Greek copies have, gave thanks. See Mark vi. 41.a1 Cor. x. 16.- Mark xiv. 23.- See Exod. xxiv. 8 Lev. xvii. 11. Jer. xxxi. 31.-y ch. xx. 28. Rom. v.

15. Heb. ix. 22—2 Mark xiv. 25. Luke xxii. 18.-a Acts

1. 41-6 Mark xiv. 26.-1 Or, psalm.—c Mark_xiv, 27.

John xvi. 32.-4 ch. xi. 6.- Zech. xiii. 7.-fch. xxviii

7, 10, 16. Mark viv. 28; & xvi. 7.—g Mark xiv. 30. Luke xxii. 34. Johu xiii. 38.

Reader. There can be little need of explanation of the plain, but affecting and solemn, details which are here set before us.

Any person of common capacity, and honest mind, who has been instructed in the truths of religion without an admixture of popish superstition, may easily understand what our Lord meant when he said of the bread and the wine, which he appointed as memorials of his death, "This is my body, This is my blood." It was the same as though he had said, This is a sign or token of my body broken, and my blood poured out:-just as when we read in Ex. xii. 11, "It is the Lord's passover" we understand those words to mean, It is a sign or token of the Lord's passing over the houses of the children of Israel.

The words "new testament" in verse 28 mean "new covenant."

The hymn which was sung by our Lord and his disciples (v. 30) consisted probably of Psalms, 113118, which were usually sung by the Jews at the Passover.

honour, ease, and pleasure have but gently knocked at the door, and thou hast listened, and heard, and run to open to them. See where thy love and thy treasure lies.HORNECK.

They were exceeding sorrowful; and began every one of them to say unto him. Lord, is it I? Self examination is the only way to come to a right. knowledge of ourselves. Yet how careless, O my soul, hast thou been of this duty! How easily mightest thou have found that thou wert guilty of such a sin, and didst transgress such a command; but thou wouldest not. How much better is it to be acquainted with our own hearts than to be strangers to ourselves! And what danger dost thou involve thyself in, for want of this holy search! How dost thou prepare for self delusion! The disease being known, it may be cured; but, lying hid, it kills, and destroys, when we think all safe. How easy a matter were it, to inquire whether thou art that hypocrite, that unprofitable servant, that loiterer, that slothful person, that busy body, which the Holy Ghost condemns. Yet thou hast shunned this search, and been afraid of it, as of prison; whereas it was the only medicine from which thou mayest promise thyself a happy recovery.-HORNECK.

so great a guest, whose presence would have enriched thee with in

faced pictures :-look upon the crucifying of Christ one way, as plotted by a treacherous disciple, and malicious priests and rulers, and nothing more deformed and hateful than the authors of it; but view it again, as determined by God's counsel for the restoring of lost mankind, and it is full of unspeakable beauty and sweetness, infinite wisdom and love, in every trait of it.-LEIGHTON.

But woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Whenever men provoke God to withdraw his protection, that moment the devil takes them under his power, and, as the Scriptures say, leads them captive at his will. Judas was not now his own master; so that neither fear for himself, nor love for his Lord, nor the baseness of the crime, could prevail with him to repent of his evil project. You will perhaps say, that if he was not his own master, his crime was the less. By no means. He might have continued under the protection of God, if it had not been his own fault. It is true, the devil is still seeking whom he may devour; that is, whom he may be permitted to devour; but then, we are well assured that he is permitted to be master of none but such as, by a course of wilful, presumptuous, sins, have forced the Spirit of God to leave them to themselves.

It is a very unwarrantable way of speaking, which some people use, when they hear of any person falling into evil courses, or coming to some

it, it was his fortune, and the like. Pray hear what Christ said of Judas, "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed." Jesus Christ would not have said so, if Judas had not brought this evil upon his own head, by hardening his heart, and adding one sin to another, until God thought fit to permit the devil to enter into him; and then he filled up the measure of his iniquities.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, &c. The Lord's Supper was ordained, not for the repetition, but the continual remembrance, of the sacrifice of Christ. The outward signs in it, are bread and wine; both which the Lord hath commanded to be received by all Christians, and both which are accordingly received, and not changed and transubstantiated into the real and natural body and blood of Christ: which, however, the faithful and they only, do, under this representation of it, verily and indeed receive, into a most beneficial union with themselves, that is, do verily and indeed, by a spiritual connection with their incarnate Redeemer and Head through faith, partake, in this ordinance, of that heavenly favour and grace which, by offering up his body and blood, he hath procured for his true disciples and members.-SECKER.

As Christ broke the bread, so it is justly supposed that he did eat of it himself; for this was the custom among the Jews, for the master of the family, who broke the bread,

did eat of the consecrated bread himself, the doctrine of transubstantiation, that idol of the Church of Rome, falls to the ground; for from hence it would follow, that Christ did eat and devour himself, which as it is absurd, so it wants very little of being ridiculous.

When thou seest the holy bread broken before thine eyes in this Sacrament, thou must not look upon this as an empty ceremony; but thy soul must flee away to Gethsemane, walk about Golgatha, take a turn on the Mount of Olives, and stand still awhile on Moriah, and behold how the innocent Isaac is bound on the altar, how the Son of God hangs on the infamous tree, a spectacle to angels and to men. See here, my sins, what work ye have made, what injury ye have done. Ye pulled down the Son of God from the mansions of glory; ye afflicted, persecuted, broke him here on earth, and left him not till ye had killed and murdered him! How shall I be revenged upon you? How shall I testify my concern at the sufferings of the Lord Jesus? How shall I convince the holy angels that stand about me that I condole with him? Pride and desire of vain-glory, thou shalt die! Envy and malice thou shalt live no longer in my soul! Wrath and anger, thou shalt be dispatched! Hypocrisy and covetousness, thou shalt be broke to pieces! Intemperance and luxury, thou shalt breathe thy last! I will harbour no murderers in my bosom; no

house. O blessed Master! Shall I see thy head broken with thorns, and not cry out, O that my head were water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears? Shall I see thy face broken with grief, and not blush at my daring sins that broke it thus ? Break, stubborn heart! Break, my perverse and ungovernable will! Break, my headstrong passions! O Jesus break these cockatrice eggs, and let all the poison evaporate; then thy servant shall be whole.

Hear this, thou broken, thou contrite penitent. Hear this, thou distressed soul, that art broken with a sense of sin, who feelest the burden heavy, and bowest under it. Behold the rock that was broken for thee; and of the waters that flow from it, drink; yea, drink abundantly. Hide thyself in the holes, in the clefts of the rock; hither flee for refuge. When devils haunt thee, when temptations follow thee, when despair, like the avenger of blood, is at thy heels, run into this city of refuge, save thyself in this Zoar. Here fear no storm, no waves, no tempest; here all travailing and weary souls find rest; here devils have no power, for they are conquered, their dominion is taken away, their empire broken. Here is balm of Gilead; here is the physician, whose blood is for the healing of the nations; here fix, though the earth be moved; here shelter thyself from the wrath to come. Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Heb. xiii. 8.-HORNECK.

I say unto you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Whenever the memorial of the death of Christ is celebrated in the Lord's Supper, let us be careful, by faith, to apply it to ourselves, and to be qualified to do so by a due preparation; each of us saying in his heart, This body and blood were given and shed for me: the minister of God assures me of it, and I do faithfully trust in it. It was for this reason that Jesus Christ ordained that holy Sacrament, that we might be often obliged to remember his love for us; his bitter sufferings; the occasion of his death; the misery we have thereby escaped, if it be not our own fault; and the happiness he has obtained for us; that we may be obliged, by all the motives of interest and gratitude, to love him with all our heart and soul, and to put our whole trust in his mercy. Then will our own death whenever it shall happen, be a blessing to us, and better than the day of our birth; when nothing in this world can be a comfort to us, but a firm faith in Jesus Christ, and what he has done and suffered for our salvation. We shall then see the importance of a true faith, and set a true value upon the blood of Christ, when every thing else will yield us no substantial comfort; when we can say with the Apostle, I know in whom I have believed, even in the Son of God, who came to seck and to save lost sinners, and who gave his life to redeem them

from the second death. - WILSON. O Jesus, who hast loved us, and washed us from our sins, and purchased us by thy own blood, and didst ordain this sacrament, in order to secure us to thyself, by a grateful remembrance of what thou hast done and suffered for us, make me truly sensible of thy love, and of our sad condition, which did require such a sacrifice.-May I always receive this pledge of thy love, the offers of mercy, pardon, and grace, tendered to us in this holy ordinance, with a thankful heart, and in remembrance of Thee, our great and best benefactor; in remembrance of thy holy example, of thy heavenly doctrine, of thy laborious life, of thy bitter passion and death, of thy glorious resurrection, of thy ascension into heaven, and of thy coming again to judge the world!--And may I never forget the obligations thou hast laid upon us, to live as becomes thy disciples, and to forsake every course of life contrary to thy gospel! Cease not, O Lord, to love us; and by thy grace vouchsafed in this ordinance, cause us to love thee with all our hearts. WILSON.

Amen.

If you love God, and your neighbour though not so fervently as you could wish; if you have a real desire of being better than at present you find yourselves to be; if the fruits of the Holy Spirit, though in a very low degree, do appear in your life; lastly, if you do daily pray for God's graces, that you may in his good time be what he would have you to