Do You Discern the Lord's Body?

HOLY CROSS TRACTS

By Father H.N. Thompson

Do you discern the Lord's Body? In other words, do you believe in the Real Objective Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacra­ment?

There have been and there still are Christians who do not believe in this necessary truth. Some of the Chris­tians at Corinth in St. Paul's time did not. I do not mean that they denied it in words, although they may even have done that, since some of them said that there was no resur­rection. But if they did not deny it in words, they denied it in their actions by coming to the Holy Sacrament in a state of sin.

This is what St. Paul says of such a person: he "eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body" (I Cor. xi. 29, R. V.). St. Paul does not mean by "discerning" seeing, because no one can see the Lord's Body in the Holy Sacrament with his outward eyes.

He means that any one who comes to Holy Communion in unrepented sin does not distinguish the Lord's Body from common food. He treats It with no more reverence than he would ordinary food. He ignores It, or disbelieves in It. And by so doing — by his irreverent eating and drink­ing — he draws down a judgment on himself.

Notice how naturally the Apostle speaks of "the Lord's Body." No one could speak so who did not believe in the Real Objective Presence. If it were not a Sacrament at all, but only bread and wine taken to remind us that our Lord died on Calvary, how could any one be "guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord," no matter how unworthy he came? But if the Holy Sacrament is (as it is) the Body and Blood of Christ given to us under the form of bread and wine, then a man who comes to it without repentance and faith and charity may be said to "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."

There is another passage in the same Epistle which has to do with this subject. In I Cor. x. 16, St. Paul asks: "The Cup of Blessing which we bless, is it not the com­munion of the Blood of Christ? The Bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ?" "The communion," that is to say, the partaking. The Apostle lays stress on the consecration, because it is that which makes the Sacrament. Thus, he does not say "the Cup which we drink," or "the Bread which we eat," but "the Cup which we bless" "the Bread which we break." The Apostle appeals to a well-known truth. He asks a question—but he is sure what the answer must be.
Then there is our Lord's wonderful discourse in the 6th chapter of St. John. He had just before fed the multi­tudes by blessing a few loaves and fishes, and thus multi­plying them. The people followed Him, and our Lord told them that He had some better Bread to give them. This was "the true Bread from Heaven" (verse 32). Then He said, "I am the Bread of Life" (verse 35). Later on He said again, "The Bread that I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (verse 51). But at this the Jews murmured. They said, "How can this Man give His Flesh to eat?" (verse 52). The Lord did not explain how. The time had not come for it. There would be an explanation given later, but in the meantime they must be content to take it on His Word.

The disciples waited, and just about a year after the answer came. In an upper room in Jerusalem the Lord again solemnly took bread into His hands. The Apostles looked on in awe and wonder, remembering, perhaps, the miracle which followed when He did this once before.

Then He blessed the bread and said, "Take, eat, this is My Body." He blessed a cup of wine and said, "This is My Blood. Do this in remembrance of Me." And now the difficulty was solved. Now they knew how they could eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. It was by joining in the holy rite which He had just instituted and commanded them to continue.

So, then the Real Objective Presence of our Lord in the Holy Sacrament is a doctrine which the Church teaches and the Bible proves. The Church has believed it from the beginning. The holy Church throughout all the world believes it still. We are taught that when the priest con­secrates the bread and wine, they become in some wonder­ful way the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is present, not only in His Divinity, but in His Humanity also. The Lord is not present everywhere as man. He is present as man, visibly and naturally, at the right hand of God in Heaven, and also invisibly and super-naturally in the Holy Sacrament. Our Lord's presence is what is called Objective. That is, it does not depend upon our faith or our feelings. It depends upon the consecration by the priest. We may even disbelieve it; but that does not alter the fact. A great theologian, Dr. J. B. Mozley, says that in the early Church "the Lord's Body and Blood was regarded as a reality external to the mind even as the bread and wine was." The doctrine of the early Church is our doctrine today.

All who receive the Holy Sacrament receive the Body and Blood of Christ. But only those who approach worthily receive the benefits of the Sacrament. The wicked are in no wise partakers of Christ, i. e., they do not receive so as to benefit by it.

Now let us consider some of the objections which are made to this doctrine. It is said that our Lord was speak­ing figuratively. That He said "This is My Body" in the same sense that He said "I am the Door." But we must notice, first of all, that the cases are not parallel. Our Lord did not take a door into His hands and say, "This is My Body." If He had, of course, we should believe Him..

And, moreover, whenever our Lord used figurative language, as He did sometimes, there was always some­thing said to show that it was figurative. When He said, "I am the Door," He spoke of men entering it through Him (St. John x. 9).

Besides, the Jews were used to figurative language much more than we are, yet they felt that "eating His Flesh" was not meant figuratively, and so they turned away from Him. Now, would our Lord have permitted so many disciples to go away from Him under a misapprehension, especially when it might have been corrected so easily?

Our Lord had only to say, "Stop; you are making a mistake. When I say that you must eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, I only mean that you must believe in Me and imitate Me. I do not mean what you think I mean."

This would have been so easy. It occurs to our minds at once. And are we to believe that the Lord did not see how the case stood, or that He did not care or did not know how to meet it? No; the Jews did not go away be­cause they did not understand what was intended, but because they understood and would not believe.

Again, some people say, "I believe in a Spiritual Pres­ence, not a Real Presence." Well, but why not in both? There is no opposition between the words. Our own spirits are real, are they not? "God is a Spirit"; is He not real? What meaning do such people put on the word "spiritual"? Do they think it means imaginary? Our Lord's Body after He rose from the dead was a spiritual body, but it was none the less real and objective. So with His Body in the Eucharist.
A presence of Christ merely in the faithful receiver is no presence in the Sacrament at all. It does not in the least explain the words, "This is My Body." Christ is present in the faithful soul in this sense at all times, and not merely at Holy Communion. Then, some people have said, "Our Lord's discourse in St. John vi. cannot refer to the Holy Communion because it had not been instituted then." But to say this is to forget that our Lord is able to look into the future, and that "He Himself knew what He would do." Besides, in the very next chapter (vii. 39) we read these words: "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

Now, if our Lord could speak of the Holy Ghost before He was sent down on the Church, He could speak of the Holy Sacrament before it was instituted. But the Prayer-Book decides the matter for us by quoting verse 56 in the Prayer of Humble Access, and also appoints this chapter to be read at Morning Prayer on Maundy Thursday, in com­memoration of the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

Then some say, "The doctrine of the Real Presence contradicts our senses. I only see bread and wine, and therefore there cannot be anything else." Well, in that case every Sacrament must "contradict your senses" because you cannot see the "inward spiritual grace" of it. And you must not believe that you have any soul because you cannot see it. And, of course, you must hold that the earth stands still, and the sun goes round, because your senses tell you so.

The Holy Communion is not a miracle to convert unbe­lievers, but a means of grace for the faithful Christian. We believe in the Real Presence because the Church teaches it to us, and because it is the plain meaning of our Lord's words.

The Church requires us to kneel when we receive the Holy Communion. But kneeling is the posture of wor­ship. The Puritans objected to it on this very ground. On their own principles they were right in objecting. If Holy Communion is only bread and wine received in remem­brance of Christ, it is unmeaning to kneel. The Church, however, directs us to kneel. And, therefore, by this action in every Church the doctrine of the Real Presence of our Lord in this Eucharist and the adoration of Him there present, is preached by the people at the altar, even where the clergyman may not, unhappily, preach it from the pulpit.

It is, no doubt, an "astounding doctrine," as people say. But so is the Incarnation of our Lord. Are you quite sure that you believe in the Incarnation? Every one who does not believe in the Real Presence should ask him­self this question very seriously. The wonderfulness of it is no difficulty to a Christian. As he believes that the Lord at His first miracle made water into wine, so he believes on the Lord's own Word that in the Holy Communion the same Lord makes bread and wine into His Body and Blood. He rests his faith on the Word of Him Who is the Truth.