sight of God and our Father Knowing Brethren beloved your election of God Why For our Gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance And know this excellency there is in sanctifying Gods name in hearing the word I beseech you mark it that it is a more blessed thing then if you did bear Jesus Christ in your wombes You that are women would not you have accounted it a great happines if Christ had been borne in your wombes Now if thou comest to the hearing of the word and sanctifiest Gods name in it thou art in a better condition and hast a greater blessing upon thee then if thou hadest borne Jesus Christ in thy womb In Luk. 11. 27. 28. And it came to passe as he spake these things that a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked Seeing Christ and what gracious things came from him she spake so But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God keep it That is Labour to sanctifie my name as hath been opened in the particulars rather is that women blessed that do so then the woman that bare Christ Me thinks this one scripture should be such a scripture for women to cause them to sanctifie Gods name in hearing of the word instead of a hundred scriptures certainly thou maiest be so blessed if thou wilt beleeve the word that comes from Christs mouth 3 Do you sanctifie the name of God in the Word that wil sanctifie you by that your souls come to be sanctified it wil comfort you in the day of your affliction it will save you at last 4 You that do sanctifie Gods name in the hearing of his Word you will be the glory of the Ministers of God at the great day of judgement You will be an honour to them before the Lord and his Saints and Angels In Phil. 2. 16. Holding forth saith the text the word of life This is the duty of all the hearers of the word that they must hold forth the word of life when you go home you must hold forth the power of the word you hear well what will become of that That I may rejoyce in the day of Christ that I have not runne in vain neither laboured in vain Let that be one motive among the rest saith the Apostle this will be such a glory to me that I in the day of Jesus Christ shall rejoyce that I have not laboured in vain I shall blesse God for all my studies and care and all the pains that ever I have taken and ventring my self for this People I shall blesse God in the day of Jesus Christ Would it not be a comfortable thing to you that all the Ministers of God that come to preach the word faithfully to you If at the day of Jesus Christ you should hear them blessing God that ever he did send them to preach the Gospel in such a place and you should hear them saying Oh Lord it may be had I been sent to another place I should have spent all my strength in vain but through thy mercy I was sent to a teachable people that were ready to imbrace thy word Oh this is my crown and glory Would it not do good to any whose hearts are faithful to think this that their holding forth the word of life will not only be a glory to God which is the cheif but it will be a glory to the Ministers to recompence all their labours that you shall not only be saved your selves in the day of Jesus Christ but you shall adde to the glory of his faithful Ministers likewise when they do appear before Christ 5 I shall adde one particular more There is a time coming when God shall magnifie his word before men and Angels In Iâ—â— 22. 21. He will magnifie his Law and make it honorable What a joy shal it be to thee when the Lord before men and Angels shall come to magnifie his word and make it honorable for thee then to think This is the word that spoke to my heart at such and such a time this is that word that I did reverence that I did obey that I did love that I made to be the joy of my heart this word the Lord now doth magnifie and make to be honorable This will be comfortable to thy Soul The Eleventh SERMON The Eleventh SERMON LEVITICUS 10. 3. I will be Sanctified in them that come nigh me THE last day we finished the point of Sanctification of the name of God in the hearing of his Word and now wee will proceed to the Sanctification of the name of God in receiving the Sacrament that 's the next duty of worship Now first for the word Sacrament I confesse wee have not that word in all the Scripture as neither have we the word Trinitie and divers other words that Ministers make use of to set forth the Mysteries of Religion by but yet it is usefull to consider the meaning why Ministers in the Church have given this name unto those signes and seals that the Church receives Sacrament is to hallow a thing or to dedicate because in the Sacraments there are outward things that are made holy for holy and spirituall ends Secondly wee our selves do as it were hallow or dedicate our selves unto God in the use of these Ordinances that 's one reason from whence it hath the name Or otherwise as some will have it Sacramentum because it is to be received Sacramente with a holy mind and therefore cald the Sacrament The Churches have used it a long time in Tertullians time which was above fourteen hundred years agoe he was the first that we find used this word and most that would open the word unto us say that especially it was taken from the practise of Souldiers who when they came and listed themselves bound themselves in a solemne oath to be faithful to their Captaine and to the Cause that they did undertake and the oath they were wont to call Sacramentum A Sacrament Now in regard that Christians when they come to this Ordinance they come to seale a Covenant with God and though they doe not formally and explicitely take an oath yet they bind themselves in a holy Covenant which hath the strength even of an oath in it For a solemne Promise to the high God hath the strength of an oath in it and from thence they were cald by these names Sacraments but that for the word that you may understand it But the word the Scripture useth to set out this Sacrament by that now I am speaking of is the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ so you have it in 1 Cor. 10. 6. The Cup of blessing which we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The bread which we break is it
an Officer stept up and cried holy things for holy men and then all others were to goe out and therefore it was called missa though the Papists did corrupt it and so called it the masse afterwards by mixing their own inventions in stead of the Supper of the Lord but it had that name at first I say this holy Communion was calld by the name of missa because that all others were sent away and only such as were of the Church and accounted godly staid holy things to holy men And this must needs be so because that the nature of it being the Seal of the Covenant of grace requires it it must be supposed that all that come hither must be in Covenant with God they must be such as have been brought to submit to the Condition of the Covenant Now the Condition of the Covenant of grace is Beleeve and be saved it is therefore appointed for beleevers And as the nature of it being a Seal supposeth a Covenant so none can have this Covenant sealed to them but those that doe first submit to it and are brought into Covenant when you make an Indenture and put to the Seale certainly the Seale belongs only to those that have their names in the Indenture Now t is true though mens names are not mentioned in the word yet the condition is to those that are brought in to beleeve in Jesus Christ saith God I come now to seale all my mercies in Christ to their soules We abuse God if we come to take the Seal to a blanke it is to make this Ordinance a ridiculous thing therefore there must be some transactions between God and your souls before you come to the Seale if a man should say to you come set to your seale to such a thing and there were never any kind of transactions between this man and you before you would account it ridiculous after there hath been agreements between you you use then to seale So it must be here I would appeal to many of your Consciences that have come to the Lords Supper what transactions have there been between God and your soules canst thou say the Lord was pleased to reveale himselfe to mee to make known to mee my wretched condition and the way of grace and salvation and shewed me that upon my comming in to receive his Son he would be mercifull to me and pardon my sins and I have found the Spirit of God working my heart to Jesus Christ the Lord from heaven speaking to me and I sending an Answer to heaven againe how willing my soule was to accept of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with poor Creatures in the word of his Gospell canst thou say this in the uprightnesse of thy heart if not know that this Seale belongs not to thee untill the Lord hath by his word subdued thy heart to this agreement first with him Secondly This Ordinance it is the Ordinance of spiritual nourishment of eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his bloud in a spirituall way Now it must needs suppose that first there must be life before there can be any nourishment received in If it be appointed to nourish and increase grace then surely there must be grace before what nourishment can a dead child take the very first thing that is to be done is nourishment here The word hath power to convey life and then to nourish but we read of no such thing here but that which is to be done here is presently to feed to eat and to drinke that 's the end of the Sacrament therefore it must be supposed that thou must have spiritual life there must come no dead Soule to this Ordinance but those who are quickned by the Spirit of Jesus Christ they must come for nourishment Thirdly the act here required doth note that only those that are holy and godly can receive this Sacrament we are required by the Apostle to examine our selves To examine our selves of what it must be of our godlinesse examine what worke of God hath been upon the soule how God hath brought the soule to himselfe and what Graces of the Spirit of God are there And how we have been brought into Covenant with God now if only those can receive worthily and are to come that first examine themselves then certainly such only as are godly are to come for they only can performe those acts that are required Fourthly It s a Sacrament of Communion with God and Communion with the Saints now what Communion hath Light and Darknesse or what fellowship hath Christ with Belial If it be a Sacrament of Communion of coming to the Table of God will God have his enemies to come to his Table you will invite no enemies to your Tables but your children and friends so they must be the children of God and the friends of God these that are reconciled to God in the bloud of his Son and those that are his children that must sit at his Table therefore they must be holy Now this may suffice for that first thing that this is not an Ordinance for all sorts of people but such as have submitted to the condition of the Covenant before Such as have grace and abilitie to examine themselves of their graces and such as are children and reconciled to God and so are fit to sit at the Table of God and to enjoy Communion with him and with his Son and with the Saints for we are one body sacramentally when we come to this holy Ordinance all others therefore certainly are to be kept from this Sacrament but such 2 The second thing will make it out more fully and that is it is not enough that wee be holy our selves and so all ignorant prophane and scandalous yea all that are meerly civil that can not make out any work of Godlinesse upon their hearts in bringing them to Christ are excluded But 1 It is to be done in a holy Communion and is cleer out of that place in 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. The Cup of blessing which wee blesse is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ the bread which wee break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ and then saith the Apostle in the 17. verse for we being many are one bread and one body therefore all that come to receive the Sacrament they must so come as they must be one body one spiritual Corporation this very consideration that those with whom we receive the Sacrament are one body with us it hath a great deale in it for the helping of us to sanctifie Gods Name this Ordinance I say it is to be received only in a holy Communion one Christian cannot receive the Sacrament alone there must be a Communion wheresoever it is to be administered it is not enough there is one Godly man there but there must be a Communion of Saints and in that communion it is to be received Quest You will say must it be received in
not the Communion of the body of Christ I say we are now treating about this point how wee are to sanctifie the name of God in that which the Scripture cals the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ And now for the opening of that First We must know that this is a part of the Worship of God and we draw nigh to God in this or otherwise it will not come up to our point And then wee shall shew that God is to be sanctifyed in this duty of worship And then thirdly how First Wee doe in this draw nigh to God We worship God For when we are comming to receive these holy Signes and Seals we come to present our selves before God and we have to deal with God himselfe in a service that hee himselfe requires of us in a holy in a divine service wee come to present our selves to God for blessing for Communication of some higher good unto us then possibly those Creatures that we have to deale with are able of themselves to convey to us come for a higher good then to tast a peece of bread or to drink a draught of wine we come I say to present our selves to God that wee might have Communion with him and that we might have the blessin of the Covenant of grace conveyed unto us through these things now certainly this is a drawing nigh to God for to present our selves for the Conveyance of the blessing of the Covenant of grace through these Creatures yea that we might have Communion with God himselfe in them this is drawing nigh to him when we come to his Table therefore we draw nigh to God had not God instituted and appointed these Creatures Bread and Wine and the actions about them to be the meanes of Conveyance of blessing unto us it had been Will-worship for us to have expected any further presence of God in such Creatures then there is in the nature of them It is true God is present with every Creature when we eat and drinke at our Tables God is present there but we cannot be said to draw nigh to God and worship God there for we there looke for no further presence of God with us in them to convey further good then the Lord hath put into the nature of those things onely when godly people take them and receive them as blessings sanctified by the word they take them as the blessings of God that come out of love to them But now when we come to receive that which is cald the Communion there we expect things that are beyond the nature of these Creatures to convey that that is by an institution of God set apart for supernatural uses and ends not to convey in any naturall way such and such things but in a supernaturall way through the institution of God and so it comes to bee worship Had we not I say a command for this it were superstition and Idolatry for us to make use of such Creatures for such ends If any man in the world should have appointed a peece of Bread or a draougth of wine to have signified and sealed the body and blood of Christ it hath been superstition in any and Wil-worship and sinfull and abominable to you but we are to look upon God setting apart these Creatures for such holy and solemne ends and therefore when we come to be exercised in them we come to worship God and wee come likewise to tendes up our homage to God when wee come to attend upon him in such Ordinances as these are to tender up that homage that is 〈◊〉 poor Creatures unto 〈◊〉 as infinite and glorious God and the 〈◊〉 we draw nigh to 〈◊〉 in these Secondly Wee must sanctifie Gods name in drawing nigh to him whatsoever we doe whether we eat or drinke we must do all to the glory of God Now if in our common eating and drinking we must do all to the glory of God then certainly in this spirituall eating and drinking there must be some special thing done for the glory of God in this 1. Because there is so much of God in it for here there is a presenting before us the great yea the greatest mysteries of salvation and the deep Counsels of God concerning eternall life are presented before us in these outward Elements of the bread and wine and the action thereof now when we come to eat and to drinke those things that are appointed to set forth the greatest mysteries of salvation and the deepest of the Councels of God concerning mans eternall good wherein especially God will glorifie himselfe we had need there sanctifie the name of God for the things are very great and glorious that are presented unto us 2. This Ordinance of the Lords Supper or the Communion it is an Ordinance that Christ hath left to his Church out of the abundance of his love and therefore you shall find if you read the institution of it in the 25. of Matth. that the same night wherein Christ was betrayed he took bread and brake it though Christ was to die the next day and to encounter with the wrath of God yea that very night he was to be in an agonie and to sweat drops of water and blood and the next day to die and to have these Tryals of wrath poured upon him so as to put him to cry out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yet he busies his thoughts that very night to institute this Supper surely it must be a great Ordinance and there is a great deale of the love of Christ in it Christ saw that his Church had need of it that he should that night when he was betrayed have his thoughts busied about such a thing as this is One would thinke at that time that he had enough to take up his thoughts concerning himselfe being to encounter with the Law and with the wrath of God for mans sinne but for all that great worke Christ had to encounter with yet his thoughts are bulied about this great Ordinance of the institution of the Supper and therefore there was great love in it Christ saw that it was a matter of great moment now if it is so than there is great cause why we should sanctifie Gods name in such an Ordinance as this is and not to account it as a common and ordinary thing 3. We must sanctifie Gods name in this because it is the Sacrament of our Communion with Christ wherein we come to have such a neer union and communion with him as to eath's flesh and to drinke his blood and to sit at his table We come to have Communion with Christ even in all our Sences now Christ comming so fully to us that cals upon us to sanctifie his name when we come before him 4. In this the Covenant of grace is sealed the Covenant of grace comes to be sealed in both the parts of it now when wee come to have to deale with God in the way of
so farre bound to looke to him as to keepe my selfe clean it is true I am not bound to goe and pry into his life and all his waies so as to force him to give an account of things that are secret but I am bound to keep a watch and if any thing be done that offends me then I am bound to goe to him according to the former Rule of Christ and if he appears to be wicked then I am bound to see him purged from the Congregation for take but that other text in 1 Cor. 5. 6. know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump If I doe not do so much as concerns my duty then I am defiled by it So as that you must not thinke that it is nothing to you how many wicked men come to the Lords Table and that it belongs only to the Ministers and they are to look to it the truth is that every one in his place is to look to it and every one may be defiled if hee doth not performe this duty that God requires of him do not say what have I to doe with my Brother am I my Brothers keeper it was the speech of Cain if thou beest of the same body you are to have a care of your Brother doe not yee judge those that are within there is some kind of judgement that every one may passe upon such as do joyne with them in the same Body surely it concernes me much what shall I do in such an action as to joyne with them to eat bread whereby I must professe that I doe beleeve my selfe to be of the same body that this drunkard is of that this Whoremaster is of that this swearer is of whenever you receive the Communion with any company you doe professe your selves to be of the same body with that Company only in this case If I have discovered any and can particularly professe against anyone then I doe not professe my selfe to be of the same body with him but now when I come in an ordinary way and I know such to be wicked vile and prophane and I professe nothing against them nor take any course at all I doe then by partaking with them professe my selfe to be of the same body that they are of Thou doest as it were openly declare Lord here we come and professe that we are all of the body of Jesus Christ now when thou knowest such and such as are notoriously wicked and profane and dost nothing in the world to helpe to purge them out dost not thou thinke that Gods name is taken in vaine is not Gods name prophaned here therefore it concerns us very much to look unto it that it be a holy communion that we receive the Bread and Wine in I beseech you therefore understands things aright that I have spoken of I have laboured to satisfie men that there is a way that we may partake of the Sacrament though wicked men be mixt with us But this is that that is required of you for doing your duty to keep your selves clean that you may not be accessory any way to any wicked mans comming to partake of this holy mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ there are divers things further about this and the speciall thing I thought of was to shew you the holy qualifications that there ought to be but this I conceived to be necessary and I should not have had peace in mine own conscience as being faithfull to you in what I am speaking of sanctifying the Name of God in this Ordinance if I should not have mentioned this that I have spoken unto you and there 's an error on both sides that I desire to meet withall either those that come hand over head and think it concerns them not at all with whom they come to the Sacrament but to look to their own hearts and there 's an error on the other side that if they do what they can to keep them away and yet if they should be suffered to come they may not come to partake of those things now it is very usefull for us to know what wee should doe in this case SERMON XII LEVITICUS 10. 3. I will be Sanctified in them that come nigh me I Shall adde something to one particular that I had the last day concerning peoples withdrawing from such a Congregation where they could not receive all the Ordinances of Jesus Christ As now if I were in a Church where I could have but a piece of the Sacrament suppose they dealt with me as the Papists doe with the people that is they will give them the bread and not the wine Certainly I were not bound to stay with them then but I were bound to goe where I might have the whole Sacrament So if a Church will give me some one Ordinance and not another I confesse so long as there is hope that I may enjoy it and that they are in a way for injoyment I thinke there should be a great forbearance to a Church as well as to a particular person as I must not withdraw from a particular man where there is hope still of his reformation and that there may come good of my forbearance so towards a Church much more but I say if I cannot enjoy neither doth there appeare any hope of the injoyment of all Ordinances certainly it were but a cruelty to force men to stay there when as otherwhere they may enjoy all Ordinances for the good of their souls And this cannot be Schisme thus to do as now is this Schisme suppose a man were in a place and joyned in such a Communion for his outward benefit he may remove his dwelling from one place to another if he can have better trading in another place then certainly if he may have more Ordinances for the edification of his soule he may as well remove from one to another as he may remove if his trading bee betterin one place then another Christ would have all his people look to the edification of their soules and should I account that Schisme when a man or woman meerly out of tendernesse and a desire to enjoy Jesus Christ in all his Ordinances for the benefit of their soules they find such want to their soules of all Ordinances that though they may have some in one place yet if they cannot have all their soules doe not so thrive now if this be all the end why they remove that they might have more edification to their soules injoying the Ordinances of Christ more fully God forbid that this should ever be accounted such a sin that the Scripture is to brand no thats Schisme when there is a violent rending out of malice for the want of love for as Apostafie is a rending from the head So Schisme from the Body that is when it is out of an evill Spirit from envie or from malice from want of love or from any base sinister ends and upon no just Ground but
cannot live without his meat and drinke and so for the soule to have such a disposition after Christ this is a rare thing but know that Gods name is not sanctifyed unlesse thou doest come in such a way unto this holy Sacrament that 's the fourth thing hungry and thirsty desires after Christ from a deepe sence of the need of him and the apprehension of the Excellencie in him 5. In the fift place there must be an exercise of Faith for the sanctifying of Gods name here Faith that is both the hand and the mouth for the taking of this spirituall meat and spirituall drink when thou comest to the Feast of the Lord Faith first is the eye and then the hand and mouth it is the eye of the soul to give a reall sight of what there is here you are not able to discerne the body of the Lord but by the eye of Faith if thou comest only with bodily eyes to look upon what is here thou seest nothing but a little bread and wine But now where the eye of Faith is there is a reall appearance of Jesus Christ to the soule as if Christ were bodily present and we need not have the bread turned into his body for Faith can see the body of Christ through the bread and the body of Christ gushing in the wine And it is a mighty thing to have Christ and such spirituall things made reall and not to be a fansie If one look upon the fire that is painted one cannot heat ones selfe in cold weather with that but fire that is really burning upon the hearth so those that come to receive the Sacrament and not come with Faith that have only the eye of their bodies they only see as it were a painted Christ they doe not see Christ really his body and bloud and those great Mysteries of the Gospel are not presented as reall things to their soules and hence it is that they go away and get nothing but now when the soule comes with the eye of Faith the soule sees the wonderfull things of God it is the most glorious sight in the world all the glory of God in the heavens and earth is not like this sight of Jesus Christ and the mysteries of the Gospell that do appeare to the eye of faith therefore you may by this know whether you have come with faith or no to the Sacrament whether you have seen the most glorious sight that ever your eyes did behold alas with our naturall eyes we behold a Minister comming with a peece of bread and a little wine but when the eye of faith is opened then wee behold the glorious things of the Gospell many times when you come to hear the word your hearts burne within you as they that went to Emaus but when you are breaking bread the eye of faith that must look upon Jesus Christ and in this sence those that have pierced Christ must look upon him that Scripture is fulfilled in Zach. 12. latter end they shall look on him whom they have pierced by their sins and then mourne and lament this eye of faith will cause mourning and lamenting for sinne And then as faith is the eye to make what is here reall so faith is the hand to take it when you come to a feast you must have something to take the meat to you so saith Christ he brake bread and gave it to his Disciples saying take eat this take it how shall we take it by reaching out of the hand if you sanctifie Gods name in this Ordinance as you reach out your hand to take the bread and wine so there must be an actuall reaching out of the soule by faith putting forth an act of faith to receive Jesus Christ unto the soule to apply the Lord Jesus Christ to thy soule with all his merits and good things that he hath purchased when the Minister doth give out that Ordinance you should look upon God the Father giving out his Sonne as if this were your condition I am now in the presence of the eternall Father who now doth actually give out his Sonne to my soule and saith soule here receive anew this day my Sonne with all that he hath purchased for thy good now then the soule acts upon this and by stirring up an act of faith comes and closes with this gift of the Father and casts its selfe upon Jesus Christ and saith as it were Amen to what the Father gives oh Lord here I come and imbrace thy Sonne as my life as my Saviour as the fountaine of all my good in whom I expect all the good I am like to have either here or to all eternity so that there must be a stirring up of the act of faith in an actuall taking of Christ if thou beest a beleever canst thou remember what thou didst when first thou didst take Jesus Christ when the Lord in the preaching of his word did reveale Jesus Christ to thy soule what didst thou then oh soule how did thy soule work in closing with Christ as thy soule did then in closing with Christ so it must now renew the work there must be a renewall of the worke at that time So that when you come to the Sacrament you must not thinke that it is then a time to listen to doubts feares and scruples no but it is a time that God cals for the exercise of faith the casting of the soule upon Christ and his merits for life and for salvation or else the name of God is not sanctified as it ought thou doest not sanctifie Gods name when thou art busying thy foule in doubts and scruples in thy receiving of the Sacrament And then faith is as the mouth when thou commest to eat and drinke how canst thou if thou hast not a mouth thou hast a bodily month to take in bread and wine but know that without faith thy soule cannot take in Christ faith is as it were the mouth that is by the act of faith the soule doth open it selfe for Jesus Christ and not only opens it selfe but takes in Christ to the soule and makes Christ and the soule as one as our bread and wine is made one with our body so faith takes in Christ and makes him as one with thee and turnes Christ into the nourishment of thy foule and thou and Christ by faith are made as truly one as the bread and wine that is put into thy body is made one with thy body This is the worke of faith without which wee cannot sanctifie the name of God Sixthly there must be spirituall joy that must be exercised here for it is a feast here we come to sit with Christ at his Table wee come as children to our Fathers Table and to sit there with Jesus Christ our elder Brother now as a Father doth not love to have his child set in a sullen and dogged way at his Table or to be crying but he would have the child set in comfort
and with a holy cheerfulnesse with a holy freedome of Spirit not in a sullen way but as a child in the presence of his Father and not as a Servant with the Master Object You told us before that there should be brokennesse of Spirit and sence of our sin Answ That may be and joy we rejoyce with trembling therefore that brokennesse of Spirit that I meant must not bee slavish horrour and feare but a kindly melting of the soule from the aprehension of the love of God unto it in Jesus Christ that was willing to be at so great cost to purchase the pardon of sin such a gracious mourning as may stand with joy and the truth is that that sorrow for sin in the Sacrament that is not mixt with joy is a sorrow that doth not sanctifie Gods name godly sorrow and evangelicall joy may stand together very well And therefore know that this is not the time neither to give liberty to have your hearts sinke no there must be no sinking sorrow of heart but such a sorrow of heart as in the midst of it you may be able to look upon God as a reconciled Father to you and have a cheerfulnesse of Spirit as in the midst of it you must look upon your selves as Gods guest to be merry at his Table now this is a great mystery of godlinesse that there should be at the same time the sight of Christ crucified and yet at the same time a spirituall cheerfulnesse in the assurance of the love of God in Iesus Christ I say it is a Mystery and only those that are Beleevers are able to understand this mystery how to have their hearts break and yet how to rejoyce at the same time in that unspeakeable love of God that is here presented unto them in this Sacrament Seventhly In the next place there must be thankefulnesse therefore it is called the Eucharist and in one of the Evangelists where it is said Christ blest the bread in another it is said Christ gave thanks Christ when he instituted this Sacrament hee gave thanks he gave thanks for what he gave thanks to God the Father that he was pleased to send him into the world to die for poor soules now shall Iesus Christ give thanks unto God the Father for that that did cost him his life yea saith Christ I see that here is a way to save soules and let it cost me my life if it will yet I blesse thee O Father if soules may come to be sav'd though it cost me my life Christ rejoyced in his Spirit in thanking his Father for this then how should our hearts be inlarged with thankefulnesse when we come to this that the Ancients were wont to call the Eucharist that is a thanksgiving we are to give God thankes for every mercy you will not eate your owne bread without giving of thankes but when wee come to have this bread this bread of life here is matter of thankefulnesse here is matter of inlargement of soule thou that hast the deadest and dullest soule and straightest Spirit yet when thou comest hither and understandest what thou doest here thou canst not but see matter for the inlargement of thy heart and wish that thou hadst ten thousand thousand times more strength to expresse the praises of the Lord here is a thing that must be the subject of the Hallelujahs and doxologies that Angels and Saints must for ever sound out in the highest heavens dost thou know what the Lord presents to thee here it is more then if the Lord should say I will make ten thousand worlds for the sake of this creature and give all these worlds to him thou wouldest thinke that thou wert bound to blesse him then only when God in the Bread and wine reaches out to thee the body bloud of his Sonne here is more matter of praise then if ten thousand thousand worlds were given to thee and therefore God expects that thou shouldest say to thy soule my soul praise thou the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name blesse the Lord O my soule and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases O poor soule here is the foundation of all mercies dost thou praise God for justification for sanctification here is a glorious application of the mercy of God to the soules of sinners and therefore if ever thou wert thankfull be thankefull here The Sabbath my Brethren that is appointed to be the set constant day of thankesgiving for the great mercies of God in Christ and there are other dayes for nationall mercies now a speciall work of the Lords day is the celebration of this holy Sacrament and the Christians in former times were wont to do it every Lords day because that 's the day appointed by God for to be the day of thankesgiving for that great mercy the Lord Jesus Christ and that 's the reason why the Sabbath was changed the last day of the week was the Iewish Sabbath and that was to celebrate the memoriall of the Creation of the world and the first day now it is to be the day of thanksgiving for all the work of God in mans redemption Eightly A further thing is this if you would sanctifie Gods name you must be willing to renew your Covenant that 's the end of it there must be an actuall renewing of your Covenant with God that 's thus I come to receive this bread and this wine and this is to be as the Seale of the Covenant on Gods part now this will be emplyed in the nature of the thing that if I take the Seales of Gods Covenant that I must be willing to set to my Seale too to renew the Covenant that God calls me to now know all men and women that are sav'd they are sav'd by the vertue of the Covenant of grace and there God on his part promises and makes a Covenant that hee will bestow his Son life and salvation through him and thou must likewise come in on thy part and beleeve on his Son and repent which is the Tenour of the Gospel now every time thou comest to receive this Sacrament thou commest to renew this Covenant As if thou shouldest say Lord thou hast been pleased to make a Covenant of grace as the first Covenant was broken and all men were cast by that Covenant now thou hast made a Covenant of grace and callest thy servants whom thou intendest to save that they should renew their Covenant with thee in this Sacrament of thine Lord here I come and Lord here I renew it and set to my seale to promise and Covenant with thee that as ever I expect to receive any good from Christ so Lord here I will be thine I will give up my selfe for ever to thee as thou hast given me the Body and bloud of Christ for my salvation so Lord here I consecrate my body and bloud to thee the last drop of
Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sinnes and you shall observe that the text saith he drank it and said drink yee all of it so that this is not according to the institution for a Minister to goe up and downe and to give it into every mans hand certainly this was not so from the beginning this is a way of mans own devising for the bread and the cup to be given into every bodies hand by the Minister Christ did but give it once hee gave it to them all and said drink yee all of this so it was done Quest But you will say is it not better for it to be given into every ones hand Answ No because that the giving of it once for all doth signifie more fully the fellowship and communion that they have together as at a Table it were a strange thing that every bit of meat must be given to every one particularly no but the dishes must bee set before them and they must take it themselves Indeed if they be children you cut every peice of meat and give it into their hands or mouths but that 's sutable to a fellowship at Table and communion to have the meat set before them being blest and then for all to partake of it And besides this giving it into every ones hand certainly it came to us from a Popish and superstitious conceit of the Papists for the Papists will give it into their mouths because the people must not defile it with their hands And it was to bring more reverence to the Sacrament now there 's a great deale of danger for to bring in mens devices for to cause more reverence we are to look to the Ordinance of Christ hee gave it once and said drink yee of it in General to them all and so the Ministers should do And besides there is this in it more and one would wonder that Ministers should give it in particular and not in generall to the Church for by this meanes Ministers might abundantly ease themselves of a great deale of charge and guilt for upon this ground it will appeare that a Minister though as an eminent officer he is to look to his Congregation that they be fit yet the truth is it concernes the Church as well to look who comes there and likewise the Minister I say to look about him that he doth not say The body of the Lord Jesus Christ was given to thee when he knowes they are prophane and wicked it concerns the Minister to look that he doth not tell a lie but now when the Minister gives it generally to the Church Take eate and Take drinke he gives it particularly to no body Now then his charge is divided to the Church and if there be any body that is unworthy let the Church look to it as well as he though he as an eminent Officer it s more especially in particular his duty then any others heretofore the charge would lie much upon the Minister but the Minister according to the institution should give the Sacrament to no particular but in generall to the Church and therefore if there were but any particular that the Minister upon a particular knowledge did know to be naught he might in great part discharge himselfe as professing against this or that particular man for it is not in his power alone to keep any from the Sacrament but if so be that he shall professe against such and such men the Church must joyne with him to labour to keep them from the Sacrament and that is the next thing for the institution Christ gave it not into any particular mens hands but he gave it to all saying Drinke and eat yee all of it A third thing that is to be observed for the institution of this that all the while the Communicants are taking eating and drinking the bread and wine they should all of them that while have their thoughts exercised about the death of Jesus Christ for that 's the institution do this in remembrance of mee there should be no action intermingled in the time of the receiving of the Sacrament nothing but minding the work that you are about that is to remember the death of Iesus Christ and to discerne the body of the Lord not only when you take your selves the bread and wine but when you see the bread and wine broken or powred forth and you see others taking the bread and wine all that while you should be thinking of the death of Christ and discerning the Lords body and consider what these outward elements do signifie and that they doe seale the great benefit of the Covenant of grace therefore it is not according to the institution to be singing of Psalmes in the mean time while the Sacrament is receiving and so to have your thoughts about other things singing of Psalmes in its due time is a good thing but for you to doe it at that time when as the death of Christ is presented before you and Christ calls you to look upon his body and to thinke upon what he hath done and suffered this is no seasonable time of singing and if you read the institution you shall find that Christ after all was done the text saith they sung an hymne so that according to the institution it is after the action is done of eating and drinking then for the Church to joyne together and sing a Psalme in the praise of God and then they must mind all the same thing together for that 's the thing to be done in the Sacrament that look what one doth all must mind together for when one part sings and the other are waiting for the bread and wine this is not sutable to the holy Table action and that Communion that God requires of us though the things in themselves are both good that are doing yet when we are about this holy Ordinance being it is an Ordinance for Communion all are to be doing the same thing at the same time and so when all have done eating and drinking then for all to joyne together in singing to the praise of God Now it may be this at first seems strange to many yet certainly observe this doe but keepe to the institution in the Sacrament though you may thinke it a more mean way yet you will find a greater beauty in this Ordinance then ever you found in all your lives for the more wee keep to Christs institution and mingle nothing of our owne the more glory and beauty and excellency doth appeare in the Ordinances of Iesus Christ but when any man shall mix any of his owne inventions though he may do it to a good end and think to adde to and put a greater lustre upon the Sacrament the truth is that which he thinks to be a greater lustre reverence or honour put upon it it doth rather take off the lustre and glory of the Sacrament then are the institutions of Christ glorious when there is no
mixture among them thus wee should sanctifie the name of God in receiving this holy Sacrament you have had divers things propounded to you whereby you may come to know and easily to see that there hath been a great deale of dishonour done to this Sacrament and the beauty and glory of it hath been darkened and the sweet that the Saints might otherwise have received in plucking hath been exceedingly hindred There is but one thing more that I shall propound to you and that is the severall meditations that we should meditate on in receiving of the Sacrament the most concerning meditations are suggested in the holy Communion that are in any thing whatsoever more concerning more efficacious more various meditations wee have suggested here then in any thing and it is a great figne that men and women do not discerne the Lords body if so be their meditations be barren at that time I will therefore suggest some nine or ten meditations that that Ordinance of God may hold out very plainly and familiarly to every Communicant for the busying of their thoughts all the time that action is a doing Meditation 1. As first that the way of mans salvation it was by a Mediator it is not only by Gods mercy Gods saying that hee is offended by sin but he will be content to passe it by no but it is through a Mediator now this meditation is suggested thus when I see the bread and wine if I disceren what that signifyes it will hold forth this to me that the way of mans salvation it is not meerly from hence that God saith well I will pardon them and no more but there is required a great worke of God to make an aronement between sinners and himselfe this Sacrament doth hold forth thus much unto us wherefore else have we bread and wine but to signifie that the way of our rconciliation it must be through a Mediator Med. 2. The second Meditation is this that this Mediator that stands between God and us is verily and truely man hee hath taken our nature upon him the bread that puts us in mind of the body of Christ and the wine of his bloud and therefore we are to meditate of the humane nature of Iesus Christ and this is a meditation that hath abundance that might spring out of it what hath the Son of God taken our nature upon him hath hee body and bloud and humane nature upon him oh how hath God honoured humane nature then let me not abuse my body to lust to wickednesse seeing that Jesus Christ hath taken the body of man upon him humane nature upon him let me honour humane nature that is so neerly united to the divine nature that 's the second Meditation Meditation 3. Here 's presented unto us what this Mediator hath done for the reconciling of us unto God that his body was broken he hath subjected himself to the breaking of his body and to the pouring forth of his blood for the reconciling of us it is not meerly as before that God saith I le pardon them but Christ undertaking to make peace between his Father and us it cost him the breaking of his body and the pouring forth of his blood this is a usefull Meditation Oh what should we be willing to suffer for Jesus Christ in our bodies even to resist unto blood seeing Christ hath been content to have his precious body broken and his blood shed for us Meditation 4 Againe a fourth Meditation is this that here we come to see we have occasion of meditating of that the Scripture saith that we are by the blood of God saved it is the blood of God they crucified the Lord of glory that 's the Scripture phrase we should consider when we see the Wine poured out and so put in mind of blood whose blood and whose body is this It is no other but the body and blood of him that was truly God the second Person in Trinity This is the great Mystery of the Gospel and this is very needfull for us to be thinking of when we see the body broken and the blood poured out What will the breaking of the body and shedding of the blood of a meere creature be sufficient to make peace between God and Man surely no therefore you must meditate whose body this is and whose blood this is it is the body and blood of him that was God It s true God hath no body nor no blood but the same person that was God had a body and blood that body and blood was united unto the divine nature in a hypostaticall union and from thence it came to have an efficacie for to satisfie God for to reconcile God and us together this is the great mystery of godlinesse Med. 5. Another Meditation is this when you see Bread broken and Wine poured out oh the infinite dreadfulnesse of the justice of God! how dreadful is the justice of God that coming upon his own Son and requiring satisfaction from him that should thus break him and bruise him that should have his blood that should require such sufferings even from his Son dreadfull is Gods justice the justice of God it is to be feared and to be trembled at here we see what is required for the sinne of man and nothing would be bated to Jesus Christ himself Med. 6. Another Meditation is this here I see presented to me what every soul that shall be saved cost whoever shall have his soul sav'd he hath it sav'd by a ransom by a price paid that is more worth then ten thousand thousand worlds thou slightest thine owne soule but if it prove to be saved it cost more then if thousands of worlds had been given for thee even the shedding of the blood of Christ every drop of which was more precious then ten thousand worlds Meditation 7. Again from hence see what is the evill of sin how great it is that hath made such a breach between God and my soule that only such a way and such a means must take away my sinne I must either have laine under the burden of my sinne eternally or Jesus Christ that's God and man must suffer so much for it oh what Meditations are these to take up the hearts of men Meditation 8. Behold the infinite love of God to mankind and the love of Jesus Christ that rather then God would see the children of men to perish eternally he would send his Sonne to take our nature upon him and thus to suffer such dreadfull things herein God shows his love it is not the love of God so much in giving you a good voyage and prospering you outwardly in the world But so God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne And it pleased the Father to break his Sonne and to poure out his blood here is the love of God and of Jesus Christ oh what a powerfull mighty drawing efficacious Meditation should this be unto us Med. 9. Those that are
beleevers they shall be nourished to eternall life so that there is no feare that ever a beleever should quite fall off from God and die in his sin Why Because the body and blood of Christ is given unto him for his spirituall nourishment though a beleever be never so weak yet seeing God hath appointed the body and blood of his Sonne for him to feed upon and to drink in a spirituall way surely then the weakest in the world will be strengthned to goe through all the hazzards and dangers that there are in the world t is this that strengthens beleevers to encounter with all kind of dangers it s this that preserves the weakest grace in a beleever namely the spirituall nourishment that God the Father hath appointed to them even the feeding upon the body and drinking the very blood of his Son this is meat indeed and drinke indeeed that will nourish to eternall life Med. 10. the last Meditation is this when you come to this seeing the bread broken and the wine powred out you have an occasion to meditate of the whole new Covenant the Covenant of grace that God hath made with sinners for so the words of institution are This is the Cup of the new Testament the new Testament which is all one with the new Covenant only different in this particular it containes the substance of the new Covenant but calld Testament in this regard to shew that the Lord doth do all in the new Covenant that is he doth not only promise such and such mercies upon condition of our beleeving and repenting but he doth work beleeving and repenting and works grace and therefore the same thing that is sometime cald a Covenant is calld a Testament that is the will of God wherein the Lord doth bequeath his rich legacies to his Children to those that shall be eternally saved so that all the good things in the Covenant of grace they are bequeathed by way of Testament as well as Covenant and this is a mighty comfortable meditation to the Saints for indeed when they look upon the way of the Gospell as in a way of Covenant why then they thinke this this requires somewhat of our parts to be done and indeed God will keep Covenant on his part but it may be we shall not keep Covenant on ours and so we may faile at last but now when thou lookest upon all the good things in the Gospel dispensed in the way of a Testament that is the will of God the legacies that God doth bequeath to his servants this is a mighty comfort to the soule that all the precious things of the Gospel come to mee in the way of a Testament and that 's the meaning of the new Testament that is the mercies of God in Christ comming now in the way of another administration then they did before t is not only new in respect of the Covenant of workes that God made with Adam but new in respect of the administration our forefathers the Patriarchs they had the same thing in substance but administred in a darker way and many differences there are but now when wee heare of the new Testament there is presented unto us all the riches of the Covenant of grace in the way of a legacie and in the administration of it with cleernesse and with a great deal of mercy and goodnesse of God the terrour and harshnesse of the old administration being taken away Now these are the meditations by which wee should labour to sanctifie our hearts when we are receiving of the Sacrament and in the working of these meditations upon our hearts wee shall come to sanctifie the name of God when we are drawing nigh to him in that holy Ordinance of his thus for meditation The next thing when wee are there must be an actuating of these holy dispositions that before wee spoke of t is not enough for a Christian to bring grace to the Sacrament but there must be a stirring of that grace at that time or otherwise the name of God is not sanctifyed in the receiving of the Sacrament and above all graces the actuating of the grace of faith t is not enough that thou beest a beleever but thy faith must act at that very instant as thus First when thou hearest the Minister in the name of Christ say thus this is the body of Iesus Christ which was given for you take eat thou shouldest have thy faith so acting upon the mercy of God in giving Iesus Christ for the nourishment of thy foule to eternall life as if thou didst heare a voice from heaven saying here is the body of my Sonne given for thee particularly take it and eat apply it to thee and so make Christ one with thee by faith as the bread is made one with thy body when thou doest eat it And then when thou commest to take hold of the bread thou art to put forth an act of faith faith being as the hand of the soule and at that instant when thou takest the bread and puttest it into thy mouth to eat thou shouldest stirre up the act of faith afresh laying more hold upon Jesus Christ look as once thou didst in thy first conversion when Christ was presented to thee in the word or in any other way there was an act of faith drawne forth whereby thy soule did cast it selfe and roule it selfe upon Jesus Christ so shouldest thou renew it renew the same work of faith that thou didst find in thy very first conversion and thereby thou shalt come to have renewed comfort in the renewing of that act I might name thee other graces and dispositions how there should be a stirring and an acting of them onely remember I leave all this point with this note that grace is not enough for partaking the Sacrament of the Lords supper except there be an actuating and a stirring up of that grace many Christians are carefull to prepare and examine before whether they have grace or no but at that time when they come to receive then there is not a lively working and stirring of that grace and so they come to lose the comfort benefit of that Ordinance Thus much shal suffice for this point of sanctifying Gods name in receiving the holy Communion I shall now come to the last point which is the sanctifying the name of God in prayer Sanctifying the name of God in Prayer NOw this argument might take us up many Sermons but upon occasion of the dayes of prayer and humiliation I have preached divers Sermons about the point of prayer therefore I shall be breife and only now reckon up together and set before your view the severall things that are to bee done for the sanctifying of the name of God in prayer First for prayer in that wee draw nigh to God and its a duty of Gods worship that I suppose all of you cannot but acknowledge and that it is a naturall duty of worship the other was instituted but