I who have sate so long at the Table of Devils by feeding my Lusts and serving Satan should be advanced to feast it with the Lord of Glory Even I who deserved the lowest place in Hell should here be sate in the highest place on Earth Let the thoughts of such wonderful love lead you into his Banqueting-house and suffer your Souls to be overcome with this Banner of his love that unparallell'd love that loved you and washed you in his own blood Again consider it is the Supper of the Lord he setteth us down unto This is that we eat and drink even our Lord's Last Supper on Earth This was the parting-Cup after which he was not to drink till he drunk it new in the Kingdom of God For preciousness Cleopatra's Cup was nothing to this tho filled with dissolved Pearls O the love that lay at the bottom to sweeten this Cup to us tho the bitterest to him that ever was put to the head of any Mortal and the more Gall and Wormwood to him the more Love and Good Will to us for whom he drank it This Last Supper on Earth is a Emblem of an after-Supper in Heaven And truly that large and long sumptuous Supper of the Lamb 's preparing above may make a Saint sit down satisfied with a short Dinner on Earth Let the Heirs of Glory never grumble at a dish of green herbs the poorest and meanest Morsel wiâh a Cup of cold water since the finest of the Wheat and Honey out of the Rock are too low expressions of thy Heavenly Commons a coming And for what our blessed Lord allows you here you have it with the heartiest welcome Christ sayeth to none of you Eat and drink and his heart is not with you That you are forbid to eat of for it 's the ââeâd of him that hath an evil eye Prov. 23.6 7. But this you are commanded to eat we offer it in his Name take it in obedience and believe a blessing 47. My sighing come before my eating says Job So must ours doââw before we can comfortably eat and drink here many a sigh and groan the body of death will cost us many a sad heart for sin Sigh saith the Lord to the Prophet to the breaking of thy Loins 1. That thou shouldst have been so unhappy as to have hand in cutting off the Messiah and slaying this Lamb of God that thy sins nailed him to the Cross and pierced his siâe yea his hands and his feet wounding the Son of God even to death with thy sins 2. That his Love hath been neglected so long and so much that the offers of his redeeming Grace hath met with so little hearty entertainment that his sufferings for our sins have been so faintly resented that we have carried so strangely to him that was so deeply concerned for us 3. That he hath had so little honour by us for whom he hath made so rich a purchase that we have laid out our selves so sparingly for him that spared not to pour out his blood for us yea that we should ever prove treacherous to him that was so true to our Interest 4. That now we can love him no more when his Banner of Love is so fairly displaved over us in this Ordinance of his own Supâer this Feast of fat things Oh that such choice entertainment should meet with so sorry welcome and such dull affections That our ordinary food should more refresh us than this heavenly Manna That we can meet our suffering Lord with so little remorse for sin and so little delight in his Love But tho grief preceed and go before yet let Joy take its own place and enter his Courts with praise Let transports of heavenly joy fill our redeemed souls that ever the glad tidings of the great salvation sounded in our ears that ever we heard of that great gift of God Jesus Christ and that he hath been at any time recommended to our heart with power that the holy Trinity hath so well contrived our Redemption in that ancient Covenant wherein the Father gave his Elect to Christ to be redeemed and the Son most readily undertook the Work and went through all its steps with such heroick and hearty resolution and good acceptation Rejoice O righteous ones that the Father laid help upon one so mighty able to answer all his demands and to pay our debts Rejoice that Heaven sent to the Earth by so sure a hand and hath made with us so sure and well-ordered a Covenant in all things we can be concerned in for life and Godliness that the Gates of Paradise which our sins shut are now so open unto us that sinners through their High Priest in Heaven have so free and bold access to this exalted Throne of grace but alas for our bruitish stupidity and unbelief that have carnal minds much more taken with a vain World and empty dying comforts than with all the Treasures of Grace and Mansions of Glory 48. This Feast of fat things here presented who can feed upon it Do we know the entertainment of this Table Here is represented the singular and wonderful love of a dying Saviour The great Mystery that Angels desire to look into The Lamb of God Sacrificed for sinners Can we behold it with dry eyes and dead hearts Qu. What impressions should it make upon us and leaves us under Ans 1. I 'll never give sin a good look again thro the grace of God that cost my loving Lord Jesus so dear 2. I 'll despise the love of creatures never lay it in the ballance with Christs Whether they smile or frown I 'll be little affected For her 's a love puts all love down A love who can comprehend in It 's matchless adventures and transcendent exceedings 3. My love should be a constant careful study of some answerable returns of love again 4. I 'll never like my self again Farther than I may be serviceable and suitable to this loving Lord that bled for me My members shall all be servants of righteousness unto Holiness my soul shall ever magnify the Lord my thoughts shall be captivated unto him I shall know no Friends nor Enemies but his My prayers shall be to him My Joy and my delight shall be in him My faith shall firmly rest in his righteousness and satsfaction my patience shall be imployed to bear his Cross my heart shall stand ever open to his Calls The zeal of his house shall eat me up My life shall be a transcript of his Laws and my death a desired dissolution to be with him In a word the Covenant I now renew with him at his own holy table I am willing should be laid against me for Conviction Accusation and humiliation in all my departings from him But knowing that without him I am nothing and can do nothing all my expectation is from him and amidst my best purposes sensible of my sin and weakness I do with holy David say O Lord when wilt
mind for as Christ is now bodily in heaven so will he not be spiritually and sacramentally in any but a heavenly mind the doors must be list up before the King come in 10. Look on Christ your Passover Sacrificed for you and be humbled 1. That you were worthy to dye 2. That you live by the death âf another 3. That your sin should Crucisy the Lord of ââory What a humbling sight is it to âee Christ thy Sacrifice fall before the Altar and laid upon it and burn yea consumed by the Fire of God's wrath for thee O sigh and say alas Was not this for my sake should not I have lyen there suffering and satisfying for ever if he had not interposed and bore my Burden Shall he sweat and bleed for me and I not grieve for him But tâ make the remembrance of Christ's Death for me the more affectionate consider first it was the Death of the humblest and worthiest person that ever appeared on the Earth the Son of God the Lord of Glory the eternal God the Heir of all things on Earth was never his like Secondly He was no greater than Good the innocent and spotless Lamb of God that Holy thing who knew no sin and yet he suffered Death In his Life was no spot and in his Death was no complaint or murmuring This Noble and Just One died for us was our ransom and attonement He who knew no sin made sin i. e. a sacrifice for ours our sin imputed to him who had none of his own our sorrows made his and by his stripes we are healed We live by his Death Gal. 2.20 He is taken and ââe ââape If ye seek me let these âo their way leââân âeââr he charged on mine Elect My sââep I lay down my life for tho they bâ under a ââaw condemnation for breaking of it yet let them be acââââd for my âeeping of iâ parâoned on my account and all their scores reckâned for with me Look on the blessed Surety of the Covenant and be hold him obeying and dying for us For albeit the Law be not now a Covenant Believers are under yet the meaning is not that perfect Obedience is not required even of believers but not being sound in them it 's performed by our Surety the Second Adam for the exchange is only of the person not of the righteousness Thus was laid on him the Iniquities of us all and if it had been laid on us it had sunk us for ever But that love that deliver'd him up was unparallell'd Whatever Satan Sin Conscience or the Law charge upon you shew you here the Lord's Death 11. Every Sacrament is a Certificate of Christ's Death and hereby we tell the world we believe our Lord was cut off out of the Land of the Living Now to shew forth this death are we come hither he would not have his Death forgotten but to remember it as we often do without lively affections is next door to a total forgetting of it Without an affectionate remembrance of the death of Christ and a Soul inflamed with love to our Ransomer we partake not of his body we may be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord when we put forth polluted hands to take it and take all with unbroken is hearts And indeed the sweet of the Pasâver is lost for want of the bitter herbs of godly sorrow for sin that slew the Lord of Glory Now let the remembrance of our Lord here not only affect us but change us into another temper and disposition to be his and for him to conform to him to carry a way better thoughts of him to live a life of remembring of him to give him alone the Glory of so wonderful a work as our Redemption by his death to love him that hath so loved us and to hate sin that so offended his Father and crucified him If we weep not over him we have no fellowship with his sufferings if we wash not here we have no part in him if we carry not away a better remembrance of him we come here but to mock him if we prefer the World to him we shew our selves unworthy of him and if we can go away and live in our sin we do but seal our own damnation by coming hither What is it to undertake a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and to weep a tear over the holy Grave but to return with a new heart and another life is the business And to affect you further with this Representation by his accursed but blessed death to us he seals the Testament and confirms a great Legacy to us that he may not only keep the condemned from going to prison but settle a Revenue on the poor and needy and make them rich for ever and set them wâth Princes even with the Princes of his people that had nothing but rags and poverty and now he lives for ever to see his Legacies bestowed 12. The Gospel-Proclamation is Christ's Invitation Whosoever is a thirst let him come Desires are the Soul's hunger after Christ they are the best sawce they add a sweetness to the bread of life A man that âath lost his stomach and can taste no sweetness in the choicest food is not fit to sit at this Feast who hath no desires after Vnion and Communion with Christ. He that is the desire of all Nations will be sought after and found of all that do desire him Not to desire him is to despise him Is 53.2 3. and to hide our face from him Will he disclose his Secrets to them who hide their face from him If we desire him not we shall never enjoy him The same thing that is the Saints desire now will be his satisfaction for ever Let us not think a desire of Christ a light thing In the Gospel a poor man's hunger is his blessing Mat. 5.6 in the world it is his misery God accepts of our appetite as much as if we pay'd ready money for his Graces and their hunger is insteaâ oâ a price Is 55.1 There was never Soul miscarried with longing after Grace O blessed hunger that ends always in fulnâsâ The wooâe ife of Christian is but a holy desire saith Austin And the soul desires Christ absent but tâese desires are raised in the Soul by Christ present We burn with a desire to settle our selves but mistake the way and build Castles in the air but the Sum of âanctified desires is unutterable groans for the âull application of good things promised and eager thirâting for a larger communication and before Christ hath perâected his Gracâ in the Desires of the Soul it will find it self so inflamed with them that if Hell should stand between its Beloved and it he would wiâlingly pass through its very flames to embrace his dear Redeemer And seeing it is to him we come to seal his Covenant by Soul-resignation let the matter admit of no dispute or deâay but be dispatched with all haste and speed Ps
He is spoiled by Jesus âhrist Col 2.15 2. More power is implo ed for Believers than can be against them 1. John 4.4 2 Kings 6.16 3. Victory oâer him is sure and near to Believers Rom. 16.20 Qu. But since we must be strong in the Lord and in the power oâ his might if we wou d overcome may we not question with our Selves âs once the âhilistines with Dalilah concerning Sampson wherein lies the great strenth of a Christian This case Satan studies that he may know how to deal with us 1. The great strength of a Christian lies in his Covenant Relation to God and Union with Christ his head for tho weak in our selves yet a strong head have we in Heaven The Church is a weak Woman bât hath a Redeemer miâhty to plead her Cause A Christians strength lies in his Confederated Friendship in Heaven the improvement of this is the laying out of that strength Psal 44 4. Tho Jacob was desâitute for outward help yet was he well befriended in Heaven and the blessed God whom he sought did his business for him against his Brother 2. In the gracious qualitieâ brought into the Soul at Cânversion without which in a natural unrenewed State we are said to be without strength Rom. 5.6 So that Grace is a new party or Spiritual Power brought into the Soul for Christ to oppose sin and appear for God 3. In Divine Assistances for every Christian is weak or strong as âssisted as God girds or loosens us the girdle of his Loins wherefore we had need to keep in good terms with Christ that we fall not under his withdrawings of Gracious aids so needful for our Spiritual Warfare 4. In a careful retaining the impressions of Oâdinances O! pray that God âould stamp these glorious appreheâsions of himself on your minds that you have sometimes here and may not tââe in other Images to bow down unto Let the impression of these Ordinances of Word and Sacrament wear off and you are weak as others Peter had forgot Christ s work and so forgot himself Luke 22.61 and his M ster too Had Evah's thoughts been intent on the word the Lord hath said and not diverted to sensual Motions it had been sufficient to put by all the passes Satan could make against her O Christians be first sound that ye may be strong Job 17.9 The way of the Lord is strength only to the upright but the more a Hypocrite does in Reliâion he is inwardly the weaker And for your encouraâement let never a found heart despair of higher measures than âommon attainments âor your helps viz. The love of Christ and hope of Heaven are greater than your hindrances can be 18. We say times of Trouble and great Afflictions are trying times but I say Sacrament seasons ought to be trying times with us Now in the trying of the truth of Grace we must labour to find out the habitual temper and disposition of hearts by the quality of their Acts. 1. If they be free and chearful not constrain'd or such as we had rather not do if we could help it Psal 119 108. 2. How frequent opportunity offering Psal 55.17 3. Thorough and serious else they prove neither habit nor disposition Rom. 12.11 4. We must try the Soul by the acts which make after the end as desire and love to God Christ and Heaven and this is more than to try our hearts by the Acts that make after the means only I know all gracious hearts would fain know their own sincerity 1 It is willing if sincere to know all its sin Job 13.23 even the worst of its own heart to câme to the light that it may be made manifest to its self yea had rather a l the World should know it than its rottenness should be hid from it sâlf it loves the most discovering Ordinances best but a Hypocrite had rather have a rotten Heart than be searched and repent 2. It 's willing to part with every sin it knows of it self when one is more willing to part with a sin than to keep it that puts the Soul out of danger by it 3. And then the best way to know our sincerity in this parting with sin is by serious indeavours in the use of all appointed means to oppose sin and carry on the spiritual Warfare against the Body of Death 4. And is obtaining some success and Victory The Spirit of God repeat that promâse to all the seven Churches of Asia to him that overcometh 0â ãâã vincenti every sincere Soul is in the way of overcoming the honest use of means gives some check to thâ prevailing of Iniquity where no Conflicting with sin there can be no sincerity and every honest heart will be helped of God to some Victory and what ever men make now of other Victories this is that which you will have only cause of triumph in at the last as Valentinian the Emperour said on his Death-bed That of all his Victories one only comforted him and that was his overcoming his own naughty heart And that we may finish this Tryal we are upon in examining of our selves if we can find our sins and be humbleâ for them and judg our selves with a righteous Judgment impartially and severely we may warrantably partake of the Body and Blood of Chriât in the Sacrament tho we cannot discover our Graceâ as we would For such examination as issues in self-judging hath the promise of not being judged of the Lord for unworthy receiving 1 Cor. 11.28 31. Now our sins which are the proper caâse of Self judging are the object of Self-examining rather than our Graces 19. Rom 8.3 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh Obs 1. God's sending is a great Mistery It 's the Grandure of Earthly Princes that their Subjects send to them and a wonder if Rebels have access if they come in the humblest manner but he sends to us and sends for us that we may come anâ be pardoned come and be saved 2. He sends his Son not an Angel 1 John 4.9 3. In the flesh he senâs his Son which is but gross in the state of Beggar to bring in the Blind and the Lame Heb. 2.16 4. In likeness of sinful flesh as like a sinner as might be not to be a sinner that he might save us from our sins i e. with infirmities and necessities that attend sinful man that no eye could descern a difference Isa 53 4. As the brazen Serpent was like a Serpent but had not the Venom of a Serpent This Incarnation of God is a Subject of the highest Admiration and fountain of the sweetest Consolation that the World affords O! the wonder of God's coming down to man to be handled seen and tasted of us a contract even for the wonder of Angels as the welfare of Man O wonder of wonders that ever it should be heard in Heaven or on Earth Let one of us become Man A Redeemer could never have suited
garment The best sight Christ could see of us here were to see us as once he saw Nathaniel sitting under the fig-tree an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Joh. 1.47.48 Or as once he saw Mary and so taken with that sight that he points her out for others to see Luk. 7.44 weeping for sin and exceeding all the company in shewing love to Christ As the people would not eat till Samuel the Prophet came to bless the sacrifice unto them 1 Samuel â 13 We can have no better proof of our High Priest's coming and blessing a Sacrament unto us than to be found with Mary at Christ's Feet in Penitential Tears of Love towards our Pardoning Redeemer But alas how dead lye we by the Ark of the Lord as is said of Vzzah 2. Sam. 6.7 whom God struck in his Anger with Death for a wrong touch of the Ark at a Time Here was God's severity shewed on a Man who meant well but gave the Ark a touch that he should not Now what wonder of God s Patience is it that some remarkable Judgments are not more frequently upon us for our untender touching of his most Holy things on Earth How often take we and touch we the Body of Christ with hard Hearts and unclean hands O! let us lament over our insensible Souls and say with David till better prepared How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me 2 Sam. 6.9 26. Luke 23.48 And all the people that came together to that sight smote their breasts and returned That sight that strange sight that sight of Christ on thâ Cross Bleeding and Dying such another sight was never seen in the World Creatures Murdering their Creator The Church of God purchased with his own Blood no wonder then all the people returned amazed They smore their Breasts O! that it might break our hearts for that is the heart-affecting sight we come to see this day O! the Heart-humbling sight of Christs Sufferings the Son of God suffering for the sin of Man And as the Death of Christ is held out as the most wond rful Object â that sight so is it recommended to us as the most excellent Subject to be Discoursed of not only as it was the great Subject of the great Apostles Preaching 1 Cor. 2.2 but as it is the only Subject mentioned of Conference between Christ Moses and Elias Luke 9.30 â1 A Subject most wârthy of the most excellent persons that can appear on Earth And our Saviour recommends the sayings of his Sufferings to a deeper impression on their Hearts than all the Miracles he wrought to their amazement who beheld them Luke 9.43 44. Now if Wisdom hath furnished her Table with the representation of so rare a thing yea with the Bread of Life from Heaven and the Cup of Salvation even the Cup of the New Testament in Christ's Blood let not so rich a repast be received as a common thing Our blessed Lord comes not with an empty offer but a full-hand and a free-heart to confer all his benefits and purchases the dispising of which by continued unbelief will be the worlds greatest condemnation It was charged on the Israelites as the great aggravation of their sin that they provoked God at the red sea even at the red sea the place where their miraculous salvation was wrought But how will it aggravate our sin to provoke God with a hard unprepared heart at the red Sea of his precious blood here represented by which we are Redeemed Let us never be friends with our own hearts till we can love our Saviour bet er and hate our sin more If Namaan when cured of his Leprosy went away resolved to serve no other God but the God of Israel what should we do whom Christ hath cured of many fâr more desperate and dangerous diseases Labour to be that ground which drinketh in the rain which cometh upon it and brings forth herbs meet for him that dresseth and receiveth blessing from God Heb. 6.7 Now what rain comparable to a showre of Christs blood in a sacrament Where we either receive great blessing or are brought nigh unto cursing 27. The Persians had a Festival day in the year they called Vitiorum interitum whereon they slew all Serpents and Venemous Creatures And suffered them to swarm till that day of year came about again It 's to be feared some do so at sacrament times who by some Confessions and formal humblings think to clear old Scores and then go away and take on new ones but if so such may look the unclean spirit will return with 7 worse and take a stronger Possession than he had formerly And sinners must know their Confessions and humblings are hypocritical if one Lust or known sin be left As 1 Sam. 16 11. Samuel said to Jesse are here all thy Children So when we leave some sins Christ says are here all Jesse answered There was one more says Samuel âill that one come I will not sit down So says Christ as long as there is one be âind I will not sit down with thee sit where thou wilt It 's dangerous to boast with the moral young Man in the Gospel I have done this and tother thing and yet one thing be lacking To have our door lock t up still to keep Christ and salvation out as a Covetous heart for the world a sensual heart for the flesh a proud heart for the Devil will marr all cannot be fit for heaven if the door were open would not go in where no fuell for such a lust And therefore let us make a diligent search and take great care ere you come to ransack well all the corners of a deceitful heart and truely repent of all sin viz. when our sorrow springs from the root and are affected with the seed of all sin even our corrupt nature and inclinations and when we repent of all known sin on the common account of sin as contrary to Gods holy Law and Nature And tho the heart be not always affected with a high degree of sorrow intensively yet is Repentance true if it be appretiative accounting sin the only thing to be sorrowed for and it we be displeased with our selves that the heart is not answerable to our light and convictions in the exercise of Repentance And think not that all your sorrow for sin without Faith in God through Christ will suffice The weeping eye must look upon Christ whom thou hast pierced with thy sin We must look for all good from him against whom we have sinned take up our rest in him and it 's faith and hope in God must purify our heart for him make our soul despise the world desire heaven loath self love the Lord and venture all on a word of promise trusting God with all the most dangerous like events of providence and consequences of duty 28 Two things had need be minded about this business viz. to prepare diligently Take pains with a dull heart cleanse a polluted
like Lions against sin and Satan 3. Hath he not past his promise for feeding his own yea to eat and be satisfied Psal 22. 6. Psal 111.5 Prov. 10.3 4. Hath he not made them worse than Infidels that feed not their own Family 5. Did he feed the multitude because he had compassion on their Bodies and wi l he not have compassion on the Souls or his own 6. Doth he feed young Ravens and will he starve Believers 7. Have we not his own invitation to the Feast and will the Master of the House make it a Fast 8. Shall we ear of the Tree of Life and hidden Manna in Heaven Surely he n ver meant to starve such by the way but allow t âm sâme cauââr of the first ripe Grapes to refresh them in the Wildârness 9 May we not plead with our loving Lord thus Lord I hear thou keepest a good House having bread enough to spare give me such a Portion as may commend it unto me and I will commend it to others 10. We may say How many hast thou refreshed of thy poor and needy Hast not thou said Whosoever will let him come and Drink freely upon thy call I come to drink of Wisdom's spiced Wine of this consecrated Cup that I may here and hereafter remember thy Love more than Wine 11. I plead my own necessitiâs and wants where should the poor be filled and the hungry feed but at the gates of the Rich and Full If thou hast not enough send me away empty but I make a Vertue of Necessity I must live by my Food as other Creatures do and is not Christ the food of a hungry Soul 12. I plead thy Glory for my feeding here will this commend thy bounty and compassion to send away from thy Fulness a starving Beggar without supply Let us cast an eye on that Miraculous Feast Christ made the Multitude Luke 9.17 And they did eat and were all filled and the fragments gathered up far exceeded the poor provision it was made of O! but it had Christ's blessing and that made much of a little And when we are Christ's Guests we should not only eat but look to be filled And gather up the Fragments incomes and expences of Divine Love and Favour Now that we may take this Feast up aright it is not a Sacrifice but a Sacrifical Feast or Covenant Feast of Peace and Friendship a Feast after a Sacrifice and by our eating here is declared our interest in that Sacrifice of Christ's Flesh offered to reconcile us to God even as they under the Law did âât of the Sacrifice and so partake of the Altar to shew it was theirs that the Priest offered as if they had been at the Altar with the Priest And further this is a Feast of God's providing as Abraham to Isaac God will provide himself a Lamb for a burnt Offering and therefore was the Sacrifice accepted because it was of his providing for known unto him alone it was what would satisfy his own Justice And strângâ it was that this Sacrificeing of his Son should be a sweet smelling Savour a more wonderful word was never written Eph. 5.2 How dear must our Salvation be unto God that made the greatest Sufferings of Christ so pleasing to him which other wise the Lord would have abhorred Wherever the Sacrifice is said to be a sweet Savour its âaid to be made with Fire Num. 28. and 20 chapters shewing that nothing but Christ s Sufferings can Satisfy for our sin For all the Sacrifices only signified Christ but could not satisfy God 36. Our proper exercise here consists of Meditation Petition and Resolution For Meditation the thoughts of the righteous are right it 's no small part of our work to have right and proper thoughts at present 1. Think how unworthy I am to appear here and have place among them that stand by tho I were not admitted to sit down with my Lord himself I who to Natural Corruption have added such a heap of actual Transgressions inward enmity and outward contrariety to God Ignorance unbelief apostasy despising of grace and abusing of patience have so filled up my measure and made so great a part of my wretched days and unworthy Life 2. Think how worthy and honourable is Christ to whose holy Table I presume to approach He who is the Fathers dorling and delight the light of Heaven and the great Blessing of all Nations who hath obtained a name above every name at whose name every knee must bow and whom the Angels of Heaven all do Worship He whose Table I am now sitting at on Earth sits highest in Heaven at this very moment 3. Think again how good it is to sit here with a sound Heart we cannot be better set on Earth But if a Hypocrite how ill I am set having not on a Wedding Garment I mock God harden my own heart heap up wrath eat and drink damnation by Crucifying the Lord afresh 4. Think what is my business here but to meet the Lord Chriât by his own appointment that I may get more acquaintance and grow more in Love with him and to be more obliged to him by a new sight of my Redemption by him and receiving some Spiritual gift 5. Think what is prosered me here His Love his Grace his Peace his Pardon his Covenant and Kingdom 6 You have never a right thought here if you think not of a bleeding Christ a suffering and satisfying Redeemer hanging on the Cross and all your sins hanging on him For what else could ever bring him there having no sin to suffer for of his own and all power to avoid suffering by any And think again how he was dealt with on terms of Justice that we might be dealt with on terms of Mercy And ââât which would have been in so many drops of an Eternal Hell to us was made to meet on him in one great Sea drinking up Dregs and all O! think ransomed Saved Sinner if Christ had not drunk thy Cup of Wrath to free thee thou must had such a Cup put to thy head as if brought to a great Sea fill'd with Gall and Wormwood and Justice say to thee Now sinner thou that likedst so well the Cup of sin âo here is the Cup of wrath drink and never leave Drinking while one drop is left Now see your obligation to Christ and despise him if you can And see how sad it had been to be without him 37. As for Petition and Resolution that belongs to this purpose in hand Q. What Petitions are here to be preferred A â For much of Christs gracious and powerful presence a clear day without clouds that he would not hide himself at such a time and disappoint the Expectation of the needy but so countenance his owâ work as we may comâââdââ unto others 2. For a heart humbling look of your dear dying Lord O how should it humble us to see how my sins humbled the Lord of glory 3. Put in
against prevailing Iniquities and predominant Corruptions that your jea ous Lord and Husband may give Idols a deadly blow at such a time 4. For the ãâã âpirit of Jesus to make Graces lively that ãâã âpiknârd may send sorth the smell thereof and the Spices slow out 5. For growing in all grace that Gods own work in the heart may be sât forward by our waiting on Christ in his so precious appointment 6. That he would suspend quarrels yea ââmove the ground of all by forgiving grace and send away poor penitents comforted with a sealed senâe of it in their own bosomes 7. For further manifestations of God's Love and clearer Fâââdences of an heavenly Interest 8. For a more fruitful Life of Godliness to the praise of the gâory of his grace 9 For Families and Relations that it might please the Lord to bring ours hâme to Christ make them his by grace and build them up to glory 10. For poor Zion that he would pity her desolations heal her breaches plead her cause pardon her sins help her to improve her mercies and prepare her yât for greater deliverances from Evil when âer grâcious God shall see good to grant them 11. That God would pity the âârk corners of the Earââ and open the Eyes of bold and blind sinners among us Q. What he the Resolutions this solemn occasion should puââââ ponâ 1 To love Christ ââre ãâã ââtly 2. To remember him more frequently ãâã we ãâ¦ã to remember him here thââ we may forget him when gone 3 To perform all duties more spiritually 4. To watch our hearts more narrowly 5. To walk more tenderly 6. To follow him more sully 7. To renounce and deny self more freely 8 To trust in Christ more intirely 9. To take his part more boldly 10. And to keep Covenants more faithfully 38. Here have we the most amazing Instance of love that ever was given in the world and when you have travell'd the Vniverse over to seek for Love here lies the richest and rarest manifestations of Love that God gave his Son and Christ gave himself This is the heighth depth length and breadth of the love of God that passeth knowledge So great a ransom so rich a purchase so great a one become so low to set thee on high make himself so poor to enrich thee empty himself to fill thee and to do all this yea God to lay out his All on such unworthy and undeserving ones others love for some worth or good quality but God loved us when lying in our blood Now what âan we do less for all this but make heart returns of love again Love being the very heart of the new creature and he that hath most love hath most grace and ãâã the best Christian And to provoke your love to this Beloved you may assure your selves ãâã he would never have died for you if he had not loved the meanest of you better than the highest Angel in Heaven can love him And besides if you can but love him his love will breed you more delight and hearâ ravishing pleasure than all the love of creatuâes can Read but that Song of Love between Christ and his Spouse and see the unparallell'd delights of divine love between Christ and his Church Well if you love him keep his Commandments be careful to please him be tender of his honour deny your selves for his sake account all loss to win Christ thirsting after his communion longing to be perfectly free from sin that grieves his good Spirit and keeping your selves in the love of God looking or the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life No such motive to love God as studying his love to us and surely he must love us that sent his Son from his bosom to fetch us thither But why should a little love of creatures affect us so much and the great ãâã God affect us so little Aââ Meerly bâââus âe are ââore ââesh than spirit and have alââ ãâã sânsâ then faith Weak faith makes ãâã impressions of all spiritual things ãâã faith and better rooting would make ââââââions âaâ more âââây Pet. 1.8 Now if we love Christ we will prize the ââast token of his ââve before all ãâ¦ã can give us ând will thiâ ãâ¦ã sight of him 39. It s recorded of the Quâââ of âbeba that when she had seen the sitting of Solomon 's Servants there was no more spirit in her 1 King 10. How much more may this sight of our sitting confound and amaze us That Christs sinful servants should be set with himself at his Table considering 1. That he hath not a higher board on Earth than we sit at now and the Lord himself speak of stting with us Soag 1 12 Rev. 3.20 2 That tho it becometh âs to stand when the King sitteth yet this glorious King came not to be ministred unto but to minister to us to gird himself as a Servant and mash the feet of his poor disciples 3. Wonder that we who deserved to lye in Hell should sit so high here 4. And the greatest wonder of all is that we should be fed at the King's Table with his own flesh allude to Job 31.31 Job 6. Shepherds use to eat the flesh of their flocks but here the good Shepherd gave his life for his sheep and feeds them with his flesh and blood And wonder also that we sit at peace a midst so many enemies that envies our feeding but it 's of the Lords great power ând bounty both that he prepares us a Table in this Waldernâss and fills our cup in the presence of our enemies Now at this sacred so âemnity is represented unto us the weightiest things of our Soul-concerns viz. Our sins and Christs sufferings we offending and he punished for our offences something in his Sufferings answering to our sin we a life of sinning and he a life of suffering we a load oâ sin and he of suffering as our sin was God's provocation so is his suffering Gods satisfaction He was taken and we seââree his death was our release Josh 20.6 there was no release nor returning in safety for the Man-slayer till the death of the High-Priest We have been light-hearted in suning but our Surcty groaning and heavy even unto death for our sin We contracted the debt and he taid the score sor us Now charge your Souls with Love Repentance Faith and Obedience with love to so friendly an ândeâtaker who valued nothing whatever it cost him if he might but ransom thy soul and set thee ââeeâ ãâã pântâ ance for those bloody âââs that maââ him sweat and weep Faith in that blood that made so perfect satisfaction and is so âull of Vertue to purge thy peâssured and guilty soul And Obedienâe even a wââle Life of graceful Obedience to him that hath redeemed thy soul from Hâââ 40 The upper end of this Holy Table of the Lord is to get hearessââ Chrish at the Kâs own Elbow when he ãâã tââââât his Table Q
Christ be the surety The Ocean cââ drown a Mâun ãâ¦ã âoleââââll and yet presâââe âot to ãâã âecause of eithâr mercy or merit who ãâ¦ã thâir condânâââion wâs orââââed of oââ ãâ¦ã âot be ãâã plainâ maâk of âââproââ haâ aâd ng tâe riches of Gods Grace and ãâã Jude 4.4 âe brings us bââk to Gâd again After we had bâenest out and put away he hath brought us into favour âith God again As all we have from God streams through his Floâd so all we give to God aâcends by vârââ of his Mârâ 5. Iâ crucifies the World to u and laâs all it gâory in thââust If I had not this to morâly my hearâ I had ââen as âond of earthly shadows as ever deceivâd ãâã was 54. The command of God laid on us leaves us not at liberty whaâ to do in this matter for he hath said eat and he hath said drink yea dâink ãâã âââtly O beloved What the ãâ¦ã of God David âefused to drink the water that was purchased with the ãâã of the lives of three ãâ¦ã God hath made it our duty to drink the precious ãâã f Chrâst as an ââspeakable priveledg and the most wondârful expression of Divine Love What shall we âay to this gift of Christ O wonder of wonders in beââowing of him on us 1. Considering he hââââhing ââtter âay nothing near so good his price is aâove ruââes and nothinâ ãâã be compared to him 2. God ãâ¦ã Man ãâã but here he gives God even manâ Creator to him 3. When he gave Creatures into Adam's ââând at first he gave them to a holy and righteous man but Christ is given to depraved sinful man 4. To glorify God's grace yet more he takes occasion from so great an evil as sin to manifest such exceedings of Love 5. And all this moving from himself and not another 6. If Angels and Men should busy their thoughts to eternity they could not imagin any thing greater nor half so great as this love that hath glory and Communion in a Heavenly Paradise with God himself for sinners and all by the Death and Sufferings of Christ his Fathers Darling Hence see what a liar Satan was thât insinuated God to be an enemy to mans happiness as if he envied the good fruit forbidden and yet hath the world seen how dear he was willing to recover man out of his lost condition even at the amazing expence of the blâod of his beloved Son Oââhe shooting the arrows of God into his Son rather than into the Râbel is the highest point his Compassion could mount to Could we but âând you away with more hatred of âin and more love to your Saviour the work were done and the ând of this Orâânance obtained But behold another wonder stârts âp when we speak of Love What wonder that God shoââd highly and dearly court our Love 1. Considering it's so imperfect not as these burning Serâphims or perfected Saints above 2. So polluted is our âove he might havâ disdained and refuâeâ to be imbraced by such aââections as have defiled themselves so much with ãâã asââdols and sinful Vanities 3. He commândâth my love ând makes it my greatest duty and become ây grââââs t sin when God is âlightââ ãâã He so Amââbâââ ãâã we so Ugly ãâã That he should be the first ââd most ââââsi suiter for it 55. Q. Who have a right tâ this ãâã âââce A. 1. Holy things are âââdogs and âwiâe that ââlloâ in the miâe of sin anâ luââ 2. âoââ ãâ¦ã ââââching ââd sâââ-jâdging sinn âs I Cor. 11.28.31 3. Noâââ ãâã âeâry ãâã ladââ sââers that are ãâã to pârt âith their ãâ¦ã 4. Nâne but they who are willing to ââke Chââââ yâkâ on their neck and sânâârely coverant and resign thâmselves to Christ for a leader ând commander 5. Name but they who desire Christ and Salvation above all the World that can sell all to purchase the âââl of Price Having cleared your right consider your work and business when about it viz. Remembring of Christ in his death and sufferings It 's very instructive therein to compare the memorial of our High Priest for us Exod. 28. with our Memorial of him here in this Ordinance Go to particulars thus v. 9. The Names of Israel were to be engraven and have a deep impression with Christ and that on stones to mâke it more legible and less subjest to obliterating And all for a Memorial v. 12. And every one with his Name v. 21. That there may be no suspicion of his forgetting any one of his poor Children And all their Names must he bear on his heârt that it mây not be a faint and formal remembrance But wheâ shall this memorial of Israel be but when the High Priest goes in before the Lord then shall they be on âis hâart at his most solemn appearing at the right hand of Majesty on high Lastly to consumate and perform our blessedness in this Metrorial it 's a perpetual memorial continually even to make intercession for ever v. 3. No length of time nor emergent of Providence can possibly wear out or âut off this happy memorial of us by Christ Now but think what answerable returns you are to make in a humâble âearty and constant râmemârânce of him who râmâmbred us in our low âsâââe here and leaves not off remembring us in his exâlted ãâã âbove This memorial is a memorial of love Joh. 3.35 The Fââââr âââââh the Son and hath given all thinâs inââ his hand Now ây your Love by this what can yâu intrust him with ãâã Thârâ iâ great trust in Love if it be true Can you ãâã âll thiâââ inâo his hââââs 1. The Fâther that ãâã âim best iâââââed him most and they tâât know ãâ¦ã will word âââst Pââl 9.10 2. The Fâthâr trusââ ãâ¦ã âith ãâã the Souls of his Elect and durst not ãâ¦ã with one 3. He ãâã trââ to his trâst ãâ¦ã Joh. 17.4 which makes our ãâã of ãâ¦ã 4. Never any Soul inârusââd ãâã âo âiâ hands ãâ¦ã ââde aâââd accââât thââââf ãâ¦ã to the end 2 Tiâ 1.12 5. âââvââ a soul did well at lââââut âhat âas intrulled into his âands John 3.13 6. ââviâg truâted âim âith your Souls canâot you trust him wâtâ ââdies aââ sââsââon Now let a Sâng of Praise ãâã ââlude this sacred ãâ¦ã aâ our blâssâd Sââiour went before us with his Diâââââ in ââââing a ãâ¦ã âhe concluâion of the S ãâã ãâã ãâã 30. ââr up ãâã ââlves to it with Debâraâh ââdg 5.12 saying awake awake O my Soul and all within me awake awake to utter a Song to the Saviour of sinners 56. Let no Christian think that Conversion and a new state in Christ is enough for your âeing here or that one examination may serve for all Indeed many come short of this but as often as you eat the duty of examining must be repeated âs the word enjoyns Let ât man examin hââself and âo let him eat so thât eating at anâââmâ without it bee ââes our sin and âransgresseth
bent of the heart and continued course of life 4. Try thy self more by Closet-communion than by publick duties for what one is in secret that he is indeed 5. Take the help of faithful Ministers and judicious Christians about thy condition when it 's too hard for thy self 6. Lean much upon and leave more than many do to the discovering Spirit of Jesus in the use of all means whose properly it is to make known the hidden things of God and of our hearts too 58. If there be any Soul seeking Christ in this and other of his own Ordinances and yet meets not with but complains with the Spouse of seeking her Beleued but found him not Song 3. let such know there be more professors in a worse than better condition For 1. She was sensible of Christs absence and knew her own condition not as they Jer. 2.6.8 2. She complain'd of it as her present misery that she went without enjoyment 3. Under this desertion Love and Desire were active 4. She called not her Interest into question âoâ he is her beloved still 5. She seeks Still and cannot be are quiet till she find her Beloved and such a seeker cannot be long a finding Now the marks of a found Beloved in such an Ordinance are clear in the Churches Practice and Carriage 1. A care to keep him v. 4. I would ãâã let him go and that he may abide she shews her publick Spirit in bringing him to her mothers hoââ and straitly charges that to provocation may be given him tolegene v. 5. That if he depart it may be an act oâ meer Soveraignty Now nothing will more readily fur up Christ to be gone than unruly passions so contrary to a meck Lord Jesus Isa 42.2 Unmortified affections and unwaâââed hearts when the soul grows secure and careless of such a Guest 2. A fear to lose Christ accompanies the enjoyment of him v. 8. And if you find your beloved here go away with a holy fear in your hearts left you should not render again according to the benefit bestowed upon you Let not that Name be written on the sand that hath wrote yours on his heart They may go away with much joy in their hearts this day that have made a good and sure bargain with Christ for their Souls Bât you mây eat of this sâiritual meat anâ drink of this spiritual drink as tâe Israelitâs did of the Rock that followed them which was Chriât and yet God may not be pleased with you 1 Cor. 10.4 5. especially if after this eating and drinking âhere be âound with us a careless heart a carnal mind and ãâã fruitless lâfe And whoever be the poor mââ of whom Câriââ hath âuââ ãâã this poor man will I look Now if âou haââ ãâã this kind and graâââââ loâk go home an ãâã rejoice ând rââ in his love but âet reâoâcâ with trembling when you consider âour sin aâd hath that may provoke him to be gone and ãâ¦ã you are most frâid even of sinful self anâ a deââââââârt trust in him at all times look unto him anâ ãâ¦ã feaââ Ps 56.3 What time I am afraid I will ãâã in tâeâ What Sweet Experiences do many treââââ ãâã ânââeâch from Gods speaking at a Sermân anâ ãâ¦ã Sââ ãâã Buâ let us by all mâââ beware of goiââ ãâ¦ã of sprinkling at a Sacrament without iâs ââing ãâ¦ã on ãâã Coâsciences lest it lead back to ãâ¦ã and bâing us to the King of Terâârs Anâ iâ ãâã Kiââ sittinâ with thee at his aâââ ââth madâ Gââââ liââly âo âoy coâfort say of Graceâââââity âs the ãâã said ãâã âânathan He shall not die for he hath wrâught with Gâd thâ day 1 Sam. 14.45 5â 2 Sam 9.3 Dâvid enquires if there be any yet of the house of Saul that he mâââhââ him the kindness of God i.e. by an Hebraism great kindness or free kindness as God shews to us who little deâârvâ it ãâã Saul deserved little kindneâs at the hands of David Buâ however by our sitting and feasting here we have had the kindness of the Lord shewed unto us that haâh provided so comfortable a repast for poor Pilgrimâân our Wilderness-condition It 's a Feast of Love and Kindnesâ to us and he may reasonably expect Love again Love will but please him and ease us For as Faith makes all things possible solâââ makes all easy 1 Joh. 5.3 Now Love hath its own peculâar out-goings for God saying What shall I do for him that hath âone ãâã much for me And love will readily answer its own question 1. I will do more for him than others he having done more for me than for many 2. I will do more for him than for all my dearest friends and nearest Relations O that it were so in very deed with us all 3. I will do nothing against him to the best of my knowledge whatever it cost me 4. I will nay I can do nothing without him 5. I will do all for him and eye his glory And when by his help I have done what I can it deserves not to be named the same day with his doings for me and is infinitely short of what he deserves and I owe and therefore I see I must die in his debt but will be still doing as I can and mend what hath been amiss by learning to love more and then I cannot but do better for love is the fulfilling of the whole Law And Love's inquiries will be 1. Whither is he gone that I may seek him 2 How shall I seek him that I may find him O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his Seat Job 23.3 3. And when I have him how shall I keep him 4 And what shall I do to please him 5. And that which puts Love most to it is how shall I sufficiently praise him Ps 106.2 And now let love lean on Christs bosom at this Supper and think the Master saying to thee as Ahasuerus to Esiher at his Feast What is thy sâit and what wouldst thou have done What Hâman to hang what lust to subdue what grace to be strengthned But most may say of such things as David of Saul's Armor I have not been accustomed to them 60. Ps 4.4 Commune with your own heart Heart-communing being so necessary an exercise for Christians at all times and so suitable to this Ordinance that requires the indispensable duty of self-examination to fit us for it Q. What should we chiefly commune about-with our own heart 1. About sin and a sinful corrupt state that shews it self in an ungodly life about secret sins predâminant sins what powerful sway they bear in the soul or what repentings are kindled within you what relentings or renewings and how preferable Grace is to Nature Luk. 15.17 and how much better God would be to you than all your Idols and sinful or worldly pleasures Hos 2.7 Commune with your heart about unruly passions Soul-distractions and confusions disorderly unmortified affections 2. About temptations what res stâââe you are helped to make what victory is obtain'd how you strive against sin and prosper in the spiritual warfare 3. What welcome you have yet given Christ it his most gracious offers what closure with Christ as Lord and Saviour Ps 16.2 and how the heart stands affected to him or stands off from ââm as not well contented with him whether thy ãâã hath open'd to him making a free and full surrender âo the Lord of Glory whose right it is to rule and if thou hast yet granted the great request of God My Son give me thy heart Jer. 3.22 4. Be communing with thy heart about its bearing up in Gods service and what part it acts in religious duties for fear it should draw back unto perdition be often looking up for further renewings and fresh assistances to continue believing to the saving of the Soul 5. And about the returns that are made or should be made for remarkable mercies 2 Chr. 22.25 6. Ask thy heart what preparations are yet made for Death and Judgment by mortifying the mind and clearing Evidences an unmortified mind and an unâetled conscience being the chief things that makes us so unwilling to die be thinking with thy self often about finishing thy work and what is yât to be done if thou beest not undone for ever Ask thy eart what deep sense thou hast of another world and what careful preparations there be to gât thither This work of heart-communing Christians find hard partly because so little inured to it partly because it 's so spiritual and we so carnal and beââuse of the sliâpery inconstant temper of our Spirits for what Son of fâllen Adam ever served God one half hour without distraction But let its necessity and profit stir us up to attend it more for how can we know our hearts without communing with them and self-ignorance becomes the cause of most sins and self-acquaintance is made a great part of the wisdom of the just Prov. 14.8 and spiritual profiting is said to come by this 1 Tim. 4.15 and where it thrives no doubt becomes more pleasant than was thought of being one of the Galleries where the King is held Song 7.5 And how strange a thing that men commune so little with their own hearts being so near to our selves and having so many opportunities for it that we should be so much without and so little within when our great business lies with our own hearts FINIS