having seven eyes, the Living Stone exalted to the glory of God, whereon the Church should be founded, so that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. God, by the power of the Eternal Spirit operating through the mystery of the Passion, would engrave the graving thereof, and remove the iniquity of the land in one day' (Zech. iii. 9). That one day must stand alone in the annals of time. The one day of atonement in every year was its transitory symbol in the Jewish Temple. The Jews would reject, and though all men should in the end bow down before Him, He did not keep His own soul from death. He had come to do God's work. He would do it in God's way. This is He of whom the prophet speaks: Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin (Is. liii. 10).

It will help us in our own consideration of Holy Scripture if we try to think what were in all probability the leading points of this discourse. Much as we may lament our not having a record of it, we may be sure we are better without it, for if it had been well for us to have it, God would have recorded it. God wants us rather to search into Holy Scripture for ourselves, and the Holy Ghost will help us if we seek His aid. Though we have to grope our way in much darkness and to feel with our hands instead of seeing at a glance what we want to know, God sees it to be better for us thus slowly, experimentally, and laboriously to search into the Divine mysteries.

' Mr. Pieritz has observed that this is the only possible rendering of Ps. xxii. 29, All that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, but He shall not keep alive His own soul.'

O Jesu, it is Thou who comest forth in the morning to heal us. Thou art the Lord by whom we escape death.

Yea, My son, I am the Lord, and beside Me there is no Saviour. Wait upon My promises. I will fulfil them to thee when thou art little aware. If thy faith fail not, thou shalt find that the good which I do unto thee is manifold more than the evil which thou hast suffered. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.'

·

O Lord, truly Thy mercies are new every morning. When I forget Thy promises my soul becomes heavy, but the fault is all my own. Truly Thou art the Redeemer of Israel. Surely I will rise and go unto the place of which Thou hast told me' (Gen. xxii. 3), 'even the place which Thou hast prepared for me' (John xiv. 3). On the third day shall the place be seen afar off. In the power of Thy resurrection shall the beautiful land come before our watchful eyes. Thou makest me to see Thyself as king in all Thy beauty, and I shall behold the land that is very far off. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help, and though I am yet a long way off, I know Thou seest me (Luke xv. 20), and thou wilt bring me unto Thy holy hill and to Thy dwelling.

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MEDITATION XIV.

The Seed of the Woman.

Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory.— St. Luke xxiv. 26.

1. CHRIST OPENING THE SCRIPTURES.

JESUS began to unfold to them the Scriptures. O what a gain would it be to us, if we could but have the record of what He said! The whole volume of the Old Testament would thenceforth speak to us in a manner altogether beyond our present conception.

As when some elaborate structure looming in the darkness gradually assumes a new majestic beauty while the lines of illumination are kindled on a high day of festival, so all the well-known teachings which these disciples knew from childhood began to spring into bright life beneath the touch of His words. The Light of Light is with them, whose forthshining was God's first token of renewing love to our dark earth. Every promise that God has given to fallen man, from the announcement of the woman's seed whose heel the tyrant must bruise, and Isaac's mystical death, and Joseph's rising from the pit of drought to the throne of power, and Moses' flight ere he appeared as the redeemer from Egyptian slavery, and Joshua's appointment to a work which

needed one greater than himself to satisfy God's purpose, and the sacrifices carefully ordered in the Temple, and the songs of David intertwining such deep sorrow and such high hopes-yes! they had heard words taken from those Psalms solemnly appropriated by the recent Sufferer upon the Crossall was set before them as they walked upon their way, and they saw in those tales of ancient time more than their childhood knew. Their whole life had been a childhood. As they heard His words they seem to ripen to a mature understanding of what they had known before only in germ. The scroll of the old law seemed to blossom into all the glory of a new life, as when Aaron's rod budded in the tabernacle of witness.

All prophets spake of one that was for to come. The lives of their fathers were fashioned in type of Him that was to bring salvation. The whole nation had borne many a weight that must have crushed them, but they were made strong with a high hope which could not fail. The priesthood of Aaron was to pass away, but Israel enshrined a greater priesthood that must take its place. The throne of David would seem to fall, but there must be found one who should reign for ever and ever. The star of which Balaam spake must come. The kingdom of which Daniel prophesied must be set up.

Yet should all this be done by no art of man. The builders would reject the Stone which should become the headstone of the corner (Ps. cxviii. 22). They would reject, but God's word could not fail. This Stone is that which should be laid before Joshua

6

having seven eyes, the Living Stone exalted to the glory of God, whereon the Church should be founded, so that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. God, by the power of the Eternal Spirit operating through the mystery of the Passion, would engrave the graving thereof, and remove the iniquity of the land in one day' (Zech. iii. 9). That one day must stand alone in the annals of time. The one day of atonement in every year was its transitory symbol in the Jewish Temple. The Jews would reject, and though all men should in the end bow down before Him, He did not keep His own soul from death. He had come to do God's work. He would do it in God's way. This is He of whom the prophet speaks: Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin (Is. liii. 10).

It will help us in our own consideration of Holy Scripture if we try to think what were in all probability the leading points of this discourse. Much as we may lament our not having a record of it, we may be sure we are better without it, for if it had been well for us to have it, God would have recorded it. God wants us rather to search into Holy Scripture for ourselves, and the Holy Ghost will help us if we seek His aid. Though we have to grope our way in much darkness and to feel with our hands instead of seeing at a glance what we want to know, God sees it to be better for us thus slowly, experimentally, and laboriously to search into the Divine mysteries.

1 Mr. Pieritz has observed that this is the only possible rendering of Ps. xxii. 29, All that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, but He shall not keep alive His own soul.'