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You will observe how strongly this is put, how
forcibly it is reiterated in scripture, that we were re-
conciled to God by the death of His Son, that we were
redeemed by His Blood, made nigh by the Blood of
Christ. And in treating of the Eucharist sacrificially,
we must, if w^e would act on the principles of the
Church of England, bring the fact prominently for-
ward, that there upon the cross, the only begotten Son
of God, Jesus Christ, by His one oblation of Himself
once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacri-
fice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole
world. At the reformation of our Church, three hun-
dred years ago, the statement of this article of our faith
was introduced, parenthetically forced, as it were,
into the prayer of consecration, as a kind of warning
against a pernicious tenet of the Church of Rome upon
this point. And in treating of this subject, since the
Church of Rome still retains her false doctrine, we
must, however unwilling to touch in the slightest de-
gree upon controversy, just in passing, observe that
the Church of England now protests against the notion
that there is any repetition or continuation of that one
fresh, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and
satisfaction, in the Holy Eucharist.
The Romish Divines have taken occasion from the
name of sacrifice given to the Eucharist, to tell us of a
fresh immolation and death ; to attach to it an efficacy
of its own and an independent merit, an efficacy and
* Isaiah liii. 5—10. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Heb. ix. 27.
15
merit independent of the one meritorious sacrifice of the
Cross ; to make men place therein a confidence which
cannot but be superstitious, whenever it refers not o
the Cross of Christ. And now you see why they ad-
here so firmly to their false doctrine of transubstan-
tiation ; they, in their error, represent themselves as
offering up the Son of God substantially and really to
the Father. And since they imagine that they do this
by offering the consecrated bread and wine, they
must maintain that the substance of the bread and
wine is changed into the veiy substance of our Lord
Jesus Christ. " This kind of oblation," says Bishop
Ridley, " standeth upon transubstantiation." And on
this account it was that our Refoimers were ready to
die at the stake rather than admit an error fraught
with such a^-ful consequences, which indeed virtually
sets aside the Cross of Christ. It was not with
them, as it has been with modern puritans and
infidels, a mere question as to the mode of Christ's
presence in the Holy Communion : they did not deny
the reality of His presence, which would do away
with the reality of the sacrament ; what they denied
was the particular notion of transubstantiation, not on
account of any difficulty in believing it, but on account
of its virtually setting aside and superseding the fun-
damental fact of our religion, the one full, perfect, and
sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction of the Cross.
Both Romanists and Reformers perceived this ; on
this doctrine really depends that doctrine of the Mass,
in which it is supposed that the atoning sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ is repeated ; to deny the doc-
trine of transubstantiation was virtually, then, to deny
the chief peculiarity of the modem Church of Rome,
and therefore the Romanists made the acceptance of
their figment of transubstantiation a test, for refusing
to take which, they sentenced their victims to death :
16
the Reformers of the Church of England admitted the
soundness of the reasoning, and therefore, rather than
take the test, they died.
The chief reference to the sacrifice of the cross be-
longs, according to the right doctrine, to the sacra-
mental part of the Eucharist. The sacrifice of the
cross is exhibited and represented before God and
men, under the symbols of the bread and wine ; and
the bread and wine being duly consecrated, become to
the worthy communicants, to all intents and pui-poses,
virtually and intei'pretatively, the Body and Blood of
that precious Lamb of God who was once, and once
for all, ofiered upon the cross ; and by partaking of
them we become partakers of the one atoning Sacrifice.
The grand sacrifice once offered is dispensed and com-
municated to individual believers in the Eucharist,
by and through the consecrated symbols : but it is not
repeated. Hence the Eucharist is regarded as a Feast
upon that great sacrifice.
But while the Scriptures and the Fathers are, like
our own Church, strong upon this point, they as fre-
quently speak of other Sacrifices which Christians
present as their oivn Sacrifices, the best they can give
to God. It is a christian privilege to approach God
with boldness, to offer Him gifts, and to know that
what we humbly offer with faithful and grateful hearts
He will graciously vouchsafe to accept. God gives us
a property in certain things ; what He has given He
permits us to regard as our own, and out of what is,
in this sense, our own, He permits us to make offerings
to Him. Through the one atoning Sacrifice, the
death of God our Saviour upon the cross, God is recon-
ciled to man, and man, when justified by his faith in
Christ, may draw nigh unto God as to a reconciled
Father, who will accept gifts at our hands, not because
He needs any thing at the hands of His creatures, but
17
because He is pleased by this token of gratitude on
the part of His children. As ive are pleased by marks
of attention and aifection on the part of our little ones,
so is God well pleased by every indication of love
evinced by His babes in Christ. Out of Christ it
were presumption to approach God with any such
intent : but through Christ we are permitted to bring
our gifts, and in offering any thing to God we offer a
sacrifice.
Let us proceed to consider, then, what our sacrifices
under the gospel are. And here I must premise
that the gospel is a spiritual dispensation, and every
thing we do must have a spiritual reference. Let us
take for example alms-deeds as our first way of making
a sacrifice to God : a sacrifice is something we do or
give to God : Christ our God hath declared that what
we do to the poor and alSicted in His name, He will
regard as done unto Himself ; therefore, the giving of
alms is a sacrifice. On this principle, in writing to
the Philippians, St. Paul, refering to true liberality
towards himself, says, " I am full, having received of
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you,
an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-
pleasing to God.'"'S= " To do good and to communicate
forget not," saith the same Apostle to the Hebrews,
adding, "for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."!
It was said even to Cornelius, " Thy prayers and thine
alms are come up for a memorial before God."|
It is not the money which is the sacrifice ; the money
expended in almsgiving, is only the outward and
visible sign by which the benevolent feeling is expres-
sed : for money given to the poor grudgingly or of
necessity, money for instance, such as the law of the
land may require of us for the support of paupers,
* Phil. iv. 10. + Heb. xiii. 10.
18
could never be regarded by any one in this point of
view. It must be a freewill offering ; and although,
where the benevolent feeling is, benevolent actions
must be the result, we do not always conclude that,
because a poor person is relieved, there must be gener-
ous feeling in him that administers the relief — other
motives may give rise to the action. The real offering,
then, to God is internal, spiritual : He accepts the
deed, when the deed is done from the benevolent sen-
timent, which benevolent sentiment is the real offering.
And thus we see how in one way, at least, we can
offer sacrifices acceptable to God,
From the Book of Revelation we learn that through
the intercession of Christ, the prayers of the saints
go up as an odour before God, the prayers of the saints
ascend before God as the smoke of the incense. !| Ac-
cording to the Prophecy of Malachi, "From the rising
up of the sun even to the going down of the same, my
name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every
place incense shall be offered to my name ^vith a pure
offering. "§ All these are sacrificial terms, and denote,
that, over and above the fact that prayer is the means
by which we tell to our Heavenly Father our wants
and ask for redress, — prayer is to be regarded in the
light of a sacrifice. This is morq^apparent in praise
and thanksgiving; for prayer has reference to ourselves,
but praise and thanksgiving is a direct offering to
God. Therefore saith the Apostle, "let us offer the
sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fmit
of our lips, giving thanks to His name."- Under this
head comes our text particularly, although I apply it
to the whole subject, " Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
1) Rev. V. 8. § Malachi i. 2. * Heb. xiii. 15.
19
Christ :" he is alluding here to the continual offering
up of praise, which is the great employment of the
Church. Again, the dedication of a contrite heart,
sanctified by grace, is another offering which God will
accept, for, in reference to the new covenant especially,
the Holy Ghost saith, " The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, God,
thou wilt not despise, "f Another Gospel sacrifice is
the sacrifice of ourselves, our souls and bodies, " I
beseech you," saith St. Paul to the Romans, " that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept-
able unto God, which is your reasonable service. |"
Without entering further into detail, you see what
we can do if we would offer sacrifices to God, — and all
these sacrifices the communicant offers, when he takes
part in the semce of the Holy Eucharist. Alms are
presented to God for the use of His poor : and as God
is about to feast His people at His oa^ti table, by con-
veying an inward and spiritual grace through the out-
ward and visible signs, an oblation is made to Him of
bread and wine, to be consecrated for this pui'pose :
these are visible indications on the part of the Church,
of the readiness of God's people to do all that is re-
quisite and necessary, as far as in them lies, for the
relief of the distressed, and the establishment of true
religion. We offer also our praises and thanksgi^'ings,
pleading the merits of Christ our Saviour ; and the
priest, standing at the altar, in our name, offers our
ser\'ices to Almighty God, throughout the whole office,
in effect, and in one place in these most solemn words ;
" And here," — even at Thy table, thus becoming an
altar, — " here we offer and present unto Thee, Lord,
ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable,
holy, and lively sacrifice unto Thee."
+ Psalm xli. 17. t Romans xii.l.
20
Well then may a service which combines all kinds
of Christian sacrifices be denominated, as it was in the
first ages of tlie church, and still is, the great sacrifice
of the Christian Church. But we may proceed yet
further; it is the sacrifice of faith, and hope, and self-
humiliation in commemorating the great sacrifice of
the cross, and resting entirely upon it for all its effi-
cacy : it is also the offering up by your pastor of true
converts and sincere penitents, brought to God by his
instrumentality, — a most aflecting thought, on which St.
Paul dwells more than once.=^ It is this — but it is
more than this ; "for we," saith the Apostle, in refer-
ence to this holy ordinance, '•' being many, are one
bread and one body ; for we are all partakers of that
one bread.'' The blessed Eucharist, therefore, is not
merely the offering to God of this or that individual
person, is not merely the offering to God of one single
congregation ; it is the presenting to God, as prepared
to do, or to endure whatever He may see fit to appoint,
the whole mystical body of Christ, Christ and His mem-
bers ; the Church militant and the Church triumphant,
with their divine Head. Thou, God, we seem to say,
didst give thine only begotten Son for the salvation of
the world; out of the world He has gathered His
Church ; and behold, the whole Church, visible and in-
visible, militant and triumphant, -with Christ the Head
of the Church, in that He is man as well as God,
standeth before the throne of glor\% ready, like the hosts
of heaven, to do Thy will. Thou hast sacrificed Thy-
self for us. Thou hast given us grace to make an offer-
ing to Thee, — behold it, even all we have and all we are.
How glorious, how sublime ; how overwhelmingly
grand is the view thus taken of the distinguishing rite
of Christian worship I
♦ Romans xv. 16 ; Philipp. ii. 17 ; compare Isaiah Ivi, 20.
21
The one sacrifice of our God, once made upon the
cross, gratefully commemorated, and in a figure ex-
hibited before God, and men, and angels, as our only
hope of salvation ; that one sacrifice applied to faithful
hearts, so that they themselves may have grace to offer
their spiritual sacrifices ; and the whole service a peace-
offering, a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the King of
kings and Lord of lords.
But what the Church is to be and do as a whole,
each member of the Church is to be and to do in him-
self, — as the Church, the mystical body of Christ, is
devoted to God, so must each component part of that
body be ; or in the blessings vouchsafed to the body he
can have no share.
Observe — unless you bear your part in this service,
in the Holy Communion, you disobey Christ, and
disobedient christians forfeit the grace they once re-
ceived ; and yet in this sen^ice you cannot really take
a part, unless you are prepared to offer yourself, your
soul, and your body, a reasonable, holy, and living
sacrifice unto God. The almost christian may not he
indeed approach this holy ordinance, — but will the
almost christian be saved at the last day ? Answer
this question at home and on your knees.
But you are unworthy to offer any sacrifice to God?
And who is not unworthy? we can only receive this
Holy Sacrament worthily by acknowledging, as we do
in the communion office, that we are not worthy so
much as to gather up the crumbs under the Lord's
table. We must not confound our being unworthy to
approach the Lord, with our receiving the Holy
Communion unworthily ; for the two things are quite
distinct. When we speak of receiving unworthily, we
refer to the motive with which we receive, the object
which we have in view. We are to receive the Holy
Communion in obedience to our Lord's command, and
22
in order to obtain a spiritual blessing. If we approach
the holy ordinance without regard to the divine com-
mandment, and with a worldly, instead of a spiritual
object, then we receive unworthily.
Some years ago, it was necessary for every person
holding office under the government, to be professedly"
a member of the Church of England : made a member
of the Church at Baptism, he could only prove that' he
continued to be a member of the same, by his receiving
the holy communion : to be a communicant, therefore,
was a necessary qualification for office. We can easily
imagine what might take place under such circum-
stances, viz : — that men "with infidel hearts, neither
caring for Christ's commandment, nor seeking a spirit-
ual gift, would come to the holy communion, merely
to qualify themselves for some worldly appointment.
— This was to receive unworthily.
In some places, the alms collected at the offertory
are distributed among the communicants immediately
after the service. We can here again imagine poor
persons to attend, not out of respect to the command,
or with a view to the divine blessing, but to have a
share in the alms : — this too would be to receive un-
worthily.
A parent sometimes urges a son to receive the blessed
Sacrament : that son is living in the habit of some
linown sin, but to oblige his parent, presents himself
at the altar, his object being not to seek the grace,
to the reception of which his sin is an impediment,
but to win his parent's favour, or to prevent his sup-
posing that he is guilty of an offence which he desires
to conceal : this again would be to receive unworthily.
These illustrations will serve to shew what is meant
by receiving unworthily, and will enable you to see that
no one who, having been baptized into Christ, tnily
repents and unfeignedly believes the holy gospel, can
23
receive unworthily, however conscious of unworthi-
ness he may be, — if he has recourse to the Holy
Eucharist in obedience to Christ's commandment
and to seek a blessing to his soul.
What is requisite in every one is, first that he shall
have been admitted into Christ's Church, by holy
Baptism ; for this ordinance, the blessed Eucharist,
belongs exclusively to christians : secondly, that he
believes all the articles of the christian faith; and
thirdly, that he is leading a moral life. Without faith
we cannot receive the blessing, and an immoral life
would repel the blessing when offered : without faith
we are as a man would be, to whom food is offered
when in the paroxism of disease, he is unable to {j
open his mouth to receive it ; if leading an immoral
life, we should be, as a man whose diseased stomach
would nauseate the viands presented to it, however
wholesome in themselves.
It is necessary to mention this, since people
sometimes are induced to disobey their Saviour, because
they conceive that some qualifications relating to their
internal feelings are necessary. Fervent and glowing
feelings are a blessing, and, when accompanied by
consistent conduct, a blessing direct from God : but
even to His most favoured servants, God does not at
all times vouchsafe the blessing of fervour : and though
fervour be a blessing much to be desired, it is never to
be used as the test of our religious condition. We
are to judge of our spiritual state by our works. Are
we morally connect ? If you make any molten image
to worship it, according to what is stated in the Com-
mination Service, you are cursed, and therefore you are
not in a condition to communicate; the same is to
be said of him who curseth father or mother, or who
removeth his neighbour's land-mark; of him who
maketh the blind to go out of his way, or perverteth the
24
judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow ;
of him who smiteth his neighbour secretly, or com-
mitteth adultery ; -who taketh reward to slay the inno-
cent, or putteth his trust in man, and taketh man for
his defence, and in his heart goeth from the Lord.
All these curses relate, you will observe, to moral of-
fences ; and who are they whom the express words of
the Church warns not to come to the Holy Communion ?
*' If any of you be a blasphemer of God, an hinderer
or slanderer of His word, an adulterer, or be in malice
or envy, or any other grievous crime, repent you of
your sins, or else come not to that holy table."
If you are blasphemers or adulterers, or in envy,
hatred, or malice, or any other grievous crime, you
cannot love the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore you
cannot, on a principle of love, obey his Command-
ment, and consequently you cannot properly receive
the Holy Sacrament, and it is better not to receive it
at all. But if you are not blasphemers nor adulterers,
if you are not living in envy, hatred, malice, or any
other grievous crime ; then what hinders you from
keeping the commandment of God, the last affection-
ate injunction of your God, just before He laid down
His life upon the cross for your sins ? If you are
seeking to avoid other sins, seek to avoid this sin
also, for " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."^ All
fears on the part of baptized persons, who are not
leading immoral lives, are very sinful; all such fears as
Chall prevent them from doing what their Saviour has
required them to do, — for such fears indicate a want
of faith. Will you not trust that Blessed Person who
said, "This do in remembrance of me ?" Do you think
that the Lord Jesus who died for your sins, would
* James ii. 10.
25
institute an ordinance and command its observance,
not to a chosen few, but to all his followers, if there
were danger to your souls in obeying ? Your souls
are in danger for not obeying, — in obedience there
is safety.
" It is a solemn thing to receive the Holy Sacrament,"
you will say, and God forbid that any should partake of
the ordinance without admitting that it is a most solemn
thing. Cherish this feeling ; it is a right feeling ; but if
the thought of its being a solemn thing be carried so far
as to prevent your obeying your Saviour and your God,
then, that thought of yours, that it is a solemn thing,
becomes a sinful thought, and must be overcome.
A religious scruple, however, founded on a right
feeling of reverence and fear to offend, if it be indulg-
ed so as to weaken the veiling spirit of obedience,
becomes sinful. It is a solemn thing to receive the
Holy Communion, but the ordinance was appointed
by a loving Saviour, — and that same Saviour, perfect
man as well as perfect God, who died for your sins,
rose again for your justification, and is even now at
the right hand of Power interceding for you.
You are unworthy, but you are believers in Him ;
and by your faith you are justified, when with honest
and true hearts you draw near to your heavenly Father
in this or in any other ordinance. You are doing
what only holy creatures are qualified to do ; you are
conscious that there is sin even in your holy things ;
but you are believers in Christ, and therefore God will
impute holiness to you. Your faith will be accounted
for righteousness. You shall be for Christ's sake ac-
counted righteous, that, approaching God through the
appointed means, you may partake more largely of the
Spirit of Christ, and so in the Lord become really
righteous. It is thus that justification by faith, pro-
26
perly understood, is intended to prepare the way for
sanctification.
Be this, then, the position of our souls, when we
draw nigh unto God in the holy sacrament, — I am
unworthy to do this great thing, but by my faith I
continue to be what I was made at my baptism, a
living member of Christ; and to me, as such, draw-
ing nigh unto God, God will Himself draw nigh, per-
mitting me to act in this regard, as if I were already
what I am gradually becoming, a righteous creature,
and imparting to me the grace, which in this blessed
sacrament I seek, in such a degree as my soul is pre-
pared to receive it.
Cling by faith to Jesus, and then fear not. He who
instituted this ordinance, He, the loving Saviour, the
God made man to be our Mediator, He the same yes-
terday, to-day, and for ever, ever liveth to make inter-
cession for us, — He who gave the commandment This
do in rememhrance of me, dwelleth in us, except we be
reprobates. He is a God at hand, not a God afar off;
and He will protect us, and guide us, and guard us,
and bless us, wherever, and under whatever circum-
stances we seek to obey Him ; He will come to us
through His Sacrament, and when we are one with
Him, we may offer a sacrifice acceptable to God, our-
selves, our souls, and our bodies, all we have and all
we are.
T. HAERISON, PRINTER, LEEDS.
WORKS
BY THE REV. DR. HOOK,
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