Savior in love divine,
'Tis Thou hast made us free
To eat the bread and drink the wine
In memory, Lord of Thee.
Oh! if this taste of love
To us is now so sweet,
What will it be, O Lord, above
Thy blessed Self to meet?
To see Thee face to face,
Thy perfect likeness wear,
And all Thy ways of wondrous grace
Through endless years declare.
Sir E. Denny.
Lord's Day, March 18
I WENT into Mr. Kelly's bedroom early this morning, and after our usual greeting, I said to him, "It is the Lord's Day, Mr. Kelly, I am so sorry you cannot go to the Breaking of Bread." A little further conversation and I left him. I had only gone a few minutes when I was told that our dear friend had a great desire to remember the Lord in His death. It was early in the morning, but he was emphatic in his wish, and the table was spread with the bread and the wine. Mrs. C., my wife and I, and S. W. gathered around his bed. He lay with his hands clasped, and then said with a loud clear voice, "Let us give thanks unto the Lord.”
It was a silent thanksgiving for awhile, and then I gave thanks and broke the bread; and the cup was passed from lip to lip, amid a silence that all felt was in the presence of the Lord. Most beautifully did dear Mr. Kelly give thanks; he spoke of the Lord's presence being surely with us, although the circumstances were unusual and he thanked the Lord. Then we silently rose from our knees, and left him lying peacefully with his hands folded, his lips moving in prayer, and a calm, rapt look upon his face. Oh! what sacred memories will cling to that blessed time! The dying saint—the Lord remembered in the broken bread, and the poured out wine. The thanksgiving from those feeble lips. The deep sense of the presence of our risen and ascended Lord. What it meant to him! What it should mean to all of us! "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come.”
Speaking the same afternoon with Mr. T. M., Mr. Kelly, said, "The cross of Christ is real, the hatred of the world is real, the love of God is real.”
In saying good-bye, Mr. M, said: "We'll meet in the glory." "Yes," he added, "in the glory.”
For the remainder of the day he was quietly resting, bursting out in praise now and again, "We thank Thee, O Lord.”
Before I speak of the last breaking of bread we had with our beloved brother the Sunday before he passed away, I would like to bring before you in his own words what he has said concerning it in his LECTURES ON THE CHURCH OF GOD.
I wish to put it between the two remembrances of the Lord, so that we may the better realize all it meant to him and what it should mean to us. On page 149 he says:"The Lord's Supper.... is primarily and strictly the standing sign of our only foundation; it is the witness of His love unto death and His work, by virtue of which such as we can worship. No wonder, therefore, we have the Apostle Paul showing the very solemn and blessed place which the Lord's Supper claims in the revelations of the Lord to him.
“‘I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This Cup is the New Testament in My blood; this do ye, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come.’
“It is evident, on the face of the statement, what a large and deep place the Lord's death has in His Supper. No joy, no brightness of the favor of God in heaven, no consequent communion, nor hopes of everlasting blessedness with Him, can be allowed for a moment to detract from, or overshadow, the death of the Lord. But the reverse is the truth: for the more the Lord's death has its own central value before the Christian, all these things shine out not only more brightly, but also more sweetly and affectingly to the heart. And so the same man who was God's blessed instrument for developing the full extent of the Christian's privileges, is the very one who gathers us around our Lord's death, as that which pre-eminently attracts and fills every heart that loves His name.
"From Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7), it is plain that the saints should break bread on the first day of the week, not of the month or quarter. But it is the resurrection day, not the day of His death, as if we were summoned to be there in mourning as for the dead. But He is risen, and therefore, with grateful, solemn joy, we take the Supper on the day that speaks of His rising power ... ..
"The death of the Lord keeps constantly before the soul our utter need as once guilty sinners, proved by the Cross: the complete blotting out of all our sins by His blood: the glorifying of God up to, and above all in, death itself; the manifestation of absolute grace, and withal the righteousness of God in justifying us; the perfect glory of the Savior:—all these things, and infinitely more, are brought and kept before us in those simple but wondrous words:—‘The Lord's death!’
“To take the Supper in remembrance of the Lord, and thus show forth His death, is what gathers us together as our prime desire. There can be no doubt about the meaning of the word of God which records this for our comfort and edifying; yet how could one infer that such was His will if one looked at the practice of Christians? Compare what they are doing Lord's-day after Lord's-day, with the obvious lessons of scripture, and intention of the Lord in so revealing His mind to us; and say whether for the most part this simple, touching memorial has not been slighted by real saints, and whether its character has not been changed universally in Christendom.
“Beware of thinking anything can be of equal moment with duly showing forth the Lord's death. The Supper of the Lord claims an unequivocal prominence in the worship of the saints. Not that one thinks of the mere fact of celebrating it, as to time, in the middle of the meeting. Indeed, it is remarkable how the Spirit of God avoids laying down laws about the Supper (and the same is true of Christianity in general)—a circumstance which the unfaithful may abuse, but which gives infinitely greater scope to the spirit of Christian affection and obedience. This however we may safely say, that it is not a question of the point of time when the act of breaking the bread occurs. The all-important thing is, that the Lord's Supper should be the governing thought when the saints are gathered for this purpose on the Lord's-day; that neither the prayers of many, nor the teaching of any, should put that great object in the shade. In ministry, however spiritual, man has his place; in the Supper, if rightly celebrated, the abased Lord alone is exalted. There might be occasions where the evident guidance of the Spirit brings it early before us, or postpones it late in the meeting, and thus any technical rule binding it to the beginning, or middle, or end, would be human encroachment on Him who alone is competent on each occasion and always to decide.”
These are solemn and weighty words, worthy the deep consideration of every Christian.
Sunday, March 25
This was a day of great anxiety to one and all.
I quite intended going to the Breaking of Bread with some brothers who had come from a distance to see Mr. Kelly, but at the last moment it was thought better that I should not, and I stayed at home.
The Lord's hand was in my remaining, for about a quarter after ten, we noticed a most serious and ominous change, which came on quite suddenly and without any warning.
The pulse almost ceased to beat, and the end seemed very near; so near that one was led to say, "He will be in heaven while they are at the Breaking of Bread." Again he rallied, and the pulse recovered strength.
At ten minutes to twelve I left him only to be summoned a few minutes later. Weak as he was, he had expressed a wish to remember the Lord once more in His death. Again the table was spread and we gathered around; at this time his two daughters, Miss W-, my wife and I, and S. W-. His hand had to be guided to the bread which he was almost too weak to swallow. He took no audible part, but lay quiet and still with his eyes closed.
No one had reminded him that it was the Lord's Day. He had rallied to remember his Lord once more, faithful to his Savior's wishes to the end.
O! what is the remembrance of our Lord to us? Should not the Lord's table be the happiest, holiest, place on earth for every Christian? What an unspeakable privilege to be where "Jesus is in the midst," there to remember Him in His death!
May the words and example of our beloved brother make us feel more and more the solemn responsibility that rests upon us, not to neglect this great duty and this high privilege.
Lord, let us ne'er forget
Thy rich, Thy precious love;
OUR theme of joy and wonder here.
OUR endless song above.
Oh! let Thy love constrain
OUR souls to cleave to Thee,
And ever in OUR hearts remain
That word, "Remember Me!”
F. G. Deck.