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

The bond of this more special union of the reasonable creature unto God, was originally the Law of mans creation, which did prescribe unto him the form, and limits of his working, and subordination unto God, which knot he by his voluntary aversation violating and untying, there did immediately ensue a dis-union between God and man, so says the Prophet, your sins ^uhave separated between you and your God. Now as the parts of a body so long as they are by the natural bonds of joints and sinews united to the whole, do receive from the fountains of life, the heart and the brain, all comfortable supplies for life and motion, which are due unto them; but being once dissolved and broken off, there then ceaseth all the interest which they had in the principal parts: so as long as man by obedience to the Law, did preserve the union between God and him entire, so long had he an evident participation of all those graces spiritual, which were requisite to the ⟨p. 65⟩holiness and happiness of so noble a creature: but having once transgressed the Law, and by that means broken the knot, he is no more possessed of that sweet illapse and influence of the spirit, which quickeneth the Church unto eternal life; but having united himself unto another head, and subjected his parts unto another Prince, even the Prince^x that ruleth in the children of disobedience, he is utterly destitute of all divine communion an alien^y from the commonwealth, and by consequence from all the privileges of Israel, a stranger from the covenant of promise, unacquainted with, ye unable to conceive aright of spiritual things, quite shut^z out from the Kingdom, yea without God in the world. And thus far we have considered the several unions, which are between the creatures either in general as creatures, or in particular as reasonable, and God considered in the relation of a Creator, which will give great light to understand both the manner and dignity of this mystical and evangelical union betwixt the Church and Christ considered under the relation of a Redeemer, by whom we have re-union^a