disciples stand for some moments fixed and immovable; gazing upon him as though they would impress his image in their souls for ever. Then their knees begin to shake, and they prostrate themselves in the dust, to worship the all-glorious One, and cover his feet with their kisses and their tears of joy; when suddenly, like the lightning which darts from the clouds and as quickly disappears, the beloved form vanishes from their eyes: but the heaven of peace and happiness which he disclosed to them still remains behind in their hearts, and the Easter sun has risen upon them in all its splendour.

My brethren, scenes similar to those which took place in Emmaus happen daily in Zion; for the joy of Easter did not terminate along with the forty days. Oh! what delight we experienced when Jesus suddenly unveiled all the sympathy and love of his compassionate heart to our weeping eyes! What happiness in those evening hours, while we believed him afar off, when suddenly we heard the salutation of peace issuing from his beloved lips, when he comforted our timid souls, and when we distinctly heard him say, "Fear not, I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name, for thou art mine!" When God enabled us to behold our justification in his perfect sacrifice of himself, to reckon ourselves among those blessed ones who are born again into everlasting life, to rest upon the bosom of Jesus, and to cry with the Psalmist, "My soul shall be joyful in the Lord it shall rejoice in his salvation!" then was there a repetition of the scene at Emmaus; and that heaven which disclosed itself to the two disciples was manifested also to us. It was to this goal that the words, "Come, Lord Jesus!" led us; and who is there that does not wish to hear this "Come!" sounding in his heart?

IX. The two disciples are transported with wonder and joy; sobbing they fling themselves into each other's arms,

and can scarcely find speech, so great is their emotion. "O Cleopas!” cries the one, "who could have thought it! Happy, happy are we that we have seen him again! But how did we not sooner recognise him? Is it not wonderful that the burning of our hearts within us did not betray him, while he talked with us by the way, and expounded to us the Scriptures?" No, ye pilgrims, it was not wonderful : men are always more sharp-sighted and more acute, on looking back to what is past, than when it has been happening. The words, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not!" have been repeated a thousand times in the lives of Christians, when they first beheld the light of eternity streaming across their appointed path, and dissipating its gloom.

We can easily perceive why our risen Lord so quickly withdrew himself from the eyes of his happy disciples. They were not henceforward to live in the enjoyment of his human presence; on the contrary, they were to exist in those blissful conceptions which his speech and conversation had caused to enter their hearts. They now knew all that they possessed in their blessed Master, since his resurrection from the dead. It was not vague anticipations and indistinct emotions which his re-appearance excited within them; on the contrary, it was bright and glorious ideas raising them up to heaven. They had lost a beloved Friend and Master, to find him again as a pledge and representative with the Father. It was a Prophet mighty in word and deed whom they had laid in the grave, to be restored to them on Easter day as a great Head, with whom we, the members, are joined together in one perfect body. In Him they beheld themselves raised from the dead, justified and glorified; and a nearer intercourse with him in his early human form might have prevented them viewing him in this spiritual light, and weakened their consciousness

of the mysterious union between him and themselves. Had he remained with them, they might have retraced their steps from the glorious point of gospel illumination which they had now attained, to the lower one of knowing him only after the flesh; and in the excess of their joy at beholding him near once more, they might have forgotten that mystical connexion between them, the contemplation of which formed their happiness and peace. Their Lord had only appeared to them in order to convince them of the reality of his resurrection; henceforward they must live in Christ as their Representative and their Head, and not view him as such with their bodily eyes, but with the eyes of the Spirit, and by means of faith.

The happy disciples meanwhile have left us; borne on the wings of joy, they rush along their mountain path, until they reach their brethren at Jerusalem, to astonish them with their glorious intelligence. Happy, happy pilgrims! well may they be termed blessed! But whosoever envies their joy, let him remember that their history is not an isolated and extraordinary occurrence; on the contrary, it is but a picture of what happens in the lives of many Christians. The Man who accosted the wanderers, and joined them on the way, is no other than he who gave us the assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world!" Although Emmaus may have disappeared from the earth, yet thousands of similar places have been made by the words of Jesus, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me!"

O then may this history become our own experience, and may the past be transformed into the vivid present! Let us not content ourselves with the enjoyment which the contemplation of these Easter scenes afford. They are not

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mere objects to delight the eye; on the contrary, they are symbolical pictures, delineated over the portal of a new and more glorious time, expressing deeply, yet significantly, the manner in which Jesus acts upon the souls of his chosen ones. They were not formed merely to be retained in silence in the chambers of our memory and imagination; no, they were intended to exercise an influence upon the whole circle of our feelings and experiences. After looking upon them, we must turn our eyes upwards unto Him, who is as near to us as he was to the two disciples on the mountain path; and we must cry, "Lord God of our fathers! accompany us also this day!" When this ejaculation mounts to heaven on the wings of faith and love, we do most surely receive an answer. Then each house among us becomes like the cottage at Emmaus, and each heart is a temple of Easter peace; the festival is never-ending, and we cry out, enraptured, "The Lord is risen indeed!— Hosanna in the highest!"

EASTER PEACE.

LUKE xxiv. 36-46.

And while they yet believed

And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and offrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.

THIS is a well known and frequently studied history; and well may it be so, for it is full of deep import and contains