Sermons, Treatise · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Of the Time of this Sacraments Inſtitution; And of Judas his betraying Christ.
SO much of the Authour, now to the Time of thisThe time. Inſtitution, In the ſame night wherein he was betrayed; The Lord Jeſus was betray'd, he was betray'd in the night, The ſame night in which he was betrayed, he inſtituted and celebrated this Supper.
§. 1.
Firſt, The Lord Jeſus was betrayed. The ſame word ſignifies Gods delivering up his Sonne to death, Rom. 8. 32. and Judas his delivering up his Maſter to the Jews, Luk. 22. 4. and the Jews their delivering of him up to Pilate, Mat. 27. 18. God is not ſaid to betray his Sonne, becauſe according to his purpoſe, and out of his love to man-kinde, he delivered him to death for their redemption, but both the Jews and Judas are ſaid to have betray'd him, they for envy ſeeking his bloud, Matth. 27. 18. He for covetouſneſs ſeeking money, Matth. 26. 15. for it is thought that Judas conceiv'd that Chriſt would ſlip out of the mids of them, and go away, as often he had done, and then his Maſter were ſafe, and he had his money, for it's ſaid, Matth. 27. 2. that then Judas which had betray'd him, when he ſaw that Chriſt was condemned, repented himſelf. It's a good ſaying, that we ſhould not look on pleaſure, as it comes toward us, but as it goes from us. Sinne before it be committed ſeems to the eye of luſt full of profit, pleaſure, after commiſſion when the luſt is ſpent, Ammon hates Tamar for whom he was ſick before.
But the traitor ſticks faſteſt to Judas; he is foreign the betrayer of Chriſt his Lord and Maſter, and therefore the brand is ſet upon him, Judas Iſcariot who betrayed him, as on Jeroboam, that made Iſrael to ſinne, and how did he betray him? He brought a band of men to the place where Chriſt was, and marked him out unto them with a kiſſe, Matth. 26. 48. This is he, take him, and hold him faſt. This Text refers not to Gods delivering up of Chriſt, nor to theLuk. 22. 48. Jews, but to Judas; for it's ſaid, In the night that he was betrayed, and that was by Judas only.
§. 2.
Obſ. Judas being an inſtrument to bring to paſſe Gods holy councel and purpoſe, plunged himſelf by his ſinne into deep damnation. It was Gods purpoſe and decree that Chriſt ſhould die, and he himſelf deliver'd him up to death, but as God holily and juſtly doth what Joſephs brethren do ſinfully, ſo he delivers up the Lord Jeſus by wicked hands, Luk. 22. 22. The Sonne of man goes, viz dies, foreign, as it was decreed and determin'd, But woe to that man by whom he is betrayed, it had been good for that man that he had not been born. It is according as it is decreed, yet woe to that man, &c. Acts 2. 23. He was deliver'd by the determinate councel and fore-knowledge of God, but you have ſlain him by wicked hands; God brings his holy councels, purpoſes and decrees to paſſe by moſt wicked inſtruments; The giving up his Sonne to death was the moſt glorious work of grace and love that ever was, but effected by moſt wicked hands. Godly men could not be imployed in ſuch ſervices. An Artificer uſeth a crooked tool to do that which he cannot do by a ſtrait one; The ſecret will of God is no rule of our obedience, Nec omnis revelata, ſaith Ainſw. not every reveal'dMedull a lib. cap. 1. §. 23. will neither his inſtance is of Jeroboam to whom it was reveal'd long before that he ſhould have ten Tribes, 1 King. 11. …1. which yet peccavit occupando, he ſinn'd in aſſuming, 2 Chron. 3. 5, 6, 7. The revealing of an event, which God hath determined, or thoſe actions, whereby that event ſhall be brought to paſſe, gives no warrant, for elſe Hazael, being told2 King. 8. 12. before, and Judas too, what they ſhould both do, might have been pleaded for juſtification; After a wonderfull manner, ſaith Austin, that is againſt Gods will, which is not beſides it. It's againſt the will of his command, which is our rule, which is not beſide the will of his purpoſe, and yet may be our ſin, God is juſt and gracious in delivering up his Sonne to death, but Judas and the Jews ſin horribly in it, there is Rom. 12. 2. That good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, which the godly are to hold unto, but for theAct. 2. 23. foreign, Gods determinate councell Pharaoh and Judas, and Herod, and Pilate, the worſt names in the whole world, may be the inſtruments and damned midwives to bring it to the birth; for (as Mr Brightman ſaith in another caſe) a fair and perfect childe born doth not make any thing the better, the adultery in which it was begotten: ſo the being the work of Gods purpoſe, nothing warrants the act of any man, or of Judas that betray'd Chriſt. I muſt not enlarge upon theſe.
§. 3.
Obſ. 2 The Lord Jeſus was betrayed in the night. Judas marches as Captain of the band of men, and Officers of the Chief-Prieſts and Phariſees, unto the Garden with Lanterns, Torches, Weapons, Joh. 18. 3. They are cunning to do their work in the night without notice, and noiſe, & tumult; He that about an hour or two ago had been at Paſſeover with Chriſt, now betrayes him; He had ſold him afore, and now delivers him.
§. 4.
Obſerve here the pattern of a wicked heart made worſe by ſpiritual Ordinances. Whether Judas was preſent at, and participant of the Lords Supper, that is, whether he received both Sacraments, the Paſſeover and the Lords Supper, we may haply hereafter conſider, but at the Paſſover he was at that Paſſover, which Chriſt ſaith, he had heartily deſired to eat with them, Luk. 22. 15. and with the holieſt ſociety in the world, but he was a Serpent in Paradiſe all the while.
§. 5.
His Character is this: 1. He was purſe-bearer and receiver of the contributions that came in, and ſteward to lay out upon occaſion, and becauſe he inverted the publick ſtock to his private uſe, he is called a thief, John …2. 6.
2. His Covetouſneſs in time began to flie at great gain; for though he retained to ſuch a Maſter, and was both a Teacher and Preacher of heavenly Doctrine, yet he thrives from a thief to a traitour, and expoſed to ſale the moſt precious jewel, Jeſus Chriſt, Luke 22. 3.
3. Of this ſinne he went breeding, and came fullMatth. 26. 16. of it to the Paſſeover; This he had premeditated, and with this he was pr…poſſeſt, and with no better preparation comes to the Sacrament, to which he came not to repent of his ſinne, but to cover it: So ſome men uſe Religion, and his ſucceſſe was according, for what he was conceived with before, now is quicken'd, After the ſop Satan entered into him, Joh. 13. 27.
4. He goes from the Sacrament full of Satan, and within few hours ſels that bloud which ſhould have been ſprinkled on his door-poſts.
§ 6.
This is a fearfull example to all that after ſuch a preſident dare venture upon a Sacrament, to which they come with purpoſe to go on in thoſe ſinnes they bring to it, as he did, whether covetouſneſs, as his was, or luxury, drunkenneſs, looſneſs of life, fraud, rapine, ungodly callings, unjuſt uſe of their callings, &c. they think to receive Chriſt in the Sacrament, and Satan receives them; for you muſt know, That as Chriſt is preſented in the Sacrament, ſo Satan is preſent at it, to enter in after the morſel, being firſt by the morſel ſealed to be his. Sins of purpoſe and reſolution, are the key that opens the door for his entrance, do not look at Judas his particular ſinne of ſelling his Maſter, that was not yet, but look at his purpoſe and reſolution to commit the ſinne, for that was now even at the Sacrament, that was it that ſet open the door to the Devil, and ſuch a purpoſe to continue in your ſinnes, will do the like office for Satan in you, as in him, that is, hold the door open. The Devil had put it into Judas heart, Joh. 13. 2. and after the Supper he enter'd into him, verſ. 27.
It's true, the beſt of us bring ſinne and corruption in us, and with us to the Lords Table, it's well if it be ſour herbs to this Paſſeover, but it muſt not be unleavened bread, ſweet ſinnes; we may come with ſour ſinnes, but not with ſweet. The Apoſtles (as Luke relates, Chap. 22. 24.) had ſome ambition and deſire of greatneſs in them, which even now began to peep up, and our Saviour checks it, and they alſo freſhly come from the Lords Table ſhewed infirmity, they could not pray with him, they all ranne away from him, after denied him: What alas, ſo ſoon after the Sacrament? We learn this excellent leſſon, to bewail our corruptions that bubble up in us, even while we are at the Table, and thoſe in us which ſtill appear in us, when we are newly gone from it.
But there is great difference between their ſins and Judaſſes, they thought of ſome preferment under Chriſt, and he made a preferment of him; He like a falſe ſouldier forſook his colours, and fled to the other ſide; They were routed and ranne away with intent to return again, for foreign: His was an old fire that had long lien in him, and been fed by him: Theirs were ſome ſparklings that ſparkled, and ſoon went out: His was premeditated and purpoſed ſin, theirs upon the ſudden temptation; They were imperfectly good, he was perfectly evil, as was ſaid of Simon Magus, Act. 8 2…. Thou art in the gall of bitterneſſe, not, there is ſome gall of bitterneſſe in thee.
I have ſaid this, and laid open Judas to affright men, not from the Supper, but unto preparation or ſelf-examination, And ſo let him come, ſaith the Text. I will waſh mine hands in innocency, and ſo will I compaſſe thine Altar, Pſal. …6. 6. For when or where do ye read ſuch an expreſſion, as verſ. 29. He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats damnation, drinks damnation to himſelf: It puts me in minde of a compariſon of Chryſoſtoms in his Sermon de proditione Judae. As corporal food, finding foreign, a ſtomack poſſeſt with ferment, vitious humours, doth more hurt than good, and increaſes the diſeaſe, not of it's own nature, but by fault of the ſtomack: So this Sacrament received by wicked men, aggravates their condemnation, not of it ſelf, but through their unrepented ſins.
Obſ. 3 The ſame night in which he was betrayed, the Lord Jeſus did both institute and celebrate this Sacrament. The concurrent teſtimony of the Evangeliſts, and of Paul in this Text, aſſerts it as the firſt Paſſeover in Aegypt, was eaten in the night, ſo was this Supper, and as that was kept in after-times as a memorial of the deſtroying Angel, his paſſing over the houſes of Iſrael, untill the death of Chriſt: So this is kept as a memorial of the deliverance of the Church from eternal deſtruction by the death of Chriſt, untill his ſecond coming.