tears of joy and gratitude, that God had honoured her poor boy, whom men had not regarded, to become a blessing to a whole tribe! and her sobs were changed into words of praise. After a few weeks of prayer and holy consecration, Zacheo ascended the Weisshorn again, accompanied by the six men and several of the most devoted monks of the convent; and after nine months' patient labour, the whole population of the Einfishthal, headed by their blind chieftain, descended from the mountain, to be baptized by the Bishop of Sion in the Usenz,-and on that day the Freiherr of Raren cut his long beard. VIOLET. THE LORD'S SUPPER. BY THE REV. J. T. GALE, PUTNEY. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."-1 COR. xi. 26. WHAT the Church of Christ is to the world, the Lord's Supper is to the Church-the great remembrancer of the death of the Son of God. It was not enough that that great event should be briefly chronicled in the history of the period in which it occurred-it was too unique in itself, and too pregnant with importance to the world, to be left in the ordinary repository of historical facts. A great monument must be erected to preserve the memory of that event from possible decay-a monument that should stand amid the ruin of all earthly greatness and splendour -a monument built not of brass, or marble, or granite, but of that which is more costly and imperishable human love the purest, human thought the loftiest, and human toil the mightiest. The Christian Church -the community of believers-the ever-growing band of disciples of Christ was founded to be the perpetual witness of the Lord's death. That is the greatest work of the Church, its most essential missionto keep that fact ever before the world-to keep it in regal position, as the cardinal fact in the whole world's history-to defend it against all the assaults of scepticism or unbelief to proclaim it everywhere, and to all men, as the one fact that it is essential for every human being to possess-to bear witness to the end of time, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, that that is the greatest of all things she has seen and heard. And just as the Church by her very existence is evermore proclaiming the fact that Christ died, so the Lord's Supper, as often as its celebration recurs, speaks to the Church on behalf of her Lord, and says, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death till he come." "Ye do shew forth". - manifest openly declare the Lord's death. The word is that which is elsewhere rendered "preach" -"proclaim;" and so the meaning of this passage is, "The Lord's Supper is a living sermon-an acted discourse "-its one simple but sublime declaration being, "Christ died for you." It is Christ's own solemnlyappointed witness, commissioned to keep alive in our hearts and memories the Lord's death as the source of our present and eternal life-as the fountain of our peaceas the foundation of all hope. Such is the aspect in which that ordinance is presented to us by the Apostle. It is as if he said, “That is not an ordinary meal of which ye partake; your eating and drinking has a meaning; that act has a voice; and as often as ye eat that bread and drink that cup, you proclaim the Lord's death." Besides this, however, the ordinance has some other references to which I wish to call attention. As celebrated by the Church of Christ now, the Lord's Supper has a meaning in relation to the past, in relation to the present, and in relation to the future. The Apostle's words carry us back in thought, and so present the ordinance to us as a commemoration; they fix attention upon the present, and so present the ordinance as a realization; they carry us onward, and so present the ordinance as an anticipation. Past -the Lord's death; present—“ ye do shew forth;" future-" until He come." I. The Lord's Supper as a Memorial: its Meaning in Relation to the Past. 1. It is primarily, and by the Saviour's express declaration, a commemoration of Himself. At the institution of this supper, the Redeemer enjoined its perpetual celebration by His disciples in remembrance of Himself--" This do in remembrance of me." And Paul declares that the actual and most obvious significance of the rite is the showing forth of the Lord's death. Now, has it never seemed to you that it was altogether unnecessary for the Redeemer to give to the Church a memorial of His human ministry and atoning sacrifice? Have we not sometimes been tempted to regard this service as superfluous? Possibly only the awful solemnity of the Saviour's demeanour during that last meeting with His disciples kept them from protesting that they should never need to be reminded of what He had been to them, and of what He had done for them. Surely the spirit that so soon after declared, "Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended," was almost ready now to rebuke the Master for thinking that they would ever need to be reminded of Him and His work. Peter doubtless fancied that the words and deeds of Christ were as utterly ineffaceable from his memory as his fidelity to his Master was unconquerable. And many of us, I apprehend, are prepared to confess that when we first sat down to the supper, and heard the words repeated, "This do in remembrance of me," our hearts responded-"We cannot forget Thee, Lord; Thy name is deeply engraven on our hearts; every other record made there may vanish, but that will ever remain; our hearts must perish before Thou canst be forgotten." Experience teaches us that the spirit does not always fulfil the sacred pledges which the heart gives, and we soon learn to acknowledge, with thankfulness, that the Son of man has not trusted to such promises of remembering Him as we can give. He knew that without the frequent repetition of some act, carrying the mind back to the Cross, the image of that Cross itself would, sooner or later, fade from the memory of His most ardent disciples; and He spoke not less in affectionate warning than in command when He said "Do this in remembrance of me." Now, there is surely no ordinary significance in the fact that the one event in the history of redemption which this assurance is designed to keep in remembrance is the death of Christ. The period chosen for its institution is significant-the Saviour's demeanour on that occasion is significant-the language used then is significant. It was the night in which He was betrayedthe last bright and blessed hour of communion with His beloved, as the shadows of His night of suffering were beginning to fall upon Him. There is a tone of unusual sadness in His voice as He speaks, and when He speaks He talks of death-"This is my body, which is broken for you" -"this is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The breaking of that body and the shedding of that blood were now very near-so near, indeed, that He whose body was to be broken and whose blood was to be shed could speak of the awful work as already done; and He, the Sufferer, ordains that the scene on which His followers in all ages shall most constantly and most fondly dwell shall be the Crucifixion-that the event most deeply inscribed on all Christian hearts and memories shall be His death-that the eyes of His followers shall be most frequently turned towards Calvary, and that the sounds most familiar to their ears shall be the cry of a dying Saviour -"It is finished." Is it strange that the Lord should have selected His death for special commemoration? Is there no scene of profounder interest to the Christian than that which soldiers gazed upon in reverential awe, and disciples beheld afar off in wonderment and tears? Why are we not enjoined to remember the Teacher, who spake as never man spake,-or the Good Physician, who healed as had never been seen in Israel,—or the Good Shepherd, leading his flock into sweet pastures and beside still waters, or the Consoler, drying the tears of the suffering and the bereaved, or the Son of God, whom the winds and the seas obeyed, or the Lord of life, in all the majesty of the first-begotten from the dead? It is no marvel, brethren, that none of these glorious features in the Saviour's character and ministry were chosen for everlasting remembrance. Not one is to be forgotten; all are needful to the completeness of our conception of the Redeemer's work. There is no scene pourtrayed by the Evangelists which lacks deep and abiding interest; there is precious meaning in each and all—so precious, indeed, that the world had better lose the most priceless of its arttreasures than lose one of those scenes from the history of the Saviour's life. But while groups of pilgrims halt for a little while at the various spots made memorable by the Saviour's acts of kindness and of power, around the Cross there is an ever increasing throng of worshippers, "a multitude which no man can number," pressing nearer and nearer to that sacred tree on which their Redeemer hangs. The uplifted Saviour does draw all Christians unto Him-they all yield to the attractive power of the Cross. Whatever they may see elsewhere in the region which His presence has consecrated, only there do they behold "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Whatever other deeds of love and kindness Christ has performed for them, only in that does He lay down His life for them. Wherever He may have spoken words of consolation to any heart, only there does He say to each and all, "Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace!" !" Hitherto He has spoken of the love of God-now He manifests that love. Hitherto He has spoken of dying-now He dies. Hitherto He has taught, and healed, and preached, and wrought, and borne temptation, and suffered man's hate and scorn-now He groans and cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" No; the Christian cannot marvel that the one memorial given him of his Lord is of the Lord's death. That death, we know, is life; that death is the slaying of Christ our passover for us. The Lord's death is the price of our redemption-the Lord's death is the atonement for our sins-the Lord's death is our reconciliation to God, the removal of our guilt, and the vanquishing of our foe. 2. The Lord's Supper is a memorial of the Lord's death, not only as the source of our life and the foundation of our hopes, but as the manifestation of the Saviour's love. The Lord's death will be stripped of much of its significance if it be not invariably regarded as the act chosen by the Saviour in which to embody all His love for us. Whatever had been the value of that death to us as sinful men, I think we could not have commemorated it with joyfulness if it had not been pre-eminently a deed of love. But while gazing on the Cross with tearful eyes-while mourning that our sins have pierced the Crucified One-we can contemplate that scene with profound joy and gratitude when we think that every cry which breaks from His lips is not less the utterance of Divine compassion than it is of a more than human anguish. We thank God it is written, "Christ gave himself for us;" we thank Him more earnestly that it is also written, "He loved us, and gave Himself for us." Love strong as death, nay stronger ; To gladdest day from saddest night; From depths of death to glory bright; From darkness to the joy of light; This is the love that leadeth Us to His table here; "For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death." II. The Lord's Supper as a Realization: its Meaning in Relation to the Present. This ordinance, full as it is of most precious and sacred memories of the past, is also full of meaning in regard to our present spiritual relations. If we revert to the narrative of the first celebration of this supper, we shall find that while the Saviour intended it to be an imperishable link of association with His death, He also intended it to to be the richest and most consolatory compensation to His disciples for His personal absence from them. They had enjoyed close and sacred friendship with Him; they had received of His wisdom and sympathy and spirit; He had empowered them to labour for Him, and to suffer in His name. No wonder that when He announced plainly His speedy departure from them, their hearts were filled with sorrow. And no wonder is it, either, that when their hearts were filled with sorrow, the Saviour endowed them with His peace, and spake to them of His own and of His Father's love for them-that their joy might be full. But it is to be observed that the Saviour did not leave his sorrowing friends to draw peace and joy from His words alone. He gave them, as a compensation for an absent Lord and Friend, not only the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to abide with them for ever, but also a sacred ordinance by which the reality of His presence with them would ever be symbolised. They had been conscious of a vital union with Him while He was with them in the flesh. His life had become their life, and His spirit wrought in them. it was essential that that sense of union should remain when His visible presence was withdrawn. It was all-important that they should be able to say--" In him, though now we see him not, yet believing, And we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Again: Christ Himself, in His own person, had been the bond of union for all the disciples. In their common relation to Him they had discovered their fraternal relation to one another. Might it not be feared that when He who had hushed all their murmurs and settled all their differences was withdrawn from them, the new commandment to love one another would be wholly ignored? Yes;-there was danger to be apprehended from that source. But it was foreseen by Christ, and by one ordinance He sought to supply this twofold need of the disciples -the need of something to keep alive their sense of relation to Christ, and to strengthen the sense of relationship to all His followers. Hence the use of one "loaf" and one cup, and the command for all to eat of the "loaf" and to drink of the cup. I need not attempt to explain either the symbol or the command. By eating the bread as the symbol of the body, by drinking the wine as the symbol of the blood of Christ, we understand simply the believer's appropriation of the atoning work of Christ. "I am the bread of life," said Christ, "and he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in Him." These sayings, hard as they seemed to those who first received them, are fully interpreted by the Christian heart. In no mystical sense, but in deepest reality, every believer in Christ becomes a partaker of Christ -shares His love-His life-His spirit-Christ is his essential sustenance. He has responded to Him who says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with me;" and he has a sublime experience of mutual fellow ship and participation. Such is the spiritual reality: there is a union of the believer's spirit to his Lordthey are one-the Christian is in Christ-not related to Him as one human being is related to another. The binding link is more subtle, and yet more real and enduring. Nothing can remove it, and nothing can break it. "My sheep hear my voice, and 1 know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." "I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.' As often, then, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we not only show forth the Lord's death till He come -we proclaim also to ourselves and to one another the great truth of our present living union with Christ. We show forth that which is secret and invisible. We embody in an act of greatest simplicity a reality of inexpressible grandeur and worth. The deed is only the clothing of the holiest and most blessed convictions our spirits possess. The sacrament itself is but the outward and visible sign of an inward, invisible, and in-. expressible spiritual consciousness. The Lord's Supper imports personal union with Christ and personal union with all who are united to Christ by faith. There is, perhaps, no Christian doctrine so universally accepted, and, at the same time, so universally ignored, as the doctrine of Christian union. "I believe in the communion of saints," is a part of the creed of every member of every church in Christendom. But, alas! too often it is nothing more than an article of their creed. It is one of those beliefs to which men subscribe either with hand or tongue, but to which their hearts never assent; and so it is a powerless faith. It keeps the Church disunited. There is a schism in the body, and the different |