Mercies come before us, or prefent themselves to our View. About the time of the Council at Conftance, two Cardinals, as they were travelling upon the Road, not far from the City, faw a poor Shepherd weeping; and thinking that fome fad Accident might have befallen him, either his Dog loft, or fome of his Sheep ftolen, had the Curiosity to ask him the Reafon of his Tears: who answer'd, I am looking here upon a Toad, and cannot but weep to think what an ungrateful Beast I have been to my God, to whom I never before in all my Life gave Thanks that he did not make me fo homely and fo odious a Creature, The Truth is, you and I can hardly walk the Street, but we meet with Men either ragged, or lame, or maim'd, or blind, or dumb, or fome other way deform'd, and extreamly miferable: Can we look on fuch Objects, and not think with our felves, what a Favour and Mercy it was in our great and gracious God, not to plunge us into that wretched State, but to give us Neceffaries, and Conveniences, a right Shape, and Soundness of Limbs, &c. Thefe, 'tis true,are but very ordinary Bleffings, yet if we confider how many Thousands want them, and that God, who can do all things; and whofe Hand is to be seen in all things, might as easily have reduc'd us to fuch a miferable Condition as he hath done others, and that it is nothing but his infinite Goodness and Wisdom that hath made this Diftin&tion; this cannot but quicken our Understandings: And if fo, none of us can complain, that we have no Faculty of furnishing our Minds with holy Thoughts. To this Purpose, certainly, was our Reafon given us, that we might look on fuch Mercies with fpiritual Reflections and Praises; and these Praises are holy Thoughts. Nay, the Task is very easie; and there is nothing lies more in our Power, than, by taking a View of fuch Bleffings, to think, This God hath done, this is part of his Charity, this is a Character of his Bounty: What am I, and What is my Father's Houfe, that God hath brought me thus far! And as it is eafie, so it is profitable too; for this will fill our Minds with humble Thoughts, and teach us to have a low Opinion of our felves;

felves; it being impoffible to think our felves very unworthy of God's Favours, and not to despise our selves.

II. I told you in the First Chapter of this Difcourfe,. that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper among the Ancients was frequently call'd the Eucharift. Here we fee the Reason of it; for as the Word Eucharift imports Praife, fo Thanksgiving is one of the principal Actions and Offices in this Sacrament. The Church of Rome will have it call'd a Sacrifice, because in the Primitive Church it went by that Name: We deny it not, but then they meant by it a Sacrifice of Praife; and this Sacrifice we exhort every one of you to offer, when you remember your Great Mafter's Funeral! Give Thanks for that Death, when you are preparing your felves for this fpiritual Feast; Give Thanks when you feed at this Holy Table; Give Thanks when you depart from that Banquetting-Houfe,Give Thanks unto the Lamb that was flain, blefs him for his Wounds, bless him for his Cross, bless him for his Bloody Sweat, bless him for all his Sighs and Groans, bless him for his Merits, for through thefe your Souls must triumph over Hell, and Sin, and Devils. But then, take heed of praising him at Church, and affronting him at home; Thefe Praises must be uniform, and equal, and conftant; not that you are oblig'd in all Places to speak his Glory, whatever Business you have, or that you must do nothing but fing Pfalms to him, where-ever you are; but your upright and Chriftian Behaviour in all Places is a Glorification of his Mercy For you are a chofen Generation, a Royal Priefthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People, that ye fhould fhew forth the Praifes of him who hath called you out of Darkness, into his marvellous Light, 1 Pet. 2. 9.

The PRAYER.

Thou who inhabiteft the Praise of Ifrael, our Fathers trusted in thee; they trufted, and thou didst deliver them; they cried unto thee, and they were deli

vered; they trusted in thee, and were not confounded: Praife waits for thee in Sion. Thou deservest my devonteft Praifes, my most hearty Thanks, my loudest Celebrations: Can I think of what thou hast done for me, and be loath to praise thee? What should I do but praise thee? All that I fee with in me, or about me, is Mercy; my Meat, my Drink, my Cloaths, are Mercies. But, Ob! What a Mercy is that Spiritual Food thou fetteft before me at thy Table: Oh! Let my Mouth be filled with thy Praife all the Day long! I am fenfible not only of the Neceffity,but the Comeliness of it too. It fets a Luftre on my Soul, it is an Ornament to my better Part, it makes me glorious in thy Sight, Oh! Teach me the Art of praising thee: Let me but love thee, and I cannot but praise thee: My Love will dictate Words, and fuggeft Meditations, and I fhall Speak of all thy wondrous Works. Let this be my greatest Delight, my greatest Joy, my greatest Pleasure, that I may praife thee at laft with all the Saints and Angels, to Eternal Ages, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CHA P. IX.

Of Breaking the Bread, and the Mysteries of it.

The CONTENT S.

The Action of Breaking Bread, borrowed from the Jews; used by Chrift to put us in mind of his Crucifixion; Of the broken State of Mankind; Of his going to break down the Partition-Wall betwixt the Jews and Gentiles; Of the Communion of the Body of Chrift; Of our coming to his Table with Broken, Contrite Hearts; Of his readiness to comfort the Bruifed and Broken Spirit; Of the Virtue and Power of his Death, in breaking the Force of God's Wrath against us; Of the Miracle that was to happen at his Death in the Earth and Rocks, &c. And of the ftrange Divifions

Divifions that would about this Sacrament. The Action of Breaking the Holy Bread, doth not interfere with the Canon in the Rule of the Passover, that not a Bone of the Lamb fhould be broken. The Church of Rome is to blame for not Breaking the Bread. Chrift, as well as the Dif ciples, received the Communion. Reflections to be made by Chriftians when they fee the Bread broken. The Prayer.

1A

Mong the Jews, as no Man durft eat Bread without confecrating it by Thanfgiving, sọ no Man gave Thanks for the Bread, but he broke part of it, did eat of it, and gave of it to the reft that were with him at the Table; and the Master of the Houfe, if present, was ufually the Perfon that did all this, gave Thanks, and dealt the Bread about: To this End the Loaves among the Jews were made with divers Cuts or Incifions, that when they were brought to Table, they might be broken with greater Eafe by the Head of the Family, and distributed to thofe that did eat with him. Among the ancient Romans it was otherwife; for though they had Cuts and Divifions upon their Loaves, yet thofe Cuts were but four in all, in the Shape of a Cross, to the End that when they came to reach it to their Guests, they might easily break it into four Parts: Which was the reason why they call'd the Portion that fell to one Man's Share Quadra, or the fourth part of a Loaf. If Chrift imitated any Custom in Breaking Bread, 'tis most probable he followed that of the Jews; from whose manner of living he ufed not to vary, if their Actions and Customs had nothing of Sin in them; fhewing thereby how loath we should be,Quieta movere,to change or alter Things in a Church or Nation, which, through a long Succeffion of Time, have been receiv'd, provided there be nothing of Immodefty, Superftition, or Indecency, or Irregularity in it. The Unleaven❜d Cakes of the Jews, they ufe at this Day in the Celebration of their Passover, are, in all Probability, Relicks of that ancient Way among their Country-men of ordering their Loaves, and making them with many Cuts and Di

visions

visions in them, whereby the Master of the House took occafion to break off a juft and convenient Piece for each Member of his Family. But though Chrift, in breaking the Sacramental Bread, might borrow that Right and Action from the Jews, yet we must not fuppofe, that therefore he had no farther Design in it, but rather fan&tified it into a Mystery, as he did the Washing of the Feet receiv'd among the Jews, John 13. 14, 15.

II. As breaking the Sacramental Bread was an Action defign'd to reprefent feveral Things of great Importance, fo the Things thereby reprefented may juftly be fuppofed, and piously believ'd, to be the following.

1. An Emblem it was of that barbarous Fact the Jews were like, in a few Minutes after, to commit against his Sacred Perfon, viz. Breaking his Sacred Body by the Torments of a painful Crucifixion: This Body of his, fpotless as the Sun, harmonious as the Strings of a welltun'd Lute, the miraculous Product of the Holy Ghost, purer than Virgins Wax,big with the richest and choiceft Blood, fubject to no inordinate Defire, was in a few Hours like to be the Scorn of Soldiers, the Sport of Scribes,and the Laughing-stock of fupercilious Pharifees; within a few Minutes, this Body was to be lafh'd, buffeted, beaten, wrench'd, and stretch'd out upon the Cross : Here his Flesh was to be torn with Nails, the Skin to be broken, the Veins, thofe precious Springs to be open'd; and he that was fairer than the Children of Men, was foon after to be without Form or Comeliness, a Man of Sorrows, rejected and defpifed of Men, to be handled like a Slave, treated like a Malefactor, crucified like a Thief, and used like the worst of Mankind: Therefore he broke the Bread,to represent this inhumane Attempt. Such Pains did our Bleffed Mafter take with his Difciples, to prevent their being furpriz'd with his Paffion: He had frequently given them notice of it, armed them against the fatal Hour,and not only in general told them he was to fuffer, but here in this Action defcribes the very manner of it; and in Breaking of the Bread, hints to them,