that of the two debtors, loved most of him whom He had forgiven most; of the good Samaritan, that passed not by; of the publican, accepted by HIM rather than the Pharisee; of the shepherd, seeking for the sheep that had gone astray; of the woman in diligent search, seeking until she had found that which she had lost; of the father receiving the prodigal son, going out to meet him, and upbraiding him not with the past; of the parable of the vineyard, and of those that were called even at the last hour.

There is not one of these but may be an abundant matter of meditation in the strengthening and refreshing of our souls at this Sacrament. How many sayings of our LORD in like manner may we call to mind, and dwell on each till it gives out some treasure of consolation. "I came not to judge, but to save the world." And again, "He that cometh unto ME I will in no wise cast out." Let us think on that character which His proud enemies gave HIM in derision,-" This man receiveth sinners."

And if we meditate on all that He was in His life, in this solemn memorial of HIM, how much more when all those things received their fuller meaning and deep intensity at His death, which He has thus made to be our life, and the strengthening and refreshing of our dying soul. In the garden of Gethsemane, when He was exceeding sorrowful, and sweat drops of blood, yet forgot not His disciples; in the house of Caiaphas; in the palace of Herod; in the judgment-hall of Pontius Pilate; in each of which He was mocked and abused, with cruel words and blows; of all the things that happened on the way to Calvary; and at Calvary itself; of His sinking under the weight of His cross; of His being nailed to it; of His being set at nought of men, reviled and deserted in dying; of His being forsaken of God; of His bitter cry; of His unknown agonies; of those that were seen of men in five bleeding wounds; of His temples pierced by a mock crown of thorns; of His utter nakedness-being clothed, as it were, all over with shame and scorn; of the Blood emptied by little and little from His pale Body; of the evil words and bad passions which He heard, and of those which He knew though He heard them not; of His loathing and abhorrence of that sin whose full weight He bore. Each one of these, and all of them, may be the subject of our deep meditation, till it gives out healing

and refreshing to our diseased spirit. These are what the Church speaks of in her Song of Mystery,-" A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me"."

Of what it will be to see CHRIST in His glory we cannot know; it would overwhelm our weak faculties to have any glimpses of it; but what He has already been to us has been revealed; so that we may read in all His sufferings and His actions, what is "the mind of CHRIST:" and to meditate continually on these things is the best medicine of our diseased nature, the meat and drink of the heavy-laden soul in all its course here below.

8 Cant. i. 13.

SERMON XXV.

SELF-EXAMINATION BEFORE COMMUNION.

1 COR. xi. 28.

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup."

66

THE Catechism ends by stating what is required of persons who come to the LORD's Supper. It is, we are told, "to examine themselves"-alluding to this expression of St. Paul; and then five points are mentioned in which this examination is to consist. They are such as embrace all the great points in a Christian life, and the fulfilment of which will alone make us meet to take part in the Communion Service of our Church, in which all these are in some way or other expressed; and they all refer to that keeping of the heart, which will alone make us to understand aright the mysteries of CHRIST's Body and Blood. Very excellent things are spoken of" this holy Sacrament by the good and wise of all ages of the Church. But it may be observed, that Scripture does not say much of the mysterious doctrines connected with it,-of the " pure oblation"-the memorial sacrifice made unto GoD in CHRIST's death, and the like; and the reason of this may be, that such things-the secrets which "belong unto God"—are above the human understanding; they are to be comprehended by faith and a good life, but not otherwise. Nay, there must be great danger respecting them, if we venture to go beyond the written Word of God; it is treading on ground infinitely beyond us. But what holy Scripture dwells upon from the beginning to the end, is the necessity of holiness on our part

before we approach GOD. And it is to this which St. Paul here turns, as the only remedy against the danger of not discerning the LORD'S Body-the guilt of partaking unworthily, viz. this self-preparation beforehand. When our blessed LORD HIMSELF went about in the flesh, He said very little of HIMSELF being CHRIST and GOD; indeed, He threw a veil, as it were, over these things and concealed them, but required men to come to HIM with penitent and obedient hearts; knowing that if they did so, His FATHER in Heaven would reveal unto them all the mysteries that are hid in CHRIST. They would come to know HIM as GoD in a saving way, and not unto perdition. So it is with this Sacrament; he that would wish to understand and receive it aright, let him "examine himself."

The word which St. Paul here uses, translated " examine," is in the original a strong word; it implies trying and proving, as one would money, to know whether it were good or bad, or metals in the fire, to ascertain the dross such is the searching trial we are to make into our hearts and lives, to know what is genuine and what is counterfeit. This, the full meaning of this word, is well expressed in the Exhortation to the Holy Communion:" So to search and examine your own consciences, and that not lightly, and after the manner of dissemblers with God; but so that ye may come holy and clean to such a heavenly FATHER."

Now, first of all with regard to repentance: it is, indeed, well put the first, for on the depth and sincerity of our repentance will depend all that follows:-" Whether they repent them truly of their former sins." The great point in repentance is that it be true. Repentance of some kind is common enough: but true and unto life is the most rare of all things. There can be no one in a Christian country without some occasional thoughts of repentance; and these occurring from time to time with more or less degrees of seriousness. Such are, no doubt, from GOD'S good Spirit in all cases- - they are calls from the most Holy One. And the whole of our Christian progress will depend on the degree of attention which is paid to them. In some, such thoughts of repentance occur and pass away without any effect at all: in others, they serve to produce so much amendment as to prevent their becoming much worse. But surely this is not enough;

our repentance must be so continual, so sincere and genuine, that we may grow in grace, and be daily puttiug on the new man, which is day by day renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Such being the case, these more solemn calls to repentance, on each preparation for the Holy Communion, are of the very deepest importance, so much so, that all our spiritual life may depend upon them. On such occasions, the whole of our past life ought to be brought up in review before us; the most serious offences against GoD which we have ever committed, together with those lesser sins of which we may have been daily guilty up to this present time. Are we truly sorry for these, however long they may have past? sorry that by them we have offended God, and that they rise up between us and HIM, and prevent the gracious beams of His love from reaching us? sorry that we have thereby grieved the good Spirit of CHRIST, Who has done and suffered so much for us? If any love for those past sins still remains in the heart, there can be no true repentance. Where those past sins have affected others, have we made restitution as far as is possible for us to do so? for without this restitution there can be no availing repentance. Where the past cannot be undone, does it work in us such godly sorrow and hatred of those sins into which we have fallen, that we can with a true heart join in that confession in the Communion Service in which we say, "We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable?" Without such a repentance as this there can be no true foundation in our religion; without it we are building on the sand, and however fair and respectable our after life may appear to be, it will not stand in the day of trial; when the floods arise, and the winds blow, great and irremediable will be the fall. In coming to the holy Communion without such a repentance we are deceiving our own hearts; and losing the great benefits of CHRIST's presence therein. For how can our souls' wounds be healed by that divine medicine unless we have taken pains to ascertain what they are-how many, how grievous and offensive to God? If we are not duly sensible of them, how can we ask for forgiveness with such truth and earnestness as to obtain it? What an awful and serious matter it is to come unto CHRIST's nearer presence without repentance,