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probing of the wounded hands and of the pierced side which was invited in the upper chamber. To come near them, it may be, is to be disillusionised: it is to experience the reverse of that which the Queen of Sheba expresses at the court of Solomon; it is sadly to learn that distance, reputation, our own wishes or fancy, had lent enchantment to a form which in itself was without substance and reality.

Brethren, the first lesson which the Risen Christ teaches the Christian is reality, genuineness. Try to feel more deeply than you talk; try to act as you feel in your best and highest moments. Do not in your new life, dally with old thoughts, old associations, old and known sources of danger,-the grave-clothes which are left in the tomb of sin,—the bandages which fetter the liberty of a risen life. For "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."a

2. A second characteristic of Christ's Risen life,—it lasts. Jesus did not rise, that, like Lazarus, He might die again. "I am He"-so ran the message to St. John in Patmos "That liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." b "For evermore." No new life upon the earth to be followed by a death of pain and shame, no new victory over the tomb awaited Him. Sin was conquered once for all. Christ's triumphant life in the glory of God the Father could not again be exchanged for a state of suffering. "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." c

a I Cor. v. 7, 8.

b Rev. i. 18.

c Rom. vi. 9, 10,

It should be a

So with the new life of the Christian. resurrection once for all. I say, "it should be." God's grace does not put force upon us. What He is to do in us and for us depends in fact upon ourselves. The Christian must "reckon himself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." a And if this seems hard to flesh and blood, he will remember that we have forces at command which are able to cope with flesh and blood; that if "the Spirit of Him That raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, He That raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit That dwelleth in us." b If Christ, the Risen Christ, be in us, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life, because of righteousness. Have these words of the Apostle lost their force? Surely not: numbers of Christian hearts will thankfully attest their undying power. They will say with David, "As for me, I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God: my trust is in the tender mercy of God for ever and ever." d They will say with St. Paul, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." e

Does this mean that the Christian escapes all sin whatever; that his life is a literal and absolute transcript of the Life of the sinless Christ? On the contrary," in many things we offend all." "If we" Christians "say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." But the new life of the Christian is like the Risen Life of Christ in this; that it is at least "undefiled and innocent from the great offence." It escapes from those capital and deadly falls whereby the soul forfeits life

a Rom. vi. II. e Rom. v. I, 2.

b Rom. viii. II.
f St. James iii. 2.

c Rom. viii. 10,
g I St. John i. 8.

d Ps. lii. 9.
h Ps. xix. 13.

and liberty, and is consigned once more to the chambers of the dead.

Are we then to suppose that the Christian is guaranteed against any such falls by the gift of a grace which cannot but insure his safety? Certainly not. In giving us His grace, God does not annihilate our moral freedom: our probation does not end at baptism, or at conversion. There is no such thing in the kingdom of grace as a talismanic insurance against eternal loss. Even St. Paul feared lest after all his years of service he might fail at last. "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."a

What is certain is that, once risen with Christ, we need die no more. On His side God will certainly be true. We have but to look to Him; to cling to Him; to watch, suspect, keep a tight hand upon ourselves. We have a moral, as distinct from a material, assurance of continued perseverance in spiritual life. Nothing from without can avail to destroy our life, if it be not seconded from within. "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." b

Many of us may have heard of the great French monarch who reigned two centuries ago, going through his Lenten and Easter duties with even passionate fervour, and then falling back in the later spring into his old debaucheries. Certainly it was a hideous libel upon the teaching of Christ's Resurrection. Yet what if, with far fewer and slighter temptations than his, we too, on a less historical and public scene, repeat his experiences! Do a I Cor. ix. 27. b Rom. viii. 38, 39.

not numbers of Christians complain that their new life is so insecure and feeble that they seem to tremble, day by day, upon the brink of another moral sepulchre? Who can marvel at this, or at much besides, if they persistently haunt the infected precincts, and breathe the atmosphere of corruption, in the perilous hope that a half-voluntary death may yet be followed by a fresh spiritual resurrection? Surely "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." If our new life is to be like His, we may not doubt His grace and His power, but also we may not tamper with that which cannot be consented to without forfeiting it.

3. A third note of Christ's Risen Life. Much of it— most of it—was hidden from the eyes of men. They saw enough to be satisfied of its reality. But of His eleven recorded appearances, five took place on a single day: and there is accordingly no record of any appearance on thirtythree days out of the forty which preceded the Ascension. Certainly St. Luke implies that our Risen Lord was constantly seen by His Apostles at other times, when He communicated to them the laws of His future kingdom.a But, allowing for these undescribed appearances,-Christ's Risen Life, as a whole, is veiled in silence and mystery. After the Resurrection His visible presence is the exception rather than the rule. If we omit the walk to Emmaus, and to the Mount of the Ascension, there are no records of His movements in detail; nothing like the journeyings of the days of the Ministry. He seems to belong already to another world. He is now in one place, now in another; here, in a secret gathering in Jerusalem, there, on the shore of the Galilean lake. He appears and He is gone; He vanishes and He is heard of elsewhere;

a Acts i. 3.

His disciples cannot trace His steps, yet they are ever prepared for Him; a Stranger, they think, will meet them by the way, Whom yet they know; or, out of the clear air into which they gaze will presently appear the outline of His loved and glorious Form, and a Voice of blessing and comfort will fall on their ears- -a Voice which could be none but His.

By all this the Apostles were gradually educated for the future which was before them. The great forty days were a time of transition from one relation towards Christ our Lord to a new and distinct relation. It was a gentle passage from the everyday, active, and uninterruptedly Visible Presence of the days of Christ's ministry to the days of His Invisible Presence in the Pentecostal Kingdom; of that Presence which was to last to the end of time, and which we enjoy at this hour.

And yet we cannot help asking, What was the Risen Christ doing during these long absences from His disciples ? Ah! what? Who can doubt? Certainly He needed not strength, as we need it; but communion with the Father was His glory and His joy. And can we

here fail to see a lesson and a law for all true Christian lives? Of every such life, much, and the most important side, must be hidden from the eyes of men. It is a matter of the first necessity to set aside some time in each day for secret communion with Him, in Whose presence we hope to spend our eternal future. Doubtless our business, our families, our friendships, our public duties, have their claims. In many a life, such claims may leave only a scanty margin for anything beyond. But where there is a will there is a way: and time must be made for secret earnest prayer, for close self-questioning, for honestly examining all that touches our present condition, a St. Matt. xxviii. 20.

VOL. II.

C

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