Again, how precious should Christ be to us! What value has the meanest crust to a man that is starving! But here is sumptuous fare for men whose souls' condition was one of perishing need. Can we ever forget who it is that has furnished this repast; who by His constraining grace has brought us into such delightful relations to Himself, and has imparted to us the gift of eternal life? The angels wonder and adore. Much more may we, to whom this grace is shown. And when we come to the Lord's table, penitent, hopeful, thankful, joyful, can we suppress the utterance?

"Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there 's room,

When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?

"'T was the same love that spread the feast,
That sweetly drew us in;

Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin."

"Bread of the world, in mercy broken,
Wine of the soul, in mercy shed;

By whom the words of life were spoken,
And in whose death our sins are dead, —

"Look on the heart by sorrow broken,

Look on the tears by sinners shed;

And be Thy feast to us the token

That by Thy grace our souls are fed."

Alas! that any should famish when there is bread enough and to spare! The call to every one is, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." The table is spread, and the invitation has gone out, "Come, for all things are now ready." Would that dying men might have such a sense of their need, and such appreciation of the grace of Christ, as that they shall cry, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

The True Oine.

"VINE of Heaven! Thy blood supplies This blest cup of sacrifice;

Lord! Thy wounds our healing give, To Thy cross we look and live."

VIII.

THE TRUE VINE.

"I am the true vine." - JOHN XV. I.

HAT suggested this figure to the Saviour

WHA

does not appear. The Jewish Church was often spoken of as a vine. Perhaps He thought of it as having become a "degenerate plant," and so was led to speak of Himself as the true vine. Palestine was a land of vineyards, and it would be very natural that this figure should be inwoven with the speech of the people. Some have thought that Jesus was now in the room where He instituted the Lord's Supper, and that the wine which He had consecrated led Him to speak of Himself as the true vine. Others have supposed that He was now on His way from the paschal supper to the Mount of Olives, and that it was the sight of vines along the road that suggested this figure. Others still have thought that He was now discoursing in the Temple, the entrance to which was adorned with a