give some brief touches upon those things §. 5. which you can without trouble inlarge in your own thoughts Which is one reason why I shall spare my self any long pains about them and hold another course in this following Treatise For our part we do here profess our selves of the Religion that Christ hath instituted and taught us as you will see more largely in the ensuing Book We do at once in this Feast both shew our gladness and assure him of our affections Sin is here represented so unto us that it cannot but make our wounds bleed afresh The remembrance of Christs death doth pierce our hearts again with godly sorrow and revives the smart and pain which the sense of sin hath created in our souls Faith likewise here is as greedy of its food as an hungry mouth is of its meat And Obedience is hereby confirmed because we receive lively nourishment into our souls which will make us strong to execute the will of our Lord. Our suffering also with Christ we profess more lively than by Water even by Blood it self When our Saviour saith in the sixth of S. John That we must eat of his flesh he means we must receive himself and digest his Doctrine but seeing the word flesh in Scripture-phrase signifies very frequently weakness and meanness he intends that we must receive him so as to partake with him in his poor low and suffering condition And this we do most notably protest that we will when we receive the signs of his broken body For the Bread broken doth not only argue it to be fit for food but that first we must be slain and mortified and likewise receive such strength that if he call us unto death we must undergo it We own hereby the Covenant of sufferings and feed upon a dead Saviour Which makes Theophylact give this as a reason why Christ gave thanks when he brake the bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That so we might receive Martyrdom thankfully It is a feast which we partake of and yet signifies sufferings But let it not seem strange for we must count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Neither doth it less signifie and seal on Gods part being a manifest token of his great and inexpressible love in giving of his own Son to death even to the cursed death of the Cross for us Here he takes us not only under his wings as I said he doth in Baptism but he takes us into his armes He takes us to himself and he gives himself wholly unto us And then for Remission of sins it is manifest to be the purchase of his blood and so must needs further here be assured to all good souls And it is the very thing that is expressed in the Institution of this Sacrament This is my blood of the New Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sins And there are not so many spirits contained in the Wine as there are lively influences of Gods good Spirit hereby conveyed to pious hearts We have assurance likewise given by these things That he will not take his holy Spirit from us but that he will let it always diffuse it self through all our powers And as for the Resurrection from the dead We being made as it were of his flesh and of his bone and incorporated into him he can lose none of his members but all that eat of his flesh and drink of his blood as they ought shall be raised again at the last day We eat of the tree of life which will make us live for ever and we receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Ephes as Ignatius speaks an Antidote against death a Medicine to preserve us from corruption This the ancient Christians thought to be so fully assured to us in the Eucharist that this is one of the Arguments whereby Irenaeus confutes the Valentinians who denied the rising again of the Body after it is dead How can that flesh be corrupted L. 4. adv haeres cap. 34. and not live again which is nourished by the Body and Bloud of the Lord Either let them change their mind or else abstain from this Offering For as the Bread which is of the Earth perceiving the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of something earthly and something heavenly Even so our bodies perceiving this Eucharist are not now corruptible but have the hopes of a Resurrection L. 5. cap. 2. Thus he who hath more to the same purpose in another Book Herein likewise God gives us a foretaste of Heaven and the joys to come as will be made more manifest in the following Discourse And thus far we may grant the Bread and Wine of Melchizedeck to have been Sacramental that they were given to Abraham as earnests for to secure him of the Land flowing with milk and honey By this Banquet or Entertainment which the Royal Priest made him he took Livery of Seisin as our Lawyers speak of the promised Land And in that very place it is most likely where God intended the Mother-City of the Kingdom should be was this conveyance made to Abraham's seed This Bread and Wine were most certain evidences that his Posterity should eat of the fruit of that Land wherein now he was a stranger And just in the same manner doth God give unto faithful souls this blessed Bread and Wine as an Antepast of his eternal love and hereby they do begin to taste of the heavenly Feast that they shall celebrate above They have herein a right made them unto Heaven and a kind of delivery of possession which shall shortly be compleated by an actual enjoyment They that would more than such things as these in this Sacrament Sect. 6. are in danger to have nothing at all as they should have While they think that Christ is received coporally by them they may neglect the spiritual eating and while they chew him as it were between their teeth their Souls may feel but little of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—nap in vita Jambl. For just as it is with those that would paint a beautifull person while they think to add something of their own to the face thereby to make him look better than he is they spoil the comeliness of the Picture and miss both of his face and likewise of his true beauty So it is with the modern Church of Rome which would make Religion seem as fair and beautifull yea as gaudy and trim as their fancies can devise but by adding their own inventions and novel fashions they quite spoil both true Religion and the beauty of it which they study to adorn Whilest they think to offer a proper Sacrifice they many times offer none at all And whilst they think it is a Sacrifice both for quick and dead they rely so much upon it that it proves to be for neither By making it flesh and blood and bones they make Christ the
Conclusion would be as certain as either that therefore I am pardoned But seeing the first Proposition is grounded on a fallible judgment and it is possible I may deceive my self therefore I cannot make a conclusion of equal certainty with the second proposition but That I am pardoned will be no stronger then this That I beleeve Yet notwithstanding if a man find no cause to suspect his own reality he may have a belief of his pardon free from doubting and may rest well satisfied that he is in a good estate because nothing appears to the contrary but that he sincerely doth the Will of Christ Though he attains unto this perswasion not by a direct but a reflex act of faith i. e. not meerly by a belief of Gods Word which no where saith that I am pardoned but by a serious examination of himself according to the tenor of the Word yet seeing he discerns a conformity between himself and it he may have a very good and strong though not infallible assurance that his sinnes are blotted out and shall not be imputed to him Whensoever then we approach to the Lords Table we should come with a belief that God makes over unto us the greatest blessings if we receive them as he requires Now all that he requires is That we would love and obey him as we said in the former Chapter when we heartily engage to this we have hereby a conveyance made to us of all that Heaven contains which is included in this phrase forgiveness of sinne For you may observe that in Scripture-stile the taking away of Gods Wrath is the doing of some favour His kindnesses are not meer negatives or removals of evil but when he forgives sinne and inflicts not the punishment he conferres the contrary blessing and restores us to the inheritance CHAP. V. THE distance being taken away between God and us this Sacrament must be considered as a means of our nearer union with our Lord Christ He doth not onely embrace us when we come to his Table but he likewise knits and joins us to himself He not onely ties us with Cords of Love and binds us to his service by favours and blessings conferred on us but in some sort he makes us one with him and takes us into a nearer conjunction then before we enjoyed And who would not desire to be infolded in his arms Who would not repose himself in his bosome but who durst have presumed to entertain a thought of being married unto him and becoming one with him And yet who would refuse such a favour now that it is offered to us but they that neither know him nor themselves This Covenant into which we enter is a Marriage-Covenant and our Lord promises to be as a Husband to us and we chuse him as the best beloved of our souls It is none of the common friendships which we contract with him by eating and drinking at his Table but the rarest and highest that can be imagined and we are to look upon this as a Marriage-Feast What this union then with Christ is it need not be disputed we may be sure that it is such an one as is between a man and his wise the Vine and the Branches the Head and the Members the Building and the Foundation as hereafter will more fully appear yea far beyond all sorts of union whether moral natural or artificial which the world affords example of That which I am to shew is That by these Sacramental Pledges of his Love and this communion with Christ our Lord we are faster tied unto him and the Ligaments are made more strong and indissoluble between us This will be manifest upon these considerations I. Seeing we do after a sort eat Christs flesh and drink his Blood we must needs thereby be incorporated further with him I dispute not now in what sence we eat and drink his body and blood but so far as we grant that we do that so far the other is likewise done Our union is of the same kind and degree with our communion and participation And therefore when the Apostle speaks of a communion with them 1 Cor. 10.16 that adhaesion and cleaving to Christ signifies That in some sort we are made one with him So Chrysostome observes That the Apostle useth not the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is participation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Communion because he would shew the near conjunction that is between us and that we are knit and united to him by this partaking of him So likewise Oecumenius upon the place observes That Christs blood uniteth us to him as our Head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our receiving of it And indeed as it is contrary to all analogy of speech to call the Bread and Wine by the Name of Christs Body and Blood if they be not at all so in like manner it is incongruous to use the phrase of eating and drinking if there be no union between us and that which we eat and drink II. Faith and Love bearing a great part in this holy action and Christ being by them embraced it must needs be a means of our nearer union For union you know begins in our consent unto him and therefore the stronger that grows and with the greater dearness of affection that is expressed the stronger and closer our union to him becomes Now Faith and Love which are our consent receive here a great encrease of strength by the most intense operation of them which is apt to perfect and compleat them No man comes aright hither that doth not from the bottom of his heart as you have seen put himself into the will of Christ to be moved and governed at his pleasure He must run into Christs heart to have no motion but according as that beats so that his whole life should be put to a pulse answering to the heart of Christ And so Cyril brings in Christ calling upon men and saying I am the bread of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. in myst Caen. take me in as a leaven to diffuse it self through your whole mass Be you even leavened with me that every bit of you may taste of me This can be effected by nothing else but a hearty conjunction of our wills with Christs We must put our selves wholly out of our own power as the wife doth when she gives her self to her husband and the more we can get out of our selves so as to have no proper will of our own the more we become one with him When we feel not our selves to be any thing at all nor to have any interest different from that of his then we and he are made perfectly one or rather we are not but he is All. Now this abolition of propriety and self is much promoted by the remembrance of Christs death and his unvaluable love whereby we become dead and are even snatched and ravished from our selves Whatsoever other unions there may be they all wait
Supper c. i. e. Your very coming together signifies love but it doth not work it for whereas you should have a common Table as our Lords was you make it your own pleasure and exclude the poor from it But I will tell you what the Lord delivered to me that he in the night he was betrayed entertained not onely his holy Disciples but even the Traitor Judas that wicked enemy of his at his Table and how dare you therefore refuse the poor and exclude them from your Feasts Or thus If the Lord gave both to poor and rich his Body and Blood darest thou separate any from thy table and cast a scorn upon them If he gave thanks who delivered and divided his own Body shalt not thou thankfully and with the greatest joy make the poor thy companions and guests at the things that are given from him to thee c. I tell you once more ver 27. that whosoever eats and drinks in this unworthy and base fashion contemning the poor for whose sakes you meet together he is guilty of Christs Body and Blood and doth the greatest dishonour unto them by handling them with such impure hauds And at last ver 33.34 he adviseth them that they would stay one for another and if through hunger they could not well expect long he bids them eat at home and not come together for condemnation Upon which words the same Author thus glosseth You come together to the Supper for love and if that be in your hearts you had better take a refection at home then by casting a contempt upon your brethren shew that you have no love at all It is very likely also That first from these Feasts they sent portions to those that were absent to testifie their love unto them and so afterward as is most certain the custom grew to send from the Eucharist some of the blessed bread to those that could not come unto their assemblies So Justin saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they carry away some part to those that are not present Which I suppose arose in imitation of the Jewwish manners who in their Feasts sent portions one to another that they might more express their friendship which they desired to continue The Heathens likewise were not strangers to this custome as one example out of many will bear sufficient witness When Agesilaus offered his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. in vita Agesilaus sacrifices for glad tydings of a victory he sent pieces of the flesh to his friends that he might make them partakers in his joyes All which I mention onely for this end that we may see how desirous they were in the beginning of our Religion to keep up a mutual charity as the greatest honour of it which made them omit no custom that had been obliging among the Jews if it might help to promote the love and unity of the Church 3. Then they had their collections for the poor which ensued their participation of Christs Body and Blood This the Apostle mentions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc 1 Cor. 16.1 2. when he bids them on the first day of the week when the mysteries were celebrated to lay by something for the use of distressed Christians which was the practice of other Churches And Justin Martyr's words may be a good Comment upon that Text when he saith After these things i. e. receiving the Sacrament we alway remember one another of them and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They that have Apolog. 2. do help those that want every man giveing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as he himself thinks fit to do And that which is gathered is laid in the hands of the President i. e. the chief Minister wherewith he helps the Orphans and Widows relieves those that are sick or in prison and those that travel and all strangers and to be short he is the Curator of all that are in need You may perceive likewise by the Apostles words that their charity was no less large then the world and that it was not impaled in a particular Church but did stretch its hands to the farthest parts by sending relief to Jerusalem from whence the Gospel came unto them But besides these there were other offerings as we call them at this day which the people brought both for the celebrating of the Eucharist and the maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel These gifts as an Adversary confesseth were called Sacrifices Dionys Petav. diatrib in Syness cap. 3. though coming from the hands of the people Whence it is that Cyprian chides the rich people that they threw nothing into the Corban and came into Gods house sine sacrificio L. de Opere Eleemos without a sacrifice yea did eat part of that sacrifice which the poor had offered With these sacrifices the Apostle saith that God is well pleased and they that did offer them did it to testifie their love to God who had given them such good things and their love to their Brethren who they desired should share with them in Gods blessings They were both a piece off Gods worship and gave glory to him Psal 96.8 It was accounted a favour to be admitted to the offertory i. e. to have their money accepted which they gave to the poor And it was a punishment to communicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without offering as a perfect communion was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communión with offering Petavius Ib. Epist ad Diog. and likewise a piece of great charity that made others glorifie his Name By these and all other wayes they expressed such an affection that it was the talk of the Heathens and that whereby they were known by all men to be his Disciples And therefore when Diogenetus sent to Justin Martyr to know something more particularly concerning the Christian way he enquires not onely what God they trust in and how they worship him and what makes them contemn the world and despise death c. but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was that their dear affection which they did bear unto each other This was more famed in the world then the noble band of lovers that died at each others side and were ready to receive those wounds into their own bodies which were dealt to their companions For they did not onely impart their goods but their own selves and were prepared to lay down their lives for the Brethren And if the relief they bestowed on each other were like incense and sacrifices to God Phil. 4.18 then the giving of themselves was something like the love of Christ and too great a charity to be resembled to any thing but his sacrifice 4. And there was another thing that was sometime in use which testified their love to all Christians throughout the World One Church sent a loaf of bread to another as a token of their consent in faith and their consort in affection which they that did
Melchizedeck unto Abraham as a part perhaps of the blessing of that High Priest and as a signification of that Sacrament which God would have Abrahams seed to feed upon when the true High Priest after that great mans order should come And fifthly It is not to be forgotten that they do best answer to some things whereunto Christ is compared in the holy Scriptures For he is called the Vine and every branch that is in him must bring forth fruit as he doth which may hereby be represented And he is called the Bread of life which came down from Heaven as the Manna in the Wilderness who is to support our souls as the staff of bread doth our bodies Sixthly But it is most to be remarked that these were part of the Passeover-Supper when Christ as Cyril of Alexandria speaks was typically eaten in Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For first It is acknowledged by all that the Bread was blessed and the Cup also and so went round to all the guests And the forms of Benediction are still extant in some of the Hebrew Authors And secondly The whole Feast after the Passeover-night was called the Feast of unleavened Bread And thirdly It is the opinion I observe of some that our Saviour at the time of instituting this Sacrament Grot. did eat onely the Bread and the bitter Herbs but not the Lamb of the Passeover For it is not said in the Evangelists that his Disciples killed the Passeover for him but onely that they made ready the Passeover which might be nothing else but that bread of affliction and the herbs which were attended with the cup of kindness that used to pass among them For our Saviour died at the time the Passeover-Lamb was offered being indeed the Lamb of God himself And therefore S. John saith Chap. 13.1 That the Supper was before the Feast of the Passeover and he calls it eating of the Passeover because this was a great part of it a principal portion of this Feast And this part was all that they could partake of who at any time could not come to Jerusalem where only the Lamb was to be eaten being first offered at the Temple But supposing this to be doubtful yet there is no question but that this Lamb was a Type of Christ and that Bread and Wine was a part of their Supper And upon search I believe we shall find that the Lamb of the Passeover was the only Sacrifice which the people did wholly eat its blood being poured out at the Altar and it doth the better set forth Christ who gives himself wholly to us To which fourthly may be added that as the Paschal-Lamb did represent him so the manner of its killing was very conformable to Christs death upon the Cross which may make it more reasonable to borrow from the Supper resemblances of him For they hung the Lamb upon nails much what as Butchers now do a Sheep which they have killed and then fley'd off its skin that it might be dressed While it hung in this posture it was just like the scituation of Christs body upon the Cross as Buxtorf hath observed out of the Talmud whose hands were so spread and leggs so stretched out as the Lamb was 5. Unto which I may add That the Law of Moses was not to be wholly destroyed but to be changed and altered by Christ So the Apostle teacheth us to speak in Heb. 7.12 And the malice of St. Stephen's accusers could prompt them to say no worse of him then that he preached Jesus should change the customs which Moses delivered Act. 6.14 Circumcision is commanded under the title of an everlasting Covenant and it is not so much abolished as improved into a better Sacrament and seal of greater blessings to Mankind The Sabbath-day likewise was to be a commemoration of Gods rest from all his works on the seventh day and of his deliverance of them out of Egypt and it is not cancelled but changed into another day which contains the former and something else even a remembrance of the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead that he might enter into his rest So we may conceive that this great Feast of the Passeover was not quite done away but gave place to a better Feast which is in memory of a greater deliverance than that from the thraldom of Egypt and the iron Furnace In this the Jewish Christians might still commemorate their ancient mercies as well as if they had eaten of the flesh of their Lamb. Yea because there was in it such a clear representation of Christs sufferings especially in its first Institution when the blood was sprinkled on the door-posts part of it was thought fit still to remain viz. the Bread and Wine which they used to eat and drink in memory of that mercy with solemn forms of thanksgiving unto God And lastly The Bread and Wine was more fit then the flesh to be retained because now that Christ is come all Sacrifices are to cease and no more blood is to be shed for fin This I say may be a good reason why Bread and Wine only are used because they are unbloody things and after the killing of the Lamb of God there is to be no more life offered for our offences This Feast our Saviour did first of all celebrate with his twelve Disciples §. 3. And it was but fit that he should do so that he might the better answer to the Type in Exod. 29. where we read that Aaron the High Priest with his sons was to eat the breast and shoulder of the Ram of consecration whereby he was sanctified to officiate in the Priesthood Even so our Lord being to be offered up in Sacrifice and thereby to be consecrated an high Priest did institute this Supper that together with his Disciples he might as much as is possible feast with them upon that Sacrifice And seeing our Saviours Sacrifice answered both to the Paschal Lamb and the propitiatory Sacrifice on the day of Expiation it will be no wonder if it were so compleat as to have reference to this also The time when it was first instituted was in the night when he was betrayed for at the Even they celebrated the Passeover which makes some I suppose to keep the memory of Christs death in the close of the day But if they think that they must exactly follow that precedent they should do it after Supper And I rather think that the manner of receiving about noon is most agreeable to the true pattern For we do not remember the Supper of the Lord but his Sacrifice on the Cross And therefore as the Jews feasted at Even because they came out of Aegypt at that time so should we feast about Noon because our Lords death began between nine and twelve and ended about three of the Clock as you will clearly see by comparing the relation of S. Mark and S. John together It is said John 19.14 that it was about
come to his house and table then that they may be tied faster to him with new cords of his love and that it may be made more impossible for them to unloose themselves from his service What is there more in the desire of a holy soul then to cease to be its own what greater pleasure doth it feel then in parting with it self To what would it be more engaged then to the pleasing of him whom it heartily loves Let me be bound hand and foot saith such a soul that I may never stirre from him Let me seal to him a thousand Deeds to convey my self unto him If he would have me sign the Covenant with my Blood every vein in my body shall leap to do him that honour But rather let him come and seat himself in my heart and let him take my dearest life-blood if it will do him any service I accept of a suffering-Saviour I take him as he is all broken and bloody If he will have me follow him with a Cross upon my shoulder I refuse no conditions behold O Lord thy servant do with me as seems good in thy sight Thus we are to address our selves to this Feast as will be better understood if we consider these five things I. If we look upon this action onely under the general notion of a holy rite which God hath appointed as an act of his Worship yet the very using of it is an acknowledgment of him and his Religion and an engagement of our selves unto him as our God He that was circumcised was bound to observe the whole Law and so was he that offered sacrifice to the God of Israel at his Altar engaged to own him that had appointed that Worship Just so the performing but of one thing which God hath appointed as a ceremony in the Religion of Christ doth tie us to observe the whole Religion which he requires who did appoint that Rite And you may likewise observe That there being a mutual action in this Sacrament of Gods giving something and our taking it doth express that we are fast bound in that Covenant of which this action is a part So the giving and taking but of so small a thing as a straw doth bind persons firmly to that thing whereof they are agreed and which they conclude in that manner Stipulation one of the strongest words which we have to signifie the confirmation of a Bargain by was anciently made by no stronger thing as the very word doth import which carries a straw in its name And so any other thing in the World may be used to the same purpose The giving and taking of six-pence to strike up a contract doth lay as fast hold of a man as ten thousand pound in hand Much more then this solemn giving and takeing of Bread and Wine being a piece of Christ's Religion and he so represented by them doth bind us as fast to him as if we should repeat every word that he hath said and profess our consent unto it We are supposed to know the tearms of that Writing that Christ hath left us containing our duty and his promises and it is presumed we are willing to enjoy those promises and so to perform those duties this Action then doth but more solemnly conclude the agreement and we hereby stand engaged as strongly as if Covenants had been drawn between us and our hand and seal were affixed to them II. But then if we consider this Action as a coming to Gods Table and partaking of his meat we shall presently discern that thereby we prosess our selves of his Family and declare to all that we are his Followers and Retainers and that we own the Religion of the crucified Jesus I confess that coming to Christian Assemblies in the first times was an owning of Christ because it was very dangerous but this Action which was in those Assemblies performed was a more express profession of their belief in him and friendship with him For the great stumbling-block of the Jews was the Cross of Christ and it was foolishness to the Gentiles To declare therefore this death and Cross of his to eat of his dead body and drink of his blood was as much as to say I believe in this suffering-Saviour I am a Christian and will live and dye in this Religion A stranger may come unto a mans house but the friends onely are they that sit with him at his board and he that is not true to him of whose bread he eats is the worst and basest of all Enemies The Psalmist could put no worse character upon an enemy then this Psal 41.9 That he who put forth his hand to eat of his bread had lifted up his heel against him By coming then to Gods Table we profess our selves his familiar friends in whom he reposes a trust and we can put no greater scorn upon him then by being false to him that doth admit us to such a nearness You may observe therefore in Scripture these two things First That eating of bread together is spoken of as a token of friendship and agreement as these two places among others will satisfie you Job 42.11 Jer. 41.1 Bread is never wanting at any Feast and so they expressed by it a friendly entertainment Whence Pythagoras gave this Lesson to his Scholars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not break bread i. e. ne dirimas amici iam never break friendship but let it remain inviolable And so likewise Salt being never absent from any Meal and placed upon the Table it hath been used as a symbol of friendship and to have eaten Salt with a man at this day is proverbially as much as to be well acquainted with him which was a word as usual in ancient times among other people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot. l. 8. Ethic. cap. 3. according to that speech of Aristotle We cannot know one another till according to the Proverb we have eaten a quantity of Salt together The Turks * Knolles in the life of Mahâ—met 1. at this day joyn both together and to say I have eaten Bread and Salt with sueh an one is an expression of having good acquaintance with him All which I but briefly touch upon to make it more sensible to us that this participation of Gods bread is a token that we are of his acquaintance and we do tell the World hereby That we profess all love and friendship to him The second thing I would have noted is That Covenants in Scripture story are made by eating and drinking together For which I need produce no other places but those in Gen. 26.30 Gen. 31.44 46. where Isaac and Abimelech Jacob and Laban conclude their Compacts with a Feast But you may add if you please that in Josh 9.14 where it is said the people took of the victuals of the Gibeonites and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord i. e. They made a Covenant with them before they consulted with the holy Oracle
whether they were what they pretended to be for so some good Interpreters both Jewish and Christian expound the words because else we cannot understand why it should be a crime to tast whether their bread was so dry as they said as others think the meaning is without going to enquire of God the lawfulness of such a fact It is very likely also that from this original that phrase is derived of a Covenant of Salt Numb 18.19 2 Chron. 13.5 which in Scripture-stile signifies an everlasting and unalterable Settlement because such Leagues which are made with the profession of the greatest friendship as if men were cohabitants and familiars ought to be held most sacred and religiously observed Now this Bread and Wine in the Sacrament is Gods both as it is offered by us unto him and as it is consecrated to represent his Son Christ unto us and therefore we by partaking of it do solemnly engage our selves unto and promise our fidelity in his service as those that are his domesticks and desire always to remain in his familiarity But suppose any person should give us his very blood to drink that we might the more firmly be obliged to him what could there be devised more strong to tie our hearts together So the conspirators with Cataline did combine and joyn themselves together by drinking of their own blood that they might be bound in a Covenant exceeding the strength of all others which are made by eating of common food And so doth Christ take us into his society and bind us to him by giving us the representations of his own flesh and blood to eat and drink that so we might never think of departing from him who hath admitted us to that Food which is as much beyond all others in its obligatory vertue as it is in its own proper worth and excellency And that you may see it more fully verified that this eating and drinking is a foederal rite between God and us let it be considered III. As a Feast upon a Sacrifice in which notion it is most rarely explained by an excellent Doctor of our own from which it will evidently appear to be intended as a solemn profession of Christs Religion D. Cudworth and a renewal of our Covenant with God For the understanding of this you must know That Jerusalem being the Holy City in Gods Land Matt. 4.5 Psal 85 1. 1 King 6.1 Psal 135.1 2. and the Temple being the house of God where he dwelt and the Priests Gods Servants and the Altar his Table as was said before there was a constant provision brought in for the keeping of Gods house and maintaining of his servants And beside those of the morning and evening there were a great number of occasional Sacrifices which were his flesh together with their meat and drink-offerings which were his Bread and Wine that came in to be his Food as the expression is Levit. 3.11 These common Sacrifices were of three sorts The first were Holocausts or Burnt-offerings so called because they were consumed wholly upon Gods Altar by his fire Lev. 1.9 13 which at first came from Heaven and was never to goe out none eating of them but himself The second we may call expiatory because they were to make atonement and reconcile which were of two sorts Sinne-offerings and Trespass-offerings These the Priests did eat of if they were not such whose blood was carried within the holy place as you may read in Levit. 7.7 9. Numb 18.9 10. For they being Gods servants were to be maintained and kept in his Family and beside hereby did take the mans guilt as it were and carry it away Lev. 6.25 26. But none else were permitted to eat of it being supposed to be in a state of guilt and not fit to have familiarity with God The third sort were Peace-offerings which were made to God for some benefits received which go among the Hebrews under the name of Peace to testifie their gratitude unto him The fat of these offerings being burnt upon the Altar to God Lev. 3.3 4. and one breast with a shoulder being given to the Priest for his portion Lev. 7.34 the remainds were the owners share that he might eat of Gods meat and so feast with him if he was not in any Legal uncleanness as you may see Lev. 7.20 The Examples of such sacrifices are numerous in the Scripture not here to be amassed together and wrapt up in these sheets It may suffice to note two places which lie close together They were sacrifices of this sort that Elkanah offered when he went yearly unto Shiloh 1 Sam. 1.4 5. giving portions viz. of the sacrifice to his whole Family that went with him but to Hannah a double portion Those offerings likewise which the sons of Eli made men to abhor were of the same kind 1 Sam. 2.17 and their sin consisted in these two enormities First That they were not content with that portion which was assigned them by Law viz. the breast and shoulder but they took what and as much as they list ver 13. And secondly That they took their portion before God had his i. e. before the fat was burnt upon the Altar ver 15 16. a rudeness which the Gentiles would not have been guilty of except some belly-gods and Atheistical gluttons For when they would set forth the intemperance of such a man they could say no worse then this Haut immolata sacra devorat he devours the sacrifices before they be offered to God This I mention because they were not strangers to this kind of sacrifice no more than to the rest but did offer them frequently to their gods You may take one example out of a multitude which expresses both this custom of eating part of the sacrifices and likewise their forbearance to take any part till God had his The Egyptians saith Herodotus while the Sacrifices were burning In Euterpe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did beat and knock themselves and after they had done so then they made a feast of the Reliques of the sacrifice We may learn thus much by the way of these Heathens That God is to be served before our selves and there is no true joy but that which arises out of true sorrow Now that this eating and drinking was intended as a rite of covenanting with that Deity to whom the Sacrifices were offered or else as a profession that they were in the Covenant and did remain Gods Friends if they were already of the Religion you may discern from these two places which will lead me to that for which all this is said When Moses had rehearsed to the people Gods Laws Exod. cap. 20 21 22 23. which he gave on Mount Sinai and then came to strike the Covenant between God and Israel it is said Exod. 24.5 that Moses sent young men i. e. some of the first-born who were the Priests hitherto to offer Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings of Oxen and half of
the Blood he sprinkled on the Altar which represented God and the other half he sprinkled on the people ver 6 7 8. as a token of the Covenant between them But for compleating of the Compact the chief of the people went up nearer to God and saw that bright appearance and did eat and drink ver 11. which sure must be understood of their feasting upon the Peace-offerings which had been sacrificed unto God whereby they professed to own that Covenant he had given to them Not long after this people made to themselves other gods and offered not onely burnt-offerings but also peace-offerings to them Exod. 32.6 and then sate down to eat and driuk and rose up to play i. e. to be wanton and commit uncleanness with each other Now that this was an associating of themselves with the Egyptian gods we may learn from the Apostle who reciting of this passage and speaking of their Idolatry makes no mention at all of their sacrificing to these new gods but onely of this eating c. which did conclude the Ceremony as if the Idolatry did formally consist in this and that hereby they did devote themselves to that strange Worship Neither be you Idolators saith he 1 Cor. 10.8 as were some of them as it is written the people sate down to eat and to drink and rose up to play By which words you may see the Apostle makes account that this eating and drinking of the sacrifices was a renouncing of the Covenant of their God and joyning of themselves to idols Now because it was the manner as it seems of some of the Corinthians still to feast in the Idols Temples and perhaps in the Temple of Venus famous in that City which makes the Apostle add those words ver 8. Neither commit fornication as some c. He tells them that this was a plain forsaking of Christ and utterly incompatible with his Profession For the vouching of which assertion he reminds them what the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord doth import viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 participation or communion of the Body and Blood of Christ ver 16 17. which is as much as to say it is a profession that we as one body partaking of one bread do hold communion with Christ and adhere unto him as our Lord and Head and that to his Worship and Service we do consecrate our selves For just as Israel by eating of the sacrifices partake of or have communion with the Altar ver 18. i. e. profess to be of that Religion and adhere to that way of Worship So it is with Christians when they eat of the Body and Blood of the crucified Saviour which was offered for us And therefore by a likeness of Reason he concludes That to partake of the Table of Devils and eat of things sacrificed to them was to profess to have communion with those impure spirits and thereby to desecrate themselves it being impossible for them at once to be devoted to things so quite contrary as Christ and the Devil ver 20 21. From all which discourse we may thus reason That this holy Sacrament is a Feast upon the Sacrifice which Christ offered as the Jewish Feasts were made with the flesh of those sacrifices which they offered to God For the Apostle makes the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ ver 16. parrallel to eating of the sacrifices ver 18. And therefore it is a rite whereby we solemnly addict our selves to the service and Worship of Christ and take upon our selves strict engagements to be faithfull in that Covenant that is between us which is the thing that was to be proved As Israel joined themselves to God by feasting in his house of the Sacrifices so we joyn our selves to Christ by feasting in the place of his Worship and at his Table upon the remembrances of his body and blood And our obligations to cleave unto him do as much excel all other tyes in their sacredness strength and vertue as the Sacrifice of Christ excels the Sacrifice of a Beast or the eating and drinking of his Body and Blood is beyond all participation of the meat of the ancient Altars Yea it is supposed that we are the friends of God before we come hither and that we are not in any willing uncleanness else we should be shut out from partaking of this offering And therefore our approach to his Table is but more strongly to tye the knot and to bind us in deeper promises to continue friendship with him If more can be said then this I may add that the eating of this sacrifice is a solemn Oath that we will be true and loyal to him For even Heathens themselves did use by sacrifice to bind themselves in Oaths From whence it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies that sacrifice which was slain when they made a covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. and in regard of its relation to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred the Oath-sacrifice And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut this sacrifice in Homers phrase is to make a Covenant which it is likely may be taken from the Hebrew custome mentioned Jer. 34.18 And to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the warm intrails of the beast was the greatest Oath that could be made When we lay our hands therefore upon the body of Christ that was sacrificed for us and much more when we eat of it we do solemnly take our Oaths that we will be his faithfull foederates and rather die then shrink from those duties to which we bind our selves IV. If there be any that look upon eating and drinking of this bread and wine onely as symbols of beleeving in Jesus Christ the matter draws to the same point for faith is the condition of the Covenant of Grace and comprehends in its signification all that God requires So some of the Ancients expound those words Joh. 6. ver 54. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life to signifie thus much He that is made partaker of my wisdom through my incarnation and sensible life among men shall be saved For flesh and blood saith Basil he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist 141. ad Caesar all the mystery of his incarnation and conversation here in the flesh amongst us together with his doctrine which he hath taught us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. by which the soul is nourished and fitted for the sight of coelestial things and therefore eating and drinking of these must denote embracing of all Christ so as to be conform to him and to his doctrine If then we take the body and blood of Christ in this Supper represented to us to signifie the same and eating and drinking to be onely believing yet you may easily see to how much we are engaged if we do really believe But it is manifest to me that eating and drinking here must comprehend more then it doth in St. John for
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 change of one thing into another and Nyssen by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translation or Theophylact by his great word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transelementation For that this last word doth not amount to a change of one substance into another we may be clearly satisfied from himself who as he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread is transelementated into Christs body so likewise affirms that we are transelementated into Christ Now as by this later expression he can intend no more but our mystical incorporation with him so by the former nothing else is to be understood but the conversion of the bread to no other use so that in effect it is made the body of Christ In short he that hath the picture of a King in his Chamber hath but a bare sign which may make him think of him and no more but he that hath the Kings great Seal which confirms him in the possession of all the land he injoyes hath his picture and something else that comes along with it which instates him in a real good And though the wax affixed to the writing be the same for substance with that which is in a mans shop yet for vertue as it is made use of it is much different and far better then all the wax that a whole County can afford Even so it is in this case before us Bread broken and Wine poured out are but bare signs of Christs sufferings if we consider them nakedly in themselves but if we look on them as a foederal rite and as they are given to us and eaten and drunken by us in remembrance of the death of Christ so they are seals and further confirmations of Gods great love towards us And though they are still the same for substance with the most common Bread and Wine which we use at our Meals yet in regard of the use to which now they are converted they become Sacred and of great vertue to convey unto us the things expressed in the Covenant which are of more worth then all the World II. It is further manifest that we are hereby confirmed in the state of pardon and forgiveness because we do here put forth the most solemn act of Charity and Forgiveness to all our enemies For it is a Feast of Love as you shall see afterwards and this is the very condition upon which our forgiveness depends that we forgive others Matt. 6.14 15. and therefore when we here pray for all men and put away all enmity out of our hearts never to return any more God is engaged to express himself to us as a friend and to let fall all differences that have been between him and us I know that we are never to harbour any hatred in our hearts and that we cannot pray successfully at any time unless we lift up pure hands without wrath and I likewise wish the Doctrines of Love were most frequently and severely pressed and practised but yet there is no time when we do more narrowly search our selves to find out the reliques of that sowre leaven and when we are more powerfully moved to extinguish even the least spark or seeds of fire that are in our souls then when we consider Christs death and remember how he prayed for his Enemies upon the Cross And therefore I conceive that upon this account the Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood may be a means of assuring our pardon and strengthning of our title to Forgiveness But notwithstanding I consider with my self that this duty of pardoning others is not so peculiar to this Sacrament but that it may and must be done as I said at all other times and for that cause I shall pass it by and proceed to that which I would have most of all observed for the understanding of this part of my Discourse and that is this III. This eating and drinking is a feast upon a sin-offering and therefore is a greater pledg of remission of sin That you may conceive of this aright it must be remembred That though the people of Israel used to feast upon their peace-offerings which were made at the Altar as hath been said already yet they were not admitted to eat of any else The whole Burnt-offerings indeed had Peace-offerings attending alway upon them and so they did partake of the Altar when they were offered by eating of the latter but of the former none tasted but God himself The Offerings for sinne as you have seen were the portion of the Priests and the people were excluded from them unless you will say that they eat by them as their substitutes and mediators But now you must further note That though the Priests were to eat of the sin-offering for particular persons yet of the sacrifice made for the sinne of the whole Congregation whose blood was carried into the holy place the Priests themselves might not eat and so consequently nor the people by them but they were to burn its flesh without the Camp And whether it were upon the day of general atonement Lev. 16.27 or at any other time when the whole Congregation had committed a sin through ignorance Lev. 4.13.21 Lev. 6.30 that an offering was to be made for them they were not permitted to have the least share of it Now Christ made his soul an offering for sinne Isa 53.10 and such an offering that with his blood he entred into the holy place and suffered without the Camp and therefore was most illustriously set forth by that sacrifice which was for the whole Congregation According then to the Law none was to feed upon the Sacrifice and yet our Lord hath indulged unto us the priviledg of feasting upon this great Sacrifice of Propitiation according as the very words of the Institution of this Sacrament do intimate when our Saviour saith Mark 14.24 This is the blood of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. which is like to the Sacrifice on the great Day of Atonement which was not made for one person but for the whole Congregation and of this I give you leave to drink This was a favour never granted to the World before and besides what the Law of Moses speaks it is remarkable what is delivered by Porphyry as the sence of all the Heathen Divines in the World L. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Divines consent in this That it is not lawfull to touch so much as a bit of those Sacrifices which are for the averting of wrath Though it was never lawfull you know to eat the blood of any Sacrifice whether Peace-offering or other but it was to be poured out at the Altar and though the flesh of those that were offered for sin by the Laws of all people were not to be tasted yet we may drink the blood of the Sacrifice yea of this great Sacrifice for all the people and we may eat the flesh of it by the command of
and attend upon this which lays the foundation of them Yea by this faith and love our hearts are more inlarged the vessels of our souls are rendred more capable and the Temple of Christ is much more amplified to receive more of Gods presence And that is the next thing III. The holy Spirit is here conferred on us in larger measures which is the very bond and ligament that ties us to him For this union is not onely such a moral union as is between husband and wife which is made by love or between King and Subjects which is made by Laws but such a natural union as is between head and members the vine and branches which is made by one spirit or life dwelling in the whole For the understanding of this which I shall insist on longer then therest you must consider these things 1. That our union with Christ is set forth by many things in Scripture or in St. Chrysostom's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He unites us to himself after many patterns I think there is not a better collection of them then we meet with in him He is the head faith he we are the body Hom. 8. in 1. ad Cor. He is the foundation we are the building He is the vine we are the branches He is the bridegroom we are the bride He is the sheepherd we are the sheep He is the way we are the travellers We are the Temple and he is the inhabitant He is the first-born we his brethren He is the Heir we the coheirs He is the life we are the living c. all these thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do shew an union and such an one that will not admit the least thing to come between them 2. Observe that the highest and closest union is that which is made by one spirit and life moving in the whole And therefore I take notice that the Scripture delights most frequently to use the two first examples of a body and a building and those that are nearest to these Now because a building hath no life but yet by its firmness and strength doth notably set forth the firmness of the union that is between Christ and his people therefore the Apostle puts both these together and calls Christ a living stone and those that come to him lively or living stones which are built up a spiritual house or temple where they offer spiritual sacrifices unto God 1 Pet. 2.4 5. That union therefore is most perfect which is made by life though others may be of great est strength and therefore the Apostle applies it even to things without life that he might the better shew that the union between Christ and his members by one life is in strength more like the solidness of a Temple then any other thing whose parts are so cemented as that they would last as long as the world 3. We must observe That things at the greatest distance may be united by one spirit of life actuating them both and so may Christ and we though we enjoy not his bodily presence It is truly noted by a most Rev. A. usher Person that the formal reason of the union that is made between the parts of our body consists not in their continuity and touching of each other but in the animation of them by one and the same spirit which ties them all together If the spirit withdraw it self from any part so that it be mortified it presently remains as if it were not of the body though its parts still touch the next member to it And so we see in trees if any branch be deprived of the vegetative spirit it drops from the tree as now no more belonging to it On the other side you see the toes have an union with the head though at a distance not onely by the intervening of many parts that reach from them unto it but by the soul that is present in the farthest member and gives the head as speedy notice of what is done in the remotest part as if it were the next door to the brain And this it doth without the assistance of the neighbouring parts that should whisper the grief of the toes from one to the other till the head hear but without the least trouble to any of them which do not feel their pain If you should suppose therefore our body to be as high as the Heavens and the head of it to touch the throne of God and the feet to stand upon his footstool the earth no sooner could the head think of moving a toe but presently it would stir and no sooner could any pain befall the most distant part then the head would be advised of it Which must be by vertue of that spirit which is conceived alike present to every part and therefore that must be taken likewise to be the reason of that union which is among them all Just so may you apprehend the union to be between Christ our head and us his members Although in regard of his corporal presence he be in the Heavens which must receive him untill the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3.21 yet he is here with us always even to the end of the world Mat. 28.20 in regard of his holy Spirit working in us By this he is sensible of all our needs and by the vital influences of it in every part he joyns the whole body fitly together so that he and it make one Christ according as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 12.12 As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of tha◠one body being many are one body so also is Christ And that this union is wrought by the Spirit which every true Christian hath dwelling in him Cor. 6. 7. Rom. 8.9 the next verse ver 13. will tell you we are all baptized into one body by one spirit c. Which will lead me to the fourth thing for which all this was said 4. We receive of this Spirit when we worthily communicate at the Supper of the Lord according as the Apostle in that 13th verse is thought to say We have been all made to drink into one spirit i. e. we have all reason to agree well together for there is but one spirit that animates the whole body of us which we receive at the Table of the Lord when we drink the cup of blessing One Christian doth not drink out of the same cup a spirit of peace and another Christian a spirit of contention but as Chrysostome expounds it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We all come to be initiated in the same secrets we all enjoy the same Table and though he doth not say as it follows in him that we eat the same body and drink the same blood yet since he makes mention of the spirit he saith both For in both we are watered with one and the same spirit even as trees saith he are watered out of one and the same fountain V.
take away but one offence among the Jews and that meerly against a carnall Commandment yet this though but one can take away all offences even against the eternall Law of God And the strength of a Sacrifice under the Law continued no longer than just while it was offered but was to be repeated again in case of a new offence but the bloud of Jesus endures for ever Heb 10.14 and by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified We that live at sixteen hundred years distance from that sacrifice may be as much expiated and receive as great benefit by it as they that saw him upon the Altar or as he that put his fingers into his wounds and thrust his hand into his side For the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all and he bare the sinnes not only of that generation but of all succeeding Ages Think then now that the Cup is in thy hands now that thou drinkest of his bloud that thou mayest receive as reall effects of his sacrifice as if thou hadst been permitted to have laid thy hands on his head and put all thy sins upon him as Aaron did upon the head of the Beast that was offered for the Congregation of Israel And so let thy thoughts slide to a second Meditation which is hereon depending 2. And consider with thy self how firm that Covenant is which is made with us in the bloud of Jesus and how certainly God will perform whatsoever his Sonne hath promised It is called the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 which doth intimate that he sealed the Covenant with his Bloud that he died to assert the truth of all that he said he took it upon his death that he was sent of God and as he sealed to it by his death so God did seal to it by his resurrection which two put together are the grand proofs which we have to shew for the truth of the Gospel And then we may be confident that the mercy of the Lord endures for ever for the seal of the Covenant is everlasting and never fails The first Covenant was made by bloud as you may see Exod. 24.7 8. yea there is such an affinity between these words sanctio and sanguis that in all likelihood their nearness arise from hence because by bloud all establishments and sanctions were wont to be made But the Bloud of that Covenant vanished away and never rose again and so in time did the Covenant it self as the Apostle tells us Heb. 8.13 And therefore the Lord sealed the new Compact by a better bloud which is quickned again to an eternall life to assure us that the mercies of it shall never cease Here therefore thy soul may again plead with God that he would put his Laws into thy heart and write them in thy mind and that thy sins and iniquities he would remember no more which is the sum of the Covenant as it there follows in the Apostles discourse Heb. 10.16 17. Thou mayest grow confident and rejoyce in God thy salvation thou mayest desire him to remember that it is the precious Bloud of his Sonne which thou remembrest thou mayest tell him that is not the bloud of Bulls and Goats that thou pleadest but of Jesus the Lamb of God without spot and blemish Thou mayest ask him if he do not see that Bloud in the Heavens if he be not more pleased with it than with the bloud of the Cattle upon a thousand Hills Say Lord is the Bloud of Jesus dead Doth it not cry as loud in thine ears as ever Hast thou not made him a Priest after the power of an endless life yea hast thou not sworn and is it not impossible that thou shouldst repent Then I humbly crave that a poor sinner which hath nothing to offer thee may be accepted by that offering Then let me live by his Life as so many already have done Let me know that thou art well pleased with sinners through him Let me know that I have found favour in thine eyes Let all the Prayers that I have now made be graciously accepted Remember all my offerings and accept of my sacrifice of Prayers and Praises Yea remember his bloud when I do not actually remember it and when I am silent and do not pray let that prevail for blessings upon me Psalm 21. Doth not the King joy in thy strength Hast thou not given him his hearts desire and not withholden the request of his lips Thou hast set a Crown of pure Gold upon his head He asked Life of thee and thou gavest it him even length of dayes for ever and ever His Glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most blessed for ever Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance And therefore since he lives let us live also Since thou hast heard him hear us also for his sake Send us help out of thy Sanctuary and strengthen us out of Sion Grant us according to our heart and fulfill all our petitions Save Lord let the King hear us when we call 3. Meditate likewise what danger there is in not standing to that Covenant that is here confirmed by bloud between God and us They used when they made Covenants by bloud to cut the Beast in sunder and both parties passed between the two halfs as you may see Jer. 34.18 19. Which custome was as old as Abrahams time as Gen. 15.10 17 18. will inform you This passing of both parties between the parts of the Beast was as much as a wish that so it might befall him that should break the Covenant which was made between them Now when we behold the Bloud of the Son of God poured out and his Body broken and so a Covenant stricken between God and us by his receiving him into Heaven and our drinking of his bloud and eating of his Body here on Earth we should think what the danger will be of not being stedfast in his Covenant God will require his Sonnes bloud at our hands The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall cut him in sunder and give him his portion with the Hypocrites Mat. 24.50 51. I have often thought that he alludes to that custome of cutting the Beast in twain and that the meaning is All persons that are deceitfull and false Luk. 12.46 or as St. Lukes phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbelievers unfaithfull souls all that break their faith with Christ and violate his Covenant they shall be cut in two as the word signifies they shall have such an execution done upon them as was done upon the Beast of old and receive such a horrible doom as is fit for perjured persons They shall be broken in pieces as his Son was broken Yea he will fall upon them as
Tatius mentions that appeared to the sight as if they were on a flame and the fire leaped out of them continually but if you came to touch them they were as cold as any Snow And neither the fire saith he was quenched by the water nor the water heated by the fire but in that Fountain you might behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an amity and reconciliation of fire and water together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just so it is with many professing people they have a seeming zeal and a flagrant devotion they have warm expressions in their mouthes and pray earnestly but if you come near to them and handle them if you grow acquainted with their converse the world lyes cold at their hearts and there is no life of God in them but they have made a syncretism between life and death a league between the god of this world and the God of Heaven The same Author tells of a River in Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lb. into whose whirlpits if the wind insinuate it self it strikes upon the folds of the water and plays with them as we do upon the strings of a Cittern so that a Passenger would imagine that he was entertained by some Musicians Which may aptly resemble many men in the world who when the Spirit of God breathes at some solemn time upon them or when they hear the voice of God and look a little into themselves do seem to be delightfully moved and to make a pleasant noise as though they were tuned to the praises of God but follow them home and let that sweet breath be over and you shall see they are as greedy of the world as a deep pit and their thoughts roll and turn about that they may draw all that comes near them into themselves VI. And therefore sixthly Let us labour to impress and retain an Image of Christ upon our souls whom we have seen crucified before our eyes Let us represent unto our selves what a Person Christ was and what his manner of behaviour was in the world and then let us labour to carry him before our mind and have him in our eyes that so by looking on him we may shape all our affections and all our actions after that rare pattern that he hath set us Let us endeavour to think every where that we see him hanging upon the Cross and behold him bleeding for our sins or declaring to us his mind or doing something that the Gospel speaks of so that we may lead a mortified life and be in every thing fashioned after his likeness And this we must do the rather because as I have said he is now more nearly united unto us so that when we are to do any thing we must act like him we must consider how he did or what he would do in such a case and we must so behave our selves that in a very proper sense Christ may be said to live and not we Gal. 2.20 We must do our endeavour that he may eat and drink and buy and sell c. i. e. all these things may be done as we think that Christ would do them were he in the flesh who is one with us We must become so many little Images of him in the world that they who see us may behold him And that is the meaning I suppose of another phrase of the Apostle when he bids us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 i. e. to be so transformed into him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen that both in our outward garb and deportment and also in our inward features we may be a lively resemblance of him Now the same Apostle tells us That as many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 and therefore much more they who have eaten of his Body and drunk of his Blood are supposed to have put him on and to have dressed their souls compleatly after his holy Image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. They must labour to be all over godly and to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his phrase is an universal vertue that they may be holy as he is holy And for our better direction 1. Let us labour to do something worthy of the expence of Christs Bloud and to think what manner of persons they ought to be for whom the Lord of life died and who are washed in no other laver but the Bloud of the Lamb. 2. Something answerable to the dearest love of the great God of Heaven and Earth and to consider after what sort they ought to live to whom God hath given so rich a gift whom he hath honoured not only to be his Sons but to have his dearest Son for their servant 3. Something that may correspond with so many and so great means of salvation And in particular we should think what is expected from those who have now received a greater strength from Heaven Strong food must not be given to those that intend to lead a sedentary life and have not much work to do A plentifull nourishment overthrows their health instead of yielding supports unto their spirits It is the greatest folly to come for this divine nutriment if we intend to sit still or to go but a slow pace in Religion as if we were newly come out of the sickness and disease of sin and could scarce stand in the wayes of God They ought to exercise themselves in all godliness to be active and full of motion who feed so abundantly They ought to be very good Children who are fed with such food for whom God furnished such a Table with so great a cost 4. We must labour to do something that is worthy of a soul and body consigned to immortal blessedness How holy should they be who expect such great things who have received such pledges of them who wait for the Lord from Heaven to change these vile bodies into his likeness O do not unhallow and desecrate that thing which is at present the Temple of the Lord and which is sanctified for the eternal mansions Prophane not that body and soul which shall for ever live with God are already become his habitation through his holy spirit dwelling in them Now consider I beseech you do you think that he leads a life worthy of any of these who delights not to converse with God who prays never or but very seldome exceeding briefly and as if he were frozen who hears Sermons and understands them not or else forgets them as soon as they are heard who grows no wiser nor better than he was many years agone whose time runs away in eating and drinking sleeping and playing working and toyling as if these were the things we exhorted them unto who rarely takes the Bible or a good Book into his hands and when he doth throws it away again at the call of any pleasure or worldly gain who loves no body but himself and is
angry at him that would save his soul Do we eat and drink this Heavenly provision and then rise up to play do we stand in need of such noble nourishment for the following of our trades and the encouragement of us in our worldly business O consider beloved Reader that lookest on these lines that an honest Heathen would do better things than these He that never heard of Christ and never tasted of this Heavenly food would be ashamed of such a life Philosophy which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nutriment of the soul would produce far more excellent works There is no need thou shouldest be a Christian if thou hast no more noble end Meer reason will breed up better Scholars and therefore go and sit with the Deipnosophists and come not unto the Supper of the Lord unless thou intendest to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing Col. 1.10 being fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God Do but hear what they promised themselves from their Philosophy Hoc est quod Philosophia mihi promittit ut me parem Deo faciat Epist 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then judge to what it is fit a Christian so divinely nourished should aspire This saith Seneca Philosophy doth make me promises of that it will make me a Peer with God This is that saith Cleomedes which preserves the Demy-God that is within us from being shamefully intreated which keeps it unmoveable and unshaken which gives it the better of all pleasures and pains which makes it intend some worthy end and receive all events and contingencies as coming from thence from whence it self came and above all which learns it to wait for the coming of death with a chearfull mind What man then deserves the name of a Christian that notwithstanding all the means of grace which God affords doth strive to make himself equal with a Beast that basely uses his noble part that is like a feather shaken with the wind and lyes down at the feet of every pleasure and cannot sustain the load of the least grief that vexes and frets at every cross as if the Devil ruled the world and trembles at death as a Child doth at a friend with a vizard on God expects sure that we should be men of another sort and that Philosophy should not beget more lusty souls than Christianity can We must be ashamed to live at a lower rate than a man that had been but at Plato's Compotation and we must make account the Blood of Christ is to nourish better Spirits in us than the very soul and spirit of reason if we could suck it in can be able to generate Let us look therefore into our hearts daily and see that he be there Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever else we do let us ask him if he be pleased Let us go to him constantly that he may know we love him And let us entreat him to tell us what he would have us to do and then let us do it with all our might VII Seventhly Let us maintain a longing in our souls after another such repast Let us strive every day to keep up a spiritual hunger after this food that so we may not neglect the next opportunity which God shall give us of Communion or if we should die before we have one yet Heaven may find us prepared for the Feast where the marriage shall be compleated Christ may find such holy longings after him that our souls may be taken into his bosome to dwell in him as he before dwelt in us When we cannot outwardly communicate yet we may in heart in spirit Though we cannot alwayes celebrate the mysteries yet we may have the thing signified in those mysteries as St. Bernard speaks at all times in all places i. e. We may with pious affections and holy actions receive Christ continually into our souls As the Sacrament saith he sine re Sacramenti without the thing of the Sacrament is death to the unworthy so we may conclude that res Sacramenti the thing it self without the Sacrament will be life eternal to the worthy Whensoever in remembrance of Christ thou art piously and devoutly affected into an imitation of Christ thou dost eat his Body and drink his Blood But then if we do constantly preserve such longings and hungring after this Feast and do at all times feast upon him we cannot pass by any occasion that God affords us of receiving him in that manner that he hath appointed and blessed and we cannot but be very forward to go to remember him when opportunity is presented in the Assembly of his people And therefore I shall not make it a distinct advice that you would come again when this Table is spread for you For this is but a just gratitude to God a sign that we like his fare and are well pleased with his chear and are ambitious of nothing more than such an entertainment And I think we shall shew our selves to have been very unworthy guests at the last Feast if we like it so little as to refuse to come the next time that we are invited In the beginning of our Religion they received every day Acts 2.46 Which proceeded from a great devotion and fervency of spirit when the holy Ghost like fire had descended upon them And this heat did not abate in all places for the space of 400 years but in some Churches of Affrica as St. Augustine writes and in Rome and Spain as St. Hierome tells us they retained this ardent love and continually remembred the dying of the Lord Jesus And it was proposed to St. Augustine as a doubt whether a person of business as a Merchant Husbandman or the like should every day Communicate To which he answered To receive the Sacrament every day I neither praise nor reprove but to Communicate every Lords-day I would wish you and exhort every one so to do And so St. Chrysostome exhorting of the people to build Churches in the Villages where they might hold Assemblies he perswades them by this Argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in cap. 8. Act. p. 716 edit Sav. There Prayers will be sent up daily for every one of you there God will be continually praised with Hymns and every Lords day will there be an Offering made for you And though the devotion of Christians fell from once in a day to once in a week and from thence to once in a moneth till at last the Church of Rome hath thought it fit to bind men of necessity but to once in a year yet I find a devout Papist thus speaking Fr. Sales Introd Though it be hard to say how often a man is bound to Communicate yet I think I may boldly affirm That the greatest distance between the times of Communicating among such as desire to serve God devoutly is from moneth to moneth And sure the strict observance
full Atonement being made because it is onely bread and onely Wine These things then having such a special reference to Christs Death the worthy receiving of them must needs be of great force 1. As an Antidote to take away the poyson and killing-power of sin The Blood of Christ doth wash away our guilt and takes off all obligation unto punishment and the consideration that Christ hath died for us expels the poyson from the heart which would make us faint and die It heals the wounds that sin hath made and takes away the anger of the sore it asswages the rage and heat of that sting which the fiery Serpent had sent unto us and suffers not the venome to undo us The pardon indeed is granted to us by vertue of the Covenant of grace when we unfeignedly repent and believe i. e. when we are converted unto God but now likewise it is further sealed to such persons That which was confirmed before by the Blood of Christ is now in a sensible manner applied to us and ratified by the representations of that Blood In the use of these things likewise we receive an increase of Piety and get more full victories over our sins and thereby feel more the virtue of the Antidote and have a sense of our pardon made as lively as if there was a new act of grace passed to settle it more surely upon us 2. It is of a Cathartical virtue also and hath in it a force to purge and cleanse our souls from their impurities As it takes away the killing-power of sin against us so it kills sin in us By our abiding in the Wounds of Christ sin is wounded and slain If any of you saith St. Bernard do not feel so frequently the sharp motions of anger envy or luxury c Gratias agat corpori saâ—guini Domini c. Let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord and let him praise the power of this Sacrament The blood of Christ quenches the fire of anger the heart-burnings of malice and envy the feavourish heats of lust the raging thirst after sensual pleasures Consider what thou art Dost thou delight in drink Here is a draught to quench thy thirst Art thou a glutton Here is a morfel that will make thee say Lord evermore give us this Bread Art thou worldly-minded Here is Christ dying to the world and leaving the world who will carry thee away with him in his armes Art thou fearfull to suffer any thing for Christ Drink the Cup of the blood of Christ that thou mayst be able to shed thy own bloud for Christ Calicem sanguinis Christi bibas ut possis propter Christum sanguinem sundere Cypt. Give saith Cyprian the Cup of Christ to those who are to drink of the Cup of Martyrdome Art thou affraid of the power of the Devil Christ O man comes here to take possession of thee And as he upon the Cross spoiled principalities and powers triumphing over them so mayst thou do also in this Sacrament of the Cross Art thou affraid of growing cold and dead in good duties Thou drinkest of Jesus that is full of spirit and will warm and enliven thy heart Whatsoever sin thou hast unmortified bring it hither and nail it unto the Cross of Christ till it be stark dead And unto whatsoever good thou wouldst be animated shew thy Lord thy desire to it and shew him his bloud to move him to bestow it Onely remember that it works not as Physick doth in a natural but in a spiritual manner It works as a Sacrament and requires thy inward rational and spiritual operations and then thou wilt find the profit of it to be greater then all that I have said Some of the old Heathen represented plenty and worldly happiness by a man with bread in one hand and a Cup in the other and a Crown of Poppy about his head which signified sleep and emptiness of care and trouble in the midst of abundance That man thou maist be for by this bread and Wine is exhibited to thee all plenty of grace and blessing of peace and comfort Thou maist lay down thy self in peace and sleep quietly not in the lap of the world and carnal security but in the bosome of our Lord folacing thy self in his love and saying Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine encreased Psal 4.7 Let me say therefore to every holy and well-disposed Soul in the words of St. Ambrose Venias venias ad cibum Christi adcibum c. Come come to the food of Christ to the food of the Lords Body to the banquet of the Sacrament to the Cup wherewith the affections of the faithfull are inebriated and made drunken That thou maist put off the cares of the world the snares of the Devil and the fears of Death and that thou maist put on the comforts of God the delights of Peace the joys of Pardon more sweet than all the Pleasures of a Paradise And thou O Lord our God who dost provide food for all Creatures and hast given all Creatures to be food for Man and feedest not onely his body but his soul also and givest him for his soul not onely the holy Word but the blessed Body and Blood of thy Son Do thou cause all our hearts to burn with desires after thee who art so full of love to us Make every Christian soul to rellish and savour the things of God Prepare every one by a full digestion of thy Heavenly Word to receive likewise this divine nourishment of their Souls Stir up all their hunger after this Feast Excite all their longing-appetites after this Heavenly Manna And let this be the voice and hearty language of every one that reads this Book Give us good Lord Give us evermore this food Amen most gracious God for Jesus Christ his sake Amen CHAP. XIX AS the Sun and the showres make those Plants more tall and beautifull which have any living roots in the earth but on the contrary do putrifie and dry up those whose roots are dead So it is with this Sacrament which renders their souls more fair and flourishing who receive it rooted in love but those are more dried and hardned by it and tend more to corruption who have no life at all in them whereby to convert it into their nourishment Or as you see it is in corporal nutriment those meats which give a plentifull increase to sound bodies do more weaken and infeeble those whose stomacks are corrupt and the higher and fuller the nutriment is the more corruption doth it breed in those that are infirm and not apt to receive it So it is in this sacred spiritual repast the greater and more large stock of spirits and strength it is apt to afford to a soul that fits it self to receive it the more distempers and weaknesses doth it leave in the spirit of him that cares not what he does
food of the foulest and prophanest mouths And by using a multitude of Ceremonies they are in danger to take the mind off from all substantial exercises The Ancients I am sure understood not the new language of the Transubstantiation of the Bread and Wine into the Flesh and Blood of Christ And though they would suborn those worthies to speak against their mind and conscience on their side yet we find that they call the bread and wine figures or symboles of Christs body and blood Dionysius the Areopagite or that ancient Writer who passeth under his name calls them most frequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In Cap. 3. Eccles Hierach Symboles Images Antitypes sensible things received instead of things intelligible And Maximus in his Scholion upon him interpreting what a Symbole is in his Language saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. A sensible thing which we partake of instead of a spiritual as for example Bread and Wine in stead of the immaterial divine nourishment and gladness And so Macarius calls it Homil. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The figure and representation of his Flesh and Blood and saith That he who partakes of the visible Bread doth spiritually eat the Flesh of our Lord. And he that will may repair to Theodoret who lived in later times and he shall tell him That they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mystical representations and that their nature is not changed no more than the flesh of Christ ceases to be flesh now that it is in the Heavens And in his Comment upon the 1 Corinth 11.26 he saith Dialog 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle uses these words Till he come because there will be no need of Symboles of his Body when his Body it self shall appear The name of Antiquity makes a great sound in their mouths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore let the Reader remember that there are many ancient Errors as well as Truths If they have followed the Ancients in their Novel Doctrines they are rather the Old Hereticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Vide Irenaeum l. 1. c. 9. than the Fathers of the Church For it hath been well observed by some of our Divines that Marcus a Magician is noted by Irenaeus for counterfeiting to consecrate in an Eucharistial manner Cups of Water mixed with Wine to a strange purpose He extended saith he the Words of invocation to a very great length and then he made the liquor in the Cup seem of a purple or bloody colour His followers believed that the divine Grace did drop down some of its own blood into the Cup at his request And all that were present were very greedy to taste of this Cup that the same Grace which he called down might showre it self upon them likewise I can little doubt but that this Cup over which he gave thanks was a counterfeit of that which the sound Christians drunk of from whom these men were apostatized And that he might gain greater applause by his followers he would make them believe that he was more devout than any and could give them more than the Christians pretended to do even the very blood of Christ it self which the Romanists now boast they have and therein excel us But we are content with what holy men then enjoyed and let them take heed that they follow not worse examples I am sure Theodoret in his second Dialogue brings in a wild conceited man speaking the same things that they do Cap. 24. The affirmation of that Phantastick is this That Christs humane Nature is swallowed up in the Divine His Argument for it is this As the Elements or Symbols or the Lords Body and Blood are one thing before the Invocation of the Priest but after Invocation are changed and made another so the Lords Body after his ascension is changed into a divine substance though before it was not Hereupon the Father saith You are caught in your onw net for the Symbols do not go out of their proper nature but remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the former substance wherein they were Let the Reader then judge with whom they speak and who are the Masters of our language and assertions And let him take heed how he leaves our Communion where he hath the holy Bread and the Cup both whereas they something like the Manichees of old will not let the people drink of the Cup. But let them believe as much as they will so they will but quietly suffer us to believe as we see cause Let them practise as they please if it will do them any good we doubt not but we believe and practise enough to the receiving of as great benefits as they can enjoy I confess I cannot be angry with them for believing more than I can do but I desire they would not be angry at us but rather pity us that we cannot extend our faith so far If a man will say that Snow is nothing but frozen milk which drops from the skies much good may it do him with his conceit only let him not impose the same belief on others who intend not to trouble him for his fancy And if they will believe that wine is the very Blood of Christ I desire not that they should suffer the least harm for this opinion but let them not damn us because we will not put out our eyes and deny our taste and abandon our reason and the holy Scripture to the novel fancies and interpretations that they obtrude upon us I know that if a mans soul be not made of solid reason but consists of weak and credulous principles they will fearfully astonish it with the dismal names of Heresie and Schisme and such like bugbear words which every one applies as he pleases But considerate souls are grown wiser than to be affrighted out of their wits by the noise of words the great engine of this Age and they know that damnation doth not depend upon mens mouths for if it did I know not who should go to Heaven We cannot be so blind as not to see that every party arrogates to it self the glorious names of Christ and the Holy Ghost and if we would be led by sounds we must believe no body knows how many Christs The name of Heretick Schismatick yea and of Antichrist and Babylon signifie but little to us who hear them every day so carelesly applied that we are assured men know not what they say Neither will we be amazed with sad relations of the miserable ends of those who have contemned their Sacraments for we do not allow that any man should irreverently behave himself towards any of Christs institutions though there be something of mans invention mixed with it And we can repay their stories of the contempt of this Sacrament as among them administred with as sad and true relations concerning those who have despised that which in scorn and pride they are pleased to call Calvins Supper
of the truth they might cause by their artifice of words to pass for Fables in the world Marinus in vita Procli And it is very considerable me thinks that Marinus reports of Proclas though a Philosopher of younger times how that he observed the Roman the Phrygian and the Aegyptian Feasts with all new Moons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a most splendid and ceremonious manner And in brief he saith that he kept religiously the most famous Feasts of every Nation after their own manner and custome and composed an Hymn which he sung containing the praises of the God of several Nations For he had this saying frequently in his mouth That a Philosopher ought not to address his service to the fashion of one City or some Countries rites but to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 skilled in the sacra or holy offices of the whole world And it is very likely that this was the principle of several Philosophers before him it being a Character that Pausanias gives of the Greeks in general that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Baot strangely prone to have the things of another Country in greater admiration then those of their own Which agrees very well with what the Scripture saith of them that the Athenians were always hearing or telling some new thing Acts 17.21 and that even in matters of their Religion they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very apt to reverence every Deity that they heard of Hence it was that they worshiped the unknown God which S. Paul tells them was the true and living God which made all things This God was worshipped among the Jews and as Nazianzen saith that when they speak of the Elysian fields they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orct. 20. in a conceit of our Paradise which they took out of Moses his Books with the change of the name onely So I may say that when they invented the rest of their Poetical Divinity their Dreams were the off-spring of some real things which they had seen or heard out of the Book of God I will instance but in four which are not commonly observed so far as I have read Hercules is called by the Dark Poet Lycophron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the three nights Lion whom the sharp-tooth't Dog of Neptune swallowed up within his jaws This Dog of Neptune the Sea-God saith Isaac Tzetzes is the VVhale and Hercules hath the Epithete of Three-nights because being swallowed he lay three days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the VVhale which he calls nights because the belly of the Fish was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without all light and black as the night This seems to me to be but a corruption of the Story of Jonah which might well be known to the Heathens and easily applied to Hercules For it is observed by D. Kimchi that there is not so much as the name of Israel in all the Prophecy of Jonah because he was sent onely to Heathens And he was embarked in a vessel going to Tarshish or Tartessus in Spain as Bochartus hath proved in which part of the world it is well known the Tyrian Hercules was most worshipped Now it hath been the manner of the world to attribute all strange things that were done by others to some one person famous among them as all witty stories and jests are at this day fathered upon him that is most noted by us to abound with them and so they might easily tell this story of their Hercules when it was once noised among them because they ascribed all wonders and miracles to him A second instance I may give in the Fables of Iphigenia and Julia Luperca The former of which being to be sacrificed to Diana an Hare or as some say an Heifer came running in the middle and thickets as it were of the Greek Army which by the counsel of their Prophet they offered instead of her The latter having the knife just at her throat as it was at Isaac's an Eagle came and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snatcheth away the knife out of the Priests hands and threw a young Panther near to the Altar which they offered for her These two stories are but a depravation of two in the Scripture concerning Isaac and Jeptha's Daughter which they have jumbled together And therefore the same Isaac Tzetzes in his Scholia upon Lycophron adds these words to these Stories You cannot but remember 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ram which instead of saac was caught in the bush Sabek so the LXX do read those words 22. 13. as I think I should have done if he had not noted it to my hand But those Verses of Homer on which Porphyry writes his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are as like to Davids words in Psal 139.15 as any thing can be if we receive Porphyry's Comment upon them And according to Tatianus his computation Homer lived not long after his time and so might have some knowledge of his Songs Davids words are I am fearfully and wonderfully made c. and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render curiously wrought is by Val. Schindler interpreted Contextus sum I am weaved and the Verb doth signifie acu pingere c. to work curiously with a needle or otherwise The words of Homer which I say do answer to these and describe the body of man as wrought in a loom and rarely weaved are in his Story of Ulisses Odyss N. where he speaks of a Cave and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There do the Nymphs a wonder it is to see Their Purple Garments weave most curiously From off long Stones their threds are drawn And David saith That he was wrought in the lowest parts of the Earth i. e. the womb so here he speaks of an Antrum or Cave in which the Nymphs or souls making bodies did reside The Instruments or Tools from whence they drew their yarn which he calls great long stones Porphyry interprets to signifie the bones of the body which are hard like unto stones which uphold the flesh and unto which it is fastned and these Purple coloured garments are saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flesh which is weaved and wrought out of blood which is as it were the Coat wherewith the soul clothes it self To this answers that in David that he was curiously wrought or weaved in the womb And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is expresly the same with those words of David I am fearfully and wonderfully made and marvellous are thy works And it is a wonder saith the same Porphyry whether we look 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the rare fabrick and composition of the body or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or at the no less strange conjunction of it with the soul Neither is this the single conceit of Porphyry
to observe this Vow far more religiously then we do an Oath to any mortal man which yet no person of credit and conscience would break for all the world CHAP. IV. TO all those that are thus faithfully in Covenant with him this Sacrament is a further sign and seal of remission of sin For the Law of Covenants doth require that where one party doth profess friendship and ingage to fidelity the other person in the agreement should make assurance of his love and confirm his promises And therefore when we come with hearts full of love to renew our friendship with God we may beleeve that he doth embrace us also with the dearest affection and giveth us greater testimonies that he hath cancelled all the bonds wherein we stood indebted to him Bonds able to break the whole world if payment were exacted Debts which all men and Angels cannot possibly discharge which yet he is so willing to acquit us of that he hath appointed this holy action for that end that we may have more pledges of his love and more assurance that we are not bound over to eternal punishment Well may we run into the armes of Christ where we expect to receive such favours It is no wonder if we be forward to tye our selves fast to God as I said in the last Chapter when he binds himself as fast to us We need not stand so much upon it to promise even to die for him when it is but the way to life We may be glad to lie in the wounds of Christ when we find a cure there for our sins A crucified Saviour should be most dear unto us and we should most joyfully kiss his cross seeing we hope thereby to have our iniquities crossed out and stand no longer upon our account Methinks all that hear of such a Covenant of Grace should be desirous to enter into it and so they would if they had not as trifling conceits of the evil of sin as they have of the worth of their souls And all that are in that Covenant should be glad of an opportunity to reiterate it that they may have stronger grounds whereon to hope for pardon And it is to be acknowledged to the singular mercy of God that we can never come to profess any love to him but he will return back a great deal more to us and that when we give thanks to him he will give us more cause to thank him Now for the full clearing of this thing I shall propound but these three considerations I. That our Saviour in the institution of this Sacrament doth tell us what was a great end of it when he saith Mâ—th 26.28 Luk 22.20 This cup is the new Testament in my blood or this is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins In which speech you must note that the word This doth stand for the action of giving and receiving not for that which is given and received in and by it For the Cup or the Blood cannot be a Testament or Covenant but the giving and receiving of the cup or blood is and therefore by This is the new Testament c. must be meant this action is a Covenant between you and me made in the blood of the Lamb for the forgiveness of your sins The Doing of this doth necessarily presuppose a Covenant of Grace which God hath made and which we own in Christs blood but besides it doth import a profession both on Gods part and on ours who do receive of performing and making good that which we are respectively bound unto so that God doth there tender all that which he promiseth in the Gospel comwe by receiving do bind our selves as you have seen to all the Gospel and mands Now this is the great thing that God promiseth in his Covenant I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more This Action therefore is appointed by him not onely to be a symbol of his sufferings which did ratifie the Covenant of forgiveness but to be an exhibition of himself for to put us in possession of the great thing purchased by his blood which was pardon to all penitent sinners The blood of the Paschal Lamb as Chrysostom observes was shed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Matth. 26. for the saving of the first-born of Israel but Christs blood who is our Passeover was shed for the remission of the sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the whole world Now though the shedding of the blood and sprinkling of it on the door posts were the cause of the deliverance yet their eating of the Lamb was that which did entitle them to it and gave them a right to that salvation So though the blood of Jesus shed upon the tree be that which procures the pardon and be the price of our redemption yet that remission is solemnly exhibited and given unto us or as we speak applied to our persons by the eating of this bread and drinking of this cup which are as effectual as Deed or Instrument for the conveying of this mercy unto us We may see this well explained to our hands by an ancient Author The Sacrament saith Bernard is a sacred sign or secret Serm. de Coena as may be illustrated by a common example If I give a Ring to a friend it hath no other significancy but that I love him but if I give him a Ring ad investiendum de haereditate aliqua thereby to invest him in the right of some inheritance then it is both a Ring and a sign also In like manner though Bread and Wine set before us do denote nothing more then the kindness of a friend that would refresh us yet given and taken as a religious rite and in token of a Covenant they are turned into another thing and are both Bread and Wine and likewise the instrument of a conveyance And this is the change which the Ancients mention of the Bread and Wine into the body and blood of Christ a change not in the substance but in the accidents not in their nature but in their use not in any natural quality but in their significancy application and divine efficacy As when the wax is imprinted and made a seal or silver stamped and made a coin they remain the same in substance and yet are changed in regard of their use and value also So it is with the bread and wine when they are offered unto God and delivered by him again to us and received as a representation of the Lord Jesus they continue what they were if we look onely at their matter but are changed by Gods appointment into divine things if we respect the end to which they are applied which is to make over to us the blessing of the Covenant viz. remission of sins This is all that Theodoret means by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or transmutation and Cyril by his 〈◊〉
in the place forecited to salute each other with an holy kiss 1 Cor. 16.20 because there was such vehement contentions and great differences among them For one said I am of Paul another said I am of Apollo another called himself after Peter and another after Christ One was drunken at their sacred feast and another hungry they went to Law with one another and there was a great deal of pride and envy and confusion about their spiritual gifts And therefore having exhorted them ver 14. to let all things be done in love he now commands them to be joyned together also by the holy kiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this unites and begets one body And so likewise he observes that the kiss doth not onely unite those that are divided but it likewise makes an equality between those that are unequal which is a necessary thing to all friendship By this peace saith he in Rom. 16.16 the Apostle takes away all that disquieted them and makes that the great will not despise the less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor the less will not envy the great but both pride and envy will be cast out this kiss being of that nature that it sweetens smoothes and equals all things And I may observe also that the very next words of the Apostle ver 17. are an entreaty to mark all them who cause division among them As if he should have said Salute one another and so embrace that he may be looked upon as no Christian that causes divisions and offences among you And so in another Sermon he most admirably discourses of this Christian Charity which is signified by the kiss Do not say saith he that such an one hath done me harm Homil. 21. in Epist ad Rom. and no man can put up the wrong but think with thy self what Christ saith to him that betrayed him with a kiss to the death of the Cross and minde how notably he reproves him Luk. 22.48 Judas betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss Who would not be softned with these words What heart would not such a Voice bow and encline unto it What wild Beast what Adamant is there that would not be moved Do not say unto me hereafter Such an one is a Murderer or the like and I cannot abide him I tell thee if he be ready to thrust his Dagger into thee and to baptize his right hand in thy throat kiss that right hand of his for Christ kissed the very mouth of his Murderer Thou art the servant of him I say that kissed the Traitor for I will not cease to repeat it again and again of him that spake words to him softer than a kiss For mark it he doth not say O thou villain thou traitor dost thou make me this requital for all my kindness but he onely saith Judas calling him by his proper name canst thou find in thy heart to betray me on this fashion Yea I may observe that he calls him Eriend Matth. 26.50 which are words of great sweetness to such an unworthy person And after this he doth not say Why dost thou betray thy Teacher thy Master thy Benefactor but why betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss If he was not thy Master yet wilt thou betray an ordinary man who deals so courteously with thee and vouchsafes to kiss thee even when thou betrayest him with that kiss O blessed Lord what an example hast thou given us of humility and forgiveness And how kindly and graciously he treats likewise those that came to take him you may see if you read what follows which will make any man ashamed to be cruel to his Brethren What though they be guilty of a thousand faults They cannot be greater then this of Judas to our Saviour Wilt thou not kiss him when our Saviour kissed and embraced the Traitor How canst thou receive the holy offering if thy tongue be red with the blood of men How canst thou give the Peace he means the kiss which was accompanied with good wishes if thy mouth be full of War Thus that excellent man from whose mouth I desire my Reader to learn if not from mine And therefore he expounds this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holy to signifie O Cum. Theophylact that the kiss should be sincere and without all hypocrisie or falseness of heart in which he is followed by other ancient Expositors But it may likewise signifie the purity of it and that it should be onely out of Christian love and not with any other baser passion And it was a thing so constantly used that it is likely indeed the Heathens did hence reproach the Christian meetings as if they did burn with some filthy fires But the true Christians could not be impeached of any such Crime Their flames were so pure and bright that they left no foot nor blackness at all in the soul behind them There were indeed some base pretenders the impure followers of Simon Magus 2 Pet. 2.14 whose eyes were full of Adultery and whose lips gave strange kisses but they were abominable in their Doctrines too and separated themselves from the Flock of Christ Jude 19. being sensual and having not the spirit These men bragging that they were the onely spiritual men and calling all others meer animals might give occasion to the Heathens and the Enemies of our Religion to say that Christians assembled for such actions as they practised but are not to be named But the sound professors did wipe off all these calumnies that were cast upon the whole Religion for the fault of some Apostates not onely by their most excellent Writings but likewise by their pure lives and cautious converses Achill Tatius L. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The kiss of those that are in love saith one that well knew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlimited unsatiable and alway renewed To shew therefore that their kiss was a token onely of coelestial Charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenagoras tells us that it was unlawfull for them to kiss any one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second time to please themselves And the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens tell us also That the men saluted men and the women those of their own sex that so they might avoid all danger and take off all offence These kisses were as pure and innocent as the snow they were no other then had been long used in the World among familiar friends but onely that they were a token of a diviner love and denoted a more sacred affection being used in their solemn congresses with the Divine Majesty Cyril Hierosol Mystag 5. So Cyril saith excellently This kiss is not barely such an one as is given among familiar acquaintance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they meet in the streets but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. they mingle souls together and promise an utter oblivion of all offences Christian souls did sit upon their lips
much room in their houses would set some little place apart for holy duties and let it be acquainted with no other thoughts but only of God and their own souls This would be an easie way of putting all our employments out of our thoughts which would all leave us when we came to that place where they were strangers None of them would be so bold as to tread in that place which is washt with tears they would not draw breath nor live in that place where there is no aire but Sighs and Prayers they would never abide in that room where no inhabitant is but God alone For we find that if we come to any place where something of note and concernment hath been done by us though it be slipt out of our mindes the very sight of the place revives the image of that thing and stirres it up again in our memories If therefore we had a place of privacy where we did nothing but read and pray and invite God into our company as soon as ever we did but look into it the face of God would meet us and we should be struck with a certain awe and reverence from his presence that uses to be there with us And a sweet remembrance also of what pleasure hath passed there either in joy or sorrow would by a kind of natural way be revived But if a man pray in his Counting-house the thoughts of his money will be apt to meet him as soon as he steps in at the door his bills and bonds will thrust themselves into his mind as soon as the Book of God so that he will find it more difficult to drive away such impertinent thoughts Let us therefore resolve on this as the first step to the Lords Table to separate our selves at least from all worldly employments if not from worldly places If we cannot have a little Chappel in our own houses yet let us look to that in our own heart that nothing now but God do enter into it Say thus in your own meditations Be gone you vain things for I am going to my God Yea Lord do thou bid them to be gone and not dare to appear in thy presence Welcome holy thoughts and pure desires O happy time wherein I may embrace my dearest love and solace my self in the armes of my Saviour I charge you O my companions that you haste away as fast as the Hinds or the Roes and that you stir not or disturb the beloved of my soul Come not near I charge you make no noise to displease him or to call me away from his enjoyment It is the voice of my beloved I hear him inviting of me to his house of banquets I see him coming to entertain me let all flesh therefore be silent and not be so bold as to whisper in his presence II. When you are thus at leisure set your self to consider what is the end of this Rite and what lieth hid under the Ceremony This one thing seems to me to call for some solemn thoughts beforehand because it is a piece of our Religion that is cloathed with an outward garment it hath something of a positive institution in it and retains something of the ceremony the signification of which is to be studied lest we should not discern the Lords body 1 Cor. 11.19 If we look not beyond the shadow we shall feed nothing but our body or if we draw aside the veil but half way we shall lose a great part of the food of our souls which are instructed by every part of this holy action You must therefore labour to uncover the face of this mysterious food and consider it in all those notions wherein I have laid it open before you This I judge to be the more needfull together with the rest of those directions which I have to add because now this Feast doth return more seldome then it did in ancient times and so our minds may have let slip the remembrance of many of the ends of it or at least may retain but weak and dark notions of them For those things that are not of natural light do not use to stick so close to our souls as those that are engraven upon them but by the intervening of other images they may be either blotted out or else look more pale and lose the liveliness of their colour And therefore we had need the oftner to meditate on them that so by a new impression they may keep their form and then especially when we are going so near to God lest our acquaintance with them be decayed through the multitude of other things that we have converse withall Let every man then remember himself when he intends to remember Christ and say after this sort O my soul whither are we going What is that Table which I see yonder spread for us What means that broken bread that is provided For what end did his precious blood run out of his side Do men use to drink a cup of blood O my soul let us enter into this secret and know the bottom of this mystery Let us look into his wounds with joy and gladness to see how his heart doth beat with love to us Let us open our heart to him let us shew him how sorry we are and how our heart is pierced that we have pierced him Let us lay our hearts together and tye our selves in an everlasting Covenant that he may dwell in us and we in him Such as these are most seasonable meditations to dispose our minds the better to feast with him III. And then thirdly We should consider with our selves what acts are most proper when we shall be at Gods Table We should think with our selves what hatred of sin what desire what love to God and what Charity to our brethren is then to be expressed what prayers and intercessions what praises and thanksgivings are then to be offered For we shall scarce spend our time well there unless we be provided with some matter for our thoughts and have put them into some method and order that they may not hinder one another And therefore it is good to consider with our selves what disposition of soul doth best agree with every part of this sacred action How the mind is to be affected at the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine how it is to be moved when the Minister blesses and presents them unto God and how when he gives and distributes them unto us and the rest of our brethren Sect. 3. Of which and such like things I shall treat hereafter IV. And when we have diligently pondered of this let us begin to stir up those affections beforehand which will prepare us to a more lively expression of them when we come there Begin to admire at Gods goodness that he will send an invitation to such a poor wretch as thou art Render him many thanks for that being a Lord of such Majesty he would vouchsafe
of the soul grow too big for the mouth when it lifts up it self in speaking-thoughts and this is their language That they are not able to understand the Miracles of this Love it shall not be long before it perceive how much God is pleased with its saying nothing Let us therefore labour at the very entrance to put our selves into some degree of wonderment to think what manner of love this is wherewith he hath loved us Wonder that he should dye for thee when he was upon the earth and that he should nourish thee with himself now that he is in the Heavens Be astonished that Heaven should so condescend to Earth and Man should be so united unto God Lose thy thoughts in contemplation of the strangeness of this kindness that God should dwell in flesh and that this flesh should be our Food Let it amaze thee that Christ can never think that he hath given himself enough to thee but as the Apostle saith he gave himself to redeem us from our sinnes and now he gives himself to be the strength and health of our souls He gave himself when he was among men he gives himself now that he is with God and as Dionysius relates the story he told a pious man in a vision That if it were necessary he would come and die again for the sons of men This would be a rarely good beginning of this holy service and we should be fitter for all following actions if we could put our hearts into a kind of extasie or admiration at the stupendious greatness of this mystery If our thoughts were once got so high we should be out of the reach of other things that are apt to thrust themselves in and interrupt us If we had once climbed above our selves and were ascended into Heaven we should not be inticed while the Solemnity lasted to come down to the World again II. When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out it is a fit season to entertain our selves with these three Meditations which are big with a great number of other thoughts that they will bring forth 1. Remember the pains and dolours the shame and reproach which our Lord endured For which purpose imagine as if you were in Golgotha the place where he was crucified think that you behold him stretched forth upon a Cross that you see his precious Bloud trickling down his side and that you look into his gaping wounds think that you see the pits that they digged in his hands and his feet the furrows that they made in his back and how miserably the Thorns scratched and harrowed his holy head Think that you hear his dying groans that the mocks and flouts of the Jews sound in your ears Yea think that you hear the groans of the Earth under the weight of his Cross and that you see how the Sun shrunk in his head as ashamed to look on such a spectacle and affrighted with the horror of such a sight And when you have meditated a while upon these wonders it will be greater wonder if there be no passion made in your hearts Your own thoughts will teach you such resentments as befit so strange an object and you will begin to tremble and bleed and desire and rejoyce and be in such a mixture of passions as if you would imitate the confusion which was in the world at his Sufferings But when you have recovered your self a little think that it will be most agreeable in the second place 2. To remember with due affection the great love of our Lord in submitting himself to such pains and disgrace for our sakes Never did eyes behold such a strange thing that the only begotten of the Father should bleed like a Malefactor that the glorious King of Heaven should dye for his own Subjects Rebels I should rather call them and Traytors to their Soveraign Lord. Was there ever any kindness like to this Was there ever such a Furnace of Love burning in any heart Could he do more for us than dye for us Was there any likelihood that the remembrance of such a Love should dye That mens hearts should freeze over such a fire Lest such a thing should happen he hath left himself still among us in symboles and representations he sets before our eyes his bloody Death and Passion he makes himself present to our faith and as if he would do more than dye for us he desires to live for ever in us and be united to us How can we chuse then but fall into his arms Yea how can we withhold our selves from running into his heart Can any heart refrain it self from tears of sorrow to think of its unkindness and from tears of joy to think of his strange love how can we be but overwhelmed both with floods of grief and gladness Can we look upon him whom we have pierced and not mourn Can we see his bleeding wounds and not be troubled What heart can be so hard It cannot but pain us to think that we love him no more who put himself to such pains for us It cannot but trouble us to think that but hearts should be so cold when his was so hot with love as to send out its life bloud for our redemption And yet when we consider that in this stream of blood our souls are washed and that by his stripes we are healed who can chuse but rejoyce in his love and hope that he will accept of our poor acknowledgements And let us but look upon him again as I described him on the Cross and we shall find our love more large and vehement Think that you hear him saying to you as he hangs there Behold my friends how my flesh was torn and wounded for your sakes See how your sinnes have used me Look into my heart which was pierced first by love and then by a spear for you See how my hands and my feet were bored through look how my blood runs out to fetch you home to God Was there ever any sorrow like to my sorrow Hath any one loved you so as I have loved you Behold here I give my self unto you as once I gave my self for you By these tokens of Bread and Wine I conveigh unto you all that I have and make over to you all that Inheritance which I have purchased by my Blood My Self and all that I have I freely give unto you Need any one now that hath such Meditations be taught with what affections he should behave himself towards his Lord Needs there any piercing words of him that ministers to wound mens souls with sorrow and grief Is any artifice of speech required to wind and insinuate Christ into their hearts Is any perswasive Language necessary to make them accept of the greatest and richest Blessings that all Heaven can afford Me thinks I see the pricking and compunction that will be in a heart that thinks of these things Me thinks I see such a soul running forth to
meet and embrace its gracious Lord. Me thinks I behold it preparing a gift of its whole self to offer unto him and such flames of Love seem to be kindling as if it would flye up to Heaven But stay it must first cast one look downward towards its sinfull self before it can think of getting up so high and of being a gift acceptable to God It could not indeed but think of giving the best it had to him who gave all himself to it But alas the time of Sacrifice is not yet come and it is not good enough for to begiven to him It will try if it can make it self a little better though never good enough before it offer up it self by making its sinnes feel the weight and sharpness of Christs Cross that they may all dye It will make a slaughter of them and then a sacrifice of it self which is the third Meditation I have to recommend to your thoughts 3. Consider how odious vile and intollerable every sin is that brought our Lord to such miseries and required such a Blood to expiate it This hatred of sinne proceeds from great Love and the viler we see it is the more will our love encrease to him that will pardon such a shamefull act Think therefore what is that which makes God so angry What bloudy thing is it which drinks the Bloud of Christ himself What hideous Monster that could not be satisfied with the flesh of all the World What cursed thing that the Son of God became a curse for it The thoughts of Christs Cross is enough to affright a man out of the very Arms and pleasant Embraces of a Lust it is enough to rescue a soul that is in the mouth of Hell and ready to go down the throat of the bottomless pit If it can but find any place to take hold of it can drag a man out of the very Jaws of the Monster and it can Arm the revenge of the veriest doting Lover that ever courted sinne and turn his wrath against it But. then how amiable doth the goodness of God appear that he would pass by so many offences and require no satisfaction from us for such insufferable wrongs How great was his love that he would transferre the punishment from us unto his Son and how great was his Sonnes Love that he would bear our iniquities that by his stripes we might be healed Nay none can tell nor think how great the love was but the more hainous and grievous our offences seem the more gloriously will it shine in our eyes and again the more lovely God appears the more shall we hate sin that does any injury to so good a God Let us therefore stay our thoughts here a while and think we hear Christ say to us You have lookt into my wounds and have seen into my very heart if you have any eyes sure you cannot but discern what hath put me into this gore Do you not see how sinne raked in my sides and tare my very heart Do you not see how greedily it suckt my bloud Behold the very print of its nails see here the very place where it hath thrust its Spear You say you are my friends will you not take my part against your sins Have not all these Wounds mouthes enough to entreat you to fall out with sin Would you have me used thus again Could you find in your heart to see me once more upon a Gibbet Why then can you not be perswaded by the remembrance of my sufferings for you Why do you not spit in the face of your sinnes Why do you not buffet and beat them and do all the despight you can unto them yea why do you not revenge me perfectly upon them and cry crucifie them crucifie them not these but Christ only Why do I not see them here nailed to my Cross never to be taken down till they be quite dead If you would have me embrace you say None but Christ none but Christ Christ and Wounds Christ and a Cross Christ and Death if he will shall be our portion What I beseech you would our hearts eccho back again if we thought that we heard him groaning such words from the Cross unto us What a fury and a rage would it put us into against these bloody sinnes With what a forwardness should we arm our selves against them With what a revenge should we flye upon them We could not but with all speed drag them to the Cross and torture them to death We could not but pass sentence and do the severest execution upon them Though they begg'd never so much for life the voice of Christ would drown their cryes Though all their friends familiars entreated for them their Petitions would be cast out Though our eyes should pity them and beseech that they might be spared though our Tongues and Pallates should plead for their life though all our senses though every part of our flesh should solicite in their behalf yet we should never endure that our Lord should be disgusted and affronted any more by them When Caesar was slain by Brutus and his Complices Anthony took his Bloudy Garments and spread them before the eyes of the people as if every hole which their Daggers had made would speak an Oration unto them Behold said he the Bloud of your Emperor see here the wounds they have given unto him Can you love these Paracides that have stickt him like a Beast Can you look with patience upon the Butchery they have committed Can you look through these Clothes without fire in your eyes And immediately he so moved the multitude by that artifice and the vehemency of his Oration that they run upon the houses of the murtherers as Tygers or Wolves upon their Prey and would as certainly have torn them in pieces as a Lion doth a Kid in the heat of his anger but that they were before fled from the danger Cannot then the representation not of the rent Garments of our Saviour but of his very broken Body more move a considerate heart against sin which was the slaughterer Cannot the very sign of his sacred Blood pierce with greater Rhetorick into his soul Think that thou hearest Christ himself say Behold my Wounds See here the breaches in my Body Look upon me whom they have pierced Read in me the cruelty of thy sins Canst thou hug and imbrace these bloody Parricides Canst thou shew any kindness to so vile an enemy Hast thou the patience to hear me ask any more Questions and reason with thee any further Surely in the middle of such thoughts as these the heart of a man could not but take fire and be so incensed and provoked against all his sins that he would leave them all dead at the foot of Christ Not one of them could escape but every mans hand would be against his particular lust and there they should lie bleeding as so many sacrifices at the Altar of the Lord. For who could lie
a stone and grinde them to powder seeing they would not love him as the Bread of Life bruised for them Matt. 22.44 This sad Meditation may not be unseasonable at a Feast of joy no more than a little vinegar in a mixture of many sweets And as dreadfull as it is it may bring us the more abundant comfort afterward by making us firm to God and establishing us in Faith and Obedience But whether the Reader will think fit to meditate of this matter at that time or no yet let me stay his thoughts a while now and entreat him seriously to think what the doom of all those will be who rebel against him to whom they have so often sworn subjection The love of God cannot make them love him the Bloud of Christ cannot make them bleed notwithstanding the Death of Christ they will dye and all the bands that he can lay upon them will not hold them fast O what chains of Darkness are they reserved for who break so many cords of love asunder What a sacrifice must they be to the vengeance of God whom the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross could not deliver The wrath of God will utterly consume and burn them up They shall be a whole burnt-offering to his fiery indignation they themselves shall satisfie for their fins and then he can never be satisfied These men take all the guilt of their sinnes upon their own souls and fearlesly go to Hell as though they could bear his indignation or fave themselves from the fury of his anger O let sinners consider what they do when they neglect so great salvation So farre shall they be from being Christs and Saviours to themselves that they shall be their own Devils and Tormentors Their spirits shall turn into fiends and they shall miserably rage and fame against their own selves and eternally crucifie their own hearts in vexing and racking-thoughts Their anger and displeasure shall burn against their own souls for their contempt of the Covenant of Grace the bloud of Christ will call for their bloud the pardon that was offered will plead for no pardon and all the Expence which God hath been at will be charged upon them What then will they do when they shall be rendred guilty of the bloud of the Lord when the Love of God it self will be their accuser when they shall be oppressed and cast under an infinite debt which they can never pay They must groan and sigh and cry under the burden to all eternity and the Name of Christ which is so sweet to converted sinners will be a name of death and horror unto them and the bloud of Christ which is the life of all the holy Ones of God will be like red and bloudy colours to some creatures which will make them raging mad If I could exaggerate this as it deserves methinks I could affright a soul that is in the profoundest sleep in the Devils Arms. And yet why should I think such a thought if the bloud of Christ cannot do it but men will dye in secure-sinning why should we think to prevail O think of the bloud of Christ therefore and let it not be shed in vain Think how angry he will be that his dearest heart bloud should be spilt on the ground like water to no purpose at all as to thy soul Think how it grieves him to see his love so undervalued how it pierces him to see his bloud trodden under feet into what anger his love will at last turn and this will move thee more than all that I can say If a man could speak nothing but fire and smoak and bloud if flames should come out of his mouth instead of words if he had a voice like thunder and an eye like lightning he could not represent unto you the misery of those that make no reckoning of the bloud of the Sonne of God The very Sun shall be turned into darkness saith the Apostle out of Joel Acts 2.20 and the Moon into blood before the great and notable day of the Lord viz. the day when he shall come to destroy the Enemies of his Cross And yet he seems there to speak but of one particular day of Judgement upon the Jewish Nation who crucified the Lord of Life and that was but a type and figure of the last day and came far short of the blackness and darkness of that time when the Lord will come to take vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus How terrible would it be to see the Heavens all covered with clouds of blood to feel drops of blood come raining down upon our heads and next showres of fire from the melting Sun come trickling upon our eyes and then sheets of flames wrapping about our bodies to hear the earth groan and the pillars of the world crack as if the whole frame of Nature were a dying and the world were tumbling into its Grave All this would be but a petty image of that dreadfull Day when the Son of righteousness shall be cloathed with clouds of wrath when his countenance shall be as flames of fire when he shall cloath himself with vengeance as a Garment when the Lamb of God himself shall roar like a Lyon and the meek and compassionate Jesus shall rend in pieces and devour There can be nothing more strange than for a Lamb to be angry for a sheep to tear and destroy If he once gird his sword upon his thigh and resolve to dip his feet in the blood of the wicked it will be a dismall a bloudy day indeed and woe be to all those on whom that dreadfull storm shall fall when the God of Heaven himself shall come in flaming fire to destroy his Adversaries For ever shall they lye wallowing in their own bloud and all their bloud shall be turned into fire and they shall bathe themselves in streams of Brimstone and roll themselves in beds of flames and their torment shall never cease Much rather would I have a Lyon satisfie his bloudy Jawes with my flesh or a cruell Tyrant rake in my bowels with the teeth of burning Irons or be prickt to death with Needles or endure all the miseries that any ingenuous witty Devil can invent than fall into the angry hands of a loving Saviour Much rather would I see the Sun scowle and all the clouds of Heaven come ratling down in a Tempest upon my head than behold the least frown in the brow of the blessed Jesus What anger must that be which shall lye in the bosome of Love What fire burns like to Jealousie Who so enraged as those whose love is abused and grosly contemned All that the Apostle can tell us in Answer to this Question is that our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 Our God even the God of Christians the God of St. Paul the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the God of Love and Goodness is a burning consuming Fire
And who may dwell with everlasting Burnings who may abide when he is angry Lest any should say that the Bloud of Jesus shall quench the flames and extinguish these angry heats observe to whom he speaks these words not to men under the Law from the fiery Mount but to those who were come to Mount Sion to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling c. v. 22 24. from whence he concludes these two things First That greater punishment shall be inflicted on Christians than others if they refuse obedience to Christs commands v. 25. Secondly That therefore they should seriously betake themselves to the service of their Lord with reverence and godly fear v. 28 29. Wicked men conclude O we shall escape well enough take you no care Christ hath died and done all for us We need not be so scrupulous since he hath satisfied for our sins But the Apostle makes just the quite contrary conclusion We are come to the Bloud of Jesus c. therefore see that you refuse not him that speaketh c. The Bloud of Jesus speaks better things to those that accept of the Gospel and obey it than the bloud of Abel's sacrifice did but to all that refuse it it speaks more sadly than the bloud that cryed against Cain and for ever shall such men be banished from the face of God The Apostle you see represents our God thus terrible after he had most highly magnified the priviledge of Christians and that will apologize for me who have diverted to this sad discourse when I was treating of the joyfull Feast of Christians But to that I shall now return again VIII Eighthly After all this Let us meditate of the joyes of Heaven of the Eternal Supper of the Lamb and the blessed life that we shall live above For the joyes of the other world are usually expressed among the Jewes by eating and drinking greater plenty of which chear was in their Countrey than any other being a Land flowing with Milk and Honey You may see a footstep of this in the New Testament beside all those in the Old One that sate at meat with our Saviour saith Luke 14.15 Blessed is he that shall eat Bread in the Kingdome of God Which some say was an ordinary saying among the Rabbines This is most certain that there are strange things in their latter Writers concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garden of Eden or pleasure that is above answerable to that which was below Where they speak of delightfull Rivers of Tables furnished with Leviathan and Behemoth by which it is likely their Doctors first understood some spiritual dainties and under this mythology did hide an excellent meaning but the great impostor Mahomet hath from thence fabricated his carnal bruitish Paradise taking them in a gross and unworthy sense The like they speak of Wine kept from the beginning of the world in a certain place i. e. excellent old Wine of which their Messiah shall first taste together with the Leviathan and then the Just they expect shall be feasted So R. Hai in his Book of the interpretation of Dreams saith that it is a sign of good to see in our sleep white Grapes and the eating of them signifies the possession of eternal life because they shew the Wine that is kept in Grapes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the dayes of the beginning All which I bring for this purpose that you may see they used by eating and drinking to set forth the joyes of Heaven and that you may better understand those words of our Saviour immediately after he had given them this Sacramental Bread and Wine Mat. 26.29 I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vint untill that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdome Which is no more than to say I shall never feast again with you till we meet in Heaven and partake together of those joyes that are figuratively expressed by new Wine In some regard and of some sorts new Wine is the best and in others old is preferred and so sometimes by the one sometimes by the other those eternal pleasures are denoted St. Luke also hath the same sence more fully cap. 22.16 I will not eat any more thereof i. e. of the Passeover untill it be fulfilled in the Kingdome of God i. e. I will not keep with you another solemn Commemoration of Gods mercies though he did eat with them when he rose again but the next festivity that we shall celebrate together must be in Heaven in the very presence of God when the Devil your great enemy shall be overthrown and quite destroyed as Pharaoh was And again v. 18. He saith I will not drink of the fruit of the Vine untill the Kingdome of God shall come Which signifies no more but that he and they should not rejoyce together any more till they came to drink of the Rivers of Gods pleasures From all which we may well collect that the Wine here in the Kingdome of the Son is an embleme of the Wine in the Kingdome of the Father In this world is the Kingdome of Christ in the world to come shall be the Kingdome of God and what is done here is a shadow of what shall be done in a more excellent manner hereafter and therefore this holy Feast should represent unto us those Heavenly delights From this Wine of the Grape we should endeavour to raise our minds to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is apprehended by the mind and tasted by the pallate of the soul which flows from God himself We should think that these are but some forecasts of those pleasures that he will hereafter bestow upon us but the Antepasts of the eternal Supper but the Vigils of the everlasting rest and that now we rather fast than feast if we compare these joys with those that are above We should look upon these as assurance of better chear where our appetites shall be satiated and our thirst quenched where we shall see the Lord Jesus in his Glory and feast our eyes with the sight of his beauty yea where we shall be ravished with the sight of God himself and shall drink of the pleasures that stream from the light of his blessed face And after those things in the world to come should we strive to stir up the longings of our soul We should desire to be in Heaven we should thirst after larger draughts to quench our thirst in the Ocean it self and to pass from this dark Glass and this vail of the Sacraments to the clear vision of his brightness For if God do here satisfie his faithfull Servants as with Marrow and fatness much more in the world to come will he replenish and fill them with sweetness and joy it self IX Ninthly And in the conclusion we should give God thanks for these great favours for the hopes of his glory for the tastes which he gives us before-hand for all
but nothing methinks is more tempting and inviting than this heavenly Feast where pleasure is mixed with profit and physick with our food Where at once we may be both enriched and delighted both healed and nourished This Table if I may use the language of an holy Man is the very sinewes of our Soul S. Chrysost Hom. 24. in 1 Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the ligament of our mindes the foundation of our confidence our hope our salvation our light our life This mystery makes the earth to be an Heaven and therefore if thou wilt come hither thou mayest open the Gate of Heaven and look down into it or rather not into Heaven but into the Heaven of Heavens For that which is the most precious of all things above I will shew thee lying upon the earth For as in Kings Palaces the chiefest and most precious things are not the fair Walls the gilded Roofs the costly Hangings but the body of the King that sits upon the Throne even so in the Heavens the most glorious thing is the Body of Christ the King of Heaven Now behold and thou shalt see it here upon the earth For I do not shew thee the Angels or the Archangels or the Heavens or the Heaven of Heavens but him that is the Lord and Master of them all and therefore must thou not needs say that thou seest that upon the Earth that is more excellent than them all yea thou not only seest but thou touchest and not only touchest but eatest also yea and carriest him home with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O then wipe thy soul very clean prepare thy mind to the receiving these Divine Mysteries Who would not be Religious that he may be thus happy who would not forsake all things for such a sight for such an embracement If thou mightest but have the priviledge to take up the Son of a King with his Purple and Diadem and other Ornaments into thy Arms wouldst thou not cast all other things to the ground to be so employed Tell me then why wilt thou not prepare thy self and reverently take the only begotten Son of God into thy hands Wilt thou not throw away the love of all earthly things for him Wilt thou not think thy self brave enough in the enjoying of him Dost thou still look to the earth and lovest money and admirest heaps of Gold Then what pity canst thou deserve What pardon canst thou hope for Or what excuse canst thou think of to make for thy self Thus he Homil. 27. in 1. ad Corinth When a man hath heard the sacred Hymns as he saith in another place and hath seen the spirituall Marriage and been feasted at the Royall Table and filled with the holy Ghost and hath been taken into the Quire of Seraphims and made partaker with the Heavenly Powers Who would throw away so great a Grace Who would spend so rich a Treasure Who would bring in drunkenness or the like Guest instead of such Divine Chear Drunkenness I say which is the Mother of Heaviness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joy of none but the Devil and is big with a thousand evils What madness possesses a man that he should not rather chuse to feast with God than with the Devil If thou sayest that thou art merry and rejoycest and wonderfully pleased I answer And so I would have thee to be only let not thy laughter be like the crackling of Thornes under a Pot but a solid joy that will make thy heart to smile for ever God doth not envy to the Sonnes of men any happiness but he would have them to be sure they are happy and not please themselves in a phantasticall shadow of Happiness CHAP. XVIII BUT that I may proceed more distinctly and assault your souls with the stronger Reasons to deliver themselves up to a religious life one single piece of which hath such blessings in it I shall present you with the profit of worthy receiving in these three generall Heads which I shall borrow from a Devout Author We have most Princely Dishes saith St. Bernard served up to us in the Supper of the Lord prepared with the most curious and exquisite Art and they are Deliciosa multum ad saporem Serm. 2 de Caena Dom. very delicious and sweet to the taste solida ad nutrimentum strong and solid for our nourishment efficacia ad medicinam powerfull and working for the curing of our diseases Seeing this Sacrament is a Feast and is called the Table and the Supper of the Lord under these three heads I shall comprehend these benefits that may excite every man to the examination of himself and invite us all to this Heavenly Chear The things that are here set before us are 1. Most sweet pleasant and refreshing 2. They are solid strengthning and nourishing and 3. They are Medicinal and Healing I. First Deliciosa ad saporem To a well-prepared pallate they afford a most sweet and delightsome relish This holy Sacrament breeds a Divine pleasure an Heavenly Joy in a right tempered soul and overflowes it with sweetness more than the body is satisfied with marrow and fatness now this refreshment arises 1. From a great sense which is here given us of the love of Christ which as the song of songs saith is better than Wine Cant. 1.2 It is more chearing and exhilerating more cordial and reviveing to think of his dear love in shedding his Bloud for us than to drink the bloud of the richest Grape and therefore the Church saith ver 4. We will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than Wine It is beyond a ravishment to remember that men are so beloved by the King of Heaven so embraced by the Lord of all the world and still it is the more transporting for to consider that they feed upon this Lord of Love and that he gives his very self unto them and by such secret and wonderfull wayes unites himself unto their souls And it is most of all affecting and but a little below Heaven to think that this is our Jesus and our Lord to say as the Spouse in the same Book My Beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 When God thus lifts up the light of his countenance upon a soul he puts gladness in its heart more than the joy of Harvest This is a Marriage-Feast and therefore full of pleasure Here the soul embraceth him and he folds it in his arms here they plight their truth mutually each to other here they engage themselves in unseparable unions to hold perpetuall entercourse and live eternally together in the greatest affection As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so the Lord rejoyceth over it and he speaks not to it meerly by his servants but he kisses it with the kisses of his own mouth So one of the Greek Commentators prettily glosses upon those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me not
Ch ysost Theophâ—l Or if we understand the Apostles words of the spirit received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after Baptisme but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper whereby he further waters so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1 Cor. 3.6 7 8. that which he hath planted yet still it will be true that at this time good Christians do receive larger irrigations from that fountain of life that they may shoot up to a greater height and bring forth more fruit For this spirit is always needfull being that which maintains our life and it is given in the use of those means that God hath instiruted for increase in grace of which means this holy feast being one of the chief that life-giving spirit must be conceived to lay faster hold of us and knit us more unto our head It is the vis vicaria of the Lord Jesus that power which supplies his place here in the world by which he is present to our souls Now when shall we conceive it more present then when we remember him whose spirit it is and when he doth exhibit himself unto us under these shadows of bread and wine These are tokens of his presence and represent him to us the spirit is that whereby he is present and therefore here it must be again conferred on us Here it doth take a stronger seizure of us here it possesses it self more fully of all our faculties here it gives us more sensible touches from our head and makes us feel more vital influences descending thence unto us and so it being the bond of union must needs strengthen and confirm us in an inseparable conjunction with him Christ doth not descend locally unto us that we may feed on him but as the Sun toucheth us by his beams without removing out of its sphaere so Christ comes down upon us by the power of the holy Ghost moving by its heavenly vertue in our hearts though he remain above And this vertue coming from our Head the man Christ Jesus it doth both quicken us to his service and tie us to him and likewise we are said to partake of his body and blood because we sensibly feel the vertue and efficacy of them in our selves And do not wonder that I say we are more strongly united to Christ hereby for unson is not to be conceved without all latitude but to be looked on as capable of increase or diminution and as that which may grow loose and slack or be made more perfect and compact As it is with the foul and body so it is between Christ and his members Though the soul be not quite unloosed from the body yet by sickness the bonds may become rotten or by fasting they may grow weak and feeble so that it may have but a slender hold of its companion and a little violence may snap them asunder Even so though our souls be tied to Christ yet by our daily infirmities or the frequent incursions of our enemies or by long abstaining from this holy food and other negligences we shall find a kind of loosness in our souls and that we are going off from Christ and tending to a dissolution unless we gird up the loyns of our mind and be vigilant and sober watching unto all holy duties And therefore as in the former case we must betake our selves to our physick and food and good exercise for the making the bonds sound and strong so in this we must have recourse to the holy feast we are speaking of which is both meat and medicine and we must stir up the grace that is in us and beg more of the Spirit of God that may strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die To receive the Spirit not by measure is the priviledg of none but our head We that receive from his fullness have not our portion all at once Phil. 1.19 but must daily look for a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ And so the Apostle saith Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and we must grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ Which shews that we may be made one with him in a more excellent manner then when we were first born because the Spirit of Christ grows unto a greater strength within us as we receive more of heavenly nutriment into our souls And this is all that is meant by the real presence of Christ in this Sacrament which the Church speaks of and believes as it is one reason likewise of the change which is so much noised because by his power these things become effectual to so great purposes when they are holily received Our Lord doth call these signs by the name of the things they signifie because in a spiritual manner his body and blood are present to us viz. by the communication of that to us which they did purchase for us From the sacred humanity of Christ life and spirit is derived unto us as motion is from the head unto the members And the power of the Godhead doth diffuse the vertue or operation of the humane nature to the enlivening the hearts of men that rightly receive the Sacramental pledges Manna is called spiritual bread and water that came out of the rock is named spiritual dirnk 1 Cor. 10.3 4. and the rock is said to be Christ because they did signifie him and were tokens of his presence and therefore much more may this bread and wine be called his body and blood and spoken of as if they were himself because they do more lively represent him and he had annexed his presence more powerfully to them Or as one of the Ancients saith they are called his body and blood not because they are properly so sed quod in se mysterium corporis ejus sanguinis contineant but because they contain in them the mystery of his body and blood And this as I said is all the change that we are to understand in them according as Theodoret doth excellently express it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog 1. Christ saith he calls them by the name of the things they represent not changing the nature but adding grace unto the nature And what that grace is I have already told you in this Chapter So that the real presence is not to be sought in the bread and wine but in those that receive them according as Learned Hooker speaks For Christ saith first Take and eat and then after that This is my body Before we take and eat it is not the body of Christ unto us but when we take and eat as we ought then he gives us his whole self and puts us into possession of all such faving graces as his facrificed body can yield and our fouls do then need The change is in our souls and not in the Sacrament we are though not Transubstantiated into another body yet Metamorphosed and transformed into