Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing ChristiansRyle, J. C. (John Charles)
Religion
Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles)
Christian life -- Anglican authors
I take down my Bible and turn to the New Testament. There I find no less
than four separate accounts of the first appointment of the Lord's
Supper. St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. Paul, all four describe
it: all four agree in telling us what our Lord did on this memorable
occasion.--Two only tell us the reason which our Lord assigned why His
disciples were to eat the bread and drink the cup. St. Paul and St. Luke
both record the remarkable words, "_Do this in remembrance of Me_."--St.
Paul adds his own inspired comment: "As often as ye eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do shew (or declare or proclaim) the Lord's death
till He come." (Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 25, 26.) When Scripture speaks
so plainly, why cannot men be content with it? Why should we mystify and
confuse a subject which in the New Testament is so simple? The
"continual remembrance of Christ's death" was the one grand object for
which the Lord's Supper was ordained. He that goes further than this is
adding to God's Word, and does so to the great peril of his soul.
Now is it reasonable to suppose that our Lord would appoint an ordinance
for so simple a purpose as the "_keeping His death in remembrance_"?
Most certainly it is. Of all the facts in His earthly ministry none are
equal in importance to that of His death. It was the great satisfaction
for man's sin, which had been appointed in God's covenant from the
foundation of the world. It was the great atonement of almighty power,
to which every sacrifice of animals, from the fall of man, continually
pointed. It was the grand end and purpose for which Messiah came into
the world. It was the corner-stone and foundation of all man's hopes of
pardon and peace with God. In short, Christ would have lived, and
taught, and preached, and prophesied, and wrought miracles in vain, if
He had not _crowned all by dying for our sins as our Substitute_! His
death was our life. His death was the payment of our debt to God.
Without His death we should have been of all creatures most miserable.
No wonder that an ordinance was specially appointed to remind us of our
Saviour's death. It is the very one thing of which poor, weak, sinful
man needs to be continually reminded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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