West Port Experiment

“This is their [Romanist] argument; whereof ye see their conclusion to be this: We get no other new thing in the sacrament than we do in the word, if there be no perception but spiritual. Ergo, the sacrament, is superfluous. We admit the antecedent to be true; we get no other thing, nor no new thing in the sacrament, but the same thing which we got in the word. I would have thee devise and imagine with thyself, what new thing thou wouldest have: let the heart of man devise, imagine, and wish; he durst never have thought to have such a thing as the Son of God; he durst never have presumed, to have pierced the clouds, to have ascended so high, as to have craved the Son of God in His flesh, to be the food of his soul. Having the Son of God, thou hast Him who is the heir of all things; who is King of heaven and earth; and in Him thou hast all things. What more then canst thou wish? What better thing canst thou wish ? He is equal with the Father, one in substance with the Father, true God, and true man, what more canst thou wish? Therefore, I say, we get no other thing in the sacrament than we had in the word: content thee with this. But suppose it be so; yet the sacrament is not superfluous. For wouldest thou understand what new thing thou obtainest, what other thing tbou gettest? I will tell thee. Suppose thou get that same thing which thou hadst in the word, yet thou gettest that same thing better. What is that better? Thou obtainest a greater and surer hold of that same thing in tire sacrament, than thou hadst by the hearing of the word. That same thing which thou possessedst by the hearing of the word, thou dost possess now more largely; He has larger bounds in thy soul by the receiving of the sacrament, than otherwise He could have by the hearing of the word only. Then, wilt thou ask what new thing we get? I say, we get this new thing : we get Christ better than we did before; we get the thing which we had, more fully, that is, with a surer apprehension than we had of it before; we get a greater hold of Christ now. For by the sacrament my faith is nourished, the bounds of my soul are enlarged: and so, whereas I had but a little hold of Christ before, as it were between my finger and my thumb, now I get Him in my whole hand; and still the more that my faith grows, the better hold I get of Christ Jesus. So the sacrament is very necessary, if it were no more but to get Christ better, and to get a closer apprehension of Him, by the Sacrament than we could have before.”

The following is an extremely profound passage from Robert Bruce’s magisterial treatise on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Listen to this chapter in audio here. Those who may not be used to the older style may benefit from a modern rendition available here. Access more titles in the WPE Audio library.

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