share in the afflictions of the world? You have but to seek Jesus which was crucified, and you will rejoice in the blessedness of your lot. The state of poverty is in a peculiar manner hallowed by His presence. In your outward circumstances you are walking step by step at His side. You may find Him in every want and every care. The world may seem sad and lonely, but there is One who will never leave you nor forsake you. It is true that you cannot see Him, save with the eye of faith. But at this you should rejoice the While upon earth He had not where to lay His head; but in His Father's house are many mansions; and He is gone there to prepare a place for you.

more.

But perhaps, on the contrary, you are very rich, and therefore have no part in the blessings that the Gospel promises to the poor. Still you may go to the dwellings of sickness, hunger, and distress; and if you really seek Jesus that was crucified, you will find Him there. Yours is the

privilege of feeding Him in His hunger, giving Him drink in His thirst, clothing Him in His nakedness, and ministering to Him when He is sick. For in that you do so to the least of His brethren, you do so to Himself. And because "He is not here, He is risen," the riches which you consign to Him upon earth He will keep for you in Heaven. Thus then even the perishable gold of this our sepulchre may be so changed by the presence of our Lord, that it will become a treasure which neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.

But let us pass from outward circumstances to inward feelings.

Are our hearts full of heaviness from a remembrance of the week that is past? It was meet that they should be so. But if we are seeking Jesus which was crucified, we may lay aside our doubts and fears. A week of joy and comfort is dawning upon us now. Last Sunday we listened in sorrow to the tidings that our

Lord would not be always with us. It was as on that day that He spoke them, and they were in unison with the events of His approaching passion. But view them by the light of the Easter sun, and they are words of sorrow no more. The voice of an angel has proclaimed their truth, and yet changed them for us into tidings. of joy. Our Lord will not be always with us, for "He is not here;" but again, "He is risen," and therefore He will be always with us now. For three brief days He was taken away, in order that for all eternity He might remain. It is as though a single shadow were left by the side of His tomb, to point out the more strongly the brightness that reigns around. "For Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but

alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord'."

Are we heavy laden with the burthen of our former sins, and do we tremble lest all our resolutions of amendment should pass away at our first contact with the world? Still, if, like Mary, we come in humble faith to seek Jesus Which was crucified, Easter-day has its store of blessing for us. It cheers us with the hope, not only of pardon for the past, but of sustaining grace for the time to come. The same Lord "Who was delivered for our offences was raised again for our justification 2." Let us trust in His aid, and we shall walk in safety through whatever trials encompass our path. "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, shall He not with Him also freely give us all things 3?" "Who” then “shall lay any thing to the

3

1 Rom. vi. 9. 2 Rom. iv. 25. Rom. viii. 31, 32.

charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for

Oh, how very bright and glorious is our Easter sun! There is no part of our sepulchre that is unenlightened by its ray; we pass in a moment from the night of mourning to the day of comfort, from the seedtime of tears to the harvest of joy, through the grave and gate of death to the resurrection of the dead.

Let us look around us once more. Have

you children that you love? Go then, and watch the new light that is shining upon them now. Did not our Lord when on earth take little children in His arms? did He not put His hands upon them, and give them His blessing? Childhood was the one spot in the sepulchre on which

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