grievously exposed them? If the event had proved that he was either a blind enthusiast or an audacious impostor either deceived or a deceiver,-if, by his continuing permanently under the power of death, a signal refutation had been given to all his promises and pretensions-his followers could never have had the hardihood, or the weakness, openly to proclaim that they were not ashamed of his cross. In such circumstances, they never would have encountered and braved the ridicule, the indignation, or the scorn of their countrymen. We know that when he was merely apprehended and delivered into the hands of his enemies, one of his disciples disowned him, while the rest "forsook him and fled." And can it be supposed, that any thing would have rallied their courage, or re-animated their faith, had he, after expiring on the cross, continued to slumber in the grave? The thing is absolutely impossible. Had he continued to "be holden of death," the ordinance of the Supper would never have been celebrated after the occasion on which it was instituted. Its first celebration would also have been its last! His disciples, instead of seeking and exulting in an opportunity for devoutly remembering him, would have considered only how they might contrive to hide from others the fact that they had ever known him, and prevent them from "taking notice of them that they had been with Jesus."

Now, the Author of the ordinance could not but be perfectly aware of all this. It required no supernatural penetration to perceive a consequence so obvious and inevitable. The most ordinary measure even of the unaided faculties of the human mind, must have been fully sufficient to force it on his attention; and he must have been the most infatuated, or the most reckless of men, if he could either overlook or disregard it. There have been instances, indeed, where the pride and presumption of a warlike and ambitious ruler, or where the fierce and persecuting spirit of bigotry and superstition, have prepared the materials for celebrating a vic

tory which, as the event showed, was never to be gained, or forged and held in readiness the instruments of torture which could not be applied to the limbs of free-born Christian men till after the success of an enterprise which it was the gracious purpose of Providence, by the combined opposition of the winds and waves, utterly to defeat.* But do not these very instances stand out as signal and humiliating exceptions to the ordinary prudence and common sense that guide the proceedings of mankind in matters of this description? And would an ambitious ruler be disposed, after an ignominious defeat, to produce and exhibit the monuments of his own presumptuous folly? Or, could he expect his feelings to be soothed by an annual celebration by his subjects, not of a victory won, but of a victory lost?

The dignified composure, however, the surpassing wisdom, and the solemn earnestness by which our Lord was at all times distinguished, and especially as the hour of his sufferings approached, render it of all things the most preposterous to imagine, that he was capable of any act of extravagance, recklessness, or presump. tion. This being admitted, it is manifest that the institution of the Supper as an ordinance, to be, from that time and for ages, celebrated in commemoration and honour of his death, while that event had not yet taken place, nor its consequences been ascertained—is a circumstance which can be accounted for only on the supposition of his being fully conscious at the moment, and all along, that in him "dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," that he was indeed the Son of God -that he had life in himself-that he would obtain the victory over sin, and death, and the grave-that he laid down his life of his own accord—that he had power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. He knew that he should conquer death, and "destroy him that

Alluding to the Spanish Armada.

had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage," (Heb. ii. 14.) He knew, therefore, that although his death should, for a season, cause the greatest distress and dismay to his followers; yet that they should soon after, and for ever, have the strongest reason for remembering it with gratitude, exultation, and delight. We find, accordingly, that, while addressing his disciples immediately after the institution of this solemn ordinance, he made use of these memorable and affecting words: "And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you," (John xvi. 22.)

Here, then, we see, that a most important end has been served by our Lord's instituting the Supper previously to the time of that event which it was intended to commemorate-an end much more important than that of merely once more predicting the event. His instituting it at the time when he did, has served to demonstrate the thorough and abiding consciousness which he possessed of his own inherent Deity; his consciousness that though "crucified through weakness," yet he should live, as he now "liveth by the power of God," (2 Cor. xiii. 4.) In that ordinance he regarded and represented himself as "put to death in the flesh;" but in the perfect certainty that he should soon be "quickened by the Spirit," or the power of his own Godhead, (1 Pet. iii. 18.)

In regard to the remarkable circumstance which has now been pointed out, there is not, so far as we can recollect, any other ordinance parallel to the Lord's Supper, except that one which it superseded, namely, the Passover. The latter also was instituted, and, for the first time, celebrated the night before the occurrence of the event of which it was intended to be the annual commemoration. Towards the evening of that night in which the Israelites were led forth out of Egypt,

Moses commanded them to take for each family a lamb, and having offered it up in sacrifice to the Lord, to sprinkle its blood on the lintel, and on the two sideposts of the doors of their houses; after which they were to roast the flesh with fire, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; to eat it in haste, with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand. The reason which he assigned for this injunction was, that the Lord would that night pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the first-born, both of man and beast, but that he would pass over, or spare, all the houses on which was to be found the appointed token-the blood of the sacrifice. This ordinance, Moses told them, they were to observe for ever—that is, till abrogated by divine authority-in all their generations. In other words, it was to be prophetical at first, and commemorative ever afterwards, in regard to the deliverance from Egypt; although, as we have since learned from the language of an apostle, it was, in both cases, typical of a still more glorious deliverance the deliverance effected through that very death of which the ordinance of the Supper became, in due time, the sacred memorial. But it is manifest that, if the deliverance in Egypt had not taken place, as Moses had expressly intimated, he could never have expected that the Israelites, either of the then existing, or of any subsequent generation, would have observed or paid any attention to the sacrifice and feast of the Passover. On the faith of his testimony, they might, on the night specified, have complied with the injunctions which he delivered, but they would never have done so again, had that night passed away without the execution of the threatened judgment, and the fulfilment of the promised interposition. Of this Moses must have been fully aware; and therefore his commanding them to observe, beforehand, and ever after, that solemn ordinance, affords a clear and a striking demonstration of his distinct and infallible conviction that he was

divinely commissioned, that the Lord was with him, and that that should indeed be proved to be "a night to be much observed unto the Lord," (Exod. xii. 42.) Without such a conviction, Moses would no more have hazarded his reputation and his life by doing what he did on that occasion, than the people would have complied with his instructions, without believing that there was that night any danger to be incurred, or any deliverance to be wrought.

The peculiarity which we have now been contemplating, as belonging exclusively to the ordinance of the Passover, and of the Lord's Supper, is exceedingly striking and instructive. Something of the same sort, indeed, may be alleged to belong to the institution of Baptism. This is true, however, only in so far as it was meant to prefigure the outpouring of the miraculous influences of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. In regard to his ordinary influences, and their effects on the souls of men-and it was of these chiefly that baptism was meant to be an emblem-they had been imparted or exhibited long before the institution of that ordinance, which did not take place till just on the eve of our Lord's ascension into heaven. The peculiarity, therefore, of which we have been speaking, is one which manifestly belongs only to the Lord's Supper, and to that ordinance, in the room of which it has been instituted. And such is the peculiarity, that while it was his resurrection from the dead that completed the demonstration of his being the Son of God, it was the institution of the Supper, previously to his death, that showed, more strikingly than any thing else could show, his sublime consciousness that this was indeed his character, and that "he thought it not robbery to be equal with God."

What an exalted and animating view is thus presented to us of that Saviour, in remembrance of whom this ordinance is to be celebrated! It soon ceased to be