in the public assembly? do we really draw near to HIM by humble confession-by earnest prayer-by hearty thanksgiving-by devout attention to His Word? are our souls in harmony with the sacred place the holy time-the solemn occupation? Do we worship in spirit and in truth? Do we so spiritually eat the flesh of CHRIST, and drink His blood, as that we may be one with HIM, and HE with us? Alas! there are many, doubtless, who come into CHRIST'S presence now, with even such a mind as that with which Judas entered into Gethsemane, who pass the hours of worship in the same sordid indifference with which Judas heard the converse of his LORD, and who go away, as he did, only the farther removed in spirit from their God, by reason of the nearness of their outward approach to HIM. Many, doubtless, there are, whose presence is as foul a blot on our Christian assemblies, as was the presence of the son of perdition in the company of CHRIST and His Apostles.

But I would speak now, as I purposed, of the Supper of the LORD, I would speak to those who 'know' that most holy place, and entreat them carefully to try and examine themselves, that they bring not the heart of Judas thither. And what was that heart? A heart full of unbelief-irreverence-worldly-mindednesscovetousness; a heart which neither feared nor loved the SAVIOUR, which was bound to HIM neither by reverence, nor by affection. Why did Judas follow CHRIST? Probably from no other motive than a hope of worldly advancement, and, this disappointed, no other tie whatever bound him to his LORD. Why, then, do we follow CHRIST? Why do we profess His Name? Why do we draw near to His table? What brings us thither? Had we never come before, should we come

now? Have we such penitence, and faith, and charity, and gratitude as would constrain us now to practise that duty, had we hitherto neglected it? Or do we come from mere habit ?-from bare custom ?-because we have come before, and because men might speak or think ill of us if we ceased to come ?-because it might be inconvenient to stay away ?-because a renunciation of Christian fellowship might affect our interest, injure our credit, or wound our vanity? Let all, who venture to come, ask themselves, Why do I come?' If they cannot say 'It is because I repent-because I believe— because I honour my SAVIOUR's command, and am grateful for His exceeding mercy,' if their heart cannot return this answer-then, in the Name of that SAVIOUR, I would earnestly and solemnly warn them no longer to profane the table of the LORD, nor, by coming thither in a faithless and irreverent spirit, to heap up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

For, if we, who profess Christianity, be not true and faithful disciples, then are we traitors; if our part be not with the eleven, then is it with Judas; if we be not followers of those who honoured and obeyed their LORD, then are we followers of him that betrayed HIM. We cannot, indeed, betray CHRIST as Judas did; we cannot sell His sacred Person to His enemies; but still we may betray HIM, and do betray HIM, when we trifle with His holy things, and do dishonour to our Christian profession. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' cried the glorified SAVIOUR from heaven to him who was vexing His Church, and even thus does He cry, 'Why betrayest thou ME?' to every one who betrays His sacred cause, gives occasion to men to mock at His religion, and to think profanely of His holiest things. Yes, St. Paul goes even farther than this, and tells us

of reprobate professors of religion, that they crucify unto themselves the Son of GOD afresh, and put HIM to an open shame.'

And that there may be no room for self-deception, let me tell you how we may betray CHRIST; and I will now speak only of the more open and grievous forms of that fearful crime. For any sin is, in some sort, a betrayal of CHRIST-a betrayal of CHRIST within us— of the fruit of His SPIRIT-of the purchase of His Blood-into the hands of the great enemy of CHRIST; but if a sin be wilful, deliberate, habitual, open, then is it, in very fearful sort, a betrayal of our LORD. Wherefore, in His Name I beseech you to examine yourselves, and, if your hearts plead guilty to any ununmortified and habitual sin, then come not to that holy Table. 'Ye cannot drink of the cup of the LORD, and the cup of devils,' said St. Paul to the Corinthians, warning them against attendance at heathen sacrifices. Need I say to those who have so long known the Gospel, "Ye cannot drink of the cup of the LORD and the cup of drunkards"? Need I say that those who are marked in Scripture, as having 'no inheritance in the kingdom of CHRIST and of GOD,' can have no share in the blessings of the Table of the LORD, but, if they presume to approach it, must be eating and drinking nothing else than judgment to themselves here and hereafter? And again, we cannot be continuing in the fellowship of CHRIST's Church, and frequenting the assembly of the wicked at the same time; we betray our LORD, if we stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful; we betray our LORD if we willingly and wantonly witness crime in others, if we consent to look on vile conduct, and to listen to unholy words. We are but such disciples as Judas

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was, if we are willing to be found in the midst of CHRIST's enemies. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.' Let me end with a few words from one of the exhortations in the Communion Service: Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of GOD, an hinderer or slanderer of His word, an adulterer, or be in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that Holy Table: lest, after the taking of that Holy Sacrament, the devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.'

Let us weigh well this wholesome warning, and let us remember that deliberate malice and envy grieve the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD no less than other sins which man accounts to be more gross, and let us all judge ourselves, that we be not judged of the LORD. GOD forbid that any one who here receives the emblems of our SAVIOUR'S Body and Blood, should receive them in the spirit of Judas, crying Master' with a treachery like his, and betraying as he did the Son of MAN with a kiss. I am bound at all events to deliver my own soul, and to warn such, if such there be, that the end of this profanity is death; that, if they repent not, it had been better for them that they had never been born. God grant that the warning given us by His record of the guilt and ruin of the fallen Apostle, may sink deep into our hearts, and that the Body and Blood of CHRIST may preserve unto everlasting life the bodies and souls of all who are partakers of this Holy Table. G. W.

SERMON XXXVIII.

THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE.

Thursday before Easter.

1 COR. XI. 24.

THIS DO, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.

THIS day is known by the name of Maundy Thursday, and obtained this name (as some think) from the mandate, or commandment, which our LORD gave His Apostles on this day, to commemorate the decease which He was on the eve of accomplishing; and it is the evident mind of our Church to draw our thoughts to-day, not so much to the Sacrifice of the Death of CHRIST itself, (which will be the special subject of tomorrow's meditation,) as to the outward exhibition of that Sacrifice in the Holy Feast, which the LORD ordained the same night in which He was betrayed. She has chosen for the Epistle of this day, that passage of St. Paul's writings, which records his account of the Institution of the Eucharist, an account received by Heavenly revelation from His Glorified LORD, and containing words of sacrificial import, wholly omitted by the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. Mark, and recorded but in part by St. Luke. "The LORD JESUS," he tells us, "took bread, and when He had given