love him';"-if we ask not for the prolongation of life, or if we have no reasonable hope of obtaining it when asked for, it is only because we now know that length of days is but length of trouble, and that when the righteous is removed from this world, it is only to bestow upon him a greater blessing than Hezekiah ever heard of, or than the heart of man can even yet wish for or conceive. Though, therefore, we may not, like Hezekiah, ask for or expect worldly blessings, as a proof of our acceptance with God; yet by following his footsteps, by renouncing an evil world, by promoting among men to the utmost of our power the honour and glory of God, and by coming with humble hearts to the throne of grace in all our wants and difficulties, we may look for deliverances even more valuable, though less conspicuous than his, deliverances from spiritual enemies, who even in greater numbers and with deeper skill lay siege to our city than the foes with which his earthly Jerusalem

1 1 Cor. ii. 9..

was surrounded; and a prolongation of life, not like the fifteen years which were added to his earthly existence, and which ended (as every thing earthly must end) in the darkness of the grave, but a life extending throughout the endless ages of eternity, where foes, such as those with which Hezekiah was surrounded, cannot intrude; and where a happiness beyond his, or even Solomon's in all his glory, shall await the very humblest Christian who continues faithful unto the end! "Grant, therefore, Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh, that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service-grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord'."

1 Collect for the Day.-Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.

SERMON XX.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

JOHN Xiii. 7.

If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them.

A GREAT, perhaps the greater part of this congregation, have, on the morning of this day', partaken of the Sacrament of the

It will be seen, from the turn of expression, that this sermon was preached in the afternoon, to those who had received the Communion of the Lord's Supper in the morning. Of course, by the change of a few words, it is almost equally adapted as an address to those who are about to receive it. There are few subjects which are so difficult to handle, on which so much ignorance and prejudice prevail, and which admit of such variety of views, as this. It was thought best to address the following discourse to those who had already communicated; and who, having thus given a pledge that they had at least a serious sense of the

Lord's Supper. You have, no doubt, come to the table of the Lord, as guests are wont to do an earthly table, with various dispositions of mind towards your entertainer; and you have obeyed his invitation from various motives; still you have obeyed it. You have not allowed any of the reasons for refusal assigned by the individuals in the parable', or others still less plausible, to have any weight with you -you have listened to the call of your Lord and Master, and have partaken of his heavenly feast. With respect to the motives which have led you to this feast, they are fully known only to Him who looketh on the heart, and trieth the reins, and, in a more imperfect degree, to yourselves. In all congregations, we may justly fear there are some who become partakers of these holy mysteries, for rea

importance of the rite, might reasonably be expected to listen with attention to an exposition of its nature and objects, and could not be deterred from receiving the Sacrament by any real or pretended alarms at the responsibility and danger of doing so.

Luke xiv. 16-24.

sons which they could not venture openly to assign to the world, and which they do not trust even their own minds to examine too strictly. They, perhaps, are men who have observed that a character for religious punctuality and propriety is one which is well to pass in the world, and that to receive the Sacrament is a mark of respectability, and an act of decorum expected from their station in life; and though such a feeling alone, united with an utter dislike or contempt of the rite, would surely lead but few to the wickedness of partaking of it, yet, connected with a comparative indifference for the Sacrament, and for religion in general, it may have brought many to that holy table of which they were but false and unworthy guests, deceiving the world, and perhaps themselves, with an appearance of religion which has no influence on the heart. There may be others, whose motives are of a more pardonable, but still of a most erroneous nature, who, in perhaps still greater numbers, come unduly prepared to the holy Sacrament. They are men