My son, I give thee My flesh and My blood, that thou mayest have strength for the journey, and I will raise thee up at the last day.

O Jesu, how apt is the worldly heart to murmur by reason of the difficulties of the way! Olet my soul be evermore stayed upon Thee. Let me feed on Thee alone, and Thou shalt be my satisfaction.

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MEDITATION XXXIX.

Prophecies Fulfilled.

2. THE PROPHETS AND THE PSALMS.

And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, how that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me.-St. Luke xxiv. 44.

1. THE INFANCY.

He was

OUR Lord's resurrection was, as it were, a new birth. It was not a return to the old life. It was entering upon a new condition of life. It would recall the marvel of His birth at Bethlehem. to be born of a virgin. That virgin-birth did not belong to Messiah as a mere marvel. When heathen legends attribute virgin-birth to heathen heroes there is no reason for the thing, no antecedent necessity. That Jesus should be born of a virgin was a necessity, for He was the Son of God. He came to take upon Himself our nature, not subjecting Himself to the power of development inherent in the race, but subjecting the nature of man to His own personality. His personality was Divine, and did not cease to be so when as the Seed of the woman He became the Son of man. He was the Son of mankind, but not of any individual man.

Now He is proclaimed as the Son of God with

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power by the resurrection from the dead. The same Divine power whereby He took upon Himself our nature, and came forth from the Virgin's womb to enter upon His life of humiliation, shows itself now in His rising from the dead to enter with our manhood upon His life of glory. As the angel had said, 'That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, so the Psalmist had said, Thou wilt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption (Ps. xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27 ; xiii. 35).

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As His resurrection by the power of His Divinity presupposes this virgin-birth, so the prophecy of His virgin-birth spreads itself forth into the grand manifestation of His Divine life, free from this world, in the glory of the resurrection, that He may be known as Emmanuel (Is. vii. 14).

He is come, then, Emmanuel, of whom God had said that Out of Bethlehem shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel' (Mic. v. 2; Matt. ii. 5, 6). He is come who was to be the Bread of Life (John vi. 48), born in the House of Bread.

The star of which Balaam had prophesied (Num. xxiv. 17) had told the distant Magi of His birth (Matt. ii. 2). God had made the wrath of man turn to His glory in that Herod had brought about the fulfilment of prophecy by the slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem. Rachel had been weeping for her children (Jer. xxxi. 15; Matt. ii. 17, 18). Rachel's tomb was in David's birthplace. Ephraim had seemed to die, but He was a dear son still (Jer. xxxi. 20), and the children of Rachel shall come

again to their own border, because she which travaileth hath brought forth the hope of Israel. 'A woman has compassed a man' (Jer. xxxi. 22). Ephraim shall be the firstborn again. He receives Christ when Judah rejects Him. So Zechariah, calling Christ the Bow, says, I have filled my Bow with Ephraim,' since the Apostles were from Galilee. (Zech. ix. 13.)

Jesus fled to Egypt. The whole nation came forth out of Egypt as God's firstborn, and perished by reason of their own sin. Now He comes forth out of Egypt who is the true Firstborn, with reference to whom God had said by Hosea, 'Out of Egypt have I called My Son' (Hos. xi. 1; Matt. ii. 15).

But the name whereby He should be known, the name affixed to the Cross, was Jesus of Nazareth. In Nazareth the angel had appeared to Mary. In Nazareth would He grow up, the hidden God, who comes to be Jesus the Saviour. Nazareth is the place of the sprout,' and thence would God bring forth His Servant the Branch, the Stone which was laid before Joshua the high priest.' This was the stone hewn out of the mountain without hands (Dan. ii. 45), the living corner-stone which the Jewish builders rejected (Ps. cxviii. 22; Matt. xxi. 42; Mark xii. 10, 11; Luke xx. 17; Acts iv. 11; 1 Pet. ii. 7), but which would become the headstone of the corner, and would fill the world (Dan. ii. 35). The seven eyes of the eternal Spirit of God were upon it, and by the wounds of Calvary He was to remove the iniquity of the land in one day (Zech. iii. 9), offering a sacrifice which should never need to be repeated for

the sins of the whole world. This living Stone (1 Pet. ii. 4), this Branch, is He of whom Isaiah writes, 'There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a sprout shall flourish from his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him' (Is. xi. 1, 2).

So He Himself, when He opened His ministry in the synagogue of Galilee, claimed to be the Messiah. He read the words, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek.' He was sent to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' (Is. lxi. 1, 2), the year of which Daniel had prophesied as the beginning of the seventieth week, during which He was to confirm a covenant with many. This day,' said He, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears' (Luke iv. 21),

O Jesu, Thou wast content to be born as the child of poverty; grant that I may never seek the greatness of the world, but rather strive to realise the powers of the world to come, which Thou bringest near to them that seek Thee.

Yea, Wy son. In poverty thou shalt find We if thou wilt look to Me. Fear not earthly want, for I will give thee heavenly riches.

O Jesu, blessed be Thy Name. Thou art the portion of mine inheritance. With Thee poverty is rich, and without Thee riches and power are poor and feeble. I desire indeed to be dead to all the things of this present life even while surrounded by them. So let me experience now by grace the power of the life wherein Thou art risen from the dead, that