Martin Bucer on the Lord's Supper

Martin Bucer is often times referred to as the Forgotten Reformer; yet, he had a great influence on the Protestant Reformation. He took the young John Calvin under his wing and mentored him  when Calvin was in Strasbourg. Bucer even introduced Calvin to his wife! Bucer also had a hand in shaping the second edition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer under the direction of Thomas Cranmer. The following excerpt on the Lord's Supper is taken from Bucer's Strasbourg liturgy of 1539. He begins with a brief instruction on the holy supper:



The first: that, since the Lord now wishes to communicate His body and blood to us, we should reflect upon the fact that our body and blood which means, our whole nature are corrupted to all evil and thus to eternal death, so that they of themselves may nevermore share in the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15). 

The second: that to deliver us from such corruption, the eternal Word of God became flesh, so that there might be a holy flesh and blood: this is to say, a truly divine man, through whom the flesh and blood of us all would be restored and sanctified. And this happens as we truly eat and drink of His body and blood. 

The third: that the Lord truly offers and gives His holy and sanctifying body and blood to us in the Holy Supper, with the visible things of bread and wine, through the ministry of the Church, as His holy Word declares: Take and eat, this is My body which is given for you; drink all of it, this is My blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sin. And we must accept this Word of the Lord with simple faith, and doubt not that He, the Lord Himself, is in the midst of us through the external ministry of the Church which He Himself has ordained for that purpose. Such does He proclaim to us with His own words: that the bread which we break may truly be, even for us, the communion of His body, and the cup with which we give thanks, the communion of His blood (1 Cor. 10). But we must always diligently consider why the Lord thus imparts to us His holy, sanctifying communion in the holy sacrament: namely, that He may ever more live in us, and that we may be one body in Him, our Head, even as we all partake here of one bread (1 Cor. 10). 

The fourth: that in this action, we keep the Lord's memorial and feast with true devotion and thankfulness, so that we always laud and praise Him in all our words and deeds, yea with our whole life, for all His benefits: for His Incarnation and bitter death whereby He has paid for our sin; for this blessed communion of His body and blood; that is, for Himself entire, who is true God and man, through whom alone we obtain the true and blessed life both here and in eternity.