called for. But, however this may be, one thing is certain,-that afflictions have not a sanctifying influence, nor are they well sustained, where there is not a well-founded hope of heaven. However strange it may be, therefore, in theory, that our inferior sufferings should have, or require, all the great and precious promises which were were made to the first Christians, it is only the sober fact that we do require them all, in order to possess our souls in patience. The pros

pect of heaven is not too bright, nor the consolation that is in Christ too strong, even in the day of our calamity. Whatever, therefore, might be theoretically argued, to prove that less ought to suffice, now that there is far less to suffer, the fact is, that less does not suffice. All experience demonstrates that there is neither true holiness nor happiness, under calamity, but where there is a good hope, through grace, of an eternal weight of glory. Now, this is the hope which must inspire and sustain communion with God in the furnace. This hope must be in the midst of every furnace of

affliction, as the Son of God was in the Babylonian furnace, if, like the three Hebrews, we would be free or unhurt. Our own reasonings against impatience, and the remonstrances of others against it, will not prevent nor suppress impatience. It has but one effectual antidote -the hope of eternal life. The prospect of better days, and better things, in this life, is not, indeed, without its influence; but it is not in praying for them, that the soul gets into communion with God. It is in praying for meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, that we obtain true and transporting fellowship with Him.

CA

No. XII.

SACRAMENTAL COMMUNION WITH GOD AND

THE LAMB.

in

It is pleasing to remember how many, all ages of the Christian church, have celebrated the death of the Saviour, at the sacramental table. That has never, indeed, been a crowded table, where the guests have been required to wear the "wedding garment;" but neither has it ever been a forsaken table. Some were always as constant at the sacramental supper on earth, as they are now at "the marriage supper of the Lamb" in heaven. Many of them commemorated his death at the risk of their own lives. The mountain tops were not too cold, nor the caves of the wilderness too damp, nor the tombs, at midnight, too dreary, for the first Christians,

ments.

when persecution drove them to secret sacraThey loved their Lord; and, therefore, testified their attachment to him at all hazards, and under all hardships.

now

Such were the primitive believers. The world then thought them fools; but, now, even the world itself applauds their heroism, and remembers them more than it does the guests who sat at the banqueting tables of the Belshazzars and Cæsars of antiquity. It is pleasing to remember, also, that there are sacramental tables in many nations, where there was only "the table of devils" then. When the first sacraments were celebrating in Judea and Greece, human sacrifices were prevalent and popular in Britain. Hallowed be the day, when the first Christian sacrament was administered in the land of our fathers! Its date is unknown; its place, unmarked; its form, uncertain; but its "sweet influences" have been incalculable. It was the "olive leaf," (whoever was the dove that brought it,) which proved that the flood of Druidism was subsiding.

It is pleasing to remember, also, that even

since we became communicants there are many sacramental tables, where there was only the table of devils when we were born. There is now one in China-a few in Indiaand many in Africa and the South Sea Islands. And still they are multiplying. They will become as general as the domestic table of families; until all on earth vie with all in

heaven, in " showing the Lord's death until

he come."

By thus remembering "the dead in Christ," and anticipating the unborn who shall be given to Christ, we forget, in some measure, or rather get above, our own fears and trials. We thus feel ourselves to be a part of an immense army-the first companies of which are already crowned with victory; and the last sure to be more than conquerors, by the blood of the Lamb. This identification is as useful as it is sublime.

When a Christian thinks only of himself, and for himself, he is easily discouraged, and feels, at times, ready to sink. But when he realizes himself as one of God's family, and as one of Christ's flock, and remembers how