"divisions among you, and I partly believe it. "For there must be also heresies among you, that

they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come therefore together " into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Sup66 per. For in eating, every one taketh before other "his own supper; and one is hungry, and another "is drunken. What? have ye not houses to drink "in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame "them that have not? What shall I say to you? "Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not."For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, "eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not "discerning the Lord's body," 1 Cor. xi. 18 to 22 and 29. and these Corinthians it appears had so grossly perverted the intent of the Lord's Supper, that they had made it a scene of intemperance instead of honor to Christ the living head of his church.

Having spoken thus far on the awful nature and consequence of abusing this sacrament, I would digress for a few minutes to observe the rules laid down by the apostle Paul, which may be observed in two heads; 1st, As to their spirituality, and 2d. As to the order. First, what may be said in regard to their spirituality can only be considered as a repetition of the substance of our Saviour's language on the same head: "For (says Paul) I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered unto that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which

you,

"he was betrayed, took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat, "this is my body, which is “do in remembrance of me. ner also he took the cup

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broken for you: this After the same manwhen he had supped,

"saying, This cup is the New Testament in my "blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in re"membrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this`

bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the "Lord's death till he come." 2d. As to the order in which it may be noted, first, that it be not done without serious self-examination of those who receive it, and that for this reason, that we may not eat or drink unworthily: further, this self-examination may consist in two things, viz. A searching of our own hearts, that by probing to the bottom of the evils therein, we may not dare to come with any presumption of, or trust upon any supposed merit or righteousness in us, as making us worthy to partake of; and as a part of this head, it may be considered that no evils observed in us though we set them before our eyes in the greatest enormity, and bewail them with the greatest loathing and humility, should lead us to abstain from coming to the Lord's table on account of such perceptible unworthiness; for let it be recollected, that our sense of unworthiness is a proof of itself that we are not left of God to hardness of heart, but rather that by considering we are chosen of God, (and we are chosen to repentance as well as to eternal life), we

may with an humble yet earnest faith lay hold of him in his sacraments, who is the strength and sanctifier of his chosen people: and further, 2d. This examination may consist in searching our hearts, that we may know whether after having thus humbly presumed to come, we come in the Lord's appointed way," And so (says the apostle, in the way "laid down) let him eat of that bread, and drink

of that cup," and this way is, 1st. in faith; Take, eat, this is my body. Not my body actually, as possessing blood and flesh and bones, but my body, as giving support, and as being the emblem thereof, as setting forth the Lord's death till he come, and so putting you in constant mind of that human body of Christ which was broken for you on the cross, to the efficacy of which you look through the appointed and visible emblem. 2nd. In love, This do in remembrance of me: in remembrance of the agony it cost me when I hung so many hours on the accursed tree, which conjoined with my sufferings in the garden, and every other suffering I endured in my nature, were intended to appease the anger of God, and ward off the stroke of his justice from all his elect people: and this, is it not a motive of love in God's people. Look at the sufferings of Christ: "He was wounded for our transgressions." Look at his cross: "the chastisement of our peace was upon him," Isaiah liii. 5. Look at the efficacy of that accursed death which he suffered, when for

sakea of God, and made the scorn and reproach of men: when he was blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them. Coloss. ii. 14, 15. And when did he do this? When he was in favor with God and man? No. But when he was forsaken of God, even so, that he cried out in the anguish of his soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me: and when he was mocked by men, who offered if he would come down from the cross, to believe. Yes, when he was forsaken by God and rejected by men, even of thee, oh my soul, then by his divine power, and from his own ineffable love, towards those whom the Father had given unto him; he unobserved by men, was silently and irresistibly carrying on and finishing the work of redemption, and removing the imputation of the penal statutes contained in the law of ordinances from us, by bearing them himself and nailing them to his cross, also by destroying the power of satan and all his host, so that now even that arch apostate knows by woful experience that God has taken his own cause into his own hands, to the comfort of his friends and the destruction of his enemies: and this is a cause for our love.

3d. In thankfulness.

There is a cheerfulness in obeying the commands

of any one whom we consider our rightful Lord. And such is Christ in three particulars, viz. 1st. In creation, 2d. In preservation, which two are in providence, 3d. In redemption, which is in grace, But this union is more heightened when the connexion is more close. Thus if Christ is the husband, and the church is the Lamb's wife, every blessing which he as a divine friend can bestow, he` as a loving husband is willing to give: and here he cries to her whom he has betrothed to himself for ever, and as speaking to every individual of that church whom he has espoused, " Eat, O friends, "drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved," Sol. Songs v. 1. And amidst her very backwardness to open her heart at times to her beloved, yet her language is this, "I charge ye, O ye daughters of Je"rusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, "that I am sick of love," ver. 8.

But in speaking of the order we may note further,

2dly. That it be not done, without a visible as well as inward union of its communicants: and here this union may be considered as internal or spiritual, and 2d. as visible: in the 1st. as being an union of heart, and 2d. in regard to time and place.

1st. As being an union of heart. "A new com"mandment (said Christ) I give unto you, that ye "love one another; as I have loved you, that ye "also love one another. The method of the narrative as contained throughout the 13th chap. of John,