Let us often meditate deeply of Christ, and of ourselves in him ; let us see all our ill in him, and all our good in him : see death overcome, and sin overcome by his death, he being ' made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13 : see the law overcome, he being ' made under the law for us,' Gal. iv. 4, 5. When the wrath of God vexeth and terrifieth us, see it upon him. ' He sweat water and blood in the garden,' Luke xxii. 44. It made him cry out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' Mark xv. 34. See all that may trouble us in him, as our surety. And all the good we hope for, see it in Christ first. Whatsoever he hath in his natural body, it is for his mystical body ; for he gave his natural body for his mystical. God in the world, to humble us, exerciseth us with troubles and calamities, as he did Christ. We must be conformable to our head. But consider, the poison and sting of all ills we need to fear is swallowed up and taken away by Christ. And, as I said, let us see all our good in him. We are sons in him, raised in him, blessed in him, ' set in heavenly places with him,' Eph. i. 8, and shall be fellow-heirs and kings with him ; for we are his members, his spouse. The wife shall enjoy the same condition as the husband ; whatsoever he hath she shall have. What a comfortable estate is this ! We can fear no ill, nor want no good. Whatsoever he hath, it is for us. He was born for us. He died for us. He is gone to heaven for us ; for us and our good. He did and suffered all these things. We cannot exercise our thoughts too much in these meditations.
The Lord's supper is a sacrament of union and communion. Hence it hath its name ; and by receiving the sacrament, our communion and union with Christ is strengthened. What a comfort then is it to think, if I have fellowship with Christ it is sealed by the sacrament ! When I take the bread and wine, at the same time I have communion with the body and blood of Christ shed for my sins ; and as Christ himself was freed from my sins imputed to him, and by his resurrection declared that he was freed, so surely shall I be freed from my sins. So that this communion, taking the bread and wine, it seals to us our communion and fellowship with Christ, and thereupon our freedom from sin and from the law, and sets us in a blessed and happy estate. We should labour therefore by all means to strengthen our union and communion with Christ ; and amongst the rest, reverently and carefully attend upon this blessed ordinance of God, for the body of Christ broken doth quicken us, because it is the body of the Son of God. ' My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,' John vi. 55. And he calls his body broken 'the bread of life.' Why? Because it was the body of the Son of God, 'who is life,' John vi. 35. All life
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comes from God. Now, Christ taking our nature upon him, his death is a quickening death, and by reason of the union with the divine nature, now it is the body of God broken and the blood of God shed for us. There is our comfort ; and he was declared to be so by his resurrection, that de- clared that he was God, and that he was freed fi'om our sins. Powerful must that Saviour needs be that was so strong in his very death, when his very body was broken and his blood let out. Then he did work the foun- dation of all comfort, for then he satisfied the wrath of God. Christ was strongest when he was weakest. The resurrection was but a declaration of the worth of that he had done. Now, in the sacrament we have com- munion with Christ dying, especially as his body is broken and his blood shed, for that is the foundation of all comfort by his resurrection. And because the Spirit of life was in Christ, and did quicken his body while he was alive, and was a Spirit of life even when he died, and gave worth and excellency to his death, therefore, when we take the communion, we ought not to meditate merely of the death of Christ, as his blood was shed and his body broken, but of the death of such a person as had the Spu-it of life in him, as was God and man. And so set the excellency of his person against all temptations whatsoever. Set the excellency of Christ so abased, his body broken and his blood shed, against all temptations. If it be the greatest, the wrath of God upon the conscience, yet when conscience thinks this, God, the party ofiended, gave his own Son to be incarnate, and the Spirit of life in him did quicken man's nature, and in that nature did die for satisfaction, now God will be satisfied by the death of such a surety as his own Son. So that the excellency of the person having the seal of God upon him, ' For him hath God the Father sealed,' John vi. 27, doth wondrously satisfy conscience in all temptations whatsoever. What need a man fear death, and damnation, and the miseries of this life, and Satan ? AVhat are all ? If God be appeased and reconciled in Christ, then a man hath comfort, and may think of all other enemies as conquered enemies. Now, we cannot think of the death of Christ, who was a ' quickening Spu'it,' but w^e must think of the death of an excellent person, that gave worth to his death, to be a satisfactory death for us. Therefore let us receive the communion with comfort, that as verily as Christ is mine, so his quickening Spirit is communicated to me, and whatsoever he hath is mine. If I have the field, I have the pearl in it ; his obedience, his victory over death, his sonship, is mine ; his sitting in heaven is for me ; he sits there to rule me while I am on earth, and to take me up to himself when I am dead. All is for me. When we have communion with Christ we have communion wath all. Therefore ' the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' when I am one with him, it quickens me, and ' frees me from the law of sin and death.'