inculcated in them, or may be drawn from SERM. them. Though there is no particular direction for it at present, it is said always to have been the custom for the people to stand up at the reading of the gospel, and likewise to make the exclamation at the beginning," Glory be to thee, O Lord;" this latter, indeed, was in some of the very early English Prayer Books, but was afterwards omitted, for what reason I know not; but the custom, with great propriety, has been kept up; for surely the gift of the gospel, the gift of God's only son, to in struct and save to us, is what, above all other instances of his goodness, calls on us to unite in glorifying him. If we examine these portions of scripture, called Gospels (as being taken from the four Lives. of our Saviour, which go by that name) we shall find that, beginning from the Advent, or near approach of the coming of Jesus Christ, they give us, in the setting X. out SERM. out of them, the principal parts of his his X. tory, as far as his ascension, or leaving of the earth, and being taken into heaven, and after that, in the succeeding parts, they give us instructions on the principal heads of our own duty. We now repeat another creed, which was drawn up fourteen hundred years ago, by an assembly of all the most eminent Christian clergy in the world, at the city of Nice, and called from thence the Nicene Creed; on this I shall not dwell, as the parts of it, which differ from the Apostles' Creed, are not many, and those, I think, not important for you minutely to consider; a belief in those parts of it, which are the same with the Apostles' Creed, is all which is necessary, and that I have explained in my lectures on the catechism. With this creed the common church service usually concludes, and the remainder of the office is read only when the the Lord's supper is celebrated. This SERM. more solemn part of the office opens with detached sentences from scripture, being read by the minister, exhorting the congregation to liberality and charity, and setting forth their merit and value in the sight of God; in the mean time a gathering of alms, from such as are able to contribute, is made; and this is a time, surely, when, above all others, it behoves men to shew their love to their distressed brethren, when they are about to commemorate their dying Saviour's excessive love to themselves. Some of these sentences you will find exhorting you to contribute to the minister, it having formerly been a custom to make offerings to him at this time; but that custom being done with, we do not now read them. After this we pray for the whole estate of Christ's church militant here on earth, that is, for all Christians, of whatever sect, who are carrying L VOL. II. on, X. X. SERM. on, as it were, a war with the world, the flesh and the devil, for that is the meaning of militant;-fighting, contending with, This very comprehensive prayer is so plain, as to require no explanation. Now follows an exhortation from the minister to the communicants, which, as it has been much misunderstood, there is reason to lament that it has been drawn up in such strong terms; it having deterred, it is to be feared, too many, even of well-disposed persons, from doing an indispensable part of their duty. The phrases of being guilty of the body and blood of Christ,' and of eating and drinking your own damnation,' are drawn from the xith chapter of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, which I shall endeavour to explain to you. The apostle had been told that the Corinthians, in celebrating the Lord's supper, did not discern the Lord's body, that is, that they made no difference between this festival, which had J been X. been appointed by Christ, and a common SER M. L 2 |