fation. Wherefore, O my foul, instead of being influenced by any objections of weak, or ill-defigning men, against the in. ftitution itself, or any trifling excufes that may tempt thee to neglect the observation of it, or vain terrors which would rob thee of the pleasure it was defigned to afford thee; with all readiness obey the invitation to this facred feast, and with all gladness of heart fet thyfelf to celebrate the love of thy Saviour in it!

SECT. IV.

Non afk why Chrift would have us eat and drink in memory of him, when we could remember him without any fuch ceremony. Confefs, O my foul, obliged as thou art to have thy Saviour perpetually in mind, haft thou not found it too eafy and common a thing for thee to forget him, to lose thyfelf and the thoughts of an abfent Saviour amidst the cares or amufements and delights of this vain world? It is not what thou fhouldft do, is the queftion, Thou shouldft, there is no doubt, be ever looking unto Jefus, and embrace every opportunity of converfing with him in thy thoughts and meditations, without any other monitor or prompter than a

grateful heart. This thou shouldft do. But is it thus thou wouldst act, if left entirely to thy own discretion and choice? Record this, O my foul, among the inftances of the kind and tender care of thy Redeemer, that he calls thee off from the purfuit of the world, hath made it thy duty to dismiss thy meaner paffions, and, in the abfence of thefe, to commemorate him in this folemn manner, and by these external figns; that thou mightest have thy thoughts of him better fixed, and thy affections more powerfully actuated and enlivened; and by this means be difpofed more naturally to remember him at other times, and in the ordinary course of thy life! From this facramental tranfaction, frequently and rightly performed, will proceed fuch a strong attachment to thy Saviour, fuch a prevailing bent in thy inclinations, as will make it next to impoffible for thee to live in an habitual forgetfulness of that Jefus, whofe dying love, with unfeigned zeal and gratitude, thou haft fo often showed forth in his fupper; he will dwell in thy heart by faith, have the poffeffion of all thy faculties, be precious in thy efteem, and dear to thy memory. And then, further attend to this as a confideration of no fmall weight,

that the remembrance of Chrift in the holy communion, is not a private and foli.. tary act, but of a public nature; a declaration of the faith of the Chriftian church, and of the high veneration it hath for a crucified Saviour; and fo is better fitted to do honour to his memory, and, as an everlasting monument, to fpread and perpetuate it in the world. And furely, O my foul, this must be a very great recommendation of this ordinance to thee, and to all the faithful in Chrift, that, by publicly and conftantly attending upon it, every one of you in fome degree helps to fupport the memory of your great Redeemer among men! Would not every one that remembers Chrift himself, have others to remember him too? Would he not have his love dwell in the hearts, and his name upon the tongues, of all men? And the little he can do to this end, muft he not do, and be exceeding glad if he could do more?

SECT. V.

THINK again, O my foul, with what view our gracious Redeemer obliges us to remember him! He had fome design in demanding this of his followers, especially

in appointing fuch a form of commemoration. Did this defign regard himself, or us? Was it for his own fake, or for ours, that he appears fo defirous of living in our remembrance? for the honour that will redound to him, or the benefit and confolation that we fhall receive from hence? For our fakes, no doubt, was this intended; not properly for his own, who can gain nothing by us, and hath a dignity and greatnefs inherent in him, that exalts him far above all the motives of vain glory. How trifling and contemptible is the honour of having his name recorded by us, the offspring of the duft, and tranfmitted down from one ge neration of fhort lived creatures to another, when the angels, thofe fons of light, furround him with their adoring multitudes, and make his praises the subject of their immortal fongs! But this is the honour he covets, the joy for which he endured the crofs, defpifing the fhame, to .bring many fons unto glory, to restore as great numbers as he can out of the ruins of the fallen race, to train them up in the paths of virtue and holiness, and then, the proper time for it being come, to bestow immortality upon them. For this end he calls upon thee to remember him. It is

thy advantage he propofes; and great, unfpeakably great, is the privilege accruing from this duty, if thou knoweft how to improve it. And to thy improvement of it nothing more is neceffary than fincerity on thy part; inafinuch as God will never fail to affift all those with the quickening influences of his grace and spirit, who do their beft; and will accept their weak, becaufe well meant endeavours to please him, through the mediation of his well beloved Son; whofe meritorious death and paffion is reprefented to them, and remembered by them, in this ordinance.

4ght than one: SECT. VI. ·།"

Be this then, O my foul, thy great, thy only concern, to be approved of thy God and Saviour; to come with enlightened views, with fervent defires, and holy dif pofitions; and to be found a worthy, that thou mayeft be a welcome gueft! For thou canst not think, O my foul, that it is alike indifferent with what temper thou makeft thy approaches to this facred feftival? Does the pious Pfalmift, even under the legal difpenfation, when there was fo much outward pomp and ceremony in the worship of God, lay fuch stress on in