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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. xii. 13.); and therefore, in attending to that ordinance, we are concerned not only to preserve, but to cultivate and improve Christian love and charity for what will this badge of union ayail us, without the unity of the spirit?

Fourthly, We call it the Eucharist; so the Greek church called it, and we from them. It signifies a thanksgiving; and it is so called,

(1) Because Christ, in the institution of it, gave thanks....I Cor. xi. 24. It should seem that Christ frequently offered up his prayers in the form of thanksgivings, as (John xi. 41.) Father, I thank thee that 'thou hast heard me ;' and so he blessed the bread and the cup, by giving thanks over them; as the true Melchisedec, who, when he 'brought forth bread and -"wine to Abraham, blessed the most high God'...Gen. xiv. 18, 20. Though our Saviour, when he instituted the sacrament, had a full prospect of his approaching sufferings, with all their aggravations, yet he was not thereby indisposed for thanksgiving; for praising God is a work that is never out of season. Though the Captain of our salvation was now but girding on the harness, yet he gives thanks as though he had put it off, being confident of a glorious victory; in the prospect of which, even before he took the field, he did, in this ordinance, divide the spoils among his followers, and gave gifts unto men....Psal. lxviii. 18.

(2) Because we, in the participation of it, must give thanks likewise. It is an ordinance of thanksgiving, appointed for the joyful celebrating of the Redeemer's praises. This sacrifice of atonement Christ himself offered once for all, and it must not, it cannot be repeated; but sacrifices of acknowledgement Christians must offer daily; that is, 'the fruit of our lips, giving 'thanks to his name'....Heb. xiii. 15. The cup of salvation must be a cup of blessing, with which, and for

which, we must bless God, as the Jews were wont to do very solemnly at the close of the passover-supper ; at which time Christ chose to institute this sacrament, because he intended it for a perpetual thanksgiving, till we come to the world of praise.

Come, therefore, and let us sing unto the Lord in this ordinance; let the high praises of our Redeemer be in our mouths and in our hearts: would we have the comfort, let him have the praise of the great things he hath done for us; let us remember that thanksgiving is the business of the ordinance, and let that turn our complaints into praises: for whatever matter of complaint we find in ourselves, in Christ we find abundant matter for praise; and that is the pleasant subject, which, in this ordinance, we should dwell upon.

Fifthly, We call it the feast, the Christian feast. Christ our passover being sacrificed for us, in this ordinance we keep the feast....1 Cor. v. 8. They that communicate, are said to feast with us.... Jude, ver. 12. This name, though not commonly used, is very significant; for it is such a supper as is a feast. Gospel preparations are frequently compared to a feast, as Isa. xxv. 6-Luke xiv. 16. The guests are many, the invitation solemn, and the provision rich and plentiful, and therefore fitly is called a feast...,a feast of souls: a feast is made for laughter, (Eccl. x. 19.) so is this for spiritual joy; the wine here is designed to make glad the heart. A feast is made for free conversation; so is this for communion between heaven and earth in this banquet of wine, the golden sceptre is held out to us, and this fair proposal made, "What is thy petition, and it shall be granted thee?" Let us see what kind of a feast it is:

(1.) It is a royal feast- A feast like the feast of a 'king,' (1 Sam. xxv. 36.) i. e. a magnificent feast. It is a feast like that of king Ahasuerus, (Esth. i. 3, 4, 5,) 'a feast for all his servants,' and designed, as that was, not only to shew his good will to those whom he had feasted, but to shew the riches of his glorious king

'dom, and the honor of his excellent majesty.' The treasures hid in Christ, even his unsearchable riches, are here set open, and the glories of the Redeemer illustriously displayed. He who is King of kings, and Lord of lords, here issues out the same orders that we find him giving, Rev. xix. 17, 18... Come gather 'yourselves together to the supper of the great God;' and that must needs be a great supper. The wisest of kings introduceth wisdom herself as a queen or princess making this feast, Prov. ix. 1, 2.... Wisdom hath killed her beasts, and mingled her wine'. At a royal feast the provision, we may be sure, is rich and noble, such as it becomes a king to give, though not such as we beggars are ought to expect: the welcome also, we may be sure, is free and generous-Christ gives like a king.

Let us remember that in this ordinance we sit to eat with a Ruler-with a Ruler of rulers; and therefore must consider diligently what is before us, and observe a decorum, Prov. xxiii. 1....He is a King that comes in to see the guests-Matth. xxiii. 11....and therefore we are concerned to behave ourselves well.

(2.) It is a marriage feast; it is a feast made by a King at the marriage of his Son; so our Saviour represents it, (Matth. xxii. 2, 3.) not only to speak it exceeding rich and sumptuous, and celebrated with extraordinary expressions of joy and rejoicing, but because the covenant here sealed between Christ and his church is a marriage-covenant....such a covenant as makes two one....Eph. v. 31, 32-a covenant founded in the dearest love, founding the nearest relation, and designed to be perpetual. In this ordinance, (1.) we celebrate the memorial of the virtual espousals of the church of Christ when he died upon the cross, to sanctify and cleanse it, that he might 'present it to himself'....Eph. v. 6. That was the day of his espousals, the day of the gladness of his heart.' (2.) The actual espousals of believing souls to Christ, are here solemnized, and that agreement ratified,

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Cant. ii. 16.... My beloved is mine, and I am his.' The soul that renounces all other lovers which stand in competition with the Lord Jesus, and joins itself by faith and love to him only, is, in this ordinance, 'presented as a chaste virgin to him'....II Cor. xi. 2. (3.) A pledge and earnest of the public and complete espousals of the church of Christ, at his second coming, is here given: then the marriage of the Lamb comes,' (Rev. xix. 7.) and we, according to his promise, hereby declare that we look for it.

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 inten tions of the gospel, as it is exhibited to us in this or dinance. 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 vir gins, 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 to the Lord-a feast by an ordinance forever. 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'....Psal. 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....II Sam. vi. 19. Even the children of the captivity kept the dedication of the house of God with joy'....Ezra vi. 19. In the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we dedicate ourselves to God as living temples....temples of the Holy Ghost, separated from every thing that is common and profane, and entirely devoted to the service and honor of God in Christ: to shew 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.'

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(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 beast offered 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 benefit of the sacrifice, and their joy therein. And this eating of the sacrifices was a religious rite,

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