them on a communion occasion, and feels his heart drawn to unite with them in remembrance of their common Savior's sufferings and death in their redemption, and they feel a reciprocal fellowship for him what shall they do? They may affectionately receive him to the Lord's table with them, for they are agreed with him in the thing to be done and in the manner of doing it. They may commune, as fellow disciples, brethren in Christ, without any discordant jar in the participation of the holy ordinance. On earth, therefore, we may unite with our Christian brethren in any ordinance or in any services or enterprise, where there is agreement in the thing to be done and in the mode of doing it. In heaven there will be no misunderstanding, no error in sentiment or practice. There we may all unite in the eternal communion, in its most extensive signification-because we shall all be perfectly agreed in all the services. Well, so far as we can be agreed, we will unite in our Savior's blessed service here. Wherein we cannot be agreed, we will endeavor to pursue such a course as will be most likely to avoid grief of spirit, dissension, and confusion. Therefore do we deem it proper to make baptism one of the conditions of church membership, and true faith that works by love and purifies the heart, the only condition of communion of the body and blood of our Redeemer. And thus, showing the consistency of our free communion with the existing conditions of church membership with us; we leave it to those who have made the charge of inconsistency against us, in these usages; to show, if it can be shown, how they can consistently fellowship other Christians in some religious services, as praying, singing, preaching, and the hope of heaven, while they disfellowship them in the communion of the Lord's supper, while between themselves and those whom they exclude, there is the same agreement as to the nature of the thing to be done and the method of doing it,

NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 75

as there is in those other services in which there is no exclusion. The inconsistency lies on the other side. May our exclusive brethren see and avoid it.

CHAPTER II..

THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, WITH THE SCRIPTURAL QUALIFICATIONS FOR ITS COMMUNION.

The institution of the passover is alluded to by St. Paul, as a type of the eucharist. Each family, or two or more households conjointly, where the number of persons in one house would be too small, were to slay a lamb, strike its blood upon the side posts and top piece of the door, and to eat the flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In this, they fulfilled a condition, upon which their houses should be passed over unharmed, the blood upon the door posts, signifying the dwellings of Israel, which each household had sprinkled thereon as a token of their being Israelites, and of their fulfillment of the conditions upon which they might escape the impending judgment. In the outward act of compliance with the terms of exemption from the curse, they manifested their faith in God, a lively belief that the threatened wo would befall the land, and that the Divine promises of deliverance to Israel, to those households that obeyed the Divine appointment, would be fulfilled in their escape. And Israel was commanded to observe this institution as a memorial of that deliverance, through all their generations. "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. ** And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by

this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel, in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." The event was worthy to be held in perpetual remembrance by the Israelitish nation; and the institution of an annual observance of the sacrifice of the paschal lamb and the partaking of the paschal feast of unleavened bread and bitter herbs, was a wise design for keeping that event in their memory, and for transmitting it to all their generations, and engraving it in the most forcible manner upon their hearts. And no true Israelite could have been justly excluded from participating the paschal supper.

But the event commemorated in the Christian eucharist, and in which it has its origin, is one of infinitely greater moment than that in which the institution of the supper of the passover had its origin. Says St. Paul, "even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." And if the paschal sacrifice, by which literal Israel was delivered from the plague to come upon literal Egypt, was worthy to be commemorated through all their generations, as a distinct, peculiar people, until the wall of partition between them and the Gentiles should be thrown down, and all types should be annulled or absorbed in the great antetype; much more is the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for the deliverance of the whole spiritual Israel, the children of Abraham by faith, whether Jew or Gentile, from the condemnation and eternal wo impending spiritual Egypt, all the unbelieving world, -worthy to be had in perpetual commemoration. And we have neither the heart or the understanding, by which we can bid any brother in Christ, any true believer in Jesus, to stand aside, while we commemorate our redemption through our Redeemer's sufferings and death, in the observance of the supper which he instituted himself on that solemn ni his betrayal and agony, and precedin

by crucifixion. We cannot so exalt ourselves above a fellow disciple; or in so emphatical a manner say to one whom we believe to be justified of God through that faith which sanctifies the heart, and through which we expect he will inherit heaven with us"stand by, for I am holier than thou." It is not for us to set at nought" a brother whom we regard as accepted by Christ, and to whom we expect it will be said, as well as to ourselves, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

It was in immediate connection with an observance of the paschal supper, by Christ and his disciples, that our Lord instituted the "true passover," the supper commemorative of his own sacrifice. The Evangelists record that, "As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed and brake, and gave to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all, of it. For this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. And they all drank of it." St. Paul referring to this institution, for proving its design, says: "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat: this is my body which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner he also took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of

the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

Here, in these Scriptures, is the foundation on which we commune at all; and by this must be tried any particulars in our usage of communion, which we build thereon. By the nature of this foundation, we will, the God of grace assisting us, test our practice of a free participation of the Lord's table with any who are true believers in Christ. In these Scriptures, we learn:

1. What is represented by the elements used in communion, the bread and the wine.

2. What is manifested by the communicant in receiving the elements.

3. The utility, designed by our Lord, in the institution of his supper.

4. The qualifications requisite for entitling an individual to a place at the Lord's table.

5. What disqualifies one for communion, or what renders one's partaking there, eating and drinking unworthily.

The bread is a symbolical representation of the body of Christ. The cup is an emblem of his blood. Breaking the bread, and distributing it to his disciples, Jesus said, "Take, eat: this is my body which is given, is broken, for you." A more expressive symbol need not to have been employed. Literally, from its inherent qualities, bread affords growth, and strength to the body, and sustains its vitality. It is the staff of life. Christ, in his teachings, said of himself, "The bread of God, is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world. I am the bread of life. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof