degree visibly before men. It must, if real, show itself in our households, in the Christian consistency of our whole intercourse with those, amongst whom we live most constantly, and with whom we are most closely united. It will also be seen in our outer life amongst men, diffusing there that charity, or Christian love, which is the bond of perfectness,' while it will hallow and consecrate the employments, appointed to us in the good providence of God, making them the service of the Lord, with its Christian motives, and principles, and liberty. Therefore, blessed are they who in this sense also 'keep the Word of God,' bringing forth those fruits of the Spirit,' for which the Lord of the vineyard is now seeking. These are the best evidences of that close and spiritual kindred with Himself, to which our Lord chiefly refers in this beatitude, and which He will visibly acknowledge at His second coming with power and great glory. For this blessed

ness which consists in keeping as well as in hearing the Word of God, is not merely something without us. It becomes (from its very nature) a part of ourselves. When, therefore, we are called to stand upon the borders of the eternal state, in the lonely hour of parting from earthly scenes and human friends, all who have thus 'kept the Word,' shall be accepted and welcomed as the blessed of the Lord.' But it is a still higher degree of this blessedness, which is reserved until 'that day of Christ,' when, in obedience to the voice of Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life,' the earth and the sea shall give up their dead. The Saviour shall then visibly and fully give effect to those words of blessing spoken by Him during the days of His earthly ministry Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it.'

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VII.

THE HOLY COMMUNION.

'As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew* the Lord's death until he come.''-1 COR. xi. 26.

THE account of the Holy Communion from which those words are taken, was, as St. Paul mentions in the twenty-third verse, conveyed to him directly by our Lord Jesus Christ from the glory of His present life. I received of the Lord,' he says to the Church at Corinth, 'that which also I delivered unto you.' This revelation was given at the time to the Apostle for a special purpose. The custom had begun to prevail in the early Church of

* Revised Version, 'proclaim.'

connecting the Holy Communion with a social meeting, or 'love-feast.' This practice had led to a want of due reverence for the sacrament, and also to other abuses which required to be exposed, and which have ever since been entirely removed.

But even apart from this more immediate application of the Saviour's words, they are well fitted, as they were intended, to exalt in the truest sense our views of this Holy Sacrament, and also to explain its nature simply and clearly. In order to produce these more lasting results, the facts connected with its original institution are recalled by our blessed Lord, looking back upon them after His Ascension.*

Dean Goulburn says in his excellent work on the Holy Communion: If there be any among my readers who either neglect the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or think meanly of it, I charge upon him to observe that the Voice prescribing the Eucharist rite is a Voice which issues forth not merely from the Passover chamber but also from the mansions of our Father's house, and that the

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We are thus, under His own guidance, taken in spirit to that upper chamber in Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you : this do in remembrance of me. After the

same manner also he took the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death until he come.'

It is most important and instructive for us to inquire, How do Christian communicants thus proclaim the Saviour's death Form giving utterance to this Voice is not that of a man of "marred visage," but that of Him "whose countenance is as the sun shining in his strength," and before whose resurrection glory apostles fell to the earth confounded.'-Goulburn on the Communion Office, p. 19.