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The primary design of the Lord's supper, therefore, is to keep up a "continual remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby."* This is an essential part of the institution; take away from it the idea of Christ's death being a sacrifice, and you rob it of all its importance,—all its interest. And it is liarly proper that the highest act of Christian devotion, should refer to the most amazing exhibition of God's love to man. The grateful commemoration of the "exceeding great love of our only Master and Saviour, Jesus Christ, dying for us," is the most delightful engagement of the church of the redeemed on earth, and will constitute the highest felicity of the church of the glorified in heaven. In approaching the sacramental table of our Lord now, our language is, "God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And if we shall be so happy as to surround his throne hereafter, our language will be different, though the theme of our gratitude and the source of our joy, will be the same:— -our song will then be, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to redeem us by his blood!" "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen."

*Church Catechism.

MEDITATION.

ONCE more the church invites her children to the sacramental supper. The Lord himself calls upon poor and guilty sinners like me, to approach his table and to receive the sensible pledges of his redeeming love, the consecrated symbols of his broken body and shed blood. Hear, my soul! and prepare to obey his solemn command, "do this in remembrance of me!"

The principal design of this holy ordinance, is, as thou hast heard, to keep up a memorial of the sufferings of Christ;-of his death as a sacrifice for sin, and of the benefits which we receive thereby. O, then, call to remembrance the infinite condescension and unspeakable sufferings of thy Lord! Reflect, that "though he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet, he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh." Think of him as having voluntarily become the tenant of a manger, "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Behold him "despised and rejected of men,”-treated with contempt by the powerful, and exposed to the scoffs and insults of the rabble. Follow him to the garden of Gethsemane:-see him prostrate upon the hard surface of the ground, pouring forth supplications, "with strong crying and tears!" Think of

that intolerable agony of soul, which forced from his veins, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground, and compelled him to exclaim, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" See him arrested and arraigned before Pilate's bar! "He gives his back to the smiters, and his cheek to them that plucked out the hair."-"He is led like a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."-Trace him to Calvary! behold him transfixed to the cross! Hearken to that mysterious cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" "He bows his sacred head, and gives up the ghost!"

O my soul, all these agonies were endured for thy sake! Yes, precious truth! "He was wounded for my transgressions-he was bruised for my iniquities." O that he may behold in me the fruit of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied! "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon his name. I will make my vows to him, in the presence of all his people." "I am not my own, but have been bought with a price. I will glorify God in my body and spirit which are his." O that I may feel the constraining influence of the Saviour's love! O that my views may be fixed upon the cross, till my old man is crucified, and the body of sin destroyed:till I am dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ my Lord!

"Behold fast streaming from the tree,

His all atoning blood!

Is this the Infinite? 'tis he,

My Saviour and my God!

For me these pangs his soul assail,
For me this death is borne;
My sins gave sharpness to the nail,
And pointed every thorn.

Let sin no more my soul enslave,
Break, Lord, its tyrant chain;

O save me, whom thou cam'st to save,
Nor bleed, nor die in vain."

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CHAPTER II.

THE BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM A RECEPTION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

SECTION I.

Two common errors exposed.

IN considering the benefits to be derived from an attendance on this divinely instituted memorial of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, it is important to guard against two opposite errors. The one, is that of those who unduly exalt it in the scale of Christian duties, and ascribe to it an influence to which it is by no means entitled;-and the other, that of those who consider it as a mere ceremony, which we may disregard without sin, and habitually neglect without loss of spiritual comfort and improvement.

The strong language used by some of the ancient fathers and martyrs of the church, who lived in the exercise of saving faith, and under the influences of the Holy Spirit, in speaking of the strength and consolation which they derived from a reception of this blessed sacrament, has been so perverted by a multitude of formalists, as to delude them into the belief that a bare attendance upon the ordinance would insure to them the same blessings and comforts that it