May our conscience cause us to start when we sin; may the form of our bleeding Lord rise before our mind; may we seem to see Him dying on the Cross, and may the remembrance of that Cross by the aid of divine grace drive away from us all thoughts of sin, that we may glorify God with our flesh and with our spirit,

which are God's.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

WHO SHOULD BE SPONSORS?

A LAW of our Church says that no person shall be admitted godfather or godmother to any child, before the said person, so undertaking, hath received the Holy Communion.

Why is this so? Why has the Church so ordained? For the best of reasons. Because those persons who slight their Lord's dying command, and will not receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, cannot be proper persons to see that a child shall be instructed in its duty to God. They do not fulfil their own baptismal vow, and therefore cannot, in common reason, be in a fit state of mind to see that a child be taught to fulfil his. It would be a sort of mockery for such a sponsor to say to a child, "do this," when he did not do it himself. The child himself would soon see that such advice could not be sincere, and would be more inclined to do as his sponsor did, than to do as he said. But is it so? How is it then, parents, that you have not been

willing to hear the Church? Why have you not taken care to look out for communicants to stand sponsors to your children?

Is it indeed so? How is it then, communicants, that you have not more frequently become sponsors? Which are to blame? You or the parents? Or are there faults on both sides? I dare say this is the case. There are faults on both sides. It seldom happens that one party is altogether in the wrong. Blame generally attaches in some degree to both. Parents may not have looked out for communicants, or communicants may not have been willing to stand. But is this likely to be the case? Is it possible that communicants should refuse to stand? I fear this is too often true.

Let me then speak a word to communicants. Do you know what you profess, my friends, when you partake of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's body and blood? You profess your desire to be one with Christ, and to have Him one with you, as is the case with a faithful receiver. You desire to have fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Consider, then, how you can be a partaker of this communion and fellowship if you refuse to become sponsors for a little child. Jesus Christ

loved little children, and laid His hands on them and blessed them. The Father sent His Son to die for them. The Holy Spirit is ready to sanctify them and make them vessels meet for their Master's use. And you have little care for them! What fellowship, then, can you have with the Holy Three in One? You have partaken, indeed, of the outward sign in the Lord's Supper, but have you really received the inward and spiritual grace? You cannot have been faithful partakers, and therefore cannot have received it, else you would love the little children as your Saviour did, and be anxious to do all you could for their salvation. And the very circumstance that the parents of children are careless people, would make you more anxious, like your Saviour, to seek and save that which was lost; to do what you could for the poor neglected child.

It might not be pleasant, indeed, in a worldly sense to have to do with careless parents. But you would not look upon it in a worldly sense, you would have a higher motive: you would consider that it was denying yourself for Christ. You would do it under the hope that your Saviour would bless the act done for His sake; bless it for the eternal good of the poor child's soul. That would be all your desire, and though

you sought no reward, great would be your reward in heaven.

sponsors more How you can law of Christ,

Communicants, how you can reconcile it to your consciences not to become frequently, I cannot understand. think that you are fulfilling the when you are not so bearing one another's burdens, is past my comprehension! You see a poor child likely to be neglected and in danger of losing his soul, and you will not come forward and do your best that he may be saved. Or, you are asked by parents to become sponsors, and you refuse, and so force the parents, as it were, to choose sponsors they would not otherwise have chosen. My friends, may God in His mercy dispose you to think differently, to have more regard for your own souls than to hold back or refuse. O, I beseech you, be the friends of little children; succour their souls; teach them their Saviour's will; and as you hope for salvation yourself, so be merciful to the little ones, that they also may be saved in Christ's fold.