greatest abhorrence of fin, the caufe of it. Never can fin appear more exceeding finful, and hateful, than in the wounding and crucifying of the Son of God. Our tranfgreffions were the nails and fpear that wounded his facred body, and the fword that pierced his foul. Thefe were the Judas that betrayed him, the foldiers that bound him, blindfolded, and mocked him, the Pilate that condemned him, the executioners that nailed him to the curfed tree: It was our fins that put the fword in his enemies' hands. He became a curfe for us. All the derifion, mockery, and contempt; all the pain, fuffering, and forrow he endured, did proceed from our fins thefe brought him to the crofs, and to the grave. Let us then turn our batred, and discharge our fiercest indignation against our fins, let them be our averfion and dread for ever; let me always look on fin, that crucified Chrift, with horror and trembling. Never fuch an inftance of the ftrictnefs and severity of God's juftice, and of his abhorrence of fin, as here. He would not fpare his dear Son, when he stood in the room of finners, nor fpare him one ftripe or wound when he cried; but let him bleed and die, till fin was fully atoned for. Can I fee this and not cry, O cursed fin! murderer of the Son of God; away with it, away with it; crucify it, crucify it.

O my foul, fee the evil of fin in the glass of Chrift's wounds and fufferings in his body and foul. Say, O fin, what haft thou done! Thou haft provoked the God of heaven to fiery indignation: Thou haft killed the Prince of life, turned angels into devils, filled the earth with troubles, and hell with precious fouls! If any body had killed my father, would I embrace the murderer, or love the dagger that was befmeared with his blood? But what are all my relations to my Lord, my love, that was crucified! O that my eyes were fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night for my fins that flew my Saviour. Oh, ftony heart, for fhame, become now like wax, and be melted in the midst of my bowels. Woes me, that I can grieve no more for

my fins. Let me at leaft revenge my Saviour's death upon my fins, and fuffer them no longer to live in me.

How dreadful muft the guilt of thofe be who willingly harbour fin, and delight in the murder of the Lord. It is no less than to kifs the nails, or hug the fpear that pierced him. They make that their joy which made Chrift a man of forrow. They make light of that which made his foul heavy unto death. Oh, have I feen my Saviour bleeding to death by fin, and fhall I live any longer in fin that wounded him? When a temptation to fin is presented, fhall I ever difpute any more, whether Chrift or Barabbas fhall be preferred? My lufts denied, or my Lord crucified? Whether thefe fins fhall be forfaken by me, that made Chrift to be forfaken of God? Whether that fhall be fweet to me, that was fo bitter and deadly to him? Oh, was my lovely Jefus a man of forrows all his life, and fometimes made to fay, My foul is exceeding forrowful; and fhall not I be forry for, and abhor thofe fins that caused all his forrows?

O may the believing view of Chrift's wounds and fufferings which he endured for my fins, and to fave me from that wrath which they deferved, kindle the fire of love in my foul to Chrift. Lord, thou art the God that was wont to answer thy people by fire; () pity me, and anfwer my meditations and prayers, by kindling the holy fire of love in my heart, and let that fire put out the impure fire of lufts and corruptions, and infpire me with holy zeal and activity in thy fervice. O did Chrift freely give himfelf to be a finoffering for me; and fhall not I give myself a thankoffering to him? Surely it is highly reasonable that I fhould offer up myself a living facrifice to my hedeemer, who offered up himself a dying facrifice for my redemption.

M 2

MEDITATION XXXII.

From Jous vi. 51. I am the living bread that came down from beaven : If any man eat of this bread, he fall live for ever.

CHRIST crucified is our manna, our heavenly bread that preferves the life of the foul, and it is only by faith it must be received and eaten. Bread is a comprehenfive word, including all things neceffary for this life; fo Chrift, our fpiritual bread, is a most comprehensive bleffing, including all we want, feeing he is made of God to us, wisdom, righteousness, fanctification, and redemption. Again, bread is the most neceffary thing for our life, and the want of it brings the greatest mifery; fo Christ is the most neceffary bleffing to the foul, and the want of him makes a man miferable in time, and through eternity. It is a greater mifery to have no Saviour for the foul, than to have no bread for the body. Chrift alone is the bread that preferves us from foul famine, and nourisheth us to eternal life; he is the bread of life, the living bread. Lord, give us evermore this bread. Bread is called the ftaff and ftay of man's life; fo Chrift is the staff and ftay of our fpiritual life, he upholds our fouls in life. He is the staff that faint and weary fouls must lean to, in going up through this wildernefs: Yea, Chrift our living bread is a staff to defend us, and to beat off our enemies, and to put all the hellifh hoft to flight. That was a ftrange dream of one of the Midianites, Judg. vii. 13. Behold a cake of barley bread came tumbling into the hoft of Midian, and mote a tent. Strange! a piece of bread to overturn a tent ! Behold this dream made good in the facrament. The bread there which reprefents Christ, when received with faith upon him, will tumble into the host of Satan and his lufts, thefe Midianites who vex us with their wiles, ftrike down their tents, and put them all to flight.

Chrift is the bread that came down from heaven, of which the Ifraelites' manna, that God fent miracu

loufly from heaven, was an eminent type. That manna was God's free gift to the murmuring and rebellious Ifraelites, to preferve them from starving in the deferts, where bread could not be had: This manna was a curious grain, that made fine bread, with which God furnished them plentifully every morning from the clouds, fufficient to fatisfy fix hundred thoufand men. But Chrift, our fpiritual manna, doth far excel theirs, though he was resembled by theirs in fome things. Manna was first grinded and beaten, and baken in ovens, before it was bread to them; and fo the grain which makes our ordinary bread must be threshed, and grinded betwixt two millstones, and baken by the force of fire, before we eat it: So Chrift the antitype, was threshed and bruifed, and grinded betwixt the millftones of divine juftice and our fins, and alfo roasted by the fire of wrath, that he might be fit bread for faving the lives of our fouls; and all this we fhould call to mind, when we fee and make use of the bread in the holy fupper.

The Ifraelites' manna came down to them with the dew; fo Chrift, with the benefits of his purchase, comes to us by the dews and influences of the Holy Spirit. Their manna fell round about their tents, and every man was free to gather it; fo every man is at freedom to gather our heavenly manna. The Ifraelites behoved to go out of their tents to gather theirs; fo God will have us to go forth, and be at pains to get our spiritual food. God, who rained manna about their tents, could have rained it into their mouths; but he loves not to encourage floth in his people, but would have them at all pains to make fure of Chrift for their por

tion.

As the Ifraelites gathered daily, fo we must be daily going to Chrift, and making ufe of him. As they gathered early in the morning, fo God would have us feeking Chrift in the morning of our lives.

O how far doth our heavenly manna excel that of the Ifraelites! Theirs but fed the body, and could not preferve them from death at laft; but our manna feeds

the foul, and nourishes to eternal life, and preferves all that eat of it from eternal death. Theirs fell not on the Sabbath day; nor durft they go to feek it on that day; but ours falls every day, and double on the Sabbath; and therefore God calls us to double our diligence, in gathering it on the Sabbath. Their manna continued only in the wilderness, and ceased when they came to Canaan; but ours continueth forever, and our fullest enjoyment of it is in the heavenly Canaan; and therefore all true Ifraelites long to be there.

O how lamentable is their folly who fpend all their time and thoughts in feeking bread to their bodies, and are careless and indifferent about the bread of life to their fouls! All their care is to fupport the clay house, but let the foul starve that inhabits it. Oh, it is but a fhort time they can enjoy the bread they are so concerned for; the bodies they mind fo much must be meat for worms, and the fouls they neglect a prey to devils!

But, whatever others do, may I be wife to provide the living bread for my foul, and learn to eat it, and make ufe of it by faith, and efpecially when I go to the Lord's table; for without faith we can get no nourishment, no life, nor ftrength from this heavenly bread : Faith is the mouth that eats the bread of life, and fucks honey out of the rock .Now, the spirit of God calls faith or believing, an eating, because by it we tafte the fweetnefs and excellency of Chrift, and have great fatisfaction in partaking of Chrift and his benefits. As by eating, our bodies increase in ftrength and ftature; fo, by believing, our fouls grow in grace and fpiritual ftrength, to run in God's ways. As by eating, the bread incorporates and becomes one with us; fo, by our receiving and applying Chrift's broken body by faith, he is made one with us, and we one with him. As by eating bread, men live upon it, and get fupport and strength for working or journeying; fo believers, by looking to, and trufting wholly in the righteousness of Chrift, and the merit of his blood, they feed and