The Communicant's Companion
might never be questioned; and that the remembrance of it, being frequently revived by this service, might never be lost. Our redemption by Christ from sin and hell, is a greater work of wonder than that was, more worthy to be remembered, and yet (the benefits that flow from it being spiritual) more apt to be forgotten; this ordinance was therefore instituted, and instituted, in the close of the passover supper, (as coming in the room of it,) to be a standing memorial in the church, of the glorious achievements of the Redeemer's cross; the victories obtained by it over the powers of darkness, and the salvation wrought by it for the children of light. "Thus the Lord hath made his wonderful works to be remembered."
4. It is a feast of dedication.—Solomon made such a feast for all Israel, when he dedicated the temple, as his father David had done, when he brought the ark into the tabernacle. Even the children of the captivity "kept the dedication of the house of God with joy." In the ordinance of the Lord's
Supper, we dedicate ourselves to God as living temples; temples of the Holy Ghost, separated from every thing that is common and profane, and entirely devoted to the service and honor of God in Christ. To show that we do this with cheerfulness and satisfaction, and that it may be done with an agreeable solemnity, this feast is appointed for the doing of it, that we may, like the people of Israel, when Solomon dismissed them from his feast of dedication, "Go to your tents joyful, and glad of heart, for all the goodness that the Lord hath done for David his servant, and for Israel his people."
5. It is a feast upon a sacrifice.—This, methinks, is as proper a notion of it as any other. It was the law and custom of sacrifices, both among the Jews, and in other nations, that when the beast offered was slain, the blood sprinkled, the fat, and some select parts of it burnt upon the altar, and the priest had his share out of it, then the remainder was given back to the