THE DIVINE POVRTRAIT OR A true and liuely Representation of the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper with our due Preparation how to receiue the same worthily Delivered in a Sermon at the Reformed Church of Paris on Easter day last By Monsieur Iohn Mestrezat Minister of the Word of God there Vpon these words of our Saviour This is my Body Englished by John Reynolds LONDON Printed by A. M. for G. Baker and are to be sold at his shop neere Charing-crosse 1631. TO THE RIGHT HOnourable Most Religious and Vertuous Lady MARIE Countesse of DORSET Gouernesse to our High and Hopefull young Lord and Master Prince Charles MADAME KNovving and considering that your Honour as a sanctified vessell of Pietie and as another Elect Ladie spendes the greatest part of your time and of your Selfe in Prayer and in the sweet and sacred calmes of Heavenly Meditations and Contemplations And that you make and esteeme the first to bee as indeed it is your chiefest Ioy the second your greatest Delight and both of them your divinest Ambition and Felicitie heere on Earth I therefore according to the dignitie of your merits and the qualitie of my duetie doe heere embolden my selfe most humbly to present and Dedicate to your Honour a small Translation of mine from French Of a Sermon lately delivered by a worthie Servant of the Lord in the Protestant Church of Paris vpon the firmest poynt of our Faith and the greatest and most Sacred Mysterie of our Salvation The Lords most blessed Supper And if my affection to the Authour thereof doe not deceiue my iudgment He hath drawen this Divine Pourtrait of that blessed Sacrament so divinely and so artificially and curiously depaynted it at life according to the sacred Will and Testament of the Great and Heavenly Institutour thereof Our Lord and Saviour CHRIST IESVS as I both hope with confidence and presume with safetie that your Honour will receiue it graciously behold it affectionately and loue and cherish it religiously and consequently that all other Readers will doe the like by the powerfull Influence of your Honourable President and pious Example And in regard that your constant Pietie and inflamed Zeale towards God as the Queene of all your other relucent Vertues generally makes you to bee rather admyred then imitated of the best and Noblest Ladyes of Great BRITAINE Therefore neither to flatter your Honour or to infringe the truth I confidently beleeue that this Pietie and this Zeale of yours was the primarie cause which first mooved God to mooue and inspire the heart of our Potent and Prudent King to giue you the Superintendencie over his young Son our Prince A singular favour of God a most speciall honour of our Soveraigne towards you which yet your Honour deserved before desired and received before you any way expected or dreamt thereof And the which so infinitely reioyceth the hearts and and soules of the most and best of all his Subiects that they tryumph in this his Maiesties happie choyce and election of you and in your Honourable and Vertuous Administration over this our Royall Faglet As fully hoping and therefore perfectly assuring themselues that as you are now made Governesse to the first Sonne of one of the first and greatest Kings of the world So that your Illustrious vertues in your selfe your watchfull eye over him and vigilant care of and for him will by Gods propitious Favour and Assistance infallibly crowne his Royall Parents with true Content and their Kingdomes and Subiects with perfect Felicitie to see this Princely Blossome and Royall Plant futurely flourish and sprout foorth to be one of the loftyest Cedars of Christendome and next to our Sacred Soveraigne King CHARLES his Father the greatest Champion of Christ and his Gospell and the Truest Defender of his Heavenly Spouse the Church And Madame because if wee make Pietie and Religion the Soule of our life heere on Earth That wee are therefore assured God will then heereafter infallibly make it the life of our Soules in Heaven was likewise a strong motive and a most pleasing and acceptable Inducement to me to make this Sermon or Divine Pourtrait of the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper to speake English for that this spirituall and celestiall Banquet given by our great Lord and Saviour IESVS CHRIST to his beloved Apostles and in them to vs a little before his glorious departure and ascension from Earth to Heaven is the very true life and essence yea the spirituall Food and sacred Manna whereby all faithfull and regenerate Christians are eternally incorporated into Christ and Christ into them A sweet and sacred Meditation for every one to know and contemplate and also most infinitely necessarie for all by a liuely Faith verie often and frequently to apply vnto their Consciences and Soules because it is a matchlesse Iewell and an inestimable Treasure which includeth all earthly riches and compriseth and containes all Heavenly benefits and felicities in it Neither am I or so Ignorant or so Presumptuous to direct this Sermon of the Lords Supper to your Honour out of the least shadow of any premeditated intent or purpose thereby to instruct or teach you in this sacred Mysterie of your Salvation because contrariwise I firmely know that your Honour is truely able to teach and infinitely capable to instruct others therein But I did it purposely to recreate your Zeale and to foment and cherish your Pietie in this your solemne Preparation to receiue that blessed Sacrament now at this approaching great and ioyfull Feast of Easter and next therevnto as an eternall pledge and testimony of my dutie to your Honors Service The operation â—ind benefite which the reading and meditating of this small Booke may worke in your heart and soule I wholly leaue to the Divine Providence and Pleasure of Almightie God whom I religiously pray may ever blesse your Honor and yours with all true prosperitie and happinesse in this life and with all perfect felicity and glory in that to come Aprill 2. 1631. Your Honours humblest servant Iohn Reynolds THE TRANSLATOR his Preface to the Christian Reader IT was with a holy admiration and a religious and sanctified zeale that the Royall Prophet King David contemplating on the excellency of Gods creatures and meditating on the preheminence and dignitie which hee gaue man over them Cryed out Psal 8.4 O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in all the world And what is man that thou art so mindefull of him and the Sonne of man that thou visitest him If David who was a liuely Type and Figure of Christ were rapt into this spirituall extasie of admiration and ioy when he considered of Gods power and providence in the workes of his creation How much more infinitly and thankfully should wee poore miserable sinners reioyce with true admiration and admire with perfect ioy at the vnspeakable and incomprehensible love of God towards mankinde Phil. 2.8 Col. 1.14 In giving vp his onely begotten Sonne Christ
thee in the Lord Yet because I am an humble Seruant to Christ both in my desires and affections aswell as I am the shaddow and Echo of my Author in this my translation Therefore I trust in the goodnesse of God and hope in the integritie of mine owne heart that I shall rather right thee then any way wrong him in presuming poorly to gleane after his rich haruest by aduenturing to propose and give thee a word or two of spirituall aduice and directions of mine owne vpon the receiuing of this blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper before I commend this Divine Pourtrait thereof to thee thee to it and you both vnto God When therefore thou resoluest Iam. 4.8 to draw neere vnto God that God may draw neer vnto thee by receiving and partaking of this his blessed Sacrament Thou must in the innocency of thy heart and the purity of thy soule 1 Pet. 5.6 first humble thy selfe vnder the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt thee Iam. 4.10 And cast thy selfe downe before him that hee may lift thee vp 1 Cor. 15.34 Thou must awake to live righteously and resolue to sinne no more but henceforth to become a new man and a new Christian Gal. 3.24 for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof Thou must set thy affections on things which are above and not on things which are on the Earth Phil. 3.20 Anâ— thy conuersation must bee iâ— heaven from whence thoâ— must expect thy Sauiour eveâ— the Lord Iesus Christ Gal. 5.25 Foâ— if thou live in the spirit thoâ— must also walke in the spirit Psal 4.4 Thou must tremble but nâ—… sinne and thou must examinâ— thy selfe vpon thy bed Psal 68 1â— Foâ— God will try thee as siluer iâ— tryed Thou must not deceive thy selfe Galat. 6.7 for God wilâ— not bee mocked Thou musâ— not be hot in thy sinnes anâ— cold and frozen in thy devotion and piety towardâ— God neither must thou seeme now to bee that in thy humility and zeale which thou art not Because Hypocrisie towards God proves treacherie towards our owne soules But runne thou a Contrary Course with thy heart and soule at thy receiving of this great act of thy Saluation this blessed Sacrament for bee thou the death of thy sinnes and then God will assuredly be the life of thy Soule As for those who either vnworthily receiue or carelesly deferre or wilfully contemne the receiving of this blessed Sacrament they doe assuredly spin out the webbe of their owne damnation and so being dead in the Lethargie of their owne securitie and prophanesse they hood-wincked ride post to Hell Consider and remember with thy selfe Ioel. 1.15 That the day of the Lord is at hand 2 Pet. 3.10 And that death and destruction comes from the Lord as a Thiefe in the night That death the grimme Pursivant and Sergeant of the Lord dâ—th neither spare nor pardon any sexe or age but with his fatall Dart and Mace without respect or difference aresteth as well the King as the begger the Priest as the people and the young as the old Wee must not therefore put farre from vs the evill day Amos. 6.3,4,5 nor stretch our selues on our beds of Ivorie nor sing to the sound of the Violl wherby the Prophet meanes all excesse of riot and vnderstandeth all degree of obscene pleasures and beastly voluptuousnesse For if we love God we must honour him and if we will honour him wee must loue him Amos 6.3,4,5 And not wearie him with our sinnes nor presse him downe with their burthen as a Cart is with Sheafes Consider wee againe That as there is but one way forvs to come into the world so that there are a thousand waies to go out of it That we are subiect to as many diseases as sinnes yea and that diseases doe as frequently and as insensibly steale into our bodyes as sinnes doe into our soules That wee are never neerer death then when we think our selues farthest from it and that when we suppose our selues to be strongest in Nature wee commonly are then weakest in Grace As also that a theeuish Impostume a poore Apoplexie a Cut-throat Squinancy or a fierce and furious visitation of the Pestilence doth many times in a moment of time violently snatch vs away from the world and the world from vs yea and which is more to be admired though no lesse to bee pittied That some times in the very twinckling of an Eye we are choaked with a Fly a Kernell of an apple a crumm of bread or a small Fish bone Or else have our braynes dashd out with a fall either from a Horse or a staire O therfore how seriously ought we to ponder in our hearts and how maturely and religiously to consider in our soules how extreame dangerous it is for vs to procrastinate and deferre and consequently how infinitely necessary expedieÌ„t it is for vs frequently to receiue this blessed SacrameÌ„t of the Lords Supper Consider wee further Iam 4.14 That wee cannot tell what shall betyde vs to morrow for that our life is but a Vapour that appeareth for a smal time and then vanisheth away 1 Pet. 1.24 That all flesh is grasse and all the glory of man is as the flower of grasse and that the grasse withereth the flower thereof falleth away Heb. 13.14 That we haue no abiding Citie heere but must therefore seeke one to come which is aboue That as the tree falleth it lyes That there is no sorrowing for our sins in the grave and that after our death there is no place nor hope left vs for a second repentance Heb. 10 31 And that it is a feare full thing to fall into the hands of the living God Armed in this manner with a lively faith towards God and with periect love and Charity towards our neighbour and having freed and cleared those sinfull spots of our hearts and reformed and cleansed those foule affections and imperfections of our soules by our vnfeigned godly repentance and sorow And having now assumed and taken vp a firme resolution ever hereafter Eph. 5.10 to approve and doe that which is pleasing to the Lord And contracted a solemne Covenant betweene God and our souls Eph. 5.11 never any more to have any fellowship with the workes of darkenesse but reprove them and not henceforth to dare to looke back with affection on our forepast deerest and darling sinnes but with infinite hatred detestation of them Then I say let vs follow the aduice of the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let vs goe vp boldly to the Throne of Grace that wee may receive mercy Let vs goe boldly to this table to this pretious banket of the Lords blessed Supper and eat that sacred bread of his body and drinke that heavenly wine of his blood in a strong Confidence and CoÌ„memoration That Christ dyed for vs on the Altar of
Iesus to death yea to the shamefull death of the Crosse for our redemption and that he was so gracious a God and so mercifull and indulgent a Father to vs that he suffered his blessed Sonne to dye for vs Tit. 2.14 That hee might redeeme vs from all iniquitie and purge vs to be a peculiar people to himselfe For wretched sinners that we are In Paradise where our Forefathers gained their life there by their wilfull disobedience and transgression they lost their righteousnes and we in them because the foule staine and Leprosie of that their originall sin hath successively and actually made vs their vnfortunate seede and posteritie guilty both of Death and Hell and there iustly adiudged to haue our Portions with the Devill and his Angels But notwithstanding all this God yet hath beene as mercifull to vs as we have bene sinnefull to him for although wee were lost in Adam by Nature yet we are againe both found and saved in Iesus Christ by grace 1 Tim. 2.6 Who hath given himselfe a ransome for all men Isai 53.4,5 Hath borne our infirmities and carried away our sinnes and sorrows by suffering himselfe to bee wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities So that it is the present ioy of our hearts and the future happinesse of our soules Eph. 2.4,5 That God who is rich in mercie Eph 2.4,5 through the great loue wherewith he loved vs when we were dead by our sins hath quickned vs together in Iesus Christ by whose grace we are saved And to the ende that all true Christians should not despaire of Christs promises vnto them nor so much give themselues over either to the reprobate sense and pleasures of sinne or to the sugred insinuations and trecherous temptations of Satan as any way to doubt of their salvation in the Lord Why this our sacred Lord Master Christ Iesus the great Shepheard of his Flocke and Saviour of his people who by incorporating his Divinitie with his humanitie was wholly composed of loue mercy toward them Hee I say a litle before his bloody yet blessed death and passion on the Crosse was gratiously pleased to honour and sanctifie his Apostles and in them vs who are of the true seed of Abraham with the holy Sacrament of his most blessed Supper as a diuine pledge and a firme authenticall confirmation of his inestimable loue towards vs and of his watchful care and vigilancy for our saluation I meane for the full perfecting and accomplishing of our glorification in Heaven with God his father Rom 6.4 That sin might haue no more dominion over ver vs because we are now no longer vnder the Law but vnder Grace but that by the worthy receiving and holy partaking thereof In the imitation of Christ and his blessed Apostles Ephes 2.6 wee might be raysed vp together with him in heavenly places It is therefore not our owne merits but onely Gods mercies not our own workes which are sinfull but onely the blessed death and passion of Christ Iesus which is sacred that must be both the triumph and glory of a Christian And I confesse with ioy and acknowledge with Confidence and Consolation that this holy Sacrament of his most blessed Supper wherin the bread of his body was broken and the wine of his blood powred out and shed for the sinnes of all mankind is the perfect pledge the sacred seale the full ransome and the divinest mysterie of our redemption in Iesus Christ And that as wee are absolutely cleansed and washed from our originall sinne by the water of Baptisme when wee enter into the State of Grace in the Church militant heere on earth That so by the blood of this Paschall Lambe Christ Iesus in the Sacrament of his blessed Supper our sinnes are wholly defaced and washed away and consequently that therefore wee shall enter into the state of glory in the Church triumphant in heaven So that fighting vnder the banner of Christ his Crosse and being spiritually armed with these two sacred Sacraments we may boldly beleeue confidently assure our selues that neither Sathan nor hell shall have power to prevaile against vs. And here Christian Reader before I proceed farther in this my Preface to thee I give thee to vnderstand That I am not ignorant with what a great world of different opinions and controversies this our little world of Christendome is perplexed and troubled with about this blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper betwixt the Protestant and the Papist especially about Transubstantiation the Reall Presence and communicating in one kind In so much that an infinite number yea too great a number of pens pulpits and presses are pittifully because vnprofitably oppressed therwith and that Christs blessed body in this Sacrament without pietie reason or charity is daily dilacerated and torne in peeces with these contentions whereas his owne Coate or vesture was without peece or seame So that our silly soules may well feare drowning when the barke of our weake faith masted and rigged with curiositie sayleth in so dangerous and turbulent an Ocean that hath neither bottome nor shoare and which is daily and hourly tossed and ready to be split and dashed in peeces either with the wavering waves of levity and inconstancy or with the boysterous winds of propensd malice or scandalous and erronious virulency without looking vp to the true day-Starre of their hope Iesus Christ or to the Sunne of their saluation God or without endevoring or thinking safely to arrive and cast anchor in the Cape of good hope Heaven O that the spirit of Pietie should without piety thus bee conuerted and transformed into the spirit of Contention And as for mee who am the meanest and most vnworthie of all Gods Seruants and Children bingeniously confesse and acknowledge that in some few languages I have read so many of these intemperate Contreversies and vntimely Contentions that I am wearie of reading them And yet so That I rather pitie then maligne first their Authors for their sakes and then them for their Authors sakes and my witnesse is in heaven in mine own besome that with my heart soule I wish that all these vnspirituall quarells might be composed in peace and amitie and that these vnfortunate disputes and lynes might terminate in one and the same Centre Charitie and that their learned Authors having their curiosity vanquished with the honour and glory of God as Christian members might bee inseparably fast knit and vnited to their Head and grand Captaine Iesus Christ and because contention is not the way to heaven and that God was found in the still and quiet and not in the whirle and tempestuous winds As also that where the great Lamps of learning and lights of the Church contend fight about matters of faith that there assuredly the weake ones and the more illiterat Christians doe infinitly suffer in this quarell That therefore in the name and feare of God they would
the Crosse and for the free reconciliation and full satisfaction and redemption of our sinnes And having thus filled our hearts with sacred Ioy and replenished our soules with spirituall and heavenly gladnesse by receining of this most blessed Sacrament we must then have an infinite watchfull eye over our hearts and place a most strong and religious guard over our soules that wee doe not hencefoorth once presume to hearken to sin or so much as give way or dare to consent to looke or listen after the treacherous lures and temptations of the world the flesh or the devill and so to fall backe into a spirituall relapse of sinne which is ten thousand times worse and infinitly more dangerous and pernitious then that of any Corporall disease whatsoever For it is a wofull yea a wretched misery which leaues vs no hope of better fortunes nor place for worse 2 Pet. 2.22 If with the Dogge wee returne to our owne vomit and with the Sow that wee againe wallow in the filthie mire of our former beastly sinnes and transgressions For then our end will bee farre worse then our beginning Hos 4.7 Then God will change our glory into shame And then wee shall make our selues guilty of the body and blood of Christ which without his all saving grace and mercy is the high way to endlesse perdition and the true way to eternall damnation No No farre be such vngodly and rebellious thoughts from our hearts and such vnspirituall treason against God from our soules And let vs who are the seed of Abraham by nature and the Sonnes of God by Grace Hos 10.12 still breake vp the fallow ground of our hearts with a holy repentance and sorrow for our sinnes and with a constant and inuiolable resolution never to sinne more and as therefore we have received Christ Jesus by faith Collos 2.6 So let vs walke in him Thes 1.11 and walke worthy of him who now calles vs to his Kingdome of glory and which is more who in a spirituall Contract Hos 2.19 hath vnited and maried vs to himselfe in righteousnesse In which regard and consideration because wee are so highly beloued of God and so infinitly honored with the name of Christians wherein wee ought more to insult and triumph then in all things else which are vnder Christ Let vs I say forsake the stincking garlicke and vnions of Egypt I meane our old beastly sinnes and transgressions and for ever hencefoorth smell to the sweet Roses and Lilies of Heaven the delectable love and promises of our Saviour Christ Iesus vnto vs which are so sweetly watred with his pretious blood and so odoriferously perfumed not with fragarant odors or costly spices of Arabia but with the rich myrrh of Gods sacred mercy and with the sweet and pretious frankincense of his divine fauour and loving countenande towards vs. Psal 134.2 Let vs I say lift vp our hands to his holy Sanctuary prayse the Lord Ier. 31.3 for that he loves vs with an everlasting love and that by the blessed death and passion of his Sonne Christ Psal 68.20 hee is become our God and the God that saveth vs The which If we religiously constantly performe Ier. 31.12 Then our soules shall bee as a watred Garden and wee shall know no more sorrow Then wee shall be as the Hos 14.6 Dew vnto Israel and God will make vs grow as Lilies will fasten our roots as the trees of Lebanon Then 2 Cor. 3.18 wee shall see God face to face in his Kingdome of glory and there both live and raigne with him eternally 1 Tim 4.8 And then hee will crowne vs with a Crowne of righteousnesse which hee hath reserued and layd vp for his elect Children and Seruants Of which blessed number I beseech thee O God who art our Creator and Reedeemer for thy promise sake for thy Sions sake and for thy Sonne Christ Iesus his sake to make vs Amen Thy Christian Friend IOHN REYNOLDS THE DIVINE POVRTRAIT OR A TRVE AND liuely Representation of the blessed Sacrament of the LORDS SVPPER With our due Preparation how to receiue it worthily Vpon these words of our Saviour This is my Bodie c. THe Sacrament of the * Eucharist Lords Supper because of its excellencie hath bin and is worthily tearmed a Mysterie for this Sacrament collecteth and gathereth together all that the new Testament hath of most admirable and most excellent and discovereth vnto vs the Treasures of Wisedome and Intelligence which are hidden in Iesus Christ And truely that which men and Angels themselues have most to admire in this new Testament are especially two things The one is the meanes whereby Saluation hath beene purchased and procured to poore sinners The other the meanes wherby this Saluation being first merited procured and given to them by Iesus Christ is afterwards applyed and administred to them In the first is seene the height and depth the length and bredth of Gods mercy in sending here below on Earth his onely Sonne in the forme of sinfull flesh and for exposing him to the shamefull death of the Crosse for sinfull Creatures and conioyntly therewith is likewise seene the infinit vertue of Christs blood to redeeme and expiate the sinnes of the world and to obtaine eternall life and glory for those who were dangerously ingulphed and almost lost in the death and misery thereof In the second is remarked and seene that by the means of faith repentance wretched sinners are so vnited to the Sonne of God as if they were composed of that body whereof hee is the head and they the members and by this Communion are made Partakers of all the graces and benefits which Iesus Christ hath deserued and purchased for them Now this blessed Sacrament of the Lords holy Supper which is as visible as his Sacred written Gospell and Divine Testament produceth and exposeth to vs thâ—se two efficable points and considerations One way the bread broken and wine filled out presenteth to our eyes the first To wit the body of Iesus Christ broken and his blood shed and spilt on the Crosse for the remission of mens sinnes And on the other part mans action in taking and eating this bread and drinking this wine denoteth and sheweth vs the interiour action of the soule who being hungry and thirsty hath iustly her recourse to this body and blood offered vp to God on the Crosse and there findes her peace and societie vniting her selfe by faith vnto Iesus Christ the Head spring and fountaine of righteousnesse and life Wherefore one way to contemplate the wonders of God towards vs and the other our duties towards him that hereby wee may partake worthily of this blessed Sacrament It is needlesse for vs to extend the eyes of our vnderstandings any farther then to this very same Sacrament which in it selfe will furnish vs with all things needfull and requisite for the pertinent disposition of
our soules in the participation and receiving thereof But the excellencie of this Sacrament is fully comprised and containd in the very words wereby our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ doth institute it to vs which were a briefe declaration of his owne vse and custome So that as this Sacrament is a short abridgement and epitome of the mysterie of our redemption so the words which Iesus Christ hath pronounced therin containe the most excellent matter and the most necessary meditations of faith and to give but a word for all is the very true Epitome and Compendium of all that which Faith ought to contemplate and behold in Iesus Christ Wherefore Since by the Grace of God wee are heere this day assembled to prepare and dispose our selues for the celebration of the Lords holy Supper Wee have now purposely chosen for our text and meditation the words of Iesus Christ which hee vsed in that Supper not to stay or make you listen to points of Controversie which at the first hearing of the text you may conceive or imagine which is not so requisite for this time and occasion wherein wee have more cause to dispute and reason to fight against the obduratnesse of our owne hearts against our impenitency diffidencie presumption and the like vices and sinnes then against our aduersaries But to represent and shew you what meditations and functions the words of Iesus Christ should produce and propagate in our soules when wee present our selues to his holy Table to receive this Sacrament And although as wee have formerly sayd It be not now my intent or meaning to treat of Controversies yet notwithstanding wee are obliged to deduce and give you the occasion and reason of these words and to shew the cleare and pure sense thereof thereby to cause to slide into your hearts and to distill into your soules the holy doctrine and Instructions which they containe To which end and purpose by Gods assistance we will especially treat insist on three mayne points and generall heads 1. The Reason and Sense of these words 2. The Meditations which these words administer and furnish vs with 3. The Dutie and Functions whereunto they oblige vs. I. Point or Generall Head The words are Take eat this is my body which is broken for you Where first we must know why it was that Iesus Christ spake of eating and why hee proposed this Sacrament vnder the words of Meate and Drinke It is not sufficient to alleadge that Iesus Christ did this occasionally that is to say because hee was at Table as by occasion he found himselfe neer a well and demaunding water to drinke of the Samaritane woman that the spake to her of the grace efficacy of the holy Ghost vnder the names of water and drinke This answere sufficeth when wee demaund why Iesus Christ speaking to the troopes and multitude of people before hee instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist proposed himselfe as bread descended from Heaven and his flesh as meat which gave everlasting and eternall life For it is cleare and apparant that Iesus Christ spake so by occasion answering those troopes and multitudes which asked him for bread and who followed him for earthly meate and for this occasion hee therefore assumed the names of those things to the which hee saw them affected But here where it concernes and depends of the Institution of the Sacrament the answere drawen and derived from the occasion to bee at Table is not sufficient For we may demaund againe why Iesus Christ placed and sate himselfe at Table to institute and celebrate this Sacrament For answere whereof they alleadge and propose three reasons I That Iesus Christ having already instituted Baptisme vnder the similitude of a Birth It was likewise very fit and expedient that hee should institute his holy Supper vnder the similitude of nutriment or nourishment For if the beginning of Grace and of spirituall life had bin propos'd in the first Sacrament by a Birth in comparison of a temporall life It was very requisite and reasonable that the aduancement and progresse of Grace should by the same comparison be proposed by a nourishment in the second Sacrament As then Iesus Christ had in Baptisme given water which is the principall of the generation of corporall things to bee a figure of the Holy Ghost which is the principall and efficient cause of the regeneration of our soules So he instituted the Sacrament of his blessed Supper by those things from whēce we have and receiue our temporall nourishment to wit Bread and Wine thereby to represent vnto vs the life which our soules receiue of his body and blood offered on the Crosse from whence it followes that the word of eating is no more meant or taken of the letter in this Sacrament then that of Birth in the Sacrament of Baptisme and that hee who thinkes or pretends to nourish himself of Iesus Christ by his bodily mouth commits the same errour which Nicodemus did who because Christ spake to him of being borne againe Iohn 3.4 Asked if man when hee were growen old could reenter into his mothers belly and be borne anew II. Reason That our vnion with Iesus Christ being the foundation of the application which is made and given vs by the merits of Christ For the death and passion of Iesus Christ is not applyed or given but to those who are one and the same body with him according as it is sayd that Iesus Christ is the Saviour of his body It is expedient that this vnion should bee represented vnto vs But it cannot more perfectly or lively be represented or figured to vs then by the vnion of meates with our body Sith there is nothing which nature doth more strictly or efficably vnite to our bodies then meates by our eating thereof As then by eating meats doe become our owne proper flesh and bones so wee are taught that by the faith and vertue of Christs holy Spirit wee become one with Iesus Christ and are made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone And againe that as by the vnion of meates we receiue our temporall life so by our vnion with Iesus Christ wee receiue our spirituall and eternall life III Reason That Iesus Christ would institute his holy Supper at the Sacrament of Easter in which Sacrament the Iewes were accustomed to eat a Lambe And indeed Iesus Christ was at the table for the celebration of Easter But at the Sacrament or Passeouer of Easter two things were done and performed first there was a Lambe eaten and after as for a banquet and this is verified and recited by those who have written the Iewes Liturgie the Father of the family tooke bread to wit vnleavened bread which was held course and poore bread and in giving it to every one of his family which were sitting at Table said Take eat this is the bread of misery which our fathers have eaten in Egypt and taking the Cup blessed it with a solemne
is my Blood which is shed for you This Meditation hath three Points and Obiects I. The body and blood of Iesus Christ in these words My Body My Blood II. The Oblation of this Body and of this Blood in these words Which is broken which is shed III. The Fruit of this oblation intimated in these words Broken For You Shed For Many for the remission of Sinnes In the first of these when you heare Iesus Christ proposing his body and his blood the meditation then required of you is That it being so that we have so expos'd our selues to the wrath and so incurred the indignation and revenge of God by reason of our sinnes and transgressions that the Iustice of God must bee satisfied consequently that either wee must beare Gods wrath and malediction and so for ever stoop and faint vnder the heavie burthen thereof or else that some other thing must bee substituted in our steed and place to satisfie the Iustice of God But nothing could bee found out in the whole world to bee appointed in the place of man and worthily to satisfie for his sinnes From the beginning of the world beasts have beene offered and these Sacrifices of beasts by the sense and feeling which our conscience hath ever given to men of a sufficient valable satisfactiō for sin have been practised in all the whole world In the old Law a man came and put his hands on the head of the beast which was to bee sacrificed as putting her in his place and roome with an intent and hope to discharge and transferre his sinnes on her but contrariwise natural reason sheweth that that could no way appease or satisfie God For Gods Iustice being of it selfe most perfect can no way content it selfe with a payment or satisfaction so vnequall and imperfect to the Debt because all the beasts of the Earth placed and numbred vp together are not equivalent or to bee compared in valew to one man Heer then O here is the Sacrifice or Victime after which without knowing it all the world sighed and respired in offering these Sacrifices and this is the Sacrifice which all others ought to reverence and looke on When therefore you heare Iesus Christ saying This is my Body you must figure and represent him to you as proffering and offering vp to God his Father these admirable words and speeches recited by the Apostle to the Hebrewes Hebr. 10. Thou wilt have no Sacrifice or offering but thou hast given and appropriated mee a body Thou hast taken no delight in Sacrifices And then I haue said heer I am I come And in the beginning of the Booke it is written of mee that I doe thy will O God So heer Christ Iesus comming to present himself in the place and steed of all these Sacrifices which had beene offered vp vnder the Law and which were daily reiterated continued because as the same Apostle said in the same Chapter Ibid. v. 4. That it was impossible that the blood of Buls and Goats should take and wash away Sinnes And therefore my beloved brethren obserue heer the readinesse and favour which the providence of God makes and provides for you of a most conuenient and requisite Victime and Oblation When Isaac was to bee sacrificed there was a Ramme found tyed by the Hornes to a bush to bee sacrificed for him But here O Sinners behold in these words This is my body that great Sacrifice and Oblation which the wonders of Gods divine providence haue addressed and sent you and reioice that heer is the true Sacrifice or Victime which comes to assist and defend you from Gods heauy wrath and Indignation But Iesus Christ as being simply God could not present himselfe in a Sacrifice for men for there wanted a humane Sacrifice because Sinne had beene committed and perpetrated by man wherefore our Saviour Christ tels you This is my body Hee saith not This I am but This is my body therby purposely to conduct and lead you to the mysterie of his Incarnation whereby he is descended from Heaven hath taken and assumed a carnall body and is made man for vs so that conioyntly with these words you at one time see your great Sacrifice taken from Earth and yet descended from heaven Taken from Earth for it is a body descended from Heaven for it is My Body said our Saviour Iesus Christ that is to say of mee true God with the Father Heer therefore is the wonder which you ought to meditate on That nothing being found in all the world no nor in the infinit multitude and infinitie of all Gods Creatures which could be capable to bee our ransome towards God Then loe Iesus Christ himselfe the only Sonne of God descended so low as he made himselfe man and a creature to the end that hee might bee offered vp a Sacrifice for vs Hee whose Essence was wholly simple and spirituall assumed a body and being materiall and carnall Hee who was inuisible to our eyes hath made himselfe conspicuous and visible to vs permitted and suffered himselfe to be beaten tyed and nayled to a Crosse yea to bee runne thorow with a Speare and in a word capable to be sacrificed And heer you may know and find why Iesus Christ holding the Bread said not This is my Divinity but This is my Body That is to say because not his Divine but onely his Humane nature could bee offered vp in Sacrifice The Divinity is well considered but still as offering not as offered according as the Apostle said to the Hebrewes Heb. 9.14 That Iesus Christ offered himselfe vp to God by the eternall Spirit By which means It is not the eternall Spirit which hath beene offered For that which was offered was to die But the body hath been offered by the eternall Spirit And here ariseth vnto vs another wonder to wit that although Christs humane nature be offered neverthelesse it is of as great a price and value as if his Divinity it selfe could have beene offered and the reason hereof is because this his humane nature composed not but one and the same person with the divine nature For this body which was crucified was personally vnited to the eternall Spirit and this miracle or wonder is given you for your meditation in that Iesus Christ holding the bread said not indefinitly This is my Body which is broken for you but This is my Body as if hee said This is a humane Body and yet mine to the end wee might know that this vivifying or quickning flesh that is to say to bee a worthy Ransome for the life of the world Sith it is the flesh of a man who is both God and man In the Leviticall Law Moses sprinkling of blood when God contracted Alliance with the Israelites said This is the blood of the Testament which God hath ordained for you But this blood was the blood of Beasts Now heer in the Sacrament of his Supper is proposed and presented to you
Heere heere O my God it is where my soule hungring and thirsting after thy favour finds wherewithall to freed refresh her selfe This body crucified is my true restoritie and this blood spilt and shed on the crosse is the liquor wherwith my soule fills her selfe with vnspeakeable joy And heere it is where thy goodnesse is so great so infinite to all mankind that thou invitest all those who are hungrie and thirsty Iesus Christ himselfe saying Happie are those who hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall bee satisfied O then let my soule which hungreth thirsteth after righteousnes to wit that righteousnesse wherewith thou absolvest and iustifiest Sinners obtaine the fulnesse and refreshing of eternall life and salvation Then depart and flie hence from mee all my doubts and diffidences I will confirme and seale it that God is true in beleeving in his Sonne For shal I offer him this iniury to doubt that he is good enough to pardon my sinnes and mercifull enough to haue compassion of my miseries If I behold or looke vp to his Iustice I am sure that is appeased and satisfied because Christ is hee who dyed for mee and I cannot doubt that this death shall bee obiected or approoved against me because Iesus Christ became pledge defender of all those who with repentant and contrite hearts had recourse to him To whō therefore shall I run or flie but to him and why shall I not repent me to haue offended thee in that thou art so gracious mercifull towards vs and that I see sinne is so execrable that onely thine owne Son must of necessitie die to expiate it And if my repentance bee defectiue and my faith infirme and weake I will represent and shew thee that which thou thy selfe hast sayd That thou wilt not breake the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax I will say as he did in the Gospell I beleeue therefore O Lord helpe my vnbeliefe It is not for my repentance and faith to giue but to receiue saluation the which is already purchased and deserved by thy Son Christ Iesus Wee refuse not a rich gift either from a poore person or a trembling hand therfore O Lord I reioyce and comfort my selfe in this that I am displeased with mine owne sins and transgressions and am truly sorrowfull and infinitly repentant that I can repent them no more O good God were I free exempt of sin I thē needed not this Sacramēt which thou givest mee for that it is a remedy against sin that thou dost continually invite vs to think and meditate with our selues how odious sin is and ought to bee to vs because of the filthie lusts and pernicious inclinations which reside dwel in our members for in heaven where we shall sinne no more this remedy is needlesse Be mercifull therefore vnto mee O God because of thy loving kindnes and according to the infinitnesse of thy compassion deface and doe away my transgressions for I know that my sinnes are ever before me O God create in mee a pure heart and reviue and renew in me thy holy spirit Cleanse wash me O Lord in the blood of thy blessed Sonne feed my soule which seekes her nourishment and life in him and if I am vnworthy of thy favours yet refuse not some crummes of mercy to him who humbly presents himselfe to thy Table Denie not O Lord the effect of thy mercy to him who laments and weepes vnder the heavy burthen of his owne sinnes and misery and who is religiously and constantly resolued for ever to celebrate thy infinite mercy and compassions A Prayer of Thanksgiuing after our receiving of the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper O Eternall God Illuminate more and more the eyes of my vnderstanding that I may conceive and comprehend what is the height depth length bredth of thy love towards vs in Iesus Christ what depth when thou hast drawen vs from the bottome of death by the death of thy Son what height when thou hast raysed and elevated vs for him and with him to Heaven what length but the lasting eternitie from age to age of all felicity which thou hast prepared for vs what bredth but as farre as the East is distant from the West so farre thou hast banished separated our sinnes from vs and that as many promises and blessings as thou hast pronounced vnto vs they are so many yea and Amens in Iesus Christ O God who causest mee to behold this thy so wonderfull a goodnes and who right now cōmest from shewing it to the eyes of my soule in the receiving of this blessed Sacrament Giue me grace O Lord to meditate and contemplate theron till I am ravished in a spirituall extasie yea vntill I am transformed into the Image of this thine owne love and that I become all love towards thee that I live no longer to my selfe but that thy Christ may live in mee through the love of thy divine goodnes beauty and that I may embrace and retaine no other desires but for thee and for the Kingdome of Heaven which thou hast transferd and given mee by thy blessed Son Christ Iesus O let me behold Sinne no more but with horror and detestation because it is contrary to thy essence and beeing as also to the worke of my redemption which thy blessed Sacrament hath now proffered and presented vnto mee I see O God that thy Son is dead for Sinne and therfore shall I live who am the vildest of all Sinners That thy Christ hath beene crucified to destroy Sin and therefore shall I give it strength and vigour to live and raigne in mee O then my mercifull God let mee no longer live to or for the things of this world but that I may crucifie my flesh with all the sinfull lusts thereof and that the holy Sacrament which I came now from receiving may bee the example and pourtrait of my duety and my continuall lesson tending and working to the true mortification of sinne in mee and that it may be brused and broken and left without strength or life as was the blessed body of my Saviour Iesus Christ who died on the Crosse for mee and that also conformably to his resurrection I may hencefoorth live a spirituall and heavenly life still seeking those things which are above and not those which are below on earth And indeed O Lord by this thy holy Sacrament I see that I am vnited incorporated to thy Son Christ and that I am thereby made flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone and beeing thus adioyned with him must I not also be conioyned with him in the same functions and affections Shall I dishonour the body of Iesus Christ by my sinnes and filthinesse and shall I take away his members to make them the members of the world or of Sathan O how carefull ought I to be of my actions and duety sith in this vnion I reape this consolation that the obedience of Christ is imputed to mee as if I my selfe had satisfied his iustice to wit That I am now made one and the selfe same body with Christ who hath fully payed and satisfied for mee How deare ought this Communion to bee vnto mee whereby my Soule enioyeth peace and assurance seeing the full remission of my sins and my absolute and free deliverance from Gods heauy curse and fierce wrath and indignation whereby I see that Iesus Christ esteemeth and chearisheth mee as his owne body aswell to preserue mee from all evils as to bestow on me all good things which are necessary for me according as the Apostle sayes on this same subiect That no man ever hated his owne flesh but doth nourish and cherish it as God doth his Church So then let Sathan practise all his power and exercise all his malice against mee I notwithstanding cannot but be more then a Conqueror over all things in this body of Iesus Christ and that if this his Communion oblige and tye mee to crosses and afflictions for here on earth I must thus beare the death and passion of our Lord Iesus yet it doth assure mee both of victory and triumph for the Spirit of God which conducts quickneth this mysticall body of Christ in vs is infinitly greater then that of the world the communion which I have with the Crosse of my Saviour is my direct true way to glory O my God who makest me to relish these delights of thy loue and who in this maner feedest replenishest my soule at thy holy table Giue me grace that hēceforth I may no more trust the delights and pleasures of sin Let my desires delights be to obey and do thy will and that all the whole course progress of my life may bee a sanctified preparation to this great wedding banket of the Lambe wherunto we are invited called wher thy holy sacred sight wil be vnto vs a fulnes of all ioy thy right hand an vnspeakable delight pleasure for evermore Let me then O Lord at this very instant clothe my selfe with the wedding garment of thy sanctification therewith to bee present at this Feast whereof this of the Sacrament wherunto thou hast now invited mee is an earnest pledge and that separating my selfe from the people of this world whose only portiō is in this present life I may say with the royal Prophet Dauid As for me O Lord I shall see thy face in righteousnes and I shall be filled with thy image and resemblance when I shall awake FINIS