Our  Lord  is  now  "  very  highly  exalted."  The  very  same
Apostle  who  here  reclined  on  His  Bosom,  as  cu  that  of  a  dear
fi-iend,  is  careful  to  narrate  to  us  how  that,  when  next  he  beheld
Him,  after  His  entrance  into  Glory,  he  "fell  at  His  feet  as
dead"

So,  again,  the  Holy  Ghost  is  no  less  careful  to  record,  "  for  our
learning,"  the  solemn  warning  which  the  Christian  Church  so
speedily  received,  as  to  the  paramount  necessity  of  fencing  round
this  Holy  Mystery  with  suitable  ceremonial;  telling  us  of  the
solemn  judgments  of  the  Most  High  upon  those  early  communi-
cants, who,  presuming  on  tlie  simple  exterior  of  this  august
Service,  ere  yet  the  Church  had  been  able  to  perfect  her  expres-
sive Ritual,  and  approaching  the  Sacred  Table  without  reverence,
— "not  discerning  the  Lord's  Body,"  and  counting  the  "Blood  of
the  Coicnant"  a  "common  thing," — drew  down  upon  them  the


heavy  wrath  of  God,  being  smitten  with  "grievous  diseases,  and
sundry  kinds  of  death."

'  Eph.  V.  19.     Col.  iii.  16.
In  this  threefold  division,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  miss  soma
special  secret  relation  with  the  three  several  Persons  of  the  Ever-
Blessed  Trinity.  (1)  The  "  Psalms,"  flowing  to  us  from,  and
uniting  us  to,  the  Old  Dispensation,  primarily  lead  us  up  to,  and
reveal  to  us,  "  the  Father  of  an  infinite  Mnjesty."  (2)  The
"  Hymns,"  originating,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  Eucharistic
Hymn  in  the  Upper  Kooin,  bring  us  into  special  connexion  with
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  (3)  The  "  Spiritual  Songs,"  as  their
very  n.ame  indicates,  rather  represent  the  free,  unrestrained  out-
breathings  in  Holy  Song  of  that  Divine  Spirit  which  animates
and  inspires  the  Body  of  Christ.
