Simeon’s Embrace: Intentionality in Theology and Administration of the
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in Early Puritan New England
By Charles A. Packer

Preface
The early Puritans held a very high view of the meaning and practice of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Within many Protestant traditions today, there seems to be a significant degree of confusion regarding the theology and administration of this sacrament. In “Simeon’s Embrace,” a paradigm is established for understanding historical perspectives on the Lord’s Supper, and suggestions are made as to how the contemporary church can reclaim the early Puritan understanding of the sacrament, which emphasized intentionality, discipline, and clarity of heart and mind.

Introduction
In Lewis Bayly’s The Practice of Piety, suggestion is given as to how a communicant might receive, partake, and meditate upon the receipt of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. One particular piece of instruction invites and encourages a person when receiving the sacrament to, “Embrace him [Christ] sweetly with thy faith in the Sacrament, as ever Simeon hugged him with his arms in his swaddling clouts.” ¹  A couple of exegetical comments are in order in regard to this biblical reference to Luke 2:25-35. First, there is the matter of Simeon’s posture in “waiting” or “looking forward to the consolation of Israel.” Simeon’s attitude of expectant hope and devoted anticipation earned him Luke’s attributions of being “righteous and virtuous.” Second, and perhaps more crucially, it is noteworthy that Simeon immediately recognized the Christ-child and “took him in his arms.” Simeon’s was an informed embrace, one for which preparation had been made. When Simeon embraced the child Jesus, he was reflecting the understanding of the new covenant put forth in Jeremiah 31:33-34:

But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after those days--declares the Lord: I will put My teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Lord”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me-- declares the Lord.

 For Simeon, explanation was not necessary. He identified the promised messiah without pause and without benefit of introduction. Simeon understood the intention of God because it was inscribed on his heart.

The model of Simeon’s embrace provides a fitting means of comprehending the Puritan understanding of the necessity of inner knowledge prior to partaking of the Lord’s Supper. For the early Puritans, it was absolutely essential that the communicant come to the Lord’s Table with an informed mind and an intuitive heart. This paper will examine the theme of intentionality in the theology and administration of the Lord’s Supper in early Puritan New England. The chronological parameters of this study, then, will roughly correspond with the period of time beginning with 1640 Puritan New England, acknowledging English influence, and ending approximately around 1730. Because the primary orientation of this treatment will be theological and thematic, this paper will very broadly consider the trends and transitions in thought and practice of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper that characterize this period.

The Meaning of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in Early Puritan New England
Within the early Puritan movement, the Lord’s Supper was of unique importance. For Samuel Sewall of the Old South Meeting House, “the Lord’s Supper was the center of the Christian experience.” ² There was a sense of sacredness surrounding observance of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, and in fact, the sacraments in general. As Hambrick-Stowe explains, “The rituals of Baptism and Communion as they were performed in New England churches reminded participants and witnesses of the redemptive drama that framed their spiritual existence.” ³ The sacraments functioned, then, to draw communicants into the life of faith. They deepened the meaning of their Christian lives, and enriched their understanding of Christ’s sacrifice and our redemption on the cross.
This is not to say that there was any clear consensus of belief in how the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper specifically worked in the heart of the believer. In considering Puritan theology of the Lord’s Supper, three views were chiefly held. One of these maintained that the importance of the sacrament was located in the attitude of the recipient. This was “a highly subjective spirituality that allowed a concern for inward preparation to overshadow the objective reality of the sacrament.” ⁴  A second perspective contended that the Lord’s Supper acted as “a converting ordinance.” ⁵  It was thus “capable of converting the unregenerate by evoking their internal assent to the Gospel." ⁶ This was very much the basis for the argument of Solomon Stoddard, who began a controversy in 1677 over the openness of the Lord’s Table that would last for several decades, and in fact influence transitions in thought and practice well into the nineteenth century. The third interpretation of the meaning of the Lord’s Supper claimed the mystical presence of Christ in the sacrament. This view was propagated especially effectively through the sacramental manuals produced around the turn of the eighteenth century. ⁷  There was, then, heterodoxy of thought for the early Puritans of New England in regard to the efficacy of the sacrament. What remained consistent, however, was the utmost concern for the sanctity of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and its proper administration.

The meaning of the Lord’s Supper for the early Puritans must not be detached from its Reformed context. As is prominent in Calvinist doctrine, the proclamation of the word and the celebration of the sacrament were inseparable. In fact, the elements of the Lord’s Supper are perceived as “themselves ‘preachers’ of the Word.” ⁸ Thus, the sacrament fulfills its function as a “’visible gospel.’” ⁹  Perhaps it is this emphasis on the visible gospel that encouraged the rise of conversionism and sacramental evangelism in the late seventeenth century. Both Increase and Cotton Mather “argu[ed] that the sacrament itself helped add grace to what communicants began with.” ¹⁰  Furthermore, Increase Mather maintained “that those who received the communion in a loving frame of mind could expect a soul-ravishing awareness of love for Christ and for the church far greater than might otherwise be known.” ¹¹  One result of this late seventeenth century movement toward conversionism was an increase in production of communion manuals and preparatory meditations. Such publications “were written to provide assistance in mental and spiritual preparation for participation in the sacrament, and new emphasis was placed upon the experience of communion itself.” ¹²  Poetic meditations such as those written by the renowned pastor-poet Edward Taylor highlight the intrinsic efficacy of the experience of communion:

Oh! Feed me at they Table, make Grace grow
Knead in thy Bread, I eate, thy love to mee,
And spice thy Cup I take, with rich grace so,
That at thy Table I may honor thee.¹³

In his poem, “The Experience,” Taylor again describes the powerful occurrence of being brought near to God in the sacrament:

Oh! that I alwayes breath’d in such an aire,
As I suckt in, feeding on sweet Content!
Disht up unto my Soul ev’n in that pray’re
Pour’de out to God over last Sacrament.
What Beam of Light wrapt up my sight to finde
Me neerer God than ere Came in my minde?...
Oh! that the Flame which thou didst on me Cast
Might me enflame, and Lighten ery where.
Then Heaven to me would be less at last
So much of heaven I should have while here.
Oh! Sweet though Short! Ile not forget the same.
My neerness, Lord, to thee did me Enflame. ¹⁴  

The inner experience of the individual believer in the process of partaking of holy communion was of central significance for the early Puritans.
It is important to remember, however, that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated by the individual believer in the context of the community of faith. John Von Rohr quotes Robert Browne’s statement that in the Lord’s Supper “’we grow into one body, the church, in one communion of graces, whereof Christ is the head.’” ¹⁵ It is this communal understanding of the Lord’s Supper that served to emphasize the responsibility of the individual to the body of Christ. In this way, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper had a covenantal function, one which was not lost on the early Puritans. Scottish commissioners to the Westminster Assembly Samuel Rutherford and George Gillespie, described the sacrament as “’a confirming and sealing ordinance,’” one which “’seal[ed] unto a man that interest in Christ and in the covenant of grace which he already hath.’” ¹⁶ Matthew Henry’s Communicant’s Companion also takes up the covenantal theme, characterizing the sacrament as “’a commemorating Ordinance, and a confessing Ordinance; a communicating Ordinance, and a covenanting Ordinance.’” ¹⁷ A prayer given by Increase Mather on the occasion of the Lord’s Supper also focuses on the covenantal nature of the sacrament:
 

O Heavenly Father and our God in Jesus Christ,
wee have avouched thee to be our God,
and now we know that thou hast avouched us to be thi people,
because thou hast given us thi son,
and thou wilt with him give us all things.

Father, wee humbly expect from thee,
that according to thi Covenant, even the new Covenant,
thou wilt forgive us our iniquities.

Such is the grace of thi Covenant
as that thou wilt not impute our infirmities to us,
if they be our burden,
and thou knowest that they are so.

Wee put the Answer of our prayers upon that,
and are willing to be denyed if it be not so.

But thou that searchest hearts,
knowest that thou hast created such a spirit within us.

Wee are willing to be delivered from all sin,
and we are willing to yeild Holy perfect obedience
to all thi commands,
tho’ how to perform wee find not.
Father, Father, deal with us as with thi children.¹⁸

As the individual affirmed his or her covenant with God in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, he or she was also affirming unity with the community of faith in covenant relationship. The language of Mather’s poetry indicates that it is with acute awareness of the binding nature of the covenant with God and with one another that one approached the table. As Hambrick-Stowe writes, “The sacraments were...explicit renewals of the covenant.” ¹⁹ This was also made clear in Eucharistic manuals and sermons, which taught that “’in receiving the Lord’s Supper, we renew covenant with God.’” ²⁰ Richard Baxter speaks of this aspect of the sacrament in charging clergy in “every administration of the Lord’s Supper [to call men] to renew their covenant with God...” ²¹ The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for the early Puritans both acted to seal the covenant with God and the individual in the community of faith, and to renew it.

Intentionality in the Administration of the Lord’s Supper in Early Puritan New England
The covenant community in Puritan New England was entered into voluntarily and by informed consent. It was also entered into with the utmost caution. For the early Puritans, “[h]oliness of life was essential to church communion.” ²² Participation in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was certainly subject to this condition. Most Puritan ministers held the perspective that “it was a meal for the holy rather than a means to produce holiness.” ²³ Henry Barrow even likened the “[celebration of] the Lord’s Supper in an impure church [to] ‘casting the precious body and blood of Christ to dogs and hogs.’” ²⁴ The administration of the Lord’s Supper was a matter of the strictest discernment, precisely because it involved sealing the covenant relationship with God and with one another.

Mediating the sealing of the covenant required making communicants aware of the covenant they were affirming or renewing. This necessitated careful consideration of how the sacrament was administered, to whom, and how often. The first measure instituted by the early Puritans in this endeavor was that of church discipline. Following the model of the Reformers John Calvin and Martin Bucer, who “required every adult member of the church to demonstrate his outward moral fitness before he could receive the Lord’s Supper,” the Puritans maintained conditional admission to the table.²⁵ It was held in many churches that “[n]o one...could receive the benefits of discipline, including admission to the sacraments, unless he offered evidence of belonging within the covenant of grace.” ²⁶ Thus, as Gerald Cragg asserts, “The result of this power to admit to the Lord’s Table or to debar from it was a particularly close connection between discipline and the sacrament.” ²⁷ What was sought from the potential communicant was “repentance and faith” as “the conditions for admission.” ²⁸ The way in which these conditions were determined as proven was through interrogation and demonstration of having had a religious or conversion experience. In addition, moral character and virtue were investigated. Alice Morse Earle in her book, The Sabbath in Puritan New England, even describes the practice of some New England churches of “giving during the month a metal check to each worthy and truly virtuous church-member, on presentation of which the check-bearer was entitled to partake of the communion, and without which he was temporarily excommunicated.” ²⁹ Though there are no records indicating excessive discord or indignation over this procedure, “[g]reat must have been the disgrace of one who found himself checkless at the end of the month, and greater even than the heart-burnings over seating the meeting must have been the jealousies and church quarrels that arose over the communion-checks.” ³⁰ It was vital that those who came to the table were honorable bearers of the covenant.

The second means by which the early Puritans were intentional in their administration of the sacrament is by instruction. Individuals participating in the Lord’s Supper must come to the table informed about the sacrament and its meaning. The Puritans took great pains in fulfilling their didactic duty in regard to the sacrament. As “Puritan sacramental theology was practical and pastoral,” it was necessary for the minister to make plain the dynamics involved in partaking of the Lord’s Supper.³¹ To this end, “[t]he ministers copiously described the symbolic content of the sacramental actions and elements, hoping that the service would thus convey doctrinal information.” ³² Richard Baxter saw the instruction of communicants as a far more effective way of preparing them for the sacrament than discipline. He “lamented the tendency to mourn over the corruptions of communicants instead of studying ‘the love of God in Christ’ in the sacrament.” ³³ Not only were communicants to be honorable bearers of the covenant, but they were to also be educated bearers, as well.

Finally, the early Puritans found it necessary to be intentional in regard to the frequency of celebration of the Lord’s Supper. There were several different perspectives on this matter held by the early Puritans, ranging from weekly to bi-annual observation. In Puritan England, “Separatists favored weekly Lord’s Day observance of the sacrament, and Congregationalists in Cromwell’s Commonwealth also followed this plan.” ³⁴ This model was also followed in John Robinson’s church in Leyden, where “[t]he Lord’s Supper was a part of every Sunday morning worship.” ³⁵ Charles Chauncy, minister of the Plymouth church in the seventeenth century “practiced weekly communion as the Biblical norm.” ³⁶ More common, however, in Puritan New England, was the practice of the sacrament on a monthly basis. The records at the church at Salem “report communion the first Lord’s Day of each month without interruption.” ³⁷ One who sought a compromise between weekly and monthly communion was Samuel Sewall, who strongly urged First Congregational Church in Boston to celebrate the sacrament every four weeks.³⁸ Still other churches, more Presbyterian in polity, established bi-annual observance.³⁹ Regardless of the particular practice of the churches, it is clear that the early Puritans took up the matter of frequency of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with absolute seriousness and careful deliberation. Communicants were to be regular participants in the sacrament.

All of these concerns in the practice and administration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper served to emphasize the necessity of covenantal awareness before approaching the table. The Puritans were careful to make communicants fully cognizant of the sacredness of the act in which they were to participate. Preparation was crucial to partaking appropriately of the sacrament.

Conclusion
This historical and theological survey is not simply an academic exercise, but one which presents a binding challenge to the worship of the heirs of the early Puritans.  Just as the early Puritan divines felt it to be their sacred duty to enlighten communicants about the weighty matter in which they were preparing to engage, so should ministers among current practitioners in the Congregational Way take seriously their obligation to guide parishioners to an informed understanding about the sacrament.  While most adherents to Protestant traditions would balk at the notion of enacting tests by which to measure worthiness of participants in the Lord’s Supper, there are certainly ways in which to preserve the intent of the early Puritans in the administration of the sacrament.

One way for pastors to educate communicants is through careful preaching about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.  As word and sacrament are inextricably entwined, the word must reveal the sacrament just as the sacrament sheds light on the word.  Education is the most basic way by which to inform participants about the sacrament.

A second way that clergy and lay leaders can lead communicants to deeper comprehension of the sanctity of the sacrament is through observing a high degree of reverence in its administration.  Attitude can be taught by example.  By conveying an attitude of holiness toward the sacrament, those approaching the table can acquire a heightened awareness about the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.

The third way that a church can faithfully impart meaning about the sacrament is through regular observance.  The early Puritans were very methodical and intentional about their selection of dates of celebration.  A standard practice among the Puritan churches was the observance of the sacrament on the first Sunday, or Lord’s Day, of the month, regardless of the frequency by which it occurred.

At the opening of this analysis of early Puritan theology and practice of the Lord’s Supper, the paradigm of Simeon’s embrace was suggested to assist in comprehending the intentionality by which the sacrament was observed and administered.  This intentionality was not meant to enslave, burden, or bar participants wishing to come to the table, though this is often an interpretation applied to the Puritans.  Rather, it was designed to create within the gathered body of Christ a proper attitude and understanding about the meaning of the sacrament.  In this way, the communicant could come to the table, affirm or renew their covenant with God and with one another, and embrace the sacrament fully prepared and aware, just as Simeon embraced the Christ-child.

¹ Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England (Chapel Hill, 1982), 33 (Return to text)
² Doug Adams, Meeting House to Camp Meeting:  Toward a History of American Free Church Worship from 1620 to 1835 (Austin, Texas, 1981), 82. (Return to text)
³ Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety, 124. (Return to text)
⁴ E. Brooks Holifield, The Covenant Sealed:  The Development of Puritan Sacramental Theology in Old and New England, 1570-1720 (New Haven and London, 1974), 109. (Return to text)
⁵ Horton Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629-1730 (New York, 1990), 169. (Return to text)
⁶ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 109. (Return to text)
⁷ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 109. (Return to text)
⁸ John Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 1620-1957 (Cleveland, Ohio, 1992), 48. (Return to text)
⁹ ibid, 48. (Return to text)
¹⁰ David D. Hall, The Faithful Shepherd:  A History of the New England Ministry in the Seventeenth Century (New York, 1982), 256. (Return to text)
¹¹ Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 169. (Return to text)
¹² ibid, 169. (Return to text)
¹³ Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety, 214. (Return to text)
¹⁴ Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, Early New England Meditative Poetry (New York, 1988), 162. (Return to text)
¹⁵ Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 48. (Return to text)
¹⁶ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 115 (Return to text)
¹⁷ Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 175. (Return to text)
¹⁸ Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 146-147. (Return to text)
¹⁹ Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety, 130. (Return to text)
²⁰ ibid, 130. (Return to text)
²¹ Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (Portland, Oregon:  1982), 37. (Return to text)
²² Gerald R. Cragg, Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, 1660-1688 (Cambridge, 1957), 168. (Return to text)
²³ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 164.  (Return to text)
²⁴ Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 48. (Return to text)
²⁵ Hall, The Faithful Shepherd, 18. (Return to text)
²⁶ ibid, 96. (Return to text)
²⁷ Cragg, Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, 169. (Return to text)
²⁸ Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 17. (Return to text)
²⁹ Alice Morse Earle, The Sabbath in Puritan New England (Williamstown, Massachusetts: 1974), 120. (Return to text)
³⁰ ibid, 120-121. (Return to text)
³¹ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 73. (Return to text)
³² ibid, 54. (Return to text)
³³ Holifield, The Covenant Sealed, 128. (Return to text)
³⁴ Von Rohr, The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 48-49. (Return to text)
³⁵ Adams, Meeting House to Camp Meeting, 62-63. (Return to text)
³⁶ ibid, 80. (Return to text)
³⁷ ibid, 81. (Return to text)
³⁸ ibid, 83. (Return to text)
³⁹ Earle, The Sabbath in Puritan New England, 122-123. (Return to text)


Works Cited

Adams, Doug. Meeting House to Camp Meeting: Toward a History of American Free Church Worship from 1620 to 1835. Austin, Texas: The Sharing Company, 1981.
Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor. Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1982.
Cragg, Gerald R. Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, 1660-1688. London: Cambridge University Press, 1957.
Davies, Horton. The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629-1730. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.,1990.
Earle, Alice Morse. The Sabbath in Puritan New England. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Corner House Publishers, 1974.
Hall, David D. The Faithful Shepherd: A History of the New England Ministry in the Seventeenth Century. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1972.
Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E., editor. Early New England Meditative Poetry. New York:Paulist Press, 1988.
Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England. Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1982.
Holifield, E. Brooks. The Covenant Sealed: The Development of Puritan Sacramental Theology in Old and New England, 1570-1720. London: Yale University Press, 1974.
Von Rohr, John. The Shaping of American Congregationalism, 1620-1957. Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 1992.