The Communicant's Companion (continued)
Chapter 1. The Names by Which this Ordinance is Usually Called
n discoursing of this great and solemn ordinance, which every serious
Christian looks upon with a peculiar regard and veneration, I purpose, as God shall enable me, to open the doctrine as well as the duty of it; it will, therefore, be proper enough, and I hope profitable, to take some notice of the several names by which it is known.
I. We call it the sacrament.—This is the name we commonly give it, but improperly, because it does not distinguish it from the ordinance of baptism, which is as much a sacrament as this; a sacrament which we have all received, by which we are all bound, and are concerned to improve, and live up to: but, when we call this ordinance, "the sacrament," we ought to remind ourselves that it is a sacrament; that is, it is a sign, and it is an oath.
1. It is a sign, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace; for such sacraments are designed to be.—It is a parable to the eye; and in it God uses similitudes, as he did of old by his servants the prophets.
In it Christ tells us earthly things, that thereby we may come to be more familiarly acquainted, and more warmly affected, with spiritual and heavenly things. In it Christ speaks to us in our own language, and accommodates himself to the capacities of our present state. Man consists of body and soul, and the soul admits impressions, and exerts its power, by the body; here is an ordinance, therefore, which consists of body and soul too, wherein Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are, in the instituted elements of bread and wine, set before us, and offered to us. We live in a world of sense, not yet in the world of spirits; and, because we therefore find it hard to look above the things that are seen, we are directed, in a sacrament, to look through them, to those things not seen, which are represented by them. That things merely sensible, may not improve the advantage they have from our present state wholly to engross our thoughts and cares, in compassion to our infirmity, spiritual things are in this ordinance made in a manner sensible.
Let us, therefore, rest contented with this sign which Christ hath appointed, in which he is "evidently set forth crucified among us," and not think it can be any honor to him, or advantage to ourselves, but, on the contrary, a dishonor to him, and an injury to ourselves, to represent, by images and pictures, the same things of which this ordinance was designed to be the representation. If infinite wisdom thought this sign sufficient, and most proper to affect the heart, and excite devotion, and stamp it accordingly with an institution, let us acquiesce in it.
Yet let us not rest contented with the sign only, but converse by faith with the things signified, else we receive the grace of God in this appointment in vain; and sacraments will be to us, what parables were to them that were willfully blind, blinding them the more. What will it avail us to have the shadow without the substance, the letter without the spirit?