wisdom and grace to correct the error, or to supply the deficiency. But, believe me, you will not do this to any good purpose by mere natural intellect, however you may improve it, or however sedulously you may apply it to the theory of religion. I have written for a practical purpose, and you will have read these pages in vain, unless you have read them for a practical purpose also. My purpose has been to urge you to use all means to bring your will into conformity with your belief; to feel as you know you ought to feel; to act as you know you ought to act: and I now close this letter with a humble prayer, that the Almighty power of divine grace may accompany and strengthen the weakness of the instrument; that you may be preserved from indifference and bypocrisy; and that through time and through eternity you may have reason to bless God that you were invited to reconsider and repeat your baptismal covenant in the ..holy ordinance of Confirmation. Your affectionate Friend and Pastor,

C. H. TERROT.

LETTER THIRD.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S

SUPPER.

LUKE Xxii. 19, 20; ACTS ii. 41, 42; 1 Cor. xi. 2334.

MY YOUNG Friends,

You have long ago learned from the Catechism of the Church, that a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto us, and ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof. In the sacrament of the Lord's Sup-per, or, as it is sometimes called, of the Eucharist, there are the external signs of bread and wine, representing the body and blood of Christ there is the express institution by Christ, as appears from the first of the texts of Scripture above referred to; there is the spiritual grace represented, namely, all the benefits which, according to the Gospel covenant, result from a lively faith in the atoning efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood upon the cross; and finally, there is a close connexion between the sign and the

thing signified, the external sacrament being a means whereby we receive the internal grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof. All the points here asserted, except the last, are so clear to every one at all acquainted with the Gospel narrative, that although writing for the younger portion of my flock, I conceive it unnecessary to offer any thing in the way of proof, further than to request you will read the texts of Scripture to which I have referred, or perhaps the entire chapters or paragraphs in which they occur. But though it be quite unnecessary to prove what is notorious, namely, that the Eucharist is a sensible representation of the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood, under the figures of bread and wine; yet it may be expedient to turn your attention to the fullness of the evidence which we possess, that this sacrament was really instituted by the Redeemer. And I do so, because this evidence goes to prove, not merely the validity and divine origin of this sacred rite, but renders the actual and general usage of the Lord's Supper a standing proof of the truth of the whole Gospel system, both as to matter of fact and matter of doctrine.

We possess, then, a clear and well-authenticated record, stating as an historical fact, that Christ died upon the cross, and that he himself frequently stated the purpose of his death to be the salvation of the world. Now, suppose any Christian who builds his hopes

upon the reality of this fact, to be tempted with doubts as to the integrity of the record; be possesses in the certain knowledge, that from a period near the assigned date of Christ's sufferings, and certainly not before, all per- | sons professing to believe in Christ, in all parts of the world, have agreed to celebrate the Eucharist in an intentional commemora tion of his death; he possesses, I say, in this undoubted and indisputable fact, the most satisfactory answer to all doubts as to the truth of the Gospel. For of all proofs of a past event, there is none so perfectly satisfactory as uniform unvarying consent, attested and supported by some uniform rite of commemoFation. Thus, the rejoicings which take place among Protestants in Ireland, on the 1st of July, or on the 5th of November in this island, prove, not perhaps that a great battle was gained by King William on the banks of the Boyne in 1690, nor that a conspiracy was actually entered into to destroy the King and Parliament in 1605; but they prove a general belief to have prevailed in those years, that such events had occurred; and would go so far towards a proof of the events, even though all historical written records of them had been lost. And just in the same way the certainty that the Eucharist has been universally praetised by Christians ever since the alleged date of Christ's sufferings, proves, indisputably, that at that date a body of men in Jerusalem

actually believed the facts of the Gospel nar rative; that is, they believed to be true, facts which, if they happened at all, must have been subjected to the test of all their senses, and that in a long course of familiar and daily experience. And thus it has pleased God to establish, and to continue among us, the sa crament of the Lord's Supper, primarily intended for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls, and, secondarily, for a standing. evidence of the truth of that Gospel narrative. on which our hopes for time and for eternity are fixed. It is a singular institution-it tallies with nothing that man ever knew or imagined, except the great Gospel doctrine of the atonement; and on the faith of that atonement having been really offered and accepted, we' celebrate this religious solemnity, and believe it to be instrumental to our spiritual welfare. It stands, throughout the Christian world, an abiding evidence of the original fact which it commemorates; and as certainly as the monuments and statues, which adorn our cities, prove, and will prove, to future generations, that those eminent men in whose honour they were erected, once really lived and acted; so certainly does the sacrament of the Lord's Supper convey to every right-judging mind the assurance and certain conviction, that the Gospel narrative is essentially true, and that' our faith is built upon a rock which cannot be shaken.

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