voice saluted her ears, and He said, "Mary!" with his own peculiar, unmistakeable emphasis? How sweetly must that concise salutation have vibrated on her heart, and with what joyful surprise must she have responded, "Rabboni!" Falling prostrate to the ground, she was about to embrace his feet, and worship Him as her God and Saviour, but He commanded her to postpone her homage. "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." Delay me not now. There will be other opportunities to express your faith and love; for I shall not immediately return to heaven.*

"Grief and sighing quickly fled,

When she heard his welcome voice;
Just before she thought Him dead,
Now He bids her heart rejoice.
What a change his word can make ;
Turning darkness into day!
You who weep for Jesus' sake,

He will wipe your tears away."

The beams of the rising sun had just begun to touch the golden front of the temple, when Mary, the mother of James; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward; Salome, and other women, were on their way from Jerusalem with their sweet spices. As they walked mournfully on, they discussed by what means they could obtain the removal of the * John xx. 1—17.

heavy stone portal,-being ignorant that it had been rendered inviolable by the Roman seal and signet. But when they reached the sepulchre, they beheld it wide open, and, to their great terror and amazement, an angel seated on the huge stone. Aware of the pious and affectionate nature of their errand, he endeavoured to soothe their minds by words of kindness: "Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said; come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Thus graciously invited to examine the evidences of his resurrection, they entered the inner tomb and found the sarcophagus empty, and while they were regarding each other in great perplexity, "two men " appeared before them "in shining garments." With increased trepidation they bowed their faces to the earth, while they listened to the glorious communication, which those celestial beings uttered in a sweet sonorous tone of joy, " He is not here, but is risen ; remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." They "remembered his words instantly, and lifting themselves up," and looking towards the sarcophagus, beheld on the right side of it "a young man clothed in a long white garment," who confirmed the statement of the angels, adding, "Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as

He said unto you." They obeyed, and ran quickly towards the city, with mingled feelings of hope and fear, when lo, the Saviour himself met them with the gracious salutation, "All hail!" There was no mistaking his pleasant soul-penetrating voice, or his identity as "the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely." They could not doubt the evidence of their senses, as He stood before them, with the scars visibly imprinted on his pierced hands, his hair parted in the midst of his head, and waving below his neck as the Nazarite of Nazarites, with his own love-inspiring, benignant countenance. The women, still trembling with astonishment and perturbation, fell prostrate at his feet, while He graciously calmed their agitation; and then, to intimate the affinity into which He had brought his redeemed, dismissed them with an injunction to tell his brethren "to go into Galilee, where they should see Him." *

* Matt. xxviii. 1—10; Luke xxiv. 1—8.

CHAPTER XIV.

"The first-begotten from the dead,
Lo! Jesus ris'n, his people's head,
To make their life secure;

They too, like Him, shall yield their breath,
Like Him shall burst the bands of death,
Their resurrection sure."

THE apostles, clinging together in their affliction, were mutually lamenting their sad bereavement, when the women entered among them, with joy and solemnity depicted on their countenances. Mary Magdalene had already communicated her blessed discovery to John and Peter, who, though "her words seemed to them as idle tales," ran to the tomb to ascertain the truth of her statement. John was the first to reach it; and, "stooping down and looking in," with a scrutinizing glance, he discerned that the sarcophagus was empty, and the fillet and linen bandages lying where they had been deposited by the angel. He then went in, accompanied by

Peter, to examine the inexplicable mystery, for as yet they understood not the statements of Scripture, and what Jesus had told them concerning his resurrection.

While the disciples continued in desponding unbelief, brooding together over their loss, Cleophas, Mary's brother-in-law, and the father of James and Jude the Less, was returning in a like disconsolate spirit to the village of Emmaus, accompanied by another disciple, who shared in his grief and disappointment. On the way, they conversed upon the all-engrossing topic of Christ's ignominious crucifixion, which had nipped in the bud their fondlycherished hopes of deliverance from the dominion of the Romans, and while thus engaged, they were unconsciously joined by the risen Saviour, as one travelling by the same road, who inquired the subject of their conversation, and why they appeared so melancholy and downcast? They were too much absorbed in their feelings to regard the supposed stranger with any particular attention, and besides, "their eyes were holden that they should not" recognise Him. Cleophas expressed amazement at his apparent ignorance of the unjust and cruel death of so eminent a prophet as Jesus of Nazareth, which had lately transpired at Jerusalem, since it had created a great sensation, and filled many hearts with sorrow. He likewise alluded to the women's evidence, which would have been irresistible, had they not been blinded by ignorance and prejudice.