obscure conceptions which we have been satisfied to entertain in regard to the Father and the Son himself— in regard to the nature and gloriousness of the Redeemer's undertaking-in regard to the importance and blessedness of the ends which he had to accomplishand in regard to the disinterested, benevolent, and gracious motives, so to speak, by which he was actuated in seeking their accomplishment. One of the most common causes, however, of the disappointment which we may have experienced in regard to our feelings during the moments of communicating, is to be found in the heartlessness and superficialness of our previous preparation. We may have remained at ease in our sins. We may have thought little, and grieved less, about our sins, because they happened not to be of flagrant outward enormity; while, as to many of our most serious omissions of duty, we may scarcely have regarded them as sins at all. We may have satisfied ourselves with a cursory glance over the general aspect of our lives, as members of society, without dwelling particularly either on our presumptuous sins or our secret faults; and especially, without looking anxiously and minutely into the sins which have more easily beset us, and the multiplied sins-the world of iniquity-lodged in our hearts. We may have been more anxious to dismiss, than to profit by the thoughts which were called up within us, by the sins with which we felt ourselves to be chargeable. We may have manifested a partiality for those who suggested the means by which the wounds of our conscience were to be speedily, but slightly, healed. In our preparations for the solemn act of communicating, we may have attached far more importance to the formal and almost constrained exercises of a few preceding days, than to the ordinary habits and relished employments of previous months and years. We may have been more disposed to compare ourselves with others, than with the word of God; and to dwell far more on the circum

stances which were sufficient to support our outward respectability, than on those which were secretly felt to cast a shadow, or a doubt, over the reality of our faith, the genuineness of our repentance, and the spirituality of our religion.

Under the influence of any of the causes which have now been mentioned, there can be nothing wonderful— however lamentable it may be-in the disappointment which we may have experienced, as to the sensible comfort which we looked for, in partaking of the Lord's Supper. But the very disappointment itself, humiliating as it is, is calculated to convey to us a salutary lesson,to make us inquire diligently into the real state of our souls, to make us seriously consider whether we have ever, in reality, been hungering and thirsting after the bread and the water of life,-and to lead us into the true way, not only of obtaining, if permitted to engage in that ordinance again, the fullest gratification that it can be expected to afford, but of obtaining permanent rest and peace to our souls. And if, on the other hand, the fullest measure of that gratification has already been our portion, let us consider that even this is only a means to an end-the means of promoting our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace-the means of perfecting holiness in the fear of God—the means of enlarging our desire and heightening our relish for the true bread which came down from heaven-and the means of being prepared to partake of that fulness of joy which is in the presence of God, and of those pleasures, at his right hand, which are for evermore.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE GENERAL CONDUCT WHICH ALL WHO PARTAKE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER SHOULD BE CAREFUL AFTERWARDS ΤΟ ΜΑΙΝΤΑΙΝ.

AN attempt has been made, in a former chapter, to show how important it is, that, before partaking of the Lord's Supper, communicants should carefully endeavour to ascertain whether they are in the possession and proper exercise of those feelings and dispositions by which true Christians are distinguished. This carefulness in examining themselves before communicating, is so far from rendering it unnecessary to examine themselves afterwards, that it will be the very thing to render them the more sensible of its peculiar necessity and importance. The more attention and impartiality they have employed in discharging the former of these duties, the more also will they be disposed to employ in discharging the latter. Nor will they content themselves with an early examination as to what took place, and what they experienced while actually engaged in the solemn ordinance. They will not content themselves with an early and serious inquiry into the immediate effects which it may have produced on their feelings, views, and purposes, but will make it an object of deliberate and renewed consideration, "what manner of persons" they ought henceforth "to be in all holy conversation and godliness."

I. In reflecting on the general conduct which all who partake of the Lord's Supper should be careful afterwards

to maintain, it is important that they should consider seriously what is implied in the solemn act of communicating. That is not the less a personal act on the part of each individual communicant, because many are engaged in it on the same occasion and at the same instant. Each individual is then specially transacting with the God of ordinances; and although this is done in public, the very publicity adds so much the more to the solemnity of the transaction. And to what does the transaction itself, on the part of communicants, amount? It amounts to nothing less than a solemn profession of faith in Christ-a public and personal acceptance, by faith, of that "covenant, ordered in all things and sure," which has been ratified by the blood of Him who instituted this holy ordinance, and of all the precious blessings of which they are here assured of being freely admitted, through the faith which they thus profess in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the solemn, personal, and public acceptance of the covenant in which God has embodied all the promises of life and salvation, and of which, in this most affecting ordinance, he is exhibiting one of the consecrated seals.

In the very acceptance of that covenant, however, which is itself an act of homage and obedience to Him who calls them to accept of it, they necessarily come under the most special engagements to submit, in all other respects, to the precepts which he has delivered to them. In thus accepting the seals of that covenant into which God has been graciously pleased to enter with sinners, they formally enter into the most solemn engagement to be the Lord's. In embracing all that he graciously promises, they virtually declare that they cordially submit to all that he requires. At the moment of being sprinkled, as it were, with the blood of the covenant, they are understood to adopt the language of the Israelites at Sinai, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient," (Exod. xxiv. 7.) They become a peculiar people, not merely in respect to their privileges, but also in respect to their responsibilities

and duties. It may be said to them, as it was by Joshua to the professing people of God in his day, "Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you

the Lord to serve him." And their solemn and unanimous reply is that of the people, when they said, "We are witnesses," (Joshua xxiv. 22.) In partaking of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, they profess not only to believe in all the doctrines which he has taught, and to embrace all the promises which he has held out to them in his gospel, but also to submit to the authority of all his precepts. They are justly understood to declare, that, in seeking and expecting to find in him "rest to their souls," they willingly "take his yoke upon them;" and that, while they rejoice with thankfulness in the deliverance which he brings to them, from the guilt of sin and the fear of punishment, they neither expect nor desire to be delivered from that obligation to honour and obey him, which, far from being diminished, has been greatly increased by all that he has suffered and accomplished as their Substitute. They profess to have been separated from the world, in which they once had their conversation, even as others; and the language which they are now understood to hold is that of the Psalmist where he says, 66 Depart from me, ye evildoers; for I will keep the commandments of my God," (Psalm cxix. 115.)

By partaking of the holy ordinance of the Supper, communicants make a solemn declaration that they receive and accept of Christ in all his offices of prophet, priest, and king; and as to the duties which are involved in such a reception of him, the Scriptures in various places have spoken with great plainness and minuteness. Of all those who thus profess to believe in him, it is expected that they shall seek to imbibe his spirit to have the same mind in them which was also in Christ Jesus; that they shall, as these Scriptures express it, "put on Chr st," (Rom. xiii. 14; and Gal. iii. 27;) and be careful in all things to imitate the