of believing on him, nor by the propriety of it, nor by the present usefulness of it; but chiefly, almost solely, by the eternal advantages of faith and the eternal punishment of unbelief. Heaven

and Hell were never out of his hands. Like Moses, with the two tables of the Law, He came down from the mount of God with them, and returned with them. And what he did then, for the first hearers of the Gospel, you must now do for yourself:-place yourself between the glories of Heaven and the terrors of Hell; and whilst you behold both, judge what He is, who can save from the wrath to come, and bestow eternal happiness.

K

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 considera

tion 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 apostasy 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 On some days you saw nothing but

for years.

lions in the way; and on other days, nothing