people do oft hear the filver trumpet of the gospel founding loud and long, calling them to the feaft of the great king, but are not fuitably affected therewith. Were this great gofpel-ordinance, like the Jewish paffover, to be celebrated but in one place in all the world; with what zeal and defire would people flock thither, to behold it and partake of it? And, why fhould we not come with the fame affection and devotion now, when we have it celebrated in many places? Shall our hearts be evil, because God is good? Shall we defpife mercies when they are given in plenty? Surely the frequent occafions we have of this bleffed feast, should fill our hearts with the greatest thankfulness to the bountiful maker. of it, as they did the Chriftians in the apoftolic age.

But, befides these arguments for the neceffity of the duty of communicating, I fhall, in the next place, fhew the greatness of the fin and danger of neglecting it. ⚫ I. You are hereby guilty of difobedience to the command of the highest King and Sovereign in the world; may, of that King to whom you have fworn allegiance in baptifm. Is Jefus Chrift your fovereign, and will you not obey his laws? Perhaps, if you neglected any other of his commands, fuch as to pray,.give alms, or to hear the word, for one Lord's day, confcience would fmite you for it; and have you no check for difobeying this command which he gave in the most folemn manner; nay, a charge which our dying Teftator gave us when his heart was full of forrow for us, and when he was going to underly God's wrath in the garden, be bound as a malefactor, and led away to the curfed tree for us? As the fovereign Lord, who gave us this command, hath an undoubted right to our obedience, both by nature and dear purchafe; fo, by the neglect of it, we are at once guilty both of defpifing the authority of just power, and the obligation of astonishing love.

II. What a fin muft it be to defpife a facrament, which is one of the moft folemn ordinances of this great King? You will readily acknowledge, that it is our indifpenfible duty to receive the facrament of baptifm, and that it is a great fin to neglect it. And why do you not own the fame of the Lord's fupper, feeing the fame Lord,

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who faid, Mat. xxviii. 19. "Go teach and baptize all "nations, faid alfo Luke xxii. 19. Do this in remem"brance of me?" So that you have the fame authority for both facraments. What abfurd inconfiftency are fome then guilty of, who think if their children die without baptifm (though there be no finful neglect in the cafe) it endangers their falvation, but are not afraid themselves to live and die without the Lord's fupper, though their neglect be wilful and finful? Surely the practice of many, who overvalue one facrament, and undervalue another, is moft unaccountable.

III. By declining to partake of the Lord's fupper, you do upon the matter renounce your baptifm (tho' the facrament you pretend to esteem) seeing hereby you refuse to be Chriftians of free choice, and in effect fay, you will not stand to these engagements your parents took on in your name, but will be at liberty to believe what you please, practise what you fancy, and ferve the devil, the world, and the flesh, as long as you think fit.' You may profess the Chriftian religion; but you are never Chriftians by an act of your own, until you present yourselves at the Lord's table, and there perfonally own your baptifmal engagements, and openly avouch the Lord Jefus Chrift to be your Saviour, confent to his religion, and dedicate yourselves to his fervice. Hearing of fermons is not a fufficient teft of your doing fo; for many do this from curiofity or custom, more than any other principle; but the Lord's fupper is the ordinance which Christ has inftituted chiefly for the forefaid ends. How great then must the fin and danger of wilful neglecting it be? In effect, it is no less than an open denying of Chrift before men; and fuch, he fays," he will deny before his Father in heaven." I would have all, who bear the name of Chriftians, to remember this; and, as they would not be reckoned among thofe that renounce Christ and his religion, let them not contemn that ordinance, which is the appointed badge of the Chriftian profeffion.

IV. To neglect the Lord's fupper is a moft unthankful requital of the kindnefs of our Lord Jefus Christ, in coming to free us from the burdenfome service of the

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legal fervices, rites, and inftitutions. If we did rightly confider what we are bound to by the subjection we owe to a fovereign Lord, and by the gratitude we owe to a kind benefactor; tho' he had injoined a great number of coftly and laborious rites, and had laid upon us a yoke more heavy than that of the Jewish ceremonies, yet in juftice we should have thought all but a fmall homage to his greatness, and a fmall acknowledgement of his infinite love. But now, when in his mercy he hath freed us from the yoke of ceremonial bondage, and, befide baptifm, hath appointed but this one facred rite for us to obferve, and one that is neither costly nor troublesome, but moft eafy and pleasant; what monsters of ingratitude fhall we make ourselves, if we flight this his gracious inftitution?

V. By neglecting this divine ordinance, you put greater contempt upon the true and living God, than heathens do upon their dumb idols. How great is the refpect that fome brutifh idolaters fhow to idols, who cut their flesh, thed their blood, facrifice their children, and ftick at nothing, though never so hard or painful, to tef tify their homage and obfequioufnefs to their ugly deities! And fhall we, Chriftians, profeffed fervants of the glorious Son of God, our sovereign Lord and Redeemer, neglect his easy inftitution, and refufe to please him in fo fmall a thing! Surely the barbarous favages will rife up in judgment with many profeffed Chriftians, and condemn them for their difobedience. You, perhaps, on fome occafions, will profefs to pity the blind heathens and brutish Indians, who are ftrangers to Chriftianity, and live and die in darkness; but, have not we as much reason to pity you, who difown and pour contempt on that holy religion you were educated in, and thereby put yourselves in a condition worfe than theirs? For, the Apostle tells us, that it is "better not to have known the way of truth, than, after we have known it, to turn away from the holy commandment," 2 Pet. ii. 21. And our Saviour faith, that it will be more tolerable for the dark cities of " Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judgment, than it will be for the enlightened Capernaum and Bethfaida," Matt. xxi. 22. Your knowledge and profeffion

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of the truths of the Chriflian religion do very much aggravate your disobedience to the laws and inftitutions thereof. You think their condition dreadful, that fay there is no God, and no doubt it is fo; but what better is your cafe? you acknowledge there is a God, but live as if you defied him, by open contemning and neglecting of his ordinances.

VI. By fighting this ordinance, you contemn the most advantageous offer that ever God made unto men. Here God the Father offereth to make over Chrift to you, and all his purchase, and feal your right thereto. Particularly to give you his bleffed Son, as your "wisdom, righteoufnefs, fanctification, and redemption," I Cor. i. 3c. As your wisdom, to enlighten you, and free you from ignorance; as your righteousness, to justify you, and free you from the guilt of fin; as your fanctification, to make you holy, and free you from the reigning power and pollution of fin; as your redemption, to reftore you to the liberty of the fons of God, bring you to the inheritance, and free you eternally from fin and fatan, hell and wrath. Now, O finner, if thou declineft to come here and take Chrift as thy wifdom, how foolish and ignorant must thou ftill remain? If thou refufe Chrift as thy righteoufnefs, how naked and guilty will thy foul be? If thou refufe Chrift as thy fanctification, how vile and polluted must thou ftill continue ? If thou refuse Chrift as thy redemption, who will redeem thee from the wrath to come?

Confider alfo the near and happy relations which Jefus Chrift himfelf offereth to ftand in to thofe who cordially receive him in this ordinance; fuch as that of a mafter, a father, a captain, a fhepherd, a bridegroom, and husband. And, how great muft our fin and danger be, if we flight fuch kind offers! If you refufe Chrift as a mafter now, will he not refufe to own you as a fervant in the great day? If you refuse him as a captain, will he not reject you as one of his foldiers? If you refufe him as a thepherd, will he not deny you as one of his fheep? If you refufe him as a bridegroom and hufband, will he not difown you as his bride and fpoufe? And, if Chrift thus difown you at the great day, how fearful will your condition be for ever?

VII Neglecting this feaft of memorial is a thing moft unreasonable in itfelf, as being againft all the rules of humanity and gratitude Surely it is moft agreeable to re fou and equity, that all Chriftians thou d love their Redeemer and benefactor, and keep up the memorial of his great adventures for ranfoming their fouls. Is it not a moft re fon ble demand, and a very small return he requires of you for all his love, only "eat and drink in remembrance of me?" It is not, Go to a fcaffold; but go to a well covered table: It is not to bleed and burn, but to eat and drink: It is not to feed on the bread of affliction, or water of adverfity, but bread that strengthens the heart, and wine that cheers the drooping fpirit; delicious fare, which your Saviour hath bleffed and fweetened for you. Now, must it not be against all reafon to refufe this agreeable demand, in order to preferve the memory of the love of your incomparable Bene factor, and the fufferings of your dying Friend, which he patiently endured for you?

ingrateful world! Can ye not endure to think on that which Chrift refufed not to endure for you? Did he leave the glory of his Father, to be cloathed with your nature, and to dwell in a fleshly cottage? Did he live a life of forrows and fufferings, and at laft undergo a fhameful, painful, and curfed death? Dit he rife again, and afcend on high to prepare manfions, and take poffeflion of them for you? Dth he there abide to agent and plead your caufe with God? And, do ye believe that he is thortly to come again to receive you to himfelf? And, will ye not for a fhort while here keep up the remembrance of his love? O, did Chrift drink Vinegar on the cross for you, yea, vinegar made bitter, tart, and poifonable, with your fius? And wil ye not drink wine at his table, that is fweetened and made delicious with the choice bleflings of his love, and confolations of his Spirit? Did he drink a cup of wrath for you, and will ye not drink a cup of bleffing for him, ny, for yourfeives? For, the advantage is only yours.

O Chriftians, had we the due impreffions of the amazing goodness and incomparable love of our matchlefs Redeemer, the remembrance where of he enjoins us to VOL. I.

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