for the great end of Chrift's fufferings was to bring us to God; the great end of his giving himself a facrifice to the fword of juftice, was to redeem us from all iniquity; and to purchase to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. And hence they are yet ftrangers to Chrift, who never felt any measure of the virtue of this facrifice, in fanctifying, purifying, and making them study holiness. And therefore I debar from this table, all impenitent finners and breakers of God's commandments; all whofe names are in that black catalogue, Mat. xv. 19. Rom. i. 29,-32. all whofe names are in that black lift, Gal. v. 19,-21. and all whofe names are in these black rolls, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Rev. xxii. 15. -All Atheists that practically deny the being of God, in their lives and converfations; and ignorant perfons that know not the principles of religion, and the nature of this ordinance; and profane perfons, who mock at facred things, neglect public ordinances, on week-days or fabbath-days, and neglect family-worship, and fecret prayer. All profane fwearers, whether by God, or the devil, or faith, or confcience, or whatsoever is more than, yea and nay. All fabbath-breakers, who put no difference between that and other days.All that are unfaithful in their relative stations; as magiftrates or fubjects, masters or fervants, parents or children.-All murderers, and these who give way to the killing fins of malice, paffion, revenge; and the felf-murdering fins of drunkennefs, gluttony, and tipling. All whoremongers, adulterers, fornicators, Sodomites, and unclean perfons, who never mortified the deeds of the body.-All thieves, oppreffors, and cheats, that study to over-reach their neighbour in their dealing. All falfe witnesses and liars, that make no confcience of fpeaking the truth; perjured perfons, that make no bonds of unlawful oaths; covenant-breakers, and fuch as are enemies to a covenanted work of reformation in these lands. All covetous perfons, whofe hearts are glued to the world. In a word, I debar all formalifts, and hypocrites, and legalists; all that never faw and bewailed their heart-plagues of atheism, enmity, pride, hypocrify, and unbelief: all who know not not the difference between the law and the gofpel; the covenant of works and the covenant grace; and between legal and evangelical preaching.-All that never felt any thing of the power of God's word on their heart, in convincing them of fin, original and actual, and drawing them to Chrift, as their righteoufnefs and ftrength, for juftification and fanctification. I debar all who hate to be reproved of their faults, and contemn their reprovers; and all who can be witness to the fins and faults of others, and yet never give any fort of teftimony against them.- -I debar all who love not the godly, nor care for their company: all who love not the Bible, nor fearch the fcriptures: all who love not Zion, nor care how matters go with the church of Chrift; whether its members be divided or alienated; whether its intereft fink or fwim: All who can go lightly over the belly of their own confcience, for fear of outward loffes or croffes, and eafily cross their light to please men.-I debar all that are not lovers of the truth, but efpousers of error: Socinians, Arminians, and Antinomians, who are properly so called, for some are wrongfully and ignorantly fo defigned.—I debar all that think they have believed all their days, and never were convinced of unbelief, nor found religion a work above them, and their natural powers.- I debar all who have no errand to the Lord's table, but to take a little bread and wine, and think it an eafy work to communicate; nor ever had any fears or jealousies about their miscarrying in that work: All who come only to keep up a name among profeffors and all that have no other tokens for communion, but that which they have got from their minifters or elders: all who have been at no pains whatsoever to prepare for this work: and all, on the other hand, who think they are prepared enough, and have no other thing to rest upon but their own preparation. All thefe, and others of that stamp, I do, in the name of the living and eternal God, debar from this holy table, as being ftrangers to the Man that is God's Fellow, and ftrangers to the facrifice whereby he has fatisfied the awakened fword of infinite juftice: therefore, as you would : not not take a cup of poifon to deftroy yourselves, as you would not eat and drink damnation to yourselves, and bring down the guilt of the blood of Chrift upon your head, do not dare to venture to this holy table; for, He that eats this bread, and drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, fhall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And if you will venture notwithstanding, remember, though you have got a token from me, or any perfon elfe, your blood is upon your own head, if you find yourself now debarred, and yet come to trample upon the blood of the Man that is God's Fellow. But now, left I fhould fright any of the children from their food, who are apt to take these things to them, more than they to whom they are principally directed, therefore I proceed, 3. To a third inference, with relation to this ordinance, that may be drawn from our doctrine, namely, Hence we may fee the character of thofe who have a right to approach, and are of God invited thereto; namely, in general, all believers, who, through grace, have been made to flee unto the covert of the blood of the Shepherd; into the covert of the blood of the Man that is God's Fellow, to fcreen them from the fword of divine wrath. As we dare not, for our fouls, allow or encourage any to approach this ordinance, who are unbelievers, under whatsoever names and defignations they may be called; fo, on the other hand, we dare not, for our fouls, difallow, or difcourage from this work, any the leaft, the weakest believer in Christ, that has gone in with the call of the gofpel, and clofed with, and embraced this facrifice whereby justice is fatisfied: And therefore, in the name and authority of the fame glorious God, and gracious Lord, I invite to this table of the Lord, all fuch, whatever there fins have been, though guilty of the fins that I have named, or whatever else; all fuch, I fay, whatever there guilt be, who have taken this gofpel-method of getting their fin and guilt expiated and removed, namely, by hiding their guilty fouls under the wings of Chrift's righteouf nefs, who gave himself a facrifice to fatisfy the fword of VOL. I. M juf juftice. But that it may be known more diftinctly whom I mean by fuch believers in Christ, as I am calling to the Lord's table, you may examine yourselves more particularly from the doctrine; Let a man examine himself, and fo let him eat. I hope you that are to communicate as believers, have been examining yourselves before this time; but if you be yet in the dark, there are thefe four marks may be drawn out of our text and doctrine, for clearing whether you be believers indeed, that have closed with the man that is God's Fellow, as a facrifice to the fword of juftice in your room. (1.) Have you feen, fometime or other, the fword of juftice awaking againft your own fouls, the avenger of blood purfuing you? Have you heard fuch å knell a as that in your heart, Awake, O fword; awake, O law; awake, O vengeance, curfes, and threatnings aagainst a man for his fins? Have you been fo filled with the fear of hell and wrath, as you have been put to cry, Men and brethren, what fhall I do to be faved? Or, have you been put to more concern about falvation, than ever you was about any thing elfe in the world? And have you feen, in this cafe, the natural tendency of your heart to reft upon fome other thing for peace with God than this facrifice, which Chrift offered of himself to the fword of justice? There is fuch a natural inclination in all to reft upon fome other thing for peace. with God, and it is a good token when it is discovered, and becomes a burden and a ground of a challenge, that they have had a finful inclination to put duties, prayers, tears, enlargements, and the like, in Christ's room. Before the law came, I was alive, fays Paul; and thought I had a ftock of righteoufnefs in myself to be the ground of my peace with God; But when the commandment came, fin revived, and I died: when, by the law, I got the knowledge of fin, I died to all conceit of myfelf and my righteoufnefs; What things were formerly gain unto me, thefe I counted lofs for Chrift.Now, if you have been thus purfued by juftice, which you fee no facrifice will fatisfy, but that of the Man that is God's Fellow, and have been burdened with your natural inclination to fome other facrifice, I think the the Lord has begun the good work upon you, and therefore I call and invite you to the table of the Lord. (2.) Have you feen the glory and excellency of this facrifice? What a glorious ranfom God has found out for his own fatisfaction, that thousands of rams could not do it, but that one Lamb could do it, even the Lamb of God facrificed? Have you feen the fword quenching its thirft in the blood of the Lamb? and have you taken up the love and mercy of God in providing fuch a Lamb, fuch a ram caught in the thickets, when your neck, like Ifaac's, was upon the block? Have you seen him to be a worthy ransom, because of the worthiness of the perfon facrificed, he being God's Fellow, God-man in one perfon, and fo acting in his Father's name, and by his appointment, when he yielded obedience to the death, as being his Shepherd, whom he fealed for this end? And has the view and apprehenfion of him, in this mediatorial glory, drawn forth your esteem of him and of his offering and facrifice, fo as you could venture heaven, and your eternal falvation upon it; fo that you defire to fay, To him that loved me, and washed me in his own blood, to him be glory? Is the view of this facrifice that which cheers and delights you moft? and is it matter of wonder to you, now and then, that when the ftroak of justice was ready to come upon you, Chrift fhould have interpofed between you and the fatal deadly blow; Can you fay, You count all but lofs and dung, that you may win Chrift, and be found in him; fo that you care not what be caft over-board, if you but get to that fhore, even Chrift and his righteoufnefs? Then welcome are you to the table of of the Lord; I invite you in his glorious name. (3.) Have you found your fouls in fafety, from the fword of juftice, under this fhadow of the blood of the man that is God's Fellow? Nothing rightly fatisfies the awakened challenges of confcience, but that which fatisfies the awakened fword of juftice; and that is the fmitting of the Shepherd, and the blood of the Lamb that is his Fellow. Now, have you feen God's justice fatisfied thereby, and found your confcience fatisfied with the fame? Have you, fome time or other, found M 2 your |