What are the motifs in Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson?

Legitimacy of the Christian Church is a recurring idea. Emerson's literary career was launched on the ashes of his clergical career. In large part, his clergical career at Second Church of Boston ended because he challenged the ritual of communion. In his essay, The Lord's Supper, Emerson says the taking of bread and wine by Jesus with his disciples at the last supper was never intended to be enshrined in church practice as a ritual to be continued through the ages. Reviewing both the Old Testament and the New Testament, Emerson explains that when Jesus told his disciples to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of him, the meaning was that they should follow his commandments—not actually consume anything except metaphorically.