A NOBLE VINE. The Prelude. SURELY nothing that was ever said or done on this earth can at all compare in sweet and touching tenderness, in divinely human interest and beauty, in all that takes hold upon whatever is best in man for good, with the record of the last days of the life of our blessed Lord and Saviour. As we follow Him, hour by hour, from the eve of the Passover to the ninth hour on the Cross, through all the sadly sweet and strangely thrilling scenes of the upper room, of Olivet, of Gethsemane, of Calvary, even until He is hidden from our view in the garden of the grave, we feel that although the awful shadow of the Cross falls darkly on His soul, yet every word He uttered is warm with human sympathy, and every deed He did presents the Man before us as the Friend and Brother, as well as the Redeemer of mankind. A Especially is this true of His tender talk with His disciples during the Last Supper, and after the betrayer had gone from them to set in motion the plot which resulted in His death. The departure of the little band from that hallowed "guest-chamber," did not, for more than a moment, interrupt the flow of gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth, nor check the current of counsel, comfort and good cheer that poured from His lips, to strengthen the hearts of His followers, and to prepare and fortify them for the struggle the overwhelming trial which He knew to be nigh at hand. It seems to us, the while we read the thrilling story, as if He felt that by instructing others, those whom the Father had given Him, He could best retain and increase His own strength of heart and calm of mind for the coming conflict in the shadows of Gethsemane; shadows which even now were projecting their awful and mysterious gloom along His darkening path; shadows which He knew portended a night in which the "pains of hell" should get "hold upon " Him and bring Him "trouble and sorrow " without a name. Then, as now, as it is with the servant, so was it with their Lord, the Friend was befriended by His friendliness; the Consoler was soothed by the |