The Right Administration and Receiving of the Lords Supper, Treatise · Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI. Of the Continuance of this and other Goſpel-Ordinances in the Church.
THe fourth point ariſeth from the laſt words, Untill he come, and it is this, This Ordinance, and ſo all Goſpel-ordinances are to continue in force in the Churches, untill Chriſt come, and this point cleaves into two parts.
§. 1 Firſt, The Lord Chriſt will come again, he is called foreign, Heb. 10. 37. He that ſhall come, he ſhall appear the ſecond time, Heb. 9. 28. as in the old Church of Iſrael, there was a glorious Temple, then a captivity that followed; after the captivity a ſecond Temple, and then Chriſt came; So in Goſpel-Churches, there was firſt a glorious Virgin primitive Church, then followed a captivity under Antichriſt, and that captivity ſhall be followed with a ſecond Temple, a Reformed Church, and then Chriſt ſhall come again; but as the Church of God waited neer four thouſand years from the firſt promiſe of Chriſt made to Adam, to his firſt coming, ſo ſhall the Church of the Goſpel wait many years from that promiſe of Chriſts ſecond coming, Act. 1. 11. untill it be; The firſt Chriſtians did not imagine ſo long Revolution of time, untill Chriſts ſecond coming, as we have ſeen ſixteen hundred, and how many yet are to runne out we know not; The Apoſtle checks it in the Theſſalonians, 2 Theſſ. 2. 2. who began to think that the day of Chriſt was at hand, and the Chriſtians in Juſtins time, who were moſt of them of the millenary opinion (foreign, ſaith he) did not think it ſhould be ſo long ere the thouſand years ſhould commence; and in Tertullians time, they Uſed in their publick prayers to pray pro mora finis, for delay of the end in reſpect of Antichriſts tyranny, but the Jews are the example of the efficacy of errour, that have overſhot already that which is Chriſts firſt coming by above ſixteen hundred years; and are yet gazing; we reſt in this, there is a fulneſſe of time for Chriſts firſt, and ſo for his ſecond coming, and then he will come, our hope, our comfort, our ſalvation, do all lie upon it, and therefore we look for it.
Secondly, This Ordinance of the Supper is to continue till Chriſt come; the meaning is not, That men ſhall not deface and diſhonour it in ſome places, but that it ſhall continue in force, though not in Uſe: God will not alter or diſcharge it, and the like, for there is the like Reaſon may be ſaid of other ſtanding Ordinances of worſhip. The Jewiſh Paſſeover was an Ordinance for ever, but that ever had an end when Chriſt came; and the Ordinances of that Church, though they might be defaced and deſtroyed for a time, yet were in force till Chriſts firſt coming, and ſo the Goſpel-Sacraments, Worſhip, Ordinances, and (may it pleaſe you) Miniſtry ſhall be in force, and God grant in Uſe, for the time of their Ever, and that is Chriſts ſecond coming. The legal Sacrifices and Ordinances were (as the Apoſtle expounds Heb. 12. 27.the Prophet) to be ſhaken down and removed by the bringing in of a better Covenant, and other Ordinances by Chriſt Jeſus, but the Ordinances of the Goſpel cannot be ſhaken, are never to be removed by any other Ordinance, or any new Church, but onelyonly to ceaſe and expire with the worlds end. The Scripture cloſes and ſhuts it ſelf up with this, Come Lord Jeſus, Rev. 22. 20.
§. 3 The Uſe of this Point may be,
1. To confirm us in the Uſe and eſteem of the Ordinances of Chriſt, which have no other period then the world, wiſer we cannot be than he that thought them neceſſary, but we may be prouder than we ſhould by thinking our ſelves in a ſtate of perfection and not infirmity, which Chriſt hath provided for, by his Ordinances; of the Sacrament he ſaith, Till I come; Of the Goſpel-Miniſtry, he ſaith, I am with you to the worlds end; The devil is fooliſhly ſubtil now adayes under a pretence of immediate ſpirit, crying down Ordinances, and the Goſpel-ſpirit muſt put down Goſpel-Ordinances, what Chriſt ſet up, the Spirit muſt demoliſh, and it is a Spirit indeed, but a perverſe one, as you may ſee by the ſame argument caſt in another mould; The water only refreſhes and quenches thirſt, therefore cut off all the cocks and pipes, you know my meaning.
§. 4 2. This point may ſtop the mouth of thoſe degenerate Apoſtates, the ſhame of Chriſtianity, that mock at the common principles and fundamentals of our faith, ſaying, Where is the promiſe of his coming? 2 Pet. 3. 4. They are Infidels in their faith, that they may be Epicures in life; We have not waited half ſo long for his ſecond coming, as the old believers did for his firſt; God hath ſomewhat to do in the world, beſides the ſaving of us; Time is not ſo long, if it be meaſured by his ſpan, as by ours, a thouſand years are as one day, and then what ſhall we ſay to the real Preſentialiſts? who will have Chriſt to come into every Sacrament, and yet it's ſaid, Till he come, as if he were not perſonally there, at preſent? The Scripture ſayes nothing of Chriſts corporal inviſible preſence on earth, takes notice of a firſt coming and a ſecond, but no more; and yet laſtly, What ſhall we ſay to thoſe that are called Seekers, and to the Sans-Ordinance men, and the Supra ordinance men, that will be without and are above Ordinances? I ſay no more then this, Chriſt is not yet come the ſecond time, and as it was his firſt coming that ſet them up: So it is his ſecond only that ſhall take them down; Let not pride infatuate you, for as it is a miſerable caſe when the beſt plea or excUſe for a man is to ſay, he was drunk, he was mad; ſo it is but a ſorry excUſe for blaſphemy, to ſay, It is his conſcience; let the Ordinances of Chriſt have his own date, viz. till he come.
§. 5 Doct. 5 The fifth point might be taken up from thoſe words, This Bread and this Cup, where we finde it called Bread ſtill after Conſecration in confutation of Popiſh Tranſubſtantiation, and both Bread and Cup allowed to the Communicants; a ſhame to Popiſh Sacriledge, that hath robb'd the Sacrament of one of them; but enough was ſaid of both theſe before, when I handled the words of Inſtitution.