supper and this, perhaps, is the first time that some have ever acquired a notion of what Christian faith really is. And for this very reason, because there is a general feeling, that the receiving of the sacrament is different from our common religious services, that it cannot be trifled with in the manner in which we know that we do trifle with those other services ;it is, in short, because the sacrament does really require faith, and faith is a thing which our evil nature knows not and shrinks from,-that therefore we so often find young persons so unwilling to come to the Lord's table. Nay, sometimes, even if they do receive it they do not yet learn fully what it is to believe. So manifold are the tricks of our self-deceiving hearts, that some go to the communion itself as a matter of form, because they think it would be marked in them to stay away; and then they try to persuade themselves that they cannot help going, and if they cannot help going, then they do not profane it by going unworthily;-that it is not their own free choice to go, and the guilt of profaning it will not rest upon their heads. Strange and shocking as it seems, I know this argument has been used where the rules of a school or college have required every one to attend as a matter of regulation;-I fear it may have been used even where no such rule exists, and where it can only be supposed that an habitual absence from the communion, in persons of a certain age, cannot fail to be remarked as strange, and as a just matter of regret. But so it is, that from whatever cause,whether from wilful neglect before they went, or more commonly from inveterate carelessness afterwards,—

too many

of those who do attend the communion, still appear to be strangers to the principle of faith. They cannot be said, like the Apostles, to "have continued with Christ in his temptations," for they have never known what it is to struggle against temptation for Christ's sake. They have never made it their deliberate choice to abide with him, let who would forsake him, because they were sure that he had "the words of eternal life." As to leaving him outwardly,—that is, of changing their religion, and becoming heathens and Mahometans, that is a question which has never come before their minds, as there is nothing to tempt them to do it; but, as to leaving him really, that is to say, ceasing to obey him, to honour him, to love him, they do not cease to do these things, only because they have never begun to do them at all; they do not turn back from Christ, only because they have never really followed him. However much then we may be called Christians, and however little we have ever doubted the fact of Christ's life and death, we cannot on that account lay claim to that true and lively faith which Christ saw in his eleven Apostles, and for which he did not hesitate to pronounce them to be "clean every whit."

But what follows then? If we are not thus clean, —if we have need of far more than a partial washing, are we in the condition of our Lord's twelfth disciple, of whom it is said, that he was the son of perdition, and that when his hand was on the table of Christ, it was the hand of one who was betraying his Master?-God forbid! much rather may we hope that it may be said of us, that we are not far from the

kingdom of God, even if we are not yet spiritually entered into it. We are not clean, indeed, too many of us; but that Gospel which is preached unto us,— that Gospel whose great and most solemn completion we this week celebrate,-holds out to you and to me, to every one of the children of men who need it, a fountain for sin and for uncleanness-a means whereby our sins, though scarlet, may be made as white as snow, and we, like the Apostles, may stand in the sight of God as “clean every whit.” The Gospel is "Christ crucified;" the power of God, and the wisdom of God: power to root out the most hardened evils of our nature, -wisdom to give even to babes a knowledge beyond all that earthly learning could ever acquire or teach. "Christ crucified" is this week more especially set forth before us: would to God that you and I, and all that in name belong unto him, might so dwell with humble and penitent hearts upon that solemn story, that, when we meet in this place next Sunday, we might be able, with something of a fitting joy, to celebrate and give thanks to "Christ risen." How often have we lived over this week of our Lord's passion, and felt no grief and no repentance: how often have we attended his service on Easter-day, and felt no joy. I speak not of the observance of these particular days for any special sacredness in themselves; one week in itself is but like another: but I speak of the opportunity which it offers; I speak of the necessity, if we ever hope to see God, of feeling at some one time or other of our lives, what is contained in those few words, "Christ crucified, and Christ risen;" of letting our minds embrace the reason why he was

crucified, and for what he rose; of learning what it is to be a sinner, and what it is to stand acquitted before the throne of God, forgiven and beloved. This is faith, and by this, and this alone, can we ever be acquitted, or ever overcome the world. We may have a deep knowledge of divinity, still more may we have a deep knowledge of earthly things;-we may have many qualities which our friends dearly love, many which even our enemies cannot refuse to honour; we may live in comfort, with large enjoyment of the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of understanding, and the delights of affection, and our names may be repeated in after times, as men who did worthily in their generation to their neighbours and their country;—all this may be; and yet we may awake from our graves, when earth falls in ruin around us, and hear from Him, whom we must hear as a Judge, though we may reject him as a Saviour, that we have had our reward,--that in our lifetime, or at least in earth's lifetime, we have received our good things, and that the cup is now empty for ever. All will have passed away, as a thousand worlds, with all their interests and pleasures, may have passed away already, in infinite space and infinite time. But of eternal life, and of eternal happiness, there is but one fountain, even God: and to sinners such as we are, that fountain is for ever closed, unless we have access to it through Christ, and for his sake are regarded by his Father as "clean every whit."

SERMON XIX.

LUKE XVII. 36, 37.

Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresover the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

THE question here put to our Lord by his disciples, seems to partake somewhat of the spirit in which the prophecies of the Scripture are generally read, and by which their usefulness is very greatly lessened. Nor is this spirit confined to the prophecies only; it is often seen in the explanations given in the parables of our Lord, and indeed of every other part of Scripture. What I mean, is the habit of making the prophecies or parables allude to one thing only, when in fact they allude to many; the making them relate to particular places, persons, and nations, when, in fact, they relate to particular sins, temptations, and states of mind, which have existed in a great many different places, and in many different persons and nations. Thus we lose the benefit of what we read in two ways; first,