The disciples, always ready to understand whatever they heard, in the most material sense, had failed to catch the real meaning of Jesus in His reference to the sword. They fancied that He wished them to provide weapons to resist approaching danger. "We have two swords," said one of them. That will do," replied Jesus, gently avoiding further explanation. "You will not need more than the two,' -a touch of sad irony which sufficed to show even then that He had thought of something very different as their defence than the purchase of arms; for how were the nine, who had no swords at all, to protect themselves, when scattered on the apostolic journeys of which He had spoken?

The evening was now somewhat advanced, according to Eastern notions, but the Passover meal, in its different rites, could not be hurried. The feast began thus, in other circles, though we cannot tell how far the usual customs were followed by Jesus. A cup of red wine, mingled with a fourth part of water, to make it a pleasant and temperate drink, was filled by one of the company, and given to the head of the family, who took it in his right hand, as he rested, supporting himself on his left side and arm, and thanked God in the words-Blessed be Thou, O Lord our God, Thou King of the world, who createdst the fruit of the vine." He then tasted the cup, and passed it round. Thanks for the institution of the washing of hands followed, and then the washing itself, which was merely formal. "Bitter" herbs, such as endives, lettuce, and the like, were next set on the table, to represent the hard life of Egypt. Thanks were given for them also, and then they were passed round and eaten, after dipping them in a mixture of salt and vinegar. The unleavened bread -the bread of affliction-which gave one of its names to the feast, followed next, and then the bowl of charoseth and the Passover lamb. After this, the head of the company once more gave thanks to Him "who created the fruit of the earth," and the bitter herbs were dipped by each in the charoseth, and a piece of it, "the size of an olive,' eaten, with them, by all. A second single cup of wine, mingled with water, was now poured out, discourse on the lessons of the feast was held, and then the hundred and thirteenth and hundred and fourteenth Psalms, part of the Hallel, were sung. Another short thanksgiving followed, and the cup was once more passed round and tasted.

The Household Father now washed His hands again, and then took two of the unleavened cakes, broke one in two, and laying the pieces on the unbroken cake, pronounced a thanksgiving-Blessed be He who makes bread to grow from the earth,"-wrapped some bitter herbs round a piece of the broken bread, dipped it in the charoseth, ate it, after another special thanksgiving, and, with it, a part of the lamb; the others following His example. The supper had only now properly begun. Each ate and drank at his will; all, alike, in the patriarchal way of the East, lifting what they wished, with their fingers, from the common dish. A third cup of wine, passed round, marked the close of the feast as a religious solemnity.

The meal had advanced thus far, and was now virtually finished, when the warning had been given of the approaching denial of their Master by Peter, and the weak-minded desertion of the Eleven. The solemn words, foretelling the dangers and trials before them, had been added, when Jesus, now in the bosom of the little band, nearest and dearest to Him on earth; His companions through the past years, since His public work began-introduced by an act befitting a spiritual religion like His, in its simplicity, the institution which, henceforth, should supersede in His kingdom on earth the feast they had ended. Homage had been paid for the last time, as in farewell, to the Past: they were, hereafter, to honour the new Symbol of the Future.

He was about to leave them, and, as yet, they had no rite, however simple, to form a centre round which they might permanently gather. Some emblem was needed, by which they might, hereafter, be distinguished: some common bond, which should outwardly link them to each other, and to their common Master. The Passover had been the symbol of the theocracy of the past, and had given the people of God an outward, ever recurring, remembrance of their relations to each other, and their invisible King. As the founder of the New Israel, Jesus would now institute a special rite for its members, in all ages and countries. The Old Covenant of God with the Jew had found its vivid embodiment in the yearly festivity He had that night, for the last time, observed. The New Covenant must, henceforth, have an outward embodiment also; more spiritual, as became it, but equally vivid.

Nothing could have been more touching and beautiful in its simplicity than the symbol now introduced. The Third Cup was known as the cup of blessing," and had marked the close of the meal, held to do honour to the economy now passing away. The bread had been handed round with the words, This is the bread of affliction:" and the flesh of the lamb had been distributed with the words, "This is the body of the Passover." The feast of the Ancient People of God having been honoured by these striking utterances,-Jesus took one of the loaves or cakes before Him, gave thanks, broke it, and handed it to the Apostles with words, the repetition, almost exactly, of those they had heard a moment before-"Take, cat; this is my body, which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me." Then, taking the cup, which had been filled for the fourth and last handing round, He gave thanks to God once more, and passed it to the circle, with the words, "Drink ye all of it, for this cup is the New Covenant" presently to be made in my blood;" instead of the covenant made also in blood, by God, with your fathers: "it is," in abiding symbol, 'my blood of the Covenant" of my Father, with the New Israel, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. This do, as often as ye drink, in remembrance of Me.'

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"

For Himself, He declined to taste it. "I will not drink, henceforth," said He, "of the fruit of the vine-for it was still only wine

-till that day, when, at the end of all things, the kingdom of God, which I have founded, shall finally triumph, and my followers be gathered to the great heavenly feast. Then, I shall drink it new, with you and them."

Such, and so simple, was the new rite of the Spiritual Theocracy. To those around Him, at its institution, there could be no doubt of its meaning and nature, for it was, even in words, a counterpart of that which He had superseded, with a purer and more spiritual form. The cup, Ile told them, was a symbol of the New Covenant, under which, as His followers, they had come; in distinction from that which they had left, for His sake. It was to be a memorial of Him, and a constant recognition of their faith in the virtue of His atoning death-that death, whose shed blood was the seal of this New Covenant between the subjects of His kingdom, and God, His Father. It symbolized before all ages, to the New Israel, the cardinal virtue of His death. The Apostles could have had no simpler or more unmistakable intimation that as the blood of the Passover lamb redeemed the people of God, of old, from the sword of the angel of wrath, His blood would be a ransom for man, from far deadlier peril. A covenant, to them, implied a sacrifice, and His blood, as the New Covenant, was, therefore, sacrificial: the blood of a Covenant which pledged His followers to faith, and duty; the blood of a new paschal lamb, with which His disciples must, in figure, be sprinkled, that the destroying angel might pass over them, in the day of judgment. The custom of the nation to make a common meal the special occasion of religious fellowship, made the new institution easy and natural to the Apostles, and the constant use of symbols in their hereditary religion prevented their misconceiving the meaning of those now introduced for the first time. They saw in it an abiding memorial of their Lord: a vivid enforcement of their dependence on the merits of His death, as a sacrifice for their salvation: the need of intimate spiritual communion with Him, as the bread of life: and the bond of the new brotherhood He had established. The joint commemoration of His broken body and shed blood, was, henceforth, to distinguish the assemblies of His followers from the world at large. Excepting baptism, it was the one outward form in the Society, established by their Master.

From a rite thus simple, aoctrines have been developed by theological zeal and heated fancy, which would have alike startled and shocked those who first partook of it. It has been forgotten how Jesus, Himself, in answer to the cavil-"How can He give us His flesh to eat?" repudiated the literalism which caught at sound, and missed the sense. "My flesh-my bodily person," said He, "profiteth nothing towards procuring eternal life: to talk of eating it to gain that life is unworthy trifling: it is the Spirit who quickens the soul to a new, immortal, and heavenly existence, and that Spirit acts through the words of sacred truth which I speak to you. They are spirit, and they are life."

CHAPTER LIX.

THE FAREWELL.

JERUSALEM was the brightest and happiest of cities on this Passover night. But though the hum of universal rejoicing rose on every side, there was only sadness in the little band round Jesus. One of their number had proved a traitor, and their Master had told them, once more, that He would very soon leave them. They were sore at heart from shame at the baseness of Iscariot; at the dread of losing a Master they passionately loved; and at the utter miscarriage of all their half-worldly, half-religious, expectations of earthly glory, Their Master had instituted a rite to mark them as apart from all other men, but it looked as if there would he little use for it, in the apparently near overthrow of His infant Kingdom.

As they reclined, sad and silent, Jesus read their thoughts, and began to cheer them, by lifting their hearts from the gloomy present to the glorious future.

Let not your hearts be troubled with care and anxiety in such a way," said He; "believe in God, and in me, His Son, who speak in His name, and let that faith lead you to trust confidently that the promises made you will be fulfilled. I have, indeed, told you that I must go to my Father, but I have told you, also, that I will return. You have, assuredly, nothing to expect on earth except trial, but your reward in the world to come may well raise you above all sorrow on that account. In heaven, my Father's house, are many mansions; you need not fear that everlasting habitations in glory will fail you. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I never deceive you. Nay, more, I am your forerunner thither. If I go away, it is to prepare a place for you. I am your friend, going home before you, to get all ready for your glad reception when you follow me.

"Nor is this all; I will return to fetch you to my heavenly home, that, where I am, you may be, also, for ever. If you remember what I have said in the past, you will know not only whither I am going, but, since it is I who prepare a place for you above, and I, and no other, who will come to lead you thither, you must also know the

way.

He alluded to His spiritual return at the blissful death of His servants, to guide them to Himself, above, and He had told them, not long before, that He was the door of the great fold, and that if any man entered by Him, he would be saved. But they had forgotten this, as they had so much else.

A full and satisfying answer to the question of Peter, lay in these words. But it was not enough to still the fears and doubts in the minds of the Apostles. They still clung fondly to their earthly

hopes of the Messiah's Kingdom, and though they, perhaps, realized the near departure of their Master, they had not, even yet, come to comprehend that it meant His death. Hence His figurative language remained so dark to them, that Thomas, constitutionally given, as he was, to seek clearness and certainty, interrupted Him with a reverent freedom

"Lord, we do not, as yet, know whither Thou art going, and how can we know the way in which to follow Thee?" The questioner wished to find out the way by learning the goal, but Christ, in His answer, pointed him to the way as revealing all else.

"I myself, and no other, am the way," said He, "because no one comes to the Father, in His heavenly glory, but through me. I am the true way, for I speak only the truth given me from above to make known the way to life, for he who believes in me shall live by me, and shall have everlasting life, and I shall raise him up at the last day. If ye have known_me-the Way-ye will know whither I am going -to my Father-for, since he who sees the Son, sees the Father also, you know Him from this time, and have seen Him, in seeing me. am the WAY, because no one can reach my Father's presence, but through faith in me as the Saviour: the Truth, because I am the selfrevelation of God; the Light, come into the world, without following which, no one can gain salvation: the Life, because I am the source and spring of eternal life, so that he who does not receive me into his heart, by faith, is already condemned."

I

Philip had listened, but could not understand. He could only think that Jesus, in speaking of seeing the Father, alluded to some invisible appearance of Jehovah, for the purpose of founding the earthly kingdom of the Messiah. With a child-like simplicity, therefore, he turned to Christ-"Lord, show us the Father, and all our wishes will be satisfied."

No one who had thought over the words "If ye have known me, ye will have known my Father also," and had understood them, could have asked such a question. It marked an amazing want of intelligent appreciation of the teaching of our Lord, and of His mode of speech. Hence, the answer of Christ sounds almost sad. 'Have I been so long with you, and do you know so little of me, Philip? If you really knew me, you would not ask me to show you the Father. He cannot be shown to the natural sight. But he who sees me, and rightly understands who I am, knows the Father, in thus knowing me. Such an one realizes that, in me, the highest revelation of God that is possible has appeared, and has no wish to have any higher or other outward and material manifestation of Him. You speak as if you did not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and that hence, as I said, he who sees me sees the Father also. The proof that it is so, is in my words, for they are not my own, but His. If you doubt this, you do not need to believe merely because I say so: believe it on the proof of the works that I do, for it is not I, who do