Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

And a stone of purest whiteness,
And, graven in the stone,
A name which no man knoweth,
Save he and God alone.

And he that overcometh,

And endureth to the end,
Shall triumph, and the nations
Before his rod shall bend,
And be to shivers broken
As a potter's vessels are ;
And I myself will give him
The bright and morning star.
And let him that overcometh
Be clothed in raiment bright,
And to him shall be granted

To walk with Me in white;
Nor from the Living Volume
Will I blot out his name,
But before my Father's angels
I will confess the same.

And him that overcometh
A pillar will I make
Within my Father's temple—
A pillar nought can shake;
And three names will I give him :-
The first shall be God's own,
Then that of New Jerusalem,
And my new name unknown.

To him that overcometh-
As on my Father's throne
I sit with Him triumphant—
I will grant to share my own;
And he that understandeth,
And hath a willing ear,

The sayings of the Spirit

To the Churches let him hear.

:

J. W. A.

XV.

Taithful Communion.

"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come."-1 COR. xi. 26.

[graphic]

HERE are several ways in which we may regard the Lord's Supper; and if we would thoroughly understand this ordinance, we must look at it in all these ways. If we only take what may be called a one-sided

view of it, we shall be in danger, I think, of missing some of its purposes and advantages. I would therefore, first of all, ask you briefly to consider it in all its bearings as it is set before us in Scripture. And as we look at it, we must remember that the Scripture testimony may be divided under two heads; viz., the institution of it by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself on the night of the betrayal; and the continued observance of it by the early Christians, as exhibited in the accounts of the Acts and epistles. And if we keep our eyes upon these two sources of

information, I think we shall easily obtain a very clear view of the purposes, the uses, and the benefits, as well as the essential character, of the Lord's Supper.

Firstly. It is chiefly a memorial. I say "chiefly," because that seems to have been the prominent idea in the mind of the Saviour when He instituted it. As He delivered both the bread and the wine to His disciples, He said to them, "This do in remembrance of me." It was to be a constant and perpetual memorial of His death. The broken bread was ever to remind them of His body that was bruised; and the poured-out wine of His blood that was shed for them. It was to take the place of the Passover. Just as the Passover had been in the minds and hearts of the Jews a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, so the Lord's Supper was to be in the minds and hearts of Christians a living memorial of the great sacrifice and redemption that was wrought on Calvary for the sins of the world. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come."

But, secondly, we cannot doubt that it was intended to be something more than that. The mere words, "This is my body... this is my blood," seem to teach us this, especially when they are taken in connection with what St. Paul says in 1 Cor. x. 16, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body." When we connect these words

with what our Lord says about Himself, His flesh and His blood being the bread of life and the life of the soul, we cannot surely be wrong in supposing that St. Paul is alluding to the Lord's Supper as being not merely a bond of Christian union, but also a means of grace, whereby those who come in the right spirit may feed upon Christ in their hearts by faith. For not only, he says, "are we, being many, one bread and one body," but we are also "partakers of that one bread," and that bread must be Christ, and cannot be anything else. Therefore the Lord's Supper is not only a memorial, but it is also a blessed means of holding communion with God, of feeding upon Christ in our hearts by faith, and of thus being made partakers of the Bread of Life.

Again, thirdly, we may regard it as a sign or seal of Christian love and unity. We find that the disciples in the early Church "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers." There seems to be an undoubted allusion here to the Lord's Supper, as being an occasion for Christian fellowship, and a means of strengthening the bonds of Christian love. This is the reason why in our Communion Service we are so often reminded of the necessity of our being "in perfect charity with all men," in order to enjoy the real benefits of the ordinance. And everyone, I am sure, who enters into the true spirit of the sacrament cannot fail to have felt how great an influence it has in drawing Christians together, how much it reminds them of the great fact that they have the same Saviour, and are all heirs of the same salvation, and

how much it does towards removing any thoughts of hatred or ill-will out of the heart.

Once more, fourthly, it may be considered as a badge of Christian profession. The word "sacrament" originally signifies the oath of allegiance which the Roman soldier took to the emperor. And we can well understand how in the early ages of Christianity the assembling of the Christians for this sacred feast was remarked upon by the heathen world outside with surprise and contempt, and how it became a mark or badge of their profession. It was well indeed that it was so; and perhaps it would be well if it was rather more so regarded now. It would be much better if it could be looked upon as a distinctive badge or characteristic of those who really love the Lord, who are sincere believers in Christ, and who not only "profess and call themselves Christians," but are really so in deed and in truth. The sacrament is often made too common-almost-I say it with reverence, too cheap-it is regarded and valued far too lightly. We should do well to look upon it more as a very sacred and solemn privilege—a privilege that belongs only to hearty repentance and true faith and sincere love—a feast of which they only have a right to partake who have been born again, and been made God's own children—a badge of genuine discipleship.

These are the main aspects, I think, in which we should regard the sacrament of the Lord's Supper -first, as a memorial or remembrance of the death of Christ; secondly, as a great channel of grace and communion between God and the true Christian;

« AnteriorContinua »