The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-15
at once take up Anti-Saloon League ",
in Missouri.
ORDINARY ERRORS MADE
CONCERNING THE EUCHARIST,
The Reverend E. T. Coyner Chose
as His Subject, "This Is
Nv Body"

The Reverend E. T. coyner. pastor of CAL
vary vary English Lutheran Church, preached
the Eucharist" His text was taken from
Matthew XVI, 26, This is my body" and
the sermon was. in part. as follows:
chr,ss have rsSsntly e1apinsd The words Of
ment as a means Of grace, moved by
most tender love for us poor. groveling heirs
o. o. eternal glory; BY this study we learned
say. This Is my body and say what they
mean. This is my body No other meaning
IS logical. scriptural. necessary or even ex-
as they stand. without quibbling. and with
out doubling. for they are the words Of
Christ, who surely knew what he said, how
TO say 1t and why to say 1t. He has also
In his words.
Let us now look at the errors which men
have from time to time brought forward to
overthrow this blessed institution, even
able motives. These errors may be roughly
divided into two classes; the errors Of ra-
tionalism and the errors Of mysticism.
Rationalism has begotten prolific brood
OF falsehoods on this subject; that is. a man
says. I cannot understand how Christ can
give US his real body; how this body could
body could be given to the disciples before
he was cruc.fed.' To explain these hows,
why's and wherefores, many theories have
these II snnoses sbat thu brsad y q; one tSs
sacrament remains bread. but the real body
OF Christ is also present In real substantial
existence along with this bread. This teach
without right. 1t originated with Ocean q
century before Luther, ard is distinctly re-
prdiated by the Lutheran Church because
and our church does not explain nor seek to
explain this how since 1t Is not explained
In the scripture.
Representation is the chief recourse of
mr. 100ta hNrr A1at
when Christ said. This Is my body he
meant This signifies my body It amounts.
therefore. to a change Of the words of Jesus.
and while 1t is advanced as a logical defini-
tion Of the mystery OF the sacrament. it is,
in reality, most Illogical and ungrammaticai
It 10 illogical because Christ never uses a
figure OF speech.
1.-THE consequences Of this doctrine thus
make the sacrament, in its essence. de-
pend upon the faith Of the recipient II he
believes in Christ, then the sacrament is
this Is no sacrament. This would deprive
this means Of grace Of its integral char
acter. True, the benefit to each commune
cant depends upon his faith, but the sac
rament is a precious Jewel in itself, outside
OF any mans faith or disbelief.
III we yield to the demands Of reason on
this point however. then we are to give
cannot understand. II We cannot explain
the reasons for Gods commands. then we
must change the commando. II We cannot
we must change the Scripture. 80 that we
can comprehend divine things. Such Is the
course reason leads its rOtarieS. Instead of
raising and enlightening reason by reveal
ton. 50 that 1t may be willing to accept
what God says as true, 1t to demanded that
revelation shall be lowered to the level of
unenlightened reason. But let us never al
low ourselves to be thus deceived Remem-
Der that revelation is not really contrary
to reason, but above 1t. The cause why ]
cannot understand heavenly things perfect
ly is not that there are no heavenly things.
but that these things are above the scope
OF our reason in its present state. The
fault is our own, not Gods.
The mystics. or those given to the oppo-
site extreme of not using their reason at
all. but accepting everything, not only in
after superstition rather than revelation
claim that the bread Is changed in the
body OF Christ so that every particle Of
the bread becomes Christs complete body,
likewise Of the wine, and hence the bread.
Also the laity are deprived of the cup on the
pretext that the body always contains
blood, hence whoever partakes Of the bread
also receives the blood. Moreover. these
same extremists claim that at every cele-
bration OF the sacrament Christ is again
sins OF the living and the dead. Also that
It matters not whether q recipient believes
IN Christ or not, he yet receives the whole
benefit of the sacrament. All these errors
Of the mystics have absolutely no founda.
ton IN the. the words: This is my body.
Let US cling to these simple. plain, yet
grand and living words. This Is my body.
without trying to explain or change them.
accepting them Just as they read, and their
blessing will be ours"