ which is shed for me and for many for the remission of sins 18. Quest What is there that sheweth that we receive strength also to do God service Answ That both the Bread and Wine may put us in mind of for even as Bread strengthens mans heart and Wine makes it glad and both make a man fit and able for his ordinary business so doth the grace of Christ reached forth in this Ordinance strengthen the soul for the performance of every part of Gods service for his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed and therefore doth what meat and drink do in a spiritual and soul-sustaining way 19. Quest How appeareth it that strength is received here against spiritual Enemies Answ We may easily conceive it because we find that Bread and Wine and such ordinary food do not only enable a servant and any other man to labour but a souldier also to fight who otherwise would soon faint whence we may collect that there is such a vertue in the Body and Blood of Christ received by faith as not only to make us able to do God service ' but also to fight with and get victory over all the Enemies of our Salvation whom by the strength of Christ we overcome 20. Quest How is it made plain that we receive at the Lords Table that food which nourisheth our souls to eternal life Answ Because Bread and Wine and such ordinary food maintain the life of the body for many years together As therefore this perishing food maintains a perishing life so the meat which the Son of Man gives unto us in the Word and Sacrament nourisheth the soul to eternal life for it is not a food that perisheth but which indureth in us unto everlasting life Joh. 6. 27. 21. Quest What reason have we to gather from the signs in the Sacrament that these several benefits are in it and by it as by an Ordinance of God bestowed upon us Answer Because God sets such familiar signs before our eyes for this purpose that we who are otherwise weak to conceive of heavenly things may collect and gather what in this blessed Sacrament is done for the Soul by what we know by experience this our ordinary food doth for the Body Christ speaks and that in his Sacrament-Institutions earthly things to lead us and that in our own way to the understanding of things heavenly Joh. 3. 12. 22. Quest Open this a little more fully Answ It will be yet more clear by considering that as John the Baptist was a Prophet and more then a Prophet so the Sacraments are signs and more then signs that is they are appointed of God to be a means of conveying those heavenly things which they do represent unto us and of putting us into actual possession thereof 1 Cor. 10. 16. 12. 13. yet not by any power in themselves but only by the working of the Holy Ghost and the blessing of Christ on his own Institution Act. 8. 13. with ver 21. 23. Quest Thus much for what we do receive in the Sacrament Declare now how we ought to receive it Answ These five things Knowledge Desire Repentance Faith and Charity are things needful for a right and worthy receiving 24. Quest What is that we ought to know when we come to Communicate in this Sacrament Answ It is needful for us to know in general two things First our selves and our own estate that is that we are all by nature and in our selves vile and wretched creatures deserving nothing but death and damnation Secondly That there is no way to be saved but only by Christ and that therefore we come to the Word and Sacrament to receive him because we cannot be saved without him 25. Quest In what manner must we know this Answ We must know both these not sleightly but feelingly We should know our sin with such feeling and sorrow as a wounded man knows his wound who knows it as we say with a witness And we should know Christ with such feeling desire and joy as the wounded man knows the Surgion by whom he is to be cured whom he knows with another kind of knowledge then he doth an ordinary man In these two to wit the feeling knowledge of sin as the worst thing and of Christ as the best and only desirable thing consists the substance of saving Religion 26. Quest Is there nothing else to be known Answ Yes we should more particularly know in some measure the nature of a Sacrament and be able to discern what we have to do withall in the Lords Supper to wit not only with Bread and Wine but with the Body and Blood of Christ that we may not dishonour him nor indanger our selves by an unworthy medling with it 27. Quest What is the next thing required in a worthy Receiver Answ That which is the mark and fruit of the former knowledge and which shews the necessity of it that is Desire or an holy hungring and thirsting after that Bread and that Cup For None are invited but the thirsty None can be thirsty but the knowing and None can know the gift of God but they will thirst and seek after it and in that way there is a promise they shall have it Joh. 4. 10. 28. Quest What else is required of us when we come to the Lords Table Answ Another and a special thing is Repentance For every sinner coming to the Lords Supper in his sin pollutes unto himself the Lords holy Table and provokes the Lord to abhor and plague him by that Sacrament-service wherein he expects he should approve and bless him 1 Cor. 11. 29 30 31 32. 29. Quest By what means
such a gift from such a giver be not taken with unwashen hands and hearts We find that when Joseph and Esther were to appear personally before Kings he shaved himself and changed his rayment and she put on her royal Apparel And shall we make our personal approach to God without some special testimony of the low thoughts we have of our selves and the high thoughts we have of Him Well may it then be said Offer it now to thy Governour When that poor woman that was heal'd of her bloudy issue was hid amongst a great company it was well enough but when she saw she was not hid but singled out to look Jesus Christ in the face then she came trembling and falling down before him Much cause have we to do the like considering what we are and what Christ is from whose hands as it were though by the Ministry of mean men we come each of us to take into our own hands things of so high a nature Secondly In the Sacrament Christ is offered more plainly and sensibly then in the Word though in the substance both Ordinances agree Indeed in the sound of the Gospel Christ appears and is set forth to the sense of hearing by faithful Teachers very evidently and as it were to the eye but not properly to the eye as in the Sacrament for when Paul tels the Galatians that Christ was set forth before their eyes his meaning is only this that Jesus Christ was clearly held forth to them by his Preaching as that is which is set before mens eyes which shews that things exposed to the eye are most evident and most operative for it is the eye that in a more special manner affects the heart Whence it is that Moses makes this a great argument to move the people to obedience that he did not speak to them that had not seen but to such as had seen the great acts of the Lord Deut. 11. 2. 7. Now God offering himself to us in the Sacrament in a more plain and familiar way setting us as it were at his Table and setting before our eyes all the good things of his House this ministreth an argument of more abundant reverence for Whence was it that Moses and Joshua were commanded to put off their shoos from off their feet Exod. 3. 5. Josh 5. 15. but only because God shewed himself and set himself before their eyes in a more plain and perceptible manner then at other times Unto which may be added that other command given to Moses when the Law was to be delivered Go unto the People and sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their clothes for the third day the Lord will comedown in the sight of all the People Exod 19 10 11. See 2 Chron. 7. 3. When they saw the fire they bowed themselves c. But before I let this pass I have two things to subjoin that I may not be mis-understood First When I say that Christ doth in a special manner appear in the Sacrament to our senses so that we may be said in a sort to see him touch him and taste him and that therefore he expects from us an answerable preparation I do not here separate the Word and the Sacrament but take in the Word with it and the Sacrament as an appendix and an additional Ordinance to it and that such an Ordinance as hath its dignity working and being in and from the Word of Institution and Promise For what 's the Seal without the Writing But as affixed to it it is of much value The pressing therefore of special Sacrament-preparation no way derogates from the Word but rather heightens the estimation of it inasmuch as the Sacrament is founded on it And yet this dependance of the Sacrament on the Word hinders not the truth of that which Calvin affirms and confirms out of Austin which is that the Sacraments have this peculiar to them above the Word that they do represent unto us to the life the promises of God even as if they were pictured in a Table before our eyes Secondly When I plead for Sacrament-reverence I am far from allowing any thing which sheltering it self under the head of an high estimation of this Ordinance ariseth from or tendeth to Superstition or any way countenanceth or cometh near unto the idolatrous worship of the Papists wherewith they deifie and defile the Sacrament All that I move for is a reverent carriage of the body an aweful frame of heart and a knowing and affectionate preparation fuited and fitted to this Ordinance Fourthly The judgment of the Church of God in all ages perswades to a special care and consideration about this Ordinance scarce any Christian Church in the world in any age since Christ as a learned man observes that hath not impaled it In the ancient Church there was much strictness used and such sent away when the Communion was to be administred who had committed notorious sins and not sufficiently testified their repentance And when the Minister was about to reach out the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to the people he cryed with a lowd voyce Holy things to holy persons Accordingly our own Church ever since the Reformation hath provided that open and notorious livers should not presume to come to the Lords Table till their open declaring of their true repentance and amendment And if malice and hatred were perceived to reign betwixt any persons they were not to be suffered to partake of the Lords Table till it was known they were reconciled Thus it was formerly and of late further care hath been taken for the preventing of Sacrament-profanation and that Jesus Christ might have wise and holy Guests at his Table though Satan the Arch-Enemy of Reformation hath used all his art to pervert or frustrate such endeavours whom we hope God will out-work in his good time Now howsoever the prescripts and practise of the most eminent men in the Church of God be not a Rule to any man yet they shew what the judgment of discretion was about this Ordinance in their time which it is reasonably expected should so far prevail as to impose a modesty upon others that differ from them in their judgements especially coming far short of their attainments Chrysostom exceeds others in his holy zeal and professeth he will rather give up his soul and life then the Lords Body to any unworthily and will rather suffer his own blood to be poured forth then give up the most sacred Blood of Christ unless to a worthy Receiver I confess his words are very high and yet there are two things that may preserve that height of zeal from being contemned by those that are worse or censured by those that are better for he declares himself 1. To speak of very notorious sinners that in all things are like Dogs and Swine And 2. moving this Objection against himself How can I
Quest Is nothing required in Christians but faith Answ Yes we are to know also that we are bound to lead a godly life that is a life ordered according to the Word of God in righteousness and holiness without which none shall see the Lord 19. Quest But in many things we offend all What are we therefore to mind further in regard of our sin and manifold disobedience Answ In regard of our sinful estate naturally and our failings continually we are further to know that Repentance is necessarily required for without that we must perish And is to be still renewed for in that way we must look for pardon and yet ever come to Christ for procuring life Joh. 5. 40. Mat. 11. 28. 20. Quest What are we to know concerning our estate after death Answ That the souls of the faithful do immediately after death live with Christ in blessedness but the souls of the wicked go immediately into Hell-torments 21. Quest And what shall become of the bodies of both Answ There shall be a resurrection of the bodies of the just and the unjust at the last day at which time all shall appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ in their own persons to receive the things done in their bodies according to that they have done whether it be good or bad 22. Quest What doth the Scripture declare concerning the last and everlasting disposal of the persons of men at that day Answ As they are and as they die so they shall be disposed of hereafter The wicked therefore and such as would do nothing for Christ shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Having spoken thus far concerning the General Doctrine of Scripture and the Main Points of Religion the knowledge whereof is more necessary to Salvation I shall now proceed to speak more particularly of the Sacraments and in special of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper of which I should have made mention and inserted them in the fore-going general Instructions but that I purposely reserved them to a peculiar and larger Explication in the now ensuing Questions and Answers An help for unlearned Christians that they may not be unworthy Receivers 1. Quest What is mans chiefest happiness and only blessedness Answ To approach unto God in and through Jesus Christ and to partake in a near acquaintance and fellowship with him Job 22. 21. 2. Quest Why should all happiness be summ'd up in the enjoyment of God Answ If they were blessed who continually stood before Solomon how much more they who enjoy the only wise God with Jesus Christ his Son and together with him all things also which are laid up in him which we shall have here as is needful from him and shall have for ever hereafter in all fulness with him 3. Quest Who are they that are partakers of this blessedness Answ They whom God is pleased to choose and to take into Covenant with himself not only as persons called but as persons chosen 4. Quest What are the means whereby we are partakers of the benefit of the Covenant of Grace for our everlasting blessedness Answ This is done by the Ordinance of God and more especially by the Word and the Sacraments 5. Quest What difference is there between these two Ordinances Answ The Word is the Writing reporting and declaring and the Sacraments are the Seals confirming and assuring the benefits of the Covenant unto us 6. Quest Shew more fully what a Sacrament is Answ It is a special Ordinance of God signifying and setting before our eyes sealing unto our hearts and conveying into our souls through the Spirit the singular and saving benefits of the Covenant of Grace 7. Quest What be the parts of a Sacrament Answ The outward sign which we see and the inward grace which we do not see unless by the eye of faith As in our bodily sustenance there is the food upon the Table which we see but the strength and life which that food gives us we see not but yet feel and find it afterward 8. Quest How many Sacraments be there Answ No more then Christ hath appointed for Sacraments that is to say Two only Baptism and the Lords Supper 9. Quest What is the difference between these two Answ By Baptism there is an ingrasting into Jesus Christ and a right solemnly manifested unto the Covenant and so the whole benefit thereof is in Gods good time enjoyed by every Infant that belongs to Him and by all them that keep the vow of their Baptism By the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the same Covenant is renewed and the good things thereof are more abundantly afforded to all that are by Baptism received into Christ and his Church for their spiritual nourishment and increasing with the increases of God 10. Quest Since there is so much good continually coming in by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper What course is to be taken that we may enjoy it Answ The course which God hath prescribed and which therefore shall certainly be blessed to make this Sacrament beneficial to us is this Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup 1 Cor. 11. 28. 11. Quest What are the things belonging to this Examination Answ We are to be taught and to learn these two things especially What we are to receive and how we are to receive it And then to examine whether those things be in us that are in worthy Receivers of so great mysteries 12. Quest What is it that we do receive in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Answ We receive Bread and Wine as the outward signs and together with them if we receive as we ought the Body and Bloud of Christ as the thing signified 13. Quest Since Christ's natural Body and Bloud are not to be looked for in the Sacrament shew more plainly what is meant when it is said We receive his Body and Bloud Answ The meaning is that every worthy Communicant receiveth Jesus Christ with all his benefits He receiveth not only the benefits but Christ himself crucified for As in our bodily nourishment we have not only sustenance by it but receive into our bodyes the substance of it And as the Graffe wholly lives the same life with the Stock to which it is united so we being united to Christ do so eat his flesh and drink his bloud and by our faith feed so upon him as to live the same life with him partaking in all his benefits for our spiritual relief because we have communion with Him first For we must have the Son before we have life 1 Joh. 5. 12. 14. Quest Declare yet more fully how we can receive Christ since we are here on Earth and he is in heaven Answ
wherewith all Saints are fed both Men and Angels for even the Angels desire and stoop low to look into it 1 Pet. 1. 12. and a Table is as it were spread for them in the Church by which the manifold wisdom of God is known unto them Take therefore every day some part of this heavenly Manna this Angels food to support you in the Wilderness of this World till you come to eat it new as our Saviour saith of the Sacrament that is in a new and glorious manner to partake in the life that is held out in it in the heavenly Canaan CHAP. II. Instructions for a profitable Receiving of the Lords Supper I Now come to the second thing that is Plain Instructions for a reverent and profitable receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper It may perhaps seem much to some that I should be so sollicitous about this Ordinance and therefore for their satisfaction and the confirmation of the duty of Sacrament-preparation I shall give account of it in the ensuing reasons First Preparation to the Lords Supper is to be stood upon because it is very needful and suitable to the care of the Church of God in ancient and purer times that they who have not at all as yet received that Sacrament should give an account of their knowledge and faith before they receive it for though a necessary fundamental and more remote right thereunto be presupposed in their Baptism yet because they themselves were then uncapable of making any promise and profession in their own persons therefore their clear full and next right to partake in the Lords Supper ariseth from their declaration with their own mouths of their knowledge of consent unto and true purpose to perform what their Baptism bindeth them unto or was then promised by others in their behalf Without this though I grant it may be in several wayes required and performed how shall their fitness for this Ordinance we speak of be discerned or the Church whereof they are Members and with which they are to communicate be so well satisfied But in this it being learnedly and largely spoken to by others I shall not need to move any further This only I add that for the help of the weaker sort of those of whom I here speak to give a reason of their faith and fitness for the Lord Table I have composed these ensuing Directions Secondly Another reason may be taken from the weight that the Scripture lays on this work of Sacrament-preparation in 1 Cor. 11. 27 28 29 30. Where may be noted first a precise Precept for Examination Let a man examine and so and not otherwise let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup which shews that a special distinct Preparation is required for that Bread and that Cup that is that distinct Ordinance Secondly This command is charged upon the Conscience by laying before the Unworthy Communicant two heart-affecting and affrighting things 1. On the one side the greatest sin and the most horrible guilt For whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord. How high is that Lord How dreadful therefore is that Guilt 2. On the other side there 's the greatest danger and saddest doom For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords Body that is eternal damnation without repentance and temporal judgement though that be prevented For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep Thus is that great Precept of Examination before Sacrament-participation environed as it were on both hands that it may be more effectually guarded against all gain-sayers urged on all Communicants and observed by all Christians to strike into their hearts a reverence of that Ordinance Here I do not deny but there are the same things for substance set before us in regard of the hearing of the Word whilest it is said He that believeth not shall be damned Mar. 16. 16. and he that heareth and lets it slip shall not escape Heb. 2. 1 2 3. and therefore People had need not only to hear but to take heed how they hear and prepare for it Eccles 5. 1. But yet I do not find that so much is spoken all at once and so fully spoken and so fearfully spoken concerning mis-hearing only as concerning this mis-receiving the reason whereof may be as I humbly conceive because in unworthy partaking of the Lords Supper there is a cumulative abuse or a double in that is not only the Sacrament is abused but that Word of God also is contemned which makes it a Sacrament as also because the Body and Bloud of Christ though offered also in the Word yet are not in such a manner presented as in the Lords Supper as will further appear in the next reason Mean while to close up this Christians may consider that when God is pleas'd to speak more plainly precisely distinctly more fully and dreadfully then he justly expects that what he saith should affect us more and be of more effect with us Read Jer. 25. 30. Amos 3. 6. 8. Deut. 1. 42 43. with Numb 14. 41. to the end Thirdly A serious Preparation proper to the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ is the rather urged because the same thing that is Christ with all his benefits is offered unto us in a different way in the Word and Sacrament which makes it a distinct Ordinance and so imposeth a peculiar preparaton for it which I do not at all speak to set one Ordinance of God against another or to lessen the reverence of the Word Preached which is that great Ordinance of God whereby men are converted and saved or to give way to an unprepared coming to the Word which I fear is the fault or many who seem to come with high reverence to the Sacrament but what I say is only to put Christians in mind that every distinct Ordinance of God is to have its due and distinct respect and therefore that there is some other and further good frame of heart to be endeavoured when the Sacrament is to be received then when the Word only is to be heard and that because that I may come to the matter I intend Christ with all his benefits is offered in the Sacrament very particularly or singularly and very plainly and sensibly First There is a peculiar particularity or particular dealing and distribution in Sacrament-administration In preaching we speak generally yet comprehending particular persons but not singling them out whereas in the Sacrament Christ is offered personally that is to particular persons and is put as it were Sacramentally into every ones hand Now when God deals with particular persons hand to hand offering them so great a gift as Christ is there is therefore more reason of reverence and of care that
know what this or that man is he answers They are not unknown men that I thus discourse or dispute of but such as are known Now put these two together that he speaks of the foulest sinners and that known to be such and then perhaps upon serious consideration he will rather be thought worthy of imitation then guilty of exuberancy and straining too far in such expressions Sure Calvin thought him so and therefore being much put to it by the opposition of a notorious person that for many wickednesses was interdicted and forbidden to come to the Lords Table and yet had prevailed so far against the discipline as that it seems he meant to have rushed in I say Calvin being thus put to it he breaks out in his Sermon with much vehemency into these words But I saith he following Chrysostom will rather suffer my life to be taken from me then endure that this hand of mine should reach forth these holy things to the judged contemners of God I observe that he saith to such as are judged so But suppose things be at that pass that Church government is wanting or interrupted or so corrupted as that the purging of the Church in an orderly way of Discipline cannot be obtained Must a Minister therefore deliver the Body and Bloud of Christ to evident and eminent contemners of God Or ought he not rather to suspend his act and to forbear the administration of the Supper to such while such I shall leave the answering of this to those that be very free for free-admission upon whose spirits notwithstanding they being men of understanding and piety I find such a convincement as concerning this necessary restraint that in the upshot it comes to this Though Professors must not be debarred from their right or the use of their right by any single Minister Yet saith a learned man we require in him so much piety that in prudence discretion and charity to the soul of a notorious and scandalous person he withdraw the Sacrament from him for a time till he give in evidence of his amendment Such another saying the same Reverend Author hath concerning those who are very grosly ignorant closing in both and much in words with one that wrote before him on the same subject a man of parts and I believe so well minded that he meant not to do any hurt in his Plea for General Admission to the Sacrament save that a man may quickly be a means of that evil which he doth not mean His words as to the matter of gross Ignorance are these I must confess if you will say that some are so grosly ignorant that they are not capable for the present to learn or be instructed by publick teaching then may you have the liberty for me to number them amongst Ideots and such as have not the use of reason and so deal with them accordingly that is as he saith after except and exclude them It 's true that the Author in relation to these ignorant persons seems to build much upon their receiving instruction when they are at the Sacrament but the question he e is not What they may possibly attain when they be there but What they have attained before that they may be regularly there Will not present gross ignorance weigh more to refuse them then possible knowledge to receive them I say possible but not probable for it is not like they should learn much by being at a Sacrament who have heard many Sermons concerning Sacraments and yet have learned in a manner nothing Unto this I must further add that the question here is not Whether these grosly ignorant persons are so far uncapable as to be numbred among Idiols for they are wise enough in their generation and element but Whether they are not so far unteachable and intractable as that they cannot be justly numbred among discerners of the Lords Body to wit because they know not neither WILL they understand Indeed if they would yield themselves to instruction and endeavour to attain Sacramental knowledge suitable to their parts and breeding then though dismissed formerly they might be received freely But that being not done when as discerning and damnation are so near Who can bid them draw near The words of the same Author concerning a scandalous cariage are these I am willing to grant Where there are scandals 1. Notorious that they offend the Congregation 2. So open that they need no proof nor debate 3. In the present fact so that no repentance can be pleaded such may be dealt withal as ipso jure excommunicate Thus ingenuous he is and thus much he yields out of the reverence he hears to the reason of the Church that shuts out such from the Sacrament whereby he confirms with me this present reason for Sacrament-restraint taken from the judgment of the Church of God Yet I do not find that the Church excludes such as he doth that is as accounting them presently the objects of Excommunication but as not thinking them fit subjects in that state for Sacrament-reception That clause therefore as ipso jure excommunicate would be a little further weighed which if I mistake not the Author adds to keep intire his Tenet of free-admission to the Lords Supper that is of all that are Church-members He was provident therefore in declaring those scandalous oftenders which he describes to be excommunicate that is to be indeed or in right no Members and so his free-admission of all Members will stand the better But here I have these things to Reply 1. That the before-described notorious persons are notwithstanding members because not yet actually cast out for Was not the incestuous person notwithstanding his horrible sin and the common fame thereof when Paul wrote I say was not he yet a Member How could he be put away and cast out if he were not with in 2. To punish him actually de facto as one not reputed a member who is excommunicate only de jure that is is under such an offence as may be a cause of Excommunication and which hath a tendency in it to that censure is not fair but like punishing a Malefactor before a tryal which the above-named Author wisely considering gives this account of it Even ignorant and profane till convicted and excommunicate not only de jure but de facto have a right for that not keeping company with fornicators covetous c. 1 Cor. 5. 11. is intended no otherwise but upon a sentence and judgement fore-going afore which they might for its unreasonable a punishment should be inflicted before a judgment Thus he 3. Neither is he that hath committed a notorious act before the Sacrament excommunicate de jure for it is not just to put him under so dreadful a sentence before tryal be made whether he will obstinately persist in his sin or no which there is no time for supposing the crime to
Son of God with power and so that person in and by whom that which God had promised before in the holy Scripture was fulfilled and that 's it which makes the mercies of David sure mercies We find also a yea rather put upon the Resurrection Christ being thereby a Conquerour and our Justifier Rom. 4. 25. when as if Christ were not risen we were yet in our sins 1 Cor. 15. 17. All this may shew of how great weight the Resurrection is in the work of our Redemption and therefore how worthy it is to have a day set a part for the rememberance of it and therein for the remembrance of the Redemption it self and of our glorious Redeemer And that it was for that reason so set apart the testimony of St. Augustine is clear who thus witnesseth The Lords-day was declared to Christians or declared to be the Christians day by the Resurrection of our Lord and from that time it began to have its Festivity or to be the Christians Festival 2. We find A divine name or denomination The first day of the week being generally agreed upon to be that day which is called the Lords-day Rev. 1. 10. If we would know why it is called the Lords-day the like name given to the Sacrament of the Body and Bloud of Christ may inform us It s true it may be said to be the Lords-day because our Lord rose on it and so the Eucharist the Lords Supper because our Lord is remembred in it But besides this As we know the Sacrament to be the Lords Supper because he instituted it for the remembrance of his Passion So we have great cause to think that the first day of the week is called the Lords-day because our Lord appointed and took order to have it set apart for the remembrance of his Resurrection and our Redemption for the Lords-day doth not only imply an acting on it but an owning of it for his use even as the old Sabbath day being said to be the Sabbath day of the Lord Exod. 20. 8 10. was so called because God did appropriate it to himself as the special time of his service And this is the more confirmed because the Service of God was already used among the Christians on that day instead of the Sabbath as all the ancients Doctors witness and is to be gathered besides from Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. in which places we find Christians assembling together and provision made for Collections for the Poor as on the day already known to be consecrated to God for such uses yea it is very probably conceived that since John could not be in his banishment present in body in the publick Congregation he therefore set himself to holy meditations that he might be present with them in spirit and whilest he was thus intent on Soliloquies with God as he was most fit for so he was suddenly taken with that divine rapture wherein those heavenly Revelations that the Scripture records were communicated to him In brief Nothing hath this Title Dominical in Scripture but either Christs day or Supper to shew that is taken alike in both saith a Bishop of great note Now we know that being applyed to the Supper it implies an Institution any why it should not do so also being applyed to the Day we know not 3. We find as hath been touched in that next before a divine Practice and Observation for it was observed as the noted day for Christian Assemblies and Exercises by the Apostolical Churches Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 2. and therefore it was ordained to be so by the Apostles for who else guided those Churches I have given order saith the Apostles for those Collections that were on that day because their meetings were on that day for publike works of Piety and Charity Now If it were ordained by the Apostles then was it ordained by the infallible Spirit of Christ for what else guided the Apostles in their Church-constitutions I add lastly that if the Apostles directed the Churches to this day as being guided by that extraordinary and un-erring Spirit that they had then it was ordained and appointed by Christ himself for of that guiding Spirit it is that our Saviour saith He shall not speak of himself that is not of himself only without the Father and the Son but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak And again He shall receive of mine take of mine and shew it unto you Joh. 16. 13. 14 15. So that Athanasius that excellent light in the Church of God is like to be found as right as resolute in pronouncing roundly and plainly that the Lord translated the Sabbath into the Lords-day For the confirming of which that the translation of the Sabbath from the Jewish day to the first day of the week was by the Lord himself or divine Authority I thus argue The seventh-day Sabbath from the Creation was expresly commanded the people of God in the Old-Testament therefore the people of God in the New-Testament could not desist from the Observation of that day making it a working-day and take up a new day and make it of a working-day a perpetual holy day and that in all the Churches as this day hath been still continued in the Church-Catholick I say this could not be done unless by a new command of like authority either formal or virtual that is either in express words or collected by necessary and convincing arguments and evidences And this appears because every Law bindeth till it be repealed and repealed it cannot be but by an Authority equal to that by which it was first made especially with taking another day into its place and priviledge Who could so change the Sabbath but Christ himself the Lord of the Sabbath Unto this I add for further confirmation of the divine authority of the Christian Sabbath the constant observation of the Lords-day unto this day by the Christian Church which Christian Church if it have not observed a right day that is a day appointed of God for his Sabbath every week then hath it neglected in all this time and stands guilty of not observing the fourth Commandement for that Commandement requireth as hath been proved a weekly day of Gods appointment to the end of the world That which remaineth for the closing up of this necessary part of Christianity is An Exhortation to the reverent Estimation and Observation of the Christian Sabbath From 1. The Necessity 2. The Commedity 3. The Commendation of it 4. The Threats and Judgements of God denounced and executed on profaners of the Sabbath 5. The Promises Priviledges and Blessings assured to the reverent Observers thereof 1. The Necessity of a Sabbath Wherein it might suffice to say that the only wise God who never did any thing whereof there was no need instituted in the beginning of the World and afterwards prescribed in the