the dust, that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people." Thou hungerest and thirstest after righteousness; and the promise is, "thou shalt be filled." All the blessings of salvation, so dearly purchased by the blood of Jesus, are freely offered to thy acceptance, because thou feelest thy need of them. The invitation is, "ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; buy wine and milk without money and without price." "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Thou thirstest for the waters of salvation; go to the living fountain, and drink a full supply. Thou art weary and heavy laden with the burden of sin; recline upon the Saviour by faith, and thou shalt find that present peace which is the earnest and foretaste of everlasting rest. Thou hast nothing to carry with thee to the table of thy Lord to procure a favourable reception; and, blessed be his name! "all the fitness he requireth, is, to feel thy need of him."

Go, just as thou art, humbled and mourning under a sense of sin, and rest assured thou shalt be comforted. Go, saying, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy son." He will "bring forth the best robe, and put it on thee, and will put a ring on thy hand" as a token of love, "and shoes on thy feet;" and thou shalt be "glad," with the angels and saints who will rejoice at thy gracious reception. Go, renouncing thy own righteousness, and making mention of Christ's right

eousness, even of his only,—and thou shalt be joyfully welcomed to all the privileges of the household of faith.

"Come, freely come, by sin opprest,
On Jesus cast thy weighty load;
In him thy refuge find, thy rest,
Safe in the mercy of thy God:
Thy God's thy Saviour! glorious word!
O hear, believe, and bless the Lord!

As spring, the winter, day the night,
Peace, sorrow's gloom shall chase away;
And smiling joy, a seraph bright,

Shall tend thy steps, and near thee stay,
Whilst glory weaves th' immortal crown,
And waits to claim thee for her own."

SECTION IV.

The fear of incurring damnation by unworthily receiving the Lord's Supper, considered.

THERE are some, who have all the essentials of the Christian character, and might approach the Lord's table with profit and acceptance, but are kept back by a misapprehension of the awful language employed by the Apostle Paul in addressing the careless members of the church at Corinth. "Whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."*

It seems necessary to a proper understanding of these words, that we should glance at the state of the Corinthian Church at the time when this Epistle was addressed to its members. It is manifest that they had lost much of the simplicity and purity required by their profession. They were divided into jarring sects and factions. "One said, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, and a third, I of Cephas, and a fourth, I of Christ." They were so regardless of the discipline which is essential to the purity of the Church,

*1 Cor. 11. 27-29. + 1 Cor. 1. 12.

that they permitted some who had been guilty of the grossest crimes, to continue in its communion, and enjoy all its privileges.* Indeed, they had become so exceedingly corrupt and carnal, that even the most sacred and important ordinance of Christianity, had, in their hands, degenerated into an ordinary worldly feast. "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, every one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What! have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." The sin of the Corinthians in reference to the Lord's Supper, condemned by the Apostle, consisted in their eating the bread and drinking the cup, without discerning the Lord's body. They received it as a common meal, and not as the divinely instituted memorial of the sacrifice of Christ. If we are not mistaken in our views of the particular nature of their offence, it was one of no ordinary character. It was an awful profanation of a religious rite, which richly deserved the sentence pronounced, even in the ordinary acceptation of the terms.

But, even here, we are called upon to admire the goodness no less than the severity of God: and

* 1 Cor. 5. 1-7. †1 Cor. 11. 20, 21. ‡ Ibid. 29 v.`

to behold his judgments tempered with mercy. Provoking as the crimes of the Corinthians must have been to him, he did not consign them over to eternal damnation; but, as the original word may, and ought to be translated, he visited them with judgment. This judgment consisted of temporal afflictions. "For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."* And for what purpose were those afflictions sent? As temporal afflictions are commonly employed by divine providence to chastise sin, and lead sinners to repentance, it is fair to presume that such was their design in the instance alluded to: and that the sinning Corinthians were "delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that their spirits might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus:"+ Or, in the words which the Apostle employed with an especial reference to the case; they "were chastened of the Lord, that they should not be condemned with the world."

The alarming passage, therefore, when rightly interpreted and understood, affords no ground for the extravagant fears which it has sometimes occasioned in the minds of the timid and conscientious. There is not the slightest probability that a duly instructed Christian of this day will fall into the gross error which prevailed in the Church of Corinth in an age of great ignorance and sensuality.

* 1 Cor. 11. 30. † 1 Cor. 5. 5. 1 Cor. 11. 32.