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as a mother doth her breast into the mouth of her child; whereas we receive this Sacrament, not as babes, but as those that are grown to the measure of a good age. And if we be not worthy to take it into our hands, we are not worthy to receive it in our mouths. Take it, and eat it; for it is not enough to be sprinkled without, but to feed on Christ, and to digest him within. If upon the supply of corn, and beasts, and cattle, Paul might say, that "God hath filled our hearts with food and gladness;' "if we are glad of that which sustains us for a time, and yet we must die; how glad will we be to eat of that, as will give us such a life that will endure for ever! 'Eat of the forbidden tree,' says the serpent to Eve, not die;' but he lied unto her. Therefore, to dissolve the works of the devil, our Saviour hath appointed that which we shall eat, and assured the promise of everlasting life unto it. Eat, as Jonathan did of the honeycomb, that you may be lusty to pursue your enemies ; and though Satan has sworn your death, as Saul did Jonathan's, the Lord will deliver you. Pine not away with the consumption of an evil conscience ; but eat, and be strong in the Lord and in his mercy; as the spirit of the Egyptian, who was half dead, came to him again, when he had eaten a little.3 Eat, and grind the bread between your teeth, to shew the Lord's death. For Christ could have said,-"This is my body slain,-This is my body crucified," but he had rather say, "This is my body broken for you ;" to shew the great injuries of his sufferings. Eat, then, and remember you eat the body as it was broken; and remember that you drink the blood, as it flowed out of his wounds.

To keep these things in remembrance is the great design of the Sacrament; an object which keeps the fancy of the soul waking, that otherwise, it may be,

1 Acts xiv. 17. 21 Sam. xiv. 44 3 Sam. xxx. 12.

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would fall asleep. In the sixth of St. John, Christ preacheth over and over of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, without a Sacrament, by the power of faith. But to keep it in fresh and frequent meditation, the Lord hath given us a palpable and signal token, as if he would engrave it upon the palms of our hands, and upon the roofs of our mouths, upon the membranes of our brain, and upon the foreskin of our heart. This is a blessing twice, and twenty times given, because it is given that it may never be forgotten. They that love others, would live in the memory of those they love; it is because Christ loves us entirely, that he would be remembered of us. And no friend will say to another, 'remember me when I am gone,' but that he means reciprocally to remember his friend, to whom he spake it. If you will remember Christ, he will remember you. And the thief on the cross will teach you, that it is good to continue in his memory; Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." O blessed Christ! thou art good, and dost good: thou hast not only provided an invaluable benefit for thy Church, but dost put it into our hands, that we may not lose it; and dost bring it into our eyes by clear ostension, that we may not forget it. We are apt to remember injuries and to forget benefits; unthankfulness will undo us, if we take not heed of it. O rub over your memory, and consider the noble works of the Lord, especially this great work, how he suffered for us unto death. Remember seriously this one thing as you ought, and God will let you forget nothing that will do you good. There is no grievous sin which we incur, but, for the present, Christ is forgotten, as if he had never come to charge us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. But look upon his wounds which bleed for our transgressions, and it will stanch the flux of sin, and make our hearts bleed, because we have forgotten obedience.

In our distresses, our sickness, and losses, we cry out that God hath forgotten us, he hath forgotten to be gracious, and shuts up his loving-kindness in displeasure. But distrust him not: a mother cannot forget her child, much less such a father. Every tribulation which he inflicts is but a thorn in our sides to prick us and awake us, because we have forgotten God.

And remember the death of Christ, not only casting your eyes back to the large histories of it in the Gospels, as if that would suffice, but affectedly, practically, zealously: and then every thing else will come to mind to perfect holiness. When we remember his death, we are sure he is past death, and risen again now to die no more, and that he is ascended into heaven, and makes intercession for us. We have obtained that faith that we partake in the New Testament of his blood, and that, our names being found in the Testament, we are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. The custom of the world will teach us, that an heir is bound to execute the will of the testator, to see every thing performed that he hath charged and bequeathed. Do your part like a good executor, with a righteous administration in remembrance of him. But forgetfulness cannot creep upon us, when there is so visible a monument before us to bring it often into our thoughts. Luther says, 'It will help a man more in the study of piety, to meditate profoundly upon Christ's passion one day, than to read over all the Psalms of David.' A bold comparison: it will, indeed, ravish the soul with trembling, to consider how much Christ loved us, by how much he suffered for us; it will make us look upon sin with horror, which begat such torment and ignominy to the innocent Lamb of God; it will comfort our weak faith, that he who hath done so great things for us, will not abandon us, and having subdued our enemies, will

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not let them renew the battle to overcome us: it will encourage us to lay down our life for him, who hath laid down his life for us. My meditation of him shall be sweet, I will be glad in the Lord." He hath drunk up the cup of sorrow, that I might drink of nothing but the cup of salvation. This is the wine, which, being given unto him that hath a heavy heart confutes all the objections of infidelity, despair, an evil conscience, or whatsoever the tempter can suggest against the hope of my glorification. Says the son of Sirach,3 "The remembrance of Josias was as sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine.’ If the name of Josias was so precious for restoring religion, what melody is there in the remembrance of Christ's name, what music in his banquet, which is the very mercy-seat, from whence the voice of the Lord gives the principal oracles of consolation! whose definition I have reserved to be the last words of all: "Consolatio est conveniens unio potentiæ cum objecto;" as our best scholars have it, "Consolation is convenient union of any faculty with its object.' As when the eye meets with light, it is the comfort of the eye; when the ear meets with harmony, it is the comfort of the ear. What is the most transcendent consolation, therefore, but the union of the soul with God, the best object, in a real and most significative manner, the union of the spirit with Christ in the sacrament of his holy supper! To whom be praise, and glory, and thanksgiving. Amen.

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1 Psalm civ. 34. 2 Prov. xxxi. 6. 3 Chap. xlix. 1.

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