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still calls them simply "this bread," and "this cup," that is, this wine in the cup, (1 Cor. xi. 26.)

All, then, that we actually partake of corporeally in the Lord's Supper-all that we actually receive in the form of bodily nourishment is simply bread and wine. It is not the less true, however, that "worthy receivers," (to use the words of our Confession of Faith, as quoted in a former chapter,) "do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed," though "spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death."

1. In treating of the representative character of this ordinance, we had occasion to show that communicants, by the act of receiving the consecrated memorials and emblems of his death into their hands, most expressly and significantly declare their acceptance of Christ and him crucified, as he is offered to them in the gospel, and symbolically offered to them in the ordinance itself. Their solemn acceptance of these outward symbols at his Table is an intelligible, explicit, and most emphatical declaration of their faith in him as their only and all-sufficient Saviour. They there speak in the language of signs, but signs divinely instituted, and signs as explicit and binding as any words that they could employ; nay, under all the circumstances, much more affecting signs which address themselves not only to the understanding but also to the imagination and the heart. Now, in all cases where the communicants are really in the exercise of that faith in Christ, which they so solemnly profess by the very act of accepting the sacramental emblems, we may rest assured that they shall, through that faith, be made partakers of all the blessings which are treasured up in Him-of all the blessings which are promised to them in the covenant of grace. That covenant has been ratified on his part by his blood-that blood which one of these emblems is specially appointed to represent. No one can truly have faith in him but by the Holy

Ghost, who makes a temple for himself, and takes up his abode in every heart in which he has implanted this heavenly principle. In this way believers are united to Christ. He "dwells in their hearts by faith," (Eph. iii. 17.) Every believer, in like manner, dwells in Christ. "He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him," (1 John iii. 24.) Christ is "the life of the world," (iv. 15;) and every believer is specially authorized to say of " Him who is our life,” (v. 20,)—"Christ liveth in me," (Gal. ii. 20.) As certainly, therefore, as the communicant receives into his hands the symbols of a crucified Saviour, so certainly does he—if indeed in the possession of that faith without which he has no authority to approach the table of communion become a partaker of Christ Himself and all the blessings of his purchase. The bread and wine thus given, and thus received, are to be regarded not only as signs, but also as seals of those covenant blessings which are secured to believers through the death and righteousness of Christ.

2. But, in considering the representative character of the Supper, we had farther occasion to show, that the communicants, by not only receiving and accepting the elements, but actually eating the bread and drinking the wine, most solemnly and significantly declare that they appropriate Christ-that they take him to be their own-that they not only believe on him, but that by faith they feed on him-that they become spiritually and indissolubly united to him—that they derive their spiritual life and all their spiritual nourishment from him. Now, in virtue of such a faith, they are, in the eye of the law, and agreeably to the provisions of the covenant of grace, constituted as one with him. He is the head, and they are the members. He is the vine, and they are the branches. Out of his fulness they all receive. The outward elements of which communicants corporeally partake, by eating and drinking, are things by which "Christ and the benefits of the new

covenant are," not only "represented," but "sealed and applied to believers."* It is a covenant transaction, in which the partakers of the Lord's Supper are engaged; and whatever evidence there is, on the one hand, that they really possess that faith by which they close with him and cleave to him-by which they really take him to be their Saviour-the same evidence must there be that he is actually made theirs, and that, in Him, they have actually received a title to, and an earnest of, eternal life. "The cup of blessing which we bless," says the Apostle, " 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.) The participation is as real in the one case as in the other, although in the one it is corporeal, and in the other spiritual.

And here it is manifest, that it were sinking half the import of the Scripture language just quoted were we to suppose that the spiritual communion, or participation now spoken of, consists in nothing more than the mere exercise of faith itself. Instead of supposing that all that our Lord means, when he speaks of our eating his flesh and drinking his blood, (John vi. 51–56,) is merely our believing on him, we are rather of opinion, with the ablest and profoundest divines,† that our believing on him is only that by which we attain to that spiritual participation which is described by these figurative expressions. Our blessed Lord made use of these expressions in a discourse which was delivered long before the institution of the Supper, but in which he was setting forth some of the same momentous truths and doctrines which that symbolical ordinance was intended to exhibit. He there called himself " the living bread"-the true manna "which came down from heaven;" and said to the Jews, "The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life

* Shorter Catechism. + Calvin's Institutes, chap. 17, § 5.

of the world." The Jews felt the same difficulty, in comprehending the meaning of these words, that Nicodemus had felt with respect to his remarkable declaration, that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." In neither case, however, did our Lord retract or alter his expressions, which, figurative as they were, had been adopted by him as, on this very account, the fittest for arresting the attention, and directing the minds of his hearers to the consideration of a most profound, momentous, and, in some respects, mysterious doctrine. The doctrine, in the latter instance, was that in which he announced the intimate and indissoluble, though spiritual union, which is established between Himself and every true believer, and the blessed effects, both present and future, with which that union is necessarily attended. "Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him," (John vi. 53-56.)

Now, we readily admit, and it can easily be shown, by a reference to other verses, chiefly in this same chapter, that all the effects which are here ascribed to eating his flesh and drinking his blood, are also ascribed to believing on him, (see verses 35, 40, 44, 47, and 1 John iv. 15.) But then, as we have already seen, the soul is, through faith, united to Christ, while Christ, again, is said to "dwell in our hearts by faith." This consideration is sufficient to show us that the Scriptures, in ascribing to faith the same effects that are here ascribed to eating his flesh and drinking his blood, are to be understood as speaking only of an appropriating faith, or of faith in that special and peculiar operation in which the soul not only receives, but feeds upon

Christ, as the source and support of its spiritual life. This is a higher and more advanced operation of faith, than merely embracing his doctrines and cleaving to his promises. It is that by which it proceeds and acts upon them. As eating and drinking are the acts by which the body appropriates and participates in the material substances which are necessary to its growth or its nourishment, so this exercise of faith is that by which the soul has actual communion with Christ; by which it actually partakes of Christ and all the benefits of his death-such as pardon of sin-acceptance and peace with God, adoption into his family, increase of grace, progressive sanctification-and, in short, every thing which is necessary to the full and final inheritance of eternal life. The actual attainment or participation of these things, then, is not the same as simply believing on him; but it is by believing on him that the soul is enabled to partake of them. This in the beautiful, figurative, and expressive language which our Lord Himself has employed on the subject-this is eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This is the faith by which the cup of blessing which we bless becomes the communion of the blood of Christ, and by which the bread which we break becomes the communion of the body of Christ.

To have a correct idea of the participation or communion which is here spoken of, it is necessary to remember, that even the actual participation of his body and blood, were that possible, would still be a thing from which our bodies only, and not our souls, could derive any nourishment. Nay, revolting and profane as the very thought of such corporeal nourishment must appear, the thing itself could be of no further use than any other corporeal nourishment, even to our bodies. The actual eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, could neither exempt nor free these bodies from sickness or disease; and as little could it remove their liability to death, or prevent them from becoming a prey

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