[Table of Contents]
[Previous] [Next]		 Benjamin Lyon Smith
The Millennial Harbinger Abridged (1902)

 

VIII. WEEKLY COMMUNION.

      As we read in the Scripture, that "on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread;" and as the records show that it was the invariable custom of the early Christians to commemorate the death of Christ on every first day of the week, we conceive that this order should be carefully maintained and attended to by all the churches now. We regard it as the great and special object of the [353] Lord's day meeting thus to commemorate the love of Christ, but it is usual to add prayer, exhortation, teaching, etc., for mutual edification. Since pious and learned men of all parties have often deplored the departure of the modern churches from this ancient order of things, and have labored to restore the weekly observance of the Lord's supper, we may justly regard the practice as sanctioned by the best authority, and its propriety placed beyond the reach of controversy.

[ROBERT RICHARDSON.]      

      1 Persons sometimes wonder why these words should be placed in this order, and why the water should be mentioned last, since in immersion follows, in order of time, the spiritual influence of the gospel. A moment's reflection, however, will show that this is the proper order, and the one actually most appropriate from the nature of the figure. A child, literally, must be born of its mother, before it can be said to be born of its father, and such is precisely the order of enunciation observed in the figure. [353]

Source:
      Robert Richardson. "Principles and Purposes of the Reformation: A Brief Account of the Principles and
Purposes of the Religious Reformation Urged by A. Campbell, and Others.--VIII. Weekly Communion."
The Millennial Harbinger 23 (December 1852): 706.
      NOTE: Included in Robert Richardson's The Principles and Objects of the Religious Reformation, Urged by A. Campbell and Others, Briefly Stated and Explained. 2d ed., rev. and enl. Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1853, pp. 83-85.

 

[MHA2 353-354]

[Table of Contents]
[Previous] [Next]		 Benjamin Lyon Smith
The Millennial Harbinger Abridged (1902)