TO THE READER.

I HERE humbly offer you (Christian readers) some assistance in that great and good work which you have to do, and are concerned to do well, when you attend the table of the Lord: a work wherein I have observed most serious people desirous of help, and willing to use the helps they have; which, I confess, was one thing that invited me to this undertaking.

I offer this service, with all due deference and respect to the many excellent performances of this kind, which we are already blessed with, done by far better hands than mine. Who yet have not so fully gathered in this harvest, but that those who come after may gather up plentiful gleanings, without robbing their sheaves. Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room; room enough to enlarge upon a subject so copious, and of so great a compass, that it cannot be exhausted.

I do this also with a just sense of my own unworthiness and unfitness to bear the vessels of the Lord, and to do any service in his sanctuary. Who am I, and what is my father's house, that I should have the honour to be a door-keeper in the house of God, to show his guests the way to his table; and that I should be employed thus to hew wood and draw water for the congregation of the Lord? I reckon it true preferment; and by the grace of God, his free grace, I am what I am. It is service which is its own recompence; work which is its own wages. In helping to feed others, we may feast ourselves; for our Master has provided, that the mouth of the ox be not muzzled when he treads out the corn. For my part, I would not exchange the pleasure of converse with the Scriptures and divine things, for all the delight of the sons and daughters of men, and the peculiar treasure of kings and princes. It was a noble saying of the Marquis of Vico, "Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the wealth of this world worth one hour's communion with God in Jesus Christ."

In doing this, I hope I can truly say, my desire and design is to contribute something to the faith, holiness, and joy of those who in this solemn ordinance have given up their names to the Lord Jesus. And if God, by his grace, will make this endeavour some way serviceable to that end, I have what I wish, I have what I aim at, and it will not be the first time that praise has been perfected, and strength ordained, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. In this Essay I have an eye particularly to that little handful of people among whom I have been (in much weakness) ministering in these holy things now seventeen years; during all which time, through the good hand of our God upon us, we have never once been disappointed of the stated solemnities either of our new moons, or our sabbaths. As I designed my Scripture Catechism, and the other little one that followed it, to be a present, and perhaps ere long it may prove my legacy, to the young ones, the lambs of the flock; so I recommend this to the adult, and leave it with them, being desirous that the sheep, we are charged to feed, may go in and out, and find pasture. And I earnestly wish that both these may prove successful expedients, to preserve some of those things they have been taught from being quite forgotten; and that, after my decease, they and theirs will have those things always in remembrance.

And (lastly) I send this abroad under the protection and blessing of heaven; with a hearty prayer to God to forgive what is mine, that is, whatever is amiss and defective in the performance; and graciously to accept what is his own, that is, whatever is good and profitable. Hoping that, if GOD pardon my defects and infirmities, my friends also will overlook them; and that, if he favourably accept my endeavours through Christ, they also will accept them: for truly it is the height of my ambition to approve myself

CHAPTER I.

THE NAMES BY WHICH THIS ORDINANCE IS USUALLY CALLED.

In discoursing of this great and solemn ordinance, which every serious Christian looks upon with a peculiar regard and veneration, because I purpose, as God shall enable me, to open as well the doctrine as the duty of it, it will be proper enough, and, I hope, profitable, to take some of the several names by which it is known.

I. We call it the Sacrament. This is the name we commonly give it, but improperly, because it does not distinguish it from the ordinance of baptism, which is as much a sacrament as this; a sacrament which we have all received, are all bound by, and are concerned to improve, and live up to. But when we call this ordinance the Sacrament, we ought to mind ourselves that it is a sacrament: that is, it is a sign, and it is an oath.

1. It is a sign, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace: for, such sacraments are designed to be. It is a parable to the eye; and in it God uses similitudes, as he did of old, by his servants the prophets, Hosea xii. 10. In it Christ tells us earthly things, (John iii. 12.) that thereby we may come to be more familiarly acquainted, and more warmly affected, with spiritual and heavenly things. In it Christ speaks to us in our own language, and accommodates himself to the capacities of our present state. Man consists of body and soul; | and the soul admits impressions, and exerts its powers, by the body. Here is an ordinance, there fore, which consists of body and soul too; wherein Christ and the benefits of the new covenant are, in the instituted elements of bread and wine, set before us, and offered to us. We live in a world of sense, not yet in the world of spirits; and because we find it hard to look above the things that are seen, we are directed in a sacrament to look through them, to those things not seen, which are represented by them. That things merely sensible may not improve the advantage they have from our present state, wholly to engross our thoughts and cares; in | compassion to our infirmity, spiritual things are in this ordinance made in a manner sensible.

Yet let us not rest contented with the sign only, but converse by faith with the things signified; else we receive the grace of God in this appointment in vain, and sacraments will be to us, what parables were to them that were wilfully blind, blind us the more, Mark iv. 11, 12. What will it avail us to have the shadow without the substance, the shell without the kernel, the letter without the spirit? As the body without the soul is dead, so our seeing and receiving the bread and wine, if, therein, we see not and receive not Christ crucified, is dead also.

2. It is an oath. That is the ancient signification of the word sacrament. The Romans called the oath which soldiers took to be true to their general, Sacramentum militare—a military oath; and our law still uses it in this sense, dicunt super sacramentum suum-they say upon their oath; so that, to take the sacrament, is to take an oath, a solemn oath, by which we bind our souls with a bond unto the Lord, Numb. xxx. 2. It is an oath of allegiance unto the Lord Jesus, by which we engage ourselves to be his dutiful and loyal subjects, acknowledging him to be our rightful Lord and Sovereign. It is as a freeman's oath, by which we enter ourselves members of Christ's mystical body, and oblige ourselves to observe the laws, and seek the good, of that Jerusalem which is from above, that we may enjoy the privileges of that great charter by which it is incorporated. An oath is an appeal to God's knowledge of our sincerity and truth in what we assert, or promise; and in this ordinance we make such an appeal as St. Peter did, Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that I love thee, John xxi. 17. An oath is an imprecation of God's wrath upon ourselves, if we deal falsely, and wilfully prevaricate: and something of that also there is in this sacrament; for if we continue in league with sin, while we pretend to covenant with God, we eat and drink judgment to ourselves, 1 Cor. xi. 29.

ing. Even natural religion teaches men to make conscience of an oath; much more does the Christian religion teach us to make conscience of this oath, to which God is not only a witness, but a party.

II. We call it the Lord's Supper, and very pro

perly, for so the Scripture calls it, 1 Cor. xi. 20. where the apostle, reproving the irregularities that were among the Corinthians in the administration of this ordinance, tells them, This is not to eat the Lord's supper.

1. It is a supper. A supper is a stated meal for the body; this is so for the soul, which stands in as much need of its daily bread as the body does. Supper was then accounted the principal meal; this ordinance is so among Christ's friends, and in his family it is the most solemn entertainment. It is called a supper, because it was first instituted in the evening, and at the close of the passover supper; which, though it tie not us always to administer it about that time, because it would be inconvenient for religious assemblies; yet it signifies, (1.) That Christ now, in the end of the world, in the declining part of its day, as the great evening sacrifice, has appeared to put away sin, Heb. ix. 26. This glorious discovery was reserved for us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, 1 Cor. x. 11. (2.) That comfort in Christ is intended for those only who dwell in God's house, who are night lodgers there, and not only day visitants; and for those only who have done the work of the day, in its day, according as the duty of every day required. They only that work with Christ, shall eat with him. (3.) That the chief blessings of the new covenant are reserved for the evening of the day of our life. The everlasting feast is a supper, designed for us when we have accomplished as a hireling our day, and come home at night.

2. It is the Lord's supper, the Lord Christ's supper. The apostle, in his discourse concerning this ordinance, (1 Cor. xi. 23, &c.) all along calls Christ the Lord, and seems to lay an emphasis on it. For as the ordaining of this sacrament was an act of his dominion, and as his churches' Lord he appointed it; so, in receiving this sacrament, we own his dominion, and acknowledge him to be our Lord. This also puts an honour upon the ordinance, and makes it look truly great, however to a carnal eye it have no form nor comeliness, that it is the supper of the Lord. The sanction of this ordinance is the authority of Christ; the substance of this ordinance is the grace of Christ. It is celebrated in obedience to him, in remembrance of him, and for his praise. Justly it is called the Lord's supper; for it is the Lord Jesus that sends the invitation, makes the provision, gives, the entertainment. In it we feed upon Christ, for he is the Bread of Life; we feed with Christ, for he is our Beloved, and our Friend, and he it is that bids us welcome to his table. In it, Christ sups with us, and we with him. He does us the honour to sup with us, though he must bring his own entertainment along with him. He gives us the happiness of supping with him upon the dainties of heaven, Rev. iii. 20.

Let our eye therefore be to the Lord, to the Lord Christ, and to the remembrance of his name, in this ordinance. We see nothing here, if we see not the beauty of Christ; we taste nothing here, if we taste not the love of Christ. The Lord must be looked upon as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and all in all in this solemnity. If we receive not Christ Jesus the Lord here, we have the supper, but not the Lord's supper.

III. We call it the Communion, the Holy Communion. And justly do we call it so; for,

1. In this ordinance we have communion with Christ our head; Truly our fellowship is with him, 1 John i. 3. He here manifests himself to us, and gives out to us his graces and comforts: we here set ourselves before him, and tender him the grateful return of love and duty. A kind correspondence between Christ and our souls is kept up in this ordinance; such as our present state will admit. Christ, by his word and Spirit, abides in us; we, by faith and love, abide in him. Here, therefore, where Christ seals his word, and offers his Spirit, and where we exercise our faith, and have our love inflamed, there is communion between us and Christ. This communion supposes union; this fellowship supposes friendship; for can two walk together except they be agreed? Amos iii. 3. We must therefore, in the bond of an everlasting covenant, join ourselves to the Lord, and entwine interests with him, and then, pursuant thereto, concern him in all the concerns of our happiness, and concern ourselves in all the concerns of his glory; and this is communion.

2. In this ordinance we have communion with the universal church, even with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours, 1 Cor. i. 2. Hereby we profess, testify, and declare, that we being many, are one bread and one body, by virtue of our common relation to one Lord Jesus Christ; for we are all partakers of that one bread, Christ the bread of life, signified and communicated in the sacramental bread, 1 Cor. x. 17. All true Christians, though they are many, yet they are one, and we express our consent to, and complacency in, that union, by partaking of the Lord's supper. I say, though they are many, that is, though they are numerous, yet as a vast number of creatures make one world, governed by one providence, so a vast number of Christians make one church, animated by one spirit, the soul of that great body. Though they are various, far distant from each other in place, of distinct societies, different attainments, and divers apprehensions in lesser things, yet all meeting in Christ they are one. They are all incorporated in one and the same covenant, and stamped with one and the same image, partakers of the same new and divine nature, and all entitled to one and the same inheritance. In the Lord's supper we are made to drink into one spirit, (1 Cor.

devoted to the service and honour of God in Christ; to show that we do this with cheerfulness and full satisfaction; and, that it may be done with an agreeable solemnity, this feast is appointed for the doing of it, that we may, like the people of Israel, when Solomon dismissed them from his feast of dedication, go to our tents joyful and glad of heart, for all the goodness that the Lord has done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.

If we come to a marriage feast, we must not come without a wedding garment, that is, a frame of heart and a disposition of soul agreeable to the solemnity; conforming to the nature, and answering the intentions, of the gospel, as it is exhibited to us in this ordinance. Holy garments, and garments of praise, are the wedding garments: put on Christ, put on the new man, these are the wedding garments. In these we must, with our lamps in our hands, as the wise virgins, go forth with all due observance, to attend the royal bridegroom.

3. It is a feast of memorial, like the Feast of the Passover, of which it is said, (Exod. xii. 14.) This day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast of the Lord—a feast by an ordinance for ever. The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, was a work of wonder never to be forgotten: the feast of unleavened bread was therefore instituted to be annually observed throughout all the ages of the Jewish church, as a solemn memorial of that deliverance, that the truth of it, being confirmed by this traditional evidence, might never be questioned, and that the remembrance of it, being frequently revived by this service, might never be lost by tract of time. Our redemption by Christ from sin and hell, | is a greater work of wonder than that was, more worthy to be remembered, and yet (the benefits that flow from it being spiritual) more apt to be forgotten: this ordinance was therefore instituted, (and instituted in the close of the Passover Supper, as coming in the room of it,) to be a standing memorial in the church of the glorious achievements of the Redeemer's cross, the victories obtained by it over the powers of darkness, and the salvation wrought by it for the children of light. Thus the Lord hath made his wonderful works to be remembered, Ps. cxi. 4.

4. It is a feast of dedication. Solomon made such a feast for all Israel, when he dedicated the temple, (1 Kings viii. 65.) as his father David had done, when he brought the ark into the tabernacle, 2 Sam. vi. 19. Even the children of the captivity kept the dedication of the house of God with joy, Ezra vi. 16. In the ordinance of the Lord's supper we dedicate ourselves to God as living temples, temples of the Holy Ghost, separated from every

5. It is a feast upon a sacrifice. This methinks is as proper a notion of it as any other. It was the law and custom of sacrifices, both among the Jews, and in other nations, that when the peace-offering was slain, the blood sprinkled, the fat, and some select parts of it, burnt upon the altar, and the priest had his share out of it; then the remainder was given back to the offerer, on which he and his family and friends feasted with joy. Hence we read of Israel after the flesh, eating the sacrifices, and so partaking of the altar, (1 Cor. x. 18.) that is, in token of their partaking of the benefits of the sacrifice, and their joy therein. And this eating of the sacrifices was a religious rite, expressive of their communion with God in and by the sacrifice.

Now, (1.) Jesus Christ is the great and only sacrifice, who by being once offered, perfected for ever them which are sanctified, and this offering never needs to be repeated; that once was sufficient.

(2.) The Lord's supper is a feast upon this sacrifice, in which we receive the atonement, as the expression is; (Rom. v. 11.) that is, we give consent to, and take complacency in, the method which Infinite Wisdom has taken of justifying and saving us, by the merit and mediation of the Son of God incarnate. In feasting upon the sacrifice, we apply the benefit of it to ourselves, and ascribe the praise of it to God with joy and thankfulness.

6. It is a feast upon a covenant. The covenant between Isaac and Abimelech was made with a feast, (Gen. xxvi. 30, 31.) so was that between Laban and Jacob, (Gen. xxxi. 46, 54.) and the feasting upon the sacrifices was a federal rite, in token of peace and communion between God and his people. In the Lord's supper we are admitted to feast with God, in token of reconciliation between us and him through Christ. Though we have provoked God, and been enemies to him in our minds by wicked works, yet he thus graciously provides for us, to show that now he has reconciled us to himself, Col. i. 21. His enemies hungering, he thus feeds them; thirsting, he thus gives them drink; which, if like coals of fire heaped upon their heads, it melt them into a compliance with the terms of his covenant, they shall thenceforth, as his own familiar friends, eat bread at his table continually, till they come to sit down with him at his table in his kingdom.