and night And thus for our main and principall debt of Obedience hath our Mediatour given satisfaction unto the Justice of his Father with good measure pressed down shaken together and running over But beside this we were lyable unto another debt which wee have incurred by our default and drawne upon our selves by way of forfeiture and nomine poenae For as Obedience is a due debt and Gods servants in regard thereof are truly debters so likewise is sinne a debt and sinners debters in regard of the penalty due for the default And as the payment of the debt which commeth nomine poenae dischargeth not the tenant afterwards from paying his yearly rent which of it self would have been due although no default had been committed so the due payment of the yearly rent after the default hath been made is no sufficient satisfaction for the penalty already incurred Therefore our surety who standeth chargeable with all our debts as he maketh payment for the one by his Active so must he make amends for the other by his Passive obedience he must first suffer and then enter into his glory For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect that is a perfect accomplisher of the worke which he had undertaken through sufferings The Godhead is of that infinite perfection that it cannot possibly be subject to any passion He therefore that had no other nature but the Godhead could not pay such a debt as this the discharge whereof consisted in suffering and dying It was also fit that Gods justice should have been satisfied in that nature which had transgressed and that the same nature should suffer the punishment that had committed the offence Forasmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and bloud he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Such and so great was the love of God the Father toward us he spared not his own Sonne but delivered him up for us all and so transcendent was the love of the Son of God toward the sons of men that he desired not to be spared but rather then they should lie under the power of death was of himself most willing to suffer death for them which seeing in that infinite nature which by eternall generation hee received from his Father he could not doe he resolved in the appointed time to take unto himselfe a Mother and out of her substance to have a body framed unto himself wherein he might become obedient unto death even the death of the crosse for our redemption And therefore when hee commeth into the world he saith unto his Father A body hast thou fitted me Lo I come to doe thy will O God By the which will saith the Apostle wee are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Thus we see it was necessary for the satisfaction of this debt that our Mediatour should be Man but he that had no more in him then a Man could never be able to goe through with so great a work For if there should be found a Man as righteous as Adam was at his first creation who would be content to suffer for the offence of others his suffering possibly might serve for the redemption of one soul it could be no sufficient ransome for those innumerable multitudes that were to be redeemed to God out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Neither could any Man or Angel be able to hold out if a punishment equivalent to the endlesse sufferings of all the sinners in the world should at once bee laid upon him Yea the very powers of Christ himself upon whom the spirit of might did rest were so shaken in this sharp encounter that he who was the most accomplisht pattern of all fortitude stood sore amazed and with strong crying and tears prayed that if it were possible the houre might passe from him This man therefore being to offer one sacrifice for sins for ever to the burning of that sacrifice he must not onely bring the coals of his love as strong as death and as ardent as the fire which hath a most vehement flame but he must add thereunto those everlasting burnings also even the flames of his most glorious Deity and therefore through the eternall Spirit must he offer himself without spot unto God that hereby he might obtain for us an eternall redemption The bloud whereby the Church is purchased must bee Gods own bloud and to that end must the Lord of glory be crucified the Prince and author of life be killed he whose eternall generation no man can declare be cut off out of the land of the living and the man that is Gods own fellow be thus smitten according to that vvhich God himselfe foretold by his Prophet Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered The people of Israel we read did so value the life of David their King that they counted him to be worth tenne thousand of themselves how shall we then value of Davids Lord who is the blessed and onely Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords It was indeed our nature that suffered but he that suffered in that nature is over all God blessed for ever and for such a Person to have suffered but one houre was more then if all other persons had suffered ten thousand millions of years But put case also that the life of any other singular man might be equivalent to all the lives of whole mankind yet the laying down of that life would not be sufficient to doe the deed unlesse he that had power to lay it down had power likewise to take it up again For to be detained always in that prison from whence there is no comming out before the payment of the uttermost farthing is to lie always under execution and to quit the plea of that full payment of the debt wherein our surety stood engaged for us And therefore the Apostle upon that ground doth rightly conclude that if Christ be not raised our faith is vaine we are yet in our sinnes and consequently that as he must be delivered to death for our offences so he must be raised again for our justification Yea our Saviour himself knowing full well what he was to undergoe for our sakes told us before-hand that the Comforter whom hee would send unto us should convince the world that is fully satisfie the consciences of the sons of men
to his elect It hath three adjuncts or properties First it is free without desert Secondly it is great without comparison Thirdly it is constant without any end How is the love of God said to be free It is free two wayes first because nothing caused God to love us but his own goodnesse and grace and therefore Saint John saith that his love was before ours 1 John 4. 7. Secondly it is free because God in loving us did not regard any thing that belonged to his own commodity for as David saith he hath no need of our goods but onely to our owne salvation he loved us Psal. 162. Wherein doth the greatnesse of Gods love appear to his Elect It appeareth two wayes First by the meanes which God useth to save us by that is the death of his Son and so John setteth forth his love 1 John 3. 16. when he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as if he should say so vehemently so ardently so earnestly so wonderfully did he love us that for our salvation he spared not his own only begotten Son but gave him to the death of the Crosse for our salvation What else doth set forth the greatnesse of Gods love towards us The consideration of our own selves for he did not only give his only Son to death for us but it was for us being his enemies and this circumstance is used by the Apostle to expresse the same Rom. 5. 7 8. Where find you it written that Gods love is constant and perpetuall That is manifestly shewed in these Scriptures following Hos. 11. 9. John 13. 1. Rom. 11. 29. for God is unchangeable in his love which is his essence and nature and therefore is God called love in the Scriptures 1 John 4. 8. What use must we make of Gods love First it filleth our hearts with gladness when we understand that our God is so loving and love it self and what is this but the beginning of eternall life if eternall life consist in the true knowledge of God as our Saviour Christ saith John 17. 3 Secondly out of the knowledge of this love as out of a fountain springeth the love of God and our neighbour for S. John saith he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love 1 Joh. 4. 8. Thirdly when we consider that God loveth all his creatures which he made it should teach us not to abuse any of the creatures to serve our lusts and beastly affections for God will punish them which abuse his beloved as he punished the rich glutton which abused the creatures of God Luk. 16. Fourthly we are taught to love all the creatures even the basest of all seeing that God loveth them and for the love he beareth to us he made them and we must if we love them for Gods sake use them sparingly moderately and equally or justly to this end we are commanded to let our cattell rest upon the Sabbath day as well as our selves to this end we are forbidden to kill the damme upon her nest and to this end we are forbidden to musle the mouth of the Oxe which treadeth out the Corn Deut. 25. 4. 1 Cor. 9. 9. Fiftly we are taught from hence to love mankind better then all other creatures because God doth so and therefore we must not spare any thing that we have that may make for the safety of his body and the salvation of his soul. And for this cause we are commanded to love our enemies and to do them good because our good God doth so Sixtly from Gods love we learn to preferre the godly brethren and those that professe sincerely the same religion that we professe before other men because Gods love is greater to his elect then to the reprobate and this doth the Apostle teach us Gal. 6. 10. Seventhly whereas Gods love is freely bestowed upon us this teacheth us to be humble and to attribute no part of our salvation to our selves but only to the free love of God Eightly from hence ariseth the certainty of our salvation for if Gods love was so free great when we were his enemies much more will it be so and constant also to us being reconciled to God by Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 10. What is the mercy of God It is his mind and will always most ready to succour him that is in misery or an essentiall property in God whereby he is meerly ready of himself to help his creatures in their miseries Esa. 30. 18. Lam. 3. 22. Exod. 33. 19. Why adde you this word meerly To put a difference between the mercy of God and the mercy that is in men for their mercy is not without some passion compassion or fellow-feeling of the miseries of others but the mercy of God is most perfect and effectuall ready to help at all needs of himself But seeing mercy is grief and sorrow of mind conceived at anothers miseries how can it be properly attributed to God in whom are no passions nor griefs Indeed in us mercy may be such a thing but not in God mercy was first in God and from him was derived to us and so he is called the Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1. 3. and when it came to us it was matched with many infirmities and passions but it is improperly attributed to God from our selves as though it were first in us Declare then briefly what things of perfection are signified by this word mercy in God By the name of mercy two things are signified in God properly First the mind and will ready to help and succour Secondly the help it self and succour or pity that is then shewed Where in the Scripture is mercy taken the first way Those places of Scripture are so to be understood wherein God doth call himself mercifull and saith that he is of much mercy that is he is of such a nature as is most ready to free us from our evils Where is it taken in the other sense for the effects of mercy In Rom. 9. 15. where it is said God will have mercy on whom hee will have mercy that is he will call whom he will call hee will justifie whom hee will hee will pardon whom he will and will deliver and save from all their miseries and evils whom he will and these be the effects of Gods mercies Again in Exod. 20. 6. it is so taken From whence springeth this mercy of God The essence and beeing of God is most simple without any mixture or composition and therefore in him there are not divers qualities and vertues as there be in us whereof one dependeth upon another or one differs from another but for our capacity and understanding the Scripture speaketh of God as though it were so that so we may the better perceive what manner of God and how good our God is Well then seeing the Scriptures doe speak so for our understanding let us hear whereof this mercy commeth The cause is not in us but only in God himself and
mercy in God doth spring out of his free love towards us Why doe you say out of the free love of God are there more loves in God then one There are two kinds of love in God one is wherewith the Father loveth the Son and the Son the Father and which the holy Ghost beareth towards both the Father and the Son and this love I call the naturall love of God so that the one cannot but love the other but the love wherewith he loveth us is voluntary not being constrained thereunto and therefore is called the free love of God and thereof it commeth to passe that mercy is also wholly free that is without reward or hope of recompence and excludeth all merit How prove you that the mercy of God ariseth out of his love That the love of God is the cause of his mercy it is manifest in the Scriptures 1 Tim. 1. 2. Paul saluteth Timothy in this order Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ to shew that that peace which the world cannot give the mercy of God is the cause of it and the cause of his mercy is his grace and his grace is nothing else but his free favour and love towards us The same order doth Paul observe in Titus 3. 4 5. where he saith when the goodnesse and love of God our Saviour appeareth not by the works of righteousnesse which we had done but according to his mercy he saved us First he sets down the goodnesse of God as the cause of his love Secondly his love as the cause of his mercy And thirdly his mercy as the cause of our salvation and our salvation as the effect of all and therefore there is nothing in us which may move the Lord to shew mercy upon us but only because he is goodnesse it self by nature and to this doth the Psalmist bear witnesse Psal. 100. 5. saying that the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth is from generation to generation Towards whom is the mercy of God extended or shewed For the opening of this point we are to consider that the mercy of God is twofold First generall Secondly speciall God as a God doth shew mercy generally upon all his creatures being in misery and chiefly to men whether they be just or unjust Psal. 140. 147. and so doth succour them either immediately by himself or else mediately by creatures as by Angels or Men by the Heavens by the Elements and by other living creatures and this generall mercy of God is not extended to the eternall salvation of all but is only temporary and for a while Of this read Luk. 6. 36. What say you to the speciall mercy of God That I call the speciall mercy of God which God as a most free God hath shewed to whom he would and denyed to whom he would and this pertaineth only to the elect and those which fear him Psal. 103. 11. for he sheweth mercy upon them to their eternall salvation and that most constantly while he doth effectually call them unto himself while he doth freely and truly pardon their sins and justifie them in the bloud of the Lamb Jesus Christ while he doth sanctifie them with his grace and doth glorifie them in eternall life and of this speciall mercy we may read in Eph. 2. 4 5 6. How great is the mercy of God It is so great that it cannot be expressed nor conceived of us and that is proved by these Scriptures following Ps. 145. 9. James 2. 13. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Psal. 57 10. How long doth the mercy of God continue towards us Although the mercy of God be great and infinite in Christ yet for that mercy which pardoneth our sins and calleth us to faith and repentance by the Gospel there is no place after death but onely while we live in this world which is warranted by these places ensuing Gal. 6. 10. Let us doe good whilest we have time to shew that a time will come when we shall not be able to doe good Apoc. 7. 17. Be faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life to shew that the time which is given unto death is a time of repentance and of exercising of faith and of works but after death there is no time but to receive either an immortall Crown if we have been faithfull or everlasting shame if we have been unfaithfull Besides these see Apoc. 14. 13. Mark 9. 45. Esa. ult 24. Luk. 16. 24 25 26. Mat. 15. 11 12. John 9. 4. What uses may we make of Gods mercies First it serveth to humble us for the greater mercy is in God the greater misery is in us Secondly we must attribute our whole salvation unto his mercy Thirdly we must flee to God in all our troubles with most sure confidence Fourthly we must not abuse it to the liberty of the flesh to sin although we might find mercy with God after death for the mercy of God specially appertains to those that fear him Psal. 103. 11. Fiftly the meditation of Gods mercies towards us should make us to love God Psa. 116. 1. Luk. 7. 47. fear God Psa. 130. 4. praise God Ps. 86. 12 13. 103. 2 3 4. Sixtly it must make us mercifull one to another Luk. 6. 36. Matth. 18. 32 33. What is the justice of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he is infinitely just in himself of himself for from by himself alone and none other Psalm 11. 7. What is the rule of this justice His own free will and nothing else for whatsoever he willeth is just and because he willeth it therefore it is just not because it is just therefore he willeth it Eph. 1. 11. Psal. 115. 3. Mat. 20. 15. which also may be applied to the other properties of God Explain this more particularly I say that God doth not always a thing because it is just but therefore any thing is just that is just because God will have it so and yet his will is joyned with his wisdome as for example Abraham did judge it a most just and righteous thing to kill his innocent son not by the law for that did forbid him but only because he did understand it was the speciall will of God and he knew that the will of God was not only just but also the rule of all righteousnesse That wee may the better understand this attribute declare unto mee how many manner of wayes one may be just or righteous Three manner of ways either by nature or by grace or by perfect obedience How many ways may one be just by nature Two ways First by himself and of himself in his own essence and beeing thus we say that in respect of this essentiall righteousnesse there is none just but God onely as Christ saith none is good but God only Secondly derivatively by the benefit of another to be either made righteous or born just and in
hath first redeemed us from the power of darknesse Col. 1. 13. namely that wofull and cursed estate which we had justly brought upon our selves by reason of our sins Secondly translated us into his own kingdome and glory Col. 1. 12 13. 1 Cor. 2. 9. a far more glorious and excellent estate then ever our first parents had in Paradise How hath Christ wrought this Redemption Having taken our nature upon him he hath in the same as a surety in our stead made full satisfaction to God his Father by paying all our debts and so hath set us free Heb. 7. 22. What is this debt which we owe to God that he hath paid for us This debt is twofold one is that perfect obedience which we owe unto God in regard of that excellent estate in which we were created Deut. 12. 32. The other is the punishment due unto us for our sins in transgressing and breaking Gods Covenants which is the curse of God and everlasting death Deut. 27. 26. Rom. 6. 23. Mat. 5. 17. Gal. 3. 13. 4. 4 5. 2 Cor. 5. 21. All which is contained in the law of God which is the hand-writing between God and us concerning the old Covenant Col. 2. 15. How was our Saviour to make satisfaction for this our debt 1. By performing that perfect obedience which we did owe. 2. By suffering that punishment due unto us for our sins that so he might put out the hand-writing between God and us and set us free What then be the parts of Christs obedience and satisfaction His sufferings and his righteousnesse Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. 1 Pet. 2. 24. for it was requisite that he should first pay all our debt and satisfie Gods justice Esa. 53. 5 6. Job 33. 24. by a price of infinite value 1 Tim. 2. 6. 2ly Purchase and merit for us Gods favour Eph 1. 6. and kingdome by a most absolute and perfect obedience Rom. 5. 19. By his suffering he was to merit unto us the forgivenesse of our sins and by his fulfilling the law he was to merit unto us righteousnesse both which are necessarily required for our Justification But how can one save so many Because the Manhood being joyned to the Godhead it maketh the passion and righteousnesse of Christ of infinite merit and so we are justified by a Man that is God How hath Christ made satisfaction for our sins by his suffering He endured most grievous torments both of body and soul offering up himself unto God his Father as a Sacrifice propitiatory for all our sinnes 2 Cor. 5. 21. In this oblation who was the Priest or Sacrificer None but Christ Heb. 5. 5 6. and that as he was both God and man VVho was the sacrifice Christ himself as he was man consisting of body and soul. VVhat was the Altar upon which he was offered Christ as he was God was the Altar on which he sacrificed himself Heb. 9. 14. 13. 10. Rev. 8. 3. How often was he offered Never but once Heb. 9. 28. VVhereunto was he offered Unto the shame pain torment and all miseries which are due unto us for our sins he suffering whatsoever we should have suffered and by those grievous sufferings making payment for our sins Esa. ch 53. Mat. 26. 28. VVhat profit commeth by this sacrifice By his most painfull sufferings he hath satisfied for the sins of the whole world of his elect Esa. 53. 5. 1 Pet. 2. 24. 1 John 2. 2. and appeased the wrath of his Father so that hereby we receive at onement and reconciliation with God our sins are taken away and we are freed from all those punishments of body and soul which our sins have deserved Heb. 9. 26. How commeth it then that Christ having borne the punishment of our sins the godly are yet in this world so often afflicted for them with grievous torments both of body and soul and that for the most part more then the ungodly The sufferings of the godly are not by desert any satisfaction for their sins in any part but being sanctified in the most holy sufferings of Christ they are medicines against sin neither is their affliction properly a punishment but a fatherly correction and chastisement in the world that they should not perish with the world whereas the wicked the longer they are spared and the lesse they are punished in this life their danger is the greater for God reserveth their punishment for the life to come What gather you of this That we should not grudge at the prosperity of the wicked when we are in trouble for as the sheep and kine are put in full pastures to be prepared to the Shambles so they the more they receive in this life the neerer and the heavier is their destruction in the life which is to come Jer. 12. 3. What are the more generall things which he suffered in this life Infirmities in his flesh indignities from the world and temptations from the Devill Mat. 4. 2. Joh. 4. 6 7. 8. 48. 52. Luc. 4. 2. Hitherto belong those manifold calamities which he did undergoe poverty hunger thirst wearinesse reproach c. What benefits doe the godly reap hereby All the calamities and crosses that befall them in this life are sanctified and sweetned to them so that now they are not punishments of sin but chastisements of a mercifull Father What are the more speciall things which he suffered at or upon his death The weight of Gods wrath the terrours of death sorrows of his soul and torments of his body Esa. 53. 4. 10. Mat. 26. 37 38. Luc. 22. 44. Mat. 26. 67. What learn you hence To admire and imitate the love of Christ who being the Son of God became a man of sorrows even for the good of his utter enemies Eph. 5. 2. 1 Joh. 3. 16. Rom. 5. 7 8. What did our Saviour Christ suffer in soul He drank the full cup of Gods wrath filled unto him for our sakes the whole wrath of God due to the sin of man being poured forth upon him Mat. 26. 27 28. Luc. 22. 44. Rev. 19. 15. Joh. 12. 2. Esa 53. 5. and therefore in soul he did abide most unspeakable vexations horrible griefs painfull troubles fear of mind feeling as it were the very pangs of hell into which both before and most of all when he hanged upon the Crosse he was cast which caused him before his bodily passion so grievously to complain What benefit and comfort receive you by this Hereby we have our souls everlastingly freed from Gods eternall wrath and herein are comforted because in all our grievous temptations and assaults we may stay and make sure our selves by this that Christ hath delivered us from the sorrowfull griefs and pains of hell Now for our Saviours bodily sufferings why is it said that he suffered under Pontius Pilate 1 Tim. 6. 13. For the truth of the story and fulfilling of his own prophecy foretelling his suffering under a forain
of God is so clearly laid open in the preaching of the Gospell that it needs not to be more cleare If at any time we cannot know nor understand this will of God as touching our salvation in whom is the fault The fault is in our selves and the reason is because we are carnall and naturall and destitute of the Spirit of Christ for Paul saith The carnall and naturall man cannot perceive the things of God but if the Spirit of Christ doth come and open our understanding and correct our affections we can no longer doubt of his will and therefore the Apostle immediately after addeth and saith but we have the mind of Christ. Whether is this will of God made known to every one of Gods children particularly or no Yes it is for Paul having the Spirit of Christ saith that this will of God was manifested unto him when he saith Gal. 2. 20. Christ loved me and gave himselfe for me and to the Corinthians he saith but God hath revealed them that is the joyes of heaven to us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 9. How doth this prove that we can have this knowledge Very well for if all the Elect are led by the same Spirit that Paul had it will also perswade them of this will of God as well as Paul But how prove you that they have the same Spirit That the same Spirit is given to all the elect I prove it out of the Prophet Esay who saith thus My word and my Spirit shall not depart from thy mouth nor from thy seed for ever Esa. 59. 21. which is such a blessing as no blessing can be desired in this world greater more excellent or more heavenly for when we are once armed with the knowledge of this will of God we shall passe through fire and water without any danger Esa. 43. 2. we shall overcome the world and death and triumph over our enemies as Paul did Rom. 8. 38 39. Whether are there more wills in God then one or no The will of God in some respects is but one and in some respects it is manifold How is it but one For the better determining of this point we must first consider how many significations there be of this word Will in God It signifieth the faculty or ability of willing in God and so it is God himself and the very essence of God and so his will is but one It signifieth the act it self of willing and if it be so taken it is all but one for God doth that in one and that eternall act will whatsoever he will It signifieth the free decree of his will concerning either the doing or the suffering of any thing to be done if we take it in this sense the will of God is still but one and that eternall and immutable May we call the decree of Gods will the will of God Yea very well as the Testament of one that is deceased is called the last will of the Testator because it is the firm and last decree of the Testators will and mind concerning the disposing of his goods and the Scriptures doe make the will of God and the counsell or decree of his will to be all one as appeareth in these places following Esa. 46. 10. Acts 4. 27 28. Joh. 6. 40. How is the will of God manifold There be two respects chiefly for which the will of God is said to be manifold or more then one First for the divers kinds of things which God doth will and hereof it is that it is called sometime the will of God concerning us and sometime the will of God done by us The first is his favour and love towards us in Christ Jesus in which he willeth and decreeth that we shall be saved through his Son of this Christ speaketh Joh. 6. 40. The other which he will have done of us is that which is expressed in his Word and that is to beleeve in Christ and to walk in his laws Psal. 143. 10. of which David saith thus Teach me to doe thy will because thou art my God and Paul saith Rom. 2. 18. Thou knowest his will that is his law Which is the other respect for which God is said to have many wils The will of God is said to be manifold and divers for that those things which he doth seem to will them after divers sorts and not after one and the same manner first after one manner he doth will good things and after another manner he doth will evill things Shew how that is He willeth good things properly and absolutely by themselves and for themselves he willeth evill things for another end Rom. 12. 2. and that is for good too and the first is called the good will of God and acceptable to himself the latter is called the permissive will of God or a voluntary permission in God because he is not compelled or constrained against his will to will them Again sometime he willeth simply and absolutely sometimes he seemeth to will conditionally and some things he revealeth at one time some at another and some things he doth for which he giveth a reason and the reasons of some things are secret to himself only and for ever Why then belike you grant that in God there be many wils No I deny that for although in those aforesaid respects the will of God is said to be manifold for our understanding yet for all that indeed and in truth the will of God is but one onely and that most constant eternall and perpetuall as for example he willed some things in the old Testament he hath willed other things in the new Testament yet one and the same will in God decreed both Again his will was that some things in the old Testament should last for a time that is to the comming of Christ or as the Apostle saith to the time of reformation Heb. 9. 10. But he willeth that the things of the new Testament shall last to the end of the world and yet one will in God decreed both these from everlasting Again although God seemeth to us to will some things absolutely and simply some things conditionally yet in truth to speak properly all things whatsoever God willeth he willeth absolutely and simply and whereas he is said to will some things conditionally that is to be referred to the manifestation of his will for there is not in God any conditionall will but only that which openeth his will in this or that or on this or that condition for a condition in God is against the nature of his eternall kingdome and knowledge Obj. God commandeth many things to be done which are not done so that there is a will declared in his word and there is another in him forbidding or hindering that which he commandeth in his Law and therefore there are in God many wils The things which God commandeth are of two sorts some are absolutely commanded without any condition expressed or concealed as that Moses should
9. Whether is grace properly attributed to God in the second sense or no Yea most properly for God doth justifie us that is he doth account us for just through his Sonne Jesus Christ and that of his free grace and favour without any desert of our parts or any thing in us Rom. 3. 20. 24. 4. 16. What be the causes of this grace or favour of God The efficient cause is his goodnesse and free will the finall cause cause thereof is the salvation of his chosen children and the glory of himselfe and of his Son Christ Jesus What be the effects of Gods grace to us wards In generall the grace of God whereof there is no cause in us but onely his own goodnesse and will is the first cause the middle cause and the the last cause and the onely cause of all that belongs to our salvation Rom. 9. 11. And particularly it is the cause of our Election of our Redemption of the sending of Christ into the world of our Calling of the preaching of the Gospell Eph. 1. 4. John 3. 11. 34. Rom. 5. 8. It was the cause why the Apostles were called to the preaching of the Gospell Gal. 1. 15 16. Eph. 3. 8. 9. It is the cause of our Faith of the forgivenesse of our sinnes of our whole justification of our regeneration of our renovation of our love to God and our neighbour of the Holy Ghost in us of our good works of our obedience of our perseverance of the feare of God of eternall life and of life it selfe 2 Tim. 1. 9. Phil. 2. 13. Rom. 12. 6. 1 Cor. 12. 9. Rom. 3. 24. Tit. 3. 5. 1 John 4. 9. Ezek. 36. 27. Jerem. 32. 40. and in a word the begining the continuance and the accomplishment of our whole salvation doth depend wholly upon the grace and favour of God and what good thing soever we have or have had or may have belonging either to this life or to the life to come is to be attributed wholly to the grace and favour of God What is the love of God It is an essentiall property in God whereby he loves himselfe above all and others for himselfe 1 John 4. 16. Rom. 5. 8. John 3. 16. Tit. 3. 4. Mal. 1. 2 3. What learn you from hence That wee should love him dearely and other things for him That we may the better know what the love of God is declare first what love is in our selves It is a passion of the mind whereby we are so affected towards the party whom we love that we are rather his then our own forgetting our selves to doe him good whom we so love And is love such a thing in God No the true love of God is not such as our love is What difference is there There is great difference two wayes First in time for love was in God before it was in us or in any thing created for he loved himselfe and us also before the world was John 17. 23. Secondly they differ in nature and quality for that love which is in God is most perfect and pure Rom. 9. 13. without passion but in us it is imperfect and matched with passions with impure affections and grief of the mind After what manner doth the Scripture expresse the love of God In the Scriptures God doth compare himselfe to a father and to a mother loving their children to a hen gathering her chickens together under her wings to a good shepherd seeking up his sheep and to divers other things And wherefore serve these comparisons They are for our profit two wayes First to shew us that Gods love towards us is most vehement and sincere Secondly to make us bold in coming to him and calling upon him so for this love Christ Jesus calleth us by all the names of love as his servants his kinsmen his friends his spouse his brethren and by many names moe to shew that he loveth us with all loves the fathers love the mothers love the masters love the husbands love the brothers love c. and if all loves were put together yet his love exceedeth them all for all could not doe so much for us as he alone hath done If love doth not signifie any affection or passion in God as it doth in us what then doth it signifie In God it signifieth three things most perfect first the eternall good will of God towards some body for the love of God supposed towards the Elect is his everlasting good will or his purpose and determination to shew them mercy to doe them good and to save them as in Rom. 9. 11. 13. Secondly the effects themselves of his love or good will whether they be temporall concerning this life or eternall concerning the life to come as in the 1 John 3. 1. Thirdly the pleasure and delight which he taketh in that which he loveth and so it is taken in Psal. 45. 7. 23. What things doth God love besides himselfe Besides himselfe God loveth all things else whatsoever he made but he loveth not sinne and iniquity for he never made it as Saint John saith 1 John 2. 16. Again he loveth his Son being manifested in the flesh and he loveth his chosen children for his Sons sake with whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. last verse Obj. 1. The Scripture saith that God doth hate all that work iniquity how then can God both hate and love one and the same man In every wicked man we must consider two things First His nature Secondly his sinne His nature is the work of God and that he loveth but his iniquity is not of God and that he hateth Obj. 2. God doth afflict his children therefore he doth not love them Whom he loveth he correcteth and therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them even as a gold-smith tryeth his gold in the fire because he loveth it Whether doth God love all alike or no No he preferreth mankind before all his other creatures for which cause God is called Philanthropos that is a lover of men and this appeareth by three effects of his love First he made him according to his own Image that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse Gen. 1. 26. Eph. 4. 24. Secondly he made him Lord over all his creatures Psal. 8. 5 6. Thirdly he gave his own Son to death for his ransom Doth God love all men alike No for he loveth his Elect better then the Reprobate for the Elect he calleth effectually by his Spirit in their hearts when he calleth others but by the outward voyce of the Gospell c. Again amongst the Elect themselves some are actually wicked and not yet reconciled nor called as was Paul before his conversion but the rest are called and already made holy by Faith in Christ as Paul was after his conversion and of these he loveth the latter sort with a greater measure of love then the former as the Scripture testifieth in Prov. 8. 17. What manner of love doth God beare
the unity of the Godhead But doe you not beleeve the Godhead is to be divided whilst you beleeve that in one God are three persons No not divided into divers essences but distinguished unto divers persons for God cannot be divided into severall natures nor into severall parts and therefore must the persons which subsist in that one essence be onely distinct and not separate one from another as in the example of the Sun the beames and the heat What be those resemblances that are commonly brought to shadow out unto us the mystery of the Trinity First the Sun begetteth his own beams and from thence proceeds light and heat and yet is none of them before another otherwise then in consideration of order and relation that is to say that the beams are begotten of the body of the Sun and the light and heat proceed from both Secondly from one flame of fire proceed both light and heat and yet but one fire Thirdly in waters there is the well-head and the spring boyling out of it and the stream flowing from them both and all these are but one water and so there are there persons in one Godhead yet but one God Fourthly in man the understanding cometh from the soul and the will from both May it be collected by naturall reason that there is a Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the God-head No for it is the highest mystery of Divinity and the knowledge thereof is most proper to Christians for the Turkes and Jewes doe confesse one God-head but no distinction of persons in the same How come we then by the knowledge of this mystery God hath revealed it in the holy Scriptures unto the faithfull What have we to learn of this That those are deceived who think this mystery is not sufficiently delivered in the Scripture but dependeth upon the tradition of the Church That sith this is a wonderfull mystery which the Angels doe adore we should not dare to speak any thing in it farther then we have warrant out of the word of God yea we must tye our selves almost to the very words of the Scripture lest in searching we exceed and goe too farre and so be overwhelmed with the glory How doth it appear in the holy Scripture that the three Persons are of that divine nature By the divine names that it giveth to them as Jehovah c. By ascribing divine attributes unto them as Eternity Almightinesse c. By attributing divine works unto them as creation sustentation and governing of all things By appointing divine worship to be given unto them What speciall proofes of the Trinity have you out of the old Testament First the Father is said by his word to have made the world the Holy Ghost working and maintaining them as it were sitting upon them as the hen doth on the egges she hatcheth Gen. 1. 2 3. Gen. 1. 26. The Trinity speaketh in the plurall number Let us make man in our Image after our likenesse Gen. 19. 24. Jehovah is said to rain upon Sodom from Jehovah out of heaven that is the Sonne from the Father or the Holy Ghost from both 2 Sam. 23. 2. The Spirit of Jehovah or the Lord spake by me and his Word by my tongue there is Jehovah the Father with his Word or Sonne and Spirit Prov. 30. 4. What is his name and what is his Sonnes name if thou canst tell Isa. 6. 3. The Angels in respect of the three Persons doe cry three times Holy Holy Holy Isa. 42. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soule delighteth I have put my Spirit up on him Hag. 2. 5. The Father with the Word and his Spirit make a Covenant What are the proofes out of the new Testament As all other doctrines so this is there more cleare as Matth. 3. 16. 17. at the Baptisme of Christ the Father from heaven witnesseth of the Sonne the Holy Ghost appearing in the likenesse of a Dove John Baptist saw the Sonne in his assumed nature going out of the water there is one Person he saw the Holy Ghost descending like a Dove upon him there is another Person and he heard a voyce from heaven saying This is my beloved Son there is a third Person Matth. 17. 5. At the transfiguration the Father in like manner speaketh of his Son Matth. 28. 19. We are baptized into the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost John 14. 16. 26. 15. 26. 16. 13 14 15. The Father and Son promise to send the Holy Ghost Luke 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Acts 2. 33. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which you now see and heare 2 Cor. 13 14. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts Tit. 3. 4 5 6. God saved us by the washing of the new birth and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour What clear proof have you that these three are but one God and so that there is a Trinity in Vnity 1 Joh. 5. 7. It is expresly said there are three that bear Record in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one What learn you of that the Apostle saith they are three Wee learne that the word Trinity although it bee not expresly set down in the word yet it hath certaine ground from thence What learn you of that that they are said to be three witnesses The singular fruit that is in the Trinity of persons in one unity of the Godhead whereby great assurance is brought unto us of all things that God speaketh in promise or threat seeing it is all confirmed by three witnesses against whom no exception lyeth What are they said here to witnesse That God hath given eternall life unto us and that this life is in that his Sonne 1 John 5. 11. How are these being three said to be but one They are one in substance beeing or essence but three persons distinct in subsistence Acts 20. 28. 1 Cor. 12. 4 5. Deut. 6. 4. Mark 12. 32. 1 Cor. 8. 4 5 6. Joh. 14. 16. 15. 26. 17. 1. If three persons among men be propounded whereof every one is a man can it be said that these three are but one man No but we must not measure Gods matters by the measure of reason much lesse this which of all others is a mystery of mysteries For the better understanding of this mystery declare unto me what a person is in generall and then what a person in the Trinity is
Secondly in men the thing which is understood and the understanding it self is not all one but in God it is all one What reason have you for this The reason is because only God is altogether life and his life is altogether understanding and his understanding is the highest degree of life and therefore he hath his conceiving and begetting most inward of all What mean you when you say most inward of all I mean that the Father conceiveth of himself and in himself and his conceiving is a begetting and his begetting abideth still in himself because his understanding can no where meet with any thing but that which he himself is and that is the second subsistence in the Trinity which we call Everlasting Son of God Now let me hear what the holy Ghost is and how he proceedeth from the Father and the Son For the understanding of this matter wee must consider two things First that in the essence of God besides his understanding there is a will Secondly what be the properties of this will in God Esa. 46. 10. What are the properties of Gods will First it applieth his power when where and how he thinks good according to his own mind Secondly it worketh everlastingly upon it self as his understanding doth What doe you gather by this That because it hath no other thing to work upon but it self it doth delight it self in the infinite good which it knoweth in it self for the action of the will is delight and liking And what of that That delight which God or his will hath in his own infinite goodnesse doth bring forth a third Person or subsistence in God which we call The holy Ghost What is that same third subsistence in God The mutuall kindnesse and lovingnesse of the Father and the Son What mean you by this mutuall lovingnesse and kindnesse The Father taketh joy and delight in the Son or his own Image conceived by his understanding and the Son likewise rejoyceth in his Father as he saith himself and the reason thereof is this the action of the will when it is fulfilled is love and liking What resemblance can you shew thereof in some thing that is commonly used amongst us When a man looketh in a glasse if he smile his image smileth too and if he taketh delight in it it taketh the same delight in him for they are both one If they be all one then there are not three beeings The face is one beeing the image of the face in a glasse is another beeing and the smiling of them both together is a third beeing and yet all are in one face and all are of one face and all are but one face And is it so in God Yea for even so the understanding which is in God is one beeing the reflection or image of his understanding which he beholdeth in himself as in a glasse is a second beeing and the love and liking of them both together by reason of the will fulfilled is a third beeing in God and yet all are but of one God all are in one God and all are but one God Which of these three is first There is neither first nor last going afore or comming after in the essence of God but all these as they are everlasting so they are all at once and at one instant even as in a glasse the face and the image of the face when they smile they smile together and not one before not after another What is the conclusion of all As we have the Son of the Father by his everlasting will in working by his understanding so also we have the holy Ghost of the love of them both by the joint working of the understanding and will together whereupon we conclude three distinct Persons or in-beeings which we call the Father the Son and the holy Ghost in one spirituall yet unspeakable substance which is very God himself But what if some will be yet more curious to know how the Son of God should be begotten and how the holy Ghost should proceed from the Father and the Son how may we satisfie them Well enough for if any will be too curious about this point we may answer them thus Let them shew us how themselves are bred and begotten and then let them aske us how the Son of God is begotten and let them tell us the nature of the spirit that beateth in their pulses and then let them be inquisitive at our hands for the proceeding of the holy Ghost And what if they cannot give us a reason for the manner of their own beeing may they not be inquisitive for the manner of Gods beeing No for if they must be constrained to be ignorant in so common matters which they daily see and feel in themselves let them give us leave to be ignorant not only in this but in many things moe which are such as no eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor wit of man can conceive Let us now hear out of the Scriptures what the holy Ghost is He is the third Person of the Trinity by communication of essence eternally proceeding from the Father and from the Son Are you able to prove out of the Scripture that the holy Ghost is God Yes because the many properties and actions of God are therein given to him as to the Father and to the Son Let us hear some of those proofs 1t. Gen. 1. 2. the work of Creation is attributed to the Spirit of God 2ly Esa. 61. 1. the Spirit of the Lord God is said to be upon Christ because the Lord anointed him c. 3ly 1 Cor. 3. 17. and 2 Cor. 6. 16. Paul calleth us Gods Temples because the Holy Ghost dwelleth in us Saint Augustine in his 66. Epistle to Maximinus saith it is a cleare argument of his God-head if we were commanded to make him a Temple but of timber and stone because that worship is due to God only therefore now we must much more think that he is God because we are not cōmanded to make him a temple but to be a temple for him our selves What other reason have you out of the Scripture Peter reproving Ananias for lying to the Holy Ghost said that he lyed not to men but to God Acts 5. 3 4. Have you any more reasons from the Scripture Yea two more one from Saint Paul and another from Saint Paul and Esay together What is your reason from Saint Paul When he sheweth how many sundry gifts are given to men he saith that one and the selfe-same Spirit is the distributer of them all therefore he is God for none can distribute those gifts which Paul speaks of but God 1 Cor. 12. ver 6. 11. What is your reason from Esay and Saint Paul together Esay saith in the Chapter 6. 9. I heard the Lord speaking which place Paul expoundeth of the Holy Ghost Acts 28. 25. But how can you prove out of the Scriptures that the Holy Ghost is God proceeding from
he hath a warrant for his action from the Commandement of God 3. He that doth them must not only have a warrant for his action and know that it is lawfull but he must also doe it in that manner which God hath appointed 4. He that doth them must be perswaded in his heart that God alloweth them 5. They must be done to that holy end for which God hath commanded them namely to glorifie God and to assure our owne salvation Cannot all men doe good works No but only the regenerate who are for that purpose created anew and indued in some measure with the spirit of Christ and power of his resurrection and carry the Image of God in them Ephes. 2. 10. 2 Tim. 2. 21. What say you then of the good works of the unregenerate They doe no good works because they neither are as yet members of Christ nor doe offer them to God in the name of Christ and therefore are the evill Tree which bringeth forth only evill fruit Mat. 7. 17 c. Jer. 13. 23. Is there no difference between those unregenerate which keep themselves to their owne wives and those that take other mens Or between him that stealeth and him that liveth of his owne labour though not converted Yes verily For the former actions are civilly good and profitable for maintenance of the society of men and before God not so abominable as they which are committed against civill honesty yet comming from some other cause either of vain-glory or of servile feare or opinion of merit then from faith and consequently the love of God they are no better then sins what shew of goodnesse soever they have Is there no concurrence of nature in the doing of a good worke Taking nature in the common sense of Scripture for that hereditary corruption that cleaveth to all the sons of Adam Eph. 2. 3. 1 Cor. 2. 14. no good worke hath any ground or help from nature but is altogether contrary thereto Rom 8. 7. But if we understand by nature as Rom. 2. 14. the created abilities of soule and body as the light of reason liberty of the will motion of the bodily members c. we acknowledge nature not to be the principall mover or guide Mat. 16. 17. but the things moved and guided by grace in well doing 1 Thes. 5. 23. Doe not our good works make us worthy of eternall life or in some part justifie us or any whit merit and deserve the favour of God No because 1. We are ten thousand times more indebted to God then all our good works or our selves are worth 2. We can doe no good thing but that which commeth from God 3. The righteousnesse which is able to stand in the judgement of God must be perfect in all respects but in many things we sin all And againe our best works are imperfect corrupt and defiled with sin and therefore can deserve nothing at the hands of God who being perfect righteousnesse it selfe will find in the best works we doe more matter of damnation then of salvation wherefore we must rather condemne our selves for our good works then looke to be justified before God thereby Ps. 143. 2. Isa. 64. 6. Iob. 9 3. Is there no works of man perfectly good No worke of a sinfull man is wholly free from sin neither is there any good worke perfect no not of the most perfect in this life by reason of the remainders of corruption Isa 64. 6. Gal. 5. 17. but only the worke of Christ in whom alone there was no mixture of sin 1 Pet. 2. 22. But when our Sanctification here begun shall be perfected in the world to come shall we not then be justified by an inherent righteousnesse No but by the imputed righteousnesse of our Saviour Christ which being once given us is never taken away from us How is pollution conveyed into the good works which God worketh in us There is besides the worke of his owne hand through the operation of his holy Spirit a pollution in us and an infection of ours which commeth from the sin that dwelleth in us as cleare water put into an uncleane vessell or running through a filthy channell receiveth some evill quality thereof Wherein doe our good works faile of Gods Iustice Partly in the instrumentall causes from which they proceed and partly in the finall cause or end whereunto they ayme What are the instrumentall causes hindring the perfection of our worke 1. Our understanding in that the worke is not done with knowledge absolute and throughly perfect 2. Our memory in that our remembrance is infeebled and doth not so fully retaine that which the understanding conceiveth 3. Our will and affections in that they are short of their duty 4. Our body in that it is not so apt and nimble for the execution of good things as is required Expresse this by a similitude We are in the instrumentall causes like to a common Labourer which being hired by the day worketh with one hand whereas both are required or worketh a peece of the day being hired for the whole What is the finall end wherein good works faile In that we have not so direct an eye to Gods glory or the good of our neighbour as is required but looke asquint as it were at those duties which are injoyned us Like to those Artificers who preferre their owne credit in their skill before their Masters profit If then it be so that sin cleaveth to our best works and maketh them sin are not our good works sin and are not all evill works equall No doubtlesse be it far from us to thinke it For their imperfection is sinfull but the good worke is not a sin and even in bad actions as hath been said some are better that is lesse evill and hurtfull then others But seeing our works are thus corrupt how can they please God and why doth he promise a reward unto them First the reward that God doth promise is not for the desert of our works but of his owne grace and mercy Secondly the corruption and pollution that cleaveth unto our good works is taken away by the intercession of our Saviour Christ for whose sake God covering the imperfection accepteth and accounteth of and so rewardeth them as if they were perfect 1 Pet. 2. 5. Exod. 28. 36 37 38. What Doctrine is hence to be gathered A Doctrine of great comfort to the children of God to stir them up to abound in good works sith they are so acceptable to God and Christ Iesus for when men know any thing to be delightsome to their Prince they will withall endeavour strive for it how much more then ought we to be pricked forward to the service of God who quencheth not the smoaking Flaxe nor breaketh the bruised Reed Matth. 12. 20. yea which forgetteth not a cup of cold water given in faith and for his sake Matth. 10. 42. Declare now the ends for which good works are to be done 1.
the bloud of Christ himselfe Thus much of the matter of this Sacrament wherein consisteth the forme thereof Partly in the outward actions both of the Minister and of the receiver partly in the inward and spirituall things signified thereby these outward actions being a second seale set by the Lords owne hand unto his covenant What be the Sacramentall actions of the Minister in the Lords Supper Foure First to take the bread and wine into his hand and to separate it from ordinarie bread and wine What doth this signifie That God in his eternall decree hath separated Christ from all other men to be our Mediator and that he was set apart to that office and separated from sinners Exod. 12. 5. Heb. 7. 26. What is the second To blesse and consecrate the bread and wine by the Word and Prayer What doth that signifie That God in his due time sent Christ into the world and sanctified him furnishing him with all gifts needfull for a Mediator How are the Bread and Wine to be blessed and consecrated By doing that which at the first institution Christ did What is that 1. He declared the Doctrine of the mystery of the Sacrament unto his Apostles which received it by teaching the truth of that which these outward signes did signifie 2. He thanked his heavenly Father for that he had so loved the world that he gave him which was his only Son to die for it through the breaking of his most holy Body and the shedding his most precious bloud Also he gave him thanks for that he had ordained these outward elements to seale our spirituall nourishment in Christ. 3. By a trope of the chiefe part of Prayer which is Thanksgiving for the whole the Evangelist giveth to understand that our Saviour Christ sued to God his heavenly Father that his death in it selfe sufficient to save might by the working of his holy Spirit be effectuall to the elect and that those outward signes of bread and wine might through the operation of his holy Spirit be effectuall to the purposes they were ordained unto How shall it be knowne that he gave thanks and prayed for these things seeing there is no mention of these things in the Evangelists 1. The very matter it selfe that is handled doth guide us to the knowledge of these things 2. The like manner of speech in other places of Scripture where there being no mention what words he used yet must needs be granted that he gave thanks and prayed proportionably to the prayer and thanks here used For taking the Barley loaves and Fishes and giving thanks what can be understood but that he giving thanks to God that had given those creatures for their bodily nourishment prayed that he would blesse them and make them effectuall to that purpose and end Mat. 14. 14. and 15. 36. John 6. 11. And as it is not lawfull to eat and drinke the common meat and drinke without such prayer and thanksgiving so is it not lawfull to communicate these elements without thanksgiving and prayer So much for the second Action which the Minister indeed performeth with the Communicants but yet as chiefe in the action What is the third To breake the Bread and poure out the Wine What doth it signifie The passion and sufferings of Christ with all the torments he endured for our sins both in body and soule his blessed body being bruised and crucified his precious bloud shed trickling and streaming downe from him to all parts of the ground and his righteous soule powred out unto death Isa. 53. 5. 10. 12. Heb. 9. 14. That Christ himselfe of his owne accord offered his body to be broken and his bloud to be shed upon the Crosse And that as the Bread nourisheth not if it remaine whole and unbroken so there is no life for us in Christ but in as much as he died What is the fourth To give and distribute the Bread and VVine to the Receiver What doth that signifie That God giveth Christ and Christ himselfe to us That Christ Iesus with all his merits is offered to all sorts of Receivers and that God hath given him to the faithfull Receivers to feed their soules unto eternall life John 3. 14 15. 6. 50 51. What be the Sacramentall Actions of the Receivers They be two First to take the bread and wine offered by the Minister What doth that signifie The receiving of Christ into our soules with all his benefits by faith That they and only they have benefit by Christ crucified which thus apply Christ to themselves by a true and lively faith John 1. 12. What is the second To eat the bread and drinke the wine receiving them into the body and digesting them 1 Cor. 11. 26. VVhat doth that signifie Our uniting to Christ and enjoying of him that we must with delight apply Christ and his merits to all the necessities of our soules spiritually feeding upon him and groaning by him For the eating of the bread to strengthen our nature betokeneth the inward strengthening of our soules by grace through the merit of the breaking of Christs body for us and the drinking of the wine to cherish our bodies betokens that the bloud of Christ shed upon the Crosse and as it were drunke by faith cherisheth our soules And as God doth blesse these outward elements to preserve and strengthen the body of the receiver so Christ apprehended and received by faith doth nourish him and preserve both body and soule unto eternall life John 6. 50 51. 1 Cor. 10. 3. 11. 16 17. Is Christs body and bloud together with the outward elements received of all Communicants No for howsoever they be offered by God to all Matth. 26. 26. yet are they received by such alone as have the hand of faith to lay hold on Christ and these with the bread and wine doe spiritually receive Christ with all his saving graces As for the wicked and those that come without faith they receive onely the outward elements 1 Cor. 11. 27. and withall judgement and condemnation to themselves verse 29. So much for the matter and forme Shew now the speciall ends and uses for which the Lords Supper was ordained 1. To call to minde and renew the memory and vertue of Christs death 1 Cor. 11. 24. 2. To encrease our faith begotten by the Word preached and to confirme unto us our nourishment onely thereby by the means of Christs death 3. To encrease our love 4. To encrease our joy in the holy Ghost our peace of conscience our hope of eternall life and all other graces of God in us 5. To stirre us up with greater boldnesse to professe Christ then heretofore we had done 6. To quicken our hearts to all holy duties 7. To shew our thankfulnesse to God for his mercie bestowed upon us in Christ. 8. To make a difference betwixt our selves and the enemies of Christ. 9. To knit us more neere in good will one to
another 10. To preserve the publike Ministery of the Word and Prayer in Christian assemblies Who are to be partakers in this Sacrament All baptized who are of yeeres and sound judgement to discerne the Lords body ought to repaire to this Sacrament But those onely come worthily who professing the true faith have duely examined and prepared themselves Esa. 66. 23. 1 Cor. 11. 27 28. whereby all not of age and sound judgement are shut from his Sacrament which are not alwayes from the other of Baptisme May none be admitted by the Church to the Supper of the Lord but such as have these things in them which God requireth at their hands Yes those who having knowledge doe make profession of Religion and are found guilty of no great error or crime unrepented of What if any thrust themselves to the Lords Table who are ignorant or guilty of such crimes They are to be kept back by the discipline of the Church What is to be performed by every Christian that he may worthily partake of the Lords Supper There must be a carefull preparation before the action great heed in the whole action and a joyfull and thankfull cloze and shutting of it All which must be performed as well by the Minister as the people For there is great difference betwixt our Saviour Christ the first deliverer of this Sacrament and all other Ministers he having no battel of the Spirit and flesh in him but being always prepared unto every good worke had no need of these things but other Ministers have as much need thereof as the people How are we to prepare our selves to this Sacrament By due search and triall of our own soules whether we can finde in our selves the things which God doth require in worthy Communicants How may we performe that By fitting our mindes framing our hearts thereunto 1 Cor. 10. 15 16 11. 28 How may we sit our mindes By examining our wisdome and knowledge both of Gods will in generall and of the nature and use of this holy Sacrament in particular whether we can give a reason of the representation of Christ in bread and wine and bring the resemblance and difference of the proportion of the bread and wine with the body and bloud of Christ and of the eating and drinking of the elements with the partaking of the spirituall things Rom. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 10. 3. and 4. 16 17. How may our hearts be framed for the feeling of the vertue and power of this Sacrament 1. By weighing with our selves what need we have of it and what benefit we may reape by it 2. By examining of our faith 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 15. and repentance Heb. 10. 22. Iames 4. 8. attended with true love of God Zach. 12. 10. and of our brethren 1 Cor. 16. 14. 3. By servent invocation praying for a blessing upon this Ordinance of God Matth. 26 26. How may we finde what need we have of this Sacrament Partly by our wretched estate by nature and partly by our weak estate by grace What may we finde by our estate by nature That being prone to all evill we had need of this Sacrament to nourish and preserve the life of grace new begun which otherwise by our own corruption might dye or decay in us 1 Cor. 10. 16. What need have we of this Sacrament for reliefe of our weak estate by grace That being weak in understanding and feeble in memory we may by the signes of Bread and Wine have our understanding bettered and memory confirmed in the death of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 24 26. What further need may we finde of it That being fraile in faith and cold in love we may by the same creatures as by seales and pledges have our faith further strengthned and our love more enflamed to God and Gods children What benefit then may we reape by the Lords Supper We see already that the benefit is great this Sacrament being as a glasse for the mind a monument for the memory a support of faith a provocation to love a quickning to obedience and a signe and seal of all the mercies of God in Christ Iesus How must the heart be prepared to finde the power of this Sacrament for supply of these wants and obteining of these benefits The heart must be purged by repentance and purified by faith 1 Cor. 10. 14 16. 21. Acts 15. 9. How may the heart be purified by faith If I have not only knowledge what Christ hath done for his chosen but a full assurance that whatsoever he hath done he hath done it for me as well as for any other 1 Cor. 2. 2. Iohn 17. 3. Gal. 2. 20. What gather you hence That they onely are to present themselves at the Lords Table who after their baptisme are able to make a profession of the true faith and can finde that they truly believe in Christ seeing ignorant and unbelieving persons do rather eat and drink their own judgement than reap any benefit by this Sacrament 1 Cor. 11. 29 30 31. How may thy heart be purged by repentance If from my heart I do repent of my particular sins past and judge my selfe for them bewailing and forsaking them and frame the rest of my life according to Gods will 1 Cor. 11. 30 31. Gal. 6. 16. What learne you hence That it is dangerous for such as remaine in their old sins or after the Sacrament return unto them once to offer themselves to the Lords Table forasmuch as by this means they procure the wrath of God against them and those that belong unto them although not in condemnation in the world to come which the faithfull notwithstanding their unworthy receiving cannot come unto yet to fearefull plagues and judgements in this world It is not meet that we be free from all malice in our hearts when we come to the Lords Supper Yes it is for this Sacrament is a seal both of our conjunction with Christ and of our society one with another 1 Cor. 10. 17. and we must know that true repentance purgeth out malice amongst other sins and a sound faith worketh by love towards God and out Brethren Mat. 5. 22 23. Iames 1. 19 20 21. 1 Pet. 2. 1. Gal. 5. 6. So much for examination and preparation required before the action What is to be done by the communicant in the present action 1. They are to use reverent attention the better to apply the whole action harkning to the doctrine of the Sacrament delivered by the Minister joyning with him in his prayers making use of all the sacramentall actions and so commemorating the Lords death for the comfort and refreshing of their own souls 1 Cor. 11. 17. 26. 2. According as it is commanded all must take the Bread and Wine into their hands contrary to the superstition of divers which will have it thrust either into their mouthes or else take it with their gloves as if the hand of a Christian which God