EASTER.

MATTHEW xxviii. 6.

"He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

WE hardly know how to think about the great fact we this day especially recall to mind. Every Lord'sday we dwell on this thing; but who makes it real? Our dear Master's death, and committal to the prison of the grave, we get so accustomed to, that we are tempted to treat them as common-place; yet they are not common-place, however we may treat them. And then His coming again out of that prison; His resurrection, as it is called, this too, we talk of rather lightly, as if it also was nothing very wonderful; while, all the time, it is the most wonderful event in the history of the world. There is nothing like it. Nothing that can be at all compared to it. What can be the reason that familiarity with subjects, even the most marvellous, begets a kind of contempt, or indifference of those subjects? How wonderfully indifferent we are. Oh! indeed, it is so. As I said,

the resurrection of our Lord is the most wonderful

event in the history of the world. Need I attempt to prove this? Need I urge it on you? That He should die, we might expect. The world would not be astonished. Though, knowing who He is, we should not have wondered at His being translated as Enoch was; but death was a necessity to Him. If He must be born of a woman, He must die the death. Strange indeed, and eventful, was the life of Christ! Stranger, darker, more marvellous by far, was His death; yet these both, for mystery, seem almost as nothing, compared with His rising again from the dead. Try and realize this wonderful truth, beloved. It is a real fact, let its reality work a way into your inmost heart. And, to help you a little, if God will, I purpose saying a few words from the text, in as simple and natural a way as possible; that so you may be stronger in the faith concerning Christ crucified, and Christ risen again from the dead.

The words of the text, are the words of an angel that appeared to Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, as they met together at the sepulchre of Jesus. How this angel came; what was his appearance to the keepers, who became as dead men before him; how that appearance was softened down to the women, how he spake to them; and many other things, are matters of curious enquiry, which we need not distress ourselves about.

The words of the text, if they had been spoken by

an ordinary man, or if we were to consider them as so spoken, would yield the same amount of thought and astonishment. "Fear not ye," says the heavenly messenger, "fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus that was crucified."

It was a dark day to these devoted women; it was a dark day to the disciples, when the Jewish people put Him, whom they loved, to death. They understood not what the rising from the dead should mean; ignorance had a very strong hold in them, prejudice had filmed the eyes of their mind. Sad and disconsolate, they probably were beginning to give up, as lost, the hopes of redemption to Israel. We have known nothing like it in all our little experience. The balance of probability has never with us, I dare say, manifested such strange working. These two Maries were very sad; they were seeking for Jesus, most likely the dead and not the living Jesus; yes, surely, for they had brought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Their love had moved them from their sorrowful homes very early; the day had hardly dawned; they could scarcely, if at all, see before them, or distinctly trace the outlines of objects round about. Oh! you will never bind love by formal modes; it will not be kept under by common restraints; this often when felt merely for a mortal; how can it be kept in then, when felt towards the immortal Saviour?

These devoted women, bent on their holy ministry, said "Who shall roll us away the themselves : among

stone from the door of the sepulchre ?" And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. Now, their fears take another turn. Now, thought they, the enemies have come in the night, and robbed the tomb of its sacred treasure. Alas! our spices and ointments will stand us in no stead! One of them must needs exclaim, "They have taken away my Lord out of the sepulchre, and I know not where they have laid Him.” Oh! observe, beloved, the naturalness of all this narration; and remember, that our religion does not, in the main, seek for extraordinary displays of spiritual powers and feelings, but sanctifies and soothes, and gives a kind of heavenly relish, to the common experience of the human soul. Be natural in your religion, that is, simple, straightforward, guileless, child-like. Love Jesus as you love your dearest friend, only with a keener sense of joy.

"He is not here," said the heavenly messenger; "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" "Not here," they might have said, "here we saw him laid; we sat over against the place when Joseph deposited his precious body in this cold tomb; not here ? Where then is He ?" "He is risen!" I wonder now, when these words caught their ears, I wonder if the sayings, which they had formerly heard, returned in any measure; what echoes of them, if any, came back now afresh! For instance, did they, do you suppose, stand aghast for a little while, and with that rapidity

which thought is capable of, talk spiritually to themselves, somewhat after this fashion: "Yes! we remember His words, when he was yet in Galilee; we remember His words. He said that He would rise again. It is true, then, is it, literally true? Our eyes avouch the fact, He is not here. We thought He had been stolen, but this unlooked-for information assures us that He is risen!" And then you know, my brethren, mayhap those living rills of hope and joy, that ever keep refreshed the paradise of the soul, (in them who have a paradise within,) those feelings of sacred pleasure, would begin to dispossess those feelings of sorrow and distress, which they so recently felt, with such keen edge. These Maries would cheer up, and hope to meet their Lord again. "He is risen, as He said."

I hardly know, beloved, how I can use this phase of the subject for our present benefit; yet that it is capable of being used with benefit, I feel sure. Allow me to ask-"Whom seek ye?" Your answer is ready;

ready to be launched

it is on the shore of every lip, forth, on the first signal of demand : "We seek Jesus who was crucified." What, if eighteen hundred years have glided by, since those devoted women sought their Lord, entombed, as they thought, in grave of rock? What, if generation after generation have come and gone, like flow and ebb of tide? What, if religion hath, like strange wayfarer, gone from this city to that, from this country and people to the other? We are seeking