Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

ing selfsacrifce. The bread was not
the literal blood. Their eyes and lips told
them that. But they could not break that
bread and pour that wine without behold
ing that scene of the cross plain before their
eyes. The broken body, the shed blood, we
may believe as much about them as we
please, this, at the least, the bread and wine
were meant for, to bring these to remem-
brance.
But there were other words than these: "I
will not eat any more thereof until it be full
filed in the kingdom of God. wilTNnot
drink of the fruit of the vine until the king
dom of God shall come" And so st. Paul
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lords death,
till He come" So the servant which looks
back to the cross,
LOOKS FORWARD TO THE CROWN.
The remembrance is not only memory of
pain but of promise. Somehow the Lord
who loved them would come again and take
them unto Himself They remembered
that when they remembered Him. After
the resurrection and ascension this
memory OF promise would become increas-
ipgly precious. The feast would be the SYM
Dol of the Joy of heaven. The sadness would
be lost in gladness. They would go
straight on in thought, as we do, from the
Sacrifices of the death of Christ" to ''the
benefits which we receive thereby" The first
idea of the sacrament as the memorial of
some one dead, would pass away altogether
in the reminder which it brought of some
one living forever more, and waiting to
welcome them. Thus the supper which
they who sat first at the table ate in tears,
has been transformed into feat of triumph
and rejoicing.
These two circles of association then
gather about this word remembrance"
We remember the cross and the crown, we
remember the pain and the promise.
AND HERE WE LEARN
in Just what spirit of mind the Lord would
have men come to this sacrament. Who
ever honestly remembers the pain of the
cross and the promise of the crown, cannot
mistake.
For if we really remember what our
Saviour suffered for our sake, we will love
Him. We cannot hel p it. We will not
need to be taught the duty of loving Him.
Love cannot be taught as duty Love comes
by loving. Men love Christ when they
learn how Christ loves US. And the cross
teaches that. The broken bread and the
poured wine teach that.
And if we really remember how our Lord
has promised to receive us into His presence
we will hate sin. Because sin bars that
blessed door. We will daily endeavor so to
live that that promise may be possible to us.
And these are the only essential qualifca-
tions for approach to this sacrament: true
loving and right living. And not perfection
in either of these, remember, but only a
longing after perfection. Whoever honestly
desires perfectly to love God. whoever
cfoo n 70 cfI Iryr
ing to the laws of God,
HE MAY COME.
There is German proverb to the effect
that the best Is often the enemy of the good.
lam afraid that some are staying away from
holy communion because they have not yet
attained the best. They have not reached
their ideal of what a commitment should
believe and be. There is this and
that about the sacrament which they do not
understand. There is this and that article
in their own personal theology which does
not quite square with what somebody else
says is orthodox; in this and that respect
they fall short of saintliness And what 1
want to say to all such souls is this: If you
are willing to do just this single thing which
the Lord asked might be done in His men,
ory, If you honor and revere Him, if you
love Him, If you honestly desire to follow
more closely than you have been following
in His blessed steps, if when you "examine
yourself" as ST. Paul advised, you find so
much as this in your heart, there is no rea-
son why you should not come.
Come only in this spirit of remembrance,
do the will of God so far as you can see it,
and Me will show you, step by step, as you
grow in grace and in the knowledge and this
love of Him, all the other truth you need.
GEORGE HODGES,