they can never be extinguished. We need not hope, then, to be able to forego worldly inclinations and affections, unless we substitute certainty or probability of a heavenly inheritance. We must derive, either from one or the other, enjoyment and hope of enjoyment. Should heaven not supply it, we shall assuredly look for it elsewhere. Hence, that half religion which gives up all but one point, which mortifies the mind but does not enlist the affections, cannot last. THE GOSPEL. "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we hnow not where they have laid Him.”—JOHN xx. 2. WHERE is the body which was so lately confined by the grave? It is not here: the grave is empty. Go forth to Galilee, and thou shalt behold, and thine hands shall handle of the Word of life. He is risen. But is He risen after the manner of Lazarus, Tabitha, and the Ruler's daughter? No, truly, they rose and slept again; it was but a broken rest. But "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." He was the first-fruits from the dead, and the elder born among many bretheren; and if, as we are informed (Acts xiii.), he was "declared the Son of God, with power by his resurrection," agreeably to the 11th Psalm, doth it not follow that they who shall be counted worthy of that resurrection shall have their sonship sealed to them by the same act? May the perfect resurrection of Christ, spirit and body, give us a tangible view of the next life! May it pour something of the reality of the visible into the dim perspective of the future; and teach us that there is reserved for us on the other side no vague shadowy world of disembodied spirits, but a stage of existence as real as the present; a bodily existence for us in common with the risen bodies of just men made perfect, and of Christ the Judge of all, who liveth and was dead, and dieth no more. The happy morn is come: Captivity is captive led, For Jesus liveth, who was dead. Who now accuseth them For whom their Surety died? For Jesus liveth, who was dead. Christ hath the ransom paid; The glorious work is done; On Him our help is laid; For Jesus liveth, who was dead. K Monday in Easter Week. THE COLLECT. ALMIGHTY God, who through Thy only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech Thee, that, as by Thy special grace preventing us Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. ; THE EPISTLE. "Him God raised up the third day, and shewed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him," &c.—ACTS x. 40, 41. THE Apostles (says Ignatius) when they had with their hands felt Christ risen, being convinced by His flesh, despised death, and were found to be above it. So fleeting did the present constitution of things appear to those who had tangible evidence, not only of a real, but a material existence after death. I have the evidence of testimony, not equally strong but equally valid of the same fact. I know that all this apparent permanence of present scenes must be blotted out, and a new combination of things brought into being which will be equally real, and only have this difference that it will give way to none other. An actual state of things—no dream—is in store. If the future life were a dreamy state which, like our own, should be superseded, and yield to one still future, it would be desirable to secure our happiness in it on the other hand, however, it would by no means involve the awful importance it now does. Oh, why is the mind cast down by the vexations and disappointments of this life? This life is only a discipline for the next. The time is coming when our enlightened eyes will regard the sorrows of this world in their true light. There is one thing needful. May it be ours to choose that better part which shall not be taken away from us! THE GOSPEL. "O fools, and slow of heart to believe," &c.-LUKE xxiv. 25, T seems sometimes strange how slow their apprehen IT sion was of an event of which they had not only received positive evidence, but literal and repeated notice; and this, too, from the lips of One whom they had never known to prove false. But our faith depends much upon the state of our spirits; and our spirits are not always within our command. They control our judgment when our judgment ought to control them. When we receive a keen stroke in a sensitive point, we are often struck quite down and apt to refuse confidence in the reasonable arguments of comfort. "This is mine infirmity," said the Psalmist, when he failed to extract consolation from the mercy of God, and his soul refused to be comforted; and it is our infirmity when the word of Christ strikes dead upon our ear, and fails to produce the legitimate effects which might be expected. We wonder at the slowness of the disciples. But with what force are corresponding promises appropriated by ourselves? How cheering the versicles which are written upon the tombs of the departed in cemeteries and churchyards! We read them over; but our heart fails-is insensible to the literal meaning -scarcely admits it as such and refusing to be comforted, we kneel to mourn beside the grave. "When I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.” that are alive shall not prevent them which are asleep." Each has been heard, assented to, and if not disbelieved, yet not received with that adequate and steady faith which would banish immoderate distress, and prevent the children of God sorrowing as those who had no hope.. "We |