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 [Page 2] 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. So that we may consider these words, either as a Doctri­nal Assertion, That such as are in Christ Jesus, are always New Creatures: Or, as a Seasonable Exhortation, That they [Page 3] should manifest that they are in Christ, by discovering themselves to be New Creatures.

In both senses the New Creature is a ne­cessary Consequent of Ʋnion to Christ. The connexion is inseparable between these two. So that we may truly af­firm, That all such are so; And we may rationally exhort all, that pretend to such a Priviledge, that they would be so, and show it. But whether consider­ed, as a Doctrinal Proposition, or as an Exhortation; whether consider'd as a Command from God, or as a wish and Prayer of the Apostle; There are three things obvious enough to be explained, and spoken to. 1. Something concern­ing this Priviledge of being in Christ, and the import of it. 2. Concerning this New Creation, which is to be Connected with it. And, 3. Of the Connexion between them, and the Ʋniversal Obliga­tion upon all that are in Christ, to be New Creatures; That if any Man be in Christ, he is, he must be a New Creature; or where there is no such Change, it is in vain to pretend to be in Christ; Or he that is not a New Creature, he is not in Jesus Christ; he hath no part in him, and shall have no benefit by him.

Every Man's Title and Claim to a [Page 4] special Interest in Christ, and Relation to him, must be tryed by this Rule. This is more fully exprest, Ephes. 4.20, 21, 22, 23. But you have not so learned Christ, if so be you have been taught of him, as the Truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the for­mer conversation, the old man, which is cor­rupt according to the deceitful lusts: And be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holi­ness.

1. If any man be in Christ. Something it will be necessary to speak concerning this Ʋnion to Christ, from which we are said to be in him, as sometimes Christ is said to be in us. And both are some­times joyned together, John 6.56. He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

There are three sorts of Ʋnion which we cannot sufficiently admire. The first from all Eternity, in the impenetrable Se­crets of inaccessible Light. The second, in the fulness of Time, in the Womb of the Virgin. The third is made daily by the Spirit and Grace of Christ. The first of these is the Essential Ʋnion between the Eternal Father, and the Eternal Word, in the Adorable Mystery of the ever blessed Trinity. The second, is the Personal Ʋ ­nion [Page 5] of the Humane Nature with the Divine, in that unspeakable Mystery of the Incarna­tion. The third, is the Spiritual Ʋnion between Christ and Christians, which de­pends on the two former, and hath some dark resemblance of them. Con­cerning which, let me mention a few things.

1. That there is a real Ʋnion between Christ and the Souls of Believers, how difficult soever it be to understand the manner of it. He is not only Emanuel, God with us, as partaker of Flesh and Blood, having assumed our Nature; He is not only for us, in the Work of Re­demption, by giving himself to God a Ransom and Sacrifice for us: But he is said to be in us, and to dwell in our hearts; and we are said to be in him, and dwell in him, as the Branches are in the Vine, and by many other Images and Idaea's of Union is this set forth by Allusions and Metaphors, and Similitudes of many sorts, to signifie and represent to us this blessed Union between Christ and real Christians. And as he did partake with us of Flesh and Blood, Heb. 2 14. We are said to be made partakers of Christ, Heb. 14. as the Principle and Measure of all ^* [Page 6] our Spiritual Enjoyments and Expecta­tions. And to be in h m that is true in Je­sus Christ, John 1.5.20.

It is sometimes set forth by the natural Union between Head & Members: At o­ther times, by the Marriage union; and both are discoursed of together. Eph 5.25.30. We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; By Allusion to what is said of Eve as to the first Adam. He is set forth as a Foundation for never failing Support, as a Husband for the dearest Love; as a Vine, as an Head, for Vital Influence; as Food, and Nourishment, for the most intimate Conjunction. He is said to be one flesh with us, and we are said to be one spirit with him. Yea, as Christ is said to be in the Father, Believers are said to be in him, and he in them, John 14.20. Yea further, he is said to be one with them; as he and the Father are one, John 17.21. And he is said also to live in them, and they to live in him, Gal. 2.20. Insomuch that sometimes the Scripture speaks of Christ and the Church as of one Person, 1 Cor. 12.12. where the Church is called Christ.

How amazing and admirable is the Expression, Christ in us, and we in him! What Riches and Glory is there in this Mystery! as the Apostle speaks, 1 Colos. 27. Who ever heard before of a Ser­vant's [Page 7] being in his Master, or a Disciple in his Lord, or the Members being in the Head? But here is a Mystery of Divine Love and Grace, which the A­postle seems with some kind of Affecta­tion to speak of, at every turn, and upon every occasion; to mention it several times in one Chapter, in one Verse; yea and over and over in the same Verse: So un­feigned and so fervent was his Love to Christ, if he fight or triumph, it is in Christ Jesus; If he bless God, or God bless him, it is still spoken of as in Christ Jesus: He speaks, as if he could do no­thing without him; His Life, his Mo­tion, his very Being is to be in Christ.

We must silently Adore this Won­der of Divine Love, and cover our Faces in humble Adoration for such an Honour, which the blessed Angels might envy, if they were capable of it: For however Christ be there Head, they are yet at his Feet, they are not in him, as Believers are. It is true, the Angels serve him, and worship in his presence; they fol­low him by Millions, they encompass his Throne with Flames of Love, they quit Heaven to obey his Orders, they flye swift as the Wind to execute his plea­sure; But Christ is not in them, as he is in us; nor they in him, as we are said to [Page 8] be. The Name Emanuel, is to them an inexpressible Name; they cannot say, God with us, in the sense that we can: For he took not the Nature of Angels at first, and he hath not taken them in­to such an union with himself, as he has the Sons of men. But,

2. That you may not mistake, re­member that all Christians are not in Christ in a like manner. Some are so on­ly by Baptism, and a visible profession, o­thers by a living union. Such a differ­ence our Saviour makes, John 15. v. 6. where he tells us, there are some Bran­ches of a Tree that have only Influence enough to bring forth Leaves, and no Fruit and are cast off as Branches, [...]; They seemed to be Branches in Christ, they appeared as Branches; they pro­fest union to him, but were not what they seemed to be. In this sense I un­derstand the being in Christ spoken of, Gal. 1.22. I was known by face to the Churches that are in Judea, that are in Christ Jesus: That is, to the Body of professing Chri­stians there, as distinguished from the Jews, though there were many rotten Members amongst them, that were not in Christ by a lively Faith. Therefore,

3. The great Bonds of Ʋnion between Christ and real Christians, or true Believers; [Page 9] are, the Spirit on his part, and Faith, and Love on ours. On which account, Christ is said to dwell in us by his Spirit, and we are said to dwell in him by Faith. By the Spirit he comes down to us, by Faith we ascend up to him. It is by Faith we are joyned to Christ as our Foundation, 1 Pet. 2.6. And by the Spirit we are built toge­ther for an habitation of God, Ephes. 2 v. 22. And, he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit with him, 1 Cor. 6.17. Our Union unto Christ immediately ariseth from the Communication of his Spirit to us; and our Participation of the same Spirit with him, by which Spirit the Divine Na­ture, as the Image of Christ, is formed in us, 2 Pet. 1.4. Gal. 4.19. And the Introducti­on this new spiritual form, gives deno­mination to the Person. Christ enters into us by Faith and inhabits in us by his holy Spirit. And of these two Bonds, the Spirit is the primary one, as being the Author of the other. And therefore Believers are said to live in the Spirit of Christ, and to walk in the Spirit, and after the Spi­rit, and to be led by the Spirit. Hereby says the Apostle, We know that we dwel in him, and he in us because he has give us of his Spirit, 1 John 4.13. 2 Corinth 13, 14.

I confess it is hard to conceive any Ʋ ­nion nearer than that between God and e­very creature: For God as Creator is as near to every Creature, as that Creature is to it self, and yet distinct from that Creature, for that Creature is not God. But the different sort of Ʋnion must be distinguished by different Operations. God is nearer to Creatures in their Natural State, worketh on them as the God of Nature. Christ is nearer to the Souls of Believers by his Spirit, worketh on them as an Head of holy gracious Influ­ences. The different Operations make the great difference. Though we shall not fully understand this, till we come to that Place and State, where that which is imperfect shall be done away. However we are said to be built on him, as on a Foundation; to be inserted into him, as Bran­ches into a Vine,; to be incorporated with him as an Head; and what words can be used more significant of an Intimate Ʋnion? Therefore,

4. We may add, That it is more than a Relative and Political Ʋnion, such as is between King and Subjects. It ex­ceeds it in the Intimacy of the Union, as well as the Benefits of it. The Simili­tude between Head and Members, making one Natural Body, amounts to more. Be­sides, [Page 11] his Kingdom is not of the same sort; and he rules his Subjects after another manner. And the Mystery of the Tri­nity in Ʋnity, to which it hath some Re­semblance, carries it yet higher and fur­ther. It is therefore a most near and immediate Spiritual Ʋnion; whereby e­very particular Believer is joyned to the Lord. This is a Great Mystery, Ephes. 5.32. Oh how ^† mysterious and ineffable is this Ʋnion of the Lord and the Soul! Who would not admire at their proud dis­dainful Folly, that while they cannot explain the Union between Soul and Bo­dy, are ready to jeer at their just, hum­ble, and modest Ignorance, who call this other, a Mystical Ʋnion: Or, because they know not what to make of it, would make nothing; and will not al­low there should be any such Thing at all, or would have it to be next to no­thing. But have those words no sense belonging to them, or not a Great Sense? 1 Cor. 6.17. He that is joyned to the Lord, is one Spirit. This is a Mystery, saith the Apostle, that hath Riches of Glory in it, 1 Col. 27.

And that Ʋnion is the Foundation of Fel­lowship and Communion with him, as the [Page 12] Apostle speaks, 1 John 1.3. That he may have Fellowship with us, and truly our Fel­lowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. That is, That you may have like Fellowship with God and Christ, as we have. Not that our U­nion and Communion is first with the Church, and then with Christ, as some of late have Argued; though therein they contradict a Learned Man, whose Opi­nions, in other Instances, they are very fond of; I mean Episcopius. For upon that place he says, That this sense is care­fully to be avoided, That we are first united to the Apostles, and then to God and Christ. It is both absurd in it self, and of very ill consequence. It is in it self absurd, because we, and the Apostles themselves are but Brethren, in respect of Union un­to Christ; They are united to him in the same manner with us. And there are very ill consequences would follow from that Opinion: For then there must be Union and Communion with some Men and Company of Men, before we can have Union and Communion with Christ, which Error, by degrees, was serviceable to introduce the Papa­cy. Let me add,

5. This Union is not to be supposed without Regeneration, without the Re­novation [Page 13] of our corrupt Nature by the Spirit of Christ, in order to Communi­on with him. The Union otherwise between Christ and us would be like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, the Head of gold, and the Arms of silver, and the Feet of clay. If there be not Spiritual Life from Christ by the quickening Spirit, the Bo­dy of Christ would be partly dead; And who would ever indure a dead Bo­dy to be joined to him, though it were the Carkase of one he never so dearly loved?

6. This must also be remembred, That this Union between Christ and us, is to be brought about by mutual consent, and therefore often set forth by the Conjugal Union, to which Consent is necessary. Our Lord has laid the Foundation, and declared his readiness to receive us into Union with him, by the publication of his Gospel; And it is the work of his Spirit, to make us willing to yield our selves to the Lord, that we may enter into Union with him, and be brought under the Bond of the Covenant; We must know him, chuse him, and accept him for our Teacher, Saviour, and Lord, by a present com­pliance with his Terms. We must de­vote and give up our selves heart [...]ly, [Page 14] and unfeignedly, and unreservedly to be his; And then we may say, My Be­loved is mine, and I am his; I am in Christ, and Christ in me.

And here is the great Office and Work of Faith in this World, to bring Christ and our Souls into this blessed Union; Upon which Account we are now in him, as hereafter we shall be with him. When the work of Faith is over, and we are brought to Glory, we shall be with Christ, and shall be ever with the Lord; But now we are said to be in him.

It is true, we are now said to sit in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus; But here­after it is promised, we shall sit down on his Throne with him. Now he dwells in us, and we in him; Hereafter we shall be with him, to behold his Glory. For so he Prays, John 17. And he promised the Penitent Thief, that he should be with him that day in Paradise. Our spiritu­al life is now hid with God in Christ, as to present Union by Grace; but it is hid with Christ in God, as to eternal Glory. The expressions are observably diffe­rent; In Christ now, with Christ hereafter; Now united with God in Christ, Here­after with Christ in God; In Christ upon Earth, In God in Heaven. For to be in [Page 15] Christ, refers to the Mediator, and is by Faith; But Faith shall cease in Heaven, and the Mediator deliver up the King­dom to the Father, that God may be all in all. Thus for a brief Explication of the Priviledge of being in Christ.

II Let us consider what is affirmed of those that are in Christ, or what they are exhorted to; What they are, if they be in Christ; What they must manifest themselves to be, if they will prove an Interest in such a Priviledge; that is, New Creatures. If any Man be in Christ, he is a New Creature; Or a New Creati­on, for so the Original will bear. And it is not in this place only, but several others, where the like Expressions are used concerning that great Change, that is made by the Grace of God on the Souls of Men. It is termed a Creation, for the greatness of the Change; and a new Creation, for the Excellency of it.

One may be apt to think, That the Extraordinary Conversion of the Apo­stle Paul, made so great a Change in him, that it is on that Account he so often speaks in such terms; that he mentions so often old things done away, and the old Adam put off; That he speaks of a New Man, a New Creation, and New Creatures, and a Spiritual Resurrection [Page 16] from the Dead, and the like; As that Glorious Light, which shone round about him, when he was struck to the ground in the way to Damascus, might occasion him so often to use the expression of Light; for, at every turn, he speaks of the Father of Lights, the Armour of Light, the Kingdom of Light, the Inheritance of the Saints in Light, of Illumination, of opening the Eyes, &c. But how fit a representa­tion is this of the Change by converting Grace, as might be illustrated, by consi­dering the state of Spiritual Death, that we are in before, and by considering the nature of the Change it self, and the Ef­fects and Operations that do afterwards manifest and discover it.

We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, begotten again, born from above, quickened and made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Seve­ral words are used, according to the se­veral Powers of the Soul, and according to the different objects the New Crea­ture is conversant about: For as this Change discovers it self in the Ʋnder­standing, it is a translation from darkness into Marvelous Light, and brings us to the true and saving knowledge of God in Christ The f [...]rst thing that God crea­ted in the Natural World, was Light, [Page 17] 1 Gen. 3. 2 Cor. 4.6. 1 Pet. 2.9, 10. As in the Will, it is a choice of God, and full purpose of heart to cleave to him. And as to the different objects it has also o­ther names; As referring to Christ dy­ing, it is Faith; To Christ living, it is Love; To Christ ruling and command­ing, it is New Obedience.

But here it is called a New Creation. Not as if it were a removal of the old Substance, or any of the Powers of the Soul; But a rectifying, a sanctifying of them, by setting up a new light in the Understanding, giving a new Byas and Inclination to the Will, turning the Heart from Sin and the World, to God and Christ, to Holiness and Heaven. Not changing the Nature of our Af­fections, but curing the Corruption and Disorder of them, and changing the Objects about which they are conver­sant.

Some think the Metaphor is taken from the Proselytes to the Jewish Religi­on, whose Conversion to Judaism was accounted a kind of New Birth, and they reckoned New Creatures. Which our Lord seems to allude to, in his Discourse with Nicodemus, and wonders such a Doctor in Israel should be ignorant of it. Others think it may allude to the [Page 18] Jewish Custom, with respect to their children, They taught them to read at three years old, and then instructed them till five, then put them to School, where they learned the Law of Moses till Ten, and for three years more they applyed themselves to understand the Jewish Traditions, and the Mysteries of the Synagogue; and when that time was expired, at the Age of Thirteen, they said a Child was a New creature; that is, sufficiently instructed how to live and please God, alledging Isa. 43.21. This People have I formed, or created for my self.

Our state of nature and sin is ordinari­ly exprest by the Metaphor ³ of Old Age, our natural Corrupt Affections, that are born and grow up with us, are called the Old Man; as if since Adam's Fall we were decrepit, and feeble, and Aged as soon as Born; as a Child begotten by a Man in a Consumption, never comes to the strength of a Man, is alway weak, and crazy, and puling, hath all the Im­perfections, and Corporal Infirmities of Age: before he is out of his Infancy. And accordingly, all that is opposite to this old, corrupt, decrepit state, is termed New. And so we read of a New Doctrine, [Page 19] and New Covenant, New Tongues, a New Commandment, New Man, Mark 1.27. Chap 16.17. John 13.34. Ephes. 2.15. and the state of Grace exprest by this, All things are become New. The Man, when old, hath entred a second time in­to hi [...] Mothers Womb, and is born again, and is become a glorious, beauteous New Creature, so that you would wonder to see the Change. You have heard in the Primitive Church of a Grain of Faith removing Mountains; The work of Regeneration, the bestowing of a Spi­ritual Life on one dead in Trespasses and Sins, the making of a Carcass walk, the Natural Old Man to Spring again, and move spiritually, is as great a Miracle as that.

Therefore called a Creation, because of the necessity of Divine Grace, and the power of the Spirit of Christ, (that Power that made us at first, and raised Christ from the Dead;) 'Tis the ne­cessity of that Power unto this Change, that is the principal ground of this term Creation. The Efficiency of it, by the power of victorious Grace, making us a willing, and holy People, in the day of his Power, comprehending habitual Sanctification, as the root and life of actual holiness. The Excellency and [Page 20] Extent of this, I might shew, as to the inward and outward Man, Heart and Life; all the Powers of the Soul, and Members of the Body, and our whole Carriage, Course, and Behaviour; And that this is common unto all the Chil­dren of God, all that are created again in Christ Jesus, all that are born from above; If any Man be in Christ, he is a new creature. To this end,

III. Let us consider the certain and inseparable connexion between these two, That all who are in Christ are, and must be new Creatures. Every real Christian, he is in Christ Jesus, his Union to Christ doth constitute him a living Member, and his being a New Crea­ture doth prove it. The one is the Es­sence, the other his Property, but they are inseparable.

What makes a Man, but the Union of Soul and Body? What makes a Christian, but the Union of the Soul with Christ? How know we that a Man hath a Soul, but by the Motions, Actions, Operations of a Reasonable Soul? How know you that such a Pro­fessing Christian is United to Christ by his Spirit, but by the Effects and Ope­rations of this Spirit, making such a Change in Heart and Life, from which [Page 21] they may be denominated New Creatures; Therefore they are said to walk in the Spirit, and after the Spirit: And at other times, as the Foundation of this, to be born of the Spirit, and born from above; so as the Divine Life, and Likeness is intro­duced. But more particularly;

1. They who are thus spiritually uni­ted to Christ, they must be new creatures, because they partake of the Divine Spi­rit? the same Spirit that formed Christ in the Womb of the Virgin, hath form­ed the new Creature in all that are in Christ: the same Spirit that quickned the dead Body of Christ, and raised him from the Dead, imploies the exceeding great­ness af his Mighty Power towards them that believe, and by Faith are united to him: the same Spirit that carried out the Soul of Christ to go to God as a Fa­ther, doth enable Believers to cry Abba Father. For the Spirit of Christ, is the Spi­rit of Adoption, Gal. 4.6. The same Spi­rit that led Christ into his Tryals and Temptations, and brought him off with Victory, doth the like for all the Fol­lowers of Christ. They are partakers of his Spirit. The blood of Christ cannot save those who are destitute of his Spirit.

The same Spirit of Holiness conforms them to the Image & Life of God; they are [Page 22] under the conduct of the same Spirit of Humility, Meekness, Love, Charity, Prayer, Courage, Resignation, and the like, which acted in Christ; And this makes them like to him; like him in their Judgments and Opinions of things; like him in their Affections, like him in their De­signs and Ends, and like him in a course of Actions, by which they prosecute those Designs for the Glory of God. I might shew their Resemblance and con­formity in Graces unto Christ, in the Rise of them, in the Kinds of them, in the Exercise of them: All which depends upon their Participation of the same Spirit.

2. They must be new Creatures if they are in Christ because the new Creature is an Imitation of Him. It is a little Module of Christ in its Birth, and a conformi­ty to his Pattern in its Growth, and fully so in its Perfection. And therefore we read of coming to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, Ephes 4.12. All that are united to Christ are conformed to him. Every Branch in him answers to the Root; every Member suits to the holy Head in Heaven, and in some measure doth resemble him. That the Members of Christ should be of a contrary Temper to their Head, is ut­terly impossible.

I might here urge the Imitation of Christ, as becoming those who profess to be in him, in several Instances: as in the inward Delight which he took to do the will of his Father, in his active Zeal for his Father's Glory, in a patient sub­mission to the hand of his Father, tho' never so heavy, in his firm Faith and De­pendance on him under all Discourage­ments; and in his Constancy and Per­severance to do good, notwithstanding all the Hatred and Malice of the World, &c.

3. Because the New Creature is Repre­sented in Scripture as a Conformity to the Death and Resurrection of Christ, Philip. 3.10. By putting off the old man, we dye unto Sin; by putting on the new, we are alive to God, and live to Righteousness. We are hereby changed into the Image of Christ, and that good work begun, which is to be finish'd and consummated in the Day of Christ Phil. 1.6. There is a Conformity to his Death and Sufferings, in the mortifica­tion of Sin. Our old man is crucified with him, Rom. 6.6. Gal. 5.24. And a con­formity to his Resurrection, in Heavenli­ness of Mind, Col. 3.1. and in Newness of Life, Rom. 6.4.

4. Because nothing else will so prove our Ʋnion to Christ, as to enable us to take [Page 24] Comfort in such a Priviledge; no ex­ternal Advantages whatsoever will do it. For neither circumcision, nor uncumcisi­on availeth any thing, but a new Creature, Gal. 6.15. The highest Profession of Religion without such a Change, will not save thee. Except a man be born again, or from above, he cannot enter into Heaven, John. 3.5. Neither can he be accepted of God, or have fellowship with him, 1 John 3.2.

No External Duties or Performances will avail you without this: You may Read, and Hear, and Pray, and give Alms, and do many other things, and yet not be in Christ; if you are not Rege­nerated, Renewed, and inwardly chan­ged, by the Power of the Divine Spirit: If you are not made New Creatures, you can never prove that you are in Christ You may be Baptized in the Name of the Sacred Trinity; you may continue in the Bosom of the Church; hear the sound of the glorious Gospel, and receive the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper, and yet not be united unto Christ. You may have some lesser change from the grosser Pollutions of the World; you may have some par­tial Reformation, which is far short of being new Creatures; some outward tem­porary change, in your carriage & con­versation, [Page 25] while the Heart is unrenew­ed. In a word, our present Fellow­ship and Communion with God, our after Service and Obedience in the Fruits of Righteousness, to the praise of God, and our final Blessedness in the enjoyment of him, do all depend upon this Change, this new Creation; And therefore be 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.

[Page 26]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 [Page 27] 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, [Page 28] 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 [Page 29] 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 ti [...]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 Ʋse 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 [Page 30] 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 [Page 31] the Spirit, and after the Spirit of Christ, and not after the Flesh, or according to the course of the World, as formerly? Is the Life you lead in the Flesh by the Faith of the Son of God?

How do you stand affected as to in­ward Spiritual Duties, that concern the inward workings of your Thoughts, and Conscience, and Affections, and such things as none but God and you do know of? Is it as great a burden and trouble to your Souls, to act contrary to the renewed Nature, as before to con­tradict the Inclinations of the Flesh? Is Prayer your dayly work, and delight? Do you cherish and promote the new Creature? Are you restless after you have fallen into Sin, till by Repentance you recover Pardon and Peace? Do you grow up daily into greater Confor­mity to Christ, and Imitation of him? Desiring nothing more than that his Image may be drawn more lively on your Hearts, and exprest more fully in your Lives according to the various Providences of God that call for the ex­ercise of such and such Graces, and according to the various Institutions of Christ, wherein such and such Holy Affections are to be imployed? The knowledg of this Union to Christ upon [Page 32] examination, will give us the Comfort of all those Priviledges which result from it.

Examine how matters are with you as to these things, and what care you take to maintain the bonds of Union: to strengthen Faith, and obey the Spirit; and whether it be better now than it was a year ago. While Merchants, and Tradesmen cast up their Books, and make up their Accounts, at the end of the Year; let us not neglect the like work, as Chri­stians, with reference to our Spiritual State: Let us not be less concerned to know, whether we Thrive or Decay, whether we advance and go forward, or else decline.

5. The next Ʋse may be of Com­fort to such as are in Christ. Our Union to him is the Foundation of all our Fellowship with him, and after sup­plies of Grace and Life. If we are in Jesus Christ, he is made of God unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sancti­fication, and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1.30. Such shall be delivered from Wrath, en­tituled to Eternal Life, have the Pardon of all their Sins, Christ as their Advocate pleads for 'em in Heaven, in him they are Adopted, and have free access to God, [Page 33] his Spirit dwells in them, their Services are accepted, &c.

If we are in him, there is no condemna­tion unto such, Rom. 8.1. Such a man is not condemned, is not in a state of condemnation for the present, John 3.18. And such a Member of Christ cannot Perish, who by Union to him, is Unit­ed to God, the Fountain of Life. Our Lord speaks of the Union of the Fa­ther unto him as Mediator, and his Union unto us, as both in order to our Perfection, and eternal Felicity, John 17.20, 23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may all be made perfect in one. But there is no Reconciliation to God, no Remission of Sins, no Adoption, no Salvation by Christ, but for such as are in him. Whereas all things are yours, even Life and Death, things present and things to come, when you are Christ's.

There is a Train of invaluable Bles­sings follow this new Creation, and U­nion to Christ, where it is truly wrought, ^* 2 Ephes. 13.14▪ 1 Cor: 3.22. You are brought under the bond, and blessing of the New Covenant, Jer. 31.33. You are dignified with a new Name, Rom. 2.17. [Page 34] You are begotten to a new Hope, entitled to a new Inheritance, 1 Pet. 1.3. 1 John 12.13. And you shall be preserved and kept by the powerful Grace of Christ unto the full possession of it.

None shall pluck you out of his hands, because he lives, you shall live; nothing shall be able to separate you from him. If you are planted into the likeness of his Death, for the destruction of the Body of Sin, you shall grow up with him, in the likeness of his Resurrection. Rom. 6.5, 6. Not only shall you receive In­fluence of Spiritual Life from him, while you live, but by vertue of this Union, you shall dye in the Lord, and sleep in Jesus, Rev. 14.13. 1 Thes. 4.14. You shall be with him in Glory, and your Bodies shall be raised by him, and be made like his most glorious Body, Rom. 8.11. But,

Lastly, Let me close with Exhortation. 1. Unto all, to labour after Ʋnion to Christ. 2. Unto those that have good hope through Grace that they are in him, and profess to be so. Let me ex­hort them that they would live as new Creatures.

1. Labour after Ʋnion unto Christ. How earnestly should this be desired, how di­ligently [Page 35] pursued? For we can have no Communion, no Adoption, no Free­dom from Condemnation, without it. Faith on our part, and the Spirit on Christ's, are the Bonds of Union. Let us carefully make use of the Word and Prayer, in order to both, waiting and begging, of God, and using all the hopeful means that are in our power in order to it. How earnest should be our pursuits of this Priviledge, how fervent our Prayers, and constant our Endeavours after it? Never leave solliciting the Throne of God, till the Creator and Father of Spirits have created another breath into your nostrils, ano­ther spirit into your Souls, even the Spirit of Christ, whereby we are united to him; lay your self at his feet, and with all the violence and importunity, and humility, that your distressed case may prompt you to, beg the holy spirit to over shadow thee. And yet learn so much Patience from thy beggarly state, as not to challenge him at thine own times, but wait his leasure, and observe his motions; doing all that possible thou canst in the use of common Grace, to prepare the room against his com­ing, and continue in Prayer, watching thereunto in the use of all the out [Page 36] means, which God hath afford­ed thee.

2. Be exhorted to live as New crea­tures. You are obliged to it by your Baptism, and by your Profession of Christianity. You that come to the Lord's Table are especially obliged, That old things should be done away, and all things become New. You consider his Sufferings from time to time, as re­presented in that Ordinance. You there feast upon his Sacrifice, and consider the cause of his Sufferings, your own Sins; and the end of them, your Redempti­on from the Guilt, and Filth, and Power of Sin. Can you do this, and not feel the Obligation to live as New creatures, and resolve upon it? Do you not there renew your Covenant, and engage your selves afresh to walk as the Redeemed of the Lord, unto all well pleasing? Do you not there cast your selves into the Arms of a Crucified Saviour, and plead the Merits of his Death, and beg the Supplies of his Spirit, and bind your selves to strict fidelity to him, as long as you live, under a grateful sense of his kindness, who has loved you, and wash­ed you from your sins in his Blood, that he might redeem you to himself, that he might purchase to himself a People zealous of good [Page 37] works? False are we to all this, if we do not walk as New creatures. There are but two Motives with which I shall en­force this. The Text furnishes me with one, And the Season of the Year with the other.

1. The Motive in the Text, Old things are done away, Behold all things are become New. I shall not consider it as amplifying the other expression, and so refering to the Change of those that are i [...] Christ, and consequently of like im­port with the Phrase a New creature; but as an Argument to urge and enforce it: And accordingly understand these words, as relating to the Obligation of the Law of Moses; That that is now ceased; Those old things are now done away; The Shadows of the Ceremonial Law are expired, at the coming of the Substance which is Christ, Colos. 2.20. We are said to be dead with Ch ist, from the Rudi­ments, or Elements of the World, Re­specting material and worldly things, either to do, or forbear them: For of that kind were the Ordinances, and In­stitutions of the Ceremonial Law. They were the first and lowest Lessons, fitted to the Infancy of the Church; But now the Kingdom of Heaven is come, by [Page 38] the Erection of the Gospel-Church, a Kingdom which shall not be shaken, and the Orders and Institutions of it ne­ver be changed. Now a more noble and spiritual worship is to take place, those old things are past away. No wonder if the Scaffolds of Ceremonies be taken down, when the Church of God, the Spiritual Building, is brought by Christ to its full height.

Now all things are become new by Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant. The Testament he left us is a New Testament. He rent the Vail of the Temple in twain when he died, and put an end by his own Sacrifice of himself, unto all the Sacrifices and Services of the Jewish Tem­ple; And therefore it is observable, that the first time he spake of his Death, was in the Temple; But after his Death, he never entred into it, though we read that he was in Jerusalem after his Re­surrection. We have a New Sanctuary, an Heavenly one; A New High Priest, of a better Order than that of Aaron; New Heavens, and a New Earth, as the. Gospel State is called; A New Light, to inlighten the World even the Know­ledge of God in the Face of Christ; A New Sun, even Christ the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in his Beams; A New [Page 39] Adam, after the Image of God, the ex­press Image of his Person, and the Brightness of his Glory, in whom all fulness dwells. We have a New Coelestial Pa­radise, into which the Old Serpent shall never enter: A New Tree of Life, whose Leaves are for the healing of the Nations: A New Eve, the Church of Christ, Bone of his Bone, and Flesh of his Flesh, form­ed of his Blood, and animated by his Spirit. We have New Sacrifices, New Sacraments, a New Circumcision, a New Passover, a New Jerusalem, a New Tem­ple. Behold all things are made New. And shall not we, that profess to be the Disciples, and Followers of Christ, by whom all things are thus made New, Answer all this, by being New creatures, that we may serve him, in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the Letter, Rom. 7.6. That is, that we be­ing delivered from the manifold difficult Im­positions of the Mosaick Law, all which we could not fulfil, and from the Curse upon those which did not, we should now serve God, with new Hearts, and Lives, by the Spirit of Christ, according to the Law of Grace.

2. There is yet another Argument, from the Circumstance of [...]ime, In the be­gining of the New Year, which makes [Page 40] the Exhortation seasonable, to press you to be New creatures. And when may I ex­pect to be attentively heard upon such a Subject, if not at such a season, when I may hope several of you have had se­rious reflexions, this very Morning, upon Time and Eternity, from the Conclusi­on of the last Year, and the beginning of another; to awaken your Thankfulness for the Mercies of the year past, and your Repentance for the sins of it, and your good Resolutions and Self-Dedi­cation to the Lord for the future?

It will be sad, if the Experience of ano­ther Year do not teach us some Ʋnderstand­ing, when day unto day uttereth Know­ledg, and night unto night might teach us Wisdom. The very thoughts of our hasty Time, measured by Years, and Months, and Weeks, and Days, should put us upon considering how irrevocable, and past recovery is the last year, and all our former years, it being utterly impos­sible to call back Yesterday. Almighty Power may stop the course of the Sun, as in the time of Joshua; but to make that which is past, to be present, and not past, is a Contradiction, and cannot be done. And oh how small a point doth separate and distinguish that, which is past, from that which is yet to come! They [Page 41] are divided by one Moment, by an In­stant that is almost nothing; by that which we cannot speak of without losing, it being gone while we open our Mouths to say the least word about it. So near is Death to Life. The very nature of Time it self may teach us this.

And certainly the changes of the year past should be very instructive, and give us many Reflexions, according to our Sins, and Mercies; according to the Trials, and Exercises we have been car­ried through, this last year. May not all of you look back upon many Changes the preceding year, of several kinds; those especially which God hath made amongst us by Death? We are called to review, how many of them we knew, and were acquainted with, with whom we familiarly conversed, not a Year since, are now silent in the dust: While their immortal Spirits are some in Hea­ven, and others in the place of Torment. And of the multitude that have dyed this last year, could we but separate the cor­rupted, putrifying Relicks of those Per­sons, whom we Honoured, Valued, and Loved, from the rest of the Deceased, and view their Bodies, as now they are; How affecting would be the Spectacle? to think what they were, less than a year [Page 42] ago; and to consider, what now they are, as to their Bodies; and the greater change there is as to their Souls. But even as to the former, let us compare in our thoughts the Figure they lately made, while act­ing their Parts upon this Stage, as living Men and Women amongst us; What a Change is made in a few Months, as to every of them? And the like may be our own Case, within a few Months from this moment, long before the end of this year we now begin.

For consider it, Christians, This last year, that is now ended, is one great step we have every one made towards the Grave. Another such may bring us home. O that we may be found ready! Who knows, but as the last Year carried off many of our Acquain­tance, and Friends, but that our Names may be amongst those who shall not out-live this? It is true, It may be, you shall live to see the Conclusion of this New-year, but, it may be, you shall not live till Midsummer. It may be, I may Preach a Twelve-month hence; but peradventure you may hear a Sermon occasioned by my Death, before that time; Or your own ears may be stop­ped, if my mouth be not: You may die, if I should live yet a few years more.

I cannot look round on this Assem­bly, but I must conclude, that of all this number, it is past doubt, but some one or more will dye before this year be over; I believe I need not scruple to pronounce it. There is none can que­stion, but if the number were much less, one or more would dye within a year. Therefore the Voice of God is to every one of you, Awake and mind your Work; Turn to the Lord, and seek after Union to Christ, and see that you be New creatures, for you shall die be­fore another year.

But you will almost All be ready to say, To whom, in particular, do you speak this? Sure not to me. Yes, I speak it to you, to every of you, whether in Youth or Age; To you Parents, and to you that are Children; To you Masters, and to you Servants; To you Husbands, and to you Wives; To you before me, and to you on either hand; This Call of God is to every one of you in particu­lar, See that you be found in Christ, for you may not be found alive, at the end of this year.

Oh but I hope the contrary, say such and such; As for me, I hope I have many a fair year to come; I am in sprightly vigo­rous Youth, or I am in setled confirmed [Page 44] Stength, and Health, or I am but just en­tred into the busie World; or just now en­tring upon it, &c. But, How many younger, and more likely to live, have died this last year; and therefore why may not you be one of those, who shall dye this?

Nay, Elder Persons are ready to ex­cuse themselves and say, They have ma­ny Seniors to go before them; That many who are Elder than they, they see, do yet hold out year after year. Their inward thought is, that they have escaped many Dangers, and been recovered from many Sicknesses; And though they are but weak and crazy, and have many Infirmities, and Pains, to presage their Dissolution; Yet notwithstanding these, they make a shift to live, and have rubbed on for several years, under such weakness; And several of their Acquaintance, as weak and sickly as they, have continued a good while for all that. And so, neither Young, nor Old, will admit the Supposition, as to their own case; Nor You, nor You, nor a­ny body, will believe they shall dye this year. And so the next year, I doubt not, your Hearts will say the same as now; for there will be the same pretence: And therefore it is not unto you I must speak of Death, but rather wish you Joy of the long Life, which with so much confidence you reckon upon. Well, [Page 45] Shall I say then, ‘Go and enjoy this World, and live as you list, if you durst put it to the Venture; Go, and gratifie your Senses, Appetites and Lusts, for this year, as you did the last; and never think of Death, or fear it: You are not like to dye this year, or the next?’ But, How un­reasonable is such Security, when some one or more of this Assembly, you grant, will probably, or most certainly dye this year: And how can you be certain, that you shall be the Exempted Person; Or that your near­est Relations, and those you love best, That they shall not dye this year? Your Parents, your Pastors, your Husbands, and your Wives, and your Children; and your Bosom Friends; you will as hardly admit the thoughts that they shall dye this year; But if some or o­ther of those, that now hear me, that now look upon me, that now listen, and attend to what I say, should be called away to Judgment before another year; Why may not you in particular be the Persons, or the Desire of your eyes, those whose Lives are dearest to you?

Certainly To begin the year with such a Thought, can do you no harm, [Page 46] but may be improved to many useful purposes. However, I must tell you, If, after all the Changes which we have seen within a Twelve month, (and which every year brings fresh experience of,) we will not look forward to our own great change; If we will not heartily concern our selves for our greatest, tru­est Interest, and prepare for an Ever­lasting State, by voluntary, vital Uni­on with the Son of God; I must tell you, for a Conclusion, That God chang­eth not. And if neither the Voice of his Providence, nor the Voice of Con­science; If neither the Calls of the Word, nor the Motions of the Spirit; If neither the Experience of others nor so much as we have had of our own, will awaken us to change our course. You must know, that the Holiness of God, his Justice, and his Truth, are unchang­able: He will not alter the terms of Life for you and me, He will not find another way, for us to escape Con­demnation, than by being in Christ, and being New creatures. Therefore look to it that you be found such. And in wishing, and praying you may all be Such, I do not only wish you a hap­py New year; But a happy Life, if it be for many years, And withal, a Bles­sed [Page 47] Eternity after Death, which such as are now in Christ, shall then En­joy with him, when Days and Years, and Time, shall be no more. God grant it for Christ's sake. Amen.

UPon Thursday, the Day before the Crucifixion of our Lord, he goes to Jerusalem from Bethany, and there eats the Passover with his Disciples; at the end whereof he institutes the Sacrament of the Supper, and then makes a large Pathetical Discourse, con­tained [Page 50] in the 15th and 16th Chapters. Up­on which followed his admirable Media­tory Prayer in the 17th Chapter.

Now having said, and done this, having said these words, and sung an Hymn with his Disciples, he goes forth with his Disciples over the Brook Cedron, &c.

The Jews, it is true, did not go out of their Houses that Night, after the Cele­bration of the Passover, Exod. 12.22, 24. Because of the Angels passing by the Hou­ses of the Israelites, when the first born of the Egyptians were to be cut off; That the Israelites might not mix with the Egyptians at that time, but sprinkle the Blood of the Paschal Lamb on their own Door-posts, as a Mark of Distinction. Whereas our Lord having abrogated the Passover, and instituted his Supper to succeed in its room; all the Precepts that concern the Jewish Passover, with all the Appendixes belonging to it, were made Null, and of no Effect; and consequently our Saviour might go out that Evening; especially when the Jews tarried within door, to avoid suffering the Wrath of the Angel; but he goes forth that Evening to meet with suffering: For he knew that Judas would betray him that Night, and that he was well acquainted with the place he went to; for he was wont to retire thither with his Disciples.

He went forth when he was to be be­trayed and taken, as afterwards he suffered Death without the Gate of the City. He went out of Jerusalem, thereby declaring, it is thought, That the Gentiles had an in­terest in his Sufferings, as well as the Jews; That it was not that particular People a­lone he was to suffer for, but the rest of the World were to be equal Sharers in the Be­nefits of his Passion. He went forth with his Disciples, over the Brook Cedron, where was a Garden, into which he entred, &c.

In these Two Verses we may consider,

• 1. The Place he passed over, the Brook Cedron.
• 2. The Company that was with him, his Disciples.
• 3. The Time, after he had eat the Passo­ver, and instituted the Supper.
• 4. The Place he retired to, that was the Garden of Gethsemane.
• 5. The Reason why he chose this Place, for Meditation and Prayer, the beginning of his Passion.
• 6. His Custom to retire there, He was wont to do so.

And lastly, I shall consider what Practi­cal Instructions may be gathered from the whole, for our own Use.

[Page 52]1. The Place over which he passed, the Brook Cedron; a little Rivulet of that name, between the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives, that ran through a dark deep Valley. In Summer it was of­ten dry, and in Winter, or after the fall of any considerable Rains, it was full. The cursed things were burnt here, when Heze­kiah and Josiah purged the Temple and City of Idolatry. The Filth and Unclea­ness of the Temple was cast into this Val­ley, through which this Brook ran, that our Lord passed over. Which may mind us of his being made Sin, and a Curse for us, to abolish the Curse of the Law, to purge us from our Filthiness, and to bring about everlasting Righteousness for us.

As hardly Two Circumstances of our Saviour's Passion, but had a Type; so in this, for instance, we have an eminent one, in David's going over the Brook Cedron, when, by the Rebellion of his Son Absolon, he was forced to quit the City of Jerusalem, 2 Sam. 15th Chapter. David was then for­saken by his own Subjects, as Christ was re­jected by his own Countrymen; and as He, and all the People wept, when they went over the Brook Cedron, to the ascent of the Mount of Olives; Our Lord, when he went over this Brook, retired to a Gar­den on a part of that Mount, and there [Page 53] prayed himself into an Agony, and wept Tears of Blood. As soon as David had pas­sed over this Brook to the Mount of Olives, he worshipped God, and poured out a Prayer, recorded in the 3d Psalm. So did our Lord pour out strong Crys and Intercessions to God, on the same Mountain, when he had passed over this very Brook Cedron.

From this first Particular, before I pro­ceed further, we may learn to expect, in imitation of Christ, to follow him in the like path; to go through the dark Valley of Suffering, before we come to God's ho­ly Mountain. As he passed over the Brook Cedron, to the Mount of Olives, we must as­cend likewise by the Cross, to God's holy Hill. But for our Encouragement, we may consider too, That he having drank of the Brook by the war, hath sanctified the bitterest Cup of Affliction unto us. This little Brook, this Rivulet, would ne­ver have been fordable for us, but we must have been drowned in the Waters of Ce­dron, if he had not passed over before us. But now a Cup of Consolation is put into our hands, he hath prepared a Path for us to Mount Olivet, he hath smoothed our way to God's holy Hill, by his own Sufferings and Death; so as we need not fear to walk [Page 54] through the Valley of the shadow of Death.

2. Let us consider the Company, where­with our Lord passed over this Brook, with his Disciples. There may be Two Accounts of this, the one, in reference to their future preaching of the Gospel; the other, for their more resolute and couragious suffering for it.

1. As to their future preaching of the Gospel. It was fit and necessary the Dis­ciples should be Spectators of the most con­siderable Passages of our Lord's suffering; Not only because some of them were to write the History of his Life and Death, and transmit this Everlasting Gospel to fu­ture Generations; But they were also to Preach to Jews and Gentiles, in the Name of Christ; and what more powerful Argu­ment could they use to gain Credit to what they said, than by being able to attest the Truth of their History by their own Evi­dence, and to say upon their own Know­ledge, We speak that which we have seen and heard. The Apostle Peter, and the E­vangelist John we find insist much on this, We cannot but speak the things which we have seen, Acts 4 10. 1 John 1.2.

2. Hereby they might not o [...]ly be the better fitted for their Ministry to Preach in his Name, but be thereby the better pre­pared [Page 55] to suffer for his sake. His Example of Patience, and Meekness, and Resigna­tion, might be of singular Use to them upon that account. He had foretold and forewarned them by his Discourse in the way, That they must expect to suffer. He had told them, that when the Shepherd was smitten, the Sheep should be scattered. And what more likely to animate them to Pa­tience and Perseverance, than the Exam­ple of their Lord's Voluntary Suffering? e­specially if in any measure they under­stood the Design and Reason, and End of his Suffering: For if he drank of the Brook in the way, they might well expect to taste of it; If he travelled through the dark Valley, they could not expect a smooth and a pleasant Path to Glory; if he en­dured the Contradictions of Sinners a­gainst himself, they could not think that they should escape Opposition. Let us re­member this, and not think it strange, if we meet with such Ʋsage as our Lord and his Followers have already done.

1. We may learn from the Influence their Presence with Christ might have up­on their future Ministry, by being eye-wit­nesses of the Truths that they delivered, That if ever Ministers would perswade others to believe any Doctrine, the best Expedient is to endeavour to be fully perswaded our selves [Page 56] of the Truth and Certainty of those things that we deliver. No wonder if other Men are not perswaded by us, if we speak to them such things as we believe not our selves; or do either Preach, or live in such a manner as to give them reason to think so.

2. From the other Reason, to encou­rage them to patient suffering, we may ob­serve, That the Example of Christ's Cou­rage and Constancy should be very influential upon all his Followers; and if duly considered is like to be so. For he is our Captain and Forerunner, we are to follow him, and fill up that which remains of his Sufferings. All that we can suffer is but the gleaning of the Vintage, after he has trodden the Wine-Press alone. God hath spoken it once, yea twice have we heard it; that is, in the Old Testament, and in the New, That Suf­ferings are the way to Glory; That ma­ny are the Afflictions of the Righteous; That through many Tribulations we must enter into Heaven, &c.

3. The Circumstance of Time is next to be considered, When our Lord passed over the Brook Cedron, viz. After he had instituted the Sacrament of the supper, After he had spoken those words of Con­solation, and Instruction to his Disciples, and of Petition to his Father, Then he [Page 57] walked over the Brook Cedron with his Disci­ples. He went forth to meet with suffer­ings, and his Disciples were with him. How admirable is the Wisdom and Condescension of our merciful Saviour, thus to antidote and sore-arm his poor Disciples, thus to prepare and dispose his faint hearted Followers to be Wit­nesses of his sufferings and Partakers of them: For after such a blessed Prepara­tive, what should be able to sink their Spirits? After they had Joined in such an Ordinance, as the Lords supper, ad­ministred by Christ himself; After they had received such excellent Instructi­ons, and heard such a sermon from his own Mouth; After they had been pre­sent, when he put up such a Prayer to God, as that recorded in the 17. of John▪ what could dishearten them, or damp their Courage?

We may hence take notice, That the participation of Solemn Ordinances, and Com­munion with God therein, is an excellent Pre­parative to more than ordinary Trialls What better preparation for patient and coura­gious suffering for Christ, than the Lords Supper, wherein we remember his dy­ing Love that should engage us to it? And so for other Afflictions, even the Calamities common to men, The Sa­cramental [Page 58] Bread may be our staff, and strength to fortifie, and confirm our Minds against all Difficulties; The sa­cramental Wine may be a Cordial to our fainting Spirits, to inbolden us against all Discouragments. On this Account, they that neglect this Ordinance are wanting to themselves, as to prepared­ness for, and support in a time of Afflicti­on. And for this Reason, we may sup­pose, the primitive Christians did com­municate so often, every Lords Day, some­times every Day, whenever they met for publick Worship, because they were in continual Jeopardy of their Lives: And the multitude of Martyrs in those times, and their invincible Patience, and Perseverance, was much owing to this, and influenced by it.

4. Let us consider the place he retired to, when he went over the Brook Cedron, viz: The Garden of Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane signifies an Oile-press. It was a little village scituated at the foot of the Mount of Olives, on which Mountain there were many Olive-trees, and so many Oil-presses in that Village. The Mount of Olives hath its name with relation to this; and the Jewish writers call it sometimes the Mountain of Ʋnction, sometimes the Mountain of Light, some­times [Page 59] the Mountain of Health, because of the use of Oyl as to all these.

This Garden of Gethsemane, as some think, was first planted by David, or So­lomon, and then enlarged and beautified by succeeding Princes, for their Recre­ation and Delight. If that be true, where they took their pleasure, the Messias, the true Son of David, began his Passion; in memory whereof Hellen, the Mother of Constantine the Great, after­wards built a Chappel there, which was visible in the days of Jerom; and some affirm the Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was Buried in, or near this place. But to pass that as doubtful, it is very probable, that in or near this Vil­lage, (near Jerusalem,) many of the rich Citizens had their Gardens, and Country-Houses, and among them some of Christs Followers, who gave him and his twelve Disciples Entertainment, therefore it is said, he often resorted thither, with his Disciples. But,

5. Why he did so is more to our pur­pose to inquire: Why our Lord chose this place to prepare himself for his suf­fering, and to begin his Agony. And this may be answered in three particu­lars.

[Page 60]1. The first sin was committed in a Garden, and therefore the beginning of our Lords Passion, for the expiation of sion, did very fitly begin in a Garden too. It was in a Garden that man began to sin, and in such a place, the Son of God be­gan his Sufferings. The first Adam in­curs the Wrath and Displeasure of God in a Garden; The second Adam trembles, and groans, and sweats, and prays, for the turning away of that Wrath from us in a Garden too, he there began his Passion for our Recovery. Our first Pa­rents lost the Image of God by their dis­obedience, and heard the Sentence of Condemnation in a Garden, our Lord comes to restore the Divine Image, and reverse the Sentence of Condemnation, by his bloody sufferings, and Death, which begin in this Garden of Gethsemane, as the Promise of it was first made in the Gar­den of Eden, that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents-head.

Compare Eden and Gethsemane. We were first seduced by the old Serpent in the Garden of Eden; and his Head was bruis­ed by the Agony, and Bloody Passion of Christ, which began in this Garden of Gethsemane. In the one Garden, the De­vil conquered the first Adam; but is over­come by the second Adam in the other, when [Page 61] he resolved to drink the cup, saying, Not my Will, but thine be done. In the first Garden, that of Eden, man surfeited on the forbidden Fruit, and fell from God, for which our blessed Redeemer had a bloody Sweat in the Second, the Garden of Gethsemane. We were turned out of the earthly Paradise by sinning in the first; we have the Purchace of the heavenly Para­dise by our Lord's Suffering, which be­gan in the second. The beginning of our Calamity, and of all the miseries of Mankind, had its rise in the Garden of Eden: And the beginning of the Messias Passion for our recovery, was in the Garden of Gethsemane; There our Lord signed the Decree for his own Crucifixi­on by his bloody Sweat, as the Pledge and earnest of his shedding his Blood, the next day, upon the Cross.

2. Another, and more evident Rea­son, why our Lord chose this Garden, was because it was a solitary place, fit for Meditation, and Prayer, and the more so­lemn Preparation of himself for his Crucifixion, which was now so near. He was now in prospect of his approaching Death, he knew that within a few Hours he should be Apprehended and Taken, Judged, and Condemned to a shameful [Page 62] Cross; and therefore retires here for Me­ditation, and Prayer in order to it. To bear the Curse of the Law, and strugle with the Wrath of God, the due Wages of our sin, which he undertook to expiate; And to Conflict with all those Sufferings, Antecedent and Concomitant to such a Death, needed such Preparation. Yea, the solemn Resignation of himself to the Will of God, by Prayer, in this Garden, before he Offered himself upon the Cross, was necessary, as the accomplish­ment of a legal Type, that prefigured it: For all the Levitical Sacrifices were first consecrated by Prayer, before they were burnt upon the Altar. This Lamb of God, the truth of all those Sacrifices, the Substance of all those Types, was first to devote himself to God by Prayer, before he was nailed to the Cross; And this Garden of Gethsemane, being a solitary Place, was fit for that purpose.

3. I may add another reason, He went thither because it was a place that Judas knew of, where his Enemi [...]s might be sure to find him, and so accomplish the eternal Counsels of God concerning his sufferings and Death. Several times before this, they endeavoured to lay hands on him, but his hour was not come; But now he was [Page 63] willing, and resolved to dye; And therefore knowing that Judas would be­tray him, and having bid him do quick­ly what he intended to do, he doth not go about to abscond, and hide himself to prevent it; He retires to this Garden which the Traytor was well acquainted with: And when he comes with a Com­pany to take him, he tells them more than once, He is the Person they seek for.

Let me make a few Reflexions on this particular. As 1. Since our Lords Passi­on began in a Garden, Let me caution you not to abuse your Gardens, and places of Retirement, and Recreation, to vanity and sin; but improve them by holy Meditation, when you are walk­ing there. How often is Christ dishon­oured in such places, either when you are in Company, or when are alone? In company, by intemperance in Banquet­ing, or by vain or wanton Discourses, or by uncharitable and backbiting Sto­ries of others &c. Or when you are alone, by wanton and lustful thoughts, by spe­culative uncleanness, wicked projects &c. But thus to retire into a Garden, is to retreat from men, and fall into the hands of the Devil. Such persons imi­tate their Mother Eve in the Garden of [Page 64] Eden, and hold a Dialogue with the old serpent.

Others, who are less criminal, are yet to be reproved, that make no holy im­provement of such places, but only for Recreation and Pleasure, to gratifie their Senses. Every wise and good man loves sometimes to be alone, and ought to be so, for serious Meditation: Now a Garden is a fit place for such a purpose, and may be of excellent use to such an end; And there is no Object can meet our Eyes, or affect any of our senses there, without giving us some Notices of God, and di­recting us to some useful Instructions in reference to our selves, if we did not want a holy heart and spiritual wisdom to improve them.

Especially in your Garden walks Medi­tate on the Garden of Eden, and think of this Garden of Gethsemane. Consider how Man sinned in the one, and how Christ suffered in an Agony in the other. First, From the Garden of Eden, you may take occasion to contemplate the State of Innocence, the Entrance of Sin, the Fall of our First Parents, the Subtilty of the Tempter, the Danger of Gratifying the Sensual Appetite, from their Exam­ple in Eating the Forbidden Fruit; the prevalency of Temptation, when a near [Page 65] and Beloved Relation is the Instrument of the Devil, to urge it, &c. Secondly, Think of the Garden of Gethsemane too, when you are delighting your self in some pleasant Walk in your own Garden. Think how the Son of God lay prostrate on his Face in an Agony, in this Garden of Gethsemane. When you look upon a Fruit-tree, especially a Vine, or taste of a Grape, remember the Blood of Christ, that trickled from his Sacred Body. If you are sometimes merry and chearful with your Friends in a Garden, forget not how your Saviour was exceeding sor­rowful; My Soul is exceeding Sorrowful unto Death. When you are cooling your selves in the Shade, remember his Agony, and Bloody Sweat, under the Apprehensi­ons of the Wrath of God, due to your sin; How his Soul boiled up, as one of the Greek Expressions does signifie, and his Blood broke out at every part of his Bo­dy, with the extremity of the Heat. You may consider how the First Adam was Tempted by an Evil Angel in the Garden of Eden, and the Second was Comforted in his Agony by a Good one. Adam's Sen­tence in the former, was, to get his li­ving by the Sweat of his brows; Christ, by his Bloody Sweat, in this procures our Life. And let not such places be abu­sed [Page 66] to sin and vanity, that may so easi­ly be improved, to put us in mind of such Important Truths.

2. In that this was a Solitary Place, we may observe, That it is fit to retire for Meditation and Prayer to some Secret Place, from the Company, and Observation of others. There are many things, which are proper enough, and may become us in an Affectionate Prayer in secret, espe­cially for a Penitent, which are not al­lowable in Social Worship, or Publick Prayer with others; As Prostration of our selves on the Ground, Beating the Breast, Extraordinary Sobs and Sighs, Plentiful Tears, and Passionate Expo­stulations with God, &c. which either Modesty, or Prudence may restrain in publick, may be used with greater Li­berty in Secret, where is no Temptati­on to Hypocrisie, or vain-glory to a­buse them. And therefore our Lord di­rects us, Math. 6. That we enter into our Closets, and shut the door, and then pray to our Father, who is in Heaven, who seeth in secret, and will reward us openly.

3. In that Christ retires here, to pre­pare himself, with the greater Solemnity, for his approaching Death; We may learn, [Page 67] That whenever we have a Prospect of our Change at hand, we should not con­tent our selves with habitual preparation, but use a more solemn, distinct, and actual preparation for it. Our Lord, no doubt, was always in a Readiness, for that which he knew was the great end of his Incarnation: And yet the night be­fore his Sufferings, he retires into this Garden to prepare himself for that hour. We should always so live, as to be fit to die, because every hour we make some steps towards the Grave: Every thought, every word, is a Sand running from the Glass of Time: We sleep every night in the outer Chambers of Death, and should, by Prayer, prepare our selves for it, even for that Image of Death: And shall we not, much more, for Death it self, when we have a Prospect of its ap­proach? in whose Arms we must rest Prisoners, till the great Morning of the Resurrection?

If God give us Notice and Warning by Old Age, or a dangerous Sickness, or a languishing 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 [Page 68] 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 [Page 69] 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 [Page] 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 [Page 71] 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 [Page 72] 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 [Page 73] 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 Righteous Avenger.

However there is a great difference be­tween what Christ suffered, and what the Damned in Hell suffer. For they hate God, and Holiness, and are hated of him, and forsaken by his Holy Spirit, and are under the power of sin, and are tormented by the Conscience of their Personal Guilt. But what Christ suf­fer'd was for us, and he was still in the Love of God, and continued to love him, &c.

Let us consider him incompassed with Grief, and seized by sorrow, appaled with Fear, lying prostrate on his Face on the ground, deprecating that Cup of vengeance, which the Justice of God had mingled, saying, Father, if it be possible let this Cup pass from me!

He Prays again, a second time, in the [Page 74] same place, to the same purpose, Abba Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass. He adores his Majesty, he owns his Omni­potence, he takes hold of his Power, he pleads his filial Relation, with all imagi­nable earnestness, submission, and impor­tunity; Father, if it be possible, and with thee all things are possible: Abba Father, Ho­ly Father, let this Cup pass from me; And then he groans, and sweats, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.

He prays again, the third time, using, in effect, the same words; as if nothing else would, yet his Importunity might, pre­vail for the removal of the Cup. And yet notwithstanding all this, he was then Willing; All the struglings of his Inno­cent Nature issued in this, That the Will of God should be done, and his Glory be accomplished. Holy Father, glorifie thy self; Not my will but thine be done. It was for this end I came into the World, for this end I came unto this hour. The desire of his Humane Soul submits, and yields to the determination, and Will of his Father. And therefore those words, if it be possible, must be ex­plained by those other, If thou wilt, if it be most for thy Glory; of a possibility in respect of the Divine Will, and Glory, [Page 75] rather than of the Divine Power. And having two Natures, he must needs have two Wills, he could not else be the true Son of God, and true Man. He desires to decline his Sufferings as a Man, for so they were against Nature; But as they were the means, to reconcile us to God, he is willing, as Redeemer, to undergo them. We may abhor a Medicine as bitter, and yet resolve to take it as whol­some. So that after all the reluctance of his Humane Nature, he was still wil­ling; and his entring into this Garden, when he knew that Judas was acquaint­ed with the place, and would find him there, and betray him, is a proof of it.

6. Our Saviour's Custom to retire to this Garden, He was wont to resort thither with his Disciples. This Garden of Geth­semane was on the side of the Mount of Olives, and that we are told was at the distance of a Sabbath-days Journey from Jerusalem, Act. 1.12. If we reckon from the foot of the Mountain, or the [...] part of it unto the City, it is tho [...]ght to be about five or six [...] thousand [...] [...] ­ting by [...] [Page 76] measured. And it is most probable, that the People in the Wilderness were to keep from the Tabernacle, at the distance of two thousand Cubits; And, on that ac­count, this distance is supposed the mea­sure of a Sabbath-days Journey, when they went to the Ark to Worship. It is an ordinary Tradition among the Jews, That it was not lawful on their Sabbaths to walk above two thousand cubits, which seems to be founded on that Text, Josh. 3.4. where the People are commanded in their March after the Ark, and on either side of it, to keep at the distance of two thousand cubits; and when they encamped, did usually pitch their Tents at that distance from the Ark: And so the Custom arose of tra­velling but 2000 cubits on their Sabbath-days, which is reckon'd not above half a mile. It may be, for this reason, the Holy Ghost measures the distance between Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives, by a Sabbath-days Journey, and not by so ma­ny Furlongs; Because, in fair Weather, many devout Jews were wont to retire thither for Meditation, after the Publick Worship was over. From hence let me make two Reflections for our own practice, and so conclude.

[Page 77]1. Since our Lord was wont to retire from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives for Meditation and Prayer; Let me hence take occasion to press these Duties. It is cer­tainly one of the best Evidences of an Upright Christian, to be serious in this secret work. It is of mighty advan­tage to our growth in Grace, to the E­vidence, and Comfort of it; And he de­serves not the Name of a Serious Chri­stian, who can pass whole days and weeks contentedly without Meditation and secret Prayer. Our stedfastness in the ways of God, and our daily walk in holy Security and Peace, is manifestly assisted by it. Such a course cannot con­sist with regarding and indulging deli­berately any known sin. This will be a good Argument of our Integrity before God, this constant intercourse and Com­munion between God and us; These fre­quent visits to Heaven will be so, con­versing with God, and pouring out our hearts before him in Secret, retiring, as it were, to the other World, so as no temptation of Applause, or Reputation from Men, can be thought to byass or mislead us; when no eye sees us, but the great searcher of hearts; when no ear hears us but that of our Invisible Judge; [Page 78] when no hand can reward us, but the Omnipresent Lord, our Father and our Redeemer in Heaven, who sees in secret, and will reward us openly. You have been often told, That the Conscientious perfor­mance of Secret prayer, will make you leave sinning, or a Course of sin will make you de­sist daily serious praying.

2. I infer from this example of our Lord, That after the participation of so­lemn Odinances, especially on the Lord's-day, it is very fit and useful for Christians, to retire by themselves, to spend some time a­lone, in Meditation and prayer; To call your selves to an Account, to reflect on your wayes, and frame, to make a trial of your State, and Temper; to observe your Spirits, how they have been influ­enced, or not, by the Divine Spirit, in the Solemn Duties of Worship; to hum­ble your selves before God for the sins you are convinced of, such especially as other Men cannot charge you with, but God and Conscience know you are guilty of: To thank God for his numberless Mercies, to beg the suitable supplies of his Grace, and whatever Blessings you stand in need of, for you and yours. This is the right improvement of Sab­baths, and Sacraments, and such seasons [Page 79] of Mercy, as God is pleased to continue to us, in order to Eternal Life: And without something of this kind, tho you frequent the Publick Assemblies, and sit before him as his People, you do but mock God, and trifle with Heaven, while you pretend to Religion, and as­sume the Name of Christians: You act a Scene, and a Part, and have only a Form of Godliness, but must expect to pay dear for your Solemn Hopocrisie.

Let me therefore Advise you to three things, in your Retirement, after the Publick Worship, and Solemn Ordinan­ces of Christ, as the End, and Reason, for which I will press it. 1, That you retire in order to the confession of Sin, and the Exercise of Repentance. That when you have finished the publick work of a Sabbath, or come from any special Or­dinance of the Gospel, by after Medita­tion, you would reflect upon your selves, and take notice of your Defects, and Failings, Discomposures, and Distem­pers of Mind; What unsuitableness of Spirit there has been to heavenly Myste­ries, or what unprepared Addresses we have made to the Majesty of Heaven and Earth, the roving of our Fancies, the vanity of our Thoughts &c.

We should humble our selves on such Occasions, That we attended with no more Reverence and Diligence to the Word of God; That we did not receive the Truth in the Love of it; That it was not mixed with Faith; Tnat we did not make particular, and close application of it to our selves; That our Hearts were not l [...]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 [Page 81] 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 w [...] not beg that God would heal our [...]st [...]a [...]k slidings, and [Page] 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.

[Page 83]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 A [...]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) which follows;

O my gracious God, thou hast surpast all hu­mane Comprehension in thy Love! Is this thy usage of unworthy Prodigals! I feared lest thy wrath, as a consuming Fire, would have devour'd such a Guilty Soul; but while I con­demn'd my self, thou hast forgiven, and justifi­ed me; and surpriz'd me with the sweet Em­bracements of thy Love. I see now thy thoughts are above our thoughts and thy ways above our ways, and thy Love above the Love of man, even more then the Heavens are above the Earth: with how dear a Price hast thou re­deem'd a Wretch that deserves thy Ever­lasting Vengeance! With how precious and sweet a Feast hast thou entertain'd me, who deserved to be cast out with the workers of Ini­quity! shall I evermore slight such Love as this? shall it not evercome my Rebelliousness, and melt my cold and hardn'd heart? Angels are admiring these Miracles of Love and shall not I admire them? Their Love to us doth cause 'em to Rejoyce, while they stand by, and see our Heavenly Feast; and should it not be sweeter to us that are the Guests who feed upon it? O my God, how dearly hast thou Purchased my Love! how strangely hast thou deserv'd and Sought it? nothing is so much my grief and shame as that I can answer it with no more fervent and fruitful Love. Oh what an addition would it be to all this precious Mercy, if this Love poured out might draw forth [Page 86] mine, and my soul might flame by approach­ing unto these thy flames? and that Love drawn out by the sense of Love might be all my Life? O that I could love thee, as much as I would Love thee! yea as much as thou woulst have me love thee! but this is too great an Happiness for Earth: Thou hast shew'd me the place where I may attaine it. My Love is there in full Possession, who hath left me these pledges, till he come and fetch us to himself, and feast us there in our Masters joy. O Blessed Place! O Blessed Company, that see his Glory, and are filled with the streams of those Rivers of Consolation! yea happy we, whom thou hast called from our dark and miserable state, and made us Heirs of that Felicity, and Passengers to it, and Ex­pectants of it, under the Conduct of so sure a Guide? O then we shall love thee, without these sinfull pauses and defects, in another measure and another manner than now we do. Till then my God, I am devoted to thee; by Right and Covenant I am thine! My soul bears witness against my self, that my de­fects of love have no Excuse: Thou deservest all, if I had all the love in Heaven and Earth to give thee. What hath this vaine world to do with my Affections? what is there in all the sufferings, that man can lay upon me, that I should not joyfully accept them, for his sake that hath redeem'd me from Hell, by such [Page 87] matchless voluntary sufferings? Lord seeing thou so regardest so vile a Worm, my Heart, my Tongue, my Hand confess that I am wholly Thine. O let me live to none but thee, thy service, and thy Saints on Earth! O let me no more return unto Iniquity: nor ven­ture on that sin, which kill'd my Lord? And now thou hast chosen so low a dwelling, O be not a stranger to the heart thou hast so freely chosen! O make it the daily Residence of thy Spirit! Quicken it by thy Grace, adorn it with thy Gifts, employ it in thy love, refresh it with thy joys, and the light of thy Counte­nance? and destroy this Carnality, selfishness, and unbelief! and let the world see, that God will make a Palace of the lowest Heart, when he chuseth it for the place of his own abode.

To conclude, Did we thus retire at the close of every Lords day, after the Participation of solemn Ordinances, to renew our Repentance, to beg needful Mercies, to offer the sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgivings, for the Blessings we have and hope for; the Advantages of such a Course would be so many, and so considerable; the Consequences would be so comfortable to our own Souls, and so beneficial unto others; it would be so influential to exercise, and increase our Grace, to promote our [Page 88] Assurance, to secure our Establishment and Perseverance, to render us useful in the World, for the Honour of Christ and his Gospel, and the credit of our holy Profession; That it surpasses the possibility of an exact Description, and reserves its full Discovery to be the re­ward of Experience.

Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.

OUR Lords condescention to wash the Feet of his Disci­ples, and the discourse between Him and the Apostle Peter up­on that occasion, contains many things very observable and Instructive unto all Christians. S. Peter is astonish'd at his Mast­er's [Page 90] Proposal to wash his feet: he won­ders he should ever design or attempt so low a service, He cries out as a man amazed 13. John 6. Lord doest thou wash my Feet? words that savor of hum­ble respect. and Reverence unto Christ: and had he proceeded no farther, it had been very commendable, for these ex­pressions seem to proceed from a true sence of his owne unworthiness, consi­dering both himselfe, and our blessed Lord, and the meanness and inferiority of the action, which he offered to do to­ward him. Unto which our Lord Re­plys. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. i. e. when the Spirit shall be more aboundantly pour'd out. as it was upon his Ascention into Heaven. But Peter is not satisfied with this, but peremptorily refuses to submitt to an order which he did not yet un­derstand the Reason of, and therefore replies againe, Thou shallt not wash my Feet. or far be it from me, that thou should­est wash my feet.

This gave occasion for that severe Rebuke and Threatning, which went to his very heart in those words of Christ, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me, no Intrest in me, no communion with me. It cannot well be thought that the [Page 91] external washing, should be the only thing here meant, for Judas was partak­er of that as well as the Rest: and yet our Lord says, at the tenth verse, ye are clean, but not all. Upon this we find the Apostle Peter submitts to his Saviour, and instead of denying that he should wash his feet, he passionately cries out, not my Feet only, but my hands and head too, i. e. Lord wash me all over, Hands, Head, and Feet, the three most visible parts of the body for the whole: our Lord tells him, that was not necessary, for he that washeth, need not but to wash his feet, verse 10. as one that comes out of a Bath, may have contracted some Filth in walking out of it, and therefore needs only to have his feet washed; alluding to the Custom ^* of the Jews, as to those who did officiate in the Temple, who after having been purified and Washed in the morning, as often as they came out, and returned againe, did only wash their Feet. Doubtless therefore the ne­cessity of inward Purification and Holi­ness must be comprehended, as the im­port of this washing: The being sancti­fied in Soul, Body and Spirit, as necessary unto all that are accepted of God, and in a Covenant Relation with Christ: necessary to a saving intrest in Him, and [Page 92] Communion with him. And such a Change as this some of the vilest, and worst of sinners have experienced, upon true Repentance and an unfeined Faith. This the words I have read give us an account of. And such were some of you &c.

In the beginning of this Chapter, the Apostle reproves a very unwarrantable Practice among these Corinthians, to implead one another in matters of Right and Wrong, before the Heathen Tribu­nals: which seems to blemish the Christi­an Profession, and contradicted the pre­scribed Rule of our Lord. Matth. 18.15. they were also Injurious, and Unjust in their Carriage to their Brethren: from which he Indeavours to deter them. 1. By that dreadful threatning, vers. 9. Know you not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven? And for the farther confirmation of it, enume­rates several kinds of such Persons; and bids them look well to it, and not de­ceive themselves (tho' one would hard­ly think that men should be deceived in so plain a case) as if their profession of Christianity would save them, while they lived in any such wickedness. Be not deceived neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers in any, &c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God.

He then adds another argument in this Text, to diswade them from such an unchristian Behaviour, viz. from the mighty Change, that had been wrought upon several of them, by their Conver­sion to the Faith of Christ. And such were some of you but ye are Washed, &c.

The Change is represented by three several expressions: and the Means by which it was brought about is double viz. In the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

1. The mighty Change which was wrought upon them by their Conver­sion to the Faith of Christ, in those words, But ye are Washed, but ye are Sanctified, but ye are Justified; some would consider these three expressions, as a regular Gradation, and make this Washing to signifie the first Change by Re­generation, or the new Birth: and being Sanctified, to denote the further progress, measure and Degree of the spirit of Ho­liness: and being Justified follows, as that, which by a real change of Heart and Life is evidenced, and cleared, to the comfort of Believers. Others think we may consider this being Washed as the general Term comprehending the other two, Sanctification, and Justification. For we find that expression used in both [Page 94] senses: for our deliverance from the Guilt of sin, by pardoning mercy; and from the impurity and stain, the pow­er, and filth of sin by renewing grace. David beggs to be Washed and made Clean in both respects 51. Psalm 2.7.10. And our Lord is said to have loved us, and washed us from our sins, in his owne blood! Rev. 1.5. Which comprehends both the forgiveness of sin, and the sanctifying influence of the spirit of Christ. Others think all the three terms Washed, Sanctified, and Justified, are here Synanimous: as significant of the great Change, that is wrought by the renew­ing and converting grace of God; and that Justified in this place is not to be taken in a ^* Forensick or Law sence; but hath the same import with the other two expressions, Washed, and sanctified, so the expression 12. Dan. which we render turn many to Righteousness, in the Original is Justifie many.

So Sanctification they think may be comprehended under the term Justi­fied, Rom. 8.30. Or else one of the greatest Advantages we enjoy by Christ is not there enumerated. So here where [Page 95] our Justification is ascribed to, the holy Spirit, whose office and work it is in­wardly to renew and change us: and whereby those Corinthians, who were vile and impure before, are now quali­fied for the Kingdom of God, Tit. 3.5.6.1. However I exclude not our be­ing washed from the guilt of sin, as part of the Sense of this Text; but it is the other Washing by Sanctification, of which I would speak at this time.

2. You have the double means, whereby this is brought about. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, &c. 1. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, or by, and through the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Greek Particle doth often signifie. For it is the same in the Original, in both Clauses. The first may as well be rendered, By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ: as the o­ther, By the Spirit of our God. The same Preposition being used in both. Re­ferring the whole to Sanctification. In my present Discourse I shall not need to Assign Reasons, why the word Ju­stified is put last, or search for the like Instances of an [...], or [...], tho such may be given, to vindicate the or­der of the Expressions; and why the Name of Christ, which especially refers to [Page 96] Justification, should be mentioned be­fore the Spirit of our God, which especially refers to Sanctification, which yet is na­med before our being Justified.

In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or by his Name, may import, in the Gene­ral, for the sake of Christ, upon the ac­count of his Merit, and Mediation: and so we pray in the Name of Christ, and beg Mercy for his sake. But more di­stinctly, the Name of Christ may be consi­dered,

1. In relation to his Office of Media­tor, and the Soveraign Authority of it: he is the Jesus, the Saviour; this is the Name, that is given him above every Name, and so in, by, or through the Name of Christ, does signifie, through faith in him, as the only Mediator between God and Man. In several like Expressions we must grant that Faith must be sup­posed, when it is not expressed: As when we are said to be Baptiz'd in the Name of Christ, for the remission of sin, Acts 2.38. i. e. believing on his Name.

2. It may be considered in relation to the Truth of his Doctrine, and the Di­vine Authority of that Revelation, which he made from God to the World, [Page 97] upon which his Name is engraven: As when we read of suffering for the Name of Christ, i. e. for owning the profession of the Christian Religion. To this purpose our Sanctification is said to be by the be­lief of the Truth, John 15.3.17. chap. 17. 1 Pet. 1.22. 2 Thes. 2.13. Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken to you, sayes our blessed Lord. And in his Mediatory Prayer to the Father, Sanctifie them by thy truth, thy word is truth. According­ly we find Sanctification is ascribed unto Faith in Christ, as the true Messiah, or a sound Belief of the Revelation he hath made, Act. 15.9. Purifying the heart by Faith. So that we are washed, and sancti­fied, through the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or by Christ known, and belei­ved on, as one means of it, and by the Efficiency of the Spirit of God, as the other; wh [...]ch I shall afterwards speak of. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

In discoursing of these words I shall there­fore, First, Give some brief account of the Nature of this Change, here exprest by being Washed, Sanctified and Justified. Secondly, Of the two great Means, where­by it is brought about, the Name of the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit of our God. Thirdly, Make some Improvement, by [Page 98] Application: especially to assist you, in examining your selves, in order to the Lord's Table; that we may know, whe­ther we are in the number of such, upon whom this Change is passed. Whether we are Washed, Sanctified, and Justified, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.

1. Concerning the nature of this Change. It is evident, that the defiling nature of Sin is here supposed: there could not otherwise be any need of Wash­ing. And we find it represented in Scripture by Spots, and Blemishes, by Mire and Vomit by the Blood and Pollution of a New-born Child, by the most filthy dung and Excrements, and whatsoever is reckoned the most vile and abominable. Therefore whatsoever Excellencies and Ornaments, whatsoever Priviledges and Advantages, an Unsanctified Person may partake of, to recommend him to the eyes of the World, he is yet a Vile Per­son, loathed and abominable in the sight of God.

2. Consider, that by Nature we are All as an Unclean thing. That which is born of the Flesh, is Flesh; and, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, John [Page 99] 3.6. Rom. 3.10. Job 14.4. All the Purifications and Washings under the Law, did suppose our inward Defilement, and represent our need of Cleansing.

Whatever was injoyned by the Mosa­ick Institution of this kind (which we find was very strictly charged, and ear­nestly prest, and indispensably required, and the neglect of it most severely pu­nished:) yet did but signifie and repre­sent this. Which proves our Sanctificati­on necessary, Tit. 3.5. He saved us by the washing of Regeneration, and by the re­newing of the Holy Ghost. All Men are Defiled, and Unclean by Nature, and need to be Washed.

3. We are all over Unclean, from the Crown of the Head, to the Sole of the Foot; Universally diseased and pol­luted, and so need to be Sanctified in Soul, Body, and Spirit, Ephes. 5.26. 1 Thes. 5.23. Isa 1.6. we read of the filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit, from which we are to be cleansed, 2 Cor. 7.1. All the Powers of the Soul, and all the Mem­bers of the Body are tainted; Heart and Hand must be Cleansed; the in­ward and outward Man Sanctified. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purifie your hearts ye double minded, Jam. 4 8.

[Page 100]4. The Change therefore by Sancti­fication, must be Universal, in heart and life. By the knowledge of God, and af­fection to him (of whom we were Ig­norant, and to whom before we were Disaffected) by the Image of God re­covered; by participation of the Di­vine Nature, and Life; by the Law of God written on the Heart, and expres­sed in the Conversation. Holiness and Love to God must be the frame and temper of our Souls; so that the Actings of it become easie, pleasant, and delight­ful. The Old Man must be put off, the New put on Old things be done away, and all things be­come new. New Principles, new Ends, new Motives, new Rules, new Comforts, which will make an unspeakable dif­ference between this Change, and that Negative Religion, and common Ho­nesty, which many may pretend to, who are strangers to Regeneration. There were many Philosophers and Sophists a­mong these Corinthians, who boasted of Purity and Reformation, which came unexpressibly short of this Sanctificati­on which I am now speaking of, as ow­ing to some other cause than the Spirit of Christ, unto whom the production, continuance, and progress of this Sancti­fication, is alone to be ascribed.

[Page]5. It may farther be considered in its Begining, or Progress, or Consummati­on. As begun by the Spirit of Life and Power from Christ; as maintained and carried on, by a continual influence from the same Spirit and the diligent use of God's appointed means. Where­by the Lineaments of the Divine Na­ture are rendred more clear, holy im­pressions more powerful, and efficacious; Whereby we go from strength to strength, and are inabled to perfect holi­ness in the fear of God; pressing on towards perfection, to the fulness of the stature of the Man Christ Jesus, till it be consummate in Heaven: when, by seeing Christ as he is, we shall be made like him, and be presented to the Father without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

6. For the sake of those who intend to come to the Lord's Table, let me add, That such Washing and Sanctification is requisite to our Communion with Christ in the special Ordinances of the Gospel, particularly that of the Lord's Supper. This is intimated by our Lord in the 13th of John, v. 7, 8. in his words to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. It must have a Spiritual [Page 102] meaning, because notwithstanding the external Washing, Christ says, All of them were not clean. And soon after this, he instituted his Supper, to the due participation whereof, it is necessary we be Washed and Sanctified. For we cannot otherwise have a Right to the Benefits purchased by his Blood, which are Sealed to us in that Ordi­nance; and we can have no Communi­on with him there, till partakers of the Spirit of Christ. Unless we are Sancti­fied by that Spirit, we have no interest in him, no Right to his Supper, and so we can have no Communion with him: if we are not cleansed from our Filthi­ness, if we have spots upon us that are not the spots of God's Children, unto whom this Feast doth particularly be­long. And therefore I may say, as Pe­ter to Simon Magus, Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right with God, neither can it be, if this Change do not precede. The Enquiry therefore is highly seasonable, whether we are thus Washed, and Sanctified, or not? But before I give the Characters of such Persons, it will be expected, I should speak somewhat concerning the double means of this Change, In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.

[Page 103]II. The double Means of this Change, by the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

First. We are Purified, and Washed, By the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or by Faith in him.

To this purpose, Consider,

First. That all the Arguments laid down in Scripture, to press Sanctificati­on and Holiness of Heart and Life, have influence and force according to our Faith. The Arguments from God, from Christ, from our selves, from the Di­vine Nature, from the Example and Life of Christ, from his redeeming Grace, and dying Love, from his preci­ous Promises, &c. They all depend upon our Faith; and have no force, or power, any further than we believe in Christ, and heartily embrace the Gospel-Reve­lation.

Secondly. It is by the Name of Christ, or by Faith in him, that we are Sanctifi­ed, because in order to our Sanctification, Christ is to be eyed, and improved seve­ral wayes.

First. The Blood of Christ must be eyed in order to our Sanctification. Our Faith must be employed upon a Cruci­fied Saviour. As his Blood is able to cleanse us from all sins. Who loved us and washed us from our sins, in his own Blood; Who gave himself for us that he might sancti­fie and cleanse us, by the washing of Water by the Word, Rev. 1.5. Ephes. 5.25. For, as the Apostle argues, from the taking a­way of Ceremonial Uncleanness by the Legal Purifications; If the Blood of Bulls and Goats, and the ashes of an Heifer, sprink­ling the unclean, availed to the purifying of the Flesh, how much more shall the Blood of Christ, who by the Eternal Spirit offered up himself to God, purge our Consciences from dead Works, Heb. 9.13. Accordingly we find, The Sanctification of the Spirit, con­nected with the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus, or, as the purchase of his Blood, 1 Pet. 1.2.

Secondly. Faith makes use of the Inter­cession of Christ, and his Prayer in Hea­ven, for this Effect. The whole fruit of the Death of Christ, whereof the Sancti­fying Spirit is one Principal part, is gi­ven out by the Father upon the Inter­cession of Christ. What he merited on the Cross by his great Sacrifice, he prays [Page 105] in Heaven may be applyed to Particu­lar Souls, as the fruit of it: and upon the account of the everlasting value of his Death, his Intercession founded on it, is always Prevalent.

Thirdly. His Promise and Covenant, whereby he hath engaged to cleanse us from all Iniquity, and to sprinkle clean Water upon us, Ezek. 36.25. He hath promised his Blood shall be a Fountain open for sin and uncleaness, Zach. 13.1. That Christ shall save us from our sins, and be exalted to give Repentance, and to turn us from our Iniquities, and bring us back to God, &c.

Fourthly. Hereupon our Faith must eye the Spirit of Christ, as the great Sanctifier of Souls, and the Author of all our Purity. This great Benefit, which is promised in the Word, purchas'd by Christ upon his Cross, and bestowed, granted, and given out upon his Inter­cession, is applyed by the Efficiency of the Eternal Spirit. He Sanctifies our Hearts and Natures, and continually vouchsafes holy Influences of Light, and Life, and Power, answerable to the Du­ties, Difficulties, and Necessities of parti­cular Souls, in every Age and Place of [Page 106] the World. This brings me to consi­der the other means of our Sanctificati­on, viz.

Secondly. By the Spirit of our God: And that he doth two ways; First, By remo­ving our Defilement and Pollution, and Secondly, As the Author of Actual Grace and Holiness. First, by the re­moving our defilement and pollution; and accordingly he is promised sometimes as a Refiners Fire, and Fullers Soap, Mal. 3.2. and sometimes under the notion of Wa­ter, Isa. 4.4. Because all things under the Law, were purged from their Ty­pical Uncleanness, either by Fire, or Water. What would abide the Fire, was to be Purified by Fire: and what would not, was to be Cleansed by Water. Numb. 3.23. And here I might consider a Three-fold Defilement, wherewith we are chargable. First, That of our Na­ture, by Original Sin. Secondly, That which is contracted by Actual Sin. Thirdly. The Pollution and Defilement that cleaves to our best Duties. So far as we are delivered from our Pollution, as to either of these, The Holy Ghost, in the vertue of the Blood of Christ, is the Author of it.

Secondly. We may consider the Holy Spirit, as the Author of Positive Holi­ness, [Page 107] and Grace in the Soul; and show,

First, How he convinceth us of our need of it:

Secondly, That he enables us to pray for it.

Thirdly, To beleive the Value and Ver­tue of the Blood of Christ, as able to procure it.

Fourthly, How he makes use of the Word, as the ordinary means of our San­ctification.

And Fifthly, Sometimes enables us to improve Afflictions, to promote the influence and efficacy of the Word, to this purpose.

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 [Page 130] 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 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, [Page 131] 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 Ʋnion 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 [Page 132] 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▪ [Page 133] 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 ^* 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: [Page 135] 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 eat [...] that it might cease to be be­fore it was eaten. 'Tis 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 [Page 136] 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 ^* 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 [Page 137] 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 [Page 138] 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.

[Page 139]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 [Page 140] 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. ^* 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 [Page 141] 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 is a fit Sea­son for extraordinary Thanksgiving and Praise, blessing God for Jesus Christ; [Page 142] 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, [Page 143] 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 [Page 144] 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.

Ʋse 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 [Page 146] 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 Chr [...]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 [Page 147] 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 Ʋse, 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 [Page 148] 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 [Page 149] 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 [Page 150] 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 [Page 151] 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 [Page 152] 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,

[Page 153]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 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 Ʋnfitness. 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 [Page 154] 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 [Page 155] your Hearts, and examine your Co [...] ­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 [Page 156] 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 Ʋngodliness 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 [Page 157] 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 [Page 158] 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 Na [...]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 [Page 159] 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 wi [...]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 [Page 160] 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, [Page 161] 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.

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 [Page 164] 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, [Page 165] 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 Ʋnworthy 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; [Page 166] They do not carry it suitable to its Ex­cellent Nature and Ʋse; 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 matt [...]r; it Imports, to mind, to attend to, to esteem, to honour; to apply, to [Page 167] use the body, and blood of Christ, and the sign, and the Memorial 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 again [...] the body of Jesus Christ, against his Humanity; which of all Crea­tures [Page 168] 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: 'tis 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 Ʋn­worthy 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 Ʋnworthily, 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, [Page 170] though ^* 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 Ʋnworthily, 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 [Page 171] 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 Ʋngodly, [Page 172] 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 [...]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 yet there is not suffi­cient Evidence against such to bar them [Page 173] from the Lord's Table; much less to ex­clude them after once they are Admit­ted to such a Priviledge. A seemingly serious Profession, if not contradicted by a contrary Profession of Words or Actions, is the Evidence of Men's Inte­rest in Church-Priviledges, ^* in Foro Ec­clesiae. Charity believeth all things, and ho­peth all things.

2. You ought first in Charity to re­prove the guilty Persons, as you have opportunity, and to acq [...]aint the Pastors of the Churches, that they may deal faithfully with them in order to their Repentance▪ and Several by such means may be brought to give you Satisfaction concerning their true Repentance, and Amendment. But there are many who are so far from this, that, on the contrary, they solicit and tempt men to Sin, if they know they come to the Lords Table, that they may find occasion to reproach Re [...]igion: and others applaud and con­sent with such as do this, that they may shame Religion by the Irregularities, and Excesses of some that profess it. Such have a dreadful Account to give to God. [Page 174] And so have they, who come to the Lords Table, and yet by their Drunken­ness, or Unfaithfulness, their Worldly­ness, or Unrighteousness, or any disor­derly walking, do give occasion to such an Objection, and open the mouths of Enemies to reflect Dishonour, and Re­proach upon the Profession of Religion in General, and upon that particular Church or Congregati [...]n, unto which they are joined. Such have a double Guilt to answer for, and woe be to them, if they do not Repent. Such as these we of­ten warn not to come to the Lord's Table, till they give some good Testimony of their Repentance, and so far as they are known, they ought to be refus'd.

3. If you know of a purer Communion, where there are none but Saints, at least such as you are strongly confident to be so; rather go and joyn with them, and communicate there, but do not live in the neglect and omission of this Duty. For I am not pleading for any particular Church, or Society of Christians, but only speaking of the Duty in general, of all sincere Christians, to joyn some­where, for the Participation of this Or­dinance. If you are scrupulous as to the Company admitted in some Christian Assem­blies, [Page 175] and know of Others, which you think are purer, where you believe you can statedly communicate more to your Edifi­cation, do it without Delay. You are allowed by God, (and at present by the Laws of the Land too) to chuse your own Pastor.

4. However you ought to consider, That it is impossible but some Hypocrites, and false Professors▪ will be Admitted to the Lord's Table. Not only as Pride, and Cove­tousness, and Envy, and some such Sins, are hard to be defined, so as to convince a particular Person, that in a prevailing Degree he is guilty of these: Not on­ly as it is hard to determine what par­ticular Acts, now and then, of grosser Sins, are consistent with true Grace: But because the Tares and Wheat are mixt to­gether in the visible Church, and All are not Israel that are of Israel. If we will Communicate with none but Saints, there is no Church on Earth we can joyn with, without Fear and Doubting. So that if the Errours and Faults of the Pastors, or of the People, with whom we joyn in the Worship of God, do defile us, and make us guilty,; or if our Com­munion with them upon that account, be a Sin, we should joyn no where at all.

'Tis true, If the Doctrine, Ordinances, and Worship of any Church be so cor­rupted, as that the Substance of the Wor­ship is unlawful, Separation is a Du­ty: For when any Thing sinful is re­quired of us, as necessary to our Commu­nion; in such Cases, Separation is a Chri­stians Duty. ^* But to keep from the Ordinance, because some come unworthily to it, hath no Order or Command of Christ to warrant it. Though he had many Things against the Seven Asian Churches, Rev. 2.3. yet he did not call them to separate; but there are Promises to them, if they keep themselves pure.

5. If it be unavoidable to Communi­cate with some such, as are not sincere Christians, then to do so is not unlawful. Every one is to Examine himself; so says the Apostle to these Corinthians, among whom there were so many unworthy Communicants; and if they Eat and drink unworthily, they did Eat and drink Judg­ment to Themselves. Though the Apo­stle speaks of the Prophanation of that Ordinance by Some, he does not bid Others Withdraw, and Separate upon that Ac­count. [Page 177] Christ hath commanded thee to Examine thy self, and so eat; but it is not necessary thou shouldst Examine and know the fitness of all Others. How would you know when to Communicate, if we may not do it, till Others be prepared as well as we. Great Strictness, and Severity should be used in Judging of our selves, and our own Case; but we must use Great cha­rity, and tenderness, as to the case of O­thers; and not conclude them Hypocrites, when we cannot tell but they truly Re­pent. But if they do not, their Presence cannot pollute me, if I endeavour to dis­charge my Duty, by personal private Re­proof; and then if that be unsuccessful, with Others, and afterwards by acquaint­ing the Pastors of the Church, &c.

If I have Right to come to the Lord's Table, shall the coming of Another that has none, bar my Right? Shall I sin in keeping from the Ordinance, because another sins in coming to it? Or be­cause the Church, or the Pastor sins in not Exclu [...]ing of him? The power of the Keys is not in my hand, I have no Authority to cast out such a Member. And though that particular Pastor, or Church should be faulty in not doing of it, it is not yet a sufficient ground o [...] my Separation, Rev. 2.14.15.20. It I have a [Page 178] Wedding Garment, I will come to the Mar­riage Feast, though there should be O­thers there that have none. Should not I offer my Gift at the Altar, because my Neighbour comes there with me, who should first go, and be reconciled to his bro­ther? I may relish and digest my Food, though there is one who sits by me, who hath a weak Stomach and a bad Digestion. If I am duly prepared, it will not hurt me that Another is not: Whilst I par­take not of other Mens Sins, surely I may joyn with them, in the Perform­ance of necessary Duties.

I say not, That the Wicked and the Ʋn­regenerate ought to come; you often hear me declare the contrary, such are for­bidden to come. But if they will come under a false profession, and shew of Reli­gion, after having been forewarned of their Danger, and been faithfully told their Duty: It is at their own Peril, and they eat and drink Judgment to them­selves, and to no body else: For, nei­ther a Minister of Christ, nor a private Chri­stian, can deny 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 Ʋn­worthy 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.

[Page 181]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 [Page 182] 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 Ʋnworthily 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 Ʋn­worthily in the same manner as the Co­rinthians did.

3. If we take Damnation for Eternal pu­nishment, which Ʋnworthy 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 dri [...]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 [Page 183] 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 si [...]ce we are re­quired, i [...] 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, beca [...]se of the Command; nor yet care­lesly undertake it, because of the threatned Ju [...]gment. But it will by no means ex­cuse, or plead for the total neglect, and omission of it.

'Tis plain, the Apostle never thought that the sin and danger of doing a Duty amiss, might be made an Exception a­gainst [Page 184] the doing i [...] at all; or [...]hat threat­ning Damnation to eating a d drinking unwo thily, should f [...]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 [Page 185] 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, [Page 186] 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 [Page 187] 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 Ʋpright 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 Ʋpright towards God or no. We are bid to Exa­mine, and Search, and try, and prove our selves, in order to it; that we may [Page 188] 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 Ʋnion 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 ^* 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, [Page 190] 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 Ʋnworthily 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 they should get more hurt than good, and be even swallowed up with Desperation, should they come; while they use better Means to be ac­quainted [Page 191] with themselves. It is better for them to do so, than that all the Hypo­crites, and Impenitent persons in the Con­gregation, should be told it is their Duty to come to the Lord's Table, if they can but make themselves uncertain, whether they be Impenitent or no.

6. However, he that, upon the best Search and Examination of himself, as to his Heart and Life, can say, That it is true, I am not certain, that my Heart is sincere with God in his Covenant; yet I must say, (and blessed be God that I can say it,) that as far as I know my own Heart, I think I do truly Repent of all my past Sins, and that I do unfeignedly consent to the Co­venant; I am not fully sure, but so far as I know my own Heart, I do. Such a one may come to the Lord's Table, and find Welcom.

And the Truth is, if None should come but such as have full Assurance, and a Certainty of their Salvation; I think in most places there would be very few Communicants: very many of you that do come would tarry away, and ought to do so, and I should be one of the Number.

[Page 192]7. As to the Apostle's Expression, Rom. 14.24. He that doubts is dam [...]ed if he eat. In the Original it is, Is self condemned. But it is not meant of eating at the Lord's Table, but of eating Meats, which he doubts whether it be lawful to eat of, when at the same time he knows it is lawful to forbear. In cases of such indif­ferent things, the safest course is to for­bear; but in a case of Duty, your doubt­ing alone will not disoblige you: Else Men might give over any Duty, without sin, if they are but blind, or erroneous enough to doubt whether it be a Duty. If thou art a real upright Christian, though a doubting one, thy doubts will not make the neglect of this Ordinance not to be a sin.

8. Be sure of this, He that endeavours not, to know his State, and to be prepared to come to this Ordinance, he lives in continual sin. Let them consider it, who fright themselves with the danger of coming un­worthily, but seldom think of the sin and danger of not coming at all. He that con­tinues in his sin, and will adventure to eat of this Bread, and drink of this Cup, he shall be judged and punished; and so shall he that stays away, and will not pay this part of Homage and Worship un­to Christ, which he requires of all his [Page 193] Followers, in Remembrance of his dy­ing Love: He who is not fit company for Christ, and the Faithful, at this Feast of Love, cannot be in a good and safe condition; his Business is to Repent, and to get Ready.

9. Let weak Christians, who have some Doubts remaining, consider, That this Ordinance is appointed for an help to weak Faith. The Seals of the Covenant are for greater Confirmation to us, That the Heirs of the Promise might have abund­dant Consolation. In this Sacrament God speaks more solemnly, more particularly, more affectionately to us, for the help of our Faith. A sealed Pardon is here offer­ed to every one by Name. That which is spoken in general by the preaching of the Word, is here particularly applyed to indivi­dual persons. And usually the sincerely Pe­nitent get Relief and Comfort, against their Doubts, and Jealousies, and Fears, by Obedience to Christ in this Ordinance. To Allude to that Expression, Luke 24.30. Christ was known to his Disciples in breaking of Bread. I say Allude to it, for I que­stion whether that was Sacramental Bread; though ^* some plead strongly for it.

Lastly, If we have any good Hope through Grace, notwithstanding some Remaining Doubts and Fears; though we cannot come with Assurance, we may come humbly and penitently. We may give up our selves again to God in Christ as his Servants, though we cannot say cer­tainly, that he is our Saviour. We are Sinners, and need a Pardon; we are penitent Sinners, and are desirous of one. If we do not know we are pardoned Sin­ners, yet let us come penitently, humbling our selves before him, under the sense of our Vileness, as knowing we need a Saviour to Reconcile and Justifie us. Let us look up­on him as the Saviour, whom we have pier­ced whom we have crucified, if we cannot look upon him as Ours in special Covenant. Let us take shame to our selves, and ac­knowledge the Guilt of our Sin, though we cannot apply the Comfort of his Salvation. You may come ( ^* saith One) with brokenness of Heart for Sin, when you cannot come with the Joy and Rejoycing of Assured Believers. You may hunger and thirst after Righteousness, and have earnest, [Page 195] eager, fervent Desires after him; though you cannot, dare not, Glory in him as yours.

Let us therefore Apply our selves to him as we can, though we cannot Ap­ply him to our selves as we would. Let us stir up the Grace that is in us, do our best, use the weak Faith we have, and say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I can­not say, it may be, with the Apostle, That the Life I live, is by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me: But I can say with the same A­postle, in another place, That this is a Faithful Saying, and worthy of all Accepta­tion, That Christ came into the World to save Sinners, of whom I am Chief. I cannot say as yet, My beloved is mine; But I must say, I will say, that I am his; I resolve to be so, wholly, only, entirely, unreserved­ly, everlastingly his. Lord, I am thine, says David; O save me, for I am thine. It would be more comfortable if we could say, Lord, thou art mine; Thou hast accepted me in thy Christ, Thou hast placed thy Image and Love upon me, and Adopted me into thy Family. But though I cannot say, Thou art thus mine; yet this I can say, I am thine by my own choice, I am thine by the [Page 196] Resignation of my self, and all I have to thee; I am thine by entire Devotedness to thee, and sincere Desire to please thee: I am thine, and if thou cast me off, and reject me, and I pe­rish for ever; there shall one perish that was heartily resolved to be the Lord's; and this I hope, believe, and know, shall ne­ver be.

To conclude therefore, You that want Assurance, who are filled with Doubts and Fears concerning your State, and therefore keep from the Lord's Table, you must endea­vour to come in this manner. For my own part, I must profess, (though I hope it is better with some stronger Christians) that this last mentioned Particular is very often to me, the Support and stay of my Soul. And thanks be to God, if in the Since­rity of our Hearts we can reach this; we may then expect to meet with Wel­come, and Consolation. But if we do not, though we should never have sensible Consolation, and full Assurance, and raised Joys, at the Table of the Lord, ne­ver while we live; yet the Authority of Christ requiring us, To do this in Remem­brance of him, should be enough to deter­mine our Practice, against all the little Cavils and Objections, that may be made [Page 197] against it. O let us not be wanting in our Duty, and the God of Love and Grace, who is the Father of Mercies, and our Gra­cious Redeemer, of whose Compassion we have had such large and dear Ex­perience, will never be wanting to those, who diligently and sincerely seek him.

GReater Love hath no Man than this, saith our Blessed Lord, than to lay down his Life for his Friend; To part with that for Another, which, of all things, is the dearest and the most valuable to him­self. [Page 200] In all Ages of the Christian Church, there have been some, ready to give this Proof of their Love to Him who spake these words, by not loving their Lives unto the Death, when they stood in Competition with their Fidelity to Christ. And with how much the great­er Chearfulness and Alacrity, Willing­ness and Desire, they did it; by so much the more powerful, and constraining was the Principle of Love. By this we may make some Judgment, what man­ner of Love it was, wherewith the Lord Redeemer loved us, when he gave Him­self for us an Offering, and a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Odour unto God. The Vo­luntariness of his Sacrifice argued the Ex­cellency of his Incomparable Love.

Though his Death was Necessary, with respect to the Eternal Purpose and Ap­pointment of Heaven, For it was by the determinate Counsel of God, that the Messiah should suffer Death; And though it were Violent, with respect to the In­strumentality of Men in his Crucifixion, they did it with violent hands: Yet with reference to himself, his Death was vo­luntary, He made a willing Sacrifice of his own Life; He laid it down; None else could have taken it from him. He gave himself a Ransom, He became Poor, [Page 201] He made himself of no Reputation, He poured out his Soul unto Death, It was not rent from him. He was obedient to Death, e­ven the Death of the Cross. This gave an extraordinary value to his Sufferings: Upon this depended the Merit of his Sacrifice, and the Efficacy of his Blood. And this is one endearing Circumstance, which heightens his Love, and calls for our thankful Admiration.

He willingly offered himself in the first Council of Peace about our Redem­ption, and undertook to suffer for us, and make satisfaction to Divine Justice. And after his Incarnation, he always knew, and frequently foretold his own Sufferings and Death. He reproves Pe­ter, as if he acted the Devil's part, when he would have disswaded him from it. Yea, he most earnestly desired this most bloody Baptism, I have a Baptism to be Baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished? Luke 12.50. The night before his Sufferings he makes his last Will and Testament, and leaves it with his Disciples, Giving his blood to drink in the Sacrament, to show, h [...]w willingly he would pour it out the next d [...]y upon the Cross. And on this Ac­count he so earnestly desired to eat this Passover, which the Text speaks of, be­cause [Page] it was the last, before he should suf­fer Death. And afterwards, even the same Evening he goe [...] out into the Gar­den, where he knew he should be be­trayed; And so in effect, he brings him­self to the Door of the Tabernacle, to be offered to God a Sacrifice for us.

With desire have I desired to eat this Pas­sover with you, before I suffer. As if he had said, The Sufferings I have so of­ten spoke of, are now approaching; The hour is at hand, when I shall be betray­ed, and Crucified; This is the last Pas­sover I shall ever keep with you, before I am lifted up from the Earth; And there­fore I most earnestly desire it, because it is the last, that will precede my Death: Whereby I shall put an end to these le­gal Services, which have all along re­ferr'd to me, and to the Sacrifice and Oblation I am to make for sin. Hence­forth I will eat and drink no more of the Passover Supper, for my own Suf­ferings and Death is that which they signified, and related to. I am the true Paschal Lamb, All the Rites and Obser­vances about the killing, and eating of it, were but Typical of my Passion, and shall now be fulfilled.

And here, 1. I shall consider the Pas­sover, which our Lord desired to eat of. 2. His ardent Desire to eat of this Passo­ver, and the Reason of it. 3. The Com­pany with whom he desired to eat it, With you. 4. The Time when, Before I suffer. 5. The Accomplishment of it in the Kingdom of God. What we are to un­derstand by the Kingdom of God, and what by the fulfilling of it therein. 6. His Re­solution and Declaration, That he would eat and drink no more so, till it were Accom­plished. Lastly, Some Reflections, as the Application of the whole.

1. Concerning the Feast of Passover. You have the Institution of it, Exod. 12. the beginning. Where we find, that it was appointed by God, as a Memorial of the Israelites slavery in Egypt, and their Deliverance out of it. Former Miracles having been unsuccessful upon Pharaoh, God intends to slay all the First-born of Egypt in one Night; whereby, in part, the Curse of God pronounc't on Cha [...], is exec [...]ted on his Posterity▪ viz. the Egyptians; in destroying All the First-born of bot [...] Man and Beast. The Is­raelites were ordered by Moses to slay a Lamb, on the Fourteenth day of the First Month, which answers to our [Page 204] March, and to Sprinkle the Posts of their Doors with the Blood of that Lamb, and to feed upon the Flesh of it, in their several Families. That very Night the destroying Angel strikes the First-born of every Family, where this Command, of sprinkling the Door-posts with the Blood of the Lamb, was not observed. On this, you know, they were delivered out of Egypt the Egypti­ans not only giving leave, but d [...]siring them to be gone. And this Deliverance being the Foundation of the Jewish State, was to be perpetually observed by them in their Generations, and to be an Ordinance for ever, Exod. 12 42.

The whole Institution of the Paschal Lamb is called by the Name of the Passover, though it refer especially to the first Lamb in Egypt, whose blood was sprinkled on the Door-posts of the Is­raelites Houses, when the destroying An­gel passed them by. And the 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, [Page 205] Resurrection, and Life, &c. But the same Name, Passo [...]er, is also given to those Lambs which were slain every year af­terwards: This Feast being Annually ob­ser [...]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 re [...]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.

'Tis 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 [Page 206] 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 S [...]lemn Memo­rial of this thing every Year, if the matter of Fact had not been known to the Egyptians, and their other Neigh­bours [...]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 [Page 207] 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 ^* Epiphanius relates, ‘That at the same time of the Year, the Night before the Israelites [Page 208] 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 w [...]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 [Page 209] 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 S [...]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. 'Twas this that made him long, and desire to eat this Passover, Though [Page] 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 the Ceremonial Law, as an Exam­ple of Obedience. And therefore the [Page 211] Skin of his Flesh was Circumcised, and his Holy Mother Purified; And he that was the true Passover, would keep the Ty­pical one; And so, as one well expresses it, did obediently stand under his own Shadow.

3. One Reason of his Desire to eat of this Passover, might be, to put an end to the Sacraments of the Legal Institution. And therefore after the eating of the Passover, he instituted the Lords Supper, which succeeds in its room; Which is a Feast upon the Sacrifice of Christ, the True Lamb of God, the true Christian Passo­ver, in Remembrance of our Deliverance by Him from Sin and Hell, from Death and the Devil. Those things therefore that were but Types and Shadows of Him, must cease after his Death, the Truth and Substance of them being now Ac­complished, as I shall shew presently.

4. Another Reason might be, That he might have Fellowship and Communion with his Disciples. And that leads to the consideration of the Third thing.

III. The Company with whom he de­sires to eat this his last Passover, With You. The Jews tell us concerning the Number of those that were to eat the [Page 212] Passover, That it was not to be under Ten, for the whole Lamb was to be eaten: Nor above Twenty, lest they should need two Lambs. Therefore our Lord sent word to one of his Dis­ciples, to prepare every thing for that Solemnity; that the House might be searched if there were any Leavened Bread left in it; Which they were wont to do very carefully in every corner, saying, Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast Sanctified us by thy Precepts: And then throwing a little Dust into the Air, they used these words, or the like, If there be any leavened Bread in this House, let it be as this dust, cast into the Air. But the prin­cipal Reason of sending word before­hand, might be, because the Persons in the Family were to be numbred. And it is not improbable, but there were more Men than the Apostles and our Lord, who were present at the eating of this Passo­ver, and it may be some Women too. For,

1. It is probable, That the Man and his Family, in whose House it was, did eat of the Passover with Christ and his Apostles. Secondly, The Expressions of the Evangelist are very considerable, con­cerning him that should betray him. [Page 213] There is a Threefold Gradation; He says, first, in the General, One of you shall be­tray me: And afterwards he comes near­er, and says, One of the Twelve; Or, of my Apostles, often so called: So that at the eating of this Passover, there seem­ed to have been more present than the Twelve Apostles. And afterwards he particularizeth the Person, He that dip­peth his hand with me in the dish. Thirdly, We read that the Virgin Mary, and two or three other Women, did usually ac­company him, and were then at Jeru­salem to eat the Passover: For the next day the Virgin Mary was standing by the Cross, when our Lord was Crucified: And it being the Jewish Custom for the Relations to join together at the Passo­ver Supper, it is not unlikely that she did eat the Passover with Christ; And it being in the House of one of his Dis­ciples, she might tarry there that night, while he went out from thence about Eleven or Twelve a Clock at Night into the Garden, where he was betrayed and taken; And she hearing of his being ta­ken, might go to the High Priests Hall, and be at the Cross the next Morning, at Nine a Clock.

With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer. VVith [Page 214] You, You, my Disciples and Friends, with whom I shall never eat another Passover. Notwithstanding the Pro­spect of his Approaching Sufferings and Death, He did not decline, but earnest­ly desire Communion and Fellowship with them in such an Ordinance.

When he gave 'em the Cup, 'tis ob­servable he bids 'em divide it among themselves. The Scripture saith not, that he gave the Elements into every one of their particular hands, much less into their mouths, without their touching the Bread or Cup with their own hands, except we will admit that Christ chang'd the posture he was in, and al­way used at Meals (and the Scripture saith not he did,) how could he reach it to so many as Eleven Persons in the same Posture?

IV. Let us consider the Time when, Before I Suffer. There is a great Contro­versie about the Time of this Passover. It was certainly upon Thursday-night, He being Crucified on the Fryday in the Fore­noon, though he did not give up the Ghost till Three in the Afternoon. But the Question will be, whether it was at the same Time, that the Jews kept their Pas­sover, [Page 215] or a Day sooner; And if it was a Day sooner, How could the Paschal Lamb be killed, which was to be brought to the Temple, and be killed by the Priests, between the two Evenings of the Fourteenth day, the first whereof began when the Sun began to decline, or as soon as Mid-day was past; The other Evening was after Sun-set. Some Lear­ned Men think it is plain, That the Time when our Lord did eat this Pas­sover with his Disciples, was the day be­fore the Generality of the Jews kept theirs, from Joh. 18.28. Chap. 19.14.

For the better understanding of this, you must know that the Time for the Observation of the Jewish Festivals, was Regulated by the Appearance of the New Moon. They had not Almanacks ^* in those days, as we have now, to tell us before­hand when will be a New-Moon. But (if we may believe the Jewish Writers) a­bout the time when they expected a New Moon, they sent Men to watch for it on the Top of some Hill, or High place; and he who could first discover a New-Moon, was to tell the Priest, and he to Blow the Trumpet, to give [Page 216] the people notice, that there was a New-Moon. But, in case of Cloudy weather, if in Three days time, from their first expect­ation, no Man could see a New-Moon, they did then venture (but not before) to blow the Trumpet without seeing it, which must needs cause a very great Ʋncertainty, and the same Moon be sooner seen at one place then at another, and the Passover kept accordingly.

So that sometimes there was a Mi­stake of One day, or more. Now it hath been ^* proved, out of Epiphanius, and o­thers, that there was a Contention and Tumult amongst the Jews, at this very Passover, concerning the Time, or the Day, wherein it was to be observed, and that the Senate had appointed a Day too late, and had not determined according to the True Phasis, or Appearance of the Moon: 'Tis manifest our Saviour kept the Passover on one Day, and the Ge­nerality of the Jews on another (per­haps he, about a Fortnight before, might see a New-Moon, a Day sooner than they did.) And therefore we may suppose our Lord, and the more Pious [Page 217] Jews, did not Approve of that Order of the Sena e, but followed the true Appearance of the Moon, confirmed by sufficient, and assured Witnesses; The Passover being to be kept on the Fifteenth Day, from the Appearance of the New-Moon.

But you will say still, How could that Lamb be brought to the Temple, and killed there, if it were not on the same Day the Jewish Passover was generally Observed? Unto which it is Answered, That either the Master of the Family might be permitted on that day to kill the Lamb; Not all the Lambs, to be eaten by the Paschal Societies, were to be killed by the Priests at the Temple, and their blood poured out upon, or at the Foot of the Altar; but some of 'em in stead of All. Or that as to this and other Feasts, whose Time depended upon this Determination, that it was usual, in Doubt­ful Cases, to permit the Feast to be Solemni­zed for two days together. Many Instan­ces can be brought of this out of the Writings and Practices of the Jews, and it is probable it was so now. It is cer­tain it was the Night before he [...]red that he did thus eat the Passover, and the Day wherein Israel went out of Egypt. And it is a Tradition among the Jews, says [Page 218] Grotius, That then Israel should be delivered and redeemed in the Days of the Messiah, e­ven on the same day wherein they were deli­vered out of the House of Bondage in Egypt. Thus admirably did the Wisdom of God concur, to make the Antitype a­gree with the Type, as will appear more distinctly under the next Head.

V. The Accomplishment of this Jewish Passover in the Kingdom of God. For I say unto you, I will eat no more thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Which denotes it should be accomplished very shortly in that Kingdom. But Ʋntil will not argue, as if he should have after­wards eaten of it again. That will not follow, any more than that Michal Saul's Daughter had Children after her death, because it is said, She had no Child till the day of her death.

1. What is meant by the Kingdom of God?

2. What by the Fulfilling of the Passover therein? And how, or wherein it was then Accomplished, and Fulfilled?

1. W [...] are we to understand by the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven? Sometimes the expression is used for the Kingdom of Glory. Bles­sed [Page 219] are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Sometimes for his Pro­vidential Government, His Kingdom ruleth over all. Sometimes for the Exe­cution of Judgment on the Nation of the Jews, Mark 9.1. Some standing here shall not taste of Death, till they see the King­dom of God come. But most usually it is taken for the Kingdom of Grace, in Gene­ral, The Messiah's Kingdom, with what belongs thereto. The outward Means of Salvation are sometimes so called, Math. 21.43. If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God, then is the Kingdom of God come unto you. The Internal Renovati­on of the Soul is also so expressed, The Kingdom of God is within you, and cometh not with observation, Luk. 17.20, 21. The Essentials of Christianity are also ex­pressed by this Phrase, Rom. 14.17. The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink, but Righteousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost. But the Church-State, or the Evangelical Dispensation by the Messiah, is most commonly un­derstood; As when the Kingdom of God is said to be at hand, by the Preaching of Christ, and his Apostles. And no great­er Prophet than John the Baptist, yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, or the meanest Minister of the New Testament, [Page 220] who Preacheth the Accomplishment of those things, which the Baptist saw but the beginning of, is greater than John the Baptist, for he died before the Sacrifice of Christ. So in this Text, our Lord sayes, He will eat no more of the Pas­sover, and drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine, till it be accomplished in the Kingdom of God; that is, till what was represented in the Figure, and Type of the Jewish Passover, was really fulfilled by the Messiah's Offering himself a Sa­crifice upon the Cross. Which Sacri­fice and Death of Christ was supposed, and anticipated in the Lord's Supper, as the first Institution of this New King­dom, or Gospel-Dispensation, My body broken for you. And this brings me to consider,

2. The Fulfilling of this Passover, in the Kingdom of God, Or the Accomplishment of the Legal Passover, when Christ, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the Sins of the World, was Sacrificed for us. And here we may consider in the General,

• 1. That something more than the History was intended.
• [Page 221]2. That these things did refer to the Messiah.
• 3. That the Faithful under the Old Testament did so regard them.

1. It is certain, that somewhat more than the History was designed. All the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Mosaick Institution, were but Shadows of good things to come, But the Substance is Christ, Colos. 2.17. He is so even of the Jewish Passo­ver: For the Jews can never assign any pertinent and solid Reason of the Pas­sover-Rites, if there were no Reference to the Messiah. What need of the Choice and Separation of a Lamb in that man­ner? What Vertue could there be in the killing of one, and the Sprinkling their Door-posts with his Blood? What Influence could That have on their De­liverance out of Egypt? Could not God distinguish the Houses of the Israelites, from those of the Egyptians without this? No Reason can well be assign'd of such Rites and Orders, but by the Doctrine of the New Testament: These things are thereby discover'd to be Excellent Em­blems of the great Mystery of our Lord's Death.

[Page 222]2. The whole Design therefore of this Paslover-Feast, had an Aspect upon the Messiah, and does Admirably Re­present the Death and Sufferings of Christ, the Lamb of God, Sacrificed for us; By whose Blood we have a Spiritual De­liverance from Sin and Satan; as by the Blood of the Paschal Lamb, they had a Deliverance from the destroying Angel; and afterwards a Deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage. Even the History of the Institution of this Passover, shows a ma­nifest Reference to Jesus Christ: For we read, Exod. 12.46. concerning the Pas­chal Lamb; Neither shall ye break a Bone thereof. And this is said to be fulfilled in Christ the Antitype, as if pronounced immediately of him, John 19. When the Souldiers found him dead, they brake not his Bones, as of the other two. And it follows These things were done, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, A Bone of him shall not be broken.

The Faithful under the Old Testament did so regard these Things: And there­fore Moses, who esteemed the Reproach of Christ as greater Riches than the Trea­sures of Egypt, and therefore did know him, is said to have kept the Passover in Faith, Heb. 11.28. In which Chapter, the Apo­stle [Page 223] speaks all along of Faith in the Mediator, and not of Faith in God sim­ply. But,

2. Let us consider more particular­ly, how these Things, with Relation to the Jewish Passover, were accomplished by Christ, as the Lamb of God to take away Sin. And that will appear, if we con­sider four Things.

• 1. The Person of Christ as our Passover, or Paschal Lamb
• 2. His Sufferings, and Sacrifice.
• 3. The Fruits and Benefits of them to us.
• 4. The way and manner of our Participa­tion of these Benefits.

1. The Person of Christ, who is the true Paschal Lamb. I shall not stay to consi­der the Resemblance of his Character, to a Lamb for Meekness, for Patience, for Submission, and Obedience: He was brought as a Lamb to the Slaughter, and as a Sheep before the Shearers is dumb, so he opened not his Mouth. Nor that the Pas [...]hal Lamb was to be without blemish, sound and en­tire, without Bruise or Maim; Thus holy was Christ in his Conception, and Birth, and in all the Actions of his Life; A Lamb without blemish, and without [Page 224] spot, 1 Pet. 1.19. Holy, harmless, and un­defiled, separate from Sinners, Heb. 7.26. Nor how the Lamb was set apart, and chosen for three days, and killed the fourth; answered by Christ's being set apart to his Prophetical Office, wherein he manifested himself for about three years, before he offered himself a Sacrifice in the fourth year. Those that write con­cerning the Types, are large upon this Subject.

2. We may consider his Passion, and Sufferings, the Fulfilling of it as to his Death, and the Time of it. The Pas­chal Lamb was to be Roasted with Fire; Which might not only put them in Mind of the Hardships they endured, in the Brick Kilms of Egypt; but Prefigure the Sufferings of Christ, as crucified and pressed, when his strength was dryed up like a Potsheard, and his Tongue did cleave to his Jaws, Psalm. 22.15. The Time also of his Suffering agreed with the Time of the Jewish Passover, About the Ninth Hour, or Three a Clock in the Afternoon, the usual Time that the Passover was to be Killed.

[Page 225]3. As to the Fruits and Effects of his Sacrifice, there is a further Accomplish­ment of the Type: For the destroying Angel is diverted from the Israelites Houses. The Blood of a Lamb could not Merit, or procure this, but as it Represented the Blood of the Messiah: Whereby the Wrath of God is quenched, and we delivered from Satan the great De­stroyer. And as this was the Earnest of their Deliverance from their Bondage in Egypt; By the Death of Christ we are set free from a much worse Sla­very.

4. Consider the manner how we partake of the Benefit, and Fruits of Christ's Sacri­fice. Our Hearts must be sprinkled with the Blood of Christ, as the Israelites were to sprinkle, the Blood of the Lamb, on the Door-post of their Houses. They were to feed upon the Flesh of the Pas­chal Lamb; We are in a Spiritual sense to do so with Reference to Christ, John 6.53. They were to eat it with sour Sauce, with bitter, or wild Herbs: Repentance for Sin must be joyned with Faith, in a Saviour. Ʋnleavened Bread was to be thrown out of the House, And you know how the Apostle applies this, unto those who are called to keep [Page 226] the Feast, even that Feast upon the Sacri­fice of Christ, at his own Table, 1 Cor. 5.7, 8. Not with the Leaven of Malice, and Wickedness; But with the Ʋnleavened Bread of Sincerity, and Truth.

It was Remarkable as to the first Pass­over, It was to be eaten in hast, with their Loins girt, Shoes on their Feet, and a Staff in their Hand: As Pilgims and Stran­gers here, who are hastning to a bet­ter Country, which God hath promi­sed, and which their Canaan may Mind us of, and make this also Applicable to our Case: Which will bring me to the Sixth, and last thing.

Sixthly and lastly, The Resolution amd Declaration of Christ, to eat and drink no more of this Passover, till it be accomplished. Some think that the 18th Verse, I will drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine, till I drink it new with you in my Fathers King­dome, is misplaced and ought to come in after the Institution of the Lord's Supper, as it is placed by the Evangelists, Matthew and Mark. ^* Chrysostom thinks it Refers to his Eating and Dr [...]nking with his Disciples, after his Resurrection in this World; That he would not any more [Page 227] Eat and Drink, till he had suffered Death, and was risen again: And then, to manifest the Truth of his being Ri­sen, he did condescend to satisfie, and convince them in that manner. But there is little ground for that Inter­pretation.

It is not improbable, but our Lord may Allude here to the Custom of the High Priests, who coming out of the Ho­ly of Holies, did keep a Feast of Joy with his Friends: For if he were a Wicked Man, say the Jews, he died in the Place; If a good Man, he came out safe: And then he Rejoyced with his Friends, and kept a Feast, where they were wont to drink New Wine. To this Custom our Lord may Allude in this Expres­sion, thereby telling his Disciples, That he should not sink in the Performance of what he underto k; ^* in the great Offering that he was to make to God his Father; but come off with Success: And then they should Rejoyce, and Feast together; He would drink new Wine with them in the Kingdom of his Father.

Some think the Evangelist Luke, as to Christ's drinking new Wine, Refers to the Lord's Supper that was to follow. And as he Recites the Words, they are more Intelligible, than as they are mention­ed by St. Matthew, or Mark. He An­nexes them to the Passover Cup, though the other Recite this Passage after the Cup in the Lord's Supper: But the Words might have been spoken by Christ be­fore. And 'tis easier to Transpose the Words in Matthew and Mark, to the unmentioned Occasion, which was im­mediately before the Lord's Supper, than to Transpose the whole 19th and 20th Verses in Luke, before the 17th Verse, which would also make it a Tauto­logy.

By the Kingdom of God, all the Evan­gelists seem to mean the Gospel Dispensa­tion which was to Commence in the Lord's Supper, as the first of that sort; for the Baptism of John, and of the Disciples of Christ, before his Death, was different from Baptism since, the New Testament Baptism, Acts 19.4, 5. The Lord's Sup­per by Anticipation did signifie, and shew forth the Lord's Death. This is my Body broken for you. He supposed it broken, and himself sacrificed, and the Passover ful­filled: [Page 229] Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God Typified, and Presignified by the Paschal Lamb, till his Sacrifice of himself. And so to put a Period to the former Oeconomy, on which the Gospel Dispensa­tion did ensue.

The Term New, (till I drink it New,) may be accounted for; and that some of the Evangelists say, that Day, I'll drink it New; though it were the same Hour, because it Refers to a different Period, and Dispensation, viz. The ceasing of the Mosaick, and the beginning of the Evangelical one. In the like sense the same Word is used in other Places, as Zach. 14 6, 7. And that which answers to the Word New, is that it is opposed to the old Dispensation; that it serves to Divine Purposes, by a new Institution, and so is made New: And it declares that the N w Gospel Dispensation, to which it is appropriate, is now begin­ning, or to commence. I'll not drink of it, till I drink it New with you in my Father's Kingdom, or in the Kingdom of God, i. e. In the Lord's Supper, which is my Gospel In­stitution, and the Beginning of the Peculiar Kingdom of God, as dispens'd after my Actual Death and Sufferings.

No question but the Sense is very safe, to consider it with Reference to the Hea­venly Glory, as it is usually understood, when all the Blessings of this Passover shall be fully Accomplished in the Hea­venly Canaan.

Neither is it strange or unusual for the same Ancient Type, or Figure, to respect to several Objects, and so have several Degrees of Accomplishment. ^* This of the Paschal Lamb might not only have Relation to the An­gel's passing by the Houses of the Is­relites in Egypt, and their passage out of Bondage into Liberty, by the De­liverance that follow'd; but unto the Absolution and Deliverance of Belie­vers by the Blood of Chrsst, and unto the Deliverance of Christ himself out of the Grace, and from a state of Humili­ation, to that of Glory; and to the pas­sage of the Church Militant upon Earth, to a state of Triumph in Heaven.

The Blessedness of Heaven is fre­quently set off by this Metaphor of Eat­ing and Drinking. And at the Lord's Table, which was Instituted at the close of the Passover Feast, the Thoughts of [Page 231] Heaven are proper. We meet at this Table, as those who hope to sit down with all the Children of the Kingdom at the last great Supper of the Lamb.

This Ordinance is a lively Resem­blance of the Heavenly Feast, and should assist our Meditations on it. Our Lord doth here speak to us such kind of Lan­guage: Ere long we shall Feast together in Heaven: What is now done in Emblem, shall be then done in Reality. You have here the Earnest Pledge and Assurance of it.

This Table is a Preparatory Enter­tainment for the Eternal Supper. ^* It is some foretaste to stay our Longings, and yet excite our Desires after the Hea­venly Feast above. Here we break our Fast (as I may say) but are made thereby very Hungry, till that Great Supper come. Here we have but a Praelibation, a little short Antepast of some Rare things to come; yet seeing it is an Earnest of those Things, it creates in an holy Soul a wonderful Contentment, both from its own Sweetness, and the Hopes wherewith it feeds us. It nou­rishes in us most Delicious Longings, it makes the Soul even swell with Com­fortable Expectations: And we Re­ceive [Page 232] it not only as a Remembrance of what was done, but as a Pledge of what shall be. We taste not only what he is to our Souls at present, but what he shall be for ever.

If it be a Priviledge to be Admitted to sit at his Table, and to have his Cove­nant sealed to me by the outward Ordinance, and his special Love by his Spirit to my Heart. All the Life and Comfort of these, is, That they Declare and Assure me of more and better Comforts hereafter. Their Use is darkly to signifie, and seal higher Mercies When I shall Drink with Christ of the Fruit of the Vine renewed. How pleasant a Feast will that be? O [...] the Difference, ^* as One hath well exprest it; O the Differ­ence between the last Supper of Christ on Earth, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb at the Great Day! Here he is in an Ʋpper-Room accompanied with Twelve poor selected men, feeding on no curious Dainties, but a Paschal Lamb with sour Herbs, and a Judas at his Table, ready to betray him. But then his Room will be the Glorious Heavens; his Attendants, all the Host of Angels and Saints; no Ju­das, nor unfurnished Guest comes there; [Page 233] but the humble Believers must sit down by him, and the Feast will be their mutual Loving and Rejoycing.

You know nevertheless that when the Israelites were got out of E­gypt, and delivered by the Blood of the Lamb, and had a Promise of Canaan, they had yet a Wilderness to pass through; many Enemies to Encounter, and Dif­ficulties to overcome, before they entred into Canaan; though God protected, and maintained, and supplyed them in the Wilderness, all that while. So is it with us Christians, though we recover our Spiritual Liberty by Faith in the Blood of Jesus, and are made a peculiar People unto God, a Nation of Kings and Priests unto the most High, and are marching towards the Heavenly Canaan, and have the Promise of it; We have yet a Wilderness to pass through; We have Adversaries on all sides to resist; We need a Pil­lar of Cloud, and of Fire to direct us, and Manna from Heaven to supply us: And this we shall have from time to time, till we come to Canaan; and then our Lord will eat and drink with us after a better manner; we shall have New Wine in his Kingdom: He is gone to prepare a Feast for us; to make ready the great [Page 234] Supper of the Lamb, for all the Children of the Kingdom.

After he was Sacrificed as the Lamb of God, he tarried Fourty Days upon the Earth, from his Resurrection till he Ascended into Heaven: As the Jews after their Passover in Egypt, wandred 40 years in the Wilderness before they entred into Canaan. But all Believers, after a few Years Difficulty and Tryals in this World, with the Presence of God to Conduct, and Guide them; shall at last sit down for ever with Christ, to Reap the full Harvest of his Sufferings, to re­ceive the compleat Deliverance, which he hath procured, to enjoy all the bles­sed Fruits of his Death, all the Purchase of his Redeeming Blood; This he will come again to bestow, upon those who believe, expect, and prepare for it.

Some Inferences of Truth and Duty, may be collected, as the Application of what has been said.

1. That Believers, under the Old Te­stament and under the New, have the same Object of Faith. They did eat the same spiritual Meat, and drink the same spi­ritual Drink Their Sacraments and ours [Page 235] have different Signs, but in Substance were the same: Theirs having Rela­tion to Christ, the Messiah, as well as ours. Accordingly we read of Circum­cision, and the Passover, in a spiritual sense under the Gospel; And that which answers to Baptism, and the Lord's Sup­per with us: Even they, under the Old Testament, had. 1 Cor. 10.2, 3. They were under the Covenant of Grace, though not so clear a Dispensation of it as we; They were to be Saved by Faith in a Mediator, as well as we: The Gospel was preached unto them, as well as unto us.

2. Did Christ desire Fellowship with his Disciples, Friends, and Followers in the Passover; What shall we think of those that despise such Institutions, and look upon themselves as above such Ordinances, as if they had a nearer, and better way of Communion with God and Christ; then this Remissness and Indifference, as to these things, Neglect and Carelesness in Preparation for them, is likewise a degree of Contempt, that deserves to be Reproved.

3. Was Christ so desirous to eat his last Passover before he suffered for us, because of his Willingness to Suffer? [Page 236] What Ingratitude does this imply in our Backwardness, and Cowardize, when we are called to suffer for him?

4. Did our Lord desire to eat this Pass­over, because it was the last, and conse­quently was Willing to be a Sacrifice for us? What an Argument of his endearing Love does this afford us? And how should it Enflame ours to him? It was not from Ignorance of what he was to Suffer; he fully knew what he had undertaken, he perfectly understood what his Baptism of Blood did signifie; and yet he earnestly desired it, and was straitned, till it was Accomplished. He knew the Burden of Sin that he was to Expiate, as a Sin-Offering, when he bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree, as a Sacrifice to Divine Justice for us: He knew the bitterness of that Cup, which he was to drink of be­fore-hand; and yet for our sakes he desires it: What Thankfulness do we owe for such inestimable Love!

He was willing to submit to such dif­ficult Terms to bring about our Recon­ciliation to God: He was willing to be obedient to Death, even the Death of the Cross, to turn away the Divine Displea­sure from us, and to restore us to the Divine Favour, and Image again. He [Page 237] was willing to be a Sacrifice for sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God, through Faith in him. He was wil­ling to bear the Curse, that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon us. He was willing to be our Paschal Lamb, to be slain and sacrificed for us, that by the sprinkling of his Blood we might be delivered from Sin and Hell, that by feeding on him as our Passover, we might be Partakers of Spiritual and Eternal Life. And even in the midst of his Agony in the Garden, not­withstanding the strugling of his Hu­mane Nature against the bitterness of the Cup, which made him pray for the passing of it away; yet as Mediator he was willing, and therefore adds. Not my Will, but thine be done; Father glorifie thy self.

O matchless and incomprehensible Love! How should our Souls be Ra­vished with the Contemplation of it! How hard and insensible are our Hearts, if they feel no constraining Vertue in the Consideration of such Love! If we do not Sacrifice our Lusts in Requital of his being a willing Sacrifice for us. Shall not the Love of Christ, which bubbles up in every Drop of his Blood, and made him willing, and resolved to shed it on our Account, make us hate that Sin, which he died to Atone for, and to destroy. Can [Page 238] we consider him, Groaning, Sweating, Bleeding, Dying for Sin, and yet Retain an Affection to it? And rush into it through the Wounds, and Blood, and Agony, and Death of our Redeemer? Shall that ever be sweet to us, which put so much Vinegar and Gall into his Cup?

Let me add a few Words for Counsel and Direction.

1. Did Christ earnestly desire to eat this Passover, and have Communion with his Disciples therein? How earn­estly should we desire to have Commu­nion with him in that Ordinance that succeeded to it, which was Instituted by Christ himself the same Evening, in the close of the Paschal Supper! Is not a Spi­ritual Communion with him, now he is in Glory, as desirable, as his Bodily Pr [...]sence was, when in a state of Humi­liation? Is it not the Spirit and Temper of all the Disciples of Christ, in every Age of the Church, to value, and to desire such near Approaches to him? How did the believing Jews prepare themselves for such a Solemnity as the Passover? How did David's Heart pant, and faint, and long for Communion with God in the Services of the Tem­ple? Psalm 27.4. One thing have I desi­red [Page 239] of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the House of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the Beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his Temple.

The Israelites were to eat the Passo­ver in haste, with greediness of desire; Non lento Corde, non languido Ore: And is it not a Shame to us to have no Appetite for such a Feast? Is [...]t not for want of such Desires of Communion with Christ, that we meet with so little Satisfaction when we come? Let him that is a thirst, come, and such shall be filled, when others shall be sent empty away: but the hungry Souls shall not be sent empty away, from the Lord's Table.

We may likewise heighten our De­sires and Appetites when we come to this Table; by considering, For ought we know this may be the last Communion with Christ in such an Ordinance, that we shall ever enjoy, before it be fully accomplished in Heaven.

2. Let us imitate Christ as our Passo­ver; Both in his Readiness to Suffer, and in his Character and Qualification, as the Spotless Lamb of God, in Meekness and Pa­tience, and Submission, &c. Without this we can never prove our Interest in him.

3. Let us thankfully Contemplate this Lamb of God, as desiring to be Sacri­ficed [Page] for us. Let us seriously and often consider the Voluntariness of his Death, and Sacrifice; the Fruits of his Suffering, the Merit of his Cross: How Acceptable his Sacrifice was to God, how beneficial unto us; What a Deliverance we have by it, what a Bondage we are saved from, what a Glorious Liberty he has purchased, what a compleat Salvation we expect, when all shall be fulfilled in Heaven. These are proper Thoughts for those of us this Evening, who have Feasted this Day on the Sa­crifice of Christ. Every one of us in par­ticular, not only in publick, but in se­cret, should bless God for Jesus Christ, Admiring the Matchless Grace and Love of the Redeemer, in being thus a Willing Sacrifice for us, and calling us to Feast upon it, having Instituted this Ordinance on pur­pose for that very end.

Lastly, Live in the Daily Exercise of Faith on the Blood of Christ, as the Lamb of God Sacrificed for us. It was the sprinkling of the Blood of the Paschal Lamb, that was the Mark of the Israelites Deliverance; So the shedding of the Blood of Christ, with particular Application by Faith, is a [...] neces­sary for us; Without it we cannot es­cape the Stroke of the destroying Angel; Without it, the Blood of Christ will call for [Page 241] Vengeance, and his very Sacrifice and Suf­ferings plead against us.

We should every Day, by fresh 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.

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 Ʋnion between Christ and his Church, as Represented under the Persons of a Bridegroom, and Bride: [Page 244] 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 [Page 245] 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 [Page] 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 [Page 247] 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 [Page 248] 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 who were Vile and Miserable in themselves, without God, and Christ, and under gross Idolatry. This Feast is for us Gentiles. Which I shall first particularly Explain, and Prove, and then Apply.

[Page]1. In this Spiritual Feast, or Banquet, are the Choicest Provisions that can be, for the Nourishment of our Souls. There is Spiritual Food for the satisfaction of Spiritual Hunger where we may eat and be satisfied, and find that which is sweeter than Honey, the Love of Christ bet­ter than Wine, Psal. 22.6. Cant. 1.2. Wine, that is said to chear, and delight the heart, Eccles. 10.19. To lift a Man a­bove sad, and melancholy Thoughts, Make a Man forget his Affliction, and Misery, Prov. 31.7. Give Wine to him that is of a heavy heart, Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. It may much more be said so of this Sacramental Wine, exhibiting the Love of Christ to the Soul. And though Wine be put for all manner of Delicacies, Isa. 25.6. Yet the Love of Christ is better than Wine, Cant. 1.4 His Blood is Drink indeed, and his Flesh is Meat indeed, John 6.55. Far beyond Manna, which yet is called Angels Food. He is Manna for Food, the best Bread; And He is Wine for Drink.

And the Blessedness of the Heavenly State, whereof this Feast is the Earnest, is set forth by the Pleasures of eating [Page] and drinking, Luk. 22 30. That you eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom. O the Satisfaction and Delight that holy Souls experience, in tasting of those Pro­visions, when they come with that due Preparedness which they ought! All the Delights of this World are not to be compared with one hours Enjoy­ment of Christ in this Ordinance: One hour, one half hour of Communion with the Father, and the Son, by the Spirit, in such a Duty, is more delight­ful, than all the Pleasures of the Palate and Taste; It is a nobler, a purer, a sweeter, a better kind of Content and Satisfaction, that we here meet with. I may appeal to the Experience of Seri­ous Christians, for the Truth of this.

2. At a Feast there are All Sorts of Provision; Not only the Choicest and the Best, but there is Variety. It i [...] a Feast of Fat things full of Marrow, of Wine on the Lees well refined. And it is suitable to every Condition, to every Relation, to every Necessity. Grace for Grace, out of his Fulness, that is, All manner of Sup­plies of Grace, John 1.16. Forgive­ness of Sin, to take away our Fear of Hell; And the Assurance of Eternal Life, to answer our Desires of Happi­ness: [Page 231] And therefore answerable to all the Exigencies of our Case. For what can we need but may be received from Christ, who of God is made unto us Wis­dom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Re­demption? His precious Blood can wash away the stains of our blackest guilt; and his perfect Righteousness be the Co­vering of our Naked Souls; by Merit­ing and procuring our Pardon, by Pur­chasing and applying the Spirit of Ho­liness, Light, Strength, Stability, Com­fort. Whatever we need we may re­ceive from him, among the Provisions of the Gospel, in this Spiritual Feast.

We may apply to the Heavenly Nou­rishment of this Table, what the Jews say of their Manna in the Wilderness; It was sent down by God from Heaven to them; It contained, they tell us, all the Tastes that any Man desired or longed for; It was suited to every Palate, and to every Constitution; That none could fail of being ^* fed and pleased, though they were of never so different Tem­pers. It is called the bread of Heaven, [Page 252] Exod. 16.4. And the Taste of it is said to be like Wafers made of Honey, Verse 31. And yet in Numb. 11.8. the Taste of it is said to be as the Taste of fresh Oile. Now, How can all these be true? How can they all Agree? that this Manna should be like Bread, and like Honey, and like Oile too? The Jews Answer, That the Young Men tasted in it Bread, the Old Men Honey, and the Infants Oile. We may Accommodate this to the Divine Food of the Lord's Table, which is sui­table to every Complexion of Mind, and Temper of Spirit. The Infant Christians are there cherished and in­couraged, they having the Oile of Joy and Gladness poured upon them: The Young Men have Strength and Power by this Bread of Life, to overcome the Wicked One: The more Aged, the more Exercised Christians, they find such Relish in it, that they can say, Thy Commandments are sweeter than the Honey, and the Honey-comb, and in keeping of them there is great Reward; Being a little Ear­nest, and Pledge, and Foretaste of the Joys of the Heavenly Feast. For there­fore Manna in the Wilderness had the Taste of Honey, say the Jews, that it might be an Earnest and Representati­on of the Land of Canaan, a Land flowing [Page 253] with milk and honey, unto which they were now going. In a word, Young and Old, Weak and Strong, Christians of all Sizes, and different Stations, may receive Nourishment, Refreshment, and Advantage by this Heavenly Food of the Table of the Lord. There is great variety at this Feast, to suit every ones Palate and Temper.

3. At a Feast, as there is Rarity, and Variety, so Plenty and Abundance, that none need go away hungry or empty, complaining or discontented. Here are Riches, unsearchable Riches of the Grace of Christ. We have here All things given us, richly to enjoy. And the Sanctifying Gifts and Graces of the Spi­rit are said to be shed on us richly, or a­bundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savi­our, Tit 3, 6. There is a Fountain of Grace that will not have the less for us, by supplying the wants of others.

4. There is a Mirth, and Chearfulness at this Feast, which is another Conco­mitant of a Banquet. A Feast is made for Laughter, and Wine maketh Merry, Eccles. 10.19. When prodigal Sinners first re­turn, their Father hath Mirth, and Mu­sick to entertain them. Luk. 15.24. [Page] Let us kill the fatted Calfe, and make merry; For this my Son was lost, and is found; was dead, but is alive. And shall not the Reconciliation between God and our Souls through Christ, when it is solemn­ly professed, and avowed at the Table of the Lord, be accompanied with Joy and Mirth? The Jews were not to Af­flict their Souls in any of their Feasts, Religious or Common. Thou shalt Rejoyce in thy Feasts, Deut. 16.14. We are not called to the House of Mourning. You may eat this Bread with Joy, and drink this Wine with a Merry Heart, in hopes of God's Acceptance of you, and your Sacrifice, Eccles. 9.7.

Our Redeemer seems to speak to those who are Disconsolate at his Table, and if he see us Sad and Melancholy, to use some such Language,

What, Do you not know where you are? Do you not understand what I have done to you, and for you? What I have done upon the Cross, and what at the Table?

O did we but understand it better, and consider it more, what he hath done and Suffered, purchased and Promised; we should come to this Feast with a Glad­some [Page] Merry H [...]art. All the Musick and Melody that the Feasts of Sensual Men are attended with, wou [...]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 [Page] 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 give [...], 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 w [...]lcome they gave their Guests, by pouring some pretious Ointment on [Page 257] their Heads, Psal. 92.10. Luk. 7.39. A very usual ^* 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 [Page] 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; [Page] 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 Ʋnleavened 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, Psal. 50.5. Gather my Saints together, who have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice.

The Offering a Sacrifice was a Foederal Rite, whereby God and his People be­came one. Upon which account Salt was used in Sacrifices by God's own Di­rection, Lev 2.13. All Nations lookt on ^* Salt, as a Token of Love, a Pledge [Page 261] of Friendship, a Symbol of Peace. And Feasting on a Sacrifice was a Rite of the same Nature with Sacrificing; It being but the Complement, the Close, the Finish­ing of the Sacrifice. In this sense some understand those words, Psal. 50.16. Ʋn­to the wicked, God saith, VVhat hast thou to do, to declare my Statutes, and that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy Mouth, i. e. Eating the Signs and Symbols of the Covenant, partaking of those Sacrifical Banquets, which were a Token of God's Covenant. Thus when the Covenant was renewed between God and the Chil­dren of Israel; Moses and Aaron, and the Seventy Nobles of the Children of Israel went up to God, and saw his Glory on the Mount, and after their burnt-offerings and peace-offerings are Sacrificed, they did eat and drink, Exod. 24.11. The eating of the Passover was such a Foederal Solem­nity, and therefore no Stranger was to eat of it, Exod. 12. It did not belong to those who did not belong to that Cove­nant, which God had made with his Peculiar People the Children of Israel.

This Evangelical Feast at the Lord's Table is of the like nature and signifi­cation. Besides, the Analogy and Re­semblance between these, the words of [Page 262] Institution do sufficiently prove it; for speaking of the Cup, or the Wine in the Cup, Our Lord said, This is my blood of the New Covenant. It is the Representa­tion of that Blood, which is the Seal of the New Covenant: As Circumcision is called the Covenant of Circumcision, Acts 7.8. because it was the Token and Seal of the Covenant between God and A­braham.

Eating and Drinking together was al­way reckon'd some token of Friend­ship, and Accord; Especially when there is a Solemn Feast on purpose to express, and signifie this Agreement; And when it follows after Disagreement and Vari­ance, it amounts to a covenant, or league, which the Parties enter into to be hence­forward Friends. As Gen. 26.28, 29, 30, 31. Verses. Let us make a covenant with thee, &c. And then it follows, He made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. But in the present case, there is yet more, for it was a more sacred way of Cove­nanting, when they Feasted upon part of the Sacrifice, that was made to God, of which I shall speak more presently. And usually it was accompanied with an Oath, in the presence of God.

Now at the Lords Table, Do we not pro­fess our owning the New Covenant, made be­tween God and us? And do we not there re­new our Baptismal Covenant? Do we not accept of Christ, and all the Bl [...]ssings of the Covenant of Grace? Do we not Resign our selves, and all we have, to be his, ac­cording to the Tenour and Terms of it? Do we not receive the Pledge, and Assurance of his Love to us, and Engage our Faith that we will be his Servants; Binding our selves to all the Duties of the Covenant, as God does oblige himself to bestow all the Blessings of it?

2. Having thus explained somewhat of this Banquet, or Feast, I might con­sider the Reasons of its Appointment, and the excellent purposes it serveth for; Besides the known, express, and princi­pal one, of being a Memorial of Christ's Love, that we may remember him Cru­cified for us; there may be other Consi­derations, partly with respect to God and Christ, partly with relation to the Souls of Believers.

1. To represent the Royalty, and Mag­nificence of God, and the Transcendant Riches and Glory of the Grace of Christ. Accordingly we Read, that Princes and [Page 264] Potentates, and Great Men, upon such Accounts, were wont to make Sumptu­ous Entertainments, Esth. 1.3, 4. He made a Feast unto all his Princes, and his Servants, to shew them the Riches of his glo­rious Kingdom, and the Honour of his Ex­cellent Majesty.

Partly with respect to us. First, To encourage us in the difficult Services we may meet with. To animate and em­bolden us to hold on our way, and work, of doing and suffering the Will of God, in obedience to Christ. The burthen of Affliction would be much more heavy, and our Spirits more like to faint, were it not for some Refresh­ment, Quickening, and Comfort, now and then in such Ordinances of the Gos­pel: But the Pledge of the Love of God, and the everlasting Love of Christ, the Earnest of Heaven, and the Hopes of it, that we should Sin, and Suffer, and Sorrow no more, makes outward Afflicti­ons tolerable: For if God be reconci­led to us, and pleased with us; If the Redeemer shine upon us, and say he is ours; If his Love be shed abroad in our Hearts, and ours kept alive to him; we can bear any thing, o [...] lose any thing, and not despond. Besides, the Solemn [Page 265] Dedication of our selves, and all we have unto Christ, which we there make, helps to awe our Hearts, and check our impatient murmurs; when by any se­vere Dispensation of Providence he doth but take us at our word. For he can on­ly Take that, which we Resigned to him before; and when he doth, he tries whether we were Hypocrites, or Sin­cere in our Resignation.

2. It may be consider'd, That at this Feast we have the nearest Fellowship, and sweetest Communion with God, and Christ, of almost any Ordinance of the Gospel; And the continuance of such a blessed Entercourse between God and our Souls, was another ground of his appointing it. Which will appear more plainly, by considering Another end of it, viz. to ratifie and confirm the Covenant between God and us. This is one special design of thus eating and drinking in his Pre­sence, to confirm our Covenant. It was very usual, especially in the Eastern parts of the World, to ratifie Contracts and Covenants, by eating and drinking together. Thus in the fore-mentioned Instance, Abimelech and Isaac celebrated such a Covenant-Feast, Gen. 26.30. as a Token of Friendship between them. [Page 266] Laban's eating with Jacob on an heap of Stones, was a Foederal Rite, Gen. 31.46. The Israelites eating of the Gibeonites Victuals, was the contracting a League with them, Josh. 9.14. When David speaks of his Friends Treachery (in words very applicable to Judas) Psal. 41.9. he saith, My own Familiar Friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of my Bread, hath lift up his Heel against me: He meant one who had entred into Covenant with him by a Feast (as you find that Abner did, 2 Sam. 3.20.) Therefore, in stead of a Friend, 'tis otherwise rendred in the Margin of our Bibles, The Man of my Peace, or the Man that was at Peace with me. Hence the Hebrew word, which 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 [Page 268] Worshipped on Mount Peor, by eating the Sacrifices of the Dead or ^* 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 [Page 269] 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.

Ʋse 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! [Page 270] 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 Ʋnworthy, and to eat and drink unworthily: And they that re­fuse [Page 271] to come to the Gospel-Feast upon Christ's Invitation, they are said to be Ʋnworthy 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: 'Tis 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 Ʋnpar­donable, 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 [Page 272] 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,

[Page 273]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.

[Page 274]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 [Page 275] 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 [Page 276] 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.

[Page 277]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. The very Name of this Sacrament, the Eucharist, imports this, That Thanksgiving is our principal [Page 279] Work. He took the Bread, and he took the Cup, and he gave Thanks, say the Evangelists, indifferently of the one, and of the other, Blessing, and Giving of Thanks, being the same. This Food is hallowed by Thanksgiving, and if ever the High Praises of God should be in our Mouths, it ought to be so upon this Occasion. Praising God for parting with his only Son, not sparing him, that we might be spared. Thanking our Lord Redeemer, for leaving the Right Hand of his Father, and the Glo­ry of Heaven, to come and Tabernacle amongst us, and take our Nature, and Dye for us. Lord Jesus! Who are we? What am I? that thou shouldst part with the Glory of Heaven, and part with thine own Life, upon the accursed Tree, for such a Wretch as I am? Was I dearer to thee, than thine own Heart-blood, that thou didst freely shed it upon the Cross for me? How Amazing is thy Love! How do I rejoyce in it! With what Thankfulness do I re­remember it! How am I ashamed of my self, that I love thee no more! O that I might feel the Constraints of thine Endear­ing Love! to warm, and quicken my cold, and dead Heart; that so I might speak thy Praise? And let Heaven and Earth, [Page 280] and Angels and Men, for ever Extol thy Matchless Grace, and Love, which passeth Knowledge, but calls for Ever­lasting Thanksgiving.

With such a Frame as this, let us endeavour to Come, and we shall find that His Banner over us will be Love.

A Strange and surprizing Spectacle, to see an Apostle of our Lord carry it like an Infidel, an Ʋn­believer; To behold one of the Twelve, that was to spread the Faith of Christ throughout the Universe, to want that Faith, which he was to perswade others to. To hear the great Article of the Resurrection, one of the most deeply Fundamental Articles of the Christian Re­ligion, [Page 282] to be obstinately denied by those Lips, that were to Publish the Gospel of Christ: And this as the Sum of it, That he is Risen from the dead. What more likely to scandalize the Weak, to stagger the Faith of many, not yet confirmed Dis­ciples, and to hinder the belief of Christ's being Risen, than such an Example of Incredulity in one of his Apostles?

But the permission of such Falls, and the raising a Revenue of Glory to the Redeemer by them, is one of the Se­crets of Predestination, that will be Eter­nally Adored. This is sufficiently manifest in this very Passage, relating to the Apostle Thomas; whose Infidelity, as one of the Ancients observes, has proved as serviceable to Christianity, as the Faith of the other Apostles. His Incredulity strengthens our Faith in the Resurrecti­on of our Saviour, as it gave occasion to his Appearing another time for the Cure of his Unbelief: And because, af­ter so much Obstinacy, and pertinaci­ous Doubt, he at last yields, and acknow­ledges the Truth of Christ's Resurrecti­on, and makes a Glorious Confession of his Faith: Whereas, if only a few credulous Men, men of an easie and ha­sty Faith▪ had assured us of it, their [Page 283] Testimony had been more liable to suspicion.

The Wisdom of God has Recorded the Faults, and Miscarriages of the Apo­stles, for our Instruction and Ʋse. These Suns enlighten us, not only by the Lustre of their good Examples, when they shine in Grace and Holiness; but even by their Eclipses too. Their Cowardize, their Rashness, their Presumption, their Un­belief, is of use to be considered. Our Heavenly Physician Extracts some of the best Medicines, out of the most deadly Poy­son, to caution, and warn, and instruct, and Edifie us, by the Miscarriages, and Faults of David, of Peter, of Thomas, and the like.

Let us therefore view this Passage, and consider what Reflections may be made upon it: And the whole may be comprehended under these Four Heads.

1. The Incredulity of this Apostle, he could not believe, without seeing, & feel­ing, and having the Testimony of Sense. Except I shall see in his Hands the print of the Nails, and put my Finger into the print of the Nails, and thrust my Hand into his [Page 284] Side, I will not believe, Verse 25.

2. The Condescention and Kindness of Christ, in appearing to him another time, and granting it, Verse 26, 27.

3. The Cure of his Ʋnbelief, and the Ex­cellent Confession of Faith, which thereupon he makes, Verse 28. And Thomas an­swered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God.

4. The useful Admonition which our Sa­viour gives us concerning Faith, that though Thomas having seen him, had believed, yet Rather blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

1. Concerning the Incredulity of this Apostle, the Evangelist gives us an Ac­count, that on the First Day of the Week, towards Evening, our Lord being Risen from the Dead, early in the Morning, when the Disciples were met together, and had shut the Door for fear of the Jews, Ver. 19. He suddenly pre­sents himself amongst them, saying, Peace be unto you. He assures them of his being Risen from the Dead, imparts to them the Holy Ghost, and gives them a Charge and Commssion, to act as A­postles, [Page 285] in Remitting, or Retaining Sins. But Thomas, whose Greek Name was Di­dymus, both signifying Twins, was not present at this Assembly: But as soon as the other Disciples met him, they tell him, They had seen the Lord, that Mary Magdalen had seen him, that Peter had seen him, and the two Disciples going to Emaus, and then all the Ten, and had full Assurance that he was Risen. This makes little Impression in order to his believing it; for no Eyes will serve him but his own. Though Faith comes by hearing, he professes he would not believe, except he saw; Except I see in his hands the print of the Nails, and put my Finger into the prints of the Nails, and thrust my Hand into his Side, I will not believe.

O suspicious incredulous Man! Who will be the Loser, if thou wilt not be­lieve? But wherefore dost thou doubt? How is it that so many Eyes and Tongues are not as credible, as thine own Eyes and Hands? Shall the World be Prose­lyted to the Faith of Christ, upon the Testimony of these Witnesses, and wilt not thou Assent? Did not thy Lord foretel his own Death, and Resurrecti­on? Didst thou not hear him declare, that he must be Crucified, and that after­wards [Page 286] on the Third Day he would Rise again? Is there any thing we Attest con­cerning his Resurrection, but what was promised, and foretold? Why may not we be credited in our Report of a Matter of Fact, whereof we have so plain and full an Evidence? What ground is there to disbelieve so many Eye-witnesses: If there had been none but the Women, who saw him, yet ha­ving themselves seen him, their Te­stimony in that case might have been credited: But here are Ten Disciples that say, We have seen the Lord. Had they been Ten Strangers, there were little reason to Reject the Testimony of Ten Persons, to one Point which they had the Testimony of Sense to assure them of: But here are Ten of thy Com­panions, and Brethren, and Apostles, of whose Capacity, and Probity, and Faithfulness, thou canst not doubt: And they all agree in this Testim [...]y▪ We have seen the Lord. Shall every Word be established in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses, as says Moses, and wilt thou not believe, when the Number is so much greace? No, except I see the print of the Nails, &c. I will not be­lieve.

In this Ʋnreasonable Distrust, and Sullen Ʋnbelief, he continues for a whole week; obstinately professing, That, without such an unreasonable Condescension of Christ, to convince his very Senses, that he will not ac­knowledge his being Risen. It is strange, that one of the Twelve, an Apostle of our Lord, after Three Years Conversation in his Family, should be so Incredulous, as to believe nothing but what he saw; and that he should refuse to believe on such ample Testimony; especially when it was an Article that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Job, and David, believed concern­ing the Messiah, whom they never saw.

It is the more surprizing too in this Apostle, because he had not only been e­minently called by Christ, and long con­versed with him, been brought up in his Company, and was one of his House; but on a former Occasion, this Apostle had declared more zeal than the Rest of them; when they Hesitated concerning the Proposal Christ made, of his going into Judea to raise Lazarus, upon the account of the hatred of the Jews against him, John 11.16. Then said Thomas to the other Disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. Tho [Page 288] some think he spake this with another Air, and in another Sense, than is com­monly thought; as if he would say, Since we cannot perswade him, let us even go and perish, if it must be so; Perish we must, and there's an end.

But, to take the words of this Apo­stle in the most Charitable Sense, he professes his zeal for Christ beyond his Fellows, and a Commendable Forward­ness to suffer with him: But now the Death of Christ seems to have swallowed up his Faith and Courage; now he will not believe except he can see, nor then nei­ther, unless he can thrust his finger into the print of the nails; Which was a bold pre­scribing to God, and contained a great deal of Absurdity, and of mischievous consequence in it: For it intimates, as if we were not obliged to believe Christ is Risen, and Alive, nor any such mat­ter of Fact, upon the Testimony of O­thers, unless we our selves may touch and see, and have the Evidence of our own Sense. Whereas, How then could Thomas himself believe the Scriptures of the Old Testament? How could he be sa­tisfied that there was such a Man as Mo­ses, or David, or of the Truth of any of those things related concerning the An­cestors [Page 289] of the Jews, in Egypt, the Wil­derness, or Canaan, which he himself did not see?

This is further aggravated, by consi­dering the Nature, and Import of this Article, which he refuses to believe: Not only as that which was foretold concern­ing the Messiah, by the Scriptures of the Old Testament, but as the Basis, and Foundation of our Religion, as that where­in the Glory of Christ is principally concern­ed; as that which removes the Ignominy of his Cross; And therefore the Jews, who set themselves to oppose the Belief of his Re­surrection, were thereby, in some re­spects, more Injurious to Christ, than by their Crucifixion of him: For they do what they can to deprive him of that new Life he had, when he was Risen; and they kill him a Second Time. This there­fore aggravates the Fault of Thomas, that by his Ʋnbelief, he Subscribes to the Calumnies of the Jews; He takes their part, and joyns with them; He disowns, condemns, and denies, that which Heaven and Earth, Angels and Men, had testifi­ed and published, and born witness to, even the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead.

Before I proceed to his Cure, and Re­covery, let us consider what Instructions may be learned from the Incredulity of this Apostle. As,

1. That Faith is no such Easie Matter as some perswade themselves. Ʋnbelief is strangely Rooted in the Hearts of Men, and very difficultly cured. I will not be­lieve, except I see; nay, I will not believe my Eyes, unless I touch, and thrust my Fin­ger into the print of the Nails, and my Hands into his Side. Our First Parents Sinned by Ʋnbelief; Adam fell by Incredulity, and hath left the Fatal Impression of that Poi­son upon all his posterity. But where is the Eve? Where is the Apple, and Ser­pent, in this case? There needs no other Eve to tempt to the sin of Ʋnbelief, than the sin of our own Flesh, and any kind of Temptation is enough to draw us to it. The Devil does not tell Thomas, as he did our First Parents, You shall be as God's, You shall not dye; But rather on the contrary, You shall be as Beasts, You shall die, and never Rise more: For if Christ be not Risen, we in vain expect to Rise; his Resurrection being the cause, and pattern of ours.

Now under this Temptation, this Holy Apostle fell; and if he, who had true Love to Christ, and was a True Disci­ple, was yet so Incredulous; it is less strange that the greatest part of the World, as to Divine Things, are so Un­believing; when the Corruptions, and Passions, and evil Inclinations of Men, have such a Power and Influence upon their Minds. There needs therefore the Exercise of a mighty power to pro­duce Faith in the Heart; And according­ly we read of the exceeding greatness of that mighty Power, which raised Christ from the dead, imployed towards them that believe, Ephes. 1.19, 20.

It is observable, That nothing but the Presence of Christ himself, could cure the Ʋnbelief of this Apostle; Till then, the Testimony of Mary Magdalen, and all that Peter, and John could say, all the Discourses of the other Apostles, had no effect. And so it is still, that without the Presence, and Power of Christ to Ac­company the Ministry of the Word, they who are Ʋnbelievers will continue in their Ʋnbelief. But a few plain words, accompanied with the Power and Effi­cacy of the Spirit of Christ, shall make the most obstinate Ʋnbeliever sall down on [Page 292] his Face, and cry out with this Apostle, My Lord, and my God.

2. In that his Ʋnbelief is attributed to his Absence from the other Disciples, when they Assembled together, We may learn to value the Assemblies of Christians, in hopes of the Presence of Christ, and the Manifestation of himself. 'Tis true, it is said, that the Two Disciples return­ing from Emaus to Jerusalem, found the Eleven gathered together, Luke 24.33. How then if Thomas were absent, are they called Eleven, after the Death of Judas, and before the Choice of Mat­thias. I Answer, ^* When the Eleven are mentioned, we must not suppose it exactly meant of the Number of the A­postles then Present, but of the present Number of the Apostles. By his Absence from them, he not only missed the good News that Mary brought of the Resurrection of Christ; But he lost the comfortable Sight of Christ himself, and so was left in Doubts and Unbelief, which they were delivered from. The [Page 293] Apostle, Heb. 10.25. cautions against ^* Forsaking the Assembling of our selves to­gether, as the manner of some is. Not on­ly that which is Total, which is the Fruit and Evidence of Absolute Apostasie; but that which is Partially only, in the want of Diligence, and Conscientious Care, in a Constant Attendance on Chri­stian Assemblies, according as the Rule, and their Institution do require: Whe­ther it proceed from Fear of Suffering, or from Spiritual Sloth, with the Occasions and Affairs of this Life, which come in Com­petition. This is the first way, for the most part, whereby an Evil Heart of Ʋn­belief, in departing from the living God, doth evidence it self unto others. Forsaking of Church-Assemblies is usually an En­trance into Apostasie.

Believe it, Christians, you cannot but be Losers by your Absence from the Pub­lick Assemblies, especially on the Lord's Day, as this was when the Disciples met together, and Christ was with them: And if Thomas had not come amongst them the next Lord's Day, he might have con­tinued longer in his Incredulity. He had [Page 294] met with the Presence of Christ, if he had not forsaken the Assemblies of the other Disciples. You must not expect to have the same Presence of Christ in Soli­tude, or alone, as in the Publick Assemblies, where his Special Presence is Promised, and usually Found. They who pretend, for the better Enjoyment of the Divine Presence, to retire into Desarts, and Her­mitages, to Monasteries, and Cloisters; they greatly mistake and deceive them­selves: for in stead of retiring out of the World, they retire out of the Church, and forsake the Company of the Saints; They quit the Presence of Christ, and lose the Opportunities of beholding the Wonders of his Grace, and of receiving the Influences of his Presence, and Spirit.

Therefore do not discontinue your Attendance on Publick Worship, when you have Opportunity. Do not say, We can Read as good a Sermon at home, or Pray as well at home. If you absent from the House of God, you must not think that Christ will follow you to your own Houses, while you refuse to visit him in his. If you are not with your Brethren, when they Assemble together, you will not find such Manifestations of Christ to you, as others Experience. You dis­please him by imitating the Example of [Page 295] Thomas, and may expect to be assaulted, and staggered by Temptations to Infide­lity, and all other sins, which only the Presence of Christ, and his Grace can cure: For where two or three are met toge­ther in the Name of Christ, he has promi­sed to be with them. It is in the Assem­blies of his People, that he manifests him­self; it is there he makes known the Power of his Death, a d the Glory of his Re­surrection; it is there he dispenses the Gifts and Graces of his Spirit; And they that absent themselves out of Choice, they are voluntarily deprived of these Blessings.

Suppose you should spend your time on the Lord's Day at home, in Prayer, Reading, and Meditation, yet there is lit­tle reason to expect God should ac­cept you therein, while it signifies a Neglect, if not a Contempt of Publick Worship, which is more for his Ho­nour, and is expresly required, by the Institution of such Assemblies, and Apo­stolical Practice agreeable thereunto. You cannot reasonably hope for such Effusi­sions of the Divine Grace and Spirit, in a secret corner, as in the Congregation of the Faithful. There is room and time enough for Private Devotions, without the neglect of the Publick Worship. And God hath promi­sed [Page] to be present in Christian Assemblies: And his Institutions are never without a Blessing, when there are Subjects capa­ble of receiving it. You should there­fore be glad of an Opportunity, and Call, to Meet your Brethren in the House of God.

3. I observe further, that what we have found of the Presence and Mani­festation of Christ, we may Communicate in order to the Conviction of Others, and the Assistance of their Faith. All the Disciples endeavoured to perswade Thomas of Christ's Resurrection, they All told him, We have seen the Lord; and no doubt they urged him, with all the Cir­cumstances of it, to convince him of the Unreasonableness of his Obstinacy, who would not believe, except he could see. How unreasonable was it, might they tell him, that Christ should appear again upon his Account, merely to comply with his Curiosi­ty? And if he should appear again, how un­likely it was that he should be priviledged more than they, who had only a bare sight of him; Why should he have more? Why should he be permitted to thrust his Hand in­to our Lord's Side, and his Fingers into the Print of the Nails? He might expect ra­ther that he would say to him, as to Mary, Touch me not, for I am not yet As­cended: [Page 297] And so, if he should appear, and be seen of him, he might still con­tinue an Infidel.

This kind Office they did for him; thus doubtless did they endeavour to convince him, though without success, they tell him, what they have seen. And they that have any sight of Christ, or Experience of his Presence, as they cannot but be willing to impart it to Others, so they may, and ought to do it, in order to their Conviction. Only let us take heed, that such Communi­cations be done with all possible Wis­dom, and Humility.

4. That it is Unreasonable, and Pro­voking, to refuse to Believe the Truth of any thing, merely because we have not the Testimony of Sense, to confirm it. This was the Apostles Fault, I will not believe, except I see, and feel the Print of the Nails. This is to make Terms with the Blessed God, to limit the Holy One of Israel, and unreasonably to Expect, that what is the Object of Faith, should come under the View of Sense.

5. I may observe further, that Peter was one of these Witnesses, that had seen [Page 298] the Lord; and yet Thomas does not hearken to Him neither, nor regard what he says, more than what the other Apostles said. What little ground is there to think then, that he had any Su­premacy above the rest of the Apostles, and that he was the Prince of them? If he were so, Why did he not do his Of­fice? Why did he not shew his Autho­rity? Here is a fair Occasion for him to make use of the Authority of his Keyes, to stop the Mouth of this Ʋnbe­liever, who says, he will not believe, ex­cept he see. Why does not Peter define, and determine the matter, that was que­stioned, doubted, and denied by Thomas? There is nothing of all this, however proper the occasion might have been.

6. In that this Incredulity of the Apo­stle was over-ruled to so much good, for the further Confirmation of the Great Do­ctrine of Christ's Resurrection, let us ad­mire the Divine Wisdom, and Goodness in the Government of the World; who, tho he cannot be the Author of Sin, does yet over-rule it, to his own Glory. He hath done so in many Eminent Exam­ples, and he did so in this?

Hereby the Honour of Christ is the more advanced by his open Confession of him afterwards, as Lord and God: and the Truth of his being Risen is the better confirmed, and so the Faith of others as­sisted by his Fall. It was well for the Apostle, and it was well for Ʋs, that he did not believe presently: He was af­terwards brought to the most admira­ble Exercise, and Declaration of his Faith in Christ, not only of his being Risen, but of his being the Eternal Son of God, and of his happy Interest in him, and Relation to him, as his Lord, and his God: And we have a greater Evidence there­by of the Truth of Christ's Resurrection.

Doubtless this Fall of Thomas was al­so a Motive to his greater Diligence in the Service of Christ, and Zeal for his Glory; as it was with the Apostle Paul, and Pe­ter, and others.

7. Let us not rashly judge of Men by a single Act. Thomas had true Faith, not­withstanding this Fit of Doubting, and Unbelief; which revived upon the Sight, and Presence of Christ, within a few Days. Many, that in a fit of Temp­tation, we may think, have no Truth of Grace; yet if we stay a while, do soon [Page] discover it: Some special Ordinance, or Providence brings them to themselves, and suddenly shows the Reality of that, which did not Appear, but the contrary Corruption.

2. Having thus considered the Ʋnbe­lief of this Apostle, let us now observe the Compassion, Condescension, and Kindness of Christ to this Incredulous Apostle. Eight days after, the Disciples being together, and Thomas with them, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, saying, Peace be with you; and says to Thomas, Vers. 27. 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.

What Injustice, if our Saviour had left him to his own Pertinacious Increduli­ty? Whom could he have blamed but himself, if he had continued in his Un­belief? But our Lord came and shewed him his Hands, and Feet, and bids him do what he desired, for his Conviction. How mercifully doth he pity us, in our Errors, and Infirmities? With what Tenderness and Compassion doth he re­claim us? And this when he was Risen from the Dead, after he was declared to [Page 301] be the Son of God with Power, when he was to receive the Recompence, and Reward of his Death, and Sufferings; when his State of Humiliation was o­ver. And yet, How low does he stoop for the sake of this Apostle? when so un­reasonable a thing too was demanded, as the Condition of his Believing? But such is the Admirable Bounty and Con­descension of Christ, that he will not refuse him, even this.

Since you will not believe otherwise, O my Apostle, I consent; Behold my Wounds, Behold the Print of the Nails; And if the Sight of them be not enough, to cure thine Infidelity, Come, Reach hither thine Hand, thrust thy Finger into my Side; I care not what I do, or how low I stoop, rather than not convince, and heal thee: If the Evidence of one Sense be not enough, I will yield further, and let thee have more.

Our Lord might have convinced Tho­mas by the Powerful Influence of his Spi­rit, without all this; But he condescends thus far for our Sakes, that We, and O­thers, might have a clearer Evidence and Proof of his Resurrection, and likewise of his Divinity: For his fixing upon Tho­mas [Page 302] in this Assembly, and speaking to him such Words, doth plainly mani­fest, that he knew his Heart, and un­derstood what Discourse he had had, and what Objections he had made, and what was the Inward Sense of his Soul; which he could not have done, without being Omniscient. Little did this Apostle think, his Lord had heard him, or be­lieve that he knew his Sin. But, Come hither, says Christ, behold my Hands; Reach hither thy Hand, and thrust it into my Side. He condescends to Grant that, which it was the Apostles Fault to Ask.

We see, by these Words, our Risen Lord retained the Marks of the Wounds, the Prints of the Nails, and Spear in his Body, after the Resurrection, to mani­fest, with greater Certainty, the Truth of it. It is likely he preserved them at his Ascension too, as the Evidence of his past Sufferings, and the Ensigns of his Victory. And let us not imagin, if he retains them in Heaven, to the Admiration of Angels, and the Joy of the Redeemed, that it will be any Disparagement to the Beauty, and Splendor of his Glori­ous Body, but rather contribute to it, in the Day of his Appearing, when every Eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.

[Page 303]3. Let us Consider the Faith of Thomas hereupon, ver. 18. He answered and said, My Lord, and my God. He not on­ly believes with the Heart, but confesses with the Mouth: He owns both the Divinity of Christ, and his Dominion, and that with an Appropriating Faith, My Lord, and my God. There is a great Sense in these few words, for,

1. Here is an Evidence of the Truth of his Repentance, of his Love, and of his Zeal. The very Sight of Christ and the Print of the Nails, and the Mark of his Wounds, shames him for his Sin, and makes him sensible of his Incredulity. Behold, says Christ, the print of the Nails; Think what I have suffered for Thee, for the Expiation of thy Sin; Think how I have loved Thee to dye for thee, And wilt thou not believe that I am Risen? This awa­kened his Repentance, and made him ab­ruptly cry out, My Lord, and my God. Two words sometimes are more signi­ficant than an Hundred, and express the Desires of the Heart, more than a large Discourse.

The Kindness and Condescension of his Lord overcame him, and by these words [Page 304] he proves the Cure of his Infidelity. Be­fore, he would not believe Christ to be A­live; now, he confesses him to be God. Be­fore he reckoned him under the Power of Death, now he acknowledges him as the Lord, and Prince of Life. Before he believed less than any of the other A­postles, now he confesses more than All of them.

My Lord, my God. Thou art the A­nointed of God, the King, the Head of the Church, the Expected, Promised Messiah. If thy Death had staggered my Faith, thy Resurrection has establish­ed it. My Lord, my God. I adore thy Compassion, and Condescension, that thou wouldst Appear to me, who so just­ly forfeited such a Favour. I implore thy Grace, I beg thy 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 [Page 305] 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 ^* 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 [Page 306] 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, ^* 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 [Page 307] 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.

[Page 308]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, [Page 309] 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 where­ever 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 [Page 310] 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) Thomas, who was brought up in the Jewish Religion, could be ignorant of the Doctrine of the Ʋnity of the Godhead; He must needs know what Moses, and the Prophets tea [...]h concerning it; Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, Deut. [Page 311] 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: And eve­ry ^* 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 [Page 312] 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 [Page] 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 [Page] 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 aft [...]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 [Page 315] 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 Ʋnfaithful, 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 [Page 316] 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, [Page] 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 your Lord, he will then be your God: And all Blessings, Tempo­ral, Spiritual, and Eternal, are com­prized in that. You are then his Jew­els, his Treasure, his Portion, his Inheri­tance, his peculiar People: If he be your God. O how dear, how valuable, how precious are the Relations, Priviledges, and Blessings, that this contains! What need you fear? What can you want? What can you ask more? What can dismay, afflict, or trouble such a Soul? Why art thou cast down, O my Soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? May you say: If you can say with David in another place, The Lord is my Portion, and the Lot of mine Inheritance. Or if you can say with Thomas here, My Lord, my God. All things then are yours; his Spirit, his Providence, his Attributes, his Promises; Life, Death, Things present, Things to come; Grace here, Heaven hereafter; All things yours, if you be Christ's, and he be your Lord, and your God.

Blessed then are you, though you have not seen him with your bodily Eyes, or thrust your Hand into his Wounded Side, or felt the print of the Nails in his Crucified Body: Yet having now by hearing, believed on him, and loved him, you shall see him hereafter in Glory, and Triumph, and be for ever with him, to be­hold his Glory, and to partake of it.

Amen.