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day of His Coming hereafter.

As the Pastor appointed by

the Church, I call your attention to its directions; and entreat you to study the two exhortations that are appointed to be read when warning is given of the celebration of the Holy Communion, which you will find in the Prayer Book: and to enable " every Parishioner" to obey the rule of the Church, I shall celebrate the Communion both on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday; so that every family may make arrangements that all its members may attend, either. on one day, or on the other.

If you are a Communicant make it a subject of your secret prayers, while you are engaged in your daily occupation, that you may feel more the importance of continually renewing your remembrance of the Lord's dying for you; and if you are not in the habit of coming to the Lord's Table, make it a subject of earnest prayer that you may be able to put away every thing that has hindered you in times past, and to join yourself diligently to Christ for the future.

IV.

A WORD FROM THE PASTOR TO HIS

FLOCK.

The present truth. 2 Pet. i. 12.

26 April, 1835.

In the Word from the Pastor of the 5th of April, your attention was drawn to the directions of the Church, "that every parishioner should communicate at the least three times in the year; of which Easter to be one." The subject has been very fully explained to you, both as respects the duty and advantage of partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the command of Christ, in the first place and also as respects what the Church requires from all her members, and the care which she takes to help

them forward in this duty. You are all well aware that, for the particular purpose of enabling every parishioner to obey these directions, and to take advantage of the Lord's pledge, at this season, the Communion was administered on Good Friday, as well as on Easter Day; so that those members of a family who could not come on the one day, might on the other; and all, therefore, might communicate at this season. Have all communicated? Very far from it. There may be said to be about 400 persons in this parish who are of a proper age to attend the Lord's Table. At the Easter just past there were 117 persons who communicated (of which four were then received for the first time). Besides these, ten persons who usually communicate were hindered by illness, or infirmity: and four others were hindered by absence. This takes 131 out of the 400. There are besides thirty-two persons, who, though they have not attended at this season, as the Church directs, yet have partaken of the Lord's Supper at other times in this year. Let us make the best of the account, and add these; which will only encrease the number of communicants to 163. Now this leaves 237 persons in the parish who never obey the dying command of the Lord Jesus at all: no wonder then that they take no account of the Church's directions as to a particular time for doing so. This should be looked upon as a very sad state of things; because, as the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is the outward public mark and token by which any one professes himself to be a Christian, those who refuse that Sacrament when it is offered to them, plainly refuse to profess themselves Christians, and are satisfied to continue in an unchristian state. And is it not a sad state of things that more than half the grown-up people in the parish should consent to continue in an unchristian state? It has been sometimes

asked me: "Do you think that all the grown-up people in the parish are fit to go to the Lord's Table?" The answer is,

that it does not signify in the least what I think about it, since the Church does not put it into her minister's power to act upon what he thinks of a person's fitness or unfitness (except in cases where he "has knowledge" of any one being "an open or notorious evil liver;" or where "he perceiveth malice to reign.") "Having knowledge," and "perceiving," are very different things from "thinking," or forming a private opinion. I am sure that there is not one of you who is fit for Christ's Kingdom of Glory, unless he be fit to shew forth Christ's death till he come: and whether I, or any one else, think that those who do not communicate are not yet fit, one thing is plain; that each person who keeps away shews that he does not think himself fit yet; and therefore such a one ought not to be offended if I urge him to consider his acknowledged unfitness as a very dreadful state; and beseech him without delay to forsake his sins, and come to Christ, whose "blood cleanseth from all sin." 1 John i. 7.

Make it a subject of your secret prayers while you are engaged in your daily work, that the Spirit of Christ may more powerfully influence the people of this parish, to determine, one and all, to come to Christ in sincerity, and join in the Communion of His body and His blood.

V.

A WORD FROM THE PASTOR TO HIS

FLOCK.

The present truth. 2 Pet. i. 12.

8 Nov. 1835.

THE Sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be administered to-day, instead of last Sunday. It was put off then, because the first Communion after the Confirmation having taken place only a fortnight before, it seemed better to divide the time more equally between that and the December Communion. It has pleased God to put it into the hearts of

increasing numbers of the parishioners to attend the Lord's Supper. There are now 202 persons in the parish who are Communicants. It should be a subject of earnest prayer with each, that they may all be brought to the Table by the guiding of the Holy Spirit; and kept in continual remembrance that the death of Christ for their sins shews the hatefulness of sin; and that Christ died to purify them to himself as a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Each of the Communicants should keep in mind that it is by a patient continuance in well-doing that they must shew their value for the gift of eternal life: and none must deceive themselves with the notion that, having put their hands to the plough, they can be fit for the kingdom of God if they look back.

It is of importance that the continuance and frequent communion of the members of the Church should be rendered as convenient as possible, that no hindrance may be made an excuse for neglecting the appointed means of remembering the Lord Jesus, and shewing forth his death. When the usual sermon is preached, and when a number of persons attend the Communion, the length of time which is occupied in the service may, by some, be considered as an impediment. Arrangements will in future be made to prevent this, and to make the Communion Service end about the same time that the usual morning service ends on other days, or very little later. The Service begins on Communion Sundays at a quarter before eleven—and, instead of preaching a sermon in which some point of doctrine or practice is considered at large, as is the case upon other occasions, some passage of Scripture, calculated to lead the mind and heart to a fitting state of preparation for the Holy Sacrament, will be plainly expounded, and rather applied than dwelt upon by way of explanation. This will not occupy more than a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes, and will be very like what the exposition at the Sacramental Meetings has hitherto

been. If this be attended to in a prayerful spirit, it may, by God's blessing, be more likely to prepare the heart for the solemn Communion than listening to a sermon which requires more thought. Besides this, by a new arrangement of the rails, twenty persons may receive the bread and wine at one time; so that the delay to the whole communicants will be much less, and they may expect to leave the church at a quarter after one, at furthest.

An alteration will also be made in the manner of conducting the Sacramental Meetings. As there will be an exposition of Scripture in future on the Sunday of the Communion, it will not be given on the Friday evenings; and, except upon particular occasions, more of the time will be spent in prayer. A portion of Scripture will be read with very little explanation, and then the people will be informed of the subjects upon which the minister will afterwards lead them to the throne of grace. These subjects will be such as ought to interest those who are preparing to remember the death of Christ, in his appointed Sacrament. As many sincere persons are often prevented from coming to the Lord's Table in consequence of some troubles or difficulties which hurt their consciences through mistaken views which may be easily explained to them, it is very desirable that all such persons should have an opportunity of speaking to the minister upon the subject which disturbs them, before they make up their minds not to come to the Communion. To enable them to do this, the minister will always attend at the SchoolHouse, at half-past six, that is, half an hour before the Sacramental Meeting; and any person may then come and speak to him privately upon such subjects. With this oppor tunity always offered to them, no person can be justified in staying away from the Communion, without first taking the proper means of getting rid of his difficulty; and if any one does, the responsibility will rest upon himself.

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