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were by Jesus meant to be imposed upon any person whatsoever; and in particular upon any person, into whose mouth the declaration, to the effect that has just been seen, has ever been, or is ever destined to be forced?-Answer.-Not any. The ceremony itself, a mere modern invention;— the duties, thus attached to it, a mere fiction ;— a fiction, put forth in the teeth of those undisputed and undisputable texts of Scripture, in which nothing that bears the smallest resemblance to it is to be found. In these texts, the persons addressed, no other than the twelve chosen disciples, distinguished by the name of Apostles ;- -no other disciples, or followers, being present,—or, so much as in the way of any the slightest and most general allusion, spoken of: even to these chosen few the act recommended, of such a nature,token and pledge of remembrance, a social act of a purely convivial nature,- -as scarcely to be capable of being taken for the subject of a duty. They all eat, they all drank:-thus say two of those three of his four biographers, by whom what passed at that supper is reported. At that same time, he (Jesus himself) eat with them, if Luke` is to be believed: consequently, according to the orthodox interpretation, eat and drank along with them his thirteenth part of his own body and his own blood: which doing, he said to them, on that same occasion, according to that same Luke; "This do in remembrance of me.' A duty, if a

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* Luke xxii. 15. "And he said unto them, With desire "I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until "it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Such being his declared desire, and the means being at hand, and no obstacle at hand, of course that desire was fulfilled.

duty it can be called, plainly and expressly con fined to twelve persons, then living and then present: and, in their instance, no such accessory duties as are here set up-no nor any other accessory duties-added to it;—such being the exact state of the case,-with the acknowledged standard of belief and practice before their eyes, up start a set of men, sixteen centuries after,and, without deigning to assert, do more than assert for they pretend to take for granted,that, upon all that ever professed, or ever shall profess, the religion of Jesus, a whole swarm of duties, viz. the swarm thus confidently delivered, were, on that same occasion, imposed by him.

If, without support from any history, true or false, and, on the contrary, in the teeth of so many histories, which now are, and then were in every body's hands-all of them recognized, as constituting, in relation to this very subject, the sole standard of belief and practice,―if, under such disadvantages, such palpable misrepresentation has been made-such gross impositions, not only attempted, but, by the arm of coercive power carried into effect with success,-what limits can there be to the impostures which, with the same support, may with like success have been attempted, on subjects, on which the power of imposture has found no such obstacle to check it ?—Tradition— Roman Catholic Tradition-in this word—not to look any further-an indication is given of the sort of matter, in which an answer to this question may be found.

Under all these five heads of examination, and in particular under the first, suppose however he answer were in the affirmative: on this sup

position, various are the observations, which the answer would be apt to suggest, if considered in its several particular parts.

1. This supernatural recipe with what degree of frequency is it expected to be repeated? 2. Suppose it were a week-suppose it but once a month-suppose even the number of doses taken in a year still smaller-Each time,—let the times follow one another ever so quickly,-here is "a new life" undertaken to be led:-such at least is to be, on each occasion, the "stedfast purpose." But, of any such new life (whatsoever may be meant by a new life)-what on any occasion, according to the string of intimations thus given, will be the fruit or use?-Each time there is to be " repentance"-each time the repentance is to be "true"-yet, true as it is, each and every time it is to be of no effect: the penitent being, all along, in the same sad case, as if no repentance had taken place. Each time the purpose, how stedfast" soever it be, is to be broken through, and the condition which the penitent is thereupon to be in, is to be exactly the same as if no such "purpose" had been resolved upon. For, if that purpose be to lead a life without sin, then, suppose the purpose adhered to, of what use would be the new life?-The new life-no:-the old life is on that supposition the only good one:-a new life? -whatsoever of novelty his life had in it, he would, on this supposition, be but so much the worse for it.

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Mark well, that all the time this perpetual alternative of sinning and repentance is going on, "lively" is to be the man's "faith in God's mercy:"

lively, in other words, his assurance-that upon repentance, forgiveness will each and every time follow. Full of comfort, no doubt, for the time, will this assurance be. For time present, yes :But on the future, on each such occasion, what, if any, will be, at all times, its tendency, and but too probably its effect? What but to give encouragement—and by encouragement birth-to sin?

In a word-to use a familiar, but not the less opposite, expression-at the end of each such supper, a new score, it appears, is to be considered as commenced; and, at the conclusion of each immediately succeeding one, such new score will, if the view thus given of the effect be a correct one, be considered as rubbed off. In an account of sins, any more than in an account of money, can there be any stronger, or indeed other encouragement to the running up of a fresh score, than the assurance of having it rubbed off at pleasure : rubbed off at any time, and at no other expense than that of a few words of course.

As to contrition, grief, sorrow, penitence, repentance, whatever be the words employed,-for any such affection, what room does the nature of the case leave in the breast of a man, whose persuasion is that he is dealing upon such terms? Sin, he may thus at all times have his bellyfull of: only one thing he must not forget, which is that in some manner or other, between the time of his committing each such sin, and the time of the next supper of this sort that he partakes of, he must " truly repent," i. e. be sincerely sorry for it. Take a mouthful of bread and a mouthful of wine-taking care that before they are swallowed, whatsoever sins it has happened to you to

commit, since the last preceding mouthful of each was swallowed, are truly repented of,-vanished are all these sins: all these sinful acts are caused not to have happened, and every thing is as it should be. Such is the virtue of this bread, and of this wine:-if not this, then what else is it?

Under or over the Church of Rome, certain Popes used for some time to be selling this sort of licence (indulgence was in the language of technical theology, its appropriate name): and, in that Church, to a Church-of-England eye, it was of course every thing that was mischievous and abominable. By these Popes it was granted indeed, but in retail only, at so much per sin, and at high prices: and, the higher the prices, the smaller the number of those, in whose instance it could be obtained, and thereby become productive of its mischievous effects. But, if even under the Church of Rome this licensing system was a mischievous one, under the Church of England, how much greater must not be the mischievousness of it? Under the Church of England, at so small a price as that of the Table offering, if any such there be, it is put into every hand that can afford to pay that small price: and the whole mass of sins, which, between supper and supper, a man can see his convenience in committingthe whole mass, be they in spirit and number what they may, are thus included in one and the same indulgence.

Has it not this effect?-Well then, if it has not, no effect has it whatever :-and such, from beginning to end, is the perpetual alternative. Justification, shadow of Justification, the case affords not any: apology, palliation, this is all

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