Note 10 — AN EARNEST EXHORTATION, &c.

I could wish that these invitations were given by some of our clergy, in a more solemn and earnest manner than at all times prevails, and that the whole Exhortation were read, as it is in many churches in the north of England. I should think, also, it would be attended with a very happy effect, which, indeed, I have known to be produced by it, if notice of the Sacrament were sometimes given by reading the second Exhortation, addressed “to those who are negligent to come to the Holy Communion;” the use of which, I am afraid, the state of most congregations in this country will fully warrant. And if, after using either of these Exhortations, the kind and affectionate Pastor would in the course of his sermon pathetically and earnestly entreat his congregation to attend the ensuing Sacrament, to which they have just been invited, as they value their soul’s health, occasionally explaining any difficulty or scruple that may be likely to affect ordinary or young minds upon a part of the first Exhortation, I am confident the happiest effects would frequently follow.