selves. This charge is probably due to the newness of the ceremony. They had never drunk the blood of a victim under the old dispensation. They might well think that eating the Passover would suffice without drinking the cup. Though as yet they were quite without knowledge of the real intent of the whole service, nevertheless, when they came to know that the cup of the Eucharist was really the Blood of Christ, they might think it ought in some way to be poured out for God, like the victim's blood of old, not tasted by themselves. Our Lord tells them that they are to perpetuate this twofold action of His with the bread and with the cup, and drink of the cup at one another's hands as they have seen Him drink.

They are to divide it among themselves. At the Passover there might be a cup for each person. In the new Passover all were to drink of one cup. They knew not yet that the Blood of Christ was to be poured out by their drinking of it, and that thus in their own lives it was to flow forth as an offering of grace and power acceptable to the Father. Neither did they yet know how the participation of this one Body and Blood should make them to be all spiritually one in the glorified Body of Christ. The mysteries of the Holy Eucharist would come to be known by them gradually. Our Lord's words were to be fruitful to them in teaching throughout all future time. He would not be with them to minister. They were to be in attendance, ministering to one another upon earth, subordinately to His own High-priestly exercise of perpetual mediation and advocacy upon the throne of God.

O Jesu, grant me to realize the unity of nature whereby Thou hast made of one blood all nations that dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But O, still more grant me to feel the unity of life which binds us in Thy Holy Body, the Church, by the circulation of Thy sanctifying Blood through all Thy members. The gift is divided to us all, but the life which this sacred gift contains is one and indissoluble.

Truly, My son, thou canst have no life but that which thou hast in union with all My saints, living with an undivided heart to My glory. My people must ever live in the unity of this life, in Me and for Me, all as one, and all serving one another.

Blessed Jesu, so let me drink of Thy heavenly gifts. So let me die to earth in the joy of Thy heavenly life.

MEDITATION XII.

Jesus giving Thanks.

And he took a cup, and gave thanks. -St. Matt. xxvi. 27. (Parallel passages: St. Mark xiv. 23; St. Luke xxii. 17, 19, 20; 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25.)

1. THANKSGIVING AS AN ACT OF PURE ADORATION. THE highest act of thanksgiving is the pure contemplation of God, giving Him thanks for what He Himself is. We rise up to this thanksgiving as we rise up to know Him by His name Jehovah. This is the joy of the beatific vision. In this act of thanksgiving we ought to be continually advancing. 'Whoso offereth Me thanks and praise, he honoureth Me' (Ps. 1. 23).

This was the great Eucharist of the Incarnate Son of God. He who knew the glory of the Father, knew it by an absorbing act of delight in contemplating it. This was the very law of His eternal Sonship. His joy was in beholding the Father. The Incarnation did not obscure that vision. Now, when He would extend His Body so that He might gather others into union with Himself, He must make them to share in this contemplative delight, which is the eternal act of His Divine Person and the sustaining power of His assumed humanity. We can only be one with Christ in so far as we

put away all other thoughts and rejoice simply in God's own Essence. 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I can desire along with Thee' (Ps. lxxiii. 25). My joy shall be in the Lord.

Without this joyous self-oblation, self-surrender, self-forgetfulness, there can be no true worship. Worship is doing what is worthy of the object of worship. To worship God is to acknowledge His sovereignty and our own nothingness. Merely to pay Him tributes of honour in order to obtain from Him the supply of our need, is no worship. Even to thank Him for all His manifold gifts external to Himself is not worship. We are too apt to treat God as if He were a Being merely existent for our benefit, without having any claims of His own. True worship, on the contrary, recognizes Him as the only Being who has any claims. We have no claims. We must simply be what He wills us to be, and do His will because it is His. We have a will in our natural being as men. So had Christ a human as well as a Divine will. value of our will, as elevating us above other animals which have not the same intelligent volition, is that we may give it up to God. 'Not my will, but Thine, be done.' This is love. God created us above all things to love Himself.

But the only

This love implies the recognition of the excellence of Him whom we love. We cannot love mere power. We must love God because of His goodIn our sinful world this must be in spite of much that obscures His goodness from our natural

ness.

apprehension. He would not be worthy of our true love if we knew Him only by acts of kindness independently of His sovereign justice. The penal condition of our present existence necessitates discipline which, to our natural heart, is at variance with simple love. In spite of every penalty we Otherwise our love is not really

have to love Him. resting upon Him.

We have to accept the penalties of a fallen creation, knowing that it were terrible for the sinful creature to come into manifest conjunction with the all-holy God. death and suffering. We must His goodness' (Hos. iii. 5).

So must we accept

fear the Lord and

Thus did our Lord approach this great Paschal solemnity. It was preparatory to His death, with all the circumstances of suffering which our sin required. But its fundamental thought must be that of thanksgiving to God for His eternal, essential goodness. So would it be an act of love.

So must we also come to Holy Communion with an absorbing sense of the Divine excellence. We cannot feed upon Christ except in proportion as we rise up along with Him to give this joyous homage to the Eternal Father. It is to be feared that many communicants let their thoughts rest upon the sacred Humanity of Christ. We must remember that this Humanity is available to us in this Holy Sacrament only as enabling us to rise up to the love of God. We must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Otherwise we are not rising up to real union with Christ Himself.

VOL. II. PT. I.

I