^ St. Paul says, " the Lord's death." If he had not said so, if this expression, "the Lord," did not stand written in his Epistle, there are many who would have called it hard and cold. "The Saviour," they would have said; "the Divine Bridegroom, the ineffable Sacrifice that is offered to us in this feast. How can you speak of ' the Lord ' like some writer of the Old Testa- ment ? " I fancy that the Hebrew of the Hebrews used that Hebrew phrase because he deemed it not to be obsolete for any, because he knew that it was not obsolete for him. He wanted sympathy and fellowship. He wanted also to be guided and governed. The Incarnation had not lessened but deepened his reverence for the unseen Guide of his heart and reins. His belief in a brother of Man did not make him remember less or rejoice less that He is the Lord of men. There were times when he delighted to call Him our Lord. There were occasions when the Lord expressed more fully the universality of His dominion. This was one of them. He is speaking of the bread and wine as testifying, not to him or to his brethren, but to all men, of One whose Kingdom was in the midst of them, of One who had proved Himself to be the King and Shepherd, by dying for them.1
5. When Christ said, " Do this in remembrance of me," He meant that His people to all time should remember that He had given Himself wholly to them and for them. The symbols of His body and blood were intended to keep us in mind that all that gave Him a place among men He devoted to us. By giving His flesh and blood He means that He gives us His all, Himself wholly ; and by inviting us to partake of His flesh and blood He means that we must receive Him into the most real connection
1 F. D. Maurice.
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28 PROCLAIMING THE LORD'S DEATH
possible, must admit His self-sacrificing love into our heart as our most cherished possession. He bade His disciples remember Him, knowing that the death He was about to die would " draw all men unto Him," would fill the despairing with hopes of purity and happiness, would cause countless sinners to say to themselves with soul-subduing rapture, " He loved me, and gave himself for me." He knew that the love shown in His death and the hopes it creates would be prized as the world's redemp- tion, and that to all time men would be found turning to Him and saying, "If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." And therefore He presents Himself to us as He died : as One whose love for us actually brought Him to the deepest abasement and sorest suffering, and whose death opens for us a way to the Father.
Tf For the first time the Dorcas Street Sabbath School Teachers' gift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use — a new Communion Service of silver. They gave it in faith that we should require it, and in such we received it. And now the day had come and gone ! For three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Eedeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself.1
T[ In 1861 a brave volunteer turned his back upon loved ones in his little home, nestling among the hills of the Blue Kidge and the spurs of the Alleghanies, in Craig County, Va., and went to the battlefield to fight for what he believed to be right. On the 3rd of July 1863, in that fatal charge made by Pickett, he was shot down, and there gave his life for his country. On the following day (4th July) a son was born. As this son grew in stature and in knowledge, his mother would point to a photo- graph, and tell him that that was his father. He grew to be a man, and at last had the privilege of walking over the ground that had been made sacred with the blood of a father. He can- not express to you his feelings as he stood upon that holy ground ; the acute conception of fancy with the vivid flights of
1 John O. Palon, ii. 222.
i CORINTHIANS xi. 26 329
imagination would be inadequate to the task. When he returned to his home, and looked again upon the picture as it hung upon the wall, he remembered that his mother had told him that it was his father. He has never seen him; but some time he hopes to see him face to face, and then he will no longer need the picture, for he shall see him as he is.1