The Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper, Treatise · Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV. The great buſineſs that lies upon the Communicant, as oft as he eats this Bread and drinks this Cup, is to ſhew the Lords Death.
Doct. 2 THis Point cleaves into two parts,
§. 1 Firſt, It is the Lords death which in this Sacrament is ſhewn forth: The two ſtanding Sacraments of the Jewiſh Church, Circumciſion and the Paſſeover, did both appear in blood. The two ſtanding Sacraments of the Goſpel, do alſo referre to death, We are buried with him by Baptiſm, into death, Rom. 6. 4. and in the Supper, we ſhew the Lords death. As of all deliverances and benefits vouchſafed to Iſrael of old, God would have the Paſſeover-deliverance celebrated by a conſtant memoriall in all generations; ſo of all that Chriſt doth for us, it is his death that muſt be ſhewn forth in all generations of the Church, till he come again: and therefore this Ordinance is ſpeculum crucifixi, as Calvin ſaith; and In 1 Cor. 11.the memoriall, not ſo much of Chriſts life or reſurrection, De ſatisfact. cap. 1.ſaith Grotius, as of his death. This death hath no ſecond in all the world, for it was the death of the Sonne of God, the death of the Lamb of God.
1. Of the Sonne of God, the Lord of Glory, whoſe highneſs and excellency gave price and value to his death. Had he not been man he could not have ſuffered: Had he not been the Sonne of God, God bleſſed for ever, he could not have ſatisfied and conquered.
2. Of the Lamb of God, and therefore his death was a Sacrifice, and that's more than a Martyrdom; for though a Martyr may be ſaid to ſeal with his blood that truth he dies upon, yet no blood can ſeal the Covenant but this of Chriſt, no death can ratifie the Teſtament but the Teſtators death: Had the death been the death of the Lord, a moſt excellent perſon, and not alſo the death of a Lamb for Sacrifice, to make attonement, it had wanted one of his properties, but it was both. As it was the death of the Lord of Glory, the Sonne of God, ſo it gave us the moſt illuſtrious teſtimony and example of the love of God, as ever was or could be, and that the Scripture often points unto. As it was the death of the Lamb of God, ſo it was a Sacrifice death, wherein he was made ſinne for us, and bore our ſinnes in his Body. As it was the Joh. 11. 13. Rom. 5. Gal. 2. 20.death both of the Sonne of God, and the Lamb of God, ſo it reconciled us ſinners unto God, and meritoriouſly redeemed and ranſomed us from our bondage to the curſe and wrath of God, the only ground and foundation of our hope, peace and comfort.
§. 2 Secondly, It is the buſineſs of the Communicant to ſhew forth this death of the Lord: The Ordinance it ſelf is full of death, what other language doth bread broken, and the blood ſevered from the body, ſpeak but a dying Chriſt: As the Ordinance, ſo the Communicant doth by eating and drinking, in fact declare and annunciate his profeſſion of adherence to, and embracement of the death of Chriſt, we ſolemnly and publiquely avow, both to God and men, that we ſtick unto, and abide by the death of the Lord, for remiſſion of ſinne, and reconciliation of our perſons to God; and it is a ſolemn part of Gods poſitive worſhip, to ſhew forth the death of Chriſt our Lord, not by a meer hiſtoricall relation, but a practicall and publique profeſſion of our faith, and acceptance thereof, which though at all times we may remember, yet God would have a ſolemn Ordinance in his Goſpel-Churches, for the commemoration and ſhewing of it forth, which Ordinance is this of the Supper. I know men are witty to elude Ordinances, and to flatter themſelves with private devotions and meditations, but when God hath ſet up an Ordinance on purpoſe, for the publique and ſolemn ſhewing of the Lords death; let them conſider it, that are not only careleſs of the benefit of it, but fail of their duty, by not preſenting themſelves at this ſolemn ſhewing of the Lords death: but how can it be expected that they that ſhew not the life of Chriſt by a godly converſation, ſhould care to ſhew forth his death by publique profeſſion; or rather, how can it be conſtrued that they do it out of conſcience of duty, and not out of meer ſuperſtition, expecting that from the Sacrament, which the Papiſt expects from his auricular confeſſion, that is, to quit the old ſcore, that he may more freely begin upon a new.
But I may not forget that which is very learnedly Obſerved, that the Apoſtle uſing the word foreign, which frequently is Uſed for publiſhing and preaching Schiud. in loc▪ Haggada.the Goſpel, doth allude to the Haggada, as it was called by the Jewiſh cuſtom at the Paſſeover, and that was a ſet and ſolemn declaration or annunciation of the Lords paſſing over the hoUſes ſprinkled with blood, of their ſlavery and hard bondage in Aegypt, and their deliverance thence, teaching us, in this our Goſpel-Paſſeover, to ſhew forth our hard bondage under ſinne, and the Lords juſtice paſſing over all the ſouls ſprinkled with this blood, and thereby delivering us from our ſpirituall Aegypt.
§. 3 The Uſe of this Point is to call upon all Communicants, hoc agere, to be intent upon, and taken up with this employment, Shew ye forth the Lords death, this muſt be your actuall exerciſe at the time of eating and drinking, the death of Chriſt muſt fill your eyes, your ears, your lips, your thoughts: If any of you could ſee Chriſt dying, the ſight would wholly take you up; and you come as near to ſee him dying; as an Ordinance can bring you, in a repreſentation: If any where, that Pſal. 2. 11. takes place here, Rejoyce with trembling, Tremble, for you ſee the weight of ſinne upon the Lord Chriſt, and the ſeverity and wrathfull indignation of God againſt ſinne, both thoſe terrours cannot be ſeen in a clearer glaſs, than the death of the Lord: Rejoyce for the love that delivers up Chriſt is unparallel'd, and the death of the Lord is ſuccedaneous, a Sacrifice death, the Sacrifice bears the ſinne, and takes it off you; there is a nunc dimitiis for all you that take Chriſt in your arms, I would not be thinking of the joys of heaven, the ſecond coming of Chriſt, abſolutely and abſtractly conſidered, but ſhewing forth his death: As in prayer, good thoughts, if impertinent, are diſtractions, and to be whipt for vagrants, ſo here, If my heart preſent to me the anger and terrible wrath of a juſt and holy God, I ſhew the Lords death; If the Law take me by the throat, and ſay, Pay that thou oweſt, I ſhew the Lords death; If conſcience ask me what I have to ſhew for pardon of ſin, and peace with God, I ſhew the Lords death. Who ſhall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect, Its Chriſt that died.