VeR. 28.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 481
firm lis in our hopes of deliverance from that destruction wherein the whole world is involved by the law, and that he will indeed save us from the wrath to come. The Israelites sprinkled the door-posts be- cause they hoped for the jiassing over of the destroying angel ; and Ave are to use these rites that we, may encourage ourselves in well-doing by the hopes of the blessings of the covenant : Luke xxii. 20, ' This cup is the new testament in my blood ; ' that is, it is a pledge and seal of it, that visible sign that God hath given us for our assurance, that we may trust God that he will make good his part of the covenant, and also give us grace that we may accomplish our part. He hath given us a binding and assuring sign that we shall have Christ and all his benefits if there be not a bar and let on our part; if we faith- fully take him for our God, and give ourselves up to be his people, he will maintain us, and carry us on to eternal salvation. So that here is the exercise of faith, because it is a sealing ordinance. Whatever those extraordinary signs were that God gave to his people of old, that is baptism and the Lord's supper to us. As when God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, Gen. xv. 8, ' He said. Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it ? ' And God con- firmed the promise to him by a sign and a vision, in the following part of the chapter. So when God sent Moses upon a difficult busi- ness, he gave him signs that he might believe ; as his turning his rod into a serpent, Exod. iv. 3, 4 ; making his hand leprous, ver. 6 ; turn- ing water into blood, that he and the children of Israel might believe in the Lord God of their fathers. So Judges vi. 37, Gideon would have a sign that he might believe that God would save Israel by his hand. God knoweth man's backwardness to believe and proneness to distrust, and hath an earnest desire that we should partake of the benefit of the promises, and therefore he hath given us a sign. It is true, not a miraculous sign ; that needeth not after so long owning of the gospel ; a miracle is a sign for infidels : 1 Cor. xiv. 22, ' Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that be- lieve not ; ' but as binding and as assuring a sign. Therefore we must use it in faith, and with confidence that God will be as good as his word.
4. There is this peculiar to sacraments above other duties, that they imply a closer application. In the word Christ is evidently set forth and propounded to all in general ; the word speaks to all promiscuously, ' He that believeth shall be saved,' Markxvi. 16 ; but the sacraments apply it to every one in particular. By the word none are excluded from accepting the grace offered to them upon God's terms ; but by the sacrament every one is expressly bound and particularly admon- ished of his duty. It is one thing when no man is excluded, another thing when I am particularly called, bound, and admonished to my duty, and called, as it were, by name. The object revealed in the word is like the brazen serpent, which without difference was exposed to the eyes of all, that whosoever looked upon it might recover his health ; but the same object offered in the sacrament is like the blood sprinkled upon the door-posts, that every man may be assured in particular that his family should be saved. The reason of this difference between the word and the sacrament Is because in the word the promises are
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482 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. LXll.
propounded and offered in order to consent, as matters are debated to and fro till the parties are agreed ; but the sacraments are not of use till both sides have consented and agreed to the conditions of the covenant. The word conduceth to the making of the covenant, but the sacraments suppose it already made and agreed ; therefore the word universally propounds that which in the seals is particularly applied, in which there is a special advantage, for those things do not excite us so much that are spoken indifferently to all, as those that are particularly applied to ourselves ; these stir up a more accurate care and endeavour that we may answer the duty taken upon us. In the promises of the w^ord the conditions are propounded, that if you will be my people, take me for your benefactor, redeemer, and sanctifier, and will live in faith and obedience to me, I will be your God to pardon your sin, to guide and conduct you safe to eternal life ; this is pro- pounded in the w^ord. But the sacraments suppo.se that my consent is actually given ; and that I have undertaken to do the duty, that we have chosen God to be our God, and given up ourselves to be his people, and then God cometh and saith. Take this as an undoubted pledge that I will be thine, that I will love and bless thee, and thou shalt have what- ever I have promised — then he cometh to give us livery and seisin, or to put us into the actual possession of Christ, and all his benefits by the rites of bread and wine. So that these seals do not only bind the covenant, but confirm our interest in the blessings thereof, and convey a right to us : 1 Cor. x. 16, ' The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of thebodyof Christ? ' They give us a right if the bar be not on our side, if the consent be sincere, other- wise the covenant is void. If you have not given a sincere consent to take the privileges of the covenant for your happiness, and the duties of the covenant for your work, how can you expect it ? for God is bound to none but those that accept and thankfully give up themselves to the terms of the covenant. Now this is in part true of both the sacraments, but especially of the Lord's supper. Baptism supposes faith in grown persons, but infants are baptized unto faith and unto repentance: Mat. iii. 11, 'I indeed baptize you with water, eU fierd- voiav, unto repentance,' that the party baptized may be obliged to mind the work of repentance, and be encouraged to look up to God for grace to perform it when he comes to years of discretion. But for the Lord's supper, there we are expressly required to examine ourselves : 1 Cor. xi. 28, ' But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.' We must examine ourselves, that we may make out our title and interest, so that God may not seal to a blank ; we must examine whether we be in the faith. We do not come that faith may be forgotten, but we must bring it along with us, that it may be strengthened and confirmed. Here we are to eat and drink, and "turn things into our own substance; and so we make particular application, and appropriate and apply to ourselves what Christ hath done and suffered for us. Now consider what a horrible usurpation it is to challenge privileges that do not belong to thee. Here God cometh to say to us, All this is thine, that we may cry out with Thomas, 'My Lord, and my God,' John xx. 28.