The Communicant's Companion
"As the body without the soul is dead," so our seeing and receiving bread and wine, if therein we see and receive not Christ crucified, is dead also.
2. It is an oath.—That is the ancient signification of the word sacrament.
The Romans called the oath which soldiers took to be true to their general, Sacramentum militare; and our law still uses it in this sense: dicunt super sacramentum suum, "they say upon their oath;" so that to take the sacrament is to take an oath, a solemn oath, by which we bind our souls with a bond unto the Lord. It is an oath of allegiance to the Lord Jesus, by which we engage ourselves to be his dutiful and loyal subjects, acknowledging him to be our rightful Lord and Sovereign It is as a freeman's oath, by which we enter ourselves members of Christ's mystical body, and oblige ourselves to observe the laws, and seek the good of that Jerusalem which is from above, that we may enjoy the privileges of that great charter by which it is incorporated. An oath is an appeal to God's knowledge of our sincerity and truth in what we assert or promise; and in this ordinance we make such an appeal as Peter did: "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." An oath is an imprecation of God's wrath upon ourselves, if we deal falsely, and willfully prevaricate; and something of that also there is in this sacrament; for if we continue in league with sin, while we pretend to covenant with God, "we eat and drink judgment to ourselves."
Let us, therefore, according to the character of a virtuous man, fear this oath; not fear to take it, for it is our duty, with all possible solemnity, to oblige ourselves to the Lord; but fear to break it, for oaths are not to be jested with. God hath said it, and hath sworn it by himself: "Unto me every tongue shall swear." But he hath also said, that we must swear to him "in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness;" and having sworn, we must