THE

DISCOURSE

AT THE

SERVICE OF THE FIRST TABLE.

NOW, communicants, I hope your coming here to this table is the effect of Chrift's calling you first to himself; and then to his table, by his word and Spirit. Has he courted you with his kindness? Has he faid to you, Rife, my love, my fair one, and come away, and drawn you fo, as to caft the marriage-knot between Christ and you? Why, then, it is fit you fhare of the marriage-feaft; and now he is ready to feed your foul with wonders of the moft fubftantial nature. There are three great wonders that eternity will never,un. riddle, and they are all to be feen in this facramental table.

1. That God feeds our bodies with bread, and our fouls with the flesh and blood of his own Son. O! how he loved you, to give you his own flesh!

2. The next wonder is, That his love was ftronger than death: for, love held him on the crofs, when death could not hold him in the grave: he burnt between two fires; the fire of his love and affection for us, and the fire of his fuffering and affliction for us; yea, all the wrath of God could not quench this love.

3. The third wonder is, That he fhould die for us, when on earth; and nourish or feed us, with himself, now when he is in heaven. O! wonder that the Author of life fhould become the bread of life. The facrament is the fhadow and reprefentation of thefe fubftantial things; it is the prefence of things diftant, the fight

of

of things abfent, and a tafte of things inconceivable. O the miracles of Chrift's love, that is now reprefented under these elements !

In the fame night wherein Chrift was betrayed, he left us a supper to feed upon, till he should come again; "He took bread, and having bleffed it, he brake it," &c. That God fhould dwell in flesh, and that this flefh fhould be our food, is wonderful; yea, that he fhould do more than die for us; for he not only defired to die for us, when he had this bloody baptifm to be baptized with, and was ftraitened till it was accomplished; but he also defired to live for us, and to live for ever in heaven for us. O Sirs, there was never fuch a fire of love in any breast! O! who can freeze and be cold over fuch a fire! Ah! our carnality, that fpends our thoughts fo much upon other things, who have fuch a Saviour to take them up.

Here is not only his flesh to eat, but his blood to drink; "After fupper he took the cup," &c. O what love was this, to take the cup of trembling and wrath, that he might give you the cup of mercy and bleffing! O his loving work flowed from his loving heart; and his loving heart vented itself alfo in loving words! What a wonder is it, that ever his love fhould have made him call the like of you his love, and his fair one; you, a fpotted leopard, a black Ethiopian, yet his love, his fair one, his beautiful and comely bride; when he makes you comely, through his comeliness, and beautiful through his beauty put upon you, and looks to you, not through the glass of your vile and finful nature, but the glass of his own grace and love! And fince he, by a miracle of grace and condefcenfion, calls you his love, his fair one, his beautiful bride; O tell me, what fhould you call him? What names does he deferve at your hand? O Sirs, may you not call him your fair, fair, fair, infinitely fair Head and Hufband? Ought you not to call him what he calls himfelf, by virtue of the marriage-relation between him and you, which you are now getting the feal of, Ifa. liv. 5. " Thy Maker is thy Husband, the Lord of hofts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Ifrael; the God of the

whole

Here is a wonder in

whole earth fhall he be called!" every word, as that text may be read; and particularly five wonders, for your faith to feed with wonder upon. 1. Thy Maker is thy Hufband; there is one wonder. 2. The Lord of hofts is thy Hufband; there is another wonder. 3. Thy Redeemer is thy Hufband; there is a third wonder. 4. The holy One of Ifrael is thy Huf band; there is a fourth wonder. 5. The God of the whole earth is thy Husband; there is a fifth wonder. O believer! why does he claim his marriage-relation to you, by fo many names, may you fay? I anfwer, It is partly to prevent your fear and jealoufy; partly to fhow what great things you have to expect from him, that is clothed with all glorious perfections; and partly to magnify his condefcenfion in coming under this re lation to mortal worms. But, if you afk again, Wherein lies the wonder? Why,

I. 4

Thy Maker is thy Hufband!" Where is the wonder here? Why, he that brought thee out of nothing, and breathed into thee the breath of life, and made thee a living foul, capable to enjoy himself! O aftonishing! He that made thee, has become thy Husband! He that advanced thee from nothing to a rational being, and after thou hadft made thy felf worfe than nothing by thy fin, he made thee over again a new creature, and matched with thee! It is great for a fervant to match with her mafler; but for a creature to match with his Maker, O!" What is man, that thou shouldst be mindful of him? or the Son of man, that thou shouldft vifit him?" The Lord of hofts is thy Hufband!" He that is Lord of all the hofts of angels, another fort of beings than man; he that is Lord of all power, and commands. fo as the winds and feas obey him; he that can raise children to him felf elfewhere, though he had deftroyed all the pofterity of fallen men; yet he has matched with thee! though he is a God of infinite power, to whom are subject all the hofts of men and devils! O the wonder!

2.

..

''

3. Thy Maker is thy Hufband!" Who is that? Even he that has all grace to bestow, and has thought good to bestow it on the like of you and me, by whom he can never be the better; he that has all merit, and has

bought

bought you with his blood, and bought your beautiful robes, where he fees you to be his love, and his fair one, and loved you when lying in your blood.

4." The holy One of Ifrael is thy Hufband." What is that? O it is even he that cannot look upon fin, but is of purer eyes than to behold it; and he that cannot dwell with finners, but of whom it is faid, "Thou art not a God that haft pleafure in wickedness, neither fhall evil dwell with thee," Pfalm v. 4. God and Belial cannot dwell together; yet he dwells with men, and fanctifies them for himself.

5. The God of the whole earth is thy Hufband." He that has all things to give, and puts down one, and puts up another; he that has all things at his command and nod, and that needs none of our fervices or facrifices; to whom all nations are but as the drop of a bucket, and as the fmall duft in the ballance; who fits upon the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are as grafhoppers before him; and of whom it is faid, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." This God of the whole earth, is thy Huf band *. O wonder of wonders!

And what art thou, a monfter of fin and guilt, that he fhould call thee his love, and his fair one, and himfelf thy Husband? Behold! the Maker of all things is pleafed to become a Husband to them that are nothing, and have nothing, and can do nothing, and are worfe than nothing: the Lord of hofts is pleased to become a Hufband to a poor infect; the glorious Redeemer, the holy One of Ifrael, a Hufband to a vile polluted and unholy creature; the God of the whole earth, a Hufband to a grain of animated duft, that was an heir of hell, but now matched with the Heir of all things. Surely God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways; but, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his thoughts higher than our thoughts. Does he commend thee as his love, and his fair one? What commendation wilt thou give him? O had you all the tongues of men and angels, you would not be able to fpeak out

* What fort of a Hufband Chrift is to his people, may be feen, by confulting Vol. I. Serm. III. See alfo, Vol. V. p. 333.

his praife! O wonder! wonder! that ever he invited thee to rife and come away with him. Is it not now highly incumbent on you to abide with him, and keep his company? Whoever turns afide to any crooked way, he will take it ill, if you do fo. What! "Will ye alfo go away?" fays Chrift, when many of his difciples went back, and walked no more with him, John vi. 66. Some of his difciples in our day have gone back and turned afide to many ftrange ways; fome to terrible and horrible ways; and you, believers, are in danger of turning afide to your old lufts and lovers: but, O believer, that art fo highly honoured, and fo well matched, why should you be as one that turneth afide by the flocks of his companions? O tell your Hufband this, that he may keep his everlasting arms about you, and keep you back from prefumptuous fins: O tell him, never to fuffer you to turn afide out of his company. Lord, why fhould I be as one that turneth afide by the flocks of thy companions?

Now, when you rife and go away from this table, fee that you abide close with him in a way of duty and dependence on him, till he call you to rife and come away to the upper-table, that fhall never be drawn. When I fpake 'to this text fome time ago, as it is laid down verfe 10th, fome that were then hearers, found it a fweet fummons given them to rife and come away to heaven. I heard of two Chriftians in this congregation, going into eternity about that time, who got these words applied to them at their dying moments, as their laft invitation, Rife up, my love, my fair one, and And who knows, believer, but this may be the next explication and application of the text to you? For you must away out of this world as well as others and happy these that shall drink no more of the fruit of the vine, till they drink it new in their Father's kingdom; and that fhall go away to be for ever with the Lord, at the upper-table of full and everlasting communion, after this low communion-table is drawn. Therefore, O abide clofe with him by faith, and love, and praife, till he repeat this invitation again to you in

come

away.

ano