cause she believed in Him who is the resurrection and the life; and while the beautiful garden of a cemetery smiled around, there was an answering smile in our hearts, albeit our cheeks were wet with natural tears, for the voice was audible to our inmost souls that had said to the weeping Martha, 66 Thy brother shall rise again."

But death and the grave, when we come to look closely into them, are very heavy contemplations for flesh to dwell upon. It is painfully humbling to behold what was lately and for a long while, the animated abode of a living soul, invested with all the dignity of reason, all the high attributes of intellectual being, all the sensibilities that form so wondrous a link between mind and matter-to see it enclosed in a narrow receptacle, lying deep in the earth, far be→ neath the surface on which we tread, and about to be sealed up in such loneliness-such darkness. And then comes the overpowering recollection ;-Even to this depth of mortal degradation did the King of glory descend-and for me!

What marvel, then, that at such a time, in such a place, under such circumstances, the heart's acknowledgment of the stupendous mystery of redeeming condescension should put in requisition even outward gestures to express it? Why did I sorrow not as them that have no hope, for the gentle Margaret upon whose ashes the kindred dust was falling? because my Lord, my Saviour, the King of the whole earth, who holds all power here and in heaven, had been even as she. A cold, unconscious corpse, surrounded by weeping mourners, and laid in a dark cave, to see, as they supposed, corruption. I could scarcely realize it; and again at the blessed Name of

Jesus my knee bowed, and my head drooped, for He had borne it all for me!

The bodily exercise, it is true, profited little or nothing as a matter of form it would have been even worse than nothing, tending to the superstition in our churches which is eating so much into the spirituality of public worship; but not so the feeling from which it spontaneously rose. There are depths in the mystery of our redemption, and of the glorious things connected with it, not to be discovered, at least not realized and appropriated, by many hours of secluded study over the portion of scripture that sets them forth, so clearly as in some combinations of every-day occurrences, when the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ, and shews them to us; not independent of, or separate from the written word, but as affording some striking illustration of its familiar truths.

He "humbled himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient, unto death." This I knew-have long known, understood, and blessed God for it. But the connexion between this truth, and the announcement that "at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow" (albeit I am aware that by such bowing is not meant a literal genuflexion, but an universal act of universal homage) that connexion was never so brought home to my heart and feeling as when the Mediatorial power of the Lord Jesus was invoked, with an open grave, and a sepulchred ́body in view. The extent alike of the purchase and of the price paid for it, was placed so vividly before me-the guilt of man that required, the love of God that provided so vast a sacrifice and the yet unrevealed glory that is to follow. The single Name,

then and there uttered, seemed to contain what the dear young friend whom we mourned over delighted to dwell upon; and which even in the delirious wanderings of her closing days she would repeat

"Hark, the glad sound! The Saviour comes,

The Saviour promised long.'

Oh that He may come speedily, to consummate in glory the great work that he commenced in humility! Many watchful eyes are turned towards the place of his tarrying, and many anxious voices enquiring Lord, how long?

C. E.

THOUGHTS ON THE PSALMS.

No. VI.

Of all the pathetic descriptions of misery ever penned, none has equalled that in the CIInd Psalm. The grief and sinking of mind, the consequent prostration of bodily strength, the rage of enemies, the withering and agony of the whole man, all are laid before us with a terrible fidelity. It is indeed, according to its title, "A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord." No mind which has ever undergone severe sufferings can be insensible to the picture of desolation here given by an inspired hand. And yet what a pattern does this Psalm hold forth to us: under all this accumulated anguish, the remembrance of God's eternal existence and glory, and the love of Zion, cause the sufferer to break forth in triumphant rejoicings. 'My days are like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. But Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever, and Thy remembrance throughout all generations!"-what exultation is there in this remembrance. And not only does God exist in power, but in mercy. "Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion." (Verses 11, 12, 13.) Then follows a glorious description-"The heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He

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shall appear in His glory . . . To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord." (Verses 15, 16, 21, 22.) But still the sufferer does not quite forget his sorrows. "He weakened my strength in the way, He shortened my days." Yet it is no longer a complaint, only a brief glance: the sorrow is past, and is recalled only to shew the mercy which has heard and answered the petition. The eternal power and Godhead of Jehovah are the consolation; His unchangeable nature suffices to allay the fears and woes of his servant, for he knows that this God is his God for ever and ever, He will be his guide even unto death; " and though heaven and earth should pass away, this allpowerful and all-merciful God is "the same, and His years shall have no end," therefore "The children of His servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before Him." The eternity of God secures the safety and perpetuity of His Church.

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But may we not say that this Psalm has a mystic reference to the humanity of the Messiah, during His humiliation and sufferings on earth. There was no sorrow like unto His sorrow, and surely the mournful strains of this incomparable lamentation are the voice of the "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." In this view of the Psalm, the consolation arises from the eternal Godhead of that Divine Word to which the human nature of Jesus was united. The twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses seem especially suitable to Him who was "cut off, but not for Himself," in the prime of manhood, but who ever liveth," having arisen by the power of His Divinity, on the third day.

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