of it, and probably in the way that has been described, that our Lord instituted this ordinance, to be a constant memorial of his atonement for sin, and of his ratification of a better covenant by his own death.

The true Paschal Lamb, even Jesus Christ, being about to be offered up as a sacrifice for our sins, the type and shadow, now that the antitype and substance were come, were no longer to be used. The slaying of the lamb was therefore to be relinquished, and instead of the paschal feast of remembrance, the feast of the Lord's supper was appointed. One was instituted the night before the deliverance from Egypt; the other the night before our deliverance from our iniquities. One commemorated redemption from Egyptian bondage; the other, a better redemption from the bondage of sin. One prefigured by shedding of blood, the redemption of Christ: the other would exhibit, by striking emblems, a redemption already accomplished. By this new ordinance our Lord told his disciples that the Jewish dispensation was passing away, and the Christian, clearer and fuller in its light, and richer in its blessings, was established in its place. As it was needful to partake of the passover as the means and pledge of their security from the destruction of the first-born, so it is needful for us to partake of the Lord's supper, as the means and pledge of our deliverance from the destruction coming on the ungodly.

With this information, the words recording the appointment of this ordinance will be more easily understood. We have an account of them in four different parts of the New Testament. Matt. xxvi. 26-30. Mark xiv. 22-26. Luke xxii. 18-20. 1 Cor.

(19.) And he

(26.) And as they (22.) And as they (23.) The Lord were eating, Jesus did eat, Jesus took took bread, and Jesus, the same took bread, and bread, and blessed, gave thanks, night in which he blessed it, and and brake it, and and brake it, was betrayed, took brake it, and gave gave to them, and and gave unto bread; to the disciples, said, Take, eat and said, Take, this is my body. eat; this is my

body.

them ; saying, (24.) And when This is my body he had given which is given thanks, he brake for you: this it, and said, Take, do in remem- eat: this is my brance of me. body which is broken for you: this do, in remembrance of me.

(27.) And he (23.) And he

gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.

(20.) Like.

(25.) After the took the cup, and took the cup, and wise also the same manner he when he had given cup after sup- also took the cup, thanks, he gave it per, saying, when he had supto them; and they This cup is the ped, saying, This all drank of it. New Testament cup is the New in my blood, Testament in my (28.) For this (24.) And he which is shed blood: this do ye, is my blood of the said unto them, for you. New Testament, This is my blood which is shed for of the New Testamany for the re- ment,which is shed mission of sins.

for many.

(29.) But I say

(25.) Verily I (18.) For I unto you, I will say unto you, I say unto yon, I not drink hence- will drink no more will not drink| forth of this fruit of the fruit of the of the fruit of of the vine, until vine, until that the vine, until that day when I day that I drink the kingdom of drink it new with it new in the king- God shall come. you in my Father's dom of God. kingdom.

(30.) And when (26.) And when they had sung an they had sung an hymn, they went hymn, they went out into the Mount out into the Mount of Olives. of Olives.

as oft as ye drink

it, in remembrance of me.

These different passages have been put together, in a harmony as follows:

The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was

betrayed, as they were eating, took bread: and when he had blessed it, and given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is given and broken for you; this do, in remembrance of me.

And, after the same manner, he also took the cup, after supper, and gave thanks, and gave it to them; saying, Drink ye all of it; and they all drank of it, and he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, and this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

Verily, I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father, in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

It is evident that there are several expressions here used which require to be duly understood, before we can intelligently observe this ordinance. Why are bread and wine to be used on this occasion? In what sense was the bread our Saviour's body? How was the cup his blood? What is the meaning of his body given and broken; and his blood shed for us? Why are we to eat this bread, and drink this cup? What is the nature of the New Testament? In what views are we to remember Christ, and what is the necessity and benefit of so doing? The consideration of some of these particulars will properly come in this chapter; but others of them which relate more directly to the great doctrines of the gospel, will require more full discussion in distinct chapters.

Do you ask WHY BREAD WAS APPOINTED TO BE

USED? We reply, it was designedly at hand when our Lord appointed the institution, and, being used in the Passover, it connects the two ordinances, and it is a most significant emblem of that which it was intended to represent. It is not merely in the mode of its preparation for our use, but as when prepared, it is the ordinary support of man, the most common, necessary, and wholesome kind of food. What then can better represent that incarnate, suffering, and dying Saviour, who is the food of our souls?

Do you ask WHY WINE WAS APPOINTED? We reply, this was also designedly at hand, and being used in the Passover, it also connects the two ordinances, and the preparation of wine is likewise a significant emblem of our Saviour's sufferings. Wine, too, is in its properties strengthening and exhilarating; Give wine unto those that be of heavy hearts; (in the margin, bitter of soul, Prov. xxxi. 6.) It is wine that maketh glad such hearts, Psalm civ. 15. And in this view, wine is an apt figure of that blood of Christ, which being forced from his bruised body, and shed for our sins, is suited to revive and comfort the fainting spirit of man.*

*

* The direction to drink wine, as representing the blood of Christ, seems contrary to the analogy of the Jewish dispensation, where both people and priests were forbidden to taste the blood in any case; nor were the priests even permitted to eat the flesh of the sin-offering. Some have supposed that our Lord designed to point out the nearer communion which we have with God, and the clearer discoveries of the way of pardon through the gospel. "We have," says Bishop Patrick, "such a token and pledge of forgiveness by this sacrifice, as the ancient people of God had not, of forgiveness of their offences by the blood that was offered at their altar." Heb. xiii. 10. Perhaps, however, it might serve to intimate more strongly, as it doubtless would, by its being contrary to the current of all their prejudices, that Christ actually poured out his soul unto death, in giving his blood; it may also show that the words of our Lord in this ordinance will not bear, in any

Do you ask, WHY ARE BOTH BREAD AND WINE APPOINTED? Various reasons may be given for this. Some have thought that the thing may be doubled, to show the certainty and importance of it. Gen. xli. 32. But there are other more forcible reasons. The separation of the blood from the body marks more strongly the death of the victim as a sacrifice. The blood was considered in a peculiar way to be the life of every living creature, and that which made an atonement for the soul. Lev. xvii. 11. Again it is said, (ver. 14.) with marked emphasis, It is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof; therefore I said unto the children of Israel, ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. In the appointment, therefore, of the blood as distinct from the body, there was another strong intimation, that our Saviour gives his life for us-that HIS SOUL was made an offering for sin. The Jews could not hear the command, This is my blood, drink ye all of it, without thinking of his life being offered up for ours. The broken bread was very descriptive of our Saviour's humiliation, but does not afford that complete and striking emblem of his death, which under these view, a literal interpretation. The peculiar direction that all should drink of it, and the assurance that all did drink, is observable in connexion with the practice of the Roman Catholics to deny the cup to the laity. Nor does the propriety of that practice appear from the assertion sometimes made, that "all then present were ministers;" for, not to say that the disciples could at that time be only considered as believers in general, such a view of the matter would prove too much; it would go to show that the laity should be denied the bread as well as the wine.

The order of the words is instructive. It is first take, and then eat, Christ is to be ours in possession and claim, and afterwards ours in fruition and enjoyment; and then, this is my body, to intimate that the sacred elements are not properly to be called the body of Christ till eaten.

C