The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1884, Page 42

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42

The Lutheran Pioneer.

|
| And whereas in this perilous time, certain de-
| ceitful persons be found in many places, who
|of very frowardness will not grant, that there
The great mass of English Protestants main- |is the Body and Blood of Christ, but deny the
tain, that the Lord’s Supper is mere bread and | same for none other cause, but that they can-
wine, which we receive in remembrance of the| not compass by man’s blind reason, how this
sufferings and death of Christ. But the first/thing should be brought to pass; ye, good
English Protestants, who laid down their lives children, shall with all diligence beware of such
for the Bible, did not think so. For Arch-| persons, that ye suffer not yourselves to he de-

“What is the Communion or Lord’s
Supper?”

bishop Cranmer, the great English Reformer, | ceived by them. For such men surely are not
speaking in his Catechism of the Article on the | true Christians, neither as yet have they learned
Creed, ‘I believe in God the Father Al-| the first Article of the Creed, which teacheth

mighty,” says:
«First, this Article
teacheth us that God
is almighty, that is
to say, that He hath
power to work and
do all things whatso-
ever pleaseth Him,
and no creature in
heaven or earth is
able to let or with-
stand Him; and that
nothing is impossible
unto Him. And this
is the foundation and
beginning of Christ-
ian knowledge and
faith, to believe that
God isalmighty. The
which many men do
not believe, and yet
nevertheless they will
be counted Christian
men, or rather great
clerks. In this num-
ber be they that do
not believe the Body
of Christ truly to be
given in the Lord’s
supper to them that
receive the Sacra-
ment, although
Christ Himself saith plainly, ‘Take, eat, This
is My Body.’ And why do they not believe
this? Verily, because they did never truly he-
lieve this Article, that God is almighty; but
they think that God is not able to work or do
that thing, which they can not compass with
their own wit and reason.

‘‘Secondarily, Christ saith of the bread, ‘This
is My Body,’ and of the cup He saith, ‘This is
My Blood.’ Wherefore we ought to believe,
that in the Sacrament we receive truly the
Body and Blood of Christ. For God is almighty,
as ye heard in the Creed. He is able, there-
fore, to do all things what He will.. And as
Saint Paul writeth, He calleth those things
which be not, as if they were. Wherefore,
when Christ taketh bread, and saith, ‘Take,
eat, This is My Body,’ we ought not to doubt,
but we eat His very Body. And when He
taketh the cup, and saith, ‘Take, drink, This is
My Blood,’ we ought to think assuredly that

Lent be bed
—— Sen

we drink His very Blood. And this we must
believe, if we will be counted Christian men.

| that God is almighty, which ye, good children,

ceive His Body and Blood, even so as He Him-
self did give it to His disciples. And let not
the foolish talk of unbelievers move you, who
are wont to ask this question, How can the
minister make the Body and Blood of Christ?
To the which I answer, that the minister doeth
not this of himself, but Christ Himself doth
give unto us His Flesh and Blood, as His words
doth evidently declare.

‘And this is the meaning and plain under-
standing of the words of the Lord’s Supper.
Wherefore learn them diligently, I pray you,
that when ye be asked, What is the Communion
or the Lord’s Sup-
per? ye may answer:
It is the true Body
and true Blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ,
which was ordained
by Christ Himself, to
be eaten and drunken
of us Christian peo-
ple, under the form

of bread and wine.”’
[From Cranmer’s Cate-
chism of 1518.)

ose

Mission Work.

Dr. George Smith,

in his ‘Short History

a eT ae
cere a
— -
BAN

Worshipping the Ganges in India.

have already perfectly learned. Wherefore
eschew such erroneous opinions, and believe
the words of our Lord Jesus, that you eat and
drink His very Body and Blood, although man’s
reason cannot comprehend how and after what
manner the same is there present. Tor the
wisdom of reason must be subdued to the obe-
dience of Christ, as the Apostle Paul teacheth.

‘‘Wherefore, good children, doubt not, but
there is the Body and Blood of our Lord, which
we receive in the Lord’s Supper. For He hath
said so, and by the power of His Word hath
caused it so to be. Wherefore seeing Christ
saith, ‘Do this, as often as ye do it, in remem-
brance of Me,’ it is evident hereby, that Christ
causeth, even at this time, His Body and Blood
to be in the Sacrament, after that manner and
fashion, as it was at that time when He made
His maundy with His disciples. For else we
could not do that thing which His disciples did.
But Christ hath commanded us to do the self-
same thing that His disciples did, and to do it
in remembrance of Him; that is to say, to re-

of Christian Mis-
sions,’ gives some
recent figures in re-
ference to the mis-
sionary forces now
engaged in sending
the gospel to non-
Christian lands. He
affirms that there are
one hundred organ-
izations engaged in
the work, and that
they together send
out 2,900 ordained missionaries, or, including
medical missionaries, 3,120. Counting female
missionaries, wives, and single women, there
are 5,000 European and American laborers in
the field, and 30,000 Asiatic, African and Poly-
nesian native helpers. Protestant Christians
have raised in one year for foreign missions
$11,375,000, of which $7,650,000 are from
Great Britain, $3,000,000 from America, and
$725,000 from the continent of Europe.
> —~ 0 <0

Pampos, by the invitation of St. Athanasius,
came from the desert to Alexandria, and seeing
there a public dancer, who was a sinner, he
wept. When asked wherefore he wept, he said,
“Two things have moved me, first, the end of
that woman; the other, that I do not use such
diligence to please God as she does to please
wicked men.’’

—> eo

THERE is some promise in your Bible exactly.

adapted to every trying hour.