3. This remembrance of Christ includes suitable impressions made upon the affections, by such a sight and remembrance of him : and therein lies the nature of that precious thing which we call communion with God. Various representations of Christ are made at his table. Sometimes the soul there calls to mind the infinite wisdom, that so contrived and laid the glorious and myste- rious design and project of redemption : the effect of this is wonder and admiration, O the manifold wisdom of God ! Eph. iii. 10. O the depths, the heighths, the length, the breadth of this wis- dom ! I can as easily span the heavens as take the just dimensions of it. Sometimes a representation of the severity of God is made to the soul at that ordinance. O how inflexible and severe is the justice of God ! What, no abatement ! no sparing mercy ; no, not to his own Son ? This begets a double impression on the heart.
264* 'fRE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXI.
(1.) Just and deep indignations against sin * Oh cursed sin ! It was thou usedst my dear Lord so ; for thy sake he underwent all this. If thy vileness had not been so great, his sufferings had not been so many. Cursed sin ! thou wast the knife that stabbed him : thou the sword that pierced him. Ah what revenge it Avorks ! I remembered that it is storied of one of the kings of France, that hearing the bishop (as I remember it was Remegius) read the his- tory of Christ's trial and execution, and hearing how barbarously they had used him, he was moved, with so tragical and pathetical a history, to great indignation against Pilate, the Jews, and the rude and bloody soldiers, and could not contain himself, but cried out, as the bishop was reading, " O that I had been there with " my Frenchmen, I would have cut all their throats who so bar- *< barously used my Saviour.1'
To allude to this : when the believer considers and remembers, that sin put Christ to all that shame and ignominy, and that he was wounded for our transgressions, he is filled with hatred of sin, and cries out, O sin, I will revenge the blood of Christ upon thee ! thou shalt never live a quiet hour in my heart. And,
(2.) It produces an humble adoration of the goodness and mercy of God, to exact satisfaction for our sins, by such bloody stripes, from our surety. Lord, if this wrath had seized on me, as it did on Christ, what had been my condition then ! If these things were done in the green tree, what had been the case of the dry tree?
Sometimes representations -[-, (and not common ones), are made of the love of Christ, who assumed a body and soul, on purpose to bear the wrath of God for our sins. And when that surpassing love breaks out in its glory upon the souls, how is the soul trans- ported and ravished with it ! crying out, what manner of love is this ! here is a love large enough to go round the heavens, and the heaven of heavens ! Who ever loved after this rate, to lay down his life for enemies ! O love inutterable and inconceivable ! How glorious is my love in his red garments ! Sometimes the fruits of his death are there gloriously displayed ; even his satisfaction for sin, and the purchase his blood made of the eternal inheri- tance s And this begets thankfulness and confidence in the soul. Christ is dead, and his death hath satisfied for my sin. Christ is dead, therefore my soul shall never die. Who shall separate me from the love of God ? These are the fruits, and this is the nature of that remembrance of Christ here spoken of.
* Great is the bitterness of sin, which caused so much bitterness of suffering, Aug.
f When you look to the Lord, do you think yourself conversant among mortals, and not rather transported, as it were, instantly into heaven. Ckrysost. horn. I. 5.
SERM. XXL THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 265
Secondly, Wheat aptitude or condecency is there in this ordinance, to bring Christ so to remembrance ?
Much every way * ; for it is a sign, by him appointed to that end, and hath (as divines well observe) a threefold use and consi- deration, viz. as it is memorative, signifiedtive, and instructive.
1. As it is memorative, and so it hath the nature and use of a pledge or token of love, left by a dying to a dear surviving friend. And so the sacrament, as was said before, is like a ring pluckt off from Christ's finger, or a bracelet from his arm; or rather his picture from his breast, delivered to us with such words as these ; " As oft as you look on this, remember me ; let this help to keep " me alive in your remembrance when I am gone, and out of your <c sight." It induces to it also,
2. As it is a signr/icaiive sign, most aptly signifying both his bitter sufferings for us, and our strict and intimate union with him ; both which have an excellent usefulness to move the heart, and its deepest affections, at the remembrance of it. The breaking of the bread, and shedding forth the wine, signify the former ; our eating, drinking, and incorporating them, is a lively signification of the other.
3. Moreover, this ordinance hath an excellent use and advan- tage for this affectionate remembrance of Christ, as it is an instruc- tive sign. And it many ways instructs us, and enlightens our mind, particularly in these truths, which are very affecting things.
1. That Christ is the bread on which our souls live, proper meat and drink for believers, the most excellent New-Testament food. It is said, Psal. lxxviii. 25. " Man did eat angels food :" he means the manna that fell from heaven, which was so excellent, that if angels, who are the noblest creatures, did live upon material food, they would choose this above all to feed on. And yet this was but a type and weak shadow of Christ, on whom believers feed. Christ makes a royal feast of his own flesh and blood, Isa. xxv. 6. all our delicates are in him.
2. It instructs us that the New Testament is now in its full force, and no substantial alteration can be made in it, since the testator is dead, and by his death hath ratified it. So that all the excellent promises and blessings of it are now fully confirmed to the believ- ing soul, Heb. ix. 16, 17. All these, and many more choice truths, ace we instructed in by this sign : And all these ways it remembers us of Christ, and helps powerfully to raise, warm, and affect our hearts with that remembrance of him.
* As oft as this supper is celebrated, so oft Christ, as it were, is beheld dying on the cross. Aug. in Fsal. xxi.
%()() THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SEliM. XXL
Thirdly, The last enquiry is, How Christ hath, hereby, left such a special mark of his care for, and love to his people. And that will evidently appear, if you consider these five particulars.