lowers, before he met his sufferings, and which he expressly enjoined to be continued in memory of him, during all coming times. Secondly, It is a feast in honour of One who not only was distinguished by his wisdom,-by his good-will to men, and by the perfect beauty and divine excellence of his character, but by the peculiarly severe and humiliating sorrows amidst which his labours of wisdom and of beneficence were conclud ed ;-so that the veneration which we are supposed to express in this ceremony for the spotless excellence of our Master's character, is rendered peculiarly interesting, and the ceremony itself comes home still more affectingly to our hearts, by the recollection which the service itself suggests, that it has been instituted in commemoration of the mortal sufferings of One who is beautifully and expressively described in Scripture, as having been a "Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Q. Be pleased now to repeat the substance of the questions I have recently put to you. A. The fundamental idea on which the ceremony has been instituted, is that of its being a re petition,-in memory of Christ,—of that parting interview which he had with his disciples on the evening of the day before he suffered death;-the name, therefore, that is most descriptive of the ceremony, is The Lord's Supper, or The Last Supper; the form that best accords with the original ceremony is that in which the communicants seat themselves at a table, as the disciples sat down to the Paschal supper, when Jesus also sat with them; and the recollection which it awakens of all the benefits we have received from the labours of Christ, is enhanced and made more deeply affecting to our hearts, by the thought that the ceremony was instituted by him, when he was on the eve of encountering sorrows of a peculiarly awful and oppressive kind. We, therefore, keep him in remembrance, not only as our Teacher and Lord,-but more especially as our suffering and humiliated Redeemer,and from this consideration, the ceremony must derive a very peculiar interest to reflecting and welldisposed hearts.* * See note (H). QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE SYMBOLICAL Q. Would not the ceremony of the supper have still answered the purpose of its institution,-that, namely, of commemorating the death of Christ,though no particular meaning had been given to the elements employed? A. Yes; because, being expressly instituted by Christ as a commemoration of his death,-having been so appointed immediately before he entered on the concluding scene of his sufferings,—and being in itself a repetition of the last act of his affectionate intercourse with his disciples, it could never have been performed in any age of the world, without recalling the thoughts of the devout to the very affecting circumstances in which it was first instituted,―that is to say,-to the awful events that entered into the last portions of the mortal history of him by whom the ceremony was first appointed to be observed. Q. What more, then, did Christ do, that the whole character of the solemnity might conspire in producing the same important result? A. He gave even to the elements that were to be used in this last supper a symbolical or emblematical meaning, corresponding with the purpose which the ceremony itself was intended to produce.* Q. What do you mean by a symbol ? A. A symbol is constituted, when any material or visible substance, or common action, is made to represent, that is to say, is used to suggest to the mind-some invisible grace,-some moral con sideration, or some religious truth. Q. What are the symbols used in the ceremony of the supper ? A. Bread and wine, which were appointed by the Redeemer to be emblems of his "body that was to be broken, and of his blood that was to be shed for the sins of men,"-that is to say,-these material elements were appointed to shadow out to the imaginations of communicants, the sufferings which Christ was about to undergo,-as the representative of the human race, and for the purpose of ratifying the covenant of reconciliation between God and man. * See note (1). Q. Under what peculiar aspect is the death of Christ usually represented in Scripture? A. It is commonly spoken of, as having been submitted to by him, not simply as part of his individual history,—but as the representative of the human race, or of those whom God intended to redeem from sin, and to raise to everlasting life. Q. Under what particular figures is the death of Christ commonly spoken of in Scripture, corresponding with the general purpose for which it took place? A. It is commonly spoken of as the seal of “a Testament," -as the ratification of “ a new Covenant" entered into between God and man,-and as the grand "Sacrifice" appointed by God for the expiation of the sins of the human race. Q. What is the nature of that " * See note (K). new Covenant" |