The secret anguish of her wounded soul, A.D. 30. of God but in the night of death; so dark So moving were the plaints, they would have soothed The stooping falcon to suspend his flight, And spare his mourning prey." Friendship.-Among the cherished stories of old English friend-ness was before ships, is that of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, who wished to light, and evening before the transmit his memory to after ages by the inscription on his tomb, the morning.""Friend to Sir Philip Sydney." The circumstance is not worth Dr. Whitefoot. mentioning, in comparison with that record of friendship which a Fenton. is supplied in the words, "That disciple, whom Jesus loved," b Dr. Stoughton. except as it may serve to bring out the Divine instance into bright and beautiful relief, through the manifest inferiority of the human example. The friendship of a mortal, however wise and good, fades away beside the thought of His friendship, who is the fountain of wisdom and the mirror of goodness." 3-5. Peter,a Lu. mentions P. alone. other, Jo., who Peter and relates what occurred as an eye-witness. ran, eagerness to John visit solve Mary's doubt, and their own conjectures. outrun, love the Sepulchre more enduring than impetuous zeal. yet. in, deterred by reverence, wonder, or fear of pollution. a Lu. xxiv. 12. b Lu. xiii. 30. the active. The The resurrection.-I. The mystery of the resurrection surpasses all the thoughts and reasonings of men. II. Jesus, the supreme present the conGood, is worth seeking for, without intermission, till He is found. templative; Peter III. Believers often find Jesus not such as they sought for. contemplative The grave of Jesus viewed in the light of faith.-I. The memorial of the malice of the enemies. II. The termination of the Lord's sufferings. III. The scene of the working of God's providence. IV. The burial-place of the world's sins. V. The rising-place of all that is good and holy.c person is more nimble in his wit; the active man quick at his work. John did run faster; but Peter did go surer."-Theo с Memory of the resurrection. Mr. John Knox, a little before his death, rose out of his bed; and being asked, "Why he rose, phylact. being so sick?" he answered, "That he had had in the night c Lange. sweet meditations on the resurrection of Jesus Christ; and now he would go into the pulpit and impart to others the comforts he felt in his soul." xiii. 6-10. went into, His impulsiveness overcoming every con- they find it sideration. not lying, as if thrown down, or fallen off. empty wrapped, our Lord's conduct never marked by hurry, but calm a Ps. xvi. 10; Ac. composure. A man waking out of a trance (had such been the ii. 25-31; case), would never have done this. believed, i.e., that He was 34, 35. indeed risen; and not, as Mary supposed, stolen away. knew "It is remarkable not, etc.,a He believed fr. evidence of senses. disciples, Peter and John. that never called whenever these holy coverings of our Lord's body are mentioned, they are grave - clothes, as in the case of Lazarus, but are spoken of as the J. Williams. linen clothes." The empty grave viewed by a fallen Apostle.-I. He entered it inquiringly. II. Searched it narrowly. III. Found it empty. IV. Left it thoughtfully.-The fruitless search for the living among the dead.-I. For the living Christ in the sepulchre. II. For the living Christian in the dust of earth.- Unconscious influence. There are two sorts of influence belonging to man-that which is active or voluntary, and that which is unconscious. It is with the latter we have at present to deal. To gain some conception of unconscious influence: I. Expel the common prejudice that there can be nothing of consequence in it, because it makes no rus, he came report, and falls on the world unobserved. II. Note the twofold powers of effect and expression by which man connects with his grave, fellow-man: 1. The ear and the understanding; 2. The sympa-with "When our Lord raised up Laza forth of the 'bound hand and foot grave A.D. 30. clothes.' But when our Lord riseth, He shakes off His graveclothes; the linen that wrapped His body in one place, and the linen that bound another."--Sir M. His head in Hale. b Lange. c Dr. Bushnell. d Stanley. the vision of angels "This position of our Lord was drewes. thetic powers, or the affections. III. Inferences to be drawn from this subject to complete its practical effect: 1. It is impossible to live in this world and escape responsibility; 2. The true philosophy or method of doing good is here explained.c Fear of death. It is said of the late Dr. Arnold, that, “finding one of his children had been greatly shocked and overcome by the first sight of death, he tenderly endeavoured to remove the feeling which had been awakened, and, opening a Bible, pointed to the words, Then cometh Simon Peter following Him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself,'' Nothing,' he said, 'to his mind afforded us such comfort, when shrinking from the outward accompaniments of death-the grave, the grave-clothes, the loneliness--as the thought that all these had been around our Lord himself-round Him who died, and is now alive for evermore.'"'d 11-13. Mary, who returned after telling P. and J., and had been outrun by them. weeping, still thinking the body of Christ had been stolen. angels, who came when P. and J. had gone. sitting, etc., reverently indicating the place. woman, set forth by the Ark, • between etc., they do not at once overwhelm her with the announcement the two Cheru- of the resurrection. weepest, how strange must human tears bim."-Bp. An- seem to holy, happy angels, yet they knew them to be signs of grief. because, etc., she had doubtless wept at His death; now "By these words, this sacrilege-as it seemed to her-was a fresh cause for tears. Why weepest thou?' our Lord Mary at the sepulchre.—I. The nature of Divine grace in its took away the operation on the heart. II. God usually matures, and in a. sense old curse.... In perfects, His work in His people by means of a variety of trials the garden of unto the appointed triumphs of faith.a-Mary at the empty subjected the tomb.-How does the Risen Saviour reveal Himself ?—I. To woman to Bor- what longing? II. In what experience? III. With what direcrow; so now, in tions ?b Paradise He had the garden, He bids her sorrow по Cyril. more." a Rev. R. Cecil. c Dr. J. Todd. "A woman was Hope in a resurrection.-We may rejoice that the disciple of Christ may go shouting into the grave, "O grave, where is thy victory?" Christ Himself has been in it, and sanctified it, and blessed it. Besides, the grave can only receive and claim the b Dr. Beyschlag. poorer part of us. It only takes the body; while the soul, the immortal part, escapes its power. You know you can seem to see things when the eye is shut, and you dream of things when the first messen- asleep. And so the soul can live, and think, and act, when the ger of this our body is in the grave. You will sleep in the grave a long, long joy, because a time, but not always. God can, and will raise up the body again. first minister of He is able. Do you see that beautiful little humming-bird dancing from flower to flower, like a spirit of flowers? He was once confined to the little mummy shell, but God brought him out. See "Our powers owe that looking-glass; how perfectly you can see your face and form, much of their and every hair on your forehead in it! But had you seen the energy to our hopes."-Johnson. coarse sand lie on the sea-shore, before the workmen began, would you think that they could make such a thing from that sand? So God will raise us up from the grave by His wisdom and power.c woman was the our sorrow." Greg. Nyssen. appearance of Jesus to Mary 14, 15. knew not,a her tears and the pre-occupation of her mind preventing recognition. gardener, a servant, therefore, of Joseph. if thou, the servant of a friend. tell, such an one might tell. I.. away, how pleased would she have been to Grief rebuked.-A prudent and pious lady observing her husband dejected by some misfortune which had befallen him, to such a degree that he could not sleep at night for care, pretended, in the morning, to be still more disconsolate herself, and gave way to lamentations and tears. As she had spoken cheeringly to him the evening before, and exhorted him to dismiss his sorrow, he was astonished, and asked the cause of her sudden grief. Hesitating a little, she replied that she had been dreaming, and that it seemed to her that a messenger had come from Heaven, and had brought the news that God was dead, and that all the angels were weeping. "Foolish woman," said the husband, "you know right well that God cannot die!" "Indeed," replied the wife; "and if that be so certain, how comes it that you are now indulging your sorrow as immoderately as if He really did no longer exist, or, at least, as if He were unable either to set measure and bounds to our affliction, or mitigate its severity, or convert it into a blessing? My dear husband, learn to trust Him, and to sorrow like a Christian. Think of the old proverb • What need to grieve, If God still live." "d d He sends a x 3. b Jacobus. 16-18. Mary,a "He revealed Himself by showing His recognition of her." turned, startled by well-remembered voice. Rabboni, my master. A true-hearted and prompt acknowledg-a ment. touch. . not, she was prob. ab. to cast herself upon Him. for, etc., she is not to regard Him in the light she had bef. His death. go.. brethren, not monopolise Him. In the fulness of her joy she must think of, and act for others. Father, brethren, Father. He still holds to the dear words. Mary, an Apostle to the Apostles." seen. Lord, they 2 Co. vi. 18; Ga. believed not (Mk.), though some of them had seen the empty sepulchre. 66 The import of a word.-I. It shows His power. Only a word, yet what an effect it produced. II. It displays His immutability. The same way He used to speak to her. III. It displays His love. Mary!" not woman, as He did before. IV. His watchful care. Christ was looking on. V. It indicates His pity. Did not chide 66 her.h 11. e Ro. viii. 14, 15; iii. 26; iv. 6, 7. f Card. Caietan. Ma. xxviii. 10. this passionate consideration of My bodily and "Dwell not upon pre personal up, the of thy thoughts, Contentment in suffering.-The Rev. Joseph Alleine being asked and thy reverby a friend, how he could be contented to be so long under such ence, and thy devotion, and "What! is God my thy holy amorweakness as he then suffered, he answered, Father; Jesus Christ my Saviour; and the Spirit my sweet ousness Friend, my Comforter, and Sanctifier; and heaven my inheritance; and shall I not be content without limbs and health? Through grace, I am fully satisfied with my Father's pleasure." To another who proposed a similar question, he said, “I have chosen God, and He is become mine, and I know with whom I have trusted myself; which is enough. He is an unreasonable wretch that cannot be content with God, though he had nothing h else. My interest in God is all my joy." whither I am going, to right hand My Father; and consider contemplate Me Donne. Me, there." - Dr. Stems Twigs. and A.D. 30. Jesus ap pears to His disciples a Mk. xvi. 14: Lu. xxiv. 36; 1 19, 20. then.. day, earlier in the evening of this day He app. to two discs. on their way to Emmaus (Mk., Lu.). first day, now the Lord's-day; and fr. this day the Christian Sabbath. First day in our thoughts and love. assembled, no doubt discussing the wonders of the day; and presently interrupted by the return of the two fr. Emmaus. came stood, imagine them falling back in speechless awe and wonder. peace you, thus He calmed their fears, and reminded them of the to legacy-peace-that He had left. when.. said, and they being them in the even- tranquillised. hands.. side, still bearing the prints of the ing, bec. they nails and spear. glad," their mourning turned into joy at the afraid at that word and sight of Christ. Co. xv. 5. Jo. xvi. 22. "He came would be most time."-Bede. c Anon. d Anon. e McCheyne. f Anon. "He arose what He was before to (as man), but ad Appearance of Jesus to His disciples.-I. The appearance of Christ: 1. To whom He appeared; 2. When? 3. How; 4. Where. II. His gracious words: 1. To allay their fears; 2. To show that He cherished no feelings of resentment on account of their recent conduct; 3. To remind them that His great work was done, and that the special blessing which He died to secure was ready to be bestowed. III. The condescending act of Christ. There are what He was not three things that the sight cannot fail to teach us: 1. His real before. He re-humanity; 2. His lowly condition; 3. His matchless love."—The tained His nature manifestation of Christ to His disciples after His resurrection.— vanced it I. The appearance of Christ to His disciples: 1. They were assemglory."-Hilary. bled; 2. A select assembly; 3. Private; 4. In the evening; 5. "You have a Immediately after resurrection. II. The benediction He progreat trust to nounced upon them: 1. To dissipate their fears; 2. Calm their commit to God consciences; 3. As the medium of communicating good; 4. As a when you die; prelude to their future success. III. The sight He exhibited to great trust to them: 1. What they saw was real, and not illusive; 2. To remind commit to you them of the love that He bore them, etc. IV. The sensation while you live. they felt on beholding Him: 1. Founded in knowledge; 2. Produced by love; 3. Associated with confidence.d to and God hath a If you keep His truths, He will keep your souls." -Flavel. a Sabbath would like a man and like a home Veneration for the Sabbath.-The Rev. J. Scott of Hull, in his funeral sermon for the late distinguished Mr. Wilberforce, "I hold that a observes, when speaking of his high veneration for the Sabbath: world without "On each returning Sabbath, his feelings seemed to rise, in probe like a portion to the sanctity of the day, to a higher degree of spirituawithout a smile, lity and holy joy, which diffused a sacred cheerfulness to all summer around him. I have often heard him assert, that he never could without flowers, have sustained the labour and stretch of mind required in his stead without early political life, if it had not been for the rest of the Sabbath; a garden. It is and that he could name several of his contemporaries in the the joyous day of vortex of political cares, whose minds had actually given way -H. W. Beecher. under the stress of intellectual labour, so as to bring on a premature death, or the still more dreadful catastrophe of insanity and suicide, who, humanly speaking, might have been preserved in health, if they would but have conscientiously observed the Sabbath." the whole week." He breathes upon them a Jo. xiv. 27. 21-23. again,a to impress the saying as specially important then. He having come out of a great conflict, victorious; and with the wounds upon Him. sent, etc. [i. 237, and Jo. xvii. 18). b2 Ti. ii. 2; He. breathed, breath a symbol of Holy Spirit, coming from Christ, breath of spiritual life and power. receive, as an earnest, foretaste, pledge of the Pentecostal outpouring. whose soever, etc. [i. 113], the sense in which this is meant is shown in several cases; as S. Magus,d Annanias,e Corinthians. iii. 1. c Ac. ii. 4, 38. d Ac. viii. 20, 23. e Ac. v. 3-4, 9. с . The confession and remission of sins.—I. The power of forgiving sins is Divinely bestowed upon the disciples of Jesus Christ in their corporate capacity; II. Jesus called upon the offended individual to forgive the offender upon receiving individual confession; III. Nowhere in the Scriptures is forgiveness promised apart from confession and restitution. A.D. 30. f 1 Co. v. 3-5; 2 Co. ii. 6-10. "He thus installs them in the office to which Impossibility of Apostolical succession.-Apostolical succession He had previousis no more possible as a law for the Church than an equivalent them. Let it be, ly appointed theory would be in the world of art. Think of trying to institute therefore, held by in such a way the right and the gift of teaching beauty! Think of an hierarchical pretension in the artistic world, claiming that only the students upon whom Raffaelle, or Michael Angelo, or Murillo, or Rubens, or Reynolds, or West, or Turner, or Allston, had laid his hands, were rightfully consecrated and equipped to paint and to educate the taste of men! By all means have studies, and studios, and thorough intercourse with the master us as an ascer tained truth, that the Apostles were now for the first time appointed to be ordinary ministers of the Gospel."--Calvin. g Dr. Parker. pieces of ages. But leave room for genius-its freedom, its new h T. S. King. methods, and its fire. And do not try to conduct the potent and volatile essence of inspiration, which flows only from the laying on of God's hand, along the fixed methods of any confederation.h 24, 25. Thomas, etc., where was he? did he know of the Thomas not meeting? why was he absent? what did he lose? said.. Lord, present this they said joyously, and to make him joyful. except a Jo. xi. 16. see, etc., so for a week he doubted. His brethren were to himb Ps. lxxviii. 11. the objects of an unjust suspicion, and he still in doubt as to the 32. resurrection. Yet he had the testimony of the women,-of the We are too two,-and of the ten. finger.. hand, etc., as if the sense of sight or touch were the strongest evidence he could have. Absent from blessings.-A scene often reproduced-1. A gather ing of the disciples; 2. An incomplete gathering; 3. A gathering blessed with Christ's presence.c prone to carry our faith with Thomas at our ends; fingers' and trust God no farther than our hand of sense can reach."— Gurnall. cW. W. Whythe. "Our doubts are traitors, and the good we oft make us lose The removal of a doubt.-It is related that a gentleman of London, in great doubt whether there ever was such a person as Christ, was going home one night in the dark, when a man fell into his arms, and the beard of a Jew brushed against his face. This opportune meeting with one of those who crucified Christ drove his doubts away instantly and forever. Mr. Ryland says, "In the croaking of a Jew, I hear, as if the voice of Gabriel pro- might win." claimed from heaven, 'Jesus, the true Messiah, was crucified with- Shakespeare. out the gates of Jerusalem.' Jesus appears to His disciples. Thomas is present 26-29. eight days, i.e., on the eighth day, counting the day of resurrection, the second Christian Sabbath. Thomas.. them, had he faith enough to expect the Lord? doors.. shut, the Spirit of power presently gave them boldness of speech in the open streets. saith.. Thomas, etc.,a showing that He had heard, though invisible, the words of Thomas. Thomas.. said, af. 1 Jo. i. 1; etc., his confession of faith, though slow, is now full. not. b Ps. cxviii. 28; believed, "let those who wish that they had lived in the times Jo. v. 23; 1 Ti. of the Apostles, and had seen Christ working miracles, meditate iii. 16. on these words." d 1 Ti. i. 14. c 1 Pe. i. 18. d Chrysostom. The doubting disciple.-I. The doubts of which he was the subject-1. They were unreasonable; 2. They were not unimportant. II. The manner in which his scruples were removed-1. The feelings with which Thomas regarded the risen Redeemer; 2. His lieved in Him, He saw Christ as man; but be |