him to serve the Lord was the great business of his life. He strove to inculcate every moral virtue, and to bring the whole soul into subjection to the will of Christ. His habit was to read two or three chapters in Hebrew very carefully every morning, and the New Testament he habitually read in the original. If by any circumstance he had been deprived of his usual opportunity of private devotion, he was uneasy and unsettled till he could get alone and pour out his soul to God.

As a student he was diligent, careful, and laborious, regarding no pains too great which were expended on a really important subject. He valued accuracy of knowledge more than extent; he read slowly and weighed well his author's arguments, so that when he closed a book he knew thenceforward what was in it. The great secret of his extensive attainments was the extraordinary manner in which he improved every spare moment of time. It was to this circumstance, much more than to advantageous opportunities, that he owed anything of eminence. He abhorred everything approaching to idleness; and sheer mental labour was a real luxury.

others, and to pour into the wounded spirit the oil of consolation.

The writer is happy to be able to append to this an estimate of Mr. Green's more public characteristics, from the pen of William Felkin, Esq., of Nottingham. After a few introductory remarks, Mr. Felkin goes on to say-"He would find out a difficulty if it were within the horizon; loved abstruse inquiry and disquisitions; could and would split a metaphysical hair; never dismissed a doubt without investigation, or an adverse disputant without fierce combat and often a sound drubbing. He, however, pursued inquiries into many important subjects, as I conceive, in a manner calculated to increase rather than settle doubts-either in his own mind or in that of his hearer or opponent. This I trace in some degree up to the course of academic instruction. Many of Mr. Jarrom's theological positions he could not help doubting: and I know nothing more distressing to some minds, or more fatal to their future comfort, than while acquiring knowledge from the lips of a tutor, to feel compelled to defer assent to his doctrines on some of the most important points of instruction.

"The bane of Mr. Green's life I should suppose to have been spiritual doubts; or he must have been less anxious on topics that I know much harassed him at times. Upon such subjects I thought obliquity of mental vision easily observable-most likely to be accounted for in a large degree by physical infirmity and disease. But enough in the way of apparent censure; it is not at all intended to be real censure.

As a pastor, he was ever alive to the spiritual interests and advancement of his flock, that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. The poor and sorrowing of his charge were the peculiar objects of his care and attention, and at any personal inconvenience he was ready to afford them relief. But he never would consent to degrade the pastoral office by frittering away his time in mere idle gossip. He always had something more important to do, both for himself and for his people. A "I never heard Mr. Green preach counsellor in difficulty; a friend of the after his student career more than a few oppressed; he often cheered the down- sermons-it must not be, therefore, supcast, and caused the widow's heart to posed that my estimate is of much value. bound with joy. Having tasted largely Such as it is, I give it you. He was of the cup of sorrow himself, he knew grave-earnest-showed he felt all he well how to find a way to the hearts of said-desired greatly the glory of God

VOL. XV.-FOURTH SERIES.

4 P

SCENES FROM THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS OF NAZARETH.

BY THE REV. W. WALTERS.

NO. VI. JESUS INSTITUTING THE LORD'S SUPPER.

It was a high season in Jerusalem, | It is invested with irresistible charms. for the Passover Feast had commenced. Many strangers had arrived, some from the surrounding country, others from more distant lands. It was one of the three annual festivals which required the presence of all male Jews throughout the world. Yet, though the city was so full you might have passed along its streets and met scarcely any one abroad except a Roman soldier or taxgatherer, or some abandoned outcast from whose breast piety had departed and for whom there was no home. The public thoroughfares and places of accustomed resort were quiet. Still the aspect was not that of desolation. No black pall hung over the city like that which covers a place depopulated by the plague or sacked by a besieging army. The moon now almost at its full, had arisen, and serene and peaceful as a babe in the lap of its mother, Jerusalém seemed to repose amid the mountains that were round about. From out of every house came the sound of happy voices, for the people in their families were commemorating the night when the angel passed over the dwellings of their fathers in Egypt, and spared the first-born. And a few hours later you might have heard the rich music of the chanted Hallel closing the night's solemnities.

Of all the families who that night celebrated the Lord's Passover to one only is our attention peculiarly drawn.*

* The apparent discrepancy between the three synoptic Evangelists and John, concerning the exact night on which our Lord instituted the supper has no doubt been noticed by our readers. From the account of the former we should conclude that it was the first evening of the passover. The latter seems to indicate that it was the evening before. It will be

The room in which the family is assembled has nothing unusual in its appearance. It is the ordinary room for such occasions. But the family itself is unique. There are thirteeen men; some of them united to each other by ties of consanguinity; others sustaining to one another no blood-relation at all. Nevertheless they are all bound to one another by the nearest and most permanent ties, and he who presides over that feast is their head. We are in the presence of Jesus and his twelve disciples. They attend to the arrangements of the feast in the prescribed way. As spectators and listeners let us observe the group. What busy conversation is that in which all except the president seem engaged? How excited and earnest some of them grow! Ah! poor human nature with its desire for power and superiority is there. Slow have these men been to learn the lessons of their Master; dull in comprehending his own spirit. They are contending who shall be the greatest. This desire has not been quenched yet. It mars the beauty of those who profess to imitaté the lowly One, and is the parent of some of the worst evils which tear and devour the flock of Christ. In his own inimitable way the Master represses the strife, and teaches them the character of true greatness. And now listen as he passes on to topics more painful than this. At that table sits one who is meditating his death; who is about to

seen that we have taken the former view. The matter is well and fully discussed by Olshausen in his "Commentary on the Gospels," and Professor Robinson in his "Harmony of the Gospels in Greek." See Olshausen's Com. (Clark's Edition,) vol. 4. p. 122136. And Robinson's Harmony, p. 214-224.

there.

betray him into the hands of his the present we leave the twelve enemies. And Jesus wishes to indicate the traitor. He does so, and Judas withdraws. He was no fit person to share in the supplementary feast about to be established; a feast only for friends. But there is another burden on the Lord's heart: its pressure is heavy and sore. And as if anxious to free himself of every load, he foretells how Peter would deny him, and how the whole of them would forsake him in his trials which were coming on. We will not meddle with the hearts disturbed by such tidings. Too sacred for intrusion are the chambers in which their sorrows lie.

And now the passover is at an end; but Jesus taking the bread which remains gives thanks and distributes it among them, with the command to eat. In like manner taking the wine-cup out of which they had been drinking, he again offers thanks and gives them that also, with the command to drink. Thus he establishes a family feast which all his brethren are to celebrate till he come again. The scene increases in interest, as he proceeds to deliver what Jeremy Taylor styles, "his farewell sermon, rarely mixed of sadness and joys, and studded with mysteries as with emeralds." What gracious words they are which fall from his lips, and how graciously spoken! How he comforts them in the prospect of his departure! What instructions as to the closeness of the union between them and himself! How kind to prepare them for the world's hostility and the persecutions they would have to suffer! What exhortations to ask the Father in his name for all they might need! And what earnest intercessions for them at the throne! How those counsels and prayers; the tones and looks with which they were uttered; the deep meaning they conveyed sunk into their souls as they follow him to Olivet! For

The feast established by Jesus was designed by him to be a standing ordinance in his church. It has received various names, some highly objectionable, others scriptural and therefore correct. From the sacramentum or oath which was taken by soldiers, the Latin church called it a sacrament. As the soldier swore allegiance to his country, so the Christian was supposed in this ordinance to swear allegiance to Christ. By some it is termed the eucharist from the expression txapıroas, "having given thanks,"” found in the account given by the evangelists. Thanksgiving is thus supposed to be its chief idea. In the Romish church we find it called a mystery, an oblation, a sacrifice, &c., terms all of which are employed for obvious purposes, and not only are without any sanction from scripture, but are moreover positively unscriptural. In the New Testament it is designated the "breaking of bread," "the communion"-" the Lord's table"

and "the Lord's supper." Acts ii. 42. 1 Cor. x. 16, 21; xi. 20. These appellations we prefer to use as sufficiently expressive, and less liable to abuse than any men may invent.

A number of questions occur all of them highly important; but they open a field too wide for discussion in a paper like the present. What were the ends which the Lord's supper was to answer? How long was it designed to continue? Who are the parties to attend to it? With what dispositions should it be observed ? Our replies must be brief.

I. WHAT WERE THE ENDS WHICH THE LORD'S SUPPER WAS TO SERVE? It is impossible rightly to observe it, unless we know what answers we are to furnish here. In the earlier history of the church, it was fearfully abused, and it has been even in later times. The Corinthian church, thinking of their