John and Charles Wesley were the founders of the Methodist Movement, but both were also ordained clergymen of the Church of England.  In 1745 the Wesleys published a collection of hymns entitled Hymns on the Lord’s Supper.  These hymns were analysed by J. Ernest Rattenbury in his 1948 work entitled The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley.  Rattenbury’s book (in the reprinted edition of 1996 and edited by Timothy Crouch) will be used in this case study in an attempt to assess the eucharistic theology of the Wesley brothers.

In the Introduction to the American Edition of Rattenbury’s book, Don Saliers, an academic from Emory University in the United States of America, puts the view that the Wesley’s hymns “articulate a profound sense of the Church as the priesthood of all believers” and a “connection between the early Methodists and the primitive Church” (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vi).  In Saliers assessment the Wesley’s hymns contributed a profound convergence between Catholic and Evangelical theology in relation to the Eucharist, although “the Catholicism of the Wesleys was much more ante-Nicene than medieval” (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vi).  Saliers also observes that the Wesley’s hymns show a devotion to the wounds of Christ and make considerable use of the language of blood atonement.  All this is done while expressing “the intense joy of Eucharistic participation” (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vi).  What the Wesleys did in their hymns was to present a liveliness of sacramental imagery and sharing which was revolutionary in the 18th century Anglican context.  There is a prominence of sacrificial themes and sacrificial imagery in the hymns which many Evangelicals found difficult, but this reflects more than anything else the Wesleys wish to “articulate the relationship between the self-giving of Christ for the salvation of the world and the Church’s own self-offering in union with Christ” (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vii).  The concept of sacrament and sacrifice is in fact at the centre of the hymns written by the Wesleys, the genesis of which owe much, claims Saliers and Rattenbury, to the influence on the Wesleys of Daniel Brevint’s 1673 treatise The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice.  Brevint’s work has been considered in depth in his case study (2.5).

The important point to consider in speaking of sacrificial notions in the eucharistic hymns of the Wesleys is to note that they seem to be “anti-Roman yet strongly sacrificial” (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vii).  Saliers argues that there is nothing of the repetition of Calvary as a propitiatory sacrifice in their hymns, yet their hymns give the notion of sacrifice in the Eucharist a real place.  The theology of the Wesley brothers also affirms the efficacy of the Eucharist as a means of grace.  Saliers quotes this line from one the Wesley hymns (Hymn 71):

“The sign transmits the signified …”

to make his point (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vii).  This suggests that the sign is the vehicle for tranmitting the signified grace to the communicant and therefore an expression of a realist theology of the Eucharist.

Saliers also makes the point that the Wesleys are careful in their hymns when they speak of the concept of eucharistic presence.  They consistently reject any notion of transubstantiation and mere memorialism, and seem to accept the Calvinist doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (Saliers, in Rattenbury, 1996: vii).

The eucharistic hymns of John and Charles Wesley will now be considered in more detail.

Despite what has been said above it appears that some of the Wesley hymns have a distinct memorialist tenor to them (Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Section I, ‘As it is a Memorial of the Suffering and Death of Christ’, Hymns 1-27, in Rattenbury, 1996: 161-168).  Hymn 1, for example, calls to mind the historical event of the Last Supper in a purely memorialist fashion.

“In the sad memorable night

When Jesus was for us betray’d,

He left His death-recording rite,

He took, and bless’d and brake the bread,

And gave His own their last bequest,

And this His love’s intent express:

Take, eat, this is My Body, given

To purchase life and peace for you,

Pardon and holiness and heaven;

Do this My dying love to show,

Accept your precious legacy,

And thus, My friends, remember Me.

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 1, in Rattenbury, 1996: 161)

The hymn stresses the memorial nature of the Eucharist in the way in which it records the events of the Last Supper.  It also stresses how Christians should do this in memory of Christ.  There is no specifically realist element in this hymn, since sign and signified are not linked in any real or objective way, but only in the memorial act of the communicant.  The prevailing concept here in one of theological reflection and devotion, rather than a realist linking of sign and signified.

Rattenbury in his consideration of the Wesley’s doctrine of the real presence however, observes that they definitely held a theology of the Eucharist which was more than memorialist, but which used very specific language.  “What is clear is, that when they communicated … the Wesleys did not only remember Calvary, but expected to meet the Lord at His Table” (Rattenbury, 1996: 24).  In Section II of their hymns the Wesleys present a theology of the Eucharist where symbol is presented as a means of grace (Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Section II, ‘As it is a Sign and a Means of Grace’, Hymns 28-92, in Rattenbury, 1996: 168-183).  Hymn 33 for example, says:

“Jesu, dear, redeeming Lord,

Magnify Thy dying word;

In Thy ordinance appear,

Come and meet Thy followers here.

In the rite Thou hast enjoin’d

Let us now our Saviour find,

Drink Thy blood for sinners shed

Taste Thee in the broken bread.

Thou our faithful hearts prepare,

Thou Thy pardoning grace declare;

Thou that hast for sinners died,

Show Thyself the Crucified.”

(Hymns of the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 33, in Rattenbury, 1996: 169).

There seems to be a definite association here between not only the Eucharist as a whole and Christ (e.g. ‘In Thy ordinance appear’) but also between the sign and the signified (e.g. ‘Drink Thy blood for sinners shed’ and ‘Taste thee in the broken bread’).  It was expected that Christ would be present in the Eucharist and the hymn entreats Christ to show himself.  These quotes strongly suggest a realist interpretation where the sign (either the Eucharist as a whole or the bread and wine) is linked with the signified (Christ’s body and blood).  At first glance it could even be said that there are immoderate realist overtones here (e.g. ‘Drink Thy blood’ and ‘Taste Thee’) but such a conclusion must be impossible in view of the Wesley’s rejection of such views in other places.  Hymn 28 makes such a conclusion plain when it speaks of the Eucharist as:

“Author or our salvation, Thee

With lowly thankful hearts we praise,

Author of this great mystery,

Figure and means of saving grace.

The sacred true effectual Sign

Thy Body and the Blood it shows

Thy glorious Instrument Divine

Thy Mercy and Thy strength bestows.

We see the blood that seals our peace,

Thy pardoning mercy we receive:

The bread doth visibly express

The strength through which our spirits live.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 28, in Rattenbury, 1996: 168)

Here the words ‘figure’ and ‘means’ are applied to the ‘mystery’ and the bread and wine are described as ‘sacred true effectual signs’ and as an ‘instrument’, thus suggesting not immoderate realism or carnal presence, but rather a moderate and yet real presence of the body and blood of Christ in and through the signs of the Eucharist.  The presence is real since the third verse speaks of seeing the blood and bread visibly expressing the presence of Christ, but it is clear that the strength which this supplies is something that makes the spirits of the communicants live.  It seems more likely to conclude that the presence spoken of here, in admittedly very realist terms, is a real, yet spiritual presence.  For the Wesleys, real presence seems to mean a spiritual presence, not a natural or carnal presence.  If this conclusion is accepted then it is moderate realism that is being spoken of this hymn and not immoderate realism.

Hymn 30 clarifies the type of realism of which the Wesleys speak, by saying:

“Jesu, at whose supreme command

We thus approach to God,

Before us in Thy vesture stand,

Thy vesture dipp’d in blood.

Obedient to Thy gracious word,

We break the hallow’d bread,

Commemorate Thee, our dying Lord,

And trust on Thee to feed.

Now, Saviour, now Thyself reveal,

And make Thy nature known;

Affix the sacramental seal,

And stamp us for Thine own.

The tokens of Thy dying love

O let us all receive

And feel the quickening Spirit move,

And sensibly believe.

The cup of blessing, blest by Thee,

Let it Thy blood impart;

The bread Thy mystic body be,

And cheer each languid heart.

The grace which sure salvation brings

Let us herewith receive;

Satiate the hungry with good things,

The hidden manna give.

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 30, in Rattenbury, 1996: 168).

Here the ‘vesture’ in which Christ stands at the Eucharist appears to be the bread and wine, but this sign is closely associated with the signified, since the sign has been ‘dipp’d in blood’.  The feeding that results from the receipt of the bread by the communicant is real since it is on Christ that the person feeds (verse 2), but this is qualified as a ‘sacramental seal’, thus suggesting moderate realism.  This conclusion is strengthened in verse 3 when the bread and wine are described as ‘tokens’ and where belief is described using the word ‘sensibly’.  ‘Sensibly’ is closely associated with ‘quickening Spirit’ (previous line) suggesting that the nature of this sensible experience is a spiritual and yet real one (moderate realism) and not a natural or carnal one (immoderate realism).  The last verse describes the ‘manna’ (presumably the gift of the Eucharist or the signified blessings of the body and blood of Christ) as ‘hidden’.  This suggests that the signified is not available to the human eye in a physical fashion, but available as to faith.  This is confirmed by Hymn 62 which describes the Eucharist as:

“The heavenly ordinances shine,

And speak their origin Divine.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 62, in Rattenbury, 1996: 176).

The Eucharist does not depend upon the faith of the communicant for its origin.  Rather the Eucharist is of divine origin.  Faith is essential to the reception of the sacrament but the sacramental grace is independent of faith.  The sacramental elements must therefore have an objective value and power apart from the faith of the communicant.  This does not mean however, that the elements are changed from their natural condition, since when speaking of the bread and wine in Hymn 57, the Wesleys say:

“These the virtue did convey

Yet still remain the same.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 57, in Rattenbury, 1996: 174).

The bread and wine contain the grace, but the manner of this occurring is unknown, since in the same hymn these words are found:

“Sure and real is the grace

The manner be unknown.”

(Hymns of the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 57, in Rattenbury, 1996: 174).

The grace is conveyed by the symbol.  The grace does not depend on the faith of the communicant and so possess an objective or divine quality, and the manner of all this occurring is unknown but nonetheless real.  Perhaps some sense of how this occurs is given in Hymn 58 where the words say:

“Thy power into the means infuse,

And give them now their sacred use.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 58, in Rattenbury, 1996: 174).

Although the manner of the grace being conveyed to the symbol is uncertain, it is certain that it is God who is the source of the grace and it is God who ‘infuses’ the grace into the ‘means’, that is, the symbols.  The source of the infusion seems to be the Holy Spirit though, since in Hymn 72 is found these words:

“Come, Holy Ghost, Thine influence shed,

And realize the sign;

Thy life infuse into the bread;

Thy power into the wine.

Effectual let the tokens prove,

And made, by heavenly art,

Fit channels to convey Thy love

To every faithful heart.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 72, in Rattenbury, 1996: 177).

Once again the signs are spoken of as being ‘effectual’ and ‘tokens’, but they are not empty signs, since it is the Holy Spirit who infuses life and power into them.  Once the Holy Spirit has done its work then the signs are ‘fit channels to convey’ God’s love to the faithful communicant.  Clearly this is a spiritual happening and not a natural one since the words of the hymn speak of ‘heavenly art’ not some natural happening.

All this continues to suggest that the realism being spoken of here is moderate, since the linking of the grace, value and power of the signified with the sacramental elements (the signs) is indicative of moderate realism.

Further evidence of a clear expression of moderate realism, where sign and signified are linked, is found in Hymn 71.  In this hymn is found these words:

“Draw near, ye blood-bespeckled race,

And take what vouchsafes to give;

The outward sign of inward grace,

Ordain’d by Christ Himself, receive:

The sign transmits the signified,

The grace is by the means applied.

Sure pledges of His dying love,

Receive the sacramental meat,

And feel the virtue from above,

The mystic flesh of Jesus eat,

Drink with the wine His healing blood,

And feast on th’ Incarnate God.

Gross misconceit be far away!

Through faith we on His body feed

Faith only cloth the Spirit convey,

And fills our souls with living bread,

Th’effects of Jesu’s death imparts,

And pours His blood into our hearts.

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 71, in Rattenbury, 1996: 177).

Moderate realism is here affirmed by the reference to outward signs and inward grace and by the words, ‘The sign transmits the signified’.  Clearly the Wesleys were of the view the signs of the Eucharist, the bread and wine, were the means whereby the inward grace, the blessings of the body and blood of Christ, were given to the communicant.  In receiving the signs, the signified was received, since it is by the outward means that the inward grace was seen to be applied.  The outward signs are referred to as ‘pledges’, assuring the communicant of the presence of Christ in the outward signs.  Through the pledges the communicant is assured of the heavenly virtue present in the sacrament, in such a way that Christ’s flesh is eaten and his blood is drunk.  God incarnate is present in the Eucharist and available for feasting.  Verse 3 makes it clear that no immoderate realism is intended by dispelling any idea of ‘gross misconceit’ in the Eucharist.  It is through faith that the communicant is aware of the spiritual and yet real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  The notions of moderate realism are clearly the underlying idea of real presence in this hymn.

It is important to note that even though the Wesley’s express a clear moderate realism in their hymns regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, this presence is usually generalised to the whole Eucharist, with some reference to the signs as being the means of the real presence.  Rattenbury argues that it would be going too far to argue that the Wesleys had any notion of the real presence being confined to the eucharistic wafer.  They certainly excluded any notion of a local presence in the immoderate sense of realism, as is shown by reference to Hymn 63, which states:

“No local Deity

We worship, Lord, in Thee:”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 63, in Rattenbury, 1996: 176).

The sense of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist was not one of being locked up in the elements, although the bread and wine were clearly seen as the means whereby the grace was given.  This is made clear in Hymn 116 where the words speak of Christ’s presence in a more generalised manner.  This hymn says:

“We need not now go up to heaven,

To bring the long-sought Saviour down;

Thou art to all already given,

Thou dost even now Thy banquet crown:

To every faithful soul appear,

And show Thy real presence here!”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 116, in Rattenbury, 1996: 189).

Here is a picture of Christ crowning the banquet, as host and guest, present already and not confined in any way to a eucharistic element.  Clearly such a narrow form of the eucharistic real presence of Christ is not part of the theology present in the hymns of the Wesleys, but the real presence, expressed as a moderate realism, most certainly is.  This is confirmed by the frequent use of the word ‘chiefly’ in the hymns.  In Hymn 91, for example, is found the line:

“If chiefly here Thou mayst be found.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 91, in Rattenbury, 1996: 182).

This suggests that Christ is found in places other than the Eucharist, but that ‘chiefly’ he is found here, that is, in the sacrament of the Eucharist in a general sense.  The presence of Christ spoken of here is really a personal presence, not one beneath or in the elements.  Rattenbury concludes therefore that the notion of the real presence held by the Wesleys is not that of transubstantiation or any Anglo-Catholic equivalent (Rattenbury, 1996: 47) but only that of actual instruments or material channels by which the grace of Christ was communicated. 

Rattenbury’s point is a necessary one, however it seems that he is overstating the case for both transubstantiation and Anglo-Catholicism.  Transubstantiation in its moderate sense does not imply a fleshy or localised presence.  Anglo-Catholics are not limited to such notions either.  What Rattenbury seems to overlook is that the Wesleys in their eucharistic hymns are really expressing a moderate realism, in common with transubstantiation as set forth by say Aquinas and as set forth by many Anglo-Catholic theologians.  In both cases, for those who accept transubstantiation and for Anglo-Catholic theologians, immoderate realism and localised presence are excluded.  The difference seems to be in the way that transubstantiation and Anglo-Catholicism, whilst acknowledging a more generalised presence of Christ in the Eucharist (e.g. in the word, in the congregation, in the president), sees the elements as the focus of the presence.  The Wesleys seem prepared to acknowledge that the sign is linked with the signified, but not prepared to acknowledged that the elements are the focus of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  For them the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is in the whole institution.

Evidence for the idea of the Eucharist as sacrifice is to be found in Section IV of the Wesley hymns (Hymns of the Lord’s Supper, Section IV, ‘The Holy Eucharist as it implies a Sacrifice’, Hymns 116-127, in Rattenbury, 1996: 189-192).  Rattenbury argues that the Wesleys believed in the offering of a sacrifice by those authorised to do so.  In a letter written on 30 December, 1745 to his brother-in-law, Westley Hall, John Wesley wrote:

“We believe there is, and always was, in every Christian Church (whether dependent on the Bishop of Rome or not), an outward priesthood, ordained by Jesus Christ, and an outward sacrifice offered therein by those authorised to act as Ambassadors of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God.” (Letters of John Wesley, Standard Edition, Volume II, pages 55-56, cited in Rattenbury, 1996: 68).

Rattenbury concludes that since this letter was written at the end of 1745, the year in which Hymns on the Lord’s Supper was published, then “the hymns dealing with Eucharistic Sacrifice must be judged as products of men who believed that there were priests who made an offering of an outward sacrifice” (Rattenbury, 1996: 69).  It seems unlikely that the Wesleys would continue to publish hymns relating to eucharistic sacrifice unless they believed in a concept of an outward eucharistic sacrifice.  Clearly the outward eucharistic sacrifice does not exist on its own and so it can be assumed that the Wesleys concept of eucharistic sacrifice is realist, since the outward sign (the eucharistic sacrifice) is linked with the inward signified sacrifice (the sacrifice of the cross).  The Wesleys repudiated any notions of the Eucharist as a meritorious or propitiatory sacrifice, but they did not repudiate eucharistic sacrifice entirely.

Rattenbury puts the case that Charles Wesley’s hymns concerning eucharistic sacrifice were inspired by the a passage in Brevint’s 1673 work entitled, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice.  Here Brevint says:

“The main intention of Christ herein, was not, the bare Remembrance of his Passion; but over and above, to invite us to his Sacrifice, not as done and gone many Years since, but, as to Grace and Mercy, still lasting, still new, still the same as when it was first offer’d for us.” (Brevint, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, cited in Rattenbury, 1996: 82).

If Rattenbury is correct then Charles Wesley is distancing himself from mere memorialism in the Eucharist and associating himself with a living tradition of eucharistic sacrifice.  This theology of eucharistic sacrifice is expressed by Wesley in Hymn 116.  Here he says:

“VICTIM DIVINE, Thy grace we claim

While thus Thy precious death we show

Once offer’d up, a spotless Lamb,

In Thy great temple here below,

Thou didst for all mankind atone

And standest now before the throne.

Thou standest in the holiest place,

As now for guilty sinners slain

Thy blood of sprinkling speaks, and prays,

All-prevalent for helpless man

Thy blood is still our ransom found,

And spreads salvation all around.

The smoke of Thy atonement here

Darken’d the sun and rent the veil,

Made the new way to heaven appear,

And show’d the great Invisible;

Well pleased in Thee our God look’d down,

And called His rebels to a crown.

He still respects Thy sacrfice,

Its savour sweet doth always please;

The offering smokes through earth and skies,

Diffusing life, and joy, and peace;

To these Thy lower courts it comes,

And fills them with divine perfumes.

We need not now go up to heaven,

To bring the long-sought Saviour down;

Thou art to all already given,

Thou doest even now Thy banquet crown:

To every faithful soul appear,

And show Thy real presence here!

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 116, in Rattenbury, 1996: 189).

Wesley here in very realist language refers to Christ as a divine victim, whose grace is claimed in the present and shown in the Eucharist.  The sign (the Eucharist) is clearly linked with the signified (the sacrifice of Christ).  It is true that the sacrifice was offered in the past (‘Once offer’d up’) but it is also true that it is offered now (‘In Thy great temple here below’) in the earth or the Church.  Christ’s atonement was in the past, but the fact of Christ standing ‘now before the throne’ is an indication of the continuing and present offering of the sacrifice.  The ‘blood of sprinkling speaks, and prays’, suggesting the current work of the sacrifice – a pleading of the sacrifice before the throne of God.  The blood once offered is not limited to the past since it ‘is still our ransom found’ and its present work ‘spreads salvation all around’.  The eucharistic sacrifice is an effectual sign of the sacrifice of Christ.  The ‘savour sweet’ of Christ’s sacrifice is not limited to a past event since it ‘doth always please’ diffusing its effect (life, joy and peace) through earth (‘these lower courts’) and heaven.

The connection of Hymn 116 to Brevint’s earlier work is clear when the following passage from Brevint’s The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice is considered.  Brevint says:

“This Victim having been offered up in the Fullness of Times, and in the midst of the World, which is Christ’s Great Temple, and having been thence carried up to Heaven, which is his Sanctuary; from thence spreads Salvation all around, as the Burnt-offering did its Smoke.  And thus his body and Blood have every where, but especially at this Sacrament, a true and Real Presence.  When he offered himself upon Earth, the Vapour of his Atonement went up and darkened the very Sun: And by rending the Great Veil, it clearly shew’d, he had made a Way into Heaven.  And since he is gone up, he sends down to Earth the Graces that spring continually both from his everlasting Sacrifice, and from the continual Intercession that attends it.  So that we need not say. Who will go up into Heaven?  Since without either ascending or descending, this sacred Body of Jesus fills with Atonement and Blessing the remotest Parts of this Temple.” (Brevint, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, cited in Rattenbury, 1996: 82).

The connections between Brevint’s work and Hymn 116 are obvious and both speak of a moderate realism regarding eucharistic sacrifice.  Christ’s sacrifice was a past event but it is closely linked with the present sacrifice of the Eucharist – sign and signified are linked, with the sign identifying with the signified in real and effectual manner.

Hymn 4 also provides evidence of a realist theology of eucharistic sacrifice.  Here the words of the hymn proclaim:

“Let all who truly bear

The bleeding Saviour’s name,

Their faithful hearts with us prepare,

And eat the Paschal Lamb.

Our Passover was slain

At Salem’s hallow’d place,

Yet we who in our tents remain

Shall gain His largest grace.

The eucharistic feast

Our every want supplies

And still we by His death are blest

And share His sacrifice:

By faith His flesh we eat,

Who here His passion show,

And God out of His holy seat

Shall all His gifts bestow.

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 4, in Rattenbury, 1996: 162).

Moderate realists concepts of sacrifice are clear in this hymn as the words speaking of eating the Paschal Lamb and yet remaining ‘in our tents’.  It is in the earthly form of the signs of the Eucharist that the signified grace of the heavenly and spiritual sacrifice is gained.  The sharing in the sacrifice is by faith and the passion is shown ‘here’ in the Eucharist, where all the gifts of God are bestowed.  The concepts of eucharistic sacrifice are those of moderate realism, real, yet known by faith.

Moderate notions of eucharistic sacrifice are again put forward in Hymn 5 which says:

“O Thou eternal Victim, slain

A sacrifice for guilty man,

By the eternal Spirit made

An offering in the sinner’s stead,

Our everlasting Priest art Thou,

And pleads Thy death for sinners now.

Thy offering still continues new,

Thy vesture keeps its bloody hue,

Thou stand’st the ever-slaughter’d Lamb,

Thy priesthood still remains the same,

Thy years, O God, can never fail,

Thy goodness is unchangeable.

O that our faith may never move,

But stand unshaken as Thy love!

Sure evidence of things unseen,

Now let it pass the years between,

And view Thee bleeding on the tree,

My God, who dies for me, for me!

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 5, in Rattenbury, 1996: 162).

Christ is not a victim at one point in time, but an eternal victim, who pleads his death for sinner in the present.  The offering of Christ continues in the present in the Eucharist (‘Thy offering still continues new’) and Christ’s ‘vesture keeps its bloody hue’.  The sign is clearly linked with the signified in a realist way with the priesthood of Christ current in the Eucharist as ‘sure evidence of things unseen’.  It is through the effectual sign that the communicant is able to ‘view Thee bleeding on the tree’.  Moderate realism again dominates in this hymn.  Clearly the Eucharist is more than a mere memorial of Christ’s sacrifice, but a real and effectual sign in the present conveying the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice to the faithful communicant.  It is Christ crucified, risen and ascended, not the crucifixion itself, which is brought into the present and contextualised in the Eucharist.  These thoughts are clearly expressed in Hymn 126, which says:

“To Thee his passion we present,

Who for our ransom dies,

We reach by this great Instrument

Th’eternal sacrifice.

The Lamb as crucified afresh

Is here held out to Men,

The Tokens of Blood and Flesh

Are on this Table seen.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 126, in Rattenbury, 1996: 192).

The Eucharist (‘this great Instrument’) is the means by which people reach the eternal sacrifice.  In the Eucharist the Lamb is crucified afresh and held out to humanity in ‘the tokens of Blood and Flesh’ on the eucharistic table. 

Hymn 125 speaks of a solemn offering up of Christ’s sacrifice as it says:

“With solemn faith we offer up,

And spread before Thy glorious eyes

That only ground of all our hope,

That precious bleeding Sacrifice

Which brings Thy grace on sinner down,

And perfects all our souls in one.”

(Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, Hymn 125, in Rattenbury, 1996: 191).

Clearly there is association of sign and signified with the signs being offered up in the Eucharist as an identification with the signified sacrifice, but this is done by faith.  The mention of faith excludes any notion of immoderate realism and focuses the attention of this hymn on moderate realist notions.  The offering is real and effectual since the blessings and the grace of the sacrifice of Christ are received in the Eucharist, but all this is accomplished by faith, not in any natural or immoderate manner.

Some words of Rattenbury are appropriate to conclude this discussion on eucharistic sacrifice as this relates to the eucharistic hymns of the Wesleys.  Rattenbury says:

“It is quite clear that these hymns, if they are taken out of their context, are tolerant of a Roman interpretation.  But such an interpretation is really not reasonable when the symbolic character of the figures in them is kept in mind.  It must never be forgotten that the symbols in the Holy Communion are operative symbols: the sign itself, in some sense communicating the end that is signified.  The real meaning of this symbolism is, that just as the Priest-victim in heaven pleads the cause of the sinful for whom He died, so on earth by means of the bread and wine, the tokens of His love, we plead the death of Christ.” (Rattenbury, 1996: 98).

The eucharistic hymns of both John and Charles Wesley are important examples of a moderate realist theology of eucharistic presence and sacrifice.  The theology of the hymns links the sign with the signified for both presence and sacrifice.  The signs convey to the communicant in some real and effectual manner what they actually signify, the body and blood of Christ and the benefits of his sacrifice.  Any notion of immoderate realism is however, excluded by the Wesleys, but at the same time their theology of the Eucharist is clearly much more than mere memorialism.