only to charge it with all its sins Nevertheless as under the Law the Lamb and the Oblation added to it did join in one Sacrifice because both were offered upon one Altar and consumed by one fire so under the Gospel Christ and his People are accounted for one Oblation when both in their own proper way are consecrated by the same Cross and are in some manner alike obedient to death For we have bin planted together in the likeness of his death knowing this that our Old Man is dead c. Rom. 6.5 6. 18. By this likeness or conformity of Sufferings Christ is dead once to satisfie the rigor of the Law and so must Christians destroy their sins and mortifie themselves that they may observe hereafter the Righteousness of the Gospel Christ during that terrible storm that made him weep and cry aloud Matt. 27.46.50 Luk. 23.46 Heb. 5.7 did suffer such a heavy punishment as might satisfy Gods Justice And his Mystical Body must every day both undertake and suffer such fatherly Corrections as may overmaster their own sins In a word the Holy Savior was willing to be crucified because this dismal execution was indispensably necessary to turn away the wrath to come and his true members must be willing to crucifie themselves with him because this Discipline is as indispensably necessary to destroy in them by degrees that inward corruption which would bring back again this wrath 19. O Father of Mercies I beseech thee both by the merits of thy Son who now intercedes in Heaven awd by that bloody Sacrifice which he hath offered on the Cross whereof thou seest the Sacrament upon This Table this Day be pleased to receive me into the Communion of his Sufferings and hereafter into the Communion of his Glory Cast not away from thee in displeasure the Elevation of these hands which I will fasten to his Cross so far as they may not offend and which I do now stretch before thee with a true desire that hereafter they may serve thee neither despise the Sacrifice of a poor Soul which also his Cross hath wounded with the sense of her misery and by this wound laies it open both to pour out her own prayers and to gasp after thy mercies O God and Father bestow on me such a measure of that Spirit through which thy Son offered himself * Heb. 9.14 as may sanctifie for ever the Body and Soul which now I offer and may likewise help me to perform the service which I do promise A Spirit of Contrition that I may sufficiently detest those sins which did deliver my God to death then a spirit of Holiness that I may never be temted to them any more then a crucified man can be temted O let this crucified Body which I present to thee for such never be untied from his Cross either to fall to those viclences that have peirced my Saviors hands or to fly up to those vanities that have crowned his head with Thorns or to follow unjust pleasures that have filled his dear Soul with greif that have filled his Entrails with Gall. Arm and Rod of the Lord who in thine Anger didst revenge all these sins upon my Savior in thy mercy correct and destroy them also in me So my God accept of a heart that sheds now before thee its Tears as a poor Victim does its blood and that raises up unto thee all its desires its thoughts its zeal as a Burnt offering doth its flames Finally since my Sacrifice can be neither holy nor accepted being alone Accept of it O Father as it is an Oblation supported by that Sacrifice which alone is able to please thee Receive it clothed with the Righteousness of thy Son and made acceptable with that holy Perfume that rises from of his Altar And grant that He who sanctifies and they who are by him sanctified may be joined in one Passion and may enjoy hereafter with thee the same Glory Our Father which art in Heaven c. SECTION VIII Concerning the Oblation of our Goods and Alms or the Sacrifice of Justice 1. IT is an express and often repeated Law of God by Moses and no where repeated by Christ that no worshipper shall presume to appear before him with emty hands Sincere Christians must have them full at the receiving of the holy Communion with four distinct sorts of Sacrifices 1. The Sacramental and commemorative Sacrifice of Christ 2. The real and Actual Sacrifice of themselves 3. The free will Offering of their Goods 4. The Peace Offering of their Praises 2. The first as representing the Sacrifice offered on the Cross is the ground of the three others especially of the second which must no more be separated from it then Parts are from the Whole or the Body from its Head These two are so close coupled together that St. Austin * Aug. apud Fulg. de Bapt. Aethiop c. ult more then once by the Body of Christ in the holy Communion understands Christs mystical Body which is the Church And St. Cyprian * St. Cypr. l. 2. Ep. 3. saies expressly that Christ and his People are contained and united together in the Holy Cup that being represented by the Wine this represented by the Water so that Christ is not there without his People nor the People without their Savior 3. The Third and fourth which are the Sacrifices of our Goods and of our Praises are appendages following after the second that is the Sacrifice of our own selves by as natural a consequence as the fruits and leaves follow the Tree and as what we have or what we can must needs come after what we are All the world know how that blemisht and lame Sacrifices were abominable under the Law and certainly Bodies without heads souls without their faculties and Persons without their proper Duties are not better under the Gospel Such mutilated Sacrifices cannot suit with that of Christ which was perfectly whole and entire Therefore as when we once offer our selves to God our Souls and Bodies become attending Sacrifices on the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ so must by the same equity all our Goods and Services by way of seconddary Oblations attend the Sacrifice of our Persons And as the Lamb in the daily Sacrifice was never offered without its Meat Oblation nor this meat Oblation without its incense its Wine its Oil So the Eternal Son and Lamb of God who was pleased to offer himself for me must neither be offered without me nor whensoever I offer up my self both by him and with him must I appear as a dry and unsavory Meat offering without juice without sweet smell without all the holy dispositions of readiness and joy to obey and please my God in all good works whereof the Incense the Wine and the Oil were under the Law sacred Emblemes In a word whensoever we offer our selves we offer by the self same Act all that we have all that we can and so consequently we do engage for
all that it shall be dedicated to the Glory of God and that it shall be surrendred into his hands employed to such uses upon such occasions and times as he will be pleased to appoint 4. Hear then my son as saies the wise man look to they feet when thou entrest into the house of God lest thou offer the Sacrifice of fools Eccles 5.6 It is the Sacrifice as well as the part of a fool to offer the Person without the Goods that attend it as it were the bones without the sinewes and the flesh that cover them It is the same Act of an Impious wretch to mangle and to mutilate either the holy Sacrifice which Jesus hath made to his father or the holy Sacrament which he hath ordained to his Church or that holy Oblation which after his Sacrifice and at his Sacrament he is pleased to require of us And after we have presented it it is an Act not only of great Impiety but of as great a Sacriledg as was that of Ananias to withdraw without leave any part of that Whole which we have devoted to Gods Service 5. It behoves not Israel alone to go forth out of Egypt with all their Children and Cattle and Goods to offer them unto the Lord that he may take either all or such a part as he will be pleased to chuse Exod. 10.25 26. All the Gentiles were likewise to go and give themselves up to Gods service with their Gold their Silver their Dromedaries and their Chariots loden with their cheifest substance The Egyptians with all their wealth Tyre and Sidon with their Merchandise Esay 23.18 and 60.6 7 9. The wise men with their Frankincense their Myrrh and their Gold and so every sinner at his Conversion to God was to consecrate all to Jesus Christ and to the service of his Church From that very moment that by any reall Act of conversion of faith of repentance or of vow we have given up our selves to Christ who hath likewise given himself for us as by virtue of this mutual Communion all what he possesses becomes ours namely his Grace his Immortality his Glory and so he bestowes it upon us according to the times and degrees which he sees best for our Salvation by the same consequence all whatsoever we have doth become his so that he may take it after in what proportion and season soever he shall see best for his Glory The two Asses which he sent for by his disciples that he might ride on them to Jerusalem and the Chamber which he commanded to be ready that he might eat the Passover in it were not so absolutely his as are our lives our Goods c. whensoever the Lord hath need of them Matt. 21.2 3. Luk. 22.11 Those things were his only by the Right of propriety which as to a Soveraign Lord and God is naturally reserved upon any thing which he creates or saves but these are his besides because we with our selves have given them When he calls for the former to deny them were injustice but to deny these latter were a visible Sacriledg all what we are what we can do and what we can give even to the least vessel in our houses being involved and made holy in this one Consecration In that day shall there be upon the very Bridles of the Horses holiness unto the Lord and every pot in Jerusalem and Juda shall be holy unto the Lord. Zechar. 14.20 21. 6. This Consecration whereby the worshipper offers and resigns up all himself and all his Concernments to God if it be well don and duly performed is first as for our Souls and Bodies a Christian Apotheosis if I may use this word which both makes them capable of the Sacrifice and grace of Christ and raises and prefers them to the very nature that is the Condition of holiness and Immortality of God Secondly as to the Consecrated things it is a miraculous priviledg which in the end infinitly multiplies every thing which is thus parted with it blesses the use of it altho it be but presented as long as we can enjoy it and finally exchanges it when we can enjoy it no more for such advantagious returnes as may be conceived to be not such as when water was turned into Wine or dirt into Gold but such as if we conceive a glass of water turned into streams of Everlasting Comsorts the dust of Israel into so many stars of Heaven small Cottages of Clay into Royal Palaces and vain declining shadows into real and Eternal possessions Thou hast bin faithful in a few things I will make thee Ruler over many things c. Matth. 25.21 But if the Law of these Consecrations be not well performed if Levi come to serve Ashtaroth after he hath dedicated himself to God and if the Offerings of the People be employed to profane uses after they have toucht Gods Altar then there are as many and as heavy Curses to be lookt for as on the other side upon a better use there are many and great Blessings to be expected So that upon all considerations both of prudence and of Duty first we must give up all to God next after we have given we must fly all not only as two most odious sins but also as two most terrible mischeifs the Sacriledg in withdrawing at any time when God demands it what hath bin thus consecrated to him and the Profaneness in mispending upon superfluous or worse uses what of it he is pleased to allow to our proper necessities and other lawfull Conveniencies 7. Now tho Christ our blessed Savior by that everlasting and ever same Sacrifice of himself offer himself virtually upon all occasions and we on our side also offer our selves and what is ours with him several other waies besides that of the holy Communion as at our Conversion and first Act of faith in him Christ saies St. Austin a Aug. Evang. Quest l. 2. q. 33. is sacrificed for the salvation of every sinner at the very moment he repents and beleives him to have bin Sacrificed and at our Baptism For every one offers the Sacrifice of the Passion of the Lord at that time that he is consecrated by the faith of this Passion and baptised a Christian saith the same father b August Expos incheat ad Rom. and the Baptism of Christ is the blood of Christ saith another c Chrâ—s Hom. 10. Heir Nevertheless because Christ offers himself for us at the holy Communion in a more solemn and public sacramental way thence it comes that the Memorial of the sacrifice of Christ thereby celebrated takes commonly the Name of the Sacrifice it self as St. Austin d Aug. de Civ c. 5. id â—p 23. ad Bonis â—e Consert Disp 2 hoc â—st explains it often we are then obliged in a more special manner to renew all our Sacrifices all the vows of our Baptism all the first fruits of our Conversion and all the particular promises which it may
be we have made either at our repenting of some sin or at our deliverance from some eminent danger or at the recovery out of some greivous sickness or at the receiving some other signal mercy whether for our selves or for our friends I will go into thy house with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Psal 67.13.14 Then and there at the Altar of God must we both discharge all the vows which for some hindrance or other we had not yet the Convenience to fulfil and set afresh from Communion to communion as they did the Shew-loaves from Sabbath to Sabbath all those other Performances which by their nature and our duty can never be fulfilled but with the very end of our daies 8. So shall the new Israel tread on the pious steps of the Old who ever from time to time reiterated either in Mispah or in Gilgal c. that Covenant which the Lord had made with him in Sinai It is true the Lord did not then again repeat the Thunder that once made the Mountains tremble as in our Churches he doth not reiterate that very Passion that made the powers of Heaven mourn and shake Nevertheless as Josuah Asa Josias Jehojadah and other such holy men could from their Master assure the People that the Covenant which they did renew for example in Shechem Jos 24.25 2 Chr. 15.12 and 23.16 was not less powerful either to bless the observers or to destroy the offenders thereof then it was when Moses and the Holy Angels publisht it at the first upon Sinai So now the Ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ having in their hands the sacraments of the Gospel true Seals and Tables of the new Law may both produce and give them out as Evidences that the sacrifice of their Master is not less able to save mens Souls when it is offered to men and Sacramentally offered again to God at the holy Communion then when it was newly offered upon the Cross And this is the reason wherefore all faithful Christians ought then as effectually to reinforce all their Oblations their vows their Contritions and their protestations Men and Brethren what shall we do And God forbid that I should ever glory but in the Cross of my Savior as the Israelites did by protesting upon the like occasions We will obey the Lord our God and the Lord is the God the Lord is the God 1 King 18.39 both Israelites and Christians seconding their Protestation of obedience and their prostrations of Body and resignations of their minds with secondary sacrifices those of Bulls and Rams these of Alms and Pious works 9. By this it is easie to see that our holy Eucharistical Communions are much correspondent to those Feasts that did call the People of Israel together first to appear and prostrate themselves before the Lord with sacrifices for their sin and then to lay upon the Altar that other kind of Sacrifices which they used to call * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace offerings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace Offerings and which were ordained to express both their thankfulness to God and their Charity to men And in this friendly concurrence both of Mysteries and of holy duties that attend them all respects duly observed Moses may still with the same power command both new and old Israel thou shalt keep the feast unto the Lord thy God with a Tribute of a free will offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee And thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God thou and thy Son and thy Daughter the Levite the stranger the Fatherless and the Widdow And you shall not appear before the Lord emty Every man shall give according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee Deut. 16.10 11. 19. The first Christians ever took it and constantly practised it so For whensoever they met at their devotions whereof the Holy Communion was the most ordinary and the most essential part they did make the use of all their Goods to be common among themselves and the distribution of this blessed Sacrament was so constantly attended by the distribution of their Offerings that it is somewhat hard to discern which of the two the Apostolical History intends to signify by the Breaking of bread so often mentioned in the Acts. Some pious and learned men have thought that this largeness and frequency of Offerings which in the primitive times was all the stock they had for pious uses made that Article which immediatly follows that of the Church that is the Communion or Communication of the Saints But however tho this were not the Article of faith there meant yet it was an Act of Piety so frequent and so essential in those daies that St. Luke would place it amongst those other sacred functions that comprehend the whole duty and service of the Church They continued stedfastly in the Doctrine of the Apostles and in the Communion and in breaking of bread and in prayer Act. 2.24 Thus were the primitive Christians literally and punctually such as holy David had prophesied they should be a People that would come and offer themselves with their free will offerings to Christ in the Day of his Power and of that glorious effusion of Graces that like to a Celestial dew would appear wonderful by a thick and sudden producing of subjects and souldiers ready armed for his service Psal 110. 11. For this purpose it was that the Bishops had in their Churches two Tables One of them was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. within that space where the Ministers did officiate at the Altar and where were Curtins purposely shut to keep non-Communicants from the sight of and access to the Holy Mysteries The other was where the People could freely come to offer their Gifts part whereof afterwards was brought by the Deacons to the Communion Table Hither were brought the Free will Offerings of the People Bread Wine Oil Wooll sometimes Cloth Silver and any thing els that might be useful to the Church till by express Canons of the Church * Can. 37. Afric those Oblations in kind were limited to such things only as could be emploied about the sacraments and service of the Church and all this was offered up to God by all Christians by way of a daily Sacrifice And when the Christians had offered up to God their Goods the Priest who did receive them did solemnly pray to God that he would be pleased to look on their Oblations as he did once on them of Abel of Noah and of Abraham Out of these Oblations the Elements of the holy Communion were taken forth and presented at the other Table where they were blest by the Bishop or Priest and distributed by him to the People as from God to assure them he had accepted of both their persons