Pardon I now unfeignedly acknowledge own and avow Thee for my Saviour my Lord my God Though he professed his Unbelief in larger Words Except I see the print of the Nails and thrust my Finger c. Yet this Expression of his Repentance is equally significant He only stammers out two or three words My Lord my God But such as prove his Conversion and his Cure As the voice of the Patient will sometimes discover the Cure of a Disease in the Head When the Heart is full the Expressions are many times short and abrupt The Groans Desires and Inward Affections of the Soul are unutterable He had much more to say but he could not bring it out His Penitent shame on the one hand and his Zeal and Admiration on the other stopt his Mouth But the little he doth say is very much to the purpose He calls him Lord and God which upon the Resurrection of Christ every Tongue was to Confess The Truth of his Repentance Love and Zeal he afterwards more abundantly proved by labour and diligence and travelling up and down the World to spread the Gospel into * See Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas Parthia and afterwards among the Medes and Persians passing through the Asian Ethiopia says Chrysostom and at last came to India perswading them to Renounce their Idolatry and receive the Faith of Christ Some Remainders of this there are in some parts of India to this day And at last he was thrust through with Lances by the Command of an Indian King If we may believe the Account of some of the Jesuits * Relatione della Cina del P. A. Semedo 12. Parte Prima cap. 31. and other Missionaries of the Roman Church into China and those parts they do Ascribe the Preaching of the Gospel there to this Apostle and his Followers And the Chaldee Books concerning the Indian Christianity Cultivated by his Means are mentioned to this Purpose and Preserved to this Day by an A. Bishop of Granganour or Della Serra and Translated into Latin by a Jesuit One of those Books is a Breviary wherein are these words By the Means of St. Thomas the Errors of the Idolatry of the Indians were scattered By the Means of St. Thomas the Chineses and the Aethiopians were converted to the Truth By the Means of St. Thomas they obtained the Vertue of Baptism and the Adoption of Sons and kept the Faith which they promised to God By Means of St. Thomas the Beams of the Knowledge of Life enlightened all India and the Kingdom of Heaven entred into China And presently there follows an Antiphona which saith The Indians the Chineses the Persians and other Islanders those of Syria Armenia Grecia and Romania in Commemoration of St. Thomas do offer their Adoration unto thy Most Holy Name O Great God 2. Let us Consider the Reality of his Faith in this short Confession of it For upon these Words My Lord my God our Saviour owns in the next Verse the Truth of his Faith Blessed art thou who hast seen and hast believed Though a more ample and abundant Blessing be pronounced on such as did also believe without that help of Sight and Sense But here is an Excellent Faith and all the Essential parts of it comprehended in this Expression My Lord my God 1. An Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Christ the true Meissah who had Risen again as he foretold 2. An acknowledgment that this Jesus is both Lord and God that absolute Supremacy Power and Dominion belong to him that he is true God 3. An Appropriation of him to himself as his Lord and his God which following upon the former two contain the Essentials of true Faith 4. In this Expression we have an Evidence of the Two Natures of Christ the Reality of his Humane Nature and the Truth of his Divine 1. The Reality of his Humane Nature The Method our Lord uses to prove his Resurrection to this Apostle doth suppose that he was true man Partaker of Human Nature that his Body was of such a kind that our Senses might judge of it for else he would not have bid Thomas behold him and reach hither his Hand This may easily be improved to overthrow the Popish Fancy of Transubstantiation that the Body and Blood of Christ are in the Lord's Supper under the Accidents of Bread and Wine For at that rate Thomas might have still objected That what he saw and touched was not the Body of Christ but the Accidents of it and that he was not obliged to believe on the Testimony of his Senses that the Body of Christ was present But his Obligation so to believe is implyed in our Saviour's Words Reach hither thy Hand and be not faithless but believing And on the same Testimony of Sense we are bound to believe that it is Bread after Consecration and not Flesh that it is Wine and not Blood 2. The truth of his Godhead is also evident that he is really and truly God This Title My God as well as My Lord is very observable because it hath the Article before the Word God And it is commonly granted by the Adversaries of the Deity of Christ that where-ever the Word God is used with the Article before it it there imports the True and Eternal God So is the Expression here which our English Translation does not reach for it may rather be read The Lord mine the God mine My Lord my God From his Office as Lord and Christ he Riseth to his Divine Nature and the Dignity of his Essence He had reason to own him to be Christ the Lord by his Resurrection and other things which he had observed before and from that Dignity he owns him to be true God worthy of the Highest Homage and Adoration Had it been otherwise the Apostle would not have given the Title of God unto Jesus Christ nor would he have received it For the Greater any Person is the greater Danger there is of giving him such Titles as belong not to him As to give to One that is next to the King the Title of King Especially to ascribe Divinity and Godhead to a Creature What can be more provoking to him who is Jealous of his Honour and will not give his Glory to another Isa 42. It cannot well be supposed that (a) See Placaei disput in loc Tom. 3. 4 to Thomas who was brought up in the Jewish Religion could be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Vnity of the Godhead He must needs know what Moses and the Prophets teaâ—h concerning it Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord Deut. 6.4 This was one of the Sentences written on the Fringes of their Garments and quoted by Christ as a known thing Mark 12.32 Neither can it be imagined that our Saviour would have permitted such a thing without Rebuking him if he had not been true God as well as real Man But so this Apostle does acknowledge him and so must we
our will to love what he loves to hate what he hates to have the same Friends and Enemies with our Blessed Lord. For here we put God in mind of his Covenant with us through Jesus Christ and our selves in mind of our Covenant with God And upon renewed Repentance for any sins we have committed after any Instance of Vnfaithfulness to our Solemn Engagements by unsuitable walking we here implore his Mercy and Grace to pardon us We declare at the same time that we desire to take hold of his Covenant that tho we are Sinners we are not Apostates we confess our sins and beg Forgiveness and repeat our Resolutions of Fidelity to him We trust in the unshaken Faithfulness and Truth of God to his gracious Promises We place our hope and confidence in the stability of his Everlasting Covenant which the Blood of Jesus the Blood of the Covenant hath confirmed and made Everlasting Not Trusting in our own Faith but in his Free Mercy and invariable Truth not in our Repentance but his Gracious Pardon not in our own Preparations but his Merciful Acceptance of us in his Beloved Son not in any thing we our selves can do but in the Merits of Christ the Fruits of his Death and the Purchase of his Cross as dispensed and applied according to the rule method and tenor of the Gospel-Promise This is our Priviledge and this our Employment at the Table of our Lord. And there is hardly any Subject will better bear to be treated of in several different methods than this or upon which repeated Discourses by several Persons may be more useful I grant there are many Excellent Books already written to Instruct Men in the Nature and to direct and assist their Devotion in the Observation of this Holy Sacrament I design not to wrest them out of their hands into whose this may fall I pretend not to add but to urge and prosecute the same Great End and sometimes by the same Arguments and Expressions I acknowledge my having profited by the Writings of others I hope 't is what they design'd These Discourses were acceptable to many when Preacht and being since reviewed some of them with some Enlargement I hope they may be of use at least to those who heard 'em and desired their Publication And it must be granted that what is of so Universal and Important a Concern as a due Participation of this Ordinance ought to be Treated and Inculcated in as many different ways as may best suit the Various capacites of several Persons It may be a shorter Account of the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper with Meditations and Devotions adapted thereto would be more proper for the Younger and more Ignorant Sort this I have promised and intend but have not yet had time to perfect The Lord follow this and all Endeavours for the Furtherance of Real Godliness with an Abundant Blessing London May 9th 1693. J. S. THE CONTENTS The First Discourse OF Vnion to Christ and the New Creature Or a Preparatory Sermon to the Lord's Supper on the First Day of the Year From 2 Cor. 5.17 If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature p. 1. The Second Discourse Of Christ's passing over the Brook Kedron and entring into the Garden of Gethsemine After the Lords Supper From John 18.1 2. When Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron where was a Garden into which he entred and his Disciples and Judas also knew the place For Jesus oft times resorted thither with his Disciples p. 49. The Third Discourse Concerning Spiritual Washing the Nature Means and Evidences of it Before the Lords Supper From 1 Cor. 6.11 And such were some of you but you are washed but you are Sanctified but you are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God p. 89 The Fourth Discourse Of the Communion of Christ's Body and Blood After the Lord's Supper From 1 Cor. 10.16 The Cup of Blessing which we bless Is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ p. 129 The Fifth Discourse The Sin and Danger of Unworthy Receiving Before the Lord's Supper From 1 Cor. 11.29 He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself p. 163 The Sixth Discourse Of Christ's Last Passover And its Accomplishment After the Lord's Supper From Luke 22.15 16 17 18. With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer For I say unto you I will not many more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God And he took the Cup and gave thanks and said Take this and divide it among your selves For I say unto you I will not drink of the Fruit of the Vine until the Kingdom of God shall come p. 199 The Seventh Discourse Before the Lord's Supper From Cant. 2.4 He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was Love p. 243 The Eighth Discourse After the Lord's Supper From St. John 20.27 28. Then said he unto Thomas Reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side and be not faithless but believing And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and My God p. 281 A Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer Our Father c. The First Discourse Of Vnion to Christ and the New Creature OR A SERMON Preparatory to the Lord's Supper On the First Day of the YEAR From 2 COR. V. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a New-Creature THROUGH the Merciful Forbearance of God we now begin another Year and have outlived several who a twelve month ago were as like to have seen this New years-day as any of us That we may begin it with some Serious Reflexions suitable to the beginning of the Year and the approaching Solemnity of the Lord's Supper I have chosen these words as proper unto both They are brought in as one Inference among others from the constraining Love of Christ which the Apostle had mentioned in the 14th Verse Many useful things might be observed in explaining the Context and shewing the Connexion of this with the preceding Verses But I shall at present consider them more absolutely and in the General If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature or Let him be a New Creature He ought to be so The Original will bear either sense The words may be taken imperatively or affirmatively For we find not Is in the Original It is true that whoever is in Christ is a New Creature And it is true that he is obliged thereby to prove his Union to Christ he ought to be a New Creature Neither sense is to be excluded That the State of such as are in Christ and likewise their Obligation may be comprehended It is the Character and Qualification of such as are in Christ and it is their Duty
your Lord he will then be your God And all Blessings Temporal Spiritual and Eternal are comprized in that You are then his Jewels his Treasure his Portion his Inheritance his peculiar People If he be your God O how dear how valuable how precious are the Relations Priviledges and Blessings that this contains What need you fear What can you want What can you ask more What can dismay afflict or trouble such a Soul Why art thou cast down O my Soul Why art thou disquieted within me May you say If you can say with David in another place The Lord is my Portion and the Lot of mine Inheritance Or if you can say with Thomas here My Lord my God All things then are yours his Spirit his Providence his Attributes his Promises Life Death Things present Things to come Grace here Heaven hereafter All things yours if you be Christ's and he be your Lord and your God Blessed then are you though you have not seen him with your bodily Eyes or thrust your Hand into his Wounded Side or felt the print of the Nails in his Crucified Body Yet having now by hearing believed on him and loved him you shall see him hereafter in Glory and Triumph and be for ever with him to behold his Glory and to partake of it Amen A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer A PARAPHRASE OF THE Lord's Prayer Our Father O Most Merciful and Gracious Father who hast made us out of nothing by thy Powerful Word and form'd us after thine own Image but we sought out Sinful Inventions and might justly have perisht in our Apostasie We owe Thee Homage as the Father of our Spirits as the God of our Lives as the Author of our Beings much more as thou hast called us into thy Family and Favour by Jesus Christ as Redeemed by him and Regenerated by thy Spirit and Priviledged with the Dignity of Children and may call Thee Our Reconciled Father Oh what manner of Love is this that such Rebellious Miserable Creatures as we should be called the Sons of God and treated as such Holy Father we have sinned against Heaven and before Thee and are utterly Unworthy to be entertain'd as thy Servants much more to be cherisht and spared and pittied and provided for as thy Children and have the promise and hope of the Heavenly Inheritance As the Children of the First Adam we are Children of Wrath and Heirs of Hell in Bondage to Sin and serving divers Lusts the Works of our Father the Devil we have done But by thy Redeeming Love and Grace through Jesus Christ we are set Free from that Slavery and partake of the Liberty and Priviledge of Sons in thy House and Family Oh let the Spirit of thy Son breath continually in our hearts and teach us to cry Abba Father as created by thy Power and Goodness and reconciled and saved by thy Mercy after we had undone our selves Give us that Faith and humble Confidence in Prayer by the Spirit of Grace and Supplication that we may go to thee in all our Necessities as Children to a Father and come with boldness to a Throne of Grace We beg the Holy Spirit of Grace to that end which thou art more ready to give to them who value it and ask it earnestly as sensible of their need of it than any Father on Earth is to give Bread to his Children that ask it of him O let this Name of Father and our consequent Relation to thee be our Glory and our Refuge our Defence and Guard the Principle of our Obedience and Love to thee and of Charity Kindness and Affection to all our Brethren who are Children of the same Father and Adopted Heirs of the same Inheritance And let all those whom thou wilt own for thy Children most Gracious Father be united to thee and to one another in holy Bands of Love and Concord bearing with one another wherein they differ let them heartily joyn together to advance the Honour of thy Holy Name to celebrate thy Praise and promote thy Truth and Worship Grant unto them and us the help of thy Spirit that we may so Pray and Live O God of the Spirits of all Flesh the Father of Glory the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ teach us so to ask as thou mayst please to grant teach us to Worship thee in Spirit and in Truth that our persons may be well-pleasing in thy sight and our Prayers be accepted through the Great Mediator We would ask nothing but in his Name for the manner so nothing but what he hath advised and taught us to Desire and Seek Who art in Heaven And since thou dwellest in Heaven though the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee that is thy Throne and the Earth thy Footstool thou beholdest whatsoever we do or say or think and wilt call us to an Account Let us reverence thy Glorious Majesty Thine All-seeing Eye and thy Soveraign Power And raise our Affections above Earthly Things that we may seek Heaven as our Country where our Father is and our Redeemer and where we hope to possess the Inheritance prepared for us by Everlasting Love through the Purchase and Merit of thine Eternal Son who owns himself our Elder Brother and who when he was on Earth was concerned for nothing more than for the Glory of Thy Name Therefore in Imitation of his Example in Conformity to his Counsel and Obedience to his Command we beg Thy Name may be Sanctified Hallowed by thy Name Thou hast proclaimed thy Name unto the World and they who know it will trust in Thee to be a God Gracious and Merciful slow to Anger and of Great Kindness Abundant in Goodness and in Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and that will not utterly destroy his People though he do correct Thou art worthy of all our Honour Homage and Obedience and that all the World should Adore thee and Glorifie Thy Holy Name that every Creature in Heaven and Earth should tremble at thine Irresistible Power admire thine Eternal Wisdom and love thine Infinite Goodness O that the Glory of thy Holy Name may extinguish in us the Desire and Love of Worldly Honour and Inteterest that we may 〈◊〉 it our highest dignity to ad◠〈…〉 serve the Purposes of thy Glory as the Ultimate End of all Things Let us be deeply sensible of thy Dishonour in the World by our own sins and the sins of Others Let us Grieve and Mourn to observe the Prophanation of thy Name and the Violation of thy Authority when thy Laws are transgrest thy Institutions despised thy Orders contradicted thy Majesty Affronted thy Glory bespattered and trampled on The Desire of our Souls is to thy Name and the Remembrance of Thee In thy Name we Rejoyce and put our Trust O let us not dishonour it by unsuitable Affections and Actions Let our Lives be answerable to the dignity of our Relation and to what we know and profess to believe