Efther Said King Ahasuerus at the banquet of wine. So faith King Jefus to the worthy communicant at this royal fealt, What is thy petition, and what is thy request? What will ye that I shall do unto you? as Chrift afked the blind men, Mat. xx. 32. Let your requests be like thefe of the Pfalmift, Confider and hear me, 0 Lord my God; lighten mine eyes, left I sleep the fleep of death, Pfal. xiii. 3. Let my foul live, and it shall praife thee, Pfal. cxix. 175. Purge me with hyffop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than fnow, Pfal. li. 7. Reftore unto me the joy of thy falvation, and uphold me with thy free /pirit, Pfal. li. 12. Or you may put up fome of the fpoufe's petitions at this time, Draw me, we will run after thee, Cant. i. 4. Awake, O north-wind, come thou fouth, blow upon my garden, that the Spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits, Cant. iv. 16. Make bafte, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or a young hart on the mountains of spices, Cant. viii. 14. O communicant, thou art near to a crucified Chrift when at the table, as the penitent thief was near to him when on the cross; he got mercy from Christ when he fought it, and fo o may you if you feek it with the fame frame of heart. Cry, Lord, look on a poor finner at thy table, as thou didst on him that hung by thy crols. Lord, remember me, now thou art in thy kingdom. Thy wounds are open now; Lord, fhelter me in them. Thy blood is running fresh; ✪ bathe my difeafed foul in this fountain, that I may be whole for ever. So much for the fecond head of directions. I now proceed to the third head. CHAP. 245 CHA P. III. Concerning a Communicant's Behaviour af ter Partaking, and when the CommunionSabbath is over. N difcourfing this head, I propofe to do thefe following things. I. To give fome directions* concerning your deportment when rifing and going from the Lord's table. 2. Concerning your carriage when you go home to your clofets and re tiring places. 3. Concerning your behaviour and converfation in the world when all the work is o ver. SECT. I. Containing Directions concerning your Deport ment when rifing and going from the Lord's Table. YELIEVERS are fometimes ready'to fay, It is good" BELIEVERS are ready tabay, it is All for us to be here, let us build tabernacles, and dwell till. But this table, tho' it be fatisfying, it is not lafting; tho' the meal be fweet, it is fhort. things here below are tranfitory, and communions are paffing things with the reft. You muft rife and go down from the mount, and return to the world, and travel in the wilderness again. Oh, may the be liever lay, And must I rife, and go back to that un⚫ fatisfying and foul-ftarving world again? What • fhall • shall I do there, if my Redeemer go not alongst with me? Lord, take me by the hand, lead me, uphold. me, and be thou still with me; and at last bring me to that endless feast thou haft prepared for thy peo6 ple above, where I may ever ly in thy bofom, under the uninterrupted beams of thy fmiling and cheerful countenance, and for ever feed my hungry foul on thy bleffed felf, without the help of fym. bols or facraments, and where the guells will never be called to rife from that glorious table any ' more." Quest. What is that frame and difpofition of foul that we should have in rifing and going from the Lord's table? Anf. With respect to that, obferve the following directions. You ought to rise and go from the table, I. In a wondring and admiring frame. Continue to wonder at the love of God in giving his beloved Son to die a curfed death for us. Tho' he loved him most dearly, yet he wounded him most deeply, that his precious blood might ftream forth and fave us. Hence it is faid, Ifa. Iii. 10. It pleafed the Lord to bruife him. Junius reads it, Valde delectatus eft, i. e. He was exceeding delighted in it. Strange! other parents, whofe love to their children is nothing in comparison of the Father's love to Chrift, do follow their children to their graves with many tears, efpecially when they die violent deaths: but the infinite God delighted in the painful and bloody death of his only Son, because it tended to the falvation of believers; he willingly gave his own dear Son to die a fhameful curfed death, that you might live a glorious bleffed life for ever. O what manner of love is this! And what art thou, O believer, that thou fhouldft be the object of this love more than others? By nature thou art mean as the worm, vile as the mire, black as hell, and a child of wrath even as others and thou hadst now been wallowing in fin with the worlt of the world, if free grace had not renewed thee; nay, thou hadit been roaring in hell at this hour, if free grace had not reprived thee. Look about thee, and see others refufed when thou art chofen, others polluted when thou art fanctified, others put off with common gifts when thou haft fpecial grace. Tho' you and they perhaps fat together in the fame desk hearing the word, or at the fame table receiving the facrament; yet free grace came and made the difference, One is taken, and the other left. Here is matter for your admiration. The confideration of this free love and diftinguishing mercy of God should make thee fay with David, Lord, what am I, and what is my house, that thou haft brought me hitherto? What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and, What am I, the worft of men, that thou shouldst be thus mindful of me? O how did Mephibofbeth adaire David's kindness, when he spake familiarly with him, and said, Thou shalt eat bread at my table continually! 2 Sam. ix. 7. Obferve his anAwer, v. 8. What is thy fervant, that thou shouldst look upon fuch a dead dog as 1 am? But furely, O believer, thou haft much more reafon to fay fo, and wonder that fuch a mean creature fhould be fet at the table of the great God, and honoured to feast with himself. Lord, what am I, that thou fhould have noticed the like of me? I better deferved to have been howling among the dogs without the door, than to be let in and feafted among thy friends; I better de erved to have been fent roaring to hell with devils, than to be fet at thy table to rejoice with thy children. Lord, when thou waft pleased to look on me with an eye of pity, and embrace me in the arms of thy tender mercy; thou mightft juftly have fpurned my guilty out into hell, laying, Depart from me, I know you not. What a wonder of mercy is it, that I who have forfeited all mercies, and deferved fuch a sentence as that in Jer. ix. 15 to be fed with wormwood, and to have the water of gall to drink, X fhould as in should nevertheless have the flesh of the Son of God gi. II. Rife and go from the table in a thankful and Oh, may the worthy communicant fay, How hall I mention the loving kindness and praifes of the Lord, according to the multitude of his loving. kindneffes, and according to all he hath bestowed on me, and his great goodness to the house of If rael? O that I could proclaim thy love to all the world, and make the whole earth ring with thy praifes! O that I could fing praises to him that loved me; To him that made the world, and furnished it fo richly for me to dwell in; To him that made my body fo wonderfully, and gave me a foul fo capable to ferve and enjoy him; To him that remembred me in my low eftate, that laid afide his glory, took on my na. ture, and paid my debt on the cross; To him that fent his fpirit to quicken me when dead in my fins, that opened mine eyes, bowed my will, and turned me from darkness to light; To him who forgives my iniquities, 4 |
