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also, who so far declines from the service of his Divine Master, as to approach the memorials of his dying love with an ignorance of their proper and important meaning, with sin that is not repented of, with an unforgiving spirit, or with a selfrighteous and unbelieving heart.

Lest this should be our unhappy case, it becomes us, my brethren, to institute a strict inquiry into the state of our own souls, and to implore Almighty God, that he would "search us, and know our hearts;" that he would "try us, and know our thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting." It becomes us ever to bear in mind the solemn warning of our text; to remember the awful declension and suffering condition of the Corinthian Christians; and to fear lest we "fall after the same example of unbelief." "God is just who taketh vengeance." He hath said unto the wicked, "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ?" He hath said that the "hope of the hypocrite....shall be cut off," and that his trust shall be "a spider's web." Let us, then, examine ourselves, lest, eating and drinking unworthily, we become "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." Are we ignorant of, or do we pervert, the true spirit and meaning of the Lord's Supper? Do we approach this sacred ordinance with an impenitent or unforgiving spirit? Do

we receive the testimonials of our Saviour's dying love, without a cordial faith in him, and an entire reliance upon his merits alone, for acceptance with God? These are questions which conscience alone can answer. If its testimony be against us, it behoves us to "remember from whence we are fallen, and to repent; to turn unto the Lord with all the heart, with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and to supplicate the aids of his grace, that we may be delivered from the condemnation of such as profane his holy ordinances.

If, on the other hand, the testimony of our conscience is, that " in simplicity and godly sincerity; with some humble hope of having been renewed in the temper of our minds; with some spiritual understanding of what is signified by the symbols of the Lord's Supper, we desire to approach its affecting solemnities as an expression of attachment to their Author, and of entire reliance on his merits; then let us feel encouragement and consolation. We may have occasional doubts and fears: our views of the doctrines of religion may be imperfect we may discover remains of sin in our hearts; but these alone are not obstacles in the way of a worthy participation of the Lord's Supper. They prove, indeed, our lukewarmness and our guilt; they call for sincere and hearty repentance; they should teach us to be humble before God. But if thus penitent and humble, we need not hesitate to celebrate the dying love of Him who is the

Friend of the lowly and the contrite, and of whom it is said, for our comfort and encouragement, that "a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judg ment unto victory.".

DISCOURSE V.

MATTHEW iii. 8.

Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance.

THE Pharisees and Sadducees were sects of eminent distinction among the Jews. They occupied the highest civil and religious offices, and were venerated by the common people for the supposed sanctity of their lives. By a strict observance of all the outward forms and ceremonies of religion; by a zealous defence of some idle traditions; by a perpetual warfare about speculative and erroneous doctrines, they would fain appear to be of all men the most holy. But very many of them, we have reason to think, were mere hypocrites. Nor will this judgment appear to be rash or uncharitable, if we only call to mind the severe rebukes which they so often received from our Saviour. He saw through their false disguises, and charged them, notwithstanding their ostentatious display of the most exalted virtue, with being full of all manner of wickedness. The Forerunner of Christ, too, treated them with no more lenity. When he came preaching in the wilderness

of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, there went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, "O generation of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance." As if he had said, " So vile and corrupt do I know most of your sects to be; so inflated with pride and self-righteousness; so dependant upon your own superior holiness for acceptance with God, that I am filled with astonishment to see you come to my baptism. For I preach the doctrine of repentance, and they who become my disciples are not backward to confess their sins with the deepest sorrow and contrition of heart. What voice has roused you from the slumber of death, and filled you with anxiety to escape the just vengeance of God? But your penitence is indeed sincere, let it be marked as such by its inseparable attendant, a thorough and permanent reformation." "Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance."

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Our text, my brethren, thus explained, enforces upon our most serious attention this important truth, that no repentance can be genuine without a radical reformation of heart and life.

In endeavouring to unfold the meaning of this doctrine, let us consider, first, the reasons on which

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