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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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ik > argument against ift reasonable use ; especially if care be taken to guard gainst the abuse . When the Romish clergy had succeeded in persuading the people , that they had the power of giving or withtroidingthe pardon of men ' s sins , they made uii » holy ordinance the medium of atonement and compensation , or , in
other wordsy of wiping away the account of sins committed in past life , and of serving as a passport to another world , * Assuredly it can have no such effect ; neither this , nor any other ceremonial observance , can operate like a
cliarm upon a sinful mind , which can cnaly be rendered a proper subject of the < fivine forgiveness by a change of dispositions , and , as far as human witnesses are capable of judging , by such a course of correspondent actions , as may properly be denominated habits .
Yet , though external observances are useless and even pernicious , whenever they are resorted to as substitutes for virtue and true religion , yet are they by no tneans without their use as evpnssiens of them . And it is , I trust , with such a view as this of the ordinance of the Lord ' s Supper , that you , my Christian
friend , have requested us to join with you in this solemn act of religious gratitvde , resignation and hope . The first idea , indeed , connected with this service is the idea of thanksgiving . Our blessed Lord , when he instituted it , though in the immediate prospect of a painful and ignominious death , yet ,
when he had taken the bread into his hands , we read , *« gave thanks , " before lie brake it , and distributed it to his disciples . From this circumstance , it has come to be called , with great propriety , the eucharibt , or thanksgivingservice . In like maiiner you , my good friend , even in your present state of sickness , have , I doubt not , deeply
impressed upon your mind , the sentiment of devout thankfulness , for the many mercies of your past life ; but more especially for the opportunities which you have enjoyed ot becoming acquainted with the comforts and supports of teligion , particularly of the gospel of Jesus Christ ; the precepts of which have been a most important and useful directory of your conduct during the years of
• Hence , in that church it has obtained the name of tiaticum * + Seethe Monthly Repository , voi . ii . p . 43 , 7 .
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activity and health , as its promises are fiow the great source of your consolation and support in the hour of affliction . But especially would I lead you , my Christian friend , to consider how naturally this rite , peculiar to Christianity , and instituted for the remembrance of it *
author , directs the thoughts to a particular remembrance of that part of his character in which he Exhibited to tht world an example of the patient suffering of affliction . It will lead us to observe the particular earnestness with . which , immediately after its institution ,
he flies to God during" the dreadful hour of his agony , in which , according to the opinion of some , f- he was visited with a severe and dangerous sickness . € t O my Father ! " sayshe , " all things are possible with thee , *'—and will lead us , under similar trials , to strive to keep always in remembrance , to layclaim to , and plead , oar relation to God as our Father . This will tend both to reconcile us to our affliction , by convincing us that it is the appointment of a Father , who intends us well even in
our severest trials . It will lead us to imitate the perfect submission and resignation of our blessed JLord : — «• Nevertheless , ' * says he , * ' not my will , but thine be done . ** It is , indeed , most fit that we shotild imitate him in this respect : our Almighty Father ,
whose wisdom is unerring , knows infinitely better than we what is fit and proper to be done , and what is t ^ e pro - per season for doing it ; and his goodness , which is unchangeable and everlasting , will dispose him to do nothing for any of us but what is absolutely for the best .
But , further , it must afford us great consolation under our severest afflictions to recollect , that he whom God hath appointed the great High Priest of our present profession , and our Final Judge , is not one who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities , buc was in all points tempted like as we are ; he shared in the infirmities and sorrows we
endure ; he knows , therefore , how to pity and allaw for our distress . He is not unacquainted with the sensations ot a heart agitated with fear , distress aiul anxiety ; and he will not break the bruised reed , nor quench the smoking
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184 A Sacramental Address .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1810, page 184, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2403/page/24/
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