no more.

munion of the body and blood of Christ, is proffered to you, turn not away. Never turn away from the table of the Lord, when it is prepared with the bread of life, of which they who eat, hunger no more; and with the water of life, of which they who drink, thirst Your attendance at that holy feast is an evidence to your fellow-christians of your gratitude and love to Christ your Saviour; for you are seen keeping Christ's commandments because you love him." It is a clear manifestation that you are not ashamed of Him, the crucified Saviour, who is your life and your hope. It is an avowal worthy of you, not only that without the Spirit of grace you can do no good thing; but that, in proportion to your sense of religious obligation and holy resolutions, should be your earnest prayer for strength from above to fulfil that obligation, and bring to good effect those resolutions. It is a convincing proof that you view those holy mysteries, the tokens of your Redeemer's love, both as the means whereby we receive God's grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof. Fail not then the duty. Holy resolve, and holy prayer, and holy obedience must go hand in hand; and upon them, for Christ's sake, who shall doubt God's blessing? Nor is it only that your own faith is strengthened, and your own hope brightened by such unreserved and public demonstration of your gratitude. Other hearts catch the flame other spirits are warmed by your fervour, and animated by your example; and glowing with a holier love to the God who hath done so great things for you, are animated by no vain hope that if they

:

3 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Jolin xiv. 16.

likewise trust as you have done, they, like you, may be comforted. They feel that the same God is their God, ready to hear and answer them also in their troubles, whether of mind, body, or estate. They also will be encouraged to receive the cup of salvation; they too will call upon the name of the Lord; they likewise will gladly seek, in the same ordinance, that spiritual strength and heavenly comfort which none, who so seek, seek in vain.

Defer not thus to seek strength for the fulfilment of your vow; but take the first opportunity which may present itself, for partaking of the Holy Communion*. Show yourself amongst the people, as gladly engaged in your Saviour's service. Let them see, that as you acknowledge your recent safety to be of his mercy, so you confess your future life must be of his grace; and that it were vain to expect the aid of that grace, if you turned away from those means of gaining it, which He himself, as the last bequest to his Church, did so solemnly and so graciously ordain'. You rejoice in the child vouchsafed to you of God. It is well!

Rejoice heartily; but rejoice gratefully. the Giver in the gift.

Forget not

4 The Church, with her usual provident care for the right ordering of our life, as members of Christ, and children of God; whose spiritual life must, if sustained at all, be sustained by spiritual food; has added to the service a direction to this effect, enjoining" the woman, who cometh to give thanks," that "if there be a communion, it is convenient that she receive the Holy Communion."

5 See the reflections upon this blessed ordinance, in the subsequent pages "upon the Holy Communion."

CHAPTER III.

PSALM CXXVII.

THIS Psalm also is admirably adapted to cherish happy feelings and right views upon the occasion for which it is selected. The Psalmist first reminds us that our safety and support and very existence, are the gift of God'. But whilst he warns us against selfconfidence, either in attaining or preserving any of our blessings, and leads us to receive them as from God, he speaks to the humble soul the language of courage and consolation.

What, if it be true, that "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain ?" What, if all our trust and all our hope must be in Him? Equally true is it, that if the Lord doth keep the city, then the watchman waketh not in vain. If by earnest prayer and holy desires after God we gain his gracious aid, then will honest industry in providing things necessary for the body, and sincere endeavours in strengthening our souls for the duties of spiritual life, not fail their object. The mind and the heart, the understanding and the affections, being kept against fear of evil by the Spirit of an ever present God, who himself watcheth with a love that never slumbereth, never sleepeth-the soul thus kept by God's care—we are encouraged in our own watchfulness: we shall not watch in vain; but be enabled to

1 "In Him"-as St. Paul, in his usual strong mode, expresses this truth" in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 28.

exhibit so uniform a faith in God, equally as a God of providence and a God of grace, that the end thereof shall be peace.

Such a view of the divine care is a source of continual peace and comfort. When the number of children increase, of course there follows the necessity for added diligence in parents to provide for them. But worldly means do not always increase in proportion to the increase in the number of the family: in that case temporal comforts will be diminished; much self-denial be required; much added labour undertaken 2. Yet parents gather fresh strength for added anxieties, and cheerfully take such measures as their state of life presents to them for increasing their means, because they trust for a blessing upon their labour to the goodness of the Lord: and all the selfdenying which they exercise for their children's sake, being done "as unto the Lord," cannot lose its reward. The honest heart finds that reward in an approving conscience, and in a deep conviction that there is an eye which seeth, and a Being present who knoweth motive as well as act: the God whose mercy is over all his works; whose providence is over the bird of

2 Kings might envy the lowliest of their subjects, who, living by faith, thus view all the dispensations of providence as ordered right. See the parents of a poor family, toiling daily and cheerfully, honestly and perseveringly, that they may provide for the children God has sent them. As they set at their frugal board, see them portioning to those around them, liberally; to themselves, sparingly. Indeed, if there be a sight calculated to excite sympathy and admiration, and to prove how sure and blessed is the consolation which religion can supply to the careworn heart, it is that of Christian parents in their poverty, smiling with their smiling children, trusting patiently to divine blessing upon their honest industry, and looking forward to their final home, as the family of God in heaven.

the air and the flower of the field; and whose care for man is as much higher than his care for them, as an immortal soul exceeds in worth the grass we tread upon. The encouraging question of our gracious Redeemer fills such a heart with serenity-"Shall he not much more clothe you?" Nor were ever known parents who would spare one of their children. So expansive is parental love, that whether its objects be few or many, the same affection is ready for each. Nay, does not the addition of each new-born child in a family increase their mutual affection? Does not the fresh link add fresh strength to the band of love which unites them? If sympathy avail generally between man and man in soothing the heart under affliction, what must be its power between parents and children, brothers and sisters-their fears and their hopes, their sorrows and their joys, all identified?

Thus not only is the strength of parental feeling enlisted on behalf of the dear helpless one, giving it welcome amid worldly discomfort perhaps, and even poverty; not only is there cheerful watching by night and toiling by day to secure such comforts as infancy requires-Faith comes in aid of feeling. "Children are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.” This thought brightens the darkest earthly prospect. God will not forsake his own. Believing this; believing also that the divine power and the divine love are both infinite, ruling all things for man's final good; parents are encouraged to apply themselves the more diligently to their worldly calling, from the trust they have, that, if uniting their own industry with a proper reliance upon the divine blessing for success, they "cast all their care upon God," He will “ care