ing to the scriptures," or conformably with "the sure word of prophecy," and that he presented himself, on the cross, a voluntary sacrifice for our redemption. Christians, by assembling to partake of the sacred elements, may be said to maintain these great facts before the world. By their common participation of this sacred rite, they do this in a more impressive manner than they could by words only. The rehearsal of a sound creed, including all the main articles of faith, is doubtless very instrumental towards checking the rise and growth of pernicious errors, and has been in use, for this purpose, from the primitive times. But such rehearsal is not absolutely enjoined, as is the frequent celebration of the Lord's Supper. Neither is it so striking and effectual a mode of signifying our belief of those great facts and events on which the truth of our religion rests. Were we even without any well digested summary of christian faith, highly important as such an instrument doubtless is, yet the great fact of the death of Christ, with all its train of causes and consequences, could never be wholly forgotten or unimproved, while the celebration of the communion remained a part of our social worship. We We may say more. Even were the volume of the New Testament lost, the permission of which, however, can hardly be imagined, still the circumstance of this sacred rite

having been celebrated, through a succession. of ages, from the earliest times, would preserve inviolate the faith of the first believers, and hand down to us the knowledge of that great doctrine which may be termed the cornerstone of the whole spiritual fabric.

But we also "show the Lord's death" in the communion, as we there profess our dependence on it for salvation. Belief and dependence as to this event, though always united, whenever belief is sincere, yet convey two distinct ideas which may very properly be considered apart. A profession of belief may denote merely the assent of the understanding to the clear evidence of truth. A profession of dependence expresses the surrender of the will to the dictates of the understanding and conscience. As applied to the death of Christ, it signifies that we repose an actual and habitual trust in his atonement. And how can we publish this trust more emphatically, than by partaking of the sacred elements? In so doing, we openly confess our unworthiness before God, our exposure to the condemnation of his righteous law, our inability to obtain deliverance from its curse without the atonement provided by the gospel, and our reliance on that atonement, as the sole meritorious ground of our salvation. The cross of Christ we here cling to, as the grand pillar of our hope for

eternity. At the same time, we own the necessity of repentance and good works, as the appointed qualifications through which alone we can secure salvation, even by the death of Christ. We profess, not such a dependence on his atonement as would exclude personal diligence and exertions,-God forbid ! —but only such a reliance as goes to disavow the sufficiency of our own efforts to entitle us, by a claim of merit, to the favour and acceptance of our Maker.

Once more. "We show forth the Lord's death," in the communion, by a public profession of gratitude for the benefits which it has conferred upon ourselves, and all mankind. We there offer the sacrifice of praise for the inestimable blessings of redemption. We there lift up the voice of thanksgiving for this greatest of benefits. Surely, if an expression of boundless gratitude be called for in any instance, it must be proper on such an occasion as this. For what is it that we commemorate? It is nothing less than our deliverance from guilt and final condemnation; a ransom purchased "not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb, without blemish and without spot." Praise has always formed a most essential part of this service. At its original institution, our Saviour " gave thanks," previously to his

presenting the commemorative symbols of his body and blood to his disciples. The communion worship of the primitive church abounded in sacred anthems. From this circumstance did it derive the title of the Eucharist, a word denoting thanksgiving. This term has been applied to the Lord's Supper, as though praise and gratitude were, what they are not, the entire substance of the commemoration. Beside praise and thanksgiving, it demands humiliation, repentance, faith, and universal good will to men. But perhaps, among the various holy feelings which it is calculated to excite, gratitude, "takes the highest room." Fervent gratitude will survive, when the rest shall have passed away. And, as charity is declared to be greater than faith and hope, because it will outlive them, and flourish through eternity; so gratitude, for a like reason, may be said to excel other feelings connected with the communion, as it will ascend with the redeemed to heaven, and prompt and animate their loftier praises, before the throne.

Thus do we "show forth the Lord's death," in that communion of his body and blood which is termed the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist; for the word sacrament, by which it is commonly distinguished, and which means a solemn engagement before God, is a word equally, if not more properly, applicable to

baptism. Our celebration of the rite, however, is in conformity with the simple directions of God's word, explained according to a rational interpretation. We do not "show the Lord's death," like the Romanist, by the absurd pretence of transubstantiation, nor with his idle pomp of superstitious ceremony. Neither do we pass into an opposite extreme, or show it, like a denomination of christians amongst ourselves, who have opposed the literal sense of our Saviour's precept, abolished this ceremony of religion, together with every other, and reduced a solemn, visible, established service of christian worship to a mere act of silent and solitary devotion. We may indeed muse, and muse profitably on the death of Christ, in the way of silent meditation. But how we can be said to "show it," in any sense whatever, unless we make the communion a solemn rite of social worship,-it is impossible to understand.

Let us, however, be careful that our conduct, in this, as well as every other particular of religious service, do not rest in mere profession, nor in what may amount to little better. Let it be, with us, an act of the understanding, and of the heart. Whenever we approach the holy table, let us approach it with serious and suitable dispositions, repenting truly of our past sins, stedfastly purposing to amend our lives,