If we come to a marriage-feast, we must not come without a wedding garment, that is, a frame of heart, and a disposition of soul agreeable to the solemnity, conformable to the nature, and answering the intentions of the gospel, as it is exhibited to us in this ordinance. "Holy garments, and garments of praise," are the wedding garments: "Put on Christ, put on the new man," these are the wedding garments. In these we must, with our lamps in our hands, as the wise virgins, go forth, with all due observance, to attend the royal bridegroom.

3. It is a feast of memorial, like the feast of the passover, of which it is said, "This day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord, a feast by an ordinance for ever." The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was a work of wonder never to be forgotten; the feast of unleavened bread was therefore instituted to be annually observed throughout all the ages of the Jewish church, as a solemn memorial of that deliverance, that the truth of it being confirmed by this traditional evidence, might never be questioned; and that the remembrance of it, being frequently revived by this service, might never be lost. Our redemption by Christ from sin and hell, is a greater work of wonder than that was, more worthy to be remembered, and yet (the benefits that flow from it being spiritual) more apt to be forgotten; this ordinance was therefore instituted, and instituted, in the close of the passover supper, (as coming in the room of it,) to be a standing memorial in the church, of the glorious achievements of the Redeemer's cross; the victories obtained by it over the powers of darkness, and the salvation wrought by it for the children of light. "Thus the Lord hath made his wonderful works to be remembered."

4. It is a feast of dedication.-Solomon made such a feast for all Israel, when he dedicated the temple, as his father David had done, when he brought the ark into the tabernacle. Even the children of the captivity" kept the dedication of the house of God

with joy." In the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we dedicate ourselves to God as living temples; temples of the Holy Ghost, separated from every thing that is common and profane, and entirely devoted to the service and honour of God in Christ. To show that we do this with cheerfulness and satisfaction, and that it may be done with an agreeable solemnity, this feast is appointed for the doing of it, that we may, like the people of Israel, when Solomon dismissed them from his feast of dedication, "Go to your tents joyful, and glad of heart, for all the goodness that the Lord hath done for David his servant, and for Israel his people."

5. It is a feast upon a sacrifice.-This, methinks, is as proper a notion of it as any other. It was the law and custom of sacrifices, both among the Jews, and in other nations, that when the beast offered was slain, the blood sprinkled, the fat, and some select parts of it burnt upon the altar, and the priest had his share out of it, then the remainder was given back to the offerer; on which he and his family and friends feasted with joy. Hence we read of Israel after the flesh, eating the sacrifices, and so partaking of the altar: "Behold Israel after the flesh. Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" That is, in token of their partaking of the benefit of the sacrifice, and their joy therein. And this eating of the sacrifice was a religious rite, expressive of their communion with God in and by the sacrifice.

(1.) Jesus Christ is the great and only sacrifice, who, by being "once offered, perfected for ever them which are sanctified;" and this offering need never be repeated; that once was sufficient.

(2.) The Lord's Supper is a feast upon this sacrifice, in which we receive the atonement, as the expression is: "And not only so, but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." That is, we give consent to, and take complacency in the method which infinite wisdom has taken of justifying and

saving us by the merit and mediation of the Son of God incarnate. In feasting upon the sacrifice, we apply the benefit of it to ourselves, and ascribe the praise of it to God with joy and thankfulness.

6. It is a feast upon a covenant. The covenant between Isaac and Abimelech was made with a feast. So was that between Laban and Jacob, and their feasting upon the sacrifices was a federal rite, in token of peace and communion between God and his people. In the Lord's Supper we are admitted to feast with God, in token of reconciliation between us and him through Christ. Though we have provoked God, and been enemies to him in our minds by wicked works, yet he thus graciously provides for us, to show that now." he hath reconciled us to himself. His enemies hungering, he thus feeds them; thirsting, he thus gives them drink; which if, like coals of fire heaped upon their heads, it melts them into a compliance with the terms of his covenant, they shall henceforth, as his own familiar friends, eat bread at his table continually, till they come to sit down with him at his table in his kingdom.

CHAPTER II.

THE NATURE OF THIS ORDINANCE.

I. It is a commemorating Ordinance, in remembrance of the person of Christ, as an absent friend, and of the death of Christ as an an cient favour. Hereby we preserve the memory of it in the church, and revive the remembrance of it in our hearts. II. It is a Confessing Ordinance; we profess our value and esteem for Christ crucified, and our dependence upon, and confidence in Christ crucified. III. It is a Communicating Ordinance; Christ and all his benefits are here communicated to us, and are here to be received` by us. IV. It is a Covenanting Ordinance; it is the New Testament, and the new covenant, opened distinctly; God seals to us to be to us a God, and we seal to him to be to him a people.

WHEN the Jews, according to God's appointment, observed the passover yearly throughout their gene

rations, it was supposed that their children would ask them, "What mean you by this service?" and they were directed what answer to give to that inquiry. The question may very fitly be asked concerning our gospel passover. What mean we by this service? We come together in a public and select assembly of baptized Christians, under the conduct and presidency of a gospel minister; we take bread and wine, sanctified by the word and prayer, and we eat and drink together in a solemn religious manner, with an eye to a divine institution, as our warrant and rule in so doing. This we do often; this all the churches of Christ do, and have done in every age, from the death of Christ down to this day; and, we doubt not, but it will continue to be done till time shall be no more. Now, what is the true intent and meaning of this ordinance? What did Christ design it for in the institution? And what must we aim at in the observation of it?.

It was appointed to be a commemorating ordinance, and a confessing ordinance, and a communicating ordinance, and a covenanting ordinance.

I. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper is a commemorating ordinance. This explanation our Lord himself gave of it, when he said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Do it for my memorial. Do it for a remembrance of me. In this ordinance he has recorded his name for ever, and this is his memorial throughout all generations.

We are to do this,

1. In remembrance of the person of Christ, as an absent friend of ours.-It is a common ceremony of friendship to lay up something in remembrance of a friend we have valued, which we say, we keep for his sake, when he is gone, or is at a distance; it is usual likewise to drink to one another, remembering such a friend that is absent. Jesus Christ is our beloved and our friend, the best friend that ever our souls had; he is now absent, he has left the world, and is gone to the Father, and the heavens must contain him till the time of the restitution of all things.

Now, this ordinance is appointed for a remembrance of him. We observe it in token of this, that though the blessed Jesus be out of sight, he is not out of mind. He that instituted this ordinance, did, as it were, engrave this on it for a motto:—

When this you see,

Remember me.

Remember him! Is there any danger of our forgetting him? If we were not wretchedly taken up with the world and the flesh, and strangely careless in the concerns of our souls, we could not forget him. But, in consideration of the treachery of our memories, this ordinance is appointed to remind us of Christ.

Ought we not to remember, and can we ever forget such a friend as Christ is:-a friend that is our near and dear relation; "bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and not ashamed to call us brethren?" A friend in covenant with us, who puts more honour upon us than we deserve, when he calls us his ṣervants, and yet is pleased to call us friends. A friend that has so wonderfully signalized his friendship, and commended his love: he hath done that for us which no friend we have in the world did, or could do for us: he has laid down his life for us, when the redemption of our souls was grown so precious, as otherwise to have ceased for ever. Surely we must forget ourselves if ever we forget him, since our happiness is entirely owing to his kindness.

Ought we not to remember, and can we ever forget a friend, who, though he be absent from us, is negotiating our affairs, and is really absent for us? He is gone, but he is gone upon our business; as the forerunner he is for us entered; he is gone to appear. in the presence of God for us, as our agent. Can we be unmindful of him who is always mindful of us, and who, as the great High Priest of our profession, bears the names of all his spiritual Israel on his breastplate, near his heart, within the veil!

Ought we not to remember, and can we ever forget a friend, who, though he be now absent, will be