nk from whatever it
has been told is wrong. It is Christ in the young man, which fills
him with lofty aspirations, hopes of bettering the world around him,
hopes of training his soul to be all that it can be, and of putting
forth all his powers in the service of Christ. It is Christ in the
middle-aged man, which makes him strong in good works, labouring
patiently, wisely, and sturdily; so that having drunk of the living
waters himself, they may flow out of him again to others in good
deeds; a fountain springing up in him to an eternal life of
goodness. It is Christ in the old man, which makes him look on with
calm content while his own body and mind decay, knowing that the
kingdom of God cannot decay; for Christ is ruling it in
righteousness; and all will be well with him, and with his children
after him, and with all mankind, and all heaven and earth, if they
themselves only will it, long after he has been gathered to his
fathers.

Yes, such a man knows in whom he has believed. He knows that the
spiritual Rock has been following him through all his wanderings in
this weary world; and that that Rock is Christ. He can recollect
how, again and again, at his Sabbath haltings in his life's journey,
it was to him in the Holy Communion as to the Israelites of old in
their haltings in the wilderness, when the priests of Jehovah cried
to the mystic rock, 'Flow forth, O fountain,' and the waters flowed.
So can he recollect how, in Holy Communion, there flowed into his
soul streams of living water, the water of life, quenching that
thirst of his soul, which no created thing could slake; the water of
life; of Christ's life, which is the light of men, shewing them what
they ought to be and do; the life which is the light; the life which
is according to the eternal and divine reason; the life of wisdom;
which is the life of love; which is the life of justice; which is
the life of Christ; which is the life of God.

But if these things are so--and so they are, for Christ has said it,
St. Paul has said it, St. John has said it--but if these things are
so, will they not teach us much about Holy Communion, how we may
receive it worthily, and how unworthily?

If what we receive in the Communion be Christ himself, the good
Christ who is to make us good; then how can we receive it worthily,
if we do not hunger and thirst after goodness? If we do not come
thither, longing to be made good, and sanctified, then we come for
the wrong