We come then to get a simple definition of the Lord's supper, and what is required that it should be worthily partaken of. For partaking worthily of the supper there must be, first of all, in the recipient, the assurance of salvation. We say assurance , for if there remain in the mind questions still unanswered as to one's personal interest in the work of Christ, these intrude into the place He alone should occupy, and the supper becomes either a meaningless form, deadening to conscience and heart, or a torture to the sensitive soul, rather than a joyous act of worship. Next, after assurance, there must be a state of communion in the partaker, which is produced by the judgment of self, and of the walk. Where this is lacking, the very knowledge of grace will but harden the heart and grieve the Holy Spirit.
Sin is judged, self is abhorred, and then in the sweet assurance of grace, the feast is kept.
We cannot emphasize too strongly the need of being right individually, as the indispensable basis of being right ecclesiastically. We would challenge ourselves and our readers to preserve ever fresh in our souls the memory of that love, which ever melts us into tenderest worship. But we would, for this very reason, approach our subject with confidence. It is because of the preciousness of the theme, the holiness of the act, that it should be hedged about by those divine barriers which, in blessed contrast with those of Sinai, to exclude the people, serve as a place of shelter for them from all that would defile, or hinder the freest exercise of worship, without the raising of disturbing questions. This at once shows the importance of the matter, and we might say furnishes the distinguishing mark of difference between the observance of the Lord's supper scripturally and unscripturally.