sits above. We may be well assured that He, who once left the royalties of Heaven out of love to us, will not, now that He has had experience of our miseries on earth, be unmindful of us amidst those royalties. And so, very much in the strain of the penitent robber (would that we could imitate his faith as closely as we express his sentiments!), we pray Him to remember us, now that He is come into His Kingdom :-"Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.”

The third Paragraph again rises into the language of praise, ascribing glory to the Blessed Trinity, and specially to Him who, under the Mediatorial Kingdom, is the Central Figure of the Sacred Three, and the Representative of God to the creatures: "Thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord; Thou only, O.Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father."

And now summarily to gather up the teaching of our Communion Service respecting the way in which the Ordinance should be followed up. First, we should strive after a closer walk with God, and a more loving and unselfish fellowship with our Brethren in Christ. And, secondly, we should live much in the element of praise and adoration, endeavouring to associate ourselves with the company of Heaven in their exercises of Devotion, while at the same time we mix with these joyful and exulting strains, constant and fervent ejaculations to Our Lord, in acknowledgment of our guilt and infirmity, and appeal from hour to hour of each day, with strong assurance of faith, to His Sympathy and Power. Endeavour during the week succeeding your Communion, to throw your devotional sentiments into this mould; and thus ascertain by experience the significance and appro

priateness of the Post-Communion Service, as a sequel to the Administration of the Holy Supper.

LECTURE X.

OF THE BENEDICTION.

"Peace X leave with you, My peace X give unto you: not as the world giveth, give E unto you."-JOHN xiv. 27.

WHAT is a Benediction? It is of the nature of an Intercessory Prayer. The Church is so bound up together in God's eyes,-nay, men in general are so bound up together by common interests and a common hope,— that Prayers are commanded to be offered by all men for all, in acknowledgment and in pursuance of this relation. And the prayers which we offer for others, as distinct from those in which we seek our own private good, are termed intercessory. A Benediction, however, though of the nature of an Intercessory Prayer, is something more specific. In the limited and strict sense of the word, it is an Intercessory Prayer, offered by one who is invested with some authority over those for whom he prays. The authority may be natural, civil, or ecclesiastical. Of benedictions, bestowed on the ground of natural authority over the persons receiving them, we have instances in the history of the Patriarchs. We read of Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, of Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh. Again; we find David and Solomon blessing their people, the one at the introduction of the ark into the new Tabernacle, which had been pro

vided for it, the other at the dedication of the Temple. Here the authority must have been civil or political; for the kings of Israel did not belong to the tribe in which was the Priesthood. But finally the authority to bless may be ecclesiastical. One chief function of the sacred tribe of Levi under the Mosaic Ritual was to bless in the Name of the Lord; and for the performance of this function by the Priests a special formulary was prescribed by Jehovah Himself. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make His face shine upon, thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

Conformably to the genius of Christianity, which nowhere (save in the Lord's Prayer) prescribes any formulary, and which is generally averse to such prescription, as teaching us to serve God, not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit, no words of Benediction are enjoined in the New Testament upon the Christian Minister;—the form is left free to the discretion of the Church, guided (as she was to be) by the Spirit of Christ ever present in her. But who can doubt that the authority to bless in the Name of the Lord still remains in the Ministry of the Church, now that that Ministry, like the Church itself, has been brought out into the clearer light of the New Dispensation? Nay; who can doubt not only that the authority remains, but that the exercise of it is attended with results of a much higher order, results which reach much deeper into the inner and true life of the soul, than it was under the former state of things? As much as the ministration of

righteousness exceeds in glory the ministration of condemnation, in such proportion must the Benedictions of the Christian be more blessed and more effectual than those of the Jewish minister. Only let it not be forgotten that neither has the smallest absolute and independent authority; neither is more than a minister. The office of Ministry, whether under the old or new Dispensation, is only a channel and vehicle, by no means a source, of Grace. It is not really the minister in either case who blesses, but Christ who thus uses His ministry. The source and fountain of all Benediction is Our Lord's Intercession for us in Heaven. He intercedes for us as being bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, connected with us by a natural tie; as being King of Kings, of whose authority earthly dominion is but a shadow; and finally as being the great High Priest, who has entered into the Heavenly Sanctuary with His own Blood. When His Ministers bless His People in His Name, it is an echo of His continual and effective Benediction floating down to the Earth, and intercepted in the Ordinances of the Church.

We will now consider, in closing this series of Lectures, the particular form which our Church has given to her most solemn Benediction,—that which occurs at the end of the Communion Office. It runs thus: "The Peace of God which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord: and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen."

The former clause, which speaks of the Peace of

God, appeared for the first time in the first Reformed Book of Common Prayer; nor, we are persuaded, could auy form of words be devised more appropriate and more scriptural.

Here again the words are traced upon the history which has come down to us of the original Institution. For it was after the Last Supper (see the second verse of chapter xiii.) that the words of my text were spoken, when Our Lord, on the eve of parting with them, was addressing to His disciples those most precious farewell counsels, contained in the fourteenth and two following chapters of St. John. Adieu is the solemn and tender key-note of those chapters throughout; and in the verse before us the key-note is sounded alone. "Peace be with you," or "Go in peace," was the common form of valediction current in Jewish society, just as 66 God be with you" (now corrupted into "Good-bye") is in our own. Perhaps it is from the feeling that there is something hollow and purely conventional in "Good-bye,"that, like a coin whose image and superscription have worn away by constant friction, it now no longer has any religious significance,-perhaps it is for this reason that in our more solemn partings from those in whom we are specially interested, we rather say, "God bless you." A thought not dissimilar to this (so far as we may presume to trace His divine thoughts) gave rise to the solemn words before us. In giving His parting salute to His disciples, Our Lord, who has lived by the wayside of human life throughout His career, who has been mixed up with its cares, and interests, and sorrows, and joys, yea, who has constantly moved in the midst of its conventionalities and sins, though He Himself was the True and the Pure. One, will not deviate from the