with the chief articles of that faith,

on which our

forms of worship are founded; or so dead to religious feeling, as not to perceive the force with which they appeal to the conscience of the sinner.

So much the more exactly, then, is the Litany suited to those assemblies, for whose use it was designed. It is adapted to revive, in those who are truly considerate and pious, every thought and conviction, which they may be anxious to keep alive in their minds; to increase the knowledge and confirm the faith of those, who are not yet sufficiently built up in the assurance of those things which belong to their peace; to sharpen the stings of conscience in the sinner; and "to comfort and help the weak-hearted," and point out to them by what aid they may "beat down Satan under their feet." Nothing, in fact, but gross and obstinate inattention can prevent any one, who is present at this most solemn and impressive act of divine worship, from deriving some benefit from the various lessons of faith, piety, humility, self-government, and charity, which it so amply conveys.

May God, of his infinite mercy, grant, that we, who are here present, may all so diligently, and

earnestly avail ourselves of this admirable guide to our devotions, and of so many other abundant means of grace, which his bounty has provided for our use, that, at the last day, we may be found amongst the most faithful members of that pure Church, to which we profess to belong!

162

LECTURE X.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

MATT. XXII. 37-40.

Jesus said unto him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it:-Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'

THE next part of the Liturgy, that should claim our notice, would be the ORDER FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER; or, at least, that portion of it, with which the Morning-prayer, on Sundays and other holidays, is usually concluded: but, since we find a pro

minent place in that Order occupied by the TEN COMMANDMENTS, which, of themselves, open a wide field for inquiry; it will be expedient to take them into distinct and immediate consideration. Our subsequent review of the Communion-service may thus be uniform and unbroken.

It has often been imagined, that these Commandments, though evidently promulgated as a compendium of human obligations, do not actually contain the whole substance of moral duty: but, that many of its laws, and those too of no light moment, must be sought from other parts of the Holy Scriptures.

That the Ten Commandments were by no means designed to supersede the other Scriptures, or to render the study of them superfluous, is sufficiently clear. Most of them, whether positive or prohibitory, are conceived with great brevity; and many of the duties, which they embrace, are to be collected rather by necessary inference, than from the direct force of the terms employed. The aid of the Scriptures at large, therefore, is of the first importance; not only to exalt the mind to just notions of God and religion, and to refined

views of moral excellence; but to explain and familiarise, to enlarge and enforce the several duties briefly enjoined in the Commandments.

Nevertheless, it is equally true, that the two Tables of the Law are to be regarded as a complete, though concise abstract of all moral obligations; chiefly designed, as every abstract must be, to aid at once the judgment and the memory, by uniting compactness of form with methodical ar rangement; yet, not failing to comprehend, either by direct mention, or by reasonable implication, the entire practical duty, not only of the followers of Moses, but of the disciples of Christ; and, in that view, adopted, authorised, and perpetuated, by our Divine Lawgiver himself.

When our Lord speaks, as in the passage now read to you, of two Commandments only, and declares, that "on them hang all the Law and the Prophets:" it is impossible to doubt, that he has in contemplation the TWO TABLES of the Commandments; the first, containing the duty of man towards God, the second, his duty towards his neighbour. His two Commandments plainly describe the quickening spirit, by which the pre