No. IV.

DEVELOPMENTS BY THE SACRAMENT.

THE Holy Sacrament is the last thing in all the circle of religious duty, with which halfhearted professors contract an unholy familiarity. Backsliders are almost apostates in heart, before they can take their place at the Lord's Table without self-examination, or without fervent prayer. Indeed, the spirit of prayer is gone, and the habit of communing with the heart given up, when the Sacrament leads to no secret intercourse with God and the Lamb. In general, however, backsliding is kept in check by the recurrence of the Sacrament. The fear of eating and drinking judgment, by unworthy communicating, compels a solemn pause for consideration and prayer, which nothing else could create and during that pause, the backslider gets

such a sight of his guilt and danger, that he dares not approach the altar of God without resolving to “wash his hands in innocency." Piety is, indeed, at a very low ebb, wherever it is thus kept from expiring, by the dread of unworthy communicating. That dread, however, prevents many an apostacy in the church of Christ. A sense of sacramental responsibility is a balance-wheel upon many a conscience, which would otherwise run wild. It has also enabled many to recover themselves from the snare of the devil, and from the entanglements of the world. O, it was not without weighty reasons, that Christ gave the commandment, "This do in remembrance of me." He never showed more fully that he "knew what was in man," than when he bound his disciples to commemorate his death until the end of time. He saw how the act and the obligation would tell upon their hearts and habits, when nothing else could keep either right with God.

This is, I am aware, the lowest view of the holy influence of the Sacrament upon Christian

character: it will, however, prepare you to trace the power of that sweet influence, when it acts with other holy influences, upon willing minds and honest hearts. Then, indeed, nothing forms or unfolds character, so rapidly and regularly, as the Sacrament. Her first Sacrament is a new era in both the history and character of every pious woman, however her piety may have begun or operated at first. It did more and better then, however much or well it did before.

This fact is too little noticed by both sexes. Both would be pleased and improved by reviewing, from time to time, the history of their first Sacrament. It is the history of their best experience, in every case where it was a deliberate step. This is true, whether the duty was suggested to them by pious friends, or by their own conscience: for in either case, the sense of duty, in this matter, leads to "great searchings of heart before God."

Perhaps you pondered the dying command of the Saviour in silence, long before any of your family or friends spoke to you on the subject, or

suspected that it lay near your heart. If so, you have not forgotten, you cannot forget, the many lights in which the duty appeared to you, nor the strong light which it shed upon all duties. You remember especially how often and deeply it threw you in upon the state of your heart, and out upon the probabilities of your future conduct. At one time you felt as if you could safely venture upon the step; and at another time, you durst not think of taking such a step for years. On some days you saw nothing but lions in the way; and on other days, nothing but angels guarding and saints gracing the way. Thus you were alternately cheered and checked-willing and unwilling equally afraid of neglect and presumption.

You remember all this well. This, however, was not all that passed through your mind, when you began to weigh the claims of the Sacrament. It threw and fixed you upon the

solemn question,-" Am I really converted to God? Is my believing, true faith? Does the change I have experienced amount to a divine

change? Is it natural conscience, or the Spirit of grace, which has made me serious?" Occasionally, you did not know what answer to give to these momentous questions. Often, you were equally afraid to say either yes or no. You could not bear to think your experience altogether a delusion; nor could you venture to reckon it a reality. Thus it was a trying time with you then-was it not? You wondered whether any one else had ever felt as you did : but you were afraid to ask your pious friends such a question.

In this dilemma, you set yourself to observe

with

great attention; how your heart felt whilst you were alone in prayer; alone in pondering over the word of God; alone in reviewing your past history. And you were so glad!—when it melted with penitence, or glowed with gratitude, or thrilled with delight, or overflowed with holy desires for more grace. Then, your closet was very dear to you for it was none other than the house of God, and the very gate of heaven. Then, had the Sacrament been a closet-ordi