(Concluded from page 154.)
Till He come.
No greater privilege can the believer enjoy this side of heaven than, as gathered to Christ's name and with those who love Him, around Himself, to show forth His death in the blessed expectation of seeing His face.
'What more simple and effectual way could the Lord have taken to recall our oft-waning affections and warm our poor hearts, than this feast of remembrance ? And its oft recurrence constantly keeps before us His wondrous, eternal love, told out in all its greatness upon that shameful cross. Our hearts are melted as we remember it was '' upon that same night"-the night of Gethsemane's sorrow and of His betrayal-that He, knowing well our forgetfulness, instituted this blessed memorial feast.
May we never approach it with feet unshod, and may we ever be preserved from treating this holy supper as a mere religious form. This would surely be to eat and drink to our condemnation (i Cor. ii:29). Self-judgment becomes us, so that without callousness or distraction, with hearts set free, we may discern the Lord's body.
Oh teach us, Lord, Thy fathomless love to know,
Thou who hast died;
Before our feeble faith, Lord Jesus, show
Thy hands and side,
That our glad hearts responsive unto Thine,
May wake with all the power of love divine.
Till He come, blessed hope! The desert sands will soon be over, the last weary footsteps trodden, and we shall see His face !
Our Lord keeps in mind His promise, "I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where .1 am there ye may be also," and if the thought of His coming thrills our hearts with gladness, what is His joy as He patiently waits for that day, when He will present His loved one, His Bride, to Himself, all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
The present parenthetical period will close with this blessed event. No more need then for the emblems of His death, for we shall see Him in all His t glory, and our everlasting song will be of His worthiness (Rev. 5:9). Kept out of the hour of tribulation, according to His promise (Rev. 3:20), the heavenly company will be with the Lord before God resumes His dealings, according to prophecy, with His earthly people. Her origin heavenly, and her destiny heaven, the Bride must necessarily be removed ere the thread of prophecy is resumed.
May the Lord deepen in our hearts the appreciation of what is so dear to Him-the Church, His Body, His Bride-and give us, while we wait for His return, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. J. W. H. N.