the Lord's table; because it is only by faith that we receive Christ, eat his body and drink his blood. The life of a Christian is a continual growth in grace by feeding upon Christ.

(See chapter 4th.)

Let us draw near in full assurance of faith. Heb. x. 22.

How shall a person know whether he has this faith?

It is attended by a lively sense of God's mercy through Christ, and is always evidenced by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness.

Faith which worketh by love. Gal. v. 6.

Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. James. ii. 17. A thankful remembrance of the death of Christ is also required, and to this end we are reminded, that we ourselves are "miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death." It is an easy thing, in repeating a general confession, to own this, but unless we feel it, we shall never heartily prize Christ as our Saviour: but the language of praise will be as unmeaning as the language of humiliation.

Why is charity with all men necessary?

Because this is a feast of love. Any unkindness of heart must therefore be quite unsuitable, and make us unacceptable to God. It can never be a feast of love to a revengeful spirit. By this ordinance we declare that we are fellow-members of one body, of which Christ is the Head: that we are all One Body, and can no more be severed from each other in heart and affection, without all the members suffering, than the members of the animal body can; that love and kindness should mark the spirit and temper of every individual; that we are one in the sight of God, in privilege, in the love of Christ, and in the glory provided for us. Christians thus declare themselves obliged to walk in love, as Christ hath loved them.

If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy bre ther, and then come and offer thy gift. Matt. v. 23, 24. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye ha love one to another. John xiii. 35.

Let us keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice. 1 Cor. v. 8.

We are all partakers of that one bread. 1 Cor. x. 17.
Ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
cause there were divisions among them.) 1 Cor. xi. 17.

(Be

Without charity I am nothing. 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph. iv. 3. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evilspeaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Eph. iv. 31, 32.

Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good works. Heb. x. 24.

If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John iv. 11.

With what disposition of mind should we come to the Lord's Supper?

With deep contrition and sorrow for our sins, which occasioned the death of our Saviour; with holy joy and thankfulness for the benefits to be derived therefrom; with a determination, by the grace of God, to offer and present to him ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice; and with perfect charity to all men, and especially with sincere love to God's people. Alas! how many who frequent this ordinance are dead to any spiritual sensations, go through the whole as a formality, and depart as cold and worldly as ever.

All are invited to this heavenly feast, who are religiously and devoutly disposed; but unless we have this wedding garment, (Matt. xxii. 12,) we are not meet partakers of this holy mystery; and although we may plead, like those in Luke xiii. 26, that we have eaten and drunk in the presence of the Lord, we shall be ordered to depart as workers of iniquity.

If we have not these dispositions of mind, we should pray for them. But we should not make our sins an excuse for neglecting this duty. This sacrament was appointed for our growth in these graces. We should remember that Christ is known to his disciples in breaking of bread. Luke xxiv. 35. He is the author of faith, and is appointed to give repentance; let us therefore come unto him in this his ordinance, and claim the benefits he offers in it.

Though we should feel ourselves defective in these graces, if we be really humble and contrite, and come heartily seeking Christ, God will not cast us out, nor turn his mercy from us. And we offend God, and deceive ourselves, if we show a constant slight of Christ's ordinance,

under a vain excuse, complaining of an obstacle which we take no pains to remove. If we are unfit for the Lord's supper here, we are not less unfit for the supper of the Lamb in glory.

Consider, those of you who have been brought to love Christ, how very wrong it is to neglect the last command he gave to his disciples,-"Do this in remembrance of me. And if that soul was to be cut off from the people of God who neglected to celebrate the passover (which was a type of the Lord's supper,) Exod. xii. 19; of how much sorer puishment, suppose ye, shall we be thought worthy, if we trample under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the covenant wherewith we are sanctified, an unholy thing? Heb. x. 29. Slight the condescending grace of your Redeemer no longer-accept the invitation to his table which has so often been held out to you. Ask him to prepare you to draw nigh, for the preparation of the heart is of God: and though you may be now weak in faith, yet by waiting upon him in this ordinance, your strength shall be renewed as the eagle's: you shall run and not be weary; you shall walk and not faint.

NOW THE GOD OF PEACE, THAT BROUGHT AGAIN FROM THE DEAD OUR LORD JESUS, THAT GREAT SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP, THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT, MAKE YOU PERFECT IN EVERY GOOD WORK TO DO HIS WILL, WORKING IN YOU THAT WHICH IS WELL PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST; TO WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN.

APPENDIX.

CATECHETICAL NOTICES.

ELEMENTARY instruction is of course of primary and essential importance to the acquisition of all knowledge. "With religion," Hooker remarks, "it fareth as with other sciences, the first delivery of the elements thereof must for like consideration be framed according to the weak and slender capacity of young beginners; unto which manner of teaching principles in Christianity, the apostle in the sixth to the Hebrews is himself understood to allude."

This allusion occurs in the second verse of this chapter, where the apostle enumerates among "the principles of the doctrine of Christ," or the elementary principles of the gospel, "the doctrine of baptisms." By this we are probably to understand, as Hooker seems to have done, the doctrine or system of instruction which is connected with baptisms, of which the principles enumerated formed a part. Thus the "baptism of John" (Acts xix. 3) was his doctrine, or the principles of religion which he taught. Thus the Israelites are said to have been "baptized unto Moses," that is into "the doctrine taught by Moses."* Dr. Owen represents the most general interpretation of this passage, (to which he himself adheres,) "as if the apostle had said, these principles of the doctrine of Christ, namely, repentance, faith, the resurrection and judgment, are those doctrines wherein they are to be instructed, who are to be baptized, and to have hands laid on them..... These, being the catechetical rudiments of Christian religion, are called here διδαχη βαπτισμων κ. τ. λ. or the doctrines that were to be taught in order to the administration of those rites.... All persons, who began to attend to the gospel,

* Whitby.

+ Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews.