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and constituted His Apostles, who only were with HIM at the time, (See Matt. xxvi. 20 ; Mark xiv. 17; Luke xxii. 14,) to he His priests to celebrate this service, saying unto them, " Do this in remembrance of me." Our LORD, in instituting the Eucharist, affirmed the bread to be His body, and the wine to be His blood ; and St. Paul, when speaking of the same, asks, " the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the Blood of CHEIST ? and the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of CHRIST ?" (1 Cor.x. 16.) From which we learn, that in the LORD'S Supper the faithful do really, though mysteriously, receive to their soiils the body and blood of CHRIST, in partaking of the bread and wine. Hence, in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, where our LORD speaks of the blessedness of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, we conclude that HE spake by anticipation of the LORD'S Supper, which HE was about to institute: and as he declared that " Except ye eat the flesh of the SON of MAN and drink His blood, ye have no life in you," (John vi. 53;) and as the Eucharist has been expressly instituted as the means of doing this, it has ever been the received opinion of the Church, that that they who neglect or refuse to receive the LORD'S Supper, do so at the peril of their souls.
As the bread and wine which our LORD distributed at the institution of His Supper, proved part of the paschal feast, or sacrifice of the LoRD'spassover, and as such had first been offered in sacrifice to GOD, it is clear that unless His ministers first offer, in sacrifice to GOD, the bread and the wine which they distribute at the LORD'S Supper they are not fulfiling their LORD'S command, they are not doing as HE did. Hence the LORD'S Supper has always been considered a sacrifice as well as a sacrament; a thanksgiving memorial presented before GOD, as well as a means of grace to men. The LORD'S Supper, in respect of the oblation or pure offering of bread and wine therein presented before GOD, was foretold by the prophets as the worship which would be offered to GOD throughout the world, by the Gentiles on their conversion to Christianity. (See Isaiah, xix. 19-21 ; Malach i. 11.)
The Eucharist, in respect of the bread and wine of which it is composed, was typified by Melchisedek, who