442 Sect. 171. Luke XXII. 33. 34 Luke xxii. 33. Ver. 31. And before Cock-crowing he would deny him thrice. And fuch was ftill the Confidence that Peter had of his own Stedfaftness and Zeal, that be faid to him with renewed Eagerness and Warmth, Lord, what I faid but now is the deliberate Sentiment and Resolution of my Heart: Lead me therefore whither thou pleafeft; for I am ready to go with thee, both into Prifon, and to Death itself, and none of the most cruel of thine Enemies fhall ever be able to part us. But Jefus, that he might convince him of his Weakness, and prevent his ever trufting in his own Heart again, faid to him, Peter, I know the Sincerity of thine Intention, yet I most affuredly fay unto thee, It fhall not be the Time of Cockcrowing To-day (g), before thou shalt be fo terrified at the Faces of thefe Enemies whom thou now defieft, that thou shalt thrice deny that thou fo much as knoweft me, and fhalt folemnly dif claim all Regard to me. (Compare Mat. xxvi. 34. and Mark xiv. 30. Sect. 181.) 33 And he faid unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with to Death. thee, both into Prison, and 34 And he faid, [Verily, verily I fay unto thee,] Peter, the Cock shall not crow this Day, before that thou fhalt thrice deny that thou knoweft me. [JOHN XIII. -38.] IMPROVEMENT. ALAS, how ready are we to forget ourselves; and how much fafer are we in Chrift's Hands, than in our own! How frequently do we refolve like Peter, and in how many Inftances do we fall like him! We fee the Malice of Satan, and how eagerly he defired to try the Apostles, and even to fift them as Wheat: We fee alfo the gracious Ver. 32. Care of our Redeemer, who foreseeing the Danger of his Servants, laid in an unfought Remedy, to which they refpectively owed their Security, or their Recovery. Let us rejoice, that the great Enemy is under fuch Restraints, and can have no Power against us, unlefs by Permiffion from Above. Let us (g) It shall not be the Time of Cock-crowing To-Day.] A careful Perufal of Sect. 181. compared with this, will fhew, why I have not here brought in the Account, which Matthew and Mark have given us, of Christ's Admonitions to Peter and his Brethren on this Head; which appear to be the Renewal of this fome Hours after. As it is plain from thence and the Event, that the Cock actually crew before Peter's third Denial, we must certainly take the Words of Luke and John, as in this Verfion, for the common Time of Cock-crowing, which probably did not come, till after the Cock which Peter heard, had crowed the fecond Time, and perhaps oftener. For it is well known, thofe vigilant Animals, on any little Disturbance, often crow at Midnight, or before it; tho' they do not come from their Rooft till about Three in the Morning, which was ufually called the Cock-crowing. (Mark xiii. 35-) See Dr. Whitby's Note on Mat, xxvi. 34. Reflections on the Command of CHRIST to love one another. 443 us rejoice, that Chrift is a conftant and invariable Friend to his People; Sect. 171. and ftill appears as an Advocate with the Father, and as a tender faithful Shepherd, watching over them for Good, while Satan is feeking to devour them. (1 Pet. v. 8.) If at any Time that Adverfary get an Advantage over us, let us endeavour in the Strength of Divine Grace an immediate Recovery; and when restored, let us exert ourselves to strengthen our Ver.-32. Brethren: For furely it is moft reasonable, that we, who are furrounded with fuch various, and fuch fenfible Infirmities, should have Compaffion on the Ignorant, and on them that are out of the Way. (Heb. v. 2.) In this Inftance, as in all others, let us be mindful of the dying Charge, John xiii. the new Commandment of our dear Lord; and let us fhew upon all Occa- 34. fions this diftinguishing Badge of our Relation to him, even our Love to each other. So will our Profeffion be adorned, and the Son of Man be Ver. 31. farther glorified, by the Conduct of his Servants on Earth: So fhall he at length glorify us with himself, and after a fhort Abfence call us to fol low him into thofe Regions of perfect Love, which muft of Course be Ver. 36. the Seats of everlasting Joy. In the mean Time, fend down, oh gracious Emmanuel, thy Spirit of Love on all thy Followers; that we may no longer glory in the little Distinctions of this or that Party, but may fhew we are Chriftians by Ver. 35. this refplendent Enfign of our Order! May we bind it on our Shoulders as a Mark of Honour, and wear it as a Crown upon our Heads; that the Spirit of Hatred, Reproach, and Perfecution, may vanish like an unwholsome Mift before the Sun, and it may again be univerfally faid, as of old, Behold, how thefe Chriftians love one another! Amen! SECT. CLXXII. CHRIST at the Conclufion of the Passover inftitutes the Eucharift. Mat. XXVI. 26,----30. Mark XIV. 22,----26. Luke XXII. 19, 20. MAT. XXVI. 26. AND as they were eating, Jefus took Bread, [LUK. Suc MAT. XXVI. 26. UCH was the Admonition that Chrift gave Sect. 172. to Peter, and fuch was his Difcourfe with his Disciples, while they were at Supper: And Mat.XXVI. now as they were eating, or just as they had finished the Pafchal Supper (a), Jefus took a Cake of Bread; (a) Juft as they had finished the Pafchal Supper.] Maimonides and other Rabbi's tell us, that it was a Rule among the Jews, at the End of the Supper to take a Piece of the Lamb K kk 2 for 26. Mat. XXVI. 26. 444 Sect. 172. Bread; and having in a folemn Manner given Thanks to his Heavenly Father, and blessed [it,] that is, having implored the Divine Bleffing on it, and on the Ordinance then to be inftituted, that it might in all fucceeding Ages tend to the Edification and Comfort of his People (b); he brake the Bread into several Pieces, and gave fome of [it] to each of the Difciples prefent, and Jaid, Take this Bread, and eat it with Reverence and Thankfulness; for this is my Body, that is, it is the fenfible Sign and Reprefentation of my Body (c), which is freely given, and is fpeedily to be broken, bruifed, wounded, and even flaughtered for you. Do this hereafter in your Affemblies for religious Worship, in a pious and affectionate Commemora CHRIST after Supper inftitutes the Eucharist. tion [LUK. and gave Thanks,] and gave it to the Disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my Body, [LUK. which is given for you: this do in Remembrance of me. ] [MARK XIV. 22. Luke XXII. 19.] and bleffed it, and brake it, for the last Thing they eat that Night. (See Ainsworth, as quoted before, Note (e), p. 420.) If this Custom was as old as Chrift's Time, it would make this Action fo much the more remarkable. It would plainly fhew, that the Bread here diftributed was a very diftin&t Thing from the Meal they had been making together; and might be, in the firft Opening of the Action, a Kind of Symbolical Intimation, that the Jewish Passover was to give Way to another and nobler Divine Inflitution. (b) Bleffed it.] It is not exprefsly faid in the Original, that Chrift bleffed it, i. e. the Bread, (nor indeed that he brake it ;) but it is very reafonable to imagine, that this Thanksgiving was attended with a Prayer, that the Divine Bleffing might accompany the Bread. And it is fo very plain from I Cor. x. 16. that the Apostles taught Chriftians to bless the Cup, that I cannot but wonder, that one of the most accurate and penetrating Writers of our Age fhould fcruple to allow, that Chrift bleffed the Sacramental Elements. The fame Word is ufed in Mat. xiv. 19. Mark vi. 41. viii. 7. and Luke ix. 16. where it is certain, an extraordinary Blessing attended the Bread and Fishes in Anfwer to his Prayers. (See alfo Mark x. 16. Luke ii. 34. and Gen. ii. 3. Septuag.) It would indeed be abfurd to interpret this, of his conferring a Virtue on Bread fo fet apart, to work as a Charm, either on Men's Bodies, or Souls; but I hope, few Chriftians are fo ill inftructed as to imagine this to be the Cafe in the Eucharift; and all wife and faithful Minifters will, no doubt, be folicitous to preferve them from fo wild and mifchievous a Notion. of (c) This is my Body.] When I confider, that (as a Thousand Writers have obferved,) on the fame Foundation on which the Papists argue for Tranfubftantiation from thefe Words, they might prove from Ezek. v. 1,5. that the Prophet's Hair was the City of Jerufalem; from John x. 9. and xv. 1. that Chrift was literally a Door and a Vine; and from Mat. xxvi. 27, 28. and 1. Cor. xi. 25. that the Cup was his Blood, and that Chrift commanded his Difciples to drink and fwallow the Cup; I cannot but be aftonished at the Inference they would deduce from hence. Had Irenæus, or Epiphanius, reported fuch a Thing any Sect of antient Hereticks now extinct, one would have been fo candid to Human Nature, as to fuppofe the Hiftorian mifinformed. As it is, one is almoft tempted to fufpect it to be the Effect of Arrogance, rather than Error; and to confider it as a mere infolent Attempt to fhew the World, in the ftrongest Inftance they could invent, what monftrous Things the Clergy fhould dare to fay, which the wretched Laity fhould not dare to contradict; nay, which they fhould be forced to pretend they believed. In this View the Thought is admirable, and worthy the moft malicious Wit that ever lorded it over the Heritage of GOD. But it may deserve some serious Reflection, whether it be not an Inftance of Infatuation, to which God has given them up, that it may be a plain Mark to all, that will ufe common Senfe, of the groffeft Error in a Church which claims Infallibity; and may not be intended by Providence, as a Kind of Antidote against the rest of its Poison. (d) The Hediftributes Bread and Wine as reprefenting his Body and Blood. 445 tion of me, that you may keep up the Memory of Sect. 172. my dying Love, may openly profefs your Depen-, dance on my Death, and impress your Hearts with 26. a becoming Sense of it. (Compare 1 Cor. xi. 24.) Mat. XXVI, 28 And in like manner, after they had fupped, he also 27 Verily (d) The Seal of the New Covenant.] It seems very evident, that when the Sacramental Cup here, and in 1 Cor. xi. 25. is called the New Covenant, it must fignify the Seal of it; juft as when Circumcifion is called GOD's Covenant, Gen. xvii. 10. and it is there faid, ver. 13. My Covenant shall be in your Flesh, we must understand the Seal of it: And if by the Seal of the Covenant be meant, as I here explain it, and as most take it," an appointed "Token of our accepting that Covenant, and of GoD's Favour to us on Suppofition of "the Sincerity of that Acceptance;" it is fo plain, that the Eucharift, as well as Baptifm, is fuch a Seal, that they who difapprove the Word, deny not the Thing. (See the Plain Account of the Lord's Supper, pag. 168, 169.)—I have rendered the Word Jiaonan Covenant, rather than Teftament, or Will, because it is evidently the more ufual Signification of the Word; and because the Old Covenant, to which the New is oppofed, cannot with any Propriety be called a Teftament, with Reference to the Death of any Teftator, which is the Idea chiefly infifted on by thofe, who would retain our common Verfion here. And by the Way, it appears on this Principle, that the Title of our Bible is improperly and obfcurely rendered, by a Piece of Complaifance to the Old Latin Verfions, of which they were by no means worthy. (c) I will Mat. XXVI. 29. 446 Sect. 172. Verily I fay unto you, that from this Time I will drink no more of this Produce of the Vine (e), until that Day when I fhall drink it new with you in the Kingdom of GOD my Father; that is, till being rifen from the Dead I have received my Mediatorial Kingdom, and we shall share together in much nobler Entertainments, than Earth can afford even in its highest Religious Solemnities, which fhall then be happily fuperfeded. They clofe the Ordinance with finging an Hymn. 30 Mat. xxvi. 26. Luke xxii. 19. And when, according to the ufual Custom at the Close of the Paffover, they had fung an Hymn of Praife to GOD at the Conclufion of the Eucharift (f), and had paffed fome remaining Time in those Difcourfes, and in that Prayer, which will be the Subject of the following Sections, they went out to the Mount of Olives; where our Lord had determined to fpend fome Time in Devotion, tho' he knew that Judas and his Enemies would come thither to seize him. L' you, I will [no more] drink henceforth of this Fruit of when I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of [GD] my Father. [MARK XIV.25.] the Vine, until that Day 30 And when they had fung an Hymn, they went lives. [MARK XIV. 26.] out unto the Mount of O IMPROVEMENT. ET us now review, with most thankful Acknowledgment, this gracious Legacy of our dying Redeemer, this reviving and nourishing Ordinance, which he inftituted for the Benefit of his Church, the fame Night in which he was betrayed: (1 Cor. xi. 23.) So tenderly did his Love for them prevail, when his Heart was full of his own Sorrows! May we always confider to what Purposes this holy Rite was ordained; and as we shall fee the Wisdom of the Appointment, fo we shall also be both awakened to attend to it, and affifted in that Attendance! It is the Memorial of the Death of Chrift, by which we represent it to others, and to ourselves. May we be ever ready to give this most regular and acceptable Token, that we are not ashamed to fight umder the Banner of (e) I will drink no more of this Produce of the Vine.] This may feem an Intimation, that tho' Chrift drank with them after his Refurrection, (As x. 41.) he did not make use of Wine. Perhaps their Poverty might not allow them often to drink it; and we do not find, that he was ever prefent at any Feaft: At least we are are fure he never celebrated another Paffover with them. Nor does it appear, that he partook of the Eucharift with them, or ever adminiftred it, but at this Time of its Inftitution. fuit (f) An Hymn of Praise to Go D.] The Hymn that was ufually fung by the Ferus at the Paffever, is what they call the Hallel, and began at Pfal. cxiii. and ended with Pfal. cxviii. fome of which Pfalms might be used by our Lord at the Clofe of the Eucharift, as very able to this Occafion; tho' it is uncertain, whether (as Grotius and fome others think,) it might not be fome other Hymn, more clofely adapted to the Celebration of the Eucharift. I thought it proper here to conclude the Story of the Passover, and to mention their going out, tho' that did not immediately follow on their finging the Hymn. Some fuch little Anticipations feem to me an Advantage, rather than an Impropriety, in any Harmony, efpecially when attended with a Paraphrafe, or Notes, and divided into fuch fhort Sections, as thofe muft be which are intended for the Ufe of Families. |