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
to say I drink when I only eat But there is worse in it still For they seal up the Fountain of Christ's Blood from the People They pour it back again as it were into his Body and shut up his wounds as if his Blood were not shed for any but the Priests God has appointed the double Elements to increase the Consolation of Christians And we should not marvel sayes one that they who deny the Certainty of Grace and the Possibility of Assurance should deny the People the double Elements By their Doctrine they Preach but a half Comfort to Souls and by their Practice they administer but a half Sacrament to the Laity It is true They tell us that we read of this Ordinance under the Name of Breaking of bread We grant it But they may as well conclude That when Joseph Feasted and entertained his Brethren that he gave them nothing to Drink because it is only said That they did eat with him Can any one doubt but when we pray for our daily bread in the Lord's Prayer that we ask what is necessary for the Relief and Satisfaction of our Thirst as well as Hunger in that Petition Notwithstanding all that may be said against their Practice of denying the Cup to the People we read in the History of the Council of Trent when Communion in both kinds was proposed by those who were sent from France In the Reply made to that Motion They called the Cup for the Laity a Cup of Poyson And among other Anathema's in the Council of Trent there is one against all those that shall say That the Church had not good reason to take away the Cup from the People And yet they assign no Reason at all when there is manifestly as much Reason for drinking of the Cup as for eating of the Bread the same Authority requiring both The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of the Blood of Christ 2. With what humble Thankfulness should we use this Priviledge and obey this Order of our Lord Remembring him in this manner since thereby we have Communion in his Body and Blood The Night before he was betrayed he took Bread and took the Cup He Instituted the Feast and bid us Celebrate it in Remembrance of him You my Friends and Followers as if our Lord had said I am now about to leave you for the hour is at hand when I shall be Apprehended bound and Judged Condemned and Crucified and then I shall Rise again and go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God E're long I shall be received out of your sight you shall see me no more on Earth you shall not eat and drink with me any more as you have done But let me not be out of your mind when I am gone I have loved you and I will love you to the Death And to morrow you shall see the proof of my Love to you and to the lost World when I shall offer my self a Sacrifice for sin and lay down my Life for you And will you forget me That you may not I do institute and appoint this Solemn Memorial of my Death and leave it in Charge upon you and my whole Church to the end of the World upon all my Followers in all Ages to do it in Remembrance of me As often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup of Blessing that you shew forth my Death till I come Accordingly the first Disciples of Christ did every Lord's Day make it a part of their Publick Worship But as the Zeal and Fervour of Christians abated the Frequency of Celebrating this Feast did abate too But some will be ready to say The Priviledge is so great I durst not adventure It is the Communion of the body and blood of Christ I am not fit for so great an undertaking My Conscience tells me I am utterly unworthy of so high a Favour My sins are so many and my frailties so many I durst by no means as yet adventure to come I Answer 1. That Sense of our Unworthiness and Unfitness which keeps us from the performance of a plain Duty is not true Humility It is not Presumption to do what we are required and to come when we are bidden though we are Unworthy to come We are unworthy of Food and Cloathing Will you therefore starve your selves or go naked Remember you are Invited and your Refusal thereupon may proceed from Pride if the Sense of Unworthiness hinder your Obedience to the Call of Christ It is a bold thing you think for you to come But is there no faulty Boldness in your neglecting to come when Christ has bid you remember him this way For this is not a Priviledge only but at the same time it is a Duty too And if your sense of your Unworthiness help you to come humbly and better prepared it is one of the best Characters of a worthy Receiver but it ought not to keep you from receiving altogether 2. You say you are unfit It may be you say true Will you continue so from year to year Is it not a Duty to fit and prepare your selves to repent of all sin and give up your selves to God in Christ as your God and Saviour and then renew your Covenant Do not you know that the Ignorant and the impenitent who are unfit to come to the Lords Table are unfit to die unfit for Heaven And will you continue in such a state wherein you are unfit to die And yet are uncertain to live an hour Your unfitness is your sin and will you turn it into an Apology for your other Sin It is the Duty of all real and unfeigned Christians to come to this Ordinance And it is the Duty of all to be such that they may come Not to Commemorate the Death of Christ this way as he hath appointed it is one sin To live in the neglect of due Preparation for it is Another Will your being Unprepared excuse your not coming when it is your duty to be such as may come How can you think God will forgive one sin because you commit another How can you expect he should pardon your neglect of his Table when all that you can say is that you neglect to fit your selves for it Men will not do their duty in other things and so are unfit for this Therefore 3. How is it that you are not as much afraid of disobeying this Command of thus Remembring the Death of Christ as you are afraid of doing it Unworthily You are afraid you should offend God by coming But ought you not to fear lest you offend him by staying away Should not a total neglect be apprehended a Fault as well as an undue Performance You do well to fear Unworthy receiving O be but as fearful to continue Unworthy and Unfit to receive This equal fear of Caution on both sides would make you diligent and solicitous to fit and prepare your selves And this concerns
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
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
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
How is Christ's Body and Blood present in this Ordinance Our Lord is Ascended into Heaven with his Human Body and the Heavens are to contain him till the Restitution of all things And therefore as the Bread and Wine are not annihilated or not destroyed nor changed into the Flesh and Blood of Christ according to the Romanists So nor present with in and under the Bread and Wine according to the Lutherans So that we need not say that the Body and Blood of Christ are at all present there for they are in Heaven But the Bread and Wine are the Signs and Memorials of the Sacrifice and Sufferings of Christ The Death of Christ and his Sacrifice upon the Cross with the Fruits and Effects thereof unto us are especially to be understood by his Body and Blood And it is in these that we have Communion in the Ordinance of the Supper The Expressions therefore which some Protestant Writers have used about the Real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood in this Sacrament are very * See a Tract on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by Mr. John Hales of Eaton Colledge in Oct. unwary For thereby they seem to make Mysteries where there is no need at all of any It is true in the next Chapter it is said of the Bread This is my Body that is the Sign and the Memorial of it Yet here the Bread broken is said to be the Communion or the Communication of his Body that is A Solemn Rite instituted by God to communicate to us the Fruits and Benefits of Christ's broken Body or of his Sacrifice and Sufferings Represented by it That as verily as we are Treated at the Table with Bread and Wine so the worthy Receiver shall share in the Benefits of Christ's Death This is Intelligible and Plain 3. This will help us to understand what is meant by the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ By this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communication as it may as well be rendred that we have in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Ordinance of the Supper Two Things may this Import 1. Our Participation of the Fruits of Christ's Death and Sacrifice That we share in the Priviledges of Reconciliation to God Forgiveness of Sin Peace of Conscience and the Promise of Eternal Life by Vertue of Christ's Death 2. That Others share with us therein or that we Partake of these Benefits with others For so it follows in the next Verse That though many Members we are all one Body and one Bread for we are all Partakers of that one Bread That is We are all one Church and one Body of Christ by Covenant Union unto him And of him we do all Sacramentally and Spiritually partake in this Ordinance As many Grains of Corn make one Loaf and many Members one Body We being many are one Bread and one Body The Church of Rome from that Expression might have as well argue That all Christians are substantially changed first into the Bread and then into the natural Body of Christ by partaking of this Sacrament As well as that the Bread is changed into the Body of Christ for all Christians are said to be but one Bread and one Body by vertue of their Communion in this Ordinance 4. Hereby also we understand how we have Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ by the Lord's Supper How we and others partake in the Benefits of his Death and Passion And that two ways As this Sacrament is a Sign and a Symbol of it and as it is a Means 1. It is a Sign of it All that eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup do thereby Commemorate the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ and profess to own that the Body and Blood of Christ offered upon the Cross is the Food and Nourishment of their Souls to Eternal Life That Christ is their Saviour and Redeemer That they hope for all their Acceptance with God in both Worlds only upon the account of the Sacrifice of Christ They professedly declare that living and dying they are and will be his They hope for Victory over Death and the Devil by the Cross of Christ and for a Glorious Resurrection from Death as the Fruit of his Death and Resurrection 2. These Words do import further That the eating of this Bread and drinking of this Cup are the Means appointed by Christ for our Communion in his Body and Blood We share in the Benefits of his Death and Sacrifice and by due Attendance upon this Ordinance the precious Fruits of his Death and the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit are augmented and encreased in us in order to our full and final Blessednes in the other World which this is preparatory to and fits us for As the partaking of things sacrificed to Idols was a Fellowship with Devilss 1 Cor. 10.20 So the partaking of that which was sacrific'd to God is a Fellowship with him * See Mr. Charnock 's 2d Vol. p. 759. And of the Divine Attributes p. 638. Prayer is an Act of Homage and Praise of Gratitude but we have not so near a Communion with a Person either by Petitioning for somewhat we want or by returning him Thanks for a Favour received as we have by sitting with him at his Table partaking of the same Bread and the same Cup. In all Nations the nearest Fellowship consists in things of this nature Take Eat manifests a Communion It would be an empty Mystery and unworthy of an Institution by Divine Goodness if there were not some Communion with God and Christ in it There would be some kind of Deceit in the Precept Take Eat and Drink this is my Body and Blood If there were not a Conveyance of Spiritual Vital Influences to our Souls For the narural end of Eating and Drinking is the Nourishment and encrease of the Body and Preservation of Life by that which we Ea and Drink I might consider this Ordinance as a Sign and Means of our Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ or of our sharing in the Fruits of his Death And amplifie it several ways 1. By considering on what Accounts this is a likely Means of such a Communion And 2. How Faith must be acted that it may be so as to us As to the former 1. As this Ordinance is Commemorative of the Sacrifice of Christ and being to be observed in Remembrance of him 2. As it is an open Profession of the Cross of Christ that we glory in it and therefore shew forth the Lord's Death that way professing our selves not to be ashamed of our Character as the Followers of a crucified Jesus 3. As it is a Renewal and Confirmation of the Covenant between God and Us through Jesus Christ Renewing our Engagements and Obligations to be the Lord 's for ever In the Celebration of this Ordinance we have a Special Opportunity for this it is a principal part of our Work at this Table 4. As it
those who have formerly been at the Lord's Table but very often do tarry away though they have time and opportunity as being afraid to come by reason of their own Unworthiness 4. Consider further What are those sins that you charge your selves with as the ground of your Vnfitness They are either of Weakness or of Wilfulness Either such as can hardly be avoided by the Care and Watchfulness of Good Men as sins of daily infirmity These do not make you unfit for the Lord's Table For if they did who at all would ever be fit If a perfect sinless Fitness were necessary none could come aright And by such a thought we make Christ an hard Master But if they be sins of Wilfulness you are Self-condemned if you do not Reform And yet how many are there concerning whom we may charitably judge that they do not allow themselves in wilful sins that do yet tarry away from this Table 5. Let me ask you further Have you ever tryed to fit and prepare your selves as worthy Receivers of the Lord's Supper Have you endeavoured in the use of all God's appointed Means to obtain that Knowledge Repentance Faith and Love which should fit you for this Ordinance If you have never used the Means that God hath appointed if you have never seriously and in good earnest set about the Work of Preparation How can you say that you never shall or can be fitted for this Priviledge What Minister of Christ have you ever consulted about it It may be you mistake the very Notion of the Lord's Supper and understand not the True Nature and Design of it Have you set apart time to search your Hearts and examine your Coâ—sciences and Repent of all Sin and give up your selves to God in Christ and beg the help of Ministers and Friends to that purpose 6. Therefore let me ask you again Is not your Unfitness from sloath and Idleness or the distracting hurry of Worldly Affairs that you cannot be brought to spare so much time as is necessary for this Work How will you Answer this at the Great Day Will you then have the Courage to tell the Lord Redeemer to his Face what this Pretence amounts to Will you tell him in that Awful Solemnity Lord I would not have omitted the Ordinance of the Supper but have remembred Thee and thy dying Love by breaking of bread But I was unfit for it altogether unfit because my Mind was distracted with the cares of the World I had so much of other matters all the Week from Moneth to Moneth to take up my Thoughts and Time that I had no leisure for serious Preparation What self-condemning Excuses will these prove at last Lastly Is there not yet something worse at the bottom viz. That you are unwilling of that strictness and seriousness that you think such are obliged to as come to the Lord's Table Unwilling of that circumspect walking which such of all others should be exemplary in Are you not afraid that if you come you must abridge your selves of some Liberties that you now take That you must be more constant in secret Prayer That you must set up daily Family Prayer in your houses That you must spend more Time in Reading be more careful of your Company and be more faithful and exact in your Dealings and do many things that now you neglect How dreadful is the Import of such an Excuse for not Coming of such a Ground for staying away For it seems to lye in this That Men are resolved they will live at large and not be bound up by the Rules of the Gospel That is They never mean to take upon them the Yoke of Christ or to live as his Disciples If they would speak it out it must signifie thus much Thou shalt not be my Lord and Redeemer I will not deny Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and live Soberly and Righteously and Godly in this World Notwithstanding my baptism whereby I have sworn Fidelity to Christ he shall not reign over me This is practically and in effect their Sense For this Command and Order to do this in Remembrance of Christ is as much a Law of Christ as any in the Bible And yet many refuse to obey this Command lest they should be obliged more strictly to obey all the other How little do such Professors consider how unbecoming it is to call themselves Christians or that they are Antecedently by their Baptism and Christian Profession bound to obey Christ in all these Instances And at the Lord's Table we do but renew the Obligation upon our selves to do so We are bound to obey Christ as our Ruler and to yield Obedience to all the Laws of Christ whether we come to this Table or no Though we are also bound to come and to profess and promise Obedience there There are other Objections I may consider hereafter and therefore shall now close with a few words of Counsel 1. Let those of us who have eaten of this Bread and drunk of this Cup and so have professedly had Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ Let us Examine whether we have really and truly had any Fellowship with him in this Ordinance or no Whether we have only partaked of the outward Signs and been present at such a Feast of Love without any Spiritual Nourishment to our Souls Without attending to this the Design of the Institution is overlooked and all the Genuine Advantages of it will be lost Without this we have but played the Hypocrites and Acted a Part and shall pay dear for our Solemn Trifling as having slighted the Redeemer's Love and made our selves Guilty of his body and blood If we have not laboured to see the Evil of Sin and to have our hatred of it encreased If we have not found our Hearts set more against it and our Resolutions confirmed to forsake it If we have not felt the Attractive Influence of the Love of Christ to bring us to Adore him and Magnifie his Condescention and Love If we have not had Admiring Thoughts of the blessed God of the Purity of his Naâ—ure the Justice of his Government and all his Excellent Perfections which are so highly honoured in our Redemption by the bloody Sacrifice of Christ If we have not been cordial and unfeigned in the Dedication of our selves to him and all we have and are to be at his Dispose and Order for the rest of our Time If we have not had our Thoughts raised up to Heaven to a risen glorified Redeemer on his Throne as triumphing over all the Adversaries of our Salvation as able to save to the uttermost All that come to God by him as faithful to compleat what he hath begun and to preserve what is committed to him and to give us the full purchase of his Meritorious Death in the Heavenly Kingdom And if we have not been melted under the sense of pardoning Mercy to our selves and brought to a better Temper of Mind as to the
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
Reason of that Name Passover is because of the Angels passing by their Houses and their consequent Deliverance out of Egypt passing out of the House of Bondage into Liberty And nothing is more usual than to give to the Cause the Name of the Effect Upon which Account Christ is called our Righteousness Wisdom Resurrection and Life c. But the same Name Passoâ—er is also given to those Lambs which were slain every year afterwards This Feast being Annually obserâ—ed in remembrance of that Deliverance of theirs out of Egypt This being a constant Memorial of the first Passover has the same Name given it with that to which it reâ—ated And this also is common in Scripture to give the Name of the thing signified to the Sign which represents it So the Jews are said to k ll the Passover that is the Paschal Lamb which was in remembrance of the Angels passing by their Houses and their consequent Deliverance out of Egypt Thus Circumcision is called the Covenant of God And the Rock in the Wilderness is called Christ And the Seven Candlesticks in St. John's Vision are the Seven Churches That is These are signified and represented by them 'T is therefore very absurd for the Romanists to insist upon these Words This is my Body to prove that the Substance of Christ's Flesh and Blood is in the Sa rament They may as well argue That the Paschal Lamb that Christ did eat with his Disciples was the same with that which was slain by the Israelites in Egypt Or that it was not an Animal because it is called a Passover Or that the Paschal Lamb was Transubstantiated into the Flesh of Christ because Christ is called our Passover and sometimes called the Lamb of God as well as the Bread in the Sacrament called his Body and the Wine his Blood Before I leave this Head I might mention the Historical Evidence that agrees to that of the Holy Scriptures concerning the Israelites Passover in Egypt and the sprinkling of their Door-posts with the Blood of the Lamb in that Memorable Night of their Delîverance For the better understanding whereof we may consider 1. That the Jews after the Death of Moses and Joshua were several times in Subjection to the Neighbouring Nations and could not have had the Confidence to keep up such a Sâ—lemn Memorial of this thing every Year if the matter of Fact had not been known to the Egyptians and their other Neighbours â—ound about to be true which yet the Jews continued to observe every Year till heir last General Dispersion And to this day they have something in Imitation of it wherever they are scattered upon the Face of the Earth Besides this 2. The Tribe of Levi were set apart by God and Consecrated to him in a Solemn manner in stead of the First-born of the People of Israel that were preserved in Egypt as you read Numb 3.12 13. For when I smote all the First-born in Egypt I hallowed unto me all the First-born of Israel They are mine and the Levites instead of them So that every Levite was a living Memorial of that Miracle 3. Besides the constant Law injoyned upon the Jews and observed to this day concerning the Redemption of every First-born among them and of unclean Beasts Numb 18.15 4. The Memory of the Death of the First-born in Egypt which gave occasion to the Ceremony of the Passover continued among the Egyptians even after the Death of Christ For * Haeres 18. advers Nazaraeos Epiphanius relates That at the same time of the Year the Night before the Israelites went out of Egypt when the First-born in Egypt were slain the Egyptians were wont to mark their Houses their Trees their Sheep c. with red by that as by a kind of Talisman thinking to avoid some such Mischief and Calamity as their Fathers experienced at that time and which the Israelites escaped by following the Advice of Moses to Sprinkle the Door-posts of their Houses with Blood Some such Custom as this continued in Egypt even after the Incarnation of Christ II. Having spoken thus much concerning the Jewish Passover Let me now consider our Lord's desire to eat of it With desire have I desired to eat of this Passover before I suffer With desire have I desired An usual Hebraism to signifie the earnestness and vehemency of his Desire The Evangelist Luke hath many Instances of this agreeable to other Expressions in other places as Heb. 6.14 In blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I wâ—ll multiply thee The Zeal and Earnestness and Ardency of his Desire is expressed by it Agreeable to that forementioned place which referr'd to his Death and Sacrifice Luk. 12.50 I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished As if he could not live in Ease have no Rest or Quiet till he was made a Sacrifice And that is the first and great Reason of desiring this Passover 1. Because this was to be the Last before he Suffered Therefore he so earnestly desires it The near approach of his Sufferings did not at all abate his Resolution and Desire of Sâ—ffering but rather gave an Edge to his Affection He was so far from being disheartened by the near Prospect of his Crucifixion that the nearer he comes to it the more he desires it And therefore desires to eat of this Passover which was to be his last And then makes his Last Will and Institutes this Supper the same Evening being desirous every thing should be dispatched that was necessary or fit to be done before he Suffered It was the Last Night of his Life and the Night wherein he was to be Betrayed and foreknew he should be so Other Passovers Prefigured his Death this did both Prefigure and Accompany it for his Death was now in a manner present 'T was this that made him long and desire to eat this Passover Though at the same time he had so near a Prospect of his Amazing Sufferings in the Garden that Night and on the Cross the next day Could we understand the Agonies of his tormented mind that made him complain That his Soul was sorrowful even unto death and Pray with doubled and trebled Importunity that the Cup might pass from him we may then judge of his Love in desiring to eat of this Passover for this reason because his Last 2. Another Reason may be To give us an Example of Obedience And therefore being made under the Law he would exactly observe it And so for our sakes fulfil all Righteousness as in many other Instances of Subjection to his own Creatures of paying Tribute to his own Subjects c. And to teach us Humility a little before this he would wash the Feet of his own Disciples with those hands which just after this Passover had all Power in Heaven and Earth Solemnly given into them And not only as to the Moral Law But he stooped down to the very Fringes of
hath done and Suffered purchased and Promised we should come to this Feast with a Gladsome Merry Hâ—art All the Musick and Melody that the Feasts of Sensual Men are attended with wouâ—d be nothing to it Therefore take heed of mistaking the Nature of this Ordinance so as to come like Mourners to Morrow to a Funeral It is to no such Solemnity but to a Feast that you are invited to a Royal Feast And therefore your Hearts and Lips should be full of the high Praises of God and Thankful Admiration of Christ and his Redeeming Love and Grace I will bring them to my Holy Mountain and make them Joyful in my House of Prayer 5. At a Feast there is Good Company Now there is no such Company in all the World as is to be found at Christ's Table While the King sitteth at this Table Cant. 1.12 Christ himself is there present and the Father also For in this Ordinance especially we have Fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Spirit A Communion with them supposes the Presence of Father and Son The Cup of Blessing which we bless is the Communion of Christ's Blood and the Bread we break the Communion of his Body 1 Cor. 10.16 We are invited Guests by Christ and treated as his Friends We are entertained with Kindness and Familiarity which is an Honour we ought to value in his own House we are treated and have the same Fare with the best of his Friends who are Invited with us We sit down with him at his own Table in the best Company that we can desire Haman expresses it as an Honour that the Queen let none come to the Banquet but himself And to morrow says he I am invited also with the King Esth 5.12 If the Father and the Son and the Children of God that are his special Favourites and Heirs of the Heavenly Inheritance if these are Good Company you may have it at the Table 6. At a Feast there is Welcome Exprest and giveâ— by the Master of the Feast Such an expression we have of it Psal 23.5 Thou preparest my Table for me and Anointest my Head with Oile or with Aromatical Ointments formerly used at great Feasts as a token of Respect and Kindness Thou biddest me to a Feast and biddest me welcome Alluding to the Custom of the Eastern People and of the Jews particularly who exprest the h arty wâ—lcome they gave their Guests by pouring some pretious Ointment on their Heads Psal 92.10 Luk. 7.39 A very usual * See Bp. Patrick's Christian Sacrifice p. 100. Festival Solemnity Therefore when you come to morrow to this Feast you must think and believe that Christ speaks to you when you behold the Symbols of his Body and Blood For you are not to consider the broken Bread and the VVine poured out as dumb signs no they speak very distinctly to all the Communicants but come with a chearful Wedding Garment hearing the Voice of your Redeemer as if Christ should say to you That you were welcome to his Table and that he is pleased that you accept his Invitation Come My Brethren as if he should say for so he calls us when he Ascended to his Father John 20.17 Go and tell my Brethren that I Ascend to my Father and their Father to my God and their God Come my Brethren doth he say I sent and commissioned my Ministers to call you to my House solemnly and earnestly to Invite you to my Table You did well that you are come I take it kindly that you did not reject my Invitation I am glad you are come to Remember my Love and to shew your selves my Friends I have no other Design in sending for you but to make you more sensible of my Love and to give you Fresh Tokens of it to repeat the pledge and assurance of my Dying Kindness Do not despise the Entertainment I here give you though you see onely Bread and VVine Open the eyes of your Minds and let your Faith discern that this Bread is my Body my crucified Body my Body broken for you And this Wine poured out is my Blood my Blood shed for you Oh see how I loved you see what my Love to you brought me to undergo Consider how I was used for your sakes to procure your Peace and to purchase your Reconciliation I have nothing to desire of you but that you would continue in my Love and then I promise you the Love of my Father and that your sins shall be forgiven they shall not be remembred against you you shall not come into Condemnation And all your wants shall be supplied Nothing you can need but I have purchased nothing you can want but I will give Till I have fitted you for my Presence above till you come to be with me in the Heavenly state You shall receive it all from time to time Come take the Pledge and the Assurance of this by doing this in Remembrance of me Come therefore says Christ Take and Eat Eat O Friends drink abundantly O Beloved Take eat this Morsel as little and inconsiderable as it seems to be it cost my Life I give it to you as a Token of my Love and of my Fathers Love Take it and Remember both I say the same for the Cup of Blessing Drink it in Remembrance of me Come pledge me This is Wine of my own making when I trod the Wine-press of my Father's Wrath alone This will strengthen and revive thy fainting Spirit This will cure the Ulcers of thy Heart This will give thee Boldness and Courage to enter into the Presence of thy Father c. Thus does Christ give Welcome to his prepared Guests 7. And Lastly This is a peculiar sort of Feast viz. a Feast upon a Sacrifice A Feast that betokens a Covenant and Reconciliation between God and such as are Invited Guests at this Table I often take occasion to mention this because I judge it the true Notion of the Lord's Supper and the sense of the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.8 Christ our Passover was Sacrificed for us Let us therefore keep the Feast with the Vnleavened Bread of Sincerity and Truth which is spoken of the Feast from which the Corinthian Church by the Authority of Christ was to bar and seclude the disorderly Person It is well known that Sacrifices were wont to be attended with a Feast The Peace-offering under the Law was to be brought on the top of the Burnt-offerings No burnt offerings were without some peace-offerings And having offer'd them to the Lord they were to eat their part chearfully among their Friends For then they had as it were one Dish sent them from God's Table One part of the Offering viz. God's was consumed upon the Altar Another part the Priests had by God's Appointment And a Third the Offerers had to Feast upon Christ's Offering up himself upon the Cross is the Great Sacrifice This Banquet at the Table of the Lord is a Feast on that Sacrifice
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
assured None can be in Christ without it none in Christ so as to have any special distinguishing saving Benefit by him Application 1. Are none in Christ but new creatures How many then must be excluded How many of excellent and laudable Qualifications of great Attainments and high Professions and moral Accomplishments must yet he excluded and shut out from having any part in Christ because they are yet Strangers to this New creation and consequently are not in Christ but under condemnation Meer Civility and a plausible inoffensive Carriage is quite another thing We need but view the Lives and Actions of the generality of such as are called Christians to confirm this That the Number is but small of those who are in Christ How few have had any awakening Convictions about these things and many such miscarry 2. How miserable is the condition of all unrenewed Souls without a change they are excluded from all saving benefit by the Redeemer They are not in Christ and therefore are under the Curse and Condemnation which by union to Christ we are delivered from Rom. 8.1 Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye are Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.6 All our hopes of Life and Salvation by Christ depend upon it The Guilt of all our Sins doth otherwise lye upon us And all the black Clouds of Divine Vengeance hang over our heads The Wrath of God bides upon us as if there were no Christ no Gospel And there is nothing between us and Everlasting Ruine but a little Breadth 3. Then none but New Creatures have a Right to the Lord's Table For the invited Guests are such who are in Christ The Covenant of Grace cannot be sealed in that Ordinance to those who are not under the Bond of the Covenant The Benefits purchased by Christ are not confirmed at his Table unto those who are none of his I grant there is an Unworthiness as to present frame that even those who are in Christ may have but it is the Unworthiness as to state that I am speaking of Such as are not in Christ having nothing to do to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood lest they eat and drink Judgment and Condemnation to themselves He that doth not truly Repent cannot be truly Interested in the Promise of Pardon and therefore cannot have a Right to the Seal of it They are dead in Sin cannot receive Nourishment by this spiritual Food The least that can be said as one observes is this That it is in vain and to no good purpose for such can no more receive Christ in the Sacrament than a Chicken that should come into the Assembly and pick up some of the crumbs of the bread from the ground after Consecration can be said to receive the Body of Christ But the Danger is unspeakable of Eating and Drinking unworthily for such eat and drink Judgment to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body You may desire to come to this Table and you may say enough it may be to satisfie a Minister of Christ who cannot judge of your Heart and Conscience doth not know the whole of your Life But you your selves must look to it that you be in Christ and that you evidence you are so by being New Creatures We can but Warn and Admonish you and offer our Assistance and help At your own peril be it if you come and yet live in any known Sins and cherish the Enemies of Christ though you profess to be his and presume upon all the Priviledges of his House and Family as real members of it But I will yet add That those who are in Christ if they would have Assistance and Grace from the Spirit of Christ to walk as New Creatures they ought on the other hand to take heed how they absent themselves from that Ordinance If they would either have the comfort of their being in Christ or would have supplies of Grace to walk as New creatures they should be frequent and serious in Sacramental Duties Have you not weak Graces to be strengthened and manifold Corruptions to be more subdued Inordinate Love to this World more Crucified Do you not need more Ability to discharge several Duties and overcome divers Temptations Do you not desire to be more Partakers of the Image and Life and Spirit of Christ Is your likeness to Christ so compleat your Faith in all its branches so active and firm your Love to Christ so warm your Heavenly Desires so fervent your Patience and Resignation so perfect your Obedience so exact your standing so sure that you need no more Influence of the Spirit of Christ Should not your own necessity oblige you to be frequent in this work besides the Authority of your Lord which is motive enough to those that are in Christ And he requires you should remember his Dying Love this way and show forth his death tiâ—l he come It is proper work for us to begin the year with To renew our Covenant with the Lord by partaking of the Symbols of Christ's Body and Blood giving up our selves again to be the Lords with renewed Repentance for the sins of the Year past and repeated Exercises of Faith for Pardon and Peace and Grace and Righteousness and Life 4. The next Vse may be of Examination To try whether we are in Christ or no by inquiring whether we are New creatures or not Your Love to Christ your Likeness to him your Subjection to him your Fruitfulness in him will discover it Are old things done away with you and all things become new Is there still the old Darkness and Blindness that was upon your minds or Are you Light in the Lord Doth the old Deadness Security and Carelessness remain upon your Hearts and Consciences old Thoughts and old Designs old Discourses and Conversations as little Savour in the things of God as ever As little Victory over the Temptations of the World and the Flesh as formerly Are your Wills as rebellious and stubstorn as ever Are your Desires after Vanity and your Affections towards Earthly Things the same as formerly So for your Hopes and Fears Joys and Sorrows What Change hath been wrought Does fleshly Appetite and Sense and Carnal Interest sway and govern as much as ever Or is there a New Creation wrought in you Have you a new Mind and Judgment a new Heart and new Affections Do you walk in Newness of Life Is your Internal Principle changed and the External Rule of your Actions changed too Are you no longer conformed to the World but transformed by the renewing of your Minds Rom. 12.2 Is that sin hated and crucified that before was indulged Is that Saviour prized for to them that believe he is precious and the Chiefest of ten thousands that before was slighted Do you delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man Do you find the Holy Law of God written in your Hearts setting you against every sin in your selves and others Do you walk in the Spirit and after
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
perish in my filthiness if I am never washed till I come as I ought to the fountain opened For my Heart is hard and impenitent I feel it so I have not such an heart to turn to God as I should It is the grief of my soul that I find it thus I am without strength and unable to turn Answ But hast thou no Strength no Power to consider whence thou art fallen and how low thou art sunk and to bewail the wretchedness of thy present Case which thou beginnest to be sensible of Canst thou not lament the hardness of thy Heart which thou ownest to be thy grief Canst thou not consider thy past and present câ—ndition and thereupon Cry to God for help and a little thing will save a Man that is Drowning One look from Christ made Peter remember the Warning he had before given him and go out and weep bitterly Canst thou not reflect and consider how much better it was with thee formerly than now when thou hadst good hopes through Grace of Divine Acceptance when thou couldest go to God with Comfort and pour out thy Heart before him with freedom But now since the breach thou hast made upon Conscience if thou comest at all into his Presence thou art drag'd by fear and hardly knowest what to do when thou art there Art not thou ready to cry out O the Communion with Christ that once I had in such or such an Ordinance but now it is lost He is a stranger to my Soul He hath justly withdrawn himself If I seek him where I was wont to find him I find him not My Peace my Joy my Light my Strength is gone Therefore let me return to my first Husband for it was then better with me than now Hosea 2.6 7. Can you not thus reflect to awaken your Repentance and assist your Resolution to return and stir up your selves to call upon God for healing Mercy Object V. But some may say If God should again receive such a returning Backslider Will he not bear me a Grudge for it Will he not hereafter upbraid me with it I shall hear of it again the next Sacrament besure or under the next Afflicting Providence Answ No saith God turn and I will heal your Backslidings I will receive you graciously I will love you freely I will be merciful to your Iniquities and remember them no more Hos 14.1 2 3. Did he upbraid the returning Prodigal and say Where hast thou been Resolve therefore O Backsliding Children to return to your Father to be again Washed Sanctified and Justified Whatever Discouragement be in the way you may hope for welcome For you are Children still though Backsliding Children And remember he is your Father though you have displeased him For First If it be said by the Devil or an accusing Conscience How darest thou take the Name of Father into thy Mouth since thou hast so dishonoured him and grieved his Spirit by thy Revolt A Returning Backslider may say he is A Father still and the Love of a Father is unmeasurable measurable the kindness of a Father is infinitely Tender Though his Paternal Justice may Correct me with a Rod he will not take away his Loving Kindness utterly from me I will therefore go to my Father though he frown upon me though he chastise me though he threaten to turn me out of doors I will yet Return and go to my Father for I must be there I will dye in his Arms or I will dye at his feet I will Return But Secondly What wilt thou venture to go presently all in Rags like a Beggar rather than a Child all in thy filth and dirt thou wilt shame thy Father's House and discredit his Family if such a one as thou shouldest come and call him Father Notwithstanding this I will return presently to him saith the penitent Backslider for the longer I delay the more hardness shall I contract and the greater will my sin be and every day I shall be exposed to further sin and the same Duties now lie upon me as before which I cannot perform duly except I Return therefore I will return presently This Dr. Preston upon 1 Sam. 20.21 adviseth as the wisest and best way after the Commission of any great Sin or the Guilt of any great Backsliding Thirdly But it will be said thy Work is great and difficult before ever thy Peace can be made thou must mourn and weep and Repent in dust and ashes and be humbled to the very mouth of Hell before thou and thy Father be Friends again And will not that discourage thee No sayes the Returning Backslider I will vet go to My Father I will own that I deserve to be rejected for ever but I 'le plead the Mercifulness of his Nature and the freeness of his Covenant Love and Promise you shall never beat me out of it I will return to my Father I know he will meet me half way yea he hath met me and prevented me by his Grace He put it into my heart to return therefore he will accept me I easily foresee what will be Objected against all this That no Backslider is able thus to argue He is holden in the Chain of his own Sins He durst not use such Language I grant that while he is under the full power of Backsliding he cannot thus speak and act But to a Returning Penitent Backslider that begins to be Awakened who feels the burden of his sin and seeks after God the Relation of a Father is an unspeakable Support And notwithstanding his late Backslidings he may make out his Relation to God as his Father when once he is awakened to Repentance Partly by his Mourning and Godly Sorrow for Sin Partly by the remembrance of his former Covenant and Communion with God which when he returns by Repentance may yield him comfort though before it could not Partly by the Inward Motions of the Spirit which he finds lusting against the Flesh Partly by his vigorous importunate Desires to turn to God and be at Peace with him When it comes to this he may take Heart and ought to receive Encouragement by the Promise and Call of God Turn you Backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings The Fourth Discourse After the LORD's SUPPER OF THE Communion OF Christ 's Body and Blood From 1 COR. X.xvi. The Cup of Blessing that 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 WHen the Apostle would Reform the Church of Corinth as to that profane liberty which some of them took boldly to meddle with the Mysteries of Paganism and to Eat of things offered unto Idols He gives an Account of the Nature of this Divine Institution of the Lord's Supper and leaves it to themselves to judge whether they did not do very ill to be present at the Feasts upon the Heathen Sacrifices and to eat of things that were offered unto
of it according to its Dignity and Excellency And thereupon to compose the outward and inward Man in partaking of this Ordinance as those that know we have to do with Christ himself and that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is Refer'd to by the Bread and Wine Such a discerning of his body would help to compose us to serious Reverence would awaken suitable Affections would excite the Exercise of Repentance Faith Love Thankfulness and Joy answerable to the Nature of this Feast of Love upon the Sacrifice of Christ This would Regulate the Behaviour of our Bodies and the Temper of our Spirits the Government of our Thoughts and the Motions of our Affections and make us Worthy Receivers The Neglect of this the not thus discerning the Lord's body is the Sin here mentioned and thereby they are Guilty of the body and blood of the Redeemer i. e. They are Profanely Injurious to the very Person of Christ they treat his sacred body and precious blood unworthily and with Contempt It is a Guilt like theirs that abused and crucified the Lord himself when he was upon Earth It is a Sin againâ—â— the body of Jesus Christ against his Humanity which of all Creatures that ever were upon Earth or that are now in Heaven is the most Sacred The Affront Contempt and Injury Redounds to the blessed Redeemer as God Incarnate as having our Nature now in Heaven 't is an Injury to the body of Christ That Body wherein he bore our Sins upon the Cross wherein as a Sacrifice for Sin he offered himself to God That Body that was prepared for him and formed by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin that was afterwards Gloriously raised from the Dead to a Divine Life and is now in Heaven the Wonder and Admiration of the blessed Angels and Raised to a State of Glory there as the Pledge and Earnest of our Resurrection and Bliss The not discerning the Lord's body has such a Guilt as this Implyed in it 2. The Punishment of this Sin of Vnworthy Receiving expressed by not discerning the Lor'ds body is here set forth by Eating and Drinking Damnation to our our selves or Judgment to our selves That is As sure as he eats and drinks if he do it unworthily So certain it is that Judgment shall follow he eats and drinks Judgment to himself That Addition To himself may denote two Things First That the whole blame should be laid upon our selves If such a Divine Institution designed for the Spiritual Good and Advantage of our Souls do prove to our Detriment and Damage In such a case it is we our selves that are the sole Cause of it Secondly The Expression may Import further That such as Receive Vnworthily they only hurt and defile Themselves but not other Men that communicate with them You may partake worthily and to Edification while Another by unworthy Receiving that sits in the same Pew may Eat and drink Judgment and condemnation but he eats and drinks Judgment to himself only not to You. Ephes 4.5 Every man shall bear his own burden Let every man prove his own work It cannot be thought that our Lord was defiled by coming to the Baptism of John when there were such a Generation of Vipers who came to it as well as Christ Or that our Lord and the Eleven Apostles were defiled by the company of Judas at the Passover-Supper For there be sure he was The Lord's-Supper was at the close of it And for his being present at that also many contend though * See Mr. Charnock Of the Lord's Supper 2d Vol. p. 7â—3 Compared with Mr. Kettlewell Of the Lord's Supper 12º 1687. p. 387 388 c. The one for his being Present the other against it Others think it probable that he went out before But the presence of some unworthy persons is made an Argument by many against their Partaking of the Lord's Supper in such or such a particular Church as if their presence would defile and infect them This therefore I shall consider as one Objection which several are apt to make against the Performance of this Duty Of frequent remembring the Death of Christ at his Table And then Secondly Consider the other Objection from this Text viz. From the Danger of Receiving Vnworthily lest they should Eat and Drink Damnation to themselves And Thirdly What many more are wont to plead That the Danger being so great they durst not Adventure till they know that they are Believers or such as are Invited For it is Children's bread and they durst not come till they are Assured of their Regeneration and Adoption I shall therefore enquire Whether any ought to come to the Lord's Table till they have Assurance or while they want it 1. It is Objected by many That they do not Communicate because there are such and such Admitted who ought not to come to the Table of the Lord Such as walk disorderly who discredit their Profession and are as bad as any of their Neighbours and Acquaintance And the Apostle says 1 Cor. 5.10 That with such we should not so much as eat That we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Ephes 5.11 That we should withdraw and separate and have no free familiarity with such 2 Thes 3.6 2 Tim. 3.5 2 Cor. 6.17 I Answer First That the Separation from Wicked Men required in such Passages of Holy Scripture refers to our intimate Converse and Familiarity with such who live in notorious and scandalous Sins and do not Testifie their Repentance We must avoid their company lest we be Infected And there is much more danger of Infection by Familiarity with them in daily Converse than by joyning with them in Religious Duties But we must be careful not to call those Vngodly whom we cannot prove to be so we should rather hope they are not unless we can prove the contrary What Sins are there that even a good Man by the surprize of a Temptation may not commit who yet mourns in secret and truly Repents It may be you may have heard of the Sins of many of whose Repentance you have not heard And yet they might truly Repent and you might know it if you would enquire But where the mixture of the â—ares and the Wheat is such that the one cannot be pull'd up without the other both must grow together till the Harvest Such a Difference as God will make at the last Day cannot now be made by us We may safer let the Righteous and Wicked go together as if all were Righteous when we cannot prove the contrary And we do not therein make a false Judgment we do not judge that it is certain that such and such are Sincere and truly Godly but that it is probable they may be so And we may have a stronger Confidence concerning the Sincerity of Some while we have only probable Hopes of Others yea with such Hopes there may be some Fear of their Hypocrisie joyned when
Communion with several persons who if they would judge righteous Judgment concerning themselves ought to tarry away As having no Right before God to come to the Table of the Lord as the Case is with them at present In short It is unlawful to Communicate with Wicked Men if they be so bad and their Number so great as that it is our Duty to forsake such a Church If Heresie and Impiety be justified by the Major Vote and bare down Faith and Godliness then that particular Society is uncapable of the Ends of Church-Communion and so to joyn there would be sinful But in Cases of lesser Irregularity if we do not sin by the Neglect of our Duty it will be no sin of ours to Communicate with that Church though Unworthy Persons be Admitted The Sins of the Pastor and of particular Delinquents are not ours much less may we refuse Communion upon the account of other Men's Faults when we have not done our Duty in order to the Remedy and Cure of them 2. Object But others will say I am truly afraid to venture the Danger of Vnworthy Receiving is so very great that it makes me tremble to consider it I have been many years frighted with your Text That he that Eats and Drinks Unworthily eats and drinks Damnation to himself Answ 1. The Word which we translate Damnation signifies only Judgment or Punishment in the general and so is used in several places What Judgment therefore is meant the Context must determine And that speaks principally of Temporal Punishments for such are mentioned Verse 30. as inflicted on the Corinthians for the Profanation of this Ordinance For this cause some of you are sick and weak and many are fallen asleep Besides the Reason that is assigned for these Punishments or Judgments was That they might not be condemned with the World Verse 32. For when we are judged says the Apostle It is the same word it may be as well Rendred Damned as that in the Text Damnation But when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World God did thus judge or punish the Corinthians in this World that they might be Reformed and not perish Eternally So that he who Eats and drinks unworthily may fear lest his Contempt and Profanation of the Ordinanance be followed by some Remarkable Jugdment of God at least it was so in the Apostle's time 2. Conside◠〈…〉 That the Disorders committed by the Corinthians and occasioned by their Love Feasts that preceded the Lord's Supper They were such as were peculiar to those Times and are now Abolish'd and disus'd Christians then Feasted by themselves in their Religious Assemblies in Imitation of what the Heathens did in their Idol-Temples The Rich sent in their own Provisions and every one contributed to this Feast by bringing some Portion but there they banded into several Parties as they came without tarrying one for another and feeding lovingly together Every one fell to that Portion of Meat which he brought as if they were at home when it should have been divided in Common and the Poor have had their share Whereas says the Apostle Some are hungry and others intemperate and drunken This they are taxed with in the 22. Ver. What says he have ye not houses to eat and to drink in They made little or no Difference between these Love-Feasts and the Lord's Supper at the close of them between these Sacred Symbols of our Lord's Body and Blood and common Food and Drink They were in the House and Worship of God just as in their own and made no Distinction between this and a common Meal Nay it was worse They turned this Ordinance into a drunken Club or a Riotous Entertainment making it an Instrument and Occasion of Debauchery This was Eating and Drinking Vnworthily indeed and no wonder if God did so severely punish them for it The Apostle Jude taxes these Love-Feasts Verse 12. But there is no danger of such Excesses at the Lord's Table now or of eating and drinking Vnworthily in the same manner as the Corinthians did 3. If we take Damnation for Eternal punishment which Vnworthy Receiving does without Repentance expose to Yet consider that the Wages of every Sin is Eternal Death And you have the same Reason to be afraid of Other Sins because you run the same Hazard The Sacrifices of the Wicked God abhors And the very Prayers of the Hpocrite are an Abomination to him But 4. Consider That by eating and driâ—king his own Damnation the Apostle does not mean that every such Person shall certainly and inevitably be damned but that without Repentance it is a damning Sin Unworthy eating is so and so is sinful abstaining too without Repentance And why so much Tenderness in the one Case and not in the other No Man needs be blamed for being unwilling to Damn himself But why should Men be fearful of it in this Instance and not in others Infidelity Disobedience and Impenitence will as certainly expose a Man to Damnation without the Sacrament as with it And they cannot fairly urge the Fear of Damnation against coming to it who are not restrained thereby from other sins as damning as this 5. That therefore which the Apostles words will most properly infer and direct us to is this That siâ—ce we are required iâ— Obedience to Christ to do this in rememb ance of him and yet such severe Punishments are threetned to those that do it unworthily The plain consequence is this That we should not omit it becaâ—se of the Command nor yet carelesly undertake it because of the threatned Juâ—gment But it will by no means excuse or plead for the total neglect and omission of it 'T is plain the Apostle never thought that the sin and danger of doing a Duty amiss might be made an Exception against the doing iâ— at all or â—hat threatning Damnation to eating a d drinking unwo thily should fâ—are Men from eating and drinking at all He takes what care he can that the Duty may be perform'd and the Err r in doing it may be effectually prevented But never makes the Danger of the one a Dispensation from the other He tells them of the sin to eat and drink unworthily and of the punishment it makes 'em obnoxious to but he doth not therefore tell 'em they may stay away from the Sacrament for fear of committing the sin or of incurring the Danger Not even in that case where they were actually Guilty and really Punisht 6. You ought to consider That you will but increase your Sin and aggravate your Damnation by all the other Duties of Religion and other parts of Divine Worship if you continue Impenitent You are often told that you ought not to come to this Table till you Repent and turn to God in Christ with all your heart and give up your selves intirely to be the Lord's But if you do not Resolve to do so the same Argument will hold for the neglect
of Prayer and other parts of Divine Worship All these will aggravate your sin But the Possibility of doing other Services of Religion amiss is not counted a sufficient Reason for the not doing ' em After all such pretences and excuses there is too much Reason to think that the most are afraid of coming to this Ordinance lest the preparing for it and the consequent Duties which they know are required should interrupt their Sensual Pleasures or their inordinate Prosecution of the World and oblige them to leave their sins which as yet they have no mind to part with Such as these ought not to come indeed they have other work first to do They are first called to Repentance and Faith in Christ and afterwards to the Communion of his Body and Blood They are called to understand and own their Baptismal Covenant by the Answer of a good Conscience and then to renew it at the Table of the Lord This Priviledge belongs not to them till they have truly repented and forsaken sin and yielded themselves to be the Lord's 3. Object But others are ready to say I would come and have had many a Thought about it But I doubt of my own Sincerity and the truth of my Grace I know it is Childrens Bread and I am not certain I am one of that number And does not the Apostle tell us That he that doubteth is damned if he eat Now I doubt whether I am passed from Death to Life or no May such a one as I venture to come who have no Assurance that I am in a State of Grace Are all those unworthy and unfit to come who come in any other State of Soul than they think they may safely dye in Several things may be said in Answer to this 1. That many mistake the Nature of true Faith and Sincerity and think if they have not Assurance of the Love of God that therefore they have no true Faith They make saving Justifying Faith to consist in believing the special Love of Christ to their Souls in believing that their sins are pardoned and that they are in Christ But this is a dangerous Mistake which one would wonder under such clear Light as we enjoy should be so common For how unspeakable is the Difference between the Truth of Grace and the Knowledge of its being true between a hearty Consent to the Terms of the Covenant and the Reflex Act of Faith so as to be able to say I know my Interest in the Covenant Many a false Professor may flatter himself that his Faith is true when it is not and many an Vpright Christian may doubt and question Whether he be one or no But the Latter shall one Day be ashamed of their Fears as the Former of their Hopes The Lord knoweth who are his when many that are His do not know it themselves And if a Minister of Christ will ask a few home close Questions of such doubting trembling Christians by which their hearty consent to the Covenant may be judged of Their Answers plainly shew That they believe in Christ and love him above all the World and regard no Iniquity in their hearts And yet will continue to doubt of their Integrity though the Bent of their Hearts and the Endeavours of their Lives do abundantly prove that they are Sincere 2ly However it may ordinarily be known whether your Faith be of the right kind or no and whether you are Vpright towards God or no. We are bid to Examine and Search and try and prove our selves in order to it that we may find the Mark and Impress of God upon our Souls the Fruits of the sanctifying Spirit there and so have Rejoycing in our selves and not in another It is so far from being unlawful to collect Comfort from the Marks and Signs of our Sanctification and to prove our Vnion to Christ and Justification that way that it is the very Method of the Gospel to direct us to know our State towards God by thus looking inward to find the Image of Christ upon the Soul and by observing the Fruits of the Spirit in a godly Conversation Such doubting Christians would do well to Consult some Faithful Minister of Christ and Represent the State of their own Case what they feel that so they may be told what it doth signifie and be help'd to judge of themselves It is granted that you know how it is with you better than any Minister can do For as * Mr. Baxter One well expresses it A Patient knows better than any Physician what he feels but a Physician when he hears it can tell from what Cause it comes and what is the Nature of the Disease and what is like to come of it and what is the proper Method for a Cure There is a great deal of Reason why you should expect and hope for the Resolution of your Doubts in such Cases by consulting some Minister of Christ especially him under whose Ministry you have chosen to place your selves as the Helper of your Faith and Joy 3. The Penitent Christian though he want Assurance is Accepted of God and hath Right to this Ordinance whether he believe it or no. If you unfeignedly consent to the Covenant of Grace and with an humble penitent Sense of your past Sins are willing and desirous to close with Christ on the Terms of the Gospel That God shall be your God and Christ your Redeemer and Lord and the Holy Spirit your Sanctifier and Guide If you are willing heartily willing to give up your selves to be instructed ruled and saved by him This is the very Heart of saving Faith And if this be your Character you are the Members of Christ and ought to come to the Lord's Table For though your timorousness and present Scruples may make you Suspend for a-while they cannot deprive you of your Right to the Ordinance nor disoblige you from the Duty of coming to it For All such who unfeignedly consent to the Covenant they may and ought to come to signifie their Consent and to receive the Seal of the Covenant 4. Every Christian ought to endeavour to know his State lest they be distracted between the Hopes of God's Acceptance of them on the one hand and the Fears of coming Vnworthily on the other Because they doubt of their Worhtiness they fear to come And because they have some good Hope they dare not stay away lest they neglect their Duty The proper Remedy is to Resolve Unfeignedly to please God and obey him in this and all other Instances and then do this in Remembrance of Christ as what all his Followers are obliged to do It may be that Ignorance of thy State from whence thy Doubts proceeds is owing to the Neglect of Self Examination and the use of proper Means to know thy Self 5. It may yet be Adviseable for some melancholy tempted Persons under some perplexing Doubts to stay away for a-while till they have competently over-come their Fear lest
Acts of Faith Apply this Blood for our Encouragement and Consolation as the Purchase of our Peace with God and as that whereby we have Peace with Conscience All the Blessings we receive are owing to this Blood All the Services we perform must be Accepted through the sprinkling of this Blood and our Faith in it Let us therefore continually apply and plead it The Vertue of it is still the same as when it was at first shed We need not doubt but it is as Acceptable to God now and of as sweet smelling a Savour to him as ever Therefore the Life that we live in the Flesh should be by the Faith of the Son of God having daily Recourse unto his Blood for Pardon and cleansing and strengthning Vertue The Lord teach us this Great Mystery of Godliness THE END The Seventh Discourse BEFORE THE Lord's Supper From CANT II.iv. He brought me into the Banquetting-house and his Banner over me was Love I Shall not need to spend Time to prove this Book to be Canonical and of Divine Auuthority It was never questioned to belong to the Jewish Canon though some other of the Writings of Solomon have been doubted of The whole is an Allegorical Description of the mysterious Vnion between Christ and his Church as Represented under the Persons of a Bridegroom and Bride Which Metaphor is pursued in several other Places of Scripture and alluded to by Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament The 45th Psalm is in some sort an Epitome and Abridgment of this Song of Solomon And that by all Interpreters even the Jews themselves is acknowledged to speak of the Messiah In this Chapter Christ and the Church seem to strive who shall outvie each other in their Encomiums and Commendations In the Two first Verses Christ speaks In the following you have the Voice of the Church or the Language of sincere Christians They Praise and Magnifie and Extol the Lord Christ in the Fourth Verse for his Bounty and Magnificence in making such Rich Provisions to Feast and Entertain them She had said before in the Third Verse That She sate under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet unto her Taste And thereupon adds this Commendation of his Rich Provisions He brought me into the Banquetting-house c. Where 1. She describes the Place or the Means of such a Spiritual Feast The Banquetting-house 2. The Welcom she met with there His Banner over me was Love Under the first Expression is Represented the Excellent Provision which our Lord makes to Entertain the Souls of Believers He led me to the House of Wine the Place where the Master of the House was wont to entertain his Friends Where the Wine is drank or the Entertainment made for so the Word signifies Some understand it of the Places where Christians Assemble and meet together to Worship Christ and Receive the Communication of his Grace the Places where the Ordinances of the Gospel are Dispensed But there is more than the Places of such Communication here meant viz. All the special Means and Instruments of Blessing unto the Souls of Believers It may comprehend the Holy Scriptures the Ministers of the Word the Sacraments the publick Assemblies for Worship and all the Institutions of Christ But amongst them all none more fitly or exactly answering to the Allegory than the holy Supper of the World the great Feast on the Sacrifice of Christ where we hope to be Entertained to Morrow 2. The Welcom she met with His Banner over me was Love His Standard towards me by the lifting up whereof I was invited and drawn to come over to his side to yield to him to give up my self to him The Love of a Crucified Saviour is displayed like a Banner to invite and draw Souls to Christ Therefore it is promised Isa 49.22 I will lift up my Hand to the Gentiles and set up my Standard to the people Christ the Captain of our Salvation lifted up upon a Cross Displays a Banner of Love to all the World to invite them to come to him And the Motto of his Banner is nothing but this Dying Love Victorious Or The Crucified Jesus Loving us to the Death And by his Love conquering our Hearts and constraining us to be his to love him and live to him and even dye for him 1. We may observe That our Lord has his Banquet and Feast whereunto he leads and where he Entertains the Souls of his Followers 2. That the Display of Christ's free and glorious Love is of all things the most proper to Invite and Attract the Souls of Men. 1. That Christ hath his Banquet and Feast unto which he leads and where he entertains the Souls of his Followers Under this Metaphor of a Feast or Banquet all the Spiritual Blessings of the Gospel-State are often Represented Thus when we Read of the Invitation to come to the Marriage Feast of the Kings Son Mat. 22. All the Graces and Comforts of the Spirit are meant forgiveness of Sin the Promise the hope of Eternal Life These are the Provisions of this Feast which in the Word and Sacraments we partake of In this Mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things of Wine on the Lees well refined Isa 25.6 It is a Promise concerning the Days of the Gospel In this Mountain In Mount Sion In the Church God will make a Feast for all people for the Gentiles as well as the Jews 1. It 's Literally true of Mount Sion at Jerusalem in which sense it must be understood in the next Verse This was the first Place this Mount Sion whence the Christian Law was to be given out and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem There the Holy Spirit fell upon the Apostles at Pentecost And there the Apostles began their Preaching after the Descent of the Holy Ghost with Wonderful Success So Psalm 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the Fatness of thy House Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures The like in Prov. 9.2 Where Wisdom is said to have killed her Beasts and mingled her Wine and furnished her Table The Revelation of the Gospel c. All kind of Gifts and Graces and Comforts distributed by the Ordinances of the Gospel are to be understood Especially that part of our Spiritual Provision which is said to be Meat indeed and Drink indeed I mean the Crucified Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Blood shed for the Remission of Sins That Institution therefore hath the very Name of the Table of the Lord 1 Cor. 10.21 We cannot be Partakers of the Lord's Table and the Table of Devils It is called a Feast on the Sacrifice of Christ 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Of which I shall have occaison to speak afterward There being all Things there that are necessary to a Feast And a Feast for all People for the Gentiles whom the Jews despi sed and counted as Doggs and
signifies a Covenant is derived from a Root which signifies to Eat And hence too we read of an Idol among the Sichemites which was called Berith or the God of a Covenant because the People of that Place were wont when they made Covenants to eat and drink with their Confederates in the House of that God of theirs as you find they did when they entred into a League with Gaal and made him their Head in Opposition to Abimeleck Judg. 9.27 Humane Writers afford many Instances of this Nature how People were wont antiently to make and ratifie Covenants between Nation and Nation between Party and Party and between Man and Wife sometimes by eating Bread sometimes by drinking Wine and frequently by partaking of both together Which shows that it was the General Custom of Mankind to Contract and Covenant with one another by the Visible Rites of Feasting and Banqueting together The Old Heathens had many Religious Feasts before their Idols whereby they Covenanted with those Imaginary Deities The Israelites are charged with Idolatry for complying with such Pagan Rites Exod. 32.6 1 Cor. 10.7 When the People made an Altar to the Golden Calf they bring their Peace-offerings and Celebrate a Religious Banquet upon the remainders thereof They sat down to eat and to drink to Feast together before the Golden Calf and rose up to play This they did in Imitation of the Aegyptians among whom they had lived so long So by the Perswasion of the Moabites they joyned themselves to Baal-Peor entred into Communion with that Heathen Deity that was Worshipped on Mount Peor by eating the Sacrifices of the Dead or * Selden de Diis Syris Syntagm 1. cap. 5. such things as were offered in the Memory of the dead Numb 25.3 Psal 106.28 And the Apostle calls the eating of the Heathen Sacrifices a Fellowship with Devils 1 Cor. 10.20 There were some in the Apostles time did go and eat of those Idol Sacrifices 1 Cor. 8.7 To prevent which a Canon was made at the Council of Jerusalem that Christians should abstain from Meats offered unto Idols Acts 15. Because by sitting at Meat at the Idols Temple they made themselves partakers of the Table of Devils And the Apostle shews the Inconsistency of this with the participation of the Lords Table because this is a Sacrifical Banquet proper and peculiar to us Christians as the Idol-Feasts were Sacrifical Banquets proper to the Pagans and the Mosaical ones to the Jews 1 Cor. 10. As Jews and Heathens were wont to feed upon a Sacrificed Beast we Christians do feed upon a Sacrificed Redeemer by eating and drinking in Commemoration of his Death and Sacrifice and thereby Renewing our Covenant with him as his avowed sworn Servants and Disciples 4. Another Design of this Feast may be to wean us from the Vanities of this World by tasting these Spiritual Provisions and therein how gracious the Lord is That by eating of this Bread and drinking of this Wine we may hunger and thirst no more after Sensual Delights That we may not care to feed on Husks when we eat of this Bread in our Fathers House 5. That our Thoughts of the Heavenly Glory and our Desires after it and progressive Meetness for it may be excited and promoted And no Institution of the Gospel is so proper for this so well Adapted for this purpose as were easie to shew and your own Meditations can sufficiently enlarge Vse 1. Hath the blessed God his Feast and Banquet to Entertain such wretched Creatures as we Let us sit down and Admire his Adorable Condescention That the Lord of Glory should make a Feast for such Beggars such Worms such Vile Sinners as we That we should be called to the Priviledges of Children to sit down at his Table We that deserve not the Crumbs with the Dogs under the Table That he doth not only richly Feast us but stoops to Treat us in our own way in a manner so sensible and easie and plain that we may see and taste to our fuller satisfaction that he is Gracious That the outward Signs and Symbols are so plain and obvious when the great Things signified and represented are fit to employ the deepest Meditation and surpass all that our most comprehensive Thoughts can reach 2. Doth God make such a Feast Then let him never Invite but be you willing and ready to come Take heed how you slight the Invitation and Call of God It is a dangerous thing I grant to come unprepared and unready and so is it to tarry away and to refuse Obedience to the Command of our dying Lord who the same Night in which he was betrayed Instituted this Feast and calls us to do it in Remembrance of him They that come without a Wedding Garment they are said to be Vnworthy and to eat and drink unworthily And they that refuse to come to the Gospel-Feast upon Christ's Invitation they are said to be Vnworthy too Matth. 22.8 You little mend the case if when you hear of the Danger of coming unworthily you will not come at all For that Impenitence and Unbelief that makes unworthy Communicants will not excuse your Neglect of the Duty You must Repent and believe in Christ and so come prepared He that eateth this Bread and drinketh this Cup unworthily he eats and drinks Judgment to himself 'T is certain he is guilty of a Sin that without Repentance will damn him and he is in danger of some Calamity Sickness or sudden Death Such as was inflicted on the faulty Corinthians But he doth not so eat and drink Damnation as that such a Sin is Vnpardonable and shall certainly be followed with Hell For it is not the Sin against the Holy Ghost which is never Repented of If the fear of Damnation have influence in the one Case it should have in the other because to neglect this Duty is a Sin as well as to come unprepared we ought to do neither You therefore who are to come look to it that you come worthily lest you be Guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord Lest you be Guilty of the Murder of Christ and of Self-murder at once by eating and drinking your own Damnation Ignorant persons scandalous persons Hypocrites and false Pretenders to Religion such as intrude rashly and come impenitently with the habitual love of Sin without true Repentance All who come ignorantly or hypocritically who cannot discern the Lord's Body or come with a design to cover some secret Lust Let these beware for they come as it were with a Knife in their hand to kill the Redeemer in his own House to stab him at his own Table and Crucifie him afresh They are Guilty of his Body and Blood which in stead of pleading on their behalf for Mercy will cry against them for Vengeance You will hereupon I doubt not be glad of a little Advice and Direction that you may come worthily and be duly prepared that you may avoid so great a hazard And
because you have many good Books on this Subject that will Assist you in this Matter I shall only put you in mind of a few Things As 1. That you take some convenient Time for solemn and serious Preparation They especially should do so who have never come till now And they who for some considerable time have neglected it with whom several Months have past since they have been at the Lord's Table Either through their own Neglect which they must Repent of or for want of Opportunity God expected and required solemn Preparation for the Passover Feast Exod 19.10 He doth so for this Feast upon Christ our Passover sacrificed for us Therefore take some time to consider what you are about to undertake Beg of God a prepared Heart and by Reading Meditation and Prayer endeavour to bring your Spirits into a suitable Frame for such solemn Work He brought me into his Banquetting-house Christ himself by his Spirit must lead his own Guests to his own Table He must awaken and excite all those Graces that are to be exercised in this Feast Therefore beg a prepared Heart and do what you can by other means to endeavour it 2. Renew your Repentance for all the Sins of your Life Do not come with filthy Hearts and Hands to the Table of the Lord no more than you would in filthy Rags to a great Man's Table Lay aside all Filthiness and Superfluity of Naughtiness Purge out the Old Leaven of Hypocricy and Malice of Ignorance or Envy and Wickedness of every sort that you may come with penitent humbled Hearts and so with a thankful receptive Frame consenting to all the Claims and Purposes of this Ordinance 3. Therefore Examine your selves afresh that you may thus come Review the State of your Souls see how it hath been and is with you as to Heart and Life State and Frame Let a man examine himself and so let him eat 1 Cor. 11.28 Examine your selves about your Knowledge and your Faith to understand the meaning and the very mystery of this Table that you may firmly Assent to and heartily believe what is Represented and exhibited here And have right Apprehensions of those Doctrines that Explain this Ordinance as concerning our State of Apostacy concerning the Method of our Recovery by Christ and our Faith in him as Teacher Saviour and Lord in all his Offices The like might be said concerning Repentance or Godly Sorrow for Sin hatred of it and hearty forsaking of it Whether you can penitently believingly seal back your part of the Covenant when God sets the Broad Seal of Heaven unto his part when he says I will be thy God and I will remember thy sins no more I will with my Christ freely give thee all things This I promise this I seal to every of you says God I here deliver it as my Act and Deed. Now can you seal back your part of the Covenant Lord I will be thine henceforth I desire and resolve to be entirely thine thy sealed Fountain thy sealed Garden I engage henceforward to be the Lord's This I deliver as my Act and Deed. In a word Examine your selves Do you believe the Gospel of Christ to be true and heartily consent to the Doctrines of it Do you resolve to be Governed by Christ as your Lord and consent to the Terms of his Gospel Do you take him for your only Saviour and look for all your Acceptance with God and hope of Pardon and Life only for his sake and upon his Account Do you consider the Vow you made in Baptism of Fidelity to Christ and resolve to be true to it Do you here seriously Renew it and will you now again promise Faithfulness to him to your Lifes end Do you value his Favour and Grace above all things and come to remember his dying Love and receive the Communications of the purchased Spirit with this Desire Design and Hope That you may love him and obey him better and that you may live in Love and Charity towards your Brethren and all Mankind c. 4. Look to the Inward part of the Ordinance and labour to Appropriate and Apply Christ to your selves Here is a Covenant confirmed by Sacrifice by Blood by the precious blood of Christ I am called O my Soul to feat upon it This Blood was shed to Reconcile me to God I will drink of it in token of such a Reconciliation made as a Testimony that I have Recieved the Atonement made by that Blood My Body was broken for you says Christ Take and eat it My Blood was shed for you Take and drink it Apply it to your selves every one to his own Soul saying He loved me and gave himself for me 5. Endeavour to fix your Purposes and Resolutions of faithful Adherence to Christ whatever it cost you Tell him that you distrust your selves and are afraid of Temptation Tell him in Prayer You are almost ashamed to come to his Table you are such vile unworthy Sinners and are afraid you shall not keep the Covenant that now again you desire to renew But bewail your selves as sensible of your sins and weary of them Tell him that you hate them and resolve against them or else you durst not have the face to ask forgiveness and receive the Seal of it Therefore Resign your selves into his Hands Beg that the Holy Spirit would take possession of you that you may not backslide and wander as you have done Tell him that you renounce all Confederacy with his Enemies you would fain be more stedfast in the way of the Lord It is the desire of your Souls that you may not violate this Covenant but having sworn that you may perform it to keep his Righteous Judgments and that you hope you are ready through his Grace strengthning you to do and suffer any thing for him Therefore penitently and humbly offer up your selves to be his for ever saying Lord I present thee with what thou hast so dearly bought And here without reserve I give up my self to be Thine O do not reject a broken and contrite Heart that desires to be employed and used as may best please and serve thee Lord I am nothing I have nothing I can do nothing I deserve nothing I desire nothing but to love thee better to be more filled with thy Grace to partake more of thine Image to be enabled to honour thee now and enjoy thee for ever Grant me this Lord and do with me what thou wilt Accept the Sacrifice I make of my self unto thee of Soul and Body of all I have without any Exception or Reserve to thy holy will and pleasure Lastly After all this Remember that Thanksgiving and Joy is a principal part of our Work at this Table Let our Souls and all that is within us then praise the Lord giving Thanks to the Father of Mercies for this unspeakable Gift Blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the Riches of his Grace in him
And every * Dr. Manton on Colos 1.19 p. 202. Office of Christ as our Prophet Priest and King doth suppose and require that he be true God as well as true man or he could not discharge those Offices to any Saving Purpose for us 4. Let us then Imitate the Faith of this Apostle in contemplating the Death and Resurrection of Christ that we also may say as he did My Lord and my God And that will include both a Claim of Interest and special Propriety in him and imply the Dedication of our selves to his Use and Service The one of these will follow upon the other When God says I am thy God we cannot but answer That we are his Servants and resolve to be so And if we are his and Devoted to him we may infer that he is Ours for the Covenant is mutual But if we cannot as sometimes we cannot so clearly and comfortably say My God We may yet humbly and resolvedly say My Lord that is I am thy Servant I am Devoted to thy Fear I am resigned and given up to thee I have chosen thee for my Portion and I have dedicated and devoted my self for ever to be thine c. The more serious we are in this the more likely are we to come to this Claim and Appropriation and special Interest in God and Christ as ours And till we Arrive to some Degree of this we are Strangers to the most comfortable part of the Christian Life For this is a great ground of our Confidence and a main Spring of our Joy My Beloved is mine and I am his He loved me and gave himself for me This attracts our Love this wins our Hearts and fills us with Joy unutterable and full of Glory If Christ by the Presence of his Spirit would visit our Souls we should then be able to use such Language of Faith If he will visit us as he did the Disciples when Thomas was with them his Presence and Power can produce such a Faith And if he please he can enter and do this though the Doors be barred and shut never so close For he can open them as he did the Heart of Lydia Though they be of Stone or Iron he can break he can soften he can make them Hearts of Flesh Let us beg he would so visit us by his Spirit Though we have not the Priviledge to touch him on Earth as this Apostle yet we may behold him as the holy Martyr Stephen in Heaven We may Contemplate him by Faith as at the Right hand of God And so we may behold the print of the Nails and thrust our Hand into his wounded Side and hear his Voice yea taste as well as touch his very Body and Blood feed upon him We have some of us so done this Day And after such a Sight and such a Taste shall we not cry out My Lord my God O my Lord what have I done O my God what shall I do O my Lord my dear Lord Jesus who am I that thou hast loved me so as to dye for me so as to give thy self a Sacrifice for me O my God what shall I render to thee How shall I express my Gratitude What shall I do to honour thee O my Lord thou hast Redeemed me at a costly price O my God give me of the Spirit of Grace to renew thine Image subdue my Lusts and assist mine Obedience My Lord my God the King of Saints the Prince of Peace the First Begotten from the Dead the First Born of every Creature the First Fruits of them that sleep the true and only Potentate the great Immanuel God with us true God and true Man Whom have I in Heaven but thee c. Let us labour aftâ—r such a Faith and beg it of the God of all Grace and never desist till in the use of that and other means we are brought to use such Language too Lastly As to you my Brethren who have been at the Table of the Lord Consider what have you been doing Your great Business hath been or should have been this Day solemnly to Renew the Covenant between God and you in such Appropriating Language of Faith as these words of Thomas For Christ and all his Benefits are offered to you by the Distribution of the Elements Behold me I am yours Accept me Take me says Christ. You by Receiving them say Lord I am thine Accept me Possess me for thine own The Lord's Supper is the New Testament or Covenant in the Blood of Christ you there Ratifie the Baptismal Covenant he saith I am thine and you say You are his This inward personal Covenanting between Christ and you is the great Thing to be minded and this amounts to the same with My Lord my God acknowledging his Right by the one Expression and professing your own Interest by the other This was Virtually done in our Baptism this was actually done at our first Turning to God when we entred into Covenant to be the Lords And this we professedly Repeat and publickly Renew every time we come to this Table We have this Day acknowledged him to be our Lord we have entred into a solemn League of Subjection and Fidelity to him we have taken on us a solemn Bond and Obligation of Duty and Service And if we are Vnfaithful every Communion will come in against us as so many Oaths that we have broken For by Feasting on this Sacrifice this Day we have again Sworn at the Altar we have said it in our Hearts My Lord my God And we have professed it by our Actions We have played the Hypocrites and acted the part of Children and Fools if we did not mean it And if we do not stand to it while we live we are Rebels and add Perjury to our Rebellion by violating our Bond Covenant and Oath And if we do so we have imprecated a Curse upon our selves even all the Curses of a broken Covenant and so have sworn to our own Condemnation You therefore who have this Day Avouched the Lord for your God and have said to Christ My Lord my God Remember that he is both And don't expect he should be thy God thy Portion thy Happiness thy Heaven if he be not thy Lord. Don't think he will be thy Jesus thy Ransom to save thee from Hell if he be not thy Lord to govern thy Heart and Life He is the Author of Eternal Salvation only to those that Obey him an Everlasting Saviour to them only to whom he is a Lord. Don't expect that the saying Lord Lord either now or hereafter will be enough if thou be a Worker of Iniquity and do not what he Commands thee if his Interest in thee and Authority over thee will not prevail more than the Entreaty of a Friend or than the gain of a little Money or the Allurement of a little Pleasure or the Inticement of a Lust or the Temptation of a Devil But if you sincerely and unfeignedly take him for