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SERMON XV.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

ST. JOHN vi. 67.-" Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"

SUCH were the words addressed by our Lord to His apostles at the conclusion of that memorable discourse recorded at length in the sixth chapter of St. John. The object of that discourse seems to have been to set forth more clearly than had yet been done, the great doctrine of the efficacy of Christ's atonement; the doctrine that no man accepted with God, but in,

ever was, or could be,

and through the propitiation and satisfaction made by the offering up of the body and blood of His own beloved Son upon the cross.

This was a subject, then, new to the Jews, and many were offended at it. When Jesus spake of

Himself as the "bread of life"-the "bread that came down from heaven;" and declared that bread to be His "flesh," which "He would give for the life of the world ;" and further, that by eating of His flesh, and drinking of His blood, mankind were to be saved, and obtain eternal life-the greater part of His hearers were perplexed, and at a loss to understand His meaning: they strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" They were so dull of heart that they interpreted in a strictly literal manner what Jesus had spoken in a figure. And though our Lord intimated to them the cause of their error, and gave them to understand that His words were to be taken spiritually-" It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life"-yet for all this, " many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him." Whereupon our Saviour turning to those chosen few, on whose faith, and constancy so much depended; those twelve apostles who-with one sorrowful exception-were to be His witnesses to the world, the builders up of His church among men, put to them this short but affecting question : Will ye also go away ?" To which Peter instantly replied as spokesman on behalf of the rest of his companions, in language of the warmest zeal-language which

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showed that he at least had not misunderstood his Master's meaning, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

It is not my intention to make any remark upon this answer of the Apostle, fervent and expressive as his words are, and useful at all times for our meditation, as conveying within a short compass, the substance of our Christian faith: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." I would rather this morning direct your thoughts to another subject; a subject, indeed, of scarcely less importance, and one that closely concerns your everlasting salvation-a subject on which I have spoken to you before, but which, owing to the little effect my treating of it has yet produced, appears to require a repetition. I allude to our very general neglect of the most holy ordinance, and comfortable means of grace-the Lord's Supper. May God grant, that the remarks I am now once more (by His permission) about to make on this sacrament, upon its origin and first appointment; upon our obligation often, and thankfully to receive it, and upon the preparation necessary for receiving it worthily, may sink down into your hearts, and bring about an alteration-if not immediately, yet at a very early opportunity-in your practice regarding it.

Would, my Christian friends, that you may be enabled to perceive, and know what is your duty in this matter, and also to fulfil the same, that so the reproach of the cross, on this score at least, may cease; and the words of our Lord in the text, "Will ye also go away?" be no longer applicable as they now are, to by far the greater part of this congregation, so often as they are bidden in Christ's name to be partakers of the Holy Communion.

Now, with the first appointment of the Lord's Supper, and the purpose of it, we are made acquainted in the twenty-sixth chapter of St. Matthew, and in the corresponding chapters of St. Mark's and St. Luke's gospels. There we read how the Lord Jesus, at the very last meal of which he partook with His Apostles, previous to His crucifixion, in the same night in which He was betrayed, "took bread" from off the table at which they were sitting, "and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." After the same manner also "He took the cup," when He had supped, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

Such was the institution of the Holy Sacrament

a sacrament designed not for the use and comfort of the Apostles alone, but like every other thing that Jesus spake, and did, intended for the use, and comfort of all who should hereafter believe on Him through their words. It was designed, first of all, to keep up a perpetual remembrance of His death until His coming again. For, as St. Paul tells us, 'As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show forth the Lord's death till He come."

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Further, it was designed to convey to all who should rightly receive it, the benefits of that His most precious death. It was designed to be an especial means of grace-perhaps the greatest of all -for obtaining to our souls that strength, and support, that inward, and spiritual nourishment, which is so necessary in order to keep us stedfast in our faith, to enable us to grow up to Christ in all things, who is our Head: "from which the whole body or church, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together increaseth with the increase of God."

Another great purpose of the holy sacrament was as I may have observed to you before, to serve as a bond of union amongst believers, a bond of union for everything good, and pure, and lovely; and a bond of union against all unrighteousness. This was the light in which the early Christians re