The Revival of Grace, Introduction
The Introduction.
Reader,
I will for once ſuppoſe thou art able on thy own view of theſe words, and their context to diſcern what Chriſt is treating of; how he inſtituteth and ordaineth the holy Sacrament of his Supper, and for what end he ordaineth it. I ſuppoſe thou wouldſt not look over theſe lines if thou didſt not already underſtand that Chriſt would have us uſe and celebrate this Sacrament to the end we might renew the remembrance of his Dying for us, in which the matter of fact, viz. that he did die for us is profeſſed, yet ſo as the manner how he did die is (I think) more principally to be attended and conſidered, as being the chief primary thing in effecting our ſalvation, and as affording the greateſt and ſweeteſt comforts; and finally, as binding us moſt ſtrongly to Goſpel Obedience. I ſhall therefore recommend unto thy thoughts what is the (foreign, modus, ratio moriendi) particular manner of thy Saviour's Dying. And am bold to ſay the words of the text, (Do this in remembrance of me,) do the like. Let my Death be the ſubject of your thoughts at a Sacrament. Let the manner of my Death be the mould into which your thoughts are caſt. At a Sacrament ſhew forth the truth and certainty of your Redeemer's Death; ſhew forth the ſingular and peculiar manner of it alſo. Renew the thoughts of this, what kind of Death it was which could have ſuch a mighty ſalviſick vertue in it to deliver us and ſave us. Set before you at the the Lord's Table, Plutarchus in Conviv. Sept. Sapiertum.not ſuch a Death's-head as Plutarch reports Ptolomaeus was wont to ſet before his gueſts, to admoniſh them; but ſuch a Death as none but Chriſt would or could undergo for us. Our Lord will have his own Death ſet forth to the eye of his friends and gueſts at his Table, and he commands them to remember it. The Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the Lord's Death; there we may view him on the Altar dying a Sacrifice for us, to atone the divine diſpleaſure: there we may view him in the unparalleld addreſs of himſelf for Death, diſpoſing his vaſt treaſures of Grace, Peace, Comfort and Glory unto his indigent friends for whom his love brought him to die, and the ſame love and care makes him die a Teſtator, giving them rich Legacies. At a Sacrament we may and ſhould view Jeſus Chriſt, the Bleſſed One, nailed to the Croſs, loaded with a Curſe, and dying an accurſed Death, that we might eſcape it. Thus we owe our Peace to his Sacrifice, our ſpiritual treaſure to his will and teſtament, our bleſſed hope and life to his accurſed Death; and by particular reflections on theſe we ſhould awaken, exerciſe and improve our graces. The facilitating this work, and the attaining this effect, is the deſign of the following Diſcourſe, which doth firſt endeavour to promote grace by a particular improvement of Chriſt's Dying a Sacrifice for us, let us then (the other two having their due place) begin with this great truth.
Our Lord Died a Sacrifice for us, and under this notion ought we to commemorate his Death, and in meditating thereon we may make an improvement of grace.
That I may proceed diſtinctly, I reſolve the whole ſubject into theſe following particulars.
1. The general proof and confirmation of his DYing as a Sacrifice, or Victim for us, Cap. 1.
2. How this could be that a man ſhould be a Sacrifice for us, Cap. 2.
3. What particularly is contained in this being made a Sacrifice, and ſo dying, Cap. 3.
4. That theſe are fit foundation to lay for Sacramental graces, and how our graces may be increaſed, awakened, confirmed, and acted, in due meditation on Chriſt our Sacrifice, Cap. 4. & ſeq.