Sfc Ak VftS Divine Breathings : O R, SPIRITUAL MEDITATIONS Suited to the Occasion of BREAKING BREAD, 5»o R Communicating in the Lord's Supper. / By J o H N B E A R T, Paftor of a Ch< arch of Chrift in Bury, Suffolk. LONDON: Printed for E. D i l l y, at the Rofe and Crown in the Poultry. M.DCC.LXI. T O That little Flock, the Church of Chrift at Bury, over which (I humbly truft) the Holy Ghoft hath made me Over- feer, though I am nothing. . Dearly Beloved in the Lord, and longed for, W^^StykO have a place and name in the M x k* houfe of God, to have a nail in ^ ^ his holy place, ought to be ef- shGl J&JN? teemed, as it really is, no fmall privilege. And not only to worfhip in his temple, but to be his temple and habitation ; not only to dwell in his houfe, but to be as lively ftones, built up a fpiritual houfe, an holy priefthood to God, by Jefus Chrift ; this is an honour and peculiar favour vouch- fafed not to all, but to fome only, who are called into the fellowfhip of his Son Jefus Chrift, and are the workmanfhip of his holy Spirit. " Among whom are ye alfo, the called of Jefus Chrift," Rom. i. 6. Of thefe the pfalmift faith, " Blefled are they that dwell in thy houfe; they will be ftill praifing thee. Selah." Pfal. lxxxiv. 4. Zion has the promife of the divine prefence \ there God will dwell ; there Chrift will meet his people, and blefs them ; there are the lively oracles difpenfed ; and out of Zion fhall go forth the law, the glorious gofpel foundeth forth in the churches. Thefe are the gardens in which our Lord ever loves to walk. Thefe A 2 are iv D ED I CAT I ON. are taken out of the world, and are his in- clofures, fence-d in by his love and care, by his laws, and facred immunities beftowed on them. And as he hath given his word to be difpenfed in Zion, for gathering in a people to his name, and building up thofe who are gathered : fo alfo his facraments, to be the figns and feals of his covenant with us •, that as we are fir ft devoted to the fervice of our great Lord, and engaged for him, whofe name, as Father, Son, and Spirit, is named upon us in baptifm : fo we might again and again be owning our covenant-relation, be renewing our covenant-engagements, and be nouriihed from time to time, by that holy ordinance the Lord's Supper, wherein Chrift the food of our fouls, is fet before us. Howbeit, my brethren, reft not in thefe your privileges, however great •, nor in your duties of church-relation and worfhip, but in the blood and righteoufnefs of the great Redeemer : and be preffing on unto perfec- tion, reaching after the communion of his upper houfe. Every church of Chrift rightly conftituted, is the image of the church invi- fible, the myftical body of Chrift: and as it is fo by inftkution and privilege; fo it ought to be fo in purity and holinefs, H blame- lefs and harmlefs, the fons of God without rebuke — holding forth the word of life," Phil. ii. 15, 16. When 1 confider church- fellowfhip, and the materials of Chrift's houfe, in the abftratt idea of them, an holy people, DEDICATION. v people, feparated from the world, not re- garding things below, but afpiring after hea- venly things, walking in the ways of the Lord blamelefs : O what high and lofty thoughts doth this raifeof fuch a fellowship, of fuch a people, and fuch privileges ! But when I confider them in the concrete, and what we do really attain unto, and what our walk really is, as a mixture cf wife and foolifh virgins, as but a vifible church, a profeffing people, and every believer as two men, an old man and a new : how is the high idea abated ! What allowances muft we make ! What abatements from thofe wonderful things, that are fpoken of faints and churches ! How farfhortdo we fall! And (to our fhame) what do we more than others? Lord ! Help and heal thy people. The prefent flare of churches and chriftians is not what we afpire after : we are yet in via, in the way ; and but in a (late of preparation (tho' not merely of probation) for the purity and glory of the New Jerufa- lem, making our way thro* this world to the heavenly Canaan, All things, my beloved, are yours, whe- ther Paul, A polios, or Cephas, &c. The .minifters of Chrift are in the inventory of your good things. And all things are for your fakes, whether we are afflided, or tempted, or live or die, 2 Cor. iv. 15. I fpeak of a common privilege to all the churches and believers in Chrift. But in a fpecial manner, 1 reckon my ftrength, my A 3 time vi DEDICATION. time and labours, to be yours, as a particu- lar church. And as thefe are for your fakes, ib may they be for your great benefit, " that the abundant grace might, through the thankfgiving of many, redound to the glory of God, viz. in that day, when God fhall raife up us his minifters by Jefus, and pre- fent us with you." Among my other labours, thefe following jneditations are your due in the firft place ; as having been delivered among you, at fe- veral times, efpecially from p. 21. at the table of our Lord ; and as thofe which, I hope, may be of future advantage, through the bleffing of the Spirit. And forafmuch as the fubjeft is of general concernment to all churches, and their feveral members, I hope it may find acceptance among thofe, who have " tafted that the Lord is gracious," who haveknown hisdying love, and do often folemnize the memory of his death in his fupper. I know, that others have laboured well, and with good fuccefs, in this pro- vince : and who am I, to bring my mite to the Lord's treafury, after the abundance that Jias beencaftin ? butfome fhorrer meditations, direitly to the occafion of communicating, and adapted to ftir up fuitabie affedions therein, feemed to me fomething necefiary ftill : in which, how I have fucceeded, is left to the judgment of others. Love to Chrift, I truft, through grace, hath dictated fome part of thefe compofures ; and if they may aflift the DEDICATION. vir the love of others to him, who is altogether lovely, I have my end. And you, my beloved hearers, though not walking in church-communion, nor partaking with us at the Lord's table, I long after you greatly, to fee you hewn and liv- ing (tones fitted for the building. Some of you, I doubt not, have tailed that love of Chrift which paffeth knowledge •, and hope thefe papers may, one day, be of ufe to you, as eating the fame fpiritual bread, and drinking the fame cup, with us. And tor others, the Lord help you to confider, you muft, one day know the gofpel hath been preached to you -, and O that you a!fo may know the joyful found, and biefs God for the treafure committed to an earthen veffel, that I may rejoice in the day of Chri(t, that I have not run in vain, with refped, if it may be, to any of you that attend on my miniftry ! The contents will fhew the method of this work, and the heads I go upon. My thoughts inlarged beyond my firft defign, and I foon found it was pofTible to bring the whole compafs of gofpel-doftrine into this fubjedl : but I approve not fjch a way of handling any text or fubje<5t of difcourfe. The reader will do well to read through the following fheets : but my defign hath been, and my advice is, that, to furnifh medita- tion for communicating at the Lord's table, he read one chapter, or one meditation only, at nii DEDICATION. at once, and fix and inlarge upon it in his own thoughts and contemplations. For alas ! we have narrow veflels, and cannot take in all things at once, and are apt to tire in fol- lowing any one point fomewhat far. Dwell much, my brethren, upon the me- ditation of the perfon and love of the Lord Jefus Chrift, Heb. iii. i. " Confider the Apoftle and high-pried of our profeffion, &c." confider him in the glory and perfec- tion of his priedhood ; and how vad an idea doth this give us of him ! that the God of heaven came down on mount Sinai, and there inditutes a frame of worfhip great and folemn,commandsatabernacletobe reared up, analtarto be built, and daily facrifices offered, till the times of reformation. Now what means all this folemnity, all this fhew, all thefe ordinances of divine worfhip ? With what folemnity is the tabernacle fee up and anointed (Exod. xl.) and Aaron and his fons initiated and confecrated (Lev. viii.) and the altar itfelf dedicated ? (Numb, vii.) And afterwards, what more magnificent than the building of the temple by Solomon, or more folemn than the dedication of it, i Kings, chap. vi. and viii. ? cc When thefe things were thus ordained," the prieds always at- tended, accomplifhing the fervice of God ; and this worfhip endured about fifteen hun- dred years. Now it was not for the fake of the prieds that minidred, nor of the worfhip performed by them, but to hold forth and lead DEDICATION- i* lead unto the one high-prieft, and one facri- fice of Jefus Chrift \ who, " by one offer- ing, hath perfected for ever them that are ian&ified," Heb. x. 14. All that glory is i wallowed up of a fuperior glory ; and the priefthood given up to him who came in meannefs and humiliation, who was put to death by means of thofe priefts, who, by his favour, miniftred at the altar. And not only fo, but the glory of this new creation outfhines the glory of the firft. And fo great is this marvellous work of our redemption, that God himfelf fays, " Do not remember the former things, nor confider the things of old." And why fo ? It follows, " Behold, I will do a new thing, &c." Ifa. xliii. 18, 19. It is imperative in v, 18. and means, that in companion of his new works, wrought by Chrift, the former fhould be forgotten. When we therefore remember the Lord's death, we muft look upon it as the chief of the ways and works of God. The LordVday is for the commemoration of the Lord's death, that when we teftify and confefs ourfelves the fervants of the mod ligh God, Creator of heaven and earth, by keeping holy to him a feventh part of time ; we teftify and profefs ourfelves the fervants of the great Redeemer, by keeping holy to him his day, the firft day of the week. For he alfo hath ceafed from his own works, as God did from his. 10 x DEDICATION. To conclude : let me befeech you, bre- thren, to confider and improve your relation and engagement to each other in Chrift Je- fus, and the folemn engagements that the Lord's Supper lays you under thereunto. Love, reprove, exhort, and comfort one another, as thofe that " eat the fame fpiritual bread, and drink the fame fpiritual drink j" viz. the flefh and blood of Jefus Chrift. Our God hath given us reft and liberty, under a wife, juft, and good king, who judges theToleration of Protestant Dissenters to be agreeable to Chri- stina Charity, and necessary to the Riches and Trade of the King- dom. Blefied be God, who hath heard the prayers of his people, and hath " put fuch a thing as this in the king's heart !" Let us ftudy what returns we may make unto God, and to the glorious inftrument of our new deliverance. Pray for me, that I may not want the di- vine prefence and bleffing in my Lord's work-, that he who hath fown, and they who reap, may, one day, rejoice together •, which, that it may be fo, is the earned prayer of Tour unworthy Pqftor^ and brother in the Lord, J.B. THE CONTENTS. PART I. Containing brief difcourfes on certain portions of Scripture. CHAP. I. Of examination for the hordes Suffer , on i Cor. xi. 28. Page 1 Chap. II. Of preparation for the fame, on Prov. xvi. 1. 7 Chap. III. Of eating and drinking unworthily, on 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29. 14 Chap. IV. Scriptural meditations and reflexions, fpoken for the moft part, at the hordes table * 2 1 Gen. iii. 15. Enmity between the ferpent and Chrifl ibid, chap. iv. 4. Abel and his offering 26 chap. viii. 20, 21. Noah" s altar and facriflce 29 chap. xxii. Abraham offering up his fin lfaac 33 chap, xxvii. 15,27, 29. Jacob obtains his father lfaac s bUffing ^ 37 chap, xxviii. 16, 17. The houfe of God 39 chap, xxxvii. xxxix. xl. Chrifl ourfpiritual Jofeph 41 Exod. xii. Chrifl our pajjbver 44 APPENDIX. 50 chap. xxiv. The Glory of the God oflfrael 52 Exod. xxv. 8, 9, 21, 22. Thefanftuary, ark, and mercy - feat 56 Conclufion. Concerning places of ' 'I* *** *V' V v V * * V' * ***' V' V '♦' *♦' V -** 1 > PART I. Containing brief Difcourfes on certain Por- tions of Scripture. CHAP. I. Of Examination for the Lord's Supper* jHfj^fH^HE holy apoftle Paul, writing to a ^ X ^ church of Chrift, when he came par- 35^ ^ ticularly to treat of this ordinance, ^J^^jfl{ lays down this rule, i Cor. xi. 28. " But let a man examine himfelf, and fo let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." Now there are two things principally of which we are to examine ourfelves. I. Of our ftate. II. Of our prefent frame. I. Of our ftate God- ward. Whether we are in a ftate of grace and of fpiritual life ? Whether B we 2 Of Examination for we are regenerate and new-born, and (o parTed from death to life ? How weighty and folemn is this inquiry ! Now here let me advertife in the begin- ning of this work, that they who are not in a ftate of grace, can receive no fpiritual good or advantage by this ordinance, nor fhall it profit them at all. The reafon is, becaufe k is intend- ed for the nourifhment of fpiritual life, and the increafe of grace, and is therefore adminiftred as the fpiritual food of our fouls. But how can fpi- ritual life be nourifhed where it is not begun, or grace increafed where it is not wrought ? They v/ere his difciples to whom Chrifl adminiftred, and they were "fanclified inChriftJefus," and w called to be faints," to whom the Apoftle is writing here, chap.i.ii. Hence that preaching or writing is not to be approved, that puts and prefTes men upon a receiving of the Lord's Supper, who are profeffors only at large, and have not known a new-birth. Some there are who anfwer that ob- jection, I am not fit, I am not prepared, to this purpofe. If it is a fin to come, it is a greater fin to neglect fo known a duty. I fay, it is not an immediate duty. It is not their duty, in their prefent ftate, if they are not fit ; but rather their duty to forbear, and wait to be made meet for the kingdom of grace here, and of glory here- after. They cannot anfwer the ends of this holy folemnity, and therefore ought not to come. Nor may this childrens bread be given to dogs. Befides, it is againft this very text, which I am fpeaking to : for to what purpofe is felf-exami- nation, if they ought to come whether they are fitted for this ordinance or no ? There the Lord's Supper. 3 There are two things required in order to a participation of the Lord's Supper. 1. That a man be in Chrift. " Sanclified in Chrift Jefus," Partaker of the things fignified. That he knows " the power of his refurre£tion, the fellowfhip of his fufferings, and be conform- ed to his death."* And fo be enabled to tc difcern the Lord's body." 2. That he be in the church. A member in full communion with feme particular church of Chrift. The former gives a remote right, and this an im- mediate right to this ordinance. The Apoftle is writing here, " to the church of God which is at Corinth," chap. i. ii. that particular church, called and gathered out of the world. Corinth was a city of Greece, famous for trade and riches, infamous for plays celebrated to Neptune, and on that account called by Pindar, blefied Corinth, the threfhold of Neptune's Ifthmus, famous for young men. It was addicted to idolatry, un- bounded luft, and drunkennefs. See Du Veil on Adts xviii. 1. The Apoftle tells them, and ap- peals to themfelves in it, chap. xii. 2. " Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto thefe dumb idols, even as ye were led." Among thefe poor heathens, the gofpel triumphed in the con- verfion of many, and gathering a gofpel-church to the name of the Lord Jefus, Acts xviii. 8. — 1 r. But all the city were not converted. Therefore he faith, the church at Corinth, viz. that were gathered out from the reft, being called and fanc- tified, and embody'd in a chriftian communion. And they were thefe chriftians, affembling in the church, and as a church, that did partake of the B 2 Lord's 4 Of Examination for Lord's Supper, chap. xi. 18, 20, 22. Now this is a common miftake among chriftians, they think that church communion is for this ordi- nance y when this and other ordinances are for church communion. They come and fay, they would partake of the Lord's Supper. That may be a good and gracious defire. But they ihould defire communion with the church in all ordinan- ces, and look upon church relation, and church communion, as a precious ordinance, even though there were not the Lord's Supper, for want of a pallor, or the like, to be adminiftred. Nor have they a right to the Lord's Supper till they are firft members, A£ts ii. 41, 42. Then, O believer, when thou haft given the evidences of a . new-birth, and art laid as a living ftone in the Spiritual building, who can forbid thee to come and partake in the privileges of Chrift's houfe. I would not be mifunderftood, and therefore I add, 1. That it is a very incumbent duty upon all gracious fouls, upon all that have " tafted the Lord is gracious," to join themfelves in fel- lowfhip with fome church of Chrift. And it is the duty alfo of churches to receive them that are weak in the Faith, as well as them that are ftrong, and not to " defpife the day of fmall things." 2. That it is a very incumbent and im- mediate duty upon every church-member, ordi- narily, to commemorate the fufferings of Chrift, in this holy ordinance of his Supper ; and to look upon themfelves under that great command, " This do in remembrance of me." A negleft in either of thefe is very fmful. The Lord lay it upon the confciences of all that truly love him. How- the Lord's Supper. 5 Howbeit, we lay not the ftrefs of falvation upon any outward ordinance whatfoever. Souls may be faved, and all true believers mall be fo, whether they ever have communion with a vifible church, or no, whether they ever receive the Lord's Supper, or no. And on the other hand, church-members and communicants that are not true believers, {hall perifh at laft. " Have we not eat and drank," fay they, " in thy prefence?" The ground of this is, that it is by a vital union with, and relation to the Lord Jefus Chrift, that we partake of his faving benefits ; and every foul ought to have that vital union and relation, in judgment of charity, before he is added to a church of Chrift, A&s ii. 47. « The Lord added" £o//5m> favedones " to the church dai- ly." So it is rendered, Rev. xxi. 24. " The nations of the faved." Compare 1 Cor. i. 18. " To us who are faved it is the power of God, v. 21. it pleafed God to fave them that believe ;" which is explained v. 24. " But unto them which are called." Were not thefe Corinthians called ones, before they were a church of Chrift ? and of thefe faved, called ones, that church was formed. Being called they were already in a ftate of fal- vation, from which they mould not fall, butper- fevere unto eternal life. II. We are to examine ourfelves of our pre- fent frame. Whether there is a fuitable frame and difpofition of heart for the Lord's Supper ? This point of felf-examination is not to be car- ried fo, as if believers were ever, and every time, to be inquiring about their ftate and their relation to Chrift y at leaft, if that fhould fuppofe that B 3 they 6 Of Examination for they are to doubt it, and to call it into queftion. True believers are not to examine themfelves concerning their flate, as if it were a matter of uncertainty to them, although in fa& it is often lb to their apprehenfion. This were to bring; up the popifli doctrine of doubts and uncertainty of our falvation. Do we always examine, and ne- ver arrive at a certainty ? Doth it not fhame thee, O believer, after a long profeflion, ftill to be at uncertainty, what thy prefent ftate is, and what thy eternal ftate is like to be ? Canft thou not yet prove thine own w@rk, and make out that Chrifl is in thee, that thou mighteft have rejoic- ing in thine own foul ? There are fome believers who walk in the daily fenfe of God's love. They may look back upon paft experiences, and blefs God for calling grace : they may look over their prefent experiences, and fee their firm truft and oependance on the blood and righteoufnefs of a dear Saviour. But to doubt and queftion their intereft is not their duty, but the w r ork of un- belief. It remains then that they examine concerning the prefent frame and difpofition of their fouls. They (hould look back to the laft time of com- municating, and fee the workings of corruption fince that time ; the inroads which the temptati- ons of fatan, of fin, and of the world, have made upon them : and come and be humbled, and mourn over their dying Lord. They may fee what unbelieving and unfuitable frames are found w 7 ith them, and endeavour to lay them afide, and get them crucified by faith in him who died for them. They may confider their ends in coming, and fee what grace is in exercife, or whether the Lord's Supper. 7 whether it is fo or no : and prefs after fuch a frame as is fuited to the great ends of the Lord's Supper ; and by earned prayer try to engage the prefence of Chrift with them, that when the king fits at his table, their fpikenard may fend forth the fmell thereof. CHAP. II. Of preparation for the Lord's Supper. IN Prov. xvi. 1. we read, " The preparations [or difpolings] of the heart in man, and the anfwer of the tongue, is of the Lord." I cannot approve their verfion who read thefe words, " The preparations of the heart are of man (or in the power of man) but the anfwer of the tongue is from the Lord." As if to fpeak were not as much a natural a£r, and in the power of man, as to think : or as if to think, or order the meditations of the heart, were not as much of God as the anfwer of the tongue, or ordering the words. I doubt not our tranfiation reads it according to the mind of the Holy Ghoft, and I think, is as much, nay more favour'd by the ori- ginal than the other ; only I would fay [for man] or [of man] for fo the Hebrew is, but this alters not the fenfe. The word rendered [preparations J fignifies [djfpofings] and ordeiings. It is ufed in a military fenfe concerning ordering of armies, and of the ordering and ranging of the loaves of propofition or mew-bread in the fanetuary, B 4 1 Sam. 8 Of Preparation for j Sam. iv. 1 6. Lev. iv. 26, 27. It meaneth then the putting in order, and right difpofing and guiding of the inward thoughts, motions, and frames of the heart. All this is of the Lord. The Apoftle affures us, not only that we cannot fpeak, but that we cannot fo much as think any thing of ourfelves. And the anfwer of the tongue is of the Lord. When that fo anfwers in graci- ous fpeeches thefe inward gracious difpofings, that the " meditation of the heart, and words of the mouth, are acceptable to the Lord," Pfal. xix. Now preparation alfo is twofold. I. Habitual. 2. Actual. The former refpech the Hate, the latter the frame and difpofition of the foul God-ward. The former includes both juftification and regeneration ; that a poor foul be found in Chrift, cloathed with his righteouf- nefs, juflified by his blood, and fo accepted of God in that beloved, for that is the whole ground of our acceptance : and again, that he be renewed and fanctined by the fpirit of God, cleanfed from the defilement and pollution of fin, fo that he doth not love it, nor live in it, doth not ferve nor obey it in the lufts of it. And that there be contrary principles of grace and holinefs fixed and fet up in the heart ; the fpirit himfelf dwell- ing in him, with his bleffed train, thofe fruits of the fpirit, which are love, joy, peace, long-fuf- fering, gentlenefs, goodnefs, faith, meeknefs, temperance. Actual preparation refpecls efpecially the exer- tife of grace. That thofe graces of the holy fpirit be not altogether obftrucled and hindered in jffaeir exercife, by the prevalence of any lull:, by finful the Lord's Supper. 9 finful frames, or by the cares and concerns of life, but that there be the going forth of the foul in faith, repentance, joy, love, hope, and fuch-like. For then it is that our " fpices flow forth, and our beloved comes and takes of his pleafant fruits." Now both thefe preparations are of the Lord. As in the text, and 2 Chron. xxix. 36. at that great celebration of the pafTover by good Heze- kiah. We read " Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the People, that God had prepared the people, for the thing was done fuddenly." The mean- ing is, that God had inclined and difpofed them for the work, and affifted them in the perform- ance. That there was love and joy, and other fuitable affe&ions, for fo great a work. But under the gofpel we do not need thofe pre- parations, by wafhings, and purifyings, and fuch-like legal fervices, which were in ufe under the law. The gofpel makes fhorter work, and requires fomething mere fpiritual, viz. the facri- ficing of our lufts, and the offering up of our fouls to God in flames of love. Query, Do we not then need days of prepa- ration ? I anfwer ; we may eafi'ly conceive too kgally of fuch days. When we think our pre- paration depends on them, as if we were then prepared when we have kept fuch a day, and gone through the fervices thereof, or as if we were not prepared without it. Thefe are legal and carnal thoughts, and carry us off from true gof- pel-preparation. I fay then, 1. Men may be far from preparation, who have kept a day or days, in whatever exercifes of religion, whether publick or private. Naj B 5 perhaps 10 Of Preparation for perhaps they are not a whit the nearer, as to their ftate or frame. How eafy were it to be prepared, if this would do ! I would not infinuate, that all who keep a day do imagine that fufficient ; but to inftrucT: the ignorant, and to warn any from taking up here. * 2. A true believer may be truly prepared with- out any of thefe preparatory exercifes. The primitive chriftians, in all likelihood, brake bread every fabbath-day, and perhaps oftener. But though no doubt they fometimes met on other days, yet it doth not appear that they did fo in any ftated way : for if that had been intended, there would have needed an inftitution of every fifth, or fixth, or feventh day, as a preparation- day. But all that we find is, that they w r ere converted, and added to the church, and then cc continued in the Apoftles doctrine and fellow- fhip, and breaking of bread and prayers." Of preparation-days we find nothing, much lefs a v/hole week's preparatory devotions, and a. long roll of directions, how they were to walk before, how they wereto walk after ; which tacitly fuggefts, that intermediate time (if there is any) may be pafied at a larger and loofer rate. But who fees not, that all time is either what goes before or follows after ; and then fuch directions amount to no more, than how we ought to walk with God all our days, which mould be " without fear, in holinefs, and righteoufnefs before him all the days of our lives," Luke i. 74. A true believer is always habitually prepared ; that is, he is ready, he is worthy in a gofpel- fenfe. He has that faith and love, that fear and hatred the Lord's Supper 1 1 hatred of fin, that joy and peace, or at leaft that hope in Chrift, that in the main difpofe him for this great work. Do you not upbraid yourfelves with a very unbecoming walk, who think you cannot be prepared without fome days notice ? Have you not received the fpirit of adoption, the fpirit of fons ? Have you not learned to come to God as a father, and to draw near with bold- ntk to the throne of grace ? Is not the veil of the temple rent, and the way into the holiefl made manifeft? What are you doing in the week ? Are you not ferving God in your families, and in your lawful occafions ? Thefe are good works, if done in faith. But more than that, do you not walk with God every dav, and live upon Je- fus Chrift, and call upon his name, and converfe with the father through him ? It is high time you fhould, if it be otherwife. Nay this you do, in fome meafure, if you are what you profefs to be. I tell you, believers ! you ought to have your tpiritual irate fettled, to fee yourfelves in Chrift, and in the number of his called, and not to go on thus, having all to make out, to the end of your days : and then fo to walk with God, as not at all to fear to draw nigh to him in the great- eft gofpel-folemnities ; but at all times to come with liberty, with boldnefs, " with full afiu ranee of faith," Heb. x. 22. Object. But I ought not to come reeking out of the world to fuch a folemnity. Anf. To come reeking from the world is to come with covetous, carnal, worldly frames. Such I fear are not fit indeed. But to come from ferving God in thy lawful occafions, and walk- B 6 ing 12 Of Preparation for ing with him in obeying his commands, " Six days {halt thou labour j M to obey his command, c< This do in remembrance of me j" is nothing blame-worthy. Yet in all this, I intend nothing againft church- afTemblies, as at other times, and on other occa- sions, fo on this occafion ; I mean on fome week- day before breaking of bread, and that with a fpecial regard to the work of the approaching fabbath ; feeing the ordinary practice of break- ing bread is not every Lord's-day, nor can well be attained in the prefent ftate of things. Such days, kept in prayer and preaching fuitable to the occafion, have been found' of ufe, and ought to be attended, by all that conveniently can. This we conftantly pracUfe, and perhaps all the church- es. But I fpeak for the fake of thofe, who at fuch times are abfent ; and thofe who may not know the time of breaking bread, till on the Lord's-day, they find it is a part of the prefent work; and thofe who in journeying are provi- dentially with other churches ; and that none might lay the ftrefs of their preparation in fome foregoing religious exercifes. Such chrhlians as I have mentioned may and ought to communi- cate, and ta reckon themfelves prepared for the work, by virtue of their relation to the Lord Je- fus Chrift, and to his people. But when the time is known and fixed by church-agreement, believers may and ought to dire£l their meditati- ons, felf-examinations and prayers, that way, both before (tho' in their lawful occafions,) and on the day, when it is adminiftred. This is all I know of preparation. For, the LorcFs Supper. 13 For, to tell men that are not habitually pre- pared (I mean that are not converted) they muft prepare themfelves, is to tell them, they muft convert themfelves. And as for thofe, who, when poor fouls do rightly enough objed-, they are not fit to come to the Lord's table, do tell them in a very flightly manner, they muft go and make themfelves fit, or prepare themfelves ; I fay, they fhew that they themfelves know no- thing of the matter, nor have part nor lot therein, tho' they may be teachers of others. Farther, to tell believers, they muft prepare themfelves, doth not found altogether fo evangelically, as to tell them, they muft wait on God for heart-pre- paration, that he would prepare their hearts to himfelf, and enable them to difcern the Lord's body. I only add, as to that preparation which con- fifts in right and gracious frames : be not difcou- raged, believer, if thou doft not find thy heart fo difpofed as thou defireft, it is not a fufficient bar to the ordinance. The frame and temper of thy heart may be changed in a moment ; and grace drawn into exercife, either immediately before, or in the very ordinance. It depends on a gale from heaven, Cant. iv. 16. Thou haft an en- larged frame the evening before, and thou haft loft it on the Lord's-day morning ; or thy heart is enlarged under the word the fame day, and thou doft not find it fo at the Lord's table. Again ; thy heart was dead and backward in all the foregoing work : but a fmile from thy dear Lord, a touch, a look of love from him, melts and overcomes thee at laft, and, 'ere thou art aware, 14 Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. aware, thy " foul makes thee as the chariots" of a willing people. And if " it is not fo, who will make me a liar, and make my fpeech nothing worth V\ CHAP. III. Of eating and drinking unworthily. i Cor. xi. 27. * c Wherefore, whofoever mall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, fhall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, v. 29. — He eateth and drinketh damnation to himfeif, &c." AS thefe words have been a facred fence and guard about the Lord's table, to keep pro- fane finners, and perfons unworthy, who are called chriftians, at a diftance from this folem- nity : fo they have often been a terror to fincere perfons, who, thro' a mifunderftanding of them, have been too long deterred from what was plainly their duty ; or, after the performance, have been terrified with fears of having incurred what is here threatened. It is needful therefore a little to ©pen this awful portion of fcripture. What therefore is it to eat this bread, and drink this cup, unworthily ? Anfw. There is an unworthinefs of the per- fon, and of the partaking or receiving. Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. 15 I. Of the perfon. As when fuch an one is an unbeliever or unregenerate. And even here there are degrees of guilt, Some are under a common work, which they miftake for a faving, and fo deceive themfelves, and perhaps don't aim at deceiving others. Thefe may aim at receiving fome good, and have a right to the ordinance in foro ecclefkz^ in the judgment of the church. Others may intend to deceive, and defign to co- ver finful ways by a profeffion, or feek to com- mend themfelves to men. Others more wicked may fecretly defpife the ordinance, look upon it as a common thing, and make a mock of what they do. That there are fuch degrees of finning, as to religious performances, among the unrege- nerate, fee Prov. xxi. 27. " The facrifice of the wicked is abomination," how much more 4t when he brlngeth it in wickednefs, or with a wicked mind ?" It is fuppofed, that befides the natural wickednefs of the heart, there may be a wicked mind, or farther wickednefs, in bringing of his facrifice. Some are guilty only of the former, fome of both thefe. Some may think to make their peace with God by coming, or think as the Ifraelites by the ark, it fhall fave us. 1 Sam. iv. 3. It (hall kill our lufts, chace away fatan, give us peace of confcience. But they will fooner or later fee their miftake, as the Ifraelites did, when they put their truft in the ark, though a precious ordinance of God, and the fymbol of his prefence. Thus fome may fin more prefump- tuoufly, and others through ignorance. II. There's an unworthinefs of the participa- tion. And this is twofold. 1. la 1 6 Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. 1. In the inward frame. And may not a be- liever, who is truly fo, be fomewhat guilty here? Guilty of undue frames, and fo eat unworthily ? But then (mark it) this doth not lie in fomething merely negative : as, that grace is not in exer- cife : it is true, it ought to be in exercife ; but if it is not fo, this is not that eating unworthily. " The wind blows" when and " where it lift- eth," and the exercife of grace depends on a gale of the fpirit. It lies then in fomething pofitive, viz. when there are finful worldly frames, paf- ffion, anger, evil concupifcence, carnal defires and affections, prevailing in the heart. Such frames therefore require a forbearing, till there be a compofure of fpirit : but that the heart be not in frame fpiritually (at leaft, as to the fenfe and apprehenfion of the believer) this doth not require a forbearance, or abftaining from the Lord's Supper. For then perhaps we fhould fel- dom be at the Lord's table, or half be abfent, or the minifter fail as well as others. We have ground to expect our Lord will meet us in his ways, Ifa. lxiv. 5. And how oft doth he come " leaping upon the mountains, and fkipping upon the hills ?" 2. In the outward performance. As when perfons talk, or look about, minding others more than what they are engaged in, or fleep, or when there is any irreverent or undue carriage, or con- fiderable wrong management, one taking before another unduly, or drinking too largely, as it was with thefe Corinthians. In any of thefe there is an unworthy receiving. Tho' the per- fons may be worthy, yet there is an unworthy unbe- Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. 17 unbecoming performance of fo great a work, v. 21, 22. " one is hungry, and another is drunk- en," /. e. drinks too largely and plentifully for fuch a folemnity, that there is not fufficient for others. You fee then the different ways of eating and drinking unworthily, and the different degrees in each. Now comes a terrible word, " He fhall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." God looks upon them as in his prefence, whether they look upon themfelves fo or no. And he will make them know they have to do with holy things, and that as they behave and car- ry themfelves in this ordinance, fo they are reckoned to treat the body and blood of the Lord Jefus. But as there are degrees of the unworthinefs already fpoken to, fo alfo of the guilt ; he is guilty either of profaning, or of abu- fing, or of diforderly or undue ufing, the body and blood of Chrift here fignified, according to the degree of the unworthinefs mentioned before in eating and drinking. When not onlyperfons unregenerate do partake, but come with wicked ends, or defpife the ordinance, as a common thing, without any awe of the divine prefence, it is a horrid profanation. When the ordinance is applied to other ends than thofe for which it was appointed, there is an abufe of it. When believers come with worldly frames, or are dif- orderly in their behaviours, by fleeping, or other- ways, their is a faulty guilty ufe of the body and blood of Chrift. For whatever it be in eating and drinking that is mifdone with refpe£t to the fymbols of bread and wine ; it is reckoned as done to the body and blood of Chrift. For they 1 8 Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. they are fo, by reprefentation and fignifica- tion. As he that abufes the picture of a prince, cffers an affront to the prince whofe picture it is ; fo it is as to the fymbols of Chrift's body and blood. He is guilty, (ffc. q. d. What ! don't you know Chrift is prelent ? don't you know what you are doing, that you have to do with holy things, the body and blood of Jefus, tho' not in corporal prefence, yet in the meaning and defign of the ordinance ? The relief is, if a man fin againfl the Father, there is relief in Chrift for him ; if he fin againft the Son, there is relief in the fpirit for him : but if he fin that fin againft the Holy Ghoft, there is no other to relieve him ; it remaineth therefore unpardonable. This in the text is a fin againft the Son : and theApoftle did not intend tofignify that it was any unpardonable fin. The Jews that crucified our Lord Jefus Chrift, were, almoft to the laft degree, guilty of the body and blood of the Son of God ; yet were pardoned and faved many of them. Yet I deny not, that a wicked man, coming with a wicked mind, may run upon the pikes of damnation, in profaning of this or- dinance. Therefore (faith the Apoftle) v. 28. " Let a man examine himfelf." Let him come with religion, reverence, ferioufnefs, proving his own heart, life, and ends, and approving himfelf to others who love Jefus Chrift, v. 29. " For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himfelf, not difcerning the Lord's body." The Greek word xp7/y.* fignifies judgment, pu- nifhment, chaftifement. It is ufed Luke xxiii. 40. Rom. xiii. 2. Gal. v. 10. where it is not likely Of Eating and Drinking unvjotthily. 19 likely it means eternal damnation, but punifh- ment, or fome fentence of judgment. It is alfo ufed, Luke xx. 47, Rom. iii. 8. 1 Tim. iii. 6. 2 Pet. ii. 3. where perhaps what we mean by damnation is intended, net as the precife fignifi- cation of the word ; but the context (hews, that no lefs judgment or punifhment is defigned. In the laft quoted place, as if KpT/xcf, judgment, did not fully exprefs his defign, he adds perdition, w clkoo- A«/a, which we renderdamnation. The compound word x.a]u,)tpi[j.cL fignifies law condemnation, Rom. v. 18. and is of a more rigid and forcible fignifica- tion in the verb than the fimple, Mark xvi. 16. " He that believeth not, /to'J.zfcp/QrVs')*./, (hall be damned," viz. eternally, which we /hall find alfo by-and-by in this context. I wifh our tranflators had not here rendered it damnation, which in the rigid fenfe, is fo contrary to the defign of the Apoftle. For the fimple word [damnation] is of a more horrid and affrightning found in our Engliih tongue, than the compound [condemna- tion ;] but it is the contrary in the Greek, at leaft in this context. It is therefore (as I take it) judgment either in the confeience, or on the body by affliction, or even by death, that is intended. " He that eat- eth and drinketh unworthily" fhall feel fore fcourges in his confeience, which may fometimes cut deep ; or be chaftened w 7 ith affliction and pain in his body. Which is made out, v. 30. " For this caufe many are weak and fickly among you, and many fleep." Here the Apoftle explains his own meaning. It was a church-mifcarriage and fin, and therefore God made breaches upon them, for trifling with holy things, fomething as he did upon 10 Of Eating and Drinking unworthily. upon Uzzah, 2 Sam. vi. 7. He goeth on, v. 31. If we would judge, fiiKpivowy examine, con- demn, diftinguifh ourfelves, viz. from the world, we fhould not, l^wbu^a, be judged (the fimple verb) with thofe vifitations now mentioned, v. 32. npn>bui:oi H t " But being judged," viz. after this fort, " we are chaftened of the Lord ;" God deals with us as with fons. Thus he explains the judgment, v. 29. W u) Kctl*KpiQ£u?v, " that we might not be condemned with the world," that is damned, for we know how it fhall go with the world. So that the fim- ple word [judged] and the compound [condem- ned] are plainly oppofed. ? Tis fo far then from eating and drinking damnation, v. 29. that it is, that we might not be damned with the world. God hath a gracious defign in it towards his ele£t, and towards believers, if they come unworthily. Many have been convened after their having communicated with a larger fort of chriftians at the Lord's table. Our tranflators, fomething aware that the word [damnation] was too harfh, thought good to change it, v. 34. " And if any man hunger, let him eat at home ; that ye come not together unto condemnation." It is apf^a, the fame word ufed, v. 29. I hope this may be fatisfying to fuch chriftians as have been over-much terrified with thefe words of the Apoftle ; and over- awed into a finful neg- lecSb of their duty. Thofe who do with reve- rence and godly fear, approach the Lord's table, are not concerned in thefe words of the Apoftle, as incurring the guilt of eating and drinking un- worthily. CHAP. Scriptural Meditations, &c. 21 CHAP. IV. Scriptural meditations and reflections , as they were y for the tnojl party uttered at the Lord's table. Gen. Hi. 15. u And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy feed and her feed ; it fhall bruife thy head, and thou fhalt bruife his heel. ,, LE T us view the firft gofpel, the firft promife, the firft revelation that ever was made of the fufferings of the Saviour, and redemption thereby. Here we have, I. The incarnation of Chrift. He is the wo- man's feed ; defcended from our firft parents, by lineal fucceffion, according to the flefh, as his genealogy is reckoned by Luke, chap. iii. 23 — 38. and carried up to Adam. He is one there- fore of the fame race and common nature with ourfelves. Partaker of flefh and blood, yet the feed of the woman, Jer. xxxi. 22. Luke i. 35. Gal. iv. 4. having no father of his flefh. Zanchy has well obferved, that 4 God made the firft man * immediately out of nothing ; the firft woman 4 immediately out of the man ; and all men and c women befides, by means of our parents, in * ordinary generation ; but the new man Chrift c after a new manner, of the woman/ Hence alfo he was not under Adam's covenant, not be- ing in a natural way in his loins; and therefore was not concerned in his fin, nor touched with ori- 22 Scriptural Meditations original pollution. O the wonders of Ch rift's incarnation ! and what grace was here to the woman, who was firft in the tranfgreflion ! there- fore alfo holy women, having part in the fame Saviour, do partake in the fame fymbols of his death. II. The fufferings of Chrift, ■ Thou,' O fer- pent, c fhalt bruife his heel. It alludes to a man that kills a ferpent, and doth it by treading on him, and the ferpent nibbles at and bites his heel. This was a hint, and but a hint, at the fufferings of Chrift's human nature : there was a farther revelation thereof in the facrifices quickly after inftituted. The fufferings of Chrift are confidered here onlv as they were fet on foot by the devil, and the fruit of his malice againft Chrift, John xiii. 2. v. 27. Chrift muft get a bruife in this great conflict. III. The victory and conqueft of Chrift over fatan. " It (hall bruife thy head." The wo- man's feed, O ferpent, he mall bruife thy head. The head is the feat of life. A ferpent, whofe head is bruifed and crufhed, is deiiroy'd and Id Now we are not to look upon this conflict as a (ingle duel, w r herein Chrift and fatan only are concerned. But the combat was about others : whether Chrift mould have a faved people, or the go away with all mankind. On the fficcefs therefore of this battle depended our fal- vation. It was bleifed news for many and many thoufands, Our Lord has got the day of our grand enemy. Satan in theie words is confidered as the enemy of all mankind. And many are conquerors through the conqueft obtained by our Lord Jefus. IV. and Refleftlom^ &c. 23 IV. Diftinguifhing grace, in taking a chofen feed out of the fallen race. Thefe are called her feed. Thefe words [her feed] do mean either Jefus Chrift, the primary feed of Eve ; or believ- ers, who are the feed of Chrift, and fecondary feed of the woman, being the imitators of her faith, as Dr. Arrowfmith interprets. O diftin- guifhing grace, that makes a difference between a feed and a feed, when they are all from one common root ! V. Enmity fixed between thefe two feeds. I will put enmity, or I do put (as j. and tr.) now at this time. Satan heard it, and felt it, and, I believe, the woman too. This enmity is either good and holy, on the part of Chrift and his feed ; or finful and devilifh on the part of the ferpent and his feed. As to the latter, God is faid to put it, 1. By permitting and fuffering it to be. Not by infufmg it, as a natural ; or exhorting or perfuading to it, as a moral caufe. c But not * willing fin, he willingly permits it. That is c not done befides his will that is done contrary c to his will." Aug. 2. By a providential order- ing thofe things that are the occafion of it. This refers to the exercife and a£ts of that enmity. He lays thofe things before them, which their wickednefs takes occafion at, unto greater enmity. As, that there is fuch a people, that they love God, and follow his ways, and are at enmity with fatan, and the like. I do put enmity. What if I fhould fay, it was fpoken in fatan's hearing on purpofe ? before this threatning it was envy, rather than enmity, that the devil had againft man. There was nothing done by our firft pa- rents 24 Scriptural Meditations rents to provoke fatan, in the leaft, to be their enemy. He was not fo diredtly, but as he was ail enemy to God, and fo to the image of God ; as a panther (they fay) is fuch an enemy to man, that he would tear the pi&ure of a man ; fo would the devil rend and tear the image of God in man, in his enmity againft God, John viii. 44. But does he hear that God defigns to fave man, by a promifed feed, fallen man and not fallen an- gels, and that one of this race fhould bruife his head, and that God would put an enmity ? This ftirs all the pride, envy and malice, that is in him, and draws forth the mod exprefs and expli- cit hatred againft man, as well as againft God. He will try to overturn all God's defigns of mer- cy towards man : and herein it was fulfilled in the very uttering, I do put enmity. Said and done (faith fatan,) I refufe not the challenge. I have begun the quarrel, and I will maintain it. To thy own coft, O fatan ! For, 3. God diredls and orders the whole of that enmity to his own glory, and ufeth it which way he pleafeth, to ef- fect his own defigns of grace, and to bring about the good of his people. So in their crucifying the Lord Jefus, which was the higheft effort of this enmity on the part of fatan and his feed. Farthermore, enmity in the woman promifed to be put by God, promifeth faith to her. For enmity to fatan includes faith in Chrift : and as was o'bferved before, fatan heard and felt it ; fo I believe did the woman, and under the very pro- mife, found the efficacy of it, and found that en- mity againft that bafe lyar, tempter, and mur- derer, that fhe never could forgive him. O wonderful and Reflections , &c. 25 wonderful grace to the mother of all living ! to the firfr tranfgreffor ! and the promife of enmity to her feed promifeth the like to them. Enmity in the ferpent's feed befpeaks the woful cafe of man by the fall. This enmity always has, and always will difcover itfelf, Gal. iv. 29. fo con- trary are their natures, principles and ends, that they cannot be reconciled. VI. The fpeaker, occafion, and manner of fpeaking thefe words, are all worthy of confide- ration; but thofe things muft be left to your own meditations. This was the firft breaking forth of mercy upon fallen man ; the firft revelation of that redemp- tion that is fet before us in this ordinance. Look back then to the fall of man : fin was the occa- fion of redemption, though grace was the caufe. Sin was the caufe of Chrift's fuffering, and his fufFerings the caufe of eternal falvation. O cur- fed fin ! Sin was the door to mifery and death. See man turned out of paradife. But here be- hold the covering God has provided to hide our nakednefs, Gen. iii. 21. the righteoufnefs of him, who was our facrifice. Hear our God approach- ing to guilty trembling man, in the cool of the day ! behold the early dawn of grace, and the tree of life reftored in the midft of the paradife of God ! G £ N\ 26 Scriptural Medttah Gen. iv. 4. M And the Lord had refpecl: unto Abel, and to his offering."' WE have but a fhort hiftory of Abel. We are quickly brought from his birth, v. 2. to his death, v. 8. rightly was his name called vanity, for that is the fignification of Abel. He was a godly man, his brother Cain a wicked man. Cain was the firit-born : fin is pldeft, the firft- born of fallen corrupt nature. It was not the matter of the offering, but the manner wherein Cain failed. Abel (I think) was a type of Chrift. I. In him the feed of the woman was exem- plified, Gen. iii. 15. Thefe two feeds were al- ready in the w r orld in thefe two brethren, tho' ' both one man's children, 1 John iii. 3. — 12. " Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and (lew his brother: and wherefore flew he him ? becaufe his own works were evil, and his bro- ther's righteous ;" q. d. Don't you know what was faid from the beginning, " I will put enmity, &c r" You fee how foon it wrought. Cain was one of the ferpent's feed, and fo hated his bro- ther ; but Abel was a type and an earneft of that great feed of the woman. II. Abel brought an offering, and that an ac- ceptable one to the Lord, Heb. xi. 4. " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent facrifice than Cain." So did Jefus Chrift, even the facri- fice of himfelfj a " facrifice and an offering of a » fweet and Reflections > &c. 27 fweet fmelling favour," Ephef. v. 2. a bloody facrifice, and not barely an offering* III. Abel was a righteous man, Mat. x*iii. 35. righteous Abel, So moft eminently was Je- ius Chrifl:, Mat. xxvii. 19. 1 John ii. 1. " Jefusj Chrifl: the righteous." Whole righteoufnefs jus- tifies many, Pvom. v. 19. IV. Abel himfelf was facrificed : and fo was the Lord jefus Chrifl:. God had taught our fir It parents, by inftituting of facrifices, that it mult be by death that fin muft be atoned for, and death removed : and here in the death of Abel, the righteous feed, he would teach them, it mult be by human blood, by the death of the promifed feed. Heb. xii. 24. " Ye are come — to Jefus — and to the blood of fprinkling, that fpeaks better things than Abel." So it is in the Greek, viz. than facrifie'd and flain Abel, whofe blood never* thelefs in type fpake good things. The glory of the New Teftament is this, that we are come " to the blood of fprinkling :" this is the glory of our worfhip and ordinances. Of old they had the blood of lambs, of goats, of rams, t5c. but not this blood of fprinkling. O precious, atoning, cleanfing, purifying blood ! O that we might by faith this evening keep the paffover, and the fprinkling of blood ! In this phrafe, he hath an eye to Exod. xii. 6. or that famous fprinkling of blood, Exod. xxiv. 8. or fome of the levitical cleanfings by blood. How comes he then to turn- it off to Abel ? " The blood of fprinkling that fpeaks better things than Abel, or than the blood of Abel." Truly, I think, becaufe he law Abel's murder, as violently flain by his brother, a type C 2 of 28 Scriptural Meditations of the crucifixion of our Lord Jefus, who fuffered a violent death, and was murdered by thofe who were, according to the flefh, his brethren. And this truly was not only the moll: antient inftance of fhedding of blood, but alio blood of a more excellent kind than all the legal facrifices, being the blood of a righteous perfon. But (faith he) Chrift is better than Abel, and his blood than Abel's blood, though a type of him, and fpeak- eth better things. V. God had refpe£r. to Abel, and to his offer- ing. But O the high regard he had to the of- fering of his fon ! to him and to his facrifice ! let us come forth by faith, and take a view thereof. What tongue of men or angels can fet forth that refpeft, which the Father hath always had, and hath, to the lamb flain from the foundation of the world, more early than Abel's death ? O fweet and pleafant exercife of faith ! Here let me dwell, where God dwells. Here let my foul delight itfelf, where the foul of God delights, and is well pleafed. Here let me reft, and dwell in love, where God refteth in his love to finful men. Thro' Chrift he firft accepteth the perfon, then the offering. " Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart \ for God now ac- cepteth thy works," Ecclef. ix. 7. Try by faith to keep the gofpel paflbver, by faith to eye the facrifice of Chrift, and we (hall have Abel's mer- cy, to whom the Lord had refpedr, and to his of- fering. Bring but Chrift with you in the arms of faith, and you cannot fail of acceptance with the Father, G E N. mid Reflections ) &c. 2<) Gen. vm. 20, 21. " And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, — and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. And the Lord fmelled a fweet-favour, &c." WHETHER the place where Noah builded this altar were the fame place where Cain and A,bel offered about fixteen hundred years be- fore, and where Abraham built an altar about four hundred and ten years after, to offer his only fori Ifaac, as the Jews have a tradition, is not material to determine. I very much queition both ; but let us attend other things, and fee if we can read a crucified Jefus here. This, fave that of Abel, is the moft ancient exprefs inftance of offering facrifice. And now furely there was need, if ever, of a facrifice. The wrath of God had been in a dreadful manner executed upon a finful world. Where is the firft promife ? Where is the feed of the woman ? Is there no mediator to fpeak a word for finful man ? Is there no phyfician, no balm to heal his bleeding wounds ? No atoning blood ? Will not God deftroy a rifing world, as he hath deftroy'd the world that lately was ? Thefe and a thoufand fuch> might be the arguings of the eight perfons that were left of that amazing de- luge. Try, Noah, and fee. It may be, the Lord will fmell an offering, as it is, 1 Sam. xxvu 19. It may be, he will fwear that the " waters fhall no more go over the earth," and that he will be wroth, in fuch fort, no more. Let us C 3 then 36 Scriptural Meditations then confider this whole burnt-offering in its-ty- pical relation to Chrift. I. The occafion was to atone and appeafe an offended God, who had been provoked with fin, and had juft now deftroyed a finful world for their fins. The facrifice of Jefus Chrift was to make atonement on the behalf of a preferved rem- nant, when he was angry with the world, that they might not perifh w T ith the ungodly, and that the world might be preferved for the fake of his elect, Ifa. xlvii. 6. — cc to reftore the preferved of Ifrael."" And, O my foul, art thou one of the number, as it were of the eight, out of many and many millions, and hath Chrift atoned angry juftice for thee ? " Blefs the Lord, O my foul, and all that is within me !" II. It was a blood offering which Noah of- fered upon an altar (as I fuppofe) of earth, Ex- od. xx. 24. a burnt offering wholly offered up. Chrift is the offerer, the offering, and altar. He was (as I may fay) a whole burnt-offering, of- fered in flames of wrath, on God's part, and in flames of love, on his own, a clean and finlefs facrifice without fpot. He offered himfelf, his whole foul and body, without referve. He of- fered his precious blood : and without fhedding of blood is no peace, no pardon. The Hebrew word for burnt-offerings, conftantly ufed, figni- fies afcenfions, or goings up, becaufe of the af- cenfion or goins; up of the flame and fmoke from the altar. O bleffed afcenfion and going up of a fweet favour, of atoning efficacy, from this altar ! III. It and Reflexions > &ci 3* III. It was offered up to God. For fo we read, the altar was built unto Jehovah. So waj Chrift. He that undertook for men, muft know he had to do with God. Heb. ii. 17. chap. v. I. " In things pertaining to God, to offer both gifts and facrifices for fins." chap. ix. 14. " Chrift y offered himfeff to God." And now if God will accept the offering, 'tis ail well. Hence was that prayer for him, fuitable to the Old Teftament day, the cc Lord remember all thy offerings, and turn thy burnt- facrifice to afhes, Selah," Pi a! . xx. 3. that is, accept it ; which was fignified of old by fire fent down from heaven, to confume the facrifice, Lev. ix. 24. Thou, O bleffed Je- fus ! didft prepare thy heart to draw nigh to God, and venture up into the fiery mount, when no other durft draw nigh. Thou didft undertake to hold the hands of angry juftice, or rather to re- ceive the blow, that it might not fall upon my guilty head, Jer. xxx. 21. Ifa. xxvii. 5. IV. The iffue was, " The Lord fmelled a fvveet favour." A favour of reft, Heb. in which perhaps there is fome allufion to the name of Noah, which fignifies reft. The feventy have it 0 God would give a fpecimen of that great love, that gave Chrift to die f©r us ; of that rea- dy obedience of our Lord Jefus to be made a fa- crifice ; and a lively figure of that facrifice, which- was to be offered up. He would teach the anti- ent fathers, that redemption muft be not only by blood, but by the blood of the fon of promife,, that he muft be the facrifice. Now here fee, • I. On the part of Ab-raham. 1. A lively faith,. Heb. xi. 17, 18, 19. " by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Ifaac, &c." It is not eafy to exprefs what actings of faith here were,- looking thro' the dark cloud, and eyeing the pow- er, goodnefs, and faithfulnefs of God. " Strong in faith," Rom. iv. 20. O let us feek to be chil- dren of Abraham's faith ! 2. Prevailing love. It was love to God overcoming his natural affection: to his only Son, Gen. xxii. 12. " Now I know" thou feareft God." Fear in the Old Teftament is; C 5 love? 3 4 Scriptural Meditations love in the New, Pfal. xxxi. 19. " O how great is thy.goodnefs which thou haft laid up for thofe that fear thee !" in theNewTeftament it is con- ftantly thofe that love thee, 1 Cor. ii. 9. James i. 12. by which Pfal. cxxx. 4. may be expound- ed. Such love and fuch fear are confident and concomitant. 3. Ready and chearful obedience* with great felf-denial, Gen. xxii. 1, 2, 3. Here was a trial now, " offer up thy fon, thine only fon Ifaac, for a burnt-offering." He makes all. ready, goes to the appointed place, and there goes about that great and difficult work. What man* ner of obedience was here ? Thus works wrought with his faith, and were the genuine fruit of it, James ii. 21, 22. Such faith, and fuch love, and fuch obedience, the fruit of both, become our approach to the Lord's table. II. On the part of Ifaac. Hegoes with his father to the place. "Here's the fire, and here's the wood : but where's the lamb (faith he) for a burnt- of- fering ? O tender and affe&ino; words ! Ifaac did not know, but Chrift well knew, what was de- figned concerning him. Again, when they came to the place, Ifaac fubmits to be the facrifice, yields himfelf to his father for that purpofe, who no; doubt inftructed him in the will and command of God ; and he fubmits. Nothing to the contrary appears. He was old enough to have made refill:- ance. He carried the wood for the offering, v. 6. But God fo difpofed his fpirit, that he might be a fit typeof our Lord Jefus. III. On the part of God. Here was I. His command. All was done at his order, and ac- cording thereto, as tQ time and place and every thing. andRefleoiio'nS) &c. 35 thing. So Jefus Chrift was " delivered by the determinate counfel and foreknowledge of God," Acts ii. 23. 2. His prohibition, as to the intended execution, v. 11, 12. " Lay not thy hand upon the lad." O how feafonable ! " In the mount of the Lord it (hall be feen." 3. His fubftitution of a ram into Ifaac's room. According to v. 8. " God will provide himfelf a lamb, &c." Thus God accepted a fubftitute in the room of poor finners, the holy lamb of God, when the knife of juftice was ftretched forth againft the guilty firmer ; but no fubftitute was accepted in ChrifVs ftead ; no prohibition of his death ; bleffed be God! He did not die by proxy, nor offer the blood of others, but his own blood. 4. His ap- probation hereof, v. 12, 16 — 18. God declares his acceptation, and how highly he was pleafed with this obedience of Abraham. " Now I know, thai thou feareft God. " c Knowledge is; * fometimes taken for approbation ; q. d. 1 ap- c prove this fact as a teftimony of thyTear of me, c fince thy affection to thy Ifaac is extinguifhed 4 by the more powerful flame of affection to my will and command -, I now accept thee, and c count thee a meet fubject of my choiceft bene- 4 fits.' Charnock. 5. The inftruction he in- tended hereby. 'Tis true, it was for trial. God would prove Abraham, and call him forth to be a great example to future generations : but it was alfo for great and eminent inftruction in the glorious work of redemption. And this I think, was an higher end than the former. Here we may read in type the great love of God in giving his Son, his only Son, the Son of C 6 his. 36 Scripiural Meditations his love. Do we not by this know, that he loves poor miners ? there muft be human blood, and he would provide a body for his Son. Here v/e read the great willingnefs of Chrift, the holy lamb of God, to be a propitiatory facri- fice, faying, w Lo, I come." No refifting or firuggling when he was bound, Mark xv. 8. Acts viii. 32. Here we fee him bearing his crofs, as Ifaac did the wood (John xix. 17.) and bound on the al- tar. And for the place, it was mount Moriah, where alfo our Lord was crucified. It is very -probable it was that part of Moriah, which was after called Calvary. Moriah was of fome ex- tent, Gen. xxii. 2. the land of Moriah, on one of the mountains, near to the place where the temple was after built, 2 Chron. iii. 1. God fhewed Abraham the place, precifely the place ; q. d. Here muft the great Son of promife one day die 5 here muft the great facrifice one day be of- fered up. Here fee it done in type j here fee it done by faith, John viii. 56. Here we may read the Father himfelf ftretching forth the facrificing- knife againft his Son. Nor did he hold his hand. Herein is love, that God gave his Son to be the propitiation for our fins. And now is any of them as a right-hand, or a right eye ? Let us confent to have them cut off, or plucked out. Let us learn of Abraham to of- fer all that is dear to us. Let them be crucified. Shall our dearefl Lord die ? And {hall our fins live? God forbid ! G E N* and Rep ft ions, &c. . 37 Gen. xxvii. 15. 27, 28, 29. WHEN Jacob went to obtain his father's bleffing, he comes in goodly raiment, a borrowed robe, his elder brother's, defirable raiment, that was ready for the purpofe, rai- ment of a goodly and pleafmg fmell. O here let us receive inftruc~Hon how to come to our Fa- ther for a bleffing, how to come to his table. The garment we muft come in is another's, is ready prepared, and is at hand, if faith is fo to put it on. It is our elder brother's. 'Tis precious and coftly, 'tis ornamental, 'tis infinitely pleafing to our God, and fragrant in his noftrils. Ambrofe, as I have fome where read, makes ufe of this text to fet forth imputed righteoufnefs. And if any fhall think it too harfh an interpretation, yet let them own it may fitly be ufed by v/ay of allu- lion, toilluirrate that glorious doctrine by. Jacob had alfo prepared two kids ©f the goats, fuch as were wont to be offered in facrifice. Thefe he brings to his father. It was favoury meat fuch as he loved. It is very probable in freedom and friendfhip, Jacob did alfo eat with his father. Let us alfo come to a flain Jefus, and by him to the Father. O what favoury meat is here f what food for faith ! Such a repair v/e have at the Lord's table. Thus, when the prodigal return- ed, the father faid, " Let us cat and be merry j' Luke xv. 23. in token of friendfhip, and a co- venant of peace. Divine juftice fed on Chrifr, took its fill, and was infinitely delighted with this food of the offering. So the expreffion is, Lev. in, 11. " It is the food of the offering." And .' it 38 Scriptural Meditations it is ftrangely emphatical, and repeated, v. 16,. " It is the food of the offering made by fire for a fweet favour." And he is not fpeaking of any thing that the prieft mould eat, or the people ; but of the kidneys, and the fat, &c. which was to be burnt upon the altar. This is the food of the offering : O my God ! let me fit down and feed with thee on thy dying Son. Jacob coming thus, his father will have him approach, come near and kifs him. He fpeaks with paternal love, my fon ; and particularly com- mends the fmell of his raiment, which is (faith he) as the fmell of a field which the Lord hath bleffed. Thus when we come for our father's blefiing, and come by and to a dying Jefus, and come in his raiment, I mean his righteoufnefs ; cur God w T ill make us come near him, admit us into near communion, and will embrace us. So the father of the returning prodigal fell on his neck and kifled him, Luke xv. 20. Jefus alio has his kiffes for his favourites, and O how fweet they are ! Cant. i. 2. And tho' we have nothing of our own but rags, and ftinking filthy garments, yet our father will praife his fon's robe, and fmell a fweet perfume. The blefling we fhail receive is the higheft good, the choiceft benefits, fhadowed forth by the dew of heaven, the dew of divine grace and favour. The blefiings of temporals are alio in cove- nant. All things are ours, for we have him who is heir of all ; and let Gog's enemies enjoy the pof- feflion his time, we grudge itnot. They have need enough to have what they have : it is their por* tion. Poor Efau ! thou gotft but half a bleiline; for and Reflections > Sec. 39 for Jacob was before thee. Dominion over the wicked alfo belongs to this blefling, which v the faints fhall have in the morning of the refurrec- tion. And there's a curfe on all that curfe, and a blefling on all that blefs, God's people, tho* unworthy of the leaft of his favours. Thus will our God and Father own, embrace and delight iii us here, and intitle us to the everlafting inheri- tance hereafter. Gen. xxviii. 16. God's houfe. 4C And Jacob awaked out of his fleep, and he faid, furely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not, v. 17. And he was afraid, and faid, how dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the houfe of God, and this is the gate of heaven." WE again come into the houfe of God. and fit at our father's table. It is the privilege of children fo to do. But oh ! How great a privi- lege ! How undeferved ! Nothing is fo fweet as to fee ourfelves children, in the right of our elder brother drawing nigh to our God. Shall we not be as thofe that dream, or as Jacob awaking out of fleep, and fay, " This is the gate of heaven ?" From henceforth let it be called Beth-el. A bleffed night Jacob had, almoft as ever man had, in this world, I would fay, but that there is no night in the other, in the upper world. How comfortable was that morning, whofe fpreading beams 40 Scriptural Meditations beams found his foul fo refreshed with the enjoy- ments of the night, and flill with God ! Scarce did he know who had been with him, where he had been, or what to call the place, in the joyful furprize. He recovered himfelf a little, and then he knew, " the Lord was in this place." He left a fweet fragrancy " on the handles of the lock," Song, v. 5. Even fo, my beloved, put in thy hand, and not only leave fome token thou haft been there, but open the door and come in, and dwell there for ever. Difcoveries of God leave thofe impreffions behind, which difcover whence they are. It was another kind of night our Lord once experienced ; the blackeft, darkeft, and doleful- eft night that ever the creation knew. Can we think there was joy in heaven among the angels in fuch a night, when the glorious fun of righ- teoufnefs fufTered fuch an edipfe ? And yet, O my dearefr Lord ! unlefs thou hadft known the colours of that night, and of the following day (if that were day, when darknefs.was over the whole land for three whole hours,) my foul had known the horrors of everlafting darknefs, of eternal night. Yet when he had paffed over the brock he lift up his head on high. The myftery of the incarnation, and blefled iffues of it, w r ere reprefented here to Jacob. The height of Chrift's perfon reaching to heaven, his abafement and condefcenfion in ftooping to this earth, were fet before him > alfo the joining hea- ven and earth, the blefTed reconciliation between God and man by Chrift incarnate. That fweet corumerce and communion that is eftablifhed be- twixt and Reflections > Sec. 41 twixt us, by God in the flefli. Angels and men, God and men, can now converfe together, John i. 51. u The angels of God afcending and de- fcending familiarly on the fon of man." This is the ladder Jacob faw. The afcent of prayers to God, the defcent of bleffings from God, are by this ladder. Let us afcend thereon fome fteps heaven-ward this evening. The fame myftery is to be reprefented at this time to the view of faith. If we can behold it, we fliall fay, " This is the houfe of God, this is the gate of heaven." Could we go to Beth-el, where Jacob was, we might not fee what Jacob faw : and then what would it avail us ? But here, " We fee, as in a glafs, the glory of the Lord ; and O that we may be changed into the fame image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord !" Gen. xxxvii. xxxix. xl. chapters. Jefus Chrift is our fpiritual Jofeph. I. TTE had many enemies, and thofe his own j[ brethren, and thofe of his own nation, as Jofeph had. Jofeph's brethren hated him. " The archers forely grieved him, and fhot at him." So it was with Jefus Chrift, John i. 11. and chap. vii. 5. II. He was betrayed and fold, and his death confpired, by his brethren according to the flefh, as Jofeph was. Our Lord was fold by one 42 Scriptural Meditations one of his difcinles for thirty pieces of filver. The price (faith he) " a goodly price that I was- prized at of them," Zech. xi. J2, 13. III. It was for our ranfom that he was fold. It was to redeem us to God. O bleffed defign, and bleffed effect of his death ! So Jofeph was fold for the good of his very brethren who fold him, and to preferve them and theirs alive, though they did not know it, much lefs intend it. IV. Jofeph was fir ft in a fuffexing ftate, and call: into prifon, and then advanced. He was firft caft into prifon, and then exalted to great honour. Our Lord Jefus Chrift palled through fufferings, and the prifon of the grave, to his exaltation and. glory, Luke xiv. 26. " Ought not Chrift to have fuffered thefe things, and to enter into his glory ? 1 Pet. i. 11. The fuffer- ings of Chrift, and the glory that fhould follow.'* V. Jofeph being advanced was the lord-trea- furer of all the provifions and ftores of corn in Egypt. To him they muft go for fupply, Gen. xli. 55. " Go to Jofeph." Herein he was an eminent type of the Lord Jefus. He is the lord- treafurer of all grace. And he is fo, as exalted, as advanced at the Father's right-hand, Col. i. 19. " It pleafed the Father, that in him fhould all fulnefs dwell." Go to Jefus, foul. In him is all our fupply of foul- food and fpiritual provi- fion. Thus, as Jofeph was victorious over all difficulties, and " his bow abode in ftrength," Gen. xlix. 23, 24. fo it was with Chrift, who overcame, and " fat down with the Father in his throne." VI. and Reflections ^ Sec, 43 VI. His brethren were made to fay, " We are verily guilty concerning our brother," Gen. xlii. 21. So fome of the crucifiers of our Lord Jefus were made to cry out, " What fliall we do?" Ads ii. It was well for them that ever they had a fenfe of it. O grace ! w r onderful grace to the greateft and vileft of fmners ! Who after this would ever defpair of mercy ? VII. Jofeph, after much ftrange and harfh carriage, very fweetly and affectionately made himfelf known to his brethren, faying, I am Jofeph. Our Lord Jefus fometimes feems to carry it ftrange to his chofen and ranfomed ones* He fpeaks roughly to them, as to that woman of Canaan, Mat. xv. 2'iv — 28. He would humble them, bring them to his foot, make them cry earneftly, exercife their faith and patience, and put a price upon his own favours to them. He makes them forry for a time, that their repent- ance might be true, and their joy the greater, 2 Cor. vii. 8 — 10. How fweet at laft are the difcoveries of his love ! He lets them know, that though they had wounded and grieved him, and their fins pierced him, yet it was fo ordained by God, and defigned for eternal good to them. O let us view our Lord Jefus at his table, as he who was fold for us, betrayed unto death, but not without his own knowledge and con- fent, but in the greatnefs of his love and grace to us- ward ! And let us view him in all his glorious riches, in his high advancement, and glorious fulnefs of fpiritual provifion. O let us go to our Jofeph! Here we fliall have the richeft fupplies. And 4+ Scriptural Meditations And let us fee him difcovering and making himfelf known to us in this feaft that he hath made for us his brethren. Here it is he difcovers himfelf, and is known of his " in breaking of bread," Luke xxiv. 35. let us hear him faying, as once he faid to Paul, " I am Jefus." Exod. xii. Chrift our pafTover. THE Lord Jefus Chrift himfelf is the chrif- tian paflbver. He was intended and fig- nified by the paflbver of old, and is therefore the great truth thereof, 1 Cor. v. 7. cc For even Chrift our paflbver is facrificed for us." He is fo fubftantially. Yet in a lower fenfe, and by way of reprefentation, the Lord's Supper is our pafT- over. In the nature of an ordinance this is fo ; that is, it comes in the room of the paflbver of old, and has thofe ufes and ends to us, with ad- vantage, which that had to them, though that were not properly a type of this. It was at the very time of the paflbver when this ordinance was inftituted, and not till the laft paflbver was celebrated that ever was, or could of right be kept. Now, I. The paibver was an ordinance of comme- moration. It was to commemorate their delive- rance, and coming out of Egypt. Their bond- age-ftate in Egypt was a figure of the natural condition of poor finners, their bondage to fin and and Reflexions ^ Sec. 45 and Tatar). Ifrael's bondage was very great, that their deliverance might be the greater. But O how great is our fpiritual bondage, and how mi- ferable and deplorable our condition by means thereof ! yet here lies a difference, they were fenfible of it, but poor finners are unfenfible, and do not figh by reafon of the bondage, and cry for anguifh of fpirit, as they did. Now in their deliverance, 1. There was a revelation of God in Chrift, and confequently (in fome darker manner) of the divine perfons, Exod. iii. 6. " The God of Abra- ham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Ja- cob." It was Jefus Chrift that appeared to Mo- fes in the burning bufh, Acls vii. 30. " An an- gel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fure in a bufh." Now what angel was he, who could or dare fay, " I am the God of Abraham, &c." unlefs the angel of God's prefence, the Lord Jefus Chrift ? Befides, this is the name re- vealed to Mofes, " I am that I am," Exod. iii. 14. And doth not Chrift tell us his name is I AM ? John viii. 58. 2. There was a revelation of the glorious per- fections of God. Of his wifdom. He was net at a lofs for ways to bring it about. And how did he ftill take the wife in their own crafti- nefs ? Of his power, Rom. ix. 17. — " I raifed thee up, that I might fhew my power in thee, &c." Therefore it is faid to be with an out- ftretched arm, and an high hand. All the mi- racles done in the wildernefs, and at the Red- Sea, were proofs of an Almighty power. Of his covenant faithfulnefs. It was in purfuance of 46 Scriptural Meditations of his covenant made four hundred and thirty years before to Abraham, Gal. iii. 17. This ac- count is given of it, Exod. ii. 24. " God heard their groaning, and God remembered his cove- nant with Abraham, with Ifaac, and with Ja- cob/' What though Abraham be dead long ago, and though Ifrael may have almoft forgot the covenant, or forgot to plead it, or are will- ing to ftay in Egypt ? yet (faith God) " I remem- ber, &c." There could be no higher difcovery of God's covenant' faithfulnefs than this, except that of which it was a type. Juft thus, it is by virtue of a covenant made, long before we be- lieve, with Jefus Chrift concerning us, that we are freed and delivered from fpiritual bondage : and not for any thing done by us before or at the time. God remembers his covenant with Chrift, and takes us from the devil's fnare. Again, of his goodnefs and grace. Diftinguifhing giace, electing grace. O how did he diftinguifh be- tween the Ifraelites and Egyptians ! He put re- demption between them, as in the margin, Exod. viii. 23. Juft thus alio are the redeemed of the Lord a diftinguifhed people, a chofen people. Spiritual redemption is of fuch a people. A favour not (hewn to others, but fhewn to every one to whom the covenant and promife was made in Chrift Jefus. Laftly, of hisjuftice. There was an awful difplay of hisjuftice againft his ene- mies when he faved his peculiar people. But O the wifdom, the power, the mighty hand, the out-ftretched arm, the truth, the goodnefs and awful juftice of God in our delive- rance and redemption by Jefus Chrift ! Great is his faithfulnefs ! The mid Reflections^ he. 47 The paflbver was in commemoration of that deliverance, Exod. xii. 14. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance to commemorate' our fpiritual re- demption, as it was wrought by Jefus Chrift, and our perfonal freedom by converting, calling grace, when we are called into the glorious li- berty of the fons of God. II. The paflbver was an ordinance of prefigu- ration. It prefigured the Lord Jefus Chrift a fpi- ritual redeemer. And being a remembrance of temporal redemption, it was the more apt to be a type of fpiritual. 1. The matter of the ordinance was a lamb. An innocent and harmlefs creature. With an eye to this, Chrift is called the lamb of God, John i. 29. cc Behold the lamb of God," 1 Pet. i. 19. " A lamb without fpot." 2. This lamb muft be without blemifh, Exod. xii. 5. elfe it were not a fit type of Chrift. He was without the leaft blemifh or fpot of fin, Heb. vii. 25. " Holy, harmlefs, undefiled, feparate from finners." 3. This lamb muft be taken up fome days be- fore, and foon after flain. It muft be taken up the tenth day, and killed on the evening of the fourteenth ; fo was our Lord taken up and appre- hended by divine juftice beforehand, and after- wards crucified by the hands of finful men. Or thus, he was devoted and fanclified by baptifm at about thirty years of age, Luke iii. 23. and put to death on the thirty-fourth. Thus Mr. Ma- ther on the types, 2d. edit. p. 419. c Chrift en- * tered into his public miniftry (faith he) the * thirtieth yeaf of his life, which is the tenth c thrice 48 Scriptural Meditations * thrice told, and fuffered not till the four and 4 thirtieth.' Had he not been flain, the lamb had profited us nothing. He v/as a flain lamb. To him the beafts and elders fing that long, " Thou art worthy, for thou wail flain," Rev. v. 9. And he it is who is ic in the midfi of the throne as it had been flain," ver. 6. 4. The lamb muft be roafted. This muft be the way of preparation, and not any other. To fignify, no doubt, the fire of God's anger, and heat of his wrath, which Chrifl endured for us. The wrath of God is oft compared to fire : fee Jer. iv. 4. and this Chrifl fuftained. 5, The lamb muft be eaten, and that with bit- ter herbs, and the whole of it eaten. Of thefe things I cannotTpeak particularly, only in a word. Chrifl will profit nothing, if he is not eaten. When " His flefh is meat indeed," there muft be an eating of his flefh, and drinking his blood, or w€ have no life in us, John vi. 53 — 58. And why with bitter herbs ! Perhaps to teach felf-de- nial and repentance. There muft be forrow and grief for fin, working with faith. And why the whole therefore? Exod. xii. 9, 10. Surely to teach that we muft have a whole Chrifl, even in all he is and has, and in all his offices. Chrift and his crofs. Nor would a true believer have anything lefs. 5. Every houfehold a lamb. To fignify per- haps, that the grace of the gofpel fhould go very much by houfeholds, which we find in the New Teflament, " Thou fhalt be faved, and thy houfe," Adts xvi. 31. Not thy feed, fo largely as it was with Abraham, till it becomes a nation, but and RefUfiions, &c. 49 but thy houfe. And to fignify, that Chrift would have every one to have a portion, and every one enough, and every one of his to be fiU'd with gofpel-provifion. III. The paffover was at firft inftitution an or- dinance for protection and prefervation. How- w r as that ? Why ! They muft take the blood pf the pafchal lamb, and fprinkle upon the door-pofts, &'c. v. 7. to fignify both the fhed- ding and the fprinkling of blood, even the blood of Jefus, Heb. ix. 22, Our hearts and confciences muft be fprinkled with the blood of Chrift, 1 Pet. i. 2. which is therefore called u the blood of fprinkling," Heb. xii. 24. Elfe our confciences can't be pure and clean, unlefs thus fprinkled, and fo not fafe. This blood is our fafety. Nor can any perifh w r here it is. O get under the protection of this precious blood. There the deftroying angel has no commiffion as a meffenger of death. It was therefore called the paffover, becaufe of the deftroying angel paffing over their houfes, v. 13, 23, 27. The Israelites in after paffovers might remember this protection, tho' it was only in this firft celebration it had this particular ufe. Now when Chrift is called our paffover, it means as the pafchal lamb was metonymically iu called. Chrift is the true pafchal lamb, or the truth fignifled thereby. Or, when the paff- over was an ordinance of prefiguration, Chrift and his facrifice, Chrift and his fufferings, Chrift as the food of faith, was prefigured thereby. And as it was an ordinance for protection ; fo is Jcfus Chrift. Be thou bleffed Lord, my ftrong rock, whereto I may continually refort. D The 50 Scriptural Mc&txttiym The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of repre- fentation, fetting before us thofe things which the paffover typed out, thofe good things already come. Let us view thofe things under the fym- bols of bread and wine, which thev had under the type of a roafted lamb, in the eating whereof they alfo made ufe of wine. APPENDIX. THIS laft hint may ferve to explain what we read in Luke xxii. 17 — 20. where fome may think the ftory fomewhat confufed : for he fpeaks of the cup before breaking the bread, and then again after fupper. The former was the paffover-cup. Ainfworth out of Maimony gives a large relation of the manner of celebrating the paflbver, on Exod. xii. 4 Together with the 4 pafchal lamb (faith he) they ufed to drink wine ; 4 for it was a feaft of the Lord, and a facrifice, c and therefore to be celebrated with joy, and 4 with wine, Deut. xvi. 11, 12. Numb. xv. 5. 4 They fay, every one, both of men and wo- • men, is bound to drink that night four cups of c wine without fail : and tho' he be poor — he c muft not drink lefs than thofe four cups. He 4 bleffeth God for every of thefe cups feverally, 4 and for the fourth cup he accomplifheth the 4 praife, and bleffeth for it the blefling of the , 4 feng, which is, " All thy works praife thee, * O Lord, &c." Pfal. cxlv. 10. and bleffeth God c that created the fruit of the vine, and tafteth 4 nothing at all after it all the night, except wa- < ter/ See more in Ainfworth. Let and Reflections, Sec. 51 Let me conclude with this inference. Is Chrift our true paftbver ? What have we to do with that Jewifh feaft, or the time of it, now called Eafter ? * Eafter or Aefter was the Saxon goddefs which c they facrificed unto in the month of April, « whom the Britons worfnipped by the name of c Adrafte, the fame with the Phoenician Aftarte * and the Sidonian an Afhtoreth,' i Kings xi. 5» " Afhtoreth the goddefs of the Zidonians." Gale's Court of the Gentiles, p. I. 1. I. c. 12. p. 85. 1. 2. c. 2. Here is antiquity truly, but a very bad original. Afhtoreth or Afntaroth, by leaving out the termination, becomes Afhtar. And how cafily does that become Eafter ? As to that in Acts xii. 4. " intending after Eafter to bring him forth, &c." It is in the Greek (*.{}& to trc/vya., after the paftbver. And it might as well have been rendered Eafter through the New Tefta- ment, as here. The dreadful diffention that happened in the church fo early as in the fecond century about the time of celebrating Eafter was doubtlefs a juft rebuke upon them all for their judaizing in this point. Vidtor, bifhop of Rome, excommunicated the Eaftern churches, for keep- ing Eafter at the fame time the Jews did ; where- as the Romans in remembrance of ChriiFs refur- redtion, did obferve the firft Sunday after the full moon of March. This was about the year 198. Eufeb. 1. 5. c. 25., 26. There is an excellent and large teftimony of Socrates Scholaiticus, 1. 5, c. 22. againft the obfervation of this feaft. There would have been no contention about obfervin-r the Jewifh feaft of pafTover, had thev (cqii in clear gofpel-light, that Jefus Chrift is our paftbver. D 2 Exod. 53 • Scripiwa! Meditations E xod. xxiv. The glory of the God of Ifrael. THE God of glory appeared to Mofes, Aa- ron, and Abihu, with feventy of the el- ders of Ifrael. He appeared in glory, yet not as an abfolute God, but as the God of Ifrael, v. 10. " And they faw the God of Ifrael, and there were under his feet as it were a paved work of a fapphire-ftone, and as it were the body of hea- ven in its clearnefs," ver. 16. " And the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, " — ver. 17. ** And the fight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount." If ever any thing were great, majeftic, and fur- prifing, it is what we have in thefe verfes. It was' (I conceive with Mr. Pool in his annotations) an appearance of Chrift, the man Chrift, as an ef- fay and pledge of his future incarnation, not in meannefs and abafement, but having his robes of glory on, cloathed with honour and majefty, co- vered with light as with a garment. Lo ! This is the God of Ifrael, the angel that fpake ta him [to Mofes] in the mount Sinai. " Thy throne, O God," O eternal Son of God ! " is for ever and ever." What a blefled fight v/ill it be for glo- rified eyes to behold a glorified Redeemer ! Here obferve, I. The time of this appearance : it was the time of dedicating the firft covenant or teftament, and of very folemn facrificing in order thereto. Read v. 1. to the 8th inclufive : which the Apoftle quotes, Heb. ix. 18, 19, 20, 21, end RefiefliotiS) &c. 53 21, 22. where he concludes, " Almoft all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without fhedding of blood there is no remiilion." And which the prophet feems to have an eye upon, Zach. ix. 11. when he faith, " By the blood of thy covenant, &c." In that firft teftament there was the covenant, and the blood of it \ fo there is in the new. But, pray don't think that firft covenant wasacovenant of works. You can have no right thoughts of thefe things, if you take it fo. It matters not much whether you call it the Old Teftament, or a typical covenant of grace, or the former edition of the covenant of grace, or a church covenant between God and Ifrael, or an adminiftration of the covenant of grace in order to a church- ftate and relation ; or fuch-like. But, to conceive of it as a covenant of works, is grofs and abfurd, and confounds the whole fyftem of the Old Teftament. II. The mildnefs and grace of this appearance : for this covenant, and the blood of it, were ty- pical of the New Teftament, and the blood of it, Heb. ix. 15, 16, 17, 18. "Whereupon, nei- ther the firft teftament was dedicated without blood 5" q. d. feeing this was a type of that, it was meet it fhould not, Exod. xxiv. If. " And upon the nobles of the children of Ifrael he laid not his hand : alio they faw God, and did eat and drink :" they faw him, as the God of Ifrael, appearing in grace and favour to a very finful people. Here v/as majefty, and yet mercy ; glo- ry, and yet grace : he keeps his awful diftance, and yet lets them come near. When he appears as a confuming fire, yet he is Ifrael 's God. Juf- tice is reconcilable, yea, reconciled with mercy. D 3 To 54 Scriptural Meditations To this text the Apoftle has refpecl, Heb. xii. 29. 44 For our God is a confuming fire." He don't fay, an abfolute God, or God out of Chriil, tho' that is true indeed : but he faith, our God, or as it is in the text, the God of Ifrael. It comes in as an argument with believers, that they fhould have grace, to ferve God acceptably, with reve- rence, and godly fear ; as Mofes and Aaron would worfhip Ifrael's God, when they were un- der his eye, and faw his glory. Yea, our God even Jefus Chrift, is a confuming fire; 1. In re- fpecl of majefry, brightnefs and glory. For fuch was this reprefentation here. 2. In refpecl of juftice. When he comes as the great eternal judge, fo Chriftlefs finners will find him. But the reprefentation here was mild and merciful, tho' majeftic and glorious. O how gracious is he, in the day of his grace and mercy ! But kifs the Son left he be angry, fcfV. By this alfo may the prophet (Ifa. xxxiii. 14, 15.) be expounded : 44 Who among us (hall dwell with the devouring fire ? — with everlafting burnings ?" With that God which is as a confuming fire ? Not hypocrites and Chriftlefs ones. If they cannot bear the prefence of. his glory and majefty, how can thev bear the prefence of his holinefs and juftice ? The anfwer follows, he that walk- eth righteoufiy, and fpeaketh uprightly. To them all this glory fhall be familiar, and they fhall be able to endure his prefence. O thou God of Ifrael ! when thou wilt fnew me thy glory ai eioathed with majefty, let me fee thee cloathed with mercy. If I behold thee as a qonfum fire, let me fee juftice alfo mine, and I will not fear to draw near unto thee, Deut. iv. 20, and 24. The and RefleftionS} &c. 55 The appearances of God of old were vifible : that difpenfation was more % carnal. We are rea- dy to wifh for fuch appearances of God again ; it is becaufe we are carnal. If we have an eye of faith to fee the God of Ifrael withal, we need not fuch appearances, till Jefus comes in the clouds of heaven. " Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you ;" fo fpake Mofes on that folemn day, when " he took the blood and fprinkled it on the people." Here now in this folemnity is the New Teftament, and the blood of that teftament reprefented. We are pointed to that time, when it was dedicated by the Redeemer's blood. And now, let us eye that blood as the blood of the covenant. I fay, this evening, behold the blood of the covenant. The teftament is founded on it, dedicated by it, and all the bleilings thereof purchafed thereby. O precious blood ! O let me be within the reach of fome drops of this faving blood ! O let me have a part in the teftator's death, in his New Tefta- ment, and the blood wherewith it is ratified, and the bleffings given as legacies therein, and I de- iire no more. Thus drawing near to God in the new covenant by the Mediator's blood, we (hall fee, we {hall hear, and converfe with 'Ifrael's God : but fee all calm around him ; a clear and peaceable fky, c; the body of heaven in its clearnefs." You fee him as a confuming fire in the facrifice of Chrift, fee his glory and majefty : yet he will not lay his hand upon you \ his hand of juftice has been on Chrift. You may fee God, and eat and drink. D 4 Such 5 6 Scriptural Meditations Such a time was that when the great facrifice was offered, and a greater than this in the text. Such a time is this, if we have faith to fee it, and our God will make it fo ; a covenanting time, and of fprinkling of blood, and of drawing near to Gcd, and of feeing the God of Ifrael as a confuming fire, yet a reconciled God. Exod. xxv. 8, 9, 21, 22. " And let them make me a fandluary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I fhew thee, after the pattern of the ta- bernacle, — fo fhall ye make it, ver. 21, 22. And thou {halt put the mercy- feat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou {halt put the tefti- mony, that I (hull give thee, and there I v/ill meet w 7 ith thee, and I will commune with thee, from above the mercy-feat, fcc." CHRIST is the fanctuary, he is the ark, and he is the mercy-feat. He is the fano tuary or holy place of God's abode. Nor would cur God dwell with men, with finful men, if he had not found this dwelling-place. He is the true tabernacle, Heb. viii. 2. John i. 14. Pfal. Ixviii. 18. " Thou haft received gifts for men [Heb. in the man] that the Lord God might dwell" [viz. in him, and fo in them.] This true tabernacle was reared, that I may dwell (faith God) with them. O blefled defign ! hence it is that God dwells with men on earth. And end 'Refie Tiiom^ &c. 57 And here is an anfwer to that pofing queftion of Solomon, u Will God indeed dwell with men on earth :" It ceafes to be a wonder, or rather ' the myftery is difclofed, when God has reared a tabernacle, prepared a body for Jefus Chrift, and dwelleth in the man. For now he goes on, and dwells in every faint as his temple, in every church as his houie, John xiv. 23. Ephef. ii, 22. till all is fwailowed up in the New Jerusa- lem glory, when " the tabernacle of God /hall be with men, and he will dwell with them, and they {hall be his people, and God himfelf (hall be with them, and be their God." In this ordinance we fee an incarnate Jefus, and are led to confider the great gift of the Fa- ther, the great love of God in fending his Son, and Chrifl's taking our flefn. Again, there was the ark of the covenant. A type too of the human nature of Chrift in the meannefs of his outward condition : but when the ark made of wood was overlaid with gold, it figured the excellency and glory of Chrift's per- fon, the worth and dignity of the man in union with God. And when the c6venant (viz. the ten commandments) was kept in the ark, it ty- pified, that in Chrift the law was kept, and al- together fulfilled. O fee the law kept in the ark of the covenant ! And when it was (o y it is through him that God is a God in covenant. The ark was the moft jfacred utenfil in- the taber- nacle. Now this was placed between the che- rubims, and above upon it was the mercy-feat, which was the covering of the ark, and there- fore the covering of the lav/, to hide the threat- P 5 enirig 5 8 Scriptural Meditations ening and curfe thereof from the eye of God, who fat upon that mercy-feat. O glorious reprefentation ! God upon a mercy- feat ! So we view him at the Lord's table. Chrift is the propitiatory or mercy-feat, the propitiation for our fins, the covering that hides them, and the curfe due to them by the law. Thus, when the law is kept in Chrift, and the curfe removed, then God is propitious and merciful to guilty fin- ners, and then he will meet his people, and blefs them, he will commune with them from that mercy-feat. This ordinance is the great fclemnity where we may believe 2nd hope to meet with God, and where he will come and hold communion with us, and manifeft himfelf unto us, as from his mercy-feat, through the atonement of the blood of Chrift. CONCLUSION. IS Chrift the true tabernacle, in whom that type was fulfilled ? Then we have done with tabernacles and places under the gofpel. Places for the worfhip of God, convenient and necef- fary to the worfhippers, but not to him whom we worfhip, we blefs God for; efpeciallywe have reafon to do fo, when they were fo lately threatened to be demolilhed, by thofe whofe rage and fury God hath now reftrained. But thefe houfes (I will not fay, houfes of God, but houfes for God's worftiip) were not typified by that of ok'. Nor had the tabernacle or temple (which was one, and but one at one time) any ' refpeft and Reflexions , Sec. 59 refpeci unto or refemblance with places for wor- fhip, under the gofpel. The relative holinefs of thole places (which is all they challenge) was a type of the real holinefs of Jefus Chrifl, and perhaps of the church of Chrifl, I mean, his people, in whom he dwells : but not of any re- lative holinefs in meeting-places. The taberna- cle was holy, becaufe God faid, " This is the houfe, and this is the place, where I will be worfhipped." But this he hath not faid of any place whatfoever, fince the definition of the fe- cond temple ; but rather the contrary, that there fhould be altogether no difference of place under the gofpel. Remarkable were the prophecies of the Old Teflament to this purpoie, Ifa. Ixvi. 1. " Thus faith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footflool : where is the houfe ye build unto -me ? And where is the place of my reft ? ; ' What houfe can ye build fuitahle to my Majefly r Or that can be a dwell- ing for me who fill heaven and earth ? No mate- rial temple will do, v. 2. " For all thofe things hath mine hand made, and all thofe things have been, faith the Lord : but to this man will I Icok that is poor, &c." You can bring no ma- terials but what my hand hath made, what then can Rich a building be to me ? Befides, thofe things have been, viz. a tabernacle and temple built to my name, they have been, but are no more in requefl ; for it is a prophecy of the gof- pel-day, as all that goes before, and that follows after, (hews. But now my dwelling fhall be in true believers hearts, thofe living temples. Thus in effecl: Stephen expounds this place, in juftifying himfelf againfl that charge, that he D 6 had 6o Scriptural Meditations had faid, " Jefus of Nazareth (hall deftroy this place, and fhall change the cuftoms that Mofes delivered us," Ac"ts vi. 14. I lay, he quotes this of Ifaiah with a remarkable preface concern- ing the tabernacle and temple, Acts vii. 46, 47, 48, 49, 50. And taxeth them as " ftifF- necked, and uncircumcifed in heart and ears," for refut- ing the defign of God in the gofpel, v. 51. And as the temple was to come to its end ; fo all temple-worfhip (ftridtly fpeaking) was to ceafe. As it follows, Ifa. lxvi. 3. that text does not mean, that hypocritical formal worfhippers are thus abominable to God, even in attending on ordinances of his own appointment (though that be -true) but that temple-worfhip fhould altoge- ther ceafe ; fo that " killing an ox is as flaying a man, facrificing a lamb as cutting off a dog's neck, &c." yet the poor ftubborn Jews chofe their own ways (as it follows) in worfnipping of God according to Mofes's law, in oppofition to gofpel-worfhip. See alio Mai. i. 11. a very full text, and clearly prophefying of the gofpel-day. And in the New Teftament, Mat. xviii. 20. John iv. 20 — 24. 1 Tim. ii. 8. Of old the place was a part of the worfhip, being fanctified by his command, and the fym- bols of his prefence. As with refpecl: to time, holy time is a part of the worfhip ; fuch is the Lord's-day : other time that is common may be for holy work, but adds nothing to the worfhip, nor is a part of it : fo, fome place may be for holy ufe, but is not therefore holy. Under the gofpel, no difference is made of place at all. And without a divine defignation, nothing can make any place relatively holy. The fpiritual prefence and Reflections > Sec. 61 of God docs not do it ; for then every place were holy where a believer has communion with God. But fome miraculous appearance of God, as to Mofesin the bum, Exod. iii. 5. which did, pro tempore, make that place holy : and the abode of the vifible fymbols of his prefence fixed by divine appointment to any place. But it fs time to difmifs this point. See a learned, weighty, and not unaccurate difcourfe thereon, viz. Mr. Jenkin's afternoon fermon, preached Auguft 17, 1662. printed in the collection cf farewel fer- mons, preached about that time. To conclud?, let us adore our Lord Jefus Chrift as the true ta- bernacle, and fee that our hearts be the living temples of the Holy Ghoft, Ifa. Ivii. 15. Ephef. ii. 22. It matters not where this ordinance is ce- lebrated, fo we have the prefence of our bleiled Jefus with us. Lev. ix. 6, 22, 23, 24. u And Mofes faid, This is the thing v/hich the Lord commanded, that ye (hould do ; and the glory of the Lord mall appear unto you, v. 23. — And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people, v. 24. And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and confumed upon the altar the burnt- offering, and the fat : which when all the people faw, they fhouted., and fell on their faces." THOUGH facriilcing was a folemn part of the worfhip commanded at mount Si- nai, yet it was much more ancient^ as we have feen 62 Scriptural Meditation; feen in the practice of godly Noah prefently af- ter the flood, and cf righteous Abel long before that ; which (hews, that it was an institution from the beginning. So was Chi ill the lamb (lain (in type as well as in promife) from the foundation of the world. But now, offering of facrifice being defigned by God to be one of the moft folemn ordinances of his worfhip, till Chrift, the great facrifice, fhould be offered up, he ordained a priefthood to ferve continually at the altar. This was the work of Aaron and his fons. Their confecration unto this office we had chap. viii. and their entrance upon the difcharge of it in this chapter, which God would honour by a difplay of his own glory. This they muft prepare for, according to divine direction, v. 6, j. Though the difplay s of Gcd's k glory are fove- reign and free, yet they are ordinarily vouchsafed to his people waiting on him in a way of duty. They that have (kill will read this in tfiofe New Teftament Scriptures, John xiv. 23. chap. xv. 16. Great enjoyments of God are experienced in a w 7 ay of clofe walking with God^ and keep- ing his commandments. Here was a folemn worfliipping of God in this chapter, both by a fin- offering, and burnt- offering, both for Aaron, and for the people, v. 8. and 18. Thefe things they were to do, and had the promife of feeing the glory of God. Out of this chapter we might ftate, and very much fettle cur difputes about thofe things that are called conditions of the covenant. Do you be found in the way of duty, do fo and fo, faith God j " for to-day the Lord will appear unto you." and Reflections, &c. 63 you." That's his purpofe, and that he pro- mifeth, and it is propofed in a way of encourage- ment. Well, but " this is the thing that ye fhall do, and the glory of the Lord fhall appear unto you," v. 6. Here it is propofed as it wero in a conditional way. In this way you may ex- pect it, and cannot, and mail not, have it in another. On this ground many fpeak of du- ties as conditions. But you fee it was firft pur- pofed and promifed freely ; and the duty required was, if any, conditio conditionati, a condition pro- mifed by God, or undertaken for by him. So what is required becomes a part of the covenant, and therefore cannot properly be a condition of it. Let conditions then veil to free promife, and free grace, in which they are all fwallowed up. And let us not too eagerly ftrive about words, but fee if we can agree about things. Well ! Thefe duties they waited upon God in : and w 7 hat then did Ifrael wait upon God for at the conclufion of this folemnity ? 1. The bleffing of Mofes the mediator, and of Aaron the high-prieft. For the office of the prieft was not only to offer facrifice for atonement, but alfo to blefs the people. See 1 Chron. xxiii. 13. — " And to blefs in his name for ever." The form of bleffing ufed by the prieft was excellent. You have it in Numb. vi. 24. — 27. 2. They waited for a vifible manifeftation of God's glory. 3. A vifible token of his acceptance of their offering and w r orfhip. And all thefe they enjoyed. Hence they were filled with joy, and holy reverence. * V , * ,, *? < 'J' 'J' 'J' '+* V 'J' 'J* V " 5 J 1 ' >' ''? V' *** ■ : J*" J f'" l !r' V 'J' V*'*' 'J* > + < V *+* '♦' T *J* '♦* V ' V" CHAP. I. 7fo glorious perfections of God difplayed in Chrift. JHTji^p^ E R E let us come and confider how p$ tt ^ all the glorious perfections of God $5^ ^ are manifefted and magnified in Jefus ^JF^gjHc Chrift, and the redemption of poor finners by him. The being of God is written in legible characters in every part of the creation, and feen in the confervation and government of this world : but would men have farther proof of it ? He fends his Son down from heaven to earth, to afilire us, not only " that he is, but that ^2 The glorious Perfections of that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feck him ; that he was and is in Jefus Chrift recon- ciling the world to himfelf." And he that will- not believe this testimony of the Son of God, deferves to pcrifli in his unbelief. But now let us view the perfections of the divine nature. I. The wifdom of God. The constitution of the glorious perfon of the Redeemer, as God man, is the amazing effect of infinite divine wifdom. In him heaven and earth, God and man, do meet, and make one perfon. Offended and of- fending natures are united in fweeteft concord, the pledge and way of our reconciliation with God. This is therefore reckoned as the great myftery of the gofpel, i Tim. iii. 16. " God manifeft in the flefh." But this point is admi- rably handled by Dr. Owen, in his difcourfe of the perfon of Chrift ; to which I refer the reader. And again, the falvation of the Church by Chrift is a wonderful difplay of divine wifdom. Here mercy and juftice are brought to a reconci- liation, both their pleas are fully heard, and both fhine forth in all their brightness. A furety ftood in the place of finners, obeyed and died in their ftead, fatisfied the offended juftice of God, re- deemed us by his blood, juftified us by his righ- teoufnefs : this is that new and living way, which only infinite wifdom could think of, or contrive. How many and deep are the myfteries of the gofpel ! And in all of them the wifdom of God is made known in a furprifing manner, Ephef. iii. 8 — 10. JLL The power of God. If we confider the works of creation, thofe works that men behold, there Gcd displayed in Chrifl. 73 there he appears in wonderful difplays of power, u his eternal power and Godhead/' Rom. i. 20. In all the parts of the creation, we fee the glory, and Almighty arm, of the great Creator. But when we are about to fpeak of the joyful found, we will fay, " r Fhou haft a mighty aim : ftrong is~thy hand, and high is thy right-hand, Pfitl, Ixxxix. 13. This power is ken in our redemption by Jefus Chrift. M For who can fave with an arm like God?" Job xl. g, 14. Ifa. lxiii. 1. In forgiving fin. " For who is a God like unto thee, that par- doneft iniquity i" Dens fort is par tibi \ J. and T. In regeneration and converfion, according to the power that raifed up Chrift from the dead, Ephef. i. 19, 20. And in raifing up the faints at the laft day. Finally, in anew creation. For, "behold, he maketh all things new," Rev. xxi. 5. Thus to reftore what fin had ruined ; to repair what was marred by the fall ; to overcome himfelf, the refentments of his juftice \ and to bring good out of evil : thefe are works worthy of himfelf ; in thefe he acts like Gcd, and fliews the exceeding greatnefs of his power. IIL The holinefs of God. He is an holy God : but the image of his holinefs could only be im- preffed on reasonable creatures. Wherefore that could not be learned by, nor feen in any of the creatures throughout this lower creation, but in man only- And when man had finned, what reprefentation can be made of his holinefs, by any creature bearing his image in this lower world ? In Jefus Chrift we fee it, in his perfonal holinefs^ and in laving poor fallen man unto ho- E linefs, 74 The glorious Perfections of linefs, and in a holy way. 'Tis true, he appears a holy God in punifhing finners, and might have done fo in the deftruction of all the world, when all had finned. But he would be known to be iuch in faving of finners : now this could not be in abfolute pardon and forgivenefs ; but in for- giving fo, that his hatred might appear againft iin, and indignation againft all unrightecufnefs ; and that the holinefs of the law might be exem- plified in a perfect obedience ; and the image of God in holinefs reftored to thofe who are faved. Nov/ all thefe are fo wonderfully accomplifhed in the Lord Jcfus Chriftj that we go forth and behold the infinite holinefs of God in brighter characters and colours, than 'twas difplayed in the firft creation, or could have been in the eter- nal perdition of all w T ho finned. IV. The juftice of God. As the purity of his nature, fo his infinite juftice with refpecl to His law, mines forth in Chrift. Vindicative juf- tice in the fuffering of Chrift. Remunerative juftice in rewarding his obedience, with the fal- vation of all the elect. 'Tis true, he might have glorified his juftice in the everlafting punifhment of all the offenders. But as there is a manifold wifdom of God, fo there is an admirable and pleafing variety in his works, wherein he dis- plays himfelf and his perfections. Nor doth his juftice fo fully and clearly fhine forth in the fuf- ferings of the damned, who are eternal victims thereunto, as in the fufferings of his innocent, beloved and only-begotten Son. " Him hath God fet forth to be a propitiation" — to (hew his juftice (as it maybe rendered) Rom. iii. 25, 26. , Which God difplayed in CbrijL j$ Which text Luther was fo terrified with, in the time of his fouI-confli£h, pitching on thofe words, To {hew his juftice, that three days and three nights together he lay upon his bed, with- out meat, drink, or any fleep (as fome write) thinking Chrift to be lent to no other end but to fhew forth God's juftice as an executor of the law : till 2X length being fatisfied by the Lord of the true meaning, viz. that the juftice of God was executed upon his Son, to fave us from the ftroke thereof; he immediately thereupon ftarted up from his bed, fo confirmed in faith, that no- thing afterwards could appall him. Preface to his commentary on the Galatians, Englifli. O what a light of the gofpel was let into his foul with this one truth ! Gad {hewed forth his juftice in the fufTerings of Chrift, that he might be juft, and a juftiner. Here he is ajuft God and a Sa- viour. If he would be ajuft God, how {hall he be a Saviour ? If he would be a Saviour, how fhall he be a jmt God ? Thefe are fweedy recon- ciled in Chrift. V. The goodnefs of God. This is difplayed in all the forms of love, mercy, „ and grace. i. Love. It was love chofe a number in Chrift before the world was. Free, felf-moving, eter- nal love, that had no motive out of himfelf. Love ordained Chrift as an head, above the fail ; and gave him to be a Saviour of the body upon the view of the fall. Here that of the Apoftle is difplayed, " God is love :" which fp:aks ibme- thing fo great, fo bright, fo furprizing, that no comment or expoiition can ever reach. In him- felf he is love, and in his Son this fhines forth. E 2 " God y6 The glorious Perfections of €C God is love." It is a theme worthy of the difcourfe of angels and glorified fpirits above, and the fubje£t of their eternal fongs. 2. Mercy. Mercy is love and goodnefs in a peculiar manner of exetcife, viz. in a way of pity, companion and kindnefs to the miferable. Poor tinners lay weltering in their blood and bleeding to death, in a periihing, dying, damning condition : and God was pleafed to look with an eye of pity upon d. remnant of them, and to provide a Sa- viour. Thofe who find themfelves raifed from the ruins of the fall, from a deplorable and mi- serable (late of fin and fpiritual death, and from going down to the pit, will cry out, Mercy, mercy ! c < God who is rich in mercy, for his great love — hath quickened us," Ephef. ii. Infinite love fet this mercy at work. 3. Grace. This is the higheft exaltation of love and goodnefs. Mercy looks upon the miferable ; but grace overcomes all unworthinefs and ill defert. However wretch- ed and finful, rebellious and obftinate, the (inner hath been, it is refolved to fave him, and doth fave him, with a right-hand, Rom. v. 15. " The grace of God, and gift by grace, by one man Jefus Chrift, hath abounded unto many," v. 17. 44 They who receive abundance of grace," he means the grace of God to us- ward, they who have experienced the abundant goings forth and fruits of his grace, (hall reign in life, &c. Alio v. 20, 21. Now this love, mercy, and grace, is the love, mercy, and grace of three in one, which alfo endears it. The fountain of it is in God, but the dreams flow through jefus Chrift. VI. The truth of God. How is this magni- fied and manifefted in the Lord Jefus ! The truth of God difplayed in Cbri/i. 77 of the precept, which fays, thou fhalt obey, and do this and the other, for life and happinefs ; and thou fhalt not do fo and fo. Where is the truth of God, if finners are faved without the fulfilment of this law of God in all the precepts of it ? If any abatement is made, that doth not fecure his truth, but infringes it. How came men then to make bold with the truth of God, and talk of his condefcending to our finful weaknefs by a milder law ? But in the perfect active obedience of Chrift this is fecured. Again, the truth of the threatening, M Dying, thou fhalt die :" which had not been fecured, if man had been faved of abfolute mercy and forgive- nefs. But it took place in Chrift, in that bleifed exchange between him and us, Laftly, The truth of the promifes, both in the covenant pf works, and of grace, is "dilplayed in our Lord Jefus Chrift, Rom. xv. 8. So that now, when God's people are no longer called by the name of Abraham, or Jews from Judah ; but by a new name, viz. Chriftians from Chrift ; we adore and praife the God of truth, we blefs ourfelves in the God of truth, and fwear (that is, per- form all our worfhip) to and by the God of truth, Ifa. Ixv. 16. Heb. In God Amen, and by God Amen, him who is the Amen, " the true and faithful witnefs," Hev. iii. 14. In whom all the promifes of God are not only Yea, but Amen, that is, are fecured, and faithfully and eternally fulfilled. Now, not only thefe attributes, as confidered fingly and apart, but in mutual afpecls upon each other, in wonderful harmony, and furprizing 1 7 8 The Ends cf this Or dim agreement, do ihine forth in an obeying, dying jefus, Pfal. Jxxxv. 10, n. and Pfal. lxxxix. 14. Thefe things are not only fit, but ought to be the fubjecr. of our mediation, when we come to the Lord's table. CHAP. II. The ends of this ordinance. COnfider we in the next place, what are the ends of this inflitution and ordinance of Ctlrift. And I wifh that all believers would ac- quaint themfelves with thefe. How fhall we aright celebrate any ordinance, if we don't con- fider the ends of the inflitution ? They are there- fore thefe that follow : I. To keep up a memorial in the world, and in our hearts, of the fufferings and death of Chrift. Such an event, fo great in itfelf, in its caufes, ends, and effects, as is never to be for- gotten. This is held forth in thofe words [in remembrance of me.] A remembrance ought to be kept up in the world, which is done in fuch a folemnity before all that fee or hear it. " Ye fhew forth the Lord's death." And alfa in our hearts, which we fhould Air up to a re- membrance of Chrifr. He remembered us in his fir ft coming. And will remember us " when he comes in his kingdom." And fhall we not hnve an effecting remembrance of him r His fuf- ferings were for US'. O ! let us keep up the me- morial of them. II. To *Ilje Ends of this Ordinance* ~g ' II. To be a pledge of the love of Chrift, and a confirmation of our intcreft in the new cove- nant, and the bleffings of it. Love fhone in every action of Chrift's life : and in his paftion, in that curfed death he died. His love is alfo feen in this very ordinance, which therefore ought to be taken as a pledge of his love. Its alfo a feal of the covenant. This blood is " the blood of the New Teftament, and was fhed for the remiffion of fins." We are to eye the re- miffion of fins purchafed by the blood of Chrift, given in the new covenant, fealed as well as fig- nified in this ordinance. And Chrift would have us take it home to ourfelves. Broken for you, fhed for you, and alfo for many : for many now in heaven ; and for many other believers in other places, as well a c ; for you who are here ; and for many fouls yet to be convened in the virtue of that blood. III. To convey Chrift in the foul, and exhibit the bleffings fignified, as a blefied means or in* ftrument for that end ; and not an empty fign. " Take, eat, drink, &c." Take Chrift and all. Eat the bread, and eat the body of Chrift. Drink the wine, and drink the blood of Chrift. Don't take up fhort of this. All its efficacy in- deed it has from the inftitution of Chrift. It would be ufelefs and unprofitable, if it were not of his appointment. Nor has it by his inftitu- tion any phyfical efficiency, nor is it a proper caufe of grace. The Scripture afcribes no effec- tive force to the facraments, diftinct from effica- cious obfignation or fealing. All its efficacy is moral, as the famous Witfius has accurately dif- E 4 puted 8o The Ends of this Ordinance. puted and cleared, Mij'cel Sacr. ton. alt. Extra t. 19. Be Efficacia & Utilitate Baptijrm\ &c. But when the Lord's Supper is an ordinance of Chrift's appointment, together with the figns he doth give the things fignihed, in the believing ufe of this ordinance ; and the believer in the ufe of it has communion with Chrift himfelf, who gives himfelf to be received by faith in the Lord's Supper, as a means of his own appointment. IV. To ftir up and draw out grace into exer- cife. To give a frefli occafion to the exercife of repentance, and godly forrow, upon the fight of the fmfulnefs of fin, the juftice of God, his ha- tred of fin in the fufferings of Chrift. To draw out faith on Chrift, while that glorious object is fet before us, in his abafement and death. And that by faith we might derive ftrength from Chrift for the mortifying and fubduing of fin ; that fo we mishit be in the likenefs of his death, and conformed to a crucified Jefus. To excite fome fuitable actings of love to Chrift under the re- prefentations and difcoveries of Chrift's love, that thus it might be a feaft of love, and a feaft of joy, a feaft of fat things to a poor believer. For while there are outgoings from Chrift to the foul, and goings forth of the foul to him, Chrift doth fup with us, and v/e with him. V. To be a bond of the communion of faints here, and reprefentation and pledge of the fame hereafter. We are all one bread, one body, and drink into one fpirit. It is for many, and there- fore muft be in a fociety. They have all com- munion with one Lord Redeemer, by one Lord the Spirit, and communion with one another \\\ this Of the Sufferings of Chrift. 8 1 this ordinance. They alfo fit down as thofe who are to fit together in his kingdom. There will be many to drink it new with him at his fecond coming. You fee how Chrift gives to ail his dif- ciples, to every one a portion. And for them he prepares the marriage- fupper of the lamb. O what feaft will be then ! VI. To gather in our wandering hearts from fin and the world, and engage them afrefti for Chrift. How apt are ye to wander ! But O the engagements that are upori us from time to time ever to admire, ever to praife, ever to love our Lord Jefus ! But of thefe more particularly, and at large. CHAP. III. Of the fujferings of Chrift. I. T T is to keep up a memorial of ChrifPs fitf- JL ferings and death. It muft, it (hall, and will be remembered till time fhall be no more. 'Tis about 1728 years ago fince he died upon the crofs ; but frill his death ought to be as precious as ever ! 'Tis as much needed as ever ; and is as full of efficacy and power as ever. It is the fame to God the Father, of as fweet a favour, and ought to be as precious to all that believe. la the virtue thereof are we the called of God ; and. thereby do hope for falvation. We are then to confider whofe death it was ; what manner of death 3 what made it necellary E 5 for $2 Of the Sufferings of Chrift for him to die ; whence it had its efficacy; for whom he died ; and for what ; or what he ob- tained thereby. Qucft. i.'Whofe death it was? Anf. The Lord's death. So it is called, i Cor. xi. 26. " The Lord's death ;" that great and glorious Lord. O how affecting , and even over-whelm- ing, a confideration is this ! Jefus the Son of God was he who died : not in the divine nature^ for that could not fuffer ; but in a natur ehetook on purpofe, wherein he was like his brethren, and near allied to them. O gracious and merci- ful Lord ! thy grace and mercy moved thee to it. He died who was and is the Lord of all, the Lord of glory, the Lord of life. O wonderful, that he fhould die ! He died who is our Lord, John xx. 13. It was this affected Mary : his garden.'' M i: D I T A t i o n XL THIS ordinance is not a facrihce, as thepa- pifts hold ; but it is a commemoration, a tepiefentatioiij and memorial, of the true and great Meditations* 1 1 5 great facrifice. It fignifies that that Sacrifice is offer'd whereof believers do partake ; for " they who eat of the facrifice, do partake of the altar," 1 Cor. x. 18. It is a feaft upon., and after, facri- fice ; fignifying that God is at peace with us, and that Chrifr, is the food of our fouls. Now here we make a covenant with God by facrifice, or over the facrifice : and it is, Pfal. 1. 5. " Ga- ther my faints together unto me ; thofe that have made a covenant with me by facrifice." Thus Abram muft divide the facrifice ; to fignify God's part, and Abranvs part, Gen. xv. 9, 10. when the Lord would make a covenant with him, v. 18. Not that the whole nature of this ordinance con- fifis in covenanting ; nor that this is the main and principal work, to make vows or refolves. The fpiritual chriftian knows, that the difcharge of this duty chiefly lies in difcerning the Lord's bo- dy, and remembring-of Jefus Chrifl, viz. his fufferings and love j and that therein there is a right and acceptable performance, though there is no fuch thing as a vow or refolve at all. Yet the blood reprefented here is the blood of the co- venant ; and the Lord's Supper is a feal, and therefore a confirmation of the covenant between God and the believer. And fo often as we do this, he faith, It is my people ; and we fay, the Lord is our God : therefore we will not live to ourfelves, nor to the will of the flefh, but to God. Hence there is a very folemn engagement laid upon us from the very nature of the ordi- nance ; and what we do virtually fay therein, it is not amifs to fpeak exprefly in the inward lift- ings up of our hearts to God. And fometimes we Il6 Meditations. we may open our mouths to the Lord in particu- lar cafes j fomething like that of Jacob, " If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, fo that I come again to my father's houfe in peace, and if the Lord fhaM be my God \ then this ftone, which I have fet for a pillar, (hall be God's houfe \ and of all that thou {halt give me, I furely give the tenth unto thee." So I would render it ; and, I am fure, as agreeable to the Hebrew. And truly, without a vow, I believe the. tenth of our fuh- ftance is due to religious and charitable ufes ; which needs not hinder the affignment of a lar- ger portion. Again, we may fay, Lord if thou wilt be my God, and will do me good indeed, and wilt give ability of body, and of mind, I will ferve thee with my time, with my gifts, with my health and ftrength ; all fhall be thine : but be not rafh in vowing, neither defer to pay that which thou haft vowed to the moft high, Ecclef. v. 2, 4. Pfal. 1. 14. We come this evening, 1, To renew the re- membrance of Chrift's love, and of his fuffer- ings ; which are commenfurate, both being infi- nite; and therein to renew the adtings of faith, love, repentance, &c. 2. To renew the cove- nant of efpoufals, the marriage covenant with Chrift, afrefh, by giving up ourfelves to him, and receiving him to be ours : as on the day when Chrift v/as willing, and we were willing ; when he took hold of us, and enabled us to take hold of him, in a covenant never to be forgotten. 3. To renew our engagements againft fin ; to caft Meditations. 1 1 7 cafl off other lovers : which follows of courfe upon our engaging to be the Lord's. Meditation XII. URE, " this is the houfe of God;" fure, " this is the gate of heaven !" fo fpake in- fpiXed Jacob, when he wak'd in a fweet furprize at Beth-el. O my foul, are not thefe the bor- ders oflreaven ? Are we not not come to the land of Beulah, from whence w r e behold fome fhinings of the celeftial city ? As Bunyan, in his Pilgrim's Progrefs, almoft divinely defcribes it. O ! one would think our fouls fhould be tranf- ported, and almqil ready to leave thefe clods of earth, thefe poor bodies, and cleave to thofe higher things which we h^re converfe with. c But, alas ! 'tis otherwife : I would do good but c evil is prefent with me : I try to fly, but my wings 4 ftick faft in bird-lime : I mount up a little, but 4 fomefatal clog plucks me back to this earth again. c Alas ! how low, how vain, how trifling, are 4 my frames ! How little have I found, how little * have I enjoyed ! I came with large expectations, * but met with little or nothing : and how poorly 6 have I done all that I have done ! Will not my * my Lord be angry ?' — So mourns the poor be- liever many times 3 and fuch complaints have I more than heard. But be not quite difcouraged : thy Lord, when " he tells the wanderings, puts thy tears into his bottle," Pfal. Ivi. 8. Thou mourneft his abfence, becaufe thou loveft his pre- fence ; nor canft thou give over feeking, till thou findeft him whom thy foul loveth. The enjoyments of the difciples themfelves, perhaps, were not extraordinary, when Chrifl himfelf fat with Ii8 Meditations. with them at his table. And as on another ccca- iion, fo he could then apologize for them \ and fo for us, when we can but juft fay, or fcarce fay, for ourfelves, " The Spirit truly is willing; but the flefh is weak." We ought not, indeed, to indulge ourfelves in low and trifling frames ; but, in obedience to ChrifFs command, we are to do this in remembrance of him. He would have his children keep up the remembrance of his death, till he come again. If they cannot as they would ; yet they ought as they fhall be en- abled. Then " why art thou caft down, O my foul ! and why art thou difquieted within mc ;" Dolt thou not find a remedy in this ordinance, even for what thou complained of ; even blood to heal thee, and to wafh away thy fins ; and the remiflion, as of other, fo of the fins of thy holy things ? Thine Aaron bears the iniquities of thy holy things himfelf ; and, on his mitre, wears, " Holinefs to Jehovah," that thou mighteft be accepted. Then " hope in God ; for I (ball yet praife him." O blefled be God for Jefus Cfarift ! Medi TAT I O N XIII. IT is written, " And thefe are antient things :" fpeaking of " the potters, and thofe that dwelt among plants and hedges : there they dwelt with the king for his work," i Chron. iv. 22, 23. My brethren, we dwell in the houfe of God ; and are fed at a high and noble rate. We " dwell with the king for his work ;" and 'tis no fmall honour. But how truly may we fay, fcC thefe are antient things !" The antient things of God, the Father's love, and the Son's love ? " whofe goings Meditations. 119 goings forth were from of old, from everlafting." The antient things of eternal purpofes, and de- figns of grace, and a covenant of grace before worlds : thofe " chief things of the antient moun- tains, thofe precious things of the everlafting hills." The antient things revealed by God well nigh fix thoufand years ago, on the day of man's firft obedience. The ancient things of Chrift's coming into the world, obedience, and death, feventeen hundred years ago. Thefe are called over, and fet forth in this ordinance. Some are greatly delighted with antiquity. And I dare fay, it is a pleafant exercife of faith to thee, O believer, when thou canft view thek antient things : yet thefe antient things never wax old, or decay ; but will be always frefh and new, even when this ordinance fhall wax old, and vanifh away. To the end of time, and endlefs ages of eternity, will thefe eternal things endure. Do we not fee the things of eternal love look- ing and flowing down this day upon us ? Welcorre is the time that had fuch an afpect upon a paft eternity, in the openings of that eternal love, and reprefentations of glorious performances, contrived, defigned, and agreed upon, before all time ? Do we not fee that antient love looking down upon this evening, as a time appointed for the efficacy and manifeftations of it ? O the riches of electing love ! Lift up the eye of faith, and fee your u names written in the lamb's book of life," and rejoice exceedingly. Do we not fee the openings, and as it were the dawning, of an endlefs day of glory upon us, now when the eye-lids of the evening are about to be clofed ? So 120 Afeditations. So fiiall it be when the day of time is ended. Welcome is the time that hath fuch a profpect upon a coming eternity ; that gives the pledges, and comfortable foretades, of eternal joys. We are hardly reconciled to electing, and particular redeeming grace, without fome comfortable hope of intereit in them. And is not this made out by our calling into the fellowfhip of the gofpel, if we have fellowfhip with Chrift ? O let us from hence look back to that day of our efpoufals, that accepted time and day of falvation, when redemp- tion took hold of us ! O that we fhould be of the few taken out of the vaft number ! Out of tht myriads and millions of Adam's pofierity ! That we fnould be waflied with that blood, when God might take where he pleafed ! O Grace ! Grace ! Are we invited to " the marriage fupper of the lamb ?" For, u bleffed are they that are called thereunto," Rev. xix. 9. Let us look upon this fupper as the earned thereof. Meditation XIV. WAS it love in Chrid that he wafhed his difciples feet ! O what love to waft us from our fins ! To waft our filthy polluted fouls ! The former was with the cheap element of wa- ter y the latter was with blood, yea, at the dear expence of his own precious blood ; not with the blood of bulls or goats, nor with the blood of others, but with his own : M He came by blood and water." And, having wafted us, he puts that quedion, '* Know ye what I have done to you," or, for you ? Sit down, and confider, paufe upon it. He puts that quedion now unto us, John Meditations. 1 21 John xifi. 12. O what indeed ! Who knows, who can fay, what he hath done for us ? To commend the love of Chrift, do but lock upon him in his fhining robes, with beams of glory, Matth. xvii. when " his face did fhine as the fun, and his raiment was white as the light-" And then look upon him in the garden, and on the crofs. Compare thefe together. Is this the fame glorious Jefus ? In the one, you fee fub- lime glory and majefty ; in the other, deep abafe- ment and humiliation. O might we, by faith, fee him in the depth of his Humiliation:, and height of his exaltation, as white and ruddy, what a glorious fight were this ! The vifion of him is the happinefs of the innumerable compa- ny of angels, and fpirits of juft men made per- fect. And to fee and enjoy him, is the comfort and fweet of sail communion in the church here below. He is hid to be " glorious, when he is red in his apparel ; and his garments as 1 one that treadeth in the wine-vat," Ifa. lxiii. I, 2. This is the moft glorious difcovery of himfelf, or view, that we can have of him in this prefent ftate, Phil. ii. 6 — 8. Let us follow him from mount Tabor (if it were Tabor where he was transfi- gured] to Gethfemane, and" mount Calvary. He took the fame difciples, Peter, James, and John, to be the witnelies both of his glory on the mount, and of his agonies in the garden, Matth. xvii. i. chap. xxvi. 37. To teach us, that thefe mult come into a clofe compare, who he was, and what he fuiFered : we fee the love of the whole Trinity in what is held forth in this fo- jemniry. Let us tafte and admire the love of Three in One. G M e d 1- 122 Meditations. Meditation XV. X OOK we back from hence, and take a I _j view of what was wrought in the garden of Eden by our firft parents : how we were turn- ed out from the tree of life into a wide world, and loft our original happinefs ; and what a damning ftate we were left in by the firft Adam, and lay in, as in him. And here let us take a view of what was wrought in the garden of Gethfemane : " As it is faid in the book of the wars of the Lord, what he did in the Red-Sea, and in the brooks of Aaron, &c." Numb. xxi. 14. O but let it be for ever recorded what he did near mount Olivet, at the ftream of the brook of Kidron : how a fecond Adam regained Para- dife, ran upon the point of the flaming fword, and recovered the tree of life. Henceforth {hall thofe cherubims unarmed ftand, and look down with wonder into the mercy-feat : the firft Adam finned, the fecond Adam futtered in a garden. Hence let us view mount Sinai, and fee it pa- cified from mount Calvary : how ftreams of pre- cious blood afiwage the flame of that fiery mount, and filence the thunders of Ebal ; pronouncing blefled, blefled, louder than ever curfed, curfed, was uttered from thence. Come and fee the print of the nails in the hands, and the feet, of our Jefus : and then take a view of mount Zion, the heavenly Jerufalem, the blefled ftate we are fet in, the blefled inheritance we are heirs to, thro* the blood of Jefus. Beth-lehem, where our Lord was born, fig- nifies the houfe of bread. How rightly was it fo Meditations. 12$ fo called, where he who was the bread of life firft appeared ! " And thou Beth-lehem, in the land of Judah, art not the leaft among the princes of Judah, &c." In this ordinance we are led to confider the incarnation of Jefus Chrift : " God manifeft in the flefh," in the language of the Apo- ftle, comprehends all he did, and all he fuffered in the flefh ; even God obeying, God dying in the flefh. For it follows, jufrihed in the Spirit, which intends his re fur reel: ion. O may the houfe of God be the houfe of bread to us at this time, and may we be led to an incarnate Jefus ! Nazareth, where he was brought up, fignifies that he was to be, and was, a Nazarite unto God, Matth. ii. 23. Now a Nazarite was " fe- parate unto the Lord, Numb. vi. 2. " Holy un- to the Lord," ver. 8. How lofty are the words of dying Jacob concerning his beloved Jofeph, Gen. xlix. 26. " Bleflings — fhall be on the head of Jofeph, and on the crown of the head of him who was feparate from his brethren/' Herein he was a type of our Lord Jefus Chri(r, who was wholly feparate to God, to do the will of him that tent him, and was holy unto the Lord all his days. He lived the greateft part of his life (as is probable) at Nazareth. The whole courfe of his life was a ftate of feparation ; and his life, as well as his death, defigned and fet apart for our juftification. Calvary, where he was crucified, fignifies the place of fkulls. He that was the bread of life to others, mud come into the ftate of death him- felf. And he who v/as feparated to obedience all his life, muft be numbered among the dead. G 2 Now 124 Meditations. Now let us follow him from Beth-lehem to Na- zareth, and from Nazareth to Golgotha, and fee the wonders of his birth, and life, and death, wonders of power and grace in all that he hath done and fuffered for us. Meditation XVI. THIS ordinance is to fet forth the fufferings of Jefus Chrifr, " to fhew forth his death." The withdrawings of God from him were pro- perly penal ; and how great forrow and grief muft they needs occafion ! No man can judge hereof, but he that knows the fweetnefs of com- munion with God ; he that, with Paul, has been taken up into the third heavens, and heard unutterable words, or hath been with him in the mount, as Peter, James, and John were. Should God withdraw his light and love from a glorified faint ; what bitternefs, what darknefs and for- row, muft it bring upon him ! How much more on him who lay in the Father's bofom, and was always his delight, who knew the joys of hea- ven, whofe life was wrapped up in his Father's love, and who enjoyed unfpeakable delight, in communion with God, while on earth ? He ne- ver forfeited his Father's love : it was therefore the punifhment he underwent for our fakes. But it was more ftill to feel his Father's wrath, and bear the forrows of hell in his foul. This made him cry out, " My foul is exceeding forrowful, even unto death." This made him fweat great 4C drops of blood falling to the ground," and made him cry out, " My God, my God, &c." See Pfal. Meditations, 125 Pfal. xxii. 1, 2, 14, 15. The fufferings of his body were great, but not comparable to the inex- preflible for rows of his foul. And (hall not my foul be afflicted and mourn, when I contemplate thefe things ? It is faid, that they were wont to talk at their facrifices of old of the future fufferings of the Meffias. Thev had fome glimmerings of his day, and of his death, I am apt to think, as many as favingly believed. The faints above had heard the report of it among them, and two of them came down (perhaps it was) on the top of the mount Tabor, and talked of it there.) For " they appeared in glory, and fpake of his de- ceafe, that he fhould accornplifh at Jsrufalem," Luke ix. 31. And fhall not we talk of his fuffer- irigs at his Supper ? " jRy his (tripes we are healed". For " he hath torn" [the flefh of his Son]; " and he wiil heal us" [finners] : " He hath fmitten" [him], " and he will bind us up." This I think is the mean- ing of Hof. vi. 1. O therefore, " come, and let us return unto the Lord." He hath not caft us off, though we have finned. M After two days will he revive us, and the third day will he raife us up, and we fhall live in his fight," v. 2. viz. Myftically, in the refurrection of Jefus Chrift, in whom we were raifed as a common perfon : and fpi ritual ly : for after defertion, and his hiding himfelf, there will come a reviving time. When Chrift faid [broken for you] and [fhed for you] thefe words [for you] fignify, that we were the offenders, and were to have died, and G 3 de- 126 Meditations. deferved to have been broken for fin, by the wrath of God, and to have had our blood fpilt by angry juftice ; but Chrift was broken in our ftead, and his blood fpilt for ours. And let us think what manner of love that was ! The Jews could fee no glory in his humiliation. There was a " hiding of faces from him, or from us," as it is in the margin according to the Hebrew, Ifa. liii. 3. Chrift hid his face from them. He concealed his glory, by the veil of his flefh, and by his humbled ftate ; and they hid their faces from him, by a ftrange and furly carriage. O this hiding of faces ! How awful is the one ! and how finful is the other ! God Lord ! hide not thy face, thy glory from my foul ; left I do as the Jews did, hide my face from thee by damning unbelief. Meditation XVII. THE fufferings of Jefus Chrift call for our attention and admiration. The firft Adam finned, the fecond Adam fuffered. We finned and deferved hell : Chrift fuffered and purchafed heaven. Now when the fufferings of Chrift are the fubjecl: of our meditation, here are two great things to be confidered ; fin the caufe on our part, and love the caufe oil Chrift's part, of all his fufferings. And could we have a fpiritual view of both thefe, how fweetly would it affeCc us ! They would confpire together to melt the heart. A mere presenting our bodies, and the bare outward performance, " this is not to eat the Lord's Supper," 1 Cor. xi. 20. Nay, tho' there Meditations* 12 J there be an applying of the natural faculties, fo that there be an hiftorical remembrance of Chrift in his fufferings, which lies within the power of na- ture \ " this is not fpiritually to eat the Lord's Supper :" but to get a fight of fin, the caufe of Chrift's fufferings, and a fight of the love of Chrift therein ; " this is to eat the Lord's Sup- per." And this is given from above. Let us fee all our fins before converfion, fins fince converfion, and fince we were laft at this table, gathered together, and laid upon our fa- crifice. Let us fee by faith the whole account cleared, the debt-book crofted, the bond can- celled, and ail difcharged to this day. Let us feek the death of fin when we converfe with the death of Chrift. It was his enemy, and is our enemy * therefore it (hall die, and not live ; thefe crucifiers of our Lord fhall be crucified alfo. What are we come for to this table ? Is it be- caufe we would fee the King in his beauty ? Here is the moft affe£ting fight of him. Would we fain fee, admire, and believe his love to our own fouls ? Here it is reprefented, and fet forth, in a lively manner. Would we fee the price of re- demption ? Here it is fet before us. And yet it is all nothing, and (in a manner) but common bread and drink, if Chrift reveal not himfelf in the ordinance by the figns : ** We feek him, but we find him not." God complained of his people of old, faying, " Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmind- ful, and haft forgotten God that formed thee," Deut. xxxii. 18. compare Ifa. xvii. 10. In this ordinance the Lord Jefus, knowing how apt we G 4 are 128 Meditations. are to forget his great love, would ftir up tfcn rninds of his people, and put them in remem- brance. The 70th pfalm is entitled a pfalm to bring to remembrance. And this is an ordinance to that end : " This do in remembrance of me." Remember me your Lord, your hufband, your Saviour : remember my humbled ftate, my ago- nies, my bloody death and paffion, and my love in all ; not with an hiftorical remembrance only, but with a fpiritual affectionate remembrance. It has not been unufual for nations to keep days of remembrance for national deliverances. Lo ! here a memorial of the greateft deliverance that God himfelf hath ever wrought ! Meditation XVIII. J r TERE we may fee what fin hath done, and ["jL whas grace hath done, what fin hath done with refpect to ourfelves, and with refpecT: to Chrifr. Let us look upon ourfelves, and con- fider what we are by nature : how fin hath deba- sed us, what havock it hath made with our fouls, what diforder and enmity, what defilement and impotency, what darknefs and death, what loft- nefs and mifery it hath brought upon us ! How hardly are we reclaimed from the worft of finful evil ! O how juftly we had deferved, and how near we were to going down t.o the pit of hell ! But Jefus our Lord hath loved our fouls from that horrible pit. As Hezekiah fpake, " Thou haft loved my foul (Mifhfhahhath) from the pit of corruption." Let us admiring fay, bleffed Je- fus ! Thou haft loved our fouls from the pit of helL Meditations. X2Q hell. We may fee what fin hath done to our dear Lord Jefus. What abafement, what trou- ble, what reproach, what pain, and how many deaths, it procured to him, to make an end of fin. For " he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich (Bemothaiv, in mortibus ejus* Arias Mont.) in his deaths* It was fin that crowned him with thorns, that pierced, crucified, and flew him. O abominable evil ! On the other hand, we may fee here what grace hath done. How it hath taken advantage of fin and mifery to fhine the brighter, and mag- nify itfelf the more ; grace found the ranfom, grace provided it, grace accepted it. All the wonderful things in our redemption were wrought by grace. " Where fin abounded, grace hath much more abounded." The Grace of the Fa- ther, and of the Son, and of the Spirit. Let the loud cry of grace, grace, fill all the churches here below as it will be fure to fill the heavenly courts above for ever and ever. It is a very high privilege and honour that we are partakers of. Do we confider what it is to be feparated from the world by election, by re- demption, by calling, in communion, indefires, in privileges, in comforts, in hopes ? What man- ner of favour and dignity ! We are planted in God's houfe, we are fed at his table, and have more in reverfion than in pofTeffion (2 Sam. ix* 10.) " This honour have all the faints." Now let us improve this ordinance according to the feveral cafes of our fouls. Do we walk in the dark about the love of Chrift ? Here let us perfuade our fouls of his love, while he is giving- G 5 us 130 Meditations. us the pledges of it. Are our hearts hard and Jifelefs f Let us look and look again, on this broken Jefus : furely, dying love can foften them. Have we the aflurance and joy of faith ? Let us come and give vent to our holy joy, by holding *i feaft to the Lord. Me d 1 tat 1 o n XIX. LET us look upon ourfelves as children at our Father's table. And herein is his love, that the provifion that he makes is the flefli and blood of his own Son. How infinitely dear and delightful Chrift was to the Father, paffeth all expreflion. Herein then is love, that he gave up him for us, and gives us him to feed upon. O how rich and glorious is the Father's love ! And Chrift is that wifdom of God who cc hath furnifhed her table, mingled her wine," and in- viteth, faying, u Come eat of the bread that I have prepared, and drink of the cup that I have mingled.'* Herein is his love, that he gives us his flefli to eat, and his blood to drink ; and, at the expence of his blood, hath procured, that we fhould come to our Father's table. Thro' him the prodigal is again admitted. We come in the right of our elder brother. But are we hungry, are we thirfty, now we come to this feaft ? O what appetites do we bring ? Elfe we (hall flight the heavenly dainties, and count it light bread. What is food to one that hath no appetite ? Do we come with longings, and ftrong defires after Chrift ? " The great fhepherd" takes care of his fheep, ai;d puts them into Meditations. 131 into frefh paftures. Let us eat, and be fatisfied, Jet us drink and be drunken, with divine loves, (Cant. v. 1.) Take heed of a felf-fulnefs : fuch fee no need of Chrift. He loves that fouls come needy and hungry : M He fills the hungry with good things, but the rich he fends empty away," ' Luke i. 53. And as it is a mercy to have cor- poreal food, and a mercy to have an appetite thereto, and to be enabled to receive and digeft it ; io it is in fpiritual things. - Every fabbath is a prize put into our hand ; every ordinance is a high favour wherein we en- joy our God : thefe are our ordinary meals. Bleffed be God for them ! But every fuch time as this is a feaft, wherein our God doth provide and furnifh his table, at a more than ordinary rate. It is true, you have the fame provifion you had laft time. We have no warrant to alter it ; that would not mend, but mar it. A crucified Jefus is a {landing difh, if I may with reverence fpeak fo. Feed, O my foul, upon thofe dainties, which fhall always be new to thee. We have the fame food again and again prepared for our bodies ; and yet we count it no wearinefs ; but as often as there is an appetite, it is as fweet as ever; we need it as much, and feed as heartily : fo if you do but come hungry, and feed on Chrift, you will not fay, it is light bread ; you will find new delights, new re frefh ments, in a dying Je- fus. Were we invited this day to the palace and table of fome nobleman, or to a feaft by an earthly prince ; what manner of thoughts ihould we have of it ! what an honour fliould we efteem G 6 it, 1 32 Meditations. it, and admire the condefcenfion of the inviter ! Should we not look for great entertainment ? Should we not have many thoughts, how to be- 1 have and carry ourfelves, in the prefence of an earthly king ? But we are invited into the houfes, and to the table of the great King, who is " King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. O what an ho- nour is this ! What entertainment may we ex- pert ! And how ought we to behave and demean ourfelves ! We are ftrangers and pilgrims paffing through this world to a city of habitation. . The houfe of God is our victualling- houfe by the way, which he hath erected on purpofe, for the refrefhment of pilgrims. His ordinances' are for that end, O let us look upon ourfelves as pilgrims, as fo- journers (fo all our fathers were ;) and this as our houfe of refrefhment. But what entertain- ment have we ? The manna was called angel's food (Pfal. lxxviii. 25.) becaufe if it might be thought that angels did need corporeal food, this might be thought fit for them, and fuited to their natures, even this bread from heaven, John vi. 31. But " Mofes gave them not that bread from heaven ; but Chrift's Father giveth us the true bread from heaven ; for the bread of God is he, who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world, ver. 32, 33. Do we not all eat of this fpiritual bread, and drink of this rock, &c." Is this to be entertained like pilgrims ? Would not a fervant's place have done ? But muft we have the place of fons ? Would not a beggar's pittance have fufficed ? But muft we be fo nobly treated, even as kings and priefts ? And not only be brought to Meditations. 133 to heaven at laft, but have fome foretaftes, and walk upon the borders of heaven, long before we arrive there ? Med 1 tat 1 on XX. THE Lord's Supper is an ordinance of re- prefentation on Chrift's part, being of his inititution ; and therefore of commemoration on ours. Of exhibition on God's part ; and there- fore for reception on ours, of Chrift and his bene- fits. Of obfignation on God's part, fealing his children ; and fhould therefore be a confirmation to our faith. It is a feal of God's covenant ; and a renewal of ours. We commemorate this evening our Lord's celebration of the paffover, and his inftitution of his fupper, with his difciples. We commemo- rate that night in which he was betrayed, and all the terrors of that never to be forgotten night. " It is a night to be much obferved to the Lord for bringing us out, not from Egypt, but from fpiritual bondage : this is that night of the Lord to be obferved of all the fpiritual Ifrael, in their generations." That I may allude to Exod, xii. 42. it is a night to be remembred, not in an annual way, that is always too low for the gof- pel, but every day, and efpecially every Lord's day. It was this night he went to that place, where his enemies rnuft find him ; yea, where divine juftice muft find him, and did find and apprehend him. We commemorate his conflict and conqueft the following day, which was alfo turned into night, while he hung upon the tree, by 134 Meditations. ^by that preternatural eclipfe of the fun, and : greater eclipfe of a greater and more glorious fun. That the innocency of Chrift might appear, God fo ordered it, that his judge, before whom he was accufed, acquitted him, and ftill infifted upon it, that he was a righteous perfon, Mat. xxvii. 24. And at laft, the accufation written, and fet over his head, was no other than that fa- mous one, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. What accufation was this ? Nay how great and high a title ! Let us therefore view him in the garden, and apply this title, THIS 13 JESUS, &c. Yea, let us come to Golgotha, fee him on the crofs, with this title and fuperfcription, " This is Jefus the king of the Jews ;" that is to fay, the Saviour, the promifed Meffiah. Yea, let that be the infcription, THIS IS THE SON OF GOD, according to that famous confeffion of his before Pilate, I AM THE SON OF GOD, Mat. xxvii. 43. Are we not come forth, at this time to fee him, to fee Jefus our king and Saviour? Are wecome to fee that fight ? Lukexxiii. 48. O aftonifhing fight ! But let us not fo look upon his abafement, as to overlook his exaltation. He is arifen, he is a reigning Jefus : he was a dying, but is a living Redeemer. " Go tell my brethren (faith he, after he was rifen,) that they go into Galilee, and there lh^ll they fee me." Whither would not a believer go for a fight of Jefus ? No doubt they will fpeed away to Galilee. It is worth while to go to this and the other or- dinance, to travel many miles to a fermon, to fee Jefus. Many have gone, and not been dif- ap- Meditations. 135 appointed. " We fee Jefus — crowned with glo- ry and honour." He fitteth at God's right hand, and hath pro- mifed his children fhall fit down with him, Mat. xix. 28. Rev. iii. 21. In token hereof, he allow- eth us to fit down atliis table. Some oppofe the fitting pofture ; others reckon it an indifferent thing. To me it doth not feem fo : we have the practice of Chrift and his Apoftles to juftify it, who ufed a table-pofture ; and it is of a fweet and comfortable fignification ; it teacheth us the freedom our God admits us to, in a holy boldiiefs and accefs unto him. And by faith we are to fee ourfelves already tc fit down with Chrift in heavenly places," Eph. ii. 6. and that we fhall one day fit down with him in his kingdom. This ordinance is appointed for the increafe of our faith, and ftrengthening of our fouls : wherein God is condefcending to our great weaknefs (fee- ing we are fuch poor fenfible creatures) to fpeak to our very fenfes ; that we might fee, with our eyes, Jefus Chrift himfelf evidently fet forth as crucified ; and hear, with our ears, his gracious voice, bidding us, eat, and welcome ; that we might tafte his love when we tafte the bread ; that when we perceive the favour of the wine, we might fmell the favour of his good ointments. O what a divine and precious fragrancy ! that we might feel and handle the word of life, (1 John i. 1.) when we take the bread and the cup. Thus doth Chrift fpeak to our fenfes in this holy ordinance. Nor let us forget the advice of God himfelf to Samuel, when he fent him to anoint David, ^i Sam. 136 Meditations, 1 Sam. xvi. 7. " Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his ftature : — for the Lord feeth not as a man feeth, &c." Don't look on the meannefs of the elements, which may feem contemptible to the eye of fenfe. What is a mouthful of bread, and a little portion of wine ? The worfhip of the temple was more magnificent than the worfhip of the New Teftament. Men are for pomp in the place, and pomp in the wor- fhip. But fee the meannefs and fimplicity of the gofpel ; a little bread and wine. Nor do we read of ulverdim.es, or golden chalices : I fufpecl our Saviour ufed none of them. Men would make up with fhew, what they want of faith. Let us try if we can fee the greatnefs of the thing fig- nified, under the meannefs of thefe figures and reprefentations \ if we can fatisfy ourfelves in converfe with an humble Jefus, fet forth in an humble manner to our faith. Meditation XXI. WE come to view the price of redemption, how great it is ! Our God hath put re- demption betwixt us and others ; as it is, Exod* viii. 23. margin. Now redemption fuppofeth captivity and mifery redeemed from : O let us confider what we are redeemed from ; who hath redeemed us -> and what price we are redeemed with. Not any thing of a fmall value, but with a price of greater value than heaven and earth ; with blood of greater worth than the blood of the whole creation, of angels, and of men, if I may fo fpeak. We want nothing but faith in ft, and Meditations. 137 and a fcnie of it, to fwallow us up with admira- tion, aftonifhment, and praise. Ought the peo- ple of Ifrael not to neglect keeping the paffover, becaufe it was a commemoration of fo great a deliverance as that of Egypt ? And (hall believers neglecT: celebrating the memorial of a far greater deliverance ? And were they at the celebration thereof to talk of the occafion ? Exod. xii. 26, 27. And fhall not our thoughts be filled, and our admiration raifed, at the thoughts of redemption from fpiritual and eternal bondage ? This was the relief of a finning Ifraelite ; he might bring a facrifice ; he might come to the prieft to make atonement for him. But this is our relief; we may come, by frefh applications, to this facrifice of Chrifl. We have finned fince we were laft at this table. Let us not ftand the farther off; we have the more need to come to him, who is our altar, prieft, and facrifice. Now herein is the grace of God : Sacrifices of old were at the colt of the offender -> but this great one facrifice is provided at the coft of him who was offended, wherein he provideth for his own Satisfaction. God might have held us to provide an offering, to bring our facrifice : but O, then, how fad had been our cafe ! Bleffed be God, who hath provided himfelf a lamb. This is our fin-offering, our trefpafs-offering, our burnt-ofTering, our peace-offering, and all. Nor need we any other. " Lo I come (faith he) to do thy will," that is, to be a facrifice. Let us offer it up to God in the eye of faith. This love of Jeilis Chrift is like the box of precious oint- ment a which, when it was broken up, filled all the 138 Meditations. the houfe with odour. Such is thy love to us, O blefTed Jefus ! Such is thy people's love to thee, though not with the like reafon. Sin made a great and wide breach between God and us ; and Chrift undertook to make it up. He is here fet forth as a peace-maker. It was his great defign to reconcile God to man, and man to God. Not that God needed our friend- fhip, but we needed his. He was not firft in the breach, but he was firft in the reconciliation. Sin made the breach ; let us for ever hate it. Chrift made it up ; let us for ever love him. Love has done all for us. Love gives us our daily bread, and daily cares for us : but love provided the bread and water of life. Love gave the bullocks out of the herd, and fheep out of the fold ; but love gave the immaculate Lamb of God. Do we not admire God in our table-mer- cies ? How he gives his good creatures for us, the poor lambs, and calves, and oxen, finlefs, harmlefs creatures, which is more than we are ? Truly, we are very unthankful, if we do not. But what mail we fay, when the flefh and blood of Chrift is fet before us, as the food of our fouls ? When Chrift, the Son of God, gave his life a ranfom for many ? O how precious is life ! Every one of us valueth his life at more than all the world. Therefore a man will give all for his life. Of what ineftimable value then was the life of Jefus Chrift, who was the prince of life, the Lord, the fountain of life ? How ought we to account of it ! It was more than ten thou- sand worlds, if there had been fo many. This was the price of our redemption. He gave his life. Love can rife no higher. Medi- Meditations* 1 39 Meditation XXII. IT is the blood of the teftament that is repre- fented here, even as it feals and confirms the teftament. For a teftament is of force after men are dead, not before, Heb. ix. 17. Let us look upon ourfelves as legatees of the great teftator, our Lord Jefus. O let us view by faith the New Teftament fealed with blood, and the teftator's love therein. Let us be receiving and taking in his legacies, which he has bequeathed to us. Thefe are his love-tokens, the gifts of a dying Jefus. And he lives to be the executor of his own teftament, which no other ever did. So that the legacies of him that died, are the prefents of him that lives. Bleffed Jefus ! how many endearments are there in thy love ! " I perceive (faid he) that virtue has gone out from me." It is fo ftill. Virtue from Chrift in heaven can reach the foul here on earth. And