book. . . . Altogether the volume can be cordially com¬ 
 
 mended to all who seek clear and reasonable views on the 
 Sacrament.”—Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D., in The Expositor. 
 
 “This is a seasonable piece of work, well and thoroughly 
 done. ... . There is an underlying glow of genuine devo¬ 
 
 tion' 1 . feeling which adds to the attractiveness of the book.” 
 — C: it ■ '1 Review. 
 
 • - c t i s t ■ 11 ; 
 
 In crown 8vo, price Is. 6d. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTS, 
 
 BY 
 
 
 
 JAMES S. CANDLISH, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, 
 
 GLASGOW. 
 
 “An admirable manual; sound, clear, suggestive, and in¬ 
 teresting .”—Free Church Monthly. 
 
 “It is an admirable little book, full of material for reflec¬ 
 tion, and singularly valuable as being representative of what 
 may be termed the generally accepted views of the main 
 subject as held by Protestants .”—Christian World. 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street, Edinburgh. 
 
<&. . . 
 
 Bible Class primers. 
 
 EDITED BY PRINCIPAL'’SALMOND, D.D., ABERDEEN. 
 
 OUR 
 
 CHRISTIAN PASSOVER: 
 
 Rev. CHARLES A. 
 
 South Morningside, Edinburgh. 
 
 A GUIDE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE 
 SERIOUS S 
 
 THE 
 
 \ 
 
 (Bbittbrnrijlt: 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 This Manual is intended for the use not only of 
 Young Communicants, but of all young persons 
 who are minded to give serious consideration to the 
 important subject of which it treats. The writer, in 
 the course of his ministry, has found it of great 
 practical consequence to announce, from time to 
 time, the general invitation to “a Class for the 
 Study of the Lord’s Supper,” rather than a limited 
 invitation to “a Young Communicants’ Class” strictly 
 so called. Many young persons have been induced 
 in this way to enter upon a line of earnest enquiry, 
 which, by the Divine blessing, has led to the best 
 results. 
 
 While the plan and the working out of the Manual 
 is the Author’s .own, he thankfully acknowledges 
 obligation for valuable hints derived from kindred 
 treatises by others. The book is designed either 
 for private study and meditation, or for class instruc¬ 
 tion. With the latter end in view, an Analytical 
 Table is given in the Appendix, which may provide 
 a basis for examination. 
 
 C. A. S. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter I. —Our Christian Passover: Its 
 Origin and Interest . . ' . . . 7-15 
 
 1. The Room in Jerusalem—2. The Passover—3. The 
 Parallel—4. Jesus at the Paschal Meal—5. The Institu¬ 
 tion of the Supper—6. The Interest of the Event to us— 
 7. The Claims of the Master. 
 
 Chapter II.— The Means of Grace, and the 
 Place of the Sacraments among them . 15-23 
 
 8. The Meaning of Grace—9. The Several Means of 
 Grace—10. The Sacraments—11. Baptism—12. Infant 
 Baptism —13. Relation of Baptism and the Lord’s 
 Supper. 
 
 Chapter III.— The Principal Uses of the 
 
 Lord’s Supper. . . 24-40 
 
 14. The Lord’s Supper—a Picture— 15. The Significant 
 Things and Acts—16. The Lord’s Supper—a Pledge— 
 17. The Seal—18. The Assurances it Seals—19. The 
 Lord’s Supper—a Portion—20. Diverse Theories as to 
 the Virtue of the Sacrament— 21. The Grace given in the 
 Ordinance. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter IV.— The Leading Names of the 
 Ordinance—with the Personal Question, 
 
 Ought I to Partake?. 41-57 
 
 22. The Eucharist—23. The Communion—24. The 
 Sacrament—25. The Practical Question—26. Important 
 Distinctions—27. Vain Excuses—28. Is the Ordinance 
 Necessary? 
 
 Chapter V. — Before, at, and after the 
 Communion.58-74 
 
 29. Preparation, Self-examination — 30. Further Exer¬ 
 cises in Preparation—31. At the Table—32. After the 
 Table—33. Cautions and Duties. 
 
 Chapter VI. — Closing Counsels and En¬ 
 couragements . 74-86 
 
 34. Continuance and the Secret of it—35. Joyfulness and 
 its Secret—36. The Source of Strength—37. The Lord’s 
 Return. 
 
 Appendix I.— Analytical Table . . . 87-92 
 
 Appendix II.— The Catechisms on the Lord’s 
 Supper 
 
 93-94 
 
OUR 
 
 CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ITS ORIGIN AND INTEREST. 
 
 I. THE ROOM IN JERUSALEM.— Upwards of 
 eighteen centuries ago, a small band of thirteen 
 Israelites met on the evening of the fourteenth day 
 of the month of Nisan, in a room in Jerusalem, to 
 celebrate the Passover. This time-honoured fes¬ 
 tival, instituted in the days of Moses, had been 
 observed year by year and generation after gen¬ 
 eration by the faithful families of Israel; and it 
 behoved the little group of whom we speak, since 
 they constituted in effect a family circle, to gather 
 round their paschal lamb and celebrate the loving¬ 
 kindness of Jehovah. 
 
 Who were they? And what did their service 
 mean ? 
 
 They were Jesus the Prophet of Galilee and His 
 disciples :—Jesus, whose wonderful deeds and not 
 less wonderful words had been filling Palestine with 
 amazement these three years past—and those twelve 
 men whom from the company of His followers He 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 had admitted to a place of special intimacy with 
 Him and to a daily share in the experiences of His 
 life. And their service meant that, like their fathers, 
 they rejoiced in Jehovah as the God of salvation, 
 and were minded to express, through His appointed 
 Ordinance, their thankfulness to Him for the past 
 and their hope in Him for the coming time. 
 
 2. THE PASSOVER. —The Passover, to a pious 
 and intelligent Jew, had both a backward and a 
 forward reference. It called to mind, as a me¬ 
 morial, a great deliverance already wrought. It 
 suggested, as a type, a greater deliverance yet to 
 come. It was meant to stir gratitude for the re¬ 
 demption brought to His people by Jehovah, on the 
 memorable night of Israel’s emancipation in the 
 land of Egypt. It was also meant to point to a 
 fuller and more blessed emancipation through One 
 whom the slain lamb prefigured, and who was to 
 come in the fulness of time. 
 
 Its main lesson was—there is safety for those, 
 and only those, who are ready to accept it on God’s 
 terms. 
 
 On the eventful night of the Exodus, Jehovah, 
 who in the three days of Egyptian darkness had 
 been His people’s Sun (Ex. x. 23), proved Himself 
 in the hour of Egyptian dismay His people’s Shield. 
 In all the homes of the Egyptians, there was a 
 great cry of anguish heard ; for there was not a 
 house where the first-born, the flower and hope of 
 the family, had not died. But in the houses of the 
 Israelites there was tranquillity, “the melody of joy 
 and health ” : those within were perfectly safe, in 
 the enjoyment of a family feast. 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND INTEREST. 
 
 9 
 
 What made the difference ? Look at the outside 
 of the Israelitish dwellings, and what do you see? 
 I see a little blood sprinkled on the lintel and door¬ 
 posts, which the Egyptian houses do not seem to 
 have : but surely that can have nothing to do with 
 the safety of those within ? Yes : it has everything 
 to do with it. In itself, indeed, that sprinkled 
 blood could have no effect whatever : but it means 
 that Israel—not less deserving than the Egyptians 
 to die—have obeyed God and accepted salvation on 
 God’s terms. By an act of implicit obedience, they 
 have put to the proof Jehovah’s promise—“When I 
 see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague 
 shall not be upon you to destroy you” (Ex. xii. 13). 
 And their confidence has not been misplaced. To 
 them it means safety. 
 
 3. THE PARALLEL. —Even so with the greater 
 salvation, that God had promised through the 
 Coming One. It was to be accepted, by a simple 
 act of faith, on God’s own terms. They might as 
 little know, these ancient Israelites, how spiritual 
 salvation could be theirs through the Promised 
 Seed, as they knew how their safety was bound up 
 that night with the sprinkling of the blood. But 
 they were not called to understand. They were 
 only asked to trust. And when our eyes, in the 
 light of prophecy fulfilled, are turned to God’s own 
 Lamb slain for us on Calvary—to what are we 
 invited but to the same act of simple faith ? “ Be¬ 
 
 lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 saved.” Trust Him : trust thyself to Him! Let 
 not the simplicity of the terms stumble thee. 
 “Christ, our Passover, is slain for us (1 Cor. v. 7). 
 
io a ur Christian Passover. 
 
 The Lamb has suffered in our room. His blood is 
 sprinkled on our hearts : and we are safe. There¬ 
 fore let us keep the Feast. 
 
 4. JESUS AT THE PASCHAL MEAL.— Re¬ 
 turning to the little gathering in the Upper Room 
 —how far every member of it entered into the 
 meaning, and especially the prophetic meaning, of 
 the Ordinance, it is impossible to say. Perhaps 
 some of them engaged in it in rather a formal 
 spirit—as a customary annual celebration, in which 
 from childhood they had taken part, and which old 
 associations made it pleasant to renew. Others may 
 have been occupied, in thought, almost exclusively 
 with what the Passover suggested of the past. But 
 there was One of the company, at least, on whose 
 heart its significance as bearing on the future was 
 very fully laid, and who, ere they left the feast 
 chamber, would set this aspect of its meaning in 
 clearer light before them all. 
 
 This was Jesus, “the Master,” who had been 
 wont from His youth to keep the feast, and who 
 had been looking forward to this Passover with an 
 interest more intense and feelings more profound 
 than ever before. He well knew to what it was to 
 be the immediate prelude; and, in language and 
 with a tone fitted to banish indifference and shame 
 formality, He says to His disciples : “ With desire 
 I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I 
 suffer ” (Luke xxii. 15). To Him, at least, it was more 
 than a mere memorial Ordinance. To Him it was 
 intensely welcome, (1) as a feast of religious fellow¬ 
 ship with those at whose hearts he had not, in a 
 world of cold estrangement, knocked in vain ; (2) 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND INTEREST. 
 
 ii 
 
 as a feast of spiritual strengthening, in view of the 
 ordeal of suffering which lay before Him; (3) as a 
 feast, too, big with promise of the time He would 
 next celebrate it, when, the scene and the guests 
 alike transfigured, the earthly festival would be 
 “ fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” And there 
 was yet another reason why, with peculiar satis¬ 
 faction, He had hailed this Passover, (4) because 
 He knew that He was to transform it into a feast 
 that would be eminently helpful to His people in all 
 time. 
 
 5. THE INSTITUTION OF THE SUPPER.— 
 
 It was in what seemed an almost casual way, that, 
 in the course of the evening, the Lord Jesus took 
 some of the bread that was lying on the table, and 
 gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, 
 saying, “Take, eat: this is my body which is 
 broken for you. This do in remembrance of me : ” 
 and that He likewise also took a cup, containing 
 some of the Passover wine (probably the third cup 
 in order, “ the cup of blessing,” as it was called), 
 and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My 
 name : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remem¬ 
 brance of Me.” But, simple and unpremeditated 
 as the act may have appeared, there was nothing 
 casual in it. In these words of Jesus, which must 
 have fallen with a strange impressiveness on the 
 ears that heard them first, a transition was de¬ 
 signedly effected, whose importance the world is 
 being brought to feel, more and more powerfully, 
 year after year of this so-called “ Christian era ” 
 in its history. For, as the Master spake, the 
 Jewish feast passed into the Christian Sacrament: 
 
12 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 the Passover of the Old Testament became the 
 Lord’s Supper of the New,—the successive observ¬ 
 ances of which have extended, like the links of a 
 golden chain, from that evening to this hour, and 
 shall extend to that great day when, according to 
 His promise, the Saviour shall come again. 
 
 No one who has truly entered into the spirit 
 and meaning of the Ordinance then inaugurated by 
 the Lord Jesus, can fail to understand one main 
 reason why the occasion of effecting a change so 
 fraught with blessing for all His true followers, was 
 an opportunity looked forward to by Him, with all 
 the yearning of a divinely-considerate and loving 
 heart. 
 
 6 . THE INTEREST OF THE EVENT TO US. 
 
 —But here the question arises, What practical 
 concern have we in what took place that evening 
 in that upstairs room in Jerusalem? Why should 
 we be specially interested in that little meeting of 
 the Galilean Rabbi and His few followers in the 
 Jewish capital so long ago? Are we—young men 
 and young women of Britain—called to consider 
 it otherwise than as an incident attractive to the 
 historically curious, as exhibiting a certain phase of 
 religious opinion and observance among a group of 
 Oriental people ? 
 
 For a sufficient answer to such queries, it may 
 at this stage be enough to say— circmnsftice , look 
 around ! Every quarter of the earth furnishes its 
 evidence to-day of the world-wide import of that 
 long bygone transaction in the Upper Room in 
 Jerusalem. Jesus of Nazareth no longer counts 
 among His followers only a little band of Jews and 
 
ITS ORIGIN AND INTEREST. 
 
 13 
 
 Galileans. Multitudes of men of every nationality, 
 in the succeeding ages, have hailed him as the Christ. 
 His influence dominates in every civilized country 
 of the world. He has impressed his name—the 
 name of “ Christendom ”—on all those portions of 
 the earth where the shadows of dark and degrading 
 paganism have at all been lifted. In our own coun¬ 
 try—this distant island of the sea—we profess to set 
 the name of the Nazarene above every name, and to 
 count it our highest boast, that we are “ a Christian 
 people.” 
 
 As for the Supper— u the Lord’s Supper ”—in 
 what region of earth has it not been celebrated, 
 amid widely diversified surroundings, but in the one 
 spirit of faith and loyalty to the one Lord, by devoted 
 followers of Jesus? How many weary spirits have 
 been revived, how many wavering hearts strengthened 
 by it in generations past, in our own beloved land — 
 in companies small and great, within the sanctuary, 
 or out upon the mountain or the moorlands, or 
 sometimes in dens and caves of the earth—heart 
 speaking to heart of their supreme desire toward 
 Christ, and to the remembrance of His name ! Are 
 not some of your own earliest and tenderest recol¬ 
 lections associated with the sight of “ the Commun¬ 
 ion,” as, with grave wonder, you saw it partaken of 
 long ago by those you knew and loved, some of 
 whom are with you still ; while some, it may be, 
 have departed, leaving behind, as their legacy for 
 you, the memory of a serene and simple faith, and 
 of a holy Christ-like life ? 
 
 7. THE CLAIMS OF THE MASTER.— Now, why 
 has the scene in the Upper Room been so continu- 
 
14 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 ously reproduced these many centuries, in companies 
 and amid scenes so various ? Why is it that, even 
 in lands where the Israelitish race are scorned, the 
 voice of the Nazarene is still obeyed—“ This do in 
 remembrance of Me”? Is it not because men of 
 every tribe and kindred have been brought to feel 
 and own that Jesus of Nazareth is more than the 
 Jew, that He is the Man and also the Son of 
 God : the Man, in whom all the nations have an 
 interest—the Son of God, who was sent to be the 
 Saviour of the world, and in whose great salvation 
 (“ the common salvation,” as the Scripture calls it, 
 Jude 3) sinners of every kin and clime are invited to 
 claim in faith their share, and celebrate it in love ? 
 
 To each of you this much at least must needs be 
 frankly said : You have here in this parting charge 
 of Jesus, which has been enshrined in so many 
 hearts, a subject which presses itself on your earnest 
 personal consideration. Your life’s environment is 
 such that you cannot help having something to do 
 with Jesus Christ. You have been baptized in His 
 name. You have been brought up in a Christian 
 community. The very air you have breathed since 
 childhood has been saturated with Christian influ¬ 
 ences. Jesus Christ at some period of your life has 
 met with you, and offered Himself to you, and His 
 Spirit has striven for Him in your heart. More of 
 this experience, we may safely say, has been yours, 
 as known to you and God, than you have ever told 
 into the ear of man. You have either accepted the 
 Saviour, and yielded yourself to Him, or you have 
 not. At the age you now have reached, it belongs 
 to you, as an inalienable responsibility, either to 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 15 
 
 acknowledge Him or practically to disown Him. 
 Is the language of your heart, as you see His nail- 
 pierced hand extended to you, and look into His 
 face of divine power and pity: “My Lord and my 
 God ! ” Or is the language of your life, albeit your 
 heart may the while upbraid you : “ I know not this 
 man of whom you speak ” ? 
 
 One thing you cannot honourably evade, or in 
 justice either to Him or to yourself indefinitely 
 postpone, in view of the Saviour’s invitation, “ This 
 do in remembrance of Me.” That is, the devout 
 individual consideration of the question, What is 
 implied in obedience to this invitation ?—with the 
 second and more personal question, Is this an 
 invitation for me? 
 
 - o - 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MEANS OF GRACE, AND THE PLACE OF THE 
 SACRAMENTS AMONG THEM. 
 
 8 . THE MEANING OF GRACE.— What do we 
 mean by “grace” ? By that, in this connection, we 
 commonly mean favour to the undeserving. It has, 
 however, a more fundamental meaning, which it is 
 also well to keep in view,— beauty , or comeliness. 
 
 In both these senses grace is attributed to God. 
 The “grace of God,” which brings salvation, is a 
 constant Bible theme ; and the “ beauty of God ” is 
 also a Scripture expression, as in Zech. ix. 17, 
 “ How great is His goodness, how great is His 
 beauty ! ” 
 
16 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 Grace, in both senses, is specifically attributed 
 also to Christ “ The grace of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ,”—His undeserved mercy to the sinful,— 
 “through which we shall be saved” (Acts xv. n), 
 is the great marvel of the Gospel. And “ the grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ”—the moral and spiritual 
 beauty of the Prince of Heaven, in stooping low for 
 our redemption—is held forth for adoring contem¬ 
 plation, as a quality of character in which we 
 should ourselves earnestly seek to abound (2 Cor. 
 viii. 7-9). In the Old Testament, too, it is said, 
 “ touching the King,” in Ps. xlv. 2 : “ Thou art 
 fairer than the children of men ; grace is poured 
 into thy lips ; therefore God hath blessed thee for 
 ever.” 
 
 We have both senses of the word “ grace ” pre¬ 
 served in two very common adjectives,—“ gracious ” 
 and “ graceful,”—which are applied by us either to 
 a person or to an action. 
 
 Now, by the “ means of grace,” we commonly 
 understand the channels, or media, by which God’s 
 unmerited favour flows down to us. But, keeping 
 in mind the root meaning of the word “ grace,” we 
 may also fitly regard the Means of Grace as divinely 
 furnished helps to the re-attainment on our part of 
 the moral comeliness and spiritual beauty lost to us 
 by the Fall. Through sin, we have become not 
 only guilty, but deformed. We need to be not only 
 pardoned, but restored. And in the “ Means of 
 Grace,” we have not merely channels for the 
 heavenly mercy, but Ordinances by the faithful use 
 of which we shall take on more and ever more of 
 the highest of all beauty,—“the beauty of holiness” 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 17 
 
 (Ps. xcvi. 9), “ the beauty of the Lord ” Himself 
 (Ps. xxvii. 4, Ps. xc. 17),—discoverable to others in 
 the “ graces ” of the Christian character,—“ the 
 beauties of holiness ” (Ps. cx. 3),—which, when un- 
 mistakeably seen in believers, do so much to com¬ 
 mend their religion to the world. 
 
 9. THE SEVERAL MEANS OF GRACE.—If we 
 now inquire, What are the outward and ordinary 
 Means of Grace ? we find that these are principally 
 three : the Word, Prayer, and the Sacraments. 
 
 The first two are for wider use than the third. 
 In the Word, we learn God’s message to man; in 
 Prayer, we send man’s message up to God ; and 
 both of these Means of Grace are designed for 
 everybody. The Gospel is appointed to be preached 
 to “every creature ” (Mark xvi. 15). And wherever 
 there is a poor human soul, feeling in any degree 
 its need of God, that soul is encouraged to come to 
 Him in Prayer (Ps. lxv. 1). 
 
 The Sacraments, on the other hand, are meant 
 only for a circle within the wider circle of all man¬ 
 kind. Those who have truly heard the Word and 
 “ obeyed the Gospel ” in their hearts : those who 
 have made the publican’s prayer their own in very 
 truth,—“ God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 
 xviii. 13),—they, and only they, are invited to the 
 use of the Sacraments. For others, indeed, the 
 Sacraments could have no meaning: their engaging 
 in them would be little better than a mockery. 
 
 10. THE SACRAMENTS. —In speaking of the 
 relation between the Sacraments and the other 
 Means of Grace, we may recall the saying of 
 Augustine—“The Sacrament is the Word made 
 
 B 
 
18 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 visible By this, he meant that in the Sacrament 
 you have the vital truth of Scripture—declarations, 
 promises, offers, which have already been given in 
 word—taken up and presented as in a picture ; so 
 that what before was heard by the ear you now 
 have suggestively presented to the eye. Thus it 
 is in the Word that you have the key to the mean¬ 
 ing of the Sacrament. To one witnessing the 
 celebration of the latter, without having had the 
 Word going before, it would be a dumb, meaning¬ 
 less show. If a savage, for instance, were to be 
 suddenly introduced into a Christian church during 
 the observance of the Lord’s Supper, the only im¬ 
 pression he would have might be, that it was the 
 most meagre semblance of a feast he had ever 
 looked upon; whereas, to a believer who knows 
 and loves his Bible, it is the most glorious festival 
 on earth. 
 
 We might, perhaps, extend Augustine’s definition 
 of a Sacrament to include Prayer as well as the 
 Word: “the Sacrament is the Word and Prayer 
 made visible.” For in the Sacrament the Divine 
 and the human come very near together; and 
 while, in one view of them, the symbols embody 
 a divine message of mercy, they are likewise an 
 expression of our human need and of the believer’s 
 hope in God. Thus, in Baptism, there is the con¬ 
 fession of our need of spiritual cleansing, with the 
 thankful recognition of the provision made by God 
 to meet it; in the Supper, with the exhibition of 
 divine Atonement and the offer of heavenly nourish¬ 
 ment for the soul, there is the declaration on the 
 part of the participant of a grateful reliance on the 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 19 
 
 efficacy of the Atonement made in the sacrifice of 
 Christ, and the expression of the believer’s desire 
 for the Bread of Life and the Royal Wine of 
 Heaven. The Sacrament , we may therefore say, 
 is the Word) and Prayer , made visible. 
 
 It may be convenient here, having considered 
 how the Sacraments are related to the other Means 
 of Grace, to enquire how the two New Testament 
 Sacraments — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — 
 stand related to one another. 
 
 11. BAPTISM.—When your parents brought you, 
 in your infancy, into the midst of the congregation 
 and presented you for Baptism, what did it mean ? 
 Have you ever considered what benefits that simple 
 ceremony of the sprinkling with water conferred, 
 and what obligations it involved ? 
 
 There were four distinct parties to the transaction 
 that day. There was the unconscious infant—you 
 —with no personal responsibility as yet for what 
 was done with you then. There was God—the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—by whose 
 authority you were baptised, and into relation to 
 whom as the Three-One God of Salvation you were 
 then distinctly brought. There were your parents, 
 who committed you to the care of God, and dedi¬ 
 cated you to His glory, vowing to do for you in 
 coming days the Christian parents’ part, in training 
 you up in “ the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord.” And there were the congregation (includ¬ 
 ing the minister), who joined in the act of dedicating 
 you, as one of the lambs of the flock, to the care 
 of the Good Shepherd, and undertook that the 
 influence of the Christian Church would second 
 
20 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 and support the endeavours of your parents to 
 bring you, by the Divine blessing, to know, and 
 love, and choose, and yield yourself to Christ. 
 
 If you had been a grown-up person at the time 
 of your Baptism, and one who had been reared 
 outside the Christian Church, your Baptism would 
 have signified your admission into the ranks of the 
 visible church, on your own profession of faith in 
 Christ as your Saviour (Acts viii. 37). You would 
 have said in effect, as you submitted yourself to the 
 washing or sprinkling of the cleansing element (for 
 the mere quantity of water used is of little moment) 
 —“ I have been brought to perceive my own need 
 of cleansing as a sinner; and I have been led to 
 rejoice in and to confess Jesus Christ, as the 
 Saviour through whom the cleansing is provided 
 that I need. And now I hereby consecrate myself 
 to God, and take my place openly among the 
 followers of Christ.” 
 
 What your baptism as an infant meant was your 
 recognition , being the child of professedly Christian 
 parents, as already belonging to the visible Church 
 of Christ (1 Cor. vii. 14), and as having a title to 
 whatever advantages association with it may bring. 
 And it is for you now, while you reflect on the 
 history of your personal association with the 
 Church, not only to consider what benefits it has 
 secured for you in your early years, but to keep 
 seriously in view the responsibilities it devolves 
 on those who, like you, have reached maturer 
 years. 
 
 12. INFANT BAPTISM. —We believe in the 
 scripturalness of Infant Baptism, it may here be 
 
7HE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 21 
 
 said, not only from traces of apostolic precept (Acts 
 ii. 39), and apostolic example (Acts xvi. 15; Acts 
 xvi. 33 ; 1 Cor. i. 16), but from the analogy of the 
 Old Testament rite of circumcision. If in the 
 ancient Church there was a recognised place for 
 the children, and if Jehovah’s claim upon the little 
 ones was put forth by Him and recognised by Israel 
 in that dedicatory rite, it is surely inconceivable 
 that there should be no recognised place for the 
 children in the New Testament Church. We 
 cannot believe that Jesus, who took the little ones 
 in his arms and blessed them, has overlooked in 
 the appointments of His Church the value and the 
 interests of the children of His people. And, with¬ 
 out arguing the question further here, we do believe 
 that it is in accordance with His will, that you, as 
 the child of professedly Christian parents, have been 
 owned in Baptism as belonging to the visible Church 
 of Christ, and have been openly made over by your 
 parents and their fellow worshippers, in so far as 
 their desire and will could do it, to Christ as His 
 own possession. 
 
 Now, we do not hold by any means that your 
 Baptism made you, in the deep spiritual sense, a 
 Christian. The Church of Rome and a section of 
 the Church of England erroneously teach that 
 Baptism, when properly performed, does regenerate 
 those submitted to it, quickening into life the dead 
 soul, through imparting to it a mystic magical 
 grace. That is a superstition, contrary alike to 
 Scripture and to the facts of experience. But the 
 old Scotch word “ Christening ” does bring into 
 view an aspect of your Baptism which ought not to 
 
22 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 be overlooked. When you were baptized, you did 
 not merely receive your name. The naming of the 
 child, indeed, is no proper part of the rite at all, 
 and is purposely omitted, for that reason, by some 
 ministers. You were then “ Christened,” as being 
 brought to Christ and dedicated to Him, and as 
 being introduced into the midst of that whole circle 
 of Christian influences which have been operating 
 upon you and within you ever since. 
 
 13. RELATION OF BAPTISM ANDTHE LORD'S 
 SUPPER. —The question which confronts you now 
 is—Was it a good thing which my parents and 
 the congregation did with me in dedicating me to 
 Jesus Christ, or was it not ? Their prayer for me and 
 purpose with me then—are they my own prayer and 
 purpose now ? Am I to give in my personal and 
 avowed adhesion to the Lord, or am I to ignore 
 and practically to renounce my early dedication ? 
 While my parents and the congregation have had 
 their responsibility in connection with me in my 
 earlier years,—for the discharge or neglect of which 
 they are answerable to God,—how am I fittingly to 
 deal with the responsibility which has now undoubt¬ 
 edly been transferred to me, of owning or disowning 
 the claim of Christ ? 
 
 Such questions inevitably assert themselves in 
 the years of early manhood and womanhood with 
 those who have grown up within the Christian 
 Church ; and they demand, and will have, an 
 answer. Their proper settlement will not become 
 easier through delay. They ought to be sincerely 
 and frankly faced: and, whatever may or may not 
 be told into a human ear, Christ Himself, whose 
 
THE MEANS OF GRACE. 
 
 23 
 
 Spirit searches the hearts, should be taken fully 
 into confidence about them. “ Then shall we 
 know, if we follow on to know the Lord,” (Hosea 
 vi. 3)—that Lord who said, “ I know my sheep, and 
 am known of mine,” (John x. 14). 
 
 If, as the result of honest inquiry, a young person is 
 led to the conclusion, “ lam a Christian only in name 
 as yet? then the best prayer for such an one will be, 
 —“ Lord , give me no rest, till I find rest in Thee ! ” 
 But if the conclusion reached is along this line— 
 “ My parents and the congregation did the best 
 thing possible with me, in dedicating me in earliest 
 infancy to be the Lord’s. I am thankful for all the 
 Christian influences which from that time forth 
 have been exerted upon me. Especially do I bless 
 God, that He has brought me to see my need of a 
 Saviour, and to lay hold of the Saviour that I need. 
 Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief. Lord, 
 I obey ; deliver me from the spirit of disobedience. 
 I yield to Thy claim, and I take Thee to be mine ” 
 —the way in such a case is clear, the path of duty 
 plain. The young enquirer, now a personal be¬ 
 liever, is called to become the witness , the confessor 
 of his Lord. And for such an one the proper 
 medium of confession is not Baptism—which, from 
 its nature, does not need to be repeated,—but that 
 other Ordinance, which is at once a means of glory 
 to Christ and a means of grace to His people,—the 
 simple but significant Feast, in which, as oft as 
 they eat the bread and drink the wine, believing, 
 their unseen Lord who died but ever lives is 
 magnified, and the life of their souls is nourished 
 and confirmed. 
 
2 4 
 
 0 UR CHRIS T1A N PA SSO VER. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. 
 
 14. THE LORD’S SUPPER —A PICTURE— 
 We have, in a general sense, seen that the Lord’s 
 Supper, while it is a means of glory to Christ, is a 
 means of grace to His people. This will more 
 strikingly appear, if we now proceed to look at the 
 Ordinance from the several points of view indicated 
 by the Shorter Catechism’s definition of a Sacra¬ 
 ment,* as “ an holy Ordinance, instituted by Christ, 
 wherein, by sensible signs, Christ and the benefits 
 of the New Covenant are represented, sealed, and 
 applied to believers.” 
 
 It is here suggested that we have in the Lord’s 
 Supper— 
 
 I. A Picture. What we see in it is a repre¬ 
 sentation of something which we do not see. 
 
 Even a heathen, if he were to observe companies 
 of people gathering from time to time, as Christian 
 people gather,—young and old, rich and poor to¬ 
 gether,—to partake in solemn joy of only a morsel 
 of bread and a sip of wine, could hardly fail to be 
 arrested by the sight. His first thought and ex¬ 
 clamation might be : “ What a strange, what a sorry 
 feast! ” But if he were an intelligent heathen, it would 
 inevitably dawn upon him that there must be some¬ 
 thing beneath the simple celebration which did not 
 
 * Rome adds five to the two New Testament sacraments; but 
 three of them (Confirmation, Penance, and Extreme Unction) are 
 not Scripturally authorised, and two of them (Matrimony and 
 Ordination), though Scriptural Ordinances, are not symbolic. 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORUS SUPPER. 25 
 
 meet the eye upon the surface ; and the question 
 raised within his breast would sooner or later find its 
 way to his lips, “ What mean ye by this service ? ” 
 A delightful task it must be for the missionary to 
 lead such an one to the Bible for his answer, and to 
 show him that, simple and sorry as the feast may 
 seem to an uninstructed and unsympathetic on¬ 
 looker, it is the richest feast on earth, because it is 
 the Lord's Supper,—full, in every detail of it, of 
 meaning and comfort for His disciples. 
 
 That the Ordinance was “ instituted by Christ,” 
 four Scripture writers bear witness. The first three 
 are St Matthew (ch. xxvi. 26-29), St Mark (ch. xiv. 
 18-25), and St Luke (ch. xxii. 14-20). The fourth is 
 not St John, but St Paul (1 Cor. xi. 23-25); for, 
 although St John recounts most vividly some of the 
 incidents that occurred at the feast (ch. xiii.), and 
 records the precious Communion discourse (ch. 
 xiv.-xvi.) and Communion prayer of Jesus (ch. 
 xvii.), he does not give the actual institution of the 
 Ordinance. 
 
 In the four inspired accounts which we have, there 
 are only the slight variations which are to be looked 
 for in several narrations of independent truthful¬ 
 ness. We may here follow the account given by St 
 Paul, which compares very closely with that of St 
 Luke, though, as St Paul tells us, it was received by 
 him (probably during his stay in Arabia, Gal. i. 17- 
 18) directly from the Lord :— 
 
 “ For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered 
 unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He 
 was betrayed, took bread : And when He had given thanks, 
 He brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is My body which is 
 
26 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 broken for you ; this do in remembrance of Me. After the 
 same manner also He took the cup when He had supped, 
 saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood ; this 
 do ye as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me ” (i Cor. 
 xi. 23-25). 
 
 In this Ordinance, then, instituted by Christ, we 
 have not only certain words uttered, but certain 
 things used, which are intended to speak to the eye, 
 and through the eye to the heart. These are what 
 the Shorter Catechism calls “ sensible signs ” *— 
 signs, that is, which appeal to the senses ; and in the 
 Lord’s Supper they are of two kinds. We have first 
 the things themselves (the bread and the wine), and 
 then we have what is done with the things. Here 
 everything is significant, not only the elements (the 
 bread and the wine), but all the actions performed 
 with them. 
 
 15. THE SIGNIFICANT THINGS AND ACTS.— 
 
 As regards the elements, Christ Himself tells us what 
 they signify. Of the bread He says : “ This is my 
 body? Of the wine : “ This cup is the new Testa¬ 
 ment (or Covenant) in my blood? The word “ is ” 
 here of course stands for “ represents,” in accordance 
 with a mode of speech in use among us every day, 
 and quite usual in Scripture (Gen. xli. 26 ; Ex. xii. 
 11 ; Dan. ii. 38; Matt. xiii. 19; John x. 7; John 
 xv. 1). 
 
 As regards the actions , it is not difficult, keeping 
 in mind what the bread and the wine are, to discover 
 what these, too, mean. Let us see. 
 
 * The ringing of a bell to be heard, the lowering of a railway sig¬ 
 nal to be seen, a tap upon the shoulder to be felt, are common 
 instances of sensible signs. 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 27 
 
 “ The Lord Jesus , the same night in which he was 
 betrayed ”—the night when He knew He was to be 
 betrayed, but when, instead of thinking only of 
 Himself, He was thinking most of His people— 
 “took bread,I Here already we may find a sugges¬ 
 tion of that great fundamental truth of our religion, 
 the Incarnation (Heb. ii. 14 ; Philip, ii. 6-7), that 
 “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” 
 (John i. 14), that the Son of God took to Himself a 
 human nature, and became man without ceasing to 
 be God. 
 
 “ And when He had given thanks ”—for what? 
 That He had been sent by the Father to be the 
 Saviour of the world (John iii. 16); that His Messi¬ 
 anic work was so near its accomplishment; that He 
 was within sight of the death-grapple with the 
 powers of darkness ; that the cry of relief and of 
 triumph, “ It is finished” would so soon ascend into 
 the ear of Him who had sent Him to finish the work 
 He had given Him to do (John iv. 34); that the 
 sowing time of tears was so soon to be over, and the 
 reaping time of joy to be begun. 
 
 “ He brake it.” What have we here portrayed, in 
 the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the 
 wine ? What but the ordeal of the suffering Saviour 
 on the Cross, when He gave His body to the nail- 
 prints and the spear, and poured out His soul unto 
 death as an offering for sin ! Not the agony of His 
 body only, be it remembered, but the anguish of His 
 spirit (Matt, xxvii. 46), the sufferings of His soul, 
 which were “the soul of His sufferings” ( Peter 
 Lombard). 
 
 “ For you.” Yes, here was the Saviour’s own ex- 
 
2 § 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 planation of the dread ordeal thus pictorially set 
 forth. “ Broken for you.” “ Shed for jew” (Luke xxii. 
 20). He had not sinned ; He had never deserved to 
 suffer. But He died, believer, that you might not 
 die (Matt. xx. 28). He suffered and died, not only 
 for your benefit as a martyr might, but in your room 
 (Gal. iii. 13)—He, the Just for the unjust, that He 
 might bring you to God (1 Pet. iii. 18). “ For you,” 
 “ For you the sinners’ Substitute bore your penalty 
 upon the tree. So that now, to the confession of 
 sin : “ All we like sheep have gone astray, we have 
 turned every one to his own way ”—His ransomed 
 ones have to add the confession of faith : “ but the 
 Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 
 liii. 6). 
 
 “ And said , Take , eat. . . . Drink ye all of itT 
 Here is the offer on the part of Christ of the benefits 
 of His atoning death to those who, by faith in Him 
 as their Substitute-Redeemer, are ready to receive 
 them. As He puts into their hands the bread and 
 the wine, He of His free grace makes over to them 
 the redemption blessings purchased in His death. 
 
 And when those gathered at HisT>oard receive into 
 their hands and into their mouths these touching 
 emblems, what does each of them say by that signi¬ 
 ficant act ? “ Thanks, Lord, eternal thanks to Thee, 
 who givest me to share in the benefits of Thine aton¬ 
 ing death, without having to share its pains ! Even as 
 I receive and make my own the bread and the wine, 
 which remind me of Thy death for me, I receive 
 and appropriate with heartfelt thankfulness the 
 blessings purchased for me in Thy death, and now 
 made mine in virtue of that Covenant of Grace, of 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 29 
 
 the new dispensation of which this precious Ordin¬ 
 ance is Thine appointed sign. Yea, I receive Thy¬ 
 self, as Thou art freely offered to me in the Gospel. 
 By faith I feed upon Thee, O Thou bread of life ! 
 and, as in symbol, here and now, I eat the flesh 
 and drink the blood of the Son of Man, 1 find in 
 Thee the nourishment of my soul, to its establish¬ 
 ment and growth in grace ! ” 
 
 Thus, in the Lord’s Supper we have first a 
 Picture: suggestive of the great event of the 
 Crucifixion of the Son of God in the room of 
 sinners, and of the great central doctrine of the 
 Atonement, which rests upon that event. In it, 
 we “shew the Lord’s death, until He come”—in 
 presence of heaven, earth, and hell—as the ground 
 of our hope for time and for eternity. In it, we 
 do not gaze upon a mere spectacle (such as the 
 Ammergau Miracle Play, arranged by man for 
 popular impression), but upon a divinely appointed 
 representation of the decease which was accom¬ 
 plished so long ago at Jerusalem—upon a Picture 
 which says touchingly to every believing heart, 
 Remember! In responding to the Saviour’s call, 
 “ Do this in remembrance of Me,” the true disciple 
 proclaims, with the devout thankfulness of an 
 appropriating faith,—“ He died for me: I am 
 crucified with Christ ” (Gal. ii. 20). And, reminded 
 in the Ordinance of how completely the breach which 
 separated us from God has been healed “ through 
 the blood” (Eph. ii. 13), there is gladness for us 
 even in contrition. “We joy in God, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received 
 the At-one-ment ” (Rom. v. 11). 
 
30 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 16 . THE LORD’S SUPPER —A PLEDGE.— 
 
 Then, besides a Picture, we have in the Lord’s 
 Supper— 
 
 II. A Pledge. —As the Shorter Catechism ex¬ 
 presses it, the Sacrament not only represents Christ 
 and the benefits of the new Covenant, but seals 
 them to believers. Besides saying Remember , it 
 says to such, Rely! It affords them an additional 
 assurance, that every word of promise given to 
 them by Him who has appointed this Ordinance 
 shall be fulfilled. 
 
 The use of “ a seal ” is familiar to us in common 
 life. We find it there applied in two ways—either 
 to a piece of goods or to a document. In either 
 case, it is an authenticating mark, which tells to 
 whom it is that the property or the letter should be 
 referred. 
 
 You go down, let us suppose, to the docks : and, 
 reaching one of the wharves, you see numberless 
 bales of goods of different sorts and sizes huddled 
 together on it. But order will yet come out of con¬ 
 fusion there. For each bale has its appropriating 
 mark, the firm’s particular brand or seal upon it ; 
 and it will be duly claimed, and taken to its proper 
 destination. 
 
 Or, you receive one day a missive, which, to 
 your surprise, announces that you have been in¬ 
 vested in a high dignity or a rich dower, as a 
 favoured subject of the British Crown. You can 
 hardly believe your eyes while you read ; and, with 
 pardonable eagerness, you turn to look at the 
 signature. There it stands, the royal name, with 
 the royal seal attached. And, looking at that 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 31 
 
 signature and stamp, your incredulity passes into 
 loyal gratitude and joy. 
 
 Now we find both of these applications of the 
 seal illustrated in Holy Scripture. Certain property 
 is mentioned as belonging to a certain Proprietor, 
 and as having His Seal upon it. And we have 
 instances of letters being signed, whose value and 
 importance consisted entirely in the seal which was 
 affixed to them. 
 
 17. THE SEAL. —There is a remarkable passage 
 in the sixth chapter of St John’s Gospel at the 
 27th verse, in which it is said of the Son of Man 
 Himself — “Him hath God the Father sealed.” 
 This is a manifest allusion to what occurred at the 
 baptism of Jesus, when the Spirit of God descended 
 upon Him like a Dove; and, “ being full of the 
 Holy Ghost , He returned from the Jordan.” The 
 Seal of God was evidently set upon Him, when, in 
 confirmation of the Father’s testimony to Him— 
 “ Thou art my beloved Son ”—the Spirit of God was 
 so plainly given to Him without measure. 
 
 And what is true of Christ, is true, in their place, 
 of every one of His people. “ The foundation of 
 the Lord ’’—the Church which He has founded and 
 which rests upon Him—is in its every stone sealed 
 with the same Seal as is to be seen upon the Chief 
 Corner-Stone (2 Tim. ii. 19). Any stone which may 
 outwardly appear to belong to the sacred edifice, 
 but which has not God’s appropriating mark upon 
 it, is certain to fall out, or to be cast out by God’s 
 own hand. For whosoever hath not the Spirit of 
 Christ is none of His (Rom. viii. 9); and they only 
 in whom the gracious sanctifying work of the Holy 
 
OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 32 
 
 Ghost is at least begun are living stones in God’s 
 enduring, spiritual Temple. 
 
 Still more explicitly are believers spoken of as 
 the sealed property of God in such passages as 
 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 13; and Eph. iv. 30—“the 
 Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the 
 Day of Redemption.” 
 
 The Day of Redemption! On that great Day, 
 none of the Lord’s property (His “peculiar” posses¬ 
 sion) will be amissing. As with the goods upon 
 the wharf, there may be much apparent confusion 
 in society on earth — such intermingling among 
 Christians and non-Christians, as to make it some¬ 
 times difficult for others to know who really belong 
 to Him. But “the Lord knoweth them that are 
 His.” Looking on every soul, He sees whether 
 His own Seal is upon it or no ; and He will see 
 to it that, in the great day of separation (Ps. i. 5 ; 
 Matt. xxv. 33), no single soul which belongs to 
 Him shall fail to reach its proper destination. 
 
 Then, the use of a seal as applied to a document 
 is illustrated in 1 Kings xxi. 8, and also, more than 
 once, in the Book of Esther. When the wicked 
 Haman, desirous to compass the death of the 
 Jewish people, sent letters by post, commanding 
 them all in every province, both young and old, 
 to be slain on a certain day, he was careful to have 
 the letters sealed with the king’s ring (Esth. iii. 12). 
 Prime Minister though he was, his own signature 
 would not have secured the execution of a com¬ 
 mand like that. It needed the authority of Aha- 
 suerus himself: hence he had every letter marked 
 with the royal signet, in token that it gave expres- 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 33 
 
 sion to the king’s own wish. So was it, too, with 
 Esther, when, interceding for her people with Aha- 
 suerus, she induced him to countermand the dire 
 decree before the day for its execution came. She 
 secured no mere verbal acquiescence on his part, 
 but a fresh rescript, copied by the king’s scribes. 
 It was “written in the king’s name, and sealed with 
 the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in 
 the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, 
 may no man reverse” (Esth. viii. 8-10). 
 
 Now, it is in this latter sense—of a stamp applied 
 to a document—that the Sacrament is called a seal. 
 It is not intended, by any means, that the Sacra¬ 
 ment marks off all who take part in it as truly 
 belonging to Christ. Alas ! no. But it is meant, 
 that in the Sacrament you have the stamp, the 
 authenticating mark of Christ set to a promissory 
 letter of His, your belief in the declarations of 
 which this Ordinance has been appointed by Him 
 to confirm. 
 
 18. THE ASSURANCES IT SEALS. — By 
 Christ’s letter to His people, you may understand 
 either in a general sense the Written Word, or, 
 more particularly, those personal utterances of His 
 at the first Lord’s Supper, which, as recorded by 
 St John, are so full of comfort and heavenly pro¬ 
 mise to His disciples in every age. In these, we 
 find the Lord giving gracious assurances as to what 
 He is to do and to be for His people; and, when 
 He says to them, “ Do this in remembrance of 
 Me,” what does He imply? He says in effect, 
 “Now, these offers and promises of mine are all 
 intended to be realised, and I appoint you this 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 simple Ordinance, that every time you see and par¬ 
 take of these emblems you may be reminded of 
 Me, and of how ample is the guarantee in Me for 
 the fulfilment of your dearest expectations.” The 
 Ordinance thus becomes an additional pledge from 
 Christ, who is Surety to His people for good,—the 
 seal* from His royal signet, that every word in 
 which He has caused them to hope shall assuredly 
 be fulfilled. What gives it such significance and 
 value is, that, though a humble rite, it has been 
 appointed by Himself, and has been connected by 
 Him with such great and precious promises. 
 
 You have a friend going to a foreign land, be¬ 
 tween whom and yourself there are the bonds of a 
 love that is stronger than death. He is to push his 
 way and provide a home for you on the far-off 
 shore ; and he promises to return in due time for 
 you, that, when it is prepared, you may share its 
 joys together. And, as he steps on board the vessel 
 that is to bear him to the other hemisphere, he puts 
 into your hand a little trinket, saying, “ Now, every 
 time you look on this, pray think on me ; and let it 
 be my pledge of troth until I come again.” You 
 prize the token—why ? not because it is a rare jewel 
 like the Koh-i-noor, with a great market value, but 
 
 * It was probably from the verse, Rom. iv. it, that the compilers 
 of the Shorter Catechism took the conception of the Lord’s Supper 
 being a seal. It is there said of “the sign of circumcision,” that 
 Abraham received it, as “a seal of the righteousness of the faith 
 which he had, yet being uncircumcised.” That is, Abraham had 
 accepted salvation on God’s terms ; his faith was counted to him for 
 righteousness ; and in circumcision he had not only a reminder of his 
 dedication of himself to God, but an abiding assurance from Jehovah, 
 that He would be true to the covenant into which He had entered 
 with Abraham and his seed after him. 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 35 
 
 because in its simplicity it was given to you by him 
 who is the centre of your dearest affections and the 
 surety of your fondest hopes. 
 
 Even so, the Lord Jesus, “ the Bridegroom of the 
 soul,” when He was going to the world unseen, 
 gave to His disciples in the Communion Ordinance 
 His forget-me-not, a love token from Himself. “ I 
 am going away,’ 5 He said ; “ but in Heaven I am 
 not to be forgetting you. I am to be planning and 
 providing for you yonder ; I go to prepare a place 
 for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, 
 I will come again and receive you to Myself, that 
 where I am there ye may be also. I would not be 
 forgotten by you when I am away ; and, that you 
 may be helped to remember Me, and may also be 
 assured that I am remembering you, I leave with 
 you this simple Ordinance : ‘Do this in remem¬ 
 brance of Me ; 5 and every time you eat this bread 
 and drink this wine, let it not only remind you that 
 I died, but that I live for evermore, and live to fulfil 
 your holiest expectations.” 
 
 Thus a second important use of the Lord’s 
 Supper is to confirm the faith of His disciples in 
 the truth of His most comforting assurances. It is 
 like the Saviour’s signature to a promissory letter, 
 setting forth an heirdom of blessedness richer than 
 human tongue can tell or human heart conceive. 
 
 19. THE LORD’S SUPPER—A PORTION.— But 
 while it is a Picture and a Pledge, let us not forget 
 that we have in the Lord’s Supper, also— 
 
 III. A Portion. In it, Christ and the benefits 
 of the New Covenant are not only represented and 
 sealed, but applied to believers. It says to us, not 
 
36 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 only Remember , and Rely , but Receive! All the 
 blessedness Christ spake of is not postponed to the 
 eternal future. Instalments of it are vouchsafed by 
 Him on earth. The disciples got much at that first 
 Communion in the Upper Room. What moments 
 on the Mount were these ! And theirs was an ex¬ 
 perience of actual present benefit, which was in¬ 
 tended to be repeated in the case of every believing 
 company who might gather, while the world should 
 last, for the observance of the Christian Feast. 
 
 The Lord’s Supper is peculiarly the nourishing 
 and strengthening Ordinance for believers; the 
 observance of which, therefore, falls to be renewed 
 again and again, for the refreshment and further¬ 
 ance of the divine life in the soul. In this it differs 
 from Baptism. The latter, from its nature, does 
 not need to be observed again in the case of an 
 adult once admitted, or a child recognised, through 
 it as belonging to the visible Church of Christ. 
 But we need not only to have life, but to have it 
 more abundantly (John x. io); and in the recur¬ 
 rence of the Supper we have an occasion which the 
 Lord is wont very notably to bless to the hungering 
 souls of His waiting people (Matt. v. 6). 
 
 How often its observance should be repeated has 
 not been strictly laid down in Scripture. It is evi¬ 
 dent that, in the first glow of devotion in the early 
 Christian Church, and for the confirmation perhaps 
 of the hearts of believers in face of persecution, 
 “the breaking of bread” was a weekly occurrence 
 (Acts xx. 7). Some think that, for a time at least, 
 it was even a daily observance (Acts ii. 46). But 
 its frequency is clearly left as a matter to be deter- 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 37 
 
 mined by different communities of Christians for 
 themselves, in obedience to the dictates of their 
 hearts, and according to what, in the light of their 
 circumstances, appears to be most really fitted to 
 promote the glory of Christ and the good of His 
 people. 
 
 The tendency in most Churches has latterly been 
 in favour of a more frequent celebration of this 
 Sacrament. With what was in some respects a 
 commendable anxiety, our forefathers were afraid 
 lest by holding the Communion more than once or 
 twice in the year the observance should be too 
 greatly familiarised. But if professing Christians 
 are jealous over their own hearts, and careful to 
 remember that “ as often as we eat this bread and 
 drink this wine we do shew the Lord’s death till He 
 come,” there is reason to expect that the repetition 
 of the Feast, at intervals less extended than formerly, 
 will by the divine blessing secure the feeding pur¬ 
 pose of it all the better, “ to our spiritual nourishment 
 and growth in grace.” 
 
 In the choice of the symbols —bread and wine — 
 the nourishing virtue of the Ordinance, its use for 
 spiritual strengthening and refreshment (Ps. civ. 15), 
 is plainly indicated. But when we come to enquire 
 wherein its nourishing virtue consists, or in what way 
 it promotes the spiritual life in us, very different 
 answers are given. On this subject there are two 
 extreme opinions, both of which are wrong, and a 
 third view, which we believe to be the right and 
 Scriptural one. 
 
 20. DIVERSE THEORIES AS TO THE VIRTUE 
 OF THE SACRAMENT. —On the one hand, we have 
 
38 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 the Church of Rome, with its monstrous doctrine 
 of Transubstantiation, affirming that every time 
 this Sacrament is properly observed, there is a 
 repetition of the Sacrifice of Calvary ; that the sub¬ 
 stance of the bread and wine is changed across 
 (trans) into the veritable body and blood of Christ; 
 and that all who partake of the Sacrament as 
 properly administered by a duly qualified priest, and 
 who do not actually resist the blessing (whatever 
 their moral state and conduct otherwise), have grace 
 infused into them, whereby their souls are neces¬ 
 sarily made better — “ as inevitably as that fire 
 burns.” This is what we may call the magical (and 
 at the same time materialistic ) theory of the opera¬ 
 tion of the Sacrament; which has nothing either in 
 Scripture or in the testimony of experience to com¬ 
 mend it. 
 
 At the other extreme, we have a class of Protes¬ 
 tants who say—“No; it is all a mistake to speak as 
 if this Ordinance had any peculiar or magical effect 
 upon the soul. There is nothing really mysterious 
 about it, no result whch cannot be explained in ac¬ 
 cordance with the ordinary laws of mind. In the 
 symbols of the Sacrament, you have a vivid presen¬ 
 tation of certain truths, and a strong enforcement of 
 certain considerations. The eye is appealed to, and 
 through it the mind is reached, and through the 
 mind the heart; and it is because of the influence 
 thus wielded on the understanding, the affections, 
 and the will, that there is such virtue in the Sacra¬ 
 ment, and such religious benefit from the thoughtful 
 use of its sacred and touching emblems.” This is 
 what we may call the moral theory of the operation 
 
PRINCIPAL USES OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. 39 
 
 of the Sacrament, as it ascribes all its salutary in¬ 
 fluence to the moral impression it effects, in the way 
 just indicated, on the mind and heart of the 
 participant. 
 
 But while there is truth in this second theory, it 
 does not express the whole truth, or account for the 
 full benefit received by multitudes of believing 
 communicants through “the Feast.” The effect 
 produced on the hearts and lives of such is not to 
 be referred to the mere elements and to the 
 thoughts and feelings stirred by our poor meditation 
 on them, but to the blessing of the Divine Spirit, 
 whose gracious prerogative it is, in connection with 
 the faithful use of the appointed means, to take of 
 the things of Christ and impart them to His people. 
 It is He who works faith in us, and who also 
 answers and enriches faith, when, aided by the 
 God-appointed symbols, it rises to its opportunity, 
 and holds out the hand of emptiness to receive more 
 and ever more of the fulness that is in Christ. It 
 is He who enables us in the Sacrament to feed, in a 
 spiritual sense, upon the body and blood of the 
 Redeemer (John vi. 51-7), so that, crucified therein 
 with Christ by faith, we nevertheless live, because 
 Christ liveth in us. This is what we may call, by 
 way of distinction, the spiritual theory of the opera¬ 
 tion of the Sacrament—ascribing all its sanctifying 
 efficacy to the accompanying blessing of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 21. THE GRACE GIVEN IN THE ORDIN¬ 
 ANCE. — What is bestowed in the Sacrament, it 
 should be observed, is not a peculiar kind of grace, 
 (as with the seven sorts of grace ascribed by Rome 
 
40 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 to her seven so-called sacraments), but more grace 
 —as the believing communicant is enabled in it to 
 appropriate more of Christ, or, as an old divine 
 expresses it, “to get a better grip of Christ Jesus.” 
 And what secures in us readiness for this is the 
 working of the Spirit of God in our hearts. As 
 many a believer can testify, He makes sacramental 
 occasions glorious spiritual opportunities for those 
 whose desire is toward Christ and the remembrance 
 of His name. 
 
 Without the Spirit’s blessing, any impression pro¬ 
 duced by the mere emblems, and the most concen¬ 
 trated meditation on them, would be superficial and 
 fleeting indeed. Turn your camera to yonder 
 landscape ere the sunrise. Prepare the plates with 
 every care. Burnish the lenses : and now uncover 
 them. You keep them full in view of the beauteous 
 scene, and so you keep them long. But I see no 
 semblance of a picture on your glass. What you 
 hoped to reproduce eludes your patient skill. And 
 why? Because the Sun is not shining in the 
 heavens, and these twinkling starlights mock your 
 purpose with their feebleness. But when the Orb 
 of Day pours down his quickening rays, how differ¬ 
 ent ! Even so with the sorl of man. When it is 
 turned in faith to the Lord Jesus under the Spirit’s 
 life-giving beams, the great aim of the Christian— 
 likeness to Christ—is progressively attained. “We 
 all, with open face, beholding as in a glass (or 
 reflecting as in a mirror) the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the same image, from glory to glory, 
 eve?? as by the Lord the Spirit ” (2 Cor. iii. 18). 
 
LEADING NAMES OF THE ORDINANCE. 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE LEADING NAMES OF THE ORDINANCE—WITH 
 THE PERSONAL QUESTION, OUGHT I TO 
 PARTAKE ? 
 
 22. THE EUCHARIST. —The names given to 
 the New Testament Feast are several; and each of 
 them has its own suggestiveness. 
 
 Perhaps the commonest of them all is The Lord’s 
 Supper. This is a Scripture name for the Ordinance 
 (1 Cor. xi. 20), and is the most comprehensive 
 designation for it. It is called The Lord’s Supper , 
 because it was instituted by the Lord ; is presided 
 over by the Lord, in his real though invisible pre¬ 
 sence ; speaks to us of the Lord in its every part, 
 and has reference to the Lord in its every aspect. 
 
 Then, not to dwell on the cognate name, The 
 Lord’s Table (1 Cor. x. 21), or on the early but now 
 obsolete name, The Action * there are three names 
 in frequent use, which we may place under The 
 Lord’s Supper as giving prominence to three dis¬ 
 tinctive aspects of the sacred feast. These are—the 
 Eucharistj the Communion; the Sacrament. 
 
 (1.) The first of these, the Eucharist , means the 
 Thanksgiving. The name is derived from the expres¬ 
 sion in 1 Cor. xi. 24—“ And when He had given 
 thanks” (Eucharistesas). We have already seen 
 (P. 27) what the Lord gave thanks for at the 
 
 * A name derived from a Latin expression, actio gratiarum, 
 meaning “ the giving of thanks,” and still preserved in some parts of 
 Scotland in the term, “the Action Sermon.” 
 
42 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 institution of the Supper; and if even for Him it 
 was a Eucharist, much more should it be a Feast of 
 Thanksgiving for His people. While, saved from 
 death, they sit at the Table and enjoy the bounties 
 He has prepared for them, the language of their 
 hearts may well be—“What shall I render to the 
 Lord for all His benefits toward me?” It is called 
 the Eucharist, says Chrysostom, “ because it shews 
 forth the crowning act of God’s regard, and prepares 
 us to be perpetually thankful.” 
 
 The Lord’s Supper as the Eucharist sends our 
 thoughts back with gratitude to the past. It is our 
 feast of Cormnemoration, in which we call to mind 
 the dying of the Lord Jesus, and glory in the Cross 
 of Calvary as transfigured for us, through His 
 willing suffering upon it in our room, from an 
 instrument of death and a symbol of shame, into a 
 vehicle of blessing and the abiding symbol of the 
 grace which reigns through righteousness unto 
 eternal life (Rom. v. 21). Through the Eucharist , 
 we openly declare that the memory of Christ, and 
 of all He has been and done for us, is treasured 
 deep within our hearts : and thus it becomes a 
 public perpetuation on the part of the Church of 
 her great Redeemer’s name. 
 
 23. THE COMMUNION.—(2.) The second name, 
 the Communion , is more familiar than the Euchar¬ 
 ist.* It is a Bible name, applied by St Paul to the 
 
 * At least in Scotland, where the Presbyterian mode of observance 
 —with the guests seated together and partaking together of the 
 bread and wine, instead of being supplied singly with the elements 
 from the hand of the officiating minister—realises simply but beauti¬ 
 fully the aspect of the Ordinance which the name Communion 
 suggests. 
 
LEADING NAMES OF THE ORDINANCE. 43 
 
 Christian Feast in 1 Cor. x. 16-17 : “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? For 
 we, being many, are one bread and one body : for 
 we are all partakers of that one bread.” The fact 
 of “ sharing in common ” ’ (having “ Communion ” 
 in) these sacred emblems ought, he insists, to be 
 not only an expression of ideal oneness in Christ 
 but a bond of actual unity among believers. 
 
 The Lord’s Supper, as the Communion , suggests 
 the precious truth that He who died still lives, and 
 lives to be our Friend. We have still the real 
 presence—spiritual and unseen, but none the less 
 real—of Him we love. “It is not at a Grave, but 
 at a Table, that we are called to gather.” The 
 Tomb is empty ; but Christ’s place at the Table is 
 not unfilled. As, in the olden time, “ when the even 
 was come, He sate down with the Twelve,” He still 
 gathers His own around Himself, that they may 
 have spiritual fellowship, not only with one another 
 but with Him—“ whom, having not seen, they love.” 
 He still grants to His disciples at the feast an 
 Upper Room experience—making it for them the 
 place of peace and love, holy comfort and heavenly 
 hope, even while, as with the first disciples, it may 
 sometimes have to be the place of anxious self¬ 
 questioning and of divine instruction and rebuke. 
 
 Thus, besides being a Commemoration of the 
 past, the Lord’s Supper is a Communion in the 
 present — drawing the hearts of Christ’s people 
 closer to one another, and giving them, above 
 all, sacred opportunities of living, loving converse 
 
44 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 with Him who rejoices to be called the Sinner’s 
 Friend. 
 
 The matchless friendship of Christ, and the one¬ 
 ness of believers in Him, are what we should seek 
 to realise in the Lord’s Supper as the Communion. 
 “ The Church of God is one—all its members from 
 the beginning redeemed with one price, washed in 
 one blood, clothed with one righteousness, crucified 
 on one cross, partakers of one resurrection, heirs of 
 
 one kingdom, and possessors of one hope. 
 
 They feast at one banqueting-house, sit at one 
 table, drink of one cup, are overshadowed by one 
 banner, and sing one song ‘to Him that hath 
 loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own 
 blood.’ ” 
 
 Our oneness, not only with those actually at the 
 Table with us on earth, but with those who have 
 gone into the immediate presence of the King, 
 should be remembered by us at the Communion— 
 
 “ One family we dwell in Him ; 
 
 One Church, above, beneath ; 
 
 Though now divided by the stream— 
 
 The narrow stream of death.” 
 
 24. THE SACRAMENT.—(3.) The remaining 
 name in frequent use, the Sacrament , brings out 
 yet another aspect of the feast—its reference to 
 the future. This is not a Scripture name, but it is 
 one which came into very early use in this con¬ 
 nection in the Christian Church. It is now perhaps 
 as common a name as any for the Lord’s Supper, 
 which, although it is not the only Sacrament, has 
 —probably from the frequency of its recurrence, 
 
LEADING NAMES OF THE ORDINANCE. 45 
 
 and the peculiar suggestiveness of its symbols— 
 come to be regarded and spoken of as “ the Sacra¬ 
 ment.” 
 
 The word, in early Church writings, often stood 
 for a mystery —“anything that had a hidden sig¬ 
 nificance.” But its common Latin translation— 
 an oath —conveys very suitably the special con¬ 
 ception of the Ordinance which it is of importance 
 for us to keep in view, along with the other two 
 aspects of it already commented on. The Lord’s 
 Supper, besides being a Commemoration of the 
 past, and a Communion in the present, is a Con¬ 
 secration for the future. It is the believer’s 
 Sacrament. 
 
 We saw, in the foregoing chapter, that the 
 Lord’s Supper is a pledge from Christ to His 
 disciples that He will be true to them. It is 
 also a pledge from His followers to Christ, that, 
 His grace helping them, they will be true to Him. 
 As the Sacramentum was the Roman soldier’s 
 oath of allegiance to his commander—his pledge 
 that he would serve loyally beneath his banner 
 even to the death ; so the Sacrament is the be¬ 
 liever’s oath of allegiance to the great Captain 
 of Salvation, his pledge that, by the help of God, 
 he will serve under His banner—the Standard of 
 the Cross—even until death, in the great campaign 
 which He is waging in the world against sin and 
 wrong. 
 
 Thus the Lord’s Supper has a reference both 
 to the past, and to the present, and to the future ; 
 and what has just been said of the significance of 
 
46 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 its several names may be summed up thus, in 
 tabular form :— 
 
 THE LORD' SUPPER (i Cor. xi. 20), 
 is a Name inclusive of 
 
 _J_ 
 
 I I T 
 
 The Eucharist The Communion The Sacrament 
 
 (1 Cor. xi. 24), (1 Cor. x. 16), (Isa. xliv. 5), 
 
 which three Names imply a reference to 
 
 1 i 1 
 
 The Past, The Present, The Future, 
 
 and are significant of the nature of the Ordinance as 
 
 a Feast of 
 
 i 1 1 . 
 
 Commemoration, Communion, Consecration. 
 
 25. THE PRACTICAL QUESTION. — These 
 leading names of the Ordinance, with the lessons 
 they suggest, may help you in determining the 
 deeply-important practical question, “ Ought I to 
 partake ? ” 
 
 This is a matter to be decided between you and 
 Christ. He instituted the Supper, as you know, 
 for His disciples—for true believers in Him, and 
 loyal adherents of His cause. If, therefore, there 
 is no personal tie between your soul and Him, 
 your participation in this Ordinance will be an 
 empty form, if not a heedless and hurtful pro¬ 
 fanation. But if in very truth you can call Christ 
 Lord and your Lord, then His Supper is meant 
 for you. If you have received and are resting 
 upon Him alone for salvation, then every aspect 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE! 
 
 47 
 
 of the Ordinance furnishes an additional argument 
 for your having a part in it. 
 
 The Death of Jesus—if that is nothing to you 
 but a historic event of more than eighteen centuries 
 ago, which has some interest of its own, but has no 
 special interest personal to you, then a feast in 
 celebration of it will for you have little meaning. 
 But if “the dying of the Lord Jesus” means to you 
 not only the most marvellous exhibition of God’s 
 love, but the willing sacrifice of God’s own Son as 
 the propitiation for your sins, then the Supper will 
 be indeed your Eucharist. 
 
 The Life of Jesus—if that, in your view, is a 
 thing merely of the past, and His a history which 
 closed for men more than eighteen centuries ago, 
 then, however you may admire its beauty and its 
 heroism, His life will not bring to you, except in 
 the most shadowy, figurative sense, any offer of 
 fellowship with Him. But if in your heart you 
 believe and are sure that Christ lives and loves 
 you, if He is the One above all others who to you 
 deserves the name of Friend, and if you hear in 
 the invitation to the Supper a call to you to draw 
 near to Him in His spiritual presence for the com¬ 
 fort of your soul—then, as you not only remember 
 His name but seek His face in the Ordinance, it 
 will be to you a Feast of Communion with Him 
 and His. Yours will be truly a “fellowship with 
 God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ;” 
 and you will progressively learn the meaning of 
 that word—“ If, when we were enemies, we were 
 reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much 
 more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His 
 life ” (Rom. v. io). 
 
48 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 The Service of Jesus—if that is to you a thing 
 of indifference, and your attachment to His cause 
 only a nominal attachment, then your profession of 
 devotion through this Ordinance will be an empty 
 form. It will be, if not an act of deliberate treachery, 
 only the mock allegiance of a recruit who appears 
 upon parade, but is awanting when the call to 
 action comes. But if Jesus has your heart, then 
 your placing yourself beneath His banner will be 
 no mere formality : it will be the solemn yet joyous 
 sacramental engagement of a soldier who is re¬ 
 solved, God helping him, to be true till death. 
 And that engagement will, by Divine grace, be 
 made good in all the future life : for “ the life is 
 the appendix to the heart.” 
 
 You see how all-important this question is, of 
 the personal tie between you and the Redeemer. 
 If you are not one of His friends, it is an un¬ 
 warrantable intrusion for you to seat yourself un¬ 
 bidden at His table. If you are not a believer in 
 Him, it is worse than an impropriety to wound 
 Him in the house of His friends, by handling 
 profanely the sacred emblems of His broken body 
 and shed blood. But if you have come first, in 
 penitence and faith, to the Lord Himself, then you 
 not only may but ought to come to the Feast to 
 which He calls you. If He is yours, and you are 
 His, then this is an Ordinance for you, in the suit¬ 
 able observance of which your Saviour will be 
 glorified and your soul blessed. 
 
 Now, it is no doubt a responsible thing to go to 
 the Table of the Lord ; but, if you are really a 
 disciple, it is a more responsible thing for you to 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE? 
 
 49 
 
 stay away. As to which of these responsibilities 
 you are to accept, it is for yourself to decide. The 
 Church, by its ministers, must see to it that those 
 who propose “to join the Church,” as it is called, 
 (i) have sufficient knowledge —that is, are intelli¬ 
 gently aware of the meaning of the step they wish 
 to take ; and (2) are prepared to make a credible 
 Profession of faith in Christ —that is, a believable 
 profession, to which nothing in their known char¬ 
 acter and life manifestly gives the lie. But the 
 Church, or its ministers, cannot read the heart. As 
 Dr Robert S. Candlish put it—“ They may determine 
 negatively that there is no reason for pronouncing 
 the applicant not a Christian ; but they do not take 
 the responsibility of positively judging of his con¬ 
 version.” The responsibility of determining whether 
 he should approach the Lord’s Table or not 
 ultimately rests, and must rest, with the individual 
 himself. And for a conscientious enquirer it will 
 not be enough that his fellow men do not forbid 
 him, or even that they are prepared to welcome 
 him. What he will be concerned to have is the 
 warrant and the welcome of the Lord of the Feast. 
 “ Let a man examine himself and so let him eat.” 
 
 26. IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONS.—But now, 
 it is of great importance in this connection to 
 observe one or two distinctions which, though mani¬ 
 fest, are apt sometimes to be overlooked. 
 
 One of these is the difference between merit and 
 meetne'ss —between being worthy to communicate 
 and communicating worthily . 
 
 None who has ever sate at the Lord’s Table on 
 earth has been, in a sense, worthy to sit there ; for 
 
 D 
 
5o 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 who is fit to sit beside the King ? The vilest outcast 
 in the city slums is more worthy of a place at the 
 royal table by our monarch’s side than the holiest 
 saint is, in himself, to sit by the side of Him who is 
 the King of Glory. You are not worthy. But 
 worthy is the Lamb that was slain. And you will 
 come worthily, if you come recognising from the 
 heart your own unworthiness, and casting yourself 
 entirely on the merit and mediation of the Saviour, 
 who invites you to draw near. 
 
 It may here be noticed that the term “dam¬ 
 nation,” used in the authorised version of i Cor. 
 xi. 29, is needlessly terrifying to many tender souls. 
 It ought unquestionably to be rendered—as in the 
 margin and in the revised version—“judgment.” 
 The warning against “eating and drinking un¬ 
 worthily” is sufficiently solemn without the mis¬ 
 translation ; but what is really pointed to is a 
 chastisement designed to keep the subjects of it 
 from destruction, as the Apostle’s own explanation 
 immediately shews—“ For when we are judged , we 
 are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be 
 condemned with the world” (v. 32). It may be 
 noticed, too, by young enquirers, that this is not a 
 warning specifically addressed to those proposing 
 to take part in the Lord’s Supper for the first time. 
 It has its application, no doubt, to these ; but it 
 applies equally to all who at any time communicate, 
 —for it behoves such, every time they do it, to seek 
 to communicate in a worthy way,—and the warning 
 bore specially, in the context, on those in Corinth 
 who had been habitually subjecting the Ordinance of 
 the Supper to gross abuse. What the case of such 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE? 
 
 51 
 
 is brought before us for is—not to deter us from 
 coming, but to deter us from coming unworthily. 
 
 Another distinction to be observed is the differ¬ 
 ence between a true faith and a strcnig faith : or 
 between a real and a ripe Christianity. The Lord’s 
 Supper is not for advanced believers only, but for 
 all genuine believers in the Lord Jesus. 
 
 “ It is for all who truly belong to Christ. It is 
 suited to the youngest disciple, who has sought 
 Christ early and found Him. It is suited to the 
 greatest sinner, who has turned from his evil ways 
 —for it speaks of a Saviour who came to seek and 
 to save that which was lost: and to the ripest 
 saint—for it reveals a love that passeth all under¬ 
 standing.” The sense of weakness ought not to 
 keep the disciple back from the Supper, but rather 
 the reverse. If any soul is able sincerely to say, 
 “ Lord, I believe : help thou mine unbelief,”—Jesus 
 gives the answer, “ Yea, I will grant that prayer : 
 and, lo ! here is the way in which I love to answer 
 it—‘ Do this in remembrance of me.’ ” To treat 
 this strengthening Ordinance as a “ superfluity ” is 
 to dishonour Christ and to injure ourselves : and to 
 delay participation in it till our faith is strong is to 
 go directly in the teeth of the very purpose for 
 which the Ordinance was designed. “As justly 
 might the sick man propose to take the prescribed 
 tonic after he got well, as that we should propose to 
 wait till our faith is strong and healthy and all we 
 could wish it to be, before we will make use of the 
 means God has furnished for deepening and 
 strengthening our faith.” 
 
 The answer to the 172 Question of the West- 
 
52 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 minster Assembly’s Larger Catechism is very en¬ 
 couraging here. The Westminster Divines are 
 frequently spoken of as hard and severe; but 
 what could be more tender than the reply they 
 give to the query—“ May one who doubteth of 
 his being in Christ, and of his due preparation, 
 come to the Lord’s Supper?” The answer is— 
 
 “ One who doubteth of his being in Christ, and of his due 
 preparation to the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, may 
 have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured 
 thereof ; and in God’s account hath it, if he be duly affected 
 with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly 
 desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity: 
 in which case (because promises are made, and this Sacra¬ 
 ment is appointed, for the relief even of weak and doubting 
 Christians), he is to bewail his unbelief, and labour to have 
 his doubts resolved; and, so doing, he may and ought to 
 come to the Lord's Supper , that he may he farther strength¬ 
 ened." 
 
 Personal unworthiness, and the weakness of our 
 faith, afford, therefore, no good reason for holding 
 back from the Table of the Lord. As little is such 
 a course warranted by certain excuses which are 
 sometimes offered by those who live on in the 
 neglect of this Ordinance of Christ. 
 
 27. VAIN EXCUSES. —One of the flimsiest of 
 these excuses is —Many go to the Table who should 
 not. This is unhappily true. But there is plainly 
 all the more reason for those to go forward who 
 should. “A Judas may be among the disciples ; 
 but shall John, therefore, refuse to lean upon the 
 Master’s bosom?” Let a man examine himself— 
 not other people ; and so let him eat. 
 
 A more genuine excuse is —lam afraid of being 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE 9 
 
 53 
 
 inconsistent afterwards. But will disobedience help 
 you to be more consistent ? A fear of declension 
 is a salutary fear; but it ought only to shut you up 
 to a more entire and constant reliance on Him who 
 is stronger than sin. “ He hath said, ‘ I will never 
 leave thee nor forsake thee : 5 therefore, we may 
 boldly say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not 
 fear.’ ” Greater is He that is in us than he that 
 is in the world. 
 
 I do not feel ready —again it is sometimes said— 
 to profess so high a standard of living as gomg to 
 the LorcCs Table would imply. But if you count 
 and call yourself a Christian, your standard dare 
 not be pitched one whit lower than Christ 
 places it; and to withhold obedience in this par¬ 
 ticular cannot surely absolve you from any other 
 Christian obligation. Your non-profession of re¬ 
 ligion, moreover, may reasonably be construed by 
 the world as a profession of indifference. And 
 your reluctance to give up sin may really imply 
 a terrible preparedness to part company with 
 Christ. 
 
 One common objection— I believe I am a Chris¬ 
 tian, but I am not old e?iough to communicate — 
 raises a very interesting question as to the age at 
 which it is proper for a young person to approach 
 the Table of the Lord. When pastoral advice is 
 sought on this point, a minister may have to take 
 into consideration a variety of circumstances in 
 each particular case.* But a good general rule is, 
 
 * A well-known Free Church minister in Edinburgh told the 
 writer that he and his Kirk Session were confronted with an earnest 
 application from a young girl of nine for admission to full Com- 
 
54 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 that your youth need be no obstacle, if you are 
 “ old enough to understand the nature, object, and 
 uses of the Supper, and to judge upon your char¬ 
 acter and life as in the sight of God ; ” or, as the 
 Larger Catechism more briefly puts it, “of years 
 and ability to examine yourself.” If this be granted, 
 then you are not entitled, on the ground of age, 
 to postpone obedience to the Saviour’s charge. 
 He does not say, “ Do this in remembrance of 
 Me a year hence, or after six months, or three 
 —but now , if you are one of Mine, and if in 
 Providence the opportunity is given.” You are 
 certainly not to “join the Church ” just because 
 you have reached a particular age; or because 
 your friends wish it and your companions are 
 doing it ; or because you think it will now pro¬ 
 mote your worldly interests. But if you are in 
 heart a Christian, then remember that Christ’s call 
 demands a prompt obedience. 
 
 28. IS THE ORDINANCE NECESSARY P— 
 The question is sometimes started —Is the Sacra¬ 
 ment necessary? And the answer may, correctly, 
 be either No or Yes. 
 
 The Sacrament is not necessary, in the sense 
 that none can be saved without it. Take, for 
 instance, the case of a castaway on a desert island. 
 Some word of truth (such as John iii. 16), early 
 implanted in his memory or floated to him on a 
 stray page of Scripture, is quickened within him 
 
 munion privileges. Though somewhat taken aback at first, they 
 found the youthful applicant so intelligent on the whole subject, 
 and so apparently full of love to the Saviour, that—while regarding 
 the case as exceptional—they felt that they could do nothing but 
 joyfully accede to her request. 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE ? 
 
 55 
 
 into living power by God’s free Almighty Spirit. 
 He is led in his solitude to put implicit confidence 
 in the Redeemer, and to include himself under the 
 “ whosoever believeth,” to whom the Divine assur¬ 
 ance is given. Surely that man is saved, though 
 he may never regain the companionship of his 
 fellow men on earth, or be permitted to join the 
 communion of his fellow believers below. The 
 Word avails without the Sacrament. 
 
 There will be many at the Marriage Supper of 
 the Lamb in heaven who have never sate at the 
 Lord’s Table on earth — the penitent thief, for 
 example, and multitudes of others, including in¬ 
 fants, who had no opportunity of celebrating this 
 Ordinance ; and among them will be, doubtless, 
 some who have mistakenly and culpably neglected 
 the Sacrament—just as there will be many outside 
 of heaven who have often been at the earthly table 
 as unbidden guests. The Church of Rome, indeed, 
 says that Baptism is necessary to salvation ; and 
 the Greek Church (founding upon John vi. 53), says 
 the same of the Lord’s Supper, which, therefore, it 
 administers to infants. But this is just one of the 
 errors of what is called Sacramentarianism —the 
 system which rests everything on the Sacraments. 
 The Sacrament is not essential as the indispensable 
 means of salvation. 
 
 There is, however, a true sense in which the 
 Sacrament is necessary. There attaches to it what 
 the old divines called “ the necessity of precept ” if 
 not “ of means.” The invitation to the Lord’s 
 Supper, as we have already insisted, coming to us 
 from the King, comes to us as a command, which 
 
56 
 
 OUR CHRIST I AN PASSOVER. 
 
 every loyal subject must obey. It is ours to 
 “observe all things which Christ hath commanded”; 
 and if there is any injunction of His to which we 
 should have a specially tender regard, surely it is 
 His parting charge—“ Do this in remembrance of 
 me.” “Suppose,” as one has said, “the last request 
 of a dying mother were: ‘Scatter a few flowers year 
 by year on my grave/ with what reverent care and 
 fond affection would the filial heart do that. And 
 should there be less reverence in our heart, less 
 jealousy over it, in executing the last command of 
 God’s dear Son, our Saviour?” To neglect this 
 Ordinance is wilfully to dishonour Him. Surely, if 
 Christ said, in His yearning desire for your salva¬ 
 tion, “ I must 7 ieeds suffer,” it is not a great thing 
 for Him to expect that your heart will lovingly 
 respond—“ I must needs commemorate the sufferings 
 of my Lord ! ” 
 
 Nor is it to be forgotten, that our spiritual good 
 is bound up, in this Ordinance, with the glory given 
 to our Redeemer. For our sakes as well as His, 
 He has charged us to keep this Feast. The line of 
 true religious progress is ever along the path of 
 strict obedience to our Heavenly Master. We 
 cannot wilfully neglect any of His precepts without 
 hurting our own souls. We cannot cheerfully obey 
 any of them without being the better for it. And in 
 keeping of this precept there is great reward. It 
 advances our own edification and comfort, and it 
 ranks us openly among those who desire to be an 
 influence in the world upon the side of Christ. If 
 we really believe in the heart, then, for our own sake 
 
OUGHT I TO PARTAKE? 
 
 57 
 
 and the sake of others, confession ought to be made 
 unto salvation (Rom. x. io). 
 
 Young men and young women, how long halt ye 
 between two opinions ? Such halting is weak, and 
 to be weak is miserable. If you are truly Christ’s, 
 the very taking of your stand beneath His blood- 
 bought banner may be very helpful to you, by God’s 
 blessing, even in definitely committing you in the 
 eyes of the world to the allegiance and service of 
 Christ. Secret discipleship does not, and cannot, 
 go forward hopefully and healthfully toward the 
 goal that is set before us. It cannot expect to 
 thrive. It hides in the shadow, it lives in the dark¬ 
 ness, when it ought to be out in the open light of 
 God’s reconciled countenance. Shrinking from the 
 duty of confession, it misses the benefit of it. 
 Seeking a shelter of its own, it loses the strengthen¬ 
 ing as well as the incentive influences of an avowed 
 Christianity. It declines and. rejects an important 
 Means of Grace. 
 
 These are solemn words of Christ—“ Whosoever, 
 therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I 
 confess also before my Father which is in Heaven” 
 (Matt. xi. 32). “Whosoever shall be ashamed of 
 Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man 
 be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, 
 and in His Father’s, and of the Holy Angels” 
 (Luke ix. 26). Who, then, is upon the Lord’s side 
 among you ? Come courageously forth, and be 
 valiant for Christ, ye who have given your hearts to 
 Him. You owe it to the Saviour, and you owe it to 
 yourselves. 
 
58 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BEFORE, AT, AND AFTER THE COMMUNION. 
 
 29. PREPARATION—SELF-EXAMINATION.— 
 
 If you have, humbly but decisively, reached the 
 affirmative answer to the enquiry—“ Ought I to 
 communicate ? ”—it will be further a matter of con¬ 
 cern with you, that you may approach the Feast in 
 the right way—that is, in such a way as best to 
 glorify your Lord and advance your own spiritual 
 wellbeing. Too much, indeed, is not to be made of 
 our own preparation, as if through it we were to 
 earn the blessing. But neither are we to make too 
 little of it. The desire to be rightly “ exercised,” in 
 view of the Communion, is both a salutary symptom 
 and a gracious influence. And, though we dare not 
 so limit the operations of the Spirit of all grace as 
 to call our earnestness in this particular the sine 
 qua non of receiving spiritual benefit, it has yet been 
 said with perfect truth, that much of the profit of 
 partaking in the Communion Ordinance depends on 
 our fidelity in the work of preparation. 
 
 BEFORE THE TABLE. There ought to be 
 specific preparation every time we take part in the 
 Feast (“as often as ye eat this bread and drink this 
 cup.”) This is an obligation which many professing 
 believers are sadly prone to forget. The public 
 preparatory services of the sanctuary, intended to be 
 helpful in this connection, are habitually neglected 
 by them. It is to be feared that no compensation 
 of a more private kind is sought in their retirement 
 And if, coming heedlessly to the King’s Table, 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 59 
 
 with their souls unattuned to the spirit of the Feast, 
 and their hearts ignorant of the hunger and thirst 
 the Lord loves to satisfy, they go away unblessed— 
 need they wonder or complain ? The marvel were, 
 if it had been otherwise. Of many a company of 
 professed communicants it may have to be said as 
 of ancient Israel—“They did all eat the same 
 spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual 
 drink . . . but with many of them God was not well 
 pleased” (1 Cor. x. 3-5). 
 
 To the young Christian, the negligence of others, 
 in this and other respects, will be one of the most 
 abiding and insidious temptations in coming days. 
 Not only in prospect of your first Communion, 
 therefore, but ever afterwards, you must earnestly 
 and consistently seek to live by a higher standard 
 than that of the worldly within the Church. Where 
 public services are supplied in the week preceding 
 the celebration of the Supper, be sure to avail your¬ 
 self of them, as fully as your circumstances in 
 Providence will allow. And be specially careful, 
 along with this, to review your life, to stir up your 
 conscience, and to cultivate your heart in secret 
 before God. 
 
 There are several things which it is good for us to 
 do before every succeeding Communion. 
 
 (1.) We are called to examine ourselves. The 
 Apostolic rule is, “ Let a man examine himself, and 
 so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup ” 
 (1 Cor. xi. 28). 
 
 It is with the fitness of our own approach, be if 
 noted, not that of other people, that we are to 
 concern ourselves : and we are not to rest content 
 
6o 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 with being, in a general way, satisfied that we are 
 “in the faith”—genuine believers in Christ. As the 
 Apostle elsewhere reminds us, the duty of self- 
 examination includes much more than this. It 
 seeks an answer not only to the question—“Am I 
 a Christian?” but to the other question, “What 
 sort of Christian am I?” How does what I am 
 compare with what I ought to be, or even with what 
 I might have been ? Not only are we to look to the 
 foundation we have been building on—“ Examine 
 yourselves whether ye be in the faith ”—but we are 
 to test the character of the structure we have 
 been rearing thereupon—“ Prove your own selves” 
 (2 Cor. xiii. 5). 
 
 In this work of self-examination and probation, 
 certain portions of God’s word will be found speci¬ 
 ally helpful. For instance, the Ten Commandments 
 (Ex. xx. 1-17) may with profit be read slowly aloud, 
 pausing over each to make conscience and heart 
 face its requirements, in the light especially of 
 Christ’s own spiritual teaching (Matt. v. 21-30). 
 Or the Beatitudes, in which the Lord of the King¬ 
 dom sets forth the ideal for those who would be 
 worthy members of it (Matt. v. 1-12). Or the 
 Seven Messages to the Churches, which abound 
 in admonitions to the individual as well as to 
 Church communities, from Him who knows the 
 works of each, and whose eyes are as a flame of 
 fire, searching the inmost recesses of the soul (Rev. 
 ii. iii.). 
 
 If we rightly use such passages as these, taking 
 the Lord Himself with us to this work of self- 
 examination, in the prayer, “ Search me, O God, 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 61 
 
 and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts ; 
 and see if there be any wicked way in me ” (Ps. 
 cxxxix. 23-4)—then the candle of the Lord will do 
 its work so effectually, that the next element in our 
 preparation will be made easy to us. 
 
 30. FURTHER EXERCISES IN PREPARA¬ 
 TION. —(2.) A genuine and thorough self-examina¬ 
 tion should lead us to humble ourselves. True 
 self-knowledge, implying some degree of proper 
 sensitiveness with respect to sin, is sure to bring 
 along with it a corresponding degree of self- 
 humiliation. If every one, or any, of God’s Com¬ 
 mandments, as we review our past lives, sounds 
 to us like a rebuke ; if every one, or any, of the 
 Beatitudes sets before us an ideal, to which our 
 character offers not a resemblance but only a 
 contrast—then, by the Divine blessing, there will 
 be wrought in us that spirit of contrition which 
 will be to us great gain. For God has said—“I 
 dwell in the high and holy place, with him also 
 that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isa. lvii. 
 15). Before proceeding to make confession of our 
 faith before men, it is good for us to feel con¬ 
 strained to make confession of our sin before 
 God. 
 
 Here, again, the word of God will help us. The 
 penitential Psalms, for instance (Ps. vi., xxxii., 
 xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., cxliii.), prayerfully used, will 
 both encourage in us the penitential spirit and aid 
 us in giving suitable expression to it. To go over, 
 upon one’s knees before God, say the 51st Psalm 
 —reading into it our own dire experience of the 
 evil of sin, and winging to heaven through it our 
 
62 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 cry for mercy and deliverance—can hardly fail to 
 be helpful toward the cultivation of a suitable frame 
 for participating in the Feast designed for penitent 
 yet accepted sinners, whose lips the Lord has 
 opened to shew forth His praise. It is those who 
 feel that they are not so much as worthy to eat of the 
 crumbs that fall from the Table who are most heartily 
 welcomed by the Lord to sit at it beside Himself. 
 
 (3.) And then, before Communion, it behoves us 
 to arouse ourselves. Not only should we seek to 
 be awakened to the true nature of sin, and to the 
 heinousness of our own particular sins, but we 
 should stir ourselves to the resolute determination, 
 God helping us, to be done with sin. It is vain to 
 ask God to take sin away, unless we are ourselves 
 minded to put sin away. It is vain to tell Christ 
 that we greatly love Him, if we love that more 
 which slew Christ. In godly sorrow, such as the 
 Apostle commends (2 Cor. vii. 11), there is fear, 
 vehement desire, and zeal for better things. 
 
 But what, above all, we are to arouse ourselves 
 to is—along with the sight and sense of sin—the 
 vivid sight and the thankful appropriation of the 
 Saviour. Repentance has well been called “the 
 tear of sorrow on the eye of faith.” It is not the 
 tear of mere sorrow : it is not the anguish of un¬ 
 alleviated regret. Faith goes with it, and Hope lights 
 up the penitent face even amid its tears, like sun¬ 
 shine gleaming through the showers of a begloomed 
 summer day. For “ the light of the knowledge of 
 the glory of God ” has arisen upon it through the 
 darkness—light from the compassionate face of 
 Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 6). 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 63 
 
 It is this which best will help us, not only to 
 repentance, but to all the other gracious exercises 
 which should be in lively operation as we go forward 
 to the Table of Communion—the clearer discovery 
 and fuller apprehension of Him who is Surety to 
 His people for good (Ps. cxix. 122). And there is a 
 Divine blessing on distinct personal effort with this 
 end in view. 
 
 The reverent and prayerful perusal of “the 
 Golden Passional,” the prophetic 53rd of Isaiah, 
 and of its New Testament counterpart in the 
 Gospel History of the Crucifixion, will be helpful 
 here. Also a loving meditation on those wonderful 
 chapters in St John’s Gospel (ch. xiii.-xvii.), which 
 give us the Redeemer’s discourse and intercessory 
 prayer at the first Communion Table. Through 
 these we may, in anticipation of our Gospel feast, 
 be brought face to face and heart to heart with 
 Christ. And, while questioning ourselves, as in 
 His presence, about our past attainments in know¬ 
 ledge, faith, repentance, love, obedience, we shall 
 gain a fuller measure of these graces, if only our 
 souls go out freely after Him and dwell fixedly 
 upon Him. Even out of the bitter there shall 
 come forth the sweet. As we mourn because of 
 Him whom our sins have pierced, we shall be 
 made to rejoice, that by Him we have “received 
 the Atonement.” The bitter herbs of penitence will 
 make the Living Bread the more sweet, and the 
 flesh and blood of the Lamb of God (John vi. 51-53) 
 the more satisfying to the soul. Forgiven much 
 we shall love much, and be filled with a yearning 
 to manifest our love (Luke vii. 47). And the cele- 
 
6 4 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 bration of the Sacrament in accordance with Christ’s 
 command will be the first link in a chain of new 
 obedience—new, if not in motive, rule, and end, at 
 least in the power of consecration and consistency. 
 
 But, when all is done,—or, rather, while all is 
 being done,—in the way of examining ourselves, 
 humbling ourselves, arousing purselves in view of 
 the sacred feast, we must be ever mindful to cast 
 ourselves on the aid of the Holy Spirit, asking from 
 Him that preparation of heart which cometh from 
 the Lord only. Then we may go forward to the 
 Table in the confidence expressed by the Psalmist 
 when he said—“ Lord, thou hast heard the desire of 
 the humble ; thou wilt prepare their heart; thou 
 wilt cause thine ear to hear” (Ps. x. 17). And 
 though we are ashamed that our faith is still so 
 feeble, our love so cold, our life so imperfect at the 
 best, our Lord will not spurn us from His presence. 
 It is His merit, not our own, that is our warrant of 
 approach and ground of expectation. 
 
 31. AT THE TABLE. — What you are to be 
 concerned with in the act of Communion is—“Jesus 
 only.” The appropriate exercise for the Communi¬ 
 cant actually at the Table is not so much self- 
 examination or introspection, as the direct contem¬ 
 plation of his Lord. That is, we are there expected 
 to look, not so much within or back as out to Christ 
 and forward to the time (“till He come”), when He 
 will make us sharers in the glorious Heavenly 
 Feast, of which the earthly Ordinance is only a type 
 and in some degree a prelude and preparation—the 
 Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It is our part at the 
 Table, “ to forget self in remembering Christ.” 
 
BEFORE, AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 65 
 
 Looking above the Ordinance, we are to wait only 
 upon God, and let our expectation be from Him. 
 The thought of our own sins, sorrows, and responsi¬ 
 bilities is to be allowed to come in only that it may 
 shut us up the more entirely to a simple faith in 
 Jesus, and furnish us with the occasion of unre¬ 
 strained spiritual converse with Him “whom having 
 not seen, we love.” If in going to the Table we 
 have felt our need of clearer light and of purer, 
 warmer feeling, we are, when there, simply to seek 
 that with open face we may behold His glory, while 
 the Holy Spirit of promise takes of the things of 
 Christ and shows them unto us (John xvi. 14). 
 
 It is the custom of some ministers to repeat texts 
 of Scripture while the Communicants are in the 
 act of partaking of the bread and wine. This is 
 perhaps found helpful by some persons, in giving 
 direction to their meditations at the Table. But 
 others may be only distracted by it, and would pre¬ 
 fer all other voices to be hushed at such a sweetly 
 solemn moment, that His voice only may be heard. 
 In any case, it is well that there should be some 
 interval of silence given, for direct undisturbed com¬ 
 munion of the soul with Christ; and to a soul in 
 lively exercise, the sacred emblems, intelligently and 
 thoughtfully used, will themselves be eloquent, and, 
 under the guidance of the Blessed Spirit, instru¬ 
 mental in leading the communicant very near his 
 Lord. 
 
 Surely there, if anywhere, shall one say in thank¬ 
 fulness and hope, “In the Lord have I righteousness 
 and strength” (Isa. xlv. 24). Righteousness ? Yes : 
 for have I not here, in these emblems as symbols of 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 Atonement, the assurance of my justification, and 
 the pledge of my complete redemption from the 
 power as well as the penalty of sin ? Strength ? Yes: 
 for have I not in these emblems the symbols of that 
 inward strengthening grace which will bear me up 
 under the strain of life’s heaviest burdens, and nerve 
 me with a vigour higher than my own, for the con¬ 
 quest of evil and the service of the living God ? 
 
 It is related of Wellington, at the battle of Sala¬ 
 manca, that he pointed to a redoubt which he wished 
 to have taken in the face of the enemy’s fire, and 
 said—“Who will win that height for me ?” All the 
 members of the staff hung back, for it seemed 
 certain death to go on such a mission. But in a 
 moment or two, a gallant young officer stepped 
 forward and said—“ Sire, I will go : but give me 
 first a grip of that conquering right hand ! ” The 
 great commander, with a pleasant smile, shook the 
 young man cordially by the hand, and sped him on 
 to victor)\ Be it ours, while glorying in Christ 
 as the Saviour who has died, to approach Him at 
 the Table as the living and life-giving One. May 
 we ever anon clasp hands there with Him who 
 never knew defeat: and we shall be made “ more 
 than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Rom- 
 viii. 37). 
 
 Your duty and privilege at the Communion may 
 be summed up in two words — appropriation of 
 Christ, and surrender of self. What you are there 
 to seek is the realisation on both its sides of the 
 blessed relationship that subsists between the 
 believing soul and the Redeemer : “ My Beloved is 
 mine, and I am His.” And the joy of this realisa- 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 67 
 
 tion will be only deepened by the sight of those 
 around you whose hearts are similarly affected 
 toward Him you supremely love; so that you and 
 they together can thankfully say — “ Truly our 
 fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, 
 Jesus Christ ” (1 John i. 3). 
 
 32. AFTER THE TABLE.—It is of the utmost 
 importance for you to regard your first Communion 
 not as an end but as a means ; and to remember 
 that, if it has been a goal for the past, it is now 
 a starting place for the future. Excelsior must be 
 your motto : “Not as though I had already attained 
 —I press toward the mark” (Phil. iii. 12-14). 
 
 Each succeeding celebration of the Supper which 
 you are spared to join in should mark some genuine 
 progress toward Heaven and toward meetness for 
 entering there. It should be like one of those 
 booths for rest and refreshment, which are provided 
 for weary travellers climbing the Swiss mountains. 
 Besides telling you that so much more of your 
 earthly journey is past, it should bring you cheer, as 
 you press upward still, in Christ’s name, with fresh¬ 
 ened impulse, toward the very summit of the Holy 
 Hill of spiritual perfection. 
 
 You are not to take your Christianity from 
 Christians, but from Christ himself. Your constant 
 endeavour must be to become really worthy of “ that 
 worthy name by the which ye are called” (James ii. 
 7). It is a name which was “ called upon you ” (Gr.) 
 in Baptism : and it is now, by your own act of 
 profession, the name by which you are called—your 
 real, your highest, your eternal name, the name of 
 “ Christian.” Surely it is an honourable name. It 
 
68 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 is worthy of all honour in Him : it is worthy of all 
 vigilance in you, that you may be worthy of it. 
 King Alexander once said to a delinquent in his 
 ranks, called Alexander—“ Be the soldier, or drop 
 my name.” If you are a sincere follower of His, 
 Christ does not wish you to change your name : but 
 He does look to you to seek to be growingly 
 worthy of it. As when Simon got the name of 
 Peter, it continued to be to him for many a day 
 both an inspiration and a rebuke, so will it be with 
 your new name of Christian. You are to proceed 
 upon no lower ideal than the Lord has set before 
 you: and what He says to His disciples is—“Be 
 ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is 
 in Heaven is perfect” (Matt. v. 48). Use the Sacra¬ 
 ment, from time to time, along with all other avail¬ 
 able helps heavenwards, as a means which the 
 Divine Spirit will bless toward the attainment of 
 your coveted end. 
 
 Now, the believer’s attitude of spirit after the 
 Communion is not less important than his attitude 
 before or during its celebration. It is an old 
 counsel—“ Thou oughtest not only to prepare thy¬ 
 self to devotion before Communion, but carefully 
 also to prepare thyself therein after thou hast re¬ 
 ceived it.” Yet it is certain that the care bestowed 
 by Christians beforehand is often out of all pro¬ 
 portion to the care they manifest afterwards, and 
 that much of the blessing designed for them 
 through the Feast is in this way squandered and 
 lost. 
 
 The great thing to aim at is the maintenance of 
 the Spirit of Communion, although the Communion 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION . 69 
 
 Ordinance itself is past ; and the great danger to 
 be guarded against is the da?iger of reaction to 
 which the believer is often peculiarly liable after 
 a season of special religious privilege and elevation. 
 Elijah under the juniper tree, after his heroic stand 
 for Jehovah ; St Peter and the other disciples in 
 the garden, after the experiences of the Upper 
 Room; St Paul sunk in despondency because of 
 his thorn in the flesh, after his blissful transport 
 to the third heaven—these all felt the power of 
 this law of reaction ; and the young Christian need 
 not wonder if he should do the same. It is a 
 Divine injunction peculiarly applicable to such 
 after the Communion—“Take heed unto thy 
 spirit.” 
 
 33. CAUTIONS AND DUTIES. — We should 
 cherish—(1.) A spirit of humble thankfulness. Too 
 often the heart which glows with tenderness at 
 the Lord’s Table is suffered speedily to grow as 
 cold, if not colder than before, through careless 
 unhallowed contact with the world; and if the 
 customary attendance at the Thanksgiving Services, 
 which are often held only a day or two after the 
 Communion, is to be taken as an indication of 
 the general thankfulness, the Lord of the Feast 
 must often be found saying, in reproachful sorrow 
 —“Where are the nine?” Be ye thankful is an 
 apostolic charge (Col. iii. 15). Literally, Be ye 
 eucharistic: let your whole character, that is to 
 say, be eucharistic, your whole life a eucharist, a 
 service of thanksgiving to God. Surely Christ 
 deserves this, and not merely an occasional burst 
 of praise at sacramental seasons. 
 
70 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 And let ours be a humble thankfulness. We 
 must beware of the leaven of pride, which some¬ 
 times creeps into the spirit of a man after, and 
 even because, he has been giving respect to re¬ 
 ligious ordinances. The Pharisee within us is to 
 be persistently suppressed. 
 
 (2.) A spirit of watchfulness against temptation. 
 Christ’s counsel to His disciples, immediately after 
 they had left the first Communion, has its bearing 
 upon all disciples — “ Watch and pray, lest ye 
 enter into temptation.” It has been said of genuine 
 repentance, that while it looks with a weeping eye 
 upon the past it looks with a watchful eye upon 
 the future. If we pray in a listless spirit “ Lead us 
 not into temptation,” and yet are found heedlessly 
 running into it, we need not wonder if we bring 
 dishonour upon Christ and spiritual disaster upon 
 ourselves. Temptations will have to be met. They 
 are not in themselves sin, though yielding to them 
 is. Properly met, they will be for our strengthen¬ 
 ing, and will lead to our spiritual coronation (Jas. 
 i. 12). But we must be upon our guard. If we are 
 not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, we must, in 
 dependence on His gracious aid, cultivate a habit 
 of sensitive repugnance to sin, and be ready to 
 resist the first and all subsequent temptations that 
 may confront us, after we leave the Table of the 
 Lord. 
 
 (3.) A spirit of consistent loyalty to Christ. Like 
 the Hebrew servant spoken of in Exod. xxi. 5, the 
 genuine Communicant is one who has set his ear 
 to the doorpost of the household of faith, declaring, 
 with all possible emphasis—“ My choice is made ; 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 71 
 
 it is final and irreversible ; I love my Master ; I 
 will not go out free.” For him the true freedom 
 consists in abiding within, not in going out. He 
 recognises that he is Christ’s by purchase, by con¬ 
 sent, for ever. And this being so, he may be 
 expected, in the coming days, to resist consistently 
 all attempts to withdraw his allegiance from his 
 Master. Intermittent loyalty, vacillation, irre¬ 
 solution—these are the bane of many a so-called 
 Christian life ; while decision of Christian character 
 is for others at once their comfort and their strength. 
 We are to wear the badge of our Christianity in a 
 spirit of meekness. But if any would tamper with 
 our loyalty, we may point to it with something of 
 the sternness of insulted honour and outraged 
 affection, saying—“ Know ye not that I belong to 
 Christ for ever? My allegiance to Him is not to 
 be shaken. Threats, enticements, are alike in vain. 
 Henceforth let no man trouble me.” 
 
 (4.) A spirit of patient , practical obedie?ice to the 
 Saviour’s will. Every true prayer has in the heart 
 of it a holy resolution. The Communion Table is 
 the scene of many an earnest petition, and likewise 
 of many a sacred vow. We are not to look for 
 the fulfilment of the one, and to be neglectful of 
 the fulfilment of the other. When we leave the 
 Feast, we are to meet the demands of daily life 
 under a deep and abiding sense of responsibility 
 as well as of gratitude : “ Thy vows are upon me, 
 O God; I will render praises unto Thee” (Ps. 
 lvi. 12). It should be the constant question with 
 us, “Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?” 
 If we are truly Christ’s, then we shall not be in- 
 
72 
 
 0 UR CHRIS TIA N PA SSO VER. 
 
 different to the second part of the Apostle’s avowal 
 —“Whose I am, and whom I serve” (Acts xxvii. 
 23). There are some who profess to be His, and 
 yet do not give themselves actively to His service. 
 Be it yours, with St Paul, to glory in the name, “ a 
 servant of Jesus Christ”—the love of the Lord, your 
 motive ; the glory of the Lord, your end ; the word 
 of the Lord, your rule; and the joy of the Lord, your 
 strength. And if the unfolding future should dis¬ 
 close for you a service of suffering rather than of 
 active duty, seek grace to glorify the Lord even in 
 the fires. Never forget that He is your Prince as 
 well as your Saviour. 
 
 (5.) A spirit of loving interest in the coiicerns of 
 ChrisVs Church , and in all that is fitted to promote 
 the highest wellbeing of the world. 
 
 Your interest in the Church of Christ ought to 
 shew itself by what you are as well as do in the 
 particular congregation of which you are a member. 
 If you have any particular gift or aptitude, do not 
 hold it back, but freely consecrate it to the service 
 of Christ through the Church. Your own congre¬ 
 gation ought to be somewhat the better because of 
 your presence in it. At least by your character and 
 walk, you should continually seek to commend 
 Christianity to others, and to be, so far as in you 
 lies, a strength to your minister, and to the sacred 
 . cause he represents. The spirit of love is not 
 really expressed at the Communion Table if it 
 does not permeate the congregational life in the 
 intervals between successive Communion seasons ; 
 and you will do much if you contribute to the main¬ 
 tenance of a warm and loving Christian atmosphere. 
 
BEFORE , AT, AND AFTER COMMUNION. 73 
 
 Seek that your “ conversation ”—all your coming 
 and going among your fellow-worshippers—may be 
 “ as it becometh the Gospel of Christ ” (Phil. i. 
 27). If you are an idler or a backbiter throughout 
 the year, your sitting at the Table of the Lord at 
 particular seasons will do little, spiritually, either 
 for yourself or for those associated with you. It 
 will not prevent you from being a stumbling-block 
 to those who are without, and a source of weakness 
 to those whom you should regard and treat as 
 brethren and fellow-soldiers in the Gospel cause. 
 If, on the other hand, you model your character 
 and life on the 13th of 1st Corinthians, you will 
 be a blessing and a joy to all around you. 
 
 And if, in the community outside your own con¬ 
 gregation, you can be of any Christian service, you 
 are taken bound by Christ in your sacramental act 
 to be it. As a citizen,—in so far as you can be of 
 influence in matters pertaining to the wellbeing of 
 the village, town, city, district, commonwealth to 
 which you belong, — you ought to aim at the 
 advancement of the Christian cause. 
 
 The great foreign policy of the Kingdom ot 
 Christ—which we call the Foreign Mission enter¬ 
 prise—should be no less dear to your heart than 
 the work of Christ at home. You should familiarise 
 yourself with the centres in which your own Church 
 is carrying on Christ’s work among the heathen ; 
 you should pray for the missionaries ; and give a 
 due proportion of your means to the promotion of 
 aggressive work abroad, as well as to the mainten¬ 
 ance of Christian ordinances and enterprises at 
 home. Remember, and seek to get others to re- 
 
74 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 member with you, the missionary watchword— 
 “ Expect great things from God \ attempt great 
 things for God.” 
 
 - o - 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CLOSING COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 34. CONTINUANCE AND THE SECRET OF IT.— 
 
 The great difficulty which young Christians have to 
 reckon with is, to maintain the spirit of the Com¬ 
 munion. A Christianity of fits and starts is a poor 
 and ineffective thing: and every means should be 
 used by us, day by day, in dependence upon the 
 Spirit’s blessing, to prevent ours from being a 
 Christianity of that kind. 
 
 It is said in Ezekiel xxxix. 14, regarding an 
 arduous piece of work that had to be done in order 
 to the cleansing of the land—“And they shall sever 
 out men of continuance ” (marg.). Here you have a 
 good name for true servants of Jesus Christ— men 
 of continuance. He expects His followers to con¬ 
 tinue in His love (John xv. 9), to continue in His 
 word (John viii. 31), t° continue in prayer (Col. iv. 2), 
 to continue in well-doing (Rom. ii. 7). Those who 
 so continue hardly need to be “ severed out ” in the 
 Christian Church. The truth is, that in every con¬ 
 gregation and in every Christian community the 
 men and women, young men and maidens, “ of 
 continuance ” sever out themselves. 
 
 The grace of steadfastness is one which is greatly 
 admired in the world, and which is not less needed 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 75 
 
 in the Church. It is interesting to find how beauti¬ 
 fully it was exhibited among the primitive believers ; 
 and not less interesting to find that the secret of it 
 is expressly disclosed in Acts ii. 42—“And they 
 continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine 
 and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in 
 prayers.” 
 
 Like these early Christians, if you would be 
 steadfast you must continue in Apostolic doctrine. 
 You are not to count yourself above the need of 
 teaching. “ Sound doctrine is the food of faith.” 
 It will be well for you to be in your place on the 
 Lord’s Day, at both services of His Church, to hear 
 God’s word expounded from the pulpit: and you 
 should make it a matter of conscience to give your¬ 
 self systematically to the personal study of Divine 
 truth—“the Word of God’s grace, which is able to 
 build you up, and to give you an inheritance among 
 all them that are sanctified.” Other books may be 
 set aside. The newspaper may without much 
 harm be left for a day untasted. But let there never 
 be a day in which the Bible is left unopened. If 
 you are to be strong, it will be by having God’s Word 
 abiding in you (1 John ii. 14). 
 
 You must continue likewise in Apostolic fellow¬ 
 ship. Seek the companionship of the good. Enjoy 
 the best of Christian company. If you surrender 
 yourself to worldly companions, your soul will 
 inevitably be, “ like the dyer’s hand, subdued to 
 what it works in.” If, on the other hand, you 
 cultivate the companionship of the Christ-like, your 
 intercourse with them will increasingly prove a 
 fountain of mutual benefit and delight. Many in 
 
76 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 our jails are cursing their own past, and will give 
 you as the explanation of their evil plight—“bad 
 company.” Many in our Churches, on the other 
 hand, are thanking God for what true friendship has 
 been to them and made them. If you can say with 
 one of old—“ I am a companion of all them that 
 fear Thee,” that will tell for good upon your character 
 day by day. Above all, since Apostolic fellowship 
 implies fellowship with the Best of Friends, others 
 will have to take knowledge concerning you that you 
 are of the company of Jesus. 
 
 Again, you must continue in breaking of bread. 
 That is, you are to make diligent use of the social 
 ordinances of religion. This particular Ordinance 
 of the Supper you are to observe, not only once but 
 as often as opportunity is given, in a spirit of faith, 
 and hope, and love ; and, so observed, it will be for 
 your progressive strengthening. Experience bears 
 out the truth of the observation—“ A first Commun¬ 
 ion is the most striking, but not always, perhaps not 
 often, the most joyful or the most edifying. It is 
 the privilege of true religion, that its delights may 
 go on increasing.” As has already been enforced, 
 the Lord’s Supper is peculiarly the strengthening 
 Ordinance for believers. You owe it to yourself, as 
 well as to your Lord, to take thankful part in it 
 from time to time. How often has incipient declen¬ 
 sion been checked, faltering faith confirmed, flag¬ 
 ging courage revived, through the return of the 
 Communion season, with its heart-searching, heart- 
 comforting observances ! How many fainting 
 followers of the Lord Jesus it has helped to continue 
 steadfast 1 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 77 
 
 And then, like the early believers, you must con¬ 
 tinue in prayer . To neglect this is to live in an 
 implied independence of God ; it is to court failure, 
 and to induce, in the long run, wavering and defeat. 
 How true it is that “Apostacy begins at the 
 closet! ” No matter what else we observe, if we 
 neglect this, we shall be spiritual weaklings, and 
 cannot expect, or be expected, to continue steadfast. 
 But real prayer,—not merely “ saying our prayers,” 
 but really coming into the presence of God with 
 our actual necessities and desires, is a most strength¬ 
 ening influence in any human life. Even apart from 
 other blessings given in direct answer to prayer, 
 how blessed is the power it exerts within the heart. 
 In bringing us into contact with the Fountain of 
 Life, and bracing our souls with the atmosphere of 
 heaven, prayer is the mightiest restorative of moral 
 and spiritual energy. Make sure, then, to have 
 stated seasons, day by day, for the enjoyment of 
 this sacred and strengthening privilege. But also 
 seize throughout the day moments of upward aspira¬ 
 tion. And do not neglect opportunities of social 
 prayer. If you wish to be a strong believer, and 
 your congregation to be in the real sense a strong 
 congregation, encourage by example and precept 
 a hearty attendance at the Prayer-meeting. If 
 your life is a very busy one, there is all the more 
 need for you to secure a Sabbath hour in the 
 middle of the week, that, withdrawing yourself from 
 the cares and worries of the world, you may, with 
 kindred souls, commune together of the things of 
 the Kingdom, and strengthen yourself in the Lord 
 your God. 
 
78 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 35. JOYFULNESS AND ITS SECRET.— There 
 is another thing which we may well learn from the 
 early believers, besides their steadfastness, and that 
 is their spirit of Christian joyfulness. 
 
 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy” (Gal. v. 22); 
 and theirs was a joy rooted in love. So ardent and 
 diffused was the spirit of mutual love, that, in view 
 of the special necessities of the time, it found ex¬ 
 pression in a kind of Christian communism—not 
 the socialism which seeks by compulsion to level 
 down, but the socialism which seeks in love to level 
 up. And the joy was no less diffused and frequent 
 than the love to Christ, and to one another, out of 
 which it sprang. “ And they, continuing daily with 
 one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from 
 house to house, did eat their meat with gladness 
 and singleness of heart, praising God, and having 
 favour with all the people ” (Acts ii. 46-47). 
 
 The Christian has of all men the best right to 
 rejoice. We do an injury to ourselves and to 
 Christianity if we associate religion with gloom. 
 The news of Christ’s coming was heralded of 
 angels, as “good tidings of great joy;” and after 
 His coming He was able to tell His followers, 
 even in the midst of tribulation, to be of “good 
 cheer.” 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that the joyous spirit 
 of these early Christians was not only becoming, 
 but beneficial, both to themselves and others. 
 “ They did eat their meat with gladness ; ” and 
 it did them all the more good on that account, 
 for cheerfulness of spirit is favourable to spiritual 
 as well as physical health. And, through their 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 79 
 
 joyfulness, they were not only “praising God” all 
 the time, but they were “having favour with all 
 the people.” Christian cheerfulness is a means of 
 grace to the world. The bright, sunny atmosphere 
 of these primitive believers—in public and in private 
 —was not without its effect upon other hearts and 
 lives besides their own. It is significantly noted— 
 “ And the Lord added to the Church daily such as 
 were being saved.” Doubtless one of the means 
 which the Lord blessed toward drawing those 
 others into the way of peace was the attractive 
 power of a living, gladsome Christianity in those 
 who already knew Him. 
 
 For the Lord’s sake, then, and for the world’s 
 sake, as well as for your own, cultivate this spirit 
 of Christian gladness. It is a perversion of Chris¬ 
 tianity which makes doubt a mark of discipleship, 
 and gloominess a token of advancement in the 
 spiritual life. It is a God-dishonouring thing for 
 a believer to go hanging his head like a bulrush, 
 as though God’s Son were unable to atone for his 
 guilt, God’s Spirit unable to work complete deliver¬ 
 ance from sin, God’s Providence unable to take 
 care of him, and of the persons and interests dear 
 to his heart. “Rejoice evermore!” For so you 
 will be praising God ; and so also you will be dis¬ 
 pelling the world’s delusion that spiritual earnest¬ 
 ness and social moroseness have some necessary 
 connection with one another. In the spirit and 
 under the limitations suggested by the Apostle— 
 “ Let every one of us please his neighbour for his 
 good to edification ” (Rom. xv. 2). 
 
 Now, the secret of maintaining this spirit of joy- 
 
8 o 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 § 
 
 fulness is also disclosed to us in the account we 
 have of the early Christians. 
 
 The frequency of their approaches to Christ had 
 much to do with it. It was their delight to draw 
 near to Him, to contemplate Him as the object of 
 their deepest faith and warmest devotion. Had 
 they sorrow? They could go to Him to soothe it. 
 Had they sin? They could go to Him’for pardon 
 and for cleansing from it. Had they a burdensome 
 sense of failure ? They could turn to His outstretched 
 hand of help, that He might lead them on. Had 
 they losses ? Nothing, they felt, could deprive them 
 of His love. 
 
 Their singleness of heart did also much for the 
 maintaining of their joyfulness. The double-minded 
 man is not only unstable, but unhappy in all his 
 ways. The divided heart is ill at ease . it does not 
 know true peace and can expect no continuity of 
 happiness. But they were single-hearted: and the 
 one heart they had was all given to Him who had 
 bought them with His blood. 
 
 Their Christian brotherliness too was a great and 
 constant element in their joy. It was “with one 
 accord,” we are told, that they met for the worship 
 and service of God : and, as we find it recorded a 
 little afterwards, they were “ of one heart and one 
 soul.” Each rejoiced in the other’s happiness : each 
 sympathised with all, and all with each. There 
 was no strife, or selfishness, or isolation known 
 among them. They were a household of faith, a 
 true brotherhood in Christ: for “ great grace was 
 upon them all ” (Acts iv. 33). 
 
 And then, lastly, their readiness for service and 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 81 
 
 sacrifice both expressed and strengthened the spirit 
 of alacrity that was in them. They were happy in 
 being well employed. They appreciated the 
 benefits of religion so much for themselves, and 
 their hearts were so full of love for souls, that they 
 sought to lead many to be sharers with them in the 
 blessings of salvation. They felt it their mission to 
 be joy-bearers to the world about them; and so 
 bent were they upon the work that they had no time 
 to fret themselves into the unhappiness that comes 
 through indolence, and the busy-bodying spirit 
 which can only carp at the conduct or the work 
 of others. 
 
 36. THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH.— No doubt, 
 as a Christian, and as a young Christian, you will 
 have your trials to meet and your burdens to bear. 
 It will not be all sweetness and light. Daily praise 
 (Acts ii. 47 ; Ps. cxlv. 2) may not be always easy, 
 along with the daily cross (Luke ix. 23). But you are 
 not called to face your difficulties and carry your 
 burdens alone. The disciple’s relation to burden¬ 
 bearing is very comprehensively laid down in three 
 short precepts of God’s word. There is, first, the 
 Law of Christian Responsibility —“ Let every man 
 bear his own burden” (Gal. vi. 5). We cannot 
 possibly devolve our duty on another. Then there 
 is the Law of Christian Sympathy —“ Bear ye one 
 another’s burdens ” (Gal. vi. 2). If we do not feel 
 and pray for others in their toil and trouble, and try 
 to help them, we are not “fulfilling the law of 
 Christ.” There is also, however, the Law of Christ¬ 
 ian Dependence — “Cast thy burden on the Lord, 
 and He shall sustain thee” (Ps.lv. 22). Only by 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 thankful obedience to this call, can we possibly 
 discharge aright the other two. Beginning, then, 
 at the proper end, with Christian Dependence, be it 
 yours to advance in a spirit of Christian Sympathy 
 and under a sense of Christian Responsibility, to 
 meet the coming time. 
 
 There is a beautiful name given by Jesus to the 
 Third Person in the Godhead that may be of con¬ 
 stant comfort for you here. He is called the 
 “ Paraclete” (John xiv. 16, etc.). The word is trans¬ 
 lated in our Authorised version the Comforterj but 
 it means, literally, “ One to be called upon for help,” 
 or One ready to come alongside to our assistance. 
 Such is the Holy Spirit. He is the “other Helper,” 
 whom Jesus, in view of his own return to Heaven, 
 promised to send, and has sent, for the solace, and 
 strengthening, and sanctification of His disciples. 
 
 Cherish the remembrance that the Holy Ghost is 
 no mere influence, but a living, loving Person, in¬ 
 terested in you and disposed to further your highest 
 good. Be ever sensitive lest you grieve Him (Eph. 
 
 iv. 30) : for, just because He loves you greatly, you 
 may wound Him easily. And seek that you may be 
 not only affected but “filled” by the Spirit (Eph. 
 
 v. 18). This is the true secret not only of spiritual 
 comfort but of spiritual power. “ Ye shall receive 
 power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : 
 and ye shall be my witnesses ” (Acts i. 8). 
 
 37. THE LORD’S RETURN.— Take this fact 
 also as a constant encouragement —the Lord Himself 
 is coming. “I will come again,” He says, “and 
 receive you unto myself.” What love Christ has for 
 us, and what confidence He has in ours ! He is not 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 83 
 
 forgetting us : and He takes it for granted that we 
 count it the best news and the brightest of all pro¬ 
 spects that He is coming one day to take us to be 
 where He is Himself. “Till He come”—what a 
 thrill these few words should awaken in the breast 
 of “all them that love His appearing” (2 Tim. iv. 8). 
 How John and Peter and the rest loved His 
 appearing ! “ It is the Lord.” His coming meant 
 
 for them the sunlight in a world of darkness. So 
 with Paul, and with many a saint since Apostolic 
 days. “ If you were actually told, Doctor,” said one 
 to Dr Andrew Bonar, “ that Christ was coming, what 
 would you do?” “ Why,” said that saintly, John- 
 like disciple, “ I would just run to meet Him ! ” 
 
 We are charged to be “ looking for that blessed 
 hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God 
 and our Saviour” (Tit. ii. 13). This was conspicu¬ 
 ously the attitude of the early Church ; and Christ’s 
 coming is for us too, if we are His, not “that awful 
 terror,” but “that blessed hope.” We know not 
 when our Lord shall come. The hour of His 
 coming, to us and to the world, is among the 
 secret things which belong unto God. But we 
 should be found looking for it, in fond hope and 
 eager expectation. 
 
 We are not only to love and to look for His 
 appearing, but to do what we can to prepare the 
 way for it. In viewing such a glorious consumma¬ 
 tion, loyalty, as well as gratitude and hope, may 
 find expression. We are to be found “looking 
 for and haste 7 iing the coming of the day of God” 
 (2 Pet. iii. 12). What an honour, as heralds of 
 light and pioneers of the Kingdom, to prepare the 
 
8 4 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 way of the Lord ! What a privilege to hasten, by 
 prayer and effort, His approach—“Thy Kingdom 
 come !” “Even so, come, Lord Jesus !” 
 
 Till He come reminds us of the Feast at which 
 we shall have, in full fruition, the joys of which at 
 the earthly board we have only an emblem, and, 
 at best, a feeble foretaste. For the Lord will be 
 there in His visible presence ; and when that which 
 is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be 
 done away. The precious Ordinance, which has 
 been so often helpful on earth, will then be re¬ 
 signed without a sigh. And it will not be strange 
 that it should be so. 
 
 You have a dear friend absent in a far-off land. 
 You cannot see his face, or hear his voice ; and you 
 cannot bridge the distance which separates between 
 you, though oftentimes you would. But you have 
 beside you a letter from him, which tells you of 
 his love, and which, in hours of weariness and 
 despondency, you read and read again. And with 
 the letter you have a picture of him, which ever 
 and anon you take out, that you may sit and gaze 
 upon it, till affection’s tears bedim your eyes. It 
 looks so life-like, and makes you almost feel as 
 though he were by your side ! These are your 
 treasures, which you would not part with for a 
 great deal. Silver and gold would be simply no 
 recompense for them. 
 
 But a time comes when you no longer set the 
 same value on them. It would seem as if you 
 viewed them with indifference now. At the most, 
 you are only heard to tell how much you valued 
 them once, and what a comfort they used to be to 
 
COUNSELS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 85 
 
 your lonely heart. What, then, has happened ? 
 Has your love cooled to your absent friend? No. 
 Has estrangement come between you, so that now 
 the mementos of him are put away, lest the sight 
 should bring you only bitterness and pain ? Nay; 
 but he himself has come, and fulfilled the pledge 
 they gave, of the fulness of joy which awaited you 
 at his return. And now the poor letter, once so 
 much prized, is of less moment than it was, because 
 you clasp the hand that wrote it; and the picture 
 you so much treasured is little heeded now, because 
 you gaze into the living, loving face of which at 
 best it was the imperfect semblance. 
 
 So is it with these Ordinances of Grace. When 
 Glory comes, they will make way for it, and sink 
 into the background. The written Word will not 
 be needed when you clasp hands with the Word 
 made flesh—the glorified Son of Man. The Sacra¬ 
 ment will not be needed when the Lord it com¬ 
 memorated is come, and you behold in His actual, 
 glorified presence the Lamb that once was slain. 
 The Letter and the Picture may then be put aside, 
 though still you may remember them sometimes, 
 and lovingly breathe into your Saviour’s ear how 
 precious they were to you, so long as you were 
 absent from Himself. 
 
 “ I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come 
 again,” is Christ’s own word to us at the Table of 
 Communion. “Till He come” is the echo of her 
 Lord’s sweet voice, which the Church in no age of 
 her history will ever suffer to die. “ Even so, come, 
 Lord Jesus !” 
 
 The Communion on earth is the betrothal, the 
 
86 
 
 OUR CHRISTIAN PASSOVER. 
 
 mutual pledge of the holiest hopes of everlasting 
 fellowship. God the Father, and God the Spirit, 
 witness between us, till the glad day of heavenly 
 consummation. “Father, I will,” is the unfaltering 
 voice of the Bridegroom, looking forward, and never 
 doubting that His wish will be realised—“Father, 
 I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me 
 be with Me where I am!” “Father, I will,” is 
 the response of the Bride—“to depart and to be 
 with Christ, which is far better.” That is the 
 betrothal here on earth. 
 
 And yonder, where the shining of God’s counte¬ 
 nance is the light, is the Marriage Feast; at which 
 the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, now taken home within 
 the palace of the King, is seated by His side, pre¬ 
 pared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. And 
 nothing shall ever disturb the blissful union with 
 each other, which rests upon “ the everlasting cove¬ 
 nant” (Heb. xiii. 20). Whom God hath joined 
 together, none shall ever put asunder there. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 ANALYTICAL TABLE. 
 
 Chapter I.— Our Christian Passover : Its Origin 
 
 and Interest. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Company in the Upper Room, . 7 
 
 2. Who they were, and what their Service 
 
 meant, ... ... 7-8 
 
 3. The Suggestiveness of the Passover ( a ) 
 
 as a Memorial, and ( b ) as a Type, . 8 
 
 4. Expectation as well as gratitude awak¬ 
 
 ened by it,.8 
 
 5. Its Main Lesson briefly stated, . . 8 
 
 6. Diverse Experiences in Egypt, and what 
 
 made the Difference, .... 9 
 
 7. The New Testament Analogy of Faith, . 9 
 
 8. The Answer to the Modern Cavil—what 
 
 will Believing do ? 9 
 
 9. The Thoughts and Feelings of the Guests 
 
 at the Feast in the Upper Room, . 10 
 
 10. What their Master, at least, both knew 
 
 and felt,.10 
 
 11. Why this particular Passover was so 
 
 greatly desired by Jesus, . . .10-11 
 
 12. The Simple Inauguration of the Lord’s 
 
 Supper,.11 
 
 13. What practical concern we have with the 
 
 Transaction in the Upper Room, . 12 
 
 14. Men of every nationality interested in it,. 13 
 
 15. The name and attitude of “ Christen¬ 
 
 dom,” . 
 
 87 
 
 13 
 
88 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 16. The continuous and widespread Observ¬ 
 
 ance of the Supper, . . . . 13 
 
 17. The Reason for it,.14 
 
 18. Two Alternatives with respect to Christ, 14 
 
 19. An inalienable Responsibility,. . . 14 
 
 20. A Question which cannot be honourably 
 
 evaded, or postponed, . . . . 15 
 
 Chapter II .—The Means of Grace j and the Place 
 of the Sacraments among them. 
 
 1. Two Meanings of the word “Grace,” . 15 
 
 2. Both Uses as applied (a) to God, and (h) 
 
 specifically to Christ, . . . . 16 
 
 3. Both Uses as preserved in two familiar 
 
 Adjectives,.16 
 
 4. Two Aspects, therefore, of the Means of 
 
 Grace, . . . . . . . 16 
 
 5. What these Means principally are, . . 17 
 
 6. For whom the Word and Prayer are in¬ 
 
 tended, .17 
 
 7. For whom the Use of the Sacraments is 
 
 designed,.17 
 
 8. Augustine’s Definition of a Sacrament, as 
 
 “the Word made Visible,” . . . 18 
 
 9. The importance of the Word preceding 
 
 the Sacrament,.18 
 
 10. Augustine’s Definition enlarged, as “ the 
 
 Word and Prayer made Visible,” . 18 
 
 11. The Relation between the two New 
 
 Testament Sacraments, Baptism and 
 
 the Lord’s Supper, . . . . 19 
 
 12. The Four Distinct Parties to Baptism, . 19 
 
 13. What Adult Baptism implies, ... 20 
 
 14. What Infant Baptism means, ... 20 
 
 15. The Scripturalness of Infant Baptism, . 21 
 
 16. What Infant Baptism effects. . . . 21 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 89 
 
 PAGE 
 
 17. The Question with which your Baptism 
 
 as an Infant now confronts you, . . 22 
 
 18. Some Answer or other necessarily given 
 
 by every Young Man and Young 
 Woman,.22 
 
 19. The importance of Candour in dealing 
 
 with Christ,.23 
 
 20. Two possible Conclusions, both honest, 
 
 and their appropriate Sequel, . . 23 
 
 Chapter III.— The Principal Uses of the Lord's 
 
 Supper. 
 
 1. The Shorter Catechism Definition of a 
 
 Sacrament,.24 
 
 2. The Lord’s Supper (1) as a Picture , . 24 
 
 3. What even a Heathen seeing it might 
 
 gather,.24 
 
 4. Proof that the Lord’s Supper was insti¬ 
 
 tuted by Christ,.25 
 
 5. The Sensible Signs, and the two kinds of 
 
 them,.26 
 
 6. The Meaning of “ the Elements,” . . 26 
 
 7. The Meaning of “the Actions,” . . 26-8 
 
 8. The Great Event and the Central Doc¬ 
 
 trine suggested in the Supper, . . 29 
 
 9. The Lord’s Supper (2) as a Pledge , . 30 
 
 10. The twofold daily use of a Seal, . . 30 
 
 11. The Bible Analogy of the Seal (a) to 
 
 Property, and (b) to a Document, . 31-3 
 
 12. The Sacrament in the latter sense a Seal, 33 
 
 13. Christ’s Letter and Signet Mark, with an 
 
 illustration from common life, . . 33-5 
 
 14. The Lord’s Supper (3) as a Portion , . 35 
 
 15. Frequency of its Celebration in ancient 
 
 and in modern days, .... 36 
 
 16. Divergent Views as to how the Spiritual 
 
 Life is promoted by it, ... 37 
 
90 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 17. The Magical Theory of Romanists, false, 38 
 
 18. The Moral Theory of Rationalists, with 
 
 the measure of truth that is in it, . 38-9 
 
 19. The Spiritual Theory of the Evangelical 
 
 Churches,.39 
 
 20. Spiritual Photography, with its grand 
 
 essentials,.40 
 
 Chapter IV. — The Leading Names of the Ordin¬ 
 ance : with the Personal Question, Ought I to 
 
 Partake ? 
 
 1. The commonest Name, the Lord’s 
 
 Supper,.41 
 
 2. Three other Names in frequent use, . 41. 
 
 3. The Lord’s Supper as the Eucharist, or 
 
 Feast of Thanksgiving, . . .41-2 
 
 4. The Lord’s Supper as the Communion, or 
 
 Feast of Fellowship, .... 43 
 
 5. The Lord’s Supper as the Sacrament, or 
 
 Feast of Holy Covenant, . . . 44-5 
 
 6. The Names and their references tabu¬ 
 
 lated together,.46 
 
 7. The Death, the Life, the Service of Jesus 
 
 —What are these to you ? . . .47-8 
 
 8. The Opposing Responsibilities, of ap¬ 
 
 proaching to and holding back from 
 the Lord’s Table, .... 48-9 
 
 9. What the Church and its Ministers are 
 
 called to consider in Applicants for 
 membership,.49 
 
 10. What the Applicant must be concerned 
 
 for in himself,.49 
 
 11. Merit versus Meekness : Worthy to 
 
 Communicate versus Communicating 
 Worthily,.49 
 
 12. Eating and drinking (not damnation but) 
 
 judgment,.50 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 9 i 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13. A True versus a Strong Faith ; or a Real 
 
 versus a Ripe Christianity, . . . 51 
 
 14. The Larger Westminster Catechism, on 
 
 those who may and ought to come to 
 the Lord’s Supper, .... 52 
 
 15. Vain Excuses dealt with,. . . . 52-4 
 
 16. Is the Sacrament necessary? No , and 
 
 Yes , ....... 54 
 
 17. In what sense the Sacrament is not 
 
 necessary,.54-5 
 
 18. In what sense the Sacrament is necessary, 55-6 
 
 19. How glorifying Christ brings good to our¬ 
 
 selves, ....... 56 
 
 20. The evil of halting between two opinions : 
 
 and of Secret Discipleship, ... 57 
 
 Chapter V.— Before , at, and after the Communion. 
 
 1. If I ought, How am I, to communicate ? . 58 
 
 2. Neither too much nor too little to be 
 
 made of our own spiritual “Exercise,” 58 
 
 3. Before the Communion— Preparation , . 58 
 
 4. About what, and how, we should examine 
 
 ourselves,.59 
 
 5. For what, and how, we are to humble 
 
 ourselves,.60-1 
 
 6. To what, and how, we must arouse our¬ 
 
 selves, ....... 62-3 
 
 7. The aid of the Holy Spirit above all else 
 
 to be sought,.64 
 
 8. At the Communion— Contemplation , . 64 
 
 9. Helps at the Table,.65 
 
 10. The Conquering Right Hand, ... 66 
 
 11. Appropriation and Surrender, . . . 66 
 
 12. After the Communion— Aspiration , . 67 
 
 13. That Worthy Name wherewith ye are 
 
 called,.67-8 
 
 14. Maintaining the Spirit of Communion, . 68 
 
92 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 15. The call to Humble Thankfulness, . . 69 
 
 16. The need for Prompt and Constant 
 
 Watchfulness,.70 
 
 17. Consistent Loyalty in Heart to Christ, . 70-1 
 
 18. Patient Practical Obedience to the 
 
 Saviour’s Will,.71 
 
 19. Loving Interest in the Concerns of the 
 
 Christian Church, .... 72-3 
 
 20. Charity beginning at home, but not end¬ 
 
 ing there,.73-4 
 
 Chapter VI .—Closing Counsels and 
 Encouragements. 
 
 1. A Good Name for Christians—“Men of 
 
 Continuance,”.74 
 
 2. The Grace of Steadfastness : and the 
 
 Secret of it,.74 
 
 3. Continuance in Apostolic Doctrine, . 75 
 
 4. Continuance in Apostolic Fellowship, . 75-6 
 
 5. Continuance in the Breaking of Bread, . 76 
 
 6. Continuance in Prayer, . . . . 77 
 
 7. The Grace of Christian Joyfulness, . . 78 
 
 8. Its Root in Love,.78 
 
 9. Its Fruit in Personal Blessing, . . 78 
 
 10. Its Fruit in Blessing to the World, . . 79 
 
 11. The Secret of Christian Joyfulness: In 
 
 (a) Frequency of Approach to Christ, . 80 
 
 12. In ( b ) Singleness of Heart, ... 80 
 
 13. In (c) Christian Brotherliness, ... 80 
 
 14. In (d) Readiness for Service and Sacrifice, 80-1 
 
 15. Burden-bearing a Necessity of the Christ¬ 
 
 ian Life on Earth, . . . . 81 
 
 16. The Scripture Rules for Burden-bearing, 81 
 
 17. The Other Helper—“the Paraclete,” . 82 
 
 18. Christ is Coming, . . / . . 82-3 
 
 19. The Letters and the Portrait set aside, . 84-5 
 
 20. The Betrothal followed by the Marriage 
 
 F east,. 
 
 85-6 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 93 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 The Catechisms , on the Lord’s Slipper. 
 
 The subjoined Summary of Doctrine, from the 
 Westminster Assembly’s Shorter (91-7) and Larger 
 (104-5) Catechisms, may with advantage be read 
 continuously :— 
 
 A Sacrament is an holy Ordinance instituted by 
 Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the 
 benefits of the New Covenant, are represented, sealed, 
 and applied to believers. 
 
 The Lord’s Supper is a Sacrament, wherein, by 
 giving and receiving bread and wine, according to 
 Christ’s appointment, His death is showed forth; 
 and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal 
 and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of 
 His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their 
 spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. 
 
 The Sacraments become effectual means of salva¬ 
 tion, not from any virtue in them, or in him that 
 doth administer them ; but only by the blessing of 
 Christ, and the working of His Spirit in them that 
 by faith receive them. 
 
 It is required of them that would worthily partake 
 of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves 
 of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body, of 
 their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, 
 love, and new obedience ; lest, coming unworthily, 
 they eat and drink judgment to themselves. 
 
 It is required of them that receive the Sacrament 
 of the Lord’s Supper, that during the time of the 
 administration of it, with all holy reverence and 
 attention they wait upon God in that Ordinance, 
 diligently observe the sacramental elements and ac¬ 
 tions, heedfully discern the Lord’s body, and affec¬ 
 tionately meditate on His death and sufferings, and 
 thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of 
 their graces ; in judging themselves, and sorrowing 
 
94 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 for sin ; in earnest hungering and thirsting after 
 Christ, feeding on Him by faith, receiving of His 
 fulness, trusting in His merits, rejoicing in His love, 
 giving thanks for His grace ; in renewing of their 
 covenant with God, and love to all the saints. 
 
 The duty of Christians, after they have received 
 the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, is seriously to 
 consider how they have behaved themselves therein, 
 and with what success ; if they find quickening and 
 comfort, to bless God for it, beg the continuance of 
 it, watch against relapses, fulfil their vows, and en¬ 
 courage themselves to a frequent attendance on that 
 Ordinance ; but if they find no present benefit, more 
 exactly to review their preparation to, and carriage 
 at, the Sacrament; in both which, if they can approve 
 themselves to God and their own consciences, they 
 are to wait for the fruit of it in due time ; but, if they 
 see they have failed in either, they are to be humbled 
 and to attend upon it afterwards with more care and 
 diligence. 
 
 It may be convenient to give here also “that 
 abridgment commonly called The Apostles’ Creed 
 which the Westminster Assembly annexed to their 
 Catechisms, as “ a brief sum of the Christian faith, 
 agreeable to the Word of God, and anciently re¬ 
 ceived in the Churches of Christ” :— 
 
 “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven 
 and earth : and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who 
 was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, 
 suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried . 
 He descended into hell (hades); the third day He rose again 
 from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the 
 right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He 
 shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the 
 holy catholic Church ; the communion of saints , the forgive¬ 
 ness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and the life 
 everlasting. Amen." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
Recently Published, Fourth Edition , in Grown 8uo, 
 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 BEYOND THE STARS; 
 
 OB, 
 
 Its Inhabitants, Occupations, and Life. 
 
 By THOMAS HAMILTON, D.D., Belfast, 
 
 Author of “History of the Irish Presbyterian Church." 
 
 CONTENTS.— Chap. I. Some Introductory Words. II. A Settling 
 of Localities. III. The King of the Country. IV. The King’s 
 Ministers. V. The King’s Messengers. VI. The King’s Sub¬ 
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 Resurrection. XI. How to get there. 
 
 “ It is the work of a man of strong sense and great power, of lucid 
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 By Rev. G. H. C. MACGREGOR, M.A., London. 
 
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 Introduction by Principal MOULE, Ridley" Hall. 
 
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 glad. It is one of those books, never too common, in which, by the 
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 clearly, but sympathetically ; not only tenderly, but searcliingly; 
 and above all, so as to bring out proportions and connections in the 
 ‘ things which accompany salvation,’ as they are revealed in the 
 Holy Word.”—Principal Moule. 
 
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 BEING ADDRESSES TO YOUNG COMMUNICANTS. 
 
 By GEORGE ELMSLIE: TROUP, M.A. 
 
 Contents r—Babits.*~Keepi£tg the Sou!.—'Holiness.--Growing. 
 
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 HER ORIGIN* FOUNDERS, AND TESTIMONY . 
 
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 by far and away the first. ^ > A most fascinating history. , 
 is not a dry page In the hook, and at two or three points o 
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