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 BR 45 .H36 v. 14 
 
 Candlish, James Stuart, 1835 
 
 -1897. 
 The Christian sacraments 
 
HANDBOOKS 
 
 FOR 
 
 BIBLE CLASSES, 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 REV. MARCUS DODS, D.D., 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER WHYTE, M.A. 
 
 CANDLISH ON THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 T. 5: T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 iSSr. 
 
I'KIN'TED BY MORRISON AND GIBB, 
 FOR 
 
 T, & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH. 
 
 tONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. 
 DUBLIN, .... ROBERTSON AND CO. 
 
 NEW YORK, . . •. . SCRIBNER AND WELFOKD. 
 
THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES S. CANDLISH, D.D., 
 
 TROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW. 
 
 SccontJ ^tiittan* 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
 1881. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TAGE 
 THE NATURE AND NUMBER OF THE SACRAMENTS, . . . II 
 
 : CHAPTER H. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AS SIGNS, I9 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS, 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE, 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FOR WHOM THE SACRAMENTS ARE INTENDED, . . . . 4 1 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BAPTISM : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM, 47 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 THE THINGS SIGNIFIED BY BAPTISM, 54 
 
Q CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAGH 
 THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN BAPTISM, 5S 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PERSONS TO WHOM BAPTISM IS TO BE ADMINISTERED, , 6^ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EFFICACY OF BAPTISM, 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM, ...... 77 
 
 PART III. 
 
 T//£ SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE lord's supper : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM, . , . S7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE THINGS REPRESENTED IN THE LORD's SUPPER, . . . ^3 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN THE LORD's SUPPER, . . , . cS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE persons FOR WHOM THE LORD's SUPPER IS DESIGNED, . lOJ 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EFFICACY OF THE lord's SUPPER, 1 13 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE lord's SUPPER, . , . , 121 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL. 
 
Chap. I. The Nature and Number of the Sacraments. 
 
 11. The Sacraments as Signs. 
 
 III. The Sacraments as Seals. 
 
 IV. The Sacraments as Means of Grace. 
 
 V. For whom the Sacraments arc intended. 
 
PART I. 
 
 ON THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE NATURE AND NUMBER OF THE SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Use of Outward Rites in Keligion. — Every form of religion among 
 men has had, besides its beliefs and devotions, some outward 
 rites and ceremonies, in which these beliefs are expressed, and 
 by which the devotional feelings are sought to be promoted. 
 This doubtless arises from the constitution of human nature, 
 as consisting of a body, by which we are connected with the 
 material world, as well as a soul, by which we have communion 
 with the spiritual and unseen. The nature and function of such 
 external rites have varied very much in different forms of religion. 
 Sometimes the ceremonial has been allowed to grow and multiply, 
 till it has quite overshadowed the spiritual, its meaning has been 
 forgotten, and it is observed for its own sake and not as subordi- 
 nate to something higher. Thus religion has degenerated into 
 a mere mass of useless and unmeaning ceremonies ; and these, 
 ceasing to be significant, have been invested by superstition with 
 a magical efficacy ; so that, instead of lifting the soul to higher 
 things, they have brought it into abject bondage to the elements 
 of this world. Such has been the constant tendency of human 
 nature, when it has not been renewed and elevated by the 
 spiritual influences of God's grace and salvation. Pure religion 
 
 M 
 
12 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 has been kept alive in the world from the lirst by communica- 
 tions fromrGod of His grace and truth ; which appeared in their 
 fulness when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 
 Now, in the divinely originated and preserved rehgion of which 
 we find the history in Scripture, God has not excluded the 
 element of rites and ceremonies ; but He has taken means so 
 to direct and guard it that it might be preserved pure, not 
 becoming meaningless, but being always significant of spiritual 
 truth, and not superseding, but aiding devotional feeling. Such 
 was the position given to symbolism even in the Old Testament, 
 when, on account of the immature condition of the kingdom of 
 God, it had a comparatively important place ; and with the full 
 accomplishment of redemption, and the clearer revelation of 
 heavenly things in the New Testament, the ceremonies of religion 
 were greatly lessened and simplified, so that the direct and close 
 connection of them with spiritual life was made more manifest. 
 Thus in the Christian religion, while outward rites have still a 
 place, they are reduced to the simplest form, and are most inti- 
 mately associated with those feelings and exercises of the soul 
 that are the essence of religion. 
 
 The Name Sacrament. — This is indicated by the fact that the 
 ritual observances of Christianity have from an early time been 
 called by the name of sacraments. This name is taken from the 
 Latin translation of the Greek word which is rendered in the 
 Enghsh Bible 'mystery;' but though that word often occurs in 
 the New Testament, and is used there in different meanings, it 
 is never applied to the ordinances that we call sacraments. Not 
 our Lord Himself, or His apostles, but Christian v/riters about 
 one hundred years after their time, first gave that name to 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; and it has been continued to be 
 used ever since. What exactly was meant by it at first is not 
 certain ; and in later times a number of different explanations 
 have been given. But there are two reasons, either of which may 
 have led to the choice of the name. It may have been taken 
 
THE NATURE AND NUMBER OF THE SACRAMENTS. 1 3 
 
 from the word mystery, and if so, it probably was chosen to show 
 that the Christian rites were not mere meaningless observances, 
 but had a significance, and symbolized spiritual things ; for 
 mystery sometimes means the secret meaning of a sign or 
 symbol, as in Rev. i. 20, xvii. 7. Or the name may have been 
 chosen because the Latin word saci'amenttim often means an oath, 
 especially the oath of allegiance by which the Roman soldiers 
 bound themselves to their commanders and their country \ and 
 so it would indicate that these rites were not merely symbols, 
 but pledges of a personal relation between believers and Christ 
 as their Lord and Leader. 
 
 Now both of these are true ideas, and they are the principal 
 ideas belonging to the outward rites of Christianity. For this 
 reason, as well as because the name has been in common use for 
 many hundred years, we apply the word sacrament to designate 
 these ordinances, though it is not given to them in the Bible. 
 It is convenient to have such a name, for we often want to speak 
 of these rites in common ; and this is an appropriate name, for it 
 indicates their chief features. But we must remember, that as it 
 is not a Bible name, we cannot infer anything from it, except 
 what we find taught in the Bible itself about the things that are 
 meant by it. 
 
 Means of Grace. — Now Christianity is characteristically and pre- 
 eminently a religion of grace : the centre and sum of its doctrine 
 is that faithful saying which is worthy of all acceptation, ' that 
 Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ; ' and the sum 
 of its practical experience is * union and communion with Christ 
 in grace and glory.' It is a salvation wrought by God for sinners 
 of mankind; and in it we are debtors to His grace for all spiritual 
 blessings. God in Christ is the giver and we are receivers of 
 His free sovereign grace and love. Hence the outward rites of 
 Christianity are not performances by which we do something to 
 obtain God's blessing, or render to Him a payment, or accom- 
 plish a work of our own, but rather exercises in which we receive 
 
14 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 what He freely gives. This is what is meant when they are 
 called means of grace, or, as it is more fully explained in the 
 Shorter Catechism, ' means whereby Christ communicateth to us 
 the benefits of redemption.' What we are called upon in the 
 gospel to do in order to be saved, is to use the means suitable 
 and necessary for that end; and thus it is that these require- 
 ments are consistent with salvation being absolutely of free grace. 
 They are needful simply because they are the means which in 
 their own nature lead to the end desired. If a man has fallen 
 overboard a ship, and the sailors throw a rope to him and 
 cry, ' If you lay hold of that, you are saved,' that ' if does not 
 impair the freeness of the help given to him, since it is nothing 
 else than what is necessary in the nature of the case as the means 
 of his rescue. It is not as if they said, * If you will promise to 
 pay us for it, or to do something that we wish ; ' that would be 
 a conditional purchased deliverance. Now all the things that 
 are required in the gospel for our salvation are required in the 
 former way, not in the latter — not as conditions, but simply as 
 means. This is true of faith in Jesus Christ and repentance unto 
 life, which are the inward means by which Christ communicateth 
 to us the benefits of redemption ; faith being especially the means 
 of our justification, and repentance of our sanctification. In the 
 one we embrace Christ as freely offered in the gospel, and in the 
 other we turn from sin to God in Him. 
 
 General Description of Sacraments. — But, besides these inward 
 means of grace, there are also certain outward things that we 
 are required to use in order to be saved and blessed. Some of 
 these are the direct work of the hand of God in providence : 
 His goodness leads us to repentance, His afflictions are designed 
 to warn, humble, and chasten us. These we cannot reduce to 
 any regular rule or order. Others, again, are appointments of 
 God for our observance, and these we can classify and enumerate. 
 They are God's ordinances in the covenant of grace. Now it is 
 among these that the rites we call sacraments find a place. 
 
THE NATURE AND NUMBER OF THE SACRAMENTS. I 5 
 
 They are accordingly described in our Shorter Catechism (i) 
 generally as holy ordinances instituted by Christ ; that is the 
 general class of things to which they belong. But now (2) 
 how are they distinguished from other things of the same kind, 
 such as the Word read and preached, prayer, praise, the Sabbath, 
 etc., which are all ordinances of Christ ? They are distinguished 
 by this, that there are in them what are called sensible signs, 
 i.e.^ things that we perceive by our senses, that we can see, hear, 
 touch, taste, etc. These outward symbols are the means by 
 which in the sacraments Christ and His benefits are brought 
 before the mind and heart. These parts of the description in 
 the Catechism are all that we need attend to just now, the others 
 we will consider in subsequent chapters : but these are sufficient 
 to give a general knowledge of a sacrament, and to distinguish 
 it from other things of the same kind. This description is one 
 that in substance is accepted by all Christians who recognise 
 such outward rites in the gospel at all,^ though different sections 
 of the Church lay chief stress upon different parts of the 
 description, and so give to their own more special definitions 
 characteristic forms and colouring. 
 
 Number of the Christian Sacraments. — In the early church, 
 the term sacrament or mystery was used in a very vague and 
 indefinite way ; and the idea of a symbol was almost the only 
 one recognised, that of special divine institution being left out 
 of sight. The name was given to any mystical and sacred sign, 
 without regard to whether it was appointed as a special 
 ordinance for the use of the Church. Hence the number of the 
 sacraments was very variously reckoned. This uncertainty and 
 indefiniteness as to the use and application of the name continued 
 more or less as long as till the twelfth centur)^, when the scholastic 
 
 * The Society of Friends, or Quakers as they are generally called, do not 
 regard the rites commonly called sacraments as designed by Christ for per- 
 manent observance, believing such outward ceremonies to be inconsistent 
 with the spirituality of the New Testament dispensation. 
 
1 6 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 theology, as it is called, began to flourish, and more precise and 
 logical definitions were made of all that belonged to Christianity. 
 Then the notion of a sacrament was distinctly marked out, as 
 being an outward ordinance in the Church that was both a 
 sign and a means of spiritual grace : and the number of such 
 ordinances was more precisely settled. By this time, however, 
 a number of rites and ceremonies had come into use, for which 
 there is no warrant in Scripture, and a strong tendency had long 
 prevailed to attach undue importance to external observances, 
 as if they could of themselves benefit the soul. Hence, when the 
 exact definition of a sacrament was applied to the forms then 
 in use, it was thought that no fewer than seven of them were 
 entitled to that name ; and so it was declared, as it is still held 
 by the Roman and Greek Churches, that there are seven sacra- 
 ments — Baptism, Confirmation, the Lord's Supper, Penance, 
 Extreme Unction, Ordination, and Matrimony. 
 
 When the Reformers detected the corruptions of the Church 
 in their day, and brought its doctrines and practices to the test 
 of the Word of God, they found that the ceremonies observed 
 under the names of Confirmation, Penance, and Extreme 
 Unction had no warrant in Scripture, and that Ordination 
 and Matrimony, though certainly divine institutions, are not 
 symbolical ordinances, and are not applicable to all believers as 
 such. Therefore, while they retained the word sacrament as a 
 convenient theological term, they refused to apply it to any of 
 these five, and held that there are only two sacraments of the 
 New Testament — Baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are 
 the two symbolical rites appointed by Christ Himself, and de- 
 signed for perpetual observance. 
 
 Difference in Conception of Sacraments. — This difference as to 
 the number of the sacraments is closely connected with other 
 and deeper differences in the conception of their nature and use. 
 All Christians may be said to agree in general, that sacraments 
 are both signs and means of grace, that they both represent and 
 
THE NATURE AND NUMBER OF THE SACRAMENTS. I 7 
 
 apply spiritual blessings. But some give greater prominence to 
 one of these functions, and some to the other. The Mediaeval 
 and Roman Catholic Church, in which more importance was 
 attached to the performance of religious ceremonies than to the 
 presentation of the objective truths of the gospel, gave greater 
 prominence to the power of the sacraments to apply grace ; the 
 Protestant Churches, which regard the Word of God as the 
 object of faith and the most vital thing for spiritual well-being, 
 give more prominence to the representing than to the applying 
 power of the sacraments. Roman Catholics may be said in 
 substance to hold that the sacraments represent grace because 
 they apply it ; Protestants, that they apply grace because they 
 represent it. The former take the idea of a sign in this connection 
 in a very general way, as denoting anything that by reason of 
 combination or positive appointment suggests to the mind the 
 notion of something else ; as smoke may be said to be a sign of 
 fire, or the hoisting of a flag, or blowing of a trumpet the sign 
 of the marching of an army. In this way the sacraments may 
 be said to be signs of spiritual blessings, because they are ap- 
 pointed means by which these are conveyed to men, even 
 though in some of them there may be nothing like a symbolical 
 representation of these blessings. Protestants, however, take 
 the idea of a sign in a much more strict and definite sense, and 
 hold that it means a distinct representation or symbol, in the 
 sense in which a picture is the representation of a man, or a 
 review of a battle ; and that it is the characteristic mark of a 
 sacrament, as distinguished from other ordinances and means 
 of grace, to represent spiritual things in this sense. In the 
 general sense of anything that suggests spiritual things to the 
 mind, the reading and preaching of the Word, and the offering 
 of praise and prayer, might be said to be signs, and are so as 
 really as several of the ordinances reckoned among the number 
 of the sacraments by the Church of Rome. But the two 
 ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper stand out from 
 among all the rest as observances of a symbolical or representa- 
 
15 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 tive character; and to them accordingly we limit the name of 
 sacraments. They set before us in outward things and actions 
 a picture, as it were, of the spiritual realities of the gospel ; and 
 their peculiar power arises in large measure from their having 
 this representative character. 
 
 Another point of difference between the Mediaeval and Roman 
 Catholic view on the one hand, and the Protestant one on the 
 other, is closely connected with this. The former, giving the 
 chief place to the applying power of the sacraments, has given 
 rise to the idea that each sacrament has its own special and 
 peculiar grace. Hence, as there are many different points in 
 the life of man at which special communications of divine grace 
 are needed, it was supposed that each one of these must have its 
 proper sacrament bringing the needful grace. Thus in part 
 arose the idea of seven sacraments corresponding to the seven 
 stages of the Christian's life — Baptism to its beginning ; Con- 
 firmation to its coming to maturity ; the Lord's Supper to its 
 nourishment ; Penance to its restoration when impaired or lost ; 
 Ordination to the entrance on office in the Church ; Matrimony 
 to the entrance on the married state ; and Extreme Unction to 
 the close of life. These are all periods of life that require special 
 grace, and the corresponding sacraments are held to convey that 
 grace. This system seems thus to offer a very full and suitable 
 provision for all the wants of the soul at each successive stage of 
 its life, meeting it at all the critical and necessitous epochs with 
 means of grace suitable to the occasion. The Protestant system 
 with only two sacraments seems to afford a less full and varied 
 provision for our condition and wants. 
 
 But the essential doctrine of Protestantism is that all grace 
 that we need is in Christ, and is to be received and enjoyed 
 only in communion with Him, not to be doled out through 
 outward ordinances. Hence all sacraments profit only in so 
 far as they represent Christ with all His benefits, from whom 
 all needful grace for special circumstances is to be derived. 
 Hence, also, we do not need to multiply sacraments as is done 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SIGNS. 
 
 19 
 
 by the Church of Rome ; and the five sacraments which it adds 
 to those recognised by Protestants are opposed on this among 
 other grounds, that they do not represent Christ Himself and all 
 His benefits, but only some special form or aspect of them. 
 While the Catechism of the Council of Trent defines a sacrament 
 simply as a sign of grace or spiritual things in general, the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith, agreeing with most of the Protestant 
 Confessions, is careful to say specifically, that in a sacrament not 
 merely grace in general, but Christ and the benefits of the New 
 Covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 What is the use of otittvard observances in religion in general? 
 
 Explain the origin and meaning of the name sacra?nent. 
 
 What was the more general nse of the term, and what does it mean ai 
 
 limited to Christian ordinances ? 
 What special feattire in such ordinances is due to the fact of Chris< 
 
 tianity being a religion of grace ? 
 Why do Protestajtts reject five of the rites held by Roman Catholics to 
 
 be sacraments ? Which of them are recognised as ordinances of 
 
 God, and which conde?nned as inventions of men ? 
 What differences in the conceptio7i of sacraments underlie this difference 
 
 as to their number ? 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 the sacraments as signs. 
 
 Scripture Statements. — The simplest view that can be taken of 
 the sacraments, is that they are signs representing Christ and the 
 benefits of the New Covenant. This is undoubtedly a true and 
 scriptural view of them. Baptism is called by Peter a figure of 
 
20 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 our being saved by the resurrection of Jesus Christ ; ^ and Paul 
 says, that in observing the Lord's Supper we show the death of 
 Christ.^ The very nature of the ordinances also plainly indicates 
 this. The washing of the body in water is a natural figure, and 
 one frequently used throughout the Bible for the cleansing of the 
 soul from sin ; ^ and the nourishment of the body by meat and 
 drink is an equally common illustration of the nourishment of the 
 soul by Christ, as the Bread of Life who came down from heaven 
 and gave His flesh for the life of the world.* 
 
 Sacraments — Their Evidential Value. — The object of such figures, 
 whether in words or actual things, is to help our understanding. 
 What we see with our eyes is more vivid and clear to us than 
 things of which we only hear or read descriptions. Hence the use 
 of pictures, maps, and diagrams in books. They serve not only to 
 please, but, when rightly employed, to help our understanding of 
 the description or narrative given in words. Significant repre- 
 sentations are also of use as helps to the memory in the form of 
 what we call monuments. A statue of some great man keeps 
 alive the remembrance of his character and services ; a picture 
 of some momentous event preserves fresh in men's minds the 
 remembrance of its occurrence. In accordance with this law 
 of our nature, Christ has made provision for keeping in men's 
 minds the knowledge of His person and work, and making that 
 as fresh and vivid as possible, by symbolical ordinances. As 
 such, the sacraments have also an important evidential value. A 
 monument erected at the time of some memorable event, and 
 
 1 I Pet. iii. 21. This passage ou-ht properly to be rendered thus : ' Water ; 
 which also as a figure saves you now, even baptism (not the putting away 
 of the filth of the flesh, but the inquiry of a good conscience after God), by 
 the resurrection of Jesus Christ. ' For ' figure, ' most modern scholars would 
 put ' antitype ; ' but the Authorized Version, translating it as in Heb. ix. 24, 
 is quite defensible. 
 
 2 I Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 3 See Ps. li. 2, 7 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Acts xxii, 16 ; i Cor. vi. ii ; Eph. 
 V. 26, etc. 
 
 * See John vi. 32-58 ; Luke i. 53 ; Matt. v. 6 ; i Cor. x, 3, 4, etc. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SIGNS. 21 
 
 preserved to after ages, remains, while it lasts, a most reliable 
 witness of the actual occurrence of the event. Now the rites of 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper have been observed by the 
 Church in all the ages of its existence, and can be traced back 
 continuously to the time of Christ. They testify to every age the 
 historical truth of the events of His life and death, with which 
 they are connected ; and they point by their very form and nature 
 to some of the principal doctrines of the gospel. 
 
 Thus, even as historical monuments, the sacraments serve to 
 bring before our minds the Lord Jesus Christ as a truly historical 
 Saviour, and to assure us of the reality of His person and work. 
 When we see them administered, we look upon rites that have 
 been observed continually for the last 1800 years, and that are 
 undoubtedly the same that Jesus directed His disciples to observe, 
 and Himself observed along with them. We are thereby assured 
 that He really lived and died ; and that from Him the blessings 
 of Christianity have flowed to the world. We see too, from the 
 nature of the rite in the Lord's Supper, that His death formed 
 the chief part of His work for men, that He gave Himself volun- 
 tarily to it, and that He suffered His body to be broken and His 
 blood shed to obtain for men forgiveness of sins, and to make a 
 new covenant or bond of union between them and God ; and 
 from the ordinance of Baptism we see that He associated Himself 
 with the Father and the Holy Spirit as the object of worship, 
 trust, and obedience of His followers. Thus these ordinances, 
 even in this their lowest aspect, not only give evidence of the 
 historical reality of the great events of our Lord's life, but testify 
 of the fundamental doctrines of His sacrifice for sin, and of His 
 participation in true Deity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Their Suggestive Value. — But it is not merely or chiefly as 
 evidential signs that the sacraments are of use in their function 
 of representing Christ and His benefits. They serve not only to 
 convince us of the truth and certainty of the great events of His 
 life and death, on which our salvation depends, but also to keep 
 
2 2 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 these events and their meaning in our memory, and, as it were, 
 in our mind's eye. The work of Christ is the great object of His 
 disciples' faith ; it is also the chief motive of their gratitude and 
 love, and the highest object of their imitation. It is therefore of 
 the utmost importance for Christian life, in all these aspects of it, 
 that Christ's work should be much in our thoughts, that we should 
 habitually remember it, and frequently consider its meaning and 
 contemplate its purposes and lessons. This we are helped to do 
 by ordinances that present it outwardly under the form of appro- 
 priate symbols. To this purpose the sacraments are not less 
 adapted because they presuppose some knowledge of the truths 
 represented, or require some instruction about them. Every 
 symbol, and even picture or dramatic representation, needs a 
 certain amount of explanation to be intelligible ; but just because 
 it suggests and represents, but does not fully explain the subject, 
 it serves to awaken curiosity and interest in those to whom it 
 is new ; while it recalls to those to whom it is familiar a crowd 
 of thoughts that could not be expressed without many words. 
 When God commanded the Israelites to observe the Passover in 
 memory of their deliverance from Egypt, He contemplated that 
 their children, as they grew up from age to age, would be struck 
 with the peculiar observance, and would ask their parents what it 
 meant ; and that this would lead them to listen more attentively 
 to the narrative of what the ordinance commemorated, and to 
 take more interest in it (see Ex. xii. 26, 27). A similar end was 
 doubtless meant to be served by the ceremonial observances of 
 the Christian Church. They are fitted to arouse curiosity and 
 lead to inquiry ; they clearly show that something more is meant 
 by them than meets the eye or appears to a stranger ; they indi- 
 cate the importance attached to what they represent ; and they 
 thus tend to awaken and maintain an interest in the great objects 
 of Christian faith. 
 
 Principle hearing on this.— In regard to the use of the sacraments 
 as signs, the great principle to be observed is, that they are never 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SIGNS. 23 
 
 to be dissociated from the Word of God in the gospel, which 
 declares the truths that they represent, and to which they are 
 subordinate as appendages. This is the relation in general 
 of illustrations or symbols to narratives or descriptions. The 
 pictures or diagrams with which a book is illustrated serve a very 
 good purpose when taken along with the book itself ; they give a 
 more correct, or at least a more vivid idea of the things of which 
 it treats. But if torn away from the book, and used by them- 
 selves as a substitute for it, they would be at best very imperfect 
 means of representation, and might even be altogether dark and 
 meaningless. So too, a monument, when the person or event 
 which it was designed to commemorate has been forgotten, 
 becomes utterly useless, as 
 
 • When kings in dusty darkness hid 
 Have left a nameless pyramid.' 
 
 In the same way ceremonial observances have often become 
 emptied of their significance when their original purpose has 
 been forgotten, and they have continued to be observed as mere 
 forms, without having any meaning attached to them. The 
 danger of this is to be averted, in the case of the Christian sacra- 
 ments, by their being closely connected with the Word of the 
 gospel. Even in the Church of Rome this principle is recog- 
 nised ; since the repetition of the words of institution in each 
 case is held to be essential to the validity of the sacraments ; and 
 in the Protestant Churches it is more fully applied by the regular 
 association of the preaching of the gospel, in which the great 
 truths of Christianity are set forth and explained, with the admini- 
 stration of the sacraments. Hence the regular practice of our 
 Church is that the sacraments be administered after sermon; 
 and if in some cases it be not so, there ought always to be some 
 words of instruction and explanation setting forth the truths of 
 the gospel that are represented in the outward ordinance. 
 
 Practical Inference. — This principle also affords an important 
 guide to the practical use of the sacraments. If we would derive 
 
24 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 from them the full benefit they are fitted to convey, we should 
 study the Word of God as setting forth the truths which they 
 represent, especially the great facts of the coming, life, death, and 
 resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way of a sinner's 
 union to Him, and the blessings He bestows upon behevers ; we 
 should have our minds filled and saturated with these great 
 themes, so that when we see the sacramental signs, there may be 
 an abundance of thoughts and memories at once brought up to 
 our minds. This is one great secret of a profitable use of the 
 sacraments. If we are content with meagre, general, and con- 
 fused knowledge of the great truths of the gospel, we cannot 
 wonder though the representation of them should only aAvaken 
 vague and dull impressions ; while if we have the word of Christ 
 dwelling in us richly, the sacramental signs, though simple in 
 their form, will call up in our souls vivid and great ideas, and 
 suggest fresh aspects and lessons of these precious realities. 
 
 Parts of a Sacrament. — The function of the sacraments as signs 
 explains the following statements of the Westminster Standards : 
 ' The parts of a sacrament are two : the one an outward and 
 sensible sign, used according to Christ's own appointment ; the 
 other an inward and spiritual grace thereby signified ' (Larger 
 Catechism, 163). * There is in every sacrament a spiritual rela- 
 tion, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing 
 signified ; whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of 
 the one are attributed to the other ' (Confession, ch. xxvii. sec. 2). 
 
 There has been some difference of opinion as to whether the 
 name sacrament include ^ both the outward and visible sign, and 
 the inward and spiritual grace signified, or should only be 
 applied to the former. Since as we have seen the word sacrament 
 is not a scriptural one, its meaning cannot be authoritatively 
 decided ; and it may be legitimately used in any sense that is 
 distinctly understood and agreed upon. It would seem simpler, 
 and more in accordance with the earliest use of the word, to 
 understand by it only the outward sign ; but the custom of later 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SIGNS. 25 
 
 theologians has been to include in it, along with this, the spiritual 
 grace signified. To this position much importance is attached 
 by some, as if it secured a high view of the power of the sacra- 
 ments ; but in reality the question is merely one of words ; and 
 the language of the Larger Catechism, and of many of the ablest 
 Reformed divines, shows that it is quite possible to adopt the more 
 comprehensive definition without ascribing any inherent efficacy 
 to the outward rite. When the sacraments are rightly observed 
 by believers in Christ in the exercise of faith, love, and devo- 
 tion, then they receive and enjoy not only the outward sign, 
 but also the grace signified by it ; and in all cases that grace 
 is really offered to all who receive the sacraments. In that sense 
 both may be said to be parts of the sacraments ; but it is not 
 certain that wherever the sacraments are observed with outward 
 propriety and order, there the inward blessings are received; 
 and the whole question of the nature of the connection between 
 the visible and the spiritual is left to be decided on its own proper 
 grounds, even when it is admitted that both are parts of the 
 sacraments. 
 
 But the relation that undoubtedly exists of the one being the 
 representation of the other serves to explain how their names 
 and attributes may be interchanged. For nothing is more 
 common in all languages than to express the relation of figures 
 or s>Tnbols to what they represent by words denoting identity. A 
 few scriptural examples will illustrate this usage. 'The seven 
 good kine are seven years ; and the seven good ears are seven 
 years,' etc.. Gen. xli. 26 ; * Thou art this head of gold,' Dan. ii. 38 ; 
 ' This is he which received seed by the wayside,' 'The good 
 seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children 
 of the wicked one,' Matt. xiii. 19, 38 ; ' I am the door of the sheep,' 
 ' I am the good shepherd,' John x. 7, 9, 11, etc.; 'I am the 
 true vine,' etc., John xv. i. 
 
 No one misunderstands these expressions, or supposes that 
 they mean that any transformation takes place, or that the things 
 mentioned are literally identified with those they are said to be. 
 
2 6 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 The same mode of speaking is used of symbolical ordinances, as 
 of circumcision, Gen. x\ii. 13: ' My covenant shall be in your flesh,' 
 i.e. as explained in verse 11, ' the token of the covenant.' In Ex. 
 xii. II, the lamb is called the Lord's passover. In like manner 
 Protestants think that the phrases used of the Lord's Supper, 
 * This is my body/ ' This is my blood of the New Testament,' 
 may most naturally be understood not as declaring a transforma- 
 tion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but 
 as meaning that the bread and wine represent to us the body 
 and blood of Christ ; just as the seven kine and seven ears of 
 Pharaoh's dream represented seven years ; and as the door, and 
 the shepherd, and the vine represent Christ. The nature of a 
 sacrament as a symbolical ordinance requires this, as it is pithily 
 put by an old Scottish divine : ^ — ^ Attour, gif the bread were 
 transubstantiate, it suld become the thing signified ; gif it becomes 
 the thing signified, this sacrament suld want a signe, and sa it 
 suld not be ane sacrament ; for every sacrament, as ye hard, is 
 ane signe.' 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Shoiv from Scripture thai the sacraments are signs. 
 
 Give ilhistrations of what is meant by this. 
 
 What is the use of such signs? for evidence? for spiritual life? 
 
 What is the relation of the Word to the sign ? 
 
 What a?'e the parts of a sacrament ? 
 
 What use of language arises frotn the relation of these proofs ? 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS 
 
 Besides the name of signs, that of seals has also been generally 
 
 given by Christian divines to the sacraments. The only direct 
 
 J Robert Bruce's Sermo?is, p, 84, Wodrow Society, 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS. 27 
 
 warrant in Scripture for the application of this idea is in Rom. 
 iv. 12, where Paul describes circumcision in the case of Abraham 
 as a sign and a seal of the righteousness of faith. But the exten- 
 sion of this designation to the sacraments of the New Testament 
 is fully warranted by the fact, that we find in each of them that 
 special function that is denoted by the word seal, and that it is a 
 distinct and important part of their use. To perceive this, we 
 must consider what is the essential idea of a seal as applied to 
 spiritual things. 
 
 General Idea of a Seal. — A seal is, strictly speaking, just a par- 
 ticular kind of sign, a mark or token. In Latin, the words are 
 originally the same. Signare means to seal as well as to signify ; 
 and the later sigilluin^ whence the English seal, is simply a 
 diminutive of sigmim^ a sign. The distinctive nature of a seal 
 among signs in general is, that it is a personal sign or token. In 
 early ages, before writing was common, every man of distinction 
 had his seal with its characteristic impression, by which he could 
 authenticate any document or message that he wished to send to 
 another. The impress of this was equivalent to his signature ; 
 and afterwards, when writing became more common, it was used 
 in addition to the signature for more complete attestation, or on 
 the outside of a letter, for securing secrecy and respect for its 
 private character. There are many instances in ancient records 
 of the use of seals for these purposes. In the book of Jeremiah 
 (xxxii.) we have an account of the purchase of a piece of land 
 being completed by subscribing and sealing the record ; and in 
 Neh. ix. 38-x. 29, we read of the covenant being established by 
 the princes, Levites, and priests sealing unto it. For a man to 
 seal to any document was the same thing as to subscribe with 
 his hand to it (Isa. xliv. 5). Thus letters sealed with the king's 
 seal carried with them the king's authority.^ Now, in all such 
 cases, the seal or signature gives assurance of the personal mind 
 and will of him whose it is, and so gives the document the 
 1 See I Kings xxi. 8 ; Esth. iii. 10, is, viii. 2, 10, 
 
2 8 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 character of a personal communication from him. Anything, 
 too, that gave such assurance would serve the same purpose. 
 It was often the custom, instead of sending merely an impress of 
 the seal, to give or send the seal itself, or some other article, as a 
 token to the person to whom the communication was made.-^ 
 
 Figurative Application of the Idea. — The general idea of a seal, 
 then, is a confirmation of a truth or message by a token, more 
 particularly by an unmistakable indication of the personal mind 
 and will of him from whom it comes. On this idea are founded 
 most of the figurative or spiritual applications of the term in the 
 Bible. Thus it is said, John iii. 33, * He that hath received his 
 testimony hath set to his seal that God is true,' i.e. has given his 
 personal attestation to that great truth. Again Paul says, Rom. 
 XV. 28, in reference to his going to Jerusalem to minister to the 
 saints : ' When I have performed this, and sealed unto them this 
 fruit, I will come by you into Spain/ i.e. when I have given 
 personal attestation to the Jewish Christians of the brotherly love 
 of the Gentiles, by handing their gift to the saints at Jerusalem. 
 Once more, i Cor. ix. 2 : ' The seal of mine apostleship are ye in 
 the Lord,' i.e. the token that it is the personal will of the Lord 
 that I should be an apostle. Again, 2 Tim. ii. 19: 'The firm 
 foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth 
 them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of 
 the Lord depart from iniquity.' Some indeed regard seal here 
 as meaning simply inscription ; but it is quite possible, and more 
 in accordance with usage, to understand it in the more proper 
 sense as a guarantee given by the expression of God's mind and 
 will. In those passages that speak of the seahng of persons, not 
 of things, probably the application of the figure is slightly dif- 
 ferent, and is taken from the use of the seal as marking what 
 belongs to its owner. But we need not enter into an examination 
 of these passages here, since, when circumcision is called a seal 
 of the righteousness of faith, it is clearly meant as a token in the 
 ^ See Gen, xxxviii, 18 and xli. 42, 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS. 29 
 
 same way as in the passages just cited, and these passages, as 
 well as the general use of language, warrant that application of it. 
 
 Application to the Sacraments. — Now, taking this idea of a seal, 
 we find that it applies admirably to the New Testament sacra- 
 ments. When our Lord said, at the institution of the Supper, 
 ' Do this in remembrance of me,' He gave the ordinance such a 
 personal character as to make it not merely a sign but a seal, a 
 token of His love and desire for our loving remembrance of Him. 
 A picture of an absent friend represents him, and as often as I 
 look on it, recalls him to my memory ; it is a sign, and it may 
 be nothing more. It may have been drawn by myself, or bought 
 with money, or received from some third person ; still it is a 
 sign, and valuable as such. But if that or anything else has 
 been given me by my friend as a token of his friendship ; if he 
 bade me keep it in remembrance of him, then we have the 
 element of personal mind and will, and it is not merely a sign 
 but a seal. There are many signs of Christ that are not seals, 
 and therefore not sacraments. The sun may remind us of Him 
 as the Light of the world ; the vine may suggest to us the true 
 Vine ; the lamb may recall the Lamb of God, and so on. But 
 these were not appointed by Him for the express purpose of 
 assuring us of His grace and love as the sacraments were. 
 Christ instituted Baptism, as well as the Lord's Supper, as a 
 memorial of Him, and of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, the 
 three Agents in our salvation, who are one God, and unto whose 
 one name we, by becoming His disciples, are united. 
 
 Appeal to the Heart. — The use of the sacraments as seals is apt 
 to appear a more vague and undefined thing than their function 
 as signs ; but the reason of that probably is, that seals or tokens 
 in general appeal more to the feelings than to the understanding, 
 to the heart rather than to the head. What is the value of a 
 memorial, a keepsake, or the like, it may be hard to express in 
 exact logical definitions, and a hard-headed matter-of-fact man 
 
^O THE CHRISTIAN SACRAINIENTS. 
 
 may find it difficult to understand. But every one who has any 
 spark of sentiment in his soul feels and appreciates the precious- 
 ness of such things, even though he may not be able clearly to 
 explain it. Now God would make provision in the Christian 
 system for the emotional as well as for the intellectual side of our 
 nature ; and accordingly He has given to the sacraments the 
 character of seals as well as of signs, tokens and pledges of His 
 love and faithfulness, as well as illustrations of His great work 
 for our salvation. The healthy growth of spiritual life depends 
 largely on the due proportionate development of Christian 
 knowledge and Christian feeling. Ours should be an intelligent 
 religion, founded on a believing apprehension of divine truth ; 
 but it should also be an emotional or heart religion, in which 
 these truths are received with the feelings of penitence, trust, 
 love, joy, hope, that they are fitted to call forth. It is because 
 they are addressed to both these parts of our nature, as signs 
 helping the understanding to clear and vivid conceptions of 
 spiritual things, and as seals awakening and quickening the 
 corresponding spiritual feelings and emotions, that the sacraments 
 are so well fitted to be means of promoting Christian life. 
 
 It is obvious that as seals, even more than as signs, the 
 sacraments are appendages to the Word, and ought never to be 
 separated from it. A token or keepsake derives its whole value 
 from the promise or assurance with which it is associated. If 
 that fail, or is forgotten, it is the most useless and melancholy 
 thing in the world. So are the sacraments when observed as 
 mere ceremonial rites, without any affectionate remembrance 
 of the Lord who gave them to His Church as keepsakes in 
 remembrance of Him. But just as very small and trifling 
 things in themselves, that to a stranger would be utterly value- 
 less, acquire in our eyes a perfectly priceless value when they 
 have been given as tokens of a deep and strong love ; so the 
 simple, poor, and mean-looking ordinances of Baptism and the 
 Supper, just the application of a little water and the eating a 
 morsel of bread and a sip of wine, are to the earnest Christian 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS SEALS. 
 
 31 
 
 more precious than any other outward thing he has, since they 
 are the memorials of that love that is deeper, stronger, and 
 tenderer than any others ; and that is the centre of his new- 
 life. 
 
 It is to be observed that the sacraments are not said to seal 
 those who receive them ; and so the phrase sometimes applied 
 to them, ' sealing ordinances,' is not quite correct. They are 
 seals of the righteousness of faith ; they seal or confirm to us 
 God's promises and Christ's love ; but there is no warrant in 
 Scripture for saying that they seal us ; though the Church of 
 Rome has made it a doctrine that Baptism and Ordination 
 imprint a character or stamp, as it were, on the soul, which is 
 indelible. Some of the ancient Christian writers spoke of 
 Baptism as a seal in this sense, that it marks out believers 
 as belonging to Christ and God. But in the New Testament, 
 whenever Christians are said to be sealed, it is not by any out- 
 ward rite, but by God Himself, through His Spirit, that this is 
 said to be done (2 Cor. i. 22 ; Eph. i. 13, iv. 30). It seems 
 better, therefore, to keep to the simpler language used by the 
 Reformation divines, and to say, not that the sacraments seal 
 us, but that they are seals, inasmuch as they seal or confirm to 
 us the promises of the gospel. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 W/iai is the meaning and zise of a seal, and Jioio docs it differ from a 
 
 sign ? 
 Give instances of signs that are not seals, of seals that are not signs, 
 
 and of things that are both. 
 Hoio does it appear that Baptism and the Lord^s Stepper are seals ? 
 Distinguish between the sealing of the sacraments and of tJie Holy 
 
 Spirit. 
 
32 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 The Sacrameuts apply tlie Benefits of Christ's Mediation. — Besides 
 representing and sealing the benefits of the New Covenant in 
 Christ, the ordinances that we call sacraments, also by doing 
 so, apply or communicate them. This appears from the way in 
 which they are spoken of in various places of Scripture. We 
 read that ' Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it ; 
 that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing (more 
 properly, bath) of water by the Word ' (Eph. v. 25, 26) ; and again, 
 that God saved us ' by the washing (here, too, properly, bath) of 
 regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ' (Titus iii. 5). In 
 both these passages it is most probable that the reference is to 
 the sacrament of Baptism ; though it is possible that it may be 
 only to the general figure embodied in that sacrament. But in 
 Col. ii. 12 there is an express mention of baptism as a means of 
 spiritual quickening : ' Buried with Christ in baptism, wherein 
 also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of 
 God, who hath raised Him from the dead.'^ In regard to the 
 Lord's Supper, the most explicit passage is i Cor. x. 16: 'The 
 cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion {I.e. joint 
 participation) of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we 
 break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? ' But the 
 belief that the sacraments are means of grace does not rest 
 merely upon a few single texts, but on the general conviction, 
 which to a Christian is most sure, that the Saviour, who has com- 
 manded us to observe these ordinances in remembrance of Him, 
 
 ' Rom. vi. 3, 4 and Gal, iii. 27 may also be referred to ; but it is doubtful 
 whether being baptized into Christ does not mean baptism of the Spirit by 
 which we are really united to Christ. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE. 33 
 
 does not deceive us with vain and delusive signs, but really gives 
 what He represents ; and on the experience of believers in all 
 ages, that in the observance of these ordinances, as of all Christ's 
 appointments, they have really been blessed with fellowship with 
 the Lord. 
 
 How these Benefits are applied. — It is necessary, however, to 
 understand aright how these ordinances communicate the bless- 
 ings that are associated with them, and for that purpose to 
 consider in general how it is that we are made partakers of 
 spiritual blessings at all. Now, the Bible teaches that all spiritual 
 blessings are in Christ,— grace and truth, wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption, in a word, eternal life, — and are all 
 freely offered to us and to all men in Him ; ^ while it is the work 
 of the Holy Spirit to testify of Christ, to convince the world of sin 
 and of righteousness and of judgment, to enable us to know the 
 things that are freely given us of God, and to call Jesus Lord, in 
 a word, to make us partakers of Christ and all that is His.^ This 
 work the Spirit effects by working in us faith in Christ ; for by faith 
 we are united to Christ, saved, and made partakers of all spiritual 
 blessings.3 But in so doing the Spirit uses means, and deals with 
 us as intelligent and voluntary creatures, not moving us by mere 
 supernatural power working as by magic without any exercise of 
 our minds or wills, but by enlightening our understandings by the 
 discovery of the truth, awakening our conscience by convictions 
 of sin and duty, and moving our wills by appropriate motives 
 and persuasions. In a word, the presentation of Christ to the 
 soul, as the Saviour freely offered in the gospel, is the great means 
 that the Spirit uses for our salvation ; and when He does by His 
 divine power persuade and enable us to receive and rest upon 
 Christ, He begins and carries on our spiritual life. 
 
 ^ Johni. 4, 12, 14, 16 ; i Cor, i, 30 ; Eph. i. 3 ; i John v. 11, 12. 
 ^ John XV. 26, xvi. 8-1 1 ; i Cor. ii. 10-12, xiv. 3, 12, 13, 
 ^ Eph. ii. 8, iii, 17 ; John iii. 14-18, 36, vi. 35, 53-58, 63 ; i Pet. i. 21-23, 
 ii. 4. 5- 
 
34 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 By the Word. — This is the way in which the Word of God is 
 made effectual for our salvation. It presents to us Jesus Christ 
 and His work for us, and offers to us eternal life in Him. In 
 whatever way the gospel is presented, whether in the inspired 
 records themselves, or in the authoritative proclamation of it by the 
 ministers of Christ, or even in any vague and general rumour or 
 tradition of the mercy of God that may by His grace be sufficient 
 to lead to trust in His forgiveness, the Holy Spirit makes these 
 means effectual for awakening and strengthening faith, by which the 
 soul lives. The Word is the means of grace, because it presents to 
 the soul Christ in whom all grace dwells ; but without the inward 
 working of the Spirit on the soul of man, the testimony and offer in 
 the Word would not be accepted, and the soul would not receive life. 
 
 By the Sacraments. — In the very same way the sacraments are 
 means of grace. They are, as signs and seals, appendages to the 
 Word. In the right use of them we have the gospel testimony 
 and offer, not in its bare essence, but illustrated by most ap- 
 propriate figures, and confirmed by most affecting tokens. But 
 it is the same thing that is set forth in the Word and in the 
 sacraments ; it is Christ crucified as the Saviour of sinners, and 
 it is from Christ Himself that all blessings flow, not from the 
 things that present Him to us. If we derive more spiritual 
 blessing from one ordinance than from another, it is not because 
 the ordinance has more power in itself to bless, but because it 
 gives us a clearer view, or a firmer hold, of Christ. Further, just 
 as the Word is not effectual for the salvation of the hearers, 
 unless the Holy Spirit open the understanding and the heart to 
 receive its truths and offers in faith ; so the sacraments do not 
 profit except when He works in the same way in those who 
 receive them. The Spirit of God makes the reading and 
 preaching of the Word an effectual means of convincing and 
 converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and 
 comfort through faith unto salvation ; ^ and in like manner the 
 * Shorter Catechism, 89. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE. 35 
 
 sacraments become effectual means of salvation only through the 
 blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by- 
 faith receive them.^ This is the teaching of our Catechisms, 
 placing the Word and sacraments on the same line, as being 
 means of grace in the same way ; and we believe that this view 
 is in accordance with Scripture. 
 
 Faith alone the Means on our Part. — It is the fundamental 
 principle of Protestantism, that our salvation is in Christ alone, 
 and is to be received by faith alone on our part. The new life 
 begins with union to Christ in the Spirit's work of effectual 
 calhng, in which faith begins ; and it is continued by the 
 continual exercise of that faith ; it grows and strengthens by our 
 being more and more filled with the Spirit, and conformed to 
 the image of Christ. Thus it can be promoted in no other way 
 than by the increase and invigoration of faith in the soul, re- 
 ceiving more abundantly out of the fulness of Christ, and sharing 
 more fully in Plis life. Now that on which our faith rests, and 
 by which it; lays hold of Christ, is the testimony of God in the 
 gospel, setting forth and offering Christ to sinners. This testi- 
 mony in the fullest sense embraces not only the Word written 
 and spoken, but the sacraments, i.e. the signs and seals with 
 which the Word is clothed, and which are, as Augustine and 
 Luther used to say, a visible word, presenting that to the soul 
 through the eye which the spoken Word presents through the 
 ear. Thus, by the sacraments as really as by the Word, God 
 truly presents Christ to us that we may receive Him by faith, 
 and that receiving Him we may have life and have it more 
 abundantly. 
 
 Magical Theory of Church of Rome.— So far all Protestants may 
 be said to be agreed as to the efficacy of the sacraments ; and 
 in thus asserting that they are made effectual only by the power 
 of the Spirit, and when there is faith on our part, they differ fronri 
 
 ^ Shorter Catechism, 91. 
 C 
 
36 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the theory that grew up in the IMiddle Ages, and is maintained 
 by the Church of Rome, that the sacraments bestow spiritual 
 blessings by a power inherent in themselves as mere outward 
 acts. This theory is conveniently described as a magical one, 
 because it asserts an efficacy in them analogous to the supposed 
 power of magic, and because it actually arose in the ages when 
 the belief in magic prevailed. Michael Scott, about whose name 
 so many magic legends have gathered, lived within the thirteenth 
 century, in which the mediaeval doctrine of the sacraments was 
 raised to its highest pitch. Now the belief about magic was, 
 that mysterious and extraordinary powers could be imparted to 
 certain things by particular forms of words, as spells or incanta- 
 tions, by which they might be transformed in appearance, 0I 
 made to produce effects beyond the ordinary course of nature. 
 Quite a number of illustrations of this will be found in Scott's 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel; e.g. : — 
 
 * A moment then the volume spread, 
 And one short spell therein he read ; 
 It had much of glamour might, 
 Could make a lady seem a knight,' etc. — Canto iii. 9.^ 
 
 No doubt, as that poem also shows, the power of magic was 
 supposed to be due to evil spirits, and its use was therefore an 
 unlawful and forbidden art. But the Church believed that the 
 same sort of mysterious efficacy was given to material things by 
 divine power ; and when her priests in the sacraments pro- 
 nounced the proper form of words over the outward elements, 
 these acquired the virtue of purifying and blessing the soul. 
 So the Church of Rome teaches that the sacraments, simply as 
 outward rites, are the instruments through which God saves and 
 sanctifies men. As the civihsed world has ceased to believe in 
 magic, that which led to this form of doctrine has disappeared. 
 But even before that, the Reformers rejected the magical theory 
 as untrue, on the ground of the testimony of Scripture and 
 spiritual experience, and maintained that the Spirit of God works 
 ' See also Canto i. 11. ii. 13, and iii. 23, and other passages. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE. 37 
 
 our salvation, not through outward rites as such, but through 
 faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Protestant Views. — But Protestants have never been quite of 
 one mind as to the precise relation between the outward part of 
 the sacrament, and the spiritual blessing that depends on faith. 
 All agree that the outward act is a sign and seal of the spiritual 
 blessing, and that when there is faith in the receiver, that outward 
 act is accompanied with the spiritual blessing which it represents. 
 Thus, when a believer is baptized, he receives Christ for the 
 washing away of his sins ; but he receives Him by faith, and 
 not, as he receives bodily cleansing, by the application of water. 
 When a believer receives the Lord's Supper, he receives Christ 
 as the bread of life for his soul's nourishment by faith, while he 
 receives the bread and wine by his mouth. But if this be so, 
 then the outward act may be said to be more than a mere sign 
 and seal of the inward blessing ; for as a sign and seal it 
 naturally tends to strengthen faith by which the blessing is 
 received, and so really helps towards the reception and enjoy 
 ment of the spiritual blessing. Thus, simply as signs and seals, 
 the sacraments by aiding our faith are also means to our com- 
 munion with Christ. This is what is called a moral influence, 
 i.e. such as consists simply in the presentation of truths and 
 motives to the mind and heart. Those who have been most 
 afraid of ascribing undue efficacy to outward rites have gone to 
 the opposite extreme from the magical theory, and held that the 
 sacraments have no more than this moral influence ; ^ but most 
 who have thought so, and sometimes spoken of the sacraments 
 as mere signs, would be willing, when the meaning is distinctly 
 explained, to admit that in this sense they are means of grace. 
 
 There are some who think that God never does in any way 
 exercise more than moral influence on men, by teaching, per- 
 suading, reasoning with them ; and such clearly cannot admit 
 
 ^ This was the view of Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, and has been held by 
 some in the Reformed Churches 
 
38 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 that He does anything more direct or effectual in the sacraments.^ 
 But those who hold what are called the doctrines of grace, which 
 are taught more or less fully in the creeds of all the churches, 
 believe that besides moral influence God exercises a direct power 
 by His Spirit on the hearts of men, leading them to Himself ; 
 and that this is the secret of all spiritual life. Many, however, 
 who most firmly maintain this, and do not scruple to speak of 
 the Word of God or the gospel as a means through which this 
 direct spiritual power is exerted, refuse to say the same of the 
 sacraments, because they think it is not warranted in Scripture 
 and tends to superstition. 
 
 Others, however, have thought that there is no need of this 
 distinction between the Word and the sacraments ; and that both 
 alike, and in the same sense, may be said to be means not only 
 of moral influence, but of direct spiritual power.^ Now this is 
 manifestly a difference on a very subordinate and somewhat 
 obscure point, on which we have no direct teaching in Scripture, 
 since the distinctions on which the question turns are not drawn 
 there, but were made by divines in much later times. It is only 
 indirectly that we can get any light from the Bible upon it ; and 
 the decision depends very much on whether we give certain 
 passages a literal or a figurative interpretation. If Eph. v. 26, 
 and Titus iii. 5, refer to the sacrament of Baptism, then they 
 seem to ascribe to it more than a merely moral influence on our 
 salvation. Now, though many good interpreters take these 
 passages in a figurative sense, the fact that the word rendered 
 ' washing ' in both places should be rather translated ' laver ' or 
 ' bath,' makes it on the whole more probable that the sacrament 
 of Baptism is meant ; and therefore that we should regard it as 
 the means, not merely of moral influence, but of direct spiritual 
 operation on the soul. This view seems also to be the one 
 
 ^This was held by the Socinians, and by some, the less evangelical, of the 
 Arminians. 
 
 2 This was the view of Calvin, and has been adopted more or less explicitly 
 by most of the Reformed Churches, though some members of these have 
 always leaned more to the position of Zwingli. 
 
THE SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF GRACE. 39 
 
 implied in the Westminster Standards, which teach that the 
 grace which is exhibited ^ in or by the sacraments depends upon 
 the work of the Spirit (Conf. ch. xxvii. sec. 3), and that the 
 sacraments become effectual means of salvation .... by the 
 blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by 
 faith receive them (Shorter Catechism, 91). Here not only are 
 the sacraments said to be precisely what the Word is, ' effectual 
 means of salvation/ but it is explained that they are so by the 
 working of the Spirit in the souls of men. 
 
 This view involves the recognition of an operation that is 
 more mysterious and hard to define than the other, and those 
 who have desired clear and intelligible statements have been 
 generally averse to it ; but it has not only some countenance 
 from Scripture, but also the advantage of being most fitted to 
 unite all the different sections of the Church. It was formulated 
 by Calvin as the expression of his own view of Scripture teach- 
 ing, but also with the hope of mediating between the more 
 extreme opinions of the followers of Zwingli on the one hand, and 
 of Luther on the other. It did succeed in gaining the favour 
 of the former, as at least thoroughly consistent with evangelical 
 doctrine ; so that although in the Reformed Churches the 
 Zwinghan and Calvinistic types of sacramental doctrine have 
 continued to exist, they have been mutually regarded as quite 
 allowable and safe. From the Lutherans Calvin's irenical 
 attempt hardly obtained fair play ; though it really does secure 
 what their best divines insist upon as the essential points. If 
 men could thoroughly understand one another's meaning, it 
 would probably be found that no earnest spiritually-minded 
 Christian is very far removed from Calvin's doctrine of the 
 sacraments. 
 
 The Lutherans hold all that Calvin does, and something more ; 
 but that concerns almost entirely what unbelievers receive in the 
 
 ^ The word ' exhibit ' is used by the Westminster Divines in the sense of 
 not merely showing but bestowing. Cf. Larger Catechism, 162, with Shorter 
 Catechism, 92, where ' exhibit ' in the former stands for ' apply ' in the latter. 
 
40 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 sacraments. In order to avoid the danger that seemed to them 
 to he in Zwingh's view, of making the blessing of the sacraments 
 depend on our changing moods, they thought it necessary to 
 maintain that the blessing was there whether men believed it or 
 not, and is really given even to unbelievers. Hence, since they 
 have no faith, the consequence followed that Christ and His 
 benefits must be given and received in or with the outward 
 elements ; and thus the Lutheran doctrine, in appearance, ap- 
 proximates to the Roman Catholic one, though it is really very 
 different in nature and spirit, and much more truly akin to that 
 of Calvin. Lutherans agree with Calvinists as to what believers 
 receive in and through the sacraments ; their chief if not only 
 difference is as to what unbelievers receive in them, and that 
 surely cannot be an essential part of the Christian doctrine on 
 the subject. The differences among evangelical Protestants as 
 to the efficacy of the sacraments, though they have unhappily 
 caused much controversy and separation, are not really great or 
 vital, and have been much exaggerated by misunderstanding and 
 confusion of ideas. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 How does it appear that the sacravients are * means whereby Christ 
 
 co7nmunicateth to us the benefits of redemption'' ? 
 What other such means aj'e there? Inward? Outward? 
 Whose work is it to make us partakers of the redemptio7i purchased by 
 
 Christ? 
 How does He do so ? 
 Explain the theory against which the words in Shorter Catechism, 91, 
 
 * not from any virtue in them or in him that doth administer 
 
 tJiem, ' are directed. 
 Explain the words in that answer, * by tJie blessing of Christ and the 
 
 zvorking of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them.^ 
 Show the parallel between the efficacy of the Word afid that of the 
 
 sacraments. 
 
FOR WHOM THE SACRAMENTS ARE INTENDED, 41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FOR WHOM THE SACRAMENTS ARE INTENDED. 
 
 In various important respects, as we have seen, the sacraments 
 are means of grace in the same sense and way as the Word is, 
 both alike being presentations of God's truths and promises in 
 Christ, and of Christ Himself in them, to the minds and hearts of 
 men, made effectual by the Holy Spirit, through faith on our 
 part. But there are also certain differences between them, from 
 which it appears to whom the sacraments ought to be ad- 
 ministered. 
 
 1. The Sacraments Appendages of the Word. — The sacraments 
 being appendages to the Word, like illustrations to a book and 
 tokens to a promise, are of no avail without the Word ; whereas 
 it, even without the sacraments, would present to our faith Jesus 
 Christ with all His benefits. Such things as pictures, maps, and 
 diagrams are very useful as illustrations and helps to understand 
 a book or a lecture , but if we neglect the book or lecture, and 
 look only at the illustrations, they may interest or amuse us, but 
 will not convey the instruction they were intended to give. So, 
 too, a promise or assurance of affection may be enough for the 
 heart to rest upon without any outward token or keepsake ; but 
 the best outward token is of no avail or value when the promise 
 is forgotten or broken. This is beautifully brought out by Shake- 
 speare in the following dialogue between Hamlet and Ophelia :— 
 
 Oph. My lord, I have remembrances of yours, 
 
 That I have longed long to redeliver ; 
 
 I pray you now receive them. 
 Ham. No, no. I never gave you aught. 
 Oph. My honour'd lord, I know right well you did ; 
 
 And with them words of so sweet breath composed 
 
 As made the things more rich : their perfume lost, 
 
42 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Take these again ; for to the noble mind 
 
 Rich gifts grow poor when givers prove unkind. 
 
 — Hamlet, Act iii. Scene i. 
 
 2. The Sacraments come after the Word. — For a similar reason, 
 the Word naturally comes before the sacraments ; and they can- 
 not profit those who have not first heard and beheved the Word. 
 As signs they are of no use to any but those who know in some 
 measure what they represent ; and more especially, as seals, they 
 are meaningless to any but those who have a regard for Him of 
 whose love they testify. A token of love presupposes at least a 
 willingness to receive the love of him who gives it : it would be 
 of no value to one hostile or indifferent to him. So the sacra- 
 ments are fitted for cherishing and increasing the life of faith 
 when it has already begun, but not for imparting it where it has 
 not been before. They may, indeed, sometimes be the means of 
 conversion ; but they are not, in their distinctive nature, adapted 
 for that. The Word, again, is adapted for both purposes : it has 
 greater variety and flexibility, so to say, than the sacraments, 
 and addresses itself in its various parts to men in all spiritual 
 states. Hence, 
 
 3. The Word for the V/orld, the Sacraments for the Church.— 
 While the Word is to be preached to all men, to every creature, 
 the sacraments are to be administered only to those who are 
 recognised as gathered out of the world by the Word and Spirit 
 of God. They are among the holy things that are not to be given 
 to dogs, the pearls not to be cast before swine (Matt. vii. 6), but 
 only to be given to those who will appreciate and can use them 
 Inwardly and really these are they who are regenerate and have 
 faith in Christ ; and as each man may and should judge him- 
 self in the sight of God, so, if the question be, Who ought to seek 
 or come forward to the sacraments .'' the answer that must be 
 given is, Only those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 But as the Church cannot judge infallibly of the spiritual state of 
 men, and yet has a duty to discharge in this matter, if the ques- 
 
FOR WHOM THE SACRAIMENTS ARE INTENDED. 43 
 
 tion be, Who should be admitted to receive the sacraments by 
 the Church or its office-bearers ? the answer must be, Those who 
 appear to them, using the judgment of charity according to the 
 principles and rules of God's Word, to be truly regenerate, and 
 such as will use the sacraments in faith, and so profit by them. 
 
 The Sacraments belong to Church Members. — In a word, the 
 sacraments belong to the members of the Church of Christ as 
 being His tokens of love to His bride, for whom He gave Him- 
 self that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church not 
 having spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Eph. v. 27). In the 
 judgment of God, and of each man's own conscience, judging 
 himself in God's sight, they belong to the true Church of the 
 redeemed which is invisible. In the judgment of the office-bearers 
 of the Church, who must be as much afraid to deny the tokens of 
 Christ's love to any who are His as to give them to any who are 
 His enemies, they belong to the Church as it appears to the eye 
 of Christian charity, i.e. to what we call the visible Church. 
 Such is the general principle as to the persons for whom tht! 
 sacraments are intended, that is derived from a consideration of 
 their nature and purpose in general ; the more particular direc- 
 tions as to who ought to receive them must be learned from 
 what Scripture teaches about Baptism and the Lord's Supper 
 severally. 
 
 The Sacraments Badges of Christian Profession. — It follows from 
 this general principle, that the sacraments are one of the things 
 that outwardly distinguish the members of the Church of Christ 
 from the world ; and that they were appointed for this, among 
 other ends : to be marks or badges of our Christian profession 
 before the eyes of men. This was the case with many of the 
 symbolical ordinances imposed on the people of God in Old 
 Testament times, such as circumcision, the laws of meats, wash- 
 ings, and the like, by which Israel was marked off from the 
 Gentiles. In the Christian Church, however, this is so far from 
 
44 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 being the sole or the chief end of the rites we call sacraments, 
 that it is hardly ever referred to in the New Testament. Baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper are always referred to in connection with 
 their higher and more spiritual purposes, though there is possibly 
 also an allusion to their use as outward badges in i Cor. x. i6, 17, 
 and Eph. iv. 5. The members of the churches are never ad- 
 dressed or described as ' baptized ' or ' communicants,' or distin- 
 guished from 'unbaptized' or ^ non-communicants,' as Israel is 
 so often designated ' the circumcision ' in contrast with ' the 
 uncircumcised.' Where Christian churches are described, it is 
 always by inward qualities, or by the direct outward expression 
 of these, as — ' Beloved of God, called to be saints/ Rom. i. 7 ; 
 * Them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, 
 with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ 
 our Lord,' i Cor. i. 2 ; ' The saints and the faithful in Christ 
 Jesus,' Eph. i. i. See also i Pet. i. 2 ; 2 Pet. i. i ; Jude i. 
 
 This shows that while the sacraments are signs of a Christian 
 profession, and marks to distinguish the Church from the world, 
 they can only be really so, according to the meaning and spirit 
 of the New Testament teaching, when they are truly the expres- 
 sions of those more inward spiritual things which are the genuine 
 characteristics and notes of that kingdom that is not of this 
 world. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Point out the diffenjices between the Word and the sacraments as 
 means of grace — (i) as to their relative independence, (2) as to 
 their design, (3) as to the persons to ivhom they ought to be given. 
 
 Explain the difference between the questions, Who ought to seek the 
 sacraments ? and. To who??i ought the Church to give ihe??i ? and 
 give the answer to each. 
 
 Describe from Scripture the badges by which Christians are knoivn 
 from the world. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 
 
CiiAr. I. Baptism : Its Institution and Form. 
 
 II. The Things signified by Baptism, 
 
 III. The Pledges given in Baptism. 
 
 IV. The Persons to whom Baptism is to be administered. 
 V. The Efficacy of Baptism. 
 
 VI. The Practical Use of Baptism. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BAPTISM: ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM. 
 
 Scripture Warrant. — The authority for the perpetual observance 
 of baptism in the Christian Church is found in our Lord's com- 
 mand to His disciples after His resurrection, recorded in Matt, 
 xxviii. 18-20; Mark xvi. 15, 16. But this is not the first mention 
 of baptism in the New Testament, and it is spoken of there as a 
 thing with which the disciples were already familiar. Before the 
 beginning of Jesus' public ministry, his forerunner John had 
 accompanied his call to repentance with the act of baptizing in 
 Jordan those who obeyed that call (Matt. iii. 1-12 ; Mark i. 4-8 ; 
 Luke iii. 1-18) ; and when Jesus came forth as a public teacher, 
 and gathered disciples around Him, He also, perhaps in some 
 cases with His own hands, and certainly by those of His dis- 
 ciples, administered the same rite (John iii. 22, 26, iv. i, 2).^ 
 
 ^ The most natural explanation of these passages seems to be, that Jesus 
 did not Himself baptize in any case ; and that John iii. 22 is to be understood 
 in the same way as chap. iv. i is explained by verse 2, that Jesus is said to 
 baptize because His disciples did so by His authority. But it is possible 
 that the former passage refers to His having at first baptized some Himself, 
 and the latter to His afterwards leaving that function to His disciples. In 
 either case His reason was doubtless that of Paul afterwards (i Cor. i. 15-17), 
 that the preaching of the Gospel is a more important work than the ad- 
 ministration of the sacrament of baptism. 
 
 47 
 
48 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 There was no difference in the outward rite between the baptism 
 of John, that of Jesus' disciples during His life on earth, and 
 that which He commanded His disciples to administer after His 
 resurrection. Nor does there seem to have been any difference 
 in the meaning and purpose of the ordinance in each case ; 
 although, with the successive stages in which the ordinance is 
 found, there was an advance in the fulness and clearness with 
 which the spiritual things signified by it were understood and 
 appropriated. 
 
 The Name Baptism. — In all the places where the rite is spoken 
 of, it is expressed in our English Bibles by the simple trans- 
 ference of the Greek words ^baptize' and 'baptism.' This is 
 done rightly and unavoidably ; for though the words in the 
 original would be more expressive, because they had a meaning 
 in that language which they cannot have in ours, yet it is cleai 
 that they are used in the New Testament not in their mere 
 literal meaning, but to denote a special religious rite. The word 
 ' baptize ' means literally to immerse, to bathe, or to wash ; anc'i 
 in some places it is rendered properly enough by the last of 
 these, and 'baptism' by washing (Mark vii. 4; Heb. ix. 10). 
 They might, perhaps, be translated ' bathe' and ' bathing ' in 
 these places ; and in Matt. xx. 22, 23, Mark x. 38, 39, and Luke 
 xii. 50, probably baptism might be better rendered 'immersion,' 
 as that is undoubtedly the idea conveyed by the word as there 
 used. But when a religious rite is spoken of, any of these render- 
 ings would be manifestly inadequate. So in John i. 25 we read 
 that the Pharisees asked John, ' Why baptizest thou then, if thou 
 be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?' i.e. not 
 simply, Why dost thou immerse, or bathe, or wash ? but, Why 
 dost thou do this as a sacred rite .'' So, again, Jesus commanded 
 His disciples to baptize unto the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost (for that is the correct rendering of 
 the phrase) ; but no meaning could be got from this by the use 
 of any of the hteral transla>tions of the word, leaving out of view 
 
BAPTISM : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORI^L 
 
 49 
 
 the religious character of the ordinance. As there is no way of 
 expressing this in English except by transferring the Greek word 
 itself to our language, we are obliged to forego the advantage 
 that its expressiveness gave to the word in the original. 
 
 The Kite. — At the same time we must undoubtedly look to the 
 meaning of the word to learn what is the ordinance that Christ 
 has enjoined His people to observe. But we must look at what 
 the word meant in its religious use, and not merely in common 
 life ; since we find that from the very earliest mention of it in 
 New Testament history it is used expressly to denote a sacred 
 rite. It corresponds to the word in the Old Testament which is 
 generally rendered ' dip ; ' but that word came to be used for the 
 expression that occurs so frequently in the Levitical laws, 'he 
 shall wash his flesh in water,' Lev. xiv. 8, 9, xv. 5, 6, 7, etc., 
 xvi. 4, 24, 28, xvii. 15 ; Num. xix. 7, 19, etc. That the two expres- 
 sions are the same in meaning appears from 2 Kings v. 10, 14, 
 where the command given by Elisha to Naaman is, ' Go and 
 wash in Jordan seven times ; ' and the fulfilment of it is expressed 
 thus, ' Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in 
 Jordan' (lit. baptized himself). The word baptize is used for 
 washing after touching a dead body in the apocryphal book 
 called Ecclesiasticus, xxxi. 25 ; and the author of the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews calls the Levitical washings divers baptisms (ix. 10). 
 It seems clear, therefore, that this was just a different name that 
 had come into use for these Jewish rites, and that the baptism of 
 John was similar to them. It is thought by most of those who 
 have investigated the subject, that immersion was the earliest 
 form of Christian baptism, on the ground of Paul's allusion to the 
 going down and rising up out of the water as a figure of burial 
 and rising with Christ (Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii. 12), and also of 
 the statements of early Christian writers. However, in cases of 
 sickness, pouring or sprinkling was allowed instead of immersion ; 
 but the latter continued to be the regular form for many ages, 
 and in England till after the Reformation. Indeed, it is still 
 
50 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the form theoretically enjoined as preferable in the Church of 
 England Prayer - Book, though pouring is also allowed. In 
 France, Italy, and Germany, dipping went out of use much 
 earlier than in England ; and pouring or sprinkling had become 
 the usual form before the Reformation. The Reformed Church 
 of Scotland has followed the Continental practice in this matter, 
 and recommends baptism by pouring or sprinkling as not only 
 lawful, but sufficient and most expedient.^ 
 
 The Form Indifferent. — But all that the Confession of Faith 
 asserts doctrinally on the point, is that ' dipping of the person 
 into the water is not necessary ; but baptism is rightly admini- 
 stered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person ' (chap, 
 xxviii. sec. 3). The grounds on which this doctrine rests are 
 these: — (i) The word baptize used by our Lord in commanding 
 this observance does not necessarily and always mean to dip, 
 since there are some places in the New Testament where it 
 certainly does not mean that. In Luke xi. 38, Svashed' is liter- 
 ally * been baptized ; ' but it is certain that it refers to washing 
 the hands only, as appears on comparing Matt. xv. 2 ; Mark 
 vii. 2, 3. So in Mark vii. 4, ' wash ' is 'be baptized,' and ' wash- 
 ings ' ' baptisms.' (2) The main idea of the word is to wash, and 
 the precise mode of washing is not always the same. (3) Even 
 when immersion was the ordinary practice, it was allowed that 
 in cases of necessity baptism might be administered by pouring. 
 (4) It is not consistent with the freedom and spirituality of the 
 Gospel that essential importance should be attached to the mere 
 form of a rite, when that has not been distinctly specified by our 
 Lord in His institution of it. 
 
 The Ideal of the Rite. — On these grounds we are content with 
 
 the modern form of administration, and do not think it necessary 
 
 to return to the primitive mode ; though we acknowledge that that 
 
 I Directory for Public Worship. See also the Order of Baptism in Knox's 
 Book of Common Order, 
 
baptism: its institution and form. 51 
 
 is perfectly lawful, and presents a more vivid picture of the entire 
 cleansing of the soul from sin by the Spirit of God. We ought, 
 however, to supplement or fill up in imagination what is lacking 
 in picturesqueness in our mode of baptizing, and to regard the 
 rite as really setting before us a washing of the entire person. 
 Some scope must in any case be left to the imagination, for we 
 cannot have a literal washing performed, any more than we can 
 have a literal and complete feast in the Lord's Supper : the 
 sacraments were not meant to be scenic displays, but suggestive 
 emblems of divine truth. Though we do not see it actually done 
 before our eyes, yet we are to remember, that what is here set 
 before us, as a symbol of the grace of Christ, is the entire washing 
 of the whole person when one plunges into a pure and cleansing 
 stream or pool of water. That is the way in which the rite was 
 anciently performed ; and that is its ideal which we should keep 
 in our mind's eye, though it is not essential to the ordinance, and 
 \70uld probably not be so conducive to devotion and edification. 
 
 The Name of the Three-One God. — The sacred rite of washing 
 with w^ater, that our Lord appointed when He bade His disciples 
 baptize, is to be unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost, that being the full revelation of God that 
 Jesus had made by His life and death before He gave that com- 
 mand.i He had revealed God to His disciples as His Father 
 and their Father, Himself as the Son of God and the Messiah 
 anointed with the Spirit, and that Holy Spirit as another Com- 
 forter and Witness of Him ; and He had re-affirmed the old 
 faith of Israel, 'the Lord our God is one Lord,' declaring that 
 He and the Father are one, and that the coming of the Spirit is 
 the same as His own coming. All this He gathers up in the 
 proclamation of the one Name of the three Agents in the work of 
 salvation. Here we have the foundation of the Christian faith in 
 
 ^ See John xvii. 6, 26 ; Heb. ii. 12. The name of God is ' all that whereby 
 He maketh Himself known,' including His 'names, titles, attributes, ordin- 
 ances, word, and works.' Compare Shorter Catechism, 54, with 55 and loi. 
 
 D 
 
52 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the Three-One God, from which all the creeds and systems of 
 theology in later days have been developed. 
 
 The Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. — We do not, indeed, find 
 mention made anywhere else in the New Testament of baptism 
 unto the name of the Trinity. When it is specified at all, it is 
 said to be unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or of the Lord 
 Jesus ; and this has been thought by some to throw doubt on 
 the narrative of the First Gospel. But as it is certain that the 
 formula was used at a time before the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 which it embodies, was fully understood or made the object of 
 theological study, it could not have been formed by the Church's 
 own reflection, but must have come from Christ Himself. It may 
 be that the very words recorded in the Gospel were actually used 
 from the first, and that the expression, ' baptized unto the name 
 of Christ ' and the like, are merely general phrases briefly indi- 
 cating the same thing as the fuller form. Or it may be that the 
 h'ords in Matt, xxviii. 19 were not understood as prescribing r. 
 precise form, but that any expression conveying the same mean- 
 ing might be used. 
 
 These the Same in Meaning. — Anyhow, it is important to observe 
 that the two expressions mean the same thing, and that they 
 mutually explain one another. The name of Christ does really 
 contain that of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost ; for since it means the Anointed, it leads us directly to 
 think of the Father by whom He was anointed, of the Holy 
 Spirit with whose grace He was anointed, as well as of Himself. 
 We are therefore, on the one hand, to look to Christ as revealing 
 God in all His fulness and reconciling us to Him ; and on the 
 other hand, to remember that the fulness and grace of God here 
 revealed are all in Christ. Thus baptism verifies what we saw to 
 be the Protestant conception of a sacrament, — as representing, 
 sealing, and applying to us nothing else and nothing less than 
 Christ and all His benefits. 
 
BAPTISM : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM. 53 
 
 Our Relation to the Name of God. — The relation of the rite to 
 the divine name is indicated in the words of our Lord, which 
 should be rendered not 'in,' but 'unto the name,' etc. The 
 meaning is, not that they who baptize act on behalf of God or by 
 His authority, but that they bring those who are baptized into a 
 relation to God. It corresponds to the expression in the Old 
 Testament, ' to swear by the name of the Lord,' which in some 
 places should rather be, 'swear to His name,' as Deut. vi. 13, 
 X. 20; and it is illustrated by i Cor. i. 13, 15, where Paul asks, 
 ' Were ye baptized unto the name of Paul ? ' disclaiming the idea 
 of any of them being his instead of Christ's ; and by i Cor. x. 2, 
 where he says all the Israelites ' were baptized unto Moses in the 
 cloud and in the sea,' i.e. were brought into personal relation to 
 him as their leader and saviour. In what sense and in what way 
 baptism brings us into relation to the Three-One God in Christ 
 must be learned from a consideration of its significance and use ; 
 but the phrase denotes in general, that we are made His so as to 
 belong to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as our God, and to Jesus 
 Christ as our Lord and Saviour. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Mention^ in chronological order, the commands and examples oj 
 baptism in the New Testament. 
 
 Describe from the Pentateuch the ' divers ivashings ' enjoined by God 
 on Israel. 
 
 Wherein did the baptism of John and Christian baptism agree, ajtd 
 wherein did they differ ? 
 
 What probable indications are there in the Nnu Testament as to the 
 form of baptism affording prestwiptions — (i) in favour of im- 
 mersion ; (2) against it? 
 
 How is Christian baptism a revelation of the name of God? 
 
 What relation to God does it indicate on the part of the baptized? 
 
54 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE THINGS SIGNIFIED BY BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism a Washing. — The outward rite in baptism is, as we have 
 seen, the washing with water, and by means of it the person 
 baptized is brought into a relation to the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, or more briefly, of Christ. It 
 further appears from Scripture, that this washing symbolizes the 
 cleansing of the soul from sin. This figure is frequently used in the 
 Old Testament as well as in the New, ^.^. Ps. li. 2, 7; Isa. i. 16, 18; 
 Jer. iv. 14 ; Ezek. xvi. 9 ; and the divers washings appointed in 
 the Levitical law embodied the same idea. In the later prophets 
 there are promises of washing from sin as a blessing of the 
 Messianic time, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, xxxvii. 23; Zech. xiii. i; audit 
 was probably to recall these promises and point to their fulfil- 
 ment, that John came baptizing with water. In the New Testa- 
 ment the idea of cleansing from sin is connected with baptism in 
 such passages as Acts xxii. 16 ; Eph. v. 26; Titus iii. 5 ; i Pet. 
 iii. 21. This, then, is the general meaning of this sacrament as 
 a sign. But when we unfold its teaching in detail, we find it to 
 be much more rich and full. 
 
 Our Need of Cleansing. — It teaches, first, that all who are out of 
 Christ are morally and spiritually unclean by reason of sin ; for 
 the passages above quoted, with their context, leave no doubt 
 that sin is the uncleanness from which the soul needs to be 
 washed. Now that this is the character of sin, that it is to the soul 
 what uncleanness is to the body, foul, loathsome, unhealthy, is a 
 most important moral truth that cannot be too deeply impressed 
 on the mind, and that specially needs to be emphasized in the 
 present day, v.-hen many current forms of thought regard moral 
 evil as merely a necessary stage in the development of the 
 
THE THINGS SIGNIFIED r>Y BAPTISM. 55 
 
 individual or of the race. Further, that all men are naturally 
 stained with this foul pollution is the testimony of God's Word, 
 and is re-echoed by the experience and conscience of all who 
 honestly examine themselves. 
 
 Chiist cleanses by the Spirit. — Baptism teaches, second, that just 
 as washing in water cleanses the body, so God in Christ cleanses 
 the soul from sin by the Holy Spirit. The spiritual cleansing 
 that the saints prayed for and the prophets foretold, is described 
 in the Old Testament simply as the work of God : in the New 
 Testament we are more distinctly told that it is Christ who bap- 
 tizes, who sanctifies His Church by the washing of water, and 
 that it is by the Holy Spirit that He does so. Christ is the 
 immediate agent, and the Holy Ghost is the cleansing element 
 in the washing that baptism represents. Hence we see that it is 
 not only forgiveness, or deliverance from the guilt of sin, but a 
 thorough purging of the soul from the pollution of evil desires, 
 evil imaginations, evil thoughts, that is meant by the baptism of 
 the Spirit. It is equivalent to the giving a new heart and a right 
 spirit, i.e. beginning a new life in the soul. The inward baptism 
 of which the sacrament teaches is thus a new birth, a washing of 
 regeneration, a being born of water and Spirit, i.e. of the Spirit 
 working like water, cleansing the soul to newness of life. Thus, 
 while Christian baptism bears solemn witness to the pollution 
 of sin, and the need of all men to be cleansed from it, it also 
 presents to our view what will meet that need most completely, 
 the thorough washing of the soul by the Spirit that is offered in 
 the gospel. 
 
 Through our Fellowship with His Death. — Baptism teaches, third, 
 that this cleansing is only to be attained through fellowship with 
 the death of Christ. This is implied in Paul's statements in 
 Rom. vi. 3 and Col. ii. 12 ; and it also naturally follows from the 
 symbolism of the sacrament. The giving of a new heart implies 
 the taking away of the old heart which was hard and stony ; the 
 
56 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 begetting of a new life implies the death of the old ; for the old 
 life of sin can only be got rid of by death. But how is this to be 
 done ? It is impossible for us by any effort or device of our own 
 to rid ourselves of that life of sin whose wages is death. But for 
 that very reason God has sent His Son in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh, and for sin, that He might condemn sin in the flesh. So truly 
 was He in the likeness of sinful flesh, that He underwent that 
 baptism at the hands of John that was a testimony of the need of 
 cleansing ; and by the bloody baptism of His death He was freed 
 from the sin of the world that He bore, so that rising from the 
 dead, He became a quickening Spirit to give new life to all who 
 enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. Our Lord's words 
 speaking of His suffering unto death as a baptism, Mark x. 
 38, 39; Luke xii. 50; and Paul's saying that our baptism repre- 
 sents our being buried with Christ, show that this figure of 
 descending into death with Christ and rising again with Him, 
 is also intended in the sacrament ; and thus it is that it sug- 
 gests the idea of our ingrafting into Christ emphasized in the 
 Westminster Confession and Catechisms. We can only have 
 the washing of regeneration by dying with Christ ; as on the 
 other hand, if He wash us not we have no part with Him (John 
 xiii. 8). 
 
 Thus we become His, — Baptism teaches, fourth, that by this pro- 
 cess of death with Christ and new birth, we become His as our 
 Lord and our God. We are baptized unto the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : we are sanctified to Him 
 as a people specially His own. He is our God, the object of our 
 trust, love, worship, and obedience ; we are His people acknow- 
 ledging, serving, glorifying Him. He is thus a God to us as the 
 Three-One Jehovah ; in the person of the Father, over us, as our 
 Father in heaven ; in the person of the Son, with us, as our 
 brother and leader ; in the person of the Holy Ghost, in us, as the 
 principle of our new life. Baptism thus testifies that the cleansing 
 of the soul from sin, through the fellowship of the death of 
 
THE THINGS SIGNIFIED BY BAPTISM. 57 
 
 Christ, is but the beginning of the new life, to be followed up by 
 a faithful walking with God in Christ. Such a walk includes as 
 an important part of it a walking in brotherly love with all who 
 are Christ's ; and this aspect of the sacrament is repeatedly 
 emphasized in. the New Testament. ^ There is one baptism,' 
 says Paul (Eph. iv. 5), when enumerating the motives for 
 ' endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 peace ; ' and again, ' By one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
 body' (i Cor. xii. 13). The real unity is effected by the inward 
 baptism of the Spirit ; we are brought near to one another by 
 being brought near to Christ, made fellow-citizens of the saints 
 by becoming of the household of God ; made brethren one to 
 another by becoming the children of God through faith in Jesus 
 Christ. But of this real spiritual unity the rite of baptism is a 
 type and sign, showing us that all who profess to be Christ's 
 receive one and the same symbolic washing, however different 
 may be their nation, station, or character. Though some may 
 be much more decent in outward life, or more intelligent, or more 
 esteemed, than others, all alike need and all alike receive the 
 same washing, and are baptized unto the same name. By bap- 
 tism we are incorporated not into any local or sectional church 
 only, but into the one holy Catholic Church of Christ, and we 
 recognise all who have received that baptism in any of the parts 
 or branches of the Christian Church as our brethren and fellow- 
 Christians. Baptism is the great symbol of the unity of the 
 Church of Christ under Him her one Head. 
 
 These are the principal things signified by the rite of baptism ; 
 and it will be observed that they are just the great fundamental 
 truths of the gospel, and that a ceremony which so naturally 
 and simply suggests them is a most appropriate appendage to 
 the Word, as it proclaims to sinners the Saviour, and offers to 
 them in Him pardon, purity, and peace through His atoning 
 sacrifice and the renewing work of the Spirit. It is a gospel 
 in miniature, as it were, in outward act visibly presented to the 
 eye. 
 
58 the christian sacraments. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Give passages in Scriphwe tvhere sin is represented as uncleanness^ 
 and cleansing fro7n it as ivashing. 
 
 Describe certain rites in the Old Testament that embodied this jignre. 
 
 What does Christian baptisiii teach (i) abont our natural state, (2) 
 about the 7vaj/ of salvation, (3) abo7U the diity of Christians ? 
 
 Why did Christ receive the baptism of John and speak of His suffer- 
 ings as a baptism ? 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism a Seal. — The truths that are represented to us sym- 
 boHcally in the rite of baptism are all of the nature of divine 
 testimonies, and the most central of them are also divine promises 
 or offers in the gospel. We have thus in connection with them 
 the expression of a personal mind and will on the part of God ; 
 and the ordinance that Christ has appointed expressly to re- 
 present them has also the character of a seal or token of His 
 earnestness and good-will. There is not indeed so distinct an 
 indication of this in our Saviour's words at the institution of 
 baptism, as in those at the institution of the Lord's Supper; but 
 it is evident from the way in which the use of it is described in 
 various cases afterwards, that it had this character. When the 
 Ethiopian eunuch, after having been instructed by Philip to 
 recognise Jesus as the suffering Servant of Jehovah who should 
 bear the sin of many, desired to be baptized (Acts viii. 36), it 
 could not have been merely that he might understand the truth 
 better, but rather that he might be assured of the certainty of the 
 promises ; and so we read that after his baptism he went on his 
 way rejoicing, as one having a personal interest in the Saviour. 
 
THE TLEDGES GIVEN IN BAPTISM. 59 
 
 So when, at the preaching of Peter, the household of Cornehus 
 received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the apostle directed them to 
 be baptized, not to confer on them the new hfe, which they had 
 already received, and not merely as a bare symbol, which they 
 would not need, but as a token of the grace of God to them. 
 Again, when Paul appeals to the rite and meaning of baptism, in 
 a passage that is not merely an exposition of Christian truth, but 
 an exhortation to Christian duty (Col. ii. 6-iii. 4), he plainly 
 makes use of the sacrament, not only as a sign appealing 
 to the mind, but as a seal or token fitted to affect the heart. 
 We are therefore fully warranted in regarding baptism as being, 
 like circumcision, both a sign and a seal. In fact, a symbolical 
 observance expressly instituted by Christ, and representing the 
 great deliverance from sin and death effected by His death for 
 us, and realized by our entering into that death by faith, could 
 not but have the use and effect of a seal. 
 
 A Seal of Regeneration in Christ. — Baptism is a token given by 
 God of the actual accomplishment of that complete deliverance 
 from sin which it represents, i.e. regeneration and new life through 
 the death and resurrection of Christ. It is to be observed, that 
 while the Bible represents baptism as specially connected with 
 regeneration, as its sign and seal ; it does not, in this connection 
 at least, limit regeneration in that precise way that theological 
 systems have been wont to adopt, to the first implantation of the 
 new life in the soul. Our being dead with Christ and rising with 
 Him implies in Paul's representation our mortifying our members 
 upon the earth, putting off the old man, and putting on the new, 
 a change which lasts the whole life long (Col. ii. 11, 12, iii. 5-17) 
 So too in John's view, the being begotten of God implies complete 
 sinlessness and even impeccability (i John iii. 9); z>., this is 
 realized in the full perfection and development of the life of God 
 in the soul, and is given in principle and germ even now in the 
 seed of God that abides in His children. What we generally 
 call sanctification is not in the New Testament so sharply 
 
6o THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 distinguished from regeneration as it is by modern divines ; but 
 is represented as its necessary complement and development, 
 and often included in the name and idea. Now it is regeneration 
 in this full and wide sense of which baptism is the seal or token. 
 It is not a token of regeneration in the sense of the very beginning 
 of the new life as promised by God, for in giving it He exercises 
 His sovereign grace (John iii. 8; Tit. iii. 5 ; Jas. i. 18); neither 
 is it a token to the individual that God has already given the 
 new life to him, for no outward thing can be a token of inward 
 spiritual Hfe : the Holy Spirit of promise is the seal of that. 
 But it is a token of the great and precious objective truth, that 
 the whole of that complete deliverance from sin and eternal life 
 are in Christ Jesus, that they who believe on Him receive the 
 Spirit for all this work — yea, that God will give His Holy Spirit 
 to them that ask Him. 
 
 This wide and comprehensive sense of regeneration, which is 
 a thoroughly Scriptural one, is that in which baptism is regarded 
 as the seal of regeneration by the Reformed Churches. So in 
 the exhortation before baptism in John Knox's Book of Common 
 Order, it is said : ^ Furthermore, it is evident that baptism was 
 ordained to be ministered in the element of water, to teach us, 
 that like as water outw^ardly doth wash away the filth ot the 
 body, so inwardly doth the virtue of Christ's blood purge our 
 souls from the corruption and deadly poison wherewith by nature 
 we were infected, whose venomous dregs, although they continue 
 in this our flesh, yet by the merits of His death are not imputed 
 unto us, because the justice {i.e. righteousness) of Jesus Christ is 
 made ours by baptism ; not that we think any such virtue or power 
 to be included in the visible water, or outward action, for many 
 have been baptized and yet never inwardly purged : but that our 
 Saviour Christ who commanded baptism to be ministered, will, 
 by the power of His Holy Spirit, effectually work in the hearts ot 
 His elect, in time convenient, all that is meant and signified by 
 the same. And this the Scripture calleth our regeneration, 
 which standeth chiefly in these two points— in mortification, that 
 
THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN BAPTISM. 6 1 
 
 is to say, a resisting of the rebellious lusts of the flesh ; and in 
 newness- of life, whereby we continually strive to walk in that 
 pureness and perfection wherewith we are clad in baptism.' 
 Similarly in the baptismal exhortation in the Directory for Public 
 Worship, regeneration is explained as equivalent to sanctification, 
 and as consisting of the two parts, mortification of sin and rising 
 to newness of life. This is also the view habitually taken by 
 Calvin, both in his Institutes and in the Catechism and Liturgy 
 of the Church of Geneva. 
 
 Need of such a Seal. — This is really the assurance that the 
 earnest soul desires and can receive by an outward sign. Such 
 an one may have no doubt of the truth of the general doctrine of 
 Scripture, that God does regenerate the souls of men in order to 
 their salvation ; he may even be quite assured that God has been 
 working in his soul new feelings, desires, and purposes ; or if he 
 is in doubt about that, he knows that the doubt must be removed 
 not by any outward sign, but by more evidence of a divine work 
 in the effects of it in his own soul. But knowing that without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord, and feeling how far he is 
 from that holiness, how great and thorough a change it needs in 
 his character and life before he can be thus holy and perfect as 
 our heavenly Father is perfect, feeling how weak and inconstant 
 are his efforts, and how far the needed change exceeds his own 
 power, he longs for some guarantee that this change will be 
 perfectly accomplished in him. Now what meets this want and 
 craving of the soul must be something external and objective. 
 We have it in the word and promise of the gospel, testifying that 
 Christ is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness and 
 sanctification and redemption. But this is confirmed and made 
 more impressive to the seeking soul by the sacrament of baptism 
 as a token of the truth and sincerity, the grace and love, of God 
 in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Power of Baptism as such a Seal.—This is done all the more 
 
62 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 effectually because really what baptism presents to us as the 
 ground of our assurance is nothing else and nothing less than 
 the death of Christ for sinners, and the love that is manifested in 
 that great act of self-sacrifice. It is with this that the hope and 
 possibility of our being thoroughly cleansed from sin and raised 
 to a new life are bound up, as ippears from Paul's teaching on 
 the subject of sanctification in Rom. vi.-viii., and elsewhere. At 
 the outset of that exposition he refers to baptism as a sign of our 
 dying and rising with Christ as that on which the obligation and 
 certainty of the believer's holiness rest (vi. 2-4), and throughout 
 the following discussion he repeatedly comes back to the death 
 of Christ as the security of our holiness and the pledge of our final 
 salvation (vii. 4, 6, viii. 3, 32, 34). Similarly, our Lord in His 
 discourse to His disciples in John xv. makes all His injunctions 
 and promises about their bearing fruit by abiding in Him rest 
 upon His great love in laying down His life for them (vers. 12-14). 
 Now baptism is a token of that love and of all that is implied 
 in it. 
 
 Baptism a Token of our Duty. — But it is also a token, on the 
 other side, of our being the Lord's, as bought with His blood, 
 and of our consequent obligation of love, loyalty, and service to 
 Him. This is frequently and most emphatically asserted in 
 Scripture, and if it is not expressly connected with baptism, it 
 is necessarily implied in the statements of the blessings and 
 privileges that are so often mentioned as connected with that 
 ordinance. These are of such a nature as to imply a corre- 
 sponding duty on our part, and that doubtless is also represented 
 and sealed in the sacrament. By the voluntary reception or 
 acknowledgment of the rite, we give a token ot our desire and 
 purpose to live not for ourselves but for Him who died for us 
 and rose again, and to serve Christ by keeping His command- 
 ments and departing from iniquity. This, however, is not to be 
 done without our first accepting the grace and love on the part 
 of God of which baptism is the token ; and therefore this aspect 
 
THE PERSONS WHO OUGHT TO BE BAPTIZED. 6;^ 
 
 of baptism, though real and important, is in its nature posterior 
 and subordinate to the other. It is first and chiefly a pledge or 
 token on the part of God in Christ to us ; and only secondarily, 
 though not less really, a pledge or token on our part of our 
 allegiance to God. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Sho'tV from Scripture that Baptism is a seal as tuell as a sign. 
 
 Of zv hat promise is it a seal, and of what is the Holy Spirit a seal? 
 
 To whom does the promise of sanctification belong, and on what does 
 
 it rest ? 
 In what sense is regeneration or sanctification complete at o?ice, and in 
 
 what sense imperfect and progressive ? 
 What pledge do we give in baptism ? 
 Why does God^s pledge to its come before our pledge to Him ? 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PERSONS TO WHOM BAPTISM IS TO BE ADMINISTERED. 
 
 The New Testament guides us by Principles rather than Laws. — 
 In regard to the persons to whom baptism is to be administered 
 we find, as on many other points, a characteristic difference 
 between the laws of the Old Testament and those of the New. 
 In the ordinances given by God to Israel, there are exact rules 
 laid down as to who should be circumcised, so that there never 
 has been or can be any doubt on that point, or any difference of 
 practice among the Jews. All children of the seed of Abraham 
 were to be circumcised the eighth day after their birth ; and all 
 who became proselytes to the faith of Israel, were to be circum- 
 cised along with their male children. But in the New Testament 
 we have no such precise directions about baptism, but only 
 Christ's general command to baptize converts from all nations, 
 
64 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 and the record of the observance of this by His first disciples. 
 This want of precise rules is probably due partly to the fact that 
 the new dispensation rests upon and is explained by the old, and 
 partly to this, that Christ would have His people guided rather 
 by principles than by precise rules. It has had the effect that 
 there are differences of opinion and practice among Christians 
 as to the persons to whom baptism is to be administered ; but it 
 has also led to more thought being given to the meaning of the 
 rite than the Jews give to that of circumcision, when they were 
 saved the trouble of reflection by the exact rules of the law. 
 
 The express Command insuflBcient. — What is expressly com- 
 manded by Christ in regard to baptism is, that those who are 
 made disciples by the preaching of the gospel should be baptized, 
 i.e. those who had been heathens or unbelieving Jews, but had 
 come to believe in Jesus. These only are referred to in Matt 
 xxviii. 19 ; Mark xvi. 15, 16; and in all the instances in which 
 baptism is said to have been administered, it was to such persons. 
 There is no express precept or example as to what was to be 
 done in the case of those who, being born of believing parents, 
 would be taught from their earliest infancy the truths about Jesus, 
 and trained to look to Him with reverence, trust, and love. There 
 would be few or none such at first, but ere long they would become 
 and continue to be a large number. 
 
 Diiferent Practices as to the Children of Believers. — Now in 
 regard to such children of believers, three possible courses might 
 be adopted, and have in reality been advocated. 
 
 (i) It might be said, that they need not and should not be 
 baptized at all ; and this indeed has been the opinion of some 
 though of comparatively few Christians.^ This would be to follow 
 most literally the express commands of Scripture, and refuse to 
 go beyond them. Children trained up in the Christian faith are 
 
 ^ This view is expressed by F. Socinus, though he and his followers did not 
 practically carry it out. 
 
THE PERSONS WHO OUGHT TO BE BAPTIZED. 65 
 
 not among those of whom Jesus expressly spoke in commanding 
 baptism ; nor is there any record in the New Testament of any 
 such being baptized. 
 
 (2) It might be said, that they ought to be baptized when they 
 are able and willing intelligently to profess their faith in Christ ; 
 and this has been and is the opinion and practice of a larger 
 number of Christians than the former.^ 
 
 (3) It might be said, that they ought to be baptized in infancy 
 as soon after their birth as convenient ; and this has been and 
 is the opinion and practice of much the largest number of 
 Christians.^ 
 
 We cannot decide between these three views by a mere con- 
 sideration, however careful, of the New Testament precepts and 
 examples by themselves ; for though the first of them certainly 
 has the advantage, if such it be, of adhering most strictly to their 
 express teaching, yet it is only founded on the negative argument 
 from silence, and is counterbalanced by the fact that throughout 
 the New Testament baptism is referred to as a rite which all 
 believers in Christ, and not merely some of them, had received. 
 As far as express and positive command or example is concerned, 
 it may be said that all the three opinions stand very much on an 
 equality. 
 
 The Meaning of Baptism decides between them. — But baptism is 
 not a meaningless or magical rite, but a significant sign and 
 token : and we may judge between these different opinions by 
 considering what, in view of the meaning of baptism, would be 
 the import and teaching of each of the three practices. If the 
 first were adopted, and the children of Christian parents were 
 recognised as Christians without any baptism at all; it would 
 imply and teach, that the cleansing from sin and regeneration to 
 
 ^ Those who are called Baptists. 
 
 - This is mentioned simply as a fact, not as affording by itself any evidence 
 of the correctness of the opinion and practice ; for a majority of professing 
 Christians can be appealed to as holding many things which we believe to be 
 utterly erroneous. 
 
66 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 new life that are symbolized in baptism are not needed by the 
 children of believing parents ; that the new life that their parents 
 received of the Spirit is transmitted to them by natural generation ; 
 and that they are not born with a corrupt nature. This, however, 
 is flatly contradicted by the whole tenor of Scripture teaching 
 and Christian experience, more particularly by the words of 
 Jesus to Nicodemus (John iii. 3-8), in which He solemnly declares 
 the absolute necessity of the new birth for every one who shall 
 enter the kingdom of God. Now, as we cannot beheve that 
 Christ intended His Church to observe a practice that would 
 give the lie to these momentous truths, we must conclude that He 
 meant that not only converts from unbelief or heathenism, but 
 children brought up by believing parents should be baptized. 
 The two other opinions agree in this, but differ as to the time 
 when baptism should be administered to them. 
 
 The meaning and teaching of the second form of practice would 
 be, that all who are brought up in the faith of Christ still need, 
 when they come to years of intelligence, that great and entire 
 change of heart and life that is symbolized in baptism. But is 
 that true ? Does not the Bible teach that a child may be filled 
 with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb (Luke. i. 15), that 
 little children are in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xix. 14, and 
 parallels), and that Jesus has lambs as well as sheep in His flock 
 (John xxi. 15)? This is also borne out by experience. Many a 
 one has come gradually and unconsciously under the influence of 
 the truth ; and spiritual thoughts and feelings and desires have 
 grown up in the soul, fed and nurtured by the teaching and 
 example and prayers of Christian parents ; so that he has been 
 led by a way that he knows not to faith in Christ. The arrival 
 at a stage of understanding to be able to profess faith in Christ, 
 is indeed an important epoch in the life of such a one ; but does 
 it at all correspond to what is signified by the sacrament of 
 baptism ? Surely it is a mistake to lead such a one to think that 
 the dawn of his intelligence, enabling him consciously to exercise 
 that new life that had been gradually growing in him, is itself 
 
THE PERSONS WHO OUGHT TO EE BAPTIZED. 67 
 
 the new birth of that hfe. Again, this practice, if it means any- 
 thing, teaches that there can be no regeneration where there is 
 not conscious and intelligent faith. But as Scripture plainly 
 teaches that without regeneration there can be no salvation, the 
 practice of baptizing the children of Christian parents only when 
 they can profess their faith, implies that infants cannot be saved. ^ 
 Since, then, both of these courses would make the Church's 
 practice as to baptism teach things directly opposed to Scripture, 
 we are led to consider whether the third course is open to any 
 similar objection. It is indeed alleged that to baptize all the 
 children of believing parents implies that they all are or shall be 
 regenerate : but this objection rests upon the erroneous assump- 
 tion that baptism is a sign or seal of the personal salvation of 
 those who receive it. It no more imphes that all the children of 
 believers are saved, than it does that all professing Christians are 
 really such. Again, it is said that infants cannot give evidence 
 of being born again ; but it is certain that they may be regenerate, 
 and the fact of their being brought up by Christian parents 
 affords some presumption that they are or will be. The admini- 
 stration of baptism to them, teaches that they no less than others 
 need to be born again, that they may be born again even from 
 their earliest days, that this is of the free grace of God to them 
 as well as to adults, a.nd that He may be expected graciously to 
 hear the prayers and bless the Christian training of their parents 
 by regenerating the children in infancy. These are all scriptural 
 truths ; and no other arrangement in regard to baptism would 
 suggest them all so naturally as the baptism of the children of 
 professing Christians in their infancy. 
 
 Confirmations of this Decision. — This practice, which the meaning 
 
 * Undoubtedly Baptists do not believe this, but our argument is that the 
 meaning of their practice in regard to believers' children contracted their own 
 belief. All the arguments against the baptism of infants would apply equally 
 against the salvation of infants, and we may ask with Peter : ' Can any man 
 forbid water that these should not be baptized, who received the Holy Ghost 
 as \\ell as we ? ' 
 
6S THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 of the sacrament suggests as the most appropriate of the possible 
 courses to be followed, is confirmed by the fact that from the time 
 of Abraham onward the children of God's people had been recog- 
 nised by Him as included in His covenant, and had received the 
 sign and seal of circumcision, to which baptism is represented as 
 analogous. There is no indication that our Lord intended to 
 withdraw the recognition from them, but, on the contrary. His 
 gracious reception of them when His disciples desired to keep 
 them back from Him, and the Apostle Paul's declaration, that 
 the children of believers are holy (i Cor. vii. 14), lead us to the 
 conclusion that Jesus meant rather to continue and confirm their 
 privilege as belonging to His Church and entitled to the sign and 
 seal of ingrafting into Him. Also the fact that the practice of 
 infant baptism can be traced back in the history of the Church to 
 a time not long after the apostolic age, leads to the belief that it 
 was the custom among Christians from the beginning, and so had 
 the sanction of the apostles of the Lord. 
 
 Profession and Duties of Parents. — It is to be observed, that on 
 this view of the grounds of the baptism of the infant children of 
 Christians, they receive this ordinance as one to which they have 
 themselves a right in virtue of their birth in Christian families, 
 not in virtue of a profession of faith made by their parents or 
 sponsors in their name. The parent, indeed, who presents his 
 child for baptism does so as a believer in Christ ; but he makes 
 no vicarious profession of faith, nor does he enter into a covenant 
 in the name of the child. He professes his own faith, and pro- 
 mises faithful performance of his own duty as a Christian parent 
 to bring up his children for the Lord. This promise is really 
 involved in the general profession of faith in Christ and obedience 
 to Him, that is impHed in being a member of the Church of 
 Christ. The parent does not come in as a surety between the 
 Saviour and his child ; the Lord deals directly with the child, 
 by giving to him the seal of His promises of grace as addressed to 
 him, and laying him under the solemn obligations of the cove- 
 
THE PERSONS WHO OUGHT TO BE BAPTIZED. 69 
 
 nant. The parent's duty is indeed most important, and his 
 obhgation to it most solemn ; but it is not the duty of answering 
 for his children or undertaking obligations in their name, but of 
 discharging his own part, teaching them the meaning of baptism 
 and the blessed promises of which it is a token, and seeking to 
 lead them by all the persuasive and powerful means of parental 
 training, influences, and example to receive the grace of God in 
 Christ and walk in it. Their receiving baptism in infancy indi- 
 cates that it is God's design in general that the children of 
 Christians should be Christians themselves ; that He makes pro- 
 vision for this, and will not be wanting on His part : and if this 
 fails to be realized, the presumption is that there has been some 
 unfaithfulness or shortcoming on the part of the parents, or great 
 guilt on the part of the children. So true and scriptural is this 
 principle, that it is interesting to observe that John Bunyan in 
 his immortal allegory, though he was a Baptist, yet recognises 
 the general principle that other evangelical Christians regard 
 as involved in the baptism of the infant children of believers. 
 When Christian comes to the house Beautiful, which represents 
 the Church visible, he is examined by Piety, Prudence, and 
 Charity as to his fitness ; and after the two former had questioned 
 him, ' Then said Charity to Christian, Have you a family ? Are 
 you a married man ? Christian — I have a wife and four small 
 children. Charity — And why did you not bring them along with 
 you ? Then Christian wept and said, O how willingly would I 
 have done it, but they were all of them utterly averse to my going 
 on pilgrimage.' Then follows a further conversation on this sub- 
 ject ; and he is not admitted till he has shovv^n that he has done 
 all that he could to induce them to come with him. This is a 
 very beautiful illustration of the principle that when a man 
 becomes a Christian, he ought to bring all his family with him. 
 This was required in the Old Testament in connection with the 
 ordinance of circumcision, for it is said in the law of the Passover 
 (Ex. xii. 48), ' And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and 
 will keep the Passover to the LORP, let all his males be circum- 
 
70 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 cised, and then let him come near and keep it ; and he shall 
 be as one that is born in the land ; for no uncircumcised person 
 shall eat thereof.' This was the principle of infant circumcision 
 in the Jewish economy, and on the same principle we believe the 
 apostles of our Lord to have acted, teaching, as Bunyan does, that 
 when men become Christians, they ought to bring their families 
 with them. As Jews, accustomed to the receiving of proselytes 
 by their being not only circumcised themselves, but having their 
 children circumcised also, the apostles would probably understand 
 our Lord's command to make disciples of all nations by baptizing 
 them, as meant to be fulfilled in the same way: and this is con- 
 firmed by the repeated mention in the history and epistles of the 
 baptism of households as such, Acts xvi. 15, 33; i Cor. i. 16. 
 The practice that we follow might indeed be more appropriately 
 described as household baptism than as infant baptism. Its 
 principle is, that the families of professing Christians are to be 
 Christian families. As Jonathan Edwards puts it, ' Every 
 Christian family ought to be, as it were, a little church, conse- 
 crated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by His rules. 
 And family education and order are some of the chief of the 
 means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove 
 ineffectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace 
 are likely to prosper and be successful.' ^ That baptism was used 
 as the appointed symbol and seal of believers' families being 
 thus Christian, seems to be a natural inference from the fact of 
 families as such being baptized. On all these grounds there 
 appears to be a good foundation for the doctrine of our Church 
 on this subject : ^ Baptism is not to be administered to any that 
 are out of the visible Church till they profess their faith in Christ 
 and obedience to Him, but the infants of such as are members oi 
 the visible Church are to be baptized.' 
 
 * Farewell Sermon, Works, i. p. ccxlviii., ed. 1834. 
 
the efficacy of baptism. 7 1 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Explain the difference between teaching by rules and by principles as 
 
 exetnplified in the Old and New Testament respectively. 
 In what cases is baptism expressly commanded i?i the Nexu Testament, 
 
 and in what case is there no express command or example ? 
 What courses are possible in regard to the latter case, and how does 
 
 the meaning of the sacraments decide betzveen these courses ? 
 What confirmations are thereof the course thus indicated? 
 Are spotisors necessary in infant baptism ? Are parents to be 
 
 regarded as such ? 
 What profession do parents make, and what obligations do they 
 
 acknowledge in connection with the baptism of their children ? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EFFICACY OF BAPTISM. 
 
 In the Case of actual Believers. — It is the belief of all Christians, 
 and well founded in the Word of God, that the washing with 
 water in baptism represents the cleansing of the soul from sin by 
 fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, or as it is 
 sometimes expressed, that regeneration or renewal is the inward 
 part of this sacrament, i.e. the spiritual grace corresponding to 
 the visible sign. It is also agreed by all, that when the sacra- 
 ment is rightly used, the inward and spiritual grace is present as 
 well as the outward and visible sign. As Calvin was wont to put 
 it, God does not delude us with vain and empty shows, but really 
 bestows what he signifies and seals in the sacrament. Both 
 Romanists and Protestants are agreed in this; but they differ 
 as to what is required for the right use of the sacrament ; the 
 former, in accordance with the magical theory oi the Middle 
 Ages, hold that it is simply the correct observance of the cere- 
 mony, and not putting an obstacle in the way of the efficacy of 
 
72 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the sacrament ; the latter, in accordance with the great Reforma- 
 tion principle of justification by faith, maintain that the sacrament 
 is then only rightly used when the receiver exercises faith, and 
 that then and then only it is accompanied with regeneration. 
 Both Lutherans and Calvinists agree, that where there is no faith 
 baptism has no efficacy, and that wherever there is faith, there is 
 regeneration. The differences between these branches of the 
 Protestant Church, and even those between them both and the 
 more spiritual members of the Church of Rome, have been greatly 
 exaggerated by varying uses of words, and by vague and confused 
 expressions. 
 
 We have already seen in what way and in what sense the 
 sacraments in general are means of grace, not only representing 
 and sealing, but applying to those who rightly use them, Christ 
 and all the benefits of the covenant of grace. They are made 
 effectual for this end, according to the doctrine common to all 
 Protestants, by the working of the Spirit through faith on our 
 part ; and whether they are to be conceived as merely moral 
 causes (Zwinglian view), or instrumentaj causes (Lutheran view), 
 or occasional causes (Calvinian view), are questions of a recon- 
 dite and subordinate nature, since on any of these views they 
 may be held to be really means of grace. There is no great 
 difBculty in believing, that when one who has just come to faith 
 in Christ receives an ordinance so full of meaning and tenderness 
 as Christian baptism, his faith is strengthened, and he is enabled 
 by it to enter into closer fellowship with Christ. We can even 
 say that he receives regeneration by it, if that term be under- 
 stood not in the limited sense in which it must precede faith, 
 but in the broad application to renewal in general. His faith is 
 really strengthened, and thereby his heart is increasingly purified 
 and his victory over the world enlarged. 
 
 In the Case of Infants. — But there is a peculiar difficulty in 
 explaining the efficacy of baptism in the case of infants ; and 
 the scriptural requirement of faith for the right and profitable 
 
THE ELTICACY OF BAPTISM. 73 
 
 reception of the sacrament is the strongest objection against the 
 practice of infant baptism. If we cannot show that baptism 
 can be a means of grace to those to whom it is administered in 
 infancy, and that in accordance with the general principles of 
 Protestant theology on this subject ; it will be very difficult to 
 believe that our Lord or His apostles intended any but adults to 
 be baptized. Accordingly, those who practise the baptism of 
 infants of believers have generally felt it needful to attempt some 
 explanation of the use of baptism to them. There have been 
 various different principles adopted for this purpose, to which it 
 is not needful to refer ; but that employed by the Westminster 
 divines is expressed in the following words, Confession of Faith, 
 chap, xxviii. sec. 6 : — ' The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that 
 moment of time wherein it is administered; yet, notwithstanding, 
 by the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is not only 
 offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost to 
 such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, 
 according to the counsel of God's own will, in His appointed 
 time.' Two things are here stated. On the one hand, that as it 
 had been said in the preceding section that grace and salvation 
 are not so inseparably annexed to the rite of baptism that no 
 person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that 
 are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated; so also, even when 
 both the outward rite and the inward blessing are received, the 
 one is not so tied to the other that they must be received at the 
 same time. The Protestant doctrine of the efficacy of baptism, 
 as held by the Westminster divines, does not imply that, even in 
 cases in which baptism is not only vahd but effectual, its effect 
 must take place at once. But on the other hand, in such cases 
 the grace is as really connected with the sacrament, and bestowed 
 by means of it, as if it had been given at the very moment of its 
 administration. 
 
 Infant Baptism effectual as a Sign to the Growing Child. — It is 
 plain that a child under the age of understanding can derive no 
 
74 - THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 immediate benefit from baptism as a sign of Christ and His 
 salvation. The sacrament as a sign appeals to the mind ; and 
 while the intellectual faculties are as yet unawakened and un- 
 developed, it cannot be understood, and so cannot enlighten or 
 instruct. But does it follow from this that the sign can be of no 
 use at any time to the child ? The mind to which it is designed 
 to appeal is there, though as yet undeveloped ; and none can tell 
 at what precise time the latent consciousness is awakened, and 
 the child begins to understand something of the meaning of 
 surrounding things. The child sees the ordinance of baptism 
 administered to others, and is told by parents of its having been 
 administered to himself He is taught what it means, and at the 
 early age of dawning intelligence is especially helped by having 
 the spiritual truth clothed in the garb of visible and familiar 
 figure ; while the express institution and solemn performance of 
 the ordinance serve to show the importance of the truth, and 
 bring it home to the impressible soul of youth as a divine testi- 
 mony to the need, the possibility, and the promise of the soul's 
 cleansing by the new birth in Christ. Surely, too, by seeing it 
 administered to infants, and being told that he was baptized in 
 infancy, he learns in a most suitable and impressive way that 
 even the youngest need and may receive this divine cleansing. 
 Thus the sacrament is of real use to him even as a sign, though 
 that use is not possible at the moment of time when it is ad- 
 ministered. 
 
 Its similar Effect as a Seal.—Even more really does this principle 
 apply to the use of baptism as a seal or token of God's grace and 
 love in Christ. In this respect also, it appeals to mental and 
 spiritual faculties that are undeveloped in infancy, the affections 
 of trust, love, and gratitude for the blessings of redemption. But 
 just as its meaning as a sign can be unfolded to the opening 
 mind of the child, so, and even more simply, can its value as a 
 token of love be brought home to his heart. In this way tokens 
 of earthly affection come to be appreciated by children, and are 
 
THE EFFICACY OF BAPTISM. 75 
 
 of use though given in infancy. A child receives when an infant 
 a gift from some loving friend, a Bible for example. It is of no 
 immediate use to him ; he can neither receive its teaching nor 
 appreciate the love that bestowed the gift ; it will be many years 
 before he can read the Bible so as to learn its lessons of divine 
 truth ; and it will be some time, though not so long, before he 
 can understand that the book is a gift of love, a keepsake to be 
 valued on account of the giver and his affection. But the child 
 can ere long understand and feel this, and he will feel the love of 
 the giver all the more because the gift was bestowed so long 
 before he could value or use it. Instead of taking away from the 
 preciousness or power of the gift as a token of love, does it not 
 greatly enhance it to know that it was not kept till the time 
 when it could be understood, but given long years before, at the 
 very earhest time possible? So it is with the sacrament of 
 Baptism. It is all the more precious and useful as a seal of God's 
 covenant, a token of His love, because it is given from earliest 
 infancy : it testifies of a love that has met us at the very outset of 
 our life, of a Saviour who has been waiting and ready to receive 
 us ever since we had a being. In this way it really benefits the 
 soul of the receiver, though given in unconscious infancy, and 
 benefits him all the more as a seal of God's grace just because 
 it has been given in infancy, its efficacy not being tied to the 
 moment of time when it is administered. 
 
 Its Effect as a Means of Grace to Infants. — Now if thus infant 
 baptism can be really a sign and seal of Christ and all His 
 benefits to those who have received it, when they come to be 
 capable of faith; we need not hesitate to say that it is also a 
 means of grace to those who believe. Its power of instructing 
 the mind and affecting the heart serves to strengthen and increase 
 faith, and so to promote the soul's union to Christ and conformity 
 to His character. The Holy Spirit also uses the sacrament as 
 well as the Word, and by means of it works upon the soul just as 
 really when it has been administered in the past days of uncon- 
 
76 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 scious infancy as when it is administered at the very time when 
 faith is exercised. The opening heart and affections of a child 
 recognise the meaning and value of a keepsake given in infancy ; 
 and it serves to cherish and strengthen those affections to which 
 it appeals, and thus becomes a means of the heart's education 
 and perfecting. So the tokens of God's love in Christ, bestowed 
 on the children of His people in infancy, meet the awakening 
 religious feelings in their souls, become to them significant and 
 precious, and in turn strengthen and develop these feelings. 
 Only, these tokens of divine love have this advantage over any 
 human keepsakes, that the Giver is Himself present with them 
 by His Spirit to the spirits of His children, shedding abroad His 
 love in their hearts by His direct and mysterious, yet real and 
 powerful agency. When the Spirit of God thus works in the 
 heart of one who has been baptized in infancy, adding to the 
 moral influence that the knowledge of this has in enlightening 
 the mind and impressing the heart. His direct sanctifying agency 
 purifying the heart through faith, then it may be said that by the 
 sacrament spiritual blessings are not only represented and sealed, 
 but also exhibited or applied to the believing soul. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 JV/ic7t is the spiriUtal blessing comiccted with the outward sigjt in 
 
 baptism, and when not ? 
 On what principle is infant baptism of use to those ivho cannot 
 
 believe when they receive it ? 
 Hoi.0 is it of special value because given in infancy ? as a sign ? as a 
 
 seal? 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM. 77 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism must be used aright. — We have seen that, according 
 to the scriptural doctrine, the efficacy of baptism as a means of 
 grace depends upon the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts 
 of those who use it in faith. It depends on moral and spiritual 
 conditions, not upon mere form and ceremonial. These con- 
 ditions on our part may be, and usually are, expressed briefly 
 in one word, faith ; that is the indispensable and all-sufficient 
 requisite for a blessing through the ordinance. But for practical 
 purposes it is desirable not to rest content with this brief state- 
 ment, which is doctrinally accurate enough, but to expand it into 
 details, and show how faith is practically to exert itself in 
 connection with baptism. The Westminster divines, in theit" 
 Larger Catechism (167), indicate that the duty of improving {i.e. 
 using for practical ends) our baptism, though needful, is much 
 neglected ; and if that was true then, it must be much more so 
 now, when, it is to be feared, there is not so much time and 
 thought given to religious duties as in their days. They also 
 state that this duty is not restricted to the time of receiving 
 baptism, but is one that extends through the whole time of life. 
 This appears from the appeals that the apostles frequently make 
 in their epistles to the meaning and value of baptism as a motive 
 to Christian duty or encouragement. There are also mentioned 
 two sorts of occasions when this duty of making practical use of 
 our baptism is specially incumbent. 
 
 Especially (1) in Temptation. — One is in the time of temptation. 
 For this ordinance, being a help to faith and Christian life, is 
 especially needful and seasonable when these are assailed and 
 endangered, whether by the allurements or by the threatenings 
 
78 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 of the outer world. The soldier should use his arms and weapons 
 especially when he is attacked or surprised by the enemy. So 
 our Lord's baptism immediately preceded His temptation in the 
 wilderness. That assault of evil was inevitable, when He began 
 His public ministry as the Messiah; but He was prepared for it 
 and strengthened to resist it by previously receiving the baptism 
 of John. So, too, when Paul is guarding the believers at Rome 
 against the great practical snare of evil, to think that we may 
 continue in sin because grace abounds, he reminds them of what 
 is meant and implied in their baptism (Rom. vi. 1-4) ; and when 
 he exhorts Timothy, in view of the many temptations of the world, 
 to fight the good fight of faith, he reminds him how he has 
 witnessed the good confession before many witnesses (i Tim. vi. 
 12), referring most probably to his baptism. 
 
 (2) At its Administration to Others. — The other occasion is 
 when we are present at the administration of baptism to others ; 
 for then the symbol and seal that we have ourselves received is 
 actually set anew before our eyes ; and we ought to use it as a 
 means of grace to ourselves. The administration of the sacra- 
 ment does not merely concern the children to be baptized, or 
 the parents who present them, but the whole baptized Church 
 of Christ there present. This is too often forgotten, even by 
 ministers, as well as by the people, and our baptismal service too 
 nKich limited, as is that of the Church of England, to a reference 
 to the infants and those who present them. But the Order of the 
 Church of Scotland, as of the Reformed Churches in general, 
 distinctly requires that regard be had in the administration of 
 baptism to its use as a means of grace to all present who have 
 previously received it. The Directory for the Public Worship of 
 God says that after the minister has explained the institution, 
 nature, use, and ends of the sacrament, ' he is also to admonish 
 all that are present, to look back to their baptism ; to repent of 
 their sins against their covenant with God ; to stir up their faith ; 
 to improve and make right use of their baptism, and of the 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM. 79 
 
 covenant sealed thereby betwixt God and their souls.' And in 
 the Book oj Commoii Order there is the following exhortation : — • 
 ' Wherefore, dearly beloved, it is not only of necessity that we be 
 once baptized, but also it much profiteth oft to be present at the 
 ministration thereof, that we (being put in mind of the league and 
 covenant made between God and us, that He will be our God 
 and we His people. He our Father and we His children) may 
 have occasion as well to try our lives past as our present conver- 
 sation, and to prove ourselves whether we stand fast in the faith 
 of God's elect, or contrariwise have strayed from Him through 
 incredulity and ungodly living, whereof if our consciences do 
 accuse us, yet by hearing the loving promises of our heavenly 
 Father, who calleth all men to mercy, by repentance, we may 
 from henceforth walk more warily in our vocation.' An exhorta- 
 tion of this sort ought never to be omitted in the administration 
 of baptism. 
 
 Means. — (1) Reflection. — The first thing necessary for this 
 important duty of using our baptism is serious consideration of 
 the meaning and purpose of the ordinance. Just as those who 
 unworthily receive the Lord's Supper are blamed by Paul for not 
 discerning the Lord's body, i.e. not understanding the spiritual 
 meaning of the sacrament ; so we lose the benefit of baptism, if 
 we merely regard it as a solemn and impressive service, to which 
 we attach only some vague ideas of dedication to God, without 
 understanding more definitely what it means and teaches. Thus 
 we find Paul frequently appealing to baptism as teaching truths 
 that those whom he addressed seemed not to know or to have 
 forgotten, e.g. the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts xix. 3-6); the 
 unity of the Church (i Cor. i. 13) ; the necessity of holiness 
 (Rom. vi. 3, 4). The ordinance, as we have already seen, is full 
 of most precious meaning ; but unless that is understood it will 
 be like a book written in an unknown tongue ; and unless it is 
 frequently considered and habitually meditated upon, it will be 
 like a book that is unread and neglected. There should be 
 
So THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 careful, reverent, and thankful thought upon the meaning of 
 baptism, for which we have sure guides and helps in those 
 numerous passages in the Bible that refer to it in various ways: 
 the mind should be made familiar with the nature and connection 
 of the several truths taught in the ordinance, so that, when there 
 is occasion, these profitable subjects of meditation may readily 
 occur to our minds in their scriptural form and order. Further, 
 we should consider these truths in a personal manner. It is not 
 merely the meaning of baptism in the abstract, but of our own 
 baptism on which we are to meditate. We are to consider its 
 teaching as addressed to us, its offer of Christ and His benefits 
 as made to us, its obligations as laid upon us, its promises as set 
 before us, each one for ourselves. So will the ordinance promote 
 and stimulate personal religious thought, and give occasion to 
 what is greatly needed for spiritual life, the mind being much 
 occupied with holy and profitable subjects of consideration. 
 
 (2) Repentance. — But such earnest thought will naturally lead 
 to a second kind of exercise of soul, that of humiliation and 
 repentance for our shortcomings and sins. The figure of baptism 
 is itself a humbling one, for it implies uncleanness ; and the 
 acceptance and use of it implies a confession ot uncleanness and 
 unfitness in our natural state for the kingdom of God. Hence, 
 not only by John the Baptist but by the apostles of Christ, 
 repentance is joined with baptism as an exercise of soul necessary 
 for its right observance (Acts ii. 38). As often as we recall our 
 baptism, we recall our original state, and that is fitted to humble 
 us and calls for continual repentance ; since the remains of that 
 corruption continue even in the children of God as long as they 
 are in this life. Thus, while the Christian does not forget that he 
 was purged from his old sins (2 Pet. i. 9), that he is washed, and 
 sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
 the Spirit of our God (i Cor. vi. 11), he must ever remember, that 
 if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth 
 is not in us, and that we need the gracious assurance, that not 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM. 8 1 
 
 once only, but now and always, as a present blessing, the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin (i John i. 
 7, 8). Further, since the symbolism of baptism teaches us that 
 God ofters us complete and thorough cleansing from sin in Christ, 
 if we would but receive Him by faith, and that ' whosoever 
 abideth in Him sinneth not' (i John ii. 6), we are convinced that 
 the remaining of sin in us is due to our unbelief, to our falling 
 short of and walking contrary to the grace of baptism, instead of 
 laying hold of it and abiding in Christ as offered to us in the 
 Word and sacrament. We might have been perfectly holy, had 
 we only had constant faith in Christ ; and our sin is not merely 
 that we have naturally corrupt and sinful hearts, but that even 
 when there has been brought within our reach a Saviour that 
 could perfectly renew them, and would do so had we been willing, 
 we have still failed of that renewal, and even sometimes gone 
 back from past attainments and fallen from first love. What is 
 so fitted to produce a deep feeling of self-abasement as the 
 sacrament that implies these solemn truths ? 
 
 (3) Faith. — The sorrow, however, that is thus produced must 
 not spend itself in idle tears in thinking of the days that are no 
 more. The call to repentance is to do the first works ; the rite 
 that tells us how the Saviour would have washed us perfectly 
 clean long ago, had we been but willing to give up all our bosom 
 sins, tells us also that He is still present, still loving, still longing 
 to wash us perfectly clean even now. Let there be faith then 
 in lively exercise, laying hold of the offers and promises of the 
 gospel ; let us now grasp the forgiveness of our past sins as sealed 
 to us ever anew in the sacrament ; let us regard our baptism as 
 being to us what circumcision was to Abraham, ' a seal of the 
 righteousness of faith,' so shall it help our faith to grow up into 
 that full assurance that that father of the faithful attained ' who 
 against hope beheved in hop e^ . And being not weak in faith 
 ... he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; 
 but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ; being fully per- 
 
82 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 suaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform ' 
 (Rom. iv. II, 18-20). This sacrament, rightly used, is one of the 
 means by which faith, that may at first be weak and trembling, 
 and able only to say, ' Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief !' 
 may grow up to full assurance of God's grace and love in Christ 
 Jesus. By faith also, in this sacrament, we are to receive out of 
 the fulness of Christ all spiritual blessings, not merely the sense 
 of pardon and peace of conscience, but light to guide us in the 
 path of duty, gratitude and love to move us to walk in that path, 
 wisdom to enable us to detect the snares of the adversary, 
 strength to overcome difficulties, courage to face danger, patience 
 to bear suffering, hope to cheer and encourage us, and joy to fill 
 our hearts and our mouths with the new song of praise/o our 
 God. All these blessings are promised and bestowed ipi Christ, 
 and are sealed to believers by the sacrament of baptism/ by faith, 
 then, we are to use it as a help for the attainment of them all, 
 
 (4) Holy Eesolutions. — Once more, for the right use of baptism, 
 this faith must act in the way of earnest resolution and effort to 
 depart from all iniquity. For the sacramenyis a token of duty 
 on our part, as well as of promise on God's pa/. We are to bring 
 forth fruits of repentance, we are baptizOT unto the name of 
 Christ, and so are bound to be His, separate from an ungodly 
 world, and living for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. 
 This duty is to be accepted by us with gladness and alacrity, not 
 merely recognised as incumbent on us, and submitted to as im- 
 perative and necessary, but joyfully embraced and cheerfully 
 done. This we can do by God's grace,|mrough recognising the 
 other truths and promises represented and sealed to us in baptism. 
 By it we not only bind ourselves, but also strengthen and 
 encourage ourselves, to all the -duties of a Christian life and walk. 
 It is important to recognise th^olemn obligation that baptism 
 
 use tn^soK 
 : pur^iHmc 
 
 declares and seals as lynrg^^^us, and to allow this to afiect 
 our hearts and influence pur?iHmct. But if it be regarded as 
 merely laying an obligatioQ'on us, this may tend to produce in 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF BAPTISM. 83 
 
 practice a legal frame of mind, or to depress the Chribuian's 
 experience unduly toyhat of a mere servant. It is necessary, 
 therefore, always to connect the baptismal obligation with the 
 baptismal testimony of the great redemption in Christ, and the 
 baptismal promises of spiritual blessings to the believer. Viewed 
 thus, it seals to him his Christian duty not as a bare obligation, 
 but as an obligation joyfully accepted and heartily entered into, 
 because it is just the other side, as it were, of the salvation sealed 
 in the sacrament : ' That He would grant unto us, that we, being 
 delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him with- 
 out fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days 
 of our life ' (Luke i. 74, 75). As a seal of this promise, the rite of 
 baptism not only impresses us with a sense of our obligation to a 
 holy life, but also imparts strength to us to discharge that duty. 
 It is to the Christian what the colours are to the soldier, a symbol 
 of the King and the cause that he serves, not simply reminding 
 him of his duty, but quickening his loyalty and inspiring him with 
 courage and high hope. As the soldier, looking to the colours as 
 they flutter at the head of his column, is nerved to sironger, 
 braver, more resolute effort and endurance, and is really helped 
 to fight and conquer by the courage and patriotism that symbol 
 of his country inspires ; so the Christian, looking to the sacrament 
 of baptism, the symbol of Christ's salvation, may derive from it 
 holy resolution to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of 
 eternal life. But just as the flag to an ignorant or unpatriotic 
 eye is a mere rag of silk, and has no animating influence except 
 to those who understand and appreciate what it symbolizes ; so 
 our Christian baptism will be a mere empty form, meaningless 
 and powerless, unless we intelligently and believingly use it in the 
 ways that the Bible and the nature of the case point out. 
 
84 the christian sacraments. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Explain Larger Catechism, 167, in its several parts, and give add I' 
 
 tional proofs from Scripture. 
 Which of the exa-cises of sonl there described are exemplified In Ps. li.? 
 Which in i John i. i-ii. 6 ? 
 
 How may lue profit by being spectators of baptisin ? 
 How does the thought of our baptism humble us, and how encourage us ? 
 
PART III. 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 f^ 
 
CiiAr, I. The Lord's Supper : Its Institution and Form. 
 
 II. The Things represented in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 III. The Pledges given in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 IV. The Tersons for whom the Lord's Supper is designed. 
 V. The Efficacy of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 VI. The Practical Use of the Lord's SupiJer. 
 
PART III. 
 
 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE lord's supper : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM. 
 
 Names applied to it. — This sacrament has a greater number 
 of designations than the other both in Scripture and in the 
 customary language of Christians. It is called in Scripture the 
 Lord's Supper (i Cor. xi. 20), the Lord's table (i Cor. x. 21), the 
 breaking of bread (Acts ii. 42, xx. 7). It is also often called the 
 Communion, that name being taken from i Cor. x. 16, and the 
 Eucharist or thanksgiving, from the solemn giving of thanks that 
 forms an important part of the observance. Of the same import 
 as this last is the name ' the action ' given to it in the West- 
 minster Directory for Public Worship. For that is taken from 
 the Latin phrase acito gratiaruni, the giving of thanks, and so 
 means the same as eucharist, which is from the Greek. The name 
 action, however, is obsolete, and only survives in the Scottish 
 term action-sermon applied to the discourse before the com- 
 munion. These names are all scriptural ajid appropriate. That 
 of ' sacrament of the altar,' though used by Lutherans, is un- 
 scriptural and misleading, and still more so is the Roman Catholic 
 term ' mass.' 
 
 Christ's Institution our Directory. — The institution of the Lord's 
 
 87 
 
88 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Supper is narrated with considerable detail by the first three 
 evangelists, Matt. xxvi. 26-29; Mark xiv. 22-25 5 Luke xxii. 19, 20; 
 and also, in close accordance with Luke's account, by Paul, when 
 he had occasion to give the Corinthian Christians instructions in 
 regard to the way of observing it (i Cor. xi. 23-25). This last 
 passage shows not only that this ordinance was designed to be, 
 and actually was, permanently observed in the Church, but also 
 that the narrative of its first observance by our Lord and His 
 disciples was intended to be our guide and directory as to the 
 right way of keeping it. It was instituted by Jesus on the night 
 in which He was betrayed, and which immediately preceded the 
 day of His death. This was at the season of the Jews' Passover, 
 the annual feast kept in remembrance of the redemption of the 
 people from the bondage of Egypt ; when the thoughts of all 
 pious Israelites would be directed to that great event, and the 
 wondrous deliverance that God had then wrought for the nation. 
 It is not quite certain whether the last supper of our Lord and 
 His disciples was on the very day when the Paschal feast was 
 observed by the Jews, or on the evening before it ; but whatever 
 may be the exact truth as to this, it is clear that our Lord and 
 His disciples regarded the Passover of Israel as foreshadowing 
 the redemption of the world by His death, which is commemo- 
 rated and sealed in the Lord's Supper (Luke xxii. 16 ; John 
 xix. 36 ; I Cor. v. 7, 8). There is therefore a close connection 
 in nature and meaning between the Passover meal in the Old 
 Testament and the Lord's Supper in the New. The Christian 
 ordinance, however, was not designed to take the place of the 
 Jewish one as an annual celebration. The Passover was only to 
 be kept once a year, on the exact anniversary of the deliverance 
 of Israel from Egypt, the fourteenth day of the first month, Abib 
 or Nisan. The Lord's Supper was indeed first instituted and 
 observed either on that day or on the preceding one ; but Jesus 
 gave no directions for a special time for its observance in after 
 ages, either annually or at any fixed seasons ; and his disciples, 
 acting doubtless according to the intention of His command^ 
 
THE LORD'S SUPPER : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM. Sq 
 
 observed it much more frequently than the Jews did the Pass- 
 over. They were wont to come together on the first day of the 
 week to break bread (Acts xx. 7) ; and in the early days of their 
 first love they seem to have done so daily (Acts ii. 46). In this 
 respect, therefore, the Lord's Supper is not like the Passover. 
 As an annual festival that ordinance pointed forward to the one 
 great sacrifice of Christ once for all ; and now that Christ, our 
 Passover, has been sacrificed for us, we are permitted at any 
 time, and on any day, to observe the simple ordinance that com- 
 memorates His death. This is one part of the freedom of the 
 New Testament Church, to be delivered from the necessity of 
 observing days, and months, and times, and years, the elements 
 of the world to which the children of God, while yet under age, 
 had to be subject (Gal. iv. i-io). 
 
 Freedom allowed in regard to Details. — It also belongs to the 
 liberty of Christianity that Jesus gave no minute and specific 
 instructions as to the forms and rites to be observed in the 
 Lord's Supper, such as God gave to Israel about the Passover. 
 Those who attach vital importance to the exact observance of 
 outward rites and ceremonies, as the Church of Rome does, 
 think that the absence of prescriptions about these in Scripture is 
 a defect, which must have been supplied by traditional instruc- 
 tions from the apostles ; and seek to find more detailed directions 
 in what is supposed to have been handed down by oral com- 
 munication in the Church. BuJ/{hose who hold the Protestant 
 principle, that the written Word of God alone is the sure and 
 sufficient directory for the Church's worship and duty, see in the 
 absence of particular rules as to the form and manner of observing 
 the ordinance an indication that our Lord intended to leave His 
 people at liberty in regard to such details, these being not essen- 
 tial to the meaning or profit of the service. What kind of bread 
 and wine are to be used, in what place or relative positions and 
 postures the givers and receivers are to set themselves, and in 
 what particular form and time the sacred actions are to be per- 
 
90 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS, 
 
 formed, are matters that cannot be certainly determined from 
 Scripture ; and are therefore to be decided by the hght of nature 
 and Christian prudence, according to the general principles laid 
 down in the Word of God^Confession of Faith, ch. i. sec. 6). 
 
 Paul's Warning against early Abuses. — It would appear that in 
 the early Church the Supper was kept in the form simply of 
 a common meal, associated or identified with what were called 
 * agapae,' i.e. love-feasts,^ at which the behevers in Christ met 
 together to partake of their food in common, with praise and 
 thanks to God not oiily for the blessings of creation and provi- 
 dence, but above all for the redemption of Christ. These love- 
 feasts, however, in course of time became liable to abuses, and 
 were apt to be regarded as mere expressions of brotherly love 
 and fellowship, apart from any deeper meaning or more spiritual 
 benefit. Then smaller sets and coteries began to be formed 
 among those who should be all one body ; and there was a 
 danger even of the excess incident to an ordinary feast being 
 found in the Christian feast of love. These abuses and dangers 
 were specially apparent in the Church formed in the wealthy and 
 luxurious city of Corinth ; and Paul devotes a weighty paragraph 
 of his first epistle to that Church to the exposure and correction 
 of them, I Cor. xi. 17-34.. He first blames their breaking up 
 into separate parties or sets, even in the feast of common love 
 (vers. 17-19) ; then he goes on to what gave occasion to that, — 
 their regarding the Lord's Supper simply as an ordinary feast of 
 the assembled Church,— and deUcately hints at the possibility, on 
 that view, of even grosser sensual abuses (vers. 20-22). Then, 
 in order to correct this, he rehearses the history of the institution 
 of the Lord's Supper (vers. 23-25); and draws from it the 
 inference that the ordinance is one that has a deep spiritual 
 significance, and can only be rightly observed by those who 
 recognise this and are able to enter into it (vers. 26-32). 
 
 ' These love-feasts are mentioned in Jude 12 ; and perhaps, also, in the 
 parallel passage 2 Pet. ii. 13, where, however, the reading is doubtful. 
 
THE lord's supper : ITS INSTITUTION AND FORM. 9 1 
 
 Finally, after thus impressing on them how each one personally 
 should be prepared to observe it, he gives directions as to the 
 practice of the Church, that all their meals for satisfying their 
 wants should be at home, and the Lord's Supper a purely sym- 
 bolical feast (vers. 33, 34). 
 
 Instructions afforded by this. — This passage may be said to be 
 the inspired directory for the observance of the Lord's Supper ; 
 and from it we gather the following as the chief points to be 
 attended to in regard to the form of this service : — 
 
 1. The elements or material signs are to be bread and wine ; 
 and there is no specific direction as to any particular kind of 
 either to be used. The uncertainty whether our Lord's last 
 supper with His disciples was on the Passover evening, or on 
 the preceding one, makes it impossible to be sure whether they 
 used unleavened or leavened bread ; and the wine is described 
 merely as ^ the cup,' ' the fruit of the vine.' Christ clearly used, 
 as the symbols in this ordinance, simply the bread and wine that 
 happened to be before Him at the time, and we best follow His 
 example by taking those that are in common use. 
 
 2. The partaking of the elements is to be preceded by blessing 
 and thanksgiving to God after the example of Jesus. By this the 
 bread and wine are sanctified, i.e. set apart from their common 
 use for bodily nourishment to the religious purpose of symbolizing 
 spiritual things and strengthening our soul's life. 
 
 3. The bread is to be broken, and it along with the cup to be 
 given to the communicants, who are each to eat and drink of 
 them. It is most natural and seemly that they should receive 
 them in their hands, and not directly in their mouths ; and as all 
 meet as brethren on an equal footing, that they should give them 
 one to another, and receive them one from another as well as 
 from the officiating minister. ^ That this may often be more than 
 a suitable symbol, even a means of special spiritual good, appears 
 
 * The Church of Rome denies the cup to the laity ; but this is an un- 
 warranted curtaiUng of the privileges of Christ's people, and deprives them 
 
92 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 from a statement of Zvvingli, who first introduced this manner of 
 communicating at the time of the Reformation. In giving an 
 account, in a document addressed to the King of France, of the 
 manner of observing the Lord's Supper at Zurich, he says: — 
 'The office-bearers carry round unleavened bread, and each 
 receives with his hand a piece of the bread offered him, and then 
 hands the rest to his neighbour ; and if any one does not wish to 
 touch the bread with his hand, then the office-bearer who hands 
 it round gives it to him. Then follow office-bearers with cups, 
 and each one gives to another the cup of the Lord. Let not 
 your majesty be offended at this custom of receiving and giving ; 
 for it has often been found that some who happened to sit 
 together, but who had formerly had feuds and hatred one with 
 another, in this partaking together either of the bread or of the 
 cup have laid aside the passion of their minds.' ^ 
 
 The general principle before explained as essential to the Pro- 
 testant idea of the sacraments, that they are appendages to the 
 Word in the gospel, and never to be separated from it in their 
 administration, implies that the observance of the Lord's Supper 
 ought always to be preceded by or accompanied with the setting 
 forth orally from the Bible of the great truths and events that it 
 represents. On this account there must always be present at the 
 observance one qualified to teach the people ; and it is natural 
 and fitting that he should preside in the feast, not, however, as 
 one of a superior order, but as one of the brethren who not only 
 gives the symbolical elements to the others, but also in turn 
 receives them from them. In offering prayer and praise, the 
 presiding minister is but the mouthpiece of the congregation ; 
 and in the act of cominunion he is not to be regarded as a priest 
 dispensing the holy symbols to the people, but as one of a com- 
 pany of brethren sitting at a common table, and all alike receiving 
 and enjoying the spiritual feast that the Lord gives them, and 
 
 of one of the two parts of the holy ordinance that Christ appointed for the 
 refrcshuig of their souls. 
 
 ^ Expositio Christiance Fidei. 
 
THE THINGS REPRESENTED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 93 
 
 that they all equally need. Paul refers to the blessing of the cup 
 and the breaking of the bread as acts not of himself and his 
 fellow- apostles alone, nor of a separate class of ministers, but of 
 all those who are one body, being partakers of the one bread.^ 
 The more this can be made to appear in the outward arrange- 
 ments of the Lord's Supper, the better does the meaning of the 
 ordinance come out. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Mention and explam the different names of this sacrament in Scrip- 
 ture and common use. 
 
 In ivhat circumstances did Christ institute it ? 
 
 Wherein does it resemble the Jeivish Passover, and zvherein does it 
 differ from it? 
 
 What are the elements used, and what the actions in its observance ? 
 
 How should the equality and brotherly love of Christians be seen in 
 the form of it? 
 
 Why is the presence of a preacher of the gospel necessary for the Lord'i, 
 Supper? 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE THINGS REPRESENTED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 The Sacrificial Death of Christ. — It is plainly taught in Scripture 
 that the Lord's Supper is a symbolical ordinance, and that the 
 main thing that it represents is the death of Christ. ' As often 
 as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
 death' (i Cor. xi. 26). We announce or declare by significant 
 acts, what is the great theme of the preaching of the gospel, 
 'that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.' This 
 death is here symbolized, not as in the sacrifices of earlier ages, 
 by the actual slaying of a living animal, but by the breaking of a 
 
 ^ I Cor. X. 16, The 'we bless,' 'we break,' must, according to ver. 17, 
 be, not ' we apostles,' or ' we ministers,' but ' we Christians ' — all alike. 
 
94 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 piece of bread representing the body of Christ, and the presenta- 
 tion of wine in a cup representing the shed blood of Christ. 
 This ceremony,. if it is a less vivid picture of our Saviour's death 
 than the bloody sacrifices of old, is more refined and suited to 
 the gentle and humane character of the Christian dispensation.^ 
 When the marvellous transaction of Calvary was still a thing of 
 the future, it was fitting and necessary that the actual death of 
 an animal should be used to prefigure it. But now that it is a 
 matter of history, and fully recorded in the gospel narratives, 
 the simple elements of broken bread and outpoured wine are 
 sufficient to recall to the minds and hearts of Christians the 
 sufferings and death of their Lord. They represent, however, the 
 same great event as the sacrifices of former times prefigured, and 
 that event is the great object of the faith of Christians. They 
 represent the death of Christ as a violent one, which however 
 He voluntarily and freely endured. The broken bread serves to 
 recall how our Saviour's body was wounded and bruised, pierced 
 and nailed to the cross ; and the cup of wine, how His blood 
 was shed from the wounds inflicted on Him. Then His words 
 speaking of His body as given for us, declare how He gave Him- 
 self up freely and willingly to that painful and shameful death 
 for our sake. But these symbols also unmistakably point to 
 His death as a sacrificial one, not only for the good of sinners, 
 
 1 Zwingli's remark on this is striking : ' Whence it is clearer than the sun 
 that circumcision and the Passover, which could not be performed without 
 blood, have been changed by Christ, who stays all bloodshed by His own 
 blood, into those elements friendly to man : that we may see that the severity 
 of the law has passed into the blessing of grace. Into the law which was 
 consecrated with the blood of beasts, men were initiated by the blood of 
 circumcision. Into Christ who has consecrated with His own blood the 
 eternal covenant, we are initiated by the sprinkling of water, that we may 
 see that the sacrificial fires have been extinguished by the blood of Christ. 
 The Passover was a commemoration and general festivity in which they 
 rejoiced that they had been delivered by the Lord from the Egyptian 
 bondage. But that no trace of the bloody law might remain, Christ willed 
 that His festivity or commemoration should be celebrated with the symbol of 
 bread and wine, things most friendly to man.' — ' De Vera et Falsa Religione,' 
 Zwinglii Opera, vol. iii. p. 261, ed. bchuler and Schulthess. 
 
THE THINGS REPRESENTED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 95 
 
 but in their place, in order to the forgiveness of their sins. It 
 is true that the word 'for' in the expressions * broken for you,' 
 'shed for many,' does not by itself necessarily mean anything 
 more definite than 'for the good of;' but not only did Jesus on 
 another occasion speak of giving his life a ransom for many,^ 
 but in the very words of the Supper He declares that His blood 
 is shed in order to the remission of sins, and as that of the new 
 covenant 2 between God and man. The former covenant had 
 been ratified by sacrifices ; ^ but as these had been only typical 
 ones of brute beasts, it could not really take away sin or establish 
 a lasting peace and fellowship between Godaadman.* This 
 however, Christ has done, when, in perfect obedience to the will 
 of God, He gave Himself up voluntarily to endure all that divine 
 justice required that the sins of men might be forgiven. This is 
 the first thing represented in the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Oar Participation in Christ's Death. — But in this ordinance 
 we not only look at the symbols of Christ's death, but we ^"^^^ 
 receive and feed upon them, and so it symbolizes further our^^^^vi^, 
 participation in Christ as crucified for us. As the bread and 
 wine are not only held up for our contemplation, but held forth 
 for our reception, we are taught that the Saviour is not only 
 presented as an object of historical belief and admiration, 
 but offered to us for personal appropriation. The gospel call is 
 not only to believe that Christ has lived and died for us, but to 
 receive Christ, and in Him eternal life, as the gift of God. The 
 giving of the elements thus represents the free offer of Christ in 
 
 ^ Matt. XX. 28 ; Mark x. 45. The word rendered ' for ' in these places is a 
 different one, which can mean only ' instead of, ' and is thus more definite 
 than the other. 
 
 -The word 'testament' is the same that is elsewhere rendered 'covenant,' 
 and it should be so translated in this place. In speaking of the new 
 covenant, Jesus referred to the promise given in Jer. xxxi. 31-34, that God 
 would make a new covenant with His people, different from that which He 
 had made at Sinai. 
 
 ' See Ex. xxiv. 3-8. 
 
 ♦This is explained at length in Heb. viii., ix., x. 
 
96 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 the gospel : and the receiving of them represents the acceptance 
 of that offer by faith, and indicates that saving faith impHes a 
 real vital appropriation of Christ ; not a mere belief of truths or 
 doctrines about Him, but a closing with Him as a person, a 
 receiving and resting on Him alone for our salvation as He is 
 offered to us in the gospel. We must, however, take this in con- 
 nection with the significance of the elements themselves, and 
 remember that it is Christ as crucified and dying for us that is 
 offered in the gospel, and to be received by faith. We are to 
 close with Christ on the cross, bearing the chastisement of 
 our peace, and dying for us. Thus the receiving, and eating, 
 and drinking the sacred elements, symbolize the experience 
 that Paul describes when he says : ^ I am crucified with 
 Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
 me' (Gal. ii. 20), that union and fellowship with Christ in 
 His death that are frequently referred to in Scripture, and that 
 are also symbolized by our being baptized unto the name of 
 Christ. The symbolism of the Supper serves to bring out some 
 important practical points in regard to the way of salvation. It 
 illustrates very strikingly the freeness of the gospel offer, in the 
 simple giving of the elements, without price or condition ; all 
 that is required on our part being simply the taking of what is 
 presented to us by God in Christ. So also the simplicity of faith 
 is shown by its being represented under the figure of eating and 
 drinking, the most natural and instinctive acts of human nature. 
 It is simply the response to the divine call, ' Open thy mouth 
 wide, and I will fill it.' Again, this ordinance vividly sets forth 
 the vital union effected by faith between Christ and the believer. 
 They are made one as truly as the food we eat becomes one with 
 the substance of our bodies, as truly as the branch is one with the 
 stem of the tree into which it is ingrafted. 
 
 Our Living through Participation in Christ's Death. — But there is 
 still further a third symbolic aspect of the Lord's Supper. It 
 represents not only the death of Christ as the object of our faith, 
 
THE THINGS REPRESENTED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 97 
 
 and the act of faith itself as uniting us to Christ, but also the 
 effect of this faith as giving life, strength, and happiness to the 
 soul. The Saviour who died for us, and whom we receive by- 
 faith, is presented and offered to us under the emblems of bread 
 'that strengtheneth man's heart,' and wine 'that maketh glad 
 the heart of man ; ' and thus we are taught that in Christ we 
 have life and strength and joy. This is a truth that is prominent 
 in the teaching of the New Testament, where we are assured of 
 eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord, and exhorted to be 
 strong in the Lord, and to rejoice in the Lord always. Just as 
 bread and wine nourish and invigorate the bodily life of man, so, 
 this ordinance teaches us, does Christ, when received and fed 
 upon by faith, give and sustain the life of the soul. This also 
 shows the need of continual faith in Christ, not merely of one act 
 of faith or appropriation of Him, but of a habitual life of faith. It 
 ^hows, too, that in this life of faith, however long continued and 
 mature it may be, we must ever be resting on the one original 
 foundation ; as the bread and wine whose use symbolizes our 
 spiritual growth and vigour, must ever in the first place be 
 regarded and used as emblems of the death of Christ, on which 
 we must rely to the last, with the same simple faith as we did 
 at first. 
 
 Union of Believers with one another. — Once more, in the fourth 
 place, there is symbolized in this ordinance the union of believers 
 with one another, as well as with Christ their Head. This is 
 especially brought out by Paul in i Cor. x. 17 : ' For we being 
 many are one bread, and one body : for we are all partakers of 
 that one bread.' The word for bread signifies properly a loaf 
 of bread ; and the point of the comparison is that, as all the 
 members of the Church partake of one loaf, so all are one body. 
 It seems to have been the primitive custom to have the bread 
 in the form of one undivided loaf, which was broken by the pre- 
 siding minister, and then divided among the communicants, and 
 this certainly represents more vividly the unity of the body of 
 
98 THE CHRISTIAN SACRA^IENTS. 
 
 Christ. All who believe in Him receive that one body that was 
 broken for all, and are thus united into one spiritual body them- 
 selves, as He is in them all. The same idea is brought out in 
 allusion to the cup in i Cor. xii. 13 : 'We have been all made 
 to drink one Spirit ; ' ^ and in the whole of that and the two 
 following chapters the apostle illustrates the unity of the Church 
 and the practical duties and obligations that flow from that unity. 
 The Lord's Supper as a common meal aptly represents this, and 
 tends also to foster the spirit of unity ; and on that account it 
 should, according to apostolic example, be observed by the Church 
 or congregation as a whole, coming together as brethren united 
 in Christ, to eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord in 
 remembrance of Him. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 W/iaf docs the Lord'^s Supper teach about the death of Christ, its 
 nature and purpose? 
 
 What ordinances represented this in the Old Testament, and ivhy is 
 the symbol different in the N'e^u ? 
 
 IVhat does it teach about the way of salvation by Christ, and the 
 blessings of His salvation ? 
 
 Give other instances in Scripture of spiritual blessings being repre- 
 sented by a fast. 
 
 What does the Lords Supper teach about the unity of believers in 
 Christ? 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 The Lord's Supper a Seal. — The character of a seal, or personal 
 token of good-will and friendship, is very emphatically impressed 
 
 "^ The insertion of ' into ' before ' one Spirit ' in the received text is not 
 sufficiently supported, and makes the phrase more awkward than the simpler 
 reading without ft. 
 
THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 99 
 
 on the Lord's Supper by these words of our Saviour, ' Do this in 
 remembrance of me.' For these words manifestly mean, not the 
 bare memory of Him and His work as a historical fact, but the 
 grateful remembrance of His love. It is as when one friend 
 gives a keepsake to another, saying, ' Keep this, wear this, use 
 this, in remembrance of me.' By so doing he makes the gift, 
 however trifling in itself, and whatever other use it may have, 
 a token of his love, and it will serve to assure his friend of the 
 reaHty and faithfulness of it. Just so Jesus bade His disciples 
 observe this ordinance as a memorial feast given them by Him, 
 as a token of His love ; and that, as we saw before, is what we 
 mean when we say that the sacraments are not only signs but 
 seals. 
 
 A Seal (1) of His Love. — The Lord's Supper is a seal to His 
 people of His love in giving Himself to death for us. For it 
 represents His sacrifice on the cross, and being instituted by 
 Himself as a memorial of it, it shows that He would have us 
 remember His love in it. In this aspect it is all the more 
 touching and affecting, because it was instituted, as Paul is 
 careful to emphasize, on that night in which He was betrayed. 
 This shows, among other things, that Christ had a conscious and 
 clear purpose in regard to His death : that it did not come upon 
 Him as an accident or merely as the termination of His work, 
 but was really a part, and a most important part, of His work 
 itself. His death was no mere suffering, it was an offering of 
 Himself to God, not merely a passion but in the highest sense 
 an action. Further, on the very eve of His suffering, when His 
 soul had already been troubled because His hour was come 
 (John xii. 27), and was soon to be exceeding sorrowful even unto 
 death, we find that He was fully conscious that His suffering was 
 for others, and found time and leisure from His own woe to 
 comfort His disciples and appoint the ordinance that was to keep 
 them in mind of His dying love. Surely in the Supper instituted 
 in such circumstances, and at such a time, we have a /token of 
 
 G 
 
lOO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 His love in giving Himself for us such as may well touch and 
 melt our hearts. 
 
 (2) Of His Offer of Himself to us. — But this ordinance seals to 
 the disciples of Christ not only His love in the past, but His 
 present sincerity and grace in now giving Himself to them as 
 their Redeemer. For He calls us not only to behold the emblems 
 of His broken body and shed blood, but to take, eat, and drink 
 the symbolic bread and wine. This represents, as we have seen, 
 the offer of Christ in the gospel ; and as it was expressly 
 appointed by Him for that purpose, it also gives us His personal 
 assurance of the reality and sincerity of that offer. We have 
 then in this sacrament a seal of Christ's gift of Himself to us 
 fitted to encourage and strengthen our faith in closing with Him. 
 As surely as the broken bread and outpoured wine are given to 
 us in the Supper, so surely does Christ give Himself to us as 
 dying for us, shedding His blood for the remission of out 
 sins. This is fitted to remove doubts as to the warrant of 
 faith which we have in the simple word and call of Jesus in the 
 gospel. 
 
 (3) Of the Blessings of Salvation. — Once more, the Lord's 
 Supper is a seal of the blessings that flow from our receiving 
 Christ in faith. Since He has chosen as the symbols of His body 
 and blood the substances of bread and wine, which in their natural 
 use nourish and refresh the body, He would have us to be 
 assured that His death for us, when received by us through faith, 
 will in like manner sustain the life of the soul. He thus pledges 
 to us the certainty of eternal life through faith in Him. So truly 
 as the body is nourished and refreshed by bread and wine, so truly 
 will the soul that receives Christ's body and blood through faith 
 have eternal life, and have it ever more and more abundantly. 
 
 Of all these truths, most needful for us to be assured of, and 
 yet about which sincere Christians are often sorely tempted to 
 doubt, we have in the Lord's Supper a token and pledge, giving 
 
THE PLEDGES GIVEN IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 1 01 
 
 US all the encouragement that such tokens naturally afford, to 
 believe without doubt or hesitation, that He really loved us and 
 gave Himself for us, that He most sincerely and freely offers 
 Himself to us, and that He does assuredly save unto the utter- 
 most all who come unto God through Him. 
 
 Our Profession of Faith in Christ. — But as on the one hand 
 Christ by giving and continuing this sacrament to His people 
 gives a pledge of these precious truths and promises, so on the 
 other hand Christians by partaking of it give corresponding 
 pledges on their part. By the very fact of observing the ordi- 
 nance, and so showing the Lord's death, we testify our belief of 
 the reality and importance of that great event ; we declare it as 
 one worthy to be commemorated and held forth to the eyes of 
 the world. We profess that we are not ashamed of the cross of 
 Christ, but rather glory in it. We must be held also as express- 
 ing our belief that it was really for the forgiveness of our sins 
 and the establishment of the new and everlasting covenant 
 between God and man that He died. This is a weighty and 
 important testimony. But much more than this is implied in 
 our partaking of the sacramental feast. When we receive the 
 bread and wine that represent His broken body and shed blood, 
 we signify our acceptance of His death as the atonement for our 
 sins, and as our death to sin in and with Him. We say in act 
 what Paul said in words : ' I am crucified with Christ : never- 
 theless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' And by 
 implication we express our hope of the spiritual and eternal life 
 that Christ promises and offers to those who receive Him. For 
 as no man eats and drinks without the hope and expectation of 
 being nourished and strengthened thereby, so we cannot eat this 
 bread and drink this cup of the Lord without expressing the hope 
 of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 And of Obedience to Him. — Further, since Christ's salvation is 
 a dehverance from sin, in partaking of the Lord's Supper we give 
 
102 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 a solemn pledge of our desire and purpose to depart from iniquity 
 and to live a sober, righteous, and godly life, according to the 
 teaching of that grace of God that has brought us salvation. We 
 become sworn followers of Christ as our Leader and Captain, to 
 keep His commandments and live as He has left us an example. 
 This appears very clearly from the sayings of our Lord to His 
 disciples at the institution of the Supper, Luke xxii. 21-38 ; John 
 xiii. 13-16, 34-38, xiv. 15, 21, 23, XV. 1-17. But these discourses, 
 as well as the nature of the ordinance, show that it is not the 
 element of obligation to duty on our part that is most prominent. 
 We do not come under these vows as if we could perform them 
 in our own strength ; we arc shown, in the very rite that lays them 
 upon us, the grace and strength in which alone we can fulfil them, 
 and are taught that it js by abiding in Christ, and receiving Him 
 as the food and life of our souls, that we can keep His command- 
 ments and bring forth fruit to God. Though it pledges us to 
 Christ and to all that is involved in being Christ's disciples, yet 
 it is not to be regarded as a bondage, but rather as a privilege. 
 Just as those who enter with true affection into the marriage 
 union do not regard this as a bondage but as a joy and blessing, 
 though it does impose grave responsibilities and duties, so a soul 
 that is truly espoused to Christ in faith and love will gladly 
 accept the obligations to holiness implied in the Lord's Supper, 
 being assured that with the obligation grace and strength for the 
 duty will also be given. 
 
 Questions. 
 
 H(no docs it appear that the Lord's Supper is a seal as ivell as a sigji t 
 Ofufhat is it a token on the part of Christ? 
 What does its reception betoken on our parti 
 
FOR WHOM THE LORD'S SUPPER IS DESIGNED. IO3 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PERSONS FOR WHOM THE LORD'S SUPPER IS DESIGNED. 
 
 The Supper first partaken with Disciples. — The narratives of the 
 Evangelists clearly show that it was with His disciples that our 
 Lord held that last supper at which He instituted the simple rite 
 that He bade them observe in remembrance of Him. It was not 
 indeed a gathering of all those who believed in Him as the 
 Messiah ; for the women who had followed Him from Galilee, 
 and others, to whom He appeared after His resurrection, were 
 not there. These more numerous disciples had not yet been 
 gathered into any company or assembly ; and as the Jews' 
 Passover feast was kept in family gatherings, it was natural and 
 suitable that Jesus should have with Him only those twelve 
 whom He had more closely associated with Himself, and who 
 with Him would form a party similar to those in which the Pass- 
 over was wont to be eaten. But it was distinctly as disciples 
 that they were thus assembled ; and the whole recorded conver- 
 sation at the feast implies that they stood in that relation to Him. 
 The very words of the institution of the Lord's Supper, ' Do this 
 in remembrance of me,' show this. For the remembrance cannot 
 be mere memory of a past event, but affectionate recollection of a 
 friend and master. It was a feast for disciples that recognised 
 and loved Jesus as their Master and Lord. 
 
 Continued to be so in Apostolic Times. — The same thing appears 
 from the historical notices of the observance of the Supper in 
 after days. It was they who gladly received the Word on the 
 day of Pentecost, and continued in the apostles' doctrine and 
 fellowship, who observed the breaking of bread (Acts ii. 42, 46) ; 
 and when Paul visited Troas on his last journey to Jerusalem, it 
 was the disciples who came together to break bread (Acts xx. 7). 
 
104 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 These indications of the fact that this ordinance was specially 
 an observance of Christians are fully confirmed by the statements 
 of Paul in his epistles, which are the only writings of the inspired 
 apostles that contain any mention of the ordinance. In i Cor. 
 X. 1 6-2 1, an important argument is founded on the acknowledged 
 fact that eating the bread and drinking the cup of the sacrament 
 was a peculiarly Christian ordinance, implying religious fellow- 
 ship with Christ, just as truly as the Jewish or heathen sacrifices 
 implied fellowship in their religious faith and worship. And in 
 his explicit directions about the ordinance in chap, xi,, he em- 
 phasizes the relation of the Supper to the Lord and His death for 
 us, and declares that it is worthily observed only by those who 
 recognise that relation. 
 
 Therefore designed for Disciples. — There is thus clear and con- 
 sistent evidence from the New Testament for the general state- 
 ment that the Lord's Supper is designed for disciples of Christ as 
 such, and not for men in general or the world at large. Though 
 the ordinance has a teaching power, analogous to that of the 
 preaching of the gospel, which is to be addressed to all ; yet it 
 is not thus universal in its application, but intended for Christians 
 as such. The reason of this is obvious from the symbolism of 
 the Supper. It is not simply a presentation of truth on the part 
 of God ; it includes a representation of the acceptance of the 
 gospel offer on our part, as signified by our receiving the emblems 
 of Christ's broken body and shed blood. This is an action which 
 would have no meaning as done by one who does not believe in 
 Christ, and is not willing to receive Him as offered in the gospel. 
 To hear the preaching of the Word may be an involuntary thing, 
 and even where it is not so, it does not necessarily imply more 
 than a wiUingness to listen and attend to the message of Christ's 
 salvation ; but to take the symbols of Christ's death and to keep 
 the feast that was appointed to be observed in remembrance of Him 
 means, if it has any significance at all, that he who does so receives 
 Christ as his Saviour and recognises Him as such. Thus the nature 
 
FOR WHOM THE LORD'S SUPPER IS DESIGNED. I05 
 
 and meaning of the ordinance correspond to the historical accounts 
 of its observance as a special mark of Christian discipleship. 
 
 By Disciples are meant Christians. — This also shows, that by 
 disciples in this connection we are to understand those who are 
 not merely willing to be taught by Jesus, but who also come into 
 spiritual relation to Him as their Saviour and Head. The sense 
 in which Jesus Himself understood the apostles to be His dis- 
 ciples appears from the parable of the vine and the branches 
 (John XV. 1-8), by which He illustrated their relation to Him. It 
 is such, that they are one with Him, they abiding in Him and He 
 in them. The same close and spiritual relation is also described 
 by Paul as signified in the Lord's Supper (i Cor. x. i6,xii. 12, 13), 
 and this explains why he speaks of the right observance of the 
 Lord's Supper as requiring that a man examine himself (i Cor. 
 xi. 28). It is not a mere outward formal discipleship as of men 
 attaching themselves to a master, the founder of some new faith 
 or church : that would be a palpable fact requiring no special 
 self-examination ; it is that discipleship of which Paul says that 
 no man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost ; 
 the entering the kingdom of God, which, as Jesus testifies, 
 requires the new birth of the Spirit ; that beheving on Jesus 
 which, as the Bible throughout declares, gives eternal life. 
 
 General Agreement of Christians on this. — On these scriptural 
 grounds, the great majority of Christians have held that the 
 Lord's Supper is for Christians ; and that only those who are 
 truly united to Christ by saving faith ought to come forward to 
 partake of it.^ The differences that have existed in this connec- 
 tion have been mainly not as to the question who ought them- 
 
 1 The differences between the Greek, Roman, and Protestant Churches 
 as to the way of salvation do indeed lead to different statements as to the 
 qualifications required ; but all coincide in the general principle, that only 
 those who are in a state of grace and salvation through Christ ought to 
 partake. That those who are consciously not so may lawfully communicate 
 was held by some Congregationalists in America in the last century, but 
 
I06 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 selves to partake of it, but on the subordinate one to whom it 
 ought to be given by the office-bearers of the Church. The Eastern 
 Church holds that this sacrament, like that of Baptism, should be 
 administered to the infant children of Christians, mainly on the 
 ground that its necessity for salvation is supposed to be asserted 
 in John vL 53. But there is good reason to think that this text 
 does not refer to the Lord's Supper, which was not instituted 
 when Jesus uttered these words ; and though some of the argu- 
 ments for infant baptism might apply to infant communion also, 
 there is in the Lord's Supper so distinct a representation of 
 personal faith in the receiving of the bread and wine, and the 
 requirement of self-examination is so distinct and emphatic, that 
 we seem warranted to conclude that this sacrament was not 
 intended for infants, but only for those capable of personal faith 
 and self-examination. And the different conditions of circum- 
 cision and the Passover point to a similar distinction in the Old 
 Testament between members under age and those of full standing. 
 
 Duty of the Church and of the Individual. — The Protestant 
 Churches agree in holding that the Church by its office-bearers 
 has a certain right and responsibility in the admission of persons to 
 the Lord's table, so that not any who desire it are to be admitted, 
 but only those who make a profession of Christianity. Such a pro- 
 fession, in order to be of any value, must be on the one hand in- 
 telligent, and on the other borne out, or at least not contradicted, 
 by the life and conduct of him who makes it. Hence the Church 
 is called upon to inquire, whether those who desire to partake of 
 the communion understand the meaning of the ordinance and of 
 the profession they make in it, whetherwith that understanding they 
 do deliberately make the profession of Christianity, and whether 
 their conduct is not inconsistent with that profession.^ There 
 
 Jonathan Edwards is generally thought to have conclusively refuted this 
 opinion in his hiqtdry co?iccrnifig Qualificaiions for Cojniniuiion. 
 
 1 Paul speaks of some who ' profess that they know God but in works 
 deny Him,' Tit. i. 16 ; 'having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
 thereof ; ' and says, ' from such turn away,' 2 Tim. iii. 5, 9 ; i Cor. v. 
 
FOR WHOM THE LORD'S SUPPER IS DESIGNED, 107 
 
 are some differences in detail as to the kind and amount of 
 evidence on these points that different churches require ; but all 
 are agreed on these chief points, that there must be some credible 
 appearance of real Christianity in those who are to be admitted ; 
 that the Church's judgment is not certain or infalUble, and in 
 charity always leans to the more favourable presumption ; 
 and that the chief responsibility in the matter must be with the 
 communicant himself. In the Presbyterian Churches, while the 
 minister should do all in his power to instruct and guide the 
 intending communicant, he does not undertake to judge for him 
 as to his state, but simply admits him on his own profession when 
 that is not invalidated either by gross ignorance or plainly in- 
 consistent conduct. This is in accordance with the apostolic 
 precept enjoining every man to examine — i.e. test or try — himself 
 in the view of eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord. 
 The Church excludes those who are ignorant or scandalous,^ i.e. 
 openly wicked, but she testifies that Christ forbids all those that 
 are ungodly, whatever they may appear to the eyes of men, and 
 that in regard to this, each one who comes to the Lord's table 
 must judge himself on his own personal responsibility to Him 
 who knoweth all things. 
 
 Self-Examination. — The subject on which v/e are to examine 
 ourselves must evidently be the great and vital question whether 
 we are truly disciples of Christ, since, as we have seen, it is for 
 such that the Supper is appointed ; and as this is a matter on 
 which we are most deeply concerned to know the truth even 
 without consideration of this or any Christian ordinance, it is clear 
 that the sacrament imposes on us no new and needless duty, but 
 rather serves as an additional reminder and motive to a duty in 
 itself most important, yet apt to be neglected. The distinguish- 
 ing marks of true Christians, as indicated in connection with the 
 Lord's Supper, are well summed up in our Shorter Catechism, as 
 being ' knowledge to discern the Lord's body, faith to feed upon 
 * Larger Catechism, 173 ; cf. Confession of Faith, chap. xxix. sec. 8. 
 
1 o8 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Him, repentance, love, and new obedience.' The first of these is 
 prehminary, and may be found separate from the others ; it is also 
 a matter on which others can judge as well as ourselves, and 
 therefore on this point the Church may properly take a large 
 share of the responsibility. But the other points are all 
 inseparably connected, and are, indeed, just various sides and 
 manifestations of the one great reality of spiritual life. If we are 
 certain that any of them exists in us, we maybe sure that in more 
 or less degree they all do so ; but, on the other hand, if any of 
 them is certainly and entirely absent, there can only be a decep- 
 tive appearance of the others. Thus in Scripture sometimes 
 faithji sometimes repentance,^ sometimes love,^ sometimes 
 obedience^ is spoken of as the requirement and test of our 
 being saved by Christ ; and we are taught that these are all 
 necessarily connected, that faith worketh by love,^ that faith with- 
 out works is dead,^ that love must be out of a pure heart and a 
 good conscience, and faith unfeigned ; "^ and that it should be not 
 in word only but in deed and in truth ; ^ while, on the other 
 hand, deeds of beneficence are of no avail without love.^ To 
 have so many different aspects of Christianity presented to us is 
 of great help to self-examination in two ways. On the one hand it 
 enables those who are beginners in the Christian life the better to 
 recognise it in themselves, since the existence of any one of these 
 graces or exercises may give good ground for hope, and some may 
 find in themselves one of these, while others may find another. 
 The new life in the Philippian jailor manifested itself first by his 
 faith ; in the woman who was a sinner who anointed Christ's feet, 
 by her much love ; in Zaccheus, by his repentance in departing 
 from old sins ; and in one who followed not Christ with the 
 twelve, by his good work of casting out devils in His name. 
 
 1 John iii. 15, 16, 36 ; Acts xvi. 31 ; Rom, i. 16, 17, etc. 
 " Matt. iii. 2, iv. 17 ; Acts ii. 38, etc. 
 
 * Luke vii. 47 ; i Cor. xiii. 1-3 ; i John iv. 7, 8, etc. 
 
 * Matt. vii. 21, xix. 17 ; i Cor. vii. 19 ; i John ii. 29, iii. 7, etc. 
 
 6 Gal. V. 6, ® Jas. ii. 17, 20, 26. ^ i Tim. i, S- 
 
 * I John iii. 17, i3. ' i Cor. xiii. 1-3. 
 
FOR WHOM THE LORD'S SUPP'fiR IS DESIGNED. I09 
 
 Thus, if we can see in ourselves genuine signs of any of these 
 graces, it is well. On the other hand, however, since all these 
 are inseparable, their variety serves as a searching test of the 
 genuineness of each. There is a faith that is dead, merely of the 
 head, not of the heart,— that is detected, as in the case of Simon 
 Mac^us, by the absence of holiness ; there is a repentance that is 
 only the sorrow of the world, that worketh death,— that is detected 
 by the absence of faith, as in Judas Iscariot ; there is a love that 
 is mere emotional feeling,— that is detected by the absence of 
 good works, as in the case of those represented by the stony 
 ground hearers ; and there is a kind of obedience that is 
 merely outward, as in the case of the Pharisees, — which is 
 detected by the absence of faith and love in the heart. Therefore 
 we do well to try ourselves, not by one only, but by all of these 
 tests, remembering that if the real presence of any one of them is 
 a sure token for good, the entire absence of anyone is as certainly 
 an adverse indication. 
 
 By such marks as these, reflecting on his own state of mind and 
 heart, and considering his life and conduct, a disciple of Christ 
 may know himself to be such ; and when that self-examination is 
 carried on with an honest desire to know the truth, and with 
 . earnest prayer to God to guide us and keep us from deceiving 
 ourselves, the result, if favourable, may be taken as a testimony 
 of God to our acceptance in Christ. This may also be accompanied 
 with the more direct working of the Spirit of God's Son crying 
 in us 'Abba, Father,' and thus bearing witness with our spirits 
 that we are the sons of God. Those who have this conviction 
 and testimony may, with most joyful hearts and undoubting minds, 
 come to the table of the Lord to commemorate His dying love. 
 
 Duty of those who are in Doubt. — But the Word of God and 
 Christian experience indicate that this full assurance of faith, 
 though attainable and most desirable, is not always possessed by 
 all behevers. Such is the imperfection of the faith and holiness 
 even of the best, and such the deceitfulness of the heart of man, 
 
TIO THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 that it may often happen that the result of the most earnest and 
 faithful self-examination is a painful state of doubt and fear as to 
 our being in Christ. What we ought to do in such a case is 
 described with admirable wisdom and considerateness in the 
 Larger Catechism, 172. It is first said that ' one who doubteth of 
 his being in Christ, or of his due preparation for the sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he 
 be not yet assured thereof.' The want of assurance does not 
 necessarily imply the want of a true interest in Christ ; while it is 
 indicated, by the expression ' not yet assured,' that one who has a 
 true interest in Christ may expect ere long to be assured of it, and 
 that his doubt will be only temporary. It is added that one who 
 doubts of his interest in Christ, ' in God's account hath it, if he be 
 duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it ; and un- 
 feignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity.' 
 There may be a state of mind different from this. A man may be 
 in doubt as to his state because he has not taken the trouble to 
 examine himself faithfully, but such a one cannot be duly affected 
 with the awful consequences of being out of Christ. Or, though 
 he earnestly desires to be saved from these consequences, he may 
 have no desire to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity ; 
 and in such a case he cannot but be in doubt of his state. But 
 where neither of these is the case, then whatever he may seem in 
 his own sight, in God's account he has an interest in Christ, and 
 therefore the Lord's Supper is for him, since God's promises are 
 made and the sacrament is ordained, for Christians indeed, but 
 not only for such as are perfect and have full assurance that they 
 are such, but even for the weak and doubting. Yet, while such a 
 one is encouraged by this gracious invitation, he is not to rest 
 content with his state of doubt and uncertainty. He is to bewail 
 his unbelief, recognising that his want of assurance springs from 
 sin in him, more especially from the sin of unbelief ; and he is to 
 labour to have his doubts resolved, so as to attain to the full 
 assurance of faith. And how is he to labour for this .-* Not so 
 much by more minute and careful self-searching as by growth in 
 
FOR WHOM THE LORU'S SUPPER IS DESIGNED. Ill 
 
 grace. ' It is not God's design,' says Jonathan Edwards, ' that 
 men should obtain assurance in any other way than by mortifying 
 corruption, increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively exercises 
 of it. And although self-examination be a duty of great use and 
 importance, and by no means to be neglected, yet it is not the 
 principal means by which the saints do get satisfaction of their 
 good estate. Assurance is not to be obtained so much by self- 
 examination as by action. The Apostle Paul sought assurance 
 chiefly this way, even by forgetting the things that were behind 
 and reaching forth unto those things that were before, pressing 
 towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus, if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of 
 the dead. And it was by this means chiefly that he obtained 
 assurance, i Cor. ix. 26 : "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly." 
 He obtained assurance of winning the prize more by running than 
 by considering. The swiftness of his pace did more towarcls his 
 assurance of a conquest than the strictness of his examination. 
 Giving all diligence to grow in grace, by adding to faith virtue, 
 etc., is the direction that the Apostle Peter gives us for making 
 our calling and election sure, and having an entrance ministered 
 to us abundantly into Christ's everlasting kingdom. Without 
 this our eyes shall be dim, and we shall be as men in the dark ; 
 we cannot plainly see either the forgiveness of our sins past, or 
 our heavenly inheritance that is future and far off (2 Pet. i. 
 5-11).'^ 
 
 It is worthy of observation that the Shorter Catechism very 
 properly corrects the Authorized Version of i Cor. xi. 29, by sub- 
 stituting the right rendering 'judgment ' for the wrong and mis- 
 leading ' damnation.' The judgment to which Paul referred is, as 
 he explains in ver. 32, the chastening of the Lord that we should 
 not be condemned with the wicked. In the case of the Corin- 
 
 * Oil Religious Affections, Part III., Introductory Remarks. The whole 
 section is worthy of attention, all the more as occurring in a treatise that is 
 perhaps the most searching in its anatgmy of the thoughts and desires of the 
 heart that ever was written. 
 
112 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 thians, it consisted in bodily weakness, sickness, and death ; but 
 it may be any dealing of the Lord by which we may be aroused 
 to know ourselves when we have shrunk from seeking to do so 
 by self-examination. It is also important to observe that our 
 Standards follow the language of Scripture in speaking of Chris- 
 tians, not as being worthy to receive the Lord's Supper, but as 
 worthily partaking of it, i.e. doing so in an appropriate and suit- 
 able manner or state of mind. It is not as if we could not venture 
 to come to the Lord's table unless our self-examination showed 
 that we were worthy of this privilege : in that case none could 
 honestly come. Any true self-examination will show us more 
 than ever our sinfulness and unworthiness; but this very sense of 
 sin, if it leads us to cast ourselves more unreservedly on Christ, 
 is the best preparation for the Lord's Supper. For, to use the 
 words of Knox's Exhortaiion, ' the end of our coming thither is 
 not to make protestation that we are upright or just in our lives, 
 but contrariwise we come to seek our life and perfection in Jesus 
 Christ, acknowledging in the meanwhile that we of ourselves be 
 the children of wrath and damnation.' To the same effect is the 
 beautiful prayer in the English service : ' We do not presume to 
 come to this Thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own 
 righteousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercies. We are 
 not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table. 
 But Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have 
 mercy : Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of 
 Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood, that our sin- 
 ful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls washed 
 through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore 
 dwell in Him and He in us.' 
 
 Questions. 
 
 Show from Scripture that the Lord's Supper is intended for disciples 
 
 of Christ. 
 What is implied in being a disciple^ and how may one knoiv whether 
 
 he is such ? 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. II3 
 
 W/:at is the duty of the Chtnrh, and ivhat of the individual in this 
 
 matter ? 
 Give Scriptiire illustrations of the grounds of assurance of faith, and 
 
 of the duty of those who are in doubt. 
 What is the sin and consequence of univorthy communicating ? 
 Explain the difference between being worthy to partake and worthily 
 
 partaking of the Lord''s Supper. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EFFICACY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 Tlie Lord's Supper a Means of Grace. — That the solemn ordi- 
 nance which our Lord instituted on the night in which He was 
 betrayed has, when duly observed by His disciples, a power to 
 do good to their souls, might be presumed from the general truth 
 of the goodness and wisdom of our Saviour. He does not burden 
 men with useless and unprofitable observances, or command them 
 to do certain things merely for the sake of testing their obedience 
 and receiving their homage : if He appoints a certain service for 
 them to keep, it is because He designs to make it the means of 
 spiritual benefit to them, so that in their faithful observance of it 
 not only is He honoured, but they are blessed. So Christians 
 have in all ages found it to be. They have enjoyed precious 
 spiritual blessings in the keeping of their Lord's dying command, 
 and found the Supper to be an ordinance by which their faith, 
 and hope, and love have been quickened and strengthened, and 
 their efforts after holiness stimulated and aided. We have also 
 express Scripture warrant for regarding the Lord's Supper as a 
 means of spiritual blessing. Paul blames the Corinthian Chris- 
 tians because, in their careless way of observing the ordinance 
 as a mere love-feast, they came together not for the better but 
 for the worse (i Cor. xi. 17), thus plainly implying that their 
 observance ought to be for the better, and would be so did they 
 rightly understand and use it. The same apostle also teaches 
 how this sacrament is designed to be for our spiritual good ; for 
 
1 14 THE CHRISTIAN SACRA^IENTS, 
 
 in that place he goes on to tell the Corinthian disciples that their 
 error consisted in their not discerning the Lord's body (vcr. 29). 
 Consequently what he would have them to do, in order that their 
 coming together to the Supper might be for the better, was to 
 discern the Lord's body, i.e. to recognise the bread and wine as 
 being symbols of Christ's body and blood, and receive them as 
 such, after examining themselves as to their state of mind in 
 regard to Christ's death. 
 
 Partaking of Christ's Body and Blood. — This agrees with what the 
 apostle had said before in the same epistle (x. 16) : ' The cup of 
 blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of 
 Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of 
 the body of Christ?' This statement gives a more particular 
 view of what the other passage indicates generally, and thus 
 shows us wherein precisely the benefit of the Lord's Supper to 
 believers consists. It lies in this, that it is the communion of 
 the body and blood of Christ. The word rendered communion 
 means here, as it does throughout the Bible, joint participation, 
 partaking in common. It is the same word that is rendered 
 below, 'partakers of the altar' (ver. 18), 'fellowship with devils' 
 (ver. 20). The Jewish worshippers in the temple, when they 
 partook of the animals, the fat of which had been burned on 
 the altar before God, were joint partakers with the altar ; the 
 Corinthians, when they sat at meat in an idol's temple, were joint 
 partakers with the false deity in the sacrifice. So, Paul says, in 
 the Eucharist we are joint partakers of the body and blood ot 
 Christ. Now, from his saying in ver. 21, '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,' it is evident that he is 
 speaking of a true and spiritual partaking of Christ's body and 
 blood, since that only is impossible to be conjoined with a fellow- 
 ship with devils. He cannot, therefore, have meant either of two 
 things that have been held by many. One is the doctrine of 
 the Church of Rome, that the substance of the bread is really 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. II5 
 
 changed into the body of Christ, and that of the wine into His 
 blood ; so that we do in a bodily way partake of Christ. This 
 manner of receiving Christ is, as its supporters themselves admit, 
 not inconsistent with a heart given to wickedness ; and so this 
 would have afforded no argument to the apostle. The other 
 opinion that the force of the argument excludes, is that of those 
 who regard the sacrament as nothing more than a memorial sign 
 of Christ's death for our redemption. It is equally true, and 
 allowed by themselves, that the observance of such a memorial 
 is not incompatible with having fellowship with devils. If there 
 is any force in his argument, Paul must mean to say, that in 
 the Lord's Supper believers do have a spiritual fellowship with 
 Christ, which cannot be had along with any fellowship with evil ; 
 and this cannot be either a bodily reception of the substance of 
 Christ's body, or a bodily reception merely of the symbol of it, 
 but must consist in the soul's partaking, in a spiritual yet real 
 way, of Christ and His salvation. This passage, then, under- 
 stood in the light of the context, fully bears out the doctrine of the 
 Reformed Church, which is expressed in the Shorter Catechism 
 thus : that in the Lord's Supper, by the giving and receiving of 
 bread and wine, not only is Christ's death shown forth, but the 
 worthy receivers are, not after a corporal or carnal manner, but 
 by faith, made partakers of His body and blood. 
 
 Chi-ist's Body and Blood in His Death. — This, however, may 
 require a somewhat fuller explanation, which must be drawn 
 from Scripture. We must have a distinct idea of what is meant 
 by the body and blood of Christ in this connection, and then we 
 shall understand better how we are partakers of them. Now, we 
 find that Christ's body and blood are spoken of separately, and 
 are represented by two distinct things, — the bread and the wine, 
 —which are given and received each by itself. We are thus to 
 think of His body and blood as separated the one from the other. 
 But so they were only in His death, when His blood was poured 
 forth, as He laid down His life for us. That this is the aspect in 
 
tt6 the christian sacraments. 
 
 which He is presented to us appears still more clearly from the 
 fact that the bread is broken and the wine poured forth, to repre- 
 sent, as is expressly said, His body broken, i.e. pierced and 
 wounded, and His blood shed for us. It is the death of Christ 
 that we show forth in the Supper. The phrase ' body and blood ' 
 is in fact equivalent to death. To be guilty of the body and 
 blood of Christ is to be guilty of His death ; to be partakers of 
 the body and blood of Christ is to be partakers of His death. 
 When we look at it in this way, we at once see that this is an 
 idea of frequent and familiar use in the New Testament, especi- 
 ally in the writings of Paul. We are baptized into the death of 
 Christ, buried with Him by baptism into His death, crucified 
 with Him, dead with Him, having the fellowship of His suffer- 
 ings, etc^ We are not chiefly to think, in the Lord's Supper, 
 of the body of Christ as now raised and glorified in heaven, but 
 rather of that body as it hung upon the cross, when His blood 
 flowed forth and He gave up His life a sacrifice to God : we are 
 to think of His body and blood with reference to His sacrifice 
 offered on the cross. It was there that His flesh and blood 
 became a principle of life for our souls. So Jesus taught in His 
 discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum, when He spoke of 
 Himself as the bread of life. He said, ' The bread which I will 
 give is my flesh, for the life of the world,'" plainly pointing to 
 His death ; and it is only after this that he spoke of His flesh 
 and blood separately (vers. 53-56). 
 
 Feeding on His Body and Blood. — Thus we see in what sense 
 it is that Christ's body and blood are really present in the 
 Eucharist : not that His glorified body is present in substance 
 in, with, or under the elements of bread and wine, but that His 
 death is present to the faith of believers. Christ is evidently set 
 forth crucified among us. He is presented to our faith by the 
 
 1 See Rom. vi. 3-1 1 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Phil. iii. 10, etc. 
 
 'John vi. 51. The words 'which I will give,' in the received text, are 
 omitted by the best authorities. 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 1 1 7 
 
 Word and Sacrament as the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
 sin of the world, being even now in the midst of the throne a 
 Lamb as it had been slain. By faith, which is the evidence of 
 things not seen, we behold Him and look to Him, as the Israelites 
 looked to the brazen serpent ; by faith we become one with Him, 
 accepting His death as the wages of our sin, and dying with Him 
 to sin, that with Him we may rise to newness of life. This is 
 the true feeding upon Christ as sacrificed for us, by which Christ 
 dwells in us and we in Him. *To nourish our soul,' one has 
 well said, *is to give it the sense of peace with God, and to 
 strengthen it in faith, in piety, in holiness, and in hope of eternal 
 life. For this it needs only an objective presence, as it is called, 
 — that is to say, that the body and blood of our Saviour are pre- 
 sented to our faith, in so far as they are the sacrifice offered to 
 God for our redemption, and that our faith accepts them in that 
 character. It is from the lively and deep impression of these 
 objects, and from the acceptance we make of them, that there 
 arises the mystical communion which we have with Jesus Christ 
 and His benefits. From thence come all the motives of our con- 
 solation, of our sanctification, and of our hope ; from thence is 
 derived that Holy Spirit which He communicates to us to quicken 
 and consecrate us to Himself; and from thence, finally, flows 
 the right that we have to the blessed resurrection and the glory 
 of heaven.' ^ It is not merely that we receive benefits from the 
 death of Christ for us, — that is true, but it is not the whole 
 truth, — we receive Christ Himself, and only by receiving Him as 
 a personal Saviour dying for us can we receive any of His benefits. 
 While, then, we take with the hand and mouth of the body the 
 bread and wine that are the symbols of Christ's broken body and 
 shed blood, we do really, if we exercise faith, receive the reality in 
 our hearts, and are united in spirit with Christ as our sacrifice. 
 
 Christ spiritually present in the Sacrament. — The communion 
 that believers have with Christ at His table may be illustrated 
 1 Claude, Traiie de t Eucharistie, 1670, pp. 305, 306, 
 
Il8 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 by what He said to His disciples at the first communion table: 
 ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is 
 that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my 
 Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.' 
 ' If a man love me, he will keep my words : and my Father will 
 love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
 with him' (John xiv. 21, 23). Something like this we find where 
 there is strong affection and mutual understanding and trust 
 between men, even by the natural working of our mental and 
 moral constitution. If man can have communion in thought 
 with his fellow-mortal who is dead and gone, and only present 
 to the mind by his recorded or remembered words, — who shall 
 doubt that there may be a far more real and intimate com- 
 munion between our spirit and that Saviour who is not dead but 
 living, and everywhere present ? Instead of the mere working of 
 memory, affection, and imagination, we have the agency of the 
 Spirit of God, who has direct access to our spirits, and who takes 
 of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. Thus there is a 
 real though spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, and 
 a real fellowship of our souls with Him.' 
 
 Communion with Christ not limited to the Supper. — It is true, 
 indeed, that this spiritual communion with Christ by which the 
 life of our souls is nourished is not confined to the Lord's Supper, 
 but is realized by every Christian as often as he exercises faith in 
 Christ as His Redeemer. This has sometimes been made an 
 objection to the view that the Reformed Churches have taken of 
 the efficacy of the sacrament ; for it has been said that if we only 
 receive in the sacrament what wc can also receive without it, 
 then the sacrament is superfluous. But a complete answer has 
 been given to this by an old Scottish divine, whose words we 
 may here give, as they serve also to throw light on the subject : 
 
 ^ See this fully illustrated in a sermon on John xiv. 21-26, in Discourses 
 bearing upon the Sonship and Brotherhood oj Believers, and other kindred 
 subjects, by Robert S. Candlish, D.D. 
 
THE EFFICACY OF THE LORD's SUPPER. 1 19 
 
 * We admit the antecedent to be true ; we get na uther thing nor 
 na new thing in the sacrament but the same thing quhilk we gat 
 in the Word. I will give thee to devise and imagine with thyselfe 
 quhat new thing would thou have : Let the heart of man devise, 
 imagine, and wish ; he durst never have excogitat to have sik a 
 thing as the Son of God : he durst never have presumed to have 
 pearsed the clouds, to have gane sa heigh, and to have craved the 
 Son of God, in His flesh, to be the food of his saull. Having the 
 Son of God, thou hes Him quha is the heir of all things, quha is 
 the King of heaven and earth, and in Him thou hes all thinges : 
 quhat mair then can thou wish ? Quhat better thing can thou 
 wish ? He is equall with the Father, ane in substaunce with the 
 Father, true God, and true man ; quhat mair can thou wish ? 
 Then, I say, we get na uther thing in the sacrament nor we get 
 in the Word : content thee with this. But suppose it be sa, yit 
 the sacrament is not superfluous. But would thou understand 
 quhat new thing thou gets, quhat uther thing thou gets ? I will 
 tell thee. Suppose thou get that same thing quhilk thou gat in 
 the Word, yit thou gets that same thing better; quhat is that 
 better ? Thou gets a better grip of that same thing in the sacra- 
 ment nor thou gat be the hearing of the Word. That same 
 thing quhilk thou possessed be the hearing of the Word, thou 
 possessest now mair largelyl; he hes a greater bounds in thy saull 
 be the receaving of the sacrament, nor utherways he could have 
 be the hearing of the Word onelie. Then speers thou, quhat new 
 thing we get 1 I say, we get this new thing,— -we get Christ better 
 nor we did before ; we get the thing that we gat mair fullie, that 
 is, with a surer apprehension nor we had of before; we get a 
 better grip of Christ now : For be the sacrament my faith is 
 nurished, the bounds of my saull is enlarged, and sa, quhere I 
 had but a little grip of Christ before, as it were betwixt my finger 
 and my thumbe, now I get Him in my haill hande ; and ay the 
 mair that my faith growes, the better grip I get of Christ Jesus.' ^ 
 
 1 Sermons by Mr. Robert Bruce, Edinburgh, 1590, Woclrcw Society's 
 edition, pp. 49, 50. 
 
120 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 The experience of believers at the Lord's table is not something 
 distinct in nature or kind from the communion with Christ which 
 they have at other times when their faith and love are in lively 
 exercise. The spiritual feeding on Christ is not limited to the 
 Supper, but may be enjoyed at any time and in any place. This 
 is the liberty and blessing of the New Testament, that men may 
 pray and worship and have the highest fellowship with God in 
 every place and at any time. Christ's promise given after the 
 first communion, ' He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
 and I will love him and will manifest myself unto him ' (John xiv. 
 2i), is not limited to communion seasons : the only condition that 
 our Lord puts upon it is that implied in the explanation given to 
 Judas (ver. 23), ' If a man love me he will keep my words ; ' z.e.j 
 there must be some revelation of Christ received and kept in love. 
 But that revelation may be made otherwise than in the Supper. 
 Few Christians, it may be believed, have not felt that they have 
 had as close and blessed communion with Christ at other times 
 as they have ever had at the Lord's table, in some hour of heart- 
 searching meditation, or in a time of sickness, when the Saviour 
 is with them to comfort them, or by the death-bed of some 
 Christian friend when the Lord has been strengthening him and 
 bringing the great realities of His grace into clear and vivid 
 ligkt. No other, no higher fellowship than is experienced at 
 such moments, is to be looked for at the Lord's table ; and in 
 comparison with them, communion experiences may sometimes 
 seem but tame and meagre. But on the other hand there are few 
 Christians who will not feel, that in the ordinary tenor of their 
 lives, when they have to be occupied with the business and cares 
 of life, it is not easy to maintain close fellowship with Christ, and 
 that the simple but touchingly suggestive symbols of the Lord's 
 Supper do help them to such spiritual communion as they cannot 
 ordinarily attain without them. 
 
the practical use of the lord s supper. i 2 1 
 
 Questions. 
 
 I/o7U does it appear that the Lord''s Supper is a means of grace ? 
 What is meant by our being made partakers of Christ's body ana 
 
 blood, and how is this done ? 
 In what sense can we speak of a real presence of Christ or of His body 
 
 and blood in the Lord 's Supper ? 
 Can we feed tcpon Christ apart from the Lord's Supper 1 
 If so, what is the need and use of the Sacrament 'i 
 
 CHAP,TER VI. 
 THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 Our Duty.— The efficacy of the Lord's Supper to communicate 
 spiritual blessings to the soul depends primarily on the gracious 
 working of the Holy Spirit ; but, as in every part of Christian 
 life we are called to be fellow-workers with God, there are certain 
 things that we may do towards this end, and must do if we would 
 have it reahzed in our experience. These are partly before par- 
 taking of the sacramental feast, partly at the time of partaking 
 itself, and partly after it ; and as the exercises proper to these 
 several times are different, they call for separate consideration. 
 
 Before Commumon.— Before coming to the Lord's table, there is 
 needed, besides that self-examination by which we judge if we 
 can rightly partake of it, also a stirring up of those dispositions 
 and desires that are required for doing so, especially faith, re- 
 pentance, and love. For we need to have these not merely as 
 habits, which may be dormant in the soul for a season, but as acts 
 of the soul in lively exercise. It is by faith that we are not only 
 prepared to feed upon Christ, but actually do feed upon Him 
 (John vi. 35, 47). Coming to Christ, believing on Him, eating 
 His flesh and drinking His blood, are spoken of by our Lord as 
 one and the same thing ; and all alike are connected with having 
 
122 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 eternal life, living by Him, dwelling in Him and He in us. If 
 then we would enjoy this blessing at the Lord's Supper, we must 
 not only have had faith at some former time, or have the habitual 
 disposition to trust in Him, but be actually trusting to Him at 
 the time we observe it. We must draw near with a true heart 
 in full assurance of faith, i.e. with undoubting reliance on Christ 
 as our High Priest. So, too, our love must be in actual exercise. 
 ' This do in remembrance of me,' are Christ's words, making the 
 Supper the pledge of love between Himself and His disciples. 
 But the very purpose of a pledge or token of love is to call forth 
 into lively exercise the love that exists as a habitual principle in 
 the soul. There is always filial affection in the heart of a right- 
 minded son towards his parents, though at times his thoughts 
 and feelings may be necessarily engaged with other duties. But 
 when he looks on a keepsake that he has received from them, 
 the actual feelings of filial love wake up in his breast and fill him 
 with emotion. So, while engaged in the ordinary duties of hfe, 
 the child of God may not actually have present feelings of love 
 to God and Christ, though that dwells in his heart, but when 
 called to the Lord's table he should have these feelings in fresh 
 and lively exercise. 
 
 The exercise of self-examination has this special benefit among 
 others, that it powerfully tends to draw forth into exercise the 
 graces especially of repentance and love that are needed for 
 rightly observing the Lord's Supper. No faithful scrutiny of our 
 state and character can fail to disclose much that is humbling 
 and to lead us to a deeper sense of sin, while this at the same 
 time is fitted to give us more affecting views of the love of God 
 in bearing with and pardoning and blessing those who are so 
 unworthy as we feel ourselves to be. 
 
 Means of awakening Faith. — But the most direct means of 
 awakening faith and all these graces in the soul are the Word of 
 God and prayer. * Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 Word of God ; ' and on the other hand, it is given us on the 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE LORD S SUPPER. 123 
 
 behalf of Christ to believe on Him : and faith is to be sought in 
 prayer. 
 
 Here, then, are two exercises in which the intending com- 
 municant should be much engaged : (i) Reading and meditating 
 upon the Word of God. We should seek to have our minds 
 filled and our thoughts occupied with the truths of God's Word, 
 especially those that are represented in the sacrament. To read 
 over thoughtfully and reverently those portions of Scripture that 
 most clearly set forth these, such as the gospel narratives of our 
 Saviour's sufferings, His farewell discourses and prayer (John 
 xiii.-xvii.), and those passages in the Psalms, in prophecy, and 
 the apostolic epistles, that show the meaning and purpose of His 
 sufferings, or the love of God shown in them, or the fulness of 
 blessings bestowed in Christ ; to have the mind occupied with 
 the thought of these things, and with particular texts and state- 
 ments about them, is a most fitting preparation for the Lord's 
 Supper, and contributes much to the spiritual enjoyment and 
 profit of the ordinance. (2) Earnest prayer for the Lord's 
 blessing in His ordinance. We should feel that we are entirely 
 dependent on the Spirit of God ; for however conscientiously 
 and faithfully we may seek to prepare ourselves, it is He alone 
 who can give the blessing, and for this, as for all spiritual 
 blessings. He will be inquired of by His people to do it for them. 
 We should endeavour also to be definite and particular in our 
 prayers at such a time. The exercise of self-examination will 
 have shown us what special sins we have to confess, what short- 
 comings or failures of duty we have been guilty of, and in what 
 graces we are as yet defective ; and will thus suggest the 
 propriety of praying especially that in the Lord's Supper we may 
 receive help and strength to resist and overcome these sins, and 
 may have these graces given and increased to us. Again, the 
 devout study of God's Word may well bring before us truths that 
 we have not yet experienced and promises that we have not yet 
 enjoyed ; and it will be well to ask that we may be led into these 
 at the Lord's table. 
 
124 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 Such is the way in which communicants ought to prepare, 
 before coming to the Lord's table, for a right and profitable 
 observance of the sacrament. 
 
 In Commnnion. — At the table itself, it is also needful that we be 
 rightly exercised. But now the frame of mind that is suitable is 
 somewhat different. Before coming, the proper exercise of soul 
 is largely reflective, looking inward upon ourselves ; self-exami- 
 nation is what is most expressly required in Scripture. But 
 when we are actually at the table, the time for that is past, and 
 the proper exercise is communion with Christ, which is held 
 by the direct acting of faith. We are then to be actually 
 seeking the Lord, and waiting on Him; and for that end, we 
 must make use of the outward signs appointed to help our 
 faith. We are to look intently on the bread and wine, and the 
 actions of breaking the bread, and giving it and the cup ; but we 
 are not to limit our attention to these, but to look to what they 
 represent, the Saviour, who was crucified for us, who is as truly 
 present to our faith as the emblems are to our senses. This was 
 beautifully indicated in a very old and universally used form of 
 words in the celebration of the Eucharist. According to the 
 oldest liturgies and accounts that we have of the service, the 
 observance of the Lord's Supper began with a salutation or 
 blessing from the minister to the people, ' The Lord be with you 
 all,' to which they responded, 'And with thy spirit.' Then he 
 said, ' Lift up your hearts,' and they responded, 'We lift them up 
 unto the Lord ;' and then followed the thanksgiving after the 
 example of Jesus. This form was retained in all the liturgical 
 services, even through the most corrupt ages of the Church, and 
 it was appealed to by the Reformers as a surviving testimony of 
 an earlier and purer faith, that did not regard the elements as 
 transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ, but ascended 
 in spirit to feed by faith upon the Saviour Himself at God's right 
 hand. Thus John Knox, following Calvin, paraphrases the 
 exhortation, 'Lift up your hearts,' in his address before the 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. I 25 
 
 communion, as follows :—' Then to the end that we may be 
 worthy partakers of His merits and most comfortable benefits, 
 which is the true eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, 
 let us not suffer our minds to wander about the consideration of 
 these earthly and corruptible things (which we see present to 
 our eyes, and feel with our hands), to seek Christ bodily present 
 in them, as if He were enclosed in the bread and wine, or as if 
 these elements were turned and changed into the substance of 
 His flesh and blood ; for the only way to dispose our souls to 
 receive nourishment, relief, and quickening of His substance, is 
 to lift up our minds by faith above all things worldly and sensible, 
 and thereby to enter into heaven, that we may find and receive 
 Christ where He dwelleth undoubtedly very God and very man, 
 in the incomprehensible glory of His Father, to whom be all praise, 
 honour, and glory, now and ever. Amen.' ^ Our exercise of soul 
 at the Lord's table should be as much as possible a direct looking 
 to Jesus as now offered to us in the Word and sacrament, not 
 thinking of ourselves, but of what He has done, and how He has 
 loved us, trusting in Him and taking in the comfort, strengthen- 
 ing, and joy that His work and His love are fitted to impart. If 
 there be but a single-eyed contemplation of Christ and Him 
 crucified, we may safely leave to the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit the special course and form of our thoughts and affections, 
 whether these may be led towards a deeper sorrow and hatred of 
 sin, or warmer gratitude and love to Christ, or stronger confidence 
 and hope in His grace. Our Larger Catechism enumerates with 
 great fulness and spiritual discernment, the various exercises 
 proper while receiving the Lord's Supper ; but though all these 
 are present virtually and as it were in germ, it is not to be 
 supposed that they must or can all be deliberately and con- 
 sciously gone through. If we are looking directly to Christ as 
 set forth in the sacrament, we may trust the Spirit to guide 
 us to such actual exercises as are most suitable and needful 
 for us. 
 
 ^Book of Common Order. Cf. Calvin's Form of Prayers in Geneva. 
 
126 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 After Communion. — But for the practical use of the Lord's 
 Supper, there is also a duty to be performed by us after we have 
 partaken of it. In the Supper itself, we are, as we have seen, to 
 be looking directly to Christ ; not reflecting on our own state at 
 all. The more simply we do this, the more may we expect a 
 blessing. But thereafter it would be wrong and ungrateful not 
 to look at ourselves, to see what we have received. The ten 
 lepers looked in the first instance directly to Jesus, when they 
 lifted up their voice and said, ' Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,' 
 and they took Him at His word when He said to them, 'Go 
 show yourselves unto the priests. ' But the one who returned to 
 give glory to God, must have known and been assured that he 
 had indeed received the healing that he sought. So we ought to 
 reflect, after the Lord's Supper, whether we have really fed upon 
 Christ, and received spiritual blessing from Him. If we have in- 
 deed done so, then we ought, like that cleansed leper, to give God 
 the glory, and return hearty thanks to Him for His goodness, 
 remembering that the best and most acceptable thanks we can 
 render is by yielding ourselves entirely to God, as a hving sacrifice 
 of praise, and living a Hfe of obedience to His law. We should also 
 take encouragement to wait upon God in this and all His ordi- 
 nances in time to come, and seek, by walking humbly with Him in 
 faith and love,to have the spiritual gifts that He has bestowed upon 
 us continued and strengthened. One who has consciously received 
 a blessing at the Lord's table may say with the Psalmist, ' The 
 Lord will perfect that which concerneth me : Thy mercy, O Lord, 
 endureth for ever • forsake not the works of Thine own hands.' 
 
 It may be, however, that we are not sensible of having received 
 any spiritual good in the Lord's Supper ; we have not been filled 
 with joy and peace in believing ; we have not had any remarkable 
 feehng of the grace and love of Christ, or of our interest in Him ; 
 we cannot even say that our penitence or sense of unworthiness 
 has been at all deepened ; we have still to complain of coldness 
 and hardness, or of doubts and fears which we had hoped would 
 have been removed at the Lord's table. In such a case, we 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. I 27 
 
 should consider well whether the blessing has been hindered by 
 anything in ourselves. We should renew our selt-examination, to 
 see whether we may not have come unworthily, either without real 
 faith in Christ at all, or without having had it in actual exercise 
 at the time. It may be that even in a truly Christian soul, a 
 want of devout meditation on the Word, or of prayer, or too great 
 engrossment with the things of this life, has prevented the Lord's 
 Supper from being a means of blessing. In such a case, the 
 course of duty manifestly is to repent and confess the sin, and to 
 resolve and endeavour to avoid it in time to come, so that future 
 communions may be more spiritually blessed. 
 
 But it is not always the case that the want of conscious bless- 
 ing and joy at the Lord's table can be traced to any want ot due 
 preparation or earnest seeking the Lord. It is no doubt true, as 
 every sincere Christian will acknowledge, that even with our best 
 efforts we do not realize the ideal of that hungering and thirsting 
 after righteousness that God has promised to fill, that purity of 
 heart that enables us to see God. We can never, therefore, 
 complain, as if God were unrighteous if He withholds from us 
 the light of His countenance and the joy of His salvation. Still 
 this is not always a consequence or a chastisement of any 
 peculiar carelessness or unworthiness in our approach to Him. 
 We see in many of the Psalms that the people of God were some- 
 times in darkness from the hiding of God's countenance, when 
 He was not so much chastising their sins as trying their faith. 
 Even in the New Testament we read that Paul on some occasions 
 had much affliction and anguish of heart ; had no rest in his 
 spirit, without were fightings, within were fears ; had given him a 
 thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him.^ It may 
 be, therefore, that even when a Christian has been keeping the 
 Lord's Supper with all earnestness and devotion, from providen- 
 tial circumstances or causes unknown to him, he may fail to 
 have that comfort and blessing that he may formerly have 
 enjoyed in it. Such an experience is always fitted to humble us ; 
 ' 2 Cor. ii. 4, 13, vii. 5, xii 7. 
 
128 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS. 
 
 but it ought not to lead a sincere believer to despondency or 
 despair. There may be real spiritual benefit from the sacrament, 
 though it is not conscious, and does not assume the form of joy 
 or peace, or immediate strengthening of our faith. In the Lord's 
 Supper, as well as in Baptism, the efficacy of the sacrament is 
 not tied to that moment of time in which it is administered ; but 
 it may be felt afterwards in a calm but deepened sense of the 
 reality and trustworthiness of the great salvation that is in Christ, 
 a conviction of the sureness of the ground of faith, and a resolution 
 to cleave with purpose of heart unto the Lord. Thus a believer 
 may sometimes come to see, days or weeks after partaking of the 
 Lord's Supper, that his communion has not been so unprofitable 
 as it seemed at the time. Above all, whether our experience be 
 encouraging or disappointing, we must ever remember that it is 
 to the Saviour Himself that we must look in faith at all times, to 
 Him through the sacrament when we have the opportunity of 
 observing it ; but when it is over or denied us, still to Him, who 
 is as really present with His people always even to the end of the 
 world, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and to-day and for ever. 
 
 Prospective Keference of the Lord's Supper. — It is to be remem- 
 bered also, that the Lord's Supper points forward to a more 
 perfect and blessed communion with Him than itself affords. At 
 the first communion Christ was still present in the body with 
 His disciples, and He bade them do this in remembrance of Him 
 in the prospect of His being soon taken from them. Lest when 
 out of their sight He should be out of their mind, He gave them 
 this memorial of what He was to them and had done for them. 
 But at the same time He gave them the hope that this should 
 only be for a season, and that there would be a day when He 
 should be with them again in the body ; so that they might have 
 a feast as before with Him among them in bodily presence, a 
 feast that would be far more blessed than any they had with Him 
 then, for He said, ' I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the 
 vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
 
THE PRACTICAL USE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. I 29 
 
 kingdom' (Matt. xxvi. 29; Mark xiv. 25). He is leaving the 
 world, and the heavens must receive Him till the consummation 
 of all things : when His disciples are eating the bread and 
 drinking the cup in remembrance of Him, He is not eating 
 or drinking with them. But the day is coming when His 
 Father's kingdom shall be established, and when He shall come 
 again to be once more in the body with His people : then in the 
 new heaven and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. He 
 will feast with them in a far more glorious and blessed way than 
 He did before. To this He taught them to look forward as He 
 Himself looked forward to it at the Supper. So Paul says, * Ye 
 do show the Lord's death till He come,' — you keep this feast in 
 remembrance of Him while He is absent in the body though 
 present by His Spirit to your faith ; but you look forward to a 
 time when you shall no longer need to keep a symbolical 
 memorial feast, but shall have Him present in the body as 
 well as in spirit. The more we enjoy of the spiritual blessings 
 of the Lord's Supper in our pilgrimage here, the more should we 
 long for the time when He shall come again, when the dead in 
 Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and the living shall be 
 changed, when all the children of God shall be gathered together 
 for blessed communion with the returning Saviour. * He that 
 testifieth these things saith, Behold, I come quickly. Amen. 
 Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' 
 
 Questions. 
 
 How are they that receive the sacrajuent of the Lord's Supper to pre- 
 
 pare themselves before they co?)ie unto it? Larger Catechism, 171. 
 What is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lords 
 
 Supper in the time of the administration of it ? Larger Catechism, 
 
 174. 
 What is the duty of Christians after they have received the sacra7nent 
 
 of the Lord^s Supper? Larger Catechism, 175. 
 Give reasons for the various things said in these answers in the 
 
 Catechism. 
 How does the Lord^s Supper point to the Second Coming of Christ ? 
 
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 APOLOGETIC LECTURES 
 
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 Fifth Edition. 
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 APOLOGETIC LECTURES 
 
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 Fourth Edition. 
 
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 APOLOGETIC LECTURES 
 
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