An Invitation to the Communion. wherever Christ hath real communion with the soul. Hence you may see the absurdity of putting on religion, only as our best clothes, once a month or a quarter; and that such persons as these, instead of being the friends of Christ, are no better than ceremonious visitors, whose room would be more welcome than their company. Christ, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and who searcheth the heart and the reins, sees nothing but spiritual ignorance under the mask of devotion, and no inward sense exercised to discern him, consequently not the least meetness for an approach to his table-needs must he address such with, How camest thou in hither? 6. To conclude, none can partake profitably, who have not found acceptance with God through the righteousness of the Saviour, and in consequence experience the mighty power of his grace on their souls. By the mighty power of his grace, I mean that virtue derived from Christ, through the operation of his Spirit, whereby a dead sinner is quickened to spiritual life, and endued with spiritual sensibility. If in this ordinance, the exercise of repentance, faith, charity, thankfulness, humility, and of all the other graces, is necessarily required, in order to a discerning the Lord's body, then it is evident that they who are without these, can never partake spiritually. Now we are all destitute of these till the Spirit of God, making the Gospel of Jesus effectual to us, enlightens our minds to see the fulness which is in Christ, and inspires these holy dispositions into our souls. We cannot repent and believe, and love and be thankful, or humble, by any native will or power of our An Invitation to the Communion. own; we might as soon think of plucking the sun from the firmament, as of exercising one of these graces, by our own will or sufficiency. They are all the work of God, the parts of the divine nature communicated to the children who are begotten, not after the will of the flesh, nor of man, but of God. Therefore, if you do not know any such change wrought in you, any such new creation, any mighty working, like unto that which raised up Jesus from the dead; if you have not an experimental sense of the quickening influence of the Spirit of God upon your soul, and have not begun to see that you have passed from death unto life, from darkness unto light, from the power of Satan unto God, it is plain you cannot possibly partake discerningly of this ordinance. Should you give ever so much meat and drink to a dead man, it would neither bring him to life, nor nourish the carcase. The case is the same-if there be no spiritual life in the soul, there can be no strengthening and refreshing by the body and blood of Christ. Secondly-These persons therefore, one and another, must needs be excluded from all the saving benefits of Christ's death and passion; and if thus careless, ignorant, siuful, and unconverted, they approach the Lord's table, they must needs eat and drink their own damnation. A fearful word indeed! Enough to make the ears of every one that heareth it, to tingle; and which our Church well explains thus- We kindle God's wrath against us, we "provoke him to plague us with divers diseases, "and sundry kinds of death; judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of An Invitation to the Communion. "the Lord." Here you see that present judgments, and the wrath to come, are the wages of such as, by a rash, unadvised, and unsuitable approach to the Lord's table, are guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour. And shall we provoke God's wrath against us? Are we stronger than he? Forgive my tender concern for you-I am not speaking these things to grieve or disturb you; but, as beloved children, I warn you. You must be freely dealt with; you will not forgive me else at the day of judgment, if I should now be unfaithful to your souls. I press, I invite you, yea, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, not to slight his table as you do. But then judge yourselves whether ye are in the faith: for if ye are amongst those I have described, you cannot be welcome guests; if you live in ignorance of your state, as a fallen and a sinful creature; if you respect merely a temporal convenience, if you make it a matter of form, and have not a living principle of grace in your souls, abstain at present, as you would not imbrue your hands in Christ's blood, and crucify him afresh. Yet abstain not altogether. As you value your everlasting salvation, do not lie down in this state, but hear the present call of Jesus; look to this sacrifice that still bleeds for you; call upon him, whilst yet he is near, to prepare your heart according to the preparation of the sanctuary. Let your past forgetfulness, neglect, and dishonour of him, lie deep upon your minds, and be among those things which especially humble you before him; and then arise as perishing sinners, to lay yourselves at the foot of his cross, to look to him whom you have pierced, till faith in his blood produces love An Invitation to the Communion. in your soul toward him, and a willing heart leads you to his table, to present yourselves a living sacrifice unto him. Then shall the ordinance be as much to his glory, as your comfort; and you shall find, by blessed experience, that you do not only come, but are welcome. Self-examination a necessary Duty. CHAPTER III. SELF-EXAMINATION A NECESSARY DUTY BEFORE WE COME TO THE LORD'S supper. As the profiting in the blessed ordinance of the Lord's Supper, depends chiefly upon the disposition of mind in which we approach it, it will become all, as St. Paul advises, who would come with spiritual discernment, and return with a blessing, seriously to examine themselves before they presume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. To comfort the afflicted, encourage the doubting, and to help the sincere in this behalf, will be the design of the present chapter, as well as to quicken every soul to the too-neglected work of communing with his own heart. Our Church Catechism will supply us with the four principal and essential points of enquiry; which if we understand thoroughly, and answer faithfully, we may come to the knowledge of our state respecting God, and consequently our fitness or unfitness for the Lord's Supper. And these are, I. Whether we " repent truly of our former sins, "stedfastly purposing to lead a new life?" |