angel of the Lord encamps around the pillow of his suffering people, and makes all their bed in their sickness. When a single sinner repents, there is joy among them. And when the weary task of life is done, though the saint be a beggar at the gate of unfeeling opulence, he is carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

But what is the nature of this agency? Is it miraculous? Is it designed to give any new revelations? By no means. It is simply to do as the angels did on Olivet, remind us of the words of Jesus. This is all we need to comfort us, for it carries us above angelic agency to him who is the Lord of angels. We know not how often the dropping of some sweet text into the soul, that falls softly like a voice from heaven on the fainting heart, is the whispering agency of one of these unseen remembrancers. They too worship Jesus, and though they cannot unite in that richer, deeper song, that is sung by the ransomed sinner, "to Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood;" yet they may unite in that other song that ascribes honour, glory, praise, and power, to Him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever. And it is this adoring love of Jesus that leads them to such ministries of affection as they are ever performing for his people. Hence the appearance of these angels at this time, when the disciples so much needed their comfort, was

simply an instance of a general law still in operation.

II. The Angelic Message.

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." This message contains words of rebuke, of comfort, and of warning.

1. The rebuke. The interrogatory of the angels certainly conveys a gentle, but yet a decided reproof. "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" The feeling here rebuked was one with which every mourner is sadly familiar. When the gates of heaven have opened to admit some dear one taken from our side, what is the feeling that first springs up in the heart? Is it not a wistful longing to follow them? Is it not a feeling that the earth is too dark and cold now, for us to remain here? Is it not a gazing up into heaven with a feeling almost of impatience at the obstacles that prevent us from going there?

It is touchingly told of Alexander Peden, that when hunted by the dragoons of Claverhouse, and compelled to hide in dens and caves of the earth, he was accustomed to steal at times to the grave of Richard Cameron, at Airsmoss, and as he thought of the harassing sorrows of earth, and the sweet rest of heaven into which his martyred

brother had entered, he would exclaim with a bursting heart and a streaming eye, "Oh! to be wi' thee, Richie !" This is a feeling that strong hearts have often had in an hour of sorrow. When Jonah found that his expectations in regard to the glory of his own people, and the punishment of their enemies, were to be disappointed, he went out of Nineveh, and longed to die. And when Elijah fled from Jezebel into the wilderness, thinking that all was lost, and that God's cause was crushed hopelessly, he also lay down beneath a juniper tree and longed for death. The same thing was true of Moses in the moment of discouragement. And thus it is often with stricken hearts in the first hours of bereavement and suffering. They gaze wistfully into heaven, longing to escape from the toils, and sorrows, and loneliness of earth, and like David, take the wings of a dove, and fly away and be at rest from the windy storm and tempest.

us,

When these seasons of depression come upon then should we listen to the lesson contained in these gently rebuking words of the angels : Why this gazing?

To the hearts of the disciples these words conveyed a great deal. They said to them, "Why thus long to escape from toil and trial? Return to Jerusalem and you shall in due time receive the promise of the Father, and then go and labour to the ends of the earth. Gird yourselves to obey

the parting words of your Lord, and patiently wait until he fulfils his promise. He has said, 'I go and prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself;' and will he not come? Then do not cherish these desponding feelings. Gaze not with this wistful longing at the pearly gates, and the heavenly city. The time has not come for you to enter them. It is yours to work and wait, and they will be richer and brighter to you when you reach them by reason of this very waiting." The same lesson is conveyed to us now. We must patiently labour, and patiently wait; and the rest will grow sweeter as we thus wait, and the reward will grow richer as we thus labour.

That this rebuke had its proper effect in the case of the disciples, we see from the fact that they returned to Jerusalem with "great joy." They were still alone, their beloved Master in heaven, but they knew that he had gone to prepare a place for them, that their parting was but for a time, their meeting would be for eternity; and that in a little while they would all meet in that general assembly and church of the first born, where their light affliction, that is but for a moment, shall work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

The same lesson also should be learned by us in our hours of sorrow and discouragement.

When longings for heaven unfit us for labours on earth, a voice from heaven should come, in gentle rebuke, "Why stand ye gazing up into heaven ?" Instead of indolently longing for the rest of heaven, we should labour on earth to be fitted for that rest, and thus only shall we long aright. We may gaze upward toward the heavenly hills in faith and hope, and such longing as Paul had when he was willing rather to depart and be with Christ, which was far better. But we are not to gaze with impatient discontent, and indolent desire to escape from the duties that God has assigned us here on earth. We must feel with Job, not when he exclaims in bitterness, "I loathe it, I would not live alway," but rather when he says, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come."

2. The comfort. "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

When we part with a friend who is going to scenes more attractive than those he leaves behind, we often fear lest the change of scene shall produce a change of feeling, and we be forgotten. Such changes often happen on earth. Those whom we have known in youth, we find to have grown cold in maturer years; those who have smiled upon us in prosperity and gladness, forsake us in adversity, poverty, and sorrow. To feel the chill of