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The Lord's Supper 1.
THE Lord's supper was instituted by the Lord on the same night in
which He was betrayed. It is to be observed in His churches to the
world's end, for a perpetual remembrance of Him and to show forth the
sacrifice of Himself in His death. It was instituted also to confirm
saints in the belief that all the benefits stemming from Christ's
sacrifice belong to them. Furthermore, it is meant to promote their
spiritual nourishment and growth in Christ, and to strengthen the ties
that bind them to all the duties they owe to Him. The Lord's supper
is also a bond and pledge of the fellowship which believers have with
Christ and with one another. 2.
In this ordinance Christ is not offered up to His Father, nor is
any real sacrifice made in any sense of that term for remission of sin of
the living or the dead. The supper is only a memorial of the one
offering up of Christ, by Himself, upon the cross, once for all. It
is also a spiritual offering up of all possible praise to God for the
once-for-all work of Calvary. Hence the popish sacrifice of the
mass, as it is called, is utterly abominable, and injurious to Christ's
own sacrifice which is the sole propitiation for all the sins of the
elect. 3.
In this ordinance the Lord Jesus has directed his ministers to
pray, and to bless the elements of bread and wine, and in this way to set
them apart from a common to a holy use. They are to take and break
the bread, then to take the cup, and to give both to the communicants,
they themselves at the same time participating in the communion. 4.
The denial of the cup to the people, the worshipping of the
elements, the lifting up of the elements, the carrying of them about for
the purpose of adoration, and the reserving of them for any pretended
religious use, are all contrary to the nature of the ordinance and to
Christ's intention in appointing it. 5.
The outward elements in the Lord's supper-bread and wine-duly set
apart for the use appointed by Christ, bear such a relation to the Lord
crucified that, in a true sense although in terms used figuratively, they
are sometimes called by the names of the things they represent, namely,
the body and blood of Christ, even though, in substance and nature, they
still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before being set
apart for their special use. 6.
The doctrine commonly called transubstantiation which maintains
that in the supper the substance of bread and wine is changed into the
substance of Christ's body and blood through consecration by a priest or
in any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common
sense and reason. Furthermore, it overthrows the nature of the
ordinance, and has been, and is, the cause of all kinds of superstitions
and gross idolatries. 7.
Those who, as worthy participants, outwardly eat and drink the
visible bread and wine in this ordinance, at the same time receive and
feed upon Christ crucified, and receive all the benefits accruing from His
death. This they do really and indeed, not as if feeding upon the
actual flesh and blood of a person's body, but inwardly and by faith. In
the supper the body and blood of Christ are present to the faith of
believers, not in any actual physical way, but in a way of spiritual
apprehension, just as the bread and wine themselves are present to their
outward physical senses. Matt. 7:6; 1 Cor. 11:29; 2 Cor. 6:14,15. [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]
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