substance and verity. Being strengthened with power, by the Spirit, in the inward mind, Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith.' As by a ring, or a meaner instrument of conveyance, a man may be settled in land, or put into an office; and by such conveyances, the ratification of such grants are held to be real; how much more real is the gift and receipt of Christ's body and blood, when conveyed unto us by the confirmation of the eternal Spirit! For observe, "it is the same spirit that is in Christ, and that is in us, and we are quickened by one and the same spirit.' 2 Therefore it cannot choose, but that a real union must follow between Christ and us; as there is a union between all the parts of the body, by the animation of one soul. But faith is the mouth wherewith we eat his body, and drink his blood: not the mouth of a man, but of a faithful man; for we hunger after him, not with a corporeal appetite, but a spiritual; therefore, our eating must be spiritual and not corporeal. Yet, this is a real, a substantial partaking of Christ crucified, broken, his flesh bleeding, his wounds gaping; so he is exhibited, so we are sure we receive him, which doth not only touch our outward senses in the elements, but pass through into the depth of the soul. For, in true divinity, real and spiritual are equipollent ; although with the Papists nothing is real, unless it be corporeal which is a gross way to defraud us of the sublime and soul-ravishing virtue of the mystery. 66 A mystery neither to be set out in words, nor to be comprehended sufficiently in the mind, but to be adored with faith," says Calvin.3 But herein we pledge Christ in the cup of love; herein we renew the covenant of forgiveness strongly assured by the sprinkling of blood; the life is in the blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission of sins :— because death is the wages of sin. Sin is the greatest 1 Ephes. iii. 17. 2 Rom. viii. 11. 3 Lib. Instit. c. 17. sect. 5. dishonour that can be done to God; and death in Christ's person is the greatest satisfaction that can be made. He died, and gave himself for me; he died, and gave himself to me, as he was dead in his gored and pierced body, that his sacrifice might be in me, and in all those that are redeemed by it. We read of some mothers, that, in a great famine, have eaten their own children; but what mother, in the time of famine, did ever give her own flesh to save the life of her child? But Christ hath given himself for us, that we might not perish. O Lord, I owe all my life to thee, because thou hast laid down thy life for me; O let me bleed out my sins, that thy blood may fill all the veins of my spirit; O let my body be transfigured to the heavenly by cleanliness and chastity, by being used only for thy worship and service, that the body of my Saviour may come under the roof of it. Then when the King shall set forth his table, and give himself to me in his wonderful feast, my spikenard shall send forth a sweet smell; my soul shall magnify the Lord, and my spirit shall rejoice in Christ my Saviour.' 2 "We have found the Messias," says Philip to Nathanael; and where have we found him? at a feast a feast of his own body and blood, but set out with no more cost and show than a piece of bread and a sip of wine. In this manner, it is brought to pass by the omnipotency of God's pleasure to institute it, with the efficacy of a strong faith concurring to receive it. The Church had done very ill, if, of its own head, it had made so mean a representation of Christ: but the Lord must be obeyed, and ought to be admired in the humility of his ordinance, who hath not given us rich viands, and full cups, but made the feast out of the fragments of the meanest creatures. Let them that will make themselves fit to be his guests, bring 1 2 Kings vi. 2 Cant. i. 12. 66 a preparation of humility suitable to the exility of those oblations. "The meek shall eat and be satisfied, they shall praise the Lord, and seek him ;" and at that season, let the riotous remember his fulness of bread, and excess of wine. God is honoured in a little, and his liberality is abused in the excess of his creatures. And it is worth the noting, that the elements which we are invited to take are of fruits that grow out of the earth; to shew that the earth which was cursed for Adam's sake, is blessed for Christ's sake. As it brings forth thorns and thistles to call to mind our rebellion, so it brings forth bread and wine to call to mind our redemption. Neither doth God supply us with bread only out of the furrows of the earth, but sometime it hath fallen out of the clouds of heaven. Behold," says God, "I will rain bread from heaven for you.' This was 'manna,' called 'the corn of heaven." This was the spiritual meat, or angels' food, in which the old believers in the wilderness did eat Christ with an implicit faith. Our outward sign is the bread of the earth, true bread that grows in the fields; yet the bread signified is that, which the "Father hath given us from heaven." Bread is a great part of man's nourishment; so Christ crucified is the sole refection of faith. Bread is champed in the mouth to make it fit for the stomach; so the body of Christ was ordained to be slain, before it could profit "If the corn of wheat fall not into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."5 By his life we learn to live, and by his death we are made alive. Bread, when it is ground between our teeth, and eaten, is turned by concoction into the substance of our body; which explains our mystical union with Christ, that we are us. 1 Psalm xxii. 26. 2 Exod. xvi. 4. 3 Psalm 1xxviii. 24. 4 John vi. 31. made one spirit with him by faith, as this sensible food is converted into our flesh and bone. Beside, in the several parts of the outward signs, it is God's meaning we should conceive how he loves the gathering together of many into one, which is thus to be qualified. At a common supper, or any meal, all that are at the board feed of the same meats; yet every one feeds to himself, and to none beside; so, every communicant eats Christ to himself, and the just shall live by his own faith. Nevertheless, it is a sacrament to combine, and to knit together, holding us fast into one communion, that there may be no breaking asunder of the parts and members. Many grains of wheat are kneaded into one loaf, many grapes are trodden, that their liquor may he pressed into one cup. We, being many, are one bread, and one body; for " we are all partakers of that one bread." Now, natural learning will teach us, what a comfort there is in union, and that fractions and dissolutions are painful and grievous. Behold, how good and pleasant a thing it is! behold, what a strengthening to the mystical body to continue in one fellowship and breaking of bread, to link faith and love together in Jesus Christ! It was but one deliverance common to all Israel, whose solemnity was kept at the passover, though every lamb was eaten by itself in a several family so, it is one cup of salvation which God hath given us to drink, though distributed to the faithful according to the multitude of persons; and it is one bread of which we do all eat, though some have one share of it, and some another. It is necessary that many pieces be broken off from one loaf, to typify the body of the Lord broken for us, and that the benefits of his passion are distributed among us. There are many instances that are pregnant to prove how pieces of something, broken and divided 11 Cor. x. 17. into many shares, do import a communication of somewhat among the dividers. The heathen, at the making of a league, did now and then break a flint stone into pieces; and they that entered into a league, kept the parts in token of a covenant. Some upon a contract of marriage will break a piece of gold, and the two halves are reserved by the contractors. Shall I go further, and yet come nearest to our case? The Roman soldiers parted our Saviour's garment among them, and in that symbolical accident is shewn, that the Gentiles should share in the satisfaction of his death. So Peter takes this morsel of bread,-John another, &c.; yet Christ is not divided. The same ticket, as it were, in words, in substance is put into every hand, on which is written, 'Take and eat it in remembrance of me.' "Take it," says Christ; and be not afraid, as Saul was to take a kingdom, since Christ hath appointed it; be not afraid, as David was, to be a king's son, since such honour is predestinated to thee. Take it, and fear not, as Peter did, saying, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man;' it is the Lord's delight to seek and to save that which is lost. Take it, and take heed you let not go your hold; the thing is fast and firm, if you do not let it go and lose it. Take it, but not to hold the pleasures of the world, and your sinful lusts in your gripe together; if your hands be full of these things, you can never hold this. Take it, and take Christ with it; for he that made the testament in his blood, hath set the seal unto the testament, which gives you interest and possession of the redemption by his blood. Take it, and reach out your hand, to signify that you receive Christ with the hand of faith. They are too nice, for fear of I know not what, in the Roman Church, of losing a crumb, or so forth, that they put the body of Christ into the mouth of their disciples: and in pretence that they give it |