and kindness to the repentant Peter, who had fallen into the heinous sin of denying his Lord, almost immediately after partaking of this rite. And the same mercy will be extended to us, if we, too, like Peter, having been vanquished by a sudden temptation, shall weep bitterly over our failings, and repent us of our sins.

If the plea of unworthiness be urged as a motive for absenting ourselves from the Holy Communion; why then do we not repent and amend? Be it remembered, that he who is unworthy to approach the table of the Lord, is equally unworthy to approach the presence of the Lord, whether in the service of the sanctuary or the retirement of the closet. The prayer

which is offered without sorrow for our sins, without the purpose of amendment, without charity towards our brethren, and without faith in our Saviour, is offered in vain. He, therefore, who may worthily approach his Maker at all, may approach Him in the way which his Saviour has appointed and he that is unworthy to participate in the Holy Communion, is un

worthy to participate in any Christian ordinance whatever.

Ye, then," that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in His holy ways; draw near with faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort." Omit no opportunity which is offered you of thus strengthening and refreshing your souls by the body and blood of Christ, which will convey to you the means of living well, that, through the merits of your Saviour you may live for

ever.

Ye who will still persist in turning from the Table of the Lord, ask yourselves with fear and trembling, whether, if he "who despised Moses' law," by a neglect of the Passover, "died without mercy," ye will not be thought worthy of a much sorer punishment, who have trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. Ask yourselves again, if, while you persist in this

wilful disregard, you can entertain any reasonable hope of being hereafter included in the everlasting festival of the faithful, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And may the Lord God Almighty grant, that these questions may go home into your hearts.

SERMON VI.

ON REPENTANCE.

LUKE XV. 10.

"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth."

AN attentive perusal of the sacred volume will produce an effect upon the minds of those who read it, as opposite as the character and conduct of the individuals themselves. If a sinner, with a broken and contrite spirit, shall seek information from this heavenly guide, and loathing his former courses, ask in the spirit of humility what he must do to be saved; his better feelings will be awakened into action, and his evil courses will be abandoned for the sake of those glories which are pro

mised to the returning prodigal: his soul will be filled with pious gratitude for the promises that are made him, and soothed into an holy calm by the mercy that is revealed to him.

The man of moral worth, whose course has been stained by no flagrant sin, but whose virtues have arisen from mere natural impulse, and who has acted without a reference to those high and holy motives which actuate a Christian, will find the calm deceptive halo which encircled him dispersed, and the bright beams of revelation displaying new and better motives of action, convincing him that no works will find acceptance before the throne of grace but such as are done in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the sanctifying influence of the Spirit of God.

If the yet impenitent offender is ever led to unfold its pages, he will soon close them in dismay and horror, condemned in every page he reads, appalled with the vengeance it denounces; and will, perhaps be driven to the miserable subterfuge