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old world, the burning of Sodom, the rejection of the Jews! But none of them fo clearly fhew forth fin's evil, and God's fpotlefs holiness, and inexorable juftice againft fin, as do the death and fufferings of our Re deemer. Come near, and hearken to the raging billows of God's indignation dafhing against the Rock of our falvation, and behold God's implacable hatred a gainft fin. Many a fore ftorm and hurricane of wrath did he endure, to keep the fea of divine wrath from overflowing you. Our Rock groaned, trembled, and fwate blood; he cried, prayed, and intreated: Yet dis vine Juftice would not hear, nor abate him one ftripe: "Awake, O fword of the Lord," cut him off; let him die, faith Juftice, seeing he stands furety for man's fins. O here is a greater evidence of the inexorableness of Justice, and God's implacable wrath against fin, than if he had hurled all the rocks of the creation into the midft of the fea, or the whole world, full of men and angels, into hell. O you that make light of fin, go to the rock in Horeb, go to Gethsemane, go to mount Calvary, go to a communion-table, and fee what Chrift endured for our fins, hear his heavy groans, and be hold the blood ftanding above his garments. O com municant, tremble at fin, and come under the fhadow of this rock, run into the clefts of it; and, though you hear the roarings and dafhings of this terrible fea upon your rock, yet you are fafe here, a drop fhall not reach you.

Finally, you ought at this time to have fome thoughts of the "marriage-fupper of the Lamb" above, whereof this table is an emblem and reprefentation. Here in the wilderness we get a foretaste of the good things of the promifed land, to fharpen our appetites after the Canaan above, where these first fruits do grow and are fully ripe. O what a glorious and well-furnished table will that be, where the church of the first-born will be all gathered in one general affembly, and fet down together with Chrift! Oh where are the looks and longings we should have after that heavenly feast! Awake, my foul, from this dark, deceitful and vexing world: Oh be not in love with thy difeafe, thy fetters,

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and calamities: Join not with those that take up their rest on this fide Jordan, on this fide heaven, and who fay, It is good for us to be here; but with these heavenly pilgrims, who fay, Arife, let us depart, this is not our rest, for it is polluted. Lament your distance from God: Woe is me that I fojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar; that I remain in this finful polluting place among a strange people, and am fo long kept from my Father's house above "O that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at reft: Lo, then I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness," that I might be free from fin's fnares and temptations, and might have free accefs to enjoy God. "O wretched man that I am, who thall deliver me from this body of death, which so often troubles, difturbs, entangles, and hinders me from my duty ?"

So much for the fubjects we ought to meditate on at the Lord's table, I come, in the next place,

Secondly, To fpeak of thofe graces which are to be employed and exercifed at the Lord's table; fuch as, faith, repentance, love, fpiritual appetite, and thankfulnefs. Now is the time, O communicant, that all your graces fhould be stirred up to the greatest liveliness: and therefore do all you can to excite them to it: Chide with them when languithing or dull, and fay, "What, can ye not watch with my dearest Saviour one hour?"

I. In the first place: The grace of faith fhould be most active, for it is moft neceffary at this time. Faith may fay to thee, O communicant, at the table, as Chrift faid to his difciples, "Without me ye can do nothing." Faith is the eye that fees Chrift, the hand that receives him, the mouth that feeds upon him. Let faith's eyes be now opened to fee the great fight of Christ crucified on the cross. Do now as Mofes, when he saw the bush burning, Exod. iii. 3. "I'll turn afide and fee this great fight:" Surely you cannot fee a greater. Behold the rock of our falvation fmitten, to let the water of life come forth to us: Come and fee him smitten by the rod of Mofes, i. e. by the rod of the law, whofe minifter Mofes was; with all the curfes and maledictions of the

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law denounced against us, Gal. iii. 13. Yea, come fee him fmitten by many hands, by the rod of Mofes, by the rod of justice, by the rod of devils, by the rod of the Jews, by the rod of the Romans, by the rod of your fins: Come, fee him fmitten in his head with thorns, in his hands with nails, in his fide with a spear, in his heart with forrows, yea, in his whole foul with the wrath of an angry God. O deep, deep was our rock fmitten, before the water of life could come forth to heal us; according to Ifa. liii. 5. 8. "He was wounded for our tranfgreffions, bruised for our iniquities :-For the transgreffion of my people was he ftricken, and by his stripes we are healed."

Now let faith look fharply out for Christ at the table. Refl not in the bread and wine, but look beyond these; go a little further, and fee if you can efpy Chrift himfelf. Let the language of your heart at this time be, "Saw ye him whom my foul loved? Say now to the Lord, as the Greeks to Philip, "Sir, we would fee Jefus; Lord, I would now defire to fee Jefus Chrift: Neither the word nor prayers, minifters for elements, will content me without a fight of Chrift. Mind what Ifaac told his father on mount Moriah: "Father, behold here is the wood and the fire; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering ?" So do thou look up at the table to thy heavenly Father, and fay, "Father, behold, here is the minister, here is the word, here is the bread and wine; but, were is the body and blood of my Saviour? Where is the lamb for a facrifice? Father, where is the lamb of God, that takes away the fins of the world?" Alas, all is nothing to me if he be away. Let faith look up and fay to Chrift, "Make hafte, my beloved, be thou like a roe or a young tains of fpices. Make no tarrying, Ŏ my God; O when wilt thou come to me?

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When Mary came to the fepulchre, looked in and faw the linen but not the Lord, the prefently falls a weeping: Oh, faid fhe, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him:" My Lord is taken away, and I know not where to find him. When our tender hearted Saviour heard fuch a moving and mournful complaint, he haftened to her, and gave her a gracious meeting

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meeting. So, when thou feeft the linen and the elements, but not the Lord Jefus, then be not fatisfied, but dart up thy complaints to heaven. "Lord, I came not to fee the linen, I came not for the bread and wine, but I came to fee Jefus; Oh Lord, what fhall I do? They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where to find him. Ah, what is the word to me without Chrift, but as a conduit without water? What are the elements to me, but as a cup without wine? Oh Lord, what wilt thou give me, if I go from thy table Chriftlefs? O, if there were fuch fights, fuch breathings coming from thy heart, thou mighteft be confident Chrift would hear them, and make hatte to meet with thee and blefs thee.

Awake faith, O communicant, at this time; behold Chrift, apply his benefits. Here a believer may find enough in the wounds and blood of Chrift, by which he may refolve all his doubts, fcatter his fears, fupply all his fpiritual wants, and find a remedy against a I his foul-diftempers, by a believing application thereof to himself. When thou putteft forth the hand of thy body, fee that thou alfo put forth the hand of thy faith, to receive the body and blood of Chrift, Do like Jofeph of Arimathea; come to Chrift crucified, take him down from the crofs, and lay him in the new tomb of thy heart. Now give a hearty, full and unfeigned confent to Chrift on the gofpel terms; receive him as thy Saviour, fubmit to him as thy prince, and fwear allegiance to him as thy undoubted Sovereign. And remember, faith, if true, muft have two hands, one to receive Christ, and another to give the foul to Christ; fee that both hands be now employed, both to take and give.

And, efpecially, make ufe of faith's mouth to fuck honey from the rock, derive fupplies from Chrift to thy foul's neceffities. Obferve what God directed Mofes, Exod. xvii. 6. "Behold I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb, and thou fhalt fmite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." Would you have drink and fupplies from Chrift for your fpiritual refreshment, then fmite the rock, act VOL. I. faith

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faith on Chrift. At the table, it would be a man's wif dom which was Mofes his error, to smite this rock oftner than once, Numb xx. 11. "With his rod he smote the rock twice, and the waters came out abundantly.” So do you frite the rock twice, again and again; put forth many acts of faith at this time.

II. The grace of repentance and godly forrow for fin, fhould be exercised at this time. O communicant, canft thou now look on him whom thou haft pierced by thy fins, and not mourn a d be in bitterness, for them? Canft thou fee the Son of God hanging naked and bleeding on a tree, upon the top of mount Calvary, as a facrifice for thy fins, and not be grieved for the caufe? Otake a fixed look of him now, and let your eye affect your heart. Behold thefe hands that fwayed the fceptre of heaven, now nailed to the tree of reproach: Behold thefe feet that trampled on all the powers of hell, and made his enemies his footstool, now nailed to the footftool of the crofs. O did the earth tremble and shake, the rocks rend, the graves open, and heavens turn dark at this fight; and, will not our rocky hearts rend, and our dead fouls be affected with this fight? Surely the hardeft heart among us may now melt, and the dryeft eyes now drop a tear, O, fhall the Son of God so sweat and bleed for us, and we not weep for ourselves? Shall we fee our fins pierce his head with thorns, his hands with nails, and his fide with a spear, and yet look on this with unpierced hearts? Oh, our fins did envenom these thorns, thefe nails, and that fpear. We, and none but we, were the evil beast that devoured this Jofeph; we the bloody executioners that tormented the glorious Redeemer ; and fhall not our hearts bleed therefore?

O communicant, so behold Chrift in the facrament, as the Virgin Mary his mother beheld him on the cross: Woman, fays Chrift, "behold thy Son." And how did the behold him; Simeon tells her, Luke ii. 35. "That a sword shall pierce through her foul." Now was the time that the fword did pierce through her foul, when the beheld him pierced on the crofs: That fight was like a fword through her heart: So, when you fee Chrift pierced in the facrament, it should be

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