us Others passed by us and took no notice of us but he looked upon us and behold it was a time of Love with us He threw his Skirt over us and covered our Nakedness and poured Water upon us to wash away our filthiness He Swear unto us and entred into Covenant with us to be ours and we to be his he to be our God and we to be his Peculiar People He hath given Himself his Son his spirit to us Himself to be our God and Portion Jer. 31.31 32 33. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts and will be their God and they shall be my People And what Tongue can express What Pen can describe the happiness of that People who have God to be their God David in the 144 Psalm v. 15. says Happy are the People whose God is the Lord. He doth not say how happy for it is beyond express But this we may truly say that all our happiness and felicity and comfort lies in this in having God to be our God If there be no want to them that fear God I am sure there can be none to them that enjoy God who is a Soul-comforting Soul-refreshing Soul-satisfying Object It matters not what our Circumstances and Conditions are here in this World be they never so low and inconsiderable if we have but God for our God we are happy Happy is that People whose God is the Lord. He hath given us not only himself but his Son too John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Given him for us To obey and suffer to bleed and dye and suffer and satisfy for us to rescue and redeem us from those evils and miseries under which we lay viz. the Wrath of God the Curse of the Law by laying down his life for us a life more precious than the lives of all the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth Not only given him for us but given him to us to be believed in and rested upon for Life and Salvation to dwell in us and be united to us to be made of God Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption to be to us and do for us all that God hath appointed and designed him to be Again he hath not only given us himself and Son but his Spirit also to us To open our Eyes to enlighten our Minds to incline our Wills to change our Hearts to Turn and Convert us to himself To convince of Sin to lead to Christ to be the guid of our ways to be the death of our sins to quicken and enliven and strengthen our Graces To witness with our spirits that we are the Children of God To comfort us in all our Troubles to succour us in all our Temptations to resolve us in all our Doubts to help us against all our Infirmities To conduct us safe through this evil World and to seal us up to the day of Redemption But yet farther he gives us liberty to wait upon him in the solemn Dutys of his Worship He gives us Praying seasons and Hearing seasons and Communicating seasons for the carrying on begun Grace in our Souls Thus richly doth he furnish our Table in this howling Desart and bountifully provides for us in a strange Land We have not only Food for our Bodies but Food for our Souls not only the Bread that perisheth but that which endures to Everlasting Life The Lamb is slain and behold all things are ready The Marriage Supper is prepared and a welcome ready for all that come to it This is Christ's language to all his guests O friends drink ye eat â—e drink and eat abundantly O beloved And what do you think is the matter of this Feast Why it is Christ with all his saving Benefits even Peace and Pardon and Comfort This is the Gospel Feast unto which poor Sinners are invited The Lord Jesus Christ is both the master and the matter of this Feast This is that Bread which came down from Heaven which is othergates Food than that Manna was which fell in the Wilderness of which it is said Our Fathers did eat and they are dead but whosoever eateth of this Bread lives for ever John 6.48 49 50. This is the Lamb that was slain from the Foundations of the World whose Flesh is Meat indeed and whose Blood is Drink indeed Thus bountifully hath God provided for our Souls we have not only the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby but more substantial Food even that sealing strengthening confirming Ordinance of the Lords Supper where Christ and all his Benefits are represented sealed and applied to Belivers who was not only offered up upon the Cross for the Satisfaction of Divine Justice and the expiation of our Sins but offered upon the Table for the satisfying our guilty minds and for the Food and Nourishment of our Souls Here it is that we may take a view of Christ's dying love Here we see him Bruised and Broken and Bleeding for our sakes and for our Sins Here we may see him broken and bruised by his Father in the day of his great Wrath when his Body was torn his Soul in a dreadful Agony his side pierced his Blood shed these are in a most lively manner represented by the breakof the Bread and pouring out of the Wine Here is a Wounded Broken Bleeding Jesus represented to us The Elements in this Sacrament signifie and set forth the unconceivable Sufferings of our blessed Lord both in his â—ody and in his Soul The Bread signifies the Sufferings of his Body And the Wine which is a representation of his Blood the Agonvs of his Soul because the Spirits whereby the Soul acts are in the Blood All the Sacraments that ever were instituted since Adams fall to this very day both ordinary and extraordinary both Old Testament and New Testament Sacraments they all of them principally represent and point at Jesus and him Crucified Adams Sacrifices were Types of Christ the true Sacrifice Circumcision a pledge of our Hearts Circumcision thro' Christs Blood Col. 2.11 In whom also ye are Circumcised with the Circumcision made without hands in putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ The Passover was a token and Type of Christ our Passover Sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 Baptism this doth point at the Death of Christ we are said by Baptism to be Baptised into Christ and into his Death Rom. 6.3 4 5. And the Lords Supper is a most lively representation of the Death of Christ 1 Cor. 11.26 As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye shew the Lords death till he come This is a standing memorial and a lasting monument of our blessed Lords love in bleeding
and dying for us and is to continue to the end of the World even till the coming of our Lord to Judgment So that Christ and his Death Christ as Crucified is that which is represented and pointed at in this Sacrament Here it is that Christ Jesus is as it were afresh Crucified before our eyes bruised by his Father pierced by the Souldiers bleeding for our sins Here is a sweet love-token indeed betwixt Christ and his Church betwixt Christ and Believers What greater love can be imagined than to dye for us Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend Ay but here was greater love than this here was Blood shed and a Life laid down for very Enemies This Ordinance may truly be stiled a Love Feast Every thing in it speaks love The Mysteries in it speak love Here is Christ's Body not whole but broken Christ's Blood not in his veins but shed and freely poured out for poor sinners The benefits intended to us by it speak great love Here is compleat Provision and full Nourishment for our Souls for our Faith and all the graces of the inward man intended by it A fresh seal of the Pardon of our Sins in the Blood of Christ Fuller and clearer discoverys of God's reconciled face in and thro the Attoning Blood of the Lord Jesus that Blood of the Everlasting Covenant A more full confirmation and a more close application of the New Covenant and all the Promises Comforts Benefits and Priviledges thereof to our Souls and a more full Communion with Christ in his Grace and fullness in his Death and Sufferings in his great Undertakings and glorious Transactions in his high Dignitys and Relations in his great Victorys and Atchievements and in those necessary offices of Prophet Priest and King to his Church these are some of the great benefits that are intended to us by this Ordinance Now we that have been so lately entertained at this Table of the Lord that have or might have been feasting and satiateing our Souls upon this Banquet of Christs love it behooves and concerns every one of us to walk worthy of the Lord unto all-pleasing to walk worthy of this love of Christ in doing and suffering in bleeding and dying for us That is to walk suitably and some way becoming those expressions of love that have been exhibited and represented to us in this Ordinance I say it highly concerns every one of us who have been feasting at this Banquet of Christs love it concerns us to keep up and maintain a suitable and becoming walk after it Remembring that it is not enough to Eat and Drink worthily at this Supper but we must also walk worthily after this Supper we have oftentimes bills put up for a prepared heart and a suitable frame that persons may come prepared to this Ordinance of the Lords Supper that they may not eat and drink unworthily But I do not remember that ever I saw a bill for a suitable walk and behaviour afterward It is not enough that we duely prepare before act worthily in but we must also walk suitably after Communicating And there is as much need to put up a Prayer and to dispatch a cry to Heaven that we may walk worthily after as well as come preparedly to this Supper By walking worthily I mean no more than walking suitably and becomingly But here it may be asked what is this suitable walking or wherein doth it consist or how is it that we are to walk after this Supper Ordinance To this we shall answer I. More Generally II. More Particularly I. The general answer to this is more Holily after this Supper of the Lord we are to walk more Holily Now to this holy walking there must be a Principle of Grace wrought in the heart I say before there can be any holiness in the life we must first suppose that there be Grace in the heart A person must be holy before his actions can be holy For till a Man be Regenerated and act from a Principle of Grace in his heart all he doth is but the shadow and imperfect imiation of a good action as an Ape would imitate a Man or as an artificial motion doth resemble that which is natural Grace must first be infused to beget life and then we are visibly to express it in a course of godly walking And then there must not be only a Principle from which we must walk but there must be a Rule by which we must walk and that is the Law or Word of God which meets and sets out the bounds of Sin and Duty which tells us what evil we are to decline and shun and what good we are to prosecute and persue Now there is a twofold Holiness Internal and External Internal which lies in the hatred of sin and a love of that which is good External and that is expressed in avoiding of the one and persuing after the other Now this Holy Walk doth consist in a careful avoiding that which is evil and sinful and in an eager persuite after that which is good It hath two parts The one Privative The other Possitive The Privative part which is called Mortification or a dying to sin The Possitive part which is called Vivification or a living unto Righteousness The one is the purging out of Sin the other is the spiritual refining of the Soul The one is a ceasing to do evil the other is a learning to do well The one is a strenuous opposition of Sin the other is a vigorous exercise of all Grace Now after this Supper Ordinance we are to walk more Holily To hate sin more than ever and to love God and Christ and the things that are spiritually good more than ever To dye more unto Sin and to live more unto Righteousness It is true we cannot be more Elected we cannot be more justified after Communicating than we were before But we may and ought to be more sanctified than before Sanctification is a progressive thing it is compared to seed that grows first the blade springs up then the ear then the ripe Corn. We are not so much sanctified but we may be more sanctified We do not walk so holily but we may walk more holily still there is none so good but he may be better 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. So I may say having these love Banquets these Sacrament seasons and Supper Ordinances dearly beloved time after time returning upon us let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Tho' Justification doth not admit of Degrees yet Sanctification doth that is still encreasing like the shining light or Morning Sun that shines more and more and brighter and brighter unto the perfect Day Prov. 4.18 and should be daily growing more
Damnation to themselves when Persons in their eating and drinking at this Table look no farther than at what presents its self to the eye of the Body at the outward signs and Elements only not discerning the broken Body and the shed Blood of Christ to be wrapped up in them and represented by them Putting no difference between the Sacramental Bread and Wine and common bread and wine putting no difference between the Body and Blood of Christ and the body and blood of a meer Man Between Bread Representing the Body of Christ and bread the ordinary staff of Life Between Wine as representing the Blood of Christ and Wine that is the ordidary Cordial and refreshment to the natural Spirits Why such a person when he cats and drinks at this Table eats and drinks unworthily not discerning the Lord's Body Eats the Bread and drinks the Wine but doth not cat the Body and Blood of Christ spiritually And well may he be said to eat and drink unworthily because by thus eating and drinking he violates in those outward Signs and Elements the honour and regard due to the Majesty and Glory and Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ Now Faith is that eye which pierceth through the Clouds and Shadows of the outward Signs and Elements to those Heavenly great and glorious Mysteries in and beyond them even Christ's Body broken and his Blood shed for us Christ's Sweating drops of Blood in the Garden and dying a Painful Shameful and Accursed Death upon the Cross Faith eyes the great and wonderful Mysteries that are in this Death and the great Benefits slowing from thence to Believers Faith gives us a discerning of these things in the Supper not a Speculative discerning but a Spiritual and Practical apprehension of them such as stirreth up sutable reverence and holy Affections as if we had seen him hang bleeding upon the Cross Sweating under that load and burden of Divine Wrath and Displeasure due to the sins of the Elect World which he bare the least of which would have broken the back of the Whole Creation to have stood under it Many a Man may be able to Discourse very well and understandingly about these Great Mysteries of the Supper To tell what is the meaning of the Bread and what the meaning of the Wine is that have no Spiritual discerning but is meerly the Fruit of an Historical Faith or Tradition that is current in the Age or Country he lives in But Faith gives a Spiritual Discerning such a sight and sense of these great Mysteries as doth impress an holy dread and a we upon the Soul and an holy rejoycing and delighting in the Soul So that upon this account we see what great need there is of Faith in our Receiving and Partaking of this Supper Again There is great need of Faith and work for Faith in this Ordinance to reconcile us to the meanness and despicableness as to outward appearance of this as well as other Ordinances of Christ Ordinances are simple in appearance and therefore the Creature is ready to carp at them It is a Saying of one Nihil adeo offendit hominum mentes ac simplicitas divinorum operum c. There is nothing doth so much offend the Minds of Men as the Simplicity of God's Ordinances As in Baptism there is but a little common Water And what can this do to cleanse the Soul from Sin So in the Lord's Supper there is but a little Morsel of Bread and a small Draught of VVine a poor Feast to a Carnal Man Carnal and corrupted Reason is greatly prejudiced stumbled and offended at so mean and despicable an appearance Therefore see the need of Faith and the Great Work for Faith in this Ordinance How mean and despicable soever these may seem as to out ward appearance yet they are high and Mysterious Instruments of our Peace Growth and Comfort And altho' Carnal Sense and Corrupted Reason cannot see it yet Faith doth How mean soever as to outward appearance these may seem yet Faith eyes the Institution and Blessing that goes along with them And where the Institutions of Christ are attended with his own Blessing there Ordinances though never so simple in appearance yet shall become effectual for producing great Effects and for obtaining high and glorious Ends. Lastly There is great need of Faith and Work for Faith in this Ordinance for a real and close application of those great Benefits and Mysteries that are represented to us and discerned by us in this Ordinance Faith is not only the Spiritual eye of the Soul whereby we discern Christ Crucifyed and the Mysteries and Merits and Benefits of his Death in this Supper Vailed under the outward Signes and Ellements but it is also the Spiritual hand of the Soul whereby we take Christ his Merits and Benefits offered and tendered to us in this Supper and apply to our own Souls benefit comfort and advantage Of what advantage will the finest dainties be that can possibly be provided for nourishment and refreshment if not fed upon and digested by us Or the most excellent Medicine that ever was compounded Of what advantage will it be to a Sick Person for Health and Recovery if he do not take it and apply it So of no more avail or advantage would Christ be and all his excellent Benefits to us in this Ordinance without a real and close application of them to our own Souls unless taken and received fed upon and digested and this must be the work of Faith to take and eat to take and drink VVhat Bread and VVine only no these are the least matters but Christ's Body and Blood also and all the Benefits thereof must by Faith be taken and received eaten and digested to our Spiritual Nourishment and growth in Grace This may suffice to shew the great need that there is of Faith and the great Work that there is for Faith in our partaking of this Supper There is also great work for Faith after our receiving and partaking and that is stedfastly to rely upon what Christ hath done and Suffered for us upon his Righteousness and Satisfaction upon the efficacy and sufficiency of his Death and Sufferings of his Blood and Merit all which have been in a most lively manner exhibited and represented to us in this Supper And our work and business is to walk with a fiducial dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ in every act and duty of worship for access to God for asistance from God In every fresh perplexity of Mind doth Satan accuse Conscience accuse the Law accuse why yes it may be all these accuse us why then our work and business is to plead the fulness of Christ's satisfaction and the sufficiency of his Merit against all these charges and accusations and here is enough in this Righteousness and Satisfaction of Christ to answer all And the great work of Faith is to rely and depend upon it Under a fresh sense and feeling of Guilt we are