people, zealous of good works." Let your prayer, therefore, be, "Lord, I believe all these glad tidings, help thou mine unbelief. Lord increase my faith, and perfect that which is lacking in it, that feeling its strength, I may not doubt its reality."

Let your desire be toward this blessed Saviour, and your delight be in Him, and "love not in word, but in deed, and in truth." Come to Him saying, "whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none in all the earth that I desire beside Thee. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." Behold in your loving and all-merciful Redeemer, "the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely." Tell him that you love him. Say to him, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love Thee and have chosen thy testimonies as my heritage for ever." Tell him that you "are constrained by His love to live not unto yourself but unto Him who loved you, and gave Himself for you;"-that you find "His yoke easy and His burden light;"-that His commandments are not grievous," and that it is your delight to "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes." As he says, "ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you," tell Him it is your aim and purpose to "keep all his commandments and his statutes blameless." As He requires you to "love your neighbor as yourself and forgive enemies," ask Him to fill your heart with love and charity. towards all men. And as we "hereby know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren," "love one another with a pure heart fervently."

"But, O my God," you may still say, "how weak and how imperfect is my love! I even hate myself that I can love thee no more. I abhor myself that I love thy Christ no better; and blush to think that I am no more kindly affectioned to those whom thou hast loved with an everlasting love, and with whom I hope to live and converse for ever.

"My only comfort is, that I would love thee; I desire to love thee; I long to love thee, even as thou wouldst be loved. Lord, kindle my spark into a flame, and let that flame be strong and steady, and especially grant that my obedience may prove my love to be of the right kind; for how can I say I love thee, if my heart be not right with thee?—And for thy sake, may I love my neighbour; especially the happy members of that glorious family, to which it is my highest honour to belong: O may I love them as myself, and in honour prefer them before myself, and think no office of love too mean for me to stoop to in imitation of Him, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. (Matt. xx. 28.) And thou, O blessed Saviour, who hast died that I might be "cleansed from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and that thou mightest perfect holiness in the fear of

the Lord," grant that I may be made "perfect in every good work to do thy will," and that I may be sanctified wholly, and my whole spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless, to the coming of our Lord," (1 Thess. v. 23.)

Come, then, my friends, in this spirit, and with these desires, and "you shall be filled," and your souls shall be satisfied." Here you may expect to have your faith strengthened by the sensible representation which is made of Christ as both crucifled and slain. Here you may hope to have your love inflamed by the remembrance of that love, high as heaven, deep as hell, and stronger than death, and endless as a past and coming eternity, with which Christ hath loved you. Here your resolutions may be confirmed by the experience of His loving-kindness and tender mercy. Here your mind will be spiritualized by being set on things above, and seeing Him who is invisible. Here your whole spirit and conversation may be moulded by the grace and strength imparted unto you. Here your peace may flow as a river, and your joy be unspeakable and full of glory. Here you may be clothed in the whole armour of God, so that you may fight manfully the good fight of faith, be prepared for all the troubles of life, and made triumphant amid the agonies of death.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord is merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion; bless the Lord, O my soul."

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.'

CHAPTER IV.

THE TRUE BELIEVER REMEMBERING CHRIST AT THE COMMUNION

TABLE.

WHAT, my friend, are the ministers of Christ, at whose hand you are now about to receive the emblems of our Saviour's love and passion? "Let a man," says the apostle, "so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Were not this their high and exalted office so distinctly and unequivocally delineated and enjoined, it would be the very height of unpardonable and blasphemous presumption in any man to assume such a position between the high and holy Sovereign of the universe and his accountable and guilty creatures. But such being the duties which ministers are called upon to discharge, in dependence upon the gracious guidance and help of our adorable Redeemer, it would be presumption in them to shrink from it, or, under a plea of affected modesty, to make themselves prominent, and Christ, for whom they speak, but partially revealed. Especially is this true on such an occasion as that of the communion, when the King himself comes near, that He may hold intercourse with those who have chosen him as their Redeemer. Let, then, all thoughts of his ministers be banished from your mind, and let Christ himself speak to you on that occasion, when He will afford you the opportunity of celebrating this feast of love. It was on the same night in which he was betrayed that Christ took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto his disciples, saying, "This do in remembrance of me. "Likewise also" did He bless and give to them the cup. And what He did with the twelve apostles, He does also with all his disciples to the end of the world. "For," says the apostle Paul, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."

I. "This do," says Christ, "in remembrance of me." This do, because, in the first place, this is an ordinance which I appointed for My own glory, for your comfort, and as a means

of establishing, preserving, and perpetuating My church. "For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death"-ye do make a proclamation of the great fact and doctrine of My vicarious death for the atonement of sin, and the redemption of sinners. "Till I come again," at the great day of my appearing, "to judge the quick and the dead." "He that believeth" in me, as an atoning Mediator, and as an almighty and all-sufficient Redeemer," will then "be saved" "from the wrath that is to come;" while "he that believeth not" shall then be as assuredly damned. "For the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, in that day."

Dear reader, "Do you then believe in me"-this is the language which Christ addresses to you, "and that I am the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, besides whom there is none else, who am able to save to the uttermost all that come unto me by faith?"-"Do this, then, in remembrance of Me." Do you now receive Me as your Saviour in particular, and not merely as "the Saviour of all men," and do you believe on me in your heart?-then come near unto me at this time, and "do this in remembrance of Me." Do you put your trust-your hope for acceptance with God, and for every spiritual blessing, on that "work which the Father gave Me to do," and which I finished when I "gave up the ghost," as "a curse and a sin-offering" upon the cross, and do you do this, believing that "God is in Christ reconciling sinners unto himself, and not imputing unto them the guilt of their trespasses, but the merit of Christ's righteousness, so that being justified by faith they may have peace with God?"-then "do this in remembrance of Me." Do you fear, and tremble, and stand in doubt, when you look to your own heart, your own feelings, and your own inability; and do you feel that all "your wisdom is foolishness," all "your strength weakness," and "all your goodness but as the morning cloud and the early dew that soon vanishes away?"-then come here and "do this in remembrance of Me." Do you realize that this duty takes precedence of every other obligation, and that this privilege transcends immeasurably every other? then come, and with a full, a thankful, and a grateful heart, "do this in remembrance of Me." Do you feel that whereas you were once too proud to have Me to reign over you, too much ashamed to be thought religious, too worldly to care for spiritual things, and too carnally-minded to be willing to give up the pleasures

and vanities and gaieties of the world, you are now able to rejoice in being My disciple, and to find pleasure and delight in keeping My ordinances and commandments blameless?-then "do this in remembrance of Me." For you and such as you I have appointed this feast, and to you it is that I would ever give a welcoming invitation.

II. But, secondly, let me, says Christ, ask you to do this in remembrance, that is, in commemoration of what I am, and in attestation of your belief in My Divinity. "Whom do men say I am?" "Why, my Lord," you may reply, "men are very much divided in their sentiments respecting THEE. Some denounce THEE as an impostor, and some regard THEE but as one of the prophets, while others again consider that THOU art exalted among the angels and other high intelligences." "But whom," asks Christ again, "do you say that I am?" And what can you answer and say but what Peter said "THOU art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Yes, Lord, "we know Thee who Thou art, the Son of God." And Jesus answers, and says to you even as he did to Simon, "Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in Heaven, for no man can come unto Me except my Father draw him, and no man can call Me Lord, and trust in Me as such, except by the Holy Ghost."

When God revealed himself to Moses, He said, “I AM THAT I AM;" "and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." This God did, to teach the eternity and immutability of his Divine essence, and that all existing beings were created and sustained by him and derived their life from His. Remember therefore, what I also said unto you while I was yet with you in the flesh, "verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was I AM, and ye shall see the SON OF MAN sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven;"-and how again I revealed myself to John in my last communication to the world, saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Even, therefore, as I then told you, so would I have you now remember that, "as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given unto THE SON to have life in Himself;" "that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." "You believe in God," that he is self-existent, immutable, eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent; "believe also in Me, that I and the Father are one;" one in substance and equal in power, and therefore, that I am equally entitled to the glory and the homage of every creature, for, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and THE WORD WAS GOD." "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his