Reflections on the Inftitution of the Eucharift.

447

Ver. 20.

of a crucified Redeemer! It is alfo the Seal of the New Covenant in his Sect. 172. Blood. Let us adore the Grace, that formed, and ratified that everlasting Covenant, fo well ordered in all Things, and fo fure: (2 Sam. xxiii. 5. And whenever we approach to this fealing Ordinance, may we renew our Consent to the Demands of that Covenant, and our Expectation of those Bleffings which are conveyed by it! a Confent, and Expectation, fo well fuited to the Circumftance of its being ratified by the Blood of Jefus. Thus may every Attendance nourish our Souls in Grace, and ripen them for Glory; that at length all may be fulfilled and perfected in the King- Mark xiv. dom of GOD!

In the mean Time, may GoD, by the Influences of his Spirit, give to all profeffing Chriftians right Notions of this Ordinance, and a due Regard for it; that on the one hand, none may, under the fpecious Pretence of honouring it, live in the habitual Neglect of fo plain and important a Duty; and that on the other, it may never be profanely invaded by thofe, who have no Concern about the Bleffings of that Covenant it ratifies, and impiously prostitute it to thofe fecular Views, above which it was intended to raise them! And may none that honour the great Author of it, encourage fuch an Abufe; left they feem to lay the very Cross of Christ, as the Threshold to the Temple of thofe various Idols, to which ambitious and interested Men are bowing down their Souls!

25.

CHRIST having warned his Apoftles of the Danger to which they would be expofed, comforts them with the Views of future Happiness, and with the Assurance of his own gracious Prefence, and that of his Father, in the Way to it. Luke XXII. 35----38. John XIV. 1,----14.

LUKE XXII. 35. AND he faid unto them,

When I fent you out with

T

LUKE XXII. 35.

HO' we mentioned Chrift's going out to Sect. 173. the Mount of Olives, after he had inftituted the Eucharift, it is very material to obferve, Luke XXII. that before he quitted the Guest-Chamber in 35. which he had fupped, he entertained his Difciples with fome large and affectionate Difcourfes, and put up an excellent Prayer with them, which we fhall now relate. And to introduce these Difcourfes, he faid to them, When I fent you, my Apoftles, out on your important Embaffy fome

448

Luke XXII.

35.

36

in

CHRIST warns bis Difciples of their approaching Danger:

your

Sect. 173. Time ago, without either Purfe, or Scrip, or Shoes,
(Mat. x. 9, 10. Vol. i. pag. 458.) did you want
any Thing neceffary for the Support of Life? And
they faid, No, Lord, we very well remember that
the Care of Providence over us was fuch, that we
wanted Nothing; but where-ever we came, we
found the Hearts of Strangers opened, even with
furprizing Freedom, to affift and relieve us.
Then he faid to them, This was indeed the Cafe
former Miffion; but now you must ex-
pect much harder Ufage than before, and will be
exposed to greater Sufferings and Dangers in the
Profecution of your Miniftry; and therefore let
him that has a Purfe, take [it,] and also a Scrip,
if he has one; and let him that has not a Sword,
be ready even to fell his Garment, and buy one with
the Price of it: So long a Journey, and fo fharp
a Conflict, is before you, that you had need be
well armed and furnished for it.
For I affure
you, that my Enemies are now about to apprehend
me as a Malefactor, and after all the Love that I
have shewn to an ungrateful World, this remarka-
ble Prophecy which is written concerning me,
(Ifa. liii. 12.) must yet be accomplished in me,
"And
"he was numbered with the Tranfgreffors:" For
indeed all the Things which are written concerning
me in the Scripture Prophecies, muft quickly have
an End, and be accomplished in my Sufferings and
Death. Now you may eafily guefs at the Re-
ception you are like to meet with, when you
come to preach in the Name, and by the Au-
thority of one, who has suffered as a Malefactor,
and yet demands Faith and Obedience as an Al-
mighty Saviour.

37

38

And they faid, Lord, behold here are Two Swords that we are furnished with already (a), which we are refolved, in Cafe of any violent Affault, to use in thy Defence. And he faid to them, It is enough for Weapons of this Sort: My chief

Intent

without Purfe, and Scrip, and Shoes, lacked ye any Thing? And they faid, Nothing.

36 Then faid he unto them, But now he that hath a Purse, let him take it, and

likewife his Scrip and he that hath no Sword, let him fell his Garment, and buy

one.

37 For I fay unto you, that this that is written, muft yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the Tranfgreffors: for the Things concerning me have an End.

38 And they faid, Lord, behold, here are Two Swords. And he faid unto them, It is enough.

(a) Here are two Swords.] Probably (as Mr. Cradock conjectures, in his Harmony, part ii. pag. 209.) fome of the Apoftles brought thefe Swords along with them in their Journey from Galilee and Peraa, to defend them againft Robbers. It afterwards appears, that one of them was Peter's. See John xviii. 10. Sect. 183.

(b) My

And comforts them with the Profpect of their future Happiness.

I.

449

Intent is to direct you to another Kind of De- Sect. 173.
fence, even that which arifes from Piety and
Faith (6). Let not your Heart therefore be trou- John XIV.
bled, tho' I am going to leave you behind me in a
World, where you will feem likely to become an
helpless Prey to the Rage and Power of your Ene-
mies: Believe in GOD, the Almighty Guardian
of his faithful Servants, who has made fuch glo-
rious Promises relating to the Prosperity of that
Caufe in which you are engaged; and believe al-
fo in me, as the promised Meffiah, who, whether
prefent, or abfent in Body, fhall always be mind-
ful of your Concerns, as well as ever able to help
you (c).

And to establish your Faith and Comfort, ac-
cuftom yourselves often to look forward to the
Heavenly World, as those who are well affured,
that in my Father's Houfe, from whence I came,
and whither I am going to take up my Refidence,
there are many Manfions (d); and it is really a
fpacious and glorious Abode, where there will
be ample Room to receive you, and every Thing
to accommodate you in the most delightful Man-
ner: And indeed if it were not fo, as I know
you
have ftill acted with Regard to the Happiness
of a future World, tho' too much mingled with
inferior Views, I would before this Time have
told you fo exprefsly, and not have permitted you
to impose upon yourselves by an airy Dream (e);

much

(b) My chief Intent is to direct you to another Kind of Defence, &c.] This is ftrongly intimated by his faying, Two Swords were enough; for they could not be fufficient to arm Eleven Men.

(c) Believe in GOD, believe alfo in me.] Пsevele HIS TOV DEON, XOL eis que wisevels. These Words are fo very ambiguous, that (as Erafmus obferves,) they may be rendered, as here; or as in our English Tranflation; or Ye believe in GOD, and ye believe in me; or believe in GOD, and ye believe in me; and different Commentators have taken them in all these very different Senfes. But it appears moft natural to render revele alike in both Places; and it is certain, an Exhortation to Faith in GOD, and in Chrift, would be very seasonable, confidering how weak and defective their Faith was. (See ver. 9.) The Transition from the Paflage in Luke, to this in John, appears fo eafy, placing the Paragraphs in this Order, that I wonder no Harmonizer fhould have obferved it before.

(d) In my Father's House are many Manfions.] Mr. Le Moyne thinks, Christ alludes to the various Apartments in the Temple, and the vaft Number of Perfons lodged there. Moval finifies quiet and continued Abodes, and therefore feems happily expreffed by our English Word Manfions; the Etymology, and exact Import of which, is juft the fame.

(e) And if not, I would have told you.] Heinfius's Verfion of thefe Words feems much lefs natural: He would connect and render them, [εν δε μη, είπον αν υμιν, πορευομαι &c.] VOL. II. LII

as

450

Sec. 173:
John XIV.

2

3

tion.

He was going to prepare a Place for them.

a

3 And if I go and prepare Place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myfelf, that where I am, there ye may be also.

much lefs would I have faid fo much as I have told you: I go to prepare a Place for you. done, to confirm that Expectation: But as it is in itself a glorious Reality, fo I am now going, not only to receive my own Reward, but to prepare a Place for you there (f); or to make Room for your coming thither, and to difpofe every Thing for your moft honourable and comfortable RecepAnd if I thus go, and prepare a Place for you, you may depend upon it, that this Preparation fhall not be in vain, but that I will certainly act fo confiftent a Part, as to come again, and receive you to myself (g); that as we are now united in fo dear a Friendship, you also, after a fhort Separation, may be where I am, and may dwell 4 for ever with me. And furely I may fay in the general, after all the Inftructions I have given you, that you know whither I am going; and you know the Way that leads thither, and by which you may fafely follow me; which I exhort you therefore that you would refolutely keep.

5

But fuch was ftill the Expectation that his Difciples had of his erecting a Temporal Kingdom,

4 And whither I go ve know, and the Way ye

know.

5 Thomas faith unto him, Lord,

as if our Lord had faid, "Had it not been fo, I would have spoke in another Manner, and "have told you, I am going to prepare a Place for you; but now I have no Reason to say "that, the Place being already prepared." But it is hard to fay, what Senfe can be made of ver. 3. on this Interpretation. That the pious Jews confidered all the Glories of the Meffiah's Kingdom, as introductory to the Happiness of a future State of eternal Glory, appears from a Variety of Scriptures; and indeed it is difficult to fay, how they could think otherwife, confidering how much this had been infifted on; or how they could have been good, had not this been their chief Aim. Compare Mat. iii. 12. v. 8, 12. vi. 20. vii. 21. xiii. 43. xix. 16. xxii. 30. Luke xiv. 14. xvi. 9. John iii. 15, 36. vi. 54, 68. xi. 24, 27.

(f) To prepare a Place for you.] When the Glory of Heaven is fpoken of as prepared before the Foundatson of the World, (Mat. xxv. 34.) this only refers to the Divine Purple; but as that was founded in Chrift's Mediatorial Undertakings, (Eph. i. 4,-6.) it might properly be faid, that when Chrift went into Heaven, as our High Priest, to prefent (as it were) his own Blood before the Father on our Account, and as our Fore-runner to take Poffeffion of it, he did thereby prepare a Place for us; which the Apostle expreffes, (Heb. ix. 23, 24.) by his purifying, or confecrating the Heavenly Places in which we are to dwell, which would have been confidered as polluted by the Entrance of fuch finful Crea tures into them; as the Tabernacle when new-made was, by having paffed thro' the Hands of Sinners, on which Account an Atonement for the Altar itself, which was to be m Holy, was the first Act to be performed when it was opened: Exod. xxix. 36, 37. And an Atonement for the whole Tabernacle, as polluted by the Accefs of Sinners to it, was to be repeated annually. Lev. xvi. 16.

(g) I will come again, &c.] This Coming ultimately refers to Chrift's folemn Appearance at the Last Day, to receive all his Servants to Glory; yet it is a beautiful Circumftance, that the Death of every particular Believer, confidering the univerfal Power and Providence of Chrift, (Rev. i. 18.) may be regarded as Chrift's coming to fetch him Home; whereas Satan is spoken of as having naturally the Power of Death. Heb. ii. 14.

CHRIST is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I

6 Jefus faith unto him, am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no Man cometh unto the Father but by

me.

5.

45

Lord, we know not whither dom, that Thomas upon hearing this fays to him, Sect. 173. thou goeft, and how can we Lord, thou haft never yet informed us of the know the Way? Place, and we know not fo much as whither thou John XIV. art going (h), and how then can we poffibly know the Way thither? Jefus fays to him, I have al- 6 ready intimated to you, I am going to the Father; and did you but confider this, you would foon fee, that I am myfelf the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (i); that I am to guide, inftruct, and animate my Followers in their Paffage to eternal Glory, and that their Progrefs will be fure and vigorous in Proportion to the Steadiness of their Faith in me, and the Conftancy of their Regards to me: And this indeed is the true and only Way you can take; for no Man cometh to the Knowledge and Enjoyment of the Father, to whom I am returning, but by Means of me, whose proper Office it is to introduce finful Creatures to his Prefence and Favour. If therefore you had known me aright, you would furely have known my Father alfo (k), in whofe Glory my Miniftrations fo evidently center; and fuch indeed are the Difcoveries that I have made of him, and fuch the Manifeftations of the Divine Perfections which you have seen in me, that in effect it may be faid, that from henceforth you know him, and have, as it were, already feen him.

7

If ye had known me, ye fhould have known my forth ye know him, and have

Father alfo: and from hence

feen him.

8 Philip faith unto him, Lord, fhew us the Father,

and it fufficeth us,

7

Then Philip, one of the Apoftles, hearing 8
these Words, Jays to him with a pious Ardor be-
coming his Character, Lord, do but fhew us the
Father, and bring us to the Sight and Enjoyment
of him (1), and it is Happiness enough for us;

we

(b) We know not whither thou art going.] It is probable, Thomas might think, that Chrift intended to remove to fome fplendid Palace on Earth, to set up his Court there for a while, before he received his People to the Celestial Glory.

(i) I am the Way, &c.] Our Lord had fo lately delivered the fame Sentiment, in Language much like this, (John x. 9. pag. 211.) that it might well have been expected, they should have understood him now.

(k) If you had known me, you would have known my Father alfo.] This is a most important Truth; but it does not determine, to what Degree he must be explicitely known, in order to receiving faving Benefits by him.

(1) Lord, fhew us the Father.] The Explication given in the Paraphrafe feems to me a more probable Senfe, than that in which Mr. Fleming underftands it; as if Philip had faid, "Let us have a Vifion of the Father in a corporeal Form, to teftify the Neceffity of thy "Removal from us." (See Fleming's Chriftology, vol. ii. pag, 202.) I cannot apprehend, that the Apostles thought the Father vifible.

LI 2

(m) I am