• Loud as the found of many waters, and of mighty thunderings, this voice comes from a multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands,-from patriarchs, prophets, apostles, confeffors, martyrs and righteous men, who beckon from the skies, and call 66 upon us to come up hither." 'Celestial fociety! Ye fpirits of the juft made perfect, we hear your voice! You have now finished your course, you have entered into blifs, and have received the crown of glory! We now combat with flesh and blood; with fenfe and paffion. But yours is the victory. You taste the pleasures that are pure and unalloyed: Yours is the joy of paradife; the white robe, the crown and the fceptre. At a distance we adore: You ftand in the prefence of God; you fee him as he is; you enjoy the smile of Divinity unveiled. We behold our Saviour darkly in the fymbols of this inftitution: You fee him face to face, the Friend, the Patron, and the Redeemer of mankind! 'But we too, hope to become members of the general affembly of the Church of the first born; and that what you now are, we shall be. Hear from thy throne, O God! the defire of thy people; and carry us at laft, from this table where we now fit, and from which we are about to arife, to the feast of the Lamb in heaven, which will never end.' "COMMUNICANTS! AS YE HAVE RECEIVED THE LORD JESUS," &c. *. PSALM *The Service of four Tables only, is given here. But, in general, the Tables are more numerous; sometimes extending to ten or twelve, or more. This is owing partly to the populoufnefs of particular parishes, and partly to the fmallness of churches, which often, can admit only of Tables to accommodate thirty or forty Communicants at a time. PSALM Xxiii. 1 THE Lord's my fhepherd, I'll not want. 3 My foul he doth restore again; e'en for his own name's fake. 4 Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, For thou art with me, and thy rod 5 My table thou haft furnished, My head thou doft with oil anoint, 6 Goodness and mercy all my life And in God's houfe for evermore CONCLUDING EXHORTATION from the PULPIT. 'My Brethren and Friends! Our folemn work of communion is now over. It has been performed with much external decency and feeming devotion. I prefume not to judge of the heart,-that is the prerogative of Almighty God. Proceeding according to the judgment of charity, I conclude, that your intentions have been pure, and your hearts upright before the Lord. In this view, I congratulate you on the good confeffion which you have this day made before many witneffes. You have given your hearts to him who redeemed you from the wrath to come: and I have authority to affure you, that you will never have caufe to repent. 'Henceforth you belong to the family of Jefus. Your Lord now fays to you, I call you not fervants but friends." The bleffings which he bequeaths to his friends who have fat with him at his table, are fummed fummed up in those precious and expreffive words which he spoke to his difciples at the firft inftitution of the Sacrament,"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you."-" I will fee you again, and your hearts fhall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you,"afk, and fhall receive, that your joy " 39 86 66 ye may be full." Thefe are the words of life; and have in them a power to give comfort to the mind in life and death, in time and through eternity. 'Yet my brethren, draw nigh, and give ear to me.—It is only to those who have prepared themselves according to the preparation of the fanctuary, who have washed their hands in innocence before they approached to the altar of the Moft High, that these bleffings are promised. It is to be feared, that with many perfons on fuch occafions as this, and perhaps at this very time, that the performance of the folemn duty has been rather a matter of form, than of true devotion. To fuch I muft fay, The bread is not the bread of life, nor the cup, the cup of bleffing. A a 4 |