the special comfort and
strengthening of those who humbly confess their sins and who hunger
and thirst after righteousness."

It is true that multitudes do not regard it as a means or channel
of Grace. To them it is only an ancient rite or ceremony, having no
special significance or blessing connected with it. It is at most a
symbol, a sign, or representation of something, entirely absent and in
no way connected with it. If there is any blessing at all attached to
it, it consists in the pious thoughts, the holy emotions and sacred
memories, which the communicant tries to bring to it and which are in
some way deepened by it. At best, it is a memorial of an absent
Saviour, and in some form a representation of His sufferings and
death.

Now if this were all that we could see in the Lord's Supper, we
would not regard it as a part of God's Way of Salvation. But our
Church sees much more in it. With her it is indeed an essential and
integral part of that Way. And since this is another of the few points
on which the Lutheran Church differs materially from many others, it
will be well for us to devote some space and time to its study.

Much has been written on this important subject. We may not have
anything new to add, but it is well often to recall and re-study the
old truths, so easily forgotten. Before we consider the nature of this
sacrament, we will make a few preliminary observations that will help
us to guard against false views, and to arrive at correct conclusions.

We observe first, the importance of bearing in mind the _source_
from which this institution has come. Who is its author? What is the
nature or character of its origin? Our views of any institution are
generally more or less influenced by thus considering its origin.
Whence then did the Church get this ordinance which she has ever so
conscientiously kept and devoutly celebrated? Did it emanate from the
wisdom of man? Did some zealous mystic or hermit invent it, because
forsooth he supposed it would be pleasant and profitable to have such
an ordinance in the Church? Or did some early Church Council institute
it, because those earnest fathers in their wisdom deemed it necessary
that the Church should have such a service? Can it, in short, be
traced to any _human_ origin? If so, then we can deal with it as with
any other human institution. We are then at liberty to reason and
speculate about it. We can apply to it the rules of human s