whose knees are never bent in prayer, whose lips go not earnestly along with the Confession, whose heads are not bowed at His Holy Name, who in the Sacrament of His Last Supper commit the sin of the Corinthians, in that they "discern not the LORD'S Body, verily and indeed," though of course mystically and spiritually present? Or how shall He not say, "Touch ME not," to those who presume to speak of His everlasting counsels, in language very different from that of the Saints of old; very different from holy David, "Thy judgments, O LORD, are like the great deep: Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters; and Thy footsteps are not known"? Very different from St. Paul, who, in looking down into them, shrunk back as it were, exclaiming, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of GOD! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"

But how, it may be asked, does this interpretation agree with what follows-" For I am not yet ascended to MY FATHER"? "I am not yet ascended," i. e. I soon shall be. My Resurrection involves and implies my Ascension. Earth is no longer the place of My abode: I am now more of heaven than of earth: yea, and even now, go and say to My Disciples-what -that He is risen, as He had said unto them? No: but, "I ascend to My FATHER and your FATHER, and to My GoD and your GOD." So then you see these words fall naturally in, and were calculated, like the ones preceding, to check the haste and presumptuousness of her that was before HIM, being nothing else than an announcement of His Ascension, which was to follow after forty days; and the consideration of which could not fail to inspire with awe.

But these words, "Touch ME not," will consist with another interpretation slightly different-consist with another without excluding the one just named. And this too has a good name for its authority. According to this, we are to understand our Blessed LORD to object to the touch of St. Mary Magdalene, not so much on account of the manner, as on account of the time in which it was offered. Seek not to touch ME now, because I am not yet ascended; but seek to touch ME then, for then I must draw all men unto ME whose hearts are set on gaining heaven. The fact is, that the joy of the Disciples in the Resurrection of CHRIST, was of a very imperfect and mistaken kind. They rejoiced in it, as in the unexpected restoration of a friend, whom they hoped nothing again would ever rob them of: of a Master to protect them: of a mighty Prince about to establish His kingdom, and, as matter of course, to assign them high places therein. From such views and expectations, we may well conceive that CHRIST would now wean the hearts of His Disciples. His bodily presence, he would have them understand, was of no value in comparison with that spiritual Presence, which He had promised to His Church, as the fruit and consequence of His Ascension. "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the COMFORTER will not come : but if I depart, I will send HIM unto you, even the SPIRIT of TRUTH, which shall abide with you for ever." When a whole multitude was thronging about our LORD, he was conscious of no virtue going out of HIM, so that HE had cause to ask, "Who touched ME?" St. Mary Magdalene got nothing but blame for her touch; and St. Thomas, had he not apprehended CHRIST by faith, as well as touched HIM with his fingers, would have

had no cause to rejoice. Of so little use is the mere outward bodily touch. But, Brethren, he who, lifting up his heart with his hands, apprehends CHRIST by faith, ascended and sitting at the right hand of the FATHER, does also apprehend God; and has also done that wherein the life of religion very largely consists, He has raised himself, in so far, from earth and its attachments, and has effected a moral ascension of his own inward man.

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"Touch ME not," therefore, now, HE says to the Magdalene, for I am not yet ascended. I am not ascended; and therefore have not yet received that majesty, and power, and dominion, which will be committed to ME, and will enable ME to be the Protector and Deliverer of all who flee unto ME for succour. am not ascended-only not ascended, on the very point of ascending—and already so far different from what I was, that I shall no longer go in and out among My Disciples, eating and drinking with them, and cheering them with My continual Presence. Therefore, touch Me not; it is not good for you that I should delay to take to ME again the Glory that I had before the world began at present I am not what I shall be, for presently shall I ascend. And go you now to My brethren, tarry not; and say unto them, "I ascend unto My FATher, and your FATHER; and to My GOD, and your GOD."

And now, having given you an opportunity of seeing how far these two interpretations differ from each other, I would beg you particularly to observe that they agree in this, viz.—that they both give special honour and importance to the LORD's Ascension. According to the first, CHRIST demanded greater reverence for His PERSON than He had done before, not because He was risen, and so His Body had acquired something of the

Glory of the Resurrection, but because He was even now about to ascend to the FATHER; and that event had already, by anticipation, conferred a higher kind of sanctity on His PERSON, just as the rising of the material Sun in the Heavens is announced by the reflection of his beams upon the face of the sky. In the second, the Bodily Presence of the risen SAVIOUR is represented as positively vile and worthless, in comparison with His Spiritual Presence after the Ascension. Stay ME not now,―embrace not My knees,-suspend your rejoicing, dwell not on the fact of My Resurrection,— fix all your thoughts on this, that I ascend to My FATHER.

And now, Brethren, in like manner, I beg you to fix your thoughts upon the same subject. The Ascension of CHRIST is a thing to be spoken of, and thought about before-hand, as well as on its proper anniversary, and afterwards. And it was not said to Mary Magdalene alone, "Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend." It is, in truth, if you consider, very remarkable, that on the very Easter Day morning, before saying one word about His Resurrection, our LORD should pass at once to the mention of His Ascension, to be accomplished after forty days. The text does give a prominence to the fact last-named, beyond what seems to agree with the amount of religious observance, which too many of us accord to it; for it seems to exalt it even above the Resurrection.

Nor need we fear to admit that it actually does so. The Resurrection itself is not an end, but a step towards the end a state of imperfection, to be valued chiefly in that it leads to this higher end. What says St. Paul? "If then ye be risen with CHRIST, seek those things which are above, where CHRIST sitteth at the right hand

of God." And how seek them, save by ascending, in heart and mind, whither CHRIST is gone before? That is no real resurrection of the soul, which would satisfy itself with the mere forsaking of some one deadly sin, without any heavenly aspirations, or aim; so neither would CHRIST be the Resurrection and the Life, as HE declared HIMSELF to be, had He stopped short of the Ascension. "To rise from the bottom of the grave to the brink of it, to stand upon our feet again and tread on the grave-stone, and no more, is but half a rising, is but Lazarus rising. To rise up, up as high as Heaven, that is to rise indeed, that is CHRIST's rising, and that must be ours. As to rise is nothing, but to ascend out of the grave, so to ascend is nothing, but to rise as high as Heaven; and then we are truly risen, when so risen." Without the Doctrine of the Resurrection, there is no Gospel-no good tidings to fallen man; so without the Ascension, the Resurrection loses its value. All that die in Adam shall rise in CHRIST: this is a fact to be proclaimed to all alike,-a condition inseparable from the whole human family; not brought to light and certainty indeed of old, but, as far at least as the soul is concerned, the necessary result of its immortality. Add to it the fact of the Ascension, and it becomes a doctrine, essentially and distinctively Christian. It would appear that our Blessed LORD was at especial pains to prevent His followers resting in the fact of His Resurrection. In the interval between His Resurrection and Ascension, He visited them only rarely, and in a mysterious manner. HE was careful that they should have no comfort in His Presence,that there should be no appearance of fixedness or per

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Bishop Andrewes: from whose three sermons on this text, the substance of this discourse is derived.