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Show HISTORY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER believer. however, that most people look upon. It thus today for most people slug if they enjoy It and if thoy do not they remain silent. In other words both prayer and praise so essential parts of the old time communion service need to bo re-ln-vlgorated with tho sacrificial Idea until un-til they are again offerings to tbe Divine Di-vine and not contored in self. " Tho simple bread and win on the lxrd's table can preach and doe preach a sermon more Hoquont than any uttered by the lips of men. 1 1 herefore tc people love It best and attend It most How wondrously rich is a belief, which has such a custom nnd teaching. How grand a posses Mod In any life is the 6lmplo Christian Christ-ian faith. If you have It not you aro robbing your character of its best ally al-ly nnd your soul of its greatest work. arated from the communion and held upon a separate evening. We note that it was In those days a supper. It was held In the evening and hence the name. During the limes of persecution In Rome, it was changed to before daylight in the morning that the gathering might cause lesR attention. This grow to permanency, and It was changed only to tho morning hour of worship. We note also that soou the feasting night drew from the communion all but the bread and wine, so that only tho two ingredients, especially referred to by Christ, became associated with the regular communion. Tbo early feast known as "agape," i or "love feast" did much to develop and strengthen the spirit of unity and brotherhood in the early church. There wa9 a time when infant communion com-munion was permitted Just as infant baptism Is today, because the children child-ren were considered as children of the covenant. This is still a custom in some of the churches of the East. In early times the communion was held dally, and In the evening. Now both of these customs are disregarded. Thus It Is that through many and grandal changes the old time Passover sacrifice, with all the noise and confusion con-fusion about tbe burning altar, has been changed by many and varied Influences In-fluences Into the simple and spiritual spirit-ual services of today. The church is a living and growing Institution, men like Lo, Augustine, I.uthor. Kliox, Wesley, and Moody lead It Into new. lines of service and trends of thought. Its adaptability for expansion Is one season of Its power . over all races and ages. It I loses none of its vitality or quickening power while It constantly Is able to confront and meet new conditions. The root meaning of this, the most universal of Christian ordinances, Is that of the most fundamental of Christian teaching, namely, sacrifice It was fundamental In the altar and lamb of olden tlmo and basic in the body that was broken and wine that was shed for us on Calvary. It has the same message for us today In the teaching of tho sacrifice of self and of prayer and praise. Has It this msanlng for us today? We are living In a day when worldly and external riches are so alluring that we almost forget the true and abiding wealth of soul and mind and heart. We aro prone to count wealth and Joy not by what we are In ourselves of worth, but by what we have and enjoy of external things. But real Joy and peace is yet found not in what he have but in what we are. Con It be that the reason fo many aro seek-1 lug the light pastimes of tho day is because of the poverty of their real lives and the resultant no-ablllty to enjoy the best things? The ideal and duty of simple denial is needed If real 6elf Is to grow In value, and It is Just that that has made the communion com-munion a power In religious growth. The early church placed much Importance Import-ance upon tho praise and prayer at tbe communion meeting. They did It because they saw a real sacrifice in both prayer and praise In prayer, because they looked upon prayer more ns a worship of gratitude and adoration adora-tion than as a simple begging for favors fav-ors desired. z We fear that we are not very "apostolic" In our prayers We need to learn anew that prayer has more glorious ends than begging of God, j that It le a sacrifice of real cclf In worshiping God- Teet it In your own life. How large a portion of your prayer Is given to asking for those things you deslro. and how much to lt-al worship of God The true Idea of praise la also In olden thought that of personal sacrifice, we hardly be- The services In the First Presbyterian Presby-terian church Sunday evening had for n theme "Tho Development and Place of tho Lord's Supper In the Christian Church," being the second In tho series In "The Growth and Development of the Christian Churcii and Its Institutions." Rev. Carver i said In part: 1 "There are very few direct commands com-mands of the Christ literally fulfilled today. One of these Is the commaud which he gave at the institution of the Lord's Supper when he said. "This do In remembrance of me" Moreover thU is the one command which has done mo&t to unite all hl8 followers, fol-lowers, for It is very seldom that one sect will not commune with another an-other at their Master's table. Jesus Christ was never anxious to commence com-mence a new religious observance. Moat of his work was that of rein terpretatlng the teaching of the past He took the best of the past and, by giving It now jtower. through hid better spirit, continued it The Lord's Supper was but the old Passover Pass-over feast made new. That feast, celebrating the deliverance of the' Jewish people from bondage In Egypt, was changed to celebrate our dollver' ance from sin through unity in, and redemption of. Christ. "As that little company gathered in the. upper room on that first communion com-munion night, thoy linked the new to tho old by using the same materials for their feast that had been hallowed hal-lowed by their nation In long ages of yearly convocations. Thore was the wine and water mingled for thoy never used strong wine at the Passover. Pass-over. There was the unleaven bread the "sop" a mixture of fruits and vinegar, the Passover meat, either lamb or fish, in later years It was at ways fish. The blttor herbs, all speaking speak-ing eloquently of the great history of their race. The doubtless sang the same grand psalms which had echoed for centuries at the great annual assemblies In Jerusalem, and they parted with the kiss of good fellowship aud earnest good will As late as the Third century the' kiss was a regular feature of the communion com-munion meal, and It is still maintained main-tained by the Coptic and Dunkard church. Soon the Influence of the Grecian clubs wrought a marked change In the observance of this supper. It developed de-veloped Into a feast or banquet provided pro-vided by each bringing their share, and after the meal was ended each In turn was called upon to either give some interesting spiritual experience experi-ence or exhortation, or to sing a Christian hymn. It can be readily seen how in a community just em-ciglng em-ciglng from heathendom these feast-lngs feast-lngs would sometimes run to excesg, as in the caso of the Corinthian church which called forth Paul's stinging rebuke In his first letter to that body. Tho younger Pliny wrote to Trojan a lengthy account of these feastlngs as observed by his church in IJythloia. about 112 A D. How-over. How-over. Justin Martyr tolls us thirty-five thirty-five years later that tho feast of good fellowship had then been sep-j |