Hezekiah his Passeover in the second moneth 2 Chron. 30. Many in the Congregation were not sanctified vers 17. Many came out of the Tribes of Israel which had not cleansed themselves they did eat the Passeover otherwise than it was written vers 18. Here you see it was not so well as it ought but it was as well as it could at that time and therefore Hezekiah pray'd The good Lord pardon every one that prepares his heart to seek God though he be not according to the purification of the Sanctuary and the Lord healed the people vers 20. And therefore to speak more particularly to the point I cannot counsel but bewail the intermission of the Lords Supper in such Churches where there are a number of worthy Communicants at least visibly though there be no power of juridical exclusion of the unworthy The Helvetian or Switzerland Churches claim to be Churches and have the notes of Word and Sacraments though this order of Discipline be not setled among them and I am not he that shall blot out their name There is an expresse command Do this and a very great obligation There is an excellent benefit of this Ordinance which if it stirre up the thirst of Gods people to desire or rather claim it at the Ministers hand I see no ground for the refusal I know the Sacraments of ordinary Use were intermitted in the wildernesse wholly or mostly and they were recompensed with extraordinary 1 Cor. 10. but that arose on another occasion than this I speak of for alas How many Churches in England or if you will good Christians in them shall everlastingly be deprived of this high Ordinance and the benefit of it shall lie under the temptation of separation shall lose this mark of a Church and shall in effect be equally debarred of this Communion with Christ as wicked men are and that also not for any default of theirs but for their unhappiness of being planted in a Vineyard that wants a wall or hedge § 3 2. A particular Church having administration of the Word and Sacraments is not bound alwayes to want a hedge pale or door unto the Supper of the Lord in case the Civil Power is not pleased to intermeddle or interpose in these affairs but are as I conceive bound to Use all warrantable means to preserve their society from infection and scandal and the Ordinance from undue invasion by giving up themselves to such inspection as God hath entrusted it with and themselves have chosen and by associating themselves with other Churches of God that the unity may be preserved of the body of Christ for the Arch is firm by the mutual support of the stones and their joyning to the top-stone For the Church is a body or society with which God hath deposited his Ordinances and given it power to meet and assemble themselves together for performance of them and it were a wonder that they should not have a power of exercising them in a right manner I do not arrogate unto the Church any the least power of outward force or coercion for that belongs to him that bears the Sword who if he do not give effect to the censures of the Church yet they have their effect by the consent of the Church it self Ex Disciplina confederata as they say which is that by which he that consents to be of that body is subject to the Laws and Rules of it and is cut off if he prove a rotten member To give light to this point How stood the Discipline of Synagogues from which I am apt to think our Christian Churches took much of their pattern They had a power to discommon their own members and it seems to me that their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or agreement among themselves was that which gave effect to their censures Joh 9. 22. And what is the government of Colledges Corporations and petty Courts in Countrey-villages where the by-Laws and amerciaments and penalties are by agreement north warting the municipal Laws of the Commonwealth He that will enjoy the priviledges and freedoms of such a body must be subject to the Rules and Laws of that society and so the Christian Churches under Heathen Emperours could do no more but disfranchize their own members from the priviledges of the Church of which body they had by their own consent come in to be members and so submitted themselves to them The Emperours gave not this power to the Church but God who gave them his great Charter to be a City and Corporation of his own did eo ipso give them this power without which they might be a Cyclops den or chaos but not a regular Society And upon this ground as I conceive the Apostle reproves the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6. 1 Cor. 5. for not doing those things to prevent scandal which they were impowred and enabled to have done as a Church of Christians And if any man had been of such stomack or disposition in those times as not to have cared a straw for those Church-censures so long as the Civil power toucht him not in purse body liberty it was enough to proclaim him fitter for to be a Heathen than a Christian For it 's admirable to consider as it is most evident That a Church censure a Suspension from the Communion of the Church wrought more sorrow and trouble and heart-breaking than the fire and faggot of the persecution In conclusion and upon the whole matter as he said of the Romans they must redire ad casas return to their poor shepherd cottages again So I say that in case of this necessity when the Civil power contributes not assistance or furtherance to the Church she must consider the case of the primitive Churches and what intrinsecally belongs to her to do as a corporation or body of Gods making with no other power of self preservation from scandals of members but purging them out nor from injuries of forreiners but suffering § 4 3. Every particular member of the Church ought to withdraw or refrain from such conversation with a scandalous brother as may either give occasion of scandal to others or infection to himself The Apostle allows civil commerce or entercourse with Heathens and Infidels if we live among them and the bonds of natural and civil relations or duties must not be violated on pretence of Christianity but an arbitrary familiar and intimate society or fellowship with them that live or act scandalously doth but soil our selves harden them offend sober Christians It 's a caution much inculcate in Scripture Withdraw from every brother that walks disorderly 2 Thess 3. 6. Have no company with them that they may be ashamed vers 14. Turn away from such wicked formalists as have no power of godlinesse and under the form of it are so wicked 2 Tim. 3. 5. With a brother that 's scandalous no not to eat 1 Cor. 5. 9 12 Them that caUse divisions and scandals mark and avoid them Rom. 16.
odium and terrour of the former point This settles and quiets all mistakes of them For God is not the Authour of confusion but of order and peace in all the Churches of the Saints 1 Cor. 14. 33. Let all things be done in order ver 40. And therefore the Apostle when he had enjoyned Timothy To rebuke them that sinne before all that others may fear 1 Tim. 5. 10. doth in the next words lay a serious charge upon him To Observe these things without preferring one before another and to do nothing by partiality Would you call that a well-govern'd City a well-order'd hoUse or rather a Cycleps den where every one may cast out another and he himself as the Rabbies in the latter end of the Jewish State ridiculously excommunicated one the other As promiscuous accesse is not to be allowed so neither promiscuous denial As one may intrude and usurp the Lords Supper rashly so he may be as rashly forbidden As there is an ignorant and scandalous rushing in so there is an ignorant and scandalous thrusting out The door may be open'd and shut both errante clave If I say that a gangren'd leg or arm may and must sometimes be cut off Doth it follow that for every sore before healing plaisters be Used we must runne to the Knife or Axe Or if I say a robber or murderer may be put to death must I therefore have him to the next tree without further trial or judgement The case is plain but particularly handled thus 1. It cannot be denied to a repentant sinner one that doth renew his purpose of amendment and after his fall with Peter bewails it bitterly whatsoever his sins have been for which he hath been punisht or censured Repentance doth dissolve the bands and pull away the barre from the door repentance prevents the punishment I le cast them into great tribulation except they repent as it prevents so it restores a man as Ezek. 18. 30. Repent so iniquity shall not be your ruine This was the Novatian rigour and errour they would not allow lapsed Christians that had fallen into sinne the benefit of repentance and restoring to the holy Table but leave them to Gods mercy for to the peace and communion of the Church they must not return But the Orthodox Churches did allow repentance to be medicinal Yea the very Church-censures were not intended to be mortal but to be medicinal viz. that sinne might be destroyed but the soul saved 1 Cor. 5. 5. and here is a difference between civil sentences of death and Church-censures If a man be condemned to die for felony his repentance doth not acquit or restore him from the sentence of death but it restores a man to his Church-priviledge that had lost it it is Tabula post naufragium like a plank or board after a Shipwrack which saves from drowning him that gets to it Object Some may object That this is an obvious and easie Engine to open any door that is shut for if a man make a verbal profession of his repentance and say I repent of my sins and that is to my self you know not my heart I demand my right Answ The Discipline of the Church is not to be exposed to mockery nor is it a meer external Pageant I will know saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 20. not the speech of them that are puffed up but the power For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power Hypocritical and superficial expressions signifie nothing but the powerfull work of grace and regeneration which changes the heart and becaUse the Objection may be made by some ex animo intending to shew with how easie a word as Nollem factum or I repent to blow the door open to himself therefore I answer it That though I should rest in a serious profession of faith and repentance which is not pull'd down again by a wicked life or scandalous sinne As Philip rested in it when the Eunuch answer'd him I believe that Jesus Christ is the Sonne of God Act. 8. 37. and so was baptized yet when a man lies under the charge of our censure for some scandalous sinne the case is otherwise for as it is in such sinnes as are with damage to another it is not enough to professe repentance but there must be Zacheus his repentance that is restitution and reparation of injury if one be able so in scandalous sinnes whereby the Church is injured and offended There was alwayes in the ancient Churches a certain Discipline as Chemnitius saith whereby the repentance of men Depraeparat p. 95. was explored and tried whether it were serious slighty and superficial Sayings served not the turn the Church had received a wound the mouth of the enemy was open'd to blaspheme and therefore it was her honour to be satisfied in that reparation which was made by repentance that God might regain his visible honour by the repentance which he had lost by the scandal and there is ground for it 2 Cor. â— 6 7 8. where the incestuous person lies humbled and overwhelmed with great sorrow and therefore the Apostle writes to the Church to be content to comfort to forgive him and to confirm their love towards him This is no dallying matter when the fall is scandalous the repentance must be serious Peter thrice denies Christ and Christ asks Peter three times Lovest thou me 2. A visible professour of Christian Religion that stains not his profession with a wicked course of life or some scandalous act cannot be debarred his right of Communion with the visible Church in her priviledges Many are in the external Covenant and Kingdom of Christ who are not truly regenerate nor lively members of Christ himself inward grace makes a member of the Church invisible and the profession makes a visible The Sacraments are given to the visible Church we cannot discern or judge infallibly who is regenerate who an hypocrite a visible Judge is not to go by an invisible rule You shall know them saith Christ by their fruits He doth not say You shall know them by their sap It 's one Question Who is a true member of Christs body and truly in Christ It 's another Question Whom we may communicate with It 's one Question Who comes and eats and drinks unworthily So do hypocrites It 's another Question Who may not come at all and those are visible unbelievers and scandalous persons usitatissima phrasi saith Chemnitius in the most usual phrase of Scripture they are called holy and Saints who are Saints by calling Disciples of Christ separated from infidelity and Heathenism unto the worship of God by their faith of the Gospel It must be evidence of some fact or disorderly walking which is proved that must give ground to discommon or dis-franchize a reputed Member Who ever heard of witnesses to prove a man unregenerate Oh but in judgement of charity at least he must be truly regenerate I would all the Congregation were holy
unworthily to the Lords-Table and so I have set up a light in the entry by which you may finde the way into the better understanding of all that follows in this Chapter wherein he sets the Lords Supper to rights which was drowned in a feast Then he orders the address of the Communicants which through the aforesaid misdemeanours had come to it unworthily and then exhorts them to make it a Communion and not a Division as they had done Tarry one for another vers 33. and to prevent the intemperance of publick Feasts he bids them if they must eat before they come to the Lords Supper Let them eat at home vers ult and so clearly abrogates not the Feasts but the order of them as fore-going the Lords Supper and here we shall stand a little and make Observation § 5 The Apostle interdicts not all eating or drinking before the Lords Supper but this feasting and the abuses Obs growing thence he doth forbid Those words A man may eat before he come to the Lords Table vers ult If any man hunger let him eat at home that they come not together unto condemnation teach us That this Feasting was before the Sacrament and that a man may eat at home if occasion be before he come to the publick Assembly To put a necessity upon Fasting is to put Superstition into it for our Saviour at first celebrated it after Supper by necessity of the Law of the Passeover but bindes us not by his example to eat first nor by any rule to fast before it therefore it is of free Observation and Use yet the custom of coming fasting had spread over the Aug. Epist 118 Per universum orbem mos isto servatur Chrys in 1 Cor. 11. 26. universal Church in Austins time Per universum orbem mosiste servatur Chrysostem speaks too highly of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou mayest be worthy to receive for setting it aside as any piece of spiritual preparation and I know not why it may not stand Omnes jejuni celebramus saith that Light of France Chamier de Euch. lib. 6 cap 1. §. 13. All the French Churches celebrate the Supper fasting I hold to the Rule If any man hunger c. either of these is best which puts the body in best tune to serve as I may say the soul in a holy duty § 6 Obs 2 How soon abUse crept into this Ordinance of the Supper It was not above twenty or thirty year from the nativity or birth of this Ordinance when this Epistle was written it was nothing so long from the birth or foundation of this Church to this time The Apostle had sown good corn in this field by his Doctrine I have delivered unto you the naked institution of Christ and now it stands in need of weeding The Devil was not asleep in the very Apostles Errour and corruption sprung up in the Church betime times He raised up Simon Magus and after him a fry of Gnosticks or knowing people so they would be called but falsly saith Irenaeus to corrupt the Doctrine and it was betimes that the Devil set his foot in this most excellent Ordinance and from first to last there have been scarce any times wherein some soil hath not cleaved to this Sacrament every Age adding or declaring somewhat till it became a monster unlike it self in the Romish Masse which is a Masse of Idolatry and abomination a very abomination of desolation to this Ordinance the stamp of Christs institution being so defaced that he that minted it cannot own his own coyn for being an outward Ordinance consisting of outward elements and actions the fancy of men thinks this and that dressing would do better and so by putting on more ornaments as they call them they quite spoil the feature of the childe and if men would be tampering while the Apostles lived what would they do after If I should say that the unhappiest and oldest weeds have grown in this Garden I should not speak far wide I may say of it as Solomon saith of man Eccles 7. 29. Loc this have I found that God hath made man right but they have sought out many inventions § 7 Obs 3 The Apostle doth not command those that were pure from these abUses to separate from their Communion with the rest whom he reproves for their sinne of Of separation when sinful and when lawfull coming unworthily We know not who or how many were free but it may seem the poorest were the purest as commonly they are but he that reproves schism doth not command separation He assayes the cure another way 1. By setting the Ordinance right according to Christs Institution 2. By rectifying the Communicants from their unworthy coming and so gives both a purgation disallowing their schism not allowing any separation If Babylon become ahabitation of Devils then come out of her my people Rev. 18. 2 4. Yea flee out and deliver your souls Jer. 51. 6. If Christ must be coupled with Belial the Temple of God with Idols as it is when Christians participate in Heathenish Sacrifices and Idolatries then Come out from among them and be ye separate 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. You have an old and famous example in them that left all to go to Jerusalem when Jereboam set up his Calves and cast out the Priests of the Lord 2 Chron. 11. 14 16. For if Bethel turn Bethaven the hoUse of God become the hoUse of iniquity then Come out of Gilgal Goe not up to Bethaven Hos 4. 15. If any that 's called a brother a Professour of the Christian Religion be a Fornicatour or Idolater or covetous have no free familiarity with him with such an one no not to eat 1 Cor. 5. 11. Turn away from them 2 Tim. 3. 5. If they bring corrupt Doctrine hoUse them not salute them not Epist a. John 10. for that makes you partaker in their sinne vers 11. If their works be unfruitfull works of darkness be not partakers with them have no fellowship with their workes Ephes 5. 7 11. These separations are duty and unto duty but for a Corinthian to separate from Gods Church and Gods Ordinance becaUse some come unworthily to the Lords Table is no duty becaUse there is no command it is no duty and therefore we read not this word Come forth in any of those Epistles written to the seven Churches Revel 2. 3. against which Christ saith He hath such and such things they that lived in the impurer are not called forth into the purer Churches but there are promises made to them that keep themselves pure and duties enjoyned them toward the impure part for we may not make these Churches and Babylon all one nor make every disease the plague Shall the sons of God the Angels forsake the Lords presence becaUse Satan comes also amongst them Job 1. 6. Must Shem and Japhet leap out of Noahs Ark becaUse there is a Cham there Would not
our Saviour rather have sent for John Baptist to have baptized him rather than himself have come from Nazareth to Bethabara which some compute Hildersam in Joh. 4. Lect. 26 p. 122. fourteen Dutch miles that 's of ours fifty six If that generation of vipers that came also to Johns Baptism had either polluted the water or the Ordinance unto Christ Matth. 3. 7 14. But of this more afterwards § 8 Obs 4 The abUses reproved were such as depraved the Ordinance and the corruptions such as put themselves forth in the Communicants at the very time of their participation The Lords Supper was so intermedled with their festival cheer as the difference between the Lords body and their own repast was not truly made They discerned not the Lords body Their corruptions which at all times are blame-worthy as divisions intemperance slighting the poor brethren do now appear most odious and unsuitable I note hereupon That sinne never doth us more hurt than in frustrating and disabling the Use and fruit of Ordinances This is not saith he to eat the Lords Supper vers 20. You come together not for the better but for the worse vers 17. We are the worse when we bring such sins as carnalize the heart and disapten us for spiritual fruition and enjoyment An outward reverence as it is an argument of a serious spirit so it is becoming the Ordinances of the Gospel The meeting of the Church is the greatest meeting in the world the irreverent Use of the Lords Supper call'd for a sudden Reformation Other things saith the Apostle will I set in order when I come vers ult but this cannot stay it 's a matter of importance that the reverence of this Ordinance be preserv'd bring not hither then the behaviour of a Tavern or of your meeting at the Hall of your Company though grave but the deportment of Christians that come to the best and greatest Table in the world It 's true I could worship Christ though lying in a manger but I should not put him in a manger if I had a better room for him in my Inne Let all things be done decently or beautifully 1 Cor. 14. ult § 9 The words are For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you A good recommendation of his Doctrine a good preparative to make way for Cameron Myrothec in loc Horac lib. 2. Satyr 8. Aeneid l. 2. their acceptance of it I received it from the Lord. The expression is Hebrewish with whom the Teacher is said to give Prov. 9. 9. The Scholar to receive and the Latine owns both the words in that sense That which I have learned I also have delivered This very Doctrine he had taught them by word of mouth but now upon occasion of their swerving from it he repeats and writes them a copy of it for perpetual memory Beza is in this place a Hypercritick from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will have it thus Ut à Domino profectum I received it upon report as from the Lord It weakens not the credit of the Doctrine whether the Apostle had it by immediate revelation as most say or by report of eye-witnesses or both He did receive it from the Lord and from the Lord he hands it to the Church and therein as Estius saith he is a fourth Evangelist for John Estius in loc recites not the institution of the Supper though he speak upon the borders of it and so Paul makes the fourth relator The Observations hence are § 10 1. The best way to redress and remedy abUses and corruptions crept into this Ordinance is to reduce it to the Justum regulum adjubet Martyr Institutio Christi certa regula Calvin Lords Institution This the Apostle here doth having opened the nature of the disease he applies this medicine For I have received of the Lord c. Our Saviour had Used this way upon the Question of Divorce which was grown very abusive and stood in need of regulation he tries it by the standard of the first institution yea though the authority and antiquity of Moses was pleaded But saith Christ from the beginning it was not so Mat. 19. 8. Though errour be old yet truth is first All corruptions of Ordinances are deviations from their institution and therefore the false copy must be corrected by the true original The institution of Christ is the certain Rule He instituted it for a Communion therefore O Corinthians your divisions and contempt of the poor is unsuitable He instituted it as a Sacrament of his body and blood for spiritual repast therefore your intemperance and common Use of it at your feasts is not agreeable to the nature and Use of it as the standard discovers false weights and measures and a straight rule a crooked line so the institution of our Lord corruptions The Popish-masse would not be found in the masse if it were tried by this Rule but we must distinguish between Christs institution of this Sacrament and his celebration of it though at the same time The institution shews the nature and Use of it and abides as a perpetual Rule He took bread he blest he broke he gave c. His celebration of it was by Reason of the Passeover attended by very many occasional circumstances after Supper in a private room in such a gesture to such a number in unlevened bread c. It 's no corruption to vary in these occasional circumstances except we must alwayes keep Passeovers too I show'd you before out of Jewish Writers That the Passeover of after-times even that of Christ varied in such particulars from the first Passeover in Egypt without corruption and so this Supper in all ages hath varied from the first celebration in such occasionals He saith Naz anzen Naz. Nat. 40. celebrated the Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an upper room we in our hoUses of prayer he after we before Supper he before his death we after his Resurrection and so accordingly all Divines It is universalis notio saith Chamier an universal notion Chamier de Euchar. l. 8. c. 7. that the circumstances of an individual action be distinguisht from those that pertain to the Law thereof and these may be of good Use for instruction not of necessary Use for imitation I say with learned Hooker Hooker Eccles Polit. l. 5. p. 366 To do throughout every like circumstance with Christ were to erre more from the purpose he aimed at then we now do by not following them with so nice strictness What is superstition but to make that necessary which is indifferent and that a part of worship which is an accident to it So Constantine the Emperour defer'd his Baptism and almost mist it becaUse he would have been baptized in Jordan as Christ was Hold the institution but be not superstitious without a command or hoc facite in the circumstances that fall out at
do as oft as ye do it hoc facite is as much as See that ye make or do all things according to the pattern The Apostles were not now at a Councel-Table with their Lord to give their vote what manner of Sacrament should be appointed but as guests to take and eat at present such cheer as the Master set before them and in after-times to do This Do this in remembrance of me and yet our Lord Christ would have his Ordinances administred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decently Clemens the ancientest of Fathers in his Epistle to these Corinthians hath an excellent saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We ought to do all those things orderly which our Master hath commanded us to do For Christ himself was no friend to slovenliness or loathsome nastiness as one observes Hildersam in John 4. out of that Mark 14. 15. He shall shew you an upper room furnished and prepared but presumption is bold Superstition adventurous as if it was called to councel with God makes no bones of clipping his coyn and therefore this Sacrament hath been filled with many devices and long groaned under their inventions which after long possession plead prescription and come in after-times to be counted parts which at first were but scabs or wens The Apostle did not durst not deliver but what he had received but they that have lesse power than the Apostle dare deliver what they received not and by adding or substracting do plainly finde fault with Gods own model Why should the Papist give into the mouth of his Communicant a whole wafer but that he is afraid to break the bread least some loose crums should fall Why doth he cheat the people wholly of the Cup but upon pretence that a drop of the bloud might be shed or spilt May we not think that they are too nice and more scrupulous than Christ at whose breaking bread there might fall crums and in the Apostles drinking drops from the cup Superstition is foolish that pretends holiness and corrupts Ordinances and had rather make than take a Sacrament We have the Minister in the name and stead of Christ Jesus if this be denied as it is by some I shall at present affirm but this That the reverend and most ancient Father Justin Martyr in his second Apology to the Roman Emperour written about fifty years after the death of John the Apostle sets out as I shall shew you the full manner of their administration of this Sacrament and therein saith the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Minister doth pour forth prayer and gives thanks over the bread and wine which I can give no account of private corners hath been practised in the Christian Churches till this very time and year being 1500 years at least The Minister takes the bread and likewise takes the Cup. He gives thanks or blesseth over the Bread and Cup He breaks the Bread he saith Take ye eat ye drink ye He pronounces This bread is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ This Cup is the New Testament in his bloud You do take you eat you drink This the Minister doth this you do for a remembrance and commemoration of Christ shewing forth his death and this is an Ordinance sutable to the institution § 19 2. That the Communicant be sutable to the Ordinance When the Song is truly set and prickt the singer must Of worthy communicating keep time and tune or else all is not right The Papists have the Ordinance unsuitable to the institution and we alas have Communicants unsuitable to the Ordinance That word which follows in this Chapter that dangerous word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unworthily what is it but unsutably we must measure and fashion the Communicant by the Ordinance He must of necessity be a Disciple to such Christ spoke Take ye eat ye c. not as ye are Apostles but as Disciples He must bring with him a Christ receiving or a Christ applying faith for Take Eat without a hand or mouth of the soul he cannot He must come with hunger and thirst for strength and refreshment for he doth come to a Table to eat and drink the staff of bread the cordial cheering wine This strength and nourishment is by vertue of his union with Christ himself and communion therefore he comes to eat the very body and drink the very bloud of Christ He comes as a confederate with God to receive the seal or as a Legator to receive a Legacy bequeath'd by Will viz. Christ and remission of sins in Christ for this Cup is the New Covenant or New Testament sealed with Christs bloud He comes as to a festival commemoration where the founder of the feast is remembred with praise and honour Do it in remembrance of me He looks through and beyond the broken bread and wine poured out to a broken body and the shed bloud of Christ He looks at another taking then taking of bread another eating and drinking than of bread and wine viz. the taking to himself and the spiritual and intimate application of Christs body and bloud For he discerns the Lords body and therefore comes as a consecrated person to consecrated elements to broken bread with a broken heart full of affections as the Ordinance is full of mysteries and here is a Communicant suitable to the Ordinance and so Paul who received of the Lord and delivered unto them the institution of Christ hath set to rights both the Ordinance and the Corinthian Communicant CHAP. III. That the Lord Jesus is the Authour of this Sacrament 1 COR. 11. 23. That the Lord Jesus c. I Shall follow the track of the Apostle who goes before me in the two points I am to entreat upon 1. The Nature and Use of this Sacrament 2. The due Preparation of the Communicant Of these in order and with what brevity I can contenting my self to speak in decimo sexto what might be spoken in folio in hope that your proficiency by Mr Anthony Burgess and Mr Love your former most worthy teachers may excUse me the labour of so large a volume The next words I come unto do plainly point out unto us 1. The Author of the institution The Lord Jesus 2. The Time of it The same night in which he was betrayed Doct. 1 The Authour of this Sacrament The Authour of this institution is the Lord Jesus The consent of all the Evangelists that write the History puts this out of all controversie Christ was personally present both celebrating and instituting this Ordinance He is res Sacramenti the thing of the Sacrament and Author Sacramenti the Authour of the Sacrament the feast-maker and the feast Out of this pierced side as Austin alludes there came forth both bloud and water the two Sacraments of the Church He took the bread he blest he brake it he gave it it may well be called the Lords Supper yea the Lord is the Supper This is my body this is my bloud § 1
Christ-applying Ordinance He came into the hand of murderers that slew him that crucified and wounded and dying he might be taken in the hand of thy faith faith like the hand hath a faculty of working and bringing forth obedience but like the hand again it hath a taking and receiving faculty which is the most excellent the justifying act of faith taking Christ Take ye is not a bare permission but a command it 's our duty as well as our benefit to receive Christ and consequently not to receive him is both sinne and misery §. 11. Of Sacramentall Eating and Drinking Christs Body and Blood § 11 2. Eat ye drink ye all of it Christ speaks and repeats often Joh. 6. the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood at which some of his followers took offence conceiving him carnally and literally which he told them were to be understood spiritually ver 63. There is a spirituall eating and drinking Christ his flesh and blood by faith only which is extra-symbolicall or without the Sacrament for that Doctrine was delivered a year or two before this Sacrament was instituted and it is such as without which ye have no life in you ver 53. which may not be said of all that never received this Sacrament but that spirituall eating and drinking is here symbolized as that flesh and blood is For the understanding of which let us neither be like the carnall Israelite that did eat Manna and drink of the Rock but neither saw nor tasted Christ in them nor on the other side let us be like the Capernaites Joh. 6. that had a gross apprehension of eating very flesh and drinking mans blood but rightly conceive the meaning thus 1. The first and not the least thing is this that This is the one and only Ordinance under the Gospel where eating and drinking are Sacred and Religious acts for in all the world among all sorts of men friendship fellowship communion are maintained and shown in feasting together eating and drinking together and our God never let his Church be without such an Ordinance wherein he and his people might testifie this fellowship and communion In the Law there was not only a Lamb rosted but in all their Shelamim or Peace-offerings they that brought them had part to feast upon and make good cheer as at all their feasts they rejoyced before the Lord God bidding them to his own Table to feed upon Sacrifices for they that eat of the Sacrifices are partakers of the Altar 1 Cor. 10. 18. Rev. 3. 20. I will come in and sup with him and he with me Thus God entertains his friends invites them to eat and drink with him upon his own Sacrifices upon Christ the great Sacrifice It 's Gods own cheer provided for such Abrahams as are the friends of God What a favour and condescension of God is this What honour and dignity is dust and she s graced with to sit together and feast and have fellowship with God in an Ordinance of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of this Sacrifice Jesus Christ Nay and further yet It was a custom in Covenants making that the Confederates feasted eat and drank together therefore Berith the Hebrew word Covenant may come of Barah to eat and so still and further it is implied that this is a Covenant solemnity an eating and drinking of confederates together God smels a savour of rest in the Sacrifice of Christ and we eat and drink of that flesh and blood sacrificed unto God and renew our Covenant with him and he with us by mutuall feeling he to be ours we his I am so taken up with this that if no more be said I should be satisfied but there is more 2. That Christ is full and perfect nourishment of the soul both meat and drink Joh. 6. 55. My flesh is meat indeed my blood is drink indeed farre beyond Manna which yet was called Angels food as the substance is beyond the type sights may please the eye sounds or airs the ear but they are not so necessary as nourishment unto life life cannot be maintained without nourishment growing bodies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Hypocrates growing Christians stand in need of much nourishment to bring them up to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stature of a full Christ decaying Christians stand in need of nourishment to repair decaies Every life be it never so little must be nourisht so necessary is Christ to every Christian and still more of Christ for his meat is Christ his drink is Christ As nothing so necessary so neither so sweet and pleasant sights are pleasing to the eye and smels to the sense but nothing is so close and delightfull as the meat and drink to the sense of tasting Christ is sweet to faith as meat and drink to hunger There is no content comparable to the receiving of Christ He is Manna the best Bread and Wine the best drink The fruition of the joys of heaven is set forth by the pleasure of eating and drinking Luk. 22. 30. That you may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdome It was experimentally said of Galeacius that all the delights of this world are not comparable to an hours enjoyment of Christ Jesus 2. No act of ours could so well have signified the close and intimate union of Christ with a Beleever We may see at a distance and hear and smell but not taste nor eat nor drink the meat and drink is concorporated into us and is made flesh and bone with us Job 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwels in me and I in him Christ must be present to the faith of a Christian for we cannot eat and drink that which is absent This union with Christ is reall though mysticall and it is lively drawn forth in this Ordinance under the resemblance of eating and drinking We hardly conceive and hardly beleeve it but when we see the graft live we are sure it 's knit and we may be as sure of our union with Christ by his spirituall sap of Grace which we finde is in us 4. This command Take and eat goes before the pronouncing of the words This is my Body Aquinas saith it is a Hysteron Proteron but I shall not take his word let 's hear him speak that was present an ear witness an eye witness Matth. 26. 26 27. Take eat This is my Body Drink ye all of it For this is my Blood what stands this For for if drink ye did not go before This Observation is noted by almost all Divines from Peter Martyr and Mr Hooker makes Use of it thus That Christ is not present in the Elements but in the worthy receiver The order of the words shews it first eat and drink then it follows for this is my Body and this is my Blood an ingenious observation that cuts the hamstrings of the Popish or corporall presence in or under the outward signes as if
it were a knife set in the Text to cut that intricate knot that makes such a garboyle in the Text when you take and eat by faith then is the Body and Blood of Christ present to you but not latent and hidden in the Bread or Cup The union of Christ is not otherwise with the Bread then as the thing signified with the sign but it is with the Communicant the Hooker Eccles Polit. p. 359. believer really though spiritually the sacramental signs do exhibit Christ but not contain him under them they contain not the grace which God bestows with or by them §. 12. Of Spurious Rites and Gestures § 12 So have I opened to you the outward Elements the outward Rites or Actions of this Sacrament whether those of Christ or of the Communicant and these are genuine and proper by which the Sacrament is sutable to the Institution as for other Rites which time or superstition have introduced without example or command they are adulterine and spurious especially the adoration of the Eucharist upon opinion of the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ which whether it be performed at the elevation or lifting up of the host by the Priest in the Masse or at the circumgestation or carrying it up and down in procession in the streets as is usual in Popish countreys is no better then abominable Idolatry even by their own confession For Costerus saith That the bread-worship was the greatest Idolatry that ever was in the world If the bread be not turned into the true and natural body of Christ as saith a learned man Dr J. Burgesse Lawf of kneeling p. 113. upon my soul it is not and if the perswasion of Christs real presence in the Eucharist will by no means excUse their adoration from Idolatry much lesse excusable is any Protestant who is perswaded of the contrary As for other circumstances of the action as the time viz. at night in the close of the Paschal Supper the place an upper-room or chamber Mark 14. 15. The guest twelve in number Matth. 26. 20. The gesture which was discubiture or lying on couch-beds fitted to the Table which the Jews were at the Passeover by custom fixed unto as appears by the ritual In other Scaliger lib. 6. De emend pag. 534. nights we sit or lie on couches but in this we lie along These I say are moveables and not of the freehold of this Ordinance Nor shall I say any thing of the D. Burgess ubi supra p. 112. gesture which as it was Used in England hath been an apple of contention and much written pro and con The Reformed Churches vary some sit at some about the Table some receive this Sacrament passing by the Table in order as in a Marah as in the Reformed Churches in France and I condemn them not and for those Divines of the Reformed Churches that disliked our gesture Used here in England they did not many of them pronounce it simply unlawfull but inconvenient becaUse it was a gesture of adoration and did not serve to pull the bread worship out of mens mindes nor was so sutable to this Ordinance which is a Table Ordinance nor to set forth that fellowship and communion which is exprest in eating and drinking with our Lord these were their Reasons and I do not know that I have any occasion to debate the point but to leave it determinable by the Churches of God as may be most sutable to the Decorum and nature of this Ordinance for if I should some of you might haply say that I made a Funeral-sermon for meeting at Sacrament Having laid open the parts of this Supper let us upon the whole matter stand still a little and make Observation CHAP. VII Some Observations upon the precedent Discourses § 1 NOte here the simplicity of this high and excellent Ordinance the feast is drest out in plainness and simplicity answerable to the simplicity of the Gospel as the Apostle cals it 2 Cor. 11. 2. Here is no outward pomp or ostentation no stateliness to take the eye for as gaudy attire becomes not mourning so this Sacrament setting forth the passion and sufferings the death and bloudshed of our Lord had not been sutable to him in his lowest estate and darkest eclipse if it should have shined in outward lustre It was Tertullians Observation Nihil obdurat c. nothing Lib. de baptisme so hardens the mindes of men as the simplicity of the works and yet the magnificence of the promise that great and glorious things should be found under so plain a dresse as a rich diamond in a plain case to the end that the eye of faith might be more exercised then the eye of the body and that the spiritual and inward part might be looked after and intended Is not this the Carpenters sonne was a great stumbling block and so may the simplicity of the two Sacraments be to us The Temple Utensils and Service were rich and stately Christ was prefigured in golden Types But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1. 17. But we have a better Covenant and better Promises Heb. 8. 6. And if that which is done away was glorious much more that which remains exceeds in glory 2 Cor. 3. 7 8 9 10 11 c. but that was an outward this an inward glory that was in Moses face this in the face of Christ that the carnal Jew might see this the spiritual Christian seeth We saw his glory Joh. 1. 14. or rather there the glory was veiled But we with open face behold the glory of the Lord 1 Cor. 3. 13 18. The glory of their Ordinance was a stumbling block to them for they rested in the cabinet and looked not for the jewels The meannesse of our Ordinances are a stumbling block to us for we look not for the tReasure in such earthen vessels God doth great things by poorest meanes Jericho's wals fall at the sound of Rams-horns the fiery sting is healed by a piece of brasse the sight restored to the blinde by the Use of spittle and clay The figure in this Sacrament is poor the thing signified heavenly and rich the Seal is mean the inheritance or estate is great but why were the types so rich and our memorials so poor You know Spectacles are for divers sights they had finer Spectacles we better eyes They had lesse spirit stirring in the Ordinances then than we now if their Tree had more shadow we have more fruit § 2 Secondly Take along with you alwayes the Analogy proportion and similitude between a Sacrament and the thing of a Sacrament between the signe and the thing signified It 's Austin his Rule If Epist 23. alâ—bi a Sacrament should not have similitude and resemblance with that whereof it is a Sacrament it should not be a Sacrament and from this similitude or resemblance it is that the signe is called by the name of
that they were discommended that hold to the Legall service 2. Heathens and Infidels are excluded from this Table becaUse they are extraneous and without so they are called 1 Cor. 5. 12. What have I to do to judge or censure them that are without they are without the gates of the Church not obnoxious to the Government nor allowed the priviledges of it and they that are without the gate cannot be admitted to the Table untill they come in and be members of the family 3. All unbaptized persons are excepted by the order of our Sacraments whereof Baptism is first for insition and implantation into the Body of Christ and the Lords Table for further coalition and growth this order is confirmed by the Use or business of the Sacraments the one being of Regeneration and so first the other of Communion and so the second See 1 Cor. 12. 13. By one spirit are we baptized into one Body and have been all made to drink into one spirit first baptized and then made to drink which order the Church of Christ hath held from the beginning as it 's said by Justin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. 2. After the new Convert is thus washed we bring him to our meetings where the Eucharist is 4. Those that are under a present incapacity of performing such antecedaneous acts of preparation or which are to be exercised in the act of communicating provided that this incapacity be visible as I may say or manifest unto us as in infants ideots stupid ignorants bruits in the shape of men who though baptized yet are not capable of discerning the Lords Body or of examining themselves who seem to be excepted ver 28. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat and drink And so I know a mad man may have lucid intervals and a poor ignorant soul may be brought to know the letters and spell the first syllables of Christianity against either of which I would not shut the door but if the ignorant cannot be gotten beyond sottishness and stupidity nor got out of his Obstinacy in blindness I should be very unwilling to let him runne blinofold down the precipice or leave the door open for him to fall into condemnation not that I envy him a benefit but pity his downfall which I ought to hinder or at least not to help forward and I may say of such an one as the Apostle of the Law Rom. 7. 13. Shall that which is good be made death unto him God forbid Especially considering that the Apostle having said Let a man examine himself and so let him eat doth in the next words come on again ver 29. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself not discerning the Lords Body As for infants though the Churches of ancient time admitted them after Baptism to partake of the P Martyr in Musculus de caena Lords Supper for some hundreds of years and one or two of our Reforming Divines speak somewhat favourably of it yet the ground they went upon Joh. 6. 53. that otherwise they had not salvation is disclaimed by all both becaUse that Chapter speaks nothing of Sacramentall or Symbolicall eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood and also was delivered by Christ a year or two before this Sacrament was born into the world and becaUse there is so much activity and exercise required in a Communicant as viz. to remember the Lords death to shew it forth to discern the Lords body to examine ones self to judge ones self therefore is that ancient practise Obsolete and as by tacite consent deserted and in room thereof we admit now not by their years for a man of threescore may be a childe in understanding and a childe in years may be a man but by their discretion and knowledge in the mystery of Christ and if the Parents or Pastors care the blossoming of grace and pregnancy in the childe were answerable to my desires I should as I am for great reasons be for eatly admissions of them as namely that the benefit and refreshing of this Ordinance might curb the over-growth of the sins and lusts of youth and help forward the growth of their graces to an early maturity Those that are professed Christians baptized-Church-members whether they live in open practice or fall under the guilt of some gross and scandalous sinne are for that time as they be impenitent to be secluded from or not admitted unto this Communion and this is an adjudged case in Scripture 1 Cor 5. where one for terrible incest notoriously manifest detested by very Heathens remained in the Communion of the Church through neglect of their duty which the Apostle reproves and having shown what power they had of judging such as were within members of their Church enjoyns them to purge out the leaven and to cast out from themselves that wicked person and least any perverse gainsayer should restrain this power to this one sin the Apostle saith ver 11. If any that is called a brother be a fornicatour a covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or extortioner the Church hath power to judge them that are within But what is this to the Sacrament enough verily for he that is cast out of the hoUse is certainly cast out from the houshold table and the abstention from Communion so much named in Cyprian or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or seclusion Forbes 631. mentioned in the Canons and whatsoever word is Used for this casting one out of Church-communion here if any where it operates and works in forbidding the Use of the Table where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Church society and communion is as for instance Divorce though it extend further yet signifies nothing at all is no Divorce if not a thoro or mensa from bed or board so this restention is nothing it works nothing I speak not of a private avoidance of familiarity with wicked persons which lies on private persons if not to this seclusion from the Table I shall not further urge the example of the old Testament which debarres the uncircumcised and the unclean for the time from the Passeover and I deny not that under that worldly Sanctuary and those carnall Ordinances as they are called Heb. 9. 1 10. Legall uncleanness might debarre when spirituall and morall did not as now morall filthiness may when legall uncleanness is not for that uncleanness under the Law had a spirituall signification and though it was not alwaies sinne yet it signified morall pollution as the leaven which was held Hag. 2. 13. execrable and must be cast out at the Passeover is spiritually applied to another meaning by the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. Purge out the old leaven ver 7. for Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us the old leaven that is the wicked and incestuous person Beza Slater alii out of your society and malice and wickedness out of your lives ver 8. and
belongs to Westminster-Hall not the Church but to gain a brother to repent that 's the work And here we may complain of a great neglect of this duty of private reproof or admonition Men would have their private offences brought upon the publick stage at first dash they expect the Church should proceed to do their work at first instance they forget that Levit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sinne upon him The Church would have lesse to doe if this course were held the matter would be stopt the offendour gained by this private plaister which if it do the cure what need we go to the Chyrurgion Men have their own private plaisters and untill the sore rankle they call not the Chyrurgions to counsel Men are apt to runne to the Church or Minister with private whispers and what can they do by Gods Word upon private whispers just nothing go and do your own duty Let Christs order be Observed He will not have a member of the Church made a Publican or Heathen at first dash there are three neglectings to hear before that be If he hear not thee If he hear not two or three If he hear not the Church but if he do hear thee then no end of bringing two or three If he hear two or three then no telling of the Church If he hear the Church then is he no Heathen or Publican unto thee How rashly and passionately do many separate from the Church becaUse she cannot doth not cast out her members upon their private whispers let them go and seperate also from the Commonwealth becaUse she doth not banish or put to death upon private information Do they neglect their own duty to their brother and will they make the Church a Heathen and a Publican to them for not doing that which by Christs order they cannot do 5. The proper and adequate and immediate object of this debarment from the Communion of the Church is a scandalous person that holds either a course or hath committed the act of a scandalous sinne And what call you that It may be explained thus 1. Some atrocious or grievous sinne of first magnitude If any that is called a brother be a fornicator idolater covetous c. 1 Cor. 5. There is a list with an Et catera Gal. 5. 19. where they are called Works of the flesh and they that do such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God As also 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God nor fornicatours idolaters adulterers abUsers of themselves with mankinde nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners and such were some of you These the Papists call mortal sins they bring scandal on the Church provoke God blot out our comfort waste the conscience c. but there are quotidian sinnes of daily incursion common to all godly men infirmities which like little flies are not to be knockt down with so great a hammer whose absolute cure can hardly be expected or performed by such as are subject to the like passions themselves divorce or banishment are too great but for such offences as are directly contrariant to the respective societies of marriage or Commonwealth 2. It must be an open and manifest sinne else it is 1 Cor. 5. 1. not scandalous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is reported commonly fornication and such fornication Chrysostom saith he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning manifest sinnes when he charges his Ministers to admit no scandalous offendour Now to render a sinne manifest or notorious I suppose first it's requisite 1. That it manifestly be a sinne and this is quaestio juris for a thing may be commonly cried down under the name of an enormous crime and yet indeed be very doubtfull I instance usury where the Question is What it is Then Whether this in Question be usury Then Whether all usury be sinfull For there are great names of learning and godlinesse who upon considerable Reasons do deny it 2. That it be manifest that the sinne be committed for it 's one thing to know simply and another to know judicially and known it must be either by evidence of fact or confession or conviction if it be and yet appear not it is as if it were not De non existentibus non apparentibus eadem ratio if it come to that passe that the offendour put himself upon conviction then the processe must be Secundum allegata probata in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word must stand saith our Saviour upon this point If I were to judge the fact which I my self do know but yet it is not proved I durst not make a censure but should rather Exuere personam judicis induere personam testis And as Jerome saith Cont Ruffin lib. 2. A single witnesse is not to be believed Ne Catoni quidem No though he were Cato You would be loath to lose your horse your goods but upon sufficient conviction and I hope you think that to lose your right to the Sacrament is a greater losse I like well of that of Durand Lib. 4. Dist. ◠Qu. 5. §. 7. Aug. in 1 Cor. 5. If any be a brother out of Austine We cannot prohibite à Communione any man but he that either confesses his sinne or is convict of it before the secular Judgement or in the face of the Church You see what a sufficient hedge the Scripture and Reason hath made about the right of a Communicant Sixthly No private person by any private Authority can dispossess a visible member of his right of Communion As in the Common-wealth Justice is necessary but private persons doe not bear the Sword It 's unReasonable that a man laying claime to the Ordinance should at any mans private discretion be denied What inconveniences and mischiefes would this fill the Church of God with How full of scandals This would not heal scandals but make them Nor can I warrant or encourage any private or single Minister ordinarily to assume the power of jurisdiction to cast out of the Church as it once did Diotrephes 2 Epist of John vers 10. and I say ordinarily becaUse Saint Paul deliver'd to Satan Hymenaeus and Alexander 1 Tim. 1. 20. For the Pastour is not Dominus but Dispensator Sacramentorum as Alensis saith not the Head of the Sacraments but the Steward And it would goe very ill with the best Communicants many times if the power lay in that hand He that preaches against them would make no bones to forbid them the Table and they that least deferved it should feel the severity most but our Saviour his Rule is Tell the Church and that Matth. 18. rebuke which was given to the incestuous Corinthian was inflicted by many 2 Cor. 2. 6. It 's true The Minister may alone performe the executive part and pronounce
repentance made some difference For still I goe upon the same Rule or principle The Table is not ours We make not the Feast We are not Lords and Masters of the Ordinance but Stewards Servitours Dispensers that must act ad voluntatem Domini § 5 The third Use of this Point may be to satisfie our querulous and complaining dispositions when we see many who are but Jewes outwardly and they are no Jews Many that have a forme but not the power of godlinesse Many that walke disorderly as the Apostle saith 2 Thess 3. 11. Many that desire to make a fair shew and do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set a good face on it Galat. 6. 12. but are rotten at the core c. They complaine Why are they suffer'd Why are not they cast out Why do they remain spots in our feasts as Jude saith c And it cannot be denied we plead not for hypocrites we are not Advocates and Patrons of foolish Virgins they come unworthily though they come and that is bad enough but why do they come at all The Answer is That violence must not be offer'd to that Rule Order and way which God hath set down for the prohibiting of any visible member from his right It 's fit that thieves and robbers and cheaters were either reformed or purged out of the Common-wealth but yet it must be in the course of Law or else the remedy would be a mischief That in the mouth of two or three Witnesses saith Christ Matth. 18. 16. every word may be establisht It is not a thing to be done at randome as I have shewed Every sore leg is not presently to be cut off there may be as sore a one under a silk stocking The Church sinnes if she neglect her duty but I must tell you That you must do your duty first Have you in private offences gone first to your offensive brother and told him of his fault in private and then if he be not gain'd have you born witnesse against him And hath he been convinced of his sinne by due conviction Or doth he stand out against conviction and admonition And is he Obstinate and doth persist in his sinne One may murder a Felon he should haply die but he dies innocently if he die by a private hand A man that deserves to be cast out may be cast out injuriously viz. a non judice I confesse the Argument is plausible That the Church the livelier and purer it is the better it is So the Corn-field is best that hath no weeds The Corn that 's clean drest from chaffe and cockle is the purest but it 's rare to finde such a field or to finde such a floor in the Garner so it is but not in the barn-floor I like holinesse which is of Gods making not that which is of mans making The Novatians or Cathari the Donatists also pretended both to a holinesse above all the Churches of God in the world but there is as Calvin observed none of them left in the world to be seen whereas the true Churches of Christ continue and I hope shall continue though they be like Israel going forth of Aegypt that had a mixt multitude among them as the Scripture speaks CHAP. XIX What must be done where Discipline cannot be executed for want of Administrators § 1 HAving said That the Lords Supper is a barred Ordinance and yet that the just rights of the Communicant ought not to be invaded I shall now proceed before I go further Two or three Questions of moment and importance The Answer to which will both clear the former Doctrine more fully and also anticipate such Objections as may be raised up against it Quest 1. The first Question is this What is to be done in such case wherein the former Doctrine is impracticable by Reason that the Church or particular society whereof thou art a member be not in capacity to exercise such Discipline for want of such due Administratours as may bring to execution the aforesaid order of Debarment from or Admittance to the Lords Table Before I answer this great Question I must tell you that I have caUse to fear least it be said of me as Cicero said of Cato His opinion of and affection to the Commonwealth is excellent good but he is offensive Quia loquitur tanquam in Repub. Platonis non tanquam in faece Romuli becaUse he speaks as if he were in Plato his Commonwealth not as in the dregs of Romulus So you may say that I speak as if I was in the Primitive Church and not in the dregs of corruption which profanenesse and superstition have brought in upon us but notwithstanding the Clock that goes false must be reduced by the Sunne-dial and not that by the Clock that erres We may justly complain of and bewail the evil genius of the times and men that if they can hear novelties every Lords-day from some ambulatory Preachers and they also can vapour up and down with two or three Sermons calculated to serve any Meridian do not either look for or prize a setled condition of Ministry and Sacraments in the Church but rather cry So would we have it Let every man do that which is right in his own eyes and we little think that so many breaches and distractions are amongst us becaUse we seek not the Lord after the due order It was an old complaint that the coming in of the world into the Church was the decay of Christianity while Emperours were Heathen and persecutions of the very name Christian were frequent the Discipline was vigorous when men came in to Christianity with no other resolution than to suffer for it and made account to save nothing by it but their souls the Discipline was able to keep them in compasse but when Christian Emperours came in and set the broad gates open to the world then they throng'd into Christianity for fashion interest preferment as all do now upon custom example education and hence is the decay and corruption of Discipline Atheists Epicures Libertines every one under form and colour of Religion providing immunity and impunity for their own lusts which having said and thereby pointed with my finger to the sore which I cannot heal I shall answer to the Question § 2 1. The strait is great where there is not a just and orderly power to separate or sever the precious from the vile to deny their bread to children or to cast the childrens bread to dogs and there will be found a great deal of self-denial necessary in this case The affirmative command of giving the Lords bread to his children and the negative command of not casting pearls before swine are both to be Observed and the only expedient that I know is that both Minister and people do the duty of their place without usurpation of further power than they have by Gods warrant and then all will be as well not as it might but as it can as it was in
familiarity with scandalous sinners is often commanded ut supra The flying of Gods people out of Babylon where Idolatry is maintain'd by force and tyranny is called for and required The Separation of heretical and vitious members from the Church is branded with a black coal Jude v. 19. These be they that separate themselves sensual having not the Spirit which above all men they pretend unto But the Separation of the godly from Gods Ordinances becaUse of the corrupt lives of some in the Church is no where by any syllable of Scripture allow'd or countenanc'd being contrary to the example and not warranted by command of Christ or his Apostles and it 's a vain pretending to a holinesse above their Rule or their example All that I would is an order in the Church I should rejoyce to behold as saith he your order and the stedfastness of your faith Col. 2. 5. which too many too much slight and undervalue for as one said Order in an Army kils no body yet without it the Army is but a rout neither able to offend or defend so haply order in the Church converts no body yet without it I see not how the Church should attain her end or preserve themselves in begetting or breeding up souls to God CHAP. XXI Whether the Lords Supper be a converting Ordinance Quest 3 § 1 THe third Question is Whether the Sacrament of the Lords Supper be a converting Ordinance There is a conversion of a regenerate man from some Luk. 22. 32. fall or sinne as in that saying When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren and so a man that 's godly may be often converted that is raised up from lapses and backslidings Of this the Question is not for this is but as the blowing in of the candle when the flame is gone out by exciting or wakening the fire that yet glows in the weeck of the candle which may be done by this Sacrament But the Question is Whether God doth offer or exhibit the first grace for conversion of an unbeliever or unregenerate man for as Davenant rightly saith The first faith must be given to an unbeliever as the first light is that which comes into meer darkness This Question is but an upstart among us which hath risen on occasion of seclusion of some from this Sacrament and indeed quite overthrows it if the Sacrament be a converting Ordinance for upon this ground we may invite the most wicked to the Table as well as to the Word namely for conversion and it were a great sin to prohibit any from the appointed means of their conversion § 2 For answer to the Question I premise That it is the Doctrine of Whitaker that as the Word is the mean and instrument of grace so is the Sacrament in general the one is applied to the ear the other to the eye This is the difference The Word begins and works grace in the heart For faith comes by hearing but the Sacrament is objected to the eye and doth not begin the work of grace but nourishes and incReases it for faith is not begotten by the Sacraments but only augmented Thus he The Doctrine of physical operation is exploded by all the orthodox Sacraments do not work grace as a plaister cures a sore that 's a blinde conceit of ignorant souls but God by them or in their Use imparts grace as he did healing by the brazen Serpent Now God by Baptism solemnly represents and seals to his people their planting into Christ We are planted by Baptisme into the likenesse of his death Rom. 6. 3 4 5. And by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12. 13. and therefore Baptism is called the Sacrament of our implanting ingraffing incorporating into Christ and so is a Sacrament of initiation Ye are all children of God by faith in Christ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3. 2◠God was pleased to have his Covenant sealed by Baptism as to the first grace of that Covenant as by Circumcision also under the Law and so we are solemnly listed and admitted to be his and called by his name But then as to the grace of education of his children up unto maturity and ripenesse by confirming them and strengthning and causing them to grow c. He hath ordained another Sacrament which is called the second becaUse it presupposes the first as Passeover did Circumcision and that is the Lords Supper of which learned Hooker saith The grace Eccles pol. l. 5. pag. 536. which we have by it doth not begin but continue grace or life no man therefore receives this Sacrament before Baptism becaUse no dead thing is capable of nourishment That which groweth must of necessity first live And to this purpose all our learned Divines have given their suffrage And the Papists though Concil Trid. Sess 13. c. 2. 7. Can. 5. 11. Bellarm. de Euch. c. 17. l. 4. Catech-sub fin Confes cap. de Sac. c. 29. they differ from us in denying remission of sinnes in this Sacrament in favour to their Sacrament of pennance yet they hold it to be an Ordinance of nutrition and so do all their Schoolmen and so doth the Church of England The strengthning and refreshing of our souls c. I need not number Authours or Churches It is so plain a case that I wonder they that have stood up in defence of it as a converting Ordinance have not taken notice of it There is an Army to a man against them and the ancient Christian Churches are so clear in it that they admitted no convert from the Heathen to either Baptism or Supper till they had testified their faith and repentance nor were they called fideles till they were baptized and admitted to the Supper whatsoever knowledge faith or repentance so ever they showed before Let me first clear the state of the Question and then give you the Reasons For the first First I do not deny that a man having some knowledge of the Gospel and visibly professing it for I do not think that any doth imagine that the very popping of the elements into a meer Heathens mouth may convert him may be truly and really converted at the Sacrament for who shall lock up the hands of the Spirit so as the Laver of Regeneration and the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. The work of the Lord and a mans eating and drinking may not be together Or do we think that this time and conversion are incompossible No I think not so Nor do I Question or doubt that the Word of God adjoyned to the Sacrament it being accompanied with the Gospel-promises and the lively painting forth of Christ may not work coversion for why the word out of a Pulpit and the word at a Table or in any other place should not have this same effect I see not You will say This is the cloathed Use of the Sacrament the administration
sinnes We have had many and great and common calamities but are fallen from assigning them to the abUse of the Sacrament and yet we must confesse that what hath been a doore at which judgements have enter'd may be so againe Howsoever I think that rationally I may excite publick Authority to restraine or to make provision of restraint for such sinnes as are pernicious to Commonwealths in bringing forth publick judgements which eat up and consume the people and such is this sinne as I have showne I know no Powers can command or compell faith or saving grace but it 's a sure fallacy to inferre from thence that he may not restraine sinnes that bring publick judgements or not bring the people to the means of faith It 's a saying that a man cannot make his Horse drinke without he will but yet he may have him to the water God directed the fourth Commandment to Governours and Parents and Masters and thereby either supposed they had or else gave them a Power or Commission to see the Sabbath kept within their Jurisdictions not I confesse to force the Ger Toshab or Proselyte of the gate to undertake the whole Religion of the Jew but onely the seven Commandments as they call them given to Noah and not to violate the Sabbath If he will live among them he must Observe the Sabbath § 3 Fifthly You must carefully distinguish betweene the ground of a mans receiving unworthily which is that he hath no seed of spirituall grace or comes with reservation of some sinne haply known to none but himself and God he is not truly within the Covenant and therefore cannot receive the benefit of the Covenant but the ground of the Churches Admission is that he is reputed a member and hath not forfeited his right by any knowne sinne justly and duly proved against him For all visible proceedings of the Church or Civill State either must be Secundum allegate probata Secret surmises or doubtfull presumptions are no ground of just sentence though a man doe eat and drink unworthily yet he cannot alwayes be debarred while he stands a visible member and is not proved or alledged guilty of some sinne that may dismember him Judas was not cast out from the Supper for a Thief or a Traitour becaUse that he was so yet it was not visibly and duly proved against him Sinne is not scandalous till it be knowne If it be knowne to me I must performe the office of a brother before I tell the Church And if it was knowne to me that a man was not regenerate I durst give him the Sacrament yea I must untill he be orderly convict of sinne that may debarre him for the Rule of Gods Word is best Reason and that Rule establishes an order If he heare not the Church let him be to thee a Heathen and a Publican untill then and upon my private knowledge he is not to be a Heathen unto me But of this enough before CHAP. XXXIII Of Examination in order to this Sacrament 1 COR. 11. 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of this Cup. § 1 HAving shown you That to a man that eats and drinks worthily this Ordinance is as I may say a Tree of Life but to the unworthy a Tree of Knowledge of good and evil drawing upon them a heavy guilt and condemnation Now I come to that expedient which the holy Ghost affords us both for the obtainment of the Benefit and for the avoidance of the Judgement and that is in these words But let a man examine himself In which words we observe two things First That Admission and Accesse unto the Lords Table is given with a proviso in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly That God affords the Use of the Lords Table to a professed Christian upon fore going self-examination The first of these And so I have been all this while in handling though not in terms yet in effect and have taught you That no man may come hand over head at all adventures for that the Sacrament is not a Common without hedge or barre but a Several inclosed as appears by this short word And so The celebration of this Ordinance requires some previous preparation and bespeaks some due and competent qualifications of the Communicant therein This medicine that it may have its effect and fruit requires a preparative One duty prepares unto another I le wash my hands in innocency saith the Psalmist and so will I compasse thine Altar The unclean under the Law had their Purifications before they drew near to God in his holy Ordinances for saith God I will be sanctified in all that draw nigh to me I hope you are not onely convinced of this but well satisfied in it by what I have delivered to you and therefore I will not draw the Saw and say over againe what is already setled §. 2. Of Self-Examination § 2 Doct. The Lord affords the free Use of his Table to a professed Christian upon fore-going Self-examination This is the proviso of this priviledge Here is Admission and Accesse here is free both invitation and allowance But let a man examine himself and so c. 1. Let a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every man as the Hebrew language sometimes expresses it self What every man an examiner Yea of himself For what man knows the things of a man but the Spirit of man which is in him 1 Cor. 2. 11. a partial examiner you may truly say but it is at his peril The Rule whereby he must proceed is impartial man that hath a Reasonable soul hath this power above bruits which have not that we call conscience that he can make reflexion upon himself he can accUse testifie judge of and call himself to account But is every man in the world meant here The word examine rightly interpreted will answer that Question in the mean time I think it hath this restraint every man or every one of you and of them that are such as you Corinthians visible professours of Christ incorporate by Baptism Church-members that have all outward qualifications unto this Sacrament every such man Let him examine himself 2. Let every man examine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we try metal or gold by the touchstone or by the fire so the Greek version of the Septuagint Useth this word Prov. 17. 3. God tries the hearts he tries man by tentations afflictions as gold by fire man tries himself as gold or silver by the Touchstone the Rule and Standard of this examination is the word of God called a Canon as a man that will not trust the fair looks of a piece of money rubs it on the stone and thereby discerns it whether true or spurious so not trusting the superficial outsides and forme which flatters us We must bring our selves to the standard and thereby judge whether we be drosse or gold 3. Let every