In short; this is the only medicine to supply the graces we want, the bread by which the life and health of our souls is to be preserved. It is as much the support of our souls, as common bread is the food and support of our bodies.

These, and many more, are the blessings which every Christian may expect, who goes worthily to the Lord's Table.

But who, some will say, can be sure that he shall be a worthy communicant? Let a man sincerely purpose and strive to amend what he knows to be amiss in himself; let him sincerely purpose and strive to lead a Christian life for the time to come; let him firmly believe, that, for the sake of what Jesus Christ hath done and suffered for us, we have peace with God upon our repentance; let him, with a thankful heart, remember the great goodness of God in giving His only Son for His sinful and otherwise lost creatures; and let him remember the sufferings of Christ, in order to redeem mankind from the slavery of sin and Satan; and lastly, let him be as ready to forgive others as God has been to forgive him, and as he hopes for that mercy from God: every such person may humbly hope to be a meet partaker of these holy mysteries, and may return home healed of all his maladies.

In short; let me observe to you, that Jesus Christ, the great Physician, comes to our doors, as He did to these people.

All they that were distressed and wanted His help most readily and thankfully applied to Him. There was no need to exhort and press them to go to Him for a cure. They were convinced that there was an healing power in Him to cure them. Their faith in Him cured them of all their diseases and the same faith in His power, and the same sense of our disorders, and earnest desire to be relieved, will as certainly obtain the help we wish for-the cure of all our disorders.

And may the Lord pity and awaken all such, if there be any such, as are so senseless, and blind, as not to see and feel, that they want His help every day of their lives! When once they are sensible of this, they will not need to be told how often they should go to Him for relief. The oftener they go, the better it will be for them, if they go with a sincere desire to be made better.

SERM.
LXXV.

And be assured of it, Christians, it is with this spiritual food, as it is with the food of our bodies: a man may fast so long as quite to lose his appetite, and thereby endanger his life: even so, by abstaining from the Lord's Supper, he may forget the wants he labours under, he may forget the want and blessing of a Redeemer, of the Physician of his soul, till he is past cure without a miracle, which he will have no reason to expect.

And now, may all we, who, through the grace of God, desire and purpose to partake of this blessed medicine of our souls, be ever prepared to receive it worthily, whenever it is offered to us, by resolving, through God's help and grace, never to live in any known sin, never to act against our conscience, never to neglect the known duties of our calling, but to live in the fear of God, and to pray daily for His pardon and grace to do our duty, and that He may increase and confirm our faith, for His mercy's sake in Jesus Christ, our only Physician and Redeemer.

To Whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all glory and thanksgiving, now and for ever. Amen

SERMON LXXVI.

THE LORD'S SUPPER PRACTICALLY EXPLAINED.

Doce me, Domine Jesu, sacrum hoc institutum tali sacro modo tractare, et conatus meos gratia tua adeo secunda, ut indignus usus corporis et sanguinis tui judicium meum, aut eorum qui me audient, nunquam aggravet; sed sacrificii tui memores semper digni fieremus participes. Amen.

LUKE Xxii. 19.

The words of Jesus Christ when He ordained the Sacrament of the See Deut. Lord's Supper: This do in remembrance of Me.

16. 12; John 6. 51, 53, 55;

16.

[chap. 16.

ST. PAUL concludes his first epistle to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 10. with these remarkable words: IF ANY MAN LOVE NOT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA MARANATHA. 22.] Now, if the generality of Christians can hear these words without trembling, it must be either because they do not understand, or they do not consider them. For the meaning and the direction is this: if any Christian amongst you shews by his life and behaviour, THAT HE DOES NOT LOVE THE LORD JESUS, let such a man be separated from your communion, as being under the displeasure of Almighty God.

I dare say, that few Christians, when they hear these words, do think themselves at all concerned in them. We are all but too apt to conclude the best for ourselves, and to think it impossible not to love Jesus Christ, by whose merits and mediation we hope to be saved.

But let us not deceive ourselves. Let us rather, every man, ask himself-How is it that I behave myself to my benefactors, and to those whom I do really love? If any

LXXVI.

SERM. man has done me a very great service, if a man has promised me any great favour, I love to speak of him, and of the kindness he has done, or promised me; I often think of him, and with a thankful mind, and I fully resolve never to do any thing which may disoblige him.

Is it thus we love the Lord Jesus Christ? Would to God we could all truly say so. However, let us consider what He has done for us, and see how it will affect our hearts.

When the whole race of mankind was under the displeasure of Almighty God, had forfeited all pretence to immortal happiness, and had become liable to eternal death, Jesus Christ undertook to obtain our pardon, and to restore us to the favour of God.

But the sin had spread so far and wide, that this could not be done without a suitable satisfaction to the justice of God. God had declared, that the disobedience of Adam should be punished with death. His truth was at stake, and the offender, and all his posterity, were under His displea

sure.

Jesus Christ therefore, moved with compassion for so great a calamity, left the glories of heaven, and took upon Him our nature, that, as man, He might suffer what our sins had deserved, and that, as the Son of God, the satisfaction might be sufficient for the sins of the whole world. In short, He laid down His life for us; and by that most worthy sacrifice, He not only made our peace with God, and delivered us from eternal death; but obtained of God His Father an assurance of eternal life and happiness for all such as would become His faithful servants.

And that such might be distinguished from all others, He appointed an holy ordinance, to preserve the memory of these mighty blessings till His coming again; requiring all His faithful followers, all who expect any benefit by His death, to commemorate the same after the manner He ordained the night before He suffered.

Let us ask our own hearts, does this mercy deserve to be remembered by us? Or will any Christian say, THAT HE LOVES THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, who will lightly turn his back upon that holy ordinance, which Christ Himself has appointed, as the most acceptable way of shewing our love

to Him, and our resolution to continue His faithful servants, for His mercies bestowed upon us.

And indeed it was for this reason that Jesus Christ ordained this holy Sacrament, that Christians, being often called upon, and obliged to remember the love of their dying Saviour, His bitter passion, the occasion of His death, the misery they have escaped, and the happiness He has purchased for them, might love Him with all their heart and soul; and that doing this as often as ever they should have an opportunity, their love might increase unto their lives' end.

May not one therefore conclude, without any great uncharitableness, that such as do lightly turn their backs upon this ordinance, DO NOT INDEED LOVE THE LORD JESUS; and that, according to St. Paul's direction, they ought to be ANATHEMA, that is, separated from the communion of the faithful.

And though this would be called great severity at this time, yet this was the practice of the primitive Church, and it was agreeable to the Law of the Passover, the great figure of Christ's death, and by God's express command; that is, Numb. 9. that whoever did neglect to observe the Passover, in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt, THAT SOUL SHOULD BE CUT OFF from among the people of Israel.

And verily, a Christian, who understands and considers the importance of this ordinance, and is not hindered by some very evil habit, or by having fallen into some scandalous sin, will no more turn his back upon the Lord's Table, than he will dare to deny the God that made him, or the Saviour who redeemed him.

Here are so many reasons to shew the importance, the blessing, and the necessity of observing this ordinance, that it will be needless to urge any more to such as have any true concern for their salvation.

This, therefore, being a duty and ordinance, which every Christian is obliged to as he hopes for salvation, to shew his love of Christ, by commemorating His death after the manner He has appointed, the duty must of necessity be such as every Christian, even the most unlearned, is capable of understanding, and performing worthily.

And indeed so it is. For as the most unlearned Israelite

13.