stature of mankind was diminished after the stood in a manner throughout the world and for many ages yet was there by Gods disposition still a race of Giants left even till the time of David for a monument and witnesse of the truth of a far bigger stature in former times which else could not so easily have been beleeved or imagined Such were the Zanzummims in Abrahams time the sons of Anak in Moses and Goliah in the time of David and it may be there are yet some in some part of the world to be found So I say as these seem to have been preserved by God as a memoriall unto men that they were not now as at the first so it may be it was the will of God and is amongst so many kinds of Serpents to preserve this one that it should not as the rest go groveling upon the earth but might be as a monument of the truth of the malediction of the rest to all posterity Thus much of the possibility which would be far greater if we should with S. Basil Ephrem Bar Cephas and many others affirm that the Serpent had feet namely some short ones beneath the navell for feet are not essentiall to the nature of a thing as appears by the lame who can live without them and by others sometimes by the defect of nature born without them And those who can beleeve the wonderfull change of man by his fall of an immortall creature to become mortall of one to have been born with all glorious endowments both of body and soul now to be brought into the world the most unfurnished of the creatures Those who beleeve the great alteration of the earth it self when it was accursed for mans sin the diminution of the time of mans life and of his stature even since the flood Can any who believe these things think it so incredible for the Serpent once to have had some small feet and afterward to have had none being a creature wherein God intended to leave a monument for ever But of this I will determine nothing neither doth my assertion simply depend upon it but may well enough consist without it But because possibility is not sufficient of it self alone to infer a probability I have therefore one thing to adde more thereto namely the reason and cause even in nature supposing still Gods abasing of the Serpents first creation of this alteration of the posture of the Serpents gate from that it was at the beginning First we know the more excellent and sublime the nature of a creature is the more it raiseth it self upward the more ignoble and baser the more it fals downward This we see in the elements themselves the fire the most excellent and operative of the four raiseth it self above the rest The earth the basest and most unactive of all is also of all the most dejected Secondly as there is this difference in the elements so there is in the mixed bodies some consisting of a more sublime and excellent temper others of a more base and ignoble mixture and that as in other so amongst such creatures as live and move upon the earth Thirdly this their noblenesse within discovereth it self in the body without by advancing them naturally in their gate and gesture whence man being of all creatures living upon the earth of the most excellent temper and sublimed condition of nature is therefore of all other the most advanced in body Pronáque cum spectant animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit c. Yea experience will tell us that even amongst men themselves those who are of a more exalted nature either by heroick temper or predominancy of heat are also more advanced in the posture of their bodies Among beasts themselves the basest is the most creeping the noble Lion advanceth his head and brest so far as the frame of his body is thereof capable and so the rest and of all creatures we may observe besides that such creatures have the most sagacity who come most near to walk upright as a man doth If therefore the Serpent were of so sublime a nature at the first as thereby it was more subtle then any beast of the field which God had made how could so excellent a temper the ground of so much sagacity but advance the body thereof as far as the frame and shape thereof could admit On the contrary if afterward the Serpent became the most abased and accursed of all the beasts of the field how should not this alteration of his former temper and disposition of nature make the gesture of his body also sutable by stooping and groveling upon the earth Who knows not that the naturall position of man is erected agreeable to his excellency above other creatures having life and motion and yet notwithstanding so much hath the dejection of his primitive nature for sin weakned in him this propension that were it not for education it is supposed yea and by experience confirmed that he would walk upon all four like a beast And shall we wonder that the malediction of the Serpent exceeding that of mans should produce as much as this So then to conclude this first particular of the Serpents curse I understand it from the ground aforesaid as insinuating the cause by the outward and sensible effect according to the manner of the Scripture namely the abasement and fall of the Serpents whole nature from his primitive perfection discovered by the fall of his once advanced body thenceforth to go groveling upon the earth Even as the despoiling of the nature of man of the inward indowments of perfection is by the same sacred trope insinuated by his outward nakednesse that is the obsruration of that glorious and celestiall beauty which he had before his sin The difference whereof was so great that he could not endure afterward to behold himself any more but sought for a covering even to hide himself from himself And now I come to the second particular Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life The coursest diet that any living creature hath allowed him None of the beasts of the field with whom he is compared are thus poorly provided for nay not any other unlesse the base earthworm not worthy to be named among the creatures Even with this vilest of creatures is now ranked that once so noble a creature the Serpent Which yet is not so to be understood as though the Serpent did not sometime eat something else for they sometime devour birds frogs and such like but that this is the ordinary fare which God hath provided him and if at any time he getteth any other he goeth beyond his limits Whence Esay 65. among the blessings of the new Jerusalem this is reckoned for one That the Serpent should eat dust that is be made contented with the diet God had appointed him and not to encroach upon the food appointed for others But why did God appoint him this food I answer
water of Baptism in the New Testament but to the rite and manner of sacrificing in the Old where the Altar was wont to be sprinkled with the blood of the Sacrifices which were offered and that which was unclean purified with the same blood whence is that elegant discourse of Saint Paul Heb. 9. comparing the sacrifices of the Law with that of Christ upon the Crosse as much the better And that whereas in the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almost all things were purified with blood so much more the blood of Christ who offered himself without spot to God cleanseth our consciences from dead works But that this washing that is cleansing by the blood of Christ should have reference to Baptism where is that to be found I suppose they will not alledge the water and blood which came out of our Saviours side when they pierced him For that is taken to signifie the two Sacraments ordained by Christ that of blood the Eucharist of water Baptism not both to be referred to Baptism I add because perhaps some mens fancies are corrupted therwith that there was no such thing as sprinkling or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Baptism in the Apostles times nor many ages after them and that therefore it is no way probable that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Peter should have any reference to the Laver of Baptism Let this then be our conclusion That the blood of Christ concurres in the mystery of Baptism by way of efficacy and merit but not as the thing there figured which the Scripture tels us not to be the blood of Christ but the Spirit And so I come to my other Quaere From what property or use of water the washing therewith is a Sacrament of our new birth for so it is here called the washing of regeneration and our Saviour sayes to Nicodemus Except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God For in every Sacrament there is some analogy between what is outwardly done and what is thereby signified therefore in this But what should it be It is a thing of some moment and yet in the tractates of this mystery but little or seldom enquired after and therefore deserves the more consideration I answer this analogy between the washing with water and regeneration lies in that custome of washing infants from the pollutions of the womb when they are first born for this is the first office done unto them when they come out of the womb if they purpose to nourish and bring them up As therefore in our naturall birth the body is washt with water from the pollutions wherewith it comes besmeared out of the matrix so in our second birth from above the soul is purified by the Spirit from the guilt and pollution of sin to begin a new life to God-ward The analogy you see is apt and proper if that be true of the custome whereof there is no cause to make question For the use at present any man I think knows how to inform himself For that of elder times I can produce two pregnant and notable testimonies one of the Jews and people of God another of the Gentiles The first you shall finde Ezek. 16. where God describes the poor and forlorn condition of Jerusalem when he first took her to himself under the parable of an exposed Infant As for thy nativity saith he in the day thou wast born thy navell was not cut neither was thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all None eye pitied thee to do any of these things unto thee to have compassion on thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born Here you may learn what was wont to be done unto infants at their nativity by that which was not done to Israel till God himself took pity on her cutting off the navell string washing salting swadling upon this place S. Hierome takes notice but scarce any body else that I can yet finde that our Saviour where speaking of Baptism he says Except a man be born of water the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God alludes to the custom here mentioned of washing Infants at their nativity The other testimony and that most pertinent to the application we make I finde in a story related by Plutarch in his Quaestiones Romanae not far from the beginning in this manner Among the Greeks if one that were living were reported to be dead and funerall obsequies performed for him if afterward he returned alive he was of all men abominated as a pro phane and unlucky person no man would come into his company and which was the highest degree of calamity they excluded him from their Temples and the Sacrifices of their gods It chanced that one Aristinus being faln into such a disaster not knowing which way to expiate himself therefrom sent to the Oracle at Delphos to Apollo beseeching him to shew him the means whereby he might be freed and discharged thereof Pythia gave him this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arastinus rightly apprehending what the Oracle meant offered himself to women as one newly brought forth to be washed again with water from which example it grew a custome among the Greeks when the like misfortune befell any man after this manner to expiate them they called them Hysteropâ—tmi or Postliminiâ—nati How well doth this befit the mystery of Baptism where those who were dead to God through sin are like Hysteropotmi regenerate and born again by water and the Holy Ghost These two passages discover sufficiently the analogy of the washing with water in Baptism to regeneration or new birth according as the Text I have chosen for the scope of my discourse expresseth it namely that washing with water is a signe of spirituall infancy for as much as infants are wont to be washed when they come first into the world Hence the Jews before Iohn the Baptist came amongst them were wont by this rite to initiate such as they made Proselytes to wit as becomming infants again and entring into a new life and being which before they had not That which here I have affirmed will be yet more evident if we consider those other rites anciently added and used in the celebration of this mystery which had the self-same end we speak of namely to signifie spirituall Infancy I will name them and so conclude As that of giving the new baptized milk and honey ad infantandum as Tertullian speaks ad infantie significationem so S. Hierome because the like was used to infants new born according to that in the seventh of Isay of Immanuels infancy A Virgin shall conceive and bear a son butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse evill and chuse good Secondly that of salt as is implied in that
darknesse in this world against spirituall wickednesse in high places Thus then having seen the marshalling of these two Armies which are at so deadly an enmity let us at last see the successe of their skirmishes and of the stratagems which they practise one against the other these are described on the Devils part very terrible that his head should be mauled But on Christs side the losse should be very small the Devil prevailing but to the wounding or bruising of his heel But what is this Head of the Serpent and what the Heel of the womans seed Those who understand the seed of the woman singularly of the person of Christ only make his head to be the Godhead against which the Serpent could prevail nothing but his heel to be the manhood which the Serpent so bruised at his Passion that the grave became his bed for three days together This indeed is true and no marvell for the head is as it were the whole bodies epitome But we who have expounded the seed of the woman collectively of Christ and his Members must also in this mysticall body find a mysticall head and a mysticall heel and so in like manner for the Serpent and his seed The Head therefore or if you had rather Headship is nothing else but Soveraignty The Serpents head is the Devils Soveraignty which is called â—rincipatus mortis the Soveraignty of death namely both objectivè and effectivè that is such a Soveraignty as under which are only such as are liable to death both temporall and eternall and such a Soveraignty whose power consists not in saving and giving of life but in destroying and bringeth unto death both of body and soul. Under the name also of death understand as the Scripture doth all other miseries of mankind which are the companions of this double death I speak of This is that damnable head of the Serpent the Devillish Soveraignty of Satan Now the Sword whereby this Soveraignty was obtained the Scepter whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the sting of this Serpents head is Sin This is that which got him this Kingdome at the first and this is still the right whereby he holds the greatest part thereof Imporium iisdem artibus conservatur quibus acquiritur This Soveraignty of the Devil which once overwhelmed nigh all the world the womans seed should break in pieces and destroy which according to this Prophecy we see already performed in a great measure and the grounds laid long ago for the destruction of all that remaineth As saith S. Iohn Ep. 1. c. 3. v. 8. The Son of God is revealed for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the Devil And Christ himself said that the time was come that the Prince of this world should be cast out and bade his Disciples be of good chear for he had overcome the world If you would see what a wonderfull victory he hath long ago gotten of the Serpent when after a terrible battell he overcame and destroid the Soveraignty of the Serpent in the Romane Empire see it described in the 12. of the Revelation where a Michael that is Christ and his Angels fought against the great Dragon and his Angels till the Dragon with all his Army was discomfited and their place found no more in heaven that is he utterly lost his Soveraignty in that state whence there was a voice in heaven Now is come salvation strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ. And what he will at the length do with the remainder yet of the Devils Soveraignty you may finde in the 19. and 20 of the Revelation For he must reign as S. Paul saith untill he hath put all his enemies under his feet untill he hath destroyed all power rule and authority adverse unto him And then last of all destroying death by giving immortality to our raised bodies shall surrender up his Kingdome unto his Father as it is 1 Cor. 15. But Satan saith my Text shall prevail something against him for the Serpent shall bruise his heel What is this heel Those who understood the seed of the woman singularly as I told you made it Christs Manhood But how we expound the seed Christs mysticall body what shall we make the heel thereof I could say that by it were only meant a light wound or the Devils assaulting the Body of Christ ex insidiis at unawares for that is his fashion since the great overthrow which our Michael gave him to work his feats underhand and to undermine our Lord in his members But this though true is not full enough It may seem therefore the fittest to make hypocriticall Christians who professe Christ outwardly but inwardly are not his to make those the heel of his mysticall body for against such the Devil we know prevaileth somewhat and by them annoyeth the rest of the Body with his venome though he be far enough yet from impeaching our Lords Headship and Soveraignty But will you give me leave to utter another conceit If the blessed souls in heaven be the upper part of Christs mysticall Body the Saints on earth the lower part of the same may not the bodies of the Saints deceased which lye in the earth be accounted for the heel for I cannot beleeve but they have relation to this mysticall Body though their souls be severed from them and yet must that relation be as of the lowest and most postick members of all If you will admit this then it will appear presently what was this hurt upon the heel when Christ had once mauled the Devils head for the Text seems to intimate that the Devil should give this wound after his head was broken I will hold you in suspence no longer read the 13. of the Revelation and see what follows upon Michaels Victory over the Dragon what the Devil did when he was down He forms a new instrument of the wounded Roman Empire by whose means under a pretence of the honour given to the precious reliques of the Saints and Martyrs he conveyed the poison of Saint-worship and Saint-invocation into the Kingdome of Christ with which wound of the heel the Devil comming on the blinde side the true Church had been long annoyed and limpeth still THE Christian Sacrifice OR The Solemne VVorship in the EVCHARIST Foretold by the Prophet Malachi Taught by our blessed SAVIOUR AND Practised by the Primitive CHVRCH BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. and late Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill MDC XLVIII THE Christian Sacrifice MALACHI 1. 11. Abortu solis usque ad occasum magnum erit nomen meum in Gentibus in omni loco offeretur Incensum Nomini meo Munus purum quia magnum erit nomen meum in gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum THIS place of Scripture howsoever now in a manner silenced and forgotten was once and
not so much the child as the Parents liable to the wrath of God as here the Angel sought not to kill the child who was uncircumcised but Moses the Father who should have circumcised it Both which observations I mean to amplifie no farther but to leave to your exacter meditations and so I conclude EZEKIEL 20. 20. Hallow my Sabbaths and they shall be a signe between me and you to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your God THis Commandement with the end thereof the Lord bids Ezekiel tell the Elders of Israel that he gave to their Fathers in the Wildernesse And it is recorded in the Law so that I might have taken it thence but I rather chose to make these words in Ezekiel my Text as expressed more plainly and so a Comment to those in the Law the place is Exod. 31. where this which my Text containeth is expressed thus Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a signe between me and you throughout your generations to acknowledge that I Iehovah am your sanctifier that is your God as the expression in Ezekiel tels us For to be the Sanctifier of a People and to be their God is all one whence also the Lord is so often called in Scripture the Holy One of Israel that is their Sanctifier and their God That which I intend at this time to observe from these words is the end why God commanded this observation of the Sabbath to the Israelites to wit that thereby as by a Symbolum they might testifie and professe what God they worshipped Secondly out of this ground to shew how far and in what manner the like observation binds us Christians who are worshippers of the same God whom the Jews worshipped though not under the same relation altogether wherein they worshipped him All Nations had something in their ceremonies whereby they signified the God they worshipped so in those of the celestiall Gods as they termed them and those which were Deified souls of men were differing rites whereby the one was known from the other Those gods which were made of men having funerall rites in their services as cognisances that they were souls deceased and each of them some imitation of some remarkable passage of the Legend of their lives either of some action done by them or some accident which befell them as in the ceremonies of Osyris and Bacchus is obvious to any that reads them And indeed it is a naturall Decorum for servants and vassals by some mark or cognisance to testifie who is their Lord and Master In the Revelation the worshippers of the Beast receive his mark and the worshippers of the Lamb carry his mark and his Fathers in their Fore-heads Hence came the first use of the crosse in Baptisme as the mark of Christ the Deity to whom we are initiated and the same afterwards used in all Benedictions Prayers and Thanksgivings in token they were done in the name and merits of Christ crucified so that in the Primitive Church this rite was no more but that wherewith we conclude all our Prayers and Thanksgivings when we say Through Iesus Christ our Lord and Saviour though afterward it came to be abused as almost all other rites of Christianity to abominable superstition To return therefore unto my Text Agreeably to this principle and this custome of all Religions of all Nations of all vassals the Lord Iehovah Creator of heaven and earth ordained to his people this observation of the Sabbath day for a sign and cognisance that he should be their God and no other It is for a sign saith he between me and you that I Iehovah am your God In the place I quoted before in the 31. of Exod. are these words The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetuall Covenant it is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever for in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested As if he had said it is a sign that the Creatour of heaven and earth is your God But for the distinct understanding of this signification we must know that the Sabbath includes two respects of time First the quotum one day of seven or the seventh day after six days labour Secondly the designation or pitching that seventh day upon the day we call Saturday In both the Sabbaticall observation was a sign and profession that Iehovah and no other was the God of Israel the first according to his attribute of Creator the second of Deliverer of Israel out of Egypt For by sanctifying the seventh day after they had laboured six they professed themselves vassals and worshippers of that only God who created the heaven and the earth and having spent six days in that great work rested the seventh day and therefore commanded them to observe this sutable distribution of their time as a badge and livery that their religious service was appropriate to him alone And this is that which the fourth Commandement in the reason given from the Creation intendeth and no more but this But seeing they might professe this acknowledgement as well by any other six days working and a sevenths resting as by those they pitched upon there being still what six days soever they had laboured and what seventh soever they had rested the same conformity with their Creator let us see the reason why they pitched upon those six days wherein they laboured for labouring days rather then any other six and why they chose that seventh day namely Saturday to hallow and rest in rather then any other And this was that they might professe themselves servants of Iehovah their God in a relation and respect peculiar and proper to themselves to wit that they were the servants of that God which redeemed Israel out of the Land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage and upon the morning watch of that very day which they kept for their Sabbath he overwhelmed Pharaoh and all his Host in the Red Sea and saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians This I gather from the repetition of the Decalogue Deut. 5. where that reason from the worlds Creation in the Decalogue given at Horeb being left out Moses inserts this other of the Redemption of Israel out of Egypt in stead thereof namely as the reason why those six days rather then any other six for work and that seventh day rather then any other seventh for rest were pitched upon as Israel observed them Remember saith he thou wert a servant in the Land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and a stretched out arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day Not for the quotum of one day of seven for of that another reason was given the example of God in the Creation but for the designation of the day But whether this day were in order
not out of respect of profit or fear or praise of men For such as do so are hypocrites Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord but he that doth the will of my Father Now it is the will of our heavenly Father that we serve him in truth and uprightnesse of heart I know saith David 1 Chr. 29. 17. that thou my God triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightnesse And so he said to Abraham Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou upright or be thou sincere This manner of serving God Ioshuah commended to the Israelites Iosh. 24. 14. Fear the Lord saith he and serve him in sincerity and truth and the Prophet Samuel 1 Sam. 12. 24. Onely fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart This sincerity uprightnesse and truth in Gods service is when we do religious and pious duties and abstain from the contrary out of conscience to Godward out of an heart possessed with the love and fear of God It is otherwise called in Scripture perfectnesse or perfectnesse of heart For it is a lame and unperfect service where the better half is wanting as the heart is in every work of duty both to God and men And therefore it is called perfectnesse when both go together when conscience as the soul enlives the outward work as a body And indeed this is all the perfection we can attain unto in this life to serve God in truth of heart though otherwise we come short of what we should and therefore God esteems our actions and works not according to the greatnesse or exactnesse of the performance but according to the sincerity and truth of our hearts in doing them As appears by the places I have already quoted and by that 1 King 15. 14. where it is said that though Asa failed in his reformation and the high places were not taken down neverthelesse his heart was perfect with the Lord his God all his days A note to know such a sincerity and truth of heart by is If in our privacy when there is no witnesse but God and our selves we are carefull then to abstain from sin as well as in the sight of men If when no body but God shall see and know it we are willing to do a good work as well as if all the world should know it He that findeth himself thus affected his heart is true at least in some measure but so much the lesse by how much he findeth himself the lesse affected in this manner When we are in the presence and view of men we may soon be deceived in our selves and think we do that out of conscience and fear of God which indeed is but for the fear or praise of men either lest we should be damnified or impair our credit or the like but when there is none but God and us then to be afraid of sin and carefull of good duties is a sign we fear God in truth and sincerity and not in hypocrisy The speciall and principall means to attain this sincerity and truth of heart is to possesse our selves with the apprehension of Gods presence and to walk before him as in his eye wheresoever thou art there is an eye that seeth thee an eare that hears thee and a hand that registreth thy most secret thoughts For the ways of man saith Solomon Prov. 5. 21. are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his doings How much ashamed would we be that men should know how much our hearts and our words and actions disagreed How would we blush that men should see us commit this or that sin or neglect this or that duty what horrible Atheisme then doth this argue that the presence of man yea sometimes of a little child should hinder us from that wickednesse which Gods presence cannot This having of God before our eyes and the continuall meditation of his all-seeing presence would together with devout prayer for the assistance of Gods grace be in time the bane of hypocrisie and falshood of heart and beget in stead thereof that truth and sincerity which God loveth Another property of such obedience as God requires is universality we must not serve God by halfs by doing some duties and omitting other but we must with David Psal. 119. 6 20. have respect to all Gods Commandements to those of the second Table as well as to those of the first and to those of the first as well as those of the second The want of which universality of obedience to both Tables is so frequent as the greatest part of Christians are plunged therein to the undoubted ruine of their souls and shipwrack of everlasting life if they so continue For there are two sorts of men which think themselves in a good estate and are not The one are those who make conscience of the duties of the first Table but have little or no care of the duties of the second And this is a most dangerous evill by reason it is more hard to be discovered those which are guilty thereof being such as seem religious but their Religion is in vain Such were those in the Church of Israel against whom the Prophet Esay declaimeth Chap. 1. from the 10. ver to the 17. To what purpose are your sacrifices and burnt offerings saith the Lord your oblations and incense are an abomination Your new Moons Sabbaths calling of Assemblies even the solemne meeting I cannot away with it is iniquity Would you know what was the matter see the words following Learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow Lo here a want of the duties of the second Table Such is that also of Hosea Chap. 6. I desired mercy and not sacrifice which is twice alledged by our Saviour in the Gospel against the Pharisees hypocriticall scrupulosity in the same duties of the first Table with a neglect of the second But here perhaps some may finde a scruple because that if sacrifice in this or the like places be opposed to the duties of obedience required in the second Table it should hereby seem that the duties of the second Table which concern our neighbour should be preferred before the duties of the first which concern the Lord himself forasmuch as it is said I desire mercy and not sacrifice that is rather mercy which is a duty of the second Table then sacrifice which is of the first I answer The holy Ghosts meaning is not to preferre the second Table before the first taking them simply but to perform the duties of both together before the service of the first alone Be more ready to joyn mercy or works of mercy with your sacrificing then to offer sacrifice alone To go on The duties of the first Table are by a speciall name called duties of Religion those of the second Table come under the name of Honesty and probity Now as a man can never
our Prayers often are not heard because we appear before the Lord empty we do not as Cornelius did send up prayers and alms together we should have two strings to our bow when we have but one This is another indisposition which unfits us to receive what we ask of God For how can we look that God should hear us in our need when we turn away our face from our brother in his need When we refuse to give to God or for his sake what he requires why should he grant to us what we request Hear what an ancient Father of the Church S. Basil by name in concione ad Deum Novi quosdam saith he qui jejunarunt qui orarunt qui ingemuerunt verùm ne unum quidem obolum in egenos expenderunt Quae utilitas hîc est reliquae virtutis I have known saith he many who would fast who would pray who would sigh but not bestow one half-peny upon the poor But what then will their other devotion profit them Adde to all these reasons of displeasure a reason of favour why God sometimes grants not our requests namely because we ask that which he knows would be hurtfull for us though we think not so We ask sometimes that which if he granted us would utterly undoe us As therefore a wise and loving Father will not give his child a knife or some other hurtfull thing though it cries never so much unto him for it so does God deale with his children And how wise soever we think our selves we are often as ignorant in that which concerns our good as very babes are and therefore we must submit our selves to be ordered by the wisdome of our heavenly Father Moreover we must know and beleeve that God often hears our prayers when we think he doth not and that three manner of ways As namely first when he changes the means but brings the end we desire another way to passe we ask to have a thing by our means but he likes not our way but gives it us by another means which he thinks better S. Paul that he might the better glorifie God in serving him desires the prick of the flesh might be taken from him God denies him that means but grants him grace sufficient for him that so being humbled by the sight of his own infirmity he might glorifie God for his power in mans weaknesse And is it not all one whether a Physitian quench the thirst of his Patient by giving him Barberies or some other comfortable drink as by giving him Beer which he cals for Secondly God often grants our request but not at that time we would have it but defers it till some other time which he thinks best Daniel prays for the return of the Captivity in the first year of Darius but God defers it till the first of Cyrus we must not therefore take Gods delays for denials The souls of the Saints under the Altar Rev. 6. cry out aloud for vengeance God hears that cry and cannot deny the importunate cry of innocent blood yet he defers it for a little season saith the Text and why because their fellow-servants and Brethren that should be slain as they were might be fulfilled Lastly God sometimes grants not the things we ask but gives us in stead thereof something which is as good or better And then we are not to think but that he hears us And thus much concerning the power and efficacy of prayer Now I come also to shew the like of Alms how powerfull a means they are to procure a blessing from God Not thy prayer onely saith the Angel but thine Almes also are come up for a remembrance in the sight of God For Alms is a kinde of prayer namely a visible one and such an one as prevails as strongly with God for a blessing as any other Hear David in the 41. Psalm Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 2 The Lord preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon earth and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse A place so evident as flashes in a mans eye But hear Solomon speak too Prov. 19. 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given he will pay him again And Pro. 28. 27. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse Also Prov. 11. 25. The liberall soule shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself Likewise Eccles. 11. 1. Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt finde it after many days These are for corporall blessings and of this life but hear also for spirituall blessings and those of the life to come David Psal. 112. quoted by S. Paul 2 Cor. 9. He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousnesse remaineth for ever c. That is he shall be remembred not onely in this life but in the life to come Luke 16. Make to your selves saith our Saviour friends of the unrighteous Mammon that is of these deceitfull and uncertain riches that when you fail they that is the friends you have made may receive you into everlasting Tabernacles that is that God looking upon the Almesdeeds you have done and hearing the prayers and blessings of the poor may reward you with eternall life So S. Paul 1 Tim. 6. 17 c. Charge them that be rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God That they doe good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life Non memini saith S. Hierome me legere mala morte mortuum qui libenter opera charitatis exercuit habet enim multos intercessores impossibile est multorum preces non exaudiri What should I say more Shall we not receive our sentence at the last day according to our works of mercy Come ye blessed of my Father and inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For when I was hungry ye gave me meat when I was thirsty ye gave me drink c. ye know the rest O the wonderfull efficacy of Alms in prevailing with God! What favour doe they finde in his sight how are they remembred but not for any merit in them which is none but of his meer mercy and mercifull promise who accepts them in Christ our Saviour Whence is that prayer of Nehemiah c. 12. concerning this case of good works Remember me ô my God concerning this and spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy Thus much of the efficacy and prevalency which prayer and Alms have with Almighty God
the exercise of devotion as the poor and mean rather then the rich and full Wherefore Agur desired of God not to give him more then food convenient for him lest being full he should deny him and say Who is the Lord Such likewise is the state of adversity and affliction whence it is that God useth this discipline of his corrections and judgements to make us crouch and bow down unto him when he seeth us ready to forget him Whence David Psal. 94. 12. pronounceth the man blessed whom the Lord chastiseth and Psal. 119. ver 67 71. Before I was afflicted saith he I went astray but now I have kept thy word It is good for me that I have been afflicted For diseases say the Physitians must be cured by contraries It was pride that caused the disloialty and rebellion both of men and Angels against their God and Maker Whence it is that Syracides saith Ecclus. 10. 12. The beginning of pride is when one departeth from God and his heart is turned away from his Maker 13. For pride is the beginning of sin and he that hath it shall pour out abomination If pride be the beginning of our rebellion against God then must lowlinesse be the proper disposition of those who fear and worship him And so Tanto quisque est vilior Deo quanto est pretiosior sibi Now then to return to our Argument of Fasting we may observe beside the ceremony specified in my Text that all other Rites or Ceremonies used by the Ancients in this solemne devotion or yet continued by us imply nothing else but lowlinesse and humility partly to work and beget it partly to expresse and signifie it They are reducible to three heads 1. of habit 2. of gesture 3. of diet For habit it was anciently sackcloth and ashes by the coursenesse of the sackcloth they ranked themselves as it were amongst the meanest and lowest condition of men by ashes and sometimes earth upon their heads they made themselves lower then the lowest of the creatures of God For the lowest of the elements is the earth then which we use to say a man cannot fall lower Qui jacet in terra non habet unde cadat For gesture they sate or lay upon the ground which in the Primitive Church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humicubatio a naturall ceremony both to expresse and ingenerate or encrease this disposition of lowlinesse and abjection of our selves and as frequently practised by our devout Fore-fathers as it is seldome or never used amongst us It were a thing most comely and undoubtedly most profitable if either these ceremonies or some other answerable to them were revived amongst us at such times as these If we were all of us this day attired if not in sackcloth which perhaps sutes not so well with the custome of our Nation yet in the dolefullest habit of mourners if we lay all groveling upon the ground would not such a rufull spectacle would not the very sight of so uncouth an assembly much afflict and move us The mournfull hue of Funerall solemnities we know by experience will often make them to weep who otherwise have no particular cause of sorrow how much more when they have But the principall ceremony and which we still retain is abstinence from meat and drink whence this kinde of supplication hath the name of Fasting the end thereof being as to bring down our bodies thereby the better to humble our souls so to expresse and testifie the same Mores animi sequuntur temper amentum corporis If the body be full and lusty the minde will be lofty and refractory and most unfit and uncomposed to approach the Divine Majesty with reverence and fear How uncomposed is that heart to sue to God for mercy and aversion of his judgements which is fraught with rebellious unclean and lustfull thoughts like so many dogges barking within it But these are all ingendred and cherished by full feeding and cannot be easily quelled unlesse they be starved When I fed Israel to the full saith the Lord Ier. 5. 7 8. then they committed adultery and assembled by troups in harlots houses c. Ieshurun saith Moses in his Propheticall song Deut. 32. 15. waxed fat and kicked and forsook the Lord that made him and lightly esteemed of the Rock of his salvation Wherefore S. Paul was fain to pinch his body and bring it down with Fasting I keep under my body saith he 1 Cor. 9. ult and bring it into subjection lâ—st that by any means when I have preached unto others I my self should be a cast-away Hilarion a religious young man when after much abstinence and course diet he felt his flesh still unruly and rebellious Ego inquit Aselle faciam ut non Calcitres nec te hordeo aâ—am sed paleis Fame siti te conficiam such is the danger of a pampered body and such the necessity of keeping it under But as Fasting is a Physicall means if it be used to purpose to take down the loftinesse of our minds and affections by subtracting the fuell and foment of our lusts which is full feeding so is it a ceremony chosen for that naturall effect it hath to signifie and testifie that by reflection upon our vilenesse and unworthinesse we strike the sail of our high flying affections and humble our selves before the Majesty of Almighty God upon such occasions as these For as we use feasting not only to beget but also to expresse and testifie our erection and chearfulnesse of heart in times of joyfulnesse whence in the Old Testament to rejoyce before the Lord is put for to feast before him So is fasting when we would intend our devotions used not only as a means to further but also as a ceremony whereby we testifie our sorrowfull dejection and humiliation of minde before God Well then you see what is the chief end we are to aim at in this our solemne abstinence namely to take down our proud hearts and bring them to a state of lowlinesse and humility a disposition so acceptable and prevailing with God to check our high-mounting passions and allay the smoaking flames of our unruly lusts which as it is at all times requisite in some measure whensoever we approach the Majesty of God to sue for mercy and forgivenesse so then especially and in a more then usuall manner when God shakes the rod of his judgements over our heads and biddeth us down and prostrate both soul and body before him lest his wrath break us in pieces if we will not bow He that hath attained this hath fasted well he that hath not may hereby know he hath not done enough or not as he should do If the boiling of our lusts be cooled and calmed if the swelling conceits of worth in our selves be taken down with a true and feeling apprehension of our vilenesse and wretchednesse through sin which maketh us the most unworthy creatures in the world if those ramping weeds of contempt and
according to that Domini est terra plenitudo ejus And Let no man appear before the Lord emptie Therefore as this sacrifice consisted of two parts as I told you of Praise and Prayer which in respect of the other I call sacrificium quod and of the commemoration of Christ crucified which I call sacrificium quo so the symbols of Bread and Wine traversed both being first presented as symbols of Praise and Thanksgiving to agnize God the Lord of the creature in the sacrificum quod Then by invocation of the Holy Ghost made the symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrificium quo So that the whole service throughout consisted of a reasonable part and of a materiall part as of a Soul and a Body of which I shall speak more fully hereafter when I come to prove this I have said by the testimonies of the Ancients SECTION 2. ANd this is that Sacrifice which Malachi foretold the Gentiles should one day offer unto God In omni loco offeretur incensum Nomini meo Mincha purum quoniam magnum erit Nomen meum in Gentibus dicit Dominus exercituum Which words I am now according to the order I propounded to explicate and apply to my Definition Know therefore that the Prophet in the foregoing Words upbraids the Jews with despising and disesteeming their God forasmuch as they offered unto him for sacrifice not the best but the lame the torn and the sick as though he had not been the great King Creator and Lord of the whole World but some petty god and of an inferior rank for whom any thing were good enough If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be Dominus where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts unto you O Priests that despise my name and ye say wherein have we despised it Ye offer polluted bread upon mine Altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The Table of the Lord is contemptible or not so much to be regarded that is you think so as appears by the basenesse of your offering For the Present shewes what esteem the giver hath of him he honoureth therewith But you offer that to me which ye would not think fit to offer to your Prorex or Governour under the King of Persia which shewes you have but a mean esteem of me in your hearts and that you beleeve not I am He that I am because you see me acknowledged of no other Nation but yours and that ye have been subdued by the Gentiles and brought into this miserable and despicable condition wherein you now are you imagine me to be some Topicall god and as of small jurisdiction so of little power But know that howsoever I now seem to be but the Lord of a poor Nation yet the days are coming When from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered to my name and a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Heathen saith the Lord of Hosts it follows though you have prophaned it in that ye say the Table of the Lord is contemptible whereas I am a great King and my Name shall be dreadfull among the Heathen This is the dependence and coherence of the words Now to apply them Incense as the Scripture it self tels notes the Prayers of the Saints It was also that wherewith the remembrance was made in the sacrifices or God put in minde Mincha which we turn Munus is oblatio farrea an offering made of meal or flower baked or fryed or dryed or parched corn We in our English when we make distinction call it a meat-offering but might call it a bread-offering of which the Libamen or the drink-offering being an indivisible concomitant both are implyed under the name Mincha where it alone is named The Application then is easie Incense here notes the rationall part of our Christian sacrifice which is Prayer Thanksgiving and Commemoration Mincha the materiall part thereof which is oblatio farrea or a present of Bread and Wine BUT this Mincha is characterised in the Text with an attribute not to be overpast Mincha purum in omni loco offeretur incensum nomini meo Mincha purum The meat-offering which the Gentiles should one day present the God of Israel with should be munus purum or as the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us learn if we can what this Purity is and wherein it consisteth or in what respect the Gentiles oblation is so styled Some of the Fathers take this Pure offering to be an offering that is purely or spiritually offered The old sacrifices both of the Jew and Gentile were offered modo corporali by slaughter fire and incense but this of Christians should be offered onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iustin Martyr expresses it whence it is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable and unbloody sacrifice namely of the manner of offering it Not that there was no materiall thing used therein as some mistake for we know there was Bread and Wine but because it is offered unto God immaterially or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely which the Fathers in the first Councell of Nice call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sacrificed without sacrificing rites This sense of Pure sacrifice is followed by Tertullian as may appear by his words ad Scapulam where speaking of the Christian Liturgie Sacrificamus saith he pro Imperatore sed quomodo praecepit Deus pura prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris aut sanguinis alicujus Also in his third Book against Marcion cap. 22. In omni loco offertur incensum Nomini meo sacrificium mundum that is saith he gloriae relatio benedictio hymni which he presently cals munditias sacrificiorum The same way go some others But this sense though it fitly serves to difference our Christian sacrifice from the old sacrifices of the Jews and Gentiles and the thing it self be most true yet I cannot see how it can agree with the context of our Prophet where the word Incense though I confesse mystically understood is expressed together with Munus purum For it would make the literall sense of our Prophet to be this In every place Incense is offered to my Name and an offering without Incense And yet this would be the literall meaning if Pure here signified without Incense Let us hear therefore a second Interpretation of this Puritie of the Christian Mincha more agreeable to the dependence of the words and that is a conscientia offerentis from the disposition and affection of the offerer according to that of the Apostle Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde and conscience is defiled They professe they know God but in their works
solas perfectas esse Deo charas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipse quoque affirmaverim Has verò solas facere Christiani traditione acceperunt If you ask where and how he tels you Nempe in commemoratione Alimoniae suae aridae juxtà liquide in qua passionis quam per seipsum pertulit Dei filius memoria celebratur It is a description of the Eucharist wherein as I have already told you the Bread and Wine were first presented unto God as the Primitiae to agnize him the Giver of our food both dry and liquid and then consecrated to be the Symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ. My next Author shall be Tertullian ad Scap. in the place before alledged Sacrificamus saith he pro salute Imperatoris sed quomodo praecepit Deus purâ prece Non enim eget Deus Conditor Vniversitatis odoris sanguinis alicujus Haec enim Daemoniorum pabula sunt The Gentiles so thought that their Gods were refreshed and nourisht with the smell and savour of their Sacrifices Besides in his third Book contra Marcionem cap. 22. In omni loco sacrificium nomini meo offertur sacrificium mundum to wit saith he Gloriâ— relatio benedictio hymni And Lib. 4. ca 1. Sacrificium mundum scilicet simplex oratio de conscientia pura Thirdly Clemens Alexandrinus Lib. 7. Stromat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We Christians honour God by Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this we send up unto him as the best and holiest sacrifice honouring him by that most sacred Word whereby we receive knowledge that is by Christ. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sacrifice of the Church is an oration exhaled from sanctified souls He speaks not of the private Prayer of every Christian but the publick Prayer of the Church as a Body as will be evident to him that reads the place and appears by the words quoted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sacrifice of the Church and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exhaled not from a sanctified soul but from sanctified souls For to private prayer was not given this title of the Christian Sacrifice but unto the publick which the Church offered unto God when She presented her self before him as one Body in Christ by the mysticall communion of his Body and Blood This my next Author Cyprian will make plain in his 16 Epist. ad Mosen Maximum Nos quidem saith he vestri diobus noctibus memores quando in sacrificiis precem cum pluribus facimus cum in secessu privatis precibus oramus where we see the sacrifice of prayer to be cum precem cum pluribus facimus and distinguisht from that we do cum in seâ—essu privatis precibus oramus These Authorities are all within the first three hundred years to which I will adde one of the fourth Optatus Milevitanus Lib. 6. contra Parmenianum where he thus expostulates with the Donatists for breaking and defacing the Altars of the Catholicks Quid est enim tam sacrilegum saith he quam Altaria Dei in quibus vos aliquando obtulistis frangere radere removere in quibus Vota opuli membra Christi portata sunt quo Deus omnipotâ—ns invocatus sit Gather hence what parts the Christian Sacrifice consisted of Vota populi are the Prayers of the Church Membra Christi the Body and Blood of Christ which the Prayers were offered with both of them upon the Altar For it is worthy your notice that the ancient Church had no other place whereat she offered her publick Prayers and Orizons but that whereon the memory of the Body and Blood of Christ was celebrated that as they were joyned in their Use so might they not be severed in their Place According to which use and agreeable to this passage of Optatus speaks the Councell of Rhemes commanding the Table of Christ to be reverenced and honoured Quia Corpus Domini â—bi consecratur sanguis ejus hauritur Preces quoque Vota populi in conspectu Dei à Sacerdote offeruntur Furthermore that the Christian Sacrifice was an Oblation of Prayer and consisted in Invocation is also another way to be evinc'd Namely because the Fathers when they speak thereof use the terms of Prayer Oblation and Sacrifice promiscuously and interchangeably one for the other as words importing the same thing Tertullian Exhort ad Cast. disswading a Widower from marrying again because it would be uncomely in the Sacrifice of the Church to make mention as the manner then was of more Wives then one speaks thus Etiam repete apud Deum pro cujus spiritu postules pro qua oblationes annuas reddas stabis ergo ad Deum cum tot uxoribus quot illas oratione commemoras offerres pro duabus commemorabis illas duas per Sacerdotem de monogamia ob pristinum de virginitate sancitum circundatum virginibus univiris ascendet sacrificium tuum cum libera fronte Here postulatio and oblatio oratio and offerre oratio and sacrificium are interchangeably put one for the other So also in his Book De Oratione are Oratio and Sacrificium where he speaks of the kisse of Peace and Reconcilement used at the Eucharist Quae oratio saith he cum divortio sancti osculi integra quale sacrificium à quo sine pace receditur Augustine De Civit. Dei Lib. 8. cap. 27. speaking of the honour of Martyrs Nec Martyribus saith he sacrificia constituimus quis audivit aliquando fidelem stantem ad Altare etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris ad Dei honorem cultúmque constructum dicere in Precibus Offero tibi sacrificium Petre vel Paule c. Here Sacrificium is expounded by Preces and Preces put for Sacrificium And Lib. 22. cap. 8. concerning one Hesperius a man of quality in the City whereof Austin was Bishop who by the affliction of his cattell and servants perceiving his Country-Grange liable to some malignant power of evil spirits Rogavit nostros saith S. Austin me absente Presbyteros ut aliquis corum illò pergeret cujus orationibus cederent Perrexit unus obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi orans quantum potuit ut cessaret illa vexatio Deo protinùs miserante cessavit The Priest was intreated to pray there he went and offered sacrifice and so prayed For this reason the Christian Sacrifice is among the Fathers by way of distinction called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificium laudis that is of Confession and Invocation of God to difference it from those of Blood and Incense Augustine Lib. 1. contra Adversarios Legis Prophetarum cap. 20. Ecclesia immolat in corpore Christi sacrificium laudis ex quo Deus Deorum lâ—cutus vocavit terram à solis ortu usque ad occasum Again Epist. 86. Sacrificium laudis ab Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa diebus omnibus immolatur and elsewhere And amongst the Greek Fathers this term is so