cheerfully go on their way notwithstanding their own weakness and all the dangers of their life Thus here is a double Blessing which I wait for both what Aaron shewed by his Blood and what Melchisedek shewed by his Bread 13. Author of my Salvation and of these Mysteries which express it bestow on me these two Blessings which this Sacrament shews together Grace for Grace Mercy and strength to keep Mercy Hosanna O Son of David save and preserve Save me that I may not fall under the hand of the Destroyer and preserve me that after this Salvation I never fall by my own hand But keep and set forward in me notwithstanding all mine Infirmities the work of thy faithful Mercies Grant that I may not increase my Guilt by my abusing of what thou gavest My Savior my Preserver give me alwaies what thou givest once Create a new heart within me but bless and keep what Thou createst and increase more and more what Thou plantest O Son of God and Tree of Life feed with thy sap this tender Branch which without thee cannot but wither and strengthen in thee a bruised Reed which without thee cannot but fall Father of everlasting Compassions forsake not in the Wilderness a feeble Israelite whom thou hast brought a little way out of Egypt And let not this poor Soul of mine which thou hast blessed with some desires and helped a while with some tendency towards an Eternal Salvation ever faint and fall from the right way The Angel in the Wilderness could undoubtedly rain as much Manna as the Paschal Lambs could shed Blood Jesu the Truth both of those Lambs and of that Angel Thou art as able to perfect me with thy Blessings out of thy Throne as thou wert to redeem me by thy Sacrifice on thy Cross Jesu Author Object and Truth of this which by thine appointment I am bidden now to take perform in me by thy sufferings what Thou dost exhibit Eternal Life by this thy Body broken give also Nourishment and maintenance thereby to this same Life for this is the Bread of Heaven Amen SECTION IV. Concerning the Communion as it is not a Representation only but a Means of Grace 1. HItherto we have considered this holy Sacrament first as a standing Memorial of that Passion wherein Christ Jesus once offered himself up to God as Sacrifice and secondly as a sign of that nutritive and corroborative Grace the true Efflux of that Sacrifice by which sign he daily offers himself to us under the notion of Meat For his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed Joh. 6.55 And I ingeniously confess that the most general use of the blessed Communion runs upon these two Notions and that these two main Resemblances between the Bread and Christs Body which qualify the consecrated Bread and the consecrated Wine in the same manner to bear the Character of a Sacrament do likewise sufficiently qualify it to bear another honor which it enjoys of being called the Lords Body However it is most certain that when the Fathers call it so which Christ himself taught them to do they justify both His and their speech upon the account of resemblance and of this commerce most usual between Representations and objects represented of enterchanging their own names Read the 23. Epist of St. Austin ad Bonif. 2. So for example in the Prophetic Visions and Dreams which most commonly were nothing else then extemporary Sacraments of Things then revealed by God those are most constantly said to be these The 7 Ears of Corn are 7 years by the interpretation of Joseph Gen. 41.26 The seven Stars are seven Angels in the Revelation of St. John 1.20 The Sower is the Son of Man The Tares are the wicked The Harvest is the end of the World in the Parables of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.37.38.39 If by chance we meet with Pictures that represent the Tabernacle or the Ornaments of Aaron we usually say pointing at some of these Figures This is the outward Court this is the Sanctuary here is the brazen Altar and there you see the Plate of pure Gold that none was allowed to wear except the High Priest of Israel just as walking in the Palaces and Galleries of great Persons we say without thinking to speak improperly that we have seen the 12. Sibyls the 12. Cesars the Temple of Ephesus c. that is the Representations of all these Now 't is certain that no Visions nor Images have ever bin more intended for this end of Representing then the true Sacraments have bin therefore it were most unreasonable to think that these sacred Images should want that Priviledg which all other altho casual and profane are allowed to have viz. to take the name of their Objects Nay since the Paschal Lamb the Circumcision and the Baptism have it for one is called the Passover the other the Covenant and the other the Burial of Christ why should the Holy Communion be without it Besides it is not conceivable that Christ who had yet in his hands that Paschal Bread which was called by the Jews the Bread of Affliction which their Fathers did eat in Egypt because it was the Memorial of it may not be understood after the same manner when a moment after He calls it his Body 3. Nevertheless altho the literal and immediate sense of these Words This is my Body comes to no more as Tertullian and S. Augustin with many more have in express terms declared it and as all ancient liturgies must needs understand it whensoever they call the Eucharist Type Image or figure for the proper and immediate use of Images is to represent Things If they chance also to have them in themselves or to convey them over to others it is upon another account as being vessels or utensiles c. which office is extrinsecal to Sacraments Nevertheless I say the end of the blessed Communion the exigency and pious desire of Communicants and the strength of other Places of Scripture require a great deal more in the Eucharist then a meer Memorial or Representation 4. 1. The proper end of the holy Communion which is to make us partakers of Christ in another manner and degree when with faith and repentance wee take and tast those holy Mysteries then when with the like dispositions wee do hear the Holy Gospel 2. The Exigency and honest desire of Communicants who seek no more for a bare Representation or Remembrance of Christ crucified at this Holy Table then Mary and other devout women did for winding Sheets or Napkins about his Grave I want and seek my Savior himself and I watch for all the opportunities of coming to his Sacrament for the same purpose that once made S. Peter and S. Iohn run so fast to his Sepulcher because I hope to find Him there 3. Lastly the full sense and importance of other Places in Scripture which allow the Holy Communion a much greater Vertue then is that of representing only The Cup
of Blessing which wee bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ 1. Cor. 10.16 For whether the word which wee render Communion be taken in an active sense as 't is often for Communication the holy Eucharist is a Means of communicating the Blood of Christ or tho we take it but in a neuter and intransitive sense yet the holy Eucharist will be still a Mystery wherein one way or other true Christians shall find not a Commemoration or Representation only but a Communion also with the Blood so represented and remembred 5. The reall Efficacy which the Holy Communion hath to convey Grace and Blessing on the true Christian Receiver is evidently demonstrated by the opposite Efficacy it hath to convey a Curse and Destruction on the Profane Whosoever sayes S. Paul eats of this Bread unworthily eats damnation to himself Now certainly this would be as much to think unworthily as to eat unworthily of this holy Bread to think it might be really pernicious when it is abused but not really blissful and saving in its right use and that this Bread which we eat of should be an effectual Communion to procure death but meerly Sacramental only to shew and not to procure Salvation S. Paul sets out the Character of the unworthy Communicant by not discerning the Lords Body and thereby declares him guilty of the very Body and Blood of Christ That is to say that whosoever offers to abuse this Sacrament plunges himself into their Crime who have abused Christ himself and that that Villain goes hand in hand with Judas with Pilate with both Jews and Romans who murthered Him What therefore can be thought of those good Souls who approach to this Sacrament with faith humility and a trembling Reverence but that they will return home as much Justified and full of grace after their Devout as the other shall full loaded with Damnation after their impious usage and that God will be as merciful in reckoning those among the Righteous Mary Joseph Nicodemus as He is Just against these when upon this account he shuts up their Souls with the Sinners that in very deed crucified him And God forbid that the Body of Christ who came to save not destroy should not diffuse as much of its Savor of life for the life and Salvation of Devout Souls as it doth of its Savor of Death for the Death of the Impious 2 Cor. 2.16 6. The manner of this real Communication and Conveyance is the great unfathomable Mystery which the Holy Fathers have ever admired and which therefore we neither need nor do take upon us to explain The Shepherds think themselves happy with the Message brought to them by an Angel This day is born to you a Savior Luke 2.11 tho they know nothing of the way of his most miraculous Birth and the honest Israelites ought not to receive Manna less thankfully as they do not less effectually tho they know neither of what matter nor by what means the Heavens the Air or the Clouds can thus every morning shed about their Tents this strange Meat I must not wonder if the waies of the Lord be unknown to me in his Miracles since they are so very often in his most ordinary works And if David tho a Prophet cannot think upon that natural virtue which makes Bones and Veins every day out of that feed that is apparently nothing like to all these parts of Mans body but he cries out I have bin strangely and wonderfully made Ps 139.13 Who am I to pretend to a clear understanding of that hidden and incomprehensible wisdom wherewith God is pleased to make out of Water or Wine or Bread in themselves weak Elements strong and supernatural Organs for Mens Souls and salvation 7. It is true indeed that Bread Wine and Water can without much ado come up so high as to become a Sacrament to signify since the Act of signifying depends meerly on Institution Yet this Institution such as may make a Sacrament must needs proceed both from a Divine and an almighty Origine Divine I say to give a Sacred Character and Almighty withal to justify and maintain it For example after the Flood no man or Angel had authority to make of the Rainbow a Mystery that should signify the worlds preservation from Drowning and if either Men or Angels had taken on them that Liberty none of them had the power to make it true that is to make it a standing infallible Evidence that the world shall never perish by water So in the Church neither Apostles nor Bishops have any more Right to confer either upon the water of Baptism or upon the Bread and Wine of the Holy Communion a Sacramental or representative Office then they have power to make good their Representation by conferring the Blessings promised by it And it is specially to this purpose that most of the Expressions and Epiphonemas of the holy Doctors are to be understood when they stand somtimes amazed at the infinit Power of God either in the Institution or the use of these Mysteries God alone being able to raise water or Blood or any Thing else to the Order of Sacraments But to raise them a step higher that is to the Dignity of standing for true Means and Instruments which may convey on us those Graces which by their proper institution they represent there is the Finger of God indeed and there is a fitter matter for Mens admiration then Mens knowledg 8. Here then I come to Gods Altar with a full perswasion that these words This is my Body promise me more then a figure that this holy Banquet is not a Representation made of outward shews without substance and that it is not so dangerous a Mystery but that the Religious use of it may convey to me at the least as many and as great Blessings as the profane abuse of it may throw on the Abuser Plagues and Curses But how these Mysteries become in my behalf the supernatural Instruments of such Blessings it is enough for me to admire One thing I know as said the blind man after he had received his sight S. Joh. 9.25 he laid Clay upon mine Eyes and behold I see He hath blessed and given me this Bread and my Soul received Comfort I verily believe that Clay hath nothing in it self that could have wrought such a Miracle as Israel never saw the like And I know as much of this Bread that it is not such a Jewel as may contain in its substance or impart from it self to others Grace Holiness and Salvation which is the juice and the substance of Christs Body Only I am perfectly satisfied that 't is the constant way of God to produce his greatest Works at the presence tho not by the virtue of the most useless Instruments At the very stroke of a Rod He parted once in two the red Sea At the blowing some Trumpets He tumbled down massy strong walls At some few washings in Jordan he
in this inferior part of the kingdom where this Patriarck was faithfull it it a sufficient assurance that in time He will also make them sit in that other Palace where this holy Man is now happy and whosoever are admitted to the Dinner of the Lamb slain Matth. 22.4 unless they be wanting to themselves must not doubt of being admitted to that wedding Supper of the same Lamb who once was dead but now is Living for ever Luk. 14.16 Revel 19.9 4. The consequence and connexion that these two Festivals have one with the other was most sweetly alluded to by our Savior when he asked the Disciples who talked of sitting at his Right hand in his Glory whether they could pass to it throught the same Baptism and the same Cup. Mark 10.37.38 And S. Paul meant as much when he said that by the holy Eucharist we set forth the Lords death til he come 1. Cor. 11.26 Both referring and continuing this holy Mystery to the second Coming of Christ not only as to the End where it must cease but chiefly as to the Scope that it looks to and to that happiness at his coming where it must be fullfilled And truly since our Savior scarce ever speaks of his own death but as a forerunner and Preparative to his Resurrection and often joines in one Clause and delivers as it were with one breath both his Crucifiction and his Glory Mark 10.34 it it very fit unless we put asunder these two Things which Christ commonly did put together that the Sacrament which he instituted purposely to represent the one which is already accomplished should at the least cast an Eye towards the other which we look for 5. Nay it must look and lead that way upon another and much stronger necessity Our Savior hath given us three kinds of life by his Passion and He promises to nourish and maintain us in every one of them by these tokens of Bread and Wine which he hath made his Sacrament This Sacrament affords help and improvement for two as t is said before but there is a third more that we are not yet come to This is that eternal Life for which this present world is too vile an Element and we our selves as yet too vile vessells Till we acquire by Grace and pious Endeavors a greater Perfection and till we grow to that stature as may fit us to bear up that weight of Eternal Glory we are neither of age to enjoy our Inheritance nor of ability to manage well that great Estate and wear those noble Ornaments that attend it and therefore it lyes hidden from us with Christ in God and as it were under his Custody I Know whom I have believed and I am perswaded he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that Day 2. Tim. 1.12 that is by Faith we deposit this great Treasure in the hands of God to keep and God by this Sacrament assures us and engages himself that he will both keep it safe for us and restore it to us whensoever we are fit for it 6. This third use is the Crown and the Accomplishment of the two other And tho the Sacrament hath three Faces and looks three several waies the Past the present and the future yet as to the main end these three aim at one and the same Glory The first use of this Sacrament is to set out as new and fresh the great and holy Sufferings which have purchased our Title to Everlasting Happiness the second is both to represent the quality and to afford us the help of all necessary Graces true Effluxes of these Sufferings to capacitate us towards it and the third is to assure us that when we are capacitated by these Graces God and his Christ will faithfully surrender to us the Purchace it self that is eternal Happiness And these three Parts put together make up the proper and true sense of these words Take and eat this is my Body for the consecrated Bread is not said to be the Lords Body only because it represents the Lords Body but because also as to our present use on Earth it doth as good as exhibit it and as to our Happiness in Heaven bought with the price of this Body it is the most solemn Instrument to assure our Title to it 7. Thus the consecrated Elements are no more the Body and Blood of Christ in that sense that Pictures and Maps set about Rooms are commonly called Kings and Countries only because they represent them but as Patents also granted by Kings or other Deeds and Evidences left in our houses by our Ancestors are called Lands Estates and Manors because they convey over to us most really both the Title and Possession of all the goods which they mention Represent to your mind Jacob dividing among his Children every Parcel of his Estate and withal surrendring the Titles that belong to each Division take thou this Joseph this is the Field which my Grand Father Abraham bought of Hephron and you Manasehs come you hither this is the Land which I got from the Amorite It is most certain that the surrendring such Instruments altho in themselves but Papers or Parchments is in very deed nothing less then giving away the very Lands And Deeds and lands may very well go together under one Name since by giving whether Deeds or Lands whether Patents or Priviledges Fathers and other Benefactors do both intend and effect the same Thing If it happen somtimes among men that Right and Possession take not one way that our best Titles are laid aside and that we cannot enjoy those Estates whereof either our Kings or Fathers have left us most clear Evidences this falls out so by unhappy Rencounters of either weakness or injustice or ignorance which are not to be found in Christ Here then Christ our blessed Savior being desirous before his death as by a Deed of his last will to settle upon his true Disciples both such a measure of his Grace in this life as might in part make them Holy and after this life such a fullness of all Blessings as might make them eternally happy He delivers into their hands by way of Instrument and Conveyance the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood the true Root and stem of all Blessings in the same manner as to his Intention but in a surer way as to the Event and effect as Kings use to bestow Dignities by the bestowing of a staff or sword and Fathers pass as much as they please of their Estates on their Children by giving them some few writings 8. The true reason of all this is because the Giver is not able to transfer into his Friends hands Houses and Lands because they are of an immoveable Nature and therefore this must be supplyed by substituting in stead of Lands some Ceremonies forms or tokens which may visibly pass from hand to hand and shew to all ends and purposes both the Intention that the one hath to