him." He receives sinners for salvation; their recept:on of hitn is salvation (Rev. iii. 20). At meat with them he is revealed. What it was that disoloeed him we cannot exactly say. Theawhole manner is solemn and striking. At once he takes the bead of the table. The Master's place is conceded to him. And that always prepares for revelation. When the heart is truly yielded to Christ, the moment of the showing of himself is near. He takes the bread; he blesses; he breaks, and gives it to the two. And their eyes are opened, and they know him. 'l'here is the voice, the blessing, and I think, the sight of the pierced hands-the sight that I expect to have in glory. The meal may not have been a full sacrament. But Christ's presence and blessing made, the meal sacramental; for that presence and that blessing elevate whatever is ordinary. And the action before us is a consecration of ordinance as well as Word as the means of revelation. The Word prepares for the ordinance; in the ordinance Christ is re\·ealed. Is not this a forecast of the future? Is it not Christ's will to make himself kuown to those who sit at meat with him-they having first constrained him and being thus spiritually sasceptible-in the breaking of bread? Observe the signs of the revelation. A new sight (ver. 31); a new energy (ver, 33); a new sympathy (vers. 33, 34); a new eloquence (ver. 35). Joy, joy to the disciples who have seen the Lord. But he has vanished out of their sight. He must not hinder, by his bodily presence, the lifting of the consciousness into the region of the spiritual presence, 'I'hat on which afterwards they dwell is, not the glimpse they have had of face and band, but the power of bis Spirit, the life-giving force of his Word (ver. 32). The clouds were dispelled by the rising of the Day-star in the heart. That ie the sign of Christ with us here. By that we know that it is he who has been talking with us. O □ e day, but not in this present time, we shall see him as be is; he will bless and break and give to us himself, the Bread of life. And then he will not vanish out of our sight. "Oh, then shall the veil be removed, And round me thy brightness be poured: I shall meet him whom absent I loved, I shall see whom unseen I adored.'
Vers. 36-43.- Christ and his Church. I. THE Cmrnca. It is found in miniature in the upper room-" The eleven, and them that were with them." 1. Its separation, It is isolated from the outer world. A new bond, a new manner, of union is already realized. It is not of the world, as Christ himself was not. There is a door shut between the little flock and the Jews. A supreme attraction to him whom the world sees not, an affiance of soul of which the world knows not, unites the company, and, in thus uniting, separates it. It bas a secret with which the world does not inter- meddle. 2. Its unity. (1) That stands in Christ, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John xv. 16). The Church is not a. mere volunta1y association; it is a spiritual organism rooted and grounded in the Man Christ Jesus-in what he is and has done, in his Divine-human Person, and the offices which he executes as Redeemer. (2) It is realized through continuance in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- ship. "The eleven, and those with them." Christ bad looked through the ages down to the end of the time, and thus had spoken: "I pray for those who shall believe on me through the word of the men whom thou didst give me." Here the eleven form the centre of the company. There is a definite word on which the Church is built. It has not a mere collection of" memoranda;" it is not an institution of" hazy outlines." It has a distinct testimony-that of the apostles and prophets. And there is a soci'.'l life, a fellowship, by which it "makes increase to self-edifying in love "-the fellowship which continues that which is witnessed to in the assembly of the eleven and those with them. Remember, it is fellowship, all holding themselves to be fellows in Christ, exchanging their experiences, imparting the gift which each has receiv~d, that it m~y tend to quicken the faith and love of all "As they thus spake, Jesus himself stood m the midst" ( ver. 36). U. CHRIST. He had promised, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Behold the fulfilment and the way of the fulfilment of this promise. Behold him preseut in his Church. 1. The sovereignty of the presence. On a sudden he stands in tlie midst. 'l'hey are not expecting him. He comes through barred doors. It is the, orr, xx1v. 1-53.J TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 28:J