sense of our debt to God will always be attended by a slight sense of what we owe for our redemption. It is the man who feels much forgiven who loves much. " To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." (Luke vii. 47.) Let us observe, secondly, in this passage, bow the difficulties which Christians fear, will sometimes disappear as they approach them. These holy women, as they walked to our Lord's grave, were full of fears about the stone at the door. " They said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ?" But their fears were needless. Their expected trouble was found not to exist. " When tbey looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away."
What a striking emblem we have in this simple narra- tive, of the experience of many Christians! How often believers are oppressed and cast down by anticipation of evils, and yet, in the time of need, find the tbing they feared removed, and the " stone rolled away." A large proportion of a saint's anxieties arise from things wbich never really happen. We look forward to all the possi- bilities of the journey towards heaven. We conjure up in our imagination all kind of crosses and obstacles. We carry mentally to-morrow's troubles, as well as to-day's. And often, very often, we find at tbe end, that our doubts and alarms were groundless, and that the thing we dreaded most has never come to pass at all. Let us pray for more practical faith. Let us believe that in the path of duty, we shall never be entirely for- saken. Let us go forward boldly, and we shall often find that the lion in the way is chained, and the seeming hedge of thorns is only a shadow.