screen your haughtiness to man-should it tell you this, go where it would have you go, go throw yourselves prostrate before the footstool of the Long Sufferingfalter not, hesitate not, ask not with the doubting Israelite, "wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God;" come with the costliest gift you can present, come with the noblest sacrifice you can offer, come with the purest incense you can kindle, come with a repentant spirit, come with a heart gazing sadly on past errors, but looking forward with hope to future amendment; come with a soul glowing Iwith a world of strange and untried emotions, come with justice strengthening the nerve, come with mercy pleading in the eye, come with humbleness towards God, giving lightness and confidence to the step-come before the Lord with these offerings, bow down before the high God with these gifts;

and thus coming, thus bowing down, may the inscrutable Being in whose sight we stand, plain as the sun shining in its glory, but whose form we cannot discern, whose lineaments we cannot trace, may he stretch forth his hand to receive you, may he embrace you in the arms of his mercy, may he refresh you with the dews of his favour, may he sanctify you by the outpouring of his grace; and, finally, may he conduct you to those mansions of bliss whither our Saviour Christ is gone to prepare a place before!

Now to God, &c.

SERMON XII.

A SACRAMENTAL EXHORTATION, ON The

SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS-DAY.

Preached at Buckland, Kent.

1 CORINTHIANS X. 16.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

THE day whereon we are wont to commemorate the most remarkable event that ever took place in the history of mankind, is just receding from our view; we have not been, I trust, unmindful of the benefits therein gratuitously heaped upon us; we have not allowed this most solemn festival of all, to pass unregarded

by, without kindling in our hearts some emotions of a purer and more holy kind ---without imparting to us some heavenly joys, apart from the joys of the world--without creating in us another lightness of spirit, and another gaiety of heart, unakin to the lightness and gaiety of life. The accustomed duties of social intercourse have been faithfully performed, families have mingled with families, friends have met friends, in every place, beneath every roof, some common table has been spread, around which have been assembled once more, countenances that may never look upon each other again--hearts that may never mix in harmless pleasure more. A part only, a small part of our duty is done, there yet remains a greater, a more serious charge: the family of Christ must mingle together in one---the friends of his gospel must meet here; in this silent spot, beneath this homely roof, a richer table is

spread, a more enduring banquet is prepared. The Father, who sent his Son into the world, in pity to man's fallen and hopeless condition; the Son, who, yielding to his Father's will, took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death upon the cross; the Holy Spirit, who went forth according to the promise, by whom the righteous Stephen was filled, who in the first ages animated the saints and martyrs of the church,--these all invite you to gather round this consecrated table, to partake of this spiritual food; "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" For the propitiation of sins already committed, and to be committed, as the seal of an everlasting covenant, the blood of the holy Jesus was poured out, his body was nailed to the cross: