CHAPTER XIV.

THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF THE SUPPER BROTHERLY LOVE IM

PROPER INFERENCE-DR. JUDSON-POETRY.

The household of faith."— Gal. 6:10.

C

COMMUNION- the communion of the

saints is expressed by the Lord's Supper. Here a family is gathered around a common table, for mutual greetings, and the supply of similar wants by a

joint participation of the same food.

Here Jesus meets his assembled disciples. The table is spread for the church, and not for the members in their individual capacity. "We are all partakers of that one loaf.”

Such was the character of the ordinance as instituted by the Saviour, and as observed in aspostolic times. The disciples "came together to break bread."

Baptism must, of necessity, be an eminently in

dividual act, even when several believers are baptized at once, for it indicates the entrance upon the new life in Christ. This takes place from the Spirit breathing as he will upon the dead in sin, quickening to life now one and then another; and such new-born child is expected for himself to give outward expression to the great fact of his new creation in Christ Jesus, by a symbolic burial and rising with Christ.1

But when individual births have multiplied, and there results a Christian family organized under the law of its Head, then may the members of that household meet together to symbolize, by a special outward act, the continuance and sustenance of that divine life in Christ which they share alike, and whose commencement was signified by baptism. Hence it is that the Supper properly follows baptism, as the support of life succeeds to the beginning of life.2

How naturally, then, are Christians drawn together, and especially at the Lord's Table. They

1 Rom. vi. 4.

2 "As regeneration, the commencing-point in the Christian life, is represented by baptism, so is this, the sequel of regeneration, the continued regeneration, as it were, of man, the continued incorporation of mankind into the body of Christ, represented by the Supper."- Nean der, Planting and Training of the Church.

are one in Christ, alike dependent on his grace, members of his mystical body, growing up into him their living Head by faith in that great Sacrifice which is symbolized by the broken bread and poured-out wine. And how thankful should they be that Christ's own wisdom and love have provided for the wants of their spiritual and social natures, in the Supper.

Social worship, at stated seasons, is a divine appointment and a religious necessity. They who are one in Christ cannot remain apart. They must speak often one to another.

The Sabbath bell summons the Christian family together to adore their common Father and Redeemer. In other religious gatherings do they show their brotherly oneness in Christ. In Christian homes, there is an altar around which pious hearts love to meet and lay their common offerings, and renew and cement more closely their endeared mutual fellowship.

Christ is the common bond of all these unions, the object of common trust and love.

But where is this heaven-born longing for fellowship with one another and with Christ, so fitly expressed and so fully met as at the Lord's Table?

Here preeminently do Christians come together as a family, at the social board. "A table is an emblem of home. Influences centre round our tables, not exceeded in their power and interest elsewhere. Happy hours pass by, bonds of love are formed, are nurtured; friendships are cemented, and alienations are healed there.

The table is the central point of all

domestic comforts and blessings.

When Christianity chooses a table as a symbol of her choicest gifts, we see how eminently social and benevolent its nature is, common fellowship, giving, the rites of hospitality, invigoration and cheer, and every plausible idea which comes at the thought of a welcome table, are implied in it." 1

At the Lord's Supper, Christians symbolize more perfectly their oneness in Christ and their future heavenly fellowship than at any other religious gatherings; for here, if the table is duly guarded, none are found but the Heavenly Father's children, disciples of Christ, brethren in the Lord, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Here they sit, apart and separate from the world, a Christian family, a flock gathered out from the wilderness, com

1 Dr. Adams. The Communion Sabbath.

memorating the love of the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep. Here they partake of the Bread of Life, the common nutriment of their spiritual nature; here they see that flowing blood which is the cementing bond; and thus do they show their identification with Christ, as "bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh," and thus their own oneness in him, " in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord." "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread."1

"As many grains of wheat, ground and kneaded and compacted, form the unity of a single loaf of bread, thus many believers, joined to Christ, and joined to each other, form one corporate structure of Christian community. The two leading thoughts are, therefore, that believers have communion or participation or fellowship with Christ; and that in this they have fellowship with one another. This is set forth by the one loaf and the