SERMON XII.

THE LORD'S SUPPER.

FOR AS OFTEN AS YE EAT THIS BREAD, AND DRINK THIS CUP, YE DO SHOW THE LORD'S DEATH TILL HE COME.-1 Cor. xi. 26.

CHRISTIANITY is remarkable for nothing more than for the simplicity by which it is characterized. With respect to faith in its doctrines, it requires the submission of the heart to the reception of divine truth, much more than any peculiar capacity for understanding abstruse speculations; and when men are willing to receive instruction, it will always be supplied them in a sufficient degree for securing the great object of religion, the salvation of their souls. In point of morality and practice, Christianity holds out to men the most sublime and purest lessons; at the same time it speaks to them as they are men, and making allowance for the frailty of their nature, it enjoins them to do their best, and to trust that their sincere, though imperfect endeavours, will be rendered acceptable to God, through the perfect merits of One, who lived and died, and rose again for their justification.

The same character of simplicity extends to the external rites and ordinances of Christianity. They are perfectly intelligible, and easy to be performed, and eminently calculated to impart joy and consolation to the heart, if it be at all affected by the serious impressions of religion. Thus, the institution of the Sabbath of one day in seven, on which man and beast are permitted to rest from their

labours, and a pause is put to the ordinary business of the world; on which, in some measure, all distinctions are removed, and all men, the high and low, the rich and poor, seem to be placed on the same level, and to bend, with equal humility, before the throne of the Creator; a day on which, in the Christian institution, nothing oppressive is imposed upon its professors; "no burdens hard to be borne ;" but the simple offerings of praise and thanksgiving, and of prayer from a pure heart, are alone required from all who come before their Maker, depending on the intercession of their common Mediator-what institution, we may say, could possibly have been devised, more free from vain pomp, and more conformable to the best feelings of human nature?

In like manner, the two Christian sacraments, which our Lord himself enjoined on his disciples, are rites, or ordinances, very simple and easy, and refer, in a beautiful manner, to the most interesting of all events. The sacrament of baptism, by which we are initiated into the Christian Church, and into the privileges of the Gospel covenant, requires no other outward action than an application of water, which, by means of that element, shadows out the most excellent of all the benefits which God has conferred upon man; nothing less, in fact, than that purification of the soul which is effected by the Holy Spirit, and is promised to all those who sincerely ask it.

The sacrament of the Lord's Supper, for which we are now preparing, is equally easy in its performance; and if we attend to the several circumstances of it, will appear to be a most appropriate institution, and admirably adapted for affecting the mind with those impressions which our Lord had in view, when he was pleased to enjoin it. A few observations to this purpose, cannot fail to be useful on the present occasion; and I shall, therefore, beg leave to draw your attention, first, to the circumstances in which this sacrament was instituted; secondly, to the manner in

which the rite is performed; and lastly, to those impres sions which it is meant and calculated to convey to the mind.

I. First. The circumstances in which this sacrament was instituted, are detailed by the Evangelists, and by St. Paul, in that part of his writings from which the text is taken; and never, surely, in any narrative, was there a collection of such highly interesting particulars. Our Saviour knew, that the close of his important life was at hand; that the design of his mission was about to be accomplished; that he was soon to pass through his last and most agonizing trial; that already one of his disciples had consented to betray him; that the rest would desert him in his distress; that all of them, that very night, would be offended because of him, for "the shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep of the flock to be scattered abroad." With these thoughts labouring in his mind, he resolved to have yet one meeting of love and familiar intercourse, with those whom his Father had given him, and whom he loved unto the end;" and, availing himself accordingly of the opportunity presented by the feast of the Passover, "when the even was come," (says the Evangelist,)" he sat down with the twelve." Such was the interesting period at which this sacrament was instituted. "The Son of Man was about to be betrayed into the hands of sinners." his labours of love, undertaken and performed for the sake of our sinful race, were about to meet with this unworthy return! His prophetic eye saw the scenes that were preparing; beheld the machinations of hell; and He whose love for men was so intense, must have been affected with the deepest sorrow, that they were to become the instruments of such shocking depravity. Thus, like a father on his death-bed, surrounded by his children, he sat among his disciples, informing them in terms too plain to be misunderstood, that he was not long to be with them. With a

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view of impressing them strongly with the awful importance of the events which were about to happen, "as they were eating he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave it to his 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, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

A few remarks on these words of the institution may not be improper in this place. "Jesus took bread and blessed it." The Greek word used by St. Matthew and Mark, we translate blessed, but that used by St. Luke and St. Paul, is translated, generally, give thanks; and this word, supported in both cases by many ancient manuscripts, appears to indicate the action of our Saviour on this occasion. The terms, indeed, in this passage, are nearly of the same import, as both blessing and giving thanks, were common at these times. But what was it our Lord blessed? Not the bread,-though the word it, improperly supplied in our version, has led many into this opinion. It appears, then, that the words of the three Evangelists, and of St. Paul, refer not to the bread, but to God, the dispenser of every good; it being more than probable, that our Lord conformed himself to that invariable Jewish custom of acknowledging God as the author of every good and perfect gift, by giving thanks on "breaking the bread," and taking the cup at their ordinary meals. Every Jew, who omitted this duty was considered as a person guilty of sacrilege. And from this custom we derive the decent and laudable practice of saying grace; that is, of giving thanks before and after our meals. "And brake it, and gave it to his disciples." We often read in Scripture of breaking bread, but never of cutting it. The Jewish people had nothing similar to our high raised loaf; their bread was made broad and thin, and was consequently very brittle, so that to divide it, there was no need of a knife. "That the breaking of this bread to be distributed," says

Dr. Whitby, "is a necessary part of this rite, is evident, first, by the continual mention made of it by St. Paul, and all the Evangelists, when they speak of the institution of this sacrament, which shows it to be a necessary part of it. Secondly, Christ says, 'take, eat, this is my body broken

for you. * But when the elements are not broken, it can no

more be said, 'this is my body broken for you,' than where the elements are not given. Thirdly, our Lord said, 'Do this in remembrance of me;' that is, eat this bread broken, in remembrance of my body broken on the cross. Now, where no body broken is distributed, there nothing can be eaten in memorial of his broken body. Lastly, the Apostle, by saying, 'the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ,' sufficiently informs us, that the eating of his broken body is necessary to that end.† Hence it was that the rite of distributing bread broken, continued for a thousand years, and was observed in the Roman Church in the eleventh century." With respect to the next words of our Saviour, "this is my body," we must observe, that Christ had nothing in his hands at this time, but part of that unleavened bread, which he and his disciples had been eating at supper, and therefore he could mean no more than this, viz. that the bread which he was now breaking, represented his body, which in the course of a few hours was to be crucified for them. Common sense unclouded by the mists of superstition and prejudice, and reason unawed by human authority, could not possibly annex any but this plain, consistent, and rational meaning, to these words. For can any sensible person, who permits himself to think freely on the subject, really believe, that when Christ took up that bread and brake it, that it was his own body which he held in his own hands, and which himself brake to pieces, and which he and his disciples did eat? Can we be surprised, my brethren, at the folly and