are to remain; and let us pray to the Lord in peace." Those alone that were thus admitted to the Eucharist, were allowed to say the Lord's Prayer, because they only could with propriety pray, in the fourth clause, for (Artos Epiousios) the Bread of Life*. The prayer was denominated, from this circumstance, the Prayer of the Faithful. It was confined to their use, and was daily repeated immediately after the consecration of the elements, by all who were assembled to communi

cate.

It is wonderful, that the word bread, in the Lord's Prayer, has been so generally understood to signify common food. It would be quite as reasonable to understand the next, or fifth clause, of debts literally, as meaning debts of money, (æs alienum,) as the fourth clause, of bread, (victus,) food or victuals. But all seem to have agreed in rendering (openμala) debts, in the Greek, trespasses and sins; debts to God and not to man. St. Luke indeed explains St. Matthew's debts by auaplias,

* Non poterant Dominicam Orationem recitare (catechumeni) quia verba petitionis quartæ rov agtor ημων επιούσιον δος ημίν σήμερον ab omnibus foene de Eucharistia explicabantur; cujus mysterii, cum nondum potuerint esse participes «μvn7o1, frustra hanc petitionem recitassent.

Vide Albaspinai, lib. i. obs. 19. et Suiceri Lex. in voc. Euche.

sins; but he retains the original idea of debts, by retaining in the next part of the sentence (?) as we forgive our debtor; and even the word apsapling, sins, is operanuala, debts, in the Cambridge manuscript, according to the very learned Dr. Mill.

Perhaps nobody will object to the opinion, that bread in the Gospel stands for the Word of God, the Grace of God, and the doctrines and precepts of our Saviour. But many will be ready to say, that as the Sacrament was not instituted when the Lord's Prayer was prescribed, nothing contained in it can have a reference to a subsequent institution.

That this obvious objection is destitute of force, may be proved by what has already been said in applying the passages of the sixth chapter of St. John to the Eucharist, which was not instituted till a year or two after they were uttered. Our Lord, whose prophetic mind looked forward into futurity, with more ease than we can recal the scenes and events that are past, could have no difficulty in adapting the words of the prayer to the future pur poses of a most important, though not yet established, solemnity: a rite, which was to perpetuate the memory of his death and passion, and to be the means of conveying their benefits, in all ages, to his faithful and penitent followers. It may be said, that his disciples could not completely understand the words previous to the institution: but his disciples,

it is acknowledged, frequently did not understand him, neither did he intend that they always should, till after his ascension. His disciples had not the gift of prophecy, nor could they understand him, where he says, "The Son of Man shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. They understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them; neither knew they the things which were spoken."

But will any be absurd enough to say, that Christ could not, in these words, allude to his resurrection, because they were spoken before his resurrection?

Again, he says: "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up whither he was before ??? Will he could not refer to his ascenman say any sion, because he had not yet ascended?

Is it then absurd to suppose, in several passages, where he mentions the bread which was to give life, spiritual life, that he intimates to his disciples the Eucharistical institution, which was not then instituted; but which he intended afterwards to ordain?

To the understanding the bread mentioned in the Lord's Prayer, as referring to the Sacrament, there can be no objection from the circumstance of the institution of the Sacrament having been posterior to the prescription of the prayer. Our Saviour, it appears, alluded to several other things,

in the same way, before they happened, and before they were or could be understood by his disciples; who were the more struck, when, in due time, they were fully disclosed by the event.

"These things understood not his disciples at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him*.”

The other petitions of this prayer are of a spiritual and sublime nature. The harmony of the whole, if I may so express it, requires that this, for bread, should also be spiritual and sublime. It is a very sudden transition, from praying that God's "kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven," immediately to supplicate for daily bread, for the meat that perisheth; especially, as our Saviour says, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink ; the life is more than meat. Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things; but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his right eousness, and all these things shall be added to yout."

In conformity to both Scripture and reason, 2 would alter the translation of the fourth petition in

John xii. 16.

↑ Matt. vi. 83. Luke xii. 31..

the Lord's Prayer, and read, instead of “Give us this day our daily bread;"-" Give us this day the Bread of life," the Bread necessary to our spiritual existence; that is, vouchsafe unto us nourishment to our souls, the influence of the Holy Spirit; without which, though our animal part may vegetate, we are assured by thy Son our Saviour, there is no life in us; none of that life which assimilates us to the Divine, and which, through thy mercy, will conduct us to life eternal. Therefore, we beseech thee to feed us with such food this day, and every day; but more particularly when we come to thy Table, and take the material bread in remembrance that Christ died for us, and feed on it in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

It appears to me, that this mode of interpretation adds greatly to the sublimity and significancy of the Lord's Prayer; and at the same time, gives us reason to expect the Bread of Life in the instituted rite of the Eucharist; which has been called by divines of the first character, as I have before observed, the Sacrament of Nutrition. The clause means then, in its true sense, as follows," Oh! leave us not destitute of the Bread that comes down from Heaven, without which, whosoever liveth is dead before thee."

With respect to the next clause in this most interesting prayer: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us," I