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of the heavenly banquet. Standing in the more immediate presence of that incomprehensible Being, who permits us to regard him as our friend, while we worship him as our God, you will be fed by his word, cheered by his promises, and sustained by his Spirit: yea, the Paraclete himself will minister to your wants, and pour comfort into your hearts; while he cleanses your souls from iniquity, and effaces all the sulliage of sin.

Accustomed, as you are, to self-examination, you must be conscious, sadly conscious, of many offences, for which you again stand in need of forgiveness. Refreshed though you have often been by grace, still, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, you must be impatient to regale again on that spiritual food, which alone can satisfy the longing soul, and fill the hungry soul with goodness. Roused by the remembrance, of all that your Saviour, as at this season, has done for you, your bosoms must glow with zeal, to make what poor returns you can; to offer the oblation of prayer and praise, and to present yourselves, your souls and bodies, at the foot of the cross, a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice, unto your Lord and God. (14)

Happy the hours passed by the true believer, in preparing for, and receiving, this holy sacra

ment! With his faith invigorated, his hopes animated, and his piety exalted, he exercises the noblest powers of the understanding, and calls into action the purest energies of the heart. With all his feelings, desires, and faculties spiritualized, he feels, as the guest of his God, elevated in the scale of Being. And, rising from earth to Heaven, he anticipates the joys which are evermore at his Saviour's right hand, when, beneath the tree of life, and beside the fountains of living waters, he shall neither hunger any more, nor thirst any more.

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NOTES TO LECTURE II.

NOTE (1), page 52.

"ST. CYRIL, Catech. Myst. 5. n. 17., states, that, after the hymn, One Holy, a psalm was sung, inviting them to par ticipate of the holy mysteries, which was the thirty-first psalm; and, particularly, those words, Taste, and see that the Lord is gracious, which, he tells them, was not to be estimated or discerned, by their corporeal taste, but by the certainty of faith. For they were not bid to taste bread and wine, but the anti-type or sign, of the body and blood of Christ. This was a distinct psalm from those which were used to be sung afterwards, whilst the people were communicating: for this was an invitatory to communicate, but the others were for meditation and devotion, whilst they were actually partaking."-Bingham. Origines Ecclesiasticæ, book xv. chap. iii. sect. xxxiii.

I cannot refrain, from calling the attention of the reader, to one of the most important works, bearing upon primitive Christianity, which has appeared since the days of Bingham: I allude to Mr. Palmer's Origines Liturgica, or The Antiquities of the English Ritual. The reader will there find it satisfactorily proved, that the greater proportion of our Liturgy, has been used by the church, for fifteen hundred years; while the general out-->

line and some of our devotions can be traced, with great probability, to the apostolic age. It is, certainly, most remarkable, that, although individual bishops at first, and national branches of the Catholic Church afterwards, were permitted to make those alterations in the Liturgies, which circumstances required; yet they all adhered, not only to one general outline, but to some of the particular forms. Nay, this general outline was revered by some of those Christian communities, which, though holding the orthodox faith in the Trinity, differed from the Catholic Church.

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It is much to be wished that Mr. Palmer's work may be studied, and its references examined, by those sciolists, who are so eager to suggest, and so zealous to adopt, the most crude and undigested schemes for the alteration of the Liturgy.

On the subject of the primitive Liturgies, the learned non-jurors have hitherto been considered among the chief authorities. But it appears from Mr. Palmer's Origines Liturgica, (although the learned author, avoiding, as he judiciously does, all controversial remarks, omits to notice the fact,) that, in their vehement advocacy of the first revision of the Liturgy, properly so called,..or the Communion Service, they have been occasionally led into error, by having confined their examination to the Liturgies of the Eastern, to the exclusion of those of the Western Church.

NOTE (2), page 53.

"The Apostles have preached to us, from our Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ from God. Christ, therefore, was sent by God, the apostles by Christ; so both were orderly

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sent, according to the will of God. For, having received their command, and being thoroughly assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and convinced by the Word of God, with the fulness of the Spirit,.. they went abroad, publishing That the kingdom of Heaven was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed the first-fruits of their conversions to be bishops and ministers, over such as should afterwards believe; having first proved them, by the Spirit. Nor, was this any new thing; seeing that, long before, it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For, thus saith the Scripture, in a certain place, I will appoint their overseers in righteousness, and their ministers in faith."-St. Clement. First Epist. to the Corinthians, s. xlii.

"So, likewise, our Apostles knew, by our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would contentions arise upon account of the ministry. And, therefore, having a perfect foreknowledge of this, they appointed persons, as we said before, and then gave directions, how, when they should die, other chosen and approved men should succeed in their ministry."-Id. Ib. xliv.

"Since a commission from the Holy Ghost," observes Mr. Law," is necessary for the exercise of the clerical office, no one can now receive it, but from those, who have derived their authority, in a true succession from the Apostles. We could not call our present Bibles the Word of God, unless we knew the copies from which they are taken, were taken from other true ones, till we come to the originals themselves. No more could we call any, true ministers, or authorized by the Holy Ghost, who have not received their commission, by an uninterrupted succession of lawful ordainers."-Law's Second Letter to Bishop Hoadly, p. 320.

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