{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_63769/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_63769","id":"gutenberg_63769","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63769","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Lord's Supper"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1854 J. Dunn and Co. edition by David Price.\n\n\n\n\n\n                     CHRIST REMEMBERED AT HIS TABLE.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                AN ADDRESS\n\n                                  TO THE\n\n               Churches of the Nottinghamshire Association,\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                 ASSEMBLED AT THE LORD\u2019S SUPPER IN FRIAR\n                         LANE CHAPEL, NOTTINGHAM,\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                   ON MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 20TH, 1854.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                            BY JOHN ALEXANDER,\n\n               MINISTER OF PRINCE\u2019S STREET CHAPEL, NORWICH.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                          PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                               NOTTINGHAM:\n                 PRINTED BY J. DUNN AND CO., SOUTH PARADE\n\n                                  1854.\n\n\n\n\nAN ADDRESS.\n\n\nWE have come together in this one place, Christian brethren, for the\npurpose of celebrating a very simple yet instructive and impressive\nceremony, which has been appointed to us by Jesus Christ our Lord and\nSaviour.  \u201cThis do, said he, in remembrance of me.\u201d  To eat of this\nbread, and to drink of this cup, is that which he requires us to do.  But\nwe are directed to do it, not as if it were a common meal, nor to satisfy\nhunger and thirst, for \u201cwe have houses in which to eat and to drink,\u201d but\nas a memorial of Him by whom it was ordained.  \u201cThis do, in remembrance\n_of me_.\u201d\n\nWhat is it then that we are now to remember respecting Christ?  We are,\nno doubt, to remember what he is personally, as possessing in himself a\ndivine and human nature; as being at once the Son of God and the Son of\nman\u2014\u201cthe great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.\u201d  But, in connection\nwith this sacred supper, we are more especially to remember _his death_.\nThat one event is selected out of the many and marvellous circumstances\nwhich distinguished his wonderful history, as the only event which is to\nbe celebrated by a religious ceremony.  Though he triumphed over Satan,\nwhen he was tempted in the wilderness; though he wrought superhuman and\ndivine miracles, by which he healed the sick and raised the dead; and\nthough he was transfigured on the holy mount, when his face shone as the\nsun, and his raiment became white and glistering, and Moses and Elias\nappeared to him in glory; yet none of these circumstances, splendid and\nimportant as they were, are selected for commemoration at this supper.\nIt is his death, his death by the shedding of his blood, which he has\nrequired his church perpetually to celebrate.  This bread denotes his\nbody which was broken, and this wine denotes his blood which was shed.\n\nThere must therefore be a peculiar degree of _importance connected with\nhis death_ which does not belong to any event of his previous life.  And\nthis importance is attached, by the scriptures, not merely to the mode of\nhis death, or to the degree of suffering which he endured in dying,\nagonizing and mysterious as his sufferings were, but more especially to\nthe state of mind with which he suffered, and to the moral purposes which\nhis sufferings were intended to accomplish.  His body was broken, but it\nwas broken \u201cfor you.\u201d  His blood was shed, but it was \u201cthe blood of the\nNew Covenant,\u201d \u201cthe blood that was shed for many, for the remission of\nsins.\u201d  His death is to be remembered therefore, not only as a fact, but\nas a doctrine founded on the fact.  He died, but he died for our sins; he\ndied, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.\n\nAnd in thus remembering his death, we are to connect it with his divine\nas well as with his human nature.  The scriptures ascribe the sacrificial\nand saving efficacy of his death principally to _the peculiar dignity of\nhis person_; and the language in which they teach this doctrine is\nremarkably emphatic.  It is \u201cthe blood of Jesus Christ HIS SON that\ncleanseth us from all sin;\u201d \u201cWHO, being the brightness of his glory, and\nthe express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of\nhis power, BY HIMSELF purged our sins;\u201d and \u201cWHO HIS OWN SELF bare our\nsins in HIS OWN BODY on the tree.\u201d  Now while these and similar passages\nby no means teach that the divine nature of Christ suffered and died\u2014a\ndoctrine as contrary to scripture as it is to reason\u2014yet they do teach\nthat he was competent to be a Saviour because he was the Son of God, and\nthat because such a person as he gave himself for us, his sacrificial\nblood is an availing \u201cpropitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,\nbut also for the sins of the whole world.\u201d\n\nThese, brethren, are some of the particulars respecting Christ which we\nare to remember while we eat of this bread and drink of this cup.  It is\ntherefore a service intended for both bodily and mental exercise, because\nboth the body and the soul are interested in the redemption which it\ncelebrates.  As, however, it is especially intended _for the mind_, while\nwe are doing this, the thoughts of our hearts should be actively and\ndevoutly directed to Christ, that we may discern the Lord\u2019s body, and\nthat we may contemplate the things signified, as well as the signs.  But\nas our minds are naturally affected in accordance with the objects which\nare perceived by our senses and contemplated by our thoughts, we should\nnow remember Christ in order to excite and strengthen in our hearts those\nemotions and principles which a devout consideration of his sacrificial\ndeath is calculated to produce.  \u201cMine eye,\u201d says Jeremiah, \u201caffecteth my\nheart.\u201d  Attention to an object awakens corresponding feelings.  Minding\nthe things of the Spirit is, by the agency of that Spirit, productive of\nspiritual-mindedness; and, in harmony with the same divine rule, a\nthoughtful and believing remembrance of Christ is rendered, by the Spirit\nof God, productive of such sentiments and feelings as his person, and\ngrace, and dying love, are intended and adapted to awaken, and which are\nso peculiarly appropriate to this solemnity.  These remarks may therefore\nbe illustrated by the following particulars, for the purpose of shewing\n_the influence which may be produced by an attentive and devout\nremembrance of Christ_.\n\n1.  In the first place, such a remembrance of Christ will encourage our\napproach to him as sinners.  This indeed is the only character in which\nwe can approach him.  We cannot go with any degree of previous\npreparation or of personal merit.  If we go to him at all, we must carry\nwith us our burden of sin and unworthiness.  Now, the remembrance of\nChrist who died for sinners, will greatly encourage us to do this, for we\nare told that the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was\nlost; that he approved the prayer of the publican, \u201cGod be merciful to me\na sinner;\u201d that he promptly received the weeping penitent whom the\nself-righteous Pharisee rejected, and said to her \u201cGo in peace, thy sins\nare forgiven thee;\u201d that he threw his arms around the neck of the\nreturning prodigal, and said, \u201cThis my son was dead and is alive again,\nhe was lost and is found!\u201d and that his constant and constraining\ninvitation is, \u201cCome unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and\nI will give you rest.\u201d  Now this invitation, combined with these\nremembrances, is a special and powerful encouragement to go to Christ,\nbecause it gives us authority and right to go.  It is not a sense of\nneed, nor an earnest desire, nor hungering and thirsting for the\nrighteousness which the gospel feast provides, that gives us primary\nauthority to sit down with the guests, however much these feelings may\ndispose us to go; but it is his own invitation which, as Master of the\nfeast, he addresses to the perishing and the lost.  That is our\nauthority, and with that in our hand, we may go \u201cboldly to the throne of\ngrace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d\n\n2.  Remembrance of Christ will excite and strengthen our penitential\nfeelings.  Remembrance and reflection are the means of producing\nconviction and contrition, especially if we remember Christ as well as\nour own sins.  David says, \u201cI thought on my ways, and turned my feet to\nthy commandments.\u201d  And reflection produced a similar effect upon Peter,\nafter his denial of the Lord; for, \u201cwhen he thought thereon, he wept.\u201d\nOn this same principle it is written, \u201cThey shall look on him whom they\nhave pierced and mourn;\u201d so that repentance, evangelical repentance, the\nrepentance which includes a change of heart and conduct, is derived not\nso much from looking at the broken tables of the law, important as it is\nto remember them, but from looking at the broken body of the Lord.  We\nmust remember the groans and agonies of Gethsemane, rather than the\nthunder and earthquake of \u201cthe mount that might be touched;\u201d we must look\nto Jesus rather than to Moses; and our sorrow and mourning for sin must\nbe produced on Calvary rather than on Sinai.\n\n    Law and terrors do but harden,\n       All the while they work alone;\n    But a sense of blood bought pardon,\n       Can dissolve a heart of stone.\n\n3.  Grateful love to Christ will also be produced by this remembrance.\nLove to Christ is a principle essential to personal religion, and without\nit we are nothing.  But our hearts are so constituted that love cannot be\nexcited in them by any commands however authoritative, or by any\nthreatenings however terrible.  We cannot love an object unless we\nperceive that it is lovely; nor can we love Christ unless we perceive the\nloveliness of his person and character.  And this perception is derived\nfrom reflection and remembrance.  While we are musing the fire begins to\nburn; and when we remember the great love with which he loved us, when he\ngave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, that love\nexcites and constrains our own, and \u201cwe love him because he first loved\nus.\u201d  When we thus begin by loving him for what he has done for us, we go\non to perfection by loving him for what he is, the noblest and the purest\nlove our hearts can cherish.  And as love always assimilates to its\nobject, and blesses the heart which it inspires, so love to Christ\nconforms us to his character, and becomes a fruitful source of joy and\npeace.  The Spirit takes of the things which are Christ\u2019s and shews them\nto us with increased clearness and impressiveness, so that \u201cbeholding as\nin a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image,\nfrom glory to glory.\u201d\n\n4.  Nor can we thus remember Christ, and thereby feel the constraining\ninfluences of his love, without manifesting devout subjection to his\nauthority, and practical conformity to his example.  The great and\npervading principle of his mind was evidently a spirit of obedience and\nsubmission to his Father\u2019s will.  \u201cI am come,\u201d said he, \u201cnot to do my own\nwill, but the will of him that sent me.\u201d  \u201cMy meat is to do his will.\u201d\n\u201cFather, not my will but thine be done.\u201d  How perfectly and perseveringly\nwere these sayings exhibited in his daily life; and how precious and\npowerful does his example become to those who endeavour to have these\nthings always in remembrance.  And shall it not be so with us?  Shall we,\nhis disciples, pursue any course but that which is marked by his\nfootsteps?  Shall we remember Christ and love the world, and comply with\ntemptation, and neglect watchfulness and prayer, and carefully avoid self\ndenial, and follow our own inclinations rather than his commands, and\nfeel ashamed of making a public profession of his gospel?  Oh, no!  Holy\nJesus, no!  We would ardently cling to thy cross, but we would also\nhumbly bow beneath thy sceptre.  And while we do this in remembrance of\nthee, we would thankfully acknowledge that we are not our own; that we\nhave been bought with the price of thy precious blood; and that we are\nunder infinite obligations to glorify thee in our body and our spirit\nwhich are thine.\n\n5.  This remembrance of Christ will also promote our love to the\nbrethren.  How affecting and constraining were the manifestations of\nChrist\u2019s love to his disciples.  He lived for them; he died for them; he\nbore with their infirmities; he prayed for them that their faith might\nnot fail; he washed their feet, to teach them to wash one another\u2019s feet;\nand when his soul had begun to be exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,\nand they were striving which of them should be greatest in that earthly\nKingdom which they expected him to establish, he looked mildly on and\nsaid, \u201cWhether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth?\nIs not he that sitteth at meat?  But I am among you as one that serveth.\u201d\n\u201cWhile you sit, and strive, and aspire to lofty stations, I am content to\nstand and wait.\u201d  \u201cI am come, not to be ministered unto but to minister,\nand to give my life a ransom for many.\u201d  Brethren, was this in any degree\nthe spirit of the world?  Was not this love that passeth knowledge?  And\ncan we do this in remembrance of such a meek and lowly Jesus, and yet\ncherish towards any of his disciples a spirit of cold-hearted selfishness\nand proud sectarianism, which would refuse to recognise them as brethren,\nor to co-operate with them in promoting the cause of Christ.  Oh no!  Let\nus rather sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of him; let us love mankind\nat large, even our enemies, with a benevolent desire to do them good; but\nlet us love the brethren because they are brethren and because \u201cChrist\nhath loved them and given himself for them.\u201d  And let our love to them\ninclude forbearance and longsuffering in reference to their infirmities,\na cordial recognition of their as well as our spiritual relationship to\nChrist, an affectionate sympathy with them in all their difficulties and\ntribulations, and a fraternal communion and co-operation with them in all\ntheir works of faith and labours of love.\n\n6.  Such remembrance of Christ will bring us, even now, into a state of\nharmony with heaven.  Heaven is that \u201cupper room\u201d in the new Jerusalem\nwhere Christ sits down at his table with his disciples; where he partakes\nwith them of the new wine of his kingdom; and where all that is signified\nand shadowed by this earthly supper is \u201cfulfilled.\u201d  When therefore we\nthus come together in this one place to remember Christ, by eating of\nthis bread and drinking of this cup, we come also \u201cto the heavenly\nJerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly\nand church of the first born which are enrolled in heaven, to the spirits\nof just men made perfect, and even to Jesus himself, the mediator of the\nnew covenant.\u201d  Our spiritual circumstances, though in many respects very\ninferior to theirs, are nevertheless the same in kind.  \u201cAs is the\nheavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.\u201d  All things which are in\nheaven and which are on earth, are gathered together in one by Christ,\neven in him.  We and they therefore are one church; one whole family in\nheaven and earth; one communion of saints, partakers of the same blessed\nprivileges, and cherishing a devout remembrance of the same Lord.  Our\njustification is as complete as theirs; our holiness is derived from the\nsame source, and assimilates to the same image; our joy, as well as\ntheirs, is \u201cunspeakable and full of glory.\u201d  Thus the pure river of water\nof life, which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, pours down its\nclear and crystal streams to make glad this earthly city of our God.\nThus the Tree of life, which grows in the midst of the Paradise of God,\nbends its fruitful branches down to earth, that we may sit under its\nshadow with great delight, and find its fruit sweet unto our taste.  And\nthus\n\n    The men of grace have found\n       Glory begun below;\n    Celestial fruits on earthly ground,\n       From faith and hope may grow.\n\nFinally.  Our remembrance of Christ will be the means of preparing us for\nhis coming.  We are directed to do this \u201ctill he come.\u201d  He has been\nonce, and his first advent is the pledge of a second.  He will come to\nall mankind at the last day; and till that day arrives, his church is\ncontinually to shew forth his death.  The Lord\u2019s supper is therefore\ndesigned to be prospective as well as retrospective.  It is a chain which\nconnects together the two advents, and requires us to remember not only\nthe cross on which he suffered, but also the throne which he will occupy,\nwhen he comes \u201cthe second time without sin unto salvation.\u201d  He will also\ncome to us individually at death.  \u201cI go,\u201d said he, \u201cto prepare a place\nfor you, and I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I\nam, there ye may be also.\u201d  He will not send for us; he will come\nhimself.  And when he appears, his presence will deprive death of its\ndarkness; only a faint \u201cshadow\u201d will be thrown across \u201cthe valley\u201d\nthrough which we shall have to walk; only a shadow; the shadow of a sword\nwhich cannot pierce, and the shadow of a serpent which cannot sting; and\na shadow through which we shall walk till we reach the sunshine of\neverlasting light.  The brightest object amidst that light is Christ: and\nwhen we behold him, \u201cwe shall be like him, for we shall see him as he\nis.\u201d  His presence is heaven; the highest, the holiest, and the happiest\nheaven that we can desire or enjoy.  \u201cThen shall we be satisfied when we\nawake in his likeness; for in his presence is fulness of joy and at his\nright hand are pleasures for evermore.\u201d  \u201cAMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD\nJESUS.\u201d","title":"Christ Remembered at His Table","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":3053}