pour out all our Grief our Prayers and our Praises before the Lord in so happy a conjuncture The primitive Christians did it so who did as seldom meet to preach or pray without a Communion as did the old Israelites to worship without a Sacrifice On solemn daies especially or upon great Exigencies they ever used this help of Sacramental Oblation as the most powerful Means the Church had to strengthen their Supplications to open the Gates of Heaven and to force in a manner God and his Christ to have compassion on them The People of Israel for the better performance of Prayer and Devotion went up to the Tabernacle and the Temple because besides other Motives both these were Figures of that Body which was to be sacrificed Wherefore Christ calls his Body this Temple Joh. 2.19 and the first Christians went up to their Churches there to meet with these Mysteries which do represent him both as already sacrificed and yet as in some sort offering and giving up himself Those in worshipping ever turned their Eyes their Hearts their hopes towards that Altar and Sacrifice whence the High Priest was to carry the Blood into the Sanctuary and these looking toward the Cross and their crucified Savior there through his Sufferings hope for a way towards Heaven being encouraged to this hope by the very Memorial which they both take to themselves and shew to God of these Sufferings Lastly Jesus our Eternal Priest being from the Cross where he suffered without the Gate gon up into the true Sanctuary which is Heaven there above doth continually present both his Body in true reality and us as Aaron did the twelve Tribes of Israel in a Memorial Exod. 28.29 and on the other side we beneath in the Church present to God his Body and Blood in a Memorial that under this shadow of his Cross and image of his Sacrifice we may present our selves before him in very deed and reality 5. O Lord who seest nothing in me that is truely mine but Dust and Ashes and which is worse sinful flesh and Blood look upon what I have of thee some small Remnant of thine Image some small beginnings of thy Grace and some light sparks of thy Spirit But because all these are defective supply them O Lord with thy mercy and with the Sacrifice of thy Son Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name and thine Anointed give the praise Turn thine Eyes O Merciful Father to the satisfaction and Intercession of thy Son who now sits at thy Right Hand to the Seals of thy Covenant which lye before thee upon this Table and to all the wants and distresses which also thou seest in my heart O Father glorify thy Son whom thou hast sent into this World O Son bless thou this Sacrament which thou hast ordained for thy Church and send with it some influence of that Spirit whom thou hast promised to all Flesh that by the help of these Mercies the World the Church our Flesh and Souls may glorify thee now and ever Father Son and Holy Spirit Amen SECTION VII Concerning the Sacrifice of our own Persons 1. IT is either the Error or the incogitancy of too many Christians which makes them somtimes beleive and oftener live as if under the Gospel there were no other Sacrifice but that of Christ upon the Cross It is very true indeed there is no other nor can there be any other sufficient and proper for this end of satisfiing Gods Justice and expiating our sins I have troden the Winepress alone and of the People there was none with me I looked and there was none to help Esay 63.3.5 In this respect tho the whole Church should in a Body offer up her self as a burnt Sacrifice to God yet could she not contribute more towards the bearing up or bearing away the wrath to come then all those Innocent souls who stood neer Jesus Christ when he gave up the Ghost did towards the darkning of the Sun or the shaking of the whole Earth But that which is not so much as useful much less necessary to this Eternal Sacrifice which alone could redeem Mankind is indispensably both necessary and useful that we may have a share in this Redemtion So that if the Sacrifice of our selves which we ought to offer up to God cannot procure Salvation it is absolutely necessary to receive it 2. As the old Law never introduced Aaron officiating before the Lord without the whole People of Israel represented both by the twelve stones on his Ephod and the two other on his shoulders Exod. 28.12.30 The Gospel most commonly describes Jesus Christ and his Church not only as two Parties that do nothing the one without the other but somtimes also as one Person alone as particularly 1. Cor. 12.12 Christ acts officiates and suffers for his Body in that manner that doth become the Head and the Church imitates and follows all the motions and sufferings of this heavenly and holy Head in such a manner as is possible to its weak Members 3. The main if not the whole Divinity of S. Paul as well in point of faith as of Christian life runs upon this Conformity both of actions and sufferings And that of S. Iohn likewise upon this same Communion The truth is Our Savior had neither Birth nor Death nor Resurrection here on Earth but such as we ought to conform us to as he hath neither Ascention nor Throne nor Everlasting life nor Glory but such as we may also have in Heaven common with him 4. This Conformity or likeness to Christ which as the Hebrewes use to spake is the foundation and Pillar that is the grand Principle of the whole Christian institution relates more directly to our duty about his Sufferings and then to our happiness about his Exaltation And the Communion which is the other great fundamental that S. Iohn hath still in his Mouth points more at this and presupposes that And both make up a full Comment upon the words which our Savior so often commanded his Disciples to follow him thereby signifiing both the Labor and the success of this most Important Journy for without doubt we shall follow him into Heaven if we will follow him here on Earth and we shall have Communion with him in his Glory if we will keep Conformity with him here in his Sufferings 5. These three expressions to Follow to be like or have Conformity and to have Communion which are the most essential Clauses in the charter and charge of christianity are not to be limited to the imitation of Christs Moralls only as when he bids us be Holy as he is Holy c. but they oblige all his Disciples to follow and imitate him likewise as much as in them lies throughout all the other parts of his life and the very functions of his Offices For we must be regenerated in his Birth dye on his Cross be buried in his Grave bear his shame in his Tribulations in
Center both of his Happiness and his Duty and that ties the very knot which in a manner joins Man with God It was upon this account that the Devil who bore ever an equal hatred both to what is Holy to God and to all what is conducible to the Salvation of Man hath from the very beginning bin busie with this Sacrament and hath ever since given the Church more trouble about the Body of Jesus Christ then ever the Angel suffered about the Body of Moses Jude 9. For the Body of Christ as the Holy Fathers distinguish it being of two sorts to wit the Natural which is in Heaven and the Sacramental which is blessed and given at the holy Table the primitive Heretics whom the Spirit of Antichrist set up and animated against the Church spent all their strength and their venim at the very time and in the face of the Apostles in order to destroy the first which is the Human Nature of Christ and to reduce it to a Phantosm and God knows whether the second that is the Sacramental receives at this day any better entertainment from two contrary Parties who make it either a false God or an emty Ceremony Of all these opposite Enemies the first who assaulted his Flesh could in this impiety be but poor vain undertakers this glorious Body being highly exalted above their reach but the second are on this account more dangerous because the blessed Communion which makes up this other Body may daily fall into the hands of either an Idolatrous or a profane Abuser Therefore it very much concerns them whosoever have either any Piety towards God or any care of their own Souls to menage their Devotions with such precaution and judgment that this venerable Sacrament may be kept safe from the attemts of superstition and profaneness SECTION II. Concerning the Sacrament as it is a Memorial of the Sufferings and Death of Christ 1. THe blessed Communion was chiefly instituted by the Son of God for a Sacrament in the Church But when it is received by the Christian People if this receiving of theirs be right it must needs be attended with the addition of such other Performances as will make it also a Sacrifice As it is a Sacrament this great Mystery shews three Faces looking directly towards three Times and offering to all worthy Receivers three sorts of incomparable Blessings that of Representing the true Efficacy of Christs Sufferings which are past whereof it is a Memorial that of exhibiting the first Fruits of these Sufferings in real and present Graces whereof it is a moral Conveyance and Communication and that of assuring Men of all other Graces and Glories to come whereof it is an infallible Pledg 2. As this Sacrament looks back it is an authentic Memorial which our Savior hath left in his Church of what He was pleased to suffer for Her For tho these Sufferings of His were both so dreadful and Holy as to make the Heavens mourn the Earth quake and all men tremble yet because great Objects how terrible and magnificent soever they be whilst they last are not less then the smallest things apt to be forgotten when they are gon and so there was small likelyhood that the Passion of Jesus Christ which was not seen upon the Cross above the space of some few hours could be well preserved in the memory of men throughout all ages therefore our Saviour was pleased at his last Supper to ordain this Sacrament as a holy Memorial Representation and Image of what He was about to suffer for that short time to save his dear Church for ever So that when Christian Posterity which had not seen the Crucifixion of their Savior like the young Israelites that had not seen the killing of the first Passover should come to ask after the signification of those things this Bread this Wine the Breaking of the one the powring out of the other and the Participation of both this sacred Mystery might expose to faithful Beholders as a present and constant Object both the Martyrdom and the Sacrifice of this crucified Savior giving up his Flesh shedding his Blood and pouring out his very Soul for the expiation of their Sins 3. Therefore as in the Feasts of the Passover the late Jews could say This is the Lamb these are the Herbs and this is the Bread of affliction which our Fathers did eat in Egypt because their latter Feasts did so effectually represent the former that the People who did partake of those had ground enough both to act and to speak as if they had bin present at this So at our holy Communion which succeeds the Passover and is undoubtedly no less a blessed and powerful Sacrament to set before our eyes Christ our Passover who is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 Our Saviour says St. Augustin doubted not to say This is my Body when he gave to his Disciples the Figure of his Body Because especially besides the Commemoration this Sacrament duly given and faithfully received makes the Thing which it represents as really present for our use and as really powerful in order to our Salvation as if the Thing it self were newly done or in doing Eating this Bread and drinking of this Cup you set forth the death of the Lord. 1 Cor. 11.26 4. For certainly not to mistake the meaning of Christ nor to injure his Mystery whensoever with the primitive Church we call it a Memorial or a Figure great care must be taken lest we confound these Venerable Representations which God himself hath set up in his Church and for his Church with those emty Figures and Marks which either some old Tradition or some private phansie may by chance have put in our way Men of ordinary Understanding do not regard with the same eye the Armes and Images of Princes which public Autority hath set up in a public eminent Place and which a Painter to please his phansie hath fixt in a private Room Without all doubt a wise Traveller would be much more moved at the sight of the Salt Pillar if it did stand yet where it did which God had set up purposely where Lots wife lookt towards Sodom then at some Prints of her Feet if they were to be seen yet when she turned some other way And if we credit the History that Cross which the first Christian Emperor is reported once to have seen in the Air which undoubtedly the hand of God or an Angel had made appear with some Design could not but cause a greater respect then that ordinary Sign of the Cross which Christians have used on common occasions Add what no body can deny that all Sorts of Signs and Monuments become more or less Venerable according to the greater or lesser worth of the Objects which they are made to represent It had bin hard for Abraham or for any devout Patriarck not to feel some motions of Reverence and holy Fear when they did chance to pass again by Mamre or by Morijah
them out of the Puddle where they did ly like Beasts without sense of danger or shame and it quickens these rotten Trees for the producing of better Fruit. The first Life being opposite to Condemnation and Eternal Punishment belongs properly to the Blood that hath satisfied divine Justice and so removed Punishment and the second which is opposite to stupid and senseless both falling into sin and lying in it relates properly to the Water that after Propitiation and Pardon washes and sanctifies the sinner These two Lives are the two first Effluxes which proceeded out of Jesus Christ when his Body was pierced and both are inseparable as the Blood and the water were which flowed together out of his side Let none who finds himself clean from the filth and spots of his sin be afraid of Punishment for them I have found a Ransom for him Job 33.24 for the water came not without the Blood But let every one that hath a mind to be safe from Punishment which is taken off by the Blood seek for farther security in the purifying of himself from all the uncleanness of sin which the Water is to wash away for the Blood came not without water Christ came not by Blood alone but by water and Blood 1 Joh. 5.6 9. Over and above these two Lives whereof one consists in Pardon and removal of Punishment the other in Sanctification and enlivens us from dead works so as not thenceforward to deserve it as before there remains besides a third Life which consists in an absolute Redemtion from Death and other miseries This life as to the sure Title and Right is together with the two other purchased by the same Sacrifice but as to the real use and possession it is reserved for us in Heaven and there hid with Christ in God Coloss 3.3 Until it be revealed we appear as if we were dead these two Jewels lying in and being wrapped about with the dark Veils of human Mortality till that Christ becoming unto us actual Redemtion as well as actual Justice and actual Sanctification this third life succeeds to break the Cloud 10. Now the blessed Savior being by his Sacrifice the Author and giver of these three Lives shews himself by this Sacrament to be the preserver of them also and to this purpose sets up a Table by his Altar where he engages most solemnly to feed and nourish our Souls with the constant supply of his Mercies to the very day of eternal Salvation as really as he gives and we receive these Elements of Bread and Wine which are the usual meanes of sustaining mortal Bodies until the end of this short Life My Father worketh hitherto and I work with him Ioh. 95.17 God the father rested indeed upon the seventh day from the work of Creating and God the Son at the same day from the work of Suffering but neither of them will rest till the day of Redemtion from the work of preserving both what the Creation hath produced and what the Passion hath saved In the first Creation here is a Man and a Woman made of the Flesh and as it were of the very wounds of her Husband and there you find a Tree planted to maintain both their life and strength In the Deliverance of Egypt here is a People saved by the Sacrifice of the Passeover and lest so many rescued out of Egypt should faint and starve in the Desert there you see an Angel leading them the way with his Light keeping them cool under the Shadow of his Cloud and feeding them through all their journny with a miraculous sort of Meat Jesus is both in the Original and progress of Salvation the Truth foreshewed by these Figures When he dyed upon the Cross there he fullfilled that which had bin shadowed forth both by the Sleep and wound of Adam and by the killing of paschal Lambs And when he feeds from Heaven with a continual Effusion of Blessing those souls and lives which he hath bin pleased to redeem by the effusion of his own Blood He is the Truth both of the Tree and of the Angel which were appointed the one to maintain Man and the other to keep Israel 11. Christ relates to these four Figures as the Body which fulfils them and the Holy Communion relates to them on the other side as an Antitype that is as one Image may relate to another all to express the same object Upon the breaking the one and powring out the other of these consecrated Elements you see what Christ hath suffered as upon the wound of Adam and the death of the Passeover Abel Enoc and Israel might partly see what he should suffer And upon the nourishing nature of this Bread you see that which others have seen in the Tree of life and in the Angel raining down Manna what He would give But this is the advantage of the Holy Communion above all the ancient Figures Adam with his open Side and all Sacrifices with their Blood did foretel only Christs Passion and the Tree of life with all its fruit and the Angel with all his Food did foretel only his preserving Grace whereas this Sacrament alone represents both his Passion and Preserving and besides these another great Mystery by their mutual dependency What wee take and eat is made of a Substance cut bruised and put to the fire that shews my Saviors Passion and it was used in that manner that it may afford me wholesom food that shewes the Benefit which both he gives and I receive out of this dreadful Passion The Angels enjoy such an immortality and wear such Crowns as cost God nothing but the pain he took to give them ours are more precious and costly then so Our inheritance in Heaven is not less then Akeldamah a Possession bought with Christs Blood In this Sacrament here is Death represented there Life the Life is mine the Death my Saviors and ô blessed Jesus this my Life comes out of thy Death and the Salvation which I hope for is purchased with all the pain and Agonies which Thou didst suffer 12. Here Melchisedek and Aaron wait upon Jesus Christ at this Table as Moses and Elias did on the Mount These two great Priests stand to soreshew what Christ alone is to perform For there is Aaron the Priest with Blood and here Melchisedek with Bread There Aaron breaks sheds and destroies here Melchisedek feeds and blesses Nay both are one in Jesus Christ First Christ appears to Sacrifice upon the Cross as Aaron did at his Altar with Flesh and Blood and as in Melchisedeks case and figure with his own Flesh and his own Blood Then as Aaron did use to enter once every year into the Sanctuary Christ once for all is ascended into Heaven thence to bless us Act. 3.26 And this blessing is the strength the Food and Refreshment which Melchisedek brought in a figure that with the help of these good Things both Abraham and his Followers that is all sincere Christians may
cured Naaman of a Plague which naturally was incurable and as soon as but a shadow did pass by or some Oyl was dropped down or some Cloaths were toucht presently virtue went out not of Rods or Trumpets or shade or Clothes but of Himself Virtue says he is gon out of me and thus he cured the sick c. Since then he hath instituted and adopted unto himself the Sacraments of the Gospel as the Representative of his Sacred Body and Blood why may he not take the same course for the dispensing of his Mercies at the use of his Ordinances and why should not his very body pour out Effusions of life as well when we take in his Sacraments as when others did touch his Clothes which surely had less Priviledg 9. Under the Law the Right hand of the Lord had the preeminence the Right hand of the Lord brought these mighty Things to pass either when the red Sea opened a way for Israel or when the Rock of Horeb powred Rivers to refresh them Now under the Gospel It is Christ himself with his Body and Blood once offered to God upon the Cross and ever since standing before him in Heaven as the Lamb slain Rev. 5.6 who fills his Church continually with the Propitiations and Perfumes of his Sacrifice when after the receiving of the holy Sacrament faithful Communicants return home richer then they came with the first fruits of Salvation For Baptismal Water and Consecrated Bread and Wine can contribute no more to it then the Rod of Moses or the Oyl of the Apostles did which was no more then their Motion and their Presence But yet since these simple Motions and inconsiderable Presences are so closely attended by Christs institution and working that he is pleased to attribute to them the Blessing wrought out by himself 1 Pet. 3.21 O my God whensoever thou wilt bid me go and wash in Jordan or be baptised and wash away my sins I will doubt no more to be made clean either of my Leprosy or of my Sins then if I had bin bathed in thy Blood And whensoever thou wilt be pleased to say unto me go take and eat this Bread which I have blessed and which now I have given thee I will doubt no more of being fed with the true Bread of Life then if I were eating thy very Flesh. 10. In this manner faithful Communicants eat as effectually of the Body of Jesus Christ by receiving its strength and virtue as the Saints eat of the Tree of life Rev. 22.2 because they eat the Fruit of that Tree or Israel did drink of the Rock 1 Cor. 10.4 because they did drink of the Stream that flowed from it Once my Savior could say that some Body had touched him tho they had touched but his Clothes because a Woman had reached both her Faith and her Hand so near as to be healed by the Divine warmth and virtue that proceeded then out of him as if she had touched his very Flesh. The truth is we really touch have or enjoy the Thing it self when we are within that distance where we may enjoy its virtue So the Church was clothed with the sun Rev. 12.1 because shee had all about Her its Brightness and by the Holy Baptism we are said to put on Christ Galat. 3.27 because we then receive the Robes of his Righteousness and that which was typified by that Garment which God made of skins which implies the death of Victims to cover Adams Nakedness 11. This Victim having bin offered up both in the fulness of times and in the midst of the habitable World which properly is Christs great Temple and thence being carried up to Heaven which is his proper Sanctuary thence he spreads all about us Salvation as the Burnt offering did its smoke as the Golden Altar did its Perfumes and as the burning Candlestic its Lights And thus Christs Body and Blood have every where but especially at the Holy Communion a most true and real Presence When he offered himself upon Earth the Vapor of his Attonement went up and darkned the very Sun and by renting the great Vail it cleerly shewed he had made a way into Heaven Now since He is gon up to Heaven thence he sends down on Earth the Graces that spring continually both from his everlasting Sacrifice and from the continual Intercessions which attend it So that it is in vain to say who will go up into Heaven since without either ascending or descending this Sacred Body of Jesus fills with Attonement and Blessing the remotest Parts of this Temple 12. Of these Blessings Christ from above is pleased to dispense somtimes more somtimes less into these Inferior Courts of the People either according to the several degrees of their Faith or according to the several waies and times which He hath appointed to them for presenting themselves nearer to Him All worshippers do not come to him with the same Faith nor have all seasons and waies tho approved and appointed by Him the same or equal Priviledg And his Ordinances in the Church as well as his Stars in Heaven differ in Glory one from another Fasting Prayer Hearing of the Word public and private Services and all like holy Duties are all very good Vessels to draw water from this Well of Salvation but yet they are not all equal The blessed Communion must exceed as much in Blessings when well used as it exceeds in danger of a Curse when it is not In all places saies God where I record my Name there I will come to thee and bless thee Exod. 20.24 But in those Places and Ordinances which He hath in an especial manner set out to record his Passion and to renew the Sacrifice of his Body he will certainly come with such a fulness of Blessings as attend this Sacred Body which is the proper Seat of Blessings the Bread which we do break being the Communion of his Body just as the eating of the Unleavened Loaves were out of Jerusalem the communion to the Passover which was the type of Christ Crucified Christ our Passover saies the Apostle is Sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast c. 1 Cor. 5.7.8 12. Our life in general is the time of this Festival and the Blessed Communion is the Bread and Wine of the Banquet Therefore as they of Israel who for some lawful impediment could not eat the Lamb in Jerusalem nor durst because of the Law sacrifice and eat it at home had nevertheless the Benefit both of the Passover and other Holy Things of the Temple by virtue of privar Feastings which they were allowed to keep with unleavened Bread and bitter Herbs in the Country Our Eucharistical eating supplies now this very Office and derives on worthy Communicants as far as their Salvation is concerned the virtue of Christs Sacrifice in as large and saving a manner as if they were present at His Altar and at the hour of His Passion The Lord bless thee out of