340 PROCLAIMING THE LORD'S DEATH
Until He cometh, rest,
Nor grudge the hours that roll;
The feet that wait for God Are soonest at the goal;
Are soonest at the goal
That is not gained by speed; Then hold thee still, my heart,
For I shall wait His lead.1
TI And the coming of the Bridegroom is so swift that He is always coming, and that He dwells within us with His unfathom- able riches, and that He returns ever anew in person, with such new brightness that it seems as if He had never come before. For His coming is comprised beyond all limit of time, in an eternal Now, and He is ever received with new desires and a new delight. Behold, the joys and the pleasures which this Bridegroom brings with Him at His coming are boundless and without limit, for they are Himself. And this is why the eyes of the spirit, by which the loving soul beholds its Bridegroom, are opened so wide that they will never shut again. For the contemplation and the fixed gaze of the spirit are eternal in the secret manifestation of God. And the comprehension of the spirit is so widely opened, as it waits for the appearance of the Bridegroom, that the spirit itself becomes vast as that which it comprehends. And so is God beheld and understood by God, in whom all our blessedness is found.2
Conclusion.
In conclusion, let us see to whom the proclamation is to be made.
1. It is to be made to ourselves. — The Lord's Supper is a pre- sentation to our own minds of the great work of redemption. If it was said to the Galatians that before their eyes Christ, whom they had not seen in the flesh, had been evidently set forth cruci- fied among them (Gal. iii. 1), so may it be said to us that, not only by the preaching of His Word, but by visible signs before our eyes, and spiritual realities to our hearts, Christ is set forth in the Holy Communion, in all His love and grace and mercy.
TJ The Lord's Supper may be celebrated without any spec- tators. It should be in public where it can be ; but if there are
1 Bayard Taylor. 2 M. Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, 152.
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none to look on, it may be otherwise. In Venice, in Milan, in Paris, and in other cities where Komanism prevails, five or six of us have met together in our room at our hotel, and we have had the true Lord's supper there, though there were none to look on ; and probably if there had been, in some cities where we have partaken of it, we might have been amenable to the law. Tis a showing forth of Christ's death to ourselves. We see the bread broken, and see the wine poured out, and we ourselves see here, in symbol, Christ crucified ; and we see as before our eyes, when we eat and drink, our interest in the sacrifice offered upon Calvary.1
2. It is to be made to one another, as members of the Body of Christ. — As instituted, the holy Service is nothing if not social, mutual. Scripture knows nothing of a solitary Eucharist. There- fore the rite has a mutual significance ; it has some sacred thing to say, all round the circle, Christian to Christian. By his presence, by his partaking, " each is then a herald to the rest," telling it out that Jesus did indeed die, to rise again.
When at the Table of our Lord
In silence all we kneel With broken bread and wine outpour'd
To share the heavenly Meal;
Tew though we be, and though the few
Are feeble at the best, Yet each is here, if God is true,
A prophet to the rest.
We to each other show the Death
Of that slain Lamb we love, Until He come (the Scripture saith)
In glory from above.
Yes, gathering here, each other all
With solemn cheer we warn Of the Archangel's thunder-call
And resurrection-morn.
Blest Sign of Christ's own victory won,
Thy prophecies we prize; Oh, with what joy the eternal Sun,
Thus heralded, shall rise.2
1 C. H. Spurgeon. * H. C. G. Moule, In the House of Hit Pilgrimage, 56.
342 PROCLAIMING THE LORD'S DEATH
3. It is to be made to the world. — The Lord's Supper is a confession before men of our faith ; a testimony as to whose we are and whom we serve. So long as this ordinance exists in the Church of God, the world will not be left without a testimony for Christ. It is a sermon always in course of being preached. Its text is Christ, its argument is love; its appeal is, "Come unto me, all ye," etc. It preaches not only to those who draw near to it, "Eat, 0 friends, yea, drink," etc. (Cant. v. 1), but also to those who turn their back upon it, "Will ye also go away ? "
TI All the provinces of China in the month of May are astir with pilgrim crowds, moving up and down the rivers, and along the intersecting ways. It is the red-letter day of the ancestral cult, and is called " the Feast of Manifestation." Hundreds and thousands of miles are traversed to show filial regard for the last resting-place of the departed forefathers. After the viands have been presented, all weeds hoed up from the grave, and the ground trimmed, three or four sheets of white paper, kept in position by a stone, are placed on the apex of the mound, to show that the grave has a living guardian, and no one must dare to turn the soil to common uses. The symbolic act is recognized in all the courts of law. In the absence of that simple but effectual sign the peasant might drive his plough across the grave-plot and enlarge the border of his rice field, and no one would resist him. The little sign asserts an inviolable heritage.1