.


 
 INQUIRY, 
 
 ON GROUNDS OF 
 
 SCRIPTURE AND REASON, 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 USE AND IMPORT 
 
 EUCHARISTIC SYMBOLS. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 FRINTED BY RICHARD BEERK &. CO. 
 28, 
 
 UTTUE STRAND-STHEET. 
 
 1824
 
 THE subject treated of in the following 
 pages has long impressed itself on the mind 
 of the Writer ; but it did not occur to him to 
 examine it at large, until the precise question 
 ivas proposed by a friend, to whose satisfac- 
 tion he wished to contribute, as far as in his 
 power. When the result of his endeavours 
 was read by his friend, he intimated a wish 
 to have it in a form, better fitted than manu- 
 script, for close consideration. Another 
 friend, into whose hands it was afterwards 
 put, expressed the same desire. To the con- 
 current suggestion of those two worthy and 
 intelligent persons, the Writer has thought it 
 his duty to accede ; in the humble hope, also, 
 that others of his friends may deem his at- 
 tempted elucidation of so interesting a topic 
 not wholly unworthy of their attention. 
 
 2007342
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page. Rnt. 
 
 1,5 last, for " that of grace," read " of that grace." 
 
 21 19 omit " be " after " will." 
 
 28 5 for " so," read " such." 
 
 45 19 for " its," read " the," 
 
 53 26 insert " had " after " what." 
 
 87 last, for ' supporting," read supplying."
 
 AN INQUIRY, 
 
 AS the great body of Christians who, 
 three centuries ago, rejected the Romish 
 yoke, differ generally from the Church of 
 Rome on the subject of the Eucharist, so 
 do they also among themselves, maintain cer- 
 tain specific differences respecting the design 
 and import of that sacred institution. 
 
 The principal point of controversy appears 
 to turn upon this question : Is the blessing, 
 to be expected in the Eucharist by qualified 
 receivers, a mere communication of the ordina- 
 ry grace of God, obtained in the same purely 
 inward and mental manner, as in other exer- 
 cises of devotion ; or, is there in this holy 
 sacrament a peculiar effluence of supernatu- 
 ral grace, mysteriously united icith the con- 
 
 B
 
 2 
 
 secrated symbols, so as to make them the vehi- 
 cles of heavenly benediction to the capable 
 communicant ? 
 
 \ -0 Jioif run r rpo;.' . o Jim -^nrr- 
 
 The maintainers of the former of these 
 
 views have doubtless explained themselves, 
 with much verbal difference, and in the ear- 
 lier times of the Reformation, with not a 
 little obscurity. But their great point of 
 agreement seems to have consisted in their se- 
 parating the sacramental blessing, in whatever 
 manner they denned it, from the sacramental 
 symbols, and regarding the spiritual part of 
 the transaction as exclusively within the 
 mind of the receiver. 
 
 Of this way of thinking were, most 
 bably, all the Helvetic Reformers. Calvin, 
 though accustomed to use strong language 
 respecting the Eucharist, must still be under- 
 stood to have connected the grace of the 
 Eucharist with the commemorating act, but, 
 in no manner with the symbols. And Bucer, 
 who was invited into England in the reign 
 of Edward VI. to give counsel in farther 
 changes which were meditated in the lately 
 established English Liturgy, was clearly and 
 zealously of the same opinion.
 
 Our justly celebrated Ridley, in his rejec- 
 tion of Roman Catholic excesses, had been 
 led to take a different view, and no less 
 clearly to connect the grace communicated 
 in the Eucharist with the received symbols. 
 His influence, there is reason to believe, had 
 predominated in the first reformation of the 
 Liturgy ; inasmuch as in every part of the 
 Communion Service, the idea of a blessing, 
 strictly through the consecrated elements, is 
 impressively conveyed. But by the advice 
 of Bucer, the first service, after a year or 
 two, was re-modified ; and the idea of com- 
 bination of grace with the symbols, had not, 
 in the former service, been more carefully 
 intimated, than it appeared afterward to be 
 studiously excluded. l 
 
 In this alteration Ridley obviously could 
 
 1 And yet, after all, the exclusion was not complete. 
 Probably Cranmer did not wish to carry his changes as 
 far as would have been necessary for this purpose. The 
 original doctrine, therefore still remained, by the most 
 obvious implication, in the commencing sentences of the 
 exhortation, " Dearly beloved in the Lord," &c. in which 
 Ridley's view of the Holy Eucharist appears to be con- 
 veyed, if not as expressly, yet as substantially, and with as 
 much simple sublimity, as it could be in human language. 
 B2
 
 not concur, though conscientious prudence 
 restrained him from actual opposition. Most 
 probably it was with particular reference to 
 this very matter that he acknowledged, in a 
 letter to a former chaplain, written during his 
 confinement, that, in the recent times, it " had 
 " chanced him to mislike some things ; for" he 
 adds, " sudden changes without substantial 
 " and necessary cause, and the heady setting 
 " forth of extremities I did never love." 2 
 Besides, in the very last period of his life, he 
 declared his own belief, that in the Eucha- 
 rist " what was before common bread, is now 
 " made a lively representation of Christ's 
 " body; and that it is not only a figure, 
 " but effectuously representeth his body 
 " such a sacramental mutation," he says, " I 
 " grant to be in the bread and wine ; which, 
 " truly, is no small change; but such a 
 " change, as no mortal man can make, but 
 " only the omnipotency of Christ's word." 3 
 
 But it is remarkable, that notwithstanding 
 the change in the Communion Service, those 
 
 2 Ridley's Life of Ridley, p. 578. 
 
 3 Wordsworth, vol. iii. p. 237.~Ri<lley's Life of Rid- 
 ley, p. 20.
 
 5 
 
 passages of the lately formed Articles, in 
 which the old doctrine was substantially con- 
 veyed, still remained unaltered. Undoubted- 
 ly it would have been expunged in every in- 
 stance, had divine Providence allowed time 
 for the accomplishment of all that was then 
 meditated. But whatever were the inten- 
 tions of Cranmer, they were speedily made 
 abortive, by the death of Edward VI. 
 
 It must be observed, however, that the 
 changes in the Communion Service, made at 
 the suggestion of Bucer, implied the omis- 
 sion of the former doctrine, rather than the 
 substitution of an opposite doctrine in its 
 stead. The only direct intimation of Bucer's 
 theory was given in the altered form of deli- 
 vering the symbols. In the first English 
 Service, the two commencing sentences of 
 the present forms stood alone ; in the altered 
 service, the two present latter sentences stood 
 alone, as substitutes for the two former. On 
 the accession of Elizabeth, however, the two 
 original sentences were restored, but prefixed 
 to the two latter, as we still have them. 
 Thus, in a certain degree, the doctrine of 
 Ridley was again recognized, inasmuch as it 
 is clearly intimated in the replaced words,
 
 which must have been restored for the very 
 sake of that intimation ; while the subjoined 
 words, which conveyed an opposite sense, as 
 substitutes, cannot be thus understood, when 
 merely an addition. They express a truth, 
 but not the whole truth. When they stood 
 as substitutes, they appeared to convey the 
 only true notion, and, especially to exclude 
 that idea, which the former words had sug- 
 gested. 
 
 Thisre-instatement of the significant words, 
 which for so many ages had been used in the 
 Christian Church, had (together with the un- 
 altered Articles already adverted to,) a strong- 
 er influence on the minds of the succeeding 
 English Clergy, in favour of Ridley's doc- 
 trine, than its studied omission in the rest of 
 the Communion Service could have against 
 it. Various evidences of this fact might be 
 adduced; but the most conclusive proof is 
 afforded by the Prayer Book for the Scottish 
 Church, in the year 1637. In the Commu- 
 nion Service of that formulary, the first 
 Prayer Book of King Edward was substan- 
 tially followed, and Ridley's doctrine in con- 
 sequence avowedly maintained. Had that 
 measure succeeded in Scotland, there can be
 
 little doubt, that a like recurrence to the ear- 
 lier principles of our Reformation would have 
 taken place in England. But every such 
 project was frustrated, and the entire de- 
 sign defeated, by the civil war which so spee- 
 dily ensued. The Scottish Service Book, how- 
 ever, had its eventual use, in affording ma- 
 terial guidance to the revisers of the English 
 Prayer Book after the Restoration. The 
 object then, evidently was, tore-infuse the 
 spirit of Ridley's doctrine into the Commu- 
 nion Service. But political reasons required 
 this purpose to be effected, not avowedly, 
 but by significant intimations; that is, by 
 Rubrics, enjoining certain things to be done, 
 which had not been directed in the un-revis- 
 ed form, but which being now deliberately 
 introduced after so long an omission, had a 
 far greater force, than if they had remained 
 from the beginning ; while, on an attentive, 
 and still more, on a comparative examination 
 of them, their meaning will appear irresisti- 
 ble. Thus, without adding one word to the 
 service itself, (a restraint which we may be- 
 lieve they would gladly not have felt; as 
 their following the Scottish Prayer Book so 
 much, bespeaks a wish to have followed it 
 still more completely,) the revisers effected
 
 a kind of revolution in our Communion 
 Service, which, quiet as it was, has probably 
 been as deep in its operation, on the feelings 
 of the devout, as it will be found decisive 
 in its import to the intelligent mind. 
 
 I have stated these particulars, as tending 
 to illustrate the ground on which I ascribe 
 the doctrine of Ridley to the existing Church 
 of England; but to evince this fact more 
 fully, it will be necessary to adduce the in- 
 stances already alluded to, in which the ori- 
 ginal view of the Reformed Church of Eng- 
 land had remained unaltered. 
 
 
 
 The 25 th Article of the Church treats 
 expressly " of the Sacraments;" and it de- 
 clares them, to " be not only badges or tokens 
 " of Christian men's profession, but rather cer- 
 " tain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of 
 " grace, and of God's good will towards us, by 
 " the which he doth work invisibly in us, and 
 " doth not only quicken, but strengthen and 
 " confirm our faith in him." 
 
 I conceive Ridley's doctrine of the Eucha-
 
 rist could .scarcely he expressed with greater 
 simplicity or strength than in these words. 
 The Sacraments are said to be effectual sigus 
 of grace, for this reason, because by them God 
 works invisibly in us; that is, the visible 
 signs are the means or instruments by which 
 God performs his invisible work on our 
 minds and hearts. There is an import in the 
 expression, works invisibly, which deserves 
 attention. It implies, that the divine opera- 
 tion through the visible signs is not the less 
 real or direct, because imperceptible to our 
 bodily senses. An explanation of this myste- 
 rious transaction is, of course, not attempt- 
 ed ; but the instrumentality of the visible 
 signs is, evidently, made the very essence of 
 a Sacrament. 
 
 In the 28 th Article, which treats spe- 
 cially of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
 per, are the following words: " The body 
 " of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the 
 " Supper, only after an heavenly and spiri- 
 " tual manner." This position was no doubt 
 made in contradiction to the gross doctrine of 
 a literal transubstantiation ; but it rejects that 
 error, hot by a mere negation, but by also 
 laying down the strict truth of the case.
 
 10 
 
 " The body of Christ " is not said, in a gene- 
 ral way to be received, but to be given, taken, 
 and eaten, as if there was a solicitude in 
 correcting the abuses of the Sacrament, ex- 
 plicitly to maintain the union between the 
 heavenly and spiritual blessing, and the out- 
 ward and visible sign. This is given by the 
 minister, and taken by the communicant. 
 To use these precise expressions therefore, 
 respecting " the body of Christ," is by clearest 
 implication to combine that " heavenly and 
 " spiritual " blessing with the given and taken 
 symbol. 
 
 The same notion will be found, equally 
 recognized in the 29 th Article, "Of the 
 " wicked, which eat not the body of Christ 
 " in the use of the Lord's Supper." 
 
 " The wicked," says the Article, " and 
 " such as be void of a lively faith, although 
 " they do carnally and visibly press with 
 " their teeth, (as St. Augustine saith,) the 
 " Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 " yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ ; 
 " but rather to their condemnation, do eat and 
 " drink the sign and sacrament of so great 
 " a thing."
 
 11 
 
 It need not be shewn how superfluous and 
 inapposite the terms of this negation would 
 be, if no conjunction of the spiritual bles- 
 sing with the visible signs had been contem- 
 plated. It is the idea of such a conjunction 
 only, which could make it necessary to assert, 
 that although the wicked pressed the Sacra- 
 ment visibly with their teeth, they neverthe- 
 less did not partake of the invisible blessing. 
 But in truth, to apply the term Sacrament 
 to the visible sign to give that denomina- 
 tion to the consecrated symbols, rather than 
 to the act of commemorating or communicat- 
 ing, would intimate, if even nothing more 
 were said, that those visible symbols were 
 regarded as the divinely constituted means 
 or vehicles of the invisible blessing. 
 
 When such definite expressions of doc- 
 trine as have now been adduced, had been, 
 through divine Providence, preserved unal- 
 tered, it is not extraordinary that the views 
 of Ridley should have still remained preva- 
 lent, notwithstanding the omission of them 
 in the Communion Service. It seems, in 
 fact, that they gained strength through time ; 
 as in the reign of James I. it was thought
 
 12 
 
 expedient to introduce them into the cateche- 
 tical instruction of children. 
 
 In the addition then made to the Cate- 
 chism, a Sacrament is denned, as an " out- 
 " ward and visible sign of an inward and 
 " spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by 
 " Christ himself, as a means whereby we re- 
 " ceive the same, and a pledge to assure us 
 " thereof." The outward and visible sign in 
 the Lord's Supper is stated to be " bread and 
 " wine which the Lord has commanded to 
 " be received ;" and the inward part, or thing 
 signified, is " the body and blood of Christ, 
 " which are verily and indeed taken and 
 " received by the faithful " in that Sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 Here, it is in the first place distinctly 
 taught, that the outward and visible sign in 
 a Sacrament, is the means whereby we re- 
 ceive the inward and spiritual grace ; and we 
 are to observe, that the term inward does 
 not, in this instance, mark a quality of that 
 grace as operating in us, (however, in that 
 sense also, justly applicable,) but as existing 
 in some mysterious manner, in the Sacrament 
 itself; for it is of this, that the spiritual grace
 
 13 
 
 is declared to be the " inward part ';" evidently 
 implying, that through the divine power, 
 the visible signs become, for our spiritual 
 benefit, supernaturally ettfcued with invisible 
 virtue. 
 
 This virtue, in the Lord's Supper, is de- 
 clared to be " the body and blood of Christ," 
 that is, in the sublime and heavenly sense 
 in which our Saviour himself speaks of his 
 flesh and blood, in the sixth chapter of St. 
 John. These are said to be, " verily and in- 
 " deed taken and received " by all faithful 
 communicants. The strength of this lan- 
 guage has been universally felt, and to some it 
 has appeared ambiguous. But it should always 
 be kept in view, that the mysterious matter, 
 thus spoken of, had already been described 
 as an " inward and spiritual grace ;" and was 
 therefore to be understood no otherwise, than 
 in that spiritual manner, of which our Lord 
 himself has given the example. But it was 
 thought right expressly to notify that this 
 divine communication, by being spiritual, 
 was not on that account the less real ; that, 
 in fact, it was a substantive communication 
 from the adorable person of our Redeemer, 
 quickening us with his divine vitality,
 
 14 
 
 strengthening us with his strength, and en- 
 riching us, in proportion to our faithfulness, 
 with all the graces which were in him. 
 
 
 
 And as such solicitude was felt to assert the 
 divine nature, and potency of this heavenly 
 grace, so was there no less attention to omit 
 nothing which might impress its combina- 
 tion with the symbols. " The body and 
 " blood of Christ " therefore are declared to 
 to be " taken" as well as " received by the 
 " faithful." The latter word would have 
 been sufficient, had it been intended to leave 
 at large the manner of communication. The 
 former word consequently was used for the 
 very purpose of suggesting that manner ; for 
 (as was remarked on the 28 th Article) the 
 word " taken" clearly refers to the " given " 
 symbol, and thus intimates the mysterious 
 connexion between the visible signs and the 
 invisible blessing. 
 
 I have adduced and remarked upon the 
 above passages in the authoritative forms of 
 our Church, not only from due respect to 
 their weight, but because I thought I could 
 not better elucidate the matter in discussion 
 than by endeavouring to explain the views
 
 15 
 
 of the Church of England concerning it. 
 I add nothing to what I have already re- 
 marked, respecting the modifications of the 
 Communion Service, effected by the revi- 
 sers in 1661 ; because their insertions could 
 neither be appreciated, nor clearly understood, 
 except by comparing the service, as it had 
 stood before, with the revised form. 
 
 I have also dwelt more particularly on the 
 evidences of what our Church maintains on 
 this subject, because during the last hundred 
 years, another view has been taken, even by 
 some, who supported the general idea of grace 
 concurring in the sacramental act, against 
 Bishop Hoadley and his followers ; and who 
 were accounted in other respects champions 
 of orthodoxy. 
 
 The most conspicuous of this class, was 
 the celebrated Dr. Waterland ; who, in his 
 Work on the Sacrament of the Lord's Sup- 
 per, 4 while he zealously argues for grace 
 from heaven as concomitant to the act, 
 seems little less anxious to repel the notion 
 of any mysterious connexion that of grace 
 
 4 1'. 257-
 
 16 
 
 with the symbols. It is remarkable that he 
 takes Cranmer as, on this point, the genuine 
 interpreter of the Church of England ; and 
 though Ridley's very different sentiments 
 must have been well known to him; he passes 
 them over in a sort of shuffling manner, as 
 if he did not like to meddle with them. The 
 characteristic coldness of Waterland might 
 very naturally have made him prefer the more 
 general and indefinite notion ; but know- 
 ingly to keep back the judgment of such a 
 man as Ridley, was not doing complete jus- 
 tice either to the subject or to the reader. 
 
 A still later writer, of at least equal 
 weight and celebrity, (Bishop Horsley) may, 
 however, be adduced as strictly agreeing with 
 Ridley. In one of his charges to the clergy 
 of Rochester, we find the following passage : 
 " But the frequency of the celebration will 
 " be of little use, unless your people are well 
 " instructed in the nature and use of this 
 " most holy and mysterious ordinance. If 
 ** they are suffered to consider it as nothing 
 " more than a rite of simple commemora- 
 " tion of Christ's death, a mere external 
 "form of thanksgiving on the part of the 
 # receiver, they will never come to it with due
 
 17 
 
 '* reverence. You will instruct them, there- 
 " fore, in the true notion of a sacrament; 
 " that the sacraments are not only signs of 
 " grace, but means of the grace signified, the 
 " matter of the sacrament being, by Christ's 
 " appointment, and the operation of the 
 " Holy Spirit, the vehicle of grace to the 
 '* believer's soul." 
 
 But however clearly the Church of Eng- 
 land, and her most celebrated divines, may 
 have spoken, it will still be asked whether 
 the doctrine itself can be shewn, to corres- 
 pond with the analogy of the divine pro- 
 ceedings, and to be supported by the lan- 
 guage of the holy scripture ? 
 
 The question respecting the correspon- 
 dence of this doctrine with the general ana- 
 logy of the divine proceedings, must be an- 
 swered by referring, first, to the most signal 
 exercises of divine Power for man's benefit, 
 in the Old Testament ; and next to such in- 
 stances of the divine conduct in the New Tes- 
 tament, as may be fairly thought to accord 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 in their general nature with the ease in ques- 
 tion. 
 
 With respect to the Old Testament, I 
 believe it may be asserted, that wherever a 
 divine benefit, or blessing, whether to indi- 
 viduals or to the whole people, was of such a 
 nature as suitably to admit the intervention 
 of a sensible instrument, or medium, some- 
 thing bearing that character, in itself, per- 
 haps, of the humblest nature, was almost 
 uniformly employed. To particularize the 
 various instances would be to transcribe a 
 large portion of the sacred history. It may 
 be sufficient to adduce some of the most 
 striking examples. 
 
 It is, in the first place, worthy of remark, 
 that in this precise way, even innocent man 
 in Paradise, was to enjoy the blessing of 
 immortality. Instead of possessing this pri- 
 vilege as an inherent property, he was 
 to derive its continuance from eating the 
 fruit of a particular tree ; and accordingly, 
 when through disobedience, the threatened 
 mortality was incurred, the sentence was 
 executed by an exclusion from that tree. 
 It must not be omitted, that from the earliest
 
 19 
 
 ages of the Christian Church, it has been 
 usual to regard the tree of life in Eden, as 
 a significant type of the eucharist ; and in 
 admitting this correspondence, the idea of a 
 similar mysterious efficacy in the eucharis- 
 tical symbols, for sustaining spiritual life and 
 immortality, was naturally, if not necessarily 
 implied. 
 
 At a subsequent period, when, in the great 
 progressive scheme of divine beneficence, 
 Moses was commissioned to work miracles, 
 he was not directed to perform them merely 
 by a word. The shepherd's rod which, at 
 the moment of the divine call, he had in 
 his hand, was from thence to be, not only the 
 ensign, but the instrument of the power with 
 which he was endued, " Thou shalt take 
 " this rod," said Jehovah, " in thy hand, 
 " wherewith thou shalt do signs," We ac- 
 cordingly find it afterward denominated the 
 rod of God ; and the numerous instances in 
 which it was used, are so many exemplifica- 
 tions of omnipotence acting through a mate- 
 rial medium. There was a profound fitness 
 in this mode of proceeding, else it would not 
 have been adopted. It obviously gave a pal- 
 pability to the divine interposition, which 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 accommodated it with peculiar aptitude 
 to the complex nature of man: while 
 the simplicity of the means evinced the 
 unseen agency, by which the effect was ac- 
 complished. 
 
 -HIT i,naj*nim* -w>tt o4.t m *l->tVy: M<rvj ' 'm<. 
 We may also observe, that not only where 
 miraculous acts were to be performed, but 
 even where settled purposes were to be noti- 
 fied, and habitual impressions produced, sen- 
 sible expedients were equally employed. 
 Thus, to give sustenance through the bodily 
 senses to the faith and devotion of the heart, 
 the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by 
 night, accompanied the children of Israel 
 through the wilderness; and thus, when that 
 miraculous token of the divine Presence 
 ceased to appear, the ark of the covenant to 
 which it had been used to attach itself, and 
 which was thereby sealed as the perpetual 
 symbol of God's special residence, became the 
 point of inexpressible attraction to every true 
 Israelite, as the place where God was infalli- 
 bly to be found, and from whence mercy 
 and goodness were sure to flow forth upon 
 every faithful worshipper. 
 
 The depth of this feeling might be illus-
 
 21 
 
 trated by numerous examples. The care 
 which God was pleased to take for its con- 
 firmation and continuance at the consecration 
 of Solomon's temple, by the re-appearance 
 of the same divine cloud attaching itself to 
 the same ark, in proof that the same pre- 
 sence would reside in the new mansion, un- 
 speakably evinced the value of such a sup- 
 port to faith, and such an excitement to de- 
 votion. Its actual influence on minds, the 
 most capable of appreciating it, is manifested 
 in the case of Daniel, who so venerated and 
 loved, even the desolated spot which had 
 been thus distinguished, that in defiance of 
 the king of Babylon's edict, he persevered in 
 praying, as he had been wont, three times a 
 day, " his windows being open in his cham- 
 " ber toward Jerusalem." 
 
 It will )j hardly be said, that the eyes of 
 pious Israelites were directed to the ark, as 
 the pledge and symbol of providential, rather 
 than of strictly spiritual blessings. An ex- 
 pectation of these latter is continually ex- 
 pressed in the devotional language of the 
 Old Testament ; and it is every where evi- 
 dent, that in the inmost concerns of the 
 heart, access to God was facilitated, reliance
 
 22 
 
 on God strengthened, and fixedness and con- 
 centration of mind secured and heightened 
 by the settled assurance of his specially pre- 
 sent Majesty. 
 
 But it particularly pertains to the main 
 question to remark, that amongst extraordi- 
 nary effects produced in the Old Testament 
 times, through material instruments, those of 
 a strictly mental and spiritual nature are not 
 wholly wanting. One instance, at least, of this 
 kind is found in the impression on the mind 
 of Elisha, through the touch of Elijah's 
 mantle. Elijah had been directed to appoint 
 Elisha his successor in the prophetic office. 
 It may therefore be concluded, that the ge- 
 neral dispositions of the latter fitted him for 
 such a distinction ; but he himself seems, 
 at the moment, to have had no apprehen- 
 sion of what awaited him, as he was busily 
 occupied in agricultural labour ; but as soon 
 as Elijah cast his mantle upon him, he is 
 drawn, as if by irresistible attraction ; and 
 only wishes to have time for bidding his fa- 
 ther's house farewell; the prophet, proba- 
 bly, had been led to throw his mantle by a 
 special impulse, and scarcely foresaw the 
 fulness of the result ; for he answers, as if in
 
 23 
 
 some surprize, " Go back again, for what 
 " have I done unto thee ?" But it is remark- 
 able, that that very mantle becomes again 
 the pledge and symbol of divine blessing to 
 Elisha. He had asked that a double portion 
 of his master's spirit should rest upon him ; 
 and the fall of Elijah's mantle, while the 
 prophet himself was carried up to heaven, 
 appears to have been regarded by Elisha as 
 notifying the success of his petition. In 
 addition to what he himself had felt, he 
 had seen Elijah divide the waters of Jordan, 
 by smiting them with that very mantle; 
 and as if to satisfy himself, that in posses- 
 sing the visible pledge, he possessed also 
 the mysterious power, we see him smiting 
 the same waters with the same mantle, with 
 the solemn and successful appeal " Where 
 is the Lord God of Elijah ?" 
 
 Were the above instances to be contem- 
 plated by themselves, it might, perhaps, 
 be thought, that such accommodation to 
 man's animal nature, belonged rather to the 
 Jewish dispensation, than to the spirituality 
 of the gospel. But this notion would be dis-
 
 24 
 
 proved at once, by the slightest attention to 
 the actual conduct both of our Lord and 
 his Apostles. 
 
 I - -r . 
 ' i-v 
 
 It was right, and perhaps necessary, that 
 when the Word was made flesh and taberna- 
 cled among men, he should manifest his 
 divine prerogative of simply commanding 
 nature, and being instantly obeyed. He ac- 
 cordingly on some occasions merely spoke, 
 and the effect immediately followed. Thus he 
 healed the centurion's servant, and the noble- 
 man's son who was sick at Capernaum. Thus 
 he stilled the tempest, and thus also he raised 
 Lazarus from the tomb. But, ordinarily, 
 he was pleased to act otherwise. He made 
 use of some visible sign ; and often transmit- 
 ted the divine virtue which dwelt in him, 
 through a material medium. He laid his 
 hands on those who applied, or he permitted 
 them to touch " the hem of his garment, 
 " and as many as touched him were made 
 " perfectly whole." Once he touched the 
 tongue of a dumb man with his spittle. At 
 another time he made clay by spitting on the 
 ground, and put it on the eyes of a blind 
 man, whom he sent (for the obvious purpose 
 -moo -xl -
 
 25 
 
 of notoriety) to wash it oft' in the pool of 
 Siloam. 
 
 Nor was it only where corporeal blessings 
 were conveyed, that our Lord was pleased 
 to use a visible sign. When children were 
 brought to him, not to be healed, but sim- 
 ply to receive his divine benediction, we read, 
 that he laid his hands upon them. And in 
 that most signal instance, when after his re- 
 surrection, he solemnly established his apos- 
 tles in their exalted office, we are told, that 
 " he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye 
 " the Holy Ghost." 
 .Xlnmwfivj ,Ju& .cimo* torfJ-orurft scrusfiJ 
 
 With reference to the particular subject 
 under consideration, this last instance appears 
 worthy of peculiar attention. The period 
 of types and shadows was now clearly over, 
 and the dispensation of " Grace and Truth " 
 had substantially begun. We may humbly 
 conclude, therefore, that our Lord would 
 do nothing at this time, which was not strict- 
 ly congenial with all that was to follow. Yet, 
 at this moment of immutable precedent, he 
 employs the same method of impressive ac- 
 commodation to man's animal nature. In an 
 instance the most important and vital, he com-
 
 26 
 
 municates inward and spiritual grace through 
 an outward sign and a corporeal medium. His 
 breath, as man, is made the vehicle of that 
 Spirit, which, even as man, he had possessed 
 without measure. It was the last and best 
 blessing which his apostles were to receive 
 from his bodily presence ; and may be justly 
 regarded as their firsts strict, and proper ani- 
 mation with the inward and spiritual life ; 
 the first fulfilment of that promise, so lately 
 made to them respecting the divine Para- 
 clete, " He dwelleth with you, and shall be 
 " in you." Here therefore, (it would seem) 
 no less really than on the day of Pentecost, 
 the words of his forerunner were verified, 
 " He shall baptize you with the Holy 
 " Ghost." On that day they received new 
 powers: the fire which our Lord came to 
 send upon the earth, was then visibly kind- 
 led ; but it was at that former time, when 
 our Lord " breathed upon them, and said, 
 " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," that they really 
 became new creatures ; for how else shall we 
 account for those clearer apprehensions of the 
 new dispensation, which their choice of a 
 successor to Judas, and their deep and un- 
 remitting intensity in prayer, prove them to
 
 27 
 
 have possessed, previously to their last signal 
 endowment " with power from on high." 
 
 I have enlarged on that remarkable act of 
 our Redeemer in his final intercourse with 
 his apostles on earth, not merely because it 
 may be thought in the highest degree perti- 
 nent to my present subject, but because its 
 powerful influence, as manifested in so im- 
 mediate a change of character has, as far as 
 I know, been, hitherto not sufficiently ad- 
 verted to. 
 
 y^i'^v/i-H-" rf.iH*ctti w 
 
 That the apostles, from this and other di- 
 vine evidences, were, in their own minds, 
 impressed with the suitable transmission 
 of inward and spiritual blessings, through 
 outward and visible signs, appears from their 
 own subsequent practice. As their divine 
 Master, in breathing on them, had made 
 them partakers of that Spirit which was in 
 him ; so when it became their part, as his mi- 
 nisters, to communicate, in measure, the same 
 heavenly gift to others, they conferred this 
 blessing by the imposition of their hands ; 
 and it is expressly testified, that " through 
 * the laying on of the apostles' hands, the 
 'Holy Ghost was given."
 
 28 
 
 It is remarkable, that this practice of the 
 apostles is stated without any explanatory 
 observation ; obviously, because such a pro- 
 ceeding, however wonderful in itself, was in 
 so complete accordance with all of a like na- 
 ture which had been formerly done, that 
 there was no more room before-hand for ques- 
 tioning its fitness, than there was possibility 
 afterward of disputing its efficacy. 
 
 Enough being now said, in the way of 
 preliminary remark, it may be proper, in 
 considering the subject itself, to begin with 
 this natural question In what light were our 
 Lord's apostles most likely to contemplate 
 the institution of the holy Eucharist, under 
 all the impressions which we must suppose 
 to have possessed their minds ? 
 
 Our Lord's discourse in the sixth chapter 
 of St. John, could not but be present to their 
 thoughts ; for the Holy Spirit was to bring 
 all things to their remembrance, whatsoever 
 had been said unto them. Those deeply 
 significant words, " He that eatcth my flesh, 
 " and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and
 
 29 
 
 >fij Vi -.'jU'.rt 
 
 " I in him. As the living Father hath sent 
 
 " me, and I live by the Father, so he that 
 " eateth me, even he shall live by me ;" 
 these words, I say, could not but associate 
 themselves in the minds of the apostles, with 
 the strictly corresponding language used 
 at the institution of the eucharistic Sacra- 
 ment ; and it would be not merely natural, 
 but inevitable for them to explain our Lord's 
 words on the one occasion, by what he had 
 so emphatically spoken on the other. 
 
 In that memorable discourse, he had clear- 
 ly intimated, that his death was to make 
 provision for that divine nutriment, which he 
 was to furnish from himself. " The bread 
 " from heaven," said he, " is my flesh which 
 " I will give for the life of the world." 
 When, therefore, just before his entrance 
 on the great concluding scene, he took bread, 
 and having blessed and broken it, gave it to 
 his disciples, saying, " Take, eat, this is my 
 " body which is given for you," it was 
 impossible not to connect these words, and 
 this act, with the corresponding expressions 
 uttered at Capernaum. When they saw that 
 last Paschal supper, (in itself a type of the 
 Redeemer) formed into a new ordinance, in
 
 30 
 
 which the acts of eating and drinking were 
 to have an import, and the aliments fed upon 
 to bear a denomination, identical with the 
 terms of that former announcement ; what 
 could be their conclusion, but that not only 
 the ordinance generally, but the specific acts 
 and aliments so distinguished, were to be 
 instrumentally conducive to that divine be- 
 nefit with which they were, thus intimately 
 conjoined ? 
 
 I must venture to add, that in proportion 
 to their high apprehensions of the blessings 
 to be conferred, the more disposed would 
 they be to recognize the entire fitness of such 
 means of conveyance. It has been seen, that 
 their minds were habituated to the transmis- 
 sion of such influences as were strictly super- 
 natural and heavenly, through sensible and 
 material vehicles. But what influence could 
 they have conceived, more supernatural or 
 more heavenly, than such a communication 
 of himself, as their divine Master had war- 
 ranted them to expect ? The terms in which 
 that assurance had been given, were so defi- 
 nite, so distinctive, and so reiterated, as to re- 
 quire an adequate construction, and to convey 
 a substantive idea ; and our Lord, after using
 
 31 
 
 them, was pleased, emphatically to attest 
 their high and holy import, by declaring, 
 " the words which I speak unto you, they 
 ' are spirit and they are life." 
 
 The promise, therefore, of our Lord's flesh 
 and blood to be to them meat indeed, and 
 drink indeed, to be the spiritual and eternal 
 life of their souls, by virtue of which he should 
 dwell in them and they in him, and they 
 should live by him as he lived by the Father 
 this promise, I say, could not, consistently 
 with the terms in which it is expressed, be 
 understood to mean any thing less than 
 an inconceivable, but most real emanation 
 from his divine person, in which there 
 would be the same exercise of his divine 
 power, for the animation and sustenance 
 of the soul, as when divine virtue had gone 
 out of him, for the healing of the body. I 
 conceive, they could have given no other in- 
 terpretation than this to our Lord's prospec- 
 tive assurances. In the appointment, there- 
 fore of visible symbols, to be instrumentally 
 effective in conveying the promised blessing, 
 they would see nothing but that, which, ac- 
 cording to all their experience, was suitable 
 and proportionate. They would, moreover
 
 32 
 
 perceive, that a two-fold communication, the 
 flesh and blood of the Redeemer, was provid- 
 ed for by a two- fold medium ; the lowliness 
 of which, only the more evinced the power 
 of the invisible agent; while, in such an 
 operation, it would not appear unfitting, that 
 bread, the prime nourishment of human life, 
 and wine, the prime cherisher of human 
 weakness, should be the material instru- 
 ments of this heavenly purpose. 
 
 I do not mean to say, that such thoughts 
 were likely to Have occurred at that hour, 
 when the sacrament of the Eucharist was 
 first instituted. At no time were the Apos- 
 tles less competent to have discovered the 
 weighty import of our Lord's expressions. 
 Probably, in the depth of that sorrow which 
 had filled their hearts, they did not recollect 
 the particular discourse, by which alone his 
 language could have been fully explained. 
 But afterwards, when the promise was ful- 
 filled, that all things which they had heard 
 should be brought to their remembrance, the 
 connexion between the discourse at Caper- 
 naum and the eucharistic institution, would 
 impress itself on them in all its clearness and 
 importance ; and may it not be presumed,
 
 33 
 
 that the more they considered the subject, 
 the greater reason would they perceive, 
 for acknowledging the divine goodness and 
 wisdom, not only in the transcendent na- 
 ture of the blessing thus entailed upon the 
 church, but also in the choice of such an 
 appropriate provision for its stated and per- 
 petual communication. 
 
 It would be obvious to them, that if the 
 sacrament of the Eucharist had been ordain- 
 ed, merely as a commemorative celebration 
 that is, if our Redeemer had said nothing 
 more than " Do this in remembrance of me," 
 its institution would rather have implied the 
 injunction of a permanent duty, than the 
 pledge and means of a permanent blessing. 
 In that view, it might have afforded an occa- 
 sion for the more solemn expression of Chris- 
 tian gratitude, or the renewal of Christian 
 obligation ; but it could not be thought to 
 give the prospect of any special spiritual 
 benefit, beyond what might be found in 
 an equally ardent exercise of devotion, on 
 any other religious occasion. The ordinary 
 grace of God might have been relied upon, 
 for co-operation, in such an effort of the 
 mind to think more closely on the love of 
 
 D
 
 34 
 
 their dying Lord, or to feel it more deeply ; 
 but, as it should seem, only as equal efforts 
 would he assisted in the common acts of pious 
 supplication. Yet still on this ground, it 
 might not have been easy to account satis- 
 factorily, for introducing into a simple com- 
 memoration any outward or visible part. 
 The merely natural effect of the eucharistic 
 signs on the external senses, would hardly 
 explain their adoption in a religion, in which 
 rites and ceremonies were so professedly to 
 give place to spiritual worship ; and it would 
 be still more difficult to conceive, how the 
 eating and drinking of those visible symbols 
 should be an essential co-ingredient, in the 
 exercise of a purely commemorative devo- 
 tion. 
 
 But in ascribing to the eucharistic sym- 
 bols the instrumental effectiveness with 
 which the significant word of their divine 
 Master had appeared to invest them, the 
 Apostles would see in that institution a 
 provision for their spiritual consolation and 
 benefit, in which all their pre-existing habits 
 of mind were consulted, and all their mental 
 and moral exigencies richly supplied. The 
 nature of the eucharistic Sacrament was
 
 35 
 
 clearly such, as to have in it no other virtue 
 than what flowed into it from him by whom 
 it was instituted. The eating of bread and 
 drinking of wine had, in itself, neither con- 
 duciveness nor any obvious congeniality, to 
 a spiritual purpose. It could therefore only 
 have that precise import, which our Redeem- 
 er was pleased to give to it ; namely, that 
 it was a visible method, appointed by him, 
 of spiritually eating his flesh and spiritually 
 drinking his blood ; and that it must accord- 
 ingly derive its spiritual efficacy from the 
 concomitancy of his omnipotent power. The 
 Eucharist, when thus regarded, would be to 
 the disciples of our Lord, such a pledge as 
 was given them in no other instance, of 
 their living by his life, being strong through 
 his strength, and growing in grace by a vital 
 effluence from himself. 
 
 The means otherwise afforded them, of 
 building themselves up in their most holy 
 faith, they would, doubtless, value and im- 
 prove. But in this superadded provision, 
 there was a source of satisfaction peculiar to 
 itself. In all other exercises of religion, the 
 mind was to contribute its own exertions; 
 and though subordinately, yet directly, to 
 
 D 2
 
 36 
 
 minister to its own benefit or comfort. In 
 the eucharistic institution alone, human co- 
 operation could have no share in the effect ; 
 because the medium employed could com- 
 municate influence or blessing, only through 
 the direct operation of Almighty Power. It 
 was not to be questioned, that in every in- 
 stance in which spiritual benefit was confer- 
 red, the goodness of God was to be regarded 
 as its supreme source. But where the ra- 
 tional powers of man intervened, whether 
 those of the recipient himself, or of any 
 human helper of his faith, the sensible ad- 
 vantage would seem, more or less to resem- 
 ble the blessings of nature and providence, 
 which are apparently the result of general 
 laws. It might therefore have appeared as 
 reasonable, as it was gracious, that for the per- 
 petual comfort and assurance of the Church, 
 in the highest and noblest instance in which 
 divine blessing was to be conferred, the su- 
 preme source of that blessing should condes- 
 cend to be its direct and immediate dis- 
 penser ; and should prove himself to be such, 
 by employing means of communication, 
 which, venerable and impressive as they 
 should become, by being made, not merely 
 the instruments of his power, but the effec-
 
 37 
 
 tual representatives of himself, 5 would be 
 not only weak but fruitless, in any other 
 hands than his own. 
 
 If we may believe these views to have 
 presented themselves to the minds of the 
 Apostles, we must also suppose them to 
 have been heightened in their effect, as far 
 as that was possible, by the pre-existing ha- 
 bits already adverted to. 
 
 It must be remembered, that the Jewish 
 religion was not wholly typical ; on the con- 
 trary, it contained much, which was natu- 
 rally and intrinsically attractive and endear- 
 ing. Above all, the special presence of God 
 in his holy temple, held a place in the mind 
 of every pious Jew, for which nothing but 
 a full equivalent could compensate. We 
 are to observe, that there was nothing in 
 that presence, except the limitation to one 
 exclusive spot, which savoured of an im- 
 perfect dispensation. It was not to the in- 
 fancy of human nature, but to human nature 
 itself, that this instance of divine condescen- 
 
 5 He that eateth me, even he shall live by me." 
 
 John, vi. 57-
 
 38 
 
 sion was engaging. That presence had, in- 
 deed been for ages, as much a matter of faith, 
 as the glory of God in heaven ; but it was 
 not the less apprehended, as an invaluable 
 and delightful reality. This it was, which 
 made the Mount Sion attractive to every 
 devout Israelite ; which induced the inspir- 
 ed Anna not to depart from the temple; 
 which detained the child Jesus, when Mary 
 and Joseph had departed from Jerusalem ; - 5 
 and which afterward roused his holy zeal to 
 an intensity, never manifested on any other 
 occasion. 
 
 Had nothing parallel to that grace and 
 glory of the Old dispensation been retained 
 in the New, a want might have been felt, 
 which all its other benefits would not have 
 supplied ; but, in the Eucharist, as seen in 
 the light of our blessed Saviour's w r ords, 
 there was the imperishable pledge of an 
 equally glorious, but far more gracious pre- 
 sence ; a presence, not confined to a single 
 
 r> It would seem that our Lord's answer to his Mother 
 and Joseph, St. Luke, ii. 49. might most fitly be render- 
 ed, " Why is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I 
 " must be in the house of my Father ?"
 
 39 
 
 spot, but to be realized, in our Lord's ap- 
 pointed way, wherever his word should be 
 received, and his church established ; a pre- 
 sence, not merely to be approached with 
 confidence of being heard, and mercifully re- 
 garded, but with which, an incomparably 
 nearer communion was to be vouchsafed ; 
 and from which, an inexpressibly more effica- 
 cious influence was to be communicated, 
 than, in the former dispensation, could even 
 have been conceived. 
 
 All, therefore, and far more than all, that 
 the Ark of the Covenant had been to pious 
 Israelites, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, 
 must, on the grounds which have been 
 stated, have appeared to the Apostles and 
 their initiated disciples. Our Lord's assur- 
 ance to them, in general terms had been, " Lo, 
 " I am with you always, even to the end of 
 " the world ;" and a still more consolatory 
 promise had been given " Where two or 
 " three are gathered together in my name, 
 " there am I in the midst of them." The 
 eucharistic institution, understood as has 
 been stated, would necessarily imply the 
 most substantial fulfilment of those compre- 
 hensive declarations. However otherwise
 
 40 
 
 the great head of the Church should be pre- 
 sent witli his members, he must then be 
 specially present with them, when he gave 
 them spiritual life and nourishment from 
 himself. 
 
 In the very idea of such a communica- 
 tion, there was something so sublime and 
 heavenly, that the more it was dwelt upon, 
 the more it would fill the mind with all the 
 impressive results to which it led. And it 
 might not be too much to say, that the pil- 
 lar of cloud, or of fire, could not have been 
 to the senses of the Israelites a surer token 
 of the special presence of Jehovah, than the 
 consecrated symbols in the Eucharist were, 
 to the minds of the Apostles and their fel- 
 low-christians, of an equally special, and 
 much more endearing and effective presence 
 of the incarnate Word, In this ordinance 
 they would see a mercy-seat as sensibly esta- 
 blished, as in the former dispensation ; but 
 with far nobler hopes, and better promises : 
 and in the light of our Lord's infallible 
 words, it would place before their mental eye 
 a Shechinah, as real as that which had visibly 
 possessed itself of the holy of holies, at the 
 dedication of Solomon's temple. In witness-
 
 41 
 
 ing our Lord's institution of the Eucharist, 
 and his divinely significant consecration of 
 its symbols, they had seen and heard what 
 was far more than equivalent to that earlier 
 manifestation. They would rely on the 
 faithfulness of their omnipotent Lord, at all 
 times, and in every instance, to verify his 
 own words, by making the eucharistic ele- 
 ments to be effectually, what he had named 
 them ; and in this assurance, they would 
 contemplate him, as not less graciously and 
 influentially present in those holy mysteries, 
 than he had been personally present in those 
 interviews, with which he had favoured them 
 before ascending to his throne of glory in the 
 Heavens. 
 
 I have thus ventured to suppose, as mat- 
 ter of moral certainty, the estimate of the 
 Eucharist which would be made by the 
 Apostles, under the mere guidance of our 
 Saviour's expressions. But I am ready to 
 acknowledge, that the force of this argu- 
 ment may not be felt to imply actual demon- 
 stration ; and that its success will only be in 
 proportion to a certain mental pre-disposi-
 
 H 
 
 tion. Many will, doubtless, still ask, if 
 these things are so, why has not this view of 
 the Eucharist been expressly given in holy 
 Scripture? If such had been the judg- 
 ment of the Apostles, might we not expect 
 to find an explicit declaration of it, in some 
 part of the Apostolic writings ? 
 
 This question would be reasonable; but 
 the answer is easy, since, through the wis- 
 dom of heaven, St. Paul has been led by 
 certain irregularities among the Corinthians, 
 so to speak of the Eucharist, in his first 
 epistle to that church, as to place the Apos- 
 tolic doctrine beyond possibility of doubt. 
 
 It appears that many members of the Co- 
 rinthian church had defiled their Christian 
 purity, by participating in feasts celebrated 
 in heathen temples, and consisting of viands, 
 which had been offered at the shrine of idols. 
 Of this practice, as might well be suppos- 
 ed, St. Paul speaks with horror ; but it is 
 very remarkable, that in his expostulation, 
 he dwells, neither on the sanctity inherent 
 in the Christian character generally, nor 
 on the spiritual privileges and blessings so 
 often the subject of his discourse: instead
 
 of this, he urges his charge on the single 
 ground, that the mysterious sanctity of the 
 Lord's Supper was grossly and dangerously 
 profaned, by any intermixture, in its recipi- 
 ents, with the table and the cup of demons. 
 
 The Apostle commences, by addiicing the 
 case of the ancient Israelites, whose special 
 relation to God, he so describes, as to evince 
 the close analogy between their peculiar cir- 
 cumstances and those of Christians general- 
 ly, in point of characteristic distinctions, and 
 of the Corinthian Christians particularly, in 
 point of crime and punishment. 
 
 The analogy in characteristic distinctions, 
 he thus intimates, " They (the Israelites) 
 " were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
 " and in the sea ; and they did all eat the 
 " same spiritual meat, and did all drink the 
 " same spiritual drink ; for they drank of 
 " that spiritual rock which followed them ; 
 " and that rock was Christ." 
 
 It need not be remarked, that in this exor- 
 dium, St. Paul, as if with all the skill of a 
 master in discourse, lays a ground for making 
 the holy Eucharist his theme. But does he
 
 44 
 
 not do more than this ? Does he not, even 
 already, intimate the specific view, which he 
 took of that ordinance, and in which he 
 meant to represent it? The Israelites, he 
 would have it understood, resembled Chris- 
 tians, in having been sustained with spiri- 
 tual meat and spiritual drink ; that is, evi- 
 dently, Avith meat and drink, which had in 
 their nature and substance, something super- 
 natural and divine. But what, by conse- 
 quence, does this pointed parallel imply re- 
 specting its Christian counter-part ? It was, 
 surely, far from St. Paul's thoughts, to give 
 to the type the greater, and to the anti-type 
 the lesser glory. It follows, therefore, that 
 in so designating the sustenance of the Israel- 
 ites, he intended to convey, even before- 
 hand, a like idea of the eucharistic sym- 
 bols ; these, he implies, are also spiritual 
 meat and spiritual drink; that is, have in 
 them a transcendent quality, similarly su- 
 pernatural, and divine. 
 
 After an enumeration of instances, in 
 which the Israelites had signally transgres- 
 sed, and were as signally corrected, the 
 Apostle enters directly upon his subject, and 
 in the first place appeals to the settled be-
 
 45 
 
 lief of Christians, universally, respecting the 
 nature of the Lord's Supper, " The cup of 
 " blessing," says he, " which we bless, is it 
 " not the communion of the blood of Christ ? 
 " The bread which we break, is it not the 
 " communion of the body of Christ ?" 
 
 . .: 
 
 This interrogatory form deserves particu- 
 lar notice ; it implies, that there was already 
 such unanimous consent in the Christian 
 church, respecting the nature and import of 
 the Lord's Supper, as only to make it neces- 
 sary to take for granted the matter of that 
 belief. Let, then, the terms of the Apos- 
 tle, thus deliberately and decisively applied, 
 be attentively weighed; he does not give 
 a general estimate of the Eucharist, as being 
 the most important and appropriate act of 
 Christian devotion; but he distinctly and 
 emphatically specifies Hhe. mysterious charac- 
 ter and efficacy, which the material elements 
 of bread and wine acquired, by their conse- 
 cration to the holy purpose for which they 
 were appointed. 
 
 In a word, according to the Apostle, and 
 that universal belief to which he appeals, 
 the commemorative celebration of the Eu-
 
 46 
 
 charist, as a devotional act, is not that which 
 makes it peculiarly beneficial and venerable ; 
 but it is so, because in this ordinance, the 
 aliments which Christ has appointed, be- 
 come, through his designation and bless- 
 incr the direct vehicles of his own divine 
 
 o' 
 
 influences to capable receivers. Nothing 
 short of this notion would accord with the 
 ascribing of spiritual virtue, specially to each 
 visible sign ; and, what is still more, to each, 
 not as becoming efficacious through the act 
 of receiving, but as endued with efficacy 
 through the act of consecration. 
 
 For, we must observe, it is not " the cup 
 " of blessing which we drink" nor " the 
 " bread which we eat" that are declared to 
 be the communion of the blood, and the 
 communion of the body of Christ ; but it is 
 said, " the cup of blessing which we bless ; 
 " and the bread which we break ;" clearly in- 
 dicating, that the eucharistic elements, when 
 once solemnly sanctified according to our 
 Lord's appointment, are to be regarded as 
 being, in an inexplicable, but deeply awful 
 manner, the receptacles of that heavenly 
 virtue, which his divine power qualifies 
 them to convey. On such a subject it would
 
 47 
 
 be presumptuous to indulge hi any hypothe- 
 tic speculation. But it would be still more 
 blameable, and at least as prejudicial, not to 
 allow to the Apostle's words all their due 
 import ; especially as those very words con- 
 tain the only direct definition of the Eucha- 
 rist in the sacred writings. 
 
 If the language of St. Paul could need 
 elucidation, it might be strictly compared 
 with the several expressions of our Lord, 
 already adverted to ; but these must, of them- 
 selves, recur ; and, at once, fix the unequivo- 
 cal, however mysterious import of the com- 
 munion of his body, and the communion of his 
 blood. In this accumulated light, it must be 
 felt impossible, that the thing signified 
 should be disproportioned to the force of the 
 expression ; and the conclusion, on the 
 whole, must inevitably appear to be, that as 
 our Lord had taught his followers to ex- 
 pect from his divine person, such influences 
 of his body and of his blood, as should be 
 not figurative or illusive, but substantive 
 and vital, and as in his institution of the 
 Eucharist, he constituted the consecrated 
 bread and wine, the virtual representatives 
 of his body and blood, and by consequence
 
 48 
 
 the effective vehicles of their influences to all 
 capable partakers, so, what our Lord had 
 thus declared, and thus established, is com- 
 prehensively contained, and as if solemnly 
 countersigned, in the clear and authoritative 
 recognition of his Apostle. 
 
 But even this emphatical passage is only 
 a part of what St. Paul has delivered on the 
 subject of the Eucharist. As, in the wis- 
 dom of God, it was on this occasion alone, 
 to be directly the theme of discourse, so, 
 accordingly, the Apostle seems anxious to 
 leave nothing unsaid, that could illustrate 
 the doctrine, or enforce the consequent duty. 
 Having, therefore, by his interrogatory ap- 
 peal, called attention to the profound and 
 awful nature of the Eucharist, he proceeds 
 to argue from the case of Jewish sacrifices, 
 with what cautious veneration this Christian 
 mystery ought to be treated. " Consider 
 *' Israel, after the flesh," he says, and asks 
 " were not they who ate of the sacrifices 
 *' partakers of the altar?" The argument is 
 brief, but the inference cannot be mistaken. 
 The Apostle clearly implies, that the same 
 kind of sanctity, which had been ascribed to 
 things offered on God's altar, under tiie old
 
 49 
 
 law, was now to be ascribed to the eucha- 
 ristic symbols. That sanctity, he intimates 
 to have been given to the Jewish sacrifices 
 by the altar on which they had been offered; 
 according to our Lord's declaration, that it 
 is " the altar which sanctifieth the gift;" 
 and such he conceives to have been the 
 communication of sanctity to the matter of 
 the sacrifice, that the partakers in the one, 
 participated also in the other. Such then, 
 he would have it understood was, strictly 
 in its kind, however more spiritual in its 
 purpose, the sanctity derived by the eucha- 
 ristic symbols from their high designation, 
 and through them conveyed unto the per- 
 sons of those who partook of them. 
 
 That this was, distinctly, St. Paul's mean- 
 ing, is confirmed by the design which he had 
 in view ; namely, that those Corinthians, who 
 had frequented idolatrous banquets, might 
 be awakened to a full sense, not only of the 
 gross profaneness, but also of the personal 
 danger of then* conduct. On this particular 
 point he proceeds to enlarge. Even already 
 however, he has said enough to shew, that 
 in his judgement, a divinely effective vir- 
 tue became, through consecration, myste- 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 riously united with the Eucharistic symbols, 
 and was, through them, communicated bene- 
 ficially to capable receivers ; and, as it should 
 seem, in some such awful manner to every 
 receiver* as to make his contact with any 
 unholy thing, a matter not less of peril 
 to himself, than of insult to the- majesty of 
 heaven. 
 
 In continuing his expostulation, the Apos- 
 tle retains the idea of sacrificial communica- 
 tive influence, and applies it to that crimi- 
 nal intermixture which it was his immedi- 
 ate object to reprobate. " The things," 
 says he, " which the Gentiles sacrifice, 
 " they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, 
 " and I would not that ye should be commu- 
 " nicants of demons." 7 Such, therefore, is 
 his deduction, merely from the contrariety 
 between sacrifices to God and sacrifices to 
 demons. But the particular subject of which 
 the Apostle was treating, called for yet 
 stronger denouncement; he, therefore, im- 
 
 7 As before in the 18th verse, the Israelites, by eat- 
 ing the sacrifice, were xouuw TOO Stwaalufjow, so in the 
 20th verse, the Corinthians, by eating idol sacrifices, are
 
 51 
 
 mediately adds " Ye canot drink the cup of 
 * the Lord and the cup of demons ; ye can- 
 *' not partake of the table of the Lord and 
 " the table of demons. Do we provoke the 
 " Lord to jealousy ! are we stronger than he !" 
 
 The strength of these expressions is re- 
 markable. It seems as if they were intend- 
 ed to convey all possible awfulness of admo- 
 nition ; " ye cannot " do it, says the Apostle, 
 as if he meant to pronounce, that there was 
 some provision in the invisible world, as cer- 
 tain in its operation as the laws of nature, 
 in readiness to avenge such profanation ; to 
 which mysterious vengeance they would in- 
 fallibly expose themselves, should they ne- 
 glect his warning. But on what does he rest 
 the certainty of that result ? Not on the mo- 
 ral contrariety of the two acts, however 
 real or extreme, but strictly, on the opposite 
 import and effectiveness of the two cups, 
 and of the two tables, as being respectively 
 the mediums of communion with the 
 Lord, and of communion with demons. 
 
 It is, in fact, the profane and unnatural 
 mixture of things the most sacred, with 
 things the most unhallowed, in this visible 
 
 E 2
 
 52 
 
 world, and that in their own persons, with 
 which St. Paul charges the Corinthians; and 
 as if he himself was struck with inexpres- 
 sible horror at the outrage to Omnipotence 
 itself, which such enormity involved, he 
 gives his feelings vent in an appeal to all 
 that was impressible in human nature, " Do 
 " we provoke the Lord to jealousy ! are we 
 " stronger than he !" 
 
 -*Ol- m ZIiVs Uu 'ihJttfT/VJ^.irf.lit c ^ j til /:'>if$&f 
 
 It was n6t possible to add greater weight 
 tb 'all that he had spoken, than by this inter- 
 rogatory. The Jewish high priest could not 
 have given a more terrible warning to some 
 daring intruder into the Holy of Holies. 
 The words are awful ; they are as pregnant 
 in meaning, as they are resistless in force. 
 They attest the feeling with which St. Paul 
 had spoken, and guard his words against 
 efVeti the possibility of a figurative construc- 
 tion. And fiere, for the time he drops the 
 subject, perhaps that an interval for reflec- 
 tion on all he had just said, and especially 
 on his last most awful expostulation, might 
 the better prepare the minds of those to 
 whom he "wrote, for what was yet to come. 
 
 / I'-JC'i.* .'t Y< ' - 
 
 He had, in fabt, another enormity to com-
 
 plain of, and for that purpose he reserves 
 what is, most strictly, the sequel of his for- 
 mer discourse. He had ended, in the first 
 instance with the judgements of God, as 
 matter of awful apprehension. From this 
 point he proceeds, when in the next chapter 
 he brings his second charge against them, re- 
 specting the Eucharist ; namely, that of treat- 
 ing it with disrespect in the very act of cele- 
 bration. In his animadversions on this fla- 
 grant violation of Christian duty, he appeals 
 to then* own experience for frequent verifi- 
 cations, even already, of that tremendous 
 menace, by which he had, as it were, rivet- 
 ted and sealed his preceding remonstrance. 
 
 That he may the more surely gain his pur- 
 pose, he first lays the strongest possible 
 ground, by reciting the record of the Eucha- 
 ristic institution, not only as received by 
 him from the report of his brethren, but as 
 directly made known by divine revelation 
 to himself. After repeating those quick and 
 powerful words, which had given imperish- 
 able dignity and virtue to that bread and 
 that cup, as implying the shewing fortlyof 
 the Redeemer's death, as well as (whatpeeu 
 before dwelt upon) the communion of his
 
 54 
 
 body and blood ; he thus proceeds in his ad- 
 monition " Wherefore, whosoever shall eat 
 " this bread, or 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 judgement to himself, 
 " not discerning the Lord's body." 
 
 I have quoted this passage at large, that I 
 may call attention to the closeness with 
 which the Apostle adheres to the idea of the 
 distinct and specifical elements, rather than 
 to the general act of commemoration or com- 
 munion. There is a kind of physiognomy 
 in language, by which we seem to see, as 
 well as understand, the mind of the w r riter. 
 Thus, in the passage now transcribed, we 
 not only receive the instruction intended to 
 be conveyed, but in the precision of the 
 terms, the strictness with which they are 
 adhered to, and the energy with which they 
 are applied, we have, as it were, the very 
 stamp and signature of St. Paul's own mind 
 and heart. Not only from first to last, does 
 he keep the eucharistic elements in his view,
 
 55 
 
 but he says nothing which does not expressly 
 refer to them. Tims, as the crime is eating 
 or drinking unworthily, so the punishment is 
 the eating and drinking of judgement, (that 
 is, of bodily infliction,) as if the very receiv- 
 ing of those holy things into the human 
 person, when defiled by polluting contact, 
 or desecrated by actual irreverence, produc- 
 ed of itself (like the Ark of the Covenant 
 when profanely treated) the calamity, or 
 destruction of the offender. Again, the de- 
 secrating irreverence is stated to arise from 
 not discerning the Lord's Body ; that is, from 
 approaching the sacramental symbols, with- 
 out due discrimination of their transcendent 
 quality. In this awful designation of the 
 matter of the sacrament, the Apostle seems 
 to have thought his subject carried to its 
 height. What more, in truth, could even 
 St. Paul have added, either for the correc- 
 tion of the Corinthians, or for the instruc- 
 tion of all succeeding Christians ? 
 
 He therefore merely strengthens what he 
 has said, by referring to those divine judge- 
 ments, which had been already inflicted. 
 " Fois4;his cause," says he, " many are weak 
 " and sickly among you, and many sleep."
 
 56 
 
 The Corinthians themselves, had probably 
 been suffering these calamities, without ad- 
 verting to their actual source. But this awful 
 explanation would at once lead them to com- 
 pare their crime and punishment with those 
 signal cases of a like nature, recorded in holy 
 scripture ; with that, for example, of Nadab 
 and Abihu, who offered strange fire on God's 
 altar; with that of the Philistines, who 
 brought the ark into the house of Dagon ; 
 with that of the Bethshemites, whose profaire 
 curiosity led them to look into the ark, and 
 who became the victims of their own pre- 
 sumption; and with that of Uzzah, who 
 drew his own instant death from the ark, by 
 an inconsiderate touch. They must, at once, 
 have seen and acknowledged, that what was 
 just and necessary in those ancient instances 
 of divine chastisement, must be accounted 
 equally just and necessary in the case then 
 existing; since every reason that could be 
 conceived, for fencing the symbols of di- 
 vine presence and power under the Old Tes- 
 tament, must hold good, for an equal fencing 
 of similar symbols, under the New Testa- 
 ment. It could not, for one moment be 
 imagined, that either the altar, or the ark of 
 the Lerd should be guarded by more terri-
 
 57 
 
 jrki,.,!,,-Ui, 
 
 ble majesty, than that which, on equally 
 divine authority, was to be " discerned" as 
 " the Lord's Body." 
 
 But does not the awful warning respect- 
 ing " eating or drinking unworthily " inti- 
 mate, by parity of reason, or rather on a still 
 surer ground, the divine potency of the ele- 
 ments to all qualified receivers? For, if to 
 eat or drink unworthily, is to eat and drink 
 divine malediction, then no less surely, to 
 eat and drink worthily, is to eat and drink 
 divine benediction. It is evidently, accord- 
 ing to St. Paul, the mysterious sanctity of 
 the thing unworthily received, which makes 
 it the vehicle of vengeance to him by whom 
 it is profaned. But if the sacred symbols be 
 thus endued with a supernatural influence to 
 avenge their abuse, they must possess a like 
 supernatural influence, where they are duly 
 and reverently received, to benefit and bless 
 the receiver. In fact, we must conclude, 
 that it is their being divinely fitted to bless, 
 which alone could give them an avenging 
 power when profaned; and consequently, 
 that the Apostle in adding this last distinct 
 and emphatical declaration, confirms all that 
 he had said before, and puts the Christian
 
 88 
 
 doctrine of the Eucharist beyond the possi- 
 bility of question. 
 
 To understand the mysterious term of the 
 Lord's Body in any such gross sense as has 
 been fancied in the Church of Rome, would 
 be to overlook our Redeemer's expressions, 
 already in part quoted, " It is the spirit 
 " which quickeneth, the flesh profiteth 
 " nothing. The words which I speak unto 
 " you, they are spirit and they are life." 
 
 But, let us not therefore, rush into an op- 
 posite extreme ; nor treat the words of an 
 inspired Apostle, as we would not treat 
 those of any common intelligent writer. 
 Let us observe, that every expression St. 
 Paul uses, tends, as it were more and more, 
 to invest the sacramental symbols with an 
 ineffable measure of derivative dignity and 
 instrumental virtue. He gives no shadow 
 of pretext for any carnal interpretation ; but 
 he says all that could be said, to make us 
 regard " that bread and that cup," not only 
 as the visible pledge, but the effective organ 
 of a vital communication from the invisible, 
 but : then specially operative, and there- 
 fore specially present, Redeemer. For he
 
 59 
 
 alone it is, who could make those symbols 
 to be, in virtue and efficacy, his body and 
 blood. 
 
 In thus explaining the Sacrament of the 
 Eucharist, the Apostle most truly tells us 
 a mystery; but a mystery which (as has 
 been observed) the first Christians were pre- 
 pared by every divine analogy to receive; 
 and which could scarcely need vindication in 
 these latter times, if the zeal of contending 
 Christians did not so generally neglect all 
 truth, even of holy scripture itself, which 
 does not directly serve as a weapon against 
 the error, real or supposed, which they are 
 anxious to refute, or as a support to the par- 
 ticular theory, which it is their purpose to 
 maintain. 
 
 On this account chiefly, rather than be- 
 cause laboured elucidation was at all neces- 
 sary, have I dwelt so long on the Apostle's 
 expressions. I have not wished to add any- 
 thing to their strength, much less to turn 
 them from their intended aim. I have 
 merely been anxious, by the minutest atten- 
 tion, and the most sober consideration, to 
 elicit from them their precise and entire
 
 meaning; especially as it has pleased the 
 divine wisdom, that these passages of the 
 10th and llth chapters of the first Corin- 
 thians, should be the sole instance in which 
 the doctrine of the Eucharist is infallibly 
 stated and explained. 
 
 But, perhaps, it may still be doubted, 
 whether it be essential to the due estimation 
 and beneficial use of the Lord's supper, that 
 the Apostle's expressions should be as liter- 
 ally interpreted, as they have been, in the 
 preceding observations ; and whether he may 
 not be considered as, in some measure, em- 
 ploying a figurative mode of speech, to 
 which it will not be unreasonable to give a 
 proportionally qualified construction. 
 
 To this I would answer, that in every 
 passage of holy scripture, as well as in that 
 more immediately in view, it ought to be 
 our first care to ascertain, in what manner 
 the divine speaker or writer means to be 
 understood? If, in a figurative manner, 
 some key will assuredly be given us, where- 
 by to arrive at the simple and solid sense.
 
 61 
 
 This, perhaps, will be intimated in the 
 very terms which are used, by the obvious 
 impossibility of any other interpretation ; or, 
 at least, the context will afford such light, as 
 to explain the import, if not also to illus- 
 trate the fitness, of the metaphorical expres- 
 sions. It would be easy to produce exam- 
 ples; but the passage particularly before us, 
 could, on no reasonable ground be included 
 in them: for I conceive it would be impos- 
 sible to point out one strictly figurative term 
 
 in the entire discourse. 
 
 : .M;.- ..'_;,;* -*j fcm,ifcrt<,j.t: iffo 
 
 A figurative term is that, which, by sub- 
 stituting some other term or terms, may be 
 translated into plain language. But if the 
 expressions of St. Paul respecting the Eucha- 
 rist be tried by this rule, their import, be it 
 ever so mysterious, cannot be proved meta- 
 phorical. For instance, what plainer terms 
 could we pretend to substitute for the com- 
 munion of the blood or the communion of the 
 body of the Lord? Nay, the very term of 
 the Lord's body is so used by him, as infi- 
 nitely to transcend all attempts at adequate 
 explication. When the Church of Christ is 
 called his body, we see at once that it is a 
 figure, from our acquaintance with the sub-
 
 ject thus denominated. But when we read 
 of the Lord's eucharistic body, we read of 
 something not otherwise made known to us ; 
 and therefore cannot similarly resolve its im- 
 port into a plainer notion ; which will be no 
 less the case with our Saviour's several expres- 
 sions already adverted to. To weigh the 
 consonant terms of our Lord and his Apos- 
 tles with sobriety and humility, will be to 
 feel, that they unitedly assure us of a hea- 
 venly and spiritual reality, divine in its 
 source, infallible in its efficacy, inconceiv- 
 ably venerable in its nature and character, 
 and no less dreadful in its profanation. 
 What is said therefore on this subject, is not 
 figurative, but it is mysterious and trans- 
 cendental ; because, obviously, the thing sig- 
 nified rises, not only above the language, but 
 the conception of man. St. Paul had learn- 
 ed what he delivers, he tells us, by revela- 
 tion ; most probably when he was caught 
 up into paradise, and heard " unspeakable 
 " words." When, therefore, the Apostle 
 speaks, as in the instance before us, of that 
 which is heavenly and divine, we must, in 
 reason believe, that however exalted his lan- 
 guage, the matter of which he speaks is 
 incomparably more exalted ; and that if we
 
 63 
 
 would do justice to him, to the subject, and 
 to ourselves, we must understand his terms 
 in the fulness of their import, as even then, 
 we shall only see by means of a glass, ob- 
 scurely ; and therefore, be liable through the 
 least aberration of our mental vision, either 
 to see delusively, or not to see at all. 
 
 
 
 But, may it not be apprehended, that the 
 ascribing of such instrumental importance 
 to the material elements of bread and wine, 
 as the literal interpretation of St. Paul's ex- 
 pression would imply, involves an inconsis- 
 tency with that purely spiritual character, 
 which is regarded as the great distinction of 
 the gospel dispensation ? 
 
 To this it might, with reason, be answered, 
 that in forming our notions of the gospel 
 dispensation, we are not to trust to any ge- 
 neral conclusions, however plausible, but 
 simply to its own representations of itself. 
 From these we shall learn, that though the 
 gospel is purely spiritual in its ends, the 
 means which it employs are most wisely 
 adapted and proportioned to the mixt na-
 
 64 
 
 ture of man. It is the exquisiteness of this 
 accommodation, which constitutes the most 
 conclusive internal evidence, that the author 
 of Christianity needed not that any should 
 testify to him of man, in as much as he 
 knew what was in man. To a creature con- 
 sisting, not of spirit only, but of soul and 
 body also, how disproportionate would have 
 been a scheme of moral improvement, much 
 more of moral disenthralment, adapted ex- 
 clusively to the highest portion of his 
 nature ? 
 
 "lH> *bjfuTi l>*'-1 ^'V.'.;!. /OiVt.'M JU- < 1 .OcT^f? ul& 
 
 But the fact is, that the gospel commenced 
 in an accommodation to man's animal exi- 
 gencies, which was as admirable as it was 
 gracious, and which the hosts of heaven con- 
 templated with delight and wonder. The 
 incarnation of the co-eternal Son, through 
 which St. John was enabled to declare, what 
 he and his fellow apostles " had seen with 
 "their eyes, what they had looked upon, 
 ' and their hands, had handled of the word 
 " of life," was, in the first instance, so to 
 consult human nature in its animal and 
 sensitive capacity, as to give the strongest 
 pledge, that a dispensation thus introduced 
 would, in every subordinate provision, niani-
 
 65 
 
 rest the same spirit, and operate on the same 
 principle. 
 
 For, could it be thought that the first 
 wonderful accommodation of Godhead to the 
 sensitive apprehensions of man, should be 
 wholly temporary, and that though that 
 mystery of godliness was ever to be re- 
 garded as the vital source of all spiritual 
 benefits and blessings, no continuance of 
 this wise and gracious condescension should 
 be manifested in the means whereby its re- 
 sults were to be perpetuated and made ef- 
 fectual ? 
 
 May we not rather conclude, that on the 
 same wise and gracious consideration, which 
 induced the divine nature to enshrine itself 
 in a human person, that through that me- 
 dium there might be a more familiar, more 
 impressive, and more engaging communica- 
 tion of God with man, it would be deemed 
 by the divine wisdom and goodness, most 
 suitable to man's natural feelings and con- 
 ceptions, to convey to him the special influ- 
 ences of incarnate Deity, through a me- 
 dium similarly adapted to his imagination 
 and his senses ? And when we believe, as 
 
 F
 
 66 
 
 if we are Christians we must believe, that he 
 who was God over all, united himself to so 
 low a thing as human flesh, in order to 
 become the fountain of those influences, we 
 surely need not question the credibility of his 
 conveying those influences through any other 
 work of his own hands, which he saw it 
 fit to appoint. When he had condescended 
 to imbody himself in our flesh, that he 
 might, more conformably to the laws of 
 our nature, give spiritual life to the world, 
 and when he was establishing a perpetual 
 ordinance expressly to represent that pri- 
 mary mystery, and to subserve its purpose 
 by instrumentally communicating its vir- 
 tue, was it either unsuitable or improbable, 
 that the heavenly grace, to be thus com- 
 municated, should be, as it were, imbo- 
 died in two of the purest and simplest pro- 
 visions, which, as Creator of the world, he 
 had given, for the sustenance of our animal 
 life, and the refreshment of our animal 
 weakness ? 
 
 The expediency of such a method, as pe- 
 culiarly fitted to impress the mind of man,
 
 6T 
 
 is illustrated, (as has been observed) by all 
 the analogous instances already adverted to. 
 In no case could the divine power itself 
 have required any medium of operation ; 
 and therefore every thing of this kind, 
 must have been employed in order to an 
 easier apprehension, and a deeper feeling, 
 of the source from which the benefit pro- 
 ceeded. It was chiefly to give such an 
 apprehension, and excite such a feeling, 
 that miraculous works were wrought; and 
 that end could not have been more infal- 
 libly secured, than by enduing with super- 
 natural efficacy, an instrumental means 
 which, in itself, was utterly inefficacious. 
 It was obviously, by no general law, that a 
 benefit thus conferred had been accom- 
 plished ; nor would it require any reason- 
 ing to establish the belief, that the virtue 
 which had so wonderfully imbodied itself 
 in a material vehicle, could be no less than 
 a real and substantive influence from the 
 divine omnipotence. 
 
 Was it not then if possible, still more 
 requisite, that a like apprehension, and a like 
 feeling, should be insured, respecting the 
 highest and holiest communication that had 
 
 F2
 
 68 
 
 ever proceeded from God to man? Esti- 
 mating the blessing conveyed in the Eucha- 
 rist, by the united representation of our 
 Lord, and of St. Paul, can we suppose that 
 any suitable means would be omitted of 
 attesting the divinity of that blessing to 
 our reason and natural feelings ? And what 
 could be more suitable than that the same 
 expedient, which had been employed to 
 impress human feeling with the sense of 
 divine operation, in so many inferior in- 
 stances, should be employed for the same 
 necessary purpose, in the A^ery highest 
 instance in which man, while on this earth, 
 was to be the subject of divine operation, 
 and the receiver of supernatural blessings ? 
 
 Instead, therefore, of questioning the li- 
 teral import of St. Paul's expressions, shall 
 we not rather recognize in that import the 
 uniformity of the divine proceedings; and 
 the depth of that wisdom which, not more 
 for the humbling of the proud, than for the 
 consolation of the humble, continues, in the 
 sublimest instance on this side of heaven, 
 to make the weakness of the instrument 
 an irrefragable evidence, that the blessing 
 received is directly and purely from himself?
 
 69 
 
 The assurance of this fact is invaluable ; 
 and it would be impossible to imagine any 
 more suitable way, in which such assurance 
 could have been given. It leaves to faith its 
 entire exercise, inasmuch as no extraordi- 
 nary impression is made either on the exter- 
 nal or the internal sense; but it exercises 
 faith in the highest and happiest manner, 
 by presenting to it an object, which in 
 its nature, and in its nearness, must be felt 
 to unite heaven with earth, and God with 
 man. Such is the reckoning which even 
 reason must make, if the actual transmission 
 of divine influence through the elements 
 be once admitted. We doubtless can con- 
 ceive heavenly influence to be communi- 
 cated without any medium whatever; but 
 we cannot conceive a spiritual influence con- 
 veyed through such material mediums, to 
 be any other than heavenly and divine. 
 
 -1 "' >. but 'k/ ^miToliiuf 
 
 
 But in addition to what we may deduce 
 from the general method of the divine pro- 
 ceedings, and from the reason of the case, 
 do we not find by actual experience, that 
 such an unequivocal pledge of divine ope-
 
 70 
 
 ration was necessary to preserve the belief 
 of such operation " whole and undefiled " in 
 the Christian Church? The fact of strictly 
 supernatural grace, though in itself so con- 
 solatory, is retained with difficulty in the 
 sceptical mind of man. It has, accordingly, 
 been modified in various ways by some 
 persons, and boldly rejected by others. To 
 establish, therefore, an ordinance, in the 
 obvious aspect and consistent import of 
 which, the doctrine of strictly supernatural 
 grace should ever have a divine attestation, 
 was to perpetuate this most important point 
 of faith in the surest and most practical 
 manner. It provided for the close and 
 candid Christian reasoner, imperishable pre- 
 mises leading to the most certain conclu- 
 sions ; and it afforded to the simply devout, 
 an instruction through the senses to the 
 mind, which would teach deeper things 
 than language could convey, and make an 
 impression on the inmost feelings, of which 
 their indistinct apprehension would neither 
 abate the awfulness, nor substantially pre- 
 vent the utility. 
 
 It is, on the contrary, to be remarked, 
 that where the notion of the Lord's Supper
 
 71 
 
 has been such, as to exclude the instrumen- 
 tal efficacy of the sacramental symbols, the 
 ordinance itself has appeared to lose its 
 interest and attractiveness. Of this fact, we 
 have decisive evidence in a complaint, made 
 by the pious Doddridge, in one of his ser- 
 mons to young persons, wherein he invites 
 religious youth to early communion. " I 
 " have frequently found," he says, " and I 
 " believe it has been the experience of many 
 " of my brethren in the ministry, that 
 %< young persons, not only of a very sober 
 " and regular conduct, but even those who 
 " have appeared most deeply impressed with 
 " the concerns of their souls, and experi- 
 " mentally acquainted, so far as we can 
 " judge, with regenerating grace, have in 
 " many instances shewn a strange coldness 
 " to this blessed institution ; and we have 
 " known not a few, who have grown old in 
 " the neglect of it ! " But whence this in- 
 difference, which the worthy Doddridge 
 so candidly acknowledges, and so sincerely 
 laments ? Did it not arise from his, and 
 his brethren's, view of the Lord's Supper, as 
 a mere commemorative and covenanting 
 transaction, in which grace was to be, as in 
 other religious ordinances, exercised and
 
 7* 
 
 improved ; but no special communication of 
 heavenly influence to be expected? Had 
 the Eucharist been regarded as a divinely 
 instituted conduit of supernatural grace, 
 directly from its fountain, could such per- 
 sons as Doddridge describes, have been remiss 
 in their attendance ? In that case, would 
 not their love and value of the Lord's Supper 
 be in exact proportion to their love and value 
 of religion itself ? But whenever the strictly 
 supernatural influence of the Eucharist is 
 overlooked or unacknowledged, (and such 
 will naturally, if not necessarily, be the 
 consequence of rejecting the mysterious de- 
 signation of the symbols), attention to this 
 Christian ordinance, will be little more than 
 gratuitous ; a natural effect perhaps of 
 Christian ardour, because it is matter of di- 
 vine injunction, but not a necessary result 
 of Christian sincerity. It is in this view 
 of it, merely a positive law of Christianity, 
 acting exclusively upon the feelings of fear, 
 of duty, or of gratitude. Contemplated as 
 the actual vehicle of Christ's own ineffable 
 influences to the capable receiver, it becomes 
 a matter of intrinsic interest, to neglect 
 which would be to neglect both present and 
 everlasting salvation. *
 
 n 
 
 Besides, the sacred Eucharist, when thua 
 conceived, becomes not only more attractive 
 to the upright Christian, but also much 
 more consolatory. When this holy ordi- 
 nance is supposed to rise above the other 
 means of grace, not by any appropriate in- 
 fluence of omnipotent power, but only by 
 its more direct reference to the mercy and 
 goodness of the dying Redeemer, the Chris- 
 tian, in partaking of it, can expect benefit, 
 only in proportion to the actual state of his 
 devotional feelings. Let his confidence in 
 the promised grace of Christ be ever so sin- 
 cere, his hope of a fresh communication 
 will rise or fall with the conscious ardour, 
 or the conscious coldness of his affections. 
 But these not being at human command, 
 and seldom or never moving in exact pro- 
 portion to the settled purposes of the heart, 
 the consequence, on the whole, will natu- 
 rally be, that when animating influences are 
 most needed, they will be least expected. 
 Whereas, if there be a persuasion, that di- 
 vine grace is communicated in and through 
 the Sacrament, by a special exercise of 
 Divine Power, it will follow that, not an 
 
 inability to co-operate, but solely an ineapa- 
 floiwias
 
 74 
 
 city to receive, will obstruct the commu- 
 nication. 7 
 
 The importance of this distinction, I 
 humbly conceive, will be felt by every one, 
 who has religiously inspected himself. In 
 efforts of the heart to rise toward God, to 
 will may be most sincerely present with us, 
 when, how to perform that which is good, 
 we find not. Even in an advanced stage of 
 piety, there may be least power of men- 
 tal exertion, when its sensible necessity is 
 greatest ; for instance, under infirmity of 
 body or mind ; or when some distressing 
 
 7 It is not possible* within such narrow limits as I 
 have prescribed to myself, to guard the thought ex- 
 pressed in this paragraph, against the danger of mis- 
 apprehension. To answer this purpose, I must have 
 gone into something like digression, which would have 
 perplexed the thread of my discourse. I will therefore 
 merely observe, that I proceed upon a principle of the 
 Catholic Church, rested in by the Revisers of our Li- 
 turgy in 1661, when conferring, previously,, with the 
 Non-Conformist Divines namely, that " God's sacra- 
 " ments have their effects, where the receiver doth not 
 " ponere obicem, put any bar against them." Account 
 of the proceedings of the Commissioners of both persua- 
 sions, &c Page 99.
 
 75 
 
 event has caused what St. Peter calls, " hea- 
 " viness through manifold temptations." 
 How comfortable, then, amid this " weak- 
 ' ness of our mortal nature," to reflect, not 
 only that God can internally aid and 
 strengthen us by his own secret influences, 
 independently of our active co-operation, but 
 that he has assured us of this unspeakable 
 blessing, by such a permanent pledge and 
 means of its accomplishment, as, by its very 
 character and nature, supersedes all co- 
 operation, and solely requires the faculty of 
 reception. If only we are athirst, we have 
 here a fountain of life, to which we may 
 indeed come, without money and without 
 price ; and which comes to us without any 
 diluting intermixture, as immediately flow- 
 ing from the throne of God, and of the 
 Lamb. 
 
 But this view of the Lord's Supper, not 
 only ministers to encouragement, where 
 encouragement is wanting, but it also serves 
 to repress all spiritual pride, and undue 
 self-gratulation. It is observable that those 
 sincere maintainers of God's effectual grace, 
 who do not regard the Eucharist as the ac- 
 tual conduit of its conveyance, deem it ne-
 
 76 
 
 cessary to guard the supposed possessors of 
 that grace, against robbing God of his 
 honour, by ascribing to themselves, what 
 they owe to his bounty. And there can be 
 no doubt, that such a false reckoning is much 
 more than incidental, where the view is 
 directed only to those means of grace, in 
 which the human faculties so co-operate, as 
 to make it impossible to draw a distinct 
 line between what supervenient grace does 
 in the transaction, and what man does for 
 himself. But wherever the Eucharist is 
 considered as the appropriate vehicle of the 
 animating and strengthening grace of Christ 
 to man, such cautions as those adverted to, 
 will hardly be requisite. 
 
 He who clearly and confidently ex- 
 pects to receive, in " the cup of blessing 
 " which is blessed, the communion of 
 " Christ's blood," and in *' the bread which 
 " is broken, the communion of Christ's 
 " body," will naturally and necessarily de- 
 preciate all that he could do for himself, 
 in comparison with that transcendent com- 
 munication. In the sublime simplicity of 
 the Eucharistic institution, the humble ex- 
 pectant of heavenly blessing is abstracted
 
 77 
 
 form all human agency, of others, or of 
 himself. The solemn words, used from the 
 earliest times in both the eastern and west- 
 ern church, and through the distinguishing 
 providence of God, preserved in our own, 
 " Sursum corda" and the reply of the faith- 
 ful " Habenms ad Dom'mum" 8 speak the 
 one common feeling infallibly excited by 
 " discerning the Lord's body " in the conse- 
 crated symbols, and, by consequence, look- 
 ing for the blessing exclusively from him, 
 who makes those elements " the hiding of 
 " his power." 9 The mind thus impressed 
 will feel no tendency to ascribe to itself the 
 benefits it may have received. If spiritual 
 life be consciously felt to gain strength and 
 ascendency, the fixed belief of a sacramental 
 conveyance of that life will at once increase 
 the feeling of delight, and of humility of 
 delight, because the influences thus commu- 
 nicated, are so purely from the Godhead 
 itself, as to imply a real commencement, as 
 well as certain pledge of everlasting be- 
 atitude.; of humility, because the direct 
 
 10 Yrtsfcjfr: 
 8 " Lift up your hearts! R. We lift them up nnlo 
 
 " fVi T 1 " ' 
 ""' Habakkuk, iii. *.-
 
 78 
 
 and unmixed apprehension of the divine 
 power and presence, which the discernment 
 of the Lord's body in the symbols must im- 
 ply, cannot but impress upon the mind of 
 man such a sense of his own comparative 
 baseness and nothingness, and inspire such 
 an habitual and deep sobriety, as could not 
 be conceived equally producible through any 
 other existing means in this lower world. 
 
 And as the lowliness thus infused is of 
 the same nature with that of angels, and 
 has in it no tendency to superstitious weak- 
 ness, so the satisfaction which is enjoyed, 
 has no relation to enthusiastic illusion. 
 This latter is always the offspring of a sup- 
 posed distinguishing communication from 
 God ; a peculiar afflatus, as it is imagined, 
 by the mere will of the Spirit ; and not sub- 
 ject to be controuled even by the clearest 
 rules of scripture. But however elevating 
 the idea of the Eucharistic intercourse with 
 God, the mind is hereby raised to no giddy 
 height ; the elevation, which must be ex- 
 perienced, under a full apprehension of this 
 divine provision, is as sober as it is sub- 
 lime. The vouchsafement is neither per- 
 sonal nor partial : but extended to every
 
 79 
 
 capable member of the Christian Church ; 
 the apparatus is such, as to act neither on 
 the sensitive nor the passionate feelings, 
 but solely on the purest perceptions of the 
 mind, and the soundest sensibilities of the 
 heart; and the adorable agency itself has 
 nothing in it akin to the whirlwind, the 
 earthquake, or the fire ; but in this instance 
 operates as in the great economy of visible 
 nature, with the same silence as in causing 
 the earth to vegetate, or the planets to 
 move in their orbits through the heavens. 
 Need it then be said, that the glare of the 
 meteor does not differ more from the light 
 of the sun, than the transports of the en- 
 thusiast differ from those exalted apprehen- 
 sions, which deep views of the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper must naturally both 
 awaken, and sustain, in every devout mind 
 and heart. 
 
 I have already adverted to the myste- 
 rious communication which the Eucharist 
 imparts, being a pledge of the same divine 
 presence in and with the Christian Church, 
 as the Jewish Church had enjoyed in the 
 inner sanctuary of its Temple. But on this
 
 80 
 
 particular point, 1 must beg leave to offer a 
 few additional observations. 
 
 I observed, that such a communication of 
 divine influence as could be effected only by 
 the omnipotent power of our Redeemer, must 
 also of necessity imply his special and extra- 
 ordinary presence; and I inferred that the 
 Apostles and their brethren would thus 
 feel themselves amply compensated for that 
 noblest of all Jewish privileges, the special re- 
 sidence of Jehovah in the midst of his people ; 
 inasmuch as in the Eucharistic institution, 
 estimated as our Lord himself had taught 
 them, their mental eye, would recognize a 
 Shechinah, as real as that which had 
 taken possession of the Holy of Holies at 
 the dedication of the Temple built by 
 Solomon. 
 
 To illustrate the importance of this par- 
 ticular consideration, may it not be re- 
 marked, that though the omnipresence of 
 God is a most awful and momentous truth, 
 yet, even in the best disposed minds, the 
 sense, merely of this presence, however it 
 must excite philosophical reverence, would 
 scarcely awaken filial affection ? Then only
 
 81 
 
 can we contemplate God as our father, when 
 we have assurance that he regards us as his 
 children ; and that we are distinctly and in- 
 dividually within the gracious notice, and 
 under the direct influence, of our Almighty 
 parent. 
 
 The patriarchs of old were, doubtless, 
 firm in their belief of the divine omnipre- 
 sence. 1 But this alone would scarcely have 
 
 '27 
 
 ~ 
 
 1 The degree and manner in which pious persons, 
 under the Jewish dispensation, were impressed with 
 the divine omnipresence, is admirably exemplified in 
 the 139th Psalm. But the question is, could that great 
 truth have been either so practically felt, or so mag- 
 nificently descanted on, except where the established 
 fact of a special presence gave it animation and sus- 
 tenance ? 
 
 The prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the 
 Temple, (l Kings, viii.) also contains as sublime a re- 
 cognition of the Divine omnipresence, as could be 
 expressed in words (v. 27) ; and yet every subsequent 
 portion of that noble piece of devotional eloquence, 
 gives evidence of the confidence and consolation, which 
 the devout king derived from the anticipation of a 
 tpecial/y present God, who thus, in boundless mercy, 
 adapted his infinitude to the apprehensions and affec- 
 tions of his limited and dependent creatures. 
 G
 
 82 
 
 supported them, when they " went forth, 
 " not knowing whither they went." Their 
 supreme consolation arose from the persua- 
 sion that the eye of God was specially upon 
 them, and the hand of God directly and 
 effectively with them ; to which happy con- 
 fidence they had been raised, by such mani- 
 festations of his special presence repeatedly 
 made to them, as were, at the time, a matter 
 of unutterable comfort, and left behind them 
 a " home-felt delight," and " sober certainty," 
 which no earthly circumstances were suffi- 
 cient to destroy. 
 
 In those instances, the awe of infinite 
 Deity was necessarily felt ; but this naturally 
 overwhelming sentiment was softened into 
 unutterable peace and joy by such undelu- 
 sive demonstrations of the Friend and the 
 Father. Hence the very places where those 
 manifestations had been made, became dear 
 to the patriarchs. To those memorable 
 scehes they loved to return, that they might 
 there offer up their homage with excited 
 recollection, deeper gratitude, and more 
 sensible consolation. 
 
 The care which was taken to continue to
 
 83 
 
 the posterity of the patriarchs the same sub- 
 stantial demonstration of a specially present 
 God, has been already dwelt upon ; and no- 
 thing additional need be said to shew, that 
 this exercise of divine condescension was 
 carried to its utmost height in the incarna- 
 tion of the Eternal Word ; all former tokens 
 or evidences of the special presence of Jeho- 
 vah being, in comparison with the actual ad- 
 vent of Emmanuel, God with us, but prepa- 
 ratives and prelibations. 
 
 Taking, then, this long-continued, and at 
 length consummated condescension of God, 
 to that nature which he had given to man, 
 into our consideration ; and keeping in view 
 the entire sameness of human nature under 
 the Christian, as under the patriarchal and 
 Jewish dispensations ; can we imagine that 
 when the Godhead had come nearest, and 
 had most intimately familiarized itself with 
 man, all substantive intercourse with our 
 Emmanuel was thenceforward to cease, and 
 that the highest dispensation should wholly 
 want that natural satisfaction, with which 
 lower dispensations had been so signally fa- 
 voured ; and which, while man possessed 
 the same organization of spirit, soul and 
 G2
 
 84 
 
 body, could never cease to be panted after, 
 and virtually demanded ? 
 
 That the Incarnate Word, after finishing 
 the work of his humiliation, should no 
 longer manifest himself to the external 
 senses, was declared by himself to be expe- 
 dient, as requisite to that spiritual course in 
 which his disciples were from that time to 
 proceed. But it was essential to this very 
 design, that they should consider him as 
 withdrawn from their bodily senses only, 
 and that as far as their exigencies required, 
 he would still be as really present with 
 them, as in the days of his flesh. 
 
 -.->. M*i;< . ; 'I'- .-./trVrfoi l**'Afitiv' 
 
 But, to establish this assurance, some divine 
 pledge was indispensable. Without some 
 token, by which his special approach to them 
 should be notified, and on their recurrence 
 to which, they might confide, that he would 
 be invisibly present with them, to aid and 
 bless them, as effectually as if they saw him 
 in the midst of them without such a pro- 
 vision, I say, the Christian dispensation 
 would have had no adequate security against 
 such vagueness of apprehension, and cold- 
 ness of affection, as would have sunk it far
 
 85 
 
 below the level of Jewish devotion. The 
 mind of Christians in that case could have 
 rationally contemplated the divine omnipre- 
 sence alone, and the piety of the intelligent 
 and sober-minded could have been little bet- 
 ter than a more definite, and more firmly 
 grounded natural religion. For those who 
 had more reason than affection, such a sys- 
 tem might have sufficed. But, if we may 
 say it with due reverence, however the dif- 
 fusive rays of Deity, may not only afford 
 light, but excite a degree of warmth in the 
 spiritual, like those of the sun, in the ma- 
 terial world ; still in the one case as in the 
 other, it is not diffusion of rays, but the 
 concentration of them, which produces a 
 melting ardour. 
 
 That the apprehension merely of divine 
 omnipresence, should not be adequate to the 
 mental exigencies of man is the less to be 
 doubted, as it would seem to be insuffi- 
 cient for maintaining the devotion even of 
 higher intelligences. We read in the book 
 of Job, that there was a day when the sons 
 of God came to present themselves before 
 the Lord ; and that there was another day, 
 when thev did the same. Intimations of
 
 86 
 
 a like kind are numerous in the Old Testa- 
 ment, and if we attend to what is said in 
 the Apocalypse, we shall find them still 
 more abundant in the New. Doubtless, we 
 can know but little of these heavenly mys- 
 teries ; still the uniform fact of a Special 
 Presence in the invisible world is indisputa- 
 ble ; and would it not seem to be almost a 
 self-evident truth that finite minds, however 
 exalted, can apprehend the Godhead with 
 a satisfaction proportioned to their nature, 
 only by means of a definite manifestation ? 
 
 That this exigence is increased in man by 
 his terrestrial nature, needs no proof: It is 
 obvious that in this world, the entire move- 
 ment of things is adapted to that nature, 
 and thus our innate tendencies and our ex- 
 ternal circumstances unite to limit and mo- 
 dify our mental action, be the object of 
 that action ever so exalted. 
 
 Accordingly, if we examine ourselves, we 
 shall perceive that in whatever concerns us, 
 we require definite matter of fact, on which 
 to repose our minds, as much as we need 
 some solid substance to support our bodies. 
 It is of no essential moment, through what
 
 87 
 
 species of evidence the matter of fact is no- 
 tified to us, if only the notification have clear 
 marks of authenticity. Hence, in human 
 affairs there is always more or less exercise 
 of what may fairly be called faith, but al- 
 ways on an understood or supposed ground 
 of unequivocal reality. 
 
 That the various evidences of our divine 
 religion, and particularly the holy Scriptures 
 are most wisely and graciously adapted to 
 these habits of the human mind, is indis- 
 putable. But whether the utmost plenitude 
 of recorded testimony would meet all our 
 mental exigencies, either as finite or as ani- 
 malized beings, appears a matter of 
 much less easy determination. It would 
 rather seem that, to consult fully fqr our 
 finite, and still more for our terrestrial na- 
 ture, in addition to all other provisions, 
 there would be need of some impressive and 
 demonstrative pledge and token of the con- 
 tinued direct intercourse of the all-gracious 
 Being with his human servants. Such a 
 pledge and token would completely meet 
 the demand of human nature for matter of 
 fact assurance. And if the expediency of 
 supplying that demand could not otherwise
 
 83 
 
 be proved, it might be inferred from what 
 has been already adverted to ; I mean the 
 striking tendency of those, by whom the 
 notion of any such pledge and token is re- 
 jected, either to think illusively of the direct 
 intercourse of God with the human spirit, 
 or else utterly to deny its reality. 
 
 But in following the light of our Redeemer 
 and the guidance of his Apostle, do we not 
 find in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 just such a pledge and token of the special 
 presence, and real influence of our God and 
 Saviour, as at once meets the demand of our 
 nature, and suits the high aim and intellec- 
 tual spirit of the Christian dispensation? 
 That life of faith by which, as Christians, 
 we gradually rise on the moral scale, would 
 have been counteracted, had any impression 
 been made on the senses ; whereas the ab- 
 sence of every such impression preserves the 
 moral evidence of reality from delusive mix-, 
 ture, and fits the mind for the most sober 
 perception of its practical influence. The 
 great point, to which every circumstance 
 in the institution bears witness, is, that 
 the cup of blessing which is blessed, is 
 the communion of the Lord's blood, and that
 
 89 
 
 the bread which is broken, is the communion 
 of his body. But reason must pronounce 
 that earthly elements can serve so high and 
 holy a purpose only as instruments of the 
 divine power ; and in such an exercise of the 
 divine power, the special presence of the 
 Almighty agent, according to all our habits 
 of thinking, is necessarily implied. In yield- 
 ing to the force of St. Paul's first position, 
 we are directly led to this impressive conclu- 
 sion. And its unutterable weight and inte- 
 rest must concur with the infinite value of 
 the communicated blessing, to deepen the 
 effect upon every human feeling. ^ 
 
 In this view, as often as we approach the 
 table of the Lord, we may account our- 
 selves to have admission, in a manner be- 
 yond human conception, into the presence 
 chamber of the King Messiah. Under the 
 full sense of this Christian privilege, we 
 shall not need a Bethel, a Peniel, the Jewish 
 sanctuary, or even its Holy of Holies. In 
 contemplating with St. Paul, the mystery of 
 the Eucharist, the Christian cannot but see, 
 that in this sacred ordinance, especially and 
 most eminently, " a new and living way " is 
 opened for him (far above what was granted
 
 even to the Jewish High Priest,) to * enter 
 '* into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." 
 
 Is it then, too much to say, that the 
 Eucharist, thus apprehended, makes the 
 richest provision which we could conceive to 
 be made by any stated means, in this lower 
 world, for our spiritual sustenance and com- 
 fort ? While as a pledge and token of divine 
 presence and influence, its authenticity 
 never can be impaired its significancy, to 
 close and sober attention, never obscured, 
 its invisible mystery will be as wonderful, 
 as impressive, and as inestimable, in its 
 latest as in its earliest celebration. The com- 
 munion of the Lord's blood, and the com- 
 munion of the Lord's body, must have, as 
 terms, the same profound import as bless- 
 ings, the same infinite value, yesterday, to- 
 day, and for ever. Let not, therefore, the 
 simplicity of what is visible to our bodily 
 sight, veil from our mental eye those invi- 
 sible realities, which are to us so consolatory, 
 and in themselves so glorious. On the con- 
 trary, let us recognize the same spirit of 
 meek majesty, which veiled its transcen- 
 dent brightness in the mystery of the 
 incarnation, as still continuing the like gra-
 
 91 
 
 cious condescension in the mystery of the 
 Eucharist ; and let us joyfully and reverently 
 approach to do homage to our King, who in 
 this his own peculiar institution, comes to 
 diffuse benediction in his mystical Zion, 
 with the same apparent lowliness, as when 
 in conformity with the divine prediction, he 
 entered his literal Jerusalem " sitting upon 
 " an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." 
 
 ' 
 
 
 I might now proceed, in the way of con- 
 trast, to remark more particularly on those 
 views of the Lord's Supper, which stand 
 opposed to the explanation attempted in 
 these pages. I might, possibly, shew that by 
 rejecting the mysterious instrumentality of 
 the symbols, and thereby reducing the sacra- 
 ment itself, externally to a mere ceremony, 
 and internally to an act of common Chris- 
 tian devotion, besides the liberty thus 
 taken with holy Scripture, the Eucharistic 
 celebration at once loses all its proportioned 
 hold, (proportioned I mean to its high 
 origin,) on the natural reason, as well as on 
 the natural feelings of man. But these 
 would be, in some sort, controversial topics ;
 
 and I trust the grounds on which the claims 
 of the sacred Eucharist have been shewn to 
 rest, do not need to be defended by such 
 auxiliaries. 
 
 fdi- 
 
 I might also pursue still farther, the line 
 of observation, which I have been follow- 
 ing. I might speak of that general influence 
 on the whole mass of professing Christians, 
 which might be looked for, from the doctrine 
 of St. Paul respecting the Lord's Supper, 
 being literally received, and adequately pro- 
 mulgated. I might shew, that by this means, 
 those who are yet insensible to the goodness 
 and wisdom of God, manifested in the gos- 
 pel, would be obliged to recognize another of 
 His divine attributes, before which the hard- 
 est heart must bow, (His almighty power,) 
 as in direct and continued exercise within the 
 Christian sanctuary ; and I might support 
 the justness of this reckoning, by appealing 
 to the precise purpose for which St. Paul in- 
 troduced those invaluable declarations, and the 
 manner in which he enforces them. I might 
 dwell upon the indescribable light and 
 warmth, which all the other solemn services of 
 religion would be felt to derive from such a 
 central sphere of divine presence and opera-
 
 93 
 
 tion ; and which would even make each hal- 
 lowed roof to impress him who should come 
 under it, with the feeling of Jacob at Bethel, 
 " How dreadful is this place ! This is 
 " none other than the house of God ; this is 
 * the gate of heaven ! ! " 
 'nflod ov 
 
 But I forbear. I have said enough for my 
 special purpose ; and if it gives satisfaction in 
 the quarter, from whence the thought of 
 examining the subject was received, the 
 pleasure I have felt in the employment, will 
 be deeply enhanced by such a reward. 
 
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