FIFTH DAY.

The Sympathy of the Lord Jesus.

IN all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them and carried them all the days of old.

Is. lxiii. 9.

When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

St. Matt. viii. 16-18.

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

St. Luke vii. 12-14.

Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. St. John xi. 30-35.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Who can have

compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

Heb. iv. 15. v. 2.

BISHOP WILBERFORCE.

IN

N no other spirit than that of humble, thoughtful faith can we receive the great truth, that He who was, from all eternity, the only Son of God, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, did indeed so perfectly take our nature, that whilst He ceased not to be God, He became man as truly as we are. Fathom its wonders we cannot. Neither man nor angel can

man,

reach down into its depths, yet to every faithful soul it is full of all comfort. If we, like Mary, simply receive it on the word of God, and then, like her, make it our own by secret meditation, 'keeping all these things, and pondering them in our hearts,' what a light beams out from them on its inner darkness! He has become and as man He has suffered for us-He who was God, and as God had that to pay which we had forfeited, and could not pay. Here is the only foundation of real peace for every heart which knows its own deep capacities of joy, and its yet deeper need of purification and atonement. He has suffered, and therefore I am free. His humanity is my very ransom; it stands between me and my sin-between my sin and the just wrath of a holy God.

Again, in this, to every faithful soul, is the best assurance of the infinite compassion of the Lord. He who stooped so low to save us, when we knew Him not, will not, cannot leave us to perish when we seek His mercy.

Here, again, is that which assures us of our Saviour's sympathy amidst all the trials and harassing perplexities of life. From the everlasting Son of the eternal Father, clothed in majesty, robed in light unapproachable, creating the universe, ruling over the hosts of heaven, we seem too infinitely distant to count on sympathy: but on the Virgin-born, on the Son of David, on the Man of Sorrows, on the human nature of our Lord, our wounded souls can rest their anguish, our tempted souls.

can stay their weakness; for He too was perfected through suffering; yea, He can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points 'tempted like as we are.'

And, once more, here is that which gives its reality to the life of redeemed men; here is that which fills and glorifies every earthly relation-that Christ, the true Man, Himself partook of them; that He took on Him, and surrounded Himself with, the bonds of family life; that He, with whom all was reality, was what we are now; that in Him, therefore, and through Him, that life, which without Him was an empty and deceiving shadow, grows into a great reality; that in becoming the Virgin's Son, in bearing our very nature, He hath for every faithful man for ever raised and glorified his new and ransomed life in all its parts and accidents. For He has showed us that we may, as men, and in the things of men, truly serve the Lord our God. So that all things are now full of Him. Domestic blessings, family affections, and the joys of the homestead, these are now holy things; for they are seen in Him who knew not sin. The joys of earthly friendship and its tears,-in these our Master went before us; in them God may be honoured. In doing good to men, in fulfilling worthily our part in this world, we may, through His grace, be doing that which Jesus did. So that life has again become a great reality to those who trust in Him. For this is the true character of our redeemed life-the bringing into every part of it the

blessed presence of a reconciled Father. It is not to consist in a sour refusal of the blessings which He gives us-in wearing a sad and solemn countenance when His earth is rejoicing round us; it is not to be shown by our putting on the garb of an unnatural and unkindly separation from our fellows; but in receiving all from Him, as our justification, our peace, our righteousness; and then going forth to serve Him simply in our daily tasks, to delight in Him with renewed health, to honour Him with grateful thoughts, and to see His perpetual presence in everything around us.

Here then is a store of purifying, cheering thoughts for those who 'keep all these things and ponder them in their hearts.' These are blessed truths, which speculation and the bold ventures of the intellect are sure to miss; but which, of God's great mercy, steal gently down, in holy musings, upon teachable and quiet spirits.

M. E. T.

THOM

'HOUGH the history of our divine Lord's life on earth is chiefly taken up with the details of His public ministry, though He is most often presented to our view as the great Teacher and Healer of man, while His own inner and individual human existence (if we may so speak) seems hidden from our gaze,—yet, ever and anon, as we meditate more and more on the