Predication is very Emphatical it is meat indeed and drink indeed which notes two things First Reality in opposition to all legal shaddows and types Secondly Transcendent excellency far surpassing all other food even Mannah it self which for its excellency is styled Angels food My Flesh is meat indeed i. e. true substantial and real food to souls and choice excellent and incomparable food Hence observe Doct. That what meat and drink is to our bodies that and much more than that the Flesh and Blood of Christ is to believing souls Two things require explication in this point First Wherein the resemblance or agreement lies betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and Meat and Drink Secondly Wherein the former transcends and excels the latter 1. Query Wherein lies the resemblance and agreement betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and material Meat and Drink Sol. The agreement is manifest in the following particulars First Meat and Drink is necessary to support Natural life we cannot live without it Upon this account Bread is call'd the Staff and Stay i. e. the support of the natural spirits which do as much lean and depend upon it as a feeble man doth upon his staff Isa. 3. 1. But yet how necessary soever it be the Flesh and Blood of Christ is more indispensibly necessary for the life of our souls Joh. 6. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Our souls have more absolude need of peace and pardon by Christ than our bodies have of meat and drink Better our bodies were starved and famished than our souls damned and lost for ever Secondly Meat and Drink are ever most sweet and desirable to those that are hungry and thirsty It is hunger and thirst that gives value and estimation to meat and drink Prov. 27. 7. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet and so it is in our esteem of Christ Joh. 7. 37. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink When God by illumination and conviction makes men deeply sensible of their miserable lost and perishing condition then ten thousand worlds for a Christ. All is but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of Christ Jesus Thirdly Meat and drink must undergoe an alteration and lose its own form before it actually nourishes the body The Corn is ground to pieces in the Mill before it be made Bread to nourish us And Christ must be ground betwixt the upper and neither Milstones of the wrath of God and malice of men to be made Bread for our souls The Prophet saith Isa. 52. 14. His Visage was marr'd more than any mans He did not look like himself the beauty and glory of Heaven but the reproach of Men and despised of the People Oh what an alteration did his Incarnation and Sufferings make upon him Phil. 2. 6 7. Quantum mutatus ab illo Fourthly Natural food must be received into our bodies and have a natural Union with them and Christ must be received into our souls and have a spiritual Union with them by faith or else we can have no nourishment or benefit by him An empty Profession a meer talkative Religion nourishes the inner man just as much as the sight of meat and our commending of it doth our outward man It 's Christ's dwelling in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. our receiving of him Joh 1. 12. our eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood Joh. 6. 53. i. e. the effectual application of Christ to our souls by faith that makes us partakers of his benefits Fifthly Meat and drink must be taken every day or else natural life will languish and spiritual life will never be comfortably maintain'd in us without daily communion with Jesus Christ If a gracious soul neglect or be interrupted in its course of duties and stated times of prayer it will be quickly discernable by the Christian himself in the deadness of his own heart and by others also in the barrenness of his discourses And in these things stands the Analogy and agreement of the Flesh and Blood of Christ with meat and drink 2. Query The next thing is to open the transcendent excellency of Christs Flesh and Blood above all other food in the world and this appears in four particulars First This Flesh and Blood was assumed into the nearest Union with the second Person in the blessed Trinity and so is not only dignified above all other created Beings but becomes the first receptacle of all grace intended to be communicated through it to the Children of men Joh. 1. 14. Secondly This Flesh and Blood of Christ was offered up to God as the great Sacrifice for our sins and Purchase of our peace Col. 1. 20. Eph. 5. 2. and so it is of inestimable price and value to Believers The humane Nature of Christ was the Sacrifice the divine Nature was the Altar on which it was offered up and by which it was dignified and sanctified and made an Offering of a sweet smelling savour to God Eph. 5. 2. Thirdly This Flesh and Blood of Christ is the great medium of conveyance of all blessings and mercies to the souls and bodies of Believers It lies as a vast pipe at the Fountain-head of blessings receiving and conveying them from God to Men Col. 1. 14. 19. So then it being united to the second Person and so become the Flesh and Blood of God it being the Sacrifice offered up to God for Attonement and Remission of sins and the medium of conveying all grace and mercy from God the Fountain to the souls and bodies of Believers how sweet a rellish must it have upon the pallate of faith Here faith may tast the sweetness of a Pardon a full free and final pardon of sin than which nothing in this world can be sweeter to a Sin-burdened Conscience Here it tasts the incomparable sweetness of Peace with God a Peace which passeth Understanding the breach Sin made is by this Sacrifice made up for ever Col. 1. 20. Here it tasts the unexpressible sweetness of acceptation with God and an interest in his favour a mercy which a poor convinced soul would give ten thousand worlds for were it to be purchased Yea here it rellisheth all the sweet Promises in the Covenant of grace as confirmed and ratified by this Sacrifice Heb. 9. 5. So that well might he say my Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed the most excellent New Testament-food for Believers 1. Use of Information First See here the love of a Saviour that Heavenly Pelliâ—…an who feeds us with his own Flesh and Blood You read Lam. 4. 10. of pitiful Women who eat the flesh of their own Children but where have you read of Men or Women that gave their own flesh and blood for meat and drink to their Children Think on this you that are so loth to cross and deny your flesh for Christ he suffered his
Flesh to be rent and his Blood set abroach for you what love like the love of Christ Secondly Learn hence a ground of Content in the lowest and poorest condition allotted to any Believer in this world It may be some of you live low in the world you have hard fare and are abridg'd of many of those sweet comforts in the Creature which the Enemies of God abound in but still remember you have no cause to envy their dainties and be dissatisficd with your own lot and portion when not many Nobles or mighty in the world feed as your souls do feed O what a feast have you What dainties do your souls tast by faith Whilst others do but feed upon Ashes and Husks what is the flesh of Lambs and Calves out of the Stall to the Flesh of Christ What is Wine in bowls and the chief Oyntment to the Blood of Christ and the anoyntings of his Spirit O be satisfied with your outward lot however God hath cast it whilst he hath dealt so bountifully with your souls Thirdly Learn hence the necessity of faith in order to the livelihood and subsistance of our souls What is a Feast to him that cannot tast it And what is Christ to him that cannot believe That cannot by faith eat his Flesh and drink his Blood 'T is not the Preparation made for souls in Christ but the Application of him by faith that gives us the sweetness and benefit of him Faith is the souls mouth or pallate the Unbeliever tasts no sweetness in Christ he can rellish more sweetness in money meat drink carnal mirth or any sensual enjoyment than Christ. Fourthly How excellent are Gospel-Ordinances What sweetness is there to be found in them by true Believers For there Christ is prepar'd and as it were serv'd in for them to feed upon It is your Ministers work to cook and prepare for you all the week long and to furnish for you a feast of fat things Loe here 's a Table spread and furnish'd this day with the costliest dainties that Heaven affords O prize these mercies sit not here with flat or wanton appetites lest God call to your Enemies and bid them take away 2. Use of Exhortation Is the Flesh and Blood of Christ Meat and Drink indeed then let me exhort you Brethren First To come to this Table with sharp and hungry appetites Have you ever tasted that the Lord is gracious and do you not hunger and thirst to taste it again Surely where the Carcass is thither will the Eagles be gather'd Math. 24. 28. There is a two fold appetite a dainty and an hungry appetite beware of a nice and dainty appetite that can rellish nothing in the most solid and spiritual duties except the dish be garnisht with flowers of Rhetorick or the matter serv'd in with art and elegancy This hath been the great sin of the Professors of this Generation O Christians no more of that I pray you Were you really an hungred and athirst for Christ you would come to his Ordinances as famishing men to a feast Secondly To feed heartily upon Christ in every Ordinance and in every Sacrament especially O that your souls might hear and answer that invitation this day Cant. 5. 1. Eat O Friends drink yea drink abundantly O Beloved For Motives I will only hint these three following First Christ is the matter of this Feast God hath prepar'd him for your souls Is any thing in Heaven or Earth so sweet as Christ Sacrificed is Do not the Angels and Saints in Heaven feast upon him Surely one drop of Christ's Blood hath more sweetness and excellency in it than the whole Ocean of all Creature-comforts Secondly Don't your graces need it Have you not a languishing love a staggering faith dull and sluggish desires Look into your hearts and see what need there is of strengthening the things that are in you which are ready to die O feed upon Christ that your graces may be revived strengthened Thirdly Do you know how many daies you are to go in the strength of this meal How long it may be ere you sit again at the Lords Table Surely even these as well as your inferior temporal comforts stand upon terms of greatest uncertainty Ah Christians Consider well the times you live in the Enemy that stands ready to take away the cloth and remove your spiritual food from you It 's said of Peter Martyr that being in Oxford when Q. Mary came in and hearing the first Mass-bell ring he was struck to the heart and said haec una notula omnem meam doctrinam evertit This one tinkling Bell overthrows all the labours of my Ministry at once God grant we may hear none of that Musick in England any more but it 's like to be according to your estimation and improvement of Christ's precious Ordinances Thirdly Commend the experiensed sweetness of Christ to others Don't conceal his loveliness and excellency Thus the fair and enamoured Spouse charges or adjures others Cant. 5. 9. Be not content to feast upon Christ alone whilst others souls are starving and perhaps the souls of your dear natural Relations Say to them as David Psal. 34. 8. O taste and see how good the Lord is Fourthly and lastly See that your appetite to Christ be right and truly spiritual Such an hunger and thirst upon which blessedness is entail'd by promise and you may conclude it so when First It is a sharp and strong appetite Psal. 42. 1. Let your thoughts run upon Christ night and day like the desires of a longing Woman Secondly When 't is a Universal appetite after every thing in Christ his Holiness as well as his Righteousness his Commands as well as his Promises for he is altogether lovely Cant. 5. 16. Thirdly When 't is a continual appetite I mean not that the pulse of your desires should keep an even stroke at all times but that there be real and sincere workings of heart after him always Psal. 119. 20. Fourthly When 't is an industrious appetite awakening the soul to the Use of all means and practice of all duties in order to satisfaction Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after Fifthly and lastly It 's then aright when 't is an insatiable appetite never to be allaid with any thing besides Christ Psal. 73. 25. No nor with Christ himself till thou comest to the full enjoyment of him in Heaven The Believer knows how sweet soever his Communion with Christ is in this world yet that Communion he shall have with Christ in Heaven far excels it there it will be more intimate and immediate 1 Cor. 19. 12. more full and perfect even to satisfaction Psal. 17. 15. more constant and continued not suffering such interruptions as it doth here Rev. 21. 25. More pure and unmixed Here our Corruptions work with our graces Rom. 7. 21. but there grace shall work alone In a word more durable and
the representation of it But loe here is more than a representation Christ is set forth in this Ordinance as Crucified for you as suffering and enduring all this in your room and stead Now Suppose Reader thy self to be justly Condemned to the torture of the Rack or Strappado and that thy Father Brother or dearest Friend preferring thy life to his own would become thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ransomer by undergoing the torment for thee and all that is left for thee to suffer were only by way of Sympathy with him Suppose now thy self standing by that Engine of Torture and beholding the members of thy dear Friend distorted and all out of joynt hearing the doleful groans extorted by the extremity of anguish and under all these torments still maintaining a constant love to thee not once repenting his torments for thee couldst thou stand there with dry eyes could thy heart be unaffected and stupid at such a sight Write him rather a Beast a Stone than a Man that could do so But this is not all The Believers interest in Christ is Sealed as well as the sufferings of Christ represented in this Ordinance And is a Sealed Interest in Christ so cheap or common a thing as that it should not engage yea swallow up all the powers of thy soul O what is this What is this The Seal of God set to the Soul of a poor Sinner to confirm and ratifie its title to the Person of Christ and the inestimable treasures of his Blood Surely as the Sealing up of a man to Damnation is the sum of all misery and that poor Creature that is so Sealed hath cause enough to mourn and wail to Eternity So the sealing up of a soul to Salvation is the sum of all mercy and happiness and the Soul that is so sealed hath cause enough to lie at the feet of God over-whelmed with the sense of so invaluable a mercy Secondly As the nature and ends of the Ordinance call for the greatest composedness of spirit so the danger of unworthy receiving should work our hearts to the most serious frames For if a man be here without his Wedding-garment if he eat and drink unworthily it is at the greatest peril of his soul that he doth so 1 Cor. 11. 27. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. To prophane and undervalue that Body and Blood of the Lord is a sin above measure sinful and the punishments of such sins will be most dreadful for still the more excellent the Blessings are that come by any Ordinance the more dreadful the Curses are that avenge the abuse of such mercies How soon may a man draw fearful guilt upon his soul and dreadful judgments upon his body by an heedless management of such sacred mysteries For this cause many are weak and fickly among you and many sleep ver 30. It is a most weighty Note that a worthy Pen sets upon this Scripture they discerned not the Body of his Son Jesus Christ in his Ordinances but instead of that holy reverend and deep-dyed behaviour which was due to it both from their inner and outward man as being a Creature of the highest and deepest Sanctification that ever God Sanctified Sanctified not only to a more excellent and glorious condition but also to many ends and purposes of far higher and dearer concernment both for the glory of God and benefit of men themselves than all other Creatures whatsoever whether in Heaven or Earth they handled and dealt by it in both kinds as if it had been a common or unsanctified thing Thus they discerned not the Lords Body And as they discerned not his Body so neither did God in some sense discern theirs but in those sore Strokes and heavy Judgments which he inflicted on them had them in no other regard or consideration than as if they had been the bodies of his Enemies the bodies of wicked and sinful men Thus drawing the model and plat-form of their punishment as usually he doth from the structure and proportion of their sin Thus the Just and Righteous God builds up the breaches that we make upon the honour belonging to the body of his Son with the ruins of that honour which he had given unto ours in health strength life and many other outward comforts and supports O then what need is there of a most awful and composed spirit when we approach the Lord in this Ordinance Thirdly As the danger of unworthy receiving should compose us to the greatest seriousness so the remembrance of that frame and temper Christs spirit was in when he actually suffered those things for us should compose our spirits into a frame more suitable and agreeable to his when we see his death as it were acted over again before our eyes was his heart roving and wandering in that day Did he not sense and mind the work he was going about Was his heart like thine stupid and unaffected with these things Look but upon that Text Luke 22. 44. and you shall see whether it were so or no. It 's said when this Tragedy drew nigh and his Enemies were ready to seize him in the Garden That being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling down to the ground And Matth. 26. 38. he saith My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death His soul was full of sorrow and is thine full of stupâ—…y God forbid If thy heart be cold Christ's was hot If thou canst not shed a tear he poured out clods of blood from every part Oh! how unsuitable is a dry eye and an hard heart to such an Ordinance as this Fourthly As the frame Christs spirit was in at his death should command the most solemn frame upon our spirits at the recognizing of it so the things here represented require and call for the highest exercise of every grace of the spirit in our souls for we come not thither as idle Spectators but as active Instruments to glorifie God by exercising every grace upon Christ as Crucified for us Behold here among the rest 1. The proper object of Faith 2. The flowing spring of Repentance 3. The powerful attractive of Love First The proper object of Faith is here This Ordinance as a glass represents to thine eye that glorious Person of whom the Father said This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 17. 5. Of whom he said I have laid help upon one that is mighty This was he that was made Sin for us who had no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. Who trod the Wine-press alone and is here to be seen in his red Garments Every drop of his precious Blood hath a tongue calling for Faith to behold it poured forth as a Sacrifice to God for sin This saith he is
and Angels in any work of God since the beginning of time as it hath done in the designation of Christ to be the Lamb of God a Sacrifice for sin Behold the Lamb of God and in him behold the unsearchable Wisdom of God in recovering the Elect perfectly from all the danger of sin and yet making sin more dreadful to them by the way of their recovery from it than ever it could be made by any other consideration Infinite Wisdom in suiting the Sinners remedy to the cause of his disease The Disease was the Pride of Man the Remedy was the Humiliation of the Son of God Man affected to be as God that ruin'd him God comes down assumes flesh and will be found in fashion as a man that saved him O profound Wisdom which from the loss and ruine of our Primitive glory which was the undoing of us soul and body takes the occasion of raising us to a far better state and settles us in it with a much better security than the former Who but Jesus Christ the Wisdom of God as he is called 1 Cor. 1. 24. could ever have ordered and over-ruled the worst of evils so as by occasion of the breach of the Law to raise more glory to God than ever could have been given to him by the most punctual observation of its commands or by the most rigorous execution of its penalties O the astonishing depth of Wisdom Thirdly The love of God is in Christ. Behold the Lamb of God! and in him behold the love of God in the highest and most triumphant discovery that ever was or can be made of it in this world 1 Joh. 4. 10. Herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins O here here is the love of God to Sinners he manifests love to us in our daily provisions protections deliverances and comforts That we have health when others groan under pains therein is love That we have bread to eat when others are ready to perish therein is love O but to have Christ to be a Propitiation for us when the Angels that fell were left desperate therein was love indeed All the love that breaks out in the variety of providences for us in this world in our Health and Estates in our Relations and Comforts is nothing compar'd with this love Herein is love indeed Fourthly The tender mercies of God over poor Sinners are in Christ as Christ is the mercy promised Luk. 1. 72. the capital mercy so he is the Chanel through which all the streams of Gods mercy flow freely to the Sons of men Jude 21. the mercy of God to Eternal life or his saving mercies are only dispenced to us through Jesus Christ. Behold the Lamb of God! A Lamb prepared by the astonishing mercy of God a Sacrifice for us when no Sacrifice is laid out for fallen Angels Mercy alone hath made this difference mercy opened its tender eye and looked through Christ upon us in the depth of our misery In Christ it is that the milder attribute of mercy is exercised upon us whilst severe Justice punishes them Fifthly All the hopes of poor Sinners are in Christ Col. 1. 27. Take away Christ and where is the hope of our souls 1 Tim. 1. 1. 'T is by the Blood of the Lamb that we have hope towards God In his Oblation and no where else our hope of Salvation finds footing On him it is the Anchor of hope is fixed and the soul stayed when the storms of fear and inward trouble do arise and beat violently upon it Sixthly The Salvation of our souls to Eternity is in Christ Acts 4. 12. Neither is there any other name given under Heaven by which we must be saved He is the Ark in whom we are preserved Jude ver 1. Look as the sprinkling of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb upon the Door-posts of the Israelites was that which preserved them from the destroying Angel so the Blood of Christ the Lamb of God Typified by that Blood saves Believers from the wrath to come But who can open the unsearchable riches or recount the ravishing excellencies found in Christ Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect behold and admire for ever-more the incomparable excellencies of Christ. Heaven would be no Heaven to them if they could not behold Christ there Psal. 73. 25. But my business rather lies in improving this point than endeavouring farther to unfold it for new wonders will appear in Christ if we behold him to Eternity And all the improvement I shall make of it shall be in one use of Exhortation bespeaking every one of you what ever your present condition and estate be to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world And First If there be found among you any that are sensible of a stony hard heart which cannot relent and mourn for all the wrong done to Jesus Christ by sin whose affections are benum'd and stupified by sin so that no considerations they can urge upon their own hearts are able to thaw them cause a relenting pang for sin To such I would direct the words of this Text as the most effectual means to melt such hearts Look hither hard heart Behold the Lamb of God Consider believe and apply what is here sensibly represented and thy heart is hard indeed if it relent not upon such a view of Christ. It 's said Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn Behold the Son of God brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter for thee a vile polluted Sinner Behold the invaluable Blood of this Sacrifice shed for thee Bring thy thoughts close to this subject think who it is that was made a Lamb for Sacrifice for whom he endured all his unspeakable sufferings how meekly and willingly he endured all the wrath of God and men standing in his perfect Innocency to be slain for thee Behold he was made sin for thee who had no sin that thou who hadst no Righteousness mightst be made the Righteousness of God in him O who ever loved thee at that rate Christ hath done Who would endure that misery that Christ did endure for thy sake Would thy Father or the Wife of thy bosom or thy Friend that is as thy own soul be content to feel that for thee though but one hour which Christ felt when his sweat was as it had been great drops of Blood falling down to the ground Nay thou wouldst never taste such a cup for the saving of thine own Child as Christ drank off when he cried My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Behold how he loved thee Surely if the Rocks rent asunder at his passion thy heart is harder than a Rock if it thaw not at such a sight as this Fix thine eyes a while here and thine eye will affect thy heart Secondly Is there any among
us that make too light of sin and are easily overcome by every temptation to the commission of it O come hither and behold the Lamb of God and you cannot possibly have slight thoughts of sin after such a sight of Christ. See here the price of sin behold what it cost the Lord Jesus Christ to expiate it Did he come into the world as a Lamb bound with the bands of an irreversible decree to die for sin Did he come from the Bosom of the Father to be our Ransomer and that at the price of his own life Did the hand of severe Justice shed the Heart-blood of this Immaculate Lamb to satisfie for the wrong thy sins have done to God and yet canst thou look upon sin as a light matter God forbid I remember when the Worthies of Israel brake through the Host of the Philistines and brought unto David the waters of the well of Bethlehem It 's said 2 Sam. 23. 17. he would not drink thereof but pouered it out before the Lord and said Be it far from me that I should do this is not this the Blood of the men that went in Jeopardy of their lives He longed for it and yet would not taste it how pleasant soever it would have been to him considering what hazard was run to obtain it Ah Christian it was but the hazard of their Blood that gave cheque to David's appetite to the water and if the water had cost an equal quantity of their blood yet it had been but a low argument to disswade him from drinking it to this consideration that now lies before thee Thy sin actually cost the Blood of Christ one drop whereof is more valuable than all humane blood and yet wilt thou not deny thy Lusts nor resist a temptation for his sake Behold the Lamb of God slain for thy sin and thou canst never have slight thoughts of it any more Thirdly Is there any among you that droop and are discouraged in their spirits because of their manifold aggravated Iniquities who being over-weighed with the burdensome sense of sin despond and sink in their minds to such I would apply the words of my Text as a soveraign Cordial to revive their hearts and hopes Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world If the Blood of the Lamb can take away the sin of the world it can take away thy sin though there be a world of sin in thee For do but consider Christ as designed from Eternity to be our Propitiation Joh. 6. 27. Him hath God the Father Sealed as Sacrificed in our room in the fulness of time 1 Cor. 5. 7. Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us as accepted by the Father with greatest content and pleasure even as a sweet smelling savor Eph. 5. 2. as publiquely justified and discharged by God the Creditor at his Resurrection 1 Tim. 3. 16. and John 16. 9. And lastly Consider him as now in Heaven where he appears before God for us as a Lamb that had been slain Rev. 5. 6. bearing the very marks of his death and presenting them before God as the most effectual and moving plea to procure pardon and mercy for his people Let these things I say be duely pondred and nothing will be found more effectual to relieve the despondent minds of poor Believers against the sinking sense of their sin He that represents himself in the Sacrament as wounded for you shews at the same time to the Father in Heaven the real Body that was wounded than which nothing more effectually moves mercy or stays the sliding feet of a poor Believers hope And that whether we consider First The dignity of that body which was wounded the most hâ—…llowed and deeply sanctified thing that ever was created Luk. 1. 35. That holy thing Secondly Or his Vicegerency in suffering He was wounded for our Transgressions Isa. 53. 5. It was for that hard proud vain dead heart that thou complainest of Or Thirdly The end and design of those wounds which was to repair the Honour of God and the violated Law the language of that blood which is said to speak better things than the blood of Abel Heb. 12. 24. is this Father have these poor souls wounded thy Name thine Honour thy Law Behold the wounds thy Justice hath inflicted on me for reparation of all that wrong they have done thee Oh how sweetly doth the Blood of the Lamb settle the Conscience of a poor drooping Believer Fourthly Is there any among you that are faint-hearted and ready to shrink away from any sufferings for Christ as unable to bear and endure any thing for his sake To such I would say in the words of this Text. Behold the Lamb of God Did Christ suffer such grievous things for you and cannot you suffer small matters for him Alas what is the wrath of man to the wrath of the great and terrible God! Beside he was an Innocent Lamb and deserved not to suffer the least degree of penal evil upon his own account but thou hast deserved Hell and yet shrinkest under the sufferings of a moment Did he suffer so much for you and can you suffer nothing for him Surely he in suffering for you hath left you an example that you should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. What is our Blood compar'd in dignity to the Blood of Christ What are our sufferings compar'd in kind or degree to the sufferings of Christ Nothing is found to fortifie a mans spirit for sufferings as the Meditation of Christs sufferings for us doth Fifthly Is there any among you that are impatient under your own personal tryals and troubles apt to howl under common afflictions from the hand of God or swell with revenge under injuries from the hands of men To such I would say Behold the Lamb of God Was Christ a Lamb for meekness and art thou a Lyon for fierceness Was he silent not once opening his mouth when he suffered most vile things from the hands of Sinners and can you bear nothing He suffered patiently and deserved it not you suffer impatiently and have deserved infinitly more O that you would learn to be more Christ-like in all your tryals afflictions Let it not be said that Christ carried it as a Lamb when he was tried and we like Swine grumbling or houling when we are tried O get a Christ-like temper Sixthly Is there any among you that stagger at the promises through unbelief That cannot rely upon a word of promise because their own unbelieving hearts fill them with unworthy suspicions of the power faithfulness or willingness of God to perform them to them O that such would behold the Lamb of God as represented in this Ordinance Are not all the promises of God Sealed to Believers in the Blood of this Lamb Heb. 9. 17 18 19 20. Are not all the promises of God in Christ Yea and Amen to all that are in him 2 Cor. 1. 20. Or is there
Labour for a deeper measure and degree of Sanctification many other rules are but Spiritual Anodynes to give present ease but this is the way to a real Cure a thousand things may be found helpful to put by a vain thought for the present but then it returns again and it may be with more strength This is the proper method to dry the spring when others are but attempts to divert the stream If habits of grace were more deeply radicated acts of grace would be more easie to us and flow more freely from us Lastly Consider what an aggravation it is to your evil to vent it self in the special presence of God in duties See how Paul mourns over it in the Text. It is not only a sin but an affronting of God to his Face this grieving of his Spirit the spoil of thy duty it is as one aptly calls it obex infernalis an hellish Bar or Remora to all sweet and free intercourse of the soul with God 3. Consolation But whilst I am representing the evil of it to some it may be there are others over-whelmed with the sorrowful sense of it even to discouragement and despondency Poor Christian is this thy case Are all the Afflictions in the world nothing to thee in comparison with this evil which is present with thee when thou wouldst do good Well though thou canst not do the good thou wouldst nor free thy self yet from the evil thou wouldst rather than live be freed from There are four things that may be much relief to thy pensive soul. First Though the presence of evil even in thy best duties be sad yet thy grief and affliction for it is sweet That is a sad sin but this is a sweet sign It is not heart-evils heart-wandrings in duties hardness and unbelief that Hypocrites mourn for but more gross and external evils Let this trouble for sin comfort thee when the presence of sin grieves thee Secondly God accepts through Jesus Christ what you do sincerely though you can do nothing purely and perfectly Cant. 5. 1. Your sincerity is your Evangelical perfection the evil that is present is not imputed the good that is present is notwithstanding that commixed evil accepted which is strong consolation Thirdly You find your case was the case of blessed Paul a man of eminent Sanctity And if you consult all the Saints one by one you will find them all sick of this disease so that your case is not singular Fourthly Your Justification is perfect and without spot though your Sanctification be not so and the time is coming when your Sanctification shall be as your Justification is and after that no more complaints THE FOURTH MEDITATION UPON Eph. 1. 13. In whom also after that ye believed ye were Sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise FROM his doxology and solemn Thanksgiving ver 3. the Apostle enumerates the principal Christian priviledges that gave the occasion of that thanksgiving among which this in the Text is not the least though last named In this one verse we have the two noble acts of Faith displaid its direct act call'd Trusting and its reflex act which in order of nature and time follows it and is implied in the word Sealing In the latter clause to which I shall confine my Meditations four things must be remarked viz. The Subject of Assurance The Nature of Assurance The Author of Assurance The Quality of Assurance The Subject of Assurance which is and can be no other than a soul that hath closed with Christ by Faith reflex acts necessarily presuppose direct ones Never was any Unbeliever Sealed except to Damnation Assurance is peculiarly the Prerogative of Believers The Nature of Assurance he calls it Sealing an apt metaphor to express the nature of it For Assurance like a Seal both confirms declares and distinguishes it confirms the grant of God declares the purpose of God and distinguishes the person so priviledg'd from othermen The Author of Assurance which is the Spirit he is the Keeper of the great Seal of Heaven and it 's his Office to confirm and seal the Believers right and interest in Christ and Heaven Rom. 8. 16. Lastly The quality of this Spirit of Assurance or the Sealing Spirit he Sealâ—… in the quality of an holy Spirit and of the Spirit of promise as an holy Spirit relating to his previous sanctifying work upon the sealed soul. As the Spirit of promise respecting the medium or instrument made use of by him in this his Sealing work for he Seals by opening and applying the promises to Believers from the Spirits order The Note will be this Doct. That the priviledge of Sealing follows the duty of Believing There is no season more proper to treat of the Sealing of the Spirit than at a Sealing Ordinance nor can I handle the Spirits sealing work in a more profitable method than in satisfying these five Queries particularly and then applying the whole 1. What is the Spirits Sealing and how performed 2. Why none are Sealed till they Believe 3. Whether all Believers are Sealed 4. What is the priviledge of being Sealed 5. What are the effects of the Spirits Sealing 1. Query First What is the Spirtts Sealing worâ—… and how is it performed Answer The Sealing of the Spirit is his giving a sure and certain testimony to the reality of that work of grace he hath wrought in our souls and to our interest in Christ and the Promises thereby satisfying our fears and doubts about our estate and condition Every matter of weight and concernment is to be proved by two sufficient Witnesses Deut. 19. 15. our sincerity and interest in Christ are matters of the deepest concernment to us in all the world and therefore need a farther witness to confirm and clear them than that of our own spirits the spirit it self therefore bears witness with our spirits Rom. 8. 16. Three things concur to the spirits Sealing work He Sanctifies the soul. He irradiates and clears that work of Sanctification He enables it thereby to apply Promises The first is his material or objective Seal the latter his formal Sealing None but the Spirit of God can clear and confirm our title to Christ for he only searcheth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. and it 's his office Rom. 8. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to witness with our spirits This Seal or Witness of the Spirit must needs be true and certain because Omniscience and Truth are his essential properties He is Omniscient 1 Cor. 2. 10. and therefore cannot be deceived himself He is the Spirit of Truth Joh. 14. 17. and therefore cannot deceive us so that his testimony is more infallible and satisfactory than a Voice from Heaven 2 Pet. 1. 19. If an Angel should appear and tell us Christ had said to him Go and tell such a man that I love him that I shed my blood for him and will save him it could
never give that repose and satisfaction to the mind as the internal Witness or Seal of the spirit doth for that may be a delusion but this cannot The witness of our own heart may amount to a strong probability but the witness of the spirit is demonstration 1 Joh. 4. 24. So that as it is the design and work of Satan to cast in doubts and fears into gracious hearts to perplex and intangle them so oppositely it is the work of the Spirit to clear and settle the sanctified soul and fill it with peace and joy in believing Joh. 16. 7. Rom. 14. 17. In Sealing he both attests the fidem quae creditur the doctrine or object of Faith and the fidem quâ creditur the infused habit or grace of Faith Of the former he saith this is my Word of the latter this is my Work and his Seal or Testimony is evermore agreeable to the written word Isa. 8. 20. So that what he speaks in our hearts and what he saith in the Scripture are ever-more concordant and harmonious testimonies To conclude in Sealing the Believer he doth not make use of an audible Voice nor the Ministry of Angels nor immediate and extraordinary revelations but he makes use of his own graces implanted in our hearts and his own promises written in the Scriptures and in this method he usually brings the doubting trembling heart of the Believer to rest and comfort 2. Query Why are none Sealed till after Believing Answ. It cannot be denied but that many persons in the state of nature and unbelief may have ungrounded confidences and false comforts built thereupon This is evident from Matth. 7. 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have not we Prophesied in thy Name And Joh. 8. 54 55. of whom ye say that he is your God and yet ye have not known him And beyond all is that startling Scripture Heb. 6. 4 5. Who were once enlightned and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the World to come if they fall away c. But for any except real Believers to have those Witnesses and Sealings of the Spirit described above is utterly impossible and will evidently appear to be so whether we consider The Author Nature Object Mediums End and design of this work First Consider the Author of this work the Spirit of God who is an Holy Spirit as the Text calls him and the Spirit of Truth as Christ calls him Joh. 14. 17. and it cannot be that ever he should give testimony to a lye or give a false witness quite cross to the very tenour of the written word as he must do should he Seal an Unbeliever What though they be Elect yet whilst Unregenerate they have no actual interest in Christ and the Promises and therefore can have none Sealed by the Spirit Prius est praedicare de esse quam de cognosci we must be Saints befose we can be known to be so Secondly Consider but the nature of this work and it cannot be that ever an Unbeliever should be Sealed by the Spirit For assurance is produced in our souls by the reflexive acts of our Faith The Spirit helps us to reflect upon what hath been done by him formerly upon our hearts Hereby we know that we know him 1 Joh. 2. 3. To know that we know is a reflex act now it 's impossible there should be a reflex before there hath been a direct act No man can have the evidence of his Faith before the habit be infused and the vital act first performed Thirdly Consider the object matter to which he Seals and it will be found to be his own Sanctifying operations upon our hearts and consequently to our priviledges in Christ Rom. 8. 16. 1 Joh. 3. 24. The thing or matter attested is that Christ abideth in us and that we are the Children of God But no such thing can be Sealed till we believe for neither our Adoption nor Sanctification can be before Faith Fourthly Consider the mediums or instruments used by the Spirit in his Sealing work the promises are his sealing instruments and on that account he is call'd the Spirit of Promise in the Text Not only because he is the Spirit promised but as the Promises contain the spirit so the Spirit'uses the Promises i. e. clears them to our understandings and helps us to apply them to our souls but this he never doth nor can do till the soul by Faith have union with Christ for till then it hath no right in the Promises Fifthly and lastly Consider the end and design of this work of the Spirit which is to secure to the soul its peace pardon and salvation in Christ he seals Believers to the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. i. e. to their compleat Salvation So then it must be equally impossible for an Unbeliever to be sealed as to be saved 3. Query The next enquiry is whether all Believers are Sealed by the Spirit Answ. The resolution of this Query will depend upon several distinctions that must be made upon this matter 1. Distinction We must distinguish the different kinds of the Spirits sealing all his Sealing work is not of one kind nor to one and the same use and end There is an Objective Seal which distinguishes the person and a Formal Seal which clears and ratifies his interest in Christ and Salvation The first he doth in Sanctifying us the second in Assuring us When he Seals us Objectively that is when he Sanctifies us really by the infusion of grace he Seals us by way of distinction from other men which is one end of Sealing for though in respect of Gods decree and purpose there was a difference betwixt us and others before time 2 Tim. 2. 19. And although in regard of Christs intention in his death there was a difference betwixt us and others Joh. 17. 9. yet all this while there is no personal actual difference betwixt us and others till Sanctification do make one Eph. 2. 3. and 1 Cor. 6. 11. But the Sanctification of the Spirit makes a real difference in the state and temper of the person 2 Cor. 5. 17. and manifests that difference which Election put betwixt us and others before-time 1 Thes. 1. 4 5. And yet all this while a man may not be formally Sealed i. e. his Sanctification may be very doubtful to himself and he may labour under great fears about it 2. Distinction The seasons of the Spirits sealing must be distinguished and these are to some First Immediately upon the souls first closing with Christ at Conversion especially when Conversion is wrought at riper age and is usher'd in by a greater degree of the spirit of bondage and deep inward terrors Thus the Prodigal the emblem of a Convert so brought home to God was entertained with the fatted Calf and Musick but all