oblation in it, — no offering U23 of anything but oui jjrayerSj ]3raises, and thanksgivings. From the day that Jesus died there needed no more offering for sin. By one offering He perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb. X. 14.) PriestSj altars, and sacrifices, all ceased to be necessarj^, when the Lamb of Grod offered up Himself. Their office came to an end. Their work was done.
The Lord's Supper has no power to confer benefit on those who come to it, if they do not come to it with faith. The mere formal act of eating the bread and drinking the wine is utterly unprofitable, unless it is done with a right heart. It is eminently an ordinance for the living soul, not for the dead, — for the converted, not for the unconverted.
The Lord's Su23per was ordained for a continual re- membrance of the sacrifice of Christ's death, until He comes again. The benefits it confers, are spiritual, not physical. Its effects mast be looked for in our inward man. It was intended to remind us, by the visible, tangible emblems of bread and wine, that the offering of Christ's body and blood for us on the cross, is the only atonement for sin, and the life of a believer's soul. It was meant to help our poor weak faith to closer fellowship with our crucified Saviour, and to assist us in spiritually feeding on Christ's body and blood. It is an ordinance for redeemed sinners, and not for unfallen angels. By receiving it we publicly declare our sense of guilt, and need of a Saviour, — our trust in Jesus, and our love to Him, — our desire to live upon Him, and our hope to live with Him. Using it in this spirit, we shall find our repentance deepened, our faith increased, our hope
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brightened, and our love enlarged, — our besetting sins weakened, and our graces strengthened. It will draw us nearer to Christ.
Let us bear these things in mind. They need to be remembered in these latter days. There is nothing in our religion which we are so ready to pervert and mis- understand as those parts which approach our senses. Whatever we can touch with our hand, and see with our eyes, we are apt to exalt into an idol, or to expect good from it as a mere charm. Let us especially beware of this tendency in the matter of the Lord's Supper. Above all, ^' let us take heed," in the words of the Homily, '' lest of the memory it be made a sacrifice."
The last thing which deserves a brief notice in this passage, is the character of the first communicants. It is ja. point full of comfort and instruction.
The little company to which the bread and wine were first administered by our Lord, was composed of the apostles, whom He had chosen to accompany Him during His earthly ministiy. They were poor and unlearned men, who loved Christ, but were weak alike in faith and knowledge. They knew but little of the full meaning of theu' Master's sayings and doings. They knew but little of the frailty of their own hearts. They thought they were ready to die with Jesus, and yet that very niglit they all for- sook Him and fled. All this our Lord knew perfectly well. The state of their hearts was not hid from Him. And yet He did not keep back from them the Lord's Supper.
There is something very teaching in this circumstance. It shows us plainly that we must not make great know- ledge, and great strength of grace, an indispensable