joice, individually, in the personal application to ourselves of those benefits, of which the Sacrament is the guarantee to all faithful communicants.

LECTURE VII.

1 COR. X. 16.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

THE progress of our inquiry into the benefits annexed to a participation in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so far as they may be deduced from the consideration of the nature of the rite itself, and the words and circumstances by which its natural significancy was more especially limited and defined in its institution, seems to have led us to the following conclusions :

First, and generally, that the rite itself is of the nature of a feast; and therefore primarily intended to nourish and support, or to represent nourishment and support; and that, making part of a religious service, the nourishment represented by it must be spiritual: that the specific character of the feast is that of a feast upon a sacrifice; and

that therefore the benefits derived from a participation in it, must be the communication of the beneficial results accruing from the sacrifice to which it refers, or is appendant.

Secondly, and more particularly, that it is, in fact, a feast upon the body and blood of Christ, symbolically represented by the bread and wine of the Eucharist, and considered as the sacrifice of atonement, redemption, and peace-offering for the whole race of mankind; communicating to those, who faithfully partake of it, under this idea and in conformity with the injunction of their Lord, remission of sin and all other benefits of his passion.

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It has further appeared, that by the bolical union effected by a participation in the holy elements, is expressed and cemented that communion and identity, in many important respects, between the Redeemer and the redeemed, the head and the members of his church, spoken of by our Lord himself, and so often alluded to in the writings of his Apostles, and by which we become partakers of his fulness;

receiving, according to our capacities, the gracious influences of that Spirit, which was poured out on him in his human nature without measure; and the communication of the principle of that eternal life, which we shall hereafter enjoy with him in hea

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Lastly, we have observed, that the participation in the wine of the Sacrament has probably a yet further meaning, suggested indeed by the expressions used by our Lord himself in giving the cup, that of binding us, by the most solemn federal rite of antiquity, to the observance of the new covenant ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ, and by consequence assuring to us the communication of all the benefits resulting from the covenant, to which we are thus made parties.

It is to an inquiry, how far these ideas of the nature and benefits of the institution are in accordance with what we may elsewhere in the New Testament learn respecting the rite; how far they may be confirmed, or of what extension they may be capable, from the incidental notices of it to be found in the apostolical writings, or in