Sermon 3
EXHORTATION
AFTER THE COMMUNION.
At the close of the solemn service in which it has been
your privilege at this time to engage, permit me, my friends, to address to you
a few exhortations, suited to the circumstances in which you are placed. And
first, let me observe, that if there be any in this assembly who have not only
withheld themselves from the Lord's table on the present. occasion, but are
habitually chargeable with such neglect, they are surely the objects of deep
commiseration. I speak not of those who are kept back by conscientious motives
- who really desire to engage in the work of solemn communion, but abstain from
it because they are, in their own considerate judgment, undeserving of such a
high privilege. To persons of this description I would feel, and exercise, all
manner of Christian forbearance and kindness. I approve of their delicacy of
conscience and their humility of spirit. I would, at the same time, direct them
to cherish more engaging views of their Saviour's love; and not to consider the
lowliest convictions of their own unworthiness as, in any measure, inconsistent
with the liveliest dependence upon his merits. I would encourage them to regard
the ordinance as intended for weak and timid “babes,” as much as for
“perfect men in Christ Jesus.” I would hope that, by persevering in
prayer, and by following on to know the Lord, and by setting themselves to
acquire more correct and scriptural views both of the nature of the institution
and of the character of its Author, they will ere, long feel themselves at
liberty to observe it without any slavish dread of offending God, or of sinning
against their own souls. And I would only caution them against yielding to
those groundless and superstitious scruples, that sometimes tempt the a
believing and the good, to shrink from a service in which they are called to
honour their Redeemer; to partake of the richest blessings of the gospel, and
to advance the interests of pure and undefiled religion in the world.
At
present, however, I allude to those who have no cordial wish to be
cornmunicants - who do not think of aspiring to the duties and the privileges
of that character - who allow every successive opportunity of going to the
Lord's table to pass away from them unimproved and unheeded - and who continue
in this negligence from year to year, through indifference, or contempt, or
worldly-mindedness, or practical infidelity. It is of these that I now speak;
and every real Christian will unite with me in saying, that they are objects of
deep commiseration. They are living in obstinate disobedience to the express
and dying commandment of him, who has “all power in heaven and on
earth.” They are callous to the impressions of that ineffable love which
he manifested in dying for their eternal redemption. They reject with disdain
the means which divine wisdom has appointed for supporting the life, and
promoting the nourishment and comfort, of his church. They proclaim their want
of those principles and dispositions to which the promises of glory are
annexed, and their hostility to that system of grace by which alone they can be
delivered from the wrath to come. And, if there be any truth in Christianity,
they are yet in their sins - "without God and without hope."
0 ye to whom
this melancholy description applies, blame us not when we declare, that you are
the objects of our pity. It is not from any sentiment of proud scorn, or of
haughty superiority, that we say this. We feel compassion for your state,
because we see you despising the great salvation - far from the kingdom of
heaven - and walking in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. We would
pray for you - that the Spirit of all grace may enlighten your mind, and subdue
the perversity of your will, and bring you under subjection, to the
righteousness and the law of Christ. We would beseech you to stop short in your
career of thoughtlessness and folly - to reflect seriously on what is past, and
to think solemnly of what is to come - and to mind the things which belong to
your peace, before they be for ever hid from your eyes. And we would hold up to
view the ordinance you have been disregarding, as exhibiting, in the death and
mediation of Christ, the only way by which you can return to God, and obtain
eternal life; and as denouncing, at the same time, through the sorrows and
ignominies of the cross, that awful retribution which awaits those who reject
the salvation of the gospel, and will not have Christ to rule over them.
But we fear that, even to some who have been at the Lord's table, we must
speak the language of warning and rebuke. It is refreshing, indeed, to see such
a goodly number, as we have seen this day, setting at defiance the scorn of
unbelieving men, and keeping in remembrance the death and the cross of their
Redeemer. Yet we know that “all are not Israel who are of Israeh” -
that the profession of Christianity and Christianity itself are far from being
inseparably connected - that not every one who says unto Jesus, however
publicly and however solemnly, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven. I would therefore speak to you in the spirit and in the
language of a whole some and affectionate jealousy. I would ask you from what
motives, and in what manner, you have; engaged in the work of sacred communion?
Have you done it, in mere compliance with the wishes of your friends, or from
mere conformity to the custom of the place? Have you done it that you might
acquire, or that you might support, a good reputation in the world? Have you
done it in order to conceal from the eye of suspicion and observation some
defect or some sin that you wish not to be known? Or have you done it with the
unscriptural view of atoning for your past wickedness, and laying up a stock of
merit for the time to come? Have you made no preparation for the solemnity in
which you have been engaged? Have you entered into no previous examination of
your heart, and your character, and your spiritual state? Have you come to the
Lord's table with thoughtlessness and indifference? Have you sat down in
ignorance of the nature and purposes of the institution? Have you showed forth
the death of Christ, without any lively faith in his merits - without any
cordial hatred of sin, which caused his sufferings - without any decided
resolution to forsake the iniquities from which they were endured to redeem you
- without any conscious love to your God and Saviour - without any kind and
forgiving affection towards your fellow-men - without any purpose of devoting
yourselves to the service and glory of him who has done so much for your
salvation? Have your imaginations been allowed to wander on the mountains of
vanity, and your affections to settle on the pursuits and pleasures of the
world, when they should have been raised to the heaven, and stretched forward
to the immortality, to which the doctrine of a communion-service naturally
taught you to aspire?
Are these the motives which have influenced you, and
is this the manner in which you have acted on the present occasion? Then you
have not partaken of the Lord's Supper. in a true and spiritual sense. You have
been “eating and drinking unworthily.” You have profaned the body and
the blood of Christ. And though God may not inflict upon you visible judgments,
as he did on the Corinthian church, yet, as the God of ordinances, and as a
jealous God, he will not permit you to be thus hypocritical or profane with
impunity, and he will assuredly punish you for it, except you repent.
“Repent, therefore, and be converted, that this your great sin may be
blotted out." Apply for pardon, through faith in that sacrifice, which you have
treated with so much levity and contempt. Beseech God to cleanse you from every
carnal view, and to give you all the graces of his spirit. And be resolved
that, henceforth, every returning communion, which you may be permitted to see,
shall find you ready to partake of it with clean hands, and pure hearts, and
earnest desires to be “found of God in peace, without spot and
blameless.”
On the other hand, does your conscience tell you that your
motives have been good - that you have come to the Lord's table from regard to
the commandment of Christ - from gratitude and love to Him as your Redeemer -
from a desire to promote the honour of his name and the interests of his gospel
- and from a becoming wish to advance your own spiritual comfort and
improvement? Did youe examine yourselves as to your fitness for the communion
service? and did you find that you were possessed, in some good measure, of
those qualifications which the nature of the ordinance and the word of God
prescribe? And when engaged in the work of commemoration, were your hearts
affected by a sense of its importance and solemnity? Did you hold communion
with the Father, and fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ? Were you in the
exercise of lively faith - of pious affection - of brotherly love - of holy
desires and resolutions ? And was it your earnest prayer, and your earnest
endeavour, that you might glorify him whom you were remembering, and that the
homage and devotion of your souls might be accepted, and thave you might .give
yourselves away to God in a covenant never to be broken, and never to be
forgotten? - I do not ask you, my friends, if, in all those respects, you have
done nothing amiss - if you can say that your way has been perfect - if you can
look~ back, with unalloyed complacency and satisfaction upon every part of your
conduct and experience as communicants?
No, my friends; the best of us must
be conscious that imperfection and sin have tarnished the purity of our
offering. And we all need to humble ourselves before the holy God whom we have
been serving, and to apply for the pardoning efficacy and the sanctifying
influences of the blood of Christ. And, may “the good Lord pardon every
one who has prepared his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though
he has not been cleansed according to the preparation of the sanctuary.”
But have you been sincere in your desires to “do this in remembrance of
Christ?” Have you been really anxious to “keep the feast with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth ?“ Have you set yourselves to act
from suitable motives, and in a becoming manner? And are you conscious that,
with regard to the particulars I have mentioned, you were qualified, in some
good measure, to partake of the ordinance, and that, in some good measure, your
participation of it has come up to the standard of Christian feeling and of
Christian attainment? Then, be grateful to God who has not only admitted you to
the privilege of holy communion, but has enabled you cheerfully to embrace, and
rightly to enjoy it. Be grateful that, instead of keeping away, like many
others, under the influence of mistaken views, or of dislike to spiritual
exercises, he has put it into your hearts to give this public testimony to the
truth, and the power, and the excellence of the gospel. Be grateful that amidst
the trials and the sorrows of life, you have been allowed to draw, from a
believing contemplation of the memorials of your Redeemer's death, that support
and consolation which it is so well calculated to afford. Be grateful that,
through the grace given you, you have been strengthened to discharge an
important duty, and encouraged to employ an instituted means of edification;
and that in the fidelity with which you have acted, and in the comfort which.
you have experienced, you have a gratifying token of your present acceptance
with God, and of your future progress in the divine life.
But do not rest
satisfied with mere emotions, or with the mere expressions of thanksgiving. You
must show your gratitude in your conduct; and maintain a life and conversation
suitable to the profession you have made, and the privileges you have enjoyed
It is not ordinary decency of behaviour nor ordinary acquirements in religion
that will answer time purpose. The obligations laid upon you by your appearance
at the Lord's table, dictate a deportment distinguished by its purity, and its
excellence. And, if you obey them in any tolerable degree, we shall see you
adorned with all the graces and virtues of Christianity, abounding in godliness
and good works, and advancing with steady and progressive steps in the path of
righteousness.
After having seen such a lively representation of the evil
of sin, will not sin be more than ever the object of your aversion, and will
not you more than ever strive to keep yourselves from its pollutions? After
having admired the greatness of your Saviour's compassion in giving his life a
ransom for your souls, will not you feel yourselves peculiarly and powerfully
constrained to glorify him in. your bodies and in your spirits which are his;
and will not you think every act of obedience which you can render, but an
inadequate return for that wondrous love which made him die for you upon the
cross? After perceiving that it was one great purpose of those sufferings of
his,. which you have been commemorating, to deliver you from iniquity, and to
call you to holiness, will not you cheerfully surrender yourselves to the
design which they had in view, by denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts,
and by living soberly, righteously, and godly, in the world?
After having
professed, with so much solemnity, that you are his disciples, will not you be
careful to justify this profession, by devotedness to him in every department
of his gospel - by steadily adhering to his doctrine - by confessing him openly
before men - by relying without disguise on the merits of his cross - by a
conscientious submission to his will - and by a faithful imitation of his
example? And after having dedared that you are expectants of heaven, and that
you look, with hope and joy, for the second coming of your Lord, will not you
be anxious to cultivate the character which such anticipations demand, by
rising superior to the pleasures and allurements of this present evil world, by
renouncing all the pursuits which are inconsistent with your eternal prospects,
and by acquiring and cherishing these holy habits, both of mind and conduct,
which are requisite to fit you for the bliss of immortality?
0 my friends,
you can never be too scrupulous in abstaining from sinful indulgence; you can
never be too diligent in the performance of duty; you can never be too much
devoted to that work, which consists in obedience to the law of God, and in
preparation for the glories of his presence. Be persuaded, then to give
yourselves wholly to these things. Reduce your principles uniformly into
practice. And shew that you have been with Jesus, by your unreserved conformity
to his will, and by carrying your Christian principles into all the various
scenes, and circumstances, and relations, of life. This is necessary for your
own personal welfare; and it is also necessary for promoting the interests of
pure and undefiled religion among your fellow-men. Your character is not
complete, it is radically defective, unless you be “holy in all manner of
conversation.”
And, if you are seen forgetting your communion vows,
and violating the precepts of the gospel, and conforming to the practices and
the maxims of ungodly men, you not only expose yourselves to just derision and
contempt, but you bring dishonour on the cross of Christ; you prove a
stumbling-block to the young and the wavering; you mislead many by your
cxample, whom your instructions can never reach; and you tempt “them that
are without” to “blaspheme that holy name by which you have been
called.” And, if your conduct be thus wanting in itself, and thus
pernicious in its effects, 0 how will you answer for it, on the great day of
the Lord!
Let me conjure you, then, to “walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called.” Let it be the object of your constant ambition,
and let it be the subject of your daily prayer, that you may be kept from the
paths of iniquity, that you may set God continually before you, and that you
may “stand perfect and complete in all his holy will.” And let me
especially press this exhortation upon those who have for the first time
presented themselves before the Lord at a communion table. I congratulate you,
my young friends, on your taking this step, so important to yourselves, and so
interesting to all who love your souls. I am glad that you have thus openly
enlisted under the banner of the cross - that you have renounced, in this
public manner, the devil, the world, and the flesh - that you have been seen
taking up the pilgrim's staff, and setting your faces Zion-ward. And I trust
that you have done all this in the sincerity of your hearts - that you are not
acting an inconsiderate or a hypocritical part that the “good confession
which you have witnessed before many witnesses” has come from an approving
mind - and that you are indeed desirous and determined to be all that your
outward service has promised. It remains for you to.vindicate your own
sincerity, and to maintain your own consistency, by the tenor of your future
deportment. Never forget, then, the engagements which you have so solemnly
contracted, but study to fulfil them with the utmost fidelity and care. Be not
“of them who draw back unto perdition, but of the who believe to the
saving of the soul.” The evil propensities of your own wayward hearts -
the allurements and vanities of a thoughtless, corrupted world the sinful
insinuations and wicked example of unchristian people - and the arts and
influence, of your spiritual enemies, who operate upon your minds, though
unseen - all these will attempt to draw you.away from the allegiance you have
sworn, and from the resolutions you have formed. But in the strength of God you
must resist them all; and, whatever sacrifices it may cost you, and with
whatever difficulties it may be attended, you must keep your confidence in
Jesus steadfast unto the end - you must hold fast your integrity, and never let
it go - you must persevere, with unshaken constancy,~ in the path of duty and
obedience. Recollect, at every step you take in life, that you are not your own
- that you have given yourselves up to God - and that you are bound, by the
strongest and most endearing ties, to “glorify him in your bodies and
spirits, which are his.”
Read his blessed word, that you may grow in
saving knowledge. “Remember his sabbaths to keep them holy.” Never
“forsake the assembling of yourselves together” in his sacred courts.
Pray to him “with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.” Avoid
the company of such as trample on his authority and despise his ordinances; and
associate with those who fear his name and keep: his commandments. When the
allurements of the world solicit your affections or your conformity, cast a
believing recollection back upon the cross of Christ, and an eye of hope
forward to the joys of heaven, and scorn the pleasures which would frustrate
the purposes of your Saviour's death, or darken your anticipations of future
glory. And when any peculiar temptation occurs, or when the impetuosity of
youthful passion begins to break forth, or when the ridicule of unbelieving or
ungodly men is threatening to conquer your holy purposes, then lift up your
soul to the God of all grace, and cry for the help of his almighty arm: call to
remembrance the vows and resolutions, the faith and the comforts, of a
communion table; and forget not that death is fast approaching, and may come
when you are not aware, to deliver you from the trials which now distress you,
and to conduct you to that land of uprightness and of rest, where no sin is
committed and where no sorrow is felt, and where there is fulness of joy and
pleasures for evermore.
Yes, my friends, death is approaching to all of us.
And it becomes all of us to watch and to be ready. Before another communion
arrive, some of us, it is probable, shall have bidden an everlasting adieu to
this land of ordinances and of probation. Which of us it is to whom the summons
shall, be sent, we cannot tell. It may be the youngest, and the stoutest, and
the most thoughtless, of us all. 0 then, how deeply should our minds be
impressed with the shortness and uncertainty of time; and with what diligence
should we apply ourselves to the work that is given us to do! Let none of us be
idle or unconcerned. Let none of us delay or trifle with preparation for
eternity. Let none of us be so foolish as to put our immortal interests to the
hazard of an unexpected call. Rather let us active, and faithful, and
unremitting, in the service of him to whom we are to render an account. And
when we leave the house and table of the Lord, let our first step be the
beginning of a more holy and heavenly, course than that which we have hitherto
pursued; so that, living always by faith in the Son of God, and abounding
always in the duties of our Christian vocation, - at whatever day or at
whatever hour our Master call us away, we may receive from him this gladdening
sentence, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your
Lord."
Addressed to the congregation of St. George's Church, Edinburgh, after the celebratjon of the Lord's Supper, month May 1829
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