to enable you sincerely to acknowledge and fulfil your baptismal engagements.

(3.) Endeavour to understand the nature, obligations, and duties of this ordinance; and for this purpose carefully read over the order of confirmation.

If you properly understand, and truly enter into the spiritual service appointed for confirmation, you cannot be unprepared to undertake the duties to which it binds you. If your views of the rite be such as the service exhibits, and your desires, such as the bishop and the church express for you in their petitions, you may humbly hope that the Holy Spirit has disposed your heart sincerely to ratify and confirm the vows made for you by your sponsors in your baptism. With these views and dispositions you may come to the ordinance in the assurance of faith and hope, that God will accept you as his reconciled and adopted children; and that he will impart his grace, that so you may fulfil, as well as undertake, the engagements of confirmation.

2. Let us now consider the duties that may be more peculiarly appropriate after your confirmation.

After you have seriously and solemnly devoted yourselves to God, you must look for grace and strength, that you may live consistently with your profession. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (1.) Frequently review what you have done in

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making this covenant with the Lord. You have avouched the Lord to be your God, and to walk in his ways, and to hearken to his voice. Never forget this solemn declaration. Be careful to lead a new life. And let me beseech you to devote a portion of every day to reading the holy scriptures, and the exercise of devotion to your Maker, and Redeemer. Earnestly implore his assistance, counsel, and blessing in all the changing scenes of time; and do not suffer the cares or pleasures of life to interfere with this sacred duty, for without continually seeking divine help, you cannot expect to fulfil the promises and engagements you now make.

(2.) Diligently attend upon all the means of grace. Never neglect the public worship of God; nor let trifling obstacles cause you to absent yourselves from his temple, and the assembly of his saints; and you will find it to be none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy; and spend its sacred hours in the service of your God. "Call the sabbath a delight; holy of the Lord, honourable; and honour him, not doing thy own ways, nor finding thy own pleasure, nor speaking thy own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord."

(3.) Prepare to come to the table of the Lord. Confirmation has generally been considered in the church as preparatory to receiving the Lord's supper. And will it not be your duty and privilege, after you have undertaken your baptismal engagements, and professed yourselves to be the servants of Jesus Christ,

to join with his people in the most solemn and sacred ordinance of the church? This he requires of you, as an evidence of your love to him, and of your thankful acceptance of the benefits of his death and passion. Every time, indeed, you come to the sacrament of the Lord's supper, you will virtually repeat the vows of your confirmation. If, therefore, you do not repent of the obligations, continue from time to time to renew them; and thus the Lord shall be your God, and your everlasting portion.

(4.) Let your whole conduct and conversation be such as becometh the gospel of Christ.

Aim at a consistent and upright course; and glorify your Saviour by living not unto yourselves, but unto him who died for you, and rose again. Attend to every personal, relative, and social duty. Have you parents?-Honour your father and mother; for this is the first commandment with promise. Guard against the temptations and dangers of the world, by watchfulness and prayer. Avoid, as you would a serpent, all companions, pleasures, entertainments, or writings, that have a tendency to lessen your sense of divine things. Consider the shortness of time; the uncertainty of life; and the sure and swift approach of death. Contrast all these vain pleasures with the importance of eternity, and the glory that shall be revealed. Reflect upon the happiness of heaven, and the torments of hell; and let the consideration of these infinitely momentous concerns, influence your conduct and conversation throughout your remaining days. "Be steadfast and

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unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

your

And now, my dear young friends, what more shall I say? May the favour and blessing of the eternal God rest upon you at all times. May he graciously enable you to fulfil the duties to which you are called: and make you spiritual, humble, and consistent christians. As such, you are the members of Christ's body; his flesh, and his bones. Remember Jesus Christ, therefore, who died for sins, was raised again for your justification, and now ever liveth to make intercession for you. May you never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified; but manfully fight under his banner against sin, the world and the devil, and continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants until your life's end. And then may every one be at length received with the Saviour's plaudit, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

Amen and amen.

SERMON XXIV.

MATTHEW Xxvi. 28.

AND AS THEY WERE EATING, JESUS TOOK BREAD AND BLESSED IT, AND BRAKE IT, AND GAVE IT TO THE DISCIPLES, AND SAID, TAKE, EAT; THIS IS MY BODY. AND HE TOOK THE CUP AND GAVE THANKS, AND GAVE IT TO THEM, SAYING: DRINK YE ALL OF IT; FOR THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, WHICH IS SHED FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.

THE mind of man, in his present state, is such as to render it extremely difficult for him to receive or retain lively impressions on any subject, which is not, in some way or other, presented to his senses. To this weakness of our nature, the great Author of our being condescends, by representing to us spiritual subjects under sensible images. In the Mosaic dispensation, religious instruction was frequently conveyed by type, figure, and visible representation. In the Christian economy, the great mysteries of our redemption, though more clearly revealed, are also exhibited and impressed upon our minds, by similar means, in the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. But though the application of water to our persons, and the presentment of the symbols of the body and blood of Christ to our sight, touch,