strengthening of Christian principle, which is the great object of the Ordinance, then make your Communions less frequent. Nothing is expressly ruled in Scripture respecting the frequency of the Ordinance; and accordingly the Christian is left on this point to his own spiritual instincts, which will however surely be formed on such passages as these, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;" "The cup 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?" and on the illustration which such passages derive from the practice of the early Church. Every man in this matter must direct himself, after having the elements which enter into a right decision laid before him. The fact of there being in many Churches a celebration of the Communion on every Sunday and Festival, is not to be construed as implying that it is expedient for all persons indiscriminately to communicate so often. Doubtless, where there is a sufficient number of Clergy in any Parish, the people have a right to demand that the perfect theory of their Church shall be carried out; and this perfect theory is daily Morning and Evening Prayer (for which there are daily Psalms and Lessons), and Holy Communion on Sundays and Festivals, for which there is always a new Epistle and Gospel. Many devout persons will always be found, who will thankfully avail themselves of the opportunities of communicating thus offered; while in reference to those who cannot at present feel it profitable to communicate so often, we abstain from all judgment of the conclusion at which they have arrived, and comply with the Apostle's direction, which may be very fitly accommodated to this matter: " Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; . . . . for" (may be) "God hath received him." In this, at least, the advocates both of frequent and rare Communion will be found to agree, that the holy things are not to be given to dogs,—that the holy Supper is unsuitable for the profane.

Yet, be it observed, lest those guests who are most

worthy should be discouraged from approaching the holy Table, that a sense of the defilement of sin is one of the chief qualifications for a right reception. Dogs may not draw nigh; nor may swine have the pearls of Christ's Body and Blood thrown before them; but those are not dogs, in the estimate of the Lord of the Church, who confess themselves to be so; nor those swine, who stir themselves out of the mire of their corruptions, and cry mightily for deliverance from them. She who accepted the title of dog, and with the ingenuity of faith rested upon that title her claim to a crumb of mercy, at length obtained the bread of the children, while confessing herself unworthy of it. And he who lies lowest in his own eyes, he who is accounted vile in his own sight, yet hangs on to Christ from the conviction that "him that cometh to” Him, He "will in no wise cast out" or spurn away, shall not plead in vain for a crumb of the Bread of Life, but, having come with hunger of heart to the heavenly Banquet, shall go away with the Virgin's experience upon his lips:

"He filleth the hungry with good things."

CHAPTER II

OF THE INVITATION

"He sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.”— LUKE xiv. 17

It is an argumennd more closely we study it,

TT is certainly an argument against the Revision of the

the more we become convinced that an immense amount of care, and thought, and prayer has been spent upon its construction, and that a Scriptural and theological

erudition underlies the whole of it. We are apt to think that we can well afford to lose some of its minuter features; but a more careful consideration of the subject shows us that to strike out one of those features would be to forfeit a Scriptural idea, and might put a whole Service out of joint. Who would not say at first sight that we might spare from the Communion Office the invitation which precedes the Confession : "Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways; Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort"? It is but a single sentence, we might say; and the qualifications of communicants, which it briefly sums up, have been given us more at large in the longer Exhortation which precedes;-why repeat them? Yet, on second thoughts, would the Service be as consistent with Scripture and Primitive Antiquity, if this short sentence were away?

Would it be, in the first place, as consistent with Scripture? Let it be considered that the Lord's Supper is a miniature Gospel, a perfect little model of the New Dispensation in all its essential features. This New Dispensation-its happiness and privileges -the festive satisfaction which the soul finds in its blessings are twice set forth by Our Lord under the image of a supper-"a great supper"-"a wedding festival." The certain man, who makes the great supper, sends his servants at supper-time to say to them that are bidden, "Come; for all things are now ready." The king, who made a marriage for his son, sends three detachments of his servants for the same purpose. By the agency of these servants guests are at length collected (in both parables) from the highways and hedges. In the last of them, when the king comes in to inspect the guests, he sees there a man who has not on a wedding garment, and expels him as an intruder. Every one knows the outline of the interpretation of these parables; that the blessings of

the Gospel were first proposed by Our Lord and His Apostles to the Jews; that, when the higher and more educated Jews with Pharisaic scorn rejected it, the publicans and harlots pressed into the opened kingdom; that ere long, since there still was room, the poor despised Gentiles thronged in from the highways and hedges of the world: but yet that it is by no means every nominal adherent to the Church of Christ, who will be found at the last great day of inspection, to have the internal qualifications for acceptance, which are set forth by the wedding garment. Now who does not see that this whole procedure is represented in brief in the Lord's Supper? First there is an actual supper-a feast upon the symbols, which both represent and convey the Body and Blood of Christ, the true "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Then those are bidden to partake of this supper, who in contrition of heart feel deeply their need of a Saviour, and rejoice in the assurance of His dying Love, which the Sacrament conveys. Yet, though it be no merit of their own, but rather an acknowledgment of their utter demerit, which procures their acceptance as guests, they must not lack the internal qualifications of Repentance, Faith, and Love, which alone can make the banquet available to the strengthening and refreshing of their souls. Thousands of those, who communicate outwardly, lack these qualifications, and will be shown at the last day to have been "in no wise partakers of Christ" to have had neither part nor lot in the matter of grace and salvation. But in order to make the analogy complete, must not a formal invitation be issued, and must there not be an official conveyance of the invitation? Now who is the person, whose part it is officially to convey it? Surely he who is the minister of Christ, and steward of the mysteries of God. The Sacraments constitute part of that Divine provision for the wants of the Church, of which the minister is a steward, and which he is set to dispense to the household. He therefore is the servant who is to say officially, "Come; for all things are now

ready." And this he is directed to say by the words of the Rubric which precedes the Invitation : Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the holy Communion, Ye that do truly and earnestly," &c. &c.

But the Supper of the Lord is not only the miniature of a dispensation present, but the foreshadowing of a dispensation to come. It is designed and adapted to lead forward our thoughts to that Marriage Supper of the Lamb which shall be celebrated, when the Heavenly Bridegroom shall return to lead His bride home, escorted by those who have been patiently waiting for His appearance. That Supper shall be, as no Sacrament here can be, exclusive of all those, the light of whose profession has not been fed by the oil of personal piety, continually preserved in the oil-vessel of the heart. It shall be exclusive of all those who have not on the wedding garment. And it is meet surely that a warning to this effect should be made in the very conveyance of the Invitation to the earthly Supper. An admonition is surely much in place, that those only are invited, the filthy rags of whose natural condition as sinners are covered (by a real faith) with the fine linen, white and clean, of Christ's righteousness. In issuing the Invitation, therefore, the Priest is virtually directed to bid those only who have on the wedding garment, those who "truly and earnestly repent them of their sins, and are in love and charity with their neighbours, and intend to lead a new life," and moreover, and above all, who "draw near with faith."

Thus it is clear that, were we to strike out this Invitation, we should lose a Scriptural and valuable feature of the Service-a feature, moreover, which is essential to the completeness of the idea of the Ordinance; for never yet was there an entertainment, without a summoning of guests by formal invitation.

And we should lose a primitive feature also. In the Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, the deacon. addressed the people thus before Communion: "Draw near with the fear of GOD, with faith, and charity”—