ment in my blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink (it), in remembrance of me.
This second part of the service is introduced by Luke with the same words which are here used, though our translators there render them Likewise also the cup^ after supper. This latter version is the literal and simple rendering of the origi- nal. In Matthew and Mark it is said, "Having taken the cup, and having given thanks." This explains what Paul and Luke mean by likewise^ or after the same manyier. They in- tend to say that Christ did with the cup what he had done with the bread, i. e. he took it, and pronounced over it the eucharistical benediction, i. e. a blessing connected with thanksgiving. In this particular there is a slight departure in our mode of administering this ordinance, from the example of Christ. With us there is generally but one eucharistical blessing at the introduction of the service, having reference both to the bread and to the cuj). Whereas it seems that our Lord blessed the bread, and having broken, distributed it to his disciples ; and then took the cup, and having blessed it, gave it to them to drink. After supper^ i. e. after the con- clusion of the paschal supper.
Saying^ This cup is the JVeio Testament in my hlood. The same words occur in Luke 22, 20. In Matthew and Mark the corresponding expression is, " This is my blood of the New Testament." The sense must be the same. " The blood of the covenant " means here, as in Ex. 24, 8, the blood by which the covenant was ratified and its blessings secured. The pas- sage referred to in Exodus shows the manner in which cove- nants were anciently ratified in the East. A victim was slain and the blood sprinkled upon the contracting parties, by which they were solemnly bound to their mutual engagements. The word hta^rjKy) SO Constantly, after the Vulgate, rendered Testa- ment by our translators, always in the New Testament means a covenant, unless Heb. 9, 16 be an exception. Here that sense is required by the context, as a covenant and not a tes- tament was ratified by blood. This covenant is called 7iew in reference to the Mosaic covenant. The latter was ratified by the blood of animals ; the new, by the blood of the eternal Son of God ; the one in itself could secure only temporal bene- fits and the remission of ceremonial ofiences ; the other secures eternal redemption, and the remission of sin in the sight of God. As the Hebrews entered into covenant with God when