of sins."

my blood;" and what for? "The remission Here he promises, that if we will perform the outward part, He will perform the inward part and this is the tenor of his message,

"THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME." (Luke xxii. 19.)

2. But how know we this? Does God convey this message to every human soul directly and without mediation? Are there as many messages as there are souls, and does God speak to each soul individually? Surely not. He has appointed, once for all, messengers. Having given the message once to his only begotten Son, that only begotten Son conveys it to others, and others convey it to us. He has ordained apostles, prophets, and priests, who are to convey the message, and publish it, and make it known in every region of the earth. He said to Peter, "Feed my `sheep." He said to his apostles, "Go ye into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ;" and to this day these messengers

stand forth ministering at the altar, and offering the bread of life. They say for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat: yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." (Isaiah Iv. 1.)

Our business, then, is to consider, not so much the messenger as the message. The messenger is but a man. True a holy man, a consecrated man; yet a man. But if you

reject his words, or if you slight his authority, remember at what risk you do it. "He that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." (Luke x. 16.) But is the message right? How can you tell? "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify"-(John v. 39)—of whom? Both of the Master and of the servant. Of the Master first, as being holy, just, and true: as being able to do what he promised, inasmuch as he rose from the dead; and of the servant,

secondly, as receiving the gifts of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and coming forth to preach the glad tidings of salvation.

It is a grave question, if you be found rejecting the bread of life; and that merely because you think the servant who brings it unworthy. So he is unworthy; but he is obedient. Water is not the less pure because it is brought in an earthen vessel. If the vessel were of gold, the water were no purer. Hands, there must be and human hands-through which the bread of life-the water of salvation -may come to you. And even as Christ, in the miracle of the loaves, multiplied the bread himself, yet conveyed it for the feeding of the multitude by the hands of the apostles; so we, in this holy sacrament. It is offered to you from God, but by the word of man. It is God that bids himself, but through his messenger. Will you hear, or will you forbear? He speaks to you in all the love of his divine Master. He beseeches you; not for his own

glory, or his own sake, but "for the Lord

Jesus Christ's sake."

But let us proceed.

Ye know how grievous and un-
kind a thing it is, when a man
hath prepared a rich feast, decked
his table with all kind of provision,
so that there lacketh nothing but
the guests to sit down; and yet
they who are called (without any
cause) most unthankfully refuse
to come. Which of y you in such a
case would not be moved? Who
would not think a great injury
and wrong done unto him?
Wherefore, most dearly beloved
in Christ, take ye good heed, lest
ye, withdrawing yourselves from
this holy Supper, provoke God's
indignation against you.

In this we have an appeal to our own feelings as men; we have a comparison instituted, and

a resemblance set up between the feast of the Lord's Supper, and the feasts which men celebrate among one another. The idea is put before us, of the feelings of wrath and indignation with which God must look upon the despisers of his feast, from the feelings of wrath and indignation which we feel, when we have prepared a rich feast, and there lacketh nothing but the guests to sit down. Now this feeling is quickly intelligible; it comes home to the heart at once. "Who, in such a case, would not be moved ?" So it was with Saul, when David fled from his table; and when the feast, as usual, had been prepared, but David's place was empty. "Saul spake not anything that day, for he thought, 'Something hath befallen him. He is not clean. Surely, he is not clean. Wherefore cometh not the Son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor to-day?" (1 Sam. xx. 26, 27.) So it was in the case of Daniel. The king had prepared meat and drink; but Daniel purposed not to eat of it, nor to drink of it. And then the prince of the

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