Ex 12:14; 28:12, 29; 30:16, 39:7 (shows that YHWH does the “remembrance”). Gen. 9:15 See also AE 13:377 on Psalm 111:5! cf. Luke 1:72
Stephenson, LS, 119: Much mischief ensues whenever the relationship between these two distinct sacrifices Is reversed. The once-for-all propitiatory sacrifice now being pleaded by our Lord in His heavenly intercession effects and increases the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered by the earthly church In the Divine Service. But once synergism raises its head, the church presumes to augment the perfect high-priestly work of her Head by Incorporating the first of these sacrifices into the second.
On the unanimous patristic testimony and Luther see Stephenson, LS, 12. (The early church did not back down from the charge of cannibalism any more than Christ did in John 6).
To remember Christ is to remember His benefits (AC XXIV).
Nagel: “The big thing is not that the body and blood are there, but that the body and and blood of Christ which were given for you are there.”
Luther, That These Words (AE 37:26): One side must be of the devil, and God’s enemy. There is no middle ground [da ist kein mittel].
Chemnitz, Histori (quoted in Stephenson, LS, 18): "We abide by Dr. Luther's confession for the very reason that he always leads us towards--and never away from--Christ's mouth, will, word, command, and ordinance."
The last testament and will of the Son of God must be reverently accepted since there “are not sufficiently serious, weighty, definite, and firm reasons to compel a person to reject that sense which the words of the testament of the Son of God convey and demonstrate by their proper and natural meaning” (LS 40). The rhetorician Quintilian’s principle can well be applied here, “What is the difference between no laws and uncertain ones?” Chemnitz applies it to the present controversy, “What is the difference between no testament of the Son of God or an uncertain one?” (LS 86) (Teigen, The Lord’s Supper in the Theology of Martin Chemnitz).
For as the bread from the earth, receiving the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but Eucharist, consisting of two things, an earthly and a heavenly, so also our bodies, receiving the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but having the hope of the resurrection to eternal life (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4:18:45).
A cutting from the vine planted in the ground bears fruit in its season, or a kernel of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed rises and is multiplied by the Spirit of God, who contains all things. And then, through the wisdom of God, it serves for our use when, after receiving the Word of God, it becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time. The Word of God grants them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption. This is so because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, or become exalted against God with ungrateful minds (Irenaeus, 5.2.3).
And so faith has in the use of the Eucharist a firm anchor of consolation, trust, and certainty concerning the forgiveness of sins. It also has an effectual remedy for raising up and supporting a feeble faith in the midst of sorrows and trials, against want of confidence, doubt, faintheartedness, and despair. Moreover, the Son of God testifies that in the true use of the Eucharist He grafts the believers into Himself as members that He may bear, sustain, guide, and quicken them, in order that they may be united with Him more and more and may be enabled to continue more firmly in Him and hold fast the benefits they have received (Chemnitz, Examen II, 239-240).
Quidam graviter tentantur de fide ac Sacramento, sed non est hoc ipsis imputandum, sed potius inimico. Noli curare, noli disputare cum cogitationibus tuis, nec ad immissas a diabolo disputationes et dubitationes responde. Sed crede verbis Dei. Crede Sanctis ejus et prophetis, et fugiet a te nequam inimicus. Saepe enim ultum prodest, quod sustinet talia servus Dei. Nam infideles et peccatores non tentat, quos secure jam possidet: Fideles autem devotos variis modis tentat et vexat (Thomas à Kempis, De imitatione Christi, 4.18.3).
David H. Peterson, “A Sacramental Church: A Call for Reformation,” Gottesdienst, v. 17, n. 2 (Trinity 2009).
“The celebration of the Lord’s Supper is so full of burning love, its reception so full of grace and righteousness, but then also its celebration the highpoint in the life of the congregation. According to the thinking of Christian antiquity, every complete Congregational divine service culminates in the celebration of Lord’s Supper, to which according to the old Christian practice the whole congregation went every Sunday. They viewed the celebration of the Supper as the high point of their congregational life…… They built their chancel so that the altar was the summit. Our Divine Service is as the climbing of a great mountain. It begins with the cry from the depths: “Lord, have mercy!” and lifts itself up to the confession of redemption in the Angel’s song: All glory be to God on high! Then it climbs higher with the epistle and the gospel, to which the Creed echoes back. After the sermon comes intercessions for all troubles and estates upon earth. Then after the bidding of prayer, the giving of thanks proceeds, with the call: Hearts on high! And the course climbs onward. In the thanksgiving we mingle voices with the choirs of the Church triumphant, as we sing with them the thrice holy hymn, and with the Hosanna greet Him who draws near in His Supper. On our knees we pray the Our Father and receive the Words of Institution. From one level to the next we have ascended, and now the congregation has arrived at the summit of the mountain: above her, heaven is open, before her a divine table spread with one bread and one cup for all, she herself one family of the children of God. A household of brothers and sisters in Christ. There is something deeply moving about this journeying of the congregation to the altar, as if it called out in our hearts: “I will arise and go to my Father,” and now the dancing begins in our Father’s house, and the the Kingly feast commences and the angels rejoice, and the Father frolicks over having found again his sons and daughters gathered at the table. They receive Christ’s body and blood, confessing this is nothing else than was upon the Cross. As Paul said: “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death,” and so it is. For every celebration of the Supper is a great proclamation of Christ’s death before God and the world. Here is the high point of the Divine Service, which then draws quickly to a close with the Canticle of Simeon: “Lord, now you let Your servant go in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” For at the summit of the mountain the Lord has met us in the mystery of the Sacrament, as near as we can draw to Him in this pilgrimage” (Max Frommel, Hauspostille, p. 218, trans. W. Weedon).