of thy Adorable Perfections that we may so Glorifie thy Name in the Eyes of the World that others seeing our Good Works may Glorifie Thee our Father who art in Heaven To this end Let thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom Come O Thou who Reignest among the Armies of Heaven and over all the Inhabitants of the Earth rule in our Hearts by the Power of thy Word and Spirit Subdue every Lust and inordinate Affection in us Mortifie all the Rebellion of our Wills and the Enmity of our Carnal Minds and Hearts that we may no longer be in Slavery to the Devil and to foolish Criminal Passions but our Understanding Will Affections Conscience and Conversation be more intirely Conformed to thy Holy Pleasure and Precept And after the Establishment and Advancement of thy Kingdom of Grace in our Souls perfect it in due time by admitting us to thy Kingdom of Glory And let all the Kingdoms of the World submit to the Scepter of our Lord Redeemer that he may Rule to the ends of the Earth Let all the People praise thee and Worship thee O God let all the People Praise thee Let not Satan the Usurping God of this world Tyranize over so great a part of this Earth But let the Kingdom of thy Grace be enlarged and thine Authority be more generally submitted to in all the World Let the everlasting Gospel of the Blessed God be publisht understood believed and obeyed from the Rising of the Sun to the setting of the same And as the Effect of the Coming of thy Kingdom in Power Let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Thy Will be done Thy Will O God is the Measure of Holiness and Peace the Rule of Justice Truth and Perfect Wisdom Oh that it may be the Rule of our Desires that our Will may be intirely conformed to Thine All thy Works are Wisdom and all thy ways of Providence are Judgment Let us adore thee as Infallible in all the Revelations of thy Mind and as Wise and Good Just and Holy and True in all Thou do'st Let us acquiesce in thy good Pleasure as knowing nothing can be better done than what thou orderest In Fulness and in Want in Joy and Sorrow in Life and Death thy Holy Will O Lord be done Let us obediently comply with thy Preceptive Will in all thou hast commanded and humbly submit to thy Providential Will in all thou shalt appoint and be satisfied with our Portion Station and condition here on Earth Let us be govern'd in all things by thy Holy Will with Cheerfulness and Readiness and Faithfulness and Zeal without Deceit Delay or Murmuring Complaints That we may observe and please thy Will on Earth as the Angels do in Heaven where thou art loved delighted in and obeyed in Perfection And let all the World we beseech thee joyn with us and them to praise and glorifie thee with one heart and one voice and one consent and be the Servants of thy Holy Will for ever But our Satisfaction in thy Declared VVill doth not hinder but we may Ask the necessary Supports of Life We pray thee therefore Give us tbis day our Daily Bread Thou takest Care of our Souls provide also we beseech thee for our Bodies Prolong our Lives till we have finisht the Work of Life and answered the Ends of Living Continue a suitable and convenient Supply for the Necessities of our Nature Give us that Health Protection Peace and Plenty which may best assist us in our present Duty and tend to our Comfortable Accompt in the Day of Reckoning Thou hast directed us not to Chuse either Poverty or Riches because of the Temptations of either extreme Give us therefore Food Convenient according to that Rank and State and Condition thou hast plac'd us in or may'st hereafter do That so the Temptations of the Right Hand may not make us Wanton Secure and Proud forgetful of Thee and our Selves and the greater Concerns of Eternity or our Hearts be set to make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof And that on the contrary by the Snares of Poverty and pinching Straits we may not be tempted to doubt or deny Thy Providence or quarrel with it that we may not be exposed to Contempt and Misery and thereby to Impatience Distrust and Despair Keep us from undue Sollicitude about these things and give us Contentment with our present Condition Grant us that measure and proportion of Temporal Blessings which may enable us the better to serve and glorifie thee And whatever thou do with us let us be Calm and Quiet and Thankful and never admit any dishonourable Thoughts of thy Rule and Government Let us own Thee as the Original and Fountain of all our Good and faithfully depend on Thee for the Supply of all our Wants But whatever thou give us of Earthly Good Lord what will it avail us when our Sins are so many and great unless thou Forgive and Pardon us Therefore we beseech thee O Lord to Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us Look upon us with a Merciful Eye for we are here before thee in our Trespasses Forgive our Sins of Ignorance and of Wilfulness those of Presumption and those of Infirmity secret and open in heart and word and deed the Vanity of our Minds the Carelesness of our Spirits the Wickedness of our Hearts the Irregularity of our Affections the Folly of our Lips and all the Omissions and Commissions of our past Lives from our Birth and Infancy to this very hour Look not upon our Offences but cast our sins behind thy Back Remember 'em not against us to our Punishment and Condemnation We beg this for the sake of our Blessed Saviour who hath made Expiation for Sin by his Cursed Death For his sake be Reconciled to us and remember our Iniquities no more and seal to us the free and full Forgiveness of them by the Witness of thy Holy Spirit that we may Rejoyce in God through Jesus Christ as having received the Atonement Enable us by a large and Evangelical Charity heartily to forgive all those who have any way troubled or injured or offended us lest our Prayer be turned into sin and thou deny us that Pardon which we deny to our Fellow Creatures That having by thy Grace this Character of thy Disciples and Children we may reap the Benefit of thy Pardoning Mercy here and in the other VVorld But because tho we should be forgiven for the Time past we shall run into the like sins again and contract New Guilt and fall an easie Prey to Temptation we beseech thee preserve us from being tempted or overcome when we are Lead us not into Temptation Lord we are Weak and Ignorant and Inclined to that which is Evil and our Adversary the Devil goes about like a Crafty Serpent and a Roaring Lion seeking whom he may deceive and destroy let us never be Careless Secure and Confident of our selves He is a Malicious Experienc't Watchful Envious Unwearied Enemy let us not be Ignorant of his Devices Enable us to Mortifie the Love of Sin and Inward Lust and diligently avoid the Occasions and Appearances of Evil the Incentives and Provocatives to Wickedness And suffer us not to be Tempted above what we are Able Order our Conditions and Affairs so as we may be free from great and Dangerous Temptations Help us that by taking to us the whole Armour of God we may be able to withstand the Wiles and Assaults of Satan that by the Protection and Guidance of thy Providence the Ministry of thine Angels and the Aids of thy Good Spirit we may not enter into Temptation and yield to it that Such as we cannot avoid may not prevail against us to thy Dishonour and our Eternal Ruin Deliver us from the Evil of every Temptation and from the Evil One the Tempter and from other Evils to which we are Incident But deliver us from Evil. Forgive what is Past Remove what is Present Prevent what may otherwise be to come from Sin and Shame from the Malice of the Devil and the Falshood and Treachery of Men from open Enemies and unfaithful Friends from the Deceits of the VVorld and the Lusts of the Flesh but above all from thy VVrath and Vengeance due to our Sins VVe Beseech thee to deliver and save us Pardon us so freely that all the Sufferings of this Life may be turned from Evil to Good that if thou smite us here with the Rod of a Father thou may'st spare us hereafter That all things may work together for our Advantage and that in every Condition we may be kept from Sin To that end Deliver us from the Evil One the Great Enemy of thy Glory and our Salvation Let us resist him stedâ—astly in the Faith that he may flee and we may Conquer We acknowledge our own Weakness and desire to be sensible of it and therefore humbly Invoke thine Aid and Help O save us from an Impenitent hard Heart while we live and let us Finish our Course in thy Fear and Love let us dye the Death of the Righteous and not have our Portion to all Eternity in that Region of Darkness and Torment which thou hast prepared for the Devil and his Angels For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Thou art able to do all this for us as the All-mighty Wise and Holy Lord and Governour of the VVorld whose Glorious Perfections are displayed and honoured in all thy Works We hope the granting these our Supplications will advance the Mightiness of thy Kingdom and Manifest thy Power Mercy and Truth For of thee and to thee and through thee are All Things to Thee be Glory for ever and ever Amen As Thou sayest so it is As Thou hast Promised So it shall be And as we have Prayed we Beg it may Be Amen and Amen THE END
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
Body or by any other method that we shall shortly leave this World Solemn actual Preparation in such a case is fit and necessary If God tell any of you by a Bodily Sickness your Change is near If the Decays and Infirmities of Old Age the most incurable of all Diseases tell you That you have not long to live that it is high time to set your Hearts and your Houses in order You ought actually to prepare solemnly to do so You that have one foot in the Grave already forget not this least the Devil trip up the other before you are Ready But you that have served the Lord from your Youth and have the comfortable Review of your past sincerity in walking with God you may rejoyce upon any such Summons that your Race is almost run Your warfare will shortly be accomplished you have but a few steps more of your pilgrimage to make a few Temptations more to resist a very little time longer of trial and conflict before you shall receive the End of your Faith and Hope and be for ever with the Lord. Should you not then with such a warning stir up the Grace of God quicken holy Desires strengthen Faith and exercise it about the Invisible World and solemnly resign your selves into the Arms of the Redeemer 4. Because this was the place that Judas knew of were he might find our Lord and betray him Let us take notice of Christ's willingness and Resolvedness to suffer Death and what an Obligation it lays upon us of Love and Gratitude to this Merciful Saviour This I shall a little urge as suitable to the past Solemnity of this day to make us Thankful who have been Partakers of the Memorials of his dying Love in the Sacrament of the Supper He was free and voluntary in Suffering He went to the place which Judas knew of though he knew Judas would come and betray him He freely offered himself in the Council of God to undertake our Redemption He voluntarily quitted his Fathers Bosom in the fulness of Time to assume our Nature and therein suffer and die He was not forced into a State of Poverty and Humiliation but for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might become rich The necessity of his Death arose from his own holy will his free Act and Undertaking which doth not lessen his Willingness but heighten the Obligation of it It had been Injustice to punish an Innocent who was unwilling to suffer in the place of a Criminal But he gave himself a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Odour unto God for us He was not driven by force and violence as the legal Sacrifices unto the Altar But he comes to the Door of the Tabernacle he enters into this Garden that Judas knew of He endeavours not to go out of the way to escape their Malice but chuses a place that the Traytor was acquainted with He had a Baptism to be Baptized with and he longed for its Accomplishment He walked forth of his own Accord over the Brook Cedron with his Disciples into this Garden where he knew he should be taken And when they came to take him he permits Judas to kiss him which was the sign he had given them to distinguish the Person He twice tells the Officers That he was He whom they sought for He would not suffer an Apostle to use a Sword in his Defence though he could have commanded Legions of Angels for his Guard He proves that he might have escaped if he would for he speaks but a mild word saying I am he and they all fall to the ground as if he had come to apprehend them and not they him After this he would not work a Miracle to gratifie the Curiosity of Herod and make him his Friend in order to his Deliverance Yea he was silent under all the Accusations of the False Witnesses and afterward bore his own Cross as far as he was able towards the place of Execution And then he poured out his Soul unto Death and rendred up his Spirit to his Father saying It is finished It is finished And that last Circumstance is very considerable to prove his Willingness For we read that when they came to break his bones and found him dead which prevented the breaking of his Bones and accomplished the Prophecy concerning him which says A bone of him shall not be broken they wondered he was dead so quickly So quickly indeed when immediately before he gave up the Ghost he cried with a loud Voice Which sufficiently declared that no man took away his Life but that he voluntarily laid it down For having cryed with a loud Voice and thereby given sufficient Proof that his strength was not gone that his Spirits were not exhausted but he might have continued longer alive he then bowed his head in token of Reverence to his Father and gave up the Ghost which was a Circumstance so considerable that a Centurion who stood by observing it was thereupon converted and gave God the Glory But it may be objected though his coming into this Garden might be a Proof of his Willingness yet what passed there seems to intimate the contrary why else does he pray so earnestly that the Cup might pass from him if he was willing to drink it I answer That even in the Time of his Agony when he seemed most Unwilling as Man even when he prayed that the Cup might pass from him yet was he still willing as Mediator The Text says he began to be exceeding sorrowful and sore amazed saying My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death The Original words are very emphatical to express Sadness and Fear and such Affections of the Soul His Soul not his Body nor his Soul with Sympathy only with his Body For he was here alone in the Garden crucified as it were without a Cross His Body here suffered by reason of his Soul The whole Nature of Man had sinned and the Soul being the Principal in the commission of Sin the Redeemer who was to expiate sin suffered in his Soul My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even to death Insomuch that Clods of Blood dropt from him though there was no visible hand to strike him Which makes him pray and cry in such a manner to his Father for the passing away of the Cup Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me Father save me from this hour Oh what Pain what Fear what Horror what dismal Apprehensions and cruel Sufferings must force such words of complaint from such an Heart as his But no wonder his Cries were so strong his Prayers so earnest his Complaints so loud and the Comfort of an Angel not sufficient for his support when the greatness of his Agony and the extream Sufferings of his Soul are above our thoughts to conceive who understand so little of the evil of sin and the vengeance due to it so little of the Terror of the Lord and the Power of his Wrath as a
Forgiveness of Others If we have not had Love to our Fellow-Christians more excited in us to all that are Members of the same Body though they err and mistake though they diner from us though they be angry with us though they think hardly of us and speak hardly against us Yet if we have not had our Spirits brought to a Temper able to forgive them to pray for them and be ready to do them good c. We cannot say we have had Communion with Christ in his Ordinance For such Effects as these wiâ—l follow upon it Or rather it is in these things wherein a great part of our Spiritual Communion doth consist 2. If there have been any thing of this kind bless God for such a merciful Season For this is the Real Advantage and Good of any such Ordinance when it Rectifies our Spirits and betters our frame and subdues our Corruptions and recovers us from our back-slidings and gives us any thing more of the Divine Image and Likeness and makes us hate Sin more and love God and one another better This is the Real Advantage of such Seasons These are gainful Opportunities indeed where these Things are Attained where in any measure there are such Consequences of Approaching to the Lord's Table 3. Let us endeavour hence-forward to walk worthy of such a Priviledge and long for the Repetition of it Let us watch our Spirits this Evening and to Morrow and the following Week and Month that we may not presently lose the Savour of these things by secular and common Discourse and vain Converse When we go away from the Publick Worship let us spend the Remainder of the Day in such Offices and Exercises of Religion as may Assist us to prosecute our Great Design and may strengthen the Vows of God into which we have newly entred And let us shew we like his Fare and are pleased with the Entertainments of his House by desiring more such Opportunities and by Improving them when-ever they return One thing have I desired of the Lord says the Psalmist and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord for ever By this means we should endeavour to become growing thriving fruitful humble self-denying heavenly exemplary Christians walking worthy of our High and Holy Calling purifying our selves more and more from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit That our Hearts may be more fixed for God and Christ against all Competitors and under all Discouragements That Christ Jesus may have the more intire Possession of our Souls and the Service of our Lives That his Love being shed abroad in our Hearts nothing may ever be able to separate us from it That whether we live or dye Christ may be All in All to us Who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood To Him be Glory throughout all the Churches for ever Amen The Fifth Discourse Before The LORD's SUPPER THE Sin and Danger OF Unworthy Receiving From 1 COR. XI xxix He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself SO deep and General is the Corruption of Mankind that it may truly be said of very Many whose Carriage and Conversation is fair and unspotted that they are rather restrained by the Fear of Punishment than of Guilt of being Sufferers rather than of being Criminal Such an Errour it is true is injurious to the Dignity of the Divine Law and to the Honour and Authority of God's Government Nevertheless God doth so far Accommodate himself to our State as to Rule us by Moral Arguments that are proper to Influence our Hopes and Fears and therefore employs Threatnings as well as Promises and punishes some as Examples of Severity to warn others from the like Transgressions This Method the Apostle makes use of in this and the foregoing Chapter when he designed to Reform the scandalous Abuse of the Lord's Supper which these Corinthians were guilty of After he had Explained the Nature of the Institution and opened the Design and End of it he had Represented it as the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ He tells them what most manifestly follows from thence viz. The Greatness of the Sin to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup unworthily that if they do it without Self Examination they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord They offend against the Lord Redeemer who hath appointed this Sacred Rite and even against his Body and Blood which are Signified and Represented by the Bread and Wine as the Memorial and Sign of it This to those that have any due Regard to the Authority and Love of a dying Saviour one would think should be Argument enough But least it should not besides the Declaration of their Sin he Denounces the Punishment of it in these Words That such do eat and drink Damnation to themselves Wherein we have First The Description of their Punishment who do unworthily partake of the Lord's Supper That they eat and drink Damnation to themselves Secondly the Reason of that Punishment intimated in the Nature and kind of their Sin That they discern not the Lord's Body Before I consider the Punishment of Vnworthy Receivers it will be proper to open a little the Nature of their Sin mentioned in the latter part of the Verse Not discerning the Lord's Body This may refer to the foregoing Expression of being Guilty of his body and blood and the one Phrase will give light to the other Such as receive Unworthily are Guilty of the body and blood of Christ because they do not discern and distinguish it aright They do not think of it as they ought They do not carry it suitable to its Excellent Nature and Vse and so they eat and drink Judgment to themselves by not discerning the Lord's body And thereby are Criminal against the Person of the Redeemer as cloathed with Human Nature and as giving the Memorials of his body and blood separated to betoken his Death and Sufferings For so we remember a crucified Saviour in this Ordinance It is therefore no wonder if such a Fault be severely punished That which we Translate Discern it is well known signifies to make a difference between one thing and another as Acts 15.19 So not to discern the Lord's body is not to difference and distinguish concerning it to look no further than the outward sense not to make a difference between common and sacramental bread not to eye the body and blood of Christ as signified by the Sacramental Elements not to remember or consider his cruel Sufferings which this should put us in Mind of This be sure is not to discern his body But few can be supposed so ignorant as not speculatively to discern and distinguish in this case But practically to do so is a greater mattâ—r it Imports to mind to attend to to esteem to honour to apply to use the body and blood of Christ and the sign and the Memorial
Eleven gathered together Luke 24.33 How then if Thomas were absent are they called Eleven after the Death of Judas and before the Choice of Matthias I Answer * Dr. Lightfoot When the Eleven are mentioned we must not suppose it exactly meant of the Number of the Apostles then Present but of the present Number of the Apostles By his Absence from them he not only missed the good News that Mary brought of the Resurrection of Christ But he lost the comfortable Sight of Christ himself and so was left in Doubts and Unbelief which they were delivered from The Apostle Heb. 10.25 cautions against * See Dr. Owen on Heb. Chap. 10. Vers 25. Forsaking the Assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is Not only that which is Total which is the Fruit and Evidence of Absolute Apostasie but that which is Partially only in the want of Diligence and Conscientious Care in a Constant Attendance on Christian Assemblies according as the Rule and their Institution do require Whether it proceed from Fear of Suffering or from Spiritual Sloth with the Occasions and Affairs of this Life which come in Competition This is the first way for the most part whereby an Evil Heart of Vnbelief in departing from the living God doth evidence it self unto others Forsaking of Church-Assemblies is usually an Entrance into Apostasie Believe it Christians you cannot but be Losers by your Absence from the Publick Assemblies especially on the Lord's Day as this was when the Disciples met together and Christ was with them And if Thomas had not come amongst them the next Lord's Day he might have continued longer in his Incredulity He had met with the Presence of Christ if he had not forsaken the Assemblies of the other Disciples You must not expect to have the same Presence of Christ in Solitude or alone as in the Publick Assemblies where his Special Presence is Promised and usually Found They who pretend for the better Enjoyment of the Divine Presence to retire into Desarts and Hermitages to Monasteries and Cloisters they greatly mistake and deceive themselves for in stead of retiring out of the World they retire out of the Church and forsake the Company of the Saints They quit the Presence of Christ and lose the Opportunities of beholding the Wonders of his Grace and of receiving the Influences of his Presence and Spirit Therefore do not discontinue your Attendance on Publick Worship when you have Opportunity Do not say We can Read as good a Sermon at home or Pray as well at home If you absent from the House of God you must not think that Christ will follow you to your own Houses while you refuse to visit him in his If you are not with your Brethren when they Assemble together you will not find such Manifestations of Christ to you as others Experience You displease him by imitating the Example of Thomas and may expect to be assaulted and staggered by Temptations to Infidelity and all other sins which only the Presence of Christ and his Grace can cure For where two or three are met together in the Name of Christ he has promised to be with them It is in the Assemblies of his People that he manifests himself it is there he makes known the Power of his Death a d the Glory of his Resurrection it is there he dispenses the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit And they that absent themselves out of Choice they are voluntarily deprived of these Blessings Suppose you should spend your time on the Lord's Day at home in Prayer Reading and Meditation yet there is little reason to expect God should accept you therein while it signifies a Neglect if not a Contempt of Publick Worship which is more for his Honour and is expresly required by the Institution of such Assemblies and Apostolical Practice agreeable thereunto You cannot reasonably hope for such Effusisions of the Divine Grace and Spirit in a secret corner as in the Congregation of the Faithful There is room and time enough for Private Devotions without the neglect of the Publick Worship And God hath promised to be present in Christian Assemblies And his Institutions are never without a Blessing when there are Subjects capable of receiving it You should therefore be glad of an Opportunity and Call to Meet your Brethren in the House of God 3. I observe further that what we have found of the Presence and Manifestation of Christ we may Communicate in order to the Conviction of Others and the Assistance of their Faith All the Disciples endeavoured to perswade Thomas of Christ's Resurrection they All told him We have seen the Lord and no doubt they urged him with all the Circumstances of it to convince him of the Unreasonableness of his Obstinacy who would not believe except he could see How unreasonable was it might they tell him that Christ should appear again upon his Account merely to comply with his Curiosity And if he should appear again how unlikely it was that he should be priviledged more than they who had only a bare sight of him Why should he have more Why should he be permitted to thrust his Hand into our Lord's Side and his Fingers into the Print of the Nails He might expect rather that he would say to him as to Mary Touch me not for I am not yet Ascended And so if he should appear and be seen of him he might still continue an Infidel This kind Office they did for him thus doubtless did they endeavour to convince him though without success they tell him what they have seen And they that have any sight of Christ or Experience of his Presence as they cannot but be willing to impart it to Others so they may and ought to do it in order to their Conviction Only let us take heed that such Communications be done with all possible Wisdom and Humility 4. That it is Unreasonable and Provoking to refuse to Believe the Truth of any thing merely because we have not the Testimony of Sense to confirm it This was the Apostles Fault I will not believe except I see and feel the Print of the Nails This is to make Terms with the Blessed God to limit the Holy One of Israel and unreasonably to Expect that what is the Object of Faith should come under the View of Sense 5. I may observe further that Peter was one of these Witnesses that had seen the Lord and yet Thomas does not hearken to Him neither nor regard what he says more than what the other Apostles said What little ground is there to think then that he had any Supremacy above the rest of the Apostles and that he was the Prince of them If he were so Why did he not do his Office Why did he not shew his Authority Here is a fair Occasion for him to make use of the Authority of his Keyes to stop the Mouth of this Vnbeliever who says he will not believe except he see
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