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heads and submit our spirits to every dispensation of God, whether it come in the form of mental affliction, or bodily suffering,-of blessing delayed, or faith tempted! Amid the various trials of our patience, amid the strugglings of a spirit wounded but still anxious to approve itself, under grace, as God's servant, amid the countless temptations to presumption, to repining, to despair, which assail us in our daily life, we have no security except as far as we can attain to the simple, cheerful spirit of Christian resignation; except as far as we can trust ourselves, in child-like confidence, in the hands and to the disposal of our most wise and merciful Father; except as far as we are taught under the Holy Spirit to pray on, that whatever issue He be pleased to send us, we may at least be made to seek His glory.

"Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again."

"And when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had lain in the grave four days already."

When our Lord's approach to Bethany was known, Martha came out at once to meet him; while Mary, the younger sister as it would seem, was so absorbed in the intensity of her sorrow, that she sat still in the house, apparently unaware of His coming. In every case where the sisters are mentioned in Holy Scripture, the character of Mary seems to be marked with deeper and intenser feeling than that of Martha. When her sister

returned from her interview with Jesus, "she called Mary secretly, and said, The master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she arose quickly and came unto Him.

heard that, she

Now Jesus was

not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died!"

How true and affecting a picture of a hopeless, and yet not a repining, sorrow! In her words we hear the bitterness of her disappointment and grief, in her gesture we see the reality of her duty and her trust. And when her Lord beheld her lie weeping at His feet, and heard the words she uttered, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. What unspeakable comfort is it for us to believe earnestly that we, like Mary, have a High-Priest who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities; that He despiseth not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor even the natural affection of such as be sorrowful! What comfort and what fear! to the humble, earnest Christian, comfort;— to him who despises the riches of this long-suffering, the thoughtless and the worldly minded, fear!

But it is rather of the conversation which the blessed Redeemer held with the other sister, that I propose, with God's assistance, to speak at present. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, and said unto Him, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." In these words, perhaps the most solemn words in the whole of the Bible, to us peculiarly solemn as connected with the beautiful and impressive burial service of our venerable Liturgy,-words which there are few of us who have not heard echoed by the lonely walls of our churches in very solemn and affecting circumstances of our lives,-our blessed Redeemer declares one of the sublimest as well as one of the most consolatory truths of His holy religion. Martha knew, the generality of the Jews knew, of the resurrection at the last day; but until life and immortality were brought to light in the Gospel, none knew half of the blessed truth, none enjoyed half of the treasure of comfort which the Christian feels in being well assured that He is the resurrection and the life.

Christ is the resurrection, as having made known to us that great and wonderful truth, that we shall rise again to a new and eternal life, in having brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. He is our resurrection again, as enabling us by His Spirit to rise to that newness of life; which is that first resurrection, of which St. John speaks in the book of Revelations: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."

Christ is our

But these are subordinate senses. resurrection, in that He hath triumphed over the grave, and become the first-fruits of the dead. Others before Him had been raised from the grave for a while. The sons of the widow of Sarepta, the Shunamite, and the widow of Nain, and the daughter of Jairus, all these, and Lazarus himself, had been for a while restored to life, but death reclaimed them all; Christ alone, "being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." The pains of death, by which it was not possible that He should long have been holden, were loosed, and thereby the subjugation of "the last enemy" was begun. First of many brethren he rose from the tomb, His human body become immortal and incorruptible, to be followed by His faithful soldiers and servants, who, through faith in Him, are more than conquerors over the body of

this death. By this resurrection, our own is rendered certain: for so argues St. Paul to the Corinthians. "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen; and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins." Consider here, my brethren, how vast a prospect is opened to us! the prospect of an eternal state, in which we shall be raised from the dust of the earth, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt: some to enter into the joy of our Lord, and some to have part only of that eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

But our blessed Lord declares Himself to be not only our resurrection, but our life.

He is our life, since by Him we receive in this world that which alone deserves to be called life. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." His is that holy baptism, far holier and more valuable than that given by John the Baptist, of water and the Holy Spirit, whereby we are born again and placed within the covenant of grace.

Christ again is our life, as St. Paul writes to the Colossians, inasmuch as through His precious death and resurrection we have a well-assured hope that in the general resurrection at the last day, they who by patient faith and continuance in well-doing have sought for glory, honour, and im