The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is as a spiritual feast to nourish our faith, and to strengthen us to walk in all holiness by Christ living and working in us, if it be used according to the pattern which Christ gave us in its first institution recorded by three Evangelists, Matt. xxvi:26, 27, 28; Mark xiv:22, 23, 24; Luke xxii:19, 20; and was extraordinarily revealed from heaven by Christ Himself to the apostle Paul (I Cor. xi:23, 24, 25); that we might be the more obliged and stirred up to the exact observation of it. Its end is not only that we may remember Christ’s death in the history, but in the mystery of it; as that His body was broken for us, that His blood is the blood of the New Testament, or Covenant, shed for us, and for many, for the remission of sins; that so we may receive and enjoy all the promises of the new covenant which are recorded (Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12). Its end is, to mind us, that Christ’s body and blood are bread and drink, even all-sufficient food to nourish our souls to everlasting life; and that we ought to take, and eat, and drink Him by faith; and to assure us, that, when we truly believe on Him, He is as really and closely united to us by His spirit, as the food which we eat and drink is united to our bodies. Christ Himself (John vi) doth more fully explain this mystery.
Furthermore, this sacrament doth not only put us in mind of the spiritual blessings wherein we are blessed in Christ, and our enjoyment of them by faith, but also it is a means and instrument, whereby God doth really exhibit and give forth Christ and His salvation to true believers, and whereby He doth stir up and strengthen believers, to receive and feed upon Christ by present actings of faith, while they partake of the outward elements. When Christ saith, Eat, drink this is My body, this is My blood, no less can be meant, than that Christ doth as truly give His body and blood to true believers in that ordinance, as the bread and cup; and they do as truly receive it by faith. As if a prince invest a subject in some honourable office, by delivering to him a staff, sword or signet: and say to him, “Take this staff, sword or signet; that is such an office or preferment,” or if a father should deliver a deed for conveyance of land to his son, any say, “Take it as thy own; this is such a farm or manor;” how can such expressions impart anything less, in common sense and reason, than a present, gift, and conveyance of the offices, preferments, and lands, by and with these outward signs? Therefore the apostle Paul asserteth that the bread in the Lord’s Supper, is the communion of the body of Christ and the cup is the communion of His blood (I Cor. x:16): which showeth that Christ’s body and blood are really communicated to us, and we do really partake of them as well as of the bread and cup.
The chief excellency and advantage of this ordinance is, that it is not only a figure and resemblance of our living upon a crucified Saviour, but also a precious instrument, whereby Christ, the bread and drink of life, is really conveyed to us, and received by us, through faith. This makes it to be a love-token, worthy of that ardent affection towards us, which filled Christ’s heart at the time when He instituted it, when He was on the point of finishing His greatest work of love, by laying down His life for us (I Cor. xi:23). And this is diligently to be observed, that we may make a right improvement of this ordinance, and receive the benefits of it.
One reason why many do little esteem, and seldom or never partake of this ordinance, and do find little benefit by it, is, because they falsely imagine, that God in it only holds forth naked signs and resemblances of Christ and His salvation, which they account to be held forth so plainly in Scripture, that they need not the help of such a sign; whereas, if they understood, that God doth really give Christ Himself to their faith, by and with those signs and resemblances, they would prize it as the most delicious feast, and be desirous to partake of it on all opportunities (Acts ii:42 and xx:7).
Another reason why many partake seldom or never of this ordinance, and know little of the benefit of it, is, because they think themselves brought by it into great danger of eating and drinking their own damnation; according to these terrifying words of the apostle, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (I Cor. xi:29). Therefore they account it the safest way, wholly to abstain from such a dangerous ordinance; or at least, that once a year is enough to run so great a hazard. And, if they be brought to it sometimes by constraint of conscience, their slavish fears bereave them of all comfortable fruit of it. So that instead of striving to receive Christ and His salvation therein, they account themselves to have succeeded well, if they come off without the sentence of damnation; as the Jewish Rabbis write, that the High Priest’s life was so eminently hazarded by his entering once a year into the Holy of Holies, that he stayed there as little time as he could, lest the people should think him to be struck dead by the hand of God; and when he was come forth alive, he usually made a feast of thanksgiving for joy of so great deliverance. But there is no reason why we should be so much terrified by those words of the apostle; for they are darted against such a gross profanation of the Lord’s Supper among the Corinthians, as we may easily avoid, by observing the institution of it, which the apostle proposeth to them as a sufficient remedy against the gross abuse, in not discerning or differencing the Lord’s body from other bodily food, and partaking of it as their own supper, with such disorder, that one was hungry, and another drunken. Besides that terrifying word damnation, may be rendered more mildly judgment, as it is in the margin; yea, the apostle himself (verse 32), doth interpret it of a merciful, temporal judgment, whereby we are ” chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” We are indeed prone to sin, in receiving unworthily, and so we are also to pollute more or less, all other holy things that we meddle with. So that the consideration of our danger might fill us with slavish fear in the use of all other means of grace, as well as of this, were it not, that we have a great High Priest to bear this iniquity of our holy things (Exodus xxviii:38), under the covert of whose righteousness we are to draw near to God, without slavish fear, in the full assurance of faith, in this as well as in other holy ordinances; and we are to rejoice in the Lord, in this spiritual feast, as the Jews were bound to do in their solemn feasts (Deut. xvi:14, 15).
There are other abuses of this ordinance, like to those of baptism fore-mentioned, whereby it is rendered opposite, rather than subservient of the life of faith. Some put it in the place of Christ, by trusting on it as a work of righteousness for the procuring of God’s favour, or an ordinance sufficient to confer to the soul by the very work wrought. Others made it so necessary, that they account faith is not sufficient without it: and therefore they will partake of it, if they can possibly though it be in a disorderly manner, upon their sick-beds, when they are in fear of death, as their viaticum. The Papists do horribly idolise it by their figment of transubstantiation, and the adoration of their bread and god, and their sacrifice of the mass for the sins of the quick and dead. We ought warily to conceive, that the true body and blood of Christ are given to us, with the bread and wine, in a spiritual mysterious manner, by the unsearchable operation of the Holy Spirit, uniting Christ and us together by faith, without any transubstantiation in the outward elements.—(From “The Gospel of Mystery of Sanctification”).
Brief Extracts.
Succour for the Tempted.
A heathen could say, when a bird scared by a hawk flew into his bosom, I will not betray thee unto thy enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me. How much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy when it takes sanctuary in His name, saying, “Lord, I am hunted with such a temptation, dogged with such a lust, either Thou must pardon it, or I am damned; mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; Take me unto the bosom of Thy love, for Christ’s sake; castle me in the arms of Thy everlasting strength, it is in Thy power to save me from, or give me up into, the hands of my enemy. I have no confidence in myself or any other: into Thy hands I commit my cause, my life, and rely on Thee.” This dependence of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of God for such an one’s defence. He hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of His blessed lips, even by Himself, that such as thus fly for refuge to hope in Him shall have strong consolation (Heb. vi:17). This indeed may give the saints the greater boldness of faith to expect kindly entertainment when he repairs to God for refuge, because He cannot come before He is looked for. God having set up His name and promises as a strong tower, both calls His people into these chambers, and expects they should betake themselves thither.—William Gurnall.
Capital punishment.
God gave the unrepealed command, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” Nor should it be forgotten, as sufficient for ever to silence the advocates for the abolition of capital punishment, that God has not only given an unrepealed command which He might have been pleased to rest on His own authority and will alone, but He has condescended to give the ground and reason of it; and so long as both the command remains unrepealed, and the reason remains a fact, so long is the proposed abolition of capital punishment a daring insult against the Most High. God hath given us the reason why the shedding of man’s blood must be avenged by the murderer’s death—”for in the image of God made He man.” And until this truth becomes untrue, that is, until man ceases to be a free, intelligent, responsible being—fallen, indeed, and in the vast multitude of cases, alas! unrenewed, yet still responsible, intelligent and free—capital punishment, both by God’s commanding will, and by God’s commanding reason, is the murderer’s doom. And nature and reason sanction the sentence.—(From “The Prophet Jonah” by Dr. Hugh Martin).