(2) If the Lord's Supper in its external relations sprang out of an immediately preceding Passover meal, and if that meal had for those who partook of it some such meaning as has just been described, the spiritual connexions between the two are evident. The thought cf the Jewish Passover underlies the Supper, helping us to determine its true nature and purpose and religious significance.
(«) This outward relation between the Passover and the Lord's Supper goes far to decide the question whether or not the Supper refers to our LorcVs death. Spitta's elaborate efforts to dis- sociate the Last Supper altogether from the Jewish Passover find their chief motive in his theory that the Supper had no bearing whatsoever on the death of Jesus, but was meant to have a purely eschatological reference, as an anticipation of the glorious Messianic meal in the heavenly Kingdom (op. cit. pp. 266 ff., 282 If.). But if, on the other hand, it was at the close of a Passover meal that Jesus broke the bread and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'This is my body for you,' the analogy between the slain lamb and the broken bread can hardly be mistaken. — {b) It bears, again, on the question whether or not the Supper was meant by Jesus to be repeated. From the fact that in the !\Ik.-Mt. text of the institution of the Supper we do not find that command for a repetition of the observance which is given in Paul-Lk. (1 Co 1124. 25^ L]^ 22^'*), a number of critical scholars have concluded that Jesus never spoke the words, ' This do in remembrance of me' ; that He had no thought of instituting a rite for perpetual celebration by the Church ; and that His purpose in breaking the bread and passing the wine was merely to bid His disciples a solemn farewell, to set before them a
striking parable in action, or at most to point them forward to the hope of a glad reunion in the heavenly Kingdom (Jiilicher, Theol. Abhandl. pp. 235 fi'., 245 ff. ; Spitta, op. cit. p. 301 ff. ; cf. P. Gardner, Origin of the LorcVs Supper). But to a Jew the Passover was essentially a memorial feast to be kept by Israel throughout all her generations (Ex 12"). And if the Supper was deliberately set by Jesus in the closest relation to the Passover, — so deliberately that He even anti- cipated by a day an observance which otherwise His death would have rendered impossible, — tiiis goes to confirm the view, supported not only by the text of Paul and Luke, but by the unhesitating praxis of the earliest community from the first (Ac 2«- ^ ; cf. 20', 1 Co lO'"), and the Apostolic tradition as that was handed on to St. Paul at the time of his conversion (1 Co 1P=^), that Jesus both intended and commanded that the Supper should continue to be observed in remembrance of Him- self.— (c) If the Lord's Supper sprang historically out of a Passover meal, it naturally falls heir to the chief meanings cind associations of the more ancient rite. It is not only a memorial of Jesus, but a memorial of His sacrifice. ' Our passover also hath been sacrificed,' says St. Paul, ' even Christ ' (1 Co 5') ; and he tells us that as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we ' pro- claim the Lord's death till he come' (ipS). The Passover was a renewal on the part of the OT Church of the covenant with God that had been made at Sinai ; and every Supper is a renewal by the Christian people of the covenant made for them upon the Cross. The Passover was not only a renewal of the covenant felloAvship with God, but a festive social meal at which the links of Jewish brotherhood were forged afresh. And the Lord's Supper is the occasion of a glad spiritual communion of those who belong to the household of faith, both with Christ Himself — the Elder Brotlier and the Head — and with their fellow- members in the one family of God.
Literature. — Hastings' DB, artt. 'Covenant '(A. B. Davidson), 'Passover' (W. J. Jloulton), 'Jesus Christ' (Sanday, vol. ii. p. 634); PHE^, art. 'Passah, isr.-jiid.' (von Orelli) ; Bickell, Passover and Lord' a Supper ; Spitta, (Irchristentuin ; Jiilirher, Theol. Abhandiungen; P. Gardner, Origin of the Lord's Supper; Schultzen, Das Abendmahl im A2' ; Chwolson, Das letzte Passu- inahl Christi ; Schaef er, Das Herrenmahl ; Lambert, Sacraments inUT; G. M. Mackie, 'Jewish Passover in the Chr. Church,' ExpT xiii. (1902), 391; JThSt, Apr. 1902, p. 357 ff., Jan. 1903,
p. 184 ff. J. c. Lambert.
PAST. — ' Let the dead past bury its dead,' is the unequivocal counsel we derive from tlie Lord's reply to a lukewarm disciple (Mt 8^^). In Christ no past is irretrievable ; Divine forgiveness may blot out what men consider it impossible to forgive (Lk 18^'). Habit and custom may be burst asunder in a moment, like the rocky tomb that could not imprison the risen Lord. The motto of the Clitibrds (Disormais) may recall a Christian truth of priceless value : ' Henceforward ' sin no more (Jn 8''). God gives a fresh start for Christ's sake to each one who prays for forgiveness in the spirit of forgiveness (Mt 6'^). The tyranny of the past led the Galilseans to ask, ' Is not this the carpenter?' (Mk 6*) ; but, as signally in the call of Levi, the disciple of Christ must be ready to throw aside the past altogetlier for His sake (Mt 9^). — There is a dead past to be forgotten and forgiven, for God is God of the living (Mk 12^'). And there is a living past to be re- membered and commemorated. Thus all genera- tions call her blessed who was the mother of the Lord (Lk 1*^). The loving gift of a forgiven woman who had been a sinner is still told for a memorial of her (Mk 14^). Yet the Christian hope looks ever forward to the brightness of the coming day, when the shadows shall flee away.