Now, there are two ways whereby we show forth the Lord's death ; the one is the way of representation to ourselves ; and the other is a way of profession unto others : —
I. The way of representation to ourselves. The work of repre- senting Christ aright to the soul is a great work. God and men are agreed in it; and therefore God, when he represents Christ, his design is to represent him to the faith of men. Men that have not faith, have a great desire to have Christ represented to their fancy and imagination; and, therefore, when the way of representing Christ to the faith of men was lost among them, the greatest part of their re- ligion was taken up in representing Christ to their fancy. They would make pictures and images of his cross, resurrection, ascension, and every thing he did.
There are three ways whereby God represents Christ to the faith of believers: — the one is, by the word of the gospel itself as written; the second is by the ministry of the gospel and preaching of the word ; and the third, in particular, is by this sacrament, wherein we represent the Lord's death to the faith of our own souls : —
1. God doth it by the luord itself. Hence are those descriptions that are given of Christ in Scripture to represent him desirable to the souls of men. The great design of the book of Canticles consists, for the most part, in this, — in a mystical, allegorical description of the graces and excellencies of the person of Christ, to render him desirable to the souls of believers; as in the 5th chapter, from the 9th verse to the end, there is nothing but that one subject. And it was a great promise made to them of old, Isa. xxxiii. 17, " Thine eyes shall see 1 Delivered December 24, 1669.
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the King in his beauty." The promises of the Old Testament are much spent in representing the person of Christ as beautiful, desirable, and lovely to the faith of believers. And you will see, in 2 Cor. iii. 18, what is the end of the gospel : " We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The gospel is the glass here intended; and looking into the glass, there is an image appears in it : not our own ; but the representation the gospel makes of Jesus Christ is the image that appears in the glass. The work and design of the gospel is, to make a representation of Christ unto us, as Christ makes a representation of the Father; and there- fore he is called his image, — " The image of the invisible God." Why so? Because all the glorious properties of the invisible God are re- presented to us in Christ; and we looking upon the image of Christ in this glass, — that is, the representation made of him in the gospel, — it is the effectual means whereby the Spirit of God transforms us into his image.
This is the first way whereby God doth this great work of repre- senting Christ unto the faith of men ; which men having lost, have made it their whole religion to represent Christ unto their fancy.
2. The second way is, by the ministry of the word. The great work of the ministry of the word is to represent Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tells us, Gal. iii. 1, " 0 foolish Galatians, who hath be- witched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" He is " depictus crucifixus," — crucified before their eyes. How was this? Not before their bodily eyes; but the apostle had in his preach- ing made such a lively representation unto their faith of the death of Christ, that he was as one painted before them. One said well, on this text, " Of old the apostles did not preach Christ by painting, but they painted him by preaching ; " they did in so lively a manner represent him.
Abraham's servant (in the 24th chapter of Genesis), that was sent to take a wife for his son Isaac, is by all granted to be, if not a type, yet a resemblance of the ministers of the gospel, that go forth to pre- pare a bride for Christ. And what does he do? Truly he is a great example. When he came to the opportunity, though he had many things to divert him, yet he would not be diverted. There was set- meat before him to eat ; but he said, " I will not eat, till I have told my errand." Nothing should divert the ministers of the gospel, — no, not their necessary meat, — when they have an opportunity of dealing with souls on behalf of Christ. What course does Abraham's servant take? He saith, "I am Abraham's servant; and the Lord hath blessed my master greatly ; and he is become great : and he hath
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given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and camels, and asses." What is all this to Isaac? — he was to take a wife for Isaac, not for Abraham. He goes on : " And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old : and unto him hath he given all that he hath." The way to procure this wife for Isaac was, to let them know that this great man, Abraham, had given all he had to Isaac ; and it is the work of mi- nisters of the gospel to let the people know that God the Father hath given all things into the hands of his Son. They are to repre- sent Christ as Abraham's servant does here his master Isaac, — as one who inherited all the goods of Abraham ; so Christ is the appointed heir of all things, of the kingdom of heaven, — the whole household of God. They are to represent him thus to the souls of men, to make him desirable to them. This is the great work of ministers, who are ambassadors of God; they are sent from God to take a wife for Christ, or to make ready a bride for him, from among the children of men.