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
our company So handsomely do our deceitfull hearts teach us to cover our own nakedness by calling all that superstition which creates any trouble to us and crying out upon that as a spice of Will-Worship which doth not sort with our humour For it too plainly appears that if a Child of our own brain do please us well we are as fond of it as any of our Neighbours can be thought to be of their conceptions and would have the world embrace it as a divine Ordinance formed in Heaven The very truth is Men lend to God and their Devotion only such Offices as flatter their passions There is much of pleasure in having the ears tickled with a Sermon and it makes a great noise among our Neighbours to keep dayes of Fasting and Prayer and therefore these are accepted with a greater applause than the sad Meditations of Christs death and the frequent remembrance of the Wounds of a Crucified Saviour which prick too deep and make too wide gashes in our hearts Though this be more expresly commanded than many other things that men perform with a great noise and spend much zealous breath upon yet they cast but a cold and heavy aspect on it because it humours not their ease and speaks not kindly to their covetousness but makes too busie and narrow a search into their souls And really I doubt that mens endeavours to be removed as far as they can from Rome have done our Religion a great deal of harm They still retain the custome of celebrating every day but the Priest doth it alone and they make it a Sacrifice for the quick and dead Now some men so that this false notion was destroyed and private Masses abolished did not care though the frequent Communions were destroyed also together with them and it is our manner to pay this honour to Christ but twice or thrice in a year And so because they speak of Justification differently from us men are apt to live as though good works were a piece of Popery and as if Alms-deeds and Charity to the Poor were a scandalous thing in Religion Though men Communicate very seldome yet their Offerings are as sparing as if they Communicated every week and so their souls and the Poor are both defrauded and starved together Idleness and covetousness are mens darlings they are the brats of all new devices in Religion and these two are nursed up and dandled on the knees of this trifling conceit that zealous devout Christians do bear too great a reverence to this Sacrament and hope to go to Heaven by their charitable deeds Well! let sloth and avarice pride themselves a while it will not be long before God take down their Plumes and make it manifest that it was not superstition which prickt forward the first Christians to such frequent Communion nor vain-glory which made them so prodigal as the modern stile is in their liberality Methinks I see how the lazy and worldly Christians do thrust themselves into the Arms of Christ and do even melt and dissolve into his bosome in raptures of love their mouthes can relish nothing but Christ and his Name is so sweet that it is ingraven upon their lips they court him as if they would ravish his heart and they exceed the strains of all Romantick lovers If he will not bestow himself upon them they cannot imagine who should be taken into his heart They cannot believe but he will take it very ill if they will not trust him for their salvation without troubling themselves whom he is so tender of that he would have them void of all care and thoughtfulness It is a piece of self think such men to be so strict and curious Alas poor ignorant souls men would fain be doing something to procure salvation they would purchase Heaven and give something to attain it but we will give Christ the honour of doing all and only cast our selves upon him that he may save us You cannot imagine now how these mens hearts are tickled and ravished with these Liquorish thoughts and the pleasure of them doth but make them believe that they are in greater favour In this transport of fancy they do verily conceive that they have the testimony of the holy Ghost bearing witness to them that they are the Sons of God But how fearfully these persons will one day fall is a great deal further from all our conceits The Lord will shake off all these men with a great deal of disdain who offer but to touch the very skirts of his Garments O you vile and adulterous souls will he say who think that I am altogether such an one as your selves depart from me for I know you not ye workers of iniquity Down you arrogant spirits that thought to build your nests on high and by the wings of fancy to flie up unto Heaven I have no room in my heart for such flatterers nor can my foul love such Hypocrites and Unbelievers But come you blessed of my Father you who have loved me and kept my Commandments you that did what I bid you in remembrance of me and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you Then shall there be great wailing and men shall groan for anguish of spirit Then shall the worldlings say this is he whom we had sometimes in derision and a Proverb of reproach We fools accounted his life madness and his end without honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints I wish all men would lay it to heart betimes and not think that it is preciseness to endeavour to observe all the commands of our blessed Lord. Which if we did then this command would not be so slighted of commemorating his death in the way he hath appointed nor should men be so unmeet for it as now they seem to be For Secondly What excuses can men find to palliate the neglect of this duty but what arise from an unholy or careless life Many pretences there are I know to keep me from waiting upon our Lord and accepting of his kindness but they all grow upon this bitter root of loving the world and the lusts of it We put him off with the excuse of too much boldness and rudeness that we should be guilty of if we should give him frequent visits Truly as the case stands most men would be too full of confidence if they should approach but the only reason is because they have a mind to live as strangers to him and not to be his houshold Servants and Domesticks for then they might alway come unto him Men plead their unworthiness but it were well if they were more sensible of it for then they would not remain so unworthy They think they must not come so oft because it costs them so much time to prepare themselves once but if they would spare so much time as to lead an holy life and be at so much trouble as to please God in other things they would not
And who may dwell with everlasting Burnings who may abide when he is angry Lest any should say that the Bloud of Jesus shall quench the flames and extinguish these angry heats observe to whom he speaks these words not to men under the Law from the fiery Mount but to those who were come to Mount Sion to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling c. v. 22 24. from whence he concludes these two things First That greater punishment shall be inflicted on Christians than others if they refuse obedience to Christs commands v. 25. Secondly That therefore they should seriously betake themselves to the service of their Lord with reverence and godly fear v. 28 29. Wicked men conclude O we shall escape well enough take you no care Christ hath died and done all for us We need not be so scrupulous since he hath satisfied for our sins But the Apostle makes just the quite contrary conclusion We are come to the Bloud of Jesus c. therefore see that you refuse not him that speaketh c. The Bloud of Jesus speaks better things to those that accept of the Gospel and obey it than the bloud of Abel's sacrifice did but to all that refuse it it speaks more sadly than the bloud that cryed against Cain and for ever shall such men be banished from the face of God The Apostle you see represents our God thus terrible after he had most highly magnified the priviledge of Christians and that will apologize for me who have diverted to this sad discourse when I was treating of the joyfull Feast of Christians But to that I shall now return again VIII Eighthly After all this Let us meditate of the joyes of Heaven of the Eternal Supper of the Lamb and the blessed life that we shall live above For the joyes of the other world are usually expressed among the Jewes by eating and drinking greater plenty of which chear was in their Countrey than any other being a Land flowing with Milk and Honey You may see a footstep of this in the New Testament beside all those in the Old One that sate at meat with our Saviour saith Luke 14.15 Blessed is he that shall eat Bread in the Kingdome of God Which some say was an ordinary saying among the Rabbines This is most certain that there are strange things in their latter Writers concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garden of Eden or pleasure that is above answerable to that which was below Where they speak of delightfull Rivers of Tables furnished with Leviathan and Behemoth by which it is likely their Doctors first understood some spiritual dainties and under this mythology did hide an excellent meaning but the great impostor Mahomet hath from thence fabricated his carnal bruitish Paradise taking them in a gross and unworthy sense The like they speak of Wine kept from the beginning of the world in a certain place i. e. excellent old Wine of which their Messiah shall first taste together with the Leviathan and then the Just they expect shall be feasted So R. Hai in his Book of the interpretation of Dreams saith that it is a sign of good to see in our sleep white Grapes and the eating of them signifies the possession of eternal life because they shew the Wine that is kept in Grapes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the dayes of the beginning All which I bring for this purpose that you may see they used by eating and drinking to set forth the joyes of Heaven and that you may better understand those words of our Saviour immediately after he had given them this Sacramental Bread and Wine Mat. 26.29 I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vint untill that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdome Which is no more than to say I shall never feast again with you till we meet in Heaven and partake together of those joyes that are figuratively expressed by new Wine In some regard and of some sorts new Wine is the best and in others old is preferred and so sometimes by the one sometimes by the other those eternal pleasures are denoted St. Luke also hath the same sence more fully cap. 22.16 I will not eat any more thereof i. e. of the Passeover untill it be fulfilled in the Kingdome of God i. e. I will not keep with you another solemn Commemoration of Gods mercies though he did eat with them when he rose again but the next festivity that we shall celebrate together must be in Heaven in the very presence of God when the Devil your great enemy shall be overthrown and quite destroyed as Pharaoh was And again v. 18. He saith I will not drink of the fruit of the Vine untill the Kingdome of God shall come Which signifies no more but that he and they should not rejoyce together any more till they came to drink of the Rivers of Gods pleasures From all which we may well collect that the Wine here in the Kingdome of the Son is an embleme of the Wine in the Kingdome of the Father In this world is the Kingdome of Christ in the world to come shall be the Kingdome of God and what is done here is a shadow of what shall be done in a more excellent manner hereafter and therefore this holy Feast should represent unto us those Heavenly delights From this Wine of the Grape we should endeavour to raise our minds to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is apprehended by the mind and tasted by the pallate of the soul which flows from God himself We should think that these are but some forecasts of those pleasures that he will hereafter bestow upon us but the Antepasts of the eternal Supper but the Vigils of the everlasting rest and that now we rather fast than feast if we compare these joys with those that are above We should look upon these as assurance of better chear where our appetites shall be satiated and our thirst quenched where we shall see the Lord Jesus in his Glory and feast our eyes with the sight of his beauty yea where we shall be ravished with the sight of God himself and shall drink of the pleasures that stream from the light of his blessed face And after those things in the world to come should we strive to stir up the longings of our soul We should desire to be in Heaven we should thirst after larger draughts to quench our thirst in the Ocean it self and to pass from this dark Glass and this vail of the Sacraments to the clear vision of his brightness For if God do here satisfie his faithfull Servants as with Marrow and fatness much more in the world to come will he replenish and fill them with sweetness and joy it self IX Ninthly And in the conclusion we should give God thanks for these great favours for the hopes of his glory for the tastes which he gives us before-hand for all
but nothing methinks is more tempting and inviting than this heavenly Feast where pleasure is mixed with profit and physick with our food Where at once we may be both enriched and delighted both healed and nourished This Table if I may use the language of an holy Man is the very sinewes of our Soul S. Chrysost Hom. 24. in 1 Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the ligament of our mindes the foundation of our confidence our hope our salvation our light our life This mystery makes the earth to be an Heaven and therefore if thou wilt come hither thou mayest open the Gate of Heaven and look down into it or rather not into Heaven but into the Heaven of Heavens For that which is the most precious of all things above I will shew thee lying upon the earth For as in Kings Palaces the chiefest and most precious things are not the fair Walls the gilded Roofs the costly Hangings but the body of the King that sits upon the Throne even so in the Heavens the most glorious thing is the Body of Christ the King of Heaven Now behold and thou shalt see it here upon the earth For I do not shew thee the Angels or the Archangels or the Heavens or the Heaven of Heavens but him that is the Lord and Master of them all and therefore must thou not needs say that thou seest that upon the Earth that is more excellent than them all yea thou not only seest but thou touchest and not only touchest but eatest also yea and carriest him home with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O then wipe thy soul very clean prepare thy mind to the receiving these Divine Mysteries Who would not be Religious that he may be thus happy who would not forsake all things for such a sight for such an embracement If thou mightest but have the priviledge to take up the Son of a King with his Purple and Diadem and other Ornaments into thy Arms wouldst thou not cast all other things to the ground to be so employed Tell me then why wilt thou not prepare thy self and reverently take the only begotten Son of God into thy hands Wilt thou not throw away the love of all earthly things for him Wilt thou not think thy self brave enough in the enjoying of him Dost thou still look to the earth and lovest money and admirest heaps of Gold Then what pity canst thou deserve What pardon canst thou hope for Or what excuse canst thou think of to make for thy self Thus he Homil. 27. in 1. ad Corinth When a man hath heard the sacred Hymns as he saith in another place and hath seen the spirituall Marriage and been feasted at the Royall Table and filled with the holy Ghost and hath been taken into the Quire of Seraphims and made partaker with the Heavenly Powers Who would throw away so great a Grace Who would spend so rich a Treasure Who would bring in drunkenness or the like Guest instead of such Divine Chear Drunkenness I say which is the Mother of Heaviness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joy of none but the Devil and is big with a thousand evils What madness possesses a man that he should not rather chuse to feast with God than with the Devil If thou sayest that thou art merry and rejoycest and wonderfully pleased I answer And so I would have thee to be only let not thy laughter be like the crackling of Thornes under a Pot but a solid joy that will make thy heart to smile for ever God doth not envy to the Sonnes of men any happiness but he would have them to be sure they are happy and not please themselves in a phantasticall shadow of Happiness CHAP. XVIII BUT that I may proceed more distinctly and assault your souls with the stronger Reasons to deliver themselves up to a religious life one single piece of which hath such blessings in it I shall present you with the profit of worthy receiving in these three generall Heads which I shall borrow from a Devout Author We have most Princely Dishes saith St. Bernard served up to us in the Supper of the Lord prepared with the most curious and exquisite Art and they are Deliciosa multum ad saporem Serm. 2 de Caena Dom. very delicious and sweet to the taste solida ad nutrimentum strong and solid for our nourishment efficacia ad medicinam powerfull and working for the curing of our diseases Seeing this Sacrament is a Feast and is called the Table and the Supper of the Lord under these three heads I shall comprehend these benefits that may excite every man to the examination of himself and invite us all to this Heavenly Chear The things that are here set before us are 1. Most sweet pleasant and refreshing 2. They are solid strengthning and nourishing and 3. They are Medicinal and Healing I. First Deliciosa ad saporem To a well-prepared pallate they afford a most sweet and delightsome relish This holy Sacrament breeds a Divine pleasure an Heavenly Joy in a right tempered soul and overflowes it with sweetness more than the body is satisfied with marrow and fatness now this refreshment arises 1. From a great sense which is here given us of the love of Christ which as the song of songs saith is better than Wine Cant. 1.2 It is more chearing and exhilerating more cordial and reviveing to think of his dear love in shedding his Bloud for us than to drink the bloud of the richest Grape and therefore the Church saith ver 4. We will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than Wine It is beyond a ravishment to remember that men are so beloved by the King of Heaven so embraced by the Lord of all the world and still it is the more transporting for to consider that they feed upon this Lord of Love and that he gives his very self unto them and by such secret and wonderfull wayes unites himself unto their souls And it is most of all affecting and but a little below Heaven to think that this is our Jesus and our Lord to say as the Spouse in the same Book My Beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 When God thus lifts up the light of his countenance upon a soul he puts gladness in its heart more than the joy of Harvest This is a Marriage-Feast and therefore full of pleasure Here the soul embraceth him and he folds it in his arms here they plight their truth mutually each to other here they engage themselves in unseparable unions to hold perpetuall entercourse and live eternally together in the greatest affection As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so the Lord rejoyceth over it and he speaks not to it meerly by his servants but he kisses it with the kisses of his own mouth So one of the Greek Commentators prettily glosses upon those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me not