end he calls upon thee to remember him. It is thy advantage he propofes; and great, unspeakably great, is the privilege accruing from this duty, if thou knoweft how to improve it. And to thy improvement of it nothing more is neceffary than fincerity onthy part; inafmuch as God will never fail to affift all those with the quickening influences of his grace and fpirit, who do their beft; and will accept their weak, because well-meant, endeavours to please him, through the mediation of his well-beloved Son; whofe meritorious death and paffion is reprefented to them, and remembered by them, in this ordinance.

E this then, O my foul, thy great, thy

Bonly concern, to be approved of thy

God and Saviour; to come with enlightened views, with fervent defires, and holy difpofitions; and to be found a worthy, that thou mayeft be a welcome gueft! For thou canft not think, O my foul, that it is alike indifferent with what temper thou makest thy approaches to this facred feftival! Does the pious Pfalmift, even under the legal difpenfation, when there was fo much out-ward pomp and ceremony in the worship of God, lay fuch ftrefs on inward purity, and moral goodness and rectitude? does he beg of God to examine and prove him, to

try

try his reins and his heart; and make his appeal to him, as having walked in his integrity, and had his loving-kindnefs before his eyes; and then refolve, I will wash my hands in innocence, fo will I compass thine altar, O Lord? and is lefs regard had to the qualification of the worshipper, where the worship is more refined and spiritual? Was it a more folemn thing to attend the facrifice of a flain beast, than it is to commemorate the facrifice of the Son of God? But how fhall I, who am but finful duft and ashes, come before the Lord? how present myself among the adorers of the moft high God? He hath fhewed thee, O my foul, what he requires of thee! Examine thyself, both as to thy notions of the duty before thee, the nature and the defign of it, and as to thy fitnefs to partake of fo high a privilege. Lay the foundation of faithfulness to God and man, to thy Master, and to thy fellow-difciples, in being faithful and true to thyfelf. Diligently fearch thy memory, and fee what the general courfe of thy life hath been, and whether there are not fome particular great tranfgreffions for which thou haft not yet been fo thoroughly humbled as thou shouldft; defcend into thy heart, and if there be any favourite luft, any unmortified habit of vice that lurks there, defist not from thy inquiries till thou haft found it; and, having found it, drag it into the light, fhame thyfelf for it, and spare it not. For, alas, what will it avail thee to deceive thyfelf, when God is not mocked? The de

lufion may please and flatter, and, while it lafts, fill thee with towering imaginations, confident hopes, and ftrange overflowings of joy, especially at the holy table, from a falfe apprehenfion that all the benefits enjoyed by the true difciples of Jefus are thine. But how fhort-lived must the peace, the pleasure, the hope be, which is all fallacious and groundless! Thy pleasures will only refemble flashes of lightning in a dark night; which caufe a momentary brightness, but presently vanishing, give additional horrors to the remaining darkness. Haft thou, after fairly and fully debating it, already fettled this grand point? Take the comfort of thy fincerity; and doubt not of a free and kind admiffion by the Mafter of the feast to his table. However, do not therefore immediately conclude all further examination and preparation needlefs. Haft thou not been too indulgent in fome things? too deficient in others? Has not fome bad temper grown upon thee? fome paffion broke its bounds? A fpirit of pride, or fenfuality, or worldliness, or indifference to the welfare and happiness of others, though it does not reign in thee, yet recovered too much power? Humbly and earneftly intreat forgiveness for it, and ftrength against it; beg of God, the Father of fpirits, to restore thee from thy wanderings; put all things into the best order thou art able thyfelf; and ftedfastly resolve not to allow thyfelf in any temper, or degree of any L temper,

temper, in any action, or omiffion of any action, which the gofpel does not allow thee in.

L

ET me confider, O my foul, this is but one among many religious duties which I am to perform with the fame ferioufnefs and fincerity I do this! Whenever I worship God, whether in public or private, as I hope to do it acceptably, I am to cleanse my hands before I draw nigh unto him, and to discharge my heart of every foreign care; that fo I may be able to attend upon God without distraction, and have my mind poffeffed with a holy awe of the divine Majefty. Let me not fet one duty above another; nor, by the preparation I make for the Lord's fupper, be tempted to think I may be more carelefs and negligent in the ordinary exercises of religion. The preparation of the heart is always neceffary, when we take upon us to speak to the great Lord of heaven and earth and if, by way of introduction to any particular ordinance, as this of the Lord's fupper, it be ufual to spend more time in felf-recollection and other exercises of devout retirement, to the intent we may have our hearts fet in order, and all things in a readiness against the approaching season; the foundation of this practice feems to be, that it is proper to do this fometimes; and no time is reckoned more proper for fuch a

work,

work, than before receiving the Lord's fupper; as that ordinance is not wont to revolve fo often as the ftated worfhip of the Lord's day, and the nature of the inftitution is more entirely and diftinguishingly evangelical, or Christian. Upon this account, as I fhall not make it an indifpenfable rule to have the very fame fet preparation every time I receive the facrament, whether neceffary or not necessary, convenient or not convenient, nor banish myself from the Lord's table when I have not an opportunity for it, (fince this would be to bind myself where God hath left me free); fo, as often and as far as I find it expedient, I fhall commune with my own heart, and endeavour to awaken and raise my fpirit by previous exercises, before I enter upon the common duties of divine worship; and fhall always charge my foul not to rufh into the presence of God in an irreverent and indevout manner, left I draw down his difpleasure upon me at the very time I profefs to honour his name.

D

OI not love thee, O my Saviour? I humbly truft I can fay, Thou knowest all things, thou knoweft that I love thee. Either I am a ftranger to my own heart, and ignorant after what objects it breathes and afpires, or I unfeignedly, I prevailingly love thee. Art thou the darling of thine almighty