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saith the Lord; and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." And again, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel. And then what an assurance and seal of forgiveness is the holy Communion feast!—

"Oh how sweet, how comfortable,

In the wilderness to see

Such provisions, and a table

Spread for sinners, spread for me!

Yes, spread for sinners; not for angels, but for penitent sinners.

are now ready.

66

Come, oh come, for all things

The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.”—REV. xxii. 17.
The Spirit in our hearts

Is whispering, Sinner, come:

The Bride, the Church of Christ, proclaims
To all her children, Come.

Let him that heareth say

To all about him, Come:

Let him that thirsts for righteousness,

To Christ, the Fountain, come.

Yea, whosoever will,

Oh let him freely come,

And freely drink the stream of life;

'Tis Jesus bids him come.

Lo, Jesus, who invites,

Declares, I quickly come.

Lord, even so we wait Thine hour:

O blest Redeemer, come.

a Jer. iii. 12.

ONDERDONK.

Hosea xiv. 4.

THE EXHORTATION.

At the time of the Celebration of the Communion, the Communicants being conveniently placed for the receiving of the holy Sacrament, the Priest shall say this Exhortation.

DEARLY beloved in the Lord, ye that mind to come to the holy Communion of the body and blood of our Saviour Christ, must consider how Saint Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves before they presume to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy Sacrament (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us); so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. For then we are guilty of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour; we eat and drink our own damnation, not considering the Lord's body; we kindle God's wrath against us; we provoke Him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent you truly for your sins past; have a lively and steadfast faith in Christ our Saviour; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men; so shall ye be meet partakers of those holy mysteries. And above all things ye must give most humble and hearty thanks to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both God and man; who did humble Himself, even to the death upon the Cross, for us, miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that He might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. And to the end that we should alway remember the exceeding great love of our Master, and

only Saviour, Jesus Christ, thus dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by His precious blood-shedding He hath obtained to us; He hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, as pledges of His love, and for a continual remembrance of His death, to our great and endless comfort. To Him therefore, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, let us give (as we are most bounden) continual thanks; submitting ourselves wholly to His holy will and pleasure, and studying to serve Him in true holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Amen.

THIS Whole Exhortation is one of singular beauty, breadth, and power. It begins with reminding us of the necessity of self-examination before we presume to eat of that bread and drink of that cup, which are to the faithful the communion of the

body and blood of Christ. It goes on to tell of the exceeding blessedness of a due reception of that holy feast, inasmuch as then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood; we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us. It warns us of the great danger of receiving these tokens of Divine love unworthily. It enforces the duties of self-judgment, repentance, faith, holiness, brotherly kindness. It sets forth the crowning joy of praise, first for the eternal facts. of redemption, and then for this memorial feast ordained for our great and endless comfort. And it closes with the sweetest, softest cadence of praise to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, even that grateful love which submits itself to the will of God and studies to lay out our life in His service.

But the solemn note of warning which is here -struck against receiving the Lord's Supper unworthily is one that demands our close and prayerful attention. It was intended to awaken and warn the careless professor. It need not disquiet the humble believing child of God. Nor is it more solemn than the passage of Holy Scripture" on which it is founded. We must carefully bear in mind that when the apostle says, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself," he does not mean by damnation final condemnation or eternal punishment, but temporal chastisement. The word is translated judgment in the Revised Version. And the meaning is transparent from verse 32, "But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

The Lord's Supper was often celebrated at Corinth together with their social evening meal, afterwards called an Agape or Love-feast. "To it the rich contributed of their wealth, and the poor of their poverty, and at its close it was usual for all amidst these tokens of mutual love to celebrate what was peculiarly the sacramental rite. But in the course of time out of this custom very unseemly disorders arose. The richer Christians at Corinth made this feast minister to their own self-indulgence, and invidious distinctions were introduced; so that they who were unable to contribute to the common a 1 Cor. xi. 20-34.

meal remained hungry, while others ate and drank to excess. Such scenes were intolerable" (Maclean). Thus we see that the sin against which the apostle's warning was immediately directed was the confounding the Lord's Supper with a common meal, and the indulgence of pride, selfishness, and carnal appetite. But the chastened and simple solemnity, with which the holy Communion is now administered, almost in itself precludes this danger. Only let us be on our guard that no external ritual of the service, whether poor or rich, interferes with or distracts the spiritual and heavenly exercises of the soul.

Another danger against which St. Paul warned the Corinthians is noted, chap. x. 15-22 of this Epistle. They were tempted, after communicating at the Lord's table, to participate in the idolatrous feasts of heathen worship. Is there no corresponding peril in our days? Are not mammon and the world to this nineteenth century what idol-worship was to the first century? Do we not need to bear in mind, "Covetousness is idolatry. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him"? then, those who profess the Name of Christ are living for the world, its pleasures, honours, and wealth, as the first objects of their desire, they cannot come worthily to that feast where they say, "Here we offer and present unto Thee ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and

If,

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