lie, to receive the consolation of these and other of thy gracious words; for though thou wast the Son, yet thou didst learn obedience by the things which thou didst suffer," and wast made "perfect through suffering," and "being made perfect, became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey thee;" enable us, Lord, to "consider thee who endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before thee," and so to "endure chastening," and thereby know that "God dealeth with us as with sons," and so look for the joy set before us also, for Thou hast said, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." Let "patience have her perfect work," and "after we have suffered awhile, make us perfect, Lord, stablish, strengthen, settle us; for thou art able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy. Amen."

Yes, He that himself "suffered being tempted," He is able to "succour them that are tempted" or tried: He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin; let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace, to help in time of need." May that grace enable dear Hto say, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.'

The next communication I received told of my dear friend having been released from his sufferings. He had been brought back to his father's house after many years of absence, and been privileged to testify, though in weakness and for a short five weeks, of the all-sufficiency of Christ, and to receive the witnessings of others, long separated from, to the same effect. All shrinkings from or fear of death seemed to have been taken away ere the day and hour of death came; in weak but calm accents he echoed the soothing and assuring words, 'When thou passest through the waters,' etc. Thy rod and thy staff,' etc.-as he consciously entered the 'shadow,' and we firmly trust found 'light' and 'life' beyond-was 'received to glory,' and 'presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.'

6

There were some very, very dear ones far away who could not be present in the body at this 'precious' dying, but were represented by those dear ones who stood around and exclaimed, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours;' 'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him:' and 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.' Amen.

his saints with him,' those now 'present with the Lord. With this view a few lines were addressed to the bereaved ones:

'Your care and watchings are ended; and now surely you may hear your blessed Lord say, so gently and tenderly, as He said to the weeping Mary, "Why weepest thou?" (John xx. 15.) We may notice, too, that the angels also used the same words (verse 13), which shows at once their sympathy with us and their accord with their Lord's mind and spirit.

"The mourners were to be comforted in His resurrection and ascension, and ever-presence, though unseen, with them, and to do work for Him on earth, being led by His counsel, and afterwards be received into His glory; and as concerning all who die in the Lord, to hear Him saying, "Thy brother shall rise again."

'I very often rejoice in those words of our Lord, "Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed" (John xx. 29.) . . . . . And my thoughts have been of late much employed upon the resurrection and future state of believers, and upon that central truth, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. xiv. 8, 9).

'It is but a step across, but a moment between, those who have gone before and us; for if Paul could say to the distant Corinthian church," when ye are gathered together, and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. v. 3,4), so may we realize that in Christ, and in His Spirit, we too are present with the living-dead, and they with us (Heb. xii. 22, 24). They wait for us, "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Heb. xi. 40). O that our thoughts were enlarged to the full significance of that being "fitly framed together" in Christ. (Eph. ii. 21; iv. 16.)

If we are enabled to realize, in some measure, the "great salvation," and can feel the thrill of joy and gratitude those words are fitted to convey, viz., "in his love and in his pity he redeemed them," how insignificant, apart from Christ, would all this earthly life and its relationships appear. My almanacmotto for to-day is that 9th verse of 63d Isaiah. I do covet and pray to possess such a spirit of devotedness to Him who hath bought me with a precious price-even His own most precious blood. O that we could love Him who first so loved us as to give himself for us; that we might devote our bodies, souls, and spirits to His service.'

'Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an off'ring far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.'

"Midst changing scenes and dying friends, O Lord, be Thou my all in all.' E. E.

T

BIBLE THOUGHTS.

BY THE EDITOR.

2 COR. xiii. 3.

HERE are two affirmations here made concerning Christ; the one negative, the other positive; the first as to His non-weakness, the second as to His power.

I. His non-weakness. He is not weak in himself, says the apostle; nor is He weak toward you. Yet there are many things which look like weakness in His person and history, and His church's history.

(1.) He entered our world an infant; helpless as the most helpless of the sons of men. He was scarce born when He had to flee from danger. His life was feebleness. He was persecuted, and had to hide himself once and again. He was taken prisoner, bound, tried, condemned by a Roman judge. Was all this not weakness? (2.) He was crucified. This is the event which the apostle takes hold of it; ccaceding it as a proof of weakness. He was crucified through weakness. Every part of that awful event betokens weakness; His submitting to an unjust sentence; His allowing himself to be scourged, bound, buffetted; then nailed to the tree; then crucified. All was weakness; weakness just the same as that of the thieves at His side.

(3.) His departure from earth. True, He rose, but after His resurrection. There was no forthputting of power; and He left this earth without avenging himself on His enemies; as if unable to do aught against them; as if they had prevailed against Him, and succeeded in banishing Him.

(4.) The Church's history since He left. He left saying, 'All power is given unto me;' 'Lo, I am with you always.' But the story of the Church since then has been one of weakness, not of power. A bare existence is all that she has had, amid persecution and mockery: divisions, backslidings, inconsistencies within, hatred and hostility without; no progress in the earth; gaining a little in one place, losing it in another; her members, like the conies, a feeble folk, making their nest in the rock; made up of smoking flax and bruised reeds. Does not this look like weakness in her Head?

(5.) The world's history since He left. Earthly power and glory have increased; empires of idolatry have risen; Paganism, Popery, Mohammedanism divide the world between them. The name of Christ is not a name of power among the nations; it takes no place in commerce or politics, or war, or art. The world honours not, obeys not the Son of God. It is in rebellion against Him; and this rebellion has lasted centuries, and is not yet put down. Is this weakness or is it not?

(6.) The progress of error and evil since He left.

Evil has not diminished. The human heart has not improved. Sin has not been dried up. Evil men and scorners wax worse and worse; and the last days are the worst. Errors multiply; infidelity is leavening society, and working its way into the Church of God. The Bible is assailed; the Gospel is denied; the cross is ridiculed; the blood is repudiated; the authority of Christ, prophet, priest, and king, is disowned. Satan, too, still works. Death still triumphs. Pain and disease are still at large, working woe and havoc in God's creation. Does not this look like weakness?

Yet, in spite of all these strange phenomena in Christ's own history and that of His Church, the Apostle declares, He is not weak.' He is not weak in himself; He is not weak to us. Whatever may be the cause of these anomalies, it is not weakness, and never has been so. The weakness is only in appearance; and even that appearance is only temporary.

II. His power. He is mighty :-mighty not only toward you but in you; mighty in the midst of you; mighty in your hearts. Apparent weakness, but real and true power:-this is the wonder; and in this wonder there are contained other wonders; wonders of wisdom, love, and long-suffering; wonders which could not have been exhibited in any way but this :-this marvellous adjustment of forces, moral and physical; this holding of His own for ages against the augmenting power of creature evil and creature hostility:-this meeting each fresh development of evil by wondrous appliances of His own, all of them moral and spiritual, not miraculous or forcible; keeping the vast hostile forces of earth and hell in check by invisible influence; saying, yet not audibly, to the tides and billows of the stormy deep, Thus far, but no farther; reserving the great physical demonstration of His power till the day when He comes to take vengeance on His enemies.

Yes, says the Apostle, He is mighty. Whatever appearances may say; whatever we might be tempted to infer from the power of the world and the weakness of the Church; from the prevalence of evil and the scantiness of good; from the depression of His friends and the elevation of His enemies, He is mighty; mighty in himself and in all things pertaining to Him. His word is mighty; His Gospel is mighty; His purposes are mighty; the arm with which He wield's the world's sceptre and holds Satan's bridle, is mighty. He is mighty over the world and in the world; mighty over the Church and in the Church, and in behalf of the Church; so mighty that no weapon forged against her or against one saint shall prosper; so mighty that she is entirely safe:-secure in the midst of danger, and wiles, and power. All His strength is ours. It belongs to the Church; it belongs also to each member of His body. Be strong in the Lord, He is mighty to save.

The oneness of the worshipper, even in a heathen temple, with the whole religion or system of worship, and with the false god into whose temple he comes :-this is his theme. It is in illustration of this that he reminds us of the supper. Strange, that in connection with a pagan altar and a temple of devils, he should be led to give us one of the most striking of his statements regarding the supper! He takes the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils, places them side by side, and shows us the one from the other. There is an infinite difference; and yet there is a likeness; for there is a oneness in both, between the worshipper and the god worshipped. On this dark canvas of a heathen temple he draws his picture of the holiest of Christian ordinances. In the Evangelists we are shown the supper from the Jerusalem upper chamber; in the eleventh chapter of this epistle we see it from a Christian sanctuary; here we are shown it from a heathen temple.

He speaks of the 'cup' (not of the wine), as symbolizing the body of our Lord, which contained the blood, or living wine. He puts the cup first; because in speaking of the heathen rites he had already made special mention of the cup first; perhaps also to show that the order of the two symbols was of no consequence; and perhaps to prevent the possibility of Romish error, in refusing the cup to worshippers.

Let us now meditate on the cup and the bread, or the cup and the platter, as set before us here.

I. The Cup. It may have been of gold, or silver, or brass, or wood: it matters not. It was made of earthly materials, as was the Lord's body, and it was the vessel for containing the wine, as was the Lord's body for containing His blood, that blood which was drink indeed, which was the new wine of the kingdom.

(1.) Its name. 'The cup of blessing which 25.-39.

for blessing. The wine in that cup is impregnated with blessing. Every drop of it speaks of blessing,-of that which God calls blessing,

of that which is fitted to do us good and make us happy, to remove death and give life. The words, which we bless,' are not priestly words, spoken to imply the consecration of the elements by a priest's blessing. The 'we' is all believers; and the word is literally, to 'speak well of ;' and the whole expression is, 'the cup of the wellspeaking, of which we speak well' (or praise); referring to the united praise and thanksgiving of the worshippers. And of that cup it is meet that we speak well. Though its literal contents are simply wine; yet that wine is the divine symbol of all blessing; so that we may say truly, its contents are blessing,-every drop fraught with blessing,-blessing which faith receives and in which hope rejoices.

(2.) Its meaning. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ' (or, 'is it not communion with the blood of Christ).' That wine is then the symbol of the blood; the blood of the new covenant, the everlasting covenant. That blood is the life; and that life is the payment of the sinner's penalty, for the soul that sinneth it shall die.' In that cup there is both death and life; the death of the surety, and the life flowing out of that death; our death flowing into Him so that He dies, His life flowing into us so that we live. Thus the cup is the cup of blessing for the sinner, because it contains both the death and the life. Of this blessing, symbolized by that cup and its contents, we become possessors when we believe on the name of the Son of God; for it is faith that opens up the communication between us and His fulness. But in the Lord's Supper there is more visible, more palpable contact, though still of the same kind. Hence the words of our text, the communion of the blood of Christ.' The word communion is properly 'partnership,'-' partnership in the blood of Christ;' all that the blood contains

for the soul becoming ours,-the whole blood becoming the property of each believer. All its blessings, the paid ransom, the cancelled penalty, the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, the joy, all becoming ours; we being partakers of Christ, partakers of His blood, partakers of His death and life.

He then that takes that cup is committed to all that it symbolizes; he is counted as one with it; the possessor of its contents; the partaker of its fulness. He is to reckon himself one with Jesus in His death; and God reckons him such. Nothing less. He has the whole, or he has nothing! It is not a little strength, or healing, or refreshment from the blood which he is made partaker of; but the blood itself, and all that it contains. For the possession, the enjoyment of all the fulness, every communicant is responsible. If he be a worthy communicant (a believing man) the blessing will flow in, and these symbols will help the inflow. If he be an unworthy communicant, he is not the less responsible for participation of all that fulness; and that will be his condemnation. He took into his hands the cup of blessing, he put it to his lips, and yet he did not drink one drop!

II. The Bread.-The word more properly signifies, the loaf' or 'cake,' intimating its original oneness or completeness. It is necessary to keep this in mind, as the point of the apostle's argument turns on this. Let us consider

(1.) What the bread signifies. It is breadcommon passover, unleavened bread-made of the corn of earth, grown in our fields, cut down, gathered in, winnowed, ground, and made into a loaf for the passover table. Such was Christ's body; our nature; our flesh; born, growing up, ripening, cut down, prepared for our food. A thing by itself; one; unleavened, and pure; free from sin; in all respects fit for the soul's food. เ My flesh is meat indeed.' It is Christ's body that is thus symbolized, and set before us as the whole food and nourishment of our souls; except we eat His flesh we have no life in us.

(2.) What the breaking of the bread signifies. It points us to the cross; it speaks of a crucified Christ. Not a bone of Him was broken, and yet His body was broken; head, hands, feet, back, side, pierced, and bruised, and wounded. His body, unbroken, is no food for us. It is no nourishment for the soul of the sinner. It would not suit our taste, nor satisfy our appetite, nor feed our souls, nor be wholesome food. We need something in which death is,-death as the payment of sin's penalty. All without this is tasteless and unnourishing.

Hence the unprofitableness of that theology whose centre or foundation is not the cross of the Substitute,-atonement by the death of the Surety. The bread which we break,' says the apostle, evidently pointing, with special emphasis, to the breaking, and announcing this as the main feature of the symbol. It is on the broken body of our Lord that we feed. Incarnation without crucifixion does not satisfy the soul. Bethlehem without Golgotha would be mockery.

(3.) What our partaking of it signifies. For we do not merely gaze upon it or handle it; we take it and we eat; we eat not in solitude or in our chambers, but as a company at a feast. This act of eating, then, has a twofold signification or reference,—a reference to Christ and to ourselves.

(a) A reference to Christ. It is communion with the body of Christ'-partnership with that body; so that all that is in it of virtue, or health, or strength, or excellence, becomes ours. It is one with us, and we with it. The whole fulness of blessing contained in it becomes ours. We reckon ourselves one with it, and God reckons us one with it. As he who eats of the idol's bread in a heathen temple is responsible for the whole idolatry of the place, and is so dealt with by God, so he who eats this broken bread in faith, is identified with a crucified Christ, and all His fulness-partnership with the body of Christ-how much that implies!

(b) Reference to ourselves. It realizes to us the perfect oneness between the members of Christ's body. As the loaf is made up of many parts or crumbs, and yet is but one loaf; nay, gets its true oneness from the union of these parts, so it is with the members of the body of Christ. Many, yet one; one, yet many; the number not marring the oneness, but perfecting it; the oneness not hindering the number, but requiring it for its full development. This is one of the many symbols used to unfold this peculiar truth. There are others no less expressive. One family, many members; one temple, many stones; one body, many limbs; one loaf, many parts! We may add others: One city, many citizens; one ocean, many drops; one firmament, many stars; one song, many words; one harmony, many notes; one sun, many rays.

Thus, in these symbols we have partnership with Christ, with His blood, with His body; so that all He has is ours. Each has the whole fulness, as each inhabitant of earth has the whole sun. Oneness with Christ, and oneness with each, are embodied in these symbols. We are many, yet one; many members, yet one body, and one head. All that He has is ours. His life, our life; His light, our light; His ful

ness, our fulness; His strength, our strength; His righteousness, our righteousness; His crown, our crown; His glory, our glory; His inheritance, our inheritance; for we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

If these things be so,—

1. What a blessed place should the communion table be to us. A Peniel, where we prevail with God, and receive the blessing in full. What strength, health, joy, light, should we find there. There the whole fulness of Christ is presented to us.

2. What manner of persons ought we to be? Holy, powerful, separate from the world;

like Him, by whose body and blood we are nourished. Nothing is lacking to those who have this heavenly communion, this divine partnership.

3. What love and unity should prevail amongst us. One with Christ, one with each other. This ordinance represents the oneness, increases it, cherishes it. Sitting side by side, we are drawn closer to the Lord, closer to each other, in and through Him.

4. What longing for the time when we shall see Him face to face. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.-Amen! Even so come, Lord Jesus.