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SERM. ing all Things that should come upon him, IX. went forth; John xviii. 1, 4. i. e. went

forth to put himself in Judas's Way, who, with a Band of armed Soldiers, was waiting What follows, you

to apprehend him.

know:

But I have no Occafion to recount any Thing of his Sufferings between his Apprehenfion and his Crofs: For it was there that the Sacrifice he had confecrated was flain There the Body that was prepared for him was pierced, and his Blood poured forth; and when poured forth, then was that next Act of his Priesthood performed: Instead of fpilling the Blood of a Goat, which heretofore the High Priest of the Jews offered up for the Sins of his Nation, the holy Jefus yeilded and poured forth his own Blood for the Sins of all Mankind in general, and underwent, in our Stead, the Penalty which we had all incurred.

This all the holy Penmen are unanimous to affirm. He who knew no Sin, faith St. Paul, was made Sin for us: 2 Cor. v. 21. The Fuft fuffered for the Unjust, faith St. Peter, I Pet. iii. 18. His own felf bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree, faith St. Peter again, chap. ii. 24. He gave his Life a Ranfom for many, fays Jefus himself, Mat. xx. 28. which

the

the Apostle expounds by, He gave himself a Ranfom for all: 1 Tim. ii. 6. And lastly, or rather before them all, the Evangelical Ifaiah prophetically proclaims, that He was wounded for our Tranfgreffions; he was bruifed for our Iniquities; the Chaftifement of our Peace was upon him, and with his Stripes we are healed. All we like Sheep have gone aftray, we have turned every one to his own Way, and the Lord bath laid on him the Iniquity of us all. Isaiah liii. 5, 6. According to what St. Paul affirms in another Place, Chrift hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, being made a Curse for us, Gal. iii. 13.

The Jews, it is true, who were the Inftruments of his Death, neither propofed nor forefaw fuch happy Effects from it: They and the Soldiers were the Inftruments, I fay, of flaying him, but not with any Intent of a Sacrifice. His Death was all that was intended by them; his Death as a Sacrifice was defigned only by himself. Of a Truth (fay the Disciples, with one Accord) against thy boly Child Jefus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and People of Ifrael, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy Hand, and thy Counfel determined before to be done, Acts iv. N 2

27,

SERM.

IX.

SERM.
IX.

27, 28. The fame which St. Peter had declared to the Men of Ifrael before. Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and Foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked Hands have crucified and flain, chap.

ii. 23.

But I feem now to be confidering our Lord under the Notion of a Sacrifice, which is a Subject more proper for another Seafon : It is my Business at present to represent him as a Prieft: And having done this already fo far as to fhew, that he had a proper Sacrifice to offer, which he confecrated himself, and which was duly offered in our Stead; I should next proceed to fhew how our Lord regularly went on to perfect and finish it. But as this will lead me further than the Time will allow me at prefent; I muft referve the Profecution of it till the next Opportunity, when I shall have more Room to treat on fo high and lofty a Subject, in such Manner as it deferves. In the mean while, that you may the better understand what is to follow, I muft beg of you to retain what I have faid already carefully in your Memory. And permit me to make an Obfervation in the Clofe, concerning the Reason why our Bleffed Lord, in the Institution of the Eucharift, or the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, appointed the Elements

of

IX.

of Bread and Wine to be the outward Signs of SER M. his Body and Blood, the Oblation of which we therefore commemorate and represent to the Father. For from what has been faid it

appears that Chrift did actually devote himfelf to his Sufferings and Death, by breaking of Bread, and pouring forth Wine before his Father, as Symbols or Signs of his Body and Blood, which he was preparing to yield up unto Death upon the Crofs. And therefore fince he was pleased to inftitute, and in his holy Gospel to command us to continue a perpetual Memorial of that his precious Death, until his coming again, and to plead the Merits of it with his Father in Heaven; what more fignificant or appofite Rite could he have inftituted for this End, than that which he did inftitute, and has commanded us to perform. And by doing this, by doing as he did, and as he commanded us to do, we make the most lively Representation to God, of the Sacrifice which Chrift himself offered for all our Sins: For first the Minifter, by taking the Bread into his Hands and breaking it, makes a Memorial to God of our Saviour's Body broken upon the Crofs; and by taking the Cup, into which the Wine has been poured, he alfo reprefents to him his Blood there shed;

N 3

and

IX.

SER M. and by laying his Hands on each of them, whilst he repeats thofe Words of our Bleffed Lord himself-Take eat, for this is my Body which is given for you and Drink ye all of this, for this is my Blood of the New Testament, which is fhed for you; he fignifies and acknowledges and reprefents to God and all that are prefent, that under these Types, and by these Signs, Chrift devoted himself to the Father; and that this Memorial of his Oblation under the fame Types, and by the fame Signs, is a Means inftituted by Chrift himself, to convey to the Communicants all the Benefits which his Death procured. For the Words then spoken by our Bleffed Lord carry in them a Promife, as well as a Rule; a Promise that what was then done, when our Lord himself administered this holy Sacrament to the bleffed Apostles, will be always done in the Celebration of the Eucharift. If the Elements were then fanctified or confecrated into reprefentative Symbols of Chrift's Body and Blood; -If this was intended by the Words, This is my Body, &c. and This is my Blood, &c. fo it is now. For though the Words were but once spoken by our Lord, yet they are in full Force and Virtue ftill, and will be fo always, to the End of the World. What the Sacrament

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