beauty of the Lord, and therefore must love his image wherever I see it on his sanctified ones. I have here joined myself to the Lord in an everlasting covenant, and thereby have joined myself in relation, and consequently in affection,to all those who are in the bond of the same covenant. I have here bound myself to keep Christ's commandments; and this is his commandment, that we love one another, & that brotherly love continue. Those from whom we differ in the less weighty matters of the law, though we agree in the great things of God, we should now think of with particular thoughts of love and kindness, because from them our minds are most in temptation to be alienated: and those to whom we have given the right hand of fellowship in this and in other ordinances, we should likewise be mindful of with particular endearments, because of the particular relation we stand in to them, as our more intimate companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ: yea, after such an ordinance as this, our catholic charity must be more warm and affectionate....more active, strong and stedfast, and more victorious over the difficulties and oppositions it meets with; and, as the apostle speaks, (1 Thes. iii. 12.) we should increase and abound in love one towards another, and towards all men and in all the fruits and instances of that love. (2.) We must come from this ordinance with a disposition to give to the poor and necessitous according as our ability and opportunity is. It is the laudable custom of the churches of Christ, to close the administration of this ordinance with a collection for the poor; to which we ought to contribute our share, not grudg ingly, or of necessity, but with a single eye, and a willing mind, that our alms may be sanctified and accepted of God; and not only to this, but to all other acts of charity, we must be more forward and free after a sacrament. Though our Saviour lived upon alms himself, yet, out of the little he had, he gave alms to the poor, particularly at the feast of the pass over, (John xiii. 29.) to set us an example. Days of rejoicing and thanksgiving, (and such our sacrament days are,) used to be thus solemnized; for, when we eat the fat, and drink the sweet ourselves, we must send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, (Neh. viii. 10.) that, when our souls are blessing God, the loins of the poor may bless us. If our hearts have here been opened to Christ, we must evidence that they are so, by our being open-handed to poor Christians: for, since our goodness cannot extend to him, it is his will that it should extend to them....Psal. xvi. 2. 3. If we have here in sincerity given ourselves to God, we have, with ourselves, devoted all we have to his service and honor, to be employed and laid out for him; and thus we must testify that we have heartily consented to that branch of the surrender: As we have opportunity, we must do good to all men, especially to them that are of the household of faith-remembering that we are but stewards of the manifold grace of God.' If our prayers have here come up for a memorial before God, as Cornelius's, our alms, like his, must accompany them .... Acts x. 4. We have seen here how much we owe to God's pity and bounty towards us. Having therefore obtained mercy, we ought to shew mercy-knowing the grace of the Lord Jesus, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich'....II Cor. viii. 9. Read Isa. Iviii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. (3.) We must come from this ordinance with a dis position to forgive those that have been provoking and injurious to us. Our approach to the sacrament made it necessary for us to forgive....but our attendance on it, should make it ever natural for us to for give; and our experience there of God's mercy and grace to us, should conquer all the difficulty and reluctancy which we are conscious to ourselves of, therein, and make it as easy to forgive our enemies as it is to forgive ourselves, when at any time we hap pen to have had a quarrel with ourselves. That which makes it hard to forgive, and puts an edge upon our resentments, is the magnifying of the affronts we have received, and the losses we have sustained. Now, in this ordinance, we have had honors put upon us sufficient to balance all those affronts, and benefits bestowed on us sufficient to countervail all those losses; so that we may well afford to forgive and forget both. With ourselves we have offered up to God our names, estates, and all our interests: in compliance, therefore, with the will of God (that God who bid Shimei curse David, and who took away from Job that which the Sabeans and Chaldeans rob bed him of) we must not only bear with patience the damage we sustain in those concerns, but must be charitably affected towards those that have been the instruments of that damage-knowing that men are in God's hand, (Psal. xvii. 14.), and to his hand we must always 'submit. to us. But the great argument for the forgiving of inju. ries, when we come from the table of the Lord, is ta ken from the pardons God hath in Christ there sealed The jubilee-trumpet, which proclaimed releases, sounded at the close of the day of atonement. Is God reconciled to us?-let us then be more firmly than ever reconciled to our brethren. Let the death of Christ, which we have here commemorated, not only slay all enemies, but take down all partition-wallsnot only forbid revenge, but remove strangeness: and let all our feuds and quarrels be buried in his graye. Hath our Master forgiven us that great debt, (and a very great debt it was), and ought we not, then, to have compassion on our fellow-servants?....Mat. xviii. 32, 33, Let us, therefore, who have in this ordinance put on the Lord Jesus Christ, put on, as becomes the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies and kindness, inclining us to forgive-humbleness of mind and meekness, enabling us to conquer that pride and passion which object against our forgiving; that if any man have a quarrel against any, it may be passed by, as : God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us...Col. iii. 12. 13. Eighthly, We should come from this ordinance longing for heaven. Every good Christian lives in the belief of the life everlasting, which God, that can not lie, hath promised...looking for that blessed hope! and doubtless much of the power of godliness consists in the joyful expectation of the glory to be revealed but though we should look upon ourselves as heathens, if we did not believe it, and as desperate, if we had not some hopes of it, yet we have all reason to lament it, as not only our infelicity, but our iniquity, that our desires towards it are so weak and feeble. We are too apt to take up our rest here, and wish we might live always on this earth; and we need something to make us hunger and thirst after that perfect righte ousness....that crown of righteousness, with which only we shall be filled. For this good end, the Lord's Supper is very improveable, to hasten us towards the land of promise, and carry out our souls in earnest breathings after the felicities of our future state. (1.) The complaints we find cause to exhibit at this ordinance, should make us long for heaven; for whatever is defective and uneasy here, we shall be forever freed from when we come to heaven. When here we set ourselves to contemplate the beauty of God, and the love of Christ, we find ourselves in a cloud... we see but through a glass darkly let us, therefore, long to be there where the veil shall be rent....the glasses we now make use of laid aside, and we shall not only see face to face, but (which will yield us more satisfaction) we shall see how we are seen, and know how we are known. When here we would soar upwards upon the wings of love, we find ourselves clogged and pinioned; this immortal spirit is caged in a house of clay, and doth but flutter at the best: let us therefore long to be there, where we shall be perfectly deliver ed from all the incumbrances of a body of flesh, and all the entanglements of a world of sense; and love, in its highest elevations and utmost enlargements, shall survive both faith and hope. When here we would fix for God, and join ourselves closely to him, we find ourselves apt to wander....apt to waver, and should therefore long to be there, where our lɔve to God will be no longer love in motion....constant motion, as it is here; but love at rest, in everlasting rest. Here we complain, that when we would do good, evil (one evil or other) is still present with us; but there we shall forever do good, and all evil shall be forever distant from us. Here we complain, that through the infirmity of the flesh we are soon weary of well-doing; and if the spirit be willing, yet the flesh is weak, and cannot keep pace with it: but there we shall run and not be weary-we shall walk and not faint; and shall not rest, because we shall not need to rest, day or night, from praising God. O, when shall I come to that world, where there is neither sin nor sorrow, not snare-and to the spirits of just men made perfect there, who are as the angels of God in heaven. (2.) The comforts which, through grace, we experience in this ordinance, should make us long for heav en. The foretastes of those divine joys should whet our appetites after the full fruition of them. The bunch of grapes that meets us in this wilderness should make us long to be in Canaan, that land of overflowing plenty, where we shall wash our garments in this wine, and our clothes in this blood of the grape....Gen. xlix. 11—Rev. vii. 14. If communion with God in grace here afford us such a satisfaction as far surpasseth all the delights of the sons of men, what will the fullness of joy be in God's presence, and those pleas ures forevermore? If the shadows of good things to come be so refreshing, what will the substance be, and the good things themselves? If God's tabernacles be so amiable, what will his temple be? If a day in his courts....an hour at his table be so pleasant, what then will an eternity within the veil be? If I find myself so enriched with the earnests of the purchased possession, what then will the possession itself be? If 1 1 |