his predecessor's tale of, it may be, hope deferred, or affliction prolonged. Our course of daily, hourly, toil comes round as monotonously as the waves, sinking and ending in empty foam, or evanishing on and into the barren sand. One night certifieth another. Night after night brings the same remembrance of the sins and sorrows of the day; and the day returns to add to them. Still we must wait till evening.

Long, and seemingly fruitless, may be our sorrowing and repentance; and we may not "feel" forgiven, however much we trust that we are so. But we must wait till evening.

It seems almost a duty to be "glad" today; for, of all days, "this is the day that the Lord hath made." And yet, probably, there are but few who can feel glad, or believe that they are glad. If our observance of Lent, as is but too likely, has been but shallow and most imperfect, whether from the throng of daily duties, or from our own want of habit, experience,

or resolution, we seem but to have cause to begin again. If it have, perchance, been earnest and strenuous, we feel that it ought to have been more so; and so, either way, we feel that we have no right to be "glad ;" and yet it is a duty to be glad," and rejoice in the Resurrection of our Lord.

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But, if so, then it is a duty not to be disheartened, either because we have not repented as we would, nor can rejoice as we would.

The joy of even the Apostles was not unmixed, for they "wondered" at the same time.

"While they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat h ?”

Extreme grief, and extreme joy, when unattended with any doubt as to the reality of the occasion for them, alike make men weep.

Neither seems to reach its height when

h Luke xxiv. 41.

we wonder; and so, sometimes, laughter attends on both.

But either tears or laughter would seem inconsistent with perfect joy. Perfect joy must be perfect peace. And so, though our Lord had promised the disciples that their heart should rejoice, yet when He came again, as He had said He would, after "a little while," He said not, "Rejoice," but, "Peace be with you!"

O for their peace, who shall rejoice and be "glad" in the last day! O for their joy who shall then find "peace!"

How long it seems since we parted, (though it were but yesterday it therefore perhaps seems all the longer,) since we parted with those who we believe are fallen asleep in Jesus!

What a long sleep it seems! It is now the third day, and the day is far spent; shall we see them again?

"How long, O Lord!" will it be? We must wait till evening.

"It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light."

How often we have sought Christ in His holy Eucharist, and have seemed not to find Him, have not felt that we have found Him! Or, if we have, have wondered for very joy, and so still have not found perfect peace!

We must wait till the evening, when "it shall be light;" when, the Resurrection dawning on our weary long drawn day, we shall see His hands, and His feet, and His side, and know that it is He indeed ; and shall eat and drink with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven, knowing Him to be all we had believed Him to be, seeing Him as He is.

i Zech. xiv. 7,

SERMON VI.

ASCENSION DAY.

PSALM lxviii. 17, 18.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men: yea for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

THAT this sixty-eighth Psalm treats not of David, nor of any other mere earthly king, but of Christ the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, is evident. It is evident, first, from the description of the Person spoken of in the Psalm: for He is called not only Elohim, but Jah, the mystical, secret,

a Ver. 4.