Ah! there, though in the lowest place,
Thee at thy table could I meet,

And see thee, know thee, face to face;-
For such a moment death were sweet.

What then will their fruition be,

Who meet in heaven with blest accord?

A moment? No; eternity!

They are forever with the Lord.

Haddon Collection.

CHAPTER XV.

THE RELATION OF THE SUPPER TO THE IMPENITENT-A SILENT SERMON-SILENT OBSERVANCE-MRS. BETHUNE.

“Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29.

租

'CHEYNE, that honored minister of the

Free Church of Scotland, whose heart and whose sermons were so full of

Christ, says, in one of his discourses, of the Lord's Supper, "It is a sweet,

silent sermon. Many a sermon con

tains not Christ from beginning to end. Many show him doubtfully and imperfectly. But here is nothing else but Christ and him crucified. Most rich and speaking ordinance! Pray that the very sight of that broken bread may break your hearts and make them flow to the Lamb of God.

"Pray for conversions from the sight of the broken bread and poured-out wine.

When

the Roman centurion that watched beside the cross of Jesus saw him die, and the rocks rend, he cried out, Truly this was the Son of God! Look at this broken bread, and you will see the same thing; and may your heart be made to cry after the Lord Jesus!

"When the dying thief looked on the pale face of Immanuel, and saw the divine majesty that beamed from his dying eye, he cried, Lord, remember me. This broken bread reveals the same thing; may the same grace be given you, and may you breathe the cry, Lord, remember me."1

The Saviour teaches us, in this ordinance, not only to remember him, but to show his death. It is not only commemorative, but declarative. It brings Christ before us as dying for our sins, and declares that there is salvation in none other name. Can it then have been intended alone for the benefit of the church, and not also to bear its message to the unregenerate?

In the sermon which usually precedes the Sup

1 M'Cheyne's Works, Vol. I.

2 The original word (katayyɛλλɛte), rendered, in our common version, "show," signifies to announce, proclaim, preach. See Rom. i. 8; Acts iv. 2, xiii. 38.

The Lord's Supper is, "in its very nature, a proclamation of the fact" of Christ's death.

per, the minister lifts up the Son of man, and beseeches his hearers, for Christ's sake, to be reconciled to God. In the Supper, Christ is lifted up in a symbolic crucifixion; "the most important truths of Christianity, which we commonly only hear or read, are visibly set before us, made cognizable to the senses, and exhibited in such a way as powerfully to move the feelings, and make an indelible impression on the memory." It is indeed a "silent sermon," and why should not the audience be as large as possible?

While it would be a profanation of the holy ordinance, and a condemnation to themselves, for the impenitent to partake, because especially it would be the expression of a faith and a love which they do not possess, and a "showing" the death of One in whom they have not trusted for salvation, whom they have in fact rejected, yet for them to "look upon" Him whom they have "pierced," and to listen to his voice of mercy pleading with them in the mute eloquence of an agony unto death, to turn and live, is surely what every Christian heart should desire them to do. Come, stand before the cross, may be the invitation of the church; behold the Saviour suffer and die! Look,

1 Knapp, Christian Theology.

the

and measure, if you can, the love that bowed such a head in death. And measure, if you can, exceeding sinfulness of sin, which rendered necessary for its atonement and removal so vast a sacrifice. The Son of God in tears and blood! Before your eyes Jesus Christ is evidently set forth among you crucified. See, his arms stretched wide, as if to welcome every returning penitent; and those eyes, now closed in death, pleading with you to forsake your sins; and trust your soul into his hands, as a now living Saviour.

This is the language of the ordinance; and why should the congregation be dismissed, and the church alone listen to the discourse? Has it not a solemn, tender word for all? Does it not say, "Whosoever will, let him come"? And who can tell how many, hearing the story of the cross thus told by a united church, in the silent breaking of bread, may be led to Christ, and then, as obedient disciples, coming to the Table, increase the number that publish the "glad tidings"? We have in mind a church not a few of whose members trace their religious awakening to the impression of such a scene witnessed some Sabbath afternoon, in response to the general invitation of the pastor, or the kind solicitation of a Christian friend. Seated