CHAPTER I. Of the Passeover or Paschall-Lamb ; Its signification , and the Analogy or Resemblance between it and Christ our Passeover . 1 COR. 5. 7 , 8. For Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us . Therefore let us keep the Feast , not with old leven , &c.

§ . 1 IT is usuall in handling the nature and Use of Sacraments to begin with the notion of a Sacrament in generall , and then to descend to particular Sacraments , which we call Baptism and the Lords Supper in their order , But the Field is large and the compasse great , and therefore I begin where the Lords Supper it self began , and therefore I begin where the Lords Supper it self began , and that is at the Passeover , at the death whereof , and out of the ashes of it , this Sacrament of ours like another Phoenix did arise , for our Lord at his last Passeover called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his dying Passeover , did institute and ordain this , which is to live and remain till he come again , and which Scaliger and others have Observed , the very materials of our Sacramental Supper were taken out of the Paschall Supper , for that very bread which the Master of the Family Used of custome ( not by any Scripture-command ) to blesse and give to the fraternity , saying , Holachma degnania , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , This is the bread of affliction which the Fathers did eat in Egypt , and that Cup which he blessed and gave to them to drink called the Cup of the hymn , or Cos hallel , becaUse the hymn followed after and closed all ; That bread , and that Cup , did Christ according to the rite severally blesse and give , saying , This is my body , This Cup is the New Testament in my bloud , and so he put a new Superscription or signification upon the old metall , and let all blinde and bold Expositors know , that if they expound not many phrases and things in the New Testament out of the old Records of Jewish writings or customes , they shall but fancy and not expound the Text as may be confirmed , saith Scaliger sexcentis argumentis by very many arguments .

In handling of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper I shall select such practical and preparative doctrine as is necessary for your knowledge that ye may discern the Lords body , and not be guilty of it , and for your practise that you may examine your selves , and not eat and drink unworthily : For if I should lanch out into controversies , there would be no end ; There hath been more paper written upon those six syllables , but five in English , This is my body , then would contain a just and large Commentary upon the whole Bible .

I begin with the Passeover which was the second ( for Circumcision was the first ) ordinary standing Sacrament of the Jewish Church , beginning at their going forth out of Egypt , and continuing till the Death of Christ , when the Lords Supper did commence or begin , and so displaced it ; The Passeover , signified what should be the Lords Supper , what is fulfilled in Christ ; In the Passeover , were represented the Sufferings and Death of Christ by a Lamb slain rosted with fire ; In the Supper , by bread broken , and wine poured forth . The outward symbols or signs differ ; But Christ is the same under both ; As Circumcision theirs , baptism ours , are different signs and rites , but the inward Circumcision and Regeneration both one ; Theirs were both bloudy Sacraments , for the bloud of Christ was to be shed , ours unbloudy , for the bloud is shed , and our English well translates the word Passeover , the Greek and Latine keep the word Pascha , which gave some occasion to derive it from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to suffer a mistake ; The word is Pesach , from Pasach , which is to leap or passe over : For when Israel after long servitude in Egypt was on wing to be gone , God commanded them in their several Families to kill Seh a Lamb or kid , to rost it whole , to eat it within doors that night , to sprinkle the side and upper door-posts with the bloud , not the threshold propter reverentiam & significationem , Christs bloud must not be trampled on , and so doing they should be safe from the destroying Angel that rode circuit that night to kill all Egypts first-born , but he past over all the hoUses of Israel sprinkled with bloud , and hence the name Passe-over the Etymon whereof is given by God himself , Exod. 12. 27. We have the kernell in this shell , the marrow of this bone , a Passeover as well as they , but ours is Christ , our Passeover is Christ , saith the Text.

§ 2 We proceed , Our Passeover Christ is or was sacrificed for us ; Our Passeover Christ was a true Sacrifice , but whether their Passeover was a Sacrifice or no , it is in Question : The Papists swallow it greedily , hoping thereby to prove our Supper to be both a Sacrifice and a Sacrament as their Passeover ( they say ) was , but there are others both Lutheran and Calvinist , as Gerald. in harmon . Rivet on Exod. 12. that do not yield the Passeover a proper Sacrifice , though it be so called Exo. 12. 27. It is the Sacrifice of the Lords Passeover , for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the Hebrew Zabach are sometimes taken generally for mactare , when there is no Sacrifice , and they finde in Egypt at the first Passeover no Priest but the head of the Family , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , no Altar , no offering of the Lamb to God , no expiation , nor is it necessary that it should be a Sacrifice to type a Sacrifice , for the Serpent on the Pole signified Christ crucified , and so the Passeover as a Sacrament may figure out a Sacrifice , as our Supper is the commemoration of a Sacrifice , but not a Sacrifice ; On the other hand Calvin and others , the Jewish Writers and many from them do hold it to be a Sacrifice and a Sacrament , for the Scripture cals it Sacrifice , and this bloud is shed at first by the Pater-familia's that was a Priest ( no other being yet consecrated ) in after times by the Priests or Levites , and the bloud brought to the Altar , as it was bloud shed to a religious end , a bloud preservative from destroying Angels , and therefore a proper Sacrifice : What shall we say ? The difference between a Sacrifice and a Sacrament . I 'le promise you not to puzzle you with controversies and disputes , for I had rather set meat before you which you may eat , then hard bones to gnaw upon ; The truth is , a Sacrifice is something offered up to God by men , a Sacrament is offered and given to man by God to be eaten or Used in his Name , and so that part of the offering which is offered up to God may be called a Sacrifice , and that part eaten or Used by man a Sacrament , the very body and bloud of Christ was a Sacrifice , no Sacrament : The bread and wine as Used are a Sacrament no Sacrifice , The Passeover was the figure of a true Deut. 16. 5. Sacrifice , Christ and we may call it so , becaUse the Scripture doth : It follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us keep the Feast , What is that ? Ye shall finde that after the Passeover Lamb was eaten the next day began the Feast , Numb. 28. 16 , 17. and the Passeover is called Feast , too , Exod. 12. 15. &c. and that continued seven daies , kept in great festivity and solemnity , but with unleavened bread , the Apostle alludes hereunto , Our Passeover is sacrificed , therefore let us henceforth , &c. We that have received the sprinkling of bloud , and eaten his flesh by faith , live all our daies in a holy rejoycing and thanks ▪ giving , which is a continuall Feast , and let us cast out the incestuous Corinthians out of our Society , for he is a leven , ver. 6 , 7. and let us purge out of our selves , malice , wickednesse , &c. For they are leven , ver. 8. that we may be a holy Congregation , and a holy people , and so the argument of the Apostle stands thus , from the example of the Old Passeover , Those for whom Christ the Passeover is sacrificed ought as holy Congregations and holy people to be unleavened with sin and wickednesse , and to walk before God in an unleavened sincerity , but for us Christ the Passeover is sacrificed , therefore let us keep the Feast , &c.

I have explained the words , and now we shall consider this Passeover two waies .

1. As a Sacrifice or figure of a Sacrifice , and so it refers to Christ our Passeover , Christ is sacrificed for us .

2. As a Sacrament , and so it relates to us , and shews us our duty upon that Sacrifice , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us keep the Feast , The Sacrifice is given for us , the Sacrament is given to us : From the first ,

Our Passeover is Christ sacrificed for us . Our Passeover is Christ sacrificed for us , We have a Passeover , but it is Christ sacrificed : And here before I shew the Analogy or resemblance between the Passeover and Christ , we shall note three or four things .

§ . 3 1. They in the Old Church of Israel had Christ as well ( though not so clear ) as we , 1 Cor. 10. 4. The Rock that followed our Fathers in the Wildernesse was Christ , the Passeover was Christ , the personall Types such as Isaac on the Wood , the reall Types as their bloudy Sacrifices were Christ ; He was then in his swadling clouts swathed up in shadows and types , and not naked ; as now Gal. 3. 1. those Types being anatomized , unbowelled are full of Gospel , full of Christ , the death of Christ pecus prosunt quam fuit , saith Bernard de coena ; Christ is the marrow in the bone , the kernell in the shell , yesterday , and to day , and the same for ever , the summe and sweet of all Ordinances , therefore those that say they were filled with temporall promises , but had no spirituall , derogate too much from them as that they were Swine filled with husks , and speak a wondrous Paradox ; that those that had so much faith , Heb. 11. should have no Christ , we give them the right hand of fellowship , and they were the elder brother , yet we have the double portion .

§ . 4 2. Mark the form of speech , Christ our Passeover , that is , our Paschall Lamb , which is also called the Passeover , Exod. 12. 31. Kill the Passeover , Now the Passeover properly was the Angels passing over the Israelites hoUses , and not the Lamb , but we must learn to understand Sacramentall phrases , the signe called the thing signified , the figure called the thing figured , The Rock was Christ ; Christ our Passeover , that is , paschal Lamb , Circumcision called the Covenant , Gen 17. 13. My Covenant shall be in your flesh , this will be allowed in every place but one , and that is this one , This is my body , For the Lutheran stands up for a corporall presence under the Signes , The Papist for a change of the Bread and Wine into Christs body and bloud ; No conferences , no disputes , no condescensions will satisfie them , and yet we say very fairly , the very body of Christ born of the Virgin , that died on the Crosse , that sits in heaven , is present in this Sacrament , but not in the Bread or Wine , but to the faithfull Receiver , not in the Elements but to the Communicants , but all this will not serve turn ; These two Prepositions Con and Trans have bred more jarres , and cost more bloud since they were born ( and there is neither of them in this caUse six hundred years old ) then can be well imagined .

§ . 4 3. The Passeover figured Christ , and yet the Jews ordinarily saw not Christ in it ; It is plain in their celebration of the Passeover , or their Rituals , they take notice of , and commemorate their Egyptian slavery , and their deliverance , and so they were commanded , but of Christ not a syllable ; It entred not into them that a Lamb rosted should figure the Messiah , as they had formed him in their thoughts , and so they held the Passeover as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking backward , but as a Type looking forward , no knowledge except the faithfull had some glimpse of it , and this is the great fault of men in all Sacraments , they minde not the inwards of a Sacrament , nor look for the kernell , they did so , and we also , not discerning the Lords body , is not that it which makes us guilty of his body and bloud , there is in all Sacraments res terrena & res coelestis , as Irenaeus . Earthly men see the earthly part , they eat , they drink , It feeds not , they eat shells , the inwards within the bone are marrow , Christ ; Christ set spirituall food before our bodies , viz. ayery , set corporall before the soul , and you illude both , saith Parisiensis , de Euchar . sub finem .

§ . 5 4. The Passeover is Christ sacrificed , not Christ a Lamb unspotted , but Christ a Lamb rosted with fire , and this tels you that the Passeover and our Supper represent Christ crucified , Christ dying or dead ; It is the death of Christ , not his Resurrection , nor ascension , that is here set forth , Ye shew the Lords death till he come , this is the sight which a sinful soul would see , this is the comfortable spectacle , to see the price paying , the ransome laying down , the thing in doing ; Hence he draws the hope and comfort of Redemption , and therefore the bread was broken , and the Cup was full of bloud to represent to the life this life giving Death to Christ ; The Papists have cheated the people of the bloud by a trick of concomitancy , telling them that the bread is his body , and his body hath bloud in it , we have a word of Institution of both severally , the life of the representation is the bloud shed , the Passeover is a Lamb slain and rosted , and the bloud on the door-post , and by providence , if the Papists will allow all to eat , then we have expresly for the Cup a Bibite ex hoc omnes , Mat. 26. 27. Drink ye all of it ; So that it is the Death of Christ here represented , and which is one step further , it is a Sacrifice Death , which works and makes atonement , this was it that all the Sacrifices , that the Passeover did prefigure , a Sacrifice death , that should deliver and make expiation ; This Cup ( saith Christ ) is the New Testament in my bloud , which is shed for you and many for remission of sins , a death , and such a kinde of death as in our Sacrament set forth a Sacrifice Death , therefore it 's said sacrificed for us .

§ . 7 Now let us come to the Analogy or resemblance between the Passeover and Christ sacrificed , wherein I shall The resemblance between the Passeover and Christ sacrificed . endeavour to avoid the vanity and curiosity of making similitudes to run of all four , which is incident to men in handling Types , Parables , and similitudes which like a string over-stretched makes a jar and disharmony , and shews more fondnes , then soundness .

1. The Paschal must be a male-Lamb without blemish , the son of a year taken from the Sheep or Goats , Exo. 12. 5. and this resembles Christ himself and his perfection , there were many blemishes which the superstitious or curious Jews Observed to the number of fifty or seventy , any blemish disabled it , Christ was without all blemish , nothing was excepted from other men , or his likenesse to them but sin , in all Points tempted like as weare , yet without sin ; Heb. 4. 15. He was of masculine perfection , at the perfection of his age , about 33 or 34 years , of Lamb-like humility and meeknesse ; which are noted in him as exemplary graces ; He was figured out in the Lamb of the daily Sacrifice , in the Lamb of the Passeover , in Abrahams Ram in stead of Isaac , in the Scape-goat , Lev. 16. 21. and pointed out by John Baptist under this Name , Behold the Lamb of God ▪ ; It 's implied , Heb. 9. 28. he shall appear the second time , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that in his first coming he was not without , but we must distinguish of sin , ours imputed to him , and so he was made sin for us , so as to bear it in his body , which at his second coming he shall not bear nor be loden with as he was before , and therefore is said to come without sinne both his and ours .

2. This Paschall-Lamb was to be separated from the flock , and set apart for Sacrifice on the tenth day of the moneth , but not killed till the 14. day in the Evening , or according to that vexed phrase between the two Evenings , that is , in the afternoon , when the Sun declined before Sunset , and about the same time of day our Saviour ( the true Passeover ) was slain , but in a further meaning it shews that Christ was set apart and fore-designed of God to be our Passover long before , not in his decree , but his promise , and the predictions of the Prophets which have been since the world began , Luk. 1. 70. but now in the end of the world hath he appear'd to put away sinne by the Sacrifice of himself , Heb. 9. 26. He suffer'd between the two Evenings of the world , which was in his declination , when he came that was our Evening , and the latter is to come , the dayes of his appearance are called often the last daies , and though that have another meaning , shewing the unalterableness of the Gospel-Ordinances , contrary to those of the Law , yet we may affirm , that it was past the noon of the world , when he came , and the time shall not be so long after unto Sun-set , as before .

3. This paschal Lamb must be killed , the bloud taken into a basin , sprinkled with hysop , shall be on every door , the flesh rosted with fire not eaten raw or boyl'd in water , the head , the legs , the inwards , Exod. 12. 7 , 8 , 9 , 22. and this may set forth unto us the unutterable sufferings of Christ , both in his soul and body , which the Scripture sets out to the life with such an emphasis of words , I mean especially those of his soul , scorched with the sense of Gods extream wrath , which are exprest by words extraordinary , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Sweating like drops of bloud , with expression of strong cries and tears ; Oh man thou understandest not the sufferings of this Passeover rosted with fire forbidden to be boyl'd in scalding water , for that expresses not the sufferings in extremity , and what is all this for ? Even to make Christ more pleasant meat to thee , which if thou feed upon , and with a bunch of hysop sprinkle this bloud , applying it by faith , eating this rosted flesh , and drinking this bloud poured forth , it will feast thy soul , and secure thee from the wrath of God , which is the next .

4. The destroying Angel seeing this blood on the door posts , passes over the hoUse , goes and kils the Aegyptians first-born , and executes Gods last plague upon them , in the mean time the Israelites were safe within the protection of blood , Exod. 12. 12 , 13. and here is the safety of those Israelites ; Believers that have applied by faith the blood of Jesus Christ , when God shall let loose his last and final plagues upon the world , they shall be safe ; Hell , and wrath , and condemnation shall not touch them , When I see the blood ( saith he ) I 'le pass over you , Exod. 12. 13 , 23. nothing else will save you ; God looks at nothing but the blood of Christ upon you ; Happy they , that before God ride his circuit of destruction , to make a cry in all Aegypt , are gotten under the Sanctuary of blood , for then the plague shall not be upon you , when I smite the Land of Aegypt , Exod. 12. 13.

5. After the Israelites had been secured from the stroke of that dismall night , then presently they march away , are hired by the Aegyptians to be gone , the four hundred and thirty years were out , and God being punctual in his times , finishes their captivity that hour , and begins to fulfill his promises that he had made to them of bringing them to their promised Land , Exod. 12. 31 , 32 , 33 , &c. 41 , 42. and here we see , that when a soul hath long lien in the base bondage under sinne and the devil , and comes to take hold of Christ , and is sprinkled with his blood , and enters Covenant with God in Christ , then is he set free from his bondage , and then he goes out of Aegypt , and then all the promises begin to open upon him , and he sets upon his heavenly journey , and no Pharaoh can hinder him any longer ; All the sweet promises of peace , and comfort , and hope , begin to be made good to him , for they are all Yea and Amen in Christ ; the Devil , and all his power and instruments cannot hold him , the blood is upon him , from that hour he is a free-man , to own no Lord but God , and yet still he hath a Wilderness to go thorow , but he is miraculously carried as Israel was thorow it ; but this must not be expected , that they should eat the Passeover and stay in Aegypt still , they must go out of their bondage , that are sprinkled with this blood by the blood of thy Covenant , I have sent out thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water , saith he in a like case , Zech. 9. 11. and haply this Type is yet to be fulfilled in the Gospel Churches , whom the Lord will deliver out of the hands of their oppressing tyrants , Pope or Turk , not by the Sword but Ordinances of his Covenant , and then if they shall pursue a people under blood , as Pharaoh did , there will be a red Sea to swallow them horse and man . And so much for the Passeover , as referring to Christ our Sacrifice , for that it doth so , is plain by this . That which is said of the Paschal Lamb , Exod. 12. 46. is expresly applied to , and fulfilled in Christ , John 19. 36. So much for the Passeover as a Sacrifice , or as the figure of our Sacrifice and theirs , Christ Jesus .

§ . 8 Now we proceed to consider it as a Sacrament , not ours , but theirs , nor yet a figure of our Sacrament in Considered as a Sacrament . propriety , though often so called in transitu , and much contended for by Papists , For what Jew could ever have found out our Supper figured in that Passeover ? and in what propriety can our Sacrament be the Sacrament of another ? Christ is the res Sacramenti of theirs and ours , there they meet , as the inward Circumcision and Regeneration is the thing of their Circumcision and our Baptism , but that one Sacrament should be the figure of another , is absurd and void of Reason ; As two pictures of one man , are both resemblances of that one man , but one is not the picture of another , and yet becaUse the Passeover hath the common nature of a Sacrament , doth set forth the same Christ as our Supper , and that the Apostle draws an Argument from it , to perswade Gospel-Christians to holiness : Therefore we shall consider what significancy there is in it , for though the signs be not ours , yet the significancy is

§ . 9 First , The Passeover or Paschal Lamb , as killed and rosted , and the blood sprinkled was a Sacrifice , The signification of the Passeover . as eaten by the Israelites and feasted upon , it was a Sacrament , and in after-times , both by Jewish Records , and by Scripture , I conceive it appears , 2 Chro. 35. 11. Ezra 6 20. that the Levites killed the Paschals , the Priests sprinkled the bloud on the Altar , and then they took the Lamb to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or Families , or Chambers in Jerusalem , and there did eat it ; so in our Supper there is a Sacrifice slain , and offer'd up for atonement , and that is Christ his body and bloud , and then there is an eating and drinking of this Sacrifice in the Sacrament of bread and wine , as in many Sacrifices of the Law , there was first an offering up to God , and then a feasting on the remainder ; we have a true Sacrifice , Christ offer'd up to God for us ; we have a true Sacrament , as that Sacrifice is eaten and drunk by us ; the oblation belongs to God to propitiate and redeem ; the communication belongs to us , to be refresht and nourisht ; their eating the Passeover was no Sacrifice , but a Sacrament ; our eating and drinking bread and wine is no Sacrifice but a Sacrament ; their killing and rosting of the Lamb made it eatable ; Christ his sacrificing of himself for us , renders him fit nourishment to us ; Had he not been a Sacrifice offer'd up for us , what profit had there been in eating and drinking sacramentally and spiritually that body and bloud ? This consideration is of special remark , you feast upon a sacrifice , you live , you feed upon a sacrifice tolle Sacrificium . tolle Sacramentum , the mouth eats the Sacrament , the eye of faith discerns the sacrifice , Christ is the sacrifice , the Sacrament no sacrifice , but the commemoration and communication of a sacrifice ; and here the Reason must be Observed , why God did institute their Passeover , and our answerable Sacrament to consist in meat and drink , eating and drinking , and I conceive thus , that it being the most proper way to partake of a sacrifice , for how else can it be ? Therefore we eat and drink in way of participation of our sacrifice ; Hence the phrase , Living upon Heb. 13. 10. the Altar , eating of the Altar ; and thus if we carry our eye to the earthly part in the Supper , and to the heavenly part , that is to the Sacrament , and the sacrifice represented , and feed upon the sacrifice represented , as well as the Sacrament representing , we then discern the Lords body . This is the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de hoc plus intra .

2. Their Passeover was instituted as an Ordinance for ever , for a memorial of their Deliverance in Aegypt , and their eduction out of it , a commemoration it was , and to be Observed for ever , that is , in all succeeding generations , whiles their Polity and Religion stood , Exod. 12. 14 , 24 , 42. and therefore we read in Jewish Writers , and there is some foot-step or original of it , Exod. 26. 27. What mean you by this service , that in every company of Passeover-communicants , there was some one that rehearsed and made commemoration , Haggadah shet pesuch , the history Buxtorf . Chal. Lexic . of the Passeover , and so God that would have the sacrifice of Christ for our sinne , that greatest work of his , and our deliverance thereby from worse then Aegypt , or destroying Angel , to be Observed and kept in minde by a lasting trophy or monument , viz ▪ our Supper : The Apostle in allusion to their custome , Useth a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 26. Ye do shew , As often as ye eat this bread and drink this Cup , ye do shew forth the Lords death till he come , or ye do commemorate and with affection and thanksgiving set it forth , and as theirs was for ever , till Christs first coming , so ours is for ever , till his second coming ; so long as their Church continued they were charged with this Ordinance ; so long as the Gospel-Church continues , they are charged with this , and therefore neither of the Doctrine of the Gospel , nor of the Sacraments shall there be any removal or alteration till Christ come .

3. Their Passeover in Aegypt was eaten in their several Families or societies , A Lamb for a hoUse , except it were too little , Exod. 12. 3 , 4. and in after times when this was repeal'd , Deut. 16. 6 , 7. and was confined to the place that God should chUse , and so to Jerusalem , then though the Lamb might be slain in the holy Court , and the bloud sprinkled on the Altar , yet they did carry it home to their hired chambers , and there did eat in companies , not less then ten in a fraternity , Joseph de bello lib. 7. cap. 17. nor above twenty , but no man alone , Solum epulari non licet , saith Joseph , Christ and his company made one society ; so though Christ be our Sacrifice , once offer'd up upon the cross a sacrifice to God , yet doth our Supper bring him home to us into our Churches , and into our souls . There is an application of him to be made , the bloud sprinkled on our doors , the Paschal brought home to our own hoUse ; Take ye , Eat ye , Drink ye ; God comes to particulars with us , and the application of the sacrifice is the life of the Sacrament ; we must eat and drink at home , in our own souls ; Christ comes home to us , and yet this Supper ought as the Passeover to be eaten in societies , I know no Reason for one alone , there must be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a company , for it is a communion , one makes not a communion ; The Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 20. When you come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a meeting , v. 33 , 34. when you come together , tarry one for another ; hence it hath been anciently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a meeting , a Congregation . It 's Gods Ordinance ( saith a learned man ) that the Lords Hildersam Joh. 4 p. 122. Supper be administred in publick Assemblies ; How can there be a Communicant without a Communion , sed de hoc infra , not that the wals of a Church do make it a communion ▪ but a meeting of believers ?

4. Their Passeover was eaten with unlevened bread and sowre or bitter herbs , Exod. 12. 8. There are many circumstances and ceremonies found in the Jewish Authors about the searching out of all leven , yea with candles at noon-day , and an execration of all leven , if any should remain unfound , and the bitter herbs were in constant Use , the unlevened bread remembred them , what haste they went out of Aegypt in , Exod. 12. 34. and the bitter herbs , what affliction and bondage they had suffer'd , and further they saw not ; The Apostle interprets leven , malice and wickedness ; unlevened bread , sincerity and truth , 1 Cor. 5. 8. and so it teaches us , how Christ is to be received by us , and what manner of persons they must be that apply and receive Jesus Christ ; They must remember their bondage under sinne , not with delight but bitterness , and feel the sowr taste of their former wayes , as sinners contrite and broken ; bitter herbs are good sauce for the paschal Lamb ; sinne felt sets an edge on the stomack as vinegar ; Christ relishes well to such a soul ; When thou comest to eat his Supper , bring thy own sauce with thee , bitter herbs , and refresh on thy self the memory of thy old wayes and former lusts ; that 's the sauce , the bread is unleavened bread ; you cannot eat the Lamb and leaven togegether ; a secure hypocrite , a filthy swine not purged from sinne , to think to have Christ and his sinne too , to be pardon'd and not purged , to be saved and not sanctified ; Away , and never think to eat this Lamb with leaven'd bread ; come with bitter herbs thou maist , contrition for sinne , but come not with and in thy sins , for that 's eating with leaven'd bread ; therefore search it out , and let thy sinnes be searcht out as with a candle , and let them be execrable to thee , that God may see thy hatred of them , and thy loathing of thy self for them .

5. Their Passeover in Aegypt , was to be eaten with loyns girded in procinctu , shoes on feet , and staff in hand , and ye shall eat in haste , Exod. 12. 11. and therefore standing as ready to be instantly on their march to leave the Land of Aegypt , and go to seek their promised countrey , which signifies to us , that we must receive Christ and his bloud with intention and purpose to leave the dominions of Pharaoh , the Kingdom , service and bondage of sinne , and the Devil , and from that hour to set forward towards our heavenly countrey ; This is that hard Doctrine of the Gospel ; This makes men neglect , refUse Jesus Christ , becaUse they cannot part with sinne , they will not resolve to quit their former course , as he that went away sorrowfull , for he had great possessions : So we would fain be saved , but go away sorrowfull , for we have powerfull , pleasing and profitable lusts . And as it may allude to our Supper ; Let it teach us to come to the Table of the Lord with staves in our hand , and our loyns girded up , as men resolving to march , and begin a new and holy life , Henceforth not to serve sin , Rom. 6. 6. But of this I spake before .

6. In their Passeover they must rost and eat a whole Lamb , and nothing of it must remain till the morning : If any did remain it must be burnt with fire , Exod. 11. 9 , 10. the flesh must be eaten , not a bone broken , Numb. 9. 12. This shews , that Christ is all meat , there is no offal in him , there is variety of nourishment for all our Uses , righteousness , and peace , and comfort , and contentment to fill our capacities , relieve temptations , pardon and purge away our sins , but we must not divide , but take him whole , his merit and Spirit , his salvation and Soveraignty ; Christ our Way , our Truth , our Life ; What an unhappy Doctrine is that of the Papists , that takes the bloud from us , and will not let the people drink ? It is as if they should not allow our Passeover to be a whole Lamb , and as unhappy they , that do not only rent his coat , but break his bones by depraving the fundamentals of Gospel-Doctrine , and tearing the Creed , Article from Article , and nothing left , untill the morning , tels us , That in the morning-light of the Gospel , all those shadows should be abolisht and disclaimed , or as Rivet saith , That Sacraments are not Sacraments , but in their Use , and while they are Used , as the bread and wine after the Use are no Sacraments , as a mear stone is a boundary in it's place , remove it , and it is lapis not limes .

7. No uncircumcised person might eat the Passeover , nor no unclean person that was under an uncleanness , Exod. 12. 44 , 48. Numb . 9. 7. where the instance is of some unclean by the dead , but it extendeth to other uncleanness , leprous or menstruous , &c. Joseph . de bello lib. 7. cap. 17. and yet there was provision made for the unclean , that they might keep the Passeover in the second moneth , as they did in Hezekiah his Passeover , 2 Chron. 30. 13. but for the uncircumcised there was no provision , and this sets forth to us two sorts of men that are uncapable of worthy coming to the Lords Supper .

1. The uncircumcised that are strangers and foreiners Two sorts uncapable of the Lords Supper . to the Church , and not initiated by the first Sacrament of Baptism , no person of what condition soever that is unbaptized can come to the Supper , for he is not entred and admitted into Church-fellowship or Communion by the first Sacrament : He is not one of the hoUse , or of the fraternity , where the Lamb is eaten , and out of the hoUse the Passeover must not be carried ; they that are out of the Church have no right to the priviledges of the Church , as they that are no freemen have not the priviledge of the City . It was never known in the old Church , that an uncircumcised person , nor in the Gospel-Church that an unbaptized , did partake of either of the Suppers , theirs or ours , for both of them are second Sacraments , not firsts , the way to the Table hath ever been by the Font or Laver of washing . Of this more hereafter .

2. The domesticks that are of the hoUse , that are Almost one and twenty hundred thousand all pure . Joseph . cap. 17. lib. 7. de bello Judaic . circumcised Israelites , yet if they be at the time of the Passeover unclean , they may not eat it , was a case came into Question thus , some were unclean , put the case to Moses , he respited the decision till he had asked of the Lord , and the Lord adjudged it , that he should be put off to the Passeover of the second moneth ; and this tels us by way of allusion , that a member of the Church baptized , yea a true believer may be unfit at some particular time to come to the Lords Table , and may eat and drink unworthily ; Were not the Corinthians such men , and in such a case , 1 Cor. 11 ? Were they not punisht for their unworthy coming , and yet doubtless some of them godly , and all professed Christians ? But of this more also .

§ 10 8. There were in the first Passeover in Aegypt , Used and commanded by express word , certain rituals or occasionals , which as Jewish Writers and practice shews , were omitted and not Used in after-times . As 1. The eating in dispersed hoUses , afterward in Jerusalem only . 2. The taking up the Lamb four dayes before , which we reade not of afterward . 3. The striking of the door-posts with the bloud . 4. The not going out of the hoUse that night , which in after-times Christ and his Disciples did . 5. The eating it in travelling posture in procinctu , with staves , &c. which we finde our Saviour , and reade that the Jews did in another posture of discumbency , a lying on beds , &c. These or some of these were occasional at the first , and the occasion ceasing , custom had ruled it otherwise without offence ; for in our Supper the Lord celebrated and instituted it at night , in or at the end of the paschal and common supper . 2. In unlevened bread . 3. Late at night . 4. In a gesture of discumbency , a leaning or lying posture , Joh. 3. 13. 5. In a chamber of a private hoUse . 6. Without presence of any woman . 7. Consecrating , a blessing the bread and See Evang. for so Used in Passeover . the Cup severally and apart . 8. Singing the hymne at the close of all , as was usual , &c. And these , or many of these were occasional circumstances by Reason of the custom & Rite of the paschal Supper , or the particular exigency at that time ; And what then ? Do they oblige to a hairs breadth all after-ages ? Do they that impose any one of these themselves hold to all of them ? Shall we be supercilious and superstitious in Observing all occasional or local customs ? Why do we not appear in sackcloth at our Fasts ? Where is that osculum pacis ? As the Apostle said about the 1 Cor. 11. 16. length of hair , so I say , If any man seem to be contentious , we have no such custome , nor the Churches of God . If Christ had celebrated the Supper with his loyns girt , and staff in hand , had we been bound to it , and yet we must not raffle this thred too far , and under colour of an occasionall circumstance , change or mutilate the real substance , as the Papist that takes away the Cup which Christ blest , and breaks not the Bread , as he did , and of a Sacrament makes a Sacrifice ; the Matter and Form , the intended Analogy between the Sign , and the Thing signified , will guide us in our distinguishing Substance from Accidents .

I here make an end , though in this Point , and in this Lamb , which was served in with Legs and Purtenance , I might finde out other lesser Resemblances , which I shall not ; but having shown you , what fresh Marrow lies in the old Bones of this Passeover-Sacrifice , will hereafter set forth our Lords Supper before you .