observed We must strive to be of the highest by keeping our affections alive that are begotten in us p. 330. CAP. XVI Eight directions for the maintaining in our hearts those resolutions that are wrought in them and keeping our hearts in a constant good temper p. 335. SECT IV. Of the Benefits of holy Communion CAP. XVII Holy men can best tell themselves how sweet this Feast is yet for the inviting of others to this chear a Discourse is begun of the pleasures of it p. 374. CAP. XVIII Three benefits we may receive by it 1. Great pleasure which is brought to us sundry wayes 2. Great nourishment and strength as is proved by the three graces of Faith Hope Charity 3. Great cures of our sicknesses and diseases p. 382. CAP. XIX The danger of coming hither with a love to our sins opened in several particulars Yet it is a great sin not to come out of love to Christ Mens excuses shown to be frivolus p. 410. CAP. XX. The great excuse of many unmasked which is that wicked men are permitted to come thither p. 431. Mensa Mystica THe Sacraments being not unfitly called by an ancient Writer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys cop 3. Eccles hierarch The Garments that are cast about our Saviour and it being the profession of Divines to labour to see the naked face of truth it is most worthy our pains to open and reveal those secrets that lie hid and vailed under symbols and sensible things And to say the truth these Vestments are so thin and transparent that the truth doth shine through them and shew it self to well-prepared minds They are but like to those thin clouds wherein the Sun is sometimes wrapped which render its body the more visible to our weak and trembling eyes I cannot pretend to have conversed much with barefac'd truth yet having been drawn to publish a few thoughts concerning Baptism I shall now further endeavour to unfold those mysteries that lie hid under the coverings of bread broken and wine poured out in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper that men may not Ixion-like embrace a meer cloud instead of God himself My sight is not so sharp as to discern the very flesh and blood of Christ in those forms and shapes of bread and wine no more could that Eagle-eyed Author I mentioned though he thought he could see as far as the coelestial Hierarchy which will appear to any one that shall be at the pains to read him Yet I am so far from thinking that they are meer signs of what Christ did for us or onely representations of the benefits we receive by him but am perswaded that they exhibit our Lord himself unto believing minds and put them into a surer possession of him The truth commonly lies between two extreams and being a peaceable thing cannot join it self with either of the directly opposite parties And therefore I shall seek for her in a middle path not bidding such a defiance to the corporeal presence as to deny the real nor so subverting the fancy of a miraculous changed into a coelestial substance as to level these things into meer shadows CHAP. I. FIrst then this holy rite of eating bread broken and drinking wine poured out is a solemn commemoration of Christ according as he himself saith to all his Apostles Luk. 22.19 and particularly to St. Paul who twice makes mention of this command 1 Cor. 11.24 25. Do this in remembrance or for a remembrance of me His meaning is not that we should hereby call him to mind for we are never to forget him but rather that we should keep him in mind and endeavour to perpetuate his Name in the world and propagate the memory of him and his benefits to the latest posterity Now this is done by making a solemn rehearsal of his famous Acts and declaring the inestimable mable greatness of his royal love For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not signifie barely recordatio recording or registring of his favours in our mind but commemoratio a solemn declaration that we do well bear them in our hearts and will continue the memory and spread the fame of him as far and as long as ever we are able I hope that none will conceive so little to be meant by this word remember or commemorate as a naked mention of his Name with our mouthes or a dead image of him in our minds For all these words to know believe meditate remember and the like are hearty words and full of life Though they seem to speak only actions of the mind yet in holy language they include in their comprehension the affections of the heart Cold pale thoughts which have no feeling of themselves nor leave any footsteps or memorials behind them are as good as none at all And therefore I understand hereby a very warm sence in the soul which begets and stirs up such motions in the heart as the conceived object is apt for to raise Suppose you have been in deep love with any person and have lost the half of your selves when you remember the death of that friend the image of him is ready to rob you of your lives and make all the blood retire to your heart as if death were about to surprize the main Fort of life But on the contrary if you think of that person as alive the remembrance of him makes your spirits for to dance and the blood to run into your cheeks and smiles to sit on your forehead and breeds a pleasance in your whole man Just so would our Saviour be remembred by you that the thoughts of him may even kill you with grief and transport you with love and captivate your wills and ingage all your affections that they may be at his command and issued forth at his pleasure As you think of a friend of a father of a wife or a husband or any one that hath got the possession of your heart so think of him By which examples you may see that I intend not a natural passion and a sensual commotion in the soul but a well-grounded affection When we read a true History or a Romance we are apt to side with some persons in the story and when we meet with a Duel we favour one of the Combatants and are sensible of his wounds and sorry for his fall as on the contrary we are glad he comes off a conquerour and wins the field So may a man when he thinks of Christ and his Tragedy conceive a natural hatred and indignation at the treachery of Judas and the vile malice of the Pharisees and be much moved to see him used in such an unworthy manner it may be fetch sighs from his heart and tears from his eyes and put him into such a huge passion as if he suffered with him But if all this have non effect in his life and produce no answerable fruits afterward it is no more than a natural motion and is void of the divine and
the fruits of his Sons death and the earnests we have of the eternal inheritance We should begin to praise him with the Heavenly host and to joyn our hearts and voices with the celestial Quire we should wish that we could make all the world ring with his praises and that we could make all men hear from the East to the West the sound of our thanksgivings We should sing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which all the Churches of Christ throughout all ages have sung saying Holy Holy Holy See the Learned Mr. Thorndike in his Relig. Assemb Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory And so we read that as soon as our Saviour had spoken those words that he would not any more drink with them till the Kingdom of his Father should come they sung an Hymne or Psalm of praise and so went forth And indeed who can sufficiently praise his divine Majesty The tongues of Angels stammer in uttering of his goodness and we become dumb the more we endeavour to speak of it The highest of our praises is humbly and affectionately to acknowledge that we cannot sufficiently praise him the greatest of our endeavours is daily to admire him the furthest we can strain our souls is to long for eternity wherein it may be our imployment to admire and praise him Call upon the Armies of Angels and wish them to praise him seeing thou canst not call upon all men and bid them praise him wish thou couldst awake all the world that all Creatures might praise him and make thine own soul hear more plainly call upon it more shrilly call upon it again and again call upon it every day to praise him Say as the Psalmist doth Psal 103. Bless the Lord ye his Angels which excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkning to the voice of his words Bless the Lord all ye hosts ye Ministers of his that do his pleasure Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion Bless the Lord O my soul Mensa Mystica The Postcaenium or of our Deportment afterward CHAP. XV. ANd now that we have had a sight of them let us remember his love more than Wine Let his name be engraven upon our hearts and his Image remain fair and lively upon our souls Let us find a kind of unwillingness to admit of any other company and say in the secrets of our mind None but Christ none but Christ Yea when we do return to converse again with other things let us still be looking back towards him as one that hath got our hearts and say Lord evermore give us this Bread Let us labour that other objects may not come near our hearts nor make any strong impressions upon us but that they may be sealed up by him and so filled with him that all things else may look upon themselves as having nothing to do there Eusebius Pamphilus hath a pretty Observation on Cant. 5.12 where the eyes of the beloved are compared to the eyes of Doves by the Rivers of water washed with Milk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Milk saith he of all other moist things hath this singular property that it will not admit of the image or picture of any thing to be reflected in it and therefore it is a fit resemblance of his eyes in which nothing vain insubsistent deceiving doth cast its shadow but they do alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold the being that truly is Our souls should labour to imitate him as much as they can and to endeavour at least that the world may not deceive and cheat us with its shadowes and pictures of things but we may see through them all to that being which is true and substantial and on that our eyes may be fixed as our only good and happiness The Lord expects now that we should proceed to a greater strength by the higher food that he vouchsafes unto us that our knowledge should be more bright that our love should be more inflamed that by our actions we should shine like lights in the world holding forth the word of life Many of the Ancients upon those words V. Comment trium Patrum Cant. 6.10 do note that there are four degrees of Christians Some are but newly converted and they do but look forth as the morning with weak and trembling thoughts being as it were in the twilight and not far enlightned A second sort have made some progress and are fair as the Moon they are much enlightned but have abundance of spots still in them and some discernable darkness still remaining A third sort are clear as the Sun very full of light very pure unblameable and bright in their conversations The world can take notice of no common failings yet sometime there may be a partial eclipse and if they mark themselves they will observe many weaknesses as the modern Astronomers that have pried more narrowly have discerned spots in the body of the Sun A fourth sort are they that are become such strong Christians that they are as terrible as an Army with Banners and all their enemies flie before them Few temptations are able to worst them but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the appearance of an Agnelical Host that are so strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that they overcome the world and tread Satan under their feet Now in which soever lower form and rank we be of these we should strive to advance to that which is higher and seeing we have more than Angels food we should labour to do the will of God on earth as they do in Heaven We should put on all the Armour of God and gird it closer to our loins and shew greater valour to the perfecting the conquests we have begun We should labour to be so full of Christ that the Devil may be afraid of us and run away when he sees us grown so stedfast in the faith For we must not judge of the state of our souls by our fervency in this duty but by the holiness of our lives which is the fruit and effect of it Unless our lives be better than they were before we our selves are not made better We are but like some of the Sect of Pythagoras who held that a man took a new soul when to receive Oracles he approached to the images of their Gods but it was such a new one as was lent him but for a time and then he returned to the same man he was before Such a new soul men seem to have some time when they come to the solemn duties of their Religion they are inspired with strange and unusuall affections and moved beyond themselves But it is a soul that lives but for a day and then they fall to their old dulness and as for their own soul it gives no sign of its amendment and further renewal after the Image of God It is fit therefore that I should next of all
both of God and Man from you which is grounded upon a better foundation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Severus imperator gravis vir nominis sâ—i dicitur Lamprid. I verily believe that you will endeavour to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks call them persons of your own name And as the Apostle prays for his Thessalonians 1 Thes 3.12 13. you will encrease and abound in love one toward another and towards all men to the end that you may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints Let me speak to you and all others once more in the words of another Apostle 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as Brethren be pitifull be courteous But what need I insist so long on this who find you so full of love towards me It is a delightfull Subject and therefore you will pardon my vehemence in it But though it be delightfull yet I will refrain my self from enumerating my particular obligations because I know Sir that you do not do your kindnesses that they should be talkt of And for you Madam who carries kindness in both your names I know also that you love to be concealed and that your love should have none to speak of it but it self and therefore I shall forbear to say how much at least to me you answer the double remembrance you have in them It will be more acceptable I know to you both if I turn this address to you into a Prayer to God that he would do all this and much more for you And to that God of Peace from whom all good comes I humbly bow my knees that he would make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Hebr. 13.21 to whom be glory for ever and ever The more particular petitions that concern you I shall put up alone and ever remain what I am much engaged to be Your affectionate Friend and Servant Si. Patrick From your house at Batersea January 27. 1659 60 THE INTRODUCTION Shewing 1. That God manifests himself to our sense 2. That Bread and Wine are fit things for the representing our Lord to us 3. The first reason of the celebration of this Supper and the fittest time for us to do this that Christ commands us 4. Which is but a reiteration of what is done in Baptism 5. As may be seen by what I have briefly writ on that subject 6. And if we will extend this thing further we may lose all The Papists in danger of this who speak not the language of the ancient Church 7. The design of this present discourse 8. The alledging of some Heathen Customes and Principles need be no offence to any but may be an help if they please GOd who is simple and removed far from all sense considering the weakness of mans soul and how unable he is to conceive of things spiritual purely and nakedly in themselves and yet having a mind to be better known unto us and to make himself more manifest then ever was pleased in his infinite goodness to dwell in flesh and appear here in the person of his Son who was made like to Man to shew what God is in our nature This Son of his being to die and part with his life for great ends and purposes which he would not have us to forget was pleased to take the same course to convey to our minds spiritual notions by outward and sensible signs and to impress on our hearts what he hath done and suffered by a visible representation of it in bodily things and not onely by a plain description of it in the Gospel He knew very well that a Picture and Image of a thing doth more affect us than an Historical Narration and that the more lively and express that Image is the more lively motions it makes within us A dead Corpse is but the shadow of a man and yet we find that our souls are more assaulted and all our passions stirred by the sight of the face of a dead friend then by all the reports that are brought us of his death And long after his Corpse is mouldred in the Grave if we see a Child of his that hath his exact features manners and carriage it renews a fresh remembrance in us of that person and stirs up the Images that are in our mind more powerfully then we can do our selves by reflections upon them But though God was willing to teach us by outward and sensible representations Sect. 2. yet he thought it both unsafe and likewise unfit and no ways conducing to the spiritual ends he intended in the Sacrament of Christs body and bloud that we should have a picture of Christ or an Image of him set before our eyes There is too much of sense in the Tragical and Theatrical representations which are made by some Papists of Christs sufferings The outward actions are in danger not onely to take place of all spiritual affections but quite to thrust them out The eye and the ear are so fully possessed that their objects work by their own natural strength and not by the souls considering and meditating powers Our Saviour therefore that he might both help the soul and leave it something for to do in making of its own thoughts and forming its own apprehensions and resentments hath given us onely Bread and Wine as remembrances of him in which we see so much as to awaken our souls but not so much as to keep them awake without themselves They show Christ to our sences but more to our minds that so both may be employed but the mind may do most by the help of the senses And indeed these are very fit things upon other reasons to serve our Saviours design because First of all They are similiar bodies and not consisting of Heterogenious parts i. e. their parts are not of different kinds as the parts of our flesh are The flesh of a man is composed of veins and arteries and nerves and blood and muscles and divers skins but every part of Bread and Wine is like the other and hath nothing in it different from its neighbour Every piece of the one and every drop of the other doth as much represent what is intended as any other part doth and all the parts together make one body of the very same sort And yet secondly The parts of these bodies are easily separated one from another which makes them more fit to be communicated and divided among a great many who all notwithstanding do receive as it were the very same thing And thirdly They are constantly used at all feasts and never omitted whereas other things have their seasons and cannot do continual service at our Tables To which you may add fourthly That they were brought by
give some brief touches upon those things §. 5. which you can without trouble inlarge in your own thoughts Which is one reason why I shall spare my self any long pains about them and hold another course in this following Treatise For our part we do here profess our selves of the Religion that Christ hath instituted and taught us as you will see more largely in the ensuing Book We do at once in this Feast both shew our gladness and assure him of our affections Sin is here represented so unto us that it cannot but make our wounds bleed afresh The remembrance of Christs death doth pierce our hearts again with godly sorrow and revives the smart and pain which the sense of sin hath created in our souls Faith likewise here is as greedy of its food as an hungry mouth is of its meat And Obedience is hereby confirmed because we receive lively nourishment into our souls which will make us strong to execute the will of our Lord. Our suffering also with Christ we profess more lively than by Water even by Blood it self When our Saviour saith in the sixth of S. John That we must eat of his flesh he means we must receive himself and digest his Doctrine but seeing the word flesh in Scripture-phrase signifies very frequently weakness and meanness he intends that we must receive him so as to partake with him in his poor low and suffering condition And this we do most notably protest that we will when we receive the signs of his broken body For the Bread broken doth not only argue it to be fit for food but that first we must be slain and mortified and likewise receive such strength that if he call us unto death we must undergo it We own hereby the Covenant of sufferings and feed upon a dead Saviour Which makes Theophylact give this as a reason why Christ gave thanks when he brake the bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That so we might receive Martyrdom thankfully It is a feast which we partake of and yet signifies sufferings But let it not seem strange for we must count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Neither doth it less signifie and seal on Gods part being a manifest token of his great and inexpressible love in giving of his own Son to death even to the cursed death of the Cross for us Here he takes us not only under his wings as I said he doth in Baptism but he takes us into his armes He takes us to himself and he gives himself wholly unto us And then for Remission of sins it is manifest to be the purchase of his blood and so must needs further here be assured to all good souls And it is the very thing that is expressed in the Institution of this Sacrament This is my blood of the New Testament that is shed for many for the remission of sins And there are not so many spirits contained in the Wine as there are lively influences of Gods good Spirit hereby conveyed to pious hearts We have assurance likewise given by these things That he will not take his holy Spirit from us but that he will let it always diffuse it self through all our powers And as for the Resurrection from the dead We being made as it were of his flesh and of his bone and incorporated into him he can lose none of his members but all that eat of his flesh and drink of his blood as they ought shall be raised again at the last day We eat of the tree of life which will make us live for ever and we receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Ephes as Ignatius speaks an Antidote against death a Medicine to preserve us from corruption This the ancient Christians thought to be so fully assured to us in the Eucharist that this is one of the Arguments whereby Irenaeus confutes the Valentinians who denied the rising again of the Body after it is dead How can that flesh be corrupted L. 4. adv haeres cap. 34. and not live again which is nourished by the Body and Bloud of the Lord Either let them change their mind or else abstain from this Offering For as the Bread which is of the Earth perceiving the invocation of God is no longer common bread but the Eucharist consisting of something earthly and something heavenly Even so our bodies perceiving this Eucharist are not now corruptible but have the hopes of a Resurrection L. 5. cap. 2. Thus he who hath more to the same purpose in another Book Herein likewise God gives us a foretaste of Heaven and the joys to come as will be made more manifest in the following Discourse And thus far we may grant the Bread and Wine of Melchizedeck to have been Sacramental that they were given to Abraham as earnests for to secure him of the Land flowing with milk and honey By this Banquet or Entertainment which the Royal Priest made him he took Livery of Seisin as our Lawyers speak of the promised Land And in that very place it is most likely where God intended the Mother-City of the Kingdom should be was this conveyance made to Abraham's seed This Bread and Wine were most certain evidences that his Posterity should eat of the fruit of that Land wherein now he was a stranger And just in the same manner doth God give unto faithful souls this blessed Bread and Wine as an Antepast of his eternal love and hereby they do begin to taste of the heavenly Feast that they shall celebrate above They have herein a right made them unto Heaven and a kind of delivery of possession which shall shortly be compleated by an actual enjoyment They that would more than such things as these in this Sacrament Sect. 6. are in danger to have nothing at all as they should have While they think that Christ is received coporally by them they may neglect the spiritual eating and while they chew him as it were between their teeth their Souls may feel but little of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—nap in vita Jambl. For just as it is with those that would paint a beautifull person while they think to add something of their own to the face thereby to make him look better than he is they spoil the comeliness of the Picture and miss both of his face and likewise of his true beauty So it is with the modern Church of Rome which would make Religion seem as fair and beautifull yea as gaudy and trim as their fancies can devise but by adding their own inventions and novel fashions they quite spoil both true Religion and the beauty of it which they study to adorn Whilest they think to offer a proper Sacrifice they many times offer none at all And whilst they think it is a Sacrifice both for quick and dead they rely so much upon it that it proves to be for neither By making it flesh and blood and bones they make Christ the
another likeness by the offering up of our bodies to God which is a piece of this service Rom. 12.1 2. And so some observe that all other meat is received as it is in it self and no otherwise but this meat is divers as it is received Other meat affecteth and altereth the taste but here the taste altereth the meat For if it be worthily received it is the body and blood of Christ if unworthily it is but bare bread and wine But yet this must be cautiously understood when we thus speak for his presence is with the bread though not in it Though it be onely in us yet it comes with it unto us if we will receive him because else we shall not know how unworthy persons are said to be guilty of his body and blood 1 Cor. 11.27 if he be not present with his body and blood to work in mens souls This likewise is to be further observed for the better under standing of it that the Devil who loves to imitate God that he may the better cozen and cheat doth seldom manifest his power to any great purpose but when he is called by some of his own ceremonies and sacraments that he hath appointed This doth but tell us that Christ is then most powerfully present when we use his rites which he hath instituted and hallowed as special remembrances of his love and testimonies of our love unto him So that we may come hither and expect that we shall feel more at such a time and in the use of such means then at or in others because he hath made them his body and blood in such sort as I have declared Other union then this by Christs spirit I know no use of though we should believe that which we do not understand I can conceive great things concerning the power of Christs humane nature and it is not for us to tell how far it may extend its influences through the inhabitation of the Deity That it is brighter then the Sun Saint Paul saw when the Lord appeared to him Acts 26.13 And as the Sun we see communicates his beams a vast way and twists it self about us by silver threads of light though seated in the Heavens so may we conceive that the sacred humanity of Christ doth tie us to it self by cords of love and now embrace us in its outstretched armes after a more affectionate manner when we come to remember him But to what purposes this should serve I do not well understand and without the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us the flesh can profit nothing at all though never so glorious and therefore I lay aside such thoughts and content my self to know that they that are joyned or cleave to the Lord 1 Cor. 6.17 are one spirit 5. Now from this secret union that is here made between Christ and our persons it comes to pass that this Sacrament hath been accounted an earnest and pledg of the resurrection For nothing that is made one with Christ can die and be lost but he will raise it up again at the last day His spirit can find out all their dust after a thousand changes it can gather all their dispersons and renuite their scattered crums and knead them again into a goodly body And this it will do 1 Cor. 6.19 for their very bodies are the Temples of the holy Ghost therefore he will quicken their mortal bodies Rom. 8.11 by his Spirit that dwelleth in them Hence it was that Cyril so earnestly invited guests to this feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saying Come eat the bread that renews your natures drink the wine that is the smile and cheer of immortality Eat the bread that purges away the ancient bitterness drink the wine that asswages the pain of our old sore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the very restorative of nature an healing plaister for the bitings of the Serpent a powerfull antidote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ainst all his poyson he hath infused into us And so several of the elder times speak not without reason for seeing our Lord gives to these things the name of his body and blood we need not fear to attribute to them the vertues and efficacy of his death which we know was the restorer of life We should think therefore when we go to the Table of the Lord that we go to joyn our selves more closely to our head and to unite our hearts more firmly to the fountain of our life That we go to receive of his holy Spirit which like wine running through our veins should diffuse it self into all the vital powers of our souls and make us more able and strong active and quick ready and forward in the service of our Saviour We should think that hereby we may get greater victories over our enemies if we do not betray our succours that we may more compleat our conquests if we use the power that is sent unto us We should look upon this bread as the bread of life and conceive that we take the cup of immortality into our hands and that the next draught may be in the Kingdom of God when our bodies shall be raised to feast at the eternal supper of the Lamb. For this is but a just consequence of forgiveness of sins which the former Chapter treated of that our bodies should live again which became mortal through sin And therefore as Christ here seals unto us the one so he likewise wise assures us of the other and gives unto us the earnest of the Spirit What joy then must these thoughts needs create in our souls What better chear can we desire What greater dainties would we taste then this holy feast affords or what cause would we have of thanksgiving more then hath been named If we desire a consort in our thanksgivings and to have an harmony of souls while we sing his praises if we would hear some voice besides our own that might fill up our joys and lift them to a greater height That is not wanting neither as the next Chapter shall declare For here is an union of minds begot and a sweet consent of hearts is the result of this entertainment CHAP. VI. AS this Sacrament is a means of uniting us to our Lord by faith so likewise of uniting us to our brethren by love It knits us not onely to our head but all the members also thereby are more indeared unto each other We enter here into a strict league of friendship with them as well as into a Covenant with God For all true Christians are not onely of the Family of God but his children and nearest relations so that we cannot profess any love unto the father of them all but we must at the same time embrace his whole progeny as bearing his character and having in them those very things which we love in him When we take the bridegroom we
thy heart When art thou all in a heat When thou art in pursuit of the World or when thou followest after God Ask thy heart whom dost thou love most What is it that thou dost most constantly desire In what Company is it thy pleasure to be Dost thou love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind and all thy strength Hadst thou rather dye than displease him Are thy graces not only alive but lively Come then let us go to this holy Feast and thank the Lord for this Grace and for all his other favours VIII If we find by examining that we have fallen into any sin and through neglect or ignorance broken our resolution since the last Communion Let us make most serious reflections upon it Besides all the sorrow that I must suppose it hath cost a good heart presently after its commission besides its hatred of it and affliction of it self for it with a most speedy amendment of the fault This is a fit time to bewail it over again to call our selves to a new account for it to drown it in another flood of tears more firmly to strengthen our resolutions against it and to prepare it for to receive another wound a mortal stroak from the wounds of Jesus that it may never live any more Say therefore thus to thy self when thou art in thy meditations What didst thou mean O my soul to be so treacherous unto God and to break thy resolution Was there ever a better Master Were ever any tyed to another by such sacred Bands and Oaths O perjured wretch that thou art What was in thy heart to break loose from God dost thou not blush to think of it or rather art thou not pale and wan and ready to dye to think of such a horrid thing Well I see these sins are not quite dead but still they stirre and move or though they seem to be stretched out and to have no life yet they may recover But I am resolved if Christ can kill them that they shall not live Come along with me if you dare live so long into his presence and there receive your mortal wound from his hand seeing you will not be killed by mine There shall you all be slain at his feet you shall be nailed to his Cross and I will leave you hanging there till you be asham'd to live IX But if the commission of such a sin have brought any timerousness as well it may upon the heart so that it trembles to set one foot forward unto the Lords Table and its hands shake with a paralitick fear so that it cannot stretch them to receive such Pledges of Gods Love It is most necessary that a man advise with his spiritual Pastor and Director in the way of life I wish it were better understood for what ends God hath set Pastors over the flock and that men would look upon them as a kind of Parents to whom they should go in all their needs But now the subject of my Discourse leads me to say no more but this That there are two necessary times of receiving the benefit of their counsell The one is when a mans sin oppresseth him so sorely with the sense of the guilt it hath contracted that he can receive no comfort And the other is when it oppresseth him so heavily with its strength and power that he can get no conquest over it There is a third season when it is at least convenient to repair unto them and that is when a man is in doubt whether he have passed a right judgement upon himself which should make him desirous to have the opinion of those persons that can neither be deemed to be deceived themselves through ignorance nor to be willing to deceive others through flattery and partial Judgement If any one therefore be in the perplexity of such like cases when he thinks of coming to this holy feast let him dis-imbosome his soul unto him that hath the care of it and desire him that out of the tender love a Father ought to have unto his Child he would be his guide in this Affair And so shall a man know how to use these spiritual weapons better when he is taught by a skilfull Commander and the more solid comfort shall he have when his Physician assures him that as far as he can discern he is in a state of health X. And yet when we have done all this then we should pray to God that he would prepare us better than all our preparation As when a King comes unto a City to stay there for some space he doth not expect that the Citizens if they be poor should provide all the furniture for him which is a thing above their power but he sends the Grooms of his Chamber before with such Hangings and Ornaments as may make the house they have prepared most befitting his Majesty So let us entreat the Lord that after all our endeavour to set apart our hearts for him to sweep the house as clean as we can and fit it to receive such a glorious Guest he would be pleased to send his holy Spirit that may prepare the place for him and adorn our souls with such Graces that His Sacred Majesty may not disdain to come and make his abode with us Say thus unto thy gracious God Oh Lord thou seest how much dirt I have left behind after all my diligence to cleanse and purifie my soul Alas all my thoughts of thee are but dreams all my desires but a vapour my Love is but a flash my Prayers are but a breath my Tears will scarce fill a bubble and my Sorrow is no bigger than a Sigh all that I do I am ashamed of it my self and therefore thou maist much more loath it and despise it Come thou Psal 139 23 24. O Lord therefore and search my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Do thou awaken in me most lively thoughts do thou inkindle a burning affection open thou the flood-gates of my eyes and open thou my lips that my mouth may shew orth thy praise Seeing my heart Lord is so strait and narrow that it is not fit to entertain thee do thou widen and enlarge it and then come and fill me with thy self and say Here will I dwell for I have desired it this is my rest for ever Yea O my gracious God unless thou interpose thy Power I am very much afraid I shall not keep this little goodness till the next morning which now seems to be in me These weak Thoughts these faint Desires and sickly Affections that are in my soul I doubt will not live a night unless thou find wayes for to preserve and cherish them my inveterate habits of evil will smother and choak these new Resolutions I am in fear that all these meditations will be flown away while I am asleep and my
house will be foul again before I awake unless thou keep me Ah my dear God! seeing I have bestowed some small pains upon my heart and have conceived some little hopes suffer them not to be all dashed in pieces in a night Spread the wings of thy goodness over me and maintain that which not I but thou thy self hast wrought Lord let me find when I awake that my affections and desires are grown beyond the strength of man and that thy power rests up on me Oh let me find a greater fervour than ever in thy service let that spark which I feared would go out be grown to a flame that will never expire and so shalt thou draw mine eyes towards thy self alone who workest such wonders so shall my heart be filled with nothing but thy sweetness and my lips shall overflow with thy praises Lord if I may beg this grace of thee I am verily perswaded I shall languish after none but thee and seek for no other pleasures but to please thee Therefore my good Lord I leave my self in thy hands hoping that either I am or would be such as thou wouldst have me And if I be arrived but as far as a will and desire to be what thou wouldst have me that will is thine and therefore seeing that will is mine too and we both conspire together I take the boldness to say Lord let thy will be done Oh my sweet Saviour I was going to say that I am sick of love that I cannot live unless thou love me and make me better But I correct my self and it is enough if I be sick because I cannot love thee Do thou make me sick or rather make me well with love unto thee so shall I come to thy Table with joy and gladness hoping that thou wilt kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth for thy love is better than Wine Draw me and I will run after thee yea we will run after thee for I will proclaim to others the loving-kindness of the Lord. When one bad Socrates prepare himself for his trial he answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Do not I seem then to thee through all my life to be prepared for this thing It hath been my care neither before thee nor alone to do any evil Aâ—rian lib. 2. cap. 2. CHAP. XI WHat preparation there should be besides this I do not understand it being directly contrary to the first thing that I propounded for any to imagine that we ought just before the Sacrament to have a greater care of not sinning than at other times We are alwayes pilgrims and strangers and so ought to abstain from fleshly lusts that warre against the soul These lusts are alwayes poysonous and not onely when we are going to take the Cup of the Lord into our hand And therefore it is a grand deceit to think that we and our sins must be severed only then when we more nearly embrace our Lord for holiness is our profession afterward as much as before we communicate with his Holiness Or rather all the time after one Communion being before the next which doth succeed it is the time of Preparation for it We are to keep our selves in a constant purity and to labour to keep close to the Covenant of our God only when the time doth nearly approach that we may enjoy such another repast we should excite our appetite raise our thoughts and meditations imprint the ends of the institution more fairly in our memories voluntarily offer more of our time and our thoughts to religious exercises and do all that over again with a greater zeal which we have been doing every day since we were last in his Sacred Presence You may observe that as just before this solemnity our thoughts are more deep and serious and our hearts lifted up to a greater fervour and we have stronger longings after Christ and his Blessings which prepare us for the enjoyment so the enjoyment leaves us for some time afterward in a great degree of heat in more lively apprehensions and more vigorous affections But these through multitude of business and many occasions may languish by little and little and may abate of that degree and ardour wherein they were which I look upon as the weakness rather than the sin of a good heart and therefore our work is to recover our souls before the next Communion to the same or rather an higher degree of zeal And then though afterward there may be again some abatement and fall in our affections yet it will be less and more fervency and heat will remain than would have been if we had not got up our hearts by that Preparation and that Communion to an higher pitch of spiritual love The Primitive Christians who communicated every day as some passages in the Acts of the holy Apostles would make us think or at least every Lords Day had need of less of this Preparation that I have mentioned for as soon as ever the flame began to decay there was new fewel added and that degree of warmth to which they were raised was scarce gone from their hearts before a new fire was kindled But now the custome is so that this Feast returns more seldome and we cannot say with Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epist 2. ad Caesarcam Patritiam In the beginning of which Epistle he commends an every-day Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as good and profitable We Communicate four times in a week besides all Festival dayes but it is very much if men be so devout as to Communicate once in four weeks and therefore because many things may be slipt out of our minds and former impressions may be grown weak we had need more solemnly to recollect what we have learnt to stir up our remembrance to renew a sense of the ends of its institution of our own wants of the wants of the poor and the rest of those things which I have in the former Chapter recommended to your thoughts If men understood these things they would neither wonder that the ancient Christians communicated so oft nor would they have any excuse left for their own neglect First I say they would not wonder that the fervour of those primitive souls was so great for they had a huge care to lead an holy life and that made them both fit and desirous to converse with God every day VVe judge of them perhaps by our selves and think that it was superstition rather than Religion that made them so forward to this Office and by casting a blot upon their Piety we hope in this frozen age to be accounted Pious If superstition can be believed to have grown up so early then we may be thought with less zeal to be more devout If they did only flatter Christ with such a busie devotion and frequent resort unto him we may hope to pass for better Friends that are not so forward but more discreetly reserved and sparing of
them own it in the secrets of their own soul and let them profess it unto him that God hath set over them and so desire to be admitted for to strengthen their resolution by adding a new Sacrament to the former Engagement That which they should have done at Baptism if they had been men let them do now that they understand their Baptism and enter their protestations against the lusts of the world the flesh and the Devil Secondly As they must well exmine themselves before they make such a profession so now intending to receive this holy Sacrament they should make a new search into all the parts of their soul Let such a man therefore first bring his understanding unto tryal and examine it what it apprehends concerning Christ and all his Offices What knowledge it hath of the ends of his death and the benefits that come thereby unto us as also of the nature of the new Covenant and of this Sacrament whereby we come to partake of those benefits Then secondly Call thy Judgement before the Barr of Conscience and ask it how it prizes and esteems of Christ and all his benefits and whether it count all things but dung and dross for the excellency of his knowledge and whether it value the deliverance wrought by him from the power as well as punishment of sin more than a Kingdom bigger than the world Then thirdly Take thy will under examination and ask it if it heartily consent to believe all that he saith to do all that he commands and to expect in such a way all that he promiseth Here thou must be very inquisitive lest thy heart should be divided between two Masters And it is necessary that thou represent unto thy self all the dangers thou mayest undergo and the hazards thou mayest run if thou cleave to Christ and not unto the world and then ask thy soul if it chuse Christ with disgrace if it embrace him and a stake both together and in one word if it sincerely love a crucified Saviour Fourthly Then next of all Let thy affections be called to an account which are but several motions of thy will See what sorrow what pain and grief thou hast conceived for offending of thy Lord. What hunger and thirst there is in thee after righteousness What desire after the Blood of Christ to quench the fire of Gods anger that is kindled in thy soul and to wash away all that filthiness which makes him angry See that thou be in love in charity with all men that there be no hatred nor enmity no wrath nor displeasure against any of thy Brethren See that there be such affections in thy heart as befit that duty which thou thinkest to perform ex gr Ask thy soul why did thy Saviour bleed was he a Malefactor or were thy sins the Traytors which delivered him to these horrid torments What hatred then dost thou find against them how canst thou find in thy heart to use them Ask again Was thy Saviour overcome by death or did he overcome it O think what triumph it should raise in thy soul if thou dost consent unto him and what joy it should create in thy heart that he hath destroyed sin death and the grave and opened the gates of life Ask it once more What are those glorious things that he hath purchased by his Bloud And what love dost thou feel in thy self towards him What sympathy hast thou with his dear affection and what canst thou find in thy heart to do for the Holy Jesus Fifthly And then after all this let all the actions of thy life be brought again before the same Tribunal and arraign thy self for all the villanies thou hast committed against thy Lord for all the breaches of thy faith and sacred Oath unto him Yea if there be but a little passion a rash word a vain thought whereby thou hast given him the least prick of a wound find them out as near as thou canst and let them be brought forth to be slain before him Then lastly Dive most seriously into the bottome of thy heart and fetch up all the resolutions that thou thinkest lye there set them in the very face of thy Lord and ask thy heart before him and bid it say true as it will answer it at the day of Judgement What are thy purposes for the future for what ends wouldst thou approach to the Lords Table Yea go so far as to examine thy self about thy intention in such things as thou thought'st formerly could never be done or never avoided from being done Ask thy heart about the faults of thy nature of thy temper and those which through humane weakness will occurre about thy foolish thoughts thy little passions which none discern to swell but thy self c. Art thou resolved to be more watchfull against these to use more industry to suppress them to redeem thy time to avoid all occasions of evil to guard thy self more strongly where the temptation used to come Resolve thy self and be satisfied about all these particulars and so accordingly proceed forward when thou knowest thy self and thy heart hath told the truth concerning thine estate For examination is not commanded for it self but in order to something else that is to follow after this search 3. Therefore thirdly Let every man approve himself in these particulars and judge that he is a person that means really to live godlily to forsake all other Masters and cleave to Jesus only having an understanding of the conditions of his Service Let thy soul give thee a good Answer upon the foregoing examination and then I have little more to say But be sure of this That thy judgement of thy self i. e. of thy Understanding Will Affections c. be impartial and unbiassed and do not incline to any favourable construction of thy self but let the Word of God be thy Rule and thy spiritual Pastor be thy Guide if thou doubtest that thou flatterest thy self But fourthly If thou hast lately committed some great and scandalous offence before thy heart began to be thus pricked and stimulated to ransack it self make some trial of thy self before thou comest to the Lords Table Two sorts of Converts there are Some have not behaved themselves towards God as they ought but lived carelesly without the exercise of Piety and Devotion to him yet have not committed any gross sin which might cast a blot upon the Sacredness of this Feast if they should presently come to it nor offend the flock of Christ who have Communion with them If they be touched with a sense of their private neglect if their sins against God be a burden to them though men know them not if they heartily abhor them and betake themselves to the work of godliness with all their might and do firmly determine with themselves that they will hereafter be more carefull and diligent in their duty and desire to come to the Sacrament that they may be more strongly engaged and tyed to
of a thousand Masters which will teach us all decent carriage and beseeming expressions to the person whom we love You need not tell one that is in Love what he shall say or how he shall make his Addresses c. but Love it self is his Tutor which is full of wit and invention which forms it self into apt expressions and puts on becomeing gestures and turns it self into all arts of insinuation I have read in an Anonymous Author That he knew some Religious persons who all the while they were at this feast did nothing else but only cry with heart and tongue I love thee O my Jesus truly I love thee O my Jesus reiterating this above an hundred times and professing that they found a singular comfort and consolation in these throbs and beatings of love in their heart unto him It seems their love taught them that their Lord would be best pleased if they threw themselves into his arms as it were and told him that they were so full of love that they could not hold and yet were so inebriated that they could not tell what to say but only that they loved him But he saith he knew others that would say nothing but endeavoured to keep their soul from all thoughts whatsoever that they might hear the voice of Christ within them when all their affections were husht and still It should seem that their Love taught them that it would be best to be so modest as to let their Lord speak first or rather speak all and they sit and hearken to his sweet voice within them alluring them to himself Thus Love guides every man according to the temper and complexion of his soul to make his Addresses in that manner which will be most pleasing to his Saviour and breed most contentment to himself But this very love that is thus quick and sharp and knows how to tell its mind and obtain its end is of that nature that it will enquire of others if they can afford it any assistance that may polish and refine it to a higher degree of purity And as you have seen in the former discourse That holiness consists of several actions of our life very different and various so it is here to be considered that love delights to break forth in several acts and the soul finds vent for it self in divers manners according as the objects presented do open a passage and make their way into our heart Now it will be but fit that when we come to remember the great love of our Lord we should let the expressions of our love be as various as we can and suffer our souls to burst out as many wayes as there are occasions offered When there is an holy fervour inkindled in them let them exhale in sundry thoughts and divers breathings of a devout affection that they may send up a perfume of many spices unto Heaven Only if we feel our hearts exhale and evaporate in one thought or desire more than another with such a freedome and pleasure as though they had a mind to spend themselves in that alone let us not stop the passage of those sweet odours nor quench that ardency of our spirits by turning them to any other thing But rather let us help it forward till we find it grow weak and languishing and then it will be most profitable and pleasant also to open some other port at which the soul may sally forth upon a new object and be encountred with fresh delights And truly considering that I have already led you by the hand as far as the Table of the Lord methinks I might leave you there to your own Meditations upon that matter which I have prepared to your thoughts Those minds that are impregnated with good motions should be all ready methinks to teem forth themselves into most proper Meditations at the sight of their dearest Lord without any further directions But yet I consider again that the strongest Army for want of Order and good Discipline may do but little service and that a throng of thoughts if they be not well ranged and disposed may thrust themselves forward to the disturbance and hindrance of each other And therefore I shall endeavour to set those thoughts which I conceive will be in all good minds in their right place that they may issue forth and second each other to our greatest advantage and the doing of us most acceptable service CHAP. XIV IT will be well becoming Christian Piety to welcome the day that brings our Saviour so near unto us with acts of joy and thanksgiving for the approach of so great a blessing And since one night may breed too great a damp and chilness upon our spirits it will be very wholesome to renew those thoughts and affections that we left there when we went to bed and so go to the House of God in a sense of our unworthiness to entertain so glorious a Person and in a sense of sinne which is the cause of that unworthiness together with a joy in our souls and praises upon our tongues that he will forgive them humbly desiring of the Lord that he will accept of us for his habitation and that he will come and enlarge our souls by a holy love to him and longing after him that there may be room for his Sacred Majesty and a place clean and dressed for to receive him And then when the time comes that this holy service begins we must put on such affections as are most agreeable to the several parts of the action As first We must solemnly and devoutly joyn with the Minister in those Confessions Prayers and Thanksgivings which he thinks fit to use And Secondly When he invites us in Christs Name to come and receive him let us adore the goodness of God that will call us to his own Table and let us compose our selves to a thankfull reverence that we may receive this Heavenly Food And Thirdly We ought diligently to attend unto those Exhortations and Perswasions which he shall use and to endeavour that our hearts may be affected with them But these are such things as you can easily instruct your selves about and therefore I will apply my Discourse to more particular considerations I. When you see the Minister stand at the Table of the Lord to consecrate the Bread and Wine by Prayer and the words of Christs Institution then send up an act of wonder and admiration that the Son of God should become the food of souls by dying for us Then these words so anciently used Sursam Corda Lift up your hearts should sound in all our ears and our souls should spread their wings that by the divine inspirations they may be mounted unto Heaven in adoring thoughts Nothing more becomes this Sacred Mystery than such a dumb admiration and the love of our Lord is not better praised by any thing than loquacissimo illo silentio as Erasmus his phrase is by that most talkative silence When the apprehensions
take away but one offence among the Jews and that meerly against a carnall Commandment yet this though but one can take away all offences even against the eternall Law of God And the strength of a Sacrifice under the Law continued no longer than just while it was offered but was to be repeated again in case of a new offence but the bloud of Jesus endures for ever Heb 10.14 and by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified We that live at sixteen hundred years distance from that sacrifice may be as much expiated and receive as great benefit by it as they that saw him upon the Altar or as he that put his fingers into his wounds and thrust his hand into his side For the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all and he bare the sinnes not only of that generation but of all succeeding Ages Think then now that the Cup is in thy hands now that thou drinkest of his bloud that thou mayest receive as reall effects of his sacrifice as if thou hadst been permitted to have laid thy hands on his head and put all thy sins upon him as Aaron did upon the head of the Beast that was offered for the Congregation of Israel And so let thy thoughts slide to a second Meditation which is hereon depending 2. And consider with thy self how firm that Covenant is which is made with us in the bloud of Jesus and how certainly God will perform whatsoever his Sonne hath promised It is called the bloud of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 which doth intimate that he sealed the Covenant with his Bloud that he died to assert the truth of all that he said he took it upon his death that he was sent of God and as he sealed to it by his death so God did seal to it by his resurrection which two put together are the grand proofs which we have to shew for the truth of the Gospel And then we may be confident that the mercy of the Lord endures for ever for the seal of the Covenant is everlasting and never fails The first Covenant was made by bloud as you may see Exod. 24.7 8. yea there is such an affinity between these words sanctio and sanguis that in all likelihood their nearness arise from hence because by bloud all establishments and sanctions were wont to be made But the Bloud of that Covenant vanished away and never rose again and so in time did the Covenant it self as the Apostle tells us Heb. 8.13 And therefore the Lord sealed the new Compact by a better bloud which is quickned again to an eternall life to assure us that the mercies of it shall never cease Here therefore thy soul may again plead with God that he would put his Laws into thy heart and write them in thy mind and that thy sins and iniquities he would remember no more which is the sum of the Covenant as it there follows in the Apostles discourse Heb. 10.16 17. Thou mayest grow confident and rejoyce in God thy salvation thou mayest desire him to remember that it is the precious Bloud of his Sonne which thou remembrest thou mayest tell him that is not the bloud of Bulls and Goats that thou pleadest but of Jesus the Lamb of God without spot and blemish Thou mayest ask him if he do not see that Bloud in the Heavens if he be not more pleased with it than with the bloud of the Cattle upon a thousand Hills Say Lord is the Bloud of Jesus dead Doth it not cry as loud in thine ears as ever Hast thou not made him a Priest after the power of an endless life yea hast thou not sworn and is it not impossible that thou shouldst repent Then I humbly crave that a poor sinner which hath nothing to offer thee may be accepted by that offering Then let me live by his Life as so many already have done Let me know that thou art well pleased with sinners through him Let me know that I have found favour in thine eyes Let all the Prayers that I have now made be graciously accepted Remember all my offerings and accept of my sacrifice of Prayers and Praises Yea remember his bloud when I do not actually remember it and when I am silent and do not pray let that prevail for blessings upon me Psalm 21. Doth not the King joy in thy strength Hast thou not given him his hearts desire and not withholden the request of his lips Thou hast set a Crown of pure Gold upon his head He asked Life of thee and thou gavest it him even length of dayes for ever and ever His Glory is great in thy Salvation Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him For thou hast made him most blessed for ever Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy Countenance And therefore since he lives let us live also Since thou hast heard him hear us also for his sake Send us help out of thy Sanctuary and strengthen us out of Sion Grant us according to our heart and fulfill all our petitions Save Lord let the King hear us when we call 3. Meditate likewise what danger there is in not standing to that Covenant that is here confirmed by bloud between God and us They used when they made Covenants by bloud to cut the Beast in sunder and both parties passed between the two halfs as you may see Jer. 34.18 19. Which custome was as old as Abrahams time as Gen. 15.10 17 18. will inform you This passing of both parties between the parts of the Beast was as much as a wish that so it might befall him that should break the Covenant which was made between them Now when we behold the Bloud of the Son of God poured out and his Body broken and so a Covenant stricken between God and us by his receiving him into Heaven and our drinking of his bloud and eating of his Body here on Earth we should think what the danger will be of not being stedfast in his Covenant God will require his Sonnes bloud at our hands The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall cut him in sunder and give him his portion with the Hypocrites Mat. 24.50 51. I have often thought that he alludes to that custome of cutting the Beast in twain and that the meaning is All persons that are deceitfull and false Luk. 12.46 or as St. Lukes phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbelievers unfaithfull souls all that break their faith with Christ and violate his Covenant they shall be cut in two as the word signifies they shall have such an execution done upon them as was done upon the Beast of old and receive such a horrible doom as is fit for perjured persons They shall be broken in pieces as his Son was broken Yea he will fall upon them as
angry at him that would save his soul Do we eat and drink this Heavenly provision and then rise up to play do we stand in need of such noble nourishment for the following of our trades and the encouragement of us in our worldly business O consider beloved Reader that lookest on these lines that an honest Heathen would do better things than these He that never heard of Christ and never tasted of this Heavenly food would be ashamed of such a life Philosophy which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nutriment of the soul would produce far more excellent works There is no need thou shouldest be a Christian if thou hast no more noble end Meer reason will breed up better Scholars and therefore go and sit with the Deipnosophists and come not unto the Supper of the Lord unless thou intendest to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing Col. 1.10 being fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God Do but hear what they promised themselves from their Philosophy Hoc est quod Philosophia mihi promittit ut me parem Deo faciat Epist 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then judge to what it is fit a Christian so divinely nourished should aspire This saith Seneca Philosophy doth make me promises of that it will make me a Peer with God This is that saith Cleomedes which preserves the Demy-God that is within us from being shamefully intreated which keeps it unmoveable and unshaken which gives it the better of all pleasures and pains which makes it intend some worthy end and receive all events and contingencies as coming from thence from whence it self came and above all which learns it to wait for the coming of death with a chearfull mind What man then deserves the name of a Christian that notwithstanding all the means of grace which God affords doth strive to make himself equal with a Beast that basely uses his noble part that is like a feather shaken with the wind and lyes down at the feet of every pleasure and cannot sustain the load of the least grief that vexes and frets at every cross as if the Devil ruled the world and trembles at death as a Child doth at a friend with a vizard on God expects sure that we should be men of another sort and that Philosophy should not beget more lusty souls than Christianity can We must be ashamed to live at a lower rate than a man that had been but at Plato's Compotation and we must make account the Blood of Christ is to nourish better Spirits in us than the very soul and spirit of reason if we could suck it in can be able to generate Let us look therefore into our hearts daily and see that he be there Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever else we do let us ask him if he be pleased Let us go to him constantly that he may know we love him And let us entreat him to tell us what he would have us to do and then let us do it with all our might VII Seventhly Let us maintain a longing in our souls after another such repast Let us strive every day to keep up a spiritual hunger after this food that so we may not neglect the next opportunity which God shall give us of Communion or if we should die before we have one yet Heaven may find us prepared for the Feast where the marriage shall be compleated Christ may find such holy longings after him that our souls may be taken into his bosome to dwell in him as he before dwelt in us When we cannot outwardly communicate yet we may in heart in spirit Though we cannot alwayes celebrate the mysteries yet we may have the thing signified in those mysteries as St. Bernard speaks at all times in all places i. e. We may with pious affections and holy actions receive Christ continually into our souls As the Sacrament saith he sine re Sacramenti without the thing of the Sacrament is death to the unworthy so we may conclude that res Sacramenti the thing it self without the Sacrament will be life eternal to the worthy Whensoever in remembrance of Christ thou art piously and devoutly affected into an imitation of Christ thou dost eat his Body and drink his Blood But then if we do constantly preserve such longings and hungring after this Feast and do at all times feast upon him we cannot pass by any occasion that God affords us of receiving him in that manner that he hath appointed and blessed and we cannot but be very forward to go to remember him when opportunity is presented in the Assembly of his people And therefore I shall not make it a distinct advice that you would come again when this Table is spread for you For this is but a just gratitude to God a sign that we like his fare and are well pleased with his chear and are ambitious of nothing more than such an entertainment And I think we shall shew our selves to have been very unworthy guests at the last Feast if we like it so little as to refuse to come the next time that we are invited In the beginning of our Religion they received every day Acts 2.46 Which proceeded from a great devotion and fervency of spirit when the holy Ghost like fire had descended upon them And this heat did not abate in all places for the space of 400 years but in some Churches of Affrica as St. Augustine writes and in Rome and Spain as St. Hierome tells us they retained this ardent love and continually remembred the dying of the Lord Jesus And it was proposed to St. Augustine as a doubt whether a person of business as a Merchant Husbandman or the like should every day Communicate To which he answered To receive the Sacrament every day I neither praise nor reprove but to Communicate every Lords-day I would wish you and exhort every one so to do And so St. Chrysostome exhorting of the people to build Churches in the Villages where they might hold Assemblies he perswades them by this Argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in cap. 8. Act. p. 716 edit Sav. There Prayers will be sent up daily for every one of you there God will be continually praised with Hymns and every Lords day will there be an Offering made for you And though the devotion of Christians fell from once in a day to once in a week and from thence to once in a moneth till at last the Church of Rome hath thought it fit to bind men of necessity but to once in a year yet I find a devout Papist thus speaking Fr. Sales Introd Though it be hard to say how often a man is bound to Communicate yet I think I may boldly affirm That the greatest distance between the times of Communicating among such as desire to serve God devoutly is from moneth to moneth And sure the strict observance
afford us a constant chearfulness They do not beget a pleasure that lyes only upon the pallate but they are the more pleasing when they are descended as far as the heart and there they lay the foundation of a lasting joy by turning the affections of the heart toward Christ The benefits of this food are not like a blaze of straw that warms a man for the present but soon leaves him cold nor like a flash of Lightning darting through the soul for a moment which returns presently into its darkness nor like the frisking of the spirits in our body after a draught of Wine which when the adventitious heat is over fall into sluggishness again But they are solid and substantial like to the warmths of the Sun-beams when there is no Clouds before his face nor no windes to sweep them away or rather like the pleasures of eating food which encreases our strength and fattens our bones and causes a durable chearfulness and vivacity of our spirits For Bread you know is called the staffe of Life and that which strengthens mans heart as Wine is that which glads his heart and cheareth God and Man By a right use of this holy Sacrament all the faculties and parts of the soul are nourished and augmented The understanding becomes more full and clear in its perceptions the will is made more free and chearfull in its choice of good the affections more Heavenly and Divine more forward and compliant with our wills the passions more regular and orderly under better government and command All which would admit of a large discourse but seeing I have drawn this tract already to over-great a length I will chuse to speak and that but briefly neither of what is most sensible to every good man viz. the encrease of these three great Graces Faith Hope and Charity First Faith is hereby made more solid and strong whether we consider it in its direct or reflex acts i. e. We do in this holy Feast look most seriously upon the proper object of our Faith Jesus Christ and all the truths of the Gospel We do profess with all our souls to embrace a crucified Saviour We do seal to this truth which he hath sealed by his Bloud We make a most solemn and publick confession of what we believe We do most sacredly protest that we firmly consent to live according to it and obey it And then if we would reflect and turn our eyes back into our own souls and believe something of our selves we may be able to make a better judgement concerning our selves and be more confirmed in the belief that we are real Christians seeing after serious examination and advice with our selves we find that we heartily love and obey Christs commands and seeing that in his most sacred Presence who is the searcher of the heart we dare confidently avow it that there is not any thing though never so difficult which we know to be his Will but we are resolved for to do it We are then in the right use of this Food more strengthned both in the premisses and also in the conclusion As if a man should make this Syllogism or reasoning He that heartily believes in Christ and obeys the Gospel-commands shall inherit the promises and be saved I do so heartily believe and obey Therefore I shall be saved All these three Propositions or Affirmations are by worthy receiving much strengthened in us We do heartily profess to believe the Gospel and we are more confirmed in our belief and in particular of this That he who doth believe in Christ and obey him shall be saved We see before our eyes such testimonies of Gods love that we cannot but be full of this belief which is a generall Faith and contained in the first of those now named Propositions We do likewise here renew our consent to believe and obey our Lord in every thing he hath said and this contains the second Proposition and is a particular special act of Faith Now what should hinder but that we may conclude most strongly that which is in the Third Therefore I shall be saved And then Faith is manifestly nourished in every sense that you can take it in We do directly put forth more lively acts of Faith as that implies assenting to the Gospel and consenting to obey it And why should not the consequent be That we may reflect more comfortably and solidly upon our selves that we are in a safe condition And that we may continue so there wants nothing but that we be diligent in the use of all means of which this is one To confirm and establish our faith more by often receiving the Sacred Body and Bloud of Christ 2. Our Hope is here also nourished and made more lively And indeed it must be strengthned in proportion to our Faith for hope arises out of it and hath its growth with it being but the expectation and waiting of Faith Because I believe those things that are promised in the Gospel therefore I wait for them the stronger therefore that my belief and obedience is the stronger will my hope be Now he that expresses his Faith in Christ at this Sacrament and believes also that Christ is really present there and likewise that he is united to Christ through a worthy use of it He doth thereby get a greater reason to hope and wait for the other appearance and presence of Christ more visibly and openly when he shall be divested of all signs and figures and shall reveal himself with open face When we shall not know him so much as that he dyed but as he that lives and reigns and triumphs 3. Our Love hereby is manifestly enlarged and nourished partly by fulfilling one of Christs commands He that loves me keeps my Commandments saith our Lord and this is one of them Do this in remembrance of me And partly by laying new fewel upon the fire which it may feed upon New considerations I mean and experiences new arguments and incentives to obedience And partly by knitting and uniting of us in a more cordial love and affection to all our Brethren which is an expression of love to him For he hath said 1 John 4.12 If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us Now Faith Hope and Love what will not they do what cannot they overcome All the craft of the Devil is discovered all his power is broken all his temptations are bafled by this Heavenly Nourishment For if we consider the first piece of the Devils Policy which consists in magnifying and extolling the advantages of that thing to which he would tempt us it is defeated by the light of faith which this Sacrament doth make more clear and shining He uses all the Rhetorick and Sophistry that he hath to perswade us that it is a harmless or a pleasant or a profitable or a credible thing He paints sinne forth in the best colours and provides for it the most amorous dresses
MENSA MYSTICA OR A DISCOURSE Concerning the SACRAMENT OF THE Lords Supper In which the ends of its Institution are so manifested our Addresses to it so directed our Behaviour there and afterward so composed that we may not lose the benefits which are to be received by it By Simon Patrick D. D. Minister of Gods Word at Batersea in Surrey 1 Cor. 11.24 Do this in remembrance of me LONDON Printed by A. M. for F. Tylon at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1667. To the Honourable Sir Walter St. John Baronet AND THE Lady Johanna St. John his Wife THese Meditations being conceived and born in your House I take it to be a piece of Justice that they should lay themselves at your feet and come abroad into the world under your Name And long before this had they come to tender their service to you had the Press been favourable to them and not let them stick longer there than they did in my mind before they could be brought forth into the world Love hath as great a power to make servants as any thing else and no bondman is faster chained than he that is tied by the bands of his own affection A Captive of that quality I must needs profess my self having such a feeling of the obligations you have laid upon me that I am not free to love you or not to love you but am held under such a sweet tyranny that I cannot so much as desire to recover my former liberty These thoughts therefore being the births of one so bound to serve you both by your favours and his own affections Exod. 21.4 according to the Law of the Hebrews you may challenge a right in them seeing I am yours as much as my own I know that I am writing to you and not of you and that you do not expect my commendation but my Counsel for if you did you would not deserve Commendation There is so much flattery many times in these addresses that men will not believe us when we say true and so we displease while we study to please The world likewise is so envious that they never think more of our faults than when we are praised But yet to tell you of your kindness to me though you do not expect it methinks I might be allowed were it not that then I should commend my self for a gratefull Person after I have declined to commend you But seeing that is no such great vertue that a man should be tempted to be proud of it I shall say thus much That of all the causes that are usually assigned of these Dedications I can find the impulse of none so strong as that of love and gratitude Which bids me bind my executors by these presents if these Papers can live longer than I to acknowledge your love and ever be mindfull of it to you and yours And although I may justly suspect that they have not strength enough to live to any great Age yet if they can increase your Piety but in the least degree that is a thing that never dies and will be an immortal witness of my endeavours to serve you To the study of that it is that I do most affectionately exhort you Do well and you shall hear well though mine and all other Pens lie asleep Piety is the truest and most Ancient Nobility as wickedness is the greatest and basest degeneracy There is no such way to exalt your Family as to make a strict alliance with God and to draw him into your kindred Nothing can so enrich your Bloud as to contract an affinity with the Blood of Jesus But if earthly honour be of any value as it may conduce to the better serving of God you have the favour granted unto you to be noble both in your soul and body to be allied both to the Bloud of God and of great Men. The Saint in your name may put you in mind to be Saints in your selves The two Mullets or Stars in your Coat of Armes bids you shine like two Lights in the World The occasion of your bearing them which if I mistake not was because your Progenitors warred in the Holy Land may put you in remembrance to strive and fight to be made free of the Heavenly Jerusalem that City of God that is above As these Stars were born in their Ensigns in that expedition in opposition to the Turkish Crescent so let them put you in mind to keep the world still under your feet and to scorn these mutable and moon-like things See Cambden in Glamorganshire Nympha fluit propius Fons refluit Illa recedit Iste redit Sic livor in st pugaa parennis as much as you do Mahomet and the Turk There is a Spring in that Countrey where your name first took root in Brittish soil which is very low and empty of water when the Sea flows and swells the neighbouring River Ogmar and again ascends and fills it self when the Sea retires out of the Channel It will be a most lovely sight both to God and Man to see you humble and lowly in the highest tides of a swelling fortune and if your fulness should abate and draw back into the Ocean from whence it came to behold the elevation of your spirit and the greatness of your mind rising above all the reach of these worldly changes Then would you most truly imitate those Stars in your Escutchion which are not seen in the day and shine most brightly in the night But your name bids you above all things to be full of love both to each other and towards all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For beside that John in the Hebrew Language carries in its signification graciousness and kindness the beloved Disciple was the first of your name Degenerate not I beseech you from so worthy a precedent but imbrace with as dear an affection as two St. Johns would have done each other That great Saint had this alwayes in his mouth Little Children love one another the same have you alwayes in your heart seeing you are not onely Christians but of the same Family and of the same name which carries a remembrance of that divine Person The Athenians promised themselves nothing but Triumphs in the Sicilian War because their General Nicias derived his name from Victory which in the opinion of men had a good presage in it And some of the Ancient Philosophers did seriously Dispute whether there was not some secret fate or providence in it Plato in Cratilo that men should have names given them that did so exactly-agree with their after good or bad fortune I hope you will not think me impertinent therefore that I have urged you so much with your name and that you will not let it be given you for nothing And though that Nicias by his great overthrow did disappoint the hopes which his fellow Citizens conceived from his name yet you will have a care that you deceive not the expectation
same Epistle acquaints us with it when he saith 1 Cor. 14. v. 16 17. When thou shalt bl-ss (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. with the spirit i. e. in an unknown tongue how shall he that is unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing he knows not what thou sayest From these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shalt bless and giving thanks Beza thinks that he touches upon the Lords Supper So the L. Mr. Thorndike also for they are the very same words which are used concerning that action of our Saviour when he first celebrated this feast as you may see Mat. 26.26 27. And besides the Apostle seems in that Chapter to direct the Corinthians how to handle the whole divine service so that it might be to edification Now having spoken concerning Prayer and singing of Psalms ver 14.15 and instructing them afterward concerning teaching and interpreting of Scripture ver 19 26. in all likelihood he here tells them how to behave themselves to the same profiting of others in the Supper of the Lord at which there were many rudenesses committed by the people And that which he teacheth them So Juctâ—n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to give thanks in a known tongue that so all the people when the Minister comes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever and ever as Chrysostome speaks might assent with their wishes and say Amen From whence we may collect that giving of thanks is so considerable a part of this service that in the Apostles stile it involves the whole of it VI. It may further be observed that all Churches in the world have always used divine praises in this commemoration and if we may believe ancient Records such as are very conformable to the Jewish benedictions at the Passeover 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Blessed art thou O Lord our God the King of the world who hast produced bread out of the earth and blessed art thou c. who hast created the fruit of the vine And afterward Let us bless him wâ—o hath fed us with his own and by whose goodness we live c. For so we reade in Justin Martyr and others Apolog 2. Constit Apost that in their times the Church used to praise God for all things and particularly for those gifts of bread and wine and so for Jesus Christ his Death Passion Resurrection and Ascension beseeching the Father of the whole world to accept of the offering they made to him And in after ages Cyril of Hierusalem saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We make mention of the Heaven the Earth the Sea and all the Creatures reasonable and unreasonable of the Angels Archangels and powers of Heaven praising God and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath c. These do very much correspond with those Hebrew formes which perhaps they were willing in part to imitate for the greater satisfaction of the Jewish Christians who constituted part of their assemblies One thing more seems to be very clear that from the Hallel of the Jews it was that some ancient Christians used in the 50 days after Easter to sing and ingemminate Hallelujahs in their assemblies ut autem Halâ—iujah per illos solos quinquaâ— ginta dies in Ecclesia cantetur non usqucquaque observatur c. Epist 120. as a remembrance of that great Hymn which the Prince of the Church and his Apostles sung after this supper This St. Aug. takes notice of but saith that in his days those Hallelujahs used to be sung at other times also From all which we may discern a farther reason why they called this Sacrament by the name of a Sacrifice Ia isto autâ—m sacrificio gratiarum â—ctio commemoâ—atio est carnis Christi quam pro 〈◊〉 obtulit Fuâ—g de side 1 Pet. 2.5 because they did offer unto God thanksgiving as the Psalmist speaks Psal 50. â—4 which is one of the spiritual sacrifices which every Christian is consecrated to bring unto him It is confessedly true that there never was any festival instituted by any people of the world but one part of it was a reverend acknowledgment of God and a thanksgiving to him for his benefits And there never was any solemn feast either among Jews Persians Greeks Aegyptians or Romans without some sacrifice to their Gods Christians therefore are not without their sacrifice also when they keep this feast and such an one as is very befitting God and which no rational man can deny to deserve the name L. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Porphyry disputing against the eating or sacrificing of beasts unto God denies that thereupon any ill consequence could be grounded as if he denied all sacrifices to him No saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we likewise sacrifice as well as others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only we will sacrifice according as is most meet And there he assigns to every Deity its proper homage and acknowledgment belonging to it saying that to the great God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He above all we sacrifice nothing but pure thoughts and speak not so much as a word of him But to those that are the off-spring of God the coelestial inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we give Hymns and praises which are the conceptions and expresses of our mind and so he proceeds to the more petty tributes paid to lesser Gods According then to this Heathen Divine the praises of God may well pass for the most proper sacrifice and he makes account that there is none better but onely silent adorations A soul breathing forth it self out of an ardent affection in holy Hymns is more acceptable to God then the richest gumms or the sweetest wood that can fume upon his Altars But a whole soul full of pure thoughts too great to come out of the mouth and more clear then to be embodied in words is transcendent to all oblations But yet I would not be so mistaken as if I thought the Christian thanksgiving consisted only in inward thoughts and outward words For there are Eucharistical actions also whereby we perform a most delightsome sacrifice unto God We must not when we come to God appear before him empty but we are to consecrate and offer unto him some of our temporal goods for the relief of those that are in want which may cause many thanksgivings to be sent up by them to God 2 Cor. 9.11 12. It hath been said before that our whole selves ought to be offered as an holocaust to God and our love should be so great as to spend our souls and bodies in his service now in token that we mean so to do we must give something that is ours unto him for to be imployed to his uses We are to give God an earnest of our sincere and intire devotion to him by parting with something that we call ours and transferring it to him Of this the
Ch ysost Theophâ—l Or if we understand the Apostles words of the spirit received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after Baptisme but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Sacrament of the Lords Supper whereby he further waters so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used 1 Cor. 3.6 7 8. that which he hath planted yet still it will be true that at this time good Christians do receive larger irrigations from that fountain of life that they may shoot up to a greater height and bring forth more fruit For this spirit is always needfull being that which maintains our life and it is given in the use of those means that God hath instiruted for increase in grace of which means this holy feast being one of the chief that life-giving spirit must be conceived to lay faster hold of us and knit us more unto our head It is the vis vicaria of the Lord Jesus that power which supplies his place here in the world by which he is present to our souls Now when shall we conceive it more present then when we remember him whose spirit it is and when he doth exhibit himself unto us under these shadows of bread and wine These are tokens of his presence and represent him to us the spirit is that whereby he is present and therefore here it must be again conferred on us Here it doth take a stronger seizure of us here it possesses it self more fully of all our faculties here it gives us more sensible touches from our head and makes us feel more vital influences descending thence unto us and so it being the bond of union must needs strengthen and confirm us in an inseparable conjunction with him Christ doth not descend locally unto us that we may feed on him but as the Sun toucheth us by his beams without removing out of its sphaere so Christ comes down upon us by the power of the holy Ghost moving by its heavenly vertue in our hearts though he remain above And this vertue coming from our Head the man Christ Jesus it doth both quicken us to his service and tie us to him and likewise we are said to partake of his body and blood because we sensibly feel the vertue and efficacy of them in our selves And do not wonder that I say we are more strongly united to Christ hereby for unson is not to be conceved without all latitude but to be looked on as capable of increase or diminution and as that which may grow loose and slack or be made more perfect and compact As it is with the foul and body so it is between Christ and his members Though the soul be not quite unloosed from the body yet by sickness the bonds may become rotten or by fasting they may grow weak and feeble so that it may have but a slender hold of its companion and a little violence may snap them asunder Even so though our souls be tied to Christ yet by our daily infirmities or the frequent incursions of our enemies or by long abstaining from this holy food and other negligences we shall find a kind of loosness in our souls and that we are going off from Christ and tending to a dissolution unless we gird up the loyns of our mind and be vigilant and sober watching unto all holy duties And therefore as in the former case we must betake our selves to our physick and food and good exercise for the making the bonds sound and strong so in this we must have recourse to the holy feast we are speaking of which is both meat and medicine and we must stir up the grace that is in us and beg more of the Spirit of God that may strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die To receive the Spirit not by measure is the priviledg of none but our head We that receive from his fullness have not our portion all at once Phil. 1.19 but must daily look for a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ And so the Apostle saith Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and we must grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ Which shews that we may be made one with him in a more excellent manner then when we were first born because the Spirit of Christ grows unto a greater strength within us as we receive more of heavenly nutriment into our souls And this is all that is meant by the real presence of Christ in this Sacrament which the Church speaks of and believes as it is one reason likewise of the change which is so much noised because by his power these things become effectual to so great purposes when they are holily received Our Lord doth call these signs by the name of the things they signifie because in a spiritual manner his body and blood are present to us viz. by the communication of that to us which they did purchase for us From the sacred humanity of Christ life and spirit is derived unto us as motion is from the head unto the members And the power of the Godhead doth diffuse the vertue or operation of the humane nature to the enlivening the hearts of men that rightly receive the Sacramental pledges Manna is called spiritual bread and water that came out of the rock is named spiritual dirnk 1 Cor. 10.3 4. and the rock is said to be Christ because they did signifie him and were tokens of his presence and therefore much more may this bread and wine be called his body and blood and spoken of as if they were himself because they do more lively represent him and he had annexed his presence more powerfully to them Or as one of the Ancients saith they are called his body and blood not because they are properly so sed quod in se mysterium corporis ejus sanguinis contineant but because they contain in them the mystery of his body and blood And this as I said is all the change that we are to understand in them according as Theodoret doth excellently express it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dialog 1. Christ saith he calls them by the name of the things they represent not changing the nature but adding grace unto the nature And what that grace is I have already told you in this Chapter So that the real presence is not to be sought in the bread and wine but in those that receive them according as Learned Hooker speaks For Christ saith first Take and eat and then after that This is my body Before we take and eat it is not the body of Christ unto us but when we take and eat as we ought then he gives us his whole self and puts us into possession of all such faving graces as his facrificed body can yield and our fouls do then need The change is in our souls and not in the Sacrament we are though not Transubstantiated into another body yet Metamorphosed and transformed into
love from us and he hath made our Brethren to be his proxies and receivers he hath transferred the debt that is owing him unto them that we may do them those kindnesses for his sake which we cannot do immediately unto him It is worthy our notice that the first person that ever received this holy Sacrament was in all likelihood St. John the beloved Disciple he that lay in Jesus his breast and is therefore called by some Greek Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he in the bosome whose heart was so full of love to the Brethren that he breathes little else in one whole discourse which he left to his little children And you may observe also that immediately after this Supper spoken of Joh. 13. our Saviour entertains his Disciples the rest of that night till he went into the garden with those heavenly discourses which you read in the 14 15 16 17 Chapters of the same Gospel A great part of which contain the Commandment of brotherly love of living in peace and being one with each other even as He and his Father are one which may well suggest to our meditations that one intent of this heavenly repast is to breed in us a kind of coelestial charity and make us all like that Disciple who first had the favour to taste of it IV. This Supper is the more significant of Christian charity and peace that is to be between all the guests because they all eat of one loaf as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 10.17 where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render one bread more properly may be translated one loaf of which all the company do partake and thereby are made one body members of the same Christ and members one of another As the flour though consisting of many little parts is mingled and knealed into one loaf so are all Christians united and compacted into one body by partaking of that one and the same individual loaf And therefore we may by the way take notice that the bread provided for our Communions though never so great ought to be but one loaf and likewise that all should communicate if it may be at the same time and not one part of a Congregation to day and the other at the next meeting for this doth not so well signifie the union that is among all Christians who live together in the same society And to render this contesseration the more manifest Joseph de Vicecom L. 2. de Mâ—ssae rit cap. 10. in some ages of the Church though but in some particular places every family that did receive offered a quantity of flower with which the Communion-bread was made This mixture of one mans meal with anothers and the combination of all the particles in one paste did well denote that they were but one body of men mingled together by such a common affection that they were made one lump and did lose themselves in one another not knowing any difference between each other And indeed there never was any society of men so strongly united and kneaded together as the first body of Christians were Though their union may well be represented by the little Atomes of flower all glewed together in a loaf yet the strength of their union may be better compared to the stones of a Temple so cemented that the hand of man is of no force so much as to move them And to such stones the Apostle St. Peter compares them when he saith 1 Ep. Cap. 2.5 that as lively stones they are built up a spiritual house c. Living stones they were because they were so many souls or hearts joyned together into a spiritual temple making one great heart beating with the same love and because likewise they had all drunk into the same spirit of life Act. 2.32 which was the common vinculum tie or bond that thus united them together and made this one bread to be like the strength of stones rather then bread As the little particles of meal were by the help of water wrought into one paste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 12.13 so were all particular Christians by this spirit wherewithall they were watered formed into one spiritual body to be no more many but one V. The ancient Christians likewise had many significant customs and practises whereby they did notably express at this feast the love which was among them The most remarkable of which are these 1. There was the Holy Kiss wherewith they saluted each other as a token of the dear affection wherewith they embraced and of their desire that their souls might pass as it were into each others bodies There are many places of Scripture which mention this kiss as Rom. 16.16 1 Cor. 16.20 c. and the best Writers near the times of our Saviour tell us it was used to be given at the holy Communion as the fittest season to express such an innocent and sincere love When we have done prayers saith Justin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apolog. 2. c. we salute each other with a kiss and then immediately the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chief Minister takes the bread and wine from the hand of those that offer them c. At this feast then they did salute one another and when they fasted De Orat. cap. 14. it began to be a custom saith Tertullian that after prayers they should forbear the kiss of peace quod est signaculum perfectionis which is the sign or seal of perfection i.e. of love and charity I suppose he means which is called by the Apostle the bond of perfectness That it was a custom among the Jews to salute with a kiss at their prayers is the affirmation of Drusius In Generosia but a greater man then he was saith that he finds no such thing in all their writings and shews that in all likelihood he was deceived by mistaking the word Tiphluth for Tepilloth the former of which signifies foolishness and the latter prayers Buxtorf Lex Tal. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so he observes that it is said in the great Bereschit upon those wvrds Gen. 29.11 every kiss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to folly i. e. a wanton kiss except those three to which one adds a fourth First The kiss of homage such as Samuel gave to Saul 1 Sam. 10.1 and such I may add as we are bid to give to the Son of God Psal 2.12 Secondly The kiss of meeting such as Aaron gave to Moses Exod. 4.27 Thirdly The kiss of departure such as Orphah gave to her mother Ruth 1.14 And fourthly The kiss of kindred such as Jacob here gave to Rachel because she was his Cousin VVe must seek therefore for no other reason of this kiss but that it was a sign of kindness and love by the custom of all the world and therefore it is called the kiss of charity 1 Pet. 5.13 And for this cause saith Chrysostome the Apostle bids the Corinthians
is represented God giveing his Son and all Blessings unto us and we giving of our selves and our best service unto him as hath been already discoursed By this God sets to his Seal that all things contained in the Covenant shall be done for us and we do set to our seal and openly profess our selves to belong to the Covenant and that we esteem and highly value all those blessings and will do any thing for to obtain them Now who would not long for such a food that will satisfie our whole desire Who would refuse an invitation to that Table where all things are in one dish if I may so speak and God and Man meet together in one Bread and one Cup But I doubt I may add Who is there that would not have all these things so that this Bread and Wine without any labour will convey them unto him And therefore I must give you another short information which was the second thing that I promised and that is this 2. This copious Food doth not nourish us without some actions of our own even such as I have already mentioned in this Discourse It doth not feed us in a natural but in a moral and spiritual manner It reiresheth us by our consideration by our faith our love our prayers our covenanting and thanksgiving But all the cunning in the world will not draw a drop of blood out of it without these no it draws out the blood of our souls and wasts our strengths by a careless and prophane eating of it The Papists talk of great things that their Priests give in this Sacrament by their power and they would make the world believe that they communicate more then we can do But we must solemnly averr That our Ministry conveighs as great things as they speak of onely men must do something more of the work themselves We pretend not indeed to send wicked men to Heaven with a word but we can help the thoughts and affections of all pious souls as much as they with all their skill and power Nay if the people do nothing we give them more then they for they feed them with hungry accidents they give them a bit of quantity and a cup of colours yea the Laity have not so much as a sip of these figures whereas the worst man among us hath at least Bread and Wine so that the best among us enjoy as much in effect and vertue as they can pretend unto and the worst by their own confession enjoy much more But the truth of it is that men have heightned these things to such incomprehensible mysteries because they would do nothing and these should do all They have advanced these sacred Rites of Christs appoinment into a degree of vertue beyond all his other commands that so by these easie and facile rites of Baptism and the Lords Supper men might go to Heaven by a compendious manner of doing little or nothing towards their salvation And they have not left these Rites as naked as Christ brought them into the world but they have changed the manner of their observance and cloathed them in a great many strange dresses lest the genuine simplicity of them should reprove their false hopes which they conceive from them They could never put men so soon into Heaven nor get so much money as they do by the bargain if they did not make men believe greater things of this Sacrament then of all the eternal Laws of Christ and they could not make men believe so much more of it if they did not transform it from its native simplicity into an uncouth mystery These two things the love of mens lusts and the love of the world have made men stretch these things so far as to defie all reason to damn all those that will not speak non-sence and to send those to hell though of never so holy lives that will not discredit their eyes and ears What strange things will men believe and do so that they can but believe contrary to the Gospel They hope to go to Heaven they know not how by the Magick of words and by the secret efficacy of a Religion that they do not understand and this makes them willing to entertain such Doctrines And then others have a respect to their own interest and having little else to support their greatness would be reverenced and esteemed for their extraordinary power in making the body of Christ and that makes them willing to maintain them So the Author of the History of the Council of Trent saith very truly L. 6. When men began to place Heaven below Earth good institutions were said to be corruptions onely tollerated by Antiquity and abuses brought in afterward were canonized for perfect corrections But we willingly acknowledg that we have no power to save men without themselves We celebrate no such Mysteries that shall convey the wicked to Heaven We cannot deliver those that are dead from their pain and torment who whilst they lived made little reckoning either of this or any other Divine Command No we proclaim to All men that this food must nourish us by our own stomachs that it affords strength by the vital operations of our own souls And if we our selves will do what God requires of us then we shall find it as full of vertue as we can desire and it will be a means to put us in Heaven while we remain here upon the earth Sometimes they will needs blame us as doing too little and denying the use of good works but this is such a falsity that we call for more of mens labour then they seem to make necessary and profess that we hope not by any power of ours to do them good without the exercise of their own powers And therefore let us put forth a lively faith let us heartily covenant with our Lord let us make a sincere profession of our Religion and exercise such other acts as I have been treating of and so will this Feast be of great force and full of efficacy to our souls health And that you may feed with an appetite and hereby get an encrease in strength it is necessary that I next of all direct your Addresses to Gods Table and shew how you should prepare your selves to be his worthy Guests and that shall be the Subject of the following Discourse Mensa Mystica SECT II. Concerning Preparation to the Table of the Lord being a Discourse upon Psal 93.5 CHAP. VII IT is a known saying of the Psalmist Holiness becomes thy House O Lord for ever The corner-stone upon which that Affirmation is built is no other but this That God is essentially holy And that is a truth which hath such a foundation in our natural understanding a notion that springs so clearly from every mans mind that all the deductions and consequents that flow from it must needs be evident and find no resistance but onely from the wills and perverse affections of men If we consider
therefore with our selves a while and look upon him that dwells in pure light we shall soon be perswaded that they ought to be holy that approach near to him that no prophane foot ought to tread in his Sanctuary and that an unhallowed mind cannot be the Temple where he should dwell A short explanation of the Psalmists words will make it manifest that our minds do rightly perswade us when we so conclude The house of God which he speaks of was the Temple at Jerusalem where God was worshipped into one part of which none but the High Priest might enter and that but once a year being void of Legal uncleanness Into a second the Priests only might approach for to Minister but not without the like state of purity And the people who were admitted into the courts of Gods house could not be accepted to feast with God as you have heard unless their offering was without blemish and they themselves at that time free from any pollutions which their Law prohibited Which to any wise man must signifie thus much that God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of his Saints Psal 89.7 and to be had in reverence of all that are about him and that nothing becomes his presence but what is seperated from the world and cleansed from carnal affections And so Plutarch a grave Heathen In Polit. praecept tell us that into some ancient Temples none might come with any money or weapons about them but were at their first entrance to lay them down at the doors and so approach unto the Altars This was to signifie not onely their poverty and weakness and that they look upon themselves as destitute of all succour except divine but their contempt of the world also and their forsaking of all earthly things that they might be fit for divine converses Cunaeus I think hath most happily conjectured that the Temple which he speaks of was no other then the House of God at Jerusalem L. 2. de repub Heb. cap. 12. For no man saith Maimon might come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the mountain of the House with a staff or with his shoes with his purse or wallet or such like things Which surely was significant of their divesting themselves of all earthly things and laying aside all employments and worldly thoughts that they might present themselves naked and simple pure and holy before the God of holiness who alway said to his people both under the Law and Gospel be ye holy Lev. 11.14 1 Pet. 1.16 for I am holy This is a truth at tested so much unto by Heathens that I may be confident I said true when I affirmed it to be the issue of a first notion Dion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod L. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. v. Moscho pul Proclum that they should be holy persons who converse with a holy God Whosoever thinks otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith a grave Author is by this very thought if there were nothing else an unholy person And it is still ingrafted so much in every mans mind that none will venture to make any of the more solemn addresses to God but they think of some repentance and purgation of some more devout disposition of mind how unholy soever the rest of their lives have been Now though the Psalmist intend more then a fit of Religion and cannot be thought to mean so little as a holiness that hath onely its set and appointed times its new Moons and solemn assemblies or in our phrase the monthly Communions and the weekly Sabbaths yet it may justly be asked whether besides those two things I have already mentioned viz. The holiness of God and the constant holiness of those who converse with him there be not also a third included in them which is that at some times we are ingaged to a higher degree of holiness and ought more solemnly and religiously to purifie and cleanse our selves Are we not to raise up our hearts to a greater fervour in devotion to search our selves more curiously and cast out all the leaven when we come near to God in the highest duties of our Religion Or in short it may be asked Whether we are not to use a greater preparation and bring a greater holiness to Gods Table then at other times when we approach to him in other duties I shall not certainly determine how far the Psalmists words do favour such an assertion that there ought to be a greater regard to our selves when we go to the house of God then at other times But I shall endeavour to illustrate all the truth that is in it and in the former also in these following Propositions CHAP. VIII ONely let it be premised that it is my design so to state this matter of Preparation that we may come to Gods Table in a very reverend manner and yet not use him unreverently at other times A great deal of care is to be used when we go to feast with the King of Heaven but that is not the greatest much less all the care of a Christian If God prepare a Supper we should prepare our selves to be fit guests so much is resolved upon by all the onely danger is lest we do not think this preparation looks so far back as really it doth In Sept. Sap. Conviv I like Thales his resolution very well which we meet withal in Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he that entertains us at a feast makes great preparation for us beforehand so should they prepare themselves who are invited to the feast And the Sybarites he saith were wont to invite their women a year before the feast was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might at leisure prepare themselves with good apparel and brave ornaments c. to come unto it But truly saith he in my judgment there is need of a great deal more time to fit one for to feast in such a manner as he ought then this comes to The manners and carriage are to be righly formed his mind is to be apparelled and his soul trimmed with brave notions that his behaviour may be handsomely composed Now it is far more hard to adorn the mind then to adorn the body to get a deportment befitting our selves then to appear richly and gaylie clad And therefore longer time then a year will be required to dress up a mans self for to feast like a wise man or a Philosopher even so much till we can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 get a becoming conversation and find out those Ornaments that sute best with a vertuous life What he saith in that matter is but my very sence in the thing we are treating of God makes an invitation and calls us to his board we must therefore trim up our selves to meet the bridegroom of our fouls But this preparation is not such a business that can
know or ever heard of do think that nothing less than a morning and evening-Worship can denominate prayer continual or without ceasing As the Lambs that were offered every morning and every evening throughout the year were called in Moses his Law the continual burnt-offering Exod. 29.42 Numb 28.3 So the offering unto God our Morning and Evening Sacrifices even the calves of our lips for what we want and what we have received may be called our continual prayer which must be alwayes joined according to the Apostle with thanksgiving From their practise we fetch the best explication of these expressions concerning prayer that I know of and so we may of such things as I before mentioned and many others also These solemn Addresses then we may by no means omit but look upon our selves as necessarily bound unto them And as among them there were two Lambs more offered upon the Sabbath day over and above the continual Burnt-offering Numb 28.8 9. So we cannot but think our selves most strictly enjoined to enlarge our prayers and praises upon the Lords day to a greater length than at other times and to offer as many more sacrifices as other days require Several other times there were wherein God required more than the ordinary offerings of them as may be seen in the same Chapter but yet he left room for some voluntary Oblations which as I said he thought they would be so kind as to bestow upon him or else he would never have made mention of them nor given any Laws about them Even so hath God left it to our love and good will we bear to him to make choice of some seasons beside those he hath appointed wherein to pay him larger acknowledgments and testifie a more abundant affection to his service both by the fervency of our souls in what we do and by the greater proportion of time which we allow for the doing of it Pral 119.164 and in the 108 verse he prayes God to accept the Free-will-offerings of his mouth And therefore it will be highly accepted of God if sometimes we pray with David seven times in a day and make some addition to the daily sacrifice Charles the fifth though a person of a high employment as David was used to continue so long at his private devotions and was so sparing in his ordinary speech that his Courtiers were wont to say Chytreus Orat. de eo he did saepius cum Deo quam hominibus loqui speak oftner with God than he did with men The more pious sort likewise among the Jews seem to have prayed at least four times in a day twice at the Temple if they were at Hierusalem and twice in their own private houses At the third hour when the Disciples were together at the Temple it is very probable because all Nations that were at Jerusalem took notice of it the holy Ghost came down upon them Acts 2.15 which was the time of the morning sacrifice about nine of the clock according to our reckoning On the same day in all likelihood two of the Apostles went into the Temple at another hour of Prayer which was the ninth viz. three of the clock in the afternoon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time of the evening-sacrifice as you read Acts 3.1 where the words are so placed that they intimate another hour of prayer to be usual besides that From the constant observance of these appointed times they are said in Luk. 24. ult to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continually in the Temple blessing and praising God But beside you may find that Peter prayed at twelve of the Clock in his own private house which was the sixth hour of the day in their language Acts 10.9 and therefore it is probable that the twelfth hour or six at night was another hour for private prayer among them And if it should be said That he being not at Hierusalem but Joppa might omit the hours of prayer at the Temple that will be confuted by the practise of Cornelius in the same Chapter ver 3 30. who being at Caesarea prayed at the ninth hour and the holy Apostle cannot be thought to be less devout than him There is nothing lost by going unto God and the oftner we perswace our selves to it the better success we shall have in all other things according to a good Proverb of the Dutch I think which saith Thefts never enrich Alms never impoverish Prayer hinders no work Our Saviour hath given us an example of extraordinary devotion in his own practise Luke 6.12 where you read that he continued all night in prayer to God or as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by some rendred in one of Gods places of Prayer Thither he retired from company and passed the night in holy meditations and converses with God He did not sin when he slept other nights but this was a more illustrious act of holiness and a more fervent expression of love to his Father above that which the precept requires And concerning such devotions the Mahometans say Preces nocturnae sunt splendor dici Night-prayers are the light of the day So in Luke 22.41 we find that our Lord fell upon his knees and prayed and not long after ver 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prayed more earnestly and fervently than before He did not fail of his duty in the former prayer because it was not in such a vehement degree but in this later prayer he expressed a more excellent zeal and ardor of spirit then he was absolutely tied unto All these things are written for our instruction that we may learn to lay hold on the occasions that are presented to us of intending our spirits raising our hearts beyond their common pitch and temper I remember Strabo saith concerning the ancient Venetians that they used to sacrifice to Diomedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a white Horse which might both signifie the purity and also the strength and speed of the service that they owed to God We must alway be holy and pure in our Addresses to the Divine Majesty but we have examples in Scripture and it will be highly pleasing unto him to put to greater strength sometimes and press forward with a greater speed to collect all the forces of our souls and strain them to the noblest degree of desire and love that we are able VI. You may likewise consider further That one act of Religion is preparative to another The daily sacrifice makes the weekly more acceptable Continual prayer makes us more fit for prayer on the Lords day The morning and evening spent well make us ready to spend a whole day better And these constant sacrifices keep the Altar warm and maintain a fire to kindle our free-will-offerings And one free-will-offering inflames our heart to a forwardness to present God with another So likewise back again these extraordinary devotions make us more solemn in our ordinary duties and the Lords day employed well makes every day
much room in their houses would set some little place apart for holy duties and let it be acquainted with no other thoughts but only of God and their own souls This would be an easie way of putting all our employments out of our thoughts which would all leave us when we came to that place where they were strangers None of them would be so bold as to tread in that place which is washt with tears they would not draw breath nor live in that place where there is no aire but Sighs and Prayers they would never abide in that room where no inhabitant is but God alone For we find that if we come to any place where something of note and concernment hath been done by us though it be slipt out of our mindes the very sight of the place revives the image of that thing and stirres it up again in our memories If therefore we had a place of privacy where we did nothing but read and pray and invite God into our company as soon as ever we did but look into it the face of God would meet us and we should be struck with a certain awe and reverence from his presence that uses to be there with us And a sweet remembrance also of what pleasure hath passed there either in joy or sorrow would by a kind of natural way be revived But if a man pray in his Counting-house the thoughts of his money will be apt to meet him as soon as he steps in at the door his bills and bonds will thrust themselves into his mind as soon as the Book of God so that he will find it more difficult to drive away such impertinent thoughts Let us therefore resolve on this as the first step to the Lords Table to separate our selves at least from all worldly employments if not from worldly places If we cannot have a little Chappel in our own houses yet let us look to that in our own heart that nothing now but God do enter into it Say thus in your own meditations Be gone you vain things for I am going to my God Yea Lord do thou bid them to be gone and not dare to appear in thy presence Welcome holy thoughts and pure desires O happy time wherein I may embrace my dearest love and solace my self in the armes of my Saviour I charge you O my companions that you haste away as fast as the Hinds or the Roes and that you stir not or disturb the beloved of my soul Come not near I charge you make no noise to displease him or to call me away from his enjoyment It is the voice of my beloved I hear him inviting of me to his house of banquets I see him coming to entertain me let all flesh therefore be silent and not be so bold as to whisper in his presence II. When you are thus at leisure set your self to consider what is the end of this Rite and what lieth hid under the Ceremony This one thing seems to me to call for some solemn thoughts beforehand because it is a piece of our Religion that is cloathed with an outward garment it hath something of a positive institution in it and retains something of the ceremony the signification of which is to be studied lest we should not discern the Lords body 1 Cor. 11.19 If we look not beyond the shadow we shall feed nothing but our body or if we draw aside the veil but half way we shall lose a great part of the food of our souls which are instructed by every part of this holy action You must therefore labour to uncover the face of this mysterious food and consider it in all those notions wherein I have laid it open before you This I judge to be the more needfull together with the rest of those directions which I have to add because now this Feast doth return more seldome then it did in ancient times and so our minds may have let slip the remembrance of many of the ends of it or at least may retain but weak and dark notions of them For those things that are not of natural light do not use to stick so close to our souls as those that are engraven upon them but by the intervening of other images they may be either blotted out or else look more pale and lose the liveliness of their colour And therefore we had need the oftner to meditate on them that so by a new impression they may keep their form and then especially when we are going so near to God lest our acquaintance with them be decayed through the multitude of other things that we have converse withall Let every man then remember himself when he intends to remember Christ and say after this sort O my soul whither are we going What is that Table which I see yonder spread for us What means that broken bread that is provided For what end did his precious blood run out of his side Do men use to drink a cup of blood O my soul let us enter into this secret and know the bottom of this mystery Let us look into his wounds with joy and gladness to see how his heart doth beat with love to us Let us open our heart to him let us shew him how sorry we are and how our heart is pierced that we have pierced him Let us lay our hearts together and tye our selves in an everlasting Covenant that he may dwell in us and we in him Such as these are most seasonable meditations to dispose our minds the better to feast with him III. And then thirdly We should consider with our selves what acts are most proper when we shall be at Gods Table We should think with our selves what hatred of sin what desire what love to God and what Charity to our brethren is then to be expressed what prayers and intercessions what praises and thanksgivings are then to be offered For we shall scarce spend our time well there unless we be provided with some matter for our thoughts and have put them into some method and order that they may not hinder one another And therefore it is good to consider with our selves what disposition of soul doth best agree with every part of this sacred action How the mind is to be affected at the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine how it is to be moved when the Minister blesses and presents them unto God and how when he gives and distributes them unto us and the rest of our brethren Sect. 3. Of which and such like things I shall treat hereafter IV. And when we have diligently pondered of this let us begin to stir up those affections beforehand which will prepare us to a more lively expression of them when we come there Begin to admire at Gods goodness that he will send an invitation to such a poor wretch as thou art Render him many thanks for that being a Lord of such Majesty he would vouchsafe
demand more of us then we will give of our own good will unto our God Shall not love engage us faster then any other bands Hath not God given unto us the principal and requires nothing back again but a little small pittance for his poor Alas my soul we are too much behind-hand with him already and have run too far in arrears For how many years have we lived in the world and given nothing considerable unto his uses we are so much indebted that way that we had need now to be more open-handed and make satisfaction for our unjustice But then what shall we give him for himself and for his Son if we be so much bound unto him for these temporal things O my soul once more consider what gift we shall present our Lord withall Are not thy first thoughts below the proportion of his love Is it not too little that thou hast consecrated to his service Come my Soul and open thy heart it is to a good friend even unto thy God never stand upon it but double the summe and for every peny thou first thought of write down two for God hath prospered us beyond all our thoughts Or if we have not thriven perhaps it is because we gave no more Let us try therefore this way of thriving by offering liberally unto God and see how he will improve our goods for us And I wish heartily that men would try not onely for their souls sake but for the good of their bodies and the welfare that I wish unto their posterities For there is no such sure way of enlarging or preserving an estate as doing good with it and giving out of it to those that need By this means we do not so much leave God in trust for our children as make him become their debtor who will pay them back again with large use and advantage I would not have writ so many lines of this subject if I did not fear that mens Charity comes from them by drops and those drops likewise are expressed by accident and chance rather then by any advised thoughts And therefore I desire that this part of our Religion may be made more serious and have a deeper foundation in our hearts so that we should study what sum of money God may justly expect from us to whom he hath given so much Now a fitter time there cannot be to meditate of this then before our approaches to the solemn remembrance of Gods bounty and liberality towards us VI. We are likewise to endeavour that all the passions and affections of our souls may be quieted and stilled We must take some pains with them that they may be so mortified and deadned to the world that then they may not be too quick and lively and hinder our Meditations of heavenly things For this as you have seen is a spiritual banquet and the food gives no nourishment but what we receive by meditation by serious thoughts and affections which can find no place but onely in still and quiet souls When the body feasts a great part of the good Cheer is pleasant discourse and innocent mirth and there is no welcome unless there be some noise But the soul feasts in silence it eats its morsels in a deep and calm thought its pleasure is in conference with its self and God and all the sound is onely the voice of thanksgiving in hymns or Psalms of Praises to God into which at last it breaks and utters its self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Dost not thou know saith Chrysostome that thy soul ought to be big with a calm at that season when thou goest so near unto God There is need of a great deal of peace and tranquility and there should be no tumults of anger and such like passions since thou thinkest of the God of Love The Sun of Righteousness shines so hot upon thee that thou shouldest be as smooth and fair as the face of the water in the brightest day Thou shouldest labour that there may not be a wrinkle upon thy brow that all thy storms may be so husht and lay'd as if thou heard'st thy Saviours voice saying Peace be still And therefore all holy men have taken an especial care when they were going to the Table of the Lord to renew their acts of forgiveness and passing by all injuries and offences to reconcile themselves perfectly to their Brethren and repair any wrong that they could possibly conceive themselves to have done to others which before they had not observed I have in the beginning of this Discourse prevented all mistakes so that none can reasonably think that he may harbour malice in his heart and bear a grudge in his mind unto his neighbour with sufficient safety at other times so he do but discharge all these black passions when he approaches unto God And my meaning now is That seeing we come to this Feast that we may more encrease our love we ought to search if there be but any spark of anger that lies buried in our souls and take care that it be perfectly quenched And seeing there will be many occasions of differences among Neighbours that we ought now to consider if there were any heats in the management of them and if any seeds of fire yet remain that they may utterly be extinguished and never break forth again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys Orat. 60. ad Pop. Antioch Vid. etiam Hom. 3. in Epist ad Ephes Dare a man touch this holy Sacrifice with unwashen hands How dare he then approach with an unwashed and polluted soul Now there is nothing that doth more soot and black a soul then an abideing anger which causeth the holy Spirit to flie away and as I may say driveth it out of its lodging as fire doth us to seek some other habitation Valerius Maximus tell us Cui praeter cognatus affines nemo interponebatur L. 2. c. 1. Sect. 8. that there was a solemn Feast appointed by their Ancestors which they called Charistia to which none but those that were of kin or had some affinity were permitted to approach I am sure to the Eucharistia the Sacrament of Love and Peace none shall be welcome but those that are the friends and kindred of Christ and are allied to each other in a brotherly affection We must all as you have seen already come hither as children to feast with our Father and if there be any displeasure in our hearts to one another he cannot be well pleased nor give us such an entertainment as we expect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Procâ—â—s in Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strom. l. 5. which Heiasius saith is in some editions of the LXX in Isa 24.16 Remember that then which Clemens Alex. saith he found in some Gospel My mysteries or secrets are to me and the children of my Family Unless you be the children of Peace think not to penetrate into his
have laid down to our selves as the guide of our life From these two arise the whole of that which is necessary to be done continually for the approbation of our selves to be such persons as have a care to please God Now this may be the prime and first sense of the Apostles words when he saith Let a man examine himself and so let him eat c. i. e. let him have a care that he lead such a Christian life that his own heart may approve of him as one of Christs Disciples This you may be best satisfied out of another place where this word is used Gal. 6.4 Let a man prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or examine his own work c. The meaning of which is Let every man make his work so approved and behave himself in that manner that both God and his own Conscience may judge it to be right and according to the Word of God That this is the sense of the phrase in that place will appear from the whole context where the Apostle speaks of bearing the infirmities of the weak and not thinking our selves to be godly because we do not fall like them by any temptation And so saith he Thou shalt have glory or rejoycing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toward thy self and not in regard of another i. e. thou shalt take comfort simply in thy self that thou art a good man and not only be pleased with comparing thy self with others and being better then they for so thou mayest be and yet not be good From this it appears that he speaks not of something that should follow the actions of our life viz. a searching whether they be good or no but of such an institution and ordering of our lives beforehand that we may not fall into those sins which we reprehend in another nor be beholden to their sins to make us seem godly And the next words v. 5. plead for this sense For every man shall bear his own burden i. e. Thou oughtest to make thy work good and approved for every man sins at his own peril One mans sin will not excuse thee who dost not sin in that fashion but thou art to do thy own duty heartily to God according to thy Conscience or else thou shalt suffer as well as he And that the Apostle may have respect unto this examination before we come to the Sacrament in that place before-mentioned there is another phrase following v. 31. which may perswade us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if we judge our selves c. i. e. if we do discern our selves and discriminate our actions and determine our duty and live in conformity to it we should not be judged nor punished of God in this sort But whether this be the proper meaning of examining or no I shall not be overmuch solicitous seeing I have already made this good that he must be a holy person that comes to Gods Table And that there is beside this a more particular examination to be used when the time is near of communicating with our Lord I willingly grant And it consists of two parts according to the two-fold use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render examine The first is a proof trial and search into our own souls that we may know our estate and in what condition we stand before God So the word is used 1 Thess 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prove all things i. e. make a trial of them and consider what they are and then hold fast that which you find to be good This examination considering that I suppose a pious life to precede must chiefly consist in a review of those failings or of those wants which our every-day proof of our selves doth present us withall If we should never examine our selves but when we come to the Lords Supper we should not know what we are nor what we need but in a confused heap of things many would be unobserved and yet if we should not also examine then we should not have such a lively sense of what we are to ask and for what we ought to plead the bloud of Christ But then this examination is but a serious reflection upon the Notes which we take every day of our selves Unless it be needfull that we examine our selves whether we have not forgot any of the ends for which we go to the Table of the Lord and though that be a great part of the Apostles meaning yet I have already taken notice of it In short we are to search rather in what state our Graces stands than whether we be in a state of Grace or no. Then secondly We must approve and allow of our selves and bring the trial to such an issue that we pass a verdict on our souls So the word is used Rom. 2.18 thou approvest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things that are excellent i. e. Thou professest to like and embrace them And so when the Apostle bids the Children of the light to prove what is acceptable unto God Ephes 5.8 10. He doth not mean a bare inquisition but that act which follows it which is embracing For they cannot be deemed Children of the light who do not so enquire after the pleasure of God as to pursue and practise it The meaning likewise of the Apostle Rom. 14.22 is this Happy is he that when he uses an indifferent thing doth approve himself as doing that which is lawfull and acts not against his Conscience Or this Happy is he that when he is resolved that he may do such a thing lawfully and with the approbation of his Conscience yet doth it with such a care that he hurts not others by the use of it There is one place more 2 Cor. 13.5 where you have both these parts of examination together Try your selves whether you be in the faith prove i. e. approve your selves When you know your estate by trial then pass a judgement upon your selves to be what you profess and pretend unto Now all the approbation that a good man is to give of himself before he go to the Lords Supper is this 1. He ought to judge himself to continue a friend of Christ and to remain as far as he can find in Covenant with God And 2. He ought to find that he hath used some godly care and diligence that he come not in a rude unbeseeming and drowsie manner into so holy a presence And this is plainly another part of the Apostles meaning when he saith Let a man examine himself and so eat c. i. e. Let him approve himself to come for pious and holy ends and with a due regard to the Lords most sacred body and blood Lay thy hand then Christian Reader upon thy heart before thou comest to this Table and feel how the pulse of thy soul beats mind whether it beat evenly or after a distempered sort Doth it move three times as quick when thou thinkest of the World as it doth when God is in
of the soul grow too big for the mouth when it lifts up it self in speaking-thoughts and this is their language That they are not able to understand the Miracles of this Love it shall not be long before it perceive how much God is pleased with its saying nothing Let us therefore labour at the very entrance to put our selves into some degree of wonderment to think what manner of love this is wherewith he hath loved us Wonder that he should dye for thee when he was upon the earth and that he should nourish thee with himself now that he is in the Heavens Be astonished that Heaven should so condescend to Earth and Man should be so united unto God Lose thy thoughts in contemplation of the strangeness of this kindness that God should dwell in flesh and that this flesh should be our Food Let it amaze thee that Christ can never think that he hath given himself enough to thee but as the Apostle saith he gave himself to redeem us from our sinnes and now he gives himself to be the strength and health of our souls He gave himself when he was among men he gives himself now that he is with God and as Dionysius relates the story he told a pious man in a vision That if it were necessary he would come and die again for the sons of men This would be a rarely good beginning of this holy service and we should be fitter for all following actions if we could put our hearts into a kind of extasie or admiration at the stupendious greatness of this mystery If our thoughts were once got so high we should be out of the reach of other things that are apt to thrust themselves in and interrupt us If we had once climbed above our selves and were ascended into Heaven we should not be inticed while the Solemnity lasted to come down to the World again II. When we see the Bread broken and the Wine poured out it is a fit season to entertain our selves with these three Meditations which are big with a great number of other thoughts that they will bring forth 1. Remember the pains and dolours the shame and reproach which our Lord endured For which purpose imagine as if you were in Golgotha the place where he was crucified think that you behold him stretched forth upon a Cross that you see his precious Bloud trickling down his side and that you look into his gaping wounds think that you see the pits that they digged in his hands and his feet the furrows that they made in his back and how miserably the Thorns scratched and harrowed his holy head Think that you hear his dying groans that the mocks and flouts of the Jews sound in your ears Yea think that you hear the groans of the Earth under the weight of his Cross and that you see how the Sun shrunk in his head as ashamed to look on such a spectacle and affrighted with the horror of such a sight And when you have meditated a while upon these wonders it will be greater wonder if there be no passion made in your hearts Your own thoughts will teach you such resentments as befit so strange an object and you will begin to tremble and bleed and desire and rejoyce and be in such a mixture of passions as if you would imitate the confusion which was in the world at his Sufferings But when you have recovered your self a little think that it will be most agreeable in the second place 2. To remember with due affection the great love of our Lord in submitting himself to such pains and disgrace for our sakes Never did eyes behold such a strange thing that the only begotten of the Father should bleed like a Malefactor that the glorious King of Heaven should dye for his own Subjects Rebels I should rather call them and Traytors to their Soveraign Lord. Was there ever any kindness like to this Was there ever such a Furnace of Love burning in any heart Could he do more for us than dye for us Was there any likelihood that the remembrance of such a Love should dye That mens hearts should freeze over such a fire Lest such a thing should happen he hath left himself still among us in symboles and representations he sets before our eyes his bloody Death and Passion he makes himself present to our faith and as if he would do more than dye for us he desires to live for ever in us and be united to us How can we chuse then but fall into his arms Yea how can we withhold our selves from running into his heart Can any heart refrain it self from tears of sorrow to think of its unkindness and from tears of joy to think of his strange love how can we be but overwhelmed both with floods of grief and gladness Can we look upon him whom we have pierced and not mourn Can we see his bleeding wounds and not be troubled What heart can be so hard It cannot but pain us to think that we love him no more who put himself to such pains for us It cannot but trouble us to think that but hearts should be so cold when his was so hot with love as to send out its life bloud for our redemption And yet when we consider that in this stream of blood our souls are washed and that by his stripes we are healed who can chuse but rejoyce in his love and hope that he will accept of our poor acknowledgements And let us but look upon him again as I described him on the Cross and we shall find our love more large and vehement Think that you hear him saying to you as he hangs there Behold my friends how my flesh was torn and wounded for your sakes See how your sinnes have used me Look into my heart which was pierced first by love and then by a spear for you See how my hands and my feet were bored through look how my blood runs out to fetch you home to God Was there ever any sorrow like to my sorrow Hath any one loved you so as I have loved you Behold here I give my self unto you as once I gave my self for you By these tokens of Bread and Wine I conveigh unto you all that I have and make over to you all that Inheritance which I have purchased by my Blood My Self and all that I have I freely give unto you Need any one now that hath such Meditations be taught with what affections he should behave himself towards his Lord Needs there any piercing words of him that ministers to wound mens souls with sorrow and grief Is any artifice of speech required to wind and insinuate Christ into their hearts Is any perswasive Language necessary to make them accept of the greatest and richest Blessings that all Heaven can afford Me thinks I see the pricking and compunction that will be in a heart that thinks of these things Me thinks I see such a soul running forth to
with power Rom. 15.13 Fill me with all joy and peace in believing Let me abound in hope Ephes 3 17. Let me be rooted and grounded in love If I have found favour in thine eyes let me be filled with the holy Ghost How sayst thou that thou lovest me if I have no more love unto thee no more life from thee and if I be so barren and unfruitfull in good Works O my Lord I take the boldness lovingly to complain to thee and expostulate with thee Why am I so dull and cold in thy service why am I so unwilling to execute thy commands why am I so weak and unable against the enemies assaults If thou be with me who can be against me Surely the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 Through thee I shall do valiantly thou shalt tread down all my enemies Psal 60.12 Psal 57.2 It is the Lord that performeth all things for me I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Phil. 4.13 Psal 20.5 I will rejoice in thy salvation and in the Name of my God will I set up my Banners Lord I believe Mark 9.24 help thou my unbelief When we have done these things with the best devotion we can it will be a great refreshment to the soul if we turn it a little towards those who are the friends of your Lord. And therefore VI. Sixthly When we see him give the same Bread to others let us renew Acts of Love unto our Brethren Let us think that we being many are but one body and that we are made members one of another Let us ardently therefore embrace them in our armes let us clasp about them as our friends let us love one another with a pure heart fervently If we feel not the flame hot enough let us stir up in our minds again the remembrance of the dear love of our Lord and that will make us burn in affection to each other That will utterly put out all the sparks of envy anger or malice which are already buried that they may never any more revive to glow in our souls That will teach us a perfect remedy against all such distempered motions Let us but resolve that our thoughts shall dwell in the fide of Christ and Hell can never shoot any of its fires unto us If ever any of those black and dark passions begin to reek let us but presently enter into his wounds and they will all be extinguished When we feel but the loving warmth of his heart all our anger will turn into love and all our enemies will find us friends Let us resolve therefore now that we remember his love to enemies that we will never bear any hatred more Let us resolve now that we see how he distributes himself to us all that we will never contemn nor despise the meanest Brother that the eye shall not say to the foot I have no need of thee that one member shall not strike another that we will live in all peace and love bearing one anothers infirmities kindly accepting of reproofs doing all the good we can to soul and body that all men may know us to be Christs Disciples That we may do thus let every man think as seriously as he can within himself Did Christ dye only for me Was his body broken for my sake alone Are not other persons as dear unto him as my self Have we not all eaten of the same Loaf Are we not about to drink of the same Cup How shall I hate those whom my Beloved loves How shall I envy those to whom he is so liberal How shall I offend one of these for whom Christ dyed How shall I deny my self to him to whom my Lord hath given himself O my soul hast not thou espoused the same loves with thy blessed Lord Must not all his friends and relations be thy kindred Now he is not ashamed to call them brethren And therefore let them lye in my bosome let my soul cleave unto them let us keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Such heavenly Aspirations and Affections as these would be as a sweet perfume in our souls that would make our Lord to like of his habitation the better they would be as the fragrant Oyntment poured on the head of Aaron Psal 133 2. that would invite him to more ardent embraces and give him the greater contentment in us For so you read him saying in the Cant. 4.10 How fair is thy Love my Sister my Spouse how much better is thy love than Wine and the smell of thy Oyntments than Spices She had said cap. 1.3 That his Name was an Oyntment poured forth the savour of which made all Virgin souls in love with him and now he saith the very same of her That he was much enamoured of her love yea even ravished as it is in the verse before and that nothing was so beautifull or sweet unto him as that love Now by the mention of the Oyntments to which the Psalmist compares the unity of Brethren it should seem the Bridegroom commends not only her love to him but to all his not only to the head but the whole body And therefore he compares her presently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Pamph. v. 12. to a Garden because as one of the Ancients speaks she did bring forth all the fruits of the spirit which are Love Joy Peace and the rest of their kindred And to a Garden enclosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. because guarded against the enemy by the hedge and fence of the Commandments the summe of which is love to God and to one another VII Seventhly When we receive the Cup it is fit that we should again admire the wonderfull love of God that he would purchase us to himself by his own bloud And we should consider the great and inestimable value of this bloud Acts 20.28 that could make expiation and give God full satisfaction for such a world of offences The infinite virtue likewise as well as value of this sacrifice should be taken into our thoughts which lasts for ever and is now as fresh and full of efficacy as if the blood were newly shed upon the Cross Heb. 12.10 For so the Apostle saith This man after he had once offered for sinne for ever sate down on the right hand of God And that you may wonder more at the excellency of this Offering Consider how many sinnes you have committed and then guesse how many the sinnes are which have been committed by all men that have been are and shall be in the World and yet that this one Sacrifice is sufficient in Gods account to take away all being of an everlasting force and power And the better again to conceive of this admirable thing compare it with the sacrifices of old One sacrifice could
Tatius mentions that appeared to the sight as if they were on a flame and the fire leaped out of them continually but if you came to touch them they were as cold as any Snow And neither the fire saith he was quenched by the water nor the water heated by the fire but in that Fountain you might behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an amity and reconciliation of fire and water together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just so it is with many professing people they have a seeming zeal and a flagrant devotion they have warm expressions in their mouthes and pray earnestly but if you come near to them and handle them if you grow acquainted with their converse the world lyes cold at their hearts and there is no life of God in them but they have made a syncretism between life and death a league between the god of this world and the God of Heaven The same Author tells of a River in Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lb. into whose whirlpits if the wind insinuate it self it strikes upon the folds of the water and plays with them as we do upon the strings of a Cittern so that a Passenger would imagine that he was entertained by some Musicians Which may aptly resemble many men in the world who when the Spirit of God breathes at some solemn time upon them or when they hear the voice of God and look a little into themselves do seem to be delightfully moved and to make a pleasant noise as though they were tuned to the praises of God but follow them home and let that sweet breath be over and you shall see they are as greedy of the world as a deep pit and their thoughts roll and turn about that they may draw all that comes near them into themselves VI. And therefore sixthly Let us labour to impress and retain an Image of Christ upon our souls whom we have seen crucified before our eyes Let us represent unto our selves what a Person Christ was and what his manner of behaviour was in the world and then let us labour to carry him before our mind and have him in our eyes that so by looking on him we may shape all our affections and all our actions after that rare pattern that he hath set us Let us endeavour to think every where that we see him hanging upon the Cross and behold him bleeding for our sins or declaring to us his mind or doing something that the Gospel speaks of so that we may lead a mortified life and be in every thing fashioned after his likeness And this we must do the rather because as I have said he is now more nearly united unto us so that when we are to do any thing we must act like him we must consider how he did or what he would do in such a case and we must so behave our selves that in a very proper sense Christ may be said to live and not we Gal. 2.20 We must do our endeavour that he may eat and drink and buy and sell c. i. e. all these things may be done as we think that Christ would do them were he in the flesh who is one with us We must become so many little Images of him in the world that they who see us may behold him And that is the meaning I suppose of another phrase of the Apostle when he bids us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 i. e. to be so transformed into him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen that both in our outward garb and deportment and also in our inward features we may be a lively resemblance of him Now the same Apostle tells us That as many as are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 and therefore much more they who have eaten of his Body and drunk of his Blood are supposed to have put him on and to have dressed their souls compleatly after his holy Image 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. They must labour to be all over godly and to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his phrase is an universal vertue that they may be holy as he is holy And for our better direction 1. Let us labour to do something worthy of the expence of Christs Bloud and to think what manner of persons they ought to be for whom the Lord of life died and who are washed in no other laver but the Bloud of the Lamb. 2. Something answerable to the dearest love of the great God of Heaven and Earth and to consider after what sort they ought to live to whom God hath given so rich a gift whom he hath honoured not only to be his Sons but to have his dearest Son for their servant 3. Something that may correspond with so many and so great means of salvation And in particular we should think what is expected from those who have now received a greater strength from Heaven Strong food must not be given to those that intend to lead a sedentary life and have not much work to do A plentifull nourishment overthrows their health instead of yielding supports unto their spirits It is the greatest folly to come for this divine nutriment if we intend to sit still or to go but a slow pace in Religion as if we were newly come out of the sickness and disease of sin and could scarce stand in the wayes of God They ought to exercise themselves in all godliness to be active and full of motion who feed so abundantly They ought to be very good Children who are fed with such food for whom God furnished such a Table with so great a cost 4. We must labour to do something that is worthy of a soul and body consigned to immortal blessedness How holy should they be who expect such great things who have received such pledges of them who wait for the Lord from Heaven to change these vile bodies into his likeness O do not unhallow and desecrate that thing which is at present the Temple of the Lord and which is sanctified for the eternal mansions Prophane not that body and soul which shall for ever live with God are already become his habitation through his holy spirit dwelling in them Now consider I beseech you do you think that he leads a life worthy of any of these who delights not to converse with God who prays never or but very seldome exceeding briefly and as if he were frozen who hears Sermons and understands them not or else forgets them as soon as they are heard who grows no wiser nor better than he was many years agone whose time runs away in eating and drinking sleeping and playing working and toyling as if these were the things we exhorted them unto who rarely takes the Bible or a good Book into his hands and when he doth throws it away again at the call of any pleasure or worldly gain who loves no body but himself and is
but nothing methinks is more tempting and inviting than this heavenly Feast where pleasure is mixed with profit and physick with our food Where at once we may be both enriched and delighted both healed and nourished This Table if I may use the language of an holy Man is the very sinewes of our Soul S. Chrysost Hom. 24. in 1 Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the ligament of our mindes the foundation of our confidence our hope our salvation our light our life This mystery makes the earth to be an Heaven and therefore if thou wilt come hither thou mayest open the Gate of Heaven and look down into it or rather not into Heaven but into the Heaven of Heavens For that which is the most precious of all things above I will shew thee lying upon the earth For as in Kings Palaces the chiefest and most precious things are not the fair Walls the gilded Roofs the costly Hangings but the body of the King that sits upon the Throne even so in the Heavens the most glorious thing is the Body of Christ the King of Heaven Now behold and thou shalt see it here upon the earth For I do not shew thee the Angels or the Archangels or the Heavens or the Heaven of Heavens but him that is the Lord and Master of them all and therefore must thou not needs say that thou seest that upon the Earth that is more excellent than them all yea thou not only seest but thou touchest and not only touchest but eatest also yea and carriest him home with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O then wipe thy soul very clean prepare thy mind to the receiving these Divine Mysteries Who would not be Religious that he may be thus happy who would not forsake all things for such a sight for such an embracement If thou mightest but have the priviledge to take up the Son of a King with his Purple and Diadem and other Ornaments into thy Arms wouldst thou not cast all other things to the ground to be so employed Tell me then why wilt thou not prepare thy self and reverently take the only begotten Son of God into thy hands Wilt thou not throw away the love of all earthly things for him Wilt thou not think thy self brave enough in the enjoying of him Dost thou still look to the earth and lovest money and admirest heaps of Gold Then what pity canst thou deserve What pardon canst thou hope for Or what excuse canst thou think of to make for thy self Thus he Homil. 27. in 1. ad Corinth When a man hath heard the sacred Hymns as he saith in another place and hath seen the spirituall Marriage and been feasted at the Royall Table and filled with the holy Ghost and hath been taken into the Quire of Seraphims and made partaker with the Heavenly Powers Who would throw away so great a Grace Who would spend so rich a Treasure Who would bring in drunkenness or the like Guest instead of such Divine Chear Drunkenness I say which is the Mother of Heaviness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joy of none but the Devil and is big with a thousand evils What madness possesses a man that he should not rather chuse to feast with God than with the Devil If thou sayest that thou art merry and rejoycest and wonderfully pleased I answer And so I would have thee to be only let not thy laughter be like the crackling of Thornes under a Pot but a solid joy that will make thy heart to smile for ever God doth not envy to the Sonnes of men any happiness but he would have them to be sure they are happy and not please themselves in a phantasticall shadow of Happiness CHAP. XVIII BUT that I may proceed more distinctly and assault your souls with the stronger Reasons to deliver themselves up to a religious life one single piece of which hath such blessings in it I shall present you with the profit of worthy receiving in these three generall Heads which I shall borrow from a Devout Author We have most Princely Dishes saith St. Bernard served up to us in the Supper of the Lord prepared with the most curious and exquisite Art and they are Deliciosa multum ad saporem Serm. 2 de Caena Dom. very delicious and sweet to the taste solida ad nutrimentum strong and solid for our nourishment efficacia ad medicinam powerfull and working for the curing of our diseases Seeing this Sacrament is a Feast and is called the Table and the Supper of the Lord under these three heads I shall comprehend these benefits that may excite every man to the examination of himself and invite us all to this Heavenly Chear The things that are here set before us are 1. Most sweet pleasant and refreshing 2. They are solid strengthning and nourishing and 3. They are Medicinal and Healing I. First Deliciosa ad saporem To a well-prepared pallate they afford a most sweet and delightsome relish This holy Sacrament breeds a Divine pleasure an Heavenly Joy in a right tempered soul and overflowes it with sweetness more than the body is satisfied with marrow and fatness now this refreshment arises 1. From a great sense which is here given us of the love of Christ which as the song of songs saith is better than Wine Cant. 1.2 It is more chearing and exhilerating more cordial and reviveing to think of his dear love in shedding his Bloud for us than to drink the bloud of the richest Grape and therefore the Church saith ver 4. We will be glad and rejoyce in thee we will remember thy love more than Wine It is beyond a ravishment to remember that men are so beloved by the King of Heaven so embraced by the Lord of all the world and still it is the more transporting for to consider that they feed upon this Lord of Love and that he gives his very self unto them and by such secret and wonderfull wayes unites himself unto their souls And it is most of all affecting and but a little below Heaven to think that this is our Jesus and our Lord to say as the Spouse in the same Book My Beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 When God thus lifts up the light of his countenance upon a soul he puts gladness in its heart more than the joy of Harvest This is a Marriage-Feast and therefore full of pleasure Here the soul embraceth him and he folds it in his arms here they plight their truth mutually each to other here they engage themselves in unseparable unions to hold perpetuall entercourse and live eternally together in the greatest affection As the Bridegroom rejoyceth over his Bride so the Lord rejoyceth over it and he speaks not to it meerly by his servants but he kisses it with the kisses of his own mouth So one of the Greek Commentators prettily glosses upon those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let me not
only be espoused to him saith the Church by his Prophets and Embassadors but let him come himself and converse with me Rebeccah went along with Eliezer before she knew Isaac and was resolved to be his Wife before he spake with her himself but at last she beheld him to whom she travelled and came into his Arms whose love she sought and then was her joy compleated Even so the Messengers of God become Suitors to us in the Name of Christ and wooe our affections to be espoused to him giving us many tokens of his love And when we consent and resolve to be his then by their Ministry we are conducted into his arms and at this Marriage Feast we receive the fullest joyes that flow from his heart unto us 2. It flowes from a sense of the pleasures that are in the exercise of true Religion That is the greatest delight which arises from the fouls own proper acts and which it feels not only within but from it self And the more noble any of its acts are the more satisfying the objects are on which they are placed the higher will the contentment be which they afford As much therefore as acts of piety do surpass all other so much will the delight which accompanies them go beyond all other delights And as these acts of Devotion which are performed by the worthy Receiver at this holy Communion are transcendent to all other Religious Acts so will the feeling of them be transported beyond all other pleasurable motions in the soul It is a rare delight to put forth Acts of Faith and Love Thanksgiving and Rejoycing and here all these Acts are in their top and height and the soul exerts its greatest force and strains it self to do its best Yea here must needs be the greatest sweetness and delight because part of our duty is joy and gladness and we do very ill if then we do not rejoyce And there is none knows but he that feels it how pleasant it is likewise to mourn for sinne and to be wounded with a sense of our ingratitude as well as of his love There is sweetness in those tears which drop from a heart full of love that sorrow is delightfull which springs from the sense of a kindness Here holy souls begin to feel the truth of what our Saviour hath said Matth 5.3 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted It is part of their comfort that they can mourn and shed a tear over a sick soul and a bleeding Saviour What comfort then is there think you in the sense of a pardon if there be such comfort in mourning for the offence If tears be such pleasant food then what are songs and praises 3. From the hope of Heaven and the expectation of the eternal Supper to which this is but a preparatory Entertainment This is some fore-tast to stay our longings and yet to excite our desires after the Heavenly Feast above Here we break our fast as I may say but are made thereby very hungry till that great Supper come Here we have but a praelibation a little short antepast of some rare things to come yet seeing it is an earnest of those things it creates in a holy soul a wonderfull contentment both from its own sweetness and the hopes wherewith it feeds us It nourishes I say in us most delicious longings it makes the soul even swell with comfortable expectations and we receive it not only as a remembrance of what was done but as a pledge of what shall be We taste not only what he is to our souls at present but what he will be for ever And indeed it is a great part of the pleasure of this food that it hath so many tasts and affords us such various relishes In it we taste his love in dying his love now that he is in the Heavens and his love when he shall appear in his glory We taste of the fruit of his death and of the fruit of his Resurrection also yea and of his coming again to raise us from the dead too We feel what he did upon the Cross and that which was bitter to him is sweet to us We feel what he doth for us now in the holy Sacrament and his Spirit makes us taste the pleasures of Devotion in our hearts And we begin likewise to feel what he will do for us when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe And how pleasant must it be to a soul to have all this Cheer how delightfull to think that Christ dwells in us and we in him John 6.65 How sweet to read that we shall have eternal life by union with him v. 55. And how joyfull must they be who carry about with them continually this hope of Heaven 4. From a sense how well pleased our Saviour is with the love of holy souls He not only communicates himself to us in this Sacrament but hath also a kind of Communion with us He delights to behold our gratefull and gladsome remembrance of him to behold our love to him and our love to each other It pleases him to see his people flock together with a greediness to receive him and forwardness to tye themselves more dearly to him And therefore he is pleased to use such words to his Spouse as she doth to him She had said Cant. 1.2 Thy love is better than Wine And he saith the same only with a greater extasie of Affection cap. 4.10 How much better is thy love than Wine And this Book holy men the Fathers of the Church have interpreted of the spiritual Marriage between Christ and his Church which is in this Sacrament both represented and confirmed Now what pleasure hence arises to the soul when it thinks that its Beloved is pleased and that it rejoyces the heart of Christ every one may know that can love another It is the contentment of their love that it is accepted and a great recompense that it is kindly entertained Here is enough though briefly said to invite any Voluptuary to become a spirituall man He must have a great deal of the Swine in him that cannot be tempted by the delights of this Heavenly Food which offers it self to his taste Here a man shall be satisfied with the love of Christ with the pleasures of all Religious acts with the hope of Heaven which is the Celestiall Manna with a sense of the joy in Heaven on our behalf He hath forgotten sure the pleasures of a man whose soul is not greedy to be filled with these things It is part of the punishment of wickedness to lose the rarest delights here as well as to suffer eternal pains hereafter II. Secondly Sâ—lida ad nutrimentum But that you may not imagine there is nothing to be had here but what doth delight for the present instant of receiving you must consider likewise that these holy Mysteries yeild a solid nourishment and thereby