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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
rative symbol in the eueharistic institution , to supply the place of the paschal symbol , which was hereby contrasted , and , indeed , silently exploded and excluded from the pure and spiritual worship of Almighty God ? At the time and in the
circumstances of setting up the Christian I ^ ucharist , our JLord Christ could not possibly entertain any immediate designs other or less than ( 1 ) , the complete and universal subversion of superstition , idolatry and all false worship of Almighty God : and ( 2 ) , the universal introduction
and establishment of his most pure and spiritual worship : and as . a compendious ritual for the gradual and effectual accomplishment of these purposes , the human mind can scarcely conceive that a more wise and adequate plan was ever offered to the Christian world .
The institution of the Lord ' s Supper was the institution of trie public and Christian worship of the Deity j or there is no other to be found : — and what other institution was there ever offered to the world which so
commodiously disseminates right sentiments concerning the Almighty , and so effectually inculcates practical virtue and piety on the human temper and conduct ? Celebrating the Christian Eucharist , on the broad and comprehensive ground on which our divine Christian Teacher
undoubtedly intended it to be celebrated , perpetually presents to the minds of sincere Christian worshipers the whole economy of divine benevolence arid mercy ; that is to say , a compendious view , in its origin and process , of the new Christian
covenant for the accomplishment of human salvation . My fellow-Christians , to the love and labours of Jesus Christ , our elder brother , our obligations are unspeakably great , and should pervade our whole
temper and conduct ; but the eucharistic law , which he hath enjoined on us , directly calls up ? n us to contemplate , solely or chiefty , the gracious designs and operations of infinite benevolence and mercy ; yea , as it presents to our devout commemorations the new
covenant of remissions arm recompenses , iu the most generous and condescending point of view , it furnisheth us with themes the most ample , and subjects-the most grand and sublime
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for exciting aur praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God , and securing to him our everlasting obedience , devotion , love and gratitude . But some may say , have we still got
these means and motives to the obedience , love and worship of Almighty God in our view , and still in our hands > Blessed be God ! we have . The object to which Jesus invited our contemplations remains unaltered :
— " Do this in remembrance of me " No proleptic device could ever enter into his divine precepts . Had such a device been adopted , without avowing it to his associated friends , it would necessarily have stamped the conversation and conduct of the Son
of God with a brand of base artifice and disingenuity . The holy and beloved Jesus , the faithful and true witness , did not speak one thing and mean another ; and therefore we may rest assured that his eucharistic
teachings have , at this day , precisely the same meaning as they had when they first dropped from his gracious lips , when he first instituted and exemplified Christian communion for the religious and social worship of Almighty God .
To the preceding notes it seems expedient still to add one more , to shew that St . Paul in 1 Cor . xi . 26 , probably intended to teach something quite different from the eucharistic commemoration of Christ ' s crucifixion and death . It is generally allowed , that this noted verse doth
not lie within the letter and limits of the eucharistic record y and therefore , unless we take the institution , or the main part of it , from the authority of Paul , and not of Jesus , it
cannot be admitted as having any imperative construction , or any weight to justify the meaning and use of any particular clause , which doth not explicitly occur in Christ ' s original and authentic law .
The sentiment and language of this ex and post institute remark of of the apostle most probably arose out of the early and peculiar history and circumstances of St . Paul and his Corinthian correspondents , who ,
nearly home to the time of this correspondence , had been habituated to use animal sacrifices in the service of that God whom they worshiped . Of this mode of worship , both the Jews and Gentiles seem to have been very
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750 Miscellaneous Notes intended to explain the Christian Eucharist .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1815, page 750, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1767/page/22/
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