IV.

"The preparations of the heart are from the Lord."

I

FIND with regard to myself," wrote, in the last century, an eminent servant of God, "that the benefit of Prayers, Sacraments, and the means of grace bears exact proportion to the care I take to implore the influence and operation of the Spirit in them; that when I am only a little concerned in asking of the Lord the inestimable comfort of His help, my spiritual duties afford me little comfort in the exercise, and leave no lasting impressions. On the contrary, when I am importunate with the Lord to put life and power in the ordinances, and to make me feel some correspondent affections, I am enabled to say, 'Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.'

In these words we have the true nature of prepa. ration for every spiritual exercise-the diligent seeking for the Holy Spirit's help that in divinely-appointed outward ordinances our souls may find and

*Letters of the Rev. H. Venn.

enjoy communion with the Lord of ordinances. And such must be the preparation of those who desire in faith to draw near to the Table of the Lord.

As the human tendency is ever to take from the simplicity of God's appointments by adding thereto doctrines and commandments of men, so the subject of preparation for the Lord's Supper has been frequently put forward in a most mistaken point

of view.

This preparation has been represented as requiring that, in prospect of the approaching solemnity, men should transfer themselves into an entirely distinct state of religious feeling and devotion from that of their ordinary life; and, day by day, mount, by prayers, meditations, and vows of obedience, upon a species of spiritual ladder which shall finally land them upon a platform of sanctification sufficiently exalted to permit of their fitly receiving the Holy Sacrament.

The utter contradiction which this system of preparation offers to every page of the word of God appears upon the slightest comparison of the

two.

"The preparations of the heart are from the Lord," and the Holy Spirit can alone, by His influences from on high, and by the application of the blood of Christ, meetly fit us for appearing before Him. An endeavour to lay in a stock of our own merits, of vows of obedience, and of a certain registered number of hours of meditation which may be presented before Him in whose

sight the heavens are not clean, as constituting a ground of acceptance, is a practical putting aside of One who, by His full, perfect, and sufficient atonement for our sins, proclaimed Himself "the Way."

Such a course of preparation, moreover, shows a complete ignorance of the very nature of the Lord's Supper, which is the outward representation in a singularly touching and heart-warming manner of that which is the continual and daily practice of the believer-the spiritual feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ. This, as we have seen, he does habitually in private communion with his God. "Truly repenting him of his sins, and steadfastly believing that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the cross for him, and shed His blood for his redemption, and earnestly remembering the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health," though with no outward ceremonial. The transition from this habitual spiritual participation to a similar though more public communion accompanied, according to our Lord's command, by the outward memorials of His love, is no disconnected and extraordinary observance in the believer's walk. It is a rendering visible of one of the hidden links of his habitual and daily life-the outward showing forth

of that inward nourishment whereby is alone maintained the inner, spiritual vitality of the soul.

Thus to the child of God continually feeding on this hidden manna, the Lord's Supper can never appear out of place: nay, even though unexpectedly he should find its sacred memorials offered to him, it will be to him as though a pilgrim travelling through a desert should light suddenly upon a table spread with choicest dainties, and placed for his refreshment in the wilderness-path by the Lord of the pilgrims Himself. Of such dainties, so provided, he will joyfully partake.

The first preparation for the Lord's Supper is, therefore, an earnest seeking for the Holy Spirit's heavenly influences that the outward participation may be a true showing forth of that which is the habit of the inner spiritual life.

Serious self-examination must also form a part of our preparation. St. Pauls says, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." And firstly, this examination should be directed to the consideration of our relationship to the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

1. "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." The Corinthians had greatly erred in respect of their attendance at the Lord's Supper. There had been heresies among them, and some had been so profane as to make

that Holy Table a place for drunkenness and gluttony. Such conduct was sternly rebuked by the apostle, who exhorted all who would draw near to the sacred ordinance to examine themselves, whether indeed they were so spiritually finding in Christ the food of their souls as to be able to discern behind the outward symbols of bread and wine the precious signified Body of the Lord.

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And, therefore, our preparation for approach to the Lord's Table (especially if for the first time), is to be a serious, solemn, self-inquiry as to our own position before God-whether we are truly in Christ, and Christ in us; whether we have transferred our sins to Christ and obtained the pardon sealed with His blood; whether, feeling ourselves to be poor and miserable, and blind, and naked, we are receiving from His hands the robe of His righteousness, are accepted in the Beloved," and are beheld having "put on Christ" as holy and blameless, and to be admitted to the full sunshine and bliss of the everlasting favour of the Eternal One. For such is the position of those who, having been crucified and buried with Christ—having, that is to say, so taken hold of Him as their Substitute and Proxy, as to appropriate his death as being as truly for their sin as if they had themselves paid its penalty-have risen with Him, and sit in heavenly places by their great Representa