Everything to Everyone

Thomas Goodwin compared the benefits of sermons to the benefits of participation in the Supper, and the Supper came out slightly ahead: “Many things in a Sermon thou understandest not, and haply not many Sermons; or if thou doest, yet findest not thy portion in them; but here to be sure thou mayest. Of Sermons, some are for comfort, some to inform, some to excite; but here in the Sacrament is all thou canst expect. Christ is here light, and wisdom, and comfort, and all to thee. He is here an eye to the blind, a food to the lame; yea, everything to everyone.” Goodwin compared the sermon to the variable moon and the Supper to the constant sun.

In his Communicant’s Companion , Matthew Henry made a similar point: “God in this ordinance not only assures us of the Truth of the Promise, but, according to our present Case and Capacity, conveys to us, by his Spirit, the good Things promis’d; Receive Christ Jesus the Lord , Christ and a Pardon, Christ and Peace, Christ and Grace, Christ and heaven; ‘tis all your own, if you come to the Terms on which it is offer’d in the Gospel.”