Of the Lord's Supper
I. Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein He was betrayed,
instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed
in His Church, unto the end of the world, for the perpetual remembrance of the sacrifice
of Himself in His death; the sealing all benefits thereof unto true believers, their
spiritual nourishment and growth in Him, their further engagement in and to all duties
which they owe unto Him; and, to be a bond and pledge of their communion with Him, and
with each other, as members of His mystical body.a
a. I Cor. 11:23-26; 10:16-17, 21; 12:13.
II. In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to His
Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all, for remission of sins of the quick or dead;a
but only a commemoration of that one offering up of Himself, by Himself, upon the cross,
once for all: and a spiritual oblation of all possible praise unto God, for the same:b
so that the popish sacrifice of the mass (as they call it) is most abominably injurious to
Christ's one, only sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of His elect.c
a. Heb. 9:22, 25-26, 28.
b. I Cor. 11:24-26; Matt. 26:26-27.
c. Heb. 7:23-24, 27; 10:11-12, 14, 18.
III. The Lord Jesus has, in this ordinance, appointed
His ministers to declare His word of institution to the people; to pray, and bless the
elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use;
and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves)
to give both to the communicants;a but to none who are not then present in the
congregation.b
a. Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; I Cor.
11:23-26.
b. Acts 20:7; I Cor. 11:20.
IV. Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a
priest, or any other, alone;a as likewise, the denial of the cup to the people,b
worshipping the elements, the lifting them up, or carrying them about, for adoration, and
the reserving them for any pretended religious use; are all contrary to the nature of this
sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.c
a. I Cor. 10:6.
b. Mark 14:23; I Cor. 11:25-29.
c. Matt. 15:9.
V. The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set
apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to Him crucified, as that, truly,
yet sacramentally only, they are sometimes called by the name of the things they
represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ;a albeit, in substance and
nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.b
a. Matt. 26:26-28.
b. I Cor. 11:26-28; Matt. 26:29.
VI. That doctrine which maintains a change of the
substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly
called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant,
not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense, and reason; overthrows the nature of the
sacrament, and has been, and is, the cause of manifold superstitions; yea, of gross
idolatries.a
a. Acts 3:21; I Cor 11:24-26; Luke 24:6, 39.
VII. Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the
visible elements, in this sacrament,a do then also, inwardly by faith, really
and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally but spiritually, receive and feed upon, Christ
crucified, and all benefits of His death: the body and blood of Christ being then, not
corporally or carnally, in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet, as really, but
spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements
themselves are to their outward senses.b
a. I Cor. 11:28.
b. I Cor. 10:16.
VIII. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the
outward elements in this sacrament; yet, they receive not the thing signified thereby;
but, by their unworthy coming thereunto, are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, to
their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to
enjoy communion with Him, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table; and cannot, without
great sin against Christ, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries,a
or be admitted thereunto.b
a. I Cor. 11:27-29; II Cor. 6:14-16.
b. I Cor. 5:6-7, 13; II Thess. 3:6, 14-15; Matt. 7:6.
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