Section 16
(2.) Here sin appears death, and, in the cross of Christ, shows itself exceeding hurtful. Behold, my soul, and see what mischief sin makes, by observing how dear it cost the Redeemer when he undertook to satisfy for it, how he sweat and groaned, bled and died, when the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all! Look on sin through this glass, and it will appear in its true colour, black and bloody; nothing can be more so. The fatal consequences of sin are seen more in the sufferings of Christ, than in all the calamities that it has broaght upon the world of mankind. O what a painful, what a shameful, thing is sin, which put our Lord Jesus to so much pain, to so much shame, when he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree !
See this, my soul, with application. It was thy sin, thy own iniquity, that lay so heavy upon the Lord Jesus, when he cried out, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. It was thy pride and passion, diy worldliness and uncleanness, the carnal mind in thee, which is enmity against God, that crowned him with thorns, and nailed him to the cross, and laid him for a time under the sense of God's withdrawings from him. Is this so? And shall I ever again make a mock at sin ? ever again make a light matter of that, which Christ made so great a matter of? God forbid! Is it a small thing to weary men; but have I, by my sins, wearied my God also ? Isa. vii. 13. Have I made him thus to serve, thus to suffer by my sins ? Isa. xliii. 24. And shall I ever be reconciled to sin again ? or shall I ever think a favourable thought of it any more ? No; by the grace of God, I never will. The carnal pleasure and worldly profit that sin can promise me, will never balance the pain and shame that it put my Redeemer to.
Meditate revenge, my soul, a holy revenge, such a revenge as will be no breach of the law of charity ; such a revenge as is one of the fruits of godly sorrow, 2 Cor. vii. 11. If rin was the death of Christ, why should not I be the death of sin ? When David lamented Saul and Jonathan, who were slain by the archers of the Philistines, (I Sam. xxxi. 3.) it is said, (2 Sam.n. 18.) he taught the children of Jadah the use of the bow, that they might revenge tiie death of their princes upon their enemies. Let as thence receive instruction. Did sin, did my sin, crucify Christ? And shall not I crucify it? If it be asked, Why, what evil has it done ? Say, It cost the blood of the Son of God to expiate it; and therefore cry out so much the more. Crucify it, crucify it. And thus all who are ChrisCs have, in some measare, crucified thefiesh. Gal. v. 24. As Christ died for sio, so must we die to sin.
2. Come and see the justice of God. Many ways the great Judge of the world has made it to appear that he hates sin; and both by the judgments of his mouth in the written word, and the judgments of his hand in the course of his providence, he has revealed his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and im-righteousness of men. It is true, that he is gracious and merciful; but is it true, that God i* jealous, and the Lord revengeth f Nah. i. 2. God, even our God, is a consuming fire, and will reckon for the violation of his laws, and the injuries done to his crown and dignity. The tenor of the Scripture, from the 2nd of Genesis to the last of the Revelation, proves this: The soul that sinneth shall die. In many remarkable punishments of sin, even in this life, it is written as with a sun-beam, so that he that runs may read, that the Lord is righteous, 2 Chron. xii. 6.
But never did the justice of God appear so conspicuous, so illustrious, as in the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ, set before us in this ordinance. Here his righteousness is like the great mountains, though his judgments are a great deep, Ps. xxxvi. 6. Come and see the holy God showing his displeasure against sin in the death of Christ, more than in the ruin of angels, the drowning of the old world, the burning of Sodom, the destruction of Jerusalem; nay, more than in the torments of hell, all things considered.
(1.) God manifested his justice, in demanding such a satisfaction for sin as Christ was to make by the blood of his cross. Hereby he made it to appear how great the provocation was which was done him by the sin of man, that not only %uch an excellent person must be chosen to intercede for as, but his sufferings and death must be insisted on to atone for us. Sin being committed against an Infinite Majesty, seems by this to have in it a kind of infinite malignity, that the remission of it could not be procured, but by a satisfaction of infinite valne. If mere mercy had pardoned sin, without any provision made to answer the demands of injured justice, €rod had declared his goodness; but when Jesus Christ is set forth to be a propitiation for sin, and God has been pleased to put himself to so vast an expense.
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381 or the saving of the hoDOur of bis government, in he forgiveness of sins, this declares his righteous-less, it declares, I say, at this time his righteous-less. See what an emphasis the apostle lays upon his, Rom. iii. 25, 26.
Sin had wronged God in his honour, for he cannot itherwise be wronged by any of his creatures; in breaking the law we dishonour God; we sin and come short of his glory. For this wrong satisfaction must be made; that which offers itself is the eternal rain of the sinner; eurrat lex — let the sentence of the Imwbe executed, and thereby God may get him honour upon Qs, in lieu of that he should have had from us, Exod. xiv. 17. But can no expedient be found out to satisfy God, and yet save the sinner ? Is it not possible to offer an equivalent ? Will the Lord he pleated with thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil ? Shall we give our first-born for our transgression, the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul? No, these are not tantamount: no submissions, sorrows, supplications, services, or sufferings of ours, can be looked upon as a valuable consideration for the righteous God to proceed upon, in forgiving such injuries, and restoring such criminals to his favour. The best we do is imperfect; the utmost we can do is already owing: here therefore the Lord Jesus interposes, undertakes to make a full reparation of the injury done to God's glory by sin; clothes himself with our nature, and becomes surety for us, as Paul for Onesimus; if they have wronged thee, or owe thee ought, put that on my account, I have written it with my own hand, with my own blood I will repay it. He was made sin for us, (2 Cor. v. 21.) a curse for us, (Gal. iii. 13.) an offering for our sin, (Isa. liii. 10.) he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, (1 Pet. ii. 24.) and thus the justice of God was not only satisfied, but greatly glorified. Come and see how bright it shines here.
(2.) God manifested his justice in dealing as he did with him, who undertook to make satisfaction. Having laid upon him the iniquity of us all, he laid it home to him, for it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and to put him to grief, Isa. liii. 10. He was not only despised and rejected of men, who knew him not, but he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. The ancient way in which God testified his acceptance of sacrifices, was by consuming them with fire from heaven, (Lev. ix. 24. 2 Chron. vii. 1. 1 Kings xviii. 38.) The wrath of God which the offerers deserved should have fallen upon them, fell upon the offering; and so the destruction of the sacrifice was the escape of the sinner. Christ becoming a sacrifice for us, the fire of God's wrath descended upon him, which troubled his soul, put him into an agony, and made him cry out, My God, my God, why host thou forsaken me ' Come, then, and behold the goodness mnd severity of God, Rom. xi. 22. Christ being made sin for us, God did not spare him, Rom.
viii. 32. By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, he was delivered to them, who with wicked hands crucified and slew him: Awake, O sword, the sword of divine justice, furnished and bathed in heaven ; awake against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the Lord of hosts ; smite the Shepherd, Zech. xiii. 7.
Let us look on the sufferings of Christ, and say, as he himself has taught us, (Luke xxiii. 31.) If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry ? What was done to him, shows what should have been done to us if Christ had not interposed, and what will be done to us if we reject him. If this were done to one who had but sin imputed to him, who, as he had no corruptions of his own for Satan's temptations to fasten upon, so he had no guilt of his own for God's wrath to fasten upon, who was as a green tree, not apt to take fire; what shall be done to those who have sin inherent in them, which makes them as a dry tree, combustible, and proper fuel for the fire of God's wrath ? If this were done to one who had done so much good, what shall be done to us who have done so little ? If the Lord Jesus himself was put into an agony by the things which were done to him, was sorrowful, and very heavy, can our hearts endure, or can our hands be strong, when God shall deal with us? Ezek. xxii. 14. Who would set the briars and thorns against him in battle ? From the sufferings of Christ we may easily infer what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, Heb. x. 31.
3. Come and see the love of Christ This is that which with a peculiar regard we are to observe and contemplate in this ordinance; where we see Christ and him crucified, we cannot but see the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. When Christ did but drop a tear over the grave of Lazarus, the Jews said, See how he loved him, John xi. 36. Much more reason have we to say, when we commemorate the shedding of his blood for us, *< See how he loved us." Greater love hath no man than this, to lay down his life for his friend. Thus Christ has loved us; nay, he laid down his life for us when we were enemies, (John XV. 13. Rom. v. 8.) herein is love without precedent, love without parallel. Come and see the wonders of his love.
(1.) It was free love. Christ gave himself for us; and what is more free than a gift 7 It was free, for it was unasked ; nothing cried for this mercy, but our own misery: when no eye pitied us, of his own good will he relieved us; said to us, when we were in our sins, live; yea, he said to us, live. That was a time of love indeed. It was free, for it was unmerited ; there was nothing in us desirable, nothing promising; the relation we stood in to God as creatures, did but aggravate our rebellion, and make us the more obnoxious. As he could not obtain any advantage by our happiness, so he could not sustain
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any damage by our misery: if there were no profit in oar blood, (which is pleaded, Ps. xxx. 9.) yet for certain there would have been no loss by it No, bat the reasons of bis love were fetched from within him, as God's love of Israel was, (Deut. vii. 7, 8.)
he loved them, because he would love them. It was free, for it was unforced; he willingly offered himself. Here am I, send me. This sacrifice was bound to the itomt of the altar only with the cords of his love,
(2.) It was distinguishing love. It was good will to fallen man, and not to fallen angels. He did not lay hold on a world of sinking angels; as their tree fell, so it lies, and so it is like to lie for ever; but on the seed of Abraham he taketh holdf Heb. ii. 16. The nature of angels was more excellent than that of man, their place in the creation higher, their capacity for honouring God greater, and yet they were passed by. Man who sinned was pitied and helped, while angels who sinned were not so much as spared. The deplorable state of devils serve as a foil to set off the blessed state of the ransomed of the Lord.
(3.) It was condescending love. Never did love humble itself and stoop so low as the love of Christ did. It was great condescension, that he should fix his love upon creatures so mean, 3Ian that is a trorfn, the son of man that is a worm so near a-kin to the brutal part of the creation, especially since the fall, that one would think he should rather be the scorn than the love of the spiritual and purely intellectual world ; yet this is the creature that is chosen to be the darling of heaven, and in whom Wisdom's delights are, Prov. viii. 31. But especially that, in prosecution of this love, he should humble himself as he did. Humble himself to the earth in his incarnation ; humble himself on the earth in the meanness of his life ; humble himself into the earth, when he went to the grave, the place where mankind appears under the greatest mortification and disgrace.
(4.) It was expensive love. His washing the feet of his disciples is spoken of as an act of love to them, (John xiii. 1.) and that was condescending love, but not costly like this. He loved us, and bought us, and paid dear for us, that we might be unto him a purchased people, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Because he loved Israel, he gave men for them, and people for their life, even Egypt for their ransom, (Isa. xliii. 3, 4.) but because he loved us, he gave himself for us, even his own blood for the ransom of our souls.
(5.) It was strong love, strong as death, and which many waters could not quench. Cant. viii. 6, 7. This was the greatness of his strength, in which the Redeemer travelled, who was mighty to save; Isa. Ixi. 1. It was strong to break through great difficulties, and trample upon the discouragements that lay in his way : when he had this baptism to be baptized with, this baptism of blood, it was love that said, How am I straitened till it be accomplished ?
Luke xii. 50. It was love that said. With dss Urt I have desired to eat this passover, which he knew was to be his last. It was the strength of his love that reconciled him to the bitter cup, which was pat into his hand, and made him wave his petition, that it might pass from him, which, for ought we know, if he had insisted upon, it had been granted, and the I work undone. '
(6.) It was an everlasting love, Jer. xxxi. 3. It | was from everlasting in the counsels of it, and will be to everlasting in the consequences of it; not like our love, which comes up in a night, and perishes in a night He loved to the end, and went on with his undertaking till he said. It is finished. Never was there such a constant lover as the blessed Jesus, whose gifts and callings are without repentance.
4. Come and see the conquest of Satan: and this is a very pleasing sight to all those who throagh grace are turned from the power of Satan unto God, as it was to the Israelites, when they had newly shaken off the Egyptian yoke, to see their task-masters and pursuers dead upon the sea-shore, Exod. xiv. 30. Come and see our Joshua discomfitinx the Amale-kites, our David with a sling and a sfone yanqoish-ing that proud Goliah, who not only himself basely deserted, but then boldly defied, the armies of the living God. Come and see, not Michael and his angels, but Michael himself, Michael our prince, who trod the wine-press alone, entering the lists with the dragon and his angels, and giving them an effectual overthrow: the seed of the woman, though bruised in the heel, yet breaking the serpent's head, according to that ancient promise made anto the fathers. Gen. iii. 15. Come and see the great Redeemer, not only making peace with earth, bat making war with hell; dispossessing the strong man armed, spoiling principalities and powers, making a show of them openlyy and triumphing over them in his cross, Col. ii. 15.
Come and see Christ triumphing over Satan at his death. Though the war was in heaven, (Rev. xii. 7.) yet some fruits of the victory even then appeared on earth. Though when Christ was in the extremity of his sufferings, there was a darkness over all the land, which gave the powers of darkness all the advantage they could wish for, yet he beat the enemy upon his own ground. Satan (some think) temfied Christ into his agony, but then he kept possession of his own soul, and steadily adhered to his Father's will, and to his own undertaking: so he baffled Satan. Satan put it in the heart of Judas to betray him; but in the immediate ruin of Judas, wLo presently went and hanged himself, Christ triumphed over Satan, and made a show of him openly. Satan tempted Peter to deny Christ, desiring to kmfe kirn, that he might sift him as wheat; but by the speedy repentance of Peter, who, upon a look from Christ, went out and wept bitterly, Christ triumphed over
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383
Satan, and baffled him in his designs. Satan was ready to swallow up the thief upon the cross, bat Christ rescued him fit>m the gates of hell, and raised him to the glories of heaven, and thereby spoiled Satan, who was as a lion disappointed of his prey.
Come and see Christ triumphing over Satan by his death; the true Samson, who did more toward the rain of the Philistines dying than living; see Judg. xvi. 23, 30. Having by his life and doctrine destroyed the works of the devil, at length by his death he destroyed the devil himself, who had the power of death, Heb. ii. 14. In him was fulfilled the blessing of God, (Gen. xlix. 19.) A troop thall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last; and through him who loved us, we are eonqueron, ;^ea, mare than conquerors,
(1.) Christ by dying made atonement for sin, and so conquered Satan. By the merit of his death, he satisfied God's justice for the sins of all that should believe in him; and if the judge remit the sentence, the executioner has nothing to do with the prisoner. We are read&to fall under the curse, to be made an Anathema, raat is, to be delivered unto Satan: Christ said. Upon me be the curse; this blotted out the handwriting that was against us, took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross; and so Satan is spoiled. Who shall condemn ? It is Christ that died, Rom. viii. 33, 34. When God forgives the iniquity of his people, he brings back their captivity, Ps. Ixxxv. ], 2. If we shall not come into condemnation, we are saved from coming unto execution.
(2.) Christ by dying sealed the gospel of grace, and purchased the Spirit of grace, and so conquered Satan. The Spirit acting by the gospel as the in> strament, and the gospel animated by the Spirit as the principal, are become mighty to the pulling down of Satan*s strong-holds. Thus the foundation is laid for a believer's victory over the temptations and terrors of the wicked one. Christ's victory over Satan is our victory, and we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, Rev. xii. 11. Thus kings of armies did flee apace, and even they that tarried at home, and did themselves contribute nothing to the victory, yet divide the spoil, Ps. Ixviii. 12. Christ having thus trodden Satan under our feet, he calls to as as Joshua to the captains of Israel, (Josh. x. 24.) Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you, for he is a conquered enemy.
5. Come and seethe worth of souls. We judge of the Talue of a thing by the price which a wise man who understands it gives for it. He who made souls, and had reason to know them, provided for their redemption, not corruptible things, as silver and gold, hut ike precious blood of his own son; see I Pet. i. 18, 19. It was not a purchase made hastily, for it was the contrivance of infinite wisdom from eternity ; it was not made for necessity, for he neither needed us, nor could be benefited by us; but thus he was pleased to teach us what account we should make of our souls, and their salvation and happiness. The incarnation of Christ put a great honour upon the human nature ; never was it so dignified as when it was taken into union with the divine nature in the person of Immanuel, but the death and sufferings of Christ add much more to its value, for he laid down his own life to be the ransom of ours, when nothing else was sufficient to answer the price. Lord, what is man, that he should be thus visited, thus regarded! that the Son of God should not only dwell among us, but die for us!
(1.) Now let us see this, and learn how to put a value upon our own souls, not so as to advance our conceits of ourselves, (nothing can be more humbling and abasing, than to see our own lives sold by our own folly, and redeemed by the merit of another,) but so as to increase our concern for ourselves, and our own spiritual interests. Shall the souls, the precious souls which Christ put such a value upon, and paid such a price for, debase and undervalue themselves so far as to become slaves to Satan, and drudges to the world and the flesh ? We are bought with a price, and therefore we not only injure the purchaser's right to us, if we alienate ourselves to another, but we reproach his wisdom in paying such a price, if we alienate ourselves for a thing of nought. It is the apostle's argument against uncleanness, (1 Cor. vi. 20.) and against making ourselves the servants of men, 1 Cor. vii. 23. Christ having purchased our souls at such a rate, we disparage them if we stake them to the trifles of the world, or pawn them for the base and sordid pleasures of sin. Shall that birthright be sold for a mess of pottage, which Christ bought with his own blood ? No; while we live let our souls be our darlings, (as they are called, Ps. xxii. 20. and XXXV. 17.) for his sake, to whom they were so dear. If Christ did and suffered so much to save our souls, let us not hazard the losing of them, though it be to gain the whole world. Matt. xvi. 26.
(2.) Let us see this, and learn how to put a value upon the souls of others. This forbids us to do any thing that may turn to the prejudice of the souls of others, by drawing them to sin, or discouraging them in that which is good. The apostle lays a great stress upon this argument, against the abuse* of our Christian liberty, to the offence of others, (Rom. xiv. 15.) Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died; and again he urges it on the same occasion, 1 Cor. viii. 11. Shall not we deny ourselves and our own satisfaction, rather than occasion guilt or grief to them for whom Christ humbled himself, even to the death of the cross ? Shall we slight those whom Christ put such a value upon ? Shall we set those with the dogs of our flock, whom.
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Christ parchased with his own blood, among the lambs of his flock ? God forbid!
This also commands us to do all we can for the spiritual welfare and salvation of the souls of others: did Christ think them worth his blood, and shall not we think them worth our care and pains ? Shall not we willingly do our utmost to save a soul from death, and thereby hide a multitude of sins, when Christ did so much and suffered so much to make it feasible? Shall not we pour out our prayers for them, for whom Christ poured out his soul unto death? And bear them upon our hearts, Mhom Christ laid so near his? Blessed Paul, in consideration hereof, not only made himself the servant of all, to please them for their edification, but was willing to be offered upon the sacrifice and service of their faith ; (Phil. ii. 17.) and so to fill up what was behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake. Col. i. 24.
And if we be at any time called upon, even to lay down our lives for the brethren, we must remember that in that, as well as in washing their feet, Christ has left us an example, I John iii. 16.
6. Come and see the purchase of the blessings of the new covenant The blood of Christ was not only the ransom of our forfeited lives, and the redemption of our souls from everhisting misery, but it was the valuable consideration, upon which the grant of eternal life and happiness is grounded. Christ's death is our life; that is, it is not only our salvation from death, but it is the fountain of all our joys, and the foundation of all our hopes. All the comforts we have in possession, and all we have in prospect, all the privileges of our way, and all those of our home, are the blessed fruits of that accursed tree on which our Redeemer died.
(1.) See the blood of Christ, the spring whence all the blessings of the covenant flow. That is the price of all our pardons, we have redemption through his blood, even the foryiveness of sint, Eph. i. 7. Without the shedding of blood, that blood, that precious blood, there had been no remission. That is the purchase of the divine favour, which is our life; we are made accepted only in the Beloved, Eph. i. 6. Peace is made, a covenant of peace settled, peace secured to all the sons of peace, by the blood of his cross, and not otherwise, Col. i. 20. That is the price paid for the purchased possession, that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance, Heb. ix. 15. Christ was made a curse for us, not only to redeem 7ts from the curse of the law, but that we through him might inherit the blessing, Gal. iii. 13,14. Thus, oiit of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. Behold, he shows us a mystery.
(2.) See the blood of Christ, the stream in which all the blessings of the covenant flow to us. The blood of Christ, as it is exhibited to us in this ordinance, is the vehicle, the channel, of conveyance, by which all graces and comforts descend from heaven to earth. This cup is the new testament in the blood of Christ, and so it becomes a cup of blessing, a cup of consolation, a cup of salvation: all the hidden manna comes to us in this dew. It is the blood of Christ, speaking for us, that pacifies an offended God: it is the blood of Christ sprinkled on us, that purifies a defiled conscience. As it was the blood of Jesus that consecrated for ns the new and living way, and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, so it is by that blood that we have boldness to enter into the holiest, Heb. x. 19, 20.
Come and see how much we owe to the death of Christ, the rich purchases he made for us that he might cause us to inherit substance, and might fill our treasures. Let this increa.se our esteem of the love of Christ, which was not only so very expensive to himself, but so very advantageous to ns: let this also enhance the value of covenant blessings in our eyes. The blessings of this life we owe to the bounty of God's providence; but spiritual blessings in heavenly things we owe to the blood of his Son: let these, therefore, be to us more precious than rubies; let these always have the preference. Let us be willing to part with any thing, rather than hazard the favour of God, the comforts of the Spirit, and eternal life, remembering what these cost Let us never make light of Wisdom's preparations, when we see at what rate they were bought in. To tliem who believe they are precious, for they know they were purchased with the precious blood of Christ, which we undervalue as a common thing, if we prefer farms and merchandise before heaven, and the present earnests of it.
CHAPTER IX.
SOME ACCOUNT 07 THE PRECIOUS BENEFm TllilCH AtLE TO BE KECEIVBD BY FAITH IN THIS OHDINANCB.
In the Lord's supper we are not only to show the Lord's death, and see what is to be seen in it, as many who, when he was upon the cross, stood afar off beholding; no, we must there be more than spectators, we must eat of t/ie sannfice, and so partake of the altar, 1 Cor. ix. 13. The bread which came down from heaven was not designed merely for shcw-bread, bread to be looked upon; but for household-bread, bread to be fed upon: bread to strengthen our hearts, and wine to make them glad; and Wisdom's invitation is. Come, eat of my bremd, and drink of the wine that I hate mingled. Christ's feeding great multitudes miraculously, more than once, when he was here upon earth, was (as his other miracles) significant of the spiritual provision
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385 ht makes in the everlasting gospel, for the support and satisfaction of those that leave all to follow him; if we do not all eat, and be not all filled, abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house, it is our own fault. Let us not then straiten and starve ourselves, for the Master of the feast has not stinted us: he has not only invited us, and made provision for our entertainment, but he calls to ils, as one who bids us heartily welcome, Eat, O friendSf drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
All people are for what they can get: here is something to be got in this ordinance, if it be rightly improved, which will turn to our account infinitely more than the merchandise of silver, or the gain of fine gold. Christ and his benefits are here not only set before us, but offered to us; not only offered to us, but settled upon us, under certain provisos and limitations; so that a believer who sincerely con-^nts to the covenant, receives some of the present benefit of it in and by this ordinance, both in the comfortable experience of communion with God, in grace, and the comfortable expectation of the vision and fruition of God, in glory.
Gospel ordinances in general (and this in particular, which is the seal of gospel promises) are welU rf salvation, out of which we may draw water with joy ; breasts of consolation, from which we may suck and be satisfied; golden pipes, through which the oil of grace is derived from the good olive, to keep Our lamps burning. We receive the grace of God herein in vain, if we take not what is here tendered, ^pel blessings upon gospel terms. We are here to receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and since with bim God freely gives us all things, (Rom. viii. 32.) we must with him by faith take what he gives; all spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ Jesus.
I. Here we may receive the pardon and forgiveness of our sins. This is that great blessing of the new covenant which makes way for all other blessings, fremovendo prohibens — removing the hinderance,) by taking down that wall of partition which separated between us and God, and hinders good things from us. It is the matter of that promise, which comes in as a reason for all the rest, I will do so and so for them, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, Heb. viii. 12.—This is that great blessing which Christ died to purchase for us; his blood was shed for many, for the remission of sins ; and perhaps he intimated this to be, in a special manner, designed by bim in his sufferings, when the first Word we find recorded, that he spoke after he was nailed to the cross, was. Father, forgive them, (Luke xxiii. 34.) which seems to look not only to those that had an immediate hand in his death, but to those that are remotely accessary to it, as all sinners are, though they know not what they do.
The everlasting gospel is an act of indemnity; an
2 c act of oblivion we may call it, for it is promised that our sins and iniquities he will remember no more. It is proclaimed to the rebels, that if they will lay down their arms, acknowledge their offence, return to their allegiance, approve themselves good subjects for the future, and make the merits of him whom the Father has appointed to be the Mediator, their plea in suing out their pardon, the offended Prince will be reconciled to them, their attainder shall be reversed, and they shall not only be restored to all the privileges of subjects, but advanced to the honours and advantages of favourites. Now it concerns us all to be able to make it out, that we are entitled to the benefit of this act, that we are qualified according to the tenor of it, for the favour intended by it; and if we be so indeed, in the Lord's supper we receive that pardon to us in particular, which in the gospel is proclaimed to all in general. We do here receive the atonement, as the expression is, Rom. v. 11. God has received it for the securing of his honour, and we receive it for the securing of our happiness, and comfort; we claim the benefit of it, and desire to be justified and accepted of God for the sake of it.
This sacrament should therefore be received with a heart thus lifting up itself to God: ** Lord, I am a sinner, a great sinner; I have done very foolishly ; I have forfeited thy favour, incurred thy displeasure, and deserve to be for ever abandoned from thee. But Christ has died, yea, rather, is risen again, has finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in an everlasting righteousness; he gave his life a ransom for many, and if for many, why not for me ? In him a free and full remission is promised to all penitent and obedient believers ; by him all who believe are justified, and to them there is no condemnation. Thou, even thou, art he thatblottest out their transgressions for thine own sake, and art gracious and merciful, nay, thou art faithful and just to forgive them their sins. Lord, I repent, I believe, and take the benefit of those promises, those exceeding great and precious promises, which are to my soul as life from the dead. I fly to this city of refuge, I take hold of the horns of this altar: here I humbly receive the forgiveness of my sins, through Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, to whom I entirely owe it, and to whom I acknowledge myself infinitely indebted for it, and under the highest obligations imaginable to love him, and to live to him. He is the Lord our righteousness, so I accept him; let him be made a God to me in righteousness, and I have enough, I am happy for ever."
Every time we come to the Lord's supper, we come to receive the remission of sins, that is,
1. A renewed pardon of daily trespasses. In many things we offend daily, and even he who is washed, who is in a justified state, needs to wash his feet.
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John xiii. 10. And blessed be God there is a fountain opened for us to wash in, and eneouragement gi\cn to pray for daily pardon as duly as we do for daily bread. We have to do with a God who multiplies to pardon. '* Lord, the guilt of such a sin lies upon me like a heavy burthen; I have lamented it, confessed it, renewed my covenant against it, and now in this ordinance I receive the forgiveness of that sin, and hear it said to my soul, The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die. Many a fault I have been overtaken in since I was last with the Lord at his table, and having repented of them, I desire to apply the blood of Christ to my soul in a particular manner, for tbe forgiveness of them."
2. A confirmed pardon of all trespasses. I come here to receive further assurance of the forgiveness of my sins, and further comfort arising from those assurances. I come to hear again that voice of joy and gladness, which has made many a broken bone to rejoice, Son daughterj he of good cheer, thy tint are forgiven thee, I come for the father*s kiss to a returning prodigal, which seals his pardon so, as to silence his doubts and fears. When God would by his prophets speak comfortably to Sion, this he says, Thy warfare it accomplithed, thine iniquity it pardoned, Isa. xl. 2. And the inhabitant thall not tay, I am tich, that is, he shall ske no cause to complain of any outward calamity, if his iniquity be forgiven, Isa. xxxiii. 24. O that I might here have the white stone of absolution, (Rev. ii. 17.) and my pardon written more legibly ! O that Christ would say to me, as he did to that woman, to whom much was already forgiven, (Luke vii. 48.) Thy tint are forgiven. This is that I come to receive, 0 let me not go away without it!
II. Here we may receive the adoption of sons. The covenant of grace not only frees us from the doom of criminals, but advances us to the dignit}' of children: Christ redeemed us from tlie curse of the law, in order to this, that we might receive the adoption of tont. Gal. iv. 5. The children's bread given us in this ordinance, is as it were livery and seisin, to assure us of our adoption upon the terms of the gospel, that if we will take God in Christ to be to us a Father, to rule and dispose of us, and to be feared and honoured by us, he will take us to be his sons and daughters; Behold what manner of love it thit! Be attonithed, O heavent, and wonder, O earth! Never was there such compassionate, such condescending love! God here seals us the grant both of the privileges of adoption, and the Spirit of adoption.
1. Here is a grant of the privileges of adoption scaled to us. Here we are called the children of God, and he calls himself our Father, and encourages us to call him so. Seemeth it to you a light thing (said David, 1 Sam. xvii. 23.) to be a hing't ton-in-law, teeing that I am a poor man, and lightly I etteemed ? And shall it not seem to us a great thing, an honour infinitely above all those which the world can pretend to confer, for us (who are womui of the earth, and a generation of vipers, children of disobedience and wrath by nature) to be the adopted children of the King of kings? This honour kme all the taintt. Nor is it an empty title that is here granted us, but real advantages of unspeakable value.
The eternal God here says it, and seals it to every true believer, Fear not, I will he a Father to thee^^n ever-loving, ever-living Father; leave it to me to provide for thee, on me let all thy burthens be cast, with me let all thy cares be left, and to me let all thy requests be made known. The young lionM thall lack and tuffer hunger, but thou shalt want nothing that is good for thee, nothing that is ^t for thee. My wisdom shall be thy guide, my power thy sap-port, and underneath thee the everlasting arms. As the tender father pities his children, so will I pity thee, and spare thee as a man spares his son that serves him. Thou shalt have my blessing and love, the smiles of my face and the kisses of my mootii, and in the arms of my grace vrill I carry thee to glory, as the nursing father does the sucking child. Does any thing grieve thee? Whither shouldst thou go with thy complaint but to thy Father, saying to him as that child, (2 Kings iv. 19.) My head, my head; and thou shalt find, that as one whom his mother comforts, so will the Lord thy God comfort thee. Does any thing terrify thee ? Be not afraid for I am thy God; when thou pattest through the watert, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they thall not overflow thee. Art thou in debt ? Consult me, and / will inttruet thee in the way that thou shalt go, I will guide thee with mine iye. Acknowledge me, and I will direct thy steps. Dost thou offend ? Is there foolishness bound up in thy heart ? Thou mayst expect fatherly correction, / will chastise thee with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the tons of men, but my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from thee; thine afflictions shall not only consist with, but flow from, covenant love; and but for a season, when need is, shalt thou be in heaviness.
I will be a Fatlier to thee, and, son, thou shalt be ever with me, and all that I have is thine, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are thine, as far as is necessary to thy happiness, nor shall any thing be ever able to separate thee from my love. I will be a Father to thee, and then Christ shall be thy elder brother, the prophet, priest, and king of the family, as the first-bom among many brethren. Angels shall be thy gard, vrith the greatest care and tenderness shall they bear thee in their arms, as ministering spirits charged to attend the heirs of salvation. Providence shall be thy protector, and the disposer of all thy affairs for the
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387 htsX ; so that whatever happens, thou mayst he sare it Mrill be made to work for thy good, though as yet thou canst not see how or which way. The assurances of thy Father's love to thee in his promises, and communion with him in his ordinances, shall be thy daily bread, thy continual feast,the manna that shall be rained upon thee, the water out of the rock that shall follow thee in this wilderness, till thou come to Canaan.
Now art thou a child of God ; hut it does not yet appear what thou shalt be. When thou wast predestinated to the adoption of a son, thou wast designed for the inheritance of a son: if a child, then an heir. Thy present maintenance shall be honourable and comfortable, and such as is fit for thee in thy minority, while thou art under tutors and governors; but what is now laid out upon thee, is nothing in comparison with what is laid up for thee; an inheritance incormptible, undefiled, and that fades not away.— If God be thy Father, not less than a crown, a kingdom, shall be thy portion, and heaven thy home, where thou shalt be for ever with him: in thy Father's house there are many mansions, and one for thee, if tbou be his dutiful child. It is thy Father's good pleasure to give thee a kingdom.
2. Here is a grant of the Spirit of adoption sealed to us. As the giving of Christ for us was the great promise of the Old Testament, which was fulfilled in the fulness of time, so the giving of the Spirit to us is the great promise of the New Testament, and a inoznise that is sure to all the seed ; this promise of the Father, which we have heard of Christ, we in this ordinance wait for, Acts i. 4. And it follows Upon the former, for wherever God gives the privi-tefes of children, he will give the nature and disposition of children: regeneration always attends adoption ; Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, Gal. iv. 6. Great encouragement we have to ask this gift, from the relation of a father, wherein God stands toward us : if earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children, such as are needful and proper for them, much more shall our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him, Luke xi. 13. He will gve the Spirit to teach his children, and as their tutor, to lead them into ail truth ; to govern his children, and as the best of guardians, to dispose their affections, while providence disposes their affairs for the best He will give his Spirit to renew and sanctify them, and to make them meet for their Father's service in this world, and their Father's kingdom in a better world ; to be the guide of their way, and the witness of their adoption, and to seal them to the day of redemption.
An earnest of this grant of the Spirit to all believers in this ordinance Christ gave, when in the fint visit he made to his disciples after his resurrection, having showed them his hands and his side, his
2c2 pierced hands, his pierced side, (which in efi*ect he does to us in this sacrament,) he breathed on them, and said unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost, John XX. 22. What he says to them, he says to all his disciples, making them an offer of this inestimable gift, and bestowing it effectually on all believers, who are all sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Eph. i. 13. Receive ye the Holy Ghost then, in the receiving of this bread and wine ; the graces of the Spirit, as bread to strengthen the heart; his comforts, as wine to make it glad. Be willing and desirous to receive the Holy Ghost, let the soul and all its powers be put under his operations and influences : Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and then this King of glory shall come in, to all that invite him, and will bid him welcome.
But will God in very deed thus dwell with men, with such men upon the earth ? And shall they become temples of the Holy Ghost? Shall he come upon them ? Shall the power of the Highest overshadow them ? Shall Christ be formed in me a holy thing ? Say then, (my soul,) say as the blessed virgin did. Here I am, be it unto me according to thy word. I acknowledge myself unworthy the being of a man, having so often acted more like a brute; much more unworthy the dignity of a son: I have been an un-dutiful, rebellious prodigal, I deserve to be turned out of doors, abandoned and disinherited, and forbidden my Father's house and table; but who shall set bounds to infinite mercy, and to the compassions of the Everlasting Father ? If notwithstanding this he will yet again take me into his family, and clothe me with tlie best robe, though it is too great a favour for me to receive, who am a child of disobedience, yet it is not too great for him to give, who is the Father of mercies. To thee, theiefore, O God, I give up myself; and I will from this time cry unto thee, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth, Jer. iii. 4. Though I deserve not to be owned as a hired servant, I desire and hope to be owned as an adopted son. Be it unto thy servant according to the promise.
III. Here we may receive peace and satisfaction in our minds. This is one of those precious legacies Christ has left to all his followers, and it is here in this ordinance paid, or secured to be paid, to all those that are ready and willing to receive it; (John xiv. 27.) Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, such a peace as the world can neither give nor take away. This is the repose of the soul in God; our reconciliation to ourselves, arising from the sense of our reconciliation to God ; the conscience being purged from dead works, which not only defile, but disturb and disquiet us. When the Spirit is poured out from on high, then the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever, Isa. xxxii. 16, 17. The guilt of
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affairs, and whilhcr shall I go for it but to wisdom's feasts, whose preparations are not only good for food, and pleasant to the eye, but greatly to be desired to make one wise: here, therefore, I receive Christ Jesus the Lord, as made of God unto me wisdom, wisdom dwelling with prudence, wisdom to understand my way, that wisdom which in every doubtful case is profitable to direct. Having many a time prayed Solomon's prayer, for a wise and understanding hearty I here receive the sealed grant in answer to it, wisdom and knowledge are given thee, 80 much as shall be sufficient for thee in thy place and station, to guide thee in glorifying God, so that thou mayst not come short of enjoying him.
When we are assaulted with temptations to sin, we find how weak and ineffectual our resistance has often been ; here, therefore, we receive grace to fortify us against all those assaults, that we may not be foiled and overcome by them. All that in this sacrament list themselves under the banner of the Captain of our salvation, and engage themselves (as his faithful soldiers) in a holy war against the world, the flesh, and the devil, may here be furnished with the whole armour of God, and that power of his might, (as it is called, Eph. vi. 10.) wherewith they shall be able to stand and withstand in the evil day, Cph. vi. 10, &c. I now receive from God and his grace, strength against such a sin that has often prevailed over me, such a temptation that has often been too hard for me; " Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." Through God I shall do valiantly.
When we are burthened with aflliction, we find it hard to bear up; we faint in the day of adversity, which is a sign our strength is small; we grieve too much, and are full of fears in a day of trouble, our hearts many a time are ready to fail us ; hither therefore we come to receive grace sufl Scient for our support under the calamities of this present time, (that whatever we lose, we may not lose our comfort, and whatever we suffer, we may not sink,) grace to enable us, whatever happens, to keep possession of our own souls, by keeping up our hope and joy in God, that when flesh and heart fail, we may find God the strength of our hearts; and if he be so, as our day is, so shall our strength be, Deut. xxxiii. 25. Such assurances are here given to all believers, (of God's presence with them in all their afflictions, and of the concurrence of all for their good,) that being thus encouraged, they have all the reason in the world to say, *' Welcome the will of God; nothing can come amiss."
We know not how we may be called on to bear our testimony to the truths and ways of God in suffering for righteousness' sake; we are bid to count upon them, and to prepare for them. We must in this ordinance faithfully promise that (however we may be tried) we will never forsake Christ, nor turn from following after him; though we shotM die with him, yet will we not deny him: bat it have no reason to confide in any strength of ov own, for the making good of this promise, nor ca we pretend to such a degree of resolution, steadiness, and presence of mind, as will enable us to encounter the difficulties we may meet with. Peter, when he shamed himself, warned us to take heed lest we fall, when we think we stand : here, tbel fore, we must receive streng for such trials; that we may overcome them by the blood of the Lanb, and by not loving our lives unto the death; ud that the prospect of none of these things may movf us.
3. How near our great change may be we cannot tell, perhaps nearer than we imagine; we are not sure that we shall live to see another opportunity of this kind; but this we are sure of, that it is a serioni thing to die, it is a work we never did, and when we come to do it, we shall need a strength we nc Ter had. In this sacrament therefore, from the deatk of Christ, we must fetch in grace to prepare us for death, and to carry us safely and comfortably through that dark and dismal valley. I depend not only upon the providence of God, to order the circumstances of my removal hence for the best to me, but upon the grace of God, to take oat the sting of death, and then to reconcile me to the stroke of death, and to enable me to meet death's harbinger, and bear its agonies not only with the constancy and patience that becomes a wise man, but with the hope and joy that becomes a good Christian.
y. Here we may receive the earnests of eternal bliss and joy. Heaven is the crown and centre of all the prorhises, and the perfection of all the good contained in them, all the blessings of the new covenant have a tendency to this, and are in order to this. Are we predestinated ? It is to the inheritance of sons: called? It is to his kingdom and glory: sanctified ? It is that we may be made meet for the inheritance, and wrought to ithe self-same thing. This, therefore, we should have in our eye, in our covenant and communion with God, that eternal life which God who cannot lie promises. We must receive the Spirit in his graces and comforts, as the earnest of our inheritance, Eph. i. 14. 2 Cor. i. 22; v. 5. They who deal with God mast deal upon trust for a happiness in reversion, a re-compence of reward to come ; must forsake a world in sight and present, for a world out of sight and future. All believers consent to this, they lay up their treasure in heaven, and hope for what they sec not. This they depend upon, and in prospect of it they are willing to labour, and suffer, to deny themselves, and take up their cross, knowing that heaven will make amends for all; though they may be losers for Christ, they shall not be losers by him in the end: this is the bargain. In the Lord's snppci
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Christ gives us earnest upon this bargain, and what we receive there we receive as earnest. An earnest not only confirms the bargain, and secures the performance of it, but is itself part of payment, though but a small part in comparison with the full sum.
We here receive the earnest of our inheritance, that is, #
1. We receive the assurances of it; the royal fljant of it is here sealed and delivered by the King of kings, teste me ipso — being myself witness. God says to me as he did to Abraham, (Gen. xiii. 14.) Lift vp thine eyes notr, and look from the place where thou ai-t. Take a view of the heavenly Canaan, that land which eternally flows with better things than milk and honey, ImmanueFs land; open the eye of faith, and behold the pleasures and glories of that world, as they are described in Scripture, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; and know of a surety, that all the land which thou seest, and that which is infinitely more and better than thou canst conceive, to thee will lyive i7, to thee for ever. Fear not, little flock, fear not, ye little ones of the flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Follow Christ and ser\'e him, and you shall be for ever with him: continue with him now in his temptations, and you shall shortly share with him in his glories: only be faithful unto death, and the crown of life is as sure to you as if it were already upon your heads. Here is livery and seisin upon the deed: take this and eat it, take this and drink it; in token of this, / will be to thee a God, (that is, a perfect and everlasting happiness,) such as shall answer the vast extent and compass of that great word, Heb. xi. 16.
Come now, my soul, and accept the security ofi*ered; the inheritance ofl*ered is unspeakably rich, and invaluable; the losses and sufl*erings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with it The title is good; it is a purchased possession; he that grants it has power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life, John xvii. 2. The assurances are unquestionably valid (not only the word and oath, but the writing and seal of the eternal God) in the scriptures and sacraments. Here is that, my soul, which thou mayst venture thyself upon, and venture thine all for. Do it then, do it with a holy boldness. Lay hold on eternal life, lay fast hold on it, and keep thy hold. Look up, my soul, look as high as heaven, the highest heavens. Look forward, my soul, look as far forward as eternity, and let eternal life, eternal joy, eternal glory, be thy aim in thy religion, and resolve to take up with nothing short of these. God has been willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, and, therefore, has thus confirmed it, so as to leave no room for doabting, that by all these immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us, Heb. vi. 17, 18. Take him at his word then, and build thy hope upon it: be not faitliless, but believing; be not careless, but industrious. Here is a happiness worth striving for: run with patience the race that is set before thee, with this prize in thy eye.
2. We receive the foretastes of it. We have in this ordinance not only a ratification of the promise of the heavenly Canaan, but a pattern or specimen given us of the fruits of that land, like the bunch of grapes which was brought from the valley of Eshcol to the Israelites in the wilderness; a view given us of that land of promise, like that which Moses had of the land of Canaan from the top of Pisgah: as the law was a type and figure of the Messiah's kingdom on earth, so the gospel is of his kingdom in heaven; both are shadows of good things to come, (Heb. x. I.) like the map of a rich and large country in a sheet of paper. Our future happiness is in this sacrament not only sealed to us, but showed to us, and we here taste something of the pleasures of that better country. In this ordinance we have a sight of Christ, he is evidently set before us; and what is heaven, but to see him as he is, and to be for ever beholding his glory? We are here receiving the pledges and tokens of Christ's love to us, and returning the protestations and expressions of our love to him; and what is heaven, but an eternal interchanging of love between a holy God and holy souls? We are here praising and blessing the Redeemer, celebrating his honour, and giving him the glory of his achievements; and what is that but the work of heaven ? It is what the inhabitants of that world are doing now, and what we hope to be doing with them to eternity. We are here in spiritual communion with all the saints, coming in faith, hope, and love to the general assembly and church of the flrst'born; and what is heaven but that in perfection? In a word, heaven is a feast, and so is this; only this is a running banquet, that an everlasting feast.
Come (my soul) and see a door here opened in heaven; look in at that door now, by which thou hopest to enter shortly. Let this ordinance do something of the work of heaven upon thee, God having provided in it something of the pleasure of heaven for thee. Heaven will for ever part between thee and sin; let this ordinance, therefore, set thee at a greater distance from it. Heaven will fill thee with the love of God ; in this ordinance, therefore, let that love be shed abroad in thy heart In heaven thou shalt enter into the joy of tliy Lord; let that joy now enter into thee, and be thy strength and thy song. Heaven will be perfect holiness; let this ordinance make thee more holy, and more conformable to the image of the Holy Jesus. Heaven will be everlasting rest; here, therefore, retam
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affairs, and ivhilher shall I go for it but to wisdom's feasts, whose preparations are not only good for food, and pleasant to the eye, but greatly to be desired to make one wise: here, therefore, I receive Christ Jesus the Lord, as made of God unto me wisdom, wisdom dwelling with prudence, wisdom to understand my way, that wisdom which in every doubtful case is profitable to direct. Having many a time prayed Solomon's prayer, for a wise and un-derstandiny hearty I here receive the sealed grant in answer to it, wisdom and knowledge are given thee, so much as shall be sufficient for thee in thy place and station, to guide thee in glorifying God, so that thou mayst not come short of enjoying him.
When we are assaulted with temptations to sin, we find how weak and ineffectual our resistance has often been ; here, therefore, we receive grace to fortify us against all those assaults, that we may not be foiled and overcome by them. All that in this sacrament list themselves under the banner of the Captain of our salvation, and engage themselves (as his faithful soldiers) in a holy war against the world, the flesh, and the devil, may here be furnished with the whole armour of God, and that power of his might, (as it is called, Eph. vi. 10.) wherewith they shall be able to stand and withstand in the evil day, Eph. vi. 10, &c. I now receive from God and his grace, strength against such a sin that has often prevailed over me, such a temptation that has often been too hard for me; " Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." Through God I shall do valiantly.
When we are burthened with affliction, we find it hard to bear up; we faint in the day of adversity, which is a sign our strength is small; we grieve too much, and are full of fears in a day of trouble, our hearts many a time are ready to fail us; hither therefore we come to receive grace sufl Scient for our support under the calamities of this present time, (that whatever we lose, we may not lose our comfort, and whatever we suffer, we may not sink,) grace to enable us, whatever happens, to keep possession of our own souls, by keeping up our hope and joy in God, that when flesh and heart fail, we may find God the strength of our hearts; and if he be so, at our dag is, so shall our strength be, Deut. xxxiii. 25. Such assurances are here given to all believers, (of God's presence with them in all their afflictions, and of the concurrence of all for their good,) that being thus encouraged, they have all the reason in the world to say, ** Welcome the will of God; nothing can come amiss."
We know not how we may be called on to bear our testimony to the truths and ways of God in suffering for righteousness' sake; we are bid to count upon them, and to prepare for them. We must in this ordinance faithfully promise that (however we may be tried) we will never forsake Christ, nor turn from following after him; though we should die with him, yet will we not deny him: bat we have no reason to confide in any strength of our own, for the making good of this promise, nor can we pretend to such a degree of resolution steadiness, and presence of mind, as will enable us to encounter the difficulties we may meetvdth. Peter, when he shamed himself, warned us to take heed lest we fall, when we think we stand: bere, therefore, we must receive strength for such trials; that we may overcome them by the blood of the Lamb, and by not loving our lives unto the death; and that the prospect of none of these things may move us.
3. How near our great change may be we cannot tell, perhaps nearer than we imagine; we are not sure that we shall live to see another opportunity of this kind ; but this we are sure of, that it is a serious thing to die, it is a work we never did, and when we come to do it, we shall need a strength we never I had. In this sacrament therefore, from the death | of Christ, we must fetch in grace to prepare us for death, and to carry us safely and comfortably through that dark and dismal valley. I depend not only upon the providence of God, to order the circumstances of my removal hence for the best to me, but upon the grace of God, to take out the sting of death, and then to reconcile me to the stroke of death, and to enable me to meet death's harbinger, and bear its agonies not only with the constancy and patience that becomes a wise man, but with the hope and joy that becomes a good Christian.
y. Here we may receive the earnests of eternal bliss and joy. Heaven is the crown and centre of all the promises, and the perfection of all the good contained in them, all the blessings of the new covenant have a tendency to this, and are in order to this. Are we predestinated ? It is to the inheritance of sons: called? It is to his kingdom and glory: sanctified ? It is that we may be made meet for the inheritance, and wrought to Uie self-same thing. This, therefore, we should have in our eye, in our covenant and communion with God, that eternal life which God who cannot lie promises. We must receive the Spirit in his graces and comforts, as the earnest of our inheritance, Eph. i. 14. 2 Cor. i. 22 ; v. 5. They who deal with God must deal upon trust for a happiness in reversion, a re-compence of reward to come ; must forsake a world in sight and present, for a world out of sight and future. All believers consent to this, they lay up their treasure in heaven, and hope for what they see not. This they depend upon, and in prospect of it they are willing to labour, and suffer, to deny themselves, and take up their cross, knowing that heaven will make amends for all; though they may be losers for Christ, they shall not be losers by him in the end: this is the bargain. In the Lord's supper
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Christ gives us earnest upon this bargain, and ^hat we receive there we receive as earnest. An earnest not only confirms the bargain, and secures the performance of it, but is itself part of payment, though but a small part in comparison with the full sum.
We here receive the earnest of our inheritance, that is, #
1. We receive the assurances of it; the royal grant of it is here sealed and delivered by the King of kings, teste me ipso — being myself witness, God says to me as he did to Abraham, (Gen. xiii. 14.) Li/i vp thine eyes now, and look from the place wliere thou ai-t. Take a view of the heavenly Canaan, that land which eternally flows with better things than milk and honey, Immanuel's land; open the eye of faith, and behold the pleasures and glories of that world, as they are described in Scripture, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; and know of a surety, that all the land which thou seest, and that which is infinitely more and better than thou canst conceive, to thee will I give it, to thee for ever. Fear not, little flock, fear not, ye little ones of the flock, it is your Father*s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Follow Christ and ser\'e him, and you shall be for ever with him: continue with him now in his temptations, and you shall shortly share with him in his glories: only be faithful unto death, and the crown of life is as sure to you as if it were already upon your heads. Here is livery and seisin upon the deed: take this and eat it, take this and drink it; in token of this, / will he to thee a God, (that is, a perfect and everlasting happiness,) such as shall answer the vast extent and compass of that great word, Heb. xi. 16.
Come now, my soul, and accept the security offered ; the inheritance ofi*ered is unspeakably rich, and invaluable; the losses and sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with it The title is good; it is a purchased possession; he that grants it has power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life, John xvii. 2. The assurances are unquestionably valid (not only the word and oath, but the writing and seal of the eternal God) in the scriptures and sacraments. Here is that, my soul, which thou mayst venture thyself upon, and venture thine all for. Do it then, do it with a holy boldness. Lay hold on eternal life, lay fast hold on it, and keep thy hold. Look up, my soul, look as high as heaven, the highest heavens. Look forward, my soul, look as far forward as eternity, and let eternal life, eternal joy, eternal glory, be thy aim in thy religion, and resolve to take up with nothing short of these. God has been willing more abundantly to shoio to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, and, therefore* has thus confirmed it, so as to leave no room for doubting, that by all these immutable things, in wkieh it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fld for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us, Heb. vi. 17, 18. Take him at his word then, and build thy hope upon it: be not faithless, but believing; be not careless, but industrious. Here is a happiness worth striving for: run with patience the race that is set before thee, with this prize in thy eye.
2. We receive the foretastes of it. We have in this ordinance not only a ratification of the promise of the heavenly Canaan, but a pattern or specimen given us of the fruits of that land, like the bunch of grapes which was brought from the valley of Eshcol to the Israelites in the wilderness; a view given us of that land of promise, like that which Moses had of the land of Canaan from the top of Pisgah: as the law was a type and figure of the Messiah's kingdom on earth, so the gospel is of his kingdom in heaven; both are shadows of good things to come, (Heb x. 1.) like the map of a rich and large country in a sheet of paper. Our future happiness is in this sacrament not only sealed to us, but showed to us, and we here taste something of the pleasures of that better country. In this ordinance we have a sight of Christ, he is evidently set before us; and what is heaven, but to see him as he is, and to be for ever beholding his glory? We are here receiving the pledges and tokens of Christ's love to us, and returning the protestations and expressions of our love to him; and what is heaven, but an eternal interchanging of love between a holy God and holy souls? We are here praising and blessing the Redeemer, celebrating his honour, and giving him the glory of his achievements; and what is that but the work of heaven ? It is what the inhabitants of that world are doing now, and what we hope to be doing with them to eternity. We are here in spiritual communion with all the saints, coming in faith, hope, and love to the general assembly and church of the flrst-horn; and what is heaven but that in perfection ? In a word, heaven is a feast, and so is this; only this is a running banquet, that an everlasting feast.
Come (my soul) and see a door here opened in heaven; look in at that door now, by which tliou hopest to enter shortly. Let this ordinance do something of the work of heaven upon thee, God having provided in it something of the pleasure of heaven for thee. Heaven will for ever part between thee and sin ; let this ordinance, tlierefore, set thee at a greater distance from it. Heaven will fill thee with the love of God ; in this ordinance, therefore, let that love be shed abroad in thy heart In heaven thou shalt enter into the joy of tliy Lord; let that joy now enter into thee, and be thy strength and thy song. Heaven will be perfect holiness; let this ordinance make thee more holy, and more conformable to the image of the Holy Jesus. Heaven will be everlasting rest; here, therefore, retam d92
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to God as thy rest, O my soui, and repose thyself in him. Let every sacrament be to thee a heaven upon earth, and each of these days of the Son of man, as one of the days of heaven.
CHAPTER X
HELPS FOR THE EXCITING THOSE PIOUS AND DEVOUT AFFECTIONS WHICH SHOULD BE WORKING IN US WHILE WE ATTEND THIS ORDINANCE.
Wonderful sights are here to be seen, where the Lord's death is showed forth; precious benefits are here to be had, where the covenant of grace is sealed; the transaction is very solemn, very serious, nothing more so on this side death: but what impressions must bo made hereby upon our souls ? How must we stand afifected while this is doing ? Is this service only a show at which we may be unconcerned spectators ? Or is it a market-place, in which we may stand all the day idle ? No, by no means: here is work to be done, heart-work, such as requires a very close application of mind, and a great liveliness and vigour of spirit, and in which all that is within us should be employed, and all little enough. Here is that to be done which calls for fixed thoughts and warm affections, which needs them, and well deserves them. What sensible movings of affection we should aim at, is not easy to direct; tempers vary. Some are soon moved, and much moved with every thing that affects them; from such it may be expected that their passions, which are strong at other times, should not be weak at this ordinance. And yet, no doubt, there are others whose natural temper is happily more calm and sedate, who are not conscious to themselves of such stirrings of affection as some experience at that ordinance, and yet have as comfortable communion with God, as good evidence of the truth, and growth of grace, and as much real benefit by the ordinance, as those who think themselves even transported by it. The deepest rivers arc scarce perceived to move, and make the least noise. On the other hand, there may be much heat where there is little light, and strong passions where there are very weak resolutions ; like the waters of the land-flood, which make a great show, but are shallow and soon gone. We must not, therefore, build a good opinion of our spiritual state upon the vehemence of our affection. A romance may represent a tragical story so pathetically, as to make a great impression upon the minds of some, who yet know the whole matter to be both feigned and foreign: bodiiy exercise, if that be all, profits little. And on the other hand, there may be a true and strong faith in forming the judgment, bowing the will, commanding the affections, and purifying the heart and life, where yet there are not any transports or pathetical expressions. There may be true joy, where yet the mouth is not filled with laughter, nor the tongue with singing; and true sorrow, where yet tbe eye does not run down with tears. They whose hearts are firmly fixed for God, may take the comfort of it, though they do not find their heart sensiblj flowing out towards him.
And 3it in this sacrament, where it is designed that the eye should affect the heart, we must not rest in the bare contemplation of what is here set before us, but the consideration thereof must make an impression on our spirits, which should be turned as clay to this seal. If what is here done do not affect us for the present, it will not be likely to influence us afterwards; for we retain the remembrance of things better by our affections than by our notions: / shall never forget thy precepts, when by (hem tkou hast quickened me. Here therefore let us stir up the gift that is in us, endeavouring to affect ourselves with the great things of God and our souls ; and let us pnty to God to affect us with them by his Spirit and grace, and to testify his acceptance of the sacrifice of a devoted heart, which we are here to offer, by kindling it with the holy fire from heaven: Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south, and blow upon my garden. Come, thou blessed Spirit, and move upon these waters, these dead waters, to set them a moving in rivers of living water; ciime and breathe on these dry bones, that they may live. 0 that I might now be in the mount with God ! That I might be so taken up with the things of the Spirit and the other world, that, for the time, I may even forget that I am yet in the body, and in this worid! O that I might now be soaring upward, upward toward God, pressing forward, forward toward heaven* as one not slothful in this business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, for here it is no time to trifle!
Let us then see in some particulars how we should be affected when we are attending on the Lord in this solemnity, and in what channels these waters of the sanctuary should run, that we may take our work before us, and apply our minds to the consideration of those things that are proper to excite those affections.
I. Here we must be sorrowing for sin after a godly sort, and blushing before God at the thought of it. Penitential grief and shame are not at all unsuitable to this ordinance, though it is intended for our joy and honour, but excellent preparatives for the benefit and comfort of it. Here we should be, like Ephraim, bemoaning ourselves; like Job, abhorring ourselves, renewing those sorrowful reflec* tions we made upon our own follies, when we were preparing for this service, and keeping the fountains of repentance still open, still flowing. Our sorrow for sin needs not hinder our joy in God, and therefore oar joy in God must not forbid our sorrow for sin.
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af»8
1. Our near approach to God in this ordinance, should excite and increase our holy shame and sorrow. When we see what an honour we are advanced to, what a favour we are admitted to, it is seasonable to reflect upon our own unworthiness by reason of the guilt of sin, and our own unfitness by reason of the power of sin, to draw near to God. A man's deformity and defilement is never such a mortification to him, as when he comes into the presence of those who are comely, clean, and fashionable; and when we are conscious to ourselves that we have dealt basely and disingenuously with one we were under the highest obligation to love and honour, an interview with the person so ofi'ended cannot but renew our grief.
I am here drawing nigh to God, not only treading his courts with Christians at large, by sitting down at his table with select disciples; but when I consider how pure and holy he is, and how vile and sinful I am, 1 am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face before him; to me belongs shame and confusion of face ; I have many a time heard of God by the hearing of the ear, but now I am taken to sit down with him at his table, mine eye sees him, sees the King in his beauty, wherefore / abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. What a fool, what a wretch, have I been, to offend a God, who appears so holy in the eyes of all that draw nigh unto him, and so great to all them that are about him. Woe is me, for I am undone, lost and undone for ever, if there were not a Mediator between me and God, because I am a man of unclean lips, and an unclean heart: now I perceive it, and my own degeneracy and danger by reason of it,ybr mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, Isa. vi. 5. I have reason to be ashamed to see one I am so unlike to, and afraid to see one I am so obnoxious to. The higher we are advanced by the free grace of God, the more reason we shall see to abase ourselves, and cry, God be merciful to us sinners.
2. A sight of Christ crucified should increase and excite our penitential shame and sorrow, and that evangelical repentance in which there ifi an eye to the cross of Christ. It is prophesied, nay, it is promised, as a blessed effect of the pouring out of the Spirit in gospel times upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they shall looh upon him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn, Zeeh. xii. 10. Here we see Christ pierced for our sins, nay, pierced by our sins; our sins were the cause of his death, and the grief of his heart. The Jews and Romans crucified Christ, but as David killed Uriah with his letter, and Ahab killed Naboth with his seal, so the hand-writing that was against us for our sins, nailed Christ to the cross, and so he Hailed it to the cross. We had eaten the sour grapes, and his teeth were set an edge. Can we see him thus soffeiiDg for us, and not we suffer with him ?
Was he in such pain for our sins, and shall not we be in pain for them ? Was his soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and shall not ours be exceeding sorrowful, when that is the way to life? Come, my soul, see by faith the holy Jesus made sin for thee, the glory of heaven made a reproach of men for thee ; his Father's joy made a man of sorrow for thy transgressions. See thy sins burthening him when he sweat, spitting upon him and buffeting him, and putting him to open shame, crowning him with thorns, piercing his hands and his side ; and let this melt and break this hard and rocky heart of thine, and dissolve it into tears of godly sorrow. Look on Christ dying, and weep not for him, (though they who have any thing of ingenuousness and good nature, will see reason enough to weep for an innocent sufferer,) but weep for thyself, and thy own sins; for them be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for an only son.
Add to this, that our sins have not only pierced him, as they were the cause of his death, but as they have been the reproach of his holy name, and the grief of his Holy Spirit. Thus we have crucified him afresh, by doing that which he has often declared to be a vexation and dishonour to him, as far as the joys and glories of his present state can admit. The consideration of this should greatly humble us: nothing goes nearer to the quick with a true penitent, nor touches him in a more tender part, than this, (Eek. vi. 9.) They shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because lam broken with their whonsh heart, which hath departfd from me. A strange expression, that the great God should reckon himself broken by the sins of his people ! No wonder it follows. They should loathe themselves for the evils which they had committed. Can we look upon an humbled broken Christ with an unhumbled unbroken heart? Do our sins grieve him, and shall they not grieve us? Come, my soul, and sit down by the cross of Christ as a true mourner; let it make thee weep to see him weep, and bleed to see him bleed. That heart is frozen hard indeed, which these considerations will not thaw.
3. The gracious offer here made us of peace and pardon, should excite and increase our godly sorrow and shame. This is a gospel motive. Repent,for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; that is, the promise of pardon upon repentance is published and sealed, and whoever will, may come and take the benefit of it. The terrors of the law arc of use to startle us, and put us into a horror for sin, as those that are afraid of God; but the grace of the gospel contributes more to an ingenuous repentance, and makes us more ashamed of ourselves. This rends the heart, to consider God so gracious and merciful, so slow to anger, and ready to forgive, Joel ii. 13. Let this loving-kindness melt thee, O ray soul, and make thee to relent more tenderly than ever. Wretch
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ihat I have been, to spit in the face, and spurn at the bowels, of such mercy and love by ray wilful sin! to despise the riches of gospel grace! / am ashamed, yea, even confounded because I do bear the reproach of my youth. Does God meet me thus with tenders of reconciliation ? Does the party offended make the first motion of agreement? Shall such an undutiful, disobedient, prodigal son as I have been, be embraced, kissed, and clothed with the best robe? This kindness overcomes me ; now it cuts me to the heart, and humbles me to the dust, to think of my former rebellions; they never appeared so heinous, 80 vile as they do now I see them pardoned. The more certain I am that I shall not be ruiticd by them, the more reason I see to be humbled for them. When God promised to establish his covenant with repenting Israel, he adds. That thou mayst remember and be cdnfoundedf and never open thy mouth any more, because of the shame, when I am pacijied towards thee, Ezck. xvi. 62, 63. To see God provoked, causes a holy trembling; but to see him pacified, causes a holy blushing. The day of atonement, when the sins of Israel were to be sent into a land of forgetfulncss, must be a day to afflict the soul, Lev. xvi. 29. The blood of Christ will be the more healing and comforting to the soul, for its bleeding afresh thus upon every remembrance of sin.
II. Here we must be confiding in Christ Jesus, and relying on him alone for life and salvation. When wc mourn for sin, blessed be God, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope: true penitents are perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed: faith in Christ turns even their sorrows into joys, gives them their vineyards from thence, and even the valley of Achor (of trouble for sin) for a door of hope, Hos. ii. 15. We have not only an all-sufficient happiness to hope for, but an all-sufficient Saviour to hope in: here, therefore, let us exercise and encourage that hope, let us trust in the name of the Lord Jesus, and stay ourselves upon him ; come up out of this wilderness, leaning upon our beloved, Cant. viii. 5. Come, my soul, weary as thou art, and rest in Christ; cast thy burthen upon him, and he shall sustain thee; commit thy way to him, and thy thoughts shall certainly be established; commit thyself to him, and it shall be well with thee, he will keep through his own name that which thou committest to him. Commit thyself to him, as the scholar commits himself to his teacher to be instructed, with a resolution to take his word for the truth of what he teaches ; (oportet dis-centem credere — it is commendable in a learner to ffive credit;) as the patient commits himself to his physician to be cured, with a resolution to take whatever he prescribes, and punctually to observe his orders; as the client commits himself to his counsel to draw his plea, and to bring him off when he is judged, with a resolution to do all such things as he shall advise; as the traveller commit<i himself to his guide, to be directed in his way, with a resolution to follow his conduct: as the orphan commits himself to his guardian, to be governed and disposed of at his discretion, with a resolution to comply with him: thus must we conunit oune Wes to Christ.
1. We must confide in his power, trusting io him as one who can help and save us. (1.) He has an incontestable authority, is a Saviour by office, sanctified and sealed, and sent into the world for this purpose: help is laid upon him. We may well offer to trust him with our part of this great concern, which is the securing of our happiness, for God trusted him with his part of it, the securing of his honour, and declared himself well pleased in him. Matt. iii. 17. (2.) He has likewise an unquestionable ability to save to the uttermost. He is mighty to save, and every way qualified for the undertaking; he is skilful, for treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him; he is solvent, for there is in him an inexhaustible fulness of merit and grace, sufficient to bear all our burthens, and supply all our need. We must commit ourselves, and the greatest affairs of our salvation, unto him, with a full assurance that he » able to keep what wc commit to him against that day, that great day, which will try the foundation of every man's work, 2 Tim. i. 12.
2. We must confide in his promise, trusting in him as one who will certainly help and save us on the terms proposed ; we may take his word for it, and this is the word which he has spoken. Him that Cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out, (John vi. 37.) H ftri, a double negative, / will not, no, / will not. He is engaged for us in the covenant of redemp- . tion, and engaged to us in the covenant of grace, and ] in both he is the Amen, the Faithful Witness. On this, therefore, we must rely, the word on which he has caused us to hope; God hath spoken in his holiness, that he will accept us in the Beloved, and in that / will rejoice, I will divide Sichem, Gilead is tmine, and Manasseh is mine, (Ps. Ix. 6, 7.) pardon is mine, and peace mine, and Christ mine, and heaven mine, for faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it. Come then, my soul, come thou and all thy concerns, into this ark, and there thou shalt be safe when the deluge comes. Flee to this city of refuge, and in it thou shalt be secured from the avenger of blood. Quit all other shelters, for every thing but Christ is a refuge of lies, which the hail will sweep away. There is not salvation in any other but in him; trust him for it therefore, and depend upon him only. Reach hither thy finger, and in this ordinance behold his hands ; reach hither thy hand, thrust it into hi.** side, and say, as Thomas did, My Lordy mnd »y God. Here I cast anchor, here I rest my soul, it is Christ that died, yea, rather, is risen mgmin, and is, and will be, the author of eternal salvation to sM them
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386 ihat obey him. To him I entirely give up myself, to be ruled and taught and saved by him, and in him I have a full satisfaction. I will draw near to God for mercy and grace, in a dependence upon him as my righteousness; I will go forth, and go on in the way of my duty, in a dependence upon him as my strength ; I will shortly venture in the invisible, unchangeable world, in a dependence upon him as the Captain of my salvation, who is able to bring many sons to glory, and as willing as he is able. Lard I believe help than my unbelief.
Having thus committed thyself (my soul) to the Lord Jesus, comfort tliyself in him, please thyself with the thoughts of having disposed of thyself so well, and of having lodged the great concern of thy salvation in so good a hand; now return to thy resty O my soul, and be easy. Every good Christian may by faith triumph as the prophet does, pointing at Christ, (Isa. 1. 7, 8.) The Lord God will help me, there/ore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, in a holy defiance of Satan, and all the powers of darkness, and I know that I shall not he ashamed. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me ? Take the Bible, turn to the 8th of the Romans, and read from v. 31. to the end of the chapter: if ever blessed Paul rode in a triumphal chariot on this side heaven, it was when he wrote these lines. What shall we say then to these things? Sfc. Apply those comforts to thyself, O my soul. Thou hast said of the Lord, he is my Lord ; rejoice in him then, and be exceeding glad. Thy Redeemer is mighty, and he rides upon the heavens for thy help, and in his excellency on the sky, Deut. xxxiii. 26. Do thou then ride upon the high places of the earth, and suck honey out of this rock, and oil out of this flinty rock, Deut. xxxii. 13. Isa. Iviii. 14. Having made sure of thy interest in Christ, live in a continual dependence upon him ; and being satisfied of his love, be satisfied with it: thou hast enough, and needest no more.
III. Here we must be delighting in God, and solacing ourselves in his favour. If we had not a Christ to hope in, being guilty and corrupt, we could not have a God to rejoice in ; but having an advocate with the Father, so good a plea as Christ dying, and so good a pleader as Christ interceding, we may not only come boldly to the throne of grace, but may sit down under the shadow of it with delight, and behold the beauty of the Lord. That God who is love, and the God of love, here shows us his marvellous loving-kindness; causes his goodness to pass before us; proclaims his name gracious and merciful; here he gives us his love, and thereby invites us to give him ours. It is a love-feast, the love of Christ is here commemorated, the love of God is here offered ; and the frame of our spirits is disagreeable, and a jar in the harmony, if our hearts be not here going oat in love to God, the chief good, and our felicity. They who come hither with holy desires, must refresh themselves here with holy delights. If we must rejoice in the Lord always, much more now, for a feast was made for laughter, and so was this for spiritual joy. If ever Wisdom's ways be ways of pleasantness, surely they must be so when we come to eat of her bread, and to drink of the wine which she hath mingled.
Put thyself then (my soul) into a pleasant frame; let the joy of the Lord be thy strength, and let this ordinance put a new song into thy mouth. Come and hear the voice of joy and gladness.
1. Let it be a pleasure to thee to think that there is a God, and thkt he is such a one as he has revealed himself to be. The being and attributes of God are a terror to those who are unjustified and unsanctified; nothing can be more so: they arc willing to believe there is no God, or that he is altogether such a one as themselves, because they heartily wish there were none, or one that they could be at peace with, and yet continue their league vrith sin: ^t to those who through grace partake of a divine nature themselves, nothing is more agreeable, nothing more acceptable, than the thoughts of God's nature and infinite perfections. Delight thyself therefore in thinking that there is an infinite and eternal Spirit, who is self-existent and self-sufl Scient, the best of beings, and the first of causes, the highest of powers, and the richest and kindest of friends and benefactors; the fountain of being, and foun> tain of bliss; the Father of lights, and Father of mercies. Love to think of him whom thou canst not see, and yet canst not but know; who is not far from thee, and yet between thee and him there is an infinite, awful distance. Let these thoughts be thy nourishment and refreshment.
2. Let it be a pleasure to thee to think of the obligation thou liest under to this God as thy Creator. He that is the Former of my body, and the Father of my spirit, in whom I live, and move, and have my being, is upon that account my rightful owner, whose I am; and my sovereign ruler, who I am bound to serve. Because he made me, and not I myself, therefore I am not my own, but his, Ps. c. 3. Please thyself (my soul) with this thought, that thou art not thy own, but his that made thee; not left to thy own will, but bound up to his ; not made for thyself, but designed to be to him for a name and a praise. Noble powers are then intended for a noble purpose. Delight thyself in him as the felicity and end of thy being, who is the fountain and cause of it. Were I to choose, I would not be my own master, my own carver, my own centre: no, I would not, it is better as it is. I love to think of the eternal God, as the just director of all my actions, to whom I am accountable, and the wise disposer of all my affairs, to whom I must submit. I love to think of him as my chief good, who
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having made me, is alone able to make me happy; and as my highest end, of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things, Horn. xi. 36.
3. Let it be a pleasure to thee to think of the covenant relations in which this God stands to thee in Jesus Christ. This is, especially, to be our delight in this sealing ordinance. Though the sacrament directs us immediately to Christ, yet through him it leads us to the Father. He died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, To God therefore we must go, as our end and rest, by Christ as oar way; to God as a Father, by Christ as Mediator. Come then, my soul, and see with joy and the highest satisfaction, the God who made thee, entering into covenant with thee, and engaging to make thee happy. Hear him saying to thee, my soul, / am thy salvation; thy shield, and not only thy bountiful re warder, but thy exceeding great reward; I am, and will be, to thee a God all-sufficient, a God that is enough. Fear thou not, for I am with thee, wherever thou art; he not dismayed,for I am thy God; whatever thou wantest, whatever thou losest, call me God, even thy own God: when thou art weak, / will strengthen thee, yea, when thou art helpless, / will help thee, yea, when thou art ready to sink, / will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, Isa. xli. 10. The God that cannot lie has said it, and here seals it to thee, / will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Let this be to thee, my soul, the voice of joy and gladness, making even broken bones to rejoice. Encourage thyself in the Lord thy God. He is thy Shepherd, thou Shalt not want any thing that is good for thee, Ps. xxiii. 1, &c. Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, (Isa. liv. 5.) and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee, Isa. Ixii. 5. He shall rest in his love to thee, Zeph. iii. 17. Rest then in thy love to him, and rejoice in him always. The Lord is thy lawgiver, thy King who will save thee, Isa. xxxiii. 22. Swear allegiance to him then with gladness and loud hosannas; Let Israel rejoice in him that made him that new-made him; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King, Ps. cxlix. 2. What wouldst thou more ? This God is thy God for ever and ever.
Stir up thyself (my soul) to take the comfort which is here offered thee: let this strengthen the weak hands, let it confirm the feeble knees. If God be indeed the health of thy countenance, and thy God, Why art thou cast down ? why art thou disquieted ? Die not for thirst when there is such a fountain of living waters near thee, but draw water with joy out of these wells of salvation. Shiver not for cold when there is such a reviving quickciiing heat in these promises, but say with pleasure. Aha, 1 am warm, 1 have seen the fire, Isa. xliv. 16. Faint not for hunger now thou art at a feast of fat things, but be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of God's house, Ps. xxvi. 8; Ixv. 4. The God whose wrath and frowns thou hast incurred, here favoun thee, and smiles on thee; let this therefore give thee a joy greater than the joy of harvest, and far surpassing what they have who divide the spoiL Tboogk thou canst not reach to holy raptures, yet compose thyself to a holy rest; delight thyself always in the Lord, especially at this ordinance; and bj thus taking the comfort of what thou hast received, thoa qualifiest thyself to receive more, for then he shuU give thee tlie desire of thy heart, Ps. xxxvii. 4. The way to have thy heart's desire, is to make God thy heart's desire. Triumph in his love, and thy interest in him. His benignity is better than life; let it be to thee sweeter than life itself. Behold, God is my Saviour. God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, and therefore my song ; the strength of my heart, and my por-tionfor ever, Isa. xii. 2. Ps. Ixxiii. 26. When thoa comestto the altar of God, call him, God thy exceeding joy, (Ps. xliii. 5.) thy God thy glory, Isa. Ix. 19. IV. Here we must be admiring the mysteries and miracles of redeeming love. They that worshipped the beast, are said to wonder after him, (Rev. xiii. 3.) so must they that worship the Lamb, for he has done marvellous things. We have reason to say, that we were fearfully and wonderfully made, but, without doubt, we were more fearfully and wonderfully redeemed. We were made ^ith a word, but we were bought with a price. Stand still then and see the salvation of the Lord, see it with admiration. Affect thyself (my soul) with a pleasing wonder, while thou art seeing this great sight. The everlasting gospel is here magnified and made honourable, let it be so in thy eyes; call it The glorious gospel of the blessed God, Let us take a view of some of the marvellous things which are done in the work of our redemption.
1. The contrivance of the salvation is marvellous. It would have for ever puzzled the wisdom of angels and men to have found out such a method of salvation as might effectually satisfy God*s justice, and yet sedure man's happiness; save the life of the law-breaker, and yet maintain the honour of the law-maker. This is that mystery which the angels desire to look into, aUd which the most piercing eye of those inquisitive spirits that see by the light of the upper world, will not be able to eternity to discern the bottom of. O the depth of this hidden wisdom!
2. The purposes of God's love concerning it from eternity are marvellous. Be astonished, O m> soul, at this, that the God who was infinitely happy in the contemplation and enjoyment of himself and his own perfections, should yet think thoughts of love toward a remnant of mankind, and toward thee among the rest, and design such favours for them, such favours for thee, before the worlds were.
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Bow precious should these thoughts be unto us! for bow great is the sum of them! Ps. cxxxix. 17.
3. The choice of the person who should undertake it is marvellous; the Son of his love, that in parting witb him for us, he might commend his love; the eternal Wisdom, the eternal Word, that he might el Tectually accomplish this great design, and might not fail, nor be discouraged. A person every way fitf both to do the Redeemer's work, and to wear the Redeemer's crown. It is spoken of as an admirable invention, (Job xxxiii.2^,) I have found a ransom: and (Ps. Ixxxix. 19,20.) / have found David my servant. On earth there is not his like, nor in heaven either.
4. The Redeemer's consent to the undertaking is marvellous. Considering his own dignity and self-sufficiency, our unworthincss and obnoxiousness, the difficulty of the service, and the ill requitals he foresaw from an ungrateful world, we have reason to admire that he should be so free, so forward to it, and should say, Lo I come: here am /, send me. Never was there such a miracle of love and pity; Tfcrily it passeth knowledge.
5. The carrying on of his undertaking in his humiliation is marvellous. His name was Wonderful, Isa. ix. 6. His appearance in the world from first to last was a continual series of wonders; without controversy, great was this mystery of godliness. The bringing of the First-begotten into the world, was attended with the adorations of wondering angels, Heb. i. 6. His doctrine and miracles, while he was in the world, were admirable; they that heard the one, and saw the other, were beyond measure astonished.
But his going out of the world was the greatest wonder of all; it made the earth to shake, the rocks to rend, and the sun to cover his face. Never was there such a martyr, never such a sacrifice, never such a paradox of love as that was. God forbid that we should glory, save in the cross of Christ; which is so much the wisdom of God and the power of God.
6. The honours of his exalted state are marvellous. He who was for a little while lower than the angels, a worm and no man, is now the Lord of angels. One in our nature is advanced to the highest honours, invested with the highest powers ; having an incontestable authority to execute judgment, even for this reason, because he is the Son of man; not only though he is so, but because he is so. This is the Lord's doing, and it is, and should be, marvellous in our eyes,
7. The covenant of grace made with us in him is marvellous. The terms of the covenant are wonderful, reasonable and easy; the treasures of the covenant are wonderful, rich and valuable. The covenant itself is well ordered in all things, and sure ; admirably well, both for the glory of God, and the comfort of all believers. God in it sheweth %ls his marvellous Umng-hindness, (Ps. xvii. 7.) and we answer not the design of the discovery, if we do not admire it Other things, the more they are known, the less they are wondered at; but the riches of redeeming love appear more admirable to those who are best acquainted with them.
y. Here we must be caring what we shall render to him who hath thus loved us. This wonderful love is love to us, and not only gives the greatest encouragements to us to come to God for mercy and peace, but lays the strongest engagements upon us to walk with God in duty and obedience. We are bound in conscience, bound in honour, bound in gratitude, to love him, and live to him, who loved us, and died for us. This concern should much affect us, and lie very near our hearts, how we may answer the intentions of this love.
1. We should be afiected with a jealous fear, lest we prove ungrateful, and, like Hezekiah, render not again according to the benefit done unto us, 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. We cannot but know something by sad experience of the treachery and deceitfulness of our own hearts, and how apt they are to start aside like a broken bow; and therefore we have no reason to presume upon our own strength and sufficiency. We are told of many who eat and drink in Christ's presence, and yet are found at last unfaithful to him: and what if I should prove one of those? This thought is not suggested here to amuse any that tremble at God's word, or to weaken the hands, and sadden the hearts, of those who are truly willing, though very weak; but to awaken those who slumber, and humble those who are wise in their own conceit. Distrust thyself, O my soul, that thou mayst trust in Christ only: fear thine own strength, that thou mayst hope in his. He who has done these great things for thee, must be applied to, and depended on, to work those great things in thee, which are required of thee. Go forth, therefore, and go on in his strength. If the same that grants us these favours, give us not wherewithal to make suitable returns for them, we shall perish for ever in our ingratitude.
2. We should be filled with serious desires to know and do our duty, in return for that great love wherewith we are loved. The affections of a grateful mind are very proper to be working in us at this ordinance. Does not even nature teach us to be. grateful to our friends and benefactors ? Let us be so to Christ then, the best of friends and kindest of benefactors. Come, my soul, here I see how much I am indebted, and how I owe my life, and joy, and hope, and all to the blessed Jesus; and is it not time to ask, with holy David, (Ps. cxvi. 12.) What shall 1 render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me I Shall I not take the cup of salvation, as he does there, (v. 13.) with this thought. What shall I render? Let David's answer to that question, which we find in that Psalm, be mine.
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(1.) / love the Lord, v. I. Love is the loadstone of love; even the publicans love those that love them ; " Lord, thou hast loved me with an everlasting love, from everlasting in the counsels of it, to everlasting in the consequences of it, and shall not my heart veith this loving-kindness be drawn to thee? Jer. xxxi. 3. Lord, I love thee; the world and the flesh shall never have my love more ; I have loved them too much, I have loved them too long; the best affections of my soul shall now be consecrated to thee, O God, thee, O blessed Jcsus! Whom have I in heaven but thee ? Lord, thou hnowest all things, thou hnowest that I love thee. It is my sorrow and shame that I am so weak and defective in my love to thee. What a wretched heart have I, that I can think, and speak, and hear, and see, so much of thy love to me, and be so little affected with it! So low in my thoughts of thee, so cool in my desires toward thee, so unsteady in my resolutions for thee! Lord, pity me ; Lord, help me; for yet I love thee, I love to love thee; I earnestly desire to love thee better, and long to be there where love shall be made perfect."
(2.) / will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, V. 17. As love is the heart of praise, so praise is the language of love. What shall I render ? I must render to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due: the tribute of praise to God, to whom it is due. We do not accommodate ourselves to this thanksgiving feast, if we do not attend it with hearts enlarged in thanksgiving ; this cup of salvation must be a cup of blessing; in it we must bless God, because in it God blesses us. Thankful acknowledgments of God's favours to us, are but poor returns for rich receivings, yet they are such as God will accept, if they come from an upright heart. Bless the Lord, therefore, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name. Speak well of him who has done well for thee. Thank him for all his gifts both of nature and grace, especially for Jesus Christ, the spring of all. As long as I live I will bless the Lord, yea, I will praise my God while I have my being; for he is the God of my life, and the author of my well-being; and when I have no life, no being on earth, I hope to have a better life, a better being, in a better world, and to be doing this work for ever in a better manner.
(3.) O Loi'd, truly lam thy servant, I am thy servant, V, 16. I acknowledge myself already bound to be so, and further oblige myself by solemn promise to approve myself so. What shall I render ? Lord, I render myself to thee, my whole self, body, soul, and spirit; not in compliment, bat in truth and sincerity. I own myself thy servant, to obey thy commands, to be at thy disposal, and to be serviceable to thy honour and interest. It will be my credit and ease, my safety and happiness, to be under thy government: make me as one of thy hired servants.
(4.) / will call upon the name of the Lord, r. 13. This is the immediate answer to that question. What shall I render ? And it is a surprising answer. It is uncommon among men, to make petitions for further favours our return for former favours; yet such a return as this, the God who delights to hear prayers will be well pleased with. Is God my Father? I will apply myself to him as his child, and call him, Abba, Fattier, Have I an Advocate with the Father? Then I will come boldly to the throne of grace. Are there such exceeding great and precious promises made me, and sealed to me ? Then I will never lose the benefit of them for want of patting them in suit. As I will love God the better, so I will love prayer the better as long as I live; and having given myself unto God, I will give myself unto prayer, (as David did, Ps. cix. 4.) till I conie to the world of everlasting praise.
(5.) Return unto thy rest, O my soul, r. 7. The God who has pleasure in the prosperity of bis servants, would have them easy to themselves, and that they can never be, but by reposing in him; this therefore we must render: it is work that is its own wages; honour God by resting in him, please him by being well pleased in him. Having received so much from him, let us own that we have enough in him, and that we can go no whither bat to him with any hopes of satisfaction. Lord, whither shall we go ? He has the words of eternal life.
(6.) / will walk before the Lord in the haid of the living, v, 9. A holy life, though it cannot profit God, yet it glorifies him, and therefore it is insisted upon as a necessary return for the favours we have received from God. While I am here in this land of the living, I will walk by faith, having my eyes ever toward the Lord, to see him as he reveals himself, hoping that shortly, in that land which is truly the land of the living above, I shall walk by sight, having my eye ever upon the Lord, to see him as he is. God has here scaled to me, to be to me a God all-sufllicient; here therefore I seal to him, according to the tenor of the covenant, that, his grace enabling me, I will walk before him, and will be upright. Gen. xvii. I.
(7.) / will pay my vows unto the Lord, v. 14,18. Those who receive the blessings of the covenant, must be willing not only to come, but always to abide, under the bonds of the covenant. Here we must make vows, and then go away and make them good. More of this in the next chapter.
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CHAPTER XI.
CONCERNING THF. SOLEMN VOWS WB ARE TO MAKB TO GOD IN THIS ORDINANCK.
)us vow is a bond upon the soul; so it is
Numb. XXX.2. where be that voweth a vow <ord, is said thereby to bind his soul with a Is a solemn promise, by which we volun-^G ourselves to God and duty, as a willing the day of his power, Ps. ex. 3. The cords and bands of love, wherewith God draws >lds us to himself, calls upon us by our nd deed to bind ourselves, and these vows jrds of a man, for they are highly reason-bands of love, for to the renewed soul they ly yoke, and a light burthen. 1 the other parts of our work at the Lord's may infer, that this is one part of it; we ; make solemn vows to God, that we will and faithfully serve him. re here to renew our repentance for sin, and penitents to make vows. When we profess sorry for what we have done amiss, it is -al and necessary to add, that we will not ' more, as we have done: If I have done r will do no more, Job xxxiv. 31, 32, We 1 when we say, " We repent that we have shly," if we do not at the same time rewe will never return again to folly, Ps.
Times of affliction are proper times to s, and what is repentance but a self-afflic-uble for sin was not the least of that trouble vid was in when his lips uttered those vows, speaks so feelingly of, Ps. Ixvi. 13, 14. it was under this penitential affliction that [into the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty cob, that he would find a place for the ark, i, 1, 2. Vows against sin resulting from * sin, shall not be rejected, as extorted by but graciously accepted, as the genuine of a broken heart, and fruits meet for re-are here to ask and receive mercy from it becomes petitioners to make vows. When nd himself in special need of God's gra-sence, he vowed a vow, and set up a stone lorial of it, (Gen. xxviii. 20.) and Hannah, prayed for a particular mercy, vowed a the comfort she prayed for should be con-:o God. Great and precious things we are ting to receive from God, and therefore e cannot offer any thing as a valuable con-I for his favours, yet it behoves us to pro-h suitable returns as we are capable of
When God encourages us to seek to him , we must engage ourselves not to receive bis grace in vain but to improve and employ for him what we have from him.
3. We are here to give God thanks for his favours to us. Now it becomes us in our thanksgivings to make vows, and to offer to God not only the calves of our lips, but the works of our hands. Jonah's mariners, when they offered sacrifice of praise to the Lord, for a calm after a storm, as an appendix to that sacrifice made vows, Jonah i. 16. The most acceptable vows are those which take rise from gratitude, and which are drawn from us by the mercies of God. Here I see what great things God has done for my soul, and what greater things he designs for me; shall I not therefore freely bind myself to that which he has by such endearing ties bound me to ?
4. We are here to join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant; and it is requisite that our general covenant be explained and confirmed by particular vows. When we present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, with these cords we must bind that sacrifice to the horns of the altar; and while we experience in ourselves such a bent to backslide, we shall find all the arts of obligation little enough to be used with our own souls. As it is not enough to confess sin in the gross, saying, I have sinned; but we must enter into the detail of our transgressions, saying with David, I have done this evil; so it is not enough in our covenanting with God, that we engage ourselves in the general to be bis, but we must descend to particulars in our covenants, as God does in his commands, that thereby we may the more effectually both bind ourselves to duty, and remind ourselves of duty. If the people must distinctly say Amen to every curse pronounced on mount Ebal, (Deut. xxvii. 15.) much more to every precept delivered on mount Horeb.
Come then, my soul; thou hast now thy hand upon the book to be sworn ; thou art lifting up thy hand to the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth; think what thou art doing, and adjust the particulars, that this may not become a rash oath, inconsiderately taken. God is here confirming his promise to us by an oath, to show the immutability of his counsels of love to us, Heb. vi. 17,18. Here, therefore, we must confirm our promise to him by an oath, to walk in God's law, and to observe and du all the commandments of the Lord our God, Neh. x. 29. Some of the oriental writers tell us, that the most solemn oath which the patriarchs before the flood used, was, '* By the blood of Abel;" and we are sure that the blood of Jesus is infinitely more sacred, and speaks much greater, and much better, things than that of Abel. Let us therefore testify our value for that blood, and secure to ourselves the blessings purchased by it, by our sincere and faithful dealing with God in that covenant which this is the blood of.
The command of the Eternal God is, that we cease
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fo do evilj and ham to do well; that we put off the old inarij and put on the new : and our vows to God mast accordingly be against all sin, and to all duty. And under each of these heads we must be particular, according as the case is.
L We must here, by a solemn vow, bind ourselves out from all sin ; so as not only to break our league with it, but to enter into league against it. The putting away of the strange wives in Ezra's time, was not the work of one day or two, (Ezra x. 13.) but a work of time; and therefore Ezra when he had the people under convictions, and saw them weeping sore for their sin in marrying them, very prudently bound them by a solemn covenant, that they would put them away, v, 3, If ever we conceive an aversion to sin, surely it is at the table of the Lord; and, therefore, we should improve that opportunity to invigorate our resolutions against it, that the remembrance of those resolutions may quicken our resistance of it, when the sensible impressions we are under from it are become less lively. Thus, we must, by a solemn vow, cast away from us all our transgressions, saying with Ephraim, What have I to do any more with idoU ' Hos. xiv. 8.
1. We must solemnly vow, that we will not in-tlulge or allow ourselves in any sin: though sin may remain, it shall not reign; though those Ca-naanites be in the land, yet we will not be tributaries to them. However it may usurp and oppress as a tyrant, it shall never be owned as a rightful prince, nor have a peaceable and undisturbed dominion. I may be, in some particular instances, through the surprise of temptations, led into captivity by it; but I am fully resolved, in the strength of Christ, that I will never join in affinity with it, will never espouse its cause, never plead for it, nor strike in with its interests.
Bind thyself with this bond, O my soul, that though, through the remainders of corruption, thou canst not say. Thou hast no sin, yet, through the beginnings of grace, thou wilt be able to say. Thou lovestnone. That thou wilt give no countenance or connivance to any sin; no, not to secret sins, which, though they shame thee not before men, yet shame thee before God and thy own conscience; no, not to heart-sins, those first-bom of corrupt nature, the beginning of its strength. Vain thoughts may intrude, and force a lodging in me; but I will never invite them, never bid them welcome, nor court their stay. Corrupt affections may disturb me; but they shall never have the quiet and peaceable possession of me. No; whatever wars against my soul, by the grace of God, I will war against it, hoping in due time to get the dominion, and have its yoke broken from off my neck, when judgment shall be brought forth unto victory, and grace perfected in glory.
2. We must solemnly vow, that we will never yield to any gross sin, such as lying, injosticey anoletB' ness, drunkenness, profanation of God's name* ind such like, which are not the spots of God's childreD. Though all the high places be not taken away, yet there shall be no remains of Baal, or of Baal's priests and altars, in my soul. However my own heart may be spotted by sins of infirmity, and may need to be daily washed, yet, by the gce of God, I will never spot my profession, nor stain the credit of that by open and scandalous sin. I have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel, and therefore it shall be my constant endeavour, not to be in any thing a shame to the gospel. It is an honour to me; I will never be a dishonour to it: I will never do any thing, by the grace of God I will not, whi<A may give just occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme that worthy name by which I am called. So shall it appear that I am upright, if I be innocent from these greattransgressions, andtmly penitent for all my transgressions, Ps. xix. 13.
3. We must solemnly vow, that with a particalar care we will keep ourselves from our own iniquity. That sin which, in our penitent reflections, oar own consciences did most charge us with, and reproach us for; that sin we must, in a special manner, renew our resolutions against. Was it pride ? Was it passion ? Was it distrust of God, or love of the world ? Was it an unclean fancy, or an idle tongue ? Whatever it was, let the spiritual forces be mustered, and drawn out against it. The instructions which Samuel gave to Israel, when they were lamenting after the Lord, are observable to this purpose; (1 Sam. vii. 3.) If ye do return to the Lard with dl your hearts, and would be accepted of him therein, then put away the strange gods, and Ashtaroth, Was not Ashtaroth one of the strange gods or goddesses? Yes; but that is particularly mentioned, becanse, it had been a beloved idol, dearer than the rest; that especially must be put away. Thus in our covenanting with God, we must engage against all sin, but in particular against that which, by reason of the temper of our minds, the constitution of our bodies, or the circumstances of our outward affairs, does most easily beset us, and we are most prone to.
Know thou thy own self, O my soul? If thon dost, thou knowest thy own sickness, and thy own sore; that is, thy own iniquity. Bring that hither, and slay it: let not thy eye spare, neither do thou pity it: hide it not, excuse it not; ask not for leave to reserve it, as Naaman did for his house of Rimmon: though it have been to thee as a right eye, as a right hand, as thy guide, and thy acquaintance : it has been a false guide, an ill acquaintance ; pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from thee. Now come, and fortify thy resolutions in the strength of Christ against that; double thy guard against that; fetch in help from heaven against
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Ikat; be virous in thy resistance of that; and how iwuiy soever its advantages are against thee, yet despair not of victory at last
4. We mast solemnly tow, that we will abstain from all appearance of evil; not only from that which is manifestly sin, and which carries the evidences of its own malignity written in its forehead, but from that which looks like sin, and borders upon iL Wisdom is here profitable to direct, so as that we may not, on the one hand, indulge a Scrupulous conscience, and yet, on the other hand, may pre-■erve a tender conscience. Far be it from us to make that to be sin, which God has not made so; and yet, in doubtful cases, it must be our care and covenant to keep the safer side, and to be cautious of that which looks suspicious: He that walks uprightly, walks surely. That which we have found to be either a snare to ns, and an occasion of sin, or a blemish to ns, and an occasion of scandal, or a terror to us in the reflection, and an occasion of gef and fear, it may do well expressly to resolve against, though we be not very sure that it is in itself sinful, nor dare eensure it as evil in others; provided this vow be made with snch limitations, that it may not afterwards prove an entanglement to ns, when either by the improvement of our knowledge, or the change of war circumstances, it ceases to have in it an appear-wnce of evil.
And art then willing, my sonf, to come under this bond? Wilt thou put far from thee the accursed tbing ? Wilt thou, in this ordinance, make a covenant with thy eyes, and oblige them not to look on the wine when it is red, not to look on a woman to lust after her ? Wilt thou shun sin as the plague, •nd engage thyself, not only never to embrace that adulteress, but never to come nigh the door of her bouse ? Prov. v. 8. Thy vow being like that of the Nazarite, not to drink of this intoxicating wine; let it be then like his, not to eat any thing that comes of the vine,/ram the kernel to the husk, Numb. vi. 3, 4. Abandon sin, and all its appurtenances; cast oat Tobiah, and all his stuff: resolve to deny thyself in that which is most desirable, rather than give Satan any advantage; to abridge thyself even in that which is lawful, rather than come within the con-£nes of sin, or bring thyself into danger of that which is unlawful. Happy is the man that feareth always.
5. We must solemnly vow, that we will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, neither be partakers of other men's sins, Eph. v. 11.1 Tim. V. 22. We live in a corrupt and degenerate age, wherein iniquity greatly abounds: our business, indeed, is not to judge others; to their own master they stand or fall; but our care must be to preserve ourselves, and the purity and peace of our own minds. Our covenant therefore must be, that we will never walk in the counsel of the ungodly
2d nor stand in the way of sinners, Ps. i. 1. When David engaged himself to keep the commandments of his God, pursuant to that engagement, he said to evildoers, depart from me, (Ps» cxix. 115.) and St. Peter reminded his new converts of the necessity of this care, (Acts ii. 40.) Save yourselves from this untoward generation*
Let the psalmist's vow be mine, then, (Ps. xxvi. 5.) having hated the congpregation of evil-doers, (such as drunkards, swearers, filthy-talkers, and scoffers at godliness,) / will not sit with the wicked. Though I cannot avoid being sometimes in the sight and hearing of such, yet I will never take those for my chosen companions and bosom friends in this world» with whom I should dread to have my portion in the other world. Religion in rags shall be always valued by me, and profaneness in robes despised. Having chosen God for my God, his people shall always be my people; Lord, gather not my soul with sinners. If thou art in good earnest for heaven, resolve to swim against the stream, and thou wilt find, that sober singularity is an excellent guard to serious piety. On all that glory let there be this defence.
II. We must here by a solemn vow bind ourselves up to all duty. It is not enough that we depart from evil, but we must do good: it is not enough that we separate ourselves from the service of sin, and shake off Satan's iron yoke, but we must devote ourselves to the service of Christ, and put our necks under the sweet and easy yoke of God's commandments, with a solemn promise faithfully to draw in that yoke all our days. We need not bind ourselves to more than we are already bound to by the divine law, either expressly or by consequence, either aa primary duties, or secondary, in order to them. We are not called to lay upon ourselves any other burthen than necessary things; and they are not heavy burthens, nor gevous to be borne; but we must bind ourselves faster, and by additional ties, to that which we are already bound to.
1. We must, by a solemn vow, oblige ourselves to all the duties of religion in general. Jacob's vow must be ours, (Gen. xxviii. 21.) Then the Lord shall be my God: having avouched him for mine, I will fear him, and love him, delight in him, and depend upon him, worship him, and glorify him as my Lord and my God. Having owned him as mine, I will ever eye him as mine, and walk in his name, Micah iv. 5. David's vow must be ours, that we will keep God's righteous judgments, (Ps. cxix. 106.) that we will keep in them, as our way ; keep to them, as our rule; that we will keep them as the apple of our eye, keep them always unto the end.
In the strength of the grace of Jesus Christ, we must here solemnly promise and vow,
(1.) That we will make religion oor business. It is our great business in this world, to serve tlie hon-ouM him that made us, and secure the happiness
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were made for: this we must mind as our business, and not (as most do) make a by-basincss of it. Religion must be our calling, the calling we resolve to live in, and hope to live by: in the services of it, we must be constant and diligent, and as in our element. Other things must give way to it, and be made (as much as may be) serviceable to it.—And this must be our covenant with God here, that however we have trifled hitherto, henceforward we will mind religion, as The one thing needful, and not be slothful in the business of it, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And art thou willing, my soul, thus to devote thyself entirely to the service of thy God ? Sliall that engage thy cares, fill thy thoughts, command thy time, and give law to the whole man ? Let this matter be settled then in this day's vows, and resolve to live and die by it.
(2.) That we will make conscience of inside godliness. Having in our covenant given God our hearts, which is what he demands, we must resolve to employ them for him ; for, without doubt, he is a Jew, he is a Christian, that is one inwardly; and that is circumcision, that is baptism, that is true and pure religion, which is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, Rom. ii. 29. That we are really, what we are inwardly; and they only are the true worshippers, who worship God in the spirit: this is the power of godliness, without which the fottn is but a carcass, but a shadow. The King's daughter is all glorious within. This therefore we must resolve, in the strength of the grace of God, that we will keep our hearts with all diligence; keep them fixed, fixed upon God ; that the desire of our souls shall be ever toward God; that our hearts shall be lifted up to God in every prayer, and their doors and gates thrown open to admit his word ; and that our constant care shall be about the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible; so approving ourselves to God in our integrity, in every thing we do in religion.
(3.) That we will live a life in communion with God. Without controversy, great is this mystery of godliness. If there be a heaven upon earth, certainly this is it, by faith to set the Lord always before us, having an eye to him with suitable affections, as the first cause and last end of all things that concern us. And so, having communion with him in providences as well as ordinances, when we receive the common comforts of every day from his hand with love and thankfulness, and bear the common crosses and disappointments of every day, as ordered by his will, with patience and submission; when we commit every day's care to him, and manage every day's business and converse for him; having a constant habitual regard to God in the settled principles of the divine life, and frequent actual outgoings of soul toward him in pious ejaculations, the genuine expressions of devout affections; then we live a life of communion with God. Did we know by expeiicooe what it is to live such a life as this, we woukl not exchange the pleasures of it for the peculiar treasures of kings and provinces.
Engage thyself then, my soul, elevate tbyself to this spiritual and divine life, that every day may thus be with thee a communion-day, and thy coi-stant fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ by the Spirit. Let me resolve henceforward to live (more than hitherto I have done) a life of complacency in God, in his beauty, bounty, and benignity; a life of dependence opoo God, upon his power, providence, and promise; a life of devotedness to God, to the command of bij word, the conduct of his Spirit, and the disposal of his Providence; and thus to walk with God in all holy conversation.
(4.) That we will keep heaven in our eye, and take up with nothing short of it. We are made for another world, and we must resolve to set our hearts upon that world, and have it always in our eye; seeking the things that arc above, and sllghtiiig things below, in comparison with them; as those who are born from heaven, and bound to heaven. I Bind thyself, my soul, with this bond, thtit/^ryettmg the things which are behind, as one that hath not jrei attained, neither is already perfect, thou wilt reircA forth to those things that are hefM'e ; pressing for ward toward the mark for the prize of the high emHiMg, Phil. iii. 13, 14. ''My treasure is in heaven; my head, and hope, and home are there ; I shall never be well till I am there: there, therefore, shall my heart be; and to that recompence of reward I will ever have respect; with an eye to that joy and glory set before me in the other world, I will, by the grace of God, patiently run the race of godliness set before me in this world," Heb. xii. 1, 2.
2. We must, by a solemn vow, bind ourselves to some duties of religion in particular. As it is good to engage ourselves by covenant against particular sins, that by the help of resolution our resistance of them may be invigorated ; so it is good to engage ourselves to particular duties, that thereby we may be quickened closely and diligently to apply ourselves to them, and may sec our work before us.
(1.) We should particularly bind ourselves to those duties, which our own consciences have charged us with the neglect of. We have known that good which our own hearts tell us we have not done: we find upon reflection, it may be, that we hare not been constant in our secret devotion, that we have not done that good in our families which we should have done ; we have been barren in good diseoarsct careless of our duty to the souls of others, backward to the works of charity, unfurnished for and indisposed to, religious exercises: in these or other things wherein we are conscious to ourselves that wc have been defective, we must.covenant for the
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403 future to be more circumspect and indastrioas,thatoar works may be found filled up before God. When the Jews in Nehemiah's time made asare covenant, wrote it, and sealed to it, they inserted particular articles velatini to those branches of God's service which had been neglected, and made ordinances for themselves, according to the ordinances that God had given them, (Neh. X. 32.) so should we do, as an evidence of the sincerity of our repentance for our former omissions, both of duty, and in duty: that work of our Lord wherein we have been most wanting, in that we must covenant to abound most, that thereby we may redeem the time.
(2.) We should particularly bind ourselves to those duties which we have found by experience to contribute most to the support and advancement of the life and power of godliness in our hearts. They who have carefully observed themselves, perhaps, can tell what those religious exercises are, which they have found to be most serviceable to the prosperity of their souls, and by which they have reaped most spiritual benefit and advantage. Have our hearts been most enlarged in secret devotion ? Has God sometimes met us in our closets with special eomforts, and the unusual manifestations of himself to our souls ? Let us thence take an indication and covenant to be more and longer alone in secret com-manion with God. Have public ordinances been to as as green pastures, and have we sat down by them with delight? Let us resolve to be so much the more diligent in our attendance on them, and wait more closely at those gates where we have so often been abundantly satisfied. Though one duty must never be allowed to intrench upon anotlier, yet those duties which we have found to be the most effectual means of increasing our acquaintance with God, confirming' oar faith in Christ, and furthering us in our way to heaven, we should, with a peculiar care, engage ourselves to.
Though God has strictly commanded us the geat and necessary acts of religious worship, yet, for the trial of our holy ingenuity and zeal, he has left it to us to determine many of the circumstances, that even instituted sacrifices may be in some respects free-will offerings. He has commanded us to pray, and read the Scriptures, but has not told us just how often and how long we must prny and read; here, therefore, it is proper to bind ourselves to that which will best answer the intention of the command in general, best agree with the circumstances we are in, and best advance the interest of our souls: in which we must take heed, on the one hand, that we indulge not spiritual sloth, by contenting ourselves with the least proportions of time that may be, much less by confining ourselves to them; and, on the other hand, that we make not religious exercises a task and burthen to ourselves, by binding ourselves to that at all times, which in an extraordinary fervour of devo-
2 D 2 tion is easy and little enough. In making resolutions of this kind, we ought to be cautious, and not hasty to utter any thing before God, that we may not afterward say before the angel, It was an error, Eccl. v. 2, 6. Though such is the decay of Christian zeal in the age we live in, that few need this caution, yet it must be inserted, because it is a snare to a man to devour that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry.
(3.) We should particularly bind ourselves to those duties, by which we have opportunity of glorifying
God, adorning our profession, and doing good in our places. We are not born for ourselves, nor bought for ourselves; we were born for God, and bought for Christ; and both as men, and as Christians, we are members one of another, and ought to sit down and consider how we may trade with the talent we are intrusted with, though it be but one, to the glory of our Creator, the honour of our Redeemer, and the good of our brethren. The liberal and pious devise liberal things, and pious things, and bind themselves to them. Think then, my soul, not only what must I do, but what may I do, for God, who has done such great things for me ? How may I be serviceable to the interests of God*s kingdom among men ? What can I do to promote the strength and beauty of the church, and the welfare of precious souls ? And, if we have thought of any thing of this kind that falls vrithin the sphere of our activity,
(though but a low and narrow sphere,) itmay do well, when we find ourselves in a good frame at the table of the Lord, by a solemn vow, with due caution, to bind ourselves to it, that we may not leave room for a treacherous heart to start back. Thus Jacob, for the perpetuating of the memory of God's favour to him, made it a part of his vow, (Gen. xxviii. 22.)
This stone which I have set for a pillar, slutll he God's hoftse. Thus Hannah vowed; that if God would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord, 1 Sam. i.
IL It is one of the rules prescribed, concerning cost or pains bestowed for pious and charitable uses,
(2 Cor. ix. 7.) Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; so let him do. Now, lest that purpose should fail and come to nothing, it is good, when the matter of it is well digested, to bring it to a head in a solemn promise, that the tempter seeing us stedfastly resolved, may cease soliciting us to alter our purpose.
(4.) We should particularly bind ourselves to the duties of our respective callings and relations. Much Christian obedience lies in these instances; and in them we are specially called to serve God and our generation, and should therefore bind ourselves to do so.
They who are in places of public trust and power, should here bind themselves by a solemn vow to be faithful to the trust reposed in them, and to use their power for the public good. They who rule over men,
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fnust here covenant that they will be jost, ruling in the fear of God. Their oaths must here be ratified, and David's promise must be theirs, (Ps. Ixxv. 2.) When I shall receive the congregation I will judge vprightly. This ought to be seriously considered by all those who receive this holy sacrament at their admission into the magistracy. When publicans and soldiers submitted to the baptism of John, and thereby bound themselves to live a holy life; they asked and received of John instructions, how to discharge the duty of their respective employments, Luke iii. 12—14. For when we vow to keep God's commandments, though we must have a universal respect to them all, yet we must have a special regard to those precepts which relate to the calling wherein we are called, whatever it is.
The stewards of the mysteries of God, when they administer this ordinance to others, receive it themselves, as an obligation upon them to stir up the gift that is in them, that they may make full proof of their ministry. Their ordination-vows are repeated and confirmed in every sacrament; and they are again sworn to be true to Christ and souls. He who ministers about holy things, must here bind himself to wait on his ministering ; he that teachethj on teaching ; and he that exhorteth, on exhortation, Rom. xii. 7, 8.
Governors of families must here oblige themselves as David did, to walk before their houses in a perfect way, with a perfect heart; and must affix this seal to Joshua's resolution, that whatever others do. They and their house will serve the Lord, Ps. ci. 2. Josh xxiv. 15. Here they must consecrate to God a church in their house, and bind themselves to set up, and always to keep up, both an altar and a throne for God in their habitation, that they may approve themselves the spiritual seed of faithful Abraham, who was famous for family-religion. It is with this intent, I suppose, that the Rubric of the public establishment declares it convenient, *' That new-married persons should receive the holy communion at the time of their marriage, or at the first opportunity after their marriage;" tliat being engaged to each other in a new relation, they may solemnly engage themselves to discharge the duties of that relation in the fear of God.
And inferiors must here oblige themselves to do the duty they owe their superiors; children to be dutiful to their parents, servants to be obedient to their masters; yea, all of us to be subject one to another. They who are under the yoke, (as the apostle speaks, 1 Tim. vi. 1.) may here make the yoke they are under easy to them, by constraining themselves to draw in it, from a principle of duty to God, and gratitude to Christ, which will both sanctify and sweeten the hardest services and submissions.
Whatever our employments are, and oar dealings with men, we must here promise and vow, that we will be strictly just and honest in them; that whatever temptations we may be under to the contrary at any time, we will make conscience of rendering to all their due, and of speaking the truth from the heart; that we will walk uprightly, and work righteousness, despise the gain of oppression, and shake our hands from holding of bribes; knowing that they who do so shall dwell on high, their place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, bread shall be ^iwem them, and their water shall be sure, Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16. We find it upon record, to the honour of Christ's holy religion, when it was first planted in the world, that Pliny, a heathen magistrate, and a persecutor of Christianity, giving an account to the Emperor Trajan of what he had discovered concerning the Christians, (in an epistle yet extant,) acknowledges, that in their religious assemblies they bound themselves by a sacrament, (it is the very word he oaes,) Non in scelus aliquod, sed nefurta, ne latroemia, nt adulteria committerent; nefidem fallereni, ne depo-situm appellati abnegarent. That is, they boond themselves not to do any ill thing, that they would mi rob or steal, or commit adultery; that they would newer be false to any trust reposed in them, never deny any thing that was put into their hands to keep, and the like. The same is still the true intent and meaning of this service; it is the bond of a covenant added to the bond of command, that we do justly, lovenuT' cy, and walk humbly with our God.
Come then, my soul, come under these bonds; come willingly and cheerfully under them. He that bears an honest mind, does not startle at assurances. Be not afraid to promise that which thou art already bound to do; for these vows will rather facilitate thy duty, than add to the difficulty of it; the faster thou findest thyself fixed to that which is good, the less there will be of uneasy hesitation and wavmog concerning it, and the less danger of being tempted from it
Only remember, that all these vows mast be made with an entire dependence on the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, to enable us to make them good. We have a gpreat deal of reason to distrust ourselves, so weak and treacherous are our hearts. Peter betrayed himself by confiding in himself, when he said. Though I should die with thee, yet I will mot deny thee. But we have encouragement enough to trast in Christ. In his name, therefore, let us make our vows, in his grace let us be strong; surely in the Lord alone have we righteousness and strength. He is the surety of the covenant for both parties: into his custody, therefore, and under the protection of his grace, let us put our souls, and we shall find he is able to keep what we commit to him.
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400
CHAPTER XII.
OIKSCnONS CONCKKNINO THB PRAUB OF OUR 8PUUT8, WHBN WB COMB AWAY FROM THIS ORDINANCB.
They wbo have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, at the table of the Lord, whose hearts are enlarged to send forth the workings of pioQS and devout affections toward God, and to take in the communications of divine light, life, and love, from him, cannot but say, as Peter did upon the holy mount, Lordj it u good for us to he here; here let us make tahemaeles. They sit down under the refreshing shadow of this ordinance with delight, and its fruit is sweet unto their taste : here ' they could dwell all the days of their life, beholding the beauty of the Lord, and inquiring in his temple. But it is not a continual feast. Wc must come down from this mountain ; these sweet and precious minutes are soon numbered and finished; supper is ended, thanks are returned, the guests are dismissed with a blessing, the hymn is sung, and we go out to the mount of Olives. Even in this Jerusalem, the city of our solemnities, we have not a continuing city. Jacob has an opportunity of wrestling with the angel for a while, but he must let him go, for the day breaks, and he has a family to look after, a Journey to prosecute, and the affairs thereof call for his attendance. Gen. xxxii. 26. We must not be always at the Lord's table; the high priest himself must not be always within the veil, he must go out again to the people when his service is performed. Now it ought to be as much our care to return in a right manner from the ordinance, as to approach in a right manner to the ordinance. That caution is here needful, (2 John 8.) Look to younelvet that we lose not those things which we have wrought — which we have gained —so some read it Have we in this ordinance wrought any thing, or gained any thing that is good ? We are concerned to see to it, that we do not undo what we have wrought, and let slip what we have gained. When the solemnity is done, our work is not done; still we must be pressing forward in our duty. This, perhaps, is the mystery of that law in Ezekiel's temple-service, (Ezek. xlvi. 9.) that they should not return from worshipping before the Lord in the solemn feasts through the same gte by which they entered in, but by that over against it. Forgetting those things which are behind, still we must reach forth to those things which are before.
Let us inquire, then, what is to be done at our coming away from the ordinance, for the preserving and improving the impressions of it
I. We should come from this ordinance admiring the condescension of the divine grace to us. Great are the honours which have here been done us, and the fa Tonrs which here we have been admitted to: the God who made us has taken us into covenant and communion with himself; the King of kings has entertained us at his table, and there we have been feasted with the dainties of heaven, abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house; exceeding great and precious promises have here been sealed to us, and earnests gven us of the eternal inheritance: now, if we know ourselves, this cannot but be the matter of our wonder, our joyful and yet awful wonder.
1'. Considering our meanness by nature, we have reason to wonder that the great God should thus advance us: higher than heaven is above the earth, is God above us. Between heaven and earth there is, though a vast, yet only a finite, distance, but between God and man there is an infinite disproportion. What is man, (man that is a worm, ahd the son of man that is a worm,) that he should be thus visited and regarded, thus dignified and preferred ? That favour done to Israel sounds great, (Ps. Ixxviii. 25.) Man did eat angels' food; bat here man is feasted with that which was never angels' food, the , flesh and blood of the Son of man, which gives life to the world. Solomon himself stood amazed at God's condescending to take possession of that magnificent temple he had built, (2 Chron. vi. 18.) Bui will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth f And, which is more, shall men on the earth dwell in God, and make the Most High their habitation? If great men look with respect upon those who are much their inferiors, it is because they expect to receive honour and advantage by them; but can a man be profitable unto God ? No, he cannot: our goodness extendeth not unto him; he was from eternity happy without us, and would have been so to eternity, if we had never been, or had been miserable ; but we are undone, undone for ever, if his goodness extend not to us: he needs not our services, but we need his favours. Men adopt others because they are childless, but God adopts us purely because we are fatherless. It was no excellency in us that recommended us to his love, but poverty and misery made us the proper objects of his pity.
Come then, my soul, and compose thyself as King David did, when, having received a gracious message from heaven, assuring him of God's kind intentions to him and his family, he went in, and with a great fixedness of mind sat before the Lord; and say as he said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is mg house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? That I should be so kindly invited to the table of the Lord, and so splendidly treated there ? That one so mean and worthless as I am, the poorest dunghill-worm that ever called God Father, should be placed among the children, and fed with the children's bread; and yet, a» if this were a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, thou hast spoken also concerning thy servant for a great while to come, even as far aa
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eternity itself reaches; and thus thou hast regarded mc according to the estate of a man of high degree, though I am nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity. And is this the manner of men, O Lord God? Could men expect to be thus favoured ? No, but thou givest to men not according to their poverty, but according to thy riches in glory. Do great men use to condescend thus ? No, it is usual with them to show their dignity, and to oblige (beir inferiors to keep their distance : but we have to do with one that is God, and not man, whose thoughts of love are as much above ours, as his thoughts of wisdom are; and therefore, as it follows there. What can David gay more unto thee ? What account can I give of this unaccountable favour? It is/or thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, for the performance of thy purposes and promises, that thou hast done all these great things, to make thy servant know them, 2 Sam. vii. 18, 21. 1 Chron. xvii. 16, &c.
2. Considering our vileness by sin, we have yet more reason to wonder that the holy God should thus favour us. We are not only worms of the earth, below his cognizance, but a generation of vipers, obnoxious to his curse ; not only unworthy of his love and favour, but worthy of his wrath and displeasure : how is it then that we are brought so near unto him, who deserved to have been sentenced to an eternal separation from him? He has said. The foolish shall not stand in his sight, Ps. v. 5. Foolish we know we are, and yet we are called to sit at his table, being through Christ reconciled to him, and brought into covenant with him. Justice might have set us as criminals at his bar, but, behold, mercy sets us as children at his board ; and it is a miracle of mercy, mercy that is the wonder of angels, and will be the eternal transport of glorified saints. See how much we owe to the Redeemer, by whom we have access into this grace.