ASSEMBLY LETTERS
Fourth Letter
My dear Brother:—
The grand
point then, surely, in the Lord's Supper is the remembrance of Him, while doing
it nevertheless in the apprehension of His presence with us always, according
to His promise, "In the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto Thee." We
shall best enter into His praise as we most simply have our eyes fixed upon
Himself - as our sayings and doings cease to occupy us, and we become receptive
of His glory, and of His joy. Thus the pipes will be filled and the stream of
praise flow out. The scene in the upper chamber at Jerusalem will be repeated;
only upon His dear face will be no shadow of the darkness soon to come, but the
brightness of a morning without clouds, the morning of resurrection. His own
hands will distribute the bread to us, the melody of His own praise will fill
our hearts; the nearness in which He stands to God will make our meeting to be
indeed in the holiest of all, as He presents us to His Father and our Father.
Oh that He Himself were thus ever before us as the great Actor in the
Presence-chamber of God, anticipating His future Melchisedec work, as He brings
forth the bread and wine, and blesses God in our behalf, and blesses us from
God.
Only let me guard this from any mistake. We must not so conceive
His acting for and by us here, as to suppose it needful to exclude His being
the object of praise as well as the Giver. We must not think it an interruption
if our voice break in, too, with "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain"; for here
the Spirit of God is only putting us "in communion with the Father," as well as
"with His Son Jesus Christ." Surely we may say this is needed, in order that
"fulness of joy," which the apostle connects with this, may be manifested in
our assembly. Would there be no lack of harmony in the Father's ear, if the
note of praise to the Beloved Son were absent from our worship? Does not the
Father claim our communion with Himself, as also the Son with Himself? Do we
worship the Father aright, when we refuse or omit the worship of the Son? When
every knee shall bow in subjection to the Son, it will be "to the glory of God
the Father"; and now, as our hearts bow in homage to the Son, the Father too is
glorified.
If it be asked, "When the Lord gave thanks in the upper
chamber at Jerusalem, did He give thanks unto Himself?" It may be fully
conceded that He did not and could not; but this by no means implies that we
are in such sense either to imitate Him, or to be His mouthpieces, as to be
excluded from His praise. Pipes we may be through which His joy and praise flow
forth; but yet not mere pipes; the figure would fail, if thus pressed, as all
figures somewhere fail. We are not mere pipes, or machines, but beings with
hearts, which, if God fills and uses, He uses according to their nature, not
arbitrarily repressing the emotions stirred by Himself. Our praise would not be
even the echo of His praise if He who leads it has not His own place in
it.
"Communion with the Father" necessitates it, as I have said: and
without communion with the Father, the whole character of worship, which is the
fruit of communion, is fatally lowered. I return to what we were just now
considering, that occupation with Christ is what is to give character to
gathering at His table. From this, worship will follow, not as legal
requirement, and not as an official performance, but as the overflow of hearts
filled up with Him.
The tendency to degenerate into officialism has to
be watched and guarded against. So many, alas, are not just in the requisite
state of soul - so many who are occupied all the week with other things, and on
the Lord's day are disposed to hand over to others the activities of a priestly
calling which belongs to all. Hence, certain individuals come to be looked upon
as the quasi-official priesthood; and especially those who are known as
publicly engaged in the Lord's work - preachers and teachers, for example - are
apt to be put into this place.
A long step towards clericalism is thus
taken, and an actual, if not formal, barrier is set up to any saint beside,
especially if illiterate, infringing upon that which comes to be looked upon as
the place of a special few.
This is a great evil, and which is budding
out extensively into a real quenching of the Spirit, and destruction of the
power of worship, while those engaged in secular employments (so called)
shelter their unspirituality under these. Let brethren look to it how they
acquiesce in this, whether by putting or being put into any such distinctive
place. Worship is not official; and all God's saints are worshippers; women
alone being (because of what is suited to their creation place) enjoined to be
silent in the assembly. All other restriction is unscriptural and injurious;
and terribly so the thought of any lawful calling (lawful to the Christian, of
course I mean) being opposed or derogatory to spirituality. If we cannot "abide
with God" in it, we have no business with it at all. No real duty is a weight.
If it seem to be so to us, either it is not a duty, or we are not taking it up
in reality as such.
But, in fact, there are few places like the Lord's
table for revealing to oneself the true state of one's soul. If with the
precious memorials of His death before us, and Himself present in our midst,
the Holy Ghost, who is come to occupy us with Him, is only able to occupy us
with ourselves; or worse still, if our thoughts wander without rebuke from Him
Who should have power to engage them with Himself, what does it reveal but a
state in which Christ shares but the lesser portion of a divided heart?
Whatever our burdens, whatever filled our hands or took up our time - were our
hearts free, what a holiday time that would be in which they could escape to
the object of their desire! And the blessed Spirit of God - could He lack power
or will to fulfil the work which He has taken upon Himself? The rabble of
disorderly thoughts - could they press in to take possession of a soul in the
presence of its Lord?
May He possess us so with Himself that all else
shall fall into its place in the great anthem which our lives should raise to
Him, and which should never find more complete and harmonious expression than
when, with Himself before us, we (anticipating the song of eternity) "show the
Lord's death until He come." -F. W. G.
THE END
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