SERMON XI.

JOHN XV. 14.

Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command

you.

So spake the Son of God, the Friend of sinners, the Saviour of the world: He, who, in His tender pity and loving kindness to us miserable men, willingly gave Himself up to bear the burden of our sins, and to suffer punishment for them by a cruel death upon the cross, that so they might not be laid to our charge. Surely there cannot be amongst us one bosom that does not swell with the truest thankfulness to that Saviour, who, by His own precious death has opened unto us eternal life: by the shedding of whose blood we may hope that our sins shall be blotted out, and for whose merits God Almighty has promised to look with

favour upon us, notwithstanding all our offences, if we will but forsake them and return to Him. Surely there is not one amongst us who can help feeling, if he thinks of God's goodness for a moment, that all that we can do never can repay Him: that if we were to give up our whole lives to His service, and keep him in all our thoughts, (as, God knows, we do not), we never could serve Him as much as we ought, nor think of Him as much as He deserves.

In the service which Christ has laid upon us, in the Commandments which He expects us to obey, and the duties which He requires us to fulfil, there is nothing which can be called hard, or difficult, or severe : nothing which every earnest christian, be he poor or rich, learned or ignorant, cannot easily perform. Of some of our duties we all appear to have one and the same opinion: we all think that some of God's commandments ought to be obeyed, though we are satisfied to live in the constant neglect of others. There is one commandment (and we are called upon this day to obey it)

which certainly was given us as seriously and as solemnly as any other, and yet there are many amongst you, my brethren, who have never yet attended to it, and, I fear, have never turned your thoughts to it as seriously as you ought to have done: I mean the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

Heartily do I wish that it were in my power to prevail upon every one of my flock, upon every one whose conscience does not accuse him of living in wilful sin, (for there is no other cause which ought to prevent us), to attend to this important part of his duty as a christian: and believe me, my brethren, it is very disheartening, very discouraging to the ministers of the gospel, to see the continued neglect of too many of their people in this particular: to see, that, in spite of all they can say, the prejudices of some, the unreasonable fears of others, and the carelessness of others, keep them away, year after year, though they feel and readily acknowledge, that it is the duty of every christian to receive it. The difficulty that there is to persuade but one young

person to attend, is quite distressing; the more so when we see young persons, as far, at least, as we can judge, endeavouring in all other respects to do their duty to their Maker.

Surely no person can think that, because he is young, he is on that account unfit to keep God's commandments, or that, if he do keep them, God will not be pleased with his service because he is young, (why then does the Bible tell us to remember our Creator in the days of our youth!): he might just as well think, that, if he were to die young, his youth would prevent his going to heaven.

What, then, I would ask of every young person who now hears me, what is the reason for your neglecting this great and most necessary part of your duty? is it that you are living in any known sin? that you are giving way to the sinful lusts of the flesh? that you are not living in honesty, in soberness, in peace? I trust that you can say, with a clear conscience, No, I am not guilty of any wilful sin." What, then, is it that sometimes, when off your guard and suddenly provoked, you are put out of

66

humour, and perhaps suffer an oath to pass your lips? Shall these sins, which you may sometimes fall into, more through weakness than downright wickedness, lead you to neglect your duty to God, and to separate yourselves still farther from Him? A man who gives such an excuse as this for not doing one part of his duty, has just as much reason to give the same excuse for neglecting every other part. So he might just as well say, "Because I sometimes do wrong, because I sometimes fall so far as to say and do things which I ought not, I'll never offer up my prayers to God again, and I'll never go to church to hear His gospel preached any more; I am not fit for it:" which would be just as if he were to say, "I know, that, sometimes, I am not so good as I ought to be, and therefore, I will do nothing which is likely to make me better."

Do not imagine, my brethren, that I am making light, or wishing you to make light, of any sin into which a man may fall. God forbid; the least of our sins cannot be too carefully guarded against, nor too seriously