if he had never been born.
22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them : and they all drank of it.
24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I ? and another said, Is it I ?
20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish.
21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him : but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! good were it for that man
* It may be well to observe in this connection, that it admits of much question, whether the common view of the word " passover" is the correct one. At any rate, the following passage from Bishop Lowth, on Isaiah xxxi. 5, deserves careful consideration. He says :
" The common notion of God's passing over the houses of the Is- raelites is, that in going through the land of Egypt to smite the first- born, seeing the blood on the door of the houses of the Israelites, He passed over, or skipped those houses, and forbore to smite them. Bat that this is not the true notion of the thing, will be plain from considering the words of the sacred historian, where he describes very explicitly the action : ' For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when He seeth the blood on the lintels and on the two side posts, Jehovah will spring forward over or before the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.' Exod. xii. 23. Here are manifestly two distinct agents, with which the notion of passing over is not consistent ; for that supposes but one agent. The two agents are, the destroying angel passing through to smite every house, and Jehovah the protector, keeping pace with him, who, seeing the door of the Israelites marked with blood, leaps forward, throws Himself with a sudden motion in the way, opposes the destroying angel, and protects and saves that house against him, nor suffers him to smite it." The words of Isaiah xxxi. 5, ought to be studied attentively, in order to understand the fitness and propriety of this interpretation.
307
These verses contain St. .Mark's account of the insti- tution of the Lord's Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this blessed sacrament ! It is a mournful fact that it has been corrupted by false explanations and superstitious addi- tions, until its real meaning, in many parts of Christen- dom, is utterly unknown. Let us however, at present, dismiss from our minds all matters of controversy, and study the words of St. Mark with a view to our own personal edification.
Let us learn from the passage before us, that self- examination should precede the reception of the Lord's Supper. We cannot doubt that this was one object of our Lord's solemn warning, " One of you which eateth with me shall betray me." He meant to stir up in the minds of his disciples, those very searchings of heart which are here so touchingly recorded : " They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I ? and another said, Is it I ?" He meant to teach His whole Church throughout the world, that the time of drawing near to the Lord's table should be a time for diligent self-inquiry.
The benefit of the Lord's Supper depends entirely on the spirit and frame of mind in which we receive it. The bread which we there eat, and the wine which we there drink, have no power to do good to Our souls, as medi- cine does good to our bodies, without the co-operation of our hearts and wills. They will not convey any blessing to us, by virtue of the minister's consecration, if we do