A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 2: Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of FriendsClarkson, Thomas
Religion
A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 2: Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of Friends
Clarkson, Thomas
Society of Friends
The Quakers, however, understand the words "till he come," to mean
simply the coming of Christ substantially in the heart. Giving the words
this meaning, they limit the duration of the spiritualized passover, but
do not specify the time. It might have ceased with some of them, they
say, on the day of pentecost, when they began to discover the nature of
Christ's kingdom; and they think it probable, that it ceased with all of
them, when they found this kingdom realized in their hearts. For it is
remarkable that those, who became Gospel writers, and it is to be
presumed that they had attained great spiritual growth when they wrote
their respective works, give no instructions to others, whether Jews or
Gentiles, to observe the ceremonial permitted to the disciples by Jesus,
as any ordinance of the Christian church. And in the same manner as the
Quakers conceive the duration of the spiritualized passover to have been
limited to the disciples, they conceive it to have been limited to all
other Jewish converts, who might have adopted it in those times, that
is, till they should find by the substantial enjoyment of Christ in
their hearts, that ceremonial ordinances belonged to the old, but that
they were not constituent parts of the new kingdom.
SECT. VI.
_Quakers believe, from the preceding evidence, that Jesus Christ
intended no ceremonial for the Christian church--for if the custom
enjoined was the passover spiritualized, it was more suitable for Jews
than Gentiles--If intended as a ceremonial, it would have been commanded
by Jesus to others besides his disciples, and by these to the Christian
world--and its duration would not have been limited--Quakers believe St.
Paul thought it no Christian ordinance--three reasons taken from his
own writings on this subject._
The Quakers then, on an examination of the preceding evidence, are of
opinion that Jesus Christ, at the passover-supper, never intended to
institute any new supper, distinct from that of the passover, or from
that enjoined at Capernaum, to be observed as a ceremonial by
Christians.
For, in the first place, St. Matthew, who was at the supper, makes no
mention of the words "do this in remembrance of me."
Neither are these words, nor any of a similar import, recorded by St.
Mark. It is true indeed that St. Mark was not at this supper. But it is
clear he never understood from those who were, either that they were
spoken, or that they bore this meaning, or he would have inserted them
in his Gospel.
Nor is any mention made of such words by St. John. This was the beloved
disciple who was more intimate with Jesus, and who knew more of the mind
of his master, than any of the others. This was he who leaned upon his
bosom at the passover-supper, and who must have been so near him as to
have heard all that passed there. And. yet this disciple did not think
it worth his while, except manuscripts have been mutilated, to mention
even the bread and wine that were used upon this occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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