ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come," is so definite and plain, and, as the parting command, so immediately connects itself with the parting promise of "the Comforter, who should abide with them for ever, even the Spirit of truth," a that it is hard to conceive how the communion of the Holy Spirit, and the communion of the body and blood of Christ, can be otherwise than closely associated in our thoughts. But the evidence of the practical connexion between the effectual presence of the Holy Spirit and the sacraments does not rest upon these grounds only; the simple ground of obedience will suffice to demonstrate its cogency. Let it only be granted that our Saviour gave those commandments, that he ordained the two sacraments; let it be considered, how prominently they, and the facts which they embody, stand forth in the history and conversation of our Lord, and how simple they are in themselves, like the command to Naaman, "wash and be clean ;" and who, that deliberately, whether from wilfulness or indifference, breaks those commandments, can entertain a reasonable hope, that while he continues in a state of open contumacy on points on which the will of our Divine Master is so explicitly de a John xiv. 16, 17. * 1 Cor. xi. 26. clared, and so easily performed, he will obtain a gift so high and so divine, that were it not offered out of the infinitude of God's condescension, it would be too lofty and too holy for the archangel nearest to God's throne, not to speak of sinful and rebellious man, to aspire to it? Here also, however, we are by God's mercy not left in the dark as to the possibility of spiritual fellowship with Christ on the part of a disobedient professor of his religion; for it is written, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him ;" and, on the other hand, "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him and hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." Upon the ground, then, of the commandments of Christ himself, there can be no doubt, that the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are by divine appointment indissolubly connected with the in-dwelling and operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart; and that our Saviour's words, spoken in reference to another subject, "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," are strictly applicable to the “three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood." < 1 John ii. 4. I John iii. 24. • Matth. xix. 6. As regards the practice of the Apostles, both their writings and the record of their proceedings show so clearly that it was conformable to the commands of their Divine master, taken in the sense in which our church understands them, that it might almost be deemed superfluous to enter into particulars on a point so generally acknowledged. The celebration of the Lord's Supper is expressly alluded to in the account of the first body of believers converted on the day of Pentecost; and if a reference to it does not more frequently occur in the history of the Acts, the reason evidently is, that the practice, being constant and universal, called for no express mention. On the contrary, the constancy and universality of the practice is not only to be inferred from its preservation in the midst of the corruptions of the Corinthian church, but is clearly implied in St. Paul's exposition of the meaning of the ordinance, and its instrumentality as the vehicle of communion between Christ and his church: "The cup of blessing 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? For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread."h That they who "gladly f Acts ii. 42. * See 1 Cor. xi. 18–22. b 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. F k received the word" of the Apostles "were baptized" throughout the whole progress of the apostolic ministry, is equally apparent, both from the Acts and the apostolic Epistles; and the answer of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost to the question, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" may fairly be taken as indicative of the sense the Apostles had of the importance and effect of baptism: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." There is, however, one instance, too fruitful of lessons peculiarly seasonable at the present day to be passed over in silence on this occasion, viz. the case of the first Gentile converts at Cæsarea, on whom the Holy Ghost was poured out, previously to their receiving baptism, while Peter was yet in the act of expounding to them the elements and leading facts of the Christian faith.' This fact, astonishing as it was to those of the circumcision," and to all appearance no less necessary to the uprooting of their carnal conceptions of divine things, may suggest matter for salutary reflection to those i Acts ii. 41; comp. viii. 12—17; 36–38; ix. 18; xvi. 14, 15, 32, 33, &c. &c. *Acts ii. 37, 38; cf. xxii. 14-16. 1 Acts x. 44. In Acts x. 45. who in our day are disposed to propound the connexion which exists by God's appointment, (an appointment no doubt full of heavenly wisdom,) between the Sacrament and the Grace conveyed in it, as a matter of inherent necessity; as if the Almighty in his spiritual operations could be limited, and in a manner tied down, by his own ordinances. On the other hand, while it becomes us to speak with all humility of what God can do, or is likely to do, yea rather to be silent before Him who is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,"" with whom "all things are possible," it becomes us with equal humility to speak of what we may expect God to do. In this, both as a matter of faith and as a rule of conduct, we are plainly bound, unless we would incur the guilt of great presumption, to "receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture; and, in our doings, to follow that will of God, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God." This, at least, was the apostolic rule; for when Peter saw that upon the unbaptized Gentiles the Holy Ghost was fallen, he did not, from the evident attainment of the inward spiritual grace, argue (as too many of us are inclined to do, even in the absence of such attainment, or ⚫ Eph. iii. 20. • Matth. xix. 26. P Art. xvii. |