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THE LOVE OF JESUS 
 
THE LOVE OP JESUS. 
 
 TREATISE 
 
 BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION 
 
 AND THE 
 
 LORD'S SUPPER. 
 
 FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 F. E. MISCA. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 REV. A. W. M'CLURE, 
 
 Fastor of the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Maiden, Ms. 
 
 ANDOVER: 
 
 r KIN TED FOR THE AUTHOR. 
 
 1836. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by 
 
 F. E. MISCA, 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
Abraham offering up Isaac. 
 

 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 This little book was written by a female who 
 has consecrated her soul and body, and all the liv- 
 ing that she hath, to the cause of her Redeemer. 
 It is one of her personal efforts for the spiritual 
 good of our German population, especially that 
 portion of it which inhabits the mountains of 
 Western Pennsylvania. To their improvement 
 she has devoted years of toil, and all her pecunia- 
 ry means. For them she has sought the benevo- 
 lent aid of the Christian public, in weary pilgrim- 
 ages of solicitation. And now she appears to be 
 about to see the particular object of her exertions 
 accomplished, in securing to them, in the region of 
 her residence, the preached Gospel and the estab- 
 lishment of schools. 
 
 In accordance with the wishes of her friends, 
 and in hopes that its sale and circulation will pro- 
 mote this great business of her life, as all its pro- 
 ceeds will be devoted to it, this translation of her 
 treatise is given to the public. Special reasons 
 have constrained the Translator to make this ver- 
 sion more literal than he could have wished ; but 
 
4 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 still he confidently expects that it will he read with 
 some pleasure, and greater profit. From it may 
 be seen the character of that religion which the 
 Author desires to inculcate among the immigrant 
 population, — a religion eminently conservative, and 
 expressly adapted by its Founder, to maintaining 
 peaceful and well ordered communities, as well as 
 to the redemption of sinful beings. In the course 
 of his duty, the Translator thinks he has seen the 
 main-spring of all the self-denials and self-sacrifices 
 of its writer, in the spiritual and deep experience 
 of the ' love of Jesus,' which is developed and en- 
 forced in this treatise. 
 
 It may not be needless to say, that Confirmation 
 is a rite practised by the Lutheran, and many other 
 churches, and intended for the completion of bap- 
 tism. It is an assumption of the obligations im- 
 plied in the baptismal vow, and entered into by 
 the parents or sponsors in behalf of the subject of 
 it. In the Lutheran church it is administered with 
 great solemnity, and only after a certain course of 
 Christian instruction, and a public and audible af- 
 firmation of the great doctrines and duties of relig- 
 ion. It is initiatory to Church communion, and is 
 equivalent to a profession of religion among the 
 ^Presbyterians and Congregationalists of America. 
 
 A. IV. M'CLURE, 
 
 .Maiden, Mass. June 2,1836. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 To the Hon. Samuel T. Armstrong, Mayor of 
 the city of Boston, and to her benevolent friends 
 in Massachusetts and New York, this translation is 
 dedicated by the grateful 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 PART FIRST." 
 
 BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Ephesians 5-: 25 — 27. 
 Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave him- 
 self for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with 
 the washing of water by the word ; that he might pre- 
 sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, 
 or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be 
 holy and without blemish. 
 
 Hearken, my beloved ! Jesus desires a 
 holy, pure, unspotted, unblemished church. 
 Mark it well ! — Why it is that I wish and be- 
 seech you to mark it well on the day of your 
 confirmation, you may easily understand ; for 
 you know that you are entering a church of 
 Christians, you are received as members of a 
 Christian church. You ought, therefore, first 
 of all, to understand what a Christian church 
 should be. 
 
10 THE LOVE OP JESUS. 
 
 You take your name from Christ. He, the 
 purest, the holiest, who did no sin, neither 
 was guile found in his mouth, — he is the Lord 
 of the church. He is the Head, under whom 
 the members are all united by one Spirit to one 
 body. He has founded and established the 
 church. He has dearly purchased every mem- 
 ber for his own, by sufferings such as no man 
 before or since has endured, by humiliation 
 unto death, even to death on the cross. He 
 so loved the church, that he gave himself for 
 it. It is his ordinance and command, that in 
 all the earth, men, without distinction of peo- 
 ple, or other outward circumstances, shall be 
 called and invited to assemble and unite 
 themselves under him, the Lord and Head of 
 mankind. From him is the doctrine in which 
 you are to be instructed, and which, according 
 to his will, shall be taught in all the world. Of 
 him the gospel testifies, which is preached to 
 the church, and which, according to his will, 
 shall be preached to the nations of the earth. 
 That he came into the world to make sinners 
 happy ; that he died in order to save sinners 
 from the misery, and ruin, and death of sin ; 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 11 
 
 that God raised him from the dead, and exalt- 
 ed him to be Lord and King at his right hand; 
 that he there lives and reigns, endowed with 
 all that is needed to lift up fallen, sunken hu- 
 manity, to raise it from its low estate, and 
 elevate it to his own greatness and glory, till 
 all his enemies shall be humbled beneath his 
 feet ; — this is the sum and substance of the 
 gospel which he wished to have proclaimed. 
 And because these glad tidings are its summa- 
 ry, it bears the name of gospel. ' Repent ye, 
 therefore, and be converted, that your sins 
 may be blotted out.' Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus, ' and be baptized every one of you in 
 the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of 
 sins.' This is the sum and substance of the 
 call, the invitation to the church of Christ. 
 You hear that that proclamation is universal, 
 that this invitation is universal. But not all 
 who heard that proclamation, and understood 
 this invitation, accepted the gospel, and follow- 
 ed the call. 
 
 The 'men who knew, and had often and 
 painfully felt their blindness and perverseness, 
 their impurity and debasement and exposure 
 
12 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 to punishment, their imperfection, weakness, 
 and need of help ; or those whose eyes the 
 gospel had opened to these things, who had 
 been led to wish and long for something bet- 
 ter ; or those in whom this wish, this longing 
 had been just awakened, and was really lively 
 and strong, to them this gospel was truly what 
 its name imports, glad tidings ; to them it was 
 a precious, invaluable word, that Jesus Christ 
 came into the world to save sinners. Such 
 men, as you may well suppose, heard this new 
 doctrine gladly ; they willingly followed such 
 an invitation ; they embraced such a gospel 
 with joy. 
 
 Now those who received the gospel, came 
 and were baptized. By baptism they were 
 consecrated to Christ, and received into the 
 church of Jesus. Such was the will and com- 
 mandment of Jesus. ' Go ye,' said he to 
 those who should testify of him, ' and teach 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Whoever, therefore, came to be immersed in 
 the water, or washed with it, it was the same 
 as if he had said in express terms, ' I am un- 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 13 
 
 clean, and wish to be cleansed from that which 
 defiles me.' And when he was baptized in 
 the name of Jesus, it was as if Jesus himself 
 had spoken to him, and assured him, l If thou 
 dost earnestly desire it, see, — thou art purified 
 and made holy !' Jesus had commanded that 
 men should be baptized in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost. Let any one be so baptized, and it is 
 as if he had expressly said in words, ' Dear 
 Father, I would be thy child, I would have 
 thee to be my Father. Let me be thy child. 
 Be thou my Father. I will follow and obey 
 thee as a child. Jesus ! I acknowledge and 
 believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God. As such will I accept thee, as 
 such will I follow thee. Through thee only 
 can I and will I come to the Father. Purify 
 and free me from all that prevents my coming 
 to him. Take away all that separates and re- 
 moves me from God. Grant me the Spirit, 
 through which I can and ever shall be made 
 wise, and pure, and better, and more stedfast, 
 patient, courageous and confiding. Sanctify 
 
14 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 me, that I may become one with thee, and 
 through thee with the Father.' 
 
 And whoever, then, was baptized, according 
 to the command of Jesus, in the name of the 
 Father, Son and Spirit, could feel as if Jesus 
 himself had spoken to him and assured him, 
 'Yes, if it be truly thy mind, and wish, and 
 will, then is my Father thy Father also ; then 
 art thou his child and heir, and joint heir with 
 me ; then there is nothing to prevent thy com- 
 munion with the Father ; then I am thine ; for 
 thee was my death ; for thee is my life. My 
 Spirit is thy Spirit. My glory shall be thy 
 glory also.' 
 
 Baptism, then, appears to us as certainly a 
 very important and significant action. It in- 
 dicates and embraces what is essential and 
 distinguishing to Christianity. Desirable and 
 acceptable, important and great is that which 
 is offered, indicated, and confirmed, by him 
 in whose name baptism is administered. And 
 how extremely simple and easy is the manner 
 and terms of participation ; Come — desire to 
 have — receive ; that is all which is to be done. 
 It may well be supposed, that if in the baptism 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 15 
 
 of those who by that means entered the church 
 of Jesus, all was as it should be, according to 
 the mind and will of Jesus ; that if they came 
 to baptism with such intentions and desires, 
 and received such high assurances in so easy 
 and simple a manner, then must their condi- 
 tion be greatly changed and improved from 
 what it was before. Then, indeed, all that 
 might be done according to the mind and will 
 of Jesus, would be done with a better mind 
 and from a purer heart; then would every 
 thing be more purely and truly good, because 
 the fountain from whence it springs, the heart, 
 would be refined and sanctified by love. Christ 
 gave himself for me ! This remains before 
 the eyes of the baptized ; this brings his bap- 
 tism home to his heart. And where the heart 
 is filled with this thought, and the whole man 
 is penetrated by it, then, according to the na- 
 ture of things, and the nature of the heart, he 
 is made holy. Then he cleaves to Jesus, and 
 takes part with him. He feels himself to be 
 Christ's own, and consecrated to him. He 
 belongs no more to himself; he belongs to 
 Christ, and lives for him. And thus the bap- 
 
16 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 tized is in spirit and in truth a member of the 
 body of which Jesus is the Head, a true and 
 genuine member of his church. 
 
 Still, however, this is not given, wrought 
 and imparted by the outward ceremony, — the 
 baptism with water. The outward act cannot 
 purify inwardly, cannot sanctify the heart. The 
 water-baptism cannot give purity to the mind 
 and integrity to the life. It was formerly, as 
 at present, only an emblem, a sign, a pledge, 
 a seal. It had then, no more than at present, 
 any peculiar secret power. Alas ! it was not 
 long before many weie baptized who were not 
 on that account members of the church of 
 Christ ; just as now many are baptized and 
 are confirmed in their baptismal covenant, who 
 are not, on that account, Christians, or mem- 
 bers of the church of Christ. That does not 
 depend on the outward ceremony, but only 
 and alone on the mind, and will, and faith of 
 those who submit themselves to this outward 
 rite. 'In Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
 availeth anything (which likewise was a sign 
 and seal of grace and promise,) nor uncircum- 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 17 
 
 cision ;' nor baptism either, without the faith 
 which worketh by love. 
 
 But the fact that Jesus himself ordained 
 such a rite, expressive of purification, for all 
 who would declare themselves for him, and 
 cleave to him, tells us loudly and forcibly 
 enough what members ought to distinguish his 
 church, and what is aimed at by these mem- 
 bers of his church on earth. Bathing with 
 water purifies ! It reminds us of purification ; 
 the water alludes to sanctification, by which 
 we must be born again for his kingdom ; and 
 that other baptism, which is to follow, and 
 which is called in the holy Scriptures, c the 
 baptism of fire, and the baptism of the Spirit,' 
 aims at purification and leads to sanctification. 
 We must be born again, transformed and cre- 
 ated anew by the water and the Spirit ; we 
 must believe in the Holy Ghost, in a holy, 
 universal, christian church, and in the com- 
 munion of saints. 
 
 A holy christian church 1 Holy is the Fa- 
 ther who hath called us to be his children ; 
 and as he who hath called us is holy, so must 
 we be holy in all manner of conversation ; be- 
 2* 
 
18 THE LOVE OP JESUS. 
 
 cause it is written : Be ye holy, for I am holy. 
 And this is the message which we have heard 
 of him, that God is light, and in him is no 
 darkness at all. If we say that we have fel- 
 lowship with him, and walk in darkness, we 
 lie, and do not the truth. Such an high-priest 
 became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, 
 separate from sinners, and made higher than 
 the heavens. In this high-priest we have an 
 advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 righteous ; and he is the propitiation for our 
 sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the 
 sins of the whole world. So he writes to us, 
 who wrote that we might not sin ; and he adds : 
 And hereby do we know that we know him, if 
 we keep his commandments. He that saith, 
 I know him, and keepeth not his command- 
 ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 
 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is 
 the love of God perfected ; hereby know we 
 that we are in him. He that saith he abideth 
 in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as 
 he walked. If we walk in the light, as he is 
 in the light, we have fellowship one with 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 19 
 
 another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
 clean seth us from all sin. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit by which we 
 come into communion with him and with the 
 Father, which binds the Head and the mem- 
 bers together. 
 
 They that are in the flesh cannot please 
 God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the 
 Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in 
 you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of 
 Christ, he is none of his. If ye live after the 
 flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spi- 
 rit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall 
 live. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
 from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up 
 Christ from the dead shall also quicken your 
 mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in 
 you. As many as are led by the Spirit of 
 God, they are the sons of God, and cry by 
 the spirit of adoption ; Abba, Father : The 
 same Spirit helpeth our infirmities, and bear- 
 eth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
 children of God : and if children, then heirs; 
 heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; if so 
 be that we suffer with him, that we may also be 
 
20 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 glorified together. Hereby know we that we 
 dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath 
 given us of his Spirit. But the fruit of the Spir- 
 it is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness? 
 goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. So 
 it is with the communion of the Holy Spirit. 
 By this Spirit the bond between men, and Je- 
 sus, and God, is inseparable and forever knit 
 together. For this reason are those who are 
 Christians in name and deed, in spirit and ire 
 truth, called saints. For this reason is the 
 union of Christians by this Spirit called a com- 
 munion of saints. 
 
 Behold, my beloved ! the washing in water 
 at baptism, and baptism in the name of the 
 Father, Son and Holy Ghost, all tell us, that 
 Christ so loved the church that he gave him- 
 self for it, and that he sanctified it, and that 
 this, his chosen, his beloved, should stand be- 
 fore him in glorious, lovely beauty, without 
 spot or blemish, free from all that is hateful 
 and makes hateful, disfigures and defiles, holy 
 and blameless ; united with him in innocence and 
 pure love. Christ gave himself for us, that he 
 might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 21 
 
 unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good 
 works. This is what is declared to our hearts 
 by baptism. He who has not the solemn will 
 and purpose to become continually purer and 
 better does not really understand what that 
 means, ' Christ loved the church, and gave 
 himself for it!' He comprehends it not, and 
 knows not how to estimate how dearly Jesus 
 has purchased his own peculiar people ! His 
 heart feels nothing of the love of Jesus, and 
 takes no interest in his sufferings and death for 
 us. He shows that he does not yet belong to 
 Christ's peculiar people, to his church. No, 
 he is not yet a Christian, though he may have 
 been baptized unto Christ by the baptism of 
 Christians. 
 
 He to whom has appeared this saving grace 
 of God, which is and shall be offered to all, 
 he to whom it has actually appeared, who ac- 
 knowledges it as saving grace, and as such 
 has accepted, embraced, and made it his own, 
 will according to its nature, be infallibly chas- 
 tened by it, and powerfully excited to deny 
 ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live sober- 
 ly, righteously, and godly in this present world. 
 
22 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 And when this grace thus manifests itself pow- 
 erfully and actively in the heart and life, when 
 it awakens and kindles that in the heart, and 
 thereto animates and incites it, then the man 
 belongs to the elect, the saints, the beloved of 
 God ; then is he by Jesus presented holy, and 
 unblameable, and unreproveable in the sight 
 of God. Those whom he did predestinate, 
 them he also called; and whom he called, 
 them he also justified ; and whom he justified^ 
 them he also glorified. That man has in the 
 Spirit the pledge and witness of the paternal 
 love of God and the fraternal love of Jesus. 
 And whoever he may be, and wherever he 
 may live, and however he may fare, he is and 
 remains a member of the body of which Christ 
 is the Head : he is a fellow-member of the 
 one, universal, Christian church, which is lim- 
 ited to no seasons, to no peculiar men, to no 
 particular places, to no religious societies or 
 parties, to no places of assembly or forms of 
 external worship ; which is fettered to nothing 
 outward, visible, earthly, perishable and mu- 
 table ; which has its aim not on earth, but in 
 heaven; — he has come to the first-born,, 
 which are written in heaven ! 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 23 
 
 Children, the first thing that befel you in 
 your lives, relating to Jesus and the welfare of 
 your souls, was, that your parents presented 
 you for that baptism w r hich Jesus instituted. 
 They desired to give you up to Christ ; to him 
 who, while he lived on earth, so loved chil- 
 dren : to whom parents then brought their 
 children, that he might bless them ; and who 
 received them with kindness and tenderness, 
 took them in his arms, pressed them to his 
 heart, and gave them back to their parents 
 with his blessing ; — to him they were not too 
 little and insignificant for the blessings of his 
 love. He understood and appreciated the 
 motive of those who brought them. He gave 
 them not a word of censure or reproof. But 
 the adults, who felt not at heart like those pa- 
 rents, who saw not in parents or children what 
 he valued above all things else : his disciples 
 who cherished thoughts, and desires, and 
 hopes, and expectations, which were contrary 
 to his mind and heart, and who cared not for 
 the childlike spirit, and childlike mind, and 
 childlike heart, — them he suddenly reproved 
 for their feelings and conduct. To them he 
 
24 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 said : Suffer little children to come unto me, 
 and forbid them not : for of such is the king- 
 dom of God. Verily, I say unto you, Who- 
 soever shall not receive the kingdom of God 
 as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein. 
 On one occasion, when his disciples manifest- 
 ed vain, earthly minds, and strivings after great 
 things of a worldly nature, he called up one 
 of the children who loved to be about him and 
 with him, to be a lesson and example to them. 
 He set the little child in the midst of them, 
 and said : Verily, I say unto you, Except ye 
 be converted, and become as little children, ye 
 shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as 
 this little child, the same is greatest in the 
 kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive 
 one such little child in my name, receiveth 
 me. But whoso shall offend one of these lit- 
 tle ones which believe in me, it were better 
 for him that a mill-stone were hanged about 
 his neck, and that he were drowned in the 
 depth of the sea. 
 
 O listen, then ! Let it be deeply impress- 
 ed upon your hearts, how dear to him were 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 25 
 
 children; how he received them and would 
 have them received; how he blessed them, and 
 how much he is concerned when no one brings 
 them to him for his blessing. Let it be deep- 
 ly impressed upon your hearts, how much a 
 child's disposition, a child's heart, a child's 
 innocence is prized by him ; how he requires 
 and thinks it necessary, that all who would be 
 happy in his kingdom shall be children in mod- 
 esty and comeliness, in freedom from arro- 
 gance and pride and self-exaltation, in frank- 
 ness and rectitude and desire to learn, in tract- 
 ability and obedience, in silent attention to, 
 easy reception and right apprehension and 
 pursuit of the truth, in faith and dependence 
 on the word of the Father, in compliance with 
 the will and desire of the Father, in confi- 
 dence and trust in the love of the Father and 
 the expression of his love, in calm reliance, 
 quite free from vexation, and from painful, 
 tormenting care, in inward attachment, love 
 and peace. After these declarations of Jesus, 
 you may imagine to yourselves with what an 
 eye he looks down upon parents and children, 
 when parents bring their children to his bap- 
 3 
 
26 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 tisrn ; — with what an eye he looked down up- 
 on you, when you were so brought to him. 
 To whom could your parents have given you 
 up and confided you better than to him ? By 
 whom can you be better counselled than by 
 him ? For him you must be educated ! — 
 was the silent declaration of your parents, 
 when they brought you for baptism, that he 
 might accept and bless you with all his bless- 
 ings ; that you might through him be children 
 of God, through him be purified, hallowed, 
 and blest. How naturally was this wish of 
 your parents expressed by the presentation for 
 baptism ! 
 
 At that time you knew not him to whom 
 you were to belong. You could not then un- 
 derstand what w r as ensured to you in his name, 
 and what was promised to him in v your name. 
 When you grew up, and the capacities and 
 powers of your soul had so far developed 
 themselves, that you could learn and compre- 
 hend something about him, then your parents 
 remembered the engagement which they, ( or 
 in their place the witnesses of the baptism, 
 your sponsers, ) had made. You were made 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIHr-rATION. 27 
 
 acquainted with Jesus by narrative and instruc- 
 tion from the Holy Scripture. You have 
 learnt what you may have in Jesus, and shall 
 have with him and by him, if you wish it as 
 he and God wish it ; and you have also learnt 
 what he and God wish from you. You have 
 made a public confession before the church 
 which you wished to join of what is most im- 
 portant and essential in Christian faith, Chris- 
 tian duties, and Christian hopes. Therein 
 you must be solemnly confirmed, that is to 
 say, established. What others undertook and 
 promised in your name at your baptism, must 
 be confirmed and ratified by yourself. Do 
 you, then, with cordial faith receive as true 
 and certain what you have learnt as God's 
 word, and confessed with your mouth ? 
 
 Is it also your earnest desire and steadfast 
 resolve before God, to strive with all the pow- 
 ers which God has given, and will give still 
 further to the faithful, in order that you may 
 think and act as disciples and followers of Je- 
 sus ought to think and act ? 
 
 And will you, then, as members of the 
 church into which you will be received so con- 
 
28 TtfE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 duct, according to its regulations and ordinan- 
 ces, that you may be found therein as mem- 
 bers of a church of which Jesus is the Head ? 
 
 Answer in the presence of God, and of the 
 Lord of the church ! The Lord is witness to 
 your * Yes ;' he hears it ; he sees in every one 
 whose mouth utters it, the heart from which it 
 came. He, before whom the heart is taken 
 into account, and gives to every external act 
 and life its value, he will also be witness in ev- 
 ery moment of your future life whether you 
 keep your engagement to him. Ah, dear and 
 darling children ! however faithful to him your 
 hearts may intend to be, there will many things 
 occur which will render the exact keeping of 
 your word very difficult. You will too soon 
 find, that that * Yes 1 was easily said, but that 
 it was a very important and comprehensive 
 ' Yes.' You will find, alas ! that not every 
 one w"hois called a Christian cleaves to Christ ; 
 that not every one who outwardly adheres to 
 a Christian church inwardly depends upon 
 Christ. 
 
 You will not fail, among the men in the 
 midst of whom you must be scattered, and 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 29 
 
 with whom you must live, often to see and hear, 
 experience and witness, what can and will turn 
 you away from him to whom you have been 
 guided, and make you faithless and false to 
 him to w T hom you solemnly promised to be 
 obedient and to remain true. With all your 
 forecast and watchfulness you will not succeed 
 in our day, at all times and places, in avoiding 
 those who without reserve will dishonour what 
 your heart really honors, and on which it be- 
 stows its highest veneration ; who will shame- 
 lessly desecrate what to you is truly sacred, 
 and must remain so forevermore ; who may 
 and will rob you, by word, and deed, and ex- 
 ample, of what you ought to value more than 
 your life, because it is to be your life forever 
 and forever. For what is a man profited, if 
 he shall gain the whole world, and lose his- 
 own soul I or what shall a man give in ex- 
 change for his soul ? Never, never let it de- 
 part from your mind and heart, that the Lord 
 of the church was the witness of your vow y 
 and will be witness of the manner in which 
 you fulfil it, and of the motive with which you 
 may fulfil it ; that he saw into your heart, and 
 3* 
 
30 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 will see into it at all times and places, lest the 
 sanctuary of your heart and your priceless 
 pearl should be left a prey to those who will 
 trample it under foot, and will poorly reward 
 you for leaving it to be their prey. Keep your 
 heart near to the Lord through the Bible 
 which testifies of him, and through the book 
 of nature in which you live, and of which he 
 is also Lord. Assemble often, away from the 
 distractions of life, in tranquil devotion under 
 his eye. Let it be your aim to grow in all 
 points like him who is the Head, whenev- 
 er you read of him, and whenever you go 
 where his worshippers assemble for his praise. 
 He is nearer to you, and you are nearer to him, 
 by every festival which is consecrated to him, 
 by every supper which is consecrated to the 
 remembrance of the highest proof of his love 
 for you. Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
 richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admonish- 
 ing one another in psalms, and hymns, and 
 spiritual songs, singing with grace in your 
 hearts to the Lord ; not forsaking the assem- 
 bling of yourselves together, as the manner of 
 some is : and above all things, keep your eye 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 31 
 
 and heart fixed upon him by daily prayer. O ! 
 if you rightly lay to heart the * one thing need- 
 ful,' if you would be and do what, according 
 to your promise, you ought to be and to do, 
 you will have to commence daily prayer, if 
 you have not done it already. 
 
 You will sometimes fail ; even with the best 
 intentions, with the most ardent strivings of the 
 soul, the flesh will be weak ; and every failure 
 will be the more painful to you, every advan- 
 tage which the weak flesh gains over the 
 stronger spirit will be more distressing to you, 
 the more sincerely you mean to be good ; but 
 courage, and faith, and hope will not on that 
 account, be stolen from you. Pray, then, fer- 
 vently and importunately ! Watch more care- 
 fully ! Trust not too confidently to be kept 
 from falling by your own strength ! Resist 
 more resolutely ! Contend more earnestly ! 
 Persevere in watching, and fighting, and pray- 
 er i Hold firm in faith to your Lord! and 
 then you will learn from experience, that he 
 sees you, that he sees into your heart, that he 
 understands every longing and aspiration of 
 your heart, that he knows every want of your 
 soulj and perceives every supplication, that he 
 
32 THE LOVE OF JESITS„ 
 
 hears and answers, that he is able and willing 
 to help. Yes r only let yoor delight be in the 
 Lord, and he will give you the desire of your 
 heart. If our heart condemn us not, then have 
 we confidence toward God ; and whatsoever 
 we ask, we receive of him, because we keep 
 his commandments, and do those things that 
 are pleasing in his sight. Let it thereupon 
 be your consolation that you have a good con- 
 science, and study to lead a good life. Above 
 all things look too it, that no man seduce you, 
 and deprive you of this consolation. 
 
 And is this the meaning of your 4 Yes ?' — 
 then hail to you as new members of Christ's 
 church ! Yes, then are you members of his 
 church in deed and in truth ; incorporated a3 
 members of that body of which he is the Head ; 
 and in possession of all that, which he offered 
 and ensured to you in baptism. Yes, it does 
 not yet appear what you ; shall be and shall 
 have ; still what is to be hoped for hereafter 
 is as sure to you, as if you had already received 
 k. He confirms and ratifies to you his prom- 
 ise in baptism, and he will confirm and estab- 
 lish you in your faith, confirm and strengthen 
 you to the purification of your heart and life, 
 
BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION. 33 
 
 confirm and corroborate your hope. Let us 
 hold fast the profession of our faith without 
 wavering ; for he is faithful that promised. 
 How faithful he is to the faithful, what he will 
 be and will give to his faithful ones, is particu- 
 larly testified and assured to you by that sup- 
 per, which you will celebrate with the mem- 
 bers of his church in commemoration of his 
 death. It explains and assures what it is that 
 you wish to be to him who is your Lord ; 
 and in the supper he too explains and assures 
 what it is that he will be to you. You wish to 
 give yourself up entirely to him, and he wishes 
 to give himself up entirely to you. This you 
 say to him ! this he says to you by the supper ! 
 Behold, how well he knows man, and the 
 wants of man ! He knows what he needs who 
 is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, 
 after conformity to him, after communion with 
 him and the Father ; and he will give to' every 
 one who turns to him that which he needs in 
 order to be nourished and strengthened, re- 
 vived and refreshed. So he promised : and 
 every supper confirms the promise of his 
 mouth. 
 
THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 1 Corinthians 11 : 23—20. 
 
 For I have received of the Lord that which also 1 
 delivered unto you; That the Lord Jesus, the same 
 night in which he was betrayed, took bread ; and when 
 be had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat ; 
 this is my body, which is broken for you ; this do in 
 remembrance of me. After the same manner also he 
 took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is 
 the New Testament in my blood ; this do ye, as oft as 
 ye drink it, in -remembrance of me. For as often as ye 
 eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's 
 death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat 
 this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, 
 shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But 
 let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and 
 drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to 
 himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 
 
 Behold, here is full instruction upon what is 
 
the lord's supper. 35 
 
 most essential and important to be considered 
 in this holy act, in which we are all unitedly 
 to participate to-morrow, and for which we 
 wish to prepare ourselves more fully to-day. 
 Who instituted this repast, which we call the 
 Lord's supper ; when it was instituted, and 
 observed for the first time ; how it was ob- 
 served, and how and for what reason it was 
 to continue to be observed through all coming 
 time ; what it had for its signification and ob- 
 ject ; what the spirit and heart is at that time 
 to be fixed upon ; what should then be the 
 state of the mind and heart, and how they are 
 to be prepared for it, so as not to be made sin- 
 ful and punishable by participation in the repast, 
 — all this is comprised in the instruction upon 
 the holy supper which the apostle gave to the 
 christian church in the city of Corinth. In 
 this important and splendid city of Greece 
 there was an important church. But alas ! 
 even at that time, it had come to such a pass 
 in a christian Church, that in the very holiest 
 assemblies of Christians it often occurred, that 
 indeed it could not be seen that they who were 
 together were Christians j and still less could 
 
36 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 it have been thought that they had come to- 
 gether in order to worship Christ, their Lord, 
 with the deepest veneration, and to commem- 
 orate him with the pledges of his highest love, 
 with the emblems of the blessings and benefits 
 of his death, with sorrowing, heart-felt love, 
 and with tender, fervent gratitude. 
 
 Christians' in those times often assembled 
 for certain mutual festivals, which they were 
 accustomed to conclude with the breaking of 
 bread, and drinking the cup of thanksgiving, 
 according to the will and command of their 
 Lord. Jesus at the feast of the Passover had 
 instituted this memorial of his death. His 
 first disciples wished to manage every thing as 
 exactly as possible according to their Lord's 
 institution ; and who does not respect and high- 
 ly estimate their intention ? Hence arose those 
 social repasts which they called love-feasts. 
 A beautiful, appropriate name ! if only it had 
 always retained the reality with the name. But 
 alas ! if we notice in this eleventh chapter of 
 Corinthians what it was that induced the apos- 
 tle to repeat this instruction upon the holy sup- 
 per, so circumstantially and in writing, to a 
 
the lord's supper. 37 
 
 Christian church, we see that the Corinthian 
 Christians in regard to their love-feasts fell 
 into much the same state as Christians of the 
 present day with regard to many sacred things ; 
 yes., even as it is with the very name of Chris-, 
 tian. The name only was there; and what 
 the name expressed and betokened was want- 
 ing, while the very opposite was there. Love- 
 feast ! Yes, justly might those repasts be so 
 styled at which Christians sat together as such, 
 and with which they connected the commemo- 
 rative observance of the death of Jesus. Jesus 
 was love itself; out of love, and love alone, 
 he died. Love, uniting love, should be the 
 badge of his disciples and worshippers ; and 
 love is naturally stirred up in every heart which 
 is penetrated with the love of him who died on 
 the cross from love. In cordial brotherly love 
 they sat together, when they ate and drank in 
 remembrance of their first-born brother, who 
 had gone away to his Father and their Father ; 
 and the delightful fruits and beneficent expres- 
 sions of love could not easily have been want- 
 ing there. Ah ! it must have been a stirring 
 and salutary sight to see those first Christians, 
 4 
 
38 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 who full of ardent love yet hung upon their 
 Lord, affectionately seated together at such a 
 repast. The provisions were sent by the mem- 
 bers of the church. The poor, who could con- 
 tribute nothing, fared just as well originally as 
 the rich or great. The wealthier brother im- 
 parted his superfluity to the poorer broiher. 
 The poor brother could not suffer want, so 
 long as the richer brother had a superfluity. 
 There was then no outward distinction. All 
 were one ; all equal ; a circle of brothers and 
 sisters. Love unites and makes equal. And 
 so it ought to have been, and so it should have 
 continued to be ; but now at Corinth the rich 
 man had his expensive food brought for him- 
 self, and then ate by himself, unconcerned 
 about the others. The poor were not remem- 
 bered ; and what was yet worse, they went 
 and assembled there together without consid- 
 ering on what particular account they did so, 
 and in what respect this repast which they cel- 
 ebrated must be distinguished from every other. 
 They went to it thoughtlessly, as a banquet of 
 sensuality. They actually brought an offering 
 to sensuality. They sought to please the 
 
the lord's supper. 39 
 
 flesh. And it may be imagined in what frame 
 of mind, in what temper of heart, the Lord's 
 Supper was celebrated after repasts so held. 
 The rich were overladen with meat and drink, 
 and thus unfitted for fine spiritual enjoyment, 
 for tender religious emotion, and incapable of 
 devotion or edification. The poor were hungry, 
 many of them mortified and afflicted, or vexed 
 and embittered by cold neglect or contemptu- 
 ous disdain. At a festival which, according to its 
 name and substance, its nature and intention, 
 should have brought hearts nearer together, 
 there was frozen division of hearts, and cold es- 
 trangement of minds. Yes, it was as mildly and 
 forbearingly expressed as possible, when the 
 apostle said to them with perfect truth, e I praise 
 you not, that ye come together not for the better, 
 but for the worse.' It was not the fault of the 
 festival certainly, that they became worse rath- 
 er than better at every meeting. If every 
 thing had been and continued with them as it 
 should have been and continued, they would 
 certainly always have come together for 
 the better. And it was really a lamentable 
 truth — ' When ye come together into one 
 
40 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.' 
 And in order to represent this to them yet 
 more clearly, in order to make yet more strik- 
 ing the scandalous, profane abuse of a custom 
 so holy, he leads them by a simple relation of 
 the institution of the supper to a knowledge of 
 its true value, and makes them sensible in its 
 full weight of what is meant and expressed by 
 that, — 'eat the Lord's Supper;' and it is 
 necessary lhat Christians in this country should 
 learn it too. If the Corinthian abuses do not 
 take place in our day, when the supper is no 
 longer celebrated according to the ancient mode, 
 still Christians of our times too often, alas! have 
 occasion to say, ' When ye come together into 
 one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.' 
 And that this instruction of the apostle is not 
 less important and sacred to us than to the Co- 
 rinthians, appears at once from the solemn be- 
 ginning. 
 
 / have received from the Lord, that which 
 also I delivered unto you. The apostle al- 
 ludes to the information which he had im- 
 parted to them upon the supper of the Lord. 
 
THE LORD'S SUPPER. 41 
 
 What I have imparted to you thereupon, he 
 would say, well merited to be better consid- 
 ered and followed. It did not originate in my 
 head, it was not an affair of my invention or 
 interpretation, nor did I derive it from the as- 
 sertions or reports of others, nor from written 
 or verbal information. ' I have received of 
 the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.' 
 Hence if others teach anything different re- 
 specting it from what I have done, and if they 
 so teach that the consequence of their doctrine 
 is the desecration and disparagement of the 
 holy supper, you ought not in justice to con- 
 fide in them. It is true, I was not a witness 
 of it any more than they, when our Lord on 
 that last evening before his death instituted 
 this memorial of his love ; but it is as well as 
 if I had been there present, and had heard all 
 from his own mouth. From him was that 
 which I delivered unto you, and which I must 
 now repeat, because you have forgotten it, or 
 because it does not seem to be of so much 
 consequence to you as it should be. I give 
 you again, therefore, what I myself received. 
 Let it avail then with us, the same as if the 
 4* 
 
42 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 Lord himself had said it. The words of the 
 apostle must be as sacred to us as the words 
 of the Lord himself. 
 
 First of all he is mentioned, toward whom 
 our whole soul should be directed in the 
 supper. The Lord Jesus was the founder. 
 He is the chief object and aim of this action. 
 He, the Lord, there sat at the table, on which 
 stood the bread and wine. Disciples, worship- 
 pers and servants of this Lord, men who had 
 learnt of him, who were well known and con- 
 fided in by him, who adhered to him, followed 
 him, and obeyed him, were the company at 
 the table. To all these he Was Lord. But 
 one there was against him. 
 
 Thus for the first time, he with his friends, 
 held that festival which thenceforward should 
 be celebrated to his memory. Yes, to him, 
 to Jesus ycu draw near ! To him you draw 
 near as to your Lord, when you come to his 
 supper. You profess yourself his worshipper 
 and servant, you declare him to be your Lord 
 by partaking in this repast. This repast is for 
 Christians alone; by Christians has it been 
 
the lord's supper. 43 
 
 held from the beginning. But there are many 
 things in Jesus the Lord, on which you might 
 fix the eye and heart, and of which you might 
 gladly and gratefully remind yourself, if the 
 evening meal in general should be a meal for 
 commemorating Jesus, your Lord. The time 
 on which this repast was first held by him with 
 his friends calls your attention to that point 
 which should here be more important to you 
 than all others. It was on the evening of the 
 last day before his death, — on that night when 
 he was betrayed to his enemies, who had de- 
 sired and determined his death ; and ah ! by 
 one of his confidential friends, who had eaten 
 bread with him, and now also partook in this 
 most confidential repast. There sat he once 
 more, all love, in the midst of his beloved. 
 He knew that it was the last time ; he knew 
 the terrors that so nearly awaited him. But 
 love here too forgat itself in the welfare of oth- 
 ers. To them who lay so near his soul, to 
 them with whom he ate and drank for the last 
 time before his death, — to them he wished to 
 leave this festival a delightful, and salutary 
 memorial of his love. Ah ! full of wisdom 
 
44 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 and grace, he averted his glance from the ter- 
 ror, and dismay, and violence of his death, 
 and turned it toward the joyful effects of his 
 death, effects so desirable, so salutary, and so 
 adapted to the wants of men. 
 
 The paschal lamb was eaten. The festival 
 was held which reminded the Israelites to be 
 grateful for a deliverance wrought by God, 
 from great misery and public danger. You 
 know how that in the last night, which ended 
 the sufferings of God's chosen Israel in Egypt, 
 all were spared and preserved, who distin- 
 guished themselves by the blood of the slaugh- 
 tered lamb, as sundered from the multitude 
 of those who would know and hear nothing 
 of God, and would not submit themselves to 
 his will, and so brought upon themselves de- 
 struction and death. On this account that 
 supper of a lamb was called passover, — the 
 feast of exemption or salvation. This confi- 
 dential meal which Jesus made to succeed that 
 earlier one, and which we still call supper or 
 evening-meal, because it was held at evening, 
 at the coming of night, should remind his 
 grateful followers of a salvation planned by 
 
the lord's supper. 45 
 
 God, and wrought through Jesus, of a salva- 
 tion from far greater misery, and from the 
 danger of losing a far higher and better life. 
 This new festival was meant as the sign and 
 seal of a new covenant between God and man, 
 which was to be far more important than that 
 earlier covenant between God and Israel, 
 which was abolished in this. 
 
 Jesus had usually spoken of his kingdom 
 under emblems or parables, which brought to 
 mind enjoyment and pleasure. We are all 
 acquainted with the parable of the great fes- 
 tive repast to which a wealthy householder 
 gave out invitations ; of the sumptuous mar- 
 riage-feast which a king prepared for his son ; 
 of the bride-groom who was expected to the 
 nuptial banquet. And here also by a festival, 
 he reminds his worshippers of enjoyment and 
 pleasure in his kingdom ; and he connects 
 with a festival, the remembrance of the high- 
 est proof of love, of a proof which he alone 
 could give. From what stood before them on 
 the table for enjoyment, nourishment and re- 
 freshment, he took what he consecrated as 
 
46 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 symbols and pledges of the life and blessed- 
 ness which those who should adhere to him, 
 would surely attain to through his death. 
 
 He took in his hand the unleavened cake ; 
 raised his eyes and heart to the Father in 
 heaven, and thanked him for his gift, the bread ; 
 and gave to each one a portion of it, with the 
 words : This is my body, which is broken for 
 you ; eat this in remembrance of me. In 
 like manner, after the eating, he took the cup, 
 which, filled with red wine, the father of the 
 family, after the eating of the paschal lamb, 
 passed around the circle with joyful thanks- 
 giving ; whereupon the feast was concluded 
 with joyful songs of praise.* Giving thanks? 
 he gave the cup, that they all might drink of 
 it. This cup, said he at the time, is the New 
 Testament in my blood. Drink ye of it, and 
 as oft as ye so drink it, do it in remembrance 
 of me. 
 
 Thus we learn clearly enough, what should 
 
 * The songs of praise and thanksgiving which 
 were sung by the Jews at this high festival, were 
 Psalms cxiii, cxiv, cxv, cxvi, cxvii, cxviii. 
 
the lord's supper. 47 
 
 distinguish this festival, and what ought to be 
 contemplated in it ; the death of Jesus ought 
 to be placed before the eyes of those who par- 
 take of it. So he says who instituted it : Be- 
 hold, I break this bread, and give it you ; take 
 ye it, and eat it. The bread must be given 
 away ; it does not, and cannot remain just as 
 it is, if it is to give nourishment, strength, and 
 power. So will this my body be given up, 
 broken, and destroyed by death, so that it 
 may be a sacrifice for you. Behold, this w T ine 
 is poured out and given away. Take and 
 drink ; it does not and cannot remain just as 
 it is, if it is to cheer, animate, refresh and re- 
 vive. So will my blood be shed through the 
 sacrifice of my body, whereby the new cove- 
 nant is perfected, in which you. w T ho come to 
 God through me, shall be free from that, from 
 which the covenant of law could not mke 
 men free ; and in which you shall come into 
 possession of all those things to which men, as 
 sinners, could make no claim. My blood 
 shall ratify and seal the covenant of grace 
 and life, in which every thing shall be restored 
 and replaced which sin has taken away, and 
 
48 
 
 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 corrupted and destroyed. Let this be cer- 
 tain and present with you, as often as you thus 
 eat and drink in remembrance of me. 
 
 Thus, then, we see in the holy supper with 
 infallible clearness, what shall be effected, pre- 
 pared, made certain and granted through the 
 death and sacrifice of Jesus, for those who will 
 cleave to him. Bread is my body, said he, 
 which is given for you. Wine is my blood 
 which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. We 
 all know that bread is the most common and 
 indispensable sustenance of men. Wine is 
 generally known as a means of strengthening, 
 animating and reviving. Hence Jesus, who 
 could never misapply or mistake a word, called 
 his body bread, and his blood wine. Should 
 his sacrifice on the cross be something of that 
 kind for men, it is impossible to doubt, that 
 they shall thereby receive something which 
 nourishes, and strengthens, and supports, which 
 cheers, and quickens, and revives, which serves 
 for the sustenance, and activity, and well-being 
 of the outward man, and the earthly life. 
 
 Now when the disciples of Jesus, according 
 
THE LORDS SUPPER. 49 
 
 to the will and example of their teacher, strove 
 to be what they should be, and observed, in 
 this and that point, that they had not attained 
 to what they would ; that they ofttimes became 
 and did the very opposite of what they ought 
 to be and to do ; that they stumbled and fell ; 
 when their sad and tearful eyes looked at of- 
 fences of which they had incurred the guilt ; 
 when the actual, or apparent, evil consequen- 
 ces of these offences stood in clear light before 
 the afflicted soul ; or when they felt intolera- 
 ble coldness and deadness in their whole being ; 
 or when they were oppressed, troubled, weary, 
 and heavy laden ; when their inmost soul 
 hungered and thirsted after life and nourish- 
 ment from above ; did they then do too much, 
 when they made use of the supper as a means 
 of strengthening, animating and reviving; aye, 
 when they confidently expected by means of 
 this supper all that was indispensable to them, 
 as bread is to the hungry, and a refreshing and 
 enlivening draught to the thirsty? No; if 
 through the death of Jesus man were not to 
 have something which is to the wants of his 
 nature what genuine, invigorating bread is to 
 5 
 
50 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 the hungry, and refreshing, cheering wine, is to 
 the thirsty, then Jesus would not have made 
 bread and wine the memorials and emblems of 
 his death. As certainly as you appease your 
 hunger, and find yourself nourished and 
 strengthened by the food which you take, 
 though you can neither know, nor conceive 
 how, and in what way this food nourishes, 
 strengthens, and supports us ; as certainly as 
 you quench your thirst, and feel yourself re- 
 vived by a fresh and refreshing draught, though 
 you are unable to comprehend how it comes to 
 pass that we are so revived by it ; so certain it 
 is, that, through the death of Jesus, that which 
 you seek in him will be for your strengthening 
 and reviving, however this strengthening and 
 reviving may be brought about, and however 
 it may be connected with his death. Behold, 
 this is said and sealed by the bread and wine, 
 in the supper. 
 
 The supper likewise says, and assures, that 
 Jesus makes it difficult for no one to partici- 
 pate in the blessings of his love, and the bene- 
 fits of his death. Simple as are the means of 
 strengthening and reviving which he employs 
 
THE LORD'S SDPPER. 51 
 
 as emblems of his body, so simple and natural 
 is also the mode of partaking, and receiving. 
 Those who knew not whither they must go, if 
 they would hear the words of eternal life, were 
 there assembled around him ; they saw what 
 he offered ; they heard what he said ; and 
 they reached out their hands to meet his : they 
 took what he gave them, they ate and drank. 
 Here too, as in baptism, that which is offered 
 is inexpressibly important, and necessary, and 
 salutary ; and nothing easier than the mode of 
 reception, the condition of partaking. These 
 gifts were nowhere to be purchased at any 
 price. Behold, the only purchaser of these 
 gifts, who has purchased them at the dearest 
 price, who freely offers them ! Whoever would 
 have it, has but to go to him, and receive from 
 him, what he offers. 
 
 But indeed it naturally depends on that de- 
 sire to have. Think you not, that Jesus well 
 knew and considered that just such a memo- 
 rial of his love and foresight would be right 
 welcome and desirable to his disciples ? that 
 just such a bequeathed pledge of love, espe- 
 cially when their eyes saw him no more on 
 
52 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 earth, would be truly dear and precious to 
 them, and exactly accord with the wants of 
 their hearts ? Think you not, that they ea- 
 gerly reached forth their hands when Jesus 
 presented the bread and wine, and at the same 
 time spake such significant words ? And think 
 you not, that their hearts full oft impelled them 
 so to break bread, and drink wine, in remem- 
 brance of the Lord, who had become so indis- 
 pensable to them, and whose nearness and 
 presence they afterwards full often missed ? 
 Ah, yesj surely this festival was precisely cal- 
 culated for the wants and wishes which were 
 now excited, or which, sooner or later, would 
 certainly be excited in them. Without some 
 such want, such a feast had been nothing, and 
 would be nothing to them, however glorious and 
 precious the things that might be thereby be- 
 tokened and sealed. And to whom could it 
 avail, without any knowledge and feeling that 
 such a being was needful for him, as he who 
 became on the cross, a sacrifice for men ? or 
 without any hunger and thirst after something 
 so nourishing, strengthening, and enlivening as 
 was offered and assured by the bread and wine 
 
the lord's supper. 53 
 
 in the supper ? Do they lay out the table for 
 those that are filled ? Do they invite him to it 
 who has no desire to eat ? Do they give 
 bread to the satiated, who would enjoy some- 
 thing further in his satiety, in order yet more 
 to tickle his palate, and gratify his sensuality? 
 Does he who is not hungry, who is satiated, 
 and over satiated, desire plain bread? and 
 will in such case, its whole value be acknow- 
 ledged, and will it be so esteemed and prized 
 as God's gift, as by him who suffers want, and 
 is hungry ? No ; only he who is faint and 
 feeble, who has a consuming thirst, and lan- 
 guishes for refreshment, knows how to under- 
 stand and estimate what a precious restorative 
 is the wine ; to him would a cup filled with 
 wine, if he met with it, be indeed a cup of 
 thanksgiving. He who has an aversion to 
 wine, or who has lost all taste for such a gen- 
 erous, simple beverage, what will he do with 
 wine ? He will keep to his favorite drink in 
 which he finds what he seeks, even if the wine 
 has the decided preference, and even if his ar- 
 tificial, mingled, sweet, perishing drink is op- 
 posed to every unperverted taste, and also 
 5* 
 
54 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 stupifies, weakens, injures, and slowly destroys 
 him, instead of refreshing, quickening, strength- 
 ening, and reviving him. He who suffers 
 hunger and thirst knows what he has in the 
 bread and wine, and what an office of love he 
 performs who with spontaneous, and gratuitous 
 goodness offers him both. He who suffers for 
 want of that which is made ready and certain 
 through the death of Jesus, and which ought 
 to be devoted and sealed by the bread and 
 wine in the supper, who acknowledges and 
 feels this want in himself, and earnestly desires 
 to be relieved, he only will come to Jesus, and 
 will have and receive from him, and truly 
 make him his own, who himself offered his 
 flesh and blood ; and his wants shall be satis- 
 fied, as certainly as bread appeases hunger — 
 and wine, the thirst. So says and assures the 
 supper ; and then, indeed, will be known and 
 appreciated what we have in a being like Je- 
 sus ; what unspeakably great love he manifest- 
 ed by the sacrifice of himself; and what it is 
 to receive all that we so pressingly need for 
 true welfare and true life, in such an easy way ! 
 Yes ; every one who thus comes to Jesus 
 
the lord's supper. 55 
 
 Christ, in order to receive from him what he 
 needs, and who thus seeks, will find what he 
 seeks, be he who he may, whenever and 
 wherever he may live on the earth. It was 
 not to cease with that single repast, upon the 
 night in which he w T as betrayed. He said, 
 while he distributed the bread : This do in 
 remembrance of me ; take bread and eat it 
 thus, and think therein of me, when 1 am no 
 longer visibly with you on the earth. And 
 with the wine he said in like manner : This do 
 ye, as oft as ye drink, in remembrance of me. 
 And so too, they often did. They continued 
 in fellowship and breaking of bread. They 
 brake the bread here and there in private 
 houses. It is so stated in the Acts of the 
 Apostles of the first Christian church in Jeru- 
 salem 5 and we should have expected it, even 
 if it had not been stated. 
 
 If the beloved of your heart must be separa- 
 ted from you for a long time, or without any 
 hope of again meeting on earth, and at his de- 
 parture should give you his portrait, or ring of 
 constancy, with the words : Think of me, 
 when I am far away ; would you not often by 
 
56 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 its means, bring that distant, invisible friend 
 near to your heart and soul ? And even if he 
 had not spoken, would it require for that pur- 
 pose an outward suggestion, an exhortation 
 from others, or an injunction, while you bore 
 him in your heart ? Or if a loving friend who 
 died as a victim of his love for you, had 
 given you shortly before his death a pledge of 
 his love, which should be to you a perfect 
 expression of the mind and heart, with which 
 he departed to a better world, would any narra- 
 tive, any epistle, any dead letter, be able to pre- 
 sent him so vividly to your soul, to restore him 
 to your heart, as this pledge with the stamp of 
 his heart upon it ? Would not every moment 
 be sacred to you, in which, withdrawn from 
 the tumult of the world, you could employ 
 yourself with him before this hallowed relic ? 
 Would not your heart in silence often thus 
 prepare itself a feast ? Would not tears of 
 love, and gratitude, and earnest longing, often 
 bedew the dear memorial of love ? Yes ; to 
 him who has a heart in his bosom that is near 
 and dear to Jesus, to him that is ever a favor- 
 ed, desired, and holy hour, when he with others. 
 
the lord's supper. 57 
 
 can adhere to this Jesus, and do that which Je- 
 sus has commanded to be done in remem- 
 brance of him. 
 
 Where could there have been a Christian 
 church without this sacrament ? And it is not 
 to be confined to those first disciples of Jesus, 
 nor to those earlier Christian churches. To 
 all Christians, in all the world, at all times 
 should the Lord's Supper be a compensation 
 for the loss of his personal presence. To all 
 should it sensibly represent his love and his 
 death — the blessings of his love, and the fruits 
 of his death : for as often as ye eat this bread, 
 and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
 death 'till he come. Do you hear ? 'Till he 
 shall come again hereafter, so long will this 
 feast be, and remain, an evidence and memo- 
 rial that he once lived, and suffered, and died, 
 on earth. From his death even to the end of 
 days, will that love by which he died be testi- 
 fied and proclaimed by this feast. O dean 
 worthy, precious w T ord for us, and for all, who 
 live by faith, and not by sight ; for all of us 
 whose eyes saw him not in his grace and love, 
 whose ear heard no word of life from his 
 
58 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 mouth, who were not witnesses of any proof of 
 his love. O, happy are we, if we have not 
 seen him, and yet have loved ; if we believe 
 in him, though we see him not ! Yes ; so 
 commonly as bread and wine are known as 
 means of nourishment, and strengthening, so 
 commonly will his sacrifice of love be proclaim- 
 ed as means of nourishing and strengthening, 
 or enlivening and quickening. So too, will 
 that be proclaimed and sealed by the sacra- 
 ment, which he so commonly said : I am the 
 bread of life ; he that cometh to me shall nev- 
 er hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall 
 never thirst. 1 am the living bread which 
 came down from heaven. If any man eat of 
 this bread, he shall live forever : and the 
 bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will 
 give for the life of the world. Whoso eateth 
 my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
 life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
 So too, in this last supper before his death, 
 speaks the voice which cried in the last day, 
 that great day of the feast. If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink. He that 
 believeth in me, as the Scripture hath said, out 
 
the lord's supper. 59 
 
 of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
 So, also, resounds from this sacrament the call 
 of love : Come unto me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So 
 likewise his supper makes intelligible and cer- 
 tain to us that word of his mouth : If a man 
 love me, he will keep my words : and my Fa- 
 ther will love him, and we will come unto him, 
 and make our abode with him. So, too, is his 
 supper, f yea and amen ' to the promise : 
 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness, for they shall be filled ! 
 and it is a seal to the assurance : I am come 
 that they might have life, and that they might 
 have it more abundantly. 
 
 Yes; Christian friend, only come with the 
 right mind and heart to him, to your Lord, in 
 this supper ; draw very near to him at his 
 table ; place yourself very close to him, and 
 get still closer, then is he also come near to 
 you ; then is he as near to you as he was to 
 his disciples on that evening, though your eye 
 may not see him ; then he says to you by the 
 bread and by the cup, the same as he there 
 said, though your ear may not perceive the 
 
60 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 voice of his mouth. Yes ; in faith and by 
 faith, you have him who gave himself for you. 
 His Spirit is in you ; you are his. He that 
 eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dvvell- 
 eth in me, and I in him. So he says himself. 
 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not 
 the communion of the blood of Christ ? the 
 bread which we break, is it not the communion 
 of the body of Christ ? So says one of his 
 ambassadors. Yes ; his death is yours, as well 
 as his life. He has died for you, though you 
 were not born till above eighteen centuries af- 
 ter his death ; and he lives for you though you 
 see and hear nothing of him ; and he will here- 
 after come again to your joy and blessedness, 
 though he will so long delay the fulfilment of 
 his promise. Of this his supper is to you a 
 sign and seal, a witness and pledge. And 
 so have all been further witnesses of him, who 
 have received his gospel, from his ascension, 
 through all centuries, even to this day ; and 
 thus it has been a means of strengthening and 
 comforting thousands of his worshippers scat- 
 tered over the earth ; and thus it will continue 
 to be observed till he come again, however the 
 
THE LORD'S SUPPER. 61 
 
 world may change ; and though there shall 
 come in the last days scoffers, walking after 
 their own lusts, and saying, where is the 
 promise of his coming ? Still Jesus testifies 
 by the supper to all his worshippers in every 
 age : Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
 end of the world ! 
 
 After such instruction upon the holy supper, 
 does any one inquire how and why the Chris- 
 tians in the Corinthian church, in their assem- 
 blies ate unworthily of the bread, and drank 
 unworthily from the cup of the Lord ? They 
 ate and drank unworthily, because they ate 
 and drank without thought and veneration for 
 Jesus, without reflection and interest in the 
 heart, thankless and unfeeling, indhTerent and 
 inattentive, with fleshly minds and impure, per- 
 verted hearts, with neglect and contempt to- 
 ward their Christian brothers and sisters. 
 They ate and drank unworthily, because each 
 thought only of himself, and cared not for oth- 
 ers ; just as people in our times also do, who 
 are accustomed to say, ' Each one for him- 
 self, and God for us all.' They thought not 
 G 
 
62 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 with sympathizing hearts of the poorer, hum- 
 bler brother ; and they thought not with love 
 and gratitude of him, on whom more than all 
 the heart should then be fixed. They ate and 
 drank unworthily, because they discerned not 
 the Lord's body, because they did not con- 
 sider and lay to heart the distinguishing and 
 significant points of. this repast, because in 
 partaking of the bread it was not with them a 
 vitally important consideration, ' The Lord 
 offered up his body for me on the cross !' and 
 in partaking of the wine, ' The Lord shed his 
 blood for the forgiveness of my sins !' They 
 ate and drank unworthily, because they even 
 then supplied aid and nourishment to their 
 fleshly lusts and impure desires, when the mem- 
 ory of Christ's crucifixion should have been 
 newly and deeply impressed upon them. 
 ' They that are Christ's have crucified the 
 flesh with the affections and lusts.' ' Ye are 
 bought with a price ; therefore glorify God 
 in your body, and in your spirit, which are 
 God's.' In short, they ate unworthily, because 
 through this supper they were nothing better- 
 ed, but rather grew worse. 
 
63 
 
 Thus by great sin they made themselves 
 guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. 
 They ate and drank damnation to themselves, 
 because they discerned not the Lord's body. 
 They were accomplices in regard to the body 
 of the Lord, whose sacrifice was occasioned 
 by the sins of men ; and in regard to the 
 blood of the Lord, which was shed for the de- 
 liverance of men from misery, and ruin, and 
 death of sin. If men had not had such 
 impure minds and depraved hearts, so vain 
 and blinded, and so infatuated and contracted 
 by fleshly lusts and desires, so alienated from 
 the higher, invisible world, and fettered to the 
 things of this lower world, and by perishable 
 earthly pleasures, and blunted as to love for 
 God and man, — if there had been no such men 
 on the earth, if there had been no sin which 
 deprives men of peace, and happiness, and 
 true life, and plunges them into misery, and 
 ruin, and death, then Jesus would not have 
 needed thus to suffer and to die. The sins of 
 men brought him to this death. He who 
 takes no thought nor care as to the increasing 
 of his guilt, shows that it is indifferent to him 
 
64 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 whether Jesus had to suffer more or less, or 
 whether he could have been wholly exempted 
 from his sufferings and death ; and whoever, 
 notwithstanding Christ's sacrifice on the cross, 
 can so indulge his malignity as to become 
 yet worse, would not find it difficult to coincide 
 with that excess of malice, which brought Je- 
 sus to the cross. Such a man betrays an in- 
 difference, a hardness and insensibility of 
 heart, like the indifference, the hardness and 
 insensibility of those who cried, ! Crucify him !' 
 No ; men who at the feast of love, at the 
 commemorative celebration of the death of 
 Jesus, betray such a state of mind, and so de- 
 ceive themselves ; who know and consider 
 not how miserable, and poor, and helpless 
 they were without Jesus, and what it must 
 have cost the Father in heaven, and what it 
 has cost Jesus to snatch men from their mis- 
 ery and ruin ; do not feel and estimate in their 
 hearts how dearly Jesus has bought them. 
 They have no desire to become free from that, 
 from which the death of Jesus should make 
 them free ; they allowed themselves rather to 
 be yet more blinded, infatuated and snared by 
 
the lord's supper. 65 
 
 that which was so opposed to God, to Jesus ; 
 and so were alienated still farther from God 
 and Jesus, to whom they should have drawn 
 nearer and nearer. They did not acknowl- 
 edge and ponder the high value and unuttera- 
 ble greatness of the love of God and Jesus 
 Christ, as manifested in the arrangement for 
 the redemption of men. They felt nothing of 
 the weight and burden of the sufferings, to 
 which Jesus out of love subjected himself even 
 to the death of the cross ; and hence they are 
 not excited to love and gratitude to God and 
 Jesus ; and feel no inclination, no impulse to 
 live in love and gratitude to him who died for 
 them. By insensibility and levity, by a flesh- 
 ly mind, and by sin, the unfailing fruit of such 
 a mind, they made themselves guilty of the 
 body and blood of the Lord. Had they had 
 any lively knowledge of the sufferings and the 
 death of Jesus, and of the objects and results 
 of these sufferings and this death, had they 
 had but human compassion for what Jesus 
 must have suffered, it would have been im- 
 possible for them to assemble in such evil 
 guise for the celebration of a feast which was 
 <5* 
 
66 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 wholly designed to fill the heart with lively in- 
 ward abhorrence of all that is sin and iniquity. 
 They increased and aggravated their guilt by 
 their observance of the sacrament ; and so ale 
 and drank to their own condemnation and 
 punishment. What might and ought to have 
 been made a most salutary blessing for the 
 heart and life, became, and by their guilt be- 
 came, a malediction and a curse. And ah ! 
 the wretched fruit which sin infallibly brings 
 forth, when lust hath conceived, and when sin, 
 its offspring is finished, was not wanting there; 
 as is clearly intimated in the first chapter of 
 James and fifteenth verse. 
 
 Learn then, dear Christian friend, to be 
 aware of and to avoid unworthy eating and 
 drinking in the holy supper. If a living 
 knowledge and inward feeling of your vileness 
 and unworthiness before God and your Sa- 
 viour, if a correct, genuine knowledge of your 
 sin and your danger, if a deep, real feeling of 
 your weakness and need of help, disturbs and 
 distresses you, humbles and prostrates you be- 
 fore your God and Saviour, if from your very 
 
the lord's supper. 67 
 
 heart you exclaim, ' O wretched man that I 
 am, who shall deliver me from that which 
 reigns in this body, and brings me misery, ru- 
 in and death ! ' — upright and genuine Chris- 
 tian, think not then, that you are unworthy to 
 enjoy the holy supper, and give yourself no 
 anxiety about it. No ; if your inmost soul is 
 in such a frame, if your mind is in such a state, 
 if you are filled with that sorrow, which, be- 
 cause it works repentance unto salvation, is 
 well pleasing to God, — that repentance which 
 is not to be repented of — then hasten to the 
 table of the Lord, that your faith may be 
 strengthened, your spirit raised up and quick- 
 ened, your soul calmed and comforted, your 
 heart cheered and revived ; such a contrite 
 spirit is a sacrifice acceptable to God. To 
 him whoever brings such a sacrifice in his 
 breast to his Saviour's table, belongs that sa- 
 crifice which the Saviour made to God upon 
 the cross. Such a broken and contrite heart 
 God will not despise. O no ; to you and to 
 all men who have such a heart and mind, it 
 is sensibly represented in the supper, brought 
 into full view, deeply impressed upon the 
 
68 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 heart, and made most evident and certain, — 
 that Jesus Christ has died for the forgiveness 
 of your sins ! Your heart then says to Jesus, 
 as you approach his table, ' Be thou my Sa- 
 viour, my Redeemer, my helper ; heal and 
 revive my wounded and desponding heart ; 
 calm the disturbance and terrors of an accus- 
 ing conscience ; raise the prostrate and bur- 
 thened soul ; help me to believe ; strengthen 
 and animate me to that which is good ; come 
 to the aid of my weakness and frailty V Then 
 will he reply to you through that bread which, 
 according to his pleasure and command, is to 
 be given to you : ' This is my body which is 
 broken for thee V He answers you through 
 the cup which in his name will be presented 
 to you : ' This is my blood which is shed for 
 the remission of thy sins ! This wine is a 
 pledge and seal to thee, that thou art a part- 
 ner in the covenant of grace and life, which 
 was sealed by my blood. Be comforted ! 
 Depart in peace ! Sin no more ! Thy faith 
 hath saved thee V 
 
 But do you wish to appear at the Lord's ta- 
 
tiie lord's supper. 69 
 
 ble ? — take care that you go not thither thank- 
 less and unfeeling, indifferent and light-mind- 
 ed, without reverence and reflection. You par- 
 take unworthily, if you do not consider what 
 you ought particularly to intend by your going 
 to the supper. You partake unworthily, if 
 you do not thereby keep before your eyes and 
 heart, that you there go to Jesus, your Lord, 
 as his disciples ; and that you there seek in 
 Jesus, and shall there obtain from him, some- 
 thing as needful and indispensable to the im- 
 mortal welfare and eternal life, as bread to the 
 hungry and drink to the thirsty. You partake 
 unworthily, if you do not ponder the greatness 
 of the paternal love of God, who so loved the 
 world, that be gave his only begotten Son, — 
 gave him up to suffering and the death of the 
 cross, — that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life ; — 
 if you do not reflect upon and lay to heart the 
 inexpressible greatness of the I rotherly love of 
 Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought 
 it not robbery to be equal with God ; but left 
 the heavens, where he might still have enjoyed 
 himself in the glory of God ; and took on him- 
 
70 
 
 THE LOVE OF JEStfS. 
 
 self the form of a servant, became brother 
 to the least and lowest, and despised the 
 shame, and humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross ; and all this, not to gain any thing for 
 himself, but to serve others, and to give his 
 life for their salvation. You partake unwor- 
 thily, if no thought nor feeling is excited in 
 you, that you were bought at so great a price 
 to be his own, without any works or merit of 
 yours, from mere grace ; and if nothing of nat- 
 ural emotion, of the innate sensibility of the 
 human heart, excites you to endeavor to live 
 in gratitude and reciprocal love to him who 
 gave his life, that nothing might prevent you 
 from obtaining eternal life, and to glorify him 
 in your body and in your spirit, to which he 
 has acquired every right. 
 
 Furthermore, you partake unworthily, if 
 you bear and cherish in you bitterness, envy, 
 hatred, enmity, implacableness, revenge, con- 
 tentiousness, avarice, selfishness, contempt, 
 slander, falsehood and deceit, or any hard, 
 unrighteous feeling, or any hostile, hateful 
 disposition toward your fellow-men, and tame- 
 
THE LORD'S SUPPER. 71 
 
 ly suffer yourself to be governed by them, in- 
 stead of controlling them; — if any root of bit- 
 terness spring up in you, of which the fruit is 
 unkindness and dissension between you and 
 those whom you ought to love as yourself, not 
 in word and tongue merely, but in deed and 
 truth, so as to do unto others all that you 
 would have them do unto you. 
 
 Behold, men join with you without external 
 distinction at the same table of the one Lord, 
 in the same bread, and the same cup ; chil- 
 dren of one Father, brethren and sisters of one 
 Brother, disciples and servants of one Master, 
 baptized with one baptism, confessors of one 
 religion, branches of one vine, members of 
 one body, united by one Spirit to one Head, 
 called by one Gospel, and by one faith, to one 
 Redeemer, to salvation from one misery and 
 one death, to one hope of one life, to one 
 blessedness in the mansions of one Father's 
 house in one heaven. The bread that is 
 broken in the sacrament is the communion of 
 one body. The cup of thanksgiving is the 
 communion of one blood. For we, being 
 many, are one bread, and one body ; for we 
 
72 the lord's supper. 
 
 are all partakers of that one bread. It is from 
 this fellowship that the supper is called com- 
 munion ; for this reason ' communion ' means 
 the same as ' going to the sacrament.' 
 
 You come thereto in order that the forgive- 
 ness of your sins, and the paternal love of 
 God with all its blessings, may be sealed and 
 confirmed to you: put on therefore, as the 
 elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of 
 mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek- 
 ness, long suffering ; forbearing one another, 
 and forgiving one another, if any man have a 
 quarrel against any ; even as Christ forgave 
 you, so also do ye. And above all things put 
 on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 
 And let the peace oi God rule in your hearts, 
 to the which also ye are called in one body ; 
 and be ye thankful. Consider why and where- 
 fore you say to your heavenly Father in the 
 Lord's prayer, ' Forgive us our debts, as we 
 forgive our debtors ; — and consider what Je- 
 sus adds, — If ye forgive men their trespass- 
 es, your heavenly Father will also forgive 
 you. But if ye forgive not men their tres- 
 passes, neither will your Father forgive 
 
the lord's supper. 73 
 
 your trespasses. You would, at the sacrament, 
 that God may have nothing against you : — 
 then consider and follow also the word of Je- 
 sus : — If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and 
 there rememberest that thy brother hath aught 
 against thee, leave there thy gift before the 
 altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to 
 thy brother, and then come and offer. The 
 Lord's Supper is a feast of reconciliation ; 
 and you partake of it unworthily, if it is not 
 so between you and your neighbor. But you 
 partake the most unworthily, if you not only 
 do not consider and lay to heart what it is 
 from which man should be redeemed and de- 
 livered by the death of Jesus, if your heart 
 is not continually benefitted, your mind and 
 life not sanctified more and more through ev- 
 ery sacrament : but if you come to the supper 
 for the purpose of purifying yourself at once 
 from old defilement, so as to wallow afresh 
 and more eagerly in the mire ; — if you follow 
 after your fleshly lusts as before, and indeed 
 more peacefully and securely than before, and 
 seek only to give free course to your impure 
 lusts and unbridled evil propensities ; — if that 
 ungodly sentiment, which may be well called 
 7 
 
74 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 a birth of hell, deceive you, that by the use 
 of the holy sacrament, the old sin which had 
 accumulated till then is acquitted, and done 
 away, and a licence given for the commission 
 of new sins. O shameful dishonoring of Je- 
 sus ! Most presumptuous desecration of his 
 death ! Coarsest insensibility, most dreadful 
 and deadly coldness of heart, most stupid in- 
 difference toward the sufferings and mortal 
 agonies of Jesus ! O most shameless, danger- 
 ous and ruinous self-deception ! Shall we, 
 who look to be justified through Christ, be 
 ourselves found sinners ? Is Christ then a 
 servant of sinners? God forbid. What shall 
 we say then ? shall we continue in sin that 
 grace may abound ? God forbid ! How shall 
 we that are dead to sin, live any longer there- 
 in? Know ye not, that so many of us as 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ, were bap- 
 tized into his death ? Therefore we are bu- 
 ried with him by baptism unto death ; that like 
 as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father, even so we also should 
 walk in newness of life. — Yes, be it far, far 
 from thee, to approach the Lord's table with 
 such sentiments and thoughts. God preserve 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 75 
 
 you, that you may never eat and drink so un- 
 worthily. You would make yourself guilty of 
 the broken body and the shed blood of the in- 
 nocent Lord. You eat and drink to your in- 
 evitable punishment. You sin wilfully ; and if 
 we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
 knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more 
 sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking 
 for of judgment, and fiery indignation which 
 shall devour the adversaries. So says the 
 same apostle in Heb. 10: 26, 27. 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 SEL F-E XAMINATION. 
 
 Therefore let a man examine himself, 
 and thus examined, and prepared by examina- 
 tion, he may eat of that bread, and drink of 
 that cup. Let every one look to it, that he 
 neither eat nor drink unworthily, and that he 
 do not make himself guilty and liable to pun- 
 ishment, by partaking of the holy supper. 
 Let every one inquire accordingly, how far and 
 in what respect the sacrament may be a judg- 
 ment or a blessing to him. But let a man exam- 
 
76 THE LOVE OF JEStJS. 
 
 ine himself, says the apostle. He, the apostle, 
 does not make it his business to examine the 
 hearts, to search the inmost souls, of the dif- 
 ferent members of the great church at Co- 
 rinth. He does not take it upon him to 
 decide upon the heart's frame, upon the state 
 of the soul of each individual. How could 
 he? If we would judge ourselves, he says in 
 v. 31, we should not be judged, we should 
 have no cause to fear the judgment of God. 
 We ourselves must know, that if our hearts 
 condemn us not, then have we confidence 
 toward God ; and whatsoever we ask, we re- 
 ceive of him. Every one should inquire into 
 and search his own heart. Only by this self- 
 examination and preparation, which each one 
 should make his most sacred business, can 
 that be promoted and attained, which ought 
 on this occasion to be promoted and attained. 
 The preacher, who with the members of his 
 church that would draw near to the Lord's 
 table, previously observes a preparation, as it 
 is called, cannot investigate the state of the 
 heart and the tenor of the life of every indi- 
 vidual member. He cannot exactly and cor- 
 rectly investigate the prevailing emotions and 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 77 
 
 prevailing errors of each one, nor the darling 
 propensities and habitual sins of each one, nor 
 the grosser or the more refined excesses, the 
 manifest or the concealed corruptions and 
 abominations of heart of each one, nor the 
 hidden springs and secret motives of the ac- 
 tions of each one, nor the faith or the unbe- 
 lief, the scepticism or the superstition, the levi- 
 ty or the indifference, the warmth or coldness 
 of heart, the love or the hatred, the strength 
 or the weakness, the perseverance or the in- 
 stability of each particular one. Consequent- 
 ly he cannot decide or determine, whether or 
 how far each one may eat or drink worthily 
 or unworthily ; or what he must do or avoid 
 in order not to eat and drink unworthily. No ; 
 the preacher can and will facilitate only this 
 sincere and careful self-examination, and pro- 
 mote the accurate and real preparation of 
 your heart. The teacher of a Christian 
 church will do and can do no more than to at- 
 tune and prepare the mind to self-examina- 
 tion ; to call the attention to that which you 
 are mainly to contemplate and guard against 
 in self-examination and preparation, so that 
 you may not be blinded, and deluded, and 
 7a 
 
78 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 betrayed to your great injury by selfishness and 
 darkness ; to give hints and instructions 
 whereby you may chiefly prove your own- 
 self, if you are anxious not to partake unwor- 
 thily ; to direct the heart and soul to that 
 which they should be fixed upon in the sacra- 
 ment ; to guide the mind and inclination, the 
 course and conduct whither they should be 
 guided by the supper. At this the psalm and 
 sermon aim ; this is the sum and substance of 
 the questions which were propounded to you, 
 and by you, in the presence of God and your 
 Saviour, were confirmed by a ' Yes,' and seal- 
 ed with ' Amen.' For this object, the read- 
 ing of a good and edifying book, of an appro- 
 priate portion of Scripture, the reading of an 
 excellent hymn, may be very serviceable. 
 But think not, that by mere singing or prayer 
 or reading, by attendance at church, by listen- 
 ing to preaching, by answering the test-ques- 
 tions, you have completely examined yourself. 
 You may well imagine to yourself, that if 
 you were invited to the table of some mighty 
 lord, you would certainly appear and behave 
 in a suitable and decorous manner, because 
 one of his servants had told you what was 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 79 
 
 most essential thereto; or else, because he 
 had solemnly asked you, whether you would 
 observe and do every thing which a worthy 
 guest is to observe and do, — and you had 
 solemnly answered him in the affirmative : 
 Examine yourselves, says this same Paul, 
 whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own 
 selves. Know ye not your own selves, how 
 that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be rep- 
 robates ? But let every man prove his own 
 work, and then shall he have rejoicing in him- 
 self alone, and not in another : for every man 
 shall bear his own burden. No ; not in 
 another; neither through the trial of your own 
 heart and life, nor the heart and life of others, 
 seek rejoicing for yourself. Measure and 
 judge your purity and innocence, your faith and 
 divine enjoyment, not according to what some 
 may have, or others may want ; build not 
 your virtue on the fragments of other men's 
 virtue. You know who it was that said, ' God, 
 I thank thee that I am not as other men are !' 
 — and you know also how Jesus regards such 
 a disposition. No ; prove your ownself ac- 
 cording to the will of Him with whom you 
 have to do in the Sacrament. Let the busi- 
 "7b 
 
80 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 ness of trying yourself be done, between him 
 and you in silence and solitude ! Let his 
 word, and your conscience enlightened, guided 
 and refined by his word, decide upon your case ! 
 And now you plainly see what there is to 
 examine, wherein and whereupon you should 
 examine yourself, whereto your eye and heart 
 should be directed in this examination, and 
 wherein all should end. It was from love 
 that Jesus died on the cross for you ! This is 
 indicated to you by the bread and wine in the 
 Sacrament ; and upon this let all your prepara- 
 tion proceed. By silent meditation or by read- 
 ing the history of his sufferings and his crucifix- 
 ion, bring him as near as possible to your soul. 
 Let him hover round you in all his innocence 
 and patience. Let your heart feel as deeply 
 as it can for his suffering heart — suffering from 
 love, and for the anguish of his soul under r.'l 
 the dreadful abuses, and afflictions, and pains, 
 and tortures, which he must suffer from men ; 
 he, who came from heaven to earth to bless 
 mankind ; he, who would then do the last — 
 the utmost that love to man could do, who 
 would devote himself entirely to the happiness 
 of men. Place yourself in spirit at the last 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 81 
 
 meal of love, at which he instituted for you a 
 memorial of his love ; as he also, in that pray- 
 er of love which the disciple of his heart has 
 left on record for us, remembered you before 
 his Father. Go with him in spirit from this re- 
 past to Gethsemane. Behold, how he who had 
 spoken so calmly of his near approaching suf- 
 ferings, and who had so resolutely pressed on 
 to meet them, is there overwhelmed by the 
 load of sorrow that lay upon him ; how dis- 
 tressed and timid he is ; how he throws him- 
 self on the ground, and seeks to calm his 
 breaking heart by supplications to his Father ; 
 how he writhes and wrestles, covered with 
 the sweat of agony. Hark ! how he, from 
 whose mouth no complaint had been heard in 
 any sorrow, now complains aloud, ' My soul 
 is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death !' 
 Behold, how he who had often withdrawn 
 from the society of his confidential friends, in 
 order to console and strengthen himself in sol- 
 itude by intercourse with his Father, is here 
 impelled by disquietude and anguish to pour 
 out his heart to others; how he asks and en- 
 treats, that they also would watch and pray. 
 Hark ! how he prays himself, and prays re- 
 7c 
 
82 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 peatedly, that his Father would yet cause this 
 bitter cup to pass from him ? Behold, how 
 he needs strength from above, in order to be 
 supported. Accompany him, the prisoner in 
 bonds, to his trial. Behold the treatment he 
 receives ; their clamor, and his silence ; their 
 rage and madness, and his quiet and compo- 
 sure ; hear how he is reviled and reviles not 
 again ; what lies and slanders they utter 
 against him, and how briefly and excellently, 
 at the proper place, he bears witness to the 
 truth, and then no lie and no slander extorts 
 from him one word of threatening displeasure 
 or of vengeful wrath ! See how is he mock- 
 ed, despised, buffeted, spit upon, less 
 esteemed even than a murderer, scourg- 
 ed, abandoned to the rude soldiery, who 
 crown his head with thorns, and smite them 
 in, who exhibit him to the people as a spectacle 
 in pitiful and preposterous royal robes, and 
 have the most malicious sport with him. And 
 behold how he, who with a word could have 
 dashed to earth the armed troop, endures it 
 all, and when he suffers, threatens not, but 
 commits himself to him that judgeth righteously, 
 follow Mm to the place of his death ! see how 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 83 
 
 he totters, exhausted by vigils, and inward and 
 outward pain ; how hard it is for him to carry 
 the cross ; how they hang him between two 
 malefactors, as if he were worse than either ; 
 how the blood-thirstiness of his enemies is not 
 slaked, when they had nailed him by the hands 
 and feet to the cross ; how they reviled and 
 mocked him ; and how he even then promised 
 Paradise to one of those who was crucified with 
 him, and who manifests a confidence in him 
 even in his deepest abasement ; how consider- 
 ate he is of the maintenance of his mother and 
 his friend ; and how he forgives all the mock- 
 eries, and injuries, and reproaches of his ene- 
 mies, with a prayer to his Father, that he 
 would forgive them in their blindness ! Think 
 what must have been the state of mind of him, 
 to whom his God had been and might be so 
 near, when he cried with a loud voice : My 
 God ! why hast thou forsaken me ?' Put 
 every thing together, which poured aver him 
 and his heart, from that last evening when he 
 was troubled in spirit, and said : Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, that one of you shall betray 
 me ; he that eateth bread with me, hath lifted 
 up his heel against me : till that moment on 
 
84 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 the following noon-day, when he said : It is 
 finished ! and full of peace and composure, 
 with a loud and distinct voice, commended his 
 spirit into the hands of his Father. And have 
 you a human heart in your breast? something 
 then, will be stirred up therein, for him, the 
 greatest, the most affectionate of sufferers. 
 How can it be wholly otherwise, if you ever 
 keep it in mind and heart : For me, even for 
 me, did he thus suffer ! even for me did he 
 thus give his body, and shed his blood ! 
 
 And that you may know in all its greatness 
 and feel in all its worth, what grace the Fa- 
 ther in heaven has manifested toward you in 
 such a giving up of his Son ; what love Jesus 
 has shown you by his sufferings and by such a 
 death, remember why you stand in need of the 
 mercy and grace of your God, and what it is 
 that makes this plan of God for the pardon 
 and redemption of men desirable for you. 
 Look upon your sins, your impurity, your 
 worthlessness, and criminality before your God I 
 Yes ; do it before him, the searcher of hearts, 
 that you may not deceive yourself, and con- 
 ceal nothing from yourself: and if you would 
 see your heart and your life in their true form, 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 85 
 
 try them exactly according to the word and 
 will of God, who at sundry times and in divers 
 manners spake in time past unto the fathers by 
 the prophets, and hath in these last days spo- 
 ken unto us by his Son and his apostles. En- 
 lighten your heart and your life with the true 
 light, that shall lighten every man. Hear what 
 he, who is the Word, has said ; and test your- 
 self thereby. Compare your mind and life 
 with the mind and life of him who has left us 
 an example, that we should follow his steps. 
 He holds before you a mirror in his sermon on 
 the mount, (Matth. 5: 6, 7,) in which you may 
 see yourself in your true form : and many a 
 word which his apostle, Paul, said to Chris- 
 tians at Rome, (Rom. 12: 13), and Galatia, 
 (Gal. 5: 6), and Ephesus, (Eph. 4: 5, 6), and 
 Colosse, (Col. 3: 4), if laid to heart, will cer- 
 tainly meet your case. Mark well how far 
 you yet fail in goodness, and wherein you are 
 imperfect. Observe what conscience accuses, 
 and what the heart condemns. And if you 
 really see, and strictly notice these things, then 
 will it be a most precious saying to you, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
 ners : then will this sacrament, by which he 
 
86 THE LOVE OF JESUS. < 
 
 would make it plain and certain that he came 
 into the world to save you, be to you a dear 
 and precious memorial of his love. 
 
 Thus, then, will this self-examination natu- 
 rally lead to this result, that you need what 
 bread gives to the hungry, and wine to the 
 faint and thirsty, — strength, and quickening. 
 Would you learn by this examination, whether 
 faith in Jesus, your Saviour, and an interest in 
 the blessings of his love and the love of the 
 Father in heaven, have hitherto manifested 
 themselves actually and fruitfully in your dis- 
 positions ? Is it indeed evident by my life and 
 conduct, that I believe from the heart, and 
 know how to prize the truth, that lam bought 
 with a price by Jesus, to be his own ? Was it 
 my real purpose, from love to him, and with 
 grateful attachment of my heart to him, to do 
 the good which he expects of me, and which I 
 have often undertaken, and solemnly promised 
 him, to do ? Do I make it my business, for 
 his sake, and from hearty devotedness to him, 
 to renounce the evil which he would have re- 
 moved from me, and which I have often sa- 
 credly abjured before his face ? Do I mani- 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 87 
 
 fest pleasure and diligence in fulfilling the 
 promises of my baptismal covenant, which I 
 myself ratified at my confirmation, and renew- 
 ed at the Lord's supper, with the same fideli- 
 ty in which I desire him to fulfil his promises, 
 he has given and confirmed to me ? Is there 
 any thing in me that urges and constrains me 
 to live for him ? Or do I still live agreeably 
 to myself and my own will, to my flesh, with 
 its affections and lusts ? Do I find in myself 
 an inclination and readiness to follow Jesus by 
 denying myself, by sacrificing my darling pro- 
 pensities, by surrendering that which is dear to 
 me, as soon as he requires the offering at my 
 hand, or as soon as I know that he is displeas- 
 ed with that which is well-pleasing to me ? 
 Could I also determine, for his sake and with his 
 temper of mind to suffer, to wait, to bear ? Or 
 do I prefer the things that are seen to the things 
 that are unseen ; the present, to the future, the 
 changeable, to the unchangeable, the earthly, 
 to the heavenly ? Will Jesus then have owned 
 me, as his disciple, and as having love to oth- 
 ers ? Does my Christian faith manifest itself 
 as faith which worketh by love ? Do 1 seek 
 to do unto others as I would that others should 
 do unto me ? Or does selfishness still make 
 
88 THE LOVE OF JESUS. 
 
 me hard, and loveless, and inimical to my 
 neighbours ? Do I always, and every where 
 keep that precept in view : Whatsoever ye do 
 in word or deed, do all in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus ? Are they questions of this na- 
 ture, which you keep before you in your self- 
 examination ? How is it ? Do you think that 
 the answer thereto will so turn out, as to prove, 
 that with the Christian mind and Christian life ? 
 it is easily'and promptly done ! O, would you 
 but so ask, so examine yourself! Surely, 
 the more you are in earnest with these ques- 
 tions, the more impartially you will answer 
 them, the more justly and cautiously you in- 
 vestigate, so much the more vividly will you 
 know, that there is something quite as needful 
 for you, as is indicated by the sacramental 
 bread and wine ; and so much the more in- 
 tensely will you desire, that that something 
 might become your own. And the more vivid- 
 ly you know, the more deeply you feel, how 
 much you are in need of forgiveness and help, 
 of strength and quickening ; the more fervent- 
 ly you desire to be enabled to obtain it, and to 
 be sure of having it, so much the more dear 
 and precious to you will be the proofs and 
 pledges in the supper, of the love of your Go d 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 and Saviour; so much the more heartily and 
 gratefully will you appropriate to yourself what 
 is thereby offered to you ; so much the great- 
 er grace and love will you see therein ; so 
 much the more will it be meat and drink to 
 your inmost soul ; and so much the more 
 cordially and faithfully will you ever naturally 
 live in love and gratitude to him, who has giv- 
 en himself for you. Thus celebrated, the 
 Lord's supper will inevitably be a blessing to 
 you; and every sacrament so celebrated, a 
 new and ever richer blessing. 
 
 Thus look upon Christ, and his love and 
 his dying love ! Thus look on your heart and 
 life, on your deficiencies and sins, on your in- 
 firmities and necessities. Thus compare how 
 little you are, and how much you ought to 
 have been, according to the will and good 
 pleasure of him who hath so greatly loved you. 
 Think how much is wanting in order to have 
 and to maintain, peace with God, quiet of 
 heart and conscience, comfort and confidence 
 all your life long, and joyful, blessed hope, tri- 
 umphant over death and the grave. Then 
 will the celebration of the supper never be- 
 come to you a cold and empty ceremony, an 
 
90 THE LOVE OT JESUS. 
 
 indifferent custom, or a forced service. Your 
 heart will understand what the heart of Jesus 
 intended to give you in this custom, and why 
 he instituted such a custom in remembrance 
 of him. Not only in his death, which is there 
 shown forth, but also in this supper itself, by 
 which his death shall be shown forth, will your 
 heart feel and praise his love. Ah ! to one 
 who has loved him, and yet has never seen or 
 heard him ; to one who hungers and thirsts 
 after him, or after one word, — one gift from 
 his loving heart, how unutterably dear must be 
 such a bequest from his loving heart, such a 
 visible, representing memorial, in which is sight 
 and enjoyment ! You come to his table then, 
 filled surely with humility and reverence. 
 He is your meditation. His love is the emo- 
 tion of your heart. You receive what is given 
 you according to his ordinance, with the same 
 faith as if he himself offered it to you. Yes : 
 he gives himself entirely to you, with all that 
 he has and is. He is yours ! And with ex- 
 alted love, with strengthened gratitude, do you 
 live to him, and through him to the Father ; 
 and for his sake, to men, to brothers and sis- 
 ters of yourself and him. 
 
91 
 
 THE SOUL'S AFFLICTION, 
 
 Let me not forsaken be, 
 
 With grief to strive ! 
 Grant, in gloom, thy light to me,— . 
 
 My heart revive. 
 
 Low I lie before thy face ! 
 
 Faith comes and goes : 
 Give me power, and give me grace. 
 
 Nor shun my woes. 
 
 Follow thou my soul in need, 
 
 And hear my cries : 
 Ah, my pain is keen indeed, 
 
 And courage dies. 
 
 Lord, assist me, and respond 
 
 To my plaintive call ; 
 Let my heart no more despond, — 
 
 Be thou my All. 
 
92 
 
 AFTER CONFIRMATION. 
 
 The sweet, the solemn hour is past:! 
 
 But echoes yet in memory: 
 
 And ever may the lesson last, 
 
 Then taught by hallowed rites to me. 
 
 O may it be like living seed 
 
 Deep-rooted in a mellow field ; 
 
 Which, fast as time its growth shall speed, 
 
 Yet more and richer fruit shall yield. 
 
 J now am Christ's ! — and not alone 
 
 By parent's wish, and baptism's seal, 
 
 But by the solemn vows I own, 
 
 By the free choice and faith I feel. 
 
 Yes, thine, dear Lord ! Be this my lot ! 
 
 To thee I am forever given ; 
 
 The grave and death divide us not, 
 
 My heart from thee shall ne'er be riven. 
 
 Thy word illumes the path I tread ; 
 
 It guides me like the star serene, 
 
 Which erst the Magian sages led 
 
 To where the Shepherd-lord was seen. 
 
 My joyous soul no longer dreads 
 
 The night of death, forlorn and drear ; 
 
 A paradise before me spreads, 
 
AFTER CONFIRMATION. » 
 
 And all above is bright and clear. 
 
 A God of love reigns far and wide, 
 
 All nature's broad dominions through ; 
 
 In his vast temple I abide, 
 
 And marks of love, admiring, view. 
 
 Far, far beyond my mortal ken, — 
 
 For that dark world— I trust thy word, 
 
 Which tells of glory there and then, 
 
 And bids my fears no more be heard. 
 
 There shall I to the flock belong, 
 
 Brought by thy hand to bowers of rest, 
 
 By living waters led along, 
 
 In pastures green, forever blest. 
 
 O take me, when at last the bond 
 
 Of life is sundered in the tomb, 
 
 And all that once I held so fond 
 
 Forsake me quite, or sink in gloom. 
 
 Ah, nothing but the faith I live, 
 
 And pledges of thy word to men, 
 
 In that dread hour can comfort give,— 
 
 Redeemer ! be my refuge then. 
 
 Thou orb of love ! upon me rise ! 
 
 And mid the sun-light of thy brow, 
 
 Let that glad word my soul surprise,— 
 
 ^Thy Lord's rejoicing, enter thou !' 
 
 Without this, what can life afford ? 
 
 Ah, fleeting moments— misspent hours— 
 
94 AFTER CONFIRMATION. 
 
 Which worse than lost we must record, 
 When no such blessedness was ours. 
 O God, my Father, make me prone 
 To keep these vows inviolate : 
 My life, whole life, to thee alone, 
 To thee alone, 1 consecrate. 
 To this, but now, the seal was set ; 
 O day of sweet solemnity ! 
 And never may my soul forget 
 What I, to-day, have sworn to thee.