Meditations on the holy sacrament of the Lords last Supper Written many years sinceMeditations on the holy sacrament of the Lords last Supper Written many yeares since

CHAP. X.

Of the fourth Action, with the reasons why the Sacrament is to be eaten and drunken.

The fourth and last Action made mention of in this Sacrament, is the eating of the bread, and the drinking of the wine, after we have taken them from the hands of Christ: to signify unto us, that Christ crucified is the life and food of a Christian that receiveth him. Here are the degrees of faith: first we take Christ, and then we eat him. There are none that find any nourishment or relish in the blood of Christ, but those who have received him, and so have an interest, propriety, and title to him. He must first be ours, before we can taste any sweetness in him; ours first in possession and claim, and after ours in fruition and comfort. For all manner of sweetness is a consequent and effect of some propriety which we have unto the good thing which causeth it; unto the which the nearer our interest is, the greater is the sweetness that we find in it. In natural things we may observe, how nothing will be kindly nourished in any other place or means, than those unto which nature hath given it a primitive right and sympathy. ⟨p. 54⟩Fishes perish in the air, and Spice-trees dye and wither in these colder Countries, because Nature had denied them any claim or propriety unto such places.¹ We are all branches, and Christ is a Vine: now no branch receiveth juice or nourishment, unless first it be inserted into the stock. If we are not first ingrafted into Christ, and so receive the right of branches, we cannot expect any nourishment from him.² As the name which was written in that white Stone, was known unto him only that had it, so in these mysteries which have the impress and character of Christs Passion on them; Christ is known and enjoyed only by those, who first take him, and so have a hold and right unto him. But why is it that Christ in this Sacrament should be eaten and drunken? Cannot the benefit of his Passion be as well conveyed by the eye as by the mouth? It was the joy