for Messiah, whose coming had been the occasion of so much preparation among the nations of the world, and of so many splendid promises given to the chosen people ;—the friends who were associated with him at that meal, were those humble men whom he had selected as the companions of his hitherto obscure and limited labours,—but who were about to assume the character of the greatest of all the Instructers that have ever been chosen, by Divine Providence, for the communication of spiritual blessings to mankind.

This consideration alone, of the persons who composed this meeting, would have been sufficient, had there been nothing else remarkable in it, to have made it the most memorable and solemn of all the meetings that have taken place upon earth;—but it was further rendered most affecting by the recollection that this company were now assembled to partake, for the last time, of the Paschal ceremony, before that holy service, which had been kept sacred, with such peculiar feelings, by the Jews in all their generations, should have its meaning accomplished, in the event it was appointed to prefigure.

This "sitting down of Jesus with the twelve" was

pre-eminently impressive, in the last place, as being his farewell interview with his intimate friends, on the very evening of the day before he should suffer death,-when he was about to offer up unto God the grandest and most beneficial of all the sacrifices that had ever been presented by man,and when a new era was about to dawn upon the human race, in the progress of which all nations should be made partakers of the "adoption of sons," "and incense and a pure offering should be offered unto God, from the rising of the sun to when he goeth down."

Jesus himself being fully aware of all this, and knowing, therefore, that the Paschal ceremony, which had been intended to prefigure his death, could no longer sustain that anticipative character,—but wishing at the same time that another and a simpler rite should be instituted, which instead of prefiguring might commemorate his death to all coming times, and eventually over the whole face of the habitable earth;-" while they were eating," says the Evangelist, "he took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you. In like manner, after

supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, shed for the remission of the sins of many, drink ye all of it: and this do ye in remembrance of me."

As another most appropriate part of this ceremony, and to show especially the spirit with which in all coming times it ought to be performed, it is added by another Evangelist, "that supper being ended, and Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things unto his hands,—and that he was come from God, and went to God,―he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel, wherewith he was girded. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Lord and Master, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet,-for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you."

Now all this surely formed a scene which, in all

its circumstances, cannot be paralleled among all the meetings that have ever taken place upon earth, and whether we consider the persons who composed the party,-the august rites which it was to terminate, the transcendently-important era in the history of mankind it was to introduce, -the great sufferings that were about to fall upon the head of him who presided at the meeting,-or the wonderful display of affection and of humility, and of all holy submission, and sublime fortitude and calmness, that characterized its proceedings, there is obviously none among all the meetings that have ever occurred among men, at which every human heart must feel so natural and ardent a wish, that it also had been so favoured by God as to have made one of the company that then met together. But he who presided at that meeting had an equal regard for all his friends to the end of time;-his mind embraced the interests of all the individuals that should, in all future ages, and in every country of the world, be sincerely disposed to obey his commandments ;the little party that then sat around him, and had followed him in life, were but representatives of that august and innumerable company whom he is

finally to conduct into his heavenly kingdom ;and wishing, therefore, that these his friends, in all ages, and over the whole face of the earth, should enjoy an honour of the same kind with that which his personal presence then conferred on his more immediate friends, he said, "This do in remembrance of me."

MEANING OF THE CEREMONY, OR FUNDAMENTAL

IDEA ON WHICH IT IS FOUNDED.

*

From the foregoing account of the first institution of the solemnity, it is easy to perceive the very simple but peculiarly interesting idea on which it is founded. It is merely doing over again what our Saviour did with his disciples at the last interview which he had with them before the great events of his agony, his apprehension, and crucifixion. He held a "last supper,"-a parting interview of love and familiarity with them,— yet an interview marked by every thing that was most impressively solemn, from the important na

* See note (B).