Comments on Moroni 4-5

     These chapters document the blessings which were made over
the bread and water given to the church as the sacrament.  It is
instructive to note the similarities and differences between the
two prayers when they are held in parallel, as follows:

O God, the Eternal Father,         O God, the Eternal Father,
we ask thee                        we ask thee,
in the name of thy Son,            in the name of thy Son,
Jesus Christ,                      Jesus Christ,
to bless and sanctify this         to bless and sanctify this
bread                              wine
to the souls of all those          to the souls of all those
who partake of it;                 who drink of it,
that they may eat                  that they may do it 
in remembrance of                  in remembrance of 
the body of thy Son, and           the blood of thy Son,
                                   which was shed for them; that
witness unto thee,                 they may witness unto thee,
O God, the Eternal Father,         O God, the Eternal Father,
that they are willing              that they do
to take upon them the
name of thy Son, and
always remember him, and           always remember him,
keep his commandments 
which he hath given them, that     that
they may always have his Spirit    they may have his Spirit
to be with them.                   to be with them.
Amen.                              Amen.

The similarities are that both prayers address the Father in the
name of the Son and do so in a Father-Son-Son-Father pattern and
end in an appeal to have the Spirit with the partaker. 
Remembrance is emphasized by it being repeated twice in both
prayers.
     The differences are that the bread is intended to represent
the body, or mortal ministry, of the Son with the partaker taking
his name upon themselves and keeping his commandments.  The wine
is to represent the blood which the Son shed for the forgiveness
of our sins, and therefore has a more eternal focus.
     The differences also suggest an if...then pattern.  If the
partaker takes the name of Christ upon themselves and keeps
Christ's teachings, then the Son will cover the partaker's sins
with the blood He shed.

     Some other things worth noting are the apparent differences
between the ancient administration and our contemporary
administration.  The text of 4:2 suggests the church as well as
the administrators knelt when the sacrament was blessed (cp. D&C
20:76 for a similarly worded statement, although I do not know if
it was ever a practice in the early restored Church if the entire
congregation in fact knelt).  And, 5:1 suggests a single cup was
used to administer the wine (again, D&C 20:78 suggests a single
cup, but the "cup" may be more of a reference to the "wine of the
cup" per 3 Ne. 18:8 than the literal cup itself).  This suggest
either the administration of the sacrament was to fairly small
groups, or it took some time to circulate through a large and
perhaps even had to be refilled.  Finally, they also used wine,
wether it be fermented or not, whereas we have changed to the
practice of using water, cf. D&C 27:2.

     These two prayers are repeated verbatim in D&C 20:77-79,
with the exception of a couple of commas.



Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller <kurtn@cybcon.com>.  All rights 
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