Considerations at the Lord's Supper. must be sincere before him; our naked souls should be exposed to his view, and an honest appeal to our hearts, that God himself knows we desire to make no reserve. See to this, that you make no partial surrender; God must have all our hearts, or none: if we divide them, by fixing one part on the world; if we would plead for ever so little of its sinful indulgences; if we want to reconcile the services of God and mammon; allowing part of our affections to the pleasures, vanities, interests, or gain of this present evil world, and think God will be satisfied with the remainder, we are utterly mistaken. The true surrender is to give up all, and to take Christ as Lord of all, our King to reign over us, as well as our propitiation and atonement. This is sincerity, much talked of, but little known. See that it be your own case: without it the strongest promises, the greatest outward reformation, the most lively pangs of devotion, a torrent of tears, or the most solemn remorse, will but deceive you. Coolly, humbly, cheerfully, and wholly, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, desire to give up your soul to Christ; that so you may be able to adopt the words of an excellent Christian, and testify as he did, "But if I might make some reserve, "I love my Lord with such a love, It will be a blessed ordinance indeed, if you can see such to be the frame of your heart at Christ's Table, and seal it by the solemn pledges of the Considerations at the Lord's Supper. Body and Blood of Christ, which are put into your hands. Here then you will see at the first view the absurdity and ignorance it betrays, to be coming up to the Lord's Table reading some book of devotion, and in a formal, dull way to be supplying the want of spirituality by such a lifeless repetition of a number of words. Surely if you come to give up your heart to Christ, if you feel the obligations lying upon you to do so, you can never need to read it out of a book; your eye should be on your heart, not the paper; and you should be looking to the dear Saviour, whom you are remembering, and calling forth this heartiness, simplicity, and sincerity of soul, with which you choose the Lord for your portion. Thus you may know how to behave at the Lord's Table. And then, III. When you depart from thence, I suppose the following things will be a proper exercise for you. 1. You should retire to your place, and there begin with an Amen to all that hath passed; renewing before God the solemn renunciation of sin, and choice of Christ, which you have made, and the hearty purpose you have of abiding by it. You should there offer again your earnest supplications for grace to be faithful, and that you may really be enabled to receive the Lord Jesus, as a master to serve, as well as a portion to enjoy; that so this God may be your God for ever and ever, and you may be his even unto death. Considerations at the Lord's Supper. 2. You should depart with admiration of the condescension and grace you have experienced. That ever the God of glory should stoop to look upon you; that ever Jesus Christ should admit you to his Table; that ever the Holy Ghost should make your heart his dwelling; that ever such great and precious promises should be made to you; that ever you should be permitted to receive the seals of the covenant, established with the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity; that ever he should institute such an ordinance, to confirm your faith in his purposes of mercy towards you! How astonishing is all this!-enough almost to surpass belief, did not God himself assure us that all this is his will concerning us! Yet still be more amazed, when you consider what you are-a creature in the lowest rank of rational beings; a poor worm, whose breath is in his nostrils; a dying man, sprung from the dust, and returning to the dust again; and, more than all, a sinful, a corrupted creature by nature, by practice become the abomination of that God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; but now, pardoned, adopted, counted righteous, sanctified, exalted to the most amazing privileges, even to be the heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ! Hear, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth! Admire, ye angels that surround his throne, whilst ye minister to us below! What tongue can tell the wonders of redeeming grace? Who can help breaking forth in astonishinent? What manner of love is this? Whilst overwhelmed with wonder too big for utterance, in silence we believe, admire, and adore. Considerations at the Lord's Supper. Such sensibility will shew a right apprehension of the greatness of the grace bestowed on us. And, 3. We should be filled with thankfulness. Such a frame is the consequence of the former; admiring the grace, our hearts cry out, What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all his benefits bestowed upon me? Praise the Lord, O my soul! and all that is within me, praise his holy name: praise the Lord, O my soul! and forget not all his benefits. I will praise him with joyful lips; yea, as long as I have any being, will I sing praises to my God. These are the out-breathings of the soul who hath tasted that the Lord is gracious; not the formal thanks of pharisaical ceremony, but the inward, deep, heartfelt expressions of a soul that labours to tell the Lord Jesus how deeply he admires the grace in which he hath partaken; and a blessed frame this is. The comfort of it to the soul is as great as the honour done to God thereby; for whoso offereth me praise, saith he, he glorifieth me. 4. We should depart with a sense of our great imperfection in all our services. This is needful, lest, if we have received much spiritual consolation, we should be exalted above measure; and truly cause enough there is for humiliation, seeing, in our best attendances upon God, there is much lacking, and, when we have done all, may justly say, we are unprofitable servants. And who that knows his own heart, will not have cause to mourn over some unbelief, some coldness, some deadness, some wandering, some indisposition, some want of a lively exercise of grace, some undue affections? Thus all must be laid to our corruptions, whilst all that is Considerations at the Lord's Supper. good in us, should be ascribed to God's free grace, and the praise given to him, to whom alone praise is due. Our very communicatings, indeed, would be our confusion and condemnation, yea, even of the best of us, if we had not one in heaven to bear the iniquity of our holy things, and to pardon the imperfection of our services, as well as the guilt of our sins; and therefore always to be clothed with humility, and to stand before God in the perfect righteousness of Christ, is the way to be always accepted of God. 5. We should rejoice in Christ Jesus, and in these fresh testimonies of his love towards us. Το be abased for what we see amiss in ourselves, and yet happy in Christ Jesus, explains that strange, but blessed paradox of St. Paul, though sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Indeed our sorrows are part of our joy; and that we can feel or mourn over our imperfections, is no slight testimony of Christ's love towards us: and when shall we rejoice, if not now, when we have seen the Lord, have found a welcome, and received refreshment at his Table; have joined ourselves to him in bonds of an everlasting covenant, have espoused our souls to him in truth and in righteousness, and put on the seal of our adoption, the ring of our contract, and enjoyed spiritual communion with him, and obtained new supplies of grace from him? Surely we may say, I will rejoice, and be glad in thee, I will remember thy love more than wine. I will make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all the great goodness that the Lord |