Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
A SIMPLE CEREMONY.
Rev. George Hodges Speaks Of That
Last Sad, Sacred Supper.
A SACRAMENT OF REMEMBRANCE
Given to the Disciples Who Followed Him
and Loved Him.
HOW TO APPROACH THE LORDS TABLE
rwn1rrrN ron THE DISPATCH.

that plainly; and they, in vague way,
which is more perhaps of the nature of fore
boding than of knowledge, know it. too. A
sense of impending danger, of approaching
crisis, is in the hearts of all the company.
Something is to happen. That loving COM
panionship which has meant so much and
been so precious-to them, at least-is some
how to be interrupted.
The words of the Master have note of
sadness in them. He is going away. He
tells them that distinctly. And as they sit
together at the homely supper which SYM
bolizes their fellowship and union, He
looks ahead into the future. He has that
longing which everyone of strong character
and deep affection has, to aforementioned aft
er he is gone. He has loved these men. He
doesn't want them to forget Him. He has
taken bit of bread from the table, and
pours cup of the common wine, and passes
these about among these friends of His, Civ
ing taste to each, and says, Do this after I
am gone away,
IN MEMORY OF ME.
So began the sacrament of remembrance.
I want you to think about it this morning
Just in that wav-as the sacrament of re-
membrance. It is more than that It is the
sacrament of grace; it is the sacrament of
worship. But of these meanings of it 1 say
nothing now. desire to emphasize only
this first, most natural, most simple signif-
cation.
I choose this because it is the first and the
simplest meaning of this sacrament. And
because believe that it is sufficient mean
ing. The need of the Christian church in
this day is definition of the minimum.
What is essential? Tell us that; let US agree
upon that; let us unite in that. Let us be-
gin there, and go on learning all the truth
of God we can. Let US welcome everybody
into the Christian church, into the privi-
leges of the Christian sacraments, who has
learned as much as that.
"This do is remembrance of Me-" Can
you imagineanything more entirely natural,
homely, and simple?
Here is an act and a reason for it: do this
in remembrance. And both the act and
the reason are as simple as simplicity itself.
It is not as if the Lord had asked us to do
some very hard thing in remembrance Of
Him; to leave our homes and preach the
gospel in the islands of Samoa, in remem-
brance of Him; to give all our goods to feed
the poor, in remembrance of Him; to hang
heavy chain about our neck, or to take up
our abode upon the top of some narrow,
wind-swept pillar, in remembrance of Him.
The act He asked is one of the easiest and
simplest things that we can do. It is one
whose counterpart enters into every day or
every life. 1t is but our ordinary eating
and drinking, consecrated by
A BLESSED ASSOCIATION.
1t is true that the bread and wine of the
supper are served to-day in vessels of gold
and silver. The homely table is lifted high
in chancels, cut in stoneand carved in costly
woods, covered with fair linen, and decked
with rich embroidery.- And the Lords
words are recited in the midst of service
of commemoration, the most beautiful and
impressive of all the ceremonies of the
church. And it is no wonder that the real
homely simplicity of the act is hidden from
many observers beneath all these adorn-
ments and solemnities. But we must not
let these embellishments mislead us. These
are not the sacrament. These are
only what loving hands have wrought,
and rightly wrought. to make
whatever is associated with our
Lord, as worthy as our needs and means
can make it. The homely supper is in the
midst of them, like that jutting of rough
rock in the midst OF the marble pavement
of the temple. It is Just as homely and
natural and simple to-day as it was when
the Lord ordained it. In spite of all the
ceremonial and all the priests and doctors;
IN spite of all that has been falsely taught
and foolishly believed and unadvisedly
done, at the heart OF the most intricate and
elaborate of liturgies is still this homely,
common meal, this entirely
SIMPLE ACT OF CONFEDERATION.
The act is perfectly simple, and the rea-
son for it is as simple as the act. SIN re-
membrance OF me-" That is what it means.
You see how entirely within everybody's
mental and spiritual reach. that is. 1t is
not as if He had asked US to do this in COM
memoraton of some doctrine about Hmm
membrance of His incarnation, or of His
atonement, or even of the truth of His di-
vinlty, for then we must needs have been
theologians; but sin remembrance of Me-"
He said. And that is something which any
child can do.
Those men who sat about the table at that
first communion and received the sacrament,
the Lord himself being She celebrant, they
knew no doctrines. 1t is doubtful if they
had ever heard the story Of our Lords ma
tivity. It is certain that of the atonement,
as accomplished by Him, they had no notion
at all. They did not even believe in His
divinity, as we understand that word. The
whole history of the men, and no part of it
more evidently than their behavior on that
very night, shows that of these exceedingly
important Christian doctrines they knew,
nothing. The men to whom our Lord ad-
minis.ered this sacrament were
VERY IMPERFECT THEoLoGIANs.
There was only one qualification which
these men had, and our Lord was quite con-
tent with that, asked nothing more than that
did not even set down any stricter qualif
cation for the future than that. They loved
Him. They could not have stated their
affection in the praise language of the d.
yinity schools, but they loved Him never
theless. They were very much mistaken
about Him, had quite inadequate "views"
concerning Him; nevertheless they loved
Him. And that was all He asked They
were doing their best, and even that was not
a very excellent best, to follow Him. He
was satisfied with that.
If you had awakened them an hour after
ward, as they lay asleep upon the ground in
the Garden of Gethsemane, and asked them
what that scene in the supper room meant,
they could not have answered you CO.
herently. OF ransubstantiation, of con-
substantiation, of the questions which have
perplexed the theological doctors, and di-
vided ecclesiastical converts, and disturbed
churches, they were altogether-and most
happily-ignorant.
So, too, believe, were the simple people
into whose houses the apostles went, break
ing bread, in the earliest days of the
church's history. The act and the reason
for it were alike perfectly simple. They
loved Christ, and they broke their home
made bread and poured out their common
wine, sitting at their common table, re-
membering Him,
JUST AS HE ASKED.