Of the Nature of a Sacrament. 1. The great love of Christ towards us sinners. Was ever love indeed like his? Well may it be called love which passeth knowledge. Angels are lost in wonder, whilst they look into the mystery of redeeming love; and how then should we, to whom this love is shewn, be astonished, whilst we are called to partake of it? He died not for angels, but for men; and when? Was it when we were faithful, affectionate, and obedient, that we gained his heart to such an expensive manifestation of his love? No; when we were enemies by wicked works, when we were without strength or power to love or obey him, even then in due time did Christ die for the ungodly. In us there was nothing but misery. We were lost in sin, wilfully lost by our disobedience, without power or inclination to seek for any favour at God's hands; and he needed not our services his glory would have been unsullied, if he had given us up to the fruit of our folly, and left us to our deserved ruin. Neither can he receive any addition to his happiness by us, who is in himself all-sufficient, and in his nature infinitely happy, exalted above all blessing and praise. But, freely moved by the mere benignity of his heart, and out of pure compassion to us, Jesus offered to stand in our stead; and, since, to save us, he must be made man, his love stooped to every meanness of our condition, to the form of a servant, to the death of a malefactor. Love brought him down from the throne of glory, love clothed him with a body like our own, love urged him on through all the painful steps of his afflicted life; the waters of trouble were never able to quench it, nor the floods of per Of the Nature of a Sacrament. secution to drown it. Love put the cup of trembling into his hand, love bid him drink the last drop of all its dregs; for having loved his own, he loved them unto the end. His love cried, It is finished; when, having sealed with blood the sure and well-ordered covenant, his soul was dismissed, and he went to begin his triumphs over death, hell, and the grave. And when he rose again, love was his first expression: Go to my brethren, and say, I ascend to my Father and to your Father. Love carried him to the right hand of God, and there he is this moment shewing forth the unchangeableness of his affection, by ever living to make intercession for us, and pleading before the throne the marks of love so deeply engraven in his hands and in his side. And when can we then be called so feelingly to remember this love, as at an ordinance, where all its glory is thus made to pass before us? sin. 2. We are here to call to mind the great evil of Never was it seen in such glaring colours, as when it was written in a Saviour's sweat, and tears, and blood. Here sin indeed appears exceeding sinful. Its horrid nature and deep malignity are seen throughout the whole transaction, beyond what all the miseries which ever attended it before, could possibly lead us to conceive. The cries of infants, the pains of sickness, the groans of wretchedness, the agonies of the expiring, and all the awful horrors of death, serve in some measure to tell us what an evil and bitter thing sin is, which could have occasioned such dire effects: and yet one glance at the glass of the sufferings of Jesus, Of the Nature of a Sacrament. will reflect the horrid image of sin in colours infinitely darker and deeper. There we see it black indeed, when an incarnate God agonizes under its load, when horror and darkness filled his soul with intolerable anguish, and pain tortured his body till the sweat, as great drops of blood, fell down to the ground. Was this for sin? Yes, brethren, it was sin which made Jesus exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; it was sin made him sore amazed, and very heavy; it was sin which extorted from him that piercing cry, My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me? Behold, and tremble then, whilst you look upon this awful sight! Look in, and let these sufferings cast a light upon your vile hearts; and learn to loath and abhor yourselves and sin, whilst you are taught to see its inexpressibly abominable nature. 3. Herein remember also the inexorable justice of God. Though love would pardon, it yet must be in a way wherein justice should be satisfied. Sin required an expiation equivalent to its high demerit; neither earth nor heaven afforded any such-I looked, and there was none to help. Justice demanded righteous judgment, such as had been poured upon rebel angels cast down into hell on their first transgression; the thunderbolt of wrath was lifted up to smite us sinners to the lowest pit. Jesus steps between, and cries-Stay them from going down to the pit-I have found a ransom. receives the deadly shaft in his own body on the tree, and manifests the justice of God more glori-' ously than could have been done by the destruc He Of the Nature of a Sacrament. tion of the whole human race. For who is this? This is Jesus, the Son of God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person; this is the Father's equal, the man that is his fellow; this is the eternal God, come to expiate his creatures' crimes. Satisfaction was demanded; he offers to pay every demand. The price agreed, the Judge executes his claim; Awake, my sword, he cries, against the shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow the sword awoke to smite to the uttermost, and take full vengeance for the sins of a fallen world. It pleased the Lord to put him to grief; he laid upon him the iniquities of us all; and what would have utterly crushed us into hell, bruises to death the only Son of God. Behold the severity of God! he spared not his own Son! See herein what a flaming sword Justice holds, and how it is honoured by such a sacrifice. See from hence what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God; and in this ordinance learn to tremble, whilst you see nothing but the blood of God incarnate capable of expiating your guilt, and satisfying the demands of his own inexorable law. 4. This sacrifice calls upon you to remember the conquest made thereby. You, a child of wrath, an heir of hell, a slave of Satan, here see your liberty proclaimed, your tyrant destroyed, your misery done away. A dying Jesus on the accursed tree conquers for you; death, hell, and sin fall before him. Strong in weakness, he triumphed on the cross, spoiling the principalities and powers of darkness, and making a shew of them openly. By Of the Nature of a Sacrament. death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; as a sweet singer of Israel expresses it "And when I bled, and groan'd, and died, Thus he hath vanquished all our enemies for us, hath bound Satan from hurting us, plucked out the sting of death, and sealed up the bottomless pit. His death is our life, his fall our victory, his cross our triumph; well then may we glory in it, and determine to know nothing else but Jesus, and him crucified, since hereby we become more than conquerors, and are enabled daily to tread down Satan under our feet. And in this ordinance, peculiarly designed to strengthen our faith, this glorious victory should never be forgotten, no less for the honour of Jesus, than the comfort to be derived from it to our own souls. 5. It should always remind us of his coming again. It is as the pledge of our friend, put into our hands to remember him in his absence, and to assure us he intends us another visit. This is to be a continual remembrance, to shew forth the Lord's death till he come. Though he is gone to heaven now, yet he hath promised us he will return, and take his humble followers home with him: I go, says he, to prepare a place for you. When we see him present with us in the symbols of bread and wine, we should think how quickly we shall see the |