The Frequency of the Lord’s Supper
By Editor
IN a sermon by Rev. J. W. A. Stewart, on "Proclaiming the Lord's Death," published in the New York Examiner of December 5, the preacher says: "The New Testament gives no command as to how often our Redeemer should be commemorated in the supper. This question is left to the judgment and piety of the church. So far as outward forms are concerned perhaps there is no truer touchstone of the spiritual condition of a church than is to be found in its observance of the Lord's Supper, as it regards both the frequency and the spirit of the observance." That the spirit in which our Lord's death is commemorated is a true touchstone of a church is true; the spirit of the church is shown in all of its services. But the "frequency" of the ordinance is no indication whatever. Oftentimes when a church backslides from God, "a form of godliness" is assiduously and faithfully kept up. When a church departs from God it is even more particular about those things not commanded of God than those which are. When Israel of old departed from God, they multiplied their offerings and made many prayers (Isa. 1:10-14), but the self-righteous spirit in which they were offered made them an abomination before God. To the frequency of the celebration of the Lord's Supper we find no fault; it would doubtless be a greater means of grace if it was observed more frequently among some earnest Christians. But we do most respectfully demur against that frequency being a sign of spirituality in the church. In the apostate church the simple ceremony has been elaborated with an ornate ritual, and the partaker, whatever his heart or life, is made to believe that from the mere corporeal elements he becomes a partaker of God, while the sister and companion ordinance is eliminated. We would have more faith in an exact obedience to those injunctions which God has expressly commanded than that self-righteous will-worship so prevalent to-day.