transient, but perpetual, presence there. It is sufficient that, through its associations, I can more vividly call to mind that which I desire never to forget, the life, beneficence, and sufferings of the Saviour. It was in the beginning a rite of love and tender memory, and in grateful remembrance, in devout purposes, in humble thanksgivings, let it still be observed.

How, then, and how far, If by unworthiness one purpose to lead a Chris

It can be easily imagined that there are not a few who would gladly partake of this ordinance, who may have long desired it, but who, by different causes, are deterred from it. The most common cause is the feeling of personal unworthiness. should this weigh with us? means that he has no desire or tian life, then he properly abstains from it. But if by unworthiness he means simply a sense of frailty and sinfulness, but not a satisfaction with that state, if it be his heart's hope and wish to be a better man, if from the midst of his unworthiness he looks up and says, like the sinking Apostle, "Save, Lord, or I perish,” if he sincerely desire and purpose to be a follower of Christ, let not the feeling of present unworthiness deter him from this table, but let the hope of a better state bring him to it. This ordinance is not for the perfect, for then neither apostle, nor saint, nor martyr, could have partaken in it, but it is for beings like us, for the frail and the sinful and the weak, who lift up their hearts in Christian resolves and in prayers to God, that they may have strength to walk more faithfully in the Christian way. The words of Christ, explaining the purpose of the rite, show who should approach this table. "Do this in remembrance of me. "" It is not an ordinance for the thankless, the thoughtless, or the unbelieving. But the

invitation is to all who with reverential gratitude desire to commemorate their Saviour and their Lord, who desire to be more grateful and more obedient, who desire to receive into their souls more of his spirit. You may come humbly and weighed down with conscious unworthiness, but bring a penitent, grateful heart, that longs for a better state, and he will not repel you from his table who came to save the sinful, to encourage the faint-hearted, and to uphold the weak.

There never was a more touching scene than that when this rite was instituted. It was the last time that Jesus should break bread with his disciples before his death. He left that chamber for the agony of the garden, to encounter treachery and desertion, the unjust tribunals, the outcries of the frantic and ferocious people, the death of the cross. This was his last request of his followers. He that was dying for them would be remembered by them in love. Are there those whose hearts impel them to obey that last request? Surely, it is a good impulse. It is well to obey the better promptings of the soul. We yield quite enough to the impulses of lower and more unworthy hours. When higher thoughts and holier purposes move you, for the sake of your soul's welfare repel them not, but obey them.

Come, then, and remember him who died that he might bring back the sinful and the wandering to their Father's home. Come, and while you remember him, examine your own hearts. Are you at variance with your neighbour ? — while you commemorate him who prayed that his murderers might be forgiven, make this place sacred by the reconciliation of your enmities. Have you been unkind in your home? — here bind yourself

to fidelity to gentler and more loving affections. Have you been hard and inconsiderate towards the poor, the forsaken, the oppressed? - while you remember him who went about doing good, repent of your selfish ways, and let merciful thoughts prompt you to deeds of mercy. Do you mourn ? - here remember the Comforter. Are you frail and self-distrustful?- remember him who said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Is your faith weak? come, and from this spectacle of unbounded submission, learn to trust in God. Do you fear to die? here remember him who is the resurrection and the life. While you listen to the words, "Do this in remembrance of me," here, at the foot of the cross, let it be your heart's resolve, We will remember and we will follow thee.

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SERMON XXIX.

BY SAMUEL K. LOTHROP.

FALSE SHAME AND TRUE GLORY.

FOR I AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Rom. i. 16.

HYPOCRITICAL piety is not a prevalent sin of our times, but the hypocrisy of indifference has its votaries, who could not utter the declaration of the text with a conscious integrity of heart. Formerly, in countries where religion was in alliance with civil power, in periods when the church was a stepping-stone to authority and wealth, there were doubtless some hypocritical professors of religion, who made a gain of godliness and assumed an external piety as a means of social advancement, the chief instrument of their ambition. The reality being advantageous in a worldly point of view, the counterfeit was not uncominon.

There is some reason to believe, that, at the present day, an opposite state of things exists. There are now more persons ashamed to make a profession of religion than pretenders to any degree of it which they have not attained. Many persons love God, and fear him also, far more than they are willing to acknowledge before the world. Religious pretension is not now, here and among us, a common vice; religious indifference an indiffer

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ence in the manners and appearance that is not a sincere expression of the heart is common. Timid and backward believers, persons who are ashamed to confess the strength of their faith, who have not courage to stand up before the world and acknowledge the Gospel as the rule of their lives and the joy of their hearts, are more numerous now than the hypocritical professors or the open enemies of the Gospel. There are many, of whom it may be said of them that they are "ashamed of the Gospel of Christ," and this shame operates in various ways to injure their characters, to retard their Christian progress, and to diminish their usefulness and their influI propose to speak of it as it affects their conduct in relation to that holy and beautiful rite of commemoration which here appeals to their affections, is offered to their observance.

ence.

Permit me to say, first, my friends, that among those who are not members of the church, not professors of religion, to use a technical phrase, there are many of you whom I cannot but regard as religious and devout persons, every way worthy to be received to our communion. I have seen you and watched you under various vicissitudes and in a large experience of human life. In your sorrows, I have observed that the Gospel afforded you rich and abundant consolations. Its precious and immortal hopes soothed your hearts under the pangs of bereavement, and gave you strength to endure. affliction with meekness. I have known you to resist pressing temptations with success, and to hold fast your integrity and purity against loud calls of passion and opportunity to surrender both. In the sacred walks of private and domestic life, I have seen some of you discharge, day after day, month after month, hard and pain