The Communicant's Companion
forgiveness of that sin: and here it is 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 the forgiveness of them.
2. A confirmed pardon of all trespasses.—I come here to receive further assurances 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, daughter, be of good cheer; thy sins 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 Zion, thus he saith—" Thy warfare is accomplished, thine iniquity is pardoned." And the inhabitant shall not say, "I am sick;" that is, he shall see no cause to complain of any outward calamity, if his iniquity be forgiven. O that I might here have the white stone of absolution, 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, "Thy sins are forgiven!" This is what I come to receive, O let me not go away without it.
II. Here we may receive adoption of sons. The covenant of grace not only frees us from the doom of criminals, but advances us to the dignity of children: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, in order to this, that "we might receive the adoption of sons." 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 honored by us, he will take us to be his sons and daughters. "Behold, what manner of love is this!" Be astonished, O heavens! 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.
Here is a grant of the privileges of adoption sealed to us.—Here we are called the children of God, and he calls himself our Father, and encourages us to call himself so. "Seemeth it to you a light thing," saith David, "to be a king's son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?" And shall it not seem to us a great thing, an honor infinitely above all those which the world can pretend to confer, for us who are worms 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 honor have all the saints." Nor is it an empty title that is here granted us, but real advantages of unspeakable value.
The eternal God here saith it, and seals it to every true believer: Fear not, I will be a Father to thee, an ever-loving, ever-living Father: leave it to me to provide for thee; on me let all thy burdens be cast; with me let all thy cares be left, and to me Jet all thy requests be made known; "the young lions shall lack and suffer hunger," but thou shalt want nothing that is good for thee, nothing that is fit for thee; my wisdom shall be thy guide, my power thy support, and "underneath thee the everlasting arms. As the tender father pities his children, so will I pity thee, and spare thee as a man spareth his son that serves him." Thou shalt have my blessing and love, the smiles of my face, and the kisses of my mouth, and in the arms of my grace will I carry thee to glory, as the nursing father doth 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, "My head, my head;" and thou shalt find that "as one whom his mother comforteth, so will the Lord thy God comfort thee." Does any thing terrify thee? "Be not afraid, for I am thy God; when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Art thou in doubt? Consult me, and "I will instruct thee in the way that thou shouldst go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Acknowledge me, and I will direct thy steps. Dost thou offend? Is there foolishness bound up in thy heart? Thou must expect fatherly correction: "I will chasten thee with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my lovingkindness 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 father 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 thine happiness; nor shall any thing ever be 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 firstborn among many brethren. Angels shall be thy guard: with the greatest care and tenderness shall they bear thee up in their arms, as ministering spirits charged to attend the heirs of salvation.
Providence shall be thy protector, and the disposer of all thine affairs for the best; so that whatever happens, thou mayest be sure it shall 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, but it doth 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 honorable 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 incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away. If God be thy
Father, no 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 thou be his dutiful child. It is thy
Father's good pleasure to give thee the kingdom.
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 promise that is sure to all the seed: this promise of the Father, which we have heard of Christ, we in this ordinance wait for, and it follows upon the former; for, wherever God gives the privileges 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." Great encouragement we have to ask this gift, from the relation of a Father, wherein God stands towards 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 them that ask him." He will give the Spirit to teach his children, and, as their tutor, to lead them into all 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 make them meet for his service in this world, and his kingdom in a better; 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 his first visit he made to his disciples after his resurrection, having showed them his hands and his side, his pierced hands, his pierced side, (which in effect he does to us in this sacrament,) he breathed on them, and said unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." What he said 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." Receive then the Holy Ghost, 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 lifted 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 undutiful, 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 the best robe; though it is too great a favor 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, therefore, O God, I give up myself, and I will "from this time cry unto thee, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth."
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 thy promise.
III. Here we may receive peace and satisfaction' in our minds.—This is one of the 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: "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 thus fully purged from dead works, which not only defile, but disturb and disquiet us. When the "Spirit is poured out on high, then the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." The guilt of sin lays the foundation of trouble and uneasiness; where that is removed by pardoning mercy, there is ground for peace: but there must be a further act of the divine grace to put us in the actual possession of that peace; when he who alone can open the ear to comfort, as well as discipline, makes us to hear joy and gladness, then the storm ceases, and there is a calm. The mind that was disturbed with the dread of God's wrath, is quieted with the tokens of his favor and love.
This we should have in our eye at the Ford's table: here I am waiting to hear what God the Lord will speak, and hoping that he, who speaks peace to his people and to his saints, will speak that peace to me, who make it the top of my ambition to answer the character, and have the lot, of his people and saints. This peace we may here expect to receive for two reasons: Because this ordinance is a seal of the promise of peace; in it God assures us that his thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, and then ours towards ourselves may be so. We are here among his people, whom he has promised to bless with peace, and we may apply that promise to ourselves, plead it, and humbly claim the benefit of it. This is that rest to the soul which our Master has promised to all those that come to him, and take his yoke upon them; and this promise, among the rest, is here ratified, as yea and amen in Christ.
The covenant of grace is indeed a covenant of peace, in the ever-blessed soil of which "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." And this covenant of peace is that which eternal truth hath said, shall never be removed, but shall stand firm as a rock, when the "everlasting mountains shall melt" like wax, and the "perpetual hills shall bow." Has God so far consulted my present repose, as well as my future bliss, that he has provided not only for the satisfaction of his own justice, but for the satisfaction of my conscience; and shall I indulge my own disturbance, and refuse to be comforted? No; welcome the promised peace, the calm so long wished for, the desired haven of a troubled spirit, tossed with tempest. Come, my soul, and take possession of this Canaan; by faith enter into this rest, and let not thine own unbelief exclude thee. If the God of peace himself speak peace, though with a still small voice, let that silence the most noisy and clamorous objections of doubts and fears; and, if he give quietness, let not them make trouble.
Because this ordinance is an instituted means of obtaining the peace promised. As the sacrifice was ordained to make atonement for the soul, so the feast upon the sacrifice was intended for the satisfaction of the soul concerning the atonement made, to remove that amazement and terror which arose from the consciousness of guilt. This ordinance is a feast appointed for that purpose. God doth here not only assure us of the truth of his promise to us, but gives us an opportunity of solemnizing our engagements to him, and sealing ourselves to be his, which is appointed not to satisfy him, (he that knows all things knows if we love him,) but to satisfy ourselves, that, thus taking hold of the hope set before us, we may have strong consolation. The blood of Christ is in this ordinance sprinkled upon the conscience, to pacify that, having been already sprinkled upon the mercy-seat, to make atonement there, so making the comers thereunto perfect.
When the Lord Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, the first word he said to them was, "Peace be unto you;" and he saith the same to us in this ordinance, Peace be unto this house, peace to this heart. But the disciples of Christ, like those that are apt to be terrified "and affrighted, supposing that they have seen a spirit," or apparition, fearing that it is but all a delusion, it is too good news to be true; what have they to do with peace, think they, while their corruptions, follies, and infirmities are so many? But Christ, by this sacrament, checks those fears; as there, "Why are ye troubled; and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet!" There is that in the marks of the nails, which is sufficient to stop the mouth of unbelief, and to heal the wounds of a broken and contrite spirit. There is merit enough in Christ, though in us there is nothing but meanness and unworthiness. Such considerations this ordinance offers, as have often been found effectual, by the grace of God, to create the fruit of the lips, peace, and to restore comfort to the mourners. In it Christ saith again, "Peace be unto you," as he did unto the disciples. And sometimes a mighty power has gone along with that word to lay a storm, as it did with that, (Mark 4:39.) "Peace, be still;" so that the soul so calmed, so quieted, has gone away, and said with wonder, "What manner of man is this, for even the winds and the seas obey him!"
IV. Here we may receive supplies of grace.—Jesus Christ is, in this ordinance, made of God to all believers, not only righteousness, but sanctification; so we must receive him; and having received him, so we must walk in him. It is certain we have as much need of the influences of the Spirit to furnish us for our duties, as we have of the merit of Christ to atone for our sins; and as much need of divine grace, to carry on the good work, as to begin it. We are in ourselves not only ungodly, but without strength, impotent in that which is good, and inclined to that which is evil; and in the Lord alone have we both righteousness and strength. If, therefore, we have it in him, hither we must come, to have it from him: for gospel ordinances, and this particularly, are the means of grace, and the ordinary vehicle in which grace is conveyed to the souls of believers. Though God is not tied to them, we are, and must attend with an expectation to receive grace from God by them, and an entire submission of soul to the operation and conduct of that grace. This ordinance is as the pool of Bethesda, which our weak and impotent souls must lie down by, waiting for the moving of the waters, as those that know there is a healing virtue in them by which we may experience benefit as well as others. Here, therefore, we must set ourselves, expecting and desiring the effectual workings of God's free grace in us, attending at wisdom's gates for wisdom's gifts, and endeavoring to improve the ordinance to this end.