the Gospel, by leading lives becoming its glorious light; and never forget the vows which you have this day made.

"To animate you to run the race of glory, lift up your eyes, O Communicants, from these symbols of the Lamb sacrificed, to the throne of the Lamb reign. ing in glory. There the harps of heaven are all employed, and the song of Moses and the Lamb is heard from ten thousand voices. The blessed above, with one accord, cast down their crowns at the foot of the throne, and cry out, Hosanna, and blessing, and praise! Many who, like ourselves, were frail and imperfect creatures, who, like us, struggled under the bondage of corruption, have now entered within the gates of the heavenly Zion, and have sat with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the new Jerusalem.

"O city of the living God! When shall we approach to thee. When shall the day come, when death shall be swallowed up in victory! when this corrupted shall put on incorruption; when this mortal shall put on immortality! This is our song in the house of our pilgrimage. Because of this our glory rejoices, and our flesh shall rest in hope.

"As ye have received the Lord Jesus, communicants, so walk ye in him. Go in peace; and may "the God of all peace and grace go with you. Amen.

[The Minister now generally quits the head of the Table; and after communicating at the Second Service, resumes his place in the Pulpit. One or more neighbouring Ministers, who act the part of his Assistants, preside, in succession, at the remaining Tables.]

1

PSALM ciii.

THOU, my soul, bless God the Lord,
And all that in me is

Be stirred up, his holy name

To magnify and bless.

2 Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God,

And not forgetful be,

Of all his gracious benefits

He hath bestow'd on thee.

TABLE SECOND.

[Before the Service.]

"

We are

OMMUNICANTS! you have sat down at this table to commemorate the death of your Redeemer. It was the solemn charge of your Lord himself, "Do this in remembrance of me.' so formed by the Author of our frame, that the memorial of a friend who is no more, and the token of a love that is past, has a wonderful power over the affections. The slightest circumstance that recals a departed friend, awakens the sensibility of the soul. The smallest relic acquires a value: a robe, a ring, or a portrait, calls up a history, on which the heart delights to dwell. How much more, the memorials of our glorious Redeemer, the dearest friend of the whole human race?

Remember now, then, O Communicants! the Man of sorrows. Remember his state and sufferings, from Bethlehem to the cross. Mark the reception he met with, despised and rejected of men: he came to his own, and his own received him not. In the midst of scorners, in the hands of persecutors, mark the patience and meekness of the Lamb of God. Follow him to the court of Herod, the hall of Pilate, and the hill of Calvary. See him at last, forsaken of God. Was there ever sorrow like unto his sorrow?

"Turn now, Christians, with hearts penetrated with grief, and bleeding at a sight so sad, to the table that is now before you. You are now to engage in the most solemn ordinance of our holy religion. You are going to transact with the King of Glory, now far from men and their cruelties, in the highest heavens; before whom ten thousand times ten thousand angels bow down and adore. You are about to commemorate that scene at which the sun grew dark and the earth trembled. You are going to seal your souls to the day of everlasting redemption. Not the last hour of your lives can be more awful than the

present. In the view of so great a covenant, I call upon you to banish all worldly passions, all unhallowed affections, all the leaven of malice and of wrath, and to sit with reverence, with faith, and with love, at the feast of salvation, of which you are now to partake. [Service.]

"The Lord Jesus, that night in which he was be 66 trayed, took bread," &c.

[After the Service.]

"How awful is this place! Surely God is here, " and I knew it not. This is none other than the "house of God; and this is the gate of heaven." These were the words of Jacob, when at Bethel he awoke from a dream in which he was favoured with the visions of God. The Almighty gave him this promise, In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

This promise, O Christians! is fulfilled. This great redemption is accomplished by him, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed.

While you now sit with him at his table, the Patriarchs who foresaw this day, the Prophets who foretold it, and the righteous men who desired to see it, are beholding your Redeemer face to face, and sitting on thrones in heaven, where they now dwell in the presence of God; where they now sing the high praises of the Lord. My friends! there are vacant thrones. Say, are they vacant for you? Do you look on him whom you have pierced with repenting eyes? Do your hearts glow with love to God, with love to Christ, with love to the brethren? Do your bosoms expand with benevolence to the whole creation of God? Do you aspire to the regions above, and breathe towards the mansions of immortality? Then, my friends, these thrones are vacant for you! As sure as if an angel descended from his orb, and hailed you to your seat at the right hand of the Father, so sure will be your arrival in the promised land. If you ful

fil the vows you now make, the you now make, the gates will lift up their heads that ye may enter in your blessed Redeemet will call unto you, "Well done; good and faithful "servants, enter ye into the joys of your Lord."

Thither, O Communicants, may ye all go! May God himself keep your feet from falling-hear this day your vows, and seal you to the day of redemption ! As ye have received the Lord Jesus," &c.

3

PSALM ciii.

ALL thine iniquities who doth

Most graciously forgive;

Who thy diseases all and pains

Doth heal, and thee relieve.
4 Who doth redeem thy life, that thou
To death may'st not go down:
Who thee with loving kindness doth
And tender mercies crown.

TABLE THIRD.

[Before the Service.]

OMMUNICANTS! the prophet Daniel foretold concerning our Saviour, "That he should con"firm a covenant with many." It is for this purpose that we have assembled this day. You sit down at this table to avouch the Lord to be your God, and to join yourselves unto him, in a perpetual covenant never to be broken.

If with sincere and upright hearts, if with true repentance and faith unfeigned, you accept the terms of the Gospel, then all the blessings of the new covenant are in this ordinance sealed to your souls. Then the promises of the covenant become your portion : Then the blood of the covenant pleads for you in heaven: Then the messenger of the covenant brings you the glad tidings of salvation: Then the Mediator of the covenant gives you access to the holiest of all, by that new and living way which he hath consecrated with his flesh within the vail.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion," said the Prophet of old, "for behold thy King cometh!" Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion," say we now, "for behold thy King is come!" Sing hosanna: Strew his path with flowers: He who loved us is come ! When Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, the Jews, observing his emotion, cried out, "Behold how he "loved him!" Christians! The ordinance which we are now to celebrate, represents the Redeemer, not as shedding tears, but shedding his blood for his friends. Much greater reason have we then to cry out,— "Behold how he loved the human race!"

My friends, this is a feast of joy: This is the eucharist, or song of thanksgiving. When the Patriarchs saw afar off this day which we now commemorate, they rejoiced: The prophets broke out into strains of exultation, when they foretold its arrival : The angels, when they announced its approach, tuned their harps to higher joy, and sung, "Glory to God "in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will to "the children of men." It is a token of love which had no beginning, and which shall never have an end. Like the bow appearing in the cloud in the day of rain, which the hand of the Most High hath bended, it is a memorial of the world's being preserved from one deluge, and a signal that it shall never be destroyed by another.

To commemorate this great salvation, and to enter into covenant with God, I now distribute among you the symbols of the body and of the blood of Christ.

[Service.]

"The Lord Jesus, that night in which he was be"trayed took bread," &c.

[After the Service.]

"I will arise and go to my Father, and

say, Father, "I have sinned against heaven and before thee." In