The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 19

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

19

used when He instituted this Sacrament. But
nothing depends upon the form or color of these
signs. ‘The bread may be leavened or unleavened;
it may be broken or cut, or made of such a size that
it may be received readily by the mouth without
previous cutting or breaking. The bread which we
use in our church is particularly made for the pur-
pose from finest flour and water, and it is made of
such a convenient size that it requires no breaking.
And in using these wafers, we are in no way de-
parting from Christ’s institution; for the only rea-
son He broke the bread was for the purpose of
distribution. Certain churches attach great im-
portance to the breaking of the bread at the cele-
bration of this Sacrament. They insist upon the
use of ordinary bread, and demand that it be broken
according to the words of institution. But if really
anything depended upon the form and upon the
resemblance of the bread now used to that which
Christ used, it is certain that our wafers, made of
pure flour and water, far more resemble in form
and manner of making the unleavened paschal bread
used by our Savior than does the ordinary bread
we use at our meals.

As to the wine, it is important only that it be
wine, real wine, that is, the juice of the grape. We
do know that Christ gave His disciples wine, and
therefore we also must use wine. But whether the
wine we use be red or white is immaterial. So, also
it is of no importance whether we dilute the wine
with water or not. We may be certain that if Christ
had attached any importance to these things, He
would have not left us in doubt about it for a
moment.

While speaking of these external matters, it
might be well to call attention to another thing
upon which some denominations place great im-
portance. They claim that our manner of distribu-
tion is wrong; that the communicants should not
receive the bread and wine directly with the mouth,
but should first take the bread and cup into their
hands and then themselves bring it to their mouths.
As though a person could. not receive bread and
wine immediately with his mouth! The child that
eats from its mother’s hand is surely receiving its
food as truly as is the larger child which first takes
the piece of bread into its hand and then brings it
to its mouth. The important thing in the Holy
Supper is, that we receive the bread and wine with
our mouths and then eat and drink it, and it is
altogether unimportant whether the communicant
first holds the bread and cup in his hand or not.

If such externals are of any consequence, why, then,
do we not celebrate the Holy Supper at night? Why
do we not, then, lie upon divans around a low table?
Why do we not use the Jewish unleavened paschal
bread ? F. J. L.

Longing for Christ.

A little boy on his deathbed was asked where
he was going.

“To heaven,” said the child.

“And what makes you wish to be there?”

“Because Christ is there.”

“But,” said a friend, “what if Christ should
leave heaven?”

“Well,” said the child, “I will go with Him.”

It is Christ that forms the believer’s truest want.
Where Christ is there is heaven. Heaven cannot
be heaven without Him. The Apostle Paul wrote
to the Philippians that he had “a desire to depart
and be with Christ.”

The Glorious Savior.

It is impossible, says Luther, for a man to be
a Christian without having Christ; and if he has
Christ, he has, at the same time, all that is m
Christ. What gives peace to the conscience is, that
by faith our sins are no more ours, but Christ's,
upon whom God hath laid them all, and that, on
the other hand, all Christ’s righteousness is ours,
to whom God hath given it. Christ lays His hand
upon us, and we are healed. He casts His mantle
upon us, and we are clothed. He is the glorious
Savior, blessed forever ! :

Sponsor and Father.

When the jeweler Hissrich at Stuttgart was re-
quested by a shoemaker to be sponsor at the Bap-
tism of one of his children, he replied: “You can-
not make use of me; for I have a custom of praying
to the Lord for my god-children, that He would
take them home early, if there were any danger of
their walking in the ways of error later in life or .
even of being lost.” ‘The father of the child re-
plied: “I take no offense at this. On the contrary,

for this very reason I can make use of you as
sponsor, for I also thus pray to the Lord for my
— From’ the German.

children every day.”