Jesus was a reminder

JESUS WAS A REMINDER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 22:19 This do in remembrance of me.
GreatTexts of the Bible
In Remembrance
1. There are many ways in which we may think of the Holy Communion. For
it is many-sided and rich in meaning. There are at leastfive aspects in which it
may be profitably regarded.
(1) It is a command.—It is something that we are bidden to do. “This do.” We
obey our Lord’s explicit command in meeting and celebrating the Holy
Communion, by partaking of bread and wine togetherin memory of Him.
There can be no sort of doubt that He did command His disciples to do this;
and they have obeyedHis command from the very beginning down to the
present day. Whatever are its benefits, whatever other purpose it serves, it is
an act of obedience, and as such it makes appeal to us.
(2) It is a commemoration.—We do this “in remembrance” of Christ. This is
the aspectofthe Holy Communion most strongly and prominently brought
out in the Prayer-Book. It is the Lord’s Supper; this is its first title. We
remind ourselves in the consecrationprayer that our Lord “instituted, and in
His holy gospelcommandedus to continue a perpetual memory of His
precious death.” When the bread is given to eachone, he is bidden to take and
eat in remembrance that Christ died for him. When the wine is given he is

bidden to drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for him.
And as a commemoration it keeps everbefore us the life and death of our
Lord, it reminds us of His teaching, of His words, of His example, of His work
for us.
(3) It is a thanksgiving.—This is expressedin the name Eucharist, which
means thanksgiving. Our Lord in instituting this Sacramentbeganby giving
thanks. “He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it.” So from
the very beginning we read that they brake bread, and “did take their food
with gladness and singleness ofheart, praising God.” By the very earliest
writers outside the New Testament, if not in the New Testamentitself, this
service is called“the Thanksgiving,” the Eucharist.
(4) It is a fellowship.—This is implied in the very name Holy Communion. It
ought to be to us a constant reminder that our Christian life is an association,
not an isolatedlife; that some day the whole world shall be bound together
with one heart and one mind, and jealousies,rivalries and competitions shall
utterly cease. EveryChristian congregation, andmost of all its communicants,
pledge themselves to strive to realize this temper, crushing out all the little
quarrels and huffs and coldnessesandalienations that so often mar the peace
of a congregation, merging minor differences of opinion in the grand unity of
love and worship of Christ.
(5) There is also another fellowship.—“Wehave,” says St. John, “a fellowship
with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” This fellowshipor
communion with God through Jesus Christ is by no means limited to the Holy
Communion. Over and over againit is spokenof independently of that rite.
The communion with God through Christ Jesus is having the same mind in us
which was also in Christ Jesus. He is the Vine, and we are the branches;He is
the Head, and we are the members. When we are called to be Christians, we
are calledinto the fellowship of Christ; we are incorporatedinto Him. This

union with God through Christ is a spiritual state, the slowly won result of
prayer and self-denial, and of the love and following of Christ. But it is
equally plainly taught that this fellowshipwith God is speciallyrealized in the
Holy Communion.
I do believe that you have partly misunderstood the meaning of the Holy
Communion. Certainly it should be, it must come to be, the most intimate act
of love betweenman and God; but it has also, surely, two other aspects atleast
for which one should cling to it through years even of uncertainty. First, it is
offered to us as the vehicle of a spiritual Presence coming to work in us and
for us, bound by no laws save those of Spirit, and so able to act as
mysteriously as love (which indeed it is). It is not merely laid upon us as a
duty, but let down to us as a hope; in it God meets us while we are yet a great
way off, and teaches andchanges us in ways we do not stop to notice and
could not, perhaps, understand. And, secondly, it is the greatmeans whereby
we all realize our unity and fellowship one with another, in which we try to
put aside for a little while our own specialneeds and difficulties and
peculiarities, and throw ourselves into the wide streamof life with which the
world is moving towards God. For these two uses I would cling, I believe, to
the Eucharist, by God’s grace, throughthe loss of almost all else, eventhough
mists and doubts were thick about me.1 [Note:Bishop Paget, in Life by S.
Pagetand J. M. Crum, 66.]
2. It is the secondofthese five ways of regarding the Supper that we are to
considerat present. The Holy Communion is a commemoration. It is done “in
remembrance.”
The desire to be remembered after death is almost universal in human nature.
There may be some who cansay—

Thus let me live unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die;
Stealfrom the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
Or like Howard, who said, “place a sun dial on my grave, and let me be
forgotten.” But nearly all men have the wish to live, after they are gone, in the
thoughts and memories of others. They would fain have some kindly
remembrances of themselves in some human bosoms, would fain know that
those they leave behind think of them and remember them with some regret
and esteem. There are few who
To dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e’er resigned,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor castone longing, lingering look behind.
On some fond breastthe parting soulrelies,

Some pious drops the closing eye requires,
Ev’n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries.2 [Note:R. Stephen, Divine and
Human Influence, ii. 65.]
In being consciousofthe greatnessofHis act He differed, says Carlyle, from
all other men in the world. “How true also, once more, it is that no man or
Nation of men, conscious ofdoing a great thing, was ever, in that thing, doing
other than a small one! O Champ-de-Mars Federation, with three hundred
drummers, twelve hundred wind-musicians, and artillery planted on height
after height to boom the tidings of the revolution all over France, in few
minutes! Could no Atheist-Naigeoncontrive to discern, eighteencenturies off,
those Thirteen most poor mean-dressedmen, at frugal Supper, in a mean
Jewishdwelling, with no symbol but hearts god-initiated into the ‘Divine
depth of Sorrow,’and a ‘Do this in remembrance of me’;—and so ceasethat
small difficult crowing of his, if he were not doomed to it?”1 [Note:Carlyle,
French Revolution, ii. bk. i. ch. ix.]
Let us remember Him (1) for what He has been, (2) for what He has done, and
(3) for what He is.
I
For what He has Been
1. First of all, and in its simplest aspect, His memory is the memory of One
who lived, among men, a human life like their own, and yet a life such as none

else had ever lived before, or has everlived since. Of that life the Sacramentis
a memorial. It is a memorial of One who, at a time when the world was full of
darkness and unrest, came into it saying that He came from God, and had a
messagefrom God for all whose hearts were weary, whose minds were dark,
whose souls were full of doubts and fears;One who seemedto prove, by the
very nature of His life, that what He said of Himself was true, for it was a life
which shed a brightness and gladness around it, as from a light shining in a
dark place. The little children came gladly to His side. The humble household
brightened as He came, and bestirred itself to give Him heartiest welcome.
Sicknessand disease disappearedatHis gracious presence;the blind eyes
were opened to behold Him; the deaf ears were unstopped, so that their first
sound of human speechshould be His kindly words. Even the dead arose at
His command, and re-enteredthe homes that they had left lonely, and went
out and in among those whom their loss had made desolate andafflicted. His
life was one that gladdenedother lives, and bore about with it one living
messageofpeace on earth and goodwilltowards men.
When you recallthe memory of the dead, it is their life you chiefly recall—all
they were, how they lookedand worked, whatthey said, and what they did,
and what they were, all the incidents connectedwith them during the years
you were together, the happy times you had in eachother’s company, the
sweetintercourse you enjoyed, the bright scenes and seasons ofcommunion
and pleasure, or the sad sorrowful times of suffering in your histories, all your
hours of joy, or your hours of sadness andsorrow, all they did for you, all
their ministries of thoughtfulness and kindness for your comfort and
happiness, all that made them helpful to you, all that made them dear to you,
all their gentleness and sweetness andtenderness, all their love, all their
affection, all about them that made them lovable and beloved, and endeared
and bound them to your heart.
Thus marvellous has been the power and influence of the memory of His life
over men and the world. Down through eighteenhundred years, it has been

the loftiestinspiration, and the greatesthope and comfort for human souls.
The world has been made wiserand better and richer and nobler by it, for it
has enlightened it, and reformed its laws and its institutions and its manners.
Men and womenhave been made holier and purer by it, for it has exerteda
transforming power over their whole-natures. The inner life it has cleansed,
and the outward it has adorned. It has entered into and purified men’s hearts
and feelings and desires and thoughts and tempers and dispositions. It has put
down pride and vanity, and envy and jealousy, expelled impurity, and made
untruth ashamed. It has castout evil, and enthroned beauty and goodness in
the soul, and made harsh and rugged and unseemly natures sweetand lovely
with gentleness andmeekness and patience and kindness and charity. It has
sweetenedenjoyments and brightened and given a new zest to pleasures. It
has sanctifiedand glorified common work and duties. It has given patience
and fortitude to endure persecutions and sufferings and martyrdom and
death in all its awful forms. It has cheeredmen amidst struggles, andupheld
them in difficulties and depressions. It has soothedin pain and sickness and
weakness,and in agonyof body and mind. It has sustained and calmed human
nature in the bitterest and most heartrending sorrows. Ithas consoledamid
disappointments and failures and baffled hopes, and given relief amid racking
cares and anxieties. It has brightened the terrible separations ofdeath with
the hope and promise of immortality. In all the worstanguish of life it has
been the power, and the only one, to save from despair; and in the last
struggles ofdeath it has takenout death’s sting, given solace andcalmness
and hope and peace, andmade the night of mortality radiant with the
splendours of redeeming love.
2. It is not simply that Christ is about to die and desires to be remembered. He
has a greatMessianic purpose in saying “This do in remembrance of me.” The
law of the Passoverhadrun, “This day shall be unto you for a memorial”; and
our Lord simply puts Himself or His death in the place of the Passoverand
bids His followers rememberHim. The confidence with which He does so is
nothing short of majestic, Divine. In the popular mind He is a failure. His
enemies considerthat they have defeatedHim and extinguished His
pretensions and His hopes. His best friends are nervous and trembling with

forebodings. In His own mind alone is there a clear perception of the actual
state of matters; in Him alone is there neither misgiving nor hesitation. Far
from hiding from His followers the ignominious end that awaits Him, He
speaks ofit freely. He knows they will in a few hours be scattered. He tells
them so; and yet, so far from apologizing for leading them into difficult and
discreditable circumstances, so far from bidding them forgive and forgetHim,
He actually bids them set aside the event which was most memorable to them
as Jews, and remember Him instead. His death is to be more to them than
their emancipation from slaveryin Egypt. By their connexion with Him they
were to have so complete and all-sufficing a life that they, prouder of their
nationality than any other people, might forget they were Jews. The Passover
had done its work and served its purpose, and now it was to give place and
make way for the celebrationof the real deliverance of the race. Picture Him
standing there on the eve of His death, knowing that His influence on the
world in all time to come depended on His being remembered by these half-
enlightened, incompetent, timorous men, and you see that nothing short of a
Divine confidence could have enabledHim to put aside the very core and
symbol of the Jewishreligionand present Himself as the hope of the world.
When I muse upon the Blest
Who have left me for their rest,
When the solitary heart
Weeps within itself apart,
When all thoughts and longings fail

E’en to touch the dark thin veil
Hanging motionless to screen
That fair place we have not seen;
Then I bless the Friend who left,
For the traveller bereft,
First, the Promise to His own,
“Thou shalt be where I am gone;
Thou, when I return to reign,
Shalt be brought with me again”;
Then, the sacramentalSeal
Of their present, endless weal;
Of Himself, the living Bond

’Twixt us here and them beyond;
And of all the joys that burn
Round the hope of His Return:
’Tis the Feastof Heaven and Home—
“Do ye this, until He come.”1 [Note:H. C. G. Moule, In the House of the
Pilgrimage, 64.]
3. But the memory of Christ is the memory of more than His beautiful and
gracious human life. It is the memory of One who through that life revealed
God; of One, who said, “I do not stand before you alone, and speak to you by
My own wisdommerely. One is with Me—one whomyou know not—even
God, God whom you must know, whom you must love, through knowledge
and love of whom your souls must live; and whom, that you may know Him, I
have come to reveal to you, and that you may love Him, I have come to reveal
to you as your Father who loves you, who forgives all your trespasses, who
calls you into fellowship with Himself.” His memory is the memory of One
who brought these glad tidings to men. They are glad tidings, in the
knowledge ofwhich we have been so trained, within the sound of which we
have so habitually lived, that we cannot understand their fresh full life for
those to whom they were a new revelation.
We live and move amid the glory and beauty of God’s fair world—in the clear
air of heavenand the bright shining of the sun on high, and we never think of

the priceless blessingsofthe blowing wind and the joyous sunshine, or of the
loss that would be ours were we to be shut up from these in silence and
darkness. But bring out the captive from the dungeon, where the air is thick
and the light pale, and sethim on the mountain’s brow, and he is unconscious
almost of all else, save the glory and freedom of the wind and light. And so,
could we whom use has hardened but transport ourselves for one hour from
the societyofmen whose life, whether they will or not, is moulded by the
principles of the revelation of Christ—from the atmosphere of a Christian
land, from the knowledge ofall Christian truth, from the offices ofall
Christian charity, from the neighbourhood of all Christian law, and custom,
and culture—to a land where the name of Christ has never been heard, where
the principles of His Church have never had even the feeblestrecognition,
where the Christian idea of God is utterly unknown, we should be able, in
some sort, to realize the sense oflight and liberty and confidence which must
have filled the hearts of those who, waking from “the foul dream of heathen
night,” or quitting the oppressive rites and ordinances of the JewishLaw,
came into the presence ofthe MessengerofGod, who said, “God is your
Father. He is in Me, and I am in Him. You see Him revealedin Me. He loves
you with an everlasting love. Believe this, and your soul shall live.”1 [Note: R.
H. Story, Creedand Conduct, 114.]
4. How then are we to keepalive the remembrance of Christ? There is only
one way that is entirely worthy, and that is to illustrate the noble spirit of the
Sacramentin loving service. The bestway to honour the memory of those we
love is to live lives which they would approve. We are to interpret to the world
the sacrifice ofChrist by giving ourselves for others in some such way as He
gave Himself for us. We best honour the memory of our dead soldiers by
making the noblest use of the heritage which they purchased with their blood.
Our praise would be hollow if we were false to our country and made
merchandise of liberty and patriotism. We best honour the memory of Christ
by exemplifying His spirit in our daily conduct.

Our Masterwas mosthuman in the Upper Room, and with His last wish
suggestsirresistibly a mother’s farewell. She does not remind her children
that she has done all things for them at sore cost, for this was her joy. Nor
does she make demands of hard service now any more than in the past. But
one thing the mother hungereth and thirsteth for, and desireth not with words
only but with her eyes as she lookethround on those she can no longer serve,
but will ever love. “Do not forget me”—how few and short the words, how full
and strong are they written out at large. “Live as I would wish, believe as I
have believed; meet me where I go.”1 [Note:John Watson, The Upper Room,
78.]
When I forget Thee, like a sun-parched land
Which neither rain nor dew from heavenhath wet,
So my soul withers, and I understand
Wherefore Thou gavestme this high command
Not to forget.
When I forget the death which is my life,
How weak I am! how full of fearand fret!
How my heart wavers in a constantstrife

With mists and clouds that gather round me rife,
When I forget!
Ah, how can I forget? And yet my heart
By dull oblivious thought is hard beset,
Bred in the street, the meadow, or the mart:
Yet Thou my strength and life and glory art,
Though I forget.
I will remember all Thy Love divine;
Oh meet Thou with me where Thy saints are met,
Revive me with the holy bread and wine,
And may my love, O God, lay hold on Thine,

And ne’er forget.
And not to-day alone, but evermore
Oh let me feel the burden of the debt—
The load of sorrow that the Masterbore,
The load of goodness thatHe keeps in store,
And not forget!2 [Note: Walter C. Smith, PoeticalWorks, 494.]
II
For what He has Done
The memory of Christ is the memory of One who closedHis perfect life by the
sacrifice ofHimself; who sealedHis testimony with His blood. It is indeed this,
more than aught else, that the symbols which we use in this Sacramentbring
home to us. It is to this that the words Christ uttered at His lastsupper chiefly
point. “This,” saidHe, “is my body which is given for you. This is my blood of
the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remissionof sins.” A death
for us, a body wounded, blood poured forth—this is what we are especially
reminded of here. “Why was that body wounded? Why was that blood shed?”
Does any one ask? He who asks willfind plenty of excellentdoctrines to give
him abundant answer:but what appears always as the living centre of truth

within all doctrine, and far above all, is the simple factthat that death was
endured, that that sacrifice was offered;the simple fact that He who lived the
perfect life and brought to us the saving messageofa Father’s love knew that
it was needful for our salvationthat He should bow His head and die; knew
that, without that death, sin in us could not be conquered, and death for us
could not be overcome, and that therefore out of His true love to us He was
content to die, that we through Him might live, that we, believing in His love
and truth and seeing these to be strongerthan even death itself, might thereby
be rescuedfrom the love and power of our sins, and might be reconciledto the
Father, of whose love the Son’s self-sacrificewas the Divine expression.
It happened once that a family had a father who was a benefactorto the State
and did such service that after his death a statue was erectedin a public place
to his memory, and on the pedestalhis virtues were engraven that all might
read his name and revere his memory. His children mingled with the people
as they stoodin that square and listened to their father’s praise with pride.
But their eyes were dry. This figure with civic robes, cut in stone, was not the
man they knew and loved. Within the home were other memorials more
intimate, more dear, more living—a portrait, a packetofletters, a Bible. As
the family lookedon such sacredpossessions, theyremembered him who had
laboured for them, had trained them from first years, had counselled,
comforted, protected them. All he had done for the big world was as nothing
to what he had done for his own. When they gathered round the hearth he
built, on certain occasionsthey spoke of him with gentler voices, with softened
eyes while the strangers pass onthe street. This Fatheris Jesus, and we are
His children whom He has loved unto death.1 [Note:John Watson, The Upper
Room, 84.]
1. We commemorate His death.—He gives us as a remembrance of Him that
which inevitably recalls Him as He died. It is His body broken, His blood
poured out, that He sets before us. He does not give us a picture of Himself as
He is now and as John saw Him in vision. He does not appealto our

imagination by setting before us symbols of unearthly majesty. He desires to
be remembered as He was upon earth and in the hour of His deepest
humiliation. And it is obvious why He does so. It is because in His death His
nearness to us and His actual involvement in our life and in all our matters is
most distinctly seen. It is because that is His most characteristic action;the
actionin which He uttered most of Himself, all that was deepestin Him and
all that it most concernedmen to know. And as we prize that portrait of a
friend which brings out the bestpoints in his character, eventhough it is old
and he has changedmuch since it was taken, so do all the friends and
followers of Christ think of Him as He was in His death. They believe He is
alive now, and that now He is clothedwith such manifest dignity and beauty
as must attract boundless regardand admiration; but yet it is to the humble,
self-sacrificing, bleeding Christ their thoughts persistently turn. It is there
they find most to humble, most to encourage,mostto win, most to purify,
most to bind them to their Lord.
Those who have seenthe RussianPilgrims at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalemhave been impressed with the fervour with which they
kiss the marble slab of anointing and other sacredobjects connectedwith the
Cross and Passionofour Saviour. So also in the shrines and churches at
Moscowhundreds of peasants and ordinary business people canbe seenat all
hours of the day turning in to kneelfor a few minutes and kiss some icon or
picture of our Lord.1 [Note:F. S. Webster.]
2. We commemorate His death as the supreme actof His whole work of
salvation.—The Supper is the symbol of Christ giving up His life for us not
only as the highest expressionofself-sacrificing love, but in a far deeper sense
as the ground upon which our sins canbe forgiven and the Divine life
imparted to the soul. Christ’s suffering for us differs from our suffering for
one another by the whole diameter of human experience. No amount or
degree of mere human suffering can atone for sin. Christ’s suffering was
unique in that it was redemptive. Like ours it was an example, but unlike ours

it was a dynamic. Christ did not die for the world to show His love for it in the
dramatic and useless waythat Portia stabbed herselfto show her love for
Brutus; Christ died to save the world as none other ever did or could. We
cannot fathom the depth of the mystery of Christ’s death for sin, but this we
know, that by it our sins are forgiven and we are brought into oneness with
God.
What was Christ’s death? It was a willing surrender of Himself into the hands
of the Father, knowing at the same time that it was the Father’s pleasure to
bruise Him. It was a willing pouring out of all the hopes of the flesh founded
on the idea of the continuance of present things; it was an acknowledgmentof
the righteousnessofthe judgment of sorrow and death, which, on accountof
transgression, Godhad laid on the flesh of which He had become a partaker.
And at the same time, while it was a surrender of Himself in filial confidence
into His Father’s hands, it was also in full assurance that He was to be
gloriously rewarded, by being raised triumphantly from the dead as the New
Head and Fountain of life to the Race, by taking hold of whom every child of
Adam might be saved.1 [Note:Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, i.
250.]
Only to be as the dust that His wounded feet trod,
Only to know and to hear
His love, like the deep-throbbing pulse in the bosomof God,
Slaying my sorrow and fear!

Lord, I remember the sins and the shadows, and yet
I remember the light of Thy face.
Let me but die at Thy feet, and the black trembling horror forget,
And only remember Thy grace—
Forgetting the darkness that walkedwith me all the way,
The shadow that froze me to see,
Only remembering the joy of the breaking of day
When my soul found Thee.2 [Note:L. MacleanWatt, The Communion Table,
16.]
3. We remember Him for what He has done in bringing us home to God.—In
the Sacramentthere is a meeting betweenGodand the soul, and the soul is
taught to find its satisfactionin God. It is taught to look out of itself, beyond
itself, for all that can change, and bless, and exalt, and ennoble it, and give it
happiness. It is not taught to depend upon its own feelings, its earnestnessof
faith, its powerof hope, its strength of love, or even its utter abnegationof self.
It is not left to imagine that it canraise itself from its fallen state, and effect its
own union with God. No, it is presented as in a state of hunger in this
mysterious feast, craving for God, longing for the powers that are in God to

be exercisedupon it, and depending upon God’s ownact to unite Himself to
the soul. And the soulknows that this union is possible, that it canbe made
one with God through Godthe Son having been made man, and having died,
and risen, through the working of His life in itself. The faith of the
communicant may be expressedin one single sentence, “Christin me, the
hope of glory.”
Jesus, in Browning’s beautiful phrase, “calls the glory from the grey”; from
the heart of death itself He plucks the promise of life abounding. They shall
come to see that His Body has been given “for them,” that His Bloodhas been
the sealof a new friendship formed betweenthem and their Fatherin heaven.
In that holy feastthey shall eat the one, and drink the other. Faith in Him will
never die, while they do that.1 [Note:H. L. Goudge, The Holy Eucharist, 14.]
“He that dwelleth in me and I in him, eatethmy flesh and drinketh my blood,”
that is, becomes ChristHimself, is a faithful repetition of His life and spirit in
another and individual personality, is so transformed into His spiritual image
that he can saywith St. Paul, “It is not I that live, but Christ that liveth in
me.” This is no mysterious, magicalstatement, but one in deep accordance
with the experience ofthe human heart. No one who has loved another, or lost
one he loved, who has felt the profound intertransference that passionmakes,
but will understand and value it. It gives a real force, a natural meaning to St.
Paul’s words, “the communion of the body of Christ.” The observance ofthe
Lord’s Supper does not make that communion. It is the form among many
others in which the idea of that communion is most visibly enshrined. But in
enshrining that idea it enshrines another and a higher one—communion with
God.2 [Note:Stopford A. Brooke, Sunshine and Shadow, 214.]
III

For what He Is
1. The mode of remembrance appointed by our Lord reminds us that it is to
the same kind of personalconnexion with Him as the first disciples enjoyed
that we are invited. We have the same symbol of our connexion with Him as
they had. We are no more remote from His love, no more out of reach of His
influence. All that He was to them He can be to us, and means to be to us. Our
outward circumstances are very different from theirs, but the inward
significance ofChrist’s work and His powerto save remain as they were.
As, when our BlessedLord made Mary Magdalene feeland know that He was
really present with her, she poured out her whole heart in the burning fervour
of that acknowledgment, “Rabboni.”—myMaster, my Lord, my All—so by
our every actand word we try to express to the BlessedJesuswhatHe is to us.
Our whole soul fastens on Him. Our spirit has no eye for any one, or anything
else. Our gaze is fixed on Him. He is with us, and we are with Him. We know
what He is in Himself, how pure, how fair, how holy, how perfect. We know
what He has been to us, how loving, how tender, how compassionate,how full
of healing, and pardon, and peace. And so every hymn is full of His praises;
and every gesture is an act of loving reverence to Him; and every sacredrite
speaks ofHim. We are in His court, and under His eye, and there is an
interchange of love betweenHim and us. On our side there is the love of
reverence. On His side there is the love of a gentle, fostering, soothing
protection.
Above all, it was necessary fora right understanding, not only of Dr. Arnold’s
religious opinions, but of his whole characterto enter into the peculiar feeling
of love and adorationwhich he entertained towards our Lord Jesus Christ—
peculiar in the distinctness and intensity which, as it characterizedalmostall
his common impressions, so in this case gave additionalstrength and meaning
to those feelings with which he regardednot only His work of Redemption but

Himself, as a living Friend and Master. “In that unknown world in which our
thoughts become instantly lost,” it was (as he says in his third volume of
sermons)his real support and delight to remember that “still there is one
objecton which our thoughts and imaginations may fasten, no less than our
affections;that amidst the light, dark from excess ofbrilliance, which
surrounds the throne of God, we may yet discern the gracious form of the Son
of Man.”1 [Note:A. P. Stanley, Life and CorrespondenceofThomas Arnold,
i. 32.]
2. Again, He bids us “Do this,” to remind us that we must daily renew our
connexion with Him. He desires to be remembered under the symbol of food,
of that which we must continually take by our own appetite, choice, and
acceptance. We do not gather at the Lord’s Table to look at a crown, the
symbol of a king who governs by delegates andlaws and a crowdof officials,
and with whom we have no direct connexion. We do not assemble to view the
portrait of a father, who gave us life, but of whom we are now independent.
We do not come to garland a tomb which contains the mortal part of one who
was dear to us and who once savedour life. But we come to renew our
connexion with One who seeks to enter into the closestrelations with us, to
win our love, to purify our nature, to influence our will. It is by maintaining
this connexionwith Him that we maintain spiritual life; by taking Him as
truly into our spirit by our affections, by our choice, and by our faith as we
take bread into our body.
Soon, all too soon, from this blest Sacrament
Back to the glare of day our feetare bent;
Soonwakes the week-daysun, and brings along

The cares and clamours of our human throng;
The world’s loud laughter, threats, or whisper’d spells,
Life’s battles, burthens, weeping, songs,and knells.
But we who from that PaschalChambercome
Still in its shadows find our quiet home,
Safe in its precincts, near our Master’s heart,
’Midst all the stress oftravel, school, and mart.
And still that Cross goes with us on our way;
We feaston that greatSacrifice all day.
The sealing Symbol comes but then and there;
The Truth is ever ours, and everywhere;
Faith needs but stretch her hand and lift her eyes,

And ready still for use her Banquet always lies.2 [Note:H. C. G. Moule, In the
House of the Pilgrimage, 68.]
3. And the Holy Supper had its heavenly counterpart. The Jews were wontto
picture the felicity of the Kingdom of Heaven under the image of a glad feast.
“This world,” said the Rabbi Jacob, “is like a vestibule before the world to
come:prepare thyself in the vestibule that thou mayestbe admitted into the
festalchamber.” And it is written: “Blessedis he that shall eat bread in the
kingdom of God.” “Many shall come from the eastand the west, and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessedare they which are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And
the feastof the Passoverwas a foreshadowing ofthat heavenly banquet. It
commemoratedthe exodus from the land of bondage, but it was more than a
commemoration. It was a prophecy, and when the worshippers satat the holy
table, they thought not merely of the ancientdeliverance but of the final
home-gathering.
It is an ancientand abiding thought that the visible world is the shadow of the
invisible, and everything which it contains has its eternal counterpart. This
thought runs all through the Holy Scriptures. It finds its highest expressionin
the teaching of our BlessedLord. In His eyes earth was a symbol of Heaven.
He pointed to human fatherhood and said: See there an image of the
Fatherhoodof God. “If ye, being evil, know how to give goodgifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him?” And eachfamiliar thing—the lamp, the net, the
seed, the flowers, the birds, the wandering sheep—servedHim as a parable.
For, nowise else,

Taught He the people; since a light is set
Safestin lanterns; and the things of earth
Are copies ofthe things in Heaven, more close,
More clear, more intricately linked,
More subtly than men guess. Mysterious,—
Finger on lip,—whispering to wistful ears,—
Nature doth shadow Spirit.1 [Note:D. Smith, The Feastofthe Covenant, 177.]
From Mentone, where he spent the first winter of his illness, Dr. Robertson
wrote to his congregationat home:—
“By the time this may be read to you, your Spring Communion will be over.
Again, from the hands of the officiating elders, or rather, as I trust, from
Christ’s own pierced hand, you will have receivedthe symbols of His sacrifice,
and said, as you receivedHimself afresh into your hearts, ‘This we do in
remembrance of Thee.’Again, the Great High Priest, King of Righteousness,
and therefore also King of Peace, has brought down the bread and wine from
the altar of His atonement to feed you, returning, wearyfrom the battle, but I
trust victorious overthe evil; and in the strength of that meat may you go
onward, conquering the evil, and battling for the right, and goodand true, so

as at lastto have an entrance administered to you abundantly into the
Kingdom, as part of the victorious ‘Sacramentalhostof God’s Elect.’”1
[Note:A. Guthrie, Robertsonof Irvine, 287.]
In Remembrance
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Lord's Supper
Luke 22:19, 20
W. Clarkson
A very simple rite as first observed was the Lord's Supper. But for certain
passagesin the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we should not have
known that Jesus Christ intended to create a permanent institution. But
though the simpler the ceremonyis the more scriptural it is, yet are the ideas
associatedwith it and suggestedby it many and important. They are these -
I. THE NEAR PRESENCE OF OUR LORD. Notin the elements but
presiding over the company. It is a table at which he entertains his friends;
and canhe, the Divine Host, himself be absent?
"Around a table, not a tomb,
He willed our gathering-place shouldbe;
When going to prepare our home,

The Saviorsaid, 'Remember me.'" And at that table, meeting and communing
with his friends, we may feel sure and canrealize forcibly that our living Lord
is, in spirit and in truth, "in the midst of us."
II. CHRIST OUR STRENGTHAND OUR JOY. The chosenelements are
bread and wine, the sources ofstrength and of gladness. He, our Lord, is the
one constantSource of our spiritual nourishment and strength, of the joy with
which our hearts are for ever glad.
III. CHRIST OUR PROPITIATION.The broken bread, the outpoured wine -
of what do these speak to our hearts? Of the "marred visage," ofthe
weariness,ofthe poverty and privation, of the toilfulness and loneliness of
that troubled life, of the griefs and pains of that burdened and brokenheart,
of the shame and the darkness and the death of the last closing scene. We
stand with bowed head and reverent spirit at that cross and see -
"Sorrow and love flow mingled down." And our hearts are full as we ask -
"Did e'er such love and sorrow meet;
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?" And we realize that that sorrow was
borne, that death died for us. "This is my body, 'given for you;' my blood,
'shed for you.'" It is the Propitiation for our sins.
IV. OUR INDIVIDUAL APPROPRIATION OF OUR LORD'S GREAT
WORK. Eachone eats of that bread and drinks of that cup. As he does so, in
and by that act he declares his own personalneed of a Divine Savior; he
affirms his conviction that the sacrifice was offeredfor him; he renews his
faith in the Divine Redeemer;he recognizes the claim of him that loved him
unto death; he rededicates himself to Jesus Christand to his service;he
rejoices, in spirit, in his reconciledFather, in his Divine Lord and Friend.
V. HAPPY AND HOLY COMMUNION WITHONE ANOTHER. Gathered
round one table, in the felt presence of our common Lord, all invited to drink
of the same cup (Matthew 26:27), we are drawn to one another in the bonds of
Christian love. We realize our oneness in him as a strong bond which
triumphs over all the separating influences of the world. Faith, joy, love, are

kindled and" burn within us;" and we are strengthened and sanctified, built
up, enabled to "abide in him." - C.
Biblical Illustrator
With desire I have desired to eat this passoverwith you.
Luke 22:14-20
The lastpassover -- Christ's desire for it
J. Ker, D. D.
"This passoverbefore I suffer! "It tells us, surely, that there was some
connectionbetweenthe passoverand the suffering of Christ, and a special
connectionin this passoveratwhich He and His disciples were now sitting
down. Let us think of some of the reasons why the Saviourdesired so
earnestlyto join in this last passoverbefore He suffered.
1. One reasonwas, thatthe passoverhad now reachedits end, and found its
full meaning. The ancient covenant, which changedthe slaves of Egypt into

God's servants, gives place to the new, which changes his servants into His
sons, and commences that golden chain, "If children, then heirs: heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ," etc. And here, too, are the means of the
redemption. The passover, which sprinkled with the blood of the covenantthe
door-posts in the land of Egypt, descends until its last victim dies beneath the
shadow of the cross ofChrist. Its efficacyis gone, for He has appearedwho is
to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, and to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. At bestit was a shadow, but now the greatreality has come,
"Christ our passover, sacrificedforus." It is no unconscious victim, but one
who freely gives Himself, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God.
2. Another reasonwhy Christ desiredto be present at this passoverwas, for
the support of His own soul in the approaching struggle. "Before I suffer!" He
had a terrible conflictto meet, for which He longed, and at which He
trembled. We may feel startled at the thought that the Son of God should be
dependent on such aid at such a moment. And yet it is in keeping with all His
history — with the whole plan of redemption. The Divine and human are
inseparably interwoven in the life and work of Christ.
3. We are led naturally to this further reason — that Christ desired to be
present at the lastpassoverbecause His friends neededspecialcomfort. "To
eat this passoverwith you before I suffer." He desired to make His converse
with them at this passoverin the upper chamber a strength and consolationto
them againstthe sore temptations they were to encounter. And may we not
believe that Christ still prepares His people for what may be lying before
them, and that He employs His comforts "to prevent" them — to go before
them — in the day of their calamity. When darkness is about to fall, God has
lamps to put into the hand by anticipation. He who made His ark go before
His ancientpeople in all their wanderings, causesthe consolations ofHis
Word to smooththe way of them that look to Him. He knows what painful
steps are before us in the journey of life, what privations, what bereavements
— it may be that the most solemn step of all must ere long be taken — and He
desires to eatthis passoverwith us "before we suffer."
4. The last reasonwe give for Christ's desire to be present at this passoveris,
that it lookedforward to all the future of His Church and people. At the close

of the lastpassover, Christ instituted that communion of the Supper which
has come down through many generations — which goes forth into all the
world as the remembrance of His death and the pledge of the blessings it has
purchased for us. How frail this little ark which His hand has sent out on
those stormy waters, but how safelyit has carriedits precious freight! And
this presence ofHis, at the first communion, looks still further — on to the
period when, instead of His Spirit, we shall have Himself. He desiredto take
His place in person at the first communion in our world, and when the great
communion opens in heaven, He shall be seenin His place once more.
(J. Ker, D. D.)
The Lord's Supper
A. E. Dunning.
We need not look for greatthings in order to discovergreattruths. To those
who reachafter God he will reveal his deepestsecrets throughthings
insignificant in themselves, within the routine of common lives. No event
occurs more regularly than the daily meal. None, perhaps, gathers around it
so many pleasantassociations. Its simplest possible form, in Christ's time,
consistedin eating bread and drinking a cup of wine. Into this act, one
evening, He gatheredall the meaning of the ancient sacrifices;all sacredand
tender relations betweenHimself and His followers, and all the prophecies of
His perfectedkingdom.
I. THE PREPARATION."Theymade ready the passover."Note concerning
the making ready that —
1. It was deliberate. The room was selectedand secured. The hour was
appointed. Two of the disciples were chosento prepare the lamb and to
spread the table. The Lord's Supper is not less, but far more, rich in meaning
than was the ancient passover. It requires the preparation of mind and heart
made by private meditation, and by the gathering togetherbeforehand of
disciples for prayer, conference, andinstruction.

2. It was exclusive, "I shall eatthe passover,"Christ said, "with My
disciples." No others were invited, because no others were fitted to share in
the ceremonywhich He was to inaugurate.
3. It was familiar. He drew closerto His disciples as the time approachedin
which He was to teachthem how to celebrate His greatact for the redemption
of the world. Such times must be cherishedas the warm, spring hours of
spiritual growth.
4. It was solemn. The shadow of the greatesttragedyin the world's history,
close athand, hung over them, as they went through the silent streets to the
prepared guestchamber. His manner, His words, His actions, were filled with
the consciousness ofit.
II. THE BETRAYER POINTED OUT.
1. It leads eachtrue disciple to self-examination.
2. It helps to reveal to Himself She false disciple. Judas knew that he was out
of place in that upper chamber. The Lord's table, which symbolizes the most
intimate fellowship with Him, is a means of leading selfishmen to begin to
realize the awful and utter loneliness of sin.
3. It helps us to realize the basenessofa false confessionofChrist.
III. THE SUPPER INSTITUTED.
1. A new sacrifice. Oxen, sheep, and doves had for centuries been slain as a
sign that through life offered in sacrifice, human life that had been forfeited
by sin might be restored. But from that night the brokenbread takes the place
of all these, and represents to us the body of Christ given as a sacrifice for
sinners.
2. A new covenant.
3. A new kingdom, which was begun when first Christ through the Holy Spirit
beganto rule in one human heart.
(A. E. Dunning.)

The happiness of attending The Communion
Anon.
During the sunshine of his prosperity, NapoleonI. thought little of God and
religious duties. But when his powerhad been broken, and he was an exile at
St. Helena, he beganto see the vanity of earthly things, and became earnest
and attentive to religion. Then it was that he returned a very remarkable
answerto one who askedhim what was the happiest day in his life. "Sire,"
said his questioner, "allow me to ask you what was the happiest day in all
your life? Was it the day of your victory at Lodi? at Jena? at Austerlitz? or
was it when you were crownedemperor?" No, my good friend, replied the
fallen emperor, "it was none of these. It was the day of my first communion!
That was the happiest day in all my life!" Sacramentalservice —
I. HOW INTENSE THE SAVIOUR'S LOVE FOR US MUST HAVE BEEN,
in that His desire was not extinguished by the knowledge thatit was to be His
death-feast.
II. HOW CLOSE HIS FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN, as shown in that He
desired to spend such an hour in their company.
III. HOW EAGER THE MASTER WAS TO MAKE THE DISCIPLES
REALIZE THE NEARNESSOF THE HEAVENLY BLESSING HE
WOULD PURCHASE FOR THEM, and to give them a pledge of it for their
assurance. "Iwill not eatany more thereof, until it be fulfilled," etc. The
Lord's Supper, then instituted, is thus designedto be —
1. An evidence of Christ's undying love.
2. An assurance ofHis intimate fellowship.
3. A confirmation of His promise of the everlasting blessedness.
(Anon.)

The Last Supper
D. C. Hughes, M. A.
I. THE PASSOVER PREPARED.This preparation is suggestive ofthree
things.
1. The dispensation in which Christ and His apostles still were.
2. The all-comprehensive knowledge possessedby Christ.
3. That in the midst of enemies Christ still had friends in Jerusalem.
II. The passovereaten.
1. Our Lord's punctuality (ver. 14).
2. Our Lord's intense desire in respectto this passover.(1)Becausethe last He
would celebrate with them.(2) Because He would impress them with the
connectionbetweenHimself as God's Lamb, and the paschallamb.(3) Because
He would awakenin them an intense desire for His secondcoming, when He
would sit down with them in the Kingdom of God.
III. THE PASSOVER SUPERSEDED.
1. By the establishmentof an ordinance which commemorates the true
passover(see 1 Corinthians 5:7).
2. By the assurance ofthe better hope which this ordinance affirms (Hebrews
7:19-22).
3. By the emblematic re-crucifixion of our Lord, which should inspire them to
a constantremembrance of His personallove for them (1 Corinthians
11:24).Lessons:
1. Retrospectionessential.
(1)Breadbroken.
(2)Wine poured out.
2. Introspectionessential(1 Corinthians 11:28).

3. Prospectionessential(1 Corinthians 11:26).
(D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The cup of sneering and of Communion
R. Ferguson, LL. D.
I. THAT COMMUNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS WILL BE
RENEWED IN HEAVEN. Even on this side heaven, seasonsofpure spiritual
communion are not denied us. This exhausts the Saviour's idea. His words are
to be takennot literally, but spiritually. The wine is put for the thing
represented— the joys and the felicities of the final state, and to drink the
wine new with Him is to partake the inmost pleasure of His soul.
II. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE PERFECT AND UNMIXED. We receive
only in part; and this necessarilyrenders every actof communion imperfect.
But in heaven it will be otherwise. Our nature will be so purified and
transformed, as that every power and every property will be an avenue to
convey the stream of life and glory into the soul. The fellowship will be that of
perfectedspirits. There will be no darkness in the understanding, no error in
the judgment, no guilt in the conscience, no sin in the heart.
III. THIS COMMUNION WILL RE UNINTERRUPTED AND ETERNAL.
Sublime and refreshing as are the seasons ofspiritual joy which we experience
on earth, they are, generally speaking, but of short duration. Here perpetuity
of enjoyment is impossible, but there it is certain. The union betweenthe
Saviour and the soul will never be dissolved, and therefore the fellowship will
never end. Here we are overtakenby fatigue and exhaustion, but there we
shall be endowed with immortal vigour; here sicknessandinfirmity often
intervene, but there the inhabitants shall never saythey are sick;here we
enjoy communion at intervals, there it will be eternal.
IV. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE PRESENCE
AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE WHOLE REDEEMEDCHURCH. It is
no common joy which we experience even in the most private communion; but

this joy is heightened when we can blend with other souls in harmony with
our own. What, then, must be the communion of the coming world, where we
shall hold immediate fellowshipnot only with God and the Redeemer, but at
the same moment, and in the same act, with angels and the whole Church of
the redeemed? Delightful is the union and fellowshipof minds on earth! When
heart communes with heart it is like the mingling dew-drops on the flower.
But this union will be heightened in heaven. There we shall find none but
kindred minds, with which it will be impossible not to unite. The blessedness
of the future world is in reserve for those only who belong to the kingdom of
God on earth. Into the heavenly communion none will be received, but those
who have here held fellowshipwith a risen and glorified Saviour.
(R. Ferguson, LL. D.)
He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it.
The Holy Communion
C. J. Ridgeway, M. A.
I. HOLY COMMUNION — WHAT IS IT?
1. It is Christ's own ordinance. Being a communicant is the testof the reality
of your Christian profession.
2. It is the command of the GreatMaster. Emphatic, plain, straightforward,
definite. A testof our faithfulness RS the servants of Christ.
3. It is the dying wish of the bestof Friends. You cannot disregardit, and be
true to Him.
4. Its greatimportance is taught plainly by the teaching and practice of the
early Church. It was at first the only act of united worship. And it was
celebratedat leastevery Lord's Day.
II. WHAT IS ITS NATURE?

1. It is a memorial. A picture for all time of Christ's body broken and blood
shed for the sins of man.(1) A memorial to God the Father. In our prayers we
say, "through Jesus Christour Lord"; or some such words; i.e., we plead
before the Father what He has done for us. In the Holy Communion we say,
"for Jesus'sake"notin words, but in the very acts which He Himself has
taught us. Thus it is our highestact of prayer.(2) A memorial to ourselves.
How easilywe forget. This refreshes our memory, and rekindles our love.(3)A
memorial to an unthinking or unbelieving world. A witness to men that we
believe in Jesus, who lived and died and still lives for us.
2. It is a means of grace. Jesus Himself is pleasedin this ordinance of his own
appointment to give us Himself.
3. It is a bond of union betweenourselves and others. In partaking together
one sacredfoodwe, made one with Jesus, are brought nearerto one
another.(1)A bond of union betweenthose who belong to the same earthly
family.(2) A bond of union betweenthose who belong to the same
congregation.(3)A bond of union betweenall Christians who love the Lord
Jesus.(4)A bond of union betweenthose who are resting in paradise.
III. WHO OUGHT TO COME?
1. Those who know how poor their love is, and want to love God more.
2. Those who are trying to serve God, and fail because they are weak, and
need strength.
3. Those who are sinful, but desire to become holy.
4. Those who are carefuland troubled about many things, and long for rest.
IV. WHO OUGHT NOT TO COME?
1. Those who are sinning, and do not want to give up their sin.
2. Those who think themselves goodenough. The selfsatisfiedobtain no
blessing, for they seek none.
V. HOW TO COME.

1. Humbly. Why? Becausewe are not worthy to come.
2. Trustingly and simply. Taking God at His word, and not asking questions.
3. Earnestly. Meaning what we are doing. Not because others come, but
because we realize that in our sinfulness and our unworthiness we find the
strongestreasonwhy we ought to come.
4. Reverently. Humbly realizing the presence ofJesus, and earnestlydesiring
His blessing.
5. Regularly. Have a fixed rule about it. Do not leave it to be done at any time
when it is convenient or suits you.
6. More and more frequently. As you grow older you ought to be more
earnest, and in order to serve God better you must seek more help. The
grown-up man is not content with the same amount of food as the child; and
the man who is desirous to grow up into the full measure of the stature of
Christ, needs more spiritual nourishment than the man who is only a babe in
Christ.
7. Early. When your thoughts are fresh, your heart free from cares and
worries, your mind undisturbed by worldly things. Give to Godthe best you
can. Let Him have the first of the day.
(C. J. Ridgeway, M. A.)
The Holy Communion
J. Burns, D. D.
I. THE ORDINANCE ITSELF.
II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
1. A Divine ordinance.
2. A perpetual ordinance.
3. A binding and obligatoryordinance.

4. It should be a frequent ordinance. No Lord's Day without the Lord's
Supper.
III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT SHOULD BE OBSERVED.
1. Deephumility of mind.
2. Grateful love to Jesus.
3. Faith.
4. Love to all mankind.
5. Joyous hope.
IV. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM OBEDIENCETO THIS
COMMAND OF CHRIST'S.
1. The soul will be strengthened.
2. Christ will be increasinglyprecious.
3. Holiness will be increased.
4. Heaven will be desired.Application:
1. Address regular communicants. Come in a right spirit. Be watchful,
humble, prayerful, etc.
2. Address irregular communicants. Why so? It is disobedience, inconsistency,
injurious to yourselves, Church, world.
3. Those who never commune at all.(1) The conscientiouslydoubtful. Do you
hate sin? Believe in Christ, etc. Are you willing to obey him? Then draw near,
etc.(2)Those who are really unfit for the Lord's table, are also unfit for death,
judgment, eternity.
(J. Burns, D. D.)
The Sacramentof Holy Communion

R. M. Willcox.
In preserving this festival, we are urged alike by affectionand duty.
I. THE ACT.
1. To stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, we may point out the
simplicity of this act.
2. But though simple it is significant. The material forms and visible things,
representspiritual and invisible realities.
3. The participation of this Sacramentis a manifestationof Christian unity (1
Corinthians 10:16, 17).
4. This actis commemorative.
5. This ordinance is also sealing. A pledge of Divine mercy. A covenantact.
6. This Sacramentis also prospective. "TillHe come."
II. THE COMMAND. "This do."
1. Unanimously.
2. Frequently.
3. Gratefully.
4. Reverently.
5. Worthily. "Discerning the Lord's Body."
(R. M. Willcox.)
The Lord's Supper
DeanVaughan.
The Lord's Supper — what a title! How full of memories, how it carries us
back into the very heart of the past! What a solemnnight it tells of — what a

meeting — what a parting! The Lord's Supper, howeveroften it is celebrated,
always ought to carry us back to the institution. For the little company of the
disciples it was a night of gloom. The week had opened amid Hosannas;for a
moment it had seemedas if the Saviourwas to be the hero and the idol of the
multitude. But the acclaims died away. The bitter hostility of the rulers
reasserteditselfin a series ofangry or crafty assaults;and now we are on the
very eve of that other and most opposite cry — "Awaywith Him; crucify
Him. His blood be on us, and on our children." The fortunes of the new
gospel, as man must judge, were that night at the very lowestebb. As the
event advances it is made quite evident that this is a parting meeting, and that
the Lord and Masterknows it. He speaks ofHimself as departing, not on a
temporary journey, but by a violent death. People who are bent upon
explaining awayeverything that is remarkable, still more everything that is
superhuman in the Gospels, have denied that the words "Take, eat, this is My
Body; Drink ye all of this, for this is My Blood," were words of institution at
all. They say that they were merely a pathetic way of typifying to the disciples
His approaching death, and had nothing to do with any future
commemorationof it when He should be gone. It is not necessaryto argue this
point, because we have the clearesttestimonyfrom the earliestdate rationally
possible;the testimony of friends and foes;of Christians and Pagans;of St.
Paul and St. Luke; of Pliny no less than , that those who heard the words did
understand them as words of institution, and did actupon them as such. The
breaking of the bread, the coming together to eatthe Lord's Supper were
phrases of perpetual recurrence as soonas there was any Church founded,
and whereverthat Church spreaditself overAsia and Europe; and that
custom, always, and everywhere, explained itself by going back to the scene in
the guest-chamberthe night before the Crucifixion. But now, if the words had
this meaning, the thought comes upon us with greatforce, how wonderful is it
that our Lord, knowing that tiffs was His lastnight upon earth as a man in
flesh and blood, instead of regarding it as an end, looks upon it as a beginning,
speaks ofit as a preliminary, a necessarypreliminary to results foreseenand
foreknown, in particular to what He calls the remissionor dismissal of sins,
and gives directions for the perpetual remembrance of His approaching
baptism of blood, in an ordinance which is to have for its marked feature the
symbolic eating and drinking of His ownBody and Blood. Brethren, this is a

greatthought. Our Lord in the same night in which He was betrayed, the very
night before tie suffered, did not look upon that betrayal or upon that passion
as a disaster, as a blow struck at His work, or His enterprise, but rather as its
necessarycondition. It is the fore-ordained consummation. The same night in
which He was betrayed, and in the clearestforesightofHis Crucifixion, He
founds an ordinance, He institutes a sacramentin express recognition, and for
the everlasting remembrance, of His death of violence and torture, of
ignominy and agony. "Well, now let us pass on to the very words of the
institution, so much more surprising and startling than if they had merely
spokenof commemorating His death — "Take, eat, this is My Body"; "Drink
ye all of this, for this is My blood." It would not have been at all startling, and
not at all surprising, if our Lord had hidden His disciples to come together
from time to time to meditate upon His cruel and suffering death. A mere man
might have thought of this, might even have made it a religious service to go
over the particulars of His passion, partly as a memorial to a lost friend, and
partly for the encouragementof serious, devout, and humble living. But this
cannot be said of the expressions before us — "Take,eat, this is My Body."
"Drink this, for it is My Blood." So far from this being the common language
of a dying friend, it would be language ofwhich all would shrink from the
hearing or the uttering. Brethren, it speaks for itself, that they must have
regardedHim who said, "Take, eat, this is My Body," as one altogether
different from any common, or any merely human person. It would be
cruelty, it would be impiety, it would be insanity in any friend, living or dying,
to use such expressions concerning himself. They say this, if they say anything,
"My death shall be your life;" "My body is given, My blood is outpoured for
you." In that death is involved the life of the world. In that separationofflesh
and blood which is the act of dying, the sins of the world are takenaway; yet
this is not as a single isolatedfact just to be accepted, just to be relied upon,
without corollaryor consequence — not so. "I, the dying, the once dead, shall
be alive again after death, and be your life, not as a dead man, but as one alive
after death; so must you deal with Me. You must receive Me into your hearts,
you must, as it were, eatMe and drink Me, so that I may enter into your very
being, and become a part of you; not as a man in human form treading upon
the earth, companying with you as a man with his friends, but in a totally
different manner, as one that died and was dead, but who now liveth to die no

more; as one that has died and risen again;as one that is now in heaven; as
one that has the Holy Spirit, and sends Him forth for perpetual indwelling in
the hearts of His people. "So eat, so drink, for refreshing, and for
sustentation." The flesh profiteth nothing"; no, not though you could hold in
the hand and press with the teeth the very body of the Crucified. The flesh,
even the sacredflesh, profiteth nothing; "it is the Spirit that quickeneth." One
moment of spiritual contactwith the risen and glorified is worth whole
centuries, whole millenniums, of the corporealco-existence.
(DeanVaughan.)
The advantages ofremembering Christ
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. We are to inquire, first, WHAT IS IMPLIED IN REMEMBERING
CHRIST.
1. There is evidently implied in this remembrance a knowledge ofHim, a
previous acquaintance with Him. He must have occupiedmuch of our
thoughts, have entered into our hearts, and been lodged in the deepest
recessesofour minds.
2. Hence to remember Christ implies a heart-felt love for Him.
3. Hence to remember Christ implies also a frequent and affectionate recalling
of Him to our minds.
II. Let us proceedto inquire why CHRIST HAS LEFT US THIS COMMAND
TO REMEMBER HIM.
1. He has done this for a reasonwhich ought greatly to humble us. tie has said,
"RememberMe," because He knows that we are prone to forget Him.
2. But our proneness to forgetChrist is not the only reasonwhy He has
commanded us to remember Him. He has given us this command, because He
desires to be remembered by us.

3. The great reason, however, why Christ has commanded us to remember
Him, is this — He knows that we cannot think of Him without deriving much
benefit to ourselves.
III. WHAT, THEN, ARE THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM AN
HABITUAL REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS?This is our third subject of
inquiry; let us proceedto considerit.
1. The first of these benefits is comfort to the soul, when wounded by a sense
of sin.
2. An habitual remembrance of Christ has a tendency also to elevate our
affections.
3. This heavenly-mindedness would lead us to a third benefit resulting from
this remembrance of Christ — patience and comfort in our afflictions.
4. The remembrance of Christ tends also to keepalive within us a holy hatred
of sin. Nothing makes sin appear half so hateful, as the cross of Christ;
nothing so effectually checks itwhen rising in the soul, as the thought of a
dying Saviour. O let me never crucify the Son of God afresh!
IV. BUT IF WE WOULD HABITUALLY REMEMBER CHRIST, LET US
NOT FORGET THE COMMAND GIVEN US IN THE TEXT. "This do in
remembrance of Me." We soonforgetobjects which are removed from our
sight; and our Lord, who knows and pities this weaknessofour nature, has
given us an abiding memorial of Himself. He has appointed an ordinance for
this very purpose, to remind us of His love.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
Christ wanting to be remembered
R. Tuck, B. A.
The Holy Communion is the memorial of our Redeemer's sacrifice.

I. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBEREDFOR WHAT HE HAS DONE
FOR US. We never must forget the past, or lose sight of Calvary. Great
Prophet, we must ever think of what He has done to teach;Great Priest, what
He has done to atone; and GreatKing, what He has done to win the allegiance
and devotion of our hearts.
II. OUR LORD WANTS TO BE REMEMBEREDIN WHAT HE IS DOING
FOR US. He lives to carry on and to carry out His work of grace in our hearts
and lives.
III. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT HE IS UNDER
PLEDGE TO DO. We anticipate the coronationof our King, and the
marriage-supper of the Lamb. Veils hide Him now; we long for the vision of
His face.
(R. Tuck, B. A.)
The Holy feast
J. B. Owen, M. A.
1. A feastof charity.
2. A feastof commemoration.
3. A feastof sanctified communion.
4. A feastof hope.
(J. B. Owen, M. A.)
The Sacramentof Holy Communion
R. S. Brooke,M. A.
I. A DIRECTION FROMCHRIST — "Do this."
1. Addressedby our Lord

(1)to the apostles, and
(2)through them to the whole catholic Church.
2. Spokenas a Friend to His friends.
3. Spokeninstructively. As our Prophet.
4. Spokenauthoritatively. As our King, Christ expects us to keepthis our
military oath with Him. If an earthly commander had but to sayto his
servant, "go," and he went; and "come," and he came;how much more
"ought we to be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?" "See then, oh
believer, that ye refuse not Him who speaketh."Do not come to the Holy
Table —
(a)formally;
(b)grudgingly, or of necessity.Butcome —
(a)humbly;
(b)reverently;
(c)faithfully.
II. AN EXPLANATORYMOTIVE — "In remembrance of Me."
(R. S. Brooke, M. A.)
The cup of reconciliation
Christian Age.
Warburton and Tuckerwere contemporarybishop and dean in the same
cathedral. For many years they were not even on speaking terms. It was on a
GoodFriday, not long before Warburton's death; they were at the Holy Table
together. Before he gave the cup to the dean, he stoopeddown, and said in
tremulous emotion, "DearTucker, letthis be the cup of reconciliation
betweenus." It had the intended effect;they were friends againto their
mutual satisfaction.

(Christian Age.)
The Lord's Supper
J. Baylee, D. D.
I. THE INSTITUTION OF THIS HOLY RITE. "This do" — that is, do what
I am doing. To do what Jesus did we are to take bread and wine. And we are
to take this bread and wine, not for an ordinary meal — for they "had
supped'; and St. Paul says, "If any hunger, let him eat at home," — but for a
sacramentalfeast, a means of feeding in our souls upon the Body and Bloodof
Christ our Saviour. Again, if we would do what Jesus did, we must, before we
eat that bread and drink that wine, have them consecrated:"Jesus blessed";
and, as St. Paul says, "the cup of blessing which we bless." Next, we are to
have a minister to consecratethem. We do not find that any disciples meeting
togethercould consecratethe elements, for in Matthew we are told, that
"Jesus blessedit and brake it, and then gave it to the disciples and said, Take,
eat, this is My Body." Again we find, that in doing this, our Lord
accompaniedit with prayer.
II. THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER — "do this in remembrance
of Me." The remembrance of Jesus may be consideredactively or passively —
"this do in remembrance of Me" — that is, to remind Jesus ofus, or to
remind us of Jesus. The expressionmay be applied both ways, and may be
profitably consideredin either view. We have need of reminding Christ of us,
of our necessities, ourwants, our joys, and our sorrows, as in Isaiah43:26. In
Numbers 10:9, we have the same truth of reminding God of us setbefore the
Jews, andso s gain in Malachi3:16, 17. In this view of these words, we have
then this truth setbefore us that, in that holy ordinance, we remind Jesus of
His covenantedmercy, of His dying love, the price it costChrist to purchase
our souls, the greatness ofHis promises, the reality and truth of our faith in
Him, the necessitywe have to bring before Him our weaknessand our woes.
We remind Him that we do indeed believe in Him, and that, believing in Him,
we cling to His precious covenant. In taking of the memorials of His dying
love, we remind Him that we are those of whom He has said, "He that

believeth on Me, though He were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoeverliveth
and believeth on Me shall never die." But again, the remembrance of Jesus,
takenpassively, implies that we remember Jesus;our remembrance of Jesus
implies, not merely a remembrance of one act of the Saviour, of one truth, or
one factconnectedwith His gospelorHis life, but a remembrance of Himself.
He does not say, do it in remembrance of the cross-do it in remembrance of
the garden, but, do it in remembrance of Me — My person — My offices —
My qualities — My whole being — Christ Jesus our Redeemer — our Friend.
Remembrance of Jesus must vary in intensity, and affection, and character, in
proportion to our knowledge ofHis love, His grace, His kindness, and His
truth, and of our habitual abiding in Him in our own souls.
III. WHO ARE THE PERSONS THAT OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF IT?
IV. THE DUTY OF OBSERVING IT. It was given for disciples.
(J. Baylee, D. D.)
The Lord's Supper an emblem and memorial
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. It is AN EMBLEM. The question is, then, what unseen things do these
simple objects represent?
1. The human nature of Christ; His incarnation.
2. The death of Christ, too, is shadowedforth in this ordinance. We have more
than bread before us in it, it is bread which has been broken; and more than
wine, it is wine which has been poured forth.
3. The consecratedelements are emblematical also of the great end and design
of our Lord's incarnation and death.
II. Let us now go on to another view of this ordinance. IT IS A MEMORY.
"This do," He says, "in remembrance of Me." But it is not Himself simply
considered, that our Lord calls on us here to remember; it is Himself as these
emblems set Him forth, given and bleeding for us; it is Himself in His

humiliation, sufferings, and death. Why the institution of an ordinance to
bring things like these to our remembrance?
1. Partly, perhaps, on accountof the joy Christ Himself feels in the
recollectionofthem. His heart overflows with joy at the thought of His cross
and passion, and He would have us think of them and sympathize with Him in
His joy.
2. The remembrance of Christ's incarnation and death is of the utmost
importance to us; therefore also He may have establishedthis memorial of
them among us. "All our fresh springs" are in our crucified Lord, and
therefore He brings Himself frequently before us as our crucified Lord that
we may go to Him as the greatsource of our mercies, and take of His
blessings.
3. There is another reasonto be given for the setting up of this memorial of
our Lord's sufferings — it is our liability to forget them.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
Christ's vicarious death
A single verse, written on paper, now yellow with age, hangs on the wall of a
nobleman's study in London. It has a remarkable history, and has, in two
notable instances, atleast, been blessedof God to conversion. The verse was
originally composedby Dr. Valpy, the eminent Greek scholarand author of
some standard schoolbooks. He was converted late in life, and wrote this
verse as a confessionoffaith: —
"In peace letme resignmy breath,
And Thy salvationsee;
My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for me."On one occasionDr. Marshwas visiting the house of
Lord Roden, where he held a Bible reading with the family. He mentioned Dr.
Valpy's conversionby way of illustration in the course of his remarks, and

recited the verse. Lord Roden was particularly struck with the lines, wrote
them out, and affixed them to the wall of his study, where they still are. Lord
Roden's hospitable mansion was often full of visitors, among whom were
many old army officers. One of these was GeneralTaylor, who servedwith
distinction under Wellington at Waterloo. He had not, at that time, thought
much on the subject of religion, and preferred to avoid all discussionof it. But
soonafter the paper was hung up he went into the study to talk with his friend
alone, and his eyes restedfor a few moments upon the verse. Later in the day
Lord Roden upon entering his study came upon the generalstanding before
the paper and reading it with earnestface. At another visit the hostnoticed
that wheneverGeneralTaylor was in the study his eyes restedon the verse. At
length Lord Rodenbroke the ice by saying, "Why, General, you will soon
know that verse by heart." "I know it now by heart," replied the general, with
emphasis and feeling. A change came overthe general's spirit and life. No one
who was intimately acquainted with him could doubt its reality. During the
following two years he correspondedreadily with Lord Roden about the
things which concernedhis peace, always concluding his letters by quoting Dr.
Valpy's verse. At the end of that time the physician who attended General
Taylor wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend had departed in peace, and
that the last words which fell from his dying lips were those which he had
learned to love in his lifetime. A young relative of the family, an officerwho
served in the Crimea, also saw it, but turned carelesslyaway. Some months
later Lord Roden receivedthe intelligence that his young acquaintance was
suffering from pulmonary disease, andwas desirous of seeing him without
delay. As he enteredthe sick-roomthe dying man stretched out both hands to
welcome him; at the same time repeating Dr. Valpy's simple lines. "Theyhave
been God's message," he said, "of peace and comfort to my heart in this
illness, when brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, by
the Holy Ghostthe Comforter."
The ordained memorial
C. H. Spurgeon.

I. THE MAIN OBJECT OF THE SUPPER IS A PERSONALMEMORIAL.
"In remembrance of Me." We are to remember not so much His doctrines, or
precepts, as His person. Remember the Lord Jesus at this Supper —
1. As the trust of your hearts.
2. As the objectof your gratitude.
3. As the Lord of your conduct.
4. As the joy of your lives.
5. As the Representative ofyour persons.
6. As the Rewarderofyour hopes. Remember what He was, whatHe is, what
He will be. Remember Him with heartiness, concentrationofthought,
realizing vividness, and deep emotion.
II. THE MEMORIAL ITSELF IS STRIKING.
1. Simple, and therefore like Himself, who is transparent and unpretentious
truth. Only bread broken, and wine poured out.
2. Frequent — "as oft as ye drink it," and so pointing to our constant need. He
intended the Supper to be often enjoyed.
3. Universal, and so showing the need of all. "Drink ye all of it." In every land,
all His people are to eat and drink at this table.
4. His death is the best memory of Himself, and it is by showing forth His
death that we remember Him.
5. His covenant relationis a greataid to memory; hence He speaks of — "The
new covenantin My Blood." We do not forgetAdam, our first covenant-head;
nor canwe forgetour secondAdam.
6. Our receiving Him is the best method of keeping Him in memory; therefore
we eat and drink in this ordinance. No better memorial could have been
ordained.

III. THE OBJECT AIMED AT IS ITSELF INVITING. Since we are invited
to come to the holy Supper that we may remember our Lord, we may safely
infer that —
1. We may come to it, though we have forgottenHim often and sadly. In fact,
this will be a reasonfor coming.
2. We may come, though others may be forgetful of Him. We come not to
judge them, but to remember Him ourselves.
3. We may come, though weak foraught else but the memory of His goodness.
4. It will be sweet, cheering, sanctifying, quickening, to remember Him;
therefore let us not fail to come.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Sacramentbetter than a sermon
C. H. Spurgeon.
Frequently to me the Supper has been much better than a sermon. It has the
same teaching-power, but it is more vivid. The Lord is knownto us in the
breaking of bread, though our eyes have been holden during His discourse. I
can see a goodmeaning in the saying of Henry III., of France, when he
preferred the Sacramentto a sermon: "I had rather see my Friend than hear
Him talkedabout." I love to hear my Lord talked about, for so I often see
Him, and I see Him in no other wayin the Supper than in a sermon; but
sometimes, when my eye is weak with weeping, or dim with dust, that double
glass ofthe bread and wine suits me best.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The ends for which the Holy Communion is appointed
James Foote, M. A.

1. It is appointed to be a memorial of Christ.
2. It is a standing evidence of the truth of Christianity.
3. It furnishes an opportunity of the open professionofthe Christian religion
in general, and, especially, ofour trusting in the sacrifice ofChrist for
forgiveness and acceptance withGod.
4. Another end of the Lord's Supper is to be an actof Church fellowship, or
communion.
5. The Lord's Supper gives an opportunity of covenanting with God, and
engaging to be the Lord's. He who partakes ofthe Communion is, by that very
act, as completely and voluntarily bound to serve the Lord, as if he had
engagedaloudto do so in the plainest terms of speech, or subscribed, with his
own hand, a written deed to that effect. It follows, too, by necessary
consequence,that, though he is not bound to anything to which he was not in
duty bound before, yet, if he abandon himself to sin, he is justly chargeable
with breach of engagement. This argument does not reston anything peculiar
to the Supper; but it applies to it with particular force.
6. Another very comprehensive end of this ordinance is to be a means of
cherishing all the gracesofthe Divine life. We say of cherishing them, not of
implanting them; for, though the grace ofGod is not to be limited, and may
reachthe heart, for the first time, in any circumstances, those who partake of
the Lord's Supper ought already to be possessedofthe Christian characterin
some degree.
7. Once more, this ordinance is intended to lead our thoughts forward to our
Lord's secondcoming. It is not only retrospective, but prospective. It is not
only a remembrance of something past, but an anticipation of something
future.
(James Foote, M. A.)
Remembering Jesus

H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.
In remembrance of Him! What a flood of recollections comesback to us as we
think on these words. To every class, age, andcharacteramongstus those
words are spoken. To you babes and children He says, "Do this in
remembrance of Me, the Child Jesus, who for you once lay as a babe in the
manger at Bethlehem, who for your sakesgrew as a child in favour with God
and man, who was obedient to His parents, a gentle, holy Child; do this, be
obedient, be gentle, be loving, keepyour baptismal vow in remembrance of
Me." It speaks to you, young men, and says, "Do this, keepyourselves pure,
flee fleshly lusts which waragainstthe soul, be helpful, be earnest, not slothful
in business, labour honestly in your appointed task, do this in remembrance of
Me, who as a young man was pure and earnestand helpful, who laboured
patiently and obscurelyin lowly Nazareth." He speaks to all Who have money
or time or influence at their disposal, He says, "Do this, go about doing good,
feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the fatherless and the widow;
never turn your face from any poor man; if thou hast much, give plenteously,
if thou hast little do thy diligence to give gladly of that little, do this in
remembrance of Me, the Man Christ Jesus, who went about doing good, who
gave up all time, glory, honour, wealth, life itself, for others, who soughtout
the ignorant and those who were out of the way, who dried the widow's tears,
who ministered to the sick, who was not ashamedto help and comfort even the
publican and the fallen woman, who suffered hunger and thirst, and want,
and insult for His people; O you, who are calledby My name, do this in
remembrance of Me, for in that ye do such things unto the leastof My people,
ye do it unto Me, and verily ye have your reward." To you who are anyways
afflicted and distressedlie speaks andsays, "Do this in remembrance of Me,
bear this cross meeklyin remembrance of that bitter cross ofMine, for what
sorrow is like unto My sorrow, what night of agonycan equal that night in
Gethsemane, whatgrave can now be without hope since that one grave in the
Garden which was unsealedon Eastermorning?"
(H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)

The memorial of Jesus
J. R. Leifchild, M. A.
I. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEEPLY DEVOTED FRIEND.
II. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEPARTEDFRIEND.
III. WHAT DO WE SPECIALLY COMMEMORATE BYOUR
COMPLIANCE WITH THIS COMMAND? His death, as a sacrificial
atonement for our sins, and as the most remarkable display of His love for us,
though sinners.
IV. In commemorating Christ's death by this ordinance, WE RECALL THE
IGNOMINY, REPROACH, AND SHAME HE ENDURED ON OUR
BEHALF.
V. Reflectthat THESE THINGS, MORE THAN ALL OTHERS, ARE
WORTHY OF BEING HELD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE.
VI. HERE, TOO, WE KEEP IN REMEMBRANCETRANSACTIONS IN
WHICH EVERY GENERATION HAS THE SAME INTEREST,AND
WHICH PRESENTTO ALL THE SAME MOST INVITING AND SOLEMN
ASPECTS.
VII. Once more, in the same direction of thought, we observe that, IN THE
CELEBRATION OF DEEDS OF PROWESSAND PATRIOTISM, THE
REMOTERTHE PERIOD OF THEIR PERFORMANCE, THE LESS IS
THE INTEREST AWAKENED BY THEM, while in relation to the great
event which we this day commemorate, THE REMOTER THE AGE AND
GENERATION,THE DEEPER WILL BE THE INTERESTFELT IN IT,
AND MORE NUMEROUS WILL THEY BE WHO CELEBRATE IT.
VIII. IN THIS ORDINANCE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED UPON TO
REMEMBERAN UNSEEN FRIEND, UNTIL THE APPOINTED PERIOD
OF HIS REAPPEARANCE.

IX. FROM THE SIMPLE NATURE OF THE SYMBOLS EMPLOYED, WE
INFER THAT THIS COMMEMORATIONIS TO BE UNIVERSAL AS THE
CHURCH, AND EXTENSIVE AS THE WORLD.
X. Notice the PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THIS COMMAND AS
DISTINGUISHED FROM ALL OTHERS ENJOINED BYDIVINE
AUTHORITY. This commemorative command is not issuedto us so much in
the manner of a Lord and lawgiver, as in the characterofa claim of gratitude
and affection. The Creatorcommands thus, "Do this and live; or, fail to do,
and die." So does the Lawgiver command — "Thoushalt do this in fearof
Me, and of the penalties of disobedience." Butour Lord's command in the text
speaks to us in a very different manner. He does not say, "Do this in fear of
Me as God," but "Do this in remembrance of Me, as Redeemer" — "Do this,
I beseechyou, as you love Me, and as I have loved you. I have done My work
— 'It is finished.' Now do your part in remembrance of this finished work."
In obeying this command, we obey it as having especialandpeculiar reference
to the Mediator. Other commands, like those of the moral law, respectthe
providence and moral government of God, and the benefit of man — this one
directly issues from, and gives glory to, the dying Redeemer, the God-man,
"the Author and Finisher of our faith." In His other commands Christ
addresses us as our Master, our Shepherd, our Divine and Supreme Teacher
— in this He instructs us in our duties to God, to our neighbour, and to
ourselves. All His other commands appear to point OUTWARDS in the
direction of various rights and duties; this command only points REWARDS:
others, awayfrom Himself — this, to Himself, "Do this in remembrance of
ME — in remembrance of My body, My blood, My death. That death which I
endured for your sakes, do you at leastremember for My sake."
(J. R. Leifchild, M. A.)
Designof the Lord's Supper
NationalBaptist.
I. COMMEMORATIVE.

1. "In remembrance of Me" — the end.
2. "Do this" — the means.
II. REPRESENTATIVE.
1. The bread, or Christ's body, represents His personality, or the Incarnation.
2. The wine, or Christ's blood, represents His work, or the Atonement.
3. The bread and wine, the body and blood, representthe incarnate career.
III. PROCLAMATIVE. An immortal witness to the crucifixion (1 Corinthians
11:20).
IV. COVENANTIVE (Luke 22:20). The engagementboth Divine and human.
V. COMMUNICATIVE (1 Corinthians 10:17).
VI. ASSOCIATIVE. Personalmembership in Christ is universal co-
membership of Christ's people.
VII. ANTICIPATIVE (Matthew 26:29). The dirge glides into the paean. Hint
of the new heavens and new earth. Bridegroomand bride at the same
marriage-supper of the Lamb (Revelation19:6-9).
(NationalBaptist.)
The blood of the new covenant
The WeeklyPulpit.
I. THE NEW COVENANT OF FORGIVENESSAND LIFE. The new
reminds of the old. From the old we may learn what to look for as essential
features of the new. Take three illustrations:
1. The covenant with Noah, on leaving the Ark.
2. The covenant with Abraham, on entering Canaan.

3. The covenant with Moses, onleading the people from Egypt. The new
covenantis an engagementbetweenGodand man, through Christ, who acts
as representative of God to man and of man to God. It implies mutual pledges.
On God's side is pledged forgiveness;remissionof sins; and life, in its fullest,
highest meaning. On man's side is pledged the obedience of faith.
II. THE BLOOD WHICH SEALS AND SANCTIONS THE COVENANTS.
Look againat the three cases mentioned. Eachcovenantwas sealedwith
blood. Noahtook of the cleanbeasts for his offering, which devotedthe spared
lives to the service of God. Abraham divided the creatures, whenhe entered
into his covenant. And Moses sprinkledwith blood both the book and the
people, when the covenantwas ratified. Why always with blood? Becausethe
blood is the symbol of the life, and, so, shedding blood was a symbolicalway of
taking a solemnvow to give the whole life to obedience. Thensee how Christ's
blood becomes the sealof the new covenant. Take Christ as Mediator for God.
He condescendedto our weakness,and pledged His very being, His very life,
to His faithfulness towards us. In this sense He is God's sacrifice. TakeChrist
as mediator for man. And in this He is man's sacrifice. Thentwo things come
to view.
1. He seals our pledge that we will spend life in obedience, serving Godup to
and through death. In accepting Christ as our Saviour, we acknowledge that
He has takenthis pledge for us.
2. In giving His blood, His life, to us to partake of, Christ would give us the
strength to keepour pledge. Illustrate by the ScottishCovenanters, opening a
vein, and, signing with their life-blood the "Covenant" onthe gravestone, in
Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. What, then, is the pledge which we take
afreshin eachsacramentalact? Obedience unto death. The obedience of faith.
What is the pledge we receive afreshin every sacramentalact? The assurance
of Divine forgiveness, andeternal life. Why do we take the sacramental
emblems together? In order that we may be mutual witnesses;and then true
helpers one of another in keeping our pledge.
(The WeeklyPulpit.)

STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Took bread - See the nature and design of the Lord's Supper explained in the
notes on Matthew 26:26-29;(note).
This do in remembrance of me - That the Jews, in eating the passover, did it
to represent the sufferings of the Messiah, as evident from the tract Pesachim,
fol. 119, quoted by Schoettgen.
Why do we call this the greathallel? (i.e. the hymn composedof several
psalms, which they sung after the paschalsupper). Ans. Because init these
five things are contained:
The exodus from Egypt.
The dividing of the RedSea.
The promulgation of the law.
The resurrectionof the dead. And,
The sufferings of the Messiah.
The first is referred to, Psalm114:1, When Israel went out of Egypt, etc.
The secondin Psalm114:3, The sea saw it and fled.
The third in Psalm 114:4, The mountains skipped like rams, etc.
The fourth in Psalm116:9, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the
living.

The fifth in Psalm115:1, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory; for thy mercy and thy truth's sake. Seethe note on Matthew 26:30.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to
them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance
of me.
This was the beginning of the institution of the Lord's Supper, the same being
after the lastmeal they had just sharedwas concluded, placing it after (8) and
before (9) in the above pattern.
For full comment on "transubstantiation" and other questions, see parallel
with comments in my Commentary on Matthew. Here the eternal
commandment of remembering the Saviour was uttered. The vast difference
in Judaism and Christianity is in this very thing. Under the Law of Moses,
there was a "remembrance" made of sin upon every solemnoccasionof
worship, even upon the day of Atonement; but in Christianity, there is no
more a remembrance of sin, but of the Lamb of God who took awaythe sins
of the world. See elaborationof this in my Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews
10:3-4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And he took bread and gave thanks,.... Or blessedit, as in Matthew 26:26.
Here begins the accountof the Lord's supper after the passoverwas eaten;
and brake it, and gave unto them; the disciples, as is expressedin Matthew
26:26
saying, this is my body; See Gill on Matthew 26:26.
which is given for you; or will be given for you, as an offering for sin in your
room and stead;and accordinglyit was given into the hands of men, and of
justice, and unto death. The phrase denotes the substitution and sacrifice of

Christ in the room of his people, and the voluntariness of it; and is only
mentioned by Luke in this account:the Apostle Paul writes, which is broken
for you, 1 Corinthians 11:24 alluding to the breaking of the bread in the
ordinance, and as expressing the bruises, wounds, sufferings, and death of
Christ: the Ethiopic version here adds, "for the redemption of many".
This do in remembrance of me; that is, eatthis bread in remembrance of my
love to you, and in commemoration of my body being offered up for you.
Observe this ordinance in the manner I now institute it, in time to come, in
memory of what I am about to do for you; for this direction does not only
regard the present time and action, but is intended as a rule to be observed by
the churches of Christ in all ages, to his secondcoming: and it is to be
observed, that the Lord's supper is not a reiteration, but a commemoration of
the sacrifice ofChrist. This phrase is only mentioned by Luke here, and by the
Apostle Paul, who adds it also at the drinking of the cup, 1 Corinthians 11:24.
The Persic versionhere reads, "do this perpetually in remembrance of me".
Geneva Study Bible
5 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
(5) Christ establishes his new covenantand his communication with us by new
symbols.
John Lightfoot's Commentary on the Gospels
19. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,
[This is my body.] The words of the institution of the holy eucharist
throughout the whole contain a reflection, partly by wayof antithesis, partly
by way of allusion.

I. This is my body. Upon the accountof their present celebrationof the
Passover, these words might very well have some reference to the body of the
Paschallamb: the body (I say) of the Paschallamb. For the Jews use this very
phrase concerning it: "Theybring in a table spread, on which are bitter
herbs, with other herbs, unleavened bread, pottage, and the body of the
PaschalLamb." And a little after: he eatethof the body of the Passover. From
whence our Saviour's meaning may be well enough discerned; viz. that by the
same significationthat the Paschallamb was my body hitherto, from
henceforwardlet this bread be my body.
II. Which is given for you. But the apostle adds, "Which is brokenfor you":
which, indeed, doth not so well agree with the Paschallamb as with the lamb
for the daily sacrifice. Foras to the Paschallamb, there was not a bone of it
broken; but that of the daily sacrifice was brokenand cut into severalparts;
and yet they are both of them the body of Christ in a figure. And although,
besides the breaking of it, there are these further instances whereinthe
Paschallamb and that of the daily sacrifice did differ, viz., 1. that the daily
sacrifice was forall Israel, but the Paschalforthis or that family: 2. the daily
sacrifice was forthe atonement of sin; the Passovernot so:3. the daily
sacrifice was burnt, but the Passovereaten:yet in this they agreed, that under
both the body of our Saviour was figured and shadowedout, though in a
different notion.
III. This do in remembrance of me. As you kept the Passoverin remembrance
of your going out of Egypt. "Thou shalt remember the day of thy going out of
Egypt all the days of thy life. Ben Zuma thus explains it; The days of thy life,
that is, in the day time: all the days of thy life, that is, in the night time too.
But the wise men say, The days of thy life, that is, in this age:all the days of
thy life, that the days of the Messiahmay be included too." But whereas, in
the days of the Messiahthere was a greaterand more illustrious redemption
and deliverance than that out of Egypt brought about; with the Jews'good
leave, it is highly requisite, that both the thing itself and he that accomplished
it should be remembered. We suspectin our notes upon 1 Corinthians 11, as if
some of the Corinthians, in their very participation of the holy eucharist, did
so far Judaize, that what had been instituted for the commemorationof their
redemption by the death of Christ, they perverted to the commemorationof

the going out of Egypt; and that they did not at all 'discern the Lord's body' in
the sacrament.
Under the law there were severaleatings of holy things. The first was that
which Siphra mentions, when the priests eat of the sacrifice, andatonement is
made for him that brings it. There were other eatings, viz., of the festival
sacrifices ofthe tenths, thanksgiving-offerings, &c., whichwere to be eatenby
those that brought them; but these all now have their period: and now, Do ye
this, and do it in remembrance of me.
IV. This cup...which is shed for you. This seems to have reference to that cup
of wine that was every day poured out in the drink offerings with the daily
sacrifice;for that also was poured out for the remissionof sins. So that the
bread may have reference to the body of the daily sacrifice, and the cup to the
wine of the drink offering.
V. My blood of the new testament. So St. Matthew and St. Mark with
reference to "the blood of bulls and of goats," withwhich the old testament
was confirmed, Exodus 24;Hebrews 9:19.
VI. The new testamentin my blood. So our evangelistand so the apostle, 1
Corinthians 11 with reference to the whole ministry of the altar, where blood
was poured out; nay, with respectto the whole Jewishreligion, for here was
the beginning or entry of the new covenant. And indeed it seems that the
design of that frequent communion of the Lord's supper in the first ages ofthe
church, among other things, was, that those who were convertedfrom
Judaism might be sealedand confirmed againstJudaism; the sacramentitself
being the mark of the cessationofthe old testament and the beginning of the
new.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Which is given for you (το υπερ υμων διδομενον — to huper humōn
didomenon). Some MSS. omit these verses though probably genuine. The
correcttext in 1 Corinthians 11:24 has “whichis for you,” not “which is

broken for you.” It is curious to find the word “broken” here preserved and
justified so often, even by Eastonin his commentary on Luke, p. 320.
In remembrance of me (εις την εμην αναμνησιν — eis tēn emēn anamnēsin).
Objective use of the possessive pronoun εμην — emēn not the subjective.
This do (τουτο ποιειτε — touto poieite). Presentactive indicative, repetition,
keepon doing this.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,
And he took bread — Namely, some time after, when supper was ended,
wherein they had eatenthe paschallamb.
This is my body — As he had just now celebratedthe paschalsupper, which
was calledthe passover, so in like figurative language, he calls this bread his
body. And this circumstance of itself was sufficient to prevent any mistake, as
if this bread was his real body, any more than the paschallamb was really the
passover.
The Fourfold Gospel
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it1, and gave to
them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance
of me.
THE LORD'S SUPPER INSTITUTED.(Jerusalem. Evening before the
crucifixion.) Matthew 26:26-29;Mark 14:22-25;Luke 22:19,20;1 Corinthians
11:23-26

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, etc. See 1
Corinthians 11:23-26.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
Luke 22:19.Whichis given for you. The other two Evangelists leave out this
clause, which, however, is far from being superfluous; for the reasonwhy the
flesh of Christ becomes breadto us is, that by it salvationwas once procured
for us. And as the crucified flesh itself is of no advantage but to those who eat
it by faith, so, on the other hand, the eating of it would be unmeaning, and of
hardly any value, were it not in reference to the sacrifice which was once
offered. Whoever then desires that the flesh of Christ should afford
nourishment to him, let him look at it as having been offered on the cross, that
it might be the price of our reconciliationwith God. But what Matthew and
Mark leave out in reference to the symbol of bread, they express in reference
to the cup, saying, that the blood was to be shed for the remission of sins; and
this observationmust be extended to both clauses.So then, in order that we
may feed aright on the flesh of Christ, we must contemplate the sacrifice ofit,
because it was necessarythat it should have been once given for our salvation,
that it might every day be given to us.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME
‘This do in remembrance of Me.’
Luke 22:19
We may, perhaps, obtain clearviews of the nature of this central rite of the
Christian Church if we regardit from four standpoints. Let us look upon it
as—

Jesus was a reminder

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