of bread and wine; and are you come to feed your heart and eyes in this representation of the dying love of Jesus? You have weighed his own words, "This is my body which was given for you, and this is my blood of the New Testament which was shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins.' And what, do you verily believe, it shall be even so as he hath said? Only believe and the thing is done. Faith discovers a crucified Jesus in the representation here made of him; faith makes the promise a living word, and feeds on the body and blood of Christ in the power of the promise; faith looks to Jesus at the right hand of God, is assured of his power to fulfil his engagements, and of his faithfulness to his promises, and draws out of him a feast indeed, to the establishment and refreshing of the soul. Are you believing, therefore? In spite of all your manifold past iniquities, in spite of all your infirmities and spiritual poverty, in spite of whatever trials and discouraging appearances, do you believe that there shall be an accomplishment of the things which have been spoken? This is to deal with Christ as a faithful and powerful High-Priest, and to enter into the heart of his design in leaving behind him this pledge of his love, this assurance of his care and protection, till he come. Yet, Fourthly. Are you come with reverence? Amidst all the triumphs of your faith, are you mindful who you are and with whom you are to transact? That you yourself are a vile sinner, coming to sit down at your Master's table, who is also the most high God? The thought indeed ought not to terrify you, but it ought to awe you. Have you therefore been so mindful of your sins, and so abased in your own eyes, that you could not think of drawing near but in the merit of your Lord, and upon his express invitation and command? And, when even thus you are emboldened to approach, are you impressed with a deep sense of your vileness, of your unworthiness of so high an honour, and covered with shame while you are admitted to so near an approach? Believe it, my friends, the highest archangels rejoice to minister under him with whom you are about to feast. You must needs then be humble when you come near to his Majesty; you must needs admire and adore, and be full of lowly reverence of his presence, while he thus condescends to us sinful dust and ashes.

The thoughts I have now suggested to you may well add to

your godly fear and reverence; while you cannot but have reflected how far short you have come in all these things, or at least in fulfilling your sacramental engagements on former occasions. Who can say, with all this sincerity, and diligence, and faith, and reverence, I have always attended on the Lord at his table? Let the thought of former miscarriages still more humble and abase you; let it also increase your fear and watchfulness. And O that others, who have neglected or profaned this high and holy ordinance, may be seasonably brought to a sense of their guilt with regard to this important branch of Christian worship!

SERMON XXX.

GALATIANS iii. 24.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

6

WHILE we are proving ourselves by the law, the holy, just, and good law of God, bringing our hearts and ways under examination by one and another of the divine commandments, do not our sins observably increase upon us, our guilt grow up to a mountainous size, and are we not constrained to cry out with David, My iniquities are more in number than the hairs of my head?" But, brethren, do we and can we also sincerely say with him on the review, My heart hath failed me; O Lord! let it be thy pleasure to deliver me: make haste, O Lord! to help me? Are we loathing ourselves for our abominations? doth shame cover our face? and, our hearts failing us, are we crying mightily to our God, that for his mercy's sake in Jesus Christ he will have mercy upon us? Have we thus improved the word we have already heard, and profited by the inquiries which we have hitherto been making after our sins? If not, what are we doing other than adding sin unto sin? Why do we suffer the devil to catch away the word from our hearts as soon as we have heard it? In truth this is too generally the case among you. You come and sit here as God's people; you hear what is said to you; you plainly perceive that the matter we treat of is of the last importance to your souls: but, when this is done, where are the fruits? O that such fruits were found among us as God doth most certainly and most reasonably expect! You ought to have been long ago an humble, believing, heavenly people, full of love to God and to one another. But is this the case? Hath not God cause to say of us, my brethren, All day long I

have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people?'* They will not hear, they will not regard: I have shown them their filthiness in the glass of my law, but they go away and forget what manner of men they are; they go away and forget all that I have said to them; they do not meditate thereupon; they do not commune with their own hearts in their chambers, digesting the bread I have given them to eat; they forget all that I have spoken, one losing it in care, and another in pleasure, and another in indulgence, and another in sloth, every one in pursuit of the particular lust of his heart. Yet my word shall not return unto me void. I beseech you, brethren, is not the word God's ? You know it is. And is not the

ministry of it God's own appointment? You know we are no less than ambassadors for God, and his messengers to you. And is not the day God's ; and the house God's; and the people, do you not by your coming hither profess yourselves to belong to God? I beseech you, after all, how will you answer it to God, that you remain still so idle, that you hear and do not, that you hear and use no endeavour to do, forgetting as soon as you have heard? O that you would duly consider the awful declaration, that the word of the Lord shall not return unto him void :' that the word you hear in this house is a blessing or a curse to your souls, is life or death to you as yourselves improve or disregard it !—But, to draw nearer the point

Our conduct is under examination respecting the second commandment. And this commandment was said to enjoin upon us the worship of God in a due use of prayer, the word, and the sacraments. As the occasion then required it, I spake of the sacraments the last Lord's day. And now I am to consider prayer and the word, with a view of bringing your conduct under inquiry, and so of suggesting cause of humiliation, and of application to the blood of Jesus for mercy.

You will remember that four things were said to be requisite in order to a religious discharge of every part of divine worship, that it might be so done as to glorify God and profit us. These were sincerity, diligence, faith, and reverence. We will apply these to the word and prayer. And,

First. Have we been sincere in the use of God's word?

There is a generation who desire not the knowledge of God's ways,'* and therefore care not to come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved;' † or if they do come to inquire at the mouth of the Lord, it is hypocritically, not with an honest heart and single eye; simply desiring to know what the will of the Lord is, though it should be never so much against their own inclinations; but, like wicked Ahab, wanting the word of the Lord to speak good concerning their case, and not evil; that is, wanting to have the word of God on their side, and that merely for this wretched end, that they may be more satisfied and easy in their pernicious ways. Now, we know that, as Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, so an hypocritical, insincere, and deceived heart, can make the Scriptures speak the language of hell; because it is wished they might correspond with the prejudice or inclination of the heart, it is easy to believe they do. Wherefore, in the hearing or reading of God's word, have you never had your prejudices? did you never want the Scripture to be of your humour or opinion, coming thereto with preconceived notions, and so more apt to warp and distort its meaning than fairly to be judged by it? There is more of this insincerity in the world than is thought of: and this is the reason why men of all persuasions do think the Scriptures speak on their side. They come with prejudice, and so, longing to find somewhat which may favour their way, they easily do so, catching at every word which may seem to suit their purpose. The remedy for this is not a Popish infallible interpreter, but a simplicity and true honesty of heart. But say if you have not brought your prejudices with you against God's word? Have you never, in or after hearing, had your disgusts against it? Have you always hearkened to it with a child-like teachableness and meekness? or rather, instead of humbly and thankfully applying all to yourself, have you not been unwilling to hear its declarations; and its judgments, because they were so severe; its precepts, because they are so spiritual; its prohibitions, because they are so self-denying; its means, because so opposite to flesh and blood? Whence is it otherwise that so many of you have been wanting me to prophesy to you smooth things, and complaining of me that I am often hard, and terrifying, and carrying things *Job xxi. 14. ↑ John iii. 20.