were the prin,•ipnl resort of the teaahors oC how, when the disaipl(s' eyes were :fixed the new" w11v." 'We know that in an ex- on that cloud whiah veiled their 11,eaending tl'llordinarilv • short time the numbers of Master, they became aware of two strnnger- ndherente to the orueified and risen Jesus, forms with them, clad in white nnd glisten- in Jerusnlem only, were counted by thou- ing garments. They knew these belonged to 1,1<nds. The temple and its vast courts, from no earthly comp,my. They were two nmong its storied p!l.Bt, from its having been the the thousands of thousands of angels, pos- 1,cene of much of the Master's Je.st teaching, sibly the angels of the Resurrection, who ant was the natural centre for these leade1-s of in the empty garden-tomb. 'l'hese angels the new •• way." When Luke wrote the tell the awe-struck friends of the o.scendcd words, "wero continu11lly in the temple,'' it J l'SU, that their adored Master will one day is 1<lruost certe.iu that he proposed continu- (Acts i. 2) e.ome ho.ck to earth in like manner ing his gree.t narrative in the book we as they had seen him go to heaven. " 0 know as the Acts of the Apostl€'8, in enrth, thou grain of so.nd on the shore of which, guided by the Divine Spirit, he re- the great oceo.n of the universe of God, foti>~ to us how the Lord Jesus continued to thou Bethlehem among the princes of th~ work on earth-in and by his Church-from regions of heaven, thou nrt e.nd thou ever his glory-throne in heaven. The early wilt be, among ten thousnnd times ten thou- chapters of the Acts take up the thread of sand suns e.nd worlds, the loved one, the the gospel story, and descrilJe the life and elect of the Lord; thee will he visit age.in; work of the friends of Jesus in the great Je- thou shnlt provide him a throne, even e.s rusalem temple, the dangers they he.d to thou go.vest him a mo.nger; thou she.It re- encounter, and the splendid success which joice in the splendour of his glory, even as rewarded their brave, faithful toil. These thou drankest his blood e.nd hia tee.re, and same Acts, in the :first lines of their mournedst at his death. On thee he he.th thrilling story, take up a.gain the Ascension n great work yet to e.ccomplish" (Hii.feli, scene, whicli is describecl with fresh and quoted by Stier). vivid details From these details we leam
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-12.-The Resur,·ection-morning. Who are the witnesses to the Resurrec- tion? What is the evidence on which it was believed by the first disciples ?-on which it is received by all Christians still? I. 'l'HE WITNESSES ARE THE HOLY WOMEN il.'D THE APOSTLES. It is (ver. 1) the very early morning: "while it was yet dark," says St. John; "as the day began to dawn," says St. Matthew; "at the rising of the snn," says St. Mark. Then the women hasten towards the sepulchre. How many formed the company, or, as seems to be implied, the two companies, of women we know not. The names of five e.re given, and the rest are grouped under the phrases, the "others that were with them," and "the others from Galilee." They quickly pass through the silent streets. Jerusalem is still a.sleep; neither memory of what had happened, nor fear of what might happen, be.s disturbed its repose. They have only one care (ver. 1)-the complete embalming of the body which had been hastily laid in the rock-hewn sepulchre of Joseph. There is no idea beyond this; there is no hope even against hope that, on this the third day, he would rise a.gain. With the eagerness characteristic of woman's nature, they pro- ceed, the question never suggesting itself until they near the tomb, "Who shall roll away the stone from the mouth of the cave?" It would seem that they did not know of the guard which had been commanded to watch or of the sealing of the stone, for the.t had been done on the sa.bbath morning; but some of them had observed the setting of the stone-a block three or four feet in height, and two or three in breadth, requiring severe.I men to move it. "How shall it be moved? how shall we :find an entrance P" is the question before them as they press towards the holy place. Now, what a.re the facts P In the dawn, half-clear and half-dark, a.a the east begins to lighten, Mary of Magdala, the foremost of the company, sees the cave standing wide open-the stone having been rolled aside. Horror-struck, she turns to her companions, e.nd, yielding to the moment's impulse, she speeds back to the city to communicate her fears to Peter e.nd John (John xx. 1, 2). In the mean time, her companions venture forward. Timidly they euter the tomb, or the vestibule of the tomb, to search for the body. Lo, there (Matt. :,:~viii. 2, 3), on the stone which had been pushed into a corner, sits one oH, :xxrv. 1-53.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 2i9