given, like that of the spouse, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that nothing be said...nothing done to stir up or awake our love until he please'....Cant. ii. 7. Peace being spoken....peace made, let us be afraid of every thing that may give a disturbance to it. We should also watch against the inroads of worldly cares and fears, lest they make a descent upon us after a sacrament, and spoil us of the comforts we have there received.

But, with a particular care, we must watch against the workings of spiritual pride after a sacrament.When our Lord Jesus Christ instituted this ordinance, and made his disciples partakers of it, they were so elevated with the honor of it, that not content to be all thus great, a contest immediately arose among them, which of them should be the greatest....Luke xxii. 24. And when St. Paul had been in the third heavens, he was in danger of being exalted above measure, with the abundance of the revelations....11 Cor. xii. 7. We therefore have cause to fear lest this dead fly spoil all our precious ointment, and to keep a very strict and jealous eye upon our own hearts, that they be not lifted up with pride, lest we fall into the condemnation of the devil....1 Tim. iii. 6. Let us dread the first risings of self-conceit, and suppress them; for what have we that we have not received?and if we have received it, why then do we boast ?.... Cor. iv. 7.

(2.) Let us therefore fix; and let our hearts be established with the grace here received. What we have done in this ordinance, we must go away firmly resolved to abide by all our days. I am now fixed, immoveably fixed for Christ and holiness, against sin and Satan: the matter is settled, never to be called in question again-I will serve the Lord. The bargain is struck...the knot is tied...the debate is come up to a final resolve; and here I fix, as one stedfastly resol ved, with purpose of heart, to cleave unto the Lord. No room is left to parley with a temptation: I am a

Christian, a confirmed Christian, and, by the grace of God, a Christian I will live and die; and therefore, Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me. My resolutions, in which before I wavered, and was unsteady, are now come to an head, and are as a nail in a sure place: I am now at a point: I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and 1 cannot go back, (Judges xi. 35.); and therefore, by the grace of God, I am deter mined to go forward, and not so much as look back, or wish for a discharge from those engagements. I have chosen the way of truth, and therefore, in thy strength, Lord, I will stick to thy testimonies....Psal. cxix. 30, 31. Now my foot stands in an even place, well shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I am now like a strong man refreshed with wine, resolved to resist the devil, that he may flee from me, and never yield to him.

Sixthly, We should come from this ordinance praying-lifting up our hearts to God in ejaculatory petitions, and returning, as soon as may be, for solemn prayer. Not only before, and in the duty, but after it, we have occasion to offer up our desires to God, and fetch in strength and grace from him.

Two things we should be humbly earnest with God in prayer for, after this solemnity; and we are furnished from the mouth of holy David with very emphatical and expressive petitions for them both: We may therefore take with us these words in addressing to God.

(1.) We must pray, that God will fulfil to us those promises which he was graciously pleased to seal to us in this ordinance. David's prayer for this is, (r Chron. xvii. 23.) Now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as thou hast said. God's promises in the word are designed to be our pleas in prayer; and we receive the grace of God in them in vain, if we do not make that use of them, and sue out the benefits conveyed and secured by them.

These are the talents to be traded with, and improved as the guide of our desires, and the ground of our faith in prayer, and we must not hide them in a napkin. Having here taken hold of the covenant, thus we must take hold on God for covenant merciesLord remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope....Psal. cxix. 49. Thou hast not only given me the word to hope in, but the heart to hope in it: it is a hope of thy own raising, and thou wilt not destroy, by a disappointment, the work of thy own hands.

you,

Come, therefore, O my soul...come order thy cause before him, and fill thy mouth with arguments. Lord, is not this the word which thou hast spoken ?...Sin shall not have dominion over you; the God of peace shall tread Satan under your feet: there shall no temptation take but such as is common to men ; and the faithful God will never suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. Lord, be it unto thy servant according to these words! Is not this the word which thou hast spoken?... That all things shall work for good to them that love thee that thou wilt be to them a God allsufficient, their shield, and their exceeding great reward that thou wilt give them grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from them-that thou wilt never fail them, nor forsake them,' Now, Lord, let those words which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, (and many other the like), be established forever, and do as thou hast said; for they are the words upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

(2.) We must pray that he will enable us to fulfil those promises which we have made to him in this ordinance. David's prayer for this is, (1 Chron. xxix. 18.) O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare, or confirm their hearts unto thee.' Have there been some good affections....good desires, and good resolutions in the imagination of the thoughts of our

hearts at this ordinance-some good impressions made upon us, and some good expressions drawn from us by it? We cannot but be sensible how apt we are to lose the good we have wrought; and therefore it is our wisdom, by prayer, to commit the keeping of it to God, and earnestly to beg of him effectual grace thoroughly to furnish us for every good word and work, and thoroughly to fortify us against every evil word and work. We made our promises in the strength of the grace of God; that strength we must therefore pray for, that we may be able to make good our promises. Lord, maintain thine own interest in my soul; let thy name be ever hallowed there....thy kingdom come, and thy will be done in my heart, as it is done in heaven.

When we come away from this ordinance, we return to a cooling, tempting, distracting world; as when Moses came down from the mount, where he had been with God, he found the camp of Israel dancing upon the golden calf, to his great disturbance.....Exod. xxxii. 19. In the midst of such sorrows, and such snares as we are compassed about with here, we shall find it no easy matter to preserve the peace and grace which we hope we have obtained at the Lord's table; we must therefore put ourselves under the divine protection. Methinks it was with an affecting air of ten derness, that Christ said concerning his disciples, when he was leaving them, (John xvii. 11.) Now I am no more in the world-the days of my temptation are at an end; but these are in the world-they have their trial yet before them. What then shall I do for them? Holy Father, keep through thine own kame those whom thou hast given me. That prayer of his was both the great example, and the great encouragement of our prayers. Now, at the close of a sacrament, it is seasonable thus to address ourselves to God:-I have not yet put off this body-I am not yet got clear of this world; yet I am a traveller exposed to thieves-yet I am a soldier exposed to enemies:

Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, the graces and comforts thou hast given me; for they are thine.. Mine own hands are not sufficient for me: O let thy grace be so, to preserve me to thy heavenly kingdom.

Immediately after the first administration of the Lord's Supper, our Saviour, when he had told Peter of Satan's design upon him, added this comfortable word, (Luke xxii. 32.) I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and that is it which we must pray for, that this faith, which we think is so strong in the day of its advantage, may not prove weak in the day of its trial; for, as they who would have the benefit of the Spirit's operation, must strive for themselves; so they that would have the benefit of the Son's intercession, must pray for themselves.

Seventhly, We should come from this ordinance with a charitable disposition. Antiently the Christians had their love feasts, or feasts of charity, annex. ed to the Eucharist; but what needed that, while the Eucharist itself is a love-feast...a feast of charity? And surely that heart must be strangely hardened and soured, that can go from under the softening, sweetening powers of this ordinance in an uncharitable frame.

The fervent charity which now we should have among ourselves, must be a loving, giving, and for giving charity. Thus it must have its perfect work.

(1.) We must come from this ordinance with a disposition to love our fellow-christians. Here we see how dear they were to Christ, for he purchased them with his own blood; and from thence we may infer, how dear they ought to be to us, and how near they should lie to our hearts. Shall I look strangely upon them that have acquaintance with Christ? or be indifferent towards them that he has so much concern for? No, we that are many, being one bread and one body, and having been all made to drink into one spirit, my heart shall be more closely knit than ever to all the members of that one body, who are quickened and acted by that one spirit. I have here beheld the