to give such an easy instance of a thankful heart. If, therefore, we pay any regard to the positive command of our Saviour; if we are concerned to proclaim to the world, that we are really the disciples of Jesus; if we are solicitous about growing in grace, and desire above all things the improvement of our minds in all Christian virtues, and breathe after a life without sorrow and without sin, we must constantly attend this holy ordinance, from whence we may expect the pardon of our sins, and all the other benefits of Christ's passion. And when we are once convinced of those obligations that enforce the practice of this duty, we must take care never to turn our backs upon His holy ordinance. The truest measure of our duty in this particular, is to be taken from those opportunities which the good providence of God affords to us for this purpose, there being no better way of determining the frequency of our obligation to receive, than this of God's giving us the opportunity. According to this rule the primitive Christians practised, who never withdrew themselves from the Lord's supper, when it made a part of the public worship: and it is in the communion of the sacrament as it is in the communion of prayers, and other parts of public worship,-we are bound to join in them when opportunities offer for the performing them, and we are not otherwise lawfully hindered. Whoever, therefore, shall neglect to communicate, and retires from the holy table when the heavenly banquet is there prepared, either does not thoroughly understand his duty in this particular, or must be very defective in the performance of it; for, as the exhortation before the communion suggests to us, "Who would not think it a great injury and wrong done to him, if he had prepared a rich feast, and decked his table with all kind of provision, so that there lacked nothing but the guests to sit down, and yet that they who were called, without any cause should most unthankfully refuse to come?" And how can it be imagined that a man has a true love for his Saviour, or a grateful sense of His sufferings, that shall refuse to make a thankful remembrance of them, when our Saviour has commanded it, and the providence of God offers him the opportunity? I shall conclude this head with the judgment of two eminent fathers, St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose, whereby we may guess at the sense of the Greek and the Latin Church in relation to this practice. The first, St. Chrysostom, delivers himself after this manner: "He who does not allow himself in the practice of any known sin ought every day to approach the holy table; but it is not safe for him who has contracted a habit of sinning, and does not sincerely repent thereof, to communicate even upon the greatest festival." St. Ambrose gives us his opinion, by way of advice, in these words concerning the holy sacrament: "Receive daily what will be of daily advantage to you; so live, that you may be fit to receive every day: for he that is not fit to receive every day, is not fit to receive once a year." Secondly, I shall shew what preparation is necessary to perform this duty after an acceptable manner. When we speak of preparation for the holy sacrament, we suppose the candidates to have been educated in the belief of the Christian religion; that they have taken upon themselves the solemn vow made at their baptism; that they are instructed in what is necessary for a Christian to believe and practise; and that they have in some measure performed those engagements which they solemnly ratified at their confirmation. And therefore I think it very advisable, before any one makes his first communion, that he should consult the priest of his parish, that he may be satisfied how far he has complied with those obligations he has lain under to faith and obedience, and may be farther examined as to those qualifications that make a man a fit guest at the Lord's table. And then the requisite preparation will consist in understanding what is the nature and end of that holy action, and in the actual exercise of such Christian virtues of which they are supposed to have laid a foundation in the former course of their lives. The first part of preparation consists in the informing ourselves carefully in the nature and end of this sacred institution,-inquiring what is meant by this holy action, and to what purpose this blessed sacrament was ordained. This necessary knowledge, once attained, is a standing qualification in all our future communions; and therefore we ought to take the more pains to settle right notions in our minds concerning this matter, because they will be serviceable to us in all the remaining part of our lives. In order to this purpose, it will be necessary to read over the history of the institution of this Christian sacrifice, as recorded by the evangelists, and by St. Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians, who received what he taught in this matter by a divine revelation. St. Matthew's account of it is this, that as our Saviour and His disciples were eating the passover," Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is Matt. xxvi. 17, 30; Luke xxii. 7, 20; 1 say my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives." St. Mark makes the same relation, and St. Luke and St. Paul concur in the same particulars, with the addition of this positive injunction, "Do this in remembrance of Me." From which places it will appear, that when our Saviour Jesus Christ celebrated the Jewish sacrifice of the passover with His disciples a little before His sufferings, He substituted the sacrament of His body and blood as the true Christian sacrifice, in the room of the passover; and ordained it as a rite to invocate His Father by, instead of the manifold and bloody sacrifices of the law, and to be a means of supplication and address to God in the New Testament, as they were in the Old. To which end our Saviour first offers up the creatures of bread and wine to God, as an acknowledgment of His sovereignty; by taking the bread and wine into His sacred hands, by looking up to heaven and giving thanks, and then by blessing the elements, He makes them the symbols of His body and blood, and distributed them to His disciples, to eat and drink them in com |