The Communicant's Companion (continued)
IV. It is a covenanting ordinance.—This cup, our Savior tells us, (that is, this ordinance,) is the New Testament; not only pertaining to the New
Testament, but containing it; it has the whole New Testament in it, and has the sum and substance of it. It is, in general, an instrument by which a right passes, and is conveyed; and a title to some good thing given. The gospel revelation of God's grace and will, is both a testament and a covenant, and the Lord's Supper has a reference to it as both.
1. It is the New Testament.—The everlasting gospel is Christ's last will, by which he has given and bequeathed a great estate to his family on earth, with certain precepts and injunctions, and under certain provisions and limitations. This will is become of force, by the death of the Testator, and is now unalterable; it is proved in the court of heaven, and administration given to the blessed Spirit, who is as the executor of the will; for of him the Testator said, "He shall receive of mine, and show it unto you." Christ, having purchased a great estate by the merit of his death, by his testament left it to all his poor relations, that had need enough of it, and for whom he bought it: so that all those who can prove themselves akin to Christ, by their being born from above, their partaking of a divine nature, and their doing the will of God, may claim the estate by virtue of the will, and shall be sure of a present maintenance, and a future inheritance out of it.
The Lord's Supper is the New Testament; it is not only a memorial of the Testator's death, but it is the seal of the Testament. A true copy of it attested by this seal and pleadable, is hereby given into the hands of every believer, that he may have strong consolation. The general record of the New
Testament, which is common to all, is hereby made particular.
The charge given by the will is hereby applied and enforced to us. The Testator has charged us to remember him, has charged us to follow him