body broken and his blood shed for their sins, professing their attachment to his cause, and invoking his protection and blessing, they shuddered not at the grossest profanation of this sublime and sacred ordinance. Their guilt called down upon them the anger of God; who withdrew from them the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit, and left them, at least for a season, in a state of awful and dangerous declension. But a more open and visible mark of his displeasure, was exhibited in the infliction upon them of severe temporal calamity. A languishing disease threw many of them on the couch of suffering; and not a few were called, by death, to appear before the judgmentseat of Heaven.

How deplorable was their condition! Sinning against God with a high hand, and suffering his severest rebuke! Well might Paul tremble for their spiritual welfare: well might he summon up all the energy of his soul, and all the ardour of his affection, to reclaim and reform them: well might he urge them, by the terrors of the Lord, to repent and live; and considering, as not the least of their crimes, their dreadful profanation of the Lord's Supper, well might he say, in the strong language of the text, "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

This solemn warning, my brethren, which seems to have had a very salutary effect upon the Corinthian Christians, is of no less force and use in all the ages

of the church. Let us then endeavour so to understand its true import, and so to apply it to our own consciences, that, under the blessing of God, it may awaken within us a spirit of serious self-examination, of sincere penitence for sin, and of purer holiness, that thus we may be prepared for all the duties and services which we owe to our Divine Master. For this purpose let us consider, first the nature of the offence against which the text cautions us-" he that eateth and drinketh unworthily ;" and, secondly, the awful consequences of this offence" eateth and drinketh damnation to himself."

I. If, in the first place, we consider what it is to partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily, it may be proper very briefly to mention some of those imperfections or sins, under which a person may labour, and yet not be disqualified for a participation of the Lord's Supper.

First, then, Occasional doubts and fears with regard to one's spiritual state are not inconsistent with a worthy approach to the table of the Lord. I will not say, that such doubts and fears do not always result from the wickedness of the human heart; from a neglect of those means which God has put within the reach of all, for the confirmation of their faith and the establishment of an unwavering hope. They who seldom look into the Oracles of Truth, and who are seldom found in the closet of prayer, must expect to become the prey of the tempter, and to have their breasts often

harassed with doubt, or, sometimes tortured with despair. There is certainly great guilt attached to such a state. It calls for the sighs and tears of penitence; for the fervent supplication, at the Throne of Grace, of a broken and contrite heart; for new and vigorous attempts after an unclouded assurance of being truly born of God; but, if accompanied with this penitence and prayer and resolution, it does not exclude from the table of the Lord. Otherwise, how many weak souls must be deprived of their spiritual nourishment; nay, how many eminent saints, in their seasons of darkness, must be cut off from the enjoyment of an ordinance which is often made the means, under God, of dispelling the gloom of spiritual despondency, and of shedding upon the Christian's path a light, which, beaming upon him from Heaven, shews him, that thither his footsteps, though of late so faint and weary, are still tending!

Secondly, Imperfect views of the doctrines of religion are not inconsistent with a worthy participation of the Lord's Supper. At the commencement of the third chapter of this very Epistle from which our text is taken, Saint Paul, addressing the Corinthians, says; " And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." The Corinthian converts, then, had not advanced beyond the first principles of the oracles of God: yet, although

thus ignorant, they were reckoned among the saints, and enjoyed communion with the church of God. It is not their ignorance, therefore, which the Apostle makes the ground of his complaint against them, and of the warning contained in the text; but their sinning against God, by the neglect or abuse of the light, however small, already in their possession. Ignorance, however, if it result from the neglect of those means of instruction which God has afforded us, is most highly criminal; and, if obstinately persisted in, without repentance and without reformation, renders a man, without doubt, an unworthy partaker of the Supper of the Lord.

Thirdly, Remains of sin in the heart are not inconsistent with a worthy approach to the Lord's table. On this head, few words are necessary, if we recal to mind the language of the beloved disciple: "If we say, that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ;"-words approved by the confession of every Christian in this life, however great may be the degree of his attainment in holiness. Perfection lies not on this side the grave. The best men have many internal corruptions to struggle with, from which nothing but death will free them and how many of those corruptious may lurk in the heart which has been touched by Divine Grace, it is impossible for man to determine. The remains of sin, therefore, in the breast of him who sincerely grieves for its past influence, and faithfully prays and strives against its future dominion over him, are no obstacle to his worthily partaking of the Lord's Supper.

I proceed now to consider, more directly, in what an unworthy participation of the Lord's Supper consists.

First, It consists in using this ordinance with an entire ignorance of its proper spirit and meaning. Its grand design is to recal to our remembrance the sufferings, and death of our Saviour, as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world. The bread broken, and the wine poured out, are symbols very significant of his body broken, and his blood shed, for our redemption from the curse of the law. Indeed, the celebration of this ordinance speaks a language most impressive and affecting-a language which ought to confound and overwhelm those who deny the doctrine of the propitiatory atonement of Christ, and who rely upon their own merits for acceptance with God. What shall we say to declarations like the following? "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us"-" Christ hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour"-" He died for our sins"-" In whom we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins"-" The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Thus speaks the church, whenever in faith she draws nigh to the table of her Lord. And what, on the other hand, says her spiritual Head?" Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Drink ye all of it.