him in the hour of temptation; give him power over all his spiritual enemies; and, after having followed thy footsteps in the regeneration, may he finally be received into thy new angelic heaven, to glorify and praise thee for ever and ever. Amen.

After which, the Lord's Prayer, as in Matt. vi. 9 to 13, may be repeated by all, still kneeling.

OUR Father, who art in the heavens; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also upon earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen.

And lastly the Minister, standing up, concludes with the following Benediction, from Apoc. xxii. 21.

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

THE HOLY SUPPER.

Every person of mature years, having been baptized, and desirous of being a partaker of the Holy Supper in the New Church, is expected first openly to acknowledge and confess, that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in his Divine Humanity, is the Only God of heaven and earth; and that all the truth of the church, and all the good of religion, are solely derived from him. And it is further expected, that he entertains a serious desire, through divine mercy and assistance, for the future to shun all evils as sins against God, to be in charity with all men, and to live a life according to the commandments.

The bread and wine being placed upon the table, the Minister begins by repeating one, or more of the following passages from the Word; during which, proper persons collect the free-will offerings of the people, and then bring them to the Minister, to be by him laid upon the table.

THUS saith the Lord Jehovih, Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come, gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice, that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. (Ezek. xxxix. 17.)

Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. (Apoc. xix. 17.)

Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they, who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. (Apoc. xix. 7,9.)

Then the Minister reads the following invitation to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, after which the people approach the table.

YE

are now invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb, who is the Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ in his Divine Humanity, to be partakers of his flesh and blood, that is, of the divine good and divine truth proceeding from his glorified body, whereby your souls may be nourished unto eternal life. The bridegroom himself invites you, and says, Come. Be ye therefore ready; put away all evil from your hearts; look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone; acknowledge him as your God, your Saviour, and Redeemer; and he will enter in, and make his abode with you; for behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. Yea, the Lord himself is now present in his Divine Humanity, and waiteth to open heaven to all those, who approach his holy supper worthily, agreeably to his own declaration, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Here follows the institution of the Holy Supper by the Lord, taken from Matt. xxvi. 19, 20, 26 to 28. Mark xiv. 16, 17, 22 to 24. Luke xxii. 13, 14, 19, 20.

JESUS kept the passover with his disciples; and when the evening was come, he sat down with them. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks; and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is my blood, the [blood] of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Then the Minister reads as follows:

THE holy supper was instituted by the Lord himself for the purpose of maintaining thereby a communion betwixt his church and heaven, and of consequence betwixt his church and himself. Thus it is the most sacred and solemn of all worship. Hear therefore the doctrine of the Lord concerning his flesh and his blood, and concerning bread and wine.

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. The bread of God is he, who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me, shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. I am the living bread, which came

down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread, that I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." (John vi. 27, 33, 35, 51, 53 to 56.)

By flesh and blood, as also by bread and wine, are spiritually understood the good of charity, and the truth of faith, and, in the supreme sense, the Lord himself with respect to the divine good of his love, and the divine truth of his wisdom. By the same are also signified the divine good and divine truth contained in the holy Word: and by eating or drinking thereof, are signified reception and appropriation on the part of man, and thereby conjunction with the Lord, which is eternal life.

Since, therefore, the holy supper includes and contains in it the Lord, his divine good, and his divine truth, it follows, that it also includes, and contains, both universally and particularly, all things relating to heaven and the church. And whereas the Lord's flesh signifies the divine good of his love, and his blood the divine truth of his wisdom, it is evident, that the Lord is completely omnipresent in the holy supper, both as to his Divinity and as to his Glorified Huma