The Nature of This Ordinance

When the Jews, according to God’s appointment, olv served the passover yearly throughout their generations, 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 enquiry. 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 -vine, 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 hath 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 hath 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 servants, and yet is pleased to call us friends, A friend that hath 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 hath 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 vail?

Ought we not to remember, and can we ever forget a friend, who, though he be now absent, will be absent but a while? We see him not, but we expect to see him shortly, when he will “come in the clouds, and every eye shall see him;” will come to receive us to himself, to share in his joy and glory. Shall we not be glad of any thing that helps us to remember him, who not only remembered us once in our low estate, but, having once remembered us, will never forget us? Shall not his name be written in indelible characters upon the tables of our heart, who hath graven us upon the palms of his hands? Surely we must continually remember our Judge and Lord, when behold the Lord is at hand, and the Judge standeth before the door. Thus must we show him forth till he come; for he comes quickly.

2. We are to do this in the remembrance of the death of Christ, as an ancient favour done to us. This ordinance was instituted on the night wherein our Master was betrayed, that night of observations, as the first passover night is called, (Ex. xii. 42. margin) which intimateth the special reference this ordinance was to have to that which was done that night, and the day following. In it we are “to know Christ and him crucified,” to remember his sufferings, and, in a special manner, to remember his bonds. All the saints and all the churches could not see Christ upon the cross; therefore, in this ordinance, that great transaction is set before us, upon which the judgment of this world turned: “Now is the judgment of this world.” Here we remember the dying of the Lord Jesus; that is:

1st, We endeavour to preserve the memory of it in the church, and to transmit it pure and entire through our age, to the children which shall be born, that the remembrance of it may be ever fresh, and may not die in our hand. That good thing which was committed to us as a trust, we must thus carefully keep, and faithfully deliver down to the next generation; evidencing, that we firmly believe, and frequently think of Christ’s dying for us, and desiring that those who should come after us may do so too.

2d, We endeavour to revive and incite the remembrance of it in our own hearts. — This ordinance was intended “to stir up our pure minds,” (our impure minds we have too much reason to call them,) by way of remembrance, that, giving fsLich an earnest heed to the things that belong to the great salvation, as the solemnity of this ordinance calls for, we may not at any time let them slip; or if we do, we may in the use thereof, speedily recover them. The instituted images of Christ crucified, are, in this ordinance, very strong and lively, and proper to make deep impressions of his grace and love, upon the minds that are prepared to receive them, and such as cannot be worn out.

We see then, what we have to do in our attendance upon this ordinance; we must remember the suflferings of Christ there, else we do nothing.

First, This supposeth some acquaintance with Christ crucified; for we cannot be said to remember that which we never knew. — The ignorant, therefore, to whom the great things of the gospel are as a strange thing, with which they are not concerned to acquaint themselves, cannot answer the intention of this ordinance; but they offer the blind in sacrifice, not discerning the Lord’s body, and the breaking of it. It concerns us, therefore, to cry after this knowledge, and to labour after a clearer insight into the mystery of our redemption by the death of Christ; for, if we be ignorant of this, and rest in false and confused notions of it, we are unworthy to wear the Christian name, and to live in a Christian nation.

Second, It implies a serious thought and contemplation of the sufferings of Christ, such as is fed and supplied with matter to work upon, not from a strong fancy, but from a strong faith. Natural passions may be raised by the power of imagination, representing the story of Christ’s suffering as very doleful and tragical; but pious and devout affections are best kindled by the consideration of Christ’s dying as a propitiation for our sins, and the Saviour of our souls; and this is the object of faith, not of fancy. We must here look unto Jesus as he is lifted up in the gospel, take him as the word makes him, and so behold him.

Third, The contemplation of the sufferings of Christ must make such an impression upon the soul, as to work it into a fellowship with, and conformity to Christ in his sufferings. This was the knowledge and remembrance of Christ of which blessed Paul was ambitious to ‘* know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings,” and we all, by our baptism, are in profession “planted together in the likeness of his death.” Then we do this in remembrance of Christ effectually, when we experience the death of Christ killing sin in us, mortifying the flesh, weaning us from this present life, weakening vicious habits and dispositions in us, and the power of Christ’s cross, both as a moral argument, and as the spring of special grace, “crucifying us to the world, and the world to us,” when, in “touching the hem of his garment,” we find, like that good woman, virtue comes out of him to heal our souls, then rightly remember Christ crucified.

II. It is a confessing ordinance. — If the heart believe unto righteousness, hereby confession is made unto salvation. The Lord’s Supper is one of the peculiarities of our holy religion, by the observance of which, the professors of it are distinguished from all others. Circumcision, which was the initiating ordinance among the Jews, by leaving its mark in the flesh, was a lasting badge of distinction; baptism, which succeeds it, leaves no such indelible character on the body; but the Lord’s Supper is a solemnity by which we constantly avow the Christian name, and declare ourselves not ashamed of the banner of the cross under which we were enlisted, but resolve to continue Christ’s faithful servants and soldiers to the end of our lives, according to our baptismal vow.

In the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper we are said to show forth the Lord’s death, that is,

1. We hereby profess our value and esteem for Christ crucified; ye show it forth with commendation and praise: so the word sometimes signifies. The cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block, because they expected a Messiah in temporal pomp and power. It was to the Greeks, foolishness, because the doctrine of man’s justification and salvation by it, was not agreeable to their philosophy. The wisdom of this world, and the princes of it, judged it absur<l to expect salvation by one that died a captive, and honour by one that died in disgrace; and turned it to the reproach of Christians, that they were the disciples and followers of one that was hanged on a tree at Jerusalem. They who put him to such an ignominious death, and loaded him with all the shame they could put upon him. hoped thereby to make every one shy of owning him, or expressing any respect for him ,• but the wisdom of God so ordered it, that the cross of Christ is that which above any thing else Christians have cause to glory in. Such are the fruits, the purchases, the victories, the triumphs of the cross, that we have reason to call it our crown of glory, and diadem of beauty. The politicians, thought it had been the interest of Christ’s followers to have concealed their Lord’s death, and that they should have endeavoured to bury it in forgetfulness; but instead of that, they are appointed to show forth the Lord’s death, and to keep it in everlasting remembrance before angels and men.

This, then, we mean, when we receive the Lord’s Supper; we thereby solemnly declare that we do not reckon the cross of Christ any reproach to Christianity; and that we were so far from being ashamed of it, that, whatever constructions an unthinking unbelieving world may put upon it, to us it is the wisdom of God and the power of God; it is all our salvation, and all our desire. We think never the worse of Christ’s holy religion for the ignominious death of its great Author; for we see God glorified in it, man saved by it; then is the reproach of it rolled away for ever.

2. We hereby profess our dependance upon, and confidence in Christ crucified. As we are not ashamed to own him, so we are not afraid to venture our souls, and their eternal salvation with him, believing him “able to save to the uttermost, all that come to God by him;” and as willing as he is able, and making confession of that faith. By this solemn rite we deliberately, and of choice put ourselves under the protection of his righteousness, the influence of his grace, and the conduct and operation of his Holy Spirit. The concerns that lie between us and God, are ol vast consequence, our eternal weal or wo depends upon the right management of them; now we hereby solemnly declare, that having laid them near our own hearts in a serious care about them, we choose to lodge them in the Redeemer’s hands by a judicious faith in him, for which we can give a good reason. God having declared himself well pleased in him, we hereby declare ourselves well pleased in him too; God having committed all judsmeut 5*, to the Son, we hereby commit all our judgment to him likewise, as the sole Referee of the great cause, and the sole Trustee of the great concern, “knowing whom we have believed, even one who it able and faithful to keep what we have committed to him against that day,” that great day when it will be called for.

This then, we mean, when we receive the Lord’s Supper; we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we own ourselves to be his subjects, and put ourselves under his government; we confess that he is a skilful physician, and own ourselves to be his patients, resolving to observe his prescriptions; we confess that he is a faithful advocate, and own ourselves to be his clients, resolving to be advised by him in every thing. In a word, in this ordinance we profess that we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, nor of the cross of Christ, in which his gospel is all summed up, knowing it to be “the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe,” and having found it so to ourselves.

in. It is a communicating ordinance: here are not only gospel truths represented to us, and confessed by us; but gospel benefits offered to us, and accepted by us; for it is not only a faithful saying, but well worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus died to save sinners. This is the explication which the apostle gives of this ordinance: “The ■«up of blessing which we bless,” that is, which we pray to God to bless, which we bless God with and for, and in which we hope and expect that God will bless us, it “is the communion,” or the communication, “of the blood of Christ; the bread which we break, is the communion,” or communication, “of the body of Christ,” which was not only broken for us upon the cross, when it was made an offering for sin, but is broken to us, as the children’s bread is broken to the children in the everlasting Gospel, wherein it is made the food of souls.

By the body and blood of Christ, of which this ordinance is the communion, we are to understand all those precious benefits and privileges, which were purchased for us by the death of Christ, and are assured to us upon gospel terms, in the everlasting covenant.

Whr n the sun is said to be with us, and we say we have the sun, as in the day, or as in the summer, it is not the body and bulk of the sun that we have, but his rays and beams are darted down upon us, and by them we receive the light, warmth, and influence of the sun, and thus the sun is communicated to us, according to the laws of creation: so in this ordinance we are partakers of Christ, not of his real body and blood, (it is senseless and absurd, unchristian and inhuman to imagine so,) but of his merits and righteousness for our justification, his Spirit and grace for our sanctification. We must not dream of ascending up into heaven, or of going down to the depth to fetch Christ into this ordinance, that we may partake of him; no, the word is nigh thee, and Christ in the word.

Unworthy receivers, that is, those who resolve to continue in sin, because grace hath abounded, partake of the guilt of Christ’s body and blood, and have communion with those that crucified him; for, as much as in them lies, they crucify him afresh. What they do speaks such ill thoughts of Christ, that we may conclude, if they had been at Jerusalem when he was put to death, they would have joined with those that cried, “Crucify him, crucify him.”

But humble and penitent believers partake of the blessed fruits of Christ’s death; “his body and blood” are their food, their medicine, their cordial, their life, their all. All the riches of the gospel are virtually in them.

1. Christ and all his benefits are here communicated to us; here is not only bread and wine set before us, to be looked at, but given to us to be eaten and drank; not only Christ made known to us, that we may contemplate the mysteries of redemption, but Chri made over to us, that we may participate of the benefits of redemption. God, in this ordinance, not only assures us of the truth of the promise, but, according to our present case and capacity, conveys to us, by his Spirit, the good things promised; receive Christ Jesus the Lord, Christ and pardon, Christ and peace, Christ and grace, Christ and heaven; it is all your own, if you come up to the terms on which it is offered in the gospel.

Fountains of life are here broken up, wells of salvation are here opened, the stone rolled away from the well’s mouth, and you are called upon to come and draw water with joy. The well is deep, but this ordinance is a bucket by which it is easy to draw: let us not forsake these living streams for stagnant water. These are wisdom’s gates, where we are appointed to wait for wisdom’s gifts; and we shall not wait in vain.

2. Christ and all his benefits are here to be received by us. If we do indeed answer the intention of the ordinance, in receiving the bread and wine, we accept the offer that is made us: ‘’Lord, I take thee at thy word; be it unto thy servant according to it.” We hereby interest ourselves in Christ’s mediation between God and man, and take the benefit of it according to the tenor of the everlasting gospel. Christ,in this ordinance,is graciously condescending to show us the print of the nails, and the mark of the spear, to show us his pierced hands,his pierced side,those tokens of his love and power as a Redeemer; we, by partaking of it, comply with his intentions, we consent to him, and close with him, saying, as Thomas did, “My Lord, and my God!” None but Cln-ist, none but Christ.

We do’ here likewise set ourselves to participate of that spiritual strength and comfort, which, through grace, flows into the hearts of believers, from their interest in Christ crucified. The gospel of Christ here solemnly exhibited, is meat and drink to our souls: it is bread that strengthens man’s heart, and is the staff of life; it is wine that makes glad the heart, and revives the spirits. Our spiritual life is supported and maintained, and the new man enabled for its work and conflicts, by the spiritual benefits of which we here communicate; as the natural life, and the natural body, are by our necessary lood. From the fulness that is in Christ crucified, we here derive grace for grace, grace for gracious exercises, as the branches derive sap from the root, and as the lamps derive oil from the olive trees: and so, like healthful grown chihlren, are nourished “up in the words of faith and of good doctrine,” till we all come to the perfect man, to the measu:e of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Thus it is our communion with, and communicating of, Christ’s body and blood.

IV. It is a covenanting ordinance. — This cup, our Saviour tells us, (that is, this ordinance,) is the New Testament; not only pertaining to the New Testament, but containing it J it hath the whole New Testament in it and has the sum al

and substance of it. It is, in general, an instrumeat by which a right passeth, and is conveyed; and a title to some good thing given. The gospel revelation of God’s grace and will, is both a testament and a covenant, and the Lord’s Supper hath a reference to it as both.

1. It is the New Testament. — The everlasting gospel is Christ’s last will, by which he hath given and bequeathed a great estate to his family on earth, with certain precepts and injunctions, and under certain provisions and limitations. This will is become of force, by the death of the Testator, and is now unalterable; it is proved in the court of heaven, and administration given to the blessed Spirit, who is as the executor of the will; for of him the Testator said, “He shall receive of mine, and show it unto you.” Christ having purchased a great estate by the merit of his death, by his testament he left it to all his poor relations, that had need enough of it, and for whom he bought it; so that all those who can prove themselves akin to Christ, by their being born from above, their partaking of a divine nature, and their doing the will of God, may claim the estate by virtue of the will, and shall be sure of a present maintenance, and a future inheritance out of it.

The Lord’s Supper is the New Testament; it is not only a memorial of the Testator’s death, but it is the seal of the Testament. A true copy of it attested by this seal and pleadable, is hereby given into the hands of every believer, that he may have strong consolation. The general record of the New Testament, which is common to all, is hereby made particular.

The charge given by the will is hereby applied and enforced to us The Testator hath charged us to remember him, hath charged us to follow him whithersoever he goes; he hath charged us to love one another, and the estate he hath left us is so devised, as not to give any occasion to quarrel, but rather to be a bond of union. He hath charged us to espouse his cause, serve his interest, and concern ourselves in his concerns in the world, to seek the welfare of the great body, and all the members of it. He hath likewise charged us to expect and prepare for his second coming; his word of command is, “Watch.” Now,. in the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded of this charge, and bound afresh faithfully to observe whatsoever Christ hath commanded, as the Rechabites kept the command of their Father.

The legacies left by the will, are hereby particularly consigned to us; paid in part, and the rest secured to be paid when we come to age, even at the time appointed by the Testator. What is left for us is not only sufficient to answer the full intention of the will, enough for all, enough for each; but is left in good hands, in the hands of the Spirit of truth, who will not deal unfaithfully with us; for, as Christ tells us, “we know him.” Nay, Christ himself is risen from the dead, to be the overseer of his own will, and to see it duly executed: so that we are in no danger of losing our legacies, unless by our own fault. These are good securities, and upon which we may with abundant satisfaction rely; and yet our Lord Jesus “more abundantly to show the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, hath confirmed it by an oath, (by a sacrament, which is his oath to us, as well as ours to him,) that by all those immutable things, in which it is impo&sible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation,” that have ventured our all in the New Testament.

2. It is the new covenant. — Though God is our sovereign Lord, and owner, and we are in his hands as the clay in the hand of the potter; yet he condescends to deal with us about our reconciliation and happiness in the way of a covenant, that they which are saved may be the more comforted, and they which perish may be rendered the more inexcusable. The tenor of this covenant is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be ?aved.” Salvation is the great promise of the covenant, believing in Christ the great condition of the covenant; now, this cup is the covenant, that is, it is the seal of the covenant. There seems to be an allusion to that solemnity, which we read of where Moses read the book of the covenant in the audience of the people, and the people declared their consent to it saying, “All that the Lord hath said we will do, and will be obedient. And then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, (part of it having before been sprinkled upon the altar,) and said. Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with; you concerning all these words.” Thus, the covenant being made by sacrifice, and the blood of the sacrifice being sprinkled both upon the altar of God and upon the representatives of the people, both parties did, as it were, interchangeably put their hands and seals to the articles of agreement. So the blood of Christ having satisfied for the breach of the covenant of innocency, and purchased a new treaty, and being the sacrifice by which the covenant is made, is fitly called the blood of the covenant. Having sprinkled this blood upon the altar in his intercession, when by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, he doth in this sacrament sprinkle it upon the people; as the apostle explains this mystery — A bargain is a bargain, though it be not sealed, but the sealing is the ratification and perfection of it. The internal seal of the covenant, as administered to true believers, is the spirit of promise “whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.” But the external seals of the covenant, as administered in the visible church, are the sacraments, particularly this of the Lord’s Supper. Sealing ordinances are appointed to make our covenanting with God the more solemn, and consequently the more affecting, and the impressions of it the more abiding. The covenant of grace is a “covenant never to be forgotten.” This ordinance, therefore, was instituted to assure us, that God will never forget it, and to assist us, that we never may forget it. It is the seal of the new covenant; that is,

isf, God doth in, and by this ordinance, seal to us, and be to us a God. This article of the covenant is inclusive of all the rest; in giving himself to us to be ours, he gives us all things, for he is God all-sufficient. This is the grant, the royal grant, which the eternal God here seals, and delivers to true believers as his act and deed. He gives himself to them, and empowers him to call him theirs. What God is in himself, he will be to them for their good. His wisdom theirs, to counsel and direct them; his power theirs, to protect and support them; his justice theirs, to justify them; his holiness theirs, to sanctify them; his goodness theirs, to love and supply them; his truth is the inviolable security of the promise, and his eternity the perpetuity of their happiness. He will be to them a Father, and they shall be his sons and daughters, dignified by the privileges of adoption, and distinguished by the spirit of adoption. Their Maker is their husband, and he hath said, that “he is married to them, and rejoiceth in them as the bridegroom in his bride.” The Lord is their shepherd, and the sheep of his pasture shall not want. He is the portion of their inheritance in the other world, as well as of their cup in this; he hath prepared for them a city, and thereby “is not ashamed to be called their God,” 2d, We do in and by this ordinance, seal to him to be to him a people. We accept the relation by our voluntary choice and consent, and bind our souls with a bond, that we will approve ourselves to him in the relation. We hereby resign, surrender, and give up our whole selves, body, soul, and spirit, to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, covenanting and promising, that we will by his strength, serve him faithfully, and walk closely with him in all manner of gospel-obedience all our days. Claiming the blessings of the covenant, we put ourselves under the bonds of the covenant. O Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant: wholly, and only, and for ever thine. And this is the meaning of this service.