Chapter I: Front Matter

THE
COMMUNION AND COMMUNICANT.

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BY THE
REV. EDWARD HOARE, A.M.,
INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, RAMSGATE.

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LONDON:
J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY,
MDCCCXLVII.

* * * * *

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

THE SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES of our PROTESTANT CHURCH. Second Edition. Price 3_s._

THE TIME of the END; or, The World, the Visible Church, and the People of God, at the Advent of the Lord. Third Edition. Price 1_s._ 6_d._

BAPTISM, as Taught in the Bible and the Prayer-Book. No. 6.—Tracts for Churchmen. Second Edition. Price 2½_d._

THE COMMUNION AND COMMUNICANT.

THERE is no institution more delightful to the Christian than the holy sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. It is a touching remembrance of a Redeemer’s love—a refreshing means of grace to the soul—a happy communion of the Lord’s believing family—and a gladdening foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb. With what heartfelt gratitude should believers rejoice in such a feast!

But it is not to all a feast of joy. Some neglect it from a total want of inclination; some receive it in a careless, worldly spirit, and to them it soon becomes an empty form, like a vessel in which is no water; while others regard it as an awful mystery—as something too high for such as they are, and, like the holy of holies in the temple, beyond the reach of common men.

This sense of mysterious awe may be traced, in great measure, to the startling words of St. Paul in 1 Cor. xi.. 29, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” Nor can there be any question, that the impression made by such strong and fearful language should be that of the deepest possible solemnity. St. Paul spoke by inspiration, and that man must indeed be a bold transgressor, who does not feel awed and solemnized when he reads such a caution from the Holy Ghost. But yet the Christian is not right if he lays aside the subject under the first sense of solemn awe, or excludes himself from a delightful privilege, because he sees solemnity in the ordinance, and apprehends some possible danger in its misuse. He ought rather to take the Word of God, and study it carefully, in order to ascertain the real nature of the service, and the kind of character to which the words refer. This is the course for sensible and right-minded men; and to assist such in this investigation, is the object of the present tract.

There are five passages in the Bible distinctly referring to the Lord’s Supper, as an appointed institution in the Church, namely, Matt. xxvi. 26–29; Mark xiv. 22–25; Luke xxii. 13–20; 1 Cor. x. 16–21; and xi. 18–34. {4} As the last of these is much the fullest, it may be well to adopt it as the basis of our enquiry; and we shall be able to learn from it the authority and nature of the Lord’s Supper, the danger of coming unworthily, and the character of those who do so.

I. The AUTHORITY.

It is not a scheme of man’s contrivance, or the result of merely human wisdom, but was ordained by our blessed Lord himself, and enjoined on his people by his twice repeated words.

The first occasion was on the night before his crucifixion, when he was eating the Paschal Supper with his disciples. He then gave them bread and wine, and said, “This do in remembrance of me.” Here, therefore, is his own plain command—and one command from him is enough for the Christian.

But He did not leave the subject there; for after his ascension to the right hand of God, he was still mindful of his sacrament, and repeated his command by express revelation to St. Paul. He had already spoken plainly, so that none could mistake him; and three evangelists had left his words in writing, so that none could doubt as to his language: but yet, as if to prevent the possibility either of forgetfulness or mistake, when he called a new servant to his apostleship, he made to him a second revelation of his will; for on turning to verse 23, we find that St. Paul did not receive the doctrine of the sacrament from those who were apostles before him, but from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. “_I 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 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.”

Now, to those who are anxious to know how they ought to act, these twice repeated words of Jesus surely give a simple answer. Some persons think it safer to abstain and wait; but is it not the safest thing simply to obey the commands of Jesus? To follow your own judgment, and to give way to doubts and fears, can never be so safe as to throw yourself like a little child at the feet of your Saviour, and there say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” You wish to be Christ’s disciple, so begin at once to do what Christ commands.

II. The NATURE.

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is,

(1.) _An act of remembrance_. When our Lord gave the bread and wine to his disciples, he said, “Do this in remembrance of me:” and when they are given to us, we receive them in remembrance of Christ. We know in common life what a value we put upon any token of affection, on a book, ring, or picture, which has been given as a memorial by some dear departed friend. It becomes sacred in proportion to our love for those who gave it, and when that love is strong we care far more for it than for other things of incomparably greater value. This act is a memorial or remembrance of Christ; an outward sign to show how much we love him. He is in heaven at the right hand of God, so that none can see him; but, while the world rejects him, we remember him; and when we receive that bread and wine, we set to our seal that he is our soul’s beloved, that we live on his grace, and can never forget his mercy.

But we do not merely show our remembrance of his person and character; the communion is especially a remembrance of his death. It was appointed on the very night before his crucifixion, and the broken bread represents his body crucified, while the wine is a figure of his blood so freely shed for our sins. “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s _death_ until he come.”—Verse 26. Now, there never was an act so full of love as that; the world’s whole history contains nothing like it; the Son of God endured the curse of rebel man. Nor did anything ever done so closely affect our deepest interests; our whole hope of eternal life depends on what he then endured for us. Had he not suffered in our stead, we had all surely perished; but now, because he has borne that curse which we deserve, believing in him we are no less surely safe. Never, therefore, must that death of Christ be forgotten or disregarded by the Christian; it is our hope, our life, and only source of peace; and that man must have known little of a Saviour’s grace who does not desire to “bind it as a sign upon his hand,” and to let it be “as frontlets between his eyes.” Now, when we take the bread and wine we express before the world our thankful remembrance of his grace; we declare before men the deep fidelity of our grateful love. We may show our gratitude either by words or actions. This is an action to denote the deep affection of those who live by faith, a visible utterance of their unseen and unceasing gratitude.

(2.) It is _a means of spiritual food and sustenance_. The soul requires to be fed as well as the body, and without food the one will die quite as quickly as the other, for neither soul nor body has life in itself. And as the body lives by outward food, so the believing soul feeds on Christ. He is the living bread which came down from heaven, the heavenly manna provided for his people throughout the wilderness. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever.” Now, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a divinely appointed means whereby believers feed on Christ. We do not mean that there is anything particular in the bread or in the wine, anything remarkable or mysterious in the elements received which conveys a blessing, for they are nothing more than plain simple bread and wine, which nourish the body and that only. But when with the lips we receive those elements in faith, the Holy Ghost within the heart is graciously pleased to pour life into the soul. According to the language of the 28th Article, “The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is faith.”

That there is no actual change in the bread and wine is perfectly plain from the single fact, that they are always called “bread” and “wine” in Scripture _after_ their consecration in the sacrament. In this and the preceding chapter there are no less than four passages in which the food which communicants receive, is called by the simple name of “bread.”

x. 17. “We are all partakers of that _bread_.”
xi. 26. “As often as ye eat this _bread_.”
27. “Whosoever shall eat this _bread_.”
28. “So let him eat of that _bread_.”

And so also with the wine. Our Lord said of it, _after_ the consecration, (Matt. xxvi. 29,) “I will not drink any more of this _fruit of the vine_ until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” The bread, therefore, is still bread, and the wine still wine—unchanged in all respects; the same in substance, and the same in property, as before their consecration to the Lord’s service in the sacrament. They are set apart for a holy use, and therefore should be treated reverently, like the house of God itself. But they are no more changed in nature than were the stones and woodwork of the building, when it was solemnly consecrated to be a church for the Lord.

What, then, is the meaning of our Lord’s words, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood?” That they did not mean that the bread and wine were changed into body and blood is evident, for such an interpretation would contradict the plain language of the Bible: and that they do mean, that the bread and wine were signs, emblems, or figures of his body and blood, is equally plain from the language of our Lord; for in ver. 25, we read, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood.” Now these words must be figurative, for none suppose that the cup was changed into the New Testament; and their only possible meaning is, that the wine in the cup was a figure or emblem of the blood of the covenant. So, also, must it be with the bread. The words are quite as plain and positive in one case as in the other. “This is my body,”—“This is the New Testament;” and as they were spoken by the same person, on the same occasion, to the same company, and with the same object, it is clear that they mean the same thing, namely, that the bread is a figure of the body, as the wine is a figure of the blood.

If a person were showing a gallery of pictures, he might say, “This is St. Paul,” “This is St. Peter,” and “This is St. John;” and he would mean thereby, that those pictures on the canvass were representations of the persons whose names they bore. So, again, when our Lord said, “I am the vine,” and “I am the door,” he did not mean that he was a real vine, or a real door, but that the vine and door were figures and emblems of his offices. So also in the Lord’s Supper, when he said, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood,” he did not mean that the bread and wine were changed into real flesh or real blood, but that they were signs and emblems of his blessed work, of his body broken, and his blood so freely shed for man.

It is not, therefore, from any mystical property in the bread and wine themselves that we expect a blessing, but from the act of receiving them in obedience and faith. In the way of his judgments, we then wait on Christ, and trust to him to nourish our souls with grace. We do not expect to feed in any literal, carnal, or material manner, but we do expect, that while with the body we receive the bread in faith, our souls will receive Christ; and when with the lips we drink the wine, the heart will be made by the Holy Ghost partaker of his blood. Thus, to hungering and thirsting souls, the communion becomes inestimably precious. When we feel our weakness, we rejoice to come before him that we may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; when we know, that without Christ we must perish, we count it our highest joy to wait on his love as he has told us, that the fainting soul may feed on him by faith. And he does strengthen and refresh the souls of his people; he meets and communes with them from the mercy-seat; he grants to each the needful grace, and oftentimes sends them back rejoicing to their homes, and saying, “It has been good for me that I have been there.”

(3.) There is a third point of view in which the Lord’s Supper is presented in the passage, viz., _as a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb_. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death _till he come_.” The line of sacraments forms, as it were, the long chain connecting the first and second advents, and each celebration has a reference both to the present, past, and future; to the present, for we cast the sins and burdens of the day before the footstool of a present Advocate; to the past, for the heart is full with the thankful recollection of his death; and to the future, for our present delightful communion is a faint, but true image of the blessedness of that glorious hour, when the whole company of God’s elect shall be gathered in to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The sacraments are very peaceful, but they are not to last for ever; they are to be observed for a given time, till the Lord come. Then,

“Faith will be sweetly lost in sight,
And hope in full supreme delight
And everlasting love.”

We now bow down to hold communion with Christ, but then we shall behold him as he is, in all his love and all his majesty; we now meet with God’s people in the affectionate sympathy of a common faith, but then we shall reign with the vast multitude of God’s chosen saints in the triumphant fellowship of a common glory. And to those who long for the reality, there is delightful encouragement in partaking of the figure. They then lay hold on the chain that reaches heaven; they take to themselves God’s emblems, and receive them in faith as pledges and tokens of the final fulfilment of his promises.

There is, therefore, every inducement to partake of this delightful sacrament; and whether we regard its high authority, viz., the Lord’s express command, or its sacred nature, as a service of remembrance, a means of spiritual nourishment, and a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb, we may well wonder how any true believer can forego the enjoyment of such a privilege. But yet we must not suppose that the simple act of coming to the Lord’s Supper can secure these blessings, for, as we read in ver. 17, we may “come together, not for the better, but for the worse.” Nay, more, it is expressly declared, in ver. 29, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” These are solemn and most important words; enough to startle inquirers, and to make all mere professors tremble; nor can any man who fears God presume to read them lightly. They suggest two most important subjects of inquiry,—What do they mean? and, To whom do they apply?