may be enabled, through the merits of their Redeemer, to come off more than conquerors. Thus, will their full conviction of their natural inclination to sin prove the means of their attaining to that state of blessedness and glory, in which their souls will be purified from every stain of earthly corruption, and become worthy to appear in the presence of the most pure and perfect and holy God.

SERMON V.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

1 CORINTHIANS xi. 24.

This do in remembrance of Me.

THE Command which is conveyed in these words presses itself with a most urgent claim on the serious consideration of every Christian. It was delivered by our Saviour to His immediate hearers, under circumstances eminently calculated to awaken every tender sympathy, to kindle the most glowing and enthusiastic feelings of grateful remembrance, and to bind to the most scrupulous obedience; to an obedience, not founded on cool considerations of duty merely, but on warm feelings of affection and love. The scene of our Redeemer's earthly career was now drawing to a close. Within two days, as He had already forewarned His disciples-within two days, He, the Son of Man, was to be betrayed into the hands of His enemies; was to suffer a painful death upon the cross, aggravated by every degrading insult by which unfeeling ma

lice could embitter the last agonies of expiring life. His loving and beloved disciples, they who had been the associates of His labours and of His sufferings; they who had often listened with rapture, as the words of heavenly truth dropped from His lips; they, to whom He had become endeared by the strongest ties, as a Master, an Instructor, and a Friend; these disciples were now, as they must clearly have inferred from His prophetic words, for the last time partaking with Him of a common meal, and enjoying His revered society. On this mournful and interesting occasion, when every look of His must have been anxiously caught, when every word which passed His lips must have been received with still attention, and treasured up with grateful recollection, He delivered that command which has been cited in my text. He took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to His disciples; He likewise took the cup, and having given thanks, said, “Drink ye all of it," and added to each the important and express injunction, "This do in remembrance of Me."

It has been matter of universal agreement in the Christian world, with exceptions so few as to deserve no consideration, that this positive command of our blessed Lord was addressed, not merely to His apostles, who were then pre

a Matt. xxvi. 2.

sent with Him; not merely to the general body of His disciples who were living upon earth at the time when He delivered it; but to those who bear His name in all succeeding times. In consequence, it has been the practice in every Christian church that has ever subsisted, to shew obedience to the command, by celebrating some solemn rite in special remembrance of our crucified Redeemer. But it has unfortunately happened that, as almost every point of Christian faith and doctrine has proved the pregnant source of difference and disunion, so, with respect to the right method of obeying this command, and the nature and character of the holy institution which has resulted from it, the divisions of opinion and of practice which have obtained, are both numerous and extensive. On the one hand, it has been maintained that, in the Lord's Supper, not only a memorial is celebrated of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, but that an actual sacrifice is performed anew; that not only are the bread and wine the symbols of the body and blood of Christ, so that His body and blood are spiritually received by him who worthily receives; but that a real change takes place of the material elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, so that this body and blood are actually received. On the other hand, persons have not been wanting, and, amongst those, some of distinguished learning

and ability, who have maintained that, in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, nothing more is intended than a mere memorial of that Saviour who gave up His body, and shed His blood for us; that no character of a sacrament belongs to this holy institution; that no other benefits are derived from the worthy participation of it, than those which appertain to the mere act of obedience to a positive Divine command; that, in fact, the Lord's Supper is nothing more than a simple repast on bread and wine, celebrated with appropriate solemnity, in grateful remembrance of our departed Saviour and Benefactor. And, between these extremes, many shades of opinion have prevailed, which have, in too many instances, led to subtleties and refinements which very ill consist with plain Christian truth, and have given birth at times to much acrimony of disputation, which very ill accords with genuine Christian charity.

Under these circumstances, it can neither be unseasonable nor superfluous to call the attention of a Christian congregation to those views of this subject which appear to be afforded to us by the sound interpretation of the language of Scripture. It is my purpose, therefore, in this and a following discourse, shortly to consider the nature and end of this holy institution, and to point out with what discretion our pure and *See Note G.