Tag: Lord’s Supper

A Meditation To Prepare For The Lord’s Supper

I was entered into covenant with God by baptism, and was then brought under strong engagements to be the Lord’s. But O! I have broken my covenant and backslidden from Christ. If I were under the law or a covenant of works, I would be utterly undone. But, blessed be God, I am under the tenders of a covenant of grace that admits of repentance and a surety for the guilty criminal, and graciously promises pardon to the penitent believer—nay, it promises repentance to the hard-hearted and faith to the unbelieving, and pressingly invites backsliding children to return to God through a Mediator.… Read More A Meditation To Prepare For The Lord’s Supper

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Six Reasons For Receiving Communion At A Table

Six reasons for receiving the Lord’s Supper at a Table. 1. Christ’s Example: The First Lord’s Supper Was at a Table. Objection Answered: Christ’s example here is prescriptive, not circumstantial. 2. The Nature of the Lord’s Supper. 3. The Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 10:21). Objection Answered: “Table” is not figurative, but supposes a material table. The Purpose of the Table. 4. The Communion of Saints with Christ. 5. Christ’s Offer of Himself is Plural, Not Singular. 6. From Historical Precedent.… Read More Six Reasons For Receiving Communion At A Table

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Paedo-Communion is Unscriptural | Herman Witsius

All the words of our Lord’s command (with respect to this sacrament) are so expressed that they cannot belong to infants, who can neither receive the bread nor eat it, unless it be chewed for them or soaked. For “babes are fed with milk, and not with meat” (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12). Infants cannot examine themselves nor discern the Lord’s body, nor show his death, all which we have just heard the apostle requires of communicants. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup; for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”… Read More Paedo-Communion is Unscriptural | Herman Witsius

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The Efficacy of the Sacraments | William Perkins

William PerkinsReformed Catholic, Works VII, pp. 134-138Of the Efficacy of the Sacraments I. Our Consent Conclusion 1. We teach and believe that the sacraments are signs to represent Christ with His benefits unto us. Conclusion 2. We teach further, that the sacraments are indeed instruments whereby God offers and gives the foresaid benefits unto us.… Read More The Efficacy of the Sacraments | William Perkins

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The Consensus of Zürich on the Sacraments

Consensus Tigurinus, or the Consensus of Zürich, was written by John Calvin and Heinrich Bullinger as a response to the renewed opposition that Martin Luther had made to the Reformed understanding of the Sacraments. These 26 articles on Reformed Sacramentology were presented by both of them to Zürich and Geneva as a Reformed consensus, and they were adopted by both churches.… Read More The Consensus of Zürich on the Sacraments

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The Nature of a Sacrament: Partly Outward and Partly Inward.

The parts of a Sacrament are of two sorts, some outward, open, sensible, earthly, visible, and signifying—some are inward, hidden, spiritual, heavenly, invisible, and signified. The outward is applied to the body, the inward is applied to the soul and conscience. This division and distinction of parts appeareth plainly, “He is not a Jew which is one outward, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one within, and the circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter” (Rom. 2:28-29).… Read More The Nature of a Sacrament: Partly Outward and Partly Inward.

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Word and Sacrament: Agreements & Differences

The Word of God may fitly be resembled to writings and evidences: and the Sacraments to seals, which the Lord alone sets to his own letters. They are as a visible sermon preaching unto us most lively the promises of God: that as the Word we hear doth edify and instruct the mind by the outward ears, so doth the Sacraments by the eyes and other senses… The Word may be without the Sacraments, but the Sacraments cannot be without the Word, as a writing may be without a seal, but not the seal without the writing. Set a seal to a blank, and is it not vain, void, and unprofitable?… Read More Word and Sacrament: Agreements & Differences

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Sacraments: The Savor of Death to Ungodly Partakers

“Though the sacraments are connected with the thing signified nevertheless both are not received by all men: the ungodly indeed receives the sacrament to his condemnation but he does not receive the truth of the sacrament. As Judas, and Simon the sorcerer, both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who was signified by it,… Read More Sacraments: The Savor of Death to Ungodly Partakers

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