shameful Cross and therefore retires here for Meditation and Prayer in order to it To bear the Curse of the Law and strugle with the Wrath of God the due Wages of our sin which he undertook to expiate And to Conflict with all those Sufferings Antecedent and Concomitant to such a Death needed such Preparation Yea the solemn Resignation of himself to the Will of God by Prayer in this Garden before he Offered himself upon the Cross was necessary as the accomplishment of a legal Type that prefigured it For all the Levitical Sacrifices were first consecrated by Prayer before they were burnt upon the Altar This Lamb of God the truth of all those Sacrifices the Substance of all those Types was first to devote himself to God by Prayer before he was nailed to the Cross And this Garden of Gethsemane being a solitary Place was fit for that purpose 3. I may add another reason He went thither because it was a place that Judas knew of where his Enemiâ—s might be sure to find him and so accomplish the eternal Counsels of God concerning his sufferings and Death Several times before this they endeavoured to lay hands on him but his hour was not come But now he was willing and resolved to dye And therefore knowing that Judas would betray him and having bid him do quickly what he intended to do he doth not go about to abscond and hide himself to prevent it He retires to this Garden which the Traytor was well acquainted with And when he comes with a Company to take him he tells them more than once He is the Person they seek for Let me make a few Reflexions on this particular As 1. Since our Lords Passion began in a Garden Let me caution you not to abuse your Gardens and places of Retirement and Recreation to vanity and sin but improve them by holy Meditation when you are walking there How often is Christ dishonoured in such places either when you are in Company or when are alone In company by intemperance in Banqueting or by vain or wanton Discourses or by uncharitable and backbiting Stories of others c. Or when you are alone by wanton and lustful thoughts by speculative uncleanness wicked projects c. But thus to retire into a Garden is to retreat from men and fall into the hands of the Devil Such persons imitate their Mother Eve in the Garden of Eden and hold a Dialogue with the old serpent Others who are less criminal are yet to be reproved that make no holy improvement of such places but only for Recreation and Pleasure to gratifie their Senses Every wise and good man loves sometimes to be alone and ought to be so for serious Meditation Now a Garden is a fit place for such a purpose and may be of excellent use to such an end And there is no Object can meet our Eyes or affect any of our senses there without giving us some Notices of God and directing us to some useful Instructions in reference to our selves if we did not want a holy heart and spiritual wisdom to improve them Especially in your Garden walks Meditate on the Garden of Eden and think of this Garden of Gethsemane Consider how Man sinned in the one and how Christ suffered in an Agony in the other First From the Garden of Eden you may take occasion to contemplate the State of Innocence the Entrance of Sin the Fall of our First Parents the Subtilty of the Tempter the Danger of Gratifying the Sensual Appetite from their Example in Eating the Forbidden Fruit the prevalency of Temptation when a near and Beloved Relation is the Instrument of the Devil to urge it c. Secondly Think of the Garden of Gethsemane too when you are delighting your self in some pleasant Walk in your own Garden Think how the Son of God lay prostrate on his Face in an Agony in this Garden of Gethsemane When you look upon a Fruit-tree especially a Vine or taste of a Grape remember the Blood of Christ that trickled from his Sacred Body If you are sometimes merry and chearful with your Friends in a Garden forget not how your Saviour was exceeding sorrowful My Soul is exceeding Sorrowful unto Death When you are cooling your selves in the Shade remember his Agony and Bloody Sweat under the Apprehensions of the Wrath of God due to your sin How his Soul boiled up as one of the Greek Expressions does signifie and his Blood broke out at every part of his Body with the extremity of the Heat You may consider how the First Adam was Tempted by an Evil Angel in the Garden of Eden and the Second was Comforted in his Agony by a Good one Adam's Sentence in the former was to get his living by the Sweat of his brows Christ by his Bloody Sweat in this procures our Life And let not such places be abused to sin and vanity that may so easily be improved to put us in mind of such Important Truths 2. In that this was a Solitary Place we may observe That it is fit to retire for Meditation and Prayer to some Secret Place from the Company and Observation of others There are many things which are proper enough and may become us in an Affectionate Prayer in secret especially for a Penitent which are not allowable in Social Worship or Publick Prayer with others As Prostration of our selves on the Ground Beating the Breast Extraordinary Sobs and Sighs Plentiful Tears and Passionate Expostulations with God c. which either Modesty or Prudence may restrain in publick may be used with greater Liberty in Secret where is no Temptation to Hypocrisie or vain-glory to abuse them And therefore our Lord directs us Math. 6. That we enter into our Closets and shut the door and then pray to our Father who is in Heaven who seeth in secret and will reward us openly 3. In that Christ retires here to prepare himself with the greater Solemnity for his approaching Death We may learn That whenever we have a Prospect of our Change at hand we should not content our selves with habitual preparation but use a more solemn distinct and actual preparation for it Our Lord no doubt was always in a Readiness for that which he knew was the great end of his Incarnation And yet the night before his Sufferings he retires into this Garden to prepare himself for that hour We should always so live as to be fit to die because every hour we make some steps towards the Grave Every thought every word is a Sand running from the Glass of Time We sleep every night in the outer Chambers of Death and should by Prayer prepare our selves for it even for that Image of Death And shall we not much more for Death it self when we have a Prospect of its approach in whose Arms we must rest Prisoners till the great Morning of the Resurrection If God give us Notice and Warning by Old Age or a dangerous Sickness or a languishing
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
Creation because of the necessity of Divine Grace and the power of the Spirit of Christ that Power that made us at first and raised Christ from the Dead 'T is the necessity of that Power unto this Change that is the principal ground of this term Creation The Efficiency of it by the power of victorious Grace making us a willing and holy People in the day of his Power comprehending habitual Sanctification as the root and life of actual holiness The Excellency and Extent of this I might shew as to the inward and outward Man Heart and Life all the Powers of the Soul and Members of the Body and our whole Carriage Course and Behaviour And that this is common unto all the Children of God all that are created again in Christ Jesus all that are born from above If any Man be in Christ he is a new creature To this end III. Let us consider the certain and inseparable connexion between these two That all who are in Christ are and must be new Creatures Every real Christian he is in Christ Jesus his Union to Christ doth constitute him a living Member and his being a New Creature doth prove it The one is the Essence the other his Property but they are inseparable What makes a Man but the Union of Soul and Body What makes a Christian but the Union of the Soul with Christ How know we that a Man hath a Soul but by the Motions Actions Operations of a Reasonable Soul How know you that such a Professing Christian is United to Christ by his Spirit but by the Effects and Operations of this Spirit making such a Change in Heart and Life from which they may be denominated New Creatures Therefore they are said to walk in the Spirit and after the Spirit And at other times as the Foundation of this to be born of the Spirit and born from above so as the Divine Life and Likeness is introduced But more particularly 1. They who are thus spiritually united to Christ they must be new creatures because they partake of the Divine Spirit the same Spirit that formed Christ in the Womb of the Virgin hath formed the new Creature in all that are in Christ the same Spirit that quickned the dead Body of Christ and raised him from the Dead imploies the exceeding greatness af his Mighty Power towards them that believe and by Faith are united to him the same Spirit that carried out the Soul of Christ to go to God as a Father doth enable Believers to cry Abba Father For the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4.6 The same Spirit that led Christ into his Tryals and Temptations and brought him off with Victory doth the like for all the Followers of Christ They are partakers of his Spirit The blood of Christ cannot save those who are destitute of his Spirit The same Spirit of Holiness conforms them to the Image Life of God they are under the conduct of the same Spirit of Humility Meekness Love Charity Prayer Courage Resignation and the like which acted in Christ And this makes them like to him like him in their Judgments and Opinions of things like him in their Affections like him in their Designs and Ends and like him in a course of Actions by which they prosecute those Designs for the Glory of God I might shew their Resemblance and conformity in Graces unto Christ in the Rise of them in the Kinds of them in the Exercise of them All which depends upon their Participation of the same Spirit 2. They must be new Creatures if they are in Christ because the new Creature is an Imitation of Him It is a little Module of Christ in its Birth and a conformity to his Pattern in its Growth and fully so in its Perfection And therefore we read of coming to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4.12 All that are united to Christ are conformed to him Every Branch in him answers to the Root every Member suits to the holy Head in Heaven and in some measure doth resemble him That the Members of Christ should be of a contrary Temper to their Head is utterly impossible I might here urge the Imitation of Christ as becoming those who profess to be in him in several Instances as in the inward Delight which he took to do the will of his Father in his active Zeal for his Father's Glory in a patient submission to the hand of his Father tho' never so heavy in his firm Faith and Dependance on him under all Discouragements and in his Constancy and Perseverance to do good notwithstanding all the Hatred and Malice of the World c. 3. Because the New Creature is Represented in Scripture as a Conformity to the Death and Resurrection of Christ Philip. 3.10 By putting off the old man we dye unto Sin by putting on the new we are alive to God and live to Righteousness We are hereby changed into the Image of Christ and that good work begun which is to be finish'd and consummated in the Day of Christ Phil. 1.6 There is a Conformity to his Death and Sufferings in the mortification of Sin Our old man is crucified with him Rom. 6.6 Gal. 5.24 And a conformity to his Resurrection in Heavenliness of Mind Col. 3.1 and in Newness of Life Rom. 6.4 4. Because nothing else will so prove our Vnion to Christ as to enable us to take Comfort in such a Priviledge no external Advantages whatsoever will do it For neither circumcision nor uncumcision availeth any thing but a new Creature Gal. 6.15 The highest Profession of Religion without such a Change will not save thee Except a man be born again or from above he cannot enter into Heaven John 3.5 Neither can he be accepted of God or have fellowship with him 1 John 3.2 No External Duties or Performances will avail you without this You may Read and Hear and Pray and give Alms and do many other things and yet not be in Christ if you are not Regenerated Renewed and inwardly changed by the Power of the Divine Spirit If you are not made New Creatures you can never prove that you are in Christ You may be Baptized in the Name of the Sacred Trinity you may continue in the Bosom of the Church hear the sound of the glorious Gospel and receive the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper and yet not be united unto Christ You may have some lesser change from the grosser Pollutions of the World you may have some partial Reformation which is far short of being new Creatures some outward temporary change in your carriage conversation while the Heart is unrenewed In a word our present Fellowship and Communion with God our after Service and Obedience in the Fruits of Righteousness to the praise of God and our final Blessedness in the enjoyment of him do all depend upon this Change this new Creation And therefore be
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
his Blood that he might redeem you to himself that he might purchase to himself a People zealous of good works False are we to all this if we do not walk as New creatures There are but two Motives with which I shall enforce this The Text furnishes me with one And the Season of the Year with the other 1. The Motive in the Text Old things are done away Behold all things are become New I shall not consider it as amplifying the other expression and so refering to the Change of those that are iâ— Christ and consequently of like import with the Phrase a New creature but as an Argument to urge and enforce it And accordingly understand these words as relating to the Obligation of the Law of Moses That that is now ceased Those old things are now done away The Shadows of the Ceremonial Law are expired at the coming of the Substance which is Christ Colos 2.20 We are said to be dead with Ch ist from the Rudiments or Elements of the World Respecting material and worldly things either to do or forbear them For of that kind were the Ordinances and Institutions of the Ceremonial Law They were the first and lowest Lessons fitted to the Infancy of the Church But now the Kingdom of Heaven is come by the Erection of the Gospel-Church a Kingdom which shall not be shaken and the Orders and Institutions of it never be changed Now a more noble and spiritual worship is to take place those old things are past away No wonder if the Scaffolds of Ceremonies be taken down when the Church of God the Spiritual Building is brought by Christ to its full height Now all things are become new by Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant The Testament he left us is a New Testament He rent the Vail of the Temple in twain when he died and put an end by his own Sacrifice of himself unto all the Sacrifices and Services of the Jewish Temple And therefore it is observable that the first time he spake of his Death was in the Temple But after his Death he never entred into it though we read that he was in Jerusalem after his Resurrection We have a New Sanctuary an Heavenly one A New High Priest of a better Order than that of Aaron New Heavens and a New Earth as the. Gospel State is called A New Light to inlighten the World even the Knowledge of God in the Face of Christ A New Sun even Christ the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Beams A New Adam after the Image of God the express Image of his Person and the Brightness of his Glory in whom all fulness dwells We have a New Coelestial Paradise into which the Old Serpent shall never enter A New Tree of Life whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations A New Eve the Church of Christ Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh formed of his Blood and animated by his Spirit We have New Sacrifices New Sacraments a New Circumcision a New Passover a New Jerusalem a New Temple Behold all things are made New And shall not we that profess to be the Disciples and Followers of Christ by whom all things are thus made New Answer all this by being New creatures that we may serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Rom. 7.6 That is that we being delivered from the manifold difficult Impositions of the Mosaick Law all which we could not fulfil and from the Curse upon those which did not we should now serve God with new Hearts and Lives by the Spirit of Christ according to the Law of Grace 2. There is yet another Argument from the Circumstance of â—ime In the begining of the New Year which makes the Exhortation seasonable to press you to be New creatures And when may I expect to be attentively heard upon such a Subject if not at such a season when I may hope several of you have had serious reflexions this very Morning upon Time and Eternity from the Conclusion of the last Year and the beginning of another to awaken your Thankfulness for the Mercies of the year past and your Repentance for the sins of it and your good Resolutions and Self-Dedication to the Lord for the future It will be sad if the Experience of another Year do not teach us some Vnderstanding when day unto day uttereth Knowledg and night unto night might teach us Wisdom The very thoughts of our hasty Time measured by Years and Months and Weeks and Days should put us upon considering how irrevocable and past recovery is the last year and all our former years it being utterly impossible to call back Yesterday Almighty Power may stop the course of the Sun as in the time of Joshua but to make that which is past to be present and not past is a Contradiction and cannot be done And oh how small a point doth separate and distinguish that which is past from that which is yet to come They are divided by one Moment by an Instant that is almost nothing by that which we cannot speak of without losing it being gone while we open our Mouths to say the least word about it So near is Death to Life The very nature of Time it self may teach us this And certainly the changes of the year past should be very instructive and give us many Reflexions according to our Sins and Mercies according to the Trials and Exercises we have been carried through this last year May not all of you look back upon many Changes the preceding year of several kinds those especially which God hath made amongst us by Death We are called to review how many of them we knew and were acquainted with with whom we familiarly conversed not a Year since are now silent in the dust While their immortal Spirits are some in Heaven and others in the place of Torment And of the multitude that have dyed this last year could we but separate the corrupted putrifying Relicks of those Persons whom we Honoured Valued and Loved from the rest of the Deceased and view their Bodies as now they are How affecting would be the Spectacle to think what they were less than a year ago and to consider what now they are as to their Bodies and the greater change there is as to their Souls But even as to the former let us compare in our thoughts the Figure they lately made while acting their Parts upon this Stage as living Men and Women amongst us What a Change is made in a few Months as to every of them And the like may be our own Case within a few Months from this moment long before the end of this year we now begin For consider it Christians This last year that is now ended is one great step we have every one made towards the Grave Another such may bring us home O that we may be found ready Who knows but as the last Year carried off
and force according to our Faith The Arguments from God from Christ from our selves from the Divine Nature from the Example and Life of Christ from his redeeming Grace and dying Love from his precious Promises c. They all depend upon our Faith and have no force or power any further than we believe in Christ and heartily embrace the Gospel-Revelation Secondly It is by the Name of Christ or by Faith in him that we are Sanctified because in order to our Sanctification Christ is to be eyed and improved several wayes First The Blood of Christ must be eyed in order to our Sanctification Our Faith must be employed upon a Crucified Saviour As his Blood is able to cleanse us from all sins Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood Who gave himself for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse us by the washing of Water by the Word Rev. 1.5 Ephes 5.25 For as the Apostle argues from the taking away of Ceremonial Uncleanness by the Legal Purifications If the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean availed to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offered up himself to God purge our Consciences from dead Works Heb. 9.13 Accordingly we find The Sanctification of the Spirit connected with the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus or as the purchase of his Blood 1 Pet. 1.2 Secondly Faith makes use of the Intercession of Christ and his Prayer in Heaven for this Effect The whole fruit of the Death of Christ whereof the Sanctifying Spirit is one Principal part is given out by the Father upon the Intercession of Christ What he merited on the Cross by his great Sacrifice he prays in Heaven may be applyed to Particular Souls as the fruit of it and upon the account of the everlasting value of his Death his Intercession founded on it is always Prevalent Thirdly His Promise and Covenant whereby he hath engaged to cleanse us from all Iniquity and to sprinkle clean Water upon us Ezek. 36.25 He hath promised his Blood shall be a Fountain open for sin and uncleaness Zach. 13.1 That Christ shall save us from our sins and be exalted to give Repentance and to turn us from our Iniquities and bring us back to God c. Fourthly Hereupon our Faith must eye the Spirit of Christ as the great Sanctifier of Souls and the Author of all our Purity This great Benefit which is promised in the Word purchas'd by Christ upon his Cross and bestowed granted and given out upon his Intercession is applyed by the Efficiency of the Eternal Spirit He Sanctifies our Hearts and Natures and continually vouchsafes holy Influences of Light and Life and Power answerable to the Duties Difficulties and Necessities of particular Souls in every Age and Place of the World This brings me to consider the other means of our Sanctification viz. Secondly By the Spirit of our God And that he doth two ways First By removing our Defilement and Pollution and Secondly As the Author of Actual Grace and Holiness First by the removing our defilement and pollution and accordingly he is promised sometimes as a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap Mal. 3.2 and sometimes under the notion of Water Isa 4.4 Because all things under the Law were purged from their Typical Uncleanness either by Fire or Water What would abide the Fire was to be Purified by Fire and what would not was to be Cleansed by Water Numb 3.23 And here I might consider a Three-fold Defilement wherewith we are chargable First That of our Nature by Original Sin Secondly That which is contracted by Actual Sin Thirdly The Pollution and Defilement that cleaves to our best Duties So far as we are delivered from our Pollution as to either of these The Holy Ghost in the vertue of the Blood of Christ is the Author of it Secondly We may consider the Holy Spirit as the Author of Positive Holiness and Grace in the Soul and show First How he convinceth us of our need of it Secondly That he enables us to pray for it Thirdly To beleive the Value and Vertue of the Blood of Christ as able to procure it Fourthly How he makes use of the Word as the ordinary means of our Sanctification And Fifthly Sometimes enables us to improve Afflictions to promote the influence and efficacy of the Word to this purpose APPLICATION First From the consideration of what these Corinthians were before this Change we learn that some of the Worst and Vilest of sinners may be call'd and sanctified and find Mercy with God Such were some of you such Idolaters such Drunkards such Extortioners such Adulterers c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things such sins were some of you to express the heighth of their Wickedness Sins of a Crimson and Scarlet Die may be cleansed and forgiven The most polluted sinner may be purified by the Blood of Christ The most loathsome Diseases may be healed by our heavenly Physician The most unpolished Stones may be framed by the Spirit for a spiritual Building a Manasses a Mary Magdalen may be changed and justified God will hereby magnifie the Truth and Authority of his Word and the Power of his Spirit He will hereby bear Testimony to the Freeness of his Love and the Riches of his Grace He will hereby hearten and encourage the greatest Offenders to hope for pardon upon Repentance Isaiah 55.7 Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous Man his Thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will abundantly pardon him He will hereby encourage Ministers in their Work though among a dissolute and perverse People For we preach in Hope that if the vilest of Men can but so far break the Snare of the Devil as to hear the Word we preach to them in hope of success We know not whose Hearts God will touch It may be the most Unlikely Person in the whole Assembly shall feel the Power of the Word Secondly What Love and Thankfulness do we owe to Christ And how should we Admire and Praise him for his Blood and Spirit unto which we owe this great Blessing of Sanctification That there is a Fountain opened for Sin and Vncleanness for the Men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for all Sorts and degrees of Persons and kinds of Sins That His Blood cleanseth from all sins Not only did so formerly but does so still Thirdly Learn where to go for this Benefit even to Jesus Christ. Beg to be Sanctified through the Merits of his Death and the Influence of his Spirit endeavour to be sensible of thy Filthiness and cry out Vnclean unclean Lord wash me throughly from my sins and purge me from all my pollutions Apply the Word of God and especially the Promises of the Gospel in order to thy being cleansed from all the Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Fourthly What a Difference doth
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
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
Communion with several persons who if they would judge righteous Judgment concerning themselves ought to tarry away As having no Right before God to come to the Table of the Lord as the Case is with them at present In short It is unlawful to Communicate with Wicked Men if they be so bad and their Number so great as that it is our Duty to forsake such a Church If Heresie and Impiety be justified by the Major Vote and bare down Faith and Godliness then that particular Society is uncapable of the Ends of Church-Communion and so to joyn there would be sinful But in Cases of lesser Irregularity if we do not sin by the Neglect of our Duty it will be no sin of ours to Communicate with that Church though Unworthy Persons be Admitted The Sins of the Pastor and of particular Delinquents are not ours much less may we refuse Communion upon the account of other Men's Faults when we have not done our Duty in order to the Remedy and Cure of them 2. Object But others will say I am truly afraid to venture the Danger of Vnworthy Receiving is so very great that it makes me tremble to consider it I have been many years frighted with your Text That he that Eats and Drinks Unworthily eats and drinks Damnation to himself Answ 1. The Word which we translate Damnation signifies only Judgment or Punishment in the general and so is used in several places What Judgment therefore is meant the Context must determine And that speaks principally of Temporal Punishments for such are mentioned Verse 30. as inflicted on the Corinthians for the Profanation of this Ordinance For this cause some of you are sick and weak and many are fallen asleep Besides the Reason that is assigned for these Punishments or Judgments was That they might not be condemned with the World Verse 32. For when we are judged says the Apostle It is the same word it may be as well Rendred Damned as that in the Text Damnation But when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World God did thus judge or punish the Corinthians in this World that they might be Reformed and not perish Eternally So that he who Eats and drinks unworthily may fear lest his Contempt and Profanation of the Ordinanance be followed by some Remarkable Jugdment of God at least it was so in the Apostle's time 2. Conside◠〈…〉 That the Disorders committed by the Corinthians and occasioned by their Love Feasts that preceded the Lord's Supper They were such as were peculiar to those Times and are now Abolish'd and disus'd Christians then Feasted by themselves in their Religious Assemblies in Imitation of what the Heathens did in their Idol-Temples The Rich sent in their own Provisions and every one contributed to this Feast by bringing some Portion but there they banded into several Parties as they came without tarrying one for another and feeding lovingly together Every one fell to that Portion of Meat which he brought as if they were at home when it should have been divided in Common and the Poor have had their share Whereas says the Apostle Some are hungry and others intemperate and drunken This they are taxed with in the 22. Ver. What says he have ye not houses to eat and to drink in They made little or no Difference between these Love-Feasts and the Lord's Supper at the close of them between these Sacred Symbols of our Lord's Body and Blood and common Food and Drink They were in the House and Worship of God just as in their own and made no Distinction between this and a common Meal Nay it was worse They turned this Ordinance into a drunken Club or a Riotous Entertainment making it an Instrument and Occasion of Debauchery This was Eating and Drinking Vnworthily indeed and no wonder if God did so severely punish them for it The Apostle Jude taxes these Love-Feasts Verse 12. But there is no danger of such Excesses at the Lord's Table now or of eating and drinking Vnworthily in the same manner as the Corinthians did 3. If we take Damnation for Eternal punishment which Vnworthy Receiving does without Repentance expose to Yet consider that the Wages of every Sin is Eternal Death And you have the same Reason to be afraid of Other Sins because you run the same Hazard The Sacrifices of the Wicked God abhors And the very Prayers of the Hpocrite are an Abomination to him But 4. Consider That by eating and driâ—king his own Damnation the Apostle does not mean that every such Person shall certainly and inevitably be damned but that without Repentance it is a damning Sin Unworthy eating is so and so is sinful abstaining too without Repentance And why so much Tenderness in the one Case and not in the other No Man needs be blamed for being unwilling to Damn himself But why should Men be fearful of it in this Instance and not in others Infidelity Disobedience and Impenitence will as certainly expose a Man to Damnation without the Sacrament as with it And they cannot fairly urge the Fear of Damnation against coming to it who are not restrained thereby from other sins as damning as this 5. That therefore which the Apostles words will most properly infer and direct us to is this That siâ—ce we are required iâ— Obedience to Christ to do this in rememb ance of him and yet such severe Punishments are threetned to those that do it unworthily The plain consequence is this That we should not omit it becaâ—se of the Command nor yet carelesly undertake it because of the threatned Juâ—gment But it will by no means excuse or plead for the total neglect and omission of it 'T is plain the Apostle never thought that the sin and danger of doing a Duty amiss might be made an Exception against the doing iâ— at all or â—hat threatning Damnation to eating a d drinking unwo thily should fâ—are Men from eating and drinking at all He takes what care he can that the Duty may be perform'd and the Err r in doing it may be effectually prevented But never makes the Danger of the one a Dispensation from the other He tells them of the sin to eat and drink unworthily and of the punishment it makes 'em obnoxious to but he doth not therefore tell 'em they may stay away from the Sacrament for fear of committing the sin or of incurring the Danger Not even in that case where they were actually Guilty and really Punisht 6. You ought to consider That you will but increase your Sin and aggravate your Damnation by all the other Duties of Religion and other parts of Divine Worship if you continue Impenitent You are often told that you ought not to come to this Table till you Repent and turn to God in Christ with all your heart and give up your selves intirely to be the Lord's But if you do not Resolve to do so the same Argument will hold for the neglect
Consolation and full Assurance and raised Joys at the Table of the Lord never while we live yet the Authority of Christ requiring us To do this in Remembrance of him should be enough to determine our Practice against all the little Cavils and Objections that may be made against it O let us not be wanting in our Duty and the God of Love and Grace who is the Father of Mercies and our Gracious Redeemer of whose Compassion we have had such large and dear Experience will never be wanting to those who diligently and sincerely seek him THE END The Sixth Discourse After the LORD'S SUPPER OF Christ's Last Passover And its Accomplishment From LUKE XXII 15 16 17 18. With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you befoâ—e I suffer For I say unto you I will not any 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 GReater Love hath no Man than this saith our Blessed Lord than to lay down his Life for his Friend To part with that for Another which of all things is the dearest and the most valuable to himself In all Ages of the Christian Church there have been some ready to give this Proof of their Love to Him who spake these words by not loving their Lives unto the Death when they stood in Competition with their Fidelity to Christ And with how much the greater Chearfulness and Alacrity Willingness and Desire they did it by so much the more powerful and constraining was the Principle of Love By this we may make some Judgment what manner of Love it was wherewith the Lord Redeemer loved us when he gave Himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Odour unto God The Voluntariness of his Sacrifice argued the Excellency of his Incomparable Love Though his Death was Necessary with respect to the Eternal Purpose and Appointment of Heaven For it was by the determinate Counsel of God that the Messiah should suffer Death And though it were Violent with respect to the Instrumentality of Men in his Crucifixion they did it with violent hands Yet with reference to himself his Death was voluntary He made a willing Sacrifice of his own Life He laid it down None else could have taken it from him He gave himself a Ransom He became Poor He made himself of no Reputation He poured out his Soul unto Death It was not rent from him He was obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross This gave an extraordinary value to his Sufferings Upon this depended the Merit of his Sacrifice and the Efficacy of his Blood And this is one endearing Circumstance which heightens his Love and calls for our thankful Admiration He willingly offered himself in the first Council of Peace about our Redemption and undertook to suffer for us and make satisfaction to Divine Justice And after his Incarnation he always knew and frequently foretold his own Sufferings and Death He reproves Peter as if he acted the Devil's part when he would have disswaded him from it Yea he most earnestly desired this most bloody Baptism I have a Baptism to be Baptized with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished Luke 12.50 The night before his Sufferings he makes his last Will and Testament and leaves it with his Disciples Giving his blood to drink in the Sacrament to show hâ—w willingly he would pour it out the next dâ—y upon the Cross And on this Account he so earnestly desired to eat this Passover which the Text speaks of because it was the last before he should suffer Death And afterwards even the same Evening he goeâ— out into the Garden where he knew he should be betrayed And so in effect he brings himself to the Door of the Tabernacle to be offered to God a Sacrifice for us With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer As if he had said The Sufferings I have so often spoke of are now approaching The hour is at hand when I shall be betrayed and Crucified This is the last Passover I shall ever keep with you before I am lifted up from the Earth And therefore I most earnestly desire it because it is the last that will precede my Death Whereby I shall put an end to these legal Services which have all along referr'd to me and to the Sacrifice and Oblation I am to make for sin Henceforth I will eat and drink no more of the Passover Supper for my own Sufferings and Death is that which they signified and related to I am the true Paschal Lamb All the Rites and Observances about the killing and eating of it were but Typical of my Passion and shall now be fulfilled And here 1. I shall consider the Passover which our Lord desired to eat of 2. His ardent Desire to eat of this Passover and the Reason of it 3. The Company with whom he desired to eat it With you 4. The Time when Before I suffer 5. The Accomplishment of it in the Kingdom of God What we are to understand by the Kingdom of God and what by the fulfilling of it therein 6. His Resolution and Declaration That he would eat and drink no more so till it were Accomplished Lastly Some Reflections as the Application of the whole 1. Concerning the Feast of Passover You have the Institution of it Exod. 12. the beginning Where we find that it was appointed by God as a Memorial of the Israelites slavery in Egypt and their Deliverance out of it Former Miracles having been unsuccessful upon Pharaoh God intends to slay all the First-born of Egypt in one Night whereby in part the Curse of God pronounc't on Chaâ—â— is execâ—ted on his Posterity viz. the Egyptians in destroying All the First-born of botâ— Man and Beast The Israelites were ordered by Moses to slay a Lamb on the Fourteenth day of the First Month which answers to our March and to Sprinkle the Posts of their Doors with the Blood of that Lamb and to feed upon the Flesh of it in their several Families That very Night the destroying Angel strikes the First-born of every Family where this Command of sprinkling the Door-posts with the Blood of the Lamb was not observed On this you know they were delivered out of Egypt the Egyptians not only giving leave but dâ—siring them to be gone And this Deliverance being the Foundation of the Jewish State was to be perpetually observed by them in their Generations and to be an Ordinance for ever Exod. 12 42. The whole Institution of the Paschal Lamb is called by the Name of the Passover though it refer especially to the first Lamb in Egypt whose blood was sprinkled on the Door-posts of the Israelites Houses when the destroying Angel passed them by And the
suppose our Lord and the more Pious Jews did not Approve of that Order of the Sena e but followed the true Appearance of the Moon confirmed by sufficient and assured Witnesses The Passover being to be kept on the Fifteenth Day from the Appearance of the New-Moon But you will say still How could that Lamb be brought to the Temple and killed there if it were not on the same Day the Jewish Passover was generally Observed Unto which it is Answered That either the Master of the Family might be permitted on that day to kill the Lamb Not all the Lambs to be eaten by the Paschal Societies were to be killed by the Priests at the Temple and their blood poured out upon or at the Foot of the Altar but some of 'em in stead of All. Or that as to this and other Feasts whose Time depended upon this Determination that it was usual in Doubtful Cases to permit the Feast to be Solemnized for two days together Many Instances can be brought of this out of the Writings and Practices of the Jews and it is probable it was so now It is certain it was the Night before he â—â—â—â—â—red that he did thus eat the Passover and the Day wherein Israel went out of Egypt And it is a Tradition among the Jews says Grotius That then Israel should be delivered and redeemed in the Days of the Messiah even on the same day wherein they were delivered out of the House of Bondage in Egypt Thus admirably did the Wisdom of God concur to make the Antitype agree with the Type as will appear more distinctly under the next Head V. The Accomplishment of this Jewish Passover in the Kingdom of God For I say unto you I will eat no more thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God Which denotes it should be accomplished very shortly in that Kingdom But Vntil will not argue as if he should have afterwards eaten of it again That will not follow any more than that Michal Saul's Daughter had Children after her death because it is said She had no Child till the day of her death 1. What is meant by the Kingdom of God 2. What by the Fulfilling of the Passover therein And how or wherein it was then Accomplished and Fulfilled 1. Wâ— are we to understand by the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven Sometimes the expression is used for the Kingdom of Glory Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God Sometimes for his Providential Government His Kingdom ruleth over all Sometimes for the Execution of Judgment on the Nation of the Jews Mark 9.1 Some standing here shall not taste of Death till they see the Kingdom of God come But most usually it is taken for the Kingdom of Grace in General The Messiah's Kingdom with what belongs thereto The outward Means of Salvation are sometimes so called Math. 21.43 If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God then is the Kingdom of God come unto you The Internal Renovation of the Soul is also so expressed The Kingdom of God is within you and cometh not with observation Luk. 17.20 21. The Essentials of Christianity are also expressed by this Phrase Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost But the Church-State or the Evangelical Dispensation by the Messiah is most commonly understood As when the Kingdom of God is said to be at hand by the Preaching of Christ and his Apostles And no greater Prophet than John the Baptist yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven or the meanest Minister of the New Testament who Preacheth the Accomplishment of those things which the Baptist saw but the beginning of is greater than John the Baptist for he died before the Sacrifice of Christ So in this Text our Lord sayes He will eat no more of the Passover and drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine till it be accomplished in the Kingdom of God that is till what was represented in the Figure and Type of the Jewish Passover was really fulfilled by the Messiah's Offering himself a Sacrifice upon the Cross Which Sacrifice and Death of Christ was supposed and anticipated in the Lord's Supper as the first Institution of this New Kingdom or Gospel-Dispensation My body broken for you And this brings me to consider 2. The Fulfilling of this Passover in the Kingdom of God Or the Accomplishment of the Legal Passover when Christ the Lamb of God who taketh away the Sins of the World was Sacrificed for us And here we may consider in the General 1. That something more than the History was intended 2. That these things did refer to the Messiah 3. That the Faithful under the Old Testament did so regard them 1. It is certain that somewhat more than the History was designed All the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Mosaick Institution were but Shadows of good things to come But the Substance is Christ Colos 2.17 He is so even of the Jewish Passover For the Jews can never assign any pertinent and solid Reason of the Passover-Rites if there were no Reference to the Messiah What need of the Choice and Separation of a Lamb in that manner What Vertue could there be in the killing of one and the Sprinkling their Door-posts with his Blood What Influence could That have on their Deliverance out of Egypt Could not God distinguish the Houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians without this No Reason can well be assign'd of such Rites and Orders but by the Doctrine of the New Testament These things are thereby discover'd to be Excellent Emblems of the great Mystery of our Lord's Death 2. The whole Design therefore of this Paslover-Feast had an Aspect upon the Messiah and does Admirably Represent the Death and Sufferings of Christ the Lamb of God Sacrificed for us By whose Blood we have a Spiritual Deliverance from Sin and Satan as by the Blood of the Paschal Lamb they had a Deliverance from the destroying Angel and afterwards a Deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage Even the History of the Institution of this Passover shows a manifest Reference to Jesus Christ For we read Exod. 12.46 concerning the Paschal Lamb Neither shall ye break a Bone thereof And this is said to be fulfilled in Christ the Antitype as if pronounced immediately of him John 19. When the Souldiers found him dead they brake not his Bones as of the other two And it follows These things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says A Bone of him shall not be broken The Faithful under the Old Testament did so regard these Things And therefore Moses who esteemed the Reproach of Christ as greater Riches than the Treasures of Egypt and therefore did know him is said to have kept the Passover in Faith Heb. 11.28 In which Chapter the Apostle speaks all along of Faith in the Mediator and not of Faith in God
to be Saved by Faith in a Mediator as well as we The Gospel was preached unto them as well as unto us 2. Did Christ desire Fellowship with his Disciples Friends and Followers in the Passover What shall we think of those that despise such Institutions and look upon themselves as above such Ordinances as if they had a nearer and better way of Communion with God and Christ then this Remissness and Indifference as to these things Neglect and Carelesness in Preparation for them is likewise a degree of Contempt that deserves to be Reproved 3. Was Christ so desirous to eat his last Passover before he suffered for us because of his Willingness to Suffer What Ingratitude does this imply in our Backwardness and Cowardize when we are called to suffer for him 4. Did our Lord desire to eat this Passover because it was the last and consequently was Willing to be a Sacrifice for us What an Argument of his endearing Love does this afford us And how should it Enflame ours to him It was not from Ignorance of what he was to Suffer he fully knew what he had undertaken he perfectly understood what his Baptism of Blood did signifie and yet he earnestly desired it and was straitned till it was Accomplished He knew the Burden of Sin that he was to Expiate as a Sin-Offering when he bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree as a Sacrifice to Divine Justice for us He knew the bitterness of that Cup which he was to drink of before-hand and yet for our sakes he desires it What Thankfulness do we owe for such inestimable Love He was willing to submit to such difficult Terms to bring about our Reconciliation to God He was willing to be obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross to turn away the Divine Displeasure from us and to restore us to the Divine Favour and Image again He was willing to be a Sacrifice for sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God through Faith in him He was willing to bear the Curse that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon us He was willing to be our Paschal Lamb to be slain and sacrificed for us that by the sprinkling of his Blood we might be delivered from Sin and Hell that by feeding on him as our Passover we might be Partakers of Spiritual and Eternal Life And even in the midst of his Agony in the Garden notwithstanding the strugling of his Humane Nature against the bitterness of the Cup which made him pray for the passing of it away yet as Mediator he was willing and therefore adds Not my Will but thine be done Father glorifie thy self O matchless and incomprehensible Love How should our Souls be Ravished with the Contemplation of it How hard and insensible are our Hearts if they feel no constraining Vertue in the Consideration of such Love If we do not Sacrifice our Lusts in Requital of his being a willing Sacrifice for us Shall not the Love of Christ which bubbles up in every Drop of his Blood and made him willing and resolved to shed it on our Account make us hate that Sin which he died to Atone for and to destroy Can we consider him Groaning Sweating Bleeding Dying for Sin and yet Retain an Affection to it And rush into it through the Wounds and Blood and Agony and Death of our Redeemer Shall that ever be sweet to us which put so much Vinegar and Gall into his Cup Let me add a few Words for Counsel and Direction 1. Did Christ earnestly desire to eat this Passover and have Communion with his Disciples therein How earnestly should we desire to have Communion with him in that Ordinance that succeeded to it which was Instituted by Christ himself the same Evening in the close of the Paschal Supper Is not a Spiritual Communion with him now he is in Glory as desirable as his Bodily Prâ—sence was when in a state of Humiliation Is it not the Spirit and Temper of all the Disciples of Christ in every Age of the Church to value and to desire such near Approaches to him How did the believing Jews prepare themselves for such a Solemnity as the Passover How did David's Heart pant and faint and long for Communion with God in the Services of the Temple Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple The Israelites were to eat the Passover in haste with greediness of desire Non lento Corde non languido Ore And is it not a Shame to us to have no Appetite for such a Feast Is â—t not for want of such Desires of Communion with Christ that we meet with so little Satisfaction when we come Let him that is a thirst come and such shall be filled when others shall be sent empty away but the hungry Souls shall not be sent empty away from the Lord's Table We may likewise heighten our Desires and Appetites when we come to this Table by considering For ought we know this may be the last Communion with Christ in such an Ordinance that we shall ever enjoy before it be fully accomplished in Heaven 2. Let us imitate Christ as our Passover Both in his Readiness to Suffer and in his Character and Qualification as the Spotless Lamb of God in Meekness and Patience and Submission c. Without this we can never prove our Interest in him 3. Let us thankfully Contemplate this Lamb of God as desiring to be Sacrificed for us Let us seriously and often consider the Voluntariness of his Death and Sacrifice the Fruits of his Suffering the Merit of his Cross How Acceptable his Sacrifice was to God how beneficial unto us What a Deliverance we have by it what a Bondage we are saved from what a Glorious Liberty he has purchased what a compleat Salvation we expect when all shall be fulfilled in Heaven These are proper Thoughts for those of us this Evening who have Feasted this Day on the Sacrifice of Christ Every one of us in particular not only in publick but in secret should bless God for Jesus Christ Admiring the Matchless Grace and Love of the Redeemer in being thus a Willing Sacrifice for us and calling us to Feast upon it having Instituted this Ordinance on purpose for that very end Lastly Live in the Daily Exercise of Faith on the Blood of Christ as the Lamb of God Sacrificed for us It was the sprinkling of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb that was the Mark of the Israelites Deliverance So the shedding of the Blood of Christ with particular Application by Faith is aâ— necessary for us Without it we cannot escape the Stroke of the destroying Angel Without it the Blood of Christ will call for Vengeance and his very Sacrifice and Sufferings plead against us We should every Day by fresh
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
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