shedding Tears of a true Repentance And what may then be expected from a Sinner who in the Sacrament of the Eucharist has all the Ideas of his Agony Sufferings and Death most lively delineated to Him What an irreconcilable Aversion ought not he to conceive for his Sins What Resolutions ought not he to take of leaving and forsaking them for ever AND to this we find our selves still more indispensably oblig'd by the Nature of this Sacrament For in the fifth Place it is as I have said before the Memorial of CHRIST'S Blood by virtue whereof GOD has made a New Covenant with Sinners In which He has assured us that He will forgive us our Sins and bestow the Glory of his Kingdom upon us But the Condition without which we cannot be made Partakers either of the Remission of Sins or of the Glory of Heaven is the Repenting of our Iniquities and applying our selves to the Study of Sanctification to our Life's End. The Benesit of this New Covenant is That God remembers our Transgressions no more but the Condition He requires of us is That whereas the Jews laid up his Laws in the Ark without having them in their Hearts we must always have them written in ours in order to a continual Religious Observance of them Now as it is his Will that we should daily beg of Him the Pardon of Our Sins which plainly shews He is ready to grant it us so the Only Command He lays upon us is That for the time to come we sin no more lest a worse thing befall us And indeed is it not exceedingly unaccountable that Men who would pass for Children of GOD should live the life of Devils That they who look upon themselves as Confederates with CHRIST should continually violate the Conditions of this Covenant GOD reminded the Jews of their Obligation to Holiness upon the account of his being their GOD. Moses implies thus much in the 24. Chap. of Exodus where the People having accepted of the Laws which he had propounded to them from GOD after he had wrote them in a Book and read the same in the Audience of the Congregation they answer'd All that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient Whereupon Moses sprinkled the Blood on the People and said Behold the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these Words And shall Christians believe that GOD will own them for his People while they remain in their Bondage to Sin The Meaning of the Covenant we have made with GOD has been clearly expressed by a Pagan viz. Pliny who in his Epistle to the Emperour Trajan Lib. 10. Ep. 97. thus explains the Notion Christians had of this Glorious Covenant they were enter'd into with GOD They bind themselves says he by a Sacrament or Oath not to commit any such Crimes as are falsly reported of them but to abstain from Robbery Theft and Adultery to be as good as their Word and Faithful to their Trust c. He plainly shews that Believers looking upon themselves as Confederates and Parties in the same Covenant with GOD banished all manner of Divisions from the midst of them And further intimates that as they did all eat of the same Bread so they were of one Heart and Mind and united to GOD by their resemblance of Him and imitation of his Holiness Now since that time the Gospel is not alter'd for its Maxims are unchangable Neither is it only with respect to the Prophecies or Promises therein contained that it abides to Eternity without any possibility that so much as one tittle of it should ever fall to the Ground but the same must be understood of it as it is the Rule of our Life and Manners prescribed to us by our Lord and Master LAST of all Since JESUS CHRIST has in this Sacrament united the Memorial of his Coming in Glory to the Remembrance of his Humiliation even unto Death will not this Consideration most naturally inspire us with powerful Encouragements to Piety and an indefatigable Perseverance in that Fidelity we owe to Him In commemorating our Saviour's Passion we are oblig'd to deny our selves and to be ready to lay down our Lives whensoever it shall please God to require it in order to the advancement of his Glory JESUS CHRIST tells us that he is unworthy of Him who is not willing to leave all to follow Him. He has given his own Life for us and calls us to a like Abnegation of our selves They who seek their own Pleasures desire to be Rich But CHRIST chose a Voluntary Poverty They are Ambitious of Honours whereas He refused to be made a King. They fear Death but He freely submitted Himself to it They abhor the Cross that ignominious and painful way of Dying whereas He declined not to be Crucified We can commit no Sin but so far as we desire the things which He despised or endeavour to avoid those He so willingly underwent Certainly the sight of this Example ought powerfully to oblige us to an imitation of it It was a Saying of St. Cyprian's Epist 30. That Men are not fitted for Martyrdom when they are not furnished for the Fight out of the Church's Magazine and that the Soul is apt to faint when it is not strength'ned by a frequent Communion This Father was in the right and his Reason for it is the more Solid because the Eucharist immediately after it has exhibited to us the Representation of our Lord's Death which arms us with constancy shews us the Reward of Believers by setting before our Eyes his Coming again from Heaven to glorify them 'T is this Return of our Lord that will prove the great Comfort of the Righteous and at the same time a dread and trouble to the Wicked JESUS CHRIST by thus reminding us of his Glory while we are meditating upon his Sufferings does much the same thing He did upon the Cross where he accepted of the Repentance of the Converted Thief approved of the Acts of his Faith the Marks of his Love and Tokens of his Zeal for the Innocence and Glory of this JESUS whom he now look'd upon as his Saviour CHRIST kindly received and rewarded the evident Expressions of his Hopes But on the other hand punished the Unbelief and Impenitence of his Companion He assured the former that he would admit Him into his Kingdom because He saw in his Heart the Character of a sincere Believer and all the generous Inclinations of a Martyr but left the latter to the just deserts of his Iniquities A true Penitent meets with the greatest Comforts imaginable in the Eucharist where the Impenitent who treads under foot the Blood of the Covenant and discerns not the Lord's Body receives his own Damnation 'T is absolutely impossible this Sacrament should not have such different Effects upon these two sorts of Communicants For from it proceeds a Voice that proclaims Pardon to penitent Sinners and in it we plainly see the Solid
here upon Earth Sanctify'd Himself for our sakes suffer'd Death and ordained a Memorial of it as of a thing past and done They of old had no distinct knowledge of the Death of the MESSIAS nor of the kind and manner of it All which is clearly manifested to us at this Day And though the Jew meets with Matter of Scandal and the Gentile and occasion of Reproach yet the Christian finds subject of the most exalted Joy and Comfort in the Celebration of these Holy Mysteries THE Second Comfort the Eucharist administers to the Faithful is exceeding sweet and ravishing We can no sooner in our Meditations reflect upon the fulfilling of the ancient Types of the Paschal Lamb and the Oracles of old concerning the Coming of the MESSIAS but we find the support of our Faith and a solid ground for our Hope to rest on Who can conceive the least doubt of GOD'S performing those Promises the Execution of which seems as yet very difficult and at a great distance since He has already fulfilled that of sending the MESSIAS who had been so long looked for during the Course of so many Ages He sills us with good hopes for things to come says an ancient Father For He who has given Himself to us here will much rather do so hereafter Chrys H. 6. ad Pop. And indeed who sees not that this Dispensation of his being manifested in our Flesh and his Death in particular must fill us with strong and lively Hopes when we address our Prayers to Him Christian 'T is true thou must appear before GOD but GOD has left all Judgment to the Son and He by partaking of Flesh and Blood is become thy Brother He shed his Blood and laid down his Life to redeem thee He dy'd to deliver thee from that Misery and Curse to which thou hadst doom'd thy self to all Eternity Wouldst thou be as fully convinc'd of his tender Love and Compassion as thou art of his Power Consider He feeds thee with his own Blood and is set forth in the Holy Supper as the Lamb of God. is it possible that this Consideration should not remind us of that Excess of Love which prompted Him to die for us We see here not a Sheep but the Shepheard giving his Life for the Salvation of his Sheep Where will you meet with a Shepheard that feeds his Sheep with his own Blood Yet JESUS CHRIST the Great Shepheard feeds us with his What may not we expect from so punctual a Faithfulness supported by a Goodness and Compassion that is beyond all Example THE third Comfort which we may reap hence is this That being deliver'd from the Curse we lay under every one of us may now say to his Soul Return unto thy Rest O my Soul for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee And with St. Paul triumphantly cry out There is now no condemnation to them who are in CHRIST JESVS 'T is He has deliver'd us from the fear of Death by means of which we were all our Life's time subjects to Bondage Before we are convinc'd of this Truth we are in a State of Misery Terrour and Despair But since CHRIST has alter'd our Condition by removing the Curse that was against us What Peace Joy and Comfort ought not to possess our Consciences If we consider David's Condition before Nathan had assur'd him of GOD'S Pardon we have a lively Emblem of the lamentable Circumstances in which the Sinner is whose Ears always ring with the Sound of this dreadful Sentence Cursed is he that continues not in all the Words of this Law to do them Deut. 27.26 He sees the Sword of the Destroying Angel ready to strike him But now this Sacrament tells him that God has put away his Iniquities and removed the Curse he had so justly drawn down upon himself This Religious Ceremony which CHRIST has annexed to the Declaration of his Gospel is a Publick Monument that GOD henceforth is not only become placable but throughly appeased and reconciled to Man. He cryes to us that our Iniquities are pardon'd but says the Sinner what shall I offer to GOD to make atonement for my offences Shall I offer him as Abraham did Isaac my First-born for my Transgressions And the Eucharist points him as the Angel did Abraham at the Victim prepar'd by GOD or rather bespeaks him in the Words of St. John the Baptist Behold the Lamb of GOD that takes away the Sin of the World. And then the Sinner with Joy and Exultation breaks forth He is He is indeed come into the World He has suffer'd Death to save Sinners whereof I am chief NOW if these Reflections on the Eucharist afford such Comforts to Christians in general they will more sensibly affect us when we come to consider these Comforts more distinctly The Holy Sacrament by preserving the Remembrance of CHRIST'S Death obliges us more particularly to meditate upon this wonder of the Wisdom and Love of GOD whereby He has deliver'd us from our Sins by charging them upon our Lord who like a Sacrifice was slain in the room of Sinners as the Ram was in the stead of Isaac and as the Lambs which were killed to redeem the First-born of the Israelites from the Sword of the Destroyer Now as there is nothing more stupendous than this Substitution so nothing yields Consolation like it For here we see 1. The Love of the Father who withheld the stroke of his Vengeance from Mankind whereas He destroy'd the Apostate Angels without remedy 2. The Charity of the Son who is become our Surety Herein is the Love of GOD not that we loved Him first but that He loved us No man has greater love than this that he lays down his Life not for his Friend but his Enemy And yet thus far did our Saviour's Love carry Him. He presented Himself a Sacrifice to GOD the Father He received the stroke that was to wound us neither the horror of those Crimes we had committed nor the dreadful Punishments that were due to us for them being able to deter Him from taking upon him our Nature and Sufferings GOD gave him to us that He might be the High Priest of his Church But He was not invested in this Dignity nor is represented as making Intercession in Heaven for us neither set forth as Blessing of us but because He has expiated our Sins by offering up Himself a Sacrifice to free us from Death Moses's Wife seeing her Husband threat'ned with Death by the Angel for her Son 's not being circumcis'd thought it expedient to hazard the Child's Life by an hasty and venturous Circumcision that she might secure her Husband from the danger that hung over him GOD in this Case does something far more great and wonderful for us He gives the Life of his own Son to redeem his Enemies and behold the Son readily consents and yields himself as Isaac did Lo I come says He in the Volume of thy Book it is wriiten of me I
delight to do thy Will O my God. O Ineffable and amazing Love to Mankind who deserved nothing but an Eternal Curse AS it was in the Blood of Lambs that GOD made a Covenant with the People of Israel so the Eucharist representing to us in the fifth Place that the Blood of CHRIST is the Ground and Foundation of the New Covenant which GOD has made with Christians we cannot look upon the Sacrament as the Pledge and Seal of this Covenant without being filled with an Excess of Joy and Consolation For indeed what greater Glory can be imagined than for Man to be admitted to a Treaty with GOD And what an inconceivable Advantage is this that GOD should vouchsafe to enter into Covenant with us There are none but are sensible of the Happiness of the Israelites in this regard To be convinc'd of which we need only hear them even at this day speaking with the greatest Comfort of the Honour GOD therein has done them notwithstanding their total dispersion and groaning under the Burthen of that Curse which pursues and overtakes them every where Now that ancient Covenant GOD has abolished as being imperfect but this which we commemorate is to endure for ever The Design of the former was only to give the Jews a lively Sense of Sin or at the best to administer a Typical Expiation whereas the latter viz. the New according to the Prophet Jeremy makes a true Atonement for Sin and affords a Remission rightly and properly so call'd That had no promises but what concern'd a Happiness here on Earth whereas This does promise a Resurrection and Eternal Glory THE greatest Honour the Old Covenant did confer upon the Jews was this That the MESSIAS should be born of their Blood but the Advantage of the New is That the MESSIAS partaking of Flesh and Blood with the rest of Mankind has given his own Blood to raise them to the Glory of Adoption who shall believe in Him. O how happy is the People whose God is the Lord And what does this Expression to be the God of any one import but this viz. To be his Great and Soveraign Benefactor Of old He was the GOD of Abraham but not of Loth and his Posterity Of Isaac but not of Ismael and his Off-spring Of Jacob but not of Esau and the Edomites Now He is the GOD of all the Earth But he has not made this Covenant with all the Nations of the World save only by virtue and on the Sole Account of the Blood of CHRIST And can we with any attention reflect on this Truth represented to us in the Holy Eucharist without feeling a Joy unspreakable and full of Glory GOD had promised to enter into such a Covenant as this and Jeremy describes it in the 31. Chap. of his Prophecies Yet the Old lasted till John the Baptist and so long the Ceremonies of it were in use But then comes CHRIST and instead of continuing the Celebration of the Old Covenant which was made in the Blood of the Paschal Lamb He abrogates it and in its room substitutes the New Covenant made in his own Blood. Do this says He in remembrance of me Not That which was done before but This For this Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for the Remission of your Sins TO conclude 't is to be considered and this is the last Vein of Comfort hid in the Eucharist that this Holy Sacrament inviting us to take a View of CHRIST'S second Coming as well as of his Dispensation in the Flesh 't is impossible but it must fill our Souls with surpassing Joy and Comfort The full Salvation of Believers does as yet only consist in Hope GOD indeed pardons their Sins but they are still subject to all the Miseries Sin has brought into the World. They hope for Eternal Life and yet dye like other Men. Their Bodies are laid in the Grave and become the food of Worms So that their Expectation seems to be quite frustrated And as the Jews and Gentiles find Matter of Scandal and Derision in the Death of the Son of GOD so according to all outward appearance they have the same reason to insult over the Faith and Hope of his Followers when they compare these with their present Condition which to the Eye differs not from that of other Men. But all these dark Clouds shall at last be scatter'd these Shadows vanish and the Glory of our Lord and his Faithful be revealed He shall appear from Heaven in the Glory of his Father and every Eye shall see Him even they who have pierced Him. And as He will thus display his Majesty in the Sight of all the World so will He at the same time unvail the Life and Glory of his Children who at present are ready to sink under the burthen of Sin the Violence of CHRIST's Adversaries the deceits of the World and the Devil and the Power of Death which is the last Enemy of CHRIST and his Church He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day Whosoever eats of this Bread shall live for ever These are our Saviour's Promises wherein as He terms the Embracing of Him by Faith an Eating of his Flesh in opposition to the Type of Manna So this Eating may be as truly ascribed to them who by Faith consider Him as the Sacrifice that has taken away the Punishment due to Sin. O what comforts do arise to the Faithful from the Expectation of this his Return What exulting Joys will they be filled with at his Coming What Delights flow in upon them as they mediate hereon What ravishing Pleasures does it afford us amidst the greatest Evils of this Life What quiet in the sharpest Trials And what Confidence even at the time when Death stares us in the Face CHAP. VI. Of the Duties prescribed to us in the Holy Eucharist I SUPPOSE I have very clearly made out that it is impossible attentively to consider the Truths which the Lord's Supper discovers to us without reaping the unspreakable Comforts which so naturally spring from it And it may with as much Ease be demonstrated that these Truths indispensably engage us to the most Essential Duties of our Religion and that GOD having comprehended what is most capable to administer the sweetest Consolations to our Souls in this Mystery it cannot but at the same time be very influential towards Sanctification and a Godly Life To the making out of which I design the Conclusion of this Treatise where I intend to represent these Duties as the necessary and natural Consequents of what I have before laid down It behooves every Communicant seriously to consider of these Engagements And the rather because this is a sure way for them to know whether they have worthily receiv'd the Sacrament or to amend the faults by them committed in any preceding Communion for want of discharging these Religious performances as they ought FIRST then