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A95982 A treatise of the institution, right administration, and receiving of the sacrament of the Lords-Supper. Delivered in XX. sermons at St Laurence-Jury, London. / By the late reverend and learned minister of the Gospel Mr Richard Vines sometime master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge. Vines, Richard, 1600?-1656.; Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Burgess, Anthony, d. 1664. 1656 (1656) Wing V572; Thomason E894_2; ESTC R203900 224,149 399

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up anniversaries or festivals for his Nativity Circumcision Ascension c. which the Churches in after times Observed but he did set up in grosse this solemn memorial of himself and that is principally of his death His death I say For ye shew the Lords death ver 26. And why BecaUse his death is the expiation of sinne therein was made the Sacrifice of Atonement Redemption Reconciliation was made thereby the Covenant confirmed the love of God to man demonstrated the justice of God for sinne exemplified the foundation of our righteousnesse hope peace and victory laid the fulnesse of merit the mirrour of mercy the admiration of Angels the center of all Christianity and the summe of all Scripture types Prophecies Promises the most admirable of all the works of God that ever were and indeed all that can be said and more then can be said was here to be seen and is here to be remembred Secondly This remembrance of Christ must be lively and practical There is a naked historical theoretical remembrance a review of the Species or Ideas formerly imprinted in the minde So Absolom is remembred in his Pillar and Lot's wife in her pillar of salt meerly historically and there is a practical remembrance which connotes affections fruitfull effect and so in common speech to remember is to requite good or evil and in Scripture phrase God remembers our sins our services when he punishes or rewards Remember me O my God and spare me Nehem. 13. 22. with infinite the like Our remembrance of Christ in this Supper sets awork all that is within us Our sorrow for sinne as Peters remembrance of his words when the Cock crew Mark 14. 72. He wept bitterly our faith to believe in and receive him so Psal 20. 7. We will remember that is trust in the Name of our God It sets on work our thanksgiving for so great a benefit ingages resolutions blows up the coals of love fils with admiration What would the sight of Christ bleeding on the cress for us groaning under our sins have wrought on tender heart The same as far as a reflexion can work which is weaker than the direct Species should be the temper of our hearts when we see him and his death personated and acted in this Sacrament here we see him dying paying our ransome Oh the dreadfull example of Gods justice upon sin Oh the sweetest example of Gods mercy to a sinner actually acting their several parts in this spectacle of Christ represented to our saith as yet hanging on the crosse the Lamb of God is as yet smoking upon the Altar which takes away the sins of the world if you seel not your remembrance of Christ it 's nothing If you exercise onely wit and invention it 's barren but the exercise of affection is the best commemoration He that brings sin hither as bitter herbs shall be sweetly refresht with Christ our Passeover §. 3. To whom this Remembrance is made § 3 Quest To whom is this remembrance made Ausw 1. We make it unto and within our selves whetting upon our hearts the fruit and benefit we receive from him and the torments and pains he endured for us 2. We make this remembrance to others to all the world by our solemn profession of Christ and his death as that we stand unto for remission of sins and acceptation with God Let the Jew or Infidel laugh at us for trusting to a crucified Saviour and memorizing him in a piece of bread and cup of wine It is our joy and triumph we live and hope to die in and if need be for this profession 3. We make this remembrance to God we set before him the Sacrifice of his own Sonne and put him in minde by him to be mercifull to us we inculcate the death of Christ to God and set before him these monuments we say and pray Lord remember Mede Diatrib in Mal. 6. c. 1. v. 11. Forbes Hist Theol. p. 618. Cal. 2. that Sacrifice which we here remember If thou remember our sins we will remember thy Christ pardon us in the name of that Sacrifice which we commemorate and make mention of before thee and this is the reason why the Ancients so often called this Ordinance a Sacrifice which Chrysostom recalling himself saith Chrys in Heb. Homil. 17. pag. Graecat 856. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather the commemoration of a Sacrifice becaUse they offer'd up their prayers and thanksgiving in the name of Christ the Sacrifice here commemorated for here is no real sacrificing of Christ to God that turns the Table into a crosse but here is the commemoration of a Sacrifice and a feasting and feeding thereupon by faith as men that are in covenant and fellowship with God CHAP. XIII A Lamentation for the neglect of this Ordinance NOw to the Use of this point The Lord hath left it in charge that his Church do celebrate this Ordinance in remembrance of him And § 1 First We may bewail that great eclipse which hath befallen this Ordinance here with us of later years the like to which hath not been seen in England since it became Protestant the remembrance and memorial of Christ hath been even forgotten and the Ordinance of Communion been render'd as the apple of contention and division a matter of quarrel rather than of Use the losse that is gained by this intermission or neglect or disUse or it is very great for we lose an inestimable benefit by it the solemn remembrance of Christ with the comforts thence resulting we lose a duty by it for Christ said Do this and is it not a great losse to lose so signal a note of the Church of Christ so great a benefit and the visible mischief hath been very great for hereby separation hath been mightily advanced the people like sheep wanting fodder at their own crib have scatter'd themselves to other cribs and pastures where they might finde sustenance and several communions have been taken up on the same Reason that water being carn'd or stopt from this old channel findes out or makes other water-courses and leaves the other channel dry and the generality of the people by their too easie patience under so great a famine have given too sad an argument how easily they would part with all Religion that have so carelesly suffer'd the losse of so great a part thereof as this Ordinance is I know that we shall like Josephs brethren be ready to transfer the fault on others no man will own it and yet haply we are all guilty it but in this that the Apostle said to the Corinthians in another case 1 Cor. 5. 2. And ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned For had not pride and envy discontent and security prevailed over us we might have mourned and lamented after or over this losse or eclypse and thereby have manifested not only a good disposition of heart in feeling the want of Ordinances but a very good sign that God would restore
is not guilty of the Body and Bloud of the Lord which was never offer'd to him in this Sacrament No aggravations of sinne are like to the aggravations of the sins of wicked Christians their guilt is not of so high complexion that never knew of Christ either we must be saved or we cannot be so easily damned the weight of sins against Christ is heavier than of those that are meerly against the Law of God We are the earth that drinks in the rain that cometh upon us If we bear briars and thorns we are nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned Heb. 6. 7 8. 2. How many do that they think least of and are guilty of that they once imagine not themselves to be guilty of but few of a thousand will own this guiltinesse of the Body and Bloud of Christ and yet as often as they do or have eaten and drunk at this Table unworthily so often they have incurred and renew'd this guilt Do not they say at the last day When saw we thee an hungry or in prison Did the Jews think they pierced their true Messiah There are not many Christians in name and profession such that can be convinced that they hate and despise Christ as much as the very Jews that crucified him which yet may be demonstrate by clear arguments The Jew honour'd the name of the Messiah and expected great things of him and yet hated and rejected him blindfold and so we call Christ Saviour and Lord and besprinkle him with sweet water but his reign and government over us we utterly despise and hate and prefer a sordid lust far before him CHAP. XXXII The Danger of this Sinne. § 1 4. THe fourth thing expounded was the danger of this sinne He eats and drinks judgement to himself if he be a godly man that eats and drinks unworthily or haply also damnation if he be an hypocrite for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may respectively extend to both A strange phrase it is to eat and drink judgement but it is allusive and per mimesin as sure as he eats of the Bread and drinks of the Cup unworthily so sure is judgement to follow thereupon or to accompany it for he eats judgement but it is to himself not to others except they be partakers in his sinne which may be divers ways So as we have reason to insert in all our prayers Lord forgive our nostra aliena our other mens sins but without partnership in the sinne we need not fear share in the judgement He eats it to himself and therefore that argument of the Donatist which is rise now a dayes Si corruptis sociaris c. If you be joyned with wicked men how can you be clean If you pray with them hear with them receive the Sacrament with them was answer'd by Austin True saith he if we be joyned but that is not in bodily presence locally but by consent or allowance and so we are no more joyn'd then Christ and the Apostles were joyn'd with Judas at the Passeover or Supper who I believe was not defiled by his presence as neither were those guests that came in to the marriage by the presence of him that had no wedding garment It 's true example may defile by contagion and infection but allowance and consent defiles by accessarinesse unto the sin §. 2. The Application § 2 How precious an Ordinance is this Supper and yet how dangerous There is life and death set before you It 's on one side a refreshing cloud on the other a flaming fire so by the same water and way were the Israelites saved and the Aegypians attempting the like were drown'd Thus Christ also is a precious stone to believers a stumbling and a crushing stone to unbelievers and the Word is a savour of life and a savour of death Some mens eyes are open'd by it and some are shut The same Ark is to Israel a glory to the Philistims a scourge Here is honey in the same rose to the Bee and poyson to the Spider and it is according as you eat and drink worthily or unworthily We reade in Scripture that when people cried to Christ for cure usually he put it upon their faith According to your faith and If thou canst believe and we never reade of any one that cried that he was put by for want of faith for if they gave never so little account Lord I believe help my unbelief it was accepted The benefit of this Ordinance is according to your Faith Repentance and if you can give but any account of them to God you may drink Christ out of this Rock but if you be in sinnes of love and delight and come in your wickednesse you take the Sword by the point not by the haft and you shall smart for your presumption Secondly The horrible thunder of the Apostle in this place is not to deterre but to prepare Communicants An humble soul is affrighted with the terrour and dare not draw nigh this fiery Mount but it is not spoken to affright from the Sacrament but to enforce a due preparation When the destroying Angel rode his circuit the Israelites lay secure within the line of bloud This bloud here offer'd will protect thee from this condemnation threatned if thou flie to it But Thirdly The ignorant that are without knowledge and the scandalous without repentance who are by the common vote of men excepted against as unfit Communicants they may know that this is a dreadfull eating and drinking which is accompanied with such a guiltinesse and wi●h such judgement and yet this fiery Sword will not keep them off they will be rushing in to this Tree of Life It is not envy malice or partiality but it is charity to entreat you not to lust so eagerly after those Quails which while they are in your mouths the wrath of God is like to fall upon you both of you have marks enough of condemnation upon you Desire not to adde more be sure the King will survey and view his guests you cannot scape in the croud What if you be taken from the Table and cast into utter darknesse It concernes me to give you warning If you take the Allarme and first labour for knowledge and seeke repentance by the means appointed to beget them and to beget you unto God Well If not then it concernes the Church to shew you mercy in making stay of you from falling into the fire For Fourthly The eating and drinking of the Lords Bread and the Lords Cup unworthily is a sinne dangerous to Common-wealths and Churches for it brings judgement Epidemick judgement so it did upon this Church of Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this caUse many among you are sick and die Haply they had some common and mortall sicknesse or mortality and knew not the caUse of it Happy we if we knew the particular caUse of Gods angry visitations sinne in the generall we acknowledge but we owne not our particular
faintness cherisht by wine the faint and feeble soul by Christ Famine and thirst are importunate things no delights of the eye no Musick to the ear can satisfie them Violent desires towards Christ are not to be excUsed but praised For his Flesh is meat indeed his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6. 55. 2. Bread and Wine severally and asunder to set forth his death wherein Corpus a sanguine separatum fuit saith Jansenius his Body and his Blood Harm 896. was sundred The Papists as to their Priests and some Kings or Princes will allow bread and wine but as to the common people bread or wine they say by concomitancy the blood is in the bread virtually and so they shut up the wounds of Christ by their dry Mass But Christ would represent himself here not as a Lamb but a Lamb sacrificed and slain and therefore the blood is severed from the body as the money is not a prisoners ransom while it lies in the chest but when it 's paid So the blood of Christ as shed is our ransom As Israel in the wilderness had a type of Christ Manna which they did eat and the rock also of which they drank so have we the memorials of his body and blood that we may eat and drink And which is the summe of all that may be said on this point since the Lord was pleased even under the Gospel to continue that old way of Fellowship and Communion with his Church by entertaining them at his own Table upon his own chear in an Ordinance of eating and drinking as he alwaies allowed the Israelites to feast with him upon the remainders of the Sacrifices in token of followship and the very Heathens did by feasting on their Sacrifices testifie their fellowship with their Idols as is plain 1 Cor. 10. 18 19 20. I see not how more fit materials could be Used then Bread and Wine which as they best stand with the simplicity of the Gospel so they are the most common and necessary attendants in all feasts and do both together set forth that full and perfect nourishment which we finde in Christ As for that I finde in Cyprian and from him in Cyp. Epist 76. Aug. Tract in Jo. cap. 6. 26. August and after both in most Divines That as one bread is made of many grains and one cup of wine of many grapes so the Church is one Body of many Members whose Communion and Fellowship is here professed testified and signified by their participation of one Bread and of one Cup The allusion is proper and not unlike that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 17. We being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread And this union of members was anciently professed with all dearness of love and affection in the Use of this Ordinance and they delighted to express their division and separation from all the world their combination and concorporation among themselves by all entercourses of love and dearness that could be their Feasts of Love their Kiss mentioned in Scripture and ancient Authours are hereof great witnesses But what shall those places or Countries do that have no bread of corn no fruit of the vine I confess that though God said in the Passeover a Lamb Exod. 12. 5. or Kid yet Christ expresses nothing there of other materials and therefore in case of extream necessity where the proper Elements cannot be had they must either be without the Ordinance or celebrate in that which is Analogicall and which passes for bread with them or wine with them which it's better say some to do than wholly to be deprived Moulin Buckler pag. 531. Beza Epist 2. but this Eclipse is not likely to be seen in our Horison therefore I shall not further discuss it §. 4. The Rites or Actions about the Sacrament § 4 So much of the Elements Bread and Wine Now I proceed to the Rites or Actions and first them of Christs using in which you are to Use your eye as in the Word preached God speaks to your ear so here he speaks to your eye The Sacrament is a visible Word and therefore I hold it requisite that the Communicant be within sight of the Elements and Actions that he may see the bread and the wine Taken Blessed Broken Poured forth and not in corners and holes whence he hath not the actions under command of his eye Not that I deny but a blinde man may receive the Sacrament but that all means of spirituall impression must be Used Behold saith Moses the blood of the Covenant Exod. 24. 8. The first Action of Christ is He took bread likewife after supper the cup so Paul so Luke He took the bread he took the cup so Matthew and Mark of the two Elements the Bread is first taken both by Christ and by the Communicant This order is to be held by the consent of all the four Writers And of Christs Action let us Note 1. That Christ took the Bread into his hands he took the Cup into his hands Observing the rite and custom then Used and gave thanks over the Bread holding it in his hands and so over the Cup having it in his hands This is the first step towards the separating and setting apart the Elements he took them in his hand see there was a solemn rite that the pater familias did Use to take into his hands and bless these principall parts of the meal or feast The taking of the Lamb was the first action towards the Paschall Exod. 12. 2 5 21. 2. That Christ took and blest the Bread and the Cup severally one after the other He took Bread and blest and pronounced This is my Body Afterwards he took the Cup and blest and pronounced This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood The Evangelists Matthew and Mark express it Luke and Paul likewise confirm it and if there were nothing else the very rule and usage amongst the Jewes to blesse them severally would prove it to us 3. But whether there was any intervall of time between his taking and blessing the Bread and the Wine is a harder knot Matthew and Mark say As they were eating or as they did eat he took Bread Luke and Paul say After they had supped he took the Cup This seems to plead for some intervall of time Videtur saith Calvin in 1 Cer. 11. 25. In Mar. 14. 22. Beza and yet if Matthew and Mark be viewed alone the Action seems to be continued What wedge must be Used for this knot Beza hints that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be variously translated When they had eaten but I shall not grant Beza his Interpretation but hold to our own and appeal to the rule or custom then received amongst the Jews to decide the Controversie for if those words As they were eating be all one with those of Paul After they had supped then how doth Paul and Luke so frequently and
the Apostles did not herein vary for they sung a Hymn at the close as Matth. 26. 30. which example I need not stand to improve against the Anti-psalmists of this age There are severall pertinent meditations that may fully take up the time of the action with great advantage and benefit to our souls as namely 1. The dreadfulness of Gods justice which with a terrible stroak did smite the great Shepherd for our sins the least dram of it would have sunk us to all eternity 2. The cursed nature of sinne that so exasperates the holy God and makes such a breach between God and the creature as can never be made up but by the broken body of the Lord of Glory 3. What it cost to redeem a soul a mass of gold as big as the whole earth not valuable with one drop of this blood 4. What an infinite love broke forth that God rather than let our souls be lost would send his eternall Son and make him sin for us 5. What a great work it is to reconcile a sinner to his God all names of men and Angels are nothing to it all their sufferings would not pay a penny of this debt which is not dissolved by any blood but of the Lord of Glory 6. That God would not only pardon sin by giving forth a generall pardon as a King pardons rebels but so pardon as might even melt the hardest heart and for ever humble and silence and satisfie it by the love of God and the sufficiency of that Sacrifice whose vertue extends to thousands and lasts alwaies 7. That the gratious Covenant of God made with all that beleeeve in Christ is sealed and ratified with such blood as there needs no doubt of the validity of the Covenant though one man bad as many sins on him as all the world 8. That Gods way of saving man by a Mediatour the death of a Mediatour doth oblige man to be the thankfullest creature in the world Angels that sin'd not have need of no Mediatour Angels that sin'd have none man that sin'd and therefore needs one hath one given to him The man Christ Jesus 9. That as God gave Christ for you so he gives him to you that he that was your Sacrifice offered up to God might in this Sacrament be offered unto you as meat and drink as spirituall repast that as we live by Christ so we may live upon him being entertained as confederates to feast with God upon the Sacrifice offered up unto him It is a fruitfull field of Meditation through which ye may walk the time of celebration and then breathe out your Meditations in a Song of praise as the close and musick of this heavenly Feast Concerning which Hymn wherewith the Jews did usually close the coenam apolyticam or dimissory Supper calling it the Hallel from the first word of it Hallelujah you may consult not only the Jewish Writers but our Learned men Cameron Myroth in Matth. 16. 30. Drusius in Matth. 26. 30. Hugo Broughton in Dan. pag. 46. beside Paulus Burgensis Gerard Harm Fol. 178. col 3. who do also point out to us the 113. 114. Psalms as that Hymn for though some others do rather conceive it a new Hymn composed by our Saviour Grotius in Matth. 26. and the 17 Chapter of St John to be it we finde no Reason to go with them in that opinion both becaUse our Saviour did not easily vary from the Rite or Custom received nor could the Disciples have sung with him in consort except we imagine such a praelection of it to them as is Used by us now a daies which will not be proved CHAP. XIII How much it concerneth Ministers to Teach and all to Learn the true meaning of this Ordinance 1 COR. 11. 26 27. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the death of the Lord untill he come Wherefore whosoever doth eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord c. VVHen this Ordinance of the Supper is suitable to the Institution and the Communicant is suitable to the Ordinance then all is right Of the former I have acquitted my self by setting forth the nature Use end of this Sacrament according to our Lords Institution recited by the Evangelists and by St Paul in this place § 1 Now I am to proceed unto the later which is to render the Communicant suitable to the Ordinance of which our Saviour did not in the Institution directly speak but the Apostle in this place speaks more fully and directly unto than in any other place is found the abUses and distempers of the Corinthians leading him most properly to it and though in Popish Churches the grand errour and abUse lies in the unsutableness of their Mass to the Institution yet in Reformed Churches who endeavour to imitate the pattern in the Mount the common sin lies in the unsutableness of the Communicant to the Ordinance and so the point of worship stands between us and the Papists much alike as it stood between the Samaritans and the Jews of old The Samaritans Used a false worship Ye worship ye know not what Joh. 4. 22. The Jews had a true worship but were carnall and for the most part formall worshippers The Feast is prepared drest and ordered according to the Institution of Christ Now the guests are to be surveyed and tried whether they come worthily or unworthily by the test or ticket of the Apostles Doctrine following to the end of the Chapter of which I shall say this in generall 1. That the Apostles Doctrine in this place is properly calculated for the rectifying the abUses and unworthiness of the Corinthians as ye may see at the 33 34 verses but so also most other Scriptures occasionally written are of generall Use their latitude is greater than their particular direction 2. That the Apostle spends the most of his Doctrine upon eating and drinking unworthily setting home the sin and danger of it for the occasion viz. the sinne of the Corinthians required it and yet doubtless the point of worthiness should in order of nature be first stated before unworthiness can be understood for how should I know sinne except first I knew a law of duty how a crooked line except I know what is straight and therefore to attent consideration the Apostle will be found to begin there as I shall shew you afterwards 3. That the Apostle in setting home the sinne and danger of eating and drinking unworthily speaks thunder and lightning in very pertinent but yet new and unusuall phrases which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have no brother in any other part of Scripture as guilty of the body and blood of the Lord eating and drinking judgement or damnation c. full of terrour and fit for compunction These of the 26 verse are the words of St Paul who having recited what Christ did and said at the first celebration and institution of this Sacrament goes about to set
and demonstrate We know that in all Sacraments there is Analogy or proportion and so in this the elements broken bread and wine pouned forth or the body and bloud of Christ the actions of Taking Eating and Drinking the outward elements doe denote the acts of a Communicants soul receiving and feeding upon Christ and such acts there must be to answer unto the outward actions So as if you tell me of any sensible object it 's easie to shew what sense it belongs unto for if it be light or colour it belongs to the eye if it be any sound it belongs to the ear c. So this Sacrament being survey'd and studied it is not hard to finde what graces are to be set on work accordingly And this Rule that I may not guesse at randome I shall follow in the ensuing Discourse First It 's necessary that the Communicant have knowledge of the Nature Use and End of this Sacrament and that is demonstrate thus Here are outward elements and actions which do signifie some other thing as namely the body and bloud of Christ as himself expounds it offer'd by God unto and to be received by the Communicant and therefore there must be knowledge to discern and understand this mystery that 's hidden under a visible out-side to wit the Sacrifice of Christs body which is represented and the confirmation of the Gospel-Covenant by his bloud for without this knowledge a man comes blinde-fold eats and drinks as a bruit takes the dish for the meat and is no otherwise refresht than a thirsty man would be by eating and sucking a sign-post which doth but signifie that there is wine within It was a childes Question Exod. 12. 26. What mean you by this service And I would our ignorant people would so play the childe for they do but eat the shell and gnaw the bone of the outward service becaUse they know not the meaning of it So the carnall Jew knew not the meaning of the Rites and Types then Used nor saw both Law and Gospel in their Sacrifices both which they were full of I confesse the knowledge of this Sacrament draws with it the knowledge of our lost estate as Passeover is not understood without Egypt in sinne and misery For where Christ appears bloudy there sinne must needs appear deadly and those fundamentals and grounds of Christianity which are but the A. B. C. of Religion must be knowne but it is not the knowledge of a Scholar but the knowledge of a Christian which we plead for so much as may serve to look into the entrails of this Sacrament and may lead on the affections to value prize thirst after Jesus Christ whom if we see not we cannot desire or love Visus est prima amor is linea fight is the first line of love nor can we believe in him untill we see John 6. 40. Whosoever see the Sonne and believes in him shall have everlasting life I should not charge a poor Christian with any great rate of knowledge for the quality is more to be regarded than the quantity If he know both sinne and Christ by taste as well as by sight if he have a distinguishing and favoury knowledge of the things of the Spirit and there be as it is in embers a great heat though but little light then is it good though not great I know that Questions demodo in all points of Divinity are hard to answer It 's well if we can answer a Question aere I may know what sinne is and yet not tell how it enters and comes at first into my soul The Apostles took Christ at this time for their Saviour and Lord the true Messiah but how he should execute all the parts of his Office they did not clearly understand and yet did at and drink with him at his Table § 3 Secondly This is not all but it is first as light was at the Creation the first creature but all the world was not made when light was He is not wholly fitted that hath knowledge there must be a Christ-receiving or a Christ-taking faith and this is shown thus God offers the body and bloud of his Sonne which was shed for the remission of sinne and saith Take ye Eat ye Drink ye and that inward act which answers to this outward action whereby we do receive Christ that is exhibited we call faith when Christ is tender'd to us in the Word we believe ex-promisso when offer'd in the Supper we believe ex pignore There we have a promise here a pawn or pledge This faith is the taking hand which goes forth to the offering-hand of God This taking eating drinking are but faith appropriating and applying Christ You say you believe What believe you That God offers Christ to your faith What 's a poor man the richer for believing that one offers him a shilling What 's a condemned man the better for believing that a pardon is offer'd to him This is but a faith of the truth of the offer But doe ye receive Christ offered Do you close in with Christ Do you take him into you Here is the best Covenant sealed with the best blood that ever was You believe this to be a truth but come not in to this Covenant that saith doth but serve to your just condemnation It is the Christ-receiving not the truth acknowledging saith that brings salvation to you If men did but know what saving saith is we should have either more or fewer believers more for they would renounce that superficial thing cahed faith and buy gold tried in the fire Fewer for they would not count themselves to believe by that faith which they have A woman may believe a man to be rich and honourable and reall in his suit yet that belief doth not make a marriage but actual consent to take him for a husband For saith gives as well as takes it gives a man up to Christ as well as takes Christ to be a Saviour It is not true faith that blows hot and cold out of the same mouth and cries Hosanna to Christ a Saviour but yet I will not have him reigne over me This Sacrament presents Christ to faith thus It presents Christ himself his body and bloud not the benefits of Christ apart and abstract but Christ himself It presents Christ for intimate union with us as the nourishment is to the body It presents him really as the bread and wine is really taken and received It presents him crucified and suffering as if he was now dving and bleeding in whom faith findes reconciliation remission justification and redemption so is it acted and exercised in this Ordinance § 4 Thirdly The third grace that is freshly revived and set on work in this Sacrament is Repentance and that appears thus Here is represented Goes Justice against our sinne in bruising his own Sonne with fore and dreadfull breaches made upon him and this Justice is mixt with goodnesse in transferring and laying upon the Sacrifice