The Fifty-Fourth Sacrament, September 7, 1735

The ordinance was introduced with some reflections on those words, “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen.” 2 Cor. i. 20. I had been discoursing on the struggle between faith and unbelief, in a precious soul; and I thought this a proper sequel. The promises of God may be said to be yea and amen in Christ, as it is through him that they are all made. Whatever security they give us is to be ascribed to him, because we had otherwise been treated as heirs of wrath; and he takes it upon himself to see to the performance of them, being exalted by God for that very purpose. And although nothing can be a greater security than the Divine fidelity, yet it sometimes suits our infirmities, and it helps our faith, to see such a step taken towards the performance of the Divine promises; — that such a gracious instrument should have been raised up, and endued with such extraordinary power. Therefore our faith may justly take its rise from hence, and we may encourage ourselves to hope for those blessings concerning which we might else have been most ready to doubt. Although my sins be ever so great, when T look on the blood of Christ, I can believe that they may be pardoned. Whatever difficulties arise, his power and his grace can support me; and his wisdom can turn to good whatever calamities I now endure. Where was any thing over which one would have been more tempted to suspect .that providence had slept, than in this great scene of the death and sufferings of Christ? And yet they were accomplished by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, .and overruled to the most gracious purposes. And, surely, when we consider the promise of eternal glory, as sealed in the blood of Christ, — it is so noble a price, that we may expect that the purchase will indeed be glorious; and unworthy as we are ourselves, we may hope for heaven, in the worthiness of Jesus Christ.

In breaking the bread, I remarked, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” Isa. liii. 5. Should not the thought grieve us? When Christ came into our world, and behaved in such a manner in it, we might have expected that he would have been received with the utmost affection; that when the eye saw him, the voice should have blessed him; and that, if there had been one mouth that could have reviled him, one hand that could have struck or wounded him, it had been grievous; much more so, that he should have been slain, although it had been but by one person: how much more so, when such vast multitudes were so concerned, that every one of them made it his own act, to have killed the Prince of life! Vast multitudes were, indeed, the occasion of that crime, and we are of the number yet! And yet he spoke in mercy to those who were his betrayers and his murderers; the word of this salvation by him was even sent to them! Think of our own concern in his death: had the earth been only the scene of his sufferings, and had he died here for another order of beings, it would have well become us to have thought often on so wonderful a transaction; how much the more so, when it was that he might redeem us by his own blood!

When pouring out the wine, I observed, that had a malefactor been executed as Christ was for the murder of the dearest and best of our friends, or for the most horrible treason against our country, yet we could hardly have borne to have seen some circumstances of the rage and cruelty with which he was treated; it would have turned even justice into gall: but if we had seen an innocent person, if we had seen a friend, thus handled, what indignation, what distress would have arisen in our minds! Surely, if a person of a very dissolute and abandoned character had, in a fit of intoxication, been drawn in to have been a party in such a crime, he must have been exceedingly shocked in the review. Here, then, let our tears flow; here let our indignation arise, and that, against ourselves!

I concluded this ordinance with an exhortation to the greatest care, that we may live as under the influence of the dying love of Christ: and that it is our duty to recollect the particular frailties and temptations of our more serious relations in life, so that we may be armed with correspondent resolutions and engagements. Here, the exhortation was warm; and speaking of the concern with which ministers should declare these things, I mentioned the zeal of the apostles when they came to preach a crucified, yet a risen. Redeemer; and prayed earnestly that the like impressions might, by the same Spirit, be made upon our hearts.