not IIO with the womiin? After ebe was hcalc,l he br1111ght her into the spiritu,d knowledge of himself Bnd his will. She bB<l stolen to Jesus, but she must nnt skal from him. He see.rches her out. She see~ that she is not hid; and trembling, fearing, she falls down Bnd tells him all the truth. Precisely what he desired. And what he desires evermore is frankness, openness to him. There must be no guile and no conceal- ment; there mUBt be perfect truthfulness between the Lord and the soul. When an, ahadow comes in there, the cleansing of the conscience, the working out of the salvation, is hindered. Notice the word" daughter," the only woman who received th111 title from the Lord, and she the woman who wBs brought to tell all the tl'uth. "For this let every one that is godly pray unto thee." This interview, with its great work, is by the way. He who desires the opportunity of usefulness meets the opportunity even in travelling to the duty more immediately contemplated. All the while another work has been waiting. What parent c.oes not rnter into the feeling of the ruler of the synii.gogue? His only daughter, the darling, the desire of his eyes, is dying. And he must stand and listen to the talk which involves some delay. And then the message, "Thy daughter is dead: trouble not the Master l " We do not hear of any complaint or impatience, of any word ot reproach like that which fell from the sisters of Bethany. Jesus meets a confidence such as this with loving frankness: "Fear not: only believe, and she shBll be made whole." Look e.t the sign that is given of Ghrist the Reawrrecti()'TI,, I. IT HAS ITS srECIALTY OF MEANING. Of the three acts of raising from the dead related by the evan~elists, it is, adhering to the chronology of Luke, the second. The son of the widow of Nain was not only deacl, but the body was bein~ carried out to burial. Lazarus bad been four days dead. The girl of twelve had only expirnd.. The attendants knew that she was'dee.d; Luke the physician is careful to add this. It was no trance; she was undoubtedly dead, but Death had only a short time before put his stamp on the countenance. 'l.'rench, writing on the miracle, beautifully speaks of "the fresh-trodden way between the body and the son! which has just forsaken it, and which lingers for a season near the tabernacle where it has dwelt so long. Even science itself," he adds, "has arrived e.t the conclusion that the last echoes of life ring in the body much longor than is commonly supposed; that, for a while, it is full of the reminiscences of life." Observe, when Christ says, "She is not dead, but sleepeth," the unbelieving mourners laugh; they have only scorn for such a saying. The sorrow is hard, cheerless sorrow, when there is no conception of death-as a sleep! "Asleep in Jesus;" "He fell on sleep; "-such words the Chu1;ch bas substituted for the cold, forbidding word " death." Look, 0 mourner in Zion, on the lifoless form of thy dear one, and e.s thou thinkest of " the fresh-trodden way between the body and the soul which has just forsaken it," remember the saying of him who ill the Resurrection: "Not dead, but sleepeth." Believest thou this? II. NoTE THE WITNESSES OF THE WORK. It is the first occasion on which the three of the apostolic band are singled out-Peter and Ja.mes and John. None except they and the parents a.re e.llowed to enter. There is e. sacredness in great grief which demands protection from the rude gaze of mere curiosity. The hired mourners, with their shouts and cries, their ostentation and display, a.re abhorrent to the Lord. Si.m- plioity and genuineness of emotion befit the house of the dead, and all connected with death and burial. III. SEE THE GENTLE THOUGHTFULNESS OF CHRIST, When the maid Brises, he com- mands that meat be given her. The life restored must be supported. He is sparing ot the supernature.l and extraordine.ry. Where ihe ordinary and natural come into play, there the call i& to use them. The Church, in her spiritual work, must learn of her Lord. "Keep life livina," said Bunsen. When the Divine life is bestowed, it mUBt be nourished by the "appropriate means of grace; it must be fed by food convenient to it, nourished through the Word, sacraments, and prayer, unto everlasting life. IV, CONTEMPLATE THE WHOLE ACTION. How simple I how quiet I The touch of the band, the head bent over the child; the voice soft yet clear in the familiar ArBmaic, "Talitha cumi ! "-these a.re the features of the action. Thus simple an<l quiet was the way of the Lord when, in the beginning, he" snid, Let there be light! And there ws., light." Thus simple nnd quiet is his way when he comes to the human soul "&11 toe rain, as the former and latter re.in on the earth." The win<l blowcth, indeed, where it TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [c11. vm. 1- li(J.
list,•t_h, ~0m<'timos with the fury of the hurric,me te:iring up the old refuges nnd joys of l hC' h lo. Rut the hurricane prepares for the Lord. The Lord is in the still smt\ll voice which come~ Rfter. Wherefore he saith, in tones of imperial !\uthorit-v, but of thriling trn<l<'rnClls, to_ thee, little m_aid, to_ thee, young man rejoicing in thy youth, to thee on whom the weight of ye!\rs 1s resting, "Awake thou th!\t sleepest, and arise (rom the d"ad, e.nd Christ shall give thee light I"