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the first day of the week in the year 56: twenty-three years after the Crucifixion. The Book of the Acts appears to have been finished in the year 64. The last declaration, therefore, assures us, that the celebration of the Lord's Supper continued to be a weekly practice of Christians until that time. Thus we learn from St. Luke, that Christians, as a body, regularly celebrated the Lord's Supper, under the authority of the Apostles, for twenty-seven years after the Crucifixion.

St. Paul was converted about the year 37. He wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians in the year 56. In this Epistle, in the eleventh chapter, twentieth verse, &c. he teaches us in the most decisive manner, that the Lord's Supper was a standing ordinance in the Church at Corinth, and, by necessary analogy, in every other part of the world. The same thing he indicates, also, in Chapter x. 21. As St. Paul was convérted, four years only after the Crucifixion, and was at Jerusalem with the other Apostles, three years afterwards; it is impossible, that he should not have known, whether this ordinance was universally celebrated, or not; and whether it had, or had not been universally celebrated, in the earliest moments of the Apostolic Church. St. Paul is, thus, a decisive witness of the truth of St. Luke's account. Of both these testimonies, it is further to be observed, that they are given incidentally, without any design of establishing this fact, and for purposes of a totally different nature. They are, therefore, absolutely unexceptionable, and undesignedly confirmatory of each other.

It may here with propriety be added, that Justin Martyr, who flourished about the year 130, and was born about the close of the first century, says, "All Christians, both of the city and the country, assemble on Sunday, because our Lord rose on that day; and then we hear read the writings of the Prophets and Apostles; then the person presiding makes a speech to the congregation, exhorting them to follow, and perform, the things which they hear. After this we all unite in prayer, and then celebrate the sacrament; and such, as are willing and able, give alms." Here the celebration of this ordinance is declared, by an unexceptionable Witness, to be the regular practice of all Christians, throughout the world, on every Lord's day. The universality of this celebration at the period specified, proves beyond debate, that it was an original practice of all the Apostles.

With these testimonies of the Evangelists, and St. Paul before them, the Primitive Christians would have certainly seen, that the Institution was declared in the four Gospels, particularly in the three first, to have been instituted by Christ antecedently to his death; and accompanied by a command, requiring a continual celebration of it by all his followers. In the Acts, and the first Epistle to the Corinthians, it would be seen with equal certainty, that St. Luke and St. Paul declared the celebration to have corresponded exactly with this command, and to have been thus regVOL. IV.

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ular, and universal, from the beginning. Had the Apostles, then, the only persons who had sufficient authority to introduce an ordinance of religious worship, proposed the Institution of this sacrament, as a new thing, at any distance of time after the crucifixion; they would have been seer. directly to contradict their own assertions; which declared it to be instituted by Christ before his death, and to have been celebrated, regularly, by themselves from that date. At the same time, they must have attempted to impose another gross, and impossible, falsehood on their followers; viz. that they themselves had also regularly united in this celebration. It is obvious, that an attempt to establish this Institution, in such circumstances, would not only have been impracticable, but preeminently ridiculous; and equally evident, that no man, who seriously made such an attempt, could, in a religious service, have any followers.

Thus, it is clear, that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ himself, at the time, and in the circumstances, specified; that it is a standing, unanswerable proof of his mission, and of the Gospel which records it; and that Christians, whenever they celebrate this ordinance, actually shew forth the Lord's death until he come.

3. The Institution of this ordinance exhibits, in a strong light, the purity of Christ's character.

This sacrament was instituted by him as a commemoration of his death; and proves unanswerably, that he foresaw with certainty the time, and the manner, in which he should die. It proves, therefore, beyond debate, the following things.

First; That he was a prophet; because he foresaw, and foretold, his death, and the time, and the manner, in which he was to die. Secondly; That his death was voluntary; because with this foresight, he might easily have avoided it.

Thirdly; That his death was intended to be an atonement for sin; or, in other words, his Body was broken, and his Blood shed, for many.

Fourthly; That He died without a crime.

No criminal, who can escape the death, which rewards his crimes, ever yielded himself to such a death; particularly, to one so painful, as that upon the Cross.

At the same time, no person ever introduced, no person can be supposed to introduce, among any of mankind, much less among his friends and followers, a remembrance of himself as a Malefactor, publicly convicted of an infamous crime, and put to death by an infamous punishment. No man ever wished to have any thing remembered concerning himself, which was not creditable to his character. Much less would any man become the voluntary recorder of his own guilt, and the remembrancer of his own shame.. But here, the death was in the highest degree infamous; solicited by a whole nation, and its government; awarded on the charge of

a capital crime; and attended with circumstances of singular disgrace, as well as of unexampled suffering. The commemoration of it was instituted by the sufferer, from his own choice merely, with the full knowledge and direct declaration of all these facts; and attended with such circumstances, as to perpetuate the remembrance of them throughout every generation of his followers. He, who can believe these things to have been done by an impostor, and to have been recorded, and celebrated in a religious service, by the followers of an impostor, can believe any thing.

4. This sacrament is intended to admonish Christians of the second coming of Christ.

For, as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come; that is, to the Judgment. This passage is an explicit declaration of one of the purposes, accomplished by the celebration of the Lord's Supper;- to wit, the exhibition of his death, both to themselves, and to mankind, until his second coming. This exhibition, therefore, was intended solemnly to remind them of this great truth; that the same Saviour, whose death they thus celebrate, who was once broken on the cross, and is now symbolically broken before their eyes, will finally appear as the Judge of the quick and the dead.

No consideration can furnish Christians with higher consolation than this; nor can consolation be furnished in a more proper, or impressive, manner. He, whose love to them was stronger than death; who died for their offences, and rose again for their justification; whose death, is in a very affecting, symbolical manner, repeated before them at every celebration of this ordinance; here holds out to them this awful, but delightful truth; that he will, one day, be their Judge, as well as the Judge of the world. From a Judge, who loved the Church, and gave himself for it, what blessings may Christians not expect hereafter? What blessings are they not here taught to expect? The very ordinance, which admonishes them, that He is to be their Judge, brings all his love before their eyes. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and will entertain for them the same tenderness, as when he hung upon the Cross. He has promised never to leave them, nor forsake them. He has promised that the contribution of two mites to his service, and the administration of a cup of cold water to a disciple, as such, shall be rewarded by him in the coming world. These promises, he here announces to them, he will one day come to perform; and will bring with him the same love for them, with which he went to his crucifixion. What truth can be more replenished with comfort? How could this truth be declared in a more affecting manner? Every Christian at the sacramental table, solemnly pondering his own sins, and the condemnation to which he is exposed by them, is naturally led to exclaim, Who is he that condemneth? and to answer with hope and exultation, It is Christ that died.

5. The Lord's Supper is intended to unite Christians in a known, public, and efficacious, bond of union.

In a former discourse I have mentioned Baptism, as a sign, by which Christians are known to be the followers of Christ; and then mentioned also the importance of some public mark of distinction to every standing society of men. The observations which I then made concerning Baptism, considered as such a sign, are, with the same propriety, applicable to the Lord's Supper also. But there are some observations relative to this subject, which are applicable to the Lord's Supper only. In Baptism, Christians appear as subjects of the ordinance but once in their lives; and most of them at this appearance, being infants, are altogether passive. At the Lord's Supper, they are always voluntary, active partakers; and appear often in this character, throughout their whole Christian life. They appear at the table of Christ in a Body; as members of Him, the Head. They appear as Christian Friends and Brethren; and are, all, members one of another. They appear as open Professors of his religion; as his followers; as attached to his cause; as interested in his death; as expectants of his coming; as voluntary Subjects of his government. They exhib it themselves as being united in one Faith, one Baptism, one Worship, one system of Doctrines, and Duties, one scheme of Communion, and Discipline; as having one common interest, one common pilgrimage, and one final home. All these things are exhibited, and established, by the Lord's Supper. Where Christians are faithful to themselves; this ordinance separates them, so far as is necessary for their edification, from the world; and becomes the distinctive Badge of their character, as Disciples of the Redeemer.

6. This sacrament was intended to be a visible and affecting pledge of Christ's love to his followers.

In the administration of this sacrament, Christ is exhibited as dying on the Cross, and as dying for them. When He took the Bread at its institution, he said, This is my Body, which is broken for you; and this is my blood which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. The benefits, here communicated, are of a value which is inestimable. They are benefits communicated to these very persons, at an expense unexampled in the Universe; and procured by a love, which admits no parallel. All the sufferings of Christ were necessary to this end; particularly, his sufferings on the Cross, the consummation of them all. These sufferings, the bread broken, and the wine poured out, present to us, in the most lively and affecting images; and thus set before our eyes, in the strongest manner, that unlimited, and Divine benevolence, by which they were undergone. The language which these symbols speak is always the same. Throughout every age, and every land, they declare the same sufferings, and the same love; and are thus a

monumental pledge of Christ's tenderness to his children, to the end of the world.

7. This Sacrament was also designed to edify Christians in the Divine life.

The edification of Christians is the increase of justness in their views, of purity, and fervour, in their affections, and of faithfulness in their conduct, with respect to the objects of religion. To this increase, in all respects, the Lord's Supper naturally, and eminently, contributes.

To the justness of a Christian's views, it lends important aid by presenting, in a very affecting manner, the atonement of Christ, and all the doctrines connected with it, which were mentioned under the first head of this discourse. All these also, and their connexion with this great event, it presents to the mind in the most forcible manner, arresting, and engrossing, every ingenuous affection. In this manner, it leads us, except when under the dominion of a sensual, obdurate heart, to ponder all these subjects with deep attention, and a strong sense of our own personal interest in them. Instead of regarding them with loose, superficial, and transient inquiries, we make them objects of intense study, and most critical investigation. The love, which rejoiceth in the truth, is here excited to an elevation and fervour, not easily derived from any other source, and diffuses all its candour, and equity, over every scrutiny. The Saviour, seen in the most amiable of all characters, and in the most wonderful manifestation of that amiableness, is loved with peculiar ardour: and the mind, feeling, at once, the duty, and excellency, of resembling him, naturally labours, under the influence. of the same disposition which was in him, to walk as he also walked; to purify itself in some measure, as he is pure; and to wear an untarnished resemblance of his beauty and glory. It remembers, it feels, what he was, and the duty and desirableness of being like him. In this situation, it naturally summons to its aid all the motives to obedience, by which it ought to be influenced; the loveliness of virtue, and the odiousness of sin; the threatenings on the one hand, and on the other, the invitations and promises. In the full sight of these, it acquires new vigour, and forms new resolutions; enters upon its duty with alacrity, and pursues it with delight and perseverance. Thus it becomes wiser and better; more fitted to be a blessing here; and more adorned with that beauty and loveliness, which prepare it for a triumphant entrance into the Everlasting Kingdom of its Redeemer.

III. The Qualifications for this ordinance, I shall briefly consider in the following observations.

1. It is an indispensable qualification for this ordinance, that the Candidate for communion be a member of the visible Church of Christ in full standing.

By this I intend, that he shall be such a member of the Church, as I have formerly described, to wit, that he should be a person of

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