III. We now have arrived at the third portion of our meditation, which is A SWEET AID TO MEMORY.
18. At schools we used certain books, called “Aids to Memory.” I am sure they rather perplexed than assisted me. Their utility was equivalent to that of a bundle of staves under a traveller’s arm: true he might use them one by one to walk with, but in the meantime he carried a host of others which he would never need. But our Saviour was wiser than all our teachers, and his remembrancers are true and real aids to memory. His love tokens have an unmistakeable language, and they sweetly win our attention.
19. Behold the whole mystery of the sacred Eucharist. It is bread and wine which are lively emblems of the body and blood of Jesus. The power to excite remembrance consists in the appeal thus made to the senses. Here the eye, the hand, the mouth, find joyful work. The bread is tasted, and entering within, works upon the sense of taste, which is one of the most powerful. The wine is sipped — the act is palpable; we know that we are drinking, and thus the senses, which are usually clogs to the soul, become wings to lift the mind in contemplation. Again, much of the influence of this ordinance is found in its simplicity. How beautifully simple the ceremony is — bread broken and wine poured out. There is no calling that thing a chalice, that thing a paten, and that a host. Here is nothing to burden the memory — here is the simple bread and wine. He must have no memory at all who cannot remember that he has eaten bread, and that he has been drinking wine. Note again, the mighty pregnancy of these signs — how full they are of meaning. Bread broken — so was your Saviour broken. Bread to be eaten — so his flesh is meat indeed. Wine poured out, the pressed juice of the grape — so was your Saviour crushed under the foot of divine justice; his blood is your sweetest wine. Wine to cheer your heart — so does the blood of Jesus. Wine to strengthen and invigorate you — so does the blood of the mighty sacrifice. Oh! make that bread and wine to your souls tonight a sweet and blessed help of remembrance of that dear Man who once on Calvary died. Like the little ewe lamb, you are now to eat your Master’s bread and drink from his cup. Remember the hand which feeds you.
20. But before you can remember Christ well here, you must ask the assistance of the Holy Spirit. I believe there ought to be a preparation before the Lord’s Supper. I do not believe in Mrs. Too-Good’s preparation, who spent a week in preparing, and then finding it was not the Ordinance Sunday, she said she had lost all the week. I do not believe in that kind of preparation, but I do believe in a holy preparation for the Lord’s Supper: when we can on a Saturday if possible, spend an hour in quiet meditation on Christ, and the passion of Jesus; when, especially on the Sunday afternoon, we can devoutly sit down and behold him, then these scenes become realities, and not mockeries, as they are to some. I fear greatly that there are some of you who will eat the bread tonight, and will not think about Christ; some of you who will drink the wine, and not think of his blood: and vile hypocrites you will be while you do it. Take heed to yourselves, “He that eats and drinks unworthily,” eats and drinks — what? — “damnation to himself.” This is a plain English word; mind what you are doing! Do not do it carelessly; for of all the sacred things on earth, it is the most solemn. We have heard of some men banded together by drawing blood from their arms and drinking it all around; that was most horrid, but at the same time most solemn. Here you are to drink blood from the veins of Christ, and sip the trickling stream which gushed from his own loving heart. Is not that a solemn thing? Ought anyone to trifle with it? To go to church and take it for sixpence? To come and join us for the sake of getting charities? Away with that! It is an awful blasphemy against Almighty God; and among the damned in hell, those shall be among the most accursed who dared thus to mock the holy ordinance of God. This is the remembrance of Christ. “Do this in remembrance of me.” If you cannot do it in remembrance of Christ, I beseech you, as you love your souls, do not do it at all. Oh! regenerate man or woman, enter not into the court of the priests, lest Israel’s God resent the intrusion.
21. IV. And now to close up. Here is A SWEET COMMAND: “Do this in remembrance of me.” To whom does this command apply? “This do YOU.” It is important to answer this question — “This do YOU,” who are intended? You who put your trust in me. “Do this in remembrance of me.” Well, now, you should suppose Christ is speaking to you tonight; and he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Christ watches you at the door. Some of you go home, and Christ says, “I thought I said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ ” Some of you keep your seats as spectators. Christ sits with you, and he says, “I thought I said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ ” “Lord, I know you did.” “Do you love me then?” “Yes, I love you; I love, Lord; you know I do.” “But, I say, go down there — eat that bread, drink that wine.” “I do not like to Lord; I should have to be baptized if I joined that church, and I am afraid I shall catch cold, or be looked at. I am afraid to go before the church, for I think they would ask some questions I could not answer.” “What,” says Christ, “is this how much you love me? Is this all your affection to your Lord? Oh! how cold to me, your Saviour. If I had loved you no more than this, you would have been in hell: if that were the full extent of my affection, I should not have died for you. Great love bore great agonies — and is this all your gratitude to me?” Are not some of you ashamed, after this? Do you not say in your hearts, “it is really wrong?” Christ says, “Do this in remembrance of me,” and are you not ashamed to stay away? I give a free invitation to every lover of Jesus to come to this table. I beseech you, do not deny yourselves the privilege by refusing to unite with the church. If you still live in sinful neglect of this ordinance, let me remind you that Christ has said, “Whoever shall be ashamed of me in this generation, of him will I be ashamed, when I come in the glory of my Father.” Oh, soldier of the cross, do not act the coward’s part!
22. And not to lead you into any mistakes, I must just add one thing, and then I am finished. When I speak of your taking the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, do not imagine that I wish for you to think for one moment that there is anything saving in it. Some say that the ordinance of baptism is nonessential, so is the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, it is nonessential, if we look upon it in the light of salvation. Be saved by eating a piece of bread! nonsense, confounded nonsense! Be saved by drinking a drop of wine! Why, it is too absurd for common sense to allow any discussion upon it. You know it is the blood of Jesus Christ; it is the merit of his agonies; it is the purchase of his sufferings; it is what he did, that alone can save us. Venture on him; venture wholly, and then you are saved. Do you hear, poor convicted sinner, the way of salvation? If I ever meet you in the next world, you might, perhaps, say to me, “I spent one evening, sir, in hearing you, and you never told me the way to heaven.” Well, you shall hear it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust in his name, find refuge in his cross, rely upon the power of his Spirit, trust in his righteousness, and you are saved beyond the vengeance of the law, or the power of hell. But trust in your own works, and you are lost as sure as you are alive.
23. Now, oh ever glorious Son of God, we approach your table to feast on the viands of grace; permit each of us, in reliance upon your Spirit, to exclaim in the words of one of your own poets:
Remember you, and all your pains
And all your love to me —
Yes, while a pulse or breath remains,
I will remember thee.
And when these failing lips grow dumb
And thought and memory flee
When you shall in your kingdom come,
Jesus, remember me!
The Sin of Unbelief
No. 3-1:17. A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, January 14, 1855, By C. H. Spurgeon, At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
And that officer answered the man of God, and said, “Now,
