4. Christ manifested the patience that He recommended. The patience of our Lord is remarkable. Isaiah prophesied of Him : " He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth : and the isles shall wait for his law." Nothing is more wonderful than the serenity of our Lordjn the prosecution of His great mission. His zeal was a naming fire, and His desire to see of the travail of His soul in the establishment of His kingdom of universal righteousness and peace was intense, with an intensity into which we cannot enter; but the calmness with which He carried out His purpose was that of the measured and majestic movements of nature. He_was never flurried or betrayed into the agitation of hurry ; but, whilst kindling with sublime and mighty enthusiasm, He proceeded to fulfil His destiny without haste and without pause.
^ He who waited so long for the formation of a piece of old red sandstone will surely wait with much long-suffering for the perfecting of a human spirit.^
Grant us, 0 Lord, that patience and that faith: Faith's patience imperturbable in Thee, Hope's patience till the long-drawn shadows flee,
Love's patience unresentful of all scathe.
Verily we need patience breath by breath ;
Patience while faith holds up her glass to see, While hope toils yoked in fear's copartnery,
And love goes softly on the way to death.
1 W. L. Watkinson, Tht Gates of Dawn, 103. ' Letters oj Thomas ErsTcine of Linlathen, ii. 242.
428 THE WINNING OF THE SOUL
How gracious and how perfecting a grace
Must patience be on which those others wait:
Faith with suspended rapture in her face,
Hope pale and careful hand in hand with fear
Love — ah, good love who would not antedate God's will, but saith, Good is it to be here.'
^ Christina G. Rossetti.
In REMEMBRANCli
Literature.
Armstrong (R. A.), Memoir with Sermons, 259.
Baring-Gould (S.), Our Parish Church, 153.
Coote (C), At His Table, 7.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, ii. 52.
Dawson (G.), Sermons on Disputed Points, 117.
Dods (M.), Christ and Man, 107.
Goiidge (H. L.), The Holy Eucharist, 11.
Greenhough (J. G.), in Eden and Gethsemane, 115.
Grimley (H. N.), The Temple of Humanity, 213.
Hankey (W. B.), The Church and the Saints, 78.
Hannan (F. W.), in Dreiv Sermons for 1910, 265.
Hepworth (G. H.), in Sermons for Boys and Girls, ii. 347.
Horton (R. F.), The Commandm-ents of Jesus, 297.
Button (R. E.), The Crown of Christ, ii. 343.
Ingram (A. F. W.), The Call of the Father, 230.
Ives (E. J.), The Pledges of His Love, 47.
Jeffrey (R. T.), Visits to Calvary, 1.
Jerdan (C), For the Lord's Table, 95, 135.
Macaskill (M.), A,J{ighland Pulpit, 1.
McKim (R. H.), The Gospel in the Christian Year, 309.
Maclaren (A.), S'^mions Preached in Manchester, i. 13.
„ „ A Year's Ministry, i. 99.
Macleod (D.), The Child Jesus, 83. Mortimer (A. G.), Meditations on the Passion, i. 50. Moule (H. C. G.), The Pledges of His Love, i. 79. Randall (R. W.), Life in the Catholic Church, 186. Smith (D.), The Feast of the Covenant, 173. Smith (G. A.), The Forgiveness of Sins, 254. Stephen (R.), Divine and Human Influence, ii. 65. Story (R. H.), Creed and Conduct, 108. Walpole (G. H. S.), Vital Religion, 101. Watson (J.), The Upper Room, 77. Watt (L. M.), The Communion Table, 13. 51. Webster (F. S.), In Remembrance of Me, 1. Wilson (J. M.), Truths New and Old, 94. Woodward (H.), Sermons, 281, 293.
In Remembrance.
This do in remembrance of me.— Luke xxii. 19.
1. There are many ways in which we may think of the Holy Communion. For it is many-sided and rich in meaning. There are at least five aspects in which it may be profitably regarded.
(1) It is a command. — It is something that we are bidden to do. " This do." We obey our Lord's explicit command in meeting and celebrating the Holy Communion, by partaking of bread and wine together in memory of Him. There can be no sort of doubt that He did command His disciples to do this ; and they have obeyed His command from the very beginning down to the present day. Whatever are its benefits, whatever other purpose it serves, it is an act of obedience, and as such it makes appeal to us.
(2) It is a commemoration. — We do this " in remembrance " of Christ. This is the aspect of the Holy Communion most strongly and prominently brought out in the Prayer-Book. It is the Lord's Supper ; this is its first title. We remind ourselves in the consecration prayer that our Lord " instituted, and in His holy gospel commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of His precious death." When the bread is given to each one, he is bidden to take and eat in remembrance that Christ died for him. When the wine is given he is bidden to drink this in remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for him. And as a commemoration it keeps ever before us the life and death of our Lord, it reminds us of His teaching, of His words, of His example, of His work for us.
(3) It is a thanksgiving. — This is expressed in the name Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. Our Lord in instituting this Sacrament began by giving thanks. "He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it." So from the very