In short, the partaking of this holy Sacrament strengthens our souls, by giving us a fresh confirmation of God's mercy towards us through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ; and thereby fortifies and corroborates us, more and more, both in the discharge of our duty, and in the resistance of all those temptations which are most likely to seduce us from it. It gives life and spirit to all our religious endeavors by imprinting a sense of piety and virtue deeply on the mind, and awakening our attention to all the duties of religion; by strengthening our faith and animating our hopes in the promises of God; by enlarging our charity to our brethren; by procuring for us the blessings and assistance of God's grace to enable us to lead a holy life; and by confirming our hope, that we shall hereafter inherit a blessed and everlasting life.

I shall now proceed to shew the OBLIGATION and DUTY we are under to perform it

Our Lord undoubtedly intended it as a rite of public and perpetual use in his church, to be observed by all christian believers; so that it is no longer a matter of pious choice and discretion, but of absolute and strict necessity. The words of the Institution, recorded in the first three Evangelists, amount to a clear and plain precept; and they were so interpreted by the first followers of our Lord. We find in

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the Acts of the Apostles that they, with the other disciples, constantly observed this duty, and made it a part of their worship in all their religious assemblies; which is expressed" by breaking of bread;" they are said " to continue daily in the Temple," and "to break bread from house to house, "that is, in their religious meetings; " on the first day of the week, the disciples are said to be assembled together to break bread; and again, they " continued stedfastly "in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, and in "breaking of bread, and in prayer." St. Paul informs us that it was made a part of his extraordinary commission to teach and explain it. "I * received," says he, "of the Lord that which I also “delivered unto you; that the Lord Jesus, in the same

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night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and "blessed, and brake it." And after repeating the whole form of the Institution, he adds, "as often

́as ye cat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shen "the Lord's death" till his second coming to judge the world. Which plainly implies, that it is a duty not of temporary obligation, but universally obligatory on all christians, and to continue in force until the end of the world. This duty then appears in scripture with all the marks of importance that can recommend it to our regard, not only from its natural solemnity and sacredness, but chiefly from the repeated authority of Christ, and the extraordinary care with which it is inculcated by his Apostles.

But if the express command of our Lord can receive any additional weight from outward circumstances, it may be deserving of attention, that the observance of this rite was his last injunction, his dying request. It was instituted the very same night in which he was betrayed, when he was about to die for our sins, and to give the highest proof, that could be given, of his love to mankind: we must be lost, therefore, to all the feelings of humanity, of friendship, and of affection, if we do not deem them sacred and inviolable; and we must be destitute of every principle of faith, of holiness, and of love for our heavenly Master, if we do not obey them with reverence, humility and gladness.

Another consideration which may serve to strengthen our obligations to this duty is, the agreeable nature and character of it; as it is not only an instance of our obedience to Christ, but also peculiarly addressed to his honor, and appointed by himself as the way, in which he will accept our acknowledgements of that duty and gratitude which we owe him It is an expression of that reverence and regard which we ought ever to retain for his memory; and our neglect of it must be attended with the reproach of the deepest ingratitude and the greatest disobedi

ence.

It cannot, therefore, but be a pleasing and delightful exercise to every sincere christian, who is duly sensible of the great things which our Savior has done and suffered for us: it is the best means of

our growing in grace, and in all the habits of virtue, of fixing the motives of religion deeply on our minds, and deriving the blessing of God upon all our endeavors.

Upon the whole then, this duty comes recommended to us by every motive that can engage our obedience; it has the highest sanction that authority can give it, and is enforced on us by the ties both of gratitude and of duty. It is not only easy in practice, but agreeable also, and in the highest degree beneficial: it is the best means of strengthening and improving our piety and virtue, and, consequently, of promoting our spiritual, which is our highest and only true interest.

Let us now consider those OBJECTIONS, which are founded on some EXPRESSIONS in the Communion Service.

The Prayers, in which these expressions occur, are, it should be recollected, the productions of .fallible men; and consequently, like all other human productions, liable to imperfection. Still, however, the mere words in which the administration of the Lord's Supper is directed to be performed, ought never to induce us to disparage the Institution itself, or to neglect the dying injunction of our blessed Savior. These seemingly objectionable passages are, indeed, the expressions of Scripture itself, and

occur in the 11th chapter of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians; but then unfortunately they are here used without that explanation, which is absolutely necessary to prevent them from being misunderstood; and which, it is to be feared, have deterred many persons from participating in the Lord's Supper. We are told that " as the benefit is great, "if with a true penitent heart and lively faith, we "receive that holy Sacrament, so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily; for then we are guilty of the body and blood of Christ; "we eat and drink our own DAMNATION not con"sidering the Lord's body." That the compilers of our Liturgy did not intend to apply the word damnation, any more than St. Paul did the word Kia, to elernal punishment, is evident from what follows; 66 we kindle God's wrath against us, we "provoke him to plague us with divers diseases, "and sundry kinds of death." Now it is material to observe that the word damnation, at the time. when the Bible was translated, meant no more than condemnation-any sentence of punishment whatever, without a particular reference to the eternal torments to which the impenitently wicked will be consigned at the last day: and though this word frequently occurs in the New Testament, yet, in nọ one instance, does it exclusively signify the sentence of everlasting punishment.

The particular occasion of St. Paul's using the