both the houses of Israel." "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient." Thus we see that belief and obedience are the conditions on which Christ will be for a sanctuary: but that if these are wanting, He will be to the rejecters of His grace not a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. Jesus Himself says, "Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder."

6. Christ is the Rock of Ages. His nature demands that we should liken Him to something that is lasting; and so we think of Him as an eternal rock. Things about us change, monuments crumble, faces pass away. The most enduring thing is the rock of the mountain. Its base may be lashed by the sea, its sides may be torn by the tempest, snows and clouds may mantle its summit; but it defies the elements and lives for all time. Here, then, is something to which we may liken the eternal and unchanging One, the Maker of all things, and of whom it is written, "Jesus Christ,

the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." Yet the comparison fails; for the time is coming when the rocks shall flow down like wax, and the islands and mountains be moved out of their place. But whatever changes the physical earth may undergo, and to whatever end it may come, it is true of our Christ that He lives, and will live, beyond all the cycles of time. He is the Christ of the ages; and whatever of love, forgiveness, and mercy one generation has received or may receive, shall diminish nought to the men of any succeeding time. Oh, glorious Christ, what solid joy there is in thinking of Thee as the Rock of Ages!

The Living Bread.

"BREAD of heaven! on Thee we feed,

For Thy flesh is meat indeed:
Ever let our souls be fed

With this true and living bread."

VII.

THE LIVING BREAD.

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life." — JOHN vi. 35.

WITH five loaves and two small fishes Jesus

had fed the five thousand in the wilderness. The occasion was a remarkable one, and Jesus improved it by uttering great spiritual truths. Referring to the manna in the desert and the bread on which He had fed them as only adapted to the wants of the body, He said, "My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven." "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 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 a 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."