whieh made her weep, was a token for good, and a cause of joy for herself and all mankind.
We see, thirdly, in these verses, what low and earthly thoughts of Christ may creep into the mind of a true be- liever. It seems impossible to gather any other lesson from the solemn words which our Lord addressed to Mary Magdalene, when He said, " Touch Me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." — No doubt the language is somewhat mysterious, and ought to be deli- cately and reverently handled. Yet it is only reasona- ble to suppose that the first surprise, and the reaction from great sorrow to great joy, was more than the mind of Mary could bear. She was only a woman, though a holy and faithful woman. It is highly probable that, in the first excess of her joy, she threw herself at our Lord's feet, and made greater demonstrations of feeling than "were seemly or becoming. Very likely she behaved too much like one who thought all must be right if she had her Lord's bodily presence, and all must be wrong in His bodily absence. This was not the highest style of faith. She acted, in short, like one who forgot that her Master was God as well as man. She made too little of His divinity, and too much of His humanity. And hence she called forth our Lord's gentle rebuke, "Touch Me not! There is no need of this excessive demonstration of feeling. I am not yet ascending to my Father for forty days : your present duty is not to linger at my feet, but to go and tell my brethren that I have risen. Think of the feelings of others as well as of your own."
After all, we must confess that the fault of this holy woman was one into which Christians have always been too ready to fall. In every age there has been a ten- dency in the minds of many, to make too much of Christ's bodily presence, and to forget that He is not a