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dangers; combatants in a serious warfare, that we must steadily fix our eyes on our true country, and through faith and hope bear up against all our corruptions, even unto the end. Let us then be careful not to neglect those opportunities, nor to avoid that gracious invitation which he has given us. We cannot well deserve the name of Christians, if we will not attend at the table of our Master. If a certain superstitious dread, or a sense of unworthiness, deter any who are present, from a participation in this ordinance, I trust what has been said on its nature and institution, will do away such erroneous apprehensions, and that they will cease to plead a want of due preparation, and of a proper frame of mind, if they would view the Lord's Supper as one of those means of grace, which alone can remove the obstacles, and produce the dispositions suitable to its reception.

Should the faith of the communicant be at first but weak, his hope but slender, and his charity languid, yet let him not despair; let him examine himself, if he sincerely desire to lead a Christian life, and to cherish the devout sentiments naturally accompanying this holy rite, and so let him come boldly to the throne of grace, and "eat of this bread, and drink of this cup." Let him be persuaded, that in so doing, his graces will be increased, his spiritual progress facilitated, and his conquest over the powers of darkness more complete and permanent. His first approach to the heavenly banquet will qualify him for a fuller participation of the second, and every subsequent communion with the saints on earth, will tend to fix those habits of holiness which can alone admit him to the communion of the saints in heaven. All modes of instruction, indeed, such as preaching and reading; all modes of devotion, if rational and scriptural, tend undoubtedly to obtain divine grace; and that portion of grace so procured, may, by the mercy of God, be sufficient for us; but these are all preparatory to the great opportunity afforded in the eucharist, for changing VOL. I.

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our hearts entirely, and for receiving an earnest, a pledge, an assurance (under the divine seal) of salvation, or a happy eternity. Faith, hope, and charity, are wonderfully im proved and enlivened by the eucharist. We must have faith in order to receive worthily; but to him that hath, shall be given, in this holy ordinance, in full and running over measure, and pressed down. The actual participation of grace is so pleasant, that it always creates in the soul an appetite for more; the mind experiencing the faith of God's promises in the actual reception of the blessings, is so confirmed in goodness, as to be in little danger of future relapses into any great sins, much less into doubt and infi. delity. Hope of everlasting felicity is encouraged in the eucharist, by a foretaste of heavenly happiness enjoyed, in some degree, when the communicant is under the influence of the Divine Spirit, shed upon his heart, while worthily performing this mysterious rite. As for charity, what can more effectually promote it. In the eucharist, we are taught to view Christ as our head, and ourselves, with all Christians, as members of his mystical body. It is the feast of love, and the heart that feeds upon it with a proper relish, cannot retain a particle of envy, revenge, or malevolence. But it must ever be remembered, that in the present case, the Holy Spirit, and not the created elements, is the cause of these holy affections. He can adopt what means he pleases to excite them, as our Saviour cured corporeal blindness by the application of the first materials that occurred, even the moistened clay, however they appeared unequal to the purpose, to minds trained in the schools of human art and philosophy.

Such being the simple nature of this holy ordinance, and such its unquestionable benefits, while, at the same time, a due attention to it is the surest proof of the increase of piety in every Christian congregation, must it not appear a singular phenomenon, and must it not be a subject of humiliating concern to every minister of the Gospel, and every

serious Christian, to see it treated with such general neglect? The man of labour and of business, the man of pleasure, and the man of ambition, seem to take little notice of it,-whether from thoughtlessness, from contempt, or from the multitude of their occupations, is not easy to determine. All that can be said respecting such persons, is, that the Churches are open, and they are invited to enter and receive instruction, that treatises are written, and offered to their perusal, and that if they will not enter the one, nor read the other, on themselves only must fall the evil consequences. In the day of pain, sickness, or some other adversity, they may learn to feel the want of that consolation which naturally arises from a solemn remembrance of the sufferings and death of their Redeemer. At any rate, on the whole, it appears to be certain, from an accurate view of this ordinance, that Christians cannot live consistently with their profession, who wilfully neglect it. Our Church pronounces it to be generally necessary to salvation, and her decision is sanctioned by the doctrine of the most remote and soundest antiquity. In pressing it upon your consciences, I have discharged my duty. The success must be left in his hands, who alone can enlighten the understanding to see the truth, and the will to embrace it. And now, &c. &c.

SERMON XIII.

ETERNAL DEATH.

AND THESE SHALL GO AWAY INTO EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS INTO LIFE ETERNAL.-Matt. xxv. 46.

My brethren, it is to one of the most awful truths of our holy religion, that I would now invite your attention, namely, to the solemn consideration of your everlasting destiny, of the final and irrevocable sentence which the Judge of all mankind will pass upon every man, woman, and child, that has ever lived upon the earth, when as he himself assures us, the wicked "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."* Now, as we, my brethren, shall constitute á part of that innumerable multitude, which must then stand before the judgment-seat of God, it surely concerns us all, clearly to understand, and feelingly to ponder, what the volume of revelation makes known to us on this all-important subject. We

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This text is the poor man's creed. It is his religion. It is to be imprinted upon his memory, and upon his heart. It is what the most simple can understand. It is, when understood and believed, that which excels all the knowledge and learning in the universe. It is what we are to carry about with us in our thoughts, daily remember, and daily reflect upon, not only in Church, not only in our devotions, but in our ordinary occupations, in whatever we intend, plan, or execute. In a word, it is what we are always to remember, that the wicked 'shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal,'”—Paley.

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