They could not possibly have considered him as meaning that the bread and wine which he gave them at that solemn service did, in any mysterious and supernatural way, become his actual flesh and blood; because, these were already before them in the form of his own body.  And they could not be in his body and in the bread and wine, at the same time.  The sense in which Jesus first used these words—­“my body” and “my blood,” was clearly the memorial sense.  He meant his disciples to understand him as saying “Take this bread in remembrance of my body, which is to be crucified for you;” and “Take this wine in remembrance of my blood which is to be shed for you.”

This was what he taught the apostles when he first used these words among them; and this was all he taught them; and we have no right to use these words in any other sense till our blessed Lord himself shall give us authority to do so.

Let us never forget the word—­remembrance, as used by our Saviour here.  It is the root out of which the whole tree of this solemn service grows.  Let us hold on to this root word, and it will save us from the errors into which many have fallen in reference to this subject.

And, surely, there is nothing so precious for us to store away in our memories as the thought of Christ in the amazing sufferings he once bore for us, in the great work he is now doing for us, and in the saving truth he embodies in his own glorious character.  The story is told of Alexander the Great, that when he conquered King Darius he found among his treasures a very valuable box or cabinet.  It was made of gold and silver, and inlaid with precious jewels.  After thinking for awhile what to do with it, he finally concluded to use it as his choicest treasury, or cabinet, in which to keep the books of the poet Homer, which he was very fond of reading.  Now, if we use our memory aright, it will be to us a treasury far more valuable than that jeweled box of the great conqueror.  And the thought of Christ, not in his sufferings only, but in his work, and in his character, is the most precious thing to lay up in our memory.  And if we keep this remembrance continually before us it will be the greatest help we can have in trying to love and serve him better.

Here is an illustration of what I mean, in a touching story.  We may call it: 

“Love Stronger than Death.”  Some years ago there was a great fire in one of our Western cities that stood in the midst of a prairie.  A mother escaped from her burning dwelling.  Her husband was away from home.  She took her infant in her arms, and wrapped a heavy shawl round herself and the baby.  Her little girl clung to the dress of her mother, and they went out into the prairie, to get away from the flames of the burning buildings.  It was a wild and stormy winter’s night and intensely cold.  She tried to run; but burdened as she was that was impossible.  Presently she found that the tall dry grass of the prairie had caught fire.  It was spreading on every side.  A great circle of flame was gathering round her.