Oh, what a promise! If these words had been spoken with reference to our bodily wants, what multitudes would have flocked around a person thus willing to satisfy their hunger and thirst. We see clearly then, how little value men put upon their immortal souls, by the indifference with which they listen to this invitation. The nourishment which

"The

Christ offers is not for the body: it is not that bread which perisheth; and therefore it is despised. bread that I will give you, (saith our Lord,) is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world ;" and "whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Again, He saith, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." (John vi. 51, 53, 54.) But notwithstanding this declaration, which shows that life or death eternal depends upon this spiritual food, we find that more than half of almost every congregation leave the Church, when that bread and wine are offered, by which we spiritually eat His flesh and drink His blood.

On that very night, when He was about to give His life for ours, and to offer Himself up as a sacrifice in our stead, at that most solemn and affecting moment, He appointed bread and wine to be the outward sign, by which we might receive the inward benefit of His death. He then said to His disciples, and it equally applies to us, "Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you." Oh! what ingratitude, not to be willing to take of the bread, which represents that body, which suffered the punishment our sins deserved. Aye, and what madness too; for those who refuse to eat thereof must perish. As our bodies

would die without food, so our souls must die without Christ. And those who turn their backs on the sacramental bread and wine, plainly show that Christ is not in them "The hope of glory." They can have no true faith in Him, or love towards Him, when they refuse to do that which He appointed for a remembrance of His death. And those who do thus deny Christ before men, must expect that He will deny them before His Father, when He comes in glory with His holy angels.

Those who do now willingly allow the doors of the Church to be shut against them, when the disciples of our Lord are feeding upon this bread of life, may certainly expect that the door of heaven will be shut against them, when willingly they would enter in. Reader, if you are seldom or never at the table of your Lord, have you considered the consequences? Have you ever thought how unfit you must be to dwell for ever with the Lord Jesus Christ, while you take no pleasure in remembering Him now, and fulfilling His last dying request?

But there are some people who say, that they keep away from the Supper of the Lord through a fear of eating and drinking unworthily, and thereby eating and drinking their own damnation. In answer to this, we may ask, Is there not as great danger in the wilful neglect of God's express commands, as in obeying them improperly? It may however be added, that the word damnation, in this text of Scripture, is not well translated: it more properly means judgment, and is used in reference to temporal, and not eternal punishments. But we must be well aware, that eternal damnation will inevitably follow upon the commission of any

sin which is unrepented of. In this respect the unworthy receiving of the Lord's Supper stands upon the same footing with any other sin; so far from its being unpardonable, we are expressly told that God punishes His people for their sins in this matter with the intention that they should repent and be saved. If any one, therefore, does truly and earnestly desire to partake of the Lord's Supper, but is afraid of coming unworthily, let him consider what it is which makes an unworthy communicant. It is not the painful consciousness that we are sinners; for "Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom. v. 6.) It is the sinner only who wants a Saviour. But St. Paul explains to us what it is which makes a man unworthy: he says, it is not discerning the Lord's body;" by which we are to understand, taking the bread and wine without feeling any dependance upon, or any love towards Him, who is presented to us in this Sacrament; and without either expecting or desiring to be the holier for partaking of it.

To be deeply sensible of sin is just that which makes the Saviour precious. Therefore, when we feel that we have no righteousness of our own, and no strength in ourselves to improve ourselves, this is just the time when we shall most value the Sacrament, in which, with the eye of faith, we behold that blessed Jesus," in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. i. 14.) As surely as we do see and taste the wine, so sure may we be that Christ has made peace through the blood of the cross; and as surely as we eat the bread, so surely, if we be reconciled to God by the body of His flesh through death, He will present us holy and

unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. (See Col. i. 22.) Thus, as we cannot but believe, because we see, that the bread and wine are offered to us, so ought we as firmly to believe that "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," (Heb. ix. 28) and our's among the number, if we be weary of them; and that He has procured for us the means of becoming holy, if we truly desire it. All that is necessary to a worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper is the being sensible of our necessities, and believing that Christ is able and willing to supply them. For enjoying, and profiting by, spiritual as well as natural food, the preparation must be hunger. A man is best prepared for his supper, when he is hungry; and in like manner we are best prepared for the Sacrament, when we hunger and thirst after righteousness.

As we do not doubt that eating and drinking will strengthen us for work, so neither should we doubt that feeding upon Christ, in this solemn Sacrament, will strengthen us for a life of holiness here, and fit us for a heaven of joy hereafter.

PRAYER.

Almighty God, who hast mercifully been pleased to deliver to us, by Thy Holy Spirit, those rules and regulations which are to guide our conduct in public ordinances, teach me in all things to remember and keep them. Make me humble and contented in that rank and station, in which Thou hast placed me; and grant that I may be ready always to show a meek and submissive spirit. O Lord, grant that when we meet

together for public worship, it may be for the better, and not for the worse. Preserve me from careless indifference and heartlessness, in prayer and praise. Help me to dedicate myself sincerely to Thee in the Lord's Supper. Give me a hearty desire to serve Thee faithfully in body and soul. Grant that I may rightly receive the bread and wine, therein discerning the Lord's body, which was given for me, that I might be saved from hell, and enabled to serve Thee in newness and holiness of life. Help me to examine my heart strictly, that I may know myself, and what I am depending upon, and what I am really seeking after. O Lord, if I have hitherto neglected the bread of life, show me my danger. Oh! suffer me not to continue to starve my soul, and perish.

Mercifully assist me to turn unto Christ with all my heart; and grant that I may so feed upon Him by faith, that I may never hunger, and so come to Him, that I may never thirst. O Lord, evermore

give me the bread of life. Grant that Christ may be in me a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. Through Him I offer up these prayers: and to Him, with Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour, and glory, world without end. Amen.

CHAPTER XII.

EXPLANATION.

Verse 1 to 11. It appears that those supernatural gifts, which were bestowed on the early Christians,