J. Church

“ I have such Evils in my Nature; such Thoughts in my Heart; such Fears I shall never be saved.—These Objections are frivolous; if you tarry till you are better, you will never come; you cannot come too bad to Jesus—I will in no wise cast out. You must come to every Ordinance, and to Jesus, as a Sinner, vile and polluted. Away then with that legal notion, that proud spirit! for this Objection p. 28arises from Pride: it is, in fact, saying, If I was better than I am, I should have less need of Jesus, and less need of his Grace. ”

“ This is designed to arrest our attention, and call forth our love, wonder, admiration, and praise—to lead us to the contemplation of his Agony and bloody Sweat—when in a cold night, such was the agitation of his Soul, beneath the Wrath of God, the Guilt of our Sin, and his Struggles with the Powers of Hell, that he exclaimed My Soul (being truly human) is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. ”

“ Every action of the Redeemer, in its institution, is worthy of our highest regard. He took Bread—this was to shew his act of taking our flesh. He blessed it, that it might be nourishing to our Faith, and encouraging to our Hope. He brake it—to shew he should be broken for us. He gave it to his Disciples—to shew he had given himself to his People, for their eternal Salvation. The grand Design, then, of this Ordinance appears to be, simply, to preach Christ more clearly and sensibly—to bring him more to their feelings or senses than hearing. ”

“ To answer some Objections—there really is no end to objecting. I principally intend to answer the Objections of those who are Children of God, who through weakness of Judgment, and Faith, and for want of clear Evidences, scruple about their Right to the Lord’s Supper.—Here I scarcely know how to begin, the objections are so numerous. ”

“ We learn how to walk by Faith, live by Faith; to make use of Christ, as the whole Armour of God; and to rejoice in his eternal Love, and immutable Covenant—and these evidence our Right to the sacramental Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.—I might here mention the Corrections we received—for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every Son he receiveth. ”

“ These are, first, Faith, which is the Work of the Holy Ghost, and centers in the Person and Work of Jesus. The other is Love—a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. This love stands distinguished from that mentioned in the old Covenant; that respects all mankind, as our fellow creatures—this is the law of Love; a new commandment Christ has given to us. As King he has external Laws, which must be obeyed in Faith and Love, called the Obedience of Faith, and serving in the newness of the Spirit ”

“ When Light and Life come into the Soul, Love p. 24always attends it; and though it is but little exercised under the Workings of Conviction, yet it is in the Heart—this is evident, for let a Believer be under what Law-Work he may, he, at times, feels a love to Truth and to Jesus, though he cannot see his interest in him, yet he desires to love him above all. He feels a love to Ministers of the Truth, though he is cut up root and branch by them, yet he loves them. He loves the Ordinances, and wishes he could see his right to them. ”

“ Another office of vast importance to the Church of God, is the Kingly Authority of our Redeemer; this he sustains, and this he exercises—as God he is King by nature, and has a kingdom, common to the three divine Persons—hence he is called Lord of Hosts, or armies; the six armies—two in heaven, elect angels and spirits of just men—two on earth, the Church and the nations of the world—two in hell, fallen angels and reprobate characters ”

“ Our most adorable Redeemer is set forth in the sacred Scriptures, as the glorious Mediator of a better Testament. In this character, he sustains the three-fold office in his Church, of Prophet, Priest, and King—from everlasting he was set up to be future man—to ransom the elect, honor the divine Law, and glorify all the sublime Attributes of God. As Man-Mediator he was set up; for as the eternal Jehovah, he could not be higher than he was; God having chosen his elect in him, accepted them in him—he appointed him to be all to them; do all for them ”

“ I close, with answering the old Objection, which arises from the Apostle’s language, He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh his own damnation, not discerning the Lord’s Body. This has frightened many, and kept them, through their own legality, from the Table. As to Worthiness, we shall never possess it; we may as well object to every meal, to the light of the sun, to every breath we draw, as object to the Table because of our Unworthiness. ”

“ Permit me here to observe, that this is the best time, much better than an afternoon, when people and ministers are generally dull in their frames. The divine authority we have for keeping it is because it was instituted by Christ himself. How dare Quakers and black Antinomians ridicule this as a carnal Ordinance! it is a spiritual Feast, made by a spiritual King, for a spiritual People, to be received in a spiritual way. ”

“ I might mention Fear, as it is a covenant Blessing; but wherever there is Love, there is a holy, child-like, filial Fear. These things evidence God is our Father, Christ our Friend, and shew our Right to this and every other Ordinance.—Secondly, by our Food; the Holy Spirit having given us spiritual Appetites; and having graciously provided spiritual Food for his Children, he has been pleased to send his Ministers to proclaim it ”

“ As our Prophet, he is our light, and will be so for ever—for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, & thy God thy glory—though this office will be carried on in heaven different to what it is on earth. ”

“ The most lovely character of God is that of a Father, and the nearest idea of relationship is that of Children: this term relates to the whole Election of Grace, among Jews and Gentiles. God called the Israelites his Children, and the same name is given to his chosen among the Gentiles—More are the Children of the Desolate than the Children of the married Wife, saith the Lord. ”

“ We are anointed by virtue of union with him—the same divine anointing that was on him, as the Head, runs down, even to the skirts of his cloathing, on the meanest, lowest, and weakest of his saints; and it is the business of our faith to make use of him in every season of guilt and bondage. We feel the liberty of God’s children, as we are led by the Spirit to Jesus, as our atoning and interceding Priest, putting away sin; whilst the Spirit bears testimony p. ”

“ This we sweetly enjoy, when the Spirit bears witness to our spirits—at all times we depend on it, for our Righteousness before God. Humility is another part of our cloathing, as Children—be ye clothed with Humility. Zeal.—This at times is put on; the Exercises of the Graces of the Spirit, on their proper Objects, is called Garments; and while God says, Put on thy beautiful Garments, we can say, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for he hath clothed me with the Garments of his Salvation. ”

“ This New Birth is produced by the inhabitation of the Spirit, he forms this new Man at once; our knowledge of it is progressive. This work on the heart consists. First, in spiritual Light in the mind. By this we are led to see our lost state by Nature, and the Suitableness of Jesus. This, (as an evidence it is of God, in a covenant way) is p. 23always attended with humble confession, self-abhorrence, seeking after Pardon in the Atonement of Christ; after a better righteousness than our own, and a sense of God’s favour ”

“ He loves the People of God, thinks they all excel him, and sometimes is envious of their felicity; not that he would deprive them of what they enjoy, but he is jealous lest God loves them and not him. ”

“ When our Lord instituted it and gave it to his Disciples, they did not make this Objection, and say, Oh, we cannot think of obeying your Commands, nor receiving the Bread and Wine at your Hands; because you have not yet manifested yourself clearly to us.—We read of no such Objection. What Philip said to the Eunuch on another occasion, may be applied to this—If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. If you believe on Jesus, in such a way as to depend on him, look to him, and desire nothing in comparison with him, your Faith is to grow exceedingly, even up to full Assurance. ”

“ I now proceed, 2ndly, To point out the Characters that are incited, for whom this was instituted, and who have a right to partake of this Ordinance. Negatively—No Unbeliever, no ignorant Persons, who know neither God nor themselves; no immoral Character; no Pharisee, Worldling, or Hypocrite—these, if they could be found out, ought to be denied; but the Tares and the Wheat must grow together till the Harvest—the wise and foolish Virgins will keep on till the midnight Cry is made; the sacred Scriptures are the grand touch-stone—all must be weighed in these Balances of the Sanctuary ”

“ This Ordinance is not a carnal one, nor is it to be despised: the Quakers, and some other characters I have met with, set it aside as a carnal Ordinance. O! what an awful p. 13insult upon the Saviour! who, with his disciples, sung an Hymn, and then went out to the Mount of Olives. What an insult to set aside this Ordinance as carnal, seeing the Holy Ghost by the Apostles Paul and James, has commanded it; and John heard the Songs of the redeemed, in the Church militant—and of Saints it is said, Let the high Praises of God be in their mouths. Singing is only speaking in a musical voice ”

“ Secondly—Prayer, public and private; and good men ought always to pray—I will that men pray every where—the Jews had their stated times for Prayer; in the evening, in the morning, and at p. 10noon-day will I cry unto thee. In public, by Ministers, or private Christians at their Prayer-Meetings, which are praise-worthy, when carried on in a spirit of modesty and humility, with life and fervor—and here I would drop a Word of Exhortation—Let your public Prayers be always short. O that Ministers, Masters, Heads of Families, and those who conduct Prayer-Meetings, would adopt this method. ”