our Forerunner into eternity.—All other festivals have been limited to particular nations, and cherished by them with exclusive veneration, but this is the grand solemnity of the human race.-All other solemnities have been but for a time, and have given place to other rites and other memorials, when more resplendent events or characters called for celebration ;-but this festival shall be continued to the end of time,-all nations shall yet encompass this table,-and the latest generations of men shall but perform this service in a far grander assemblage, "the earth being then covered with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." of Yes, there shall be," said the prophet, "in the last ages of time,-there shall be an handful of corn in the earth on the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; -and they of the city shall flourish like grass the earth.-His name shall endure for ever ;-his name shall be continued as long as the sun,-and men shall be blessed in him,—all nations shall call him blessed.-Blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory." Amen. Believing, Communicants, that these are the pleasing anticipations which now animate your hearts, I proceed, in obedience to the last commandment of Him whose name shall thus be glorious, to put into your hands these consecrated symbols of his "broken body and shed blood." Then follows the distribution of the Elements, -the Minister at the same time pronouncing the words of Institution, as they are given by the Apostle, 1 Cor. xi. 23. "The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said," &c. "After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup," &c. "And as often as ye eat bread, and drink of this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." ADDRESS AFTER DISTRIBUTING THE ELEMENTS. "As often," says the Apostle, "as often as ye eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come again." Yes, Communicants, long ages are yet to revolve, during the progress of which "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose,"—and myriads who have not yet tasted existence, are to appear upon this living scene, to admire and to enjoy, in their successive generations, the wonderful works and ways of God. Who, indeed, can foresee what great things are to take place in the progress of the divine kingdom, during the lapse of those numberless ages that are yet destined to revolve? But we know that the plan of Providence shall at all stages of this progress be advancing to its result, and as, in all that we already have seen and known of it, it has had a reference to him who was "promised from the beginning,"-who was "the desire of all nations,”—and who is now the King of the church which he is gathering from among men, so, in its completion, it shall be graced by his second coming, that he may take with him his redeemed into "the kingdom prepared for them."-And then "behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him,-and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."-" Behold he cometh with clouds," with a glorious company also of ministering spirits, issuing along with him from the depths of space,-with all the immortal ensigns of glory and of power that are suitable to Him “to whom all judgment has been committed by the Father."-" But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is as a refiner's fire, and he shall sit as a refiner, and a purifier of silver.”. Yet each of us, Communicants, must stand in his place at that day. What a prospect to those who have despised or neglected his warnings! and what a day of triumph and of happiness to those who "have followed him through life, bearing their cross!" May it then, Communicants, be the lot of every one of us to meet his coming not with fear but with triumph,—and having paid him the homage of a humble but sincere attachment in time, —and having made it our daily study, amidst good report and bad report, to follow "the example he |