BY THE REV. EDW. BICKERSTETH, PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY AND SON, FLEET-STREET; By J. Seeley, Buckingham. 4. On the Communion Service of the Church of England, 5. Meditations during the Communion Service, 205 226 PREFACE. It seems to require some apology to publish another Treatise on the Lord's Supper, when several valuable ones have appeared already. It might perhaps be sufficient to say, that many are disposed to look at a modern publication, who would not read even a more valuable one of former years. But, what is the state of the Christian Church? Numbers, who have attended public worship, constantly and regularly, from year to year, ten, twenty, thirty, or more years, never have received the Lord's Supper! Many thousands, not to say many millions, in Great Britain, who have been baptized, and who profess themselves to be Christians, have never obeyed a dying charge of their Redeemer! Yet it has been justly remarked, that in the accounts which we have of those most distinguished for piety, never any one excelled in the virtues of the Christian life, but was accustomed frequently to nourish his soul with "the banquet of this most heavenly food." Publications of this nature cannot, therefore, be unseasonable, while so important an ordinance continues to be neglected, by so large a proportion of Christians. Without invidious remarks on any former works on this subject, it cannot but be obvious that some have a tendency to foster self-righteousness, or to make |