Discourse Concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Section 1 · Conclusion
Concluſion.
WHen I conſider all theſe admirable uſes of this holy food, I do not wonder if ſome devout perſons in the elder times, out of an exceſs of love, did by their daily bread (which we petition for in the Lords Prayer) underſtand this divine bread; and ſo out of a ſpiritual hunger, and a forwardneſs of affection, did eat of it every day. For you ſee that herein we commemorate both to God and man the death of Chriſt; we publiſh it to the world, and plead it with God in our own behalf and others. Then this we have nothing more prevalent, ſo that our hearts begin (while we are commemorating of it, to burn with heavenly fires; and our tongues here taſt ſuch things, that make them ſing the praiſes of Angels. We ſeal Indentures between God and us. We give entertainment to our Lord Chriſt, and let him into our hearts; yea, we profeſs to all the world, that we are of his Religion and Communion. We are confirmed likewiſe in his favour: he opens unto us his very heart; he lets us into his ſecrets, and knits us unto himſelf with a more inſeparable affection. We likewiſe aſſociate our ſelves with the Diſciples of our Lord, and make a firmer League of a holy friendſhip with them. All which may well make us ſay with the Diſciples, Lord, evermore give us this bread, But though it be ſo deſirable to feed alwayes on ſuch ſweetneſs, yet you cannot but diſcern, that this is a buſineſs that requires the greateſt intention of our mind, and the ſtrongeſt affections of our heart, and layes the moſt weighty engagements upon us for our eternal good; and therefore muſt be well underſtood, and ſolemnly performed in our approaches to it.
For which cauſe, before I direct your Addreſſes to this Table (which is the next thing to be done, having opened to you the ſecrets of it) I will obſerve to you theſe two things for a concluſion of this part of my diſcourſe. The one, to quicken your appetite that you may feed heartily: The other, to guide your minds, that you may not feed upon ſhadows.
1. This muſt needs be the moſt nouriſhing and ſtrengthning food of all others that a Chriſtian hath, becauſe there are ſo many ends and purpoſes to which it ſerves. It feeds all our Graces at once (as you ſhall hereafter ſee) and it ſends a nouriſhment (and that moſt plentifull and copious) to every part. It encreaſes our love to God, and our love to man, which is the ſum of all our duty: It engageth us in the moſt ſacred bands, by the dying of Chriſt, by his deareſt love, by all the bleſſings which he hath beſtowed, to do that duty, and faithfully perform it. It is a little Epitome of the whole Goſpel, for it ſhews what God will do for us, and what we moſt do for him, and it affords ſtrength unto us for to do it. And therefore it is called the New-Teſtament or Covenant in his blood, becauſe here the whole New Covenant is repreſented, God giveing his Son and all Bleſſings unto us, and we giving of our ſelves and our beſt ſervice unto him, as hath been already diſcourſed. By this God ſets to his Seal, that all things contained in the Covenant ſhall be done for us; and we do ſet to our ſeal, and openly profeſs our ſelves to belong to the Covenant, and that we eſteem and highly value all thoſe bleſſings, and will do any thing for to obtain them.
Now who would not long for ſuch a food that will ſatisfie our whole deſire? Who would refuſe an invitation to that Table where all things are in one diſh (if I may ſo ſpeak) and God and Man meet together in one Bread and one Cup? But I doubt I may add, Who is there that would not have all theſe things, ſo that this Bread and Wine without any labour will convey them unto him? And therefore I muſt give you another ſhort information, which was the ſecond thing that I promiſed, and that is this:
2. This copious Food doth not nouriſh us, without ſome actions of our own, even ſuch as I have already mentioned in this Diſcourſe. It doth not feed us in a natural, but in a moral and ſpiritual manner. It reireſheth us by our conſideration, by our faith, our love, our prayers, our covenanting and thankſgiving. But all the cunning in the world will not draw a drop of blood out of it without theſe; no, it draws out the blood of our ſouls, and waſts our ſtrengths by a careleſs and prophane eating of it. The Papiſts talk of great things that their Prieſts give in this Sacrament by their power, and they would make the world believe, that they communicate more then we can do: But we muſt ſolemnly averr, That our Miniſtry conveighs as great things as they ſpeak of, onelyonly men muſt do ſomething more of the work themſelves. We pretend not indeed to ſend wicked men to Heaven with a word; but we can help the thoughts and affections of all pious ſouls, as much as they with all their skill and power. Nay, if the people do nothing, we give them more then they; for they feed them with hungry accidents, they give them a bit of quantity, and a cup of colours; yea the Laity have not ſo much as a ſip of theſe figures; whereas the worſt man among us hath at leaſt Bread and Wine; ſo that the beſt among us enjoy as much in effect and vertue as they can pretend unto, and the worſt (by their own confeſſion) enjoy much more. But the truth of it is, that men have heightned theſe things to ſuch incomprehenſible myſteries, becauſe they would do nothing, and theſe ſhould do all. They have advanced theſe ſacred Rites of Chriſts appoinment, into a degree of vertue beyond all his other commands, that ſo by theſe eaſie and facile rites of Baptiſm and the Lords Supper, men might go to Heaven by a compendious manner of doing little or nothing towards their ſalvation. And they have not left theſe Rites as naked as Chriſt brought them into the world, but they have changed the manner of their obſervance, and cloathed them in a great many ſtrange dreſſes, leſt the genuine ſimplicity of them ſhould reprove their falſe hopes which they conceive from them. They could never put men ſo ſoon into Heaven, nor get ſo much money, as they do by the bargain, if they did not make men believe greater things of this Sacrament, then of all the eternal Laws of Chriſt; and they could not make men believe ſo much more of it, if they did not transform it from its native ſimplicity, into an uncouth myſtery. Theſe two things, the love of mens luſts, and the love of the world, have made men ſtretch theſe things ſo far, as to defie all reaſon, to damn all thoſe that will not ſpeak non-ſence, and to ſend thoſe to hell (though of never ſo holy lives) that will not diſcredit their eyes and ears. What ſtrange things will men believe and do, ſo that they can but believe contrary to the Goſpel? They hope to go to Heaven they know not how, by the Magick of words, and by the ſecret efficacy of a Religion that they do not underſtand, and this makes them willing to entertain ſuch Doctrines. And then others have a reſpect to their own intereſt (and having little elſe to ſupport their greatneſs) would be reverenced and eſteemed for their extraordinary power in making the body of Chriſt, and that makes them willing to maintain them. So the Author of the Hiſtory of the Council of Trent, ſaith very truly,L. 6. When men began to place Heaven below Earth, good inſtitutions were ſaid to be corruptions onelyonly tollerated by Antiquity; and abuſes brought in afterward, were canonized for perfect corrections. But we willingly acknowledg that we have no power to ſave men without themſelves. We celebrate no ſuch Myſteries that ſhall convey the wicked to Heaven. We cannot deliver thoſe that are dead from their pain and torment, who whilſt they lived made little reckoning either of this or any other Divine Command. No, we proclaim to All men, that this food muſt nouriſh us by our own ſtomachs, that it affords ſtrength by the vital operations of our own ſouls. And if we our ſelves will do what God requires of us, then we ſhall find it as full of vertue as we can deſire, and it will be a means to put us in Heaven while we remain here upon the earth. Sometimes they will needs blame us as doing too little, and denying the uſe of good works; but this is ſuch a falſity, that we call for more of mens labour then they ſeem to make neceſſary, and profeſs that we hope not by any power of ours to do them good, without the exerciſe of their own powers. And therefore let us put forth a lively faith, let us heartily covenant with our Lord, let us make a ſincere profeſſion of our Religion, and exerciſe ſuch other acts as I have been treating of, and ſo will this Feaſt be of great force, and full of efficacy to our ſouls health.
And that you may feed with an appetite, and hereby get an encreaſe in ſtrength, it is neceſſary that I next of all direct your Addreſſes to Gods Table, and ſhew how you ſhould prepare your ſelves to be his worthy Gueſts; and that ſhall be the Subject of the following Diſcourſe.