The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-31

r order to speak intelligently OF
The principles Of the Evangelical
.,,,rch It viii: be necessary to give o
sr;ef history of this church The
formation which was brought about
J. great men OF God in the sixteenth
s - did not bring united protest
ant church to the coming generations.
n a conference at Marburg In the
,,oar 1929 the two great reformers,
Inther and his co-worlers on one
sida. and Zwingn and his co-workers
on the other side, agreed on fourteen
articles. which were formulated by
Intber and which covered the whole
ground OF the Bible doctrine Of God,
Il mems sin and the salvation Of
christ. The fifteenth article how.
ever, brought about great disrupt
This article treated Of the Lords sup
nor Their conception of the Lord 8
sumner were SO different that no agree
ment could be accomplished.
Luther held that the words with
which the Savior instituted His last
supper are to be taken literally.
when Christ says: This is MY body.
this is Ny blood we are, however,
not to think Of His physical body and
blood. but Of the constituents Of His
spiritual being. BY almighty power
Of God, not of priest, the believers
receive "in, together with and under
the bread and wine the body and the
blood of Jesus Christ for the remis-
sion of sins, life and salvation. The
bread and wine are, however, not
changed in substance. They remain
what they were, but the worthy par
taking of them In the holy commun-
ion is the eating and drinking of the
BODY and blood OF the Savior. AS the
mouth of the partaker of the com.
munion eats and drinks bread and
wine the soul of the believer re
ceives the body and blood of Christ
This is briefly stated, the Lutheran
doctrine of the Lords supper and is
taught by the Lutheran church to this
day. This doctrine and, in fact, the
whole system of theology of the
Lutheran church was incorporated in
the Augsburg confession, which be
came and still is the principal doc
trinal standard of the Lutheran
church.
While the Swiss reformers admitted
communion, they denied His real pres
ence in the bread and wine. These
things are symbols, signs, they de
clared These material symbols were
chosen by Christ to represent to oul
senses the spiritual gift of soul nutri
ton, which Christ bestows in His las
supper. Christ's words in institutins
this sacrament, this is My body
this is My blood are to be taken fig
uratively. The Savior often speak
in this way. Thus He says, Il am thu
way Il am the Vine Il am tn
door" These expressions surely re
quire a tropical explanation. Fo
Christ scarcely could have meant t,
say, that He is, literally speaking,
road of stone or dirt over which cart
run and feet tread; that He is a grape
vine with roots, stem, branches
leaves and fruit, dead in winter an
alive in spring; or that He is doc
with hinges to be opened or closed a
will. What He evidently means b
these figurative expressions is, tina
He is the spiritual road of salvation
that He is the source of all strength t
His believers. and that by Him the
have access and entrance to God
favor. Thus when He uses the brea
and wine in His last supper and say
"this Is My body this is My blood,
He means to have us understand tina
He is giving us food and nutrition, nc
for our bodies, but for our immorts
souls. Thus the bread and win
symbolic and typify to our senses til
spiritual nourishment which Chris
gives. This is a condensed statemer
of the reformed doctrine of the Lord
supper and is. to this day taught
the Heidelber" catechism, which
one Of the principal doctrinal stan
ards of the Reformed church.
Many attempts were made to reco;
cile these differences, which in tn
every day practice of a christian Iii
were conceded by all to be immateria
In the interest Of the unity Of I'll
spirit in the bonds OF peace" whie
Paul admonishes us to endeavor
keep, an agreement was sought mar
time. but with no success. 1t wa
In our eyes at least, great misfo
tune for the young protestant churc
that its leaders In the years followir
the reformation, paid more attentie
to this old dispute, than its impol
ance in the Bible scheme of salvatio