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LECTURE XLIX.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. PART I.

MATTHEW, XXVI. 26, 27, 28.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it (or gave thanks), and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

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.

Again, Christ asserts, in the 6th chapter of

St. John and 53d verse, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you; that is, no spiritual grace, no power of bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, and acceptable to God on Christian principles. Here, in St. Matthew's Gospel, as likewise in those of Mark and Luke, you have the very date and form of the positive institution as delivered by the divine Author of it himself. And

from St. John's Gospel you are again informed by our blessed Lord, of the virtue conveyed by the institution, and of the consequence of neglecting to obey Christ's commands respecting it-ye have no life in

you.

In discoursing upon this subject, I take it for granted I am addressing persons who have partaken of the benefits of the first Christian sacrament (the holy rite of baptism), who are convinced of the inherent weakness and depravity of their mortal nature, through the taint of original sin; and, like persons afflicted with a sore and inveterate disease, are anxiously looking out for a cure, and ready to embrace the happy means of being relieved. In other words, I suppose myself speaking to persons who acknowledge they have neglected and abused the degree of grace and favour shown them at their baptism; and who (alarmed at the sight of the heavy burden of their sins, and the dreadful consequence without pardon) confess their unworthiness and insufficiency for any thing that is good, and are inclined to cry out in the distress and sincerity of their heart, Lord, what shall we do to be saved?

To the depth of God's wisdom, and the riches of his goodness, there are no bounds. That his creatures might not be launched into a sinful and dangerous state, at an age when

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they must necessarily be exposed, by the inheritance of an evil disposition, to innumerable temptations, and that they might not fall victims to the sentence of his rigid justice in case they were left under the curse of sinful imperfection, he most graciously provided a remedy for the inevitable consequence of original impurity, even before the commission of actual sin: Christ having been slain in the counsel of God, before the foundation of the world, for those who died, without having sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression. And that those, who, in the order of his providence, were to remain on this stage for further trial for immortal happiness, and the magnifying his glory in various ways, might not want every check to the malignant tendency of their nature, nor be without every assistance necessary to support and forward them in this warfare, from the earliest period of their being accountable for their actions, the grace of God's Spirit was promised to the faithful observers of those holy institutions, which should be competent to afford every relief that dependent and imperfect creatures might need, and humbly apply for. All, therefore, who are born under the happy dispensation of the Gospel, have the privilege of baptism held forth to them in an eminent degree by the particular appointment of that sacrament. And as for such, who, in the wisdom

of the Almighty, do either live or die out of the strict covenant of the Gospel grace, they will yet have the benefit of Christ's all-sufficient atonement applied to them, and will be finally judged according to the light of reason and conscience vouchsafed for their direction, according to their sincere obedience under the measure of that light they have received. Thus much is necessary to be understood concerning the virtue of Christ's satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and shows the meaning of that saying, that many should come from the east and from the west, and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, &c. while the children of the kingdom should be cast out into outer darkness. The reason of which is clear from another passage of Scripture, which declares, that where the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature (that is, the light of conscience) the things contained in the law, they having not the law, are a law to themselves (Rom. ii. 14); for they show the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness. And the truth of this doctrine the Apostles further confirm, in saying, that there is no respect of persons with God, but that glory, and honour, and peace, shall happen to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, in the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Our blessed Lord, there

fore, we see, is made the universal Judge; and as, after man's fall from innocency, no degree of good could be written in the heart, but by the renewal of the gift through Christ, so, in the truest sense, the Sun of righteousness may so far be said to have shined upon all men unto salvation. Thus much (by the way) for the case of mankind, to whom neither the knowledge of the law nor the Gospel has been vouchsafed. But as to the state of Christians, their privileges being greater, their account will be heavier. And here God's compassion still keeps pace with his other favours and distinctions: for, foreseeing that man would continue to abuse the freedom of his will; that, as a miserable, frail creature, the assaults of the devil, the world, and the flesh, would overwhelm him, notwithstanding the gracious provision, which, in the order of God's dealings with his creatures, was intended to assist them in the conflict; HE therefore, knowing that, however willing the spirit, the flesh is weak, and mercifully desiring that all might have an op→ portunity of coming to the knowledge of the truth, that none should perish, but that all should be saved; hath most graciously furnished another means of grace, whereby even they who have been entered into Christ's church, but have not profited by the privileges and blessings of the first sacrament appointed by his beloved

VOL. ILI.

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