our will to love what he loves to hate what he hates to have the same Friends and Enemies with our Blessed Lord. For here we put God in mind of his Covenant with us through Jesus Christ and our selves in mind of our Covenant with God And upon renewed Repentance for any sins we have committed after any Instance of Vnfaithfulness to our Solemn Engagements by unsuitable walking we here implore his Mercy and Grace to pardon us We declare at the same time that we desire to take hold of his Covenant that tho we are Sinners we are not Apostates we confess our sins and beg Forgiveness and repeat our Resolutions of Fidelity to him We trust in the unshaken Faithfulness and Truth of God to his gracious Promises We place our hope and confidence in the stability of his Everlasting Covenant which the Blood of Jesus the Blood of the Covenant hath confirmed and made Everlasting Not Trusting in our own Faith but in his Free Mercy and invariable Truth not in our Repentance but his Gracious Pardon not in our own Preparations but his Merciful Acceptance of us in his Beloved Son not in any thing we our selves can do but in the Merits of Christ the Fruits of his Death and the Purchase of his Cross as dispensed and applied according to the rule method and tenor of the Gospel-Promise This is our Priviledge and this our Employment at the Table of our Lord. And there is hardly any Subject will better bear to be treated of in several different methods than this or upon which repeated Discourses by several Persons may be more useful I grant there are many Excellent Books already written to Instruct Men in the Nature and to direct and assist their Devotion in the Observation of this Holy Sacrament I design not to wrest them out of their hands into whose this may fall I pretend not to add but to urge and prosecute the same Great End and sometimes by the same Arguments and Expressions I acknowledge my having profited by the Writings of others I hope 't is what they design'd These Discourses were acceptable to many when Preacht and being since reviewed some of them with some Enlargement I hope they may be of use at least to those who heard 'em and desired their Publication And it must be granted that what is of so Universal and Important a Concern as a due Participation of this Ordinance ought to be Treated and Inculcated in as many different ways as may best suit the Various capacites of several Persons It may be a shorter Account of the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper with Meditations and Devotions adapted thereto would be more proper for the Younger and more Ignorant Sort this I have promised and intend but have not yet had time to perfect The Lord follow this and all Endeavours for the Furtherance of Real Godliness with an Abundant Blessing London May 9th 1693. J. S. THE CONTENTS The First Discourse OF Vnion to Christ and the New Creature Or a Preparatory Sermon to the Lord's Supper on the First Day of the Year From 2 Cor. 5.17 If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature p. 1. The Second Discourse Of Christ's passing over the Brook Kedron and entring into the Garden of Gethsemine After the Lords Supper From John 18.1 2. When Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron where was a Garden into which he entred and his Disciples and Judas also knew the place For Jesus oft times resorted thither with his Disciples p. 49. The Third Discourse Concerning Spiritual Washing the Nature Means and Evidences of it Before the Lords Supper From 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but you are washed but you are Sanctified but you are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God p. 89 The Fourth Discourse Of the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood After the Lord's Supper From 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless Is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ p. 129 The Fifth Discourse The Sin and Danger of Unworthy Receiving Before the Lord's Supper From 1 Cor. 11.29 He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself p. 163 The Sixth Discourse Of Christ's Last Passover And its Accomplishment After the Lord's Supper From Luke 22.15 16 17 18. With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer For I say unto you I will not many more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God And he took the Cup and gave thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves For I say unto you I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine until the Kingdom of God shall come p. 199 The Seventh Discourse Before the Lord's Supper From Cant. 2.4 He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was Love p. 243 The Eighth Discourse After the Lord's Supper From St. John 20.27 28. Then said he unto Thomas Reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side and be not faithless but believing And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and My God p. 281 A Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer Our Father c. The First Discourse Of Vnion to Christ and the New Creature OR A SERMON Preparatory to the Lord's Supper On the First Day of the YEAR From 2 COR. V. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a New-Creature THROUGH the Merciful Forbearance of God we now begin another Year and have outlived several who a twelve month ago were as like to have seen this New years-day as any of us That we may begin it with some Serious Reflexions suitable to the beginning of the Year and the approaching Solemnity of the Lord's Supper I have chosen these words as proper unto both They are brought in as one Inference among others from the constraining Love of Christ which the Apostle had mentioned in the 14th Verse Many useful things might be observed in explaining the Context and shewing the Connexion of this with the preceding Verses But I shall at present consider them more absolutely and in the General If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature or Let him be a New Creature He ought to be so The Original will bear either sense The words may be taken imperatively or affirmatively For we find not Is in the Original It is true that whoever is in Christ is a New Creature And it is true that he is obliged thereby to prove his Union to Christ he ought to be a New Creature Neither sense is to be excluded That the State of such as are in Christ and likewise their Obligation may be comprehended It is the Character and Qualification of such as are in Christ and it is their Duty
How is Christ's Body and Blood present in this Ordinance Our Lord is Ascended into Heaven with his Human Body and the Heavens are to contain him till the Restitution of all things And therefore as the Bread and Wine are not annihilated or not destroyed nor changed into the Flesh and Blood of Christ according to the Romanists So nor present with in and under the Bread and Wine according to the Lutherans So that we need not say that the Body and Blood of Christ are at all present there for they are in Heaven But the Bread and Wine are the Signs and Memorials of the Sacrifice and Sufferings of Christ The Death of Christ and his Sacrifice upon the Cross with the Fruits and Effects thereof unto us are especially to be understood by his Body and Blood And it is in these that we have Communion in the Ordinance of the Supper The Expressions therefore which some Protestant Writers have used about the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in this Sacrament are very * See a Tract on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by Mr. John Hales of Eaton Colledge in Oct. unwary For thereby they seem to make Mysteries where there is no need at all of any It is true in the next Chapter it is said of the Bread This is my Body that is the Sign and the Memorial of it Yet here the Bread broken is said to be the Communion or the Communication of his Body that is A Solemn Rite instituted by God to communicate to us the Fruits and Benefits of Christ's broken Body or of his Sacrifice and Sufferings Represented by it That as verily as we are Treated at the Table with Bread and Wine so the worthy Receiver shall share in the Benefits of Christ's Death This is Intelligible and Plain 3. This will help us to understand what is meant by the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ By this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communication as it may as well be rendred that we have in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Ordinance of the Supper Two Things may this Import 1. Our Participation of the Fruits of Christ's Death and Sacrifice That we share in the Priviledges of Reconciliation to God Forgiveness of Sin Peace of Conscience and the Promise of Eternal Life by Vertue of Christ's Death 2. That Others share with us therein or that we Partake of these Benefits with others For so it follows in the next Verse That though many Members we are all one Body and one Bread for we are all Partakers of that one Bread That is We are all one Church and one Body of Christ by Covenant Union unto him And of him we do all Sacramentally and Spiritually partake in this Ordinance As many Grains of Corn make one Loaf and many Members one Body We being many are one Bread and one Body The Church of Rome from that Expression might have as well argue That all Christians are substantially changed first into the Bread and then into the natural Body of Christ by partaking of this Sacrament As well as that the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ for all Christians are said to be but one Bread and one Body by vertue of their Communion in this Ordinance 4. Hereby also we understand how we have Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ by the Lord's Supper How we and others partake in the Benefits of his Death and Passion And that two ways As this Sacrament is a Sign and a Symbol of it and as it is a Means 1. It is a Sign of it All that eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup do thereby Commemorate the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ and profess to own that the Body and Blood of Christ offered upon the Cross is the Food and Nourishment of their Souls to Eternal Life That Christ is their Saviour and Redeemer That they hope for all their Acceptance with God in both Worlds only upon the account of the Sacrifice of Christ They professedly declare that living and dying they are and will be his They hope for Victory over Death and the Devil by the Cross of Christ and for a Glorious Resurrection from Death as the Fruit of his Death and Resurrection 2. These Words do import further That the eating of this Bread and drinking of this Cup are the Means appointed by Christ for our Communion in his Body and Blood We share in the Benefits of his Death and Sacrifice and by due Attendance upon this Ordinance the precious Fruits of his Death and the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit are augmented and encreased in us in order to our full and final Blessednes in the other World which this is preparatory to and fits us for As the partaking of things sacrificed to Idols was a Fellowship with Devilss 1 Cor. 10.20 So the partaking of that which was sacrific'd to God is a Fellowship with him * See Mr. Charnock 's 2d Vol. p. 759. And of the Divine Attributes p. 638. Prayer is an Act of Homage and Praise of Gratitude but we have not so near a Communion with a Person either by Petitioning for somewhat we want or by returning him Thanks for a Favour received as we have by sitting with him at his Table partaking of the same Bread and the same Cup. In all Nations the nearest Fellowship consists in things of this nature Take Eat manifests a Communion It would be an empty Mystery and unworthy of an Institution by Divine Goodness if there were not some Communion with God and Christ in it There would be some kind of Deceit in the Precept Take Eat and Drink this is my Body and Blood If there were not a Conveyance of Spiritual Vital Influences to our Souls For the narural end of Eating and Drinking is the Nourishment and encrease of the Body and Preservation of Life by that which we Ea and Drink I might consider this Ordinance as a Sign and Means of our Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ or of our sharing in the Fruits of his Death And amplifie it several ways 1. By considering on what Accounts this is a likely Means of such a Communion And 2. How Faith must be acted that it may be so as to us As to the former 1. As this Ordinance is Commemorative of the Sacrifice of Christ and being to be observed in Remembrance of him 2. As it is an open Profession of the Cross of Christ that we glory in it and therefore shew forth the Lord's Death that way professing our selves not to be ashamed of our Character as the Followers of a crucified Jesus 3. As it is a Renewal and Confirmation of the Covenant between God and Us through Jesus Christ Renewing our Engagements and Obligations to be the Lord 's for ever In the Celebration of this Ordinance we have a Special Opportunity for this it is a principal part of our Work at this Table 4. As it
is a fit Season for extraordinary Thanksgiving and Praise blessing God for Jesus Christ Which Thankfulness for Christ disposes and fits us for the Reception of further Grace as the Fruit and Purchase of his Death and so is the Means of our Communion in his Body and Blood Thus it is the Cup of Blessing and of Thanksgiving that we there Receive which Cup of Blessing upon such Accounts as these is our Communion in the Blood of Christ. 2. You will hereby the better perceive what is to be done on our part in order to this Communion 1. Our Faith must Eye the Authority of Christ enacting it We must act in Obedience to an Institution and Appointment of Christ It was a Remarkable Instance and Act of his Kingly Office to enjoyn this Memorial of his dying Love And the Season of its Institution is the more observable viz. In the close of his Publick Ministery of his Prophetical Office upon Earth and in his Entrance upon the Execution of the Principal part of his Priestly Office by being made a Sacrifice between both of these And to render both Effectual our Lord interposed an Act of his Kingly Office in the Institution of this Ordinance Accordingly it should be eyed and owned by us in order to our Communion with him therein 2. The Love of Christ must especially be Eyed and Attended to in this Supper as Exprest by his Death and Sufferings Of this we have here the most lively Representation with the Glorious Effects of that Love which are not Represented with such a Beauty and Lustre by any other Ordinance as by this The constraining Love of Christ in his whole undertaking is better discerned and tasted in this Ordinance than as it is proposed 〈◊〉 several parts in the Holy Scripture Here we are called to the particular Application of it He loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 Rev. 1.5 3. The Soveraignty and the Wisdom of God in Instituting these External Signs and Elements of Bread and Wine must also be Eyed and Attended to They most fitly Signifie and Represent the great Things they are designed for and yet without a Divine Institution could have no Relation to the Thing signified How suitable is the plain matter of this Sacrament unto the holy Author of it We remember in this Supper his Body hanging on the Cross and therefore it was not fit the Sacrament of his Body should be sumptuous and rich upon the Table Nevertheless by Bread to strengthen and Wine to comfort all the Benefits of a crucified Saviour are fitly Represented and much better than they could have been by the choicest Delicates In order to this Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ we must take heed to our selves not to rest in the External Signs but to discern the Lord's Body to apprehend the Spiritual Import and End of this Divine Institution That by Faith we may Receive Christ and feed upon him so as to Experience the Communications of his Grace and Receive fresh Influences of his Spirit That we may Accept all the Benefits of the New Covenant which are here Offered and Sealed to us and that we may Devote Resign and Dedicate our selves afresh to be the Lord's to Obey him and serve the Purposes of his Glory while we live in hope of the blessed Recompence which he has Purchased and promised and is gone to prepare and which he will not fail to come again and bestow Until which time this Ordinance is to continue in the Church To shew forth the Lord's Death till he come Vse 1. The first Reflection I would make on this is upon the Sacrilegious Confidence of those Men who deny Christians the Means of their Communion in the Blood of Christ who rob them of one half of this Sacrament by denying the Cup of Blessing to the Laity The Cup is the Communion of the blood of Christ says the Apostle Drink ye all of it says our Lord. And yet the Church of Rome will not suffer the People to taste it But as one Errour makes way for another they pretend that by the New Doctrine of Concomitancy the Bread or the little Wafer which is not broken neither according to the order of Christ but put whole into the Peoples Mouths by the hands of the Priest This Wafer shall be enough for the People and by the help of a strong Imagination of the Authority of their Church the very Body Blood and Bones of Christ shall be contained under the Form and Appearance of Bread One would wonder how any Thing can be plainer both in this and the next Chapter and in the Institution it self as Recorded by the Evangelists than the Universal Obligation upon Christians to partake of the Cup as well as the Bread And what Authority can any Man or Number of Men have to alter such a Constitution May they not as well take away the Bread from the People as the Cup They will grant that for a Thousand Years after Christ it was the Sense and Practice of the Christian Church that the People should partake of the Cup too And for Fourteen hundred Years it can be proved that they did even from the Apostle's Time down to that of Thomas Aquinas in the latter end of the Thirteenth Century Justin Martyr Cyprian Nazianzen Chrysostom and all the most considerable Writers of the Ancient Church are express in their Testimony for it But what need we concern our selves about the Judgment of Antiquity When there is a Positive Institution of Christ and in a large Account thereof by the Apostle Paul in the Eleventh Chapter he speaks but one word of the Consecration of the Bread but uses divers Expressions to signifie the Excellency of the Cup. This is my Blood says Chrâ—st The Blood of the New Testament shed for the Remission of Sins of many His sufferings and the reality of his Death are in a most lively manner set forth by the shedding of his Blood Not to insist upon his bloody sweat in the Garden You know when he was whipt and scourged and crowned with Thornes he then shed Blood Blood issued from his hands and Feet when he was nailed to the Cross and from his side when he was pierced by the Roman Soldiers By the shedding of his Blood he lost his Life and without shedding of Blood there could be no Remission So that to deprive the People of the Cup is to take away the most lively and the most essential Representation of the Sufferings and Death of Christ The Doctrine of Concomitancy will not availe in this Case The partaking of the Bread only is not sufficient whereby to remember his Death For the Separation of his Blood from his Body was the means of his Dying This destroys the Distinction between the two Symbols which yet are very different in their Names in their Properties in their Vse and in the Time of receiving them Besides it is contrary to all the Rules of Language
of it according to its Dignity and Excellency And thereupon to compose the outward and inward Man in partaking of this Ordinance as those that know we have to do with Christ himself and that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is Refer'd to by the Bread and Wine Such a discerning of his body would help to compose us to serious Reverence would awaken suitable Affections would excite the Exercise of Repentance Faith Love Thankfulness and Joy answerable to the Nature of this Feast of Love upon the Sacrifice of Christ This would Regulate the Behaviour of our Bodies and the Temper of our Spirits the Government of our Thoughts and the Motions of our Affections and make us Worthy Receivers The Neglect of this the not thus discerning the Lord's body is the Sin here mentioned and thereby they are Guilty of the body and blood of the Redeemer i. e. They are Profanely Injurious to the very Person of Christ they treat his sacred body and precious blood unworthily and with Contempt It is a Guilt like theirs that abused and crucified the Lord himself when he was upon Earth It is a Sin againâ—â— the body of Jesus Christ against his Humanity which of all Creatures that ever were upon Earth or that are now in Heaven is the most Sacred The Affront Contempt and Injury Redounds to the blessed Redeemer as God Incarnate as having our Nature now in Heaven 't is an Injury to the body of Christ That Body wherein he bore our Sins upon the Cross wherein as a Sacrifice for Sin he offered himself to God That Body that was prepared for him and formed by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin that was afterwards Gloriously raised from the Dead to a Divine Life and is now in Heaven the Wonder and Admiration of the blessed Angels and Raised to a State of Glory there as the Pledge and Earnest of our Resurrection and Bliss The not discerning the Lord's body has such a Guilt as this Implyed in it 2. The Punishment of this Sin of Vnworthy Receiving expressed by not discerning the Lor'ds body is here set forth by Eating and Drinking Damnation to our our selves or Judgment to our selves That is As sure as he eats and drinks if he do it unworthily So certain it is that Judgment shall follow he eats and drinks Judgment to himself That Addition To himself may denote two Things First That the whole blame should be laid upon our selves If such a Divine Institution designed for the Spiritual Good and Advantage of our Souls do prove to our Detriment and Damage In such a case it is we our selves that are the sole Cause of it Secondly The Expression may Import further That such as Receive Vnworthily they only hurt and defile Themselves but not other Men that communicate with them You may partake worthily and to Edification while Another by unworthy Receiving that sits in the same Pew may Eat and drink Judgment and condemnation but he eats and drinks Judgment to himself only not to You. Ephes 4.5 Every man shall bear his own burden Let every man prove his own work It cannot be thought that our Lord was defiled by coming to the Baptism of John when there were such a Generation of Vipers who came to it as well as Christ Or that our Lord and the Eleven Apostles were defiled by the company of Judas at the Passover-Supper For there be sure he was The Lord's-Supper was at the close of it And for his being present at that also many contend though * See Mr. Charnock Of the Lord's Supper 2d Vol. p. 7â—3 Compared with Mr. Kettlewell Of the Lord's Supper 12º 1687. p. 387 388 c. The one for his being Present the other against it Others think it probable that he went out before But the presence of some unworthy persons is made an Argument by many against their Partaking of the Lord's Supper in such or such a particular Church as if their presence would defile and infect them This therefore I shall consider as one Objection which several are apt to make against the Performance of this Duty Of frequent remembring the Death of Christ at his Table And then Secondly Consider the other Objection from this Text viz. From the Danger of Receiving Vnworthily lest they should Eat and Drink Damnation to themselves And Thirdly What many more are wont to plead That the Danger being so great they durst not Adventure till they know that they are Believers or such as are Invited For it is Children's bread and they durst not come till they are Assured of their Regeneration and Adoption I shall therefore enquire Whether any ought to come to the Lord's Table till they have Assurance or while they want it 1. It is Objected by many That they do not Communicate because there are such and such Admitted who ought not to come to the Table of the Lord Such as walk disorderly who discredit their Profession and are as bad as any of their Neighbours and Acquaintance And the Apostle says 1 Cor. 5.10 That with such we should not so much as eat That we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Ephes 5.11 That we should withdraw and separate and have no free familiarity with such 2 Thes 3.6 2 Tim. 3.5 2 Cor. 6.17 I Answer First That the Separation from Wicked Men required in such Passages of Holy Scripture refers to our intimate Converse and Familiarity with such who live in notorious and scandalous Sins and do not Testifie their Repentance We must avoid their company lest we be Infected And there is much more danger of Infection by Familiarity with them in daily Converse than by joyning with them in Religious Duties But we must be careful not to call those Vngodly whom we cannot prove to be so we should rather hope they are not unless we can prove the contrary What Sins are there that even a good Man by the surprize of a Temptation may not commit who yet mourns in secret and truly Repents It may be you may have heard of the Sins of many of whose Repentance you have not heard And yet they might truly Repent and you might know it if you would enquire But where the mixture of the â—ares and the Wheat is such that the one cannot be pull'd up without the other both must grow together till the Harvest Such a Difference as God will make at the last Day cannot now be made by us We may safer let the Righteous and Wicked go together as if all were Righteous when we cannot prove the contrary And we do not therein make a false Judgment we do not judge that it is certain that such and such are Sincere and truly Godly but that it is probable they may be so And we may have a stronger Confidence concerning the Sincerity of Some while we have only probable Hopes of Others yea with such Hopes there may be some Fear of their Hypocrisie joyned when
Acts of Faith Apply this Blood for our Encouragement and Consolation as the Purchase of our Peace with God and as that whereby we have Peace with Conscience All the Blessings we receive are owing to this Blood All the Services we perform must be Accepted through the sprinkling of this Blood and our Faith in it Let us therefore continually apply and plead it The Vertue of it is still the same as when it was at first shed We need not doubt but it is as Acceptable to God now and of as sweet smelling a Savour to him as ever Therefore the Life that we live in the Flesh should be by the Faith of the Son of God having daily Recourse unto his Blood for Pardon and cleansing and strengthning Vertue The Lord teach us this Great Mystery of Godliness THE END The Seventh Discourse BEFORE THE Lord's Supper From CANT II.iv. He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was Love I Shall not need to spend Time to prove this Book to be Canonical and of Divine Auuthority It was never questioned to belong to the Jewish Canon though some other of the Writings of Solomon have been doubted of The whole is an Allegorical Description of the mysterious Vnion between Christ and his Church as Represented under the Persons of a Bridegroom and Bride Which Metaphor is pursued in several other Places of Scripture and alluded to by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament The 45th Psalm is in some sort an Epitome and Abridgment of this Song of Solomon And that by all Interpreters even the Jews themselves is acknowledged to speak of the Messiah In this Chapter Christ and the Church seem to strive who shall outvie each other in their Encomiums and Commendations In the Two first Verses Christ speaks In the following you have the Voice of the Church or the Language of sincere Christians They Praise and Magnifie and Extol the Lord Christ in the Fourth Verse for his Bounty and Magnificence in making such Rich Provisions to Feast and Entertain them She had said before in the Third Verse That She sate under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet unto her Taste And thereupon adds this Commendation of his Rich Provisions He brought me into the Banquetting-house c. Where 1. She describes the Place or the Means of such a Spiritual Feast The Banquetting-house 2. The Welcom she met with there His Banner over me was Love Under the first Expression is Represented the Excellent Provision which our Lord makes to Entertain the Souls of Believers He led me to the House of Wine the Place where the Master of the House was wont to entertain his Friends Where the Wine is drank or the Entertainment made for so the Word signifies Some understand it of the Places where Christians Assemble and meet together to Worship Christ and Receive the Communication of his Grace the Places where the Ordinances of the Gospel are Dispensed But there is more than the Places of such Communication here meant viz. All the special Means and Instruments of Blessing unto the Souls of Believers It may comprehend the Holy Scriptures the Ministers of the Word the Sacraments the publick Assemblies for Worship and all the Institutions of Christ But amongst them all none more fitly or exactly answering to the Allegory than the holy Supper of the World the great Feast on the Sacrifice of Christ where we hope to be Entertained to Morrow 2. The Welcom she met with His Banner over me was Love His Standard towards me by the lifting up whereof I was invited and drawn to come over to his side to yield to him to give up my self to him The Love of a Crucified Saviour is displayed like a Banner to invite and draw Souls to Christ Therefore it is promised Isa 49.22 I will lift up my Hand to the Gentiles and set up my Standard to the people Christ the Captain of our Salvation lifted up upon a Cross Displays a Banner of Love to all the World to invite them to come to him And the Motto of his Banner is nothing but this Dying Love Victorious Or The Crucified Jesus Loving us to the Death And by his Love conquering our Hearts and constraining us to be his to love him and live to him and even dye for him 1. We may observe That our Lord has his Banquet and Feast whereunto he leads and where he Entertains the Souls of his Followers 2. That the Display of Christ's free and glorious Love is of all things the most proper to Invite and Attract the Souls of Men. 1. That Christ hath his Banquet and Feast unto which he leads and where he entertains the Souls of his Followers Under this Metaphor of a Feast or Banquet all the Spiritual Blessings of the Gospel-State are often Represented Thus when we Read of the Invitation to come to the Marriage Feast of the Kings Son Mat. 22. All the Graces and Comforts of the Spirit are meant forgiveness of Sin the Promise the hope of Eternal Life These are the Provisions of this Feast which in the Word and Sacraments we partake of In this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things of Wine on the Lees well refined Isa 25.6 It is a Promise concerning the Days of the Gospel In this Mountain In Mount Sion In the Church God will make a Feast for all people for the Gentiles as well as the Jews 1. It 's Literally true of Mount Sion at Jerusalem in which sense it must be understood in the next Verse This was the first Place this Mount Sion whence the Christian Law was to be given out and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem There the Holy Spirit fell upon the Apostles at Pentecost And there the Apostles began their Preaching after the Descent of the Holy Ghost with Wonderful Success So Psalm 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the Fatness of thy House Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures The like in Prov. 9.2 Where Wisdom is said to have killed her Beasts and mingled her Wine and furnished her Table The Revelation of the Gospel c. All kind of Gifts and Graces and Comforts distributed by the Ordinances of the Gospel are to be understood Especially that part of our Spiritual Provision which is said to be Meat indeed and Drink indeed I mean the Crucified Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Blood shed for the Remission of Sins That Institution therefore hath the very Name of the Table of the Lord 1 Cor. 10.21 We cannot be Partakers of the Lord's Table and the Table of Devils It is called a Feast on the Sacrifice of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Of which I shall have occaison to speak afterward There being all Things there that are necessary to a Feast And a Feast for all People for the Gentiles whom the Jews despi sed and counted as Doggs and
Pardon I now unfeignedly acknowledge own and avow Thee for my Saviour my Lord my God Though he professed his Unbelief in larger Words Except I see the print of the Nails and thrust my Finger c. Yet this Expression of his Repentance is equally significant He only stammers out two or three words My Lord my God But such as prove his Conversion and his Cure As the voice of the Patient will sometimes discover the Cure of a Disease in the Head When the Heart is full the Expressions are many times short and abrupt The Groans Desires and Inward Affections of the Soul are unutterable He had much more to say but he could not bring it out His Penitent shame on the one hand and his Zeal and Admiration on the other stopt his Mouth But the little he doth say is very much to the purpose He calls him Lord and God which upon the Resurrection of Christ every Tongue was to Confess The Truth of his Repentance Love and Zeal he afterwards more abundantly proved by labour and diligence and travelling up and down the World to spread the Gospel into * See Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas Parthia and afterwards among the Medes and Persians passing through the Asian Ethiopia says Chrysostom and at last came to India perswading them to Renounce their Idolatry and receive the Faith of Christ Some Remainders of this there are in some parts of India to this day And at last he was thrust through with Lances by the Command of an Indian King If we may believe the Account of some of the Jesuits * Relatione della Cina del P. A. Semedo 12. Parte Prima cap. 31. and other Missionaries of the Roman Church into China and those parts they do Ascribe the Preaching of the Gospel there to this Apostle and his Followers And the Chaldee Books concerning the Indian Christianity Cultivated by his Means are mentioned to this Purpose and Preserved to this Day by an A. Bishop of Granganour or Della Serra and Translated into Latin by a Jesuit One of those Books is a Breviary wherein are these words By the Means of St. Thomas the Errors of the Idolatry of the Indians were scattered By the Means of St. Thomas the Chineses and the Aethiopians were converted to the Truth By the Means of St. Thomas they obtained the Vertue of Baptism and the Adoption of Sons and kept the Faith which they promised to God By Means of St. Thomas the Beams of the Knowledge of Life enlightened all India and the Kingdom of Heaven entred into China And presently there follows an Antiphona which saith The Indians the Chineses the Persians and other Islanders those of Syria Armenia Grecia and Romania in Commemoration of St. Thomas do offer their Adoration unto thy Most Holy Name O Great God 2. Let us Consider the Reality of his Faith in this short Confession of it For upon these Words My Lord my God our Saviour owns in the next Verse the Truth of his Faith Blessed art thou who hast seen and hast believed Though a more ample and abundant Blessing be pronounced on such as did also believe without that help of Sight and Sense But here is an Excellent Faith and all the Essential parts of it comprehended in this Expression My Lord my God 1. An Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Christ the true Meissah who had Risen again as he foretold 2. An acknowledgment that this Jesus is both Lord and God that absolute Supremacy Power and Dominion belong to him that he is true God 3. An Appropriation of him to himself as his Lord and his God which following upon the former two contain the Essentials of true Faith 4. In this Expression we have an Evidence of the Two Natures of Christ the Reality of his Humane Nature and the Truth of his Divine 1. The Reality of his Humane Nature The Method our Lord uses to prove his Resurrection to this Apostle doth suppose that he was true man Partaker of Human Nature that his Body was of such a kind that our Senses might judge of it for else he would not have bid Thomas behold him and reach hither his Hand This may easily be improved to overthrow the Popish Fancy of Transubstantiation that the Body and Blood of Christ are in the Lord's Supper under the Accidents of Bread and Wine For at that rate Thomas might have still objected That what he saw and touched was not the Body of Christ but the Accidents of it and that he was not obliged to believe on the Testimony of his Senses that the Body of Christ was present But his Obligation so to believe is implyed in our Saviour's Words Reach hither thy Hand and be not faithless but believing And on the same Testimony of Sense we are bound to believe that it is Bread after Consecration and not Flesh that it is Wine and not Blood 2. The truth of his Godhead is also evident that he is really and truly God This Title My God as well as My Lord is very observable because it hath the Article before the Word God And it is commonly granted by the Adversaries of the Deity of Christ that where-ever the Word God is used with the Article before it it there imports the True and Eternal God So is the Expression here which our English Translation does not reach for it may rather be read The Lord mine the God mine My Lord my God From his Office as Lord and Christ he Riseth to his Divine Nature and the Dignity of his Essence He had reason to own him to be Christ the Lord by his Resurrection and other things which he had observed before and from that Dignity he owns him to be true God worthy of the Highest Homage and Adoration Had it been otherwise the Apostle would not have given the Title of God unto Jesus Christ nor would he have received it For the Greater any Person is the greater Danger there is of giving him such Titles as belong not to him As to give to One that is next to the King the Title of King Especially to ascribe Divinity and Godhead to a Creature What can be more provoking to him who is Jealous of his Honour and will not give his Glory to another Isa 42. It cannot well be supposed that (a) See Placaei disput in loc Tom. 3. 4 to Thomas who was brought up in the Jewish Religion could be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Vnity of the Godhead He must needs know what Moses and the Prophets teaâ—h concerning it Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord Deut. 6.4 This was one of the Sentences written on the Fringes of their Garments and quoted by Christ as a known thing Mark 12.32 Neither can it be imagined that our Saviour would have permitted such a thing without Rebuking him if he had not been true God as well as real Man But so this Apostle does acknowledge him and so must we
And every * Dr. Manton on Colos 1.19 p. 202. Office of Christ as our Prophet Priest and King doth suppose and require that he be true God as well as true man or he could not discharge those Offices to any Saving Purpose for us 4. Let us then Imitate the Faith of this Apostle in contemplating the Death and Resurrection of Christ that we also may say as he did My Lord and my God And that will include both a Claim of Interest and special Propriety in him and imply the Dedication of our selves to his Use and Service The one of these will follow upon the other When God says I am thy God we cannot but answer That we are his Servants and resolve to be so And if we are his and Devoted to him we may infer that he is Ours for the Covenant is mutual But if we cannot as sometimes we cannot so clearly and comfortably say My God We may yet humbly and resolvedly say My Lord that is I am thy Servant I am Devoted to thy Fear I am resigned and given up to thee I have chosen thee for my Portion and I have dedicated and devoted my self for ever to be thine c. The more serious we are in this the more likely are we to come to this Claim and Appropriation and special Interest in God and Christ as ours And till we Arrive to some Degree of this we are Strangers to the most comfortable part of the Christian Life For this is a great ground of our Confidence and a main Spring of our Joy My Beloved is mine and I am his He loved me and gave himself for me This attracts our Love this wins our Hearts and fills us with Joy unutterable and full of Glory If Christ by the Presence of his Spirit would visit our Souls we should then be able to use such Language of Faith If he will visit us as he did the Disciples when Thomas was with them his Presence and Power can produce such a Faith And if he please he can enter and do this though the Doors be barred and shut never so close For he can open them as he did the Heart of Lydia Though they be of Stone or Iron he can break he can soften he can make them Hearts of Flesh Let us beg he would so visit us by his Spirit Though we have not the Priviledge to touch him on Earth as this Apostle yet we may behold him as the holy Martyr Stephen in Heaven We may Contemplate him by Faith as at the Right hand of God And so we may behold the print of the Nails and thrust our Hand into his wounded Side and hear his Voice yea taste as well as touch his very Body and Blood feed upon him We have some of us so done this Day And after such a Sight and such a Taste shall we not cry out My Lord my God O my Lord what have I done O my God what shall I do O my Lord my dear Lord Jesus who am I that thou hast loved me so as to dye for me so as to give thy self a Sacrifice for me O my God what shall I render to thee How shall I express my Gratitude What shall I do to honour thee O my Lord thou hast Redeemed me at a costly price O my God give me of the Spirit of Grace to renew thine Image subdue my Lusts and assist mine Obedience My Lord my God the King of Saints the Prince of Peace the First Begotten from the Dead the First Born of every Creature the First Fruits of them that sleep the true and only Potentate the great Immanuel God with us true God and true Man Whom have I in Heaven but thee c. Let us labour aftâ—r such a Faith and beg it of the God of all Grace and never desist till in the use of that and other means we are brought to use such Language too Lastly As to you my Brethren who have been at the Table of the Lord Consider what have you been doing Your great Business hath been or should have been this Day solemnly to Renew the Covenant between God and you in such Appropriating Language of Faith as these words of Thomas For Christ and all his Benefits are offered to you by the Distribution of the Elements Behold me I am yours Accept me Take me says Christ. You by Receiving them say Lord I am thine Accept me Possess me for thine own The Lord's Supper is the New Testament or Covenant in the Blood of Christ you there Ratifie the Baptismal Covenant he saith I am thine and you say You are his This inward personal Covenanting between Christ and you is the great Thing to be minded and this amounts to the same with My Lord my God acknowledging his Right by the one Expression and professing your own Interest by the other This was Virtually done in our Baptism this was actually done at our first Turning to God when we entred into Covenant to be the Lords And this we professedly Repeat and publickly Renew every time we come to this Table We have this Day acknowledged him to be our Lord we have entred into a solemn League of Subjection and Fidelity to him we have taken on us a solemn Bond and Obligation of Duty and Service And if we are Vnfaithful every Communion will come in against us as so many Oaths that we have broken For by Feasting on this Sacrifice this Day we have again Sworn at the Altar we have said it in our Hearts My Lord my God And we have professed it by our Actions We have played the Hypocrites and acted the part of Children and Fools if we did not mean it And if we do not stand to it while we live we are Rebels and add Perjury to our Rebellion by violating our Bond Covenant and Oath And if we do so we have imprecated a Curse upon our selves even all the Curses of a broken Covenant and so have sworn to our own Condemnation You therefore who have this Day Avouched the Lord for your God and have said to Christ My Lord my God Remember that he is both And don't expect he should be thy God thy Portion thy Happiness thy Heaven if he be not thy Lord. Don't think he will be thy Jesus thy Ransom to save thee from Hell if he be not thy Lord to govern thy Heart and Life He is the Author of Eternal Salvation only to those that Obey him an Everlasting Saviour to them only to whom he is a Lord. Don't expect that the saying Lord Lord either now or hereafter will be enough if thou be a Worker of Iniquity and do not what he Commands thee if his Interest in thee and Authority over thee will not prevail more than the Entreaty of a Friend or than the gain of a little Money or the Allurement of a little Pleasure or the Inticement of a Lust or the Temptation of a Devil But if you sincerely and unfeignedly take him for
assured None can be in Christ without it none in Christ so as to have any special distinguishing saving Benefit by him Application 1. Are none in Christ but new creatures How many then must be excluded How many of excellent and laudable Qualifications of great Attainments and high Professions and moral Accomplishments must yet he excluded and shut out from having any part in Christ because they are yet Strangers to this New creation and consequently are not in Christ but under condemnation Meer Civility and a plausible inoffensive Carriage is quite another thing We need but view the Lives and Actions of the generality of such as are called Christians to confirm this That the Number is but small of those who are in Christ How few have had any awakening Convictions about these things and many such miscarry 2. How miserable is the condition of all unrenewed Souls without a change they are excluded from all saving benefit by the Redeemer They are not in Christ and therefore are under the Curse and Condemnation which by union to Christ we are delivered from Rom. 8.1 Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye are Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.6 All our hopes of Life and Salvation by Christ depend upon it The Guilt of all our Sins doth otherwise lye upon us And all the black Clouds of Divine Vengeance hang over our heads The Wrath of God bides upon us as if there were no Christ no Gospel And there is nothing between us and Everlasting Ruine but a little Breadth 3. Then none but New Creatures have a Right to the Lord's Table For the invited Guests are such who are in Christ The Covenant of Grace cannot be sealed in that Ordinance to those who are not under the Bond of the Covenant The Benefits purchased by Christ are not confirmed at his Table unto those who are none of his I grant there is an Unworthiness as to present frame that even those who are in Christ may have but it is the Unworthiness as to state that I am speaking of Such as are not in Christ having nothing to do to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood lest they eat and drink Judgment and Condemnation to themselves He that doth not truly Repent cannot be truly Interested in the Promise of Pardon and therefore cannot have a Right to the Seal of it They are dead in Sin cannot receive Nourishment by this spiritual Food The least that can be said as one observes is this That it is in vain and to no good purpose for such can no more receive Christ in the Sacrament than a Chicken that should come into the Assembly and pick up some of the crumbs of the bread from the ground after Consecration can be said to receive the Body of Christ But the Danger is unspeakable of Eating and Drinking unworthily for such eat and drink Judgment to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body You may desire to come to this Table and you may say enough it may be to satisfie a Minister of Christ who cannot judge of your Heart and Conscience doth not know the whole of your Life But you your selves must look to it that you be in Christ and that you evidence you are so by being New Creatures We can but Warn and Admonish you and offer our Assistance and help At your own peril be it if you come and yet live in any known Sins and cherish the Enemies of Christ though you profess to be his and presume upon all the Priviledges of his House and Family as real members of it But I will yet add That those who are in Christ if they would have Assistance and Grace from the Spirit of Christ to walk as New Creatures they ought on the other hand to take heed how they absent themselves from that Ordinance If they would either have the comfort of their being in Christ or would have supplies of Grace to walk as New creatures they should be frequent and serious in Sacramental Duties Have you not weak Graces to be strengthened and manifold Corruptions to be more subdued Inordinate Love to this World more Crucified Do you not need more Ability to discharge several Duties and overcome divers Temptations Do you not desire to be more Partakers of the Image and Life and Spirit of Christ Is your likeness to Christ so compleat your Faith in all its branches so active and firm your Love to Christ so warm your Heavenly Desires so fervent your Patience and Resignation so perfect your Obedience so exact your standing so sure that you need no more Influence of the Spirit of Christ Should not your own necessity oblige you to be frequent in this work besides the Authority of your Lord which is motive enough to those that are in Christ And he requires you should remember his Dying Love this way and show forth his death tiâ—l he come It is proper work for us to begin the year with To renew our Covenant with the Lord by partaking of the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood giving up our selves again to be the Lords with renewed Repentance for the sins of the Year past and repeated Exercises of Faith for Pardon and Peace and Grace and Righteousness and Life 4. The next Vse may be of Examination To try whether we are in Christ or no by inquiring whether we are New creatures or not Your Love to Christ your Likeness to him your Subjection to him your Fruitfulness in him will discover it Are old things done away with you and all things become new Is there still the old Darkness and Blindness that was upon your minds or Are you Light in the Lord Doth the old Deadness Security and Carelessness remain upon your Hearts and Consciences old Thoughts and old Designs old Discourses and Conversations as little Savour in the things of God as ever As little Victory over the Temptations of the World and the Flesh as formerly Are your Wills as rebellious and stubstorn as ever Are your Desires after Vanity and your Affections towards Earthly Things the same as formerly So for your Hopes and Fears Joys and Sorrows What Change hath been wrought Does fleshly Appetite and Sense and Carnal Interest sway and govern as much as ever Or is there a New Creation wrought in you Have you a new Mind and Judgment a new Heart and new Affections Do you walk in Newness of Life Is your Internal Principle changed and the External Rule of your Actions changed too Are you no longer conformed to the World but transformed by the renewing of your Minds Rom. 12.2 Is that sin hated and crucified that before was indulged Is that Saviour prized for to them that believe he is precious and the Chiefest of ten thousands that before was slighted Do you delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man Do you find the Holy Law of God written in your Hearts setting you against every sin in your selves and others Do you walk in the Spirit and after
the Spirit of Christ and not after the Flesh or according to the course of the World as formerly Is the Life you lead in the Flesh by the Faith of the Son of God How do you stand affected as to inward Spiritual Duties that concern the inward workings of your Thoughts and Conscience and Affections and such things as none but God and you do know of Is it as great a burden and trouble to your Souls to act contrary to the renewed Nature as before to contradict the Inclinations of the Flesh Is Prayer your dayly work and delight Do you cherish and promote the new Creature Are you restless after you have fallen into Sin till by Repentance you recover Pardon and Peace Do you grow up daily into greater Conformity to Christ and Imitation of him Desiring nothing more than that his Image may be drawn more lively on your Hearts and exprest more fully in your Lives according to the various Providences of God that call for the exercise of such and such Graces and according to the various Institutions of Christ wherein such and such Holy Affections are to be imployed The knowledg of this Union to Christ upon examination will give us the Comfort of all those Priviledges which result from it Examine how matters are with you as to these things and what care you take to maintain the bonds of Union to strengthen Faith and obey the Spirit and whether it be better now than it was a year ago While Merchants and Tradesmen cast up their Books and make up their Accounts at the end of the Year let us not neglect the like work as Christians with reference to our Spiritual State Let us not be less concerned to know whether we Thrive or Decay whether we advance and go forward or else decline 5. The next Vse may be of Comfort to such as are in Christ Our Union to him is the Foundation of all our Fellowship with him and after supplies of Grace and Life If we are in Jesus Christ he is made of God unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Such shall be delivered from Wrath entituled to Eternal Life have the Pardon of all their Sins Christ as their Advocate pleads for 'em in Heaven in him they are Adopted and have free access to God his Spirit dwells in them their Services are accepted c. If we are in him there is no condemnation unto such Rom. 8.1 Such a man is not condemned is not in a state of condemnation for the present John 3.18 And such a Member of Christ cannot Perish who by Union to him is United to God the Fountain of Life Our Lord speaks of the Union of the Father unto him as Mediator and his Union unto us as both in order to our Perfection and eternal Felicity John 17.20 23. I in them and thou in me that they may all be made perfect in one But there is no Reconciliation to God no Remission of Sins no Adoption no Salvation by Christ but for such as are in him Whereas all things are yours even Life and Death things present and things to come when you are Christ's There is a Train of invaluable Blessings follow this new Creation and Union to Christ where it is truly wrought * See Mr. Polhill 's Christus in Corde chap. 8. 2 Ephes 13.14 1 Cor 3.22 You are brought under the bond and blessing of the New Covenant Jer. 31.33 You are dignified with a new Name Rom. 2.17 You are begotten to a new Hope entitled to a new Inheritance 1 Pet. 1.3 1 John 12.13 And you shall be preserved and kept by the powerful Grace of Christ unto the full possession of it None shall pluck you out of his hands because he lives you shall live nothing shall be able to separate you from him If you are planted into the likeness of his Death for the destruction of the Body of Sin you shall grow up with him in the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6.5 6. Not only shall you receive Influence of Spiritual Life from him while you live but by vertue of this Union you shall dye in the Lord and sleep in Jesus Rev. 14.13 1 Thes 4.14 You shall be with him in Glory and your Bodies shall be raised by him and be made like his most glorious Body Rom. 8.11 But Lastly Let me close with Exhortation 1. Unto all to labour after Vnion to Christ 2. Unto those that have good hope through Grace that they are in him and profess to be so Let me exhort them that they would live as new Creatures 1. Labour after Vnion unto Christ How earnestly should this be desired how diligently pursued For we can have no Communion no Adoption no Freedom from Condemnation without it Faith on our part and the Spirit on Christ's are the Bonds of Union Let us carefully make use of the Word and Prayer in order to both waiting and begging of God and using all the hopeful means that are in our power in order to it How earnest should be our pursuits of this Priviledge how fervent our Prayers and constant our Endeavours after it Never leave solliciting the Throne of God till the Creator and Father of Spirits have created another breath into your nostrils another spirit into your Souls even the Spirit of Christ whereby we are united to him lay your self at his feet and with all the violence and importunity and humility that your distressed case may prompt you to beg the holy spirit to over shadow thee And yet learn so much Patience from thy beggarly state as not to challenge him at thine own times but wait his leasure and observe his motions doing all that possible thou canst in the use of common Grace to prepare the room against his coming and continue in Prayer watching thereunto in the use of all the out means which God hath afforded thee 2. Be exhorted to live as New creatures You are obliged to it by your Baptism and by your Profession of Christianity You that come to the Lord's Table are especially obliged That old things should be done away and all things become New You consider his Sufferings from time to time as represented in that Ordinance You there feast upon his Sacrifice and consider the cause of his Sufferings your own Sins and the end of them your Redemption from the Guilt and Filth and Power of Sin Can you do this and not feel the Obligation to live as New creatures and resolve upon it Do you not there renew your Covenant and engage your selves afresh to walk as the Redeemed of the Lord unto all well pleasing Do you not there cast your selves into the Arms of a Crucified Saviour and plead the Merits of his Death and beg the Supplies of his Spirit and bind your selves to strict fidelity to him as long as you live under a grateful sense of his kindness who has loved you and washed you from your sins in
many of our Acquaintance and Friends but that our Names may be amongst those who shall not out-live this It is true It may be you shall live to see the Conclusion of this New-year but it may be you shall not live till Midsummer It may be I may Preach a Twelve-month hence but peradventure you may hear a Sermon occasioned by my Death before that time Or your own ears may be stopped if my mouth be not You may die if I should live yet a few years more I cannot look round on this Assembly but I must conclude that of all this number it is past doubt but some one or more will dye before this year be over I believe I need not scruple to pronounce it There is none can question but if the number were much less one or more would dye within a year Therefore the Voice of God is to every one of you Awake and mind your Work Turn to the Lord and seek after Union to Christ and see that you be New creatures for you shall die before another year But you will almost All be ready to say To whom in particular do you speak this Sure not to me Yes I speak it to you to every of you whether in Youth or Age To you Parents and to you that are Children To you Masters and to you Servants To you Husbands and to you Wives To you before me and to you on either hand This Call of God is to every one of you in particular See that you be found in Christ for you may not be found alive at the end of this year Oh but I hope the contrary say such and such As for me I hope I have many a fair year to come I am in sprightly vigorous Youth or I am in setled confirmed Stength and Health or I am but just entred into the busie World or just now entring upon it c. But How many younger and more likely to live have died this last year and therefore why may not you be one of those who shall dye this Nay Elder Persons are ready to excuse themselves and say They have many Seniors to go before them That many who are Elder than they they see do yet hold out year after year Their inward thought is that they have escaped many Dangers and been recovered from many Sicknesses And though they are but weak and crazy and have many Infirmities and Pains to presage their Dissolution Yet notwithstanding these they make a shift to live and have rubbed on for several years under such weakness And several of their Acquaintance as weak and sickly as they have continued a good while for all that And so neither Young nor Old will admit the Supposition as to their own case Nor You nor You nor any body will believe they shall dye this year And so the next year I doubt not your Hearts will say the same as now for there will be the same pretence And therefore it is not unto you I must speak of Death but rather wish you Joy of the long Life which with so much confidence you reckon upon Well Shall I say then Go and enjoy this World and live as you list if you durst put it to the Venture Go and gratifie your Senses Appetites and Lusts for this year as you did the last and never think of Death or fear it You are not like to dye this year or the next But How unreasonable is such Security when some one or more of this Assembly you grant will probably or most certainly dye this year And how can you be certain that you shall be the Exempted Person Or that your nearest Relations and those you love best That they shall not dye this year Your Parents your Pastors your Husbands and your Wives and your Children and your Bosom Friends you will as hardly admit the thoughts that they shall dye this year But if some or other of those that now hear me that now look upon me that now listen and attend to what I say should be called away to Judgment before another year Why may not you in particular be the Persons or the Desire of your eyes those whose Lives are dearest to you Certainly To begin the year with such a Thought can do you no harm but may be improved to many useful purposes However I must tell you If after all the Changes which we have seen within a Twelve month and which every year brings fresh experience of we will not look forward to our own great change If we will not heartily concern our selves for our greatest truest Interest and prepare for an Everlasting State by voluntary vital Union with the Son of God I must tell you for a Conclusion That God changeth not And if neither the Voice of his Providence nor the Voice of Conscience If neither the Calls of the Word nor the Motions of the Spirit If neither the Experience of others nor so much as we have had of our own will awaken us to change our course You must know that the Holiness of God his Justice and his Truth are unchangable He will not alter the terms of Life for you and me He will not find another way for us to escape Condemnation than by being in Christ and being New creatures Therefore look to it that you be found such And in wishing and praying you may all be Such I do not only wish you a happy New year But a happy Life if it be for many years And withal a Blessed Eternity after Death which such as are now in Christ shall then Enjoy with him when Days and Years and Time shall be no more God grant it for Christ's sake Amen The Second Discourse â— Christ's passing over the Brook and Entring into the Garden After the Lord's Supper From JOHN XVIII 1 2. When Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron where was a Garden into the which he entred and his Disciples And Judas also which betrayed him knew the place For Jesus oft times resorted thither with his Disciples UPon Thursday the Day before the Crucifixion of our Lord he goes to Jerusalem from Bethany and there eats the Passover with his Disciples at the end whereof he institutes the Sacrament of the Supper and then makes a large Pathetical Discourse contained in the 15th and 16th Chapters Upon which followed his admirable Mediatory Prayer in the 17th Chapter Now having said and done this having said these words and sung an Hymn with his Disciples he goes forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron c. The Jews it is true did not go out of their Houses that Night after the Celebration of the Passover Exod. 12.22 24. Because of the Angels passing by the Houses of the Israelites when the first born of the Egyptians were to be cut off That the Israelites might not mix with the Egyptians at that time but sprinkle the Blood of the Paschal Lamb on their
Affected towards Christ by whose Blood and spirit we are Sanctified and cleansed He loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood And if he have applied it to you in particular you cannot but adore and Love him and delight in Communion with him Love him and love his Image wherever you see it Love him and have the same Friends and Enemies with him Love him and prize your part in Christ above all things in this World And if you love him you will watch and observe his Carriage and Behaviour whether he smile or frown whether he be angry or pleased more than what all the World can say or do for you or against you If you are washed by Christ it must needs be so And the sense of his redeeming Love and pardoning mercy and Sanctifying Grace will so raise your Love to him as to increase your hatred and detestation of sin You will remember and be confounded and melted and ashamed and humbled for sin by the sense of his being pacified toward you and having washed you in his Blood For so is the Promise 16. Ezek. 63. That thou mayest Remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done sayth the Lord God The experience of Christians confirms it Eightly How do you stand Affected as to your Company Washed Persons will delight in clean Company They that are the sheep of Christ washed in the Blood of Jesus cannot take delight in the Company of Swine Nothing but necessity or the design and hope of doing them good will bring you into such Company You will not choose it and take pleasure in it as formerly or make such your Familiars Ninthly I might add that such will long for the Perfection of Holiness when they shall be perfectly cleansed and purged from sin It will be their dayly work to purifie themselves as Christ is pure by the hope of seeing him as he is 1 John 3.3 the thoughts of Heaven as a state of Perfect Purity in conformity to the Image of Christ will be very delightful and Death it self as the way to it will lose it terrors and become desireable Sixthly The next use I would make shall be for the Encouragement of repenting Sinners and returning Backsliders How vile soever they have been through Repentance toward God and Faith in our Lord Jesus they may yet be washed Sanctified and Justified If you are under a serious Conviction of your Guilt and Filthiness and ready to crie out O God I am ashamed and blush to look up because of my Iniquities or with the Prophet We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord. Jer. 3.5 Yet turn to the Lord and he can Heal and Cleanse and Pardon and Sanctifie Tho your sins be as Crimson or Scarlet they shall be as Snow and Wool The Blood of Jesus can cleanse from all sin That Fountain is yet open Forgiveness and Sanctification may yet be had He is willing to receive and accept you if you are but heartily willing to forsake you sins and turn to him Who is like unto our God that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of his heritage Mich 7.18 Object I. But some of you may be ready to reply I have broken my Vows and greatly backsliden from God after I had returned to him I have defiled my Garments after having been washed I have turned with the Dog to his vomit and with the sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire Surely God will never be reconciled to me or gracious to me more I have known somewhat of the truth of Christ and tasted of the good Word of God and had some experience of holy Walking and the pleasure of it and gave up my self again and again to the Lord at his own Table and yet I have revolted from him since My Conscience flies in my face I durst not goe to God as formerly He may Justly upbraid me and say what Iniquity did you find in me that you have left me Was I a barren Wilderness or a Land of Drought That you thus forsook me Was I an unlovely God that you could not like me Was my Arm shortned that I could not help you or have I ever failed my word that you might not trust me c. How then shall I look him in the Face after such Apostacy How shall I ever hope to be washed again that have so defiled my self after having been washed Answ But have you not an express Call and Promise from God to encourage you to Return Jer. 3.22 A Promise worth Millions of Gold and Silver Turn unto me ye backsliding Children and I will heal your backslidings Do but turn and I will help you He calls you Children and you must call him Father as you can and not turn your backs upon him v. 19. I said saith God Thou shalt call me my Father and shalt not turn away from me even though I said for thy backslidings How shall I put thee among the Children Object 2. But you will say I have wounded my Faith as well as my Conscience I read a Promise but it yields me no Comfort I hear of the Fatherly Mercies of God but I cannot apply them for I have forsaken God and he may justly forsake me My Heart misgives me I cannot go to him as to a Father I question whether ever I was a Child or no I fear my spots are not the spots of his Children But consider this If thou be a Returning Backslider God can see the truth of thy Grace when thou canst not discern the truth of his Love Thy Father seeth and knoweth thy Heart and if thou truly Repent and Return he will accept thee He can behold a Child through a Backslider When thou canst not look up to him as to a Father there is yet ground enough for thee to Return that he may heal thy Backslidings Object III. But I have little hope that such a Treacherous Backsliding Heart as mine should ever be healed If I should be washed now I shall again defile my self If I should once more be received to mercy I should backslide again And as good never come as to come to no purpose If I return to him and continue not with him it will but be the worse in the latter end Answ If God undertake the Cure he can purge away thy Iniquities as well as forgive them Destroy the power of sin as well as remove the Guilt He can heal thy Backslidings in the Root and Cause and Principle of them so as thou shalt not turn aside from him as formerly He can establish and strengthen thy Heart and give thee more stedfastness and he calls thee to Turn in order to it Therefore turn to the Lord. Object IV. O But I am never healed till I Return I must die of my wounds I shall
Idols I say he leaves it unto themselves Verse 15. I speak as unto wise men Judge ye what I say That was the Case amongst many of these Corinthians they did not scruple to accompany their Unbelieving Neighbours and Acquaintance to the Banquets that they made in Honour of their false Gods They did not scruple to Eat with them of those things that were taken from their Execrable Altars as a Part and Remnant of those Sacrifices to Idols which were performed in the City of Corinth with all the Pomp of an Abominable Superstition This the Apostle shews to be unsuitable to their Profession of Christianity and that it could not agree with the Honour they had of eating at the Table of the Lord For these Heathens were seduced by Satan to make those Sacrifices and they were Devils whom they Worshipped as supposed Demi-Gods and in such Feasts they had a familiar Communion with them And I would not says the Apostle that you should have fellowship with Devils Verse 19 20 21. You cannot drink of the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils You cannot be partaker of the Lord's Table and the Table of Devils In the Words of the Text he leaves it to them to judge Whether it be not a most horrid Impiety to pretend to joyn these Two together the Divine Body and Blood of Christ with the Impious Sacrifices of these Idolaters For he makes the partaking of the Lord's Table not only a Testimony of our Vnion unto Christ and our Communion one with another as his Members but also a Testimony of our Disunion and Separation from all Idolatrous Worship The Cup of Blessing that we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread that we break c. Where we are to consider 1. The two Sacramental Signs the Cup and the Bread 2. What is to be understood by the Body and Blood of Christ 3. What by Commmnion in them 4. How the Cup and Bread in the Sacrament of the Supper are the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ And then I shall help you to Apply it 1. Concerning the Sacramental Signs the Cup and the Bread The Cup for the Wine in it by an ordinary Figure and the Bread which we break These are the two outward Elements in this Institution and neither of them must be omitted Whereas in Baptism there is but one outward Element here are two And there is good Reason for it 1. Because this Represents the Violent Death of Christ wherein his Blood was shed and separated from his Body It is therefore necessary there should be one Sign to Represent his Body and another Sign to Represent his Blood there having been a Separation by Death which is here to be Represented 2. The Lord's Supper being the Mystery of our spiritual Nourishment by Christ it was proper to employ both Eating and Drinking which are the two parts of our Corporal Nourishment and that could not have been entirely Represented by either of them alone The Cup of Blessing or Benediction which we bless or give thanks for i. e. Which we set apart by Prayer and Thanksgiving Blessing and giving of Thanks being often put one for another 1 Cor. 14.16 And in the Evangelical History Matth. 26. and Mark 16 What one Evangelist calls Blessing another calls Thanksgiving By vertue of which Blessing or Prayer by a Minister of Christ in his Name and according to his Example and Order That which before was common is set apart to an holy use and becomes the Sign and Seal of the Body and Blood of Christ The Cup of Blessing The Jews were wont at the Passover Feast or rather after it to drink of a Cup which the Master of the Family did bless i. e. Did pray over it or concerning it To distinguish this from that the Apostle says The Cup of Blessing which we bless which we Christians set apart in our Assemblies to shew forth the Lord's Death by And from this Passage of the Apostle this Ordinance is called by the Ancients the Eucharist upon the account of the Blessing or giving of Thanks Justin Martyr who lived but Fifty Years after the Death of the Apostle John calls it the Bread of the Eucharist in memory of the Passion of Christ Nay the Greek word for Blessing in this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving of Thanks is sometimes used by the * See Mr. Daille in loc Ancients as the Name of this Institution Among others Cyril Bishop of Alexandria does often call it by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cup of Blessing which we bless and the Bread which we break At the Feast of the Passover the Jews made use of such Bread as was flat and round and so was to be broken and cut asunder And the unleavened Bread among the Jews to this very day is of this kind Now our Lord Instituting his Supper the same Evening after the Celebration of the Passover we may suppose made use of the same sort of Bread That is As he changed the Signification of this Bread from that of their unleavened Bread to be a sign of his Body so he imployed the breaking of this Bread to signifie his cruel Sufferings in that body upon the Cross This Cup and this Bread even after Consecration For the Bread is not broken till after that is said to be the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ not his real Flesh and Blood For besides the Vanity of such a Sense and the Indecency and Uncomeliness of it yea the Contradiction and Impossibility of it It is against the express Testimony of the Apostle here and in other Places According to the new Doctrine of Rome Instead of saying here The Cup that we bless He would have said The Cup that we Transubstantiate and change into the proper Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ The Cup in which we leave not one drop of Wine But by pronouncing four or five little words fill it with the Body of Christ And is not this a strange way of blessing a Person or Thing to destroy the very Nature of the Thing that it shall be no longer what it was before The Bread was not blessed that it might be destroyed nor given to be eatâ—â—â— that it might cease to be before it was eaten 'T is to suppose God to put forth Miraculous Power to make his own Command of eating the Bread impossible The Bread that we break it is therefore Bread after it is broken after the Consecration and breaking it is Bread still For the Transubstantiation if there be any is upon the Consecration before it be broken But I hope most English Protestants are pretty well Instructed in this Truth and therefore I need not insist longer upon it 2. What are we to understand by the Body and Blood of Christ of which this is said to be the Communion
to say I drink when I only eat But there is worse in it still For they seal up the Fountain of Christ's Blood from the People They pour it back again as it were into his Body and shut up his wounds as if his Blood were not shed for any but the Priests God has appointed the double Elements to increase the Consolation of Christians And we should not marvel sayes one that they who deny the Certainty of Grace and the Possibility of Assurance should deny the People the double Elements By their Doctrine they Preach but a half Comfort to Souls and by their Practice they administer but a half Sacrament to the Laity It is true They tell us that we read of this Ordinance under the Name of Breaking of bread We grant it But they may as well conclude That when Joseph Feasted and entertained his Brethren that he gave them nothing to Drink because it is only said That they did eat with him Can any one doubt but when we pray for our daily bread in the Lord's Prayer that we ask what is necessary for the Relief and Satisfaction of our Thirst as well as Hunger in that Petition Notwithstanding all that may be said against their Practice of denying the Cup to the People we read in the History of the Council of Trent when Communion in both kinds was proposed by those who were sent from France In the Reply made to that Motion They called the Cup for the Laity a Cup of Poyson And among other Anathema's in the Council of Trent there is one against all those that shall say That the Church had not good reason to take away the Cup from the People And yet they assign no Reason at all when there is manifestly as much Reason for drinking of the Cup as for eating of the Bread the same Authority requiring both The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of the Blood of Christ 2. With what humble Thankfulness should we use this Priviledge and obey this Order of our Lord Remembring him in this manner since thereby we have Communion in his Body and Blood The Night before he was betrayed he took Bread and took the Cup He Instituted the Feast and bid us Celebrate it in Remembrance of him You my Friends and Followers as if our Lord had said I am now about to leave you for the hour is at hand when I shall be Apprehended bound and Judged Condemned and Crucified and then I shall Rise again and go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God E're long I shall be received out of your sight you shall see me no more on Earth you shall not eat and drink with me any more as you have done But let me not be out of your mind when I am gone I have loved you and I will love you to the Death And to morrow you shall see the proof of my Love to you and to the lost World when I shall offer my self a Sacrifice for sin and lay down my Life for you And will you forget me That you may not I do institute and appoint this Solemn Memorial of my Death and leave it in Charge upon you and my whole Church to the end of the World upon all my Followers in all Ages to do it in Remembrance of me As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup of Blessing that you shew forth my Death till I come Accordingly the first Disciples of Christ did every Lord's Day make it a part of their Publick Worship But as the Zeal and Fervour of Christians abated the Frequency of Celebrating this Feast did abate too But some will be ready to say The Priviledge is so great I durst not adventure It is the Communion of the body and blood of Christ I am not fit for so great an undertaking My Conscience tells me I am utterly unworthy of so high a Favour My sins are so many and my frailties so many I durst by no means as yet adventure to come I Answer 1. That Sense of our Unworthiness and Unfitness which keeps us from the performance of a plain Duty is not true Humility It is not Presumption to do what we are required and to come when we are bidden though we are Unworthy to come We are unworthy of Food and Cloathing Will you therefore starve your selves or go naked Remember you are Invited and your Refusal thereupon may proceed from Pride if the Sense of Unworthiness hinder your Obedience to the Call of Christ It is a bold thing you think for you to come But is there no faulty Boldness in your neglecting to come when Christ has bid you remember him this way For this is not a Priviledge only but at the same time it is a Duty too And if your sense of your Unworthiness help you to come humbly and better prepared it is one of the best Characters of a worthy Receiver but it ought not to keep you from receiving altogether 2. You say you are unfit It may be you say true Will you continue so from year to year Is it not a Duty to fit and prepare your selves to repent of all sin and give up your selves to God in Christ as your God and Saviour and then renew your Covenant Do not you know that the Ignorant and the impenitent who are unfit to come to the Lords Table are unfit to die unfit for Heaven And will you continue in such a state wherein you are unfit to die And yet are uncertain to live an hour Your unfitness is your sin and will you turn it into an Apology for your other Sin It is the Duty of all real and unfeigned Christians to come to this Ordinance And it is the Duty of all to be such that they may come Not to Commemorate the Death of Christ this way as he hath appointed it is one sin To live in the neglect of due Preparation for it is Another Will your being Unprepared excuse your not coming when it is your duty to be such as may come How can you think God will forgive one sin because you commit another How can you expect he should pardon your neglect of his Table when all that you can say is that you neglect to fit your selves for it Men will not do their duty in other things and so are unfit for this Therefore 3. How is it that you are not as much afraid of disobeying this Command of thus Remembring the Death of Christ as you are afraid of doing it Unworthily You are afraid you should offend God by coming But ought you not to fear lest you offend him by staying away Should not a total neglect be apprehended a Fault as well as an undue Performance You do well to fear Unworthy receiving O be but as fearful to continue Unworthy and Unfit to receive This equal fear of Caution on both sides would make you diligent and solicitous to fit and prepare your selves And this concerns
Forgiveness of Others If we have not had Love to our Fellow-Christians more excited in us to all that are Members of the same Body though they err and mistake though they diner from us though they be angry with us though they think hardly of us and speak hardly against us Yet if we have not had our Spirits brought to a Temper able to forgive them to pray for them and be ready to do them good c. We cannot say we have had Communion with Christ in his Ordinance For such Effects as these wiâ—l follow upon it Or rather it is in these things wherein a great part of our Spiritual Communion doth consist 2. If there have been any thing of this kind bless God for such a merciful Season For this is the Real Advantage and Good of any such Ordinance when it Rectifies our Spirits and betters our frame and subdues our Corruptions and recovers us from our back-slidings and gives us any thing more of the Divine Image and Likeness and makes us hate Sin more and love God and one another better This is the Real Advantage of such Seasons These are gainful Opportunities indeed where these Things are Attained where in any measure there are such Consequences of Approaching to the Lord's Table 3. Let us endeavour hence-forward to walk worthy of such a Priviledge and long for the Repetition of it Let us watch our Spirits this Evening and to Morrow and the following Week and Month that we may not presently lose the Savour of these things by secular and common Discourse and vain Converse When we go away from the Publick Worship let us spend the Remainder of the Day in such Offices and Exercises of Religion as may Assist us to prosecute our Great Design and may strengthen the Vows of God into which we have newly entred And let us shew we like his Fare and are pleased with the Entertainments of his House by desiring more such Opportunities and by Improving them when-ever they return One thing have I desired of the Lord says the Psalmist and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord for ever By this means we should endeavour to become growing thriving fruitful humble self-denying heavenly exemplary Christians walking worthy of our High and Holy Calling purifying our selves more and more from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit That our Hearts may be more fixed for God and Christ against all Competitors and under all Discouragements That Christ Jesus may have the more intire Possession of our Souls and the Service of our Lives That his Love being shed abroad in our Hearts nothing may ever be able to separate us from it That whether we live or dye Christ may be All in All to us Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood To Him be Glory throughout all the Churches for ever Amen The Fifth Discourse Before The LORD's SUPPER THE Sin and Danger OF Unworthy Receiving From 1 COR. XI xxix He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself SO deep and General is the Corruption of Mankind that it may truly be said of very Many whose Carriage and Conversation is fair and unspotted that they are rather restrained by the Fear of Punishment than of Guilt of being Sufferers rather than of being Criminal Such an Errour it is true is injurious to the Dignity of the Divine Law and to the Honour and Authority of God's Government Nevertheless God doth so far Accommodate himself to our State as to Rule us by Moral Arguments that are proper to Influence our Hopes and Fears and therefore employs Threatnings as well as Promises and punishes some as Examples of Severity to warn others from the like Transgressions This Method the Apostle makes use of in this and the foregoing Chapter when he designed to Reform the scandalous Abuse of the Lord's Supper which these Corinthians were guilty of After he had Explained the Nature of the Institution and opened the Design and End of it he had Represented it as the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ He tells them what most manifestly follows from thence viz. The Greatness of the Sin to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup unworthily that if they do it without Self Examination they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord They offend against the Lord Redeemer who hath appointed this Sacred Rite and even against his Body and Blood which are Signified and Represented by the Bread and Wine as the Memorial and Sign of it This to those that have any due Regard to the Authority and Love of a dying Saviour one would think should be Argument enough But least it should not besides the Declaration of their Sin he Denounces the Punishment of it in these Words That such do eat and drink Damnation to themselves Wherein we have First The Description of their Punishment who do unworthily partake of the Lord's Supper That they eat and drink Damnation to themselves Secondly the Reason of that Punishment intimated in the Nature and kind of their Sin That they discern not the Lord's Body Before I consider the Punishment of Vnworthy Receivers it will be proper to open a little the Nature of their Sin mentioned in the latter part of the Verse Not discerning the Lord's Body This may refer to the foregoing Expression of being Guilty of his body and blood and the one Phrase will give light to the other Such as receive Unworthily are Guilty of the body and blood of Christ because they do not discern and distinguish it aright They do not think of it as they ought They do not carry it suitable to its Excellent Nature and Vse and so they eat and drink Judgment to themselves by not discerning the Lord's body And thereby are Criminal against the Person of the Redeemer as cloathed with Human Nature and as giving the Memorials of his body and blood separated to betoken his Death and Sufferings For so we remember a crucified Saviour in this Ordinance It is therefore no wonder if such a Fault be severely punished That which we Translate Discern it is well known signifies to make a difference between one thing and another as Acts 15.19 So not to discern the Lord's body is not to difference and distinguish concerning it to look no further than the outward sense not to make a difference between common and sacramental bread not to eye the body and blood of Christ as signified by the Sacramental Elements not to remember or consider his cruel Sufferings which this should put us in Mind of This be sure is not to discern his body But few can be supposed so ignorant as not speculatively to discern and distinguish in this case But practically to do so is a greater mattâ—r it Imports to mind to attend to to esteem to honour to apply to use the body and blood of Christ and the sign and the Memorial
of Prayer and other parts of Divine Worship All these will aggravate your sin But the Possibility of doing other Services of Religion amiss is not counted a sufficient Reason for the not doing ' em After all such pretences and excuses there is too much Reason to think that the most are afraid of coming to this Ordinance lest the preparing for it and the consequent Duties which they know are required should interrupt their Sensual Pleasures or their inordinate Prosecution of the World and oblige them to leave their sins which as yet they have no mind to part with Such as these ought not to come indeed they have other work first to do They are first called to Repentance and Faith in Christ and afterwards to the Communion of his Body and Blood They are called to understand and own their Baptismal Covenant by the Answer of a good Conscience and then to renew it at the Table of the Lord This Priviledge belongs not to them till they have truly repented and forsaken sin and yielded themselves to be the Lord's 3. Object But others are ready to say I would come and have had many a Thought about it But I doubt of my own Sincerity and the truth of my Grace I know it is Childrens Bread and I am not certain I am one of that number And does not the Apostle tell us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat Now I doubt whether I am passed from Death to Life or no May such a one as I venture to come who have no Assurance that I am in a State of Grace Are all those unworthy and unfit to come who come in any other State of Soul than they think they may safely dye in Several things may be said in Answer to this 1. That many mistake the Nature of true Faith and Sincerity and think if they have not Assurance of the Love of God that therefore they have no true Faith They make saving Justifying Faith to consist in believing the special Love of Christ to their Souls in believing that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Christ But this is a dangerous Mistake which one would wonder under such clear Light as we enjoy should be so common For how unspeakable is the Difference between the Truth of Grace and the Knowledge of its being true between a hearty Consent to the Terms of the Covenant and the Reflex Act of Faith so as to be able to say I know my Interest in the Covenant Many a false Professor may flatter himself that his Faith is true when it is not and many an Vpright Christian may doubt and question Whether he be one or no But the Latter shall one Day be ashamed of their Fears as the Former of their Hopes The Lord knoweth who are his when many that are His do not know it themselves And if a Minister of Christ will ask a few home close Questions of such doubting trembling Christians by which their hearty consent to the Covenant may be judged of Their Answers plainly shew That they believe in Christ and love him above all the World and regard no Iniquity in their hearts And yet will continue to doubt of their Integrity though the Bent of their Hearts and the Endeavours of their Lives do abundantly prove that they are Sincere 2ly However it may ordinarily be known whether your Faith be of the right kind or no and whether you are Vpright towards God or no. We are bid to Examine and Search and try and prove our selves in order to it that we may find the Mark and Impress of God upon our Souls the Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit there and so have Rejoycing in our selves and not in another It is so far from being unlawful to collect Comfort from the Marks and Signs of our Sanctification and to prove our Vnion to Christ and Justification that way that it is the very Method of the Gospel to direct us to know our State towards God by thus looking inward to find the Image of Christ upon the Soul and by observing the Fruits of the Spirit in a godly Conversation Such doubting Christians would do well to Consult some Faithful Minister of Christ and Represent the State of their own Case what they feel that so they may be told what it doth signifie and be help'd to judge of themselves It is granted that you know how it is with you better than any Minister can do For as * Mr. Baxter One well expresses it A Patient knows better than any Physician what he feels but a Physician when he hears it can tell from what Cause it comes and what is the Nature of the Disease and what is like to come of it and what is the proper Method for a Cure There is a great deal of Reason why you should expect and hope for the Resolution of your Doubts in such Cases by consulting some Minister of Christ especially him under whose Ministry you have chosen to place your selves as the Helper of your Faith and Joy 3. The Penitent Christian though he want Assurance is Accepted of God and hath Right to this Ordinance whether he believe it or no. If you unfeignedly consent to the Covenant of Grace and with an humble penitent Sense of your past Sins are willing and desirous to close with Christ on the Terms of the Gospel That God shall be your God and Christ your Redeemer and Lord and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier and Guide If you are willing heartily willing to give up your selves to be instructed ruled and saved by him This is the very Heart of saving Faith And if this be your Character you are the Members of Christ and ought to come to the Lord's Table For though your timorousness and present Scruples may make you Suspend for a-while they cannot deprive you of your Right to the Ordinance nor disoblige you from the Duty of coming to it For All such who unfeignedly consent to the Covenant they may and ought to come to signifie their Consent and to receive the Seal of the Covenant 4. Every Christian ought to endeavour to know his State lest they be distracted between the Hopes of God's Acceptance of them on the one hand and the Fears of coming Vnworthily on the other Because they doubt of their Worhtiness they fear to come And because they have some good Hope they dare not stay away lest they neglect their Duty The proper Remedy is to Resolve Unfeignedly to please God and obey him in this and all other Instances and then do this in Remembrance of Christ as what all his Followers are obliged to do It may be that Ignorance of thy State from whence thy Doubts proceeds is owing to the Neglect of Self Examination and the use of proper Means to know thy Self 5. It may yet be Adviseable for some melancholy tempted Persons under some perplexing Doubts to stay away for a-while till they have competently over-come their Fear lest
simply But 2. Let us consider more particularly how these Things with Relation to the Jewish Passover were accomplished by Christ as the Lamb of God to take away Sin And that will appear if we consider four Things 1. The Person of Christ as our Passover or Paschal Lamb 2. His Sufferings and Sacrifice 3. The Fruits and Benefits of them to us 4. The way and manner of our Participation of these Benefits 1. The Person of Christ who is the true Paschal Lamb. I shall not stay to consider the Resemblance of his Character to a Lamb for Meekness for Patience for Submission and Obedience He was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers is dumb so he opened not his Mouth Nor that the Pasâ—hal Lamb was to be without blemish sound and entire without Bruise or Maim Thus holy was Christ in his Conception and Birth and in all the Actions of his Life A Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 Holy harmless and undefiled separate from Sinners Heb. 7.26 Nor how the Lamb was set apart and chosen for three days and killed the fourth answered by Christ's being set apart to his Prophetical Office wherein he manifested himself for about three years before he offered himself a Sacrifice in the fourth year Those that write concerning the Types are large upon this Subject 2. We may consider his Passion and Sufferings the Fulfilling of it as to his Death and the Time of it The Paschal Lamb was to be Roasted with Fire Which might not only put them in Mind of the Hardships they endured in the Brick Kilms of Egypt but Prefigure the Sufferings of Christ as crucified and pressed when his strength was dryed up like a Potsheard and his Tongue did cleave to his Jaws Psalm 22.15 The Time also of his Suffering agreed with the Time of the Jewish Passover About the Ninth Hour or Three a Clock in the Afternoon the usual Time that the Passover was to be Killed 3. As to the Fruits and Effects of his Sacrifice there is a further Accomplishment of the Type For the destroying Angel is diverted from the Israelites Houses The Blood of a Lamb could not Merit or procure this but as it Represented the Blood of the Messiah Whereby the Wrath of God is quenched and we delivered from Satan the great Destroyer And as this was the Earnest of their Deliverance from their Bondage in Egypt By the Death of Christ we are set free from a much worse Slavery 4. Consider the manner how we partake of the Benefit and Fruits of Christ's Sacrifice Our Hearts must be sprinkled with the Blood of Christ as the Israelites were to sprinkle the Blood of the Lamb on the Door-post of their Houses They were to feed upon the Flesh of the Paschal Lamb We are in a Spiritual sense to do so with Reference to Christ John 6.53 They were to eat it with sour Sauce with bitter or wild Herbs Repentance for Sin must be joyned with Faith in a Saviour Vnleavened Bread was to be thrown out of the House And you know how the Apostle applies this unto those who are called to keep the Feast even that Feast upon the Sacrifice of Christ at his own Table 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Not with the Leaven of Malice and Wickedness But with the Vnleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth It was Remarkable as to the first Passover It was to be eaten in hast with their Loins girt Shoes on their Feet and a Staff in their Hand As Pilgims and Strangers here who are hastning to a better Country which God hath promised and which their Canaan may Mind us of and make this also Applicable to our Case Which will bring me to the Sixth and last thing Sixthly and lastly The Resolution amd Declaration of Christ to eat and drink no more of this Passover till it be accomplished Some think that the 18th Verse I will drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine till I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdome is misplaced and ought to come in after the Institution of the Lord's Supper as it is placed by the Evangelists Matthew and Mark. * 83. Homil. in Matthaeum Chrysostom thinks it Refers to his Eating and Drâ—nking with his Disciples after his Resurrection in this World That he would not any more Eat and Drink till he had suffered Death and was risen again And then to manifest the Truth of his being Risen he did condescend to satisfie and convince them in that manner But there is little ground for that Interpretation It is not improbable but our Lord may Allude here to the Custom of the High Priests who coming out of the Holy of Holies did keep a Feast of Joy with his Friends For if he were a Wicked Man say the Jews he died in the Place If a good Man he came out safe And then he Rejoyced with his Friends and kept a Feast where they were wont to drink New Wine To this Custom our Lord may Allude in this Expression thereby telling his Disciples That he should not sink in the Performance of what he underto k * Dr. Allix in the great Offering that he was to make to God his Father but come off with Success And then they should Rejoyce and Feast together He would drink new Wine with them in the Kingdom of his Father Some think the Evangelist Luke as to Christ's drinking new Wine Refers to the Lord's Supper that was to follow And as he Recites the Words they are more Intelligible than as they are mentioned by St. Matthew or Mark. He Annexes them to the Passover Cup though the other Recite this Passage after the Cup in the Lord's Supper But the Words might have been spoken by Christ before And 't is easier to Transpose the Words in Matthew and Mark to the unmentioned Occasion which was immediately before the Lord's Supper than to Transpose the whole 19th and 20th Verses in Luke before the 17th Verse which would also make it a Tautology By the Kingdom of God all the Evangelists seem to mean the Gospel Dispensation which was to Commence in the Lord's Supper as the first of that sort for the Baptism of John and of the Disciples of Christ before his Death was different from Baptism since the New Testament Baptism Acts 19.4 5. The Lord's Supper by Anticipation did signifie and shew forth the Lord's Death This is my Body broken for you He supposed it broken and himself sacrificed and the Passover fulfilled Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God Typified and Presignified by the Paschal Lamb till his Sacrifice of himself And so to put a Period to the former Oeconomy on which the Gospel Dispensation did ensue The Term New till I drink it New may be accounted for and that some of the Evangelists say that Day I 'll drink it New though it were the same Hour because it Refers to a different Period and Dispensation viz. The
signifies a Covenant is derived from a Root which signifies to Eat And hence too we read of an Idol among the Sichemites which was called Berith or the God of a Covenant because the People of that Place were wont when they made Covenants to eat and drink with their Confederates in the House of that God of theirs as you find they did when they entred into a League with Gaal and made him their Head in Opposition to Abimeleck Judg. 9.27 Humane Writers afford many Instances of this Nature how People were wont antiently to make and ratifie Covenants between Nation and Nation between Party and Party and between Man and Wife sometimes by eating Bread sometimes by drinking Wine and frequently by partaking of both together Which shows that it was the General Custom of Mankind to Contract and Covenant with one another by the Visible Rites of Feasting and Banqueting together The Old Heathens had many Religious Feasts before their Idols whereby they Covenanted with those Imaginary Deities The Israelites are charged with Idolatry for complying with such Pagan Rites Exod. 32.6 1 Cor. 10.7 When the People made an Altar to the Golden Calf they bring their Peace-offerings and Celebrate a Religious Banquet upon the remainders thereof They sat down to eat and to drink to Feast together before the Golden Calf and rose up to play This they did in Imitation of the Aegyptians among whom they had lived so long So by the Perswasion of the Moabites they joyned themselves to Baal-Peor entred into Communion with that Heathen Deity that was Worshipped on Mount Peor by eating the Sacrifices of the Dead or * Selden de Diis Syris Syntagm 1. cap. 5. such things as were offered in the Memory of the dead Numb 25.3 Psal 106.28 And the Apostle calls the eating of the Heathen Sacrifices a Fellowship with Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 There were some in the Apostles time did go and eat of those Idol Sacrifices 1 Cor. 8.7 To prevent which a Canon was made at the Council of Jerusalem that Christians should abstain from Meats offered unto Idols Acts 15. Because by sitting at Meat at the Idols Temple they made themselves partakers of the Table of Devils And the Apostle shews the Inconsistency of this with the participation of the Lords Table because this is a Sacrifical Banquet proper and peculiar to us Christians as the Idol-Feasts were Sacrifical Banquets proper to the Pagans and the Mosaical ones to the Jews 1 Cor. 10. As Jews and Heathens were wont to feed upon a Sacrificed Beast we Christians do feed upon a Sacrificed Redeemer by eating and drinking in Commemoration of his Death and Sacrifice and thereby Renewing our Covenant with him as his avowed sworn Servants and Disciples 4. Another Design of this Feast may be to wean us from the Vanities of this World by tasting these Spiritual Provisions and therein how gracious the Lord is That by eating of this Bread and drinking of this Wine we may hunger and thirst no more after Sensual Delights That we may not care to feed on Husks when we eat of this Bread in our Fathers House 5. That our Thoughts of the Heavenly Glory and our Desires after it and progressive Meetness for it may be excited and promoted And no Institution of the Gospel is so proper for this so well Adapted for this purpose as were easie to shew and your own Meditations can sufficiently enlarge Vse 1. Hath the blessed God his Feast and Banquet to Entertain such wretched Creatures as we Let us sit down and Admire his Adorable Condescention That the Lord of Glory should make a Feast for such Beggars such Worms such Vile Sinners as we That we should be called to the Priviledges of Children to sit down at his Table We that deserve not the Crumbs with the Dogs under the Table That he doth not only richly Feast us but stoops to Treat us in our own way in a manner so sensible and easie and plain that we may see and taste to our fuller satisfaction that he is Gracious That the outward Signs and Symbols are so plain and obvious when the great Things signified and represented are fit to employ the deepest Meditation and surpass all that our most comprehensive Thoughts can reach 2. Doth God make such a Feast Then let him never Invite but be you willing and ready to come Take heed how you slight the Invitation and Call of God It is a dangerous thing I grant to come unprepared and unready and so is it to tarry away and to refuse Obedience to the Command of our dying Lord who the same Night in which he was betrayed Instituted this Feast and calls us to do it in Remembrance of him They that come without a Wedding Garment they are said to be Vnworthy and to eat and drink unworthily And they that refuse to come to the Gospel-Feast upon Christ's Invitation they are said to be Vnworthy too Matth. 22.8 You little mend the case if when you hear of the Danger of coming unworthily you will not come at all For that Impenitence and Unbelief that makes unworthy Communicants will not excuse your Neglect of the Duty You must Repent and believe in Christ and so come prepared He that eateth this Bread and drinketh this Cup unworthily he eats and drinks Judgment to himself 'T is certain he is guilty of a Sin that without Repentance will damn him and he is in danger of some Calamity Sickness or sudden Death Such as was inflicted on the faulty Corinthians But he doth not so eat and drink Damnation as that such a Sin is Vnpardonable and shall certainly be followed with Hell For it is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost which is never Repented of If the fear of Damnation have influence in the one Case it should have in the other because to neglect this Duty is a Sin as well as to come unprepared we ought to do neither You therefore who are to come look to it that you come worthily lest you be Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord Lest you be Guilty of the Murder of Christ and of Self-murder at once by eating and drinking your own Damnation Ignorant persons scandalous persons Hypocrites and false Pretenders to Religion such as intrude rashly and come impenitently with the habitual love of Sin without true Repentance All who come ignorantly or hypocritically who cannot discern the Lord's Body or come with a design to cover some secret Lust Let these beware for they come as it were with a Knife in their hand to kill the Redeemer in his own House to stab him at his own Table and Crucifie him afresh They are Guilty of his Body and Blood which in stead of pleading on their behalf for Mercy will cry against them for Vengeance You will hereupon I doubt not be glad of a little Advice and Direction that you may come worthily and be duly prepared that you may avoid so great a hazard And
Sacramental Discourses ON SEVERAL TEXTS BEFORE and AFTER THE Lord's Supper By JOHN SHOWER LONDON Printed for Abr. Chandler Sam. Clements and Sam. Wade at the Chirurgeons-Arms in Aldersgate-Street the Swan in St. Pauls Church-yard and Bible under the Piaza of the Royal-Exchange in Cornhill MDCXCIII Mr John Shower THE PREFACE THERE are Three Things especially requisite unto a Worthy Communicant to believe and own the Truths which our B. Lord would preserve the Memory of by this Institution and to have a lively sense of the Comforts and Encouragements that may arise from thence and then to perform those Duties of Love and Gratitude and faithful Obedience which result from our Covenant Relation to him and the open Profession of it The Doctrines and the Encouragements and the Duties of Christianity are admirably connected and joyn'd together The Principal of all these we are called to consider in this Sacred Ordinance Which yet is shamefully neglected by many who would take it very ill not to be thought good Christians who live from year to year in the Omission of it who make no Conscience of Remembring the Death of Christ in this manner As if they had no Saviour who dyed for 'em or he had not Appointed this way of Remembring his dying Love Or as if the Command Do this in Remembrance of me because spoken to the Apostles did only concern them and the Ministers of the Christian Church Whereas tho' our Lord sate down with the Twelve the Command is given to them as Disciples and Representatives of all his Church rather than as Apostles Or if the latter He gave it to them to d spense it afterwards unto Others not excluding their own Communicating for they who deliver the Elements as Ministers do partake of 'em as Disciples and Christians and Brethren What I have received of the Lord that also I deliver unto you saith the Apostle and if Ministers are bound to Deliver it the People are bound to Receive If our Saviour's words Do this in Remembrance of me relate to Ministers as such it is a Command for them to Administer the Lord's Supper and the same Command must be supposed to bind the People to Receive it that doth oblige Ministers to Deliver it There be some who omit it from Superstitious unbecoming Fears and Scruples as if our Lord were more to be Honoured by our absenting from his Table than by frequenting of it Many on the other hand are guilty of Presumption and Rashness by careless unprepared Approaching to it Several Cases are here spoken to which relate to both sorts though many more should be added As to the manner of performing this Duty we cannot come too humbly in a sense of our Ignorance and Weakness and Sinfulness owning that we are nothing and have nothing and can do nothing without his Grace that may be pleasing to him and that we have done very much to dishonour and provoke him especially by our late Transgressions that we deserve to be cast out of his sight and denied the Priviledges of his House and Family never to taste of the Childrens Bread But having renewed our Repentance before we come we are called to express our Love Gratitude and Joy When we view a Dying Saviour a Crucified Jesus before our eyes lifted up upon the Cross drawing all Men to him bowing down his Head and stretching out his Arms to embrace us as he appears all bloody to fright us from our sins so he opens his side that we may see his Heart flaming with Love He calls us to behold his wounded body with Hearts wounded with a Penitent Sense of Sin and a growing Love to the Redeemer He calls us to seal a Covenant of Fidelity to him and to accept the Purchased Benefits of a Gracious Covenant sealed back from him to us Here we behold the Lamb of God a Sacrifice for those sins we have so lately Repented of removing that Wrath which we so lately trembled at as having justly deserved and therefore we should Approach this Table with Gladness and Rejoycing Here we are called to give publick Expressions of the Love and Honour we bear to the Remembrance of Christ We do it in Thankfulness to him for all he hath done and suffered for us Here we profess our Faith and Hope and Trust in a Crucified Saviour We own him for our Lord and our Jesus we declare we are not ashamed of his Cross or of any Difficulties Trials or Sufferings we may be exposed to for his sake He needed not have cared whether we were Saved or no And yet how low hath he condescended to purchase our Happiness and Salvation and to Assure us of it What manner of love is this that the Eternal Son of God Incarnate should endure a Painful Ignominious cursed Death for us that we might not dye Eternally How wonderful and incomprehensible is this love How pleasant should be the contemplation of it Here is an Abyss of Love of Adorable Allmighty Love on this side Heaven but leading to it which we cannot fathom but are called to admire A Crucified Jesus represented and commemorated as a Sacrifice for us What more Glorious Sight can we desire to see How should this awaken all our Affections and in some respect puzzle not only our Passions but our Faith too As an Object too large for our narrow Thoughts too high for our Finite Minds too Great for our Wonder and for our little Love and Joy How delightful is it to be thus even lost in the consideration of this matchless condescension and Grace of our Redeemer When the Object is too big for our highest Raptures and Transports and we are swallowed up in silence and astonishment How should this Love constrain and draw forth ours When we consider for what vile and sinful creatures the Son of God gave his life and made his Soul an Offering How his Love to us Enemies and Rebels was stronger than fear or shame or death without bounds and without example When we Feast on this Sacrifice what can we do less in requital for this Infinite love than devote our selves Souls and Bodies to him as the Purchase of his Death And lay all our Affairs and dearest concernments at his Feet to be disposed of as he pleaseth How can it be but our love to him must be kindled maintained and encreased by such an Institution Remembring and considering his love to us till we are brought practically to conclude and determine that our love to him is too little if we love any thing besides him except it be by his order for his sake and to his Glory except it be according to the prescribed Rules and limits he hath set us And how proper is it here to Renew our Baptismal Covenant faithfully to promise to be entirely the Lord's to be obedient and resigned to him to be Treacherous to him no more but stedfast and resolved in his Service taking his Law as our Rule his will to be
and Lord by a present compliance with his Terms We must devote and give up our selves heartâ—ly and unfeignedly and unreservedly to be his And then we may say My Beloved is mine and I am his I am in Christ and Christ in me And here is the great Office and Work of Faith in this World to bring Christ and our Souls into this blessed Union Upon which Account we are now in him as hereafter we shall be with him When the work of Faith is over and we are brought to Glory we shall be with Christ and shall be ever with the Lord But now we are said to be in him It is true we are now said to sit in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus But hereafter it is promised we shall sit down on his Throne with him Now he dwells in us and we in him Hereafter we shall be with him to behold his Glory For so he Prays John 17. And he promised the Penitent Thief that he should be with him that day in Paradise Our spiritual life is now hid with God in Christ as to present Union by Grace but it is hid with Christ in God as to eternal Glory The expressions are observably different In Christ now with Christ hereafter Now united with God in Christ Hereafter with Christ in God In Christ upon Earth In God in Heaven For to be in Christ refers to the Mediator and is by Faith But Faith shall cease in Heaven and the Mediator deliver up the Kingdom to the Father that God may be all in all Thus for a brief Explication of the Priviledge of being in Christ II Let us consider what is affirmed of those that are in Christ or what they are exhorted to What they are if they be in Christ What they must manifest themselves to be if they will prove an Interest in such a Priviledge that is New Creatures If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature Or a New Creation for so the Original will bear And it is not in this place only but several others where the like Expressions are used concerning that great Change that is made by the Grace of God on the Souls of Men. It is termed a Creation for the greatness of the Change and a new Creation for the Excellency of it One may be apt to think That the Extraordinary Conversion of the Apostle Paul made so great a Change in him that it is on that Account he so often speaks in such terms that he mentions so often old things done away and the old Adam put off That he speaks of a New Man a New Creation and New Creatures and a Spiritual Resurrection from the Dead and the like As that Glorious Light which shone round about him when he was struck to the ground in the way to Damascus might occasion him so often to use the expression of Light for at every turn he speaks of the Father of Lights the Armour of Light the Kingdom of Light the Inheritance of the Saints in Light of Illumination of opening the Eyes c. But how fit a representation is this of the Change by converting Grace as might be illustrated by considering the state of Spiritual Death that we are in before and by considering the nature of the Change it self and the Effects and Operations that do afterwards manifest and discover it We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works begotten again born from above quickened and made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins Several words are used according to the several Powers of the Soul and according to the different objects the New Creature is conversant about For as this Change discovers it self in the Vnderstanding it is a translation from darkness into Marvelous Light and brings us to the true and saving knowledge of God in Christ The fâ—rst thing that God created in the Natural World was Light 1 Gen. 3. 2 Cor. 4.6 1 Pet. 2.9 10. As in the Will it is a choice of God and full purpose of heart to cleave to him And as to the different objects it has also other names As referring to Christ dying it is Faith To Christ living it is Love To Christ ruling and commanding it is New Obedience But here it is called a New Creation Not as if it were a removal of the old Substance or any of the Powers of the Soul But a rectifying a sanctifying of them by setting up a new light in the Understanding giving a new Byas and Inclination to the Will turning the Heart from Sin and the World to God and Christ to Holiness and Heaven Not changing the Nature of our Affections but curing the Corruption and Disorder of them and changing the Objects about which they are conversant Some think the Metaphor is taken from the Proselytes to the Jewish Religion whose Conversion to Judaism was accounted a kind of New Birth and they reckoned New Creatures Which our Lord seems to allude to in his Discourse with Nicodemus and wonders such a Doctor in Israel should be ignorant of it Others think it may allude to the Jewish Custom with respect to their children They taught them to read at three years old and then instructed them till five then put them to School where they learned the Law of Moses till Ten and for three years more they applyed themselves to understand the Jewish Traditions and the Mysteries of the Synagogue and when that time was expired at the Age of Thirteen they said a Child was a New creature that is sufficiently instructed how to live and please God alledging Isa 43.21 This People have I formed or created for my self Our state of nature and sin is ordinarily exprest by the Metaphor Dr. Hammond's Serm. on Gal. 6.15 of Old Age our natural Corrupt Affections that are born and grow up with us are called the Old Man as if since Adam's Fall we were decrepit and feeble and Aged as soon as Born as a Child begotten by a Man in a Consumption never comes to the strength of a Man is alway weak and crazy and puling hath all the Imperfections and Corporal Infirmities of Age before he is out of his Infancy And accordingly all that is opposite to this old corrupt decrepit state is termed New And so we read of a New Doctrine and New Covenant New Tongues a New Commandment New Man Mark 1.27 Chap 16.17 John 13.34 Ephes 2.15 and the state of Grace exprest by this All things are become New The Man when old hath entred a second time into hiâ— Mothers Womb and is born again and is become a glorious beauteous New Creature so that you would wonder to see the Change You have heard in the Primitive Church of a Grain of Faith removing Mountains The work of Regeneration the bestowing of a Spiritual Life on one dead in Trespasses and Sins the making of a Carcass walk the Natural Old Man to Spring again and move spiritually is as great a Miracle as that Therefore called a
own Door-posts as a Mark of Distinction Whereas our Lord having abrogated the Passover and instituted his Supper to succeed in its room all the Precepts that concern the Jewish Passover with all the Appendixes belonging to it were made Null and of no Effect and consequently our Saviour might go out that Evening especially when the Jews tarried within door to avoid suffering the Wrath of the Angel but he goes forth that Evening to meet with suffering For he knew that Judas would betray him that Night and that he was well acquainted with the place he went to for he was wont to retire thither with his Disciples He went forth when he was to be betrayed and taken as afterwards he suffered Death without the Gate of the City He went out of Jerusalem thereby declaring it is thought That the Gentiles had an interest in his Sufferings as well as the Jews That it was not that particular People alone he was to suffer for but the rest of the World were to be equal Sharers in the Benefits of his Passion He went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron where was a Garden into which he entred c. In these Two Verses we may consider 1. The Place he passed over the Brook Cedron 2. The Company that was with him his Disciples 3. The Time after he had eat the Passover and instituted the Supper 4. The Place he retired to that was the Garden of Gethsemane 5. The Reason why he chose this Place for Meditation and Prayer the beginning of his Passion 6. His Custom to retire there He was wont to do so And lastly I shall consider what Practical Instructions may be gathered from the whole for our own Use 1. The Place over which he passed the Brook Cedron a little Rivulet of that name between the Temple of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives that ran through a dark deep Valley In Summer it was often dry and in Winter or after the fall of any considerable Rains it was full The cursed things were burnt here when Hezekiah and Josiah purged the Temple and City of Idolatry The Filth and Uncleaness of the Temple was cast into this Valley through which this Brook ran that our Lord passed over Which may mind us of his being made Sin and a Curse for us to abolish the Curse of the Law to purge us from our Filthiness and to bring about everlasting Righteousness for us As hardly Two Circumstances of our Saviour's Passion but had a Type so in this for instance we have an eminent one in David's going over the Brook Cedron when by the Rebellion of his Son Absolon he was forced to quit the City of Jerusalem 2 Sam. 15th Chapter David was then forsaken by his own Subjects as Christ was rejected by his own Countrymen and as He and all the People wept when they went over the Brook Cedron to the ascent of the Mount of Olives Our Lord when he went over this Brook retired to a Garden on a part of that Mount and there prayed himself into an Agony and wept Tears of Blood As soon as David had passed over this Brook to the Mount of Olives he worshipped God and poured out a Prayer recorded in the 3d Psalm So did our Lord pour out strong Crys and Intercessions to God on the same Mountain when he had passed over this very Brook Cedron From this first Particular before I proceed further we may learn to expect in imitation of Christ to follow him in the like path to go through the dark Valley of Suffering before we come to God's holy Mountain As he passed over the Brook Cedron to the Mount of Olives we must ascend likewise by the Cross to God's holy Hill But for our Encouragement we may consider too That he having drank of the Brook by the war hath sanctified the bitterest Cup of Affliction unto us This little Brook this Rivulet would never have been fordable for us but we must have been drowned in the Waters of Cedron if he had not passed over before us But now a Cup of Consolation is put into our hands he hath prepared a Path for us to Mount Olivet he hath smoothed our way to God's holy Hill by his own Sufferings and Death so as we need not fear to walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death 2. Let us consider the Company wherewith our Lord passed over this Brook with his Disciples There may be Two Accounts of this the one in reference to their future preaching of the Gospel the other for their more resolute and couragious suffering for it 1. As to their future preaching of the Gospel It was fit and necessary the Disciples should be Spectators of the most considerable Passages of our Lord's suffering Not only because some of them were to write the History of his Life and Death and transmit this Everlasting Gospel to future Generations But they were also to Preach to Jews and Gentiles in the Name of Christ and what more powerful Argument could they use to gain Credit to what they said than by being able to attest the Truth of their History by their own Evidence and to say upon their own Knowledge We speak that which we have seen and heard The Apostle Peter and the Evangelist John we find insist much on this We cannot but speak the things which we have seen Acts 4 10. 1 John 1.2 2. Hereby they might not oâ—ly be the better fitted for their Ministry to Preach in his Name but be thereby the better prepared to suffer for his sake His Example of Patience and Meekness and Resignation might be of singular Use to them upon that account He had foretold and forewarned them by his Discourse in the way That they must expect to suffer He had told them that when the Shepherd was smitten the Sheep should be scattered And what more likely to animate them to Patience and Perseverance than the Example of their Lord 's Voluntary Suffering especially if in any measure they understood the Design and Reason and End of his Suffering For if he drank of the Brook in the way they might well expect to taste of it If he travelled through the dark Valley they could not expect a smooth and a pleasant Path to Glory if he endured the Contradictions of Sinners against himself they could not think that they should escape Opposition Let us remember this and not think it strange if we meet with such Vsage as our Lord and his Followers have already done 1. We may learn from the Influence their Presence with Christ might have upon their future Ministry by being eye-witnesses of the Truths that they delivered That if ever Ministers would perswade others to believe any Doctrine the best Expedient is to endeavour to be fully perswaded our selves of the Truth and Certainty of those things that we deliver No wonder if other Men are not perswaded by us if we speak to them such things as we believe not our selves
or do either Preach or live in such a manner as to give them reason to think so 2. From the other Reason to encourage them to patient suffering we may observe That the Example of Christ's Courage and Constancy should be very influential upon all his Followers and if duly considered is like to be so For he is our Captain and Forerunner we are to follow him and fill up that which remains of his Sufferings All that we can suffer is but the gleaning of the Vintage after he has trodden the Wine-Press alone God hath spoken it once yea twice have we heard it that is in the Old Testament and in the New That Sufferings are the way to Glory That many are the Afflictions of the Righteous That through many Tribulations we must enter into Heaven c. 3. The Circumstance of Time is next to be considered When our Lord passed over the Brook Cedron viz. After he had instituted the Sacrament of the supper After he had spoken those words of Consolation and Instruction to his Disciples and of Petition to his Father Then he walked over the Brook Cedron with his Disciples He went forth to meet with sufferings and his Disciples were with him How admirable is the Wisdom and Condescension of our merciful Saviour thus to antidote and sore-arm his poor Disciples thus to prepare and dispose his faint hearted Followers to be Witnesses of his sufferings and Partakers of them For after such a blessed Preparative what should be able to sink their Spirits After they had Joined in such an Ordinance as the Lords supper administred by Christ himself After they had received such excellent Instructions and heard such a sermon from his own Mouth After they had been present when he put up such a Prayer to God as that recorded in the 17. of John what could dishearten them or damp their Courage We may hence take notice That the participation of Solemn Ordinances and Communion with God therein is an excellent Preparative to more than ordinary Trialls What better preparation for patient and couragious suffering for Christ than the Lords Supper wherein we remember his dying Love that should engage us to it And so for other Afflictions even the Calamities common to men The Sacramental Bread may be our staff and strength to fortifie and confirm our Minds against all Difficulties The sacramental Wine may be a Cordial to our fainting Spirits to inbolden us against all Discouragments On this Account they that neglect this Ordinance are wanting to themselves as to preparedness for and support in a time of Affliction And for this Reason we may suppose the primitive Christians did communicate so often every Lords Day sometimes every Day whenever they met for publick Worship because they were in continual Jeopardy of their Lives And the multitude of Martyrs in those times and their invincible Patience and Perseverance was much owing to this and influenced by it 4. Let us consider the place he retired to when he went over the Brook Cedron viz The Garden of Gethsemane The word Gethsemane signifies an Oile-press It was a little village scituated at the foot of the Mount of Olives on which Mountain there were many Olive-trees and so many Oil-presses in that Village The Mount of Olives hath its name with relation to this and the Jewish writers call it sometimes the Mountain of Vnction sometimes the Mountain of Light sometimes the Mountain of Health because of the use of Oyl as to all these This Garden of Gethsemane as some think was first planted by David or Solomon and then enlarged and beautified by succeeding Princes for their Recreation and Delight If that be true where they took their pleasure the Messias the true Son of David began his Passion in memory whereof Hellen the Mother of Constantine the Great afterwards built a Chappel there which was visible in the days of Jerom and some affirm the Virgin Mary the Mother of our Lord was Buried in or near this place But to pass that as doubtful it is very probable that in or near this Village near Jerusalem many of the rich Citizens had their Gardens and Country-Houses and among them some of Christs Followers who gave him and his twelve Disciples Entertainment therefore it is said he often resorted thither with his Disciples But 5. Why he did so is more to our purpose to inquire Why our Lord chose this place to prepare himself for his suffering and to begin his Agony And this may be answered in three particulars 1. The first sin was committed in a Garden and therefore the beginning of our Lords Passion for the expiation of sion did very fitly begin in a Garden too It was in a Garden that man began to sin and in such a place the Son of God began his Sufferings The first Adam incurs the Wrath and Displeasure of God in a Garden The second Adam trembles and groans and sweats and prays for the turning away of that Wrath from us in a Garden too he there began his Passion for our Recovery Our first Parents lost the Image of God by their disobedience and heard the Sentence of Condemnation in a Garden our Lord comes to restore the Divine Image and reverse the Sentence of Condemnation by his bloody sufferings and Death which begin in this Garden of Gethsemane as the Promise of it was first made in the Garden of Eden that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents-head Compare Eden and Gethsemane We were first seduced by the old Serpent in the Garden of Eden and his Head was bruised by the Agony and Bloody Passion of Christ which began in this Garden of Gethsemane In the one Garden the Devil conquered the first Adam but is overcome by the second Adam in the other when he resolved to drink the cup saying Not my Will but thine be done In the first Garden that of Eden man surfeited on the forbidden Fruit and fell from God for which our blessed Redeemer had a bloody Sweat in the Second the Garden of Gethsemane We were turned out of the earthly Paradise by sinning in the first we have the Purchace of the heavenly Paradise by our Lord 's Suffering which began in the second The beginning of our Calamity and of all the miseries of Mankind had its rise in the Garden of Eden And the beginning of the Messias Passion for our recovery was in the Garden of Gethsemane There our Lord signed the Decree for his own Crucifixion by his bloody Sweat as the Pledge and earnest of his shedding his Blood the next day upon the Cross 2. Another and more evident Reason why our Lord chose this Garden was because it was a solitary place fit for Meditation and Prayer and the more solemn Preparation of himself for his Crucifixion which was now so near He was now in prospect of his approaching Death he knew that within a few Hours he should be Apprehended and Taken Judged and Condemned to a
a Scene and a Part and have only a Form of Godliness but must expect to pay dear for your Solemn Hopocrisie Let me therefore Advise you to three things in your Retirement after the Publick Worship and Solemn Ordinances of Christ as the End and Reason for which I will press it 1 That you retire in order to the confession of Sin and the Exercise of Repentance That when you have finished the publick work of a Sabbath or come from any special Ordinance of the Gospel by after Meditation you would reflect upon your selves and take notice of your Defects and Failings Discomposures and Distempers of Mind What unsuitableness of Spirit there has been to heavenly Mysteries or what unprepared Addresses we have made to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth the roving of our Fancies the vanity of our Thoughts c. We should humble our selves on such Occasions That we attended with no more Reverence and Diligence to the Word of God That we did not receive the Truth in the Love of it That it was not mixed with Faith Tnat we did not make particular and close application of it to our selves That our Hearts were not lâ—ft up in the ways of the Lord and our Souls under an awe of God in Prayer with becoming Affections and suitable Exercise of Grace under the influence of the Divine Spirit and in the Name of the Mediator That we approached the Table of the Lord with no more Examination of our Hearts and Ways before we came with no more Repentance for our past Guilt no more hungering after the Bread of Life no more spiritual Thirst for the Fountain of Living Waters That we beheld the Memorials of a broken bleeding Saviour with no more Contrition and Brokenness of Heart That we received the Seals of his dying Love with no more raised Affection That we remembered the Agonies of his Soul with no more correspondent Impressions upon our own In a word we may lament for the most part I fear we may after such Ordinances that our Spirits were but in a common frame our Repentance so partial our Love so cold our Faith so weak our Hope so low Desires so faint Charity so narrow Thankfulness and Joy so little in the Participarion of such Glorious Mysteries in conversing with such adorable Objects under the Offers of such rich Grace under the loud Calls to such manifest Duty under the Assurances and Expectations of such great and blessed things as the Word and Sacraments propose and Seal 2. Another Reason and Ground of this Retirement is in order to Petition and Intercession for needful Mercy to our selves and others Have we been convinced of any Duty we had formerly neglected Shall not the Reflection on it excite us to beg Wisdom and Strength to perform that Duty Has any sin been called to remembrance by the preaching of the Word Should we not beg Forgiveness and Grace to leave and forsake it as the best Testimony of our Repentance Have we joyned in Prayer and Supplication with others for the greatest Blessings and are sensible we are undone if God deny us and shall we not beg the same things again in secret Have we renewed our Vows and entered into fresh Obligations to be the Lords and shall wâ— not beg that God would heal our â—â—st â—aâ—k slidings and confirm our holy Resolutions That having sworn we may perform it that we will keep his righteous Judgments You therefore who have this Day been at the Table of the Lord let me beseech you in a special manner to retire when you come home and think of these things that you may wrestle with God in secret for a further blessing O what can he deny you when he hath given you his Son and sealed that Gift in so solemn a manner Go therefore and represent to him all your Necessities and Wants all your Griefs and Groans and Complaints and Fears and secret Desires Pray earnestly for your selves your Families and Relatives for your Ministers and Fellow Christians for all that have communicated this day with you and in other Assemblies and for all that desired to do so that were providentially hindered for all your Brethren for all the Churches of Christ throughout the World especially for those in this Nation for those in others which are oppressed by the Tyranny of the Sons of Violence for all actual Believers for all those for whom Christ died for your Friends and Enemies for the whole World 3. Retire in secret to express your Gratitude and Thanksgivings to God for Mercies received and hoped for Thank him for the Liberty of his Sanctuary for Publick Assemblies of Social Worship for Sabbaths and Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel considering how the Case now is with our Brethren and Neighbours in other places Thank him for another Opportunity for the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and for so much health as to be able to partake of such a Priviledge in a publick Solemnity But above all as the Foundation of all the rest for that inestimable Blessing of Divine Love the Gift of his Son for the inexpressible Love of Christ in giving himself for us Sinners and Enemies and while we were so Thank him for the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory for any good Hope through Grace of present Pardon and Everlasting Communion with God in Heaven for the Offer of Forgiveness by a Covenant of Grace for the Promise of Eternal Life by Christ purchased by his Blood confirmed by the Word and Oath of God who cannot lye witnessed to many ways by the Holy Spirit made sure by the Everlasting Covenant and that sealed by Baptism and by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Yea let us thank him for another such solemn Occasion of paying Homage to a Crucified Christ and of holy Fellowship with the Father and the son by the Spirit which this day has been afforded us Praise him for any Aâ—sistance of his Grace in the actual Celebration and for any help in our preparatory Work for reviving any of our Convictions awakening our Repentance strengthening our Faith animating our Hope quickening our zeal exercising and increasing our Love to Christ clearing our Adoption dispelling our Doubts scattering our Fears warming and filling our Desires Let our Souls and all within us bless him for any Beams of his Heavenly Light for any Glympse of his reconciled Countenance for any token of his Love to us any expression and exercise of our own to him Let us thank him for what he hath given us and sealed to us and promised to give us for what we have already received as the first Fruits and the Earnest and the Pledge of a great deal more We may Express our Gratitude and Joy to some such Purpose as this (a) almost in the words of Mr. Baxter which follows O my gracious God thou hast surpast all humane Comprehension in thy Love Is this thy usage of unworthy Prodigals I
feared lest thy wrath as a consuming Fire would have devour'd such a Guilty Soul but while I condemn'd my self thou hast forgiven and justified me and surpriz'd me with the sweet Embracements of thy Love I see now thy thoughts are above our thoughts and thy ways above our ways and thy Love above the Love of man even more then the Heavens are above the Earth with how dear a Price hast thou redeem'd a Wretch that deserves thy Everlasting Vengeance With how precious and sweet a Feast hast thou entertain'd me who deserved to be cast out with the workers of Iniquity shall I evermore slight such Love as this shall it not evercome my Rebelliousness and melt my cold and hardn'd heart Angels are admiring these Miracles of Love and shall not I admire them Their Love to us doth cause 'em to Rejoyce while they stand by and see our Heavenly Feast and should it not be sweeter to us that are the Guests who feed upon it O my God how dearly hast thou Purchased my Love how strangely hast thou deserv'd and Sought it nothing is so much my grief and shame as that I can answer it with no more fervent and fruitful Love Oh what an addition would it be to all this precious Mercy if this Love poured out might draw forth mine and my soul might flame by approaching unto these thy flames and that Love drawn out by the sense of Love might be all my Life O that I could love thee as much as I would Love thee yea as much as thou woulst have me love thee but this is too great an Happiness for Earth Thou hast shew'd me the place where I may attaine it My Love is there in full Possession who hath left me these pledges till he come and fetch us to himself and feast us there in our Masters joy O Blessed Place O Blessed Company that see his Glory and are filled with the streams of those Rivers of Consolation yea happy we whom thou hast called from our dark and miserable state and made us Heirs of that Felicity and Passengers to it and Expectants of it under the Conduct of so sure a Guide O then we shall love thee without these sinfull pauses and defects in another measure and another manner than now we do Till then my God I am devoted to thee by Right and Covenant I am thine My soul bears witness against my self that my defects of love have no Excuse Thou deservest all if I had all the love in Heaven and Earth to give thee What hath this vaine world to do with my Affections what is there in all the sufferings that man can lay upon me that I should not joyfully accept them for his sake that hath redeem'd me from Hell by such matchless voluntary sufferings Lord seeing thou so regardest so vile a Worm my Heart my Tongue my Hand confess that I am wholly Thine O let me live to none but thee thy service and thy Saints on Earth O let me no more return unto Iniquity nor venture on that sin which kill'd my Lord And now thou hast chosen so low a dwelling O be not a stranger to the heart thou hast so freely chosen O make it the daily Residence of thy Spirit Quicken it by thy Grace adorn it with thy Gifts employ it in thy love refresh it with thy joys and the light of thy Countenance and destroy this Carnality selfishness and unbelief and let the world see that God will make a Palace of the lowest Heart when he chuseth it for the place of his own abode To conclude Did we thus retire at the close of every Lords day after the Participation of solemn Ordinances to renew our Repentance to beg needful Mercies to offer the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgivings for the Blessings we have and hope for the Advantages of such a Course would be so many and so considerable the Consequences would be so comfortable to our own Souls and so beneficial unto others it would be so influential to exercise and increase our Grace to promote our Assurance to secure our Establishment and Perseverance to render us useful in the World for the Honour of Christ and his Gospel and the credit of our holy Profession That it surpasses the possibility of an exact Description and reserves its full Discovery to be the reward of Experience Blessed be God for Jesus Christ The Third Discourse Concerning SPIRITUAL WASHING The Nature Means and Evidences of it Before the Lord's Supper 1 COR. VI. 11. And such were some of you but you are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God OUR Lords condescention to wash the Feet of his Disciples and the discourse between Him and the Apostle Peter upon that occasion contains many things very observable and Instructive unto all Christians S. Peter is astonish'd at his Master's Proposal to wash his feet he wonders he should ever design or attempt so low a service He cries out as a man amazed 13. John 6. Lord doest thou wash my Feet words that savor of humble respect and Reverence unto Christ and had he proceeded no farther it had been very commendable for these expressions seem to proceed from a true sence of his owne unworthiness considering both himselfe and our blessed Lord and the meanness and inferiority of the action which he offered to do toward him Unto which our Lord Replys What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter i. e. when the Spirit shall be more aboundantly pour'd out as it was upon his Ascention into Heaven But Peter is not satisfied with this but peremptorily refuses to submitt to an order which he did not yet understand the Reason of and therefore replies againe Thou shallt not wash my Feet or far be it from me that thou shouldest wash my feet This gave occasion for that severe Rebuke and Threatning which went to his very heart in those words of Christ If I wash thee not thou hast no part in me no Intrest in me no communion with me It cannot well be thought that the external washing should be the only thing here meant for Judas was partaker of that as well as the Rest and yet our Lord says at the tenth verse ye are clean but not all Upon this we find the Apostle Peter submitts to his Saviour and instead of denying that he should wash his feet he passionately cries out not my Feet only but my hands and head too i. e. Lord wash me all over Hands Head and Feet the three most visible parts of the body for the whole our Lord tells him that was not necessary for he that washeth need not but to wash his feet verse 10. as one that comes out of a Bath may have contracted some Filth in walking out of it and therefore needs only to have his feet washed alluding to the Custom * D. Lightfoot of the Jews as to
those who did officiate in the Temple who after having been purified and Washed in the morning as often as they came out and returned againe did only wash their Feet Doubtless therefore the necessity of inward Purification and Holiness must be comprehended as the import of this washing The being sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit as necessary unto all that are accepted of God and in a Covenant Relation with Christ necessary to a saving intrest in Him and Communion with him And such a Change as this some of the vilest and worst of sinners have experienced upon true Repentance and an unfeined Faith This the words I have read give us an account of And such were some of you c. In the beginning of this Chapter the Apostle reproves a very unwarrantable Practice among these Corinthians to implead one another in matters of Right and Wrong before the Heathen Tribunals which seems to blemish the Christian Profession and contradicted the prescribed Rule of our Lord. Matth. 18.15 they were also Injurious and Unjust in their Carriage to their Brethren from which he Indeavours to deter them 1. By that dreadful threatning vers 9. Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven And for the farther confirmation of it enumerates several kinds of such Persons and bids them look well to it and not deceive themselves tho' one would hardly think that men should be deceived in so plain a case as if their profession of Christianity would save them while they lived in any such wickedness Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers in any c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God He then adds another argument in this Text to diswade them from such an unchristian Behaviour viz. from the mighty Change that had been wrought upon several of them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ And such were some of you but ye are Washed c. The Change is represented by three several expressions and the Means by which it was brought about is double viz. In the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1. The mighty Change which was wrought upon them by their Conversion to the Faith of Christ in those words But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified some would consider these three expressions as a regular Gradation and make this Washing to signifie the first Change by Regeneration or the new Birth and being Sanctified to denote the further progress measure and Degree of the spirit of Holiness and being Justified follows as that which by a real change of Heart and Life is evidenced and cleared to the comfort of Believers Others think we may consider this being Washed as the general Term comprehending the other two Sanctification and Justification For we find that expression used in both senses for our deliverance from the Guilt of sin by pardoning mercy and from the impurity and stain the power and filth of sin by renewing grace David beggs to be Washed and made Clean in both respects 51. Psalm 2.7.10 And our Lord is said to have loved us and washed us from our sins in his owne blood Rev. 1.5 Which comprehends both the forgiveness of sin and the sanctifying influence of the spirit of Christ Others think all the three terms Washed Sanctified and Justified are here Synanimous as significant of the great Change that is wrought by the renewing and converting grace of God and that Justified in this place is not to be taken in a * Le Blank Theses theol de usu acceptatione vocis Justificandi c. p. 256. §. 6.8.9 Answered by Dr. O. of Justification p. 179. Forensick or Law sence but hath the same import with the other two expressions Washed and sanctified so the expression 12. Dan. which we render turn many to Righteousness in the Original is Justifie many So Sanctification they think may be comprehended under the term Justified Rom. 8.30 Or else one of the greatest Advantages we enjoy by Christ is not there enumerated So here where our Justification is ascribed to the holy Spirit whose office and work it is inwardly to renew and change us and whereby those Corinthians who were vile and impure before are now qualified for the Kingdom of God Tit. 3.5.6.1 However I exclude not our being washed from the guilt of sin as part of the Sense of this Text but it is the other Washing by Sanctification of which I would speak at this time 2. You have the double means whereby this is brought about In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God c. 1. In the Name of the Lord Jesus or by and through the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Greek Particle doth often signifie For it is the same in the Original in both Clauses The first may as well be rendered By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the other By the Spirit of our God The same Preposition being used in both Referring the whole to Sanctification In my present Discourse I shall not need to Assign Reasons why the word Justified is put last or search for the like Instances of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho such may be given to vindicate the order of the Expressions and why the Name of Christ which especially refers to Justification should be mentioned before the Spirit of our God which especially refers to Sanctification which yet is named before our being Justified In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by his Name may import in the General for the sake of Christ upon the account of his Merit and Mediation and so we pray in the Name of Christ and beg Mercy for his sake But more distinctly the Name of Christ may be considered 1. In relation to his Office of Mediator and the Soveraign Authority of it he is the Jesus the Saviour this is the Name that is given him above every Name and so in by or through the Name of Christ does signifie through faith in him as the only Mediator between God and Man In several like Expressions we must grant that Faith must be supposed when it is not expressed As when we are said to be Baptiz'd in the Name of Christ for the remission of sin Acts 2.38 i. e. believing on his Name 2. It may be considered in relation to the Truth of his Doctrine and the Divine Authority of that Revelation which he made from God to the World upon which his Name is engraven As when we read of suffering for the Name of Christ i. e. for owning the profession of the Christian Religion To this purpose our Sanctification is said to be by the belief of the Truth John 15.3.17 chap. 17. 1 Pet. 1.22 2 Thes 2.13 Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you sayes our blessed Lord. And in his Mediatory Prayer to the Father Sanctifie them by thy truth thy
word is truth Accordingly we find Sanctification is ascribed unto Faith in Christ as the true Messiah or a sound Belief of the Revelation he hath made Act. 15.9 Purifying the heart by Faith So that we are washed and sanctified through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ or by Christ known and beleived on as one means of it and by the Efficiency of the Spirit of God as the other whâ—ch I shall afterwards speak of In the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God In discoursing of these words I shall therefore First Give some brief account of the Nature of this Change here exprest by being Washed Sanctified and Justified Secondly Of the two great Means whereby it is brought about the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God Thirdly Make some Improvement by Application especially to assist you in examining your selves in order to the Lord's Table that we may know whether we are in the number of such upon whom this Change is passed Whether we are Washed Sanctified and Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God 1. Concerning the nature of this Change It is evident that the defiling nature of Sin is here supposed there could not otherwise be any need of Washing And we find it represented in Scripture by Spots and Blemishes by Mire and Vomit by the Blood and Pollution of a New-born Child by the most filthy dung and Excrements and whatsoever is reckoned the most vile and abominable Therefore whatsoever Excellencies and Ornaments whatsoever Priviledges and Advantages an Unsanctified Person may partake of to recommend him to the eyes of the World he is yet a Vile Person loathed and abominable in the sight of God 2. Consider that by Nature we are All as an Unclean thing That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean John 3.6 Rom. 3.10 Job 14.4 All the Purifications and Washings under the Law did suppose our inward Defilement and represent our need of Cleansing Whatever was injoyned by the Mosaick Institution of this kind which we find was very strictly charged and earnestly prest and indispensably required and the neglect of it most severely punished yet did but signifie and represent this Which proves our Sanctification necessary Tit. 3.5 He saved us by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost All Men are Defiled and Unclean by Nature and need to be Washed 3. We are all over Unclean from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot Universally diseased and polluted and so need to be Sanctified in Soul Body and Spirit Ephes 5.26 1 Thes 5.23 Isa 1.6 we read of the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit from which we are to be cleansed 2 Cor. 7.1 All the Powers of the Soul and all the Members of the Body are tainted Heart and Hand must be Cleansed the inward and outward Man Sanctified Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Jam. 4 8. 4. The Change therefore by Sanctification must be Universal in heart and life By the knowledge of God and affection to him of whom we were Ignorant and to whom before we were Disaffected by the Image of God recovered by participation of the Divine Nature and Life by the Law of God written on the Heart and expressed in the Conversation Holiness and Love to God must be the frame and temper of our Souls so that the Actings of it become easie pleasant and delightful The Old Man must be put off the New put on Old things be done away and all things become new New Principles new Ends new Motives new Rules new Comforts which will make an unspeakable difference between this Change and that Negative Religion and common Honesty which many may pretend to who are strangers to Regeneration There were many Philosophers and Sophists among these Corinthians who boasted of Purity and Reformation which came unexpressibly short of this Sanctification which I am now speaking of as owing to some other cause than the Spirit of Christ unto whom the production continuance and progress of this Sanctification is alone to be ascribed 5. It may farther be considered in its Begining or Progress or Consummation As begun by the Spirit of Life and Power from Christ as maintained and carried on by a continual influence from the same Spirit and the diligent use of God's appointed means Whereby the Lineaments of the Divine Nature are rendred more clear holy impressions more powerful and efficacious Whereby we go from strength to strength and are inabled to perfect holiness in the fear of God pressing on towards perfection to the fulness of the stature of the Man Christ Jesus till it be consummate in Heaven when by seeing Christ as he is we shall be made like him and be presented to the Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing 6. For the sake of those who intend to come to the Lord's Table let me add That such Washing and Sanctification is requisite to our Communion with Christ in the special Ordinances of the Gospel particularly that of the Lord's Supper This is intimated by our Lord in the 13th of John v. 7 8. in his words to Peter If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me It must have a Spiritual meaning because notwithstanding the external Washing Christ says All of them were not clean And soon after this he instituted his Supper to the due participation whereof it is necessary we be Washed and Sanctified For we cannot otherwise have a Right to the Benefits purchased by his Blood which are Sealed to us in that Ordinance and we can have no Communion with him there till partakers of the Spirit of Christ Unless we are Sanctified by that Spirit we have no interest in him no Right to his Supper and so we can have no Communion with him if we are not cleansed from our Filthiness if we have spots upon us that are not the spots of God's Children unto whom this Feast doth particularly belong And therefore I may say as Peter to Simon Magus Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right with God neither can it be if this Change do not precede The Enquiry therefore is highly seasonable whether we are thus Washed and Sanctified or not But before I give the Characters of such Persons it will be expected I should speak somewhat concerning the double means of this Change In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God II. The double Means of this Change by the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God First We are Purified and Washed By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ or by Faith in him To this purpose Consider First That all the Arguments laid down in Scripture to press Sanctification and Holiness of Heart and Life have influence
Reason of that Name Passover is because of the Angels passing by their Houses and their consequent Deliverance out of Egypt passing out of the House of Bondage into Liberty And nothing is more usual than to give to the Cause the Name of the Effect Upon which Account Christ is called our Righteousness Wisdom Resurrection and Life c. But the same Name Passoâ—er is also given to those Lambs which were slain every year afterwards This Feast being Annually obserâ—ed in remembrance of that Deliverance of theirs out of Egypt This being a constant Memorial of the first Passover has the same Name given it with that to which it reâ—ated And this also is common in Scripture to give the Name of the thing signified to the Sign which represents it So the Jews are said to k ll the Passover that is the Paschal Lamb which was in remembrance of the Angels passing by their Houses and their consequent Deliverance out of Egypt Thus Circumcision is called the Covenant of God And the Rock in the Wilderness is called Christ And the Seven Candlesticks in St. John's Vision are the Seven Churches That is These are signified and represented by them 'T is therefore very absurd for the Romanists to insist upon these Words This is my Body to prove that the Substance of Christ's Flesh and Blood is in the Sa rament They may as well argue That the Paschal Lamb that Christ did eat with his Disciples was the same with that which was slain by the Israelites in Egypt Or that it was not an Animal because it is called a Passover Or that the Paschal Lamb was Transubstantiated into the Flesh of Christ because Christ is called our Passover and sometimes called the Lamb of God as well as the Bread in the Sacrament called his Body and the Wine his Blood Before I leave this Head I might mention the Historical Evidence that agrees to that of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Israelites Passover in Egypt and the sprinkling of their Door-posts with the Blood of the Lamb in that Memorable Night of their Delîverance For the better understanding whereof we may consider 1. That the Jews after the Death of Moses and Joshua were several times in Subjection to the Neighbouring Nations and could not have had the Confidence to keep up such a Sâ—lemn Memorial of this thing every Year if the matter of Fact had not been known to the Egyptians and their other Neighbours â—ound about to be true which yet the Jews continued to observe every Year till heir last General Dispersion And to this day they have something in Imitation of it wherever they are scattered upon the Face of the Earth Besides this 2. The Tribe of Levi were set apart by God and Consecrated to him in a Solemn manner in stead of the First-born of the People of Israel that were preserved in Egypt as you read Numb 3.12 13. For when I smote all the First-born in Egypt I hallowed unto me all the First-born of Israel They are mine and the Levites instead of them So that every Levite was a living Memorial of that Miracle 3. Besides the constant Law injoyned upon the Jews and observed to this day concerning the Redemption of every First-born among them and of unclean Beasts Numb 18.15 4. The Memory of the Death of the First-born in Egypt which gave occasion to the Ceremony of the Passover continued among the Egyptians even after the Death of Christ For * Haeres 18. advers Nazaraeos Epiphanius relates That at the same time of the Year the Night before the Israelites went out of Egypt when the First-born in Egypt were slain the Egyptians were wont to mark their Houses their Trees their Sheep c. with red by that as by a kind of Talisman thinking to avoid some such Mischief and Calamity as their Fathers experienced at that time and which the Israelites escaped by following the Advice of Moses to Sprinkle the Door-posts of their Houses with Blood Some such Custom as this continued in Egypt even after the Incarnation of Christ II. Having spoken thus much concerning the Jewish Passover Let me now consider our Lord's desire to eat of it With desire have I desired to eat of this Passover before I suffer With desire have I desired An usual Hebraism to signifie the earnestness and vehemency of his Desire The Evangelist Luke hath many Instances of this agreeable to other Expressions in other places as Heb. 6.14 In blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I wâ—ll multiply thee The Zeal and Earnestness and Ardency of his Desire is expressed by it Agreeable to that forementioned place which referr'd to his Death and Sacrifice Luk. 12.50 I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished As if he could not live in Ease have no Rest or Quiet till he was made a Sacrifice And that is the first and great Reason of desiring this Passover 1. Because this was to be the Last before he Suffered Therefore he so earnestly desires it The near approach of his Sufferings did not at all abate his Resolution and Desire of Sâ—ffering but rather gave an Edge to his Affection He was so far from being disheartened by the near Prospect of his Crucifixion that the nearer he comes to it the more he desires it And therefore desires to eat of this Passover which was to be his last And then makes his Last Will and Institutes this Supper the same Evening being desirous every thing should be dispatched that was necessary or fit to be done before he Suffered It was the Last Night of his Life and the Night wherein he was to be Betrayed and foreknew he should be so Other Passovers Prefigured his Death this did both Prefigure and Accompany it for his Death was now in a manner present 'T was this that made him long and desire to eat this Passover Though at the same time he had so near a Prospect of his Amazing Sufferings in the Garden that Night and on the Cross the next day Could we understand the Agonies of his tormented mind that made him complain That his Soul was sorrowful even unto death and Pray with doubled and trebled Importunity that the Cup might pass from him we may then judge of his Love in desiring to eat of this Passover for this reason because his Last 2. Another Reason may be To give us an Example of Obedience And therefore being made under the Law he would exactly observe it And so for our sakes fulfil all Righteousness as in many other Instances of Subjection to his own Creatures of paying Tribute to his own Subjects c. And to teach us Humility a little before this he would wash the Feet of his own Disciples with those hands which just after this Passover had all Power in Heaven and Earth Solemnly given into them And not only as to the Moral Law But he stooped down to the very Fringes of
because you have many good Books on this Subject that will Assist you in this Matter I shall only put you in mind of a few Things As 1. That you take some convenient Time for solemn and serious Preparation They especially should do so who have never come till now And they who for some considerable time have neglected it with whom several Months have past since they have been at the Lord's Table Either through their own Neglect which they must Repent of or for want of Opportunity God expected and required solemn Preparation for the Passover Feast Exod 19.10 He doth so for this Feast upon Christ our Passover sacrificed for us Therefore take some time to consider what you are about to undertake Beg of God a prepared Heart and by Reading Meditation and Prayer endeavour to bring your Spirits into a suitable Frame for such solemn Work He brought me into his Banquetting-house Christ himself by his Spirit must lead his own Guests to his own Table He must awaken and excite all those Graces that are to be exercised in this Feast Therefore beg a prepared Heart and do what you can by other means to endeavour it 2. Renew your Repentance for all the Sins of your Life Do not come with filthy Hearts and Hands to the Table of the Lord no more than you would in filthy Rags to a great Man's Table Lay aside all Filthiness and Superfluity of Naughtiness Purge out the Old Leaven of Hypocricy and Malice of Ignorance or Envy and Wickedness of every sort that you may come with penitent humbled Hearts and so with a thankful receptive Frame consenting to all the Claims and Purposes of this Ordinance 3. Therefore Examine your selves afresh that you may thus come Review the State of your Souls see how it hath been and is with you as to Heart and Life State and Frame Let a man examine himself and so let him eat 1 Cor. 11.28 Examine your selves about your Knowledge and your Faith to understand the meaning and the very mystery of this Table that you may firmly Assent to and heartily believe what is Represented and exhibited here And have right Apprehensions of those Doctrines that Explain this Ordinance as concerning our State of Apostacy concerning the Method of our Recovery by Christ and our Faith in him as Teacher Saviour and Lord in all his Offices The like might be said concerning Repentance or Godly Sorrow for Sin hatred of it and hearty forsaking of it Whether you can penitently believingly seal back your part of the Covenant when God sets the Broad Seal of Heaven unto his part when he says I will be thy God and I will remember thy sins no more I will with my Christ freely give thee all things This I promise this I seal to every of you says God I here deliver it as my Act and Deed. Now can you seal back your part of the Covenant Lord I will be thine henceforth I desire and resolve to be entirely thine thy sealed Fountain thy sealed Garden I engage henceforward to be the Lord's This I deliver as my Act and Deed. In a word Examine your selves Do you believe the Gospel of Christ to be true and heartily consent to the Doctrines of it Do you resolve to be Governed by Christ as your Lord and consent to the Terms of his Gospel Do you take him for your only Saviour and look for all your Acceptance with God and hope of Pardon and Life only for his sake and upon his Account Do you consider the Vow you made in Baptism of Fidelity to Christ and resolve to be true to it Do you here seriously Renew it and will you now again promise Faithfulness to him to your Lifes end Do you value his Favour and Grace above all things and come to remember his dying Love and receive the Communications of the purchased Spirit with this Desire Design and Hope That you may love him and obey him better and that you may live in Love and Charity towards your Brethren and all Mankind c. 4. Look to the Inward part of the Ordinance and labour to Appropriate and Apply Christ to your selves Here is a Covenant confirmed by Sacrifice by Blood by the precious blood of Christ I am called O my Soul to feat upon it This Blood was shed to Reconcile me to God I will drink of it in token of such a Reconciliation made as a Testimony that I have Recieved the Atonement made by that Blood My Body was broken for you says Christ Take and eat it My Blood was shed for you Take and drink it Apply it to your selves every one to his own Soul saying He loved me and gave himself for me 5. Endeavour to fix your Purposes and Resolutions of faithful Adherence to Christ whatever it cost you Tell him that you distrust your selves and are afraid of Temptation Tell him in Prayer You are almost ashamed to come to his Table you are such vile unworthy Sinners and are afraid you shall not keep the Covenant that now again you desire to renew But bewail your selves as sensible of your sins and weary of them Tell him that you hate them and resolve against them or else you durst not have the face to ask forgiveness and receive the Seal of it Therefore Resign your selves into his Hands Beg that the Holy Spirit would take possession of you that you may not backslide and wander as you have done Tell him that you renounce all Confederacy with his Enemies you would fain be more stedfast in the way of the Lord It is the desire of your Souls that you may not violate this Covenant but having sworn that you may perform it to keep his Righteous Judgments and that you hope you are ready through his Grace strengthning you to do and suffer any thing for him Therefore penitently and humbly offer up your selves to be his for ever saying Lord I present thee with what thou hast so dearly bought And here without reserve I give up my self to be Thine O do not reject a broken and contrite Heart that desires to be employed and used as may best please and serve thee Lord I am nothing I have nothing I can do nothing I deserve nothing I desire nothing but to love thee better to be more filled with thy Grace to partake more of thine Image to be enabled to honour thee now and enjoy thee for ever Grant me this Lord and do with me what thou wilt Accept the Sacrifice I make of my self unto thee of Soul and Body of all I have without any Exception or Reserve to thy holy will and pleasure Lastly After all this Remember that Thanksgiving and Joy is a principal part of our Work at this Table Let our Souls and all that is within us then praise the Lord giving Thanks to the Father of Mercies for this unspeakable Gift Blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the Riches of his Grace in him
The very Name of this Sacrament the Eucharist imports this That Thanksgiving is our principal Work He took the Bread and he took the Cup and he gave Thanks say the Evangelists indifferently of the one and of the other Blessing and Giving of Thanks being the same This Food is hallowed by Thanksgiving and if ever the High Praises of God should be in our Mouths it ought to be so upon this Occasion Praising God for parting with his only Son not sparing him that we might be spared Thanking our Lord Redeemer for leaving the Right Hand of his Father and the Glory of Heaven to come and Tabernacle amongst us and take our Nature and Dye for us Lord Jesus Who are we What am I that thou shouldst part with the Glory of Heaven and part with thine own Life upon the accursed Tree for such a Wretch as I am Was I dearer to thee than thine own Heart-blood that thou didst freely shed it upon the Cross for me How Amazing is thy Love How do I rejoyce in it With what Thankfulness do I reremember it How am I ashamed of my self that I love thee no more O that I might feel the Constraints of thine Endearing Love to warm and quicken my cold and dead Heart that so I might speak thy Praise And let Heaven and Earth and Angels and Men for ever Extol thy Matchless Grace and Love which passeth Knowledge but calls for Everlasting Thanksgiving With such a Frame as this let us endeavour to Come and we shall find that His Banner over us will be Love THE END The Eighth Discourse AFTER THE Lord's Supper From St. JOHN xx 27 28. Then said he unto Thomas Reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side and be not faithless but believing And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God A Strange and surprizing Spectacle to see an Apostle of our Lord carry it like an Infidel an Vnbeliever To behold one of the Twelve that was to spread the Faith of Christ throughout the Universe to want that Faith which he was to perswade others to To hear the great Article of the Resurrection one of the most deeply Fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion to be obstinately denied by those Lips that were to Publish the Gospel of Christ And this as the Sum of it That he is Risen from the dead What more likely to scandalize the Weak to stagger the Faith of many not yet confirmed Disciples and to hinder the belief of Christ's being Risen than such an Example of Incredulity in one of his Apostles But the permission of such Falls and the raising a Revenue of Glory to the Redeemer by them is one of the Secrets of Predestination that will be Eternally Adored This is sufficiently manifest in this very Passage relating to the Apostle Thomas whose Infidelity as one of the Ancients observes has proved as serviceable to Christianity as the Faith of the other Apostles His Incredulity strengthens our Faith in the Resurrection of our Saviour as it gave occasion to his Appearing another time for the Cure of his Unbelief And because after so much Obstinacy and pertinacious Doubt he at last yields and acknowledges the Truth of Christ's Resurrection and makes a Glorious Confession of his Faith Whereas if only a few credulous Men men of an easie and hasty Faith had assured us of it their Testimony had been more liable to suspicion The Wisdom of God has Recorded the Faults and Miscarriages of the Apostles for our Instruction and Vse These Suns enlighten us not only by the Lustre of their good Examples when they shine in Grace and Holiness but even by their Eclipses too Their Cowardize their Rashness their Presumption their Unbelief is of use to be considered Our Heavenly Physician Extracts some of the best Medicines out of the most deadly Poyson to caution and warn and instruct and Edifie us by the Miscarriages and Faults of David of Peter of Thomas and the like Let us therefore view this Passage and consider what Reflections may be made upon it And the whole may be comprehended under these Four Heads 1. The Incredulity of this Apostle he could not believe without seeing feeling and having the Testimony of Sense Except I shall see in his Hands the print of the Nails and put my Finger into the print of the Nails and thrust my Hand into his Side I will not believe Verse 25. 2. The Condescention and Kindness of Christ in appearing to him another time and granting it Verse 26 27. 3. The Cure of his Vnbelief and the Excellent Confession of Faith which thereupon he makes Verse 28. And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God 4. The useful Admonition which our Saviour gives us concerning Faith that though Thomas having seen him had believed yet Rather blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed 1. Concerning the Incredulity of this Apostle the Evangelist gives us an Account that on the First Day of the Week towards Evening our Lord being Risen from the Dead early in the Morning when the Disciples were met together and had shut the Door for fear of the Jews Ver. 19. He suddenly presents himself amongst them saying Peace be unto you He assures them of his being Risen from the Dead imparts to them the Holy Ghost and gives them a Charge and Commssion to act as Apostles in Remitting or Retaining Sins But Thomas whose Greek Name was Didymus both signifying Twins was not present at this Assembly But as soon as the other Disciples met him they tell him They had seen the Lord that Mary Magdalen had seen him that Peter had seen him and the two Disciples going to Emaus and then all the Ten and had full Assurance that he was Risen This makes little Impression in order to his believing it for no Eyes will serve him but his own Though Faith comes by hearing he professes he would not believe except he saw Except I see in his hands the print of the Nails and put my Finger into the prints of the Nails and thrust my Hand into his Side I will not believe O suspicious incredulous Man Who will be the Loser if thou wilt not believe But wherefore dost thou doubt How is it that so many Eyes and Tongues are not as credible as thine own Eyes and Hands Shall the World be Proselyted to the Faith of Christ upon the Testimony of these Witnesses and wilt not thou Assent Did not thy Lord foretel his own Death and Resurrection Didst thou not hear him declare that he must be Crucified and that afterwards on the Third Day he would Rise again Is there any thing we Attest concerning his Resurrection but what was promised and foretold Why may not we be credited in our Report of a Matter of Fact whereof we have so plain and full an Evidence What ground is there to disbelieve so many Eye-witnesses
your Lord he will then be your God And all Blessings Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are comprized in that You are then his Jewels his Treasure his Portion his Inheritance his peculiar People If he be your God O how dear how valuable how precious are the Relations Priviledges and Blessings that this contains What need you fear What can you want What can you ask more What can dismay afflict or trouble such a Soul Why art thou cast down O my Soul Why art thou disquieted within me May you say If you can say with David in another place The Lord is my Portion and the Lot of mine Inheritance Or if you can say with Thomas here My Lord my God All things then are yours his Spirit his Providence his Attributes his Promises Life Death Things present Things to come Grace here Heaven hereafter All things yours if you be Christ's and he be your Lord and your God Blessed then are you though you have not seen him with your bodily Eyes or thrust your Hand into his Wounded Side or felt the print of the Nails in his Crucified Body Yet having now by hearing believed on him and loved him you shall see him hereafter in Glory and Triumph and be for ever with him to behold his Glory and to partake of it Amen A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer Our Father O Most Merciful and Gracious Father who hast made us out of nothing by thy Powerful Word and form'd us after thine own Image but we sought out Sinful Inventions and might justly have perisht in our Apostasie We owe Thee Homage as the Father of our Spirits as the God of our Lives as the Author of our Beings much more as thou hast called us into thy Family and Favour by Jesus Christ as Redeemed by him and Regenerated by thy Spirit and Priviledged with the Dignity of Children and may call Thee Our Reconciled Father Oh what manner of Love is this that such Rebellious Miserable Creatures as we should be called the Sons of God and treated as such Holy Father we have sinned against Heaven and before Thee and are utterly Unworthy to be entertain'd as thy Servants much more to be cherisht and spared and pittied and provided for as thy Children and have the promise and hope of the Heavenly Inheritance As the Children of the First Adam we are Children of Wrath and Heirs of Hell in Bondage to Sin and serving divers Lusts the Works of our Father the Devil we have done But by thy Redeeming Love and Grace through Jesus Christ we are set Free from that Slavery and partake of the Liberty and Priviledge of Sons in thy House and Family Oh let the Spirit of thy Son breath continually in our hearts and teach us to cry Abba Father as created by thy Power and Goodness and reconciled and saved by thy Mercy after we had undone our selves Give us that Faith and humble Confidence in Prayer by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication that we may go to thee in all our Necessities as Children to a Father and come with boldness to a Throne of Grace We beg the Holy Spirit of Grace to that end which thou art more ready to give to them who value it and ask it earnestly as sensible of their need of it than any Father on Earth is to give Bread to his Children that ask it of him O let this Name of Father and our consequent Relation to thee be our Glory and our Refuge our Defence and Guard the Principle of our Obedience and Love to thee and of Charity Kindness and Affection to all our Brethren who are Children of the same Father and Adopted Heirs of the same Inheritance And let all those whom thou wilt own for thy Children most Gracious Father be united to thee and to one another in holy Bands of Love and Concord bearing with one another wherein they differ let them heartily joyn together to advance the Honour of thy Holy Name to celebrate thy Praise and promote thy Truth and Worship Grant unto them and us the help of thy Spirit that we may so Pray and Live O God of the Spirits of all Flesh the Father of Glory the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ teach us so to ask as thou mayst please to grant teach us to Worship thee in Spirit and in Truth that our persons may be well-pleasing in thy sight and our Prayers be accepted through the Great Mediator We would ask nothing but in his Name for the manner so nothing but what he hath advised and taught us to Desire and Seek Who art in Heaven And since thou dwellest in Heaven though the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee that is thy Throne and the Earth thy Footstool thou beholdest whatsoever we do or say or think and wilt call us to an Account Let us reverence thy Glorious Majesty Thine All-seeing Eye and thy Soveraign Power And raise our Affections above Earthly Things that we may seek Heaven as our Country where our Father is and our Redeemer and where we hope to possess the Inheritance prepared for us by Everlasting Love through the Purchase and Merit of thine Eternal Son who owns himself our Elder Brother and who when he was on Earth was concerned for nothing more than for the Glory of Thy Name Therefore in Imitation of his Example in Conformity to his Counsel and Obedience to his Command we beg Thy Name may be Sanctified Hallowed by thy Name Thou hast proclaimed thy Name unto the World and they who know it will trust in Thee to be a God Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of Great Kindness Abundant in Goodness and in Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and that will not utterly destroy his People though he do correct Thou art worthy of all our Honour Homage and Obedience and that all the World should Adore thee and Glorifie Thy Holy Name that every Creature in Heaven and Earth should tremble at thine Irresistible Power admire thine Eternal Wisdom and love thine Infinite Goodness O that the Glory of thy Holy Name may extinguish in us the Desire and Love of Worldly Honour and Inteterest that we may 〈◊〉 it our highest dignity to ad◠〈…〉 serve the Purposes of thy Glory as the Ultimate End of all Things Let us be deeply sensible of thy Dishonour in the World by our own sins and the sins of Others Let us Grieve and Mourn to observe the Prophanation of thy Name and the Violation of thy Authority when thy Laws are transgrest thy Institutions despised thy Orders contradicted thy Majesty Affronted thy Glory bespattered and trampled on The Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and the Remembrance of Thee In thy Name we Rejoyce and put our Trust O let us not dishonour it by unsuitable Affections and Actions Let our Lives be answerable to the dignity of our Relation and to what we know and profess to believe