'And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to the

disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My Body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks,

and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the New Testament,

which is shed for many for the remission of sins.'--Matthew 26:26-28

Jewish tradition has this curious conceit: that the most important events in Israel's

history were connected with the Paschal season. Thus it is said to have been on the

present Paschal night that, after his sacrifice, the 'horror of great darkness' fell upon

Abraham when God revealed to him the future of his race (Gen 15). Similarly, it is

supposed to have been at Passover time that the patriarch entertained his heavenly

guests, that Sodom was destroyed and Lot escaped, and that the walls of Jericho fell

before the Lord. More than that--the 'cake of barley bread' seen in the dream, which led

to the destruction of Midian's host, had been prepared from the Omer, presented on the

second day of the feast of unleavened bread; just as at a later period alike the captains

of Sennacherib and the King of Assyria, who tarried at Nob, were overtaken by the hand

of God at the Passover season. It was at the Paschal time also that the mysterious

handwriting appeared on the wall to declare Babylon's doom, and again at the Passover

that Esther and the Jews fasted, and that wicked Haman perished. And so also in the

last days it would be the Paschal night when the final judgments should come upon

'Edom,' and the glorious deliverance of Israel take place. Hence to this day, in every

Jewish home, at a certain part of the Paschal service--just after the 'third cup,' or the

'cup of blessing,' has been drunk--the door is opened to admit Elijah the prophet as

forerunner of the Messiah, while appropriate passages are at the same time read which

foretell the destruction of all heathen nations (Psa 79:6; 69:25; Lam 3:66). It is a

remarkable coincidence that, in instituting His own Supper, the Lord Jesus connected

the symbol, not of judgment, but of His dying love, with this 'third cup.' But, in general,

it may be interesting to know that no other service contains within the same space the

like ardent aspirations after a return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple, nor

so many allusions to the Messianic hope, as the liturgy for the night of the Passover

now in use among the Jews.

If we could only believe that the prayers and ceremonies which it embodies were the

same as those at the time of our Lord, we should have it in our power to picture in

minutest detail all that took place when He instituted his own Supper. We should see

the Master as He presided among the festive company of His disciples, know what

prayers He uttered, and at what special parts of the service, and be able to reproduce the

arrangement of the Paschal table around which they sat.

At present and for many centuries back the Paschal Supper has been thus laid out: three

large unleavened cakes, wrapped in the folds of a napkin, are placed on a salver, and on

them the seven articles necessary for the 'Passover Supper' are ranged in this manner: