Be Thankful, John Witherspoon on the Lord’s Supper

Posted at Presbyterians of the Past:

The BELIEVER going to GOD as His EXCEEDING JOY

A SERMON.

Psalm 43:4

Then will I go to the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

It is of great moment to attend to the proper mixture of reverence and love which ought to possess our hearts in the worship of the living God. If they arise from proper principles, they will not destroy or weaken, but strengthen one another. A believer can never lie too low in the dust before the most holy God; he can never be too sensible either of his distance as a creature, or his guilt and unworthiness as a sinner; but, at the same time, he can never be too deeply penetrated with a sense of divine love, or have too strong and ardent desires for communion and fellowship with God. The truth is, the lower we are in our own sight, it does but the more illustrate and magnify all the grace that is shown to us in the gospel; and the more joyfully we contemplate the fullness of our portion in an infinite God, it will but the more bring back this reflection, and constrain us to confess, that we are less than the least of all his mercies.

In several passages of the Psalms of David, we have very warm and fervent expressions of the delight which the man after God’s own heart had in the worship of his sanctuary. There are few of these more beautiful and forcible than the passage of which my text is a part, “O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.” That which seems to have brought the Psalmist to this striking and beautiful thought was his being under the pressure of heavy affliction; and, particularly, in a state of distance and banishment from the temple service. This led him to flee for refuge to God, his almighty friend and unchangeable portion. Did the Psalmist then go to God as his consolation in distress? What reason is there for every Christian to go to him as his Father and his God, not only for support under the various trials of this mortal state, but for happiness and peace after he hath seen and felt the inherent vanity of every created enjoyment?

All I shall further add upon the words is, that what David is here praying for, is to be brought to the temple of God, to have access to his courts, and communion with him there. This he plainly looks upon as a source of exceeding joy; and, surely to those who are duly disposed for it, there is not, there cannot be, in this world, a more delightful employment than the joint celebration of our Creator and Redeemer’s praise, than the united voice of his servants in his temple. It is the nearest approach we can make to the employment of heaven, and the most sensible foretaste we can have of its happiness in this foreign land.

But, my brethren, I must limit the subject to what is the particular and distinguishing employment of this day—the holy ordinance of the Lord’s supper, commemorating our Redeemer’s dying love. This was called by the ancients the Eucharist or Sacrifice of Praise. And, indeed, no disposition is more proper or necessary, in attending upon it, than a joyful and thankful frame of spirit. This will be like a precious perfume, which will fill the house with its fragrance, and will greatly strengthen every other gracious disposition; and, therefore, my intention is, through the assistance of divine grace,

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