and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways, draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort." Now, when I see persons, who have been invited only once or twice, leave the church when the sacrament is administered, without becoming partakers of it, I charitably hope, that it is owing to some scruple of conscience, or to want of proper information concerning the nature of the sacred service, which makes them appear to disesteem it, and that they will shortly be of a better mind; but, when invitation passes after invitation for the space of a year, or two, or longer, I am constrained to entertain a different opinion, and to say to myself, when the pew doors open, and the congregation walks out, "There goes the man, there goes the woman, who do not truly and earnestly repent them of their sins, who are destitute of christian love and charity, who have no intention to lead a new life, nor to follow the commandments of God, nor to walk from henceforth in his holy ways."

All spiritual communicants, you know, say, "Here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee;" and you think, that if you join with them, it

will be entering into an engagement to be better persons than ever you were before, that you must renounce sin and wickedness of every description, and walk in the paths of godliness all the days of your lives.-Are you afraid of this? Will you presume to call yourselves Christians, and yet not act as such? What, on a future day, if you go away, shall the godly who remain think of you? What shall the congregation at large think of you? Nay, what will you think of yourselves? Can you bear the thought of being marked as reprobate characters, as persons in whom there is no faith, no love, no piety, no repentance? Will it satisfy you that your case is common, and that the multitude is of the same mind? Alas! do you not read that "broad is the way which leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat?" How can the carelessness of other people prove an excuse for your own? Rather, will not their contempt of Christ, and his invitation, since you knew it, and took no pains to avoid it, increase your condemnation ? But, let me ask, What should hinder you from determining henceforth to lead a new life; for, "What is required of thee, O man, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Thou art to believe, and love, and to obey, from a principle of love;

and if thou canst doubt of the satisfaction which arises therefrom, ask the faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will tell thee that, when they were the servants of sin, they had hard labour, much uneasiness, and poor wages; but, when they renounced that slavery, and renewed their covenant with God in Christ, they found his yoke was easy, and his burden was light; they counted his service to be perfect freedom, and could run in all the ways of his commandments.

Come then, my brethren, all things are now ready, and nothing is wanting to make you completely and eternally happy, but your own consent. The Holy Spirit is ready to work a conviction of these truths in the heart of every one, who is not obstinately determined to quench his good motions; Jesus Christ is ready to give remission of sins to all, who by faith truly turn unto him; and the Father is ready to embrace you in the Son of his love, as his own dear children. In order to confirm and strengthen you, the table of the Lord will be again spread, and, if your lives are so long spared, another invitation will be given, and another opportunity afforded you, of joining yourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, and taking him to be your king and governor, your protector, redeemer, friend, advocate, and sanctifier.

L

Now, I beseech you, think seriously of what I have set before you. Here is nothing to alarm or distress you; nothing but what you must allow to be just and reasonable. What can be more comfortable than to meditate upon the love of a dying saviour? What more honourable than to renounce the dominion of Satan for ever, and to avow that you are, and will be the servants of the Lord Almighty? Indeed, my friends, you can hardly conceive what privileges you forfeit by continuing in sin. Hear the testimony of a Heathen, lately converted to the Christian faith, upon this subject, and take care that such do not stand up against you in judgment at the great day. His instructors having good reason to hope that his heart was changed, and understanding that he desired to have a share with Christians in the blessings they enjoyed, allowed him to see the celebration of the Lord's Supper before he actually partook of it. "I shall never forget (said he) what I felt when I was admitted a spectator at the Holy Communion. Oh! how grieved did I feel, that I had spent so much time in sin: I could have sunk into the earth for shame." Oh! that such a godly shame might cover the negligent among you. Oh! that you might blush for your past misconduct, and immediately repent and reform.

If you should want any further information

respecting the nature of the solemn engagement, I shall be ready at any time to give it; but I would recommend you at present serious. ly and deliberately to read over the service of the Church, which is used at the administration of the Sacrament, and, I trust you will be convinced, if your heart be upright, (and if it be not, the invitation to be a partaker will not be addressed to you) that it will be the wisest thing you can do to join yourselves with the more serious disciples of Christ at the next festival, so that you may live in peace with God, and with all the world;-besides that, possessing in your own hearts a peace, which passeth all understanding, you will be ready and desirous to depart, whenever it is the will of the Lord, that you may sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Redeemed in the Kingdom of Heaven for evermore.