identity of nature, and identity of love and affection after tlie resurrection, and no change.
Let us mark wliat a strong proof we have here of the duty of telling others the good news of the Gospel. The very first work that a risen Christ proposes to the first disciple to whom He revealed Himself is the work of telling others. It was a deep saying of the four leprous men : " This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace : if we tarry till the morn- ing light, some mischief will come upon us." (2 Kings vii. 9.)
Cyril remarks what an honor was put on woman, when a woman was commissioned to be the first person to proclaim the tidings of the resurrection.
[/ ascend.. .my Father...your God.] The message which our Lord desires Mary to carry to His disciples is remarkable. He does not bid her say " 1 have risen," but " I ascend." He would evidently have them understand that His resurrection was only a step towards His ascension, and that He did not rise again in order to tarry with them upon earth, but in order to go up to heaven as a conqueror, and sit down at God's right hand as their forerunner, representative, priest, advocate, and friend. The message is clearly elliptical. It is as though our Lord said, " Say unto them that I have risen from the dead, and that I am soon about to ascend into heaven, to Him who is my Father and my God, and their Father and their God also."
When our Lord dwells on His ascension more than His resur- rection, it seems to me that He names it as the great conclusion and accomplishment of the work He came to do, and the neces- sary consequence of His rising again. It is as though He said, " My work is finished, my battle is won, and I shall not be much longer with you in the world. Get ready to receive my last instructions."
Calvin says, " Christ forbids the Apostles to fix their whole attention on His resurrection viewed simply in itself, but ex- horts them to proceed further, until they come to the spiritual kingdom, the heavenly glory, and God Himself."
Andrews remarks, " We ourselves had better lie still in our graves, better never rise, than rise and rising not ascend."
Flavel remarks, "If Christ had not ascended, He could not have interceded, as He now does in heaven for us. And do but take away Christ's intercession, and you starve the hope of the saints."
When our Lord speaks of God as ""My Father and my God," He seems as usual, to point to the close and intimate union which He always declared to exist between Himself and the First Person in the Trinity. " The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Peter i. 3), is a kindred expression. — He does not, we should observe, say, I ascend unto " our Father," etc..