the conflicts of the spiritual warfare, and the "spirits of the just made perfect," who have finished their battles and won their crowns,-by virtue of their common union to one glorious and Divine Head, "of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”

It would, however, be highly unscriptural and absurd to believe that all the members of the visible church on earth are partakers of this blessed communion. A mixture of good and evil, of saints and sinners, is to be found in the visible church, compared, by our Lord, to the mingled mass of wheat and chaff upon a threshing floor, or the promiscuous growth of grain and tares in the same field. Some members of the visible church, are but dead branches of the living vine; worthless as chaff or tares, and destined to destruction in another world. They, of course, have no vital connexion, or spiritual communion, with God and his people in this world; but, notwithstanding their professions and privileges, are "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise," "dead in trespasses and sins," "having no hope, and without God in the world."

The privilege of which we speak, belongs only to renewed believers, who have experienced the converting, elevating power of the gospel upon their souls. They alone, have access to God in the "new and living way" consecrated by the blood of Jesus. They alone, in the exercise of the "Spirit of adoption," can look up to him with humble confidence, and say,

"Abba, Father!" "The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning unto his lips." And they alone who are thus taught, can say to their fellow men, "what our eyes have seen, our hands have handled,” and our hearts have felt, "of the word of truth, the same declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ."

The regenerated children of God, even amidst the darkness and trials and sins of their earthly pilgrimage, "feel in themselves," to use the language of our church, "the working of the Spirit of Christ;-drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things." There are favoured seasons, when they have the most sweet and affectionate intercourse with Heaven. When, in the retirement of the closet, God sometimes meets them by the gracious influence of the Comforter, and fills them with the joys of his presence and the most precious tokens of his love; so that their closet seems to be the consecrated theatre of such pleasures as the world can neither give nor take away. other times, in the ordinary devotions of the sanctuary, in the social prayer meeting, or under the preaching of the gospel, the light of the divine countenance shines upon their souls with such overwhelming brightness, as to force from them the adoring exclamation of the Patriarch: "Surely the Lord is in this place;-how dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"

At

But it is, especially, at the sacramental table, that the Christian is favoured with the most delightful seasons of communion with his God and Saviour. There, the graces of faith and hope and love are in most lively exercise. There, a free channel of intercourse is opened between the devout worshipper and Him whom his soul loveth. There, the Lord especially invites us to freedom of communication and all the tender intimacies of friendship. With infinite condescension, he receives us, as accepted guests, at his own table. He leads us into his "banqueting-house, and his banner over us is love." He says, "Come, eat, O my friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!" He not only feeds us with the bread of life, but "makes himself known in the breaking of bread," and "manifests himself unto us as he doth not unto the world." It is an experience of comforts and privileges like these, that enables the devout attendant upon the altar to exclaim: "Lord, I am abundantly satisfied with the pleasures of thine house, even of thy holy temple;" "One day in thy courts, is better than a thousand" elsewhere. "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." O, the blessedness of communion with God! it is the enjoyment of heaven upon earth; the employment of eternity in the moments of time! Happy, beyond description, are they who enter into the full spirit of this ordinance, and

receive it with the proper dispositions: for they can say, "truly God dwelleth in us, and we in him."

True Christians, who, by the Spirit of adoption, enjoy communion with God, also enjoy fellowship with each other. The holy scriptures employ a variety of strong metaphors to describe and illustrate the closeness and intimacy of the connexion which subsists between them. They are compared to citizens of the same country; sheep of the same fold; servants of the same Master; members of one household; children of a common Parent. Nay, as if the

union were too close and sacred to admit even the idea of individual separation, in family relation; of specific difference, in generic connexion; they are spoken of as branches of the same vine, members of the same body. As distinct limbs of the human body are animated by the same principle of life, and as different branches of the vine are sustained by a common nourishment, and as neither of them can exist in a state of separation; so all true believers in Christ live in a state of inseparable, but mystical union with each other, and derive all their life and nourishment from him. They are animated by one Spirit, and by it baptised into one body. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." They have common sympathies, common sorrows, common joys. "When one member suffers, all the members

suffer with it; and when one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it."

There is, moreover, a mutual dependance subsisting between them. "But now are there many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you." As, in the human body, the several members, though called by various names and performing different functions, have one common life and feeling; so is it in the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ. All are united to one common Head, and receive, out of his fulness, "grace for grace." The life they enjoy in their souls, was first communicated to them by his Spirit, and is maintained, from day to day, only by "their feeding upon him in their hearts, by faith, with thanksgiving." And, as they are thus one with Christ, they are, of course, one with each other.

This communion of spirit which exists between believers in the Son of God, like that which exists between them and their common Lord, is spiritual and invisible. But it is necessary, for the promotion of the Saviour's glory and the accomplishment of the great ends for which his church was instituted, that there should be some outward acknowledgment, some visible manifestation, of this communion of saints. Accordingly, he has instituted this sacrament of the Supper, as one important means of increasing it, and publicly exhibiting its reality to the world. It is true,