Let us see, then, what this proclamation consists of, and (in
1 F. D. Maurice, Lincoln's Inn Sermon*, iv. 99.
i CORINTHIANS xi. 26 323
conclusion) how it may be made. It will be found on considera- tion to consist of three things : —
I. A Eemembrance of the Past. II. A Recognition of the Present. III. A Regard to the Future.
A Remembrance of the Past.
u Ye proclaim the Lord's death."
1. St. Paul's words give prominence to the truth that the Sacrament was intended primarily as a memorial or remembrance of the Saviour. Nothing could be simpler or more human than our Lord's appointment of this Sacrament. Lifting the material of the Supper before Him, He bids His disciples make the simple act of eating and drinking the occasion of remembering Him. As the friend who is setting out on a long absence or is passing for ever from earth puts into our hands his portrait or something he has used or worn or prized, and is pleased to think that we shall treasure it for his sake, so did Christ on the eve of His death secure this one thing, that His disciples should have a memento by which to remember Him. And as the dying gift of a friend becomes sacred to us as his own person, and we cannot bear to see it handed about by unsympathetic hands and remarked upon by those who have not the same loving reverence as ourselves, and as when we gaze at his portrait, or when we use the very pen or pencil worn smooth by his fingers, we recall the many happy times we spent together and the bright and inspiring words that fell from his lips, so does this Sacrament seem sacred to us as Christ's own Person, and by means of it grateful memories of all He was and did throng into the mind.
^f It is no uncommon thing in the history of nations to commemorate events of national importance by expressive symbolism. Medals are struck to celebrate a victory or to perpetuate the prowess of a hero. The statues of the wise and of the valiant are niched in their country's temples — columns rear their tall heads on the mounds of world-famed battlefields, or on some holy place of liberty — processions and pageants of high and solemn festivity transmit from generation to generation the
324 PROCLAIMING THE LORD'S DEATH
memory of notable days and deeds. And it is right that it should be so. These things are expressions of something great and true, and by how much they are invested with imposing grandeur, by so much is the likelihood that they will be fastened upon the memory and the heart. There is hope of a nation when its gratitude lives, though the exhibitions of that gratitude may be extravagant and unseemly.
If we come from the national to the individual, how memory clings round some relic of sanctity bestowed on us by some far- off friend, some dear gage of affection; the gift, perhaps in the latest hour, of the precious and sainted dead. As we gaze upon them — mute but eloquent reminders of a past that has fled for ever — how closely they seem linked with our every conception of the giver, and in what an uncounted value we hold them for the giver's sake.1
U In the Highlands of Scotland, in a wild region, there is a spring at which Prince Albert once stopped to quench his thirst. The owner of the spring fenced it in and built a tasteful monument, making the waters flow into a basin of hewn stone, on which he placed an inscription. Every passing stranger stopping to drink at this fountain reads the inscription and recalls the memory of the noble prince whom it honours. Thus the spring is both a memorial and a blessing ; it keeps in mind the great man, and it gives drink to the weary and the thirsty. The Lord's Supper is a memorial to Christ, but it is food and drink to every one who rightly receives it.2
U Jesus Christ could not bear the thought of being forgotten by His people. God and man long to be remembered. This is one point of fellow-feeling at which the Divine heart touches the human. One of the greatest calamities in the sight of God which can befall the wicked is that " his memory shall be cut off." I know of nothing within the covers of this Book more touching than the way in which the prophets represent God and His people — the One truthfully, and the other untruthfully — as bringing the charge of forgetfulness against each other. "Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isa. xlix. 14). In these words we find the awful charge of unfaithfulness and forgetfulness brought against God Himself by the people of His choice. This suspicion must vanish, or the relationship must cease. On the other hand, there comes from the fatherly and infinitely tender heart of God a broken sigh which has the undertone of desolation in it, "My people have forgotten me days without number " (Jer. ii. 32) ; and the answer 1 W. M. Punslion. 2 S. Marriott, On Playing the Game, 190.
i CORINTHIANS xt. 26 325