478 A SACRAMENT SERMON ON LUKE XXII. 20.
But more especially two legacies are more notable, wliicb imply the rest — the one initial, the other consummate.
(1.] Pardon of sins. This is expressly mentioned in the parallel place to the text, Mat. xxvi. 28, ' This is the blood of the new testa- ment, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.' This is the great ]eii;acy which Chi-ist hath left to his redeemed people when he made the covenant. It was sin that plunged us into mischief, and cut us off from the favour of God, and did forbid all further and longer communion with God and enjoyment of him. Therefore this is that which is in Christ's eye, to obtain the pardon of sins : Eph. i. 7, 'In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace ;' and Col. i. 14, ' In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.' This is gratia removens irrohihe'iis. Sin was the wrong done to God, that brought such a loss upon us of God's favour, image, and fellowship. This Christ came to remove, by repairing God's honour, and giving satisfaction to provoked justice.
[2.] The next great legacy is eternal life, which he bequeathed and disposeth to the heirs of promise : Luke xxii. 29, 30, ' And I appoint unto you a kingdom,as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Father's kingdom ; ' and John xvii. 24, ' Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me may be where I am, and behold my glory.' Sin is our great trouble, happi- ness our great desire. The grand scruple of the world was to have their fears quenched by the expiation of guilt, and their desires satisfied by the enjoyment of a fit happiness. These are the legacies left us by our Lord.
5. There are terms according to which these legacies are to be enjoyed. The new covenant is so a testament that it still remaineth a covenant, copulatively, not privatively, a testamentary covenant ; while it provideth for our comfort and safety, it doth not abolish our duty ; it requireth something from us, as well as bestoweth something upon us — etiani hcereditates habent sua onera^ &c. Men may put con- ditons into their wills and testaments ; therefore the sacramental form doth not disannul our obligation. The conditions are faith, repentance, and new obedience. Faith : Rom. iii. 25, ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.' Re- pentance : Acts. iii. 19, ' Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.' New obedience •- Heb. v. 9, ' He is become the author of salvation to all them that obey him.' Only I must give you this caution, that all things required of us as conditions and duties are also disposed as legacies in the co%'enant : Jer. xxiv. 7, ' I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.' So Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, ' A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh : and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in ray statutes, and ye shall keep my judg- ments, and do them ;' and Zech. xii. 10, ' And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon him whom they have
A SACKAMENT SERMON ON LUKE XXII. 20. 479
pierced, and mourn for him.' This is the proper intent of a testa- ment, that certain unspeakable gifts are designed unto us antecedently to all conditions performed by us ; as Christ giveth himself to us, bestowing the first grace. Conditions of the covenant are conditions in the covenant. God doth not only bestow them, but give them. The articles are promises : Heb. viii. 10, ' For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.' Not only pivileges, but qualifications. He requireth them so as we may be sensible of our obligation, and acknowledge our duty so as to strive to do our utmost in the use of means, and turn these precepts into prayers, and it is our act at last ; and some of this we must find in us before we can take comfort. What he requireth he promises to bestow. God is no Pharaoh, to require brick where he giveth no straw ; he giveth us not only pardon, but faith ; not only heaven, but holiness ; and giveth a new heart as well as the new Jerusalem.
6. There are heirs : Gal. iii. 29, ' And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to promise ;' and Rom. viii, 17, 'If children, then heirs.' The blessing of Christ's testament is no common thing cast abroad at random. There are certain persons to whom it doth belong, others to whom not. None are described by name, but by character, which is as good as if described by name ; and which character must be interpreted exclusively. Compare John xvii. 9 with 20, ' I pray for them ; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me ; neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe.' Christ hath left nothing to the carnal world in this testament, but all believers are comprised. As to the wicked, there is not only a preterition, but a positive ex- clusion. A preterition is a sufficient bar against any man's testament, because he is not named in the will, nor designed to any favour by it; but the carnal and the wicked are excluded: Ps. 1. 16, 'As to the wicked, God saith, What hast thou to do to take my covenant into thy mouth?' and Acts viii. 21, 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.' But let us see how the heirs of promise are described. Sometimes by God's election and the appointment of God, who, in his unchangeable counsel, designeth the heirs of promise : John vi. -37, ' All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast off ;' and Luke xii. 32, ' Fear not, little flock ; it is your Father's good pleasm'e to give you a kingdom.' Christ's testa- ment is made in compliance with God's decrees ; but because this is a secret not known till afterward, therefore the heirs of promise are de- scribed in the gospel or testament itself, Heb. vi. 18, There you have one description, ' Who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope that is set before us ;' those who, being chased by the terrors of the law (as the man that was guilty of casual homicide was by the avenger of blood at his heels), do take sanctuary at the Lord's grace in Christ, and are resolved to continue there, waiting for his mercy unto eternal life. Sometimes they are described to be ' the called :' Heb. ix, 1.5, *That they which are called might receive the promise of eternal