What was Charles Spurgeon view on The Lord's Supper?

Question

I was just reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon and wondered what his view on the Lord's Supper was.

Answer 1

“This is my body, which is for you.” That is to say, Christ is for you—does not the supper itself say that? The bread represents His body for you—the wine represents His blood for you. We know that it is for you, because you are going to eat it. There is nothing that is more certainly a man’s than what he eats or drinks. (Sermon: THE RIGHT OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER, 1899)

This indicates he held a memorialistic view of communion.

Further:

[Referring to 1 Corinthians 11:26] Just in passing, notice that it is bread that they eat, and it is wine that they drink; nothing is said about transubstantiation here; but “as often as ye eat this bread,” — and it is bread, and nothing but bread, — “and drink this cup,” which still remains but a cup, and its contents just what they were before, — “ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” (Sermon: The Object of the Lord's Supper, 1877)

Answer 2

This is from a communion address given by C.H. Spurgeon in December 1882, at the close of the College Conference. There is far too much in the booklet to copy here, so I will take a few extracts, to give you the flavour of what it would have been like to sit in such a gathering, around the Lord's table that day.

"We have nothing now to think of but our Lord. We come to Him that He mat cause us to forget all others. We are not here as ministers, cumbered with much serving, be we now sit at His feet with Mary, or lean on His bosom with John. The Lord Himself gives us our watchword. 'Remember me' is the loving command. We beseech Him to fill the full circle of our memory as the sun fills the heavens and the earth with light. We are to think only of Jesus, and of Him only will I speak. Oh for a touch of the live coal from Him who is our Altar as well as our Sacrifice!

The text is found in the words of John, in Revelation chapter one, at verses 17 & 18: 'And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.'

John was of all men the most familiar with Jesus: if any man could have stood erect in the presence of the glorified Saviour, it would have been that disciple whom Jesus loved. Love permits us to take great liberties: the child will climb the knee of his royal father, and no man accuses it of presuming; John had such love, yet even he could not look into the face of the Lord of glory without being overcome with awe... A clear view of our Lord's heavenly splendour while we are here on earth would not be fitting, for it would not be profitable for us always to be lying in a swoon at our Redeemer's feet, while there is so much work for us to do.

...If we are permitted to see Christ in the simple and instructive memorials which are now upon the table, we shall in a blessed sense fall at his feet as dead. For, first, here we see provision for the removal of our sin, and we are thus reminded of it. Here is the bread broken because we must have been broken for ever had there not been a bruised Saviour. In this wine we see the token of the blood with which we must be cleansed, or else be foul things to be cast away into the burnings of Tophet, because abominable in the sight of God. Inasmuch as we have before us the memorial of the Atonement for sin, it reminds us of our death in sin in which we should still have remained but for that grace which spake to us of life and salvation... We sin and still need the cleansing blood. How this humbles us before the Lord! We are to be winners of sinners, and yet we ourselves are sinners still, needing as truly the bread of life as those to whom we serve it out.

...We may well fall at Jesus' feet, though He only reveals in bread and wine, for these convey a sense of our sinnership while they remind us of how our Lord met our sin and put it away. Herein we fall as low as the dead. Where is the 'I'? Where is the self-glorying? Have you any left in the presence of the crucified Saviour? As you in spirit eat His flesh and drink His blood can you glory in your own flesh, or feel the pride of blood and birth? Fie upon us if there mingles a tinge of pride with our ministry, or a taint of sef-laudation with our success. When we see Jesus our Saviour, the Saviour of sinners, surely self will sink and humility will fall at His feet. When we think of Gethsemane and Calvary, and all our great Redeemer's pain and agony, surely by the Holy Ghost self-glorying, self-seeking, and self-will must fall as though slain with a deadly wound. "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."

Here, also, we learn a second lesson. Jesus has placed upon this table food. The bread sets forth all that is necessary, and the cup all that is luxurious: provision for all our wants and for all our right desires: all that we need for sustenance and joy... Brothers, we are Gentlemen Commoners upon the great bounty of our great Kinsman; we come to his tab le for our maintenance: we have no establishments of our own. He who feeds the sparrows feed our souls; in spiritual things we no more gather into barns than do the blessed birds; our heavenly Father feeds us from that 'all fulness' which it hath pleased Him to lay up for us in Jesus. We could not live an hour spiritually without Him who is not only our bread, but life; not only the wine which cheereth, but consolation itself. Our life hangs upon Jesus; He is our head as well as our food... He is the great One who feeds us, who give us all that we enjoy, who is our all in all; and as for us, we are suppliants - I had almost said mendicants - a community of Begging Freres, to all personal spiritual wealth as dead on the slain on Marathon. The black slave at least could claim his own breath, but we cannot even claim that. The Spirit of God must give us spiritual breath, or our life will expire. When we think of this, surely the sight of Christ in this bread and wine, though it be a dim vision compared with that which ravished the heart of John, will make us fall at the Redeemer's feet as dead...

Now let us consider how we get alive again, and so know the Lord as the resurrection and the life. "He laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

His foot has been pierced for us, and it cannot b e that foot which has been nailed to the cross for His people should ever trample them in His wrath. "He laid His right hand upon me." The right hand of His strength and of His glory He laid upon His fainting servant. It was the hand of a man. It is the right hand of Him who in all our afflictions was afflicted, who is a brother born for adversity. Hence. everything about His hand has a reviving influence...

This Lord's supper represents the giving of the whole body of Christ to us, to enter into us for food; surely if we enter into its true meaning we mat expect to be revived and vitalized; for we have here more than a mere touch of the hand, it is the whole Christ that enters into us spiritually, and so comes into contact with our innermost being. I believe in 'the real presence,' do not you? The carnal presence is another thing: that we do not even desire. Lord Jesus, come into a many handed contact with us, and us in thee.

Still there was something else wanted, for our Lord Jesus, after the touch, gave the word, 'Fear not; I am the first and the last.' He did not direct His servant to look at himself, but to remember the great I AM, his Saviour, and Lord. The living comfort of every swooning child of God, of everyone who is conscious of a death-wound to the natural 'I' lies in that majestic 'I' which alone can say 'I am'. You live because there is an 'I am' who has life in Himself, and has that life for you. 'I am the first' I have gone before you and prepared your way; I loved you before you loved me; I ordained your whole course in life before you were in existence. In every work of grace for you and within you, I am first. And I also am the last, perfecting that which concerns you, and keeping you unto the end. A am the Alpha and the Omega to you, and all the letters inbetween...

Read on, 'I am He that liveth'. Because I live, ye shall live also; no real death shall befall you, for death hath no more dominion over me - your head, your life. While there is a living Christ in heaven no believer shall ever se death: he shall sleep in Jesus, and that is all, for even then he shall be fore ever with the Lord.

Read on, 'And was dead'. Therefore, though you die you shall go no lower than I went; and you shall be brought up again even as I have returned from the tomb. Think of Jesus as having traversed the realm of death-shade, and you will not fear to follow in His track. Where should the dying members rest but on the same couch with their once dying Head.

'And behold, I am alive for evermore.' We serve an ever-living Lord... The believing heart can never be a widow, for its husband is the living God. Our Lord Jesus will not leave us orphans, He will come unto us. Here is our joy, then: not in ourselves, but in the fact that he ever lives to carry out the Father's good pleasure in us and for us. Onward, soldiers of the cross, for an immortal Captain leads the way.

Read once more, 'And have the keys of hell and of death'. The prince of evil, the devil, hath not the keys of his own house! They are swinging at the girdle of Christ! Surely I shall never go to hell, for my Lord Jesus turned the key against my entrance long ago. The doors of hell were locked for me when He died on my behalf... Whenever He chooses, He can cage the devouring lion, and restrain the power for evil. That day is coming, for the dragon hath great wrath, knowing that his time is short... When Joshua, the high priest, stood before the angel clothed in filthy garments, Satan stood at his right hand to resist hi, but he was silenced by being told of the election of God: 'The Lord which hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.' Ah, brethren, when Christ's right hand is upon us the evil one departs. He knows too well the weight of that right hand.

Conclude the verse - 'And of death'. Our Lord has the keys of death, and this will be a joyful fact to us hen our last hours alive... We feel quite confident to go wherever he leads us. Our bodies shall descend into what men call a charnel-house, though it is really the unrobing-room of saints, the vestibule of heaven, the wardrobe of our dress where it shall be cleansed and perfected. Our bodies shall rise again in the likeness of 'the Lord from heaven'. So if the worst fear that crosses you should be realised, and you should literally die at your Lord's feet, there is no cause for dread, and no enemy can do you harm, since the divine right hand is pledged to deliver you to the end. Let us give the Well-beloved the most devout and fervent praise as we now partake of this regal festival. The King sitteth at His table - let our spikenard give forth its sweetest small. Amen. Sword and the Trowel, December 1882."