What, then, is the meaning of our Lord’s words, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood?” That they did not mean that the bread and wine were changed into body and blood is evident, for such an interpretation would contradict the plain language of the Bible: and that they do mean, that the bread and wine were signs, emblems, or figures of his body and blood, is equally plain from the language of our Lord; for in ver. 25, we read, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood.” Now these words must be figurative, for none suppose that the cup was changed into the New Testament; and their only possible meaning is, that the wine in the cup was a figure or emblem of the blood of the covenant. So, also, must it be with the bread. The words are quite as plain and positive in one case as in the other. “This is my body,”—“This is the New Testament;” and as they were spoken by the same person, on the same occasion, to the same company, and with the same object, it is clear that they mean the same thing, namely, that the bread is a figure of the body, as the wine is a figure of the blood. If a person were showing a gallery of pictures, he might say, “This is St. Paul,” “This is St. Peter,” and “This is St. John;” and he would mean thereby, that those pictures on the canvass were representations of the persons whose names they bore. So, again, when our Lord said, “I am the vine,” and “I am the door,” he did not mean that he was a real vine, or a real door, but that the vine and door were figures and emblems of his offices. So also in the Lord’s Supper, when he said, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood,” he did not mean that the bread and wine were changed into real flesh or real blood, but that they were signs and emblems of his blessed work, of his body broken, and his blood so freely shed for man.