The disciples were not ordered to go into all
nations, and to enjoin it to their converts to observe the same
ceremony. Neither did the Apostles leave any command by which it was
enjoined as an ordinance of the Christian church.
Another difficulty which has arisen on the subject of the supper, is,
that Christians seem so little to have understood the nature of it, or
in what it consisted, that they have had, in different ages, different
views, and encouraged different doctrines concerning it. One has placed
it in one thing, and another in another. Most of them, again, have
attempted in their explanation of it, to blend the enjoyment of the
spiritual essence with that of the corporeal substance of the body and
blood of Christ, and thus to unite a spiritual with a ceremonial
exercise of religion. Grasping, therefore, at things apparently
irreconcilable, they have conceived the strangest notions; and, by
giving these to the world, they have only afforded fuel for contention
among themselves and others.
In the time of the Apostles, it was the custom of converted persons,
grounded on the circumstances that passed at the supper of the passover,
to meet in religious communion. They used, on these occasions, to break
their bread, and take their refreshment and converse together. The
object of these meetings was to imitate the last friendly supper of
Jesus with his disciples, to bear a public memorial of his sufferings
and his death, and to promote their love for one another.
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