path. It is hard for the young to bear ridicule, it is hard to give up many of the pleasures of the world. I am not saying it is easy to walk by faith; our Lord Himself has said that 'strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.' I can feel for you in your trials; but the question is, can you be saved, can you escape perdition of body and soul by the sort of life you are leading now? Could your Lord, if you were now to die, say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant,' if, to take but one matter, you had left undone that great commandment which He gave at His last supper with His disciples? Could He say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant,' if the reason of your neglecting this command was, that you were unwilling to devote your whole soul and heart and life to Him? For this it is, I believe, that holds you back from this life-giving, strengthening Feast. If you were bent on completely devoting yourself to God, you would not hesitate to draw near, nay, you would long to draw near, that you might get spiritual strength by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ. When people halt between two opinions, when they are undecided as to their life, when they cannot make up their minds to serve God altogether, then they are unwilling to receive this blessed Sacrament; but when they do resolve to yield entire obedience, they have then a hunger and thirst for this heavenly Feast. Thus, then, you are in peril on two points. First, because you are turning your back on this Sacrament which your Saviour commanded you to receive; and next, because you are not willing to serve God with a perfect heart. As your friend, as one over you in the Lord, I am bound to say that you are in fearful peril till you do purpose to walk wholly and entirely with God; that you may have this purpose I beseech you to offer up frequent and fervent prayers to Him who alone can enable you either to will or to do anything that is good. "I must also remind you of the use and object of this Sacrament. When our Lord enjoins us to partake of it He is in reality bidding us to take that food by which the life of our souls is sustained. The Lord's Supper is that mysterious meal whereby the hungry and thirsty soul of the Christian traveller is strengthened and refreshed. It is a help to him on his way. It is designed to strengthen his spiritual limbs that he may have. power to walk with God. You must not wait till you are perfect before you take it; it is, I say, a help to the Christian who desires to be come more holy, who feels his own insufficiency, who distrusts his own power to fulfil his resolutions, who longs for union with Christ, that he may obtain the gifts of Christ. If you resolved, even now, to take a bolder course, to despise the laughter of fools, to gird up the loins of your mind, to cast yourself at your Saviour's feet, to offer Him your soul and body, to enter on a strictly religious life, then, James, the Lord's Supper would be as meat and drink to your soul; it would help you on your way; it would give nerve and strength to your heart. "And now I pray you, I beseech you no longer to be of a doubtful mind, no longer to sway to and fro, no longer to risk your soul, no longer to go backwards and forwards between the world and God. O choose at once the good part that shall not be taken from you; choose boldly; fling away all doubt; think of death and judgment: young as you are, you may soon be swept from the land of the living; your soul may soon be before God. O do not delay; in your Saviour's most blessed Name I charge you to turn with your whole heart to God." It was in some such way as this that the rector urged James Ball to a stricter life. James Ball listened attentively, and he felt within his soul the truth of all that was said. A few nights after this you might have seen him again ringing the rector's bell, and again and again he was at the rector's house. More warmly did the good pastor plead with the youth, and in secret warmly did he pray for him. At last you might have seen James Ball kneeling at the Altar, his indecision having been at last vanquished, his mind, by God's grace, quite made up, and great was the peace he felt when he thus gave himself into his Saviour's hands. And now, my young friend, have you not been like James Ball? You have been confirmed; you then dedicated yourself to God; you pledged yourself to your Saviour's service; you went into the House of God, and there with your own mouth professed your desire and readiness to renounce the world, and live a holy religious life, that through the merits of your Saviour you might be saved. You were full of good intentions at that time; you had many serious thoughts, and you felt in some degree the value of your soul. Have you since then persevered in a religious life? Have you received the Sacrament of your Lord's Body and Blood? Have you not let month pass over month without seeking that means of grace without which you cannot HAVE YOU COMMUNICATED SINCE YOUR CONFIRMATION? have sufficient strength to do the will of God, or entirely to walk by faith? Unless Unless you take "the strong meat" of the Church, how can you expect to have spiritual strength? how can your faith wax strong? how can you have power to resist the increasing temptations of the world? O, my friend, do not go on in your present course; do not go on neglecting this blessed Feast. See the peril of such neglect; see how sinful a thing it must be not to come when your Lord bids you come, how sinful to refuse this voice of divine love, the voice of your most loving Lord. See the peril of being an almost Christian; and pray God to open your eyes, and to shew you the need of being a Christian altogether, and of receiving those holy mysteries, the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. As you have been like James Ball in not becoming a communicant at once, so be like him in his conduct afterwards, and in listening to those earnest persuasions given you for your everlasting good, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man," it is written, "and drink His blood, ye have no |