Christ for "daily bread;" whereas it is seldom that we can receive the Holy Communion more than once a week, and usually only once a month. Are we then to remain afar from Jesus, and starve our souls for all the time between? Alas! if this were so, we were indeed of all men most miserable; for our knowledge of the true way of life would only make us more keenly sensible of the wretchedness of being forced to walk the way of death. But, blessed be God, we need not be afar from Christ in all the long periods which intervene between one Communion and another; we may "abide in Him;"16 we must abide in Him if we would be partakers of His life at all. For surely, unless we day by day draw near to Him by faith in prayer and meditation, in acts of love, faith, hope; offering up ourselves to Him; beseeching His mercy; and consecrating to Him all our doings; there is little hope that we shall approach Him worthily in the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Is not this the New Testament rule under which we live? "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” 17 This is the rule of life, the sacred law by which we are to guide our thoughts, words, and deeds; and this most blessedly brings us continually, day by day, hour by hour, to Him who is our Life, our Comfort, our Guardian, that we may nestle under the wing of His most holy protection ;-in the power of His all-availing Name, do all that God has given us to do, and by Him glorify the God and Father of all.

16 1 St. John, ii. 27.

17 Col. iii. 17.

"" 18

Yes:

This sacred Name, in which we are to hallow all our words and deeds, is the gift of God to us. Jesus is His Gift; and Jesus is our Life. To live in Him is truly to live; to live in Him is to live for ever. "The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. "For which cause we faint not: but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."19 Our true life does not depend upon the vigour of our bodily frame, nor upon the portion of the world's joys that we secure to ourselves in passing through it; but if we live indeed, then it is not we that live, but Christ liveth "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." 20

in us.

Would we then, dear brethren, secure to ourselves that eternal life which God has given us in Jesus Christ, let us live our daily life in Him. Let us acknowledge Him in all our ways. Let us undertake nothing on which we have not asked His blessing. Let us do all as in His sight. Let us speak as in His hearing: let us rule our words as we should have wished to rule them, if we had lived with Him as His disciples did. Should we not then have curbed every angry or discontented tone? Shall we not do so now, when He sees us on His throne, nay, when He dwells within our hearts

18 1 St. John, ii. 17.

20 Rom. xiv. 7, 8.

19 2 Cor. iv. 16.

99 22

" 21

if we are His indeed? Let us fulfil the daily duties of life as if He had given us a charge, such as He gave to Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat." For He has indeed given us such a charge. He has delivered unto us our various talents, and said, "Occupy till I come. Let us rule our thoughts as if we were telling them out before Him: for indeed He knows our secret thoughts, both good and bad, as well as He knew the thoughts of the scribes when they were thinking evil of Him in their hearts.23 Let us hear the counsel of the wise man, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." And how can we keep guard so effectually over our hearts as by ever inviting Jesus to be there, by submitting all our thoughts to Him?

24

We shall not find Him an hard master, dear brethren! we shall not find this hourly submission of all to Him a galling yoke! certainly not, if we love Him at all as He has loved us. Love will make all things easy love will make all services joyous. His love shed abroad in our hearts will illumine all our thoughts, our hopes, our purposes, our very sorrows. Even the shame and grief of penitence will be sanctified, softened, and turned to joy by His love. To live in Him, to love Him, to do all in His Name, to hate all which cannot be sanctified by the memory of His cross, to choose all that he appoints, and love it because it is His appointment: to be good and kind to all who are about us for His sake, and

21 St. Luke, xxii. 8.
23 Vide St. Matt, ix. 4.

22 St. Luke, xix. 13.

24 Prov. iv. 23.

especially to show mercy to those who are suffering as He suffered, to live in peace with all, because His peace rules in our hearts:-this is to live the life eternal, this is to accept the gift of God in Jesus Christ.

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SERMON XXII.

CHRIST, THE LAMB OF GOD.

ST. JOHN, i. 29.

"John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

LAMBS are meek and gentle; the meekest and gentlest of all creatures; the universally recognised types of spotless innocence; and for this reason we may suppose our Saviour is so frequently mentioned under the figure of a lamb; a title by which the sacred writers delight to represent Him. Twice it is applied to Him by St. John the Baptist. In the text he says, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;" and at the 35th verse we read, "Again, the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, 'Behold the Lamb of God!' Thus speaking he does but re-echo the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who had foretold of Him long before, "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter." St. Peter uses the same expression, "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things. . . . but