him as his people; as the heathens had, in their idolatrous rites, communion with their deities, and joined themselves to them; and as the Jews, by eating their sacrifices, conversed with Jehovah, and joined themselves to him. He farther reminds them, that though many, they were one bread and one body, being all partakers of that one bread, and being all made to drink into one spirit; that is, meeting together as if but one family, and joined in the commemoration of that one blood which was their common ransom, and of the Lord Jes sus their common head. Now, it is evident, that all these reasonings are applicable to christians in succeeding ages. Permit me, therefore, by the authority of our divine Master, to press upon you the observation of this precept.

4. And let me also urge it from the apparent tendency which it has to promote your truest advantage. You are setting out in the christian life; and I have reminded you at large of the opposition you must expect to meet with in it. It is the love of Christ which must animate you to break through all. What then can be more desirable than to bear about with you a lively sense of it? and what can awaken that sense more than the contemplation of his death as there represented? Who can behold the bread broken, and the wine poured out, and not reflect how the body of the blessed Jesus was even torn in pieces by his sufferings, and his sacred blood poured forth like water on the ground? Who can think of the heart-rending agonies of the Son of God, as the price of our redemption and salvation, and not feel bis soul melted with tenderness, and inflamed with grateful affection? What an exalted view doth it give us of the blessings of the gospel cov. enant, when we consider it as established in the blood of God's only begotten Son? and when we make our ap proach to God, as our heavenly Father, and give up ourselves to his service in this solemn manner, what an awful tendency has it to fix the conviction, that we are not our own, being bought with such a price? What a tendency has it to guard against every temptation to those sins which we have so solemnly renounced, and to engage our fidelity to him to whom we have bound our

souls as with an oath? Well may our hearts be knit together in mutual love, when we consider ourselves as one in Christ; his blood becomes the cement of the society, joins us in spirit, not only in each other, but to all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours; and we anticipate, in pleasing hope, that blessed day when the assembly shall be complete, and we shall all be forever with the Lord.-Well may these views engage us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow our crucified Master; well may they engage us to do our utmost by prayer, and all other suitable endeavors, to serve his followers and his friends; to serve those whom he hath purchased with his blood, and who are to be his associates and ours in the glories of an happy immortality.

5. It is also the express institution and command of our blessed Redeemer, that the members of such societies should be tenderly solicitous for the spiritual welfare of each other; and that, on the whole, his churches may be kept pure and holy, that they should withdraw themselves from every brother that walketh disorderly; that they should mark such as cause offences or scandals amongst them contrary to the doctrine which they have learned, and avoid them; that if any obey not the word of Christ by his apostles, they should have no fellowship or communion with such, that they may be ashamed; that they should not eat with such as are notoriously irregular in their behavior; but, on the contrary, should put away from among themselves such wicked persons. It is evident, therefore, that the institution of such societies is greatly for the honor of christianity, and for the advantage of its particular professors, and consequently, every consideration of obedience to our common Lord, and of prudent regard to our own benefit and that of our brethren, will require, that those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, should enter into them, and assemble among them in these their most solemn and peculiar acts of communion at his table.

6. I intreat you, therefore, and, if I may presume to say it, in his name and by his authority, I charge it on your conscience, that this precept of our dying Lord go

not, as it were, for nought, with you; but that, if you indeed love him, you keep this as well as the rest of his commandments. I know you may be ready to form objections. I have elsewhere debated many of the chief of them at large, and I hope, not without some good effect. The great question is that which relates to your being prepared for a worthy attendance; and, in conjunction with what hath been said before, I think that may be brought to a very short issue. Have you, so far as you know your own heart, been sincere in that deliberate surrender of yourself to God through Christ, which I recommended in the former chapter? If you have, (whether it were with or without the particular form or manner of doing it there recommended) you have certainly taken hold of the covenant, and therefore have a right to the seal of it. And there is not, and cannot be, any other view of the ordinance in which you can have any farther objection to it. If you desire to remember Christ's death,-if you desire to renew the dedication of yourself to God through him, -if you would list yourself among his people,—if you would love them, and do them good according to your ability; and, on the whole, would not allow yourself in the practice of any one known sin, or in the omission of any one known duty, then I will venture confidently to say, not only that you will be welcome to the ordinance, but that it was instituted for such as you.

7. As for other objections, a few words might suffice, by way of reply. The weakness of the religious principle in your soul, if it be really implanted there, is so far from being an argument against your seeking such a method to strengthen it, that it rather strongly enforces the necessity of doing it. The neglect of this solemnity, by so many who call themselves christians, should rather engage you so much the more to distin. guish your zeal for an institution, in this respect so much slighted and injured. And as for the fears of ag gravated guilt in case of apostacy, do not indulge them. This may, by the divine blessing, be an effectual remedy against the evil you fear; and it is certain, that af ter what you must already have known and felt, before you could be brought into your present situation, (on

the suppositions I have now been making,) there can be no room to think of a retreat; no room, even før the wretched hope of being less miserable than the generality of those that have perished. Your scheme, therefore, must be, to make your salvation as sure, and to make it as glorious as possible; and I know not any appointment of our blessed Redeemer which may have a more comfortable aspect upon that blessed end, than this which I am now recommending to you.

8. One thing I would at least insist upon, and I see not with what face it can be denied. I mean, that you should take this matter into a serious consideration; that you should diligently enquire, whether you have reason in your conscience to believe it is the will of God, you should now approach to the ordinance or not; and that you should continue your reflections, your inquiries, and your prayers, till you find farther encouragement to come, if that encouragement be hitherto wanting. For of this be assured, that a state in which you are on the whole unfit to approach this ordinance, is a state in which you are destitute of the necessary preparation for death and heaven; in which, therefore, if you would not allow yourselves to slumber on the brink of destruction, you ought not to rest so much as one single day.

Prayer for one who earnestly desires to approach to the table of the Lord, yet has some remaining doubts concerning his right to that solemn ordinance.

BLESSED Lord, I adore thy wise and gracious' ap-pointments for the edification of thy church in holiness and in love. I thank thee that thou hast commanded thy servants to form themselves into societies; and I adore my gracious Saviour who hath instituted, as with his dying breath, the holy solemnity of his supper, to be through all ages a memorial of his dying love, and a bond of that union, which it is his sovereign pleasure that his people should preserve. I hope thou, Lord, art witness to the sincerity with

which I desire to give myself up to thee; and that I may call thee to record on my soul, that if I now hesitate about this particular manner of doing it, it is not because I would allow myself to break any of thy commands, or to slight any of thy favors. I trust thou knowest, that my present delay arises only from an uncertainty as to my own duty, and a fear of profaning holy things by an unworthy approach to them. Yet surely, O Lord, if thou hast given me a reverence for thy command, a desire of communion with thee, and a willingness to deyote myself wholly to thy service, I may regard it as a token for good, that thou art disposed to receive me, and that I am not wholly unqualified for the ordinance which I so highly honor, and so earnestly desire. I therefore make it miue humble request unto thee, O Lord, this day, that thou wouldst graciously be pleased to instruct me in my duty, and to teach me the way which I should take ! Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try my reins and my heart! Is there any secret sin, the love and practice of which I would indulge? Is there any of thy precepts, in the habitual breach of which I would allow myself? I trust I can appeal to thee as a witness that there is not. Let me not then wrong mine own soul by a causeless and sinful absence from thy sacred table! But grant, O Lord, I beseech thee, that thy word, thy providence, and thy spirit may so concur, as to make my way plain before me! Scatter my remaining doubts, if thou seest they have no just foun dation! Fill me with a more assured faith, with a more ardent love; and plead thine own cause with my heart in such a manner as that I may not be able any longer to delay that approach, which if I am thy servant indeed, is equally my duty and my privilege! In the mean time grant that I may never be long out of my thoughts; but that I may give all diligence, if there be any remaining occasion of doubt, to remove it by a more affectionate concern to avoid whatever is displeasing to the eyes of thy holiness, and to prac tice the full extent of my duty! May the views of Christ crucified be so familiar to my mind, and may a sense of his dying love so powerfully constrain my soal,