• if thou wilt not love me as a friend, yet pity me as thy poor fubject; I refolve to be thine, and, if I perith, one muft perifh that defires to be thine. Lord, whether thou accept of me or not, I give up myfelf to thy ufe and fervice. Art thou come this length, poor foul? fear not, thou shalt not perish, Chrift is as willing to be thine as thou art to be his come forward, and take the teal of the covenant, and make a new furrender of yourself to Chrift, and it may be he will be made known to you in the breaking of breads

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III. When this holy feaft comes to be celebrated, fee that your fouls be rightly employed, and your graces fuitably exercised: ftudy to have your meditations and ejaculations fuitable to what you fee or hear.

When you are coming to this holy table, and per haps may be put to stand a little by it, by reason of the throng, before you get access: think on what Mofes faid to the Ifraelites while ftanding at the RedSea, Exod. xiv. 13. Stand Still (faith he) and fee the falvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day. In like manner you are standing by the Red-Sea of the blood of Chrift; ftand still and wonder at the glori ous falvation he is fhewing to you this day..

Or you may think with yourfelf, that you hear Chrift the captain of your falvation now crying as did Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 32. Who is on my fide? Who? Well, if you will now appear or declare for Chrift, then you must throw your lufts, like Jefebel, out of the window to be dasht in pieces.

When you fee the communicants fet about Chrift's table, you may think on that word, Pfal. cxxviii. 3. where God promiseth to the righteous man, That his wife fhould be as a fruitful vine by the fides of his houfe, and his children as olive-plants round about bis table. Behold this prom fe made out to Chrift, God's righteous fervant; the church, Chrift's fpoufe, isa fruitful vine, and hath born him many children :* would to God thefe may be Chrift's children by adoption, as well as they are the church's by profef

fon! May it be faid of them, That this and that man was born of her! O how pleasant a fight is it to fee Chrift's children fet as olive-plants round about his table, and to lee Christ himself letting them there! Surely, if he fet them, he will ferve them also, they fhall not have ground to go away with any complaint of him: for Chrift is no niggard to his children, he is neither hard-hearted nor hard handed; if his children feek bread,, he will not give them a stone.

When you are allowed to come forward to the Lord's table, think with yourself, that you hear Chrift or his minifters faying to you, as the angels did to the women at the fepulchre, Mat. xxviii. 5, 6, We know whom ye feek, ye feek Jefus which was crucified; come Jee the place where the Lord lay; come fee the promise,

come fee the elements wherein the Lord lieth.

And, in the mean while, take care to entertain very high and exalted thoughts of Chrift, and very low and humble thoughts of yourfelf Say, or think, Lord I am not worthy to approach fo near thee, far less that thou should come under my roof. I am not worthy to eat the crumbs that fail from my own, much less thefe that fall from thy table. Oh, I am unworthy to be allo ved to creep as a dog under the table, far lefs to fit as one of Chrift's * invited guests at the table. I deferve not a room to ftand among thy fervants, far lefs to fit down with thy children. I deferve not to have daily bread conferred on me, and fhall I be allowed to eat of the bread of life? I am unworthy to lift up my eyes to heaven, and fhall I get manna from heaven? I am unworthy to eat the bread of men, and thall I be admitted to eat the bread of angels? Shall I ⚫ entertain him whom they adore; nay, fit down with him at whofe feet they fall? Shall I, who am unworthy to tread thy ground, be allowed to tread thy courts? Shall I, that am unworthy to breathe in thy air, have thy fpirit to breathe into my heart, or have leave to breathe out my defires unto thee?'

O how great is the condescending goodness of our heavenly father to his prodigal children! These are wonders of mercy, miracles of compassion!

Some Directions for Communicants when at the Lord's Table.

Would have, you at this time to mind that word of Solomon, Prov. xxiii. 1. When thou fitteft to eat with a ruler, confider diligently what is before thee. O communicant, confider diligently the facramental elements, and what is reprefented and exhibited by them. Confider the facramental promifes, and what bleffings are, contained in them. Confider the facramental actions, and the gracious acts which the foul fhould put forth with them. It fhould be a busy time, and well improven; for tho' it be fhort, yet you have many things to do in it, which may generally be comprehended under these two heads;

1. Remember the suitable fubjects which are to be confidered and meditated on at the table.

2. Observe and exert the fpecial graces which are to be employed and exercised there.

As to the firft of these heads, I fhall mention fome fuitable fubjects of your meditation and contemplation at this time; as, 1. Chrift's death and passion. 2. The bitterness and variety of his fufferings. 3. Chrift's willingness to undergo these fufferings for us. 4. The bleffed effects and benefits of his füfferings. 5: Christ's free love, as the impulfive caufe of all he did and fuffered. 6. The evil of fin, which brought on his fufferings. 7. God's holiness and juftice manifelted in them. 8. The communion-feast above reprefented by this lower table.

1. Remember and meditate upon the death and paffion of our Lord Jefus Chrift. David hath a pfalm, which he calls a pfalm of remembrance, Pfal. xxxviii. Here the fon of David hath a facrament, which may

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well be called a facrament of remembrance; for the great end of it is to be a memorial of Chrift its author and founder: for he faid, when he inftituted it, this do in remembrance of me; and we find these words ufed twice over, both at the delivering of the bread and of the wine, 1 Cor. xi. 24. 25. As if he had faid, whatever you mind, fee that you forget not your fuf. fering redeemer. Some of Chrift's works are narrated only by one evangelift, as his turning the water into wine, and fome others; fome of his works are recorded by two evangelifts, as the hiftory of Chrift's birth by Matthew and Luke: fome things are re. corded by three of them, as the inftitution of the fa crament of the fuppar: but for Chrift's death and paffion,' it is recorded by them all four. And this is done no doubt to teach us, that tho' all Chrift's works and actions are seriously to be remembered and thought upon, yet none fo efpecially as his death and fufferings. And, when fhould this be thought upon, if not at the facrament, whofe inftitution was purpose. ly for the remembrance thereof? O communicant, will you not think of this fubject when you have Christ crucified evidently let forth before your eyes, in the bread broken and the wine poured out? Oh, was his bleffed body broken with torments, and his precious blood fhed for the remiflion of my fins; and, will I not think upon him?. Dear Saviour, thou biddeft me remember thee; Oh how should I ever forget thee at any time, and far lefs now when I fit at thy table! If a forget thee, O Redeemer, let my right hand forget its cunning, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. O that I could even go out of my. felf to remember thee, and never think on thee without an ecstacy of wonder!

II. Think upon the bitterness of Christ's paffion, and the variety of his fufferings, and revolve in thy thoughts the feveral fteps and degrees thereof. And particularly, take a view of your Redeemer's agony for you in the garden of Gethsemene, walk into that gaiden,

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garden, and behold him falling to the ground under the weight of your fins, wrestling as in an agony, and fwceting great drops of blood, and thefe burit. ing thro' all his garments. O fee how he lay, and how he bedewed and ftained the flowers of the garden round about him with his blood. Never any in the world was known to fweet in fuch a manner before, and never any fince that time. In a natural way of fpeaking, the coldness of the night, his ly ing on the cold ground, and the exceeding greatnes of Chrift's fear at that time, fhould have drawn all his blood inward from the outward parts of his bo dy. Oh but this fweat was preternatural! He fweats without fire, and bleeds without a wound. There was no heat, no fire without him that made him fweat at this time; no, the fire was within him, even the fire of God's wrath kindled in his foul; this made the blood about his heart to boil and burst through his veins, flefh, fkin, clothes, and all to gether. There was no wound outward as yet given him, no word, no spear, no weapon as yet had touched him, and yet he bleeds: Oh, the wound was inward in his foul; deep and fearful was that gafh which the fword of justice made at this time in his foul. The breach was wide as the fea, and accordingly a whole fea of wrath brake in with vio lence upon his foul. He falls first upon his knees, and then upon the ground; he lies under the prel fure till he is overwhelmed with his father's wrath and his own blood. Deep called unto deep, till all thele dreadful waves and billows paffed over him. He cried to his father, he complained to his difciples, he fought their fympathy and prayers; but no re lief had he from that airth; he must tread the winepre's alone.

Next, O communicants, follow your Redeemer after he was apprehended, by your meditations, and trace his fteps through the streets of Jerufalem: Think what he underwent when he was hurried from

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