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riches, a whole Christ to be wholly ours, our Saviour, our portion, just in that degree shall this table be to us a table of true communion with Him, of refreshing and joy in our spiritual life.

A little while we sit at this earthly table, then the deep shadows shall flee away. I said we were brethren around the family-table. Alas! it is a table that has no Head. Since the Lord went away the table of communion in the household of God has been a table of orphans, bereft of their natural Head. The Goodman of the house is no longer here, and for that reason we have no lordship at His table or in His house, and none here shall be intercessors or mediators for us. We are all brethren, and we are all equal; we have the same access by one Spirit to the same Father through the same sacrifice of Jesus. We are brethren in adversity, left for a little while by our elder Brother; but all the more we hold fast together, clasped hand in hand, honouring each other for our work, heartening each other in it, keeping far away division, alienation, and jealousy.

But the table which tells us of our Lord's absence tells us also of His return. We do it "till He come." We have in these dear memorials a pledge that He is not to be always an absent Head; and yet, thank God, He is not wholly absent even now. We do thank Him for His real presence in a very real sense at this table of His love, for the presence of the Master by His Spirit in our hearts; and I pray you and I may realize it to the full. But while we do realize this, and while it is blessed, this is no full substitute for the personal Lord. The bread and the wine, though consecrated by Himself into memorials of His person, are not His person. But they tell us He has not forgotten us in His absence, and that, as of old, He breathes upon us as He breathed upon them, and says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." His presence is real, though spiritual; nay, real because spiritual. But that is no substitute, no adequate compensation for His personal presence, for which the hearts of His saints cry out. We are reminded in the feast that the longing of all His saints shall be satisfied. Meanwhile let us keep the memorial feast till He comes again; then shall we keep this feast no more, for we shall be with Him, and we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be satisfied with His likeness.

Thanks were then given by Dr. DYKES, and the bread and wine

were distributed and partaken of in silent stillness before the Lord. After supper Dr. Dykes said: We go from supper to service. May we go in the strength of this meat many days. Those who sat with the Lord at His first supper-table went forth to meet temptations and difficulties which awaited them, even as they may await us also. Let us remember He Himself is with us, and He says, "I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not." As we have sat under the banner of His love, may we now be prepared to serve Him faithfully in the "little while" here below.

Hymn No. 55 was then sung

"The sands of time are sinking;,

The dawn of heaven breaks.'

During the singing of the hymn a thank-offering was taken on behalf of the poor of the Mildmay district. Dr. Dykes then concluded the service with prayer and the benediction.

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THE EARL OF CAVAN. REV. THEODORE J. MEYER.
REV. JOHN WILKINSON.

No. 27

Wednesday Afternoon, June 24th, 1885.

N Wednesday afternoon, rooms No. 4 and 5, the large rooms on the basement floor, which have been thrown into one, were well filled by those interested in the Jewish question. After the singing of the hymn, "Forgotten! no; that cannot be

The oath of Him who cannot lie."

Rev. ADOLPH SAPHIR, D.D., presented prayer, and the following address was given by the chairman:

Attitude of the Church towards the Jews.

By the EARL OF CAVAN.

I should like to draw your attention, dear friends, to a few verses in the Epistle to the Romans.

The subject allotted to me is, "The Attitude of the Church towards the Jews: What ought it to be?" Oh that we may get some understanding concerning this matter! It is well to

see what God's Word tells us concerning Israel in their connection with the Gentiles and the Church of Christ. Look at two or three verses only.

In the twelfth verse of chapter xi. I find, "If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" And in verse 15, "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Then in verse 28, "As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." And also in verse 30, "As ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief." When we look at these several points in connection with God's dealings with the Jews, we are stirred up to consider what we owe to them. What, then, should be our attitude towards that peculiar people God selected to be His special people? They are enemies for your sakes."

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Now observe, with regard to God's dealings with Israel, the effect of their unbelief is what they lose by unbelief, we enter into by faith. Through faith we just enter into what they have lost by want of faith. Now there is a passage in the ninth chapter, where Paul in touching words says, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." Observe the seven points they have lost through unbelief, and we have obtained through faith; the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, of whom concerning the flesh Christ. Now all this stir amongst us concerning the Jews, and the stir amongst the Jews, of which we have heard lately, is just a sign of the closing up of the Gentile dispensation; and it is therefore deeply important to consider what has been opened to us through their unbelief, and how little we have done for them in return.

Now consider for a moment these points. First, the

adoption. Turn to Gal. iv. 4, 5, and see that "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.' And not only called sons, but are sons. "Because ye are sons;" "Now are we the sons of God." So we have received the adoption, just what we have read that Israel lost. Another verse from Eph. i. 4, 5, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Thus what they have lost we have gained.

Then the glory. Observe the expression in Isa. xlvi. 13, "I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Israel for My glory." Compare with that 2 Thess. ii. 14, "Whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Compare Phil. i. 10, 11; 1 Thess. ii. 12; and 1 Peter v. 10, 11. I will not read these; but turn to them at your leisure, and see that as Israel lost the glory by unbelief we have obtained the glory through faith.

Now the Covenant. Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant (Heb. ix. 15), and so we by faith enter into the covenant Israel has lost by unbelief.

Then the giving of the law. See Rom. x. 4, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Refer also to Psalm cxlvii., last two verses, "He sheweth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation." Compare Romans viii. 4, and see that what Israel lost we have gained.

Then the service of God. Read Heb. ix. 1-14, and see the precious thought of the apostle, how that to the service shadowed in the ceremonies we are called. Compare with that also 1 Thess. i. 9. May the outcome of this Conference be that all of us may more faithfully in these last days serve the living and true God.

Then the promis. Read Deut. vi. 10-14, and xxviii. 1-14, and see what Israel has lost; and compare Gal. iii. 14-16, and 2 Cor. i. 20, to understand what we have gained.

Then of whom concerning the flesh Christ came. Read Gal. iv. 19, "Until Christ be formed in you;" Col. i. 2, “Christ in

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