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<DATE>2013-01-17</DATE>
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<NAME>Claire Tolan</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P> SERMON Of the True, Spiritual, Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, Oppos'd to the GROSS, CARNAL, IMAGINARY, Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</P>
<P>WHEREIN The true Meaning of the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> is opened, in order to a con&s;tant, habitual, and actual Preparation to it.</P>
<P>By <HI>T Beverley.</HI></P>
<P>Printed for the Author, 1687.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE Chri&s;tian Readers, ESPECIALLY MY CONTINUAL AUDITORS.</HEAD>
<P><HI>I</HI> Offer this Sermon to the Publick, as the most &s;atisfactory Re|&s;olution concerning the Lord's Supper and its true Tran&s;ub&s;tan|tiation, in oppo&s;ition to the fal&s;e, &s;o eagerly contended: I have done it with all the Mode&s;ty and Inoffen&s;ivene&s;s I could, with|out Injury to Truth, without <HI>Denying Chri&s;t before Men.</HI></P>
<P>I have put the best Value, and all the Value po&s;&s;ible, upon <HI>Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation;</HI> that is, To Interpret it into a True Scripture, Go&s;pel No|tion, into a Spirituality: I confe&s;s the very Word, nor any one Word parallel to it is found, that I know of, in the <HI>New Te&s;tament;</HI> but the Thing it &s;elf is every where in the Go&s;pel of Christ: <HI>Chri&s;t in us,</HI> and <HI>we in Chri&s;t, Baptiz'd into one Body, one Body, one Bread, a Drinking into one Spirit,</HI> are favourable to it; Chri&s;t being <HI>All</HI> in <HI>All</HI> the <HI>Head, putting on Chri&s;t,</HI> but above all, <HI>dwelling in Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Chri&s;t dwelling in us,</HI> joyn'd with <HI>Eating his Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Drinking his Blood,</HI> are the very &s;ame thing with this <HI>Spiritual Tran&s;ub&s;tanti|ation;</HI> to which the <HI>Bread and Wine</HI> are the mo&s;t fit and &s;en&s;ible Sym|bols, and Chri&s;t is as really pre&s;ent in them by his Word, &s;anctifying them into Spirituality, as in his Word it &s;elf; And <HI>if we Abide in him,</HI> and <HI>his Words abide in us,</HI> we are one with him in Both, as <HI>the Vine and the Branches are one,</HI> John 15. 1. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>I con&s;ider nothing is &s;o likely to &s;atisfie &s;o deeply an engraven Noti|on in &s;ome mens minds, as this true and faithful Account of it, as no|thing
<PB REF="3"> could &s;atisfie the confu&s;ed Lineaments of <HI>Nebuchadnezzar's Dream</HI> in his own mind, but <HI>Daniel's Prophetical Revelation of the Thing,</HI> and of the Truth it &s;elf to him. I look upon this True Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t given from the Word of God, as the mo&s;t effectual means to recover tho&s;e to the Truth who <HI>live in Error</HI> concerning it, to &s;ettle the Wavering, re&s;olve the Doubtful, to confirm and &s;tabli&s;h in the one <HI>Truth</HI> always <HI>pre&s;ent,</HI> the True Chri&s;tian. This is far above all Rea|&s;ons of Philo&s;ophy, Vindication from Antiquity, and the Fathers con|cerning it. When we find we have that which an&s;wers all the Notions of Scripture, and is worthy to be its meaning, we may be at re&s;t. Here the <HI>Romani&s;ts</HI> Zeal for a <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> the <HI>Lutherans</HI> for a <HI>Con&s;ub&s;tantiation, other Prote&s;tants for a real Pre&s;ence,</HI> may find full Reception and ju&s;t Entertainment, in a &s;en&s;e worthy of them if they will accept it.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides this, I have aimed at po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the Minds of Chri&s;tians with &s;o high a &s;piritual Notion, to recommend the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> as Preach'd, as in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> in its highe&s;t Intendments and Efficacy, and to win mens Souls to the outward Ob&s;ervation by their being impregna|ted with the inward Life and Power; In which Pur&s;uit many excel|lent Truths, and of great moment, have ri&s;en up, and offered them&s;elves. There remains nothing, but to be&s;eech the God of all Grace to give his Ble&s;&s;ing to it, and to you particularly, My very Honoured and truly Loved Hearers, to whom it is my con&s;tant Endeavour, through the Grace of God, to open to you together the Spirituality and the Rea&s;o|nablene&s;s of Divine Things; whom I commend to God and the Word of his Grace, to build you up, &s;trengthen, &s;tabli&s;h, &s;ettle you, and &s;hall thereunto labour while God allows me opportunity, with mo&s;t con&s;cien|tious Meditations, mo&s;t earne&s;t Prayers, and deare&s;t Affections.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your very faithful Servant in the Work of the Lord, <HI>Beverley.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>THE CONTENTS OF THE SERMON.</HEAD>
<P><LIST>
<ITEM>AN Introduction upon the general view of the In&s;titution of the Lord's Supper, as given by three Evangeli&s;ts, and by the Apo|&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> as a fourth, compos'd into a Harmony; and our Lord's Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>John</HI> 6. lying as a Foundation, <HI>Page</HI> 1. <HI>to Page</HI> 5.</ITEM>
<ITEM>General Ob&s;ervations upon the Harmony, giving Advantage to the right under&s;tanding the In&s;titution, <HI>p.</HI> 6. <HI>to p.</HI> 9.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The method of the Sermon is laid down in general, <HI>p.</HI> 9.</ITEM>
<ITEM>The fir&s;t general Head &s;hews, How Christ gives his Body or his Fle&s;h to eat, and his Blood to drink, in four Points, <HI>p.</HI> 10.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 1. The Humane Nature of Christ is in &s;acred Writ mo&s;t expre&s;|&s;ively &s;et out by his Fle&s;h, his Body, and his Blood, <HI>p.</HI> 11, 12, 13.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 2. The Fle&s;h, Body, and Blood of Chri&s;t, and all his Actions therein, are as &s;o many Preparations, that he may be &s;piritually eaten and drunk, <HI>p.</HI> 14.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 3. The Humane Nature of Christ, and all his Sufferings and Acti|ons in it, are &s;o many Re&s;ts and Repo&s;itories of the Divine Power, <HI>p.</HI> 14, 15, 16:</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 4. The Divine Power of the Son of God extends the Body and Blood of Christ, his Action and &s;uffering therein in their &s;aving virtue,
<PB REF="4"> without limitation to Time or Place. This is branch'd into three Points, <HI>p.</HI> 17.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 1. The Divine Nature of the Son of God, acting in the Humane Nature united to him, can draw out &s;uch &s;piritual Efficacies from his Actions and Sufferings therein, as &s;hall be mo&s;t conducive to the Sal|vation of Souls that believe in him: and this is di&s;play'd briefly in &s;ome Re&s;emblances of Nature, though found in&s;ufficient to decipher &s;o great a My&s;tery, <HI>p.</HI> 17, 18.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Therefore the&s;e Efficacies are drawn out into four Cau&s;alities according to Scripture,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Of an eternal, propitiatory, expiatory Cau&s;e, <HI>p.</HI> 19.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Of an exemplar Cau&s;e, <HI>p.</HI> 20.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Of an efficient, unitive Cau&s;e, <HI>p.</HI> 22.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Of an argumentative Cau&s;e, fill'd al&s;o with divine Efficacy, <HI>p.</HI> 23. <HI>to p.</HI> 26.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Point</HI> 2. <HI>and</HI> 3. The Divine Efficacy of Christ cannot be hindered by di|&s;tance either of Time or Place, <HI>p.</HI> 27, 28.</ITEM>
<ITEM>General Head the &s;econd, propounds to &s;hew how clear the Pa&s;&s;age is to tho&s;e Words, <HI>Take, Eat, &amp;c.</HI> from the Point of Chri&s;t giving his Fle&s;h to eat; by &s;hewing, That as there is a rich Communicativene&s;s on the part of Christ, giving his Fle&s;h to eat, and his Blood to drink, &s;o there are receiving Faculties and Powers of Man, fitted by Grace, that may be truly &s;aid, in a &s;piritual &s;en&s;e, to eat and to drink, as Chri&s;t is &s;aid to give, <HI>p.</HI> 29, 30.</ITEM>
<ITEM>This Eating is therefore re&s;embled with eating and drinking,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. As in pledge of Peace and Reconciliation with God, <HI>p.</HI> 31.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. As a &s;olemn Act of Wor&s;hip, <HI>p.</HI> 32.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. As Eating and Drinking is made a Symbol of Eternal Glory, <HI>p.</HI> 32.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Principally as Eating and Drinking are in order to Life and Nou|ri&s;hment; where the Notion of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation hath its mo&s;t
<PB REF="4"> proper place, and is mo&s;t fully di&s;cours'd in its spiritual &s;en&s;e. <HI>p.</HI> 32. <HI>to the end of p.</HI> 38.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>General Head the third, offers a fair Accommodation, &s;o as that there may be no Encounter betwixt the My&s;tery and the Letter, or betwixt the grand Sen&s;e and the very Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> di&s;cours'd upon the Harmonical Context, from p. 38. to p. 44.</ITEM>
<ITEM>General Head the fourth, is taken up in an Enquiry, How there came &s;uch a Notion into the Chri&s;tian Church, as that fle&s;hly Tran&s;ub&s;tanti|ation, &s;o earne&s;tly contended for, and finds it ari&s;ing from four Cau|&s;es,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. From the great my&s;tery of &s;piritual Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, given in that our &s;o magnified <HI>Sixth of John,</HI> and in the In&s;titution of the Lord's Supper, <HI>p.</HI> 44.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. From the Ancients and Fathers di&s;cour&s;ing with high Eloquence of this Point, not &s;ufficiently guarded, <HI>p.</HI> 45.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. From the Ignorance and Barbarity which after them invaded the Chri|&s;tian Church, <HI>p.</HI> 46.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. From the ri&s;ing of a Church-Power at the &s;ame time over mens Con&s;ci|ences, and pre&s;&s;ing this as an Article of Faith, <HI>p.</HI> 47.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>General Head the fifth, &s;hews the danger of &s;uch a Doctrine as fle&s;hly Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. As it &s;hakes the Credit of all our knowing and judging Faculties, <HI>p.</HI> 48, 49.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. As it makes void the Divinene&s;s of Scripture-Language, expre&s;&s;ing &s;piritual things by &s;en&s;ible, and indeed perverts the Wi&s;dom of all Lan|guage &s;o doing, <HI>p.</HI> 49.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. As it amu&s;es Mens Minds, and draws them off from &s;piritual Action in Holy My&s;teries, <HI>p.</HI> 49.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The great danger e&s;pecially lies in bringing down God into a contempti|ble, vile Appearance, and allowing divine Honour to it; which is one
<PB REF="5"> &s;ort of Idolatry Scripture mo&s;t abhors, <HI>p.</HI> 50 to 52.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
<ITEM>General Head the &s;ixth draws all into &s;ix practical Applications, <HI>p.</HI> 52. <HI>to the end,</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. By propo&s;al to our choice the most worthy of the&s;e two, The spiritual, or the carnal Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. By rai&s;ing us to high Thoughts of the Redemption of Je&s;us Christ, &s;o uniting it &s;elf to us, as by eating and drinking his Body and Blood.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. By lifting up our Hearts to Chri&s;t eating the Pa&s;&s;over, and drinking the very &s;ame Fruit of the Vine with us by his Interce&s;&s;ion in Heaven, which he did here on Earth.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. By obliging us to a high value of this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper, in which we &s;o unite to Christ.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. By per&s;wading us to an earnest care against violating &s;o great a My|&s;tery, as Christ eaten and drunk in the Go&s;pel, and the Lord's Supper.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. By lifting up our Heads in Prayers and De&s;ires to the Table of Christ in his Kingdom.</ITEM>
</LIST></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>A SERMON OF THE True, Spiritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> oppos'd to the Gro&s;s, Carnal, Imaginary <HI>Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>MATTH. 26. 26.</BIBL>
<Q>Compar'd with <HI>Mark</HI> 14. 22. <HI>Luke</HI> 22. 19. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 23. <HI>&amp;c. This is my Body.</HI></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>I Take all the&s;e Scriptures, as the common Subject, that by the Grace and A&s;&s;i&s;tance of God, I intend to di&s;cour&s;e at this time, and e&s;pecially to Treat the Sen&s;e of the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body:</HI> And <HI>This Cup is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament.</HI> And as I have earne&s;tly begg'd of God, that he would <HI>waken me morning by morning,</HI> that he would <HI>waken my Ear to hear as the lear|ned</HI> concerning it; &s;o that He would give me the <HI>Tongue</HI> of the <HI>Learned</HI> to &s;peak of it; and grant you al&s;o to <HI>hear with the Ear of the Learned;</HI> that &s;o in this whole Duty the <HI>Preparations of the Heart,</HI> the <HI>An&s;wer of the Tongue,</HI> and the <HI>Hearing of the Ear,</HI> may be <HI>from the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>Now I &s;hall endeavour &s;o to treat of it, as if there were no other Point of Controver&s;ie between us Prote&s;tants and the <HI>Roman Per&s;ua&s;ion,</HI> but only the Sen&s;e of the&s;e Words,
<PB N="2" REF="6"> <HI>This is my Body:</HI> And I &s;hall con&s;ider that <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantia|tion,</HI> as it is generally called, that is built upon it, as if there were no other Fault nor Errour in that Doctrine, but on|ly a <HI>Zeal</HI> for the <HI>My&s;tery of the Lord's Supper,</HI> and the Let|ter of Scripture in this <HI>In&s;titution,</HI> though it be not <HI>according to Knowledge:</HI> and therefore I will allow the utmo&s;t both to the Words, and the Sen&s;e, that can be allowed, the very utmo&s;t that can be made of <HI>This is my Body, This Cup is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament.</HI> And I &s;hall endeavour &s;o to treat of it, that there may be nothing that may be offen&s;ive, except the plain Evidence and Rea&s;on of Things, the Evi|dence of Truth, without any umbrage, any &s;hadow of a <HI>Railing Accu&s;ation.</HI> I will di&s;cour&s;e only upon the &s;ingle Account of Scripture, and the Rea&s;ons drawn from it.</P>
<P>And therefore I do allow, That the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> and <HI>This Cup is my Blood,</HI> they do carry a mo&s;t high and important Sen&s;e; And I &s;hall con&s;ider the utmo&s;t Ten|dency they can have to &s;uch a thing as is called <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tan|tiation:</HI> though the Word it &s;elf be not indeed found in Scripture, yet I will allow the thing in its due &s;en&s;e. And I &s;hall endeavour &s;o to do this, that you may have the clear|e&s;t under&s;tanding of the Intention and Meaning of the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and the <HI>In&s;titution</HI> of it, and of the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> and &s;o as may tend mo&s;t to the real Sen&s;e, and Impre&s;&s;ion upon your Hearts, of &s;o great an Expre&s;&s;ion of our Saviour both in the general Doctrine of the Go&s;pel, and in the particular Sen&s;e and Meaning of the <HI>Lord's Sup|per,</HI> and that &s;acred Solemnity; and al&s;o may be mo&s;t pra|ctical, and may mo&s;t &s;erve to the good of every man's Soul who de&s;ires &s;piritually to under&s;tand this great Doctrine, and the particular Ordinance of the <HI>Lord's Supper.</HI></P>
<P>And becau&s;e it is agreed among all men that profe&s;s any Reverence to the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> that as it is not a humane Device, &s;o not a natural Duty, made known by natural Light, nor written in natural Con&s;cience; it is not like the Reverence of the Divine Being, or Prayer to God, or the
<PB N="3" REF="6"> de&s;ire to know his Mind or Will, or any moral Duty: but it depends wholly upon Divine In&s;titution and Ordination: 'Tis wholly from Scripture, or el&s;e there could never have been &s;uch a Wor&s;hip of God known in the World, as the Solemnity of <HI>eating Bread,</HI> and <HI>drinking Wine</HI> in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> in <HI>Remembrance of him.</HI></P>
<P>To introduce therefore this matter, I con&s;ider, There are Four in&s;pired Writers who have given us this In&s;titution from our Lord; the <HI>Evangelist Matthew,</HI> the <HI>Evangelist Mark,</HI> the <HI>Evangelist Luke,</HI> and the <HI>Apostle Paul:</HI> and then the <HI>Evangelist John,</HI> although it was not committed to him (as every <HI>Evangelist</HI> had throughout the whole <HI>Evangelick</HI> Hi&s;tory, his Portion of every Matter, and the proper Words of it committed to him) to write of this <HI>In&s;titution;</HI> yet he had a &s;ublime and highly &s;piritual Di&s;cour&s;e intru&s;t|ed with him all along the la&s;t part of his &s;ixth Chapter con|cerning the <HI>eating the Fle&s;h of Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>drinking his Blood;</HI> which mu&s;t needs be the Foundation of <HI>eating the Fle&s;h of Christ, and drinking his Blood</HI> in the <HI>Sacrament:</HI> for a <HI>Sa|crament</HI> mu&s;t have a Doctrine to &s;u&s;tain it, that it may not be an in&s;ignificant Ceremony: and what can have nearer Relation to the Sacrament of <HI>eating the Body of Chri&s;t bro|ken for us,</HI> and <HI>drinking his Blood of the New Te&s;tament &s;hed for many, than eating his Fle&s;h, and drinking his Blood, which he gave for the life of the World,</HI> which is <HI>Meat indeed</HI> and <HI>Drink indeed,</HI> which the <HI>Evangeli&s;t John</HI> relates from Chri&s;t, of which <HI>whoever eats &s;hall live by him for ever,</HI> and <HI>he will rai&s;e him up at the last day,</HI> viz. at his <HI>Coming,</HI> till which <HI>Co|ming there is a &s;hewing forth of his Death</HI> in this <HI>Supper,</HI> viz. a declaring that efficacy of it which &s;hall then appear. And it is certain, though Chri&s;t had not yet in&s;tituted this &s;acred Rite, nor did till &s;ome con&s;iderable &s;pace after this great Di&s;cour&s;e, yet he knew his own Intention concerning it, and he knew, this Doctrine &s;hould be in its ju&s;t Time com|manded by him&s;elf, to be repre&s;ented in that Rite; and his Death, as a <HI>Sacrifice,</HI> he continually enlivens, and keeps,
<PB N="4" REF="7"> new, vigorous, and in full force by his <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion</HI> upon it, in which Interce&s;&s;ion he appears with his own Blood in the true <HI>Holy of Holies,</HI> as the <HI>High priest</HI> with the <HI>Blood</HI> of the Typical Sacrifices in that Typical <HI>Holie&s;t.</HI> All which becomes a mo&s;t e&s;pecial Preparation of his Fle&s;h to be <HI>eaten</HI> and <HI>drunk</HI> in the Lord's Supper: therefore the Lord's Supper is &s;o pe|culiar an <HI>Annunciation of his Death till he comes; viz.</HI> in the <HI>eating his Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>drinking his Blood,</HI> now become a <HI>Peace-offering</HI> by his <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion,</HI> and to be <HI>fea&s;ted</HI> upon.</P>
<P>Now in the&s;e four &s;acred Pen-men of this <HI>In&s;titution,</HI> 'tis ob&s;ervable, That they are all uniform in the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body:</HI> there's not any difference among them, from one to the other, not any variety found: they all with one Mouth &s;ay to a very Tittle, <HI>This is my Body.</HI> But they are not &s;o uniform concerning the <HI>Cup:</HI> The <HI>Evangelist Matthew</HI> and the <HI>Evangelist Mark,</HI> &s;ay, <HI>This Cup is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament:</HI> The <HI>Evangeli&s;t Luke,</HI> and the <HI>Apo&s;tle Paul,</HI> &s;ay, <HI>This Cup is the New Te&s;tament in my Blood:</HI> &s;o here's thus much of variety, Two &s;ay, <HI>This is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament;</HI> two others &s;ay, <HI>This is the New Te&s;tament in my Blood.</HI> And this I do account will give us great light into the &s;en&s;e of this <HI>In&s;titution,</HI> as you &s;hall perceive in the pro|gre&s;s of this Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>That which is yet farther con&s;iderable, is, that the <HI>Apo&s;tle Paul</HI> &s;ays, <HI>That which I received of the Lord I deliver'd unto</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11. 23.</NOTE> <HI>you:</HI> by which Words, there is great Rea&s;on to believe, that the <HI>Apo&s;tle,</HI> as a <HI>fourth Evangelist,</HI> receiv'd this <HI>In&s;titu|tion</HI> immediately from the <HI>Revelation of Je&s;us Christ,</HI> and that it is part of that <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> which he tells us, <HI>Gal.</HI> 1. 11, 12. <HI>he received not from men, neither was taught it, but by the Re|velation of Je&s;us Chri&s;t:</HI> &s;o that I think we may certainly and &s;afely conclude, He was not only in&s;pired as a &s;acred Writer of that <HI>Epi&s;tle</HI> to the <HI>Corinths,</HI> but Chri&s;t had before that, at the time of his Call to the <HI>Apo&s;tle&s;hip,</HI> made an immediate <HI>Revelation</HI> of this <HI>In&s;titution</HI> to him; which, as it &s;hews the great excellency of this <HI>holy Sacrament,</HI> &s;o to this Apo&s;tle
<PB N="5" REF="7"> was committed, as his peculiar part, to &s;hew the Obligato|rine&s;s of this Ordinance upon all Ages till <HI>Chri&s;t's coming,</HI> which is not given in expre&s;s terms, but by him only.</P>
<P>All this being premis'd, it is of concern in the next place, to give you an exact <HI>Harmony</HI> of the&s;e <HI>four &s;acred Writers,</HI> and what they have written concerning this <HI>In&s;titution:</HI> that is, out of all the words of each of them drawn out, and laid together, to make up one even Text of the whole, which, by Interpreters, is call'd a <HI>Harmony.</HI> And thus it is, as I &s;hall draw it out of the <HI>Apo&s;tle Paul,</HI> as infolding the whole <HI>In&s;titution.</HI></P>
<P><Q>I received of the Lord that which I deliver'd unto you, that the Lord Je&s;us the Night in which he was betray'd, while they were eating that Pa&s;&s;over, of which he had <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11. 23.</NOTE> &s;aid, <HI>Luke</HI> 22. 15, 16. [With De&s;ire have I de&s;ired to eat this Pa&s;&s;over with you before I &s;uffer, For I &s;ay unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22. 19.</NOTE> Kingdom of God,] he took the Bread, which we break, and ble&s;&s;ed it with Thank&s;giving, and gave it to his Di&s;|ciples, and &s;aid, Take, eat, this is my Body, <HI>viz.</HI> the Com|munion of it, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 16. which is broken for you, This do in Remembrance of me. In the &s;ame manner, after Supper, when he had &s;upped, He took the Cup of Ble&s;&s;ing, which we ble&s;s, and when he had given Thanks, he gave it to them, &s;aying to them, Divide it among your &s;elves, and drink you all of it; For this Cup is my Blood of the New <NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 26. 28. Marc. 14. 24.</NOTE> Te&s;tament, and this Cup is the New Te&s;tament in my Blood, <HI>viz.</HI> in the Communion of it, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 16. which is &s;hed for you and for many for the Remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins. [And they drank all of it,] <HI>Mark</HI> 14. 23. This do as often as ye drink it in Remembrance of me. As often therefore as ye eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye &s;hew forth the Lord's Death till he come, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 26.</Q></P>
<P>This is that, which laid together ari&s;es out of all the&s;e <HI>four Evangeli&s;ts</HI> (accounting the <HI>Apo&s;tle Paul</HI> for one,) and comprizing this <HI>In&s;titution</HI> in what immediately concerns
<PB N="6" REF="8"> the <HI>In&s;titution</HI> it &s;elf, wholly and fully. And before it we may place the &s;ixth Chapter of the <HI>Evangelist John,</HI> begin|ning at <HI>v.</HI> 27. as giving the Doctrine that &s;upports this <HI>In|&s;titution.</HI> And out of this <HI>Harmony</HI> I &s;hall endeavour to di&s;|cour&s;e at this time.</P>
<P>Now it is certain, this <HI>harmonical</HI> Context mu&s;t be true in every <HI>Iota</HI> of it; and whatever is fuller in any part, mu&s;t inlighten and clear the whole; and whatever is ob&s;cure in any part, or curt, and &s;hort, mu&s;t be enlarged from what is more clear and full. For you know one Writer is as true as another in whatever we place, as from them to this matter. The very Order in which they give this <HI>In&s;titution</HI> is much to be con&s;idered; and if in any particular there &s;eems any thing that does encounter, and run cro&s;s, one thing with another, it mu&s;t be &s;o explain'd, as that the whole, and eve|ry part, may be mo&s;t conciliated with it &s;elf; &s;o that the whole mu&s;t be both clear'd, and illu&s;trated, and reconcil'd by the concert of every part, and every part by it &s;elf in compare with the other parts: of all which we are to make our Advantages; as,</P>
<P N="1">1. When we find the whole Concert of the <HI>In&s;titution</HI> &s;o <HI>one</HI> in the&s;e words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> we know, That in them is mo&s;t plainly, po&s;itively, forcibly, deliver'd the real Parti|cipation and Communion of the Body of Je&s;us in the Lord's Supper; as we &s;hall find all the words joyn'd with them, viz. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing, Breaking, Taking, Eating a Body broken for us,</HI> lead us unto and make this <HI>Bread</HI> the <HI>Communion of Chri&s;t's Body;</HI> as the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> calls it.</P>
<P N="2">2. When we find the four Records of this <HI>In&s;titution</HI> agree in the <HI>Cup,</HI> even as in the <HI>Body,</HI> thus far, that the <HI>drink|ing</HI> of it is an equal part of the <HI>In&s;titution</HI> with <HI>the eating the Body:</HI> that it appears in every one, it had its di&s;tinct <HI>parti|cular Ble&s;&s;ing,</HI> even as the <HI>Bread:</HI> that it hath &s;ome peculiar marks, as the particular Command, <HI>Divide it among your &s;elves, Drink all of it;</HI> do this very particular thing, <HI>as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me:</HI> that the matter of Fact
<PB N="7" REF="8"> concerning it is peculiarly recited, viz. <HI>They All drank of it:</HI> that the <HI>Apo&s;tle calls it the Cup of Ble&s;&s;ing.</HI> All this &s;peaks two things; That the <HI>Cup</HI> is as e&s;&s;ential a part of the <HI>In&s;ti|tution</HI> as the <HI>Bread,</HI> of as high Nece&s;&s;ity and Dignity; and the Precept of one as exten&s;ive as the other, and of the Two the mo&s;t particularly remark'd in its Exten&s;ivene&s;s.</P>
<P N="3">3. That it is worthy to explain the &s;en&s;e of tho&s;e words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> and the meaning of the <HI>In&s;titution,</HI> upon what occa&s;ion or account &s;oever it &s;hall be &s;o urg'd; &s;eeing as the Doctrine of the <HI>Blood &s;hed of Christ</HI> hath the Equality and rather the Preference to the Body (if there could be any odds) throughout the <HI>New Te&s;tament,</HI> as being the la&s;t and completory Act of Chri&s;t's <HI>&s;acrificing</HI> him&s;elf, and is therefore &s;o expre&s;ly nam'd in that <HI>Tri-unity</HI> of Te&s;timonies on <HI>Earth,</HI> The <HI>Spirit,</HI> the <HI>Water,</HI> the BLOOD, 1 <HI>John</HI> 5. 8.</P>
<P N="4">4. When therefore we find two &s;acred Pen-men of this <HI>In&s;titution</HI> write, <HI>This Cup is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament,</HI> and two other, of which one by <HI>immediate Revelation, This Cup is the New Te&s;tament in my Blood,</HI> we thus collect; It cannot be indeed &s;o probable Chri&s;t &s;aid both (if he did, what I urge will be the &s;tronger:) but I allow he &s;aid only one, and that it was, <HI>This is my Blood,</HI> yet is this explana|tory Alteration mo&s;t Authentick and Divine: &s;o that there &s;hall be as full a &s;en&s;e of the Blood offered to us in the <HI>Sa|crament</HI> as of the <HI>Body,</HI> by tho&s;e Words, <HI>This Cup is my Blood, &amp;c.</HI> and yet the Explication of them &s;hall limit that Pre&s;ence to &s;uch a one as will bear tho&s;e Words, <HI>It is the New Te&s;tament in my Blood,</HI> (omitting the Figure of this <HI>Cup</HI> for the Wine in the <HI>Cup,</HI> which yet &s;hews, Chri&s;t did not abhor from Figure in this <HI>In&s;titution;)</HI> and &s;o &s;hews a <HI>my&s;tical</HI> &s;en&s;e: and &s;eeing the <HI>Wine</HI> in the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> is equal to the <HI>Bread,</HI> even as the <HI>Blood</HI> in the Doctrine of the <HI>New Te&s;tament to the Body of Christ,</HI> it &s;hall have power to limit the &s;en&s;e of tho&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> to &s;uch a <HI>My&s;ticalne&s;s,</HI> as agrees to the Wine, being the <HI>New Te&s;ta|ment in Christ's Blood.</HI> And when the Apo&s;tle explains both,
<PB N="8" REF="9"> by the <HI>Communion</HI> of the <HI>Body</HI> and of the <HI>Blood of Christ;</HI> it limits the &s;en&s;e &s;o, that the <HI>Bread</HI> is not the <HI>Body,</HI> nor the <HI>Cup</HI> the <HI>Blood,</HI> in any other &s;en&s;e than the Communion of each is &s;o, as &s;hall be farther argued: For the&s;e Words explain, by divine Authority, <HI>This is my Body, this is my Blood,</HI> in|to &s;uch a &s;en&s;e, that it may be true, This Bread is the Com|munion of the Body of Chri&s;t, this Cup the Communion of his Blood.</P>
<P N="5">5. When the <HI>Evangeli&s;ts, Matthew, Mark, Luke,</HI> all re|cord the Saying of Chri&s;t, <HI>I will no more drink of the Fruit of the Vine,</HI> the Evangeli&s;t <HI>Matthew</HI> emphatically of <HI>[this] Fruit;</HI> and the Evangeli&s;t <HI>Luke</HI> prefixes of the <HI>Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> and anti-dates part of the In&s;titution of the <HI>Cup,</HI> that he might joyn the like important Saying of our Saviour, concerning <HI>the Fruit of the Vine, That he will not eat any more of the Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> nor <HI>drink of the Fruit of the Vine, till the Pa&s;&s;over</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Which by the Evan|geli&s;t <HI>Mat|thew</HI> mu&s;t be <HI>This Fruit.</HI></NOTE> <HI>be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God,</HI> and till he <HI>drink of the Fruit of the Vine a new in the Kingdom of God his Father,</HI> when it &s;hall come: and the Apo&s;tle &s;ays, <HI>We &s;hew forth the Lord's Death till he come:</HI> From hence it may be argued, That there was another manner of Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t to be expected than was ju&s;t then, at the <HI>eating and drinking</HI> with his <HI>Di&s;ciples,</HI> and that &s;uch a one was to be expected in the <HI>Kingdom of God, his Father:</HI> &s;o that he would no more <HI>eat</HI> nor <HI>drink</HI> with them, either in the &s;ame manner of <HI>bodily Pre&s;ence,</HI> nor in the way of Anticipation, or of <HI>eating that Pa&s;&s;over, and that Fruit of the Vine,</HI> which at the time of this fir&s;t In&s;titution was not yet &s;acrificed, nor the Blood yet offer'd; but in &s;uch a manner as would agree to the <HI>ful|filling of all,</HI> the <HI>renewing of all in the Kingdom of God, and his Father,</HI> when that &s;hould <HI>come,</HI> after that <HI>Pa&s;&s;over</HI> &s;acri|fic'd, and that Blood offer'd; of which we &s;hall after en|quire: for this I e&s;teem of great moment in this Di&s;|cour&s;e.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, When we find the Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. 17. making that Que&s;tion <HI>[The Bread which we break, is it not the Com|munion</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="9"> <HI>of the Body of Christ?</HI> and &s;ubjoyning in the very &s;ame Contexture, in the &s;ame Ayr, and manner of Expre&s;|&s;ion, <HI>[We being many are one Bread, and one Body,</HI> for we <HI>are all partakers of that one Bread,]</HI> mu&s;t we not needs infer, the &s;en&s;e in both <HI>[This is my Body]</HI> and <HI>[We are all one Bread and one Body]</HI> mu&s;t be alike one my&s;tical Sen&s;e? for &s;eeing common &s;en&s;e teaches us, All Chri&s;tians cannot be <HI>one Bread</HI> and <HI>one Body,</HI> but in a my&s;tical &s;en&s;e; no more can the <HI>Bread</HI> be <HI>Chri&s;t's Body,</HI> but in &s;uch a my&s;tical &s;en&s;e: and the very Letter can no more oblige us in the one than in the other.</P>
<P>All which is much enforc'd by the Con&s;ideration, The No|tions of <HI>eating the Fle&s;h of Christ,</HI> and of <HI>drinking his Blood,</HI> were given before the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> in&s;tituted: and though I doubt not Chri&s;t de&s;ign'd it as a Foundation of that <HI>Sup|per,</HI> as I &s;aid before, yet it had been a true Doctrine, if that <HI>Supper</HI> had not been in&s;tituted, as a Repre&s;entation of it; becau&s;e Chri&s;t, as a <HI>Sacrifice, gave him&s;elf for the Life of the World,</HI> and <HI>offer'd</HI> him&s;elf to the Faith and Participation of his believing Servants, as it were to be <HI>Eaten</HI> and <HI>Drunk</HI> by them, had not the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> been appointed.</P>
<P>Thus far I have endeavoured to prepare the way for this Di&s;cour&s;e, by laying a Foundation upon this <HI>Harmonical</HI> Context for it: and indeed I de&s;ire in pro&s;ecuting it to u&s;e little more than Scripture Notions and Words: and if I can be &s;o happy, by the A&s;&s;i&s;tance of God, to expre&s;s the things as plain to you as I apprehend it in my own Mind, I doubt not to give you a &s;atisfactory Account of the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> and al&s;o of the &s;en&s;e of this great Ordinance of the <HI>Lord's Supper.</HI></P>
<P>In doing this, I propo&s;e this Method:</P>
<P N="1">1. I &s;hall endeavour to give a clear Re&s;olution, How Chri&s;t may be &s;aid to <HI>give us his Fle&s;h to eat,</HI> and <HI>his Blood to drink:</HI> for that was the great Stumble that tho&s;e who heard Chri&s;t upon this Point, <HI>John</HI> 6. made.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="10" REF="10"> 2. I &s;hall from thence endeavour to &s;hew you, That there is a clear Pa&s;&s;age and Tran&s;ition from that <HI>giving his Fle&s;h to eat,</HI> and <HI>his Blood to drink,</HI> into tho&s;e Words, <HI>Take, eat, this is my Body,</HI> or from the <HI>Doctrine</HI> into the <HI>Sacrament.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. I &s;hall endeavour to find a fair Accommodation, and no Encounter betwixt the <HI>My&s;tery</HI> and the <HI>Letter,</HI> or be|twixt the grand &s;en&s;e and the very Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> by a compare of this whole Harmonical Context with other Scripture, and its way of &s;peaking in &s;uch Ca&s;es.</P>
<P N="4">4. I will enquire into this Thing, How there came &s;uch a Notion into the Chri&s;tian Church as that <HI>fle&s;hly Tran&s;ub|&s;tantiation,</HI> &s;o earne&s;tly contended for.</P>
<P N="5">5. I will repre&s;ent to you the danger of &s;uch a Doctrine as that <HI>Fle&s;hly Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation;</HI> not &s;o much as it is a con|templative thing, a Notion, a manner of Apprehen&s;ion, or matter of Di&s;cour&s;e; but as it carries the Practice of Wor|&s;hip and Adoration.</P>
<P N="6">6. I will clo&s;e all with practical Applications, tending to a con&s;tant habitual Preparation for the <HI>Sacrament</HI> of the <HI>Lord's Supper.</HI></P>
<P>Now to di&s;charge the fir&s;t part of this Undertaking, I mu&s;t e&s;tabli&s;h the&s;e following Points:</P>
<P>That the <HI>Divine Per&s;on</HI> of our <HI>Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> taking <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Point"> the <HI>Humane Nature</HI> upon him, that <HI>Humane Nature</HI> is mo&s;t emphatically expre&s;s'd in the&s;e Words, <HI>his Body,</HI> and <HI>his Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>his Blood:</HI> or, the <HI>Body,</HI> and <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t are the mo&s;t fit Expre&s;&s;ions that could be cho&s;en to &s;et out the <HI>Humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t, or to &s;et out <HI>the Man Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI> Now this being rightly apprehended, &s;hews, There is the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and there is <HI>the Blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> that are to be <HI>eaten</HI> and <HI>drunk</HI> by Believers in Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>That the <HI>Body,</HI> the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and the <HI>Blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> and the <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Point"> Actions of Chri&s;t in his <HI>Body,</HI> in his <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood,</HI> were as &s;o many Preparations of his <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood,</HI> to be &s;piritually <HI>eaten</HI> by, or applied to the Souls of Believers, or communicated by them.</P>
<PB N="11" REF="10">
<P> That the <HI>Body,</HI> the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and the <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, are &s;o <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Point"> many Re&s;ts and Repo&s;itories of the <HI>Divine Power, Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Efficacy,</HI> filling them with infinite &s;aving Vertue and Effect in their Communication to the Souls of Believers in Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>That the <HI>divine Power, Spirit,</HI> and <HI>Efficacy,</HI> extends the <MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Point"> <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and the <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t in their &s;aving Vertue and Effect, without limitation to Time or Place; and to all Dimen&s;ions and degrees of Effect.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Point, <HI>viz.</HI> That the mo&s;t expre&s;&s;ive and &s;ignifi|cant <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Point"> Terms concerning the <HI>Man Christ Je&s;us,</HI> that the Spirit of God hath cho&s;en, throughout the Scripture, are the <HI>Fle&s;h of Christ,</HI> the <HI>Body of Christ,</HI> and the <HI>Blood of Christ.</HI> This is the fir&s;t Branch of the <HI>My&s;tery of Godline&s;s; God manife&s;t</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3. 16. 1 John 4. 2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>in the fle&s;h, Je&s;us Christ come in the fle&s;h,</HI> is made the grand Principle of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>The whole <HI>Humane Nature of Christ,</HI> in which the <HI>Son of God was manife&s;t,</HI> is called <HI>Fle&s;h: The Word was made Fle&s;h,</HI> John 1. 14. So the <HI>Body of Chri&s;t,</HI> how often is it mention'd? <HI>The offering of the Body of Chri&s;t once for all.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10. 10. 1 Pet. 2. 24.</NOTE> <HI>Who bare our Sins in his Body on the tree.</HI> And in all the New Te&s;tament, there is nothing &s;o memorializ'd as the <HI>Blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>And the Rea&s;on is this; Becau&s;e the&s;e, The <HI>Body,</HI> the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and the <HI>Blood,</HI> are the mo&s;t vi&s;ible Repre&s;entations of <HI>Humane Nature;</HI> and &s;o in Scripture, and all Language, they are the readie&s;t, ea&s;ie&s;t, and mo&s;t familiar Expre&s;&s;ions of Humane Nature. The Apo&s;tle <HI>John</HI> therefore &s;o often in his Epi&s;tle expre&s;&s;es the whole Doctrine of the <HI>Me&s;&s;iah, by Chri&s;t come in the fle&s;h;</HI> that is, <HI>God manife&s;ted in fle&s;h.</HI> So that, though it is true, Man is chiefly Soul and Spirit, and &s;o to be con&s;idered, yet he is mo&s;t vi&s;ible, mo&s;t apparent, in Body, Fle&s;h, and Blood; and Humane Nature is &s;o fram'd and con&s;tituted, that it de&s;ires mo&s;t to appear and di&s;play it &s;elf in a Body.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="11">
<P> And though God and Chri&s;t have a peculiar Care and Account of the <HI>Spirits of ju&s;t men,</HI> yet they are not <HI>Perfect</HI> without <HI>Bodies;</HI> and till Chri&s;t does appear again in <HI>a Bo|dy of Glory,</HI> He is not <HI>&s;hewn.</HI> Pray con&s;ider, Though He's now in a <HI>Body of Glory,</HI> yet till he appears in this <HI>Body,</HI> that <HI>every Eye may &s;ee him,</HI> God does not till that time <HI>&s;hew him,</HI> whom he will <HI>&s;hew,</HI> who is the <HI>onely Potentate, &amp;c.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 6. 15.</NOTE> that is, He will &s;hew Chri&s;t Je&s;us, in a <HI>Body of Glory,</HI> at his <HI>Appearance,</HI> though Chri&s;t hath been in a <HI>Body of Glory</HI> ever &s;ince his <HI>A&s;cen&s;ion.</HI> So <HI>Ju&s;t Men</HI> are not made Perfect, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12. 23.</NOTE> till they appear in a <HI>Body at the Re&s;urrection.</HI></P>
<P>Although therefore the Soul of Je&s;us Chri&s;t (under&s;tand I be&s;eech you, what I &s;ay) was the Principal Agent in all the Work of Redemption, yet it was, as in a Body, in the Action and Pa&s;&s;ion of a Body.</P>
<P>It was not indeed a Body that acted, that &s;uffered, that dyed, yet it was in a Body. It was the Humane Soul and Spirit of Chri&s;t that came to do <HI>the Will of God,</HI> and <HI>a Body was prepared him, Hebr.</HI> 10. 5. It was not a Body, but a Soul, a Will in Chri&s;t that &s;urrender'd it &s;elf to the <HI>Will of God,</HI> that &s;aid, <HI>Not my Will, but thine be done.</HI> It was a Spirit that &s;urrender'd it &s;elf to God, <HI>Into thy hands I commit my Spirit:</HI> yet it was in a Body. So it was in the <HI>Circumci&s;ion</HI> of Chri&s;t; it was the <HI>Circumci&s;ion</HI> of the <HI>Spirit,</HI> not of the <HI>Letter.</HI> Soul and Spirit was the Life and Excellency of all: yet all this was vi&s;ible in a Body, it was vi&s;ible in Fle&s;h and Blood. So it was in Chri&s;t's <HI>fulfilling All Righteou&s;ne&s;s in his Bapti&s;m,</HI> in all the Holine&s;s of Life; There was an Humane Soul, a Spirit, that acted in and throughout All, yet All was &s;till vi&s;ible in a Body. His Soul &s;ent out <HI>Strong Cries</HI> and <HI>Fears,</HI> with that he <HI>offer'd Prayers</HI> and <HI>Supplications,</HI> but it was <HI>in the days of his Fle&s;h, Hebr.</HI> 5. 7. He was <HI>Cir|cumci&s;ed, Baptized, Died in a Body.</HI> He aro&s;e again in a Body, and in &s;uch a Body as we carry about with us: but ju&s;t at his <HI>A&s;cen&s;ion,</HI> then undoubtedly, in the very Time of his <HI>A&s;cending up to Heaven,</HI> his Body was changed into a
<PB N="13" REF="11"> <HI>Glorious Body:</HI> &s;o that That Body which was in a &s;tate of <HI>Humiliation,</HI> which he carried with him in the World, af|ter his <HI>A&s;cen&s;ion</HI> remained no longer in tho&s;e Circum&s;tances of humbled <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> he underwent while he was here in the World; for, <HI>Fle&s;h and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15. 50. and therefore the dayes of Chri&s;t's Humiliation are call'd the <HI>Days of his Fle&s;h.</HI> There|fore ob&s;erve, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. <HI>ult.</HI> The <HI>my&s;tery of Godline&s;s</HI> is ab|&s;olv'd in that, <HI>Receiv'd, Taken up into Glory:</HI> and there he is hidden to us, though &s;wallowed up in the Perfection and Excellency of Glory till God <HI>&s;hews him,</HI> till he <HI>appears,</HI> and is <HI>revealed in that Glory:</HI> From all which amounts, That the whole undertaking of Chri&s;t was in <HI>Body,</HI> and his Interce&s;|&s;ion is now in <HI>Body,</HI> though a <HI>Body of Glory.</HI></P>
<P>Now from hence you may perceive what I drive at; <HI>viz.</HI> That there was great Rea&s;on that Chri&s;t &s;hould &s;ay, <HI>This is my Body, This is my Blood;</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>Body of Chri&s;t,</HI> the <HI>Fle&s;h and Blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> was that which was vi&s;ibly and &s;en&s;ibly active, and was to be &s;o throughout the whole Work of our Redemption; for, <HI>Fora&s;much as the Children</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 2. 14: 17.</NOTE> <HI>were Partakers of Fle&s;h and Blood, he him&s;elf took part of the &s;ame,</HI> that <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And <HI>it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his Brethren.</HI> The holy Humane Soul, and Spirit of Chri&s;t, was the principal Agent; the <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, was the Theatre upon which All was made publick, the Tube and Channel through which All is con|vey'd: therefore the whole <HI>Humane Nature</HI> is expre&s;s'd by <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>Blood,</HI> the Repre&s;entation of it and the Communi|cation of it is &s;o given in the Doctrine, and therefore &s;o in the <HI>Lord's Supper.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, and all his Action <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Point"> and Suffering in it, were as &s;o many Preparations, that he may be &s;piritually <HI>eaten,</HI> applied to, and communicated with, by the Souls of Believers; of which his Death is the mo&s;t comprehen&s;ive, and principal, as that, in which center not only his <HI>Incarnation, Circumci&s;ion, Bapti&s;m,</HI> Holy Life, Pray|ers
<PB N="14" REF="12"> in the <HI>Days of his Fle&s;h,</HI> but even his <HI>Re&s;urrection, A&s;|cen&s;ion, Interce&s;&s;ion at the Right-hand of God:</HI> and therefore as the Doctrine of the <HI>Communion of his Body</HI> &s;tyles his <NOTE PLACE="marg">John 6. 51.</NOTE> Death, the <HI>giving his Fle&s;h for the Life of the World,</HI> &s;o the Sacrament of it in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> calls it his <HI>Body given for us,</HI> and the <HI>Remembrance of his Death:</HI> and the whole Ap|plication by Faith is call'd <HI>Eating</HI> in both.</P>
<P>And proportionably in &s;en&s;e, Chri&s;t was &s;ent <HI>in the Like|ne&s;s</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 3.</NOTE> <HI>of &s;inful Fle&s;h,</HI> that he might <HI>condemn Sin in the Fle&s;h, that the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of the Law might be fulfilled in us: We put off the Sins of the Fle&s;h</HI> by the <HI>Circumci&s;ion of Chri&s;t;</HI> we <NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2. 11.</NOTE> <HI>are buried in his Bapti&s;m,</HI> we ri&s;e in <HI>his Re&s;urrection,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6. 4.</NOTE> know the Power of it, <HI>Phil.</HI> 3. 10. We &s;it in Heavenly Pla|ces in him. He makes <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion for us,</HI> and &s;o &s;aves to the uttermo&s;t, <HI>Heb.</HI> 7. 25. And his <HI>Death</HI> is in all Sen&s;es com|municated to us. All which are in other Words the very &s;ame thing with <HI>giving us his Fle&s;h te eat,</HI> and his <HI>Blood to drink.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t, call'd his <HI>Body,</HI> his <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Point."> and his <HI>Blood,</HI> and all his Actions and Sufferings in it, were &s;o many Re&s;ts and Repo&s;itories of the Divine Nature, Pow|er, Efficacy, and Virtue of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; filling them with in|finite &s;aving Virtue and Effect in their Communication to the Sen&s;es of Believers in Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>For in all the Action, and Sufferings of Chri&s;t, the Son of God was immediately Active, the Divine Power and Spi|rit was always pre&s;ent, and Active in all, as a &s;upreme Spi|rit and Soul.</P>
<P>The <HI>Incarnation</HI> of Chri&s;t was a &s;en&s;ible, fle&s;hly, and bo|dily Thing; But there was a Manife&s;tation of <HI>Divinity</HI> in it. The <HI>Power of the mo&s;t High over-&s;hadowed</HI> the <HI>Virgin,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 2.</NOTE> Chri&s;t was <HI>Conceiv'd,</HI> as we daily Profe&s;s, by the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t: The Law of the Spirit of Life,</HI> purified the <HI>Humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t to the highe&s;t Elevation of Purity: The <HI>Circum|ci&s;ion</HI> of Chri&s;t was a <HI>Divine Circumci&s;ion made without</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Hands,</HI> by the immediate Action of the Divine Spirit; for
<PB N="15" REF="12"> if ours were &s;o, much more His, the original of it. The <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> of Chri&s;t was full of a Divine Pre&s;ence; The <HI>Spi|rit re&s;ted like a Dove upon Him; This is my beloved Son,</HI> &amp;c. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Matt. 3. 18. Philip. 3. 9.</NOTE> His Obedience and Righteou&s;ne&s;s was the <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;s of God.</HI> In his Death he offer'd Him&s;elf by the <HI>Eternal Spirit,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9. 14.</NOTE> His Blood is called the <HI>Blood of God.</HI> He Ro&s;e <HI>by the Spi|rit</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20. 28.</NOTE> <HI>of Holine&s;s,</HI> which <HI>Ju&s;tified</HI> Him. He is <HI>made higher than the Heavens</HI> in his <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion.</HI> And this is of &s;upreme Con&s;i|deration in all the Communications of Chri&s;t, in all our <HI>Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking his Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>his Blood,</HI> as may be &s;een in that excellent Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>John</HI> 6. to which the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> is a parallel Repre&s;entation.</P>
<P><HI>As the Living Father hath &s;ent me, and I live by the Fa|ther,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 57.</NOTE> <HI>even &s;o he that eateth me &s;hall live by me.</HI> For his <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> eaten is the Conduit of divine Life. <HI>It is the Spirit,</HI> viz. the Divine Nature, <HI>that quickneth. The Fle&s;h, profiteth nothing.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">v. 63.</NOTE> <HI>The Words that I &s;peak unto you, are Spirit,</HI> and <HI>they are Life;</HI> that is, by the Vertue and Pre&s;ence of the Divinity, of which they were &s;poken; for by <HI>Power he is declar'd to be</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1. 4.</NOTE> the <HI>Son of God; viz.</HI> by the Power of the Divinity. <HI>He was</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 13. 4.</NOTE> <HI>put to death through weakne&s;s, but he liveth by the Power of</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 3. 18.</NOTE> <HI>God. He was put to death in the Fle&s;h, quickned by the Spirit.</HI></P>
<P>If any Man therefore con&s;iders the Actions of Je&s;us Chri&s;t in the <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and does not con&s;ider the <HI>Divine Nature</HI> in them, he does not con&s;ider that which our Saviour &s;ays, <HI>Quickens.</HI> He only con&s;iders that which our Saviour &s;aith, <HI>Profits nothing.</HI></P>
<P>From hence therefore, it is plainly fir&s;t to be under&s;tood, that it is mo&s;t impo&s;&s;ible, Material or Bodily &s;hould by it &s;elf do any thing, to that which is Spiritual, Immaterial, In|tellectual, as is the Soul of Man. The Sun, though &s;o glo|rious a Body, can do nothing to Man's Soul immediately; and &s;uppo&s;e the Body of Chri&s;t as much higher in Glory than any thing we know in Nature, as the Sun excells a Turf of Earth; yet this very glorious Body can do nothing to our
<PB N="16" REF="13"> Souls, to our Spirits: It can do nothing in the&s;e great Ne|gotiations of Peace with God, Purification of our Con&s;cien|ces, Sanctification.</P>
<P>This is &s;o acknowledg'd a thing, that you know, as many as know any thing of Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation, as it is held in the <HI>Roman Per&s;ua&s;ion,</HI> That they them&s;elves confe&s;s, That if a Man Eat that very <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiated Body,</HI> and Drink that very <HI>tran&s;ub&s;tantiated Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, though it is, as they &s;uppo&s;e, the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t in the mo&s;t fle&s;hly &s;en&s;ible Pre&s;ence we can imagine; yet it does a wicked Man no good, a Man who hath not Faith and Repentance: And it is very true, it mu&s;t needs be &s;o, becau&s;e it is a material thing, and cannot act &s;o as to act up|on &s;piritual and immaterial Things; on the other &s;ide, it can do no hurt to the&s;e immaterial Beings. But if it did operate after the manner of material Things upon material, I cannot conceive how it &s;hould mi&s;s the be&s;t Effect, &s;eeing it is infinitely prepar'd to do good in that very Ca&s;e of pre|&s;uppo&s;ed Evil of Sin: but when it is &s;piritual, and requires &s;piritual Preparation to receive it, or el&s;e it is not receiv'd, it then does not work Good where that Preparation is not, becau&s;e it is not receiv'd; but if it be receiv'd, it hath its certain Effect. On the other &s;ide, when it is not receiv'd it does hurt by way of increa&s;ing Guilt; becau&s;e a &s;piritual Offer, of &s;o excellent a Nature, is refus'd and contemn'd, and becau&s;e the Soul, by &s;uch pretence of receiving, and yet Re|fu&s;al, grows much more confirm'd in Evil.</P>
<P>But this is not all; for though the Holine&s;s and Spiritua|lity of a Holy, Created, Finite Spirit, may by In&s;truction, Sugge&s;tion, or Example, offer much Good to other Spirits, and be in&s;trumental in affecting them aright; yet, this is in all Regards in &s;o finite and limited a way, that the Effect may be very &s;mall, or none at all: and &s;o it is not po&s;&s;ible in any more than a very low and abated &s;en&s;e, to eat or to drink of the Communications of any Angel or Saint above or below. But now whatever is divine is communicative,
<PB N="17" REF="13"> even to what degrees it plea&s;es. All Finite is Poor and Scanty, and hath not for it &s;elf, but as received. But the Son of God in Humane Nature hath all <HI>Fulne&s;s dwelling in</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 1. 19.</NOTE> <HI>Him;</HI> and &s;o can derive and convey to what degrees he thinks fit. Of which is to be &s;poken in the next Particular. But this A&s;&s;ures in Chri&s;t there is Meat and Drink abound|ing to the Life of the World.</P>
<P>The Divine Power of the <HI>Son of God,</HI> and its Efficacy <MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Point"> extend the Body, Fle&s;h, and Blood of Chri&s;t, and his Acti|on therein in their &s;aving Virtue, and Effect without limi|tation to Time or Place, and to all dimen&s;ions and degrees of Effect.</P>
<P>And under this Head I will undertake the&s;e three Parti|culars.</P>
<P N="1">1. To &s;hew that the <HI>Divine Nature of the Son of God,</HI> act|ing in the <HI>Humane Nature</HI> united to Him, can draw out &s;uch &s;piritual Powers and Efficacies from tho&s;e his Actings and Sufferings, as &s;hall be mo&s;t conducing to the Salvation of Souls that believe in Him; now this I &s;hall make good by &s;hewing what kind of Cau&s;alities, and what an&s;werable Ef|fects are by the Word of God a&s;cribed to the <HI>Divine Pow|er</HI> of Chri&s;t Acting in the <HI>Humane Nature.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. I will &s;hew, that they cannot be prejudg'd nor hinder|ed by any di&s;tances of Time, becau&s;e of the <HI>Eternity</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t the <HI>Son of God.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. That they cannot be intercepted by any di&s;tances of Place, becau&s;e of the <HI>Omnipre&s;ence</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t <HI>the Son of God.</HI></P>
<P>Now I &s;hall not pre&s;ume to &s;peak of the&s;e Particulars, but as I am guided by the Spirit of God in his Word; For, Who can de&s;cribe the way of the Divine Spirit in Nature? Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me, I cannot attain to it; if not in Nature, how much more not in Grace and &s;u|pernaturals? But yet it is not unworthy to be taken notice of, That all Philo&s;ophy owns &s;ome kind of <HI>Effluviums,</HI> &s;ome flowing Atomes, <HI>Ramenta,</HI> or little Globules of matter,
<PB N="18" REF="14"> that fly every way, or if but &s;ome <HI>Sympathies</HI> in Nature, that pa&s;s up and down, and fly unknown ways, and un|mea&s;urable di&s;tances, without the Load, Cumber, Pre&s;ence of tho&s;e Bodies from which they flow, which cannot move nor pa&s;s as they do; if Spirits of much greater Efficacy are extracted, more agile, more portable, and more ea&s;ily con|veyed than the Bodies them&s;elves from which they are ex|tracted; if there are &s;ome Relations of unknown Commu|nications of Minds at great di&s;tance of Bodies; The&s;e may be taken notice of, as &s;ome Illu&s;tration of this matter: But &s;uch things are too &s;lippery and incertain, and al&s;o too gro&s;s to re&s;t &s;o great a Point upon, &s;eeing what &s;o infinite an Agent as the Spirit of Holine&s;s, can do, cannot be gra&s;p'd or comprehended by any material Likene&s;&s;es; its Extracti|ons, its Ab&s;tractions, are more &s;ubtile than our gro&s;s Ap|prehen&s;ions can find out or receive, or natural Agents imitate.</P>
<P>There are yet in common Ob&s;ervation, &s;ome In&s;tances, that may come nearer this great Point: From the vertuous Actions of great Per&s;onages in Bodies, there is an Honour, an E&s;teem, a Dignity, an excellent Example flowing out, that continues Ages beyond the very Actions, and beyond the Per&s;ons continuance in Bodies that perform'd them, and may be imputed to their Po&s;terity; and are, as it were, Ab|&s;tracts from Per&s;ons in Bodies, and yet of a &s;piritual kind of Diffu&s;ivene&s;s, as to both Time and Place, and much exceed the Places whereupon they were acted; that have a kind of Univer&s;ality both as to Time and Place, are nearer the mat|ter we are upon, and yet they are but dark, and dull &s;hades of &s;o great a Truth: Let us therefore come to the Holy Word of God it &s;elf, and we &s;hall find four kinds of Cau&s;a|lity attributed to <HI>God manife&s;ted in Fle&s;h,</HI> and to all his Divine Action and &s;uffering therein.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The Cau&s;ality of an expiatory, propitiatory, or meri|torious Cau&s;e.</ITEM>
<PB N="19" REF="14">
<ITEM> 2. Of an exemplar Cau&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. Of an efficient Cau&s;e, by way of Union to him&s;elf.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. Of a rational argumentative Cau&s;e, &s;o effecting a Con|formity of the Souls of his People to him&s;elf.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>There is nothing more evident, than that the Go&s;pel a&s;|cribes <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Cau&s;ality"> to the <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, the Efficacy of an eternal, propitiatory, expiatory Cau&s;e: <HI>By one Offer|ing</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10. 14.</NOTE> <HI>of the Body of Christ,</HI> and that <HI>once for all, He hath for ever perfected,</HI> that is, reconcil'd and con&s;ecrated, <HI>them, who are &s;anctified,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>it was offered by the Eternal Spirit.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 9. 24.</NOTE> <HI>His Body is an Offering, a Sacrifice of an eternal &s;weet-&s;melling</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 5. 2.</NOTE> <HI>&s;avour,</HI> becau&s;e he offer'd <HI>him&s;elf:</HI> now <HI>him&s;elf is God in our Nature;</HI> &s;o the Offering is in the hand of Divinity. Thus his <HI>Blood offered by the Eternal Spirit purges the Con&s;cience from dead Works to &s;erve the living God. The Blood of Chri&s;t, more precious than Silver or Gold, redeems from a vain Con|ver&s;ation.</HI> All the&s;e are plain, and high Effects of a &s;piri|tual Nature, and they are deriv'd from the <HI>humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t, call'd his <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> his <HI>Body,</HI> his <HI>Blood,</HI> acted by an intellectual, holy, humane Soul, which <HI>delighted to do the Will of God,</HI> and <HI>the Law of God was within his heart.</HI> And <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 40. 8.</NOTE> all this, by being in the hand of the Divinity of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, is infinitely communicative both as to Time and Place.</P>
<P>The Righteou&s;ne&s;s of Angels, or of Men, though they had continued Holy as the &s;tanding Angels, could not have done this: but what Chri&s;t the Lamb did, he did by the <HI>Eternal Spirit,</HI> which is infinite.</P>
<P>Now the&s;e expiatory Extracts, Ab&s;tracts drawn from the Body of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, are &s;o DIVINIZ'D, if I may &s;o &s;peak, by the <HI>Eternal Spirit,</HI> That they are every where: Chri&s;t's Body, in this &s;en&s;e, may be every where (even as his Divi|nity is,) with Pardon of Sin, Reconciliation to God, Peace with him, <HI>&s;prinkling the Heart from an evil Con&s;cience;</HI> and all other great Effects: For, where is it that the Go&s;pel is, and true Chri&s;tians are, where this <HI>Propitiation</HI> for the Sins of the whole World is not? Where is it, that true Believers
<PB N="20" REF="15"> in Je&s;us Chri&s;t have not <HI>Right to eat of this Altar?</HI> And is not this <HI>Altar,</HI> as in a peculiar In&s;titution pre&s;ented in the <HI>Lord's Supper?</HI> The&s;e Spirits may be extended any way, conveyed every way, not gro&s;s <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>Blood,</HI> but the&s;e Divine, expiatory Extracts of the Body of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, ex|tended and applyed by the Divinity; the &s;avour of that Of|fering, of that Sacrifice fills Heaven and Earth.</P>
<P>From the <HI>Humane Nature,</HI> call'd the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and <MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Cau&s;ality"> <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t united to the <HI>Son of God,</HI> is drawn that common <HI>Image, Idea,</HI> and <HI>Exemplar,</HI> to which his Saints are every where <HI>Conform'd;</HI> They are <HI>Called, Justified,</HI> and <HI>Glorified</HI> according to this <HI>Image,</HI> for whom God did <HI>fore|know,</HI> He <HI>prede&s;tinated to be &s;o Conform'd.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8. 29.</NOTE></P>
<P>This is in all Nature, there is a common <HI>Idea</HI> and <HI>Plat|form</HI> of every kind of Being, and Life, and it is every where, as in the Mind, and under the Hand and Power of God; &s;o that all in whatever parts of the World agree in it, each to their kind; And whatever is not form'd and &s;hapen accord|ing to it, is mon&s;trous and mi&s;-&s;hapen.</P>
<P>So in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, is depo&s;ited, that common univer|&s;al <HI>Image,</HI> and <HI>Idea,</HI> according to which the <HI>New Creature</HI> is fram'd, and this is <HI>God manife&s;ted in the Fle&s;h,</HI> that <HI>He might be the Fir&s;t Born among many Brethren:</HI> And this <HI>Image</HI> by the Divine Spirit is every where, and there is neither <HI>Jew</HI> nor <HI>Gentile, Scythian</HI> nor <HI>Barbarian, Bond</HI> nor <HI>Free;</HI> but <NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3. 11.</NOTE> <HI>all are one in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. Called, Ju&s;tified,</HI> as Chri&s;t was; <HI>Glorified,</HI> as He is, &s;o &s;hall they be; and particularly in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> this <HI>Image</HI> is &s;o pre&s;ented, that <HI>We are all one Bread, and one Body by being made partakers of that one</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10. 17.</NOTE> <HI>Bread by Faith.</HI></P>
<P>And this <HI>Image</HI> is not either a livele&s;s or meer Contempla|tive <HI>Image,</HI> but it hath a mighty Power and Operation from the <HI>Spirit</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t to conform and configurate all his Servants to him&s;elf; That as He was in <HI>All Things made like unto his Brethren,</HI> &s;o his <HI>Brethren</HI> are to Him. And this mu|tual A&s;&s;imilation is &s;o clo&s;e, that <HI>He dwells in them, and they in Him.</HI></P>
<PB N="21" REF="15">
<P> The <HI>Humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t hath therefore the Power <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Cau&s;ality"> of an unitive efficient Cau&s;e; for the <HI>Divine Spirit</HI> of Chri&s;t, by the Mediation of his <HI>Humanity,</HI> does unite him&s;elf to the Souls of his Servants, and &s;o to their Bodies, and &s;o con|veys his Righteou&s;ne&s;s in the value of his Blood, his Spirit in the power of Holine&s;s, that we become <HI>Members of his Body,</HI> his <HI>Fle&s;h,</HI> and his <HI>Bone;</HI> as <HI>Eve</HI> coming out of <HI>Adam</HI> and made <HI>one fle&s;h with him,</HI> was <HI>Fle&s;h of his Fle&s;h, Bone of</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5. 30.</NOTE> <HI>his Bone:</HI> And &s;o we are <HI>Branches</HI> of this <HI>Vine,</HI> of this <HI>Good</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 11. 24.</NOTE> <HI>Olive,</HI> who as a <HI>common Root beareth</HI> us All.</P>
<P>So that indeed it comes to this, That all the Servants of Chri&s;t are as <HI>one Chri&s;t; for as the Body is one,</HI> and <HI>hath ma|ny</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12. 12.</NOTE> <HI>Members,</HI> and <HI>all the Members of that Body being many, are one Body; &s;o al&s;o is Christ:</HI> As there are <HI>many Members,</HI> and <HI>one Body,</HI> ju&s;t &s;o is <HI>Christ,</HI> not <HI>Christ</HI> in his Per&s;on, but <HI>Christ</HI> in all his Members, <HI>All one Christ:</HI> So <HI>Galat.</HI> 3. 16. <HI>he &s;aith not,</HI> Unto Seeds, as unto many, but as of one, To thy Seed; <HI>which is Christ, viz.</HI> Chri&s;t in his whole <HI>Body of Members. And we all come in the unity of the Faith of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the mea&s;ure of the Sta|ture of the fullne&s;s of Christ,</HI> Chri&s;t full in all his Members: And the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> to the <HI>Colo&s;&s;ians,</HI> calls <HI>Jews and Gentiles, One new man in Christ;</HI> and the <HI>Church is the fullne&s;s of him that fills all in all:</HI> And thus we are one Body and one Bread. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 1. <HI>ult.</HI></NOTE></P>
<P>This is a <HI>great my&s;tery of Christ and the Church;</HI> but if rightly under&s;tood, it greatly explains Chri&s;t's Words, <HI>This is my Body:</HI> for as there are many Incorporations, as of po|litical Bodies, which are not lo&s;t by di&s;tance of Place, as being Citizens of &s;uch a City, my&s;tical as the Incorporation of <HI>Husband</HI> and <HI>Wife,</HI> which is not made void by di&s;tance of Place, while the Bands of Union hold; thus Chri&s;t in Heaven, by his Spirit, unites his Members to him on Earth; and his Body, in this &s;piritual &s;en&s;e, is every where to be &s;o joyn'd, and it does &s;o draw to it &s;elf.</P>
<PB N="22" REF="16">
<P> But this Union is yet more nearly expre&s;s'd by a natural Union, <HI>viz.</HI> by <HI>eating his Fle&s;h, and drinking his Blood,</HI> even as the <HI>Branches are united to the Vine, by being fed by the Vine,</HI> and &s;ucking from it; and &s;o the Members are &s;upplied with Spirits from the Head: and if they were not &s;o, they would, notwith&s;tanding a local Union, be di&s;united, as a withered Branch or Member is; even &s;o by receiving the &s;aving Effluxes and Communications of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is an eating of him, <HI>we dwell in him, and he in us.</HI> And without this we are not united by any outward Profe&s;&s;i|onal Duties.</P>
<P>And this Union &s;hall be mo&s;t evident in the &s;eparated &s;tate of Souls, made like the Holy &s;eparated Soul of Chri&s;t, or the <HI>Spirit</HI> of Chri&s;t <HI>committed into his Fathers Hand,</HI> and as it were all one Spirit, and are therefore, as <HI>Stephen</HI> was, receiv'd by him, and yet mo&s;t vi&s;ible in the Re&s;urrection, when the Bodies of his Saints &s;hall be made <HI>like his glorious Body,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>they &s;hall &s;ee him as he is:</HI> for then indeed the <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 John 3. 2.</NOTE> Body of Chri&s;t &s;hall have a mo&s;t natural Pre&s;ence and Influ|ence on the Bodies of Saints, and &s;hall act properly, as mat|ter upon matter, or as the Sun upon the Moon and Planets about it, who&s;e Bodies it illu&s;trates. He will <HI>pre&s;ent his Church to him&s;elf</HI> then, <HI>without &s;pot,</HI> or <HI>wrinkle,</HI> or <HI>any &s;uch</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3. 21.</NOTE> <HI>thing,</HI> by <HI>that Power</HI> that <HI>&s;ubdues all things to him&s;elf. That</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 3. 3, 4.</NOTE> <HI>Life that is now hid, as Chri&s;t is hid,</HI> &s;hall then <HI>appear,</HI> and we &s;hall <HI>appear with him in Glory,</HI> as all one Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>He will then be as a Tree of Life, <HI>in the mid&s;t of the Pa|radi&s;e of God,</HI> and his Blood in a &s;piritual &s;en&s;e, <HI>as a Water of Life.</HI></P>
<P>And of this, the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> is the great pledge, till <HI>He comes,</HI> and the Sacrament of <HI>Eating him,</HI> &s;o as to live by him, and <HI>to be rai&s;ed</HI> up by him at the la&s;t day when this Union &s;hall fully appear.</P>
<P>The <HI>Humanity</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that is, His <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> <MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Cau&s;ality"> and <HI>Blood,</HI> as it is arrayed in the Holine&s;s, Heavenline&s;s, pu|rity of it, and in that &s;elf-Re&s;ignation to the Will of God
<PB N="23" REF="16"> in &s;uffering, and becoming <HI>Obedient to Death, even to the Death of the Cro&s;s,</HI> in highe&s;t love to lo&s;t Sinners, is pre&s;ent every where in the Go&s;pel, every where &s;et forth before our Eyes, <HI>Evidently Crucified among us.</HI> Galat. 3. 1.</P>
<P>And this hath in all due Rea&s;on the force of a &s;trong and mighty Argument to draw us to him by Faith, and Repen|tance, to apply his Blood, and to Tru&s;t in his Redemption, to move Chri&s;tians to the <HI>&s;ame Mind</HI> in every thing, that we &s;ee, <HI>was in Chri&s;t,</HI> it hath even a <HI>Con&s;training Power of love, to live to him that dyed for us, to purifie our &s;elves, as he is Pure, to be in the World, as he was in the World, to Walk</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 12, 13.</NOTE> <HI>as he Walked, to go out to him without the Camp of</HI> all Fal&s;e Religions, out of the <HI>Camp</HI> of Sen&s;uality, and Worldly-mind|edne&s;s, <HI>bearing his Reproach, to Crucifie the Fle&s;h with the Lu&s;ts, to be Crucified to the World, and the World to us, to &s;et our Affections on things Above,</HI> Whither His Humane Na|ture removed in regard of Place; But by the Preaching and Manife&s;tation of the Go&s;pel, it is every where, as thus Re|pre&s;ented, as thus &s;et forth; This is a &s;en&s;e of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, being every where, where his Go&s;pel and Word come, that cannot be denied; and as therein it is &s;o receiv'd, as to become an Argument, and powerful mo|tive of uniting our &s;elves to Him of being like Him, It may be mo&s;t &s;ignificantly expre&s;s'd by the Metaphor of <HI>Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking,</HI> like <HI>Ezekiel's Eating the Roll, and filling his Bowels with it.</HI> This is a <HI>hearing Chri&s;t's Voice,</HI> which &s;trong|ly <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 3. 20.</NOTE> knocks or per&s;uades to <HI>open the Door to him;</HI> that he may, <HI>as he will, come in to Sup with us and we with Him.</HI></P>
<P>This is a Sen&s;e &s;o proper and natural, that it is cho&s;en by that <HI>Learned Interpreter, Grotius,</HI> to expound that great Di&s;|cour&s;e, <HI>John</HI> 6. <HI>of eating the Fle&s;h, and drinking the Blood,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Grot. in Evangel. John.</NOTE> <HI>viz.</HI> &s;uch a <HI>Receiving his Word</HI> and <HI>Sayings,</HI> as to be every way confirm'd in a way of Holy, Rational, Intellectual, Spi|ritual Obedience to Him.</P>
<P>And, as there is &s;o particular a Repre&s;entation of Je&s;us Chri&s;t in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> as a Sacrament &s;umming up the
<PB N="24" REF="17"> whole Doctrine of the Go&s;pel, or of Je&s;us Chri&s;t Crucified; &s;o a particular <HI>Approbation</HI> of our &s;elves to it, and for it, and the danger of an unworthy, an unbecoming <HI>Eating</HI> and <HI>Drink|ing,</HI> is &s;o earne&s;tly and vehemently pre&s;s'd upon us by the Apo&s;tle, as to infold us in the Guilt of his <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood, as if we had Crucified the Son of God afre&s;h,</HI> and <HI>put him to open Shame,</HI> and becau&s;e in the <HI>Apo&s;tolical</HI> Times, the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and the <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">, the only two &s;uch words in the New Te&s;tament.</NOTE> <HI>Lord's Day,</HI> the only In&s;titutions &s;o in&s;cri|bed, were undivided; It was a Con&s;tant, Habitual, Uni|form Preparation that was required.</P>
<P>Now that this is <HI>Eating and Drinking Chri&s;t</HI> in a my&s;tical Sen&s;e agreeable to the My&s;tery of the <HI>Doctrine</HI> and <HI>Supper</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, is very ea&s;ie to be Apprehended, &s;eeing Chri&s;t Je&s;us is not to be lov'd, nor receiv'd in any Fle&s;hly Figure, He is no &s;uch kind of Object to our Souls; even a virtuous Law-giver, or Philo&s;opher, is not to be lov'd in his Fle&s;h and Blood, as Gro&s;s and Carnal, but, as in his Laws, his Do|ctrine, his Virtue, how much more Chri&s;t? <HI>If ye Love me, keep my Commandments:</HI> Pretend to no carnal Love, to no Love to me by looking on, and ki&s;&s;ing my Pictures, or Fi|gures of fle&s;hly Repre&s;entations; <HI>For he that hath my Com|mandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that thus loveth me, &s;hall be loved of my Father,</HI> and I <HI>will</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">John, 14. 15. 21. 23, 24.</NOTE> <HI>come to him, and manife&s;t my &s;elf to him: If a Man love me, he will keep my Sayings, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our Abode with him;</HI> Words equal in Sen&s;e to the&s;e, <HI>He that eateth my Fle&s;h, and drink|eth my Blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him:</HI> On the other &s;ide, <HI>He that loveth me not, keepeth not my Sayings,</HI> and there|fore, <HI>Whoever keepeth not my Sayings, loveth me not,</HI> All o|thers attempt to do that, which cannot be done, to know and to <HI>love Christ after the Fle&s;h;</HI> whereas now there is no loving Chri&s;t, but in the <HI>New Creation, All old things are pa&s;s'd away,</HI> Behold (mark it well) all Things are become new. All outward Repre&s;entations, Images, Pictures, Ge|&s;tures,
<PB N="25" REF="17"> Geniculations, Adorations, if not commanded by him, are not the lea&s;t &s;igns of Love, but rejected and refus'd by Chri&s;t, as a <HI>knowing him after the Fle&s;h;</HI> even the Ordinance <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5. 16.</NOTE> of the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> had been a fal&s;e Love of Chri&s;t, if it had not been receiv'd from him, and &s;pecially by him&s;elf commanded; and yet even as it is, without that &s;piritual Approbation, or approving our &s;elves (which we tran&s;late by the Word Examine our &s;elves,) It is &s;o far from Acceptance, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 11. 28. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> that <HI>it is eating and drinking Judgment to our &s;elves.</HI></P>
<P>And all this is mo&s;t rational, if we con&s;ider, That we are our &s;elves not truly our &s;elves, but as we are thus intelle|ctually, &s;piritually, in a way of vertuous Conformity mov'd to things, by the great efficacy of Chri&s;t, and his Spirit in our Hearts, and move effectually by inward, rational Appre|hen&s;ion and Affection, according to the Arguments and Mo|tives in the Word of God, without which, we can under any Preten&s;ions, Profe&s;&s;ions, Confe&s;&s;ions of Faith, Forms of Wor&s;hip, Prayers, outward Rites, Po&s;tures, and Ob&s;erva|tions, be no more Chri&s;tians, than the Statues and Images of the Apo&s;tles or Saints are Chri&s;tians, becau&s;e they are in|&s;crib'd with &s;uch Names, and vouch'd to be &s;uch or &s;uch Repre&s;entations.</P>
<P>But when there is a &s;ingle Eye and De&s;ign to this Confor|mity to the <HI>Word,</HI> and <HI>Sayings,</HI> and <HI>Commandments</HI> of Chri&s;t, there is then a far more real Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t in his Word, than in any of the Writings or Lives of the mo&s;t excellent Men that ever were in the World; for the Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on they wrote are indeed here, their Actions and Vertues are drawn into Hi&s;tory, and may be pre&s;erv'd from Copy to Copy, but the Soul, the Spirit that wrote them, is gone from them: but now Chri&s;t, <HI>ye&s;terday, to day, the &s;ame for ever,</HI> is pre&s;ent by that <HI>Spirit,</HI> that Divinity, by which <HI>he preach'd of old, even in</HI> Noah's <HI>Time to the di&s;obedient Spirits now in Pri&s;on,</HI> 1 Pet. 3. 20. While his Truth operates after the manner of rational Truth, his Spirit works much higher, even divinely.</P>
<PB N="26" REF="18">
<P> His <HI>Table</HI> therefore in the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> and in his <HI>Supper,</HI> is a <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 28. 5.</NOTE> <HI>Table richly &s;pread, a Cup running over</HI> with &s;piritual Effica|cies, of which, whoever is indeed <HI>Partaker,</HI> cannot be a Par|taker of the <HI>Table of Devils,</HI> whoever truly <HI>drinks his Cup</HI> cannot drink of the <HI>Cup of Devils,</HI> either in an Idolatrous Religion, or an unholy Life: He cannot eat of the Sinners <HI>Dainties,</HI> of <HI>Folly's Bread,</HI> or of the &s;tollen Waters <HI>&s;he hath</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 9. 17.</NOTE> <HI>provided.</HI></P>
<P><HI>For by one Offering he hath for ever perfected them that are &s;anctified, of which the Holy Ghost is witne&s;s,</HI> even of that <HI>Covenant</HI> of which he is the <HI>Mediator, it being e&s;tabli&s;h'd up|on the be&s;t Promi&s;es of writing the Laws of God in their hearts, and putting them in their mind,</HI> together <HI>with the Remi&s;&s;ion of their Sins.</HI> So that as there needs no <HI>other offering</HI> than that <HI>one offering,</HI> &s;o needs it not <HI>to be daily offered,</HI> for it was once for <HI>all offer'd,</HI> and he is now <HI>at the Right-hand of God</HI> interceeding upon that <HI>one offering, once offer'd;</HI> by the <HI>Blood</HI> of which he <HI>entred into the Holiest to appear before God</HI> for us, and from whence he cannot be mov'd till the Time <HI>he expects, of his Enemies being made his Foot&s;tool,</HI> Heb. 8. 6. compar'd with <HI>c.</HI> 9. 12. 24. <HI>c.</HI> 10. 13. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. And thus I have made good the fir&s;t Point of this Head, <HI>viz.</HI> Of the &s;piritual Efficacies that flow from the Humane Nature of Chri&s;t, expre&s;s'd by the Body and Blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as in Union with the Son of God. I come now to the &s;econd, to &s;hew that in regard of the Eternity of the Son of God, the&s;e Efficacies cannot be hindered, nor pre|judic'd in Point of Time: The Divine Per&s;on of Chri&s;t be|ing unchangeable and eternal, there's no di&s;tance of Time occurs to him, or can encounter his Divine Efficacy: <HI>Before Abraham was,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Christ, I am.</HI> How could it be, that Chri&s;t, that was born &s;o many hundred years after <HI>Abraham,</HI> could be <HI>before Abraham?</HI> were it not in regard of the Eter|nity of the Divine Per&s;on, communicated to the Humanity, and predating the Great Powers and Efficacies of <HI>God ma|nife&s;ted in Fle&s;h</HI> before the <HI>Incarnation?</HI> Upon this Account
<PB N="27" REF="18"> Chri&s;t is call'd the <HI>Lamb &s;lain before the Foundation of the World;</HI> becau&s;e the <HI>Divine Per&s;on</HI> anticipated the Efficacy of the Death of the <HI>Lamb, ordain'd before the Foundation of the World,</HI> much earlier than his Manife&s;tation, which was not till the <HI>last Times:</HI> Chri&s;t was not abridg'd, nor fore|&s;tall'd in Time, becau&s;e he did not actually dye till about four thou&s;and Years after the Fall of Man: for the <HI>Divine Per&s;on,</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t, never had a <HI>Ye&s;terday,</HI> nor can have a <HI>To morrow,</HI> but is always in a <HI>To day, the &s;ame for ever.</HI></P>
<P>In this very Point of <HI>Eating the Fle&s;h, and Drinking the Blood of Christ,</HI> when the Jews were &s;o di&s;gu&s;ted with the Doctrine, Chri&s;t, to ea&s;e their Thoughts, propo&s;es his Eter|nity to their Con&s;ideration, and &s;hews the mighty &s;pirituali|zing Power of the Divine Nature by it; <HI>What;</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>if you &s;hall &s;ee the Son of Man a&s;cend</HI> up where he was before: though he was as Man, the Son of not <HI>Fifty Years</HI> by many, as the <HI>Jews</HI> ob&s;erv'd to him; yet he was in <HI>Heaven,</HI> as the <HI>Son of God,</HI> calling his Humanity, that was not actually till his Incarnation, as if it were.</P>
<P>And as it is thus in regard of Time pa&s;t, &s;o in regard of Time to come, he &s;aith, <HI>Lo I am with you to the End of the World.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. In re&s;pect to Place, we &s;hall find very great Expre&s;&s;ions of the Divine <HI>&V;biquity,</HI> and <HI>Omnipre&s;ence of the Son of God,</HI> extending the Manhood to all Spiritual Effects, without any Limitation, or Confinement within Place, though yet it be, according to its natural Pre&s;ence, determin'd to Place, even as the <HI>Incarnation</HI> it &s;elf was to the <HI>Fullne&s;s of Time.</HI></P>
<P>Our Saviour di&s;cour&s;ing with <HI>Nicodemus</HI> upon the Point of Regeneration, <HI>John</HI> 3. 13. tells him, <HI>No Man hath a&s;|cended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man, who is in Heaven:</HI> Ob&s;erve it, Chri&s;t was in his Body upon Earth, His being the Son of Man was that to which his Body was proper, yet &s;aith he, <HI>The Son of Man,</HI> that now di&s;cour&s;es thee upon Earth, This <HI>Son of Man is now in Heaven.</HI> How could this be, but only, becau&s;e no
<PB N="28" REF="19"> &s;pace does hinder or &s;traiten the &s;piritual Efficacy of the <HI>Di|vinity,</HI> or confine its Pre&s;ence, even as it is united to the <HI>Humanity?</HI></P>
<P>By all this you may &s;ee, Chri&s;t was in <HI>Heaven</HI> while he was <HI>upon Earth,</HI> and he was in <HI>Heaven</HI> before he was <HI>Incar|nate,</HI> for, <HI>He came down from Heaven;</HI> and all this by the Unchangeablene&s;s and the Omnipre&s;ence of the Action of the <HI>Divinity</HI> united to the <HI>Humane Nature:</HI> and then as to his being now upon Earth, although the <HI>Heavens contain him,</HI> Con&s;ider what the <HI>Apo&s;tle &s;aith, He a&s;cended far above all Heavens,</HI> that <HI>he might fill all things:</HI> &s;o that Chri&s;t, by his Divine Power, <HI>fills all things;</HI> and the <HI>Church,</HI> which is his <HI>Body</HI> in his <HI>Humane Nature</HI> on Earth, is the <HI>Fullne&s;s of him</HI> who <HI>filleth All in All;</HI> even he that was Rai&s;ed up from the Dead, is he that <HI>fills All in All.</HI> And the <HI>Church</HI> on Earth is his Fullne&s;s, (though Chri&s;t is in Heaven) either receiving his <HI>Fullne&s;s,</HI> or, as he is pleas'd to account him|&s;elf, <HI>Full</HI> by his Union to it. Upon the&s;e Accounts, The <HI>Humane Nature</HI> of Chri&s;t, as it is united to <HI>the Divinity,</HI> though it &s;elf be <HI>Finite,</HI> yet in the Exten&s;ive Power of the <HI>Divinity,</HI> &s;piritually applying it to the Salvation of his <HI>Church,</HI> hath the Nature of <HI>Infinite:</HI> both as to Time and Place, it is always, it is every where, <HI>filling All in All, Ye&s;terday, to day, the &s;ame for ever.</HI></P>
<P>For if the Soul of Man can improve the Sen&s;es, and Fa|culties of the Body, in repre&s;enting to it &s;elf in a Map, Pla|ces at greate&s;t Di&s;tances from the Body, and the Mind can thereby in &s;ome &s;en&s;e convey it &s;elf thither while the Body remains in the &s;ame place; If we can by Writing conver&s;e one with another at greate&s;t di&s;tance, How much more can the <HI>Divine Nature</HI> of the Son of God extend the <HI>Humane</HI> in the Spirituality of all its U&s;e and Effects, in an Infinite man|ner, &s;o that it can convey and di&s;po&s;e them unlimitedly as it plea&s;es? and this may well be call'd his <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> in very real, though my&s;tical &s;en&s;e.</P>
<PB N="29" REF="19">
<P> It remains yet, as to the clearing this Point of Chri&s;t <HI>gi|ving his Fle&s;h to eat,</HI> and his <HI>Blood to drink,</HI> to &s;hew, That as there is &s;uch a rich Communicativene&s;s on the part of Chri&s;t, giving his <HI>Fle&s;h to eat,</HI> and his <HI>Blood to drink;</HI> &s;o there are Receiving Powers and Faculties of Man's Soul, prepared and fitted by Grace, that may be properly and truly &s;aid, in a &s;piritual Sen&s;e, to <HI>Eat,</HI> and to <HI>Drink,</HI> as Chri&s;t is &s;aid to Give.</P>
<P>Now unto this, the Under&s;tanding, Will, Con&s;cience, Memory, Imagination, and Affection, with the active and executive Powers of the whole Man, are prepar'd, even to receive &s;piritually the Fle&s;h and Blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, how|ever at a bodily di&s;tance; <HI>viz.</HI> by Under&s;tanding, Faith, clo&s;e inward Application, holy Affection, obediential &s;elf-Re&s;ig|nation; all which, are this Intellectual <HI>&s;piritual Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking the Fle&s;h</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>And to all this, there is no Notion or Re&s;emblance more &s;ignificant or expre&s;&s;ive than &s;piritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> as &s;hall be more fully di&s;cours'd under the two following Heads: And &s;o having thus far di&s;cu&s;s'd the fir&s;t Head, I go forward to the &s;econd, to &s;hew, That there is a clear Pa&s;|&s;age and Tran&s;ition from Chri&s;t giving his <HI>Fle&s;h to eat,</HI> (as it &s;tands thus in the whole Doctrine of the Go&s;pel) to tho&s;e Words, <HI>Take, Eat, this is my Body,</HI> when he had <HI>ble&s;&s;ed the Bread with Thanksgiving, and broke it;</HI> and likewi&s;e <HI>after Supper,</HI> Ble&s;&s;ing the <HI>Cup,</HI> with Thank&s;giving, and &s;aying, <HI>Divide it among your &s;elves, and drink ye All of it,</HI> For, <HI>This is my Blood of the New Te&s;tament,</HI> or <HI>the New Te&s;tament in my Blood.</HI></P>
<P>For when our Lord had &s;ettled that great Doctrine of <HI>Eating his Fle&s;h,</HI> John 6. <HI>and Drinking his Blood,</HI> compre|hen&s;ive of the whole of his Redemption, and the &s;aving Ap|plication of it by <HI>Faith</HI> and <HI>Love,</HI> and the entire <HI>new Crea|tion;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Galat. 5. 6. c. 6. 15.</NOTE> it is not at all &s;trange, he &s;hould e&s;tabli&s;h &s;o great a &s;acramental In&s;titution upon it; For when in &s;o large and Sublime a Di&s;cour&s;e, and in more Words, than he expended
<PB N="30" REF="20"> upon any one Subject that we find upon Record, he had compriz'd the whole My&s;tery of our Salvation, it cannot be &s;urprizing he &s;hould adju&s;t to it one of the two, and that the mo&s;t &s;olemn and continual of his po&s;itive Laws, which we call Sacraments.</P>
<P>For though it is true, <HI>Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking</HI> con&s;ider'd, as mere &s;en&s;itive Things, and much more, when it degene|rates into Sen&s;uality, a Life of, and for Eating and Drink|ing, it is a &s;ordid, low, and cour&s;e thing, as the Apo&s;tle &s;ays, <HI>Meats for the Belly, and the Belly for Meats, but God &s;hall de&s;troy both it and them;</HI> and there cannot be a more ignoble Character, than of tho&s;e, who&s;e <HI>God is their Belly,</HI> and who &s;erve not the <HI>Lord Je&s;us,</HI> but <HI>their own Bellies,</HI> a bea&s;tly, a bruiti&s;h Servitude.</P>
<P>But then taking it, as it is by the Wi&s;dom of Providence made the means of the &s;upport of the Humane, Animal Life, in Subordination to the Life of Rea&s;on and Religion, and is &s;ymbolical and &s;ignificant, and al&s;o &s;erviceable to many rational Communications, and much noble Humanity of Con|ver&s;ation, &s;o it may even (as the natural Purgation of Wa|ter in Bapti&s;m) be worthy to be tran&s;planted from common u&s;e to the highe&s;t Significations in Religion, and as it had been &s;o dignified in the Old Te&s;tament, &s;o to be farther en|nobled in the New, and to bear a &s;en&s;e far above and be|yond it &s;elf. And yet to &s;hew both the Spirituality, great u&s;e to the highe&s;t Life, and al&s;o the Simplicity of the <HI>Go&s;pel In&s;titution,</HI> it is taken from the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary, plaine&s;t Food in Eating, <HI>Bread,</HI> and the mo&s;t generous thing in Drinking, viz. <HI>Wine; Bread that &s;trengthens, and Wine that maketh glad the Heart of Man.</HI> And the Re&s;emblance &s;tands in the&s;e fol|lowing Particulars between <HI>Eating Bread</HI> and <HI>Drinking Wine,</HI> and <HI>Eating the Body,</HI> and <HI>Drinking the Blood of Je&s;us Christ.</HI></P>
<P>But I &s;hall begin with tho&s;e Particulars that are, as lea&s;t of Controver&s;ie, &s;o of lea&s;t Intere&s;t in the main Merits of the Point we are upon, and will end in that which is of the grand Concern in this whole matter.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="31" REF="20"> 1. It is an Eating and Drinking in Pledge of Reconciliati|on, Peace, and Friend&s;hip with God by Je&s;us Chri&s;t; for &s;o <HI>eating Bread</HI> and <HI>drinking Wine</HI> is in Scripture, and by the general Impre&s;&s;ion of Providence upon Mankind ordain'd; as <HI>Jo&s;eph's Brethren,</HI> in token of extraordinary Favour, were to eat Bread with him: and it is &s;aid of the <HI>Nobles of I&s;rael,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 43. 25.</NOTE> They &s;aw God, and he laid not his <HI>hand</HI> of, <HI>viz.</HI> of Di&s;plea|&s;ure, upon them; They &s;aw him, and <HI>did eat and drink</HI> in <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 24. 11.</NOTE> token of Peace; and e&s;pecially this is a Fea&s;t upon a Sacri|fice, a <HI>Sin-offering</HI> become a <HI>Peace-offering,</HI> of which the <HI>Jews,</HI> that <HI>&s;erve the Altar,</HI> have <HI>no Right to eat,</HI> becau&s;e their <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 13. 10.</NOTE> Sin-offerings of greate&s;t expiatory Account, yet as not able to purge off the imputative Guilt laid upon them, were <HI>burnt without the Camp.</HI> But Chri&s;t, though he <HI>&s;uffer'd without the Camp,</HI> yet con&s;uming the Guilt, and fully expiating it, <HI>his Body, as &s;acrific'd,</HI> becomes an <HI>Altar of Peace-offerings</HI> to the true Chri&s;tian, although to the Jews an Offering only to Ju|&s;tice, not conquering the Guilt, but, as a Malefactor, dying in his own Blood: but the true Believer <HI>feasts</HI> upon it, af|ter he is <HI>&s;anctified,</HI> atton'd, reconcil'd, and purified by the <HI>Blood of it.</HI></P>
<P>It is a Fea&s;t upon the <HI>Pa&s;chal Lamb,</HI> in a&s;&s;urance again&s;t the <HI>de&s;troying Angel,</HI> the <HI>Blood</HI> being <HI>&s;prinkled</HI> by way of <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 5. 7, 8.</NOTE> <HI>Expiation,</HI> and the <HI>Fle&s;h eaten</HI> in the way of a <HI>holy Fe&s;tival,</HI> Rejoycing, and Thank&s;giving.</P>
<P>So that though <HI>eating the Fle&s;h of Christ</HI> carries a broad Signification of the great Evil, and Horror of Sin, and of the dreadful way of Reconciliation, looking &s;o unnatural as the <HI>eating</HI> of the <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> and the <HI>drinking the Blood</HI> of our Sa|viour, does; yet by the great attoning vertue of this Sacri|fice, it becomes a Fea&s;t of Joy and Peace.</P>
<P N="2">2. This Act is a &s;olemn Act of Wor&s;hip of God and Chri&s;t, <HI>We eat thus, and wor&s;hip:</HI> It is an Acknowledgment of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as our Saviour, Lord, and Ma&s;ter, as all eating upon Sacrifices was an Acknowledgment of the God of the Sacri|fice: and &s;eeing our Mediator is our Sacrifice, of whom it
<PB N="32" REF="21"> is te&s;tified, <HI>He lives for ever,</HI> and we are <HI>to live to him,</HI> it is an Acknowledgment of him our Saviour; and &s;o it requires <HI>Reverence</HI> and <HI>Godly Fear,</HI> it calls for Self-probation even to <HI>Approbation,</HI> or <HI>Approvizing</HI> our &s;elves, that <HI>&s;o we may eat,</HI> and not otherwi&s;e. To <HI>eat</HI> and <HI>drink</HI> in a way <HI>worthy</HI> or becoming the <HI>Holy Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> we &s;eed upon; to <HI>di&s;|cern that Body of the Lord,</HI> or to make a <HI>difference</HI> and <HI>di&s;|crimination</HI> betwixt it and all other <HI>Bread</HI> by &s;piritual, holy Action; and to carry from it &s;uch Obligations as by no means to <HI>partake of the Table, or drink the Cup of Devils;</HI> This is the &s;olemn Wor&s;hip of Eating and Drinking be|fore God.</P>
<P N="3">3. Eating and Drinking is made a Symbol of Eternal Glory; for &s;o Chri&s;t expre&s;&s;es Eternal Glory, by <HI>Eating and</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luc. 22. 30. Matt. 8. 11.</NOTE> <HI>Drinking at his Table in his Kingdom. By &s;itting down with</HI> Abraham, <HI>with</HI> I&s;aac, <HI>and</HI> Jacob, <HI>in the Kingdom of God.</HI> And this is the Rea&s;on Chri&s;t, in that great <HI>Sixth</HI> of <HI>John,</HI> &s;o often enterweaves with that Di&s;cour&s;e of <HI>Eating, Rai&s;ing up at the last day;</HI> becau&s;e then &s;hall the full effect of the Union to the Body of Chri&s;t be &s;een, when all his Members &s;hall indeed be &s;een, as One Chri&s;t in Glory; Their Bodies &s;hall be <HI>fa&s;hioned like his Glorious Body; It does not yet ap|pear what we &s;hall be,</HI> but when <HI>he &s;hall appear we &s;hall be like him, for we &s;hall &s;ee him as he is. He will then pre&s;ent us fault|le&s;s before the Pre&s;ence of his Glory:</HI> And all this from the Power of Union to him&s;elf, through the <HI>eating his Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>drinking his Blood.</HI> So that Life, Eternal Life, <HI>Living for ever, Never dying, Rai&s;ing up at the last Day, Having no Life</HI> if we do not <HI>eat the Fle&s;h of Christ,</HI> and <HI>drink his Blood,</HI> are in that Di&s;cour&s;e &s;ixteen Times mention'd, to &s;hew how clo&s;e the Relation is betwixt <HI>eating the Fle&s;h of Christ,</HI> and <HI>drinking his Blood,</HI> and <HI>Eternal Life:</HI> So that the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> &s;ums up all the Di&s;cour&s;e in the Words of Eternal Life; <HI>Thou hast the Words of Eternal Life.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. I come now to the la&s;t and greate&s;t of tho&s;e Re&s;em|blances between the <HI>Fle&s;h</HI> or <HI>Body eaten,</HI> and Chri&s;t's <HI>Blood</HI>
<PB N="33" REF="21"> <HI>drunk</HI> in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and natural Eating and Drink|ing, <HI>viz.</HI> Life and Nouri&s;hment; and this is that upon which the weight and &s;tre&s;s of the whole matter lies: and in order to the under&s;tanding of this, it is mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary well to weigh the Words, <HI>Take, Eat, This is my Body, And drink ye All,</HI> for <HI>This Cup is my Blood.</HI></P>
<P>For here the Notion of <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> hath the mo&s;t proper place, and here it will be mo&s;t properly to be deci|ded: and here I will allow the utmo&s;t to it that can be al|lowed.</P>
<P>I have then, as I hope, made evident, The real Commu|nication of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood of Je&s;us Christ,</HI> in its &s;piri|tual, &s;aving, and redemptory Effects, without any change of Place, is no incompo&s;&s;ible Notion, to the Divine Power of the Son of God: And this being rightly apprehended, It will be as evident, He can convey through &s;uch mediatory Channels and Conveyances (as he plea&s;es) tho&s;e divine In|fluences. It is out of all Controver&s;ie, The Truth of his Word and Go&s;pel, together with Prayer and holy Medita|tion, begetting in the Soul, Knowledge, &s;piritual Under|&s;tanding, Faith, Repentance, Love, and the whole <HI>New Creation,</HI> are the primary and fundamental Conveyances of &s;uch divine Influences, by which the &s;acred <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t touch the Soul, and unite with it, unto all the &s;alvifick Effects of Spiritual and Eternal Life.</P>
<P>And the very effects of Truth, and the Word of God, uniting the Soul to Chri&s;t, through the Efficacy of his Divine Power and Spirit, are in the fir&s;t place, before the <HI>Lord's Supper In&s;tituted,</HI> compar'd to Meat and Drink.</P>
<P>And as They, in the Cour&s;e of that Providence, or Word of God, by which <HI>Man lives,</HI> and not by Bread alone, are <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated</HI> into the <HI>Body, Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of tho&s;e that Eat and Drink them; even &s;o the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of <HI>Je&s;us Christ,</HI> in the&s;e &s;aving Effects, are <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated</HI> into the Soul and Spirit of every faithful Receiver of them, and enliven them to a &s;piritual and eternal Life: and there
<PB N="34" REF="22"> can be no fitter Notion of the&s;e Divine Effects than this <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> of natural Meat and Drink, and Incorpo|ration thereof into the Eater: for even as what is eaten ac|cording to the nature of Peri&s;hables lives in the Eater, dwells in the Eater, and he in that, and they are one in one ano|ther; even &s;o they that Eat Chri&s;t, <HI>dwell in Christ, and Christ in them.</HI> Chri&s;t lives in his Church and Saints, out of which he is pleas'd not to live, as our Mediator and Head: But he lives in them as in his Fullne&s;s, and they in him, as in their Fountain of Life; <HI>Christ in them,</HI> and They in him by this &s;piritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation;</HI> or el&s;e they <HI>have no life in them,</HI> but pine away as through want of Nouri&s;hment.</P>
<P>This then being the true mea&s;ure of <HI>eating</HI> and <HI>drinking Christ,</HI> and the &s;piritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> ari&s;ing from it, as in the general Doctrine of the Go&s;pel, it mu&s;t give Law and Rule to our <HI>eating</HI> and <HI>drinking of Christ</HI> in the Sacra|ment of the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> that we may rightly under&s;tand it, and &s;o to the <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> flowing from it: It mu&s;t be all in our &s;piritual Transformation into Chri&s;t living in us, and we in him, and no other in that principal Notion.</P>
<P>But becau&s;e in all Intellectual and Spiritual Communicati|ons of Truth to our Minds, there are no &s;en&s;ible, no mate|rial Images or Repre&s;entations, and that by the Wi&s;dom of Je&s;us Chri&s;t in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> there are tho&s;e &s;en&s;ible Images of <HI>Bread eaten</HI> and <HI>Wine drunk,</HI> and the&s;e Cargoed and enrich'd with the Repre&s;entation of the <HI>Body and Blood of Je&s;us Christ;</HI> and that the&s;e are to awaken, collect, and &s;um all our intellectual, rational, and &s;piritual Notions of Chri&s;t, the Vertue of his Sacrifice, and whole Tran&s;action of the Humane Nature, and our clo&s;e&s;t Application there|unto, as to our Redemption by him.</P>
<P>It mu&s;t needs therefore be, that the <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine,</HI> as to our Under&s;tandings, our Souls, and all intellectual and &s;piritual Appetite and Action, having done their very fir&s;t Service of leading us through the whole &s;uitablene&s;s betwixt <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine,</HI> and the natural Life of Man, and the &s;ame &s;uitablene&s;s betwixt the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of <HI>Christ,</HI>
<PB N="35" REF="22"> and the Life of the Soul, according to the In&s;tituti|on, they mu&s;t immediately drop their bodily and &s;en|&s;ible Nature, and become to our Minds, Thoughts, and Affections the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood of Christ.</HI> And it pertains to the Divine Power of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and his <HI>Eternal Spirit,</HI> to make, in a &s;piritual Reality, that <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine</HI> his very <HI>Body and Blood,</HI> in all its Efficacies, to us, if we are duely prepar'd &s;o to receive them: And the inward, high, and &s;a|ving Effects, to all Intents and Purpo&s;es, immediately follow.</P>
<P>But yet if the true natural Realities of the&s;e Elements, or the &s;ub&s;equent unitive Incorporating Vertues of tho&s;e Ele|ments were lo&s;t, not only the In&s;titution it &s;elf, founded on tho&s;e &s;en&s;ible Qualities, would be lo&s;t, but the very <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, by &s;uch a mon&s;trous kind of Miracle, would become <HI>outward Elements to them&s;elves;</HI> for, by the very Confe&s;&s;ion of the gro&s;s <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantialist,</HI> They, how|ever <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated,</HI> do no good without Faith and Re|pentance, and &s;o do no more than the <HI>&V;ntran&s;ub&s;tantiated Bread and Wine</HI> may do, and &s;o prodigious a Miracle &s;erves to no purpo&s;e, which is mo&s;t ab&s;urd; For it makes the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> mere outward Elements to them&s;elves.</P>
<P>The <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine</HI> then mu&s;t, as to the bodily Sen&s;es, as to the natural Effects upon the Body, be Them&s;elves, or keep their own Natures; but as to the &s;piritual Sentiments, and the &s;piritual Effects, they mu&s;t be thus <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated into the Body and Blood of Cbrist,</HI> in regard of Chri&s;t really communicating them by his divine Power to the Soul, as the Soul by Faith mu&s;t receive them.</P>
<P>There mu&s;t therefore be the Conduct of all the <HI>In&s;tituted</HI> Actions, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing, Breaking, Taking, Eating, the Bread; Ble&s;&s;ing, Dividing among our &s;elves,</HI> Drinking, All, of the CUP, and that in a &s;olemn manner, as in an Act of &s;piritual Wor&s;hip, with Reverence and godly Fear; el&s;e <HI>it is not to eat the Lord's Supper:</HI> for, If a Prie&s;t, not rightly ordain'd, or not intending to con&s;ecrate the Bread, &s;hall in the very Judgment of the <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiali&s;t</HI> defeat the &s;acred In&s;titu|tion;
<PB N="36" REF="23"> how much more ought, in the very &s;ame mens Judg|ments, the Neglect or Omi&s;&s;ion of any of the &s;olemn In&s;ti|tuted Acts evacuate the &s;piritual u&s;e and end of which the natural u&s;e of the <HI>Bread and Wine,</HI> (nece&s;&s;arily to that end continuing in their Natures) was one great part; and there|fore, undoubtedly, if the Stomachs of Communicants were open'd, as <HI>Alexander</HI> open'd the Stomach of his Souldier, to find whether the Milk charg'd upon him to be taken away from the poor Woman by violence, were there, and there he found it; &s;o the <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine</HI> would be found in the Stomach of the fre&s;h Communicant, making the ju&s;t natural Progre&s;&s;es, and moves to Union, Incorporation, and Nou|ri&s;hment, that according to the Law of &s;ub&s;tantial Food (not Accidents) or according to Nature, it &s;hould do.</P>
<P>And it is nece&s;&s;ary it &s;hould be &s;o, that the <HI>&s;piritual Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> may an&s;wer the Re&s;emblance Chri&s;t hath cho|&s;en for it, and might guide us into the under&s;tanding of it, and Application of our Souls to it, according to the &s;teps of the natural Conver&s;ion of Food into our Fle&s;h, and Blood, and Life; yet not &s;o that Chri&s;t &s;hould be obliged to his own Ceremonies, as if he could not work without them.</P>
<P>But this is the ordinary means, even be&s;ides and beyond the Word, that the Goodne&s;s of Chri&s;t hath cho&s;en, that we might have the mo&s;t &s;en&s;ible and powerful Application of our Souls to him, and of him to our Souls in &s;uch a Sacra|ment, which hath, be&s;ides the very Time of Celebration, [even in ca&s;es of Omi&s;&s;ion by nece&s;&s;ary Impediment,] its con|&s;tant u&s;e; for, the Ordination it &s;elf is a Seal, always and in&s;eparably fa&s;ten'd to God's Covenant, and does a&s;&s;ure the great Point of the real Exhibition of Chri&s;t to the Faith of his Servants, as &s;ub&s;tantially, as the Meat and Drink we live by, a&s;&s;ures it &s;elf to our Bodies and Sen&s;es, and this always.</P>
<P>And this Offer, this Exhibition, is &s;o real, that whoever profe&s;&s;ing the Go&s;pel, and having the Knowledge of this Sacramental In&s;titution, and e&s;pecially coming to the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and not approving him&s;elf in all the &s;piritual Acts of
<PB N="37" REF="23"> receiving Chri&s;t, <HI>becomes guilty of the Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of the Lord. Now as we know this Guilt is only of a &s;piritual Na|ture, committed again&s;t the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t thus &s;piritualiz'd in their effects, for who can hurt Chri&s;t's natu|ral Body in Heaven? &s;o it a&s;&s;ures us, the Pre&s;ence of the Body and Blood is only of a &s;piritual Nature, and &s;o the Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation is only &s;piritual; for as the Guilt is, &s;o is the Pre&s;ence: and if the Pre&s;ence were &s;en&s;ible, the Guilt might be by an Injury of a &s;en&s;ible, Nature: but we know, It is not &s;o; and &s;o the Pre&s;ence and Sin al&s;o mu&s;t be of a &s;piritual Nature.</P>
<P>And &s;o al&s;o is the Sin of not <HI>di&s;cerning,</HI> of not <HI>di&s;crimi|nating the Lord's Body.</HI> It mu&s;t needs be the Sin of the Mind, becau&s;e there is no Pre&s;ence that &s;trikes the Sen&s;e; The Sen&s;e is in no Fault, for there is no <HI>Body</HI> of Chri&s;t be|fore it; but the Mind, that does not <HI>di&s;cern,</HI> is to be blam'd: for that hath a high, &s;piritual Object, made known to it, <HI>evidently &s;et before it</HI> by the <HI>Word</HI> of Chri&s;t, in the <HI>Sacra|ment,</HI> but only to it, not to the bodily eye or &s;en&s;e: there|fore the Pre&s;ence can be only &s;piritual.</P>
<P>But &s;o certain as the <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>Wine</HI> are pre&s;ent to the Sen&s;e, &s;o certain are the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t, in a <HI>&s;pi|ritual Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI> For it mu&s;t be acknowledg'd, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> &s;tanding in a <HI>Sacramental,</HI> &s;olemn <HI>In&s;titu|tion,</HI> is of greater force than a mere metaphorical Saying, <HI>I am the Vine,</HI> and does &s;ignifie a Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t with the <HI>Bread,</HI> in &s;uch a manner, that the General Doctrine of the Go&s;pel concerning the real Communication of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Chri&s;t in general, is more particularly determin'd to the <HI>Bread, Ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> and <HI>Broken, Taken</HI> and <HI>Eaten,</HI> which is be|come a Memorial perpetually annex'd to the Go&s;pel by Chri&s;t's In&s;titution, and is a Superaddition of the Certainty of a real, &s;piritual Pre&s;ence, of all the &s;aving Effects of the <HI>Body and Blood of Christ,</HI> in the manner before di&s;cours'd: And the Guilt of <HI>unworthy</HI> Receiving, or not <HI>di&s;criminating</HI> this <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood,</HI> is proportionally a Sin committed
<PB N="38" REF="24"> again&s;t the &s;piritual Pre&s;ence of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> there repre&s;ented, in all its &s;piritual Effects, and really, and &s;ub|&s;tantially, though by Divine Ab&s;traction and Infinite Diffu|&s;ion of them, without any material bodily Pre&s;ence.</P>
<P>And though this Sin, according to the Laws of Di&s;cour&s;e, is charg'd only upon the <HI>unworthy Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking,</HI> as at <HI>the Table of Chri&s;t,</HI> in a &s;et Di&s;cour&s;e of the <HI>Sacrament;</HI> yet, as the Divine <HI>In&s;titution</HI> offers at all Times the <HI>Body and Blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> and te&s;tifies the Truth of a real Participati|on of Chri&s;t by the True Believer; &s;o the Obligation, and con&s;equently the Guilt, is chargeable upon every Pretender to Chri&s;t, whether he be a Receiver or not, as is mo&s;t evi|dent by 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 10. all along the Chapter. And &s;uch a Pro|fanation of the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> as the <HI>Corinthians</HI> were guilty of, as even the turning it into a Riot and Revel, &s;o that <HI>it was not to Eat the Lord's Supper;</HI> yet the weight of the <HI>In|&s;titution</HI> fell upon them, even as it does upon all, that pro|fanely forbear the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> among us, [as it were in their own Defence, again&s;t the Danger of it;] who&s;e Guilt is the &s;ame as to the not Receiving Chri&s;t exhibited to them in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> that mu&s;t be always <HI>Preach'd,</HI> as a <HI>Memorial</HI> of Chri&s;t <HI>In&s;tituting</HI> it, wherever <HI>this Go&s;pel is preach'd,</HI> and is pretended to be &s;o Receiv'd by All, that is by all who pre|tend to be Chri&s;tians: So that they do not, by neglect, le&s;&s;en the Guilt of an <HI>unworthy Eating</HI> and <HI>Drinking,</HI> which the very Profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;tianity entitles them to, but al&s;o add that of a profane Omi&s;&s;ion and Neglect of &s;o Holy an <HI>In&s;titution.</HI> Now as all this is mo&s;t evident by a Collation of the Apo|&s;tle's Di&s;cour&s;e, in the fore-mention'd Chapters, &s;o it is of <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. c. 10.</NOTE> great Illu&s;tration to the Point we are upon, as al&s;o Convi|ction of carele&s;s profane Chri&s;tians, who mu&s;t, whether they will or no, be under the Bond of this Covenant, to whom Chri&s;t is &s;o clearly &s;et forth before their Eyes, and no Shift can di&s;oblige them.</P>
<P>I come therefore to the Third Head of this Di&s;cour&s;e, <HI>viz</HI> To find a fair Accommodation, and no Encounter betwixt <MILESTONE N="3" UNIT="Head">
<PB N="39" REF="24"> the My&s;tery and the Letter, or betwixt the grand Sen&s;e and the very Words, <HI>This is my Body,</HI> by a compare of this whole Harmonical Context with other Scripture, and its way of &s;peaking in &s;uch Ca&s;es.</P>
<P>And in this I have &s;o far prevented my &s;elf, that there re|mains nothing, but to gather up the whole Context, and then to apply to it the &s;en&s;e of this <HI>My&s;tery</HI> I have pur&s;ued: Whereupon it will be evident, the&s;e Words, <HI>This is my Body, This is my Blood,</HI> agree with the con&s;tant manner of Scriptures &s;peaking in &s;uch Matters, and that le&s;s than the&s;e Words could not import the great Sen&s;e that was to be im|ported.</P>
<P>It is therefore fir&s;t to be con&s;ider'd, That Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord and Saviour, even <HI>the very night he was betray&punc;d to dye,</HI> that he might draw up the whole My&s;tery of Redemption in &s;hort, and into a Sum; He does it fir&s;t in that mo&s;t &s;ignifi|cant, typical, &s;acrifical Rite of the <HI>Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> that had been of &s;o great u&s;e and &s;ignification in the Church of God among the <HI>Jews;</HI> of which, the &s;everal Ordinances for the &s;olemni|ty of it bound together, are call'd by not a Literal, but My&s;tical Propriety, the <HI>Lord's Pa&s;&s;over.</HI> Exod. 12. 11.</P>
<P><HI>This Pa&s;&s;over, with De&s;ire, Chri&s;t de&s;ir'd to eat with his Di&s;ciples, before he &s;uffer'd,</HI> as a very lively Table of his Re|demptional Suffering, &s;o near: but withal, He declares, <HI>He would no more Eat of it, till it was fulfill'd in the Kingdom of God.</HI></P>
<P>Immediately upon this, whether out of an appendant Rite to the <HI>Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> or not, is not now material, He <HI>In&s;ti|tutes the Lord's Supper,</HI> as it were <HI>proleptically,</HI> and by way of <HI>Prophecy,</HI> and yet Intuition, and looking upon his Death ju&s;t before him, and draws in this new Table the Intention of it: but whether it was to be celebrated any more, there is no Explicite, but that Implicite Preception. In the <HI>Evan|gelist Luke, Do it in Remembrance of me;</HI> which carries an Intimation of a Continuation: but it is ob&s;ervable, It is ap|plied only <HI>to the Bread,</HI> importing the <HI>Body of Chri&s;t:</HI> and
<PB N="40" REF="25"> it abates much from the rigour of a gro&s;s, carnal Sen&s;e, where it &s;eems to pre&s;s harde&s;t. For as to the <HI>Wine</HI> being materially the <HI>Blood of Christ,</HI> that Figure, <HI>This Cup,</HI> for this Wine in the Cup; and that variation [is <HI>the New Te&s;ta|ment in my Blood]</HI> does, beyond all Contradiction, rebate the gro&s;s Literal Sen&s;e, even as <HI>Remembrance</HI> does from <HI>[This is my Body;]</HI> for Remembrance is of Ab&s;ent, and not Pre|&s;ent; This therefore was as before-hand to an after thing; So Chri&s;t &s;aid of the <HI>Body [which is broken]</HI> although it was not yet actually <HI>broken,</HI> and of the <HI>Blood [which is &s;hed]</HI> al|though it was not then <HI>&s;hed.</HI></P>
<P>Immediately after the drinking of the <HI>Wine,</HI> Chri&s;t &s;ub|joyn'd, <HI>I will no more drink of This Fruit of the Vine, till I drink it new in the Kingdom of God my Father,</HI> when it comes; which to &s;hew a thing of weight, and of the &s;ame Sen&s;e <HI>with eating the Pa&s;&s;over no more till,</HI> &amp;c. The <HI>Evange|li&s;t Luke</HI> is before-hand with the <HI>In&s;titution</HI> of the Cup, to joyn to that Saying of the <HI>Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> this, <HI>of the Fruit of the Vine,</HI> as is very vi&s;ible.</P>
<P>And both the&s;e Expre&s;&s;ions &s;peak the&s;e three Things:</P>
<P N="1">1. That there was an eminent <HI>Kingdom of God the Father</HI> immediately to &s;ucceed, at who&s;e <HI>Right-hand Chri&s;t &s;its till</HI> the Time of his own peculiar <HI>Kingdom</HI> comes, which is not till <HI>he puts down all Rule,</HI> and <HI>Power,</HI> and <HI>Authority,</HI> and la&s;t of all <HI>aboli&s;hes Death</HI> and <HI>Hell</HI> out of <HI>God's Creation,</HI> in|to the <HI>Lake,</HI> its own Place, which is the <HI>Second Death,</HI> or <HI>the Death of Death,</HI> and then he re&s;igns back <HI>the Kingdom.</HI> The Kingdom of God and Chri&s;t are thus kept di&s;tinct, and the <HI>Kingdom of the Father</HI> is in an e&s;pecial manner the &s;tate of the Go&s;pel, after the <HI>Re&s;urrection, A&s;cen&s;ion, Sitting of Chri&s;t at his Right-hand,</HI> and his <HI>continual Interce&s;&s;ion</HI> even untill that <HI>Glorious Kingdom of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. That the Death of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, imported in both the <HI>Pa&s;&s;over</HI> and the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> was to be renewed into a per|petual Life and Vertue immediately after his Death, by tho&s;e his <HI>Re&s;urrection, A&s;cen&s;ion, Se&s;&s;ion on God's Right-hand,</HI>
<PB N="41" REF="25"> and <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion,</HI> which are the <HI>Go&s;pel-Kingdom</HI> of the <HI>Father.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. That Chri&s;t, in a &s;piritual &s;en&s;e, continually <HI>eats the Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> as <HI>fulfill'd in the Kingdom of God,</HI> drinks <HI>the Wine</HI> as <HI>new in the Kingdom of God,</HI> and that with his <HI>Di&s;ciples</HI> of all Ages, <HI>viz.</HI> in that perpetual Renovation of his <HI>Death</HI> in his <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion,</HI> and Application of the Benefits thereof to Believers, according to the whole Tenor of the Go&s;pel, and particularly of the <HI>Lord's Supper;</HI> and as in a <HI>Pro-gramma</HI> or afore-hand Portraicture of all this, tho&s;e excellent Di&s;|cour&s;es of at lea&s;t <HI>John</HI> 15. <HI>c.</HI> 16. and that great Prayer, a Pattern of the Interce&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, <HI>John</HI> 17. following &s;hew.</P>
<P>And of this <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion of Christ</HI> upon his own <HI>Death,</HI> the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> is in highe&s;t &s;en&s;e the <HI>Memorial;</HI> for, the Re|membrance of Chri&s;t is not of a <HI>dead Christ,</HI> but who <HI>lives for ever,</HI> to make <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion,</HI> and <HI>&s;o &s;aves to the uttermost.</HI></P>
<P>In con&s;equence of all this, e&s;pecially the <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">A point mo&s;t in|&s;i&s;ted up|on by the Apo&s;tles <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> (I had almo&s;t &s;aid &s;olely by them) <HI>Rom.</HI> 8. Epi&s;t. to the <HI>Heb.</HI> frequently and &s;o|lemnly, <HI>c.</HI> 7. the Apo&s;tle <HI>John c.</HI> 15, <HI>c.</HI> 16. <HI>c.</HI> 17. e&s;pecially <HI>Epi&s;t. c.</HI> 2. 1, 2.</NOTE> Interce&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul,</HI> as a <HI>fourth Evangelist,</HI> concerning this <HI>In&s;titution,</HI> is immediately commi&s;&s;ion'd by Chri&s;t from Heaven, to promulge it to all Ages of Chri&s;tians. And therein he reveals it under a &s;olemn new Title, as it were <HI>new in the Kingdom of God.</HI> The <HI>Lord's Supper.</HI> He applies to it its great Scope and End, both to the <HI>Bread</HI> and <HI>to the Wine;</HI> Do it in &s;olemn Memorial of Chri&s;t, and his Action now in Heaven upon his <HI>Death</HI> which was here on Earth: and farther in tho&s;e Words; <HI>You &s;hew forth his Death till he comes,</HI> that is, the whole Contexture of his Death, as <HI>his Body is eaten</HI> and <HI>his Blood drunk</HI> through the Efficacy and Application of his <HI>Interce&s;&s;ion,</HI> through which we <HI>offer the Sacrifice of Prai&s;e, giving Thanks to his Name,</HI> through him, in this <HI>Eucharist</HI> or <HI>Feast of Thank&s;giving,</HI> of who&s;e <HI>Altar</HI> we continually <HI>Eat,</HI> even that of the <HI>Great Shepheard of the Sheep brought again from the Dead by the Blood of the everla&s;t|ing Covenant,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle hath mo&s;t divinely woven the&s;e Things into a Neighbourhood, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. <HI>v.</HI> 10. <HI>v.</HI> 15. <HI>v.</HI> 20.</P>
<PB N="42" REF="26">
<P> And this <HI>Ordinance,</HI> with this whole State of Things, the <HI>Apo&s;tle</HI> hath dated till <HI>the Coming of Christ,</HI> when a new State &s;hall receive this into it &s;elf, till which this <HI>Ordinance</HI> cannot be &s;uperannuated, or out of Date; for which his be|ing <HI>receiv'd into Glory</HI> is po&s;tpond in the <HI>My&s;tery of Godli|ne&s;s,</HI> that it may be a Pawn and Pledge of his Kingdom of Glory. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. 16. on which the Apo&s;ta&s;ie follows, dark|ning all till then. <HI>c.</HI> 4.</P>
<P>Laying then all the&s;e Things together, how evident is it, This whole Matter is of a divine, &s;piritual, heavenly Sen&s;e? and therefore the <HI>Words</HI> concerning it are to be under&s;tood <HI>my&s;tically, &s;piritually, heavenly,</HI> however expre&s;s'd in a Phra&s;e and Language neare&s;t, mo&s;t ea&s;ie, and familiar to Sen&s;e, by which Sen&s;iblene&s;s, the Sub&s;tantialne&s;s, Reality, certain Pre|&s;ence of tho&s;e Spiritualities is to be under&s;tood; and yet no|thing to be detracted, or derogated from the Spirituality: and to interpret otherwi&s;e, is to go contrary to the Rule of all Language, and of Scripture-Language particularly, and is as mi&s;chievous as the wor&s;t &s;ort of Allegorizing, or Eva|cuating the &s;en&s;e of the Letter of Scripture, where plain <HI>hi|&s;torical</HI> Things are intended. The one is turning <HI>Scripture</HI> into a <HI>&s;piritual Romance,</HI> the other is to &s;ubvert the whole World of <HI>Spirituals,</HI> to bring in horrible <HI>Anthropomorphi|ti&s;m,</HI> or imagining God to have <HI>Eyes, Hands, Feet,</HI> &amp;c. be|cau&s;e Scripture repre&s;enting the Reality of his divine Action, Providence and Government does it in Words and Images we be&s;t under&s;tand; and in a word, to bring in rank <HI>Hob|biani&s;m</HI> into the Scripture, the Church of God, and into this <HI>Sacrament,</HI> as &s;hall be more particularly remark'd under a following Head.</P>
<P>Add hereunto, This is mo&s;t particularly the Language of Scripture in <HI>Sacramental</HI> or <HI>Te&s;tamentary</HI> Di&s;cour&s;es, Di&s;|cour&s;es concerning the <HI>Covenant,</HI> according to that famous In&s;tance, <HI>Heb.</HI> 9. 19. 20. <HI>When</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>had &s;poken every Precept to the People, according to the Law, he took the Blood of Calves, of Goats, with Scarlet-wool and Hy&s;op, and &s;prinkled both the</HI>
<PB N="43" REF="26"> <HI>Book, and the People,</HI> &s;aying, upon the whole, <HI>This Thing, this whole Thing, is the Blood of the Covenant, which God hath enjoyn'd you.</HI></P>
<P>Thus the <HI>Bread, Ble&s;&s;ed, Broken, Taken, Eaten,</HI> is the Body of Chri&s;t, (and proportionably the Blood.) This whole Thing, the whole <HI>Doctrine</HI> and <HI>Law</HI> of the Go&s;pel, always <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> con&s;ider'd and embrac'd fir&s;t, and then the <HI>Bread,</HI> &s;o <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed, Broken, Taken, Eaten,</HI> is the Body of Chri&s;t; and accor|dingly this <HI>Cup</HI> or <HI>Wine</HI> particularly <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed, Divided, Drunk.</HI></P>
<P>And that not only in a figurative, cold &s;acramental, or commemorative Sen&s;e; for that <HI>Divine Power,</HI> that <HI>Eternal Spirit of Christ,</HI> does infinitely propagate the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, repre&s;enting his whole Humanity, in all the &s;aving Efficacies and mighty Effects proper thereunto; as perpetually in the Doctrine and Truth of the Go&s;pel, in an intellectual way, &s;o in this Supper, as in a &s;en&s;ible mate|rial Repre&s;entation; but yet only confirming, a&s;&s;uring, ma|king pre&s;ent a divine &s;piritual Efficacy, as hath been all along declar'd: And even as the Bread and Wine have an undoubted evident Appearance to Sen&s;e, are Eaten, Ta&s;ted, Concocted in the Stomach, converted into Fle&s;h, Blood, and Spirits; &s;o are the <HI>Body and Blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> really pre&s;ent in the <HI>Bread,</HI> in the <HI>Wine, viz.</HI> in their &s;piritual Effects, ju&s;tly called <HI>his Body</HI> and <HI>Blood:</HI> So that the <HI>Bread</HI> is in true &s;piritual Sen&s;e the <HI>Body of Christ,</HI> to be eaten &s;pi|ritually, to be ta&s;ted &s;piritually, to be turn'd into &s;piritual <HI>Life</HI> to the Soul, in which <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> go hand in hand with the Elements, in all their natural Progre&s;s, by their Spirituality: and &s;o that the want of due &s;piritual Acti|on in all that profe&s;s Chri&s;t Je&s;us, whether at, or not at the <HI>Sacrament,</HI> (however particularly applied to that) is an Of|fence again&s;t the very <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and brings a Guilt proportionable to the Offence; All which hath the Full of a &s;piritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> and is the Thing we have pur&s;ued.</P>
<PB N="44" REF="27">
<P><MILESTONE N="4" UNIT="Head"> I am come down now to the fourth Head, <HI>viz.</HI> To en|quire into this Thing, How there came into the Chri&s;tian Church &s;uch a Notion as that <HI>Fle&s;hly Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> &s;o earne&s;tly contended for. And I account it to the&s;e four Cau&s;es:</P>
<P> <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Cause"> That this Great and Excellent Doctrine of the Go&s;pel, e&s;pecially in that &s;o often magnified <HI>Sixth</HI> of <HI>John,</HI> and in the <HI>In&s;titution of the Lord's Supper,</HI> give great Warranty to ob&s;erve a great and <HI>divine My&s;tery</HI> in the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and in his <HI>Supper:</HI> That there mu&s;t be &s;ome real &s;en&s;e of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, as preach'd in the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> as pre&s;ented in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> Tran&s;ub&s;tan|tiated &s;o, as to be <HI>Meat</HI> and <HI>Drink</HI> indeed, and to <HI>give Life</HI> to our Souls.</P>
<P>All this <HI>My&s;tery</HI> cannot be exhau&s;ted, and drawn out in no more than a plain A&s;&s;ent to this, that Chri&s;t dyed as an Attonement for the World, (if &s;o much be allowed as <HI>Soci|niani&s;m</HI> denies,) and gave a Body of Holy Precepts and Com|mands, of an excellent Nature; and that whoever lives in Obedience to the&s;e, with Sincerity, &s;hall have that their Obedience imputed to them for Righteou&s;ne&s;s, through the <HI>Covenant of Grace,</HI> and <HI>ju&s;tifie</HI> Men, as perfect and un&s;inning Obedience &s;hould have been and done by the <HI>fir&s;t Covenant with Adam.</HI></P>
<P>Rationali&s;ts and Morali&s;ts draw down this Go&s;pel-My&s;te|ry too low, while they &s;eem to acquit them&s;elves to Rea&s;on and general Under&s;tanding, and to carry all Things plau&s;i|bly before that, They lo&s;e the high Spirituality of Chri&s;ti|anity; which they are too ready to e&s;teem no better than <HI>Jargon Cant,</HI> and Non-&s;en&s;e. There is a Go&s;pel middle betwixt gro&s;s, portentous, carnal <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> and &s;uch an emaciating and &s;hrinking up the great and un&s;earchable Trea&s;ures of the Go&s;pel, as if they did not much excell a Lecture out of <HI>Plato, Plutarch, Epictetus,</HI> or &s;ome of the great <HI>Sages</HI> of Morality; joyn'd to &s;ome Articles of Faith and Forms of Wor&s;hip.</P>
<PB N="45" REF="27">
<P> The way and manner of the Go&s;pel &s;peaking of the&s;e things, and e&s;pecially as <HI>our Lord and Saviour &s;pake, who &s;pake as never man &s;pake,</HI> might well rai&s;e the Minds of Chri|&s;tians to look for &s;omething high, and &s;urpa&s;&s;ing in the My|&s;teries of Chri&s;tian Religion, and beyond common Sen&s;e, or common Rea&s;on.</P>
<P N="2">2. Many of tho&s;e we call the <HI>Antients,</HI> or <HI>Fathers,</HI> co|ming out of the Heathen Learning and Eloquence, into the Profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;tianity, Men of great Holine&s;s, Innocen|cy, and Sanctity of Conver&s;ation, Contempt of the World, Readine&s;s to dye for the Name of Chri&s;t, and generally <HI>Martyrs,</HI> of curious and delicate Rea&s;on, of very &s;ublime Notion and Sentiments, of a flowing Language, &s;oftne&s;s and &s;weetne&s;s of Speech, and accompli&s;h'd with all the Graceful|ne&s;&s;es of Rhetorick, taking the Scripture-Expre&s;&s;ions, and di&s;playing upon them with that Magnificency and Gallantry of Words, and all kind of Wit, but not pur&s;uing &s;trongly and clo&s;ely the Rea&s;on, Strength, and whole <HI>Analogy</HI> of Scripture, nor guarding their Di&s;cour&s;e by a Nervous <HI>Com|pare of Scripture with Scripture,</HI> launch'd out into many free and liberal Expre&s;&s;ions concerning the&s;e Things, which not ballanc'd, limited, defended again&s;t po&s;&s;ible Mi&s;take, at &s;ome Times, and in &s;ome Veins of their Writings in this Matter, might give occa&s;ion to the more grievous and dreadful Mi|&s;takes to &s;uch a cour&s;e of Times, as we may ea&s;ily ob&s;erve &s;ucceeded them.</P>
<P>And this they did at the higher rate, undoubtedly, out of a great Zeal for the Honour of Chri&s;tian Religion; for, the <HI>Jews</HI> and <HI>Pagans</HI> &s;peaking high of their <HI>Cabalaes, Great My&s;teries,</HI> and Secrets of Religion, and their <HI>My&s;tae,</HI> who had the guard of the&s;e <HI>My&s;teries,</HI> their <HI>Prie&s;ts,</HI> and <HI>Devo|toes.</HI> The Fathers of the Chri&s;tian Church, knowing the true Excellency of <HI>Divine My&s;teries,</HI> and pitching upon this, as ea&s;ily the mo&s;t remarkable, <HI>viz.</HI> the Doctrine <HI>of eating the Fle&s;h,</HI> and <HI>drinking the Blood of Chri&s;t;</HI> and this Do|ctrine in an e&s;pecial manner con&s;igned into the <HI>My&s;tery of</HI>
<PB N="46" REF="28"> <HI>the Lord's Supper,</HI> to which is adjoyn'd that &s;evere Di&s;cour&s;e of the Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. It was very obvious to them, here e&s;pecially, to exalt the Glory of Chri&s;tianity, and of the holy Mini&s;ters of it, as highly &s;urmounting the Poor, if true, but therefore mo&s;t poor, becau&s;e fal&s;e My&s;teries of outdated <HI>Judai&s;m,</HI> and much more of <HI>Pagani&s;m.</HI></P>
<P>It is mo&s;t evident, at the very &s;ame Time, in the very &s;ame Places of their Writings, they in the &s;ame kind of flowing Eloquence intermix other Expre&s;&s;ions, that &s;uffici|ently argue, How free they were from any Mi&s;apprehen&s;i|ons in the&s;e Things: But their way of Writing being not by way of &s;evere Examination of Scripture Notions and Texts, not by the au&s;tere Beam of Scripture, in its &s;everal Portions of <HI>Revealed Truth,</HI> and of the <HI>Sacred Context,</HI> nor having any &s;urmi&s;e of the after danger, there being &s;o little occa&s;ion, or appearance of Fear at the Time, left Things &s;o, as that the following Times deprav'd their Innocent Glory of Learning, and &s;ublime Ingeny, dyed deep with Love of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P N="3">3. Through the many Deva&s;tations of the Chri&s;tian Em|pire, by the Barbarous Nations, by the <HI>Saracens,</HI> and <HI>Turks,</HI> in a long Tract of Time, through the daily Decay of Chri|&s;tian Knowledge, Zeal, and Holine&s;s, there en&s;ued a great Darkne&s;s, Ignorance, Barbari&s;m, upon the Chri&s;tian World; in which, Men of the be&s;t Note &s;eiz'd upon &s;uch Expre&s;&s;ions of <HI>Scripture,</HI> and the <HI>Fathers,</HI> who&s;e <HI>Sepulchres they built,</HI> and <HI>garni&s;hed their Tombs</HI> all manner of ways, (I add no more) and it may be, as it &s;eem'd to them mo&s;t to make for the Honour of Chri&s;tian Religion: But their Under&s;tanding being heavy, cour&s;e, &s;inking into the thick and impure matter, bearing al&s;o a deep Grain of <HI>Pagani&s;m,</HI> they grie|vou&s;ly <HI>err'd,</HI> neither <HI>knowing the Scriptures,</HI> the true Sen&s;e of the <HI>Fathers,</HI> nor <HI>of the Power of God;</HI> And hereunto they proportion'd all their Notions of the Chri&s;tian Religion, their Wor&s;hip of God and Chri&s;t, and mo&s;t mi&s;erably e&s;pe|cially, They &s;tuck in the <HI>mirey Clay,</HI> as to this great <HI>My|&s;tery</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="28"> <HI>of the Lord's Supper,</HI> and the Doctrine <HI>of Eating the Fle&s;h and Drinking the Blood of Chri&s;t,</HI> out of which it was drawn, and degraded the mo&s;t lo&s;ty <HI>Spirituality</HI> of the Go&s;|pel, into the poore&s;t and even vile&s;t of carnal Apprehen&s;i|ons concerning it, in the Doctrine of a <HI>Carnal fle&s;hly Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. At the &s;ame Times, and by the &s;ame Degrees, grew up a <HI>De&s;potick, Arbitrary Church power,</HI> that impo&s;ed what it pleas'd under <HI>Anathemaes, Cur&s;es, Excommunications,</HI> Brands of <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> and all Cruelty, upon the Bodies, Names, E&s;tates, of tho&s;e, who even to Syllables did not Say as they Said, and do as they did: while at the &s;ame Time al&s;o there Invaded Per&s;ons of as hone&s;t and &s;incere a Devotion as Ignorance could produce, a Veneration for the Name of the <HI>Catholick Church</HI> and the <HI>Governours</HI> of it, and their <HI>Ca|nons.</HI></P>
<P>Now the Impre&s;s, the Stamp of this Authority, being &s;et &s;o particularly and Imperially upon this Doctrine of <HI>Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> it is no wonder it prevail'd &s;o far, and &s;unk &s;o deep into the Minds of Men, through what every Age from tho&s;e Worthies before-nam'd, contributed both to the Gro&s;&s;|ne&s;s and Authoritativene&s;s of this <HI>fal&s;e Article of Faith.</HI></P>
<P>I forbear, becau&s;e I would be as inoffen&s;ive as may be con&s;i&s;tent with Truth to remark upon that <HI>Apo&s;tacy,</HI> that <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity,</HI> which the <HI>Apo&s;tles of our Lord and Sa|viour</HI> foretold, were, even then beginning, and to ri&s;e high|er and higher in the <HI>Latter Times,</HI> to which even many Things, innocent and inoffen&s;ive in them&s;elves at fir&s;t, and indeed all Contingencies, <HI>fathally</HI> concurr'd; and which, it is mo&s;t certain, are not yet remov'd. Nor do I think fit at this Time to Animadvert upon the <HI>Covetous Practices,</HI> Cru|elties, and Inhumanities, into which <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> hath been <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiated,</HI> not only in the true, real &s;en&s;e of <HI>&s;piritual Wickedne&s;s,</HI> but in a &s;en&s;e as <HI>corporeal</HI> as <HI>Corporeity</HI> it &s;elf.</P>
<PB N="48" REF="29">
<P> I ha&s;ten therefore to the fifth Head; <HI>viz.</HI> To repre&s;ent to you the Danger of &s;uch a Doctrine, as that <HI>Fle&s;hly Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> not &s;o much as it is a contemplative Thing, a Notion, a manner of Apprehen&s;ion, or matter of Di&s;cour&s;e, though that al&s;o, but as it carries the Practice of <HI>Wor&s;hip</HI> and <HI>Adoration.</HI></P>
<P>Now in the&s;e Great Points we may very plainly and con|vincingly under&s;tand the great Danger of that <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tan|tiation.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. The believing it mu&s;t needs &s;hake the Credit of all the knowing and judging Faculties of our Natures and Beings, than which, nothing can be more de&s;tructive to Religion, or put all Things into greater Di&s;order and Confu&s;ion, that concern God, our Selves, or our Motions in relation to another World.</P>
<P>For if our Faculties are not true, we have nothing to guide our &s;elves, or to be guided by.</P>
<P>Now the Faculties of our Minds fir&s;t judge, and act by Sen&s;e, then by Rea&s;on, then by the Notices or Sentiments of Natural Con&s;cience, then by Faith; and the&s;e mu&s;t be all &s;ound, in due &s;tate; They have all their proper Objects, they are all finite, and by the&s;e Rules they are limited; they mu&s;t not go out of their Limits. It is true, the&s;e are each as &s;o many Stories one above another, and the lower mu&s;t not pre&s;ume into the Region of the higher, for then they will be mi&s;taken, and in Error; yet the highe&s;t is &s;upport|ed and &s;u&s;tained by the lower. And &s;eeing they all are from God, whatever is true in the lowe&s;t cannot be contradicted in the highe&s;t; and therefore whatever is pretended in the highe&s;t, cannot be true there, if it be ju&s;tly denied in the lowe&s;t.</P>
<P>Now it were ea&s;ie to &s;hew, this Notion of Carnal <HI>Tran|&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> mu&s;t be fal&s;e in all the judgment of our Facul|ties; but I &s;hall only in&s;tance in Sen&s;e: And, if the Bread be Bread in the Judgment of every one of our Sen&s;es, of the Sen&s;es of all Men, in all Places, at all Times, and in
<PB N="49" REF="29"> all Ages under the mo&s;t advantageous Circum&s;tances for &s;en&s;e to judge by, the contrary can never be true in Rea&s;on, in natural Con&s;cience, nor in Faith; for then, either there mu&s;t be no &s;uch Faculty as Sen&s;e, or that fundamental Fa|culty of the Souls Judgment by Sen&s;e, mu&s;t be fal&s;e, and &s;o all our Faculties will lo&s;e their Credit; for they may be fal&s;e too, &s;eeing he that gave us one gave us all of them, and this of Sen&s;e is that we mo&s;t live and act by in this World.</P>
<P>If any attempt to parallel this with the Doctrine of the <HI>Father,</HI> the <HI>Word,</HI> and the <HI>Spirit, being ONE,</HI> to which, Rea|&s;on (&s;ay they) can never &s;ub&s;cribe; the Ca&s;e is manife&s;tly different, &s;eeing it is certain, our Faculties are finite, and cannot judge of Infinity but by Faith in divine Revelation: Infinite Being is <HI>too High, too Deep, too Broad, too Long,</HI> for <NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 11. 7, 8, 9.</NOTE> a Finite Rea&s;on to judge of; It is not its proper Object.</P>
<P>But Colour, Ta&s;te, Figure, Hard, Soft, Sound, may be all judg'd by Sen&s;e, and properly are &s;o to be judg'd.</P>
<P>Or if any &s;hould make the &s;ame Objection again&s;t that <HI>Spiritual Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> we have made out by Scripture, 'tis certain, It is only cogni&s;able, and to be judg'd of by Faith and Revelation: Sen&s;e hath no Title to judge of it; If it be maintain'd by Faith, it is maintain'd in its proper Court. But it is certain, The Judgment whether this Bread be Bread, or Wine be Wine, is to be made by &s;ome one or more of the Sen&s;es, at lea&s;t in the Univer&s;ality of all the Sen&s;es, of all Per&s;ons, Times, Places.</P>
<P>Let any one then lay that place 1 <HI>Epi&s;t. John c.</HI> 1. <HI>v.</HI> 1. <HI>That which we have heard, that which our Eyes have &s;een, which we have looked upon, and our Hands have handled,</HI> &amp;c. to the being born down, That in the&s;e Sen&s;es, and all others, we are mi&s;taken in judging Bread to be Bread when it is no Bread, and Wine, when it is no Wine; Mu&s;t not all the Argument, the Evidence, the A&s;&s;urance the Apo&s;tle gives, &s;tand for nothing? Nay, Mu&s;t not all Scripture-Miracles whatever fall by the &s;ame &s;troke the Sen&s;es do in this mat|ter? and Religion be &s;u&s;pected but only Juggle and Impo|&s;ture?
<PB N="50" REF="30"> For here Sen&s;e is upon its own Object, in its own Bu&s;ine&s;s: All Sen&s;e that is in the World, agrees; and a pre|tended Faith only makes it void.</P>
<P N="2">2. Hereby that great Excellency of Scripture in giving Divine and Spiritual Things under &s;en&s;ible, prophetical Events under Emblems, my&s;tical Things under Types of a material Nature, great, concernful practical Truth under Parables, is made void; for if it may not be allowed it to mean Spirituality under <HI>[This is my Body,]</HI> it may be deni|ed it in all Things el&s;e, &s;eeing in nothing it can be more nece&s;&s;ary, than when all the Sen&s;es in the World bear wit|ne&s;s to the nece&s;&s;ity, and the &s;ublime Spirituality of the Thing, as we have &s;et out, requires it. This mu&s;t needs turn even the minds of Men into gro&s;s and carnal. Mu&s;t not that great Here&s;ie of the <HI>Anthropomorphites</HI> (as was intimated before) be defended and made good, becau&s;e Scripture &s;peaks &s;piritual Things freely and under Sen&s;ibles; nay, all Lan|guage does the &s;ame, and is made fooli&s;h by &s;o perverting it.</P>
<P N="3">3. The Amu&s;e and Wonderment of the minds of men, per|&s;uaded of &s;uch a <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation,</HI> mu&s;t needs be great, and their Thoughts gazing after a Nothing, and taken off from the greate&s;t Bu&s;ine&s;s of a &s;piritual Application to Chri&s;t according to his Word, and the whole Truth of the Go&s;pel concerning Redemption by him.</P>
<P N="4">4. But that which is yet the greate&s;t danger of all, There is nothing the Scripture &s;o much abhors, as to bring God into a contemptible, vile, mean Appearance, and that &s;uch an Appearance &s;hould claim Divine Honour, a &s;hare in the Di|vine Glory. There never was a Divine Appearance, that God requir'd any Acknowledgment of him&s;elf in, but there was a Retinue of Divine Power and Maje&s;ty with it, to a&s;&s;ure the minds of men, and to direct them to the Appre|hen&s;ions of God alone.</P>
<P>When Chri&s;t was here in the World <HI>under the Form of a Servant,</HI> the Di&s;gui&s;e of a <HI>Carpenters Son,</HI> I do not find that there was any Act of Wor&s;hip done to him; but when the
<PB N="51" REF="30"> <HI>Shecinah,</HI> the Pre&s;ence of Glory, de&s;cended upon him; when the <HI>Wi&s;e men from the East</HI> wor&s;hipped him in his Infancy, a <HI>Star from Heaven,</HI> as an Evidence of his Divinity, guided them. It is never recorded the Di&s;ciples wor&s;hipped him, but after his Re&s;urrection, and when they &s;aw his <HI>Apotheo&s;is,</HI> his A&s;cen&s;ion, his receiving up into Glory, or when a Ray of his Divinity &s;hone out, as in <HI>the Draught of Fi&s;hes.</HI></P>
<P>And yet it is true, that throughout the Time of his publick <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 5. 8.</NOTE> Appearance, though <HI>he was made Fle&s;h, and dwelt among them,</HI> yet they <HI>beheld his Glory as the Glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth,</HI> not bodily, but divine, &s;piritual was the Object of their Wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>How does God caution and warn the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> that <HI>They &s;aw no Similitude, no Likene&s;s of any thing</HI> when <HI>he &s;pake out of the midst of the Fire: They heard a Voice of Words,</HI> but they &s;aw no Similitude, <HI>that they might not Copy God out into any &s;uch.</HI> Deut. 4. 12. 15, 16.</P>
<P>If men &s;ay, They intend to wor&s;hip only the True God in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, in the chang'd Bread; Con&s;ider what miracu|lous Pre&s;ence, what Evidences of Divinity can you find to &s;ummon your Wor&s;hip, that you may be &s;ecure from Ido|latry?</P>
<P>Con&s;ider what the Glory, what the Maje&s;ty of the Divine Appearances are, when he hath &s;ummon'd the Wor&s;hip of his Servants; &s;ome Extraordinaries of Glory have always been the Alarm of their Wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>One great part of the Idolatry of the Heathens was their cour&s;e Repre&s;entation of God; <HI>They changed the Glory of the</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1. 23. 25.</NOTE> <HI>Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible Man,</HI> and to Birds, &amp;c. <HI>They changed the Truth of God into a Lye, and wor&s;hipped and &s;erved the Creature more than the Creator, Ble&s;&s;ed for ever,</HI> or be&s;ides, or <HI>mi&s;&s;ing the Creator,</HI> and as <HI>again&s;t him, Ble&s;&s;ed for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Though I would not therefore &s;ay, It is Idolatry; yet I heartily pray, Men may not be en&s;nar'd in &s;o great a danger of it: I could wi&s;h it were not, as the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom.</HI> 9. 1. if
<PB N="52" REF="31"> it be lawful to do &s;o. I am &s;ure the Danger is exceeding great of &s;tooping God &s;o low, and then Wor&s;hipping him as in a piece of Bread.</P>
<P>There remains nothing now but the la&s;t Head of this Di&s;|cour&s;e; <HI>viz.</HI> To draw up all into &s;hort Inferences, applica|tory to Practice.</P>
<P> <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Applic."> I would even put it to the Choice of any wi&s;e Man, what kind of <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> is mo&s;t de&s;irable, and worthy to be preferr'd; Whether that In&s;ipid one, at the &s;uppos'd Expence of a Miracle, &s;o unaccountable to Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on as chan|ging the Bread and Wine into <HI>the Body and Blood of Chri&s;t</HI> materially taken, which yet offers nothing to the Sen&s;e to excite and &s;tir up the Mind by, to attend upon the <HI>Di|vine Pre&s;ence,</HI> nor contributes any thing to the Soul; Or that &s;piritual <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> which is <HI>All Spirit</HI> and <HI>Life,</HI> and certainly <HI>gives Life</HI> to the Soul that Receives it.</P>
<P>The one can be not &s;o much as an outward <HI>Sign,</HI> becau&s;e not <HI>vi&s;ible;</HI> the other is certainly the <HI>inward, invi&s;ible Grace,</HI> that yet demon&s;trates it &s;elf in all real, vi&s;ible Effects, with Demon&s;tration of the Spirit and Power, and that will rai&s;e us up at the <HI>last day:</HI> The one does nothing, <HI>For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;</HI> The other is that very Spirit of Chri&s;t that is <HI>Life</HI> and <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> &s;o that the true Believer, who hath the Spirit of Chri&s;t, hath the whole Vertue from that within, and the <HI>Bread and Wine</HI> are pre&s;ent to the Sen&s;e, by Chri&s;t him&s;elf &s;anctified, and appointed to do good that way; which nothing un&s;een can do, in the very nature of the Thing, any more than in|&s;en&s;ible can affect Sen&s;e.</P>
<P>That then which offers not it &s;elf to Sen&s;e nor Rea&s;on, and does no good without the Spirit, and Life receiv'd by Faith, what can it do at all?</P>
<P>To a Man without Faith, it hath not &s;o much as the out|ward Vi&s;ibility to &s;tir up to Faith by &s;en&s;e; it cannot of it &s;elf give the inward Grace neither; &s;o that it indeed is no|thing, nor can do any thing. But the <HI>Spirit</HI> and <HI>Life</HI> of the
<PB N="53" REF="31"> <HI>Body and Blood of Christ</HI> immediately hath the &s;aving Effect upon the true Believer; It Invites the very Unbeliever by its Excellency, while it offers it &s;elf under the &s;en&s;ible Signs of <HI>Bread and Wine</HI> made Intelligible and Intellectual by the whole Doctrine of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>It is ea&s;ie therefore thus far to know, what is to be cho|&s;en: But on the other &s;ide, There is the great Danger, if this <HI>Tran&s;ub&s;tantiation</HI> be a mi&s;take, (as there is &s;o great a&s;|&s;urance it is.) There is, for a mi&s;takes &s;ake, all the danger imaginable of overthrowing the whole Credit of our Facul|ties and of Religion by it, and the greate&s;t danger of Ido|latry, again&s;t the Precept of the <HI>Apo&s;tle Paul,</HI> upon the very Di&s;cour&s;e of the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> a <HI>Prophecy,</HI> I am per&s;uaded, of Future Danger, as well as an Admonition; <HI>Dearly Belo|ved, viz.</HI> Chri&s;tians, <HI>flee from Idolatry,</HI> the Idolatry which <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10. 14.</NOTE> turns the <HI>Cup of the Lord,</HI> and the <HI>Table of the Lord,</HI> into a <HI>Cup</HI> and <HI>Table</HI> of, what I am afraid to name; for the De|vil is the Author of all <HI>Idolatry.</HI> It is likewi&s;e again&s;t the <HI>prophetical</HI> Farewel of the <HI>Apo&s;tle John,</HI> after declaring the <HI>True God</HI> and <HI>Eternal Life; Little Children, Keep your &s;elves from Idols,</HI> 1 Ep. <HI>John</HI> c. <HI>ult.</HI> v. <HI>ult.</HI></P>
<P>When therefore, There is &s;o little Gain at the co&s;t of &s;uch a miraculous Power &s;uppos'd on God's part, of &s;o prodigi|ous a Faith on ours, and &s;o great a danger; what, but a &s;trange Servitude to a <HI>Church,</HI> calling it &s;elf <HI>Infallible,</HI> can &s;ubject us to &s;uch an unde&s;irable Opinion?</P>
<P N="2">2. It &s;hould rai&s;e us to high Thoughts of the Redemption of Chri&s;t, thus nearly uniting it &s;elf to, and incorporating it &s;elf within us: Although it is matter of Faith, yet it is &s;o abundantly a&s;&s;ur'd to that Faculty of our Minds, to Know, and to be a&s;&s;ur'd to that Faculty of our Minds, to Know, and to be a&s;&s;ur'd by &s;o high a Revelation; that if we pur&s;ue it by that Power, that Faculty, &s;anctified actually to believe in Chri&s;t; and that we come to live by that Faith <HI>of the Son of God,</HI> it will be even as certain, as &s;en&s;ible, as Life it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="54" REF="32"> 3. We &s;hould lift up our Souls and Hearts to Chri&s;t in the Heavens, on the Right-hand of God, Interceeding for us; for there <HI>he &s;till eats the Pa&s;&s;over,</HI> and drinks of that ve|ry <HI>&s;ame Fruit of the Vine</HI> with us, as it is <HI>new</HI> and <HI>fulfill'd</HI> in his <HI>Fathers Kingdom,</HI> there he continually applies it to our Hearts, as the great Te&s;tator, and Ri&s;en &s;urviving <HI>Surety,</HI> Executor, or <HI>Mediator</HI> of <HI>his own Te&s;tament.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. It &s;hould oblige us to a continual Appretiation, and high value of the <HI>Ordinance</HI> of the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> and joyn|ing the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> (if it could be) to every <HI>Lord's Day,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lordly Supper. Lordly Day.</NOTE> to which it is coupled in &s;o peculiar, and unparallel'd only to them&s;elves, a <HI>New-Te&s;tament-Expre&s;&s;ion.</HI> For though it hath a con&s;tant and undividable Annexion to that <HI>New Te|&s;tament,</HI> of which Chri&s;t hath made it a vi&s;ible Sum; altho' it is always preach'd with the Go&s;pel, and is as it were ad|mini&s;tred in that Preaching; yet, becau&s;e the whole Go&s;pel is pre&s;ent, and &s;en&s;ibly preach'd in that Sacrament al&s;o, we &s;hould embrace both within our mo&s;t con&s;cientious Ob&s;er|vation: And the very Ordinance it &s;elf is undoubtedly the mo&s;t ordinary means of a &s;uperadditional A&s;&s;urance and Conveyance of the Go&s;pel-Efficacy into our Hearts, and therefore by no means to be neglected.</P>
<P N="5">5. It per&s;uades us to an earne&s;t Care and Caution again&s;t violating the great Ordinances of the Go&s;pel preach'd in both the Word of God, and <HI>in the Lord's Supper;</HI> for it is the Of|fer of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of <HI>Je&s;us Christ</HI> to be <HI>Eaten</HI> and <HI>Drunk;</HI> and if we neglect and refu&s;e, or unworthily par|take, we are <HI>guilty</HI> of the <HI>Body</HI> and <HI>Blood</HI> of the <HI>Lord;</HI> we do not <HI>di&s;cern</HI> and take due notice of the <HI>Lord's Body,</HI> &s;o it becomes a <HI>&s;avor of Death unto Death</HI> in the <HI>Word,</HI> and of <HI>Judgment</HI> to Condemnation (if we per&s;evere &s;o to do) in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> becau&s;e it is a degree of that great Sin of <HI>Apo|&s;tacy, treading under foot the Son of God, counting the Blood of the Covenant a common thing, doing Injury to the Spirit of Grace, Crucifying him a-fre&s;h, and putting him to an open Shame.</HI></P>
<PB N="55" REF="32">
<P> And when by the ordinary Profe&s;&s;ion of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, be|ing Born, and <HI>Baptiz'd</HI> into the only <HI>Holy Religion</HI> in the World, Educated in it, we are <HI>caught in its Net,</HI> and under <HI>the Bond of the Covenant,</HI> the Go&s;pel is Preach'd to us whe|ther we will or no, and the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> goes along with it, whether we Hear, or <HI>whether we forbear,</HI> whether we Receive, or whether we forbear, we mu&s;t know, we &s;hall know the Go&s;pel in its Preaching, in the <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> in&s;e|parable from it, hath been among us. We are All <HI>Baptiz'd</HI> in the <HI>Cloud,</HI> and in the <HI>Sea of the Go&s;pel Mini&s;try,</HI> every way &s;urrounding us: We <HI>All Eat the &s;ame &s;piritual Meat, and</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 10. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Drink the &s;ame &s;piritual Drink, and that is Christ.</HI> The <HI>Bread broken among us,</HI> the <HI>Cup of Ble&s;&s;ing ble&s;s'd among us,</HI> enclo&s;es us, though in regard of Unbelief and Impenitency, we <HI>Eat and Drink Judgment to our &s;elves,</HI> and with <HI>many of us God is not well plea&s;ed,</HI> and <HI>our Carka&s;&s;es will fall</HI> notwith|&s;tanding this <HI>Manna,</HI> this <HI>Water of the Rock</HI> vouch&s;af'd to us, if we Repent not.</P>
<P>There is therefore no way of avoiding the Go&s;pel-Penal|ty, but by <HI>Receiving the Lord Je&s;us aright,</HI> and <HI>walking in him:</HI> No Abatement of our Danger, as to the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> but by giving no <HI>Sleep to our Eyes,</HI> nor <HI>Slumber to our Eye|lids,</HI> till we have brought our &s;elves into an approved &s;tate for it. Refu&s;al of the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> in its Preaching, in the <HI>Lord's Supper,</HI> will not be &s;o Tollerable as <HI>Sodom's Judgment:</HI> There is no Safety any way, but in <HI>Eating and Drinking Christ,</HI> &s;o that we may live for ever; el&s;e we can <HI>have no life</HI> in us.</P>
<P N="6">6. Seeing all the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> and <HI>Lord's Supper</HI> hath &s;uch rela|tion to the La&s;t Day, to the <HI>Table of Christ in his Kingdom,</HI> in his Glory, and to Eating and Drinking then in his Pre|&s;ence, let us <HI>lift up our Heads,</HI> our Thoughts, our De&s;ires, our Prayers, to it: Although the&s;e Ordinances ought to be all our Delights on Earth, yet they are but the State below, a State of the Delay, and <HI>Patience of Chri&s;t for his Kingdom; A &s;hewing forth the Lord's Death till he come.</HI></P>
<P>Then <GAP DESC="missing" EXTENT="1+ pages"></P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
