guests they are, that Christ would wish to see at His Supper!

Some of you, I am persuaded, might well come, who are now afraid to come. Some of you keep away, because you have a notion that the Sacrament is not meant for such as you that it is only for the select few-for persons who are not tried and troubled as you are; who have nothing on their minds, no cares to vex them, no temptations to lead them astray, no deep scar of sin to make them ashamed.

But surely this is a great mistake. Who are they, in any class of life, that are without trials? Who are they who have nothing on their minds? Who that comes the most regularly to the Sacrament can say, "I have walked innocently ?" Not one.-We all come, as many as do attend, and we all say that we come, conscious of wrong-doing; with a burden to be got rid of, grieved and wearied with the heavy load of our sins!

And then consider, how, by what you say, you misunderstand your Lord's gracious purpose towards you. Did He, when on earth preach His Gospel to a select few ? Did He shew Himself hard of approach? Would He have no one with Him but such as were of high reputation for piety? Did He make no allowance for human infirmity? O, but you know it was just the contrary! You know-or you have read the Scriptures to little profit—that the Lord Jesus preached His Gospel of forgiveness to all men. You know that He was One Who had compassion on the ignorant, and on them that were out of the way-you know that He was easy of access to all-that He drove none from Him who sought His com

pany-that He received sinners, and did eat with them!

And so, be assured, it is still. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever-still gracious and merciful; still the unlooser of burdens; still the Saviour of sinners. When He spreads His Feast, He spreads it for those whom He knows most to need it. When He invites the guests, while He would exclude none, He charges His servant with an especial message for those on whom sin, and sorrow, and suffering have laid their visible marks-Bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and the halt and the blind!

To conclude. I could indeed wish, brethren, and do heartily pray, that the time may come when we of the Church of England shall be more of one mind about the Holy Communion. When it will no more be needed for me, or any other preacher, to speak of the benefits and blessings which there are for the faithful in the Lord's Supper. Because this shall be a matter of experience to all-becanse you shall say, after the example of the Samaritans of old, now we believe not because of Thy saying, but because we have been there, and know how good and comfortable a thing it is to feed on the banquet of that heavenly Food!

But till that time come, it is our business as ambassadors of Christ to plead with you. We must in any case deliver our Master's message, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear. We must, to the best of our power, seek to take difficulties out of your way, and put before you in every possible light the duty and privilege of being Communicants.

In what I have said this morning, I have chiefly had regard to one point-the suitableness of the Holy Communion for the penitent sinner. It is under that term that I would urge you now to draw near.

If any are offended at it, let them look to their own heart, let them be assured that they can never bear any other title, while yet in the body, than this of sinner, before God.

And let us who are not offended at it, who feel that the word too truly represents what we are-let us, brethren, who know and confess ourselves to be sinnerswho would each echo for himself the Apostle's lowly acknowledgment, and say, Of whom I am chief!—let us who feel, not merely that we have in common with our kind a sinful nature, but who feel the shame and the stain, and the guilt of particular sins upon us-let us now hasten to our refuge-let us go with true penitent hearts and lively faith where One waits to wash these stains and this guilt away-let us go to the Lord Jesus in the Sacrament," that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed in His most precious Blood; and that we may evermore dwell in Him and He in us!"

SERMON LIX.

A SCHOOL SERMON.

EXODUS II. 9.

Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.

THE words before us are connected with a very touching and well known incident in the Old Testament. They are the words of Pharaoh's daughter on the finding of the infant Moses. Walking by the side of the great river of Egypt, the Nile, she espied among the flags by the river's brink, a little ark of bulrushes, and sent one of her maidens to fetch it. When it was opened she saw a little child of three months' age, and behold the babe wept, and she had compassion on it, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. The sister of the child who from a distance had been watching, now came forward, and proposed to call for a nurse of the Hebrew women, to nurse the child for Pharaoh's daughter. Leave was given, and the maid went and called the child's mother, and Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take

the child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she called his name Moses and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

I have chosen a passage from this affecting history for our text this morning, because it serves, I think, well for the purpose that I have in hand, which is to enlist your sympathy and alms in support of our Parish National School.

Let us, then, take the words before us, and consider what they say to us about the education of the young. I may divide them conveniently into these two heads

I. the charge which God lays upon us to train up children for Him-Take this child, and nurse it for Me.

II. The reward which He attaches to a faithful fulfilment of this duty—And I will give thee thy wages.

First, then, of the charge-Take this child, and nurse it for Me. This surely is God's commandment respecting the young. It is not His will that any little one should perish-but perish it must if not properly cared for and instructed when young. There is in it-there is in every child-born with it, bred in it, a corrupt, sinful nature. There are the seeds in it of all wickednessslumbering passions which, as the child gets older, will, if nothing is done by timely discipline and instruction, awake and hold sway in its bosom. There are vicious propensities which, if indulged in, will make it a torment to itself-a terror and plague to all around it. There are also, I believe, in every child the seeds of good—that