as unto men floating upon the Sea or unto distempered braines the land and house though immoveable seeme to reele and totter or as unto weake eyes every thing seemes double so the promises of God however built on a sure foundation his Counsell and Fore-knowledge yet unto men prepossest with their owne private distempers doe they seeme unstable and fraile unto a weake eye of faith Gods Covenant to bee if I may so speake double to have a tongue and a tongue a promise and a promise that is a various and uncertaine promise And for this cause notwithstanding diffident and distrustfull men doe indeed deserve what they suspect and are worthy to suffer what they unworthily doe feare doth God yet in compassion towards our fraitly condescend to confirme his promises by an Oath to engage the truth of his own essence for performance to seale the Patent which he hath given with his own blood and to exhibite that seale unto us so often as with faith wee approach unto the Communion of these holy mysteries And who can sufficiently admire the riches of this mercy which makes the very weakenesses and imperfections of his Church occasions of redoubling his promises unto it Secondly in that this Sacrament is the instrumentall cause of confirming our faith from this possibility yea facility of obtaining we must conclude the necessity of using so great a benefit wherein wee procure the strengthning of our graces the calmeing of our consciences and the experience of Gods favour in the naturall body there being a continuall activity and conflict betweene the heate and the moisture of the body and by that meanes a wasting depassion and decay of nature it is kept in a perpetuall necessity of succouring it selfe by food so in the spirituall man there being in this present estate an unreconcileable enmity betweene the spirit and the flesh there is in either part a propension towards such outward food whereby each in its distresses may be releeved The flesh pursues all such objects as may content and cherish the desires thereof which the Apostle calleth the provisions of lust The Spirit of the contrary side strengthens it selfe by those divine helps which the wisedome of God had appointed to conferre grace and to settle the heart in a firme perswasion of its owne peace And amongst these instruments this holy Sacrament is one of the principall which is indeed nothing else but a visible oath wherein Christ giveth us a tast of his benefits and engageth his owne sacred body for the accomplishing of them which supporteth our tottering faith and reduceth the soule unto a more setled tranquility Fifthly In that in this one all other Types were abrogated and nullified wee learne to admire and glorifie the love of God who hath set us at liberty from the thraldome of Ceremonies from the costlinesse and difficulty of his Service with which his owne chosen people were held in bondage under the Pedagogie and governement of Schoole-masters the ceremoniall and judiciall Law as so many notes of distinctions charactristicall differences or wall of separation betweene Iew and Gentile untill the comming of the Messias which was the time of the reformation of all things wherein the Gentiles were by his death to bee ingrafted into the same stocke and made partakers of the same juyce and fatnesse the shadowes to bee removed the ordinances to bee canceld the Law to bee abolished for The Law came by Moses but Grace and Truth by Iesus Christ Grace in opposition to the Curse of the Morall Law Truth in opposition to the figures and resemblances of the Ceremoniall Law The Iewes in Gods service were bound unto one place and unto one forme no Temple or ministration of Sacrifices without Ierusalem nor without expresse prescription no use of Creatures without difference of common and uncleane wheras unto us all places are lawfull and pure all things lawfull and pure every Country a Canaan and every City a Ierusalem and every Oratory a Temple It is not an ordinance but a Prayer which sanctifieth and maketh good unto our use every creature of God But yet though we under the Gospell are thus set at liberty from all manner ordinances which are not of intrinsecall eternall and unvariable necessity yet may this liberty in regard of the nature of things indifferent bee made a necessity in respect of the use of them We may not thinke that our liberty is a licentious and unbounded liberty as if CHRIST had been the Author of confusion to leave every man in the externall carriages of his worship unto the conduct of his private fancy This were to have our liberty for a cloake of naughtines and as an occasion to the flesh but we must alwayes limite it by those generall and morall rules of piety loyalty charity and sobriety Use all things we may indifferently without subjection or bondage unto the thing but not without subjection unto GOD and superiors Use them we may but with temperatnes and moderation use them we may but with respect to Gods glory use them we may but with submission to authority use them we may but with avoyding of scandall Christian liberty consisteth in the inward freedome of the conscience whose onely bond is a necessity of Doctrine not in outward conformity or observances onely whose bond is a necessity of obedience and subordination unto higher powers which obeying though wee become thereby subject unto some humane or Ecclesiasticall ordinances the conscience yet remaines uncurbed and at liberty Secondly we have hereby a great encouragement to serve our God in spirit and in truth being delivered from all those burdensome accessions which unto the inward worship were added in the legall observances In spirit in opposition unto the Carnall in truth in opposition unto the Typicall ceremonies The services of the Iewes were celebrated in the bloud and smoake of unreasonable creatures but ours in the Gospell must be a spirituall a reasonable service of him for as in the Word of God the letter profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickneth so in the worship of God likewise the Knee the Lip the Eye the Hand alone profiteth not at all it is the spirit that worshippeth It is not a macerated body but a contrite soule which he respecteth if there be palenes in the face but bloud in the heart if whitenes in the Eye but blacknes in the soule if a drooping countenance but an unbended conscience if a knee bowing downe in the Temple of God and thoughts rising up against the grace of God the head like a Bul-rush and the heart like an Adamant in a word if there bee but a bodily and unquickned service a schisme in the same worshipper betweene his outward and his inward man he that is not a God of the dead but of the living hee that accompteth in the leviticall Law carcases as
interrogation to the Conscience that so the major and minor being contriv'd the light of reason in the soule may make up a practicall syllogisme and so conclude either its fitnesse or indisposition towards these holy mysteries First for the causes of faith not to meddle with that extraordinary cause I meane miracles the ordinary are the word of God and the Spirit of God the Word as the Seed the Spirit as the formative and seminall virtue making it active and effectuall for the Letter profiteth nothing it is the Spirit which quickneth What the formality of that particular action is whereby the Word and Spirit doe implant this heavenly branch of faith in the soule Faith it selfe having in its nature severall distinct degrees some intellectuall of assent some fiduciall of relyance and confidence some of abnegation renouncing and flying out of our selves as insufficient for the contriuance of our owne salvation and so in congruity of reason requiring in the causes producing them severall manners of causalities as I take it not necessary so neither am I able to determine I shall therefore touch upon some pâ—incipall properties of either all which if they concurre not unto the originall production doe certainely to the raduation and establishing of that divine virtue and therefore may justly come within the compasse of those premises from the evidences of which assumed and applied the Conscience is to conclude the truth of its faith in Christ. And first for the word to let passe those properties which are onely the inherent attributes and not any transient operations thereof as its sufficiency perspicuity majesty selfe-Authority and the like let us touch upon those which it carrieth along with it into the Conscience and I shall observe but two Its Light and its Power Even as the Sunne where ever it goes doth still carry with it that brightnesse whereby it discovereth and that Influence whereby it quickneth inferiour bodies First for the Word the properties thereof are first to make manifest and to discover the hidden things of darknesse for whatsoever doth make manifest is light The heart of man naturally is a labyrinth of darknesse his workes workes of darknesse his Prince a Prince of darkenesse whose projects are full of darknesse they are depths devices craftinesse methods The Word of God alone is that light which maketh manifest the secrets of the heart that glasse wherein wee may see both our selves and all the devices of Satan against us discovered And secondly by this act of manifesting doth light distinguish one thing from another In the darke we make no difference of faire or foule of right or wrong waies but all are alike unto us and so while wee continue in the blindnes of our naturall estate wee are not able to perceive the distinction betweene Divine and naturall objects but the Word of God like a touchstone discovereth the differences of truth and falshood good and evill and like fire seperateth the pretious from the vile Secondly light is quickning and a comforting thing The glory of the Saints is an inheritance of light and they are children of light who shall shine as the Sunne in the Firament whereas darknes is both the Title and the Portion of the wicked The times of darknes men make to be the times of their sleeping which is an Image of Death t is in the light onely that men worke And so the Word of GOD is a comforting Word It was Davids delight his hony-Combe And it is a quickning Word too for it is the Word of Life Lastly light doth assist direct and guide us in our waies and so doth the Word of GOD it is a Lanterne to our feete and a light unto our pathes Secondly for the power of the Word it is two fold even as all power is a governing power in respect of that which is under it and a subduing power in respect of that which is against it First the Word hath a governing power in respect of those which are subject to it for which cause it is every where called a Law and a royall that is a commanding Soveraigne Law It beares Dominion in the soule conforming each faculty to it selfe directeth the righteous furnisheth unto good workes raiseth the drooping bindeth the broken comforteth the afflicted reclaimeth the straggling Secondly it subdueth all emnity and opposition discomfiteth Satan beateth downe the strong holdes of sinne t is a Sword to cut off a weapon to subdue a Hammer to breake in peeces whatsoever thought riseth up against it Now then let a mans conscience make but these few demands unto it selfe Hath the light and power of Gods Word discovered it selfe unto mee Have the Scriptures made me knowne unto my selfe have they unlocked those crooked windings of my perverse heart have they manifested unto my soule not onely those sinnes which the light of reason could have discerved but even those privy corruptions which I could not otherwise have knowne have they acquainted me with the devices of Satan wherewith he lieth in waite to deceive have they taught me to distinguish betweene truth and appearances betweene goodnes and shaddowes to finde out the better part the one necessary thing and to adhere unto it am I sensible of the sweetnes and benefits of his holy Word doth it refresh my soule and revive me unto every good worke Is it unto my soule like the hony Combe like pleasant pastures like springs of water like d the Tree of life doe I take it along with me wheresoever I goe to preserve me from stumbling and straggling in this valley of darknes and shaddow of death Againe doe I feele the power of it like a Royall commanding Law bearing rule in my soule Am I willing to submit and resigne my selfe unto the obedience of it doe I not against the cleere and convincing evidence thereof entertaine in my bosome any the least rebellious thought Doe I spare noe Agag noe ruling sinne withdraw noe wedge or babilonish Garment noe gainefull sin make a league with noe Gibeonite noe pretending sinne But doe I suffer it like Ioshua to destroy every Cananite even the sinne which for sweetnes I roled under my tongue doth it batter the Towers of Ierico breake downe the Bul-warkes of the flesh lead into captivity the corruptions of nature mortifie and crucifie the old man in me doth it minister comforts unto me in all the ebbs and droopings of my spirit even above the confluence of all earthly happines and against the combination of all outward discontents and doe I set up a resolution thus alwayes to submit my selfe unto the Regiment thereof In one word doth it convince me of sin in my selfe and so humble me to repent of it of Righteousnes in CHRIST and so raise me to beleeve in it of his spirituall judgment in governing the soules of true beleevers by the power of love and
shew forth such an Heavenly light of holinesse puritie majesty authority efficacy mercy wisedome comfort perfection in one word such an unsearchable Treasurie of internall mysteries as that now the soule is as fully able by the native light of the Scriptures to distinguish their Divine originall and authenticalnesse from any other meere humane writings as the eye is to observe the difference betweene a beame of the Sunne and a blaze of a Candle The second question is how the Soule comes to bee setled in this perswasion that the goodnesse of these truths founded on the Authority of God doe particularly belong unto it Whereunto I answere in one word That this ariseth from a two-fold Testimonie grounded upon a preceding worke of Gods Spirit For first the Spirit of God putteth his feare into the hearts of his servants and purgeth their consciences by applying the bloud of Christ unto them from dead workes wish affections strongly and very sensibly altering the constitution of the minde must needs notably manifest themselves unto the soule when by any reflex act shee shall set her selfe to looke inward upon her owne operations This being thus wrought by the grace of God thereupon there ensueth a twofold Testimonie The first of a mans owne spirit as wee see in the examples of Iob David Hezekiah Nehemiah Saul and others namely That hee desireth to feare Gods name to keepe a conscience void of offence to walke in all integrity towards God and men from which and the like personall qualifications arise joy in the holy-Ghost peace of conscience and experience of sweetnes in the fellowship with the Father and his Sonne Secondly the Testimony of the holy Spirit bearing witnes to the sincerity of those affections and to the evidence and truth of those perswasions which himselfe by his grace stirred up So then first the Spirit of God writeth the Law in the heart upon obedience whereunto ariseth the Testimony of a mans owne spirit And then he writeth the promises in the heart and by them ratifieth and confirmeth a mans hops and joyes unto him I understand not all this which hath been spoken generally of all assents unto objects Divine which I take it in regard of their evidence firmnes and stability doe much differ according unto the divers tempers of those hearts in which they reside but principally unto the cheife of those assents which are proper unto saving Faith For assent as I said in generall is common unto Divils with men and therefore to make up the creature of true Faith There is required some differencing property whereby it may be constituted in the entire essence of saving Faith In each sense we may observe that unto the generall faculty whereby it is able to perceive objects proportioned to it there is annexed ever another property whereby according to the severall nature of the objects proposed it is apt to delight or be ill affected with it for example our eare apprehendeth all sounds in common but according as is the Harmony or discord of the sound it is apt to take pleasure or offence at it Our taste reacheth unto whatsoever is the object of it but yet some things there are which grievously offend the Palate others which as much delight it and so it is in Divine assents Some things in some subjects bring along with them tremblings horrors fearefull expectations aversation of minde unwilling to admit or be pursued with the evidence of Divine truths as it is in Divils and despayring sinners Other assents on the contrary doe beget serenity of minde a sweete complacency delight adherence and comfort Into the hearts of some men doth the Truth of GOD shine like Lightning with a penetrating and amasing brightnes in others like the Sunne with comfortable and refreshing Beames For understanding whereof wee are to observe that in matters practicall and Divine and so in all others though not in an equall measure the truth of them is ever mutually embraced and as it were insolded in their goodnes for as truth doth not delight the understanding unlesse it be a good truth that is such as unto the understanding beares a relation of convenience whence arise diversities in mens studies because all men are not alike affected with all kindes of truth so good doth noe way affect the will unlesse it be a true and reall good Otherwise it proves but like the banquet of a dreaming man which leaves him as hungry and empty as when he lay downe Goodnes then added unto truth doth together with the assent generate a kinde of rest and delight in the heart on which it shineth Now goodnes Morall or Divine hath a double relation A relation unto that originall in dependency on and propinquitie whereunto it consilleth and a relation unto that faculty or subject wherein it resideth and whereunto it is proposed Good in the former sense is that which beares in it a proportion unto the Fountaine of good for every thing is in it selfe so farre good as it resembles that originall which is the author and patterne of it and that is GOD. In the second sense that is good which beares a conveniency and fitnes to the minde which entertaines it good I meane not alwayes in nature but in apprehension All Divine truths are in themselves essentially good but yet they worke not alwaies delight and comforts in the minds of men untill proportioned and fitted unto the faculty that receives them As the Sunne is it in it selfe equally light the water in a Fountaine of it selfe equally sweete but according unto the severall Temper of the eye which perceiveth the one and of the vessell through which the other passeth they may prove to be offensive and distastfull But now further when the faculty is thus fitted to receive a good it is not the generality of that good which pleaseth neyther but the particular propriety and interest thereunto Wealth and honor as it is in it selfe good so is it likewise in the apprehension of most men yet we see men are apt to be griev'd at it in others and to looke on it with an evill eye nothing makes them to delight in it but possession and propriety unto it I speake here onely of such Divine good things as are by God appointed to make happy his creature namely our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ his Obedience Satisfaction Resurrection Ascension Intercession Glory and whatever elce it is of which he hath been unto his Church the Author Purchaser conveyer and Foundation Now unto these as unto other good things there is a double right belonging by free donation from him unto the Church a right of propriety unto the thing and a right of possession in the thing This latter is that which here in Earth the Church suspireth and longeth after that other onely it is which here we have and that confirmed unto us by a double Title The first as the Land of Cannan was confirmed unto the Israelits by
grace it doth the quality of that work whereby we reach unto our desired Good doth alter likewise Now fourthly wee must farther observe that between our working which is the motion towards our Good and our fruition or resting in it there is a distance or succession of time so that while we are in our estate of working we doe not enjoy God by any full reall presence or possession but only by a right of a Covenant and Promise which makes the Apostle say that in this life we live by faith and not by sight Now Promises or Covenants require to have annexed unto them Evidence and certaintie so farre as may secure the party that relyes upon them which in humane â—ontracts is done by giving our words and setting to our seales for confirmation And now lastly in as much as that Dutie on condition whereof God maketh this Promise of himselfe unto us is the work of the whole man the Evidence and Confirmation of the Promise is by God made unto the whole man likewise and to each facultie of man which it pleaseth him in mercy the rather to doe because of that dependance of our soules on the inferiour and subordinate powers and of that necessary connexion which there is betweene the inward reason and the outward senses God then presupposing ever the performance of conditions on our part doth secure hâ—s Church and give evidence for the discharge of his covenant and promise first to the soule alone by the testimony of his Spirit which is both the seale and the witnesse of Gods Covenant and secondly both to the soule and to the senses by that double bond his word written or preached and his seale visibly exhibited to the eye and taste but especially unto the taste in which objects are more really and with lesse fallibilitie united to the faculty in which there appeareth a more exquisite fruition of delight in these good things which are pleasing and lastly in which the mysticall union of the Church to its head unto the making up of one body is more naturally exprest And these seales annexed unto the word or patent of Gods Promise have been ever proposd unto the Church in all its estates and are nothing else but that which we call a Sacrament So that as the testimony of the Spirit is an invisible seale and earnest to the soule so is the Sacrament a visible seale and earnest to the sense both after a severall manner ratifying and confirming the infallible expectation of that future Reward which as well the senses as the soule shall in Gods presence really enjoy after they have fulfilled the service which God requireth CHAP. II. Sacraments are earnests and shaddowes of our expected glory made unto the senses THE Promises and word of grace with the Sacraments are all but as so many sealed Deeds to make over unto all successions of the Church so long as they continue legitimate children and observe the Lawes on their part required an infallible claime and title unto that Good which is not yet revealed unto that inheritance which is as yet laid up unto that life which is hid with God and was never yet fully opened or let shine upon the earth Even in Paradise there was a Sacrament a tree of life inded it was but there was but one whereas Adam was to eat of all the fruits in the Garden He was there but to taste sometimes of life it was not to bee his perpetuall and only food We read of a Tree of life in the beginning of the Bible and of a tree of life in the end too that was in Adams Paradise on earth this in Saint Iohns Paradise in heaven But that did beare but the first fruits of life the earnest of an after fulnesse This bare life in abundance for it bare twelve manner of fruits and that every moneth which shewes both the compleatnesse and eternity of that glory which wee expect And as the Tree of Paradise was but a Sacrament of life in heaven so Paradise it selfe was but a Sacrament of heaven Certainly Adam was placed amongst the dark and shady trees of the Garden that he might in an Embleme acknowledge that he was as yet but in the shadow of life the substance whereof he was elsewhere to receive Even when the Church was pure it was not perfect it had an age of infancy when it had a state of innocence Glory was not communicated unto Adam himselfe without the vaile of a Sacrament the light of God did not shine on Paradise with a spreading and immediate ray even there it was mixed with shadowes and represented only in a Sacramentall reflex not in its owne direct and proper brightnesse The Israelites in the wildernesse had light indeed but it was in a cloud and they had the presence of God in the Ark but it was under severall coverings and they had the light of God shining on the face of Moses but it was under the vaile and Moses himselfe did see God but it was in a cloud so uncapable is the Church while encompassed with a body of sinne to see the lustre of that glory which is expected Certainly as the Sonne of God did admirably humble himselfe in his hypostaticall union unto a visible flesh so doth he still with equall wonder and lowlinesse humble himselfe in a Sacramentall union unto visible Elements Strange it is that that mercy which is so wonderfull that the Angels desire to look into it so unconceiveable as that it hath not entred into the thought of man of such height and lenghth and breadth and depth as passeth knowledge should yet be made the object of our lowest faculties That that which is hid from the wise and prudent in mans little world his mind and spirit should bee revealed unto the babes his senses It were almost a contradiction in any thing save Gods mercy to bee so deep as that no thought can fadome it and yet so obvious that each eye may see it Handle mee and see for a spirituall substance hath not flesh was sometimes the argument of Christ and yet handle and see take and eat for a spirituall grace is conveyed by flesh is the Sacrament of Christ. So humble is his mercy that since we cannot raise our understandings to the comprehension of divine mysteries he will bring downe and submit those mysteries to the apprehension of our senses Hereafter our bodies shall be over-clothed with a spirituall glory by a reall union unto Christ in his kingdome mean time that spirituall glory which wee grone after is here over-clothed with weak and visible elements by a Sacramentall union at his Table Then shall sense be exalted and made a fit subject of glory here is glory humbled and made a fit object of sense Then shall wee see as wee are seen face to face here wee see but as in glasse darkly in the glasse of the creature in the glasse of the word
beauty of his graces and so constraine and perswade me to be obedient unto it These are those good premises out of which I may infallibly conclude that I have had the beginnings the seeds of Faith shed a abroad in my heart which will certainly be further quickned by that holy spirit who is the next and principall producer of it The operations of this holy spirit being as numberlesse as all the holy actions of the Faithfull cannot therefore all possibly be set downe I shall touch at some few which are of principall and obvious observation First of all the spirit is a spirit of liberty and a spirit of prayer It takes away the bondage and feare wherein we naturally are for feare makes us runne from God as from a punishing and revenging Iudge never any man in danger fledde thither for succour whence the danger issued feare is so farre from this that it betrayeth and suspecteth those very assistances which reason offereth and it enableth us to have accesse and recourse unto God himselfe whom our sins had provoked and in our prayers like Aron and Hurr it supporteth our hands that they doe not faint nor fall It raiseth the soule unto divine and unutterable petitions and it melteth the heart into sights and groanes that cannot be expressed Secondly the holy Ghost is compared unto a witnesse whose proper worke it is to reveale and affirme some truth which is called in question There is in a mans bosome by reason of that enmity and rebellion betwixt the flesh and the spirit and by meanes of Satans suggestions sundry dialogues and conflicts wherein Satan questioneth the title wee pretend to salvation In this case the Spirit of a man as one cannot choose but do when his whole estate is made ambiguous staggereth droopeth and is much distressed till at last the Spirit of God by the light of the Word the Testimonie of Conscience and the sensible motions of inward grace layeth open our title and helpeth us to reade the evidence of it and thus recomposeth our troubled thoughts Thirdly the Spirit of God is compared to a Seale the worke of a Seale is first to make a siampe and impression in some other matter secondly by that means to difference and distinguish it from all other things And so the Spirit of God doth fashion the hearts of his people unto a conformity with Christ framing in it holy impressions and renewing the decayed Image of God therein and thereby separateth them from sinners maketh them of a distinct common-wealth under a distinct governement that whereas before they were subject to the same Prince Lawes and desires with the world being now called out they are new men and have another character upon them Secondly a Seale doth obsignate and ratifie some Covenant Grant or conveyance to the person unto whom it belongeth It is used amongst men for confirming their mutuall trust in each other And so certainely doth the Spirit of God pre-affect the soule with an evident taste of that glory which in the Day of Redemption shall be actually conferd upon it and therefore it is called an hansell earnest and first fruit of life Fourthly the Spirit of God is compared to an oyntment now the properties of oyntments are first to supple to asswage tumors in the body and so doth the Spirit of God mollifie the hardnesse of mans heart and worke it to a sensible tendernes and quicke apprehension of every sinne Secondly oyntments doe open and penetrate those places unto which they are applied and so the Unction which the faithfull have teacheth them all things and openeth their eyes to see the wonders of Gods Law and the beauty of his graces In vaine are all outward sounds or Sermons unlesse this Spirit be within to teach us Thirdly oyntments doe refresh and lighten nature because as they make way for the emission of all noxious humours so likewise for the free passage and translation of all vitall spirits which doe enliven and comfort And so the Spirit of God is a Spirit of consolation and a spirit of life hee is the comforter of his Church Lastly oyntments in the Leviticall Law and in the state of the Iewes were for consecration and sequestration of things unto some holy use As Christ is said to bee annoynted by his Father unto the oeconomy of that great worke the redemption of the world and thus doth the holy-Ghost annoint us to be a Royall Priest-hood a holy Nation a people set at liberty Fifthly and lastly I finde the holy Ghost compared unto fire whose properties are first to bee of a very active and working nature which stands never still but is ever doing something and so the Spirit of God and his graces are all operative in the hearts of the faithfull they set all where they come on worke Secondly the nature and proper motion of fire is to ascend other motions whatever it hath arise from some outward and accidentall restraint limiting the nature of it and so the Spirit of God ever raiseth up the affections from earth fastneth the eye of Faith upon Eternity ravisheth the soule with a servent longing to bee with the Lord and to bee admitted unto the fruition of those pretious joyes which heere it suspireth after as soone as ever men have chosen Christ to bee their Head then presently ascendunt de Terra they goe up out of the Land Hos. 1. 11. and have their conversation above where Christ is Thirdly fire doth inflame and transforme every thing that is combustible into the nature of it selfe and so the Spirit of God filleth the soule with a divine fervour and zeale which purgeth away the corruptions and drosse of the flesh with the spirit of judgment and with the Spirit of burning Fourthly fire hath a purifying and cleansing property to draw away all noxious or infectious vapors out of the Ayre to separate all soyle and drosse from mettalls and the like and so doth the Spirit of God clense the heart and in heavenly sighes and repentant teares cause to expire all those steemes of corruptions those noysome and infectious lusts which fight against the soule Fifthly fire hath a penetrating and insinuating quallity whereby it creepeth into all the pores of a combustible body and in like manner the holy Spirit of God doth penetrate the heart though full of insensible and inscrutible windings doth search the reines doth pry into the closest nookes and inmost corners of the soule there discovering and working out those secret corruptions which did deceive and defile us Lastly fire doth illighten and by that meanes communicates the comforts of it selfe unto others and so the Spirit being a Spirit of truth doth illuminate the understanding and doth dispose it likewise to discover its light unto others who stand in need of it for this is the nature of Gods grace that when Christ hath manifested himselfe to the soule of one
assent must arise an approbation and love of those objects whence doth issue such sweetnesse A second effect is affiance and hope confidently for the present relying on the goodnesse and for the future waiting on the power of God which shall to the full in time performe what hee hath in his Word promised when once the minde of a man is wrought so to assent unto divine promises made in Christ as to acknowledge an interest and propriety unto them and that to bee at last actually performed not by a man who is subject both to unfaithfulnesse in perseverance and to disability in performance of his promises for every man is a lyar either by imposture ready to deceive or by impotencie likely to disappoint the expectations of those who rely upon him but by Almighty God who the better to confirme our faith in him hath both by his Word and Oath engaged his fidelity and is altogether omnipotent to doe what hee hath purposed Impossible it is but from such an assent grounded on the veracity and on the All-sufficiency of God there should result in the minde of a faithfull man a confident dependance on such promises renouncing in the meane time all selfe-dependance as in it selfe utterly impotent and resolving in the midst of Temptations to relie on him to hold fast his mercy and the profession of his Faith without wavering having an eye to the recompence of reward and being assured that he who hath promised will certainely bring it to passe A third effect of Faith is ioy and peace of Conscience for being iustified by faith we have peace with God The minde is by faith and the impression of sweetnesse in Gods Promises composed unto a setled calmenesse and serenity I doe not meane a dead peace an immobility and sleepinesse of Conscience like the rest of a dreaming prisoner but such a peace as a man may by a syllogisme of the practicke judgment upon right examination of his owne interest in Christ safely inferre unto himselfe The wicked often hath an appearance of peace as well as the faithfull but here is the difference Betweene a wicked mans sinne and him there is a Doore shut which will surely one day open for it is but either a doore of Error or the doore of Death for sinne lieth at the doore ready to flye at his throate as soone as it shall finde either his eyes open to see it or his life to let it in upon the soule but betweene a faithfull man and his sinne there is a Corner-stone a Wall of fire through which Satan himselfe cannot breake even the merits of Christ Iesus Briefly the peace which comes from Faith hath these two properties in it tranquility and serenity too otherwise it is but like the calmenesse of the dead Sea whose unmoveablenesse is not Nature but a Curse The last effect which I shall now name of Faith is that generall effect of fructification purifying the heart and disposing it unto holinesse and new obedience which is to bee framed after Gods Law Faith unites us unto Christ being thus united we are quickned by one and the same Spirit having one spirit and soule we must needs agree in the same operations and those operations must necessarily beare conformity unto the same rule and that rule is the Law under which Christ himselfe was for our sakes made So that the rule to examine this effect of Faith by should bee the whole compasse of Gods Law which to enter into were to redouble all this labour past for thy Law saith David is exceeding wide Briefly therefore in all our obedience observe these few rules First The obligatory power which is in the Law depends upon the one and sole authority of the Law-giver who is God He that breakes but one Commandement venturs to violate that authority which by the same Ordination made one equally obligatory with the rest And therefore our obedience must not bee partiall but universall unto the whole Law in as much as it proceeds from that Faith which without indulgence or dispensation yeeldeth assent unto the whole compasse of Divine Truth Secondly as is God so is his Law a spirituall and a perfect Law and therefore requires a universality of the subject as well as of the obedience I meane besides that perfect integrity of Nature which in regard of present inherence is irrecoverably lost in Adam and supplied onely by the imputed righteousnesse and integrity of Christ an inward spirituall sincere obedience of the heart from thence spreading like lines from a Centre unto the whole Circumference of our Nature unto our Words Actions Gestures unto all our parts without crooked mercenary and reserv'd respects wherein men often in stead of the Lord make their ends or their feares their God Lastly remember that in every Law all homogeneall matters to the maine duty which is commanded every sprigge or seed or originall or degree thereof is included as all the severall branches of a Tree are fastned to one and the same stocke And by these rules are wee to examine the truth of our obedience But heere before I draw downe these premises to an Assumption I will but name one caution which is this That Faith as it may bee either habituall or Actuall so it is the cause of these holy actions either habitually by framing and disposing the heart unto them or actually when it is it selfe as it ought ever to bee sound and operative But sometimes Faith so great is the corruption of our nature admits of a decay and languor wherein it lies as it were like fire under ashes raked up and stifled under our corruptions Againe in some there is a weaker in some a stronger Faith according unto which difference there must be a difference in the measure and magnitude of the effects But yet it is infallibly true that all or most of those holy fruits doe in some seasons or other bud forth of that stocke which is quickned by Faith though sometimes in some men lesse discernable by reason of corruptions interposed For it usually thus falleth out that our graces are but like the Army of Gedeon a small handfull whereas our corruptions are like the Midianits which lay on the ground as Grashoppers innumerable But yet in these God crowneth his owne meanest gists with victory and successe So then these things being thus proposed let the conscience without connivence examine it selfe by such interrogatories as these Doe I finde my selfe live by the Faith of the Sonne of GOD who gave himselfe for me Doe I delight in his Word more then my appoynted food never adulterating it with the Leaven or Dreggs of hereticall fancies or dead workes Doth the word of Truth transforme me to the Image of it selfe Crucifying all those corruptions which harboured in me Doe I finde my selfe to grow in all graces universally and uniformely towards God and man not thinking to recompence some defects which my nature drives me unto with
in the glasse of the Sacraments And surely these are in themselves cleer and bright glasses yet we see even in them but darkly in regard of that vapour and steeme which exhaleth from our corrupt nature when we use them and even on these doth our soule look through other darke glasses the windowes of sense But yet at the best they are but glasses whose properties are to present nothing but the pattern the shaddow the type of those things which are in their substance quite behind us and therefore out of sight so then in generall the nature of a Sacrament is to be the representative of a substance the signe of a covenant the seale of a purchase the figure of a body the witnesse of our faith the earnest of our hope the presence of things distant the sight of things absent the taste of things unconceivable and the knowledge of things that are past knowledge CHAP. III. Inferences of Practice from the former observavations HERE then we see first the different state and disposition of the Church here in a state of corruption and therefore in want of water in Baptisme to wash it in a state of infancy and therefore in want of milke in the word to nourish it in a state of weaknesse and therefore in want of bread the body of Christ to strengthen it in a state of sorrow and therefore in want of wine the blood of Christ to comfort it Thus the Church while it is a child it speaks as a child it understands as a child it feeds as a child here a little and there a little one day in the week one houre in the day it is kept fasting and hungry But when it is growne from strength to strength unto a perfect age and unto the fulnesse of the stature of Christ then it shall be satisfied with fatnesse and drink its full of those rivers of pleasures which make glad the City of God It shall keep an eternall Sabbath a continued festivall the Supper of the Lamb shall bee without end or satiety so long as the Bridegroom is with them which shall be for ever they cannot fast Secondly we see here nor see only but even taste and touch how gratious the Lord is in that he is pleased even to unroabe his graces of their naturall lustre to overshaddow his Promises and as it were to obscure his glory that they might be made proportion'd to our dull and earthy senses to lock up so rich mysteries as lie hidden in the Sacraments in a bason of water or a morsell of bread When hee was invisible by reason of that infinite distance between the divine nature and ours hee made himselfe to be seen in the flesh and now that his very flesh is to us againe invisible by reason of that vast distance between his place and ours he hath made even it in a mysticall sense to be seen and tasted in the Sacrament Oh then since God doth thus farre humble himselfe and his graces even unto our senses let not us by an odious ingratitude humble them yet lower even under our feet Let us not trample on the blood of the Covenant by taking it into a noisome sinke into a dirty and earthie heart He that eats Christs in the Sacrament with a foule mouth and receives him into an unclensed and sinfull soule doth all one as if he should sop the bread he eates in dirt or lay up his richest treasures in a sink Thirdly we learn how we should employ all our senses Not only as brute beasts do to fasten them on the earth but to lift them up unto a more heavenly use since God hath made even them the organs instruments of our spirituall nourishment Mix ever with the naturall a heavenly use of thy senses Whatsoever thou seest behold in it his wonder whatsoever thou hearest hear in it his wisedome whatsoever thou tastest taste in it the sweetnesse as well of his love as of the creature If Christ will not dwell in a foul house he will certainly not enter at a foul door Let not those teeth that eat the bread of Angelsgrinde the face of the poor Let not the mouth which doth drink the blood of Christ thirst after the blood of his neighbour Let not that hand which is reached out to receive Christ in the Sacrament be stretched out to injure him in his members Let not those eyes which look on Christ be gazing after vanity Certainly if he will not be one in the same body with a harlot neither will he be seen with the same eyes he is really in the heaven of the greater world and he will be no where else Sacramentally but in the heavenly parts of man the lesser Lastly we see here what manner of conversation we have The church on earth hath but the earnests of glory the earnest of the Spirit and the earnest of the Sacrament that witnessing this signifying both confirming and sealing our adoption But we know not what we shall be our life is yet hid and our inheritance is laid up for us A Prince that is haply bred up in a great distance from his future kingdome in another Realm and that amongst enemies where he suffers one while a danger another a disgrace loaded with dangers and discontents though by the assurance of blood by the warrant of his fathers own hand seal he may be confirmed in the evident right of his succession can hardly yet so much as imagine the honour he shall enjoy nor any more see the gold and lustre of his crown in the print of the wax that confirms it than a man that never saw the Sunne can conceive that brightnesse which dwelleth in it by its picture drawn in some dark colours We are a royall people heirs yea coheirs with Christ but we are in a farre countrey and absent from the Lord in houses ruinous and made of clay in a region of darknesse in a shadow of death in a valley of tears though compassed in with a wall of fire yet do the waves of ungodly men break in upon us though ship'd in a safe Ark the temple of God yet often tos'd almost unto shipwrack and ready with Ionah to be swallowed of a great Leviathan though protected with a guard of holy Angels which pitch their tents about us so that the enemy without cannot enter yet enticed often out and led privily but voluntarily a-away by the enchanting lusts the Dalilahs of our own bosome The kingdome and inheritance we expect is hid from us and we know no more of it but onely this that it passeth knowledge Truly the assurance of it is confirmd by an infallible pattent Gods own promise and that made firm by a seal coloured with that blood and stamped with the image of that body which was the price that bought it What remains then but that where the body is thither the Eagles flie where the treasure is
there the heart be also that we groan after the revelation of the sonnes of God when the vayl of our mortallity shall be rent the mud-wall of the flesh made spirituall and transparant the shadows and resemblances of the Sacraments abolished the glasse of the creature removed the riddle of our salvation unfolded the vapours of corruption dispelled the patience of our expectation rewarded and from the power of the spirit within and the presence of Christ without shall be diffused on the whole man a double lustre of exceeding abundant glory The hope and assurance of this is it which in those holy mysteries of Christs Supper we receive which if received without dependance and relation on that glory which they foreshadow and on that body which withall the merits of it they obsignate doth no more good than the seal of a king without any grant or patent whereunto it should be joyned in which there is no profit beyond the bare wax and much danger in triflin with so sacred a thing CHAP. IIII. Whence Sacraments derive their value and being namely from the Author that instituted them BUt why are not the instruments more glorious where the effects are so admirable whence is it that there should lie so much power in the narrow roome of so small and common elements It had been worth the creating of a new creature to be made the pledge of a new covenant the first fruits are of the same nature with their crop and earnest useth to be paid in coine of the same quality with the whole after-summe If then Sacraments are the earnests of our glory why are not the faithfull instead of eating a morsell of bread taken up with S t Paul into the third heavens why are they not in stead of drinking a sip of wine transformed with their Saviour and have with Steven a vision of him at the right hand of the father how discursive is foolish pride when it would prescribe unto God vaine man who undertakest to instruct thy maker in stead of praysing him to censure his benefits when thou shouldst enjoy them wilt thou not receive salvation without thine owne counsell or art thou so foolish as to conceive nothing precious without pompe and to judge of the things conveighed by the value and quality of the instrument that conveighs it tell me then why it is that water a vulgar element is held in a Cisterne of lead and thy wine a more costly liquor but in a vessell of wood Tell me the reason why that wax which in the shop haply was not priz'd at a penny should by cleaving unto a small parcell of parchment be valuable unto a million of money Tell me why should that clay which while it lay under foot was vile and dishonourable dirt when it was applyed by Christ unto the eye of a blind man be advanc'd unto the condition of a precious and supernaturall salve Is not even in works of Art the skill of the workman more eminent in the narrowest and unfittest Subjects Are not the Iliads of Homer more admirable in a Nutshell than in a volume doe not Limmers set the highest value on their smallest draughts and is there not matter of admiration and astonishment in the meanest and most vulgar objects And what madnesse is it then by those reasons to undervalue faith which are the arguments to confirme it as if the power of an Agent were not there greatest where the subject on which hee worketh doth conferre least as if the weaknesse of the element did not adde unto the wonder of the Sacrament If it were an argument of Christs miraculous power to feed five thousand with so few loaves why should not the miracle of his Sacrament be equall which feeds the whole Church with so slender elements certainly they who any way dis esteeme the seeming meanesse and emptinesse of the Sacrament entertaining but low and vulgar conceits thereof stumble at that same stone of foolishnesse by which the Gentiles fell from their salvation But wilt thou needs know both the reason why we use no other Sacraments and why these carry with them so much vertue one answer resolves both It is the Majestie of the same King that coynes his mony and that values it he that frames a private mint or imposeth another rate is in both equally a traitor in the former by stealing the Kings authority in the other by altering iâ— the same Author did both institute the Sacrament and value it from the same power did it receive the necessity of its being and the efficacie of its working In covenants or conveyances the articles and instruments may be haply drawne by some Lawyer but the confirmation of them by hand and seale are ordinarily performed by the men themselves who are interessed in them A Secretary may write the letter but his Lord will himselfe subscribe and seale it Thus the pattent of Gods covenant hath been drawn out for the benefit of Gods Church by many selected and inspired instruments unto whom God did dictate so much of his will by divine suggestion as his pleasure was to acquaint and edifie his Church withall But when hee comes to confirme this his gift by hand and seale behold then an immediate presence of his owne then comes Gods owne finger that is in the phrase of Scripture his spirit to write as a witnesse in the soule and then doth God stretch out his owne hand and reach unto us that Supper which is the seale to obsignate unto the senses the infallible truth of those covenants and our evident interest in those benefits which were before proclaimed in the pattent of his word The Apostle delivered nothing as it were by a second hand to the Corinthians but what hee had formerly received from the Lord. Divine things are unto us deposited we must first be receivers before deliverers CHAP. V. Inferences of practice from the Author of this Sacrament HEre then we see first both the absurdity and the wickednesse of a wil-worship when the same man who is to performe the obedience shall dare to appoint the lawes implying a peremptory purpose of no farther observance than may consist with the allowance of his own judgement Whereas true obedience must be grounded on the majesty of that power that commands not on the judgement of the subject or benefit of the precept impos'd divine laws require obedience not so much from the quality of the things commanded though they be ever holy and good as from the authority of him that institutes them We are all the servants of God and servants are but living instruments whose property it is to be governed by the will of those in whose possession they are Wil-worship and services of superstition well they may flatter God they do not please him He that requires us to denie our selves in his service doth therein teach us that his commands stand ratherin feare than in
likewise but a half Sacrament Secondly Bread and Wine In the Passeover there was blood shed but there was none drunken yea that flesh which was eaten was but once a yeare They who had all in types had yet their types as it were imperfect In the fulnesse of time came Christ and with or â—in Christ came the fulnesse of grace and of his fulnesse doe we receive in the Gospell which the Jewes only expected in the promise that they without us might not be made perfect these things have I spoken saith Christ that your joy might be full the fulnesse of our Sacrament notes also the fullnesse of our Salvation and of his sacrifice who is able perfectly to save those that come unto God by him Thirdly Bread and Wine common vulgar obvious food wine with water being the only knowne drinke with them in those hot Countries amongst the Jewes a lamb was to bee slaine a more chargeable and costly Sacrament not so easie for the poore to procure And therefore in the Sacrifice of first fruits the poore were dispenc'd with and for a Lamb offred a pair of pigeons Christ now hath broken down that partition wall that wall of inclosure which made the Church as a garden with hedges and made only the rich the people of the Jewes capable of Gods Covenants and Sacraments now that Gods Table hath crumms as well as flesh the Dogs the Gentiles eat of it too the poorest in the world is admitted to it even as the poorest that are do shift for bread though they are not able to provide flesh Then the Church was a fountaine sealed up but in Christ there was a fountaine opened for transgressions and for sinnes Fourthly Bread and Wine Bread to strengthen and Wine to comfort All temporall benefits are in divine Dialect called Bread it being the staffe of life and the want of which though in a confluence of all other blessings causeth famine in a Land See here the abundant sufficiency of Christs passion It is the universall food of the whole Church which sanctifieth all other blessings without which they have no relish nor comfort in them Sinne and the corrupt nature of man hath a venemous quality in it to turne all other good things into poyson unlesse corrected by this antitode this Bread of life that came downe from heaven And well may it be called a bread of life in as much as in it resides a power of trans-elementation that whereas other nourishments doe themselves turne into the substance of the receiver this quite otherwise transformes and affirmilates the soule unto the Image of it selfe whatsoever faintnesse we are in if we hunger after Christ hee can refresh us whatsoever feares oppresse us if like men opprest with feare we thirst gaspe after his blood it will comfort us whatsoever weaknesse either our sinnes or suffrings have brought us to the staffe of this bread will support us whatsoever sorrowes of mind or coldnesse of affection doe any way surprize us this wine or rather this bloud in which only is true life will with great efficacy quicken us If wee want power wee have the power of Christs Crosse if victory we have the victory of his Crosse if Triumph we have the triumph of his Crosse if peace we have the peace of his Crosse if wisdome we have the wisdome of his Crosse. Thus is Christ crucified a Treasure to his Church full of all sufficient provision both for necessitie and delight Fiftly Bread and Wine both of parts homogeneall and alike each part of Bread bread each part of Wine wine no crumme in the one no drop in the other differing from the quality of the whole O the admirable nature of Christs blood to reduce the affections and the whole man to one uniforme and spirituall nature with it selfe In so much that when we shall come to the perfect fruition of Christs glorious Body our very bodyes likewise shall be spirituall bodies spirituall in an uniformity of glory though not of nature with the soule Sinnes commonly are jarring and contentious one affection struggles in the same soule with another for mastery ambition fights with malice and pride with covetousnesse the head plots against the heart and the heart swells against the head reason and appetite will and passion soule body set the whole frame of nature in a continuall combustion like an unjoynted or broken arme one faculty moves contrary to the government or attraction of another and so as in a confluence of contrary streames and winds the soule is whirld about in a maze of intestine contentions But when once we become conformable unto Christs death it presently makes of two one and so worketh peace it slayeth that hatred and warre in the members and reduceth all unto that primitive harmony unto that uniforme spiritualnesse which changeth us all into the same Image from glory to glory Sixtly Bread and Wine as they are homogeneall so are they united together and wrought out of divers particular graines and grapes into one whole lump or vessell and therefore Bread and blood even amongst the Heathen were used for emblemes of leagues friendship and Mariage the greatest of all unions See the wonderfull effiâ—acy of Christ crucified to sodder as it were and joynt all his members into one body by love as they are united unto him by faith They are built up as living stones through him who is the chiefe corner stone elect and pretious unto one Temple they are all united by love by the bond or sinewes of peace unto him who is the head and transfuseth through them all the same vitall nourishment they are all the flock of Christ reduc'd unto one fold by that one chiefe Shepheard of their soules who came to gather those that wandred either from him in life or from one another in affection Lastly Bread and Wine sever'd and asunder that to be eaten this to be drunken that in a loafe this in a Cup It is not the bloud of of Christ running in his veynes but shed on his members that doth nourish his Church Impious therefore is their practice who powre Christs blood as it were into his body againe and shut up his wounds when they deny the Cup unto the people under pretence that Christs Body being received the blood by way of concomitancy is received together with it and so seale up that pretious Fountaine which he had opened and make a monopoly of Christs sacred wounds as if his blood had been shed only for the Priest and not as well for the people or as if the Church had power to withhold that from the people of Christ which himselfe had given them CHAP. VIII Practicall inferenâ—es from the materials of the Lords Supper HEre then we see first in as much as these
doe eat and drink the Lord himselfe And therefore the Church hath both at first and since most devoutly imitated our blessed Saviour in consecrating both these mysteries and their owne soules by thanksgiving and prayer before ever they received the elements from the hands of the Deacons that so that same pure Wine that immaculate Blood might be put into pure and untainted vessels even into sanctified and holy hearts lest otherwise the wine should be spilt and the vessells perish And indeed the Sacrament is ignorantly and fruitlessely received if we doe not therin devote consecrate and set apart our selves unto Gods service for what is a Sacrament but a visible oath wherin wee doe in consideration of Christs mercies unto us vow eternall alleigeance and service unto him against all those powers and lusts which warre against the soule and to make our members weapons of righteousnesse unto him Secondly as Christ brake the bread before he gave it so must our hearts before they be offered up to God for a reasonable sacrifice be humbled and bruised with the apprehension of their owne demerits for a Broken and contrite heart O Lord thou wilt not despise shall wee have adamantine and unbended soules under the weight of those sins which brake the very Rock of our salvation and made the dead stones of the Temple to rend in sunder Was his body broken to let out his blood and shall not our soules be broken to let it in Was the Head wounded and shall the Ulcers and Impostumes remaine unlanced Would not God in the Law accept of any but pushed and dissected and burned sacrifices was his Temple built of none but cut and hewed stones and shall we think to have no Sword of the Spirit divide us no Hammer of the Word break us none of our drosse and stubble burned up none of our flesh beaten downe none of our old man crucified and cut off from us and yet be still living sacrifices and living stones in his Temple Whence did David call on God but out of the pit and the deepe waters when his bones were broken could not rejoyce Certainly we come unto God either as unto a Physitian or as to a Judge wee must needs bring soules either full of sores to be cured or full of sins to be condemned Againe in that this Rock of ours was broken we know whither to flie in case of tempest and oppression even unto the holes of the Rock for succor To disclaime our owne sufficiency to disavow any confidence in our owne strength to flie from Church treasures and supererrogations and to lay hold on him in whom were the treasures the fulnes of all grace of which fulnesse we all receive to forsake the private Lampes of the wisest Virgins the Saints and Angels which have not light enough to shine into anothers house and to have recourse only unto the Sonne of righteousnesse the light not of a House but of the World who inlightneth every man that commeth into it Think when thou seest these Elements broken that even then thou applyest thy lips unto his bleeding wounds and doest from thence suck salvation That even then with Thomas thy hand is in his side from whence thou mayest pluck out those words of life My God my God that even then thou seest in each wound a mouth open and in that mouth the blood as a visible prayer to intercede with God the Father for thee and to solicite him with stronger cries for salvation than did Abels for revenge Let not any sins though never so bloody so numberlesse deterre thee from this pretious Fountaine If it be the glory of Christs blood to wash away sinne then is it his greatest glory to wash away the greatest sins Thy sinne indeed is the object of Gods hate but the misery which sinne brings upon thee is the object of his pitty O when a poore distressed soule that for many yeares together hath securely weltered in a sinck of numberlesse and noisome lusts and hath even beene environed with a Hell of wickednesse shall at last having received a wound from the sword of Gods Spirit an eye to see and a heart to feele and tremble at the terrors of â—ods judgements shall then I say flie out of himselfe smite upon his thigâ— cast away his rags crouch and crawle unto the throne of grace solicite Gods mercy with strong cries for one drop of that blood which is never cast away when powred into sinfull and sorrowfull soules how think we will the bowels of Christ turne within him How will he hasten to meet such an humbled soule to embrace him in those armes which were stretched on the Crosse for him and to open unto him that inexhausted Fountaine which even delighteth to mix it â—elfe with the teares of sinners Certainly if it were possible for any one of Christs wounds to be more pretious than the rest even that should be opened wide and powred out into the soule of such a penitent Yea if it might possibly be that the sins of all the World could be even throng'd into the conscience of one man and the whole guilt of them made proper and personall unto him yet if such a man could bee brought to sue for grace in the mediation of Christs broken body there would thence issue balme enough to cure blood enough to wash and to drowne them all Only let not us sin because grace abounds let not us make work for the blood of Christ and go about by crimson and presumptuous sins as it were to pose Gods mercy The blood of Christ if spilt and trampled under foot will certainly cry so much lowder than Abels for vengeance by how much it is the more pretious It may be as well upon us as in us As the vertue and benefit of Christs blood is in those that imbrace it unto life and happinesse so is the guilt of it upon those that despise it unto wretchednesse and condemnation Thirdly in that Christ gave and delivered these mysteries unto the Church we likewise must learne not to ingrosse our selves or our owne gifts but freely to dedicate them all unto the honour of that God and benefit of that Church unto which he gave both himselfe and them Even nature hath made men to stand in need of each other and therefore hath imprinted in them a naturall inclination unto fellowship and society in one common City by Christ we are all made of one City of one houshold yea of one Church of one Temple He hath made us members of one body animated by one and the same Spirit stones of one entire building united on one and the same foundation branches of one undivided stock quickned by one and the same root and therefore requires from us all a mutuall support succour sustentation and nourishment of each
are wholly delivered from all the sting and malediction of the Law Christ is unto us the end of the Law abolishing the shadowes of the Ceremoniall the the Curses of the Morall wee are no more under the Law but under Grace under the precepts but not under the Covenant under the obedience but not under the bondage of the Law unto the righteous there is no Law that is there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ wee are dead unto the Law by the Body of Christ it hath not the least power or dominion over us Secondly the most proper nature of a punishment is to satisfie an offended Justice but Christ bearing the iniquity of us all in his Body on the Tree did therein make a most sufficient and ample satisfaction to his Fathers wrath leaving nothing wherein wee should make up either the measure or the vertue of his sufferings but did himselfe perfectly save us for an infinite person suffering and the value of the suffering depending on the dignity of the Person it must needs bee that the satisfaction made by that suffering must be likewise infinite and by consequence most perfect Lastly if we consider as it is in all matters of consequence necessary but the author of this evill we shall finde it to be no true and proper punishment for it is a reconciled father who chasteneth every sonne whom hee receiveth who as hee often doth declare his severest wrath by forbearing to punish so doth he as often even out of tendernesse and compassion chastise his Children who hath predestinated us unto them doth execute his decrees of mercy in them doth by his providence governe and by his love sanctifie them unto those that suffer them in none of which things are there the prints of punishment But if Christ have thus taken away the malignity of all temporall punishments why are they not quite removed to what end should the substance of that remaine whose properties are extinguished Certainely God is so good as that he would not permit evill to bee if hee were not so powerfull as to turne it to good Is there not honey in the Bee when the sting is removed sweetnesse in the rose when the prickles are cut off a medicinable vertue in the flesh of Vipers when the poyson is cast out and can man turne Serpents into Antidotes and shall not God bee able to turne the fiery darts of that old Serpent into instruments for letting out our corruptions and all his buffets into so many stroakes for the better fastening of those Graces in us which were before loose and ready to fall out Briefly to conclude this digression some ends of the remaining of Death and other temporall evils notwithstanding the Death of Christ have taken away the malignity of them all are amongst others these First for the triall of our faith and other Graces our Faith in Gods Providence is then greatest when wee dare cast our selves on his care even when to outward appearances hee seemeth not at all to care for us when wee can so looke on our miseries that we can withall looke through them Admirable is that faith which can with Israel see the Land of Promise through a Sea a Persecution a Wildernesse through whole Armies of the sonnes of Anak which can with Abraham see a Posterity like the starres of Heaven through a dead wombe a bleeding sword and a sacrificed sonne which can with Iob see a Redeemer a Resurrection a restitution through the dunghill and the potsheard through ulcers and botches through the violence of heaven and of men through the discomforts of friends the temptations of a wife and the malice of Satan which can with Stephen see Christ in heaven through a whole tempest and cloud of stones which can with that poore Syrophenician Woman see Christs compassion through the odious name of Dogge which can in every Egypt see an Exodus in every red Sea a passage in every fiery Fornace an Angell of Light in every Denne of Lions a Lion of Iudah in every temptation a doore of escape and in every grave an arise and sing Secondly they are unto us for antidotes against sinne and meanes of humility and newnesse of life by which our faith is exercised and excited our corruptions pruned our diseases cured our security and slacknesse in the race which is set before us corrected without which good effects all our afflictions are cast away in vaine upon us Hee hath lost his affliction that hath not learned to endure it the evils of the faithfull are not to destroy but to instruct them they loose their end if they * teach them nothing Thirdly they make us conformable unto Christs sufferings Fourthly they shew unto us the perfection of Gods graces and the sufficiency of his love Fifthly they drive us unto God for succour unto his Word for information and unto his Sonne for better hopes for nothing sooner drives a man out of himselfe than that which oppresseth and conquereth him in so much as that publique calamities drave the Heathen themselves to their prayers and to consult with their Sybils Oracles for removing those Judgements whose authour though ignorant of yet under false names and idolatrous representations they laboured as much as in them lay to reconcile and propitiate Sixthly God is in them glorified in that he spareth not his owne People and yet doth so punish that hee doth withall support and amend them Lastly it prepareth us for Glory and by these evils convincing the understanding of the slipperinesse and uncertainty of this worlds delights and how happinesse cannot grow in that earth which is cursed with thornes and briars it teacheth us to groane after the revelation of that life which is hidde with Christ where all teares shall be wiped from our eyes So that in all temporall evils that which is destructive the sting and malediction of them is in the Death of Christ destroyed having therefore so many motives to make imprâ—ssions on the Soule the Wonder of Christs Death the Love of it and the Benefits redounding unto us from it there is required of us a multiplied recordation a ruminating and often recalling of it to our thoughts if it were possible at all times to have no word or thought or worke passe from us without an eye unto Christ crucified as the patterne or if not as the Judge of them but especially at that time when the drift and purpose of our whole sacred businesse is the Celebration of his Death CHAP. XVI Of the manner after which we are to celebrate the memory of Christs Passion BUt wee may not presume that wee remember Christs death as hee requires when either with an historicall memory or with a festivall solemnitie onely wee celebrate or discourse of it except we doe it with a practicke memory proportioned to the goodnesse and quality of