lay down his life, and take it up again. Secondly: His resurrection demonstrates the supernatural character of his death. Only a few of the millions that have died, have ever been raised to life; only one ever rose by his own power, and that was Christ. The supernatural resurrection shows the supernatural death. It is the resurrection, therefore, that gives a meaning to Christ's death. Thirdly: His resurrection secures the moral purpose of his death. The great end of his death was to give spiritual life to humanity, and this his resurrection ensures. He is alive, to carry on by his Gospel and his Spirit the great work of man's spiritual restoration. Brothers, let us think rather of the risen than of the dead Christ. A dead Church worships a dead Christ-bows before His effigy on the canvas -kisses his feet on the crucifix. But a living Church. keeps her eye ever on a living Christ. Alas, the modern Church generally lives rather on the gloomy Saturday, when Christ is in His grave, than on the bright Sunday when He appeared to His disciples; -the blessed Easter of the world. THE LORD'S SUPPER. "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread: and, when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."-1 Cor. xi. 23-26. ac THESE verses give an count of what is called the "Lord's Supper." This supper was instituted by Christ Himself the night in which He was betrayed while He was observing the Passover with his disciples. On that night He virtually directs the minds of men from all Jewish ritualism, and centres them on Himself. "Do this in remembrance of ME." True religion now has to do with a person, and that is Christ. In reading the words of the apostle before us, there are four things which strike us with amazement. person I. THAT ANY SHOULD DOUBT THE GENUINENESS OF CHRISTIANITY. Here is an institution that was started the night previous to our Saviour's crucifixion, which was attended to by the Church at Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost, celebrated by various other apostolic churches, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and which St. Paul here states he 66 received from the Lord," and delivers now to the Corinthian Church. From the apostolic age down to this hour, through eighteen long centuries it has been attended to by all the branches of the true church. Since its origin thousands of generations have passed away, many systems have risen and disappeared, nations have been organized, flourished, and broken up, but this ordinance continues:and continues, what for? To commemorate the great central fact of the Gospelnamely, that Christ died. Is there any other fact in history sustained by evidence half so powerful as this? These words suggest another thing which strikes us with amazement. II. THAT ANY SHOULD MISINTERPRET THIS ORDINANCE. Here we are distinctly told that it is to "show forth the Lord's Lord's death." No language can more clearly show that it is purely commemorative. There are three abuses of this institation, which imply the grossest misinterpretation. First: The gustatory. The Corinthians, to whom the apostle now writes, thus used it. They introduced a lovefeast to immediately precede it, probably because a Jewish feast preceded its first celebration. This led to gluttony and other evils. Hence, in the preceding verses he says, "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, every one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." The members of the Corinthian Church were converts from heathenism, and they had been accustomed, in their heathen festivals, to give way to gluttony and intemperance. Many of them, from the force of old habits, were tempted to use the Lord's supper in this way, hence they were guilty of the body and blood of the Lord," that is, guilty of profaning the institution designed to commemorate His death. Thus, they ate and drank "unworthily," and by so doing, ate and drank condemnation to themselves. 66 Another use which implies the grossest misinterpretation, is Secondly: The superstitious. There are some who believe that after the words of consecration pronounced by the priest over these elements, the elements become literally the "body and blood of the Lord." This is transubstan tiation. Others, who would not go thus far, still superstitiously regard the ordinance as a mystic medium, through which grace is poured into the soul of the recipients. Fearful abuse this. Another use which implies the grossest misinterpretation, is Thirdly: The formalistic. There are those who partake of the bread and wine merely as a matter of form and ceremony. It is regarded as the proper thing to be done, and is done mechanically. We evangelical Christians are not guilty of the first nor the second, but we may be of the third. Let us "examine ourselves;" so let us eat, &c. These words suggest another thing which strikes us with amazement. III. THAT ANY SHOULD SAY THE INSTITUTION IS NOT PERMANENT IN ITS OBLIGATION. The Apostle tells us distinctly that it was to show forth the Lord's death till he When will that be? come. Not just yet. The human world seems to be only in its infancy, and Christianity only just beginning its work. The billows of a thousand ages may break on our shore before He comes. On to that distant point the obligation is binding. There are some professing Christians who think themselves too spiritual to observe such an ordinance. These very spiritual ones, to be consistent, should avoid all scientific studies, for science has to do with material forms; its principles are all embodied, are made palpable to the eye and ear. They should also avoid all biblical studies, for biblical truths are, for the most part, embodied in material facts. Christ himself was flesh and blood. These words suggest another thing which strikes us with amazement. IV. THAT ANY ACQUAINTED WITH THE BIOGRAPHY OF CHRIST SHOULD NEGLECT IT. Consider-First: That it is to commemorate the world's greatest Benefactor. It is to keep Christ in the memory of man. Here is a Benefactor (1) that has served the world in the highest way, effected its deliverance from sin and hell. (2.) Served it by the most unparalleled sacrificeHe sacrificed his life to the work. (3.) Served it with the most disinterested love. Consider-Secondly: It is enjoined by the world's greatest Benefactor. He Himself has enjoined it; "Do this in remembrance of me," and this command He gave under the most touching circumstances. How amazing it is that men should neglect it! The excuses that men make for neglecting this are singularly absurd. A man will sometimes say, "I can be saved without it." We ask, who told you so? What is damnation? What but disobedience to Christ? and he who neglects this institution disobeys Him. Another man will say, "I am unfit for it." We say, if you are unfit for this you are unfit for any other religious observance; unfit to read the Bible, sing, or pray, nor can you ever become fit by neglecting your duty. Scripture and Science. (No. II.) SUBJECT: Dew and Hoar Frost. A.-The facts of Science bearing on these subjects. Material objects are composed of a number of atoms in a state of combination, as water, which is composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen (H2O); or common salt, which is formed of one atom of sodium and one of chlorine (NaCl). These atoms have, themselves, not the properties of the compound, but when they combine as atoms, the resulting compound must be very small. The quantity of water denoted by the symbol H2O is probably not the millionth part of a drop; still it has all the properties of water. This minutest part of water is called a molecule. These molecules are of various shapes, and adhere to each other with various degrees of tenacity, as seen in solids, liquids, and gases. In no case are they in actual contact, nor are they ever found having, for a long time together, the same relative position. Like water in the sea, they are always in a state of motion. These motions are of various kinds, but I wish to speak of one, the motion which gives to the touch the sensation of heat. Really, the molecules are simply moving among themselves, and becoming more distant from each other. This motion expands the body whose constituent parts these molecules are, and renders it less in specific gravity. These molecules, though too small to be seen by the strongest microscopic power, move, not in straight lines, but in spirals, as if along the threads of a screw; that of water being thirty times as fine as that of lead or mercury. When the molecules of water have reached the distance from each other at which they always stand when the thermometer stands at 212 deg. Fahr., the substance assumes the form of steam or vapour, and, being of less specific gravity than the atmosphere near the surface of the earth, it rises until a stratum is reached whose specific gravity is equal to its own. The evaporation of water is thus seen to be caused by the separation of its molecules by a force which we name heat. The heat of the sun expands the superficial layer of the sea and lakes, and causes the water to rise and float in the air in the form of vapour. When the temperature is sufficiently high the vapour becomes transparent and invisible. This is explained by supposing its molecules, which are seen only when many are together, to become isolated. A diminution of temperature, by the setting of the sun, lessens their centrifugal tendency, and brings them sufficiently near together to be seen again in the form of vapour. These minute globules of vapour fall upon the grass of the field and the trees of the forest, and, uniting with each other, under the influence of gravitation, they form drops of clear and pure water, and hang like tears upon the closing eyelids of the flower. These drops are known as dew, and appear because the heat of the sun evaporates the water, and the cold of the night lessens the expansive force which separates the aqueous molecules, and thus condenses the vapour, unites the molecules into groups, which are sufficiently large to affect our organs of vision. In the case of sea, and any other water which holds mineral substances in solution, the molecules of the mineral are held between those of the fluid element, but in the process of evaporation the molecules of water are separated from each other, and thus the mineral particles are set at liberty, and being themselves of greater specific gravity than the air, they are left behind, and the clear water, free from all mineral impurities, alone, rises to the clouds, and then condenses into rain, or rises into imperceptible vapour, and then condenses into dew. The existence of invisible vapour of water in the atmosphere, and the lowering of the temperature to the condensing point, are the two only conditions of dewfall. The former condition is daily fulfilled by the heat of the sun, and especially in the summer or in tropical regions; the latter by the radiation of heat by objects on the surface of the earth. Equilibrium of forces is the only condition of stability. A body in motion will ever move, unless its moving force be counterbalanced by another equal and opposite. In nature there is a constant effort to attain a state of repose or equilibrium, but that state is approached by |