1 68 SERMONB UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. II.
as Athanasius expoundeth it, and many others interpret it as a simi- litude of Christ's death for three days. So for the Lord's supperi Luke xxii. 19, 20, ' He took bread, and brake it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you ; this do in remem- brance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you/ His body is represented as dead and broken, and so proper food for our souls, his blood as poured out and shed for us. Well, then, here we remember Christ as dying on the cross rather than as glorified in heaven.
[3.] By reason it must needs be so.
(1.) With respect to the state of man, with whom the new covenant is made. It is made with man fallen and a sinner ; therefore baptism and the Lord's supper imply our communion with Christ as a redeemer and saviour, who cometh ' to save us from our sins,' Mat. i. 21, and nothing can save us from our sins but a crucified saviour. Therefore these ordinances imply a communion with his death: Heb. ix. 15, ' For this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by the means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the pro- mise of eternal inheritance.' So here the intervention of his death was the way and means to expiate former sins, and that penitent believers might have eternal blessedness instated upon them by way of inheri- tance ; therefore the most obvious thing represented in these seals of the new covenant must be the death of Christ.
(2.) With respect to the great benefit we stand in need of, which is the destruction of sin, which hath a double malignity in it ; for sin i& considerable under a double respect — as it damneth or as it defileth ; as it rendereth us obnoxious to God's justice, or as it tainteth and staineth and defileth our faculties. Christ considereth sin under this- double respect, and maketh none partakers of the benefit which cometK by him whom he freeth not from sin, both as to the guilt and power ; by his death our sins are expiated before God, and so pardoned ; and also the Spirit, or a new and holy nature is put into us, whereby the reigning power of sin is broken and taken away ; not only the guilt of sin, which is opposed to blessedness, but the reign of sin, which is opposed to holiness. We can never be completely happy till we get freed from the punishment which sin hath made our due, and also get that sin destroyed which would involve us in new gililt. God, who is a just and wise disposer of his grace, will not give impunity where sin remaineth in its full strength. Now this being the nature of our recovery, we ought to seek communion with Christ's death, that we may obtain both pardon and the gift of the Spirit, and be justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our * God ; or (which tendeth to the same effect) that we might feel the virtue of Christ's death, and express the likeness of it.
(3.) With respect to the value of Christ's death, which is often recommended to us under these two considerations — (1.) As a won- derful act of love; (2.) As a price and ransom paid for our souls, and the blessings we stand in need of.
(Ist.) As a wonderful act of condescending love : Gal. ii. 20, * He- loved me, and gave himself for me ;' Eph. v. 2, ' Who hath loved us^ and given himself for us an ofi'ering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-
VeR. 3.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. 169
smelling savour ;' Rev. i. 5, ' Who loved ns, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.' Christ's death is the greatest instance of his love, and sacraments are a memorial of his love to us, and therefore must needs principally relate to his death, for so they are most apt to work upon our souls.
(2d.) They are the price paid for the blessings we stand in need of, and so breed confidence in us. The great benefit is the destruction of sin, as I said before ; for the great occasion of this mystery of grace was our fallen estate, which brought sin and misery upon us. But the Son of God came ' to take away sin,' 1 John iii. 5, by dying an accursed death to propitiate God to us, and make way for the more liberal effusion of his mercy. Well, then, if poor creatures have any awakening sense of their deep misery, what should they look after, or bless God for, when they solemnly come to accept the covenant, but the death of Christ ?
(4.) The mutual respect that is between both sacraments ; for Christ's death, and the immediate benefits which result thence, are represented both in baptism and the Lord's supper in a way proper to each. Bap- tism signifieth our first entrance into the evangelical state, and the Lord's supper our growth and progress therein. Both are necessary.