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SERMON XVIII.

ENCOURAGEMENT

FOR

THOSE WHO HAVE ATTENDED THE

HOLY COMMUNION.

SERMON XVIII.

ECCLESIASTES, ix. 7.*

Go thy way; eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepteth thy works.

THE gratification, which I felt in seeing an unusually large number of communicants at the table of the Lord, on the last Sabbath, has induced me to preface my discourse on the present occasion, with the portion of Scripture, which I have just read; for the religion, which I recommend, and by which you, who have taken the pledges of your Redeemer's love, profess to be bound, is no melancholy thing, but a source of great joy and comfort. In order to make this appear, let us consider the three following particulars.

I. The character of its Author.

II. What are the blessings, which He confers. III. The sentiments and conduct of the man, who receives His blessings.

* This Discourse was preached on the Sunday after the administration of the Sacrament.

1st. Let us consider the character of the Author of our Religion, that is, of God.

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God, says Saint John, is love. He is not only a lover of some pious persons, but love itself; and this love I conceive to be nothing else than benevolence flowing forth from a boundless ocean in copious streams to every creature, which has a capacity to receive them. "Thou lovest all things that are made," says Solomon in his Book of Wisdom, "and abhorrest nothing, which thou hast made, for never wouldst thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it."* Now, this divine love, we should remember, is both infinitely wise, and infinitely powerful. By his wisdom he directs the affairs of all creatures in all worlds, and by his power he puts all his plans into execution. He knows the exact time and season when to send adversity or prosperity; when to wound, and when to heal; when to kill, and when to make alive. Being the Lord of Hosts, millions of intelligent creatures are ready to execute his commands, and to become ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. The idea of such uncontrolable dominion, were it not combined with that of unbounded goodness, would be most horrible; but we know that the God, whom we wor

* Wisdom, xi. 24.

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