HEB. x. 12.
“But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God.”
WE live in very anxious times. Different phases of error are following
each other with great rapidity, like waves before the gale on a stormy
sea. A very short time ago we were deeply distressed by the sceptical
tendencies of certain able writers,—tendencies still in rapid progress,
though public attention has been recently directed into another channel.
Now we are startled by the open declaration of Romish doctrine, and open
practice of Romish ceremonial, by men who have accepted office in a
church which declares these very doctrines to be “blasphemous fables and
dangerous deceits.” It has become, therefore, absolutely necessary that
we should understand the reasons why the Church of England has separated
from that of Rome, and why it is that we raise our voice against these
innovations. I am well aware that such a subject is distasteful to many
minds. Some shrink from the trouble of controversy, and would rather
have their whole attention fixed on that which they find helpful to their
own souls. Others think it uncharitable; and maintain that, provided a
person be conscientious in his practice, we need feel no anxiety about
the truth or error of his creed. But I am persuaded that it will not do
so to deal with truth. These are days in which we must know what we
believe, and why we believe it. If we desire to stand fast, we must know
our standing-ground. And if we desire to see our young people growing up
as witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not merely strive to call
forth in them a religion of feeling, but must train them in sound
Scriptural principles, that they may be able to give an answer to every
one who asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them. The Romish
question is forced upon us by the enormous efforts which the Church of
Rome is making for the recovery of its ancient supremacy in England; and
I must say, and say it with the deepest grief and humiliation, I fear we
have been betrayed, in many cases, by men who, as clergymen of the Church
of England, have pledged themselves to the very principles they are
betraying. It is high time, therefore, that we should understand the
ground of our solemn protest against Rome, and that we should not merely
study truth in its simplicity, but study it likewise in its opposition to
Romish error. I purpose, however, God helping me, to direct your
thoughts this morning to one point of the controversy. I cannot attempt
the many points on which we are at issue. I confine myself, therefore,
to one; and that is, the teaching of the word of God with reference to
our exalted Saviour, in opposition to the teaching of Rome in the
doctrine of transubstantiation. May the Lord direct our studies, and
write His own truth most deeply on our hearts!
A glance at the text will show us that it refers to two subjects; the
completeness of the sacrifice offered on the cross, as in the words,
“after He had offered one sacrifice for sin for ever,” and the present
session at the right hand of God; as in the words, “sat down at the right
hand of God.” It is the second of these that we shall study this
morning.
The words teach us that at the present time our Blessed Lord and Saviour
is at the right hand of God, and they suggest two subjects, His place,
and His employment.
His place, then, is heaven itself; and His seat at the right hand of the
throne of the Father. In His real human body He has ever been like
ourselves, in one place at one time. When He was here he passed from
place to place; from Galilee to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Galilee.
So when Lazarus died He was absent from Bethany, and after his death He
went there. Just so in His ascension He passed into the heavens, and,
being there, He is as much absent from us in the body as He was absent
from Martha and Mary in their deep anxiety about their brother. When
present here, in His human person, He was absent there. Being present
there, He is now absent here. {6}
Then, again, with the place there has been a complete change in His
employment. He was here to found His kingdom and to make atonement. He
is there to carry out the results of that atonement and to reign. His
office was represented by the high priest of old, who first in the outer
court offered the sacrifice, and afterwards went in before the mercy-seat
to sprinkle the blood. So Christ Jesus here on earth offered Himself as
the sacrifice, and now He is gone into the holy of holies there to
present the blood before the mercy-seat of God. Thus He is described by
St. Peter (Acts, v. 31) as being exalted to be a “Prince and a Saviour;”
a Prince, because He is exalted as King of kings and Lord of lords; a
Saviour, because as a living friend, He is saving those whom, when on
earth, He redeemed by His blood. Every passage, therefore, which
describes Him in His present condition, represents Him as in the
possession of living power. Sometimes He is said to be reigning, as (1
Cor. xv. 25), “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His
feet.” Sometimes we see Him as the Priest (Heb. iv. 14), “Seeing then
that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God.” Sometimes He is the Advocate (1 John, ii. 1, 2), “If
any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous;” and sometimes He is the loving Friend, watching the struggles
of His faithful disciples, and waiting to welcome His dying servant in
the solemn moments of his rough and stormy martyrdom. “Behold,” said
Stephen, “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the
right hand of God;” and so, having seen it, he followed up the vision by
the dying prayer, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts, vii. 56.)
Here, then, is our delightful assurance. We look back to the work of the
cross, and there see the whole burden of all our sin borne by Him, and so
put away for ever. We ask no further sacrifice, for we know that He made
there upon the cross “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice,
oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world;” and we now
look to our Blessed Saviour as reigning and saving. Because He reigns we
know that all is rightly ordered, and because He saves we believe that we
ourselves shall be safe for eternity. We see many things in the world
that are altogether opposed to what we think best; but we know that God
has put all things under His feet, and given Him to be the Head over all
things to His Church; and, therefore, that all is in His hand, and all
will work together for good. We find deep sin in ourselves, and we know
how hard a thing it is really to walk with God. We find defect in our
prayers, defect in our faith, defect in our service, defect in our best
efforts, defect everywhere; but we look up to yonder throne, and there we
find a loving Saviour; one who knows our deep need,—one who has died for
us,—one who loves us,—one who can feel with us, and who vouchsafes to act
as our Priest and Advocate, so that in the midst of all our shortcomings
and deficiencies we may, in His Name, and through His most precious
blood, “come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in time of need.”
Let any one search the Scriptures, and they must be convinced that this
is the truth there plainly taught. But what can be more palpably
contradictory to it than to suppose that He is present, in body, soul,
and divinity, in the form of the small piece of lifeless bread which we
receive in the Lord’s Supper? In other words, that there is not only the
one Saviour in heaven at the right hand of God; but that there are two or
three hundred living Saviours collected together on the table every time
that the Lord’s Supper is administered. I am not surprised if some of
you feel shocked at such a statement, and I know that there is enough to
shock any religious mind. I am shocked at it myself, and am sorry to
have to make it. But this is the real teaching of the Church of Rome.
The decree of the Council of Trent is as follows:—“If any man shall say
that the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, together with his soul
and divinity, and, in short, that a whole Christ, is not contained,
truly, really, and substantially, in the sacrament of the most holy
Eucharist; but shall say that he is in it only in sign, or figure, or
power, let him be anathema.” (Sess. xiii. Can. 1.) Another decree goes
on to declare, “If any man shall say that in the Holy Sacrament of the
Eucharist, Christ the only begotten Son of God, is not to be adored, and
that outwardly with the worship of latreia, and that he ought not to be
carried solemnly about in processions, or that he ought not to be set
before the people that he may be worshipped, and that the worshippers of
him are idolaters, let him be anathema!” (Sess. xiii. Can. 6.) {10}
The wafer, therefore, or the piece of bread, is here said to be after
consecration nothing less than a real, living Saviour, with body, soul,
and divinity, to be worshipped with that holy, reverential worship which
belongs exclusively to the God of heaven and earth, for that is the
meaning of the word _Latreia_. There is something very awful in such a
statement. It shows that there can be no peace with Rome—no compromise,
no middle path. If they are right, we are awfully wrong. If we are
right, they are guilty of idolatry. If all these pieces of bread are
living Saviours, we have been terribly guilty in never worshipping any
one of them; but if, on the other hand, they have remained bread
still—plain, simple, unchanged bread—then we have idolatry of the most
unquestionable character when that bread is exalted by the priest for
adoration, and men fall down and worship it as the living God.
Now, on what does all this tremendous fabric rest? What is there in the
word of God to warrant it? What is there in the Scriptures of truth to
give a sanction to such a system? So far as the word of God is concerned
all hangs on the one text, “This is my body which is given for you: this
do in remembrance of me.” To these words Romanists appeal again and
again, as if they taught the doctrine, whereas the most cursory study of
the different passages in which they are contained is sufficient to show
that they mean nothing of the kind.
Let me briefly give you four reasons.
1. The words themselves prove that they are figurative. Turn to 1 Cor.
xi. 25, where we read: “This cup is the new testament in my blood.” Is
there any one blind enough to suppose that the cup was changed into the
new testament? The words must mean that the cup was an emblem of the
covenant. When our Lord said, “I am the vine,” “I am the door,” “I am
the bread of life,” He did not mean that He was changed into a vine, into
a door, or into bread, but that all these things were emblems of His
work. So He says of the cup, that it is an emblem of the covenant; and
if we would be consistent interpreters, we must believe also of the bread
that it was declared to be an emblem of the body.
2. The bread is called bread, and the wine wine, after consecration,
both by our Lord Himself and His Apostles.
In Matt. xxvi. 29, our Lord calls the wine the fruit of the vine after
consecration.
In 1 Cor. x. 17; xi. 26, 27, 28, we are all said to partake of bread:
“Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink
of that cup.”
3. Even if these words were taken literally, they would not teach the
doctrine of Rome.
I have quoted the passage from Rome in which it says there is “body,
soul, and divinity.” But what does any one of those passages say about
soul and divinity? If He had meant to teach us that the bread was
changed into His broken body, what one word is there about the soul, or
the Godhead? All that is added by Rome, and the whole fabric of
superstition based upon it is without a shadow of foundation in the word
of God. It is a vast superstructure, but, as far as the teaching of Holy
Scripture is concerned, utterly baseless.
4. Nay more, it is contrary to the words of our Lord. The words, as
given by St. Matthew (xxvi. 26–28) were: “And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my
blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins.” Of the bread, therefore, He said, “This is my body;” and of the
wine, “This is my blood.” The bread did not represent the body and blood
together, but the body only, and the wine the blood; or, if the doctrine
of transubstantiation were taught, the passage would teach that the bread
was changed into the body, and the wine into the blood. But the teaching
of Rome defies all such distinctions, though thus plainly laid down by no
less an authority than our Lord Himself, and fearlessly hurls her
anathemas against all who do not believe that the bread, and the bread
alone, is changed into body, blood, soul, and divinity, and becomes, to
use their own expression, “a whole Christ,” to be exalted, carried in
processions, and adored as a living God. The words themselves, taken
literally, are dead against such a doctrine. I am not surprised,
therefore, when I read our 28th Article, which says: “Transubstantiation
(or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of the
Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words
of Scripture.” But I am surprised that Christian people in the Church of
England should sit so light as some seem to do to a heresy of so fearful
a character, and that men should be so indifferent to truth as even to
speak of the possibility of peace with Rome.
But now, believing that there is no change whatever in the bread and
wine—that the bread remains bread, and the wine wine, what shall we say
of the practice of adoring the bread as God Himself? What can we say of
it? What is our duty to say of it? I doubt not that some may think me
very uncharitable and bigoted, but these are days in which the truth must
be spoken, and that truth I firmly believe to be that such worship is
idolatry. I do not doubt that many are sincere and conscientious in
adopting it. But that does not touch the question. Sincerity does not
prove truth. Are there none sincere when they sacrifice their lives
under the car of Juggernaut? Was not Saul of Tarsus sincere when he
persecuted the Lord Jesus in the persons of His people? I fully admit
likewise that the worship may in some be based on a deep sense of love
and reverence for our blessed Lord. But, again, that does not touch the
question. If it is bread, it is idolatry to worship it as God. If it be
still a lifeless wafer, it is idolatry to adore it as a living Saviour.
God forbid that I should speak harshly of many who have set us an example
of self-denial; and it is in no harsh spirit that I speak as I do. We
should rather feel the most tender compassion for conscientious persons,
who have been thus misled. But whatever we may think of motives, it is
impossible to alter the facts, and I see not how we can avoid the
conclusion that such worship is an awful sin in the sight of God. It is
almost impossible to turn aside the stern reproof of God by the ministry
of His prophets, Isa. xliv. 16, 17: “He burneth part thereof in the fire;
with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied:
yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he
falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith,
Deliver me; for thou art my god.”
The sense of reverence may take a wrong as well as a right direction. It
led John himself to worship an angel, and to bring on himself the severe
reproof which he has so faithfully recorded, and it may lead misguided
men to give that which is not God the worship due to God alone. But
while we think this, let none fall short in the deepest reverence. None
can adore Him enough; none can be holy enough in His presence and at His
feet. But it is the living Saviour at the right hand of God whom we will
adore. It is the Prince on the throne, the Priest at the right hand of
the Father. It is the living, reigning, triumphant Saviour, “far above
all principalities and powers, and might and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to
come;” and not a small piece of lifeless bread, which is said to have
been turned into God by the miraculous powers of a priest.