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the end of time, and to be received in all countries by people of various habits and modes of living; it was therefore instituted of the simplest form, and disencumbered of all trivial ceremonies which might gradually be considered burthensome,-endanger the observance of more essential parts,—or obscure the main design. There might also be a mysterious reason for the adoption of mere bread and wine, as being vegetable food; inasmuch as animal sacrifices were to cease, and the flesh which had been eaten under the Mosaic economy, at sacred feasts, had lost its significancy. Such is the very nature of the New Testament, that since the effusion of the blood of Christ, no more shedding of blood is required, or permitted, as a propitiation for sin-a full and perfect satisfaction, which cannot and need not be repeated, having been then made to the justice of Almighty God. The simple nourishment of bread and wine alone does not less fitly shadow out the nature of our spiritual nourishment, and of the oblation on the cross, than did the animal sacrifices under the former dispensation typify the corporeal sacrifice which the incarnate Son of God was pre-ordained from all eternity to offer in behalf of all the sons of Adam.

$5. The bread originally used, was the unleavened bread prepared for the celebration of the passover ; but it does not appear that any particular sort was prescribed for the Eucharist, or that any regular form or size was deemed important. The Church of England, therefore, determines that "to take away all occasion of dissension and superstition, which any person hath or might have concerning the bread and

wine, it shall suffice, that the bread be such as is usual to be eaten; but the best and purest wheat bread that conveniently may be gotten." With regard to the wine, or juice of the grape, it is not commanded that it should be of any peculiar sort, or that it should be mixed with water. These things not being essential to the general nature and purpose of the Sacrament, were left to be determined by the authority of each national church,

§ 6. The words and form of institution, by which the bread and wine are constituted a Sacrament, are those which our Saviour after the Paschal Supper addressed to his disciples, and adopted in the distribution of the elements.

Jesus took bread into his hands, after the custom of the Jews, to bless and break it before it should be tasted by the surrounding family;-he blessed it not only according to the common mode of benediction before all meals, but he consecrated it as a sacramental sign, no longer to be mere bread, but a symbol and sign of his own body. The breaking and distribution of the bread were conformable to Jewish usage, but they were also emblematical of his flesh torn upon the cross, and of the mystical communion of the faithful in his body.

And when Jesus distributed the sacramental bread, he said, "Take eat, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me." In the same manner having blessed the cup of wine, he gave it to the disciples severally, saying, "This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me."

These acts and words are preserved in the administration of the Sacrament by the Church, as being those with which it was ordained and communicated by Christ himself,-as the rite by which the outward sign is connected with the inward grace,every thing being done in as accurate an imitation as possible of the original Supper, at which the sacred mystery was instituted.

The bread and wine after distribution by the Minister, the representative of Christ, are received,-eaten and drunk-according to the plain command, without any other form, in the English Church, than that of taking them in the reverential posture of kneeling, "in a signification of an humble and grateful acknowledgement of the benefits of Christ therein given to all worthy receivers, and for the avoiding of such profanation and disorder in the holy communion, as might otherwise ensue;" but by no means in token any adoration of the sacramental bread and wine.

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As Christ ordained that all should drink of the Cup of Blessing as well as eat of the sacramental Bread, the participation in the benefit of the Lord's Supper is incomplete if the Sacrament be not received in both kinds. Both are therefore to be delivered to the laity as well as to the clergy.

§ 7. The inward part, or thing signified by the outward symbols of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, are the body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in this Sacrament.

Of the bread Christ himself declared "This is my body." The Jews were accustomed to call the Paschal Lamb the body of the Passover, and in allusion

to this phrase Jesus speaks of his own body, which was about to be offered instead of the body of the lamb which they had just eaten. Hence in place of the lamb, which was the memorial of a former temporal deliverance, he ordained that his disciples should in future take bread as a sign and pledge, which he then substituted for his lifeless body,-his death being the price of their eternal and spiritual redemption. Our Lord called the bread his body-not as if it were actually his true body, or were included in it; for sacramental signs are not the things signified, nor are they converted into them, according to the error of Transubstantiation-nor do they actually include them, as is no less erroneously implied in the term Consubstantiation,-but are only the means and pledges by which they are offered and confirmed to us :-nor on the other hand does he speak as if it were merely an empty figure of his body, but as of a Sacrament or outward sign, conveying an inward grace and benefit,-communicating, as an instrument, his true body to those who should worthily receive it. The bread is, indeed, figuratively the true body of Christ which was given for us; and the wine is, in the same sense, (that is a sacramental one,) and according to the word of Christ, the very blood which was shed upon the cross for the remission of our sins. The blood of the expiatory victims, according to the Mosaic ritual, was poured out for the sins of the Jewish nation only; but the blood of Christ was shed for many; not for one tribe, a people, or a generation,-but to wash away the guilt of both original and actual sin in all those who should believe in the efficacy of his atonement unto the end of the world.

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§8. It is, however, the faithful only, those who have a lively faith, and not all nominal Christians, that verily and indeed receive the true body and blood of Christ, when they eat and drink of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. It is by faith that the true body of Christ is spiritually partaken of, as its emblem is eaten by the external mouth. The union which true believers enjoy with Christ is mystical and spiritual, and is figured by the mode of communication in the Lord's Supper. For as the nutriment of the bread and wine becomes part of the corporeal substance, so the true flesh of Christ, which is the food of the soul, becomes inseparably united to it. We eat the body of Christ only as it was sacrificed for us, and as the breaking of the bread is intended to represent it. It is truly received, therefore, by faithful remembrance of Christ, in obedience to his command; and by faithful conviction that it was given for us, according to his declaration. They verily eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood, who stedfastly believe that his body was offered up as an expiatory sacrifice, not only for the sins of the world in general, but personally for themselves. And they who thus eat and drink, are united more closely with their spiritual head: Christ dwells in them by his Holy Spirit, and they in Christ;-they are one with Christ, and Christ with them. The communion of the body and blood of Christ is offered to us un der the symbols of bread and wine; and if these be eaten and drunk with stedfast faith in the efficacy of the ordinance, the internal and spiritual participation is complete.

́§ 9. The benefits immediately derived from the due

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