T appears, at first view, somewhat strange that Christianity, which brings life and immortality to light and opens to Faith the transcendent glories of the spiritual world, should, nevertheless, have here assembled its votaries to present to their contemplation the emblems of death and sorrow. It would seem as though its far-seeing gaze were suddenly obstructed, and its distant hopes obscured; or that all its movements and influences were reversed, and its noblest purposes altered; so that now its paths, like those of earthly glory, "lead but to the grave." Nor is it a less singular thought that death should become, under any circumstances, a subject of commemoration:-- [28] Strange, that the very consummation of human woes and the chief object of human fears could be made a matter of voluntary contemplation--a matter to be celebrated, a source of happiness and hope; and, stranger still, that we should have met to celebrate the death, not of an enemy, but of our best and truest friend!

      But it is in the sanctuary of God that the enigmas, both of life and death, are solved; that the mysteries of religion and of humanity are revealed. It is here that truths concentrate; that extremes meet, and the first and the last, the beginning and the end, are one. It is here that He, who, in the beginning, brought light out of darkness, educes good from evil, joy from sorrow, life from death, and glory from dishonor. It is here that we begin truly to realize that we dwell amidst the antagonisms of natural and spiritual contrarieties, and that an omnipotent and omniscient Friend has wisely ordained our lot, that we might become acquainted with opposite and contrary affections, and learn by experience how immeasurable the height of that supreme love which holds the nice balance of our destiny, and [29] how unfathomable the depths of that divine wisdom which, from the very lowest abyss of misery and depression, builds up the loftiest abode of joy.

      "Except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man," says Jesus, "you have no life in yourselves." This is but the expression of the law of our spiritual being. "This is the record, that the Father has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." If Jesus had not died we could not have lived; for it is only through him who died for us that we can live to God. It is only by partaking of that bread which came down from heaven, and which was given for the life of the world, that we can live forever.

      How precious the life which this spiritual food imparts! How just and striking the relation between this life and the food by which it is sustained! As the life must correspond with that by which it is maintained, celestial life can be nourished only by the bread of heaven. Food that is itself corruptible can maintain only a perishable life. "Therefore," said our Lord, "labor not [30] for the meat that perisheth." "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert," replied the Jews, "as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." "Nay," replied Jesus, "I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven." That manna was corruptible, for, if kept, it bred worms and perished; it could sustain, therefore, but a perishable life. It was evanescent, and disappeared before the rising sun; it was fitted, therefore, only to support a life which, like a "vapor, appeareth but for a little time and then vanishes away." "Your fathers," he therefore added, "did eat manna in the desert and are dead." But the food by which spiritual life is sustained is imperishable. "I am that bread of life," said the Redeemer. "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Thus it is "living," incorruptible food alone that can impart true life and [31] incorruptibility. And oh! how striking the literal fact which perfects the agreement of these truths, that when our Lord gave his flesh for the life of the world, that "living food" saw no corruption! For he was the "true bread from heaven;" the celestial manna; the "bread of God which came from heaven to give life to the world." It was not possible that he should be held by death in the bondage of the grave. God would not leave his soul in Hades, nor suffer his Holy One to see corruption. The food of spiritual life must be imperishable as that life, and a just correspondence must obtain between the figurative and the real; the type and the anti-type; the fact and the doctrine which the fact reveals.

      How important, then, the solemn declaration: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in yourselves!"^* [32] How important to realize that there is this necessary connection between life and its food, and that as mortality and corruption depend upon food that is itself perishable, so eternal life is equally dependent upon that food which endures forever. Well, therefore, did our Savior say: "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him." How happy he who can truly realize by [33] experience these precious spiritual truths! How blissful the assurance that, in becoming partakers of Christ, we share that divine nature in which life is inherent! How wonderful the thought that we who are but, as it were, the creatures of yesterday, may lay hold of the very attribute of the Deity, and be invested with imperishable life and joy! And how inscrutable the wisdom, power, and goodness which can thus cause the natural to give place to the spiritual; which can compel weakness to reveal power, and death itself to yield us life! [34]

[CITS 28-34]