(1.) They do not apply to persons _actively engaged in the business of life_. It has pleased God to place us in a world in which we are surrounded by various cares and duties. Some are in business, and have their minds constantly occupied by its management; some are servants, and required to work hard throughout the week; and others have so much to do in the maintenance and management of their families, that their hands are completely full, and their thoughts engrossed by the necessary engagements of the day. In such cases persons often feel that they had rather wait until they are more at leisure. They have little time for meditation; they find that their pursuits tend to make their minds secular, causes of irritation frequently arise, and they are led, it may be, into conduct which they fear might be unbecoming the communicant of the Lord. They, therefore, postpone the communion in the hope of greater leisure; the usual result of which postponement is, that one delay follows another till the whole desire becomes extinct within the soul. The servant, for example, waits till she is settled; she then waits again till she is less harassed with a small and increasing family; and then she waits till freed from the cares of providing for their entrance into life; till at length the infirmities of old age creep rapidly upon her, and she goes to her grave having spent her whole life in waiting. Now all this waiting is founded on a wrong principle,—a principle often strengthened by a misunderstanding of the words of St. Paul. If it were wrong to attend to life’s engagements, there would then be some force in the objection. But the Scripture says that diligence in business as a duty, “Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” It is plain, therefore, that attention to a lawful calling can form no barrier to the means of grace. Thus many of the holiest saints of God have been engaged in active life. Enoch had his family; Moses was the leader of Israel; and David had the charge of a nation’s government. There, is, we know, a tendency in the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the word, that it becometh unfruitful. But this should rather draw a man to the means of grace than keep him from them. If we are exposed to great temptation, then we need great strength; and if harassed by the world’s influence, we need the more peculiar help, that we may not be infected by its spirit. The question, therefore, comes to this, Do you intend to abandon yourself to the spirit of the world? If you do, by all means abstain from the communion. But if it is your heart’s desire, in the midst of the world, to walk with God; then neglect no means of seeking him, but in the way of his judgments wait on him, that he may give you grace to overcome, and by his own mighty Spirit set you free from its snares.