WAB THEREFORE ALL THE MORE AN EVIDEN0E OF ITS REALITY. It is certain that the twelv! were not predisposed to believe in the rising from the dead; they could not ho.vo invented euch a story o.s some attribute to them been.use it was in harmony with their expectations, for they expected nothing of the kind. Yet they did believe; they became hemlcls of the Resurrection. Every reader of the Book of the Acts knows that it W68 upon this that they based 1111 their teaching, all their appeals and admonitions. They preached a risen SBviour. What plain and powerful evidence there must have been to overcome their doubts, to reverse the current of their thoughts and feelings! John began to believe, even on the morning of the Resurrection, when he saw the grave empty; and all he heard that day, and the appearance he witnessed in the evening, confirmed his faith. If the doubts of the disciples were gloomy and depressing, those doubts were certainly dispelled. Their faith was all the stronger because of the unbelief it contended with and vanquished. Hence the life they led, the labours they under- took, the persecution they braved, the martyrdom they accepted. To account for these facts-among the most wonderful in the world's hist.ory-we must receive the teaching of our Gospels, that Jesus rose from the dead, turned his disciples' sorrow into joy, and gave a new impulse to their life. VI. Tms CHANGE OF DELIEF, ON THE PART OF THE DISCIPLES, IS FULL OJ' SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTION .AND HELPFULNESS TO ALL WHO BEAR THE GOSPEL. 1. It confirms our faith in the veracity of Scripture. 2. And in the Deity of our Lord. 3. And in his mediation. 4. It yields us a ground of acceptance with God, who gave his Son to die for us, and who raised him from the dead that our faith and hope might be in God. 5. It encourages us to trust that it is well with our departed friends; for their life on high is part of the harvest of which the risen Redeemer was the Firstfruits. 6. It justifies the bright hope of personal immortality.-T. Vera. 11-18.-Sorrow and despondency exchanged/or j<Yg and aervice. Among the wonderful events of the first Lord's day morning, the incident here recorded is remark- able for pathos and beauty, and also for spiritual instruction and encouragement. I. IT WAS .A DE.AD .AND LOST CHRIST TB.AT CAUSED :M.A.RY'B GRIEP AND DIS?iUY. The woman's attachment and devotion t.o the Saviour were unquestionable. She and her companions seem to have been more faithful to Jesus even than the twelve. "Who, while apostles shrank, could dangers brave ; Last at his cross, and earliest at his grave." To Mary Jesus was as a dead Friend. She shared the common grief of the disciples, and their common anxiety during the interval between the Cruci.6.x.ion and the Lord's first appearance to his own. Love induced her to linger near the tomb, and thus occasioned her interview with the angels and with the Master himself. No wonder that she loved much ; she was indebted, she may well have thought, more than otheni to the compassion of Christ, for she bad been delivered from the power of demons, and received into the favour and friendship of her Deliverer. And now to lose the Lord she loved nnd on whom she leaned was a trial to her faith, a grief to her heart; and she would fain care for the lifeless body of the slain One. Emblem of those who have not found Christ; of those who, having found, have then lost him; of those to whom Christ. alas I is as if dead, to whom he is no living reality, no near presence, no Divine power. Yet it is better tuat sensitive and yearning souls should grieve over the distance between the holy Saviour and themselves than that they should acquiesce-contented and indif- ferent-in their privation. II. IT WAS A LIVING CmusT TIIAT TURNED MARY'S SORROW INTO JOY. Observe that Jesus knew Mary before she recognized_him. The la~guage he used was_ inten~ed to draw out her best feelin.,.s. Very beautiful and touchmg was the way m which Christ revealed himself to her heart., uttering simply the familiar name, dear from the hallowed intercourse of friendship. It was, perhaps, the name he had used in dispossess- ing the demons, aud its utterance must have awakened many a ~ender me~ory_ in h?r heart. The livina Christ thus, in a way truly human, revealed hllllSelf to his fnend m one moment to b:uish her forebodings and assuage her grief. Her cry, "My Master!" was enouah to reveal her gratitude and joy-her joy again to see him, her gratitude that the :ppelU'ance aud revelation were to her. Emblem Clf those souls to whom--in 436 TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [on. x:r.. 1---31,
their d11rknese nnd SRdness, their scepticism 11nd des.pondenoy-Christ appenra ln his own Divine dignity and human sympathy, addressing them in l11nguage of compassion end gladdening them by the vision of his risen Conn and his glorified and grnciou~ countenanoe.-T.