given you an example, that ye should do as I have

I have given this passage at length to call attention to its extreme solemnity. If it was necessary to press this argument, as far as it admits of being pressed, it might with truth be said, that the action and words of our Lord here recorded, look much more like the institution of a Sacramental Rite than any thing does, which we are told respecting the Lord's Supper in either of the four accounts of it. This whole action was, in the fullest sense, an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto the Apostles by Christ Himself, as a means whereby they received the same, and a pledge to assure them thereof. "Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me;" and again, "he that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Certainly no pledge of grace so unequivocal as this is recorded in the history of the Lord's Supper, nor is it easy to conceive a more distinct assurance that the pledge was also a means. But to press this consideration is not in any way necessary. All that is wanted for my present purpose must obtrude itself unto the most superficial reader, in the last words of the narrative, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you :" a command which will hardly be called less explicit and earnest than that conveyed in the words, "Do this in remembrance of Me." Yet it is quite certain that a literal compliance with the former command

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has never been considered due from Christians at the present day, and it would be difficult for them to excuse themselves from a literal compliance with this command by any argument which would not equally excuse them from the other. If they acknowledge either to be general, they must in consistency acknowledge both'.

With this preface, I proceed to consider the Scripture account of our Lord's act, and the other Scriptural passages which illustrate its meaning. The account itself is contained in the four following passages:

S. Matt. xxvi. 26. “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:

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[The following passage occurs in a rough draught:] But further, it will be urged that in the Church of Corinth the Eucharist was administered evidently as the same rite which our Lord enjoined on the Apostles; so that this rite was not confined to the Apostles, and therefore extends to every one. This is the simplest form in which the argument can be put. and certainly it is not very consecutive: it becomes still less so, however, on stating details. The facts are, that in the Church of Corinth, in which there were persons endowed with many visibly miraculous gifts, some persons, with whom St. Paul classes himself, were accustomed to bless the Eucharistic Bread and Wine, and that these, upon such blessing, became the communion of the Body of Christ, and the communion of the Blood of Christ; and hence it is inferred, that what these per sons did, was nothing more than other persons, endowed with o visibly miraculous gifts, are able to do at the present day.

For this is My Blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

S. Mark xiv. 22. “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is My Body. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them and they all drank of it. And He said unto them, This is My Blood of the new testament, which is shed for many."

S. Luke xxii. 14. "And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My Body, which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My Blood, which is shed for you."

1 Cor. xi. 23. "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is My Body, which is broken for you: this do in

remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My Blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me."

These four passages comprise all the direct information that Scripture affords us, as to what passed on this remarkable occasion. But in order to our understanding the words here ascribed to our Lord, in the full sense in which they were likely to be understood by His hearers, it will be necessary to refer to another place to which they evidently refer. We are told by St. John that on a former occasion our Lord had expressed Himself in the following remarkable way.

"I am that Bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 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. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, 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."

These words we find made a great impression on

the disciples, so that many of them, "when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it?" Nor was this impression likely to be diminished, nor their wonder satisfied by the answer returned to them, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life'."

Now when we couple the stress here laid on eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking His Blood, with the fact, that nothing except the Eucharistic elements is any where called His Body and Blood, it can hardly be thought, that those to whom the latter were given expressly to be eaten and drunken, would not identify them with the former. Nor can we suppose that expressions, which were sure to suggest this identity, were not intended to suggest it. Putting these things together then, and farther taking into consideration Who the Person was, that is here represented as having blessed the bread and

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[The following passage occurs in a rough draught:] St. Paul, when explaining to the Hebrews the analogy between the efficacy of the typical blood of the Old Testament and the Blood of Christ, which was the Blood of the New Testament, states, as a fact with which they would be all familiar, that "when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the Testament, which God hath enjoined unto you." Heb. ix. 19, 20. It is perhaps scarcely too much to infer, that the acts and words of our Lord, at His Last Supper with the Apostles, were calculated to bring into their minds the acts and words of Moses, when he purified the people before his ascent into Mount Sinai.