The Revival of Grace, Part 2 · Chapter 2
CAP. II Chriſt a Teſtator proper Object to mediditate on at the Sacrament.
HAving in the Former Chap. Proved what I undertook or at leaſt done ſo much, that we may without errour in our meditation conſider Chriſt Dying a Teſtator. I am in this Chapter to ſhew that the meditations of Chriſt's Death, as it was the Death of a Teſtator, do very well ſuit with the Sacrament.
Sect. 1.
1. Firſt ſuch thoughts are ſuggeſted to us by Chriſt himſelf in thoſe expreſſions which he uſed in the firſt appointing and adminiſtring of this Ordinance when he choſe to ſpeak of it at a Teſtament. Among many names wch. might have been uſed, and which are gotten into uſe ſince, none ſo much pleaſed our Lord as this; Mat. 26.28. Mark 14.24 Luk. 22.20.It is the blood of the New Teſtament, and it is The New Teſtament in my Blood, Now a Teſtament leadeth our thoughts to the Teſtator; and indeed primarily, or in the firſt place though ſecondarily it ſignify a Covenant; And though now the frequent uſe of it in the notion of a Covenant makes us the labour to prove this, foreign, Teſtament to ſignify a Teſtamentary Diſpoſition or Will, yet we can prove it from the Scripture, as from Heb. 9.16, 17. Where beyond doubt it denotes a laſt will. And the Third of the Gal. ver. 15. If it be buta Man's Covenant (or Teſtament) (for it is foreign, may with very good ſenſe be underſtood of a Teſtamentary Diſpoſition, Paraeus in loc. Crellius in loc.or laſt Will as it is alſo intrepreted by ſome. Humane teſtimony both from Hiſtorians and Lawyers pleading this uſe of (foreign) Teſtaſtament might be added. But I refer you to the foregoing Chap. latter end. In one word, we may well ſuit our thoughts to Chriſt's words. His words may very well be both the matter, and the rule of our meditations; ſo that we need not fear that we erre in our thoughts at a Sacrament, when our thoughts do not wander from Chriſt's own words; we do ſurely entertain right, and ſeaſonable meditations, when we entertain ſuch as Chriſt ſuggeſteth, who no doubt did purpoſe to lead our minds by his ſelect phraſes and words. For,
Firſt, This beares an uniform analogy, this exactly ſuiteth with the manner of Antient Sacraments which afforded ſeaſonable matter of meditations in the Sacramental phraſes, and expreſſions then uſed as circumciſion of the foreskin &c. Directed them to think of circumciſing the heart, and the cutting off the luſts of the fleſh, the Paſſeover by it's very name led the thoughts of the Jewes to meditate on the Angels paſſing over their Houſes, foreign Tranſivit per intervalla, Tranſilire unde foreign, Agnus maſcnlus qui mactabatur 15 die menſis primi—quo admonebantur Iſraelitae liberationis quae ipſis contigerat per ſaltum quem Deus fecerat, &c. Conr. Kitcher. in verbum.when he did ſmitethe Aegyptians. This, Peſach, ſpake, the Angels obſerving Iſrael's habitations, and his leaping as it were over them, but laying his hand on the Aegyptians. The mercy remembred is Iſrael's eſcape, for as much as the ſword of the Angel rebounded from Aegyptians to Aegytian, ſtill flying over Iſrael, and the name of the Memorial is Paſſeover. In like manner God hath ſet his Bow in the Clouds, a ſign which he hath appointed to mind us of his Covenant promiſe, no more to deſtroy the VVorld by Water; ſuch Analogy between Sacraments and Things exhibited under them was of old; and there is not any reaſon why it ſhould not continue ſtill.
Secondly, Each Sacramental action doth lead us, and guide our thoughts to Meditations that befit the Seaſon, and ſuit well with the Ordinance. The taking, giving Thanks, breaking, the Bread, pouring out of the VVine, Giving, &c. theſe all have their proper ſignifications, and ſuggeſt ſuitable and ſeaſonable Meditations. And no doubt if each action do ſo offer matter for our meditation; every expreſſion will do it as well, eſpecially conſidering.
Thirdly, foreignThat words and expreſſions are the moſt proper and natural ſigns of things, They repreſent things to our thoughts more lively than actions do words are the Candles which light you; things are the rare pieces which ſhould entertain your thoughts; words are but like glaſs Caſes through which you may diſcern, and view, and recreate your thoughts in beholding the curious Needlework, or Penſil of exacteſt Artiſt. Such are the words of Chriſt; here they ſhew us what kind of love he bare toward us, what tender care he had of us, what full, ſure and ſeaſonable Proviſion he made for us, &c. This is that admirable and unparallel'd piece which lieth within the Glaſs of his words, and which we may ſeaſonably meditate on any time, and moſt ſeaſonably when we ſhew forth his Death.
Fourthly, The words and expreſſions of other places of Scripture, and in other matters, have been the guide and matter of the Saints Meditations. So David meditated on the word of God. Pſal. 119.148. Daniel thus employed his thoughts. Dan. 8.15, 19. And the bleſſed Virgin laid up the words which were ſpoken, and ponder'd them, Luke 2.19. Now if there be any ſpecial exception againſt the like entertaining our thoughts in weighing the words of Chriſt in this caſe, let it be produced.
Laſtly, Debuit ejus oratio cum ipſa re conſentire ut vera eſſet & Chriſto digna, qui ſeſe ip…am veritatempraedicaverat. Theſ. Sal. de uſu &c. Caenae, &c. Sect. 14.Plain, ſignificant, inſtructing words do hardly awaken, raiſe, keep up, and ſtrengthen our Meditations, and Conſiderations ſuitable to the nature, end and ſolemnity of this ordinance; and Chriſt who knew our great dulneſs, who pitied us under it, and who purpoſed to help us againſt it, would never puzzle and perplex our minds with words and expreſſions Aliene, unſuitable, and far remote from the things we ought to conſider; Chriſt would rather make it a more eaſy thing, than a more difficult, to fall into ſeaſonable meditations by following the drift, meaning and deſign of of his words, which containing a Teſtament or laſt Will, lead us at a Sacrament to conſider Chriſt dying as a Teſtator, as our Friend in love, care, bounty and fidelity providing for us by Will, ſuch thoughts well ſuit the Ordinance of the Lords Supper.
Sect. 2.
2. Secondly, In his (lib. Novi Teſt.) verè exprimitur extrema Filii Dei voluntas quam ratam voluit inter nos poſt mortem ſuam. Eam habemus expreſſam in Caenae dominicae inſtitutione. &c. D. Aretius in Prolegom; ad Matth.Such thoughts well ſuit the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. For then our thoughts, and the things themſelves agree; there is an harmony between the things themſelves contained in the Sacrament, and the thoughts of the Communicants. The nature of the things and our thoughts do then center and meet together; and there is moſt ſuitableneſs, where there is neareſt agreement. Now I have ſufficiently proved, that Chriſt did make his laſt Will, and that he died a Teſtator; the Sacrament of his laſt Supper is a ſhewing forth this Death; and unto this do your thoughts agree, when they run out into Meditations on Chriſt dying and making his laſt Will. So that more needs not be added to this Second Argument; by which it appeareth how ſuitable ſuch thoughts are, agreeing well with what is repreſented to us, and how ſeaſonable our thoughts are, being drawn out at ſuch time, as theſe things are repreſented to us.
Thirdly, Meditations on Chriſt dying and making his laſt Will and Teſtament, do well ſuit this Sacrament; for they do well ſuit with the ends of this Sacrament. There are among others four eminent and unqueſtionable ends of this Sacrament; to all which, theſe thoughts exactly agree, of all which in as few words as I may, I do purpoſe to ſpeak. And ſo,
1. Firſt, A publick and ſolemn Declaration or Profeſſion of this great Truth, That Chriſt Jeſus the Meſſiah hath died according to the Scriptures, and is riſen again living in the glory of his Father, with whom we have Communion in every Sacrament until he take us to the Glory of the Father, or come again to us in the Glory of the Father. Every Sacrament is a taking out a Certificat that Chriſt died, and was buried, but that he is riſen from the Dead. foreign Iſa. 53.Every time the Bread is broken in a Sacrament, we tell the world that our Lord was cut off out of the Land of the Living. The pouring out of the Wine ſpeaketh his powring out his blood unto death; and for proof hereof, we produce his Teſtament and laſt Will; the laſt Will of our great Commander, who made it (In Procinctu) when he was girt, and in his Armour juſt ready to enter the conflict, wherein he laid down his life for us. The excellent Moralist and Hiſtorian Plutarch tells us, foreign, &c.it was the cuſtome with the Roman Souldiers to make their Wills when they ſtood in Battel-aray. —Facientibus Teſtamenta in procinctu veluti ad Certam mortem eundum foret. Velleius Paterculus. lib. 2.I am ſure when they went on a hard and dangerous deſign, the more conſiderate amongſt them, made their laſt VVill, as the Roman Hiſtorian reports of their Souldiers aſſaulting Trebonia in Spain. Our great, and Glorious Captain knowing that his hour was come and that he muſt dye for us; diſpoſed thus his eſtate by VVill or Teſtament, which proveth the truth of his Death as fully as any VVill duly proved by courſe of Law proveth that the Teſtator is dead. Now certainly good evidence to the truth of Chriſt's death muſt needs be very ſuitable to our publick declaration and Profeſſion of his death and ſo muſt ſuit with this firſt End of the Sacrament, which is to ſhew forth his Death until he come. The valid and irreverſible Teſtament proveth the Death of the Teſtator. Now ſuch a Teſtament we have exhibited in the Sacrament; and who employs his thoughts on this meditation, employs them ſo as they agree with the End of the Sacrament.
2. Secondly, Chriſt intended the renewal of our lively affections toward him Dying for us as another end of the Sacrament of his body and blood. He did therefore appoint this Ordinance to continue after his Death, that it might keep the affectionate remembrance of his love alive in our hearts. He would not have his Death forgotten, neither would he have it kept in memory without the vigour and ſtrength of our love. His friends were dead in ſin and miſery; at that time he remembred theſe dead friends with life of affections, and now his living friends muſt not remember him with dead affection. A lifeleſs affection is next neighbour to no affection; and to remember with ſuch affection, is very little more than quite to forget. Now none of us ſhould ſo forget our Dying Lord; we could not ſee him dying as they did, Luk. 23. v. 27. who followed him to Mount Calvary, and ſaw him with their bodily eyes; yet in every Sacrament of his Supper he is evidently ſet forth dying among us; and ſo every one of us muſt remember him; every place in the Church may put us in mind of our Lord; but the Table and the Croſs do more particularly and lively ſet our remembrance on work, Sic oculos! Sic ille manus! &c. Let me ask the queſtion, did you ever loſe a dear friend who made you a Legatee in his Will? or appointed you Executor of it? how did your affections ſtir, move, yea melt your heart when you read over the Will? when you came to demand your Legacy, did you receive it with dry eyes? Let us beſtow our affections in reading over Chriſt's Will, as we would beſtow them in reading over the Will of a tender careful Friend, and then I am ſure we ſhall frame our hearts to this ſecond end of the Lord's ſupper, and demean our ſelves as Chriſt expects we ſhould at his table. We ſhall remember him with love for his loving remembrance of us; we ſhall remember him with deſires of his return and coming in glory to make good all that he hath bequeathed to us, to put us in poſſeſſion of all that which the Sacrament repreſenteth and ſealeth to us, we ſhall ſay make haſt come quickly oh! Lord.
3. Thirdly, A ſolemn, publick and conſtant return of Thanks and Praiſe to the Lord, is a third end of this Sacrament. Chriſtus voluit ſacram ſuam coenam eſſe mortis & paſſionis ſuae, noſtraeque per eam à peccato morte & diabolo liberationis perpetuum foreign, & noſtrae ea propter gratitudinis & obſervantiae publicum Teſtimonium. Ludoy. Cappel. Theſ. Salm. de Liturg. & Ling. Ignot. part 1. th. 5.Chriſt would have his holy Supper be a perpetual remembrance, as of his Death and Paſſion, and as of our deliverance from ſin, death and the Devil, ſo of our gratitude and obſervance would he have it be a publick Teſtimony; as that Learned Profeſſor hath expreſſed his ſenſe and apprehenſion of this matter. We can ſcarce meet with any one perſon amongſt the loweſt and meaneſt Profeſſours of Chriſtian Religion, ſo little inſtructed in the nature and end of this Ordinance, as not full well to know and openly profeſs it is an Ordinance appointed for continuing a thankful Remembrance of our Dying Lord. We cannot read any Writer Popiſh, or other, but in their writings of the Sacrament, every page is full of it; the moſt uſual name of it is Euchariſt, foreign, and the Syriack Verſion hath borrowed this Greek word to expreſs it ſelf, in Act. 2.42. & 20.7. where foreign is rendred by foreignwhich ſoundeth out Gratitude and Thankfulneſs; ſo ſome render and tranſlate Bread, in Acts 2.42. & 10.7. broken in the Sacrament, and call it the Breaking of the Euchariſt; but I will ſpare my time, pains and paper, and appeal to thy pretences and profeſſions who goeſt to the Lord's Table: I know thou canſt not acquit thy ſelf to thy Brethren with whom thou communicateſt, nor to thy own Profeſſion, unleſs thou declareſt thy deſire to remember thankfully the Death of thy Lord.
Now the Love of Chriſt remembring thee by Will in his Teſtamentary diſpoſition, hath in it very many ſtrong and prevailing perſwaſives to thankfulneſs, and will certainly awaken the ſober conſiderate ſoul unto gratitude, and ſo will excellently well ſuit with the ſeaſon and the duty of feaſting with our Lord. Of which more ſhall be ſaid in our following diſcourſe if the Lord give leave. Mean while the greatneſs of our legacy, the freeneſs of love in the legator, the unworthineſs of the legatees, the certainty of our future receiving it, the preſent enjoying more if ſo be we would ſet our ſelves with more diligence and ſearch to enquire into the deed of gift our Lord hath made to us. Theſe I ſay will certainly perſwade us to conſtant acknowledging our debt of thankfulneſs to our dying Lord.
Our life ſhould be a perpetual thankſgiveing to Chriſt, but a Sacrament is the ſolemne day of Thankſgiving which Chriſt hath appointed. He did find the Jews keeping the Paſſeover, ſo he hath ordained the Chriſtian Feaſt of his ſupper in the ſtead thereof, and ſo to be kept: the Apoſtle tells us that he received of the Lord what he delivered to his Corinthians, foreign, 1 Cor. 10.16and he delivered unto them this cup of Bleſſing: this minds you of the greateſt gift God could give, and muſt not be lookt on without your heart in your eye. Go too then, think as you can of him who hath made you heirs by his will, ſpeak of it as you can. Inuſitatâ & incognitâ quadam felicitate.I miſtake if you do not think & ſay (this came to paſs by an unuſual and wonderful happineſs) as the Hiſtorian ſaid of that will which made the people of Rome heir to a Kingdome. Be you as juſt to the Remembrance of your Lord, and ſhew it in your thankfulneſs.
4. Fourthly, Another great End of the Sacrament, and which Chriſt intended in appointing, Coena in eum finem comparata eſt, ut ſit communioris & charitatis Chriſtianonum vinculum inter ipſos. Th. Thalm. de uſu coen. Dom. diſ. 1. ſect. 42.it was, that union and communion might be preſerved and continued among Believers. It doth therefore bear the name of a Communion; and Chriſt hath prepared this Spiritual Feaſt to keep up ſpiritual friendſhip. Chriſt would have but one Table for Believers, that Believers might have but one heart for each other. Chriſt hath put them all together at his table, that they might keep all together in love, and be but one. Mark well with what text the Apoſtle urgeth this Union and Communion among Saints, 1 Cor. 10.17. We being many are one body, for we all partake of one bread. But now alas! that is made a cauſe of contention and ſeparation, which was appointed a means of union and Chriſtian friendſhip; of which I might juſtly complain, were this fit time and place. But I conclude this in the words of the Learned Profeſſours; Sacra Synaxis eſt dilectionis fidelium inter ſe conteſſeratio quaedam. P P. Salmur. de uſu & neceſ. coen. Dom. Diſp. 1. Sect. 42.The holy Communion is a certain ſignal mark of the love of the faithful one to another. Now I ſay, the laſt Will of Chriſt dying a Teſtator, conduceth unto this; and therefore the meditations of Chriſt dying a Teſtator, will ſuit with the Sacrament, and do well become a Communicant. View but a while, oh ye quarrelling Believers, how you have all one common great friend! ought you not be one in him? Have you not all one title? and may you overthrow your Brother's hope without overthrowing your own? are all men careful to preſerve unity, whoſe welfare is endangered by diſcord? and will you be leſs than men? In one word, Chriſt hath put you all into his own Will, and made you Legatees, Joint-heirs: how well doth one Will become them, who are thus one in the Will of Chriſt! oh divide not in your wills and affections, you are undivided in the Will of Chriſt! ſuit your conſiderate thoughts to the bleſſed ends your Dear and Dying Lord intended to promote; enlarge your thoughts on the particular conſiderations and reſpects in which he died; draw down theſe reſpects unto the ſeveral graces and duties which they will awaken and ſtrengthen, and I hope in a Sacrament you ſhall find your Profeſſion and Faith confirmed, your Affections enlivened, your Thankfulneſs enlarged, your Union and Communion with Saints ſtrengthened and ſecured, by a due application of your meditations to the Death of Chriſt dying a Teſtator, and ſo will find by experience what I have ſaid, that theſe thoughts well ſuit a Sacrament, becauſe they well ſuit the ends of the Sacrament.