Chrift crucified, with all the fruits of his purchase. Hir flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed. The fruits e feaft upon are pardon and peace, righteousness and grace, the affurance of God's love, the confolations of his Spirit, the promifes of the gospel, and all the earnefts and pledges of eternal life. To this feaft ftarving fouls are invited, to feed by faith upon thofe provifions Chrift hath prepared for them, applying them to themfelves, and taking the comfort of them.

Bread and wine are chofen as fit resemblances of his fpiritual feaft. As bread and wine ferve to preserve our natural life, and to ftrengthen and cheer us when weak or fainting; fo Chrift crucified, apprehended by faith, preferves our fpiritual life, and procures eternal life, ftrengthens weak believers, and cheers drooping fouls. As bread and wine incorporate with our bodies, fo Chrift by his Spirit dwells in us, and we by faith and love dwell in him. As bread and wine fatisfy our hunger and thirft, fo those, who by faith lay hold and partake of Chrift's flesh and blood, fhall no more hunger or thirst after earthly things. Bread is the most neceffary thing in the world, hence called the staff of bread, it upholds our lives; fo Chrift is the mercy of mercies, the most useful and neceffary bleffing to preferve our ftarving fouls. Chrift is the staff of bread indeed to believing communicants, a staff that fupports you, a ftaff that defends you, a staff that will beat off all your enemies: If you take hold of this ftaff by faith, it will rout and put all your foes to flight. There is no bread like this! I am the bread of life, faith Christ.

We read, Judges vii. 13. of a dream of one of the Midianitish hoft; he dreamed, when Gideon was coming upon them, that a cake of barley bread came tumbling into the haft of Midian, and fmote a tent that it fell to the ground. Strange! a piece of bread overturn a tent! Behold the interpretation of that dream in the holy facrament! Here a piece of bread, if eaten by faith, that will invade the Midianitish host of the devil, and the lufts of the flefh, ftrike down all their tents,

and put them to flight. Come then, eat of this bread believingly, and take faith's view of Chrift's body rep refented by it, as bruifed and broken by your fins this will weaken their power, and turn your heart against them, and make you refolve that thefe enemies of Chrift shall not live in your foul. If the fight of Cæfar's bloody robe incenfed the Romans against the murderers who flew him, much more a fight of Chrift's wounds and bruifes in the facrament, fhould excite you to hate and kill fin, and revenge Chrift's death upon this cruel murderer.

Again, would you have ftrength for your wilderness journey, and for the temptations and trials you meet with, before you have occafion of another facrament? come, eat of this bread that strengtheneth the hearts of men. Here is food more fubftantial, durable, and nourifhing, than Elijah's cake baken on the coals, and his cruise of water provided for him by the angel; and yet it is faid, he went in the ftrength of that meat forty days and forty nights, until he came to Horeb, the mount of God, 1 Kings xix. 7, 8. There we find Elijah twice wakened by the angel, that he might take a dou ble meal: Arife and eat, for thy journey is long: So God may be faying to thee, O Chriftian traveller, arife and eat; awake, O faith, awake, O fpiritual appetite, thy journey may be long; take a good meal, you know not what hills you have to climb, what winds and storms may blow in thy face, before another occafion of this fort: Satan's ftorm may blow, and death's ftorm may blow, fo that you may not fee another table like this, till you come to the mount of God above. This is the fame bread the glorified faints do feed on in heaven Chrift is the manna that came down from heaven to feed perishing fouls. The Ifraelites' manna was a type of Chrift, and hence called fpiritual bread, 1 Cor. x. 4

The manna was freely given to them, and fell every morning round their tents, and all of them were at freedom to gather it, and there was enough for the whole camp; fo Chrift is God's free gift, and in him is

fulness of grace for the whole believing world, and every gofpel hearer is free to gather it, though indeed the morning of our lives is the most proper gathering time. There was a memorial of this manna preserved in the ark; fo is there of Chrift in the Lord's fupper, as the food of our fouls. Manna was ground in a mill, or beaten in a mortar, and baken in an oven, before it was fit for food; fo Chrift was bruised and ground by his fufferings, and scorched in the fiery oven of his Father's wrath, that he might become a fit Saviour and fit food for our fouls.

But Chrift crucified infinitely excels the Ifraelites manna: Theirs was peculiar to themselves, but Christ is free to both Jews and Gentiles; theirs ceafed when they came to Canaan, but ours continues for ever, and is enjoyed most fully in the Canaan above; theirs only preferved a natural life, but ours gives a fpiritual and eternal life. O come then, eat of this heavenly bread, when fet before you in plenty, with hunger and defire, bleffing God for it, faying, Lord, evermore give us this bread: Come with fpiritual appetites and purified hearts. The Ifraelites' manna was laid up in the ark, and kept in a pure golden pot, to teach you to cleanse your hearts from fin and corruption, that they may be fit to lodge Jefus Chrift, our heavenly manna. If the veffels which contain the facramental bread were foul or polluted, you would cenfure it as moft indecent; but much more unbecoming is it, to receive Chrift into a foul heart.

Come to this table with humility,' and a deep fenfe of your ill defervings, acknowledging, that the least crumb of this bread will be a great mercy to fuch an unworthy creature! Truth, Lord, I am a dog, vile and polluted, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the childrens' table! May I plead for a crumb for thy free mercy's fake. Oh, I am unworthy of the common bread that is fet upon my own table, much more of the heavenly bread that is fet upon thine! Inftead of bread thou mayeft give a stone; inftead of a smile, a frown; inftead of the cup of the New Teftament,

thou mayeft put a cup of wrath and trembling in my hand: But thy free grace, and large offers, encourage me to wait and hope, that the needy fhall not be forgotten, and the expectation of the poor fhall not perish.

Come with a lively faith to receive and eat, not only of the bread of life, but also to receive the bread, the Lord, your Emmanuel in perfon, and make ufe of him in all his offices. Come eat with love and thankfulnefs, to him that was willing to be beaten, bruised, ground, and fcorched, that he might be bread for nourishing of ftarving fouls. Receive this bread of heaven thankfully as a diftinguifhing bleffing, which is not granted to all indifferently; for as God rained down manna from heaven upon the Ifraelites, fo he rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah,

ADVICE V. ·

From Gen. alv. 4. Come near to me, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold.

JOSEPH was an eminent type of Chrift; though he was hated, fold, and cruelly ufed by his brethren, yet he ftill loved them, forgave them, and laid out himself for their prefervation and happiness. Though Chrift be Lord of heaven and earth; yet, O believing communicants, he owns himfelf as your brother, bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh; nay, he is not afhamed to call you brethren, Go, tell my brethren, faid he to Mary, Matth. xxviii. 10. Though you be mean and low, and Chrift highly raised, yet his exaltation doth not caufe him to forget his poor friends below; he ftill owns them as his brethren. He is, indeed, the elder brother, and heir of all things, yet he is pleafed to adopt his younger brethren into his right, and make them joint heirs with him of the inheritance above. As Jofeph was moft condescending to his poor brethren, though he was lord over all the land; fo is Chrift. As

they did not know Jofeph, until he told them I am Jofeph your brother; fo neither do we know Christ, until he difcover himself to us. As Jofeph feemed to deal roughly with his brethren at firft, to make them remember the injuries they did him; yet in the mean time he loved them, gave them food, and afterwards fpoke kindly to them: So Chrift at firft takes ways to humble his people, and make them fenfible of their fin; yet at the farme time he fecretly fupports them, and at length brings in confolation to them, faying, I am Fefus your brother, it is I, be not afraid. Come near to me, faid Jofeph, in a kind and familiar way to his brethren; fo Chrift faith to you, draw near to me with a fincere heart, and I will manifeft myself unto you, as a loving brother.

But if you would have the gracious intimations of his favour, you must first be humbled for the wrongs you have done him. You have dealt treacheroufly and inhumanly with Chrift, as Jacob's fons did with their brother Jofeph! Thefe fold their brother for twenty pieces of filver; but, ah! have not fome of you fold, Jefus, your brother, for lefs, even for fome vile luft or filthy pleasure? Nay, have you not murdered him by your fins? As Cain flew his innocent brother openly in the field; fo your fins have openly nailed Jefus to the cross, in the fields without Jerufalem, and thed his blood like water on the ground. O how can you anfwer for fuch horrid cruelty to your innocent brother? How can you look him in the face, after all you have done against him? What feeling have you of the injuries you have done him? Are you deeply humbled, and heartily grieved for them? Then I have good news to tell you, you have to do with a moft loving and forgiving brother; though you have betrayed him, fold him, wounded him, murdered him, yet he is willing to forget and forgive all to the humble penitent; Come" near to me, faith he, I am Jofeph your brother, stand not at a distance, but come near me by faith and prayer, embrace me in the facrament, and I will give you a O