derstood of wisdom and the law; and after he has brought several passages of Scripture to this purpose, he concludes, that because this signification of eating occurs so often, and is so manifest, as if it were the primary and most proper sense of the word; therefore hunger and thirst stand for a privation of wisdom and understanding. In like manner also the Chaldee paraphrast expounds the words "ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation," thus; " ye shall receive a new doctrine with joy from some select persons." It was very natural, therefore, for our Saviour to use these words in their common acceptation among the Jews. 9. Our Saviour constantly used figures of the boldest kind in the course of his ministry. The parable of the unjust steward, of the ten virgins, of plucking out the right eye, are instances of the truth of this assertion. He compares himself to a door, a vine, and a way. These, and similar phrases, were used to excite the attention of his hearers, and must be interpreted as they were intended, in a figurative sense.

3rd. Our doctrine is confirmed by the words of St. Paul. The only account of this sacrament, besides the history of its institution, is given by St. Paul in two chapters, in which he five times calls it bread, and not once the body of Christ. (1 Cor. x. 16. xi. 23.) In the former place, he calls it "the communion of the body and blood

of Christ;" which implies, that it is not the body and blood of Christ, in strictness of speech. Again, (in xi. 26,) he declares the design of it to be, "to shew forth the Lord's death till he come." The simplicity of these and similar passages in which this subject is presented to us, confirms the plain interpretation which we give to our Saviour's words. For simple things prove themselves, whereas the more extraordinary any doctrine is, it requires a degree of evidence in the proof, proportioned to the difficulty of conceiving it.

For these reasons we conclude, with respect to our Saviour's institution, that as he was to give his body to be broken and his blood to be shed for our sins, he intended that his death and suffering should be commemorated in a visible representation, by the symbols of bread and wine, by receiving which his followers profess their belief in his death for the remission of their sins, and their expectation of his second coming.

Further, the Article proceeds in stating the doctrine of the Church: "To such as rightly,

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worthily, and with faith receive the same, the "bread which we break is a partaking of the "body of Christ, and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ."

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The symbols used in this sacrament imply, that as bread and wine convey a vital nourishment to the body, so are they the emblems of that spiritual food which we derive from the

sacrifice of Christ represented by them. That such a spiritual nourishment is conveyed through this sacrament to the soul, appears from the words of St. Paul. In 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29, he says, " he that "eateth and drinketh unworthily, is guilty of "the body and blood of the Lord, and eateth " and drinketh his own damnation, not discern"ing the Lord's body;" that is, those who receive it, without a grateful acknowledgment of Christ's death, and eat the bread and wine as mere bodily nourishment, without considering that Christ has instituted them to be memorials of his death, are guilty of a profanation of the sacrament of his body and blood, or rather may be said to "crucify him again, and put him to an open shame." Such persons, he adds, "eat and drink their own damnation." The word "damnation" here means judgment, or punishment, in which sense it is constantly used. Thus, in 1 Pet. iv. 17, it is said, that "judgment must begin at the house of God." God likewise had inflicted punishments on the Corinthians for their irreverence in the use of this sacrament, some having fallen sick, and others died. (v. 30.) But the following words show that these judgments were only chastisements, in order to deliver them from the condemnation in which the world lies: " when we

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are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, "that we should not be condemned with the

"world." (v. 32.) Though God, therefore, may justly punish men who profane this holy ordinance, yet it were unreasonable to think that it is an unpardonable sin, which is punished with eternal damnation. Since, however, those ill effects flow from the unworthy receiving of the sacrament, it is consistent with the mercy of God, which" rejoiceth over judgment," to conclude that these are counterbalanced by the good effects that flow from the worthy receiving of it, and that the nourishment which the types, the bread and the wine, afford to the body, represents the benefits which the thing signified by them confers upon the soul.

In explaining the manner in which these spiritual blessings are conveyed to us, there is a diversity of opinion. Some conceive that when the memorial of Christ's death is seriously observed, when it animates our faith and increases our repentance, and by exciting our love unites us to God and to our brethren, then it obtains a return to our prayers and a further increase of grace in us, according to the promises of the New Covenant. And this, they conceive, constitutes the efficacy of the sacrament.

Others, on the contrary, think that these effects are produced only by the internal acts of the mind, and are not sacramental. They conceive that the Eucharist is a foederal act, in

which, as on the one hand we renew our baptismal vows to God, so on the other we receive a visible seal, by a symbol or pledge, of the blessings of the New Covenant. This opinion is founded, 1°. on the analogy it bears to the nourishment which the body receives from the symbols of bread and wine; 2°. on the opposition it has to the consequences of the unworthy receiving of the body and blood of Christ; and 3°. on these words of St. Paul: " 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 ?" (1 Cor. x. 16.) Now, in the following verse, St. Paul considers the bread which was offered by the people as an emblem of their unity; that as there was one bread, of which they were all partakers, so they were one body. Hence it is inferred, that in the sacrament there is a distribution made among those who partake of it, of the death of Christ, and its effects and advantages. In this sense the word translated "communion" is frequently used. Thus, "the communion of the Holy Ghost" is a common sharing of the effusion of the spirit. (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) We are said to "have a fellowship in the sufferings of Christ," in which every one must take his share. (Phil. iii. 10.) "The fellowship of the mystery of the Gospel," was its being shared equally among the Jews and