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thy only friend, and of thy joyful expectation of being presented, one day, by him to his Father, complete in body and soul. "Thus, as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth And these pledges

the Lord's death till he come." were instituted, says the exhortation," for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and endless comfort."

Be it then remembered, that the true comfort of the soul is Christ crucified for our sins, Christ expected to appear again to complete our rest and felicity. This is endless comfort indeed and because we are slow to believe, and apt to forget the loving-kindness of the Lord, therefore would our Lord have us, frequently, to remember him in this ordinance, since we cannot fail at the same time to remember our own comforts. Then, in the faith of this full and everlasting Salvation, the Exhortation concludes with directing us to give thanks, to submit to the will of God in all things, and study to serve him in true holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

The Communion-service then leads us to confession of sin. The Church is well aware that whom God exalts he will see humbled first. We fall on our knees, and join in the most self-abasing confession of guilt, for the lowliest posture of the body and the deepest humiliation of the heart becomes us. Let the communicant in this act set the majesty of the HIGH and HOLY ONE before his eyes; let him think of his own personal guilt in light which may most affect him; let him charge his memory with those views of his own iniquity,

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which he knows by experience most affect him, and which show to him, with peculiar emphasis, the need he has of Christ's blood. Here he may expect the fulfilment of the promise in Zec. xii. "I will pour the spirit of grace and supplication; and they shall look on me whom they have pierced." The true skill of Christianity lies in mingling together the lowest self-abasement and the most confident dependence on Christ. You may conceive yourself like the high priest, in the expiation day* confessing over the goat, and laying upon him, to carry into the wilderness, all the iniquities of the people. Jesus is both the real high Priest and the real scape goat; and you should, by faith, view him pleading for you above. While with the deepest contrition you confess that the burden of your sins is intolerable, keep your eye on him; and by faith transfer your guilt over to him. By thus confessing your sins; transferring the guilt of them to Christ; bewailing your own utter unworthiness; glorying in his worthiness; and expecting and soliciting from him not only peace of conscience but strength for newness of life, you will be prepared for the comforts of the Gospel; and your service will not be a mockery of God; but a real and substantial performance of a bounden duty.

The Absolution is then pronounced by the Priest, containing the promise of pardon and peace to miserable sinners thus coming indeed to God in the faith and repentance of the Gospel, which we have described. While While you hear this absolution read, and set your seal to it by an Amen, forget not to

* Lev. xvi.

apply it to yourself. Assuredly, this forgiveness was meant for you as well as for any other penitent who trusts in Christ's sacrifice; and, therefore, you should here charge your soul to apply to itself the comfort of the Lord. But feeble is the voice of man, either that of the minister or your own, to speak peace. The Church knew that God only could do this to good purpose. "I," says He, "create the fruit of the lips, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is nigh, and I will heal him.” Therefore the Minister's declaration of God's pardoning love is supported by four well-chosen passages of Scripture, of which I shall say nothing at present, but this: They tell the weary, burdened, troubled conscience, "Here is peace for thee: Christ takes away all thy sins, and will give thee everlasting life: Receive these inestimable blessings, and enjoy them."-This is their language. I hear in them the genuine voice of the Gospel. The Minister, in substance and effect, says, "I have been pronouncing God's pardon and peace to the penitent believing soul: but, Brethren, take it not on my word: I have a commission from God to declare this. Hear our Saviour Christ; hear St. Paul; hear St. John speak thus comfortably to you.

Let us now see how far we have advanced. In this service, one of the most solemn transactions between God and the conscience, that can take place on earth, is here set forth; and according to the true idea of communion between the Saviour and the Church as stated in the Text. If good men considered it aright, and more deeply, they would not so much debar themselves, as I fear they

still do, of the strength and comfort obtained in this ordinance.

In the exhortation, we begin with the Church in setting forth the business in general about which we are assembled. Then we humble ourselves as criminals self-condemned; transferring our guilt over to our sacrifice and surety, the Lord Jesus. We then hear the declaration of mercy and forgiveness to our souls from the Minister, backed with the declarations of God's word to confirm it. If then we have been in earnest; if we have rightly understood and rightly joined in all this, we are justified by faith, we rejoice in God, we have peace of conscience, according to the evangelical views before us. High is our state indeed: We are children of God and heirs of everlasting life.

And now the Priest exhorts us to "lift up our hearts" well should we answer, "we lift them up unto the Lord," our God in heaven, whose children we now are by faith. "Let us give thanks to our Lord God," well should we answer, "it is meet and right so to do." For if God thus commend his love to us sinners; if he thus forgive us his enemies, and make us his children beloved, in his own Son, and allow us to expect one day to be like him, when we shall see him as he is, words are too poor to express his praise. But God accepts the sacrifice of a grateful heart; and the sublime language of the Church, in the thanksgivings which follow, well expresses this.

Methinks the several parts of the service describe and assist, very naturally, the godly emotions of the believing soul. Humility and praise sweetly temper

one another. Mourning for sin, and joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, were never, by human pen, better described in agreeable concert, than in this most beautiful service. The soul, in the transport of joy and gratitude, should be elevated exceedingly, and be filled with great conceptions, above what, ordinarily belong to its militant and imperfect state. The Priest kneels, and in the name of all the Communicants calls on his own soul and on theirs to remember, according to Daniel's prayer in chapter ix.-that they do not presume to come to this table trusting in their own righteousness, but in God's manifold and great mercies*. We are to repent, to believe, to praise, to love our Saviour, and one another: All these affections are much cherished and assisted by the devotions of this service; but when we speak of our title to eternal life, they are all to be cast behind our back as nothing worth. Christ's worthiness is the whole; and this is the turning point in Christianity, on which an acceptable and comfortable communion with our Saviour in this ordinance depends. In this faith then we pray for the enjoyment of a vital and everlasting union with him, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood; and we attend the prayer of Consecration,-of which nothing particular needs be said, as it is formed entirely on the Sacred History of the institution of this ordinance.

If the nature of the Communion were well understood by believers, they would make it more important and more useful to them than they generally do. Nothing can be more interesting than the

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