called by the ancient christians the Eucharist, as being a solemn service of Praise and Thanksgiving for the greatest mercy that God ever vouchsafed to mankind. And further, as the passover was to remain among the Jews a standing memorial of their deliverance, as long as they continued a nation; so CHRIST (being about to fulfil and abolish that type by the offering of himself, and thereby to work for mankind a spiritual redemption from the slavery of sin and Satan) did establish a standing memorial of this deliverance, to be celebrated among Christians to the end of the world, or till his second coming: This do, says our Sav. iour, in remembrance of me; and St. Paul I Cor. xi. 26. As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come; commemorating his love to mankind in laying down his life, together with the great deliverance wrought for them, and the great blessings and benefits which his death insured to them. And this, no doubt, with the same further design that was in the Jewish passover; namely, that by the remembrance of those blessings and benefits (revived upon their minds by the

celebration of this ordinance, and represented to their view by the visible signs of bread and wine) and by putting christians, to the end of the world, as much as might be, into the circumstances of those who beheld our Saviour hanging on. the cross; there might be excited in them a great thankfulness, and a suitable sense of duty, and (as a consequence of these) repeated resolutions and vows of obedience.

The Holy Sacrament, a Cov

over was.

For as the passover of the enant,as the pass Jews was not only for a perpetual memory of their de liverance, but also for a perpetual declaration of goodness on GOD's part, and of duty and obedience on theirs, and was therefore in the nature of a covenant between them: so, though the first design of the Lord's Supper was what our Saviour himself expresses, namely, for a perpetual remembrance of his death, yet was it also intended to be the memorial of the covenant which was established in his blood between GOD and man. And ac

cordingly, in the institution of this sacrament, our Saviour declared the cup to be the New Testament, or covenant, in his blood: that is, the representation of

the shedding of his blood, which blood was to be the foundation of a new covenant, between GOD and man, for the forgiveness of sins, and the bestowing all spiritual blessings and benefits in order to eternal happiness after this life, on condition of faith in Christ, and a sincere obedience. On GoD's part, it is a perpetual pledge and assurance to men of all that he has promised them through CHRIST; and on man's part, it is a solemn profession of obedience, and a pleading the merits of CHRIST in the presence of GOD, and a representation made before him of the passion of his son, to the end that he may be favourable and propitious to us, according to the tenor of that cov

enant.

The Holy Sacraion with Christ

ment a Commun

our head, and a means of deriving spiritual nourishment to his mem

For this, like all other Sacraments, is not only a sign, but an assuring sign, as a pious and learn. ed writer expresses it; and the sacramental bread and wine (like the manna, and the rock, in the wilderness) bers are not only emblems of Christ, but pledges which assure all faithful receivers of their enjoying him, with all his benefits, And he afterwards ex

*Mr. Mede.

presses this yet more distinctly; observ. ing, that in a Sacrament, we must not only consider the visible sign, but chiefly the invisible thing thereby signified and confirmed; which invisible thing (says he) is always double. First the root or fountain Secondly, the gracious blessings and benefits which flow from it. The root and fountain is he, through whom. and by whom we receive all the blessings and benefits we enjoy from God our father, and without whom he vouchsafes us nothing. And therefore as God confers no manner of blessing upon us, but through Christ; so the manner and nature of a Sacrament, is to assure and confirm to us whatsoever it offers us, only through him.

Now the benefits which Christ obtained for us by his death, are the pardon of our sins, and spiritual strength; and which is the certain consequence of these, peace with God. with God. And Christ has appointed bread and wine to be the memorial of his death; bread, as strengthening the body, and wine, as comforting and refreshing the heart; to signify that spiritual strength and comfort, and refreshment, which are conveyed to our

souls by the grace of God; and by the sense and assurance of our reconciliation to him. And as oft as we celebrate this

holy memorial, in obedience to the command of Christ; we on our part, do not only profess our belief in him, and our reliance upon his merits, but we set forth and plead before God the atonement made for us by his own son, and with an humble assurance lay claim to the benefits of it; all which God consigns and seals to us in these holy mysteries, upon our faith and repentance. This is what St. Paul seems to mean 1 Co. 10, 16. when he calls the christian's cup of blessing, the communion or communication of the blood of Christ; and the bread which we break, the communion or communication of the body of Christ: that is, a conveyance of all the benefits of his death and passion, to every faithful and worthy receiver.

And the comparison that our Saviour makes between the manna of the Jews, which supported them on their journey to the earthly Canaan, and his flesh and blood, which was to be the spiritual food of christians in their pilgrimage towards their heavenly rest, shews the spiritual