ness of the giver of every good and every perfect gift, and then turn your thoughts to a disconsolate family in the house of Christian devotion. The father, the mother, the children seated comfortably together, O the lovely sight! but what do they hear from the desk? Some are elected of God to enjoy him for ever; for them he has laid up his stores of mercy; but the rest of man, kind are reprobated to inconceivable misery for ever. Parents must be for ever separated from their children, companions from each other, and children of the same family must bid each other an eternal farewell.

Now behold the gloom, now see the tears of grief, now see this family looking one upon another, while their faces gather paleness. Is this the meat which God requires us to put on his table? Is this the bread which came down from heaven to give life to the world? No, surely the fruit of joy is far from affording such tithes as these.

The

Time will not admit, nor is it necessary to ex• amine all the beforementioned fruits of the spirit, and to compare them with this doctrine of partial election; for if the two first are directly opposed to this doctrine, the remainder cannot agree with it. However, we may notice the third, which is peace. Then let us ask whether this doctrine is productive of divine peace in the soul? apostle says, "there is peace in believing and there is joy in the Holy Ghost." But do we hear those, who endeavour to support this doctrine, attempt to persuade its votaries, that to believe that their dearest friends, and perhaps themselves are heirs of endless wrath by the inexorable decree of the Father of our spirits, will give them peace? By no means. In fact they all endea vour to leave this part of their doctrine for somebody else. But be it remembered that he who brings the tithes must eat of them himself, and rejoice before the Lord. Let our dear friends. ir clergy, our doctors of divinity, who bring this

doctrine into the house of God, and place it on the table of the Lord, come forward and declare that they take this doctrine to themselves, and rejoice that their heavenly Father's decree has appointed them to endless woe. But they will not eat this meat. Then let it be taken away; if it be not fit for them it is not fit for others, and certainly it is not fit to offer unto God.

Says the prophet; "offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee?" If our preachers should give our governor such a character as they attribute to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and persuade the people to believe that he has laid a scheme which he intends shall issue in the greatest possible happiness of a few of our citizens, but in the destruction of the greatest part of our community, would he be pleased with them? Would he accept their persons? Would he esteem them for the honour they had attributed to him? My friends, that crown of thorns which wicked hands placed on the sacred head of the Son of God, was a garland of flowers, a festoon of roses compared with this.

When this inquiry was commenced, it was the intention of the speaker to extend it to a number of particulars, but this would devote too much of our time to the least agreeable part of our general subject. But if the hearer will cautiously remeni ber, that no doctrine which does not flow naturally from the divine favour, can be admitted as wholesome and worthy of a place on the table of the Lord, he will be ever able to examine and determine any particular tenet of doctrine, whether it be the bread of life, or that which pollutes the sanctuary.

1. We shall now attempt to bring forward the true and living bread, that there may be meat in the house of the Lord; and to give some true tokens that we are not deceived in the bread which we place on the table of the Lord. And while doing this we may find it convenient to ex

pose the pollution of some more of the provisions which have heretofore polluted this holy table.

The first portion of meat which the high priest of the Christian sanctuary and house of God presents us is the love of our heavenly Father. Love, we have noticed is the first of the fruits of the spirit. This should always appear on the table of the Lord. God is love. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. This, my brethren, is the true, genuine bread of eternal life. Of this a man may eat and never die.

This plain doctrine of the love of God to the world shows the pollution of that doctrine which represents our Father in heaven to be an enemy to sinners. The popular doctrine of our clergy has for ages taught, that God was such an enemy to sinful man, that Jesus was under the necessity of appeasing his wrath with his own blood. People have been exhorted to seek a covering in Jesus from the vengeance of the everlasting Father of our spirits. All such doctrine is polluted bread, it is dishonourable to God, it is unwholesome food; no man can feed on it with rejoicing.

It is of moment that we duly consider that Jesus, our great High Priest, never presented such bread as this on his Father's table. He never once in the days of his flesh intimated that our heavenly Fa ther was our enemy, or that he had come to suffer and die to appease his wrath. But he constantly inculcated the belief that God, his Father, and our Father was good to sinners, and delighted in their repentance and in forgiving them freely all trespasses.

2. As a doctrine standing in due connection with this everlasting love of God to the world of mankind, the great High Priest set forth the necessity of repentance towards God and faith and confi

dence in his mercy. In the doctrine of Jesus it is seen that the goodness of God leads sinners to repentance; and this discovers the pollution occasioned by that doctrine which has led us to believe, that our repentance was necessary to render our heavenly Father friendly to us. This polluted meat has been uniformly set on the table of the Lord, by our Christian clergy, and has produced a worship that has exceeded in its horrors, the miserable idolatry of the priests of Baal, who cut themselves and cried from morning until night that they might move the compassion of their diety.

The doctrine of repentance and reformation is most beautifully set forth in the Saviour's parable of the prodigal; where there is no intimation of an angry father, who demanded some sacrifice to appease his wrath, which burned towards his son; but a father full of compassion, ready to forgive and to bestow more than the son could think or ask. This, my friends, is heavenly bread; it is a perfect sample of what we derive from the giver of every blessing. This doctrine of repentance, and confidence in God, should never be wanting in the house of the Lord. It is needed at all times, and should be set forth for all to partake, for all to eat of it with rejoicing. The way in which the wisdom of this world has set forth the doctrine of repentance, not only defiles the name of the Lord by efforts to reconcile him, but it pol lutes, the sanctuary with its partiality; for it is never presented for all. The preacher thinks he has no need to eat of this; he thinks likewise that his church have no need to partake of this, but he sets it forth for those who have not subscribed to his creed nor owned his covenant. Such are called on to repent. But as it was under the law, those who brought the tithes ate of themselves, and gave also to their households, and all ate and rejoiced together, so let the ministers of the spiritual sanctuary and house of God eat of this heav

enly meat and give it to all the congregation, and let them all partake of this provision together, and rejoice in their God, and joy in the goodness of our heavenly Father, who, with open arms is ready to embrace his children, to clothe them in the best robe, to grace them with his ring of love, and to welcome them as sons and daughters to his table.

Did those who once brought their tithes and ate them in the house of the Lord, think that there was no need of repeating this requirement? But our Christian people who are professors of religion, generally think, that as they once repented of sin, when repentance is preached it is meant for some body else, not for them. Thus the table of the Lord is become contemptible.

3. The great and momentous doctrine of man's constitutional sonship and heirship in the God of heaven and earth, is set forth as the bread of life, in the testimony of the captain of our salvation. He took little children in his arms and said, of such is the kingdom of heaven. This shows us at once that the common doctrine, which has taught us that we were all born into the world heirs of wrath and children of the devil, under God's wrath and curse, and liable to the pains of hell for ever, is most polluted, most profane bread. God graciously grant that his table in this house may never be polluted and rendered contemptible with such meat. Is such doctrine the true, and genuine tithes of the blessings of the great possessor of heaven and earth? Gan such bread be eaten with joy? My dear brethren, can you take your families and bring them to this house and here together with them, hear it proclaimed, that we were all born into the world totally depraved, and under the sentence of eternal death and rejoice in this testimony with your companions and children? No, surely this is polluted bread.

But with what sweet delight, with what rational rejoicing can you come with your households,