is a fit Season for extraordinary Thanksgiving and Praise blessing God for Jesus Christ Which Thankfulness for Christ disposes and fits us for the Reception of further Grace as the Fruit and Purchase of his Death and so is the Means of our Communion in his Body and Blood Thus it is the Cup of Blessing and of Thanksgiving that we there Receive which Cup of Blessing upon such Accounts as these is our Communion in the Blood of Christ. 2. You will hereby the better perceive what is to be done on our part in order to this Communion 1. Our Faith must Eye the Authority of Christ enacting it We must act in Obedience to an Institution and Appointment of Christ It was a Remarkable Instance and Act of his Kingly Office to enjoyn this Memorial of his dying Love And the Season of its Institution is the more observable viz. In the close of his Publick Ministery of his Prophetical Office upon Earth and in his Entrance upon the Execution of the Principal part of his Priestly Office by being made a Sacrifice between both of these And to render both Effectual our Lord interposed an Act of his Kingly Office in the Institution of this Ordinance Accordingly it should be eyed and owned by us in order to our Communion with him therein 2. The Love of Christ must especially be Eyed and Attended to in this Supper as Exprest by his Death and Sufferings Of this we have here the most lively Representation with the Glorious Effects of that Love which are not Represented with such a Beauty and Lustre by any other Ordinance as by this The constraining Love of Christ in his whole undertaking is better discerned and tasted in this Ordinance than as it is proposed 〈◊〉 several parts in the Holy Scripture Here we are called to the particular Application of it He loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 Rev. 1.5 3. The Soveraignty and the Wisdom of God in Instituting these External Signs and Elements of Bread and Wine must also be Eyed and Attended to They most fitly Signifie and Represent the great Things they are designed for and yet without a Divine Institution could have no Relation to the Thing signified How suitable is the plain matter of this Sacrament unto the holy Author of it We remember in this Supper his Body hanging on the Cross and therefore it was not fit the Sacrament of his Body should be sumptuous and rich upon the Table Nevertheless by Bread to strengthen and Wine to comfort all the Benefits of a crucified Saviour are fitly Represented and much better than they could have been by the choicest Delicates In order to this Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ we must take heed to our selves not to rest in the External Signs but to discern the Lord's Body to apprehend the Spiritual Import and End of this Divine Institution That by Faith we may Receive Christ and feed upon him so as to Experience the Communications of his Grace and Receive fresh Influences of his Spirit That we may Accept all the Benefits of the New Covenant which are here Offered and Sealed to us and that we may Devote Resign and Dedicate our selves afresh to be the Lord's to Obey him and serve the Purposes of his Glory while we live in hope of the blessed Recompence which he has Purchased and promised and is gone to prepare and which he will not fail to come again and bestow Until which time this Ordinance is to continue in the Church To shew forth the Lord's Death till he come Vse 1. The first Reflection I would make on this is upon the Sacrilegious Confidence of those Men who deny Christians the Means of their Communion in the Blood of Christ who rob them of one half of this Sacrament by denying the Cup of Blessing to the Laity The Cup is the Communion of the blood of Christ says the Apostle Drink ye all of it says our Lord. And yet the Church of Rome will not suffer the People to taste it But as one Errour makes way for another they pretend that by the New Doctrine of Concomitancy the Bread or the little Wafer which is not broken neither according to the order of Christ but put whole into the Peoples Mouths by the hands of the Priest This Wafer shall be enough for the People and by the help of a strong Imagination of the Authority of their Church the very Body Blood and Bones of Christ shall be contained under the Form and Appearance of Bread One would wonder how any Thing can be plainer both in this and the next Chapter and in the Institution it self as Recorded by the Evangelists than the Universal Obligation upon Christians to partake of the Cup as well as the Bread And what Authority can any Man or Number of Men have to alter such a Constitution May they not as well take away the Bread from the People as the Cup They will grant that for a Thousand Years after Christ it was the Sense and Practice of the Christian Church that the People should partake of the Cup too And for Fourteen hundred Years it can be proved that they did even from the Apostle's Time down to that of Thomas Aquinas in the latter end of the Thirteenth Century Justin Martyr Cyprian Nazianzen Chrysostom and all the most considerable Writers of the Ancient Church are express in their Testimony for it But what need we concern our selves about the Judgment of Antiquity When there is a Positive Institution of Christ and in a large Account thereof by the Apostle Paul in the Eleventh Chapter he speaks but one word of the Consecration of the Bread but uses divers Expressions to signifie the Excellency of the Cup. This is my Blood says Chrâ—st The Blood of the New Testament shed for the Remission of Sins of many His sufferings and the reality of his Death are in a most lively manner set forth by the shedding of his Blood Not to insist upon his bloody sweat in the Garden You know when he was whipt and scourged and crowned with Thornes he then shed Blood Blood issued from his hands and Feet when he was nailed to the Cross and from his side when he was pierced by the Roman Soldiers By the shedding of his Blood he lost his Life and without shedding of Blood there could be no Remission So that to deprive the People of the Cup is to take away the most lively and the most essential Representation of the Sufferings and Death of Christ The Doctrine of Concomitancy will not availe in this Case The partaking of the Bread only is not sufficient whereby to remember his Death For the Separation of his Blood from his Body was the means of his Dying This destroys the Distinction between the two Symbols which yet are very different in their Names in their Properties in their Vse and in the Time of receiving them Besides it is contrary to all the Rules of Language
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
Righteous Avenger However there is a great difference between what Christ suffered and what the Damned in Hell suffer For they hate God and Holiness and are hated of him and forsaken by his Holy Spirit and are under the power of sin and are tormented by the Conscience of their Personal Guilt But what Christ suffer'd was for us and he was still in the Love of God and continued to love him c. Let us consider him incompassed with Grief and seized by sorrow appaled with Fear lying prostrate on his Face on the ground deprecating that Cup of vengeance which the Justice of God had mingled saying Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me He Prays again a second time in the same place to the same purpose Abba Father if it be possible let this Cup pass He adores his Majesty he owns his Omnipotence he takes hold of his Power he pleads his filial Relation with all imaginable earnestness submission and importunity Father if it be possible and with thee all things are possible Abba Father Holy Father let this Cup pass from me And then he groans and sweats and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground He prays again the third time using in effect the same words as if nothing else would yet his Importunity might prevail for the removal of the Cup. And yet notwithstanding all this he was then Willing All the struglings of his Innocent Nature issued in this That the Will of God should be done and his Glory be accomplished Holy Father glorifie thy self Not my will but thine be done It was for this end I came into the World for this end I came unto this hour The desire of his Humane Soul submits and yields to the determination and Will of his Father And therefore those words if it be possible must be explained by those other If thou wilt if it be most for thy Glory of a possibility in respect of the Divine Will and Glory rather than of the Divine Power And having two Natures he must needs have two Wills he could not else be the true Son of God and true Man He desires to decline his Sufferings as a Man for so they were against Nature But as they were the means to reconcile us to God he is willing as Redeemer to undergo them We may abhor a Medicine as bitter and yet resolve to take it as wholsome So that after all the reluctance of his Humane Nature he was still willing and his entring into this Garden when he knew that Judas was acquainted with the place and would find him there and betray him is a proof of it 6. Our Saviour's Custom to retire to this Garden He was wont to resort thither with his Disciples This Garden of Gethsemane was on the side of the Mount of Olives and that we are told was at the distance of a Sabbath-days Journey from Jerusalem Act. 1.12 If we reckon from the foot of the Mountain or the 〈…〉 part of it unto the City it is thoâ—ght to be about five or six 〈…〉 thousand 〈…〉 â—ting by 〈…〉 measured And it is most probable that the People in the Wilderness were to keep from the Tabernacle at the distance of two thousand Cubits And on that account this distance is supposed the measure of a Sabbath-days Journey when they went to the Ark to Worship It is an ordinary Tradition among the Jews That it was not lawful on their Sabbaths to walk above two thousand cubits which seems to be founded on that Text Josh 3.4 where the People are commanded in their March after the Ark and on either side of it to keep at the distance of two thousand cubits and when they encamped did usually pitch their Tents at that distance from the Ark And so the Custom arose of travelling but 2000 cubits on their Sabbath-days which is reckon'd not above half a mile It may be for this reason the Holy Ghost measures the distance between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives by a Sabbath-days Journey and not by so many Furlongs Because in fair Weather many devout Jews were wont to retire thither for Meditation after the Publick Worship was over From hence let me make two Reflections for our own practice and so conclude 1. Since our Lord was wont to retire from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives for Meditation and Prayer Let me hence take occasion to press these Duties It is certainly one of the best Evidences of an Upright Christian to be serious in this secret work It is of mighty advantage to our growth in Grace to the Evidence and Comfort of it And he deserves not the Name of a Serious Christian who can pass whole days and weeks contentedly without Meditation and secret Prayer Our stedfastness in the ways of God and our daily walk in holy Security and Peace is manifestly assisted by it Such a course cannot consist with regarding and indulging deliberately any known sin This will be a good Argument of our Integrity before God this constant intercourse and Communion between God and us These frequent visits to Heaven will be so conversing with God and pouring out our hearts before him in Secret retiring as it were to the other World so as no temptation of Applause or Reputation from Men can be thought to byass or mislead us when no eye sees us but the great searcher of hearts when no ear hears us but that of our Invisible Judge when no hand can reward us but the Omnipresent Lord our Father and our Redeemer in Heaven who sees in secret and will reward us openly You have been often told That the Conscientious performance of Secret prayer will make you leave sinning or a Course of sin will make you desist daily serious praying 2. I infer from this example of our Lord That after the participation of solemn Odinances especially on the Lord's-day it is very fit and useful for Christians to retire by themselves to spend some time alone in Meditation and prayer To call your selves to an Account to reflect on your wayes and frame to make a trial of your State and Temper to observe your Spirits how they have been influenced or not by the Divine Spirit in the Solemn Duties of Worship to humble your selves before God for the sins you are convinced of such especially as other Men cannot charge you with but God and Conscience know you are guilty of To thank God for his numberless Mercies to beg the suitable supplies of his Grace and whatever Blessings you stand in need of for you and yours This is the right improvement of Sabbaths and Sacraments and such seasons of Mercy as God is pleased to continue to us in order to Eternal Life And without something of this kind tho you frequent the Publick Assemblies and sit before him as his People you do but mock God and trifle with Heaven while you pretend to Religion and assume the Name of Christians You act
a Scene and a Part and have only a Form of Godliness but must expect to pay dear for your Solemn Hopocrisie Let me therefore Advise you to three things in your Retirement after the Publick Worship and Solemn Ordinances of Christ as the End and Reason for which I will press it 1 That you retire in order to the confession of Sin and the Exercise of Repentance That when you have finished the publick work of a Sabbath or come from any special Ordinance of the Gospel by after Meditation you would reflect upon your selves and take notice of your Defects and Failings Discomposures and Distempers of Mind What unsuitableness of Spirit there has been to heavenly Mysteries or what unprepared Addresses we have made to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth the roving of our Fancies the vanity of our Thoughts c. We should humble our selves on such Occasions That we attended with no more Reverence and Diligence to the Word of God That we did not receive the Truth in the Love of it That it was not mixed with Faith Tnat we did not make particular and close application of it to our selves That our Hearts were not lâ—ft up in the ways of the Lord and our Souls under an awe of God in Prayer with becoming Affections and suitable Exercise of Grace under the influence of the Divine Spirit and in the Name of the Mediator That we approached the Table of the Lord with no more Examination of our Hearts and Ways before we came with no more Repentance for our past Guilt no more hungering after the Bread of Life no more spiritual Thirst for the Fountain of Living Waters That we beheld the Memorials of a broken bleeding Saviour with no more Contrition and Brokenness of Heart That we received the Seals of his dying Love with no more raised Affection That we remembered the Agonies of his Soul with no more correspondent Impressions upon our own In a word we may lament for the most part I fear we may after such Ordinances that our Spirits were but in a common frame our Repentance so partial our Love so cold our Faith so weak our Hope so low Desires so faint Charity so narrow Thankfulness and Joy so little in the Participarion of such Glorious Mysteries in conversing with such adorable Objects under the Offers of such rich Grace under the loud Calls to such manifest Duty under the Assurances and Expectations of such great and blessed things as the Word and Sacraments propose and Seal 2. Another Reason and Ground of this Retirement is in order to Petition and Intercession for needful Mercy to our selves and others Have we been convinced of any Duty we had formerly neglected Shall not the Reflection on it excite us to beg Wisdom and Strength to perform that Duty Has any sin been called to remembrance by the preaching of the Word Should we not beg Forgiveness and Grace to leave and forsake it as the best Testimony of our Repentance Have we joyned in Prayer and Supplication with others for the greatest Blessings and are sensible we are undone if God deny us and shall we not beg the same things again in secret Have we renewed our Vows and entered into fresh Obligations to be the Lords and shall wâ— not beg that God would heal our â—â—st â—aâ—k slidings and confirm our holy Resolutions That having sworn we may perform it that we will keep his righteous Judgments You therefore who have this Day been at the Table of the Lord let me beseech you in a special manner to retire when you come home and think of these things that you may wrestle with God in secret for a further blessing O what can he deny you when he hath given you his Son and sealed that Gift in so solemn a manner Go therefore and represent to him all your Necessities and Wants all your Griefs and Groans and Complaints and Fears and secret Desires Pray earnestly for your selves your Families and Relatives for your Ministers and Fellow Christians for all that have communicated this day with you and in other Assemblies and for all that desired to do so that were providentially hindered for all your Brethren for all the Churches of Christ throughout the World especially for those in this Nation for those in others which are oppressed by the Tyranny of the Sons of Violence for all actual Believers for all those for whom Christ died for your Friends and Enemies for the whole World 3. Retire in secret to express your Gratitude and Thanksgivings to God for Mercies received and hoped for Thank him for the Liberty of his Sanctuary for Publick Assemblies of Social Worship for Sabbaths and Sacraments and the Ministry of the Gospel considering how the Case now is with our Brethren and Neighbours in other places Thank him for another Opportunity for the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and for so much health as to be able to partake of such a Priviledge in a publick Solemnity But above all as the Foundation of all the rest for that inestimable Blessing of Divine Love the Gift of his Son for the inexpressible Love of Christ in giving himself for us Sinners and Enemies and while we were so Thank him for the Means of Grace and the Hopes of Glory for any good Hope through Grace of present Pardon and Everlasting Communion with God in Heaven for the Offer of Forgiveness by a Covenant of Grace for the Promise of Eternal Life by Christ purchased by his Blood confirmed by the Word and Oath of God who cannot lye witnessed to many ways by the Holy Spirit made sure by the Everlasting Covenant and that sealed by Baptism and by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Yea let us thank him for another such solemn Occasion of paying Homage to a Crucified Christ and of holy Fellowship with the Father and the son by the Spirit which this day has been afforded us Praise him for any Aâ—sistance of his Grace in the actual Celebration and for any help in our preparatory Work for reviving any of our Convictions awakening our Repentance strengthening our Faith animating our Hope quickening our zeal exercising and increasing our Love to Christ clearing our Adoption dispelling our Doubts scattering our Fears warming and filling our Desires Let our Souls and all within us bless him for any Beams of his Heavenly Light for any Glympse of his reconciled Countenance for any token of his Love to us any expression and exercise of our own to him Let us thank him for what he hath given us and sealed to us and promised to give us for what we have already received as the first Fruits and the Earnest and the Pledge of a great deal more We may Express our Gratitude and Joy to some such Purpose as this (a) almost in the words of Mr. Baxter which follows O my gracious God thou hast surpast all humane Comprehension in thy Love Is this thy usage of unworthy Prodigals I
and force according to our Faith The Arguments from God from Christ from our selves from the Divine Nature from the Example and Life of Christ from his redeeming Grace and dying Love from his precious Promises c. They all depend upon our Faith and have no force or power any further than we believe in Christ and heartily embrace the Gospel-Revelation Secondly It is by the Name of Christ or by Faith in him that we are Sanctified because in order to our Sanctification Christ is to be eyed and improved several wayes First The Blood of Christ must be eyed in order to our Sanctification Our Faith must be employed upon a Crucified Saviour As his Blood is able to cleanse us from all sins Who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood Who gave himself for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse us by the washing of Water by the Word Rev. 1.5 Ephes 5.25 For as the Apostle argues from the taking away of Ceremonial Uncleanness by the Legal Purifications If the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean availed to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offered up himself to God purge our Consciences from dead Works Heb. 9.13 Accordingly we find The Sanctification of the Spirit connected with the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus or as the purchase of his Blood 1 Pet. 1.2 Secondly Faith makes use of the Intercession of Christ and his Prayer in Heaven for this Effect The whole fruit of the Death of Christ whereof the Sanctifying Spirit is one Principal part is given out by the Father upon the Intercession of Christ What he merited on the Cross by his great Sacrifice he prays in Heaven may be applyed to Particular Souls as the fruit of it and upon the account of the everlasting value of his Death his Intercession founded on it is always Prevalent Thirdly His Promise and Covenant whereby he hath engaged to cleanse us from all Iniquity and to sprinkle clean Water upon us Ezek. 36.25 He hath promised his Blood shall be a Fountain open for sin and uncleaness Zach. 13.1 That Christ shall save us from our sins and be exalted to give Repentance and to turn us from our Iniquities and bring us back to God c. Fourthly Hereupon our Faith must eye the Spirit of Christ as the great Sanctifier of Souls and the Author of all our Purity This great Benefit which is promised in the Word purchas'd by Christ upon his Cross and bestowed granted and given out upon his Intercession is applyed by the Efficiency of the Eternal Spirit He Sanctifies our Hearts and Natures and continually vouchsafes holy Influences of Light and Life and Power answerable to the Duties Difficulties and Necessities of particular Souls in every Age and Place of the World This brings me to consider the other means of our Sanctification viz. Secondly By the Spirit of our God And that he doth two ways First By removing our Defilement and Pollution and Secondly As the Author of Actual Grace and Holiness First by the removing our defilement and pollution and accordingly he is promised sometimes as a Refiners Fire and Fullers Soap Mal. 3.2 and sometimes under the notion of Water Isa 4.4 Because all things under the Law were purged from their Typical Uncleanness either by Fire or Water What would abide the Fire was to be Purified by Fire and what would not was to be Cleansed by Water Numb 3.23 And here I might consider a Three-fold Defilement wherewith we are chargable First That of our Nature by Original Sin Secondly That which is contracted by Actual Sin Thirdly The Pollution and Defilement that cleaves to our best Duties So far as we are delivered from our Pollution as to either of these The Holy Ghost in the vertue of the Blood of Christ is the Author of it Secondly We may consider the Holy Spirit as the Author of Positive Holiness and Grace in the Soul and show First How he convinceth us of our need of it Secondly That he enables us to pray for it Thirdly To beleive the Value and Vertue of the Blood of Christ as able to procure it Fourthly How he makes use of the Word as the ordinary means of our Sanctification And Fifthly Sometimes enables us to improve Afflictions to promote the influence and efficacy of the Word to this purpose APPLICATION First From the consideration of what these Corinthians were before this Change we learn that some of the Worst and Vilest of sinners may be call'd and sanctified and find Mercy with God Such were some of you such Idolaters such Drunkards such Extortioners such Adulterers c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things such sins were some of you to express the heighth of their Wickedness Sins of a Crimson and Scarlet Die may be cleansed and forgiven The most polluted sinner may be purified by the Blood of Christ The most loathsome Diseases may be healed by our heavenly Physician The most unpolished Stones may be framed by the Spirit for a spiritual Building a Manasses a Mary Magdalen may be changed and justified God will hereby magnifie the Truth and Authority of his Word and the Power of his Spirit He will hereby bear Testimony to the Freeness of his Love and the Riches of his Grace He will hereby hearten and encourage the greatest Offenders to hope for pardon upon Repentance Isaiah 55.7 Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the Vnrighteous Man his Thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will abundantly pardon him He will hereby encourage Ministers in their Work though among a dissolute and perverse People For we preach in Hope that if the vilest of Men can but so far break the Snare of the Devil as to hear the Word we preach to them in hope of success We know not whose Hearts God will touch It may be the most Unlikely Person in the whole Assembly shall feel the Power of the Word Secondly What Love and Thankfulness do we owe to Christ And how should we Admire and Praise him for his Blood and Spirit unto which we owe this great Blessing of Sanctification That there is a Fountain opened for Sin and Vncleanness for the Men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for all Sorts and degrees of Persons and kinds of Sins That His Blood cleanseth from all sins Not only did so formerly but does so still Thirdly Learn where to go for this Benefit even to Jesus Christ. Beg to be Sanctified through the Merits of his Death and the Influence of his Spirit endeavour to be sensible of thy Filthiness and cry out Vnclean unclean Lord wash me throughly from my sins and purge me from all my pollutions Apply the Word of God and especially the Promises of the Gospel in order to thy being cleansed from all the Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 Fourthly What a Difference doth
Idols I say he leaves it unto themselves Verse 15. I speak as unto wise men Judge ye what I say That was the Case amongst many of these Corinthians they did not scruple to accompany their Unbelieving Neighbours and Acquaintance to the Banquets that they made in Honour of their false Gods They did not scruple to Eat with them of those things that were taken from their Execrable Altars as a Part and Remnant of those Sacrifices to Idols which were performed in the City of Corinth with all the Pomp of an Abominable Superstition This the Apostle shews to be unsuitable to their Profession of Christianity and that it could not agree with the Honour they had of eating at the Table of the Lord For these Heathens were seduced by Satan to make those Sacrifices and they were Devils whom they Worshipped as supposed Demi-Gods and in such Feasts they had a familiar Communion with them And I would not says the Apostle that you should have fellowship with Devils Verse 19 20 21. You cannot drink of the Cup of the Lord and the Cup of Devils You cannot be partaker of the Lord's Table and the Table of Devils In the Words of the Text he leaves it to them to judge Whether it be not a most horrid Impiety to pretend to joyn these Two together the Divine Body and Blood of Christ with the Impious Sacrifices of these Idolaters For he makes the partaking of the Lord's Table not only a Testimony of our Vnion unto Christ and our Communion one with another as his Members but also a Testimony of our Disunion and Separation from all Idolatrous Worship The Cup of Blessing that we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread that we break c. Where we are to consider 1. The two Sacramental Signs the Cup and the Bread 2. What is to be understood by the Body and Blood of Christ 3. What by Commmnion in them 4. How the Cup and Bread in the Sacrament of the Supper are the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ And then I shall help you to Apply it 1. Concerning the Sacramental Signs the Cup and the Bread The Cup for the Wine in it by an ordinary Figure and the Bread which we break These are the two outward Elements in this Institution and neither of them must be omitted Whereas in Baptism there is but one outward Element here are two And there is good Reason for it 1. Because this Represents the Violent Death of Christ wherein his Blood was shed and separated from his Body It is therefore necessary there should be one Sign to Represent his Body and another Sign to Represent his Blood there having been a Separation by Death which is here to be Represented 2. The Lord's Supper being the Mystery of our spiritual Nourishment by Christ it was proper to employ both Eating and Drinking which are the two parts of our Corporal Nourishment and that could not have been entirely Represented by either of them alone The Cup of Blessing or Benediction which we bless or give thanks for i. e. Which we set apart by Prayer and Thanksgiving Blessing and giving of Thanks being often put one for another 1 Cor. 14.16 And in the Evangelical History Matth. 26. and Mark 16 What one Evangelist calls Blessing another calls Thanksgiving By vertue of which Blessing or Prayer by a Minister of Christ in his Name and according to his Example and Order That which before was common is set apart to an holy use and becomes the Sign and Seal of the Body and Blood of Christ The Cup of Blessing The Jews were wont at the Passover Feast or rather after it to drink of a Cup which the Master of the Family did bless i. e. Did pray over it or concerning it To distinguish this from that the Apostle says The Cup of Blessing which we bless which we Christians set apart in our Assemblies to shew forth the Lord's Death by And from this Passage of the Apostle this Ordinance is called by the Ancients the Eucharist upon the account of the Blessing or giving of Thanks Justin Martyr who lived but Fifty Years after the Death of the Apostle John calls it the Bread of the Eucharist in memory of the Passion of Christ Nay the Greek word for Blessing in this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving of Thanks is sometimes used by the * See Mr. Daille in loc Ancients as the Name of this Institution Among others Cyril Bishop of Alexandria does often call it by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cup of Blessing which we bless and the Bread which we break At the Feast of the Passover the Jews made use of such Bread as was flat and round and so was to be broken and cut asunder And the unleavened Bread among the Jews to this very day is of this kind Now our Lord Instituting his Supper the same Evening after the Celebration of the Passover we may suppose made use of the same sort of Bread That is As he changed the Signification of this Bread from that of their unleavened Bread to be a sign of his Body so he imployed the breaking of this Bread to signifie his cruel Sufferings in that body upon the Cross This Cup and this Bread even after Consecration For the Bread is not broken till after that is said to be the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ not his real Flesh and Blood For besides the Vanity of such a Sense and the Indecency and Uncomeliness of it yea the Contradiction and Impossibility of it It is against the express Testimony of the Apostle here and in other Places According to the new Doctrine of Rome Instead of saying here The Cup that we bless He would have said The Cup that we Transubstantiate and change into the proper Substance of the Body and Blood of Christ The Cup in which we leave not one drop of Wine But by pronouncing four or five little words fill it with the Body of Christ And is not this a strange way of blessing a Person or Thing to destroy the very Nature of the Thing that it shall be no longer what it was before The Bread was not blessed that it might be destroyed nor given to be eatâ—â—â— that it might cease to be before it was eaten 'T is to suppose God to put forth Miraculous Power to make his own Command of eating the Bread impossible The Bread that we break it is therefore Bread after it is broken after the Consecration and breaking it is Bread still For the Transubstantiation if there be any is upon the Consecration before it be broken But I hope most English Protestants are pretty well Instructed in this Truth and therefore I need not insist longer upon it 2. What are we to understand by the Body and Blood of Christ of which this is said to be the Communion
to be Saved by Faith in a Mediator as well as we The Gospel was preached unto them as well as unto us 2. Did Christ desire Fellowship with his Disciples Friends and Followers in the Passover What shall we think of those that despise such Institutions and look upon themselves as above such Ordinances as if they had a nearer and better way of Communion with God and Christ then this Remissness and Indifference as to these things Neglect and Carelesness in Preparation for them is likewise a degree of Contempt that deserves to be Reproved 3. Was Christ so desirous to eat his last Passover before he suffered for us because of his Willingness to Suffer What Ingratitude does this imply in our Backwardness and Cowardize when we are called to suffer for him 4. Did our Lord desire to eat this Passover because it was the last and consequently was Willing to be a Sacrifice for us What an Argument of his endearing Love does this afford us And how should it Enflame ours to him It was not from Ignorance of what he was to Suffer he fully knew what he had undertaken he perfectly understood what his Baptism of Blood did signifie and yet he earnestly desired it and was straitned till it was Accomplished He knew the Burden of Sin that he was to Expiate as a Sin-Offering when he bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree as a Sacrifice to Divine Justice for us He knew the bitterness of that Cup which he was to drink of before-hand and yet for our sakes he desires it What Thankfulness do we owe for such inestimable Love He was willing to submit to such difficult Terms to bring about our Reconciliation to God He was willing to be obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross to turn away the Divine Displeasure from us and to restore us to the Divine Favour and Image again He was willing to be a Sacrifice for sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God through Faith in him He was willing to bear the Curse that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon us He was willing to be our Paschal Lamb to be slain and sacrificed for us that by the sprinkling of his Blood we might be delivered from Sin and Hell that by feeding on him as our Passover we might be Partakers of Spiritual and Eternal Life And even in the midst of his Agony in the Garden notwithstanding the strugling of his Humane Nature against the bitterness of the Cup which made him pray for the passing of it away yet as Mediator he was willing and therefore adds Not my Will but thine be done Father glorifie thy self O matchless and incomprehensible Love How should our Souls be Ravished with the Contemplation of it How hard and insensible are our Hearts if they feel no constraining Vertue in the Consideration of such Love If we do not Sacrifice our Lusts in Requital of his being a willing Sacrifice for us Shall not the Love of Christ which bubbles up in every Drop of his Blood and made him willing and resolved to shed it on our Account make us hate that Sin which he died to Atone for and to destroy Can we consider him Groaning Sweating Bleeding Dying for Sin and yet Retain an Affection to it And rush into it through the Wounds and Blood and Agony and Death of our Redeemer Shall that ever be sweet to us which put so much Vinegar and Gall into his Cup Let me add a few Words for Counsel and Direction 1. Did Christ earnestly desire to eat this Passover and have Communion with his Disciples therein How earnestly should we desire to have Communion with him in that Ordinance that succeeded to it which was Instituted by Christ himself the same Evening in the close of the Paschal Supper Is not a Spiritual Communion with him now he is in Glory as desirable as his Bodily Prâ—sence was when in a state of Humiliation Is it not the Spirit and Temper of all the Disciples of Christ in every Age of the Church to value and to desire such near Approaches to him How did the believing Jews prepare themselves for such a Solemnity as the Passover How did David's Heart pant and faint and long for Communion with God in the Services of the Temple Psalm 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the Beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple The Israelites were to eat the Passover in haste with greediness of desire Non lento Corde non languido Ore And is it not a Shame to us to have no Appetite for such a Feast Is â—t not for want of such Desires of Communion with Christ that we meet with so little Satisfaction when we come Let him that is a thirst come and such shall be filled when others shall be sent empty away but the hungry Souls shall not be sent empty away from the Lord's Table We may likewise heighten our Desires and Appetites when we come to this Table by considering For ought we know this may be the last Communion with Christ in such an Ordinance that we shall ever enjoy before it be fully accomplished in Heaven 2. Let us imitate Christ as our Passover Both in his Readiness to Suffer and in his Character and Qualification as the Spotless Lamb of God in Meekness and Patience and Submission c. Without this we can never prove our Interest in him 3. Let us thankfully Contemplate this Lamb of God as desiring to be Sacrificed for us Let us seriously and often consider the Voluntariness of his Death and Sacrifice the Fruits of his Suffering the Merit of his Cross How Acceptable his Sacrifice was to God how beneficial unto us What a Deliverance we have by it what a Bondage we are saved from what a Glorious Liberty he has purchased what a compleat Salvation we expect when all shall be fulfilled in Heaven These are proper Thoughts for those of us this Evening who have Feasted this Day on the Sacrifice of Christ Every one of us in particular not only in publick but in secret should bless God for Jesus Christ Admiring the Matchless Grace and Love of the Redeemer in being thus a Willing Sacrifice for us and calling us to Feast upon it having Instituted this Ordinance on purpose for that very end Lastly Live in the Daily Exercise of Faith on the Blood of Christ as the Lamb of God Sacrificed for us It was the sprinkling of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb that was the Mark of the Israelites Deliverance So the shedding of the Blood of Christ with particular Application by Faith is aâ— necessary for us Without it we cannot escape the Stroke of the destroying Angel Without it the Blood of Christ will call for Vengeance and his very Sacrifice and Sufferings plead against us We should every Day by fresh