the JlC'snrrection, the po~sible must become the actu11l, bcf'ore even the possiblo could bo credited. ,Tc~u~ wo11ld not bo 11stonisbcd at this weeping of Ml\ry; what he wnntcd ll'ns to deal with it promptly. He did not seek to weep with 'll"Ceping Mary, but rather to ba'!'e :Mary rejoice with rejoicing angels, and with the rejoicing Jesus hitnself• and for once in the history of human sorrow this was po~eible. Mary wollld havo'beon Nlli~fi<•d if ~he hRd found the corpse of Jesus: what shall she s:i.y when evon more than the former Jesus appoats? From the sense of absoluto loss she passes to the sense of fnll possession. An~ yet, great as the joy ~• it was not tho greatest of joys, seeing it, was only & r<!Velat1on to the senses. This would not be Mary's last experience of weeping. Though risen from the dead, Jo~us was about to vanish 1 eo that the life in him might be manifested in another way. Mary had yet to win her way to the sober steady gladness of the Christian's hope. ' III. 'l'HE QUESTION IS ONE TO ALL WEEl'KRS. Many besides Mary have groaned over troubles of their own imagining. Many besides Mary have groRned over one thing, when they should have been groaning over something quite different. The feeling will not bear to be 11.nalyzed to its depths, and traced out to all its oa11Bes. JesUB _can do lit~le for weerors till they weep for the right things and in the right way, Often times the nght question would be, "Why are you not weeping?" We are glad when we ought to be sorry, and satisfied when we ought to be anxious. We may have bed a very great deal of tr-0uble, and yet all the time our cares have never gone deeper than our outward circumstances. It is hard to satisfy us in some ways, bnt very,·very easy in others. Jesus will never complain that we are troubled about common losses and disappointments. Not to be troubled about these would only argue inhuman: want of sensibility. But we should also be troubled because of our weakness towards every- thing that would make us Christ-like and well-pleasing to God. We need not bemoan the loss of an outward Jesus, a visible Jesus, a Jesus after the flesh; such a Jesus could do us little good. We want a Jesus within, blending with the life and making himself felt evcrywhere.-Y. Ver. 19.-..A. memorable salutation. Every one in the little company mnst have heard and used the salutation, " Peace be unto you! " thousands of times. Often must they have heard it, even from Jesus himself. Then, however, it was only the utterance of courtesy, and needed not to be mentioned. Now, being specially mentioned, there is evidently special meaning in-it. Jesus was now coming to his· disciples in utterly different circumstances from any in which he had come before. L CoNSIDER BOW THEY HAD PARTED. It was in the darkness of Gethsemane, in utter confusion, and quite unexpectedly so far as the disciples were concerned. Everybody thought of his own immediate safety. Yet the scattering and separating must ha"e been of very short duration. The bond of union was stronger than they yet comprehended. A higher power was at work than their own inclinations and tenden- cies. Their conduct shows a curious mixture of courage and fear. They fastened the doors; but fastened doors would not have kept out very long any Jews who wanted to get in. If safety was the Illll.in thing, then these disciples were remaining in the most dangerous spot of all the world. II. 'l'HE APPEARANCE OF JESUS OY THE SCENE. All at once he came out of the deepest mystery. We cannot bnt think of his own words to Nicodemus concerning the wind: "Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." No wonder the disciples were terrifted. Aforetime they had often been careless e.nd presumptuous in their dealings with Jesus, but now a strange feeling of awe has arisen which effectually st.ops everything like carelessness or presumption. 'l'hen jUBt at the moment when they can eay nothing and do nothing, Jesus speaks the right word, "Peace be unto you·(• They would feel that not unjustly he might have uttered words of rebuke. One thinks of Ja.cob's needless fears when he heard of Esau coming to meet him with four hundred men. This assurance from the returning Jesns was much needed-an IUISUJ'&nce aa well as a 1!9.lutation. However weak and ignorant, thoughtless and stupid, the disciples might be, the &ttitude of JeBllll was ever the same. He might have to wound their egotism and selfishness; bnt the wounds were alwars thosl' of a friend, not of an enemy. There is an immense difference between a surgical operation and a malicious stab. ctt. x:x. 1-31.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOH~.
III. Tim BAT,UTATI0N rs P!v'En TJtl'l BAM!':. Out of the invisibla ho Aeoks us all, l\ml always with tho same utterance. Peace is the desire and i 11tcntion, and al ways the end to be socurod, however long e.nd troublesome the proces~ may be. PeRce is the aim, even when Jesus snys thnt he comes, bringing not peace, but a sword. Men too oft,m. appronch on~ o.nother, talking of pee.ce, but prep:uing for war, and seeking for it. The appeal over 1s, "Be ye reconciled to God." It le not we who have to send up the vain and agonizing cry," 0 God, wilt thou not be o.t peace with us? "-Y.