"Do this in remembrance of me." - (1 Corinthians 11:24)
Below is a Sermon Delivered on Sunday Evening, January 7, 1855, By
Pastor Charles. H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
1. It seems, then, that Christians may forget Christ.
The text implies the possibility of forgetfulness concerning him whom gratitude
and affection should constrain them to remember. There could be no need for
this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our
memories might prove treacherous, and our remembrance superficial in its
character, or changing in its nature. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is,
alas, too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a
lamentable fact. It seems at first sight too gross a crime to lay at the door
of converted men. It appears almost impossible that those who have been
redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb should ever forget their Ransomer; that
those who have been loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should ever forget that Son;
but if startling to the ear, it is alas, too apparent to the eye to allow us to
deny the fact. Forget him who never forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood
out for our sins! Forget him who loved us even to the death! Can it be
possible? Yes it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too
sadly a fault of all of us, that we can remember anything except Christ. The
object which we should make the monarch of our hearts, is the very thing we are
most inclined to forget. Where one would think that memory would linger, and
unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, that is the spot which is
desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness, and that the place where memory too
seldom looks. I appeal to the conscience of every Christian here: Can you deny
the truth of what I utter? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away
your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom your affection ought to be
set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should have your
eye steadily fixed upon the cross. It is the incessant round of world, world,
world; the constant din of earth, earth, earth, that takes away the soul from
Christ. Oh! my friends, is it not too sadly true that we can remember anything
but Christ, and forget nothing so easily as him whom we ought to remember?
While memory will preserve a poisoned weed, it allows the Rose of Sharon to
wither.
2. The cause of this is very apparent: it lies in one
or two facts. We forget Christ, because regenerate persons as we really are,
still corruption and death remain even in the regenerate. We forget him because
we carry about with us the old Adam of sin and death. If we were purely
newborn creatures, we would never forget the name of him whom we love. If we
were entirely regenerated beings, we would sit down and meditate on all our
Saviour did and suffered; as he is; all he has gloriously promised to perform;
and never would our roving affections stray; but centred, nailed, fixed
eternally to one object, we should continually contemplate the death and
sufferings of our Lord. But alas! we have a worm in the heart, a pest house, a
charnel house within, lusts, vile imaginations, and strong evil passions,
which, like wells of poisonous water, send out continually streams of impurity.
I have a heart, which God knows, I wish I could wring from my body and hurl to
an infinite distance; a soul which is a cage of unclean birds, a den of
loathsome creatures, where dragons haunt and owls do congregate, where every
evil beast of ill omen dwells; a heart too vile to have a parallel—“deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked.” This is the reason why I am forgetful
of Christ. Nor is this the sole cause; I suspect it lies somewhere else too. We
forget Christ because there are so many other things around us to attract our
attention, “But,” you say, “they ought not to do so, because though they are
around us, they are nothing in comparison with Jesus Christ: though they are in
dread proximity to our hearts, what are they compared with Christ?” But do you
know, dear friends, that the nearness of an object has a very great effect upon
its power? The sun is many, many times larger than the moon, but the moon has a
greater influence upon the tides of the ocean than the sun, simply because it
is nearer, and has a greater power of attraction. So I find that a little
crawling worm of the earth has more effect upon my soul than the glorious
Christ in heaven; a handful of golden earth, a puff of fame, a shout of
applause, a thriving business, my house, my home, will affect me more than all
the glories of the upper world; yea, than the beatific vision itself: simply
because earth is near, and heaven is far away. Happy day, when I shall be borne
aloft on angels’ wings to dwell for ever near my Lord, to bask in the sunshine
of his smile, and to be lost in the ineffable radiance of his lovely
countenance. We see then the cause of forgetfulness; let us blush over it; let
us be sad that we neglect our Lord so much, and now let us attend to his word,
“Do this in remembrance of me,” hoping that its solemn sounds may charm away
the demon of base ingratitude.
3. We shall speak, first of all, concerning the
blessed object of memory; secondly, upon the advantages to be derived
from remembering this Person; thirdly, the gracious help, to our memory
—“Do this in remembrance of me;” and fourthly, the gentle command, “Do
this in remembrance of me.” May the Holy Ghost open my lips and your
hearts, that we may receive blessings.
4. I. First of all, we shall speak of THE
GLORIOUS AND PRECIOUS OBJECT OF MEMORY—“Do this in remembrance of me.”
Christians have many treasures to lock up in the cabinet of memory. They ought
to remember their election—“Chosen of God before time began.” They ought
to be mindful of their extraction, that they were taken out of the miry
clay, hewn out of the horrible pit. They ought to remember their effectual
calling, for they were called of God, and rescued by the power of the Holy
Ghost. They ought to remember their special deliverances—all that has
been done for them, and all the mercies bestowed on them. But there is one whom
they should embalm in their souls with the most costly spices—one who, above
all other gifts of God, deserves to be had in perpetual remembrance. One
I said, for I mean not an act, I mean not a deed; but it is a person whose
portrait I would frame in gold, and hang up in the stateroom of the soul. I
would have you earnest students of all the deeds of the conquering
Messiah. I would have you conversant with the life of our Beloved. But
oh forget not his person; for the text says, “Do this in remembrance of
ME.” It is Christ’s glorious person which ought to be the object of our
remembrance. It is his image which should be enshrined in every temple of the
Holy Ghost.
5. But some will say, “How can we remember Christ’s
person, when we never saw it? We cannot tell what was the peculiar form of his
visage; we believe his countenance to be fairer than that of any other
man—although through grief and suffering more marred—but since we did not see
it, we cannot remember it. We never saw his feet as they trod the journeys of
his mercy; we never beheld his hands as he stretched them out full of
lovingkindness; we cannot remember the wondrous intonation of his language,
when in more than seraphic eloquence, he awed the multitude, and chained their
ears to him; we cannot picture the sweet smile that ever hung on his lips, nor
that awful frown with which he dealt out anathemas against the Pharisees; we
cannot remember him in his sufferings and agonies for we never saw him.” Well,
beloved, I suppose it is true that you cannot remember the visible appearance,
for you were not then born, but do you not know that even the apostle said,
though he had known Christ after the flesh, yet, thenceforth after the flesh he
would know Christ no more. The natural appearance, the race, the descent, the
poverty, the humble garb, they are nothing in the apostle’s estimation of his
glorified Lord. And thus, though you do not know him after the flesh, you may
know him after the spirit; in this manner you can remember Jesus as much now as
Peter, or Paul, or John, or James, or any of those favoured ones who once trod
in his footsteps, walked side by side with him, or laid their heads upon his
bosom. Memory annihilates distance and leaps over time, and can behold the
Lord, though he be exalted in glory.
6. Ah! let us spend five minutes in remembering
Jesus. Let us remember him in his baptism, when descending into the
waters of Jordan, a voice was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.” Behold him coming up dripping from the stream! Surely the
conscious water must have blushed that it contained its God. He slept within
its waves a moment, to consecrate the tomb of baptism, in which those who are
dead with Christ are buried with him. Let us remember him in the wilderness,
where he went straight from his immersion. Oh! I have often thought of that
scene in the desert, when Christ, weary and way worn, sat down, perhaps upon
the gnarled roots of some old tree. Forty days had he fasted, he was hungry,
when in the extremity of his weakness there came the evil spirit. Perhaps he
had veiled his demon royalty in the form of some aged pilgrim, and taking up a
stone, said, “Way worn pilgrim, if you are the Son of God command this stone to
be made bread.” I think I see him, with his cunning smile, and his malicious
leer, as he held the stone, and said, “If,”—blasphemous if,—“If you are the Son
of God, command that this stone shall become a meal for me and you, for both of
us are hungry, and it will be an act of mercy; you can do it easily; speak the
word, and it shall be like the bread of heaven; we will feed upon it, and you
and I will be friends for ever.” But Jesus said—and oh how sweetly did he say
it—“Man shall not live by bread alone.” Oh! how wonderfully did Christ fight
the tempter! Never was there such a battle as that. It was a duel foot to
foot—a single handed combat—when the champion lion of the pit, and the mighty
lion of the tribe of Judah, fought together. Splendid sight! Angels stood
around to gaze upon the spectacle, just as men of old did sit to see the
tournament of noted warriors. There Satan gathered up his strength; here
Apollyon concentrated all his satanic power, that in this giant wrestle he
might overthrow the seed of the woman. But Jesus was more than a match for him;
in the wrestling he gave him a deadly fall, and came off more than a conqueror.
Lamb of God! I will remember your desert strivings, when next I combat with
Satan. When next I have a conflict with roaring Diabolos, I will look to him
who conquered once for all, and broke the dragon’s head with his mighty blows.
7. Further, I beseech you remember him in all his
daily temptations and hourly trials, in that life long struggle of his,
through which he passed. Oh! what a mighty tragedy was the death of Christ! and
his life too? Ushered in with a song, it closed with a shriek. “It is
finished.” It began in a manger, and ended on a cross; but oh, the sad interval
between! Oh! the black pictures of persecution when his friends abhorred him;
when his foes frowned at him as he passed the streets; when he heard the hiss
of calumny, and was bitten by the foul tooth of envy; when slander said he had
a devil and was mad: that he was a drunken man and a winebibber; and when his
righteous soul was vexed with the ways of the wicked. Oh! Son of God, I must
remember you; I cannot help remembering you, when I think of those years of
toil and trouble which you did live for my sake. But you know my chosen
theme—the place where I can always best remember Christ. It is a shady garden
full of olives. Oh that spot! I would that I had eloquence, that I might take
you there. Oh! if the Spirit would but take us, and set us down near the
mountains of Jerusalem, I would say, see there runs the brook of Kidron, which
the king himself did pass; and there you see the olive trees. Possibly, at the
foot of that olive, lay the three disciples when they slept; and there, ah!
there, I see drops of blood. Stand here, my soul, a moment; those drops of
blood—do you behold them? Mark them; they are not the blood of wounds; they are
the blood of a man whose body was then unwounded. Oh my soul picture him when
he knelt down in agony and sweat,—sweat, because he wrestled with God,—sweat,
because he agonized with his Father. “My Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me.” Oh Gethsemane! your shades are deeply solemn to my soul. But
ah! those drops of blood! Surely it is the climax of the height of misery; it
is the last of the mighty acts of this wondrous sacrifice. Can love go deeper
than that? Can it stoop to greater deeds of mercy? Oh! had I eloquence, I would
bestow a tongue on every drop of blood that is there—that your hearts might
rise in mutiny against your languor and coldness, and speak out with earnest
burning remembrance of Jesus. And now, farewell, Gethsemane.
8. But I will take you somewhere else, where you
shall still behold the “Man of Sorrows.” I will lead you to Pilate’s hall, and
let you see him endure the mockeries of cruel soldiers: the smitings of mailed
gloves, the blows of clenched fists; the shame, the spitting, the plucking of
the hair: the cruel buffetings. Oh! can you not picture the King of Martyrs,
stript of his garments—exposed to the gaze of fiend-like men? Do you not see
the crown upon his temples, each thorn acting as a lancet to pierce his head?
Do you not see his lacerated shoulders, and the white bones starting out from
the bleeding flesh? Oh, Son of Man! I see you scourged and flagellated with
rods and whips, how can I henceforth cease to remember you? My memory would be
more treacherous than Pilate, if it ever cried, Ecce Homo,—“Behold the
man.”
9. Now, finish the scene of woe by a view of Calvary.
Think of the pierced hands and the bleeding side; think of the scorching sun,
and then the entire darkness; remember the broiling fever and the dread thirst;
think of the death shriek, “It is finished!” and of the groans which were its
prelude. This is the object of memory. Let us never forget Christ. I beseech
you, for the love of Jesus, let him have the chief place in your memories. Let
not the pearl of great price be dropped from your careless hand into the dark
ocean of oblivion.
10. I cannot, however, help saying one thing before I
leave this point: and that is, there are some of you who can very well carry
away what I have said, because you have read it often, and heard it before; but
still you cannot spiritually remember anything about Christ, because you never
had him manifested to you, and what we have never known, we cannot remember.
Thanks be to God, I speak not of you all, for in this place there is a goodly
remnant according to the election of grace, and to them I turn. Perhaps I could
tell you of some old barn, hedgerow, or cottage; or if you have lived in
London, about some garret, or some dark lane or street, where you first met
with Christ; or some chapel into which you strayed, and you might say, “Thank
God, I can remember the seat where he first met with me, and spoke the whispers
of love to my soul, and told me he had purchased me.”
Do note the place, the spot of ground,
Where Jesus did you meet?
Yes, and I would love to build a temple on the spot, and to
raise some monument there, where Jehovah Jesus first spoke to my soul, and
manifested himself to me. But he has revealed himself to you more than once—has
he not? And you can remember scores of places where the Lord has appeared of
old to you, saying, “Behold I have loved you with an everlasting love.” If you
cannot all remember such things, there are some of you that can; and I am sure
they will understand me when I say, come and do this in remembrance of
Christ—in remembrance of all his loving visitations, of his sweet wooing words,
of his winning smiles upon you, of all he has said and communicated to your
souls. Remember all these things tonight, if it is possible for memory to
gather up the mighty aggregate of grace. “Bless the Lord. Oh my soul, and
forget not all his benefits.”
11. II. Having spoken upon the blessed object
of our memory, we say, secondly, a little upon THE BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM
A LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST.
12. Love never says, “Cui bono?” Love never
asks what benefit it will derive from love. Love from its very nature is a
disinterested thing. It loves for the creature’s sake it loves, and for nothing
else. The Christian needs no argument to make him love Christ; just as a mother
needs no argument to make her love her child. She does it because it is her
nature to do so. The newborn creature must love Christ; it cannot help it. Oh!
who can resist the matchless charms of Jesus Christ?—the fairest of ten
thousand fairs, the loveliest of ten thousand loves. Who can refuse to adore
the prince of perfection, the mirror of beauty, the majestic Son of God? But
yet it may be useful to us to observe the advantages of remembering Christ, for
they are neither few nor small.
13. And first, remembrance of Jesus will tend to give
you hope when you are under the burden of your sins. Notice a few
characters here tonight. There comes in a poor creature. Look at him! He has
neglected himself this last month; he looks as if he had hardly eaten his daily
bread. What is the matter with you? “Oh!” says he, “I have been under a sense
of guilt; I have been again and again lamenting, because I fear I can never be
forgiven; once I thought I was good, but I have been reading the Bible, and I find that my heart
is ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;’ I have tried to
reform, but the more I try, the deeper I sink in the mire, there is certainly
no hope for me. I feel that I deserve no mercy; it seems to me that God must
destroy me, for he has declared, ‘The soul that sins it shall die;’ and die I
must, be damned I must, for I know I have broken God’s law.” How will you
comfort such a man? What soft words will you utter to give him peace? I know! I
will tell him to remember Christ. I will tell him there is one who paid the
mighty debt of misery. Yes, I will tell you drunkard, swearer, whatever you
have been—I will tell you that there is one, who for you has made a complete
atonement; if you only believe on him you are safe for ever. Remember him, you
poor dying, hopeless creature, and you shall be made to sing for joy and
gladness. See, the man believes, and in ecstasy exclaims, “Oh! come all you
that fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul.”
Tell it to sinners, tell,
I am, I am out of hell.
Hallelujah! God has blotted out my sins like a thick cloud!
That is one benefit to be derived from remembering Christ. It gives us hope
under a sense of sin, and tells us there is mercy yet.
14. Now, I must have another character. And what does
he say? “I cannot stand it any longer; I have been persecuted and ill treated,
because I love Christ; I am mocked, and laughed at, and despised: I try to bear
it, but I really cannot. A man will be a man; tread upon a worm and he will
turn upon you; my patience altogether fails me; I am in such a peculiar
position that it is of no use to advise me to have patience, for patience I
cannot have; my enemies are slandering me, and I do not know what to do.” What
shall we say to that poor man? How shall we give him patience? What shall we
preach to him? You have heard what he has to say about himself. How shall we
comfort him under this great trial? If we suffered the same, what should we
wish some friend to say to us? Shall we tell him that other persons have borne
as much? He will say, “Miserable comforters are you all!” No, I will tell him,
“Brother, you are persecuted; but remember the words of Jesus Christ, how he
spoke to us, and said, "Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for great
is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before
you."” My brother! think of him, who when he died, prayed for his
murderers, and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
All you have to bear, is as nothing compared with his mighty sufferings. Take
courage; face it again like a man; never say die. Do not let your patience be
gone; take up your cross daily, and follow Christ. Let him be your motto; set
him before your eyes. And, now, receiving this, hear what the man will say. He
tells you at once—“Hail, persecution; welcome shame; Disgrace for Jesus shall
be my honour, and scorn shall be my highest glory.
Now, for the love I bear his name,
What was my gain I count my loss,
I pour contempt on all my shame,
And nail my glory to his cross.”
There is another effect, you see, of remembering Christ. It
tends to give us patience under persecution. It is a belt to brace up
the loins, so that our faith may endure to the end.
15. Dear friends, I would occupy your time too much
if I went into the various benefits; so I will only just mention one or two
blessings to be received. It will give us strength in temptation. I
believe that there are hours with every man, when he has a season of terrific
temptation. There was never a vessel that lived upon the mighty deep but
sometimes it has to do battle with a storm. There she is, the poor barque,
rocked up and down on the mad waves. See how they throw her from wave to wave,
all toss her to mid-heaven. The winds laugh her to scorn. Old Ocean takes the
ship in his dripping fingers, and shakes it to and fro. How the mariners cry
out for fear! Do you know how you can put oil upon the waters, and all shall be
still? Yes, one potent word will do it. Let Jesus come; let the poor heart
remember Jesus, and steadily then the ship shall sail, for Christ has the helm.
The winds shall blow no more, for Christ shall bid them shut their mighty
mouths, and never again disturb his child. There is nothing which can give you
strength in temptation, and help you to weather the storm like the name of
Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Then again, what comfort it will
give you on a sickbed—the name of Christ! It will help you to be patient to
those who wait upon you, and to endure the sufferings which you have to bear;
yes, it shall be so with you, that you shall have more hope in sickness than in
health, and shall find a blessed sweetness in the bitterness of gall. Instead
of feeling vinegar in your mouth, through your trouble, you shall find honey
for sweetness, in the midst of all the trial and trouble that God will put upon
you, “For he gives songs in the night.”
16. But just to close up the advantages of
remembering Christ, do you know where you will have the benefit most of all? Do
you know the place where chiefly you will rejoice that you ever thought of him?
I will take you to it. Hush! Silence! You are going up stairs into a lonely
room. The curtains hang down. Some one stands there weeping. Children are
around the bed, and friends are there. See that man lying? That is yourself.
Look at him; how his eyes are your eyes; his hands are your hands. That is
yourself. You will be there soon. Man! that is yourself. Do you see it? It is a
picture of yourself. Those are your eyes that soon will be closed in death—your
hands that will lie stiff and motionless—your lips that will be dry and
parched, between which they will put drops of water. Those are your words that
freeze in air, and drop so slowly from your dying lips. I wonder whether you
will be able to remember Christ there. If you do not, I will picture you.
Behold that man, straight up in the bed; see his eyes staring from their
sockets. His friends are all alarmed, they ask him what he sees. He represses
the emotion; he tells them he sees nothing. They know that there is something
before his eyes. He stares again. Good God! what is that I see—I seem to see?
What is it? Ah! one sigh! The soul is gone. The body is there. What did he see?
He saw a flaming throne of judgment; he saw God upon it, with his sceptre; he
saw books opened, he beheld the throne of God, and saw a messenger, with a
sword brandished in the air to smite him low. Man! that is yourself; there you
will be soon. That picture is your own portrait. I have painted you accurately.
Look at it. That is the place where you shall be here within a few years—aye,
within a few days. But if you can remember Christ, shall I tell you what you
will do? Oh! you will smile in the midst of trouble. Let me picture such a man.
They put pillows behind him; he sits up in bed, and takes the hand of the loved
one, and says, “Farewell! weep not for me; the kind God shall wipe away all
tears from every eye.” Those around him are addressed, “Prepare to meet your
God, and follow me to the land of bliss.” Now he has set his house in order.
All is done. Behold him, like good old Jacob, leaning on his staff, about to
die. See how his eyes sparkle; he claps his hands—they gather around to hear
what he has to say; he whispers “Victory!” and summoning a little more
strength, he cries, “Victory!” and at last, with his final gasp, “Victory,
through him that loved us!” and he dies. This is one of the great benefits to
be derived from remembering Christ—to be enabled to meet death with blessed
composure.
17. III. We now have arrived at the third
portion of our meditation, which is A SWEET AID TO MEMORY.
18. At schools we used certain books, called “Aids to
Memory.” I am sure they rather perplexed than assisted me. Their utility was
equivalent to that of a bundle of staves under a traveller’s arm: true he might
use them one by one to walk with, but in the meantime he carried a host of
others which he would never need. But our Saviour was wiser than all our
teachers, and his remembrancers are true and real aids to memory. His love
tokens have an unmistakeable language, and they sweetly win our attention.
19. Behold the whole mystery of the sacred Eucharist.
It is bread and wine which are lively emblems of the body and blood of Jesus.
The power to excite remembrance consists in the appeal thus made to the
senses. Here the eye, the hand, the mouth, find joyful work. The bread is
tasted, and entering within, works upon the sense of taste, which is one of the
most powerful. The wine is sipped—the act is palpable; we know that we are
drinking, and thus the senses, which are usually clogs to the soul, become
wings to lift the mind in contemplation. Again, much of the influence of this
ordinance is found in its simplicity. How beautifully simple the ceremony
is—bread broken and wine poured out. There is no calling that thing a chalice,
that thing a paten, and that a host. Here is nothing to burden the memory—here
is the simple bread and wine. He must have no memory at all who cannot remember
that he has eaten bread, and that he has been drinking wine. Note again, the mighty
pregnancy of these signs—how full they are of meaning. Bread broken—so was
your Saviour broken. Bread to be eaten—so his flesh is meat indeed. Wine poured
out, the pressed juice of the grape—so was your Saviour crushed under the foot
of divine justice; his blood is your sweetest wine. Wine to cheer your heart—so
does the blood of Jesus. Wine to strengthen and invigorate you—so does the
blood of the mighty sacrifice. Oh! make that bread and wine to your souls
tonight a sweet and blessed help of remembrance of that dear Man who once on
Calvary died. Like the little ewe lamb, you are now to eat your Master’s bread
and drink from his cup. Remember the hand which feeds you.
20. But before you can remember Christ well here, you
must ask the assistance of the Holy Spirit. I believe there ought to be a
preparation before the Lord’s Supper. I do not believe in Mrs. Too-Good’s
preparation, who spent a week in preparing, and then finding it was not the
Ordinance Sunday, she said she had lost all the week. I do not believe in that
kind of preparation, but I do believe in a holy preparation for the Lord’s
Supper: when we can on a Saturday if possible, spend an hour in quiet meditation
on Christ, and the passion of Jesus; when, especially on the Sunday afternoon,
we can devoutly sit down and behold him, then these scenes become realities,
and not mockeries, as they are to some. I fear greatly that there are some of
you who will eat the bread tonight, and will not think about Christ; some of
you who will drink the wine, and not think of his blood: and vile hypocrites
you will be while you do it. Take heed to yourselves, “He that eats and drinks
unworthily,” eats and drinks—what?—“damnation to himself.” This is a plain
English word; mind what you are doing! Do not do it carelessly; for of all the
sacred things on earth, it is the most solemn. We have heard of some men banded
together by drawing blood from their arms and drinking it all around; that was
most horrid, but at the same time most solemn. Here you are to drink blood from
the veins of Christ, and sip the trickling stream which gushed from his own
loving heart. Is not that a solemn thing? Ought anyone to trifle with it? To go
to church and take it for
sixpence? To come and join us for the sake of getting charities? Away with
that! It is an awful blasphemy against Almighty God; and among the damned in
hell, those shall be among the most accursed who dared thus to mock the holy
ordinance of God. This is the remembrance of Christ. “Do this in remembrance of
me.” If you cannot do it in remembrance of Christ, I beseech you, as you love
your souls, do not do it at all. Oh! regenerate man or woman, enter not into
the court of the priests, lest Israel’s God resent the intrusion.
21. IV. And now to close up. Here is A SWEET
COMMAND: “Do this in remembrance of me.” To whom does this command apply? “This
do YOU.” It is important to answer this question—“This do YOU,” who are
intended? You who put your trust in me. “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Well, now, you should suppose Christ is speaking to you tonight; and he says,
“Do this in remembrance of me.” Christ watches you at the door. Some of you go
home, and Christ says, “I thought I said, "Do this in remembrance of
me."” Some of you keep your seats as spectators. Christ sits with you, and
he says, “I thought I said, "Do this in remembrance of me."” “Lord, I
know you did.” “Do you love me then?” “Yes, I love you; I love, Lord; you know
I do.” “But, I say, go down there—eat that bread, drink that wine.” “I do not
like to Lord; I should have to be baptized if I joined that church, and I am
afraid I shall catch cold, or be looked at. I am afraid to go before the
church, for I think they would ask some questions I could not answer.” “What,”
says Christ, “is this how much you love me? Is this all your affection to your
Lord? Oh! how cold to me, your Saviour. If I had loved you no more than this,
you would have been in hell: if that were the full extent of my affection, I
should not have died for you. Great love bore great agonies—and is this all
your gratitude to me?” Are not some of you ashamed, after this? Do you not say
in your hearts, “it is really wrong?” Christ says, “Do this in remembrance of
me,” and are you not ashamed to stay away? I give a free invitation to every
lover of Jesus to come to this table. I beseech you, do not deny yourselves the
privilege by refusing to unite with the church. If you still live in sinful
neglect of this ordinance, let me remind you that Christ has said, “Whoever
shall be ashamed of me in this generation, of him will I be ashamed, when I
come in the glory of my Father.” Oh, soldier of the cross, do not act the
coward’s part!
22. And not to lead you into any mistakes, I must just
add one thing, and then I am finished. When I speak of your taking the
ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, do not imagine that I wish for you to think for
one moment that there is anything saving in it. Some say that the ordinance of
baptism is nonessential, so is the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, it is
nonessential, if we look upon it in the light of salvation. Be saved by eating
a piece of bread! nonsense, confounded nonsense! Be saved by drinking a drop of
wine! Why, it is too absurd for common sense to allow any discussion upon it.
You know it is the blood of Jesus Christ; it is the merit of his agonies; it is
the purchase of his sufferings; it is what he did, that alone can save us.
Venture on him; venture wholly, and then you are saved. Do you hear, poor
convicted sinner, the way of salvation? If I ever meet you in the next world,
you might, perhaps, say to me, “I spent one evening, sir, in hearing you, and
you never told me the way to heaven.” Well, you shall hear it. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, trust in his name, find refuge in his cross, rely upon the
power of his Spirit, trust in his righteousness, and you are saved beyond the
vengeance of the law, or the power of hell. But trust in your own works, and
you are lost as sure as you are alive.
23. Now, oh ever glorious Son of God, we approach
your table to feast on the viands of grace; permit each of us, in reliance upon
your Spirit, to exclaim in the words of one of your own poets:
Remember you, and all your pains
And all your love to me—
Yes, while a pulse or breath remains,
I will remember thee.
And when these failing lips grow dumb
And thought and memory flee
When you shall in your kingdom come,
Jesus, remember me!
