PART FIRST.

DISCOURSE

EXPLANATORY OF

THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS.

LUKE Xxii. 20. “The new testament in my blood."

B

CEREMONIES OR RITES,

THAT IS,

SYMBOLICAL OR FIGURATIVE ACTIONS.

HEBREWS X. 1. A shadow of good things.

SYMBOLICAL or figurative actions,—that is, actions having a meaning beyond their more obvious expression,-have been employed by men in all ages, -and seem, indeed, to be a variety of that natural language, by means of which,-especially when the finer parts of their nature are touched,— they are disposed either to convey their feelings to each other, or to hold intercourse with imaginary or spiritual beings.

Such language has been especially selected by mankind, even in the rudest and earliest ages,to express their devotional feelings;-and we ac

cordingly find, that the first modes of worship, among the patriarchs and primitive fathers of our race, consisted in the rearing of an altar, or the performing of an oblation,-setting up a stone of memorial, or consecrating a fountain or restingplace,-devoting some fondly-prized object, or perhaps, most frequently, by offering the firstlings of their flocks, or the earliest produce of their fields.

As men multiplied upon the earth,—and their ideas and modes of communication underwent a proportional extension,-these symbolical or figurative actions, these rites and ceremonies,-became more numerous—more varied—and more complex; -often very distant or spiritual analogies were expressed by actions of a very fantastical, or, it may be, occasionally of a very beautiful kind,— and thus the whole system of heathen worship, -over all the varied nations by whom this mode of worship was embraced,-was but one magnificent assemblage of such rites, calculated at once to shadow out religious ideas,-and to serve as an amusement or exercise to the imaginations of those who chiefly delighted in having their devotional sentiments associated with such images.