"Bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son." * * * "Bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them." The broken bread is the symbol of the broken or wounded body of the Christ, broken for sinful man. The wine is the symbol of the blood--the blood shed for the sins of men: and the sincere Christian eats of the one and drinks of the other in grateful remembrance of what the Christ has done for him--the suffering he underwent in order to establish justification of man and the forgiveness of his sin under a reign of law, without violence to the Justice of God or the exclusion of Mercy from our earth-scheme of things. In all this the Atonement is recognized and celebrated most beautifully, and its benefits accepted and appropriated by the celebrants. Moreover, they witness in the act of eating and drinking these emblems of the body and the blood of the Christ, "that they are willing to take upon them the name," of the Christ, become "Christians." "And always remember him;" and who could remember him and not with gratitude in view of what he had done for mankind! "And keep his commandments which he hath given them"--a solemn covenant of obedience upon which, as we have seen, depends the reception of the benefits of the Atonement made for man's individual sins--"he [the Christ] became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." And to what end does all this lead--this covenanting to take upon them the name of Christ; to always remember him; to keep his commandments--to what culmination does all this conduct the celebrant? To union with God, the one thing most important; the climax is "that they may always have his spirit to be with them!" Just as the several steps of faith, repentance and baptism culminate in possession of the Holy Ghost.[A] [Footnote A: Acts ii:38, 39. Heb. vi:1-6.] Thus in two paragraphs, making less than fifteen lines of printed matter is given the story of man's redemption, in this symbol of the Atonement--the Lord's Supper. As in the case of baptism, however, I would remind the student that the virtue is not in the symbols, but in the realities they represent; in the actually broken body of Christ--broken by nail-wounds, by crown of thorns, by spear thrusts in the side; by suffering of mental and spiritual agony that made blood-sweat for the body, and torture for the sin-burdened spirit--vicariously suffering for the sins of all men. By these realities was our salvation purchased; and the virtue lies in them, not in the symbols of them. The symbols we use in remembrance of the realities, and without mistaking them for the realities themselves. LESSON XXII. (Scripture Reading Exercise.) DOES THE NECESSITY OF THE ATONEMENT ARISE FROM THE NATURE OF THE CASE, OR FROM ARBITRARY ARRANGEMENT? ANALYSIS.