as a neceffary means of the Remiffion of Sin, and renewing our Natures, both which are confer'd upon us, and convey'd to us by the Waters of Baptifm: By this we are faid to be born again, and receive the Principle of a new Life, being regenerated by the Spirit of God, and thereby enabled to fulfil the Conditions of the New Covenant. The firft Chriftians receiv'd the Holy Ghoft at their Baptism in its miraculous Gifts and Powers, for the Confirmation and Propagation of the Gofpel; and tho thofe extraordinary Gifts are now ceas'd with the Reafon of them, yet we still receive in our Baptifm the ordinary Gifts and Graces of the Spirit, that help to remove the Guilt of Original Sin, to heal the Corruption of our Natures, and to work in us that Faith and Repentance, which if we put not a Bar and Impediment to it ourfelves, will be effectual to our Salvation. And tho thefe bleffed Effects of Baptifm do not prefently appear in Infants, no more than the Power of Reafoning, and other Acts of the rational Soul, which by reafon of the Tenderness of their Age they are incapable of fhewing yet having the Root and Seeds of them planted in them by the Influence of the Holy Spirit, they after fpring forth in the Fruits of a new and fpiritual Life, which at laft grow up and lead to Life everlafting. And this is that being born again of Water and the Spirit, which our Saviour here makes neceffary to our Entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. From this Difcourfe we may infer,

ift, The Extreme Danger of neglecting or denying the Ufe of Baptifm: For if Chrift has made this neceffary to Salvation, and appointed it as the Door of Entrance into his heavenly Kingdom, what unfpeakable Folly and Madness is it to deprive our Relations of this Benefit, and to fhut as it were the Gate of Heaven against them! Sure they must be hard-hearted Parents, who bring Children into the Miferies of this World, without taking care to preserve them from the greater Miseries of the next, and fuffer them to perifh for want of the Waters of Baptifm, where they may be fo freely and fo eafily had. And who that tenders the Welfare of Children, would wilfully omit the Means of procuring to them fo great Good, and preferving them from fo much Evil? Methinks if there were nothing but the conftant Practice of the Catholick Church, and the Custom of the Country where we live, we fhould be asham'd to neglect this Sacred Rite; but being the Command of our Saviour,

Part III. Saviour, and the Condition of our Salvation, we should be more than ordinarily afraid to omit it.

2dly, We may infer hence the Danger not only of denying, but deterring this Holy Sacrament: Delays we fay are dangerous, but they are in nothing more fo, than in the weighty Matters of Salvation. To delay Baptifm, is to expofe ourfelves and Relations to the greatest of Hazards; for if there be no Entrance into the Kingdom of God, without being born again of Water and the Spirit, how unfafe is it to defer this new Birth, and to put off our being born again till we are old? We all know the Uncertainty of human Life, and the many Cafualties we are daily and hourly fubject to; and why then fhould we leave Salvation to fo great a Hazard, and fo lightly incur the Pe

ril of Damnation ?

Wherefore laftly, Let us all beware of denying or delaying this Holy Ordinance, which being the Entrance into the Church, and the Gate of Heaven, let us come to it for Admiffion into both.

DISCOURSE III.

JOHN Vi. 53.

Jefus faid unto them, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his Blood, there is no Life in you.

I

Shew'd in my laft the Neceffity of the first Sacrament

of Baptifm, in order to Salvation, from that express Affeveration of our Bleffed Saviour, Verily, Verily, I Say unto you, except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God: I come now to fhew the fame of that other Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, from the like exprefs Affertion of Chrift himself in thefe Words; Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his Blood, there is no Life in you.

ft, By eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of the Son of Man, we are to understand the receiving that Holy Sa

crament

crament of the Eucharift, which was inftituted for the Commemoration of both: For tho the Word of God be fometimes ftyl'd the Food of the Soul, and the digefting of Christ's Doctrine, may in a large and improper fenfe be exprefs'd by eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood; yet I take it here more efpecially to relate to that part of it which concerns the Death and Sufferings of our Saviour: and fo the eating of his Flesh and drinking his Blood will more properly refer to the partaking of thofe facred Elements which reprefent the Body and Blood of Chrift, and convey to us the Benefits procur'd by them. Again,

2dly, This eating of Chrift's Flefh, and drinking his Blood, muft not be taken in a carnal and cannibal Senfe, as if we literally eat the very natural Subftance of Chrift's Body and Blood; for Chrift's Body being but one, and in Heaven too, cannot poffibly be in fundry Places at once, and much lefs be devour'd by fundry Perfons at the fame time.

3dly, Therefore this Expreffion must be understood in a fpiritual and figurative fenfe; for the Flesh and Blood of Christ are here fet to fignify the better Sufferings he underwent in both, and our eating and drinking of them is the applying of them to ourselves, for the Benefit and Comfort of our Souls: fo that when we firmly believe Chrift's Death and Paffion, and thankfully receive those Elements that are appointed to reprefent them, then are we in a fpiritual fenfe faid to feed upon Chrift, and to eat his Flesh

and Blood for the Nourishment of our Souls. For as the Sign is often put for the thing fignify'd, fo Bread and Wine in this Sacrament are put for the Body and Blood of Christ represented by them; and when we outwardly take and eat the one, we are faid inwardly to receive and feed on the other.

But what is that Life that is convey'd by this fpiritual Food? for we are told in the next Verfe, that he that eateth his Flefb, and drinketh his Blood, hath Life in him; and our Text declares, that without this there is no Life in us. In answer to this, by Life here we are to understand, 1. A fpiritual Life of Grace here; and,

2. An eternal Life of Glory hereafter: Both which are cherish'd and confirm'd by this Holy Sacrament.

1. I fay, there is a fpiritual Life of Grace to be led here; and this (as I before obferv'd) is begun in Baptifm, when the Spirit moving in and upon those Waters, infufes his

Grace

Part III. Grace into us, and renders it the Laver of Regeneration. By this means we enter upon a new State, and receive a Principle of a new Life, for the healing our Nature, and quickening us to every good Word and Work; then it is that old things pafs away, and all things become new: we gain new Relations, being the adopted Sons of God, and thereby enabled to cry, Abba, Father. Jefus Chrift becomes our elder Brother, and we nearly ally'd to all the Saints both in Heaven and Earth. In fhort, by this fpiritual Life here, we understand an inward vital Principle of Grace, wrought in the Soul by the Spirit of God, whereby 'tis quicken'd and enabled to walk on in the ways of God: You bath be quicken'd (faith the Apoftle) who were dead in Trefpaffes and Sins, Eph. 2. 5. And ver 10. We are his Workmanship, created in Chrift Fefus unto good Works, which God hath ordain'd, that we should walk in them.

And as this vital Principle is first begun and planted in us by the Sacrament of Baptifm, fo is it preferv'd and cherish'd in us by this other Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; which is a standing Ordinance in Chrift's Church for the continuing, confirming, and encreafing Grace in the Members of it: The Life that I now live (faith St. Paul) I live by the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himJelf for me; Gal. 2. 20. As our natural Life is in the Blood, and our Bodies are fupported by the Continual Supplies we have of it from our daily Food, fo our fpiritual Life confifts in the Blood of Chrift, and our Souls are preferv'd by the Supplies of Grace we derive from it. But befide this fpiritual Life of Grace here, there is

2. An eternal Life of Glory hereafter: And this confists in the Maturity and Perfection of the former. For as Grace differs from Glory not in Kind, but only in Degree; fo a Life of Grace begun here, when 'tis completed and confummated in Heaven, becomes a Life of Glory. Holinefs in its Perfection is Happiness, and Grace refin'd from the Corruptions and Imperfections of this prefent State is Glory; they differ only as a Child does from a Man: for Grace is the Infancy and Minority of Glory, and Glory is the Manhood and Maturity of Grace. So that a Life led here in the Love and Practice of thofe Chriftian Virtues that rectify and ennoble our Natures, will hereafter ripen. and advance into a Life of Glory, which confifts in a more perfect and eternal Exercife of them.

Now

Now as Baptifm is that facred Ordinance by which we are born again, and begotten to this lively Hope; fo is the Lord's Supper that Holy Sacrament by which thefe Seeds of Grace are cherifh'd in us, and grow up unto eternal Life. This our Bleffed Saviour infifts upon, and proves at large in this Chapter; wherein he compares the Bread that he gave them, with that which Mofes gave the Ifraelites in the Wildernefs, withal fhewing how much the one excell'd the other: Your Fathers (faith he) did eat Manna in the Wilderness, and are dead: That was not fufficient to preferve a natural, and much lefs to procure eternal Life, but the Bread (faith he) that I give, cometh down from Heaven, of which if a Man eat, he shall not die. And then for their Satisfaction adds, I am that living Bread which came down from Heaven, if any Man eat of this Bread, be fhall live for ever, ver. 49, 50, 51. His Flefh preferves from Corruption, and his Blood is a Portion of Immortality; by partaking of which, we are fed and nourish'd to eternal Life: for which reafon he justly ftyles it Meat indeed, and Drink indeed, and wills us, not to labour for the Meat that perifbeth, but for this that endureth to everlasting Life.

For

And this will lead me more particularly to confider the Neceffity of this Sacrament in order to Salvation; which is here exprefly fet forth: Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man, there is no Life in you; that is, there is no fpiritual Life of Grace here, nor any Hopes of an eternal Life of Glory in the World to come. as the natural Life of the Body is fupported by the Staff of Bread, without which it muft neceffarily decay and fall to the ground; fo the fpiritual Life of the Soul is maintain'd by the living Bread reach'd out in this Sacrament, which if withheld, it must pine, and starve, and die away.

Now the Neceffity of this Sacrament proceeds chiefly from the exprefs command of our Bleffed Saviour, who has requir'd and expects it from us: He who purchas'd Life and Salvation for us, may juftly prefcribe the Terms and Condition of his bestowing it; and confequently, he having made this the Condition of his conferring Life, we ftand indifpenfably oblig'd for our own Welfare to obferve it. Do this in Remembrance of me, was our Saviour's Precept at the Institution of this Sacrament, which he defign'd for a Memorial of himself; where he lays a ftrict Charge upon all his Followers, if they will partake of the Benefits of his Death, to partake of those Symbols that are appointed VOL. II.

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