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faithfulness with God? Did he ever say to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain ?

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Thirdly. Because, when they have found, their aim and their wish in seeking are fully answered. All they can desire, is treasured up in him: and they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. As to success in other cases, the wise man tells us, all is vanity and vexation of spirit-vexation, if we lose; and vanity, if we gain. To one of these alternatives, we are inevitably subjected. We must be disappointed, either in acquiring them and this is often the case; or in possessing them-and this is always the case.

" In vain we seek a heav'n below the sky;
"The world has false, but flattering charms :
"Its distant joys shew big in our esteem,
"But lessen still, as they draw near the eye:

" In our embrace the visions die;
"And when we grasp the airy forms,
"We lose the pleasing dream."

1

But while every thing earthly falls short of hope, it is not possible to form an expectation adequate to the riches of the glory of the inheritance in the saints. What is it to have God himself for our portion and exceeding joy! To be blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ! To realize a happiness, that solitude increases, that trouble improves, that death perfects! As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

While thus the heart of them that seek him should rejoice; the heart of others should be induced to seek him. At present, he is not far from any one of you. He is even inviting you to seek him. But, yet a little while, and it will be too late. Therefore, seek ye the Lord while he may be found; and call ye upon him while he is near.

JULY 29.-"To whom he shewed himself alive

after his passion."

Acts i. 3.

How much will eternity reveal to our astonished minds! and, in reference to a thousand things, we may safely follow the advice of the Poet

"Wait the great teacher, Death; and God adore."

The Scripture is given to establish our faith, and comfort our hearts, and sanctify our lives; but not to amuse us, and to gratify our curiosity. Our Saviour rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven: but between these events there elapsed a considerable portion of time. During these intervening weeks, where was he? And how employed? One thing only we know that he frequently showed himself to his disciples. The fact cannot be questioned.

But what purposes were these intermediate appearances intended to answer? The Lord does not always give an account of any of his matters; and we ought to be peculiarly cautious in assigning reasons for his conduct who says, "My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts." We cannot, however, err in remarking,

- That they were the accomplishment of his word. He had said, "Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you." "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me."-Now though these declarations extend to his final coming to judgment, and his advent in the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost; yet they more immediately insure his manifestation of himself between his resurrection and his glory. And if the disciples understood it not at the time, the meaning would be explained by the verification. And they would see how well they might in every other case rely upon his promise.

- They were also to convince them how fully he had forgiven them, and thus gain the confidence of their hearts. For they had behaved very unworthily. After all he had done for them, and their own professions of attachment, when the hour of trial came, they all forsook him and fled. How much he felt their defection, we learn from his complaint, "I looked for some to take pity, and there was none; and for comforter, and I found none." And their own consciences upbraided and condemned them for their vileness. And therefore had he gone away to heaven, and they had not seen him, they would have feared his resentment and displeasurebut he appeared to them again and again; and always with kindness in his looks, and peace on his lips; and at last, laying his hands on them, he was taken up to heaven in the very act of blessing them-thus telling them that he had the same heart as ever, and was more than pacified towards them after all that they had done.

- They were also to evince the certainty of his resurrection. The importance of this event rendered it necessary that it should be placed beyond the possibility of all reasonable doubt. The disciples were not eagerly credulous of the fact, but slow of heart to believe; and their diffidence has been overruled to confirm our faith. For they required and obtained every kind and degree of proof. And these deponents were many. And were eye and ear witnesses. And even handled the Word of Life. And did eat and drink with him. And for a length of time. And in cases of a most peculiar nature. They could not, therefore, be mistaken; and we cannot be deceived. He is risen indeed! and therefore he is the Son of God; and we are not in our sins; and the dead in Christ are not perished; and because he lives we shall live also.

- They were also to impart information on subjects not touched, or only hinted at, before; because the disciples were not able to bear them; and the proper hour was not yet come. And therefore the sacred historian says, that he not only shewed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, but also spake to them of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And this led them to think so differently of this kingdom from what they had done before, and to wait by prayer for its coming, in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

But when he said, I am no more in this world; and, also, Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world: and when he said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him"-surely he intended a manifestation beyond his appearance, between his grave and his glory. And this we ourselves may hope to claim. But how is it that he will manifest himself unto us, and not unto the world? We disclaim all pretensions to personal manifestations. Some have contended for these; and, like Colonel Gardiner, have believed that they corporeally saw him. But surely this was mistaking a lively impression on the mind for a reality. The case speaks for itself. Being embodied, he could render himself visible; but then it would be a true representation; we should see him as he is. And, accordingly, Saul saw him, when he appeared to him in his way to Damascus, with a body glorious above the brightness of the sun. But these good people always see him as he is not-they always see him bleeding on the cross-but he is not there-he dieth no more, death hath no more domnion over him. We need no sensible appearance.

- But there is a spiritual manifestation absolutely necessary. Paul experienced this, or the outward vision would have been of little avail: "It pleased God," says he, "to reveal his Son in me." And our Saviour himself said, He that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, hath everlasting life. It is a perception, by faith, of his glory, so as to induce, us to love him, and trust in him, and follow him.

- There are also special manifestations of himself (we mean as to clearness and enjoyment) occasionally experienced by his people; and which excite them to exclaim, "This is none other but the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven." These are not their food, but cordials. They are regulated by their condition and exigencies. But though they are limited, as to number and degree, they are most desirable and valuable. They make us better acquainted with heaven, than all the descriptions in the world. And they make us long after a state-in which his servants shall serve Him; and they shall see his face-" And so shall they be for ever with the Lord."

JULY 30.-"This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead." John xxi. 14.

Nor the third time in succession for he had appeared before this to the women, and to Cephas, and to James, and to the two disciples going to Emmaus. But the third time in kind; i.e., the third time when the disciples were together.

The

"And on this wise shewed he himself." place was, "the sea of Tiberias"-called, also, the lake of Gennesaret, and the lake of Galilee. We should like to visit this sea, whose surface and whose shores so often felt the presence, and witnessed the miracles, of the Son of God.

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