A Plain Discourse Shewing how we are to WALK After the Lord's Supper Necessary for every Communicant From 1 Col. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing Being the Substance of Several Sermons Preached to a Congregation in Hatton-Garden By John Horsman an unworthy Servant of Jesus Christ Vivimus non loquimur magna London Printed for E. Richardson at the Naked Boy in Blowbladder-Street over aâ—gainst St. Martins le Grand 1698. TO THE Serious Reader IT was not without great conflict and strugling within my self that this comes forth into Publick View being very sensible of my great unfitness for such an appearance for tho' as one says the plain thread bare suit may do well enough at home yet when persons go abroad a better habit is required and expected But such as have not this change of Apparel must be content with what they have If it be the bravery and gaudery of Language that thou expectest in the following Discourse thy expectations will be frustrated for however such a garb might suit the airy humour of the Age yet it would no ways be agreeable or suteable to the weightyness and gravity of the Subject treated on which is not to show how we may please Men but how we may please God how we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing I am not unsensible that this Piece will fall into divers and different hands and according to the hands it falls into such will be the Treatment it must expect By the Prophane it is probable it will be Derided For to such as have no sense nor relish nor savour of Spiritual Things and Serious Matters such things as these are will be the Object of their Scorn and Derision with whom the deep things of God are counted no better than Mysterious Nonsense And whatever hath but the Face and Shew of Seriousness with such it is accounted Canting and Affected Singularity By the Curious and Captious it is most probable it will be despised because such will not meet with that exactness and accuracy of Method and Stile with those flights and strains of Rhetorick which is most pleasing and grateful to this sort By the Learned it also may be but little set by because they will not find a Margin filled with Quotations of Fathers and Schoolmen nor with the Sayings of Poets and Philosophers It may possibly pass for a Plain Honest Well-meaning-Discourse And indeed were it otherwise it would not Answer its Title nor would it be so suited to that sort of Reader for which it was chiefly and principally designed viz. The Serious Reader For such it was chiefly design'd and to such it is humbly Dedicated Whatever relish it may have with others yet I hope it may be as Manna sweet to the Tast of all serious Christians How weak soever the manner of handling this Subject is yet the Subject it self is very weighty and seasonable The Duty press'd to is very necessary but too much neglected We are ready to take up with the Theory of Religion and the Speculative part of Piety but are too great Strangers to the Practical part thereof We may know many things and believe many things but yet if we do not put into Practice the things that we know and believe we only have a name to live but yet are dead We have only a form of Godliness but are strangers to the Life and Power of it We are for Reading and Studying and Hearing of Notions but the Apostle James his Advice is Not to be Hearers of the Word only but Doers of the Word also 1 Jam. 22. The Beauty and Power and Life of Religion lies in the Practice of it It is not enough that we make a Profession that we are taken into Church-Fellowship and Partake of the Ordinances of the Gospel unless we do adorn this Profession with a suteable and agreeable Walk and Conversation according to that advice of the Apostle Paul 1 Phil. 27. Only let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ The neglect of this among the Professars of this Age is very much to be lamented and bewailed Now to quicken and direct us herein is the main drift and tendency of the following Discourse And particularly how we are to Walk after that Great Ordinance of the Lord's Supper I hope it will not be judged to be altogether needless nor prove altogether useless And that it may not be altogether fruitless and successless I commend both thee and it to the Divine Benediction which crowns all our Labours and gives Success to all our Lawful Endeavours Paul may plant and Apollos water but it is God that giveth the increase for neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth any thing but God that giveth the increase I am Thine in our Blessed Lord J. Horsman A PLAIN DISCOURSE SHEWING How we are to WALK after the Lord's Supper From 1 Col. 10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing THESE words are the Matter of the Apostles Prayer for these Collossians In two things among others the Apostle did express and demonstrate his great love to them The first was in giving Thanks for them The Second was in Praying for them He gave Thanks for them and he Prayed for them v. 3. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you Now the matter of his Thankfulness for them he refers to Two Heads 1. Their Graces 2. The Means by which they are wrought Their Graces which were chiefly Three viz. Faith Hope and Love Their Faith by the Object Their Love by the Extent Their Hope by the Place v. 4. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus there is the Object of their Faith and of the love which ye have to all the Saints there is the Extent of their Love and for the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven there is the place of their Hope The Means by which these Graces were wrought which was the Word from vers 5. to vers 9. Thus much for the Matter of his Thanksgiving The Matter of his Prayer for them was this viz. That they might be filled with the knowledge of Gods will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that they might walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God From whence we may take notice of this by the way that next to our own good and welfare we ought to rejoyce at and be concerned for the good and welfare of others Thus it was with this blessed Apostle He was not only thankful to God for his goodness to himself in particular 1 Tim 1.12 13. But he is thankful for Gods for goodness unto others We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for your faith in Christ and for your love which ye have to all the Saints and for the hope
which is laid up for you in heaven c. And then shews himself greatly concerned for their good and welfare in praying always for them For this cause we also since we heard of it do not cease to pray for you v. 9. See what concernedness he manifests and expresses for his Brethren his Kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9.1 2 3. I say the truth I lie not my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I could wish my self accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh It is a very strange expression but it notes his zeal and affection and concernedness for their good and welfare Rom. 10.1 Brethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved It is a great sign that Grace hath taken hold of our hearts when we are really concerned for the good of others that the same Grace that hath taken hold of us may take hold of others too By this says the Apostle John we know that we are passd from death to life because we love the brethren 1 Joh. 3.14 And truly our love to others cannot be more fully expressed and truly demonstrated than by an affectionate concernment for their spiritual good and welfare If they be wholly ignorant of God and Christ that they may be brought to a saving knowledge of God and Christ Or if they be such as have been in any measure brought to a saving knowledge of God then that there may be a dayly increase of it And this was the Apostles Prayer for these Colossians having heard of their Faith in Christ and their Love to the Saints and their Knowledge of God he prays that they may be filled with it in a dayly encrease of it for a stronger Faith in Christ and for a farther increase in the Knowledge of God He is not you see of a little narrow private spirit swallowed up in his own private concernments but of a brave noble generous spirit imploying his desires and endeavours not only to his own good but to the good of others too And this is one character and property of a gracious Soul of a sanctifyed person that he is full of constant and ardent desires after the good and welfare of others The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Member to profit withall 1 Cor. 12.7 Religious love seeketh not her own things 1 Cor. 13.5 We should not seek our own things as many do but the things which are Jesus Christ's viz. that which tends to his Glory and the Good of his Members Christians should serve one another by Love Certainly what a Man is in Religion he is relatively so If not fit to serve the Body than not fit to be of the Body He is no Saint that seeks not the Communion of Saints Having taken notice of this by the way I come now to the words themselves In which words we have not only the Apostle's Desire and Prayer for them but we may also read our own Duty in them and that is to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing This is the end of all our Knowledge of God and his will which in the 9th verse he desired they might be filled with Why filled with the Knowledge of God's Will Why That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing To this end we should be filled with the Knowledge of God's Will that our Conversations may be rightly ordered to the Glory of God that our Lives may answer the Profession we make and the Knowledge we have obtain'd and the Mercies we receive and the Means we enjoy The Papists would find Merit of Works in this Verse Both because holiness of Life is so much urged by it And also because here is the word Worthy used as if the Apostle should grant that they might be worthy of or Merit the Blessings of God Now to this might be returned a Two-fold Answer 1. That Merit cannot be founded upon Scripture 2. That it cannot be founded upon this Scripture First It cannot be founded upon Scripture The Scripture doth abundantly and in many places declare against it It cuts off and excludes all glorying and boasting in our selves as if by our worthiness we could procure any thing of favour at the hands of God or by our goodness any way recommend our selves to the favour and acceptance of God You see your Calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called for God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise c. And all this that no flesh should glory in his presence But he that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.26 27 28. Alas we are so indebted to the Divine Bounty and Goodness that gave us our beings both in Nature and Grace that when we have done all we can we are forced to acknowledge that we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 Whatever good we do it is from God and therefore cannot Merit any thing at the hands of God 2 Cor. 3.5 So says the Apostle Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency it is of God 1 Cor. 4.10 For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou hast not received Now if thou didst receive it Why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Were there no other Scriptures these were sufficient to overthrow the Notion ef Merit 2. Nor can it be founded upon this Scripture This expression of walking worthy of the Lord cannot be applied to Merit by any means in as much as the Lord had bestowed many of his Blessings and Favours and Benefits already They cannot by any good Works afterward be said any ways to Merit what is past now it is very absurd to think that we can by any after good Works Merit what was given us before But we will pass by this and come to the true meaning of this expression To walk worthy of the Lord is no more than to walk suitably and agreeably and some way answerably and becomingly to the many-fold Favours of God vouchsafed to us which will be better understood by comparing it with the parallel places Eph. 4.1 I therefore the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called Walk worthy of your vocation that is answerably and suitably and becoming your Calling as appears by the following words which fully explain it viz. With all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love c. This is such a kind of Walking as is becoming and agreeable to our High and Holy Calling Phil. 1.27 only let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ This is the true meaning and explication of this Expression of walking worthy He means no more by
us Others passed by us and took no notice of us but he looked upon us and behold it was a time of Love with us He threw his Skirt over us and covered our Nakedness and poured Water upon us to wash away our filthiness He Swear unto us and entred into Covenant with us to be ours and we to be his he to be our God and we to be his Peculiar People He hath given Himself his Son his spirit to us Himself to be our God and Portion Jer. 31.31 32 33. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts and will be their God and they shall be my People And what Tongue can express What Pen can describe the happiness of that People who have God to be their God David in the 144 Psalm v. 15. says Happy are the People whose God is the Lord. He doth not say how happy for it is beyond express But this we may truly say that all our happiness and felicity and comfort lies in this in having God to be our God If there be no want to them that fear God I am sure there can be none to them that enjoy God who is a Soul-comforting Soul-refreshing Soul-satisfying Object It matters not what our Circumstances and Conditions are here in this World be they never so low and inconsiderable if we have but God for our God we are happy Happy is that People whose God is the Lord. He hath given us not only himself but his Son too John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Given him for us To obey and suffer to bleed and dye and suffer and satisfy for us to rescue and redeem us from those evils and miseries under which we lay viz. the Wrath of God the Curse of the Law by laying down his life for us a life more precious than the lives of all the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth Not only given him for us but given him to us to be believed in and rested upon for Life and Salvation to dwell in us and be united to us to be made of God Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to be to us and do for us all that God hath appointed and designed him to be Again he hath not only given us himself and Son but his Spirit also to us To open our Eyes to enlighten our Minds to incline our Wills to change our Hearts to Turn and Convert us to himself To convince of Sin to lead to Christ to be the guid of our ways to be the death of our sins to quicken and enliven and strengthen our Graces To witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God To comfort us in all our Troubles to succour us in all our Temptations to resolve us in all our Doubts to help us against all our Infirmities To conduct us safe through this evil World and to seal us up to the day of Redemption But yet farther he gives us liberty to wait upon him in the solemn Dutys of his Worship He gives us Praying seasons and Hearing seasons and Communicating seasons for the carrying on begun Grace in our Souls Thus richly doth he furnish our Table in this howling Desart and bountifully provides for us in a strange Land We have not only Food for our Bodies but Food for our Souls not only the Bread that perisheth but that which endures to Everlasting Life The Lamb is slain and behold all things are ready The Marriage Supper is prepared and a welcome ready for all that come to it This is Christ's language to all his guests O friends drink ye eat â—e drink and eat abundantly O beloved And what do you think is the matter of this Feast Why it is Christ with all his saving Benefits even Peace and Pardon and Comfort This is the Gospel Feast unto which poor Sinners are invited The Lord Jesus Christ is both the master and the matter of this Feast This is that Bread which came down from Heaven which is othergates Food than that Manna was which fell in the Wilderness of which it is said Our Fathers did eat and they are dead but whosoever eateth of this Bread lives for ever John 6.48 49 50. This is the Lamb that was slain from the Foundations of the World whose Flesh is Meat indeed and whose Blood is Drink indeed Thus bountifully hath God provided for our Souls we have not only the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby but more substantial Food even that sealing strengthening confirming Ordinance of the Lords Supper where Christ and all his Benefits are represented sealed and applied to Belivers who was not only offered up upon the Cross for the Satisfaction of Divine Justice and the expiation of our Sins but offered upon the Table for the satisfying our guilty minds and for the Food and Nourishment of our Souls Here it is that we may take a view of Christ's dying love Here we see him Bruised and Broken and Bleeding for our sakes and for our Sins Here we may see him broken and bruised by his Father in the day of his great Wrath when his Body was torn his Soul in a dreadful Agony his side pierced his Blood shed these are in a most lively manner represented by the breakof the Bread and pouring out of the Wine Here is a Wounded Broken Bleeding Jesus represented to us The Elements in this Sacrament signifie and set forth the unconceivable Sufferings of our blessed Lord both in his â—ody and in his Soul The Bread signifies the Sufferings of his Body And the Wine which is a representation of his Blood the Agonvs of his Soul because the Spirits whereby the Soul acts are in the Blood All the Sacraments that ever were instituted since Adams fall to this very day both ordinary and extraordinary both Old Testament and New Testament Sacraments they all of them principally represent and point at Jesus and him Crucified Adams Sacrifices were Types of Christ the true Sacrifice Circumcision a pledge of our Hearts Circumcision thro' Christs Blood Col. 2.11 In whom also ye are Circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands in putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ The Passover was a token and Type of Christ our Passover Sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 Baptism this doth point at the Death of Christ we are said by Baptism to be Baptised into Christ and into his Death Rom. 6.3 4 5. And the Lords Supper is a most lively representation of the Death of Christ 1 Cor. 11.26 As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye shew the Lords death till he come This is a standing memorial and a lasting monument of our blessed Lords love in bleeding
apprehension of this love of Christ might constrain every soul of us to give up our selves to him Are we bought with a Price Are we Redeemed from the greatest slavery and tyranny that ever poor creatures were under from the Wrath and Vengeance of God who is a consuming fire From the Curse and condemnation of the Law from the dominion of Sin and Satan and the World Why this is a great and unspeakable Priviledge and happiness indeed Ay but how came we to be thus Redeemed Why it was by a great price that was laid down and deposited ye are bought with a price says the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.20 But what price was this Was it Silver or Gold no it was by the price of Blood But what Blood was it The Blood of Bulls and Goats no it was the Blood of the Son of God 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It was the Lord Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God that redeemed us with his own Blood What can we do less then glorifie him with our Bodies and Spirits O how Thankfully ought we to walk all our days and we cannot better express our Thankfulness than by dedicating and devoting our selves to his service and glory This is the greatest return that we can make and the highest gratitude You know the first fruits were in former times dedicated unto God partly to show God's right to the whole crop and partly in token of thankfulness from the people for all the rest Now this giving up our selves to the Lord Jesus is the best expression of our thankfulness that we can make This exceeds the most melting acknowledgments and the highest verbal resentments of all his love and kindness to us When a poor creature is deeply affected with a sense of the love of Christ to him falls down at the foot of Christ and says Lord Jesus I am one of thy Redeemed ones whom thou hast redeemed unto God by thine own most precious Blood from the slavery and tyranny under which I lay thou didst freely lay down thy life to save mine thou didst shed thine own Blood and offeredst thy self upon the Cross a Sacrifice to satisfie Divine Justice and make Attonement for my sins and to bring me nigh unto God who once was alienated from and an enemy to Father Son and Holy Ghost in my mind by wicked Works And thou wast not only offered upon the Cross for me but thou hast been lately in the Supper Ordinance exhibited and offered to me with all the virtues and benefits and victories and purchases and priviledges of thy death for the strengthning and nourishing of my Faith for the enlivening and quickening and raising my hope for the filling up my joy and encreasing my comfort for the carrying on the Spiritual life with greater vigour and power in my Soul for all this dear Jesus how shall I express and testifie my Thankfulness Why I will do it thus I do here solemnly and seriously and fully give up my self to thee to be thine and only thine both now and to Eternity that is to say everlastingly thine This is the best way of expressing our Thankfulness and this we are every one afresh obliged to who have been sitting down this day at our Lords Table For one end of this Ordinance is to be a seal of the Covenant all the Blessings and Benefits and Priviledges and Promises and Grace of the New Covenant are confirmed to Believers by it Now the Covenant binds mutually God bindeth himself to give Grace to us and we bind our selves to live to him In all Covenants there is not only something to be done for us but there is something to be performed by us God seals the Benefits of the Covenant on his part and we seal to the Durys of the Covenant on our part The exhibiting the signes is the seal on God's part the receiving the signes is the seal on our part Every time we receive we bind our selves to new and better Obedience to live more to God and to dy more to sin I have Read that Pliny should say he learned it of some Christians That at their Meeting they did Sacramento se obstringere ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent c. Bind themselves by the Sacrament that they would not commit these sins of Theft and Robbery and Adultery And so should every one that have been eating the Sacramental Bread and Wine look upon our selves as bound to live more to God and Jesus Christ and to cleave to the Lord with fuller purposes of heart and more stedfast Resolutions of Soul Our Blessed Saviour never Instituted this Holy Ordinance to qualify Persons for some advantagious Post and to sit Men for Publick Places and Offices or to be a Stepping-stone to Worldly Preferment as it is now adays only used by many to the great shame of a Protestant Nation may it be spoken that so Sacred an Ordinance should be thus Abused and Prophaned But he designed it to be a stronger Tye and Obligation upon us to a more Holy Life and Circumspect Walk and indeed if we do not answer this end we do but Prophane this Ordinance every time we partake of it And instead of eating and drinking to our own Salvation we shall but eat and drink Damnation to our selves 4. We are to Walk after this Ordinance more Believingly and Fiducially that is with a stronger Faith and Trust in Christ and Relyance upon him 2 Col. 6. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablisht in the Faith as you have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving None are so stablished but they may grow still in Faith None have taken so much root but they may take yet more root Faith is such a Grace as is capable of farther improvement A weak Faith may become strong and a strong Faith may become yet stronger The Apostles prayer was this Lord increase our Faith Luke 17.9 Many are crying out for more Riches for more Honour for more Wealth for more Pleasure But let this be the desire of our Souls for a stronger Faith This is a Petition very proper and suteable to be put up by us after we have been at this Supper Lord increase our Faith What the Apostle said of the Thessalonians concerning Brotherly Love You need not that I write unto you for you your selves are taught of God to love one another and indeed you do it towards all the Brethren which are in all Macedonia But yet he saw it necessary to press after a farther growth and encrease of it But we beseech brethren that ye encrease more and more The same I trust may be said of many here concerning Faith Ye are taught of God to believe and indeed ye do believe but however this Exhortation or desire is not needless viz. That ye encrease more and more Those that have any measure of Faith already are to be endeavouring after a growth and
encrease in it For the stronger our Faith is the greater revenue of Glory we bring to Christ It is said of Abraham He was strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4.20 But how did he glorify God why by believing in hope against hope He glorifyed the Faithfulness and Truth and the Power of God that notwithstanding the outward Discouragement under which he lay tho' it seemed to be a very unlikely improbable thing to the eye of Sense and Reason that he should have a Child considering his own Age and the Deadness of Sarahs Womb yet he believed in the Power and Faithfulness of God that he was able to performe what he promised to him and that he would be true and faithful to perform it Thus Abraham by his Faith Glorifyed God's Power Truth and Faithfulness And thus by believing we bring a great Revenue of Honour and Glory unto Christ When we stedfastly rely upon the Merit and All-sufficiency of his Blood for the Pardon of all our Sins and under the fresh guilt we are contracting daily we daily apply and betake our selves to this Blood of Christ for fresh Pardon and Cleansing when we stedfastly rely upon his Righteousness for our Justifycation before God not mentioning a word of our own Inherent Righteousness or Holiness for our Justification and Acceptance with God but make mention of his and of his only when under all our Temptations we rely upon his Mercy and Faithfulness to help and succour us In all our ways to rely upon his Wisdom for our guidance and conduct when in every act and duty of Worship we rely upon him for our access to God We never bring more honour and glory unto Christ than when we go most out of our selves and rely most upon Christ This is to walk believingly and thus we are to walk after this Supper viz. with a stronger Faith and trust on the Lord Jesus Christ We walk by Faith says the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.7 And in another place The life which I now live in the Flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Gal. 2.20 And thus we are to live and walk viz. with a stronger Faith with a more stedfast trust and reliance upon Christ upon his Obedience and Satisfaction To this end was he lifted up upon the Cross and offered there viz. to be believed in and rested upon Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him c. To this end did God the Father give Christ viz. to be believed in and rested upon vers 16 For God so loved the world that be gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish c. To this end is he lifted up in the preaching of the Gospel viz. that poor sinners might believe on and put all their trust and confidence in him for life and for Salvation Mark 16.15 16. Go into all the World and preach the Gospel to every Creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved And to this end is he offered to us in the Supper viz. to be believed in and rested upon 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. The Lord Jesus Christ the same night in which he was betrayed took Bread and when he had given thanks brake it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you After the same manner he took the Cup when he had supped saying this Cup is the New Testament of my blood this do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me And in another place drink ye all of it this do in remembrance of me In the Bread broken upon the Table we have a lively representation of Christ's broken Body In the Wine we have a lively representation of the Blood of the Lord Jesus the price of our Redemption By Eating and Drinking we are to understand believing so that we see the Lord Jesus Christ is oâ—ered to us in this Supper to be believed in and rested upon It is true there is nothing but bare Bread and Wine presents it self to the eye of our Bodies But under these outward Signes and Elements of Bread and Wine there is a broken Crucified Saviour offered and presented to the eye of our Faith O there is great need ' of Faith and great work for Faith in our receiving and after our receiving in our partaking and after we have partaken of this Supper whilst we sit down and after we are risen up from this Table There is great need of Faith and great work for Faith in our receiving We can no more turn Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ without faith says one than a Chymist can transmute one Metal into another without the operation of the fire He that comes to this Supper without faith says another is like a Man that thinks to quench his thirst by sucking the Ale bowl Alas what is it that we receive at this Supper why it is but a little morsel of Bread and a small draught of Wine without faith and what can this do to the nourishing and strengthning of our Souls As the word profits not unless it be mixed with faith in those that hear it Heb. 4.2 So the Lord's Supper profits not unless mingled with faith in those that receive it It is true were we only at this Ordinance to receive the Bread at the Ministers hands that gives it then there would be no such need of Faith at this Ordinance But at this Ordinance we are to take Christ out of God's hand who is offered to us there and this cannot be done without faith were we only to eat the Bread and drink the Wine at this Supper this might be done without faith but we are to eat Christ's Flesh and drink Christ's Blood to seed upon a broken Crucified Saviour who is not only the Master but the Matter of this feast and this cannot be done but by faith It is faith that feeds upon Christ and derives virtue and vigour from him His Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed John 6.55 Meat to be eaten not with the teeth but by faith Meat indeed not in Nature but in Effect because it nourisheth the Soul and gives Eternal life to them that eat thereof v. 54. Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal life c. Hath Eternal life ay hath it already in a just Right and Title and shall have it in a certain actua Possession There is great need of Faith and Work for Faith in this Ordinance to discern and spy out those great Mysteries that are wrapped up in the outward Elements The want of which viz. a right discerning of the Mysteries that are pointed at by these signes in this Ordinance is the cause of Persons miscarrying under it is the cause of Persons eating and drinking unworthily and as a consequent of that of their eating and drinking
7. We must walk with a more inflamed Love and endeared Affection to the blessed Lord Jesus This Supper-Ordinance is a Love-token betwixt Christ and his Church where they mutually seal up their Affections to each other In it we have had the highest and the fullest demonstrations of his Love to us Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends VVhy such love there was in the heart of Christ to poor finners as to lay down his life for them Hereby perceive we the love of God says the Apostle John because he Laid down his life for us 1 John 3.16 Ay here was a full demonstration of it indeed This was a demonstration of that love which was in the heart of Christ from Eternity to poor sinners O wonderful Love that he should open his Breast to receive into his own heart the sharp point of that sword which was directed against us VVhere shall we find love to match this love Rather than we should be Sacrifices to Divine Justice he himself would become the Sacrifice Have we had such demonstrations of his love represented to us in this Ordinance O then with what an inflamed love and endeared affections to the Lord Jesus Christ ought we to walk after this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper As we are to hate sin more so we are to love Christ more Let us therefore as the Apostle exhorts us walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 The most intense love and purest affections are due from us to Christ who loved us and dyed for us and rose again for our Justifycation and is gone before to prepare Mansions of Glory for the seeing God's Face and enjoying God's Presence to all Eternity These are endearing considerations and should mightily endear Christ to our Souls And O that we could find and feel more of the constraining power and efficacy of this Love of Christ every day drawing out our hearts and affections more after himself 8. We are to walk more inquisitively that is to say more upon the search and enquiry not so much into the affairs and concerns of others as into the frames and conditions and affairs of our own Souls Many are busy in making their reflexions and observations upon others and in the mean time overlook themselves The Mind hath many turnings but the best is when it turns in and reflects upon it self This was holy David's way and practice Psal 77.6 I commune with my own heart and my spirit made diligent search Ay this is a commendable walk indeed when we are much in communing with our own hearts enquiring how matters go there As the wise and prudent and careful Tradesman is often looking into his Accounts that he may know how it is with him whether he goes backward or forward in the World So should we be often looking into our hearts that we may know how it is with us whether we go backward or forwards in our Souls That we may know what our losses have been and what our gains have been This is a walking that is pleasing to God as is evident from the many Injunctions of his Word and Will to this purpose Lament 3.40 Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord Hag. 1.5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves prove your own selves c. In order to the preparing our hearts to approach the Lord's Table the Apostle recommends to us this excellent duty of Self-examination 1 Cor. 11.28 But let a man examine himself and so let him eat c. The Apostle is here laying before them the sin and danger of unworthy participation of this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and gives them to understand that such as eat and drink unworthily are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Here he lays before them the sin And in the 29th Verse he lays before them the danger and tells them plainly that such as eat and drink unworthily eat and drink Damnation to themselves Now to prevent such a mischief as this he recommends to them this excellent duty of Self-examination It is as much as if he had said If ye would not eat and drink unworthily and thereby eat and drink damnation to your selves then set upon this business of Self-examination Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. Truly as this is necessary before we venture upon this Ordinance so it is as necessary after we have partaken of it Let a man examine himself and so let him eat c. So also let a Man eat and drink and so let him examine himself An after reflection is as necessary as a previous examination We examine our selves before in order to receive good And we must examine our selves after to see what good we have received After our performance of any duty we should be upon the enquiry what good we have got This Question we should put to our selves after every Prayer we make after every Sermon we hear after every time we Communicate at the end of every Duty and at the end of every day We have been lately partaking of this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper and as we are frequently exhorted to examine our selves before we sit down at this Ordinance So the Exhortation now is to examine our selves after we are risen from it What Warmth of Affection had we in it and not only so But what Warmth of Affection do we now find remaining and abiding upon us Is not that Heat and Warmth in a great measure abated and lost already This is that which we should look to that we do not easily or quickly after Duties are over lose that Heat and Warmth which we got in the Duty at the end of every Duty and at the end of every day we are seriously and faithfully to examine and consider what of God and what of Christ hath been discovered to me this day or in this or that Duty VVhat discoveries have been made of our selves to our selves of the baseness and vileness and corruptions of our own hearts VVhat expressions of love to God and Christ VVhat expressions of Sorrow for sin VVhat delight in Christ and desires after Christ have been working in my Soul this day VVhat lively vigorous acts and exercises of Grace hath been put forth not only in the Duty performed but since the Duty was performed VVhat Power hath been exerted this day in a way of opposition and resistance against Temptations and against Corruptions VVhat Backfildings and Apostacys and defections from God have I been guilty of since the last time I renewed my Covenant And what Sorrow and Contrition of heart hath been expressed for it VVhat guilt and defilement have I a-fresh contracted and what application in a way of Faith of