The Saints Qualification, Sermon 5
page missing draw nearest to him, as we doe in this holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper. And therefore, nothing concernes us more than that we doe not receive it unworthily, because the Lord will be sanctified in those that draw nearest unto him, that is, either in the holinesse of their hearts, or in executing his just judgement upon them: And therefore that at this time, and others also, you may not come unprepared to the holy Sacrament, we have purposely pitched on these words: The Cup of blessing that we blesse] &c.
In which ye shall finde these three parts:
First, that in this Sacrament there is a true communicating of the body and bloud of Christ.
Secondly, the meanes whereby this communication is made to us, it is the breaking of the bread, and by powring out the wine: Is not the bread that we breake the Communion of the body of Christ? &c.
And thirdly, the setting apart, or the blessing, or sanctifying of these elements to such a purpose; The Cup of blessing which we blesse, is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ?
Now for the first of these, I say, in the Sacrament there is a communication of the very body and bloud of Christ: The Papists affirme the same; but all the question is, in what manner there is this communicating of his body and bloud, they say, corporally that there is. Transubstantiation there; we say the thing is really done, but it is done spiritually, it is done mystically, it is done sacramentally.
The reason of our difference, is, because of these words of our Saviour, This is my body. And the Popish indeed is so strange an opinion that I would not waste time in confuting of it, but that I know there are divers amongst our selves that doe willingly leave the Papists in other points, yet they are held with some scruple with this, they know not how to contradict such plaine words, This is my body, and therefore they cannot be perswaded but that there is somewhat in it more than our Divines affirme; and therefore it shall not be needlesse to spend a little time in shewing you the falsenesse of this opinion:
First, I would aske this question, whether there be necessity or no, that there should be such a Transubstantiation; for surely, if there be not necessity, if that be but an arbitrary thing, wee may as well deny it, as they affirme it.
Againe, such a monstrous conceit as this, compounded of so many ingrediences, of so many strange miracles, the least of which goes beyond the highest in all the Scriptures, I say, is not to be put upon us without necessity; themselves grant, that, unlesse there be a necessity, we have no reason to receive it at their hands: And therefore we will enquire first, and see what necessity there is.
First, I say, there is no such necessity that there should be any such Transubstantiation, any such corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament, neither in regard of the thing, nor in regard of the words, This is my body.
I say, it is not necessary in regard of the thing, looke to all the ends of the Sacrament, you shall finde that you may have all without such a Transubstantiation.
First, if the end of the Sacrament bee to bring Christ to our remembrance, as himselfe saith, that it was his end, Doe this, (saith he) as often as you doe it, in remembrance of me: certainly, it is not necessary that there should be a change of bread into his body for that purpose, because the Sacrament it selfe with those words instituted are enough for his remembrance: And besides this, the very word, Remember, shewes that he is rather absent than present, for we remember not things present, but remembrance is of things absent: Besides, the other Sacrament represents Christ, and cals him to remembrance, where there is no such Transubstantiation: and therefore it is not for remembrance that it is needfull that Christ should be corporally present.
Or secondly, is it needfull for this, the shewing forth the Lords death till he come? Surely, for this it is not needfull neither, for in preaching we shew forth the Lords death, as the Apostle saith to the Galathians, Christ was so plainly preached, that hee was as good as crucified amongst them: And therefore it is not needfull for the shewing forth of the Lords death till he come: Besides, there is a particle put in there, that may helpe us a little, till he come, which presupposeth that he is not yet here, and therefore it is not necessary for that end.
But againe, is it necessary for our union with Christ, for that is another end of the Sacrament, that we may be united to him; surely if the union were corporall, then indeed there might seeme some necessity of it, if we were so united to Christ, as when two boards are clapt …ogether, where one toucheth another: but you know there is no such corporall union, it is spirituall, and not corporall, it is by faith, and not by sense? What is the union betweene Christ and us? Partly relative, as the union betweene the husband and the wife, and you know if the husband and the wife be a thousand miles asunder there might be such an union: And partly it is reall, a true reall unity, when Christs Spirit dwels in us, which may be done without the corporall presence of Christ: And therefore certainly it is not needfull for the uniting of us to Christ, because this union is spirituall, it is done by faith, by communicating the Spirit of Christ in us; and therefore in this regard it is not necessary that there should be a corporall presence in the Sacrament.
Last of all, is it necessary to encrease our faith, for that likewise is one end of the Sacrament that our faith may be strengthned: Why surely, it is not needfull for this purpose, no, I say, it cannot strengthen faith, because the meanes, you know, is subordinate to the end, it is lesse than the end, whereas the faith that is required to beleeve Transubstantiation, is far beyond the highest pitch of faith expressed in all Scripture: I say, it cannot be that, that should be made a meanes to helpe faith, that is beyond the thing that is to be beleeved (marke it) consider what it is we are to beleeve, we are to beleeve that Christ tooke mans nature on him for us, that his sufferings and crucifying belong unto us, &c. Is it not much easier to beleeve this, than to beleeve that a peece of bread is turned into the body of CHRIST? Though you see nothing, though you taste nothing but bread, I say, it is much easier: Now, as we say, we must not blow a sparke too much for putting it out, now to have such meanes as these to helpe faith, that cherisheth not the sparke of faith, but blowes it out, it doth not helpe faith, but over-whelmes faith, when the meanes used to strengthen are such as are beyond the thing to be strengthned: Therefore in regard of the thing there is no necessity, that there should bee any corporall presence of Christ in the Sacrament. But let us consider whether there be any necessity in regard of the words, This is my body: Surely, there is not any necessity here, for the words may have another meaning, This is my body, that is, this is the figure of my body, or this is the Sacrament of my body, and therefore it is not necessary, specially seeing it is so frequent with Scripture to use metaphors in this kinde, I need not name them to you, you know Christ is called a Rock, he is said to be a Lambe, to be a Lion, and in another case Iudas is said to be a Devill, the Seed is said to be the Word, nothing more frequent, Christ is said to be a Vine: I need not give you more instances: Herod, Christ cals him Fox: The meaning of all this is, that they are types and signes, like such and such things. But yet it is the manner of the Scriptures speech, and therefore it is not of necessity that those words should be so taken, for words are like cloaths that may fit more backes than the owners; the words may agree to somewhat else, there is not a word here, but it may agree to divers things: Body, it signifies divers bodies: the word, This, signifies as many things as you point to: and therefore there is no necessity that they should signifie a corporall presence of Christ.
But you will object, I, but in a matter of this moment, as the Sacrament, the Lord speakes distinctly and expresly, there he useth no metaphor, though in other cases he doe.
To this I answer briefly, it is so farre from being true, that he useth them not in the Sacrament, that there are none of all the Sacraments, but it is used. In the Sacrament of Circumcision, This the Covenant, &c. In the Sacrament of the Passeover (which were the Sacraments of the old Law) the Lambe is the Passeover, in this very Sacrament: To goe no further for instances, take but the second part of it, This is the Cup of the new Testament in my bloud, where you shall finde two types and figures, this Cup, taken for this Wine; This is the Cup of the new Testament, that is, the Sacrament of the new Testament: And therefore we see, there is no necessity in regard of the words: And there is no necessity since with a little buckling and swarving, This is my body, that is, this is the figure of my body, we may have a convenient sense, why should we faine such a monstrous thing that bread is turned into the very body of Christ, and the wine into the very bloud? What needs such a monstrous fetch as this, to helpe the words to a meaning? What need or necessity is there that they should be so interpreted? And therefore we see in the first place that there is no necessity, and if there be no necessity, it is not to be put upon us, for if that be an arbitrary thing, we may aswell deny it.
Secondly, as there is not necessitie, so there is not possibilitie, (though it were possible) they would not get much, for there are many things that are possible that are not done: But it is not possible, if it were possible, then it must stand with the power of God: But the power of God is not used, but where the glory and wisdome of God goe before, for it is the harbinger of his glory and wisdome. The power of God is not used, but if it be for his honour, therefore it is said, God cannot lye, because it is not for his honour, and he cannot deny himselfe, because it is not for his wisdome and his glory: Now I say since this is not for the glory of God (for it is against his glory that there should be such a conversion of the bread into the body of Christ, and it is against his wisedome: And if it be against these, then certainly, the power of God must not be called to it: Now, I say, it is against his glory, because whensoever the Lord appeared, he appeared alway in glory, though sometimes he appeared as a man, yet there was such a majestie that caused them to tremble that beheld him: Shall we see God and live? You see when he appeared to Elias, what majestie he came in? what harbengers he sent before him, the Wind that rent the Rockes, and a Fire, &c.
But, you will say Christ humbled himselfe to death as a man, therefore he doth not alwayes appeare in glory.
It is true, and that was the lowest degree of Humiliation; and yet when he appeared as man, there was some sparke of his Divinitie appeared there: But that Christ should appeare in the likenesse of a peece of bread that thou mayest put in thine owne mouth, surely this is a monstrous thing, it is against the glory of God. Doe you thinke, if Christ should come downe upon the earth, after his Ascention, and exhibite himselfe to be worshipped amongst us, that he would present himselfe in the forme of a peece of bread? It is impossible, it is not for his glory, and if it be not for his glory, then certainely the power of God must not bee brought downe for the working of it. And as it is against his glory, so it is against his wisdome, for the Lord doth nothing to no purpose, hee doth nothing in vaine, hee never wrought miracles when they might be spared, where the thing might be done without a miracle. Since this might be done without a miracle, all that we have by Christ, all that is represented in the Sacrament, what necessity is there? and if there be no necessity, it beseemes not the wisedome of God to doe it: Againe, would not the smallest miracle, really and visibly exposed to sense, helpe more than such a miracle as this: Besides all this, I say, it is not possible (make your owne senses judges) you see nothing but bread; now this is a sure rule, that of all demonstrations of reason that we have to prove things, nothing is so firme as that which is taken from sense: to prove the fire is hot, we feele it hot, or honey to be sweet, when we taste it to be sweet: There is no reason in the world makes it so firme as sense: As it is true in these cases, so it is an undoubted truth in Divinity, that in all matters of sense, sense is a competent judge: Indeed, if it be a matter of reason, there sense is not able to judge, the eye is able to judge of his owne sense, of sounds it cannot judge; but, I say, objects proper to sense, peculiar to sense, in these sense is a competent judge: And therefore Christ himselfe, in this very businesse, when he would prove that he had a true bodie, he sends them to their senses, A spirit hath not flesh and bloud as you see me have: And Thomas he bids, Put thy hand into my side and feele, &c. He sends them to their senses: Looke thorow the Scriptures, and see if there be one miracle there, if sense be not a competent judge according to that part of the miracle that concernes the sense; would you not thinke it strange, if Christ should have come to the master of the feast, when he wrought the miracle, and have said, Sir, you must beleeve that this is wine, though you see nothing, though you taste nothing but water, yet you must beleeve that it is turned into wine; And if GOD should have said unto Moses, Though you see nothing but a Rod, thou must beleeve it is turned into a Serpent: If there had beene no change indeed, and such as sense might see, we would think it a ridiculous thing, and next doore to an Imposture: And therefore certainly in matters of sense, sense is a competent judge; and therefore when all the senses tell us that it is bread when we taste, when the eye and the touch, when every thing makes it evident that it is bread, why should wee say there is any thing else but bread.
Besides, if we will adde to sense, reason; it is against reason, as well as against sense: It is against reason that Christ should be in heaven, and yet have ten thousand bodies on earth, and yet Christ hath but one body, and a body can be but in one place: And againe, this body must be without all circumscription and qualities and properties of a bodie: And again, that the bread that we see should be no bread, say they, there is the whitenesse of bread, there is the taste of bread, there is the quantitie of bread, and that is all: I would but aske them one thing, when this bread is eaten, since there is nothing there, but these accidents, there is nothing but the meere quantity, and the like: I would aske whether it nourish the body or no; they must needs answer no, if they follow their principles, because the body of Christ is not there, they say it is removed as soone as the bread is destroyed, when it begins to turne into flesh, it loseth these accidents; well, the bread returnes not againe, there is nothing but accidents of the bread, and yet certainly it doth nourish; for it is reported by credible Authors, that some have beene so holy, that they would feed upon nothing else but the Eucharist, for a Priest may consecrate a Cellar of wine, and as much bread as he will, and may feed upon this, and with these he may be nourished, and yet there is nothing but accidents of bread: In a word, the Schooles that traverse this so accutely, are not satisfied at all in this, but they leave it as a wonder, as a thing that cannot be explained: So it is against reason, as it is against sense.
But, you will say, faith is beyond sense and reason, it is true, it is beyond both, but it is not contrary to both; faith teacheth nothing contrary to reason, for sense and reason are Gods workes as well as grace, now one worke of God doth not destroy another, if they should, there must be an imperfection in the workeman, and therefore grace and faith contrary not sense and reason; indeed it elevateth reason, and makes it higher, it makes it see further than reason could, it is contrary indeed to corrupt reason, but to reason that is right reason, it is not contrary, only it raiseth it higher: And therefore faith teacheth nothing contrary to sense and reason.
But besides these, if we shew them Scripture too, what will they have then to say? when we say it is against sense and reason, say they, the Scriptures affirme it, if it do we will yeeld. Let us examine the words if the Scripture affirme it: Yes, say they, the Scripture saith, This is my body, they are Christs words; but if the Scriptures say so, yet the Scripture saith no where, that that bread is turned into the bodie, that no where saith, that there is such a Transubstantiation, onelyonly those words used, which, as you heard, may have a metaphoricall, tropicall, figurative sense: But besides this, what if the Scripture say the contrary; you shall finde this in the next Chapter five times called Bread, and after it is consecrated too, as the Apostle saith, The Cup of Blessing that we blesse, and the bread that we breake: After he had blessed the bread, then he tooke it, and after hee had tooke it, then hee brake it, hee thus tooke that which is called Bread.
Againe, they say the body of Christ is not broken, but that is broken, which is alwayes after the words of Consecration, but it is the bread that we breake.
Againe, if it could be understood otherwise, you see what a Tautologie would be in the words, The Bread that wee breake, it is the Communion of the body of Christ; if the meaning was, that it is the body, here the words must be thus rendred; The body that we breake, is it not the communion of the body? But, I say, five times you shall finde it in this next Chapter, that it is Bread after the words of Consecration; and you know it is said to be Wine: Christ saith, he will not drinke of the fruit of the Vine; by which he meanes the very wine which was before in the Sacrament: and therefore certainly they finde nothing that affirmes it.
Besides, if it were the meaning of Christ, This is my body, what is the reason the Disciples never asked any question about it? What is the reason the Fathers, that followed in the first times, spake not of such a thing: I need not trouble you with that. Now you shall finde all along from the first, that the Fathers make no such mention of that; but not to stand to presse this further, because I see the time passeth, and this thing I intend not to stand on: You see therefore the falsenesse of this opinion, that this Communion of the bloud of Christ, and of the body of Christ, should be through any reall corporall Transubstantiation. But what is it then? We are to distinguish betweene the inward and the outward action, there need no more but that with the outward action, with the mouth of the body, we take the bread and wine; and with the inward action, that is, by faith wee take the very body and bloud of Christ; these we distinguish, these they confound: But, I say, we agree in the thing, we say Christ is communicated to us in the Sacrament, as truly and really as they, only there is difference in the manner, we say it is spiritually, they say it is corporally.
For what is the Sacrament? (to open it to you) and so I will come to make some use to you.
This Sacrament is nothing else, but the Seale of the Gospell of the new Covenant; and it is indeed nothing else, but a visible Gospell; for what is the Gospell? the Gospell is but an offer of Christ, to all that will take him, for remission of sinnes; now the same thing which the Gospell preacheth to the eare, the same the Sacrament preacheth to the eye, that is, in the Sacrament there is an offer of Christ to us, Take and eat, that is, take Christ, whose body was broken, and whose bloud was shed for you, take him for remission of sinnes: I say the same is done, only the Gospell presents it to us under audible words, and the Sacrament presents it to us under visible signes: this is all the difference: If we would know what the Sacrament is, consider what the Gospell is, and the Covenant, and you shall know what this is, for it is but a Scale, but a memoriall of the Gospell; now what is this Gospell? It is nothing but this, when God looked on mankinde, as fallen in Adam, he tooke a resolution in himselfe to recover them againe, by giving his Sonne to them: Now this must be manifested to men, therefore he sends his messengers to declare to the sonnes of men, to let them know their estate by nature, and to tell them that he hath given them his Sonne to save them from their …innes, and to reconcile them to himselfe, to give them title to the kingdome, from the hope of which they were fallen: this is one part of the Gospell, this promise which he hath made, which, I say, is nothing else but a meere office of Christ.
But there is another part wch is the condition required on our part, when Christ is thus given, you must serve him, and love him, and obey him, and turne from all your evill wayes, you must be his, as he is yours: now when this covenant and agreement is made betweene us, he puts his Seale to it, this Sacrament of the Lords Supper: As Iacob and Laban, when they had made an agreement one with another, that they should not hurt one another, they pitched stones upon an heape, This shall be a witnesse betweene us, that is, if either of us breake the bargaine, let this heape witnesse that there was such a covenant made: And as God himselfe did, when he made a covenant with Noah, that the waters should no more overflow the earth, he set his bow in the clouds, and that was a witnesse, that when I see the Bow in the cloud, if I goe about to drowne the earth againe with water, let this witnesse against me: So in the Passeover, when he made a promise that the destroying Angell should spare them, he commands them that they should sprinkle the doore-cheekes with bloud, that when he sees the bloud, that witnesse might secure them, that the Lord would remember what he had promised when hee had seene that: And as among men, when a man conveyes either lands or money, to another man, they use to confirme the bargaine with seales or with some signe or memoriall, that when they forget the bargaine, or deny it, or goe about to breake it, it may be said to them, This is your hand and seale, the thing is done, you have past it, it cannot be recalled; if you doe, this will witnesse against you: So the Lord here, when he hath made his Covenant with us, I will give you my Sonne: And you againe shall give your selves up to him, he puts his hand and seale to it, as it were, he addes this Sacrament that will be a witnesse against him, if he should go about to breake his covenant, as it is a witnesse against us, if we breake the Covenant of faith and repentance, that is required on our part: You see therefore what the Sacrament is, it is nothing but the Seale of the Gospell, presenting that to the eye, which the Gospell presents to the eare, for it presents God, as it were, he comes with Christ in his hand, saying this to us, This is my Son, his body is broken for you, and his bloud shed for you, take Him, let Him be yours, only remember that you serve him, that you love him, that you obey him againe, and let this Sacrament be a signe and a witnesse betweene us: so that as the Gospell hath two parts, one is a relation of all that Christ hath done; and another is the giving and offering Christ to us, so in this Sacrament there is a representing of Christ, he was crucified, his body was broken, his bloud was shed, and a deed of gift is delivered of Christ to us, Take and eat: And therefore know that it is not a bare signe, but it is a signe of the Covenant; and there is a difference betweene those two, to say the Sacrament is a signe of Christ, and a signe of the Covenant, even as there is a great difference betweene the wax that only bears the impression of an image stamped upon it, and betweene that which is a seale to a Deed; that is a signe of the covenant, or bargaine, and agreement, for that gives interest into the thing, that gives Title to the thing, that conveyes the thing to us, that binds the owner perpetually to the performance of the thing; so the Sacrament is not a naked signe, representing this act of Christ, but it gives us interest, not only into some benefits, no, he saith not, you shall have remission of sinnes, or you shall have adoption, but he saith, Take, this is my body: By body is meant whole Christ, by a Synecdoche, we have Christ and all things else.
What use are we to make of this? Surely it is of great use many wayes: First, we must make this use of it, which is the maine end of the Sacrament, to confirme our faith in the assurance of the forgivenesse of our sinnes, as likewise to renew our Covenant, and the Condition required on our part, when God hath said he is willing to pardon our sinnes, if he had but barely said it, it had beene enough, God cannot lye: But lest it should not be enough, he hath not only said it, but he hath sworne it, Hebr. 6. He hath sworne by himselfe, that by two immutable things we might have strong consolation: Being willing, saith the Apostle, to shew to the heires of Promise the stablenesse of his Councell, he bound himselfe with an oath, but yet lest that should not be enough, he hath added seales to it, he hath given the inward seale of the Spirit, and the outward seale of the Sacrament; as if he should say, I have promised to forgive you your sinnes, let the Sacrament witnesse against me, if I performe it not: Here by the way observe, how difficult a thing it is for us to beleeve, you may thinke it an easie thing when you are in health, when you are well; but when death comes, when temptation comes, when trouble of conscience comes, I say, you shall finde it a difficult thing, you shall finde a need of all these helpes; for certainly God sweares not in vaine, he would not have bound himselfe with an oath, to be ready to forgive sinnes, if there were not exceeding need of such helpes to confirme us; and therefore you have need to set your selves more diligently about it, make this use of the Sacrament, labour to confirme your selves in this assurance: So that as the Apostle saith, You may have strong consolation, that is, when the temptations of Satan shall assault you with objections to the contrary, you may be strong, and not shaken: And why should you be doubtfull (if we should a little reason with you) that you may receive the fruit of this, for why should you feare it? For first, the Lord professeth, I would not the death of a sinner as I live: And why will you die, oh you house of Israel: What is the meaning of this? but to shew that the Lord hath an exceeding great desire, earnestly longs to save the soules of men. Indeed he saith not that he will give every one grace to come in, but if he doe, As I live, saith the Lord, I will not his death, that is, I am ready to forgive him: Besides this, consider what a man is ready to doe, consider how tender-hearted fathers and mothers are to their children; if we finde so much mercy there, consider how much there is in God; that mercy that is in us, is but a drop to the Ocean, it is but a beame, to the fulnesse that is in him: If you that are evill can give good things to your children, Luke▪how much more shall your heavenly Father doe it? Againe, consider if the Lord were not ready to shew mercy to you, that Christ should not be of none effect, that is, the bloud of Christ should be shed in vaine. And doe you thinke the Lord would send his Sonne to suffer death, and to suffer it in vaine? and that should be in vaine, if he should not be ready to receive men to merciemercy, when they come to seeke it at his hands; besides, if the Lord should not doe this, no flesh should be saved: Psal. 130.1. saith the Psalmist there, If thou Lord shouldest marke all that is done amisse, who could stand? The meaning is this, if the Lord should not be ready to doe this, which he hath given to the Sacrament to confirme, namely to forgive sinnes, if he should not be ready to doe it, if he should mark straitly what is done amisse, who could stand, that is, who should be saved? Now certainly the Lord hath made man for that purpose, many shall be saved, none were made for damnation: Besides, there is another argument, There is mercy with thee, that thou mightest be feared: Feare is taken for the worship of God, that is, if the Lord should not receive men, none would worship him, none would serve him; when there is no hope, take away all hope, take away all endeavour. If this will not perswade you, consider what the Lord hath done for others; how many thousands of others have had their sinnes forgiven, and then thinke, had he mercy for such and such, and hath he not mercy enough for me? Hath not Christ taken thy nature as well as theirs? If all this will not perswade you, consider how mercifull Christ was in the dayes of his flesh, he was exceeding gentle, easie to be entreated, you shall never finde that there was any that asked at his hands, but he granted it: And thinke you that he is lesse pitifull now to mens soules, than he was to their bodies? Doe you thinke that now he is in heaven, he hath laid aside his mercifull disposition? No, Hebr. 4. We have a mercifull high Priest that is touched with our infirmities, that is ready to forgive: Oh, but my sinnes are exceeding great, what though they be, is not the Lords mercy exceeding, is it not like the mighty Sea, that drownes mountaines aswell as mole-hils: My sins are of divers sorts, what if they be, in the Lord there is multitudes of mercies, as many as thou hast sinnes: I, but they have oft beene repeated, I have oft fallen into them againe and againe: What if thou hast? Is not his mercies renewed every morning: And, Zachary 15.1. There is a fountaine opened for the house of Iudah and Ierusalem to wash in: Not a cisterne, but a fountaine, that is, as there is a spring of sinne in us, so there is a spring of mercy in God, there is no end of his mercy, therefore doubt not in regard of that.
But againe, I am unfit, if I were fit and ready for this, I might receive fruit from the Sacrament, but I am unfit? Why? If thou thought's thy selfe fit, thou shouldest not have it; even therefore, because thou feelest thy selfe unfit, the rather thou shalt be received to mercy: the Lord lookes for this a… thy hands, that we find and feele such …fi…resse in our selves, the more we are humbled, the lesse we find in our selves, the more ready the Lord is to receive us to mercy: Besides, this very unfitnesse, I would aske thee, but what i… is; Is it not sinne? If all sinnes be forgiven, if the pardon be generall, then it is contained among the rest, and shall not be any impediment: And therefore make this use when you come to the Sacrament, thinke not that God is backward to forgive, that he will not be as good as his word, certainly he will; and know this, that what he hath said, and sworne, he will performe, Heaven and earth shall passe away, but his Word shall not passe. This indeed is our chiefest consolation, that our saith is not built upon perswasions and imaginations of our owne; that our sinnes shall be forgiven, but it is built upon the sure Word of God: And as Saint Paul saith, Gal. 1. If any Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospell, you should not receive it from him. So when you have this sure Word that God hath given you a generall pardon, Come unto mee all yee that are weary, and heavie laden, &c. You may build upon this sure Word: Now when you put all these together, that the Lord hath said it, and put his seale to it, if he should not doe it, the death of Christ should be of none effect, no flesh should be saved, no man would worship God. Againe, there is nothing can be an impediment to us, not of greatnesse, and multitude of our sinnes, nor our relapse into sin, not our unfitnesse; Why should we doubt? But now this is the Condition on Gods part.
Then see the Condition required on our part; What is that?
First, it is required that we take the Lord Iesus Christ, for though the Lord give him in the Sacrament, though he offer him in the Gospell, except we take him he is not ours. If we beleeve that one will give us a thousand pound, that makes not a man rich, if he be ready to give it, it is the taking that makes us rich: If we beleeve that there is such a soveraigne Electuary that is able to heale, that beleeving doth not heale, it is the taking of it, if it be not taken, it heales not: And therefore, there is required a taking of Christ; So many as received him, Ioh. 1. he gave power to be, &c. So many as received him. If a Virgin beleeve that such a Suitour is willing to take her for his wife, except she take him for her husband it is no match. And so to beleeve that Christ is ready to forgive and pardon our sinnes, to beleeve that God the Father will give Christ to you as he hath; To us a Son is given, Esay 9.6. To beleeve this, except we take him, doth not profit, he is not ours till then: This taking is that which the Scripture cals Faith, this is a beleeving in him: If you would know what this taking is, it is nothing else but the very accepting of Christ for our King, for our Lord and Husband: So that look what it is among men, if you would aske what it is for a spouse to take such an one for her husband, for a servant to take such an one for his master, for a subject to take such an one for his King, it is no more, but this, the very act of the will, whereby they consent, and accept such an one for their Husband, for their Master or King; it is the taking of him, and this is the taking of Iesus Christ; I say, when we shall accept him, when we see God hath given him to us, and that he hath given himselfe, when we take him for our Lord and Master, that is the very act of the will, whereby we resolve to make him ours, and resolve to give up our selves to him, as he is given to us: That is the first condition that is required, we must take him; and this the Scripture cals faith. Is this all? No, there is somewhat else required, you must take him in deed, aswell as in will, that is, you must so take him, as to serve him, and only him, to turne from all evill wayes, and therefore the pardon runnes so, though it be a generall pardon; as there is a generall proclamation; whatsoever your rebellions be, it is no matter, for all kinde of rebellions, there is neither any sinne, nor any person excepted, but then this condition runnes along with it, you must take him for your King: Is that all? No, you must lay downe your armes of rebellion, you must renounce the Colours and Tents of the Enemie, and come in and be subject to him, you must live by his Lawes: And therefore, besides taking of him, there is required that we be ready to obey Christ in deed, and not to take Christ onelyonly as a Saviour: Every man is ready to take him as a Priest to save them from their sinnes, but to take him as a King and a Lord, so as to be subject unto him, here all the world is at a stand; as the young man when he came to Christ, and he tels him what he must doe, Goe sell all, &c. He would not take him with this condition; here every man is ready to refuse him: We are willing to follow Christ thorow faire way, but not thorow foule and rough way; we are willing to take him with a Crowne of glory, but not with a Crowne of thornes; we are willing to take the sweet, but not the sowre: But we must know, if we will take Christ, we must likewise obey him, and take him as an Husband, our will must be subject to his will; we must take him as a Lord, we must be subject to him in all things, we must keepe his Commandements; and therefore he hath so exprest it, If you will suffer with him, you shall reigne with him, not else; If you will obey me, and keepe my Commandements, then you shall be my Disciples, if you will follow me, and deny your selves, and take up your crosse, &c. Take up my crosse daily.
Therefore a second Condition is this, which the Scripture cals sometimes repentance and conversion to God, sometime obedience.
But is this all? No, there is one more required that we doe all this out of love, for when a man is in extremity, when he is driven to an exigent, now to take Christ, and to keepe his Commandements; perhaps he will be willing to doe, to expedite himselfe out of such a strait: but will the Lord regard this? Surely no▪ except it be from love; therefore, Gal. 5.5. you shall finde them all three put together, Neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith that worketh by love: there you have the first Condition, which is faith. The second which worketh, it is not an idle faith, but it is a faith that sets you a worke; and then you have the third, they are workes that come from love. A man will be ready to doe any thing to save his life; you know a Merchant when he is on the sea, casts away his goods, when he is in extreme danger, not because he and his goods are fallen out, but to save his life he will doe it; Take a covetous man, let him be on the racke, he will be ready to doe any thing, but yet the man is the same: And so for a man to do much for Christ, to doe as we are ready to doe in the time of extremity, when death comes, when sicknesse comes, when we are under some great crosse that is upon us, when conscience is troubled, I say, in these cases to doe it, the Lord regards it not: This therefore is the Condition that is required to be done out of love; it is a rule in the Civill-law, Contractus qui fit per minas, nullus est; The contracts that are gotten by threatnings, are no contracts at all; but if a Virgin consent, when she is free, when it is done without compulsion, that makes the match: So it is betweene Christ and us, for us to take him and keepe his Commandements, and to doe it out of feare and other respects, this Christ regards not, it is love that makes the match: If we take him out of love, if all we doe, be done out of love, then there is a match betweene us, otherwise not. And there is good reason for that, because feare is of a fleeting nature, it soone passes and vanishes away, but when it is rooted and grounded in love, when that which we doe, comes from this principle, then we hold out and cleave to Christ, without separating againe; when that proceeds from feare, we doe it not with delight, we doe it not with propensenesse, with proclivity of minde, with an inward willingnesse. Now the Lord so loves a chearefull giver, a chearefull servant, and a chearefull performer, that he loves no other: And therefore that Condition is required, to Delight in the Law, in the inward man, that we doe not only keepe his Commandements, but that they be not grievous to us, that what we doe, be done out of love; and therefore it is required, when we doe this, that we love the Lord Iesus Christ; I will be bold to say, a man may pray day and night as earnestly as Hannah did, he may keep the Commandements of God without reproofe, as Zachary and Elizabeth did for the outward act, he may abound in the worke of the Lord, but whatsoever he doth, if he doe it not out of love, God looks upon such workes, as upon a dead carkase; so they are called, Hebr. 9. Dead workes, that is, workes that are good for substance, and for circumstance too, but yet they are dead, because they come not from love, there is no life in them: Therefore, in 1 Cor. 16.22. Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus, saith the Apostle, let him be accursed. Whosoever loves not the Lord Iesus, that is, whatsoever a man doth besides, let him professe what he will, and performe what he will, if he love not the Lord Iesus, he is accursed: And that I speake not this without ground, looke 1 Cor. 13. Take the most glorious actions that a man can performe, if a man give his body to be burnt, that is, to be a Martyr, if he gives his goods to the poore, which is an high action for a man to part with all he hath; if he doe that which Christ required of the young man, to deny himselfe: If a man were able to preach the Gospell, if he had gifts as an Angell, as the Apostle speakes, If he were able to speake with the tongue of men and Angels, and if it were without love, God regards it not: Love is a distinguishing Character, an Hypocrite may goe very far, but love he cannot; it is love therefore that sets an high price upon all that we doe: And therefore you shall finde from the beginning of Genesis, to the end of the Revelation, the Promise is made still to the Affection, and it is the Affection that makes a man a good man; he that feares the Lord, and he that loves the Lord, and he that delights in the Commandements of God, &c. And therefore it is not enough that we take Christ, and that we beleeve in him, that we doe the workes that he commands us, but that we doe them out of love: And this is the Condition that is required on our part. So you see now what the Gospell is, what the summe of it is, that is sealed in the holy Sacrament, it is this Covenant on Gods part, that he is ready to forgive us; wherein you must strengthen your faith, when you draw neare to him. And againe, this condition on your part, Faith and obedience out of love, as you have heard: This is the first use that you are to make. I should proceed.
The end of the First Sermon.