But this evidence does not stand alone. It is a historical fact, acknowledged by scholars of every school, that all Christian churches have from the very beginning celebrated the Lord’s Supper.[273] Now this universal usage in so many churches, divided not only by long distances but in many cases also by minor differences in doctrine, cannot be explained at all except as a result of a command of Jesus Himself. If any single disciple had started such a practice, it could never have won its way to universal acceptance. Now consider the significance of this fact: Jesus, on the night in which He was betrayed, took bread, broke it, and bade His disciples eat it, saying, ‘This is My body.’ He then took a cup of wine and bade them drink it, saying, ‘This is My blood.’[274] The scene is absolutely without a parallel in the history of the world; and it can have but one meaning, _viz._, that Jesus regarded His death as a sacrifice. But the direct statement of Paul is corroborated, not only by the institution of the Supper, but also by this fact, that the doctrine, that Christ died for our sins, is an integral part of the teaching of Jesus as that is handed down to us in the Gospels. We have already seen that He held that His death was necessary for the establishment of the Kingdom. We must now set out His teaching on this subject with a little more fulness. We shall restrict ourselves to a single Gospel. In the earliest saying that refers to it, His death is a future event, coming inevitably, and destined to bring sorrow to His disciples. “And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.”[275] In the next it is much more clearly defined. Its necessity is emphasized; we are told that the agents are to be the religious leaders of Israel; and it is to be followed by the resurrection. “From that time began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”[276] Twice over this same prophecy is repeated, the last time with more detail.[277] Then follows a most striking saying, in which He speaks of His death as voluntary: it is a giving away of His life; and it is explained as the climax of His life of service; for the gift is ‘a ransom for many,’ that is a price paid, in order to redeem many from sin. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.”[278] We need not linger over the next sayings, though each has its own interest.[279] The last saying occurs in the account of the institution of the Supper. In these words He teaches in the clearest way, first, that His death is to be the ground of forgiveness, and secondly, that after His death He is to be the source of the spiritual