his unbelief was at an end for ever: convinced at once both of the reality of our Saviour's resurrection, and of the divinity of His character, He exclaims, "My Lord and my God." He now saw and believed: he might indeed; for he had had proofs enough to have believed without seeing. So, remember, may we: and if we do believe from our hearts that Jesus, who died for our sins, did rise again from the dead, and now reigns as our Lord and God in heaven, we shall inherit the blessing which Jesus now pronounced on all who should hereafter believe in Him. "Jesus saith unto Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."

See Matt. xxviii. 1-15.

Mark xvi. 1-14. Luke

xxiv. 1-43. John xx.

FIFTY-NINTH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE ASCENSION.

M. Our last conversation was on the subject of our Lord's resurrection, and of the various proofs which He was pleased to give to his disciples that He was risen indeed. Before we proceed, it will be well to observe on what day of the week our blessed Redeemer Can you tell me?

rose.

E. It was not, I think, on the Jewish Sabbath, but the day after; that is the first day of the week.

M. And the day we call Sunday; which the church of Christ has from the beginning kept holy, instead of

the Jewish Sabbath, because on it the Saviour rose from the dead, and so rested from the work of our redemption, and blessed it with the blessing of peace, and hallowed it by making it the day of His triumph.

E. But then, Mamma, I do not understand how the fourth commandment bids us keep the seventh day holy. Is our first day that which was once the seventh?

M. We cannot say that it is, or that it is not so ; though we feel that this may possibly be the case; as the day for the Jewish Sabbath was chosen, I believe, as being the day of their deliverance from Egypt. But by the seventh day in the commandment, we are to understand one day in seven, rather than the seventh day of the week, as reckoned from the Creation: that is to say, out of every week we should devote one day continually to the public service of God. In point of fact, there can be no one seventh day, nor any one first day, the same for the whole world. For you know, whilst the day begins with us in England at six o'clock, for instance, in the spring, it is closing in New Zealand, whilst at Calcutta it is noon day; and in some of the western states of America it is still midnight.

Thus in New Zealand, and even in New South Wales, the Sabbath must of necessity be kept a day later or a day earlier than with us; and in very few parts of the world can it begin exactly at the same time. The great thing then is, that we should keep the Sabbath in spirit and in truth; that is, we should truly keep a day of sacred rest, according to the spirit of God's holy commandment. We should keep it, as it has been kept, from the very first, in remembrance of

God our Creator; and also in remembrance, not, as the Jews did, of their deliverance out of Egypt, but, as our Lord and His apostles have taught us, of our deliverance from a far worse than Egyptian bondage, through the Resurrection of our Redeemer from the dead.

E. Is there, then, a new commandment in the Gospel bidding us to keep the first day instead of the seventh?

M. There is no express commandment. But we have the practice of the church from the first, to assure us that there was good reason for the change, which otherwise would not have taken place. The Apostles of Christ must have directed it so to be done, in obedience to His will; indeed we find the first day of the week repeatedly marked in the New Testament, as a day especially set apart under the Gospel for works of piety. And the great reason of this was, that on the first day our Lord arose, and appeared to Mary Magdalen, to Cleopas and his companion, then to Peter, and again in the evening of the same day to the disciples assembled at Jerusalem.

For a week afterwards the Gospel is silent. Then on the eighth day, that is on the next Sunday, our Lord appears again, on the occasion of which we spoke, when the unbelief of Thomas was removed. And thus it was that Sunday began to be, as it afterward continued to be, the Gospel sabbath, the day of weekly remembrance to the Church of Christ.

But we must go on with the history, which is now approaching rapidly to a close; continuing, as it has done all along, to increase in interest and importance, every step it takes. Our Lord had already appeared several times to the Apostles and others in and near

Jerusalem; and probably all the disciples there were now fully persuaded of His return to life. But most of the followers of Christ were Galileans: it was in Galilee that He had chiefly taught. "The land of Zabulon and of Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles," was in this respect peculiarly favoured. We may hence, perhaps, see a reason why our Lord should vouchsafe to make His great public appearance in Galilee, where many believed on Him, rather than at Jerusalem where He had been despised and rejected; especially as there were, no doubt, among His disciples many females and infirm persons, who had not come up to Jerusalem to the Paschal feast. Be this however as it may, certain it is, that it was in Galilee chiefly that our Lord promised before His death to appear when He was risen; and there that He commanded His disciples to assemble, on a mountain which He had pointed out to them for that purpose.

E. Were there many disciples on that mountain then?

M. The number of disciples altogether-of those I mean, who had been actually baptized as such, was probably not very great as yet; but St Paul expressly says, that, after His resurrection, our Lord once appeared, and it was most probably on this great occasion in Galilee, to more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part were alive when the apostle wrote; that is about twenty years afterwards; and many perhaps lived much longer, to hand down to succeeding Christians, their testimony to the truth of the resurrection.

E. But did not our Saviour ever show Himself [Second Series.]

Ee

to any but His disciples? Would it not have put His enemies to utter confusion, if they had seen Him again in the temple, instructing the people as He did before His death? Even the Scribes and Pharisees must have believed in Him then, I think?

The heart that rejects

M. Perhaps not, Edward. They who shut their eyes against His miracles, and their hearts against His goodness; who refused to hear Moses and the prophets, bearing their clear testimony to Him; neither would they have been persuaded, if He had gone to them from the grave. such evidence as is sufficient to convince it, will as easily reject more. It is indeed remarkable, that it was the raising a man from the dead, that led these enemies of Christ to seek His death. You may recollect how the resurrection of Lazarus exasperated them. Besides, the Jewish rulers had undeniable evidence of our Lord's resurrection, in the testimony of the very guards, whom they had placed to watch His sepulchre. These soldiers, the moment they had recovered from the panic, into which they had been thrown by the earthquake and the appearance of the angel, went and told the chief priests what had occurred. But what was their conduct? They called a council and resolved, not to confess their crime and acknowledge the risen Messiah, but to bribe the soldiers with large presents of money, to utter a wicked and absurd falsehood,-to say that the disciples had come by night, and stolen Him away while they slept. A story which, if true, would have cost these poor men their lives; it being death to a Roman soldier to sleep when on duty. But the chief priests promised, if Pilate heard of it, to make such a representation of