handled by God and Men for you Here you may see how I was Tortured Reproached Buffetted Scourged Crowned with Thorns Spit upon Hanged Nailed and Crucified Here you may see by Faith my Blood gushing out my Groans Sighs and Tears my Agonies and bloody Sweats and my soul made an Offering for your Sins Here you may see what a horrible and an exceeding great evil Sin is how infinitely God hates it And here you may see my Travels and Torments my Griefs unexpressible Sorrows for you I Dyed that you might Live I was made a Curse that you might be for ever blessed and I was put to Shame that you might be honoured I was made a Man of Sorrows that you might rejoyce and I was punished that you might be released I was debased that you might be exalted and I was scourged that you might be crowned I was condemned that you might be justified and I was slain that you might be saved In this Ordinance you may see a Righteous Man dying and yet under more guilt and punishment than ever man was here you may see a holy man dying as a great yea the greatest of Sinners Here you may as in a glass behold one put to the worst of Deaths for Sin and yet never sinned and here you may see the Lord of Glory murdered by the hands of wicked men In this Ordinance you may see by Faith as in a glass amazing and astonishing wonders the offended Person the Sufferer and the Offender set free The Innocent Surety taken and cast into Prison and the Necent released and set at liberty In a word here you may see the Prison doers sâ—t open for Prisoners to come forth freely Isa 61.1 2. and here you may see all Debts discharged Here you may see Divine Justice satisfied and God reconciled Isa 53. And here you may see sins pardoned and the Book crossed Here you may see the fountain of eternal Love opened to Sinners and God well pleased and here you may hear God saying Deliver them for I have found a Ransom Here you may see Truth and Mercy Justice and free Grace meet in that one Glorious Mediatour and here you may see God and Men in perfect peace and friendship Here you may see the everlasting Love of God streaming forth to you and here you may see the Grace of Christ flowing out to you Here you have a Token Sign and Memorial of it before your eyes that you may look on these things with great delight with joy and rejoycing and with admiration and thanksgiving Here you will read heart-ravishing matters and here you may see adorable objects This Ordinance sets forth the Love of God the Misery of Man the Grace of Christ and a Crucified Jesus to the life In it you may be even swallowed and lost for it holds out to you heights depths breadths and lengths of infinite free and adorable Love and Grace 2. The Lords Supper is a seal and pledge to inchurched Believers also It is not appointed for and given to them to be a sign token and memorial of God's Love and of the Grace and Death of Christ only but to be a seal and pledge to them too So the Apostle Paul tells us that the Ordinance of Circumcision was a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith that is of Christ the great object of Faith Rom. 4.11 Circumcision and the Passoever were the Isralites Seals and Baptisme and the Lords Supper are the believing Gentiles Seals Seals are appointed and made use of among men to ratifie and confirm their Contracts Covenants and Promises to men whereby they are made firm and irreversible Now the great God in allusion to the practises of men is pleased in his abundant Grace and Mercy not only to covenant and promise his greatest mercies to men but for their satisfaction and encouragement to seal them and thereby to ratifie and confirm them He need not to have done so upon his own account but he doth it only for our sakes Now I judge the Lords Supper Seals thus 1. First to the truth and reality of the Covenant and to the Blood of it namely Christ's which is called the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 and 2. To the Faith and Consciences of particular Saints That is it seals to them their right unto and interest in the Covenant of Grace the Blood of Christ and to all the benefits of his mediation and mercies of the Covenant But the first thing or matter it seals to is the truth and reality of the Covenant on God's part if I may so express it It pleased God to determinate and chuse to save men by Covenant or in a Covenant-way And this good pleasure of his took place in the bosom of his eternal Counsels before all time which Covenant of Grace was made with Jesus Christ in Eternity Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 Prov. 8. Eph. 1.4 but was made manifest in time unto men 2 Tim. 1.10 To them he gave Copies and Transcripts of it at first to Adam in Paradise Gen. 3.17 and afterwards to Noah Abraham and others until the promised Seed came when the whole of it was opened and unfolded In this Covenant God promised to give his Son Jesus Christ to and for men Isa 42.1.6 to make his Soul an offering for sin that he should see his Seed and of the travail of his Soul and that the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand Isa 53.10 11. And the Lord Jesus he engaged to come and fulfil all the will of his Father for them that were given to him For so David and Paul bring him in speaking of himself in Psal 40.6.7 8. Heb. 10.6 7 8 9. In Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure then said I Lo I come to do thy Will O God and a Body hast thou prepared me c. David spake of him as to come but Paul as already come and all in pursuance of the old Contract and Agreement in Heaven but I cannot inlarge on this But I say that Christ came and did the Will of his Father by virtue of the eternal Covenant between the Father and Him as I could shew at large had I room and time to do it Hence he tells us by Solomon in Prov. 8. that his delights were with the Sons of men from the beginning That he came down from Heaven to do the Will of him that sent him Joh. 6.38 That he kept his Fathers Commandments Joh. 15.10 That He finished the work the Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 And appeals to his Father in the case yea to his Righteousness and demands of him his promised Reward Joh. 17.4 5 24. God the Father promises to be well pleased with him and his Offerings and in him with those he mediated for That they should be pardoned healed justified washed and sanctified and that they should be accepted Eph. 1.6 That if Christ would be made sin for them they should be made
things and actions love and lovely objects irritates and drawes forth love to them and the more lovely beautiful and glorious they are the more forceably and powerfuly they draw as experiences shews and we all know But then are such objects and things most attractive and powerful when they are our own or when we know that we have a right unto and an interest in them Now in the Lord's Supper you have these glorious objects and things handed out to you and sealed to you in particular Take cat this is my body that was broken and this is my blood that was shed for you 1 Cor. 11.23 24 25. It speaks to sound-hearted Believers thus Here is your glorious Head and King your Redeemer and Saviour Here is the body that was broken and the blood that was shed for you Here is your Covenant and here are your promises sealed ratified and confirmed and here is free eternal and distinguishing love and grace shewed and given to you Oh! how strongly must this draw their love and how powerfully must this enflame their affections to Jesus Christ For this end it is appointed and this it doth in measure effect in holy hearts 6. It is instituted and appointed to strengthen and nourish inchurched Believers and to make them fat and flourishing in the house of God Psal 92.13 14. Psal 132.13 14 15. Psal 84.4 7. Believers have many grace-weakning and heart-wasting-lusts Snares and Temptations and therefore they have need of such strengthning heart-chearing and grace-nourishing means that they languish not but thrive and prosper in the inner man I have spoken somewhat of this before when I shewed you the priviledges of the Churches and the end for which all Believers should walk in Church fellowship and therefore shall not insist on it here Only let me add that you may find in this Ordinance both Food and Physick Here is as in the hand of an Ordinance food for your Souls and nourishment for your Graces and here is Physick for them also Here is the bread of Life and here is the water and wine of Life to feed and comfort you to fatten and nourish you to build you up and establish you and to make you strong men in Christ to encourage and help you and to make you fruitful in every good work Joh. 6. Col. 1.10 And here is not only food but Heavenly and spiritual Physick too Here you may have Purging and cleansing-Physick and here you may have comforting and refreshing Physick also And you do and still you will need both You need Lusts-purging and Heart-purifying Physick and behold here it is for you Christ gave himself and shed his blood that it might purge cleanse and heal us and that it might in and by his own means be conveyed to us I mean the vertue and efficacy of it for that end Eph. 5.25 26 27. Tit. 2.14 1 Joh. 1.7 9. Now in this Ordinance the purging cleansing and heart-purifying virtue of this blood is handed out and conveyed to the Faith of Believers which the Spirit in Christ's behalf applys and which we for our selves are to apply also The Spirit doth it powerfully and efficasiously and we by Faith are to do it dutifully and so it obtains its Ends on us And as it is purging cleansing and heart-purifying Physick to our Souls so it is Cordial Physick also to refresh and comfort to revive and chear our drooping sad and disconsolate Souls Of this Blood and for this End we may drink freely and constantly Here we may have our fill and drink abundantly according to our needs Here you may Augment your Light Faith Peace Hope Joy Courage Zeal Meekness Love and Patience and here you may obtain a measure of all spiritual good Here you may enrich your Souls with Christ Grace Assurance Experiences and Consolations and here you may obtain the destruction of your Lusts Here you will have the Spirit to feed you with the Bread of Life and here you may grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Psal 92.12 13. Therefore make use of this Ordinance for this blessed End also 7. It is appointed to shew and represent unto us the evil of sin also The great God represents sin to us in many glasses and shews it in and by several means He assures us that it is the Evil of Evils the Plague of Plagues and that it is the root and fountain the sink and sum of all Mischiefs that it is unexpressibly and transcendantly evil Rom. 7.13 That it is the object of his loathing abhorrence and hatred as being that which hath turned glorious Angels into hateful Devils and thrown them out of Heaven into Hell as that which hath defaced and marr'd his Image in men and made them Enemies unto and Rebels against God This he declares to us in and by his Word his Law and Gospel as also by the Judgments he executeth in the Earth on Sinners yea the whole Creation here below do loudly proclaim it But the clearest glass wherein God opens and manifests the odiousness and exceeding sinfulness of sin is Christ's Death and Sufferings which the Lords Supper plainly declares unto us and where we may see it displayed in all its most hateful and abominable colours Here you may by Faith see the exceeding great Evil of it and be provoked and stirred up to Hate and abhor it to eschew and avoyd it For by beholding the Curse and Wrath of God poured out on the Soul and Body of his dear Son Gal. 3.13 and by seeing him Reproached Buffetted Contemned Despised Crucified Hanged Nailed to the Cross Cruelly handled Tortured Tormented Pierced Murdered and above all the weight of divine Vengance pressing his precious Soul and wringing out Bloody Sweats and he pouring out his Soul to Death and all for and under the weight of our Sins and Guilt Surely the sight of this by Faith will greatly raise our hatred of all sin and disswade us from it 8. It is appointed and given to encrease and strengthen our Gospel-Repentance too Here we may look on Him whom we by sin have pierced and mourn and be in bitterness of Soul Zach. 12.10 for here is the Blood of the Scape Goat that is able to break the most stony hearts in the world And we stand in daily need of it for we are in danger every day of being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and the world Heb. 3.13 But the Lord's Supper presents to us a heart-melting Object yea many such Objects There we may see heart-melting Love and there we may behold heart-breaking Grace There we may perceive the Lamb of God making Attonement for our sins and there we may understand that the Lord of Glory hath taken off from us our Sins Guilt and Punishment There we may discern him standing in our stead and between the living God and us Condemned dead men with the Censor of the Sanctuary full of his precious Blood making satisfaction for us to divine Justice There we
by you or you may be undone For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh his own Damnation 1 Cor. 11.29 And if you should eat and drink this holy Supper in an unregenerate and unjustified state be you sure that you will eat and drink damnation to your selves for the Lord hath spoken it This is not a matter to be dallied with 2. Examine your selves if you allow not of some sin and if there be not one lust carnal-self or some one or more Idols indulged and connived in at and by you For should you carelesly overlook this matter and sit down at the Kings Table with any of them in you and wink at it be you assured that the Lord Jesus will not accept and bless you visit you and smile on your Souls but he will loath your offering and hide his face from your Souls Therefore search and see what you can find of any of them in your hearts or hands within or without you For your great Lord searches and tryes you Rev. 2.23 Make an impartial and diligent enquiry into this matter and that with all possible integrity of heart that God may see that you are willing to know the worst of your selves And do as David and others have done in this weighty matter Psal 77.6 make diligent search and entreat the Lord to help you Psal 139. ult Ask your selves and try to purpose do I not wink at and practically allow of Anger Passion Wrath yea of Hastiness Rashness Peevishness and Frowardness Do not I wink at my Pride worldly-mindedness vanity of mind and frothy discourses Do not I hearken to Tatlers and take up Reproaches against the Righteous and do not I Reproach them also by telling to others what I hear Do not I worship God carnally and in a formal and Hypocritical manner and do not I live in the careless neglect of many Religious and Relative duties day after day Am not I a Peace-breaker among my Relations and others by a peevish and quarrelsome Spirit instead of a Peace-maker Am I not guilty of very much luke-warmness and indifferency of spirit in all Duties as also of much idleness and mispending of pretious time Do I not live as a stranger to God and his holy will and in an unacquaintedness with my self and do not I slight my Gospel-mercies and undervalue the good things that God gives me Do I not leave my eternal concerns in doubt and at a great uncertainty and live year after year in the dark about my spiritual state although I have sufficient means to enable me to make a right judgment of them and am enjoyned so to do 2 Pet. 1.10 2 Cor. 13.5 3. Examine your selves and try if you do act and move in duties by the Spirit of God with and from Divine and Gospel principles Doth the life of Christ animate and quicken you the love of Christ constrain and draw you the light of Christ lead and conduct you and the faith of Christ strengthen and encourage your hearts in them Do you act and worship God with your own Spirit or the holy Spirit of God And do you worship him with special light love faith and sincerity or with common For it is possible you may be mistaken and take the one for the other So likewise you should examine your Aims and Ends what you Intend and Design in receiving of the Lords Supper And you must also enquire what Earnings and Improvements you make of it and what your Spiritual profit is what you meet withall in it and what good you receive from it 2. Whatever Evil you find in your Hearts or Hands you must throw out and Repent of it You must not think it enough and that your Work is done when you have found out the Plagues of your own Hearts 1 Kings 8.38 But you must endeavour the speedy removal of them and thorowly amend your Wayes Jer. 7.3 5. You must confess them to God unfeignedly humble your selves and Repent in Dust and Ashes Job 42.6 2 Chro. 7.14 yea you must also Hate and Abhor them forsake and Mortifie them and resolve to have no more to do with them 3 You must also prepare your selves by emptying the Heart of Carnal-self and the World for else these things will greatly Obstruct your Holy and Profitable receiving of this Ordinance The more the Heart is emptied the more it will Hunger and Thirst after it and the good and profit of it the stronger your Desires will be after Christ and the benefits of his Death the clearer you will see them and the Sweeter they will be unto your Taste The emptier you are of these Heart suffocating Evils the more Desirable Beautiful Acceptable and Pleasant they will be unto your Souls and the greater and more apparant will your Earnings and Advantages be to your Souls As you will abundantly Experience if you make proof of it 4. Prepare for the Worthy and Profitable receiving of this Holy and Soul enriching Ordinance by possessing your Hearts with the Excellency and Goodness the Priviledge and Profit of it Get as clear Apprehensions and Conceptions as you can of the Person the Love Grace and Benefits it holds forth unto you and who it is you go to meet withall there For the clearer your sight is of these things and the more the Heart is possessed and affected with them the more they will stir up and provoke your Faith enflame your Love and draw your Hearts to them The clearer they lye in your Heads your Minds and the warmer they lye on your Hearts the more Influential and forceable they will be on all your Affections and Graces to quicken raise and draw them forth into act and Exercise 5. Prepare by getting a due sight and sense of your own Wants and Weakness your own personal Vileness and Vnworthiness and of your own Sins and Iniquities That the due sight and sense of these Evils may make you Vile in your own Eyes debase and humble your Hearts That you may be truly Base and Vile in your own Eyes and draw nigh to him with a Holy fear and Trembling Esa 66.2 Psal 2.11 That you may go to him and make use of this Ordinance for the supply of your Wants and strengthening your Weaknesses and that you may be sensible of the worth and necessity of Christ's Death for you 6. Get high and great Expectations raised in your Hearts of seeing enjoying and receiving a measure of all the fulness of Christ and his benefits or the fruits of his Death The Lord Jesus will be most free and open handed there to all worthy Receivers and therefore you must not go to it and him with dejected fearful and low Spirits and Hopes But you must go to them with high and great Hopes and Expectations of finding him and receiving high and great things from him Be sure that he would have you do so that it is your Duty and that you shall find him a liberal and noble Benefactor
it is a Spiritual Gospel-Ordinance for and respecting spiritual things 3. The Institutor of it and that is Jesus Christ him to whom the Father had committed all power and Authority and into whose hand he had given all things Joh. 3.35 Matth 11.27 Matth. 28.18 I say it is an Ordinance instituted by Jesus Christ himself Matth. 26.26 27. 1 Cor. 11.23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same Night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do ye in remembrance of me And mark it it is an instituted and a positive Ordinance and duty not a natural or moral one It is not founded on or put in and among the moral precepts or natural Laws of God but it is meerly an Institution of Christ appointed for and given to his inchurched members and none else And therefore it is not an Ordinance for and the use of it a duty incumbent on Unbelievers and persons dead in sins while they remain in that condition but 't is only appointed and intended for Believers in their orderly walkings with God All men as they are reasonable Creatures are bound to pray to God and to hear his Word preached because they are though not meerly and only so Ordinances and duties of moral worship and not meerly of divine Institution as Baptism and the Lords Supper are but all men are not so bound to participate of the Lords Supper and water Baptism 4. It is said that this Ordinance is appointed for and given to inchurched Saints that is that persons in Christ may and they only can partake of it in the way and order of the Gospel For although their relation to Christ and interest in the Covenant of Grace gives them a fundamental right unto it yet it is their orderly walking together in Church-fellowship under the discipline of Christ the care inspection and government of his Church-Ministers that gives them an immediate and orderly right unto it For we never read of any of the Apostles or other Ministers in their days that did or were allowed to receive it but such as were inchurched That it was by the Apostles direction administred and received in the Churches we often find but never that it was so else-where or by Believers out of a Church-state Acts 2.42 ult Acts 20.6 7. 1 Cor. 11.23 24. compared with 1 Cor. 1 2. And Paul tell the Church at Corinth That the Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ the Bread that we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread 1 Cor. 10.16 17. 5. The Matter of this Ordinance is Bread and Wine Luk. 22.19 Matth. 26.26 1 Cor. 11.23.24 Mark 14.25 Matth. 26.29 It is true that it is but carnal matter and that which is common food among men but it is more than Bread and Wine by Christ's Authority and Appointment when they are set apart by the word of Prayer and by Faith dedicated and sanctified to this use and service in the name and by the Authority of Jesus Christ Quest Why is this Ordinance called the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 10.20 Ans 1. It is called a Supper because it was instituted and celebrated at or about Supper-time The Lord Jesus chose that time rather than another as of his Soveraign Authority will and pleasure who may make appoint and change times and seasons as he will so likewise with respect to the Paschal Lamb or the Passover and the time of the Israelites eating thereof which was done in the Night Exod. 12.8 and also that he might abolish and put an end to that Ordinance at that time of its observation by setting this up in the place and room thereof 2. It is called the Lords Supper 1. Because he did personally and immediately institute it administer and eat it himself Matth. 26.26.27.29 2. Because it is appointed and ordained by him to be a constant memorial pledge of his Death and Sufferings Luk. 22.20 But more of this anon 3. Because it is to be received and celebrated in his Name and to his Glory 1 Cor. 11 2â— We read of several things called by his Name as his Day or the Christian Sabbath Rev. 1.10 The Laws and Commands of Christ are so called Joh. 15.10 So likewise we read of the Table and Cup of the Lord 1 Cor. 10.21 So are the Churches and the Teachers of them called by his Name for the reasons before mentioned Quest What is the nature use and end of the Lords Supper or wherefore is it instituted and given to inchurched Saints as it appears it is Ans I shall answer this question in many particulars only in the general I may say that it is instituted ordained and given to the Churches for Christs glory and their spiritual profit 1. But more particularly 1. To be to them a constant sign and memorial of Christs Death and Sufferings for them We are exceeding prone and very apt to forget the Love of Christ and what he hath done and suffered for us which should be matter of shame and sorrow to us But the Lord Jesus in his great love and care to and of his Churches hath provided proper Remedies for these Maladies and hath appointed his Gospel and the Preaching thereof and also Baptism and the Supper to keep alive in their minds and hearts his Death and Sufferings and to be continual signs tokens and memorials of them unto their Souls Rom. 4.11 Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25 26. And as God told Noah Gen. 9.11 17. This is the Token of the Covenant which I have made between me and you I do set my Bow in the Cloud and it shall be for a Token of the Covenant So says Jesus Christ I have entered into Covenant with God in your behalf and in your names to dye and suffer the shameful Death of the Cross for you to redeem you from all Iniquity Tit. 2.14 to wash and cleanse you from the guilt and filth of sin to reconcile you unto God and make you acceptable to him Eph. 5.25 26. 2 Cor. 5.18 19. Eph. 1. This I have done for you I took your sins and guilt your death and punishment on my self by assuming your Nature and substituting my self in your stead and I have paid your Debts made you Righteousness 2 Cor. 5. ult have brought you nigh to God by the Sacrifice of my Life And you may not forget it but have it still in your eyes and hearts Behold I have given you this sign token and memorial thereof Here you shall see by Faith your great high Priest sacrificing and offering up himself to attone divine Justice to appease the wrath of God and here you may see how I was
that comes in to see his Guests and that bids them be merry yea and to eat and drink abundantly with an O Beloved Cant. 5.1 In the last verse of the 4th chapter the Church importunatly invites and sollicites the Lord Jesus to come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits namely when they were congregated together and waiting on and for him The Lord Jesus comes and tells them so Chap. 5.1 I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my myrrh with my Spice then he chears them up and bids them welcome be merry and eat and drink not sparingly but freely and abundantly O Beloved His holy Temples and this heavenly Feast are appointed and ordained for his Reception and Entertainments with his Beloved Rev. 2.1 2 Cor. 6.16 There are theâ— most joyful meetings and there do they hold and enjoy the most comfortable and heart-satisfying communion together as holy hearts can and do often experience For this end hath he instituted and for this end should all Church-members receive this Ordinance 4. As it is appointed for Communion between Christ and his inchurched-members so likewise for their Communion among themselves 1 Cor. 10.16 17. Good men have heart-dividing and love-separating lusts self-Interests world and Devil and therefore they need all proper means to unite and knit their hearts together in Brotherly Love Communion Col. 2.2 The Lord Jesus hath commanded and strictly charged his people to love one another as he hath loved them Joh. 13.34 Joh. 15.12 15. and that they love one another with pure hearts fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 That they walk in love and endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the Bond of peace Eph. 4.1 2 3. Eph. 5.1 2. Now in order to the obtainment of it and that Believers may be encouraged to mind and do his will herein the Lord Jesus hath by his own Laws and Authority formed them up into holy Temples and united them into spiritual Societies and given them occasion and opportunity to meet together and feast themselves at his Table at his cost and charges and that as Guests of his own bidding There they may often meet sit down and feed together of his dainties There they see and taste feel and smell and there they may speak of hear him and of his grace and love There they may see that they are all bought with the same price and redeemed with the same blood There they may see that they are members together of the same head and body that they are all Plants of his planting Trees of his watering Subjects of the same Grace and Spirit and the same objects of his care and protection There they may see that they are all bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh and that he hath fellowship and communion with them all That they are heirs together of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3.7 and that they are all entitled to an eternal inheritance There they may see that they are all partakers of the same life and that the Lord Jesus hath made the same provisions for the everlasting happiness of all their Souls There they may see that they have the same faith and hope and that the covenant and promises belong to them all That there is a mutual Interest amongst them and that they are concerned in and with each other That they are engaged in one common cause with Christ and that they are not their own but one anothers All which things and considerations are of great use towards the knitting and endearing of their hearts one to another in spiritual love holy peace and Brotherly affection For by their sitting down altogether as one body at one Table of the Lord eating and drinking the same Bread and Wine and by faith the same body and blood of the Lord by beholding and believing their mutual interest in Christ and in all the benefits of his death and that they are all alike invited to the feast and all alike welcomb'd and entertained by their Lord and King they are much induced thereby to love one another to seek desire and rejoyce in the good of each other and to walk together as Heirs of the Kingdom of Glory keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace And likewise in joyning hearts and hands together as one body in celebrating the worship and in magnifying the name and glory of Christ 5. An other great use and end of this Ordinance is to knit and endear the heart to Christ himself And it is a powerful means to effect it He is a most full and glorious Object of Love a most lovely Object indeed He is the fairest of Ten thousands and altogether lovely or altogether loves Cant. 5.10 ult He hath all glorious excellencies in him and is the perfection of beauty Psal 50.2 All ye glories of the Heavens and the Earth of Angels and men are but dark shadows unto this Son of Righteousness The Lord Jesus is most lovely glorious and beautiful in his love and grace to us in his obedience and death for us and in all his Laws and Promises to us But especially his Person is most beautiful glorious and lovely Psal 45. 1 Cor. 2.8 his most transcendant and glorious excellencies will be the eternal wonderment of Saints and Angels and they shall be for ever employed in adoring and praising him He is an Object too high for us now to reach and a Sun too bright and glorious for our dim eyes to behold only some Raies and Beams of his Glory he causes to shine on us and enables us to take them in in some degree Psal 63.1 2. But of all means the Lord's Supper is the most full and proper for the opening and representing unto us unto our faith the beauty glory and loveliness of Christ in his love and grace in his death and sufferings There we may read wonderful Stories and see glorious Mysteries indeed There we may read and see his love and grace to us streaming forth by his heart blood and there we may see the greatness freeness profitableness purity sweetness and the transcendant excellency of his love and loveliness There we may see the eternal Fountain of love and the inexhaustible-Treasures of his heart of his grace and kindness opened and running down to us and there we may see a bottomless Sea of mercies and affections discovered There we may read Christ loving us and giving himself for us unto an accursed death Gal. 2.20 Gal. 3.13 And Oh! my Brethren what an attracting Soul drawing heart-knitting object of love is the Lord Jesus represented to be to us in that Ordinance It is a Glass that represents and shews us nothing else but love and Christs loveliness It is an Ordinance that Preaches and Seals love to Believers and thereby provokes enflames and drawes out their love to him Love will be drawn and not driven and what drawes it into warm and strong Acts but lovely persons