1. Thou shalt bear the blame of it. It is a heavy blame, a weighty guilt; but thou shalt not get another's back in all the creation to lay it on, and shift it off thy own. They that comply may blefs God; they that do not may thank themfelves. The caufe is from themselves.

2. Thou fhalt bear the lofs of it, the lofs of what thou fcorneft, the lofs of grace, the favour of God, the lofs of heaven. Thy blood fhall be on thine own head. The fcorning of the call brings a heavy load of wrath; but thou alone fhalt bear it: that is,

(1.) God that called thee fhall not bear it, either blame or lofs. A man's heart perverts his way now, and his heart fretteth against the Lord; and I cannot think that the hearts of the reprobate in hell will be more reconciled to this difpenfation, Matth. xxv. 24. 25. But the Lord will throw the weight of it back on thee, and thou alone fhalt bear it; for though he was not obliged to give thee grace, yet he offered it to thee, and thou refufed it.

(2.) His faithful fervants that warned thee and called thee to comply with the call of God, fhall not bear it, Ezek. xxxiii. 9. Nay, every call of theirs, every fermon, exhortation, reproof, and warning in public or private, fhall turn it back on thyfelf. Every figh, groan, wafte of their ftrength, for warning thee, fhall turn it upon thee with a witnefs: And thou alone fhalt bear it. Nay, L

(3.) They that had a hand in thy not complying shall not bear it. They that tempted thee to fin, thy gracelefs neighbours and companions, whofe face thou fhalt curfe the daythat ever thou faweft it, they fhall not bear it. Even unfaithful minifters, who either fhall not warn thee, or by their unholy life harden thee, they fhall not bear it, and thou wilt not find shelter under their wings. Nay, the devil himself, who goes about like a roaring lion feeking whom he may devour, and does what he can to hinuer thee, even he fhall not bear it. For

they do not force thee, but entice and tempt thee to fin; they lay the bait, but it is thy own fault that thou embracest it: they lay the ftumbling-block, the occafion of finning in thy way; but thou art obliged to go by it, and hold off from it.

It is true, they fhall bear the weight of the hand they had in thy ruin; but alas! what is that to thee? what good will it do to thy poor foul? It is in this cafe as when one draws another into the water, and both are drowned together: alas! what is it to the man whom the other drew, that his companion is drowned himself too? that does not fave his life, Ezek. xxxiii. 8. So they fhall not bear it, but thou alone fhalt bear it.

[1] None fhall bear it for thee, nor take the burden off thy back. The foul that finneth, it dies. The finner fhall be the sufferer. They that refuse the Surety of the Father's chufing to bear the burden in their ftead, fhall not get another furety nor burdenbearer for them among angels or men. Nay thou alone, and not another for thee, fhalt bear it.

[2.] None fhall bear it with thee, to eafe thee of a part of the weight, Gal. vi. 5. There will be no relieving out of the flames, fo there will be none that will be fo kind as to bring a drop of water to cool the tongue in it, Ezek. xvi. 24. The whole weight shall lie upon thyfelf. Thou alone, and not another with thee, fhalt bear it.

Wherefore confider what ye do. Be wife, finners, and repent: For except ye repent, ye fhall perish. The found of the Lord's word goes away, and dies out as other founds: but it liveth and abideth for ever in its efficacy, for the falvation or condemnation of those that hear it. So death and life are fet before you, the bleffing and the curfe. If thou be wife, thou shalt be wife for thyself: but if thou fcorneft, thou alone fhalt bear

it.

Salvation.

I CORINTHIANS XII. 13.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

I

Come now to handle the questions in the catechifm concerning the facraments. And the firft of these is that touching the efficacy of thefe holy ordinances, which is one of the doctrines of this text, in which the apoftle explains and confirms the doctrine of the myftical union betwixt Chrift and his people, from the two facraments.

I explained this text at large, when speaking of the myftical union from it *: I fhall only consider it now, in fo far as it relates to the facraments. And fo there

is,

1. The number of the facraments of the New Teftament. These are two, viz. baptifm; We are all baptized, &c.; and the Lord's fupper, called here drinking; the denomination being taken from the cup, as it is called breaking of bread, the name being taken from the bread therein used, Acts ii. 42. The former is the facrament of our initiation into Christ, and union with him; the other, of our nourishment in, and communion with him.

2. The efficacy of thefe facraments. They are ef fectual to falvation in those in whom they have their effect, they being united to Chrift into one body, and partaking more and more of his Spirit, in thofe ordinances refpectively; which fo fecures their falvation from fin, and wrath too.

3. To whom they are effectual. Not to all, but to believers only; We all, viz. who are members of Chrift, ver. 11.

4. How they become effectual. Their efficacy is See vol. ii. p. 146 147

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not from themselves, nor from the administrator, but from the Spirit of Chrift. By one Spirit are we all baptized, &c. So their efficacy depends on the operation of the Holy Ghoft in and by them and to this is prefuppofed the bieffing of Chrift, fince the Holy Spirit does not work with means unbleffed by Jefus Chrift.

The purport of the text may be summed up in the following doctrine, viz.

DOCT. "The facraments become effectual means of falvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him "that doth adminifter them; but only by the bleffing of Chrift, and the working of his Spirit in them "that by faith receive them.'

Here let us confider,

1. That the facraments are means of falvation.. II. Wherein lies the efficacy of the facraments, or when may it be faid that the facraments are effectual means of falvation.

III. To whom are they effectual? or in whom have they their efficacy,

IV. Whence is their efficacy?

V. Lastly, Conclude with fome inferences.

I. I fhall fhew that the facraments are means of fal vation. For clearing of this, we shall inquire,

1. What is that falvation which the facraments are faid to be means of? It is the whole falvation purchafed by Jefus Chrift for the elect; which confifts of two parts. (1.) Salvation from fin, Matth. i. 21. He fall fave his people from their fins. Senfible finners look on fin as the mortal difeafe of the foul; and to be faved from it, in the guilt and power thereof, they will account the great falvation, as indeed it is. (2.) Salvation from wrath, under which all muft perith that partake not of Chrift's falvation, 1 Theff. i. 10.-Jefus which delivereth us from the wrath to come. This is the warding off the blow of juftice, the stroke of death eternal, from the neck of

a poor creature. Both thefe parts make it a great falvation, the greatest that a poor finner is capable of, Heb. ii. 3. And this falvation is fo abfolutely necef fary, that it is no wonder to fee a finner inquiring af ter the means of it.

2. What a mean of falvation is? A mean has a relation to an end, and is that which is ufed to bring about the end. And a mean of falvation is any thing appointed of God, in the ufe of which he carries on the falvation of his people. Thus all divine inftitutions in the church are means of falvation, that being the common end of them all, Matth. xxviii. 20. Among these the most eminent are, the word, facraments, and prayer. Prayer has a relation to both, and is to be mixed with them. The difference betwixt the two former is,

That the word is the mean of converfion, and the facraments means of confirmation: fo the word is the leading, and the facraments are the fubfequent means of falvation. The word is firft to have its effect, then the facraments have theirs on the foul, 1 Cor. iii. 5. with Rom. iv. 11.

Now, that the facraments are fuch means of falvation, appears,

1. From the Lord's appointing of them for that end to be used, Acts iii. 37. 38. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and faid unto Peter, and to the rest of the apofles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter faid unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jefus Chrift, for the remiffion of fins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. x. 16. The cup of bleffing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Chrift? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Chrift? And in that communion lies the fafety of our fouls for time and eternity.

3. From the faving effects which they have on the fouls of God's people rightly uling them. This is a