we really have in our hearts. And let us remember that 'he that
loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.'

II. Another characteristic which comes out in the words before us is
the blending of worship with life.

'They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine ... and in
breaking of bread.' Commentators who can only see one thing at a
time--and there are a good many of that species--have got up great
discussions as to whether this phrase means eating ordinary meals or
partaking of the Lord's Supper. I venture to say it means both,
because, clearly enough, in the beginning, the common meal was
hallowed by what we now call the Lord's Supper being associated with
it, and every day's evening repast was eaten 'in remembrance of Him.'

So, naturally, and without an idea of anything awful or sacred about
the rite, the first Christians, when they went home after a hard
day's work and sat down to take their own suppers, blessed the bread
and the wine, and whether they ate or drank, did the one and the
other 'in remembrance of Him.'

The gradual growth of the sentiment attaching to the Lord's Supper,
until it reached the portentous height of regarding it as a
'tremendous sacrifice' which could only be administered by priests
with ordained hands in Apostolic succession, can be partly traced
even in New Testament times. The Lord's Supper began as an appendage
to, or rather as a heightening of, the evening meal, and at first, as
this chapter tells us in a subsequent verse, was observed day by day.
Then, before the epoch of the Acts of the Apostles is ended, we find
it has become a weekly celebration, and forms part of the service on