but ye are justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." Water posses ses a nourishing virtue, so do the gifts and endowments of the Holy Ghost. The rock was smitten that the people might drink. This smiting, with all the water that gushed out of the rock, would have afforded no refreshment had the people abstained from drinking. The blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ possess power to quicken and revive our souls, to make them vivid and fruitful, but not unless we drink of these waters of life.-Christ's people drink of this rock by faith; out of his exhaustless stores they receive abundant supplies of grace; see John vii. 37, 38, "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The phrase is expressive of that exquisite gladness, which the Holy Spirit produces in the hearts of God's people, yea, joy unspeakable and full of glory; "for the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but peace, joy and gladness through the Holy Ghost." The waters that flowed from the smitten rock were emblematical of that abundance which believers receive through Jesus Christ; namely, rivers of living water; enough for all the people to drink; therefore eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. "They are satisfied with the fatness of his house, and he makes them drink out of the rivers of his pleasure." Not only are all their wants supplied, and all their holy desires satisfied, but all share in this abundance, from the most eminent personage to the meanest babe in Christ. These streams are not limited within the narrow confines of this lower world, they water even the celestial paradise. The myriads of glorified spirits drink of this rock. It is there "a river of pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb," see Rev. xxii. 1. Here they are, comparatively speaking, barely the droppings of the sanctuary; there they flow in copious rivers, and make glad the city of God, the New Jerusalem; there they fill the hearts of the blessed, with fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore at God's right hand. Eternity will never obliterate from their minds the recollection that their glorified state has originated from the smiting of the rock of ages, Jesus Christ; hence, in strains of beatific rapture, they sing, "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins, in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father-to him be glory and dominion forever and ever-AMEN.” IMPROVEMENT. I. From what has been advanced on the subject, we may infer, 1. That salvation, through the sufferings of a divine Saviour, justly excites admiration. The whole intelligent system is struck with amazement. Doubtless the Israelites were astonished when they saw the smitten rock in Horeb emit rivers sufficient for six hundred thousand and upwards, with their numberless herds; and who is not amazed at the tremendous effects of the Redeemer's obedience, whereby a perishing world has been saved? Who does not wonder at the benevolent design? What goodness! what love! what condescension! what mercy did the Israelites observe in this miracle! VOL. I. W but infinitely more is to be seen in the smiting of our rock ;-O that the Almighty should send his darling Son, to suffer all these smitings for us! had it been for fallen angels, but O! for such vile nothings as we are; incomprehensible condescension! 2. It has equally a tendency to excite joy. What eestacies of joy must have expanded the heart of every Israelite, when they beheld the waters gushing from the rock. Ready to perish, despairing of relief, and coneeiving it impossible, according to the nature of things, that water could be extracted from a flinty substance. How may christians rejoice, when they behold Jesus Christ, God's eternal and beloved Son, thus smitten, that their souls, ready to perish, might yet be saved! 3. Such reflections should excite sincere thankfulness. What gratitude did doubtless fill the hearts of these Israelites when they saw rivers spouting from the rock; scorched with thirst, harrassed with desponding fears and torturing apprehensions that they were led into the wilderness, with their wives, their children, and their cattle, to perish. They must have experienced the most grateful emotions when they saw that a beneficent preserver would command the rocks to supply them, where no springs could be found. How much more should the most sincere and unaffected gratitude influence our ninds, when we consider that God caused the beloved of his bosom to be smitten, that sinners might drink of the waters of life and live for ever! II. But at no time, and on no occasion, does any spiritual entertainment so fully answer to the smiting of the rock in Horeb, as when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered; here Christ crucified is set elearly before our eyes; here we view him as the smit ten rock. But, alas! multitudes reject and despise him, by neglecting and slighting this ordinance. What would you have thought if persons among these perishing Israelites had refused to come to the rock, and had said, "We believe not that a drop of water will come out of it, though it be smitten a thousand times, and had rather perish than come?" Your obstinacy and folly, who neglect the Lord's Supper, are still more unjustifiable. You disobey his positive command. "Do this in remembrance of me," was the dying injunction of our Lord. And what is your reply? We will not eat this bread, and drink this cup in remembrance of thee. We are not desirous of remembering thee, and care not how soon we forget thee. Ye deprive yourselves of the most solemn and the most beneficial of all gospel ordinances, and thus you act a foolish part: like the prodigal, you run away from your father's sumptuous table, and are content to feed upon husks. But says some one, morsel of bread and a sip of wine appear so trifling and insignificant, that I cannot see what good effect they can produce." Who art thou, O man, that thou wouldst boast of wisdom superior to that of Jehovah, who has been pleased to institute these simple elements, seals of his covenant? A scrap of paper, and small bit of sealing-wax, confirms your title to all your earthly possessions; and yet these are in themselves trifling things: and will you reject the offer of an inheritance among the saints in light, because your heavenly Father has thought proper to seal your title to it, by broken bread and a cup of blessing? Besides, as the ritual of the Mosaick worship was extremely expensive, which rendered it a burden too heavy to be borne; that under the new dispensation was intended to restore equal liberty, and 66 a therefore must necessarily be simple.-Says another, “I cannot view the Supper as essential to salvation, and therefore it may be dispensed with." Friend! thy promise is just, but thy conclusion is false. It is not essential to salvation. A man may go to heaven who has never partaken of the Lord's Supper. But it may not be dispensed with; and whoever lives in an habitual neglect of this ordinance, certainly is not, nor was he ever in the way to heaven. Says another, "I am afraid of eating and drinking my damnation." Against partaking unworthily we should use all possible precaution; but that precaution does not consist in abstinence, for thereby we most eertainly expose ourselves to condemnation. Another ob jects-"I am too great a sinner, it would certainly be presumption in the extreme should such a wretch approach the sacred board.”—This ordinance is by no means instituted for sinners, whose sins may be comparatively few, but for sinners without distinction. Not for a few polite moralists, but for the most abandoned profligate, provided he repents and believes; for Saul of Tarsis, who persecuted the lambs of Christ; for Mary Magdalen, whose body had become a den of devils; for the thief on the cross; yea, for many who had assisted in killing the Lord of glory.-Says another, "I do not find that I possess the requisite frames and exercises of mind, and therefore I cannot come; not that humble mindedness, not that brokenness of heart, nor that contrition of spirit, which I think we should experience when we go to the Lord's table. Your uneasiness is an evidence that you are not wholly destitute of them, but that you do not possess them to the degree you would wish-but know ye not that these are among the bless |