candidate? Repentance, faith, self-surrender to Christ, consecration to His service, a hearty love and devotion to Him,-for all this is implied, and included in the promise to fulfil the baptismal vow. But this is exactly what is required of the true communicant—this, and no more. If, then, you are fit for the one, why are you not fit for the other? I very much fear that the small percentage of confirmation candidates who become, or remain, communicants, shows that many of those whom we prepare for confirmation are not prepared for it by God the Holy Ghost.

What ad

vantage do

But now what advantage do we expect to gain from our worthily receiving the we get from worthily reLord's Supper? First of all, the advantage ceiving the Lord's Supwhich comes from obedience. You and I per. are servants of Christ; and we are not at liberty to pick and choose amongst His commandments, and say, "I will keep this," and "I will not keep that." We have to

observe them all.

And one of them is, "Do this in remembrance of Me." We shall be the better then, depend upon it, for obeying,— even if we do not put the matter on higher ground. Then there will be the advantage

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of reminding ourselves, in a very striking way, and under very solemn circumstances, of the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ for us, and of all the benefits which, by His precious blood-shedding, He hath obtained for us. Then there will be an advantage of renewing the consecration of ourselves to the service of Christ. "Here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies,—to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Thee." Some good people are in the habit of holding consecration meetings," in order that they may solemnly, and after prayer and thanksgiving and praise, dedicate themselves again to God. I have no fault to find with the practice; but I think it well that we, members of the Church of England, should bear in mind that we have our "consecration meetings" in our Communion Service, if we choose to make use of them. Then there is the advantage of remembering our Christian brotherhood. We partake of one "loaf," as the Apostle tells us, in order that we may be reminded of our being one in Christ, of our being fellow-soldiers, fellow-heirs, fellowlabourers, pilgrims travelling together to one

fatherland,

to that eternal city whose builder

and maker is God.

But is this all? No: this is not all.

The The greatest

advantage of

chiefest and most important advantage yet all."
remains to be told: that if we partake of
the Lord's Supper worthily, the Lord Jesus
Christ comes forward then and there to meet
us, and mysteriously, but really, imparts
Himself to our souls. All the light in this
world comes from the great fountain and
reservoir of light in the sun, and the stream
is continually pouring forth to supply our
need. And just in the same way, all our
spiritual life comes from the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He is continually imparting more
and more life to our souls. How?-you
say. Chiefly by the means of grace, rightly
used; and by the chiefest of them all, the
Holy Communion. The union between
us and Him must be already existing,
and then-in the right use of this Holy
ordinance He draws the living bond more
tight and close. He has already touched
our hearts, and given us life; and now He
flows into our soul with a tide of blessing,
strengthening us for duty, enabling us to
realize Himself, lifting us above temptation,

giving us joy and peace in believing.

I

do not say that you will feel this at the moment; but you will know it by the effect

Do not trifle upon your subsequent life.

with this

question of I pray you, then, my younger brethren, do

attendance

at the Lord's not put aside this question of attendance at Supper.

the Holy Communion. Give earnest thought to it. It is hard to understand how any true Christian can disobey so plain a command of his Divine Master; but it is very easy to see that a full and completed Christian life is quite out of the reach of those who wilfully neglect the chiefest of all the means of grace, the sacrament which was instituted by Christ Himself. Make up your minds, then, and make them up soon, to be attendants at the table of the Lord. How often you will come in the year must be left to yourselves to decide; but, anyhow, come regularly. Here more than in other matters, the fits and starts, spasmodic mode of procedure is dishonouring to your Master, and injurious to your own souls.

Come, then, with simple faith in the promise of Christ; come expecting a blessing, and you will receive one.

I.

VII.

EXCUSES.

swer.

AS far as I can see, it is not necessary to First excuse be a communicant. Men can, and do, live and its angood Christian lives, without ever partaking of the Lord's Supper: and why should not I?

You contradict Jesus Christ, then. He thought this ordinance so necessary, that He established it under the most solemn circumstances, and laid the observance of it as a sort of dying command on the consciences of His disciples. He said, "Do this, in remembrance of Me;" and you say, "It does not matter whether I do it or not." Are you wiser than the Lord? Do you understand more about the human heart than He did? Do you know better than He what helps are necessary in order to enable a man to lead a Christian life? It would seem so.