to reprefent it. Now there are many Confiderations in this Precept to enforce its Obligation upon us. As, 1. If we confider Chrift as our Lord and Mafter, his Authority over us may challenge Duty and Obedience from us. The Centurion in the Gospel declares, that when he bid any of his Servants go or come, or do this, they immediately did it; and shall Chrift's Servants turn their backs, when he calls them, to come to him? and when he bids them do this in remembrance of him, will any turn a deaf ear, and wilfully neglect it? Shall ordinary Servants pay a greater Regard to their earthly Mafters, than Chrift's Servants do to their Mafter in Heaven? Let this be far from them! nor let us give him caufe to upbraid us, as he did fome of old, re call me Lord and Mafter, and do not the thing that I command you. 2. If we confider Chrift as our Saviour and Redeemer, common Gratitude may enforce this Obligation, and teach us to do this in Remembrance of him, who thought nothing too much to be done and fuffer'd for us. He hath reftor'd us from Death to Life, by laying down his own Life for us, and redeem'd us from the Captivity of Slaves into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God; and that not with fuch corruptible things as Silver and Gold, but with the Price of his own precious Blood. And is not this enough for ever to engage us to remember him? : 3. The Eafinefs of this Command may farther fatisfy us not only in the Equity, but Neceffity of obferving it. All that Chrift fuffer'd, we fhould have undergone in our own Perfons to Eternity; and yet all the requital he expects is only to remember him, and that too at a Divine Banquet or Entertainment at his own Table And can we forget him, who hath fo kindly remember'd us? He requires us to pledge him not in his bitter Cup, but in the Cup of Salvation, and to drink the Health of our Souls in the Blood of a crucify'd Saviour; and fhall we think this an unreafonable or unneceffary Task? Methinks, what was faid to Naaman in another cafe, is very applicable to this; My Father, if the Prophet had bid thee to do fome great thing to be rid of the Leprofy, wouldst thou not have done it? How much more then, when he faith only, Wash and be clean? 2 Kings 5. 13. In like manner, if our Saviour had exacted fome fevere and difficult thing from us, the Sense of his unparallel'd Love might very well oblige us to do it; how much more then, when he only bids us to eat and drink at his own Table, and to do this in remembrance of him? Moreover, 4. The neceffity our Souls ftand in of this Divine Food, may abundantly convince us of our neceffity to receive it; for this is that Bread that came down from Heaven, and can alone nourish and cherish them to eternal Life. The Wants of the Soul are fpiritual, and cannot be fupply'd by any earthly or common Bread: this indeed may fupport our Bodies, but our Souls require more divine and heavenly Food; 'tis the Body and Blood of Chrift receiv'd by Faith in this Sacrament, that is the proper Food and Nourishment of this fpiritual part: for hereby the Pardon of Sin, and all other Benefits of Chrift's Paffion, which alone can make it happy, are convey'd and confign'd to us. Laftly, 'Tis by eating the Flefh and drinking the Blood of the Son of God, that we become vitally united to him; and therefore without this there can be no Life in us for as our natural Life confifts in the Union of the Soul and Body, which is preferv'd by our daily Food, fo our fpiritual Life confifts in our Union with Chrift, which is maintain'd by this fpiritual Nourishment. This is set forth by various resemblances in Holy Scripture, where he fometimes compares himself to a Vine, and his Followers to the Branches; John 15. I am the Vine (faith he) and ye are the Branches. As the Branches live in the Vine, by deriving Sap and Nourishment from it, fo all true Chriftians live in, and by Chrift, by receiving Grace and fpiritual Strength from him: And as the Branches cannot live or bear fruit, except they abide in the Vine, no more can we except we abide in him. He that abideth in me (faith our Saviour) the fame bringeth forth much Fruit, but without me ye can do nothing: If a Man abide not in me, he is caft forth as a Branch that is cut off and withered, and Men gather it, and caft it into the fire. Now 'tis by eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of Chrift, that we are thus ingrafted and united to him; hereby he becomes one with us, and we with him, and fo receive conftant Supplies of Grace and fpiritual Nourishment from him: whereas by withdrawing from the Communion of his Body and Blood, we cut off ourselves, we caft away the Bread of Life, and refuse that spiritual Food which is alone able to fuftain us. Again, to illuftrate this Truth farther to us, our Saviour often styles himself the Head, and us his Members: and as X x 2 the the Members cannot live without being united to the Head, no more can we, except we are united to Chrift. Now 'tis by receiving his Body and Blood in this Sacrament, that we become thus united to him; and 'tis by that alone we derive that fpiritual Strength from him, by which our Life is maintain'd. All which plainly fhew the neceffity of this Holy Sacrament, and how truly our Saviour affirms, that except we eat the Flefb and drink the Blood of the Son of Man, there is no Life in us. To conclude then, if we defire to live a Life of Grace here, or ever hope for a Life of Glory hereafter, we must frequently receive this fpiritual Food, and preferve our Union with Chrift, by keeping this Communion with him. fo fhall we, who now feed on him by Faith in this Sacrament, ere long feaft with him for ever in his heavenly Kingdom. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations, &c. T HE Church having in the first Question and Anfwer taught the Catechumen the Number and Neceffity of the Holy Sacraments, which are properly but two, and both generally neceffary to Salvation; it proceeds, in The next Question and Answer, to inftruct him in the Nature of a Sacrament, to teach him what it is: where, according to Chrift's Commiffion to his Apoftles, of teaching all Nations, it inftructs him in all the weighty Matters of Religion, and especially in the Doctrine of the Sacraments which are the principal Badges of our Chriftianity, and the Inftruments to convey Grace and Salvation to us. This Commiffion is here given with refpect to all Nations, Gentiles as well as Jews; which fhews that God is no Respecter of Perfons, but in all Nations he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted with him. deed under the Old Teftament this great Privilege was con In fin'd only to the Jewish Nation, to whom appertain'd the Adoption, the giving of the Law, the Covenant, and the Promifes. They were allow'd to hear the Law, and to teach their Children, whereas the whole Race of the Gentiles were excluded from the Inftructions and Privileges of the Temple. In Jewry was God known (faith the Pfalmift) and his Name was great in Ifrael. At Salem was his Tabernacle, and his Dwelling-place in Zion: He gave his Statutes unto Jacob, and his Ordinances unto Ifrael: He hath not dealt fo with any Nation, neither have the Heathen the knowledge of his Laws. But Christ has in the Gospel enlarg'd this Commiffion, and will'd his Apoftles to go and teach all Nations; fo that now there is neither Few nor Gentile, Bond or Free, Male or Female, but they are all one in Chrift Fefus: that is, all are to be receiv'd into his Church, and to be admitted to the Benefits and Instructions of it. Accordingly therefore our Church inftructs all Children of believing Parents in the Knowledge of all Divine Truths, and particularly of the Nature, End, and Usefulness of the Holy Sacraments; to which end it afks in the next words, What meanest thou by this word Sacrament? To which the Child is taught to anfwer, I mean an outward vifible Sign of an inward Spiritual Grace, given unto us, ordain'd by Chrift himself, as a Means whereby we receive the fame, and a Pledge to affure us thereof. Where feveral things are declar'd neceffary to conftitute a Sacrament: As, 1. There must be an outward and vifible Sign. 2. An inward and fpiritual Grace reprefented by it. 3. It must be given or apply'd to us. 4. It must be ordain'd by Chrift himself. 5. It must be ordain'd as a Means to convey Grace. 6. It must be ordain'd as a Pledge or Earnest to affure us thereof. All which being neceffary to be known for the right understanding of the Nature and Notion of a Sacrament, must be particularly handled. 1. I fay, there is requir'd an outward and vifible Sign: for a Sacrament being defign'd to bring or keep fomething in remembrance, there must be fome outward Sign to reprefent it; and being a way of teaching by the Eye, as Preaching is by the Ear, the Sign must be vifible, that it may be the better able to effect it. A thing that we fee, is much Xx 3 more more apt to work upon us, than what we hear; and an Object prefented to our view, leaves deeper Impreffions, than what we only receive from the Report of others. "Hence we find that the Picture or Image of a thing doth affect us more than any hiftorical Narration; and the more "lively and exprefs the Image is, the more lively Mo"tions doth it ftir up within us." For this realon we find God Almighty inftructing his People under the Old Teftament by vifible Signs and Tokens, the better to imprefs the fpiritual Notions upon their Minds by fenfible Reprefentations of them. Thus the Sacrament of Circumcifion had an outward Sign in the Flesh, to keep it in remembrance: and the Paffover had the Pafchal Lamb to make it a Feaft of Memorials. In like manner our Bieffed Saviour inftructed his People under the Gofpel by vifible Signs and Reprefentations; and in the two Sacraments, fubftituted by him in the room of the former, appointed fome outward Symbols in the Celebration of them, viz. Water in the one, and Wine in the other; as we fhall fee more at large hereafter. So that a Sacrament being intended to inftruct by the Eye, requires an outward vifible Sign to affect it. 2. To a Sacrament is requir'd an inward and fpiritual Grace, without which the outward Sign were but frivolous and infignificant; for if it reprefented nothing, or as good as nothing, if no Spiritual Grace or good Thing were couch'd or contain❜d under it, it would be of no ufe, and not worthy to be retain'd in the Church: whereas the Sacraments being Sacred Rites and Inftitutions neceffary to Salvation, mult represent and contain under them fome fpiritual Grace, that may be helpful to that End. Thus in the firft Sacrament of Circumcifion, befide the outward Sign in the Flefh, there was an inward fpiritual Grace fignify'd by it, to wit, their being in Covenant with God, and becoming his People, as we read, Gen. 17. 11. In that other legal Sacrament of the Paffover, befide the Pafchal Lamb, which was the outward vifible Sign, there was reprefented under it the Lamb of God, that was flain to take away the Sins of the World, which was the inward fpiritual Grace. In like manner, in the Sacraments of the New Teftament, the outward washing the Body by Water in Baptifm, is a fign of the inward washing the Soul from the natural Filth and Pollution of Sin: and our eating and drinking the Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper, fignifies our fpiritual feeding on Chrift for Eternal Life. So that both |