the opposite page.) Men of all climes, colours, and churches were present. The sacramental wine was in crystal cups, tinged with yellow. The presiding minister held the cup before him, and said finely, "Through this I see you all of one colour."

I have read that the Duke of Wellington was once kneeling in church, about to receive the communion. One of his old soldiers came and knelt by his side. When he saw that his neighbour was the great general, he rose to go away. "Don't go away," said Wellington, "you and I meet here on the same level.”

At every communion I feel that we make far too little of the sacred brotherhood of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Scholars at the same school, natives of the same parish, students at the same university, soldiers in the same regiment, sailors on the same ship, fellows in the same amusements-all these feel that many interesting ties bind them together; but how poor are all these compared with the sacred ties of which the Lord's Supper reminds us. Love must have been the perfect tense of live, one has said, as strove is the perfect of strive. In the grammar of the New Testament, at least, love is the perfect of live; for he lives most who loves best. Thus brotherly love is the keynote of our Saviour's great communion addresses in the five chapters of the Gospel of John, beginning with the thirteenth. Remember that graces grow not like grass in the meadows, but like corn in fields carefully ploughed and sown. Cultivate, then, the grace of brotherly love, the queen of all the graces.

We are to show the Lord's death "till He come," for "He shall come the second time without sin unto salvation." The Lord's Supper bids us look forwards. It reminds us of the marriage supper of the Lamb, and of the eating of the new bread of life in heaven. Communion on earth is a faint image of the communion above. That feast has no "bitter herbs," nor Judas, nor end. To that great feast you are invited, and you may be there if you choose. Accept the invitation at once, and never beg off from it.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CROSS.

"God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."-GAL. vi. 14. Read also the story of the Crucifixion in the Gospels.

most common object in In some Alpine valleys

THE cross is by far the Roman Catholic countries. the traveller finds a cross or crucifix (that is, a cross with the image of Christ on it) on every cottage, at every parting of the ways, and on nearly every notable height. Sometimes a church or chapel blocks up the path, and again the cross confronts him. The byre and hay-shed stand under the shelter of the cross; and as he pushes on he recognises the top of the pass by the crucifix crowning it.

In the Holy Land you are disgusted with the stories told you there about the cross. I visited a Greek convent a little way to the south-west of Jerusalem. The monks there take you down to a rock in the cellar, and gravely show you the very spot where the tree grew which was compelled to furnish the wood for Christ's cross. They show you the marks of its roots in the solid rock. The popular idea used to be, and in some places still is, that the