this Agar is Mount Sinai Rev. 7.9 The seven Heads are seven Mountains So in Sacramentals Circumcision is called the Covenant Gen. 17. â—3 and a token of the Covenant ver 11. And a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 4.11 The Lamb is called the Passover Ex. 2.21 The Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 and in this of our Lords Supper This is the Cup of the new Testament These and the like Instances are commonly used in this case and the Form of Speech is so plain that a Child may understand it Thus he But if Similitudes may be of any force I say not in Argumentation but Illustration in my Judgment there can be nothing more Pregnant to this purpose than a Resemblance that may be made between our Saviour himself and this his own Holy Ordinance Two Natures we believe are personally united in Christ the Divine and Human Now as the distinct Properties of these Natures are by vertue of this Hypostatical Union sometimes applyed and made common to both yet remain themselves entire without any Confusion each with other or Conversion into one another in like manner there being in this Ordinance of our Saviour a Sacramental Union between the ontward visible Sign and the inward and spiritual Grace well may the one be denominated by the other yet remain themselves entirely in their own Nature and Substance as they were before the said Union without any confused mixture one with the other or any real Conversion into each other So the Soul and Body of Man while they are united are oft-times put distinctly for the whole Person of a Man yet are both bounded within their original Beings But the truth is this real corporal Conversion of the Bread into the Body of Christ notwithstanding the Confidence which the Roman Party useth by it to bring on their Oral Manducation of Christs Body in the Mass hath no such Warrant as they dream of from these words of our Saviour which they so much harp upon For it is well known among the Learned as my aforesaid Author observeth out of Cameron and Moulin that the Hebrew Tongue or Syriack in which Christ spake doth not use in this form of Speech any Copula of Subject or Predicate either is or signifieth But sometimes and not always Pronoun as in those places before cited in the old Testamenr no is nor was nor any other Verb is there But thus The seven ears of Corn they seven years the four Beasts four Kings which when they come to be Translated into Greek or Latin then the Idiom of the Language requires it and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is e. g. The Rock is Christ So that they are much mistaken who to bolster up their devised Transubstantiation place the Emphasis here in this word Is which Word probably our Saviour did not speak when he instituted this Sacrament though it be as it must be so rendred by the Evangelists according as it hath been said to the Idiome of the Language in which they wrote Thus in short we see the Sense which hath been wont to be given of these words of our Saviour by Pious and Learned Men and which passeth for current among us of all sorts To which Sense I also for my part do readily subscribe though I do humbly conceive there is something lacking in it and so not fully comming up to our Saviours meaning I come therefore now according to my Promise to deliver my particular Judgment of it My particular I say because I never heard of it before nor in all my Reading met with it in any Author elder or later that hath written of this Subject And it is as followeth Our Lord Jesus Christ intending as it appeareth to put an end to the old Sacrament of the Paschal Lamb for which his Disciples had been so sollicitous and to Institute this of his last Supper in its stead he therefore having first lifted up his Eyes and Hands to Heaven that he might in the Name of his Father Consecrate the chosen Element of Bread and Wine speaks to his Disciples in this manner and form saying This is my Body and this is my Blood q.d. you have taken that for my Body hitherto according to the Rudiments of the Law of Moses for indeed Christ the Lamb of God was praesigured thereby but now This shall be it hereafter till my Coming again So placing the Emphasis in the word This as by way of distinction from the former Sacrament calling it likewise his Body in opposition to the former shadows not making any other change at all but only one Sacrament instead of another which it's true is generally acknowledged but the premised Emphatical Distinction hath not been heeded as it ought to have been from whence have sprung the differences and hot contentions about the manner of Christs Presence The Apostles themselves so understood it for they never after were inquisitive as they had been about the Passover but were no doubt obedient to the Command of their Lord and Master for he had laid this charge upon them in these words Do this in Remembrance of me as much as to say leave the other undone or use it no more and let none other use it in my Name hereafter The Apostle St. Paul who laboured more abundantly than all the rest of the Apostles kept himself precisely to this command in his Apostolical Office So he telleth the Church at Corinth 1 Cor. 11.23 that saith he which I have received of the Lord meaning not from Moses but of Christ have I delivered unto you Yea the very words of our Saviour himself which he spake of the Cup do seem to point out this Sense unto us for as he saith of that This is my Blood of the New Testament so his meaning very probably may be of the Bread This is my Body of the New Testament that is which in the time of the New Testament you and all other to the Worlds end shall take for my Body not that which hath been taken for it under the old For by these words he takes away the first Sacrament of the Passover how else comes it to be out of date And establisheth this of his last Supper the first being an ordinance of the Law to continue during the old Covenant the second he will have to be an ordinance of the Gospel as being more apt to agree with his new Covenant This this I say is clearly the thing that our Lord intended by using this form of Speech when he ordained this new Sacrament in his Church viz. This is my Body He would that his Apostles and his whole Church after them should take his meaning as spoken in this manner This Emphatically This Specifically This Substantially This not the former yet this mystically even as the former was is my Body whereby you shall be united together in bortherly Love your Faith also shall be Confirmed and your Souls strengthned and refreshed unto Life Eternal
their Bustle which they made If then this be the bustle which he means God will certainly in mercy pay wages for it notwithstanding the bustling of this foolish man Or would he have men cast off their near and dear Relations so as to take no care for them contrary to the will of God often revealed in Scripture This were a bustle indeed that would overthrow all natural Affection and make men worse than brute Creatures One of these I guess he doth mean by his writing at this uncharitable rate more like a Judge than one that shall be judged among other men Let him examine all the Examples of Holy Men whose Praise is upon Record in the Book of God Abraham Isaac Jacob David c. Were they not all diligent in their particular Callings Were they not all tenderly affected towards their natural Relations Wives and Children Yet no man will say that their care of their own eternal Salvation was less'ned thereby And if the gross of mankind as he like a proud Pharisee calls the major part of the World of men do the same now as those Patriarchs and other holy Men did with what face can he say that all their Thoughts and Bustle amount only to this to pursue the Lusts of the Flesh c. and to advance their carnal Interests in this World c Rather doth not an Anabaptistical Spirit haunt and pursue this man which hath put him upon these Whymsies to account all that is done by men in the World but a vain Bustle unless it be forsooth licensod by his magisterial Fiat No Prince if at least he will acknowledge any shall go to War against an encroaching and enraged Enemy but he will call it a Bustle no Merchant shall Traffick with any Forreign Nation but it shall be a Bustle no Tradesman tend his Shop without a Bustle no Artificer practice his Scill but it is a Bustle no shepherd look after the state of his Flocks without a Bustle no Rustick Till his Ground sow his Corn gather in his Harvest carry it to Market but it must be a Bustle no Husband take care for the things of this World how he may please his Wife nor no Wise take care for the things of this World how she may please her Husband but all this must be a bustling to pursue the Lusts of the Flesh c. and to advance carnal Interests in this World How this Bustler can be able to stand with confidence before men in this World when he hath been thus pragmatical in stretching beyond his Last I know not and how he will able to stand in the Judgment at the last Day let him look to it betimes before it be too late It was said before we should go on with his Dedication but I doubt I go too far making the Porch too big for the Building that is to follow one Reflection therefore and no more shall be here made upon some other words in his Epistle Dedicatory You say indeed that there are some Divines very sincere and upright c. that are apt to believe that the Mercies of God are of a vast Extent far beyond our possibility of finding out And why apt to believe as if they did not yet really believe this Surely if they be good Divines instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven they do fully believe that the Mercies of God I will not say as you say are of a vast Extent that 's a word too much below the Height of this Divine Subject but they do believe they are infinite and that the Dimensions thereof are incomprehensible far beyond as you say our possibility of finding out This questionless they believe and do not you Sir believe so too If you do not which your words imply you are so far from being a Sincere and Upright Christian that intruth you are no Christian at all but a down-right Enemy to God and his Son Jesus Christ If you do believe it why do you cast off those sincere Divines so sleightly by saying There are some others whose Reasons appear more strong and sinewy to you and who alledge Scripture for their Opinion that conclude the Mercy of God is to be restrained to a fewer number The Mercy of God was there ever man that dallyed thus with the glorious Attribute of God He spake before of the Mercies of God as of many wherein he did well for they are indeed without number But now being about to make Gods Mercies of a less Extent the Plurality thereof would not agree so well with his Fancy therefore he speaks of them now in a diminutive Sense Whereas had he written like a Schollar he would have made the Correspondency in the latter Branch exactly according to the former and have called them as they are the Mercies of God nor did he before make mention of any number to whom the Mercies of God should have been extended only now the small number which ran in his mind hath made him to vary his words and to bring them down to Nonsense Having stayed thus long in the Portal it is now time to enter into the Building where instead of Mercy being built up as the good Psalmist foretold it should and that for ever we shall find it miserably broken down which will be but a cold Entertainment for my Reader who hath his hope in Gods mercy only he shall see it here repaired in some measure and the Ruines of it removed out of his sight that his hope in it may be strengthened yet more and more The Reflector begins here again with his Title of Moral Reflections upon the number of the Elect as if he were not ashamed of it but would stand to it like a Valiant Man whereas it will appear his Boldness is but dawbed over with Impudency nor will his shuffling excuse his Impudence by telling the world what others say of this unmerciful Tenet For that which they say and they say as he writes pretending as if he himself had nothing to say to it he affirms it to be his own Judgment in the following parts of his Discourse surpassing all that ever I heard of or I think any man else in uncharitable judging declaring his mind plainly that not above one in a Million shall be saved First he begins with the opinions of others that differ from him giving his sense of them naming one Caelius Secundus Curio an Author I confess that I am not acquainted with whose Opinion though he dislikes it is most Orthodox and is the same which I shall here maintain against this Reflector and against the World viz. That the number of those that shall be saved is in all probability much greater than the number of those that shall be Damned But as for that of Zuinglius whom he nameth also if that be true which he writeth of him viz. that the number of the Saved and the Damned is equal just as many of the one as of the other Zuinglius
Heaven And rather say I than to wrest them to a sinister Sense disagreeing from the whole Current of the Gospel as you have done with those Texts mentioned often by you for the Confirmation of your Opinion viz. Mat. 7.14 Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leadeth to Life and few there be that find it And Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good Pleasure to give you the Kingdom and Mat. 20.16 Many are called but few are chosen So Mat. 22.14 To shew you your Error in these it is needless here having said enough of it already in my Antidote set forth against you which hath been sufficient in the Judgment of Rational Men to expel the Poison of your corrupt Doctrine Reflector They that hold the Opinion of the small number that shall be saved alledge the Rigour of the Examination at the day of Judgment and the words of St. Paul in the 2 Cor. c. 5. v. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad c. Answer Those who hold it And are not you one of them that hold it Nay do you not in Rigor surpass all men that ever held it by uncharitable Judging and Condemning your confident boldness therein will appear more in the Sequel of this Discourse But to our present Business First I do not like your uncouth word here Rigor as you use it A more Reverend Term might in this Case have easily been thought upon by you and more proper for your purpose but that your rigid Spirit would have an unseasonable Vent according to its Humor whether with Sense or without you cared not There shall it's true be a strickt and severe Examination at that day of all the whole Race of Mankind all their Thoughts Words and Works shall be made manifest and placed in order before them Gods Law-Book which may be called his Doomsday-Book whether it be the Law of Works for such as are in a Reprobate Condition or the Law of Faith for such as are the Elect of God shall then likewise be opened By both which the sin of the World shall be set out in its Colours I mean as the Apostle It shall be made exceeding sinful for by the Law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 All this and whatever else you Mr. Reflector can be able to add warrantably from the written word of God concerning that most exact scrutiny and search that shall then be into the Hearts and Lives of all Mankind I do readily consent unto for it will be the day of the Lords Vengeance upon all his Enemies who lived and died in their Malice against him and knowing the terror of the Lord we should all be perswaded in this our day to know the things that belong unto our Peace before they be hidden from our Eyes But after all he granted which you can well Imagine what will be the result of this Righteous Examination Will a general Damnation follow upon it Yes must you say for so you have said though most impiously else your arguing comes to nothing As for your alienating the matter in the twenty fourth Page of your Book it is not a retracting of your bold Censure You say indeed the Apostle did by the Consideration of the Terror of the Lord perswade men to fly to Jesus Christ but what 's this to your opinion of the general Damnation That you hold still in worse terms as may be seen in the following parts of your Discourse than any of your Fraternity for ought I know ever did before you and such as cannot enter into the Heart of Man to conceive which is not void of all Humanity I will therefore here tell you what I believe will be the sequel of this great Judgment and Scrutiny I do not say it shall be for your Condemnation or mine because I hope and pray that both you and I shall before we die repent us of our sins you of your misjudging the World and I of my misjudging you if I have offended therein and of my many other failings wherein I am too sure I have very much offended But this I say that when the horrible Ugliness of sin shall then be discovered an Amazement shall generally seize upon men for their folly in committing it insomuch that those who have been tryed by the Law of Works and are found guilty of the Violation of that Law as all unbelievers and impenitent Persons shall be will say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand But others that have been tryed by the Law of Faith and have thereupon found their Judge to be their Advocate as I believe a great multitude not one alone amongst many Millions but a great multitude Rev. 7.9 which no man can number of all Nations and Kindred and People and Tongues i. e. The major part of Mankind shall find him to be they shall then lay aside their Amazements at their former Folly and with loud Acclamations Chant out their Hallelujahs ascribing Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever These undoubtedly are some of the immediate Consequents that will follow upon the Righteous Judgment of that great Day Some I say for I do not take upon me to determine of all but only what concerns our present purpose viz. the beginning of everlasting Sorrows to all the Reprobate and the beginning of everlasting Happiness to all the Elect People of God I know there will follow the Justification of the Judge himself for it is called Rom. 2.5 The day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God which may be taken not only in an active Sense but in a passive which will signifie that which is written he will be justified in all his sayings and be clear saith the Prophet overcome saith the Apostle when he is judged meaning all mouths shall be then stopped which have been apt to cavil against him and be forced even against themselves to confess the Judgment of God is according to Truth But to return to our purpose You 'll say how shall they that have lived all their days in unbelief and the hardness of their Hearts as the greatest part of Mankind made up of those that are without alienated from the Life of God and those that are within living under the Light of Gods Word yet have been Ignorant and Prophane how shall they be able to stand with any Confidence in the Judgment at the last Day Hereto I have already also given an Answer in my Antidote to which I remit you But because you object so much that terrible