1 ^„ - .A ! WILLIAMS^ TREATISE .^J ! ' O.V THE 1 1 S^^IEID^© ©WIPIPHIB^ .. ■ I • A '^^' i V "- - " ■ -■ 'V .^.... ^ * »'"'"'"«' *«„,^^^^ PRINCETON, N. J. Divisici. Section .. Shelf. Number M ^ kr TREATISE INSTITUTION, NATURE, AND DESIGN LORD'S SUPPER, BY JAMES R? WILLIAMS, A MINISTER OF THE METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. "This do in remembrance of me."—Jesiis. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink tliis cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."— PcmA BALTIMORE: PUBLISHED BY JOHN J. HARROD. 1832. Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by James R. Williams, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Maryland. TOY, PRINT. I HtC, APR 1882 \tHE0L06IG&L CONTENTS. Preface, CHAPTER I. A brief notice of the opinions held by Luther, Zuingle, Calvin, and others, on the Lord's Supper; to which is added, the present views and practice of the Catholic Church, in the words of her own ministers, .... 9 CHAPTER 11. The institution, nature and design of the Lord's Supper, as taught in the Scriptures, 22 CHAPTER III. A candid examination of those passages of Scripture that occasionally or incidentally relate to the Eucharist, . 45 CHAPTER IV. An answer to the question — What preparations are neces- sary as it regards the elements for the Supper, and as it respects those who partake? ....,..,. 62 CHAPTER V. An answer to the question — Who may partake? ... 71 CHAPTER VI, An answer to the question — What attitude are christians to assume at the Lord's table? , . . 80 Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2011 witin funding from Princeton Tineoiogicai Seminary Library littp://www.archive.org/details/treatiseoninstitOOwill PREFACE The Author of the following pages published an essay on the Lord's Supper, in the Methodist Protestant, at the request of the editor of that periodical, who had heard him deliver a discourse in St. John's church, on, ''This do in remembrance of me." Since the appearance of the essay, the writer has been repeatedly solicited to prepare a treatise, of convenient size, on the Lord's Sup- per, embodying the views presented in the essay. To gratify his friends, and to contribute his mite towards the elucidation of this important subject, he has revised the essay, and added a considerable amount of matter, which he hopes will be interesting and useful. He has been induced the more cheerfully to under- take this little work, from the consideration, that, v/ith the exception of one or two, he knows of no treatise on the subject which does not abound in phraseology and sentiment, calculated to lead the minds of the rising generation back again to the exploded doctrine of tran- substantiation. The old language of transubstantiation is retained, and the unintelligible notion of spiritual manducation is inculcated in almost every treatise he has read. The highly exceptional phraseology of old for- mularies^ blended with scriptural language, is defended, and urged on the acceptance of the religious community; and thus error and truth, light and darkness, are com- mingled, and presented to the minds of the humble, but sincere christian, to the great detriment of religious knowledge, and rational piety. "Take and eat this in VI PREFACE. remembrance that Christ died for thee,'' is a scriptural injunction. But this is immediately and inseparably connected with an exhortation adapted to a species of transubstantiation which is utterly unintelligible. "And PEED on HI3I in thy heart by faith." A late writer on the nature and design of the Lord's Supper, exclaims: ^With what holy importunity should we concur in the petition; Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the FUESH of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink his BLOOD, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body^ and our souls washed through his most precious blood.'' He is not alone, however, in this view of things; the same sentiments are reiterated, published, sung, and constantly impressed on the minds of entire worshipping assemblies. "Now, Lord, on us thy Jlesh bestow, and let us drink thy blood.^^ "By faith his Jlesh we eat, who here his passion show." ^'•Drink thy blood for sinners shed, taste thee in the broken bread.'' "Hail sacred feast which Jesus makes! rich banquet of his fiesh and blood?"* How revolting are such expressions to humanity and piety; and how completely foreign to the institution of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. They may, indeed, be pleasant to the ears of those who have been long ac- customed to their sound, and serve to make religion mechanical; but they never can enlighten the mind, nor lead tlie heart to a just and profitable contemplation on the unbounded love and mercy of God in the gift of his Son for the redemption and salvation of a world of sin- ners lost If we be not much mistaken, the day is ap- proaching when the dark phraseology of superstition will give place to the intelligible language of the gospel; and the simple views of divine revelation will be re- ceived in preference to those mystical notions which de- i PREFACE. vii grade the christian religion, and bewilder the minds of the sincere followers of Christ. The convention of the Methodist Protestant Church, at the formation of our economy, adopted an entire new service or formulary for the celebration of the Lord's Supper, in which there is not a single sentence concern- ing feeding on Christ's body by faith, or drinking his blood. Hence, we have no phraseology of this kind at the celebration of the Supper among us, except occa- sionally by some ministers, who, from old habit, inadver- tently come over such expressions. When, however, these do occur, we should regard them as mere inadver- tencies, and not suffer our minds to be diverted from a proper and correct exercise, suited to the occasion. The same deportment will be proper when we partake with christians of other denominations who constantly use a phraseology which we conceive to be exceptionable. It is our duty to exercise charity towards all, and to have fellowship, so far as we consistently can, with every de- nomination of professing christians, notwithstanding how they may differ from us in their modes of worship, or manner of expressing themselves in their formularies. It has appeared to the writer, that a small work which shall clearly exhibit the nature and design of the Lord's Supper, freed from all the mystical shroudings of super- stition, will be acceptable and useful to our community. Some persons, indeed, have supposed, that if the Eucha- rist be divested of those mystical notions, the service will lose much of its solemnity. To this objection we say; if the solemnity spoken of be produced by erroneous ^nd. superstitious notions, the sooner we are freed of such solemnity the better; for it must necessarily be evanescent in its nature, and unsanctifying in its effects. But this service needs no such auxiliaries. The contemplation VIU PREFACE. of the dying love of Jesus, accompanied by a lively faith in Christ, will be found sufficient to solemnize the soul, and move the heart of every rational christian. Who can contemplate the great love wherewith Christ loved us and gave himself for us, and not feel the emotions of a grateful and pious heart rising to God in thanksgiving and praise? Who can meditate on the character and sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with grief, who was despised and rejected of men, buf- feted, scourged, reviled, crucified, and not feel his soul moved within him, when he commemorates the death and passion of the Saviour? Who can reflect, without gratitude, on the fact, that Jesus "Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man;" "that he was wound- ed for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniqui- ties, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." That through the suf- ferings, death, resurrection, and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, whosoever believeth in him shall be justi- fied from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. In the preparation of this little work, for the w'riter had no intention to make a book, two objects have been kept in view. One was to instruct the mind; and the other to affect the heart and improve the life of each in- dividual who may peruse it, particularly the ministers and members of the Methodist Protestant Church. To these, therefore, it is dedicated, with the single request, that they peruse it with becoming attention, and accept the views offered, so far as they accord with the lively ora- cles of God. Baltimore, Dec. 1, 1832. TREATISE LORD'S SUPPER CHAPTER I. A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE OPINIONS HELD BY LUTHER, ZUINGLE, CALVIN, AND OTHERS, ON THE LORD's SUPPER. The early reformers are justly entitled to the gratitude and admiration of every real protestant in the universe, for the decision and zeal with which they assailed, and continued to expose the superstitions of their day. They are equally en- titled to our veneration, on account of the sound principles they laid down for the government of themselves and their successors. The first and most important principle advanced by them, was: The word of God is the only and sufficient rule of faith and practice. The second, was: Every chris- tian has an inalienable right to private judgment in matters of religion. These were necessarily connected, and the whole reformation proceeded upon them, so far as the policy and power of crowned heads and superstitious minds would per- mit. Such, however, was the state of the times 2 10 OPINIONS OF LUTHERj in which those early reformers lived, that a tho- rough reformation from the errors of popery, in doctrine, discipline, rites and ceremonies, was not to be expected during the lifetime of the principal actors in the great and glorious work of the refor- mation. They achieved much, but a great deal more remained to be accomplished. Indeed, at the present time, there still hangs about the doc- trines and services of several protestant churches, some relics of popery. This remark is strikingly exemplified in the doctrines and services of the Eucharist, as exhibited in creeds, confessions of faith, formularies, catechisms, &c. of different pro- testant churches, in Europe and America. Luther, the intrepid champion of the reforma- tion in Germany, while he renounced the doctrine of transubstantiation as a pernicious error, taught the no less exceptionable doctrine of consubstantia- tion. He maintained, that although the bread and wine used in the Lord's Supper are not changed in substance into the body and blood of Christ, yet the real body and blood of Christ are in, with and under these elements, and are exhibited together with them, and received and eaten by every com- municant. That christians really feed upon, and are spiritually nourished by the proper substance of Christ's body. Dr. Maclaine, in a note explanatory of the term impanation^ used by Dr. Mosheim in his Church History, holds the following language: ''The term impanation, (which signifies here the presence of ZUINGLE AND CALVIN. 11 Christ's body in the Eucharist, in or with the bi^ead exhibited,) amounts to what is called consuhstan- tiation. It was a modification of the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation, and was first invent- ed by some of the disciples of Berenger, who had not a mind to break all measures with the church of Rome, and afterwards adopted by Lu- ther and his followers, who, in reality, made sad work of it. For, in order to give it some faint air of possibility, and to maintain it as well as they could, they fell into a wretched scholastic jargon about the nature of substaiices, subsistences, attri- butes, 2^^^operties and accidents, that did infinite mischief to the true and sublime science of gospel theology, whose beautiful simplicity it was adapted to destroy. The very same perplexity and dark- ness, the same quibbling, sophistical and unintelli- gible logic that reigned in the attempts of the Ro- man Catholics to defend the doctrine of transub- stantiation, were visible in the controversial wri- tings of the Lutherans in behalf of consubstantia- tion or impanation. The latter had, indeed, one absurdity less to maintain; but being obliged to assert, in opposition to intuitive evidence and un- changeable truth, that the same body may be in many places at the same time, they were conse- quently obliged to have recourse to the darkest and most intricate jargon of the schools to hide the nonsense of this unaccountable doctrine." We are happy to have it in our power, on good authority, to say, the modern Lutherans have gene- 12 OPINIONS OF LUTHER, rally abandoned the doctrine of consubstantiation as unintelligible and unscriptural. And we are also informed, that in almost all the newly organi- zed congregations, bread is substituted for the wa- fer; and it is highly probable the altars will give place to tables. The justly celebrated reformer, Zuingle, founder of the protestant or reformed churches in Switzer- land, opposed Luther in a controversy on the doc- trine of the Eucharist. He contended that the body and blood of Christ are not present in the Lord's Supper; that the bread and wine are no more than external signs or symbols of the absent body and blood of Christ, designed to excite in the minds of Christians a grateful remembrance of the sufferings and death of the Saviour. This opinion was embraced by all the friends of the re- formation in Switzerland, and by a considerable number of reformers in Germany. Luther, on the other hand, maintained his doctrine of consubstan- tiation with the utmost obstinacy; and hence arose, in the year 1542, a tedious and vehement contro- versy, which eventuated in a fatal division of the reformed churches; and, to a very great extent, alienated in affection those who had embarked to- gether in the sacred cause of religion and liberty. John Calvin, the founder and head of the reform- ed church of Geneva, laboured with great assiduity and perseverance to reconcile the Lutheran and reformed churches; to effect which he presented another view of the Eucharist, differing a little ZUINGLE AND CALVIN. 13 from Luther's opinion, but very much from that of Zuingle. He acknowledged the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the elements used at the Lord's Supper; but contended that they were spiritually present, and were eaten and drunk by faith. The present creeds of the reformed churches appear to be identical with Calvin's notion. In the larger catechism of the Presbyterian and re- formed churches, the following answer is given to the question — what is the Lord's Supper? "The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of the New Testa- ment, Avherein by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to the appointment of Jesus Christ, his death is showed forth; and they that worthily communicate /eetZ upon his body and blood to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, &c," To the question — ^^Hoiv do they that worthily com- municate in the Lord's Supjier feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein? Ans. As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with or under the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, are yet spiritually present to the faith of the receiver no less truly and really than the elements themselves, so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord's Sup- per, do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal or carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and the benefits of his death." 14 OPINIONS OF LCTTHERj This view, however, is not to be received as the implicit faith of all the ministers and members of the reformed churches. Many of them consider this representation to be unintelligible and liable to serious objections, and view the Lord's Supper as exclusively commemorative. Henry VIII. of England, the first protestant monarch of that country, having received com- plaints that a great diversity of doctrines were taught from the pulpits, sent a circular letter to all the bishops of the established church, (July 12, 1536,) forbidding all preaching till Michaelmas, by which time certain articles of religion should be set forth. The king himself framed the articles, and sent them into the convocation, where they were agreed to by both houses. The fourth arti- cle will exhibit the light in which the Lord's Sup- per was viewed, at that early period, by the di- vines of the Ghurch of England: "Art. 4. In the sacrament of the altar ^ under the form of bread and wine, there is truly and suh- stantially the same body of Christ that was born of the Virgin." The publication of the articles was followed by an order prohibiting the importation of foreign books, and forbidding all persons to dispute against the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, on pain of death. A subsequent parliament passed a statute, called ^'The statute of the six ai'ticles,''^ entitled ^^An act for abolishing diversity of opinions in certain ar- ZUIJVGLE AND CALVIN. 15 tides concerning the christian religion,"^^ The first of these declares, that ^'in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, there remains no sub- stance of bread and wine, but under these forms the natural body and blood of Christ are present." It was also enacted, "that if any did speak, preach or write against the first article , they should be judged heretics, and be burnt, without any abjura- tion, and forfeit their real and personal estate to the king." It will be perceived by these acts, that the Church of England, in the time of Henry VITL held the monstrous doctrine of transuhstantiation', and was equally intolerant with the Church of Rome. Edward VI., son and successor of Henry VIIL, appointed a committee composed of the dignitaries af the church, to examine and reform the offices of the church. They commenced with the Eucharist, in which they made little or no alteration, (in phraseology,) leaving the office of the mass as it stood, only adding an order that the priest should give to the communicants a portion of the wine as well as the wafer bread, and should dispense with the popish practice of elevating the elements.* * The historian Neal states, that "in reforming the other offi- ces, the committee examined and compared the Romish missals of Sarwn, York, Hereford, Bangor and imco/n, and out of them composed the morning and evening service, almost in the same form as it stands at present; only there was no confession nor absolution. From the same materials they compiled a litany, consisting of many short petitions, interrupted by suflfrages, [responses;] it is the same with that which is now used, (in the Church of England,) except the petition to be delivered 16 OPINIONS OF LUTHERj The altars were subsequently removed from the cathedrals and churches, by order of the king's council, and tables were substituted. The reasons given, are: 1. "Because our Saviour instituted the sacrament at a.table, and not at an altar." 2. "Be- cause Christ is not to be sacrificed over again, but his body and blood to be spiritually eaten and drunk at the holy supper, for which a table is more proper than an altar." 3. "Because the Holy Ghost, speaking of the Lord's Supper, calls it the Lord's table, 1 Cor. x. 21 — but no where an altar." 4. "The canons of the council of Nice, as well as the fathers Chrysostom and Augusti7ie, call it the Lord's table; and though they sometimes call it an altar, it is to be understood figuratively." 5. "An altar has relation to a sacrifice; so that if we re- tain the one we must admit the other; which would give great countenance to mass-priests." 6. "There aie many passages in ancient writers, which show that communion tables were of wood, that they were made like tables, and that those who fled into churches for sanctuary did hide themselves under them." 7. "The most learned foreign divines have declared against altars, as Bucer, Calampa- dius, Zuingle, Bullinger, Calvin, P. Martyr, &c. and have removed them out of their several churches; only the Lutheran churches retain them."— >S^r2/pe'5 Annals, vol, I, p. 162. /roTn the tyranny of the bishop of Rome, and all hi» detestahh enormities; which, in the review of the liturgy in Queen Eliz- abeth's time was struck out." — Js''eaVs History. ZUINGLE AND CALVIN. 17 The historian Neal says: ^^ Ridley, Cranmer^ Latimer, and the rest of the English reformers, were unanimously of opinion, that retaining altars would serve only to nourish in the people's minds the superstitious opinion of a propitiatory mass, and would minister an occasion of offence and di- vision among the godly."* The principal tenets and superstitious ceremonies of the Romish church were now nearly abolished, but the doctrine of the real presence was still retained. In 1563, Elizabeth directed a review of the doc- trines and discipline of the Church of England. — The convocation of divines began with the doc- trines, and reduced the forty-two articles of Ed- ward VI. to thirty-nine, which are substantially the same with the present thirty-nine articles of the Church of England, and the Protestant Epis- copal church of these United States. The twenty-eighth article treats of the Lord's Supper, and inculcates the notion advanced by Calvin, of eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ spi7^itnally by faith. This article was adopted verbatim, in 1784, by the general confe- rence of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is numbered eighteen in their book of discipline. We will now, in the close of this chapter, re- cord the doctrine of the Catholic church in her own words; and we shall do this, because some of *• Would it not be well if our brethren, as sensible reform- ers, were to abstain from calling the railing around the Lord's table, in our churches, "the altar?'' 18 OPINIONS OF LUTHER, her ministers have charged us protestants with misrepresenting them and their doctrine of tran- substantiation. "The doctrine of the Roman Catholic church is, that in the mass, there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and. that the victim offered to God, is the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Catholic necessarily believes this doctrine in its fullest ex- tent and plainest meaning, otherwise he would cease to be a member of the church," — Preface to the Roman Missal. The Right Reverend Doctor England, Catholic Bishop of Charleston, in his explanation of the mass, says, '^Christ made the bread his body by the words, ^This is my body.'' The change of the bread and wine into the body and blood takes place the moment these words of Christ are pro- nounced by the priest. Before the consecration it is bread; but when the words of Christ are added, it is no longer bread, but the body of Christ. — After the consecration, we have no longer bread and wine to contemplate, but the body and blood of Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine." The French Catechism asserts that "The Eu- charist is a sacrament which contains, really and substantially, the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the forms and appearance of bread and wine." "The bread is ZUINGLE AND CALVIN. 19 changed into the hody^ and the wine is changed into the hlood of our Lord." And in answer to the question, "must we worship the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist?" [the con- secrated bread and wine.] The answer given is, "Yes, undoubtedly; for this body and this blood are inseparably united to his divinity." In the canon of the mass we have the following direction. "After pronouncing the words of con- secration, the priest, kneeling, adores and ele- vates the sacred host,"* — and then, "he adores and elevates the chalice,! ^"d lays it on the altar." Elevating the bread and wine is designed to inform the people that the change has taken 2:)lace, and that these are now objects of worship. Laying them on the altar, is the act of "offering them to God, as a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead." After making this offering and sacrifice, the priest proceeds to receive the sacrament, (as it is called by the Romish church.) On taking a part of the bread, he says: "the bodt of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to everlasting life." And on taking the wine, he says: "the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul to everlasting life." After receiving, he prays: "may thy body, O Lord, which I have received, and thy blood, which I have drunk, cleave to my bowels; and grant that no stain of sin may remain in me, who have been fed with this pure and holy sacrament." * The host is the consecrated bread. f The chalice is the cup of wine. 20 OPINIONS OF LUTHER, The following "act of faith" is made by every Catholic, on receiving the wafer: "I most firmly believe that in this holy sacrament thou art pre sent, verily and indeed; that here is thy body and blood, thy soul and thy divinity." — Prayer before Communion. The Catholic Directory instructs the people thus: "At the time of your receiving the host, let your head be erect, your mouth open moderately wide, and your tongue a little advanced, so as to rest upon your under lip, that the priest may con- veniently convey the blessed sacrament into your mouth, which being done, shut your mouth, let the sacred host moisten a little upon your tongue, and then swallow it down as soon as you can, and afterwards abstain awhile from spitting. If the host should chance to stick to the roof of your mouth, be not disturbed, neither must you put your finger in your mouth to remove it, but gently and quietly remove it with your tongue, and so convey it down. And then, having received the priest's blessing, return to your place, and endea- vor to entertain, as well as you can, the guest whom you have received." Here we will take occasion to say, without the smallest degree of animosity or bigotry, that, in our opinion, there can be no doctrine advanced more un- scriptural, irrational and pernicious in its consequen- ces than that of transubstantiation, which is the doc- trine of the Catholic Church. The scriptures no where inculcate this doctrine, nor authorise the ZUINGLE AND LUTHER. 21 sacrifice of the mass, much less the gross idolatry of worshipping bread and wine. The doctrine of the Catholics represents Christ, when instituting his supper, as breaking his own body, and taking his own blood, and feeding his disciples with these, while his body remained entire, and his blood was still circulating in his veins; and also, as dividing and distributing among them his "soul and divin- ity," as food to be eaten. In the transubstantiation of the mass, they represent that the body of Christ is present, whole and entire, without division or separation of parts, in many thousand places at one and the same time. That the wafer, after "conse- cration," while it appears to all the senses, the sight, the touch, the smell, the taste, as being bread, yet that it is not bread, but "the flesh and blood, the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ." — That while the wafer evidently possesses all the properties of a material substance, such as, figure, divisibility, ponderosity, &c. yet it is not matter, but the infinite, undivided, incomprehensible God in Christ, who is "swallowed down" by each and every finite man and woman that receives the wafer. The native tendency of this ab- surd and shocking doctrine goes to destroy the tes- timony of our senses; to undermine the proofs of all the miracles by which God has confirmed reve- lation; to sanction and propagate idolatry; and to induce sensible men, in Catholic countries, and elsewhere, to reject Christianity as a superstition too absurd to be believed. 3 CHAPTER IL THE INSTITUTION, DESIGN AND NATURE OF THE LOED's SUPPER. The history of the institution of the Lord's Supper is so plain a narrative, that it will be ne- cessary only to transcribe the account given by the Evangelists and by Paul, to put every reader in possession of the facts in the case. Many profita- ble remarks and reflections on the occasion, might be made, but these would necessarily increase the number of pages, without adding essentially to the merit of the work. The harmonized view will facilitate our inquiries after the design and nature of the Supper, and furnish our readers with a rea- dy means of collating all the passages. *^And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the dis- ciples, and said. Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it 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." — Matt. xxvi. 26-28. ''And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, DESIGN AND NATURE, &C. 23 This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many." — Mark, xiv. 22-24. ''And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying. This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying. This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you." — Luke xxii. 19, 20. "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; And when he had given thanks, he brake U, and said. Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying. This cup is the new testa- ment in. my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it^ in remembrance of me." — 1 Cor, xi. 23-25. We have here, in a very few words, the only authentic history of the institution of the Lord's Supper. To this history alone we are to look for information on the design of this ordinance; for if the institutor has omitted any important matter relative to the design of his oion institution, in vain shall we look for additional information from writers of a more modern date. But there is no omission here; the Lord has doubtless communi- cated by the Evangelists and the Apostle Paul, all that is necessary for his followers to know on this important subject. All that remains for us to do, is clearly to ascertain our Lord's meaning, and faithfully practice the duty. 24 DESIGN AND NATURE Nothing can be plainer, than that our Lord, when he instituted his supper, designed it to be a COMMEMORATIVE FEAST, which should be obser- ved by his followers in remembrance of him. — ■ ''This do in remembrance of me." The dis- ciples understood these words in their plain literal signification, as enjoining on them, and on all chris- tians, the observance of this duty. Hence, after the resurrection and ascension of their Master, they commenced the duty of breaking bread, in imi- tation and memory of Christ, and taught the primi- tive christians to do the^ same, in simplicity and sincerity of heart; hence, in the Acts and the Epistles, it appears that the early christians made this a part of the services of every Lord's day. — Even at Troas, in Asia, where Paul tarried seven days, on his return from Greece to Syria, the be- lievers were in the practice of celebrating the Lord's supper on the first day of the week. ^^And upon the first day of the iveek, when the disciples came together to break breads Paul preachedunto themJ*^ — Acts XX. 7. It also appears, that the evening of the Lord's day was selected as the most appropriate time for this service; for Paul '^continued his speech until midnight; And there ivere many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together,"^^ But it has been asserted, that the disciples mis- understood their master's meaning when he gave them bread and wine, after having supped on the Paschal Lamb — that he did not design to institute 25 this as a religious rite in his church, commemora- tive of his death and passion — and that the disci- ples led the primitive christians into error — and christians of every age since have followed them in error. We dare not admit this assertion, be- cause of its consequences, for if we admit that the disciples were mistaken in so plain a case, we have no guarantee that they Avere not also mistaken in other points of still greater importance. There is, however, one fact which settles this question, and that is, Paul received from the Lord, by reve- lation, a history of the institution and obligations of the Supper. Addressing himself to the Corin- thians, who had been guilty of great improprieties in celebrating the Lord's Supper, Paul says: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I de- livered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread," &c. And in the following verse he declares the design of the institution: "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." Ye do commemorate his death and passion, and openly publish and tell the world that Jesus died to redeem sinners; that he is risen again, and ascended on high, and that he will come again to raise the dead, and judge the world in righteousness. Now, had there been any error or mistake on the part of the disciples, in relation to this feast, Christ would have corrected it in his revelation to Paul, but the revelation has confirmed the facts, and sustained the disciples. Therefore, 3* ^ DESIGN AND NATURE we conclude that the disciples were not mistaken; that Christ did design his supper to be a perpetual commemorative feast in his church — that the Apos- tles, the primitive christians, and all christians in every age of the church, up to the present day, have been under obligation to celebrate this feast in remembrance of Christ. Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, in his "plain account of the nature and design of the Lord's Supper," has spoken so clearly and forcibly on this part of our subject, that we cannot forego the pleasure of tran- scribing a portion of his treatise "It appears from these passages [those we have cited] that the end for which our Lord instituted this duty, was the remembrance of himself; that the bread to be taken and eaten, was appointed to be the memorial of his body broken, and the wine to be drunk, was ordained to be the memorial of his blood shed: or, (according to the express words of St. Paul,) that the one was to be eaten, and the other to be drunk, in REMEMBRANCE of Christ; and this to be contin- ued until He, who was once present with his dis- ciples, and is now absent, shall come again.^^ "The doing any act in remembrance of a person, implies his bodily absence; and if he is corporally present, we are never said, nor can we be said, to perform that action in order to remember him. — And, therefore, it being declared, in the places be- fore mentioned, that the end of this institution ' was the remembrance of Christ; it must follow from hence, that to eat and drink, in the Lord's 27 Supper, must be to eat and drink in a sense con- sistent with the notion of this remembrance; and, therefore, to suppose or teach, that christians eat his real natural body, in remembrance of his real natural body, and drink his real blood in remem- brance of his real blood, is to teach that they are to do something in order to remember him, which, at the same time, supposes him corporally present, and destroys the very notion of that remembrance^ and so directly contradicts the most important words of the institution itself." "The same may be said of the doctrine of a real sacrifice of Christ's body, offered by the priest, (in the mass,) viz: That it contradicts the very words of the institution, in which the remembrance of an absent body broken, not the offering of a present body, is declared to be the end of this religious action. I say the very words: for this is not left to be deduced by consequences drawn from scrip- ture words, but declared in the ivords themselves." ''It ought to be remarked, also, that the phrase, FEEDING upon ChrisVs body and blood, and all like it, are very figurative expressions, and not so peculiarly proper to this rite, as those expressions which strictly preserve that essential notion of remembrance, without which this part of christian service ceases to be what it was designed to be by its great institutor. And, indeed, we so long only strictly keep up to the original design of the insti- tution, whilst we consider it as a rite seriously performed in remembrance of an absent Saviour, 28 DESIGN AND NATURE and take the bread and wine as memorials of his body broken and his blood shed, and not as the things themselves in remembrance of which they were ordained to be received." — Hoadly on the Supper. A few remarks will be necessary on the ex- pressions made use of by the inspired writers in the passages adduced, at the commencement of this chapter. Matthew and Mark read: "TA^s is my body;^^ Luke: ^^This is my body lohich is given for you;"^^ and Paul: ''This is my body which is broken for you.^^ These sentences are obviously figurative and elliptical. Examples of this kind of sentences abound in the scriptures, which are readily under- stood. On one occasion Christ said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches.''^ Again, "I am the door,^^ &e.; "I am the way, the truth and the life." These are figurative expressions, which no reader can possibly misunderstand. No one, we pre- sume, was ever led to believe, from reading these passages, that Christ was a vine, or a door, &c. Neither do we suppose any one to have been so silly as to pluck out his tight eye, or to cut off his right hand, because our Lord had expressed himself in that figurative manner when he cautioned his hear- ers against tampering with tempting occasions to sin. Figurative and elliptical expressions are of constant recurrence in every book we read, every discourse delivered, and in all our conversations; yet, we seldom mistake their meaning. But cer- 29 tain men have affected not to understand the import of our Lord's words in this passage, in a figurative sense, and insist that they are to he taken literally. That Christ meant the bread was actually his body, and the wine his blood. "This is my body, which is broken for you." Now this sentence is elliptical in both its parts. If it be not elliptical, the first part would convey an absurdity, and the second part would assert what was not true. The first part would say, the bread which Christ held in his hands was his body, which would be an absurdity; and the second part would assert that his body was then broken, which was not true; for his body was not broken till the scourgers had made long furrows in his back, and the nails had pierced his hands and his feet, and the soldier's spear had pierced his side and his heart. When the ellipsises are supplied, the sentence will be freed from all absur- dity, and convey a rational meaning. "This bread represents my body, which is to he broken for you." Numerous examples of this kind of sentence are found in the scriptures. And they grow out of the necessity of the case; for there is no term in the Hebrew, Chaldee or Syriac, which expresses to signify^ represent^ mean, denote. Our Lord spoke in the Caldeo-Syriac, and not in Latin or Greek; and, therefore, had no word in this lan- guage by which directly to convey the sentiment as we must necessarily understand it, and as it was 30 DESIGN AND NATURE doubtless understood by his disciples. He, there- fore, said: "This is my body," for, this represents my body. He used the same mode of expression in his parable of the tares. ''The field is (repre- sents) the word; the good seed are (represent or signify) the children of the kingdom; the tares ARE (signify) the children of the wicked one, &c.— Matt. 13. 38, 39. The Hebrew language is remarkable for this kind of expression. The seven good kine are (represent) seven years; and the seven good ears are (signify) seven years: the dream is one. And the seven ill-favoured kine that came up after them are (denote) seven years." — Gen. xli. 2G. Again, "The three branches are (represent) three days." "The three baskets are (represent) three days." — Gen. xl. 12. 18. The Chaldee language also furnishes examples: "The ten hours are (represent) ten kings." — Dan. vii. 24. Paul, who furnishes the most particular history of the supper, uses this kind of expression himself: "And that rock teas Christ." — 1 Cor. x. 4. His meaning evidently is, and that rock was a type or representation of Christ. Were we obliged to ad- here to the letter of this text, without admitting the obvious meaning, we should be compelled to believe, that Christ was actually transformed into a massy rock in the wilderness, and, in this form, followed the Israelites through all their journey- ings. "For they all drank of that spiritual rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ." Christ said: "this cup is the new testament in my OF THE lord's SUPPER. 31 blood." Here, again, were we compelled to ad- here strictly to the letter, we should understand our Lord as saying, the cup he then held in his hand was actually the new testament or covenant. Our Lord's meaning unquestionably was, ^'This cup o/* ivine is the memorial of the new cove- nant which will be confirmed to you by the shed- ding of my blood. In relation to the cup, Matthev/ reads: "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the neio testament, ivhich is shed for many for ike remission of sins." Mark: "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many." — Luke: "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you." And Paul: "This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." There is a slight, unimportant variation in the expressions used by those four writers, which only proves that they were not superstitiously scrupulous in num- bering our Lord's words. Their great object was to represent exactly the design and import of his instructions. And this is fully represented by them, and perhaps, by neither of them better than by Matthew. "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament,* which is shed for * The word (5jaS7]5('/) (diatheke,) here translated testament, answers to the Hebrew word Berith, which all the translators of the Jewish Scriptures have understood to signify a covenant. The translators of the New Testament Scriptures have afiBxed the same signification to the word diatheke as often as it occurs 0% DESIGN AND NATURE many for the remission of sins." The same figu* rative and elliptical mode of expression is here employed as was used in relation to the bread; and the same remarks and observations will apply here with equal propriety. "This is my blood, of the new testament, which is shed for the remission of 5ms." This ivine is an emblem or memorial of my blood, which is to be shed in testimony of the truth, and for the remission of sins. Drink ye all of this wine; and as often as ye shall hereafter drink wine thus, let it be a memorial to you of my sacrificial death; and that ye were not redeemed with the blood of animals, neither was the truth of the new covenant confirmed* by their blood, as that made with Abraham, but with the blood' of the Son of God, in whom you have redemption by faith, even the forgiveness of your sins, and the salvation of your souls. in the writings of the Evangelists and in the Epistles, except in the history of the Supper, and in 2 Cor. iii. 6. and Heb. vii. 22. ix. 16. In these passages they have improperly followed the Vulgate, which has testamentum. *"The blood of Christ, or, in other words, his death, is cal- led the seal of the covenant in this figurative sense alone, viz: That as covenants amongst men are signed by some peculiar mark or seal, in order to shew and prove their truth and va- lidity; so Christ's death, or Christ's blood, considered as the proof he voluntarily gave that the terms brought by him to mankind, from God, were truly what he had represented them to be, is, by a figure of speech, called the seal of the new cove- nant; and he may be said to have sealed it with his blood, as his death was the strongest proof he could give of the reality of his own and of his Father's affection towards man- kind." — Iloadlij. OF THfi LORD^S SUPPER. 3^ It evidently was not our Lord's design, in the passages under consideration, to teach his disciples to eat his body as the Jews ate the Paschal Lamb; but, that he was then instituting a feast of bread and wine in memory of his sacrificial death on the cross. Hence, he broke the bread before he gave it to them to shadow forth his violent death for their redemption. Take, eat; this broken bread represents my body, which on the morrow is to be broken for you. Let this great event be constantly before your minds, for there is no other sacrifice for sin; and let your faith lay firm hold on the promise of the Father, that whosoever believeth in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Neither did he design to teach his disciples to drink his blood, when he gave them the cup; but to shew them that his blood, which had been from the beginning typified by the shedding of the blood of animals, was now about to be poured out for the redemption of the world; and, that they should commemorate that most solemn event by a perpetual feast in memory of his dying love to man. The idea of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their beloved master could not have entered into the minds of the disciples. It was too shocking to be received by them as Jews^ who would not so much as eat or drink the blood oi animals: and it is too monstrous to be received by us Gentiles, who make some pretensions to common sense. Those very men wrote to the Gentile con- verts at Antioch, and elsewhere, to abstain from 4 34 DESIGN AND NATURE things strangled and from hlood. Can it then be believed, that they who abhorred the hlood of ani- mals would daily drink the blood of Jesus Christ"^ Even Catholic writers have felt the horror of this cannibal notion, and ingenuously confess, "that did their senses perceive what their faith obliges them to believe, the horror of it would be so great, that almost all persons would abhor the receiving this sacrament." And hence they give those two Jesuitical reasons why, though they do substan- tially eat the flesh, and drink that very blood which our Lord shed upon the cross, yet "they do this under the covert of the accidents of bread and wine. 1. That human piety might not abhor the sacra- ment as they then would do; for, say they, should they see the color of human flesh, and the color of human blood, and taste the savour of them, the horror of it would hinder the receiving of the sacrament. 2. That this was a just reason why our Lord's body and blood should lie thus conceal- ed under the species of bread and wine, lest it should be known to infidels, and be open to their blasphemies; lest the action should be ridiculous to them, scandalous, inhuman, and execrable." — [See Whitby's Annotation on Matthew, xxvi. 26.] According to our view of the subject, (and we sincerely believe we have given that which Christ intended,) the Lord's Supper is a commemorative feast of bread and wine, which elements serve as memorials of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. 35 It would seem by the institution of this feast, that Christ intended to fix the eyes of his followers constantly on the great gospel doctrine, ''God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that Avhosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life; for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved." — That his death and resurrection was the only foun- dation of their hope of salvation from sin, of a glo- rious resurrection from the dead, and of eternal life. That the frequent recurrence of this feast should strongl)^ remind christians of the great love wherewith Christ loved them, and gave himself for them, to redeem them from all iniquity, and their corresponding obligation to believe in him, to love him and keep his commandments. That as the passover was instituted to remind the Israelites of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, so the Lord's Supper was instituted to remind christians of the means of their deliverance from the bondage of sin; and to encourage them to look forward for a full participation in the benefits of this redemp- tion. The commemoration of the sacrificial death of Christ, brings into view the most important con- siderations to which the mind of a christian can be directed. The various subjects for contempla- tion connected with, and involved in the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ, are of such a heavenly and saving character, as to make it im- 36 DESIGN AND NATURE possible for a pious man or woman to reflect upon them, without having the mind enlightened, the heart affected, and the life improved. In every instance, when we commemorate the death and passion of our dear Redeemer, it is our duty and privilege to dwell with prayerful attention on the numerous events, benefits, and corresponding obli- gations growing out of the unbounded mercy and goodness of God, in the ample provision he has made for the present and eternal salvation of a world of sinners lost; and to have our minds illu- minated by the heavenly truths developed in the gospel, and our souls refreshed in waiting on God in this most precious means of grace. The sacri* ficial death of Christ has been the great absorbing subject of contemplation to the universe. Men and angels dwell upon it with admiration and as- tonishment; and it will be the theme of grateful adoration and praise through the ample rounds of eternity. Heaven's high arches will forever re- sound with the doxologies of the redeemed out of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues; "Unto Him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion, forever and ever." The ancient worthies contemplated the redemp- tion of the Messiah with becoming interest and corresponding hope. Adam viewed, through the vista of ages, as his own descendant and Saviour, the Son of the woman who should bruise the ser^ 37 pent^s head, Abraham saw Christ's day in the promise, that in his seed ali the nations of the earth should be blessed; and in the offering up of Isaac, was presented to his mind, in a figure, the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, his resurrection from the dead, and the increase of his kingdom, Moses beheld in the uplifted brazen serpent, the type of the cruci- fied Saviour; and contemplated him in the prophet the Lord God would raise up for the people, to whom the ends of the earth might look and be sa- ved. Every priest that served at the altar, or en- tered the "most hoiy place," exhibited in the shed and sprinkled blood of sacrificed animals, the ex- pressive types of that atoning blood poured out on Calvary for the redemption of the world. And the prophets, with intense interest, looked forward to the advent of the Messiah who would bring in everlasting righteousness, and be to all nations the salvation of God; — of which salvation they inquired, searching diligently what the spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand of His sufferings and of the glory that should follow. Some of these received such clear views of the advent, character, sufferings, death, resurrection, and future glory of the Messiah, that they spake as though they had lived after the in- carnation of the Son of God. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Ever- lasting Father, the Prince of Peace." But, "He 4* 38 DESIGN AND NATURE is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." ^'He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." ^'The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my ieet — I may tell all my bones; they look and stare upon me — they parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my vesture." "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands." To the last, but not the least of the prophets, it was reserved to exclaim: "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." The birth of the Saviour excited the admiration of the heavenly host who announced the glad tidings to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and ushered in the advent of the Messiah with the heavenly anthem: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." The wise men of the east fell prostrate before him, and pre- sented gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. — And the venerable Simeon, who waited for the consolation of Israel, to whom it was revealed that he should not see death before he should behold the Lord's Christ, took the infant Saviour up in his arms, blessed God, and said: "Lord, now lettest 39 thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." — At the period of his baptism, the heavens were opened, and the spirit of God descended upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven cried: "This is my be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Heaven and earth appeared to rejoice at the introduction of the anointed one who should preach the gospel to the poor, heal the broken hearted, preach de- liverance to the captives, and the acceptable year of the Lord, in whom the prophecies should meet their accomplishment: ^^He will come and save you; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing — the wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad, and the desert shall blossom as the rose — and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." But in the awful hour when Christ on the cross cried, "It is finished," and dismissed his spirit, the heavens appeared to weep, the sun was darkened, the earth trembled, the rocks rent; and nature, clad in darkness, appeared to shudder at the sight of Jesus hanging lifeless on the cross. Truly, that was a period of mourning and dismay. The heart-broken mother weeps at the foot of the cross, and the terrified disciples are overwhelmed with apprehension and grief; even his enemies, amid 40 DESIGN AND NATURE the terror of the scene, are heard to exclaim*. *'Surely this was the Son of God." But it was impossible for death to hold the Sa- viour. On the morning of the third day the bands of death are loosed; the sealed sepulchre is broken; for the angel of the Lord, whose countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, de- scended from heaven, and rolled back the stone from the door, and said to the w^eeping women who came to mourn around the tomb, "He is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay; and go quickly and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead^ and behold he goeth before you into Galilee." But the triumphs of the resur- rection had not ceased here. After remaining with his disciples forty days, and giving them many infallible proofs of his resurrection, "Jesus led them forth as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them — and while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up in- to heaven — and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, who said: Ye men of Gali- lee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus who is taken up into heaven, will so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." And hence, said John: "Behold he Cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him; and all the kin- dreds of the earth shall wail because of him." — 41 But unto the righteous shall he say: "Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit eternal life." Since the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, all eyes have been turned back upon those interesting events, and forward to the accomplishment of the declarations and promises of Almighty God. The constant theme of all the Apostles, in every ser- mon, was: ChHst crucified — Christ risen again from the dead — Christ the wisdom of God, and the power of God to every one that believeth — and Christ the judge of quick and dead; "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." For the truth as it is in Jesus, the martyrs burnt and bled. Every evangelical minister of the gos- pel to the present hour has cried: behold! behold the Lamb! And all who have believed in the name, and fallen asleep in Jesus, rest in hope of a glorious resurrection, and a blessed enjoyment of God in heaven, through the atonement and resur- rection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the sacrificial death of Christ, we who now live and believe in him, see, in the most striking manner, the enormity and heinous character of sin; nothing short of the shed blood of Christ was sufficient to remove its guilt. In this sacrifice we have an exhibition of the great love of God to the human family: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- lieveth in him, might not perish, but have ever 42 EESIGN AND NATURE lasting life." In his voluntary acts and suflferings, we have ample evidence of the great love where- with Christ loved us, and gave himself for us. — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Do we admire a Washington? We do. He risked his life for his country and his friends ; but Jesus Christ died for the world and for his enemies; "for, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this offering we have a proof of the universality of the redemption: "For Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man — and became a propitia- tion for the sins of the whole world." And in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, we have a well founded hope of immortality for the body, and eternal life for the soul. Hence we may, when contemplating this great subject, exclaim with the Apostle: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, the con- templation of the unbounded love of God to the world, and the great love of Christ to the souls of men; his laborious life, his unspeakable sufferings, his painful death, his glorious resurrection, his 43 continual intercession, should penetrate every heart, wind up our affections to heaven, and prompt each one to dedicate his soul and body anew to the service of the living and true God. We should remember, that this feast was of Christ's own ap- pointment, that it was instituted on the eve of his passion, and that, therefore, the command, "Do this in remembrance of me," must be viewed as his dying injunction to all his believing followers. — Coldness and indifference, therefore, on those occa- sions would be criminal, and sure marks of an un- believing and ungrateful heart. The act of com- memoration calls on us for the exercise of all the liner feelings of the human soul; and invites to the discharge of all the duties of a grateful mind and pious life. On those occasions, as in the use of every other means of grace, we have the assurance that grace- will be communicated by the immediate influences of God's Spirit. Although the Lord's body is not present, yet Christ is pre- sent in spirit, and waits to be gracious to every believing, seeking, praying soul. He sees who of his professed followers surround his table, and who turn their backs upon his ordinance. He sees the grateful emotions of the hearts of those who commemorate the dying love of Jesus, and have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ; and he sees the indifference and apathy of the mere formalist whose heart enters not fully into the contemplation of these things. — He hears the prayer of faith, put up by the believer 44 DESIGN AND NATURE, &C. and the penitent, and breaks the bread of life to every humble, prayerful soul. True solemnity, fervent prayer, vigorous faith, sincere gratitude, genuine benevolence, and unreserved dedication of soul and body, should characterize the devotions of every christian in his approaches to the Lord's table. Thus shall we worthily and profitably keep this feast, and bear our testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus. When I view my Saviour bleeding. For my sins, upon the tree; Oh how wondrous! — how exceeding Great his love appears to me! Floods of deep distress and anguish, To impede his labors came; Yet they all could not extinguish Love's eternal, burning flame. Sure such infinite affection Lays the highest claim to mine; All my pow'rs, without exception. Should in fervent praises join. Jesus, fit me for thy service; Form me for tliyself alone; [ am thy most costly purchase, Take possession of thy own. CHAPTER III. A CANDID EXAMINATION OF THOSE PASSAGES OF SCRIP* TURE WHICH OCCASIONALLY RELATE TO THE LORD's SUPPER. The first passage we shall bring into view is 1 Cor. chap. x. verses 14-21. "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry , I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the com- munion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh; are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is any thing? or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But / say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." The advocates of the spiritual and mysterious manducation of the body and blood of Christ, se- lect the sixteenth verse of this passage to sustain their opinion, and so explain it, as to make the word 5 46 ADDITIONAL PASSAGES communion signify, to partake in the sense of eat- ing and drinking. "To such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the hody of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing, is a partaking of the hlood of Christ.^"^ And hence they pray: "Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most pre- cious blood." There are several good reasons why the term communion in the sixteenth verse, should not be explained to express eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ, in any manner whatever. 1. Because such an interpretation would turn the verse into nonsense. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the drinking of the blood of Christ.'' The bread which we break, is it not the eating of the body of Christ.'* Every reader will see, at once, the impropriety of this language; for how can the cup be the act of drinking, and how can the bread be the act of eating? To say with Paul: "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come," is good figurative lan- guage, because the cup, by a well known figure of speech, is put for the wine contained in it. But to say the cup is the drinking of the blood of Christ, and the bread is the eating of the body of Christ, is neither figurative nor plain sense. EXAMINED AXD EXPLAINED. 47 2. Because no writer in the New Testament has used the word koinonia, which is here rendered communion, in the sense of partaking of food or nourishment of any kind or in any manner what- ever. But the advocates of this notion say, "They that worthily communicate, feed on his body and blood, to their spiritual nourishment.^^ 3. Because it would invalidate the Apostle's ar- gument. For how does it follow, because the Corinthian christians ate the body and drank the blood of Christ, that, therefore, they who ate with the idol- aters, of things sacrificed to idols, were guilty of idolatry?* 4. Because it would convict the Apostle of an absurd assertion, both as it regarded the Jews, and those who ate of idol sacrifices. Paul says, in the eighteenth verse, "Behold Isra- el after the fleshy are not they which eat of the sa- crifices partakers of the altar?" Now if this word is to be rendered eating, as the advocates of mandu- cation explain the term communion in the sixteenth verse, we make the Apostle say; those who par- took of the Jewish sacrifices, ate also a part of the altar. We make him say the same thing of those * The inconclusiveness of Dr. Cudworth's argument, employed by himself and others, to demonstrate, that the Lord's Supper, is a feast upon a sacrifice, has been fully exposed and refuted by Mr. Bell. An abstract of his reasoning may be seen in ^'The Communicant's Guide," published by Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, D. D. Page 33. 48 ADDITIONAL PASSAGE^S who ate of the idol sacrifices, or rather worse, namely, that they ate the substance of devils. 5. Because it would involve the Apostle in all the gross absurdities of transubstantiation. For if we make the term koinonia, communion, signify to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, we necessarily make Paul teach the monstrous doc- trine of transubstantiation. If the Apostle had de- signed to inculcate this doctrine, he would have omitted the word "communion" altogether, and put the questions thus; The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the body of Christ? Do we not all, by partaking of these, actually eat the body and drink the blood of Christ? 6. Because to assert that the term communion iii the sixteenth verse, expresses that those who wor- thily eat of the Lord's Supper, actually partake of Christ's body and blood, spiritually, by faith, would be to involve Paul in another absurdity^ and make him teach the unseriptural and unphilo- sophical doctrine, that the glorified human body of Christ "which is reserved in the heavens until the restitution of all things that God hath spoken by the mouth of his prophets," has now become an omnipresent spirit, and may be eaten in the sup- per with the bread, by each and every finite com- municant who has a sufficiently capacious faith. 7. To interpret the term, here in question, by the following construction, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the partaking of the ben- EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 49 EFiTs p7^ocured by the shed blood of Christ?" &c. would be to present a view utterly foreign to the Apostle's argument. His obvious design was to convince the Corinthian christians, that to eat with idolaters, of things sacrificed to idols, would necessarily involve them in the crime of idol- atry. This being his design, it was not to his purpose to say; "By eating bread and drinking wine in the Lord's Supper, you partake of the BENEFITS of Christ's death; and, therefore, you cannot eat of the heathen sacrifices." No such conclusion could follow from the premises, conse- quently his reasoning would be inconclusive. The term koinonia* here rendered communion, signifies, in almost every passage where the word occurs, fellowships and uniformly expresses the idea of some social relation, or, something common to a community of persons. "And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine dindi fellowship, {koinonia, ) and in breakingof bread, and in prayers." Acts ii. 42. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called VLXito the fellow ship, (koinonia,) of his son, Je- sus Christ our Lord." — 1 Cor. i. 9. "And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pil- lars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship,'''^ {koinonia.) — Gal. ii. 9. "That ye also may have fellowship, {koinonia,) * The term koinonia is derived from koinonos, a partner, a companion, one who takes part with another in business, la- bor, sufferings, &c. 5* 50 ADDITIONAL PASSAGES with uSy and truly our fellowship, (koinonia,) is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ." "If we say we have fellowshijy, {koinonia,) with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have felloivshijj, (koinonia,) one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." — 1 John, i. 3, 6, 7. "What communion, {koinonia, felloivship,) hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what agreement hath the tem- ple of God with idols?"— 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion, {koinonia, felloiv- ship, abiding presence,) of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." — 2 Cor. xiii. 14 Now if the term koino7iia were rendered in each of these passages by the word partake, how strange would be the reading. The reader can make the experiment for himself, by substituting the word partake for fellow shipt. There are three passages in the New Testament, where the word koinonia is used to express the distribution of alms, or rather the fellowship collec- tions, presented by a society or church, for the re- lief of the poor saints; but the word is no where em- ployed to express the partaking of food or nourish- ment in any way, or of any kind. There are only two passages in addition to the one under conside- ration, wherein the term koinonia is rendered communion. They are cited above, viz: 2 Cor. EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 51 vi. 14, and 2 Cor. xiii. 14. By a single glance at the passages, every reader will perceive that these, also, should have been rendered felloioshij), instead of communion; for, notwithstanding our translators have used the two words as synonymous, yet there was no necessity to change the term they had con- stantly employed in translating the other passages. For the same reason, the word koinonia, in the passage under consideration, should also have been rendered fellow ship, and the term emblem, symbol, sign or memorial supplied to make out the sense. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship symbol of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship symbol of the body of Christ? / say the fellow- ship symbol: For we being many are one bread, that is one body; and we all partake, (metechomen,) of one and the same bread. By these things, and this social act, our fellowship is known and ac- knowledged to be a christian community. We jointly declare to the world that our faith and hope is in Christ crucified." An attentive perusal of the whole passage will clearly exhibit the Apostle's sense, and justify our rendering. "My dearly beloved, flee from IDOLATRY." That debasing and corrupting reli- gion of the heathen. Mingle not with her vota- ries. Be not allured by her showy rites and pom- pous ceremonies. Partake not of her sacrifices. "For the things the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacri- fice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that 52 AUDITPlONAt, 1»ASSAGS:S ye should have fellowship with devils." ^^ I speak as to wise men.^^ To men who are not ignorant of the facts, that each religious fellowship is recog- nised by the character of its religious feasts or fes- tivals; and that those who partake, identify them- selves with that particular community with whom they eat. The cup of blessing which we bless, (and of which we drink,) is it not our fellowship memorial of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, (and eat,) is it not our fellowship memorial of the body of Christ? For though we be many, we are, nevertheless, one body, (or society of be- lievers;) and we all partake (metechomen) of the same bread. Now, by keeping this feast, and all eating and drinking of those things, do we not jointly declare ourselves christians, and that our faith and hope rests on Christ crucified^ * 'Behold Israel after the flesh, (the Jews;) are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? Do they not, by eating of the sacrifices offered on God's altar, identify themselves with those who serve at the altar, and thus acknowledge themselves to be Jews, and, consequently, the worshippers of God? And do not they who eat with them, by that act, make the same acknowledgment? By parity of reason, those who eat with idolaters, of things sacrificed to demons, are, by that act, con- stituted idolaters. Now if any of you, who pro- fess to be christians, accept an invitation and eat at a heathen feast, of things sacrificed to idols, does EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 53 not that did necessarily constitute you, professedly, idolaters, and idolaters of the worst kind? "for the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God." "And I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils," and idolaters. Nay, brethren, "ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers (metechien) of the Lord's table, and the table of devils," without becoming professed idolaters, renouncing your christian fellowship, and abjuring your faith in Christ cr'ucified* We have only a thought or two more to add in our explanation of this passage. The phrase, "The cup of blessing which we bless," has been pressed into the service of those who think it necessary to ^'consecrate the elements ^ Dr. Macknight quotes the original, and gives, on the best authority, the following literal translation: "The cup for which we give thanks and praise." Matthew, Mark and Paul, in their account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, express this part of the action by the word eucharistesas, having given thanks; and hence the service itself has long borne the apella- * We have no objection to the word communion , in the six- teenth verse of this passage^ provided the sense of the origi- nal term be not perverted; and Paul made to teach, contrary to his obvious design, a doctrine at variance with scripture and common sense. Nor do we object to the phrase, "the communion," "the communion table," provided these apella« tions are distinctly understood to express^ simply, the Lord's Supper, the Lord's table. We think, however, it would be more appropriate always to call them by the latter name&> 54 ADDITIONAL PASSAGES tion of the Eucharist, by way of eminence. — Neither of the Apostles, in his account of the in- stitution, has even intimated, that Christ blessed either the cup or the bread, or directed his followers to do so; but each of them, who has given a particu- lar relation of this part of the history, has express- ed it by, he ^^gave thanks^ The second passage we shall cite as relating to the Lord's Supper reads: <^For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not dis- cerning the Lord's body." — 1 Cor. xi. 29. It is said, Paul here teaches, that the body of Christ is present in the Supper, and those who eat and drink without discerning his body, eat and drink unworthily, and bring upon themselves dam- nation. This most extraordinary view of the pas- sage is truly alarming, and, if correct, would alone be sufficient to deter half the christians in the uni- verse from approaching the Lord's table. There is no question but that it has prevented thousands. To rescue the passage from so wild a construc- tion, and to exhibit it in its true import, it will be necessary to view it in connexion with the pre- ceding matter. The christians, at Corinth, had been guilty of great improprieties in the celebra- tion of the Lord's Supper. '^When ye come to- gether, therefore, in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, every one taketh before other, his own Supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken."— Verses 20, 2L EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 55 The import appears to be this; When you assemble in your place of worship to celebrate the Lord's Supper, you are so intent on having a feast, that you lose sight of the nature and design of the institution, spend your time, like the idolaters, in eating and drinking; and some of you who are hungry or gluttonous, eat to excess; and others, who are fond of wine, drink to excess; and thus sin against God, and pervert the institution of Christ, making that solemn service a part of a com- mon feast. "What, have ye not houses to eat and drink in (with your friends) or despise ye the church of God," &c. In reference to this great perversion of the Lord's Supper, and to the un- worthy and intemperate use of the elements, the Apostle declares, that he who eateth and drinketh in this unworthy manner, ''eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the LorcPs bodyf^ that is, does not distinguish the symbols of the body and blood of Christ, from common bread and wine, as used in an ordinary feast, and uses them profanely and intemperately. Hence says the Apostle in the following verse: "For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Many among you are diseased and languishing, and many are dead in consequence of God's displeasure. The Greek word here rendered ^^ discerning ^''^ is diakrinon^ from dia^ denoting separation^ and krinOy to judge, importing to distinguish, discrimi- nate, or to make a difference. Hence Acts xv. b, 9, 56 ADDITIONAL PASSAGES "And God, who knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us. And put no difference (diekrine) be- tween us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." And in Jude, 22d verse; "And of some have com- passion, making a difference.^'* In the English Bible, printed in 1568, this clause, B. Pearce informs us, is translated, "^e maketh no difference of the Lord^s hody.^"* Dr. Macknight paraphrases the verse thus: "For he who eateth and drinketh the Lord's Supper improperly sub- jects himself to punishment, because he does not disci'iminate the symbols of the body of the Lord from the common bread and wine designed for the nourishment of life." Dr. Whitby's note on the word univorthily deserves attention. "It sig- nifies their (the Corinthian christians) behaving themselves as if they had not considered that this sacrament was instituted in thankful and practical remembrance of Christ dying for them, and ratify- ing by his blood the covenant in which he promis- ed, to he merciful to their iniquities^ and remember their sins no more; and as a feast of love designed equally for the benefit of all his members, and to knit them in the closest bonds of unity and friend- ship to each other. When this was wanting, they did not discern aright the Lord's body, or the sa- crament (symbols) of it, and so did eat and drink unworthily. ^^ To eat and drink the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper univorthily^ is to eat and drink as EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 57 the Corintliians did. To eat the Supper without reference to Christ's sacrificial death, and to eat and drink of the symbols intemperately. There- fore, no christian of our day may have any fear of eating and drinking at the Lord's table unworthily, while he carefully distinguishes between this and an ordinary feast, endeavors to honor Christ in the service, and uses the elements temperately. There is a passage in John's gospel, which, at first sight, appears very pointedly to favor the no- tion of eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ, hut, in reality, has no relation whatever to the subject, ^*Then said Jesus unto them. Verily, verily^ I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh mj blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth loy flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." — John, vi. 53-56. This passage has no relation whatever to the Lord's Supper; it was spoken one year before the institution of the Supper; and it will be obvious to every one who reads the chapter, that eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ in the passage mean nothing more than believing in him with a saving faith. In the 40th verse Jesus said^ ''This is the will of him that sent me, that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, 6 58 ADDITIONAL PASSAGES may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Again in the 47th verse: "Verily, verily, I say unto j^ou, he that believeth in me hath everlasting life." In the 54th verse he says; "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Evidently meaning as above, ''he that believeth in me." The Jews very properly said, ''How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" And "many of his disciples, when they had heard this, said; this is a hard saying; who can hear it?" — "When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this of- fend you? What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh projiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." They are figurative, and to be understood in a metaphorical sense. It is evi- dent, from the following verses, that the twelve, after this explanation, understood him distinctly to mean, by eating and drinking, no more than believ- ing on him. For, when many of his followers abandoned him on account of these "hard sayings," Jesus said to the twelve; "Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And ive believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the So)i of the living God.'''^ The seventh and eighth verses of the fifth chapter of 1st Corinthians, isbrought to bear upon the Lord^s EXAMINJaD AND EXPLAINED. 59 Supper for two purposes: first, to prove that chris- tians should use unleavened bread at the Lord's table; and secondly, that as Christ is said to be ^^our passover sacrificed for us," therefore, he is to be eaten as the Jews ate the Paschal Lamb. In view of the first opinion, that christians should use unleavened bread at the Lord's table, we will remark, there is nothing in the passage to favour the notion. The word leaven is obviously used figuratively, in allusion to the contaminating example of the incestuous person, whom Paul di- rected the Corinthians to excommunicate. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" So one sinner tolerated will corrupt a whole society by his bad example. "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump." Excommunicate that abominable person, and suffer him not, as one of your community, to approach the Lord's table; and ^^keep the feast of the Lord's Supper, not tvitk the old leaven of sen- suality and uncleanness, with which ye were for- merly corrupted, neither ivith the leaven of malice and ivickedness, but with the unleavened (uncor- rupted) qualities of sincerity and truth.''^ As it regards the use of unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper, we have little to say, as we believe it a matter of very small consequence, what kind of bread is made use of, leavened or unleavened. The most important consideration is, that the leaven of malice and wickedness be excluded. We are aware, however, that some commentators are very 60 ADDITIONAL t»ASSAGES sQlicitous that all christians should use unleavened hi'ead at the Lord's Supper; hut as our Lord used the common bread of the time; and, as neither he nor his disciples have given any specific directions concerning the kind of bread and wine most proper for those occasions, we are disposed to consider this a matter of indifference. Yet, taking all things into consideration, we think the bread and wine should be of good qualities. Sour, unwholesome bread, and rough, acrid wine are certainly unfit for any feast; and when used at the Lord's table, must be very unpleasant. In view of the second opinion, namely, that be- cause Christ is said to be ^'■oivr passover^, sacrificed for us,^^ therefore, he is to be eaten in the Lord's Supper, we shall remark, that the advocates of tills opinion go farther than the Jews did, for the Jews only ate the flesh of the lamb, but sprinJded the blood on the door posts of their houses. The phrase, "Christ our passover is sacrificed (slain) for us," is obviously figurative, and spoken merely in allusion to the Jewish passover. There is no analogy between the passover and the Lord's Supper, except so far as they are both commemO' rative of great events. The passover was institu- ted in remembrance of the deliverance of the Israel- ites from Egyptian bondage, by which act God claimed them for his people, especially the first born. The Lord's Supper was instituted for the remembrance of the sacrificial death of Christ, by wliich both Jews and Gentiles may have redcmp- EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED. 61 tion through faith in his blood, even the forgive- ness of their sins and the salvation of their souls. Neither is there any analogy between the blood of the Paschal Lamb and that of Christ, except so far as that blood was typical of the blood of Christ, The destroying angel passed over the houses mark- ed by the blood of the Paschal* Lamb, and thus we are taught the divine displeasure passes over the souls that believe in the blood of Christ, and sub- mit to him as their only Saviour. The passage is obviously figurative, and used by the Apostle by way of illustration. *The Passover was established in commemoration of the coming- forth of the Israelites out of Egypt, and was called the passover from the Hebrew verb or root Pasach, which signifies to pass, to skip or leap over, because the night before their departure the destroying angel, who. slew the first born of the Egyptians, passed by or over the houses of the Israel- ites that were marked with the blood of the lamb which had been killed the preceding evening; and for this reason^ was -cnlled the Paschal Lamb. CHAPTER IV. AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, WHAT PREPARATIONS ARE NECESSARY AS IT REGARDS THE ELEMENTS FOR THE SUPPER, AND AS IT RESPECTS THE COMMUNI- CANTS OR GUESTS? As it regards the elements for the Supper, we are of the opinion, that what is called '^consecra- ting the elements^'' is unauthorised by the word of God, and consequently unnecessary and officious. Too much of this obtains in almost every christian church. The notion of making things holy, or rather of changing their nature by consecrationy has been the parent of many superstitious and ab- surd ceremonies. Almost every communion ser- vice we have read is strongly tinctured with the transmuting notions of changing bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ, or of making them to differ in their nature from what they were previously to the consecration ceremony. The youngest church in Christendom, except our own, is up to the hub in this consecrating matter. She has in her communion service a ^'prayer of conse- cration,^^ to be repeated over the bread and wine designed for the Lord's Supper. And while a portion of this prayer is repeating, the officiating minister is directed ^Ho lay his hands upon all the bread.^^ And when repeating another part, he is WHAT PREPARATIONS, &C. 63 *^/0 lay his hands upon all the vessels which con- tain the tvine.^'' And, he is directed: '^If the con- secrated hi^ead and wine he all spent before all have communicated^ the Elder may consecrate more, by repeating the prayer of consecration,'''' and the lay- ing on of his hands as above directed. The practice of consecrating the elements for the Lord's Supper first obtained in the dark ages. No such thing was known in the church during the first thousand years. It is said, in Matt. xxvi. 26, "Jesus took bread and blessed it." Dr. A. Clarke, in his note on this passage, says: "What was it that our Lord blessed? not the bread, though many think the contrary, being deceived by the word IT, which is improperly supplied in our ver- sion, but God, the dispenser of every good. — No blessing, therefore, of the elements is here intended; they were already blessed, in being sent as a gift of mercy from the bountiful Lord; but God the sender is blessed, because of the liberal provision he has made for his worthless creatures. Blessing and touching the bread, are merely Popish ceremonies, unauthorised either by Scripture, or the practice of the pure church of God; necessary of course to them who pretend to transmute, by a kind of spiritual incantation, the bread and wine into the real body and blood of Jesus Christ: a measure, the grossest in folly and most stupid in nonsense, to which God in judgment ever aban- doned the fallen spirit of man." We are happy to have it in our power to say, 64 WHAT p;reparations that the Methodist Protestant Church has no con- secrating ceremony in her communion service; nor does she direct her ministers to lay their hands, by way of consecration, on the bread and wine used in the Lord's Supper. The form of prayer to be repeated by our ministers in the administration of the Lord's Supper, is calculated and designed to prepare the mind and heart for a grateful and wor- thy reception, and to implore the divine mercy and benediction. It would seem that some appro- priate form of sound words is proper on those oc- casions, to guide the mind and lead the heart into a suitably pious train of thought and expres- sion. Our own experience and practice has fully confirmed us in the opinion, that it is always best to follow the form prescribed. ^ The only necessary preparation, in the elements, after giving thanks to God for the unspeakable gift of his Son for the redemption of the world, is, that, in obedience to Christ's command and exam- ple, we break the bread and distribute it; and then pour out the wine and hand the cup with an ap- propriate exhortation. The forms of words recommended in our formu- lary are: Take, eat this in remembrance that Chnsfs body loas broken for you; for while ive were yet sinners^ Christ died for us, and became the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the ivhole ivorld. On presenting the cup: Drink ye all of this, in grateful remem- brance, that the blood of Christ was shed for you; ARE NECESSARY. 65 for ye toere not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Chr^ist, in whom we have redemption, through faith, even the forgive- ness of our sins, and the sanctification of our souls. The officiating ministers, however, are not ex- pected to confine themselves exclusively to the words of the form, but after announcing the form to the first person served with the bread or wine, as the case may be, they are at liberty to add such remarks and exhortations as are suitable to the oc- casion. The framers of our service have, in view of this liberty, put down several passages of scrip- ture to lead the minds of ministers into a train of profitable and appropriate reflections and remarks. These have always a good effect; they serve to as- sist the minds of the people in their meditations on the unbounded love of God in the gift of his Son, and their corresponding obligations to love him, and keep his commandments; and they con- tribute largely to the spirituality and devotion of the occasion. Breaking the bread is a necessary and significant part of this solemn rite. It is mere trifling to say, that "breaking the cakes of unleavened bread was the most convenient mode, and, therefore, our Lord broke the bread." It is very evident that Christ designed to fix the attention of his disciples on the act of breaking the bread, for the purpose of ever after calling up to the minds of his follow- ers his ignominious death on the cross; hence he 66 WHAT PREPARATIONS said, ^'Take, eat; this broken bread represents my body which is to be broken for you; this do in re- membrance of me." That is, imitate, hereafter, what you now see me perform. Take bread and break it in token of the violence which, in a few hours, will be inflicted on my body, the sacrificial offering for sin; and eat the bread broken in re- membrance of my great sufl"erings and violent death on the cross. Whitby very justly remarks, that "where no body broken is distributed, there nothing can be eaten in memorial of his broken body. Hence it was that distributing bread bro- ken continued for a thousand years; and was ob- served even in the Romish Church in the eleventh century." We should be highly gratified to see this scrip- tural and primitive practice of breaking the bread obtain, in all the Protestant Methodist Churches, as uniformly as in all the Presbyterian Churches in the world. The prevailing and universal custom among Methodists, of cutting the bread into small pieces, takes away from this part of the service its main feature of expression and signification, if, in- deed, \i be not a careless disregard of Christ's posi- tive command. 2. The preparation in the guests. It is to be feared that too little attention is given by many christians to a preparation for a worthy celebration of the Lord's Supper. Some appear to be reminded of the feast only by a sight of the table; and others feel so much indifference about ARE NECESSARY. 67 it, that they can, after sermon, turn their backs upon the Lord's table, and hasten home to eat at their own tables of what to them is more accepta- ble, and requires less sacrifice and devotion from their ungrateful hearts. We are sorry to be com- pelled to say, that we have observed among Metho- dist ministers, both Protestant and Episcopal, a marked indifference in relation to a preparation for the celebration of this ordinance. While the ministers of other churches take particular pains, even in the preceding week, to impress on the minds of their fellowship the nature and solemn character of the approaching festival, and thus pre- pare their minds and hearts for a worthy reception, Methodist ministers, in too many instances, scarcely so much as advert to the occasion. This, to say the least of it, is a culpable neglect, on the part of those servants whom God hath appointed to wait on his people, and minister in holy things. In- deed, it often happens, that on the very day of the celebration, the minister scarcely condescends to notice his master's table, or invite attention to the solemn ordinance, until after he has dismissed the congregation. Then he briefly informs the society that the '^sacrament" will be administered, and perhaps gives an invitation to those in good stand- ing in their own churches to tarry and partake. But to the question, what preparation is neces- sary in the communicants? The first thing neces- sary, we apprehend, is, that they understand the nature and design of the institution, W^ithout 68 WHAT PREPARATIONS this, they cannot partake so profitably as thosB who have a clear perception of the nature of the ordinance. What confusion must hang about the minds of those who are taught, that they are to approach the table of the Lord and feed on his body and drink his blood by faith? What terror must be excited in the hearts of the timid but sin- cere believers, who are informed, that unless they discern the Lord's body in the Supper, according to the mystical notion of the preacher, they will partake unworthily, and eat and drink damnation? The second thing necessary is, that the commu- nicants examine themselves. ''Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." Let him examine himself, First, whether his motives are pure, whether his design in approaching the table, is to keep up the memory of Christ's death and resurrection. Secondly, whether he is moved to do this by a sense of grati- tude to God for the great love wherewith he loved the world. And, Thirdly, whether he comes with a firm purpose of doing honor to Christ by living ill all respects conformably to his precepts and ex- ample. There can, however, be no better moral preparation for a reception of the Lord's Supper, than a habit of piety; an every day contemplation of the immense obligations we are laid under by divine goodness, and a habitual dedication of soul and body to the service of God. Yet as we are prone to forgetfulness, lukewarmness, ingratitude and formality, it becomes necessary on those extra ARE NECESSARY. 69 occasions, to institute a particular examination into our motives, desires, tempers and purposes; and to rouse up our souls by a special contemplation of the great love wherewith Christ loved us and shed his blood for us, that our faith and love may be in- creased; and "that we may worthily and profitably commemorate the death and passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 05 the rich depths of love divine^ Of bliss, a boundless store! Dear Saviour, let me call thee mine; I cannot wish for more. On thee alone my hope relies, Beneath thy cross I fall; My Lord, my life, my sacrifice. My Saviour, and my alL CHAPTER V. AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, WHO MAT PARTAKE OF THE lord's supper. To answer this question fairlj, we must view the Lord's Supper as a means of grace. Our church haSj with great propriety, recognized this ordinance as a means of grace. There can be no question that our Lord designed it to be such to all his followers, as well as a commemorative feast. All the Jewish commemorative feasts were accom- panied with acts of devotion, such as prayer, thanksgiving, reading of the law and the prophets, offerings, &c. And our Lord certainly intended that his feast, held in commemoration of the most important event that ever took place since the creation of man, and productive of the most stu- pendous benefits to his creatures, should be accom- panied by the liveliest expressions of gratitude and devotion. That in the right apprehension of the inestimable gift of the Son of God, and the great love wherewith Christ loved us and gave himself for us, every soul should be penetrated, humbled, exalted, and blessed with the visitations of divine mercy and favour; and be induced, from a contem- plation of the unbounded goodness and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, to make an entire dedication of soul and body to his service. WitO MAY PARTAKE. 71 When we contemplate the Supper, however, as a means of grace, we do not allow it to have any grace in and of itself which is communicated to those who partake, for this opinion would necessarily carry us away into the absurdities of transubstan- tiation or consubstantiation; but we hold, that it is a means whereby every gracious principle may be increased and strengthened in the hearts of those who use it understandingly and rightly. — For example: one man approaches the Lord's table without understanding the nature and design of the ordinance, without gratitude, without self- examination, without prayer, without faith in the word and promises of God, without a firm purpose of devoting himself to the service of God; he takes the bread, he drinks the wine^ and retires to his seat in the church with a hard, insensible heart. To this man the Lord's Supper has been no means of grace. His heart has not been penetrated and softened — his affections have not been lifted up to- ward heaven, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God — his will has not been subdued, but he re- mains the same ungrateful and stupid formalist he was before he approached the Lord's table. Another man draws nigh to his Master's table. He has informed his mind on the true meaning of the service. He has examined himself on motives, intentions, and future purposes. He comes with prayer, beseeching God to enable him to use this means of grace properly and worthily. He ap- proaches in faith, believing the record of the Son 72 WHO MAY PARTAKIG of God. He contemplates him in the garden of Gethsemane, and beholds him prostrate on the ground, and sees him agonize till his sweat be- come as great drops of blood. He follows him to Pilate's hall, and witnesses the scourgers make long furrows in his sacred back. He sees him labouring up the steep ascent of Calvary, bearing his cross, while the infuriated rabble cry behind him: away with him, away with him; crucify him! He beholds him extended on the cross, and hears the nails driven through his hands and his feet, and beholds him hang between the heavens and the earth, the victim for sin, "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." He believes the sacrifice was made for him and for all; his heart is penetrated with love and gratitude; his soul is overwhelmed with a sense of the un- bounded goodness and mercy of God in the gift of his Son; and while he meditates, as it were, be- neath the cross, and "hears his Saviour's dying groans, and sees his gushing blood" he cries: for me, for me the Saviour dies! This man partakes of the memorials of the broken body and shed blood of Christ with emotions of unspeakable grati- tude, and retires to his seat in the church with his heart melted into tenderness and his soul refresh- ed; for he has, while commemorating the dying love of Jesus, had sweet intercourse and "fellow- ship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." To this man the Lord's Supper has in- deed been a means of grace; for in the proper un» OF THE lord's SUPPER. 73 derstanding and right use of it, it has been to him a means of increasing his gratitude to God, his love to Christ, his love to the brethren, and of winding up his affections to things heavenly and divine. Viewing the Lord's Supper as a means of grace, we are prepared to say, that every one who sin- cerely desires to flee the wrath to come, and save his soul alive, to look unto Jesus Christ for salva- tion, and to acknowledge his death as a sacrificial offering, and eat the Supper in remembrance of God's love to him in sending his Son into the world, may partake, yea, has a right to partake of this feast. This of course will include every sin- cere seeker of religion, the broken-hearted peni- tent, as well as the man who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and walks in all the commandments of God blameless. Some persons think themselves too unworthy to partake of so holy an ordinance, and others think if they do partake they will not in future be able to live so blameless a life as the gospel requires; and, therefore, they will bring upon themselves the condemnation of eating and drinking unwor- thily; hence, many serious and well meaning per- sons are deterred from approaching the Lord's table. Both of these notions are founded on false views of the nature and design of the Supper. The first suppose the ordinance to be composed of something more than bread and wine. That there is some mysterious and invisible presence which makes it too holy to be eaten by such poor unworthy sinful 7* k 74 WHO MAY PARTAKE creatures as they are; or that some particular and extraordinary act of faith is necessary to a right reception, of which they are incompetent. The second view the Lord's Supper in the light of a sacramental oath, or as swearing allegiance to hea- ven's King, that they will henceforth forever per- fectly obey all his commandments; and, therefore, they are afraid of involving themselves in spiritual perjur3\ To the first we w^ould say: viewing this ordinance as a means of grace, and a commemora- tive feast, you have nothing to fear. Here is no transubstantiation, no consubstantiation, no myste- rious eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ. These elements are bread and wine, and you are invited, yea, commanded to take these in remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection. — If you feel unworthy, w^e say to you: O yes, you are unw^orthy of every good thing you enjoy; of the food you eat; of the raiment you put on; of the houses you inhabit; of your civil privileges; of all your religious means, and of heaven's best gift, the Son of God, who tasted death for you, and for the world; but let not your unworthiness hin- der you from obeying God; let it not keep you from the table of the Lord, who loved you and gave himself for you; and commanded you to do this in remembrance of him. Your attention to this service, while it excites your gratitude, will increase your love, and renew your spiritual strength; and by the assisting grace of God, you will be enabled to keep all his commandments. 75 In view of the second difficulty we would re- mark, that it is probable many persons have im- bibed very erroneous notions of the nature and design of the Lord's Supper from the frequent use of the term "sacrament." This term is not found in the New Testament. The word sacr amentum^ from which it is derived, properly signifies a mili- tary oath, taken by the Roman soldiers to obey their commander. It is of pagan origin, and con- veys an idea totally foreign to our Lord's design w^hen he instituted the Supper. It would have been well if the term had never been applied to the Lord's Supper, for it is neither scriptural nor appropriate.* * We are indebted to the Papists for the use of the term SACRAMENT. In their rites, ceremonies, and translations, the term is of very frequent recurrence. They have, ''the sacra- ment of baptism," "the sacrament of confirmation," "the sa- crament of the mass," "the sacrament of penance," "the sa- crament of orders," "the sacrament of matrimony," "the sa- crament of extreme unction," "the sacrament of God's wilV "the sacrament of piety," "the sacrament of a dream," "the sacrament of the seven stars," "the sacrament of the woman," &c. &Q. They use the term as expressive of an oath, and also of a mystery, although it cannot, with any degree of pro- priety, be put for mystery. Some ecclesiastical writers of the third century, however, rendered the word musterion by sacr amentum, and this gave rise to the definition of a sacra- ment, as the visible sign of an inward grace. Now when this definition is applied to the Lord's Supper, it unavoidably leads to transubstantiation, or supposes some virtue or grace in the consecrated bread and wine, which is received by eating the one, and drinking the other. i 76 WHO MAT PARTAKE. We do not here mean to say, that he who par- takes of the Lord's Supper is under no obligation to keep the commandments of God. Very far from it. Every individual is under obligation to love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to obey the gospel of God our Saviour so long as he lives. But we mean to say, that the act of partaking of the Lord's Supper is not swearing allegiance, or performing a ceremony tantamount to an oath of allegiance. — It is the commemoration of the dying love of Jesus. It is a public declaration of our belief of that fact, and of our reliance on his merits alone for salva- tion. It is a means by which we expect all the finer feelings of our souls to be brought into lively exercise, and by the use of which we may, through faith and prayer, draw nigh to God, and thus be more fully assimilated into the divine likeness. — We need, therefore, have no fear of oaths, or spi- ritual perjury. The Lord, at the institution of his Supper, exacted no oaths of his disciples. His command was, and is, "Do this in remembrance of me." And his servant Paul said: "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." We have, therefore, no more reason to dread this means of grace than we have to dread any other. We might, with equal propriety, fear to enter our closets and pray in private — to hear the word of God preached — or to use any other means of grace. CHAPTER VI. AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION, WHAT ATTITUDE ARE CHRISTIANS TO TAKE AT THE LORD's TABLE. Some have said they should stand upon their feet; others, that they should be seated; and others again, that they should kneel. As our Lord gave no directions in relation to the posture to be taken at his table, we are to seek for the attitude in ex- ample and not in precept. We will, therefore, endeavor to find out the attitude taken by our Lord and his disciples w^hen he instituted the Sup- per. It will be recollected that they had just finished eating the passover, and in all probability had not changed their position at table. Let us try to ascertain the attitude taken by the Jews when in the act of eating the passover. The di- rections given by Jehovah at the institution of this feast, are: '^And thus shall ye eat it, your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your stafi* in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover." — Exod. xii. 11. At first sight it would seem that the Israelites stood on their feet when they ate the passover, as they were equipt like travellers, and ate in haste; but there is nothing in the text to warrant this conclusion. — And as they were not to go outside of their doors till morning, the probability is, that they ate the k 78 PRIMITIVE ATTITUDE passover seated at table, as they did their ordinary meals; for this was the custom before and long after that period. A passage or two will prove that this was the Jewish custom in olden times: "And they took Joseph and cast him into a pit — and they sat down to eat bread." — Gen. xxxvii. 25. "And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." — Exod. xxxii. 6. "So Da- vid hid himself in the field; and when the new moon was come, the king sat down to eat meat. — And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty." — 1 Sam.[xx. 24. In each of these pas- sages, the Hebrew word employed is yashab, to sity which was the universal custom of the Israelites, up to the Babylonish captivity. But was this the attitude of our Lord and his disciples when he instituted the Supper.? We be- lieve it was not; and that they reclined at table according to the prevailing custom of the Jews of that time. There is a circumstance related by John which casts much light on our inquiry. — While Jesus and his disciples were eating the passover, he said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disci^ pies looked one upon another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bo- som one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Si- mon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 79 He then, reclining on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it?" — Jno. xiii. 21-25. This passage proves, most conclusively, that Jesus and his disciples ate the passover in the reclining atti- tude. They doubtless conformed, in this particu- lar, to the custom of the people and country in which they lived. Long before the appearance of Christ among the Jews, they had fully abandoned the ancient custom of their fathers of sitting when they ate, and had adopted the fashion of the eastern nations, which was to recline at table. It is pro- bable the Jews learnt this practice from the Assy- rians in Babylon, during their seventy years' cap- tivity. Some, however, think they learnt it from the Greeks or Romans. Be this as it may, it is certain that reclining at table was the universal custom of the Jews in our Lord's day. And we need not be astonished at this great change of at- titude among a people so tenacious of the legal customs of their fathers; for the law no where prohibited reclining at meat, nor did it enjoin sit- ting, so that sitting and reclining were matters of indifference; and, of course, were regulated by taste and example. Here a consideration may be offered in justification of our Lord's eating the pass- over in a reclining posture, which is, that in con- sequence of so great an annual influx of Jews, to Jerusalem, from all parts of Palestine and elsewhere, for the purpose of keeping the feast, many rooms, suitably furnished, were kept by their owners to hire for the occasion. It would 80 PRIMITIVE ATTITUDE seem that the apartment wherein our Lord and his disciples ate the passover was of this description, and had been engaged for that purpose. Peter and John were directed to go into the city to a certain house, and "say to the good man of the house, the master saith unto thee, where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples, and he will show you a large upper room flemished, there make ready. "-Luke xxii. 10. Mark says, ^furnished and prepared^ Doubtless the furniture of this room consisted of a table, and couches for reclining at meat. In this room, thus "prepared," Jesus and his disciples reclined and ate the passover according to the custom of the country, making use of the ordinary furniture with which the room w^as provided. It is, however, objected that three of the Evan- gelists say, Jesus sat doivn with his disciples to eat the passover. "Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve." — Matt. xxvi. 20. "And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you; one of you that eateth with me shall betray me." — Mark xiv. 18. "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him." — Luke xxii. 14. In reply to this ob- jection it is only necessary to inform our readers that in the first and second passages cited, the original reads, "he reclined,^^ (anekieto,) And in the third one, "/ie laid down,^^ (anepese,) In addi- tion to this we will remark, that in all the passa- ges which give an account of the miraculous feed- 81 ing of the multitudes in the desert, with a few loaves and fishes, the words rendered by our trans- lators to sit doivn, read in the original to lie down, or recline. Take Jno. vi. 10, as an example: "And Jesus said, make the men sit down, (anapesein, to lie down,) Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, (anapeson, laid down,) in number about five thousand." It is proper here to say, that our translators are not chargeable with ignorance of the true import of the words they were translating; they purposely accommodated the passages to the custom of the western nations, who do not recline as the eastern people, but sit at meals. In all cases where sitting was the atti- tude, we have a very different word. "And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, (kathesantos,) his disciples came \jinto him," &c.— Matt. v. 1. "They drew [the net] to shore, and sat down, (kathesantes,) and gathered the good [fish] into vessels, but cast the bad away."— Matt. xiii. 48. The Jews, as we have remarked, in our Saviour's day, uniformly reclined at table, in imitation of the eastern nations. The guests lay on their left sides at full length, on elevated couches, placed around the table, with their feet outward, towards the sides of the room, supporting themselves in a reclining posture on their left arms, and feeding themselves with their right hands. This was the position of the guests at the Pharisee's table where Jesus dined, and the penitent woman ^^stood at his 82 PRIMITIVE ATTITUDE feet behind him,^^ and washed them with her tears. All that is necessary to make that interesting rela- tion fully intelli2;ible to us all, is to give the origi- nal term its legitimate meaning, which is, reclined instead of sat. ^'One of the Pharisees desired Jesus that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down (aneklithe, reclined^) to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat (reclined) at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them v/ith the ointment" — Luke vii. 36-38. From the proofs adduced, it appears very conclu- sive, that our Lord and his disciples ate the passover in the reclining attitude so common at that period among the Jews; and it is highly probable the po- sition was not changed when he instituted the Sup- per, immediately after having eaten the passover. The question now is, are the followers of Christ at this period and part of the world, when they partake, to imitate the posture of our Lord and his disciples at the institution of the Supper? In re- ply to this question we say, it is very certain that our Lord gave no command concerning the posture we are to assume when we partake of the Supper, nor did he enjoin it on us to imitate him in reclin- ing at the table; neither has any of the New Tes- tament writers given us directions concerning the AT THE lord's TABLE. 83 attitude most proper to be taken by communicants; nor are we authorized to say the custom of any country, or sect of christians is law in this case. We are, therefore, of the opinion, that every church, and each individual is left at perfect liberty, on those occasions, to sit, stand, or kneel, or even to recline, although this latter attitude would seem to those who are in the practice of kneeling or sitting, to be a very indolent and un- becoming posture. Our mode is to kneel; this, however, may have had its origin in the idolatrous practice of Avorshipping the elements, or the wafer, but when we kneel, it is not to worship the bread and wine, or any imaginary divinity or humanity in them, but for the purpose of making prayer to Almighty God, and of imploring his assisting grace to enable us to use this means worthily and profita- bly. And we think kneeling the most becoming attitude for us unworthy and dependent creatures to take in our approaches to the high and holy one, the Lord of heaven and earth, the benefactor and Saviour of men. We have been asked why our ministers are di- rected to partake of the Lord's Supper before they serve the people. We know of no other good reason than that of its being most convenient. It is right that the ministers should partake at some period of the service, and it would seem that they cannot partake with the same degree of composure when serving some fifty or a hundred persons, as when solely engaged with their brethren in the 84 PRIMITIVE ATTITtJDE. ministry in this solemn act of commemoration. — There is certainly very little time consumed in their partaking first. But in this solemn service there should be no hurry. Sufficient time should be allowed to all for meditation and prayer. We have often been pained on witnessing the hurried and common-place manner of celebrating the Lord's Supper, either on account of the previous services having been too much protracted, or some subse- quent service pressing on the time. If the exer- cises of one part of the day are too numerous, let another part be selected. We have been in the practice, in the cities, of celebrating the Lord's Supper once a month, in the forenoon of the first Sabbath, immediately after sermon; but if more time be needed, why not have this service in the afternoon; or, which would be more appropriate and more in accordance with scripture usage, in the evening? THE END. 'm^ ^^p Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 01031 1183 L.;