Christ Remembered at His Table

by John Alexander

NOTTINGHAM:
PRINTED BY J. DUNN AND CO., SOUTH PARADE

1854.

AN ADDRESS.

We have come together in this one place, Christian brethren, for the purpose of celebrating a very simple yet instructive and impressive ceremony, which has been appointed to us by Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. “This do, said he, in remembrance of me.” To eat of this bread, and to drink of this cup, is that which he requires us to do. But we are directed to do it, not as if it were a common meal, nor to satisfy hunger and thirst, for “we have houses in which to eat and to drink,” but as a memorial of Him by whom it was ordained. “This do, in remembrance of me.”

What is it then that we are now to remember respecting Christ? We are, no doubt, to remember what he is personally, as possessing in himself a divine and human nature; as being at once the Son of God and the Son of man—“the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” But, in connection with this sacred supper, we are more especially to remember his death. That one event is selected out of the many and marvellous circumstances which distinguished his wonderful history, as the only event which is to be celebrated by a religious ceremony. Though he triumphed over Satan, when he was tempted in the wilderness; though he wrought superhuman and divine miracles, by which he healed the sick and raised the dead; and though he was transfigured on the holy mount, when his face shone as the sun, and his raiment became white and glistering, and Moses and Elias appeared to him in glory; yet none of these circumstances, splendid and important as they were, are selected for commemoration at this supper. It is his death, his death by the shedding of his blood, which he has required his church perpetually to celebrate. This bread denotes his body which was broken, and this wine denotes his blood which was shed.

There must therefore be a peculiar degree of importance connected with his death which does not belong to any event of his previous life. And this importance is attached, by the scriptures, not merely to the mode of his death, or to the degree of suffering which he endured in dying, agonizing and mysterious as his sufferings were, but more especially to the state of mind with which he suffered, and to the moral purposes which his sufferings were intended to accomplish. His body was broken, but it was broken “for you.” His blood was shed, but it was “the blood of the New Covenant,” “the blood that was shed for many, for the remission of sins.” His death is to be remembered therefore, not only as a fact, but as a doctrine founded on the fact. He died, but he died for our sins; he died, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.

And in thus remembering his death, we are to connect it with his divine as well as with his human nature. The scriptures ascribe the sacrificial and saving efficacy of his death principally to the peculiar dignity of his person; and the language in which they teach this doctrine is remarkably emphatic. It is “the blood of Jesus Christ HIS SON that cleanseth us from all sin;” “WHO, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, BY HIMSELF purged our sins;” and “WHO HIS OWN SELF bare our sins in HIS OWN BODY on the tree.” Now while these and similar passages by no means teach that the divine nature of Christ suffered and died—a doctrine as contrary to scripture as it is to reason—yet they do teach that he was competent to be a Saviour because he was the Son of God, and that because such a person as he gave himself for us, his sacrificial blood is an availing “propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

These, brethren, are some of the particulars respecting Christ which we are to remember while we eat of this bread and drink of this cup. It is therefore a service intended for both bodily and mental exercise, because both the body and the soul are interested in the redemption which it celebrates. As, however, it is especially intended for the mind, while we are doing this, the thoughts of our hearts should be actively and devoutly directed to Christ, that we may discern the Lord’s body, and that we may contemplate the things signified, as well as the signs. But as our minds are naturally affected in accordance with the objects which are perceived by our senses and contemplated by our thoughts, we should now remember Christ in order to excite and strengthen in our hearts those emotions and principles which a devout consideration of his sacrificial death is calculated to produce. “Mine eye,” says Jeremiah, “affecteth my heart.” Attention to an object awakens corresponding feelings. Minding the things of the Spirit is, by the agency of that Spirit, productive of spiritual-mindedness; and, in harmony with the same divine rule, a thoughtful and believing remembrance of Christ is rendered, by the Spirit of God, productive of such sentiments and feelings as his person, and grace, and dying love, are intended and adapted to awaken, and which are so peculiarly appropriate to this solemnity. These remarks may therefore be illustrated by the following particulars, for the purpose of shewing the influence which may be produced by an attentive and devout remembrance of Christ.

1. In the first place, such a remembrance of Christ will encourage our approach to him as sinners. This indeed is the only character in which we can approach him. We cannot go with any degree of previous preparation or of personal merit. If we go to him at all, we must carry with us our burden of sin and unworthiness. Now, the remembrance of Christ who died for sinners, will greatly encourage us to do this, for we are told that the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost; that he approved the prayer of the publican, “God be merciful to me a sinner;” that he promptly received the weeping penitent whom the self-righteous Pharisee rejected, and said to her “Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee;” that he threw his arms around the neck of the returning prodigal, and said, “This my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found!” and that his constant and constraining invitation is, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Now this invitation, combined with these remembrances, is a special and powerful encouragement to go to Christ, because it gives us authority and right to go. It is not a sense of need, nor an earnest desire, nor hungering and thirsting for the righteousness which the gospel feast provides, that gives us primary authority to sit down with the guests, however much these feelings may dispose us to go; but it is his own invitation which, as Master of the feast, he addresses to the perishing and the lost. That is our authority, and with that in our hand, we may go “boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

2. Remembrance of Christ will excite and strengthen our penitential feelings. Remembrance and reflection are the means of producing conviction and contrition, especially if we remember Christ as well as our own sins. David says, “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy commandments.” And reflection produced a similar effect upon Peter, after his denial of the Lord; for, “when he thought thereon, he wept.” On this same principle it is written, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn;” so that repentance, evangelical repentance, the repentance which includes a change of heart and conduct, is derived not so much from looking at the broken tables of the law, important as it is to remember them, but from looking at the broken body of the Lord. We must remember the groans and agonies of Gethsemane, rather than the thunder and earthquake of “the mount that might be touched;” we must look to Jesus rather than to Moses; and our sorrow and mourning for sin must be produced on Calvary rather than on Sinai.