delusions,—but rather that we should make it our earnest and constant study to gain an intimate acquaintance with all the sources of our weaknesses, -that we may more justly appreciate the mercy of God, and be in a condition to watch with more effectual assiduity over any delusion that might lead us from the perfect way of the commandments of God.

The season of Sacramental Communion is peculiarly proper for such self-examination, because we are then to commemorate the love of him who died for our sins;-and our very first acknowledgment at the throne of divine grace, ought to be that of the many offences by which we have rendered our lives far less perfect than the Father of Spirits intended that they should be.

Let me now, then, address myself by humble and fervent prayer to the throne of divine grace, for this most important view of my own character, and for a corresponding apprehension of divine mercy to me, the chief of sinners.

PRAYER.

Whither, O God, can I go from thy presence, or flee from thy Spirit? Thou knowest my thoughts afar off,-yea, there is not a thought in my heart but thou knowest it altogether,—thou hast set our secret faults in the light of thy countenance."

Thou art intimately acquainted with all the weaknesses and follies of my nature,—and though I may have overlooked or forgotten my offences, and they may seem to me to have been carried away in the lapse of time, yet are they registered in thy book of remembrance, and " thou wilt bring every secret thing to light."

O God, show me the sins that have made so sad a part of my mortal history;-open mine eyes that I may form a just estimate of my own weaknesses and faults;-take away from me all the delusions of self-love;-break down my rebellious and ungodly propensities ;-destroy in me every root of evil;—and help me, in some measure at

least, to see my own character as it appears to

thine omniscient eye.

Grant me true sorrow for my sins,—and, oh! humble me when I venture to come into thy presence, under a sense of my own unworthiness to approach with acceptance so pure and holy a Being.

Yet, O God, let me not be overwhelmed with despair ;—may my sorrow be of that genuine kind which worketh repentance unto life;—and may I be enabled, while I am grieving for my transgressions, to look with humble trust to thy promised forgiveness, and to the value of that atonement which Christ Jesus, thy Son and our Saviour, once made, that he might reconcile us unto thee.

Lord, grant me a humble walk through life, under the consciousness of my transgressions,-and a grateful sense at all times of that mercy, through Christ, from which only I look for forgiveness. May all the affections of my heart be purified by this sense of my own follies and of thy redeeming grace ;—and especially, grant that I may approach the table of the Redeemer with the spirit of a true penitent,-and be enabled, with

profound thankfulness, to eat of that bread and drink of that cup, which are the emblems consecrated by him of "his body which was broken, and of his blood which was shed, for the remission of sins."

Blessed be thy name for this great feast in honour of thy forgiving and redeeming grace ;— oh! let me not be an unworthy guest ;-but rather may my sins, which have been many, be forgiven me,—because, through thy grace, I have also been enabled to love much;-for Christ's sake. Amen.

IV.

CHARITY, OR A HEART DIVESTED OF ALL REBELLIOUS AND DISTRUSTFUL THOUGHTS TOWARDS GOD, AND OF ALL REVENGEFUL OR SUSPICIOUS FEELINGS TOWARDS MEN.

1 COR. xiii. 2. Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

REFLECTION.

YES, the word Charity is used in the sacred writings in that extensive sense which includes the happiest state of all the affections of human nature, whether these affections have for their object the dispensations of Providence, or the characters and conduct of our fellow-men;-and, in both these respects, it is necessary, that, in order to be a worthy communicant at the table of my Lord, I