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
that takes away the sins of the World Is not thy soul in him well pleased Is not his Body as really in the Heavens as the signs of it are here in our hands Hear good Lord the cry of his Wounds Let us prevail with thee through the virtue of his sacrifice Let us feel yea let all the World feel the power of his intercession Deny us not O Lord seeing we bring thy Son with us Hear thy Son O Lord though thou wilt not hear us and let us let all others know that he lives and was dead and that he is alive for evermore Amen And secondly It is a seasonable time to profess our selves Christians and that we will take up our Cross and follow after him This taking of the bread we should look upon as a receiving the yoke of Christ upon our neck and laying his Cross upon our shoulder if he think fit We embrace a crucified Jesus and we are not to expect to live in pleasures unless they be spiritual nor to rejoice with the world but to endure affliction and account it all joy when we fall into manifold temptations Protest therefore unto him that thou lovest him as thou seest him stript and naked bruised and wounded slain and dead and that thou art contented to take joyfully the spoiling of thy goods to be pleased with pains and to count death the way to life V. When we eat it is a fit season to put forth these two acts of faith 1. Let us express our hearty consent that Christ shall dwell within us that we will be ruled by his Laws and governed by his Spirit that he shall be the alone King of our souls and the Lord of all our faculties and that we will have no other Master but onely him to give commands within us Eating I told you is a foederal rite and therefore when we have swallowed this bread we should think that we have surrendred all up into his hands and put him into full power over our souls And we should think also that we have given him the possession of our souls for ever and engaged never to change our Master For eating is more receiving then taking a thing with our hands It is as it were the incorporating of the thing with the substance of our bodies and making it a part of our selves that it may last as long as we So should we meditate that we receive the Lord Jesus never to be separated from his service for ever to adhere unto him as our Prince and Captain as our Head and Husband wheresoever his Commands will lead us And as we open our hearts thus to receive him so let us now fold him in our arms and embrace him with a most cordial affection Let the fire burn now and make us boyl up yea even run over with love to him Now is the time not onely to give our selves to him but to make a sacrifice of our selves as a whole burnt-offering unto God Now should we lay our selves on the Altar of the Lord to be offered up intirely to him who made his soul an offering for sin That there may not only be a representative but a real sacrifice at this Feast unto Heaven i.e. that we may not only shew forth the sacrifice of Christ and represent it before God but we our selves may offer up our souls and bodies unto him and send them up in flames of love as so many Holocausts to be consumed and spent in the service of our God Then let us wish for the flames of a Seraphim in the love of God for the cheerfulness and speed of a Cherubim in the service of God and for the voice of an Angel that we may sing the praises of God Let us like our choice so well and think that we are so beholden to him that we may give our selves to him as to begin to leap for joy that we have parted with our selves and are become his And as a token that we give our selves and all we have to God we should now think upon those offerings we intend to make for the poor members of Jesus Christ and desire the Lord to accept of our gifts which we present him withall as earnests of our selves which we have consecrated unto him And perhaps now our hearts may be stirred with so great compassion and our bowels may be so feelingly moved that our Charity may overflow the banks that we had set it and the fire that is within us may require a fatter and larger offering then we designed But howsoever we cannot but deal our bread to the hungry with a more cheerfull hand and give our Almes with a freer heart when we have received the Bread of Life into our hands and hearts and felt what the huge Charity of our Lord was toward us most miserable and wretched Creatures 2. A second Act of faith which we should now exercise is this Let us really believe that all the blessings of the New Covenant are made over to us by this giving and receiving of his sacred body Let thy soul say My beloved is mine as I am his Be confident and well assured that if thou wast hearty in the former act of saith thou shalt as certainly receive pardon and grace and strength and salvation as thy mouth thou art sure eateth the holy Bread The former Act was a receiving him as our Lord and this as our Saviour Think therefore that now Christ dwelleth in thee and thou in him that as he must be Master of the house so thou shalt partake of all his riches of all his honour and pleasure And so begin to ransack his treasures desire him to spread before thee his inestimable riches pray him to shew thee if it be but a little glimpse of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints And what joy will this create in thy soul when thou thinkest that thou and Christ are one that thou art united to his most precious Body and shall certainly receive all the benefits of his Death and Passion O what ravishment should it be unto us to believe that sin shall not have dominion over us that the Blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all unrighteousness that the flames of Hell shall never touch us that death is swallowed up in victory that the grave is buried in the Wounds of our Saviour that we are sealed with the mark of God and consigned to a blessed immortality and shall inherit the joys of our Lord With what boldness now may we renew our requests to him and importunately plead with him for a supply of all our wants We may put up stronger cries now that we conceive he is in us and intreat him since it is his pleasure to be so familiar with us that we may be filled with all the fulness of God O my Lord may a soul say if thou lovest me so much fulfill in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness 2 Thes 1.11 and the work of faith
tokens of love whereby he would be remembred into a forsaken hole where they shall never be seen But how strangely are we affected to the Reliques that a dying friend commends unto us And how much more should we be moved if a friend should dye for us and should leave us a remembrance that he saved us from death Could we ever let him go out of our minds Should we not be in danger to think upon him over-much Could we endure that the remembrance he left us should be long out of our eye O my soul let us not deal then more unkindly with our blessed Saviour who humbled himself to the death even the death of the Cross that we might not eternally dye Who was made sinne for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through him Sure he never thought when he went to Heaven that we would remember his love so seldome and so coldly Did he think that those whom he loves so much would need so much entreaty to have Communion with him Is it not a grief unto him now if he be capable of any to see that he hath so few Lovers Doth it not trouble him that they who profess love to him testifie it so poorly and rarely Nay rather O my soul he is troubled that we love our selves no better and therefore both for the love of him and the love of our selves let us carefully observe his commands of which this is one Do this in remembrance of me For this is the love of God that we keep his Commandements And this Commandement we have from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also Mensa Mystica SECT IV. The Benefits of Holy Communion CHAP. XVII SUch is the nature of all bodies that the nearer they approach to their proper place and Center the more they accelerate their motion and with the greater speed they run as if they desired to be at their beloved rest from whence they are loath to be removed And such is the temper of all holy hearts when they run towards God the most natural place of their rest the very Center of their quiet and peace the nearer they come to him the faster they move they rather flye than run and use their Wings rather than their feet out of a vehement longing to be embraced by him We cannot but think then that they who draw nigh to God in this near way of Communion and are entertained by him at his own Table do flye up even unto Heaven and get into his very bosome as those that suffer more strong and powerful attractions from his mighty Goodness And there my Discourse may well leave them reposing themselves in his Arms and taking their rest in his love from whence they will not easily endure a divulsion by the force of any other thing But as a stone is unwilling to stir from the rest that it enjoyes in the bosome of the earth so hard will it be to draw such souls by the love of other things from their own Center where they feel so much quiet and tranquillity Such persons I might well leave to tell themselves and others if they can what joy they find in God what sweetness grows on this Tree of Life and what pleasures he hath welcomed them withall at this holy Feast Have you seen the Sun and the Moon in their full stand one against the other Have you beheld a River running with a mighty stream into the Ocean Or can you think that you see the fire falling from Heaven as it did in Elias his time to consume a sacrifice These are but little resemblances of that light wherewith their souls are filled when they look upon him of that fulness of joy wherein they are absorpt when their affections run to him of the testimonies that he gives of his acceptance when they offer themselves to his service And they themselves as I said can best tell into what a Paradise of pleasure he leads them when he comes into his Garden and beholds there all pleasant fruits But yet for the sake of those who are strangers to the Divine Life and are loath to leave their sinnes though it be to have Communion with God I shall labour briefly to declare the benefits of this holy Sacrament that so I may invite them for to lay aside their sinnes and exchange them for better pleasures And I hope I may provoke some to hunger after the House of God and especially after his Table where he seeds the hungry with rare delights where he cures the wounded comforts the weak enlightens the blind revives the dead pardons the sinner and strengthens him against his sinne Where he dignifies our souls and deifies as it were all our faculties where he unites us to himself and joyns us in friendship with our Brethren where he sprinkles our hearts with his Bloud replenisheth them with his Grace refresheth them with his Love encourageth them in his wayes inebriates them with his sweetness and gives them to drink of the Wine of the Kingdome and sowes in them the seed of immortality One would think there should not be a man of ordinary discretion that would refuse to be amended and so much bettered in his condition by conversing with God For you see men tip up the bowels of the earth and torment her to make her confess her Treasures they digg even into the heart of craggy Rocks and take incredible pains for Silver and Gold they will break their sweetest sleep to accomplish an ambitious desire they will spend their Patrimony their Credit their Bodies and their very Souls for a drop of drunken pleasure or carnal delight What is the matter then that men cannot be content to spend a few earnest thoughts to use a little serious diligence for the purchase of the riches of Heaven and Earth for the promises of this life and that which is to come for the glory of God for a Dignity not inferior to Angels for a Sea of delights and pleasures that ravish the heart of God Poor souls they are ignorant sure of the happiness that our Lord calls them unto they imagine there is nothing better than to eat and drink and satiate the body with that which tickleth its senses they are sunk into a sad puddle of filthy imaginations let us see if we can lift up their heads let us try to open their eyes let us endeavour to perswade that there are diviner delights that there is a bread infinitely more delicious and a Cup flowing with far more sweetness than that which the World bewitches and inchants her followers withall Psal 34.8 O come taste and see that the Lord is good as the Psalmist speaks Blessed is the man whom he chuseth Psal 65.4 and causeth to approach unto him that he may dwell in his Courts He shall be satisfied with the goodness of his House even of his holy Temple Many rare things there are which the Gospel presents us withall
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
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
In his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he that will read Joh. Protospatharius upon that Verse of Hesiods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will soon see that he also thought Homer to have described in those words the contexture and formation of our bodies in the womb For he saith by the web he advises the woman to weave on the twelfth day of the Moon is meant a Physical Mystery concerning the generation of our bodies which he there explains and for a proof of what he saith he directs us plainly to this place of Homer which I have recited But I have no list to prosecute this any further There is another instance that suggests it self to my thoughts and I should have taken it for a corruption of the Story of Elias calling for fire from Heaven to consume his sacrifice had not Pausanias assured us that he saw it with his own eyes But it will clearly show how studious those false Gods were to imitate the God of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausan Esiac 〈◊〉 L. 5. and render what I have said very probable which makes me think it fitting to be here related Some Priests he saith in Lydia who worshipped after the Persian manner used to call upon he knew not what God in a barbarous form of words not to be understood by the Greeks and presently the wood that was upon the Altar was kindled without any fire and appeared all in a bright flame I could easily show that these barbarous words were Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sebaoth and such like and in all probability the God they invoked was the unknown God and the example they Apishly followed was that great Prophet And indeed the Prophet Elijah did therefore call for fire from Heaven because all Sacrifices at Jerusalem were consumed and eaten onely by the Holy fire which God sent from above to them The Devil therefore in this thing may have seemed to endeavour that his Offerings might sometimes correspond with those at the Temple of God And so Pindar gives us another instance how that the Rhodians being about to offer Sacrifice to Jupiter had forgotten to bring fire along with them to his Altars but he being loth it seems to lose this fat oblation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did bring a yellow cloud over them and rained much Gold upon the Altar This Golden showre as an excellent Person of our own doth interpret it was nothing else but a showre of fire which devoured the Sacrifice Dr. Cudworth in imitation of the Sacred Story No wonder then if in other things as well as these they were forward to transcribe the holy Writ and let it not be imputed to a vain and affected ostentation of learning if I sometimes use their customes for an illustration of Sacred matters But the following Discourse is interlaced with so few of their Authors that perhaps it doth not merit this Apology and therefore I will cease it with this double desire The one is to my Reader that if he understand not every Line in the first part yet he would not throw away the rest which are fitted to his practice The other is to God that he would bless it to those Ends for which it is designed Amen THE CONTENTS OF THE TREATISE SECT I. CAP. I. THe first end of this Supper is for a remembrance of Christ What it is to remember The Passeover appointed for that end Two things it remembers us of And two wayes we are to remember it In two sences it may be called a Sacrifice p. 3. CAP. II. It is a remembrance with thanksgiving This is explained in six particulars And two other sences are given wherein it may be called a Sacrifice p. 22. CAP. III. Here the third end is discoursed of and it is considered as an holy Rite whereby we enter into Covenant with God This is explained in five things p. 46. CAP. IV. It is considered here as a sign and seal of remission of sin and this is cleared in three considerations but especially from this that we eat of the sin-offering and of that which was not made for one but for many i. e. the whole Congregation p. 73. CAP. V. It is a means of our nearer Vnion with the Lord Jesus The Nature of this Union and the effect of it is explained in five considerations p. 93. CAP. VI. Here is shown how the Supper is a means of our Union one with another And five General Observations are made to this purpose The last of which treats of the holy kiss the feast of love c. To which two things are added by way of conclusion of the first part p. 115. SECT II. Concerning Preparation CAP. VII An Introduction to the Discourse about Preparation wherein those words of the Psalmist are opened Psal 93.5 p. 159. CAP. VIII This word Preparation is to be cautiously understood Not a little time required for it Three things are discoursed of that tend to the fuller explication of it p. 164. CAP. IX Four things more are treated of which further open the Nature of this Preparation And so from a general Discourse concerning it way is made to descend to a more particular p. 174. CAP. X. Here is discoursed at large concerning those actions wherein it is fit for us to be employed before we come Of the setting apart some portion of our time and of our goods Of Examination of Reconciliation c. The whole is digested into ten considerations p. 195. CAP. XI Mistakes are removed The Primitive Christians not too zealous No reason for the neglects of the present worldly Christians Good people may be superstitious while they take themselves to be great enemies to it p. 235. CAP. XII Advice and Directions to those who never yet received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Six things are said to them to prepare them and encourage them The Conclusion of this Discourse p. 251. SECT III. Concerning the Deportment of a Soul at the Lords Table c. CAP. XIII Love is instead of all other Directions Yet seeing it hath many wayes to express it self there is a necesssity to guide its motions so that they may not hinder each other p. 269. CAP. XIV Here therefore they are ranged and set in their right places And 1. The soul is directed what to do when it sees the Minister stand at the Table of the Lord. 2. What affections to express when the Bread is broken c. 3. When the Minister comes to give it to us 4. When we take it into our hands 5. When we eat 6. When we see him give it to others 7. When we receive the Cap. Every one of which is discoursed of in several Meditations And then 8. Meditations about the joys of Heaven And 9. Psalms of Praise are shown to be very fit conclusions of the solemnity p. 275. CAP. XV. An entrance is made upon the Discourse about our behaviour afterward 4. Sorts of Christians are
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.
is represented God giveing his Son and all Blessings unto us and we giving of our selves and our best service unto him as hath been already discoursed By this God sets to his Seal that all things contained in the Covenant shall be done for us and we do set to our seal and openly profess our selves to belong to the Covenant and that we esteem and highly value all those blessings and will do any thing for to obtain them Now who would not long for such a food that will satisfie our whole desire Who would refuse an invitation to that Table where all things are in one dish if I may so speak and God and Man meet together in one Bread and one Cup But I doubt I may add Who is there that would not have all these things so that this Bread and Wine without any labour will convey them unto him And therefore I must give you another short information which was the second thing that I promised and that is this 2. This copious Food doth not nourish us without some actions of our own even such as I have already mentioned in this Discourse It doth not feed us in a natural but in a moral and spiritual manner It reiresheth us by our consideration by our faith our love our prayers our covenanting and thanksgiving But all the cunning in the world will not draw a drop of blood out of it without these no it draws out the blood of our souls and wasts our strengths by a careless and prophane eating of it The Papists talk of great things that their Priests give in this Sacrament by their power and they would make the world believe that they communicate more then we can do But we must solemnly averr That our Ministry conveighs as great things as they speak of onely men must do something more of the work themselves We pretend not indeed to send wicked men to Heaven with a word but we can help the thoughts and affections of all pious souls as much as they with all their skill and power Nay if the people do nothing we give them more then they for they feed them with hungry accidents they give them a bit of quantity and a cup of colours yea the Laity have not so much as a sip of these figures whereas the worst man among us hath at least Bread and Wine so that the best among us enjoy as much in effect and vertue as they can pretend unto and the worst by their own confession enjoy much more But the truth of it is that men have heightned these things to such incomprehensible mysteries because they would do nothing and these should do all They have advanced these sacred Rites of Christs appoinment into a degree of vertue beyond all his other commands that so by these easie and facile rites of Baptism and the Lords Supper men might go to Heaven by a compendious manner of doing little or nothing towards their salvation And they have not left these Rites as naked as Christ brought them into the world but they have changed the manner of their observance and cloathed them in a great many strange dresses lest the genuine simplicity of them should reprove their false hopes which they conceive from them They could never put men so soon into Heaven nor get so much money as they do by the bargain if they did not make men believe greater things of this Sacrament then of all the eternal Laws of Christ and they could not make men believe so much more of it if they did not transform it from its native simplicity into an uncouth mystery These two things the love of mens lusts and the love of the world have made men stretch these things so far as to defie all reason to damn all those that will not speak non-sence and to send those to hell though of never so holy lives that will not discredit their eyes and ears What strange things will men believe and do so that they can but believe contrary to the Gospel They hope to go to Heaven they know not how by the Magick of words and by the secret efficacy of a Religion that they do not understand and this makes them willing to entertain such Doctrines And then others have a respect to their own interest and having little else to support their greatness would be reverenced and esteemed for their extraordinary power in making the body of Christ and that makes them willing to maintain them So the Author of the History of the Council of Trent saith very truly L. 6. When men began to place Heaven below Earth good institutions were said to be corruptions onely tollerated by Antiquity and abuses brought in afterward were canonized for perfect corrections But we willingly acknowledg that we have no power to save men without themselves We celebrate no such Mysteries that shall convey the wicked to Heaven We cannot deliver those that are dead from their pain and torment who whilst they lived made little reckoning either of this or any other Divine Command No we proclaim to All men that this food must nourish us by our own stomachs that it affords strength by the vital operations of our own souls And if we our selves will do what God requires of us then we shall find it as full of vertue as we can desire and it will be a means to put us in Heaven while we remain here upon the earth Sometimes they will needs blame us as doing too little and denying the use of good works but this is such a falsity that we call for more of mens labour then they seem to make necessary and profess that we hope not by any power of ours to do them good without the exercise of their own powers And therefore let us put forth a lively faith let us heartily covenant with our Lord let us make a sincere profession of our Religion and exercise such other acts as I have been treating of and so will this Feast be of great force and full of efficacy to our souls health And that you may feed with an appetite and hereby get an encrease in strength it is necessary that I next of all direct your Addresses to Gods Table and shew how you should prepare your selves to be his worthy Guests and that shall be the Subject of the following Discourse Mensa Mystica SECT II. Concerning Preparation to the Table of the Lord being a Discourse upon Psal 93.5 CHAP. VII IT is a known saying of the Psalmist Holiness becomes thy House O Lord for ever The corner-stone upon which that Affirmation is built is no other but this That God is essentially holy And that is a truth which hath such a foundation in our natural understanding a notion that springs so clearly from every mans mind that all the deductions and consequents that flow from it must needs be evident and find no resistance but onely from the wills and perverse affections of men If we consider
to be spent the better Meditation and retired thoughts fit us for prayer and prayer again nourisheth and feeds our meditations Both those fit us to receive holy exhortations and usefull instructions in Sermons and they again stir us up to more frequency and fervency in prayer and meditation And these together with all the former that I have mentioned prepare us for the Eucharist and the keeping the holy Feast of Christians in the Supper of the Lord. This again affords such nutriment that it makes us strong in the Grace of Christ and to perform all other duties with a greater gust and relish with more delight to God and unto our selves VII But it must also be acknowledged That there is some other preparations requisite to holy duties beside all this that I have mentioned For though fervency in any one duty of our Religion doth but fit us to be more fervent in all the rest and though the works of our employment conscientiously discharged do fit us for the duties of Religion yet to the doing of them fervently it is needfull that we lay out of our mind all other thoughts that concern not them Now the works of our ordinary employment being about a different matter from the works of devotion and the mind full of one thing not being able presently to be void for other company we must spend some time to discharge our thoughts of such objects as are alien to these holy duties we go about Constancy in our lawfull business doth hinder many indispositions and ill habits in our minds that else would grow up in us but yet they themselves may leave some little indispositions in us at least to such a fervency in devotion as we would arise unto They therefore must be turned out of doors and the thoughts of them must be laid aside that God may come in and possess himself of us The Altar of God Exod. 27.4 5. was made with a grate in the midst of it that let the ashes fall through so that the fire might burn hotter and more purely But yet for all this it is most likely that the sacrifice would need some stirring that so the ashes might be shaken off more perfectly and it more entirely consumed and therefore you read of flesh-hooks among the Utensils of the Altar wherewith the Priest ordered the flesh while it burn in the fire Just so it is with our hearts in which a continual fire ought to burn though they be like a grate or seive and let worldly thoughts pass through and run out of them which else like ashes would make the flame to be dimme and pale yet besides this care there will be need of some shaking and stirring up of our selves that we may more fully clear our hearts of all those earthly cloggs that will stick and cling unto us Now the higher that holy act of worship is which we are to perform and the seldomer it doth return to be performed and the more vehement that expression of love is which we would make in it the more solemn must be our preparation and the larger time there must be allowed for taking our minds from other things and bringing them to a serious intention upon this alone And therefore since our approaches to the Lords Table are of such moment and since they profit us not without the operation of our own mind and that benefit likewise so great when we come aright it cannot be thought but that we should use a great care and circumspection to fit our selves for such near converses especially since they are not so frequently performed as other duties And yet in this preparation there is also a latitude so that I cannot well determine how much is of absolute necessity to be done and if I should still we may go beyond those limits and perform more acceptable service unto God If you would know now after all that hath been said wherein preparation to his holy duty doth more particularly consist I may briefly resolve you about it thus We must deny to our selves lawfull things by sequestration of our selves from our ordinary business by abstinence from food and from the most chast embraces which the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. 7.5 And this must be done for no other end but that we may more fully know the estate of our souls which I suppose we are already acquainted withall and be more deeply apprehensive of the evil of sin and more sorrowfully bewail it and more rationally resolve against it That we may pray with greater appetite and praise his Name with a more delicious relish when we distast all other things and in short that by disburdening of our bodies we may ascend up to Heaven with greater felicity in our thoughts and meditation And because preparation to the Sacrament of Christs body and blood is the prime end of this discourse I shall next descend to treat of that and in the following Chapter consider what greater degree of holiness may be conceived requisite to the right performance of that Christian duty CHAP. X. I. THat we are to lay aside some time before we come to the Lords Table all our worldly employments though never so innocent hath been already suggested We must so order our affairs that they may not hinder us in any of those acts which I am about to mention And if they prove to be of great weight then this thing must needs be premised For every act must have some time allowed wherein it is to be done and we cannot do two things at one time especially when they are of such a distant nature as spiritual an carnal things We find in our selves that when one faculty is in act we cannot intend the acts of another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr We cannot at the same time operate according to the brutal part and contemplate the things of a rational life Much less can one faculty mind two objects at once or can our mind be busied both about our earthly affairs and our spiritual concernments And besides this Seeing it is the design of a Christian in this duty to get as near to Heaven as he can it is the more necessary that he not only lay aside his business but his body too He is to endeavour to strip himself of his cloaths to put off his outward man that he may have a more naked and open sight of future glory and render his mind more sensible of God and fit to receive a deeper impression from his hand At this season we are to put forth the strongest acts of faith to excite the hottest flames of love to renew our resolutions to bind the obligations that are upon us faster about our souls which cannot be done but by a solemn heart So that this separation from our business before-hand seems to come within some degree of a necessary duty And give me leave to tell you that it would be a thing of singular advantage if those that have so
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
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
the fruits of his Sons death and the earnests we have of the eternal inheritance We should begin to praise him with the Heavenly host and to joyn our hearts and voices with the celestial Quire we should wish that we could make all the world ring with his praises and that we could make all men hear from the East to the West the sound of our thanksgivings We should sing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all the Churches of Christ throughout all ages have sung saying Holy Holy Holy See the Learned Mr. Thorndike in his Relig. Assemb Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory And so we read that as soon as our Saviour had spoken those words that he would not any more drink with them till the Kingdom of his Father should come they sung an Hymne or Psalm of praise and so went forth And indeed who can sufficiently praise his divine Majesty The tongues of Angels stammer in uttering of his goodness and we become dumb the more we endeavour to speak of it The highest of our praises is humbly and affectionately to acknowledge that we cannot sufficiently praise him the greatest of our endeavours is daily to admire him the furthest we can strain our souls is to long for eternity wherein it may be our imployment to admire and praise him Call upon the Armies of Angels and wish them to praise him seeing thou canst not call upon all men and bid them praise him wish thou couldst awake all the world that all Creatures might praise him and make thine own soul hear more plainly call upon it more shrilly call upon it again and again call upon it every day to praise him Say as the Psalmist doth Psal 103. Bless the Lord ye his Angels which excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkning to the voice of his words Bless the Lord all ye hosts ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion Bless the Lord O my soul Mensa Mystica The Postcaenium or of our Deportment afterward CHAP. XV. ANd now that we have had a sight of them let us remember his love more than Wine Let his name be engraven upon our hearts and his Image remain fair and lively upon our souls Let us find a kind of unwillingness to admit of any other company and say in the secrets of our mind None but Christ none but Christ Yea when we do return to converse again with other things let us still be looking back towards him as one that hath got our hearts and say Lord evermore give us this Bread Let us labour that other objects may not come near our hearts nor make any strong impressions upon us but that they may be sealed up by him and so filled with him that all things else may look upon themselves as having nothing to do there Eusebius Pamphilus hath a pretty Observation on Cant. 5.12 where the eyes of the beloved are compared to the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of water washed with Milk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Milk saith he of all other moist things hath this singular property that it will not admit of the image or picture of any thing to be reflected in it and therefore it is a fit resemblance of his eyes in which nothing vain insubsistent deceiving doth cast its shadow but they do alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold the being that truly is Our souls should labour to imitate him as much as they can and to endeavour at least that the world may not deceive and cheat us with its shadowes and pictures of things but we may see through them all to that being which is true and substantial and on that our eyes may be fixed as our only good and happiness The Lord expects now that we should proceed to a greater strength by the higher food that he vouchsafes unto us that our knowledge should be more bright that our love should be more inflamed that by our actions we should shine like lights in the world holding forth the word of life Many of the Ancients upon those words V. Comment trium Patrum Cant. 6.10 do note that there are four degrees of Christians Some are but newly converted and they do but look forth as the morning with weak and trembling thoughts being as it were in the twilight and not far enlightned A second sort have made some progress and are fair as the Moon they are much enlightned but have abundance of spots still in them and some discernable darkness still remaining A third sort are clear as the Sun very full of light very pure unblameable and bright in their conversations The world can take notice of no common failings yet sometime there may be a partial eclipse and if they mark themselves they will observe many weaknesses as the modern Astronomers that have pried more narrowly have discerned spots in the body of the Sun A fourth sort are they that are become such strong Christians that they are as terrible as an Army with Banners and all their enemies flie before them Few temptations are able to worst them but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the appearance of an Agnelical Host that are so strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that they overcome the world and tread Satan under their feet Now in which soever lower form and rank we be of these we should strive to advance to that which is higher and seeing we have more than Angels food we should labour to do the will of God on earth as they do in Heaven We should put on all the Armour of God and gird it closer to our loins and shew greater valour to the perfecting the conquests we have begun We should labour to be so full of Christ that the Devil may be afraid of us and run away when he sees us grown so stedfast in the faith For we must not judge of the state of our souls by our fervency in this duty but by the holiness of our lives which is the fruit and effect of it Unless our lives be better than they were before we our selves are not made better We are but like some of the Sect of Pythagoras who held that a man took a new soul when to receive Oracles he approached to the images of their Gods but it was such a new one as was lent him but for a time and then he returned to the same man he was before Such a new soul men seem to have some time when they come to the solemn duties of their Religion they are inspired with strange and unusuall affections and moved beyond themselves But it is a soul that lives but for a day and then they fall to their old dulness and as for their own soul it gives no sign of its amendment and further renewal after the Image of God It is fit therefore that I should next of all
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
And as you see a Mountebank commends his Medicines his Balsomes and Pomanders with so many amplifications and lyes and arts of insinuation that he cheats poor silly people So doth the Devil puff up the ambitious mans mind and swells a Mole-hill into a Mountain and he tickles the wanton fancy with promises of ravishment in an empty pleasure and to the covetous heart he saith Thou canst not tell the contentment that so many baggs of Gold or such a fair Lordship would give thy heart And there is no man but he labours to cast a mist before his eyes and to dazzle him with some glittering appearance in the midst of which he hopes to work his ends upon him Now the light of faith strikes through all those painted shows and an hearty belief of the truth of the Gospel which the holy Eucharist still encreaseth makes all these shadows flye away It will not let us be deceived as was our Mother Eve with specious pretences but saith Avant thou Impostor away you lying vanities Tell me not these Tales For his Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Psal 119.111 And there is no less power in this holy food to enervate a second of his Arts which is to affright us with the noise of danger and mischief that shall seem greater than all the pleasures of goodness if we will not be perswaded but that it is pleasurable He puts strange vizards upon all things and makes them look as ugly and fouly as he can that so he may make us flye from the troubles of a mortified life He labours to make us believe that there is nothing but sadness in Gods wayes and it begins perhaps to make us melancholly with the very thoughts of it And if this will not do he will stir up enes mies against us to discourage us our own friends perhaps shall cast us off or the fire of persecution shall burn against us But now the Hope of the glory of God will make us rejoyce even in the midst of tribulations Here we embrace also a crucified Saviour and there is no better Livery than a Garment rent and torn a Body wounded and abused if need should be for Christs sake There is nothing can affright a soul that dwells in the wounds of its Saviour as in the holes of a Rock Nothing will seem difficult to a heart that is filled with expectations to dwell for ever in his embraces in the Heavens And now how is the world and the flesh confounded when they see good men rejoyce and triumph in the midst of all miseries and discouragements How do the Devils howle to see their stratagems so unsuccessfull that even Paines are accounted Pleasures and Losses are accounted Gains and Torments are turned into Joyes and Prisons are the Gate-houses of Paradises The Devil you will say will study to be revenged on such men and will not cease to vent his malice against such souls And seeing he knows not how to do them harm but by makeing of them sin he will try if like a Serpent he can insinuate but a part of himself at any little hole He will perswade them to self-indulgence in some small crime that so he may bring them to all the rest or he will labour to draw them if it may be within the verge of sin into an infections place into the society of a temptation hoping that by little degrees and preambles he may make way for sin to enter But the love of God which is here much inflamed will make the soul of such a quick scent that it may easily perceive his wiles Love doth extraordinarily enlighten the soul by its flames and will make it more discerning of the least spot that is in it self and of the least danger that is without And the more pure and white the soul grows by love the sooner will any speck of filth be espied upon it The more full of light it is the more imperfections will it take notice of which before were unobserved as in the beams of the Sun we see a thousand little attomes or motes which before were not discerned By all this which in your own meditation may be enlarged you see what strength it affords To which you may add if you please that as the Devil hath baits for every pallate and can humour every mans taste and comply with all complexions and dispositions So is the holy Sacrament an Heavenly Manna which tastes as every man wishes and as the Author of the Book of Wisdom speaks doth serve to the appetite of the eater Wiâ—â— 16.20 21. and tempers it self to every mans likeing being able to give them all content Thirdly I fficacia ad medicinam But this Bread and Wine being spiritually received are not onely food and meat but Physick and Medicine also They are means to preserve health where it is and to restore it where it is decayed Though this may seem more doubtfull then the two former and you may ask how Bread-and-Wine do signifie any thing of this nature yet I shall show you that is denoted by them in Christs intention more then any thing else For the bread as you have seen doth not represent the Body and flesh of Christ barely and in general as it is the food of the soul but in a more especial manner as the flesh of a Sacrifice and that a Sacrifice for our sin whereby it becomes not only our meat but our medicine also The food we eat is in remembrance that Christ died for sin and so it is healing to our souls and killing to our sins it purges away our iniquities and purifies our hearts And so Christs Blood is here considered as the Blood of the Cross the Blood of Atonement and propitiation for us and therefore we do not receive as hath been said bare Bread and Wine but Bread broken and Wine poured out And here you may take notice of the reason why Christ did institute Bread and Wine rather then flesh to represent himself by unto us Not because flesh was used by the Jews in their Sacrifices for so were Bread and Wine nor onely because this was the common food and nourishment for the body for so was flesh also But it is likely Christ chooses things without life wherein there was no Blood viz. Bread and Wine because he would shew that no Creature was any more to lose its life for the sin of men and that no more Bloud was to be shed for expiation of it The Passeover which we may call a Sacrament of the Old Testament was bloudy to denote Christs Bloud that should be shed but now that it is shed the Sacrament which represents it as already done is without any bloudy thing He is shown to us as one that hath died by this broken bread and wine effused and he shows us likewise that there shall be no more Death no more blood shed for us a