A Body of Practical Divinity, Sermon 82 · Part 3
Mark XIV.22, 23, 24.
Iesus took Bread, &c.
(2.) It must be a Ioyful Remembrance, Iohn 8.56. Abraham saw my Day and rejoyced. When a Christian sees a Sacrament Day approach he should rejoyce. This Ordinance of the Supper is an Earnest of Heaven; 'tis the Glass in which we see him whom our Souls love: It is the Chariot by which we are carried up to Christ. When Iacob saw the Waggons and Chariots which were to carry him to his Son Ioseph, his Spirit revived, Gen. 45.27. God hath appointed the Sac…ment, on purpose to chear and revive a sad Heart. When we look on our Sins, …e have cause to mourn; but when we see Christ's Blood shed for our Sins, this may make us rejoyce. In the Sacrament our Wants are supplyed, our Strength is renewed: Here we meet with Christ, and doth not this call for Joy? A Woman that hath been long debarred from the Society of her Husband, how glad is she of his Presence! At the Sacrament the believing Spouse meets with Christ: He saith to her, All I have is thine. My Love is thine to pity thee, my Mercy is thine to save thee. How can we think in the Sacrament on Christ's Blood shed, and not rejoyce. Sanguis Christi clavis Paradisi. Christ's Blood is the Key which opens Heaven, else we had been all shut out.
3. End of the Sacrament is, to work in us an endeared Love to Christ. When Christ bleeds over us, well may we say, Behold how he loved us! Who can see Christ die, and not be Sick of Love? That is an Heart of stone, whom Christ's Love will not melt.
4. End of the Sacrament; the mortifying of Corruption. To see Christ crucified for us, is a means to crucify sin in us. Christ's Death (like the Water of Jealousie) makes the Thigh of Sin to rot, Numb. 5.27. How can a Wife endure to see that Spear which killed her Husband? How can we endure those sins which made Christ vail his Glory, and lose his Blood? When the People of Rome saw Caesar's bloody Robe, they were incensed against them that slew him. Sin hath rent the White Robe of Christ's Flesh, and died it of a crimson Colour: The Thoughts of this will make us seek to be avenged on our sins.
5. End, the Augmentation and Encrease of all the Graces, Hope, Zeal, Patience. The Word Preached begets Grace, the Lord's Supper nourisheth it: The Body by feeding encreaseth Strength, so doth the Soul by feeding on Christ Sacramentally. Cum defecerit virtus mea calicem salutarem accipiam. Bern. When my spiritual strength begins to fail, I know a Remedy, (saith Bernard) I will go the Table of the Lord, there I will drink and recover my decayed strength. There is difference between Dead Stones and Living Plants. The Wicked who are Stones receive no spiritual Encrease, but the Godly, who are Plants of Righteousness, being watered with Christ's Blood, grow more fruitful in Grace.
Quest. 4. Why are we to receive this Holy Supper?
Answ. Because it is a Duty incumbent, Take, Eat. And observe, it is a Command of Love. If Christ had commanded us some great matter, would not we have done it? 2 Kings 5.13. If the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? If Christ had enjoyned us to have given him a Thousand of Rams, or to have parted with the Fruit of our Bodies, would we not have done it? Much more when he only saith, Take and Eat: Let my broken Body feed you, let my Blood poured out save you. Take and Eat: This is a Command of Love, and shall we not readily obey?
2. We are to celebrate the Lord's Supper, because it is a provoking to Christ to stay away. Prov. 9.2. Wisdom hath furnished her Table. So Christ hath furnished his Table, set Bread and Wine (representing his Body and Blood) before his Guests, and they wilfully turn their Backs upon the Ordinance, Christ looks upon it as a slighting of his Love, and that makes the Fury rise up in his Face. Luke 14.24. For I say unto you, that none of those that were bidden shall taste of my Supper. I will shut them out of my Kingdom, I will provide them a black Banquet, where weeping shall be the first Course, and gnashing of Teeth the Second.
Quest. 5. Whether the Lord's Supper be oft to be Administred?
Resp. Yes: 1 Cor. 11.26. As oft as ye eat of this Bread. The Ordinance is not to be celebrated once in a Year, or once in our Lives, but often. A Christians own Necessities may make him come often hither. His Corruptions are strong, therefore he had need come often hither for an Antidote to expell the Poyson of Sin; and his Graces are weak. *Rev. 3.2.Grace is like a Lamp, if it be not often fed with Oyl, it is apt to go out. How therefore do they sin against God, who come but very seldom to this Ordinance! Can they thrive, who for a long time forbear their Food? And others there are who do wholly forbear. This is a great Contempt offered to Christ's Ordinance. Men do as it were tacitly say, Let Christ keep his Feast to himself. What a cross-grain'd piece is Man, he will Eat when he should not, and he will not eat when he should. When God said, Eat not of this forbidden Fruit, then he will be sure to eat: When God saith, Eat of this Bread, and Drink of this Cup, then he refuseth to eat.
Quest. 6. Are all to come promiscuously to this Holy Ordinance?
Resp. No, that were to make the Lord's Table an Ordinary. Christ forbids to cast Pearls before Swine.Mat. 7.6. Exod. 19.12. The Sacramental Bread is Children's Bread, and it is not to be cast to the Profane. As at the giving of the Law God set Bounds about the Mount that none might touch it: So God's Table should be guarded, that the Profane should not come near. In the Primitive Times, after Sermon done, and they were going to Celebrate the Lord's Supper, an Officer stood up and cried, foreign, Holy things for Holy Men: And then several of the Congregation were to depart. I would have my Hand cut off, (saith Chrysostom) rather than I would give Christ's Body and Blood to the Profane. The wicked do not eat Christ's Flesh, but tear it; they do not drink his Blood, but spill it. These Holy Mysteries in the Sacraments are tremenda mysteria, Mysteries that the Soul is to tremble at. Sinners defile the Holy things of God, they poyson the Sacramental Cup. We read that the wicked are to be set at Christ's Feet, Psal. 110. not at his Table.
Quest. 7. How may we receive the Supper of the Lord worthily, that so it may become effectual to us?
Resp. That we may receive it worthily, and it may become Efficacious,
(1.) We must solemnly prepare our selves before we come: We must not rush upon the Ordinance rudely and irreverently, but come in due order. There was a great deal of Preparation to the Passover; 2 Chron. 30.18, 19. And the Sacrament comes in the room of it.
Quest. Wherein doth this Solemn Preparing for the Ordinance consist?
Resp. 1. In Examining our selves.
2. In Dressing our Souls before we come, which is by washing in the Water of Repentance.
3. By exciting the Habit of Grace into Exercise.
4. In begging a Blessing upon the Ordinance.
(1.) Solemn Preparing for the Sacrament consists in Self-examining. 1 Cor. 11.28. But let a Man examin himself, and so let him eat. It is not only a Counsel but a Charge: Let him examin himself. As if a King should say, Let it be enacted. Jesus Christ having by his Institution consecrated these Elements in the Supper to an high Mystery, they represent his Body and Blood: Therefore there must be Preparation; and if Preparation, then there must be first Examining our selves, without which there can be no Preparation. Let us be serious in this examining our selves, our Salvation depends upon it. We are curious in examining other things: We will not take Gold, but examine it by the Touch-stone: We will not take Land, but we will examine the Title. And shall not we be as exact and curious in examining the state of our Souls?
Quest. 1. What is required to this Self-examining?
Resp. There must be a Solemn Retiring of the Soul. We must set our selves apart, and retire for some time from all Secular Employment, that we may be more serious in this Work. There is no casting up of Accounts in a Crowd; nor can we examin our selves when we are in a Crowd of Worldly Businesses. We read, a Man that was in a Iourney might not come to the Passover, Numb. 9.13. because his Mind was full of Secular Cares, and his Thoughts were taken up about his Journey. When we are upon Self-examining-work, we had not need be in an Hurry, or have any distracting Thoughts, but retire and lock up our selves in our Closet, that we may be more intent in the Work.
Quest. 2. What is Self-examination?
Resp. It is a setting up a Court in Conscience, and keeping a Register there, that by a strict Scrutiny a Man may see how Matters stand between God and his Soul. Self-examination is a Spiritual Inquisition, an Heart-Anatomy, whereby a Man takes his Heart as a Watch, all in pieces, and sees what is defective there. It is a Dialogue with ones self. Psal. 77.7. I commune with my own Heart. David call'd himself to Account, and put Interrogatories to his own Heart. Self-examining is a critical Descant or Search; as the Woman in the Parable did light a Candle, and search for her lost Groat, Luke 15.8. So Conscience is the Candle of t… Lord. Search with this Candle what thou canst find wrought by the Spirit in thee?
Quest. 3. What is the Rule by which we must Examine our selves?
Resp. The Rule or Measure we must Examine our selves by, is, the Holy Scripture: We must not make Fancy, or the good Opinion which others have of us, the Rule by which we judge of our selves: But as the Goldsmith brings his Gold to the Touch-stone, so must we bring our Hearts to a Scripture Touch-stone: To the Law, to the Testimony, Isa. 8.20. What saith the Word? Are we divorced from Sin? Are we renewed by the Spirit? Let the Word decide whether we are fit Communicants or no. We judge of Colours by the Sun; so must we judge of the state of our Souls by the Sun-light of Scripture.
Quest. 4. What are the cogent Reasons why we must Examine our selves before we approach to the Lord's Table?
Resp. 1. It is a Duty imposed; Let him examine himself. The Passover was not to be eaten Raw, Exod. 12.19. To come to such an Ordinance slightly, without Examination, is to come in an undue manner, and is like Eating the Passover Raw.
2. We must examine our selves before we come, because it is not only a Duty imposed, but opposed. There is nothing the Heart naturally is more averse from, than Self-exemination. We may know that Duty is good, which the Heart opposeth. But why doth the Heart so oppose it? Because it doth cross the Tide of Corrupt Nature; 'tis contrary to Flesh and Blood. The Heart is guilty; and doth a guilty Person love to be examined? The Heart opposeth it, therefore the rather set upon it. That Duty is good which the Heart opposeth.
3. Because Self-examining is so needful a Work; as appears: (1.) Without Self-examination a Man can never tell how it is with him, whether he hath Grace or no; and this must needs be very uncomfortable. He knows not if he should die presently, what will become of him, or to what Coast he shall sail, whether to Hell or Heaven. As Socrates said, I am about to die, and the gods know whether I shall be happy or miserable. How needful therefore is Self-examination, that a Man by Search may come to know the true state of his Soul, and may guess how it will go with him to Eternity.
(2.) Self-examination is needful in respect of the Excellency of the Sacrament. Let him eat de illo Pane, Of that Bread, 1 Cor. 11.28. That excellent Bread, that consecrated Bread, that Bread which is not only the Bread of the Lord, but the Bread the Lord. Let him drink de illo Poculo, Of that Cup; that precious Cup which is perfum'd and spic'd with Christ's Love; that Cup which holds the Blood of God Sacramentally. Cleopatra put a Jewel in a Cup, which contained the price of a Kingdom. This Sacred Cup we are to drink of, enriched with the Blood of God, is above the Price of a Kingdom: It is more worth than Heaven. Therefore coming to such a Royal Feast, having whole Christ, his Divine and Humane Nature to feed on, how should we examine our selves before-hand, that we may be fit Guests for such a Magnificent Banquet!
(3.) Self-examining is needful, because God will examine us. That was a sad Question, Matth. 22.12. Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a Wedding Garment? Men are loth to ask themselves the Question, O my Soul, art thou a fit Guest for the Lord's Table? Are there not some Sins thou hast to bewail? Are there not some Evidences for Heaven that thou hast to get? Now when Persons will not ask themselves the Question, then God will bring such a Question as this to them, How came ye in hither to my Table not prepared? How came ye in hither with an unbelieving or profane Heart? It will be such a Question as will cause an Heart-trembling. God will examine a Man as the chief Captain did Paul with Scourging, Acts 22.24. 'Tis true, the best Saint, if God should weigh him in the Ballance, would be sound defective. But when a Christian hath made an impartial Search, and hath laboured to deal uprightly between God and his own Soul, Christ's Merits will cast in some Grains of Allowance into the Scales.
(4.) Self-examining is needful, because of that Secret Corruption in the Heart, which will not be found out without searching. There are in the Heart Plangendae Tenebrae, Aug. Hidden Pollutions. It is with a Christian, as with Ioseph's Brethren, when the Steward accused them of having the Cup; they were ready to swear they had not the Cup in their Sack, but upon Search it was found there. Little doth a Christian think what Pride, Atheism, Uncleanness is in his Heart till he searcheth. Therefore if there be such hidden Wickedness, like a Spring that runs under Ground, we had need examine our selves, that finding out our secret Sin, we may be humbled and repent. Hidden Sins, if not searched out, defile the Soul. If Corn lie long in the Chaff, the Chaff defiles the Corn; hidden Sins layn long in, defile our Duties. Needful therefore it is before we come to the Holy Supper, to search out these hidden Sins, as Israel searched for Leaven before they came to the Passover.
(5.) Self-examining is needful, because without it we may easily have a Cheat put upon us. Ier. 17.9. The Heart is deceitful above all things. Many a Man's Heart will tell him, he is fit for the Lord's Table. As when Christ asked the Sons of Zebedee, Matth. 20.22. Are ye able to drink the Cup I shall drink of? Can ye drink such a Bloody Cup of Suffering? They say unto him, We are able. So the Heart will suggest to a Man, He is fit to drink of the Sacramental Cup, he hath on the Wedding Garment. Grande profundum est homo, Aug. The Heart is a Grand Impostor. It is like a cheating Tradesman, which will put one off with bad Wares. The Heart will put a Man off with …eming Grace in stead of saving. A Tear or two shed is Repentance, a few lazie Desires is Faith. Blue and red Flowers that grow among the Corn look like good Flowers, but they are beautiful Weeds. The foolish Virgins Lamps looked as if they had had Oyl in them, but they had none. Therefore to prevent a Cheat, that we may not take False Grace in stead of True, we had need make a thorough Disquisition and Search of our Hearts before we come to the Lord's Table.
(6.) Self-examining is needful, because of those False Fears the Godly are apt to nourish in their Hearts, which make them go sad to the Sacrament. As they who have no Grace for want of Examining, presume; so they who have Grace, for want of Examining, are ready to despair. Many of God's Children look upon themselves through the black Spectacles of Fear. They fear Christ is not formed in them, they fear they have no Right to the Promise; and these Fears in the Heart cause Tears in the Eye: Whereas would they but search and examine, they might find they had Grace. Are not their Hearts humbled for Sin? And what is this but the bruised Reed? Do they not weep after the Lord? And what are these Tears but Seeds of Faith? Do they not Thirst after Christ in an Ordinance? What is this but the New Creature crying for the Breast? Here are, you see, Seeds of Grace; and would Christians examine their Hearts, they might see there is something of God in them, and so their false Fears would be prevented, and they might approach with Comfort to these Holy Mysteries in the Eucharist.