Only remember, that all these vows must be made with an entire dependence upon the strength and grace of Jesus Christ, to enable us to make them good. We have a great deal of reason to distrust ourselves, so weak and treacherous are our hearts. Peter betrayed himself by confiding in himself, when he said, "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." But we have encouragement enough to trust in Christ: in his name therefore let us make our vows, in his grace let us be, strong; surely "in the Lord alone have we righteousness and strength;" he is the surety of the covenant for both parties: into his custody, therefore, and under the protection of his grace, let us put our souls, and we shall find he is able to keep what we commit to him.

CHAPTER XII.

DIRECTIONS CONCERNING THE FRAME OF OUR SPIRITS WHEN WE COME AWAY FROM THIS ORDINANCE..

I. We must come from this ordinance admiring the condescension of the divine grace to us; considering our meanness by nature, and our vileness by sin. II. Lamenting our manifold defects, either trembling, or at least blushing. III. Rejoicing in Christ, and the great love wherewith he has loved us; expressing itself in praises to God, and encouragements to ourselves. IV. Much quickening to every good work. V. With a watchful fear of Satan's wiles, and a firm resolution to stand our ground against them. Let us therefore fear, and therefore fix. VI. Praying that God will fulfil his promises to us, and enable us to fulfil ours to him. VII. With a charitable disposition, to love our fellow Christians, to give to the poor, and forgive injuries. VIII. Longing for heaven. Our complaints and our comforts should make us long for heaven.

THEY that have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, at the table of the Lord, whose hearts are enlarged to send forth the workings of pious and devout affections towards God, and to take in the communication of divine light, life, and

love from him, cannot but say, as Peter did upon the holy mount, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; here let us make tabernacles." They sit down under the refreshing shadow of this ordinance with delight, and its fruit is sweet unto their taste. Here they could dwell all the days of their life, beholding the beauty of the Lord, and inquiring in his temple. But it is not a continual feast: we must come down from this mountain; these sweet and precious minutes are soon numbered and finished; supper is ended, thanks are returned, the guests are dismissed with a blessing, the hymn is sung, and we go out to the Mount of Olives; even in this Jerusalem, the city of our solemnities, we have not a continuing city. Jacob has an opportunity of wrestling with the angel for a while, but he must "let him go, for the day breaks," and he has a family to look after, a journey to prosecute, and the affairs thereof call for his attendance. We must not be always at the Lord's table; the high priest himself must not be always within the veil, he must go out again to the people when his service is performed. Now, it ought to be as much our care to return in a right manner from the ordinance, as to approach in a right manner to it. That caution is here needful: "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought," "which we have gained," so some read it. Have we in this ordinance wrought any thing, or gained any thing that is good? We are concerned to see to it, that we do not undo what we have wrought, and let slip what we have gained.

When the solemnity is done, our work is not done; still we must be pressing forwards in our duty. This perhaps is the mystery of that law in Ezekiel's temple service, that they should not return from worshipping before the Lord, in the solemn feasts, "through the same gate by which they entered in, but by that over against it." Forgetting those things which are behind, still we must reach forth to those things which are before.

Let us inquire, then, What is to be done, at our

coming away from the ordinance, for the preserving and improving of the impressions of it?

I. We should come from this ordinance, admiring the condescension of the divine grace to us.-Great are the honours which have here been done us, and the favours to which here we have been admitted: the God who made us has taken us into covenant and communion with himself; the King of kings has entertained us at his table, and there we have been feasted with the dainties of heaven, abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his house; exceeding great and precious promises have been here sealed to us, and earnests given us of the eternal inheritance: now, if we know ourselves, this cannot but be the matter of our wonder, our joyful, and yet awful wonder.

Considering our meanness by nature, we have reason to wonder that the great God should thus advance us. Higher than heaven is above the earth, is God above us; between heaven and earth there is, though a vast, yet only a finite distance; but between God and man there is an infinite disproportion. "What is man, then, (man that is a worm, and the son of man that is a worm,) that he should be thus visited and regarded, thus dignified and preferred?" That favour done to Israel sounds great: "Man did eat angels' food;" but here man is feasted with that which was never angels' food, the "flesh and blood of the Son of man," which gives life to the world. Solomon himself stood amazed at God's condescending to take possession of that magnificent temple he had built; "but will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" And, which is more, shall men on the earth dwell in God, and make the Most High their habitation? If great men look with respect upon those that are much their inferiors, it is because they expect to receive honour and advantage by them; "but can a man be profitable unto God?" No, he cannot; "our goodness extendeth not unto him." He was from eternity happy without us, and would have been so to eternity, if we had never been, or had been miserable; but we are

undone, undone for ever, if his goodness extends not to us: he needs not our services, but we need his favours; men adopt others because they are childless, but God adopts us purely because we are fatherless. It was no excellency in us that recommended us to his love, but poverty and misery made us proper objects of his pity.

Come then, my soul, and compose thyself as king David did, when, having received a gracious message from heaven, assuring him of God's kind intentions to him and his family, he went in, and with a great fixedness of mind sat before the Lord; and say, as he said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" That I should be so kindly invited to the table of the Lord, and so splendidly treated there? That one so mean and worthless as I am, the poorest dunghill-worm that ever called God Father, should be placed among the children, and fed with the children's bread? And yet, as if this were a "small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, thou hast spoken also concerning thy servant for a great while to come," even as far as eternity itself reaches; and thus "thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree," though I am nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity. "And is this the manner of men, O Lord God?" Could men expect thus to be favoured? No; but thou givest to men, not according to their poverty, but according to thy riches in glory. Do great men use to condescend thus? No; it is usual with them to take state upon them, and to oblige their inferiors to keep their distance; but we have to do with one that is God, and not man; whose thoughts of love are as much above ours, as his thoughts of wisdom are; and therefore, as it follows there, "What can David say more unto thee?" What account can I give of this unaccountable favour? "It is for thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart," for the performance of thy purposes and promises, that "thou hast done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.".

Considering our vileness by sin, we have yet more reason to wonder that the holy God should thus favour us. We are not only worms of the earth, below his cognizance, but a generation of vipers, obnoxious to his curse; not only unworthy of his love and favour, but worthy of his wrath and displeasure. How is it, then, that we are brought so near unto him, who deserved to have been sentenced to an eternal separation from him? He has said, "The foolish shall not stand in his sight." Foolish we know we are, and yet we are called to sit at his table, being through Christ reconciled to him, and brought into covenant with him. Justice might have set us as criminals at his bar; but behold, mercy sets us as children at his board: and it is a miracle of mercy, mercy that is the wonder of angels, and will be the eternal transport of glorified saints. See how much we owe to the Redeemer, by whom we have access into this grace.

Let me therefore set myself, and stir up myself, to admire it; I have more reason to say than Mephibosheth had, when David took him to eat bread, at his table continually, "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" I am less than the least of God's mercies, and yet he hath not withheld the greatest from me! I have forfeited the comforts of my own table, and yet I am feasted with the comforts of the Lord's table! I deserve to have had the cup of the Lord's indignation put into my hand, and to have drunk the dregs of it; but behold, I have been treated with the cup of salvation! Were ever traitors made favourites? Such traitors made such favourites? Who can sufficiently admire the love of the Redeemer, who "received gifts for men, yea, even for the rebellious also," upon their return to their allegiance, "that the Lord God might dwell among them?" And have I shared in these gifts, notwithstanding my rebellions? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous. Whence is this to me, that not the mother of my Lord, but my Lord himself should come to me?