from earth, without death, of all now kneeling before Thee, or so effectually cleanse us from our sins now, that Satan's accusations against us may be silenced by Thyself on the Day of Judgment. We shall not fear that dreadful day when once, through Thy holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits, we know that we are Thine. Blessed-ever blessed be Thy holy Name ! There is no condemnation for those that are in Thee—who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Thou, oh Immanuel, art alone Thy Church's Hope of glory. Oh render Thyself very precious to the soul of our sick brother. May Thy Name be to him, henceforth, as ointment poured out. Purge his conscience from dead works to serve Thee, the Living God. Give him faith, hope, and trust in Thee. Endue him with the grace of heavenly love. Begin and carry on, good Lord, the silent but sure work of Thy grace in his heart. Guide him here by Thy counsel, and afterward receive him to glory. Hear us, we pray Thee, for Thine own precious merit's sake, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, and power, world without end. Amen.

Þ

XXXVII.

CHRIST INSTITUTING THE HOLY COMMUNION.

1 CORINTHIANS xi. 23-32.

You are hoping, my dear brother, to receive in a little while the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. I would have you employ the brief interval that is (D.V.) to elapse before the clergyman comes to administer it to you, in very glad but solemn thoughts and feelings respecting this holy spiritual feast. May the Holy Spirit guide and bless our meditations together now. May He ever keep you in such a state of preparedness that you may be ready and willing, at all times, to celebrate this our dear Saviour's dying love.

We will not meddle with the mystery of the holy communion. Our blessed Lord's language in its institution has been interpreted in many ways, and Christians have fallen into sad divisions, because they

have used reason rather than faith in their interpretation of that language. In the passage before us St. Paul seems to begin his remarks upon the sacred subject on which it treats in a very guarded manner. He does not attempt to give solutions of any difficulties connected with it. He gives no challenge to finite reason to pry with vain curiosity into its hidden and unsearchable depths. He offers it to pious and child-like faith as an ordinance sublime and awful in its nature, not to be carelessly approached, not to be lightly thought of, but yet containing in it a most blessed meaning, and full of holy comfort, encouragement, and edification for the souls of all devout recipients. "I have received of the Lord that which also I deliver unto you:"-I know no more than what the Lord Himself, by special revelation, has taught me :-"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." Thus are the body and blood of Christ spiritually and mystically, but not less really, taken by the faithful

in the Lord's Supper. Thus, in the bread broken and the wine shed, it is an eloquent memorial of Calvary. In receiving it worthily, the poor sinner reminds God that his dear Redeemer has already secured his Salvation by that Sacrifice for sins once for all offered, of which it is the commemorative symbol. The penitent and believing heart receives and rejoices in it, inasmuch as it discerns therein the earnest of its own perfect acceptance in God's sight, through the alone merits of the precious death of Christ.

It follows then that all who receive it unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord: they eat and drink condemnation to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body. Consciously or unconsciously they provoke God to "afflict them with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death," when they present themselves before the holy table without truly loving the Lord, or meaning honestly to give themselves up from that moment, as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to Him—which is their reasonable service. They draw nigh—but not in faith. They have but a hollow mockery of repentance. They bring to the Lord no sincere desires or resolutions in His strength to serve Him better for the time to come. They do not, in heart, feel their need of the Saviour's propitiation. They have no sweet and grateful thoughts of Calvary when they draw nigh.

They, too often, act as though they were conferring an obligation upon God by communicating at all. Ah, it is possible, my brother, to be repeatedly a recipient of the holy communion, and yet not to have one single thought about one's soul being washed white in the Saviour's precious Blood.

But I feel you want to know what is the state of preparedness requisite for receiving this holy sacrament. God forbid you should think I want to frighten you away from the holy table. It is of the utmost consequence that should come. you

You sin

against God: you convict yourself virtually of ingratitude against Christ when you do not come : but it is better you should never come at all, than that you should come unworthily.

If you are sincerely sensible that you are a grievous sinner: if you do not sew together the shreds and patches of your own self-righteousness as a communion-garment for the soul: if you know that, but for Christ, you have not the least ground for hoping you are eternally safe: if you love to think of Calvary: if your soul is ever "loooking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith :" if you love not the world, neither the things of the world: if you know yourself to be every moment of your life empty of all good in the sight of God, and regard the Lord Jesus as your "All in All," you are in a prepared state for receiving the Lord's Supper. Your dearest Saviour