Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult Now that God and the Mediatour have so Covenanted promised and engaged for and in the behalf of Believers that Christ came and finished all the work that the Father gave him to do that Christ hath obeyed and suffered the Father satisfied and well pleased and that Peace Friendship and Reconciliation for men is obtained and that God is faithful who hath promised Heb. 10.23 and that he will not fail to perform the Truth to Jacob and Mercy to Abraham Micah 7. ult is continued and ratified unto Believers in and by the Lord's Supper For there is held forth a clear proof and confirmation of it This is my body that is broken and my blood that is shed or given 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. These are the first objects and matters our faith eyes and fixes on in the Lord's Supper and these are the first things that it seals unto 〈◊〉 us namely that God hath covenanted and promised these mercies upon Christ's dying that Christ hath dyed done the Fathers whole will and finished his work and that God the Father hath accepted his Mediation in our behalf justified his Son Jesus and is well-pleased with him and with us in him that God is faithful who hath promised and that he is able and will perform his promises made to Christ for and given down to us On these things our faith must fix and then this Ordinance of the Supper will confirm them us 2. As the Lord's Supper seals or ratifies and confirms to our faith the truth and reality of the Covenant and promises the death of Christ the faithfulness of God and his being satisfied and well pleased with Christ's mediation for us and that he will perform his Covenant and Promises unto the Heirs of promise so it seals ratifies and confirms Believers interest and propriety in them It ratifies and confirms to their own Consciences that they are interested in Christ that they are Christs and Christ is theirs that they are regenerated and redeemed that their sins are pardoned and their persons accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1.6 7. This Ordinance seals to them the fruits of Christ's death and to the truth sincerity and peculiarity of his grace in them that they are united to him and that he is their head and they are his Members That he loves them and they love him with special and peculiar love This Ordinance seals to them their Adoption and their right unto the eternal Inheritance and it assures them as a means of Christ's appointing for that end that God is their Father and they are his Children that Christ is their Husband and they are his Spouses and that they shall live and reign with him in glory But yet know that though there be a kind of a natural aptness in this holy Ordinance thus to seal the love of God to you as it is Christs Ordinance and instituted by him for this end yet it cannot doth not do it of or by its self or its own power but it seals as an Ordinance in the hand of the spirit or as a fit medium and means whereby and wherewith the holy spirit seals the Souls of Believers It is the proper work of the holy Ghost to seal ratifie and confirm his own work in Believers hearts Eph. 1.13 Eph. 4.30 And this great work he doth especially in and by the Lord's Supper on the hearts of good men For as the matters he seals to are his own works in their hearts so he onely can confirm them to their Faith and Consciences The love of God is said to be shed abroad into our hearts by him Rom. 5.5 and to this he sets his seal and gives in his Testimony Rom. 8.16 namely that he hath shed abroad the love of God in our hearts that God loves us we love him with special love and that he hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1.2 He first writes his Lawes and creates his grace in our hearts puts the Lord Jesus into the possession of them forms saith Repentance and all other graces of Christ in them and then he seals ratifies and confirms all to us Cant. 8.6 2. Cor. 1.22 Job 33.16 So that now we know that we are passed from death to life Joh. 3.14 and are sure that we are of God that the Lord Jesus is ours and we are his Cant. 2.16 And can say with Thomas my Lord and my God and with David I am thine and with Paul and others if our earthly house be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Thus you see how this Ordinance seals up the love of God and the work of his grace in our Souls And therefore when ever you receive it be sure to look for and expect it and make use of it for though not only for this end and purpose And in order thereunto be careful and diligent in preparing and fitting your selves for the reception of this seal on your hearts and then you need not doubt of your obtainment of it 3. This Ordinance is instituted and given to inchurched Saints to bring the Lord Jesus and them together into the nearest clearest and closest fellowship and communion that can be in this lower state The Lord Jesus and they do greatly love one another and delight in communion with each other Cant. 4. ult Cant. 5.1 Believers in their holy obediential and orderly walking are Christs dearly beloved Spouses and he is their dearly beloved Husband Cant. 2.16 Jer. 12.7 They do greatly love and rejoyce in one anothers company and Society their speeches are pleasant and their countenances sweet and lovely to each other Zeph. 3.17 Cant. 1.4 Cant. 2.7 10 13. Cant. 2.14 There is a holy fondness and a heart-ravishing friendliness between Christ and his Beloved they lye deep in each others hearts and are so knit to one another in warm affections as that they cannot patiently bear each others absence Hence we find the Lord Jesus and his people inviting one another and importunately solliciting each other to come to them yea and proffering themselves and as it were inviting or pressing themselves upon or into one anothers company Cant. 2. â—0 13 14 7. Cant. 4.8 ult Cant. 5.1 Cant. 6. ult Cant. 7.11 12. Rev. 3.20 Joh. 14.21 23. Therefore hath glorious Jesus instituted Churches and gathered up his people into spiritual housholds formed them into holy Societies and made them his walled Gardens Therefore hath he brought them into a holy Band knit them together into bodies and given to them this Feast of fat things this Pledge and Token of his distinguishing love and this holy sign and seal that he may invite and bring them together to take and eat and that himself may come and be with them there He is the matter and the great master of the Feast and he is the King
things and actions love and lovely objects irritates and drawes forth love to them and the more lovely beautiful and glorious they are the more forceably and powerfuly they draw as experiences shews and we all know But then are such objects and things most attractive and powerful when they are our own or when we know that we have a right unto and an interest in them Now in the Lord's Supper you have these glorious objects and things handed out to you and sealed to you in particular Take cat this is my body that was broken and this is my blood that was shed for you 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. It speaks to sound-hearted Believers thus Here is your glorious Head and King your Redeemer and Saviour Here is the body that was broken and the blood that was shed for you Here is your Covenant and here are your promises sealed ratified and confirmed and here is free eternal and distinguishing love and grace shewed and given to you Oh! how strongly must this draw their love and how powerfully must this enflame their affections to Jesus Christ For this end it is appointed and this it doth in measure effect in holy hearts 6. It is instituted and appointed to strengthen and nourish inchurched Believers and to make them fat and flourishing in the house of God Psal 92.13 14. Psal 132.13 14 15. Psal 84.4 7. Believers have many grace-weakning and heart-wasting-lusts Snares and Temptations and therefore they have need of such strengthning heart-chearing and grace-nourishing means that they languish not but thrive and prosper in the inner man I have spoken somewhat of this before when I shewed you the priviledges of the Churches and the end for which all Believers should walk in Church fellowship and therefore shall not insist on it here Only let me add that you may find in this Ordinance both Food and Physick Here is as in the hand of an Ordinance food for your Souls and nourishment for your Graces and here is Physick for them also Here is the bread of Life and here is the water and wine of Life to feed and comfort you to fatten and nourish you to build you up and establish you and to make you strong men in Christ to encourage and help you and to make you fruitful in every good work Joh. 6. Col. 1.10 And here is not only food but Heavenly and spiritual Physick too Here you may have Purging and cleansing-Physick and here you may have comforting and refreshing Physick also And you do and still you will need both You need Lusts-purging and Heart-purifying Physick and behold here it is for you Christ gave himself and shed his blood that it might purge cleanse and heal us and that it might in and by his own means be conveyed to us I mean the vertue and efficacy of it for that end Eph. 5.25 26 27. Tit. 2.14 1 Joh. 1.7 9. Now in this Ordinance the purging cleansing and heart-purifying virtue of this blood is handed out and conveyed to the Faith of Believers which the Spirit in Christ's behalf applys and which we for our selves are to apply also The Spirit doth it powerfully and efficasiously and we by Faith are to do it dutifully and so it obtains its Ends on us And as it is purging cleansing and heart-purifying Physick to our Souls so it is Cordial Physick also to refresh and comfort to revive and chear our drooping sad and disconsolate Souls Of this Blood and for this End we may drink freely and constantly Here we may have our fill and drink abundantly according to our needs Here you may Augment your Light Faith Peace Hope Joy Courage Zeal Meekness Love and Patience and here you may obtain a measure of all spiritual good Here you may enrich your Souls with Christ Grace Assurance Experiences and Consolations and here you may obtain the destruction of your Lusts Here you will have the Spirit to feed you with the Bread of Life and here you may grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Psal 92.12 13. Therefore make use of this Ordinance for this blessed End also 7. It is appointed to shew and represent unto us the evil of sin also The great God represents sin to us in many glasses and shews it in and by several means He assures us that it is the Evil of Evils the Plague of Plagues and that it is the root and fountain the sink and sum of all Mischiefs that it is unexpressibly and transcendantly evil Rom. 7.13 That it is the object of his loathing abhorrence and hatred as being that which hath turned glorious Angels into hateful Devils and thrown them out of Heaven into Hell as that which hath defaced and marr'd his Image in men and made them Enemies unto and Rebels against God This he declares to us in and by his Word his Law and Gospel as also by the Judgments he executeth in the Earth on Sinners yea the whole Creation here below do loudly proclaim it But the clearest glass wherein God opens and manifests the odiousness and exceeding sinfulness of sin is Christ's Death and Sufferings which the Lords Supper plainly declares unto us and where we may see it displayed in all its most hateful and abominable colours Here you may by Faith see the exceeding great Evil of it and be provoked and stirred up to Hate and abhor it to eschew and avoyd it For by beholding the Curse and Wrath of God poured out on the Soul and Body of his dear Son Gal. 3.13 and by seeing him Reproached Buffetted Contemned Despised Crucified Hanged Nailed to the Cross Cruelly handled Tortured Tormented Pierced Murdered and above all the weight of divine Vengance pressing his precious Soul and wringing out Bloody Sweats and he pouring out his Soul to Death and all for and under the weight of our Sins and Guilt Surely the sight of this by Faith will greatly raise our hatred of all sin and disswade us from it 8. It is appointed and given to encrease and strengthen our Gospel-Repentance too Here we may look on Him whom we by sin have pierced and mourn and be in bitterness of Soul Zach. 12.10 for here is the Blood of the Scape Goat that is able to break the most stony hearts in the world And we stand in daily need of it for we are in danger every day of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and the world Heb. 3.13 But the Lord's Supper presents to us a heart-melting Object yea many such Objects There we may see heart-melting Love and there we may behold heart-breaking Grace There we may perceive the Lamb of God making Attonement for our sins and there we may understand that the Lord of Glory hath taken off from us our Sins Guilt and Punishment There we may discern him standing in our stead and between the living God and us Condemned dead men with the Censor of the Sanctuary full of his precious Blood making satisfaction for us to divine Justice There we
it is a Spiritual Gospel-Ordinance for and respecting spiritual things 3. The Institutor of it and that is Jesus Christ him to whom the Father had committed all power and Authority and into whose hand he had given all things Joh. 3.35 Matth 11.27 Matth. 28.18 I say it is an Ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ himself Matth. 26.26 27. 1 Cor. 11.23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do ye in remembrance of me And mark it it is an instituted and a positive Ordinance and duty not a natural or moral one It is not founded on or put in and among the moral precepts or natural Laws of God but it is meerly an Institution of Christ appointed for and given to his inchurched members and none else And therefore it is not an Ordinance for and the use of it a duty incumbent on Unbelievers and persons dead in sins while they remain in that condition but 't is only appointed and intended for Believers in their orderly walkings with God All men as they are reasonable Creatures are bound to pray to God and to hear his Word preached because they are though not meerly and only so Ordinances and duties of moral worship and not meerly of divine Institution as Baptism and the Lords Supper are but all men are not so bound to participate of the Lords Supper and water Baptism 4. It is said that this Ordinance is appointed for and given to inchurched Saints that is that persons in Christ may and they only can partake of it in the way and order of the Gospel For although their relation to Christ and interest in the Covenant of Grace gives them a fundamental right unto it yet it is their orderly walking together in Church-fellowship under the discipline of Christ the care inspection and government of his Church-Ministers that gives them an immediate and orderly right unto it For we never read of any of the Apostles or other Ministers in their days that did or were allowed to receive it but such as were inchurched That it was by the Apostles direction administred and received in the Churches we often find but never that it was so else-where or by Believers out of a Church-state Acts 2.42 ult Acts 20.6 7. 1 Cor. 11.23 24. compared with 1 Cor. 1 2. And Paul tell the Church at Corinth That the Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread that we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.16 17. 5. The Matter of this Ordinance is Bread and Wine Luk. 22.19 Matth. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.23.24 Mark 14.25 Matth. 26.29 It is true that it is but carnal matter and that which is common food among men but it is more than Bread and Wine by Christ's Authority and Appointment when they are set apart by the word of Prayer and by Faith dedicated and sanctified to this use and service in the name and by the Authority of Jesus Christ Quest Why is this Ordinance called the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 10.20 Ans 1. It is called a Supper because it was instituted and celebrated at or about Supper-time The Lord Jesus chose that time rather than another as of his Soveraign Authority will and pleasure who may make appoint and change times and seasons as he will so likewise with respect to the Paschal Lamb or the Passover and the time of the Israelites eating thereof which was done in the Night Exod. 12.8 and also that he might abolish and put an end to that Ordinance at that time of its observation by setting this up in the place and room thereof 2. It is called the Lords Supper 1. Because he did personally and immediately institute it administer and eat it himself Matth. 26.26.27.29 2. Because it is appointed and ordained by him to be a constant memorial pledge of his Death and Sufferings Luk. 22.20 But more of this anon 3. Because it is to be received and celebrated in his Name and to his Glory 1 Cor. 11 2â— We read of several things called by his Name as his Day or the Christian Sabbath Rev. 1.10 The Laws and Commands of Christ are so called Joh. 15.10 So likewise we read of the Table and Cup of the Lord 1 Cor. 10.21 So are the Churches and the Teachers of them called by his Name for the reasons before mentioned Quest What is the nature use and end of the Lords Supper or wherefore is it instituted and given to inchurched Saints as it appears it is Ans I shall answer this question in many particulars only in the general I may say that it is instituted ordained and given to the Churches for Christs glory and their spiritual profit 1. But more particularly 1. To be to them a constant sign and memorial of Christs Death and Sufferings for them We are exceeding prone and very apt to forget the Love of Christ and what he hath done and suffered for us which should be matter of shame and sorrow to us But the Lord Jesus in his great love and care to and of his Churches hath provided proper Remedies for these Maladies and hath appointed his Gospel and the Preaching thereof and also Baptism and the Supper to keep alive in their minds and hearts his Death and Sufferings and to be continual signs tokens and memorials of them unto their Souls Rom. 4.11 Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25 26. And as God told Noah Gen. 9.11 17. This is the Token of the Covenant which I have made between me and you I do set my Bow in the Cloud and it shall be for a Token of the Covenant So says Jesus Christ I have entered into Covenant with God in your behalf and in your names to dye and suffer the shameful Death of the Cross for you to redeem you from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 to wash and cleanse you from the guilt and filth of sin to reconcile you unto God and make you acceptable to him Eph. 5.25 26. 2 Cor. 5.18 19. Eph. 1. This I have done for you I took your sins and guilt your death and punishment on my self by assuming your Nature and substituting my self in your stead and I have paid your Debts made you Righteousness 2 Cor. 5. ult have brought you nigh to God by the Sacrifice of my Life And you may not forget it but have it still in your eyes and hearts Behold I have given you this sign token and memorial thereof Here you shall see by Faith your great high Priest sacrificing and offering up himself to attone divine Justice to appease the wrath of God and here you may see how I was
his Glory Isa 46.13 and that because they were a Church of his own planting and a Covenant people and for Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the little Remnant sake of Believers that were amongst them and who glorify him indeeed in Truth God bestows his Grace stamps his Image and infuses his Holynesse into men to meeten them for his Temple and Temple-work and then formes and sets them up in his own beauty and Glory in a Church-state that there as a Body compact they may shine forth to his Glory and praise in the World As many glittering daimonds in a gold Ring do shine more gloriously upon a mans hand than a hundred times so many more scattered up and down here and there would do so a company of men which are made pretious stones fitted for a House of God being well and orderly set in a Church-state or in a House of God do shine more gloriously there than many more can do in a single and individual capacity and standing alone to the honour and glory of God 3. God Institutes and builds Believers into Spiritual Houses for his peoples Spiritual profit and advantage that God may there Impart his Loves Cant. 7.12 and communicate his grace Truths and Counsels unto them as to his avowed and publique houshold and family Eph. 2.19 Christ Walkes and God the Father Dwells there the Holy Spirit Speaks to them in an especial and frequent manner Rev. 2.1 2 Cor. 6.16 Rev. 2.7.11 c. And assuredly Jesus Christ does not walk nor God the Father dwell there empty handed but distributes plentifully of their Love and fullness As great princes where they go and lodge they will give like themselves unto the houshold Servants and much more will God as some can and more may experience The Church-enjoyments of serious holy men are the fairest fullest clearest and strongest of all they have at any times and that because God dwells there as in his holy and delightful Temple and walks there as in his pleasant Gardens and Walks and where God mostly Dwells and Walks and takes most pleasure there he imparts most of his Love and Grace It is said in 1 Kings 8.10 11. That the Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord so that the Priest could not stand to Minister because the glorious presence of God was so exceeding great there and his distributions of Love and Grace to Solomon and other Saints so many and great as that the people went home joyfull and glad of Heart vers 66. and in the 2 Chron. 7.16 says God speaking of the Temple mine Eyes and mine Heart shall be there perpetually Now if God did so now that material Temple made of Wood and Stone as to manifest his Glory so much there impart so richly of his Love and Grace to his people and promised to dwell there continually how much more will he do so unto his New-Testament Churches of Believers They shall find that prophetical promise made good to them in Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his Glory Besides a Church-state is a safe as well as a thriving comfortable state for a Church of Christ rightly and duely formed and made up is a Garden enclosed Cant. 4.12 a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed or barr'd Whilst Wood and Stones lie scattered abroad they may be stollen and carried away from the owner so while Believers walk apart and lie up and down scatteringly they are in great danger of being seduced and lead away from Christ with some of the errors of the wicked and so in measure full from the Truth of Christ 2 Pet. 3.17 but now in a Church-state or formal House of God they are safer and more secure because there they are hedged in with the discipline of Christ there they are watched over by their fellow-members and by the Officers of Christ who are their overseers and watchmen there they are as in the orderly Instituted Family or houshold of Christ in the way and walks of Christ and under the Eye and with the special presence of Christ Whilst an Army of Souldiers walk as single and individual Persons scattered abroad they lie open to destruction by their Enemies but when they are formed up and walk together under officers and military discipline every one knowing his place and keeping it knowing the commands of their General and observing them they are safe and ready to defend themselves and offend their Enemies Particular and rightly constituted Churches of Believers are like an Army with Banners Cant. 6.4 10. marching under the constant conduct of Jesus Christ their Captain General Eph. 1.22 23. Heb. 2.10 4. They are formed and set up by Jesus Christ to be the only Seats and Subjects as of his glorious presence so of his Laws Ordinances Power and Authority that they might receive observe and obey his Laws declare before all men their owning of him for their Lord by their open and publique profession of and subjection unto him as such and that by their distinct and singular following of him in incorporated Bodies they might manifest to all men that they are his Subjects and disciples that they have chosen him for their Lord and King and his Law for their Rule and Obedience that they are not their own but his and that they have taken up in him as in their happiness and eternal Blessedness Col. 2.6 1 Cor. 6.19 20. 2 Cor. 5.15 That they are called out of the World Joh. 15.19 and set apart by his Grace for himself to live unto him and that they have taken upon themselves his holy Yoke and the observation of all his Laws So likewise that his subjects might with one mind and mouth together present their service and homage unto him as their only Lord Head and King For Churches as Churches or Believers walking according to his appointment and direction in Churches are capable of his holy Supper that glorious Pledge and Seal of his Love and Grace to them it is called the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 and says the Apostle to the particular congregated Church at Corinth we being many are one Bread and one Body vers 17. That great ordinance of the Lords Supper is not given to Believers as such only but unto Believers as in a Church-state or incorporated into a Body or Communion together having the name form and order of a Church of Christ and House of God The Israelites were not to permit any to Eat the passover until they became members of their Church Exod. 12.47 48. Neither will Christ Jesus have any to Eat his Supper out of a Church-State where and when they may have it in a Church-State And as was noted before it is observable that almost all the principal Doctrines and Laws of the New-Testament are given and directed unto the Churches or to Believers as inchurched as also Teachers and Ruling Elders are provided for and given
that comes in to see his Guests and that bids them be merry yea and to eat and drink abundantly with an O Beloved Cant. 5.1 In the last verse of the 4th chapter the Church importunatly invites and sollicites the Lord Jesus to come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits namely when they were congregated together and waiting on and for him The Lord Jesus comes and tells them so Chap. 5.1 I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my myrrh with my Spice then he chears them up and bids them welcome be merry and eat and drink not sparingly but freely and abundantly O Beloved His holy Temples and this heavenly Feast are appointed and ordained for his Reception and Entertainments with his Beloved Rev. 2.1 2 Cor. 6.16 There are theâ— most joyful meetings and there do they hold and enjoy the most comfortable and heart-satisfying communion together as holy hearts can and do often experience For this end hath he instituted and for this end should all Church-members receive this Ordinance 4. As it is appointed for Communion between Christ and his inchurched-members so likewise for their Communion among themselves 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Good men have heart-dividing and love-separating lusts self-Interests world and Devil and therefore they need all proper means to unite and knit their hearts together in Brotherly Love Communion Col. 2.2 The Lord Jesus hath commanded and strictly charged his people to love one another as he hath loved them Joh. 13.34 Joh. 15.12 15. and that they love one another with pure hearts fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 That they walk in love and endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace Eph. 4.1 2 3. Eph. 5.1 2. Now in order to the obtainment of it and that Believers may be encouraged to mind and do his will herein the Lord Jesus hath by his own Laws and Authority formed them up into holy Temples and united them into spiritual Societies and given them occasion and opportunity to meet together and feast themselves at his Table at his cost and charges and that as Guests of his own bidding There they may often meet sit down and feed together of his dainties There they see and taste feel and smell and there they may speak of hear him and of his grace and love There they may see that they are all bought with the same price and redeemed with the same blood There they may see that they are members together of the same head and body that they are all Plants of his planting Trees of his watering Subjects of the same Grace and Spirit and the same objects of his care and protection There they may see that they are all bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh and that he hath fellowship and communion with them all That they are heirs together of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3.7 and that they are all entitled to an eternal inheritance There they may see that they are all partakers of the same life and that the Lord Jesus hath made the same provisions for the everlasting happiness of all their Souls There they may see that they have the same faith and hope and that the covenant and promises belong to them all That there is a mutual Interest amongst them and that they are concerned in and with each other That they are engaged in one common cause with Christ and that they are not their own but one anothers All which things and considerations are of great use towards the knitting and endearing of their hearts one to another in spiritual love holy peace and Brotherly affection For by their sitting down altogether as one body at one Table of the Lord eating and drinking the same Bread and Wine and by faith the same body and blood of the Lord by beholding and believing their mutual interest in Christ and in all the benefits of his death and that they are all alike invited to the feast and all alike welcomb'd and entertained by their Lord and King they are much induced thereby to love one another to seek desire and rejoyce in the good of each other and to walk together as Heirs of the Kingdom of Glory keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace And likewise in joyning hearts and hands together as one body in celebrating the worship and in magnifying the name and glory of Christ 5. An other great use and end of this Ordinance is to knit and endear the heart to Christ himself And it is a powerful means to effect it He is a most full and glorious Object of Love a most lovely Object indeed He is the fairest of Ten thousands and altogether lovely or altogether loves Cant. 5.10 ult He hath all glorious excellencies in him and is the perfection of beauty Psal 50.2 All ye glories of the Heavens and the Earth of Angels and men are but dark shadows unto this Son of Righteousness The Lord Jesus is most lovely glorious and beautiful in his love and grace to us in his obedience and death for us and in all his Laws and Promises to us But especially his Person is most beautiful glorious and lovely Psal 45. 1 Cor. 2.8 his most transcendant and glorious excellencies will be the eternal wonderment of Saints and Angels and they shall be for ever employed in adoring and praising him He is an Object too high for us now to reach and a Sun too bright and glorious for our dim eyes to behold only some Raies and Beams of his Glory he causes to shine on us and enables us to take them in in some degree Psal 63.1 2. But of all means the Lord's Supper is the most full and proper for the opening and representing unto us unto our faith the beauty glory and loveliness of Christ in his love and grace in his death and sufferings There we may read wonderful Stories and see glorious Mysteries indeed There we may read and see his love and grace to us streaming forth by his heart blood and there we may see the greatness freeness profitableness purity sweetness and the transcendant excellency of his love and loveliness There we may see the eternal Fountain of love and the inexhaustible-Treasures of his heart of his grace and kindness opened and running down to us and there we may see a bottomless Sea of mercies and affections discovered There we may read Christ loving us and giving himself for us unto an accursed death Gal. 2.20 Gal. 3.13 And Oh! my Brethren what an attracting Soul drawing heart-knitting object of love is the Lord Jesus represented to be to us in that Ordinance It is a Glass that represents and shews us nothing else but love and Christs loveliness It is an Ordinance that Preaches and Seals love to Believers and thereby provokes enflames and drawes out their love to him Love will be drawn and not driven and what drawes it into warm and strong Acts but lovely persons